Historical Accounts of Crystal Balls The history and description of a crystal ball by John Aubrey, Joseph Glanvil's account of seeing an image in a crystal ball, Sir Marmaduke Langdale's encounter, about Cagliostro the crystal-gazer, and General Marli¨re's prediction from a crystal ball The following history and description of a crystal ball is given by John Aubrey (1626-1697): bodyOffer(500719) (Aubrey, "Miscellanies," London, 1890. (There is a figure on p. 156.)) 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. (Aubrey, "Miscellanies," London, 1890.) 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: (Carlyle, "Works," Ashburton ed., vol. xvi; from Vie de Joseph Balsamo, traduite d'apres I'original Italien, ch. ii, 111 (Paris, 1791)) | |
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