CHAPTER VI.

Trial of Skill between theThaumaturgists — It was admitted that the victor derived his Science from the Deity; but it was founded on Natural Philosophy — The proofs of which are derived: 1st. From the conduct of the Thaumaturgists — 2nd. From their own assertions regarding Magic, that the Genii invoked by the Magicians, sometimes signified the Physical or Chemical agents accessory to the Occult Science ; sometimes the men who cultivated that Science — 3rd. The Magic of the Chaldeans embraced all the Occult Sciences.
Wherever divisions arose in the sacerdotal colleges, on account of interests involving power or glory, then combats of skill, analogous to those that constituted the triumphs of Zoroaster were exhibited; the attendant consequences were, the infusion of greater energy and the addition of increased lustre to the Occult Sciences. The multitude, at once the dupes of credulity and the slaves of fear, willingly revered as prodigies, myste- rious omens, and miracles, the unusual phenomena of nature ; but the Thaumaturgist had a more difficult task, when enlightened men were to be at the same time his rivals and his judges. The marvellous was then inves- tigated with critical severity. The fleeting apparition
110 HOW DECIDED BY THE ANCIENTS.
was not admitted as sufficient proof of the miracle, but a permanent effect was required. The mirade was to be displayed not by such dexterity as the ordinary necromancer could boast;*' but by the most consum- mate skill. The prodigy was required to stand out in bold relief, and to display unusual characters ; and, above all, it was requisite that the omen should have been predicted by the Thaumaturgist, and that it should happen at the precise moment indicated by his prophecy.f
Victorious in the trial of skill, conducted in accordance with these laws, the Thaumaturgist had no difficulty in establishing his daim to be considered as the disciple and interpreter of the Divinity. In short, that piety, which referred to divine inspiration every token of virtue in the mind, or in the deeds of man, naturally led to the particular study, acquirement, and practice of the Occult Sciences. The finits of virtue, such as prudence, temperance, and courage, assimilate in degree, and, even between their most distinct extremes, admit of a parallel sufficiently palpable to exclude in general the necessity of imputing to them an extraneous origin ; it was not so with the results of science, always sur- rounded by the marvellous, its connection or reference to arts purely human, was studiously concealed.
These considerations, if we regard them without prejudice, would, I believe, absolve the Greek and Roman authors from the censure of having too readily
* In the present day, the Dalai-Lama punishes the priests of his religion, who deceive the people by swallowing knives or vomiting flames. — Timkowski, Voyage d. Piking tome i, p. 460.
t Rabbi Meiraldabic. Semit. fedei, lib. i. Gaulm. ii. De Vita etmorte Mosis, nota. p. 208 — 9.
THE ANCIENT BELIEF IN MIRACLES SINCERE. 1 1 1
admitted into their narrations, pretended miracles only worthy of contempt. They not only believed, but they felt an obligation imposed on them to transmit to posterity those which their own religion required them to hold in reverencBi as well as those consecrated by the worship of other nations. In performing this duty, and knowing, or at least suspecting the connection of miracles, with a mysterious knowledge emanating as they believed from the Gods, they, by their fidelity in detailing such miracles, preserved the history of their faith from oUivion.
Charlatanism or jugglery certainly intermingled with the operations of the Thaumattirgists as we shall have occasion to prove. But the tricks of legerdemain, sometimes truly astounding, that are exhibited by modem impostors in our theatres and public places, are not unfrequendy founded on chemical and physical fects connected with magnetism, galvanism, electricity, and diemistry; although the vulgar charlatan depends for the secret of these deceptions merely on the possession of recipes, which only teach 'him how to practice; but this does not entitie us to deny that the principles, whence such recipes are derived, should be ranked among the Sciences.
And this is what we discov^ in the temples as soon as the first glimmerings of historical light enable us to penetrate their obscurity. It is impossible to devote oneself to researches connected with the origin of the sciences, without perceiving that in the depth of these sanctuaries alone, one vast branch of ancient lore flourished ; and that this one constituted an all-important part of the mysteries of religion. All miracles, which
112 MAGIC A PART OF SACERDOTAL LORE.
cannot be referred to adroitness or imposture, were the fruits of this secret science ; they were, in short, real experiments in physics. The processes by which their success was to be secured formed an essential part of sacerdotal education. Who, it may be asked, originally conceived and arranged these scientific formularies? Was it not the philosophical guardians of a code of doctrines recognized by their disciples under the name of Magic, Theurgic Philosophy,* and the Transcendental Science ?
Why did Mahomet refuse to work miracles, declaring that the Almighty had denied to him the power? We may reply, because the Occult Science of the Thaumatur- gists was unknown to him.t Why, in our own times, did Swedenborg surrounded by truly enlightened spectators, have recourse to a similar subterfuge, and affirm that his revelations being a sufficient miracle, those who refused to credit them, would not yield to the prodigies which they demanded as proofs of their truth ?{ We may also reply, because he was aware the time for miracles was over. It is said mankind are too enlight- ened to believe in them. Is not this in other terms, to say, that that which constitutes a secret science, reserved exclusively for some privileged beings, has now stepped
* Theurgy is defined, " the power of performing supernatural acts by lawful means, as by prayer to the Deity." — Ed.
t This is too severe a censure on Mahomet, who, if we fully concur in his condemnation as an impostor, cannot be charged with making his ignorance the reason for not extending his impos- tures. It is a charge for which the author has no authority. — ^Ed.
t Swedenborg. Vera. Christ. Relat. p. 846, 850. De calo et inferno prdsfatio. Ahr4g4 des ouvrages de Swedenborg, par Daillant Latouche, 8vo. 1788, p. 37. 38, 293, 294.
WORKS OF ART REFERRED TO MAGIC. 113 .
into the vast domain of general science, accessible to all inquiring minds. Let us examine this opinion in its consequences. There can be no hesitation in admitting that four descriptions of prodigies narrated by the ancients cannot be rejected, and, therefore, that they ought at once to be acknowledged as facts..
1st. Arts, which come into common use, may pass for Divination or Magic, as long as the secret of displaying them is confined to a few individuals^ «
On Mount Larysium, in Laconia, the feast of Bacchus was celebrated in the commencement of spring; and ripe grapes were produced at this season to bear testimony to the power and beneficence of the God.* The priests of Bacchus were probably acquainted with the use of hot-houses and stoves.
Industrious men had carried the arts of working in iron into the Islands of Cyprus and of Rhodes ; an ingenious allegory personified them under the name of TelchineSy Children of the Sun the Father of Fire, and of Minerva the Goddess of the Arts.t Ignorance and Fear added to the terror with which those who first appeared in arms were regarded ; and they were looked upon as magicians, whose very glance was to be guarded against.
* Pausanias, Laconia, cap. xzii.
t The name Telchines, was in reality derived from Telchinia, the ancient name of the Island of Crete, whence the Telchines originally emigrated to Rhodes. They were skilful workmen and the inventors of many useful arts, and were also the first who raised statues to the Gods. Ovid* bestows upon them the power of assuming various shapes, of fascinating all animals with their eyes, and of causing hail and rain to fall when they pleased. Jupiter, envious of their power, destroyed them by a deluge. — Ed. ^ Metam. vn. 365.
VOL. I. I
114 WORKS OF ART REFERRED TO MAGIC.
Acquainted with the treatment of metals, the Fins also figure, in the early poetry of Scandinavia, as sorce- rer-dwarfs, dwelling in the depths of the mountains. Two dwarfs inhabiting the mountains of Kallova, and skilful in forging and fabricating arms, consented, on hard conditions, to initiate the blacksmith Wailand, into the secrets of their art ; on which account he acquired much fame in the legends of the North for the excel- lency of the arms which he furnished to the warrior.*
In the esteem of men who knew only how to combat, the perfection of defensive armour and offensive weapons was so important, as to lead them to refer the art, which produced them, to supernatural agency. Enchanted arms, bucklers, cuirasses, hehnets, on which every dart was blunted, every lance broken ; swords which pierced and could dissever any suit of armour, do not only be- long to the romances-of Europe and of Asia, but they originated under the hammer of Vulcan; and their value was recited in the songs of Virgil, in the immor- tal verses of Homer, and also in the Sagas. Such arms were said to be fabricated by necromancers, or men who succeeded in obtaining the secrets of those wonder-workers.
2nd. The works of magic were circumscribed within the limits of science: and beyond these, ignorance was forced to supplicate its aid. Indeed, the bio- grapher of Apollonius of Tyana, ridicules the sense- lessness of those, who expected through magic to gain the crown in the combats of the Circus; or to
* Depping, M^moires de la Soci^td des Antiquaires de France, tome V. p. 223.
CONTE£rrS OF MAGICIANS. 115
ensure success in their love; or in their oommerdal speculations."^
3rd. In the trials of strength^ when opposing interests were to be settled between those who were the guardians and depositaries of the Occult Science ; as it was feared, that the limits of magical resource might be accidentally exposed to the profane and iminitiated, a tacit, formal compact existed among theThaumaturgists themselves, in the observance of which the interest of all, even the most exasperated rivals, was involved.
The Greek mythology did not admit one Deity to interfere with, or subvert the schemes or operations of another: and the same reciprocal safe-guard may be traced through most of the fairy tales, which have been borrowed from early tradition and handed down to us by our ancestors. At an epoch greatly antecedent to the first Odin, the heroic history of the north speaks of the cruel fate of a female magician ,t sentenced to a barbarous death by her whole tribe, for having instructed a Prince, whom she loved, in the means of contro- verting the schemes of a magician who was bent on his destruction. In a collection of wonderful tales of undoubted Hindoo origin}, we find a female magician,
* Pbilostxat. Vit, Apollon. lib. vii. cap. xvi.
t Saxo Grammaticus, Hist, dan. lib. i.
