Dr. Dee, however, disclaimed all dealings with "the
black art" in his petition to the great "Solomon of the North," James I.,
which was couched in these words: "It has been affirmed that your
majesty's suppliant was the conjurer belonging to the most honourable
privy council of your majesty's predecessor, of famous memory, Queen
Elizabeth; and that he is, or hath been, a caller or invocater of devils,
or damned spirits; these slanders, which have tended to his utter undoing,
can no longer be endured; and if on trial he is found guilty of the
offence imputed to him, he offers himself willingly to the punishment of
death; yea, either to be stoned to death, or to be buried quick, or to be
burned unmercifully." In spite of his assertions to the contrary, the
learned doctor must have had an intimate acquaintance with "the black
art," and was the companion and friend of Edward Kelly, a notorious
necromancer, who for his follies had his ears cut off at Lancaster. This
Kelly used to exhume and consult the dead; in the darkness of night he and
his companions entered churchyards, dug up the bodies of men recently
buried, and caused them to utter predictions concerning the fate of the
living. Dr. Dee's friendship with Kelly was certainly suspicious. On the
coronation of Queen Elizabeth, he foretold the future by consulting the
stars. When a waxen image of the queen was found in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields,
which was a sure sign that some one was endeavouring to cast spells upon
her majesty, Dr.
Pages:
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77