iiilil 
 
 'L'llii 
 
 iiiiiiiiiiijj 
 
 >iiii 
 
 '111!!- 
 
 «i^ 
 
 iHUH*t*J*
 
 c^^ 
 
 THE CRADLE 
 
 OP THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 Science airt l^istors. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY CHRISTMAS, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., 
 
 LIBRARIAN AND SECRETARY OF SION COLLEGE. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, 
 ^uilisfifr in (©rtdnarg to It^er iTOntestg. 
 
 M.DCCC.XLIX.
 
 LONDON ; 
 
 Printed by S. & J. Benti.ky and Henry Fi.ky, 
 Bangor House, Shoe Lane.
 
 6F 
 
 TO 
 
 v.] 
 AVILLIA]\I LEAF, ESQ., 
 
 ETC., ETC., ETC., 
 OP 
 PARK HILL, STREATHAM. 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 It is with great pleasure that I inscribe 
 with your name these volumes. Our acquaintance (let 
 me say our friendship) is not of old date, but it com- 
 menced under circumstances peculiarly interesting to both 
 of us, and every day since has added to the respect and 
 regard with which I subscribe myself 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 Henry CurisTjMas. 
 
 SiON College, Londo:< Wall, 
 November, llnd, 18 JQ. 

 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 iNTRODUCTOaT ....•! 
 
 16 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Astrology ..... 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Of the Origin of Astrology . . .25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of Astrology considered as a Science . .4] 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Nativities .... 80 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Conclusion op the Sketch op Astrology . - 97 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Medical Astrology . . . .109 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Magic. — Introduction . . .121 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Of the Early History of Magic, and par- 
 ticularly among the Egyptians . . 133 
 
 A 3
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Automata, or Moving Images . . .154 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Arithmetical Magic, or the Magical Opera- 
 tion OP NUMBERS, AND OF MaGIC SQUARES . 173 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Oneirojiancy. — Sleep and Dreams . . . 184 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Oneiromanct {continued). — The Interpretation 
 OF Dreams .... 205 
 
 BOOK II. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Heroic, or Romantic Ages . . . 227 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Heroic, or Romantic Ages . . . 242 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Heroic, or Romantic Ages of Britain . . 258 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Heroic Ages op Britain . . 266 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Romance .... 277 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Modern Ecclesiastical Romance . . .311 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Mesmeric Wonders ..... 339 
 APPENDIX ...... 347
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The volumes here presented to the reader have 
 been, at intervals, for many years the occupation 
 of the Author's leisure. The subject is one which 
 can hardly fail to interest the mind desirous of 
 investigating the History of Knowledge. Of that 
 History it forms one chapter, — but a chapter the 
 most poetical of all. 
 
 The Author is well aware both of the difficulties 
 which attend the topic, and of his own deficiencies ; 
 and had not the ground been almost unbroken, he 
 would hardly have undertaken the task. 
 
 There are, indeed, books without number on the 
 subject which these volumes treat on, — but they 
 are for the most part rare, written in Latin, and 
 treating each on only one subject, so that a library 
 must be collected before the whole circle will be 
 brought under the reader's notice. When the 
 volumes are obtained, they will be found to be 
 either controversial, or written by believing stu-
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 dents of the Occult Sciences. The simple facts of 
 the case from which we may judge of the state of 
 scientific knowledge at the time, being only to be 
 gathered from obscure allusions scattered here and 
 there through works written for other purposes. 
 It will be necessary to give a list, and that a 
 very long one, of the works consulted for the pur- 
 poses of these two volumes ; (they will amount to 
 between four and five hundred,) even though it may 
 appear an affectation of recondite, and somewhat 
 out-of-the-way, reading. It was the knowledge 
 of the great difficulty of obtaining information on 
 these subjects, which induced the Author to offer 
 this work to the public, — for, with a full conscious- 
 ness of its many imperfections, he is satisfied that 
 it stands alone of its kind. 
 
 It will be observed that, in proportion as any 
 subject approaches a pneumatological character, in 
 like proportion will its beginnings be less philoso- 
 phical in spirit. Astrology is less scientific than 
 Magic: general Magic less so than Alchemy. Psy- 
 chology is still the least understood of the sciences, 
 and those reachings forth of the hand to grasp its 
 principles, which, in ancient times, gave rise to all 
 that we now call popular superstition, could hardly 
 be expected to be as effectual as those which sought
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 only material truth. Still the investigation is far from 
 being uninteresting ; and to the student of Ethno- 
 logy, it presents landmarks of inestimable value. 
 
 The subjects of which these volumes treat, belong 
 chiefly to the past, — we shall see the Twin Giants 
 in their Cradle, we shall note the might of those 
 serpents which would fain have destroyed them, 
 we shall watch the rising energies of truth, and 
 close the scene by fixing our eyes on the last faint 
 struggles of its opponents. 
 
 " Magna est Veritas, et prevalebit."
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED. 
 
 The following is the List of Authorities referred to in the 
 Preface, and which will be found cited or digested in 
 the text. — They are set down as they were read or 
 consulted, and the reader will not therefore expect to 
 find them digested into a Catalogue raisonnee. 
 
 Sir John Cheke, de Superstitione, ad Regem Henri- 
 
 cum ..... Land. 
 
 Nicholaus Hemmingius, Admonitio de Superstitionibus 
 
 Magicis vitandis . . . Ilafn. 1575. 
 
 Gervase of Tilbury. Otia Imperialia . . Lond. 
 
 Gasp. Hombergius, de Superstitiosis Canipanarum 
 
 Pulsibus, &c. 
 Joh. Fred. Hervart. Admiranda Ethicee Theologiae 
 
 Hysteria ..... Leip. 
 Fortunius Licetus, de Monstrorum Causis, Xaturae 
 
 Differentia ..... Paris. 
 
 All the contents to be found in other books. 
 
 Antonius van Dale, de Origine ac Progressu Idolo- 
 
 latrije ..... Paris. 
 
 Louis de Cice. Lettres aux Jesuites sur les Idolatries 
 
 et sur les Superstitions de la Chine . Paris, 1700. 
 
 John Trenchard. Natural History of Superstition, London. 
 
 Pierre le Brun. Lettres pour prouver Fillusion des 
 Philosophes sur la Baguette. Paris, 3G93. — Re- 
 printed with many additions, in 3 vols. 1702, 
 under the title of " Ilistoire Critique des Pra- 
 
 J» b
 
 Xll LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 tiques Superstitieuses." In 1737 the Abbe 
 Granet published a collection of Pieces intended 
 as a 4th vol. .... Paris. 
 
 Jean Fred. Bernard Picart Religious Ceremonies and 
 Superstitions, Anciennes et Modernes (together 
 11 vols, fol.) .... Paris. 
 
 Jean Louis de Lolme. Histoire des Flagellants 
 
 (1783) ..... Paris. 
 
 John Christopher Adelung. History of Human 
 Folly ; or, The Lives of the Necromancers, &c. 
 
 Leipsic, 1785-9. 
 
 Sextus Empiricus, adversus Mathematicos . Elzevir. 
 
 La Charlatanerie des Savans . . . Paris. 
 
 Petrus Pomponatius. De Incantationibus (1520) Paris. 
 
 Historia Diaboli. Joh. Godf. Mayer Amst., 1777, 1781. 
 
 Reginald Scott. Discovery of Witchcraft . 1584. 
 
 A most valuable book. 
 
 Meric Casaubon. Of Credulity and Incredulity . Lond. 
 
 Cicero de Divinatione . . . Ernesti. 
 
 Very important as to auguries, sacrifices, &c. 
 
 M. J. G. Lindemann. Geschichte der Meinungen ; or, 
 A History of the Opinions of the Ancient and 
 Modern Nations, &c. . . . 1784. 
 
 Dr. Walsh on Coins and Medals . . London. 
 
 A book with some curious information as to talismans 
 and sigils. 
 
 Delrio. Disquisitiones Magica? . 
 
 To be read with great advantage as a learned and 
 satisfactory book. 
 
 Henry Howard (Earl of Northampton). Defensive 
 against the Poison of supposed Prophecies 
 
 London, 1620. 
 Beccher. Physica Subterranea . . Leip. 1703. 
 
 A system of Chomical flnology purely scientific — 
 nothing for this subject. 
 
 Cattan. L.i Geomance de . . . Paris, 1577.
 
 LIST OF AUTPIORITIES. xiii 
 
 Gaurici Lucre. Tractatus Astrologicus . Veiiet. 1552. 
 Mich. Maieri. Arcana Arcanissima. 
 
 Pancirollus. Rorum Deperditaruin . . Lond, 
 
 Bulwer's Chirologia .... Lond. 1644. 
 Crespet de la Hayne de Sathan, itc. . Paris, 1590. 
 
 Francis Hutchinson. Historical Essay on Witchcraft 1718. 
 
 Curious and valuable. 
 Heydon (John). Theomagia . . . 1G64. 
 
 Thomas Heywood. Life of Merlin Ambrosius . Lond. 
 Moreton's Essay on Apparitions . . London, 1738. 
 
 Spencer on Prodigies . . London, 1GG5. 
 
 A book learned but not novel or important. 
 
 Vair (Leonard). Trois Livres de Charmes, &c. Pa?'w, 1583. 
 Albert! Magni Opera .... Paris. 
 Michaelis Scoti Opera . . . Edin. 
 
 Bekker. Monde Enchante, 5 vols. . Amst, 1694. 
 
 Bayle (Fran9ois). Relation de I'Etat de quelques 
 
 personnes pretendues possedes . Tholouse, 1682. 
 Factums et Arrests du Parlement de Paris centre les 
 
 Bergiers Sorciers . . . Paris, 1695, 
 
 Perreaud. Demonologie . . Geneve, 1653. 
 
 La Physique Occulte. (Vallemont) . . Paris. 
 
 Suite de la Physique Occulte ou Traite de la Baguette 
 
 Divinatoire .... Paris, 1603. 
 Stengelio de Monstris, &c. . . Lngohtadt, 1647. 
 
 Spadacine Miroir de I'Astrologie Naturelle Paris, 1631. 
 Thyrseus Petrus de Obs. a Spirit. Bern. Horn. Lugd., 1603. 
 Taillepied, F. N. Traite de I'App. des Esprits, Pouen, 1602. 
 Vaughan's Magia Adamica . . Land., 1650. 
 
 Lengiet du Fresnoi. Recueil de Dissertations sur les 
 
 Apparitions, (tc, 4 vols. . . Avignon, 1751. 
 
 Vicar's Madness of Astrologers. (Eugenius Philale- 
 
 thes) .... London, 1651. 
 
 Christopher Heydon. Defence of Astrologie . London. 
 
 b 2
 
 XIV LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Obsequentis Julii Prodigorum liber . Basle, 1552. 
 
 Moresinus. Deprav. Relig. Orig. . . Lugd. 
 
 Jackson's Ma2:ical Practices . . . London. 
 
 Cardanus de Vita Propria . . . Paris. 
 
 Cornelius Agrippa de Vanitate Scientiarum . Lugd. 
 Marinus. Life of Proclus . . . London. 
 
 Jamblicbus. Life of Pythagoras . . London. 
 
 II Chiave de Salomone . . . Paris. 
 
 Petrus Mormius. Arcana totius Naturae Secretissima 
 
 Avrnt. 
 Salmasius de Annis Climactericis . . Lugd. 
 
 Valuable for its historical account of Astrology. 
 
 Dictionnaire Infernale. Par M. Colin de Planey Paris. 
 Histoire de Magie en France. Par M. Jules Garinet 
 
 Paris. 
 Naude. Instructions to tlie Rosicrucians (this work 
 is an Apology for Astrology, but I am not quite 
 sure about the title) .... Paris. 
 Histoires Admirables et Memorables . Dotuiy, 1604. 
 
 Psellus. De Oper. Dsemonuni . . . Lond. 
 
 An old and curious book. See Wierus, next page. 
 
 Bovet's Pandemonium . . . London. 
 
 Piccatrix .... London. 
 
 A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on Witch- 
 craft, &c. .... Edln., 1822. 
 
 M. Thiers. Superstitions Populaires . . Paris. 
 
 Grose. Popular Superstitions . . London. 
 
 llaracci ..... Paris. 
 
 D'Ohsson ...... Paris. 
 
 Famous History of Friar Bacon and Thomas Bungay 
 
 London. 
 Works of Marzio Galeotti . . . Paris. 
 
 Giraldus Cambrensis .... Lond. 
 
 Clem. Alexand. Stromat. . . . Lond.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. XV 
 
 Camillus Leonardus. Mirror of Stones . . Lond. 
 
 Curious, but the whole is to be found in other and 
 commoner works. 
 
 Works of Dr. Antonio de Haen . . Vienna. 
 
 His treatise on Demoniacal possession is very va- 
 luable, and his opinions are singular." 
 
 Wierus de Prestig. .... Leijy. 
 
 A valuable work against the superstitions of the times. 
 
 John Amos Comenius. Lux e Tenebris . Amst. 
 Tiedman. Disputatio de Quaestione quae fuerat ar- 
 
 tium Magicarum Origo . . . Leip. 
 
 Kircher. (Edip. Egypt. . . . Leip. 
 
 Campanella. Astrologia Purificata ■ . . Lugd. 
 
 Camerarius. Horae Subsescivae . . Lugd. 
 
 Cbambers' work against Astrology . London. 
 
 Macrobius. Saturnalia . . • Lond 
 
 Aulus Gellius. Noctes Atticae . . . Lond. 
 
 Athenaeus ..... Lena. 
 
 Helvetius. Annus Climactericus . . . Lugd. 
 
 Works of Van Helmont . . . Lugd, 
 
 His chemical works must be read for tlie history of 
 Alchemy. 
 
 Dr. Willis on Nervous Diseases . . London. 
 
 Suidas ...... Lond. 
 
 Synesius ..... Lond. 
 
 Balthus de Oraculis .... Paris. 
 
 Boucbet on Oracles .... Paris. 
 
 Maebius de Oraculis .... Leip. 
 
 Eusebius. Prasparatio Evangelica . . Rome. 
 
 De la Place. Pieces Interessantes et peu Connues Paris. 
 Beaumont's World of Spirits . . . London. 
 
 Sir Gilbert Plane. Elements of Medical Logic London. 
 Talismans Justifies .... Paris. 
 
 Thomas Gale. Court of the Gentiles . London.
 
 XVI LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Demonolatreia par Remig. . . Lyons, 1595. 
 
 Border Minstrelsy, by Scott . . . Edin. 
 
 Curious notes, but the work is valuable chiefly for the 
 Romance. 
 
 Deuce's Illustrations of Sliakspeare . . London. 
 
 Martin's account of Second Sight in Scotland . Edin. 
 
 Heywood's Hierarchy of Blessed Angels . London. 
 
 Grellman's History of the Gipsies . Vienna. 
 
 Ribadeneira's Lives of the Saints . . Madrid. 
 
 Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints . London. 
 
 Rudbeck's Atlantica .... Copen. 
 
 Olaus Wormius. Hist. Septent. . . . Loud. 
 
 Noted by mistake instead of Olaus Magnus. 
 
 Secreti di Diversi Excellentissime Huomini, Milan, 1558. 
 Christian Forman. De Fascin. ]\Lagic. . . Paris. 
 
 Melanges d'Histoire et de Literature. Vigneul Mar- 
 
 ville ..... Paris. 
 
 This man's real name was Noel d'Argonne. 
 
 Donatus. Hist. Med. Mirab. . . . Paris. 
 
 Dickenson's Quinta Essentia Philosophorum , Lond. 
 
 Memoires Historiques . . . Paris, 1687. 
 
 Buhver's (John) Anthropometamorphosis Lond. 1653. 
 
 Joco seriorum Natune, &c. Schotti. Gaspar. . Paris. 
 
 History of the Ridiculous Extravagances of M. OufBe 
 
 London, 1650. 
 Belle Magie ou Science de I'Esprit . . Lyons, 1669. 
 
 Grande Grimoire avec la Grande Clavicule de Solomon 
 
 Paris. 
 Artis Auriferse .... Basle, 1610. 
 
 Merely Alchemy, and of no use save for the names 
 and dates. 
 
 Licetus de Lucernis Ant. Reconditis . Uiini, 1652. 
 
 Casalius de Veterum Egypt. Ritibus . Rome, 1644. 
 
 Censorinus de Die Natali . . . Amst. 
 
 Kerchmannus et alii de Annulis . Lug. Bat. 1672.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. XVll 
 
 Monckenius de Charlataneria Eruditorum . Amst. 17-47. 
 
 Palingenius Zodiacus Vitse . . . Paris. 
 
 His real name was Manzoli. 
 
 Whitelock's Memor. of Brit. AfF. from Brute to 
 
 James I. . . . . Lond. 1707. 
 
 "Waldron's (George) Description of the Isle of Man 
 
 London, 1734. 
 
 Christie's Disquisition on Etruscan Vases . London, 1806. 
 
 Valentine Greatrak's Miraculous Conformist Oxon. 16GG. 
 
 Long Livers ; a Curious History of such Persons as 
 have lived several ages and grown young again 
 
 Lond. 1722. 
 
 Jovius Paulus. Historia sui Temporis. 
 
 Levesques Histoire de Russie, 8 vols. . Paris, 1800. 
 
 Mythology of the Sclavi, the Tibetians, the Tartars, 
 and the Shamans. 
 
 Nicholas. Voyage to New Zealand 
 
 Contains an account of the New Zealand mytho- 
 logy and superstitions — valuable. 
 
 China in the Edin. Cab. Cyclop. . . London. 
 
 Wilkinson on the Egyptians . . {Important). 
 
 Pritchard on the Egyptian Mythology . . London. 
 
 Adair's Hist, of North American Indians . London. 
 
 Golownin's Captivity in Japan . , London. 
 
 Jordani Oculus Mysticus . . . Lu(/d. IGi]. 
 
 Molitoris (Ulrici) Tractatus de Lamiis et Pythonicis 
 
 Mulieribus .... Cologne, 1505 
 Philip Goodwin's Mystery of Dreams . Loyidon, IQoS. 
 Ogygia. A Chron. Ace. of Irish Events by Rod. O'Fla- 
 
 herty .... Dub. 1793. 
 
 Speculum Astrologorum. (Moguntirc. Johannis 
 
 Scheffer) .... 1508. 
 
 Boece's Chronicles of the Kings of Scotland . London. 
 
 Very important ; all these works are authorities for 
 the fabulous or romantic ages.
 
 XVlll LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Chronicles of Eri .... Dublin. 
 
 This work is, however, written by an enthusiast, 
 and must be excepted. 
 
 Sammes (Aylett) Brittauia Antiqua Illustrata . Lond. 
 
 History of the British Empire. 
 
 Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, by Scott, Weber, 
 
 and Jameson .... London. 
 
 Ritson'^ Life of Arthur . . . London. 
 
 And, indeed, form nearly a body of it. 
 
 Ellis. History of Madagascar . announced in \SZ%. 
 
 Gives a good account of the mythology and magic of 
 the island. 
 
 Dunlop's History of Fiction . . I^ondon. 
 
 E-itson's Works, 19 vols. . . London. 
 
 Southey's Chronicle of the Cid . London, 1808. 
 
 A very important and satisfactory book, 
 
 Torquemada (Spanish Mandeville of Miracles V). Trans- 
 lated by Ferdinando Walker. 
 
 W. J. Thorns. Early English Prose Romances . London. 
 
 Praetorii. Demonologia Rubinzalii Sclesii, 3rd edit. 
 
 12mo. .... Leip. 1668. 
 
 Grimms Kinder und Haus Marchen . . Leip. 
 
 Very curious and interesting. 
 
 Busching's Volksmarchen . . . Leip. 
 
 Warton's History of English Poetry . London. 
 
 Very valuable for ancient romance. 
 
 Tales and Popular Fictions by Keightley . London. 
 
 Otmar Volkesagen . . . Leip. 
 
 Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads . . London, 
 
 El Conde Lucanor . . . Madrid. 
 
 Cambray Monumens Critiques . . Paris, 
 
 Facetia) Beboliana) . . • Paris. 
 Cardonnes. Melanges do Literature Orieutale . Paris.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES, XlX 
 
 Moore, T. History of Ireland. Lardner's Cab. Cycl., Lond. 
 Scott, Walter. History of Scotland. Lardner's Cab. 
 
 Cycl. ..... London. 
 
 Davies. Mythology of the Druids . London. 
 
 Davies. Celtic Researches . • • London. 
 
 Maurice. Indian Antiquities . • London. 
 
 Semler's Commentatio de Dsemoniacis quorum in Nov. 
 
 Test, fit mentio . . . Halle, 1779. 
 
 A Collection of Engravings from Antique Vases, to. 
 
 By Sir William Hamilton. Folio. French and 
 
 English. Sixty-three Plates . Naples, 1791. 
 
 Milner's Enquiry into the Existence, &c., of St. George 
 
 London, 1792. 
 Doudas. Nenia Britannica. Folio White & Sons, 
 
 London, 1793. 
 Saxo Grammaticus . . • Lond. 
 
 Olaus Magnus . . ■ • Lond. 
 
 Curious, interesting, and valuable for all four subjects. 
 
 Keating's Irish Chronicles . . . London. 
 
 Very curious and satisfactory as to Irish Romance. 
 
 Archseologia. (Partic. vol. 2, for Sclavonic ]\Iytho- 
 
 logy) ..... Lond. 
 
 Historical Sketches of the Native Irish, &c. 12 mo. 
 
 London, 1830. 
 Hone on Mysteries and Religious Shows . London. 
 Dendy's Phenomena of Dreams, &c., 18mo. London, 1832. 
 Peruvian Tales, with Remarks, &c. (Walker) 24mo. 
 
 Lond. 1817. 
 Jones' Traditions of the N. American Indians. 3 vols. 
 
 8vo. Plates • • • London, 1830. 
 
 Hyam, Isaac, Ceremonies and Traditions of the Jews 
 
 London, 1836. 
 Swift's Life and Acts of St. Patrick, 8vo. London, 1809. 
 Sir W. Scott. Sir Tristram . . • London. 
 
 Curious and interesting— one reading is sufficient. 
 
 b 5
 
 XX 
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Mabinogion. Translated by Lady Charlotte Guest. 
 First Part appeared in Nov. 1838. Longman & 
 Co., 8vo. p. 8 . . . London, 1838. 
 
 Borlase's Cornwall .... London. 
 
 Philo. Life of Moses .... London. 
 
 Life of Virgil. This boke treateth of the lyfe of Vir- 
 gilius, (fee, &c. Antwerp : by John Doesborke, 
 supposed to be Translated from the French 
 
 Mentioned hy Sir W. Scott. 
 
 Dr. Shaw's Translation of Boerhaave's Chemistry . London. 
 The Prolegomena to be read. 
 
 Captain Turner's Mission to Ava and Thibet . London. 
 
 Humboldt, Baron Von. Researches . . London. 
 
 Almost all the matter on these subjects to be found 
 in Soiithey. 
 
 Herbelot. Bibliotheque Orientale . . London. 
 
 Suetonius ..... Elzevir. 
 
 Full of curious anecdote. 
 
 Stanley's Oriental Philosophy . . Avist. 
 
 Very valuable in every respect. 
 
 Levini Lemnii Occulta Naturae Miracula . Antw. 
 
 Curious and valuable. 
 
 Stentzelius de Somno . . . FranJcf. 
 
 Not an important work. It is written in Greek. 
 
 Southey's All for Love, &c. . . . London. 
 
 The notes are valuable. 
 Problemata Durastantis . . . Venice. 
 
 Not a book of much importance. 
 
 Porphyrins de Divinis et Demonibus . . Lugd. 
 
 Curious and important. 
 
 Hcrmetis Trismegisti. Pomander et Asclepius Lxigd 
 
 Very curious. 
 
 Conte de Gabalis et Suite de Conte de Gabalis Paris. 
 
 Phlegmon de Mirabilibus . . . Amst. 
 
 Causes Cclcbres .... Paris.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. XXl 
 
 Marsilius Ticinus Epistolte . . . Venet. 
 
 Alexander ab Alesandro. Genialib. Deer. . Ainst. 
 
 Philo. de Gigantibus . . . Paris. 
 
 Dr. Pegge's Life of Robert Grossetete . . London. 
 
 Dr. Pegge's Life of Roger de Weseham . London. 
 
 Wilson's Archseological Dictionary . . London. 
 
 Baxter's Certainty of the World of Spirits . London. 
 Hibbert. Philosophy of Apparitions . . Edin. 
 
 The History and Reality of Apparitions, by De Foe, 
 
 under the assumed name of Morton . London. 
 
 Very common-place collection — not worth noticing. 
 
 The Religions of Profane Antiquity, by Jonathan 
 
 Duncan, Esq., B.D. . . London, 1839. 
 
 Pigot on Scandinavian Mythology. (Pickering) London. 
 Legend and Romance, African and European. By 
 
 Richard Johns . . . London. 
 
 Mythology of the Hindoos. By Coleman, 4to. 2^. 2s. 
 
 London. 
 Morgan's Phoenix Britannicus, 4to. . Lond., 1732. 
 
 Grahame's Sketches of Picturesque Scenery, &c. Edin. 
 
 Harsenet's Declaration of Popish Imposture . London. 
 Fordun. Scotichronicon . . . Lond. 
 
 Satan's Invisible World. By Sinclair . . London. 
 
 The Kingdom of Darkness, with seventy-nine several 
 
 Relations .... London. 
 
 The History of Lapland . . . London. 
 
 A Pleasant Treatise of Witches . . London. 
 
 Lord Lindsay's Travels in Edom, &c. . . London. 
 
 M'Caul's Sketches of Judaism . . Jjondon. 
 
 De Erroribus Omnium Populorum. (Trin. Hall. Lib. 
 
 Cam.) ..... Lond. 
 
 Hurd's History of all Religions . . London. 
 
 Dale's Dissertations (Latin) . . . London. 
 
 Montfaucon on the Gods of the Scythians . Paris.
 
 XXll LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Dr. Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi America . Bosf. 
 
 Hermippus Redivivus. 
 
 Written by Dr. Campbell. 
 
 Thaumaturgia. (By an Oxonian). 
 Demonologia. (An Expose, &c.) 
 
 Filled with second-hand learning. 
 
 Scott's Demonology and Witchcraft (F.L.) 
 
 I was disappointed with this book. 
 
 Brewster's Natural Magic. (F. L.) 
 
 Sketches of Credulity, Superstition, and Imposture. (F. L.) 
 
 Crofton Croker's Fairy Legends. (F. L.) 
 
 Ashmole. Theatrum Chemicum Brit. 
 
 The Notes and Prolegomena are very good. 
 
 Malleus Malcficarum, 2 vols. 
 
 A curious collection of Tracts on supernatural matters. 
 
 Debrio Disquisitiones Magicae. . {Important). 
 
 Sabliere's Varietes Amusantes ( Useful and correct). 
 
 I have never seen the second and third volumes. 
 
 Cornelius Agrippa. De Occult. Phil. 
 
 A book very little understood. . 
 
 William Lilly's Christian Astrology. 
 Ebenezer Sibly's Astrology. 
 
 A large quarto, compiled from common books. 
 
 Berwick's Philostratus. 
 
 Life of ApoUonius of Tyana. 
 
 Taylor's Pausauias 
 
 The notes contain much curious matter. 
 
 Baptista Porta's Natural Magic. 
 
 Remarkable chiefly for the name and some disreputable 
 recipes. 
 
 Wilkin's Mathematical Magic 
 
 A very curious book.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. xxiii 
 
 Pluche's Histoire du Ciel. 
 
 A compilation generally though not always correct. 
 
 Dupin's Origine de tous les Cultes . . {Learned). 
 
 The small edition abridged. 
 
 Webster's Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft. 
 
 This book is the most important of all works on the subject. 
 
 Lilly's Animse Astrologise. 
 
 Mallet's Northern Antiquities. 
 
 One of the most valuable works on the antiquities of 
 nations ever published. 
 
 Geoffry of Monmouth. 
 Batiman's des Citez de France. 
 
 A curious little work, giving an account of the pre- 
 tended origin of the French cities. 
 
 Paracelsus. De Occult. Phil. 
 
 A work of no consequence, but still curious. 
 
 Paracelsus. Archidoxorum, &c. 
 
 This last work may be made more use of. 
 
 Apuleius. Metam. 
 
 The magic of the second century may be seen depicted 
 in this tale. 
 
 Verstegan's Restitution of Decayed Intelligences. 
 
 Very erroneous. 
 Artemidorus de Somniorum Interpret. 
 
 Quite the authoritJ^ 
 
 Howison's Foreign Scenes. 
 
 This work contains some curious passages as to the 
 operation of narcotic poisons. 
 
 Stehclin on Jewish Traditions. 
 Eisenmenger on Rabbinical Fables. 
 
 These two works are much alike, and contain almost 
 all that is required on the subject. 
 
 Grosius (Henmiergius) Magica de Spectris. 
 
 A good compilation of strange stories. 
 Bodin's Demonomanie des Sorciers. 
 
 The best authority.
 
 XXIV LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Mangetus. Bibliofcheca Chemica Curiosa, fol. 
 
 Contains the works of all the chief Alchemists. 
 
 Autobiography of Lilly and Ashmole. 
 
 Much amusement and information in the fonner. 
 
 Spencer on Prodigies. 
 
 Spencer of Urim and Thummim. 
 
 Very learned but not giving any novel views on 
 either subject. 
 
 Lenglet du Fresnoi. Hist, de la Phil, de Herme- 
 
 tique. 
 
 Well compiled. 
 
 Tracts concerning Dugdale. The Secrecy 
 
 Demonise 
 
 Tracts concerning Mary Tofts . \ All important, 
 
 Tracts concerning Mary Bateman 
 Tracts concerning Anne Moore 
 History of Magic and Witchcraft. Purporting to be 
 
 by John Locke. 
 Demonologia Regis Jacobi. 
 
 Curious and important, chiefly on account of the 
 directions given to magistrates. 
 
 Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. 
 
 Full of every kind of knowledge. 
 
 Thorn's Lays and Legends (W. J.) 
 
 These are valuable not only for the legends but for 
 the learned notes. 
 
 Thorn's Hwa Tseen. 
 
 The notes contain some curious remarks. 
 
 Thorn's Affectionate Pair. 
 
 And the same remark may extend to this. 
 
 Natalis Comes Mythologia. 
 
 Very learned and satisfactory. 
 
 Keightley's Fairy Mythology. 
 
 Well digested. 
 
 Keightley's Greek and Roman Mythology.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. XXV 
 
 Lives of the Alchemistical Philosophers. 
 
 A book not respectably published, but well compiled. 
 
 Porphyry (Jamblichus de Mysteriis, &c.) 
 
 Taylor's translation. 
 Proclus. Select Works. 
 
 Taylor's translation. This volume has some curious notes. 
 
 Plotinus. Select Works . . [Not necessary). 
 
 Ocellus Lucanus. (By Taylor.) 
 
 Very useful. 
 
 Julius Firmicus Maternus. (By Taylor.) {Necessary). 
 
 Astrology. 
 
 Manilius and Aratus. 
 
 Astrology and very remarkable. 
 
 Maximus Tyrius. (By Taylor.) 
 
 The notes are curious. 
 
 Mystic Hymns of Orpheus. (By Taylor.) 
 
 Here again the notes make the value. 
 
 Sallust, the Philosopher. (By Taylor.) 
 
 Here again the notes make the value. 
 
 Naude's Apologie pour les Grands Hommes, &c. 
 
 Very valuable. This book was translated by Davies, 
 and the title changed to the " History of Magic." 
 
 Gaffarelli's Curiositates Inauditte. 
 Aubrey's Miscellanies concerning Dreams, »fec. 
 A very unsatisfactory book. 
 
 Pegge's Anonymiana. 
 
 Containing only one passage a propos to this subject. 
 Menagiana. 
 Peck's Desiderata Curiosa. 
 
 The same remark may be extended to these two works. 
 
 Trial of Richard Hathaway. 
 
 Ver3' curious trial before Lord Chief Justice Holt for 
 charging a woman with witchcraft, and thereby 
 endangering her life. 
 
 Centuries de Nostradamus . . . {Curious).
 
 XXVI LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Peter de Loire on Apparitions. 
 
 This work contains a trial for witchcraft, or rather 
 sorcery before the Parliament of Paris, with the 
 speeches of the advocates. 
 
 Lithotheoricos. By Bishop Thornberg. 
 
 The most curious specimen of religious Alchemy extant. 
 
 The Book of Fate from the Tamul (Orient. Trans. Fund). 
 
 Blondel on the Sybils. 
 Van Dale on Oracles. 
 Fontenelle on Oracles. 
 
 All these three works are curious and learned. 
 
 News from the Invisible World. 
 
 A little catch-penny publication, but it contains the 
 story of Mrs. Veal. 
 
 Willis on the Soul of Brutes. 
 
 Very learned and worth reading. 
 Themis Aurea. 
 
 A collection of Rosicrucian Statutes. 
 
 Revelation of the Secret Spirit. 
 
 That is, a Hermetic discourse of spirit of wine. 
 
 St. Augustine de Civitate Dei. 
 
 Full of learning and superstition. 
 
 Sir Thomas Brown (Vulgar Errors). 
 
 Containing some matter that will well pay the reader. 
 
 Leyden's Remains. 
 
 In the notes to this work are valuable extracts from 
 scarce books. 
 
 Les Grands Fableaux. 
 
 The notes here also are very valuable. 
 
 Pliny Nat. Hist. 
 
 Every page of this work is valuable. 
 
 Case's Angelic Guide. 
 
 It is an account of a system of Geomancy now known 
 as " Napoleon's Book of Fate." 
 
 Glanvill's Sadducismus Triumphatus. 
 
 A very curious work.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. XXVll 
 
 De Foe's System of Magic. 
 
 An ignorant and indecent book. 
 
 Accouut of Certain Spirits. By Dr. Dee. 
 
 Very singular, edited by Casaubon. 
 
 Codes (Baitli) on Chiromancy and Pliysiognomy. 
 De Foe's History of the Devil. 
 
 A book which gives some sound argument under the 
 guise of satire. 
 
 Blagrave's Astrolosrical Practice of Physic. 
 
 Vulgar, but showing the taste of the times. 
 
 Ferriar on Apparitions. 
 
 A very learned book but suspected of a tendency 
 towards iMaterialism. 
 
 Taylor (Joseph) on Ghosts. 
 
 Some light stories, but not well told. 
 
 Theory of Dreams (Anon). 
 
 Very useful by way of index. The author had 
 read extensively. 
 
 Mrs. Grant's Superstitions of the Highlands. 
 
 Written in a pleasing style, and worth reading. 
 
 Brand's Popular Antiquities . . (Cttrious). 
 
 Newnham's Essay on Superstition. 
 
 Arabian Nights . . • London, 1818. 
 
 A book necessEiry to be read with great attention. 
 
 Brande's Chemistry . . . London, 18^0. 
 
 The Preface, or rather Introduction, contains a slight 
 sketch of the History of Alchemy, which is, how- 
 ever, much fuller in this work of Dr. Thomson. 
 
 Thomson's History of Chemistry . London, 1832. 
 
 Hume's Chemical Attraction . Cambridge, 1835. 
 
 The Historical Introduction here is worth reading. 
 
 Torquatus de Eversione Imperiorum. 
 
 This curious work contains some astrological predictions.
 
 XXVlli LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Aurea Legenda. . . . ( Ver^ important). 
 
 All the miracles of the saints. 
 
 English Martyrologie. 
 
 A work of the same description as the foregoing. 
 
 Life of St. Francis Xavier. By Tursellinus. 
 
 Remarkable for its popish miracles. 
 
 Ariosto Orlando Furioso . . Lond. 1810. 
 
 Bocardo Orlando Inamorato . . . Lond. 1824. 
 
 These works show the ideas of magic, &c., which 
 prevailed in the Middle Ages. 
 
 Wieland, Gescliichte der Abderiten . Leipsic, 1790. 
 
 The first part treats of Demoeritus. 
 
 Dante Divina Commedia . . . Lond. 1834. 
 
 A treasury of every kind of knowledge. 
 
 Plutarch on Superstition. 
 
 There is a curious edition by Julian Hibbert, with no 
 less curious notes. 
 
 Moor's Hindu Pantheon. 
 
 The best authority on this subject. 
 
 Sale's Koran. 
 
 Not only valuable for itself but for Sale's notes. 
 
 Ellis' Polynesian Researches. 
 
 A very curious and important book. 
 
 Ward's View of Hindu Religion. 
 
 As good as such a book can be made. 
 Savary's Letters on Egypt. 
 
 Curious and ingcniou.s account of the Egyptian mythology. 
 
 A Novel called Rameses. 
 
 Containing some very valuable notes. 
 
 Sethos. 
 
 This is an old French novel from which Moore took 
 the idea of his Ejncurnin, which is very correct. 
 
 Moore's Epicurean. 
 
 Jablonski's Pantheon of Egypt. . . {Curious). 
 
 A difficult book to read, but good.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. XXIX 
 
 Creuzer Mythologik. 
 
 German, untranslated, perhaps the most learned book 
 of modem times, but too fanciful. 
 
 Herodotus. 
 
 Tacitus. 
 
 For important anecdotes. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus. 
 
 Bernal Diaz del Castillo. 
 
 Madoc. 
 
 For Mexican mythology, of which the notes to Madoc 
 contain quite a body. 
 
 Thalaba. 
 
 The notes are fuUofinfonnationon Arab superstitions. 
 
 Kehama. 
 
 And of this work on Hindu mythology. 
 
 Fabus Horse Mosaicse. 
 
 Valuable for its cosmogony. 
 
 Bryant's Mythology. 
 
 Curious and learned, but often fanciful. 
 
 Deane on the Worship of the Serpent. 
 
 One of the best books on this or any other mytho- 
 logical subject. 
 
 Faber on the Three Dispensations. 
 
 Full of curious speculations. 
 
 Asiatic Researches. 
 
 For Hindu mythology, magic, &c. 
 
 Quarterly Review. . . {The earlier numbers). 
 
 All the papers on these subjects are very valuable, 
 most are by Southey. 
 
 Brucker. Crit. Hist. Philosophiae . 
 
 Very satisfactory, particularly about the New Pla- 
 
 tonists. 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke's Notes to the Bible 
 Full of curious learning. 
 
 Nicolai. Memoir read before the Society at Berlin. 
 A case of spectral delusion.
 
 XXX LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Sharon Turner. History of the Anglo-Saxons. 
 
 As to mythology very unsatisfactory. 
 
 Soame's History of the Anglo-Saxon Church. 
 
 Full of curious and valuable anecdotes in the way of 
 notes. 
 
 Whewel's History of the Inductive Phil. 
 
 Contains a valuable chapter on the mj^sticism of the 
 Middle Ages. 
 
 Petrus Bungo. De Mysteriis Numerorum. 
 
 This book is quite gutted, though without acknowledg- 
 ment, by Cornelius Agrippa in his De Occult. Phil. 
 
 Ovidii Fasti. 
 
 Valuable for its many anecdotes, and for its my- 
 thological information. 
 
 Ovidii Metamorphoseon. 
 
 The like may be said of this treasury of fable. 
 Godwin's Lives of the Necromancers. 
 
 An amusing compilation, well written, but exhibiting 
 no research. 
 
 Farmer. Dissertation on Miracles. 
 Farmer on the Worship of Human Spirits. 
 
 These two works are very curious and learned. They 
 may be depended upon as to facts. 
 
 Barret on Magic. 
 
 An expensive 4to., with extravagant pictures of devils, 
 of the same class with Sibley's Astrology. 
 
 Astrology of the Nineteenth Century. 
 
 A work of the same kind. 
 
 Niphi Opera. 
 
 Curious and learned. These works are of no great 
 importance to the student. 
 
 Simeon Metaphrastus. 
 
 A collection for tlie Greek Church, like that of De 
 Varasse for tlie Roman. 
 
 La Vie de Madame Helyot . . Paris, 1684. 
 
 Modern miracles. A very curious book. 
 
 Beauties of the Occult Sciences . London, 1784. 
 
 A sort of compendium of Astrology of no value.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. XXXl 
 
 Lilly's Almanacs for various years . . London. 
 
 Lilly's Starry Messenger . . . London. 
 
 Curious, because of many predictions and natinties, 
 particularly that of Lilly himself, which ditfers from 
 the one in his Christian Astrology. 
 
 Boccaccio's Decameron .... Forenze. 
 
 Some light is thrown as to the current opinions, 
 
 Helvetius. The Golden Calf , Hague, 1666. 
 
 An analysis is given by Brande in his " Chemistry." 
 
 Upham. Hist and Doctrine of Budhuism. 
 
 This book contains notices of the Kappaism, or Demon 
 Worship, and Planetary Incantations of the Sin- 
 gale se. 
 
 Barrow's Travels in China. 
 
 Has some curious remarks on Ch. Mytholog, 
 
 Adam's All Religions. 
 
 A selection not devoid of merit, but a mere school-book. 
 
 Japan (in the Modern Traveller). 
 
 Has a very good account of the religion. 
 
 Richardson's Travels in Egypt. 
 
 Notices of mythological paintings, with plates. 
 
 Homer. Iliad, Odyssey, Hymns. 
 
 The Od., xi. lib., and some of the Hymns. 
 
 Virgil. Eclog. jEneid. 
 
 The Pharmaceut. .Sin., iv. and vi. lib. 
 
 Bellorius on the Syrian Mater Deorum, fol. Rome, 1688. 
 
 A learned and important work. 
 
 Baptista Codronchus de Annis Climactericis. 
 
 One passage which I have extracted is the principal. 
 
 Lord Macartney's Embassy to China. 
 
 One curious anecdote of a goddess, viz. Prusa. 
 
 Foreign Quarterly Review. Various articles. 
 
 Some by Kcightley. See vol. iv. for Spanish Romance. 
 
 Classical Journal. 
 
 One paper by Sir William Drumniond in defence of 
 alchemy.
 
 XXXli LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Autobiography of Jehanguire. 
 
 Anecdotes of jugglers. 
 
 The She King, or Xi-kim of Confucius. Selections 
 
 from, translated . . . {Curious). 
 
 Lane's Manners of the Egyptians. 
 
 Remarkable account of Egyptian magicians. 
 
 Hesiod — Sanchoniathon — Lucan. 
 
 Separate passages of tlie first and third, and all the 
 second. 
 
 Albumazar de Magnis Conjunctionibus. 
 
 A book of no consequence. 
 
 The Dionysiacs of Nonnus. 
 
 An anah'sis of this book and the next is to be found 
 in Dupin's " Or. de tous les Cultes." 
 
 The Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius . {Curious). 
 Hygini Astronomi de Mundi, &c. 
 
 Not worth reading, 
 
 Mirabilis Annus. Being an account, &c. . Lond. 16G1. 
 
 Rather curious. 
 
 Barclaii Argenis .... Lond. 
 
 One remarkable passage of Astrology. 
 
 Chev. Ramsay. Voyages du Jeune Anarcharse Lond. 
 
 Alj-thological. 
 
 Selden de Diis Syriis. 
 
 Not a very pleasant book to read, but learned. 
 
 Bell's Pantheon. 
 
 A sort of classical dictionary, larger than Lempriere's. 
 
 Heliodorus Ethiopica. 
 
 This novel, for such it is, has a curious passage on 
 Witchcraft. 
 
 Account of Russia. 
 
 Contains a valuable history of the religions prevalent 
 among the Tartars. 
 
 Sir William Drummond's Origines. 
 
 On Syrian and Eastern History and Mythology.
 
 LIST OF AUTPIORITIES. XXXlll 
 
 Winterbotbam's Account of the Natives at Sierra Leone. 
 Containing sonic curious remarks on Obeah men. 
 
 Liglitfoot's Works. 
 
 Full of learning about the Talmud and Jewish super- 
 stitions. 
 
 Josepbi Opera. 
 
 These works have some interesting anecdotes on 
 Occult Subjects. 
 
 The Italian Taylor and his Boy. 
 
 This is a magical tale, and remarkable only for its 
 similarity to one in the "Arabian Nights." 
 
 Calmet on Apparitions. 
 
 An exceedingly well-Avritten, learned, and interesting 
 work. 
 
 Gay's Shepherd's Week. 
 
 In this work is an English imitation, not a translation, 
 of the Pharmaceutria of Virgil. 
 
 Burns' Poems and Letters. 
 
 Full of illustrations of Scotch superstitions, particularly 
 valuable for the Poem of Halloween. 
 
 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales . . . London. 
 
 Very useful and important, both as to Romance and 
 Occult Science. 
 
 Snorro Sturleson, Anecdotes of Olave the Black King 
 
 of Man .... Copenhagen. 
 
 History. 
 
 Mezerai. Histoire de France . . . Paris. 
 
 The early chapters give a sketch of the fabulous history 
 of France. 
 
 Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles . . . Paris. 
 
 Clever, but indelicate, and of no importance. 
 
 Lucani Pharsalia ..... Lond. 
 
 Juvenalis SatiriB .... Lond. 
 
 Persii Satira) ..... Lond. 
 
 Horatii Opera .... Lond. 
 
 Valuable for many passages and allusions to Witchcraft 
 and Occult Science, as the Erychtho of the first and 
 the Canidia of the last prove : the satirists are full 
 also of apt allusions.
 
 XXXIV LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Bouterwek's History of Spanish and Portuguese Li- 
 terature ..... Lond. 
 
 Valuable for the extracts from the old Romances and 
 the account of them. 
 
 Bruce's Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, 
 8 vols. 3rd Edition. 7th and 8th vols. 4to 
 Plates .... London, 1813. 
 
 Full of information on the mj'thologj-, romance, and 
 superstitious of Egypt and Abyssinia.
 
 THE CRADLE 
 
 OF THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 Science. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 To trace the progress of knowledge, and to exa- 
 mine its influence upon Society, is one of the most 
 pleasing as well as one of the most important tasks 
 which the human mind can undertake. Nor has 
 it been neglected ; the brightest intellects in every 
 age have laboured at the problem, and nothing has 
 been left unnoticed that could tend to its solution. 
 There is, however, one aspect under which it has 
 not been sufficiently regarded : the greater number 
 by iar, of those who have been the historians of 
 Science, have confined their attention to that whicii 
 they deemed the trutli ; they have despised all that 
 tended to incorrect scientific conclusions, except so 
 far as a direct bearing could be established between 
 
 B
 
 2 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 it and proved facts. Hence the earlier stages of 
 scientific progress have been scantily recorded, and 
 the earlier ages of History reviewed only to explode 
 the fables of which they were evidently composed. 
 But as power and acuteness of mind belong to no 
 age, and are confined to no land, it would be absurd 
 to suppose that an age, whose History and Science 
 were less accurate than our own, could have given 
 birth only to fools and charlatans. We shall 
 find intellects as powerful as any now existing, 
 engaged in searching after the philosopher's stone, 
 in casting the nativities of chiefs and princes, in 
 endeavouring to establish relations with the invisible 
 world, by means which we should now ridicule for 
 their absurdity, and condemn for their profanity, 
 and in searching out points of historical coincidence, 
 from among what we should call an indiscriminate 
 mass of fable. The mind of the philosopher is, how- 
 ever, always the same ; he is " a lover of ■wisdom," 
 and searches for it wherever it appears possible that 
 it may be found. To a certain extent our educa- 
 tion must be by authority; we acquire the knowledge 
 of facts by reading or oral information, and proceed 
 to reason upon them as though we had ourselves 
 proved the truth ; the school-boy who is told that 
 the earth is ninety-five millions of miles from the 
 sun, accepts the doctrine, and any other which can 
 be shown to follow from it, without ever conceiving 
 the necessity of entering into the computations by 
 which the fact is proved ; frequently, indeed most 
 frequently, he goes through life without the remotest 
 conception of any means whereby such a result 
 could be arrived at. He does not see the possibi-
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 lity of measuring the distances of stars and planets, 
 but he implicitly believes the thing to have been 
 done, because he is told so on authority/, which he 
 cannot reject, without at the same time overturning 
 all the rules of evidence. In like manner he takes 
 the history of Numa Pompilius, and that of Julius 
 Caesar on the same authority, and they have to him 
 the same claim to belief These instances are ad- 
 duced to show that as even now our early education, 
 and often our sole education, must proceed on autho- 
 rity, we must expect to find that so it must have 
 been of old time. Yet few persons have endeavoured 
 to extract philosophy from an erroneous system, — 
 have remembered that whatever has been received by 
 great intellects must have a large portion of essen- 
 tial truth, and must in all probability be so con- 
 structed, as that truth shall be, if received under 
 the right aspect, its prevailing attribute. It is this 
 principle which is, in the following pages, sought to 
 be developed : instead of laughing at " the fears of 
 the brave, and follies of the wise," it will be our aim 
 to show that when the brave have feared, it was 
 because something really terrible was present, or at 
 least that which reasonably appeared so ; that when 
 the wise have been foolish, it was because follv 
 presented itself under a guise so like to wisdom, that 
 even the wise may be pardoned for embracing it. 
 
 Who are the Twin Giants by whose aid human 
 progress has been furthered ? History, that reveals 
 to us the experience of the past. Science, which 
 endows us with power over the present; and both 
 which, in combination, modify out ftiture. But these 
 mighty Giants were not like the fabled Pallas, they 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 did not spring full-grown and armed in panoply, from 
 the brain of an equally fabled Jupiter; they had 
 their long and helpless infancy ; they were swathed 
 in swaddling bands, by which their growth was 
 retarded, and their free motion prevented, and they 
 were laid in a cradle where serpents attempted their 
 destruction as they did with the son of Alcmena. 
 In these bands, and laid in this cradle, we are to 
 consider these Twin Giants, watch them while they 
 strangle the venomous reptiles, observe them as they 
 cast aside the bands that confined them, and trace 
 them struggling into full life and activity under the 
 sun of Truth. This investigation will bring before 
 our notice their illustrious children, and we shall see 
 them setting free their glorious sires and aiding in 
 the enliohtenraent and advancement of the race to 
 which they belonged. We shall see Astronomy 
 graduallv set free from the errors of Astrology, 
 Chemistry from those of Alchemy, History from 
 those of Fable, and the Romance of Science taking 
 its proper place beside the Romance of History. The 
 latter has been treated well; it has been carefully 
 investigated by scholars and poets, its claims have 
 been acknowledged, and its study encouraged ; the 
 stores of ancient libraries, and the songs of semi- 
 barbarous people have been ransacked on its behalf, 
 and it has been shown that, if the historic ages of 
 a nation develope its power and its resources, its 
 romantic ages have mainly contributed to form its 
 character. Would the stern rigid virtue of the re- 
 publican Romans have been kept up so many ages 
 as it was, if the fables of Junius Brutus, and Lucretia, 
 and the Tarquins, of Porsenna, and ScKvola, of the
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 Horatil and the Curiatii had not formed the pabulum 
 for the young minds of the land in which they were 
 deemed to have hved and died. To Rome these men 
 were no fable ; Niebuhr may disprove their dates and 
 their doings, but to the INIanKi and the Decii, to the 
 CamilK and the Cincinnati, to the Lartii and the 
 Fabii, these men were a truth, an ever hving truth, 
 breathing patriotism and stern virtue in every breath 
 of the Roman atmosphere, in every accent of the 
 Roman tongue. Arthur again and his Paladins, 
 Orlando and his co-peers, have but a faint and feeble 
 light in history ; but in the pages of chivalric romance 
 they stand out as vivid realities, teaching bright 
 lessons, inculcating brilliant virtues, reforming a bai*- 
 barous age, and stamping on many a noble heart an 
 impress of truth which, but for them, would never 
 have been set there. Truth then comes out to us, 
 from the regions of fable, in a different guise from 
 that in wdiich history presents it, but still truth as 
 valid, and often as important. Milton, speaking in 
 his History, of the battles of our Anglo-Saxon an- 
 cestors during the Heptarchy, says that the memory 
 of them is of no more value than if they had been 
 combats of kites and crows. Would he have said as 
 much of the glorious romance of Arthur ? Which con- 
 tains more absolute truth, — the history of Cunobelinus, 
 or the play of Cymbeline ? In all these comparisons 
 we are not depreciating History, which is invalu- 
 able, but vindicating for another form of the same 
 illimitable truth its own proper niche in the temple 
 of worthy knowledge ; — but that claim is admitted, — 
 pass we therefore to the Romance of Science. Who 
 now thinks it worth while to dive into the volumes,
 
 6 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 and their name is legion, which have been written 
 on astrology and magic? No writer of credit has 
 taken the trouble to do so. Books make their 
 appearance now and then on these topics, but all 
 alike, — alike in ignorance, presumption, and worth- 
 lessness, — insolently classing such men as Raymond 
 Lully, and Cornelius Agrippa, with quacks and 
 fortune-tellers, and relating wild stories at second- 
 hand without a shadow of authority. The effect 
 of such books has been, that the subject on which 
 they treat has been allowed to fall into contempt, 
 and that measure has been meted out to the romance 
 of Science, which should have been the portion only 
 of those who tampered with it. It is unnecessary 
 to except from this censure, the work of Eusebe Sal- 
 verte on the Occult Sciences, which was ably trans- 
 lated and enriched with many valuable notes by 
 the late Dr. Anthony Todd Thomson, a man, the 
 depth of whose researches was only equalled by 
 the scientific spirit in which they were made ; for 
 Salverte's book is rather an explanation of the so- 
 called miracles of antiquity, than a history of the 
 romantic ages of philosophy. It is too often written 
 in a scoffing tone, and the evident object of the 
 author, was to wound Christianity through the side 
 of superstition, by inferring that the miracles of 
 the Old and New Testaments were to be classed 
 with those of which he wrote. 
 
 Mere collections of strange tales gathered together 
 without pains to ascertain on what foundation they 
 rest, and interspersed Avith a few sagacious reflections 
 on the darkness of the middle ages, and the supersti- 
 tion of the wisest who then lived, are not likely to
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 7 
 
 benefit the history of Science, and they are likely 
 to give the very subject a disreputable air. 
 
 It is quite true that the theories of physical 
 science, before Copernicus and Galileo had revived 
 the Pythagorean system, before Newton had deve- 
 loped the laws of Gravitation, and Kepler had 
 investigated those of planetary attraction, before 
 Priestley had discovered oxygen, and Harvey the 
 circulation of the blood, must have been strangely 
 defective ; and I could now tell a school-boy of 
 twelve years old, truths which Bacon and Aristotle 
 spent long lives without attaining. But it may be 
 that the boy, who thus by an hour's conversation is 
 put centuries in advance of that point occupied by 
 the master-spirits of antiquity, and who has acquired 
 by rote both facts and principles, may never rise 
 to the surface of that society in which he moves : 
 and is he to be compared then to those who stood 
 far above the level of their own times, and drew 
 up to them ages, by the mighty cords of their 
 magnificent intellects ! 
 
 In examining such subjects as those treated on in 
 this book, we must remember that we are opening a 
 page in the history of the human mind ; we are 
 investigating systems formed on insufficient data, 
 theories made without an inductive system ; we are 
 beholding the natural impatience of the mind to be 
 informed, seeing many eager snatches made at the 
 Tree of Knowledge, and now and then some pre- 
 cious fruit seized and stored up with many dry 
 branches and worthless berries. We are gazing on 
 the sun struggling through a cloud in the morning of 
 the dav, and to i-ecur to our first figure, and that
 
 8 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 which gives a title to the book, we are called to look 
 on the Twin Giants — Sciexce and History — while 
 yet in their Cradle. 
 
 The plan proposed to be followed is to take the 
 chief branches of Science, sound or unsound, which 
 were accepted by the sages of antiquity, and first to 
 sketch the Science as it was thus accepted, pointing 
 out the philosophical truth developed in it, and ex- 
 hibiting its connection with other similar branches ; 
 to touch briefly on the lives and characters of those 
 who principally followed or professed it, and then to 
 trace its influence upon the philosophic mind of the 
 age, and its effects on the advance of true science. 
 These branches will be found to converofe into As- 
 trology. Magic, and Alchemy ; and in the search 
 after the objects which these presented, the grandest 
 intellects of the middle ages undoubtedly wasted 
 much time, but also they discovered many truths, 
 and they did so, let it be observed, in a philosophic 
 spirit. The religious tone, too, of that period breathes 
 out in all these works, and it requires far more Chris- 
 tianity than the savans of the eighteenth century pos- 
 sessed to comprehend the principles on which they 
 were written. Accepting, as their authors did, the doc- 
 trine that God was in all and above all, they held that 
 the keys of knowledge were in his hand, and that he 
 rarely gave them save to those who would benefit man- 
 kind by the results of their labours. Believing that an 
 Evil Intelligence existed, gifted with far more than 
 human intellect, and profoundly versed in the laws of 
 that material universe, at the birth of which he had 
 been present, they deemed it far from impossible that in 
 his capacity of Tempter he might offer to man know-
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 9 
 
 ledge forbidden by Heaven ; and knowing how deep 
 and insatiable was the thirst for knowledge in their 
 own minds, they saw no improbability in the " evil 
 heart of unbelief" being led thus to seek satisfaction 
 for its cravings. These, and many reasonings of the 
 like nature, tended to throw an air of spirituality 
 over even their natural science, and to account for 
 the admission, expressed or implied, which meets us 
 at every turn in their works, of a close connection 
 between the visible and invisible worlds. It is im- 
 possible for us to overthrow this foundation, however 
 clearly a more matured state of philosophy may 
 show us the fallacy of much that they built upon 
 it, and it may be worth the inquiry whether their 
 own mode of viewing truth was not more practically 
 beneficial in their own day, than ours would have 
 been, could it have been suddenly transplanted into 
 that ei*a. We know by experience that political 
 truth requires the mind of a nation to be prepared 
 by long education for its reception. Constitutions 
 are not the growth of a few months ; they are like 
 the gem of which the poet says, 
 
 The diamond's pure unsullied light, 
 
 Is not the child of simple years, 
 A host of ages brings to sight 
 
 The crj-stal that the sovereign wears. 
 
 And any attempt to force political truth even in 
 the most constitutional form on minds not prepared 
 for its adoption, ends only in miscalculation and 
 abuse. So, doubtless, the giants of our tale have 
 necessarily grown inch by inch, as much for the 
 benefit of those among whom their infoncy was 
 passed, as theirs, who were to witness the wonders 
 
 B 5
 
 10 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 of their maturer strength. The History of the 
 Workl affords us one remarkable instance of this 
 principle, namely, that truth is ever progressive, and 
 must be so, and that if this be the case, our age 
 must be as much behind those which shall follow, 
 in actual development of scientific truth, as it is in 
 advance of those which are past, and that it is for 
 the benefit of man that it should be so. 
 
 The instance to which we allude is that of Islamism. 
 Mahomet, unquestionably one of the greatest men 
 that the world ever saw, attempted, and attempted 
 successfully, to impose on the world a system both 
 of law, morals, and theology, infinitely superior to the 
 corrupt paganized Christianity which he found esta- 
 blished. The nations which embraced it rose up 
 at once into a state of civilization, whose growth was 
 unnatural. Like as by the wand of an enchanter, 
 arts, arms, and science flourished at once, and the 
 court of the caliphs became the instructress of the 
 world. While this fairy fabric was overawing 
 Europe by its power, and delighting it with its 
 polish, among the old Christian states improvement 
 was making slow but sure progress. The East had 
 far outstripped them at first, but the fable of the 
 bai*e and the tortoise vvas to receive another attes- 
 tation to its truth. Ere long, Western civilization 
 arrived at the same point at which that in the East 
 had become already stationary ; but it did not rest 
 here, the principle of progress was one of its essen- 
 tial elements, and it went on to fulfil its mission. 
 The whole of our moral and spiritual nature is to 
 be in a state of constant advance, and the very act of 
 progress, as well as the results thereof, are necessary
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 11 
 
 to accomplish our destiny and to secure our well- 
 being. Hence, therefore, we are bold to assert that 
 if we could anticipate the discoveries of the next 
 century, we should profit by them in a degree very 
 inferior to that which will be their effect, com- 
 ing as they will in due time and sequence. But 
 whether this opinion be correct or not, one thing 
 is certain, that theories which occupied the minds of 
 such men as Albertus Magnus and Cardan, must be 
 worthy of some attention, and a very little will have 
 been paid before we shall see that these great men 
 were by no means so far behind us, as we sometimes 
 imagine. The knowledge of the sciences possessed 
 by the Egyptian priesthood must have been very 
 great, and we glean here and there little indica- 
 tions of their acquaintance with laws supposed to 
 be of far more modern discovery. On this subject 
 the work of Salverte, above referred to, is very valu- 
 able, and not the less so from its being the produc- 
 tion of an avowed disbeliever in Revelation. In 
 our own days we have seen many wondrous results 
 follow the practice of mesmerism ; and though 
 much imposture has doubtless been mingled there- 
 with, enough indeed to elicit and almost to justify 
 the incredulity of thousands, still there are certain 
 facts resting on competent authority which impera- 
 tively claim our careful attention. They are aj)pa- 
 rently anomalous: but theories and histories, which 
 we shall have to consider, show us that thev do 
 not now occur for the first time : that centuries 
 ago similar means were attended by similar conse- 
 quences ; that the reciprocal power of the soul over 
 the body, and of the body over the soul, are but
 
 12 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 little understood as yet; and that there are chan- 
 nels of information open in an ahionnal state, in- 
 dependently of the five senses from which alone 
 hitherto we have been supposed to derive our ideas. 
 The age in which we live is less sceptical and more 
 philosophical than the age which preceded it; we 
 recognize more readily than our fathers, the many 
 points of contact between matter and spirit, and 
 are therefore far more in sympathy with an age like 
 that of the Alchemists, than with one like that 
 of the Encyclopsedists. It has ever been remarked, 
 also, that at a period of gross materialism, and utili- 
 tarianism almost as gross, spiritual manifesta- 
 tions, of what kind soever, ai-e few and far between ; 
 all tends to favour the prevailing influence. Dante, 
 Sir Thomas Brown, Isaac Taylor, could not have 
 written at the close of the last century, or in the 
 beginning of the present : a loftier intellectual atmo- 
 sphere was necessary to ripen minds like theirs, and 
 had Palev lived in our dav his ideas would have 
 been greatly modified by the more believing tenden- 
 cies of the age, and the higher tone of mental 
 philosophy prevalent. Tradition, too, is looked upon 
 with more attention, we reject much that our scep- 
 tical fathers implicitly believed, but we receive 
 much which they unhesitatingly rejected. We see 
 the trace of arts even vet lost, of sciences Avhich 
 have faded out from among nations, and been redis- 
 covered in distant climes and remote ages, like frag- 
 ments of ships sucked in by some tremendous vortex, 
 and reappearing far from the scene of their watery 
 entombment. And these phenomena of man's in- 
 tellectual history explain to us the vast amount of
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 33 
 
 truth mixed with the superstitions of science, and 
 make us look with respect on those who wearied 
 themselves in separating the false from the true. 
 
 Slow, patient investigation, the careful collecting 
 of facts, the abstaining from making theories to be 
 overthrown by the next series of facts discovered, 
 these are virtues of modern students ; theories will 
 construct, and systems arrange themselves if we only 
 supply the right materials, and the diligent observation 
 of one fact is valued more than the putting together 
 of twenty systems. These, however, w^ere not the 
 virtues of the ages of whose annals we are here 
 giving a few pages : the student of that day seized 
 at once on the treasures of revelation, tradition, and 
 observation, and what was wanting to round and 
 complete the whole, he supplied by inference, more 
 or less founded, and hy conjecture. Those con- 
 jectures, and those traditions, are what we have 
 now to examine, and we shall find them alternately 
 simple in their grandeur, and profound in their com- 
 plexity ; now rising to the highest strains of poetry, 
 now again descending into the depths of philosophy ; 
 but ever bearing the impress of those mighty intel- 
 ligences with whom they were the instruments of 
 discoverinsf truth. Like a river whose waters are 
 coloured by the soil through which they pass ; some- 
 times bright and sparkling in the sunshine, and so 
 clear that the pebbles below are all distinctly visible ; 
 and now turbid with the depositions of an alluvial 
 soil ; so the stream of scientific tradition necessarily 
 takes its hue from the intellectual soil through which 
 it flows. The historv of tlie Mind is involved in the 
 history of its strangest aberrations, and the history
 
 14 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 of Science in that of its most absurd errors. It cannot 
 then be otherwise than profitable to cast a glance on 
 the mental tone and temper of periods so interesting 
 as those of which we treat. There is one point 
 of view to which allusion has been already made, 
 and in which our subject assumes an interest all 
 its own. It is as a collection of facts: undoubtedly 
 there are many fables mixed with them, but it is 
 by no means an impossible task to separate these 
 from the rest, and these facts are of a deeply in- 
 teresting nature, bearing almost equally upon phy- 
 sical and metaphysical science. The phenomena of 
 dreams, apparitions, omens, are all of this descrij)tion, 
 and take the student as it were to the frontier of 
 both worlds, to the now debateable land, between 
 the material and the spiritual ; they point out ab- 
 normal conditions of humanity, throw a light upon 
 the sources of insanity, and open the gates of the 
 soul so that we may descry somewhat of its nature 
 and properties. If for no other reasons, yet for 
 these, the magic of the ancients deserves attention ; 
 and the theologian will hardly be able to understand 
 the Scriptures, with some knowledge of what it was, 
 and what it professed. 
 
 One of the most deeply interesting narratives on 
 record is that of the contest of Moses with the 
 Egyptian magicians, and to read this without feeling 
 a strong and laudable desire to know more of the 
 men of whom such extraordinary facts are related, 
 would indicate a very lethargic state of mind. His- 
 tories of dreams and their interpretations, of pro- 
 phecies and their accomplishment, of witchcraft and 
 its suppression, throng the pages of the Sacred
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 15 
 
 Volume, and all require an interpretation far dif- 
 ferent to that which is frequently fixed upon them, 
 SauFs visit to the witch at Endor, the powers sup- 
 posed to be inherent in Teraphim ; the oracles of the 
 Urim and Thummim, many of the provisions of the 
 Jewish code, such as that of the waters of jealousy, 
 are intelligible only to those who have sought in the 
 cradle of science for the illustration of its earliest 
 manifestations, and for the limit between the actual 
 interposition of Divine power, and the exhibition of 
 human skill. It will be scarcely necessary to say. 
 more in vindication of a subject like our own. In- 
 teresting to the Natural Philosopher and to the 
 Metaphysician, to the Moralist and the Theologian, 
 the Romance of Science requires only to be known to 
 be appreciated, and to be equally valued and equally 
 studied with the Romance of History. It is in the 
 same Cradle that we must seek the infancv of the 
 Twin Giants.
 
 16 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ASTROLOGY. 
 
 The " Occult Philosophy " began to prevail at so 
 early a period, continued to flourish so long, was 
 patronized by so many eminently intellectual charac- 
 ters, and was professed by so many men of reputa- 
 tion, that it cannot be considered other than a subject 
 of great interest. Looking upon it from the station 
 which at the present day w^e occupy, it offers so 
 strange a medley of fact and falsehood, of enthusiasm 
 and imposture, of profundity and absurdity, that we 
 feel at first inclined to adopt the sentiment thus 
 forcibly expressed by an old writer ; "It relates 
 doings which God would not do ; which the devil 
 could not do ; which none but a liar would assert, 
 and none but a fool believe." When, however, a 
 second glance shows us that in this sweejiing censure 
 of falsehood and folly we include a Democritus, a 
 Pythagoras, an Hippocrates and a Plato, a Pliny 
 and a Tacitus, a Sully, a Kircher, a Boerhaave and 
 a lioyle, we are compelled to restrain our condemna- 
 tion, and to consider the subject in a fresh point of 
 view. We see that mental weakness was by no 
 means a constant concomitant of a belief in its 
 strange superstitions ; and that it must have had 
 some plausible points, some splendid theories, some 
 occasional verisimilitude to recommend it to the 
 acceptance, more or less complete, of men like these.
 
 ASTROLOGY. 1 7 
 
 The history of the Occult Philosophy is the history 
 of a part of the human mind ; it shows how the love 
 of the marvellous has in all ages acted on the power- 
 fill mind as well as the weak ; on the cultivated as 
 well as on the rude ; and the true importance of the 
 study consists in developing the influence which it 
 exerted on the progress of natural and metaphysical 
 philosophy. We shall see it in one age giving a 
 tone to these branches of sounder learning, and in 
 another receiving its own from them ; becoming more 
 and more assimilated to true science, as true science 
 became more generally acknowledged ; and at last 
 becoming extinct when truth had greater wonders to 
 offer than fiction ; when the love of the marvellous 
 was more highly excited and more abundantly grati- 
 fied by Astronomy than by Astrology, by Chemistry 
 than by Alchemy. The sources from which infor- 
 mation on these topics is to be obtained, are so 
 numerous as almost to defy classification ; but they 
 may be briefly divided into — First, — The writings 
 of those persons who, treating on Theology and 
 Mental Philosophy, have argued on the principles 
 of the Occult Philosophy. Such are many of the 
 divines of the middle ages, and such were the later 
 Platonists. Secondly, — Of those who professed to 
 treat on this Philosophy ; writings, of which few 
 are worth examining for any purpose whatever. 
 Thirdly, — Of those who opposed it ; in which may 
 generally be found the principal arguments of its 
 supporters, and the cases on which they rely for 
 illustrations and proofs, more or less fairly stated ; 
 and — Lastly, of writers on Natural Philosophy and 
 Medicine. The last are, to a philosophical mind,
 
 18 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the most valuable of all. They form a series be- 
 ginning with Hippocrates, or even with Thales and 
 Pythagoras ; and can hardly be said to close with 
 Boerhaave ; and they exhibit physical science more 
 or less modified by the Occult Philosophy in pro- 
 portion as this latter was more or less dominant in 
 the learned world. 
 
 Universally adopted and generally taught by the 
 ecclesiastics of the middle ages, a belief in the 
 hidden properties of nature and the continual com- 
 munion between men and the spirits of good and 
 of evil, became a part as it were of religion ; a 
 portion of the received, if not the authorized doc- 
 trines of the Roman Catholic Church. When by 
 this means, it had become incorporated with the 
 opinions and the feelings of the people, and the 
 lapse of a few generations had enabled it to take 
 deep root, the force of antiquity was added to the 
 force of authority, and Science, scarcely more than 
 in embryo, had no influence strong enough to resist 
 the giant spirit of Superstition, that then lorded it 
 over the intellectual world. The doctrines of the 
 Occult Philosophy were received by implicit faith ; 
 they were not to be questioned, and were very 
 rarely examined save by those, who either as dupes 
 or knaves were predisposed to make these wonders 
 still greater. Knowledge went on, though but slowly, 
 for a drag had been fixed to the wheels of her 
 chariot, and there, by universal consent, it was to 
 remain. What progress she could make thus im- 
 peded, she was at liberty to use ; but to remove 
 the draff was never even dreamed of, nor would it 
 have been allowed if it had. Perhaps the salt,
 
 ASTROLOGY. 19 
 
 which preserved the human mind from corruption 
 in those days, was the no less universal reception 
 of the Aristotelian philosophy, — a philosophy, which 
 is now as unjustly despised as it was then extravar 
 gantly over-rated. To restore it with all its dog- 
 matism, in the light of a more advanced day, 
 would be absurd, but it was then the philosophy 
 of a better and a purer age ; it produced and en- 
 couraged habits of close thinking and acute inves- 
 tigation on subjects, where thought and investigation 
 were permitted, and to its fostering influence we 
 probably owe more, both philosophically and politi- 
 cally than in the pride of our modern superiority 
 we are always disposed to gTant. 
 
 While however we acknowledge the benefits which 
 the influence of the Stagyrite occasioned, it cannot 
 be denied, that these benefits were greatly lessened 
 by the implicit faith reposed in and required for 
 his opinions ; and this implicit faith exacted also 
 by the Occult Philosophy, as well as by that of 
 Aristotle, produced that singular state of mind which 
 may be observed in the best writers of the middle 
 ages. Three extensive systems they took upon trust, 
 supposing themselves bound to believe that each sup- 
 ported the others. Hence their exertions were not 
 so much to ascertain truth as to support certain 
 dogmas ; — rather to elude than to satisfy the inquiries 
 of a powerful mind. Christianity with its solemn 
 and mysterious doctrines — its awful sanctions and 
 its imposing services — cast by its tremendous import- 
 ance all other systems into the shade ; appealed at 
 once to all the faculties of the soul, and claimed, if 
 received at all, to be received by a total subjugation
 
 20 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 of body, soul, and spirit to its doctrines and its 
 duties. 
 
 Here however there was a licence for reason. It 
 was justly observed that in the fields of religion 
 the reasoning faculty might expatiate at will ; for 
 though there were many thiugs in the Scriptures 
 above reason, there were none contrary to it. The 
 permission was however much clogged by the necessity 
 of placing the same faith in the Aristotelian and the 
 Occult philosophers, as in the truths of religion ; 
 and the distiuction which was made between them, 
 was rather in favour of the former than the latter. 
 Although neither would have been very safe, an 
 individual who declared his dissent from the New 
 Testament would have run less danger of persecu- 
 tion, than a philosopher who differed from Aristotle, 
 or avowed his disbelief in witchcraft and sorcery. 
 Indeed at a much later period. King James^ roundly 
 asserts that both Reorinald Scott and Johannes 
 Wierus ought to have been dealt with as wizards 
 for denying witchcraft ; shrewdly remarking that 
 none but those who felt themselves in danger would 
 have taken such an unscriptural way of shifting the 
 odium from themselves. 
 
 But, besides Christianity, the extensive range of 
 subjects treated of b}- Aristotle, and the wild doc- 
 trines of the Occult Philosophy, were to be received 
 in the same way. The consequences of this may be 
 easily imagined. Religion was viewed in connection 
 with a peculiar system of metaphysics, and the voice 
 of primitive Christianity was neglected for the voice 
 of primitive Paganism. Religion, however, by the 
 
 ' Daemonologia, lib. i.
 
 ASTROLOGY. 21 
 
 mercy of God, possesses a power of self-purification, 
 and a vitality, even in a considerably corrupt form, 
 which has not been granted to Science. The latter 
 suftered, of course, severely. Anything that had 
 been already decided by Aristotle was not to be 
 again called in question, and if any wonderful phe- 
 nomenon appeared to excite the attention of the 
 learned, the Occult Philosophy stepped immediately 
 in, to assign an indubitable cause, and to spare them 
 the trouble of further examination. The mysteries 
 of the invisible world, and the occult properties of 
 Nature, afforded a wide field for the display of in- 
 genuity. There was but little chance of objectors ; 
 the subjects were in accordance with the prejudices of 
 the age, and it was comparatively easy to keep clear 
 both of Aristotle and the Church. Here, therefore, 
 the minds of the inquisitive might find ample employ- 
 ment ; the topic was boundless, and the poetry with 
 which (particularly when seen at a little distance) 
 it was invested, added new charms to the pursuit. 
 
