198 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES
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The Gentleman himself averred this to me, and he is a very sober,
intelligent, and credible Person. Compton had no knowledge of him
before, and was an utter stranger to the Person of his Wife. He was by
all accounts a very odd Person."31
A
contemporary record recites that when a certain Sir Marmaduke Langdale
(of the seventeenth century) was in Italy, he went to a sorcerer and
was shown in a glass his own figure kneeling before a crucifix. Though
a Protestant at this time, he shortly after became a Catholic.32
If we exclude all idea of trickery, it is likely-enough that the idea
of becoming a Catholic was already present to the scryer's mind, and
called up this picture before him.
The
celebrated Cagliostro, a Sicilian whose real name was Giuseppe Balsamo,
among his other arts to excite curiosity and play upon the superstition
of his contemporaries, had recourse to a species of crystal-gazing. In
the only authentic biography of this extraordinary impostor occurs the
following passage, which we give in Carlyle 's version:33
Cagliostro
brought a little Boy into the Lodge, son of a nobleman there. He placed
him on his knees before a table, whereon stood a Bottle of pure water,
and behind this some lighted candles: he made an exorcism round the
boy, put his hand on his head and both, in this attitude, addressed
their prayers to God for the happy accomplishment of the work. Having
bid the child look into the Bottle, directly the child cried that he
saw a garden. Knowing hereby that Heaven assisted him, Cagliostro took
courage, and bade the child ask of God the grace to see the angel
Michael. At first the child said: " I see some-
" Gianvil, " Sadducismus Triumpiahis," London, 1726, p. 281.
32 Aubrey, " Miscellanies," London, 1890, p. 155.
" Carlyle,
" Works," Ashburton ed., vol. xvi, p. 509; from Vie de Joseph Balsamo,
traduite d'apres l'original Italien, ch. ii, 111 (Paris, 1791).
