by Sax Rohmer
With every mark of respect on the part of the Grand Master, and accompanied by the Chevalier d’Aquino, of the illustrious house of Caramania, and himself a Knight of Malta, Cagliostro repaired to Naples, where he supported himself for some time with the money which had been presented to him by Pinto.
From Naples, after a number of adventures, Cagliostro proceeded to the Papal States, where he is said to have assumed several different characters, including that of a monk. According to one account, he visited all the churches, fulfilling the Roman religious duties, and frequenting the palaces of cardinals. By means of letters of recommendation, he obtained access to several persons of distinction, among others to the Seneschal de Breteuil, at that time Maltese Ambassador to Rome, who, hearing of his former connexion with the Grand Master, received him with much warmth, and procured him entrée to other aristocratic houses.
Figuier relates, then, that he was soon firmly established in the Holy City, retailing wonderful recipes and specifics for all the weaknesses which flesh is heir to. He lived extravagantly, but refrained from outraging the proprieties.
III. LORENZA FELICIANI
In Rome it was that Giuseppe Balsamo ceased to exist — henceforth we have to deal with Comte di Cagliostro; and in Rome he met the young and beautiful Lorenza Feliciani. Although some authorities tell us that Lorenza was of noble birth, the fact would seem to be that he met her in the workshop of a batadore, or coppersmith, in Pellegrini Street. At this time Cagliostro was lodging at the sign of the “Sun” in the Rotunda, and, according to the biography inspired by the Holy Office, selling copies, manufactured by himself, of “Rembrandt etchings.’’
Lorenza had eyes like the transparent shadows of a lagoon, hair of prisoned sunlight, and lips to have exhausted the similes of an Arabian poet — so she is painted for us. And she was barely fifteen.
We read of assignations at the house of an old Neapolitan woman, and we can picture the lovely Lorenza listening spellbound to the eloquence of her lover, hugging to her heart his wild, romantic declarations, whilst her very soul looks out from the wonderful eyes. Despite parental opposition, in April 1769 the marriage was celebrated at the church of San Salvador in Campo.
I shall now draw your attention to the discordant views of Madame di Cagliostro held by two different authorities. Says one: —
“Amid all the incense that was offered at her shrine, Madame was ever faithful to her spouse. She encouraged hopes, it is true, but she never realized them; she excited admiration, yet kept it within bounds; and made men her slaves, without ever granting a favour of which the vainest might boast.”
But, according to another testimony, although Lorenza was not only ravishingly beautiful, but “rich in every quality of the heart, being tender, devoted, honest, and modest, her husband conceived the diabolical design of advancing his fortunes at the expense of her honour, and in private conversation took occasion to rally her notions of virtue, which he sought to undermine. The first lesson which the young bride received from her husband was intended to instruct her in the means of attracting and gratifying the passions of the opposite sex. The most wanton coquetry and the most lascivious arts were the principles with which he endeavoured to inspire her. The mother of Lorenza, scandalized at his conduct, had such frequent altercations with her son-in-law that he resolved to remove from her house, and in other quarters found it a simpler task to corrupt the mind and morals of his wife.”
Then, says the Italian author (it must be remembered that he sought to justify the Inquisition), he presented her to two persons “well qualified for the exercise of her talents, having instructed her to entangle them both by her allurements. With one of these she did not succeed, but over the other she acquired a complete victory. Cagliostro himself conducted her to the house destined for the pleasure of her lover, left her alone in his company, and retired to another chamber.”
The offers made to her during the interview were regarded as entirely satisfactory by the husband, but the wife on this occasion did not find conjugal obedience and personal inclination to march together, and consequently she received most bitter reproaches and most violent and dreadful menaces. He repeatedly assured her that adultery was no crime when committed by a woman to advance her interests, and not by reason of affection for lovers.
