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tract of land upon which to erect a convent. The better to succeed in his application he conceived the
following scheme. He invited the prince on his journey to partake of a magnificent entertainment. To the
surprise of every body, when the prince arrived, he found the preparations for the banquet spread in the open
air. It was in the depth of winter, when the earth was bound up in frost, and the whole face of things was
covered with snow. The attendants of the court were mortified, and began to express their discontent in loud
murmurs. No sooner however was the king with Albertus and his courtiers seated at table, than the snow
instantly disappeared, the temperature of summer shewed itself, and the sun burst forth with a dazzling
splendour. The ground became covered with the richest verdure; the trees were clothed at once with foliage,
flowers and fruits: and a vintage of the richest grapes, accompanied with a ravishing odour, invited the
spectators to partake. A thousand birds sang on every branch. A train of pages shewed themselves, fresh and
graceful in person and attire, and were ready diligently to supply the wants of all, while every one was struck
with astonishment as to who they were and from whence they came. The guests were obliged to throw off
their upper garments the better to cool themselves. The whole assembly was delighted with their
entertainment, and Albertus easily gained his suit of the king. Presently after, the banquet disappeared; all was
wintry and solitary as before; the snow lay thick upon the ground; and the guests in all haste snatched up the
garments they had laid aside, and hurried into the apartments, that by numerous fires on the blazing hearth
they might counteract the dangerous chill which threatened to seize on their limbs. [169]
ROGER BACON.
Roger Bacon, of whom extraordinary stories of magic have been told, and who was about twenty years
younger than Albertus, was one of the rarest geniuses that have existed on earth. He was a Franciscan friar. He
wrote grammars of the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages. He was profound in the science of optics. He
explained the nature of burning-glasses, and of glasses which magnify and diminish, the microscope and the
telescope. He discovered the composition of gunpowder. He ascertained the true length of the solar year; and
his theory was afterwards brought into general use, but upon a narrow scale, by Pope Gregory XIII, nearly
three hundred years after his death. [170]
But for all these discoveries he underwent a series of the most bitter persecutions. It was imputed to him by
the superiors of his order that the improvements he suggested in natural philosophy were the effects of magic,
and were suggested to him through an intercourse with infernal spirits. They forbade him to communicate any
of his speculations. They wasted his frame with rigorous fasting, often restricting him to a diet of bread and
water, and prohibited all strangers to have access to him. Yet he went on indefatigably in pursuit of the secrets
of nature. [171] At length Clement IV, to whom he appealed, procured him a considerable degree of liberty.
But, after the death of that pontiff, he was again put under confinement, and continued in that state for a
further period of ten years. He was liberated but a short time before his death.
Freind says, [172] that, among other ingenious contrivances, he put statues in motion, and drew articulate
sounds from a brazen head, not however by magic, but by an artificial application of the principles of natural
philosophy. This probably furnished a foundation for the tale of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungy, which was one
of the earliest productions to which the art of printing was applied in England. These two persons are said to
have entertained the project of inclosing England with a wall, so as to render it inaccessible to any invader.
They accordingly raised the devil, as the person best able to inform them how this was to be done. The devil
advised them to make a brazen head, with all the internal structure and organs of a human head. The
ROGER BACON. 84
Lives of the Necromancers
construction would cost them much time; and they must then wait with patience till the faculty of speech
descended upon it. It would finally however become an oracle, and, if the question were propounded to it,
would teach them the solution of their problem. The friars spent seven years in bringing the structure to
perfection, and then waited day after day, in expectation that it would utter articulate sounds. At length nature
became exhausted in them, and they lay down to sleep, having first given it strictly in charge to a servant of
theirs, clownish in nature, but of strict fidelity, that he should awaken them the moment the image began to
speak. That period arrived. The head uttered sounds, but such as the clown judged unworthy of notice. Time
is! it said. No notice was taken; and a long pause ensued. Time was! A similar pause, and no notice. Time
is passed! And the moment these words were uttered, a tremendous storm ensued, with thunder and
lightning, and the head was shivered into a thousand pieces. Thus the experiment of friar Bacon and friar
Bungy came to nothing.
THOMAS AQUINAS.
Thomas Aquinas, who has likewise been brought under the imputation of magic, was one of the profoundest
scholars and subtlest logicians of his day. He also furnishes a remarkable instance of the ascendant which the
friars at that time obtained over the minds of ingenuous young men smitten with the thirst of knowledge. He
was a youth of illustrious birth, and received the rudiments of his education under the monks of Monte
Cassino, and in the university of Naples. But, not contented with these advantages, he secretly entered himself
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