THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT CONCLUSION 209 



hypnotic, over the senses of those whom the magician 

 sought to delude. At its lowest it was the art of 

 the juggler and his apes, cheating eye and ear by 

 tricks like those which have survived to form our 

 modern conjuring entertainments/ Here the appa- 

 ratus of the higher magic was still used, but so as 

 to be degraded and distorted from its original 

 purpose. The circle now served to secure the 

 mage, not from the assaults of supernatural beings, 

 but from the indiscreet approach of too curious 

 spectators. The brazier with its cloud of dense 

 and stupifying smoke served to affect the senses 

 of the subject ; the strange sound of recited spells 

 to impress his imagination ; the magic mirror 

 to fix his attention, till he became the wizard's 

 captive and obedient to his every suggestion. This 

 was the art of glamour, as it used to be called, 

 which, in one sphere, seemed to change a ruinous 

 and cobweb-hung hall into a bower of delight ; in 

 another, made visions of distant places and future 

 times appear in mirrors or crystals ; in yet another, 

 provided the philtres which provoked love, the 

 ligatures which restrained it, and even dealt in that 

 accursed spell of envoutement which promised to 

 procure for jealousy and hatred all their wicked 

 will. 



Such then were the magiche frode of which 

 Dante accuses Scot, and it is easy to see that the 

 sting of the verse lies just here ; in the unreality it 

 attributes to this magician's art, much as if the 

 poet had called him in plain prose, ' no mage, but 

 a common juggler.' Eesenting Scot's pose as a 



■' See the De Secretis of Bacon for a curious accouut of these tricks 

 as practised in his day. 



O 



