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Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions

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In this manner the Italian lured on from month to month his
credulous and guilty patron, extracting from him all the valuables he
possessed, and only waiting a favourable opportunity to decamp with
his plunder. But the day of retribution was at hand for both. Young
girls and boys continued to disappear in the most mysterious manner;
and the rumours against the owner of Champtoce grew so loud and
distinct, that the Church was compelled to interfere. Representations
were made by the Bishop of Nantes to the Duke of Brittany, that it
would be a public scandal if the accusations against the Marechal de
Rays were not inquired into. He was arrested accordingly in his own
castle, along with his accomplice Prelati, and thrown into a dungeon
at Nantes to await his trial.

The judges appointed to try him were the Bishop of Nantes
Chancellor of Brittany, the Vicar of the Inquisition in France, and
the celebrated Pierre l'Hopital, the President of the Provincial
Parliament. The offences laid to his charge were sorcery, sodomy, and
murder. Gilles, on the first day of his trial, conducted himself with
the utmost insolence. He braved the judges on the judgment seat,
calling them simoniacs and persons of impure life, and said he would
rather be hanged by the neck like a dog without trial, than plead
either guilty or not guilty to such contemptible miscreants. But his
confidence forsook him as the trial proceeded, and he was found guilty
on the clearest evidence of all the crimes laid to his charge. It was
proved that he took insane pleasure in stabbing the victims of his
lust, and in observing the quivering of their flesh, and the fading
lustre of their eyes as they expired. The confession of Prelati first
made the judges acquainted with this horrid madness, and Gilles
himself confirmed it before his death. Nearly a hundred children of
the villagers around his two castles of Champtoce and Machecoue, had
been missed within three years the greater part, if not all, of whom
were immolated to the lust or the cupidity of this monster. He
imagined that he thus made the devil his friend, and that his
recompence would be the secret of the philosopher's stone.

Gilles and Prelati were both condemned to be burned alive. At the
place of execution they assumed the air of penitence and religion.
Gilles tenderly embraced Prelati, saying, "Farewell, friend Francis!
In this world we shall never meet again; but let us place our hopes in
God; we shall see each other in Paradise." Out of consideration for
his high rank and connections, the punishment of the Marshal was so
far mitigated, that he was not burned alive like Prelati. He was first
strangled, and then thrown into the flames: his body, when half
consumed, was given over to his relatives for interment; while that of
the Italian was burned to ashes, and then scattered in the winds. [For
full details of this extraordinary trial, see "Lobineau's Nouvelle
Histoire de Bretagne;" and D'Argentre's work on the same subject.]

JACQUES COEUR.

This remarkable pretender to the secret of the philosopher's
stone, was contemporary with the last mentioned. He was a great
personage at the court of Charles VII, and in the events of his reign
played a prominent part. From a very humble origin he rose to the
highest honours of the state, and amassed enormous wealth, by
peculation and the plunder of the country which he should have served.
It was to hide his delinquencies in this respect, and to divert
attention from the real source of his riches, that he boasted of
having discovered the art of transmuting the inferior metals into gold
and silver.

His father was a goldsmith in the city of Bourges; but so reduced
in circumstances towards the latter years of his life, that he was
unable to pay the necessary fees to procure his son's admission into
the guild. Young Jacques became, however, a workman in the Royal Mint
of Bourges, in 1428, and behaved himself so well, and showed so much
knowledge of metallurgy, that he attained rapid promotion in that
establishment. He had also the good fortune to make the acquaintance
of the fair Agnes Sorel, by whom he was patronized and much esteemed.
Jacques had now three things in his favour - ability, perseverance,
and the countenance of the King's mistress. Many a man succeeds with
but one of these to help him forward: and it would have been strange
indeed, if Jacques Coeur, who had them all, should have languished in
obscurity. While still a young man he was made Master of the Mint, in
which he had been a journeyman, and installed at the same time into
the vacant office of Grand Treasurer of the royal household.

