"Raymund Lully interprets _cabal_ out of the Arabic, to signify
Scientia superabundans, which his commentator, Cornelius Agrippa,
by over-magnifying, has rendered 'a very superfluous foppery.'
Vid. J. Pici, _Mirandulae de Magia et Cabala_, Apol. tome i. pp.
110. 111.; Sir Walter Raleigh's _History of the World_, part i,
book i. p. 67., edit. 1614; Purchas' _Pilgrims_, part ii. lib.
vi. pp. 796, 797, 798.; Scot's _Discovery of Witchcraft_, cap.
xi.; Dee's _Book of Spirits, with Dr. Meric Casaubon's Preface_;
Churchill's _Voyages, &c._, vol. ii. p. 528., second edition;
Bailey's _Dictionary_, folio edition, under the word 'cabala;'
Jacob's _Law Dictionary_, under the word 'cabal;' and _British
Librarian_, No. 6. for June, 1737, p. 340."
The other instance I am adducing gives us "cabal" in its common
acceptation:--
"Set up committees of _cabals_
To pack designs without the walls."
Part III. Canto II. 945.