Books: Lives of the Necromancers

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Paracelsus in fact exhibited in his person the union of a quack, a
boastful and impudent pretender, with a considerable degree of natural
sagacity and shrewdness. Such an union is not uncommon in the present
day; but it was more properly in its place, when the cultivation of
the faculties of the mind was more restricted than now, and the law
of criticism of facts and evidence was nearly unknown. He took
advantage of the credulity and love of wonder incident to the
generality of our species; and, by dint of imposing on others,
succeeded in no small degree in imposing on himself. His intemperance
and arrogance of demeanour gave the suitable finish to his character.
He therefore carefully cherished in those about him the idea that
there was in him a kind of supernatural virtue, and that he had the
agents of an invisible world at his command. In particular he gave
out that he held conferences with a familiar or demon, whom for the
convenience of consulting he was in the habit of carrying about with
him in the hilt of his sword.

CARDAN.

Jerome Cardan, who was only a few years younger than Paracelsus, was
a man of a very different character. He had considerable refinement
and discrimination, and ranked among the first scholars of his day.
He is however most of all distinguished for the Memoirs he has left
us of his life, which are characterised by a frankness and unreserve
which are almost without a parallel. He had undoubtedly a considerable
spice of madness in his composition. He says of himself, that he was
liable to extraordinary fits of abstraction and elevation of mind,
which by their intenseness became so intolerable, that he gladly had
recourse to very severe bodily pain by way of getting rid of them.
That in such cases he would bite his lips till they bled, twist his
fingers almost to dislocation, and whip his legs with rods, which
he found a great relief to him. That he would talk purposely of
subjects which he knew were particularly offensive to the company
he was in; that he argued on any side of a subject, without caring
whether he was right or wrong; and that he would spend whole nights
in gaming, often venturing as the stake he played for, the furniture
of his house, and his wife's jewels.

Cardan describes three things of himself, which he habitually
experienced, but respecting which he had never unbosomed himself to
any of his friends. The first was, a capacity which he felt in himself
of abandoning his body in a sort of extacy whenever he pleased. He
felt in these cases a sort of splitting of the heart, as if his soul
was about to withdraw, the sensation spreading over his whole frame,
like the opening of a door for the dismissal of its guest. His
apprehension was, that he was out of his body, and that by an
energetic exertion he still retained a small hold of his corporeal
figure. The second of his peculiarities was, that he saw, when he
pleased, whatever he desired to see, not through the force of
imagination, but with his material organs: he saw groves, animals,
orbs, as he willed. When he was a child, he saw these things, as they
occurred, without any previous volition or anticipation that such
a thing was about to happen. But, after he had arrived at years of
maturity, he saw them only when he desired, and such things as he
desired. These images were in perpetual succession, one after another.
The thing incidental to him which he mentions in the third place was,
that he could not recollect any thing that ever happened to him,
whether good, ill, or indifferent, of which he had not been admonished,
and that a very short time before, in a dream. These things serve
to shew of what importance he was in his own eyes, and also, which
is the matter he principally brings it to prove, the subtlety and
delicacy of his animal nature.

Cardan speaks uncertainly and contradictorily as to his having a
genius or demon perpetually attending him, advising him of what was
to happen, and forewarning him of sinister events. He concludes
however that he had no such attendant, but that it was the excellence
of his nature, approaching to immortality. He was much addicted to
the study of astrology, and laid claim to great skill as a physician.
He visited the court of London, and calculated the nativity of king
Edward VI. He was sent for as a physician by cardinal Beaton,
archbishop of St Andrews, whom, according to Melvile, [208] he
recovered to speech and health, and the historian appears to attribute
the cure to magic. He calculated the nativity of Jesus Christ, which
was imputed to him as an impious undertaking, inasmuch as it supposed
the creator of the world to be subject to the influence of the stars.
He also predicted his own death, and is supposed by some to have
forwarded that event, by abstinence from food at the age of
seventy-five, that he might not bely his prediction.

QUACKS, WHO IN COOL BLOOD UNDERTOOK TO OVERREACH MANKIND.