X The Hindoo origin of the Thousand and One Nights, main- tained by Hammer and Langl^s, is denied by M. Silvestre de Sacy, who ascribes the composition of this collection to a Syrian Mussulman, of no earlier era than four centuries ago. {Memoir read at the Acad6nie des Inscriptions et des Belles- Let tres, 3 1st July, 1829). That four hundred years ago, a compiler may have disse-
i2
116 CONTESTS OF MAGICIANS.
and one of the genii, strongly opposed to each other iih their inclinations, yet bound, by a solemn treaty, restrain- ing each from any contravention of their schemes ; or from injuring the person of the other party. But, notwith- standing this agreement, they attempted to conquer each other, by other means; but, neither consenting to yield, they ended by fighting outright, throwing
minated a collection of such of these tales as are known in Arabia and in Syria, is possible ; that he was a Mussulman, is evident from the pains he has taken to introduce Mussulmen, throughout the whole, with a total disregard of time or of country ; but it may still be asked,^ is this writer the original author ? I reply in the negative, because, 1st. Several of the narratives here brought together, may be found in the collections of the Hindoos, and of the Persians, which are of an earlier period, than the supposed date of this writer. 2nd. Judaism and Christianity were well known in Syria and in Arabia ; and the disciples of both, but espe- cially those of Christianity, must have played some part in tales invented within four himdred years, that is to say, nearly two centuries after the last of those famous Holy Wars, in which the standard of the Cross had more than once driven back the ensigns of Islamism, and yet we find no notice of other adversa- ries to the disciples of Mahomet than magicians and evil genii. 3rd. We retrace here the traditional existence in Asia, of pigmies ; men who have their heads beneath their shoulders ; and others having the head of a dog ; traditions which some very ancient Greek authors had gathered from the East ; but which had been subsequently, voted to oblivion, as absurd fables. 4th. Their Hindoo origin is evident ; from the history of the Brahman Pad- Manaba, a favourite of the God Vishnou (Fourteenth Night). A Mussulman could never have invented a fable so contrary to his own creed. If the Syrian compiler introduced it without mutilation, it undoubtedly was admitted because the grounds of it were too familiar and too popular to risk any alteration.
CONTESTS OF MAGICIANS. 117
about jets of burning matter, which killed and wounded several spectators, and finally put an end to both combatants.*
If, instead of beings endowed with pretended super- natural powers, we substitute men Uke ourselves; the process and the result would have proved nearly the same. They only differed in one respect, namely, in the blind- ness of their fury, at the risk of betraying a secret which it was their interest to preserve, they employed weapons prohibited among magicians, and exhibited themselves to the vulgar, mortally wounded by the same magical implements which their prudence should have reserved to terrify or to punish the uninitiated.
4th. In such struggles, the triumph of aThaumaturgist might possibly appear to his adversary less decisive than it would to his partizans ; particularly when the pretended miracle had been one of his own choosing, and one which he defied his rival to imitate : his antagonist might indeed recover his superiority by displaying, in his turn^ a proof of his power which should secure to him the victory.
Nothing is better adapted to confirm these ideas than a glance at the manner in which the ancient magicians worked. Their art does not appear to have been the result of natural genius, nor assuredly of supernatural power ; but of the knowledge of secrets painfully acquired and with difficulty preserved. To work magically, there- fore, to conjure genii, or, so to invoke the Gods as to constrain them to apparent obedience, required very
* Mille et une Nuits, 4e Nuit, tome i. p. 318, (5e Nuit)^ ibid. p. 320—322.
118 SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE.
extensive preparations ; but over the nature and opera- tion of these, the veil of mystery was thrown. Plants and animals, collected in secret, were in various ways combined and subjected to the action of fire; and scarcely one step was taken without the assistance of some formulary, or the consultation of books, the loss of which was almost equivalent to the loss of all magic power. Such were the sources of the power of the greater number of the Thaumaturgists, who were truly scholars of natural philosophy, and who were forced continually to seek in their sacred volumes the prescriptions, without which they could neither properly work out their charms nor display their delusions.
Traces of the existence of these books are found among a people fallen, in the present age, into the most lamentable barbarism, but whose traditions are con-i nected with a very ancient and probably an advanced state of civilization.* The Baschkirs believe that the black bookSy the text of which they allege originated in hell, give to their possessor, provided he is capable of interpreting them, an absolute empire over nature and demons. These books, together with the power which they conferred, generally descended by inheritance to the individual among the pupils of their possessor, whom he judged most worthy to succeed him.f Sound works on physics and on chemistry, as applied to the arts,
* The Baschkirs, like the Laplanders, the Bouraetes, the Os- tiaks, and the Samoiedes have, from time immemorial, made use of hereditary family names. (E. Salverte, Essai sur les Noms d^ Homines, de Peuples, et de Lieux, tome i. p. 143).
t Annalen der Erd-, Volker- und Staaten-Kunde,
SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE. 119
might replace, with advantage the magic books of the Baschkirs : but we are still not much in the advance of the tune, in which certain persons, indifferent as to either the^ enlightenment or the ignorance of mankind, would have assumed that such works could only emanate from the principle of evil. Let us now, however, consult the Thaumaturgists themselves on the nature of their art,
Apollonius* denied that he was of the number of the magicians: they are, says he, only the artizans of miracles. They are often stranded in their attempts; but when they fail, they acknowledge that they have n^lected to employ such a substance, or to bum such another. Inexpert charlatans, who permit the mechanism of their miracles to be seen ! Apollonius himself boasted that his science was the gift of God, the reward of his piety, his self-denial, and his austerity : and in order to produce miraculous effects, he needed neither preparations nor sacrifice. His presumption, which equalled that of the Hindoo penitents, merely proves that he was a more accomplished Thaumaturgist, and one who could boast of a higher knowledge of his art than those whom he depreciated. What he says of the ordinary Thaumaturgist confirms our former assumption, that the sect were mere labourers in natural philosophy.
Chaer^mon, a priest, and sacred writer {scriba sacer) taught the art of invoking the Gods, so as to force them to perform the miracles demanded of them. Porphyry,!
* Philostrat. vit. ApoUon, lib. i. cap. ii.
t Porphyry was bom at Tyre in the year 233. He became a pupil of Origen, and afterwards of Longinus, who named him Porphyrins, implying " man in purple," or adorned with a kingly
120 SOURCES OP MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE.
in refuting Chaer^on, af&nns that the Gods them- selves taught men the ceremonies and the spells by which they might be conjured.* But this is merely the attack of one school upon another; a strife of words. The beings who obeyed the invocation were not those who dictated the rites by which the invocation was to be expressed. lamblicus enables us to recognize a distinction between them.
In the attempt to explain the manner by which a man may acquire an influence over the genii, lamblicus arranges these deities in two divisions ; the one higher divinities, from whom nothing could be obtained, but through prayer and the practice of virtue : these were the Gods of Porphyry. The other subordinate, corres- ponding to theobedient deities of Chaer^mon, and they are thus described by the Theurgist, " spirits devoid of reason or discernment, and of intelligence; and cmly brought forward for particular purposes, although gifted with power in some measure greater than that which man possesses ; yet, they are forced to exercise their peculiar functions at his command, because he is en- dowed with reason and discernment, of which they are devoid; and which enable him to ascertain, and to amalgamate the properties of various existences."t Let
robe. His original name was Melech, wliich is the Syrian for King. He died at Rome, a.d. 804, towards the conclusion of the reign of Diocletian. He is chiefly celebrated for his writings against Christianity. — Ed.
* Euseb. Prop, Evang. lib. v. cap. viii. ix. x. xi.
t lamblicus, De Mygteriis, cap. xxxi. Invocationes et opera hominum adversus spiritua. • . " Est etiam aliud genus spirituum. . . indiicretum et inconHderatum, quod unam numero potentiam est
SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE. 121
US suppose that we are attending a lecture on chemistry and natural philosophy. " There exist," the professor may say, " substances capable of producing extraordinary results, incapable of being effected by man, when assisted only by his natural faculties; such as eUdting sparks from ice, or the production of ice in a heated atmosphere : effects which have been produced although the substances displaying them operate without design and without discernment. Blind agents in themselves, they become miraculous instruments of power in the hands of the man, who, by the deductions of science, possesses the secret of skilfully applying their properties, and making them subservient to his purposes."* The
ftortitum. . . unde tinum uni tantum open addictum est. . . Jussa et imperia violenta diriguntur ad spiritus nee utentes pro- prid ratione, nee judicii discretionisque principium possidentes. Cum enim cogitatio nostra habeat ratiocinandi, naturam atque discemendi quii res ratione se habet. . . spiritibus imperare solet, non utentibus ralione et ad unam tantum actionem determinatis. . . imperat, quia natura nostra intellectualis praestantior est quam intellectu carens, et si illud in mundo latiorem habeat actionem.'* * At the meeting of the British Association, at Cambridge, in June, 1845, Professor Butigny amused the ladies by producing ice in a vessel at a glowing red heat. This was performed by making a deep platinum capsule red-hot ; and, at the same moment, liquid sulphurous acid, which had been preserved in the liquid state by a freezing mixture, and some water, were poured into the vessel. The rapid evaporation of the sulphurous acid during its volatilization wlien it entered into ebullition, a state which takes place at the freezing point, produced such an intense degree of cold, that a large lump of ice was immediately formed ; and, being thrown out of the red-hot vessel, was handed round to the com- pany in the section. How powerful would have been the influence of such an experiment, if asserted to be a miracle, in a Pagan sanctuary. — Ed.
122 SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE.
professor may thus display with precision, latent influences rendered active in the service of chemistry and of philosophy ; and all that he can say of them has been said by lamblicus, touching the genii of the second order.
The professor may then continue : — " When an ignorant person tries an experiment, without closely following processes which are put down for him, he will assuredly fail, if the employment of one only of the substances prescribed by science is neglected/' If for the words ignorant persons, experiment, process, and substances, we substitute profane, religious observances, rites, divinities, or genii, the professor will have spoken as if he had translated two passages from lamblicus, on the course to be followed in working miracles.*
Among the genii obedient to magical power, we are informed that some were to be conjured in the Egyptian, some in the Persian language.f Is not this a demon- stration that the ceremonies were preserved in the formulary of the philosophers, which each temple pre- served in their sacred language, so as to make them practical. The Egyptian priests worked a miracle by a process of which the Persian priests were ignorant ; while the latter either worked the same miracle by a different process, or set up another miracle equally brilliant in opposition to it.
To the mind that revolts at the idea of exalting physical agents into supernatural powers, let us exhibit
* Quando profani tractant sacra contra ritus, frustratur eventus. lamblich, DeMysteriiSfCSiip, xxx. " Uno praetermisso niimine sine ritu, communis ipsa Religio finem non hahet,** ibid. cap. xxxiii.
t Origen, contr, Cels, lib. i.
