fuch as are not acquainted with the manner of preparing them. One kind, very 'eafy, is made by taking an ounce of common aquafortis, which you are to mix with three ounces of common water; you will use this mixture to write on paper that is ftrong, and very ftiff: this writing becomes totally invifible in drying; and in order to make it re-appear, you need only wet the paper, and when it dries the writing disappears again. This effect may be repeated two or three times. This procefs is the easiest to be done, as the neceffary ingredients are almoft always at hand. Many other things furnish the means of making fympathetic ink, fuch as cobalt, bifmuth, lime, &c. &c. but they require chemical and difficult preparations to be efficient. The eafieft to be obtained are mentioned before, as the mixture of aquafortis and common water; and thofe that may be formed by diffolutions of falt and acids, fuch as lemon or onion juice: in order to render them visible, you need only approach them to the fire: the cold air produces on them the contrary effect. A Piece of money fhut up in a box which comes out of itself without being touched by any one, A PERSON is required to hold a box, into which is put before his eyes a piece of money or a ring: you ftand at a distance and bid him thake the box gently, the piece is heard to rattle withinfide- he is defired again to fhake it, and then it is not heard to rattle. The third time it is again heard, but the fourth time it is gone, and is found in the fhoe of one of the company. EXPLANATION. The box must be made on purpofe; we will not defcribe it here, because all the performers of tricks fell them: that one which has caufed fuch wonder at Paris and London, only differs from the others as being fomewhat better made, and belonging to a perfon who embellifhes his tricks with all poffible advantages. This box is made in fuch a manner that, in fhaking it gently up and down, the piece within is heard: on the contrary, fhaking it hard horizontally, a little fpring which falls on the piece prevents it from being heard, which makes you imagine it is not within. He who performs the trick then touches the box, under pretence of fhewing how to fhake it, and although it is locked, he eafily gets out the piece by means of a fecret opening, availing himself of that minute to put in a falfe piece, and to leave the box with the fame person: and he caufes you to believe either that the piece is or is not within, according to the manner the box is fhaken. At length the original piece is found in the fhoe of one of the company, either by means of the perfon in confederacy, and furnishing him with a fimilar piece, or by fending fome expert perfon to flip it on the floor---in this last case, it is found on the ground, and you perfuade the perfon that it fell from his foot, as he took it out of his fhoe. Three Charms against the Falling Sicknesse Drink in the night at a Spring, water out of a fkull of one that hath been flain. Otherwife, eat a pig killed with a knife that flew a man. Otherwife, repeat the following verfe three times: Ananizapta fmiteth death,. To find out a Thief. Charms to find out a Thief. The means how to find out a thief are these : Turn your face to the eaft, and make a cross upon crystal with oil olive, and under the crofs write thefe two words, 66 SAINT HELEN.' "9 Then a child that is innocent, and a chafte virgin, born in true wedlock, and not bafe begotten, of the age of ten years, must take the crystal in her hard; and behind her back, kneeling on thy knees, thou must devoutly and reverently fay over this prayer thrice: "I beseech thee, my Lady St. Helen, mother of King Constantine, which didst find the crofs whereupon Christ died by that holy devotion, and invention of the cross, and by the fame cross, and by the joy which thou conceivedst at the finding thereof, and by the love which thou bearest to thy fon Constantine, and by the great goodnefs which thou dost always ufe; that thou fhew me in this crystal (i. e. looking-glafs) whatsoever I afk, or defire to know, Amen." And when the child feeth the angel in the crystal, demand what you will, and the angel will make answer thereunto. Mem. that this be done just as the fun is rifing, when the weather is fair and clear. 309 How to thew the Thief in a Glafs, that hath ftolen any thing from you. A fcarce Secret. and fet it upon a linen cloth, which TAKE a glafs vial full of holy-water, hath been purified, both by washing and facrifice, &c. On the mouth of the vial or urinal, two olive-leaves muft be laid acrofs, and thefe words pronounced over it, by a child; (to wit thus,) Angele bone, angele candide, per tuam fanctitatem, meamq; virginitatem, oftende mihi furem: now repeat twixt each of them make a crofs with three paternofters, three aves, and bethe nail of the thumb upon the mouth of the vial; and then fhall be feen angels afcending and defcending as it thief all this while fhall fuffer great were motes in the fun beams. The torment, and his face fhall be feen plainly. A Charm to drive away Spirits, and prevent a house from being i jured by Tempest. houfe, this fentence written upon vir- 16. Mofen habent and prophetas.