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Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions

C >> Charles Mackay >> Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions




"On the following day, I went towards Toulouse to find the Abbe,
in accordance with a mutual promise that we should communicate our
discoveries to each other. On my way, I called in to see the sage monk
who had assisted me with his counsels; but I had the sorrow to learn
that they were both dead. After this, I would not return to my own
home, but retired to another place, to await one of my relations whom
I had left in charge of my estate. I gave him orders to sell all that
belonged to me, as well movable as immovable -- to pay my debts with
the proceeds, and divide all the rest among those in any way related
to me who might stand in need of it, in order that they might enjoy
some share of the good fortune which had befallen me. There was a
great deal of talk in the neighbourhood about my precipitate retreat;
the wisest of my acquaintance imagining that, broken down and ruined
by my mad expenses, I sold my little remaining property that I might
go and hide my shame in distant countries.

"My relative already spoken of rejoined me on the 1st of July,
after having performed all the business I had intrusted him with. We
took our departure together, to seek a land of liberty. We first
retired to Lausanne, in Switzerland, when, after remaining there for
some time, we resolved to pass the remainder of our days in some of
the most celebrated cities of Germany, living quietly and without
splendour."

Thus ends the story of Denis Zachaire, as written by himself. He
has not been so candid at its conclusion as at its commencement, and
has left the world in doubt as to his real motives for pretending that
he had discovered the philosopher's stone. It seems probable that the
sentence he puts into the months of his wisest acquaintances was the
true reason of his retreat; that he was, in fact, reduced to poverty,
and hid his shame in foreign countries. Nothing further is known of
his life, and his real name has never yet been discovered. He wrote a
work on alchymy, entitled "The true Natural Philosophy of Metals."

DR. DEE and EDWARD KELLY.

John Dee and Edward Kelly claim to be mentioned together, having
been so long associated in the same pursuits, and undergone so many
strange vicissitudes in each other's society. Dee was altogether a
wonderful man, and had he lived in an age when folly and superstition
were less rife, he would, with the same powers which he enjoyed, have
left behind him a bright and enduring reputation. He was born in
London, in the year 1527, and very early manifested a love for study.
At the age of fifteen he was sent to Cambridge, and delighted so much
in his books, that he passed regularly eighteen hours every day among
them. Of the other six, he devoted four to sleep and two for
refreshment. Such intense application did not injure his health, and
could not fail to make him one of the first scholars of his time.
Unfortunately, however, he quitted the mathematics and the pursuits of
true philosophy to indulge in the unprofitable reveries of the occult
sciences. He studied alchymy, astrology, and magic, and thereby
rendered himself obnoxious to the authorities at Cambridge. To avoid
persecution, he was at last obliged to retire to the university of
Louvain; the rumours of sorcery that were current respecting him
rendering his longer stay in England not altogether without danger. He
found at Louvain many kindred spirits who had known Cornelius Agrippa
while he resided among them, and by whom he was constantly entertained
with the wondrous deeds of that great master of the hermetic
mysteries. From their conversation he received much encouragement to
continue the search for the philosopher's stone, which soon began to
occupy nearly all his thoughts.

He did not long remain on the Continent, but returned to England
in 1551, being at that time in the twenty-fourth year of his age. By
the influence of his friend, Sir John Cheek, he was kindly received at
the court of King Edward VI, and rewarded (it is difficult to say for
what) with a pension of one hundred crowns. He continued for several
years to practise in London as an astrologer; casting nativities,
telling fortunes, and pointing out lucky and unlucky days. During the
reign of Queen Mary he got into trouble, being suspected of heresy,
and charged with attempting Mary's life by means of enchantments. He
was tried for the latter offence, and acquitted; but was retained in
prison on the former charge, and left to the tender mercies of Bishop
Bonner. He had a very narrow escape from being burned in Smithfield,
but he, somehow or other, contrived to persuade that fierce bigot that
his orthodoxy was unimpeachable, and was set at liberty in 1555.

On the accession of Elizabeth, a brighter day dawned upon him.
During her retirement at Woodstock, her servants appear to have
consulted him as to the time of Mary's death, which Circumstance, no
doubt, first gave rise to the serious charge for which he was brought
to trial. They now came to consult him more openly as to the fortunes
of their mistress; and Robert Dudley, the celebrated Earl of
Leicester, was sent by command of the Queen herself to know the most
auspicious day for her coronation. So great was the favour he enjoyed
that, some years afterwards, Elizabeth condescended to pay him a visit
at his house in Mortlake, to view his museum of curiosities, and, when
he was ill, sent her own physician to attend upon him.