SOURCES OF MAOICAL KNOWLEDGE. 123
the divination based on the most simple operations of industry. What among the Romans, the disciples of those Etruscans who derived their original civilization from religion, and ascribed to it their entire existence, were the Gods to whom the Flamen appealed, at the feast celebrated in honour of Terra, the Earth, and the Goddess of Agriculture ? We recognize them by their names. The first was VervatoVy implying the ploughing of the fallow land ; the second, ReparatoTy labour ; the third, Imporcitor, the sowing of the seed ; the fourth, Insitor, the operation which covers the seed ; the fifth, ObaratOTy harmony ; the sixth, Occator, the weeding with the hoe; and the seventh, Sarritofy the second weeding, and so on.* The priest only enumerated the operations of agriculture, and superstition converted them into divinities. The same superstition, regarded as a supernatural being the man whose talents pro- duced works above the ordinary capacity of his fellow mortals.
The art of treating metals was deified under the name of Vulcan. The Telchines, the earliest artificers in iron known among the Greeks, were at first regarded as magicians, but subsequently looked upon as demi gods, genii, and malevolent demons. The Fifes, (fairies, fayes, or genii)t were famed in Scotland as excelling in
* Servius in Virgil. Georgic. lib. i. vers. 21. et seq. et Varro de Re rust. lib. i. cap. i. The names of the other divinities were Subruncinator, Messor, Convector, Conditor, Promitor. The improvement of the soil was also under a divinity named SteT" guilinius, or, StercUinius.
t There is no part of the world, and no portion of the history of the human race, that is devoid of superstitious observances ;
124 SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE.
art.* And to a similar belief we, probably, owe the proverbial expression * to work like fayes.' " The
and the predilection for the wild, the wonderfol, and the terrihle may be regarded as universal. Even in the present day, when Science and a rational Theology have dissipated, in a great degree, these illusions, stiU the vestiges of them remain, and impress sentiments which although they are endeavoured to be concealed, yet, are strongly felt.
No subject would be more interesting than an inquiry into the origin of the superstitions of uncivilized tribes : but it is of too com- prehensive a character to be entered upon in this place ; we shall, therefore, content ourselves with tracing, to their birth place, a few of the most popular delusions in the olden times of our own country. TheFayes and Fairies are evidently of Scandinavian origin, although the name of Fairy, is supposed to be derived from, or rather a modification of the Persian Peri, an imaginary benevolent being, whose province it was to guard men from the maledictions of evil spirits ; but with more probability it may be referred to the Gothic Fagur, as the term Elves is from Alfa, the general appellation for the whole tribe. If this derivation of the name of Fairy be admitted, we may date the commencement of the popular belief in British Fairies to the period of the Danish conquest. They were supposed to be diminutive aerial beings, beautiful, lively, and beneficent in their intercourse with mortals,' inhabiting a region called Fairy
[Land
* Suidaa verbo Telchines. See the article on Telchines in the Dictionnaireg de la Fable de Noel et de Chompr4 et Millin, — Men who attached to the worship of nature, or the Goddess of the Earth, (Cyb61e, Magna Mater, etc. ), mtroduced into many places the art of working in metals ; and were known in different coun- tries under different names— Telchines, Curates, Idsean Dactyles, Corybantes, etc. ; but all pertained to the same priesthood, and transmitted their knowledge from generation to generation. It is on this account, that ancient writers sometimes confound them, and at other times assert that some were the ancestors of others. Diod. Sic. Strabo. Pausanius.
■ Remains of Kirk White, vol. i. p. 34.
SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE. 125
gnomes,'^ say the Cabalists, *^ are people of small stature, guardians of bidden treasures, of mines, and of
Land, Alf-heirmer ; commonly appearing on earth at intervals — -when they left traces of their visits, in beautiful green-rings, where the dewy sward had been trodden in their moonlight dances. The investigations of science have traced these rings to a species of fungus, Agaricus oreades ; but imagination still leads us, willingly, back to the traditional appearances of these diminutive beings in the train of their Queen ; and, whilst in the mind's eye, we see her asleep, cradled on a bed of violets, ever canopied
" With sweet musk roses and with eglantine/'
we also behold her tiny followers dancing away the midnight hours to the sound of the most enchanting music. In Scotland the exist- ence of Fairies was believed in the seventeenth century ; and in some places in the Highlands, the belief is not yet extinct.^ No idea is attempted to be given of the situation of the **^tJountree of Fairie ;" but the favourite haunts of its people on earth are green hills romantic glens, and inaccessible water-falls. At a linn, or water- fell on the river Crichup in Dumfriesshire, is a cell or cave, called the Elfs Kirk, where the fairy people, " the imaginary inhabitants of the linn were supposed to hold their meetings."" So late as 1586, a woman named Alison Pearson, was tried, convicted and burnt, for holding intercourse with and visiting her Majesty of Faire land. The indictment runs thus : " for banting and repair- ing with the gude neighbours, and Queene of Elfland, thir divers years by-past, as she had confest ; and that she had friends in that court, which were of her own blude, who had gude acquaint- ance of the Queene of Elfland ; and that she was seven years ill handled in the court of Elfland." Can a stronger proof be adduced of the awful abusfe of power into which mortals may be betrayed, when the mind is enfeebled by credulity and superstition ?
[One ' Sinclair's Statistical account of Scotland, vol. xiii. p. 243.
b
Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii. p. 206.
126 SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE.
precious stones : they are an ingenious race^ friendly to mankind, and providing the children of the wise with
One of the tricks of the Scottish elves, for they were not always heneficent, was stealing new-bom infants and replacing them with monsters. These thefts were committed in order to enable them to pay tithe to the Devil with the stolen child instead of one of their own brood, a tribute which they were obliged to pay every seventh year. A beautiful child, of Caerlaveroc, in Nithsdale, was thus changed, on the second day of its birth, and its place supplied by a hideous elf. The servant to whom the changeling was entrusted in the absence of her mistress, however, discovered the trick. She could not perform her other work owing to the fretfulness of the changeling ; but the elf, hearing her complain, started up and per- formed all her work, and on her mistresses approach returned to to the cradle. She told her mistress her discovery, and at the same time said : * Til wirk a pirn for the wee did/ With this intention she barred every outlet in the room ; and, when the em- bers were glowing, undressed the elf, and threw it upon the fire. It uttered the wildest and most piercing yells, and in a moment the fairies were heard moaning, and rattling at the window boards and the door. ' In the name o'God bring back the bairn,' cried the servant : — ^the window flew up ; the earthly child was laid un- harmed on the mother's lap, while its grisly substitute flew up the chimney with a loud laugh."'
Another description of Scottish elves was the Brownies ; a race of beings both diminutive and gigantic, benevolent and knavish. The former was the most common, and are described by Mr. Cromek** as, " small of stature, covered with short curly hair, with brown matted locks, and clad in a brown mantle which reached to the knee, with a hood of the same colour." They were fond of sweet cream, honey, and other dainties, portions of all of which were generally left for them, as if by accident, in some part of the dwelling ; the brownies being forbidden by the higher powers to accept of wages
[or
* Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, p 308. ^ Cromek's Remains, p. 330, et seq.
i
SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWL EDGE. 127
all the money they require."* Credulity peopled the mines in several countries of Eiu'ope with genii ; th^
or bribes. They, nevertheless, revenged themselves when inten- tionally neglected, and they could
" Bootless make the breathless housewife chum ; And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm." This brownie was the same kind of sprite as the gobHn-groom of the English, " who," says Dr. Hibbert, " was an inmate of many houses so late as the seventeenth century ;"• and also the same as a sprite named Putscet, whom the Samogitse, a people on the shores of the Baltic — who remained idolaters in the fifteenth century — invoked to live with them ; and for whom, according to Mr. Douce,** a table, covered with bread, butter, cheese, and ale, was placed every night in the bam ; and which, we may ven- ture to add, was regularly cleared before morning. The northern nations regc^ded these sprites as the souls of men of libertine habits, doomed to wander on the earth, and to labour for mankind, for a certain time, as a punishment of their crimes.^ In Orkney and Shetland, the belief in such sprites continued even in the eighteenth century. *' A domestic spirit of this kind," says Dr. Hibbert, " was the inmate of the house of Ollaberry about a century ago."
In Shetland we find numerous traditions of the Duergar, or Scandinavian dwarfs, under the name of Trows. They are stated to be malevolent beings, partaking of the nature of men in having material bodies, and of the nature of spirits in the power of making themselves invisible. Besides the name Tr&wSy they are also called familiarly guide folk; and are still beheved to exist. They live on beef and mutton, and drink milk like mortals; are much addicted to music and dancing; and are great quacks*
[compounding
*
■ Hibbert*s Description of the Shetland Islands, p. 467. ^ Illustrations of Shakespeare, ^ Olaus Magnus.
* Revue EncyclopMque, tome xxxi. p. 714. Le Comie de Ca- balis, ou Entretiens sur les Sciences secretes. Second entretien, pages 48 et 49.
128 SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE.
were known under the appearance of small, but robust brown men, always prepared to punish the indiscretion of the profane person that intruded on their labours. All that has been said of these genii, or gnomes, might hold good of the miners themselves, at a time when their art, pursued in obscurity, was exclusively destined to increase the riches, and maintain the power of the enlightened classes. But the veil of allegory, which graced the tales* of the East, is now rent, and the labourers in the iron mines are no longer the genii of these subterranean workshops. Sensitive as they are described to have been to the kindness of Princes, who
compounding many salves, and performing many special miracu- lous cures. Like the English fiedries, they are also addicted to the stealing of children, and leaving their own unholy progeny in their places.
" While around the thoughtless matrons sleep. Soft o'er the floor the treacherous fairies creep.
And hear the smiling infant far away : How starts the nurse, when, for the lovely child. She sees at dawn a gaping idiot stare. '
It is melancholy to reflect that these superstitions still exist in any portion of the British Empire. That they were not expelled when Christianity was introduced into Shetland, is attributed by Dr. Hibbert, to their being " conveniently subservient to the oflice of exorcism, which constituted a lucrative part of the emo- luments of the inferior CathoHc clergy* with which Orkney and Shetland were at one time overrun."'* The whole history of these imaginary beings is, indeed, a melancholy picture of human reason degraded to a state of the most abject slavery beneath the t3n:anny of Credulity and Superstition. — Ed.
■ Erskine's additions to Collins' Ode on the Superstitions of the Highlands*
^ Hibbert's Scotland, p. 451.
