Show OF DF FAMOUS MAGICIANS KING KINa ARTHUR AND MERLIN THE ENCHANTER Of a Wonderful l 1 Magic Inn of or tine tho Middle Cornelius Black lack Do Dog and tho the Story of ot III 1511 Death The Tho supremely ambitious nature oiman of oi nan man has been boon evinced from tho earliest carll- carll est sst periods of creation by his keen desire do- do sire to probe probo the tho secrets of tho the world unknown to penetrate s tho the future futuro tad and even to command and control futuro future futuro fu fu- turo ture events vents The Tho dark period of years says sas the Sat Evening Post between the tho entrance of the Saxons under tinder Hengist and ind their conversion con to Christianity was tho the ago of the he famous King Arthur and his friend Merlin the en on- chanter The Tho earliest of the tho prose romances relating to Arthur is tho the history of Merlin who vho notwithstanding lug ing the remarkable traditions concernIng concern- concern lug Ing his hiB occult powers vers may not have been altogether ether a- a fictitious personage We Wo may imagine him to have been a minister of surpassing ability whoso deeds have havo been passed oh on to posterity through the customary course courso of ex- ex oration and embellishment till his bis original virtues have been lost alto alto- grother gother in a n. halo of obscurity and ro ro- mances However that may be Merlin Merlin Mer Mer- lin Un according to tradition was the theBon son Bon of a n. demon and an Innocent young lady and favorite minister of Uter liter the British King who vho founded the tho order of the Round Bound Table Tabie at now Carlisle Merlin served liter in his armor with the beautiful Duchess of Tinta Tinta- diol and was afterwards the tho wise counsellor of their son the ever famous famous fam fam- amous am- am ous Arthur when the latter was vas chosen King in consequence of having unfixed from a miraculous stone stono a sword which two hundred and one ono of the most valiant barons in the realm had been boon sin singly ly unable to extract Authur had lon long wars to sustain against the and Saxons and at atthe atthe atthe the be beginning with those of his Barons Barons Bar Bar- ons who disapproved of his singular mode of election In all alt these contests contests contests con con- tests Merlin was of the tho greatest service service service ser ser- vice as he ho changed himself into a dwarf a harp player or a stag as the interest of his bis master required or at least throw on tho the bystanders a spell to fascinate their eyes and cause causo them to see the tho thing that was not On one occasion he ho made an expedition expedition expo expo- ditton to Rome Homo entered the kings king's palace in the tho shape of an enormous star stair and in this character delivered a formal harangue ue to the tho amazement of all nil present At length this ro- ro roI I magician disappeared entirely from Crom England His voice alono alone was heard in tho forest where he was enclosed enclosed en en- closed in a bush of hawthorn into which somewhat awkward residence he be 10 had been entrapped by means of a charm which he ho had communicated to tobis his bis mistress Viviane who vho not believing ing lug in the tho spell had tried it on her over The lady we wo are told was vas rueful in discovering the extreme p po potency po tency of Merlin's charm but there was no extracting her swain from his thorny coverture Tho The conduct of tho the alchemists of the middle a ages es presents to the metaphysician metaphysician meta- meta physician and the moralist a 0 problem of f very difficult solution Of Cornelius Agrippa many extraordinary deeds are related He Ho wrote three books of ol considerable size sizo on magic and in common with others sou sought ht the art artof artof artof of transmuting the tho baser metals into gold old The Tho earl of Surrey it seems became became be- be came camo acquainted with Agrippa at tho the Court of John George Elector of Sax Sax- ony On this occasion there thero were present resent beside the tho English nobleman Erasmus and many other persons eminent omi emi nent in hi tho the republic of letters etters These persons desired him before the elector to o exhibit something memorable Erasmus earnestly requested to behold Tully Fully in tho the act of delivering his oration ora ora- tion ion for RoscIu After marshalling the concourse of spectators Tully appeared ap- ap at the command of A Agrippa and from the rostrum pronounced tho the oration precisely in the words in v which it t has boon been handed down flown to us The Tho story adds that when Sir Thomas homas More was at tho the same place Agrippa showed him the tho whole destruction destruction de do of Troy in La a dream To To- o Thomas Lord Cromwell ho exhibited in n a a. perspective glass King Henr Henry and all his lords hunting in his forest at nt Windsor To Charles V. V he ho showed David Solomon Gideon and the he rest with the Nine SIne Worthies in their heir habits and similitude as they lived ived Agrippa according to the tho testimony tes- tes of ot had an attendant devil who accompanied him Mm in hi all his travels ravels in tho the a Do black dog When ho he lay on his deathbed ho he was earnestly exhorted to repent of his sins Ins Being in consequence struck with a adeep adeep deep loop contrition he took hold of the dog og and removed from him a collar studded with nails which a an n necromantic Inscription at t the tho same time imo saying sayin to him wretched animal which has been the tho cause CRouse of my entire destruction l' l It is added that hat the tho dog immediately ran away away and plunged itself into the River Soane after which it it was seen een no more |