106 future advancement in life may be attributed. This is a case that must come within the knowledge of every one; and although few care to trace back the past events of their life to a source like this, we may convince ourselves of its truth by retrospection. What is called "love at sight" is only a familiar phrase of this grand principle of destiny, and, amongst other hourly recurring testimonies, must establish the assertion that there is no such a thing as CHANCE. To know by astral influences, therefore, the tendency to good or evil-to have foreshadowed, by astrological acumen, the periods when the tide that governs the "affairs of man" may be taken at the flood-to be warned against and prepared for misfortune, or sustained by the sure prospect of future prosperity-these, the high offices of the Astrologer, form no humble nor unimportant task. On him to whom these mighty trusts are confided rests a responsibility almost sacred in its nature. No. V. THE SPECTRE OF OAKHAMPTON. tractive towns or villages. The journey passed off very agreeably; sometimes he would pick up a chance traveller who happened to vidual. be going in the same direction and was a communicative indiserved to beguile the way and render service as human guideHe thus acquired several road acquaintances, who posts-repertories, from which accounts of the best inns, best manor-houses, old buildings, and country seats, met with on the roads, narratives, and family histories attached to the various the companionship of his own thoughts, till he began to near his way, might be gathered. One by one, however, they dropped off, each succeeding the other, and again leaving the traveller to destination. As he approached that part of Derbyshire in which the house of his friend was situate, these ephemeral companions redolent of companionship, and Mervyn was, therefore, fain to were less frequently to be encountered; the country became less find amusement for himself. A few hours' longer ride would road with pleasurable feelings, he struck off into a bridle-way, bring him to Oakhampton manor-house, and, leaving the high and cantered gaily towards an ascending ridge of forest land, in which the road in the distance seemed to be swallowed up. It was in compliance with the frequently reiterated request of an old and valued friend-one who had known him from childhood, and been the selected companion of his father's maturer days, that Mervyn Rotherfield determined on an excursion to the North. In the noblest part of Derbyshire, stood the ancient and hospitable mansion of his inviter, a landholder, of universal benevolence, great popularity, and cultivated mind. Often, when business or inclination called Sir Herbert Oakhampton from his retirement to London, had they met; and the difference of their ages, that of Sir Herbert exciting an almost filial regard and reverence in his younger friend, seemed calculated to render their friendship permanent and beneficial to at least one of its entertainers. If Mervyn had, from childhood, been accustomed to look up to Sir Herbert as one entitled by time, disposition, and the tacitly delegated authority of a father who appreciated his good qualities, and sought no better guardian and overlooker of a son whom he had loved almost to idolatry-with unhesitating admiration and attention-he, on the other hand, found in the ready obedience, respectful attachment, and high and chivalrous mind of his youthful charge, a natural escape for all the parental feelings of which his nature towards a son was susceptible. But Providence had not blessed him with a male heir to his name, rank, and fortune. He had but one child-a daughter-and, fond of inculcating opinions and principles to one to whom, in the business and collision of the world, they might prove ornamental and advantageous, it is not surprising that he should have looked upon Mervyn with a truly parental eye, and had the conduct of his self-elected charge as much at heart as if he possessed the privileges and authority of a parent. Mervyn respected his mentor, and loved his daughter; the latter being a circumstance not at all likely to diminish the deference and consideration which he paid to him. Nor was he viewed with indifference by the fair Dorothy, who, unlike her unpoetical name, was all smiles, buoyancy, and fairy-like delicacy and grace he had established a ruling interest in her heart, and both sire and daughter looked forward with impatience for his arrival. Their union was, at the wish of the father, delayed until Mervyn had spent a year or two in travelling, and thereby satisfied his migratory propensities; Sir Herbert considering it more advisable that, if the inclination were irrepressible, he should indulge in wandering before marriage than after. The day approached for Mervyn's setting out. Having furnished himself with a few valuable articles as presents for his intended bride and her worthy father, one fine morning in the month of June, 1815, just as the bells of the town churches were striking seven, a.m., mounted on a stout and excellent roadster, he commenced his northern journey. Having no particular wish or reason for hurry, he travelled rather leisurely, putting up at nights at the best hostelries, in the most picturesque and at Evening gradually crept on; the rough and disused road