Hitherto we have principally passed such persons in review, as seem
to have been in part at least the victims of their own delusions.
But beside these there has always been a numerous class of men, who,
with minds perfectly disengaged and free, have applied themselves
to concert the means of overreaching the simplicity, or baffling the
penetration, of those who were merely spectators, and uninitiated
in the mystery of the arts that were practised upon them. Such was
no doubt the case with the speaking heads and statues, which were
sometimes exhibited in the ancient oracles. Such was the case with
certain optical delusions, which were practised on the unsuspecting,
and were contrived to produce on them the effect of supernatural
revelations. Such is the story of Bel and the Dragon in the book of
Apocrypha, where the priests daily placed before the idol twelve
measures of flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine,
pretending that the idol consumed all these provisions, when in fact
they entered the temple by night, by a door under the altar, and
removed them.

BENVENUTO CELLINI.

We have a story minutely related by Benvenuto Cellini in his Life,
which it is now known was produced by optical delusion, but which
was imposed upon the artist and his companions as altogether
supernatural. It occurred a very short time before the death of pope
Clement the Seventh in 1534, and is thus detailed. It took place in
the Coliseum at Rome.

"It came to pass through a variety of odd accidents, that I made
acquaintance with a Sicilian priest, who was a man of genius, and
well versed in the Greek and Latin languages. Happening one day to
have some conversation with him, where the subject turned upon the
art of necromancy, I, who had a great desire to know something of
the matter, told him, that I had all my life had a curiosity to be
acquainted with the mysteries of this art. The priest made answer,
that the man must be of a resolute and steady temper, who entered
on that study. I replied, that I had fortitude and resolution enough
to desire to be initiated in it. The priest subjoined, 'If you think
you have the heart to venture, I will give you all the satisfaction
you can desire.' Thus we agreed to enter upon a scheme of necromancy.

"The priest one evening prepared to satisfy me, and desired me to
look for a companion or two. I invited one Vincenzio Romoli, who was
my intimate acquaintance, and he brought with him a native of Pistoia
who cultivated the art of necromancy himself. We repaired to the
Coliseum; and the priest, according to the custom of conjurors, began
to draw circles on the ground, with the most impressive ceremonies
imaginable. He likewise brought with him all sorts of precious
perfumes and fire, with some compositions which diffused noisome and
bad odours. As soon as he was in readiness, he made an opening to
the circle, and took us by the hand, and ordered the other
necromancer, his partner, to throw perfumes into the fire at a proper
time, intrusting the care of the fire and the perfumes to the rest;
and then he began his incantations.

"This ceremony lasted above an hour and a half, when there appeared
several legions of devils, so that the amphitheatre was quite filled
with them. I was busy about the perfumes, when the priest, who knew
that there was a sufficient number of infernal spirits, turned about
to me, and said, 'Benvenuto, ask them something.' I answered, 'Let
them bring me into company with my Sicilian mistress, Angelica.' That
night we obtained no answer of any sort; but I received great
satisfaction in having my curiosity so far indulged.

"The necromancer told me that it was requisite we should go a second
time, assuring me that I should be satisfied in whatever I asked; but
that I must bring with me a boy that had never known woman. I took
with me my apprentice, who was about twelve years of age; with the
same Vincenzio Romoli, who had been my companion the first time, and
one Agnolino Gaddi, an intimate acquaintance, whom I likewise
prevailed on to assist at the ceremony. When we came to the place
appointed, the priest, having made his preparations as before with the
same and even more striking ceremonies, placed us within the circle,
which he had drawn with a more wonderful art and in a more solemn
manner, than at our former meeting. Thus having committed the care of
the perfumes and the fire to my friend Vincenzio, who was assisted by
Gaddi, he put into my hands a pintacolo, or magical chart, and bid me
turn it towards the places to which he should direct me; and under the
pintacolo I held my apprentice. The necromancer, having begun to make
his most tremendous invocations, called by their names a multitude of
demons who were the leaders of the several legions, and questioned
them, by the virtue and power of the eternal, uncreated God, who lives
for ever, in the Hebrew language, as also in Latin and Greek; insomuch
that the amphitheatre was filled, almost in an instant, with demons a
hundred times more numerous than at the former conjuration. Vincenzio
meanwhile was busied in making a fire with the assistance of Gaddi,
and burning a great quantity of precious perfumes. I, by the direction
of the necromancer, again desired to be in company with my Angelica.
He then turning upon me said, 'Know, they have declared that in the
space of a month you shall be in her company.'

