Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-08-12

that ran be arrived ~ IN tue case OF w
/ Dee was that Elizabeth used him for q
double purpose. All strong minded rs
was the Virgin Queen, she was not by
any means exempt from the superstition
OF her age, which regarded "ruling the
planets" az an art to be acquired
by sedulous study. She was, there
fore. only too willing TO make use OF DR..
Dee's supposed mastery OF the mys-
teries Of astrology F; but when she sent
him on the continent and allowed him
TO reside for lengthened periods ct for
eign courts. she expected him to send
home frequent and detailed reports of
transactions abroad in other words DR..
John Dee, M. A., filed for many years,
and to the great satisfaction OF the mon
archy OF England, the Office not only OF a
sorcerer but OF spy. tits again far from
unlikely that the deep poverty into which
DIR. Dee fell in his latter DAYS was due
to the horror and terror inspired in the
early years OF the reign OF james |. by
the witchcraft craze. James himself had
written a furious tractate against witches,
and il Shakespeare did not himself ac-
tuaIly believe that there were malevolent
crones who held commerce with evil
spirits, he has certainly, in the astound-
ing realism of the witch scenes in Mac
beth. done his best to make his hearers
place implicit credence in the appalling
stories Of necromancy and magic
which we're current at the beginning
of the seventeenth century. Thus Dr.
Dee, possibly regarding the stake or the
onllows as reward within measurable
distance for his notoriety rs o wizard,
NAV have kept himself studiously quiet
in his country retreat at Nortlake, while
the nobility and gentry on their part
perceiving how Rravely the black arts
were discouraged at court, may have
sedulously held aloof from the octoge-
marian astrooger, who was credited by
the vulgar with evolving from his "Black
Stone' seven times as many devils rs
Cardan's father pretended to have con-
jured up.
The real charlatan and impostor in the
matter Of the "Black Stone would APP
pear TO have been one Kelly, who was
DR.. Dee's assistant orspeculaior and in
his masters absence. and without his
knowledge, the subordinate sorcerer may
have reapcd in his time very conform
bic harvest. Furthermore, it IS quite
feasible that Or. Dee brought the idea OF
the "Black Stone" from the Continent,
and that it was some German mystic who
first indoctrinated the English sage with
theories as to the properties Of that
magic mirror which IS derived undoubt-
edlv from the dark superstitions Of the
East. IL is in the small pool OF ink held
IN the hand of the Egyptian magician
that tho Arab boy processes TO see first
"the figure OF man sweeping" and
next the images Of such things and peo-
Die ms he is prompted to say that he sees.
Prompted lie must needs be, although 1T
must be- confessed that some OF the ex-
periences Of those who have tested the
Egyptian ink-mrror are almost too
marvellous and apparently too well
founded to be susceptible OF expana-
ton. Such was the notable case IL
which the neophyte, being desired to
coniure up the image of Lord Nelson.
declared that he saw man IN a
cooked hat and with one arm, his empty
Ieit hand sleeve being attached to the
breast Of his coat. The English travel
Ter pointed ont that Nelson lost his right
arm in battle. to which the magician
calmly replied that the boy saw the
figure reversed. Or. Dee'5 BLACK
Stone" whether it came from the mys-
tarious Orient or not, WAS neither tue
first nor the last of its congeners in the
British Isles. The bcryl was commonly
made use Of 10y the spectators or seers,
who, to have d complete sight OF the
spiritual world, were bound to be Virgins,
or bearlless youths, or persons OF ire
proachable lives and purity OF man
neIs. The process Was as follows: The
conlurer first recited an invocation or
adluration to the spirits whom he wished
t. call, and then the seer pored into the
bcryl, aud professed TO discern the re-
CURED types or figures. Sometimes, but
with extreme rarity, the spirits would
express themselves IL erticUlate speech
but on these occasions, according TO
Lilly the astrologer, their pronunciation
was like the Erse or IRISH. very cultural
or thrcaty. Modern spirits, when they
have been made arhculate, have been
found TO exhibit singular weakness in
the management Of their HIS" What
spirits may vet cone out of DR.. Dees
" Black Stone 1t is impossible TO tell,
Dor, should We say. will the archaolo-
gist in the west OF England be prone to
hold seances at his country house with o
view to coniuring up demons, Ia Car
dan. from a lump Of Camel coal. 1t is,
at all events, satisfactory to learn that
the devils looking glass" as DR., Dce's
"Black Stoue" is called in Hudibras,"
has fallen into the possession Of a private
gentleman. In the hands OF profes-
sional sorcerer of the Planchette kind
the "Black Stone" might become
source of extreme peril TO the pockets Of
her Majesty lieges.