190 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES
out
of the house, her Majestie refused to come in; but willed to fetch my
glass so famous, and to show unto her some of the properties of it,
which I did. Her Majestie being taken down from her horse by the Earle
of Liecester, Master of the Horse, at the church wall of Mortlake, did
see some of the properties of that glass, to her Majestie's great
contentment and delight.23
It
was at Mortlake, on December 22, 1581, that Dr. Dee made his first
essay with his crystal ball. The proceedings were conducted with a
certain religious ceremonial, and began with a pious invocation to the
angel of the stone. This celestial being soon graciously deigned to
manifest himself in the stone and—presumably by the voice of the
scryer—answered the questions put by those present.
There
can be little doubt that Dee used more than one crystal in the course
of his experiments; that now in the British Museum is of cairngorm, or
"smoky-quartz." This variety of quartz may have been chosen because of
the Scotch superstitions regarding its virtues; for, as a rule,
charlatans seek to avail themselves of already existing superstitions
in order to make their innovations more acceptable.
To
give assurance to those who consulted such crystals that no diabolical
agency was involved in the production of the phenomena, it was
customary that a child should be the crystal-gazer. In Dr. Dee's
experiments, however, it was usually the notorious Kelley, his ame damnee, who
undertook this task of interpreting the crystal visions. The
description given by Dee of a little girl who frequently acted as the
intermediary of the higher powers suggests one of the fanciful
23"
The Private Diary of Dr. John Dee," ed. by Halliwell, London, 1842
(Camden Soc. Pub.), p. 9, note ("Compendious Memorial," p. 516).