 There were, as has been already hinted, two 
 branches into which the Occult Philosophy was 
 divided. One the investigation of the occult pro- 
 perties of matter; and one which treats of the 
 nature, influence, and characters of spiritual beino-s ; 
 their mode of communion with mortals, and the ways 
 by which their aid might be obtained. The first 
 may generally be denominated natural magic, not in 
 that confined sense in which the term is now under- 
 stood, but embracing the fabulous as well as the true, 
 — the pursuits of the Alchemist, as well as those of 
 the Juggler. To give a well known example. When 
 it was stated, without making the experiment, that
 
 22 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the diamond could only be cut by applying it to the 
 blood of a he-goat, and one person after another 
 repeated the story, the property in the blood by 
 which this effect was produced, was called an occult 
 property. Every jeweller knew better : but Roger 
 Bacon was the first who publicly ascertained the false- 
 hood of the assertion, and undeceived the learned. 
 Volume after volume of such occult properties might 
 be culled from Pliny alone, who, in his " Natural 
 History," has made a choice collection of them. No 
 one who believed the story of the goat's blood, sup- 
 posed that the strange effect was produced by other 
 than physical causes ; the modus operandi might be 
 unknown, but the terminus operandi M'as always, in 
 such cases, referred to the action of matter upon mat- 
 ter. Again, when on the authority of Pliny it was 
 asserted, that the odour of aniseed prevented dis- 
 agreeable dreams, the physician, who adopted the 
 belief in this effect, always accounted for it by some 
 soothing operation produced on the sensorium by 
 the smell of the plant. 
 
 From such notions, some true and more false, 
 arose an Occult Medicine, an Occult Natural His- 
 tory, an Occult Natural Philosophy. 
 
 " The circumambient air," says Hcliodorus, a great 
 philosopher of his day, " penetrating our bodies, 
 through our eyes, and mouths, and nostrils, and 
 infinite porous passages, carries with it the same 
 <]ualities itself is endowed with, and produces effects 
 in human bodies, answerable to those qualities. 
 Now, when people disposed to envy, espy good 
 in others, they taint the air about with noxious 
 vapors, and breathe a sort of poisonous infection
 
 ASTROLOGY. 23 
 
 upon them tliey behold, which being of a subtle, 
 spirituous nature, pierces into the very bones and 
 marrow, and from thence envy becomes the cause 
 of that disease which is not improperly called fasci- 
 nation, or bewitching. And consider how usual 
 it is for people to catch blear-eyes and pestilential 
 distempers without touching any person infected ; 
 without lying in the same bed, or so much as sitting 
 at the same table with them ; but only by draw- 
 ing in the same air. 
 
 " We have a notable instance of these spreading 
 infections in the case of love, which is usually en- 
 gendered by sight, the parties affected darting beams 
 of contagion to each other from their eyes, as may 
 easily be conceived, because the sight, being the 
 most quick and fiery of any sense, becomes suscep- 
 tible, upon that account, of every — the least im- 
 pression ; and through its hot quality, absorbs the 
 effluvia of love. I might exemplify this, if there 
 were any need, out of our sacred books that treat 
 of animals. There we learn that the sight of a 
 water-fowl, called Charadrius, cures the jaundice ; 
 and if a person sick of that distemper chance to 
 look upon her, she shuts her eyes in abhorrence, 
 and flies away immediately ; not, as some think, 
 for envy of the cure she works, but because by 
 seeing the person aifected, the disease is transfused 
 in her : for that reason she avoids such sights as 
 she would her death's blow. And perhaps you 
 have heard of a serpent called the Basilisk, which, 
 with its eye only, blasts and destroys every creature 
 that comes in its way. Neither ought we to think 
 it strange that some people, by this means, bewitch
 
 24 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 their best friends and them to whom they mean 
 no hurt. For, being natm'ally envious, the effect 
 is more owing to their constitutions than to any 
 spontaneous act."^ 
 
 This speech is made by an Egyptian priest ; and 
 in answer to the question, " What ! do you beheve 
 in witchcraft, like the vulgar V 
 
 These motions were formed into systems, and where 
 it was found needful to call in the aid of Pneuma- 
 tology — the other branch of the Occult Philosophy 
 — it was always competent to do so. That which 
 could not be explained by the one, always admitted 
 an easy solution by the other. The whole scheme 
 may then be divided into two branches, embracing 
 six sciences : Astrology, Magic, Alchemy, Divina- 
 tion, Sorcery, Dsemonology. Of these, Magic and 
 Alchemy belong exclusively to the first branch, — 
 that which treats of the Occult properties of nature. 
 Divination, Sorcery, and Dsemonology to the latter, 
 which may be denominated — Pneumatology ; and 
 Astrology, the most ancient of the six, partakes of 
 the nature of both the one and the other. It is 
 the link which connects Magic and Alchemy with 
 the other three. It connects the Occult Philosophy 
 generally with Mythology, and especially with Fa- 
 talism ; and it is with Astrology, therefore, that we 
 shall commence our sketch of the Occult Sciences. 
 
 ' Heliodorus. ^thiopics, b. iii.
 
 ORIGIN OF ASTROLOGY. 25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF THE ORIGIN OF ASTROLOGY. 
 
 Astrology was without doubt the most ancient 
 of the Occult Sciences. It sprang immediately from 
 Mythology, if indeed it was not coeval with it. The 
 words of Maimonides which have been adduced as 
 pointing out the origin of the one, must certainly, 
 if we allow their truth, point out that of the other; 
 and if so, it would seem that three generations had 
 not passed away before Astrology began to take 
 root in popular opinion.^ 
 
 " In the days of Euos, the son of Seth, the sons 
 of Adam erred with great error : and the council 
 of the wise men of that age became brutish ; and 
 Euos himself was of them that erred. And their 
 error was this : they said, — Forasmuch as God hath 
 created these stars and spheres to govern the world, and 
 hath set them on high, and hath imparted honor 
 unto them, and they are ministers that minister be- 
 fore Him, it is meet that men should laud and glo- 
 rify and give them honor. For this is the will of 
 God that we laud and magnify whomsoever he mag- 
 nifieth and honoreth, even as a king would honor 
 them that stand before him. And this is the honor 
 of the king himself When this thing was come up 
 into their hearts they began to build temples unto 
 the stars, and to offer sacrifice unto them, and to 
 
 ' Maimonides, in Mischna. 
 
 C
 
 26 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 laud and magnify them with words, and to worship 
 before them, that they might, in their evil opinion, 
 obtain favor of their Creator. And this was the 
 root of idolatry ; for in process of time there stood 
 up false prophets among the sons of Adam, which 
 said, that God had commanded them and said unto 
 them, — Worship such a star, or all the stars, and 
 do sacrifice unto them thus and thus ; and build a 
 temple for it, and make an image of it, that all 
 the people, women and children, may worship it. 
 And the false prophet showed them the image which 
 he had feigned out of his own heart, and said that 
 it was the image of that star which was made known 
 to him by prophecy. And they began after this 
 manner to make images in temples, and under trees, 
 and on the tops of mountains and hills, and assem- 
 bled together and worshipped them ; and this thing 
 was spread through all the world to serve images, 
 with services different one from another, and to 
 sacrifice unto and worship them. So, in process 
 of time, the glorious and fearful Name was forgotten 
 out of the mouth of all livinof, and out of their know- 
 ledge, and they acknowledged Him not. And there 
 was found on earth no people that knew aught, save 
 images of wood and stone, and temples of stone 
 which they had been trained up from their child- 
 hood to worship and serve, and to swear by their 
 names ; and the wise men that were among them, 
 the priests and such like, thought that there was 
 no God save the stars and spheres, for whose sake, 
 and in lohose likeness^ they had made these images ; 
 but as for the Rock Everlasting, there was no man 
 that did acknowledge Him or know Him save a few
 
 ORIGIN OF ASTROLOGY. 27 
 
 persons in the woi'ld, as Enoch, Methusaleh, Noah, 
 Shem, and Heber. And in this way did the world 
 work and converse, till that j^illar of the world, 
 Abraham our father, was born." 
 
 This doctrine of the celestial agencies is amply 
 elucidated by Proclus, in his commentary on the 
 Timeeus of Plato, — and from that work it will not 
 be irrelevant to make a few extracts, both because 
 they will confirm the statement here made, and 
 because they will throw some light on the inter- 
 changeable nature of the Greek deities. 
 
 " Because all the gods were in each one, and each 
 one in the whole being ineffably united into one 
 great whole (oXoT'/jg), it is not wonderful that the 
 names of the deities were frequently interchanged,"'" 
 but a still greater reason was, that each of the 
 planets, according to the Orphic and later Platonic 
 Philosophy, was filled with a multitude of gods, 
 all having a nature analogous to that one who was 
 the ruler of the sphere, the effects of their wills 
 and actions was conveyed down to mankind by a 
 chain of intermediate natures ; but let Proclus speak 
 for himself. " In each of the celestial spheres, the 
 whole sphere has the relation of a monad, but the 
 cosmocralors or planets are the leaders of the mul- 
 titude in each. The intermediate natures, however, 
 are concealed from our sense, the extremes being 
 manifest, one of them through its transcendantly 
 luminous essence, and the other through its alliance 
 with us.""^ 
 
 " But the natures above the moon are, as to 
 their subject, nearly the same, sustaining only a 
 
 ' Taylor's Translation, pp. 270, 281,
 
 28 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 small mutation. They change, however, aceordhig 
 to figure, just as a dancer, being one and the same 
 according to subject, is changed into various forms 
 by a certain gesture and motion of the hands. 
 The celestial bodies, therefore, are thus changed, 
 and different habitudes of them take place between 
 the motions of the planets, with reference to the 
 fixed stars, and of the fixed stars with reference to 
 the planets."^ 
 
 Accordinof to these theories, the material world 
 is in a continual state of flowing and formation, 
 but never possesses real being. It is like the image 
 of a tree seen in a rapid stream, which has the appear- 
 ance of a tree without the reality, and which seems 
 to continue perpetually the same, though constantly 
 renewed by the renovation of the waters. 
 
 On this narration we would observe, first, that 
 the images worshipped were said to be the images of 
 the stars and spheres ; but we do not find the ancients 
 worshipping any spherical images. And though, long 
 subsequently to the period here alluded to, we find 
 conical images, yet these last had no peculiar refer- 
 ence to the heavenly bodies, but to the elements of 
 fire and water ; a cone upright being the symbol of 
 the one, and an inverted cone of the other. The 
 images then spoken of by Maimonides must have 
 been the pretended figures of the sj)irlts informing 
 and inhabiting those bodies which were said to be 
 created to "govern the world." And here then we 
 have an explicit account of the origin of Astrology. 
 Common opinion attributes its invention to the Chal- 
 
 • Taurus the Platonic Philosopher apud Philoponum. Taylor's 
 Translation, p. 43.
 
 ORIGIN OF ASTROLOGY. 29 
 
 daeans ; and bv a curious coincidence, Dean Prideaux ' 
 has most singularly paraphrased the passage from 
 Maimonides above quoted, and applied it to that 
 people. Wheresoever star- worship prevailed, there 
 existed the germ of Astrology, or rather Astrology 
 itself in its first stage ; and as soon as a division of 
 the earth had been made among the deities, as soon 
 as families and cities had taken to themselves tutelary 
 gods and goddesses, the science was already complete. 
 Considering the stars above him as the vicegerents of 
 the Great Supreme, the Chaldcean shepherd, as he 
 watched them " pathing the heavens in ceaseless 
 round,"" — traced something like celestial harmony in 
 their mystic dance ; and identifying the fate of na 
 tions with the power and will of the mighty spirits 
 who inhabited them, he was easily led to imagine that 
 these continual changes were not without significa- 
 tion to the inhabitants of the earth. Astronomy and 
 Astrology thus rose together, and to such extent were 
 they cultivated, that when Alexander the Great took 
 Babylon, Callisthenes- who was with him, is said to 
 have found astronomical observations for one thousand 
 nine hundred and three years ; that is, as far back as 
 the one hundred and fifteenth year after the flood, 
 So skilled were the Chalda?ans in Astrology, that the 
 very terms Chaldrean-^ and Astrology were synony- 
 mons. Astrolatry, then, was the first step, and 
 Chaldsea the cradle of this imposing fiction. 
 
 Various opinions were held as to the way in which 
 the motions of the heavenly bodies aff*ected the earth 
 
 ■ See my Universal Mythology, pp. 340 — 342. 
 
 * Univ. Mythology, p. 115. 
 
 ^ Tacitus Ann. ii. 27 et passim.
 
 30 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 and its inhabitants. Some imagined those vast 
 globes to be themselves instinct with life and voli- 
 tion ; and as they floated through the serene aether, 
 that they radiated their divine influences upon the 
 distant earth. Others supposed, that though not 
 divinities themselves, they were the chosen abodes 
 of those mediate spirits to whom was committed the 
 rule of mundane affairs, who passed occasionally into 
 our globe, and there by mighty works, announced 
 their presence. These beings, lofty as they were 
 esteemed, were not supposed to be free from the 
 passions which affect men, and we have thence an- 
 other internal proof of the mythological origin of 
 Astrology. The loves and quarrels of the deities 
 were transferred to the planets ; and terms were 
 applied to them in various parts of their orbits to 
 carry out this idea. Thus we hear of conjunction 
 and opposition. The nomenclature of the pretended 
 science received continually new additions, till at 
 length it became mystical enough to erect its pro- 
 fessors into a distinct class, and important enough 
 to extend its influence over every nation of the 
 world. 
 
 " And thus," says Firmicus Maternus, " the De- 
 miurgus exhibited man by the artifice of a divine 
 fabrication, in such a way that in a small body, 
 he might bestow the power and essence of all the 
 elements, Nature for this purpose bringing them 
 together, and also so that from the divine spirit 
 which descended from a celestial intellect to the 
 support of the mortal body, he might prepare an 
 abode for man, which, though fragile, might be 
 similar to the world. On this account, the five
 
 ORIGIN OF ASTROLOGY. 31 
 
 stars (Mercury, Venus, INIars, Jupiter, and Saturn) 
 and also the Sun and Moon, sustain man by a fiery 
 and eternal agitation, as if he were a minor world, 
 so that the animal made in imitation of the world 
 might be governed by an essence similarly divine.'" 
 
 Manilius also has a similar passage. 
 
 " What wonder is it for man to know the world 
 (the universe) since the world is in him, and that 
 each one is on a small scale (like the world) the 
 image of God ! " - 
 
 And here will be a fit place to say a few 
 words on this remarkable astrological poem and its 
 author. 
 
 Of Manilius himself, but little is known ; his very 
 name is a matter of doubt, some calling him Marcus 
 Manilius, and others Cains Manlius or IMallius ; his 
 country is not known, and it is only from some 
 singularities of expression that he is generally con- 
 sidered as a foreigner. That he wrote towards the 
 end of the reign of Augustus is tolerably clear from 
 internal evidence, but none of the authors flourish- 
 ing in that age make any mention of JSlanilius, and 
 Pingre even supposes that the Astronomies being 
 an unfinished work, was not published by its author, 
 nor indeed till the reign of Constantine : that the 
 MS. then fell into the hands of Julius Firmicus 
 Maternus, and was by him given to the world. 
 
 The work itself is a- compendium of Astrology, 
 for at the period when it was written. Astronomy 
 imphed very little else. The first book treats of 
 
 ' Julius Firmicus Matcmus, Math., III. 
 
 * — Quid mirum noscere mundum, 
 Si posseiit homines quibus est ct mundus in ipsis, 
 Exemplumque Dei quisquis est in imagine parva."
 
 32 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the sphere, and opens with some remarks as to the 
 earliest astronomers and astrologers. 
 
 The poet then speaks of cosmogony, of the ele- 
 ments and the constellations, proves the existence 
 of a God by the regular motion of the heavenly 
 bodies, and concludes by some magnificent descrip- 
 tions of comets and their disastrous consequences, 
 descriptions which, however, are as far as possible 
 from astronomical truth. ^ 
 
 And sometimes fires flash througli the liquid air, 
 From thinnest ether sprung : sudden to rise, 
 And kindle in the sky, and swift to fail, — 
 
 Comets, by ages far apart, are seen. 
 
 * » » ■ «• 
 
 Now like a mane loose-flowing from the neck. 
 Streams forth the imitative flame, in wreaths 
 
 Of thin bright burning hair it pours its light. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Such woes portended oft the comet's blaze ; 
 Death with their lustre comes — they threat the earth 
 With endless pyres. The world and nature's self, 
 Sick at the sight, seem but a ready tomb. 
 
 In the second book we find the astrological properties 
 of the signs, aspects, and houses detailed after a similar 
 plan to that of later astrologers, but rather more 
 simply. The third book continues these subjects, and 
 gives a variety of astrological rules, which do not, as 
 
 ' Sunt etenim raris arti natalibus ignes 
 
 Aera per liquidum ; natos que perire cometas, 
 
 Protenus, et raptim subitas candcscere flammas, 
 
 Rara per ingentes viderunt secula motus. 
 
 n * * * 
 
 Nam modo ceu longi fluitent de vertice crines 
 Flamma comas imitiita volat ; tenuesque capillos, 
 
 DifFusus Kidiis ardentibus explicat ignis. 
 
 * * * » 
 
 T.alia significant lucentos sa,'pe Cometae, 
 Funera cum facibus veniunt, terrisque minantur, 
 Ardentes sine fine rogos, cum niundus et ipsa 
 iEgrotet natura novum sortita sepulchrum. 
 
 Lib. i. prop, ad fin.
 
 ORIGIN OF ASTROLOGY. .33 
 
 might reasonably be expected, add much to the 
 poetry of the work. The fourth book gives the in- 
 fluence of the signs on human fortune, and the fifth 
 that of extra-zodiacal constellations, but as an extract 
 may be pleasing on these subjects, we take the de- 
 scription of the sign Sagitta.* 
 
 " But see the arrow arising with the eighth de- 
 gree of the balance. This sign gives the art of 
 lancing the javelin with the hand, the arrow with 
 the bow, the stone with the sling, to strike the 
 bird on its highest flight, or with a triple harpoon 
 to strike the fish in his fancied security. Under 
 what constellation can I better place the birth of 
 Teucer, on what other part of the heaven shall we 
 seek for thine, oh ! Philoctetes. The first, with 
 his bow and his arrow, kept off* the torch of Hec- 
 tor, who was about to cast his devouring fire upon 
 
 ' Sed parte octava surgentem ceme sagittam 
 Chelarum, dabit et jaculam torquere lacertis, 
 Et calamura nervis, glebas et mittere virgis, 
 Pendentemque suo volucrem deprendere coelo, 
 Cuspide vel triplici securum figere piscem. 
 Quod potius dederim Teucro sidusve, geiiusve ? 
 Teve, Philoctete, cui malim credere parti ? 
 Hectoris ille faces arcu teloque fugavit, 
 Mittebat qui atros ignes in mille carinas ; 
 Hie sortem pharetra Trojee bellique gerebat, 
 Major et armatis hostis subsederat exul. 
 Quinetiam ille pater tali de sidere cretus 
 Esse potest, qui serpentem super ora cubantem, 
 Infelix, nati, somnumque animumque libentem, 
 Sustinuit misso petere ac prostemere telo. 
 Ars erat esse patrem ; vicit natura periclum, 
 Et pariter juvenem somnoque ac morte levavit, 
 Tunc iterum natiuu, et fato per somnia raptum. 
 
 Lib. V. 293—310. 
 This last incident has been told in many ways, and I cannot help think- 
 ing the apple of Tell to be merely a variation of a popular legend. A 
 similar adventure, however, actually befell a Dutch boor at the Cape of 
 Good Hope, only a lion took the plaoe of the serpent and a rifle of the 
 arrow. 
 
 c 5
 
 34 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 a thousand ships ; the other bore in his quiver the 
 fate of Troy and of the war, and sat down a 
 greater foe, though an exile, than armed enemies. 
 Surely under the arrow was born that father who 
 had the courage to shoot and the skill to destroy 
 a serpent stretched on the face of his sleeping son, 
 and which was at once devouring his sleep and 
 his life. His art was paternal love. Nature con- 
 quered the danger, and saved the child at once from 
 sleep and death, who may then be said to have 
 been a second time born and snatched in sleep from 
 fate." 
 
 Of all the sciences, "falsely so called," Astrology 
 is the most poetical ; and the idolatry of which it 
 forms a part, is of all forms of false worship, the 
 purest and most rational. Looking to the cloudless 
 sky of Asia studded with a thousand stars, the Baby- 
 lonian bowed the knee, though not to the Creator 
 himself, yet to the most glorious of the Creator's 
 works. It was something in the darkness of that 
 age to have selected representations of the Deity so 
 sublime. It was something to have been so im- 
 pressed with the greatness and holiness and power 
 of the One Supreme, as to seek for mediators ; it 
 was something more, to consider those bright and 
 beautiful worlds as his ministers, as intelligences of 
 power and benignity, and as interposing spirits be- 
 tween the awful and inaccessible Deity, and His 
 frail perishing creatures. In subsequent times Astro- 
 logy, like Idolatry, became grosser. It deteriorated 
 with the star-worship from which it originated. The 
 forgeries of later ages ever referred to a greater an- 
 tiquity than the science itself; and Adam, says tra-
 
 ORIGIN OF ASTROLOGY. 35 
 
 dition, was the first astrolog-er. To commemorate 
 the events which hy his skill in this science he had 
 foretold, Seth^ his son, knowing that everything on 
 earth should perish, either by a fire, or by a general 
 deluge, and fearing lest astronomy and philosophy 
 should be effaced from the remembrance of men and 
 be buried in oblivion, engraved his father's knowledge 
 on two columns ; one of brick, and the other of 
 stone, that if the waters should destro}'^ the former, 
 the latter might remain ; and if the fire should cal- 
 cine the latter, the former might endure and in- 
 struct the human race in astronomical knowledge. 
 This column of stone, says Josephus, is still to be 
 seen in the Siridiac land. In the works of Manetho, 
 who lived three hundred years before Josephus, the 
 same column is noticed as existing in the same land ; 
 and Manetho declares that he had seen it ; but he 
 says that the column was engraved by the first 
 Thoth^ in the sacred language and in hieroglyphical 
 characters; that after the deluge, the son of the second 
 Thoth translated the inscription into the " language 
 of the priests," and wrote it in sacerdotal characters. 
 Now Thoth, or Hermes Trismegistus, is said by 
 many to have been the inventor of Astrology, and 
 hence we have this same column referred to by the 
 
 ' " But what was inscribed on the columns of Seth ? The science of 
 the Heavens, if we credit Josephus ; the prophecy of the antedihivian 
 worid's destruction, if we agree with Berosus ; a knowledge of curious 
 things and certain arts of magicians, if we trust to Serenus ; the seven 
 liberal arts engraven on seven brazen and brick pillars, if we give our 
 assent to Petrus Comestor." — Olaus Borichius, Dissertation on the Riic 
 and Progress of C liemistry. — Sec Mangetus, fol. edit. i. 5. 
 
 ' Thoth, as Jablonski observes, signifies a pillar ; and Galen says, 
 " Every invention in the arts which is approved by the common consent 
 of the learned, is engraved on pillars situated in sacred places, but without 
 any mention of the author's name." — Galen. Cont. Jul., i. I.
 
 36 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 writers on the Cabala as preserving all occult know- 
 ledge, ascribed both to Thotli and Adam. 
 
 In times much later than those of Josephus, we 
 have the same tradition, a little altered, in the 
 writings of Ammianus Marcellinus. 
 
 " It is affirmed, that the Egyptian priests, versed 
 in all the branches of religious knowledge, and ap- 
 prised of the approach of the deluge, were fearful 
 lest the Divine worship should be eifaced from the 
 memory of man. To preserve the memory of it, 
 therefore, they dug in various parts of the kingdom 
 subterranean winding passages, on the walls of 
 which they engraved their knowledge, under dif- 
 ferent forms of animals and birds, which they call 
 hieroglyphics, and which are unintelligible to the 
 Romans." 
 
 Among early Egyptian astrologers, Petosiris and 
 Necepso, the latter of whom was king of Egypt, 
 occupy a distinguished place. The former of these 
 is spoken of in terms of great praise by Manetho, 
 who acknowledges himself his disciple, and styles 
 him a most beloved man. Manetho, however, was 
 his disciple at a great distance of time, for Athengeus^ 
 says, that Petosiris is mentioned by Aristophanes. 
 So great was his celebrity in subsequent times, that 
 his name was used as a generic name for astrologers," 
 and, indeed, not without cause ; for Ptolemy,^ who 
 calls him o uoyjxiog^ states that he and Necepso were 
 the first observers of climacterical years. He wrote a 
 
 ' Lib. iii. p. 114. 
 
 * Juvenal, Sat. vi. 580. 
 
 ^gra licet jaceat, capiendo nulla videtur 
 Aptior hora cibo, nisi quam dederit Petosiris. 
 
 ^ Tetrabibl. Ptolemaei.
 
 ORIGIN OF ASTROLOGY. 37 
 
 treatise on the mysteries of the Egyptians,' and so 
 much weight was attached, in his own time, to his 
 predictions, that when he had foretold the death 
 of a contemporary, the individual, feeling sure that 
 his fate was sealed, hung himself." Together with 
 his friend and royal correspondent Necepso, he has 
 received the eulogium of Firmicus Maternus, who 
 attributes to them the discovery of the planetary 
 positions at the beginning of the present mundane 
 period. '^ Those divine men,"" says that writer, 
 "• Petosiris and Necepso, who deserve all possible 
 admiration, and whose wisdom approached to the 
 very penetralia of Deity, scientifically delivered to 
 us the geniture of the world, that they might de- 
 monstrate and show that man w^as fashioned con- 
 formably to the nature and similitude of the w'orld, 
 and that he is under the dominion of the same 
 principles by which the world itself is governed and 
 contained, and is perennially supported by the compa- 
 nions of perpetuity " (that is the stars). These astro- 
 logers flourished, according to Fabricius, about the be- 
 ginning of the Olympiads, — they obtained their know- 
 ledge from ^sculapius, whose work ^slv^ioyzvisic, is 
 mentioned by Firmicus,^ but of whom little else is 
 known, and from Anubius, who, according to Salma- 
 sius, was a very ancient poet, and wrote an elegy " de 
 Horoscopo,"^ — these, however, -^sculapius and Anu- 
 bius, are so ancient that Firmicus^ expressly states 
 that they were the immediate disciples of Hermes, 
 who communicated to them by revelation the secrets of 
 
 ' See Suidas. ^ Antholog. ii. 6. 
 
 ^ Thema Mundi. Mathesis, iii. 
 
 * Salraas. de annis dim. 87, 602, &c. 
 
 * Thema Mirndi . see Taylor's Ocellus Lucanus.
 
 38 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 astrological science. From the same authority, the 
 M.v^ioyii/i(Tig seems to have been an attempt to prove 
 the sameness of planetary rule over mundane periods, 
 and over the fortunes of men. This was done by 
 comparing a multitude of genitures, whence the 
 title of the book. 
 
 Here it may be noticed, that, though the testimony 
 of Manetho be the most ancient, yet that of Josephus 
 is the most deserving of attention, because he was 
 in a situation to preserve ]purer accounts of ancient 
 traditions than Manetho. Before the legend came 
 into the hands of the other, it had been corrupted 
 by transplantation, and by the time that it reached 
 Ammianus, it was yet further corrupted by the 
 lapse of several centuries. Manetho has unfortu- 
 nately omitted to state where the Siridiac land was 
 situated, — an oversight the more to be lamented as 
 nobody else seems ever to have known. The true 
 value of the passages, both of Josephus and Manetho, 
 consists in this, — that it shows the custom to have 
 prevailed in extreme antiquity of engraving dis- 
 coveries on pillars. According to Jablonski,^ Thoth 
 signifies a pillar. This explanation clears away at 
 once all the difficulty as to Hermes Trismegistus. 
 It shows us how persons separated by many ages 
 may have been taught by Thoth. It proves that 
 this personification of wisdom was not a man, how- 
 ever wise, but the collective discoveries of the wisest 
 of mankind, having given to this personification, the 
 title of " thrice greatest," or Trismegistus. 
 
 It was said, that Hermes had written thirty thou- 
 sand volumes,^ " a circumstance"" which the authors 
 • Panth. Egypt. ' Art. ' Hermes' Gen. Biogr.
 
 ORIGIN OF ASTROLOGY. 39 
 
 of the " Creneral Bioo-raphy "" gravely inform us " we 
 need not scruple to reckon among the fables of an- 
 tiquity." It is easy, by the above explanation, to see 
 why so many volumes were ascribed to him, espe- 
 cially when we consider, which Galen expressly 
 asserts, that the discoveries engraven on pillars had 
 not the names of their authors. The idea which the 
 writers of the " General Biography " have adopted, 
 namely that Thoth was a distinguished man, who, by 
 his learning and inventions, first civilized Egypt, will 
 appear totally absurd, if we reflect on the discoveries 
 attributed to him ; for Diodorus says, — " All the 
 sciences, institutions, and arts were invented by 
 Thoth." The three Thoths seem to refer to three 
 eras. The Egyptians placed the most ancient before 
 the deluge. This marked the infancy of human 
 knowledge ; for though it can hardly be believed, 
 that they possessed monuments which had really 
 survived that tremendous event, yet some of their 
 pillars bore, no doubt, reference to events which had 
 happened before the flood, and of which the memory 
 was preserved by tradition. The second Thoth de- 
 notes the attainments of that era when chronology 
 and astronomy began to be studied with success, 
 when the hieroglyphics were translated into the sa- 
 cerdotal and enchorial characters, when law and reli- 
 gion became fixed establishments. The third denotes 
 the perfection of arts, sciences, and religion ; a state 
 to which the Egyptians deemed they had attained ; 
 and to the personified wisdom of their own age they 
 applied the magnificent epithet, " thrice greatest." 
 That all knowledge, and particularly all occult know- 
 ledge, was communicated through xVdam to his imme-
 
 40 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 (liate descendants, was afterwards gradually corrupted, 
 and, at last, entirely lost, was a notion that pre- 
 vailed extensively among the students of the Cabala. 
 They, therefore, while they agreed as to the existence 
 of the before-mentioned columns, ascribed their erec- 
 tion, not to Hermes, but to Adam, and here is the 
 solution of the identification of the one with the other 
 so frequently found in their works. Moses, who was 
 learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, was 
 fabled to have been a profound Astrologer, Abraham 
 and Joseph have had the same reputation attached 
 to their names, and Solomon, the wisest of men, was 
 also the most accomplished of Astrologers. The his- 
 tory of the science, as it is called, we shall pursue in 
 another chapter ; but it seemed necessary, first, to 
 state its real and fabulous origin, and then, to give 
 an account, necessarily brief, but suflftcient for the 
 present purpose, of Astrology itself, its pretensions and 
 principles, before speaking of the progress which it 
 made, and the causes which led to its downfall.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 41 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF ASTROLOGY CONSIDERED AS A SCIENCE. 
 
 Although it will not be needful in an age like 
 the present to expend one argument on the question, 
 "whether there be any truth in Astrology or not, it 
 will be both useful and entertaining to give a slight 
 sketch of the science itself; to show the grounds 
 upon which it proceeded, and the way in which its 
 rules were applied. We have already noticed the 
 influence attributed to the stars, — an influence for 
 which they were indebted to Mythology, and which 
 belief was the foundation of Astrology ; yet when 
 the division^ of the heavens into constellations was 
 made for astronomical purposes, aud with reference 
 rather to physical science and Natural history, than 
 to Astrology; — when the division was made, the 
 professors of this science found in it much which 
 might be turned to account ; and with regard to 
 deities supposed to reside in the planets, they had 
 but to refer to the heavenly body the character 
 and inclinations of the deity. This being done, 
 different nations and different cities being portioned 
 out among the signs and the planets, and the govern- 
 ment of every day taken hour by hour by the 
 planets in turn, it was deemed evident that an in- 
 dividual born, for instance, under the planetary rule 
 of Saturn, must be more or less influenced by the 
 ' Univ. Myth. p. 20 ; and Creuzer, SjTnbolik, &c. vol. i.
 
 42 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 known dispositions of the spirit informing that 
 body. 
 
 The ISIundi Thema of Julius Firmicus Maternus 
 is an attempt to fix the geniture of the world, which 
 having, as he supposes, satisfactorily done, he goes 
 on to observe that various planets ruled over the 
 world in order, and in the reverse order over the 
 several periods of man's life ; the first period was 
 subject to the government of Saturn,^ and in ac- 
 cordance with the stern and harsh character of this 
 god, so the sway of the planet bearing his name 
 produced a barbarous state of society. " After 
 Saturn, Jupiter received periodical power." Under 
 his rule, mankind became gradually assembled 
 into societies, and subject to laws. Under Mars, 
 
 ' "For because the first origin of the world was uncultivated, and 
 rude, and savage through rustic association, and also because barbarous 
 men having entered on the first vestiges of light, and which were un- 
 known to them, were destitute of reason in consequence of having aban- 
 doned humanity, these divine men were of opinion that this rustic and 
 barbarous time was Saturnian, that, in imitation of this star, the beginning 
 of life might be characterized by barbaric and inhuman ferocity." — 
 Taylor's Translations. 
 
 This Saturnian period must not be confounded with the golden age, 
 which was also figured under the rule of Saturn, and which formed a 
 part of another allegory. The latter Platonists endeavoured to reconcile 
 the two, and were, if possible, even more unintelligible for the attempt. 
 See Damascius (apud Phot.) Proclus comment, on Hesiod, and Taylor's 
 Plato, vol. V. p. G75. 
 
 The Treatise de Revol. Nativ. ascribed to Hermes, observes, Lib. i. 
 p. 215. The dominion of the planets over the ages of man is as follows : 
 — The Moon governs the first age, which consists of four years. Mer- 
 cury governs the second, which consists of ten years. Venus the third, 
 and this extends to eight years. The Sun the fourth, and this age consists 
 of nineteen years. Mars the fifth, which consists of fifteen years. 
 Jupiter the sixth, of twelve years; and Saturn governs the remaining 
 period. Proclus, in his Commentary on the first Alcibiades of Plato, 
 says the same thing, adding reasons obvious enough for such a distribu- 
 tion. " And thus much," says he, " we have discussed in order to 
 procure belief that letters and the whole education of youth are suspended 
 from the mercurial series."
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 43 
 
 the arts, architecture, aud manufactures began to 
 flourish ; and under Venus, the influence of Phi- 
 losophy, and the sanctions of religion were added. 
 " Hence they were of opinion that this time, in 
 which the manners of men were cultivated by learn- 
 ing, and naturally formed to rectitude by the several 
 disciplines, was under the dominion of Venus, so 
 that being protected by the majesty of this joyful 
 and salutary deity, they might govern their erro- 
 neous action by the ruling power of Providence." 
 The last period is under the rule of Mercury, and 
 during it mankind, having attained great intellectual 
 power, became corrupt and wicked. 
 
 " And because the noble genius in man could not 
 preserve uniformly one course of life, the improbity 
 of evil increased from various institutes, and confused 
 manners, and the crimes of a life of wickedness pre- 
 vailed ; hence the human race in this period both 
 invented and delivered to others more enormous 
 machinations. On this account these wise men 
 thought that this last^ period should be assigned 
 to Mercury, so that, in imitation of that star, the 
 human race might give birth to inventions replete 
 with evil." 
 
 Maternus himself, however, believed that the world 
 never had a beginning, and calls " the geniture of 
 the world " a fabulous device, wishing to be under- 
 stood as referring, not to the beginning of the uui- 
 
 ' This last period was to be succeeded by a general purification called 
 the apocatastasis, and which produced first a conflagration and then a 
 deluge, which things were of periodical recurrence. Proclus and others 
 busied themselves to find astronomical causes for these periodical con- 
 flagrations and floods, and by their theory of the great winter and tlie 
 great summer, seem to have succeeded to their satisfaction. — See the 
 Scholia of Olympiodorus on Aristotle's Treatise on Meteors.
 
 44 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 verse, but to the commencement of a certain series 
 of periods, bounded at either end by what was called 
 the greater mundane apocatastasis. A curious pas- 
 sage touching the transition from one such period 
 (not one such series of periods) into another, is 
 to be found in Plutarch's Life of Sylla.^ 
 
 The signs, too, were supposed to be equally in- 
 fluential, and the fixed stars little less so. We shall 
 now give the effects attributed to the signs and the 
 planets, and then show in what manner they were 
 supposed to be ascertained in individual cases. 
 
 First, then, as to the signs. It should be stated 
 that these characteristics and powers are collected 
 from a great variety of authors ; but if the reader is 
 desirous of seeing yet more, he may consult Lilly's 
 " Christian Astrology,"" which has been here used 
 as a text-book. 
 
 Aries r, the house of Mars, and exaltation of the 
 Sun, or the first sign of the zodiac, is a vernal, dry, 
 fiery, masculine, cardinal, equinoctial, diurnal, move- 
 able, commanding, eastern, choleric, violent, and 
 quadrupedian sign. These epithets will be presently 
 explained. The native, that is, the person born 
 under its influence, is tall of stature, of a strong but 
 spare make, dry constitution, long face and neck, 
 
 ' But the greatest of all (the signs prior to the civil wars) was the fol- 
 lowing. On a cloudless and clear day, the sound of a trumpet was heard 
 80 acute and mournful, as to astonish and terrify by its loudness all who 
 heard it. The Tuscan wise men and soothsayers, therefore, declared 
 that this prodigy signified the mutation into, and commencement of, 
 another age. For, according to them, there are eight ages, dittcring from 
 each other in lives and manners, (';icli of which is limited by divinity to a 
 certain time of duration, aiul the number of years in which this time con- 
 sists, is bounded by the period of the great year. Hence, when one age 
 is finished and another is about to connnence, a certain wonderful sign 
 will present itself, either from the earth or tiie heavens.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 45 
 
 thick shoulders, piercing eyes, sandy or red hair, 
 and brown complexion. In disposition he will be 
 warm, hasty, and passionate. The aspects of the 
 planets may, however, materially alter these effects. 
 This sign rules the head and face. Among diseases it 
 produces small-pox, and epilepsy, apoplexy, head- 
 ache, hypochondriasis, baldness, ringworm, and all 
 diseases of the head and face ; paralysis, fevers, 
 measles, and convulsions. It presides over the fol- 
 lowing countries : — Enolaud, France, Germany, 
 Syria, Switzerland, Poland, and Denmark ; and 
 over the cities of Naples, Capua, Padua, Florence, 
 Verona, Ferrara, Brunswick, Marseilles, Csesarea, 
 and Utrecht. Its colors are red and white. 
 
 Now to explain this jargon, before examining an- 
 other sign ; there are said to be four triplicities among 
 the signs, viz. : the earthy triplicity, including Taurus, 
 Virgo, and Capricorn. The airy, which includes 
 Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. The fiery, under which 
 are reckoued Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius ; and the 
 watery, which claims Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. 
 The signs are further divided into diurnal and noc- 
 turnal : — Aries diurnal, Taurus nocturnal, and soon 
 alternately, the diurnal signs being all masculine, and 
 the nocturnals feminine. The terms tropical, equi- 
 noctial, vernal, &c., need no comment. Fixed, com- 
 mon, moveable, refer to the weather. Signs which 
 are named after quadrupeds are of course quadrupedal. 
 Such as are called after human states or occupa- 
 tions are humane. Now a person born under a fiery 
 masculine diurnal sign, is hot in temper, and bold 
 in character. If it be a quadrupedal sign, he is some- 
 what like to the animal after which the sign is called.
 
 46 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 Thus in Taurus, the native is bold and furious ; in 
 Leo, fierce and cruel. Cardinal signs are those occupy- 
 ing the four cardinal points. The first six from Aries 
 are termed commanding ; and the latter six, obeying 
 signs. Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, are -called fruit- 
 ful, or prolific ; and Gemini, Leo, and Virgo, barren. 
 Sagittarius, because usually represented as a centaur, 
 is said to be humane, and productive of a humane cha- 
 racter in the former fifteen degrees, — but of a savage, 
 brutal, and intractable disposition in the latter. 
 
 Having said thus much of the signs, we shall now 
 proceed with their supposed powers. Taurus is 
 cold and dry, earthy, melancholy, feminine, fixed 
 and nocturnal, southern, the night-house of Venus. 
 When influential in a nativity, it usually produces 
 a person with a broad forehead, thick lips, dark 
 curling hair ; of quality rather brutal, melancholy, 
 and slow to anger ; but when once enraged, violent, 
 furious, and difficult to be appeased. The diseases 
 under this sign are all such as attack the throat, scro- 
 fula, quinsey, imposthumes, and wens. The sign rules 
 the neck and throat. Places subject to it are stables, 
 cowhouses, cellars, and low rooms ; and all places 
 used for, or by cattle. Of kingdoms, Russia, Ireland, 
 Sweden, Persia, and Parthia ; and of cities, Leipsic, 
 Parma, Mantua, Novogorod, and eleven others- 
 Gemini n is masculine and diurnal, aerial, hot, and 
 moist. The native is tall, and straight of body, with 
 long arms ; the hands and feet well formed ; the 
 complexion rather dark, the hair brown, the eye 
 hazel ; strong and active in person, sound and acute 
 in judgment; lively, playful, and generally skilful 
 in business. Diseases under this sign are those to
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 47 
 
 which the arms, hands, and shoulders are subject, 
 with aneurisms, frenzy, and insanity. Places : hillv 
 and high grounds, the tops of houses, wainscoted 
 rooms, halls and theatres, barns, storehouses, and 
 stairs. Kingdoms : Armenia, Brabant, Lombardy, 
 Sardinia, and Egypt. Cities; London, Bruges, Cor- 
 dova, Mentz, and seven others. It is the dav-house of 
 Mercury, and rules the colours red and white. Can- 
 cer s is the only house of the moon, and the first sign 
 of the watery northern triplicity. It is a watery, 
 cold, moist, phlegmatic, feminine, moveable, nocturnal, 
 solstitial, and exceedingly fruitful sign ; more so than 
 any other. The native is fair and pale, short and 
 small ; the upper part of the body larger in propor- 
 tion to the lower ; a round face, light hair, and blue 
 or grey eyes ; phlegmatic, and heavy in disposition ; 
 weak in constitution, and of a small voice. Diseases : 
 all disorders of the breast and stomach, over which 
 parts the sign rules ; cancers, consumption, asthma, 
 dropsy, and surfeits. Kingdoms : Scotland, Holland, 
 -Zealand, Burgundy, Numidia, and Carthage. Places : 
 the sea, and all rivers, swamps, ponds, lakes, wells, 
 ditches, and watery places, Cities : Constantinople, 
 Tunis, York, and New York, Genoa, Venice, Algiers, 
 Amsterdam, Cadiz, and sixteen others. The colors 
 ruled by this sign are green and russet. 
 
 Leo 52 is a sign of a very different nature. It 
 is the only house of the sun ; fiery, hot, dry, mascu- 
 line, choleric, commanding, eastern, and a very 
 barren sign. When this sign ascends in a nativity 
 the individual will be of a tall and powerful frame, 
 well-shaped, of an austere countenance, of light, yel- 
 lowish hair, large piercing eyes, commanding aspect,
 
 48 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 and ruddy complexion. The character will be fierce 
 and cruel : but yet open, generous, and courteous. 
 Such was Richard Coeur-de-Lion. But the latter 
 part of the ?ign is weaker, and more brutal. This 
 sign is even more modified by planetary influences 
 than any others. Among diseases it causes all 
 aiFections of the heart, over which, together with 
 the back and the vertebroe of the neck it rules ; 
 fevers, plague, jaundice, and pleurisy. Of places, it 
 governs woods, forests, deserts, and hunting-grounds, 
 fire-places and furnaces. Of kingdoms : Italy, Chal- 
 d»a, Turkey, and Bohemia. Of cities: Bath, Bristol, 
 Taunton, Rome, Damascus, Prague, Philadelphia, 
 and nineteen others. Its colors are red and green. 
 Virgo y^ is an earthy, cold, dry, barren, feminine, 
 southern, melancholy, commanding sign. It is the 
 house and exaltation of Mercurv. The native is 
 handsome and well-shaped, slender, of middle stature, 
 and of a clear ruddy or brown complexion, dark 
 hair and eyes, the face rather round and the voice 
 sweet and clear, but not strong; the character 
 amiable and benevolent, witty and studious, but 
 not persevering ; and if not opposed by planetary 
 aspects, apt to oratory. This sign rules the viscera, 
 and is answerable for all diseases affecting them. 
 Of places : corn-fields and granaries, studies and 
 libraries. Of kingdoms: Greece, Crete, Mesopo- 
 tamia and Assyria. Of cities; Jerusalem, Paris, 
 Corinth, and twelve others. Its colors ai*e blue 
 and black. Libra £i: is a sign aerial, sanguine, hot, 
 moist, equinoctial, cardinal, moveable, masculine, 
 western and diurnal, humane, and the day-house of 
 Venus. The native is tall and well-made, verv
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 49 
 
 handsome, of a fine ruddy complexion in youth, but 
 ■which changes to a deep red with advancing years. 
 The hair long and flaxen, the eyes grey, the dispo- 
 sition courteous, and the character just and upright. 
 Of kingdoms it governs Ethiopia, Austria, Portugal, 
 and Savoy ; and of cities, Antwerp, Frankfort, 
 Vienna, Charlestown in America, and twenty-seven 
 others. The colors which it rules are crimson and 
 tawny ; and of places, mountains, saw-pits, and 
 woods newly felled. 
 
 Scorpio m, the night-house of Mars, is a cold, 
 phlegmatic, feminine, nocturnal, fixed, northern, and 
 watery sign. The native is of a strong, robust, 
 corpulent body ; of a middle stature, broad visage, 
 dark but not clear complexion ; dark grey eyes, or 
 light brown ; black hair or very dark brown, short, 
 thick legs, and thick neck. Of places it governs 
 swampy grounds, and stagnant waters ; places which 
 abound in venomous creatures, orchards and ruinous 
 houses, especially near water. Of kingdoms : Fez, 
 Bavaria, Norway, and Mauritania. Of cities : Mes- 
 sina and eighteen others. Of colors : brown. 
 
 Sagittarius ^ is a fiery, hot, dry, masculine, diur- 
 nal, eastern, common, bicorporeal, obeying sign ; the 
 day-house and joy of Jupiter. The native is well- 
 formed and rather above the middle stature, with 
 fine chestnut hair, but inclining to baldness ; a visage 
 somewhat long but ruddy and handsome ; the body 
 strong, stout, and hardy; he is inclined to horse- 
 manship and field-sports, careless of danger, generous 
 and intrepid, but hasty and careless. This sign 
 rules the hips, and is the cause of gout, rheumatism, 
 and disorders which affect the muscles. Accidents 
 
 D
 
 50 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 and disorders occasioned by intemperance come 
 under the government of this sign. Of kingdoms : 
 Spain, Hungary, Sclavonia, and Arabia. Of places : 
 stables and parks ; and of colors, green and red. 
 
 Capricornus vf is an earthy, cold, dry, feminine, 
 nocturnal, moveable, cardinal, solstitian, domestic, 
 southern, quadrupedal sign ; the house of Saturn, 
 and the exaltation. The native is of slender stature, 
 long thin countenance, small beard, dark hair and 
 eyes, long neck, narrow chest and chin, tall usually 
 though not always ; in disposition, cheerful and col- 
 lected ; talented and upright. Ruling the knees 
 and hams, it governs all diseases which afflict them ; 
 and also all cutaneous diseases, such as leprosy, &c., 
 and melancholy diseases such as hypochondriasis and 
 hysterics. The kingdoms which it rules are India, 
 Thrace, Mexico, and Saxony; and the cities Oxford, 
 Brandenburg, and nineteen more. The places over 
 which it has power are workshops and fallow 
 grounds, and its colors, black and brown. 
 
 Aquarius ro,; is an airy, hot, moist, rational, fixed, 
 humane, diurnal, sanguine, masculine, western, obey- 
 ing sign ; the day-house of Saturn. The native is a 
 well-made and robust person, rather above the middle 
 stature, long face, but of a pleasing and delicate 
 countenance, clear, bright complexion, with flaxen 
 hair, often sandy; of a disposition ftiir, open, and 
 honest. As this sign rules the legs and ankles, it 
 causes all diseases which affect them ; lameness, 
 white swelling, cramp, and gout. Of places, it de- 
 notes mines and quarries, aerostatic machines, roofs 
 of houses, wells, and conduits. Of kingdoms : Tar- 
 tarv, Denmark, and Westphalia; and of cities.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 51 
 
 Hamburgh, Bremen, and fifteen more. Its colors 
 are grey and sky-blue. 
 
 Lastly, Pisces 5< is a watery, cold, moist, feminine, 
 phlegmatic, nocturnal, common, bicorporeal, north- 
 ern, idle, effeminate, sickly, and extremely fruitful 
 sign, only less so than Cancer ; the house of Jupiter 
 and the exaltation of Venus. The native is short and 
 ill-shaped, fleshy, if not corpulent, with thick, round 
 shoulders, light hair and eyes, the complexion pale, 
 and the head and face large ; of a weak and vacil- 
 lating disposition, well-meaning but devoid of energy. 
 This sign rules the feet, and causes lameness and 
 every kind of disorder occasioned by watery humours. 
 Of places : all such as are under Cancer, save the sea 
 and rivers. Of kingdoms: Lydia, Calabria, Pam- 
 phylia, and Normandy. Of cities : Compostella, 
 Alexandria, Eheims, Eatisbon, and eleven others ; 
 and of colors, it rules white. 
 
 The influence and effects of the planets are still 
 more important than those of the signs ; and they are 
 as follows : — we commence with the most remote of 
 the planets, Uranus Ijl, which, fortunately for the 
 credit of astrologers, was not discovered till the 
 science was exploded. The^ days and hours are, 
 as we have seen, divided among the planets ; but as 
 none were left vacant, the appropriation of any to 
 Uranus would, of course, throw out almost all the 
 ancient calculations. If these then are to be pre- 
 
 ' The Mexicans were addicted to Astrology, and a curious coincidence 
 obtained betweeen them and the ancient Egyptians with regard to the 
 intercalary days. Children bom on any of those five days were considered 
 unfortunate ; they had no guardian spirit, and were cilled Nemoquichtle, . 
 or unhappy, in order that these very names might bring to their remem- 
 brance how little they should trust to their stars. — Humbuldt, 7?es. 
 vol. i, p. 287.
 
 52 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 served, the newly-discovered planet has no influence ; 
 but if this be the case, by what analogy can any be 
 assigned to the others 1 However, when this question 
 was likely to be debated, Uranus was rolling on in 
 its far-off' orbit, and occasioning no uneasiness what- 
 ever to astrologers or magicians. Leaving out all 
 mention of the astronomical elements, we proceed to 
 notice that Uranus is by nature extremely cold and 
 dry, melancholy, and one of the infortunes. The 
 native is of a small stature, dark or pale complexion, 
 rather light hair, of a highly nervous temperament, 
 sedate aspect, but having something singular in his 
 appearance ; light grey eyes, and delicate constitu- 
 tion. If the planet be well dignified, he is a searcher 
 into science, particularly chemistry, and remarkably 
 attached to the wonderful. He possesses an extra- 
 ordinary magnanimity and loftiness of mind, with an 
 uncontrollable and intense desire for pursuits and dis- 
 coveries of an uncommon nature. If ill-dignified, 
 then the native is weak, sickly, and short-lived, 
 treacherous, and given to gross imposture, unfor- 
 tunate in his undertakings, capricious in his tastes, 
 and very eccentric in his conduct. No planet, save 
 Saturn, is so actively and powerfully malevolent as 
 this ; " his effects are truly malefic."^ They are, 
 however, of a totally unexpected, strange, and unac- 
 countable character. He rules over places dedicated 
 to unlawful arts, laboratories, &c. The regions under 
 his immediate governance are Lapland, Finland, and 
 the Poles. Professions : Necromancers and Geotic 
 Magicians. Cities : Upsal and Mexico. The name 
 of his angel has not been found out, but he is known 
 
 ' See Lilly's Christian Astrologj-, art. 'Saturn.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 5 
 
 o 
 
 to be very hostile to the female sex ; and u'hen his 
 aspects interfere in the period of marriage, the result 
 is anything but happiness. 
 
 Saturn h is by nature cold and dry ; is a melan- 
 choly, earthy, masculine, solitary, diurnal, malevolent 
 planet, and the great infortune. When he is lord of 
 the ascendant, the native is of a middle stature, the 
 complexion dark and swarthy, or pale ; small black 
 eyes, broad shoulders, black hair, and ill-shaped 
 about the lower extremities. When well dignified, 
 the native is grave and wise, studious and severe, of 
 an active and penetrating mind, reserved and patient, 
 constant in attachment, but implacable in resent- 
 ment, upright and inflexible ; but if the planet be ill- 
 dignified at the time of birth, then the native will be 
 sluggish, covetous, and distrustful ; false, stubborn, 
 malicious, and ever discontented. This planet is said 
 to be well dignified in the horoscope of the Duke of 
 Wellington, and to have been ill dignified, but singu- 
 larly posited, in that of Louis XI. of France. The 
 diseases he signifies are quartan agues, and such as 
 proceed from cold and melancholy ; all impediments 
 in the sight, ear, and teeth ; rheumatism, consump- 
 tion, disorders affecting the memory, the spleen, and 
 the bones. Saturn, in general, signifieth husband- 
 men, day-labourers, monks, Jesuits, sectarians, sex- 
 tons, and such as have to do with the dead ; gar- 
 deners, dyers of black, and thirty- three other 
 professions, which Lilly enumerates. He mentions 
 also forty-eight plants, including all anodynes and 
 narcotic poisons, which are under the rule of this 
 planet. Among animals, the cat, the ass, hare, 
 mole, mouse, wolf, bear, and crocodile. All serpents
 
 54 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 and venomous creatures. Among fishes, the eel, 
 tortoise, and shell-fish ; among the birds, the bat, 
 and the owl ; among metals and minerals, lead, the 
 loadstone, and all dross of metals ; over the sapphire, 
 lapis lazuli, and all stones that are not polishable, and 
 of a leaden or ashy colour. 
 
 " He causeth the air to be dark and cloudy, cold 
 and hurtful, with thick and dense vapors. He 
 delighteth in the eastern quarter, causing eastern 
 winds ; and in gathering any plant belonging to him 
 the ancients did observe to turn their faces to the 
 east in his hour. Those under him do rarely live 
 beyond fifty-seven years ; and if he be Avell placed, 
 seldom less than thirty. But his nature is cold and 
 dry, and these qualities are destructive to man. 
 Black is the color which he ruleth. Of countries 
 under his influence are Bavaria, Saxony, and Styria ; 
 Ravenna, Constance, and Ingoldstadt, among cities. 
 His friends are Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury; his 
 enemies, the Sun and Venus. We call Saturday 
 his day, for then he begins to rule at sunrise, and 
 rules the first hour and the eighth of that day.^ 
 His angel is Cassel." 
 
 ' Upham, in his Hist, and Doctrine of Budhuism, gives the following 
 account of the planetary spirits as represented by the Burmese and 
 Singalese : — 
 
 1. Jupiter is a masculine planet, his houses are Sagittarius and Pisces, 
 he rules over the point between the cast and north ; he is crowned and 
 holds in his hands a full pot ; ho rides upon a lion, and is of a golden 
 color, and nine hundred yodoons high ; his influeufC is benevolent. 
 
 2. The Sun is a niastuline planet dwelling in Leo, and ruling over the 
 east ; he is of a bright copper color, six lacs of yodoons high, holds in his 
 hand a sirriwesseya (a kind of sword), and rides upon a horse ; he is 
 crowned and malevolent. 
 
 3. Venus is a benevolent and fcm;ilo planet ; she abides in Taurus and 
 Libra, and rules over the point between the east and south ; slie is 
 crowned, and holds a yak's tail in her liand, rides on a bull, and is of a 
 white color; she is twelve lacs of yodoons high.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 55 
 
 The next planet is Jupiter U. He is a diurnal, 
 masculine 2)lauet, temperately hot and moist, airy, 
 and sanguine. The greater fortune and lord of the 
 airy triplicity. The native, if the planet be well 
 dignified, will be of an erect carriage, and tall sta- 
 ture ; a handsome, ruddy complexion ; high forehead ; 
 soft, thick brown hair; a handsome shape and com- 
 manding aspect ; his voice will be strong, clear, and 
 manly ; and his speech, grave and sober. If the 
 planet be ill dignified, still the native will be what 
 is called a good-looking person, though of smaller 
 stature, and less noble aspect. In the former case, 
 the understanding and character will be of the 
 highest possible description ; and in the latter case, 
 
 4. Mars is a masculine and malevolent planet ; his houses are Aries 
 and Scorpio, his point the south ; he is crowned, and rides upon a pea- 
 cock, is of a red color, nine hundred yodoons high, and bears an un- 
 it urra. 
 
 5. Rahn rules over the point south-west, and is of a malevolent cha- 
 racter : he is of a fiery color, rides upon an ass, and is thirty-six 
 lacs of yodoons high ; holds in his hand a weapon like a fish. 
 
 6. Saturn is a malevolent planet, neither male nor female ; his signs are 
 Capricorn and Aquarius, his point west ; he is crowned, and of a black 
 color, rides upon a raven, and is three thousand yodoons in height ; in 
 his hand he holds a niandwattee. 
 
 7. The Moon is a feminine malevolent planet ; her house is Cancer, and 
 her point north-west ; she is of a white color, fifteen hundred yodoons 
 high, and is represented as riding on an elephant, with a crown on her 
 head, and a riband in her hand. 
 
 8. Budha, or Mercury, is a benevolent planet, and, like Saturn, neither 
 masculine nor feminine ; his signs are Gemini and Virgo, and his point of 
 the compass, the north: he is depicted as crowned and of a dark blue 
 color, riding upon a buifalo, and bearing in his hand a chank shell ; his 
 height is eight hundred yodoons. 
 
 9. Ketri, or Kehcttu, is a masculine energy, ruling the centre of the 
 world ; he is one killa of yodoons high, and is pictured as a vast serpent, 
 of a smoke color, with a human head crowned ; in his right hand he 
 holds a chain, and in his left a book ; he rides upon a cloud. 
 
 When a man is Uiken ill, and it appears from his iioroscope that his 
 sickness is to be attributed to planetary influence, then the shape of the 
 spirit ruling the planet which is the cause of the disease, is made according 
 to the above description ; the figure is of mud, and is held before the 
 patient, while certain formulae are repeated.
 
 56* THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 tbough careless and improvident, immoral and irre- 
 ligious, he will never entirely lose the good opinion 
 of his friends. Yet he vrill be, as Sancho Panza 
 expresses it : — " Haughty to the humble, and humble 
 to the haughty." The diseases it rules are apoplexy 
 and inflammation of the lungs ; disorders affecting 
 the left ear, cramps, and palpitations of the heart. 
 Plants : the oak, spice, apples, and one hundred and 
 seventy-two others. Gems : topaz, amethyst, hya- 
 cynth, and bezoar. Minerals : tin, pewter, and fire- 
 stone. Animals: the ox, horse, elepbant, stag, and 
 all domestic animals. W^eather : pleasant, healthful, 
 and serene west-north, and north-east winds. Birds : 
 the eagle, peacock, pheasant, &c. Of fishes, he rules 
 the whale and the dolphin. Of colors : blue, when 
 well posited. Of professions : the clergy, the higher 
 order of law students, and those who deal in woollen 
 goods ; when weak, the dependents on the above, 
 with quacks, common cheats, and drunkards. Places: 
 all churches, palaces, courts, and places of pomp and 
 solemnity. He rules the lungs and blood, and is 
 friendly with all the j)lanets save Mars. Countries : 
 Spain, Hungary, and Babylon ; his angel is Zadkiel. 
 
 The next planet is Mars S ; a masculine, noctur- 
 nal, hot, and dry planet ; of the fiery triplicity ; the 
 author of strife, and the lesser infortune. The native 
 is short, but strongly made, having large bones, 
 ruddy complexion, red or sandy hair and eyebrows, 
 quick, sharp eyes, round, bold face, and fearless 
 aspect. If well dignified, courageous and invincible, 
 unsusceptible of fear, careless of life, resolute and 
 unsubmissive. If ill dignified, a trumpeter of his 
 own fame, without decency or honesty ; fond of
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 57 
 
 quarrels, prone to fightings, and given up to everv 
 species of fraud, violence, and oppression. Nero was 
 an example of this planet's influence ; and the 
 gallows is said to terminate most generally the 
 career of those born in low life under its government. 
 This planet rules the head, face, gall, left ear, and 
 the smell. Disease : plague, fevers, and all com- 
 plaints arising from excessive heat ; all wounds by 
 iron or steel, injuries by poison, and all evil effects 
 from intemperate anger. Herbs and plants: mustard, 
 radish, with all pungent and thorny plants. Gems : 
 the bloodstone, jasper, ruby, and garnet. Of mine- 
 rals : iron, arsenic, antimony, sulphur, and vermilion. 
 Animals : the mastiff, wolf, tiger, and all savage 
 beasts. Birds : the hawk, kite, raven, vulture, and 
 generally birds of prey. Weather: thunder and 
 lightning, fiery meteors, and all strange phenomena. 
 Kingdoms : Lombardy and Bavaria. Cities ; Jeru- 
 salem and Rome. He signifies soldiers, surgeons, 
 barbers, and butchers. Places : smiths"* shops, slaugh- 
 ter-houses, fields of battle, and brick-kilns. His 
 friends are all the planets, save the Moon and Ju- 
 piter. His color is red, and his angel is Samael. 
 
 We now come to the Sun 0, a masculine, hot, 
 and dry planet, of favorable effects. The native 
 is very like one born under Jupiter, but the hair 
 is lighter, the complexion redder, the body fatter, 
 and the eyes larger. AVhen well dignified, the solar 
 man is affable, courteous, splendid and sumptuous, 
 proud, liberal, humane, and ambitious. When ill 
 dignified, the native is arrogant, mean, loquacious, 
 and sycophantic ; much resembling the native under 
 Jupiter, ill dignified, but still worse. Diseases : all 
 
 J) 5
 
 58 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 those of the heart, mouth, and throat ; epilepsy, 
 scrofula, tympanitis, and brain fevers. Herbs and 
 plants : laurel, vervain, St. John's wort, orange, 
 hyacinth, and some hundreds besides. Gems : car- 
 buncle, the diamond, the a^tites. Minerals : gold. 
 Animals : the lion, the boar, the horse. Birds : the 
 lark, the swan, the nightingale, and all singing birds. 
 Fish : the star-fish, and all shell-fish. Countries : 
 Italy, Bohemia, Chaldsea, and Sicily. Of cities : 
 Rome. Color : yellow. Weather : that which is 
 most seasonable. Professions : kings, lords, and all 
 dignified persons ; braziers, goldsmiths, and persons 
 employed in mints. Places : king's courts, palaces, 
 theatres, halls, and places of state. His friends are 
 all the planets save Saturn ; and his angel is Michael. 
 
 The influences of the asteroids, Juno, Pallas, 
 Ceres, and Vesta, have never been calculated, but 
 they are said by modern astrologers to act benefi- 
 cially, but feebly. 
 
 The Moon ]) is a far more important planet ; 
 feminine, nocturnal, cold, moist, and phlegmatic. 
 Her influence in itself is neither fortunate nor un- 
 fortunate. She is benevolent or otherwise according 
 to the aspects of other planets towards her ; and 
 under these circumstances she becomes more powerful 
 than any of them. The native is short and stout, 
 with fair, pale complexion, round face, grey eyes, 
 short arms, thick hands and feet, very hairy but 
 with light hair ; phlegmatic. If the moon be af- 
 fected by the sun at the time of birth, the native 
 will have a blemish on or near the eye. When 
 the moon is well dignified, the native is of soft en- 
 gaging manners, imaginative, and a lover of the arts ;
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 59 
 
 but wandering-, careless, timorous, and unstable ; 
 loving peace, and averse from activity. Wben ill 
 dignified, then the native will be of an ill shape, 
 indolent, worthless, and disorderly. Diseases : palsy, 
 epilepsy, scrofula, and lunacy, together with all 
 diseases of the eyes. Herbs : lily, poppies, mush- 
 rooms, willow, and about two hundred others. 
 Minerals and gems : pearls, selenite, silver, and soft 
 stones. Color : white. Animals : the dos", the 
 cat, the otter, the mouse, and all amphibious crea- 
 tures. Birds ; the goose, duck, bat, and water- 
 birds in general. Fish : the eel, the crab, and the 
 lobster. Weather : she increases the effect of other 
 planets. Countries : Denmark, Holland, Flanders, 
 and North America. Cities : Amsterdam, Venice, 
 Bergen-op-Zoom, and Lubeck. Places : fountains, 
 baths, the sea, and all watery places. Professions : 
 queens and dignified women ; midwives, nurses, all 
 who have to do with water, save sailors. Her 
 angel is Gabriel. 
 
 Venus ? is a feminine planet, temperately cold 
 and moist, the author of mirth and sport. The 
 native is handsome, well-formed, but not tall ; clear 
 complexion, bright hazel or black eyes, dark brown 
 or chestnut hair, thick, soft, and shining ; the voice 
 soft and sweet, and the aspect very prepossessing. 
 If well dignified, the native will be cheerful, friendly, 
 musical, and fond of elegant accomplishments ; prone 
 to love, but frequently jealous. If ill dignified, the 
 native is less handsome in person and in mind, 
 altogether vicious, given up to every licentiousness ; 
 dishonest, and atheistical. Herbs and plants : the 
 fig-tree, myrrh, myrtle, pomegranate, and about
 
 60 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 two hundred and twenty more. Animals : the goat, 
 panther, hart, &c. Birds : the sparrow, the dove, 
 the thrush, and the wren. Gems : the emerald, 
 chrysolite, beryl, ehrysoprasus. Countries : Spain, 
 India, and Persia. Cities : Florence, Paris, and 
 Vienna. Mineral : copper. Color : green. Oc- 
 cupations : all such as minister to pomp and pleasure. 
 Weather : warm, and accompanied with showers. 
 Her angel is Hanael. 
 
 Mercury $ is the last of the planets which we 
 have to consider. He is masculine, melancholy, 
 cold, and dry. The native is tall, straight, and thin, 
 with a narrow face and high forehead, long straight 
 nose, eyes black or grey, thin lips and chin, scanty 
 beard, with brown hair ; the arms, hands, and fin- 
 gers, long and slender ; this last is said to be a 
 peculiar mark of a nativity under Mercury. If the 
 planet be oriental at the time of birth, the native 
 will be very likely to be of a stronger constitution, 
 and with sandy hair. If occidental, sallow, lank, 
 slender, and of a dry habit. When well dignified, 
 he will be of an acute and penetrating mind, of a 
 powerful imagination, and a retentive memory ; elo- 
 quent, fond of learning, and successful in scientific 
 investigation. If engaged in mercantile pursuits, 
 enterprising and skilful. If ill dignified, then the 
 native is a mean, unprincipled character, pretending 
 to knowledge, but an impostor, and a slanderer, 
 boastful, malicious, and addicted to theft. Diseases : 
 all that affect the brain, head, and intellectual facul- 
 ties. Herbs and ])lants : the walnut, the valerian, 
 the trefoil, and about one hundred more. Animals : 
 the dog, the ape, the weasel, and the fox. Weather :
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 61 
 
 rain, hailstones, thunder and lightning-, particularly 
 in the north. Occupations : all literate and learned 
 professions; when ill dignified, all pretenders, quacks, 
 and mountebanks. Places : schools, colleges, mar- 
 kets, warehouses, exchanges, all places of commerce 
 and learning. Metal : quicksilver. Gems : corne- 
 lian, sardonyx, opal, onyx, and chalcedony. His 
 color is purple. His friends are Jupiter, Venus, 
 and Saturn. His enemies. Mars, the Sun, and the 
 Moon. His angel is Raphael. 
 
 We have gone through all this matter, not only 
 because it is necessary to the proper understanding 
 of the groundwork of the science itself, but because 
 by means of these elements it is easy to show the 
 ideas with which the scheme has been gradually put 
 together, and the manner in which it mixed itself 
 with almost all the sciences cultivated in the middle 
 ages. To begin with the planet Saturn. His name 
 is that of a Roman deity, answering to the Greek 
 Chronos, or Time ; and though much exaggerated, 
 the effects attributed to the planet are but the 
 necessary consequences of time. But the deity pre- 
 sided over husbandmen and was the peculiar patron 
 of agriculture. For this cause it was that he 
 was represented with a scythe or sickle ; and 
 the Saxon divinity, Seterne, the same god under 
 a very slight change of name, bore not only the 
 sickle, but also a basket or pail filled with fruit 
 and flowers. The planet is therefore set over hus- 
 bandmen and agriculturists. Again, Saturn was in 
 an especial manner the deity of the aged. He who 
 superintended the reaping of the earth, reaped also 
 his own human harvest when fully ripe. This cast 
 a gloom over his character as an object of worship,
 
 62 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 which was increased by an idea of the stern, un- 
 relenting character of the banished god ; and which 
 all the fabled happiness of the golden age did not 
 obviate. We are not surprised then, to find Saturn 
 ruling old people, sextons, and clmrchyards. The 
 plants, also, and the animals sacred to the god, were 
 also consecrated to the planet. The Hindoos,^ repre- 
 sented the spirit of this planet as of a fierce and 
 dreadful figure. He rode upon a raven, and wore 
 a dark turban, loosely twisted round his brows. He 
 bore the scymitar, trident, bow and shaft of JNIaha- 
 deva. Yet he is said to be a form of Brahma. 
 They call him Sani ; and Major Moor observes, that 
 as the raven is accused of destroying its own young, 
 it forms a peculiarly appropriate " valian^'' or vehicle, 
 for the all-devouring Spirit of Time. 
 
 Now, there have been European descriptions of 
 the genius of each planet ; and that of Saturn, will 
 receive some little light from the Hindoo Sani. The 
 spirit of Saturn is represented with four faces, and 
 a human head on each knee (four in number) ; he 
 is tall, dark, and terrible. Brahma is represented, 
 when in his own shape, as having four heads ; Sani 
 has but one. In the European figure, the others 
 are' restored ; and as Sani is a character compounded 
 of Brahma and Mahadeva, so the gory human skulls 
 which Mahadeva bears, are here associated with his 
 terrible character. This is a coincidence worthy of 
 notice ; and the more so, as the figures assigned to 
 the genii of the planets may be found on the Basili- 
 dian gems. It appears, too, from this, that the name 
 of Saturn, or of some similar deity, was bestowed on 
 this planet on account of his distance from the foun- 
 
 ' Christmas, Univ. Mytliol. p. 88.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 63 
 
 tain of light and heat ; and of his dull, cheerless 
 light ; and it would also seem that this had been 
 done before the establishment, or at least before 
 the completion of the Hindoo system ; otherwise, 
 we should not have had the benevolent Brahma 
 placed here as the ruler of a planet in which it 
 was necessary for him to assume the characteristics 
 of so different a deity as Mahadeva. The planet 
 governed by Brahma would have been benevolent 
 instead of the reverse, and Brahma himself might 
 have kept his character unaltered. The sign of the 
 planet h is a representation of the sickle borne by 
 the god from whom it takes its appellation. He 
 presides, we noticed, over the color black, and over 
 lead. Why the most gloomy of colors should be 
 attributed to the most distant of the planets, and 
 the most cheerless of the gods, may be readily 
 imagined. Lead, which the old chemists called by 
 the name, and represented by the character of this 
 planet, was so distingaiished on account of the black- 
 ness of surface which it acquired when exposed to 
 the air, and on account of its want of lustre. Even 
 now, preparations of lead are called Saturnine pre- 
 parations. There was a still further reason for this 
 in the sedative effect of these medicines ; all narcotics 
 and anodynes were peculiar to this planet. There 
 is a curious connexion with heraldry which the 
 planets have by means of their colors. Black, the 
 color of Saturn, is called on the arms of commoners, 
 sable; on those of peers, diamond, — a stone under the 
 rule of this planet ; and on those of princes, Saturn. 
 
 All the astrological characteristics of Jupiter may 
 be traced in the same way. In the figure assigned to
 
 64 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the native, we see that which, amplified and rendered 
 awful by the genius of a Praxiteles, marked the 
 god. The same character, too, may be perceived ; 
 though it must be allowed that the god falls short 
 in moral grandeur, as much as the native does in 
 personal dignity and beauty. Whatsoever is grave, 
 and solemn, and dignified in profession or occupation, 
 is under the rule of Jupiter ; a planet which bears the 
 name of the chief among the gods. 
 
 At first sight one would be inclined to suppose 
 that the royal office would be signified by this planet. 
 But, considering the importance of religion, particu- 
 larly with regard to the father of gods and men, 
 there seems much propriety in making him preside 
 over the saperdotal character rather than the regal. 
 The bull is one of the animals under his rule, and is 
 so, on accoimt of the transformation of the god into 
 a bull, when he carried off Europa. The bull was 
 sacred to Zeus, and sacrificed to him of old. He 
 changed lo into an heifer, by which the appropriation 
 is made still more apposite. The ram is also an 
 animal which he governs; and an image, ^ under 
 which the presiding spirit of Jupiter was represented, 
 is that of a man having a ram's head, and eagle's 
 feet. Here we have the very figure of Jupiter 
 Ammon, save only the shape of the feet ; and we 
 recognise in the admixture of the eagle's form, the 
 consecration of that bird to the Thunderer. The 
 
 ' Com. Agrippa, Occ. Phil, li . ii. cap. 39. 
 
 The Hindoo spirit of Jupiter is called Virispati, and is said to be a 
 form of Mahadeva ; yet, as the messenger of the gods, he partakes of the 
 nature of the Greek Hermes, and his character is benevolent. In fact, 
 Brahma and Mahavada have exchanged characters, when considered 
 under the names of Virispati and Sani,
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 65 
 
 forms attributed to the planetary Genii are, in fact, 
 produced by the rebarbarization of those which the 
 Greeks had given to the gods. Osiris, for instance, 
 was symbohcally represented by the hawk or eagle, 
 on account of the clear piercing vision and lofty 
 flight of that bird ; but when many of the attributes 
 of Osiris were transferred to Zeus, the Greeks were 
 too poetic, and too intellectual a people to worship a 
 bird; and their taste was too pure to mingle the 
 human and brute forms, as had been done among 
 the Egyptians. Leaving, therefore, this admixture, 
 which may be called the second stage of symboliza- 
 tion, they attributed to the god the most majestic of 
 human forms, and placed at his feet the symbolical 
 eagle. When the institution of Christianity had 
 banished the deities of Greece and Rome from their 
 temples, they still retained some hold on the imagi- 
 nation of the people ; and though no longer rever- 
 enced as deities, were looked upon with awe as 
 daemons of no common rank. In this change Judicial 
 Astrology shared ; and many of the angels supposed 
 to preside over the planets were among those who had 
 fallen from their allegiance ; but even in the early 
 ages of Christianity, Astrology grounded much of its 
 claim to respect upon its antiquity ; and it would 
 have been contrary to the spirit of a science, which 
 professed to be founded on eternal truth, to have 
 enthroned in the planets the rejected deities of the 
 Pantheon. 
 