Astrology was the means whereby he lived, and he continued to
practise it with great assiduity; but his heart was in alchymy. The
philosopher's stone and the elixir of life haunted his daily thoughts
and his nightly dreams. The Talmudic mysteries, which he had also
deeply studied, impressed him with the belief, that he might hold
converse with spirits and angels, and learn from them all the
mysteries of the universe. Holding the same idea as the then obscure
sect of the Rosicrucians, some of whom he had perhaps encountered in
his travels in Germany, he imagined that, by means of the
philosopher's stone, he could summon these kindly spirits at his will.
By dint of continually brooding upon the subject, his imagination
became so diseased, that he at last persuaded himself that an angel
appeared to him, and promised to be his friend and companion as long
as he lived. He relates that, one day, in November 1582, while he was
engaged in fervent prayer, the window of his museum looking towards
the west suddenly glowed with a dazzling light, in the midst of which,
in all his glory, stood the great angel Uriel. Awe and wonder rendered
him speechless; but the angel smiling graciously upon him, gave him a
crystal, of a convex form, and told him that, whenever he wished to
hold converse with the beings of another sphere, he had only to gaze
intently upon it, and they would appear in the crystal and unveil to
him all the secrets of futurity. [The "crystal" alluded to appears to
have been a black stone, or piece of polished coal. The following
account of it is given in the Supplement to Granger's "Biographical
History." -- "The black stone into which Dee used to call his spirits
was in the collection of the Earls of Peterborough, from whence it
came to Lady Elizabeth Germaine. It was next the property of the late
Duke of Argyle, and is now Mr. Walpole's. It appears upon examination
to be nothing more than a polished piece of cannel coal; but this is
what Butler means when he says,
'Kelly did all his feats upon
The devil's looking-glass -- a stone.'"]
This saying, the angel disappeared. Dee found from experience of the
crystal that it was necessary that all the faculties of the soul
should be concentrated upon it, otherwise the spirits did not appear.
He also found that he could never recollect the conversations he had
with the angels. He therefore determined to communicate the secret to
another person, who might converse with the spirits while he (Dee) sat
in another part of the room, and took down in writing the revelations
which they made.

He had at this time in his service, as his assistant, one Edward
Kelly, who, like himself, was crazy upon the subject of the
philosopher's stone. There was this difference, however, between them,
that, while Dee was more of an enthusiast than an impostor, Kelly was
more of an impostor than an enthusiast. In early life he was a
notary, and had the misfortune to lose both his ears for forgery. This
mutilation, degrading enough in any man, was destructive to a
philosopher; Kelly, therefore, lest his wisdom should suffer in the
world's opinion, wore a black skull-cap, which, fitting close to his
head, and descending over both his cheeks, not only concealed his
loss, but gave him a very solemn and oracular appearance. So well did
he keep his secret, that even Dee, with whom he lived so many years,
appears never to have discovered it. Kelly, with this character, was
just the man to carry on any piece of roguery for his own advantage,
or to nurture the delusions of his master for the same purpose. No
sooner did Dee inform him of the visit he had received from the
glorious Uriel, than Kelly expressed such a fervour of belief that
Dee's heart glowed with delight. He set about consulting his crystal
forthwith, and on the 2nd of December 1581, the spirits appeared, and
held a very extraordinary discourse with Kelly, which Dee took down in
writing. The curious reader may see this farrago of nonsense among the
Harleian MSS. in the British Museum. The later consultations were
published in a folio volume, in 1659, by Dr. Meric Casaubon, under the
title of "A True and Faithful Relation of what passed between Dr. John
Dee and some Spirits; tending, had it succeeded, to a general
Alteration of most States and Kingdoms in the World." [Lilly, the
astrologer, in his Life written by himself, frequently tells of
prophecies delivered by the angels in a manner similar to the angels
of Dr. Dee. He says, "The prophecies were not given vocally by the
angels, but by inspection of the crystal in types and figures, or by
apparition the circular way; where, at some distance, the angels
appear, representing by forms, shapes, and creatures what is demanded.
It is very rare, yea, even in our days," quoth that wiseacre, "for any
operator or master to hear the angels speak articulately: when they do
speak, it is like the Irish, much in the throat!"]