His wife, hearkening at length to his evil instructions, was conducted several times to the place where she had formerly proved disobedient. She sometimes received, avows the same prejudiced witness, either clothes or trinkets, and sometimes a little money as the price of her condescension. On one occasion her husband wrote a letter, in his wife’s name, in which he begged the loan of a few crowns; these were forwarded immediately. “In return for them an interview was promised during the course of the next day — and the lady was faithful to the appointment.”
Mr. Arthur Edward Waite, probably the least biased and certainly the most conscientious and erudite English authority, says that all biographers agree that Cagliostro corrupted the morals of his wife; but that the verdict is not entirely unanimous we have seen. He adds: “Whatever were her natural virtues or failings, it is highly improbable that she sold her uncommon attractions for such paltry and miserable advantages.”
His meaning I take to be that the foregoing stories are of dubious authenticity; that being so, why should we attach any greater importance to those that follow, wherein the beautiful wife of Cagliostro is represented as abandoning herself to lover after lover? For are not all these defiled streams of anecdote traceable to a common source?
Even granting that Cagliostro was capable of this loathsome infamy, is it credible that a tactician so accomplished as he, that a man about to embark upon those tremendous projects which presently engaged the attention of Europe, should have descended to the petty and filthy intrigues of a bawd?
Following some doubtful adventures, then, the Comte and Madame di Cagliostro proceeded to Venice, accompanied by a certain Sicilian marquis. Here Cagliostro again found himself in prison, but he was very soon set at liberty, apparently owing to the efforts of the marquis; for “Donna Lorenza,” says a chronicler, “was one of the beauties of Europe.”The innuendo is scarcely veiled.
From this moment the life of the Comte di Cagliostro was for several years one of incessant wandering. According to the same Italian writer, as mendicity proved unprofitable, Lorenza was again forced by her husband to augment their resources by the sale of her charms. In this way they arrived at Barcelona, where they stayed for six months, “the same course of infamous prostitution, followed by Lorenza with the most manifest reluctance, contributing in the main to their support.”
Casanova seems to have met them as they journeyed through Aix in Provence. They were habited as pilgrims. “They could not but be people of high birth,” he relates in his monumental and astounding Mémoires, “since on arriving at the town they distributed alms widely.”
Later, he visited them at their inn. He writes:
“We found the female pilgrim seated in a chair, looking like a person exhausted with fatigue, and interesting by reason of her youth and beauty, singularly heightened by a touch of melancholy, and by a crucifix of yellow metal... which she held in her hands.... This young woman, far from flaunting the airs of libertinage, had all the outward bearing of virtue.”
They ultimately settled for a time in Barcelona, but at the end of some few months they departed, “because the viceroy,” Lorenza relates, “had taken a fancy for me, wanted to amuse himself with me, and, when I repulsed him, conceived much ill humour against us....”
From Barcelona they went on to Madrid, where they seem to have spent the year 1771, and then proceeded to Lisbon. Throughout this time, according to the chronicles published by the Italian Chamber, Cagliostro continued to traffic in the person of Lorenza.
They next appear in London, Cagliostro setting up as a designer. We are told that he joined a congregation of Quakers, one of whom found his austerity no armour against the burning glances of Lor
enza. We read how a meeting was arranged between the two frail ones, whereat “the conversation grew so warm that the Quaker had stripped off his hat and wig and coat — when Lorenza gave a scream, the door flew open,” and Cagliostro burst in, accompanied by a witness. The episode concluded, says our author, with the transference of a note for one hundred pounds from the Quaker to Cagliostro!
In 1772 Cagliostro and his wife returned to France, accompanied by a M. Duplessis. Lorenza and M. Duplessis drove together by post-chaise to Paris, we learn, Cagliostro following on horseback. This delightful arrangement led to a scene in the chaise, it would appear; for Lorenza avows, “I was several times tempted to stop and leave M. Duplessis, in order to escape the solicitations and even the actual violence he showed me in the carriage....”
