GOBLINS. 37 



tery, whatever caused the spectacle would be offended, 

 and that he should see the show no more 1 . Therefore he 

 did not answer her. Between his seventh and twelfth 

 year 2 the child, who slept between his mother and Aunt 

 Margaret, disturbed them almost nightly with his crying, 

 caused by severe palpitation of the heart, which ceased 

 when he advanced in years 3 . The coldness of his ex- 

 tremities sometimes gave place to a profuse sweat. The 

 nervous irritation endured by the delicate boy, who was 

 rudely exposed all day long to the harsh exactions and 

 unruly tempers of his old father, the lawyer, and the 

 women who had charge of him, marred his unwholesome 

 sleep with vivid dreams 2 . As often as a hundred times 

 there came before him in his dreaming, night after night, 

 at intervals, a cock with red wings, at whose appearance 



1 " Quamvis adeo puer, mecum cogitabam, si fatebor indignabitur 

 quicquid causam praebet hujus pompae, subtrahetque hoc festura." De 

 Vita Propria, cap. xxxvii. p. 161. This account fits accurately to my 

 own experience. During the same period of childhood I rarely fell 

 asleep till I had received the visit of a crowd of visionary shapes that 

 were not by any means agreeable. I had also, during that period, holi- 

 day phantoms, in the beauty and the mystery of which I took delight, 

 and concerning which I had in the strongest degree the same childish 

 belief that is mentioned in the text, that "si fatebor indignabitur 

 quicquid causam praebet hujus pompac, subtrahetque hoc festum." I 

 add this note because there are some autobiographical statements in 

 the writings of Cardan touching upon what used to be considered 

 supernatural matters that are liable to question by the sceptical, or 

 misinterpretation by the credulous. It would be unjust not to employ 

 the best means that I have of proving in this place the good faith of 

 Cardan's statements. 



2 De Vita Propr. p. 29. 