The fame of these wondrous colloquies soon spread over the
country, and even reached the Continent. Dee, at the same time,
pretended to be in possession of the elixir vitae, which he stated he
had found among the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, in Somersetshire.
People flocked from far and near to his house at Mortlake to have
their nativities cast, in preference to visiting astrologers of less
renown. They also longed to see a man who, according to his own
account, would never die. Altogether, he carried on a very profitable
trade, but spent so much in drugs and metals to work out some peculiar
process of transmutation, that he never became rich.

About this time there came into England a wealthy polish nobleman,
named Albert Laski, Count Palatine of Siradz. His object was
principally, he said, to visit the court of Queen Elizabeth, the fame
of whose glory and magnificence had reached him in distant Poland.
Elizabeth received this flattering stranger with the most splendid
hospitality, and appointed her favourite Leicester to show him all
that was worth seeing in England. He visited all the curiosities of
London and Westminster, and from thence proceeded to Oxford and
Cambridge, that he might converse with some of the great scholars
whose writings shed lustre upon the land of their birth. He was very
much disappointed at not finding Dr. Dee among them, and told the Earl
of Leicester that he would not have gone to Oxford if he had known
that Dee was not there. The Earl promised to introduce him to the
great alchymist on their return to London, and the Pole was satisfied.
A few days afterwards, the Earl and Laski being in the antechamber of
the Queen, awaiting an audience of her Majesty, Dr. Dee arrived on the
same errand, and was introduced to the Pole. [Albert Laski, son of
Jaroslav, was Palatine of Siradz, and afterwards of Sendomir, and
chiefly contributed to the election of Henry of Valois, the Third of
France, to the throne of Poland, and was one of the delegates who went
to France in order to announce to the new monarch his elevation to the
sovereignty of Poland. After the deposition of Henry, Albert Laski
voted for Maximilian of Austria. In 1585 he visited England, when
Queen Elizabeth received him with great distinction. The honours which
were shown him during his visit to Oxford, by the especial command of
the Queen, were equal to those rendered to sovereign princes. His
extraordinary prodigality rendered his enormous wealth insufficient to
defray his expenses, and he therefore became a zealous adept in
alchymy, and took from England to Poland with him two known
alchymists. -- Count Valerian Krasinski's "Historical Sketch of the
Reformation in Poland."] An interesting conversation ensued, which
ended by the stranger inviting himself to dine with the astrologer at
his house at Mortlake. Dee returned home in some tribulation, for he
found he had not money enough, without pawning his plate, to entertain
Count Laski and his retinue in a manner becoming their dignity. In
this emergency he sent off an express to the Earl of Leicester,
stating frankly the embarrassment he laboured under, and praying his
good offices in representing the matter to her Majesty. Elizabeth
immediately sent him a present of twenty pounds.

On the appointed day, Count Laski came, attended by a numerous
retinue, and expressed such open and warm admiration of the wonderful
attainments of his host, that Dee turned over, in his own mind, how he
could bind irretrievably to his interests a man who seemed so well
inclined to become his friend. Long acquaintance with Kelly had imbued
him with all the roguery of that personage; and he resolved to make
the Pole pay dearly for his dinner. He found out, before many days,
that he possessed great estates in his own country, as well as great
influence; but that an extravagant disposition had reduced him to
temporary embarrassment. He also discovered, that he was a firm
believer in the philosopher's stone and the water of life. He was,
therefore, just the man upon whom an adventurer might fasten himself.
Kelly thought so too; and both of them set to work, to weave a web, in
the meshes of which they might firmly entangle the rich and credulous
stranger. They went very cautiously about it; first throwing out
obscure hints of the stone and the elixir; and, finally, of
the spirits, by means of whom they could turn over the pages of the
Book of Futurity, and read the awful secrets inscribed therein. Laski
eagerly implored that he might be admitted to one of their mysterious
interviews with Uriel and the angels; but they knew human nature too
well to accede at once to the request. To the Count's entreaties they
only replied by hints of the difficulty or impropriety of summoning
the spirits in the presence of a stranger; or of one who might,
perchance, have no other motive than the gratification of a vain
curiosity: but they only meant to whet the edge of his appetite by
this delay, and would have been sorry indeed if the Count had been
discouraged. To show how exclusively the thoughts both of Dee and
Kelly were fixed upon their dupe, at this time, it is only necessary
to read the introduction to their first interview with the spirits,
related in the volume of Dr. Casaubon. The entry made by Dee, under
the date of the 25th of May 1583, says, that when the spirit appeared
to them, "I, [John Dee], and E. K. [Edward Kelly], sat together,
conversing of that noble Polonian Albertus Laski, his great honour
here with us obtained, and of his great liking among all sorts of the
people." No doubt they were discussing how they might make the most of
the "noble Polonian," and concocting the fine story with which they
afterwards excited his curiosity, and drew him firmly within their
toils. "Suddenly," says Dee, as they were thus employed, "there seemed
to come out of the oratory, a spiritual creature, like a pretty girl,
of seven or nine years of age, attired on her head, with her hair
rolled up before, and hanging down behind; with a gown of silk, of
changeable red and green, and with a train. She seemed to play up and
down, and seemed to go in and out behind the books; and, as she seemed
to go between them, the books displaced themselves, and made way for
her."