 As, however, they were in fact the same as the 
 presiding influences, it became necessary to disguise 
 them, and this could in no way be better accom- 
 plished than by adopting the earlier and more symbo-
 
 66 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 lical forms. There was another advantage connected 
 with this ; it aoreed better with the system of 
 dagmonologj, which was being gradually introduced, 
 and by its greater degree of mysticism, it well suited 
 so mystic a science. The oak, as a tree sacred to 
 Zeus ; the vine, as the peculiar plant of Bacchus, 
 whose attributes are joined with those of his sire in 
 the planet ; the ivy, for the same cause ; and the 
 pine, are trees and plants of Jupiter. The amethyst, 
 which obtained its name from its supposed property 
 of preventing intoxication, bears a reference to 
 Bacchus ; and the sapphire, from its blue color, 
 may be imagined to represent the blue arch of 
 Heaven. These gems are, therefore, under the 
 government of Jupiter. The circumstance, that 
 some pigments of a bluish purple color have been 
 obtained from tin, seems the only reason why that 
 metal is also assigned to the same planet ; but the 
 color blue, called by heralds azure, on the shield of 
 commoners, takes the name of sap])hire on those of 
 peers ; and Jupiter, on those of princes. The 
 character 2/. was used by the ancient chemists to 
 signify tin, and preparations of that metal were 
 called Jovial. 
 
 In the character assigned to the person born under 
 Mars, the reader will find little more than a tran- 
 script of that given by Homer to Ares himself. 
 Even the external aspect, when the planet is well 
 dignified, is very much resembling that of the lord 
 of war. It is in the works of Homer that the Mars 
 of the astrologers is to be found, not in those of later 
 writers. Caraoens in his Lusiad has given a descrip- 
 tion which combines the attributes of Zeus and Ares.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 67 
 
 " Up proudly from his adamantine casque, 
 
 The Lord of War his burnish'd vizor threw, 
 
 With stately step and voice secure — to ask 
 Attention ; near the eternal throne he drew, 
 
 And on the soil of heaven's etherial blue, 
 
 Smote with the thunder's sound his iron lance. 
 
 Till even the undying spirits paler grew, 
 
 And the bright sun tum'd his replendent glance, 
 As if alarm'd away, or struck with sudden trance.'" 
 
 So majestic and dignified was not the Ares of 
 Homer. He was rather fierce than stern ; and more 
 properly the god of battle than of war. The chief 
 image" under which the presiding spirit of this planet 
 was depicted, was that of a man fully armed ; having 
 in his right hand a naked sword erected, riding on a 
 lion, and carrying in his left hand the gory head of a 
 man, — a figure and action perfectly suitable to the 
 savage character of the spirit, and the malefic influ- 
 ence of the planet. It may be observed, too, that 
 this planet has been made to preside over the third 
 day of the week ; and Ares corresponds therefore to 
 Tyr in the northern mythology. The description 
 given above by Camoens would do perfectly well for 
 the "terrible and severe god," Odin, who was pro- 
 perly the god of war; but not for Tyr, who, like 
 Ares, was merely a strong, fierce, and resolute 
 warrior ; neither wise, nor distinguished for other 
 qualities, than force and personal intrepidity. Beasts 
 of prey were supposed to be under his government, 
 all save the royal and magnanimous lion. 
 
 With the real character of this animal we have no- 
 thing to do ; the ancients esteemed him a noble and 
 generous beast, and accordingly they excepted him 
 
 ' Lusiad, canto i. s. 1, 37. 
 
 ' Corn. Agrippa, Occ. Phil. lib. ii. cap. 40.
 
 68 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 from the list, when they assigned the rule over pre- 
 datory animals to Mars. The cock among birds was 
 always the peculiar property of Ares. Those who re- 
 member no other instance of proof, cannot forget the 
 last words of Socrates. The cock, too, as a mark 
 of war, appeared on the helmet of the Saxon Irmin- 
 sula, and accordingly this bird is " under Mars." 
 The story of Alectryon, or, as he is generally called, 
 Grallus, will not be forgotten, — the confidant who 
 fell asleep on his post, when the honor of Aphrodite 
 was concerned in his watchfulness, and who was, 
 in consequence, changed into a cock by the indig- 
 nant Ares. Besides the cock, all birds of prey, save 
 the eagle ; all ravenous fishes, the fabled dragon, and 
 the no less fabulous cockatrice, are subject to this 
 violent and evil ])lanet. To him also are given all 
 places used for war, or making the instruments of 
 war ; all prickly and pungent herbs, and much 
 stormy weather. We have noticed that among 
 gems he rules the ruby, and among metals, iron and 
 arsenic ; the former on account of its color, which, 
 as the hue of blood, is appropriately assigned to the 
 causer of strife ; the latter because of the destructive 
 qualities of arsenic, and the use made of iron in 
 war. The character of Mars, c? , is merely an 
 arrow issuing from a globe ; and the chemists an- 
 ciently used this same symbol to signify iron, calling 
 the metal Mars, and preparations of it Martial. 
 Even now, a regulus of iron is called the martial 
 regulus ; and the red color of the oxyde forms an 
 additional reason for its assignment to this planet. 
 The fiery hue of the planet also agrees with all 
 these ; and hence of all planets it was the fittest to
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 69 
 
 represent in heraldry that color, which, on the coats 
 of commoners, gules ; on those of nobles, ruby ; takes, 
 when borne by princes, the name of Mars. The 
 moss-rose, both on account of its prickles and its 
 color, has been assigned to this planet, and affords 
 an instance of great exactness in the names given by 
 heralds to what they term the tinctures. Gules, 
 the word used for red, is derived from the Persian 
 ghul, a rose. 
 
 Venus, again, presides over a character which, 
 when the planet is well dignified, and the native 
 a female, resembles that given by the poets to 
 Venus Urania ; when ill dignified, to the more 
 popular, but licentious Venus Terrestris. The whole 
 influence of this planet is taken from the history 
 of the goddess ; for the heavenly body is, according 
 to astrologers, moderately cold and moist, whereas 
 the disposition of the native, the diseases, plants, 
 animals, and influences indicated by Venus, though 
 well agreeing with the Greek Aphrodite, bear cer- 
 tainly very little reference to a cold constitution, or 
 a cold climate. The spirit presiding over this most 
 beautiful of the celestial orbs, is figured by astro- 
 logers in three ^ ways ; one was that of a Avoman 
 with the head and feet of a bird, and holding a dart 
 in her hand ; another, of a naked female with her 
 hair loose, and a looking-glass in her hand, — a youth 
 holds her a willing captive by a chain round the 
 Beck, and a winged child with an arrow attends 
 them. The third was that of a maiden with long, 
 loose hair, clothed in long, white, shining garments, 
 and holding flowers in her hand. These are all, as is 
 ' Com. Agrippa, Occ. Phil. lib. ii. cap. 42,
 
 70 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 evident on the first inspection, merely allegories. 
 They denote the rapidity and power of that passion 
 of which Aphrodite was the patroness, and over 
 which Venus rules. The second and third seem to 
 exhibit it in its forms, — one of mere voluptuousness, 
 another of pure attachment. After noticing roses, 
 and other sweet flowers. Astrologers mention the 
 mulberry as under the government of Venus. The 
 fable of Pyramus and Thisbe concludes by stating 
 that Aphrodite changed the color of that fruit 
 from white to red, because of the blood of these 
 lovers, which had been shed at the foot of the tree. 
 The myrtle was of course transferred from the 
 goddess to the planet ; and myrrh, on account of 
 the unhappy fate of Myrrha, was reckoned also 
 among her plants. Aphrodite may be considered 
 generally as the personified principle of animal love. 
 The chariot of Aphrodite was drawn by doves ; she 
 was attended by her son Eros ; and the idea was 
 preserved, in the astral images of Venus, as may 
 be noticed in the quotations above. She abhorred 
 blood ; and sweet flowers and incense were offered 
 to her instead of the bodies of animals. We should 
 expect, therefore, to find fragrant flowers and in- 
 cense, doves, pigeons, and sparrows, ruled by Venus, 
 and such is the case ; and when we also see oysters 
 and shell-fish among the animals which she claims, 
 we recollect the line of Juvenal : 
 
 " Grandia quae mediis jam noctibus ostrea mordet.'" 
 
 Green is the color ; coj)per the metal. The eme- 
 rald, chrysoprasus, chrysolite, and other green stones, 
 
 ' Sat. vi. 1.301.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 7l 
 
 the gems assigned to Venus. The very name of 
 Aphrodite attests her origin : sprung from the sea- 
 foam, who could have so good a right to the color 
 and products of the sea as she ! Coral and similar 
 marine productions are, therefore, with great reason 
 apportioned to her; the most refreshing of hues is 
 given to the most benevolent of planets, and the 
 most lovely of goddesses. That copper is ascribed 
 to her, and her character,^ ? , used by the ancient 
 chemists to denote it, is chiefly on account of the 
 beautiful green color produced by the oxide of 
 that metal. The gems abovenamed owe their ap- 
 propriation to Venus entirely to their color. In 
 heraldry, the tincture called on the arms of com- 
 moners vert, is termed emerald when borne by noble- 
 men, and Venus when seen on the coats of princes. 
 It must not be forgotten that, among characters 
 ruled by this planet, that of the gamester appears. 
 Aphrodite was the patroness of gaming, and the 
 most fortunate throw with the dice was called after 
 her, Alma Venus. Among her friends (astrolo- 
 gically) are all the planets save Saturn ; a fit ex- 
 ception, when it is considered that Saturn signifies 
 Time, and is the patron of aged persons, and of old 
 age, a period of life when love is no longer the most 
 becoming, nor the most reasonable of all the pas- 
 sions. 
 
 ' According to M. Plance, the sign or character of Venus $, repre- 
 sented the Tau or cross of the Egyptians, suspended from a chain or the 
 link of one, and that it signified Typhon-bound. This docs not seem a 
 very natural solution, particularly as the Tau was the emblem of deliver- 
 ance, and if applied to a chain would signify rather the sotting at liberty 
 of a captive, than the binding of an individuid before free. The same 
 writer makes the sign or character of Jupiter 2/- to be the sceptre en- 
 twined with a serpent, and thus to signify both royalty and life.
 
 72 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 Mercury ? , the smallest of the planets, and the 
 nearest to the Sun, comes next under consideration. 
 'It indicates, when well jDosited, a graceful and slen- 
 der person, of the same description as that assigned 
 by poets to the deity from whom his name is de- 
 rived. Here it is not in the Greek Hermes, so 
 much as in the Egyptian Thoth and Anubis, that 
 we are to look for mythological coincidences. Thoth, 
 or Hermes Trismegistus, the fabled author of all 
 learning, is represented in the astrological scheme 
 by this planet ; who is therefore described as the 
 giver of wit and eloquence. Under his congenial 
 rule all learned persons, all logicians, students and 
 professors of occult science are placed. All diseases 
 of the brain were referable to him ; and all medi- 
 cines that were beneficial in such cases. His astro- 
 logical^ image is merely a copy of the Greek Hermes 
 with the Caduceus, Petasis, and Talaria. Another 
 image represented him riding on a peacock, having 
 eagle's feet, and holding in his left hand a flame. 
 The dominion of Mercury is chiefly over the mind ; 
 his power is to cause, to excite, and to destroy 
 genius ; and he corresponds therein with Hermes, 
 whose power was over the soul. As the symbol 
 of his oflSce he bore a wand with serpents twined 
 round it, and having wings at the top. By this 
 he commanded the disembodied spirits ; he caused 
 sleep to fall on the body, and separated the soul 
 from its material dwelling ; with this he laid to 
 sleep the watchful Argus; and by this did he bring 
 spirits into the yet soulless bodies. This wand, the 
 caduceus, is represented by the astrological cha- 
 ' Com. Agrippa, Oc. Phil. lib. ii. cap. 43.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 73 
 
 racter of the planet INIercury $ ; if the stroke be 
 carried through the whole figure, the resemblance 
 will be complete ^ thus $ . 
 
 The same analogy prevails between Mercury and 
 Anubis. The dog is under the rule of Mercury, and 
 points out the connection between the planet and 
 the dog-headed deity ; but Sirius, the chosen dwell- 
 ing of Anubis, is a star which astrologers say has 
 great influence ; and it is of the nature of Mercury, 
 A greater coincidence is, however, afforded by the 
 circumstance that Anubis was the constant attendant 
 of Osiris. Osiris is shown to be the Sun, and hence 
 we must look in an astrological scheme, founded on 
 astronomical idolatry, among the planets nearest to 
 the Sun for the representative of Anubis. Mercury, 
 who is that representative, is the nearest of all. The 
 reason that purple is given to this planet, is to be 
 found in the fact that the ancient purple was scarlet, 
 and the finest scarlet pigments are mercurial prepara- 
 tions ; it is also assigned to the Sun, together with 
 yellow ; Mercury is the name given to the color 
 now called purple in the arms of princes, which, 
 borne by peers, is termed amethyst, and by com- 
 moners, purpure. In the metal assigned to him, — 
 designated by the old chemists, by his character, 
 and called by his name, — he has been equally fortu- 
 nate. The " philosopher's mercury" is that import- 
 ant and mysterious substance which was the agent 
 in transmutation, the chief instrument in obtaining 
 
 ' This caducous is, it seems, merely a copy of the rod of Moses ; but 
 the serpent and winged circle, in other cases, is to be referred to a differ- 
 ent source. For further information on this subject, see Univ. Mytho- 
 logy, section on Serpent Worship ; or, for a fuller disquisition, Deane's 
 Treatise on Serpent Worship.
 
 74 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the universal medicine, and the first step to those 
 degrees of angehcal wisdom, which the adepts thought 
 ever within their reach. The key to physical and 
 metaphysical knowledge was the gift of Mercury. 
 Those born under his happy influences could alone 
 hope to obtain it ; and those towards whom his 
 aspects were unpropitious, did but strive in vain, 
 when they wasted their study and their substance 
 in this visionary pursuit. This is but in other words 
 repeating the opinions of the Egyptians concerning 
 Anubis. He was^ the sentinel of the gods, and 
 placed in the most glorious star to notice all that 
 passes in heaven and earth. A being so placed 
 must be infinite in wisdom ; for nothing can be 
 hid from his eye. He knows the natures of ani- 
 mals, plants, and stones ; the actions of men, and 
 the events of kingdoms : he gives notice to the 
 gods of all that passes, and to him must ultimately 
 be referred all knowledge. 
 
 The Sun was considered as one of the planets 
 rolling round the earth, and influencing mundane 
 affairs in the same way as the others. There will 
 be found the same correspondence between the person 
 and the mind of the native, and those of the god from 
 Avhom the astrological character is taken, namely, 
 the Greek Apollo, which has been noticed in the case 
 of the other planets. The most glorious of the 
 Heavenly bodies could only be referred to the most 
 illustrious of the gods ; and, with many of the pecu- 
 liar attributes of Apollo, we find blended in the 
 astrological description of this luminary many proofs 
 of coincidence with the elder and more important 
 
 ' See Univ. Myth. p. 42.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 76 
 
 divinities, Osiris, Horus, Vishnu, and in fact, the 
 whole series of supreme gods among all nations. 
 A volume might easily be filled with these coinci- 
 dences, but here a few will be sufficient. Two 
 images are given of the informing spirit of this 
 great luminary.^ One, that of a king crowned sitting 
 on a throne, havino- a raven in his bosom, and under 
 his feet a globe ; he is clothed in saffron-colored 
 robes ; the other, that of a icoman, crowned and 
 laughing, standing on a chariot drawn by four horses, 
 w-ith a buckler in one hand, a staif in the other, and 
 a flame of fire on her head. The first seems to 
 denote supremacy over time and space. By the 
 possession and position of the globe and the raven, 
 it suits rather with those systems in which the Sun 
 may be shown to coincide with the chief god, than 
 with the Greek. The latter is only remarkable from 
 its presenting a female instead of a male figure, af- 
 fording an instance of similarity with the Scandi- 
 navian Mythology. The laurel is given to the Sun, 
 on account of its having been considered sacred to 
 Apollo. The love of the Sun-god for the Greek 
 Daphne was presented under a new form, and the 
 luminary was supposed to radiate his influences on 
 the beloved plant. The appropriation of the hya- 
 cinth had a similar cause ; and were it not for the 
 fable of Coronis, we should be surprised to find the 
 crow among the birds under solar rule. The boar 
 refers to the death of Adonis, who, in the Phoe- 
 nician Mythology, was the consort of Ashtaroth, 
 and the dweller in the Sun ; and the horse to the 
 glowing studs, which were said to draw the chariot 
 
 ' Com. Agrippa, Occ. Phil. lib. ii. cap. 41. 
 
 e2
 
 76 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 of Apollo. The character of Phoebus, as the in- 
 spirer of poetry and the patron of the Muses, shines 
 out in the assigning of all singing birds to him, 
 particularly the lark ; nor is it less marked by the 
 insertion of the swan, a bird fabled to be musical only 
 in the agonies of death ; but then proverbial for its 
 powers of song. The heliotrope and the sun-flower 
 are rendered solar by classical reputation. The St. 
 John's wort, vervain, and some others, because long 
 considered hateful to the powers of darkness. The 
 color ascribed to the Sun is yellow. The gems, 
 topaz and aetites ; the metal, gold. That the color 
 most prevalent in a landscape, illuminated with the 
 sunbeams, should be attributed to the Sun himself 
 is natural. The topaz owes its distinction to its 
 color, and the setites to its imaginary power of 
 attracting gold as the loadstone does iron ; but pur- 
 ple, as well as yellow, was a solar color, principally, 
 it would seem, because of the distinction of imperial 
 power ; and it will be remembered, that Sol was 
 the planet indicating kings, emperors, and persons 
 of dignity. But there is a beautiful purple pigment 
 obtained fi-om gold, which makes the appropriation 
 of the color remarkable. Of gold, astrologically 
 represented by the character O, and called by the 
 name of Sol, we shall speak by and by. It will 
 be sufficient here to note, that yellow is termed by 
 heralds topaz, or Sol, according as it appears on 
 the shields of commoners, peers, and princes. Potable 
 gold, an imaginary universal medicine, derived its 
 powers of healing from the rays of this planet ; ^ 
 
 ' Within tlie last four years, Sibly's reanimating solar tincture has been 
 advertised as a sort of universal medicine, and it has been said that one
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 77 
 
 and the bezoar stone, which was deemed singularlv 
 efficacious in medicine, was under his government. 
 
 We shall now note a few of the peculiarities 
 ascribed to the Moon ; neither the character of the 
 native, nor, if a woman, the personal appearance 
 will be found to bear much resemblance to those 
 of the virgin huntress Artemis : nor to the perso- 
 nification of Nature adored at Ephesus. These 
 characteristics of the native are derived from a 
 consideration of the constant changes of appearance 
 to be remarked in her. In other respects, the my- 
 thological coincidences are abundant. The Moon, 
 like the Sun, had two^ images assigned to her 
 presiding spirit ; and there is the same pecu- 
 liarity in one of them that Avas noticed with re- 
 gard to that luminary. One is a male, the other 
 a female figure ; the former in accordance with the 
 Scandinavian, the latter with the southern, mytho- 
 logy. The latter is the figure of a woman riding 
 on a bull, having horns on her head and serpents 
 twined about her : the horns are evidently borrowed 
 from the phases of the IMoon and coincide with 
 those of Isis. The placing the cat and the mouse 
 under Lunar influence still more strongly identifies 
 her with the same goddess under her names of 
 Bubastis and Buto ; and by embodying the prin- 
 ciple of fecundity, for which those animals are re- 
 markable, they point to her sameness with Cybele, 
 
 drop alone cost that noted " Philomath" seven years of labour, in the be- 
 ginning of his career. Afterwards he found a'readier way of making it, 
 so as to make it a saleable article. It would be ridiculous to sny" Credat 
 Judtetis,"" for the Jews in our days are by no means apt to believe ; they 
 have, too, more rapid means of extracting the tincture of gold. 
 ' Com. Agrippa, Occ. Phil. lib. ii. cap. 44.
 
 78 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the Artemis of Epliesus, and the Syrian Mater 
 Deorum. The Moon presides especially over women 
 during the season of pregnancy, and this is another 
 coincidence established between her and the above- 
 named goddess, and even with the Roman Diana. ^ 
 White is the lunar color, water her element, pearl 
 her gem, and silver her metal. Hence we find white 
 designated argent, when found on the shield of a 
 commoner ; pearl and lunas according as the bearer 
 be a noble or a prince. The ancient chemists used 
 her character as a mark, and her name for an ap- 
 pellation of silver. Even in the present day we 
 speak of lunar caustic, meaning a caustic preparation 
 of silver. The astrological Luna seems to have 
 little or no connection with sorcery, save by oc- 
 casionally suffering from incantations. That part, 
 which, from the strongly marked character of Hecate, 
 might be expected from the Moon in an astrological 
 scheme, has been transferred to Saturn ; and the 
 Moon, were it not for her rule over the ocean, 
 an attribute which she owes to her effects on the 
 tide, would be a comparatively insignificant planet. 
 As the representative of one of the elements, she 
 becomes invested with greater importance. She is 
 made good or bad in a nativity as aspected by 
 other planets, and is the type of every thing weak, 
 wavering, yielding, watery, and phlegmatic. It must 
 not be omitted that the palm is under her govern- 
 ment, because it was supposed to send forth a fresh 
 twig every time the Moon rose ; and a creature 
 called the relarus, whose eyes were said to increase and 
 decrease according to the course of the planet. The 
 • See Horace, Carmen Saeculare.
 
 ASTROLOGY AS A SCIENCE. 79 
 
 waxing and waning of the Moon are still observed 
 by the superstitious with great care, — that which 
 is wished to swell and grow is done while the Moon 
 is increasing ; that which is intended to dry and 
 wither, during her decrease. Thus turf cut for a 
 bank is cut during her first quarters , if meant 
 for fuel, it is cut during the last two.
 
 80 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NATIVITIES. 
 
 The cases in which astrological predictions were 
 chiefly sought, were in Nativities ; ^ that is, — in 
 ascertaining the fate and fortunes of any individual 
 from the positions of the stars at the time of his 
 birth ; and in questions called horary, — which com- 
 prehended almost every other matter which might 
 be the subject of astrological inquiry. The event 
 of sickness, the success of any undertaking, the 
 reception of any suit, were all objects of horary 
 questions. A person was said to be born under 
 that planet, which ruled the hour of his birth. Thus 
 two hours every day are under the control of Saturn. 
 The first hour after sunrise on Saturday is one of 
 them. A person therefore born on Saturday in the 
 first hour after sunrise, has Saturn for the lord 
 of his ascendant ; those born in the next hour, 
 Jupiter ; and so on in order. Venus rules the first 
 hour on Friday ; Mercury on Wednesday ; Jupiter 
 on Thursday ; the Sun and Moon on Sunday and 
 Monday ; and Mars on Tuesday. The next thing 
 is to make a figure like the subjoined, divided into 
 twelve portions, which are called houses. 
 
 ' When Aline of Austria, the wife of Louis XIII., was delivered of the 
 Dauphin, afterwards Louis XIV., a famous German astrologer was in at- 
 tendance to draw his nativity, but refused to say more than these three 
 words, which give a true character of Louis XIV. 's reign: Diii, Dure, 
 Felicitor, — Limieu's Ilisloiru du lliyiui do Louis XIV.
 
 NATIVITIES. 
 
 81 
 
 It will be seen, that the twelve houses are equal 
 to the twelve signs ; aud the planets, being always 
 in the zodiac, will therefore all fall within these 
 twelve divisions or houses. The line, which sepa- 
 rates any house from the preceding is called the 
 cusp of that house. The first house is called the 
 ascendant, and the east angle ; the fourth the imum 
 coeli, or the north angle; the seventh, the west 
 angle; and the tenth, the medium coeli, or the 
 south angle. Having drawn this figure, tables and 
 directions are given for the placing of the signs; 
 and as one house is equal to one sign when one 
 is given, the rest are given also. When the signs 
 and planets are all placed in the bouses, the next 
 thing is to augur, from their relative position, what 
 influence they will have on the life and fortunes 
 
 b5
 
 82 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 of the native. This will be best done by giving 
 a horoscope, and exhibiting the way in which the 
 deductions are made. 
 
 Before doing this, it will be necessary to make 
 some observations on these houses. The first, as 
 we have seen, is the house of life ; and hence im- 
 plies, all that affects, promotes, or endangers life. 
 Saturn or Mars in this house denotes a short or 
 unfortunate life ; while Jupiter and Venus have, 
 when free from evil aspects, an exactly contrary 
 effect. The sign ascending will considerably modify 
 the person and character of the native ; so that to 
 form an astrological judgment of this, it will be 
 necessary to combine the indications of the sign 
 and the planet. In what are called horary ques- 
 tions, this house relates to all questions of life, 
 health, and appearance, such as stature, complexion, 
 shape, accidents, and sickness. It shows the events 
 of journeys and voyages, with respect to the life, 
 and health of those engaged in them. ^V^hen the 
 question is of a political nature, it signifies the 
 people in general, and being of the same nature a 
 Aries, all that is said of that sign may be transferred 
 to this house. The second house, which is of the 
 same nature as the sign Taurus, is called the house 
 of riches. It signifies the advancement in the world 
 with respect to opulence of the querent ; and here 
 the operations of the planets are, as in other cases, 
 according to their own nature ; Jupiter, Venus, 
 Mercury, and the Sun being fortunate, if well as- 
 pected, only denoting different causes of wealth ; 
 Saturn, Mars, the Moon, and Uranus, unfortunate. 
 In horary questions, it signifies the money of the
 
 NATIVITIES. 83 
 
 querent, or the success in a pecuniary point of 
 view, of any expedition or undertaking. It con- 
 cerns loans, lawsuits, and everything by which riches 
 may be gained or lost. In political questions it 
 signifies the treasury, public loans, taxes, and sub- 
 sidies, — the younger branches of the blood-royal, 
 and the death of national enemies. The third house 
 is the house of kindred, particularly of brothers, 
 and was probably so designated on account of the 
 third sign Gemini, of which nature it is said to be. 
 It denotes kindred; and the planets in this house 
 are full of signification. Saturn signifies coldness 
 and distrust ; Mars, sudden, violent, and hasty 
 quarrels; Herschel all unaccountable estrangements; 
 Jupiter denotes steady friendships ; Venus great love 
 between brothers and sisters, and good fortune by 
 means of the latter ; the Sun, warm attachment ; 
 the Moon, indifl:erence. In horary questions, this 
 house signifies the health, fortune, and happiness of 
 the querent's parents ; his own patrimony and in- 
 heritance, and the ultimate consequences, either good 
 or bad, of any undertaking in which he may be 
 engaged. In political cases it denotes the landed 
 interest of a nation ; the ancient and chartered 
 rights of all classes, which have been handed down 
 to them from their ancestors; and all public advo- 
 cates and defenders of these interests and rights. 
 
 The fifth house which has the same government 
 and partakes of the same character as Leo, is called 
 the house of children. In nativities, therefore, it 
 denotes the children of the native, and their success 
 and also his own success by means of them. It 
 also has some reference to women. The health and
 
 84 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 « 
 
 welfare of children, whether present or absent, are 
 determinable by the planets in this house. It also 
 denotes all questions relative to amusement, simply, 
 as it would seem, on account of the fondness of 
 youth for such pursuits. In political questions con- 
 sequently, we find this house taken to signify the 
 rising generation, theatres, exhibitions, public fes- 
 tivals, and all national amusements ; all increase in 
 the population ; music and musical taste, sculpture, 
 painting, and the advancement of the fine arts in 
 general. The sixth house is that of servants ; but 
 it also denotes sickness and private enemies. It 
 is usually considered an evil house, and but few 
 configurations of the planets which can take place 
 in it are fortunate. It is of the nature, and shares 
 the government, of Virgo. When the lord of the 
 ascendant is placed in this house, it denotes a low 
 station, and if in addition to this he be ill dignified, 
 the native will not rise above menial employments. 
 In horary astrology it points out servants and cattle, 
 dependants, and small shop-keepers ; uncles and 
 aunts by the father's side ; tenants, stewards, shep- 
 herds, and farmers. If, however, the question be 
 political, then this house indicates the under-ser- 
 vants of the government ; the common seamen in 
 the navy ; private soldiers in the army ; and the 
 general health of the nation. This last refers chiefly 
 to contagious and epidemic disorders. 
 
 The seventh house, which is of the same nature as 
 Libra, and has the same government, is the house 
 of Marriage. If Saturn be found here, he denotes 
 iinhappiness from constitutional causes ; Mars from 
 difference of temper : Herschel, as usual, from some
 
 NATIVITIES. 85 
 
 strange and unaccountable dislike. The other pla- 
 nets are mostly causers of good, unless an exception 
 be made in the case of the Moon. In horary ques- 
 tions, this house denotes love, speculations in business, 
 partners in trade, lawsuits, and litigation; it is the 
 house of thieves, and sets forth their conduct and 
 character. In queries of a political nature, it sig- 
 nifies the event of any war, and the consequences 
 of a treaty ; it personates the victorious nation, 
 army, or navy ; and indicates outlaws, and fugitives, 
 with the places in which they have taken their 
 retreat. 
 
 The eighth house is the house of death. It 
 denotes wills, legacies, and all property depending 
 upon the death of others ; the power, means, and 
 influence of adversaries ; the opposing parties in 
 lawsuits. It is of the nature of Scorpio, and has 
 the same government. If Mars be unfortunately 
 placed in this house, it portends a violent death to 
 the native. Saturn is often productive of suicide 
 and Herschel of the mysterious disappearance of the 
 unhappy individual, whose horoscope is so marked. 
 Jupiter, on the contrary, and Venus, point out a late 
 and quiet departure. In horary questions its sig- 
 nification has been already noticed ; but it also 
 denotes the portion or dowry of women, and seconds 
 in duels. In political questions it has a significa- 
 tion of a very different character, viz., the privy 
 council of a king or queen, their friends, and 
 secrets of state. It does, however, bear some mark 
 of its appropriation to death, by being made to 
 denote the rate of mortality among the people. 
 
 The ninth house is that of religion, science, and
 
 86 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 learning. It has the same government and nature 
 •as Sagittarius. Jupiter is the most fortunate planet 
 in it ; and if joined with Mercury, then the native 
 is promised a character at once learned, estimable, 
 and truly religious. The Sun and Venus are like- 
 wise good significators here ; but the Moon denotes 
 a changeable mind, and frequent alterations in re- 
 ligious principles. Mars is the worst planet in this 
 house, and portends an indifference, or even an active 
 hostility to religion. In horary questions the ninth 
 house is appropriated to the Church and the Clergy ; 
 all ecclesiastical matters, dissent, heresy, schism, 
 dreams, visions, and religious delusions. It also 
 denotes voyages and travels to distant lands ; and 
 in questions of a political nature, the religion of 
 the nation, and all the higher and more solemn 
 courts of justice, such as Chancery, &c. 
 
 The tenth house is one of the most important of 
 all. It is the house of honor, rank, and dignity ; 
 of the nature and rule of Capricorn. In this house 
 the planets are more powerful than in any other, save 
 only the house of life. They point out the employ- 
 ment, success, preferment, and authority of the 
 native. Saturn is here the worst planet ; but the 
 Moon and Hcrschel are also mischievous ; the latter 
 by preventing the native from attaining that rank 
 to which his services, learning, or merit entitle hira ; 
 and doing this by a series of inexplicable disappoint- 
 ments. Jupiter and the Sun signify advancement 
 by the favour of distinguished men, — and Venus, 
 of distinguished women. In horary questions, the 
 tenth house signifies the mother of the querist ; 
 and politically the sovereign. This is a house in
 
 NATIVITIES. 87 
 
 which Mars is not unfortunate, if well-placed ; de- 
 noting warlike achievements, and consequent honors. 
 
 The eleventh house is the house of friends : it is 
 of the nature of Aquarius, and has the same rule. 
 It denotes, of course, friends, well-wishers, favorites, 
 and flatterers ; but it is said to be a house in which 
 evil planets are increased in strength, and good 
 planets diminished. The Sun is the best planet in 
 it, and Mars the worst. In horary questions it has 
 the same signification as in a nativity, and also 
 denotes the expectations and wishes of the querist. 
 It is said to be much influenced by the sign which 
 is in it, and to signify legacies, if the sign be one of 
 the earthy triplicity, and honor with princes, if it 
 be one of the fiery triplicity. In political questions, 
 the eleventh house signifies the allies of the public, 
 with whom no particular treaty is at the same time 
 binding ; and also the general council of the nation, 
 and newly acquired rights. 
 
 Lastly, the twelfth house, which, of course, par- 
 takes the rule and character of Pisces, is the house 
 of enemies ; and denotes sorrow, sickness, care, 
 anxiety, and all kinds of suffering. Yet evil planets 
 are weaker, according to some writers, and good 
 planets stronger than in certain other houses. Very 
 few configurations in this house are esteemed good 
 for the native ; but its evil effects are, of course, 
 greatly modified by the planetary influences. In 
 horary questions it signifies imprisonment, treason, 
 sedition, assassination, and suicide ; and in questions 
 which are of a political character, it points out de- 
 ceitful treaties, unsuccessful negotiations, treachery 
 in the offices of state, captivity to princes, and
 
 88 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 general ill fortune. The criminal code, and the 
 punishment of culprits, dungeons, and circumstances 
 connected with prison discipline are also denoted by 
 this house. Saturn is the worst, and Venus the 
 best, planet to be present in it. 
 
 Having taken notice of the signs, the planets, and 
 the houses, it is next necessary for the Astrologer to 
 note also the aspects of the planets one towards 
 another, — which aspects decide whether the planet 
 is of good or evil signification. These aspects are 
 as follows, — omitting the less important : 
 
 1. The Trine, marked A , when two planets are four signs, or 120° apart. 
 
 2. The Sextile, marked ^ , when two planets are two signs, or 60° apart. 
 
 3. The Quintile, . ., when two planets are. .72° apart. 
 
 These are all fortunate aspects, and are here placed 
 according to their importance. 
 
 4. The conjunction, c^, when two stars or planets are in the same de- 
 
 gree of the same sign. 
 
 This is a fortunate aspect with fortunate, and evil 
 with evil planets. 
 
 5. The opposition, § , when two planets are six signs or 180° apart. 
 
 6. The Quartile, D , when two planets are three signs or 90° apart. 
 
 7. The Semi-quartile, when the two planets are 45° apart. 
 
 These three last aspects are evil, and evil in the 
 order in which they are here placed. The explana- 
 tion of the aspects takes up a large portion of books 
 written on judicial astrology ; out of about four 
 hundred aspects we will take two or three to exem- 
 plify what is meant. The aspects of Saturn to 
 Mercury will do as the example : the conjunction 
 shows craft and subtlety in the native ; an inch-
 
 NATIVITIES. 89 
 
 nation to dive into hidden things, and a love for 
 mysteries : it denotes covetousness and pride with 
 great appearance of gravity. If Saturn be the 
 significator, the native is eloquent, but if Mercury, 
 he has an impediment in his speech (^ c$ $). The 
 trine, sextile, or quintile, marked thus, T^ a $ — 
 h ^ 5 — ^ Stile 5? are all more or less powerful, 
 in making the native conceited, full of whims and 
 contrivances, yet rarely successful in carrying them 
 into effect ; studious, subtle, and reserved. This is 
 when Saturn is significator ; but when Mercury is 
 in that position, the native is peevish and discon- 
 tented, ingenious, but wilful and obstinate. The 
 opposition, quartile, or semi-quartile of Saturn and 
 Mercury, thus b i ?, ^ a $, or ^ ^a $, are all 
 exceedingly evil configurations. The native will 
 be cunning, but in a low way ; and whichever planet 
 be the significator, the effect will be the same ; 
 he will be poor and perpetually unfortunate, per- 
 verse, self-willed, evil, malicious, envious, and trea- 
 cherous, exceedingly deceitful, peevish, and violent, 
 and very probably a murderer. The nodes of the 
 moon must not be forgotten, the ascending node 
 being called the dragon*'s head, and marked ft ; the 
 decending node denominated the dragon*'s tail, and 
 being designated by the same character reversed '6 . 
 The former of these is considered highly fortunate, 
 and the latter very much the contrary. We shall 
 in the next chapter have occasion to speak of these 
 as derived from the astronomical part of the Hindoo 
 mythology. It will be sufficient here to note, that 
 their place in the Zodiac is carefully marked by 
 astrologers and considered as the place of a planet ;
 
 90 
 
 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the dragon's head being of the same nature, and 
 having nearly the same power as Venus ; and the 
 dragon's tail being very like a conjunction of Mars 
 and Saturn, only not nearly so dangerous as that 
 aspect. We now take a Nativity, to point out the 
 way in which the foregoing rules have been applied ; 
 just noticing that Nativities of great men are for the 
 most part made long after their death, and when the 
 minute of their birth, if ever known, is irretrievably 
 
 forgotten. 
 
 Scheme of a Nativity. 
 
 The following is said to be the scheme of the 
 Nativity of a celebrated but unfortunate youth, 
 possessed of great talents, but of few qualities, 
 either amiable or estimable. 
 
 1)27. 37 
 
 xt^ 
 
 -is.ae 
 
 THOMAS CHATTERTON, 
 
 JBorTV 
 
 6h.F.2[. 
 17S2 
 
 \'^Jo.O
 
 NATIVITIES. 91 
 
 The native was born under the planet Mercury, 
 and the sign Gemini, — an exceedingly intellectual 
 configuration, and promising in cases, where the 
 planet is well situated, an honorable and distin- 
 guished literary career ; but in this case, Mercury 
 is in the sixth house, and within eight degrees of 
 the Sun, — which is called being combust of that 
 luminary, — thus showing that the native should not 
 emerge from his low condition. The houses of life, 
 kindred, parents, marriage, death, religion, honor, 
 and friends, are all void of any planetary influence ; 
 and it is to be noticed, that he received no interest of 
 any consequence either from parents, relations, or 
 friends ; he attained to no honour or dignity ; he 
 professed and possessed no religion ; and he never 
 married. In the house of enemies we find the Moon, 
 and the dragon's tail, — a configuration which points 
 to female influence of the lowest and most disrepu- 
 table kind ; and not the less dangerous on that ac- 
 count ; while, in the house of children, is the fiery 
 and barren planet, Mars; denoting that he should 
 leave behind him no representative of his name. 
 The union of Saturn and Venus sio-nifies a dissolute 
 and depraved character, Avhile the situation of Mer- 
 cury adds deceit and deliberate imposture. All these 
 evil aspects are heightened by the Sun and the 
 dragon's head in the same house ; the IMoon, it will 
 be noticed, is receding from a sextile with Jupiter, 
 and advancing to an opposition with the Sun, thereby 
 adding to the malevolent effect of the other aspects. 
 The only benevolent planet here is Jupiter ; but, 
 though in the house of riches, there are so many 
 overwhelming signs of poverty, disgrace, and early
 
 92 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 death, that his influence is almost nullified. It is 
 said, that this configuration of planets, in connexion 
 with Saturn, portended suicide hy poison. This 
 nativity has been taken, because, in the time when 
 Astrology was credited, it was looked upon as a 
 very triumphant evidence of the truth of astral pre- 
 dictions ; but, it appears, first, that the hour of 
 Chatterton's birth has never been satisfactorily ascer- 
 tained, and next, a few remarks upon the scheme 
 itself will lead any one acquainted with the pre- 
 tended science, rather to see its inapplicability to 
 the unhappy youth, than the truth of its fulfilment 
 in his case. Taking for granted, that all the hea- 
 venly aspects were, at his birth, as they are repre- 
 sented above, we may see from all the most accredited 
 astrological writers, that they indicate a character in 
 every way below that of Chatterton. The very near 
 approach of Mercury to a conjunction with Saturn, 
 would cause a cunning, and perhaps an acute turn of 
 mind, but would effectually prevent that poetical and 
 imaginative temperament which characterized this 
 unfortunate young man. But Venus and Saturn 
 are actually in conjunction, and in the sixth house. 
 This points out a character sunk in the lowest depths 
 of infamy, habits which leave ordinary licentiousness 
 far behind. Now, it appears, from all that can be 
 gathered of Chatterton's life, that he was by no 
 means addicted to debauchery ; he was dissipated, 
 so much so indeed, that he is said to have observed, 
 that public amusements, such as theatrical represen- 
 tations, were as necessary to him as food. He had 
 no very high ideas of moral rectitude ; but he seems 
 to have been always decent and correct in his per-
 
 NATIVITIES. 9 
 
 o 
 
 sonal habits. Hence this scheme proves one of three 
 things ; either that the rules of Astrology are falla- 
 cious, that the scheme is not that of Chatterton, or 
 that the astral positions in it are erroneously re- 
 ported. 
 
 There are some singular tales concerning Nativi- 
 ties. The reader will not be surprised to find, that 
 those of almost all the remarkable men of antiquity 
 have been calculated ; for there are many occult ways 
 of discovering the precise moment of their birth ; and 
 one way, recommended by many astrologers, is to 
 frame the scheme according to the life, and place the 
 planets accordingly. The astrologer is sure to be 
 right if he does this; because, if any illiberal as- 
 tronomer should prove that the planets were not in 
 those signs, the astrologer has it in his power to 
 prove that their absence was not caused by any fault 
 of his ; and that, in fact, they ought to have been 
 there, as his scheme will satisfactorily show. Some- 
 times, however, a Nativity is handed down from the 
 middle ages; which, he is obliged, from the same 
 causes, to deny. That, for instance, of Henry 
 Cornelius Agrippa,^ which offers a character and 
 fate totally different from that of the astronomer. 
 William Lilly gave two Nativities of himself, men- 
 tioning one time of his birth in his " Ephemeris," 
 and another in his "Christian Astrology;" and 
 calculating the astral positions accordingly. We 
 shall speak of this more at large when we come 
 to treat of Lilly as a conspicuous character in the 
 history of Astrology. 
 
 The most remarkable book coimected with the 
 ' Sibly's Astrology, p. 873.
 
 94 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 subject of Nativities that is extant, is an octavo 
 volume, published in 1688 by a Doctor John 
 Butler, chaplain to the Duke of Ormond, and 
 Rector of Litchborough. The book is exceedingly 
 rare, but large extracts from it will be found in 
 Sibly's Astrology.^ It is an attempt to calculate 
 a Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, taking for 
 granted that He was born at midnight on the 25th of 
 December, and in the year denoted by the ordinary 
 reckoning. " Now as Christ," says this author, " had 
 a real body, made of a woman, so it was no small 
 argument of the reality of that body, in that it 
 submitted to the impressions of the stars, as those 
 of other men. For although the immeasurable power 
 of the Spirit upon Him was able to do, and did sway 
 all impressions and inclinations of nature, so as to 
 subject them absolutely in all things to be obedient 
 unto the commands of His holy Avill, yet not only 
 were the qualities of His body, but also the com- 
 plexion of His mind and affections, much of them 
 pressed and wrought by the power of the heavens ; 
 only excepted, that whereas He was born without 
 sin, neither evil planets, nor the evil aspects of any 
 planet, could have that advantage to work upon 
 His manners and disposition, so as to incline them 
 with such command, as they do by others ; but as 
 for the accidents of His life, in respect to what 
 befell Him, as for the matter of love and hatred, 
 sickness and health, life and death, the stars had 
 as free and full liberty and power over Him, and 
 His body, as upon any the least of us. For though 
 He was able, by special authority of His own, to 
 
 ' Sibly's Astrology, p. 092.
 
 NATIVITIES. 95 
 
 force the utmost power of stars or heaven, — yet 
 herein lay His humility, and His charity in that 
 humility, in that he voluntarily subftiitted His body 
 to be ordered according to the course of Nature, 
 whereas, would He himself, He might have made 
 it lord over all that Nature can do. And though He 
 raised the bodies of others from death unto life, in 
 despite of Nature, yet would He suffer His own 
 body quietly to be ordered, even as Nature would 
 herself" 
 
 He observes, after having given a short sketch of 
 our Lord's life, " Now if we may find a time, accord- 
 ing to the experienced rules of art, to suit fitly with 
 all these accidents, and such a time as shall aptly 
 describe Him to be the man, as in Holy Writ He 
 is set forth to be ; — then, say I, it is a certain argu- 
 ment that both the day, hour, and even the minute 
 of our Lord's birth, are demonstratively determined. 
 And so will all acknowledge, who know what Astro- 
 logy is." 
 
 It is far from our intention to give any extracts on 
 this subject from Dr. Butler's book. In the present 
 day, they would seem impious, though there is not 
 the slightest ground to lay such a charge on his 
 speculations, in the mind of their author himself. The 
 book is written throughout in a serious and reveren- 
 tial style ; and as far as a mere belief in the possi- 
 bility of ascertaining the events of the past, and 
 foretelling those of the future, by astrological calcula- 
 tions, is concerned, he was not at all behind some of 
 the gi-eatest luminaries of the age. It required a 
 strong mind indeed to shake off a delusion from 
 which a Bacon and a Kepler had not been free ;
 
 96 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 which a Napier professed and practised, and which 
 was supposed to be countenanced even in the pages 
 of inspiration. It may be observed, however, that 
 though a gTeat deal of miscellaneous learning is dis- 
 played in this book, it contains a refutation of Astro- 
 logy in the very case which it professes to elucidate. 
 If the astral influences are to be taken, then, by Dr. 
 Butler's own admission, our Lord was a very different 
 character from what He is represented by the Evan- 
 gelists. The person shadowed forth by his scheme, 
 was not only not sinless, but possessed of many evil 
 qualities ; which adverse fact Dr. Butler labors to 
 get rid of by some very special pleading. If they are 
 not to be taken, or if new rules are to be invented, 
 which amounts to the same thing, then, as far as 
 Astrology is concerned, the case proves nothing. 
 But no more need be said of Nativities.
 
 CONCLUSION OF ASTROLOGY. 
 
 97 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONCLUSION OF THE SKETCH OF ASTROLOGY. 
 
 Besides nativities, horary questions are subjects 
 of astrolocfical calculations. Thev are so called, 
 because the scheme of the heavens is erected for 
 the hour in which the question is put. Thus, let 
 a person be sick, and the question be of his reco- 
 very, the Houses will now signify as follows:^ 
 
 1. 
 
 The patient's person. 
 
 7. 
 
 His wife and his physician 
 
 2. 
 
 His estate. 
 
 8. 
 
 His death. 
 
 3. 
 
 His kindred. 
 
 9. 
 
 His religion. 
 
 4. 
 
 His father or his grave. 
 
 10. 
 
 His mother and his physic. 
 
 5. 
 
 His children. 
 
 11. 
 
 His friends. 
 
 6. 
 
 His sickness and servants. 
 
 12. 
 
 His enemies. 
 
 And according to the position of the planets the 
 above particulars are to be judged of. If the ques- 
 tion be of stolen goods, a distribution of the houses 
 is again made according to similar rules. And 
 here the color denoted by the signs is pertinent ; 
 for let Mercury, ill dignified, signify the- thief; 
 then the sign in which that planet is found will 
 denote the personal appearance and complexion of 
 the thief. If the question be one concerning mar- 
 riage — then it points out that of the future bride 
 or bridegroom. The causes which lead to the 
 names of the signs have been ably investigated," and 
 afford proof of the Oriental origin of Astronomy 
 
 ' Blagrave's Astrological Practice of Physic, p. 30. 
 ' Pluche, Hist, du Ciel, vol. i. p. 17.
 
 98 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 as well as Astrology ; the characters are merely 
 hieroglyphic representations as may be understood 
 at a glance. 
 
 T The head and horns of a ram (Aries). 
 
 Q The head and horns of a bull (Taurus). 
 
 n Two persons standing together (Gemini). 
 
 S The pace of the crab, neither backward nor forward (Cancer). 
 
 SI The head and mane of the lion (Leo). 
 
 iXK The ears of corn held by the reaper (Virgo). 
 
 di The beam of a balance (Libra). 
 
 111 The scorpion (Scorpio) 
 
 f The arrow in the hand of the archer (Sagittarius). 
 
 Vt The figure of the goat (Capricornus). 
 
 xii. The wavy surface of water (Aquarius). 
 
 7^ Fish tied together (Pisces). 
 
 Macrobius gives the origin of two of these signs 
 Cancer and Capricorn ; and as the Abbe Pluche 
 well observes, has by so doing explained all the 
 others. " The reasons," says Macrobius/ which 
 have fixed the names of the Crab and the Goat" on 
 those two signs, which we call the gates or starting- 
 places of the Sun''s progress, are these, — the crab 
 is an animal which walks backwards, and obliquely ; 
 and the Sun when it has arrived in this sign begins 
 to retrograde and to descend obliquely. As to the 
 goat its mode of feeding is always to climb ; and 
 while browsing to get to the greatest heights. In 
 like manner, the Sun, when it has reached the sign 
 Capricorn, leaves the lowest part of his course, 
 and commences his ascent towards the highest. If 
 this, then, be the case with two of the signs, we 
 
 ' Saturnal, lib. i. c. 1 7. 
 
 '^ The Ccylonese have four zodiacs, but they differ not much from ours ; 
 in one a female fiifure is substituted for the Twins, and a Water-rat for 
 the Scorpion. All, however, Iiave the Makaree, a certain sea-monster 
 instead of the Goat. The Hurmose replace the sign with the Antelope, 
 and have the Goat instead of the IJam. The Husband and Wife occupy 
 the place of the 'i'wins, and the I5ow that of the Centaur. — See Upham, 
 Hist, and Doct. of Budhisni, p. 7C.
 
 CONCLUSION OF ASTROLOGY. 99 
 
 may expect, that the other ten will also typify 
 that which takes place in the kingdom of Nature 
 at the seasons which they point out. The progress 
 of the Sun in the heavens and his effects on the 
 animal and vegetable creation as he walks the round 
 of the Zodiac are accordingly set forth in terms 
 scarcely enigmatical. The sheep produce young 
 at an earlier period of the year than any other 
 animal. Thus the winter, which is a season of 
 rest, is also that of gestation. The young animal 
 grows with the advancing warmth of the Sun, 
 and comes to its perfection before another cold 
 season. The Ram therefore is the first of the 
 signs ; and the lambing season occurring generally 
 about March, determines its position. After the 
 lambing season comes that for calving, and Taurus 
 occupies therefore the second portion of the Zo- 
 diac. The third sign Gemini was not originally 
 known by that name. The Twins here mentioned 
 are the Dioscuri, the sons of Jove, Castor and 
 Pollux, but of these the Egyptians^ disclaimed all 
 knowledge. They could not therefore have figured 
 in the Egyptian Zodiac as it stood in the begin- 
 ning. What was there then to supply their place ? 
 Two Goats. Now the time of the she-goat bring- 
 ing forth her young is after that of the cow, but 
 not long after; and two Kids are placed in the 
 third division of the Zodiac on this account. The 
 appearance of the Dioscuri is a Greek interpreta- 
 tion of Egyptian legend. In the astro-mythology 
 of that country, the progress of the Moon through 
 the twelve siw'ns is wroug-ht into a series of adven- 
 
 ' Herodotus, Euterpe, c. 53. 
 
 F 2
 
 100 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 tures which befall Tsis. Let us look at the sixth 
 in the parallel drawn by Dupuis/ 
 
 Sixth division of the Hea- 
 vens. 
 
 The following full Moon falls 
 in the sign Gemini, in which 
 are depicted two children, who 
 preside over the oracles of Di- 
 dyme, and of whom one is Apollo, 
 the god of Divination. 
 
 Sixth portion of the Legend. 
 
 Isis, warned of the death of 
 Osiris, wanders about to seek the 
 coffer which holds his remains. She 
 soon meets some children who had 
 seen the coffer ; she interrogates 
 them ; she obtains from them the 
 information she desires, and gives 
 them in turn the power of divina- 
 tion. 
 
 It does not appear at what period this adventure 
 was celebrated by a change in the sign, but the 
 Kids were represented in the Persian Zodiac ; and 
 it seems originally in that of the Egyptians. The 
 Crab has been already noticed ; and the summer 
 being now at its height, the heat of the Sun, par- 
 ticularly in hot countries, is well denoted by the 
 fierce and ardent Lion. Then comes the season of 
 harvest, typified by a gleaner holding in her hand 
 ears of corn fully ripe. The subsequent sign, mark- 
 ing as it does a period of the year when the days 
 and nights are equal, could not be better pourtrayed 
 than by the Balance. This, however, is a compara- 
 tively modern improvement in the West ; for the 
 Scorpion of old took up two divisions of the Zodiac ; 
 and this earlier one was occupied by his claws, the 
 equality of wliich afforded an emblem, though far 
 inferior to the Balance, of the equilibrium in which 
 the days and nights were held. It was not, M. 
 Pluche thinks," until the reign of one of the earlier 
 lloman emperors that the llomans adopted the 
 
 ' Aliri'ge de POrigine de tons les Cultes, p. 121. 
 •^ Hist, du Ciel, vol. i. p. 21.
 
 CONCLUSION OF ASTROLOGY. 101 
 
 ancient Oriental division, reduced the Scorpion, and 
 introduced the Balance. 
 
 The sickly season which too often succeeds the 
 autumnal equinox, and which in warm climates may 
 be looked for almost as certainly as the equinox 
 itself, was not ill-denoted by the venomous Scorpion ; 
 and the period proper for hunting which follows, 
 was signified by the Centaur, the half-man and half- 
 horse hunter, a picture almost realized by the active 
 and energetic sportsman, whose almost only seat is 
 the saddle. After Capricorn, the signification of 
 which has been already given, comes Aquarius, the 
 Water-pot, typical of the winter rains ; and the Fish, 
 tied together or taken in a net, which indicate the 
 favourable period for fishing which follows. 
 
 These signs show, by their very nature, that they 
 were not of Indian, nor of Egyptian origin ; they 
 indicate an order of things quite natural within the 
 temperate zone, but widely differing from that ob- 
 served within the tropics. The sign Virgo could 
 not, according to a tropical climate, point out 
 the season of harvest ; in Egypt, for instance, the 
 grain is all " gathered into barns" by the commence- 
 ment of April. Virgo corresponds with the months 
 August and September; and did so among the Egyp- 
 tians, for we find the Sphynx, compounded of the 
 Virgin and the Lion, marking the period when the 
 Sun passed from the one to the other of those 
 signs ; ^ and showing the time of the Nile's over- 
 flowing. Again, the Water-pot, or the figure hold- 
 ing it and pouring water from it, would be by no 
 means an apt emblem of winter in Egypt, a country 
 ' Univ. Myth. p. 25.
 
 102 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 ill which no rain fell, and where the compensatory 
 inundation took place in autumn. Among the most 
 ancient monuments of Egypt are found traces of 
 this di^asion in the Zodiac ; the Sphynx itself form- 
 ing an example : and hence we are led to conclude 
 that the use of these divisions was brought into 
 that country by those who first colonized it ; and 
 that, in fact, we are to look for its origin, if not 
 in the antediluvian world, at least in the plains of 
 Shinar.^ The same train of ideas which left none 
 of the planets without its informing spirit, supplied 
 presiding intelligences to the constellations of fixed 
 stars. The cabalistic demonology of the Jews would 
 in after times furnish names ; and the fetish worship 
 of Egypt had already bestowed characters. The 
 half-human, half-brute shapes of the Egyptian my- 
 thology were soon accommodated to the government 
 of the signs and assimilated to that of the planets. 
 The framework of this pretended science has been 
 constantly receiving additions ; but it seems, that 
 when for astronomical purposes the Zodiac had been 
 divided, and the divisions had received their ap- 
 pellations, the nature of the animals, persons, or 
 things represented, was the hint upon which astro- 
 logers spake as to their influences. Thus the man 
 at whose birth the Ram ascended, was to be rich 
 
 ' Pluchc, Hist, dii Ciel, vol. i. p. 25. Both Champollion and Letronne 
 suppose the curious Zodiacs of Egypt, sucli as those at Dendera, to be 
 mereh' horoscopes, calculated either for the nativity of the Emperor or 
 the foundation of the luiildinp. " Nous pouvons," says the latter, " re- 
 gardcr comme un point do fait que tons les Zodiaciucs d'Epypte ont ete 
 executes k I'cpoquc Romaine. Ces monumens sont tous entierenicnt ou 
 principalenicnt astrologiques, dresses d'apres le systenie de representation 
 dont les Egyptiens avait Thabitude, et par les precedes d'un art qui n'avait 
 pas sensiblement varie."
 
 CONCLUSION OF ASTROLOGY. 
 
 103 
 
 in flocks. If the Bull was the potent constellation 
 then his herds would be his staple possessions. The 
 individual born under Libra would be just ; under 
 Scorpio, malicious ; under Leo, furious. But after- 
 wards, when the planets had their influence attributed 
 also to the signs, each planet having one or two 
 signs, namely. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and 
 Saturn, two each ; and the Sun and ]\loou each 
 one; the effects of the signs became of course much re- 
 duced by this new arrangement. They became merely 
 the instruments of somewhat modifying the powers 
 of the planets. A glance at the following scale 
 will show how the planets and signs were mingled 
 with what were called Houses. 
 
 HOUSES. 
 
 PLJ 
 
 . Mars. 
 
 LNETS. 
 
 SIGNS. 
 
 Aries . . 
 
 COLORS. 
 
 First . . 
 
 Saturn. 
 
 . White. 
 
 Second 
 
 . Venus. 
 
 Jupiter. 
 
 Taurus . . 
 
 . Orange, green. 
 
 Third . . 
 
 . Mercury. 
 
 Mars. 
 
 Gemini 
 
 . Red, white. 
 
 Fourth 
 
 . Moon. 
 
 Sun. 
 
 Cancer 
 
 . Red, russet. 
 
 Fifth 
 
 . Sun. 
 
 Venus. 
 
 Leo . . 
 
 . Red, black, white. 
 
 Sixth . . 
 
 . Mercury. 
 
 jMercury. 
 
 Virgo . . 
 
 Black, blue. 
 
 Seventh . 
 
 . Venus. 
 
 Moon. 
 
 Libra . . 
 
 ^ Crimson, blue, 
 S black, brown. 
 
 Eighth . 
 
 . Mars. 
 
 Saturn. 
 
 Scorpio . . 
 
 ) Brov.-n, green, 
 • S black. 
 
 Ninth 
 
 . Jupiter. 
 
 Jupiter. 
 
 Sagittarius 
 
 . Green, white. 
 
 Tenth . 
 
 . Saturn. 
 
 Mars. 
 
 Capricornus 
 
 . Brown, red,whitc. 
 
 Eleventh . 
 
 . Saturn. 
 
 Sun. 
 
 Aquarius . 
 
 . Blue, yellow. 
 
 Twelfth . 
 
 . Jupiter. 
 
 Venus. 
 
 Pisces . . 
 
 . White, green. 
 
 This table will be understood by any one who 
 will read over the influences of the planets, signs, 
 and Houses ; and when it is recollected how im- 
 portant colors may be made in horary questions, 
 it would seem that a clever prognostieator might 
 always excuse an erroneous prediction, without at all 
 endangering the credit either of the science or his
 
 104 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 own learning. But besides the mode of erecting a 
 scheme of the heavens, and judging according to 
 Houses, there was another way of using Astrology as 
 a mode of divination, which is treated upon by Dr. 
 Case in a work called " The Angelical Guide,"^ now 
 rare and curious. This is by an odd mixture of 
 Geomancy and Astrology, which he assumes was 
 well known to all the ancients ; and after tables 
 and calculations innumerable, he observes,'^ " Now, 
 Christian reader, this is the method or rule from 
 which I draw all my judgment ; and have now here 
 demonstrated it unto you in very plain English, 
 because it hath been in darkness a long while ; for 
 I believe the reader thereof was never acquainted 
 with the Rosi-Crucians. They are a people which 
 have delivered many arts and sciences to the world. 
 These men may be compared to the wise men of the 
 East ; by their beholding the stars, they found out 
 where our Saviour lay. And it may be you never 
 knew the Hebrews, Chaldeans, Indians ; their writ- 
 ings and language are different from ours." After 
 this the reader is dismissed with some instances, in 
 which Dr. Case used the angelical loto with won- 
 derful success. There is a book, now become very 
 common among children and young people, called 
 " Napoleon's Book of Fate," containing a number 
 of questions, and a mode of finding answers to them 
 by geomantic figures. The method of Dr. Case in 
 the " Angelical Guide," is exactly the same, only 
 that the geomantic figures are not to answer ques- 
 
 ' The Angelical Guide, showing men and women their lot in the Ele- 
 mcntarj' Life, by John Case, M.D., with a Portrait (1G97). 
 ■•^ Angelical Guide, p. 254.
 
 CONCLUSION OF ASTROLOGY. 105 
 
 tions, but to determine the places of signs and planets 
 in an astrological scheme. The ingenuity of this 
 scheme consisting in casting lots where the planets 
 should be ; and then prognosticating as if they had 
 really been there. This is a step in Astrology, 
 which Kepler and Napier would hardly have been 
 persuaded to take, and yet the author of this egre- 
 gious trifling was possessed of a very fair share of 
 miscellaneous and ill-digested learning. 
 
 Another mode of ascertaining future events by 
 the stars is greatly recommended by the same writer. 
 It is by supposing the stars to form letters, and those 
 letters words. " Thus," he remarks,^ " seeing that 
 the heavens are books, and at the last day they are 
 to be rolled together like a book, or rolls, therefore 
 they must have letters ; and I am willing to give 
 you the method of the ways of the Old Hebrews, 
 who searched after the heavenly writers for news." 
 Then quoting various Rabbinical Cabalists, he ob- 
 serves, " that the stars vertical over a nation or 
 city, do signify whatever is like to befal it." As 
 instances at once to show the method of read- 
 ing the 'stars, and the truth of his theory, he ob- 
 serves that before the downfall of Greece, the stars, 
 that form the constellation Caput Medusa, being 
 vertical over that country, were in this position : 
 
 and on this is traced a resemblance to the word 
 Charab aiH " desolate or destroyed ;" that the 
 numbers signified by the letters of this word are 
 
 ' Angalical Guide, p. 84. 
 
 F 5
 
 106 TPIE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 in amount twelve, and that Javan ]V (Greece) 
 denotes the same number. This same constellation, 
 which of course had always the same signification, 
 was, when vertical over Italy, thus noticed by a 
 certain Italian Astrologer, Junctinus,^ " Illud vero 
 nunc Apulia? et Neapolitanorum regno est verticale, 
 moxque Italiam invadet, quibus suam quoque cla- 
 dem allaturum esse maximopere est verendum." 
 Another instance Is given in certain stars vertical 
 over Jerusalem, having formed the annexed figure 
 shortly before its destruction : 
 
 which, with many lines, points, and angles is made 
 out to be the word nn^i^^n, " rejected or forsaken." 
 These instances will be sufficient ; but they are 
 worthy of note, because they display the form which 
 the Cabalists gave most willingly to Astrology, and 
 which is most in accordance with the puerilities of 
 their mystic creed." The Dragon\s head and tail 
 have been mentioned ; and it will be necessary to say 
 somewhat about their origin. Their meaning is the 
 nodes of the Moon''s orbit, their sign has been already 
 given.'' Among the planets in the Hindoo system 
 
 ' Angelical Guide, p. 88. 
 
 '^ It has been an opinion expressed by many etymologists that the letter 
 A represents the triangular entrance to a tent ; the question has also been 
 put, does not the constellation of the celestial triangle ])laced over Aries 
 signify the entrance of the Sun, or to the Sun's palace, from whence he 
 comes to pass through the signs. 
 
 '■' "The ignorance of European scholars respecting the contents of the 
 astrological works of the Orientals, causes the author the more to regret 
 that such imperfect hints as the preceding arc all that can be put to- 
 gether. They are merely offered as proofs that these schemes are not a 
 jumble of fictions or the inventions of jugglers. Whatever there may be
 
 CONCLUSION OF ASTROLOGY. 107 
 
 are reckoned Ketu^ and Rahu, the head and tail 
 of the Dragon, — although there is no appearance of a 
 dragon in their representation, — Rahu being the 
 body of a dark-coloured man, generally riding on 
 a tortoise ; and Ketu his head, borne on a froo- 
 The story of Ketu Rahu is, that he, being an adviser 
 of mischief, swallowed some of the amreeta, a 
 beverage of immortality, by which he became like 
 the gods, deathless. He was, however, while drink- 
 ing it, cut in half by Vishnu, and he fell to the 
 ground; the two halves were severally adopted by 
 two Brahmins, who at last persuaded Vishnu to 
 readmit them to the firmament, where they now 
 are. Ketu is the father of water-spouts, Rahu of 
 crocodiles. This is the astronomical legend ; but 
 we shall have no difiiculty in giving the origin of the 
 astrological' influence attributed to the head and 
 
 of idle reveries in the fantasies of Astrology, we should reflect that to these 
 ideal objects we owe much of ancient Astronomy, and that Sabeism, or 
 planetary worship, is the most attractive of all idolatrous schemes. It is 
 fair to conclude that the mass of emblems and incantations contains a body 
 of astronomical calculations on dilTerent juxta-positions of planets. A further 
 acquaintance with the literature of the Singalese, guided by the valuable 
 clue of their astrological books, may fill up the void which at present un- 
 fortunately exists in the astrological system." — Upham's Hist, and Doct. 
 of Budhuism., near the end. 
 
 ' Univ. Myth. p. 86, 
 
 ^ In the more antique aspect of Astrology there is something sublime 
 and imposing. The more closely we examine it, the less poetical does it 
 become ; and certainly nothing tends to strip from it tliat mantle of mys- 
 tic majesty with which antiquity has invested it, than the attempts made 
 by Messrs. Smith, Brown, and Co., to improve it and make it a practi- 
 ciible and practised art. There is a sort of unintelligible grandeur about 
 it when beheld as a creed of remote ages, dimly seen through their long 
 vista, with such ideas. The Dragon's head and Dragon's tail agree, but in 
 a work lately* published, occurs the following passage : " These points are 
 by the author of this work deemed as useless superfluities, the relics of 
 the superstitious absurdities of the dark ages, invented probably to serve 
 
 * A Manual of Astrology, by Raphael, 1828.
 
 108 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 tail of the Dragon when we reflect on the great 
 importance of the Moon ; and that the one, which is 
 her ascending node, must make her influence favor- 
 able ; the other, which is her descending node, must 
 have a contrary effect. 
 
 the vacuum in the art created by the non-discovery of Herschel, and can 
 be dispensed with." Sir William Herschel discovered his planet for as- 
 tronomers, not for astrologers ; the latter did very well without it, and 
 ought to have paid no attention to him, even had he discovered fifty 
 planets.
 
 MEDICAL ASTROLOGY, 109 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MEDICAL ASTROLOGY. 
 
 There is no science in which Astrology has had 
 so great or so mischievous effects, as in medicine. 
 The benefits which it is sometimes supposed to have 
 conferred on the world, in exciting the attention 
 of mankind to Astronomy, have been far outweighed 
 by the injury it has inflicted on medical science. 
 Alchemy itself has been less deeply and less exten- 
 sively prejudicial. The division of the human body 
 among the signs and planets, and the attributing 
 peculiar diseases to the diversity of their influences, 
 though originating in a scheme of divination, were 
 of course soon amalgamated with the yet infant 
 art of heahng. Times were sought, in which medi- 
 cines might be administered and operations per- 
 formed under favorable stellar aspects ; remedies 
 were to be prepared, and simples culled in the hours 
 ruled by the planet under whose government they 
 were ; and ample reasons were thus supplied by 
 which the failure of their effect, the unfortunate 
 result of an operation, or even the death of the 
 patient might be accounted for on scipntific princi- 
 ples ; and the physician, even when most unsuc- 
 cessful, might be accounted most learned. In the 
 East, this is the case to this day ; and there is 
 on record a curious instance of an Asiatic prince, 
 who having for many years been in ill health, his
 
 110 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 physicians fearing that he would die, an event 
 which would involve their own destruction, cun- 
 ningly discovered that the blame all rested on those 
 who had superintended the ceremony of his receiv- 
 ing a name ; and accordingly he was re-crowned by 
 another designation. 
 
 Cornelius Agrippa^ observes, "that man's mind, 
 when most intent upon any work through its passion 
 and effects, is joined with the mind of the stars ; 
 and by this means, whatsoever the mind of him 
 that is in vehement love affects, hath an efficacy 
 to cause love ; and whatsoever is dictated by the 
 mind of him that stronglj hates, hath an efficacy 
 to hurt and destroy. The like is in other things, 
 which the mind with strong desire determines. For 
 all those things which the mind does, and dictates 
 by characters, figures, words, orations, and gestures, 
 acquire wonderful virtues from the soul of the ope- 
 rator, in that hour when the celestial influence 
 moveth the mind in that manner.*' This is rather 
 different from the opinion of Roger Bacon concern- 
 ing characters and talismans. He observes :" " Yet 
 it is to be allowed, that a skilful physician, and 
 indeed any one else, who finds it necessary to cause 
 mental excitement, may with good effect make use 
 both of charms and fictitious characters (as Con- 
 stantine the physician observes), not because those 
 charms and , fictitious characters have intrinsically 
 any effect, but in order that his medicine may be 
 the more confidently and eagerly taken, and the 
 mind of the patient be excited; and he may thus 
 
 > Occ. Phil. lib. i. c. C7. 
 
 ■■' Bacon de Secretis Op. Artis et Naturse, c. 2,
 
 MEDICAL ASTROLOGY. Ill 
 
 freely trust, and hope, and rejoice. For the mind, 
 when so excited, has over its own body a great 
 power of restoration ; so that from infirmity the 
 patient, by joy and confidence, may arrive at a 
 state of convalescence. If therefore a physician, to 
 magnify his office, that his patient may be excited 
 to hope and confidence should do anything of 
 this kind, and not for fraudulent purposes, but that 
 his patient may recover, he is not to be condemned, 
 as Constantine says. For he himself, speaking of 
 those charms which are worn round the neck, defends 
 them on this principle ; that the mind has, by means 
 of its strong affections, great power over the body, 
 Avicenna teaches, and with him all sages agree.''' 
 
 This counsel exhibits a melancholy picture of 
 medical science at the time in which it was offered. 
 It shows how it was degraded to flattering the 
 prejudices of the ignorant,^ till the system of such 
 flattery became a part of medicine itself. That 
 the appeal to the imagination is not to be neglected, 
 every physician will willingly admit ; but to give 
 it in ordinary cases undue prominence, is to make 
 a free inlet for the abuses of every species of 
 quackery. Bacon was far from disbelieving the 
 power of planetary talismans, if properly made ; 
 for in a passage but a few lines before that 
 
 ' Of the state in which medical science was in the time of Proclus, 
 that philosopher gives a convincing proof in his doubts concerning Pro- 
 vidence. " For when the loins are diseased, physicians cauterize not the 
 parts which are near, but those which are opposite to the loins ; and when 
 the liver is impostlmmated, they scarify the epigastrium. Wiien like- 
 wise tlie hoofs of oxen are extremely tender, they anoint the tips of the 
 horns, and not the parts which are proximate to the hoofs. For the effect 
 produced in them is not through the parts which are near, but through 
 those which from co-passivity are in want of sanation." — Tavlor's 
 Translutions, p. 66.
 
 112 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 above quoted, he says,^ "But they who know in 
 jit constellations to make their works (talismans) 
 according to the configurations of the heavens, 
 may not only dispose characters, but all their 
 operations, both of nature and art, according to 
 the celestial virtues ; but because it is difficult 
 in these things to know the nature of celestials, 
 there are many errors committed by the major 
 part of operators and but few know how profit- 
 ably and truly to order them. And on this 
 account the multitude of prognosticators, and of 
 those who operate by virtue of the stars, perform 
 not much, nor do they anything that is useful, 
 although those loho are skilled, and have sufficient 
 science can in fitly elected seasons, both act and pre- 
 dict to good and useful purpose."" These talismans 
 which are here mentioned, were the greatest instru- 
 ments of astrological medicine ; and though many 
 of them were merely of a magical character, and 
 had nothing to do with stellar influences, yet in 
 general they owed their virtue to the figure en- 
 graved in the hour, and picturing the spirit of some 
 planet. 
 
 Cornelius Agrippa gives many such, stating the uses 
 for which they are to be made, and in whose 
 name aid is to be invoked, when they are used. 
 At a time when many diseases were attributed 
 to the direct action of evil spirits, the practice 
 of using such charms would, of course, prevail ; 
 they were supposed to bring the power of one 
 spirit in opposition to that of another ; and he, 
 who was afflicted by a demon, whose nature was 
 
 • Bacon, ut supra, c. 2.
 
 MEDICAL ASTROLOGY. US 
 
 decided to be like that of Saturn, and whose at- 
 tacks were exasperated by an unfavourable position 
 of that planet, could scarce fail of being cured by a 
 sigil made in the hour, and bearing the character of 
 Jupiter. Such an instance is related by Lilly in his 
 autobiography. The first master of that noted per- 
 sonage married a widow, whose former husband, 
 lodging one night at a country inn, and sleeping 
 in the chamber which had been once occupied by a 
 grazier, who cut his throat there, — the spirit of this 
 grazier followed the traveller a long while, appear- 
 ing to him from time to time, and tempting him 
 to cut his throat. His wife at last prevailed on 
 him to communicate to her the secret of his dejec- 
 tion ; and when she knew, she obtained from Dr. 
 Simon Forman a charm to prevent this in future. 
 On the death of her husband, she wore the talis- 
 man always about her person, with not a few 
 others; for Lilly says,' — "When my mistress died, 
 she had under her armhole a small scarlet bag, 
 full of many things, which one that was there de- 
 livered unto me. There were in this bag several 
 sigils ; some of Jupiter in trine, others of the nature 
 of Venus ; some of iron, and one of gold, — of pure 
 angel gold, of the bigness of a thirty-three shilling 
 piece of King James's coin. Jn the circumference 
 on one side was engraven Vicit Leo de tribu Judfc 
 Tetragrammatori +. Within the middle there was 
 engraven a holy Lamb. In the other circumference 
 there was Amraphel and three +. Li the middle, 
 Sanctus Petrus, Alpha et Omega." Lilly seems to 
 have had a very exact idea of its value ; for he says, 
 ' Lilly's History of his Life and Times (Bunnan's edition), p. 15.
 
 114 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 that he carefully copied the inscription, and then, 
 utterly regardless of the hour in which it had been 
 framed, and in which consisted its virtue, he sold it 
 for thirty shillings, — the value of the metal; — a proof 
 that however Lilly might think afterwards, he was 
 no believer in sigils at the beginning. 
 
