MODERN NECROMANCY. 147 



miracles. The ecclesiastical conjurer exhibited to him 

 the image of his beloved son magnificently dressed and 

 mounted upon a superb charger : the youth rushed 

 towards his father, threw himself into his arms, and 

 disappeared. M. Salverte judiciously observes, that this 

 deception could not have been performed by a real 

 person who imitated the figure of the young prince. 

 The existence of this person, betrayed by so remarkable 

 a resemblance, and by the trick of the exhibition, could 

 not fail to have been discovered and denounced, even if 

 we could explain how the son could be so instantaneously 

 disentangled from his father's embrace. The emperor, 

 in short, saw the aerial image of a picture of his son on 

 horseback, and as the picture was brought nearer the 

 mirror, the image advanced into his arms, when it of 

 course eluded his affectionate grasp. 



These and other allusions to the operations of the 

 ancient magic, though sufficiently indicative of the 

 methods which were employed, are too meagre to convey 

 any idea of the splendid and imposing exhibitions which 

 must have been displayed. A national system of decep- 

 tion, intended as an instrument of government, must have 

 brought into requisition not merely the scientific skill of 

 the age, but a variety of subsidiary contrivances, cal- 

 culated to astonish the beholder, to confound his judg- 

 ment, to dazzle his senses, and to give a predominant 

 influence to the peculiar imposture which it was thought 

 desirable to establish. The grandeur of the means may 

 be inferred from their efficacy, and from the extent of 

 their influence. 



This defect, however, is to a certain degree supplied 

 by an account of a modern necromancy, which has been 

 left us by the celebrated Benvenuto Cellini, and in which 

 he himself performed an active part. 



"It happened," says he, "through a variety of odd 