* Thousand and one Nights,
SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE. 129
instituted festivals in their honour, they no longer hasten to their aid when their necessities are great, nor can they now be saved by their grateful intervention.
We may sometimes trace the means by which such metamorphoses were accomplished.* Agamede, in Homer, implies a woman devoted to the good of others, and intimately acquainted with the properties of all medicinal herbs. Orpheus, a wise emissary of the Gods,t who, by the charms of metrical verse, and the harmony of language, drew around him the rude people whom he came to civilize, as well as the wild beasts of the forest.J The historians, quoted by Diodorus, represent the mysterious arts of Circe and Medea as purely natural,} especially where their know- ledge rested on the efficacy of poisons and their antidotes: but mythology has, nevertheless, preserved the reputation of iEetes' daughter as an invincible magician. The poets, who succeeded Homer, represent Orpheus as b^g versed in Magic : || and Theocritus describes Agamede as the rival of Circe and Medea^ in the magical arts.
The Egyptian priests, who ranked next in order to
* Homer. Odyss. lib. iv. v. 226. Iliad, lib. xi. v. 737—739.
t Horat. De Art. Poet. vers. 390—393.
X Pausanius asserts that he was deeply versed in magic. Many, among whom Aristotle is placed by Cicero, doubted altogether the existence of Orpheus : but there are many reasons for believ- ing that such a person existed, without crediting the absurd legends interwoven with the traditions concerning him. — Ed.
§ Diod. Sic. Kb. ii. cap. i. et vi.
II Euripid. Iphigen. in Aulid, vers. 11, 12. Cyclop, vers. 642.
f Theocrit. Idyll ii. vers. 15—16. VOL. I. K
130 SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE.
the sovereign Pontiff, are called maigicians in the ordinary translations of Exodus, while their arts are styled enchantments. Mr. Drummond,* an archseologisty who has made deep researches into the language and history of the Hebrews, considers these interpretations as incorrect: according to him the text implies secret, not magical working; and the title of the priests chartomi, derived from a word which signifies to engrave hieroglyphics, expresses nothing further than the knowledge they possessed of hieroglyphics in general.
Who, we may inquire, were the prophets consulted by Pythagoras at Sidon ; and from whom he received sacred instructions? They were the descendants of Mochu$,f the physiologist, a sage, deefdy versed in the phenomena of nature ; and the inheritors of the knowledge of his science. If Justin does not scruple to admit the reality of the greater proportbn of the miracles ascribed to ApoUonius of Tyana, he could have observed in them only dazzling proofs of the noble science of the Thaumaturgists. |
In conclusion, the learned Moses Maimonides $ has demonstrated that the groimd-work of Chaldean Magic lay substantially in an extensive acquaintance with the resources of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. One object of such knowledge was to acquire the power of indicating the propitious time when the magical results
* Mr. Drummond. Memoir on the Antiquity of the Zodiacs of Esneh and Dendera, Svo. Jjondun, 1823, pages 19, 21.
t He was a native of Sidon, and is regarded as the founder of the philosophy of anatomy. — Ed.
X S. Justin. Qtt€8t. et Repond, ad Orthodox, Quest. 24.
$ Moses Maimonides. More Nevochim, lib. iii. cap. xxxvii.
SOURCES OF BfAGICAL KNOWLEDGE. 131
might be expected ; that is to say, the moment in which the season, the temperature, and the state of the atmos- phere, gave a reasonable hope of success, in working by means of physical and chemical agents ; or which aided the learned observer in predicting natural phenomena, that could not be foreseen by the multitude. Intro- duced into the sanctuary of the Occult Science, the mystery of Magic vanishes : we see in it only the school where the various branches of natural science were taught; and we admit in their literal sense all the assertions of mythology and of history, regard- ing men and women invested by the talented foun- ders with the possession of their secret, and who not unfrequently became superior to their masters. To this end, it was sufficient, after having submitted to trials imposed with a view of insuring discretion, that the pupil should give himself up to the zealous study of the Secret Science ; • and his perseverance and capacity only could enable him to extend its limits ; the advan- tages of which he afterwards reserved to himself, or partially communicated to the objects of his particular regard.
K 2
122 SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE.
professor may thus display with precision, latent influences rendered active in the service of chemistry and of philosophy ; and all that he can say of them has been said by lamblicus, touching the genii of the second order.
The professor may then continue : — " When an ignorant person tries an experiment, without closely following processes which are put down for him, he will assuredly faU, if the employment of one only of the substances prescribed by science is neglected." If for the words ignorant persons, experiment, process, and substances, we substitute profane, religious observances, rites, divinities, or genii, the professor will have spoken as if he had translated two passages from lamblicus, on the course to be followed in working miracles.*
Among the genii obedient to magical power, we are informed that some were to be conjured in the Egyptian, some in the Persian language.f Is not this a demon- stration that the ceremonies were preserved in the formulary of the philosophers, which each temple pre- served in their sacred language, so as to make them practical. The Egyptian priests worked a miracle by a process of which the Persian priests were ignorant ; while the latter either worked the same miracle by a different process, or set up another miracle equally brilliant in opposition to it.
To the mind that revolts at the idea of exalting physical agents into supernatural powers, let us exhibit
* Quando profani tractant sacra contra ritus, frustratur eventus. lamhlich. De Mysteriis, ca.ip. xxx. " Uno praetermisso numine sine ritu, communis ipsa Religio finem non hahet'* ibid. cap. xxxiii.
t Origen, contr. Cels, lib. i.
SOURCES OF MAOICAL KNOWLEDGE. 123
the divination based on the most simple operations of industry. What among the Romans, the disciples of those Etruscans who derived their original civilization from religion, and ascribed to it their entire existence, were the Gods to whom the Mamen appealed, at the feast celebrated in honour of Terra, the Earth, and the Goddess of Agriculture ? We recognize them by their names. The first was Vervator, implying the ploughing of the fallow land ; the second, Reparator^ labour ; the third, ImporcitoTj the sowing of the seed ; the fourth, Insitor^ the operation which covers the seed ; the fifth, ObaratoVy harmony ; the sixth, Occator, the weeding with the hoe; and the seventh, Sarritory the second weeding, and so on.* The priest only enumerated the operations of agriculture, and superstition converted them into divinities. The same superstition, regarded as a supernatural being the man whose talents pro- duced works above the ordinary capacity of his fdlow mortals.
The art of treating metals was deified under the name of Vidcan. The Telchines, the earliest artificers in iron known among the Greeks, were at first regarded as magicians, but subsequently looked upon as demi gods, genii, and malevolent demons. The Rfes, (fairies, fayes, or genii)t were famed in Scotland as excelling in
* Servius in Virgil. Georgic, lib. i. vera. 21. et seq. et Varro de Re rust, Hb. i. cap. i. The names of the other divinities were Suhrundnator, Messor, Convector, Conditor, Promitor, The improvement of the soil was also under a divinity named SteT'- quilinius, or, Stercilinius.
t There is no part of the world, and no portion of the history of the human race, that is devoid of superstitious observances ;
122 SOURCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLEDGE.
professor may thus display with precision, latent influences rendered active in the service of chemistry and of philosophy ; and all that he can say of them has been said by lamblicus, touching the genii of the second order.
The professor may then continue : — " When an ignorant person tries an experiment, without closely following processes which are put down for him, he will assuredly fail, if the employment of one only of the substances prescribed by science is neglected." If for the words ignorant persons, experiment, process, and substances, we substitute profane, religious observances, rites, divinities, or genii, the professor will have spoken as if he had translated two passages from lamblicus, on the course to be followed in working miracles.*
Among the genii obedient to magical power, we are informed that some were to be conjured in the Egyptian, some in the Persian language.f Is not this a demon- stration that the ceremonies were preserved in the formulary of the philosophers, which each temple pre- served in their sacred language, so as to make them practical. The Egyptian priests worked a miracle by a process of which the Persian priests were ignorant ; while the latter either worked the same miracle by a different process, or set up another miracle equally brilliant in opposition to it.
To the mind that revolts at the idea of exalting physical agents into supernatural powers, let us exhibit
* Quando profani tractant sacra contra ritus, frustratur eventus. lamblich, De Mysteriis, c&p. xxx. " Uno praetermisso niimine sine ritu, communis ipsa Religio finem non kabet,*' ibid. cap. xxxiii.
t Origen, contr. Cels. lib. i.
SOUBCES OF MAGICAL KNOWLBDOE. 123
the divination based on the most simple operations of industry. What among the Romans, the disciples of those Etruscans who derived their original civilization from religion, and ascribed to it their entire existence, were the Gods to whom the Flamen appealed, at the feast celebrated in honour of Terra, the Earth, and the Goddess of Agriculture ? We recognize them by their names. The first was VervatoTy implying the ploughing of the fallow land ; the second, Reparator, labour ; the third, Impordtor, the sowing of the seed ; the fourth, Insitor^ the operation which covers the seed ; the fifth, OharatoTy harmony ; the sixth, Occator^ the weeding with the hoe ; and the seventh, Sarritor, the second weeding, and so on.* The priest only enumerated the operations of agriculture, and superstition converted them into divinities. The same superstition, regarded as a supernatural being the man whose talents pro- duced works above the ordinary capacity of his fellow mortals.
The art of treating metals was deified under the name of Vidcan. The Telchines, the earliest artificers in iron known among the Greeks, were at nrst regarded as magidans, but subsequently looked uprjn as demi gods, aad malevolent demons. The Fifes, (fairies, fayes, famed in Sexitland as excelling in
i/ffic. lib. 1. vern. l^l. et «eq, et Varro
Tlie namei of tlie otlmr divinities
% Cmvector, Cmdiiur, PronUtor. The
WK» also under i. divinity named Ster-
the worlil, and no portion of the history in dcvmi i}( >*injfrBiiiious observances ;
136 DECEPTIONS OF THAUMATURGISTS.
during the annual fair, the warder of the castle causes blood to be sprinkled on the floor of the room, where the Duke of Guise was murdered; and this is exhi- bited to the curious, as the blood of this martyr of the League. It is scarcely necessary to say that the histories of all such relics are alike.