"He then requested me to stand by him resolutely, because the legions
were now above a thousand more in number than he had designed; and
besides these were the most dangerous; so that, after they had
answered my question, it behoved him to be civil to them, and dismiss
them quietly. At the same time the boy under the pintacolo was in a
terrible fright, saying, that there were in the place a million of
fierce men who threatened to destroy us; and that, besides, there were
four armed giants of enormous stature, who endeavoured to break into
our circle. During this time, while the necromancer, trembling with
fear, endeavoured by mild means to dismiss them in the best way he
could, Vincenzio, who quivered like an aspen leaf, took care of the
perfumes. Though I was as much afraid as any of them, I did my utmost
to conceal it; so that I greatly contributed to inspire the rest with
resolution; but the truth is, I gave myself over for a dead man,
seeing the horrid fright the necromancer was in.

"The boy had placed his head between his knees; and said, 'In this
attitude will I die; for we shall all surely perish.' I told him that
those demons were under us, and what he saw was smoke and shadow; so
bid him hold up his head and take courage. No sooner did he look up,
than he cried out, 'The whole amphitheatre is burning, and the fire is
just falling on us.' So, covering his eyes with his hands, he again
exclaimed, that destruction was inevitable, and he desired to see no
more. The necromancer intreated me to have a good heart, and to take
care to burn proper perfumes; upon which I turned to Vincenzio, and
bade him burn all the most precious perfumes he had. At the same time
I cast my eyes upon Gaddi, who was terrified to such a degree, that he
could scarcely distinguish objects, and seemed to be half dead. Seeing
him in this condition, I said to him, 'Gaddi, upon these occasions a
man should not yield to fear, but stir about to give some assistance;
so come directly, and put on more of these perfumes.' Gaddi accordingly
attempted to move; but the effect was annoying both to our sense of
hearing and smell, and overcame the perfumes.

"The boy perceiving this, once more ventured to raise his head, and,
seeing me laugh, began to take courage, and said, 'The devils are
flying away with a vengeance.' In this condition we staid, till the
bell rang for morning prayers. The boy again told us, that there
remained but few devils, and those were at a great distance. When the
magician had performed the rest of his ceremonies, he stripped off his
gown, and took up a wallet full of books, which he had brought with
him. We all went out of the circle together, keeping as close to each
other as we possibly could, especially the boy, who placed himself in
the middle, holding the necromancer by the coat, and me by the cloak.

"As we were going to our houses in the quarter of Banchi, the boy told
us, that two of the demons whom we had seen at the amphitheatre, went
on before us leaping and skipping, sometimes running upon the roofs of
the houses, and sometimes on the ground. The priest declared that, as
often as he had entered magic circles, nothing so extraordinary had
ever happened to him. As we went along, he would fain have persuaded
me to assist at the consecrating a book, from which he said we should
derive immense riches. We should then ask the demons to discover to us
the various treasures with which the earth abounds, which would raise
us to opulence and power; but that those love-affairs were mere
follies from which no good could be expected. I made answer, that I
would readily have accepted his proposal if I had understood Latin. He
assured me that the knowledge of Latin was nowise material; but that
he could never meet with a partner of resolution and intrepidity equal
to mine, and that that would be to him an invaluable acquisition."
Immediately subsequent to this scene, Cellini got into one of those
scrapes, in which he was so frequently involved by his own violence
and ferocity; and the connection was never again renewed.

