1827.] Agrippa, and His Dog. 625 



the former science which I have read those strange commixtures of sacred 

 and human learning and the villainous speculations of the stupid and 

 savage Bodin. Had Pliny been acquainted with this fact, the thirtieth 

 book of his " Natural History " would never have been allowed to come 

 down to us in its present state. The Persians called their god MayV. 

 But the plain matter-of-fact is, that a magician, according to all intelligent 

 men, is simply one who has already attained, or who is searching for, a 

 higher degree of knowledge than is possessed by the great majority of man- 

 kind. A magician is " dimnorum cultor et interpret ;" and his search 

 is after what he terms, in his own mystical language, " virtutes in centra 

 centri latentes." Their names, throughout the ancient world, varied 

 according to the language and the genius of the different nations who 

 bestowed them. Thus, with the Latins, they were sapientes, or wise 

 men ; with the Greeks, philosophers ; with the Egyptians, priests ; with 

 the Hebrews, cabalists; with the Babylonians, Chaldeans; and with the 

 Persians, magicians. Whether Agrippa had really attained to any remark- 

 able degree the object of his search, or was as yet only a wayfarer in the 

 journey, it is not my province to inquire ; but, if I may believe even the 

 authors who looked upon his art as unlawful and damnable, and whose 

 neighbourhood to the age in which he flourished gave them every opportu- 

 nity for investigation, he certainly must have been no novice in the occult 

 science. In human learning, he knew eight languages, as he himself 

 informs us ; he studied the art of war seven years in the Emperor Maxi- 

 milian's Italian army ; he was a doctor of law, and a doctor of physic ; 

 and either was, or ought to have been, a doctor of divinity. He was, 

 besides, complete master of the Mirror of Pythagoras ; and knew the entire 

 secret of extracting the spirit gold from its body, in order to convert the 

 baser metals ; he was able, as we are informed by the most credible testi- 

 mony, to remain alone for weeks in his study, and yet know all the while 

 of every transaction of importance going on, at home or abroad ; and he 

 entertained a black dog, called by the French name of Monsieur, who 

 was believed, by the best-informed people, to be a familiar spirit. It is in 

 <n, however, to look to himself as a witness either pro or con. Taken 

 as literary productions, his works are only so-so, and his style is some- 

 what loose and washy; but then he says expressly that these mystical 

 things must not be written with a pen, nor committed to the fidelity of 

 paper, " Sed spiritu spiritui paucis sacrisque verbis infunduntur." It is 

 difficult, indeed, to understand how the secret could be communicated by 

 words at all ; for the operator in his work, he informs us, is neither matter, 

 nor does it come from heaven nor from hell : " In nobis, inquam, est ille 

 mirandorum operator nos habitat, non tartara, sed nee sidera caeli. 

 Spiritus in nobis qui mget, ilia facet." 



These questions, however, were very little agitated among the good 

 people of Louvain, where Agrippa had his abode at the time the black dog 

 took up his testimony. That Agrippa was a magician, and the dog his 

 familiar spirit, was a thing settled and set by ; and where there is no dif- 

 ference of opinion, there can be no argument : and yet, probably owing 

 either to the cowardice or supineness of the clergy, neither the man nor 

 the dog were any more molested than if the devil had been out of the 

 bargain altogether. The people of Metz had taken a very different part 

 some time before the unhappy philosopher being actually hunted, like a 

 beast of prey, out of that city, which, in consequence, stands stigmatized 



MM. New Series Vou III. No. IS. 4 L 