 The plants and minerals, which were under the 
 rules of particular planets, were supposed to have 
 double power in the hour of those planets' supre- 
 macy ; whereas, in the hour of supremacy of a con- 
 trary planet, they lost their virtues, and became 
 ineffectual. It was attempted to prove this from 
 Scripture ; for the blessing of Moses to the tribe of 
 Joseph is thus rendered by Arias Montanus, and 
 by our own translation ; " And of Joseph he said, 
 blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious 
 things of heaven, for the dew and for the deep that 
 coucheth beneath, and for the precious things put 
 forth by the Sun, and for the precious things put 
 forth by the Moon.""^ This, it is contended, was 
 an evidence of the solar and lunar influence upon 
 things animate and inanimate. It was not the mere 
 ordinary effect of the seasons ; for that was promised 
 in the earlier part of the verse, and Joseph, who 
 was endowed with wisdom from above, who had 
 the power of divining, and was skilled in the secret 
 arts of the Egyptians, might be supposed able to give 
 his children a heritage of the secrets of Nature. The 
 idea was, that the spirits of the planets radiated their 
 influences as musk or camphor do their odor, and 
 
 • " Et ad Joseph dixit, Bencdicta Domini terra ejus, de deliciii coclorum, 
 de rore et voraginc cukinti deorsuin, et de deliciii proventuum solis et de 
 delicia ejectionis lunarum." Arias Montanus. Deut. xxxiii. 13, 14.
 
 MEDICAL ASTROLOGY. 115 
 
 that, according as those radiations were of u similar 
 or dissimilar character to that of the human frame, 
 so they were beneficial or hurtful ; but it might be, 
 that the effects of a malevolent planet were some- 
 times good. Thus a cold planet might, though its 
 influences were generally evil, be advantageous in 
 fever ; and the plants and minerals which partook 
 of its nature might then be administered with effect. 
 To prove this theory, the writers who adopted it, 
 advanced many arguments. They contended that 
 the spirits of the planets were far more powerful, 
 both for good and evil, than men were. If, there- 
 fore, men had so great influence, merely by their 
 personal presence over the health and happiness of 
 others, — if a portion of the same power and often 
 no small portion, was enjoyed by animals ranking 
 much lower than man in the scale of creation, — 
 why should we discredit the power of active and 
 subtle spirits, when their activity and influence are 
 concentrated by the use of metals and plants which 
 they are known to delight in I 
 
 Roger Bacon expresses himself very strongly upon 
 this topic of influences. " We see, that animals 
 change and alter that which is presented to them. 
 The basilisk kills by a single look, and the wolf, if 
 he sees a man, before he be seen, renders a man 
 hoarse. The hyena does not permit a dog to bark 
 within her shadow, as Solinus relates."^ Since, 
 therefore, plants and animals cannot attain to the 
 dignity of human nature, much more can man cause 
 to be flung forth from him virtues and appearances 
 and colors to the change of bodies without him. 
 
 * De Sec, Op. Art, et Nat. cap. iii.
 
 116 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 " Solinus relates, that in Scythia there are women 
 having two pupils in one eye — (whence Ovid re- 
 marks, ' nocet pupilla duplex'), and when they are 
 angry they kill men with one glance." After this 
 he proceeds to show, that sickness, and not only sick- 
 ness but good health, is contagious ; that vice and 
 virtue are propagated in like manner, a singular gloss 
 upon St. Paul's quotation from Menander, ^ and states 
 that if a person afflicted with any contagious disease, 
 leprosy for instance, were earnestly to desire " ex 
 desiderio forti et cogitatione et solicitudine vehe- 
 menti " to infect any other person, even though the 
 leper touched them not, he would much sooner ac- 
 complish his diabolical intention, and the party 
 would become infected much more powerfully and 
 rapidly than if no such wish existed in the mind of 
 the diseased person. Indeed, without some such 
 mental effort, leprosy would only be communicated 
 by contact. 
 
 This notion of radiated influences is the foundation 
 of Medical Astrology, as that of informing spirits 
 was the root of Astrology in general ; and when 
 the science had gradually taken the form which in 
 the middle ages it presented, there was material 
 enough for a medical system, which those who pro- 
 fessed any part of the science could not deny, and 
 according to which they very rarely refused to 
 practise. Let it be supposed that an individual is 
 taken ill. The first thing to be done was to ascer- 
 tain by an astrological scheme the nature of the 
 disease. For instance, if the Moon is in Capricorn, 
 
 ' " Evil communications corupt good manners." 1 Cor. xv. 33. 
 idelpovffiv >i9t] xpr}rTTa ofiiXiai KUKai Thais of Menander.
 
 MEDICAL ASTROLOGY. 117 
 
 and afflicted by Saturn, then the patient suffers 
 " heaviness at the hreast and stomach, difficulty of 
 breathing, and dry cough ; the lungs oppressed ; more 
 pain by night than by day, with intense fever, often 
 headache and noise in the head. The cause is from 
 great cold, melancholy, and disorderly diet."^ Then 
 to ascertain what remedy is indicated, which is found 
 also by a due consideration of the herbs, plants, 
 and minerals given in astrological tables ; and next 
 at what hours they are to be administered. Thus 
 " When you give medicine, let the moon be in a 
 watery sign, or let a watery sign ascend, and let the 
 Moon be aspected by any planet which is direct, 
 and if swift in motion and under the earth the better. 
 But by no means let the Moon be aspected of any 
 retrograde planet, for then the patient will be apt 
 to vomit."- " When you intend to give a vomit, let 
 either the Moon or the Lord of the Ascendant be 
 in an earthy sign aspected by a planet retrograde."^ 
 The author from whom these directions are taken, 
 gives a recipe for making that celebrated sympathetic 
 powder* for which Sir Kenelm Digby was famed 
 " Take Kornan vitriol six or eight ounces, beat it 
 very small in a mortar, sift it through a fine sieve, 
 when the Sun enters Leo. Keep it in the heat of 
 the Sun by day, and dry by night, and marvel- 
 lous cures may be done by it." Sir Kenelm him- 
 
 ' Blagrave's Astrological Practice of Physic, p. 85. 
 
 ^ Id. p. 91. 3 j(j p_ 93_ 
 
 * The doctrine of sympathetic cures prevailed among the Anglo- 
 Saxons to a great extent. It appears from the Thirty-first Canon of 
 Egbert's Penitential that women sometimes took the blood of their hus- 
 bands as a medicine. "■ This usage was probably founded on some old 
 heathen superstition and popular credulity was likely to gather strength 
 from ecclesiastical prohibition." — Soames's Hist. Anylo-Suxon Church, 
 vol. i. p. 264.
 
 118 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 self gives a singular accoiint of its effects. He took 
 a bandage which had been used by a gentleman 
 whose hand had been wounded in a duel, and dipped 
 it in a solution of this sympathetic powder. No 
 sooner was the bandage wet than the pain in the 
 hand ceased ; and afterwards, when Sir Kenelm 
 took the bandage out of the solution, and hung it 
 by the fire to dry, the gentleman suffered the most 
 acute pain in his hand, and declared that he felt as 
 though it were on fire. The bandage was again put 
 into the solution and kept there till the patient 
 recovered. Blagrave professed to use a mixture of 
 two powders ; one the ashes of some plant recom- 
 mended for the disease, and the sympathetic powder 
 of Sir Kenelm Digby abovementioned. He bled the 
 patient, and mixing the two powders with a little of 
 the blood, he put it into a bag, and caused it to be 
 constantly worn. 
 
 A favorite recipe of the same period (the seven- 
 teenth century), was to bore a hole in an oak or 
 other tree, in the hour of certain planets, varying 
 according to the disease which required a cure ; 
 laying the sawdust thus procured to the part dis- 
 eased, and then putting in the hole made in the 
 tree, cuttings of the hair, and parings of the nails 
 of the party affected, as the juices of the tree filled 
 up the hole which had been made, so would the 
 cure be performed on the party afflicted. He was 
 not to neglect other remedies, such as proper medi- 
 cine and judicious diet, and if all proved unsuc- 
 cessful, then it was evident that the hole had been 
 bored in the hour of some unfortunate planet ; if 
 the patient recovered, then the credit was usually
 
 MEDICAL ASTROLOGY. 
 
 119 
 
 divided between the tree and the planet, unless 
 the physician were an astrologer. Another very 
 efficacious remedy was the following ointment : ^ 
 
 RECIPE : 
 
 
 The moss of a dead man's skidl 
 
 3i- 
 
 Human fat^ 
 
 yj- 
 
 Mummy 
 
 5ss 
 
 Human blood . . . . 
 
 5SS. 
 
 Oil of Linseed , . . . 
 
 3SS. 
 
 Oil of roses . . . . . 
 
 Sij- 
 
 Bole arm 
 
 . . |ss. 
 
 This ointment was supposed to combine all the 
 virtues of all the planets in cases of wounds; and 
 its effects were exactly similar to those of the sym- 
 pathetic powder. When Ave look over remedies 
 like these, we look at a state of grossness which 
 prevails now scarcely anywhere but among the Obi 
 worshippers of Africa ; their charms, both for good 
 and evil, bear a strong resemblance to such elegant 
 preparations as the above. But in the West of 
 England it is by no means an uncommon occurrence 
 for a druggist to be asked for the "oil of bricks'" 
 or "oil of swallows," the "oil of stones," or the "oil 
 
 ' Blagrave, Astrol. Pract. of Phys. p. 1 34. 
 
 * These remedies must, it seems, be gathered with great care ; for the 
 protection of benign planets was here peculiarly necessary, to say nothing 
 of the astral spirit of the departed person, of which notice will be taken in 
 due time. Our author in another place has the following words : " Si 
 acceperis terram cadaverosam cujuscunque viri mulierisve qui notabili quo- 
 cimque morbo moriabatur eandemque des ullo masculo aut fcEniin;p, eodem 
 morbo contsmiinabuntur, in morbis aliquibus odore tantum hoc afficitur, 
 exempli gratia in peste, morbo Gallico, elephantiasi, sive lepra." — Page 
 135. 
 
 The remedy given in the text is also to be found in Baptista Porta, on 
 Nat. Mag. b. viii. c. 12, where he states that it was an invention of Para- 
 celsus, and given by him to the Emperor Maximilian. In case of wounds 
 it was to be applied not to the injured part but to the weapon that caused 
 the injury, and the effects were very wonderful.
 
 120 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 of earthworms," all which have had their virtues 
 when astrologically made. The idea of Astrology is 
 now lost among the poor people who require such 
 medicines, but the virtues of the nostrum are still 
 traditionally believed.
 
 MAGIC. 121 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MAGIC. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Next to Astrology in the order of the Occult 
 Sciences comes Magic ; which has been defined in 
 various ways according as it has been thought to 
 be, or not to be, of a supernatural character. To a 
 certain extent, however, all Magic may be reckoned 
 supernatural, for even the occult properties of herbs, 
 animals, and stones, were said to be consequent upon 
 their astrological government, and only to be made 
 fully available by those who used them in the propi- 
 tious planetary hours ; and as spiritual influence is 
 at the very root of Astrology, Magic, which depends 
 upon that Science, cannot be supposed free from it. 
 But if, instead of considering it as a part of that 
 system called the Occult Philosophy, we examine its 
 probable origin, it will seem to have arisen from the 
 accounts of miracles wrought perhaps before the 
 flood, and handed down by tradition to subsequent 
 ages. Contemplating these relations, the minds of 
 men in a state of heathenism would naturally be led 
 to one of two conclusions. Those wdio looked with 
 implicit faith upon the religion of the country, who 
 accepted all its dogmas, and believed all its legends, 
 would suppose that such wonderful events which 
 came to their knowledire, were done by means of 
 superhuman aid. Those on the contrary, who saw 
 the absurdities of paganism, and especially those 
 
 G
 
 122 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 who were observant of natural phenomena, would 
 be led to attribute every miraculous event of which 
 they had heard, to the power of Science. But as 
 there would be not a few, who would in some degree 
 mingle these two characters, and as the inefficacy of 
 Science in equalling the wonders of traditions, would 
 become continually more evident, so we might expect 
 to hear of two kinds of Magic, each prevailing in 
 turn, as superstition or Natural Philosophy ruled 
 the taste of the times. 
 
 The division of Magic into Natural and Geotic, 
 was not, however, generally adopted until the Occult 
 Philosophy was near the term of its extinction. In 
 the earlier ages, the question was discussed Avith 
 considerable vehemence, whether the mass of wonder 
 which was generally admitted, and to which every 
 succeeding age had made large additions, was all the 
 work of sorcery, performed by means of a compact 
 with evil spirits ; or, whether it was all produced by 
 a profundity of research, and a depth of scientific 
 knowledge unknown even in this age of Brande and 
 Faraday, Herschel and Airy, Whewell and Buck- 
 land. 
 
 The doctrines of the Epicureans with respect 
 to the atoms of which matter is composed, tended 
 very much to support the position of those who 
 attributed all the recorded wonders of Mag-ic to 
 natural causes. That minute particles of matter, 
 of peculiar form, differing according to the nature 
 of the object from which they proceed, are flung 
 ofl' from all kinds of bodies, in the form of ef- 
 fluvia, and that these operate upon other bodies 
 by means of their form, and are agreeable or dis-
 
 MAGIC. 1 23 
 
 agreeable in their effects, according as the effluvia 
 of the emittent body are or are not of a similar 
 shape to the pores of the receiving bodj, — are some 
 of the maxims upon which their theory is built. 
 " Thus, there be certain seeds," says De Loire,^ 
 " within the eyes of cocks, which shining and shoot- 
 ing into the eyes of lions, do so pierce and strike 
 their eye-lids, and do inflict upon them such pain 
 and grief, that they are constrained to fly from 
 them, beino' not able to abide or endure the sight 
 of the cock." 
 
 He afterwards combats this hypothesis and en- 
 deavours to build a system on the ruins of the Epi- 
 curean philosophy, ^A'hich shall prove INlagic, Witch- 
 craft, and Necromancy to be by the devil's aid 
 attainable. But the consequences of these doctrines 
 (those of the Epicureans) were, that it was deemed 
 possible by a diligent study of the laws of 
 Nature, and the properties of matter, to obtain a 
 power over those atoms before-mentioned, to control 
 and influence them in the same way that Nature 
 does, and by this means, not only to hasten or 
 retard her operations, but even to suspend their 
 effect altogether. Thus it was supposed, that, by 
 the study of Natural Philosophy, the very laws 
 of the Universe might be contravened. Magic, 
 as treated of by the writers on Occult Philosophy, 
 is the imagination of intellects of the very first 
 order. It is an attempt, though an unsuccessful 
 one, to analyze creation, and develope the prin- 
 ciples by which it is ruled. It was founded upon 
 the sand, and the structure has fallen ; yet we 
 ' Theatre of Spectres, c. iii.
 
 124 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 canuot refuse our admiration to the ruins. The 
 definitions which have been given of JNIagie will 
 be worth transcribing- as thev show that it was 
 a sort of transcendental Natural Philosophy, and 
 not sorcerv, that was recommended to be learned. 
 Take that of Elias Ashmole ; " Judicial Astrology^ 
 is the key to Natural Magic and Natural Magic 
 the door that leads to this blessed stone, namely, the 
 " philosopher's,' howbeit the ignorance and malice 
 of some times, and the common custom of ours, 
 hath falsely and abusively called it Necromancy ; 
 and what acts are raised from the doctrine of 
 devils. Magic ; without aftbrding that just and 
 <lue distinction which ought to be made between 
 them ; and what greater injury to learning than 
 to confound laudable knowledge with that which 
 is impious and devilish. For, if there be any- 
 thing in that which we call Magic, other than 
 a searchinsf into those hidden virtues which it 
 hath pleased God to bestow upon created things, 
 thougli closely locked up by the curse whereby 
 we aptly apply agents to patients, I say if there 
 be anything else, they are but subtle falsehoods 
 that shelter themselves under that title." Para- 
 celsus speaks with great energy of this confusion, 
 he inveighs against " such as rank true magicians 
 with conjurers, necromancers, and witches, those 
 grand impostors who violently intrude themselves 
 into Magic, as if swine should enter into a fair 
 and delicate garden."" It is a most secret and 
 hidden science of supernatural things in the earth, 
 so that whatsoever is not to be found out by man's 
 ' Theat. Chem. Brit. p. 4, 43. » De Occult. Pliil. c. 2.
 
 MAGIC. 125 
 
 reason may be by this act ; " yet in itself it is 
 most pure and not defiled with ceremonies nor con- 
 jurations as necromancy is." Cornelius Agrippa 
 says, " Magic ^ doth contain the most profound 
 contemplation of the most secret things, together 
 with the nature, power, quality, substance, and 
 virtues thereof ; as also the knowledge of all 
 Nature that instructs us coucernins: the difi'erence 
 and agreement of things amongst themselves, 
 whence it produceth its wonderful effects by uniting 
 the virtues of things through the application of 
 them one to the other, and to their inferior 
 suitable objects." 
 
 We must not be misled by these phrases, how- 
 ever, and suppose that Physics then stood on the 
 same kind of foundation as it does now. Much 
 of the supposed knowledge of that day was merely 
 traditional ; it rested upon the dictum of Aristotle, 
 or even of Pliny, and very little had been verified 
 by experiment. While, therefore, so much was 
 supposed to be in the power of the philosopher, 
 the directions for obtaining and using that power 
 partook in no small degree of the mystical charac- 
 ter. A bold theory had been struck out, and it 
 was necessary to support its positions with some- 
 thing like argument, and the mass of magical fable 
 from Pliny downwards, contained relations, whicli 
 were received as facts, and which were amply 
 sufficient to make out any system. But, when 
 instruction was demanded by the students of this 
 theory by wliich they might carry it into practice, 
 the professors were reduced either to transcendeu- 
 ' Occult. Phil. lib. i. c. -2.
 
 126 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 talize until they became quite unintelligible, or 
 to descend to absolute quackery ; and sometimes 
 they adopted a mixture of both modes. The work 
 of Cornelius Agrippa is a remarkable instance of 
 this. When theorizing, he observes : " For^ this 
 is the harmony of the world, that things super- 
 celestial be drawn down by the celestial, and 
 supernatural by natural, because there is one opera- 
 tive virtue that is diffused through all kinds of 
 things by which virtue indeed, as manifest things 
 are produced out of occult causes, so a magician 
 doth make use of things manifest to draw forth 
 
 ' Corn. Agrippa de Occult. Phil. lib. i. c. 38. Ashmole enlarges on the 
 suhject : " And now that I may come closer to what Norton intends, and 
 bring ]\Iagic nearer to our puqjose, we must understand that the order and 
 symmetry of the universe is so settled by the laws of creation, that the 
 lowest things (the sub-celestial or elemental region) should be subser- 
 vient to the middle ; the middle (or celestial) to those above ; and these, 
 the supercelestial or intelligible to the Supreme Ruler's beck. With this 
 it is farther to be known that these superiors and inferiors have an ana- 
 logical likeness, and by a secret bond have likewise a fast coherence be- 
 tween themselves through insensible mediums ; freely combining, in obe- 
 dience to the.Supreme Ruler, and also to the benefit of Nature. Insomuch, 
 that if we take the same harmony in the reverse, we shall find that things 
 supercelestial may be drawn down by celestial and supernatural by natu- 
 ral ; for it is the maxim of Old Hermes, — ' Quod est superius est sicut 
 id quod est inferius.' And upon this ground wise men conceive it no way 
 irrational, that it should be possible for us to ascend by tlie same degrees 
 through eacli world to tlie verj' original world itself, the Maker of all 
 things, and their First Cause. But how to conjoin the inferiors with the 
 virtues of the superiors (whicli is marrying elmes to vines) or how to call 
 out of the hidden phices into open light the dispersed and seminated vir- 
 tues (i. e. virtutcs iu centro centri latentes) is tlie work of the Mngi or 
 Hermetic Philosophers onlj^, and depends upon tlic aforesaid hamiony, for 
 tiiey know that the production of things is natural ; but the bringing 
 forth of the virtue is not natural, because the things are create, but the 
 virtues are uncreate. Hence it is that the power and virtue is not in 
 plants, stones, minerals, &c., though we sensibly perceive the effects from 
 them ; but it is that universal and all-pervading sfiirit, that one operative 
 virtue and immortal seed of earthly things, that God in the beginning in- 
 fused into the chaos, which is everywhere active, and still ilows through 
 the world in all kinds of things by universal extension, and manifests 
 itself by the aforesaid production, which spirit a true artist knows so how 
 to handle, that though its activity be dulled and straightly bound up in
 
 MAGIC. 127 
 
 things that are occult, namely, through the rays of 
 the stars ; through fumes, lights, sounds, and 
 natural things, which are agreeahle to celestial, 
 in which besides corporeal qualities, there is a kind 
 of reason, sense and harmony, and incorporeal and 
 divine measures and orders." 
 
 When giving directions for practice, he gives 
 way to all the absurdities of the Cabala. The 
 idea that all things in Heaven were created after 
 a pattern existing in the Divine mind, and earthly 
 things after the pattern of heavenly, gave rise 
 to the theory, which, together with the atomic 
 doctrines of the Epicureans,^ made up the system 
 
 the close prison of close and earthly bodies, he can take it from corporiety, 
 free it from captivity, and let it loose that it may freely work as it doth, 
 in the etherial bodies. But the means whereby it is to be done, which is 
 the first preparation, all philosophers have hitherto concealed, and unless 
 it please God to reveal it, like the Jewish fire, it must be kept hidden ; 
 and till he doth, there is no human industry that can forcibly wrest 
 the knowledge thereof out of that Almighty hand. Si te fata vocant 
 alitor non (Augurelli). Look not then for it at the hand of man, for it is 
 the gift of God only. It is, as Norton says, a singular gift and grace of 
 the Almighty. Man has it not, that is, not to bestow where he will, and 
 nil dat quod non habet. In fine, if any man be so blest as to discover and 
 unveil our Diana, he shall find and confess that he was beholden to Na- 
 tural Magic for directions at the beginning, middle, and end ; and when it 
 is wrought up to his highest degree of perfection, he shall see things 
 not fit to be written, for (and I aver it with awful reverence) he shall at- 
 tain angelical wisdom." — Theat. Chem. Brit. p. 446. 
 
 These very words occur in the notes to a body of treatises professing to 
 explain all these mysteries; it would be difficult to find an instance of a 
 man exhibiting more acuteness in bolstering up a system of superstition, 
 in which he devoutly believed, than Elias Aslmiole. 
 
 ' Dr. Campbell, in his Hermes Redivivus, quotes'a singular book pub- 
 lished under the title " Melanges d'Histoire et de Literature," par JM. de 
 Vigneul Marville. Bonaventure d'Argonne was the real name of the 
 author, who called himself Vigneul de Marville, he was a Chartrenx, 
 and died about ] 704. The following tale is told by way of exempli- 
 fying the notions above named. " The day after our arrival in London, 
 several tradesmen came to our lodgings in order to sell us the commo- 
 dities and curiosities of their country. Every one of the company fixed 
 readily his attention on what pleased him most ; some brought gloves, 
 others ribbons, and others silk-stockings. The merchandise which fell to 
 my share was several perspective glasses and microscopes ; he who sold
 
 128 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 of Magic. The sympathetic union which was sup- 
 posed to exist between the visible or elemental 
 creation ; the spiritual or intellectual world and 
 that plan in the Divine mind which was denomi- 
 nated the original world, while it accounted for all 
 the wonders to which the Art Magic might pretend, 
 at the same time stamped upon it the mark of consi- 
 derable sublimity. The doctrines of the Epicureans 
 with regaid to matter communicated somewhat of 
 a more profound character, and the union of the 
 two was irresistibly attractive to the savans of the 
 middle ages. A better illustration of the atomic 
 theory can hardly be found than the cause assigned 
 by modern philosophers for the difference of colors, 
 liight is found to be composed of particles of seven 
 
 them was an excellent mathematician, a man of great capacity, and could 
 speak French tolerably well. I kept him to dinner, and, as he was mighty 
 well pleased with the entertainment, he told me, after he rose from the 
 table, that he had a great curiosity to sliow me. He then took out of a 
 shagreen box an instrument in a tortoiseshell case, which proved to be a 
 most excellent microscope. I may well bestow this epithet upon it, since 
 it was so excellent as not only to discover an infinity of bodies impercep- 
 tible to the naked eye, but even the atoms of Epicurus, the subtle matter 
 of Descartes, the vapours of the earth, those which flow from our own bo- 
 dies, and such as bring down to us here the influence of the stars. The 
 first experiment I made was looking on the person from whom I received 
 it, at the distance of four or five paces, which gave me an opportunity of 
 discerning an infinite number of little worms that were feeding most vo- 
 raciously upon his clothes ; by which I perceived, that, contrary to the 
 common opinion, it is not we who wear out our clothes, but they are fairly 
 eaten off our backs by these invisible insects. I changed my situation, and 
 considered my mathematician in another light. He appeared to be en- 
 veloped in a dark cloml. He told me that this apjiearance was owing to 
 his perspiring strongly after dinner, and that this ought to convince me of 
 the truth of wliat Sanctorius had delivered in respect to the proportion 
 lietween this and other secretions. We next went into the kitchen where 
 there was a large piece of beef roasting for the servants, and 1 had the 
 pleasure of seeing witli the same microscope, how the fire separates all the 
 parts of the wood upon which it acts, and darts tiiem l)y the violence of 
 its motion against the beef that turns before it, wounding it, as it were, 
 with an infinite number of shafts, and so tearing it to pieces, some of which
 
 MAGIC. 1 21) 
 
 different colors ; which by their combination pro- 
 duce every variety of hue. Now the texture of 
 bodies, not their visible texture, but the construc- 
 tion of their invisible atoms, is such as to absorb 
 or to reflect certain of these colors; that is, to 
 receive into their pores, or to reject the particles 
 which make those colors. Thus a piece of blue 
 cloth is of such a texture as to admit into its pores 
 the particles which produce red, orange, yellow, 
 green, indigo, and violet, and to reject the blue, 
 which being thus separated from the rest, becomes 
 visible. If this cloth be dyed black, the blue will 
 be admitted into its pores, as well as the other 
 colors, and the result will be a privation of light ; 
 the cloth will be black. Again, white cloth, or 
 any white substance, refuses admittance to any par- 
 are converted into juice, and others into a delicate kind of smoke or 
 vapour which filled the kitchen, and was very sensiblj' distinguished by 
 our nostrils. Going out of the house we saw four young men playing at 
 ball. I, at first sight, felt a strong inclination in favour of one, and as 
 strong an aversion against another, whence I began eamestlj' to wish that 
 this might win, and that might lose. I examined both with the micro- 
 scope, and thereby easily distinguished the source of these passions. As 
 the men were extremely heated with their exercise they perspired strongly, 
 so that clouds of the matter flowing from them reached us ; my glass 
 shewed me distinctly that the matter perspired by him for whom I felt an 
 inclination was exactly similar to what was perspired by myself ; whereas, 
 the matter ilowing from the other person was absolutely unlike to mine in 
 all respects, and so jagged and bearded that it seemed to wound and pierce 
 me like so many arrows ; hence I discerned that the true cause of our 
 sudden inclinations and aversions consists in the figures of the matter per- 
 spiring from us and from others, and in the similaritj- or contrariety of 
 these insensible vapours. We went out of the city, and at some miles 
 distance, we saw some gentlemen diverting themselves in coursing a hare. 
 As the poor creature passed almost close by us, I had just time to catch 
 a glance of her with my glass ; she appeared to me like a ball of fire mov- 
 ing with prodigious rapidity, and leaving a mighty smoke behind her. 
 This was tiie matter perspired by tlie animal, and I saw that the dogs 
 followed exactly the tract of that smoke, and were never at all at a loss, 
 except when the wind dissipated the cloud that issued from the Hying 
 hare." — Meluitges iniistoirc et de Liltmtun; torn. ii. p. 461. Hermippus 
 Redivivus, p. 85. 
 
 g5
 
 130 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 tide of light within its pores, and thus, no part 
 being separated from the rest, the substance keeps 
 the color of the mixed rays or particles of light, 
 namely, white. But the change produced by dyeing, 
 for instance, is wrought upon the most minute fibres 
 of which the cloth is composed, fibres of which no 
 microscope can be made powerful enough to exhibit 
 the texture, or to trace its change. The dyer 
 knows, that a certain drug will change the color 
 of his cloth ; but how this change will be eff'ected, 
 he has not the slightest idea. The philosopher 
 would tell him, that the texture of the fibres will 
 be altered, and the pores made to vary in size 
 and shape, so that particles of light which were 
 before rejected, will now be received, and others 
 received which before were rejected. But there 
 is a step which the philosopher has not taken, he 
 cannot tell what is the alteration that has taken 
 ])lace ; how the pores are now shaped, and of what 
 comparative size they are. Yet investigations far 
 more subtle than this must be satisfactorily prose- 
 cuted before the theory of Magic — Natural Magic, 
 can be reduced to practice. 
 
 We speak of chemical and electrical and me- 
 chanical action ; but there can be no doubt that 
 were our organs delicate enough to perceive it, 
 mechanical action would be the only mode of opera- 
 tion which it would be necessary to admit. The 
 subtle and invisible fluids, light, heat, galvanism, 
 magnetism, electricity, whether they be all the same 
 or whether they are distinct fluids, are unquestion- 
 ably material, and if so they nmst act by impact.
 
 MAGIC. 131 
 
 We cannot see the particles of an acid redden litmus 
 paper, or oxydate the surface of a metallic plate, 
 as we can see the tool of a carpenter make in his 
 hand the block into a box, nor can we see the 
 particles of heat or caloric unite themselves with 
 those of water, drive them asunder, and render them 
 lighter than atmospheric air; it is not possible to 
 make instruments by which these operations could 
 be made visible to our eyes. Hence it is highly 
 probable that the knowledge of such facts will be 
 all to which we can ever attain. The magician, 
 however, considered according to the theory which 
 has been thus illustrated, must be aware of the 
 manner in which each step of these changes is 
 taken. He must behold these ultimate atoms, and 
 examine the effects wrought upon them by these 
 invisible and imponderable fluids ; he must be ac- 
 quainted with the laws of life, and be able to 
 investigate their operation upon organized matter ; 
 besides this he must be capable of reducing all his 
 knowledge to practice ; of so using the elements, 
 so combining and separating them as to be in the 
 place of Nature ; and in a small circle to rule her 
 and them at his will. 
 
 Tliese were the pretensions of Natural Magic, nor 
 can we wonder that those who deemed such things 
 within the grasp of the human intellect, should 
 declare that the Almighty himself would overrule 
 the studies pursued by the votaries of such sciences ; 
 would allow none to become adepts save those who 
 feared Him, and kept His commandments. This 
 is the cause of the religious matter found in such
 
 132 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 writers as Ashmole and Thoruburgh : that pious 
 exhortations are sometimes found in astrological and 
 magical treatises by writers of a very different stamp 
 must be acknowledged, but it is only in imitation 
 of earlier and better authors.
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. 133 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC, AND PARTICULARLY 
 AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 The fabulous ages of Magic, that is, those ages 
 of whose magical pretensions we have no contem- 
 porary account, begin, as we might have expected, 
 with the creation ; and Adam being instructed by 
 his Creator in all the properties of Nature, all the 
 mysteries of the planet created for his abode, and 
 of the system to which it belonged, was of course 
 the first adept. Here too we find the division of 
 the wonder-working art into !Magic and Sorcery ; 
 the one comprising the knowledge how to produce 
 marvellous effects by natural agents ; the other, 
 the knowledge of those means, by which power 
 might be obtained over spiritual essences.* The 
 earliest account of anything supposed to be con- 
 nected with Magic, is to be found in the history 
 of Rachel. When with her sister Leah, and her 
 husband Jacob, she had left the house of her father. 
 •' Rachel" had stolen the images that were her 
 
 ' " Fallax prior et nociva satis diabolum indicat auctorem ; Naturalem 
 vero legitimainque Magicen cum ca'teris scientiis Adamo Deus largitus, a 
 quo posteritas docta per manus et orbem earn propagavit ; eo ut Psellus et 
 Proclus advertere nihil est aliud quam exactior qufcdani arcanoruin Na- 
 turae cogiiitio qua, cffilorum ac siderum cursu ac influxu ac sympathiis at- 
 que antipathiis rerum siiigulariim observatis, suo tempore, loco, et mode, 
 res rebus applicantur ac miritica quajdam hoc pacto perrtciuntur quae cau- 
 sarum ignaris, priestigiosa vel miraculosa videiitui-." — / )i!if/uisitwiies Ma- 
 c/iccp, lib. i. c. 3. 
 
 ^ Gen. xxxi.
 
 134 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 father's. . . . Then Laban overtook Jacob . . . and 
 Laban said . . . yet wherefore hast thou stolen my 
 gods? . . . and Jacob answered, and said, With 
 whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live ; 
 before our brethren, discern thou what is thine with 
 me and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that 
 Rachel had stolen them. And Laban went into 
 Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the 
 two maid-servants' tent, but he found them not. 
 Then went he out of Leah's tent and entered into 
 Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the images 
 (D''2~in teraphim), and put them in the camel's 
 furniture and sat upon them. And Laban searched 
 all the tent but found them not. And she said 
 to her father, let it not displease my lord that I 
 cannot rise up before thee, for the custom of women 
 is upon me. And he searched, but found not the 
 images." This passage has given no little trouble 
 to commentators ; but most of them seem to con- 
 sider these teraphim as something of a magical 
 nature. The targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel gives 
 the following version : — And Rachel stole the images 
 of her father; for they had murdered a man, who 
 was a first-born son, and, having cut off his head, 
 they embalmed it with salt and spices, and they 
 wrote divinations upon a plate of gold, and put it 
 under his tongue and placed it against the wall, 
 and it conversed with them, and Laban worshipped 
 it. And Jacob stole the science of Laban the 
 Syrian, tliat he might not discover his departure." 
 
 The Persian translation gives us astrolabes instead 
 of teraphim, and implies that they were instruments 
 used for judicial Astrology; and that Rachel stole them
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. 135 
 
 to prevent her father from discovering their route. 
 At all events the teraphim were means of divina- 
 tion among believers and unbelievers; they were 
 known among the Egyptians,^ and among the Sy- 
 rians. What makes it extremely probable that they 
 were not objects of religious worship is, that it does 
 not appear from any other passage of scripture that 
 Laban was an idolater ; besides which Rachel, who 
 was certainly a worshipper of the true God, took 
 them, it seems, on account of their supposed superna- 
 tural powers. And when Laban inquired for them, 
 the nature of her reply" evidences, that she could 
 not have regarded them as invested with any degree 
 of sanctity. Laban was satisfied with her answer, 
 and desisted from the search.' It must, however, 
 be observed that some have supposed these teraphim 
 to have been talismans for the cure of diseases ; and 
 others, that being really idols, Rachel stole them 
 to put a stop to her father's idolatry. There is not 
 a very dissimilar account related, Judges xviii, of 
 Micah and his teraphim, which seems sufficient to 
 prove, that the use of them was not considered 
 inconsistent with the profession of the true reli- 
 gion. 
 
 The account of the mandrakes mentioned in the 
 thirtieth chapter of Genesis, can hardly be adduced 
 as bearing any relation even to Natural JNIagic, though 
 in subsequent ages, some very extraordinary proper- 
 ties were attributed to that plant. It was said to 
 grow in the shape of a man, and to utter a cry 
 
 ' Spencer, Dissertatio de Urim et Thummira. 
 
 '^ See Leviticus, xv. 19. 
 
 ■' See Dr. Clarke's Commentary in loco.
 
 136 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 SO dreadful when pulled from the ground, that 
 those who heard it would speedily and miserahly 
 perish. So long and so extensively did these ideas 
 prevail, that Sir Thomas Browne (Pseudodoxia 
 Epidemica)^ argues at great length against them ; 
 noticing that the same effect was by Josephus at- 
 tributed to the herb Boarus ; by iElian of a plant 
 called Cynosphastis ; and by Homer of one named 
 Moly. 
 
 M^Xu 01 fiiv xakiouiri hoi KaXivov oi r' o^ufftrtiv 
 ' Avipdiri yi hyirolffi, h/t'i Oi to, 'Xaira ouvavrai. 
 
 " Now parallel, or like relations," observes Sir 
 Thomas, " alternately relieve each other, when 
 neither will pass separately ; yet they are plausible 
 together, their mutual concurrences supporting their 
 solitary instabilities." There seems also no need to 
 call in the aid of Magic to interpret the incident of 
 the peeled rods laid by Jacob before the cattle about 
 to conceive.- The cup of Joseph,^ whereby he 
 divined, was certainly, according to all the Jewish 
 accounts, one possessed of wonderful properties. 
 There was, as far back as any records go, a tradition 
 extant in the East, touching a cup, which passed 
 into the hands of several mighty sovereigns, which 
 represented the whole world in its concavity, and 
 displayed all actions that were being or had been 
 performed. When we come to speak of magic mir- 
 rors, and crystals, we shall again recur to this cup. 
 It was called the cup of Gianishid, and was said 
 to have been discovered full of the elixir of immor- 
 tality, while digging to lay the foundations of Per- 
 sepolis. 
 ' Inquiry into Vulgar Errors, p. 101 — 9. * Gen. xxx. ' Gen. xliv. 5.
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. 137 
 
 The next mention of Magic is in the ease of th 
 
 le 
 
 Egyptian magicians ; and this requires a little more 
 extended consideration, because it is not even in 
 this day considered superstitious to believe the won- 
 ders wrought by the magicians of Pharaoh to have 
 been really produced by supernatural means. If the 
 tenor of Scripture, and the nature of the case, there- 
 fore, will allow us so to dispose of these wonders 
 as to dispense with supernatural aid, then the ques- 
 tion of ]\Iagic may be considered as fairly settled, — 
 for, surely, if ever there were genuine magicians, 
 those of Pharaoh had a right to the title. Eeferrins" 
 then to the Book of Exodus, we find that the Lord 
 had listened to the cry of his oppressed people, and 
 was resolved to bring them out of Egypt with an 
 high hand, and an outstretched arm. Moses, a 
 Jewish child who had by stratagem been saved from 
 the general destruction of the male children of the 
 Hebrews, had been brought up in the palace of the 
 king, and adopted by the princess his daughter. 
 i he noblest education which Egypt, then the sole 
 seat of learning and art, could bestow upon him, 
 was not thrown away. He distinguished himself 
 by his mental attainments, and, according to Jo- 
 sephus,' by his military exploits. Warned by an 
 oracle, the king, when attacked and harassed by the 
 Ethiopians, placed Moses at the head of his army. 
 His choice was justified by the event. Moses repulsed 
 the Ethiopians, and carried the war into their country, 
 where he besieged them in the city of Saba. Here 
 the eyes of Tharbis, the daughter of the Ethiopian 
 monarch, were attracted towards the Egyptian com- 
 
 ' Jos. Ant. lib. ii. c. 9.
 
 138 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 mancler, and she promised, if he would engage to 
 marry her, that she would put the city into his 
 hands. He agreed to the conditions, took the city, 
 and married the princess, 
 
 Jannes and Jarabres, the names assigned by 
 tradition^ to the chief magicians of the times, 
 were, according to Abul Faraje (edit. Pococke, 
 p. 26), the preceptors in Magic of those who 
 afterwards proved by so many miracles the vanity 
 of their art. Moses, however, who had so many 
 titles to Egyptian gratitude Avas the person di- 
 vinely commissioned to avenge upon that nation 
 the injuries which they had done to the Israelites. 
 He made a claim to be the leader of the people, 
 and proved by a miracle that his claim was autho- 
 rized by the Almighty. The people were now con- 
 vinced that he was no impostor, and accordingly 
 he waited upon Pharaoh, and demanded the libera- 
 tion of the Israelites, declaring that they were bound 
 to sacrifice unto the Lord their God in the wil- 
 derness. The monarch refused his permission ; and 
 now commenced the struggle between the King of 
 Egypt and his magicians on the one hand, and the 
 accredited agent of the living God on the other. To 
 prove to Pharaoh that he had a divine commission, 
 Aaron, at his command,- " Cast down his rod before 
 Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a 
 serpent. Then Pharaoh called also the wise men 
 
 ' Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood AIoscs, so do these also resist 
 the truth. — 2 Tim. iii. 8. Est et alia niagices facti a Mose et Jamne at 
 Jotape ; sed multis millibus annorum post Zoroastrem. — Pun. A^at. Hist. 
 \xxx. c. 2. The targiiin of Jonathan Ben Uzziel calls them Janis et 
 Jamliris — the Babylonian Talmud, Joanni et Mambre — Rabbi Tancum, 
 Joni.s et J ombres. 
 
 * The words are chacamim (D'^DDi'T)
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. 139 
 
 and the sorcerers. Now the magicicans of Egypt, they 
 also did in like manner with their enchantments. For 
 they cast down every man his rod, and they became 
 serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." 
 
 Now, for all practical purposes, it would be im- 
 possible to amend our translation ; yet it may throw 
 light upon the case to take the etymological signifi- 
 cation of the words, and to read the verse thus : — 
 " Then Pharaoh called the men of learning, the re- 
 vealers."^ Now the decipherers" of Egyjot did so 
 with their fumigations.^ From this it appears, first, 
 that these magicians were especially revealers of 
 hidden things ; and next, that they used lustra! 
 fires or incense in their " enchantments." What- 
 ever were the means, the event (we will not say, 
 the effect) is certain : " and they became serpents ; 
 but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." That 
 there were really serpents on the ground before 
 Pharaoh, there seems no reason to doubt, any more 
 than that the serpent into which Aaron's rod was 
 transformed, swallowed the rest; but the question 
 is, were the rods of the magicians really transformed 
 in like manner, or were the serpents dexterously sub- 
 stituted by the magicians for the rods which they 
 held, and which they then concealed ? 
 
 St. Augustine's opinion on the subject is thus 
 given : — " Quid ergo dicendumest de virgis magorum, 
 utrum et ipsaj veri dracones facti fuerant ; sed ea 
 ratione virga; appellate sunt, qua et virga Aaron; 
 an potius videbantur esse quod non eraut, ludifi- 
 catione venefica. — Cur ergo ex utraque parte et 
 
 ' Cashephini (D'^D'c^^). ' Charetumey OD'J"))!)- 
 ^ Flaliat;m(Q'J>n"'?2)-
 
 1^0 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 virgpe dicuntur et dracones, nt de figtnentis illis nihil 
 ditFerat loquendi modus. Sed demonstrare difficile 
 est quomodo etiamsi veri dracones facti sunt e virgis 
 magonim, non fueriiit tamen creatores draconnm, uec 
 magi, nee angeli mali, quibus ministris ilia opera- 
 bantur. Insiiut enim corporeis rebus omnia elementa 
 mundi, quaedam occultas seminarise rationes, quibus 
 cum data fuerit opportunitas temporalis atque causalis 
 prorumpunt in species debitas suis modis et finibus. 
 Et sic non dicuntur angeli qui ista faciuut animalium 
 creatores, sicut nee agricolse segetum vel arborum 
 vel quorumcunque in terra gignantium creatores di- 
 cendi sunt, quamvis novernnt prsebere quasdam 
 visibiles opportunitates et eausas ut ilia nascantur. 
 Quod autem faciunt visibiliter, hoc angeli iuvisibiliter. 
 Deus vero solus verus Creator est, qui eausas ipsas et 
 rationes seminarias rebus ipsis inseruit. Res breviter 
 dicta est quee si exemplis et copias a disputatione 
 explicetur ut facilius iutelligatur longo sermone opus 
 esset a quo se ratio nostrse .festinationis excusat." — 
 Quast. sup. Vet. Test. lib. ii. § 21. 
 
 Some have thought that merely an appearance of 
 serpents was produced ; and others, that the serpents 
 of the magicians were only imitations^ of such rep- 
 
 ' This was the opinion of Dr. Webster, who says," I shall unriddle the 
 mvstery as I have sonietinies seen it performed, and is but thus : — The Jug- 
 gler that is to perform this feat is provided beforehand with a wire so twined 
 and wrested, that it may be pressed by the little finger into the ball of the 
 hand, and when let loose it will extend itself like a spring, and make a 
 pretty motion upon a table. This is fitted with a suitable head, and a 
 piece of neatlv painted linen perfectly resembling a serpent Avith eyes and 
 all. This, tluis fitted, he holdeth in his right hand between his little 
 finger and the ball of his hand. Then with his left hand he t;iketh up a 
 little white rod which he hath upon the table, with which he maketh peo- 
 ple believe he perforincth all his feats; and then telling them a story to 
 amuse ihcm, that he will, like Moses and Aaron, transfonn that rod 
 into a serpent, he presently beginneth to stare about him, and to utter
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. 141 
 
 tiles. But it does not appear, that these opinions 
 are made out by the narration of Moses. The same 
 miracle had been wrounht by ]\Ioses before, when he 
 prayed for a confirmatory sign at the hands of Grod ; 
 (Exod. iv. 3, 4) ; and it was promised as a sign to 
 him when in the presence of Pharaoh. Then, also, 
 we find a command to Moses to prove his divine 
 mission to his brethren by this very sign. So that 
 the Egyptian magicians could hardly be supposed 
 ignorant of so great and so oft-repeated a miracle. 
 
 some strauge and nonsensical words as though he were invoking some 
 spirit or goblin ; and so immediately conveyeth the rod into his lap, if 
 sitting, or into his sleeve if standing, and then lets loose the serpent 
 forth out of his right hand, with pushing it forwards, that what with the 
 wire, and the nimble motion of his hand, he maketh it to move a pretty 
 space on the table, which he continueth, while otfering with the one hand 
 to take it by the neck, he nimbly with the other hand pulleth it forwards, 
 and lurneth it by touching the tail, and in the meanwhile hisseth so cun- 
 ningly, that the bystanders think it is the serpent itself, and presently 
 whips it, and conveys it into his pocket. 
 
 " And such a trick as this well acted might make Pharaoh and the 
 beholders believe there was as much done as Aloses and Aaron did ; but 
 only that Aaron's rod swallowed up their serpents or his serpent theirs, 
 which they might easily excuse. As for the changing water into blood 
 and the producing of frogs, they were so easy to be done after the same 
 manner, that they need not any particular explication ; for by this the 
 manner of their performance may most easily be understood." " So that 
 it is very foolish and absurd to bring in a demon from hell, or an angel 
 from Heaven, or a soul from above, to solve a thing that seems strange 
 and uncouthly, when the craft and cunning of men, if duly considered 
 and examined, are sufficient to perform the same, and much more." 
 
 Afterwards he speaks in quite a different manner : "• And where our 
 translators say, the magicians did so with their enchantments, the word 
 lahatiin should be rendered, suis laminis, that is with their bright plates 
 of metal ; for the word doth not signify enchantments in any one place in 
 all the Old Testament. And if truth and reason may bear any sway 
 at all, it must be understood metalline bright plates, framed under certain 
 fit constellations, and ensculped with certain figures, by which naturally, 
 without any diabolical assistance, they did perform strange things and 
 make the shapes of some things appear to the eye." " U'e must assert 
 that there hath been a certain lawful act whereby some sorts of metals 
 might be mixed together under a due constellation, and atter engraven 
 in like fit planetary times with sundry figures that would naturally work 
 strange things." — Dr. Webster's Discovery of itupposad Witclicraft, pp. 
 15-1— 156,
 
 142 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 It is, therefore, easy to suppose, that they prepared 
 themselves with serpents, knowing to what kind of 
 test their magical powers would be put. Amidst the 
 fumes of the incense or other fumigations used, they 
 would have additional facility to effect any dextrous 
 exchange ; and, in fact, the superiority of JSIoses lay 
 not so much in the rod of Aaron being changed into 
 a serpent, as in that serpent swallowing the others, 
 and becoming again a rod at the command of Moses. 
 This would have surpassed the limits of the most 
 wonderful legerdemain ; it would have required some- 
 thing like the lamina spoken of by Dr. Webster; 
 but we hear of no such deeds as this from the magi- 
 cians of Egypt. 
 
 Again, there are serpents^ in Egypt quite harm- 
 less ; so that the experiment would have been at- 
 tended with no danger ; and when all these circum- 
 stances are compared with the etymology of the 
 words, why should Magic be suj^posed necessary? 
 Why should that which admits of so easy a solution 
 upon natural principles be referred, as a matter of 
 choice, to the marvellous. Pharaoh, no doubt, be- 
 lieved in the powers of the magicians. He did not 
 consider them as mere jugglers ; and knowing (for 
 how could he be ignorant of?) the education of 
 Moses, he referred him to the same class. It may 
 fairly be asked, — If the Egyptians could rival, or at 
 least imitate Moses in the infliction of plagues, why 
 liad they no power to remove them ? They might 
 have soj)histry enough to satisfy the king, already a 
 firm believer, but what a tale does the omission tell 
 against their magical powers I Pharaoh's fault seems 
 
 ' "Ofu; av^pcuvriuv ouianov SnXr^^ovtj. — Herodotus. Euter})e, c. 74.
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. 143 
 
 to have been, that he did not, with sufficient atten- 
 tion, examine the proofs of miraculous power on both 
 sides ; otherwise can he be blamed for not hearken- 
 ing to the voice of one man who supported his claims 
 by miracles, while many others, also capable of prov- 
 ing their wisdom by miracles, advised a strenuous re- 
 sistance I The Egyptian magicians themselves seem 
 to have considered Moses as one of their own pro- 
 fession, and to have hoped that in each successive 
 infliction he had attained the utmost of his power ; 
 and that the gods of Egypt would not allow their 
 people to be so grievously plagued by the superior 
 skill of a foreigner and a captive. They seem to 
 have felt their own inferiority ; but yet to have been 
 convinced that Moses exceeded them in the degree, 
 but not in the nature of his power; and this too 
 seems to have been the opinion of Pharaoh himself.^ 
 
 ' It may not be foreign to the subject of this first miracle before Pharaoh 
 to remark, that the word rendered sei-pents, viz, (|''3J1) tannin, has been 
 variously rendered, and it remains a matter of doubt with many, whether 
 the rods were changed into serpents or into crocodiles. From the way in 
 which the word is used in other passages, it seems to imply some large 
 aquatic or amphibious creature, and hence it is translated whales in Gen. 
 i. 21. In Exodus iv. 3, the word is not tannin but nachash (Ji^Hi) when 
 speakinn- of the same miracle, being given as a sign to Moses. Xow, con- 
 cerning this Ji^n3 nachash, it is by Dr. A. Clarke supposed to be an 
 ourang-outang ; and such he labours to prove it in his notes to Genesis iii. 
 The conc'orrent voice of antiquity has decided that the serpent was the 
 instrument of the temptation, and that consequently nachash signifies 
 serpent. Mr Deane, in his admirable treatise on serpent- worship has 
 set this question altogether at rest, and has thrown so much light on that 
 part of the Scriptures as to merit the thanks of every Biblical student. 
 In the case under consideration, the manner in which the attributes and 
 sanctions of Moses have been parcelled out among the divinities of Greece 
 and Esypt, help us to some decision. The caducous of Mercury may be 
 shown ijy many arguments to be but a copy of the rod of Closes. Now 
 we cannot think it mere accident that around this rod serpents should be 
 twisted, so that the god might take them by the tail. The form in which 
 thev are twisted is another matter ; and represents the solar-ophite em- 
 blem ; but the rod has nothing to do with this. The rod was that by
 
 144 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 The second sign, the plague of the changing of the 
 waters into blood, was denounced against the king 
 and the kingdom the day before it took place ; and 
 the Eg3'ptian magicians had therefore fair notice and 
 time enough to make the necessary preparations. 
 Here, too, their success places the conduct of Pha- 
 raoh exactly in that point of view which has just 
 been taken of it. The river and all lakes and pools 
 of water had been already changed by Moses ; conse- 
 quently the magicians could only operate upon small 
 quantities of water, and that operation was therefore, 
 as Dr. Hugh Farmer observes, as great and as ap- 
 parently divine in its character, as the transforma- 
 tion caused by Moses and Aaron. That there were 
 modes known to the ancients by which Avater or 
 wine might be made to assume the appearance of 
 blood is proved by the prodigy' which happened to 
 Xerxes while he was meditating the invasion of 
 Greece. The wine poured into his cup one evening 
 at supper appeared to be suddenly changed to blood ; 
 and when the magi were asked their opinion of the 
 omen, they unanimously endeavoured to divert the 
 king from his intended expedition, but in vain ; 
 " and if," adds the historian, " there had been left 
 to him anv vestioe of sense, he would certainlv have 
 desisted, having been often warned concerning Leo- 
 nidas and the Spartans." 
 
 There is a circumstance connected with this anec- 
 
 which darkness was brought over the land, and afterwards death ; and 
 the caduceus of Mercury had the power of inducing at the pleasure of the 
 god, sleep or death, 
 
 ' " Prius quam Athenas delcrct, Lncedemonis invadendte consilium 
 agitante admi'aliik* inter ca-nani jjindifiiuin iiKi<Iit. Infusum nanique 
 patene ejus vivuni in sanf;iiineni, ncc seniel nee itcrum et tertio conversum 
 est." — Val. Max. lib. i. cap. (i.
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. 145 
 
 dote, which though worth mentioning, is left un- 
 noticed. It is well known how often omens, oracles, 
 and prodigies were produced to suit the occasion, 
 and it is also well known that Artabanus and many 
 other persons of rank and influence, were justly 
 opposed to the projected invasion. If the wisdom 
 of Artabanus, which has been greatly, and it would 
 seem not without reason, extolled, suggested this 
 omen, and there are not wanting grounds for be- 
 lieving this to have been the case, there is the 
 greater cause to admire his sagacity, and to deplore 
 the infatuated obstinacy of the Persian monarch. 
 Josephus^ remarks, that the water afflicted the 
 Egyptians with many diseases when so changed ; 
 but that to the Hebrews it seemed to have under- 
 gone no alteration. With regard to the second 
 plague, that of frogs, there is still less difficulty. 
 This had been announced also beforehand ; and 
 where there was so great a number of frogs, it 
 would not require much skill to produce the appear- 
 ance of a few upon any occasion. Ashmole" has 
 collected some authorities on this subject in favour 
 of magic. " To instance the generation of frogs, 
 lice, worms, insects, &c., the work of a philosopher 
 is therein only to strengthen the seeds of Nature, for 
 she alone works, and so to quicken them that they 
 
 ' The water in the houses of the Egyptians was changed into blood, 
 " both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone." It may be asked then 
 — where did the magicians get water to turn into blood before the king ? 
 But in Exod. vii. 24, 25, we find: "And all the Egyptians digged round 
 about the river for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water 
 of the river; and seven days were fulfilled after that the Lord had smitten 
 the river." The words of Josephus are : — " Such was the river to the 
 Egyptians ; but it was sweet and fit for drinking to the Hebrews, and no 
 ways different from what it used to be." — Jos. Ant. lib. ii. cap. 14. 
 
 ' Notes to the Theat. Chem. Brit. p. 445.
 
 146 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 hasten the work of generation ; and by such means 
 Thomas Aquinas supposes, that Pharaoh's magicians 
 produced frogs, inasmuch as it seems to the ignorant 
 not to be the work of Nature, that usually operates 
 more leisurely, but rather the power of the devil ; 
 but they who are learned in such arts marvel not 
 at such working, but glorify the Creator, to whose 
 honor alone these operations must chiefly tend. 
 For He is best praised in His works, and we know- 
 ing him in and by these visible things, may, through 
 such knowledge, understand His more secret and 
 invisible things, and thereby be better enabled to 
 glorify Him than men otherwise can." 
 
 The plague of lice was likewise foretold ; but the 
 attempt on the part of the Egyptian magicians to 
 imitate it was in vain. " And the magicians did so 
 with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they 
 could not; so there were lice upon man and upon 
 beast. And the magicians said unto Pharaoh, this 
 is the finger of God."^ Here we have the conclu- 
 sion of the magicians' miracles. Had they acted by 
 supernatural aid, there seems no reason to imagine 
 the production of lice more difficult than that of 
 frogs ; and according to Natural Magic, the above 
 passage from Ashmole puts lice and frogs together. 
 Whatever was the cause, however, they could neither 
 imitate, nor remove the plague ; and, finding that this 
 was the case, they frankly declared: "This is the 
 finger of God." This declaration gives an additional 
 probability to the opinion, that hitherto the Egyp- 
 tian magi had supposed the miracles of Moses pro- 
 duced by the same means as their own. When they 
 
 ' Exod. viii. 18.
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. 147 
 
 found that sleight of hand could not carry on the 
 series, they acknowledged a higher power. It would 
 seem, however, that they still continued hostile to 
 the claims of Moses, and, perhaps, still advised 
 Pharaoh against them, for the sixth plague afflicted 
 the magicians especially. " And the magicians could 
 not stand before Moses, because of the boils ; for 
 the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the 
 Egyptians."^ After this, we hear no more of them; 
 and some commentators suppose that they perished in 
 this plague. 
 
 This is the history of the magicians of Pharaoh. 
 Now it would seem natural, had they possessed the 
 powers usually ascribed to them, that if the will of 
 the Almighty prevented their removing His judg- 
 ments, they would at least have produced animals 
 of some other kind, in the formation or creation of 
 which there could have been less suspicion excited, 
 than merely by following the steps of Moses, and 
 doing in a small degree what he had already done in 
 a large one. They would thus have had an admir- 
 able opportunity of throwing discredit upon Moses, 
 of obtaining the favor of the king, and elevating 
 in the eyes of the people at large their own super- 
 natural power. It does not seem at all inconsistent 
 with the acknowledgment, " this is the finger of 
 God," that Pharaoh and the magicians should still 
 refuse the demands of Moses. They might, accord- 
 ing to the general system of heathenism, allow him 
 full credit for Divine assistance ; but esteeming him 
 a messenger of the God of Israel, suppose that the 
 divinities of Egypt would not allow matters to be 
 
 ' Exod. ix. 11. 
 
 h2
 
 148 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 carried to extremities with their own people. One 
 
 infliction after another they suffered with this hope. 
 
 Each time did the judgments of God become heavier 
 
 and more fearful, till at one stroke the flower of 
 
 Egypt was cut down, — till the Lord went out at 
 
 midnight, "and there was a great cry in Egypt ;^ 
 
 for there was not a house where there was not 
 
 one dead." Certainly, had these men believed Moses 
 
 to be the messenger of the Omnipotent, they would 
 
 not have persevered in the course which they had 
 
 adopted. So we find that the Syrians, when routed 
 
 with immense slaughter by the children of Israel in 
 
 times long after, said: " Their gods~ are gods of the 
 
 hills, therefore they were stronger than we ; but let 
 
 us fight against them in the plains, and surely we 
 
 shall be stronger than they." After the destruction 
 
 of the first-born, the hearts of the king and of his 
 
 people seem to have been filled with rage. They no 
 
 longer heeded the power that bad fallen with so 
 
 dreadful a weight of vengeance upon their heads, 
 
 but rushed on with a blind fury to the destruction 
 
 prepared for them. 
 
 From all that has been written on the subject of 
 Egyptian Magic, it appears to have been of the same 
 description with those extraordinary feats performed 
 in all ages by the jugglers of India. There is a 
 passage of Damascius concerning some supernatural 
 exhibitions in the Egyptian temples, which is ex- 
 ])lained by M. Salverte and by Sir David Brewster^ 
 to involve no magic, but a concave mirror. In a 
 manifestation which ought not to be revealed, there 
 
 ' Exod. xii. 30. » ] Kings xx. 23. 
 
 » Nat. Magic, p. 67.
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. U9 
 
 appeared on the wall of the temple a mass of light 
 which at first seemed to be very remote. It trans- 
 formed itself in coming nearer into a face, evidently 
 divine and supernatural, of a severe aspect, but mixed 
 with gentleness, and extremely beautiful. According 
 to the institutions of a mysterious religion, the Alex- 
 andrians honoured it as Osiris and Adonis. The old 
 French romance, Sethos, and that beautiful tale, 
 " The Epicurean," by Mr. Moore, will be found full 
 of the wonders of Egyptian temples. 
 
 The next instance of incantations mentioned in 
 Holy Writ is found in the History of Balaam, That 
 he was in the habit of using enchantments is evident 
 from the passage. " And when Balaam saw that it 
 pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not as at 
 other times to seek for enchantments." This word 
 is the plural of that singular term nachash ; and our 
 translators have here rendered nachashim, — enchant- 
 ments. Whatever rites they were that he was in 
 the habit of using, two things are evident from the 
 story, — that he wished to do that which Balak 
 desired, namely, to curse the children of Israel, — 
 and that God overruled his wish. It was not an 
 uncommon practice with the ancients when at war 
 with any state to have that state solemnly cursed ; 
 and some such forms of imprecation have been pre- 
 served to this day. Those' pronounced by the 
 
 ' They are two . 1. to call over the protecting deities to the side of the 
 Romans. 
 
 Si . Deu3 . si . Dea . est . cui . populus . civitas . que . Carthaginien- 
 gia . est . in . tutela . te . que . maxima . ille . qui . urbis . hujus . po- 
 puli . que . tutelam . recepisti . precor . veneror . que . veniam . que . 
 vobis . peto . ut .vos . populum . civitatem . que . Carthaginiensem . de- 
 seratis . loca . templa . sacra . urbera . que . eorum . reliuquatis . Absque 
 . his . abeatis . ei . que . populo . civitati . que . metura . formidinem .
 
 150 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 Roman dictator against Carthage, are given by 
 Macrobius ; and the prevalent opinion was, that no 
 state could be overthrown till the tutelary divinities 
 had forsaken it. The Divine inspiration came upon 
 the prophet, and instead of cursing the people, he 
 
 oblivionem . injiciatis . proditi . que • Romam . ad . me . meos • que . ve- 
 niatis . nostra . que . vobis . loca . templa . sacra . urbs . acceptior . que . 
 probatior . que . sit . mihi . que . populo . que . Romano . militibus . que 
 . meis • preepositi . sitis . ut . sciamus . intelligamus . que . si . ita . fece- 
 ritis . voveo . vobis • templa . ludos . que . facturum. 
 
 " Whether it be god or goddess under whose protection the people and 
 city of Carthage are placed, and they especially who have undertaken to 
 defend this city and people, I pray, beseech, and earnestly entreat that 
 you would forsake the people and city of Carthage, and leave their tem- 
 ples, city, sacred things, and depart from them ; and that you would inspire 
 this city and people with fear, terror, and forgetfulness, and that coming 
 out from them, you would pass over to Rome, to me and mine ; and that 
 our places, temples, sacred things, and city may be more acceptable and 
 more agreeable to you ; and that you would preside over me, the Roman 
 people, and ray soldiers; that we may know and perceive it. If you will 
 do this, I promise to consecrate to your honor both temples and games." 
 
 Again, 2nd. — To devote the city to destruction, after it was supposed 
 that the tutelary gods had abandoned it : — 
 
 Dis . Pater . Vejo-\is . Manes . sive . vos . quo . alio . nomine . fas . 
 est . nominare . ut . omnes . illam . urliem . Carthaginem . exercitum . que 
 . quera . ego . me . sentio . dicere , fuga . formidine . terrore . que . com- 
 pleatis . qui . que . adversum . legiones . exercitimi . quas . nostrum . arma 
 . tela . que . ferent . uti . vos . eum . exercitum . eos . hostes . eos . que . 
 homines . urbes . agros . que . eorum . et . qui . in . his . locis . regionibus 
 . <igris . urbibus . ve . habitant . abducatis . lumine . supero . privetis . ex- 
 ercitum . que . hostium . urbes . agros . que . earum . quos . me . sentio . 
 dicere . uti . vos . eas . urbes . agros . que . capita . aetates . que . eorum 
 . devobis . consecratas . que . habeatis , illis . legibus . quibus , quando . 
 que . sunt . maxirae . hostes . devoti . eos . que . ego . vicarios . pro . me 
 . fide . magistratu . que . meo . pro . populo . Romano . exercitibus . legio- 
 nibus . que . nostris . do . devoveo . ut , me . meam . que . fidem . im- 
 perium . que . legiones . exercitum . que . nostrum . qui . in • his . rebus . 
 gerundis . sunt . bene . salvos . siritis , esse . Si . haec . ita . faxitis . ut . 
 ego . sciam . intclligam . que . tunc . quis . quis . hoc . votum . faxit . ut 
 . ubi . faxit . rocte . factum . esto . ovibus . atris . tribus . Tellus . mater . 
 te . que . Jupiter ol)testor. 
 
 "Dis, Pater, Vejovis, Manes, or by whatsoever name you wish to be 
 invoked ; I pray you fill this city of Carthage with fear and terror ; and 
 to put that army to flight which I mention ; and which bears arms or 
 darts against our legions and army ; and that you may take away this army, 
 those enemies, those men, her cities, and their country, and all who dwell 
 in those places, regions, countries, and cities, and deprive them of the light
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. 151 
 
 "altogether blessed tliem."^ They continued not 
 long in the purity of their worship. Intermarrying 
 with the Gentile nations around them, they soon fell 
 into the practice of idolatry ; and among its other 
 ill effects it produced among them a belief in, and 
 a practice of, Magic and Sorcery. 
 
 The opinions of the doctors at that time, when 
 the Talmud was compiled, are allowed to have great 
 weight as to the belief of that period ; whatever 
 credit be reposed in the facts which they relate, they 
 did but repeat the traditions of much earlier times. 
 In their comment on the thirty-second chapter of 
 Exodus, they state their belief that Aaron spoke the 
 literal truth when he said,' " I cast it into the fire, 
 and there came out this calf." They contrive to 
 get rid of the remark that it was fashioned with a 
 graving tool, and intimate that it was considered of 
 old that the golden calf had been formed by sign and 
 spell, or, as our old romancers poetically phrased it, 
 by word of power. 
 
 The case of Micah and his teraphira has already 
 been noticed. The narrative is creditable neither 
 
 above ; and let all their annies, cities, countries, chiefs and people be 
 held by you consecrated and devoted according to those laws by which 
 and at what time enemies may be most effectually devoted. I also give 
 and devote them as vicarious sacrifices for myself and my magistracy ; for 
 the Roman people, and for all our armies and legions which are employed 
 in those countries may be preserved in safety. If, therefore, you will do 
 these things, as I know, conceive, and intend, then he who makes this 
 vow, whensoever and wheresoever he shall make it, I engage it shall 
 sacrifice three black sheep to thee. Oh, Mother Earth, and to thee, Oh 
 Jupiter ! " 
 
 When the execrator mentions the Earth, he stoops down, and places 
 both hands upon it ; and when he names Jupiter he lifts up both his 
 hands to Heaven ; and when he mentions his vow, he places both his 
 hands upon his breast. — Macrobius, Saturnalia, lib. iii. cap. 9. 
 
 ' Numbers xxiv. 10. ' Exod. xxxii. 24.
 
 152 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 to the Danites, to Micah, to his mother, or his priest. 
 The awful character and tremendous miracles of 
 Elijah, the descent of his power upon Elisha, and 
 the dread in which the wicked themselves stood of 
 these prophets kept down for a time the worship of 
 Baal, and the divinations and magic connected 
 therewith ; but while the detestable rites of that 
 pretended god were still practised, the priests " cut 
 themselves after their manner with knives and lan- 
 cets, saying, Oh, Baal, hear us .'"^ and seem to have 
 fully expected a miracle in their behalf. When 
 the worship of this idol was put down, neither the 
 perverseness nor the superstition of the Jews was 
 affected. Magic was still cultivated ; and even to 
 the time of our Saviour subsisted in full force. The 
 captivity at Babylon added strength and diversity to 
 their magical prepossessions, and those who remained 
 in Babylon were, of course, more deeply tinged than 
 those who returned with Zerubbabel. Yet they 
 visited Jerusalem at intervals, and spread and 
 ■strengthened the spirit of superstition. 
 
 The traditions concerning the magical power of 
 Solomon had many of them their origin during that 
 memorable captivity, and the attachment of the 
 Chaldeans to the Occult Sciences gave a direction, as 
 well as an intensity to the similar pursuits of the 
 Jews. They were now cured of idolatry into which 
 they never relapsed ; but they so perverted the worship 
 of the one true God, that it bore in their hands no small 
 resemblance to heathenism. Not content with the 
 Mosaic History, they interj)o]ated the lives of the 
 patriarchs with a number of the most absurd fables ; 
 
 ' 1 Kings xviii. 26.
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MAGIC. 153 
 
 and began the work with no later a personage than 
 Adam. They asserted that before the creation of 
 Eve, Adam had had a wife named Lihs ; that she 
 being deceived attempted also to seduce Adam to 
 evil ; but he withstood the temptation, and she 
 became an evil spirit, animated with a feeling of 
 hatred, envy, and jealousy. This spirit was, they 
 declared, particularly hostile to pregnant women 
 and young children ; and they accordingly insti- 
 tuted^ some ridiculous ceremonies, by which her 
 evil designs might be baffled. Among others they 
 commanded a stool to be placed for the prophet 
 Elias ; whom they stated to be always, though in- 
 visibly present at the ceremony of circumcision ; and 
 on that occasion they cried aloud to Lilis to begone. 
 So ancient did they consider their Magic, that they 
 declare Abraham to have been animated by the 
 spirit of Adam, and to have worn round his neck 
 a precious stone, of which the sight alone cured every 
 disease ; and which angels after his death hung* 
 upon the sun. The Cabala of the Jews, which 
 treats entirely of spiritual beings, and the means of 
 obtaining power over them, will be considered when 
 we speak of Sorcery ; but there was only little pre- 
 tension among the Jews to that kind of Magic which 
 forms the subject of this division of our inquiries. 
 
 ' Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 287 — de Harmonia quatuor Evangelistanim. 
 * Steheliu'3 Jewish Traditions. 
 
 H 5
 
 154 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AUTOMATA, OR MOVING IMAGES. 
 
 Much stress has been laid on the moving and 
 speaking images, constructed by some of the most 
 noted Magicians ; Friar Bacon, Albertus Magnus, 
 Robert Grossetete, Henrique de Villena, and many 
 others, are said to have summoned the powers of 
 evil to aid them in mimicking the vrorks of the 
 Creator. I purpose taking a brief view of some 
 of the principal automata, and, begiunig with times 
 purely mythic, we find Hephastus skilled in form- 
 ing the most wonderful moving images : the golden 
 dogs which guarded the treasures of Alcinous and 
 the golden maidens who waited on himself, are 
 proofs of his capacity ; but the most singular of 
 his automata was the brazen man, Talus, whom he 
 gave to Minos, king of Crete, as a guard for the 
 shores of that island. Talus had but one vein in 
 his body, and this was filled with ichor, the fluid 
 which circulated instead of blood in the veins of 
 the immortals ; by means of this ichor Talus lived, 
 moved, spake, and reasoned. When the Argonauts 
 came to Crete he pelted them with stones to prevent 
 their landing, but at last Medea cajoled him as she 
 did Pelias ; under pretence of making him immortal, 
 she drew out the brazen stopper which was placed 
 in his neck to confine the fluid, the mystic ichor 
 ran out, and the image ceased to move. That there
 
 AUTOMATA. 155 
 
 were among the Greeks some automata in the shape 
 of statues is evident from the notice taken of ani- 
 mated and inspired images by the Neo-Platonic 
 philosophers. " The virtues of sacred rites," says 
 Proclus/ " sometimes cause statues to be animated 
 and replete with divine inspiration ; " and Hermias * 
 explains how this divine life was infused ; " The 
 telestic art of purifying the matter of Avhich the 
 statue consists, and placing round it characters and 
 certain symbols, renders it by these means animated, 
 and causes it to receive a certain life from the world ; 
 it next prepares it to be illuminated by a divine 
 nature, through which, so long as it is in a state 
 of perfect adaptation, it delivers oracles." Proclus, * 
 again ; " For these things are eiFected by those who 
 are telestse (initiators) ; in reality, who give com- 
 pletion to statues through characters and vital names, 
 and render them living and moving." Sallust,'* too, 
 calls the characters inscribed round such statues 
 imitations of supernal ineffable powers : similar opi- 
 nions were expressed by Jamblicus^ in a work now 
 lost, but of which a few fragments are preserved. 
 The Asclepian Dialogue has a singular passage on 
 this subject : — " But there is no need to wonder at 
 marvels, since man has been able to find out, and 
 even to form the divine nature. For our ancestors 
 erred much, and were unbelieving as to the (soul) 
 of the gods, and negligent of the divine religion and 
 worship ; they invented an art by which they framed 
 
 ' Doubts concerning Providence. — Ta3'lor's Translation, p. 34. 
 
 ^ Scholia on the Phaedrus of Plato, p. 104. 
 
 ^ Comment on Timaus.— Taylor's Translation. 
 
 * Treatise on the Gods and on the World. — Taj'lor. 
 
 ^ On statues mentioned by Photius.
 
 156 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 (statues of) gods, and added virtues conformable to 
 the nature of the world incorporating it (with the 
 statues). And since they could not make souls, 
 they amalgamated with these holy images the souls 
 of angels and devils (dtemons), which they had in- 
 voked for that purpose (or connected them with holy 
 mysteries), by which these idols alone could have 
 the power of doing good or ill."^ Daedalus, again, 
 was a noted maker of automata, and it was necessary 
 to fasten up the statues which he made to prevent 
 their running or flying away. Aristotle says this 
 was done by putting mercury in them ; ■ but Bishop 
 Wilkins, in his " Mathematical Magic," has the cu- 
 rious remark, that " this would have been too gross 
 a way for so excellent an artificer ; it is more likely 
 he did it with wheels and weights."^ After Dsedalus 
 comes Archytas, a native of Tarentum, who is said 
 to have made a wooden dove that could fly, but 
 having once alighted, was incapable of resuming its 
 flight. This automaton, according to Aulus Gellius,* 
 was suspended by balancing, and animated by a 
 concealed aura, or spirit. Some light may be 
 thrown upon the manner in which this was done 
 
 ' I add the original: — " Omnium mirabilium vicit admirationem quod 
 homo divinam potuit invenire naturam eanique efiicere. Quoniam ergo 
 proavi nostri multum errabaiit circa deonmi rationem increduli et non 
 animadvertentes ad cuitum relijjionenique divinam, invenerunt artem qua 
 deos efficerent, cui invenUe adjunxenint virtutem mundi naturce conve- 
 nientem eamque miscentes. Et quoniam animas facere non poterant evo- 
 cantes animas dncmonum vel angclorum eas indiderunt imaginibus Sanctis 
 divinisque mj'Steriis per quas sola idola et bencfacicndi et malofaciendi 
 vires habere potuisscnt." The passage is sutticiently ditticult to under- 
 stand. It serves, however, to establish the writer's belief that the souls 
 of demons were evoked to animate the sacred images. 
 
 ' De Animal. lib. i. c. 3. '■' Math. Magic, lib. ii. c. 4. 
 
 * See Sir David Brewster's Nat. Magic.
 