He possessed an extensive knowledge of finance, and turned it
wonderfully to his own advantage as soon as he became intrusted with
extensive funds. He speculated in articles of the first necessity, and
made himself very unpopular by buying up grain, honey, wines, and
other produce, till there was a scarcity, when he sold it again at
enormous profit. Strong in the royal favour, he did not hesitate to
oppress the poor by continual acts of forestalling and monopoly. As
there is no enemy so bitter as the estranged friend, so of all the
tyrants and tramplers upon the poor, there is none so fierce and
reckless as the upstart that sprang from their ranks. The offensive
pride of Jacques Coeur to his inferiors was the theme of indignant
reproach in his own city, and his cringing humility to those above him
was as much an object of contempt to the aristocrats into whose
society he thrust himself. But Jacques did not care for the former,
and to the latter he was blind. He continued his career till he became
the richest man in France, and so useful to the King that no important
enterprise was set on foot until he had been consulted. He was sent in
1446 on an embassy to Genoa, and in the following year to Pope
Nicholas V. In both these missions he acquitted himself to the
satisfaction of his sovereign, and was rewarded with a lucrative
appointment, in addition to those which he already held.

In the year 1449, the English in Normandy, deprived of their great
general, the Duke of Bedford, broke the truce with the French King,
and took possession of a small town belonging to the Duke of Brittany.
This was the signal for the recommencemerit of a war, in which the
French regained possession of nearly the whole province. The money for
this war was advanced, for the most part, by Jacques Coeur. When Rouen
yielded to the French, and Charles made his triumphal entry into that
city, accompanied by Dunois and his most famous generals, Jacques was
among the most brilliant of his cortege. His chariot and horses vied
with those of the King in the magnificence of their trappings; and his
enemies said of him that he publicly boasted that he alone had driven
out the English, and that the valour of the troops would would have
been nothing without his gold.

Dunois appears, also, to have been partly of the same opinion.
Without disparaging the courage of the army, he acknowledged the
utility of the able financier, by whose means they had been fed and
paid, and constantly afforded him his powerful protection.

When peace returned, Jacques again devoted himself to commerce,
and fitted up several galleys to trade with the Genoese. He also
bought large estates in various parts of France; the chief of which
were the baronies of St. Fargeau, Meneton, Salone, Maubranche, Meaune,
St. Gerant de Vaux, and St. Aon de Boissy; the earldoms or counties of
La Palisse, Champignelle, Beaumont, and Villeneuve la Genet, and the
marquisate of Toucy. He also procured for his son, Jean Coeur, who had
chosen the Church for his profession, a post no less distinguished
than that of Archbishop of Bourges.

Everybody said that so much wealth could not have been honestly
acquired; and both rich and poor longed for the day that should humble
the pride of the man, whom the one class regarded as an upstart and
the other as an oppressor. Jacques was somewhat alarmed at the rumours
that were afloat respecting him, and of dark hints that he had debased
the coin of the realm and forged the King's seal to an important
document, by which he had defrauded the state of very considerable
sums. To silence these rumours, he invited many alchymists from
foreign countries to reside with him, and circulated a counter-rumour,
that he had discovered the secret of the philosopher's stone. He also
built a magnificent house in his native city, over the entrance of
which he caused to be sculptured the emblems of that science. Some
time afterwards, he built another, no less splendid, at Montpellier,
which he inscribed in a similar manner. He also wrote a treatise upon
the hermetic philosophy, in which he pretended that he knew the secret
of transmuting metals.

But all these attempts to disguise his numerous acts of peculation
proved unavailing; and he was arrested in 1452, and brought to trial
on several charges. Upon one only, which the malice of his enemies
invented to ruin him, was he acquitted; which was, that he had been
accessory to the death, by poison, of his kind patroness, Agnes Sorel.
Upon the others, he was found guilty; and sentenced to be banished the
kingdom, and to pay the enormous fine of four hundred thousand crowns.
It was proved that he had forged the King's seal; that, in his
capacity of Master of the Mint of Bourges, he had debased, to a very
great extent, the gold and silver coin of the realm; and that he had
not hesitated to supply the Turks with arms and money to enable them
to carry on war against their Christian neighbours, for which service
he had received the most munificent recompences. Charles VII. was
deeply grieved at his condemnation, and believed to the last that he
was innocent. By his means the fine was reduced within a sum which
Jacques Coeur could pay. After remaining for some time in prison, he
was liberated, and left France with a large sum of money, part of
which, it was alleged, was secretly paid him by Charles out of the
produce of his confiscated estates. He retired to Cyprus, where he
died about 1460, the richest and most conspicuous personage of the
island.