However, Paris was come to at last; and, according to a chronicle before me at the moment, “apartments were taken for Lorenza by M. Duplessis... in the Rue Saint-Honoré.”
But Cagliostro was insatiable, says St. Felix. He sold his honour at a high price, and the fortune of Duplessis melted in the crucible of another’s follies and extravagances. According to one account Lorenza endeavoured to return to her parents, but another says that she sought refuge from incessant prostitution with M. Duplessis himself. Whatever the facts, Cagliostro had recourse to the authority of the King; and, obtaining an order for her arrest, she was imprisoned in the penitentiary of Sainte Pélagie, and was detained there for several months, which episode, in my humble opinion, alone constitutes a case for the defence of Cagliostro; particularly since the imprisonment of Lorenza did not prevent a reconciliation with her husband immediately after her release, which occurred on December 21, 1772.
IV. ADVENTURES IN LONDON
In July 1776 Cagliostro paid a second visit to London. It was at this time that he was initiated into masonry at the “Espérance” Lodge, attached to the “Rite of the Strict Observance,” meeting at the “King’s Head” in Gerrard Street, Soho, and composed mainly of French and Italians. At this time, no doubt, he also conceived his project of establishing a great rival brotherhood of which he should be supreme master.
The Comte and Comtesse di Cagliostro rented apartments in Whitcomb Street; and a certain Vitellini, a teacher of languages, was employed in the capacity of interpreter. This man was a ruined gamester, who in the endeavour to repair his crumbled fortunes had left few stones unturned. Immediately that he became acquainted with Cagliostro’s labours in the laboratory, he seems to have taken it for granted that the Comte’s pretensions had solid foundation. Within a remarkably short space of time it was common knowledge throughout London, if not throughout England, that a true Adept, of immense fortune, who could transmute into purest gold as much base metal as he pleased, was lodged in Whitcomb Street.
Thereupon we find the house invested with a gaping horde of idle, credulous, and avaricious sycophants; and first among the besiegers to effect a breach — through treachery of one of the garrison, Vitellini — is a pretended Scottish noble, “Lord Scot.”
This person, who shortly presented a woman named Fry as “Lady Scot,” was one of a gang of sharpers; and “his lordship’s” first achievement (since his effects had not arrived from the North and he had no London banker) was to borrow two hundred pounds from the Comte. What a wondrous lever is flattery!
Scot had in his possession a Cabalistic manuscript, which he submitted to Cagliostro, begging him to point out therefrom a lucky number in the lottery or at the roulette tables. The Comte, in his English memoirs, tells us that he obeyed, but with little confidence; he predicted as the successful number for the following November 6.
Out of the borrowed two hundred pounds, Scot ventured a small sum, and won. Cagliostro selected 25 for the next drawing; and Scot won a hundred guineas. We are informed that the numbers 55 and 57 now being announced, with equal success, for the 18th, Cagliostro declined to predict further. No doubt he was determined to challenge fortune on his own behalf in future.
At about this time he discovered, too, that the pretended peer was a mere swindler, and forthwith he closed his doors to Scot and company. The gang was very shortly reduced to sore straits. The sharpers’ faith in Cagliostro remained unshaken; they alternately implored and threatened, so fully persuaded were they that the Count’s unkindness alone stood between them and fortune.
Finally, the woman Fry gained access to Lorenza, begging her to intercede with her husband. Cagliostro, probably hoping to rid himself of them all, named the number 8 for the next lottery. We read with great astonishment that number 8 was awarded the first prize, and that Scot and company thus cleared fifteen hundred guineas.
In this way the Comte became involved in the mysterious affair of the necklace — the true facts of which defy research. As one author says, “Necklaces were evidently fated to bring him misfortune” — a reference to the notorious case of the diamond necklace.
It was out of the lottery proceeds that Mrs. Fry purchased a handsome necklace at a pawnbroker’s for ninety guineas. She is said to have ordered a richly chased gold box at a jeweller’s, and to have concealed the necklace in it. Seeking another meeting with Lorenza, she urged her to accept the casket as a token of esteem, without mentioning that it contained the necklace.