The head of a statue, struck by lightning, fell into the bed of the Tiber; the augurs indicated the spot where it iiiight be found, and the event confirmed their prediction.* Without doubt, they had previously taken infallible mea- sures to ascertain the fact; and had pursued the same measures, which at various periods, in other countries have discovered to us so many holy, and curious images, in grottoes, in forests, and in the channels of rivers.f In short, we might refer to what happened a very short time since, when a rabbit, a dog, and two oxen, revealed to the adoration of the Portuguese, a Madonna, to whom soon afterwards solemn thanks were offered up for the destruction of men, who would have rescued the people from the bondage of ignorance and of fanaticism. In
9th of March, 1566. The blood stains, renewed as described in the text„ are displayed to every visitor of that palace. — ^Ed.
* Cicer. De Divinat. lib. i. § 10.
t Swinbum (Travels in the Two Sicilies, vol. i, p. 199), sup- poses, that during the invasions of the Saracens into Italy, the Christian fugitives frequently concealed the objects of their devo- tion in almost inaccessible places, where after a certain lapse of time, they were accidentally discovered. But in every part of Christian Europe, in countries never subject to the invasions of the Mussulman, in dark ages, crucifixes, statues and images have been found, which have never failed, subsequently, to work mira- cles. Let us not impute to chance, too often repeated, that
DECEPTIONS OF THAUMATURGISTS. 137
1822, an attempt to unveil imposture, could not be made but at the risk of life.*
At Temersa, a virgin was annually sacrificed to the manes of Lybas. Euthymus, the wrestler, desirous of putting an end to this barbarity, had the courage to challenge the spectral Lybas; who presented himself, black, horrible, and clothed with the skin of a wolf. The intrepid wrestler, however, overcame the spectre, who in his rage, at being defeated threw himself into the sea.t There is little doubt, that a priest, disguised as a satyr, was the actor in this scene, and that he was unable to survive his defeat. We are told that the conqueror also soon afterwards disappeared, and the manner of his death remained a profound secret. The colleagues of the spectre were probably better informed on this point than the public.
Sinan Raschid-Eddin,t chief of the Bathenians or Ishmaelites of Syria, concealed one of his pupils in a
which results froin the machinations of a suhtle and persevering policy ; and let us remember that other religions have enjoined on their disciples the worship of newly discovered relics. Thus we are told, that at Patras, adoration was offered to a statue of Venus, which had been recovered from the sea by some fisher- men in the act of dragging their net&. (Pausanias, Achate, c. 21). The fishermen of Methymna also drew to land, a head sculptured from the wood of the olive tree ; the oracle commanded the Methymneans to worship this head under the name of Bacchus Cephallenianus, (Pausanias, Phocic. cap. 19).
* Mrs. Marianna Baillie, J Sketch of the Manners and Customs of Portugal, &c„ London, 1824. Nouvelles Annates des Voyages, tome XXX. p. 405.
t Pausanias, Eliac. lib. ii. cap. vi.
t Mines de T Orient, tome iv. p. 377. A fragment translated from original authors, by M. Hammer, who died in 1192.
138 DECEPTIONS OF THAUMATURGISTS.
cavity, permitting the head only to appear, which being surrounded by a disk of bronze, having the appearance bf a basin filled with blood, seemed to be the head of a man recently decapitated.
Uncovering it before his disciples, he commanded the deceased to relate what he had experienced, since he ceased to live. The well-trained interlocutor delivered, according to previous instruction, a brilliant account of the joys of Heaven, declaring at the same time, that he would rather continue to experience them, than be again recalled to life ; and dictated, as the only security for their future enjoyment, an implicit obedience to the will and decrees of Sinan Raschid-Eddin. This scene re- doubled ibe enthusiasm, the devotion, and the fanaticism of the audience. After their departure, Sinan put his accomplice to death, in order to secure the secret of his miracle.
But for what purpose, it may be asked, do we thus multiply instances of fraud, so palpable, that the most adroit or subtle, scarcely deserves the name of jugglery? I reply, that if the art of imposing on the senses, in spite of incredulity and a scrutinizing observation, has been made subservient to the interest, the cupidity, or the policy of men who trade in the credulity of their fellow creatures, the art of the juggler is not alien to oxu* subject. That it has been thus instrumental, is proved, by its existence in all ages, with every refinement that could possibly aid or second it, by inspiring awe, or commanding astonishment. Thus, it has always flourished in Hindostan ; and to all the other characte- ristics, which attest the Hindoo origin of the Bohemian
DECEPTIONS OP THAUMATUR6IST8. 139
gypsies (Zingari) may be added their perfection in tricks of every kind.*
That it has been so subservient in all countries, we may infer from the fact, that the apparent miracles with which it astounds the unenlightened, have held, univer- sally, a prominent place in the works of pretenders to supernatural influence. The examples which we shall hereafler bring under consideration will afford sufficient proof of this being the case among civilized pec^ ; but at present we shall confine our attention to those magicians, who in the centre of a half savage horde, united the functions of priests, magistrates and physic cians. These magicians among the Osages, owed their influence principally to the extraordinary nature of their deceptions. Some of them plunged large knives into their throats, and the blood flowing profusely left no doubt of the apparent reality of the wounds.f Can we, therefore, wonder that among the aborigines of America, the utmost respect is inspired for the man, whose power can prevent the smallest trace of so frightful a wound. European conjurors will go through the
* The term Zingari was one of the many appellations by which these extraordinary wanderers are known. In Holland they were called Heydens; in Hungary Pharachitesj in Spain and Portugal, GUanos', in Germany, Tzianys; and in ISxxkej^Tschingenes. The original country of these wanderers is still undetermined, although the similarity of their language with Sanscrit gi^es a colouring of probability to the opinion that they came originally from Hin- dostan. My friend. Major Moor, says that he shoved two gipsy women, at different times, a knife, and asked what they called it ? The reply was "Chury;" exactly as half the inhabitants of the great Indian range would have answered — ^from Indus to the Brahmaputra." Oriental Fragments, p. 35 1 .—En.
f Nouvelles Annaks des Voyages, tome xxxv. p. 263.
]40 DECEPTIONS OF THAUMATURGISTS.
same process for our amusement ; and persons who do not desire to pass for jugglers have carried on similar deceptions, though with a different intention. It is attested by a priest, who witnessed the fact, that in Italy penitents have appeared to inflict upon themselves, with scoxurges of iron, the most cruel flagellations, with- out in reality, suflering any injury.*
In the fifteenth century, at the solemnization of the excommunication of the Hussites, in the chxurches of Bohemia, the lighted tapers were spontaneously extin- guished at the precise moment in which the priest concluded the ceremony of excommunication ; and this deception was regarded by the awe-struck congregation, as a clear manifestation of divine power.f
To expose the manner in which sacerdotal policy can ren-
* Le P. Labat, Voyages d'Espagne et d'ltalie, tome vii. p. 31—32.
t Joachimi Camerarii. . . De Ecclesiis fratrum in Bohemia et Moravia, p. 71. — ^To the above instance of credulity we may add the following : " On the summit of the Ochsenkopf, in the Fichtel Gebirge, immediately opposite to the church tower of Bischofsgrun, is supposed to be seated a Geister-Kirche, (a church for super- natural beings), adorned with incalculable wealth, llie entrance to it is through the fissure of a rock, which, it is said, begins to open when the church-bell at Bischhofsgrun rings ; it is wide open when the priest begins to read the Gospel of the day, and it closes with a crash as soon as he has finished. Although this statement might be easily refuted, yet, none dare attempt the refutation ; and the report is current that several persons now living at Bischhofsgrun have entered the temple, and have taken away some of the treasiures ; but they would scarcely be safe if they were to talk of it."* Such is the ignorance, superstition, and credulity of the population of Fichtel Gebirge. — Ed, • Edinburgh Review, vol. lxxxii. p. 351.
DECEPnONS OF THAUMATURGISTS. 141
der an art, in appearance futfle, s^riceable to its own pur- pose, we have only to select a few examples. In the judicial trial by cold water, everything depended on the manner of binding the accused : the ligatures might be arranged, so as to cause him either to sink or to swim, according to their specific gravity, in comparison with that of the water. The iron collar of Saint San^ in Bretagne, was used as an ordeal : in cases of supposed peijury it infal- libly strangled the guilty.* The priest who applied the collar was master of the secret, and consequently the result lay in his hands. The lodhan-Moran, a collar, worn at the commencement of our era, by the Governor of Iceland, was, if we may believe the traditions of the island, no less formidable. Placed on the neck of a deceitful or refractory person, it was drawn so close, that the power of respiration was almost extinct, and any attempt to reopen it, before a true confession was obtained, invariably failed.! In public market places, it is not uncommon to see the scales of a balance, at the command of a juggler, alternately ascending and descending. This trick may be sport in Europe, but in Hindostan, it places the life of an accused person in the power of the priests, who employ it as an ordeal. They declare, that if guilty, the crime will manifest itself, by adding perceptibly to the previously ascertained weight of his body. After some ceremonies, he is weighed
* Cambry, Voyage iitms le departement du Finistlre, tome i. p. 173.
t G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, Introduction, p. lxix. The lodhan-Moran was also intended to strangle the judge who gave an unjust judgment, but it is doubtful whether this miracle was ever displayed.
142 DECEPTIONS OF THAlJBfATURGIST&
with care ; the act of accusation beiiig then attadied to his head, he is weighed again. If he be lighter than at first, his innocence is admitted ; if heavier, or if the balance breaks, the crime is proved. Should the equi- librium remain, the trial must recommence, and then, the sacred books declare, there will certainly be a dif- ference* in weight.* When the result of an apparent miracle is thus confidently predicted, one may easily conjecture the method by which it has been worked.
An example of another description may be taken from a people, we should scarcely suspect of such refinement of subtlety. An English traveller, the first white man who visited the tribe of the Soulimas, near the sources of the Dialliba, describes the following curious scene. A body of picked soldiers fired upon their chief, who defended himself with nothing but his talismans ; and although their muskets were charged, yet they all missed fire ; immediately afterwards, without any particular pre- parations, the soldiers veered round, and pointing their muskets in another direction, they all went off. ITiese men must, therefore, have had the address to open and cover at will the priming of the muskets,t but in some manner which is carefully concealed ; and the design was evidently to persuade the people, that they have nothing to fear from the arms of the enemy, as long as they are furnished with amiiets, consecrated by the priesthood.
From an earlier time than might at first be believed, men have existed in Europe, who required only audacity
* Recherches Asiatiques, tome i. p. 472.
t Laing's Travels among Timanni, the Kourankos, the Soulimas,
DECEPTIONS OF THAUMATURGISTS. 143
or a dominant interest, to induce them to set up their claims to supernatural power.* Now, if we suppose this desideratum supplied, and instead of this being employed for the amusement of a few idle spectators, it is directed to ends less futile, it would command at once the veneration of those whose ridicule alone it now excites.
