Defoe furnishes an entertaining account of his conversation with a countryman, who had been to a magician at Oundle. Whether true or fictitious, the narrative shows that many of the favourite tricks performed at spiritualistic séances in our own time were well known in Defoe’s:
Countryman. I saw my old gentleman in a great chair, and two more in chairs at some distance, and three great candles, and a great sheet of white paper upon the floor between them; every one of them had a long white wand in their hands, the lower end of which touched the sheet of paper.
Defoe. And were the candles upon the ground too?
C. Yes, all of them.
D. There was a great deal of ceremony about you, I assure you.
C. I think so, too, but it is not done yet: immediately I heard the little door stir, as if it was opening, and away I skipped as softly as I could tread, and got into my chair again, and sat there as gravely as if I had never stirred out of it. I was no sooner set, but the door opened indeed, and the old gentleman came out as before, and turning to me, said, ‘Sit still, don’t ye stir;’ and at that word the other two that were with him in the room walked out after him, one after another, across the room, as if to go out at the other door where I came in; but at the further end of the room they stopped, and turned their faces to one another, and talked; but it was some devil’s language of their own, for I could understand nothing of it.
D. And now I suppose you were frighted in earnest?
C. Ay, so I was; but it was worse yet, for they had not stood long together, but the great elbow-chair, which the old gentleman sat in at the little table just by me, began to stir of itself; at which the old gentleman, knowing I should be afraid, came to me, and said, ‘Sit still, don’t you stir, all will be well; you shall have no harm;’ at which he gave his chair a kick with his foot, and saith, ‘Go!’ with some other words, and other language; and away went the obedient chair, sliding, two of its legs on the ground, and the other two off, as if somebody had dragged it by that part.
D. And so, no doubt, they did, though you could not see it.
C. And as soon as the chair was dragged or moved to the end of the room, where the three, I know not what to call ’em, were, two other chairs did the like from the other side of the room, and so they all sat down, and talked together a good while; at last the door at that end of the room opened too, and they all were gone in a moment, without rising out of their chairs; for I am sure they did not rise to go out, as other folks do.
D. What did you think of yourself when you saw the chair stir so near you?
C. Think! nay, I did not think; I was dead, to be sure I was dead, with the fright, and expected I should be carried away, chair and all, the next moment. Then it was, I say, that my hair would have lifted off my hat, if it had been on, I am sure it would.
D. Well, but when they were all gone, you came to yourself again, I suppose?
C. To tell you the truth, master, I am not come to myself yet.
D. But go on, let me know how it ended.
C. Why, after a little while, my old man came in again, called his man to set the chairs to rights, and then sat him down at the table, spoke cheerfully to me, and asked me if I would drink, which I refused, though I was a-dry indeed. I believe the fright had made me dry; but as I never had been used to drink with the devil, I didn’t know what to think of it, so I let it alone.
In his third chapter (‘Of the present pretences of the Magicians; how they defend themselves; and some examples of their practice’) Defoe has a lively account of a contemporary magician, a Dr. Bowman, of Kent, who seems to have been a firm believer in what is now called Spiritualism. He was a green old man, who went about in a long black velvet gown and a cap, with a long beard, and his upper lip trimmed ‘with a kind of muschato.’ He strongly repudiated any kind of correspondence or intercourse with the devil; but hinted that he derived much assistance from the good spirits which people the invisible world. After dwelling on the follies of the learned, and the superstitions of the ignorant, this lordly conjurer said: ‘You see how that we, men of art, who have studied the sacred sciences, suffer by the errors of common fame; they take us all for devil-mongers, damned rogues, and conjurers.’
The fourth chapter discusses the doctrine of spirits as it is understood by the magicians; how far it may be supposed there may be an intercourse with superior beings, apart from any familiarity with the devil or the spirits of evil; with a transition to the present times.
And so much for the ‘Art of Magic’ as expounded by Daniel Defoe.
In 1718 appeared Bishop Hutchinson’s ‘Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft,’ a book written in a most liberal and tolerant spirit, and, at the same time, with so much comprehensiveness and exactitude, that later writers have availed themselves freely of its stores.
Reference may also be made to —
John Beaumont, ‘Treatise of Spirits, Apparitions, Witchcrafts, and other Magical Practices,’ 1705.