appeared, as he advanced, to put on a lonely expression, and he found the high spirits in which he had hitherto pursued his day's journey, degenerate into a soberness, if not somewhat melancholy of feeling. The way grew desolate and uncheering; the ruts of the meagre road began to increase in size and roughness; masses grandeur on either side, and the shadows of approaching night of heavy and solemn -looking trees stretched out in forest At long intervals he passed a lone, savage-looking, and oldwere solitarily descending over the thickly timbered eminences. fashioned cottage, embrowned by the chiaro scuro gloom of the advancing twilight, and hardly distinguishable from the dark woodland which surrounded it, except by the grey, lazily curling smoke, which crept perpendicularly upward from its weatherbeaten, edge-worn, and brick-patched chimney. There were but few clouds in the sky; the sun had already set, and a deep-red flush, gradually dulling down to broad and even grey, partially illuminated the west, and set forward a jagged line of old trees at the extremity of the landscape, in bold and dark relief. All bark of some distant watch-dog, drowsily breaking on the stillness, was quiet-solemnly quiet-except, now and then, the hollow and a tinkling sheep-bell, pleasingly coming from a "distant fold," and calling up in the imagination pictures of pastoral contentment and repose. The scene was favourable to reflection, and Mervyn, letting the reins fall on the shoulder of his steed, who self to retrospection and reverie. The road terminated itself now hanging his head, deliberately plodded on, abandoned himverdant slopes; and the deep shadows cast by their leafy amongst a knot of tough oaks, crowning a succession of soft and branches to the ground, with the subdued whispering of the Gathering up his reins in haste again, and looking about him, he breeze as it crept through them, called Mervyn to himself. tried in vain to discover some symptom of the place of which he was in search. A light gleamed a short distance in advance from the trellised window of a small and mean cottage; and, forward, and, without dismounting, with the handle of his long determining to apply to its inhabitants for a direction, he rode whip rapped at the door. An old crone came peering to the entrance, looking somewhat suspiciously at her disturber. am? I am in search of a manor-house somewhere about here, hard of hearing-can't hear what you say.' woman, and said in her ear, in the neighbourhood; you can, doubtless, tell me?" Oakhampton Hall.” "And you want to go there?" "If I had not, I should not have asked a direction." "Eh? Oakhampton Hall? Take the first path to the right, then cross the stream, and ye'll see it afore ye.' "Thank ye, thank ye; take that for your trouble (giving her a piece of silver). How far may I be from it?" The old woman was now returning in; without turning she sullenly said, "Can't stay just now to talk t' ye; the road's afore ye." Anathematising her paucity of intelligence, he re-mounted and proceeded, endeavouring to keep in his memory the laconic direction he had wrung from her. "Keep to the right," murmured he; cross a stream, and I shall see it before me; very good!" Two or three hundred yards further he discerned a sheep path turning off to the right. Now confident of his route, and beginning to feel rather hungry and fatigued, he spurred his horse, who seemed to gather renewed vigour from the mossy softness of the dewy grass, and soon had the pleasure of discerning in the twilight the stream and bridge of which he was in search. Cautiously crossing it, and emerging from a clump of low-lying forest trees, a scene of romantic and unparalleled beauty burst upon his vision. Upon a broad and gentle eminence, skirted by gigantic oaks, that towered like Titans into the star-twinkling and deep blue sky, and shadowed with a mass of rich foliage the smooth carpet of grass, which sloped evenly from beneath them, stood the venerable front of Oakhampton Hall, an antique building, whose time-fretted gables, edged with moulded, lichened copings, rusty weathercocks, casemented oriels, high and wreathed chimney stalks, and red brick angles, claimed the reign of James, the first Stuart, as the period of its erection. The extensive park in which it was situated was luxuriantly timbered, abounding in glade, slope, and hollow, and the neighbouring district abrupt, interesting, and picturesque. Over the distant hills a yellow moon was softly rising, imparting a pleasing solemnity to the scene, and gleaming in some of the higher castle lattices. In one or two of the lower windows lights were visible. Mervyn advanced to an ancient gate-house, to which he was admitted by a silver-headed porter, apparently as ancient as the building to which he officiated as janitor. Condescendingly shaking hands with the old man, who testified much joy at seeing him, and committing the care of his steed to his inspection, he walked up to the principal door of the Hall, and on entering was met by Sir Herbert and his daughter. My dear boy, I am delighted to see you. What sort of a journey have you had?