The first remark that arises out of this narrative is, that nothing is
actually done by the supernatural personages which are exhibited. The
magician reports certain answers as given by the demons; but these
answers do not appear to have been heard from any lips but those of
him who was the creator or cause of the scene. The whole of the demons
therefore were merely figures, produced by the magic lantern (which is
said to have been invented by Roger Bacon), or by something of that
nature. The burning of the perfumes served to produce a dense
atmosphere, that was calculated to exaggerate, and render more
formidable and terrific, the figures which were exhibited. The magic
lantern, which is now the amusement only of servant-maids, and boys at
school in their holidays, served at this remote period, and when the
power of optical delusions was unknown, to terrify men of wisdom and
penetration, and make them believe that legions of devils from the
infernal regions were come among them, to produce the most horrible
effects, and suspend and invert the laws of nature. It is probable,
that the magician, who carried home with him a "wallet full of books,"
also carried at the same time the magic lantern or mirror, with its
lights, which had served him for his exhibition, and that this was the
cause of the phenomenon, that they observed two of the demons which
they had seen at the amphitheatre, going before them on their return,
"leaping and skipping, sometimes running on the roofs of the houses,
and sometimes on the ground." [209]

NOSTRADAMUS.

Michael Nostradamus, a celebrated astrologer, was born at St. Remi in
Provence in the year 1503. He published a Century of Prophecies in
obscure and oracular terms and barbarous verse, and other works. In
the period in which he lived the pretended art of astrological
prediction was in the highest repute; and its professors were sought
for by emperors and kings, and entertained with the greatest
distinction and honour. Henry the Second of France, moved with his
great renown, sent for Nostradamus to court, received much
gratification from his visit, and afterward ordered him to Blois, that
he might see the princes, his sons, calculate their horoscopes, and
predict their future fortunes. He was no less in favour afterwards
with Charles the Ninth. He died in the year 1566.

DOCTOR DEE.

Dr. John Dee was a man who made a conspicuous figure in the sixteenth
century. He was born at London in the year 1527. He was an eminent
mathematician, and an indefatigable scholar. He says of himself, that,
having been sent to Cambridge when he was fifteen, he persisted for
several years in allowing himself only four hours for sleep in the
twenty-four, and two for food and refreshment, and that he constantly
occupied the remaining eighteen (the time for divine service only
excepted) in study. At Cambridge he superintended the exhibition of a
Greek play of Aristophanes, among the machinery of which he introduced
an artificial scarabaeus, or beetle, which flew up to the palace of
Jupiter, with a man on his back, and a basket of provisions. The
ignorant and astonished spectators ascribed this feat to the arts of
the magician; and Dee, annoyed by these suspicions, found it expedient
to withdraw to the continent. Here he resided first at the university
of Louvaine, at which place, his acquaintance was courted by the dukes
of Mantua and Medina, and from thence proceeded to Paris, where he
gave lectures on Euclid with singular applause.

In 1551 he returned to England, and was received with distinction by
sir John Check, and introduced to secretary Cecil, and even to king
Edward, from whom he received a pension of one hundred crowns _per
annum_, which he speedily after exchanged for a small living in the
church. In the reign of queen Mary he was for some time kindly
treated; but afterwards came into great trouble, and even into danger
of his life. He entered into correspondence with several of the
servants of queen Elizabeth at Woodstock, and was charged with
practising against Mary's life by enchantments. Upon this accusation,
he was seized and confined; and, being after several examinations
discharged of the indictment, was turned over to bishop Bonner to see
if any heresy could be found in him. After a tedious persecution he
was set at liberty in 1555, and was so little subdued by what he had
suffered, that in the following year he presented a petition to the
queen, requesting her co-operation in a plan for preserving and
recovering certain monuments of classical antiquity.

The principal study of Dee however at this time lay in astrology; and
accordingly, upon the accession of Elizabeth, Robert Dudley, her chief
favourite, was sent to consult the doctor as to the aspect of the
stars, that they might fix on an auspicious day for celebrating her
coronation. Some years after we find him again on the continent; and
in 1571, being taken ill at Louvaine, we are told the queen sent over
two physicians to accomplish his cure. Elizabeth afterwards visited
him at his house at Mortlake, that she might view his magazine of
mathematical instruments and curiosities; and about this time employed
him to defend her title to countries discovered in different parts of
the globe. He says of himself, that he received the most advantageous
offers from Charles V, Ferdinand, Maximilian II, and Rodolph II,
emperors of Germany, and from the czar of Muscovy an offer of L.2000
sterling _per annum_, upon condition that he would reside in his
dominions. All these circumstances were solemnly attested by Dee in a
Compendious Rehearsal of his Life and Studies for half-a-century,
composed at a later period, and read by him at his house at Mortlake
to two commissioners appointed by Elizabeth to enquire into his
circumstances, accompanied with evidences and documents to establish
the particulars. [210]

