In France his style of living was still more extravagant. He spent vast sums on pictures, sculptures, and artistic treasures generally. Collecting illuminated missals was his speciality. At his episcopal palace at Saverne, near Strasburg, which he rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire in 1779 at a cost of between two and three million livres, he had a magnificent library. As printed books, according to Madame d’Oberkirch, were beneath his notice, his library was noted for its beautiful bindings, and above all for the missals ornamented with miniatures worth their weight in gold.
His principal pastime, however, was alchemy. At Saverne, besides his library, he had one of the finest laboratories in Europe. He was almost mad on the subject of the philosopher’s stone. The mention of the occult sciences at once arrested his attention; then, and only then, did the brilliant, frivolous Cardinal become serious.
Naturally, such a man could not fail to be impressed by the mysterious physician whose cures were the talk of Strasburg.
Shortly after Cagliostro’s arrival, Baron de Millinens, the Cardinal’s master of the hounds, called to inform him that his Eminence desired to make his acquaintance. But Cagliostro knowing, as he stated at his trial in the Necklace Affair, that the prince “only desired to see him from curiosity, refused to gratify him.” The answer he returned is famous, and thoroughly characteristic of him.
“If the Cardinal is ill,” he is reported to have said, “let him come to me and I will cure him; but if he is well, he has no need of me nor I of him.”
This message, far from affronting the Cardinal, only increased his curiosity. After having attempted in vain to gain admittance to the sanctuary of the new Esculapius, his Eminence had, or feigned, an attack of asthma, “of which,” says Cagliostro, “he sent to inform me, whereupon I went at once to attend him.”
The visit, though short, was long enough to inspire the Cardinal with a desire for a closer acquaintance. But Cagliostro’s disdainful reserve was not easily broken down. The advances of the Cardinal, however, were none the less flattering. At last, captivated by the persistency of the fascinating prelate, he declared in his grandiose way, to Rohan’s immense joy, that “the prince’s soul was worthy of his, and that he would confide to him all his secrets.”
The relation thus formed, whatever the motives that prompted it, soon ripened into intimacy. Needless to say, they had long, frequent, and secret confabulations in the Cardinal’s well-equipped laboratory. Cagliostro, with his wife, eventually even went to live at Saverne at the Cardinal’s request. He was bidden to consider the palace as his own, and the servants were ordered to announce him when he entered a room as “His Excellency M. le Comte de Cagliostro.”
The Baroness d’Oberkirch, on visiting Saverne while he was there, “was stunned by the pomp with which he was treated.” She was one of the few great ladies of Strasburg who refused to believe in him. To her he was merely an adventurer. On the occasions of her visit to Saverne the Cardinal, who had great respect for her, endeavoured to bring her round to his opinion. “As I resisted,” she said, “he became impatient.”
“Really, madame,” said he, “you are hard to convince. Do you see this?”