-not very agreeable; you look fatigued: there, shake hands with Dorothy, and let us seek the more congenial air of the library. Stephen, some refreshment instantly for Mr. Rotherfield. And what's the news in London, Mervyn ?" "None at all, sir; never was the metropolis so devoid of interest. Had I the greatest possible wish to entertain you with town topics, I should find it difficult to discover one. I have not even an adventure on the road to relate. The time passed very agreeably; the places at which I stopped were pleasing and convenient, my horse a very good one, and my pistols were never once drawn from their case." "Some, indeed, possess considerable merit," said Sir Herbert; "you shall have an early opportunity of judging yourself." "And, in so ancient and picturesque an edifice, so romantically situated, have you no ghost to impart a pleasing and mysterious interest to the whole? Are you the only presiding deity of this enchanted castle, dear Dorothy, or do you share your sovereignty with beings of a less captivating order?" Sir Herbert's brow darkened for a moment; but, before he could reply, Dorothy laughingly said, "Oh, we are not without creatures of the kind to give interest to our abode. If you are partial to their company, and attached to apartments which have been honoured by their presence, I think I can prevail upon my father to endeavour to procure you an interview with one who had the reputation, sometime since, of being the most formidable of the clique. And, fortunately, you have come at a most opportune time, for our visitor is somewhat fantastical, and only bestows his visits on certain occasions. How say you?-will you commission my father to facilitate an audience ?" "It is plain, whatever may be the belief in the neighbourhood, you have no great credit in the grounds of its existence," said Sir Herbert, rather displeasedly smiling. "And have you, sir ?" cried Mervyn. "I," returned he; "I think it would be rather difficult to prove that I afforded any reason for the question being asked. No! at my time of life people are little suspected of crediting the existence of ghosts. There is scarcely an old building without some tale or other of the kind, I expect," he carelessly added. "And your's is no exception to the general rule, sir ?" said Mervyn. "Well, I own that I am particularly interested with this eccentric appearance, who presumes to dispute the right of possession with its proprietor, notwithstanding the substantiality of his claim to a less visionary title, and appropriates apartments to his sole use and benefit, without the permission of the owner, and paying the dues of acknowledgment. It is a species of inconvenient tenantry, Sir Herbert; I dare say you have found it But there is a legend, of course, attached to the phantom, and that you would favour me by doling forth." So. "I must be excused," said Sir Herbert; "I was never much of a legendary, and know not how to heighten effects and dress up incidents. The fact is, that there has been an odd tale respecting a party who once owned the hall, afloat in the neighbourhood for many years past. I have often heard it from my grandmother, who, perhaps, poor woman, thought she enhanced the dignity of the family by intimating that a ghost story was attached to its hereditary seat. The following is an abstract and brief chronicle of the tradition :-About seventy or eighty years ago the master of this house and domain was Reginald Oakhampton, a determined stickler for the court, and a professed contemner of the profanum vulgus. This gentlemen had the happiness to possess a most beautiful wife, a scion of one of the most ancient and honourable families in the county. Though extremely fond of his wife, he was suspected to be a little tainted with the green-eyed monster, although she had the you will find, before I finish my story, was not altogether just. A younger brother of Reginald, who had been a long time in the Netherlands, came down into Derbyshire to pay him a visit; and, somehow or other, an unlawful kind of affection seems to have sprung up between the former and the lady of the hall. Reginald was attending the king when rumours of this reached his ears; bursting with rage he posted back immediately, and had the misfortune of finding his brother, not only in the house, but in a suite of rooms expressly appropriated to his wife's use. Without pausing to consider what he was doing, and deaf to the shrieks and entreaties of his terrified partner, he tore his sword from the scabbard, and, ere his brother had time to put himself upon his guard, stabbed him to the heart. Overpowered with horror he fled away, and, as some say, ended his days in a foreign land. After some time elapsed the lady recovered from the shock, and lived to marry a second time; but she could not bear to reside in the edifice in which the tragedy had taken place, and so abandoned it altogether-that is to say, to some of the adherents of the family. Great part of it was shut up, until my grandfather, on taking possession of the estate, had the whole "God forbid that they should have been!" cried Dorothy. "I must confess I had no great wish to put my skill in marksmanship to the test. A single traveller, sans attendant, traversing a lonely and dangerous road, would have been no difficult object of attack to our gentlemen of the highway; but, favoured by the gods, I have made my voyage in safety, and anchored with un-reputation of being the most faultless of beings. The