 AUTOMATA. 157 
 
 by the tract and experiments of Mr. Walker, 
 the lecturer on Astronomy, &c. ; this gentleman con- 
 sidered that he had discovered the great secret of 
 aerostation, namely, the mode of directing the course 
 of a volant body through the air. His experiments 
 in the lecture room were certainly, as far as they 
 went, satisfactory ; he supposed that a bird was 
 propelled through the sky by the unequal pressure 
 of the air from beneath upon various parts of the 
 wings and body, or rather to the unequal resistance 
 they made to it, the bird striking the air with the 
 wing, the front of which presented a firm bony ridge; 
 the air passed along under it, and then upwards over 
 the thin yielding edge presented by the hinder front, 
 and the bird was thus driven along. Mr. W. ex- 
 hibited models made on this principle which by one 
 stroke were propelled across a large room, coming 
 gradually to the ground. It would seem, therefore, 
 from the success of these experiments and from the 
 terms used in speaking of the dove made by Ar- 
 chytas, which " was suspended by balancing," that 
 a similar mode of aerostation was there carried into 
 effect. Aulus Gellius himself does not suppose that 
 the aura, or spirit, was anything more than the life- 
 like effect of the machinery.^ 
 
 One of the most interesting of all automata was 
 that mentioned by Cicero " as the work of Ar- 
 chimedes, a sphere which represented all the motions 
 of the heavenly bodies, the passage of the Sun 
 through the Signs, the changes and phases of the 
 Moon, &c. ; this is said by Claudian to have been 
 
 ' Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticw, lib. x. c. 12. 
 " Tusc. Quaist. lib. i. Ue Nat. Ucoruui, lib. ii.
 
 158 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 made of glass, and he wrote ^ upon it a well-known 
 epigram which may be thus translated : — 
 
 Jove in the mimic cri/stal saw the Heavens ; 
 And smiling, thus addressed the powers divine. 
 " See you how far do mortal cares extend, 
 To act my labours. This Sicilian sage 
 Hath to his brittle sphere transferred the laws 
 Of Nature and of Gods, the thundering pole, 
 And with a motive spirit hath inclosed 
 The stars, in orbits regular to move. 
 Each year an artificial Sun rolls through 
 The signs, and every month a feigned Moon 
 Now gazing on a new created world, 
 Doth industry grow bold, and fondly deem 
 The very Heavens her subjects ? Salmoneus 
 With his false thunders, was, compared to this, 
 Pure Innocence, for here one little hand 
 Hath dared to rival Nature's awful self ! " 
 
 Lactantius,' however, says that it was composed 
 of brass, and Bishop Wilkins^ thinks that it was, in 
 all probability, a glass sphere set in a brazen frame. 
 To illustrate this remarkable machine the celebrated 
 maker of it wrote a book* upon its formation, and 
 though that and another on the same subject have 
 been lost, the art seems not to have wholly perished. 
 Cornelius Agrippa^ says that he saw such a sphere in 
 
 ' Jupiter in parvo quum cemeret athera vitro 
 
 Risit, et ad Superos talia dicta dedit, 
 " Huccine mortalis progressa potentia curse ? 
 Jam mens mfnujili luditur orbe labor, 
 Jura poli, rerumque fidem legesque Deorum, 
 
 Ecce Syracusius transtulit arte senex. 
 Inclusus variis faraulatur spiritus astris 
 Et vivum certis motibus urget opus. 
 Percurrit proprium mentitus Signifcr annum 
 
 Et simulata nova Cynthia mcnsc redit 
 Jamque suum volvens audax industria mundum, 
 
 Gaudet et humana siJcra mcnte regit. 
 Quid falso insontem tonitru Salmonea miror, 
 iEmula naturas parva repcrta manus." 
 2 Instit. lib. ii. c. 5. ^ Math. Magic, lib. ii. c. 3. 
 
 * See Pappus. 
 * De vanitate Scientiarum, cap. 22.
 
 AUTOMATA. 159 
 
 his days, — and were there one to be seen now, it 
 would be no longer a wonder. 
 
 Long after this, Miiller, better known by the 
 name Regiomontanus, made an artificial eagle, which 
 greeted the Emperor Maximilian by starting up and 
 clapping its wings when that prince arrived at Nurem- 
 burg. Afterwards it was stated that it rose from its 
 place towards him, flew three times round him, and 
 then returned. The same philosopher is reported to 
 have made an iron fly, which would return to his 
 hand after taking a large round in the air. Similar 
 automata were made by Janellus Turrianus for 
 Charles V., after his abdication : what is related of 
 these wonderful images is no doubt greatly exag- 
 gerated, — we have seen in the case of Regiomontanus 
 how much was added afterwards to the original ac- 
 
 O 
 
 count of his inventions, — and we have passages extant 
 in many ancient writers which may satisfy us that 
 their automata were greatly inferior to ours. Horace 
 
 says — 
 
 Nempe 
 Tu, mihi qui imperitas, aliis servis miser, atque 
 Duceris, ut nervis alienis mobile lignum.' 
 
 What Horace calls " mobile lignum " was a species 
 of image made so as to move by wires, — in short, a 
 kind of puppet ; they were called Neurospasta ; and 
 Heindorf, in commenting on the passage, quotes 
 Apuleius as follows:" — " They who, in wooden figures 
 imitate the gestures of men, — when they pull the 
 
 ' Sat. lib. ii. s. 7, 1. 80. 
 
 * lUi qui in ligneolis hominum figuris gestus movent, qiianJo filum 
 membri quod agitari 8olet traxerint, torquebitur cervix, nutabit caput, 
 oculi vibrabunt, manus ad ministerium prajsto erunt, nee invcnuste totus 
 videbitur vivere. — Ap. de Mundo, ed. Elmenhurst, p. 70.
 
 160 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 wire of that limb which is usually moved, — the neck 
 will turn, the head will nod, the eyes will roll, the 
 hands will be ready for their office, and the whole 
 will pleasingly seem to live." Nothing of this nature 
 can equal the extraordinary toy made by M. Camus, 
 for the amusement of Louis XIV., when a child. It 
 was^ a small coach containing a lady within, a page 
 and footman behind, and was drawn by two horses. 
 When his tiny conveyance was placed at the end 
 of a table prepared for its reception, the coachman 
 smacked his whip, the horses galloped, and every- 
 thing that takes place in the motions of a real car- 
 riage and horses, was successfully imitated. When 
 it came opposite the place where the king was sitting, 
 the coach stopped, the page leaped down from be- 
 hind, and opened the door, the lady alighted, and 
 bowing respectfully to the king, presented him a 
 petition ; she now re-entered the carriage, the page 
 closed the door, and leaped up again behind, the 
 coachman whipped on his horses, and the carriage 
 proceeded : meantime the footman who had alighted 
 when the coach stopped, ran after it, and jumped up 
 into his former place. The writer of this paper saw, 
 when a child, a little carriage of this kind which be- 
 longed to her majesty (Queen Charlotte), only there 
 was no jumping on and off of the footmen ; it was, 
 together with a small snuff-box, which played tunes 
 by means of little figures striking silver bells, in the 
 hands of a German watch-maker for repair. 
 
 None of the automata, however, which we have 
 yet mentioned were at all to be compared to the 
 peacock of Degennes, and the duck of Vaucanson : 
 
 ' Sir David Brewster, Nat. Magic, p. 257.
 
 AUTOMATA. 161 
 
 these were so contrived as to make the sounds pecu- 
 liar to those birds, to pick up grain, and to pass it 
 away in an altered state ; the digestion was effected 
 by chemical solution of the grain in the stomach, and 
 not by trituration, as in the natural bird. Every 
 bone in the body was imitated, and performed its 
 proper functions, and every motion of the real animal 
 was successfully executed by the automaton. These 
 things were very ingenious, they exhibited a high 
 degree of patience, as well as of power, and were 
 the productions of men who not only were capable of 
 better things, but also performed them. They sink, 
 however, into utter insignificance when compared 
 with the calculating machine of Mr. Babbage. That 
 an inanimate engine should actually do the mental 
 work of man, that it should not only compute the 
 most difficult calculations, but correct its own errors, 
 and print the corrected result of its operations, would 
 seem beyond the wildest dreams of magicians them- 
 selves. That springs and wires should perform that 
 which men require long and assiduous training to do, 
 — that they should perform it better and quicker 
 than man, — is a thing which, had it been related of 
 Archimedes, we should boldly have pronounced a 
 moral impossibility. It is done, however, before our 
 eyes.' This wonderful engine would lead us to notice 
 automata in the shape of men commonly called An- 
 droeides: but before we transfer our attention, we will 
 mention the dog that barked and snarled, the sheep 
 that bleated, which Mr. Draz made for the king 
 of Spain, and the little bird constructed by his 
 son. A gold snuff-box four and a half inches long, 
 
 ' See Professor Babbage on the (Economy of Manufacture.
 
 162 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 three inches broad, and one and a half deep, was 
 divided into two partitions ; one contained snuif, and 
 on the other being opened a little bird sprang up and 
 took its place on a golden perch ; the bird was of 
 gold, enamelled green ; it was only three quarters 
 of an inch in length, it wagged its tail, shook its 
 wings, and opening its beak (of gold, enamelled 
 white) poured forth a song so full and clear, that it 
 would have filled a very large room with its melody. 
 M. Maillardet afterwards exhibited such an one in 
 Edinburgh. We now turn to the automata in 
 human shape, between which and those we have 
 just noticed, the calculating machine forms a link. 
 It is not an automaton, though far more extra- 
 ordinary than any automata that ever were ex- 
 hibited. Davies,^ in his " History of Magic," speaks 
 thus concerning such things: — " We have now to 
 refute their error, who are persuaded that brazen 
 hands made under certain constellations may give 
 answers, and be, as it were, guides and counsellors 
 upon all occasions to those that had them in their 
 possession. Among these is one Yepes, who affirms 
 that Henry de VjUena made such an one at Madrid, 
 broken to pieces afterwards by John H. king of 
 Castile ; the same is affirmed by Bartholomew Sibyl- 
 lus and the author of the Image of the World, of 
 Virgil : by William of Malmsbury of Sylvester ; by 
 John Gower of Robert of Lincoln ; by the com- 
 mon people of England of Roger Bacon ; and by 
 Tostatus, Bishop of Avila, George of Venice, Delrio, 
 
 ' This Book, " The Historic of Magic," by John Davies, is a translation 
 of Gabriel Naude, Apologie pour les Grands Hommes soupconnes de 
 Magie. See Notes to Souther's Thalaba.
 
 AUTOMATA. ] 63 
 
 Sibyllus Ragusius, Delancre, and others too many 
 to mention ; of Albertus Magnus, who, as the most 
 expert, had made an entire man of the same metal, 
 and had spent thirty years without any interruption 
 in forming him under several aspects and constel- 
 lations. For example, he formed the eyes (accord- 
 ing to the said Tostatus in his Commentary upon 
 Exodus,) when the Sun was in a part of the Zodiac 
 corresponding to that part, casting them out of divers 
 metals mixed together, and marked with the cha- 
 racter of the same signs and planets, and their 
 several and necessary aspects ; the same method he 
 observed in the head, neck, shoulders, thighs, and 
 legs ; all which were fashioned at several times, 
 and being put and fastened together in the form 
 of a man, had the faculty to reveal to the said 
 Albertus, the solutions of all his principal difficul- 
 ties. To which they add (that nothing may be 
 lost of the story of the statue) that it was battered 
 to pieces by St. Thomas,^ merely because he could 
 not bear its excess of prating. But to give a more 
 rational account of this Androeides of Albertus, as 
 also of all other miraculous heads, I conceive the 
 original of this fable may well be deduced from 
 the Seraph of the Hebrews, by which, as Mr. Selden 
 affirms, many are of opinion that we must under- 
 stand what is said in Genesis concerning Laban's 
 gods, and in the First Book of Kings, concerning 
 the image which Michael put into the bed in David's 
 place. For Rabbi Eleazcr holds that it was made 
 of the head of a male child, the first born, and 
 that dead-born, under whose tongue they applied 
 
 ' St. Thomas Aquinas.
 
 164 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 a lamen of gold, whereon were engraved the cha- 
 racters and inscriptions of certain planets, which the 
 Jews superstitiously wandered up and down with, 
 instead of the Urim and Thummim, or the ephod 
 of the High Priest. And that this original is true 
 and well deduced, there is a manifest indicium in 
 that Henry d'Ossia, and Bartholomaeus Sibillus affirm 
 that the Androeides of Albertus, and the head made 
 by Virgil, were composed of flesh and bone, yet 
 not by Nature, but by art. But this beiug judged 
 impossible by modern authors, and the virtue of 
 images, amulets, and planetary sigils being in great 
 reputation, men have thought ever since (taking 
 their opinion from Trismegistus affirming in his 
 Asclepion, that of the gods some were made by 
 the sovereign God, and others by men, who by 
 some art had the povver to unite the invisible 
 spirits to things visible and corporeal as it is ex- 
 plained at large by St. Augustine), that such figures 
 were made of copper or some other metal whereon 
 men had wrought after some favourable aspects of 
 heaven and the planets. My design is not abso- 
 lutely to deny that he might have composed some 
 head or statue of men, like that of Memnon, from 
 which proceeded a small sound and pleasant noise 
 when the rising sun came to rarefv and force out 
 by his heat from certain small conduits the air which 
 in the cold of the night was condensed within it ; 
 or haply they might be like those statues of Borthius 
 whereof Cassiodorus speaking, said, " Metalla mu- 
 giunt, Diomedes in ajre grues buccinant, aeneus 
 anguis insibilat, aves simulate fritinniunt, et qua? 
 propriam voccm nesciunt ab xre dulcedinem pro-
 
 AUTOMATA. 165 
 
 bantur emittere cantilenae"/ for such I doubt not 
 but may be made by the help of that part of 
 Natural Magic which depends upon the Mathematics." 
 Thus far Davies. It will hardly be necessary to 
 mention that brazen head which Roger Bacon is 
 said to have made, and which his disciple destroyed, 
 or which, according to other accounts, fell down of 
 its own accord, and was broken, after having uttered 
 the momentous sentences, — Tempus fuit, tempus est, 
 tempus erit.- Taking into consideration the disco- 
 veries which were hoped to be made by astrological 
 calculations, we have many wonderful tales of ani- 
 mated statues. A philosopher who had access to 
 the Cabalistic volume \\Titten by Alphonso the wise 
 with his own hand, found out how to make a brazen 
 image, for which gold should have so great an at- 
 traction that wheresoever that precious metal was 
 concealed below the surface of the earth there would 
 
 ' The metals roar, the brazen cranes of Diomede utter their voice, the 
 brazen serpent hisses, the imitative birds chirp, and those things which 
 know not the voice proper to their kind are heard to utter the sweetness 
 of song from the brass. 
 
 ' Sir Thomas Browne's remarks on the brazen head of Roger Bacon 
 throw a new and clear light on this mystified subject. " E\ery year," 
 says he, " is filled with the story of Friar Bacon that made a brazen head 
 to speak these words, ' Time is.'; which tho' there want not the like 
 relations, is surely too literally received, and was but a mystical fable con- 
 cerning the philosopher's great work wherein he eminent!}' laboured. 
 Implying no more by the copper head than the vessel wherein it was 
 wrought, and by the words it spake, the opportunities to be watched about 
 the Tempus ortus or birth of the mystical child or philosophical King of 
 LuUius, the rising of the Terra foliata of Amoldus, when the earth, suffi- 
 ciently impregnated with the water ascendeth white and splendent, 
 which, not observed, the work is irrecoverably lost, according to that of 
 Petrus Bonus : ' Ibi est operis perfectio aut annihilatio, quoniam ipsa die 
 immo hora oriuntur elcmenta simplicia de purata qutE egent statira com- 
 positione antequam volcnt ab igne.' Now, lotting slip this critical oppor- 
 tunity he missed the intended treasure, which had he obtained he might 
 have made cut the tradition of making a brazen wall about England; that 
 is, the most powerful defence, and strongest fortification which gold could 
 have effected." — Enquiries into Vulgar Errors, Book viL ch. 1 7. sec. 7.
 
 166 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the statue remain immoveable as if rooted, till the 
 gold was taken up. For this purpose he hired a 
 workman, and caused him to labour only at the 
 propitious planetary hours, and without informing 
 him as to the occult properties of the statue which 
 he was making. The smith however ascertained the 
 intent of the philosopher, and one day, when alone, 
 he determined to finish it, even without orders ; he 
 did so ; the moment was fortunate, and the com- 
 pleted image instantly leaped from the table to the 
 ground. The smith dug and discovered a treasure, 
 and now finding how truly valuable was the work of 
 his hands, the demon of avarice spoke powerfully to 
 his heart, he seized upon the statue and fled. Italy, 
 where the figure had been made, was not a safe 
 place, nor were there, he fondly imagined, treasures 
 sufficient for his wishes to be found within her con- 
 fines. The gold of the new world, then just dis- 
 covered, tempted him, and he set sail in a fast-sailing 
 ship for Mexico ; but alas ! the sea has treasures, 
 and while passing over one of its many hoards, the 
 winged talisman sprang from the hands of its dis- 
 appointed maker, and disappeared beneath the 
 waves. 
 
 To come to the writings of Cardan, we have an 
 account of a statue holding a beautiful golden apple 
 adorned with jewels, but if any one adventured to 
 take hold of the apple, he immediately was killed by 
 the figure : touching the apple served to discharge 
 several short bows, tubes, or such instruments con- 
 cealed within the body of the image.^ Bishop Wil- 
 
 ' Cardan. Rcr. Bar. lib. xii. c. 58, and Wilkins' Math. Mag. lib. ii. 
 c. 4.
 
 AUTOMATA. 167 
 
 kins in his " Mathematical Magic," when speaking of 
 the mode by which articulate sounds may be pro- 
 duced from automata says : ^ " But now about arti- 
 culate sounds there is much greater difficulty. Wal- 
 chius thinks it possible entirely to preserve the voice, 
 or any words spoken in a hollow trunk or pipe, and 
 that this pipe being rightly opened, the words will 
 come out of it in the same order wherein they were 
 spoken, somewhat like that cold country where the 
 people's discourse doth freeze in the air all winter, 
 and may be heard in the next summer or at a great 
 thaw; but this conjecture will need no refutation."" 
 Vaucanson, whose duck has been already mentioned, 
 constructed a flute-player, and afterwards an image 
 which played on the pipe and tabor in the manner 
 of the Proven9al peasantry. The younger Le Droz 
 made the figure of a man about the natural size which 
 was capable both of drawing and writing. It held 
 in its hand a metallic pencil, and when a piece of 
 vellum was laid under the point, and a certain spring 
 touched, the automaton began to draw. On the first 
 card, it traced " elegant likenesses'" of the king and 
 the queen, and at every stroke carefully lifted up the 
 pencil: it was never known to spoil any card pro- 
 perly placed under its hand. When this was finished 
 it rested, and afterwards drew five other designs on 
 separate cards. One by M. Maillardet not only made 
 several designs, but executed four pieces of writing, 
 first tracing exactly all the letters, and theu bringing 
 back the hand to dot the i's and cross the t's. These 
 last are well ascertained to have been truly auto- 
 mata, i. e. moved only by machinery. When the 
 
 ' Lib. ii. c, 4.
 
 168 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 flute-player of M. Yaucanson was first exhibited at 
 Paris, it was looked upon with considerable distrust, 
 for a little while before an automaton pianist was 
 brought to that city, and excited the Avonder and 
 admiration of the court by the exactness of its per- 
 formances. The curiosity of the king, who insisted 
 upon seeing the interior of the image, put an end 
 to the imposition : he discovered a child concealed 
 within who executed the pieces in question. This 
 circumstance caused M. Vaucanson's automata to be 
 at first regarded as probably tricks, and it was not 
 until he had exhibited the interior of his flute-player, 
 and had sent a memoir to the Academy describing it, 
 that he gaioed the confidence of the public. With 
 regard to Regiomontanus, it is singular that his auto- 
 mata should not have been noticed by any of his 
 contemporaries. Peter Ramus, who visited Nurem- 
 burg in 1571,^ just a hundred years after the death of 
 Regiomontanus, appears to have collected the reports 
 even then current about him, but before that, we hear 
 of him only as a mathematician. In 1769, the cele- 
 brated automaton chess-player was constructed by 
 M. Kempelen, and brought to England in 1 783. 
 The figure, which was of the natural size, was clothed 
 in a Turkish dress, and seated behind a chest about 
 thirty inches high on a chair attached to the chest. 
 On the chest was a chess-board, and in the hand of 
 the figure, a pipe, which was however removed when 
 the game was about to commence ; before playing, 
 the chest was opened and exhibited to the spectators, 
 
 ' Schol. Math. lib. ii. p. G5. There is a misprint of some importance 
 in Sir David Brewster's Natural Magic, p. 2()G. The visit of Maximi- 
 lian to Nuremt)iirg, is said to have taken place June 7th, 1740, it should 
 be June 7th, 1470.
 
 AUTOMATA. 169 
 
 it was full of wheels and springs, the clothes were 
 lifted from the figure, and the interior of the Turk 
 himself also displayed. It was then wheeled about 
 the room, the chest closed, and the Turk reclothed. 
 The figure always took the first move ; at every move 
 the noise of the wheels was heard, and when it gave 
 check to the king, it shook its head thrice ; check 
 to the queen was denoted by two shakes, and if a 
 false move was made, it replaced its adversary's piece 
 and played itself. This image was exhibited in all 
 the capital cities of Europe, and though among 
 those who examined it were mechanicians, chess- 
 players, and mathematicians, yet it was many years 
 before the secret was discovered. It was afterwards 
 shown by M. Freyhere that a slender youth might 
 be so placed within it as to move the arm, and then 
 the whole wonder ceased. There appears to have 
 been much ingenuity in the contrivance, and the 
 high character of Baron Kempelen, together with the 
 absence of pretension which was observable in him, 
 added respectability to the exhibition. As a work 
 of art, however, it must rank very much below those 
 of Vaucanson. The reader who is curious to have 
 an exact account of this celebrated piece of mechan- 
 ism, may find one in that delightful volume, the 
 Natural Magic of Sir David Brewster.^ Attempts 
 have been made to give the faculty of speaking to 
 images of this kind, but they have hitherto either 
 wholly failed, or at best but partially succeeded. M. 
 Kratzenstein gained a prize proposed by the Aca- 
 demy of Sciences at St. Petersburgh, for a trial 
 which was not altogether a failure ; he showed how 
 
 ' Page 269.
 
 170 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the vowel sounds could be produced by blowing 
 through tubes of various shapes and dimensions. Kem- 
 pelen succeeded in producing some consonant sounds 
 also, and Professor Willis, of Cambridge, has gone on 
 with still further success. The science of Acoustics is 
 being prosecuted with vigour, — new discoveries have 
 been made with regard to the human voice, — and 
 talking and singing machines will be " numbered 
 among the conquests of science." ^ Meantime, preten- 
 sions have not been wanting; and as the quackery of 
 the present time seems to have run into another 
 channel, we must have recourse for our instances to 
 antiquity. In the fourth century, when Theophilus, 
 Bishop of Alexandria, broke to pieces the images of 
 the gods which were in that city, he found many 
 of them hollow, and placed against the wall in such 
 a manner that the priests could slip behind them, 
 and speak to the people through their mouths."" 
 
 The noted impostor Alexander established an 
 oracle of -^sculapius, under the name of Glycon : 
 the mode of consulting this new god was by a 
 billet, which Alexander contrived to open, and the 
 answer was given from the mouth of the statue. 
 Lucian has unveiled the imposture. Alexander, 
 says this lively writer, took the gullet of a crane 
 instead of a pipe, and transmitted the voice through 
 it to the mouth of the statue. Bishop Wilkins says, 
 " a substantial way to discover how articulate sounds 
 may be framed so as to ])roceed from images, is by 
 marking how Nature herself doth employ the several 
 instruments of speech : the tongue, lips, throat, teeth, 
 &e. : to this purpose the Hebrews have assigned 
 
 ' Nat. Magic, p. 211. * Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. lib. v. c. 22.
 
 AUTOMATA. 171 
 
 each letter unto its proper instrument. And be- 
 sides, we should observe what inarticulate sounds 
 do resemble any of the particular letters. Thus we 
 may note the trembling of water to be like the 
 letter L, the quenching of hot things to the letter Z, 
 the sound of strings unto the letters N G, the jerk- 
 ing of a switch to the letter Q ; by an exact obser- 
 vation of these particulars, it is perhaps possible to 
 make a statue speak some words. ^ It will be 
 amusing to see a few of the speculations of this 
 remarkable writer, and as he has classed under the 
 head of automata his design for vessels to pursue 
 their voyages under the surface of the water, we 
 can here bestow a few moments' notice upon them. 
 After remarking upon some of the difficulties, of 
 which the getting fresh air is not the least, he says : 
 " For the resolution of this difficulty, though I 
 will not say that a man may by custom (which 
 in other things doth produce such strange incredible 
 effects) be enabled to live in the open water as the 
 fishes do, the inspiration and expiration of water serv- 
 ing instead of air, this being usual with many fishes 
 that have lungs, yet it is certain that long use and 
 custom may strengthen men against many such in- 
 conveniences of this kind, which, to inexperienced 
 persons, may prove very hazardous, and so it will 
 not be perhaps unto these so necessary to have the 
 air for breathing so pure and defecated as is required 
 for others ;" he then quotes (not without expressing 
 his suspicions of the truth of what he quotes) a story 
 from Mersennus of a French diver who could con- 
 tinue under water six hours with one cubic foot of 
 
 ' Book ii. c. 4. 
 
 l2
 
 1/2 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 air, and keep a candle burning all the time. He 
 concludes thus : — " All kinds of arts and manufac- 
 tures may be exercised in this vessel, the observations 
 made by it may be both written, and, if need were, 
 printed here likewise. Several colonies may thus 
 inhabit, having their children born and bred up 
 without the knowledge of land, who could not 
 choose, but be amazed, with strange conceits upon 
 the discovery of this upper world. I am not able 
 to judge what other advantages there may be sug- 
 gested, or whether experiment would fully answer 
 to these notional conjectures ; but, however, because 
 the invention did seem unto me ingenious and new, 
 being not impertinent to the present inquiry, there- 
 fore I thought it might be worth the mentioning."^ 
 These passages give us some idea of the state of 
 science at the time, and they are not without their 
 value as testifying what an undoubtedly learned man 
 thought might be practicable, and on what grounds. 
 Almost all his schemes have been carried into ex- 
 ecution, though in many cases the very reasons from 
 which he thought them practicable have been shown 
 to be incorrect. 
 
 ' Book ii. c. 5.
 
 ARITHMETICAL MAGIC. 173 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ARITHMETICAL MAGIC, OR THE MAGICAL OPERATION 
 OF NUMBERS, AND OF MAGIC SQUARES. 
 
 This species of Magic forms the subject of the 
 second book of Cornelius Agrippa's " Occult Philo- 
 sophy," and in it he contrives to epitomize nearly all 
 that had been said or written on the subject. He 
 speaks in the first chapter in a very moderate tone, 
 so much so that the reader is led to expect a treatise 
 very much like that of Sir David Brewster. " The 
 doctrines of Mathematics are so necessary to Magic, 
 and have so great an affinity therewith, that those 
 who profess Magic without them, are quite out of the 
 right path, and labor in vain, nor will they be at 
 all able to attain the effects which they desire. For 
 whatsoever things exist and are performed in these 
 inferior natural virtues, are all performed by number, 
 weight, measure, harmony, motion, and light."" He 
 then goes on to speak of automata, alluding to the 
 dove of Archytas, the images made by Vulcan and 
 Daedalus, and the wonders of which Cassiodorus 
 makes mention ; he refers to the strange effects 
 which may be produced by optics, and states that he 
 himself could so construct mirrors as to reflect objects 
 which were strongly illuminated by the rays of the 
 sun even at many miles' distance. Thus a " magi- 
 cian" well acquainted with arithmetic, music, 
 geometry, mechanics, optics, and other natural
 
 174 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 sciences may, " without wonder, do such extraor- 
 dinary things as to excite the admiration of the 
 wisest men."" To prove this he instances many 
 wonders, some of which existed, and others had no 
 being but in poetical fiction : the catalogue is curious, 
 however, as showing the opinion of a learned and 
 able man, for such Agrippa really was, as to the 
 powers of art : he mentions the Pillars of Hercules, 
 and the draining of fens ; mountains built in the sea, 
 and the digging of mines ; the brazen gates of Caspia 
 which no force could break, and the formation of 
 canals. All these, he says, seem to be against 
 Nature, and, therefore, are attributed by the ignorant 
 to the de\'il, a circumstance not very probable, when 
 we reflect that the human agency employed in the 
 fens, canals, and mines could not be concealed, nor 
 would any attempt be made to do so, and conse- 
 quently similar works of ancient times would be 
 necessarily attributed to similar causes ; but after 
 having thus spoken for a page or two, he commences 
 a very different strain, and says, "All things that are, 
 and are made, receive their virtues from numbers. 
 For time consists of number, and all motion and 
 action, and all things which are subject to time and 
 motion." To prove this, which it is charitable to 
 suppose had some meaning, he quotes Pythagoras, 
 Proclus, Plato, Boethius, Themistius and Averroes ; 
 Jerome, Augustin, Origen, Ambrose, Gregory of 
 Nazianzen, Athanasius, Hilary, ]3asilius, Eubanus, 
 Bede, Raban, and lastly St. John. To do him 
 justice, the doctrine which he inculcates was no new 
 one, nor did it, save for the cabbalistic trash under 
 which it was buried, deserve ridicule. It was, that
 
 ARITHMETICAL MAGIC. 175 
 
 one principle of harmony prevailed throughout the 
 universe, according to the laws of which, all bodies 
 had their situation in space, and their appointed 
 motion, and all combinations of natural things took 
 place. It was that great general principle of which 
 the laws which govern the heavenly bodies, — che- 
 mical affinity, — and the moral fitness of things, were 
 but branches ; it was, if we may be permitted to use 
 the expression, the leading idea of that plan after 
 which the Supreme Being formed his spiritual and 
 material creation, and in consequence of which alone, 
 moral fitness and rectitude have any existence. 
 
 This subject is at the bottom of much of the 
 " Occult Philosophy," and we must be permitted here 
 to examine the nature of this foundation. We as 
 Christians, for to such only do we write,^ "through 
 faith we understand that the worlds were framed by 
 the word of God, so that things which are seen were 
 not made of things which do appear." But in that 
 prior eternity in which God dwelt in his own awful 
 solitude, absorbed in his own divine essence, there 
 could have been no law, consequently no " right " and 
 no " wrong," for there were none capable of obligation. 
 Afterwards, when it pleased him for his glory to call 
 into existence spiritual and earthly creatures, he was 
 pleased at the same time to create the abstract prin- 
 ciple of right, and according to that newly-created 
 principle to establish laws for their governance. This 
 principle, which may be called abstract truth, — truth 
 in Moral, and truth in Natural, Philosophy, explains 
 the Divine nature, and the Divine works, in so far as 
 we are capable of understanding both, and in that 
 
 ' Heb. xi. 3.
 
 176 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 light in which it has pleased God to reveal to us the 
 former. The works of God we know by themselves 
 and from their examination we gradually and imper- 
 fectly deduce an unity of principle, we obtain a dim 
 acquaintance with physical truth ; the nature of God 
 we know only through his works, and through his 
 word, which by means of this principle are adapted 
 to our state and capacities. We know it only there- 
 fore through the medium of a principle in accordance 
 with which the universe, moral, intellectual, and 
 physical, is constructed. It is exhibited to us in a 
 certain light, and this light the only one in which 
 our understanding is capable of apprehending it. 
 The theory of Agrippa — which may be found also in 
 Plato, the most acute and highly gifted of men — is 
 that God being a spirit, and therefore without parts, 
 all the perfections of the Divine nature coincide in 
 one, that consequently the physical fitness which pre- 
 vails throughout Nature, and the moral fitness which 
 applies to the actions of intelligent creatures, are but 
 radiations from that great sun of harmony, are but 
 exemplifications of that principle of abstract truth 
 which exists in the will of the Eternal. The words 
 of Dante — 
 
 Vuolsi cosi cola dove si puote 
 
 Cio che si vuole e pui non demandare,' 
 
 apply to moral truth as well as to the obedience of 
 God's creatures to his immediate commands. — " Sic 
 volo, — sic jubeo — stat pro ratione voluntas" is but 
 another expression of the same idea. And the Hin- 
 doos, when they say,^ " Worship and sacrifice are 
 
 ' Inferno, canto iii. linos 95, 96. 
 
 ' Christmas, Univ. Mythology, p. 56.
 
 ARITHMETICAL MAGIC. 177 
 
 good because they are pleasing to God : it is from 
 this they derive their goodness ; they are not good in 
 themselves, and therefore pleasing to him,'''' add their 
 testimony to the same doctrine.' Let us now, after 
 this explanation, show that such was the idea which 
 Agrippa had derived from Plato, Pythagoras, and 
 others," — " Now that they speak of a rational, formal 
 number, not of a material, sensible, or vocal, as of 
 the number of merchants buying or selling, of which 
 the Pythagoreans, Platonists, and our Augustin 
 make no reckoning, but apply their remarks to the 
 proportion resulting from this common numei*ation, 
 which proportion they call natural, rational, and 
 formal, from which great mysteries flow as well in 
 natural as divine and heavenly things. By it is there 
 a way made for the searching out and understanding 
 of all things Jcnowahle. By it the next access to 
 natural prophesying is had, and the Abbot Joachim 
 proceeded no other way in his prophecies than by 
 formal numbers." It is here evident that he speaks 
 of a principle of harmony which may be deduced 
 from numbers, but not of numbers themselves, — an 
 
 ' May it not save some trouble in investigating that most difficult and 
 abstrase subject, the origin of Evil, to recollect the " nature of evil " which 
 is implied in this theory, namely, anything that is opposed to that prin- 
 ciple which forms the law of universal creation ; — in this investigation, as 
 in many others, " ce n'est pas le premier pas qui coute.''^ The cause of the 
 first existence of evil being ascertained, the rest presents no difficulty. 
 The following sentences are offered with diffidence. Was it not possible 
 that God, without creating Evil, could endow his angelic creatures with a 
 power to obey or to disobey those laws which had been made for their 
 rule of conduct, and could this power (the freedom of the will) be called 
 Evil ? From this power, however, arose evil in the minds of those angels 
 who kept not their first estate. From their interference evil arose in the 
 mind of our first parents, and as a punishment for their transgression the 
 earth, the animal kingdom, and mankind, were cursed. Was not Evil then 
 the spontaneous production of the minds of the first rebellious angels ? 
 
 * 1)6 Occulta Philosophia, lib. iii. cap. 2. 
 
 I 5
 
 178 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 Opinion which, when we reflect on the discoveries 
 which have been made by mathematical science, of 
 which numbers are the primary elements, will seem, 
 if not correct, at least excusable. The laws which 
 prevail among the heavenly bodies, and have been 
 ascertained to prevail even at distances too remote 
 for calculation,^ are also those which obtain in chemis- 
 try, electricity, and every other known science. It 
 was not without reason that he says, " By it there is 
 a way made for the searching out and understanding 
 of all things knowable." But the fault into which 
 he and many others fell, was a too rapid generaliza- 
 tion, taking for granted the abstract principle of truth 
 was the same in Natural and Moral Philosophy, for 
 which he had good reason; he applied mathematical 
 science to investigate moral and religious truth p he 
 deemed that no mysteries could resist this key, and 
 accordingly fell into gross absurdities ; he too greatly 
 multiplied the number of things knowable, and, for 
 want of understanding the doctrine of limits (not 
 the differential calculus, but the limits set by Nature 
 to man's power of investigation), he gained an ill 
 repute in his own day, and is now little known, 
 except as the hero of some extravagant tales. As a 
 
 ' See Herschel's Observations on Double Stars. 
 
 '^ Some such idea was thus illustrated by Proclus in his Commentary 
 on the Timffius of Plato : — 
 
 " Each element will be in a greater degree conjoined to, than separated 
 from, the element which is near to it, and one world will be perfectly 
 affected through all of them, and one hanuonioiis order through the pre- 
 dominance of analogy. Thus also of the two cubes 8 and 27, the medium 
 12 being placed next to 8, will have two sides of this, but one side of 27, 
 for 12 is produced by 2x2x 3, but it is vice versa with 18, for this is 
 produced by 3x3x2, and the side of 27 is 3, in the same manner as 2 
 is the side of 8. The physical dogmas, therefore, of Plato about the 
 elements of the universe accord with mathematical speculations.
 
 ARITHMETICAL MAGIC. 179 
 
 specimen of the mode of speculating not only on 
 numbers, but on everything else which was adopted 
 in that day, we will take his remarks on the number 
 three ; he treats all numbers from one to twelve in 
 the same way :^ — 
 
 " The number three is an uncompounded number, 
 a holy number, a number of perfection, a most 
 powerful number ; for there are three persons in 
 the Godhead and three theological virtues. Hence 
 this number conduces to the ceremonies of religion, 
 and hence it is that prayers and sacrifices are thrice 
 repeated." 
 
 He then quotes Virgil, particularly the " Phar- 
 maceutria," and adds, " And Pliny says that it was 
 the custom in every use of medicine to spit with 
 three deprecations, and hence to be cured. The 
 number of three is perfected with three argumen- 
 tations, long, broad, and deep, beyond which there 
 is no progi'ession of dimension, whence the first 
 number is called square. Hence it is said that to 
 a body that has three dimensions, and to a square 
 number, nothing can be added. Wherefore Aristotle, 
 in the beginning of his discourse concerning hea- 
 ven, calls it, as it were, a law, according to which 
 all things are disposed ; for corporal and spiritual 
 things consist of three things, — namely, beginning, 
 middle, and end ; by three, as Trismegistus saith, the 
 world is perfected by the concurrence of causes or 
 fate, by execution and distribution." The whole 
 measure of time is concluded in three, — namely, past, 
 present, and to come ; and after twenty-five more 
 triplicities, for which Nature, theology, alchemy, my- 
 ' De Occulta Phil. cap. 6, lib. ii.
 
 180 
 
 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 thology, and astrology are ransacked, he gives us 
 what he calls the scale of the number three. There 
 
 are- 
 
 In the 
 
 Original 
 
 World 
 
 Three Persons 
 in the Trinity, 
 
 The Name of 
 God with 
 
 three letters : 
 
 The Father, 
 
 The Son, 0\i; 
 
 The Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 In the 
 
 Intellectual 
 
 World 
 
 Three 
 Hierarchies of 
 
 Angels : 
 
 Supreme, 
 
 Middle, 
 
 Lowest. 
 
 Three degrees 
 of Saints : 
 
 Innocents, 
 
 Martyrs, 
 
 Confessors. 
 
 In the 
 
 Celestial 
 
 World 
 
 3 Quaternions 
 of Signs : 
 
 Moveable, 
 
 Fixed, 
 
 Common. 
 
 3 Quaternions 
 of Houses : 
 
 Comers, 
 
 Succeeding, 
 
 Falling. 
 
 3 Lords of the 
 Triplicities : 
 
 Diurnal, 
 
 Nocturnal, 
 
 Partaking 
 of both. 
 
 In the 
 
 Elementary 
 
 World 
 
 Three 
 degrees of 
 Elements : 
 
 Simple, 
 
 Compound, 
 
 Thrice 
 compounded. 
 
 In the 
 
 Lesser 
 World, 
 
 Three parts 
 
 answering to 
 
 the three-fold 
 
 world : 
 
 The head, 
 
 in which the 
 
 Intellect grows 
 
 answering to 
 
 the Intellectual 
 
 World, 
 
 The breast, 
 in which is the 
 heart, the seat 
 
 of life 
 
 answering to 
 
 the Celestial 
 
 World, 
 
 The belly, 
 answering 
 
 to the 
 Elemental 
 
 World. 
 
 In the 
 Infernal 
 World 
 
 Three Infernal 
 Furies : 
 
 Alecto, 
 
 Megara, 
 
 Tisi phone. 
 
 Three Infernal 
 Judges : 
 
 Minos, 
 
 ^acus, 
 
 Rhada- 
 manthus. 
 
 Three degrees 
 of damned . 
 
 Wicked, 
 
 Apostates, 
 
 Infidels.
 
 ARITHMETICAL MAGIC. 181 
 
 Similar edifying information is extended over 
 fifty quarto pages. Of the number two, he says 
 that it is evil, and so inherently bad, that God did 
 not pronounce his work done on the second day of 
 creation, " good," so evil was the day, and for 
 this cause, namely, the badness and uncleanness of the 
 number. All the unclean beasts were ordered to 
 go into the ark by twos. He subsequently speaks 
 of geometrical figures, which we learn have very 
 much the same powers. A circle, for instance, 
 being a line without beginning or end, is an emblem 
 of infinity, and on account of this perfection, is most 
 proper for conjurations, and hence those who invoke 
 spirits should be careful, whatever other figures they 
 use, not to omit this. A pentangle also, because it 
 has five obtuse angles within, has great power over 
 evil spirits, and the cross, because it contains four 
 right angles : the exorcisors of the Catholic church, 
 whatever might be the success of their practice, had 
 at least a better reason than this for the virtues of the 
 cross, and, indeed, so add the old Egyptians, among 
 whom it was esteemed a very sacred sign. "But,"^ 
 he says, " whatever wonderful things figures may effect 
 when engraved upon papers, plates, or images, they 
 do only, by the virtue acquired from figures more 
 sublime, by the natural fitness which their resem- 
 blance procures, and which depends upon the exact- 
 ness of their configuration, — as an echo is caused 
 by a wall opposite, and the solar rays are collected 
 in a concave mirror, which if then reflected upon 
 a combustible body burn it, or as a harp causes a 
 resonance on another harp, and as if two strings be 
 
 ' De Occulta Phil. lib. ii. cap. 23.
 
 182 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 of the same tone or in unison, if one be struck the 
 other vibrates also." This is curious, as showing 
 with how much show of philosophy, the wildest 
 reveries of the Occult Philosophy was accompanied. 
 Of the same nature is his speculation on harmony 
 of sounds. In the last instance we have seen a 
 farrago of nonsense attempted to be illustrated and 
 made plausible by undoubted facts in Natural Phi- 
 losophy. We shall now see an unsound but ingeni- 
 ous theory made use of to support another mass of 
 absurdity.' " Sound," he says, " is made sensible 
 through the medium of the air, so also is light, and 
 so is the scent of flowers, yet the air is no more 
 sound, than it is vision, or the power of smelling. 
 Air is the substance of the sensitive soul,^ and that 
 air which is thus taken into connection with it is 
 vivified, and thus endowed with life, the air perceives 
 and lays hold on sights, sounds, and odors. We have 
 an old poet who has taught us better philosophy : — 
 
 Sound is nought but air y-broken. 
 And each word that is y-spoken. 
 Soft or harsh, or rough or fair, 
 In its substance ne is but air." 
 
 But if the theory which we have noticed be as 
 obscure as those of some German metaphysicians, 
 what shall we say to the facts adduced to prove it, 
 and the inferences drawn from it ? " The entrails of 
 sheep and of wolves could never be brought to agree 
 so as to be used in the same instrument, by reason 
 of their natural dissonance," and " no man can make 
 the roaring of lions, the lowing of oxen, the neighing 
 of horses, the grunting of hogs, to be harmonious." 
 
 ' De Occulta Phil. cap. 2'.. ^ See vol. ii.
 
 ARITHMETICAL MAGIC. 183 
 
 Now if this be true of any of these animals, it 
 certainly is of the last, and by order of Louis 
 the Eleventh, a concert was made of hogs, which, 
 though not quite equal to a good modern band, pos- 
 sessed much more harmony, at least so we are told, 
 than the reader would think at all possible.
 
 184 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ONEIROMANCY. SLEEP AND DREAMS. 
 
 One branch of the Egyptian and Babylonian Magic, 
 and one upon which great stress was laid, was Onei- 
 romancy, or the interpretation of dreams. That the 
 visions of the night were the means by which the 
 gods conversed with men, instructed them as to the 
 Divine will, and informed them of their own fate, was 
 a doctrine as ancient as the creation. It was handed 
 down by tradition from the very earliest ages ; and 
 when we find it prevailing in Memphis and Babylon, 
 we see it in a corrupt form, and made the foundation 
 of an absurd species of divination; we treat of it here 
 as a part of the Magic practised in those countries, 
 founded, indeed, upon that tradition of which we 
 have spoken, but arranged into a system by specula- 
 tions on the nature of the soul, and the properties of 
 the body. On reading the accounts preserved in the 
 sacred writings, we are struck with a circumstance 
 which at once does away with all suspicion of im- 
 posture on the part of ovzi^oz^irizoi. They were 
 sent for by Pharaoh,^ who related to them his 
 dreams, and demanded an interpretation. This was 
 an office which they were evid(;ntly in the habit of 
 j)erforming; for dreams were then of as common 
 occurrence as now, and every dream was supposed 
 to have its particular meaning. " And it came to 
 
 ' Gen. xli. 8.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 185 
 
 pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and 
 he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, 
 and all the wise men thereof; and Pharaoh told them 
 his dreams, but there were none who could inter- 
 pret them unto Pharaoh." A similar case is found 
 in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. In the first dream 
 of this monarch the vision was forgotten, and the 
 interpreters were required first to tell the king what 
 he had dreamed, and next, what was the interpreta- 
 tion of it. This, therefore, is not exactly a case in 
 point ; for so strong was the impression made by the 
 divinely- caused dream upon the mind of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, that though the circumstances were, for the 
 moment, lost, yet there wanted but a hint to bring 
 them all back in their original force, and no false 
 account of the matter could have satisfied him. Yet 
 as the interpreters could not know that this dream 
 had been the effect of inspiration, and could not 
 judge how deep had been the impression which it 
 had left, it looks well that they attempted no im- 
 position, but calmly and respectfully reasoned with 
 the infuriate king on the extravagant nature of the 
 demand. " The king answered and said to the 
 Chaldeans, the thing is gone from me ; if ye will not 
 make known unto me the dream with the interpreta- 
 tion thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces and your 
 houses shall be made a dunghill. * * The Chaldeans 
 answered before the king and said. There is not a 
 man upon the earth that can show the king's matter; 
 therefore, there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that 
 asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, 
 or Chaldean ; and it is a rare thing that the king 
 requireth, and there is none other that can show it
 
 i86 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 before the king except the gods, whose dwelling is 
 not with flesh," ^ This was not the first time that 
 such an answer had been returned to the royal 
 demand, and so great was the king's anger in con- 
 sequence, that he ordered his savage decree to be put 
 in execution ; and all the " wise men " of Babylon 
 would have been slain, leaving, of course, only fools 
 alive. Daniel, however, interfered and saved himself 
 and his brethren. 
 
 After this, we find the " wise men," the Chaldeans, 
 the soothsayers, &c., are still patronized by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar ; and at a subsequent period called on to 
 interpret another dream of Nebuchadnezzar's. This 
 time the dream was related, and the interpretation 
 alone required ; and the king himself, giving an 
 account of the transaction, said, " Then came in the 
 magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the 
 soothsayers, and I told the dream before them ; but 
 they did not make known unto me the interpretation 
 thereof."^ Daniel again solved the difficulty. 
 
 From this we may gather, first, that the inter- 
 preters of dreams were no impostors — for, had they 
 been such, they would not have frankly acknowledged 
 their inability to expound the dreams of Pharaoh and 
 of Nebuchadnezzar. To an impostor, one dream is 
 the same as another ; his only concern would be to 
 conciliate the favor of the king, and at the same 
 time so to manage his predictions as to save his own 
 credit, whatever might happen. But the interpreters 
 were not in the habit of leaving a dream uninter- 
 preted : so extensively were their services employed, 
 that we find the chief butler and the chief baker very 
 
 ' Dan. ii. * Dan. iv. 7.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 187 
 
 much perplexed ^ because they could not have their 
 dreams expounded ; and great were their professions of 
 gratitude when Joseph took upon him the task. The 
 interpretation of a dream was, therefore, as common 
 an occurrence as any extraordinary dream itself; and 
 we may be sure that few dreams of princes were not 
 related and interpreted. Why was it, then, that 
 those who had been in the habit of explaining other 
 visions should be so puzzled with these ? The answer 
 is obvious. They interpreted dreams according to a 
 system : whatsoever could be reduced within the rules 
 of that system, admitted of an exposition, but at once 
 acknowledged that the boundaries of their art did not 
 extend to these visions. Let us, therefore, examine 
 the system itself, as far as we are able to do so. 
 
 The more ancient the nation the more uncorrupted 
 the tradition ; and we must, therefore, instead of 
 attributing a grosser superstition to an earlier age, 
 consider that the belief then prevailing was more pure 
 than that which afterwards prevailed. This we shall 
 find to be the case in all mythological systems, and 
 this we may reasonably presume to be the case here. 
 The Egyptians and Chaldeans believed the immor- 
 tality of the soul, and its separate existence from the 
 body ; that the vital powers resided in the former, 
 though in our earthly state they were only available 
 by the organs of the body ; the eye was the organ of 
 seeing, but the soul was all sight ; the ear was the 
 organ of hearing, but the soul was all perception, and 
 thus, when the bodily organs were destroyed by 
 death, the vital powers enjoyed an unlimited range. 
 These notions were extended to sleep, and it was 
 
 • Gen. xl. 8.
 
 188 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 imagined that the soul then enjoyed a temporary 
 freedom, during which, if not gifted with the power 
 of seeing into futurity, it was enabled to make more 
 accurate deductions, and to form clearer anticipations, 
 than when clogged with the weight of the body. 
 Then too, it was enabled to hold converse with those 
 numerous spiritual beings of which all the universe 
 was held to be full. These doctrines were taught by 
 the peripatetic philosophers, and there is every reason 
 to believe that they were known in Egypt. It was 
 upon a belief in this theory that Zeno founded his 
 opinion, " that a man might, from the nature of 
 his dreams, judge of his improvement in virtue, — for 
 if he found himself delighted with that which is 
 vicious, he must have much cause for vigilance when 
 awake ; whereas if vicious engagements did not 
 afford him gratification, but if his powers of mind, 
 enlightened by reason, shone out like a calm and 
 waveless sea, for the reflection of pure images, he 
 might have ground for self-approbation."" ^ " When 
 we are awake," observes Plutarch, " if vice appears 
 it accommodates itself to the opinions of men, — 
 does not entirely give itself up to its own impulses, 
 but restrains and contends with them; whereas in 
 sleep, flying beyond opinions and law, and trans- 
 gressing all modesty and shame, it excites every 
 lust, and stirs its evil propensities, aiming even at 
 the most dreadful crimes, and enjoying illegal things 
 and images, which terminate in no pleasure, but 
 promote disorder," ■ Acting upon this principle, 
 when Dionysius heard that ]\Iarsyas had dreamed 
 
 ' Plutarch (Wyttcnbacli), vol. ii. p. 316. 
 » Plutarch, vol. i. p. 3'Jii.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 189 
 
 of cutting his (Dionysius''s) throat, he said had 
 he not been in the habit of thinking upon it, he 
 would never have dreamed it ; " he shall therefore 
 be put to death," which was accordingly done. 
 Plato, too, entertained an idea that so complete 
 might be the government of reason over the mind, 
 as to influence it even during sleep, and prevent 
 dreams not of a virtuous character. If, then, the 
 soul of a virtuous man, free from vicious impressions, 
 be liberated from the influence of the body, allowed 
 to range through the wonders of creation, and 
 enabled to perceive somewhat more of its own nature 
 and that of other spiritual beings, than when im- 
 prisoned in the flesh, it became, they thought, ad- 
 visable to treasure up the reminiscences of those 
 glimpses into another state, and, if possible, to turn 
 them to a good account in this. Hence they divided 
 dreams into the oracular and the non-oracular :' 
 those which were the visions of the soul in this 
 state of freedom, those conversations with other 
 spiritual essences, and those glances of futurity which 
 it then enjoyed, and those which were merely the 
 effect of physical circumstances ; taking note of the 
 one as displaying the will of the gods and the fate 
 
 ' Macrobius more fancifully divides dreams into five sorts — the dream, 
 the vision, the ocular dream, the insomnium, and the phantasm. The 
 first is a figurative and mysterious representation, which requires an in- 
 terpretation ; the second was an exact representation of a future event in 
 sleep ; the third was a dream representing some priest or divinity, who 
 declared to the sleeper things to come ; the fourth was a common dream, 
 not deserving of attention ; and the fifth was a disturbed, half-awake 
 sort of dreaming, from which no information could be derived, and among 
 which the incubus or night-mare is to be placed. Of all these he gives 
 instances ; and, as among our illustrations some of each kind may be 
 found, the reader is requested, if he thinks proper, to separate and distin- 
 guish them for himself.
 
 190 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 of mankind, and of the other as exhibiting, in a 
 manner highly useful to physicians, the state of the 
 body. But before we proceed to speak of the 
 manner in which dreams were interpreted, it will 
 be well to notice what evidence we have of this 
 separation of the soul and body, or rather of those 
 effects said to be produced by it. 
 
 The learned and eloquent Sir Thomas Browne in his 
 " Religio Medici,*''' says, — " Sleep is a death whereby 
 we live a middle moderating point between life and 
 death, and so like death, I dare not trust it without 
 my prayers, and an half adieu unto the world, and 
 take my farewell in a colloquy with God ; after which 
 I close my eyes in security, content to take my leave 
 of him and sleep unto the resurrection."^ And a 
 little before, speaking of the state of the soul during 
 sleep, he seems to intimate that then, during the 
 slumber of the senses, the reason is awake the most ; 
 not that faculty of comparing and concluding which 
 we generally call reason, but that instinct of the soul 
 whereby it concludes without comparing, knows with- 
 out syllogising, by an instantaneous operation of its 
 own innate faculties, and which instinct transcendental 
 philosophers call the pure reason as distinguished 
 from the undcrstanding." 
 
 " At my nativity," says Sir Thomas, " my ascend- 
 ant Avas the watery sign of Scorpius. I was born in 
 the planetary hour of Saturn, and I think 1 have a 
 piece of that leaden planet in me, I am no way 
 facetious, nor disposed for the mirth and galUardise 
 of company ; yet in one dream I can compose a whole 
 
 ' Book ii. sect. 12. 
 
 ^ See Kant, Kritik der Rciiien Vcmunft.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 191 
 
 comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests, and 
 laugh myself awake at the conceits thereof. Were 
 my memory as faithful as my reason is then fruitful, 
 I would never study but in my dreams, and this time 
 also would I choose for my devotions ; but our grosser 
 memories have then so little hold of our abstracted 
 understandings, that they forget the story, and can 
 only relate to our awakened souls a confused and 
 broken tale of that which hath passed : and men do 
 sometimes, upon the hours of their departure, speak 
 and reason above themselves — for then the soul about 
 to be freed from the body, begins to reason like her- 
 self, and to discourse in a strain above mortality. " ^ 
 
 The annals of medicine furnish us with cases of a 
 double consciousness, if we may use the term, of 
 persons who, having been subject to fits of derange- 
 ment and intervals of sanity, lost in the one state the 
 memory of all that had been done to or by them in 
 the other state ; but retained a perfect recollection of 
 events that had taken place when their minds were 
 in the same condition. Thus, on the temporary 
 return of sanity, the patient knew all that had been 
 done in his sane intervals ; and on the periodical 
 attack of derangement he lost all memory of what 
 had transpired during his previous periods of sanity, 
 while he recollected well the events which had 
 marked the seasons of his madness. It has been 
 argued that such a difference exists between the 
 states of sleep and waking ; and although the remem- 
 brance of our dreams much militates against it, it 
 does not altogether overthrow the theory upon which 
 it is founded. It proves only that if there be such a 
 
 ' Relig. Med. b. ii. sect. 11.
 
 192 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 separate existence, the separation is not so complete 
 as in the morbid state before noticed. A stronger 
 argument may be adduced by the denial of Dr. 
 Darwin's supposition, that surprise is never felt in 
 dreams. A gentleman distinguished in the medical 
 profession dreamed that he was about to take off his 
 clothes, and w^as much surprised at finding himself 
 attired in various articles of dress to which he was 
 not accustomed, and against which he felt consider- 
 able objections. At another time, being out with a 
 friend shooting, a covey of partridges was started : 
 one flew against a tree and was killed. The dreamer 
 was surprised as he had never heard of such a thing 
 occurring, though he had often considered it as very 
 likely to happen. The writer of this, when an under- 
 graduate at Cambridge, spent some time on a visit 
 at the house of a relation in Suftblk ; on his return to 
 Cambridge, on the eve of an important examination, 
 he dreamed that he was still in Suffolk (and in a 
 room which, by the bye, was at Ely). Exceedingly 
 surprised at his supposed carelessness in being absent 
 at such a time from the university, and vexed at the 
 probable consequences, it was some time before he 
 could satisfy himself that he was really in his own 
 chambers in college. 
 
 In all these cases (and they might easily be multi- 
 plied) the surprise was on account of things con- 
 nected with the waking life, thought, and habits of 
 the individual ; showing, consequently, that the 
 standard by which things are measured in dreams 
 — when they are measured at all — is one taken from 
 the ideas and occurrences of this waking world. It 
 seems, however-, that the feeling of surprise is rare in
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 193 
 
 the dreamiDg state, because the faculty of compari- 
 son, upon which surprise depends, and which is one 
 of the reasoning, not the imaginative faculties, is 
 seldom then in a state of activity. To return, how- 
 ever, to the anecdotes upon which the theory of the 
 soul being set at liberty during sleep depends for 
 evidence. 
 
 Dr. Cheyne gives an account of a Colonel Towns- 
 hend, who had the power of throwing himself into 
 a state resembling death whenever he pleased, and of 
 coming to himself again at pleasure. On one occa- 
 sion he exercised this power in the presence of Dr. 
 C, Mr. Skrine, and Dr. Baynard at Bath. He 
 placed himself on his back ; his respiration became 
 gradually insensible, his pulse ceased, no motion of 
 the heart was to be felt ; and a mirror held to his 
 lips was not clouded by his breath. After continuing 
 in this state about an hour he recovered.^ We are 
 not told anj^thing of his dreams or his sensations 
 during this period ; but Augustine in his De Civitate 
 Dei has been more particular. Speaking of a similar 
 case, that of the Presbyter Restitutus, he says that, 
 when in this state of apparent death, the presbyter 
 heard loud voices." Cardan,^ too, boasted a similar 
 power. He then had a faint hearing of those who 
 conversed about him ; but he lost all sense of pain, 
 even w^hen affected with the gout. With regard to 
 long, trance-like sleep, we have many strange stories, 
 some well, some ill authenticated. Among the latter, 
 we may place the anecdote told by Diogenes Laer- 
 tius, of Epimenides, who slept for one-and-fifty 
 
 ' Dr. Cheyne on English Maladies. * Lib. xiv. cap. 54. 
 
 ^ De Varietate Rerum, lib. viii. cap. 43.
 
 194 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 years; unless, as Barthellmj supposes, the account be 
 meant to be allegorically taken ; and the notice 
 taken by Crantz ^ of a German student who slept 
 seven years without intermission. None of these, 
 however, will bear any comparison with the Seven 
 canonised Sleepers, who, taking a siesta in a cave 
 while Decius was persecuting the Christians, slept on 
 for 196 years, and never thought of waking till the 
 storms of Pagan persecution were entirely passed, 
 and the empire had long been altogether Christian in 
 profession. This waking was in the thirtieth year of 
 the Emperor Theodosius ; they were accompanied 
 by their dog, who slept and woke with them. This 
 tale is believed by Mahommedans as well as Chris- 
 tians ; and it is among them a proverbial expression 
 for a grudging, avaricious man, — he would not throw 
 a bone to the dog of the Seven Sleepers. But to 
 come nearer our own time, and to reports which 
 require belief, M. Gualtear drew up, at the request of 
 the King of Sweden, an account of a woman named 
 Guasser, who for a long time was regularly taken 
 with catalepsy twice a-day ; during which time she 
 sank into a profound sleep, and was deprived of all 
 external and internal sensation ; her limbs grew hard 
 and rigid like stone, and her pulse became almost 
 imperceptible ; her respiration, however, was not 
 affected. This fit came on regularly every morning 
 about eight o'clock, and continued till twelve, when 
 she gradually and by convulsive movements, reco- 
 vered the use of her limbs. After allowing her time 
 enough to dine, the fit came on again and lasted till 
 eight : from which time she remained awake till 
 
 ' Vandal, lib. viii. cap. 39.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 195 
 
 eight the next morning. She reached the age of 
 eighty, having survived her disorder nearly twenty 
 years.^ The most extraordinary instance, however, 
 of sleep, during which a kind of separation took 
 place between the soul and the body, is related by 
 Mr. Howison, in his " Foreign Scenes." The part 
 which relates to himself no one can doubt, and it is 
 certainly important. The relation of his German 
 friend, Engel, we abridge, as a curiosity ; its evidence 
 may go for what it is worth. Mr. H. says : — 
 
 " I returned to Holo-uin in the course of the dav, 
 and on the succeeding morning set out for Guibara 
 harbour, having learned that the sloop was ready to 
 pursue her voyage. However, on going on board, I 
 found she would not leave port till the next night ; 
 and as the time hung rather heavy I accepted an 
 invitation from the master of a schooner that lay 
 near us to pay him a visit and see his collection of 
 shells. When the evening was pretty far advanced, 
 he conducted me to the cabin, which was almost full 
 of large packages, and pointing out where I was to 
 sleep left me alone. I felt a heavy suffocating smell, 
 but did not think of examining the contents of the 
 bales ; and immediately went to bed. Soon after- 
 wards, I was harassed by wild and frightful dreams, 
 and suddenly awaked about midnight bathed in a 
 cold dew, and totally unable to speak or move ; how- 
 ever I knew perfectly well where I was, and recol- 
 lected everything that had occurred the preceding 
 day, only I could not make any bodily effort what- 
 ever, and tried in vain to get up or even to change 
 
 ' Considerations sur un Sommeil Extraordinaire ; M^moires de I'Aca- 
 demie de Berlin.
 
 196 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 my position. The watch on deck struck four-bells, 
 and I counted them, though it seemed to me that I 
 did not hear the beats, but received the vibrations 
 through my body. About this time, a seaman came 
 into the cabin with a light, and carried away an 
 hour-glass that hung upon a nail without observing me, 
 though I made several efforts to arrest his attention. 
 Shortly after, a pane in the skylight was broken in 
 by accident, and I saw the fragments of glass-drop 
 on the floor. These circumstances actually oc- 
 curred, as I found on inquiry next day ; and I men- 
 tion them to prove that the sensations I describe 
 were realities, and not the offspring of perturbed 
 dreams. My inability to move was not accompanied 
 with pain or uneasiness, but I felt as if the principle 
 of life had entirely departed from my frame. At 
 length, I became totally insensible and continued so 
 till an increase of the wind made the sea a little 
 rough, which caused the vessel to roll. The motion, 
 I suppose, had the effect of awakening me from 
 my trance, and I managed somehow or other, to 
 get up, and go on deck. My memory was 
 totally lost for about a quarter of an hour, and 
 I had no ideas connected with anything that was 
 not present before me ; I knew that I was in 
 a ship, but nothing more. While in this state, 
 I observed a man drawing water from the sea in 
 buckets, and requested him to pour one upon my 
 head. After some hesitation, he did so, and all my 
 faculties were immediately restored. / acquired a 
 most vivid recollection of a vast variety/ of ideas and 
 events which appeared to have passed through my mind 
 and occupied me during the time of my supposed insen-
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 197 
 
 sibiUty. All this singular constitutional derangement 
 had arisen from a copious inhalation of the fumes of 
 tobacco ; for on examining the cabin, I found that 
 the piles of packages there, consisted of that narcotic 
 plant, and that quantities of it lay even under my 
 bed ; in short, that the sloop contained almost nothing 
 else. I should not have been so particular," adds 
 Mr. H., " in mentioning these circumstances, had I 
 not heard something analogous to them from a 
 German oculist whom I met in Havannah. This old 
 man (named Engel), who Avas altogether a singular 
 character, told me that the digitalis or foxQ-love, the 
 belladonna or night-shade, and several other plants of 
 a similar kind, possessed peculiar properties which 
 were not generally known even by the medical pro- 
 fession. When administered, he said, in a certain 
 way (query how?), they could be made to act so 
 powerfully and directly as sedatives, as to destroy all 
 sensibility and voluntary motion, without affecting 
 the animal life or impeding its necessary and healthy 
 actions and functions ; but with this remarkable 
 peculiarity that the mind or soul did not participate 
 in the comatoseness which affected its mortal tene- 
 ment, but was more than usually active and ex- 
 cursive. On these occasions, however, the individual 
 to whom it belonged had no perception of anything 
 of the kind. His body enjoyed an animal existence 
 as it were, without sensation, and nothing more. 
 But when the effect of the narcotic was dispelled 
 either by counter-agents or by time, he recovered 
 from his lethargy, and active life, memory, will, and 
 intelligence returned, with a perfect (?) knowledge of 
 all the operations which his mind had gone through
 
 198 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 from the time of his losing his perceptions to that of 
 his reviving and their being restored. The German 
 explained all this in the following way: — Life and the 
 soul, he said, are separate essences though intimately 
 connected together ; and when the powers of the 
 former have been enfeebled to a certain degree the 
 latter disengages itself from the body, and continues 
 its agency unlimited and unembarrassed by the en- 
 cumbrance of corporeal matter. However, on the 
 animal functions beginning to recover their natural 
 vigor, their immortal inmate is attracted back by a 
 peculiar sympathy to its earthly tenement ; and the 
 human being which they jointly compose awakes to 
 intelligence, and suddenly recollects all the ideas that 
 have passed through his mind during the period of 
 his suspended animation. These my friend described 
 as often being vivid, original, and marvellous beyond 
 description, and such as entirely exceeded the concep- 
 tions of man in his natural state of existence.^ 
 
 " After this he goes on to relate the way in which 
 he first became aware of this singular property of 
 narcotic plants. It appears that, during his youth, 
 he had lodged in the suburbs of a town which was 
 the seat of one of the minor universities ; and in 
 the same house lodged a student named Meidenvold, 
 whose pursuits were medical. A certain degree of 
 intimacy soon sprang up between Engel and Meiden- 
 vold. The latter was a singular personage, and was 
 occasionally in the habit of expressing himself in a 
 remarkably mystical manner. But he had a practice 
 of retiring on a certain night every week to a 
 building, of which he kept the key, and into which 
 ' Howison's Foreign Scenes, vol. i. p. 279, et seq.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 199 
 
 he allowed none but himself to enter. Here he 
 remained till the middle of the following day. When 
 he left the place he was pale and ghastly, and 
 seemed also in a state of deep dejection. But he 
 commenced diligently writing, and then pursued 
 his usual studies. After making many attempts to 
 gain the confidence of this mysterious student, but 
 in vain, Engel detei-mined to watch him. This he 
 accordingly did, by climbing up to one of the windows 
 of his secret study, and there, by the light of a 
 lamp in the apartment, he beheld Meidenvold lying 
 on a board placed in a sloping position, and apparently 
 dead. His first idea was to force the door and 
 hasten to his assistance ; but on a further view of 
 the apartment, and the position of the student, he 
 became convinced that the whole was designed. 
 He watched again another night, and made his 
 way into the chamber; from which, however, he 
 could not get out. He found the surface of Meiden- 
 vold's body cold, the pulsation of the heart scarcely 
 perceptible, and the breathing very feeble and con- 
 tracted. Engel, by accident, put out the light, and 
 could not continue his observations minutely ; but 
 after three hours, he heard a succession of deep- 
 drawn sighs, and soon after, by the imperfect light 
 of the windows, he observed the student raise him- 
 self up and lean his head on his hand. He gradually 
 gained an erect position, staggered across the room, 
 and plunged into a bath. After a little altercation 
 as to Engel's intrusion, Meidenvold told him that 
 the state in which he had been was produced by the 
 use of night-shade, hemlock, and other narcotic 
 herbs ; and that during the continuance of the
 
 200 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 cataleptic fit thus occasioned, he partook of a sort 
 of superhuman existence, of which, after a little 
 interval, he had a vivid and distinct recollection. 
 He stated that many of his ideas and feelings thus 
 caused he had written in a book, which he promised 
 to show Eugel ; but the latter found him one day 
 dead in his private study, and the book was never 
 found.*" The tale is admirably told by Mr. Howison, 
 who seems to have placed some faith in it ; and 
 it may very probably have had a substratum of 
 truth. ^ That most captivating book, " The Con- 
 fessions of an English Opium Eater," will furnish 
 
 ' The following curious anecdote is told by Lady Fanshawe, in her 
 Memoirs: — 
 
 " My mother's funeral cost my father above a thousand pounds, and 
 Dr Howlsworth preached her funeral sermon, in which, upon his own 
 knowledge, he told before many hundreds of people this accident follow- 
 ing: — that my mother being sick to death of a fever three months after 
 I was born, which was the occasion she gave me suck no longer, her 
 friends and servants thought that, to all outward appearance, she was 
 dead, and so lay almost two days and a night ; but Dr. Winston, coming 
 to comfort my father, went into my mother's room, and looking earnestly 
 on her face, said ' she was so handsome, and now looks so lovely, I can- 
 not think she is dead, and suddenly took a lancet out of his pocket, and 
 with it cut the sole of her foot, which bled. Upon this he immediately 
 caused her to be laid upon the bed again and to be rubbed, and such 
 other means to be used as brought her to life, and opening her eyes she 
 saw two of her kinswomen stand by her, my Lady Knollys and my Lady 
 Russell, both with great wide sleeves, as the fashion then was, and said, 
 ' Did you not promise me fifteen years, and are you come again ? ' which 
 they not understanding, persuaded her to keep her spirits quiet in that 
 great weakness wherein she was ; but some hours after she desired my 
 father and Dr. Howlsworth might be left alone with her, to whom she 
 said, ' I will acquaint you that during the time of my trance I was in 
 great quiet, but in a place 1 could m'ither distinguish or describe ; but 
 the sense of leaving my girl, who is dearer to me than all my children, 
 remained a trouble on my spirits. Suddenly I saw two by me in long 
 white garments, and methought I fell down with my face in the dust, 
 and they asked why I was troubled in so great happiness. I replied. 
 Oh! let me have the same grant given to llczekiah, that I may live 
 fifteen years to see my daughter a woman ; to which they answered, ' It 
 is done ; ' and then, at that instant, I awoke out of my trance ; and 
 Dr. Howlsworth did there affirm, that that day she died, just fifteen 
 years from that time." — Memoirs, p. 28.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 201 
 
 an excellent commentary on it ; and we have an 
 instance in the life of Mr. Coleridge, not very 
 dissimilar. He slept, and very probably under the 
 influence of opium, and during this sleep composed 
 more than two hundred lines of exquisite poetry. 
 Part he committed to paper immediately, and would 
 have finished them, but an untimely visitor took 
 him oif; and when he returned to the task all 
 traces of the lines following what he had written were 
 passed away from his mind. They are the lines 
 commencing thus : — 
 
 In Cambalu did Khubia Khan, 
 
 A stately pleasure-dome decree, 
 Where A If, the sacred river, ran 
 Through caverns measureless to man, 
 
 Down to a sunless sea. 
 
 All these effects might very well have taken place 
 without that separation of the soul and body for 
 which many Germans, even in the present day, 
 contend, and for which they adduce many argu- 
 ments, rather more profound than poetical. The 
 theory has been noticed here because there seems 
 reason to believe that it is a very ancient one;^ 
 and if taken as the principal part of oneiromancy, 
 and considered as based on the tradition of dreams, 
 undoubtedly divine in their origin, it will rescue 
 the idea of interpreting dreams from being necessarily 
 absurd, though it will still be open to the imputation 
 of incorrectness. As practised in the earliest ages, 
 it was certainly not ridiculous, though it soon became 
 so in succeeding times. We will, before we turn 
 to the rules by which dreams were expounded, take 
 
 ' See the Epistle of Hippocrates to Philopoemen quoted in the next 
 chapter. 
 
 K 5
 
 202 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 a glance at the more rational system, which supposes 
 them to be often caused by external impressions. 
 This is abundantly made out by experience. Every 
 one knows that if a person be subjected to the 
 action of cold, either by being uncovered or other- 
 wise, the dreams will be corresponding : the indi- 
 vidual will suppose himself to be travelling over 
 bleak mountains or across snowy plains. If a noise 
 be made (not loud enough to wake him), he will 
 be immediately furnished with a visionary cause ; 
 and it is worthy of remark that in cases like this, 
 where the external impression is sudden, the whole 
 dream will be fi-equently suggested at the moment, 
 though it will seem to take some time in passing 
 before the mind ; and the noise from without, ap- 
 pearing to take place in its proper order at last, 
 will sometimes wake the sleeper. For example, 
 a door is shut with some violence by the side 
 of a person sleeping ; forthwith there rises up in 
 his mind the phantasm of an army. He is in 
 connexion with it, and is well aware of all his 
 relations to it, and its designs. The order is given 
 to charge ; and a discharge of artillery precedes the 
 attack. He awakes, and finds himself awakened by 
 the shutting of the door, which suggested the last 
 circumstance of his dream. Now, it cannot be said 
 that these things are only accidental coincidences — 
 the shutting of the door, and the visionary discharge 
 of cannon — for they are of too frequent occurrence 
 for this ; and indeed if, at any time, a sudden 
 impression on the sensorium be the means of awaken- 
 ing a dreamer, a train of prior circumstances will 
 so arrange themselves in his mind, that the actual
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 203 
 
 sensation from without shall exactly coincide with 
 the visionary sensation from within. If this be 
 true, and there is very little to be said against it, 
 it would seem that the sleeping mind is not cog- 
 nizant of time, or of periods of duration, and this 
 non-recognition of periods of duration, seems to be 
 one of those things in which an eternal disembodied 
 spirit differs from one in the flesh. This is a subject 
 upon which speculation would lead us we know not 
 whither. There are things which, in this world, we 
 see through a glass darkly, and these are, perhaps, 
 of them. 
 
 One more slice of metaphysics before we conclude 
 this chapter. The circumstance of :aan dreaming 
 has been adduced as a proof of the immateriality and 
 immortality of the soul. Cicero has take this ground 
 of argument : and the dreaming of beasts has been 
 mentioned by Lucretius as a proof to the contrary ; 
 for he implies if men have souls and you know it by 
 their dreaming, so have beasts, for they dream ; but 
 you deny souls to beasts, therefore your argument 
 falls to the ground with regard to men. Such would 
 have been his language had Lucretius been a logician 
 instead of a poet. Now, in the first place, we are 
 told, in answer to this, that brutes have souls, whether 
 immortal or not. " The spirit of the beast goeth 
 downwards," says the Scriptures ; and the following 
 argument has been offered in proof of their immor- 
 tality. Death came into the world by sin ; there- 
 fore if man had not sinned there would have been 
 no death in the world, consequently, animals 
 would not have died. From this we judge that 
 they were created in the first place immortal, espe-
 
 204 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 dally as they were not intended for man*'s food while 
 he was in a state of innocence. But if by the sin 
 of man (not their own) they suffered death, is it not 
 reasonable to believe that a happy state of existence 
 will be awarded to them in a future state? We 
 leave this argument without comment — valeat quan- 
 tum. It has been attributed to the late learned 
 and excellent Dr. Adam Clarke. Pre-Adamite death 
 however, so abundantly proved by the geologist, 
 cannot be accounted for on this theory. 
 
