Eleanora waited in compassionate silence till her brother resumed in a calmer tone, “Think me not mad, my sister. If the feeble attempts of an imprisoned king, and a cloistered friar, can produce the wondrous results of which thou hast been witness, what shall the end be, when men free to pursue these investigations shall win the rich guerdon of fame and pecuniary reward? Thou hast heard, perchance, of the magician Albertus Magnus, who constructed a human figure, which performed the office of a servant; and of the stupid priest Thomas Aquinas, who, alarmed by the appearance of the automaton which opened the door and ushered him in with ceremonious obeisance, destroyed with one blow the work of years.”
“I can forgive his terror,” said Eleanora, “for I well remember my own affright, when the brazen head contrived by Friar Bacon, rolled along on the table towards me, and uttered ‘pax vobiscum’ with startling distinctness.”
“Albertus Magnus performed a still more astonishing work,” continued Alphonso. “At a banquet which he gave in the garden of his cloister, in the depth of winter, trees appeared covered with leaves and flowers, which vanished as if by enchantment, when the guests rose to depart.”
“By what means were these wonderful works produced?” said Eleanora, with astonishment.
“With the mode of this operation I am not familiar,” returned the philosopher. “Doubtless by some of the powerful agents alchemy reveals to its votaries.”
“And what dost thou consider the chief agent in the universe?” said Eleanora, with the air of one inquiring after truth.
“Nature,” returned the philosopher, emphatically.
“And will it pain my brother, if his unlearned sister call that great agent, who brings the flowers and leaves upon the trees in their season, by the name of God?”
“Certainly, the name can affect nothing,” replied Alphonso; “and if thy priest require it of thee, sin not against him, by a more liberal view.”
“And if the ignorant mass, who cannot be enlightened by thy theories, are restrained from vice by the thought that an Omniscient Being takes note of their actions, would it be well to free them from the necessary monitor?” inquired his sister.