reputation, sprung mast and undiminished cargo. Though the latter was not very weighty, I should not have very willingly parted with any portion of it. Well, sir, this is the first visit I have paid to your mansion; it is really an enviable building, and the timber in your park would cheer the eye of many a spendthrift. To lay hands on the tutelary deities of your sylvan retirement, would be an act of utter sacrilege. Metropolitan as I am, I think I could find in my heart to take up my residence here for the remainder of my life, and grow hoary beneath the shadows of your Vandyked and mossy walls. Your servants, too, look as if they had sprung up with the building, grown with its growth, and strengthened with its strength.' Everything is in strict keeping; but I find you, Sir Herbert, and you, Miss Dorothy, the same as I have known you in town-kind, attentive, and uniformly engaging. You look not as gloomy and antediluvian as your hereditary residence. Before I go, Sir Herbert, I shall beg leave to cultivate acquaintance with your ancestors in the picture gallery, as I understand you have a fine assortment, some by artists of no mean eminence. I must let you know that I reckon myself something of a connoisseur hrown again open and repaired, with the view of making it entirely his future residence. So it has continued till my time; and now I have given you an outline of the story.' "But sir, this is a very tragical story, I confess; but you have not established any propinquity between it and the appearance which is believed to haunt the building which was its scene. I think I can guess at the denouement. The ghost of this slain gentleman is suspected to walk the rooms in which he was murdered?" "Yes, that is it exactly," said Sir Herbert. "You have saved me a world of trouble. I cannot get the superstition out of the foolish heads of my servants. The apartments are by their folly rendered quite useless, and, though not shut up, are seldom if ever looked into." "A pity," cried Mervyn, "that so much good room should be wasted. Now, I am so steadfast a believer in ghosts, 'black, white, and grey,' that I request to be allowed the privilege of sleeping in one of the haunted apartments. You have a bedchamber among them; one, perhaps, commodious and delightfully antique ?" "I could not think of any such thing," returned Sir Herbert. 'A very inhospitable trick indeed it would be in me, to lay myt guest in an apartment which all the rest of the household hold in utter terror. You shall do no such thing, Mervyn." You forget, father," cried Dorothy, "that Mr. Mervyn could sleep there, for five days to come, with impunity. You must know," she continued, turning to Mervyn, "that our spectral visitant only favours us with his company, according to the belief amongst the servants and neighbourhood, once in twenty years. On Friday next will he, as it is said, be again visible; till then you may sleep in the room perfectly undisturbed by expectations of his coming." 'Well, then, if you please, sir, so great is my desire of rooting out this disagreable and unwelcome visitor, until Friday I will sleep in other quarters; but on that night, remember, I mark these rooms as my own." "You need not fear that your claim will be disputed," said Dorothy. "You will have four or five spacious apartments, fitted up in good style, and replete with conveniences, all to yourself. The bed-room faces the east, too, and you can have the gratification of seeing the sun rise over our woody hills. It is a splendid sight." is some cogency in your last argument, and, as I could not think of submitting you to even a transient uneasiness, I will sleep there myself; enact the ghost in my own house. Surely you will not dispute that I'm best entitled to support the character." "That I will not on any account permit you to do. It will be said immediately that I incited you to an act for which I myself wanted sufficient courage. No, sir, the ordeal is mine, or it shall not be gone through at all. I will permit no interloper." "This is very idle conversation, upon my word," cried Sir Herbert. "You may be more profitably employed with the wine there before you. When you have filled yourself a bumper I will thank you for the bottle. Come, draw around the fire; I interdict all further parley on his ghostship. Were it not dark, Son Mervyn, I would show you some of my pictures-but all that in good time to-morrow. Leading from the adjoining room is a small ornithological museum. I have some rare specimens, which I wish you much to see. Come this way." Taking up a light from the table, he led the way through two or three elegantly furnished rooms, to a unique though small apartment, furnished with well-filled cases of stuffed birds of the most brilliant plumage, and animals of the rarest description. Mervyn seemed bent upon having his wish, for no opportunity was let slip for reiterating his request, until Sir Herbert, fairly wearied out, fell in, and gave his consent. The days between that of his arrival and the following and most eventful Friday, were very agreeably spent. Seeing over the mansion, traversing the park, chatting good-humouredly with the ancient domestics, riding, in company with Dorothy, over the neighbourhood, fishing, music, eating, and conversation, made the time fly lightly enough. Friday at length arrived. Mervyn was all day in high spirits, though the servants one and all shrugged their shoulders, shuddered, and looked at him with a kind of doubtful fear. (To be concluded in our next.) AN EVENING THOUGHT. The old church-clock strikes out the hour with a strong level chime, march of Time, "It shall be mine, by Jove!" cried Mervyn. "It is not likely Telling, whilst sleep swathes half the earth, the unfaltering the belief of the ghost's existence will any longer be entertained after I have exposed its fallacy; will it, sir ?" 