This deduction is not forced. In our own days a juggler called Comus (and the secret was solely his) could announce privately to any one, the card of which another was thinking ; and this when there was no possibility of connivance. Witnesses of this fact are still in existence. In England, also, he repeatedly performed the same trick, before numerous spectators, who, having large bets depending on the result, could not be suspected of collusion. The clear sighted Bacon bears witness to the performance, of the same trick, at a period when the performer by giving such a proof of his skill, incurred the risk of being led to the stake, prepared for wizards and the punishment of witchcraft. The juggler, said he, " whispered in the ear of one of the spectators, that such a person will think of such a card."t The philoso- pher adds that the trick might be ascribed to connivance,
* Fromann acknowledges that many jugglers (cauculaiores out saccularii) have been taken for magicians. (Tract, de Fascin. p. 771 et seq.) He notices also, as partaking of the nature of sor- cery, the well known tricks, of breaking a glass, cutting a gold chain or a plate into many pieces, and afterwards exhibiting them as perfect and entire as they were before. Ihid, p. 583.
t " He did first whisper the man in the eare, that such a man should think of such a card." Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, Century x, 946.
144 DECEPTIONS OF THAUMATURGISTS.
which, however, from his own observation, he had no reason for suspecting.
If men so talented were anxious to signalize them- selves by working apparent miracles, in the midst of an ill-informed population, would they find their object impossible ? If they are asked, for example, to tell a fortune, fate will undoubtedly become the interpreter of the inquirer's wishes ; and by this rule may be measured the extent of their power. Time out of mind, an im- portant part has been played by fate, in the greatest as well as in the most trivial events of life, even where fraud was not suspected. How often, distrustful of their own prudence, or unable to reduce different opinions to har- mony, have men referred to the arbitration of fate ! The early Christian church had recourse to this appeal, in order to decide whether Joseph or Matthias, should succeed the traitor Judas Iscariot, in the apostleship ; and Origen* commends the apostles for this act of
• * This remarkable man was bom in Egypt, a.d. 184; and, when he was seventeen years of age, his father Leonidas having suffered martyrdom, he was with difficiilty prevented from offering himself as a martyr. At forty years of age he had acquired so much celebrity by his eloquence and preaching that it excited the jealousy of his cotemporaries who persecuted him and obtained his expulsion from the office of a presbyter; but his opinion and advice were, nevertheless, eagerly sought after. He successfully answered the objections urged against Christianity by Celsus, a philosopher who lived in the reigns of Hadrian aud the Antonines; but some years afterwards, during the Dorian persecution, he was imprisoned; and suffered so severely from the torture, that soon after his release from confinement, he died a.d. 253, in his seventieth year. Tlie talents, learning, and eloquence of Origen, were admitted both by Christians and Pagans ; and his piety was
BELIEF IN FATE. 145
humility, by which th^ submitted their own judgment, to the decision of Heaven, in a choice which they might have made for themselves.*
This idea has appeared sufficiently plausible, to induce men otherwise enlightened to push it to an extravagant length, Origen did not scruple to advance the opinion that the angels in Heaven,t decide by lot, r^arding the parti- cular nation or province, over which each shall watch ; or to what individuals they shall act as guardians. A Protes- tant minister, nearly a century ago, maintained, that an appeal to Fate was of a sacred nature ; and consequently that the smallest games, those in which there is but little to be won or lost, are on that account most profane.} The question has been viewed in a different light, by a writer who employed his brilliant eloquence to introduce the spirit and doctrines of the temples into philosophy and politics- Plato,§ in his " Republic," suggests that the marriages of citizens should be contracted by lot ; but, at the same time, that some secret artifice, known only to the rulers of the State, should enable them to over- rule the decision and to render itconformable to their views;
equal to tiis learning. The writings of Origen, however, led to violent controversies in the church, during the fourth century ; and although he settled many disputed points in Scripture, yet he also introduced some dangerous interpretations of them. — Ed.
* Act Apost. c I. V. 24, et seq. " And they gave forth their lots, and the lot fell upon Mathias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles." Origen, HomiL xxiii, in lihr. Jes, Nave.
t Origen, Homii. xxiii. in lib. Jes, Nave.
t Dejuncourt, Leitres (quatre) sur les Jews du Haeard, La Haye, 1713, p. 19.
$ Pkto in Timao, . . et Republic, lib. v.
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146 BELIEF IN FATE.
and that the artifice should be so well concealed, that such as considered themselves ill-assorted would impute it solely to chance or Fate. '
To one or the other opinion, we may refer those events, by which Fate has been forced to represent the will of the Deity, and to be the instrument of the revelation of his decrees. The same means of decision having been employed by policy, and adopted by credulity as true. Nebuchadnezzar mingled his arrows, to dedde whether he should go against Ammon or against Jerusalem : the arrow went out against Jeru- salem, and the dreaded conqueror did not long delay the accomplishment of the decree of Fate.* This species of divination was in use among the Arabs, in the time of Mahomet : but that prophet proscribed it as a hateful sin.f The Tartar hordes led on by Gengis Khan to the conquest of Asia, endeavoured by this means also to ascertain the issue of a battle. A trick rendered the effect more striking. The magicians wrote the respec- tive names of the rival armies on two arrows, which, without any apparent cause, became agitated, approached each other, and fought ; lastly, one placed itself upon the other, which was supposed to indicate the army destined to succumb.} Jugglers, who know the use of a hair, or an almost imperceptible thread of silk, in moving cards from a distance, would find no difficulty in working this miracle of the Tartars.
The Christians themselves, have not abstained from
♦ Ezekiel, chap. xxi. 19 — 22.
t Le Goran, Sourate v. verset 99.
I Petis de la Croix, Hisioire de Gengis Khan, p. 65 — 67.
BELIEF IN FATE. 14?
this superstitious practice. Alexis] Comnenus, in order to ascertain whether he should attack the Comanes, and whether he should offer battle, or march to the assistance of a besieged city, placed two tablets on the altar, in the belief that the one which should first strike his eye, after a night passed in prayer, would convey an expres- sion of the will of Heaven.* The Senators of Venice, under the reign of the Doge Dominique Michieli,t not being able to agree respecting the town which they should first attack, referred the decision to the lot, and abode by its result.
Although at Venice, even more than elsewhere. Fate had been frequently consulted in this manner, with a view to modify the elections and divide the suflfrages; yet it may be doubted, whether it was seriously allowed to exercise the same influence over the schemes for a campaign, particularly in a Senate renowned for its policy, and at that time composed of accomplished warriors. It was more likely to have be6n a studied stratagem, intended to engage a brave but undisciplined and insubordinate people, in an expedition the dangers and fatigues of which, robbed it of its glory, and made its necessity less apparent ?
In the decline and miserably weak condition of the Greek Empire, neither honour, national interest, nor religion, nothing in fact but superstition, was capable of inspiring a degraded population with energy ; it was this decision of Fate that roused Alexis, a Prince who was in advance both of his age and his nation, to action. And
* Anna Comnfene, Histoire d^ Alexis Comn^ne, liv. x. chap. v. t D. Michieli, 35e Doge. . . Hadrian, Barland, De ducib, ^venet,
L 2
148 BELIEF IN FATE.
although, in former times, we find the interpretation of Fate proclaimed in a thousand shapes by the oracles, and its decision sought after with avidity, as well as received with blind veneration ; yet, we believe at the same time, that the King of Babylon, having previously arranged his plans, resorted to this superstitious ceremony, merely as a means of insuring its success, by demonstrating its infallibility, as guaranteed by the Gods, to the enthu- siasm of his soldiers.
To lead men on by their credulity, in pretending to partake of it, is an artifice of policy, which, in every quarter of the globe, and in all times has been politically employed, without any other care than varying its form, so as to make it coincide with the habits, and the intel- ligence of the race of men on whom it was destined to act.
The chief of a Brazilian tribe, having taken up arms at the instigation of the Dutch, who had promised him efficient assistance, had some reason to suspect, that his allies intended to leave him to give battle imsup- ported, and afterwards to reap the fruits of his exertions against their common enemy. On several occasions, therefore, he consulted his Gods in presence of the Dutch Ambassadors. From the sacrificial hut, voices seemed to issue predicting defeat and flight, should the combat commence before the arrival of the promised succour ; they also announced, that the time was not yet arrived for receiving their aid ; and commanded the chief, mean- while, to retire before the enemy. With the assent of his soldiers, he protested that he should obey, and retire even Jnto the territories of the Dutch ; this was a sure
BELIEF IN FATE. 149
mode of putting an end to the deky. The Dutch envoy, Baro, firmly believed the oracle to proceed from the devil.* We may ascribe it with greater probability to priests concealed in the sacrificial hut. The artifice was rude, but the policy was complete.
The augur Naevius, after having in the name of religion, boldly opposed the alterations which the elder Tarquin was desirous of effecting in the Roman consti- tution, was summoned to give a proof of his science, by demonstrating the possibility of a design secretly thought of by that monarch. He replied that he would give a proof The design was to cut through a flint with a razor ; and we are told that the miracle was performed in the sight of all the people, f The oracle of Delphi indicated with precision the occupation of Croesus in the interior of his palace at Sardis, at the very moment of the inquiry.
We are inclined to suspect that Tarquin, unable honourably to withdraw from a project, the danger of which he perceived too late, connived at the opposition of the augur, and with him, preconcerted the miracle best adapted to give him an apparent triumph; thus preserving his honour by seeming to yield to the Gods alone. We know that the ostensible pretext, for the
* Voyage de Roulox Baro au Pays des Tapayes en 1647.
t Dionys. Halic, lib. in. cap. xxiv. — Tarquin as a reward of the skill of Naevius, erected him a statue in the Canitiuvi, a large open place of Assembly in Rome, and buried the razor and flint near it. Cicero, who had himself been an augur, treats this absurd story as it deserves. — Ed.