With such tales as these they lured on the Pole from day to day;
and at last persuaded him to be a witness of their mysteries. Whether
they played off any optical delusions upon him; or whether, by the
force of a strong imagination, he deluded himself, does not appear;
but certain it is, that he became a complete tool in their hands, and
consented to do whatever they wished him. Kelly, at these interviews,
placed himself at a certain distance from the wondrous crystal, and
gazed intently upon it; while Dee took his place in corner, ready to
set down the prophecies as they were uttered by the spirits. In this
manner they prophesied to the Pole, that he should become the
fortunate possessor of the philosopher's stone; that he should live
for centuries, and be chosen King of Poland; in which capacity he
should gain many great victories over the Saracens, and make his name
illustrious over all the earth. For this pose it was necessary,
however, that Laski should leave England, and take them with him,
together with their wives and families; that he should treat them all
sumptuously, and allow them to want for nothing. Laski at once
consented; and very shortly afterwards they were all on the road to
Poland.

It took them upwards of four months to reach the Count's estates,
in the neighbourhood of Cracow. In the mean time, they led a pleasant
life, and spent money with an unsparing hand. When once established in
the Count's palace, they commenced the great hermetic operation of
transmuting iron into gold. Laski provided them with all necessary
materials, and aided them himself with his knowledge of alchymy: but,
somehow or other, the experiment always failed at the very moment that
it ought to have succeeded; and they were obliged to recommence
operations on a grander scale. But the hopes of Laski were not easily
extinguished. Already, in idea, the possessor of countless millions,
he was not to be cast down for fear of present expenses. He thus
continued from day to day, and from month to month, till he was, at
last, obliged to sell a portion of his deeply-mortgaged estates, to
find aliment for the hungry crucibles of Dee and Kelly, and the no
less hungry stomachs of their wives and families. It was not till ruin
stared him in the face, that he awoke from his dream of infatuation --
too happy, even then, to find that he had escaped utter beggary. Thus
restored to his senses, his first thought was how to rid himself of
his expensive visiters. Not wishing to quarrel with them, he proposed
that they should proceed to Prague, well furnished with letters of
recommendation to the Emperor Rudolph. Our alchymists too plainly saw
that nothing more was to be made of the almost destitute Count Laski.
Without hesitation, therefore, they accepted the proposal, and set out
forthwith to the Imperial residence. They had no difficulty, on their
arrival at Prague, in obtaining an audience of the Emperor. They found
him willing enough to believe that such a thing as the philosopher's
stone existed, and flattered themselves that they had made a
favourable impression upon him; but, from some cause or other --
perhaps the look of low cunning and quackery upon the face of Kelly --
the Emperor conceived no very high opinion of their abilities. He
allowed them, however, to remain for some months at Prague, feeding
themselves upon the hope that he would employ them: but the more he
saw of them, the less he liked them; and, when the Pope's Nuncio
represented to him, that he ought not to countenance such heretic
magicians, he gave orders that they should quit his dominions within
four-and-twenty hours. It was fortunate for them that so little time
was given them; for, had they remained six hours longer, the Nuncio
had received orders to procure a perpetual dungeon, or the stake, for
them.