The writers upon alchymy all claim Jacques Coeur as a member of
their fraternity, and treat as false and libellous the more rational
explanation of his wealth which the records of his trial afford.
Pierre Borel, in his "Antiquites Gauloises," maintains the opinion
that Jacques was an honest man, and that he made his gold out of lead
and copper by means of the philosopher's stone. The alchymic adepts in
general were of the same opinion; but they found it difficult to
persuade even his contemporaries of the fact. Posterity is still less
likely to believe it.

INFERIOR ADEPTS OF THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES.

Many other pretenders to the secrets of the philosopher's stone
appeared in every country in Europe, during the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries. The possibility of transmutation was so generally
admitted, that every chemist was more or less an alchymist. Germany,
Holland, Italy, Spain, Poland, France, and England produced thousands
of obscure adepts, who supported themselves, in the pursuit of their
chimera, by the more profitable resources of astrology and divination.
The monarchs of Europe were no less persuaded than their subjects of
the possibility of discovering the philosopher's stone. Henry VI. and
Edward IV. of England encouraged alchymy. In Germany, the Emperors
Maximilian, Rodolph, and Frederic II. devoted much of their attention
to it; and every inferior potentate within their dominions imitated
their example. It was a common practice in Germany, among the nobles
and petty sovereigns, to invite an alchymist to take up his residence
among them, that they might confine him in a dungeon till he made gold
enough to pay millions for his ransom. Many poor wretches suffered
perpetual imprisonment in consequence. A similar fate appears to have
been intended by Edward II. for Raymond Lulli, who, upon the pretence
that he was thereby honoured, was accommodated with apartments in the
Tower of London. He found out in time the trick that was about to be
played him, and managed to make his escape, some of his biographers
say, by jumping into the Thames, and swimming to a vessel that lay
waiting to ceive him. In the sixteenth century, the same system was
pursued, as will be shown more fully in the life of Seton the
Cosmopolite, in the succeeding chapter.

The following is a catalogue of the chief authors upon alchymy,
who flourished during this epoch, and whose lives and adventures are
either unknown or are unworthy of more detailed notice. John Dowston,
an Englishman, lived in 1315, and wrote two treatises on the
philosopher's stone. Richard, or, as some call him, Robert, also an
Englishman, lived in 1330, and wrote a work entitled "Correctorium
Alchymiae," which was much esteemed till the time of Paracelsus. In
the same year lived Peter of Lombardy, who wrote what he called a
"Complete Treatise upon the Hermetic Science," an abridgement of which
was afterwards published by Lacini, a monk of Calabria. In 1330 the
most famous alchymist of Paris was one Odomare, whose work "De
Practica Magistri" was, for a long time, a hand-book among the
brethren of the science. John de Rupecissa, a French monk of the order
of St. Francis, flourished in 1357, and pretended to be a prophet as
well as an alchymist. Some of his prophecies were so disagreeable to
Pope Innocent VI, that the Pontiff determined to put a stop to them,
by locking up the prophet in the dungeons of the Vatican. It is
generally believed that he died there, though there is no evidence of
the fact. His chief works are the "Book of Light," the "Five
Essences," the "Heaven of Philosophers," and his grand work "De
Confectione Lapidis." He was not thought a shining light among the
adepts. Ortholani was another pretender, of whom nothing is known, but
that he exercised the arts of alchymy and astrology at Paris, shortly
before the time of Nicholas Flamel. His work on the practice of
alchymy was written in that city in 1358. Isaac of Holland wrote, it
is supposed, about this time; and his son also devoted himself to the
science. Nothing worth repeating is known of their lives. Boerhaave
speaks with commendation of many passages in their works, and
Paracelsus esteemed them highly: the chief are "De Triplici Ordine
Elixiris et Lapidis Theoria," printed at Berne in 1608; and "Mineralia
Opera, seu de Lapide Philosophico," printed at Middleburg in 1600.
They also wrote eight other works upon the same subject. Koffstky, a
Pole, wrote an alchymical treatise, entitled "The Tincture of
Minerals," about the year 1488. In this list of authors a royal name
must not be forgotten. Charles VI. of France, one of the most
credulous princes of the day, whose court absolutely swarmed with
alchymists, conjurers, astrologers, and quacks of every description,
made several attempts to discover the philosopher's stone, and thought
he knew so much about it, that he determined to enlighten the world
with a treatise. It is called the "Royal Work of Charles VI. of
France, and the Treasure of Philosophy." It is said to be the original
from which Nicholas Flamel took the idea of his "Desir Desire."
Lenglet du Fresnoy says it is very allegorical, and utterly
incomprehensible. For a more complete list of the hermetic
philosophers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the reader is
referred to the third volume of Lenglet's History already quoted.