-LUKE ciejus Exurgat Deus, and diffipentur inimi- B. TO THE PUBLIC. THE articles, which I have inferted from time to time in this magazine, having produced feveral inquiries at the Publisher's whether I would calculate nativities and refolve questions, I anfwer, that on the principle I am going to defcribe, I will. It may be obferved from what I faid on Mr. Pirt's nativity, in number VII. that I have not purfued the old track of Aftrologers, in calculating directions to afcertain the events of life, and the times which are to produce and its relations, are only the fleeting them. Time and its relations, fpace accidents of vifionary matter, the creatures of death, and the forms of darknefs. If Aftrology be noble, if Astroconverfing with fpirit, with eternity logy be true, it is noble and true from and effence. Thus, it readily, it officially announced the business of the Day Star from on high*, at its first ing in a concentric orbit with the eft: the * "On high"-Evidently because the HIGHEST planet in the fyfter, though movplanet is the humanity; the fun the divinity. mecting meeting the horizon, and never quitted it to its ZENITH. The bufinefs then of Genethliacal Aftrology, is not to tell a perfon whether or when he fhall be hanged or married; for nothing is to be added to the wisdom of Cato and Pope, on thefe feveral points. The firft is to be found in Cato's anfwer to Labienus, in Lucan's Pharfalia, too long for present infertion. Pope's paffage is, If to be happy in a certain fphere, What matter foon cr late, or here or there? Let it then be the bufinefs of Aftrology, founding itfelf on the bafis, that VIRTUE ALONE IS HAPPINESS," help the ftudent in afcertaining WHAT is the SPHERE. In this view, and on this principle, not to fatisfy puerile or inane inquifitiveness, nor to refolve whether a wicked purpofe fhall meet with a miferable end, I will render all fervice to any applicant. But as no one action, though even the leading object of life, can be taken up fingly, it is vain to expect fuccefs, unJefs all circumitances, though minutely fubordinate, be attended to. Therefore life muft be regarded and watched entirely; for on a contrary fuppofition, what would be the cafe, and what the pleafure? It would be that of a perfon ing all the reft of the face conftantly with a good nofe, mouth, or eye, keep mafked, and introducing themselves by their nofe, or other favourite feature, into all companies. As the ftudent of HIMSELF enters gradually into the minutiae of his life and actions, he will find, that every action has a correfpondential or talifmanic virtue: he will find with Virgil, not only, that there are "tears of things," but that there are pains of things, and joys of things; and he will also be able to give a rational account and philofophical illuftration of the caufes and operations of thofe things. He will find it a FACT that, Eneid VI. 724. Effentially a nourishes heaven and earth,, and fea, and moon, and flars; and MIND dif fufed through every joint actuates the mafs, and intermingles with the vaft body." People proceeding alone, often are overpowered by fuperior ftrength, from doing what they feel and know to be right; and this is the true caufe of religious frenzies. The SENSE of RIGHT cannot be overcome; and thus enfues a long and doubtful conflict between heaven, and the agents of hell on earth, of which the poor creature who had cide in the first instance, is the fubject not vigour to act right, that is to deand victim. Confcience is a more fevere revenger, than the most ingenious and inexorable tyrant on earth; for it is this vicegerent of GOD, as I perfectly agree with infidels, who, "after killing the body, is the agent that fixes both foul and body in hell.” 66 Through defire, a man having faparated himself, feeketh and intermed man. leth with ALL WISDOM," faith SoloNow, the fociety which I propofe, being calculated to strengthen the hands of those who would live confcientioufly and wifely, with perfect opportunity of cementing more and more clofely, is an object which applies to all ranks, and every perfon. But, after all, how do the stars operoperate as men operate: and they are inate, or how are they indexes? Do they not take away free will? No: they dexes as looking-glafjes. Every man and woman is a star. The stellar virtues vital, in them. By the man may be are appropriated, inherent, active, and feen what star predominated at birth; by a view of the heavens may be seen what manner of man was born; but both are best-Perfonal knowledge of the moment of birth too, the more intimate and more exact the better. * WILLIAM GILBERT. ** Let all addreffes be to my felf, No. 11, Devonshire-street, Queenfquare, free of postage, and incioling a guinea. S. R.'s letter was without addrefs: the last remark anfwers one part of it. W. G. was, LIVES OF EMINENT MAGICIANS, &c. A CORNISH OLD WOMAN. " was MARGARET Evans of Penryn, according to Mr. Pennant, the laft fpecimen of the ftrength and fpirit of the ancient British fair. This extraordinary female, he says, the greatest hunter, fhooter, and fisher of her time. She kept at least a dozen of dogs, terriers, greyhounds, and spaniels; all excellent in their kinds. She killed more foxes in one year, than all the confederate hunts do in ten; rowed ftoutly, and was queen of the lake; fiddled excellently, and knew all our old mufic; did not neglect the mechanic arts, for fhe was a very good joiner; and notwithstanding fhe was 70 years of age, was the best wreiftler in the county; and few young men dared to try a fall with her. Some years ago fhe had a maid of congenial qualities; but Death, that mighty hunter, at laft earthed this faithful companion of her's. I must not forget that all the neighbouring bards paid their addreffes to Margaret, and celebrated her exploits in pure British verfe." Journey to Snowdon. ASTROLOGICAL PHYSICIAN. DR. John Cafe was a native of Lime Regis in Dorfetfhire, and many years practifed phyfic and aftrology. He