'No, my people must be blinder and more simple than I gave them credit for, should such be the case. But, Mervyn, I cannot allow any such thing. What would be said of me? You must sleep elsewhere. We will find you a comfortable-and oldfashioned, if you like it-room; one to your heart's content. I shall lock up the doors on the day. "Excuse me, sir, but I think you will go the best way to perpetuate the supersition. If the people find you encouraging it, it is not likely they will let it drop. Besides, how could it be falsified ? That can only be done by somebody sleeping in the room on this particular night; and remember, sir, that no other opportunity will occur for a number of years. You must, positively, let me do as I wish." 66 No, no, indeed," cried Sir Herbert; "it's ridiculous. up the thought Mervyn; give up the thought." Give "Nay, I must not be refused. I have set my mind upon it, and I am reckoned rather wilful. Besides, I do you a service the effect of which will be felt for ever. I dare say you find that side of your house scarcely habitable while the opinion is afloat. These chimeras ought to be rooted out; nay, I feel it incumbent on me to assist in so doing. I shall positively be seriously offended if you refuse me. Besides, I'll tell you another thing, sir; it is not at all unlikely that some person about your establishment tries to amuse himself by practising on the fears and credulity of your domestics. This opportunity will scarcely be let slip; and you will have the satisfaction of having your house haunted for the next twenty years. Root out the evil at As if with mailed hand he smote the sounding doors of night, Sweet time for thought! a summer's night with golden-lighted skies, No noise to mar the quietude that round us brooding lies; UNIVERSAL PHILANTHROPY.-By nature man is impressed with an attachment to himself, and to his own species, of the warmest kind; this stamp of Nature's hand is indeed inseparable from life; actuated by its influence, we cultivate everything that seems to have a tendency to make man happy; but this principle, great and necessary as it is, is apt to influence our judgment in the most important speculations, and to lead us into conclusions ill-founded and erroneous. It is this prevailing love of human life, and an attachment to whatever may be thought to resemble it, which has separated man to so great a distance from the beautiful works of nature, and has reared him in imagination to the highest and most lofty station in the scale of existence. The great mass of people consider all things in existence as made for their own particular accommodation and use, and they deem creatures of a different species from themselves as entitled to no share of their sympathy or regard. THE ASTROLOGER'S STUDY; Being Predictions of the Chief Events from Week to Week. THE starry configurations of the week are fraught with much of evil for those high in power; as Mars hastens through Aquarius to conjunction with Saturn, his influence will be felt by many of the mighty. A popular American general, and an able British commander, succumb to the conqueror of us all; and some excitement will prevail in the commercial world from the intelligence of great disquietude in the north. Some unexpected cases of fraud occur, and several acts of larceny are discovered. THE ASTROLOGER'S CALENDAR. A Diary of Auspicious and Inauspicious Days, with Weekly Indications of the Weather, deduced from Planetary Influences. WEDNESDAY, May 21st.-Squally, stormy weather. Ask no favours, and woo not. THURSDAY, May 22nd.-Fairer, and an increase of warmth. Deal with elderly people. FRIDAY, May 23rd.-Fair and warm. Buy or sell railway shares. A good day for making money. SATURDAY, May 24th.-Fair, with light breeze. Travel, but seek not public bodies. SUNDAY, May 25th.-Fair, with showers at night. Visit thy friend, and prosper. MONDAY, May 26th.-Stormy and cloudy. Very evil for all new undertakings. TUESDAY, May 27th.