PART II.

PROGRESS OF THE INFATUATION DURING THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH
CENTURIES. -- AUGURELL0. -- CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. -- PARACELSUS. --
GEORGE AGRICOLA. -- DENYS ZACHAIRE. -- DR. DEE AND EDWARD KELLY. --
THE COSMOPOLITE. -- SENDIVOGIUS. -- THE ROSICRUCIANS. -- MICHAEL
MAYER. -- ROBERT FLUDD. -- JACOB BOHMEN. -- JOHN HEYDN. -- JOSEPH
FRANCIS BORRI. -- ALCHYMICAL WRITERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. -- DE
LISLE. -- ALBERT ALUYS. -- COUNT DE ST. GERMAINS. -- CAGLIOSTRO. --
PRESENT STATE OF THE SCIENCE.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the search for the
philosopher's stone was continued by thousands of the enthusiastic and
the credulous; but a great change was introduced during this period.
The eminent men who devoted themselves to the study, totally changed
its aspect, and referred to the possession of their wondrous stone and
elixir, not only the conversion of the base into the precious metals,
but the solution of all the difficulties of other sciences. They
pretended that by its means man would be brought into closer communion
with his Maker; that disease and sorrow would be banished from the
world; and that "the millions of spiritual beings who walk the earth
unseen" would be rendered visible, and become the friends, companions,
and instructors of mankind. In the seventeenth century more
especially, these poetical and fantastic doctrines excited the notice
of Europe; and from Germany, where they had been first disseminated by
Rosencreutz, spread into France and England, and ran away with the
sound judgment of many clever, but too enthusiastic, searchers for the
truth. Paracelsus, Dee, and many others of less note, were captivated
by the grace and beauty of the new mythology, which was arising to
adorn the literature of Europe. Most of the alchymists of the
sixteenth century, although ignorant of the Rosicrucians as a sect,
were, in some degree, tinctured with their fanciful tenets: but before
we speak more fully of these poetical visionaries, it will be
necessary to resume the history of the hermetic folly where we left
off in the former chapter, and trace the gradual change that stole
over the dreams of the adepts. It will be seen that the infatuation
increased rather than diminished as the world grew older.

AUGURELLO.

Among the alchymists who were born in the fifteenth, and
distinguished themselves in the sixteenth century, the first, in point
of date, is John Aurelio Augurello. He was born at Rimini in 1441, and
became Professor of the belles lettres at Venice and Trevisa. He was
early convinced of the truth of the hermetic science, and used to pray
to God that he might be happy enough to discover the philosopher's
stone. He was continually surrounded by the paraphernalia of
chemistry, and expended all his wealth in the purchase of drugs and
metals. He was also a poet, but of less merit than pretensions. His
"Chrysopeia," in which lie pretended to teach the art of making gold,
he dedicated to Pope Leo X, in the hope that the Pontiff would reward
him handsomely for the compliment; but the Pope was too good a judge
of poetry to be pleased with the worse than mediocrity of his poem,
and too good a philosopher to approve of the strange doctrines which
it inculcated: he was, therefore, far from gratified at the
dedication. It is said, that when Augurello applied to him for a
reward, the Pope, with great ceremony and much apparent kindness and
cordiality, drew an empty purse from his pocket, and presented it to
the alchymist, saying, that since he was able to make gold, the most
appropriate present that could be made him, was a purse to put it in.
This scurvy reward was all that the poor alchymist ever got either for
his poetry or his alchymy. He died in a state of extreme poverty, in
the eighty-third year of his age.

CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.

This alchymist has left a more distinguished reputation. The most
extraordinary tales were told and believed of his powers. He could
turn iron into gold by his mere word. All the spirits of the air, and
demons of the earth, were under his command, and bound to obey him in
everything. He could raise from the dead the forms of the great men
of other days, and make them appear "in their habit as they lived," to
the gaze of the curious who had courage enough to abide their
presence.

He was born at Cologne in 1486, and began, at an early age, the
study of chemistry and philosophy. By some means or other which have
never been very clearly explained, he managed to impress his
contemporaries with a great idea of his wonderful attainments. At the
early age of twenty, so great was his reputation as an alchymist, that
the principal adepts of Paris wrote to Cologne, inviting him to settle
in France, and aid them with his experience in discovering the
philosopher's stone. Honours poured upon him in thick succession; and
he was highly esteemed by all the learned men of his time. Melancthon
speaks of him with respect and commendation. Erasmus also bears
testimony in his favour; and the general voice of his age proclaimed
him a light of literature and an ornament to philosophy. Some men, by
dint of excessive egotism, manage to persuade their contemporaries
that they are very great men indeed: they publish their acquirements
so loudly in people's ears, and keep up their own praises so
incessantly, that the world's applause is actually taken by storm.
Such seems to have been the case with Agrippa. He called himself a
sublime theologian, an excellent jurisconsult, an able physician, a
great philosopher, and a successful alchymist. The world, at last,
took him at his word; and thought that a man who talked so big, must
have some merit to recommend him -- that it was, indeed, a great
trumpet which sounded so obstreperous a blast. He was made secretary
to the Emperor Maximilian, who conferred upon him the title of
Chevalier, and gave him the honorary command of a regiment. He
afterwards became Professor of Hebrew and the belles lettres, at the
University of Dole, in France; but quarrelling with the Franciscan
monks upon some knotty point of divinity, he was obliged to quit the
town. He took refuge in London, where he taught Hebrew and cast
nativities, for about a year. From London he proceeded to Pavia, and
gave lectures upon the writings, real or supposed, of Hermes
Trismegistus; and might have lived there in peace and honour, had he
not again quarrelled with the clergy. By their means his position
became so disagreeable, that he was glad to accept an offer made him
by the magistracy of Metz, to become their Syndic and
Advocate-General. Here, again, his love of disputation made him
enemies: the theological wiseacres of that city asserted, that St.
Anne had three husbands, in which opinion they were confirmed by the
popular belief of the day. Agrippa needlessly ran foul of this
opinion, or prejudice as he called it, and thereby lost much of his
influence. Another dispute, more creditable to his character, occurred
soon after, and sank him for ever in the estimation of the Metzians.
Humanely taking the part of a young girl who was accused of
witchcraft, his enemies asserted, that he was himself a sorcerer, and
raised such a storm over his head, that he was forced to fly the city.
After this, he became physician to Louisa de Savoy, mother of King
Francis I. This lady was curious to know the future, and required her
physician to cast her nativity. Agrippa replied, that he would not
encourage such idle curiosity. The result was, he lost her confidence,
and was forthwith dismissed. If it had been through his belief in the
worthlessness of astrology, that he had made his answer, we might
admire his honest and fearless independence; but, when it is known
that, at the very same time, he was in the constant habit of
divination and fortunetelling; and that he was predicting splendid
success, in all his undertakings, to the Constable of Bourbon, we can
only wonder at his thus estranging a powerful friend through mere
petulance and perversity.

He was, about this time, invited both by Henry VIII. of England,
and Margaret of Austria, Governess of the Low Countries, to fix his
residence in their dominions. He chose the service of the latter, by
whose influence he was made historiographer to the Emperor Charles V.
Unfortunately for Agrippa, he never had stability enough to remain
long in one position, and offended his patrons by his restlessness and
presumption. After the death of Margaret, he was imprisoned at
Brussels, on a charge of sorcery. He was released after a year; and,
quitting the country, experienced many vicissitudes. He died in great
poverty in 1534, aged forty-eight years.