was esteemed the genuine fucceffor of the famous Lilly, whofe magical books and machinery he poffeffed. He could fhew the abfent to the company, and is faid to have done this the first in England. He is faid to have got more by this diftich than Dryden by all his works: "Within this place, "Lives DocTOR CASE." for compofing thofe lines which he affixed to his pill-boxes: "Here's fourteen pills, for thirteen pence, "Enough in any man's own con-fci-ence." The exact time of his death is not known, but it happened before the end of Queen Anne's reign. He was author of the Angelical Guide, fhewing men and women their lot and change in this elementary life, in four books 1697, fmall octavo. The following anecdote was related by the late Rev. Mr. Gosling of Canterbury. "Dr. Maundy, formerly of Canterbury, told me that in his travels abroad, fome eminent phyfician, who had been in England, gave him a token to spend at his retnrn with Dr. Radcliffe and Dr. Cafe. They fixed on an evening, and were very merry, when Dr. Radcliffe thus began a health, "Here, brother Cafe, to all the fools, your patients." "I thank you, brother," replied Cafe; " let me have all the fools, and you are heartily welcome to the rest of the prac tice." HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, HENRY Cornelius Agrippa was born at Cologne, in 1486. The prodigious compafs of his knowledge aftonifhed every one who converfed with him. He carefully informed himself of every science, and of course was profound in the Rofycrufian and Alchymical arcanas. He was celebrated throughout Europe, most of the Courts of which he visited. The hiftory of his life, as recorded by Bayle, is curious and interefting:-Some times, in all the pride of literature, he was difputing in schools and univer fities; at other times in Courts and And he was doubtlefs very well paid Camps; then in the shops of projec VOL. I. ting ting mechanics, and in the laboratories of hermetic philofophers. The prejudices of the times in which he lived often brought him into trouble, and he was fometimes cited before the civil tribunal for a forcerer, and his poor dog was even dreaded as an evil demon. He was here in England in 1510; and in 1529 received an invitation from Henry VIII. to fettle here, which he thought proper to decline, He died in 1535. The most celebrated of his works, which are in Latin, is his Treatife of Occult Philofophy, a rare work, the greatest part of which is, and will be given in this Magazine, by our ingenious end valuable correfpondent B. VALENTINE GREATRAKES. VALENTINE Greatrakes, famous in the last century for curing many difeafes by ftroking the parts affected with his hands, was the fon of William Greatrakes, Efq. and was born at Affanc, in the county of Waterford, in Ireland, on St. Valentine's-day, 1628. He was bred a proteftant in the free-school of Lifmore. On the breaking out of the Irish rebellion, he fled with his mother into England, where he was kindly entertained by his great uncle, Edmund Harris, brother to Sir Edward Harris, knight; and after his uncle's death, he compleated his education under John Daniel Getlius, a German, minifter of Stoke-Gabriel, in Devonshire, with whom he studied anatomy and divinity. After an abfence of five or fix years spent in thefe improvements, he returned to his native country, which he found in a deplorable fituation, and therefore retired to the caftle of Caperquin, where he spent a year in contemplation, and grew extremely diffatisfied with the world. However, about the year 1649, he entered into the parliament's fervice, and became a lieutenant in Lord Broghill's regiment: he continued in the army till the year 1656, when he retired to Affane, and was made clerk of the peace for the county of Cork, regifter for tranfplantation, and justice of the peace. Being difmiffed from his places at the restoration, he again gave way to melancholy, and about the year 1662, felt a ftrange perfuafion in his mind that he was endowed with the gift of curing the king's evil; yet being fenfible of the ridicule to which he fhould probably expofe himself by making it known, he thought fit to conceal his opinion for fome time; but at length mentioned it to his wife, who confidered it no better than an idle fancy. A few days after one William Maker, of Salterbridge, in the parifh of Lifmore, having a fon afflicted with the king's evil, both in his eyes, cheek, and throat, brought him to the house, defiring Mrs. Greatrakes, who was always ready to afford her charity to her neighbours, according to the little fkill fhe had in furgery, to do fomething for him. She acquainted her husband with it, who told her that fhe fhould now fee whether this was a mere fancy, or the dictates of the Spirit of God in his heart; and laying his hands on the parts affected, he prayed to God to heal the child, and bid the parent bring him again in two or three days. When he returned, the eye was almoft healed, the node, which was nearly as big as a pullet's egg, being fuppurated, and the throat greatly amended; fo that in a month's time he was perfectly cured. Then there came to Mr. Greatrakes one Margaret Macfhane, of Ballinefly, in the parish of Lifmore, who had had the evil for upwards of feven years, whom he cured to the amazement of all; and his fame now increafing, he cured the fame diforder in many others, all by ftroaking with his hands; and fome troubled with agues he cuted in the fame manner. Afterwards he had the like impulfe that he could heal all kinds of diseases; and going one day to Mr. Dean's, at Lifmore, |