150 ORACULAR PREDICTIONS.
religious embassies of the King of Lydia, was to consult the Fates on his projects, while their real end was to gain the cooperation of his people, and to encourage them by the brilliant promises made to him by the most celebrated of oracles.*
These promises proved deceitful ; and the equivoca- tion by which the Delphic God maintained the repu- tation of his infallibility, recurs so naturally to our memory, and awakens the recollection of so many similar events, Ihat we might give a sufficient explanation of almost all these oracles, by recalling the ambiguity of terms ; the connivance that fevoured them ; the mecha- nical inventions that suggested the omens ;t and the acci- dental advantages offered by the simplicity of those who came to consult them. We may, indeed, remark that many of these oracles do not seem so much to have been verified, as credulity desired and believed them to be.
* The same power of stating what is passing in places at a great distance from that in which the person is at the moment he is making the statement, has been assumed by the mesmerists of the present day ; and such is the influence of credulity over even educated persons, that many have believed it to be possible. — Ed.
t Lavater had made a promise to the metaphysician Bonnet, that a sorceress, residing at Morat, should foiu: times in a day, declare what Bonnet himself was doing at Geneva. At first, twa predictions exactly corresponded ; but the succeeding ones were all absurd. (Dumont, Trait e des Preuves Judiciaires de J. Ben- tham, tome ii. p. 233 — 234). In an earlier age, credit would have been given to the two first trials, and their fortuitous suc- cess would have been deemed confirmatory of a supernatural power.
ORACULAR PREDICTIONS. 151
Every one who has read the excellentHistory of Grades by Fontenelle, chiefly* taken from the work of Vandale,t must be aware that it leaves us but little to add respecting a widely spread error of a belief in oracles, which was so universal indeed, that it appears scarcely to have ceased under one form, before it was reproduced under another ; so unable are reason and experience to combat with the passionate desire to penetrate into futurity.
I may now merely remind my readers that ApoHo bestowed on his fiivourites the gift of divination, on the condition, that they should not inquire of him concerning that which was not permitted to be revealed,J a wise precaution, to avoid perplexing queries. The sybil wrote her oracles on leaves,^ which dispersed on the winds, were by this artifice rendered obscure and incomplete, and opened a door for equivocation until time brought about the event. I need likewise merely
* See Clavier's MSmoire sur les Oracles Anciena, 8vo. 1818. Lucien (Alexandre ou le Faux Prophite, (Euvres de Lucien, t. iii. p. 18—23, and 42—46), gives an idea of the artifices employed by the priests of the oracles in his time ; amongst others was the secret of unsealing letters so fEuniliar to modem governments;.
t Anthony Vandale, a learned Dutchman, who practised both physic and theology. He wrote two dissertations De Oraculis, which were published in 1700* The Histoire des Oracles of Fon- tenelle is taken entirely from Vandale's work. Its object is to prove that the oracles were not the responses of supernatural agents or demons ; and that they did not cease after the appear- ance of our Savioiur, or the commencement of the Christian era. — Ed.
t Servius in Virgil, Eclog, viii. v. 30.
§ Virgil, A^.neid, lib. vi. v. 442—450.
152 EVILS OP ORACULAR PREDICTIONS.
recal to recollection the colossal statue of Siva,* in the rear of which are paths leading to a commodious seat, just under the head gear of the God ; a place meant undoubtedly for the priest, whose office it was to utter the orades, in the name of the God.
Weak impassioned men, the slaves of interest and ambition, of pride and of policy, were those who pro- nounced these oracles. It is known and a thousand instances demonstrate the fact that they even appeared respectable in the eyes of those who profited by their deluding intervention. This consideration gives the cha- racter df history to many mythological tales. A chief or a king is led to believe that intimation had been received from Heaven, that his life and his throne are in jeopardy ; and the murderer whom he has to fear, it is said, is his son, or his son-in-law, or the son of his only daughter. By an inconsistency so frequently repeated, that it passes unnoticed, the alarmed Prince, acting on an implicit credence in the prediction and its infallibility, neverthe- less adopts such measures as show that he believes it possible to avert his destiny. Condemning himself or his daughter to celibacy, he may die without posterity ; or jealously combating an imaginary danger, he may become an unjust aggressor, or a suspicious father, and expose
* Maria Graham, S^jour awlndes, p. 96.— Siva Kala is one of the Hindoo triad, the Indian God of Fire, and is called theDestroyer. His ministers are evil spirits, Saktis, who are supposed to live in the stars, clouds, and lower part of the Heavens : and bloody sacrifices are offered up both to the principal God, and to his satellites. — Ed.
EVILS RESULTING FROM PREDICTIONS. 153
himself to assassination, from one whose days he had himself proscribed. His riches and his power thus pass into the hands of the men who dictated the prediction, and who had long been prepared to reap its fruits. In this story there is nothing marvellous, nothing difficult for human credulity to believe ; an apparent miracle con- fined to no age, and to no particular locality.
Only such of the Greeks as were bound by a solemn oath to follow Menelaus, were led by him to the walls of Troy; and among these might have been found many who went with reluctance, and many more who were desirous to abandon a cruel enterprise, the issue of which seemed every day more doubtful and more distant. Of this number Calchas appears to have been a prophet on whom the confidence of the whole army depended.* Sure of his ascendancy, he multiplied discouraging pre- dictions. From the opening of the war he declared that a ten years' siege would be necessary to capture Troy. He reduced the commander-in-chief to the alternative of sacrificing his only daughter Iphigenia to Diana, or renouncing the expedition. At a later period, he required him to part with a favourite slave. The omens which protected the city of Priam, were multi-
* Calchas bad received the powers of divination from Apollo ; and, at the same time, he was informed that, should he find one more skilled in the art than himself, he must perish. This prediction was fulfilled at Colophon, after the Trojan war. Mopus, another augur, mentioned the exact number of figs on the branches of a certain fig tree after Calchas had fiEuled ; and the chagrin which this defeat o^ccasioned was the death of the unfortunate soothsayer. — ^Ed.
154 TREATMENT OF PROPHETS.
plied by him at wilL It was not enough to have dragged Achilles to certain death ; the son of that hero should also come there after the death of the father. It was necessary that Philoctetes, removed by an offence which was unpardonable, and only aggravated by time, should be brought ihere : lastly it was necessary to penetrate into the heart of the besieged city, and to abduct the mysterious image of its protecting deity. Considered in this light, do not oracles, apparently fabulous, form an important part of the history of a people, over whom they exercised so irresistible an empire?*
♦ ITic oracles of antiquity were very numerous, but in all of them the pretended revelations were made through some medium, which was different in the different places where the oracles existed. They were consulted on all important occasions of public and pri- vate life ; and they were expected to point out both what ought to be done, and what ought not to be done by the inquirer.
llie most celebrated of the Ghreek oracles were those of Apollo, of which there were twenty- two ; but the chief was that of Delphi, which was more resorted to and consulted than even that of Zeus, or Jupiter, at Olympia. At Delphi, the Pythia, when intoxicated by the vapours which issued from under the tripod on which she Hat, uttered unintelligible sounds, which were written down, and explained by the priestess before they were delivered to those who consulted the oracle. The Pythias were, in early times, young girls ; but, owing to an indiscretion committed by one of them, they were afterwards not elected until they had attained the age of fifty years, although, even then, they were attired as young maidens. They were frequently obliged to be changed on account of tlie deleterious influence of the gas on their constitutions ; and Mometimes, indeed, they fell victims to its power, although they prc))arcd themselves before ascending the tripod by fasting three (hiyH, and bathing in thcCastalian fountain. Plutarch informs us {de
TREATMENT OF PROPHETS. 155
If the future may be predicted with certainty, then must it be irrevocably fixed ; and thus the prophet resembles the sun-dial, as it passively reveals the sun's diurnal progress. But credulity is as unreasoning as it
Orat. Def, c. 51), that the Pythia in her delirium has leaped from the tripod, been thrown into convulsions, and after a few days has died. In the zenith of the prosperity of Greece, there were three Pythias, who alternately officiated.
It is curious to find that, amidst the superstition which gave to oracles such great authority, responses were refused to any one who came with any evil design, or who had committed a crime, until he had atoned for it ; the natural effect of which was to insure a sincere faith in the oracle. The opinions respecting the source of the wisdom displayed in many of the answers have been various ; some ascribing them truly to divine influence ; others, with more probability, to the priests being men of education and elevated sentiments, who, for the sake of power, lent themselves to a sacred imposture.
The next in celebrity of the oracles of Apollo, was that at Didyma, in the territory of Miletus. It was called the Oracle of the Branchida, from Branchos, a son of Apollo, who came from Delphi, and built the altar at Didyma. The same ceremonies were observed here as at Delphi.
Another oracle of Apollo, much consulted, was situated at Claros, in the territory of Colophon. The responses were deli- vered in verse by a priest, who descended into a cavern, drank of the water from a secret well, and then pronounced the oracle.'
Besides the oracles of Zeus, ApoUo, and other Gods, there were also oracles of heroes. That of Amphiares, near Thebes, was consulted chiefly by invalids, who, after sacrificing a ram, slept a night in the temple, where they expected the means of their recovery to be revealed to them in their dreams ; a specimen of credulity only equalled by that displayed in the present time, in the confidence reposed in the healing power of every nostrum which knavery and impudence offers to the pubhc.
[The * Tacitus. Anna!, ii. 54,
156 TREATMENT OF PROPHETS.
is passionate : and according as the predictions please or afflict, the prophet is exalted as a God, or hated as a malevolent Spirit; is adored, or cursed; rewarded, or punished. By fear he is taxed with imposture, with malevolence, or with corruption ; he is insulted, menaced, given up to torture; he is supplicated to retract his words, as though the pretended gift of penetrating the future was accompanied by the power of changing its decrees; yet these revelations always obtained credit. If we compare the bearing of these contradictory senti- ments with the influence possessed by these oracles, there will be just reason for suspecting that the prophets themselves did not always know the extent of their resources ; that they kept within the limits of the power attainable by them : and we may trace the natural pro- gression of the human passions, in what, until the
The oracle of Trophonius shall be noticed in a future note.
The oracles of iEsculapius were numerous, but the most cele- brated was that of Epidaurus, in which recovery was sought in the same manner as at Amphiarus, by sleeping in the temple. A German author of the name of Wolf,' has endea- voured to show, that what is now termed Mesmerism, was known to the priests of this temple ; but the point is not satisfactorily made out.
The most singular of all the oracles were those of the dead, in which sacrifices were offered to the Powers of the lower regions^ and the spirits of the dead were supposed to be called up. It is probable that the agent in this case was ventriloquism ; and the shades made to appear by means similar to those employed in the phantasmagoria, of which an explanation will be found in a sub- sequent note. — Ed.