 Fulgosius, who has preserved a great number of 
 similar relations, says, that a certain Carthaginian 
 physician, whose name was Gennadius, doubted of 
 the immortality of the soul. He saw in a dream a 
 youth who showed him a beautiful city and departed. 
 On the following night he returned again, and asked 
 Gennadius whether he recollected him. The physi- 
 cian replied, that he did, and also the city which he 
 had showed him. " What are you about 'i *" said the 
 youth. " Sleeping," replied Gennadius. Then the 
 youth a second time departed, leaving him quite con- 
 vinced of the immortality of the soul ; for he argued 
 if his mind beheld a city, when the eyes of his body 
 were closed, and his whole frame dormant, so might 
 his soul continue to live and exercise those wonderful 
 powers with which it was endowed, though the body 
 might moulder away in the tomb.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 205 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ONEIROMANCY {coiltimied). THE INTERPRETATION OF 
 
 DREAMS. 
 
 Having so far treated upon the theories by which 
 Oneiromancy was supported, and beheld it, if it has 
 one, upon its philosophical side, we must now reverse 
 the picture, and look at the silly rules by which the 
 signification of dreams was decided. Of these rules 
 we must first remark that, comparatively speaking, 
 they are of late date. We have no treatise on the 
 subject earlier than that of Artemidorus, and he pro- 
 fesses to have had recourse to no guide but experience. 
 His experience, however, was not his own merely, 
 but he had collected the opinions of many others, 
 from the time of Hippocrates downwards. He was 
 born at Ephesus, in the reign of Antoninus Pius ; 
 and took the surname of Daldianus, from Daldis, in 
 Lydia, the birthplace of his mother. He travelled 
 a great deal ; and wherever he went he collected 
 stories and opinions concerning dreams. Some doubts 
 have been thrown on the o-enuineness of the " Oneiro- 
 critica," on account of the absurdities it contains ; but 
 it appears, without much reason, for if a man could 
 spend a long life in investigating so futile a subject, 
 he may well be thought capable of writing a silly 
 book near the close of it. With rerard to the work 
 itself it has its value. Gerard Vossius says of it, 
 " If we look at the matter which it contains, nothing
 
 206 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 can be more vain than that book ; yet the reading 
 of it is useful, on account of the varied information 
 which he has mingled in it concerning ancient rites 
 and human nature in general."" 
 
 " Dreams," says this visionary, " which represent 
 anything as happening to the individual himself, and 
 which are called 'propria,** do for the most part 
 signify events that shall happen to that individual. 
 Yet this rule is not universal, for sometimes the 
 events have occurred to the parents or the children 
 of the dreamer. Thus a certain person dreamed of 
 his owTi death, and it happened that his father de- 
 parted this life, who was, indeed, another person, 
 but yet a partaker of the same body and soul with 
 the dreamer. Again another seemed in a dream to 
 be beheaded, and his father also died, who to him 
 had been the cause of life and light, even as the head 
 is to the body. So also it happened to one who 
 imagined that he was blinded ; he lost not his sight, 
 but his son, who was dear to him as his eyes." 
 
 On the other hand, dreams which refer to others 
 generally, are tokens of some events about to happen 
 to others. Yet this is not always the case : — 
 
 " A person dreamed that his father was burned, 
 and he himself very shortly after died ; as though on 
 account of the sorrow which the event must cause 
 him, the father would be consumed. Again, an in- 
 dividual dreamed of the death of his mistress, and be 
 soon after died himself, the dream signifying that he 
 should, by some means or other, be deprived of her 
 pleasant society. So the head refers to a father, the 
 foot to a slave ; the right hand to a mother, to a son, 
 to a friend, to a brother ; the left hand to a wife, a
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 207 
 
 mother, a mistress, a daughter, a sister ; the calf of 
 the leg, to a wife or a mistress. And other things in 
 like manner are to be considered."^ 
 
 All these rules are to be considered as having 
 reference only to private persons ; for the dreams of 
 princes relate to the commonwealth, and are no 
 longer merely matters that concern themselves. The 
 author gives directions for interpreting four hundred 
 and nine kinds of dreams, many of them such as 
 could never occur to a Christian of our day, and 
 which exhibit, perhaps, the darkest picture of ancient 
 Koman morals that is anywhere to be found. Vices 
 even more hideous than the foulest pages of Martial 
 mention, are in this work spoken of as matters of 
 common occurrence in dreams, and here we are cer- 
 tainly at liberty to adopt the reasoning of Dionysius, 
 and say, that if such things were not practised they 
 would not be dreamed of. 
 
 As a specimen of the mode of reasoning- which 
 Artemidorus adopts, we take at random the fifty- 
 fourth and fifty-fifth chapters of the third book : — 
 '■'■ Of a key"' — A key seen in dreams, by one about 
 to marry, signifies that his wife will be faithful, and 
 a good housekeeper : to one about to purchase a 
 female slave, it predicts a good servant. It forbids 
 travelling, inasmuch as it signifies detention and 
 exclusion, for a key is made not for open, but for 
 closed doors [by permission, it is made to open the 
 one and to close the other], otherwise there is no 
 need of a key nor of doors ; but now, when no guard 
 is present, then the doors being made fast, a key is 
 used. Justly, therefore, a key seen in a vision is an 
 ' Book i. chap. 2. ^ ^^p^ 54
 
 208 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 obstacle to those about to travel. To those who are 
 about to manage and administer the property of 
 others, it signifies fidelity and authority. 
 
 " Of a cooJc} — To see a cook in one's house in a 
 dream is good for one proposing to marry, for a cook 
 is needed at a marriage ; and even the poor, who on 
 such occasions lengthen out their feasts, need then a 
 cook. But to sick persons it signifies an increase of 
 their disease and inflammation on account of roasting 
 and various other modes of applying heat used by 
 cooks, by which the humors become sharp, as the 
 most celebrated of those who exercise that art relate. 
 The dream also signifies tears, on account of the 
 smoke which is excited by a cook. It signifies the 
 revealing of hidden things and the bringing to light 
 transactions done in private, since the works of a 
 cook are openly brought forth to the guests, and 
 appear as they are." 
 
 A specimen of an unfortunate dream, and a singular 
 mode of reasoning, may be found in his decision con- 
 cerning dreams of marriage : — " 
 
 "Since wedlock is like to death, and dreams of 
 death signify marriage, I shall here speak of nuptials 
 [the foregoing chapters are of a very funereal charac- 
 ter]. For a sick person to dream of marrying a virgin 
 portends death ; for the same things which happen 
 to one married happen to one dead. It is, however, 
 a good dream to one about to enter upon some new 
 negotiation, for it signifies that he will succeed; and 
 to one hoping for some good thing, it foretells that 
 all will turn ont as he desires, for he who marries 
 certainly receives some property which his wife brings 
 ' Cap. 55. ^ Lib. ii. cap. 70.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 209 
 
 as her marriage-portion. To other persons it sig- 
 nifies troubles and perturbations, for without such, 
 marriages are not brought about. But if any man 
 shall dream of marrying a widow, he shall set about 
 some already commenced business, and that with 
 good success. But if any one dreams that his wife 
 is married to another, it portends either a change in 
 his own plans or a separation from his wife ; and if a 
 woman, during her husband's life, imagines that she 
 is married to another man, it signifies that she shall 
 bury her husband, or in some way or other be 
 separated from him. But I have observed that this 
 does not always take place, but only when the wife 
 has no children, no immediate expectation of any, and 
 is occupied in no commercial business. If she has a 
 daughter she shall give her in marriage. If about to 
 give birth to a child, that child shall be a daughter, 
 who shall be brought up and married ; and thus, not 
 exactly herself, but a part, as it were, of her own 
 person shall be given in marriage to another man. If 
 she be engaged in any commercial transactions, it 
 signifies that she shall contract a partnership with 
 some man in such business."^ 
 
 After five books of such information, he gives a 
 great number of dreams, to bear out the truth of the 
 premises ; of which we will take one or two, before 
 we dismiss this most celebrated of interpreters : — 
 
 " A certain person, trying to fly, was kept back 
 by a friend, whose name was Julius, and who held 
 him by the right foot. Shortly after, he was about 
 
 ' " For the same things happen to those who marry, and to those who 
 die ; for there is a gathering together of friends, as well male as female, 
 and crowns, and aroraatics, and ointments, and deeds of settlements." 
 Book ii. chap. 59.
 
 210 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 to depart from Rome, and had prepared everything 
 for his departure. The month of July was now at 
 hand, and he was delayed by some inconvenience 
 [it ought, of course, to have been the gout in his 
 right foot], yet he was not delayed to the end of the 
 month, because, in his dream, it was a friend by 
 whom he had been delayed." ^ 
 
 " A certain sick person went into the Temple of 
 Jupiter, and, in his dream, asked the god whether he 
 should recover. Jupiter nodded to him, looking 
 downwards. The next day he died, which was 
 clearly indicated by the god looking downwards." 
 That this was not contrary to rule, we shall see by 
 another example : — 
 
 " A certain woman, being ill, dreamed that she 
 asked Venus whether she should recover ; and the 
 goddess shook her head, looking upwards ; yet the 
 woman got well. This is the converse of the pre- 
 ceding instances, for the looking upwards of a god or 
 goddess portends a favorable issue."* 
 
 " An individual, dreaming that he drank powdered 
 mustard, was tried for his life and condemned to 
 death, for he was not accustomed to drink mustard ; 
 nor is it at all potable, as may be learned by the 
 proverb, ' Who ever drank mustard ? ' Therefore^ 
 
 lis 
 
 the judge condemned him to death 
 
 " An individual, against whom a law-suit was 
 brought, dreamed that he had lost all the notes and 
 memorials that he had prepared for his justification. 
 The next day he was set free from all disagreeable 
 consequences of the action ; which was the meaning 
 
 ' Book V. chap. 70. * Book v. chap. 71, 72. 
 •* Book V. chap. 5.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 211 
 
 of the drenm ; for when an action is finished, notes 
 and memorials are of no further use to the parties.*" ^ 
 
 From all this we see that any dream might signify- 
 any event. The train of argument is not particularly 
 clear to modern eyes ; but there is no doubt that it 
 was completely satisfactory to those who consulted 
 Artemidorus or his disciples. This does not appear 
 to have been the sort of reasoning that prevailed 
 among the sages of Egypt or Babylon ; for, by these 
 rules, any dream might be interpreted, and by these 
 instances any interpretation might be justified. 
 
 A Latin translation of this work was published 
 in 1537, by Oornarius, an Italian physician, who 
 prefaced it with a dedicatory letter to Pucheynurus 
 and Megobacchus, two eminent physicians of the 
 time. In the course of this letter, he excuses the 
 art from the charge of absurdity, and states his 
 own opinion that it may be made subservient to 
 medicine. He quotes Hippocrates to the following 
 effect : 
 
 " When the body is at rest, the mind is in motion, 
 and permeating all parts of the body, governs its 
 habitation, and performs itself all the actions of 
 the corporeal frame. For the sleeping body feels 
 not ; but the spirit, being awake, knows and sees 
 visible things ; hears audible things ; moves, touches, 
 sorrows, observes. In fine, whatever be the functions 
 of the body, and whatever those of the soul, the 
 latter in sleep, performs them all. He, therefore, 
 
 ' Book V. chap. ] 0. An instance of a ridiculous dream is thus given 
 in a note : — " Visas est sibi quis in podice os habere, et dentes magnos 
 et pulchros, ac voceni per ipsuni edere ac cibum capere, et qucecunque per 
 OS fieri solent omnias iniiliter habere. Ob petulantiam linguje patriam 
 suam reliquit, et in exilium expulsus est: proetermitto dicere causas 
 verisimiles, eiiim et rationabiles erant eventus." Lib. v. cap. 68.
 
 212 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 who knows riglitly how to judge of these things, 
 has attained a great part of wisdom ; and those 
 who judge concerning things of this sort, have an 
 art that is not fallacious." 
 
 Cornarius, as may be supposed by his translating 
 the work of Artemidorus, was himself a great be- 
 liever in the significancy of dreams, and like him, 
 had had no small experience ; for he says that 
 he should write at very great length, indeed, were 
 he to mention the instances in which intimate friends 
 of his own, men of eminent talent and high rank, 
 had been so divinely warned in dreams as to become 
 greatly serviceable to their countries. Instead, how- 
 ever, of giving any account of these interpositions 
 of Providence, he relates a dream of that eminent 
 father of medicine, whose opinions he had before 
 quoted. In his epistle to Philopoemeu, Hippocrates 
 says : 
 
 " I was anxious and thoughtful concerning Demo- 
 critus, to visit whom the Abderites had sent for me 
 when falling asleep. I saw towards morning, ^scu- 
 lapius before me, and lo ! we were at the gates 
 of Abdera ; but ^'Esculapius did not appear mild 
 and gentle as his statues represent him, but fierce 
 in aspect, and rough in manner : vast dragons, a 
 kind of reptiles, followed him, leaving a long train 
 behind them, and hissing as though in woods and 
 deserts ; his attendants bore boxes full of medicines 
 carefully sealed. Then the god offered me his hand 
 which I willingly took, and prayed him that I 
 might go on, and that he would not forsake me 
 in the cure ; but he replied, ' At present you have 
 no need of me ; but this, the common goddess of
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 2l3 
 
 mortals and immortals, will conduct you, being a 
 stranger,' and I turned round and beheld a woman, 
 tall and beautiful, splendidly but simply adorned, 
 the spheres of whose eyes shone with a pure light, 
 so that you would think it to be the brightness 
 of the stars. The god then disappeared, but that 
 woman, taking me by the hand, led me benignly, 
 with a slow step through the city, and when we 
 were near to the house in which a lodging had 
 been prepared for me, she vanished like a spectre, 
 merely saying, ' To-morrow will I meet thee at 
 the house of Democritus ; ' but while she was turn- 
 ing round, I said, " I beseech thee, excellent lady, 
 tell me who thou art, and by what name thou 
 wilt be called ? ' ' Truth,"" replied she ; ' but who 
 is this approaching?' for, of a sudden, another 
 woman approached, with an evil countenance, bolder 
 and more hasty. ' Opinion,' said she ; ' and she 
 dwells with the Abderites.' I therefore arose from 
 sleep, and interpreted the dream to myself — that 
 Democritus needed not a physician, since the god 
 of medicine itself had departed, in token that there 
 was no necessity nor business for the healing art ; 
 but Truth herself, to show how sound was the mind 
 of Democritus, dwelt with him. On the other hand, 
 the vain opinion that his intellects were affected, 
 dwelt with the Abderites. And these things, my 
 friend Philopoemen, I believe to be true, and cer- 
 tainly they are so ; nor do I despise dreams, par- 
 ticularly when they preserve so good a consistency 
 as this. Medicine and divination are sister arts, 
 since the father of both is one, even Apollo, our 
 progenitor ; who perceives both present and future
 
 214 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 diseases, who heals those who are, and those who 
 are about to be, sick. FarewelL*"^ 
 
 This dream of the venerable father of medicine, 
 was in all probability intended to be received as 
 an instructive and amusing allegory, just as Cicero 
 relates the dream of Scipio, and Xeuophon that 
 of Hercules. 
 
 We will now take a brief review of some of the 
 relations of dreams which have reached us, and this 
 may be divided into 
 
 1. Dreams which are said to have been instru- 
 mental in doing good. 
 
 2. Dreams which are said to have been verified, 
 but of which we can discern no useful purpose. 
 
 3. Dreams which are said to have caused their 
 own fulfilment. 
 
 4. Dreams which have apparently failed of their 
 effect. 
 
 1. We are told by Plutarch'- that Themistocles, 
 when approaching the city of Leontocephalus, fell 
 asleep in the middle of the day. In a dream he 
 beheld the goddess Cybele, who told him that if 
 be did not wish to fall into the lion's jaws, he 
 must avoid the lion's head (Leontocephalus signi- 
 fies lion's head). In return for this caution, the god- 
 dess demanded of him the dedication of his daughter 
 Mnesiptoleme, as her priestess. The information 
 was not lost. Themistocles took another route, 
 and thereby avoided falling into the hands of 
 the Pisidians who were lying in waiting for him at 
 that city, being bribed by Epixia, the Persian, 
 to kill him. In remembrance of this he built a 
 ' Ded. Epist. to Comar. Tran. Artem. ^ Plut. in Them.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 215 
 
 temple to Cybele, at Magnesia, and according to 
 the divine command, caused his daughter to offi- 
 ciate as priestess. Another dream of his is said to 
 have been equally fortunate in its results. It must 
 be remembered, however, that Plutarch had the 
 faculty of dreaming with his eyes open, to an im- 
 mense extent, and when writing in this state he was 
 not very particular about authorities. Alexander was 
 the hero of a tale no less marvellous. His friend 
 Ptolemy had been wounded in a battle, and Alex- 
 ander sleeping in the same room with him, saw in a 
 dream the serpent beloved by his mother Olympias, 
 and, according to her account, the divine father of 
 Alexander himself. In his mouth the serpent held an 
 herb, which, he said, was a sure vulnerary, and, if 
 applied to the wound of Ptolemy, he would recover. 
 On awakening, the king gave so accurate a descrip- 
 tion of the plant, that it was soon found, and the 
 effects were just as he anticipated.^ An interesting 
 coincidence, which Cicero himself treated as such, 
 may be found in his own works, and in Valerius 
 Maximus. •■' Being obliged, by a conspiracy of his 
 enemies, to quit Rome, he was spending some time 
 at Atina; and there sleeping, he imagined himself, 
 wandering through desert places, to have met Caius 
 Marius, who was arrayed in the consular ornaments, 
 and preceded by the lictors. Marius, taking him by 
 the hand, asked him the cause of his dejection, and 
 being told, gave him in charge to one of the lictors, 
 who was commanded to place him in the tomb of 
 Marius ; for there, said the aged consul, is placed the 
 
 ' Quintus Curtius, lib. ix. c. 27. 
 
 2 De Diviii. lib. ii. c. 68. Val. Max. lib. i. c. 7, § 5.
 
 216 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 hope of safety and better fortune ; and so it hap- 
 pened, — a unanimous decree of the senate, passed in 
 the Marian temple of Jupiter, recalled Cicero to 
 Home. One more instance of a dream being the 
 instrument of good, may be found in Valerius Maxi- 
 mus, and this will suffice. The night before the battle 
 of Philippi,^ Minerva appeared in a dream to Arto- 
 rius, the physician of Augustus, and directed him to 
 tell that prince on no account to be absent from the 
 battle ; but in the course of the fight the camp fell 
 into the hands of Brutus, and he would have shared 
 the same fate, had he not obeyed the intimation of 
 the divine will given by Artorius. None of these 
 anecdotes require any comment, the three former rest 
 on very doubtful authority. Cicero believed the 
 fourth to be merely a singular coincidence ; and with 
 regard to Ai'torius, his advice seems to have been 
 dictated by a desire to keep up the spirits of the 
 army. 
 
 St. Augustine speaks of some dreams of which he 
 heard. One he relates is, that a claim having been 
 made upon a person to pay a debt contracted by his 
 father, the father himself appeared in a dream to the 
 young man and pointed out to him where was the 
 receipt ; this being produced, the claim was of course 
 abandoned. This is adduced, says St. Augustine, as 
 a proof that the father cared still for his son, and 
 appeared to him in sleep to save him from trouble 
 and vexation. He then observes that this could not 
 be the case in another instance which he relates, in 
 which Eulogius, a quondam disciple of his, and who 
 had met with some difficulties in the works of Cicero, 
 ' Val. Max. lib. i. c. 7.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 217 
 
 had them cleared up by Augustine himself; who, or, 
 as he observes, something like him, appeared and ex- 
 plained the passage to Eulogius. Augustine was at a 
 distance, he knew nothing of the matter, and was 
 therefore, he infers, no party to the transaction. He 
 asks then,^ ^'hy, if a person thus living, be the subject 
 of an instructive vision, why may not one dead be so 
 also, without the interference of the spirit itself? 
 
 2. Dreams which are said to have been verified, 
 but of which we can discern no useful purpose. 
 Alcibiades imagined in a dream that he was wrapped 
 round with the cloak of his mistress, and shortly 
 afterwards he was slain, and his dead body being 
 cast out naked, she did cover it with that very 
 cloak. This is called by Valerius Maximus no fal- 
 lacious omen." Hamilcar, the Carthaginian com- 
 mander, when besieging Syracuse, heard in a dream, 
 a voice declaring that he should the next day sup in 
 that city. Greatly rejoiced, and imagining that such 
 a vision could only be a presage of victory, he brought 
 up his troops the next day with double confidence ; 
 but a dissension having taken place between the 
 Carthaginians and the Sicilians in his army, the 
 Syracusans took advantage of their want of union, 
 made a desperate attack upon the besiegers, and 
 carried away among others Hamilcar himself. So 
 that in that very city in which he had expected to 
 sup as a victor, he was necessitated to sup as a 
 captive. 
 
 ' Quoinodo fiant ista nescio, sed quomodo libet fiaiit, cur non eodem 
 modo fieri crodimus, iit in somnis quisque vidcat mortuuni, quomodo fit, 
 ut videat et vivniin ambobus utique nescientibus neque curantibus ; quis 
 vel quando vel ubi eorum imagines somniet ? — Aigustine, deCurapro 
 Morluis gerenda. 
 
 * Val. Max. lib. i. c. 7.
 
 218 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 " While Dionysius, the celebrated tyrant of Syra- 
 cuse, was yet in a private station, a lady of noble 
 family, Himera by name, dreamed that she was ad- 
 mitted into heaven, and there saw a powerful man, 
 of a swarthy and freckled complexion, bound with 
 iron chains to the throne of Jupiter. She asked the 
 youth who conducted her, who this being was, and 
 was told that he was the dire fate of Sicily and Italy, 
 and that when loosed from his chains, he should 
 occasion the destruction of many cities. This dream 
 she published the next day. After that, fortune, 
 hostile to the liberty of the Syracusans, and injurious 
 to the lives of the innocent, had hurled Dionvsius, 
 freed from the celestial custody, like a thunderbolt 
 upon their ease and tranquillity ; Himera beheld him 
 entering the city in which she dwelt, attended with 
 a great crowd ; she immediately exclaimed, ' This is 
 the man whom I saw in my dream.'' "'"' 
 
 As soon as the tyrant heard this, he put her to 
 death. 
 
 Aterius Rufus^ was about to give a great exhibi- 
 tion of gladiators at Syracuse, and dreamed the night 
 before that he had been pierced by the hand of one 
 of them. He went, however, to the theatre, and 
 one of the retiarii being placed near him, excited his 
 attention ; and on looking at the man closely, he 
 declared that that was he whom he had seen in his 
 dream, and that he feared he should, by his hand, 
 lose his life. His proposition to depart was, however, 
 overruled ; but that same evening he was accidentally 
 slain by the object of his fear. A singular dream, 
 with its no less singular fulfilment, is related in the 
 ' Val. Max. lib. i. c. 7. " Ibid.
 
 ONEIROMA^'CY. 219 
 
 " Memoirs of the Duchess of Abrantes," vol. i. p. 270. 
 The evening before the battle of Lonate, Junot, 
 having been on horseback all the day, and ridden 
 above twenty leagues in carrying the orders of the 
 general-in-chief, lay down overwhelmed with fatigue, 
 without undressing, and ready to start up at the 
 smallest sio'nal. Hardlv was he a.^leep when he 
 dreamed he was on a field of battle, surrounded 
 by the dead and the dying. Before him was a 
 horseman clad in armour, with whom he was en- 
 gaged ; but instead of a lance, he was armed with a 
 scythe, with which he struck Junot several blows, 
 particularly one on the left temple. The combat was 
 long, and at length they seized each other by the 
 middle ; in the strusfule the vizor of the horseman 
 fell off, and Junot perceived that he was fighting 
 with a skeleton. Soon the armour fell off, and 
 Death stood before him armed with his scythe. " I 
 have not been able to take you," said he, " but I will 
 seize one of vour best friends. Beware of me !" 
 Junot awoke in a cold perspiration. The morning 
 was beginning to dawn, and he could not sleep from 
 the impression he had received. He felt convinced 
 that one of his brother aides-de-camp, Muiron or 
 Marmont, would be slain in the approaching fight. 
 In effect it was so. Junot received two wounds, one 
 on the left temple, which he bore to the grave, and 
 another on the breast, but IMuiron was shot through 
 the heart ! 
 
 These are but specimens of a very numerous class 
 of dreams. They were verified, but, except in the 
 last case, the meaning was only known when the 
 prediction had been accomplished. The same obser- 
 
 L 2
 
 220 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 vation we may also see applies with an equal degree 
 of force to oracles. 
 
 8, Dreams which are said to have caused their 
 own fulfilment. 
 
 When the mother of Archbishop Abbott was very 
 near her confinement,^ she dreamed that, though a 
 poor woman herself, if she could eat a pike, her son 
 would be a great man. She sought accordingly with 
 much zeal, till at last she saw one in some water that 
 ran near her house at Guilford ; she seized upon it 
 and immediately devoured it. This circumstance 
 being much talked about, several persons of wealth 
 and influence offered to be sponsors to the child when 
 born ; and those who did so kept him both at school 
 and at the University, till he arrived at distinction. 
 The following, unless it were a political contrivance, 
 may be placed in the same class. Antigonus, king 
 of Macedonia, dreamed that he sowed gold in a field, 
 and that the seed sprang up, flourished, and ripened ; 
 but that soon after the golden harvest was reaped, 
 and nothing left but the worthless stubble : and that 
 then he heard a voice proclaim that Mithridates was 
 fled to the Euxine Sea, carrying with him all the 
 harvest. The king being now awakened, was exceed- 
 ingly terrified ; he resolved to cut off" Mithridates, 
 and communicated his intention to Demetrius, exact- 
 ing from him a j)revious oath of silence. Demetrius, 
 who was favorably disposed towards Mithridates, 
 was only prevented by a reverence for his oath from 
 telling him the dangei- in which he stood. Taking 
 him, however, aside, he wrote on the sand with the 
 point of his spear, " Fly, Mithridates ! " Warned 
 
 ' Tlaory of Dreams, vol. ii. p. G.
 
 ONEIROMANCY, 221 
 
 by the counsels of his friend, Mithridates fled, and 
 founded in Oappadocia, a kingdom^ which long sur- 
 vived that of Macedonia." This relation is taken 
 from Plutarch. 
 
 4. Dreams which have apparently failed of their 
 effect. 
 
 Among such may be classed that very curious 
 relation given by Cicero, of the two Arcadian friends 
 who, travelling together, arrived at Megara, and 
 there one lodged at an inn, the other at a friend's 
 house. The latter in his first sleep appeared to 
 behold his friend supplicating for aid against the inn- 
 keeper, who was preparing to murder him. He 
 started up in alarm, but not thinking the dream 
 merited attention, he again composed himself to sleep. 
 His friend again appeared, telling him that assist- 
 ance was now useless, for the intended murder had 
 been committed ; but conjured him that, although he 
 had afforded no succour to the living, he at loast 
 would not permit the crime to go unavenged. The 
 murdered person also stated that the body had been 
 thrown into a cart, and covered with dung, and that 
 it was in contemplation to carry it out of the city 
 very early the next morning. These instructions were 
 obeyed, the cart was stopped, the body found, and 
 the inn-keeper brought to justice. Here supposing 
 the truth of the relation, the object of the dream was 
 not to cause the execution of the inn-keeper, but to 
 save the life of the traveller ; and if we divide the 
 vision into two parts, and contend that the object of 
 the latter was accomplished, we must grant that 
 the former altogether failed of its effect. 
 
 ' That of Pontus. * Tlieory of Dreams, vol. i. p. 62.
 
 222 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 " The dreams of avarice," says the author of the 
 " Theory of Dreams," quoting Holinshed, " have sel- 
 dom been productive of much good. A rich man in 
 Wales having dreamed three nights successively that 
 there was a chain of gold hidden under the headstone 
 of a well named St. Barnard's Well, went to the 
 place, and putting his hand in the hole was bitten by 
 an adder ; and not many years since, as the interest- 
 ing recluses of Llangollen would testify, a deluded 
 cobbler was digging, in consequence of a dream, 
 among the ruins of the castle of Diuas Brune, which 
 overhangs the vale, in search of gold." 
 
 Two curious dreams, showing the effect of an evil 
 conscience on the sensorium, are related by Proclus 
 in his '■ Doubts concerning Providence :" they may be 
 found at pp. 63 and 64 of Taylor's translation. 
 
 •' For they say, that Apollodorus the tyrant saw 
 himself in a dream scourged and boiled by certain 
 persons, and his heart exclaiming from the kettle, 
 ' I am the cause of these thy torments ;' but Ptolemy, 
 who was called Thunder (Ceraunus), thought he was, 
 in a dream, called to judgment by Seleucus, and 
 that vultures and wolves sat there as his judges. 
 Such are the preludes to the wicked of impending 
 punishment." 
 
 These examples will suffice, and for the most part 
 they require no comment. Generally speaking, we 
 shall find that any remarkable coincidence between 
 dreams and real transactions may be accounted for 
 by the fact well known to all — that we are most 
 likely to dream of that which has the greatest share 
 of our waking thoughts. It will hardly be quite 
 fair to the author of the " Theoi-y of Dreams," not to
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 223 
 
 state what that theory is. The book is an amusino- 
 collection of anecdotes, and the writer says : " The 
 general theory to which the author is inclined is, 
 that no dreams, excepting- those involved with the 
 history of revelation, can have any necessary con- 
 nection with, or can afford any assistance towards, 
 discovering the secrets of futurity."" ^ 
 
 We must not dismiss the subject of dreams, with- 
 out noticing the means to which the ancients had 
 recourse in ortler to obtain prophetic dreams. The 
 skins of animals offered in sacrifice belonged to the 
 priest. This was the case under the Mosaic law," 
 from which many of the most interesting ceremonies 
 among the heathen were borrowed. It is probable 
 that the Jews, in the days of their apostasy, and 
 it is quite certain that the heathens put these skins to 
 a superstitious purpose. Yirgil gives an instance of 
 this in the following lines : — 
 
 First on the fleeces of the slaughtered sheep, 
 By night the sacred priest dissolves in sleep ; 
 When in a train before his wondering eye, 
 The airy forms and wondrous vision fly ; 
 He calls the powers who guard the infernal floods, 
 And talks, inspired, familiar with the gods : 
 To this dread oracle the prince withdrew. 
 And first a hundred sheep the monarch slew ; 
 Then on their fleeces lay, and from the wood 
 He heard distinct these accents of the god. 
 
 Pitt's Alneid, b. vii. 
 
 " The Highlanders of Scotland,^' says Sir Walter 
 Scott, in his notes to the " Lady of the Lake.'"" 
 " like all rude people, had various superstitious 
 modes of inquiring into futurity. One of the most 
 noted was the togharm. A person was wrapped up 
 
 ' Vol. i. p. 152. » Levit. viii. 1.
 
 224 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 in the skin of a newly-slain bullock, and deposited 
 beside a waterfall, or at the bottom of a precipice, 
 or in some other strange, wild, and unusual situation, 
 where the scenery around him suggested nothing but 
 objects of horror. In this situation he revolved in 
 his mind the question proposed, and whatever was 
 impressed upon him by his exalted imagination 
 passed for the inspiration of disembodied spirits who 
 haunt these desolate recesses. * * Mr. Alexander 
 Cooper, minister of North Uist, told me that one 
 John Erach, in the Isle of Lewis, assured him that 
 it was his fate to be led by his curiosity with some 
 who consulted this oracle, during which time he felt 
 and heard such terrible things that he could not 
 express them. The impression made on him was 
 such as would never go off ; and he said for a thou- 
 sand worlds he would not again be concerned in the 
 like performance, for it had disordered him to a high 
 deg-ree."'' 
 
 Such superstitions might be expected from a race 
 of men so imaginative as the Highlanders; nor will 
 it appear very surprising that similar means, only less 
 terrific, should have been occasionally resorted to in 
 the convent.^ The Franciscans, among whom super- 
 natural visions w^ere peculiarly abundant, used to 
 note with great care the mat upon which any 
 brother had lain while in a state of ecstasy. A 
 
 ' Somniandi modus Franciscanoruin hiiic ducit originem antiqui moris, 
 fuit oracula et futiironuii pnescicntiain, quihusdaiu adhibitis sacris, per 
 insoinuia dari, qui mos talis erat, ut victimas caidereiit, mox sacrificio 
 pcracto, sub pellibus cajsarum ovium incubantes somnia captarent, eaque 
 IjMiiphatica somnia verissinios exitus sortiri. Et monachi super storea 
 cubant, in qua alius frater exstaticus fuerat somniatus sacrificat missara, 
 praeces et jejunia adhibet, inde ut communiter fit de amoribus per somnia 
 consulit, redditque responsa pro occurrentibus spectris. — Atoresinide Rrav. 
 lid. Oruf. p. 162.
 
 ONEIROMANCY. 225 
 
 portion of the spirit which rested upon him was be- 
 lieved to hallow the very straw upon which he lay, 
 and those who afterwards slept upon it expected 
 to be visited with celestial dreams. Pliny, in his 
 " Natural History," mentions several ways of obtain- 
 ing or repelling peculiar dreams. The shoulder of 
 a chameleon,^ for example, enabled a person who 
 possessed it to dream of whatsoever he pleased. 
 Anise,* hung about a bed, drove away disagreeable 
 visions; and on the contrary, an herb called pycno- 
 comon,^ caused them. Nor must the recipe of 
 Robert Burton be forgotten; which cannot however 
 be easily recommended. "Piso commends frications, 
 Andrew Borde a good draught of strong wine before 
 one goes to bed. I say a nutmeg and ale, or a 
 good draught of muscadine, with a toast and nut- 
 meg ; or a posset of the same, which many use in 
 a morning ; but methinks for such as have dry 
 brains, are much more proper at night."* After- 
 wards, he quotes a story rather more to the purpose. 
 Ptolemy, king of Egypt, asked one of the seventy 
 interpreters what was the best way of securing 
 pleasant dreams, and was told to use celestial medi- 
 tations, and honest actions when awake. ^ It will 
 hardly be necessary to make any recapitulation of 
 the contents of these two chapters. We have seen 
 that there was and still is, a metaphysical theory 
 well known to the ancients and embraced by some 
 very distinguished men, even among moderns ; that, 
 according to this theory, it is possible that dreams 
 may be the expatiations of a spirit for a season 
 
 ' Book xxxviii. c. 8. » Book xx. c. 17. ^ Book xxvi. c. 8. 
 * Anatomy of Melancholy, part ii. sect ii. memb. v. * Ibid.
 
 226 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 disembodied, possibly capable of having some glances 
 into futurity, and therefore not to be despised. 
 Knowing this, however different our opinions may 
 be, we shall hesitate before we visit with our con- 
 tempt, those among the ancients who believed in 
 oneiomancy. The practice was, no doubt, always 
 fallacious, and often contemptible, but we must not 
 confound the theories of philosophers with the prac- 
 tices of mountebanks. In many respects we are 
 not much better informed as to the nature of spirit, 
 or the properties of matter, than the ancients ; that 
 we are free from many of their errors is to be 
 attributed quite as much to our greater knowledge 
 of the limits set to human science, as to our more 
 successful investigation of natural phenomena. We 
 shall now pause in our remarks on the Romance of 
 Science, and treat briefly on that of History, touch- 
 ing, as we pass, on those subjects which form, as it 
 were, the confines of the two kingdoms — and then 
 resume, in the third Book, our scientific researches, 
 with the theories and practice of the Alchemists.
 
 BOOK IL 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 
 
 The history of the heroic, or romantic ages, may 
 well be called " the superstition of history." The 
 examination, however, of these fabulous records will 
 well repay the time it will occupy, for it gives us 
 the truest picture of national character, and throws 
 much and important light upon Mythology. 
 
 Before treating of the Eomance of History it will 
 be necessary to say a few words upon history itself!, 
 its origin and progress ; and it then will be easy to 
 see how truth became corrupted into fiction, and the 
 severity of history degenerated into fable. The 
 earliest historians, among all nations, have been 
 poets, either, as in Wales and the Highlands, at- 
 tached to persons or clans, or singing such songs as 
 would be most likely to flatter the prejudices of 
 the people. In the former case, as well as in the 
 latter, though we may find sublimity of conception, 
 and splendor of expression, we shall look in vain for 
 fidelity. Yet where the circumstances which pre- 
 clude this truth cease to act — as, for example, in 
 disputes among the same body, or in trifling circum-
 
 228 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 stances whei-e the passions of no party are concerned 
 — we may reasonably look for, and shall commonly 
 find correctness. Thus, when Homer magnifies to 
 a superhuman extent the power and greatness of 
 Achilles, the Greek, as well as the Englishman, 
 took the description with the recollection, that 
 this was the hero of the poem, and the favorite 
 object of the author's eulogy. But when he casually 
 hints that the fleet of Salamis was under the di- 
 rection of the Athenians, the Amphictyonic Coun- 
 cil considered him as affording direct historical 
 testimony, and awarded that city to the Athenian 
 Republic in consequence, nor did their antagonists 
 (and these antagonists were Spartans) dispute the 
 justness of the decision. The same remark holds 
 good when applied to the bards of England and 
 Scotland, of Norway, Denmark, or, indeed, to the 
 historical songs of any early period of history. The 
 object of the poet, however, was rather to delight 
 than to instruct, rather to magnify the achievements 
 of his hero, than to record his real actions ; and 
 hence, when the ostensible purpose of the bards was 
 not fulfilled, the graver historian stepped in, claim- 
 ing the merit of impartiality ; and casting aside those 
 splendors of imagination with which it had been the 
 chief labor of the poet to decorate his subject. 
 
 Here, then, arose at once a new era in writing ; 
 the poet no longer laid claim to historical accuracy, 
 and the historian renounced for ever the glory of 
 invention. Setting aside the historical books of 
 the Old Testament, which, from many causes, 
 come not within the pale of our argument at pre- 
 sent, the first who thus separated these essentially
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 229 
 
 distinct species of writing was Herodotus, and with 
 him, emphatically called the " Father of History," 
 did she spring into existence in full and perfect 
 beauty, like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter. 
 The ease and flowing grace of his style, his great 
 erudition, and his indefatigable exertions to obtain 
 full and correct information, set him far above all 
 praise ; nor are we to tax him with credulity for 
 admitting into his works so many improbable and 
 romantic accounts. We ought to remember that 
 this great man had no written documents to refer to ; 
 that he was necessitated to take tradition as it was 
 delivered to him : and if, by his time, it had become 
 corrupt, it was not the fault of the collector. In- 
 deed the history of Herodotus may be very fairly 
 considered as a valuable picture of the opinions of 
 the times concerning those periods and nations of 
 which he treats. It bears the stamp of truth on the 
 grand chain of events; and if here and there we 
 have an episode, or a scientific digression, which bears 
 with equal plainness the seal of fiction, we never 
 have it upon the authority of Herodotus, but that 
 he was told so, and sometimes that he cannot ask 
 the reader to credit that whereof he decidedly doubts 
 himself. Of his works we shall have occasion to 
 take further notice before the close of our present 
 investigation, and of no other Greek historian's pro- 
 ductions: for though Thucydides be, according to 
 an eminent writer, a great romancer, it is in a 
 different and less useful way, inasmuch as a forger 
 of speeches is doing far less service to the cause 
 of literature than a collector of traditions. 
 
 We must, to find the root of those curious parti-
 
 230 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 culars which have been at one time or other taken and 
 credited as true history, refer first to the set of ideas 
 which Mythology instilled into the minds of men : 
 those wild legends of giants and spiritual essences, 
 with which their religious creeds were crammed; 
 and next, to the mere invention of men, who have 
 either devised marvellous tales out of pure love for 
 the wonderful, or else allegorized simple facts, till they 
 have made them wear an appearance so monstrous 
 as to require an effort of faith to believe them — 
 Avhich the better informed have uniformly declined 
 to exert. To take a view of the nature and stream 
 of romance, which, though widely different, yet runs 
 constantly parallel to that of history, it will be 
 necessary to begin, not with the Antediluvian period, 
 or that which immediately succeeded the flood, — 
 for these seem more expressly to belong to Mytho- 
 logy, — nor with the history of the Patriarchs, which 
 more concerns ecclesiastical than civil history, but 
 with the romance of Jewish story; and one of the 
 first persons with whom that romance has much to 
 do, is the very celebrated character, Og, King of 
 Bashan. 
 
 The traditions of the Jews tell us that Sihon, King 
 of the Amorites, and Og, the King of Bashan, were 
 brethren ; that Og was born before the Deluge ; that 
 his father was the angel Schamchiel and the giants 
 were the posterity of the fallen angels. " Now Og,"" 
 says the Talmud, "perished not in the Flood, but rode 
 upon the ark, and was as a covering thereof; and he 
 was fed with the provisions which Noah gave him ; 
 for Noah bored a hole in the side of the ark, and handed 
 out to him his daily food, to wit, one thousand oxen,
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 231 
 
 one thousand of every kind of game, and the same 
 number of measures of hquid for drink. And this 
 did Noah give Og, and Og consented to be the 
 servant of Noah and his children after him." This 
 very much tends to increase our notion of the ca- 
 pacity of the ark, and the prodigious bulk of Og. 
 We find Og pursuing his agreement, and acting in 
 his capacity of servant to the descendants of Noah 
 with laudable fidelity for some ages ; and Eliezer, 
 the servant of Abraham, was, we are told, the same 
 personage. As to his size, the Talmud writers very 
 much differ: one tells us that the soles of his feet 
 were forty miles long, and he hid Abraham in the 
 hollow of his hand. "And it came to pass that 
 when Abraham did one day rebuke Og, that Og 
 greatly trembled, and by reason of his exceeding 
 fear a tooth fell out of his head, so Abraham made 
 an easy chair of the tooth, and sat thereon all the 
 days of his life." Og had been the servant of 
 Nimrod, and Nimrod gave him to Abraham, and he 
 obtained his liberty and the kingdom of Bashan from 
 the latter upon the following occasion : — When 
 Eliezer (that is, Og) came into Mesopotamia to 
 Bethel, being sent by Abraham on account of 
 Rebecca, " Laban seeing the ear-rings, and beino- 
 moved by covetousness, did mean to slay Eliezer ; 
 but he, by means of the holy word ' Shemhamphorash,' 
 raised the camels into the air, and stood upon the 
 camels, so Laban saw his face beaming with bright- 
 ness, and thought it was Abraham, so he said, ' Come 
 in, thou blessed of the Lord.' Now still he meant to 
 poison Eliezer, inasmuch as he dared not fight hand 
 to hand with him, for Laban saw Eliezer take the
 
 232 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 camels in his hand, and carry them over the river. 
 But when the dish in which the poisoned food was, 
 was placed before Eliezer, God, through love to 
 Abraham, changed it. So Eliezer escaped ; but 
 Bethuel did eat thereof and died." Eliezer, there- 
 fore, satisfactorily performed his mission, and his 
 reward was freedom and a kingdom. 
 
 He now resumed his old name, and with it his 
 hatred to the people of God. During the war which 
 the Israelites waged with the Canaauites — a war of 
 extermination — Og was one of those who made the 
 most desperate resistance : and we are told, as a 
 matter of history, of his great size. What follows is 
 not quite accordant with the dimensions of this noted 
 giant, as preserved in Holy Writ ; still less, how- 
 ever, with the outrageous proportions which I before 
 stated. " When (says one of the Talmud treatises) 
 the children of Israel pitched their camp before the 
 city of Edrei, Moses said, ' To-morrow will we enter 
 the city ; ' and the next day, before it was well 
 light, before the people came nigh into the city, 
 Moses opened his eyes and beheld Og sitting on the 
 walls of the city ; so Moses wist not what it was, 
 and he said — ' So, now the people have built a new 
 wall in one night ;' but the Lord said to Moses, ' It 
 is Og whom thou seest, and his feet are eighteen ells 
 in length.' So Og went forth and built sixty cities, 
 and the smallest of them was sixty miles high." 
 
 This remnant of the Antediluvian Nephilim was, 
 however, now approaching the termination of his 
 career ; his opposition to the Israelites was doomed 
 to be fatal to himself. One of the Talmud treatises 
 favors us with the following account of his death : —
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 2o3 
 
 He inquired of what extent was the camp of the 
 TsraeHtes, and being told six miles, he resolved to 
 tear up a rock of equal dimensions, and cast it upon 
 the camp. " So he went and plucked up a rock of 
 six miles extent, and put the same on his head ; but 
 God caused ants to come upon it, and they made a 
 hole in it, so that it fell about his neck, for the hole 
 was directly over his head ; and when he tried to 
 remove it, the Lord caused his teeth to grow into it, 
 so that he could not disengage his neck. So, when 
 Moses saw him thus encumbered, he took an axe, 
 whereof the handle was ten ells long, and jumped ten 
 ells high, and then, since Moses was ten ells in stature, 
 he could reach thirty ells high ; so he struck Og on 
 the ancle bone that he died." After this we shall be 
 prepared for the story of the hunter, who, according 
 to the treatise Nidda, once pursued a buck into the 
 shin-bone of a man ; the hunter continued the chase 
 for three miles up the bone, and then, not being able 
 either to catch the buck or to see the end of the bone, 
 returned disappointed. Can we wonder that this 
 turned out to have been one of the legs of Og, King 
 of Bashan 1 We pass over the stories which are told 
 of many other individuals, because they are merely 
 admeasurements of monstrous animals, and accounts 
 of incredible feats of strength, set off with such 
 particulars as this — " When Samson shook himself, 
 his hair clattered together, and the sound was heard 
 from Dan to Beersheba." 
 
 We pass over these : we merely may state, that it 
 requires no genius to invent fiction of this kind. 
 Unicorns a hundred miles high, on the horns of one 
 of which David was lifted up to heaven : men with
 
 234 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 feet forty miles long, and cities sixty miles high, are 
 not objects, of which, in the present day, it will be 
 necessary to relate all the adventures. It has been 
 supposed that the Jewish Rabbis were aware of the 
 existence of the fossil elephant, and the kraken of 
 Norway ; but it may be objected — and it seems with 
 great reason — that they who invented the animals 
 we have just mentioned, and birds so big that when 
 an egg by chance broke, the white of it overflowed 
 three-score villages, would be very likely to magnify 
 fishes in the same way, without supposing them to 
 be acquainted with that immense creature of which 
 naturalists are yet debating the existence. The 
 fabulous simorg,' the roc of the "Arabian Nights," 
 the cock of the Moslem heaven, parallel creations, 
 are the only creatures with which to compare these 
 monstrous and useless fictions. 
 
 At the time of Solomon a new era opens, a cha- 
 racter is brought forward on which all the poets and 
 romancers of the East have ever loved to dwell. 
 Pre-eminently wise, and highly- favored by the Su- 
 preme Being, he stood alone among the potentates 
 of his age : his fame filled the then civilized world, 
 and princes from the furthest regions thronged round 
 his throne to offer their choicest treasures, to acknow- 
 ledge his immeasurable superiority and to hear the 
 lessons of wisdom which, like a stream of honey, 
 flowed from his inspired lips. And on account of 
 this universal fame, the legends of other eastern 
 nations are as full of his power and magnificence as 
 those of the Jews. In science, in art, in riches, in 
 wisdom, and in power the era of Solomon shone with 
 such surpassing lustre, that the previous age looked
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 235 
 
 dim — even the reign of his glorious and far more 
 excellent father, and the succeeding — " Oh ! what a 
 falling off was there ! " The peculiar circumstances 
 in which Solomon was placed, and the fact of his 
 wisdom and knowledge being not the product of 
 study and experience, but the express gift of the 
 Deity, cast around him an undefined awe. A great 
 and learned man is, after all, but a man. Solomon 
 seemed somewhat more, and the cold sternness of his 
 character added to the distance which his greatness 
 placed between him and other men. The influx of 
 treasure, and of those luxuries which are ever the 
 most costly, was so great, and their influence and 
 effects so remarkable as to invest the earlier period 
 of his reign with the character rather of a gorgeous 
 vision than of a story of real life. We cannot 
 be surprised that the ancients should attribute to 
 a prince so distinguished, magical power ; and as 
 we know that they considered Magic as a science, 
 and which by long study a man might attain, it must 
 be evident, that for them to have thought Solomon 
 ignorant of Magic, would have been an impossibility. 
 Accordingly we find spirits and genii, fairies and 
 demons acknowledging his power and executing his 
 commands. We find him absolute over the elements, 
 and ruling them and their spiritual inhabitants and 
 movers with the same cold, proud, stern control 
 which he evinced towards men. The character, both 
 real and fabulous, of vSolomon, is ever consistent, and 
 there is not a single action related of him in either 
 character which can be called amiable. 
 
 The fall and the dimmed glory of his reign before 
 its close, the removal of God's favor, the complaints
 
 236 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 of his oppressed people, and the successful hostilities 
 of his warlike neighbours, are passed over lightly 
 in the pages of tradition. He was a favorite hero, 
 and thej have been tender of his fame. The reader 
 will, of course, recollect the frequent allusions made 
 to his seal and his power over spirits, in the " Arabian 
 Nights C the Talmudic history, touching how he 
 became possessed of that seal, and how he was once 
 cast out of his kingdom for three years, and how he 
 built the Temple by Magic, will, perhaps, be interest- 
 ing, as their decidedly Oriental character show the 
 great change that had taken place since the periods 
 of which we last quoted the legends. 
 
 By the time of Solomon the East appears to have 
 reached a state not very unlike that in which the era 
 of Haroun Alraschid found it ; and the history which 
 we are now about to relate, would seem perfectly in 
 good keeping were it in the " Arabian Nights :" — 
 " King Solomon spoke unto the Rabbis and said, 
 ' What order shall I take that the stones of the 
 Temple maybe split without iron tools T and they 
 said, the ' sJiamir'' must be obtained wherewith Moses 
 made the sacred breastplate and tunic. So Solomon 
 called up devils and commanded them to tell him 
 where the shamir was to be found ; they came and 
 stood around him, but, unable to answer the king*'8 
 question, at length they said, ' Ashmedai, the 
 prince of the devils, knows it.'" Solomon next 
 inquired where this fiend was to be found : on a 
 certain hill, which they named, he had dug himself 
 a pit and filled it with water, and every day the 
 demons said he went there to drink. " Then was 
 Solomon exceeding glad, and sent lienaiah, the son
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 237 
 
 of Jehoiada, and gave him a chain on which was 
 engraven the mystic word ' shemhamphorash,'' and a 
 ring on which it was engi*aven, with a bundle of 
 wool, and several casks of wine. So, when Benaiah 
 came to the pit, he dug a hole and caused the 
 water to run out, then he stopped up the hole 
 with the wool ; he next dug a hole at the top and 
 poured in the wine, and then stopped up the hole so 
 dexterously that no one could see that any one had 
 been there. Now when Benaiah had done this, he 
 climbed up a tree and waited for the coming of the 
 devil ; but when he came, and found wine and not 
 water, he was very much enraged, and said, ' Strong 
 drink is raging, wine is a mocker, and whosoever is 
 deceived thereby is not wise,' so he would not drink, 
 though extremely thirsty ; but after a little time, he 
 could no longer refrain, but drank, and that so freely, 
 as to be intoxicated, and lay down to sleep. Then 
 did Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, descend from the 
 tree, and bound Ashmedai, and brought him to 
 Solomon. Yet Ashmedai strove greatly, but Benaiah 
 was too strong for him." " The demon, however, 
 did some mischief in the passage, and when brought 
 into the presence of the king, he haughtily exclaimed, 
 'When you are dead, you shall have but earth enough 
 to cover you; now have you conquered the whole 
 world, vet you were not satisfied till you have 
 brought me into subjection.' But Solomon said, ' I 
 want nothing from thee, but I will build the Temple, 
 and I want shamir.'' Then said Ashmedai, ' He is 
 not committed unto me, but unto the prince of the 
 sea, and he trusts him to none but his turkey, who 
 is faithful to him.' ' What does the turkey do with
 
 238 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 it r inquired Solomon. Aslimedai answered, ' He 
 takes it along with him on mountains that are deso- 
 late, and on which grows neither herb nor tree; he 
 holds it against the rocks of the mountains, and 
 they split, so he goes his way : afterwards takes 
 a load of trees and casts it there, and the place 
 becomes fertile and fit to be inhabited: and trees 
 and other things do grow and thrive there ; for this 
 reason is shamir called ''tiaQgar trira^ that is, the 
 rock-worker. This shamir is an insect which nothing 
 is hard enough to withstand ; but the hardest rocks 
 split before it like soft wood before the wedge.'' " 
 Solomon immediately sent his messengers to seek 
 the nest of this turkey, which they were fortunate 
 enough to find, and in it were the young ones, 
 which, with the nest, they immediately covered 
 with a cucumber- frame. " So, when the turkey 
 came to the nest, she essayed to get at her young, 
 but could not for the glass ; therefore she brought 
 shamir to set him upon the glass, whereat Benaiah 
 made a great shout, which caused the turkey to drop 
 shamir, and Benaiah took him up. But the turkey 
 strangled herself because of the oath which she had 
 sworn to the prince of the seas.*" Possessed of this 
 insect, which, to increase its importance, was said 
 to have been created on the first Sabbath — aided by 
 the powders of light, and served, though reluctantly, 
 by those of darkness, the zenith of Solomon's fame 
 drew nigh ; he built that sublime and stupendous 
 Temple, upon which nations gazed with wonder, and 
 even Deity deigned to rest visibly. 
 
 And now comes the tale which will, indeed, vie 
 with any of the Thousand-and-one. D'Israeli, in his
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 239 
 
 " Curiosities of Literature," quotes one version, but 
 there is another more fanciful and more interesting. 
 In the treatise, " Emek Hammelek," is preserved the 
 story which we quote : — " In the height of his pros- 
 perity, the king was accustomed every day at noon 
 to convey himself into the firmament to hear the 
 secrets of the universe from the mouths of the spirits 
 Asa and Asael, and no fear was on him. At length 
 Ashmedai prevailed upon Solomon to grant him his 
 liberty, and to give him possession of the ring Avhich 
 had the shemhamphorash engraven upon it. Once 
 possessed of the talismanic gem which had been to 
 Solomon the sceptre of his supernatural power, the 
 fiend suddenly changed his tone, and dilating him- 
 self to a gigantic size, swallowed the now alarmed 
 monarch; spreading his broad wings, he flew two 
 hundred leagues, and then spat out the king- in a 
 distant and idolatrous country. Then he took the 
 ring and flung it into the sea, where it was swallowed 
 by a fish. Meantime Ashmedai told Solomon that 
 he was thrust out from the peaceable enjoyment of his 
 kingdom, because he had disobeyed the Lord and 
 broken three commandments ; he had multiplied unto 
 himself horses, wives, and gold and silver, all which 
 things he was forbidden, as king of Israel, to do. 
 Ashmedai now, in the likeness of Solomon, sat on 
 the throne of Israel for three years, and truly, to 
 judge from the extreme difiiculty which there is in 
 ascertaining which were the three years in question, 
 the devil seems to have been about as good a king as 
 this wisest of monarchs. While the demon was thus 
 ruling, Solomon was an exile and u wanderer. In 
 the course of his peregrinations, he passed through
 
 240 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the land of the Amorites, begging from door to 
 door, and saying, ' I, the preacher, was king in 
 Jerusalem.** " 
 
 In the capital city, to which the legend gives the 
 name of Mashkemen, he was hired as an assistant 
 by the chief cook, and employed in the palace, where 
 he distinguished himself, and gained the favor of the 
 king by his proficiency in the gastronomic art. The 
 chief cook was obliged to yield to superior science, 
 and the quondam sovereign of Jerusalem was elevated 
 to the post. At length Naama, the king's daughter, 
 saw Solomon, and soon became deeply enamoured ; 
 her passion was speedily discovered, and, as may 
 readily be supposed, met with no small opposition. 
 Solomon's story was, of course, disbelieved, and 
 though Naama was allowed to become his, they were 
 driven into the desert, and left without food, tent, or 
 water ; aided, however, by unseen spirits, and sup- 
 ported by mutual love, they reached a city by the 
 sea-coast, and Solomon became a fisherman. The 
 denouement of the story becomes now quite according 
 to the received style ; Solomon catches the fish that 
 swallowed the ring, and again recovers his power 
 and kingdom. After the conviction and expulsion 
 of Ashmedai, Solomon sent for the king of the 
 Amorites, proved his identity with the late chief 
 cook, and introduced Naama to her father as Queen 
 of Israel. 
 
 There is a story, partly taken from this, in the 
 " Arabian Nights,"" wherein we are told how a 
 certain prince, being, by magical means, cast out of 
 his kingdom, established himself as a pastry-cook in 
 a distant city, whither he was taken by a genie very
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 241 
 
 much against his will, and was at last discovered 
 and restored to his rank by his extraordinary skill 
 in cheese-cakes. We will take the present oppor- 
 tunity of noticing that many of the tales of that 
 enchanting collection are taken from the Talmud. 
 
 M
 
 242 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 
 
 One more instance from the " Arabian Nights." 
 A young man is taken to a city of enchantment, 
 and marries queen Labe, the Circe of the place. In 
 the midst of the night the sorceress leaves the 
 arms of her husband, supposing him to be asleep, 
 lays across the chamber a train of yellow powder, 
 and, by a spell, changes it into a river ; with the 
 water she then kneads some more of the said powder 
 into a cake, which she dresses, and the next day 
 presents to her husband. He, in the meantime, 
 is made aware of her malefic intentions, and fur- 
 nished with the means of frustrating them, he eats 
 a cake which he had secreted, and though Labe 
 threw water over him, and commanded him to 
 take the shape of a horse, her charm was power- 
 less. He, then, seeing she attempted to turn it 
 into a joke, said, " If it be so, to coiwince me, eat 
 some of my cake." No sooner had the sorceress 
 done so, than her husband commanded her to take 
 the shape of a marc, which she was accordingly 
 forced to do, and he took her to a distant country ; 
 here he sold her to one who was aware of the 
 enchantment, and who restored her to her former 
 shape. These two now turned the tables, and the 
 unfortunate young gentleman was some time before 
 he escaped tlieir vengeance.
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 243 
 
 Now let us turn to the treatise " Sanhedrim,"" 
 and we there find the embryo of this tale. True, 
 the Arabian romancer has decked it with all the 
 gorgeous splendors of poetry and all the wild interest 
 of deep passion — has magnified the little, and digni- 
 fied the mean: but the tale is the same. "Jannai" 
 (says the treatise in question,) "came to an inn, and 
 said to them : ' Give me some water to drink,' but 
 they brought him water beaten up with flour, called 
 shethita ; and he perceived that the lips of the 
 woman who brought it did move : he also observed 
 that she was an enchantress. He therefore poured 
 a httle of it out, and it turned to scorpions; then 
 said he : 'I have drunken of your liquor, drink 
 you, I pray you, of mine.' And when he had 
 given the woman to drink, she was transformed 
 into an ass, upon which he seated himself and rode 
 to market. But there came one of her companions, 
 who, as soon as she saw her, broke the enchant- 
 ment, and there stood in the market a woman instead 
 of an ass."" It may be worth while to notice, that 
 the Thousand and One tales were, by the medium 
 of minstrels and troubadours, well known (at least, 
 many of them) in Europe, long before the first 
 direct translation from the eastern originals. With 
 altered names, and an admixture of European chi- 
 valry and character, the same stories which beguiled 
 the hours of the Caliphs of Bagdad, served to lull 
 to repose the returned crusaders. The very com- 
 mencement of the " Arabian Nights,"' the vengeance 
 of the justly incensed, but too cruel Shahriar, and 
 the history of his equally unfortunate, but less san- 
 guinary brother, are told with a variation of names 
 
 M
 
 244 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 and a trifling alteration of catastrophe, by Ariosto, 
 in his twenty-eighth canto. The Italian poet is 
 more facetious than moral, more laughable than 
 decorous, and prefaces his tale by the remarkable 
 caution — 
 
 Donne, e voi che le donne avete in pregio 
 Per Dio, non date a questa istoria orecchia. 
 
 Ariosto wrote before there was any translation of 
 the One Thousand and One nights, and must have 
 taken the circumstances of that canto from some of 
 the lays of the period. Le Grand has made a curious 
 collection of fabliaux which will well repay the at- 
 tention of any one who washes to investigate the 
 romances of the troubadours. There is a very scarce 
 and valuable tract, printed at Rome in the year 1506, 
 called " II Sartore de Milano et il suo Ragazzo," 
 which was shortly after translated into English, and 
 entitled " The Italian Tailor and his Boy." In the 
 year 3810 this was re-printed, in a facsimile, I be- 
 lieve by the Roxburgh club. The tale is an altered 
 version of the latter part of one of the " Arabian 
 Nights' Entertainments," namely, the history of the 
 second Calender. The English translation is in verse, 
 and beautifully executed. This again was earlier 
 than the first French translation, which was published 
 in the middle of the sixteenth century. To the tra- 
 ditions of the Jews must we also look for confirma- 
 tion of those very extravagant adventures of Tobit 
 and of Judith, of Bel and the Dragon, — books which 
 are at war alike with probability, with chronology, 
 and with history. 
 
 Passing away to another country, to another peo- 
 ple, from the wide and desert plains of Arabia, to the
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 245 
 
 classic islands and sacred mountains of Greece, we 
 find the same spirit ruling, differing only in exterior. 
 In the Talmud, tradition appears ridiculous, present- 
 ing us only with monstrous impossibilities, puerile 
 reasonings, and absurd ceremonies. In India and 
 Arabia we see fiction elevated and sublimed, and 
 we shudder at her mighty and fearful countenance. 
 Spirits of power and knowledge arise at her call ; her 
 dwelling is in vast and stately palaces. The exhaust- 
 less East showers upon her " barbaric pearl and 
 gold," gems potent and priceless are her crown, 
 and her sceptre is the talisman at which even the 
 fiends fall down in trembling obedience. 
 
 In Greece she sits upon a throne of beauty ; grace 
 and loveliness, poetry and music, are her handmaids. 
 If she speaks, it is by the voice of a Homer ; she 
 leads captive our feelings, and our reason comes 
 biassed to the work of judgment ; yet, amid all the 
 beauty and the romantic poetry of Greek fable, shall 
 we often find the nucleus of a glorious emanation of 
 genius in the dull, heavy narration of a rabbinical 
 author. The derivation is mostly through the In- 
 dian and Egyptian mythology ; but the Rabbi gives 
 us the tradition which, many centuries before him, 
 the Indian or Egyptian naturalized in his own sys- 
 tem, and the Greek thence transplanting it into the 
 soil of poetry, it grew up and became more beau- 
 tiful, producing flowers worthy of being inwoven 
 with the legends of that most intellectual of people. 
 For example, that most outrageous bandit, Pro- 
 crustes, whose name has passed into a proverb, did 
 not himself invent the bed whereupon he laid the 
 weary travellers who were unlucky enough to fall
 
 246 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 into his hands : he took the idea from the people 
 of Sodom, who, according to the treatise " Sanhe- 
 drim," had a bedstead of iron on which they laid 
 all travellers to rest ; if any was too long for it, 
 they cut off his legs ; if he was too short, they dis- 
 located his joints, and stretched him to the requisite 
 degree of longitude. 
 
 We now turn to that fascinating author who has 
 so often, and it seems so unjustly, been accused of 
 want of fidelity, Herodotus. In the earlier part of 
 this investigation, I have already given my own 
 opinion of his writings. He is usually so scrupu- 
 lous in telling us what were his sources of infor- 
 mation, and of forewarning us where he did not 
 deem the authority sufficient, that we ought rather 
 to thank him for his historical romances, than to 
 distrust his genuine history. When he speaks of 
 an event as having certainly happened, it would 
 seem that few historians may be more imphcitly 
 believed. Should we, because he has preserved 
 many most interesting traditions, deny him the 
 credit, which, had he been less liberal, we should 
 certainly have conceded ? I take two specimens, one 
 of perverted history, one of pure invention, not on 
 the part of Herodotus, but on that of the Egyptian 
 priests. 
 
 " The successor of this prince was Sethos, a priest 
 of Vulcan ; he treated the military of Egypt with 
 extreme contempt, and as if he had no occasion for 
 their services. Among other indignities, he deprived 
 them of their arura;, or fields of fifty feet square, 
 which, by way of reward, his predecessors had given 
 each soldier : the result was, that when Sennacherib,
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 247 
 
 King of Arabia and Assyria, attacked Egypt witli 
 a mighty army, the warriors whom he had thus 
 treated, refused to assist him. In this perplexity, 
 the priest retired to the shrine of his god, before 
 which he lamented his danger and misfortunes. 
 Here he sank into a profound sleep, and his deity 
 promised him, in a dream, that if he marched to 
 meet the Assyrians, he should experience no injury, 
 for that he would furnish him with assistance. The 
 vision inspired him with confidence ; he put himself 
 at the head of his adherents and marched to Pelu- 
 sium, the entrance of Egypt : not a soldier accom- 
 panied the party, which was entirely composed of 
 tradesmen and artisans. On their arrival at Pelu- 
 sium, so immense a number of mice infested by night 
 the enemy's camp, that their quivers and bows, 
 together with what secured their shields to their 
 arms, were gnawed in pieces. In the morning, the 
 Arabians finding themselves without arms, fled in 
 confusion, and lost great numbers of their men. 
 There is now to be seen in the Temple of Vulcan, 
 a marble statue of this king, having a mouse in 
 his hand, and with this inscription, ' Whoever 
 thou art, learn from my fortune to reverence the 
 gods.' " 
 
 Not recollecting; at the time this was written what 
 was the reason for the introduction of mice, I applied 
 to my friend, the Eev. George Stanley Faber, and 
 gladly enrich my pages with a part of his reply. 
 
 " I am happy to be able to point out to you the 
 true interpretation of these same mice : and I have 
 the greater pleasure in doing it, because it brings 
 out one of the most remarkable Gentile attesta-
 
 248 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 tions to Scriptural verity with which I am ac- 
 quainted. 
 
 " Herodotus has faithfully given the history in 
 hierog-lyphics : and the whole stands correct, save the 
 matter of national appropriation, by transmuting 
 Hezekiah into Sethos. 
 
 " With the Egyptians, a mouse was the hiero- 
 glyphic of utter destruction. 
 
 " Hence, when they would describe the destruction 
 of Sennacherib''s host, they depicted it by an army 
 invaded by mice. The gnawing of the bow-strings 
 and shield-straps, constituted the very rationale or 
 principle on which the mouse was made the hiero- 
 glyphic of utter destruction. Thus, in truth, the 
 account of Herodotus is purely a description of an 
 hieroglyphical painting ; explained to him by the 
 priests, so far as the personality of Sennacherib was 
 concerned ; but involved in mystifying fable, so far 
 as respected their mode of exhibiting a true literal 
 history. 
 
 " With the most perfect freedom from all in- 
 tention of explaining a Scriptural narration, or, 
 indeed, of even elucidating Herodotus, you have 
 the solution simply given by Harapollo, in regular 
 course, and in a perfectly business-like manner. 
 
 " I subjoin his own precise words, which you 
 may fully rely upon, as I copy them from his work, 
 which is one of the sundry out-of-the-way books 
 that decorate my somewhat miscellaneous library. 
 
 ''A<paiii<r/u.ov di ^riXouvris, flU" ^wy^a^cuffiV i^tiSii, vavra iirBiciy, fiCiaivti xai 
 
 ' HoRAPOLL. Hierog., lib. i., c. 50, p. 64. — Trajecti ad Rhen. a. d. 
 1727.
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 249 
 
 " It is somewhat singular that not one of Horapollo's 
 commentors, neither Mercer nor Hoeschel, nor Cans- 
 sin, nor De Pauro, take the least notice of this 
 curious hieroglyphic, save that one of them remarks 
 that the mouse has a very fine taste. 
 
 " To the best of my recollection, Mr. Milman, in 
 his ' History of the Jews,' has hit upon the same 
 application of the hieroglyphical mouse : but I have 
 not got his book, and I speak from memory. How- 
 ever, at all events, I have given you the ipsissima 
 verba of Horus Apollo. 
 
 " I was formerly very fond of your subject ; and 
 I have entered somewhat into it in a large book 
 of mine, entitled ' The Origin of Pagan Idolatry.' 
 Both romance, and ultimately nursery tales, have 
 largely, in the way of adaptation, borrowed from 
 old Mythology. The same remark applies to the 
 saintly legends of Popery. Hence the whole fabu- 
 lous part of the history of our Durham saint, Cuth- 
 bert, is a mixture of the various myths of Osiris and 
 Bacchus and Cadmus and Ilus. In like manner, 
 St. George and the Dragon, and the fair Egyptian, 
 Sabra, are a mere plagiarism from Perseus and the 
 monster, and the Ethiopian, Andromeda. The 
 queerest thing is, how the heretic George in real life 
 ever came to be erected into a saint ; and still more 
 unaccountable is it, how he came to be adopted 
 as the patron saint of merry England. 
 
 " Believe me yours truly, 
 
 '' G. S. Faber." 
 
 M S
 
 250 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 The next story from Herodotus is contained in 
 the same book : ^ — 
 
 " The same instructors further told me, that Pro- 
 teus was succeeded by Rhampsinitus : he built the 
 west entrance of the temple of Vulcan ; in the same 
 situation he also erected two statues, twenty-five 
 cubits in height. That which faces the north the 
 Egyptians call Summer, the one to the south, Winter : 
 this latter is treated with no manner of respect, but 
 they worship the former, and make offerings before 
 it. This prince possessed such abundance of wealth, 
 that so far from surpassing, none of his successors 
 ever equalled him in afiluence. For the security of 
 his riches he constructed a stone edifice, connected 
 with his palace by a wall. The man whom he em- 
 ployed, with a dishonest view so artfully disposed 
 one of the stones, that two or even one person might 
 remove it from its place. In this building, when 
 completed, the king deposited his treasures. Some 
 time afterwards, the artist found his end approach- 
 ing ; and having two sons, he called them both before 
 him, and informed them in what manner, with a view 
 to their future emolument and prosperity, he had 
 built the king''s treasury. He then explained the 
 particular circumstances and situation of the stone, 
 gave them minutely its dimensions, by observance of 
 which they might become the managers of the king's 
 riches. 
 
 On the death of the father, the sons were not long 
 before they availed themselves of their secret. Under 
 the advantage of the night, they visited the building, 
 discovered and removed the stone, and carried away 
 
 Capp. 121, 122, 123.
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 251 
 
 with them a large sum of money. As soon as the 
 king entered the apartment, he saw the vessels which 
 contained his money materially diminished ; he was 
 astonished beyond measure, for, as the seals were 
 unbroken, and every entrance properly secured, he 
 could not possibly direct his suspicion against any 
 one ! This was several times repeated ; the thieves 
 continued their visits, and the king as regularly saw 
 his money decrease. To effect a discovery, he or- 
 dered some traps to be placed round the vessels 
 which contained his riches. The robbers came as 
 before ; one of them proceeding, as usual, directly to 
 the vessels, was caught in the snare : as soon as he 
 was sensible of his situation, he called his brother 
 and acquainted him with it ; he withal intreated him 
 to cut off his head without a moment's delay, as the 
 only means of preventing his own detection and 
 consequent loss of life. He approved and obeyed 
 his advice, and replacing properly the stone, he 
 returned home with the head of his brother. As 
 soon as it was light the king entered the apartment, 
 and seeing the body secured in the snare without a 
 head, the building in no part disturbed, nor the 
 smallest appearance of any one having been there, he 
 was more astonished than ever. In this perplexity 
 he commanded the body to be hanged from the wall, 
 and having stationed guards on the spot, he directed 
 them to seize and bring before them whoever should 
 discover any symptoms of compassion or sorrow at 
 sight of the deceased. The mother being much exas- 
 perated at this exposure of her son, threatened the 
 surviving brother, that if he did not contrive and 
 execute some means of removing the body, she would
 
 252 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 immediately go to the king and disclose all the cir- 
 cumstances of the robbery. 
 
 " The young man in vain endeavoured to alter the 
 woman's determination ; he therefore put in practice 
 the following expedient : he got together some asses 
 which he loaded with flasks of wine ; he then drove 
 them near the place where the guards were stationed 
 to watch the body of his brother. As soon as he 
 approached, he secretly removed the pegs from the 
 mouths of two or three of the skins, and when he saw 
 the wine running about, he began to beat his head 
 and cry out vehemently with much pretended con- 
 fusion and distress. The soldiers, perceiving the 
 accident, instantly ran with vessels, and such wine as 
 they were able to catch, they considered as so much 
 gain to themselves. At first, with great apparent 
 anger, he reproached and abused them, but he gra- 
 dually listened to their endeavours to console and 
 pacify him : he then proceeded at leisure to turn his 
 asses out of the road and to secure his flasks. He 
 soon entered into conversation with the guards, and, 
 affecting to be pleased with the drollery of one of 
 them, he gave them a flask of wine ; they accord- 
 ingly sat down to drink, and insisted upon his bearing 
 them company : he complied with their solicitations, 
 and a second flask was presently the effect of their 
 civility to him. The wine had soon its effect : the 
 guards became exceedingly drunk, and fell fast asleep. 
 Under the advantage of the night, the young man 
 took down the body of his brother, and in derision 
 shaved the right cheeks of the guards ; lie placed the 
 body on one of the asses, and returned home, having 
 thus satisfied his mother. When the king heard of
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 253 
 
 what had happened, he was enraged beyond measure ; 
 but still determined on the detection of the criminal, 
 he contrived this, which to me seems a most impro- 
 bable part of the story ; he commanded his daughter 
 to exercise the profession of a courtezan, taking 
 no other reward from her visitors than that each 
 should tell her the most artful, as well as the most 
 wicked thing he had ever done : if any one should 
 disclose the circumstance of which he wished to 
 be informed, she was to seize him and prevent his 
 escape. The daughter obeyed the injunction of her 
 father. The thief, knowing what was intended, pre- 
 pared still farther to disappoint and deceive the king. 
 He cut otF the arm near the shoulder from a body 
 recently dead, and concealing it under his cloak, he 
 visited the king's daughter. When he was asked 
 the same question as the rest, he replied, ' that the 
 most wicked thing he had ever done was the cutting 
 oif the head of his brother, who was caught in a snare 
 in the king's treasury ; the most artful thing was his 
 making the guards drunk, and by that means effect- 
 ing the removal of his brother's body.' On hearing 
 this, she endeavoured to apprehend him ; but he, 
 fa'ored by the night, put out to her the dead arm, 
 which she seizing, was thus deluded whilst he made 
 his escape. On hearing this also, the king was 
 equally astonished at the art and audacity of the 
 man ; he was afterwards induced to make a pro- 
 clamation through the different parts of his dominions, 
 that if the offender would appear before him, he 
 would not only pardon, but reward him liberally. 
 The thief, trusting to his word, appeared. Ehamp- 
 sinitus was delighted with the man, and, thinking
 
 254- THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 his ingenuity beyond all parallel, gave him his 
 daughter. The king conceived the Egyptians su- 
 perior in subtlety to all the world, but he thought 
 this man superior even to Egyptians. 
 