Had Dee gone no further than this, he would undoubtedly have ranked
among the profoundest scholars and most eminent geniuses that adorned
the reign of the maiden queen. But he was unfortunately cursed with an
ambition that nothing could satisfy; and, having accustomed his mind
to the wildest reveries, and wrought himself up to an extravagant
pitch of enthusiasm, he pursued a course that involved him in much
calamity, and clouded all his latter days with misery and ruin. He
dreamed perpetually of the philosopher's stone, and was haunted with
the belief of intercourse of a supramundane character. It is almost
impossible to decide among these things, how much was illusion, and
how much was forgery. Both were inextricably mixed in his proceedings;
and this extraordinary victim probably could not in his most
dispassionate moments precisely distinguish what belonged to the one,
and what to the other.

As Dee was an enthusiast, so he perpetually interposed in his
meditations prayers of the greatest emphasis and fervour. As he was
one day in November 1582, engaged in these devout exercises, he says
that there appeared to him the angel Uriel at the west window of his
Museum, who gave him a translucent stone, or chrystal, of a convex
form, that had the quality, when intently surveyed, of presenting
apparitions, and even emitting sounds, in consequence of which the
observer could hold conversations, ask questions and receive answers
from the figures he saw in the mirror. It was often necessary that the
stone should be turned one way and another in different positions,
before the person who consulted it gained the right focus; and then
the objects to be observed would sometimes shew themselves on the
surface of the stone, and sometime in different parts of the room by
virtue of the action of the stone. It had also this peculiarity, that
only one person, having been named as seer, could see the figures
exhibited, and hear the voices that spoke, though there might be
various persons in the room. It appears that the person who discerned
these visions must have his eyes and his ears uninterruptedly engaged
in the affair, so that, as Dee experienced, to render the communication
effectual, there must be two human beings concerned in the scene, one
of them to describe what he saw, and to recite the dialogue that took
place, and the other immediately to commit to paper all that his
partner dictated. Dee for some reason chose for himself the part of
the amanuensis, and had to seek for a companion, who was to watch the
stone, and repeat to him whatever he saw and heard.

It happened opportunely that, a short time before Dee received this
gift from on high, he contracted a familiar intercourse with one
Edward Kelly of Worcestershire, whom he found specially qualified to
perform the part which it was necessary to Dee to have adequately
filled. Kelly was an extraordinary character, and in some respects
exactly such a person as Dee wanted. He was just twenty-eight years
younger than the memorable personage, who now received him as an
inmate, and was engaged in his service at a stipulated salary of fifty
pounds a year.

Kelly entered upon life with a somewhat unfortunate adventure. He was
accused, when a young man, of forgery, brought to trial, convicted,
and lost his ears in the pillory. This misfortune however by no means
daunted him. He was assiduously engaged in the search for the
philosopher's stone. He had an active mind, great enterprise, and a
very domineering temper. Another adventure in which he had been
engaged previously to his knowledge of Dee, was in digging up the body
of a man, who had been buried only the day before, that he might
compel him by incantations, to answer questions, and discover future
events. There was this difference therefore between the two persons
previously to their league. Dee was a man of regular manners and
unspotted life, honoured by the great, and favourably noticed by
crowned heads in different parts of the world; while Kelly was a
notorious profligate, accustomed to the most licentious actions, and
under no restraint from morals or principle.

One circumstance that occurred early in the acquaintance of Kelly and
Dee it is necessary to mention. It serves strikingly to illustrate the
ascendancy of the junior and impetuous party over his more gifted
senior. Kelly led Dee, we are not told under what pretence, to visit
the celebrated ruins of Glastonbury Abbey in Somersetshire. Here, as
these curious travellers searched into every corner of the scene, they
met by some rare accident with a vase containing a certain portion of
the actual _elixir vitae_, that rare and precious liquid, so much
sought after, which has the virtue of converting the baser metals into
gold and silver. It had remained here perhaps ever since the time of
the highly-gifted St. Dunstan in the tenth century. This they carried
off in triumph: but we are not told of any special use to which they
applied it, till a few years after, when they were both on the
continent.

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