James Braid (of Manchester), ‘Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism, Hypnotism, and Electro-Biology’ (1852), in which there is very little about witchcraft, but a good deal about the influence of the imagination.
J. C. Colquhoun, ‘History of Magic, Witchcraft, and Animal Magnetism,’ 1851.
Rev. Joseph Glanvill, ‘Sadducismus Triumphatus; or, A full and plain Evidence concerning Witches and Apparitions,’ 1670.
Sir Walter Scott, ‘Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft,’ 1831.
Howard Williams, ‘The Superstitions of Witchcraft,’ 1865.
It may be a convenience to the reader if I indicate some of the principal foreign authorities on this subject. Such as – Institor and Sprenger’s great work, ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ (Nuremberg, 1494); The monk Heisterbach’s (Cæsarius) ‘Dialogus Miraculorum’ (ed. by Strange), 1851; Cannaert’s ‘Procès des Sorcières en Belgique,’ 1848; Dr. W. G. Soldan’s ‘Geschichte der Hexenprocesse’ (1843); G. C. Horst’s ‘Zauber-Bibliothek, oder die Zauberei, Theurgie und Mantik, Zauberei, Hexen und Hexenprocessen, Dämonen, Gespenster und Geistererscheinungen,’ in 6 vols., 1821 – a most learned and exhaustive work, brimful of recondite lore; Collin de Plancy’s ‘Dictionnaire Infernal; ou Répertoire Universel des Etres, des Livres, et des Choses qui tiennent aux Apparitions, aux Divinations, à la Magie,’ etc., 1844; Michelet’s ‘La Sorcière’ is, of course, brilliantly written; R. Reuss’s ‘La Sorcellerie au xvie. et xviie. Siècle,’ 1872; Tartarotti’s ‘Del Congresso Notturno delle Lamie,’ 1749; F. Perreaud’s ‘Demonologie, ou Traité des Démons et Sorciers,’ 1655; H. Boguet’s ‘Discours des Sorciers,’ 1610 (very rare); and Cotton Mather’s ‘Wonders of the Invisible World,’ 1695 – a monument of credulity, prejudice, and bigotry.
BOOKS ON MAGIC
It may also be convenient to the reader if I enumerate a few of the principal authorities on the history of Magic, Sorcery, and Alchemy. A very exhaustive list will be found in the ‘Bibliotheca Magica et Pneumatica,’ by Graessel, 1843; and an ‘Alphabetical Catalogue of Works on Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy’ is appended to the ‘Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers,’ by Arthur Edward Waite, 1888. For ordinary purposes the following will be found sufficient: Langlet du Fresnoy, ‘Histoire de la Philosophie Hermétique,’ 1742; Gabriel Naudé, ‘Apologie pour les Grands Hommes faussement soupçonnés de Magie,’ 1625; Martin Antoine Delrio, ‘Disquisitionum Magicarum, libri sex,’ 1599; L. F. Alfred Maury, ‘La Magie et l’Astrologie dans l’Antiquité et au Moyen Age,’ etc., 1860; Eus. Salverte, ‘Sciences Occultes,’ ed. by Littré, 1856 (see the English translation, ‘Philosophy of Magic,’ with Notes by Dr. A. Todd Thomson, 1846); Abbé de Villars, ‘Entretiens du Comte de Gabalis’ (‘Voyages Imaginaires,’ tome 34), Englished as ‘The Count de Gabalis: being a diverting History of the Rosicrucian Doctrine of Spirits,’ etc., 1714; Elias Ashmole, ‘Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum;’ Roger Bacon, ‘Mirror of Alchemy,’ 1597; Louis Figuier, ‘Histoire de l’Alchimie et les Alchimistes,’ 1865; Arthur Edward Waite, ‘The Real History of the Rosicrucians,’ 1887; Hargrave Jennings, ‘The Rosicrucians,’ new edit.; William Godwin, ‘Lives of the Necromancers,’ 1834; Dr. T. Thomson, ‘History of Chemistry,’ 1831; ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ in locis; Dr. Kopp, ‘Geschichte der Chemie;’ G. Rodwell, ‘Birth of Chemistry,’ 1874; Haerfor, ‘Histoire de la Chimie,’ etc., etc.