-Fair. Speculations judiciously began this day will prove fortunate. THE WONDERFUL SECRETS OF NUMBERS. [From Heydon's Holy Guide-the most scarce and valuable work in the library of the British Museum.] CHAPTER III. OF THE NUMBER ELEVEN. By 11 Theophilus Fulwood, the Rosie Crucian, knew the Demones Metallici and Guardian Genii, who told him that the bodies of spirits were cold; and, indeed, it stands to very good reason that the bodies of spirits, being nothing but coagulated aire, should be cold, as well as coagulated water, which is snow and ice, and that it should be a more keen and piercing cold, it consisting of more subtill particles then those of water, and, therefore, more fit to insinuate, and more accurately and stingingly to affect and touch the nerves. Hence we may also discover the folly of the opinion that makes the very essence of spirits to be fire, for how unfit that would be to coagulate the aire is plaine at first, for it would rather melt and dissolve those consistencies than constringe them, and freeze them in a manner; but it is rather manifest that the essence of spirits is a substance specifically distinct from all corporeal matter whatsoever; but my intents is not to phylosophize concerning the nature of spirits. Pherecydes Syrus, the Rosie Crucian, and master of Pythagoras, by eleven knew the Fauni and Sylvani, and Onocentauri, a kind of spirits that frequent the woods, and are of a dark colour; they cause a noise and stir in those desolate places, and, therefore, he forewarns his scholars to beware of their acquaint ance. The number 11, as it exceeds the number 10, which is the number of the Commandments, so it falls short of the number 12, which is of grace and perfection, therefore it is called the number of sins, and the penitent. Hence, in the tabernacle there were commanded to be made 11 coats of hair, which is the habit of those that are penitent and lament for their sins; whence this number hath no communion with divine or celestiall things, nor any attraction attending to things above, neither hath it any reward, but yet sometimes it receives a gracious favour from God, as he which was called the eleventh hour to the vineyard of the Lord received the same reward as those who had born the burthen and heat of the day; and I never knew but one spirit that ever appeared by this number that was a good spirit; and that Theophilus Fulwood had, as he gathered from certaine monitory dreams and visions, although other spirits would speak to him, this would not, but yet he was forewarned as well of several dangers as vices; that this spirit discovered himself to him after he had, for a whole year together, earnestly prayed to God to send a good angel to him, and he engraved 11 in silver for it to be the guide and governour of his life and actions, that he might not be deluded by evil spirits. Wherefore, from that time, saith Eugenius Theodactus, he did affirm that a spirit was alwayes with him, and, by some sensible sign, did ever advertise him with things, as by striking his right ear, if he did any wayes amiss; if otherwise, his left; if any body came to circumvent him, that his right ear was struck; but his left ear, if a good man, and to good ends, accosted him; if he was about to eat or drink any thing that would hurt him, or intended or purposed to himself to do any thing that would prove ill, that he was prohibited by a sign; or, if he delayed to follow his business, that he was quickened by a sign followed him. Now, sayes he, by 11 a good angel will come and make you invisible, and transform you into any of these shapes: a boy, a lamb, a dove, a beam of light; and the spirit gets into the body, and, by his subtill substance-more operative and searching then any æther or lightning-melts the yielding compages of the body to such a consistency, and so much of it as is fit for his purpose, and makes it pliable to your imagination, and then it is as easie for him to work it into what shape he pleaseth, as it is to work the aire into such forms and figures as he ordinarily doth; nor is it any more difficulty for an angel to mollifie what's hard, then it is to harden what is soft and fluid as the aire. And he that hath this power, you can allow him that which is lesser-viz., to instruct men how they shall for a time forsake their bodies, and come in again; for, can it be a hard thing for him that can thus melt and take in pieces the particles of the body, to have the skill and power to loosen the soul-a substance distinct from the body, and separable from it, which at last is done by the easy course of nature at final dissolution of soul and body, which we call death; but no course of nature ever transforms the body of man into the shape of a lamb or a dove, so that this is more hard and different from the course of nature then the other; I, you'l say the greatness and incredulity of the miracle is this, that there should be an actual separation of soul and body, and yet no death. But this is not at all strange, if we consider that death is properly a disjunction of the soul from the body, by reason of the bodie's unfitness any longer to entertain the soul, because of diseases or age. But this is not such a miracle, nor is the body properly dead, though the soul be out of it; for the life of the body is nothing else but that fit fitness to be actuated by the soul, the conservation whereof is helped by aurum potabile, and numbers engraven in gold, silver, precious stones, and in metals, which keeps out the cold, keeps in the heat and spirits, that the frame and temper of the body may continue in fit case to entertain the soul again at her return; so the vital stem of the carcase being not spent, the pristine operations of life are presently again kindled, as a torch new blown out, and yet reeking, suddenly catches fire from the flame of another, though at some distance, the light gliding down the smoak. Wherefore the flying in the aire, walking in ladies' chambers invisibly, and bringing of messages from one lover to another, and discovering secrets, &c. it is easie; for they be then really out |