While in the service of Margaret of Austria, he resided
principally at Louvain, in which city he wrote his famous work on the
Vanity and Nothingness of human Knowledge. He also wrote, to please
his Royal Mistress, a treatise upon the Superiority of the Female Sex,
which be dedicated to her, in token of his gratitude for the favours
she had heaped upon him. The reputation he left behind him in these
provinces was anything but favourable. A great number of the
marvellous tales that are told of him, relate to this period of his
life. It was said, that the gold which he paid to the traders with
whom he dealt, always looked remarkably bright, but invariably turned
into pieces of slate and stone in the course of four-and-twenty hours.
Of this spurious gold he was believed to have made large quantities by
the aid of the devil, who, it would appear from this, had but a very
superficial knowledge of alchymy, and much less than the Marechal de
Rays gave him credit for. The Jesuit Delrio, in his book on Magic and
Sorcery, relates a still more extraordinary story of him. One day,
Agrippa left his house, at Louvain; and, intending to be absent for
some time, gave the key of his study to his wife, with strict orders
that no one should enter it during his absence. The lady herself,
strange as it may appear, had no curiosity to pry into her husband's
secrets, and never once thought of entering the forbidden room: but a
young student, who had been accommodated with an attic in the
philosopher's house, burned with a fierce desire to examine the study;
hoping, perchance, that he might purloin some book or implement which
would instruct him in the art of transmuting metals. The youth, being
handsome, eloquent, and, above all, highly complimentary to the charms
of the lady, she was persuaded, without much difficulty, to lend him
the key, but gave him strict orders not to remove anything. The
student promised implicit obedience, and entered Agrippa's study. The
first object that caught his attention, was a large grimoire, or book
of spells, which lay open on the philosopher's desk. He sat himself
down immediately, and began to read. At the first word he uttered, he
fancied he heard a knock at the door. He listened; but all was silent.
Thinking that his imagination had deceived him, he read on, when
immediately a louder knock was heard, which so terrified him, that he
started to his feet. He tried to say, "come in;" but his tongue
refused its office, and he could not articulate a sound. He fixed his
eyes upon the door, which, slowly opening, disclosed a stranger of
majestic form, but scowling features, who demanded sternly,
why he was summoned? "I did not summon you," said the trembling
student. "You did!" said the stranger, advancing, angrily; "and the
demons are not to be invoked in vain." The student could make no
reply; and the demon, enraged that one of the uninitiated should have
summoned him out of mere presumption, seized him by the throat and
strangled him. When Agrippa returned, a few days afterwards, he found
his house beset with devils. Some of them were sitting on the
chimneypots, kicking up their legs in the air; while others were
playing at leapfrog, on the very edge of the parapet. His study was so
filled with them that he found it difficult to make his way to his
desk. When, at last, he had elbowed his way through them, he found
his book open, and the student lying dead upon the floor. He saw
immediately how the mischief had been done; and, dismissing all the
inferior imps, asked the principal demon how he could have been so
rash as to kill the young man. The demon replied, that he had been
needlessly invoked by an insulting youth, and could do no less than
kill him for his presumption. Agrippa reprimanded him severely, and
ordered him immediately to reanimate the dead body, and walk about
with it in the market-place for the whole of the afternoon. The demon
did so: the student revived; and, putting his arm through that of his
unearthly murderer, walked very lovingly with him, in sight of all the
people. At sunset, the body fell down again, cold and lifeless as
before, and was carried by the crowd to the hospital, it being the
general opinion that he had expired in a fit of apoplexy. His
conductor immediately disappeared. When the body was examined, marks
of strangulation were found on the neck, and prints of the long claws
of the demon on various parts of it. These appearances, together with
a story, which soon obtained currency, that the companion of the young
man had vanished in a cloud of flame and smoke, opened people's eyes
to the truth. The magistrates of Louvain instituted inquiries; and the
result was, that Agrippa was obliged to quit the town.

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