 " After this event, they told me that the same 
 king descended alive beneath the earth to what the 
 Greeks call the infernal regions, where he played at 
 dice with the goddess Ceres, and alternately won and 
 lost. On his return, she presented him with a napkin 
 embroidered with gold. The period of his return 
 was observed by the Egyptians as a solemn festival, 
 and has continued to the time of my remembrance : 
 whether the above, or some other incident was the 
 occasion of this feast, I will not take upon me to 
 determine. The ministers of this solemnity have a 
 vest woven within the space of the day; this is 
 worn by a priest whose eyes are covered with a 
 bandage. They conduct him to the path which leads 
 to the temple of Ceres, and there leave him. They 
 assert that two wolves meet the priest thus blinded 
 and lead him to the temple, though at the distance of 
 twenty stadia from the city, and afterwards conduct 
 him back again to the place where they found him. 
 
 " Every reader must determine for himself with 
 respect to the credibility of what I have related ; for 
 my own part I heard these things from the Egyp- 
 tians, and think it necessary to transcribe the result 
 of my inquiries. The Egyptians esteem Ceres and 
 Bacchus as the great deities of the realms below; 
 they are also the first of mankind who have defended 
 the immortality of the soul. They believe, that on 
 the dissolution of the body the soul immediately 
 enters some other animal, and that, after using as
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 255 
 
 vehicles every species of terrestrial, aquatic, and 
 winged creatures, it finally enters a second time 
 into a human body. They affirm that it undergoes 
 all these changes in the space of three thousand 
 years. This opinion some amongst the Greeks have 
 at different periods of time adopted as their own ; 
 but I shall not, though I am able, specify their 
 names." 
 
 Bryant remarks on this passage, that the Kings of 
 Egypt had many names and titles ; these have been 
 branched out into persons, and inserted in the lists of 
 monarchs. Osiris, Orus, Adonis, Thamuz, Tulus or 
 Thoulos, and Rhampsinitus, are represented as having 
 died, and again appeared on earth. " I mention this 
 (says Bryant) to show that the whole is one and the 
 same history, and these names of the same person." 
 The making these the names of different persons has 
 occasioned no little confusion in Egyptian, and, in- 
 deed, every chronology. I would here remark, en 
 passant^ that the story of Rhampsinitus is to be found 
 in that very extraordinary collection of tales, " The 
 Seven Wise Masters;" but it is there related of a 
 Roman Emperor, called Octavian ; and this is a work 
 of decidedly Eastern origin, and is referred by Ellis 
 to one hundred years before Christ, and to an Indian 
 philosopher, Sandahar. Alexander's Indian expedi- 
 tion will show us how this Egyptian fable became 
 naturalised in that country ; and we just notice that 
 no mention is made of Octavian in the Oriental copies. 
 Indeed, this romance may be traced through six 
 forms, in all of which the persons, and in most the 
 title of the work is changed. 
 
 Would our space permit, we would willingly have
 
 256 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 examined some of the wonders, and the ancient his- 
 tory of Livy ; but we must hasten nearer home. 
 Virgil and Livy pretty well agree, as far as regards 
 Italy and the parentage of the Csesars, but both 
 unluckily forgot to account for the Trojan origin of 
 the Britons — a defect which it was reserved for 
 English romancers to supply. The original cause of 
 this supplement to Livy and Virgil is thus beautifully 
 developed by Ellis in his Preface to Way's transla- 
 tion of those fabliaux, which Le Grand had selected, 
 modernised, and illustrated. After a description of 
 chivalry, which, like Bracebrldge Hall, Is too good to 
 be true, he thus continues : — " To the possession of 
 all that sweetens life, religion added the promise of 
 pure and unceasing happiness hereafter. The holy 
 wars broke out and produced the golden age of 
 chivalry, and the order of knighthood, endowed with 
 all the sanctity and religious awe that attended the 
 priesthood, became au object of ambition to the 
 greatest sovereigns. At the time when chivalry ex- 
 cited universal admiration, and when all the efforts of 
 that chivalry were directed against the enemies of 
 religion, it was natural that literature should receive 
 the same impulse, and that history and fable should 
 be ransacked to furnish examples of courage and 
 piety that might excite Increased emulation." Arthur 
 and Charlemagne were the two heroes selected for 
 this purpose. Arthur's pretensions were that he was 
 a brave though not always a successful warrior — 
 that he was certainly a Christian — that he had with- 
 stood with great valor the arms of the pagan Saxons, 
 or as the Eomancers, with a want of tact which dis- 
 covers their era, call them, the Saracens, and that
 
 THE HEROIC, OR ROMANTIC AGES. 257 
 
 his memory was held in the highest respect by his 
 countrymen, the Britons. They carried with them 
 into Wales and Armorica the memory of his exploits 
 which their national vanity insensibly exaggerated, 
 till the little prince of the Silures was magnified into 
 the conqueror of England, of Gaul, and, indeed, of all 
 Europe.
 
 258 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE HEROIC, OB ROMANTIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 
 
 When a hero becomes the popular theme of 
 poetical composition, he will soon be adorned with 
 the aggregate merits of many collective warriors ; 
 and it is probable that Arthur inherited every 
 unclaimed panegyric that was to be found in the 
 fragments of Welsh poetry. His genealogy was 
 carried up to an imaginary Brutus, and to the period 
 of the Trojan war, and a sort of chronicle was com- 
 posed in the Welsh, or Armorican, language, which, 
 under the pompous title of the " History of the 
 Kings of Britain," was brought over from Brittany 
 about the year 1100, by Walter Mapes, archdeacon 
 of Oxford, and communicated by him to Geoffrey of 
 Monmouth, by whom, with many alterations, it was 
 translated into Latin. The same afterwards appeared 
 in French, and was continued under the title " Roman 
 de Rou," and into English, by Robert of Gloucester, 
 about the beginning of the fourteenth century, who 
 afterwards writes as good history as one could desire 
 to see in rather rough rhymes. This, then, is the 
 book on which we must bestow a little attention ; 
 not that it is the earliest account, but that it is the 
 most noticed and the most connected. Ellis brings 
 what seems to be proof sufficient of the identity of 
 Gildas and Anevvrin ; and as our business now is not 
 with poetry, but romance, we may be excused if we
 
 THE HEROIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 259 
 
 totally omit any notice of his writings. It is, indeed, 
 only that species of romance which has been credited 
 as true, that falls within the pale of our argument ; 
 and such is the history of Geoffrey. There is much 
 diversity in MSS., and, indeed, in printed copies : we 
 therefore may as well remark, that for these papers 
 we have consulted the Paris edition of 1508, from the 
 press of Stephens. We are there told of the oracles 
 concerning Brutus, of the taking of Troy, of the 
 escape of ^neas, of the settlement of the Trojans in 
 Italy, of the birth of Brutus the son of Silvius ; we 
 find him, having lost his mother at his birth, and 
 afterwards accidentally slain his father, and thus 
 fulfilled the predictions of the oracles concerning him, 
 taking refuge in Greece, rescuing the posterity of 
 Helenus from a state of slavery, and repeatedly 
 defeating Pandrasus, the King of Greece, in battle. 
 Pandrasus marries his daughter, Ignoge, to Brutus ; 
 and giving him a navy as a bridal present, Brutus sets 
 out in the style of a true knight-errant in quest of 
 adventures. He sails to an island named Legervia, 
 where he finds a country laid waste by pirates, and 
 totally uninhabited : he and his companions amuse 
 themselves by hunting, and in the eagerness of the 
 chase they penetrate into the interior of the country, 
 and find a Temple of Diana, with an image that 
 answered any questions respectfully put to it. We 
 are then told the ceremonies with which he performed 
 sacrifices, by the aid of Geriones, his augur, and in 
 the presence of his companions ; and that, pouring 
 out to the goddess a vessel of wine mixed with the 
 blood of a white stag, he, lifting up his head, broke 
 silence in these words : —
 
 260 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 Diva potens nemorum, terror sylvestribus apris, 
 
 Cui licet anfractos ire per aetherios, 
 Infemasque domos, terrestria jura resolve, 
 
 Et die qiias terras nos habitare velis ? 
 Die certam sedem qua te venerabor in sevum. 
 
 Qua libet virgineis templa dicabo choris ? 
 
 Huntress divine, of sylvan boars the dread, 
 Who passest through the blue and pathless sky, 
 Summon thy powers, our anxious doubts resolve, 
 And say what realms shall we, thy suppliants, gain ? 
 Where shall we fix thy seat, adore thy name. 
 And thy pure shrine with virgin choirs surround ? 
 
 My translation is not equal to the Latin of Geof- 
 frey, which Milton says is too good to have been 
 written in his time ; if so, it must have been written 
 at a period considerably later ; for had it been much 
 earlier, we should have found it in other tomes as well 
 as in that of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and it is extant 
 in the earliest manuscripts ; so that it is perhaps the 
 safest j)lan to attribute it to Geoffrey himself. Be 
 this, however, as it may, we are told that Brutus 
 recited these verses nine times, performed divers other 
 ceremonies, and then lay down and went to sleep. 
 In the night the goddess appeared to him, and 
 answered him in as good Latin as his own, of which 
 I again offer a translation : — 
 
 Brute, sub occasum soils trans Gallica regna, 
 
 Insula in oceano est undique clausa mari, 
 Insula in oceano est, habitata gigantibus olim. 
 
 Nunc deserta quidem, gentibus apta tuis, 
 Hanc pete, namque tibi scdes erit ilia perennis ; 
 
 H.xc fiet natis altera Troja tuis ; 
 Hie, do prole tuii reges nascentur, et ipsis 
 
 Totius terrae subditus orbis erit. 
 
 Far in the west, beyond the Gallic realms, 
 Circled about by ocean, stands an isle, 
 Once 'mid the desert waves, l)y giants ruled, 
 But lonely now, and suiting well thy hosts — 
 This shall be thine, and here thy race shall rest : 
 Here, at thy nod, another Troy shall spring ;
 
 THE HEROIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 261 
 
 Here, from thy seed, shall kings arise, and reign 
 Over the round globe of the subject world. 
 
 Brutus, on awaking, called forthwith a council of 
 his officers, and they made their way to Aquitaine : 
 here they find France governed by an oligarchy of 
 twelve peers, and rejoicing in a code of game-laws. 
 Here Brutus meets with another Trojan, named Oori- 
 nseus, whose forte is in giant-killing ; and, after a 
 few battles in France, the conquest of a king named 
 Groifrareus, and building towns, "as Homer testifies" 
 (it seems, in some books which modern scholars know 
 not of), Brutus and Corinseus sail for England. 
 Either Diana or Geoffrey made a sad blunder in 
 saying that Albion was uninhabited ; for no sooner 
 do they land than they have enough on their hands. 
 
 The British giants do great mischief, and Corinseus 
 is obliged to exert himself to extirpate that vile and 
 sinful race ; which office seems to jump so well with 
 his humor, that we find him taking up his abode in 
 Cornwall on account of the sport. One combat is 
 related at full length, how he threw over a cliff a 
 huge giant named Goemagot, and how the place is 
 called to this day Goemagofs Leap. We are now 
 told how he built the city of Caer Lud, and gravely 
 assured that all this took place while Eli, the priest, 
 possessed the chief authority in Judea, the sons of 
 Hector at Troy since the sons of Antenor had been 
 expelled, and Silvius iEueas, the uncle of Brutus, in 
 Italy. All this time, so many things have to be 
 thought of, that the historian had altogether for- 
 gotten Ignoge. He now suddenly returns to that 
 lady, and tells us that she made ]3rutus the father of 
 three sons, the elder of whom, somewhat against his
 
 262 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 will, had married the daughter of Corinseus : her name 
 was Guendolen ; and from the occurrence of this very 
 name the whole book takes an air of British romance. 
 Brutus, being now done with, dies, and is buried in 
 his new city ; his sons divide the empire between 
 them, and Locrinus, the husband of Guendolen, defeats 
 Humber, King of the Picts or Hunns, who is drowned 
 in the river that takes its name from him ; and among 
 the spoils which fall into the hands of Locrinus on 
 this occasion was a young lady named Estrilda, the 
 daughter of a German prince whose country had 
 been ravaged by Humber. Struck with the charms 
 of this lady, Locrinus wished to make her his wife ; 
 but Corinseus soon rectified his majesty^s notions on 
 that score, and taking up an axe, made a speech very 
 eloquent and very apposite. It would seem that 
 Locrinus and Guendolen were not married, but merely 
 betrothed at the time this event took place ; and the 
 former, awed by the axe of Corinseus, espoused 
 Guendolen forthwith. His love for Estrilda was, 
 however, only concealed, and he kept her secretly 
 for seven years, allowing the place of her retreat to 
 be known only to a chosen few. During this time 
 he had by her a daughter named Habren, or Sabrina, 
 as it is Latinized. When he went to visit this proto- 
 type of the Fair Rosamond, he did so under a pretext 
 of offering sacrifices at a distance, and thus all con- 
 tinued undivulged during the life of Corinaus ; but, 
 on the death of that hero, Locrinus, no longer in- 
 fluenced by the fear of the axe, took Estrilda from 
 her concealment and made her the partner of his 
 throne by the divorce of the queen. Guendolen, 
 whose character was not a little tinged with what
 
 THE HEROIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 268 
 
 Geoffrey calls the mad fury of her father, instantly 
 threw herself into the arms of her Cornish subjects, 
 and assembling a considerable army, made a bold 
 and successful attack upon Locrinus. The king lost 
 his life in the engagement, and Estrilda with her 
 dauohter fell into the hands of her incensed rival. 
 Their doom was soon decided and as quickly exe- 
 cuted : they were thrown into the river Severn, 
 which from that derived its Latin name Sabrina, and 
 its British name Habren. It is to this fact that the 
 noted line refers, — 
 
 Or Severn swift, guilty of maiden's death. 
 
 And Sabrina herself is introduced in " Comus" as a 
 river divinity with exquisite effect. " So Locrinus 
 died and Guendolen reigned." 
 
 After this we have a long history of her descend- 
 ants, among whom we must not omit that one so 
 immortalized by the genius of Shakspeare — " King 
 Lear." We are expressly told that Lear was re- 
 stored to his kingdom, and died quietly in the enjoy- 
 ment of it ; and that afterwards the warlike Britons, 
 disliking the mild government of Cordelia, threw her 
 into prison, where she destroyed herself. In all other 
 respects, Geoffrey and Shakspeare agree, except in the 
 introduction of the subsidiary characters of the drama. 
 
 We have the invasion of Csesar given us in a 
 new and entertaining light, and the history of the 
 three other princes made so familiar to our minds 
 through the splendid fiction of the same mighty poet. 
 It will scarcely be necessary to name Cymbeline, 
 Guiderius, and Arviragus, all in turn kings of Bri- 
 tain. Shakspeare and the chronicles have here little 
 in common, save the names. Pursuing the tale we
 
 264 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 find England converted to Christianity in the reign of 
 Lucius, son of Coillus, and a regular hierarchy of 
 archbishops and bishops. Then the daughter of a 
 subsequent prince married to Maximian ; and a little 
 before this, a strange tissue of history and romance 
 in which Severus, Bassianus, and Carausius, Con- 
 stantine and Helen, are mingled with heroes never 
 heard of save in these wonderful chronicles. A few 
 uninteresting reigns bring us to that of the far- 
 renowned Uther Pendragon. We must not, how- 
 ever, pass over the able prince according to romance, 
 or the feeble prince according to history, who, in the 
 minority of Uther, seized upon the throne — to wit, 
 Vortigern. As far as Vortigern and Vortimer are 
 concerned, Geoffrey almost forgets his romance ; or, 
 perhaps, finding history romantic enough, leaves it, 
 with one exception, to itself. 
 
 The era of Vortigern produced, perhaps, the most 
 remarkable character enshrined in the pages of ro- 
 mance — the wizard prophet, the Christian enchanter. 
 Merlin. Hengist and Horsa, Cerdic and Henric, 
 Rowena, her charms and their effect, are not matters 
 of fable. Vortigern, besieged by the Saxons, perishes 
 in the flames of his castle ; Vortimer is poisoned by 
 Rowena, and Aurelius succeeds, who after a brief but 
 brilliant reign, is poisoned by a Saxon in the disguise 
 of a monk (some centuries before monachism was 
 introduced into England), and to the vacant throne 
 Uther Pendragon succeeded. It is a matter upon 
 which the learned seem pretty well agreed, that the 
 legends of saints were frequently compounded, in 
 cloisters from the classic stories of gods, demigods, 
 and heroes ; and that in this improving pursuit, the
 
 THE HEROIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 265 
 
 contents of many valuable MSS. have been destroyed 
 to make way for these new readings of old authors. 
 It appears to me that kings and queens have been as 
 kindly accommodated with adventures as saints and 
 bishops. If we turn back to the history of Locrinus 
 and Estrilda, we shall find a not distant resemblance 
 to the tale of Hercules, lole, and Dejanira. 
 
 In the reign of Uther Pendragon, we have the 
 British Amphitryo ; the king named Pendragon, 
 or Dragon's Head (because he had, in obedience to 
 a vision, made a golden dragon the standard of 
 England), after his conquest of Scotland, called to 
 his court all his nobles. Fascinated with the charms 
 of Igerna, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and 
 finding her proof against all his entreaties, the 
 monarch picks a quarrel with Gorlois, and besieges 
 him in the fortress of Divulioc, and Igerna, in the 
 far-famed Tintagel. Force proved as vain as prayers, 
 till, wearied out with the length of the siege, Uther 
 consulted Merlin, who transformed the kinof into the 
 shape of Gorlois, and himself into a Cornish knight. 
 An interview with the virtuous Igerna was now a 
 matter of no difiiculty : she fell of course unsuspect- 
 ingly into the snare, and became the mother of 
 Arthur. The death of Gorlois soon after followed, 
 and Uther, returning to Tintagel, carried away 
 Igerna and made her Queen of England. Uther 
 at length, like many of his predecessors, fell a victim 
 to poison, and, like many of them, was buried at 
 Stonehenge. 
 
 N
 
 266 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE HEROIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 
 
 Before treating of the reign of Arthur, we must 
 saj a little of that renowned enchanter with whose 
 name his glory is so closely twined. There is not 
 a romantic poet of any country who does not occa- 
 sionally refer to this paragon of magicians, as well 
 as to the king, that paragon of knights. Ariosto, 
 who says much more of them in other parts, enume- 
 rates as four knights without peers — 
 
 Lancilotto, Galasso, Artii, Galvano. 
 
 Caraoen says — 
 
 Os doze de Inglaterra e o seu magrico. 
 
 Merlin, the son of a demon by a mortal maiden, 
 was, immediately after his birth, baptized by St. 
 Blaise by the name of Merlin. No sooner was he 
 baptized than he began to prophesy, and before he 
 was six years old had settled many difficult and 
 disputed cases of legitimacy, which appeared to be 
 rather a favorite exercise with the infant magician. 
 His interview with Vortigern during his childhood, 
 his prophecies to that prince, and the result of that 
 meeting, are too generally known to require repeti- 
 tion. His services to Uther have been already 
 mentioned ; and we will observe, that it was during 
 Uther's reign and by Merlin's counsel, that that 
 earliest and most accomj)lislied of all orders of chi-
 
 THE HEROIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 267 
 
 valry, the Order of the Bound Table, was instituted. 
 There were, it appears, two Merlins, one called 
 Merlin the Wild, and one, of whom we now speak. 
 Merlin Ambrosius. Of the Order of the Round 
 Table, Geoffrey of Monmouth makes no mention, 
 though he enumerates many of its most distinguished 
 knights. 
 
 From two romances, therefore, — one the story of 
 the noted chronicler we have so often mentioned, and 
 the other the metrical romance entitled " Merlin," 
 which Ellis supposes to have been merely a part of 
 the "Brut" of Wace, 'oith interpolations— we must 
 take materials for the first part of Arthur's life, and 
 from the " Morte d' Arthur," with some collateral aid, 
 record the closing years of this hero. From hence 
 we learn that at the death of Uther there was no heir 
 to claim the crown, but that Arthur, who had been 
 privately educated, and in ignorance of his real birth, 
 appeared as esquire to a young knight, Sir Kay. A 
 sword was caused miraculously to appear, in answer 
 to the prayers of Dubricius, then archbishop of 
 Chester, and it was unanimously agreed on, that Avho- 
 soever could draw that sword should be acknowledged 
 king. Arthur draws the sword without being at all 
 aware of the previous determination, and gives it to 
 Kay, who thereupon claims the crown ; but Sir 
 Antour, his father, insisted upon his repeating the 
 feat, which, failing to do, Arthur, by Sir Antour's 
 aid, is raised to the throne, and Merlin, in the mean 
 time, communicated to the archbishop the secret of 
 Arthur's birth. And now, whatever authority we 
 take, we meet alone with the most extravagant ad- 
 ventures. Army after army, king after king, dis- 
 
 N 2
 
 26S THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 appear before the stroke of the favoured Arthur. At 
 his council-board presides the most potent of magi- 
 cians and the wisest of sages, the most skilful 
 advisers surround him ; at his right hand and at his 
 left hand, stand heroes of whom each man's single 
 arm is worth a legion ; in his court are all the bar- 
 baric splendors of the earliest ages, joined tv'ith all 
 the refined courtesy of the most civilized period. 
 Hosts of thousands and hundreds of thousands of 
 Saracens are raised up, but for the purpose of falling 
 before his invincible lance. The wild and mysterious 
 grandeur of magic, the poetry and pomp of chivalry, 
 with its tournaments, its titles, and its humanizing 
 influence ; the lofty solemnity of religion administered 
 according to the most imposing rites of the Romish 
 church ; knights of superhuman prowess, and dames 
 and damsels of superhuman beauty — all shed a halo 
 round this bright age of fable. Thus born, thus 
 nurtured, was the Arthur of British romance. The 
 conclusion of his reign will present a dimmer picture. 
 Unhappy in his family, the beautiful Guenever, his 
 queen, preferred to her lord the knight Sir Lancelot 
 du Lac, who, but for this one slip (and this he deeply 
 lamented), is represented as in every respect, the 
 most perfect of mortals ; and though so very perfect, 
 Ave yet feel a wonderful interest in him, — a thing not 
 common in romance with monsters of perfection. 
 Conjugal fidelity seems to have been a virtue quite 
 exploded at the court of Arthur : it appears that 
 tliere was but one lady who kept her marriage vows ; 
 and as to the knights, Scott, in his " Bridal of 
 Triermain," justly states that when all the rest of the 
 knights of the Bound Table, married or single, fought
 
 THE HEROIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 269 
 
 for the hand of Gyneth, three only refrained, and the 
 reason was, 
 
 There were two who loved their neighbours' wives, 
 
 And one who loved his own. 
 And since but one in all that court 
 
 Was true to wedlock's shrine. 
 Brand him who will with base report, 
 
 He shall go free from mine. 
 
 This one was Sir Caradoe. To return, however, to 
 Arthur. Geoffrey of JMonmouth gives him a glorious 
 campaign against a certain Lucius Tiberius, Emperor 
 of Rome, and states that he was prevented from 
 following up his conquests by the news that, during 
 his absence, Modred, his nephew, to whom he left 
 the lieutenancy of the kingdom, had commenced 
 treasonable practices, both on the queen and on the 
 crown. The " Morte d' Arthur "'"' gives a different 
 version. We ai-e there told that the undue intimacy 
 between Guenever and Sir Lancelot du Lac having 
 been discovered, and Lancelot having carried off the 
 queen, to save her from the stake, open war between 
 the injured Arthur and the knight, himself a sove- 
 reign prince, ensued. Arthur was warmly seconded 
 by Gawain, whose brothers Lancelot had accidentally 
 killed. Previously to engaging the royal army, 
 Lancelot distributed sundry crowns with all the mag- 
 nificence of a Mark Antony ; among others, upon 
 Sir Lionel he bestowed the crown of France. During 
 the war that ensued so many valiant deeds were 
 done, so many knights slain, that the Pope himself 
 interfered, and commanded Lancelot to restore the 
 queen, and the king to receive her kindly, and to 
 cease the war. 
 
 These terms were accepted ; but upon Lancelot
 
 270 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 retiriue to Brlttanv. his own dominions, Arthur fol- 
 lowed, and the strife continued, till Arthur was 
 suddenly compelled to come hack to England on the 
 account already mentioned. 
 
 During the whole of this war the character of 
 Arthur, — constantly changing as his impetuous 
 knights require, all but conniving, in the first place, 
 at his own dishonor, and when compelled to know 
 it, driven by. them, rather than by a sense of wound- 
 ed honor, to redress the insult and injury, — is finely 
 contrasted with that of Lancelot : in him we see a 
 lofty and eminently noble mind, deeply sensible of 
 his own guilt, seeking by every possible means to 
 give satisfaction, offering to retire to the Holy Land, 
 and, though in the prime of life, to give up the rest 
 to acts of devotion ; yet when, after submitting to 
 numberless insults, he is driven into the field, he 
 displays such prowess, that the boldest shrink be- 
 fore him, and all are compelled to acknowledge 
 Lancelot du Lac the mirror of knighthood. On 
 Arthur's return, the queen is liberated from the 
 Tower, whither she had retired to defend herself 
 against Modred, and a negociation is set on foot 
 between the king and his nephew. They met at the 
 head of their armies ; and one of the oflficers appoint- 
 ed to settle the terms being stung by an adder, drew 
 his sword to kill it. The action was seen and mis- 
 understood by both armies, and a general engagement 
 ensued ; the result was, the death of !Modred on the 
 field, and of Arthur shortly afterwards, of his wounds. 
 
 His death the legend makes poetically interesting, 
 as a sort of counterbalance to the faded glory of his 
 closing years. Before he died he called Sir Bedwer
 
 THE HEROIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 271 
 
 to him, and delivering his sword, Ex-Calibore or 
 (Jahburu, to that hero, commanded him to cast it 
 into the sea. Bedwer promised to obey ; but, 
 tempted by the beauty and excellence of the work- 
 manship, he concealed it, and informed the king that 
 the commission had been executed. — " And did you 
 see anything more than natural V — " No," was the 
 reply, " I nothing saw, save waters deep and billows 
 blue." Again, though severely reprimanded, he per- 
 formed but half the commission, throwing the scab- 
 bard only into the water. At length he performed 
 his promise. Scarcely was the sword out of the 
 hands of Sir Bedwer than a hand came from the sea, 
 caught the falling weapon, and away " like the 
 glenting of the lightning," to use the antiquated 
 phrase of the romance. At the command of the 
 now-dying monarch, Sir Bedwer led hira to the shore, 
 where was waiting a rich ship, and many lovely 
 maidens on board, who received the king, and sailed 
 away. Sir Bedwer then wandered about in the forest 
 till he espied a bright light issuing from the windows 
 of a small chapel ; on entering, he found a certain 
 pious archbishop, who had been much persecuted by 
 Modred, on his knees before a newly-erected tomb of 
 grey marble, on the top of which was an empty bier, 
 surrounded by an hundred wax-torches. How it 
 came there he knew not, save that it had been 
 brought by a company of ladies ; that they had 
 buried the body, left rich offerings, and commanded 
 him to pray incessantly. Hereupon Sir Bedwer ex- 
 amines the bier, and found, by an inscription in golden 
 letters, that it was the tomb of Arthur. He now 
 wished to share the pious labors of the archbishop,
 
 272 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 and entered into the holy order, of which the prelate 
 had just taken the habit. Lancelot and Guenever 
 again meet. Guenever had taken the veil at a 
 nunnery at Ambresbury, and after a parting, pious, 
 penitent, and affectionate, Lancelot betakes himself 
 to the monastery in which Bedwer is already ; and 
 in the course of a few years many of the Round Table 
 forsake the world, now that the palmy days of their 
 glory were past, and employ in prayer and fasting 
 the remnant of their existence. Lancelot at length 
 became the superior, and after some years, during 
 which his holy demeanor greatly edified his brethren 
 once in arms, now in piety, died in the odor of 
 sanctity ; and the excellent archbishop beheld in 
 a vision the glorified spirit ascending to heaven, es- 
 corted by thirty thousand and seven angels. This 
 monastery, once the most magnificent in its state- 
 liness, and now the most magnificent in its ruins, 
 stands a beautiful but shattered monument of the 
 past : consecrated by poetry, and immortalized in the 
 pages of history, as well as those of fiction, there 
 are few more interesting edifices than Glastonbury 
 Abbey. 
 
 Here concludes the chapter of British romance. 
 The few remaining reigns are uninteresting ; and 
 over those plains which a Csesar had rather civilized 
 than subdued, Saxons were lords — Thor and Odin 
 divinities. 
 
 The change was beneficial, in fact, but the brilliant 
 fictions upon which the mind loved to dwell — 
 
 Le doiine, i c.ivali(!r, ramie, gramori, 
 Le cortesic, gPaudiici imprese, 
 
 were over. The curtain had dropped over the most
 
 THE HEROIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 273 
 
 splendid drama tJiat the mind of poet ever con- 
 ceived, and for five hundred years this island was 
 almost a barren field for romance. The sublimities 
 of the Edda were not of British origin, and until the 
 troubadours and minstrels found their way in the 
 train of Norman princes, there was none to illustrate 
 the middle period. The wild before — their national 
 prejudices led Britons to honor ; the comparative 
 cultivation that succeeded — the same feelings led 
 them to despise. Long before the second age of 
 English history, which Romance has decked with 
 her flowers, we come to the period in which France, 
 under the guidance of Charlemagne, took the chief 
 place among nations. And as it has been supposed 
 that there were two Arthurs, one the son of Uther 
 Pendragon, a fabulous hero ; the other, the son of 
 Meyrig ap Tewdrig, and prince of the Silures, a real 
 and valiant, but unfortunate commander; so likewise, 
 it appears that the histories of Charles Martel and 
 Charles the Great were incorporated, and attributed 
 to the latter by the writers of romance, and to these 
 were added whatever troveurs and minstrels jjleased 
 to invent. 
 
 For a history of the fabulous Charlemagne, we 
 are principally indebted to a monk of the eleventh 
 century, who wrote an account of him and his twelve 
 peers ; and thinking it would answer his purpose 
 well to attribute the work to a contemporary of the 
 king, boldly ascribed it to Turpin, Archbishop of 
 Rheims, who occupied that see about 770. Bojardo 
 and Ariosto continually quote this work ; and the 
 former, in the very outset of his " Orlando Inamo- 
 rato," has the following somewhat singular passage — 
 
 N 5
 
 274 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 Questa historia finor poco palese This history has been hitherto 
 
 E stata, per industria di Turpino, little known, through the care of 
 
 Che di lasciarla uscir sempre con- Turpin, who always endeavoured 
 
 tese, to prevent its publication, lest it 
 
 Per non injuriar al Paladino, should injure the Paladin, who, 
 
 II qual poiche ad amor prigion si when he gave himself up a prisoner 
 
 rese to love, went near losing his wits. 
 
 Quasi a perderse stesso ando vicino. Wherefore he was a wise and pru- 
 
 Pero fu lo scrittor sasojio ed accorto, dent writer, who did not wish to 
 
 Che far non volse al caro amico do harm to his friend. 
 
 torto. 
 
 It seems evident, both from the general similarity 
 which pervades the stories of Arthur and Charle- 
 magne, that one age gave rise to both ; and the 
 constant anachronisms of the former would alone 
 suffice for evidence. The two fictions have one base 
 — a wild and extravagant yet beautiful picture of 
 chivalrous virtue, valor, and devotion ; deviating, 
 however, from the first and last of these attributes, 
 whenever the interest of the romance requires. Upon 
 this base, we have nearly the same superstructure in 
 both instances — a monarch of strong hand, but of 
 comparatively feeble head, led by a turbulent nobility 
 at their will ; and satisfied with having been in his 
 youth a hero, settles down quietly in his old age to 
 be a dupe. To Arthur the bards might, without 
 charge of injustice, give what character they liked, 
 provided they granted him valor; and the fall of 
 himself and his chivalry, the establishment of a new 
 dynasty, and the extinction or expulsion of the 
 nation he governed, somewhat favored their tale. 
 The Charlemagne of romance is, however, a very 
 inferior person to the Charlemagne of history. The 
 court of this great prince was a nursery of warriors 
 and legislators, not of gladiators and madmen. 
 Almost the contemporary of our own Alfred, the
 
 THE HEROIC AGES OF BRITAIN. 275 
 
 latter freely borrowed many of his wisest institutions 
 from the French monarch ; and Egbert, the uniter of 
 the Heptarchy, was a sovereign of all England only 
 by the tact and discipline he had acquired in the 
 court of Paris. 
 
 It will be useless to give anv romances of this 
 time : they are of the same character as those I have 
 already mentioned. There is this only difference, — 
 that there is a greater admixture of truth with per- 
 haps yet more absurd fables than those of the earlier 
 period. In the meantime, the perpetual combats 
 between the Christians and the Moors, in Spain, 
 engendered a spirit of mingled patriotism and religion, 
 which, in a race inhabiting so fine a climate, and for 
 the most part possessing so romantic a character, 
 polished as they were by intercourse with the more 
 civilized Moors, soon divested warfare of manv of its 
 most disgusting attributes. Cherished by poetry, 
 which was cultivated by^princes as well as by private 
 individuals, lofty and noble sentiments arose in the 
 breasts of the Spanish Christians ; confidence in a 
 generous enemy inducing a freer intercourse, the 
 remnant of the Goths strove after, if they equalled 
 not, the excellence of their Moorish conquerors. At 
 the final expulsion of this interesting people, Spain 
 had acquired a very high rank in the now falling 
 honors of chivalry. Contests with Saracens were 
 now over for ever, for the unhappy attempt of Se- 
 bastian of Portugal was alike unwise, unnecessary, 
 and inglorious. The great object for which chivalry 
 had been instituted was accomplished in part, and in 
 part had failed, never more to be revived. Europe 
 was free from the Moor, but the Turk reigned in
 
 276 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 Constantinople. An institution in its origin so glo- 
 rious, and in its nature so fascinating, could not, 
 however, sink suddenly into neglect. Charles VIII. 
 and Francis I. were knights in France : James IV. 
 was a knight in Scotland, and perished as a knight 
 at Flodden ; but the policy of Louis XI. had damped 
 the spirit of chivalry, nor did it ever fully recover 
 the shock ; and the same spirit pervaded that of 
 Henry VII. in England. From this period knight- 
 hood became a court form ; and so fully was its day 
 passed, that the matchless Cervantes quenched with 
 a romance, the last sparks of that fire which, with- 
 out illumining, was still mischievously smouldering, 
 and Don Quixote, the latest of knights-errant, closes 
 the page of chivalry. 
 
 To the enchanting pages of Ariosto and Tasso ; 
 to Bojardo, the favorite of Milton ; to the Italian 
 novelists, and the English chronicles ; to Way, Sir 
 H. Ellis, and Le Grand ; we must refer for a more 
 extended view of that subject which we have so 
 briefly sketched. In the next chapter we shall touch 
 upon another branch of fable — Ecclesiastical Ro- 
 mance ; and shall show how saints have been made 
 like knights, and celestial mansions bestowed like 
 earthly crowns.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 277 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 
 
 Antiquaries have ever delighted to trace the 
 stream of Historical Romance to its source ; to in- 
 vestigate the legends, ballads, and traditions in which 
 it is embodied ; to discuss their authenticity, and 
 to examine what portion of historical truth they 
 may contain. The adventures of an Arthur and a 
 Brute, of an Orlando and a Lancelot, have been 
 subjects which have attracted the attention of men 
 whose reputation for scholarship was of the highest 
 order. The slightest fragment of a ballad, the most 
 obscure allusion in a monkish writer, would be, and 
 is, eagerly seized upon and closely examined, if it 
 bear any allusion to the heroes of fabulous ages. 
 And it is, indeed, with good reason that all this 
 pains is taken. It is impossible thoroughly to under- 
 stand history, unless we also understand its contem- 
 porary romance. The one sets forth the facts, the 
 other the feelings and prejudices of the age; nor 
 can we observe the vast diftereuce between Eastern 
 and Western traditions, without at the same time 
 perceiving the difference, both in character and edu- 
 cation, of the races among whom they prevailed. 
 
 But while this fact has been universally admitted 
 and as universally acted upon, it is strange that one 
 great branch of Historical Romance has excited 
 scarcely any attention among the learned and the
 
 278 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 philosophical. The Romance of Civil History has 
 been continuously studied ; the yet more important 
 Romance of Ecclesiastical History has been left almost 
 without notice. Yet if these studies are to be esti- 
 mated by the effect their objects have had upon 
 society, it will appear that the latter must hold by 
 far the more prominent position, and require, as well 
 as repay, the more intense and continued study. 
 The point of view in which they are relatively to be 
 regarded may, we think, be briefly expressed thus : 
 that the one — the Romance of Civil History — has 
 been little more than the expression of popular 
 opinion, or the outpouring of popular feeling, or 
 the writingrs of those who have been subservient to 
 its influence ; while the other has been an instru- 
 ment in crafty and able hands to work changes upon 
 popular opinion itself. We do not mean to assert 
 that the one has been less implicitly believed than 
 the other, in times long subsequent to its origin ; 
 but that Ecclesiastical Romance has been a system 
 of fraud, while the Romance of Civil History has 
 been simply a succession of fables. Nor would we 
 even wish to fix the stigma of dishonesty on the 
 writers of church fable. Many of them were un- 
 doubtedly good and great men ; yet even with a 
 Jerome and an Athanasius, we have only to choose 
 between gross self-deception or gross falsehood. Like 
 a giant whose power, vast and colossal, has been 
 excited for evil and for evil only, Superstition laid 
 a Titan hand on the very sources, not only of Pro- 
 fane, but even of Sacred History ; allowed them to 
 flow only at intervals, and then, when the stream 
 was corrupted, let it loose like a torrent, to the
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 279 
 
 extinction of almost all the remnants of philosophy 
 and Church History. 
 
 A ^rapid and cursory glance at the traditions of 
 the Church may, we think, if conducted with a 
 proper regard to their ohject and effects, he pecu- 
 liarly heneficial at a season like the present ; and 
 the more so, if it tend to promote the spirit of 
 inquiry into Catholic Antiquity. We shall add no 
 more about the Talmud, with its multifarious mon- 
 sters and its heterogeneous creeds, and confine our- 
 selves to those inventions which, springing up within 
 the bosom of the early Church, Greek as well as 
 Latin, sanctioned by the influence of bishops and pa- 
 triarchs, and going forth to the world as component 
 parts of religion, were widely spread and devoutly 
 believed. These traditions consist of the acts and 
 deeds of Saints and Martyrs ; and surpass in extra- 
 vagance and absurdity every other kind of fiction, 
 save that found in the Rabbinical writers. We need 
 not have recourse to the theory of Jortin, — that the 
 loves and the adventures of Greek Divinities were 
 enrolled in the legends of Catholic Saints: for 
 though this was in a certain degree true, it will not 
 account, in the first place, for the character of Mar- 
 tyrological tradition ; nor, in the second place, was 
 it the case to the extent that Jortin supposed. We 
 well know that the students in monasteries did 
 exercise their talents in " amplification ; " and we 
 are perfectly willing to believe that the Fathers 
 allowed some of these flowers of elocution to remain 
 for the edification of posterity ; but the tales told 
 by Greek bards of Greek Divinities were not, for 
 the most part, to be attributed to the macerated
 
 280 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 anchorets of the Syrian and Egyptian deserts ; and 
 the unity of purpose displayed in the long " catena 
 martyrum " will not allow us to suppose in it a large 
 admixture of youthful imagination. The excuse 
 made by some Protestants, " that these stories were 
 mere rhetorical efforts and not intended to be be- 
 lieved," ^ will appear to be frail indeed, by whom- 
 soever they were invented. They were made public 
 as authentic history. There might be some, and 
 doubtless there were, who withheld their assent from 
 these monstrous fictions ; but they were too politic 
 or too fearful to promulgate their unbelief; and had 
 they done so, it would have been without effect, for 
 the world was not in a condition to canvass the 
 grounds of their rejection. New saints, new legends, 
 new miracles were every day given forth, till the 
 task of wading through the huge folios which contain 
 them, the " Martyrologia," the "Acta Sanctorum,"" 
 and " Lives of the Fathers," becomes almost too much 
 for mortal patience. For the most part, we shall 
 find that these miraculous accounts were not pub- 
 lished till many years after the death of the indi- 
 viduals to whom they are ascribed. There are, 
 however, exceptions to be met with in all ages ; 
 these are, in the Ante-Nicene church, the case of 
 anchorets whose lives were spent in privacy, and to 
 whom, consequently, any wondrous M'ork might be 
 safely attributed. In the thick darkness of the 
 Middle Ages, when fraudulent miracles were at- 
 tempted, and in the later ages of Popery, when 
 nothing could be gained by delay, those inclined to 
 believe would believe at once, and the sceptical 
 
 1 Jortin.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 281 
 
 would as soon reject the records of past miracles as 
 the pretensions of present ones. 
 
 It is a startling assertion, but one which the mind 
 will acquiesce in more fully, the more the subject is 
 investigated, that though the early church — we mean 
 not the primitive Church — vigorously combated and 
 at last entirely suppressed the heresy of Gnosticism 
 as a system^ she was yet eminently gnostic in her 
 own feehngs. She denied, indeed, the wild theory of 
 Manes, as to the difference between the unknown 
 Father and the demiurge or Mundane Creator ; she 
 rejected his system of male and female ^ons ; and 
 reprobated his unscriptural notions of the Logos — 
 Redeemer; but at the same time she encouraged the 
 doctrine of abstraction, which was the foundation of 
 the Manichfean heresy ; and which it shared with 
 the system of the Persian Magi, and of the Indian 
 Budha. She taught that there was a positive merit 
 in lifting ourselves above the conditions of this mor- 
 tal life ; she extolled virginity as a state more holy 
 than matrimony ; a contemplative life as more excel- 
 lent than an active one ; recommended mortification 
 of the bodily appetites, not so much as a matter of 
 penance as the means intrinsically efficacious in at- 
 taining a nearer approach to God ; and uniformly 
 spoke of those who acted according to this theory 
 as " terrestrial seraphs," and deserving of an eternal 
 reward/ 
 
 This approximation to the Divine nature was exhi- 
 bited, as was said, by the miraculous gifts of the Holy 
 Spirit poured out uj)on such persons, nearly in pro- 
 
 • Basil de Vera Virginitate, Chrysostom on Fasting, Ambrose and 
 Tertullian passim.
 
 282 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 portion as they withdrew themselves from the habits, 
 wants, and affections of ordinary men, — a theory 
 precisely the same as that of the Budjiists, the Magi, 
 and the Manichees ; and it is worthy of all notice, 
 that this theory of abstraction, with all its necessary 
 consequences, prevailed most in those very spots 
 where the Gnostic heresy had been most powerful ; 
 and from these spots, as from centres, did the Gnos- 
 ticised Christianity spread to the weakening in the 
 first place, and afterwards very near to the extermina- 
 ting of a purer and more Apostolic system. Those 
 who would see this subject treated of at full length, 
 may consult with advantage Taylor on " Ancient 
 Christianity;" and they will there find, amidst many 
 and great misconceptions, not only an able exposition 
 of it, but sufficient references to the Fathers to save 
 much time and labor. Another work, which may be 
 more implicitly relied on, is Crosthwaite*'s Modern 
 Hagiology. 
 
 We are not, however, now about to examine the 
 Gnostic feeling of the early church ; but to show how 
 this feeling led to a peculiar style of fiction when 
 embalming in Ecclesiastical History the deeds of her 
 Fathers, Confessors, and Martyrs. We shall see 
 that this style, with a modification hereafter to be 
 noticed, prevailed in the western as well as the 
 eastern Church ; and legends of similar character 
 encouraged the cultivation of similar habits, we 
 dare not call them virtues, though the theory upon 
 which they rested was one of a different nature and 
 deriving its origin from a different nation. 
 
 There are two collections, which comprise the 
 greater part of these Ecclesiastical Romances ; one
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 283 
 
 is the "Oalenclarium," published in the tenth century ; 
 the other the "Goklen Legend," — the " Aurea Le- 
 genda " of James de Varasse, or Jacobus de Voragine, 
 as in compHance with the taste of his times he chose 
 to be called. The first-named is the work of Simeon 
 Metaphrastes ; and contains the history of the saints 
 for every day in the year. The work was published 
 for the Greek Communion, and the Saints are Greek 
 saints. The second is the Roman collection, and the 
 heroes of its pages are, with some few exceptions, 
 Martyrs and Confessors of the Western Church. 
 These two are not only the first, and, consequently, 
 the most venerable and venerated collections, but 
 they are also the most authentic and the most com- 
 prehensive. Additions have been made to them age 
 after age ; and as far down as the period of the Re- 
 formation, care was taken that by repeated editions 
 these books should be kept " au courant du jourr 
 We purpose to select from these works specimens 
 of monastic sanctity, and of Ecclesiastical Romance. 
 Our object is to note the unii^ of purpose which runs 
 through the whole, and lest any suspicion should 
 attach to extracts made only from two authors, we 
 shall call into evidence Athanasius and Augustine, 
 and Ambrose, and Gregory Nazianzen, and Bede, and 
 French writers so late as the era of Louis XIV. 
 
 Jaques de Varasse wrote his great work about the 
 year 1270. He was no obscure monk, but a man 
 high in esteem and authority. He was Vicar- 
 General of the Dominicans, and died Archbishop of 
 Genoa in the year 1298. From such a writer we 
 may, at least, expect a due regard to himself, and 
 his elevated station ; a freedom from vulgar pre-
 
 284 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 jiidices, and tlie boldness of a man no longer a can- 
 didate for preferment. It must be remembered also, 
 that, whoever invented the legends of the Golden 
 Collection, De Varasse certainly did not ; he was but 
 the faithful transcriber of tales, venerable for their 
 age in his day. That many of these had received 
 successive additions as they floated down the stream 
 of time, it would be folly to deny ; but it would be 
 equal folly to tax De Varasse with inventing all that 
 cannot be shown to have existed in previous collec- 
 tions. He was a man of undoubted respectability ; 
 and bearing these things in mind let us look to his 
 account of the Saints of the first century. " Quod 
 semper, quod uhique, quod ah omnibus,'''' shall be our 
 motto ; and we shall take examples from each cen- 
 tury, from each division of the Church, and from 
 nearly every country in the world ; verifying, if not 
 the letter, at least the spirit of the " Romancero 
 General " of the Dominicans, as we go on, by re- 
 ferences to earlier writers. Our theory will fail once, 
 and once only ; and this is exactly where such an 
 event might be apprehended ; namely, on the very 
 threshold of the subject, in the lives and actions of 
 our blessed Lord's companions and immediate fol- 
 lowers. It would, indeed, be a hopeless task to 
 exhibit the Apostles and Evangelists, as retiring into 
 the desert, abstaining from marriage, renouncing an 
 active life, and " elevating themselves above the 
 conditions of this mortal state." We may, how- 
 ever, expect that if nothing can be proved either 
 from their preaching or their practice in favor of 
 an ascetic life, at least invention will add nothing 
 contrary to it, and this we shall find to be the case.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 285 
 
 Now then to the " Golden Legend."^ Let us open 
 the book that we have been so long holding up to our 
 reader. See, we have opened upon the history of 
 John the Baptist, and " truly the lines have fallen 
 unto us in pleasant places," for the tale is an " owre 
 strange " one. His father Zacharias was, it seems, a 
 bishop. Nay, start not. Christian reader, the " Ro- 
 mancero General " systematically calls the priests of 
 the Jewish law by this Christian title ; and very 
 grotesque is the air which it gives the narrative. 
 " Now it is written in the ' Historia Scholastica "* 
 [a book which De Varasse quotes a great deal] how 
 St. John shewed his head in the year of our Lord 
 353, to two monkes, who were come to Jerusalem. 
 They went to the palace which belonged to Herod, 
 and there they founde the heade of St. John the Bap- 
 tiste wrapped up in an hayre cloth, which was, as I 
 suppose, the vestment wherewith he was clad in the 
 wildernesse. But when they went their wayes, a 
 poore man was warned to goe to them ; and take the 
 heade, and flee away, and carry it to the citye of 
 Emysene ; and so long as he lived, he worshipped the 
 head in a cave, and alway had great prosperity. A 
 long while after this the holy saint made revelation of 
 his heade to St. Marcel after this mannere. St. Marcel 
 was y'dwelling in this cave, and he saw in a vision 
 many men singing, and certain angels said, — Lo ! 
 here is the blessed head of St. John the Baptiste. 
 And when Marcel came to him, he toke him up, and 
 toke him by the chinne, and kissed him. So Marcel 
 said, My lord, fro whence art thou come ? and he 
 said, From Sebastyne ; then when he slept the next 
 
 ' We quote Wynkyn de Worde's edition of 1510.
 
 286 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 niglite, there came to him a man which awaked him, 
 and he saw a clear star shining thro*" the midst of the 
 cell, thro' the house ; so he arose, and woulde have 
 toched it ; but it turned suddeynly on the other 
 side, and he went and ranne after it, till it rested on 
 the spot where the holye heade of St. John was. 
 Then began Marcel to delve, and he found a^ potte 
 with the blessed head therein." 
 
 Marcel, of course, could have no doubt as to the 
 genuineness of the relic thus discovered ; and the 
 contrivance, whereby St. John the Baptist is made to 
 give his posthumous sanction to monkery and miracle- 
 working relics is by no means destitute of ingenuity. 
 But a miracle was wanted, to prove that the head 
 was really the head of the Baptist. Most opportunely, 
 however, therefore, a monk is introduced, who " ex- 
 ceedingly doubted the fact :" his punishment is as 
 follows : — " Then laid he his hand upon the potte 
 and forthwith his hand brenned and clave to the 
 potte, so that he coulde not in any way withdrawe 
 it ; but his fellows praied for him ; and the blessed 
 St. John appeared and saide unto him ; ' When my 
 heade is placed in a church, then thou shalt be 
 whole ;' so he toke away his hande but it was sorr 
 and brenned ; but when the head was put into the 
 church, then the monke toched the potte with his 
 hand, and was made whole as before. Likewise also 
 when the daughter of Herodias toke in her handes 
 the heade of John after his beheading, the heade did 
 blow into the face of the damsel, so that she died 
 forthwith." 
 
 After this singular piece of authentic history, the 
 author goes back to posthumous miracles ; and these
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 287 
 
 iu the case of St. John are particularly pertinent. 
 They establish the doctrines of asceticism ; of the 
 power of relics, and the necessity and advantage of 
 praying to saints. Take an instance, — " First Gobert 
 saith, there was a much devoute ladye towards the 
 blessed St. John in France ; and she much praied to 
 our Lord, that he would give her some relic of St. 
 John ; when she sawe that it profited her not in 
 praying to God, she began to take affiance, and 
 vowed she woulde never ete mete, but continually 
 fast, till she had some relic. So when she had fasted 
 certayne dayes, she sawe upon the table before her a 
 fyngere of marvellous brightnesse, and she received 
 the gift of our Lord with exceeding joy. Then after- 
 wards came thither three bishojjpes, each of whom 
 woulde have part of the fyngere. Then the fyngere 
 dropped three drops of blood upon the cloth ; by 
 which they knew that they had each deserved to 
 have a drop." 
 
 But this, though wonderful enough, is neither 
 sufficient for the glory of the Baptist, nor to establish 
 the advantage of praying to him. For this end we 
 have another legend, — much too long to be tran- 
 scribed, but of which the substance is this. A 
 certain deacon, named Sanctyn, was about to be 
 beheaded, having been convicted of the crime of 
 having allowed a Christian brother to escape. In 
 this extremity, he prayed earnestly to St. John the 
 Baptist, beseeching aid, when he should be brought 
 out for execution. " They had chosen a stronge 
 tyraunte to doe it, making no doubte to smyte off 
 his head at a single stroke. Bote when Sanctyn 
 sayde, ' St. John, receive my spirit,' the arm of
 
 288 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the great bocher, wliyche was uppe lifted with the 
 swerde, became so styffe that he cokle not bringe 
 it down, ne bowe it in no mannere. So the bocher 
 vowed, that he woulde never more beheade a Chris- 
 tian man. Then the good Sanctyn praied for him, 
 and his arm came down and was made whole." 
 " Let us therefore," continues and concludes the 
 legend, " pray unto this holy and mighty St. John 
 the Baptiste to be a mediator between us and God, 
 that we may so live virtuously in this life, that when 
 we depart hence, we may come to life everlasting, 
 in heaven. — Amen." 
 
 It will be seen that with the exception of the 
 death of the daughter of Herodias, this legend refers 
 to times much later than those of its hero. We 
 must take, therefore, examples of wonders wrought 
 by the personal and living ministrations of those 
 saints of whom they are related. And here we may 
 observe, at once, that in quoting Simeon Meta- 
 phrastes, and Jaques de Varasse, we use the old 
 black letter translations, and need not make re- 
 ferences to pages, because the life of each saint will 
 be found under the day of his or her festival. Let 
 us see what the old Greek martyrologist says of St. 
 Thomas the Apostle. He refers to St. John, Ohry- 
 sostom, and still older writers, as his authorities ; 
 and tells us, that having baptized the three Kings 
 of Cologne, Caspar, Melchiar, and Balthazar, he 
 set out on his Indian mission. " He entered into 
 that country poore and humble, with his hair long 
 and curled up, a pale face, a weak and feeble body, 
 so that he seemed to be but the shadow or picture 
 of a man, and a garment all torn."'" A little asceti-
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 289 
 
 cism even here. " When he came to the city of 
 Calamina, he found the people worshipping the Sun ; 
 wherefore he preached unto them the Gospel ; but 
 the king was indignant, that he denied the Sun to 
 be (rod, saying it was the workmanship of God, 
 and that a man was of more dignity than the 
 Sun, seeing that a man hath the use of reason, 
 which the Sun hath not. So the king caused many 
 torments to be given him, whereof this was one. 
 They put plates of iron upon his naked skin, and 
 then cast him into an oven ; but since this did him 
 no hurt, the king commanded that they should 
 lead him to the temple and there compel him to 
 adore the Sun. And when they did this, the holy 
 Apostle cried with a loud voice, and besought God 
 to break that statue ; so that the people, knowing 
 the small power of their god, might be delivered 
 from the evil in which they were wrapped. And 
 when he had thus prayed, the idol fell down and 
 broke in pieces. Then the ministers of the idol, 
 enraged with exceeding fury, ran the Apostle through 
 with lances and killed him." 
 
 There is one very remarkable circumstance con- 
 nected with the history of St. Thomas, as related 
 by Simeon, which requires a particular notice. The 
 following anecdote is told of him ; that a rude and 
 violent person having struck the Apostle, he declared 
 that he would not leave the place till the hand 
 that had struck him should be in a dog's mouth, 
 " which came to pass, for the fellow, going for water 
 to a spring, was seized and devoured by dogges, and 
 one came to the Apostle with the hande in his 
 mouthe."" This, it must be acknowledged, is any 
 
 o
 
 290 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 thing but an edifying story ; but the commentary 
 upon it is still less so. The tale itself, with sundry 
 others of the same character, is declared to have 
 no truth ; but to have been invented by heretics, 
 as a precedent for revenge and evil tempers. The 
 natural inference is, that if a collector has any ob- 
 jection to the tendency of a legend, he has only to 
 declare it to be the invention of heretics. Fortunatelv, 
 however, there was an infallible church to decide 
 all these matters ; and as Simeon was an author 
 approved by the Church, of course the story of St. 
 Thomas and the dogs need not be believed. Very 
 different is the ca?-e with the history of St. Matthew, 
 and the nunnery which he founded, and over which 
 he placed as abbess, Iphigenia, the daughter — not of 
 Agamemnon — but of a certain King of Ethiopia. St. 
 Simon and St. Jude were partners in their death ; 
 and, in the day of their festival, it seems, they had 
 their good works also very much in common. They 
 were very skilful in settling questions of legitimacy. 
 Indeed, they managed these things quite a la Merlin. 
 Here is an instance in point ; and wonderfully to 
 the advancement of religion. 
 
 A certain lady, " the daughter of a nobleman of 
 Jiabylone," quite unexpectedly enriched the family 
 with a grandson ; and unwilling for the credit, as it 
 ^v-ould seem, of her taste, to bestow the honors of 
 ])ateniity where they really belonged, she chose to 
 attribute her treasure to the intervention of a staid 
 and pious old deacon, who, of course, denied his co- 
 operation. His protestations were not believed; he 
 was seized and thrown into prison. This untoward 
 circumstance soon reached tlie ears of our two saints.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 291 
 
 who hastened to remove the stigma which rested not 
 only on the deacon, but on the foith. Calling for the 
 child, they demanded, after suitable prayers, whether 
 the deacon were his father. To this question the 
 child replied, to the astonishment and satisfaction of 
 all the Church, " No ! nor hath he at any time com- 
 mitted such sin." They then proceeded to ask who 
 toas his father, but the infant replied with equal 
 sense and good feeling, " It is always necessary to 
 exculpate the innocent. It is not always necessary 
 to accuse the o-uilty." 
 
 Some of these relations are absurd, most absurd ; 
 but those which relate to heahng the sick, raising the 
 dead, and casting out devils, are not, when we reflect 
 that they are told of apostles, in themselves incon- 
 sistent. Such adventures, related of the first teachers 
 of Christianity, may be destitute of authority ; they 
 may have been written by way of " amplification ; " 
 but when collected and made known to the world, it 
 is no reproach to the public good sense, that they 
 were generally believed. The small circles to wdiich 
 the learning of that age, or those ages, was confined ; 
 the almost total absence of the spirit of inquiry in 
 spiritual matters ; the despotism of the dominant 
 Church ; and the increasing influence of the monastic 
 orders, pi-evented the too scrutinizinsf investiq-ation 
 of the records of wonder, which proceeded from the 
 monasteries. Thus then in the spirit of asceticism, 
 either penitential or abstractive — and we shall have 
 by-and-by to note the difference — which joined its 
 fictions to the traditions of mighty works, some per- 
 haps true, and others partly so, handed down from 
 the Apostolic age, we find the great fount of Ecclesi- 
 
 o 2
 
 292 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 astical Fable. But this fount was not like the 
 diamond of the desert, one which strayed not from its 
 source, but flinging up into the sunshine its gem-like 
 drops, refreshed with its cool waters the hot and 
 exhausted traveller. Far otherwise, it went on in- 
 creasing as it went, its volume from the streams of 
 superstition and imposture, till it rolled a vast and 
 dark river, undermining the Truth and corrupting 
 the religion of the world. 
 
 Not a few of the most marvellous legends of the 
 Apostolic age were written in the time of Con'stantine, 
 — a period which had a great influence in dete- 
 riorating the practice, as well as of mystifying the 
 doctrines of Christianity. Converted, as he declared 
 by a miracle, that prince brought miracles though 
 out of season, into fashion ; yet his character and 
 actions would suffer greatly by a comparison with 
 those of the better sort among his Pagan predeces- 
 sors. How greatly does Constantine sink when 
 placed by the side of a Vespasian, a Trajan, an 
 Antoninus, or an Alexander Severus. Proud, jealous, 
 cruel, but wary and politic, this clear-sighted monarch 
 saw at once by how slight a hold the ancient religion 
 of the empire maintained its supremacy. He saw, 
 that his favor, cast into the scale of heathenism, 
 would scarcely balance the numerical superiority, and 
 the devoted fervor of the Christians ; and he knew 
 from the experience of three centuries, during which 
 every measure had been tried in vain, that there was 
 no hope of their suppression. AVe do not mean to 
 assert, that he wished to suppress them. His whole 
 life shows liini to have been entirely indifferent to 
 religion. His deeds were as far from Christianity as
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 293 
 
 his creed was from Paganism. He followed that 
 religion, which most tended to his own advancement ; 
 and he knew that while neither favor nor force 
 would bind the followers of Christ to worship idols, 
 his declaration in favor of the Christian faith would 
 bring with him nine-tenths of his Pagan subjects. 
 The fabric of Greek Mythology, in spite of its Eo- 
 man adoption, had been long tottering. One by one 
 the props which supported it in the popular opinion, 
 gave way. Christianity became better and more 
 generally known ; and consequently more justly appre- 
 ciated. The sufferings of the martyrs, during ten 
 persecutions, had inspired pity towards themselves ; 
 respect for their constancy, admiration for the faith, 
 which in such trying circumstances could so well 
 support them, and hatred towards their persecutors. 
 Nor let this be considered inconsistent with the 
 spirit of religious difference. There was nothing 
 exclusive in the religion of Greece and Rome. New 
 gods were frequently adopted from alien systems ; 
 and bigotry was a feeling almost unknown. The ob- 
 jections against Christianity were made by the priests 
 who perceived that it was not a system that could go 
 hand-in-hand with their own ; that so far as it pre- 
 vailed theirs must perish : as it rose idolatry must 
 fall ; and hence they put into motion every power to 
 which they had access to effect its extirpation. This 
 feeling they succeeded in exciting at times among 
 the people ; but it was not indigenous to their minds ; 
 it was a fire which required continual stirring, and 
 for want of this unceasing excitement it not unfre- 
 quently went out. Besides this, there were thou- 
 sands who were only prevented by the fear of punish-
 
 294 THE TWIN GIANTS 
 
 ment from avowing themselves Christians. It was at 
 this critical moment, under cover of a miracle, which, 
 whether true or not, was generally believed, in the 
 very hour of splendid victory, Constantine embraced 
 the profession of Christianity ; flung the overwhelm- 
 ing influence of the Imperial Power on the side of the 
 Church ; and thus overturned a system which had 
 continued for two thousand years. By this master- 
 stroke of policy he extinguished at once and for ever 
 the hopes of Paganism through his vast dominions. 
 We say at once and for ever ; because the short 
 reign of Julian was but an unsuccessful struggle 
 against confirmed and correct religious principle. 
 But that revolution which placed Christianity on the 
 throne of the Caesars placed likewise the Christian 
 priesthood in the seats of the pontifi'and the flamens; 
 and the Church, which during three centuries of 
 almost unremitted persecution had maintained the 
 purity of her doctrines, now gave way to the tempta- 
 tions which the glory and pomp of the court pre- 
 sented, and became rapidly assimilated in spirit 
 to the world. 
 
 It would appear that the temper of mind and order 
 of character, necessary and glorious in times of perse- 
 cution and difficulty, is not altogether adapted to 
 seasons of prosperity and repose ; that sternness, 
 which in the one case is heroism, degenerates in the 
 other into harshness, and something like stoic apathy; 
 and that spirit of combativeness — to borrow a phre- 
 nological term — which in the persecuted exile is but 
 a prompt and active opposition to the attacks of 
 artifice, becomes too often in the governing dignitary 
 as active a spirit of persecution. Calvin, when at the
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 295 
 
 head of a numerous and powerful sect, exhibited him- 
 self, not only cruel, but even relentless and perfidious 
 towards those whose creed differed from his own. 
 Cranmer, when ruling the spiritual aifairs of this 
 country, employed more than once the stake and the 
 prison as his weapons ; and the Christian bishops in 
 the reign of Constantine, soon occupied themselves 
 with bitter sectarian persecutions. Among the argu- 
 ments employed, miracles were sometimes claimed; 
 and by the followers of the party which claimed 
 them, believed. We find such an one in the history 
 of the death of Arius. Such tales were, however, 
 scarce, when related of contemporaries ; unless, in- 
 deed, those contemporaries were ascetic monks of the 
 desert. But by the tenth century, there had sprung 
 up like mushrooms a vast number of Saints of the 
 Apostolic age, whose histories are to be found in the 
 "Golden Legend ;" histories, some more than a thou- 
 sand years old ; all marvellous and all true. We shall 
 once more recur to the era of the twelve, and select, 
 not the legend of an Apostle or a Deacon, but that of 
 St. Thecla, the virgin-companion of St. Paul. 
 
 It appears from De Voragine, that the persecu- 
 tions, which the Apostle underwent at Iconium, 
 were on account of the conversion of this young 
 lady ; who, living in that city, and hearing the 
 preaching of St. Paul, embraced the Christian faith, 
 and determined to lead a life of celibacy. Her ac- 
 cepted lover, — for she was betrothed, and the time 
 appointed for her marriage was fast approaching, — 
 urged her, by all the arguments he could make use of, 
 to change her resolution. The attempt was vain ; 
 but the fact being represented to the magistrates, she
 
 296 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 was condemned as a Christian to death. The stake 
 was prepared, the virgin-confessor bound to the 
 stake, and the fire kindled. But when all expected 
 her destruction, there came so great a storm of rain 
 and wind, that the fire was extinguished ; and Thecla 
 was set at liberty. She betook herself immediately 
 to the house where St. Paul was staying. He bap- 
 tized and instructed her ; and knowing that her trials 
 had but commenced, he recommended her earnestly 
 to the Church before his departure. His anticipations 
 were fulfilled. Thecla fell again into the hands of the 
 civil power, and was condemned to be thrown to 
 fierce lions ; " but they, made suddenly meek and 
 tame, did but lick the feet of the holy virgin, so that 
 all marvelled." The fury of her persecutors was, 
 however, not even vet satisfied. She was thrown 
 into a ditch filled with serpents and scorpions; and 
 as the elements had before saved her from the fire, so 
 they now saved her from these venomous reptiles. 
 The wind and the rain destroyed the snakes and the 
 scorpions ; and, wearied out by these repeated disap- 
 pointments, the Eoman magistrates at last set her at 
 liberty; "and she did go in the company of St. Paul, 
 and would have put on man's attire, but he would 
 not sufter her." 
 
 This is a tradition related o/", not in, the first cen- 
 tury. The punishment of being thrown to lions was 
 a very common one among the Romans of that period ; 
 and very numerous tales are extant in which the fierce 
 animals became meek and lamblike before the holy 
 virgin daughters of the Church. This, indeed, is the 
 origin of that superstition, nowhere more beautifully 
 expressed than in the " Siege of Corinth."
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 297 
 
 'Tis said that a lion will turn and flee 
 From a maid in the pride of her purity. 
 
 Pass we on to the second century ; and let us see 
 how Ribadeneira, in his lives of the Saints, treats that 
 mighty wonder-worker of Christendom, Gregory 
 Thaumaturgus. "■ He that believeth in me, says 
 Christ,"" — we quote Ribadeneira — "shall do the 
 works and miracles that I do, and greater also. This 
 sentence was most plainly veriiied in the life of St. 
 Gregory, Bishop of Neo-Cesaraa, which, is now called 
 Trebizond. Of him it is written, that he made a 
 huge great rock, as big as a hill, to go from one place 
 to another; and also that he made a lake, which 
 caused great discord between two brethren, to be 
 dried up ; how also he stayed a great river, that it 
 should not overflow or hurt the inhabitants by the 
 banks thereof. We do not read that our Saviour 
 Christ did any of these things ; we doubt not that he 
 could have done them ; yet he did them not, — that 
 his words might be fulfilled when he said that his 
 faithful servants should (after a certain manner) do 
 greater things than he did." 
 
 So much for the reasonings of the Spanish com- 
 piler. The first-named miracle must not be passed 
 over without specific mention ; for it was attended 
 by many marvellous circumstances. It is, in fact, 
 one of the favorite legends of Ecclesiastical Romance. 
 Travelling from Amasia to Neo-Cesarsea to take 
 possession of his bishopric, he and his companions 
 were benighted. Gregory, by making the sign of 
 the Cross, inadvertently dislodged a large company 
 of devils ; for they — that is, the saint and his retinue 
 — had taken shelter in a temple of Apollo. These 
 
 o
 
 298 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 devils had been in the habit of answering questions 
 put to them, and thus estabhshed an oracle in the 
 place. In the morning, after the departure of Gre- 
 gory and his friends, the priests came to the temple. 
 They were not a little surprised to find the oracle 
 speechless ; but their surprise was changed into rage, 
 when they found to whom they were indebted for 
 the removal of the demons. They immediately set 
 out in pursuit of the Christians, for they found that 
 the spirits, though abundantly willing, were utterly 
 unable to establish themselves again in their old 
 quarters, without the permission of the saint. They 
 soon overtook him, and attacked him with some 
 heat. His reply was, " Be not offended, for I serve 
 so great a God, that as I turned them all out, so 
 will I cause them again to enter." The priests of 
 Apollo took him at his word, and required him to 
 do so. He tore a blank leaf from a paper book 
 which he had with him, and wrote upon it, — " Gre- 
 gory to Sathanas, — Enter."" This note he gave to 
 the chief priest, who laid it upon the altar, and 
 offered sacrifices, " whereupon the devils immediately 
 returned and gave answer as heretofore." But a 
 subject of thought had been given to the priests 
 of Apollo, seeing the evident superiority of the God 
 worshipped by Gregory over their own. They went 
 to him with all speed, and became listeners to the 
 Gospel. They required another miracle, and point- 
 ing out a huge rock, desired him, as a proof of his 
 truth, and of the divine authority of that religion 
 which he preached, to cause that rock to be removed 
 into another place. Without the slightest hesita- 
 tion, Gregory accepted their challenge ; and address-
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROiMAXCE. 299 
 
 ing the rock, " as if," observes Ribacleneira, " it had 
 been a reasonable creature," commanded it to go 
 where the priest had appointed. The retinue of 
 priests, with their wives, servants, and children, 
 were now at once baptized ; and the Temple of 
 Apollo became a Christian Church. 
 
 In the third century we have St. Anthony and 
 St. Hilarion, both, but especially the former, cele- 
 brated for their contests with devils in the wilderness. 
 Now, it so happens that instead of going to De 
 Varasse or Simeon Metaphrastes for our accounts of 
 these eminent men, we shall go to a saint of the 
 fourth century, and the most learned, moreover, of 
 the Fathers — Jerome himself. St. Anthony — for we 
 shall take a legend out of his life — was once in 
 danger of thinking too highlj of himself; but it was 
 revealed to him, that in the depths of the desert was 
 one who far exceeded him in that peculiar holiness in 
 which monkery consists, — as far even as he exceeded 
 the rest of his order. He left his monastery, though 
 now in his ninetieth year, and wandered forth into 
 the desert to find this paragon of sanctity. After 
 no small fatigue he met with a centaur, of whom, 
 having first devoutly crossed himself, he inquired 
 " whereabouts does the servant of God live?" The 
 reply was more satisfactory than could have been 
 expected, and was no sooner given than the centaur 
 shot off with the swiftness of a bird. A little 
 fiirther on he meets with a satvr ; and lest the 
 reader should be incredulous, he is gravely informed 
 that one had been pickled and sent to Antioch to 
 be examined by the emperor. From this being did 
 St. Anthony obtain a still more exact direction, and
 
 300 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 soon arrived at the cave of Paul the hermit, who had 
 been revealed to him as holier than himself. Utterly 
 forgotten by man, this anchoret had passed nearly a 
 century in the deepest seclusion. His only garment 
 was a mat of palm-leaves ; his only food the fruit 
 of the palm-tree, and when this failed, bread was 
 brought to him daily by a raven. 
 
 St. Anthony entreated to be made the companion 
 of this holy man. Long did he wait, and earnestly 
 did he beseech, before his prayer was granted. 
 " You receive beasts, why repel a man ? If I obtain 
 not admission, I will die here before your doors ; 
 at least you will bury my wretched body." This 
 supplication prevailed. The door was opened, and 
 delightful was the converse of two persons so emi- 
 nently holy. The daily bread was miraculously 
 doubled ; and the hermit at length informed St. An- 
 thony that the time of his — the hermit's — departure 
 was at hand. He enjoined on his friend the duty of 
 burying him ; and sent him back to his monastery to 
 fetch the cloak of St. Athanasius. He was stopped 
 by a difficulty which he had not foreseen; he had 
 no spade. In this dilemma he was about — as the 
 best resource that occurred to him — to lie down and 
 die. But, oh ! wonder of wonders ! scarcely had he 
 formed this Avise resolution, when two lions, tamer 
 than lions before or since, made their appearance, 
 and having first wagged their tails and licked the 
 feet of St. Anthony, forthwith dug a grave of pre- 
 cisely the due dimensions for the departed hermit. 
 When their task was finished, they again licked the 
 hands and feet of St. Anthony, — rather a severe 
 penance for the saint, be it observed en passant^ —
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 301 
 
 then threw back their heads, went down on their 
 knees, and made signs that they desired his bles- 
 sing ! This, of course, he was too grateful to 
 refuse ; and away went the blessed beasts into the 
 wilderness. 
 
 In the same century, Britain was not behind the 
 most apostolic of countries; since she boasts of St. 
 Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins ; nor does it 
 seem to have detracted materially from their sanctity, 
 that they were on their way to be married when they 
 sufl'ered martyrdom. In the fifth century lived 
 St. Augustine, St. Nicholas, and St. Patrick. St. Ni- 
 cholas shall furnish us with a legend or two, and 
 Simeon Metaphrastes shall tell them. This holy 
 man was born at Patara, and seemed to have an 
 intuitive perception of the fitness of fasting. For 
 even before he was weaned, he piously abstained 
 from his natural food on Wednesdays and Fridays ; 
 a precocity of self-denial only recorded of this great 
 man and St. Dominic. As he grew older he took 
 vast delight in mortifying the flesh with hair- 
 cloths, ashes, and similar applications. He gave 
 away all his patrimony, which was considerable ; 
 and was made by his uncle, though sorely against 
 his will, the superior of a religious house. Some 
 time after this he had occasion to make a voyage ; 
 but finding that the devil had entered the ship 
 with a sword in his hand, menacing to kill all the 
 seamen, — the first act of our Saint was to send 
 him out, and furnish him with some better employ- 
 ment. " Go, Satan," said St. Nicholas, " and blow 
 into the sails of our ship till we arrive at our des- 
 tined haven."" Satan, of course, obeyed. Indeed,
 
 802 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 he could not help himself ; and accordingly studied 
 only how he might indulge his inclinations for mis- 
 chief during this unexpected season of good works. 
 An opportunity was not long in offering. One of 
 the seamen standing in the rigging, just before the 
 now invisible devil, the latter gave him so severe a 
 puff as to dislodge him, and the consequence was, 
 whether from the noxious character of the blast, or 
 the violence of the fall, cannot be determined, — that 
 the man lay lifeless upon the deck. St. Nicholas, how- 
 ever, was not a man to be overcome by the devil. 
 Indeed, the devil always did get the worst of it in 
 his contests with mortals, at least if we may believe 
 the legends of antiquity. The man was speedily 
 restored to life, and secured by a blessing from such 
 accidents in future. 
 
 On the arrival of the ship at that port in the Holy 
 Land, to which she was bound, the Saint had an inti- 
 mation from Heaven that his vocation was not to the 
 desert, but to an active life. He went in conse- 
 quence of this to Myrrhsea a populous city, and there 
 labored quietly in an obscure station among the poor ; 
 but here again he vvas the subject of celestial inter- 
 ference. An angel in a dream appeared to the bishop 
 of that city, and commanded him to lay down his 
 high office, not on account of any demerit of his, but 
 merely of the superior qualifications of St. Nicholas. 
 He was to go to the church, and wait at the door 
 till some one should enter named Nicholas. This he 
 did. The Saint was the first person bearing that 
 name who entered ; and he was accordingly invested 
 with the episcopal dignity and authority. He under- 
 took, though unwillingly, the duties of the see ; and
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE, 303 
 
 performed them in an exemplary manner. On two 
 occasions his miraculous gifts were the means of 
 saving the city from destruction ; once, by appearing 
 in a vision, at a time when a famine was raging in 
 Myrrh^a, to a corn-merchant, who immediately sailed 
 thither and brought food ; and at another time by 
 multiplying a ship-load of corn, in imitation ofElisha. 
 Such were the actions of St. Nicholas during his 
 life ; and few Saints were more active after their 
 departure. To relate the number of cases in which 
 he interfered, either by visions or dreams, or prayers, 
 or by the efficacy of his relics, would fill a volume. 
 One leg-end must suffice. 
 
