When reading the words spoken by Kelley and so carefully preserved by Dr. Dee, we are reminded, aside from the archaic turn of speech, of the minute descriptions so glibly given by modern mediums. It is true that lately, in America, the spirits of the former owners of the land, of the blameless aborigines, seem to have acquired a quasi monopoly of the intercourse with the other world.
Most of the early records of crystal-gazing show conclusively enough that the images revealed in the stone were produced by the expectations, the hopes, or the fears of the gazer. In many cases, indeed, the vision is only prophetic because it determines the future conduct of the person who consults the stone. Fully persuaded that what has been seen must come to pass, he, or she, proceeds more or less consciously to make it happen, to fulfil the prediction.
As an instance of this we may take from an old German book[292] the tale of a lovelorn maiden who seeks the aid of an enchantress to learn whether she will marry her lover, upon whom her parents look with disfavor. The mystic crystal is brought out wrapped in a yellow handkerchief, and is placed in a green bowl beneath which is spread a blue cloth, the reflections from these different colors being probably calculated to stimulate the optic nerve and favor the appearance of some picture upon the polished surface of the crystal. The young girl, in rapt attention, looks long and earnestly; at last she cries out that she sees her own form and that of her lover. Both look pale and sad, and they appear to be about to set forth upon a long and perilous journey, for the lover wears riding-boots and carries a brace of pistols. The girl is so terrified at the sight that she faints away. The sequel of this vision is a runaway match, and we can easily understand that when the lover proposed this adventure, the girl believed that it was written in the book of fate and willingly agreed to undertake it.
The great humorous poem “Hudibras,” wherein all the foibles of the seventeenth century are castigated, does not fail to make mention of Dee and Kelley and their crystal. Of the sorcerer whose aid Hudibras seeks we are told:[293]
He’d read Dee’s prefaces before,
The Dev’l and Euclid o’er and o’er;
And all th’ intrigues ’twixt him and Kelley,
Lascus and th’ Emperor, would tell ye.
Kelley did all his feats upon
The devil’s looking-glass, a stone