■ Beitrag zur Gesch, des Somnambulismus, SfC. {Vermischte Schriften, p. SS2).
VENTRILOQUISM EMPLOYED IN ORACLES. 157
present time, has appeared to be a mere tissue of false- hoods, or the delirium of the imagination.
I have already said, that many things which, in the present day belong only to the sphere of amusement were formerly employed to extend the dominion of the Thaumaturgists. The ventriloquist, whose only aim now is to excite our laughter, formerly played a more serious part.*
This internal voice, which is apparently extraneous to the utterer, whose lips remain motionless, whether it ap- peared to come from the earth, or from a distant object, was anciently regarded as a supernatural and superhuman
* Ventriloquism is the power of imitating voices, sounds, or noises, as if they were perfectly extraneous and not originating in the utterer, but in some other person, and in places at various distances, and even in several directions. A skilful ventriloquist produces these effects without any apparent movement of his jaws, lips or features. Various opinions have been advanced by physiologists with regard to the manner of producing such an effect. The most commonly received opinion refers it to the power of articulation during in- spiration. M. Majendie regards it as a mere modification of the ordinary voice, so as to imitate the sounds which the voice suffers from distance : and latterly Miiller contends that, it " consists in inspiring deeply, so as to protrude forward the abdominal viscera by the descent of the diaphragm, and then speaking while the expira- tion is performed very slowly through a very narrow glottis by means of the sides of the chest alone, the diaphragm maintaining its depressed position. Sounds may be thus uttered which resemble the voice of a person calling from a distance." • This is a very probable explanation, especially as the imagination influences tlie judgment when we direct the ear to the place whence the ventri- loquist pretends that the sounds proceed ; a part of the trick which is always taken advantage of by the ventriloquists. — ^Ed.
• Mailer's Elements of Physiology, translated by Baly, vol. ii. p. 1307.
158 VENTRILOQUISM EMPLOYED IN ORACLES.
sound.* The expressions of the historian Josephus,t leave no room to doubt that the witch of Endor was a ventrilo- quist, and thus had no difficulty in conveying to Saul responses from the assumed shade of Samuel. Other beings similarly endowed with the spirit of a Python, and the power of sorcery, expressed their oracles through the medium of a low dull voice, apparently issuing from
* Flav. Joseph, aut. Jud. lib. iv. cap. xv.
t The art of ventriloquism was known at a very early period, and was generally regarded by the ignorant as a supernatural gift, associated with sorcery. It was one of the evidences against a person accused of sorcery, and of course had a share in producing their condemnation. In the seventeenth century a woman named Cecile, astonished the inhabitants of Lisbon with her powers as a ventriloquist ; she was convicted of being a sorceress, and possessed of a demon; and, although she was not burnt, yet, she was transported to the island of St. Thomas, where she died.»
" One of the most successful ventriloquists of modem times was M. St. Grille, a grocer, of St. Germain en Laye. He exhibited his art merely as a matter of amusement, but with a degree of skill which appears almost incredible. He had occasion to take shelter from a storm in a convent, while the monks were lament- ing, over the tomb of a lately deceased brother, the few honours that had been paid to his memory. A voice was suddenly heard to proceed ft-om the roof of the choir, bewailing the condition of the deceased in purgatory, and reproving the brotherhood for their want of zeal. The tidings of this supernatural event brought the whole brotherhood into the church. The voice again repeated its lamentations and reproaches, and the whole convent fell upon their faces, and vowed to make a reparation of their error. They accordingly chanted in full choir a De Profundis, during the inter- vals of which the spirit of the departed monk expressed his satis- faction at their pious exercises. The Prior afterwards expressed himself strongly against modem scepticism on the subject of ap-
■ Hist. Curieuse des Sorciers, &c. par Mathias de Giraldo.
VENTRILOQUISM EMPLOYED IN ORACLES. 159
the earth ; from which custom a striking comparison is borrowed by the prophet Isaiah.^
The name of Engastrimythes, given by the Greeks to the Pythise, women practising the art of divination,t indi- cates, that they made use of the same artifice. Pythagoras addresses a speech to the river Nessus, which answered in a distinct voice, I greet thee, Pythagoras.l
paritions ; and M. St. Gille had great difficulty in convincing the fraternity that the whole was a deception.'
The influence of ventriloquism over the human race is not, there- fore, wonderful, when we perceive that it is not merely confined to the imitation of sounds and voices on earth, but that he has, in a certain degree, the supernatural at his command. The power which it must have given to the Pagan priesthood, in addition to their other deceptions, may be easily imagined. — ^Ed.
* " And thy voice shall die as one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.'* Isaiah, cap. xxix. v. 4.
t D. M. K. Putonissae Martis. An inscription found in the village of Colombiers, in the diocese d'Usez, (Voyage litteraire de D. Martenne et de D, Durant, Premiere Parlie, Paris 1712. p. 313.) shews us that Mars had in Gaul, Pythiae, or priestesses, having the gift of ventriloquism.
t lambUch vita Pythagor, cap. 28. — Pythagoras was bom at Suma, about the year 608 b.c. His father Menarchus, was a person of distinction, and therefore capable of afford- ing his son every advantage which education can bestow ; and Pythagoras lost no opportunity of profiting by them, both in respect to bodily and mental vigomr, and energy. He travelled expressly to acq\iire knowledge, and submitted to much severe discipline for that purpose. In the temple of Thebes, and by a residence of twenty- two years in Egypt, he became deeply versed in all the learning of the Egyptians, which he at first unsuccessfully endeavoured to transfer to Samos ; but after-
• Quoted from a record of Abb^ de la Chapelle, in Brewster's Nat. Magic, p. 172.
I
-^
160 VENTRILOQUISM EMPLOYED IN ORACLES.
At the command of the chief of the Gymnosophists, of Upper Egypt, a tree uttered words, m the presence of Apollonius, with a dear voice, resembling that of a woman ;* in both these cases, the voice was that of a ventriloquist, placed in a convenient situation ; and to the same origin we may with probability, ascribe the oracles said to proceed from the oaks of Dodona-f It is by astonishing his auditors by ventriloquism, that the Chinese prophet, or magician, persuades them that
wards succeeded by affecting mystery, living in a cave, and des- cending to practise on the credulity of his countrymen, who, having discovered his frauds, forced him to leave the island. At Crotona, where he settled, he taught the virtues of temperance, and made numerous proselytes among the most voluptuous and abandoned. He was, nevertheless, still an impostor, practising for the sake of ambition. He lived upon vegetables, clothed himself in a long white robe, allowed his beard to grow, and im- pressed upon the multitude, that he had received his doctrines directly from heaven. These he publicly delivered under the veil of symbols ; but those initiated in private, were bound by a vow of silence, not to divulge what they had acquired. He main- tained the doctrine of the metempsychosis, or the transmigration of the soul : and pretended that he remembered being the person in whom his soul had resided before he became Pythagoras. His doctrine of the universe was that lately revived in the " Vestiges of Creation," namely : — that the universe was at first a shapeless mass ; and all subsequent forms progressed through certain gra- dations, imtil they arrived at perfection. He invented the fanciful doctrine of the music of the spheres ; and he was supposed to have heard it through the favour of the Gods. He died 497 b,c., it is supposed at Metapontum, where his disciples paid supersti- tious honours to his memory. — ^Ed.
* Philostrat. vit, Appollon. lib. vi. cap. v.
t It is more probable, that the priests were concealed in among the oaks, and delivered the responses which were attri- buted to the trees. — En.
VENTRILOQUISM EMPLOYED IN ORACLES. 161
they listen to the voice of their divinity. This art was not unknown to the black slaves at Saint Thomas. About the commencement of the last century, one of theise unfortunate people having caused a voice to ema- nate from an earthem figure, and even from a cane, carried by one of the inhabitants, was burned alive as a sorcerer.* In our own days, the credulous planter has been known to consult* a noted sorcerer, in other words, a ventriloquist slave, who in order to retain his confi- dence, was not backward to devote even the innocent to death or torture, for a real dr an imaginary crime, the authors of which, he is required, by his divinations, to discover and to name.f
A blind, and even eager credulity, favoured the subtle and audacious deceptions that maintained the credit of the oracles. But a day at length arrived, in which the lessons of philosophy were spread among the enlightened classes; and from that moment credulity was prostrated before the spirit of inquiry. Almost at the same time arose the Christian religion, which in its progress exposed the miracles of Polytheism, with such a scrutinizing observation that it succeeded in rendering the manoeuvres of which, till then, the diviners had availed themselves, not only difficult but almost impracticable. Such were the real causes of the gradual cessation of the most celebrated oracles. To replace those fallen into disrepute, the Polytheists endea- voured to bring new ones into notice ; but these being
* In 1701. — Labat. Nouveau Vw^age aux iles fran^aises de VAmMque, tome ii. p. 64 — 65.
t I learned this fact from a credible witness. VOL. 1. M
162 SOURCES OF SOME ORACLES.
narrowly watched from their birth) never obtained an extended oi- permanent confidence. Oracles necessarily disappeared sooner than miracles, the execution of which, as they depended on scientific acquirements, continued to comm^d the admiration, not only of the credulous but also the sceptical who were unable to discover their origin, as long as that knowledge remained envdoped in mystery.
It is not correct, however, to assume that, in the deli- vering of orades, all was intentional imposture and deceit. Those who uttered them were often under the influence of real delirium. M. de Tiedmann very plausibly believes, that the German priestesses, prophesying amidst the din of the tumult of waters, and fixedly regarding the eddies formed on the rapid course of the river,* would, in such a position, soon become vertiginous. Something similar may be seen in the cataleptic state into which the mag- netizers throw their subjects who are weak in organiza- tion, and still more feeble in mind, by disturbing the imagination and fixing attention for a considerable time on a succession of monotonous and absurd gestures.
Music, exercising its wdl known influence, is calcu- lated to dispose an enthusiast to believe that the Gods adopt it as a medium of revelation. Even among the Hebrews, as among other people of antiquity, the prophet had recourse to music to maintain the pro- phetic elevation of his spirit.! The prophets, or
* Hutarch, in Casar, cap. xxi. — S. Clem. Alejp, Siromai. lib. i.
t Elisha after declaring that except for the presence of Jehosa- phat, he would not prophecy for Jehoram, says, •' But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him." — 1 Kings, ii. c. iv.