Not knowing well where to direct their steps, they resolved to
return to Cracow, where they had still a few friends; but, by this
time, the funds they had drawn from Laski were almost exhausted; and
they were many days obliged to go dinnerless and supperless. They had
great difficulty to keep their poverty a secret from the world; but
they managed to bear privation without murmuring, from a conviction
that if the fact were known, it would militate very much against their
pretensions. Nobody would believe that they were possessors of the
philosopher's stone, if it were once suspected that they did not know
how to procure bread for their subsistence. They still gained a little
by casting nativities, and kept starvation at arm's length, till a new
dupe, rich enough for their purposes, dropped into their toils, in the
shape of a royal personage. Having procured an introduction to
Stephen, King of Poland, they predicted to him, that the Emperor
Rudolph would shortly be assassinated, and that the Germans would look
to Poland for his successor. As this prediction was not precise enough
to satisfy the King, they tried their crystal again; and a spirit
appeared, who told them that the new sovereign of Germany would be
Stephen of Poland. Stephen was credulous enough to believe them, and
was once present when Kelly held his mystic conversations with the
shadows of his crystal. He also appears to have furnished them with
money to carry on their experiments in alchymy: but he grew tired, at
last, of their broken promises, and their constant drains upon his
pocket; and was on the point of discarding them with disgrace, when
they met with another dupe, to whom they eagerly transferred their
services. This was Count Rosenberg, a nobleman of large estates, at
Trebona, in Bohemia. So comfortable did they find themselves in the
palace of this munificent patron, that they remained nearly four years
with him, faring sumptuously, and having an almost unlimited command
of his money. The Count was more ambitious than avaricious: he had
wealth enough, and did not care for the philosopher's stone on account
of the gold, but of the length of days it would bring him. They had
their predictions, accordingly, all ready framed to suit his
character. They prophesied that he should be chosen King of Poland;
and promised, moreover, that he should live for five hundred years to
enjoy his dignity; provided always, that he found them sufficient
money to carry on their experiments.

But now, while fortune smiled upon them; while they revelled in
the rewards of successful villany, retributive justice came upon them
in a shape they had not anticipated. Jealousy and mistrust sprang up
between the two confederates, and led to such violent and frequent
quarrels, that Dee was in constant fear of exposure. Kelly imagined
himself a much greater personage than Dee; measuring, most likely, by
the standard of impudent roguery; and was displeased that on all
occasions, and from all persons, Dee received the greater share of
honour and consideration. He often threatened to leave Dee to shift
for himself; and the latter, who had degenerated into the mere tool of
his more daring associate, was distressed beyond measure at the
prospect of his desertion. His mind was so deeply imbued with
superstition, that he believed the rhapsodies of Kelly to be, in a
great measure, derived from his intercourse with angels; and he knew
not where, in the whole world, to look for a man of depth and wisdom
enough to succeed him. As their quarrels every day became more and
more frequent, Dee wrote letters to Queen Elizabeth, to secure a
favourable reception on his return to England; whither he intended to
proceed, if Kelly forsook him. He also sent her a round piece of
silver, which he pretended he had made of a portion of brass cut out
of a warming-pan. He afterwards sent her the warming-pan also, that
she might convince herself that the piece of silver corresponded
exactly with the hole which was cut into the brass. While thus
preparing for the worst, his chief desire was to remain in Bohemia
with Count Rosenberg, who treated him well, and reposed much
confidence in him. Neither had Kelly any great objection to remain;
but a new passion had taken possession of his breast, and he was
laying deep schemes to gratify it. His own wife was ill-favoured and
ill-natured; Dee's was comely and agreeable: and he longed to make an
exchange of partners, without exciting the jealousy or shocking the
morality of Dee. This was a difficult matter; but, to a man like
Kelly, who was as deficient in rectitude and right feeling as he was
full of impudence and ingenuity, the difficulty was not
insurmountable. He had also deeply studied the character and the
foibles of Dee; and he took his measures accordingly. The next time
they consulted the spirits, Kelly pretended to be shocked at their
language, and refused to tell Dee what they had said. Dee insisted,
and was informed that they were henceforth to have their wives in
common. Dee, a little startled, inquired whether the spirits might not
mean that they were to live in common harmony and good-will? Kelly
tried again, with apparent reluctance, and said the spirits insisted
upon the literal interpretation. The poor fanatic, Dee, resigned
himself to their will; but it suited Kelly's purpose to appear coy a
little longer. He declared that the spirits must be spirits, not of
good, but of evil; and refused to consult them any more. He thereupon
took his departure, saying that he would never return.

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