Concede nobis Agie Rex civitatis cœlicæ Post cursum vitæ labilis consortium in superis, The following passages of this author (which are appended in the original MS. to the above poem) are curious, as showing that the art of engraving upon gems was still practised in his age, the latter part of the eleventh century; unless we suppose that he had transcribed these rules from some more ancient writer. The Calcedony if blest and tied round the neck cures lunatics. Moreover, he that wears it will never be drowned or tempesttossed. It also makes the wearer beautiful, faithful, strong, and successful in all things. One ought to engrave upon it Mars armed, and a virgin robed, wrapped in a vestment and holding a laurel branch; with a perpetual blessing. Aristotle, in his book on gems, says that an Emerald hung from the neck, or worn on the finger, protects against danger of the falling sickness. We therefore command noblemen, that it be hanged about the necks of their children that they fall not into this complaint. The Emerald is approved in all kinds of divination, in every business if worn it increases its owner's importance both in presence and in speech. A Sard of the weight of twenty grains of barley, if hung round the neck or worn on the finger, the wearer shall not have terrible or disagreeable dreams, and shall have no fear of incantations or of witchcraft. The Beryl is a large and transparent stone. Engrave upon it a lobster and under its legs a raven, and put under the gem a vervain leaf enclosed in a little plate of gold; it being consecrated and worn, makes the wearer conqueror of all bad things, and gives protection against all diseases of the eyes. And if you put this stone in water, and give this water to one to drink, it cures stoppage of the breath and hiccups, and dispels pains of the liver. It is useful to be worn, and he that hath this gem upon him shall be victorious in battle over all his foes. It is found in India like unto the Emerald, but of a paler cast. (I may here observe that the lobster, with the bird corniccia beneath him, is the Oriental device of a scorpion seizing a bird in his claws; with two stars in the field, one of these intagli, of apparently Sassanian work on a large Sardonyx, was once in my possession. The perpetual flow of pilgrims to the East must have made these astrological gems familiar to the ecclesiastics of that age.) The Sard is good to be worn, and makes the person beloved by women; engrave upon it a vine and ivy twining round it. The Casteis (Callais, Turquois) is good for liberty, for he that hath consecrated it and duly performed all things necessary to be done in it shall obtain liberty. It is fitting to perfect the stone when you have got it, in this manner. Engrave upon it a beetle, then a man standing under it; afterwards let it be bored through its length and set on a gold fibula (swivel); then being blest and set in an adorned and prepared place, it will show forth the glory which God hath given it. Psyche mourning the flight of Cupid. MAGICAL SIGILLA. We have seen how, in the days of Pliny (though he loses no opportunity of laughing at the superstition), the Magi ascribed extraordinary and supernatural properties to gems, and to various figures engraved upon them. As civilization declined, these notions came more and more into vogue, so that even a learned physician, Alexander of Tralles, recommends the wearing of the intaglio of Hercules strangling the Nemean lion, as a charm against the colic; and such intagli do occur inscribed on the back with four Ks, to make assurance doubly sure. Gnostic stones frequently present inscriptions specifying the part of the body they were intended to protect from malignant influences, as Quλažov υγιη στομαχον Προκλου, “Preserve in health the chest of Proclus;" as well as the others of a more general character already noticed, praying Abraxas Iao to protect the wearer from every evil spirit. A stone thus inscribed was called АTотελσμ, "an influence," a word originally signifying the Αποτέλεσμα, influence of the stars on man's destiny; hence, т, the name for astrology in classic writers; and the same word is corrupted into our talisman. As the spirits of the Gnostic mythology presided over the planets, their representations exerted their proper influence on the wearers of the gems, and thus the word came to signify exclusively the magic stone itself. Marbodus, in the eleventh century, has already greatly improved upon Pliny's list of wonderworking gems, and their sigilla, or intagli; but the succeeding ages, from the perpetual intercourse of Europeans with the Arabian schools, (from which the knowledge of all the useful sciences, as medicine, chemistry, and mathematics, not to mention astrology and alchemy, was again introduced into the West); these next four centuries brought the science of talismans to perfection, and laid down exactly what was the virtue of each particular representation to be found engraved on each particular kind of gem. The received doctrine on this subject is clearly enunciated by Camillo Leonardo, in his Speculum Lapidum, dedicated to Cesare Borgia, 1503, of whose Third Book I subjoin a summary, as it will frequently serve to explain the legends accompanying many antique intagli, set in jewellery during the Middle Ages, as well as the value then placed upon many stones, quite irrespective of their beauty or workmanship. These "stones of virtue" were believed to have been engraved in the "times of the Israelites," a notion no doubt grounded upon the Hebrew words so frequent on the Gnostic intagli; those of the Roman times are only "voluntariæ," or fancy subjects, and have no other influence than that natural to the gem itself. All things material have a proper form, and are subject to certain influences; stones, being material, derive a virtue from a specific form, and are likewise subject to the universal influence of the planets. Hence, if they are engraved by a skilful person, under some particular influence, they receive a certain virtue, as if they were endued with life through the engraving; just as man's will is free, yet it is drawn by reason to do some determinate thing, to which it would not be drawn if reason were taken away. Similarly, the virtue of the gem is directed by the engraving upon it to a certain determinate effect, to which it was not directed before being engraved. But if the effect intended by the figure engraved be the same as that produced by the natural quality of the stone, its virtue will be doubled, and the effect strengthened. This virtue remains for ever, unless the stone be broken to pieces, and the figure totally destroyed. For the engraving, to be efficacious, must be made by "election; that is, we elect a certain hour in which the influence of the particular planet is strongest, under which we design to engrave the stone, and thus, by election, the planetary influence is infused into the stone, and continues as long as the figure continues. For all astronomers agree that the starry influences acting by election are permanent in all things. And Ptolemy says, that virtue infused into a thing at its first origin abides in the thing as long as itself endures. Engravings are either Universal, or Particular, or Significative of the virtue of the stone. Universal, are such as produce the same effect on whatever stone they are cut; such as the Signs of the Zodiac. Thus Aries, being of a fiery nature, induces heat on whatsoever kind of stone he may be engraved, though this effect is increased or diminished by the natural virtue of the stone itself. Particular, are figures of the planets and constellations, and also magical figures, since these all tend to a particular or determinate effect. Significative figures are of two classes, one denoting the nature of the stone by conjecture, the other denoting the same virtue, and having also a heavenly influence derived from a constellation. For it is indubitable that figures were cut on the stones to augment their potency, as well as merely to signify the nature of the virtue of the stone. Thus there are several kinds of Agates, and on each kind figures are found, denoting its specific virtue. Thus the property of the Sicilian Agate is to counteract the poison of the viper; you will therefore find engraved upon it the figure of a man holding a viper, the quality of the stone being thus denoted by the figure it presents. But if the engraving represented the Serpentarius (Ophiuchus), a constellation which has the virtue of resisting poisons, then, by knowing the constellation, you would recognise the virtue of the gem: and besides, its power would be doubled by the effect of the engraving upon it; and this rule holds good for all other gems. Magical and necromantic figures bear no resemblance to the Signs of the Zodiac, or to the Constellations, and therefore their virtues are only to be discovered by persons versed in these particular sciences; yet it is most certain that the |