CRYSTAL BALLS AND CRYSTAL GAZING 189
thee,
whether in fields or meadows, whether master or servant, whether wife
or maid. Let this be said to thee in the name of God, as a plea for thy
help.21
The
visions seen in crystal gazing were often supposed to be the work of
evil spirits, seeking to seduce the souls of men by offering the
promise of riches or by according them an unlawful glimpse into the
future. Here, as in other magical operations, there was both white and
black magic, recourse being had in some cases to good, and in others to
evil spirits. As an illustration of the latter practice, a sixteenth
century writer relates that in the city of Nuremberg, some time during
the year 1530, a "demon" showed to a priest, in a crystal, the vision
of a buried treasure. Believing in the truth of this vision, the priest
went to the spot indicated, where he found an excavation in the form of
a cavern, in the depths of which he could see a chest and a black dog
lying alongside it. Eagerly the priest entered the cavern, hoping to
possess himself of the treasure, but the top of the excavation caved in
and he was crushed to death.22
The
famous charlatan, Dr. Dee, who was for a time a prominent figure at the
court of Emperor Rudolph II, was highly favored by Queen Elizabeth. The
queen visited him several times, and even appears to have consulted
him on political matters. In his diary the doctor relates that the
queen called at his house shortly after his wife's death, which took
place March 16, 1575. Of this visit he gives the following details:
The
Queen's Majestie, with her most honorable Privy Council, and other the
Lords and Nobility, came purposely to have visited my library: but
finding that my wife was within four hours before buried
a Keisewetter, " Faust in der Geschichte und Tradition, p. 473. a Wieri, " De prestigiis demonum," Basilese, 1563, p. 121.
