206 JEROME CARDAN 



off my finger, this stone being large and hexagonal in 

 shape. I took the selenite from my finger and put it 

 beneath my pillow, for I fancied it kept off sleep, wear- 

 ing still the jacinth because it appeared to have the 

 opposite effect. I slept until midnight, when I awoke 

 and missed the ring from my left hand. I called Jacopo 

 Antonio, a boy of fifteen years of age who acted as my 

 servant and slept in a truckle bed, and bade him look 

 for my rings. He found the selenite at once where I 

 had placed it ; but though we both of us sought closely 

 for the jacinth we could not find it. I was sorrowful to 

 death on account of this omen, and despair seized upon 

 my soul when I remembered the dire consequences of 

 similar signs, all of which I had duly noted in my writ- 

 ings. I could scarcely believe this to be a thing happen- 

 ing in the order of nature. After a short delay I collected 

 my thoughts, and told the servant to bring a light from 

 the hearth. He replied that he would rather not do this, 

 that he was afraid of the darkness, and that the fire was 

 always extinguished in the evening. I bade him light a 

 candle with the flint, when he told me that we had neither 

 matches nor tinder nor sulphur. I persisted, and deter- 

 mined that a light should be got by one means or another, 

 for I knew that, if I should go to sleep under so dire an 

 omen, I must needs perish. So I ordered him to get 

 a light as best he could. He went away and raked 

 up the ashes, and found a bit of coal about the bigness 

 of a cherry all alight, and caught hold of it with the 

 tongs. At the same time I had little hope of getting a 

 light, but he applied it to the wick of a lamp and blew 

 thereon. The wick was lighted without any flame issuing 

 from the live coal, which thing seemed to me a further 

 marvel." 



After a search with the candle the ring was found on 



