"Kelly outwent the Doctor--viz., about the elixir and philosopher's
stone, which neither he nor his master attained by their own labour and
industry. It was in this manner Kelly obtained it, as I had it related
from an ancient minister, who new the certainty thereof from an old
English merchant resident in Germany, at what time both Kelly and Dee
were there.
"Dee and Kelly being on the confines of the emperor's dominions, in a
city where resided many English merchants, with whom they had much
familiarity, there happened an old friar to come to Dr Dee's lodging,
knocking at the door. Dee peeped down the stairs:--'Kelly,' says he,
'tell the old man I am not at home.' Kelly did so. The friar said, 'I
will take another time to wait on him.' Some few days after, he came
again. Dee ordered Kelly, if it were the same person, to deny him again.
He did so; at which the friar was very angry. 'Tell thy master I came to
speak with him and to do him good, because he is a great scholar and
famous;--but now tell him, he put forth a book, and dedicated it to the
emperor. It is called '_Monas Hieroglyphicas_.' He understands it not. I
wrote it myself. I came to instruct him therein, and in some other more
profound things. Do thou, Kelly, come along with me; I will make thee
more famous than thy master Dee. Kelly was very apprehensive of what the
friar delivered, and thereupon suddenly retired from Dee, and wholly
applied unto the friar, and of him either had the elixir ready made, or
the perfect method of its preparation and making. The poor friar lived a
very short time after; whether he died a natural death, or was otherwise
poisoned or made away by Kelly, the merchant who related this did not
certainly know."
Kelly was born at Worcester, and had been an apothecary. He had a sister
who lived there for some time after his death, and who used to exhibit
some gold made by her brother's projection. "It was vulgarly reported
that he had a compact with the devil, which he outlived, and was seized
at midnight by infernal spirits, who carried him off in sight of his
family, at the instant he was meditating a mischievous design against
the minister of the parish, with whom he was greatly at enmity."
It would have been easy to select a more historical statement of facts
respecting Kelly; but the following tale, the events of one day only,
will, we hope, be more interesting to the generality of readers. It
exhibits a curious display of the intrigues and devices by which these
impostors acquired an almost unlimited power over the minds of their
fellow-men. Human credulity once within their grasp, they could wield
this tremendous engine at their will, directing it either to good or bad
intents, but more often to purposes of fraud and self-aggrandisement.
* * * * *
In the ancient and well-thriven town of Manchester formerly dwelt a
merchant of good repute, Cornelius Ethelstoun by name. Plain dealing and
an honest countenance withal, had won for him a character of no ordinary
renown. His friezes were the handsomest; his stuffs and camlets were not
to be sampled in the market, or even throughout the world; insomuch that
the courtly dames of Venice, and the cumbrous vrows of Amsterdam and the
Hague, might be seen flaunting in goodly attire gathered from the
store-houses of Master Cornelius.
His coffers glittered with broad ducats, and his cabinets with the
rarest productions of the East. His warehouses were crammed, even to
satiety, and his trestles groaned under heaps of rich velvets, costly
brocades, and other profitable returns to his foreign adventures. But,
alas!--and whose heart holdeth not communion with that word!--Cornelius
was unhappy. He had one daughter, whom "he loved passing well;" yet, as
common report did acknowledge, the veriest shrew that ever went
unbridled. In vain did his riches and his revenues increase; in vain was
plenty poured into his lap, and all that wealth could compass accumulate
in lavish profusion. Of what avail was this outward and goodly show
against the cruel and wayward temper of his daughter?
Kate--by this name we would distinguish her, as veritable historians are
silent on her sponsorial appellation--Kate was unhappily fair and
well-favoured. Her hair was dark as the raven-plume; but her skin, white
as the purest statuary marble, grew fairer beneath the black and glossy
wreaths twining gracefully about her neck. Her cheek was bright as the
first blush of the morning, and ever and anon, as a deeper hue was
thrown upon its rich but softened radiance, she looked like a vision
from Mahomet's paradise--a being nurtured by a warmer sky and fiercer
suns than our cold climate can sustain. She had lovers, but all approach
was denied, and, one by one, they stood afar off and gazed. Her pretty
mouth, lovely even in the proudest glance of petulance and scorn, was so
oftentimes moulded into the same aspect that it grew puckered and
contemptuous, rendering her disposition but too manifest; and
yet--wouldest thou believe it, gentle reader?--she was in love!
Now it so fell out that on the very morning from which we date this
first passage of our history, Cornelius awoke earlier than he was wont.
His brow wore an aspect of more than ordinary care. It was but too
evident that his pillow had been disturbed. Thoughts of more than usual
perplexity had deprived him of his usual measure of repose. His very
beard looked abrupt and agitated; his dress bore marks of indifference
and haste. A slight, but tremulous movement of the head, in general but
barely visible, was now advanced into a decided shake. With a step
somewhat nimbler than aforetime, he made, as custom had long rendered
habitual, his first visit to the counting-house.
The unwearied and indefatigable Timothy Dodge sat there, with the same
crooked spectacles, and, as it might seem, mending the same pen which
the same knife had nibbed for at least half-a-century. The tripod on
which rested this grey Sidrophel of accompts looked of the like hard and
impenetrable material, as though it were grown into his similitude,
forming but a lower adjunct to his person. It was evident they had not
parted company for the last twenty years. Nature had formed him awry. A
boss or hump, of considerable elevation, extended like a huge promontory
on one shoulder; from the other depended an arm longer by some inches
than its fellow. As it described a greater arc its activity was
proportionate. His grey and restless eyes followed the merchant's track
with unwearied fidelity; yet was he a man full sparing of words--the
ever ready "Anon, master," being the chief burden of his replications.
It was like the troll of an old ballad--a sort of inveterate drawl
tripping unwittingly from the tongue.
The sun was just peeping through the long dim casement as Cornelius
stepped over the threshold of his sanctuary. In it lay hidden the
mysteries of many a goodly tome, more precious in his eyes than the
rarest and richest that Dee's library could boast. No mean value,
inasmuch as this celebrated scholar and mathematician, who was lately
appointed warden of the college, had the most costly store of
book-furniture that individual ever possessed.
"Good morrow, Dodge."
The pen was twice nibbed ere the usual rejoinder.
"Are the camlets arrived from the country?" inquired the merchant.
"Anon, master--this forenoon may be."
"Is the accompt against Anthony Hardcastle discharged?"
"No," ejaculated the grim fixture.
"And where is the piece of Genoa velvet Dame Margery looked out
yesterday for her mistress's wedding-suit? I do bethink me it is a good
ell too long at the measure."
"Six ells, three nails, and an odd inch, besides the broad thumbs,"
replied Timothy.
"Right:--she reckoned on a good snip for waste; but let no more be sent
than the embroiderer calls for."
"Not a thread," grunted Dodge.
A pause ensued. Some question was evidently hesitating on the merchant's
tongue. Twice did his lips move, but the word fell unuttered. The affair
was, however, finally disposed of as follows:--
"Hast heard of aught, Timothy, touching the private matter that I
unfolded yesterday?" Cornelius put on as careless an aspect as the
disquietude of his brow could needs carry, but the inquiry was evidently
one of no ordinary interest. He twisted the points of his doublet, tied
and untied the silk cords from his ruff, waiting Dodge's answer in a
posture not much belying the anxiety he wished to conceal.
"Why, master, an' it were of woman's humours, the old seer himself could
not unriddle their pranks."