 Upon the spot where once had stood a temple of 
 Diana, St. Nicholas had built a church. The wor- 
 shippers, too, had been converted by St. Nicholas 
 from the service of that goddess ; and here he was 
 himself buried. Satan, who seems to have imagined 
 that when once the Saint was under ground, the 
 good he had done might be undone, took the form of 
 a nun, and made his appearance at a sea-port town 
 opposite the coast on which Myrrhaea was situated. 
 In his or her hand was a vessel of oil, " oyle of 
 hellyshe sorte of that kinde that will devour and 
 burn both stones and water. Then cometh she to 
 certayne of the schyppemeu who were departyng 
 from the porte of Tanais. ' I knowe that ye goe 
 to the sepulclu'e of the holie Nicholas. I woulde 
 alsoe goe, but cannott nowe. Take, therefore, this 
 oyle fro me to brenne in the lampes as a gyfte.' Soe 
 they toke tlieir departure and caryed with them the 
 oyle ; thinkynge her to be a moste devoute woman. 
 So when they had been some time at sea there arose
 
 S04 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 a greate storme and the schyppe was like to sink. 
 Then there appeared au aged nianne, verri venerable, 
 who sayde unto them, that he was Nicholas ; and 
 also he told them of the devylish oyle ; whereupon 
 they threw it into the sea ; and lo ! where it falle, it 
 kyndled a greate fire and caused a uglie stenche. 
 Then the auncient old manne disappeared out of 
 their sight," 
 
 These legends afford matter for much remark. 
 They are somewhat curious instances of that spirit 
 of adaptation which runs throughout Ecclesiastical 
 Romance. Every good story and every indifferent 
 story, it mattered very little which, was seized upon 
 as lawful prey, and enrolled in the lives of the Saints 
 with the most reckless carelessness. Not only were 
 the heroes of antiquity despoiled of their good deeds ; 
 but the very gods were stripped of their miracles, and 
 rifaccimento applied to a Saint, who not unfrequently 
 was himself a mere creature of the imagination. The 
 holy napkin and the holy nail were converted into 
 St. Suaire and St. Clou ; and a long string of 
 miracles were attributed to the person thus created. 
 But this was not all. The legend that had done for 
 one Saint was made to do duty again for another and 
 another ; as if the whole Hagiarchy had a stock of 
 sermons and wonderful works, in common. The 
 story of St. Nicholas being elected at the church-door 
 is told of several other saints. Something not very 
 dissimilar occurs in the life of St. Ambrose. The 
 legend of the " hellyshe oyle " bears a strong resem- 
 blance to a story told by Olaus Wormius, of an 
 ancient King of Denmark, much anterior to the date 
 of this legend. The incident is altered, and intro-
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 305 
 
 duced with great effect by Sir Walter Scott in his 
 " Bridal of Triermain." 
 
 In the same century with St. Nicholas lived St. 
 Bridget, who, herself the offspring of an illicit inter- 
 course, took upon her to repeat the miracle which we 
 have already related of St. Simon and St. Jude. 
 The child, however, in this case was less discreet ; 
 for, like a wise child, he knew his own father, and 
 pointed him out ; perhaps it was necessary, as the 
 party accused of paternity was a Bishop. St. Bridget 
 also instituted a company of vestals to guard a fire 
 which was miraculously fed, and to profane which 
 was inevitably attended by miraculous punishments. 
 Of St. Bridget, too, as well as of many other female 
 Saints, the tale is told, that, finding her beauty a 
 temptation both to herself and others, she prayed 
 that it might be removed. Her prayer was granted. 
 One of her eyes became diseased, and was productive 
 of so much deformity that all her suitors forsook her; 
 and no further objection was then made by her 
 family to her entering a nunnery, a step which pre- 
 viously had been strongly opposed. Once professed, 
 her eye recovered, and her loveliness became more 
 radiant than ever. 
 
 In the sixth century, foretold by St. Patrick, 
 appeared St. David, the tutelary saint of Wales. Of 
 him, among other miracles, it is related, that preach- 
 ing on one occasion against the Pelagian heresy and 
 being seen but by few of his auditory, the ground 
 suddenly rose up under him, " so that he was clearly 
 discerned of all." Contemporary with St. David was 
 the still more renowned St. Benedict, and some hun- 
 dreds of minor saints. In the seventh century we
 
 306 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 find St. Columba, so extensively reverenced in the 
 north ; Gregory the Great ; and St. Cuthbert, the 
 most celebrated of British saints. To him, therefore, 
 we shall devote a little more attention than was 
 necessary in other cases; for there never lived a 
 saint of whom greater miracles have been reported, 
 or in the tale of whose achievements greater faith has 
 been reposed. Our authority, too, is that of a great 
 and good man ; no less eminent a person than the 
 Venerable Bede. Yet the legends, related by Bede 
 of St. Cuthbert, rival in absurdity those told of 
 Anthony by Jerome. " While yet a child, he was,"" 
 says his venerable biographer, "just like another 
 child, fond of sport and games," — how different to 
 St. Nicholas ! — " thus he continued till the age of 
 eight years ; when a little child, about three years 
 old, showed him how great things he should do, and 
 how holy a bishop he should be. Thereupon, Cuth- 
 bert, by way of further warning, was afflicted by a 
 boil in his knee ; which was shortly afterwards cured 
 by an angel. He now went and engaged himself as a 
 shepherd ; and one night, while watching his flock, 
 he saw the soul of St. Aldan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, 
 borne up to heaven on the wings of angels. And he 
 watched till the heaven opened, and received the 
 train out of sight. This glorious revelation deter- 
 mined him to a monastic life ; and he accordingly 
 set out for the abbey of Melrose. On his way he 
 abstained from food, because it happened to be 
 Friday ; and having ridden hard all day, took np his 
 abode for the night in a forsaken cabin. Here there 
 was neither bread for himself, nor hay for his horse ; 
 but the angels, as we shall see by-and-by, seemed to
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 307 
 
 have a standing order not to let Cutlibert starve ; and 
 accordingly we find more miracles in the commissariat 
 department, attributed to St. Cuthbert, than to any 
 other saint in the calendar. 
 
 In the present case, his horse pulling down some 
 thatch for his own supper, drew out a cloth which 
 contained a very satisfactory provision for his master. 
 In the cloth was half a loaf, hot, and a sufficient 
 portion of meat. It was a rather singular coincidence 
 that on his arrival at Melrose the abbot seemed to 
 have some intuitive perception of the point in which 
 Outhbert's genius lay. He sent him to a dependent 
 monastery to purvey provisions, and to receive and 
 entertain strangers. Here, like Abraham and Lot, 
 he entertained angels unawares ; one of whom made 
 the Saint a characteristic present of three milk-white 
 loaves of a most sweet odor. These loaves had, it 
 seems, the singular property of making the eater talk 
 about himself, his gifts, and his graces, — in excuse for 
 which Bede pleads the example of the Apostle Paul. 
 St. Cuthbert soon returned to Melrose, and under- 
 took several missionary expeditions among his Pictish 
 neighbours. On one of these excursions he and his 
 party were weather-bound in a creek, and their pro- 
 visions began to run short ; but St. Cuthbert, who for 
 these expeditions had been miraculously cured of the 
 plague, was a person very little likely to let his com- 
 panions suffer from hunger. He well knew that it 
 formed no part of the scheme of Providence that he 
 should perish in that way. Leading them, therefore, 
 to a bank, he prayed for direction in these difficulties; 
 and when their devotions were finished, told them to 
 dig under the bank ; and there they found, wrapped
 
 308 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 in a cloth again, three pieces of dolphin's flesh, ready 
 cut to be boiled. With this they satisfied their appe- 
 tite, and then changed their prayers into praises. 
 
 The next incident in this Saint's career was, that 
 going on a journey in company with a little boy, — the 
 latter began to cry because there was no food. Outh- 
 bert was accustomed to this kind of thing. " See 
 you that eagle," said he to his young companion, as 
 they wound along the serpentine course of a river, — 
 "by that eagle shall our necessities be relieved." And 
 so it happened ; for that eagle, striking a fish, brought 
 it and laid it on the ground before Cuthbert, who 
 generously divided it, — leaving one half for the eagle ; 
 and with the remainder made a meal for himself 
 and the child. We now find him raising the dead, 
 healing the sick, and casting out devils ; then re- 
 forming the monks of Lindisfarne ; then, ejecting the 
 devils from the little island of Farnen, where he lived 
 a solitary life in a mud cottage. Here he obtained a 
 spring by a miracle, in imitation of Moses and St. 
 Benedict ; was miraculously fed with bread and 
 flesh, in imitation of Elijah and St. Paul the hermit ; 
 and the corn which he sowed was miraculously 
 preserved from the birds. The crows, indeed, ex- 
 hibited a deplorably hard and reprobate spirit ; 
 for they even attempted to tear the thatch off his 
 cottage, probably instigated thereto by the ejected 
 devils. Cuthbert gravely rebuked them ; and they 
 mended their manners forthwith. Nay, the vener- 
 able biographer assures us that " one came to the 
 holy man, who, lamentably spreading her wings 
 abroad, seemed by all signs possible to entreat par- 
 don," which the Saint granted, and gave her leave to
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 309 
 
 return. She presently did so, bringing with her a 
 mate, and for a present to the Saint, " a hog's grease^'''' 
 which the holy man was wont afterwards to show to 
 the monks his brethren ; and to give them part of it 
 to grease -their hoots and shoes. In commanding the 
 services of the crows, St. Cuthbert did as St. Benedict 
 had done before him. 
 
 From this time, till many centuries after his death 
 the Saint was always making use of his miraculous 
 gifts. The very elements were subject to him, and 
 the devils trembled at the sound of his name. He 
 was made Bishop of Liudisfarne ; but he soon re- 
 linquished this high station to enjoy once more his 
 beloved solitude. Here he died ; here he was buried, 
 and here it was that pilgrims came to be healed of 
 their diseases by his wonder-working relics. His 
 shoes, greased as they were with the miraculous fat, 
 were a sovereign cure for palsy ; his cloak for 
 dysentery. For many years he rested in peace ; but 
 when the Danes invaded England, the monks of 
 Lindisfarne fled, taking with them the body of their 
 canonized Bishop, as their greatest treasure. Wan- 
 dering about from place to place with their Bishop 
 Edrid at their head, and finding no opportunity of 
 establishing themselves in England, they resolved to 
 pass over into Ireland. Two miracles occurred during 
 the progress of this attempt. The water that dashed 
 over the ship became red as blood ; and when they 
 were driven back by a storm to the English coast, 
 while they were yet about three miles distant, a book 
 of the Gospels fell overboard. The sea immediately 
 retired, so that the book was taken up uninjured. 
 The wanderers at length settled with their precious
 
 310 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 burden at Cumcacestre ; but from thence, after an 
 hundred and thirteen years, they were driven by a 
 new invasion of the Danes. At last, while on their 
 passage back to Lindisfarne, the body of the Saint 
 became immovably fixed near Durham ; nor could it 
 be removed, till it was revealed that at Durham it 
 should finally rest. This was done; a magnificent 
 church was built, and the see removed from Lindis- 
 farne to the city which soon sprung up about the 
 new Cathedral. 
 
 As far as the death of St. Cuthbert, his history 
 was written by the Venerable Bede ; what follows 
 was added by Nicholas Harpsfield, in the time of 
 Henry the Eighth ; and who declares, that he saw 
 the yet uncorrupted body of the saint, which, by 
 the order of that prince, was taken from the shrine 
 and found entire, saving the end of the nose. He 
 adds a long list of miracles done by the relics at 
 Durham. 
 
 Thus ends the first era of Ecclesiastical Komance ; 
 which may be said to comprise the wonderful works 
 performed by saints and martyrs, from the beginning 
 of the first to the end of the seventh century, when- 
 ever and wherever collected and related.
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 311 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 
 
 Throughout the Middle Ages the wonders of 
 Ecclesiastical Romance remain with but little altera- 
 tion. The same class of miracles, having the same 
 tendency, and promulgated with evidently the same 
 object, make up their staple. Here and there, as 
 of old, we have an exotic, all the more valuable 
 from its rarity and its incongruity with the rest, 
 such is the beautiful tale told of St. Martin of 
 Tours, that in one of his daily peregrinations for 
 the purpose of seeking out and relieving the afflicted, 
 he was accosted by a mendicant scarcely protected 
 by his torn and scanty garment from the inclemency 
 of the season. St. Martin, who was wrapped in a 
 warm and ample cloak, immediately divided it into 
 two parts, and gave half to the beggar, retaining 
 the other for himself. In his slumbers that nig-ht 
 the Saint was visited by a blessed vision. The 
 Lord appeared to him, and showing him the half 
 of the divided garment, told him that it was He 
 who had been thus relieved, and reminded St. 
 Martin of the import of that passage " whoso doeth 
 it to one of the least of these my brethren, doeth 
 it unto me." It is difficult to imagine a more exqui- 
 sitely beautiful legend than this, at once appealing 
 to the highest faculties of human nature and the 
 loftiest phase of poetical taste. This is undoubtedly
 
 312 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 to be reckoned as an allegory, as well as another 
 adventure said to have befallen the same Saint, 
 that he beheld Satan seated on a beam in a church, 
 where he was preaching, and taking an account on 
 a strip of parchment of all the sins of inattention 
 committed by the congregation. The writing was 
 small and the strip was long, but it was filled, even 
 to the very margin, and the fiend was sorely puzzled 
 how to take notes of the continually increasing sinful- 
 ness which he beheld, unwilling that any act of 
 inattention should escape him, he took the parch- 
 ment, one end in his claws, and the other be- 
 tween his teeth, and pulled in order to stretch 
 it. In the attempt the parchment broke, and the 
 arch-enemy gave his horned head so severe a blow 
 against the beam above that on which he was sitting, 
 that the church resounded again with the noise, 
 and the Saint, unable any longer to keep his coun- 
 tenance, burst into a loud laugh. On being asked 
 the cause of this apparently unseasonable cachin- 
 nation, he related what he had seen, and the result 
 was perceptible in a more reverential and attentive 
 demeanour at church on the part of the people. 
 
 But quitting these legends we come to a period 
 which appears to connect the ancient romance of 
 ecclesiastical history with the more modern wonders 
 of Mesmerism. We allude to the miracles said to 
 be performed at the tomb of the Abbe Paris, and 
 others of the same class which about the same time 
 attracted so much attention in the ca])ital of France. 
 That the facts were faithfully reported there can be 
 no doubt ; the actors were too closely watched to 
 leave any possibility of fraud in this respect, and the
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 313 
 
 more accurate was the investigation as it assumed the 
 character of a war between religious parties. The 
 Abbe Paris appears to have been a sincere and worthy 
 man, but a bigoted Jansenist. He, though brought 
 up to fulfil the offices of the church, never thought fit to 
 receive other orders than those of deacon, he gave up 
 his patrimonial property, and retired into one of the 
 most abject and squalid parts of Paris — the Fau- 
 bourg St. Marceau, where he maintained himself by 
 the labor of his hands, and divided his ofains with his 
 poorer neighbours. His austere mode of living acting 
 on a constitution naturally feeble, accelerated his 
 death, and his grave was visited continually by those 
 whom he had comforted and relieved while yet 
 living. It was no very wonderful event, that they 
 who venerated their deceased pastor far more than 
 the saints of the middle ages, should attribute equal 
 efficacy to his relics. Accordingly it was not long 
 before reports were bruited about of cures said to be 
 performed at the tomb of this excellent man, and, at 
 length, one somewhat more remarkable than the rest 
 attracted in an unusual degree the public attention. 
 It was said that a young girl born blind and deaf, 
 had been gifted with sight and hearing at the shrine 
 of the new saint. The Archbishop of Paris ordered 
 that the matter should be investigated, and the result 
 of the investigation was the discovery that the girl 
 had never been either blind or deaf Another case 
 soon occurred in which a certain Abbe Becheraud 
 claimed to have been cured of a diseased leg, and 
 though he was unable to give any satisfactory proof 
 that the fact was as he related it, yet he continued 
 his assertions, and the government, in order to stop 
 
 p
 
 314 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 the delusion, confined Beeheraud in the prison of St. 
 Lazare. A martyr had been all that was wanted, 
 and this desideratum being now obtained, the persua- 
 sion spread more rapidly than ever, and scenes 
 utterly destructive of all devotion, not to say of all 
 decency, were now of so common occurrence, that 
 the churchyard was closed by royal authority, and 
 the wits of the day immediately put forth the well- 
 known couplet : 
 
 " De par le Roi — defense a Dieu, 
 De faire miracle en ce lieu." 
 
 The Romish Church vaunts its unity ; but, in fact, 
 there have been as great differences in religious 
 opinion and as acrimoniously carried on, as any 
 which have occurred in the Protestant churches. 
 
 Gregoire, in his " History of Religious Sects," 
 gives an account of follies quite as extravagant, and 
 of fanaticism in societies (not to call them sects) 
 which have arisen within the pale of Romanism, 
 equalling in error, violence, knavery, or madness, 
 any that have arisen in Protestantism. 
 
 The history of the Society which especially worships 
 the "Sacre Cceur de Jesus," ^ will be an instance in 
 point. The Cordicoles was its first title ; and its origin 
 was ascribed to Thomas Goodwin, the President of 
 Magdalen College, Oxford, under Cromwell. This 
 fierce English puritan was considered the author 
 of a great superstition in the Romish Church from a 
 tract which he published, entitled, " The Heart of 
 
 ' The volumes in which the history of the Cordicoles is contained, and 
 also the " Revelations de la saur Natii-itt,''' are now extremely rare, the 
 autiior of this work has not been able to obtain a sight of them, and the 
 account here given, is derived from some of the earlier numbers of the 
 " Quarterly Review," where a much fuller account will be found than 
 the space here allotted would all ow.
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 31. *) 
 
 Christ in Heaven tovrards Sinners upon Earth." But 
 M. Gregoire does not agree in this opinion, he de- 
 clares that all Goodwin says is, that as our Saviour 
 has taken upon himself the human form, his heart is 
 susceptible of those affections which have nought to 
 do with sin and infirmity. It is said the Jesuit P. 
 La Colombiere, chaplain and confessor to the Duchess 
 of York, discovered in London a sect, whose de- 
 votions were addressed to the Heart of Jesus ; this 
 was under the spiritual direction of Goodwin ; and 
 La Colombiere, having seen their pastor and learnt 
 from him his own ideas on the subject, transported 
 these' into France, and it may be probable, after all, 
 for the fanatics of that time approached as nearl)'^ 
 to the Jesuits in some other points, as they did in 
 the theory and practice of deposing monarchs and 
 depriving them of life. The Kosary, the Scapulary, 
 and the Agnus Dei were toys of ancient date ; these 
 bethought themselves of bringing the heart into 
 vogue ; and hoped to make it as popular and useful, 
 at least such was the idea of Father La Corbi^re, 
 and he was ably assisted by an inspired nun, called 
 Marguerite ^Marie Alacoque, of the order of Visi- 
 tandines ; this woman asserted that our Saviour had 
 appeared to her when she was engaged in her devo- 
 tions, and showing her his heart, he said that as it 
 had exhausted itself in every proof of love for man- 
 kind, it was his desire that a certain day should be 
 set apart for its worship, charging her to address her- 
 self to Father La Corbi^re, his faithful servant, and 
 order him to do his utmost to establish this act 
 of devotion. She also assured him that the Saviour 
 expected a great deal from the Jesuits. 
 
 p 2
 
 316 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 But at the close of the seventeenth century so 
 flagitious au imposture could not be so daringly car- 
 ried on as in darker ages. They did not publish the 
 revelations of this nun until both herself and her 
 confessor were dead, as detection was not then pos- 
 sible, and it was pretended that the account was 
 found among his papers. 
 
 The legend is a composition of absurdity and 
 monkish deceit. In one of her colloquies with the 
 Saviour, he asked her to give him her heart, 
 and with her consent, he extracted it from her 
 side, put it in his own, and then replaced it. 
 From that hour she suffered continual pains in her 
 side, and was told to be bled when the pain was too 
 violent, so she was bled on the first Friday in every 
 month till she died, being a hundred and ninety-two 
 times. After this, the legend proceeds to recount a 
 promise of marriage with the Saviour, the betrothal, 
 and the espousal. But the imposture did not flourish ; 
 the Bishop of Soissons, who in 1729 published the 
 life of this nun, found it necessary to withdraw the 
 work from sale, so great was the indignation it ex- 
 cited, and an Italian translation was instantly sup- 
 pressed by Pope GanganelH. However, the devotion 
 it was designed to introduce prevailed, being ap- 
 proved at Rome by the Congregation of Rites, and 
 Pope Clement XIII. authorised the Festival of the 
 Heart of Jesus, indeed, it became quite a rage, and 
 while the Court of Rome vainly represented this new 
 worship as purely spiritual, the language of the de- 
 votees was carnal in the extreme. 
 
 This abuse gave rise to another, for they thought 
 that the heart of the Virgin Mary ought to be wor-
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 317 
 
 shipped ill like manner, as being after GocFs own 
 heart, and one with the heart of Christ ; nay, a 
 Friar Minim, in one of his Sermons, to recommend 
 this devotion, said that the foohsh virgins could not 
 enter when they knocked at the gate, because they 
 exclaimed, " Lord ! Lord !" whereas had they cried, 
 " Lady ! Lady ! "" they would immediately have been 
 admitted. 
 
 And thus have superstitions arisen in the Christian 
 Avorld, from the abuse of terms, and mere types have 
 degenerated into objects of idolatry, though Home 
 has become more cautious in encouraging such things 
 than in former times, and now exposes frauds which, 
 ages ago, would have been sanctioned by the policy 
 of the Church. In distant ages some advantages 
 would have been obtained from the Society of Vic- 
 tims, who had this connection Mith the Cordicoles, 
 that they wore silver medallions representing the 
 hearts of the Saviour and the Virgin. This applica- 
 tion of the word Victim had been introduced by the 
 foundress of the perpetual worshippers of the most 
 Holy Sacrament of the altar, an order of nuns which 
 rapidly gained ground in France, towards the end of 
 the seventeenth century. The nuns, in turn, each 
 acted as the Victim, rejMratrice of the day ; then she 
 secluded herself from the hours of matins, and when 
 they went to the refectory, came the last with a rope 
 round her neck and a torch in her hand ; when thev 
 were seated at table she reminded them of their 
 duties as victims in the place of their Saviour, and 
 then went back to the choir, still fasting, and staid 
 there till after vespers, as a lamb set apart for 
 sacrifice.
 
 318 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 There were two persons in France who disti'n- 
 gnished .themselves at that time by their reh'gious 
 zeal, — Mademoiselle Brolion, a girl of eighteen, 
 whose attractions and talents gained considerable 
 notice at Paris. She had written some novels, but 
 her life having been saved, as she believed, by a 
 miracle, she repented of having written them, and 
 devoted her pen to religious subjects, which produc- 
 tions were published anonymously by her admirers ; 
 the language is pure and well chosen, but they are 
 a kind of romance, embodying the dreams of her wild 
 imagination ; but they displayed talent, and certainly 
 seduced many. She required that a college should 
 be established, called the College of Victims, con- 
 sisting of six men and six women : she affirmed 
 that our Saviour had Himself condescended to be 
 her Confessor, and chosen her as the institutrice of 
 this new order, saying to her, " Seek me no longer 
 upon the Cross ; I yield that place to thee : I shall 
 no more be crucified, but my victims shall be cruci- 
 fied for me !"" 
 
 There were many other things too blasphemous 
 to be brought forward here ; but she said the honour 
 of beginning this mission was given to the female 
 sex for three reasons. First, as a mark of our Lord''s 
 affection for his blessed Mother ; secondly, to reward 
 the fidelity shown to him by women during his life 
 and sufferings ; and thirdly, to humble men and 
 make them jealous of women, as the weaker vessel. 
 She fixed twelve for the number of Victims, in 
 imitation of the twelve Apostles. She adjured Louis 
 XV. to make Mademoiselle Victoire one of the 
 society, and prophesied innumerable evils to France,
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. o]9 
 
 unless this society were allowed to flourish there ; 
 heavy calamities were to fall upon the capital, the 
 clergy to be abased, the provinces lost, and a foreign 
 prince would ravage and subjugate the country, 
 and Avhen all was fulfilled the Victims would them- 
 selves form the sole body of the Church in the reign 
 of the Redeemer, while their presidents were to be 
 Enoch and Elias. 
 
 This prediction of calamity to France gained credit 
 for these dreams of her imagination during the ter- 
 rible progress of the Revolution. 
 
 In 1779, Mademoiselle Labrousse, another unmar- 
 ried woman, as madly fanatic as Mademoiselle Bro- 
 hon, began to prophesy also, and when the horrors of 
 the Revolution advanced, believed that her predic- 
 tion were thus fulfilled. It was her idea also, that 
 the Lord would select Victims most pleasing to Him- 
 self, that the actual ecclesiastical system should be 
 set aside to make way for two grand Societies, male 
 and female, to take its place ; and she took the 
 trouble of going to Rome to tell the Pope that his 
 downfall was near. In return she was shut up in 
 the Castle of St. Angelo, and liked her abode so 
 well that when the Directory required her liberation 
 she chose to remain where she was; but at length 
 she returned to Paris, and Gregoire affirms that both 
 these crazy female fanatics had in his day still 
 followers in that city, and those not among the 
 uninformed and vulgar. 
 
 Then there is another sect, called the Convul- 
 sionnaires, which, till of late, counted some members 
 in Paris, Lyons, and different parts of France. 
 Their origin was connected with the well-known ques-
 
 320 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 tion of Jansenism, which occupied the general atten- 
 tion at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It 
 was said during the persecution brought upon Port 
 Royal, that miracles were performed in favour of the 
 persecuted. One of the most wonderful of these 
 miracles was the cure of ^ fidula lacliryraalis^ which 
 was healed on the patient's kissing a thorn from the 
 holy crown, in full faith of its healing power ; now 
 this was so strongly attested that the Archbishop of 
 Paris admitted it, though he was in opposition to 
 Port Royal ; and even the court believed, who would 
 gladly have discovered fraud in that community 
 which they would destroy ; but in consequence the 
 proceedings against Port Royal were stayed for a 
 time, and Pascal, on whose niece the miracle was 
 wrought, cited it triumphantly and energetically, and 
 his great name in this case carries with it high autho- 
 rity. For, though the able " Lettres Proviuciales " 
 are exceedingly disingenuous, and the writer might 
 well be suspected of acting unfairly, where the inter- 
 ests of his party were concerned, yet on the other the 
 facts of the case were well attested. 
 
 Mademoiselle Perrier was the young lady in ques- 
 tion. She was a child in her eleventh year, and a 
 scholar residing in the monastery of Port Royal. 
 For three years and a half she had been afflicted 
 Avith a fistula laxlirymalis. The adjacent bones had 
 become carious, and the most loathsome ulcers dis- 
 figured her countenance. All remedies had been 
 tried in vain : the medical faculty had exhausted 
 their resources. One desperate experiment remained 
 — it was the actual cautery. For this the day was 
 appointed, and her father set out on a journey to be
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 321 
 
 present at the operation. M. de la Potlierie, who 
 was a Parisian ecclesiastic, and an assiduous collector 
 of relics, had possessed himself of one of the thorns 
 composing the crown of which mention is made in the 
 Evangelists. Great had been the curiosity of the 
 various convents to see it, and the ladies of Port 
 Royal had earnestly solicited that privilege. Accord- 
 ingly, on the 24th of March, in the year 1656, the 
 day of the week being Friday, and the week the third 
 in Lent, a solemn procession of nuns, novices, and 
 scholars, moved along the choir of the monastic church, 
 chanting appropriate hymns, and each one, in her 
 turn, kissing the holy relic. When the turn of Ma- 
 demoiselle Perrier arrived, she, by the advice of the 
 schoolmistress, touched her diseased eye with the 
 thorn, and the malady disappeared ! The cure was 
 instantaneous and complete. So strict, however, was 
 the silence of the abbey, especially in Lent, that, ex- 
 cept to the companion who shared her chamber, jNLi- 
 demoiselle Perrier did not at first divulge the miracle. 
 On the following day the surgeon appeared with his 
 instruments. The afflicted father was present ; exhor- 
 tations to patience were delivered ; every preparation 
 was complete ; when the astonished operator for the 
 first time perceived that every symptom of the disease 
 had disappeared. All Paris rang with the story. 
 It reached the ears of the queen- mother. By her 
 command, M. Felix, the principal surgeon to the 
 king, investigated and confirmed the narrative. The 
 royal conscience was touched. Who but must be 
 moved with such an attestation from on high, of the 
 innocence of a monastery divinely selected as the 
 theatre of so great a miracle? Anue of Austria 
 
 p 5
 
 322 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 recalled her lieutenant. Again the recluses returned 
 to their hermitages ; the husy hum of schoolboys 
 was heard once more at Port Royal ; and in his 
 ancient retreat Arnauld was permitted to resume his 
 unremitting labours.^ 
 
 Nothing, unless it be the alleged miracle itself, 
 can be more improbable, than that a man gifted with 
 such abilities should have ventured upon a fraud 
 likely to be closely scrutinized and detected. But 
 the sincerity of his opinion is proved by his austerity 
 of life after his conversion, and it was this very cir- 
 cumstance which led to it : from that time he used 
 the device of a crown of thorns for his seal, and the 
 motto was Scio cui credidi. The effect of this cir- 
 cumstance, which is one of those equally difficult to 
 view as true or untrue, or to account for, paved the 
 way for the surprising exhibitions Avhich ensued at 
 the death of the Deacon Paris. 
 
 To that shrine other patients, besides those whom 
 we have named, came in rapid succession to deceive 
 and be themselves deceived. One woman went to 
 have a short leg elongated by dancing upon the 
 gi'ave, and it was calculated that by continuing this 
 same exercise for fifty-four years the cure would 
 be perfected. A man whose eye had received a blow 
 applied the remedy prescribed by the apothecary with 
 a fragment of the Deacon's shirt, and, of course, the 
 cure was ascribed to the relic. The churchyard became 
 a scene of disgusting extravagance : long-robed magis- 
 trates, men and women of quality, and even doctors 
 of the Sorbonne, might be seen mixed with the lowest 
 rabble, really admiring and credulous spectators, while 
 
 ' Edinburgh Review, vol. Ixxii. p. 338. [July, 1841.]
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 323 
 
 charlatans and dupes exhibited themselves on his 
 tomb in all the contortions of real or pretended con- 
 vulsive movements. In addition to folly and fana- 
 ticism, which are always contagious enough, there 
 was a secret aid to this moral endemic ; for the 
 Deacon had been staunch in the cause of Jansenism, 
 and the Jansenists, like the Jesuits, wished to pro- 
 mote any delusion which was in their own favor. 
 
 At last government, as we have seen, shut up the 
 cemetery ; but though this might have done good in 
 the earlier stage of the mania, it had now been too 
 long delayed, for even earth from the churchyard, and 
 water from the well, of which the Deacon used to 
 drink, were now reported to operate miraculous cures. 
 The prisons were filled with persons who, defying 
 the police, persisted in presenting themselves at the 
 cemetery, and now infinitely worse extravagances 
 were committed in private houses. That which had 
 begun in enthusiasm, had now passed into the hands 
 of persons in whom it was difficult to say wdiich pre- 
 dominated, madness or villany. It was no longer 
 sufficient for the convulsionnaires to implore the aid 
 of the blessed Deacon, and expect relief by means 
 of convulsions produced by their fervent devotion ; 
 but thev now required the aid of human succour to 
 benefit by his miraculous assistance. These succours 
 were administered by men, and consisted of blows 
 with powerful weapons, such as a stick, a stone, a 
 hammer, or even a poker and a sword. A w^oman 
 would lie down and be threshed like a bundle of 
 wheat, while another would stand on her head, and 
 another forming a half-circle, by bending her body 
 back, remained in that painful position while a heavy
 
 324 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 stone, fastened to a pulley, was repeatedly let fall 
 upon her ; and another of these mad devotees would 
 have a plank placed across her, she lying on her 
 back, and supporting the weight of as many men as 
 could stand upon the plank. 
 
 These disgusting practices were now reduced to a 
 system — they had the great and the little succours — 
 and in the former was classed the exercise of the spit. 
 It is asserted that one woman was actually fastened to 
 a spit, with a pullet tied on behind her, and a brother, 
 as they called the male assistants, kept turning the 
 spit before a fierce fire, until the bird was thoroughly 
 roasted. That such a thing is possible, is shown by 
 those who have displayed their art in England ; but 
 the marvel is that any female could be so lost to all 
 womanly feeling. But even the best and indubitable 
 accounts of all these self-inflictions could hardly make 
 us credit the fact that women pressed forward to 
 undergo crucifixion in these horrible displays of fana- 
 ticism and impiety, were it not confirmed beyond any 
 possibility of doubt. And we read in Baron Grimm's 
 Memoirs, a description of these horrible exhibitions, 
 from notes taken on the spot, by M. de Condamine 
 and M. de Gustel. 
 
 Sister Rachel and Sister Felicite, both between 
 thirty and forty years of age, being moved in spirit to 
 offer the lively image of the passion of our Saviour, 
 suffered themselves to be nailed through their hands 
 and feet to two wooden crosses, and remained thus for 
 more than three hours. It was apparent that they 
 endured great agony, especially when the nails were 
 driven in, and again when they were taken out, which 
 occasioned shrinking of the muscles, and writhing.
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 325 
 
 though every indication of torture over which the 
 mind had control, was suppressed with Indian for- 
 titude. Not only so, but to aid the delusion of those 
 who admired them, and the deception of their spi- 
 ritual directors, who affirmed that they felt exquisite 
 delight : they sometimes pretended to slumber, as if 
 in a trance of beatitude. When they were taken 
 down, the wounds, which bled profusely, were washed 
 and bandaged, and that done, the Sisters Rachel and 
 Felicite sat down quietly to eat in the midst of those 
 assembled there. Fraud in all this there was not, or 
 deception on the part of the women, otherwise than 
 in encouraging the belief that they felt pleasure in- 
 stead of pain, while suspended. They were fanatics, 
 and to be pitied, for they were guided by consum- 
 mate deceivers. Could any fraud have been suspected 
 in such a case, the second exhibition put its reality 
 beyond suspicion. In this also two women were 
 crucified, named Sisters Fran^oise and Marie. The 
 nails were examined by M. de Condamine, both 
 when driven in and taken out ; these were rough and 
 square, more than three inches long, and entered the 
 wood of the cross at least half-an-inch. Sister Marie 
 could not hide the excruciating pain she felt when 
 the nails were driven in, and within an hour cried 
 out to be taken down, for she could no longer endure 
 it : being unfastened, they carried her away senseless, 
 to the great confusion of those associated with her. 
 Sister Fran^oise being more strongly constituted, re- 
 mained attached to the cross for more than three 
 hours, though its position was frequently changed. 
 This same woman had declared that she had received 
 a Divine command to have her gown burnt oft" her
 
 326 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 back on that day, and was assured that she should 
 receive much spiritual comfort from the operation. 
 The directors, unless indeed they were as mad as 
 herself, must have supposed that she had suitably 
 prepared herself for the occasion, and she was set on 
 fire accordingly ; but on her part there was no in- 
 tended fraud ; it was all fanatical insanity, and 
 against this ordeal no mental illusion could fortify 
 her ; she shrieked for help, was deluged with water, 
 and carried away half scorched and half drowned, 
 extremely ashamed, and sufficiently punished for her 
 folly. 
 
 We have already seen that miracles were generally 
 adapted to favour some peculiar doctrine which was, 
 for the most part, only capable of being so supported. 
 In the earlier ages of the Church this might be intel- 
 ligible enough, but it becomes strange indeed when 
 we find it adopted almost in our own days. The 
 " Revelations of Sister Nativite " will, however, 
 furnish us with such an instance. 
 
 Jeanne le Rover, as she was called before enterinor 
 a nunnery, was born at a small village named Beaulot, 
 within a short distance of Fougeres. Her parents 
 were humble, so much so, that, upon the death of her 
 father, which hai)pened when she was about sixteen, 
 she was obliged to support her mother by her labour, 
 and upon the death of her remaining parent, which 
 took place shortly afterwards, was left entirely desti- 
 tute. Her person was interesting and her health 
 good ; and having from an early age an inclination 
 for a religious life, she passed through the dangers 
 and temptations of youth uninjured. Her wish and 
 the continued subject, as wc arc told, of her petitions
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 827 
 
 to the Virgin was to enter some convent in a menial 
 capacity, that she might he the better able to pre- 
 serve herself from the world and be in a sure path to 
 heaven. There are in Roman Catholic Coinitries 
 houses named Houses of Retreat, for the reception of 
 any who wish to enter upon a course of spiritual 
 training, under the guidance of a confessor, more ri- 
 gorous than can be done in a private house. Jeanne, 
 being informed that a house of this description was 
 being opened near Fougeres, applied for admittance ; 
 and, notwithstanding a great opposition made by 
 some of its inmates, was received without a dowry, 
 and, upon taking the usual vows, received the name 
 of Sister Nativite. She now entered into with zeal 
 the duties of her new life, frequently adding to the 
 rigor of the usual rules and observances, by the 
 imposition of voluntary humiliations and denials. 
 Sometimes she laid nettles in her bed, and on one 
 occasion was found to have mingled gall with her 
 beverage in order to render it unpalatable. 
 
 She soon made some extraordinary disclosures re- 
 specting revelations vouchsafed to her concerning the 
 fate of the Universal Church ; but frightening her 
 director by some predictions about that of France 
 being shaken and her pillars thrown down, he de- 
 clared she was either a dupe to her imagination or 
 in danger of heresy, and the sister, alarmed at this, 
 prevailed upon him to burn his notes of what she 
 had said. This did not, however, preserve her from 
 persecution : she was exposed to many mortifications 
 from the nuns, who regarded her as either a hypocrite 
 or a visionary. Bodily sufferings and the seeming 
 abandonment of heaven were now added to these
 
 o28 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 trials. An enormous tumor arose in her knee, and 
 being removed by an operation, it left a cancerous 
 sore and deprived her of the use of the limb. Having, 
 however, prevailed upon her director to say in her 
 behalf two masses, one in honor of our Lord's Pas- 
 sion and the other of the Grief of the Virgin, and upon 
 the nuns to perform a " novene" for her, during the 
 "novene" she was miraculously healed. 
 
 Thirty years passed by. She became convinced 
 that she had not been deceived by her imagination. 
 
 In the record of her Revelations, Sister Nativite 
 gives an account of the end of the world, introducing 
 it with the statement that she was so terrified by the 
 thought of having to repeat what she had witnessed, 
 that a command from the Almighty vras required 
 to make her take courage. No sooner were all dead, 
 than a confused noise, an universal complaint from 
 all inanimate beings was heard, in an eloquent but 
 dreadful language. The sun, the moon, the stars, 
 and the earth, each in turn lifted up its voice, de- 
 nouncing and calling for vengeance upon those who 
 had abused them, and sullied them by committing 
 crimes in their i^resence ; all nature took up the 
 cry, and called for justice on the guilty race. An 
 Almighty voice w^ent forth, which declared that the 
 time had arrived when a new heaven and earth 
 should be made, and that it should be done in the 
 twinkling of an eye. Immediately fire issued from 
 the heaven, and consumed and purified everything, 
 so that earth and air w^ere renovated and no impurity 
 remained. She now had a view of purgatory, when 
 she saw a multitude of souls plunged in the fire. 
 Some suffered torture as painful as that of the lost,
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 329 
 
 save that they had not prospect of eternal suffering. 
 The first alleviation of their pain was the announce- 
 ment that their pain would at one time have an end, 
 which was imparted when God was softened either 
 hy the length of their purgation or the suffrages of 
 the church. Others there were who were there for 
 smaller sins, and even imperfections ; all that had 
 fallen short in zeal or perseverance was there to be 
 made up by suffering. Towards the close of the world 
 the shortness of the time is to be counterbalanced by 
 the intensity of the suffering ; the angels, however, 
 are to comfort them by explaining the causes, and 
 when the signal for the resurrection is given, angels 
 will conduct the now purified souls to join those of 
 the faithful who have just expired, and others will take 
 charge of the lifeless bodies that remain in Eden. 
 
 In the new heaven the sun and stars far surpassed 
 the lustre of this present one ; and the earth was 
 transparent, resembling crystal, but without its hard- 
 ness. All things were renewed save the bodies of 
 the reprobate, which were changed so as to add to 
 their misery. An innumerable number of angels 
 flew to the corners of the earth, and with their 
 trumpets sounded the signal for the resurrection. 
 When the reunion of body and soul had taken place, 
 she saw the blessed stand up radiant with youth and 
 beauty, and gloried, as Christ in his resurrection ; for 
 their''s is but an emanation of his ; a stream of enjoy- 
 ment flows in through all their senses, and the prin- 
 ciple of immortality is for ever fed by the juice 
 which circulates within them. 
 
 The sheep had already been arranged separately 
 in three flocks. One of those who had been the most
 
 330 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 earnest followers of Christ, are with him in the 
 heavens, attend him in his triumph, and re-descend 
 upon the earth with him. The next are ranged in 
 the sky ; they make ready the way, and adorn it 
 with the triumphal arches, strewing flowers along the 
 path, and raising songs of victory. The last with 
 rejoicing, not unmingled with fear, remain upon the 
 earth, waiting for his expected advent. 
 
 On the other hand, how dreadful is the spectacle. 
 Hell vomits forth its victims ; the devils also come 
 with them ; a reunion is hy force eftected between 
 the souls and their bodies, which being saturated 
 with all kinds of disease and pain, is a hell for even 
 the damned to endure. The Almighty then opens 
 the portals of eternity, and Time expires. The cross 
 is reflected with a dazzling brilliancy in the sky. The 
 Judge appears on his throne, resting on a cloud, from 
 which issue thunders and lightnings. It stops at about 
 thirty feet from the earth, and is surrounded by the 
 whole host of heaven. About the judgment seat 
 are arranged thrones, upon which seat themselves the 
 apostles and all the ministers of Christ through all 
 ages. The only other person seated is the Virgin 
 Marv, who is, as the mother of the Redeemer, ac- 
 knowledged the queen of the universe. The Book 
 of Conscience is opened ; Christ tells his ministers 
 they are now to sit in judgment with him upon their 
 enemies, and demands what punishment is due to 
 these, and what they will have him to do. They, 
 rising from their thrones, exclaim with an unanimous 
 voice, " O Lord, our God, we demand justice and 
 vengeance upon these wretches who have outraged 
 thee I " The spirits of the just cry Amen ; and all
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL EOJIAN'CE. 331 
 
 nature re-echoed the terrible cry of justice and ven- 
 geance ; let the wicked be confounded for ever. 
 
 As might well be supposed, Demoniacal possession 
 occupied no small share in the thoughts of those 
 whose views were like those jnst mentioned. The 
 annals of earlv monkerv were ransacked to find 
 parallel cases to those at the time we speak of of 
 common occurrence. 
 
 The Devil is said to have entered into possessed 
 persons in different ways. St. Gregory tells of his 
 having seated himself upon a salad, and being swal- 
 lowed with it. At another time he flew down the 
 throat of a deacon, in the shape of a bat, because he 
 refused to believe in the miracles of St. Virgilius. 
 The manner of their expulsion was as vtiried as 
 that of their entrance. We will mention a case or 
 two. St. Appianus cured a woman who had found 
 no assistance, even at Eome, and she vomited the evil 
 spirit in smoke and blood. Relics possessed great 
 efficacy, those of St. Hidulphus, Bishop of Triero, 
 had even greater than praying or crossing ; the pos- 
 sessed were generally cured by them ''a quocwnque 
 spiritu vexahantur,'''' for many of the spirits were of 
 a verv obstinate temper. Once a peasant was pos- 
 sessed bv so powerful a demon that he withstood all 
 attempts to exorcise him. He was present at mass, 
 even ioined in the service, was not scared at the 
 sight of the cross, and, although plunged in a vessel 
 filled vnih aqua exorcitata, which generally possessed 
 great efficacy in such cases, it was all without effect. 
 The Monk who occupied the confessional, began to 
 read the Gospel of St. Johu. which was usually of 
 great potency, but the Devil told him to look for
 
 o32 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 something better than that, for he knevr the gospel 
 and its mystery better than he did. The Monk 
 then fetched the Httle shrine, -uhich contained the 
 holy relics, out of the church, upon which the Devil 
 cried out, " Away with my enemy, away I'"* This 
 encouraged the Monk, and he put the casket upon 
 the peasant's head. " Ah I" screamed the spirit, 
 " Miserable wretch that I am ; take it away, I 
 beseech you." The Monk now continued with more 
 vehement conjurations, and the fiend exclaimed with 
 increased energy, " Away with my enemies ! " Being 
 asked, " Who are they ? " He replied, " St. Lau- 
 rentius and St. Stephauus, for I must now go out 
 through their merits."' He then came out of the 
 man's mouth in the form of a scarabeus, crawled 
 slowly to the church door, and then flew away into 
 the air. 
 
 One of the most remarkable of fanatics connected 
 with the history of monachism was Dominic, named 
 the Cuirassier, from an iron cuirass •nbich he always 
 wore next his skin, and which he never removed but 
 to exchange when out for another. He was in- 
 tended for the priesthood, but fancying he had 
 committed simony, by presenting the bishop who 
 ordained him a furred robe, he determined to do 
 penance for the crime as long as he lived. He 
 entered the Congregation of Santa Croce de Fonte 
 Avellana, the Order whose discipline was the most 
 severe of any produced by reforming the system of 
 Saint Benedict. The Monks never spoke, save on 
 Sundays, for a short period, and then only on 
 spiritual things ; their fare was bread and water 
 during five days of the week ; they were barefooted ;
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 333 
 
 and every dav, after seryice, thev floof<Ted one 
 another. The belief of the virtue of thi-; exercise, 
 not only as a means of propitiating heaven, but also 
 of the actual value of the stripes themselves, deserves 
 explanation. The price they were valued at in the 
 treasury of sfood works was settled with the grreatest 
 minuteness. Mortal sin*, sav the Romanists, make a 
 man liable to eternal punishment : but if he repents 
 and confesses, it is commuted for temporal ; the 
 time, however, of this has not been revealed. The 
 Popes have, however, granted indulgencies. remittinor 
 some a portion, and others the whole term of purga- 
 tory. The Congregation of Fonte Avellana settled 
 that thirty psalms, with one hundred lashes to each 
 psalm, were equivalent to one year of purgatory; the 
 whole psalter and fifteen thousand lashes, five years, 
 and so on in proportion, and if the scale was not 
 formerly approved, it was sanctioned by the Popes. 
 
 Dominic tasked himself at two psalters and thirty 
 thousand lashes every day, making three thousand 
 six hundred and fifty years of pura^atorv redeemed 
 every year. In Lent, however, he imposed upon 
 himself an additional year, and then he used to 
 recite two psalters and a half, and intlict thirty-four 
 thousand five hundred lashes. Even this did not 
 content him. He continued to macerate himself for 
 the benefit of his fellow-men, for of course all the 
 merits above those required for his own redemption 
 from purgatory went into the treasury of the Church. 
 During another Lent he imposed a thousand years, and 
 St. Pietro Domiano affirms, that in addition to this 
 regular task, he recited, during these forty days, the 
 psalter two hundred times, and inflicted three mil-
 
 334 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 lions of lashes, using during the recitation a scourge 
 in each hand. Once he so far outdid himself that, 
 beginning in the evening, he continued for twenty- 
 four hours, and went through the psalter twelve 
 times, and then as far as the thirty-second Psalm, 
 making one hundred and eighty-three thousand 
 stripes, and remitting sixty-one years, twelve days, 
 and a fraction. The question naturally arises in the 
 reader's mind, whether Dominic wore his cuirass all 
 the while ? Damiano says that he stripped himself. 
 What, then, becomes of the assertion, that the 
 cuirass was never taken off till worn out ? 
 
 Nearly all relics seem to have been endowed with 
 the power of healing and working miracles : and 
 even the oil used in the church has been known to 
 cure the sick, especially in fevers. Upon one occa- 
 sion it restored sight to the blind. Even simpler 
 remedies than these were not without effect. A 
 story is related of Bishop Fortunatus, that, during 
 the war of the Goths, the Goth refused to let two 
 boys, whom he had taken prisoners, be ransomed; the 
 Bishop told him he would repent this refusal. As 
 the barbarian rode on he passed a church dedicated 
 to Saint Peter, the horse stumbled, and he fell, 
 breaking his hip-bone, so that the bone was divided 
 into two parts. This convinced him of his error, 
 and he immediately returned the boys to the Bishop, 
 who gave to his deacon some consecrated water to 
 pour over the body of the patient. This immediately 
 had the desired effect, for no sooner did the con- 
 secrated water touch the body of the Goth than the 
 fracture was healed, and he continued his journey as 
 if no such accident had befallen him. This water
 
 MODERN ECCLESIASTICAL ROMANCE. 385 
 
 was perhaps of the same kind as that which was 
 once used instead of oil, when there happened to 
 be a deficiency, and wiiicli burned quite as well. 
 Another tale is also told of the virtue of a buskin, 
 which the freedman of St. Houoratus used always to 
 carry in his bosom. He was met one day whilst 
 ridino- by a woman bearing the lifeless body of her 
 son in her arms, who, recognising him as a servant 
 of God, implored his relief, and would not permit 
 him to continue his journey until he granted her 
 request. He dismounted, laid the buskin upon the 
 child, and it was restored to life. 
 
 A work published in 1796^ gives a very curious 
 account of some INIiracles, which were said to have 
 taken place in Italy during the French occupation 
 of that country ; — 
 
 " The Virgin Mary, who is the patroness of An- 
 cona, opened her eyes repeatedly, and the miracle 
 took place not only upon this picture, but also on 
 others in Italy at the same time. Three eminent 
 painters were called to attest to this miracle, and 
 greatly to their wonder, find that the painted 
 sockets in the picture were occupied by sensible and 
 natural eyes. Three fleur-de-lis suspended around 
 the painting of the Virgin, which had withered from 
 the length of time they had been there, now budded 
 afresh suddenly. Upon the annunciation of this 
 prodigy, a miracle still greater was to take place. 
 Nor were conversions wanted, for six Jews, a Turk, 
 and an Englishman joined the Church. Other saints 
 besides the Vii-gin had it in their power to work 
 miracles. At Viterbo, St. Rose was covered with 
 
 ' Miraculous Events established by Authentic Letters from Italy.
 
 
 336 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 an abundant perspiration. An illuminated cross, 
 surmounted by three Jleur-de-lis, was observed to rest 
 on the holy chapel of Loretto, near Mandolo; nor 
 could this be the effect of the imagination, for Mr. 
 Stephen Green, a convert to Rome, in giving the 
 relation of the wonder to Dr. Milner, states that it 
 continued for twelve days ; therefore all were able to 
 examine it with the utmost circumspection." 
 
 An examination of the above account was after- 
 wards published by the Rev. John Berrington, a 
 Roman Catholic priest, in which he examines into 
 the pretended miracles and detects their fallacy. 
 They originated from superstition, were fostered by 
 the priesthood, and the painters were hired to be- 
 lieve in the reality of the prodigy. The astonishing 
 renovation of the lilies was a trick of a wag upon his 
 fellow-citizens. The appearance in the air had poli- 
 tical allusion to France. The conversions arose from 
 other causes, and what was the miracle which was 
 to take place is not known. 
 
 I
 
 MESMERIC WONDERS. 339 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MESMERIC WONDERS. 
 
 The style of some of the revelations made in the 
 last chapter will remind the reader of the most 
 romantic passages in the history of Mesmerism ; and 
 as the next volume will commence with an account 
 of that extraordinary agency, and of the wonders 
 wrought by, and attributed to it, so the present may 
 well close with a narrative given to the world by M. 
 Alexander Dumas, which seems to hang between 
 history and fable, and may, perchance, partake of 
 the nature of both. 
 
 The experiments of M. Dupotet were the means of 
 convincing Dr. Elliotson of the truth of Mesmerism ; 
 another convert, through the same means, was the 
 gentleman just named, and he relates an instance of 
 clairvoyance attested by himself on the part of the 
 celebrated Alexis. 
 
 In the case in question M. Dumas states himself 
 to have been the operator. The friend on whom 
 he relied for that purpose, M. Marcillet, being at 
 that time absent, and the '■'■mental travelling'''' re- 
 lated is the more interesting, as having been per- 
 formed at the request, and in the presence of, M. 
 Lesseps. 
 
 A very large party was assembled at the house of 
 M. Dumas, near Paris, and as his guests knew that
 
 340 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 lie interested himself in the exhibitions of M. Mar- 
 cillet, with a young man named Alexis, the conversa- 
 tion turned upon the subject of Magnetism, and some 
 persons present expressed a wish to see Alexis. This 
 M. Dumas told them was impossible at that time, as 
 the youth had requested him to permit him to per- 
 form a part at the theatre of St. Germain that very 
 evening. However, not long after they saw Alexis 
 in the garden. They invited Alexis to join the 
 company, and some one asked him to exhibit some 
 proofs of his extraordinary powers. The youth 
 replied, that he would do so most willingly could 
 any present put him into a magnetic sleep. A friend 
 whispered to M. Dumas, that he had better try and 
 perform this ; but Dumas replied, "• that although he 
 knew very well how to send people to sleep at the 
 theatres with his plays, and in the reading-rooms 
 with his novels, he knew not the art of magnetising 
 them to sleep." But his friend observed that by the 
 force of his will alone, he could magnetise the youth, 
 he had only to say to himself, " I wish to put Alexis 
 to sleep" to effect it. After a little more conversa- 
 tion concerning this point, Dumas folded his arms 
 and, concentrating all the might of his will, looked 
 at Alexis, saying to himself, " I will have him sleep." 
 Alexis shook as though with terror, and fell down 
 on the sofa — uttering a shrill cry ; he was agitated 
 by a nervous tremor, and his eyes rolled. Dumas 
 was alarmed, and took his hand — Alexis recognised 
 him, and exclaimed, " Ah ! never do such a thing 
 again without forewarning me — it might kill me." 
 Dumas asked him what his sensations were — he 
 replied, " a severe nervous shock, but you may calm
 
 MESMERIC WONDERS. 841 
 
 it by taking away the fluid which oppresses my 
 stomach"''' (q. chest?). 
 
 " How can that be done?" — " You must drive it 
 back with both hands." 
 
 Dumas succeeded in doing this, and Alexis then 
 rephed to several questions which were asked him, 
 his eyes being bandaged previously ; but all present 
 were amazed, and while this was passing, M. Dumas 
 was told that some one down stairs wished to speak 
 to him — he left the room and found that it was his 
 old friend the Abbe Villette, chaplain of the School 
 of St. Cyr. They went up stairs together, the Abbe 
 was in plain clothes, and had nothing in his external 
 appearance to show that he was of the clergy. 
 Dumas placed the Abbe's hand in that of Alexis, 
 and asked, — 
 
 " Can you tell me who and what this gentleman 
 is V — " Yes, for he has faith, and is, moreover, an 
 excellent Christian." 
 
 " Well, but what is his profession ?" — " He is a 
 doctor." 
 
 " Ah ! there you are wrong, Alexis." — " Oh ! I 
 know what you mean — but there are doctors of 
 the body, and doctors of the soul. This gentleman 
 is a physician of the soul — he is a priest." 
 
 They then asked Alexis where the gentleman per- 
 formed his duties, and in reply, he minutely de- 
 scribed the School of St. Cyr, and also the pupils, 
 and the number of them. Being pressed to state the 
 name of the building, he said the College of St. Cyr. 
 They then made a variety of experiments, such as 
 requesting him to describe persons far from them, 
 
 and to read papers so carefully enveloped that it was 
 
 Q 2
 
 342 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 impossible for the eye to see them, and these experi- 
 ments were all accompanied by satisfactory results. 
 At length they asked Alexis if he would travel in 
 his sleep, and Avhere he would like to go ? he 
 answered, the place was quite indiiferent to him ; 
 thereupon j\I. Dumas beckoned to M. Lesseps, and 
 that gentleman went to him. 
 
 " We are going yonder," cried Dumas — now by 
 " yonder," in his mind and in that of M. Lesseps, was 
 meant Tunis, where M. Lesseps had lived twenty 
 years, and giving his hand to Alexis, he said, " let 
 us start r** 
 
 " Ah !" cried Alexis, " we are now in a sea-port — 
 we embark — oh ! — we are going to Africa, it seems — 
 it is hot." 
 
 " Yes, we are in the roadstead, do you see it V — 
 " Clearly ; the shape is that of a horse-shoe, and a 
 Cape at the right — it is neither Algiers nor Bona — 
 it is a town, but I do not know its name." 
 
 " What do you see V — " Something resembling a 
 port on the right, and a town to the left — now we 
 are on a canal, and here is a bridge — let us stoop." 
 
 Dumas and a friend looked at each other, for the 
 arches of the bridge, under which Alexis had re- 
 quested them to stoop, were so very low, that when 
 he and M. Boulanger went through them once, they 
 were nearly killed. 
 
 " You are right, Alexis," cried Boulanger, Lesseps, 
 and Dumas: "let us advance." — The youth then 
 said, " I thought we were arrived, but we re-embark, 
 — the town is still three or four leagues distant. 
 Ah ! now we have gained it." 
 " Shall we go into the town or walk about the
 
 MESMERIC WONDERS. 34o 
 
 environs?" said M. Lesseps. — "Just as you will," 
 replied Alexis. 
 
 " To the Bardo," whispered Dumas to M. Lesseps, 
 and he made a sign that he was leading Alexis 
 thither. The Bardo is the palace of the Bey. 
 
 " Let us leave the town to the right and continue 
 our walk," said M. Lesseps. — " Oh !"" cried Alexis, 
 " how dusty it Is ! we have walked a league, or a 
 league and a half, and now it appears we are passing 
 under an archway. I can see a monument : what 
 singular architecture ! one might say it was a large 
 tomb " (now it is well knovvn that Turkish palaces 
 do look very like tombs). 
 
 " Let us go in," said M. Lesseps. — " I cannot, be- 
 cause of a black sentinel who prevents our passing," 
 
 " Tell him you are with me," replied M. Lesseps. 
 — " He moves away, and now we are in the court — 
 going up several steps. AVhere next must I go?" — 
 
 " To the Eeception Hall."—" I am in it." 
 
 "Describe it." — "There are arcades, and it is 
 sculptured like the Arabian Room of M. Dumas, 
 only in several parts the sculpture is painted." 
 
 " Well, lift your eyes to the ceiling — w^hat do you 
 perceive?" — "A sculptured ceiling, of wood appa- 
 rently." 
 
 "Isitpainted?"— " Yes." 
 
 " Of what colour."—" Red and blue." 
 
 " Do you not see something remarkable ?" — " Yes, 
 I do, there are stripes of gold, which run from the 
 centre, extending in all directions." — " That is it, it 
 is so," said ]\L Lesseps, and a more exact description 
 of the Port of Tunis, the Bay of Goletta, and the 
 Reception Hall cannot possibly be given.
 
 o 
 
 44 THE TWIN GIANTS. 
 
 It is needless to say that many readers will put 
 this down in the same categor}' with the Count of 
 Monte Christo, and add it to the Hst of Dumas's 
 romances ; but M. Lesseps is no romance writer, and 
 it is hardly likely that his name would be introduced 
 into such a narrative, unless it had at least some 
 foundation in fact. 
 
 In the '• Critical History of Superstitious Prac- 
 tices," Pere Lebrun cites a letter from Hviygens to 
 the Abbe Marsenne, bearing date November 26th, 
 1640, in which he states, that there was a prisoner 
 at Antwerp who possessed the faculty of seeing 
 through stuffs and all kinds of clothing, if only they 
 were not red. Several charitable women came to 
 him in his prison, intending to comfort him in his 
 misfortune, but while they were discoursing very 
 piously, he laughed, and on being asked the cause 
 of this rude behaviour, he replied, without reserve, 
 " Because one of your party is without under- 
 clothing." Had this lady been fortunately clothed 
 in a red cloak, she would not have been thus discon- 
 certed. Debrio, in his " Disquisitiones Magicae," 
 edition of Mayence, 1606, says, there is a class 
 of men in Spain who are called Zahuris. When 
 he was staying at Madrid in 1575, a boy of that 
 kind was there. These persons were said to be able 
 to spy out what was concealed in the earth, sub- 
 terraneous waters, metals, hidden treasure, or dead 
 bodies. The thing was generally known, and its 
 possibility believed in, not only by poets but philo- 
 sophers. 
 
 We quote the following concerning a lady from 
 the " Mercure de France." of 1728;— "She per-
 
 MESMERIC WONDERS. 345 
 
 ceives what is hid in the earth, distinguishing stones, 
 sand, springs, to the depth of thirty or forty fathoms. 
 Into the human body she cannot see, except when it 
 is unclothed, but when the body is naked, she dis- 
 cerns the heart, the stomach, and other viscera, is 
 aware of abscesses, if such there be, and detects the 
 seeds of disease lurking in the juices.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 In the Chapters on Magic, mention is made of the 
 art of making gems, and more will be said on the 
 subject nnder the title of Alchemy. In modern days 
 gems have been made by means of electricity, and 
 the following statement by Andrew Crosse, Esq., of 
 Broomfield, Somerset, will show how far he had 
 succeeded twelve years ago ; he has since prosecuted 
 his experiments with increased success :- — 
 
 Broomfield, March 23rd, 1837. 
 In the neighbourhood of this place is Hoi well cavern, 
 situate in a limestone rock, the roof of which is partially 
 lined with arragonite and carbonate of lime in crystals of 
 great beauty. The water which percolates the roof has been 
 found to hold, in solution, about ten grains of carbonate of 
 lime and a small quantity of sulphate of lime in each pint. 
 Having had an idea, for upwards of twenty years, that all 
 minerals were formed by long continued electrical action of 
 low intensity, I procured some of this water, and filled a 
 wine-glass with it, and subjected it to the action of two 
 hundred pairs of five-inch single plates in porcelain troughs, 
 the cells of which I filled with, common water. The 
 electric fluid was passed through the water by platina 
 wires. For nine days no alteration took place, but on the 
 tenth day I plainly perceived, by means of a lens, rhom- 
 boidal crystals of, what proved to be carbonate, of lime, 
 surrounding the negative wire, whilst no change took place 
 at the positive, except the separation of oxygen gas and 
 some sulphuric acid. In the course of three or four weeks
 
 348 APPENDIX. 
 
 the negative wire was completely encrusted with similar 
 crystals, but perfectly transparent and refracting the pris- 
 matic colors. These crystals were about the size of the 
 head of a small pin. I performed this experiment a few 
 days after Christmas, 1835. 
 
 Having an idea that it would answer better in the dark, 
 I repeated tlie same with a water-battery of thirty-nine 
 pairs of two-inch plates, passing the electric fluid through 
 a glass vessel of the cavern water, containing a pint and a 
 quarter. The negative platina wire was coiled round a 
 piece of limestone. This apparatus I placed in my cellar. 
 At the end of six days the crystals made their appearance 
 at the negative pole, and at the expiration of six weeks 
 all the crystallizable matter was deposited at that pole, as 
 the water, when tested, gave no trace of lime. I then 
 removed the old, and poured in fresh water, and suffered 
 the electricity to go on as before. This continued for the 
 space of eight months, during which time I only changed 
 the water twice, having operated on three portions, or 
 three and three quarter pints of water. This neglect of 
 mine originated in having my mind distracted by domestic 
 illness. On examining the wires, I found no deposit on the 
 positive pole, but the negative was thickly covered with 
 calcareous spar quite hard ; some of it as white as snow, 
 and some of a brown color, which extended partly over 
 the limestone on which the wire was coiled ; some of the 
 crystals were perfect rhomboids, but mostly rather rounded 
 at the edges, and generally translucent. Having next 
 considered that the carbonate of lime in the cavern was 
 formed with access of air, I contrived an insulated filter, 
 through which I caused to drop factitious water of the 
 same nature as that of the cavern, but holding much more 
 carbonate of lime in solution : successive drops of tliis 
 were received for many weeks on a piece of common
 
 ArrENDix. 349 
 
 scouring brick, which was thus kept wetted by the solution, 
 and across which, by platina wires, I passed the electric 
 cui-rent from one hundred pairs of five-inch plates in water. 
 The brick was supported by a glass funnel, which conveyed 
 the water into a bottle below, which, when full, was emp- 
 tied back again into the filter above. At the expiration 
 of four or five months the brick was partially covered with 
 carbonate of lime, more or less crystallized, and very fine 
 prismatic crystals of arragonite were deposited on that part 
 of the brick and adjoining portion of the glass funnel which 
 lay contiguous to, but did not touch, the positive pole, the 
 common carbonate of lime being confined to the negative. 
 
 I next determined to repeat these experiments on other 
 substances, and accordingly, formed a water-battery of 
 eleven large zinc and copper cylinders, in glass vessels, 
 each cylinder being nine inches high, and four in diameter. 
 I exposed to the action of this a piece of the same scour- 
 ing brick, standing in a glass bason, partly filled with 
 fluosilicic acid, but which did not cover the brick. A 
 small hole was made at the opposite ends of the brick for 
 the insertion of platina wires connected with the poles of 
 the battery. Soon after the action commenced lead 
 (which the acid contained) was deposited at the negative 
 pole ; and at the end of three weeks, all the lead being 
 deposited, minute crystals of silica made their appearance 
 on the extremity of the lead formation ; I then lifted up 
 the negative wire, and carefully removed the lead, after 
 which, when the action recommenced, the silica was deposited 
 at the positive instead of the negative pole. At the end 
 of between two and three months time I perceived some 
 crystalline matter at the bottom of the piece of brick, and 
 removed with a small wire a perfectly transparent hex- 
 ahedral prism, terminated with an hexahcdral pyramid — to 
 all appearance perfect quartz. I found, however, to my
 
 350 APPENDIX. 
 
 disappointment, that it was too soft to scratcli glass, and 
 laid it aside ; at the end of two or three months it lost its 
 transparency, but maintained its figure. After waiting 
 another month, or between three and four months from the 
 commencement of the experiment, I removed a second 
 crystal from the lower part of the brick, and after putting 
 it in a dry place for one or two months more, I found that 
 it would scratch glass readily. This crystal measures 
 3-16th's of an inch in length, and 1-1 6th in diameter, is 
 perfectly transparent, and well formed. As there were 
 many more crystals at the bottom of the brick, apparently 
 in a rather soft state, and as the liquor had very much 
 evaporated, I refilled the glass bason with fresh fluosilicic 
 acid, and being called from home for a day or two, had the 
 mortification to find, on my return, all the crystals dis- 
 solved, and lead deposited at the negative pole as at first. 
 However, I allowed the action to continue, and after the 
 lead Avas all deposited, siliceous matter in the form of 
 mamillated chalcedony was separated, first at the negative, 
 and afterwards at both, poles. In the course of this ex- 
 periment I observed that although the fluosilicic acid 
 evaporated pretty rapidly, and carried the silica with it 
 into the atmosphere, when the silica was determined to the 
 negative alone, yet when it was separated at the positive 
 pole, it did not evaporate with the liquid, but remained 
 concentrated in it. This certainly appeared to me to be 
 the case, but the experiment should be many times re- 
 peated before one should come to a certain conclusion. 
 
 I next exposed to the action of a water-battery contain- 
 ing one hundred and sixty pairs of two inch plates, a solu- 
 tion of silicate of potash, with a piece of scouring brick in 
 the middle, and standing above the fluid. In three weeks' 
 time siliceous matter encrusted the positive wire, and a few 
 days afterwards, fifteen or twenty hcxahedral figures in the
 
 APPENDIX. 351 
 
 form of somewliat raised outlineSj made their appearance 
 between the two wires on the surface of the brick. In a few 
 days more the angles of each of these figures were connected 
 with the centre by means of similar lines, and shortly after- 
 wards the whole figure was filled up by other lines, and 
 running parallel with each of the six sides, presenting an 
 appearance extremely similar to that of a spider's web. 
 These lines were evidently siliceous, and some of the figures 
 partially raised an hexahedral pyramidal summit above the 
 surface of the brick. I had great hopes that each would 
 have formed a complete crystal of quartz, but I was sorely 
 disappointed at their remaining stationary until they were 
 finally nearly obscured by other irregular formations. There 
 are, however, at the present time, some minute, but well- 
 formed crystals growing on the surface of the brick. 
 
 In another experiment I suspended a piece of clay slate 
 by platina wires in a solution of silicate of potash, and 
 observed in the course of time hexahedral gelatinous masses 
 of silica about the positive pole. These, however, finally 
 disappeared, and at the present time a very evident chal- 
 cedonic formation is taking place at the positive end of the 
 clay slate. I fear a very long time will be requisite to 
 form crystals of any size, either of quartz or of the other 
 earths, though I have every reason to believe that a process 
 will be discovered of expediting artificial crystallization, 
 and avoiding failures, and I think it more than possible 
 that every mineral substance which Nature produces in 
 such infinite variety and abundance, may, by hitting on 
 the right solution, and hy the 'proper application of the 
 electric action, sufficiently long continued, be produced, not 
 excepting the diamond itself. 
 
 The following is a list of mineral substances which I 
 have formed by electric action : — Carbonate of Lime ; Ar- 
 ragonite ; crystallized Quartz ; Arborescent Gold, Silver,
 
 352 APPENDIX. 
 
 Copper, &c. ; Metallic Zinc ; Red Oxide of Copper in octo- 
 hedrous, opaque and transparent, very fine ; crystallized 
 Metallic Copper and Silver, in cubes, and octo-hedrons ; 
 crystallized Arseniate of Copper : crystallized blue carbon- 
 ate of ditto ; Malachite ; Phosphate of Copper ; Sulphuret 
 of ditto (grey) ; crystallized Carbonate of Lead ; Sulphuret 
 of Silver ; Mamillated Carbonate of Zinc ; Chalcedony ; 
 Oxide of Tin ; Yellow Oxide of Lead ; Sulphuret of Anti- 
 mony, (Kermis mineral) ; Mamillated black Oxide of Iron ; 
 Sulphuret of Iron ; crystallized Sulphur, &c. 
 
 As allusion has been very properly made to M. Bec- 
 querel's experiments, I think it right to state that, when I 
 commenced experimenting on crystallization, I had not 
 heard of them. A few weeks afterwards I heard from a 
 friend that M. B. had produced sulphurets of lead and 
 silver by the electric action, but had not seen his account 
 of the mode of conducting such experiments. I was led 
 years ago, partly from Sir H. Davy's splendid discoveries, 
 and partly from my own ideas, to imagine the possibility 
 of what has since proved to be fact. It is but due to my- 
 self to add that I attended the meeting at Bristol without 
 the least intention of intruding on the time of the Asso- 
 ciation, well knowing how incomplete my experiments were 
 then, and that had it not been for the advice of some 
 highly scientific gentlemen, I should not have presumed to 
 make any communication until I had gone further into 
 the matter. 
 
 Between three and four years ago I made a set of experi- 
 ments on the voltaic battery, and found what Dr. Faraday 
 has observed, the power to be considerably increased when 
 each copper plate of the one pair was brought into all but 
 contact with the zinc plate of the other pair, but that the 
 best mode of increasing the power of a battery was, in 
 addition to the first, the insulation of each separate pair of
 
 APPENDIX. S53 
 
 plates. I have put together one thousand two hundred 
 pairs of zinc and copper cylinders on this plan filled with 
 water alone, and find the effect as follows, the average size 
 of the cylinders being about equal to a four-inch plate. 
 Four pairs communicate a change to an electrical battery 
 sufficient to cause iron wire barely to scintillate, and will 
 just decompose water. 
 
 One hundred pairs cause the gold leaves of an electro- 
 meter to diverge one eighth of an inch. Two hundred 
 pairs open the same two thirds of an inch. Three hundred 
 pairs cause the same to strike their sides and fire gun- 
 powder loosely placed on a brass plate, the opposite poles 
 being connected with an electrical battery. Five hundred 
 pairs give a smart shock, fire powder readily, give a visible 
 stream of fire to the dry fingers, and cauterize the skin as 
 though with a red hot wire. Twelve hundred pairs, being 
 connected with an electrical battery, fuse the point of a 
 pen-knife, deflagrate brilliantly metallic leaves, tin foil, 
 and even stout silver sheeting, &c. I have observed that 
 every morning, or nearly so, these batteries give to the 
 human body from three to five times the shock, between 
 the hours of seven and ten, that they do at any other time, 
 but that if the window- shutters be opened before the hour 
 of seven, this apparent increase does not take place. I am 
 about to investigate this more closely. I have used a bat- 
 tery of this kind for eighteen months without any sensible 
 diminution of power. These batteries are just calculated 
 for electrical crystallization, and from ten to fifty pairs of 
 insulated cylinders, I think, would answer every purpose of 
 that sort. There was another subject which I noticed at 
 the Bristol meeting, viz., Atmospheric electricity. I have 
 for many years paid considerable attention to this part of 
 the science, and have taken great pains in extending on 
 lofty poles, and insulating with all possible care, a copper
 
 354 APPENDIX. 
 
 wire one-fifteentli of an incli iu diameter, and three 
 thousand feet long. The experiments made with this, as I 
 stated to the meeting, resemble those made on a smaller 
 scale by other experimenters. I have, however, observed 
 that the electric fluid resides in a thundercloud in a man- 
 ner wholly different from its residence in other bodies. 
 It is well known that if an insulated conducting plate be 
 electrified the electricity radiates from the centre to the 
 circumference, increasing in power as the squares of the 
 distance from the centre. Now, in the thundercloud it is 
 nearly, if not quite, the reverse — the greatest power resides 
 in the centre, and the least at the circumferences. 
 
 A thundercloud is also divided into zones of alternate 
 positive and negative electricity. It appears as though a 
 nucleus were first formed of one electricity, then a layer or 
 zone of the opposite, &c., and so on, weaker and weaker, 
 till it extends to the circumference. There are occasionally 
 electric fogs nearly as powerful as a small thundercloud, 
 and I have seen, during five hours, a stream of alternate 
 positive and negative electricity pour from the atmosphe- 
 rical conductor, during a fog, and driving rain sufficient to 
 fuse a considerable length of stout wire. These electrical 
 fogs are composed of alternate positive and negative 
 columns. Neither the Aurora Borealis nor the sheet- 
 lightning, common in summer, affect the atmospherical 
 conductor. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 London: S. A; J. Buntlev and HtNKY Fley, Biingor House, Shoe I.anc. 
 
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