This according to one account; but both Figuier and d’Almeras state that the necklace was handed to Cagliostro by Mrs. Fry owing to his having persuaded her that by burying the diamonds he could cause them to become soft and grow to double their size; then, by the application of a rose-coloured powder which he showed her, he could recover their pristine hardness, and thus increase their value a hundredfold; d’Aimeras naïvely adds, “Cagliostro mit les diamants non pas dans la terre, mais dans sa poche.”
Then once more the vultures descended upon the Comte; until at last, exasperated beyond endurance, Cagliostro seems to have forcibly ejected Fry from the house. Very promptly that lady caused his arrest and instituted an action for the recovery of the necklace! Furthermore, Fry accused both Cagliostro and Lorenza of sorcery and of foretelling lottery numbers by the aid of the devil!
This charge actually came up before Mr. Justice Miller, and the necklace case was tried before the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In the meantime, Cagliostro having been released from prison on bail, he was waited upon by a knavish attorney, Reynolds, who offered to compromise the actions upon certain onerous conditions. Whilst these were under discussion, in upon the Comte rushed Scot, covering him with a pistol and promising him instant death unless he revealed the secret of predicting winning numbers and of transmutation!
Cagliostro, however, whatever his moral lackings, did not lack spirit; he was not the man to succumb to this kind of coercion. He defied Scot and Reynolds, and invited them to depart. This, perforce, they did, swearing vengeance against him, and shortly afterwards the Comte was called upon to surrender to his bail.
London now had become an uncomfortable abode for Cagliostro; when at last he escaped from English law, and from Scot and company, poorer by some two thousand nine hundred pounds, he quitted the land which had treated his wisdom so unkindly.
V. AUDIENCE WITH THE COMTE DE SAINT GERMAIN
We shall now accompany Cagliostro to Holstein, and to the famous interview from which dates the rise of his fortunes. It was in Holstein that he prostrated himself before the renowned man of mystery, his immediate and distinguished predecessor in the Cabalistic arts — Saint-Germain (reputed to be the issue of an Arabian princess by a ginn).
According to the author of the Mémoires authentiques pour servir à l’Histoire du Comte de Cagliostro, published in 1785, he demanded an audience with the man of inscrutable mystery, in order that he might prostrate himself before the dieu des croyants or “god of the believers.” The Comte de Saint-Germain appointed two in the morning as the hour for the interview, which moment having arrived, say the Mémoires, Cagliostro and his wife, clothed in white garments clasped about the waist with girdles of rose-colour, presented themselves
at the temple of mystery, which was the abode of the “god” whom they had come to adore.
The drawbridge was lowered, and a man six feet in height, clothed in a long grey robe, led them into a dimly lighted chamber. Therein some doors sprang suddenly open, and they beheld a temple illuminated by innumerable wax lights, with the Comte de Saint Germain enthroned upon the altar; at his feet two acolytes swung golden thuribles, which diffused sweet aromatic perfumes. The divinity bore upon his breast a diamond pentagram of almost intolerable radiance. A majestic white statue upheld on the steps of the altar a vase inscribed “Elixir of Immortality,” whilst a vast mirror was upon the wall, and before it a living being, majestic as the statue, paced to and fro. Above the mirror were the singular words—” Store House of Wandering Souls.” The most solemn silence prevailed in this retreat, but at length a voice, yet scarcely that of any one man, pronounced these words:
“Who are you? Whence come you? What would you?”
The Comte and Comtesse di Cagliostro prostrated themselves, and the former answered, after a long pause:
“I come to invoke the god of the believers, the father of truth. I come to demand of him one of the fourteen thousand seven hundred secrets which are treasured in his breast; I come to proclaim myself his slave, his apostle.”
The god did not respond, but after a long silence the same voice asked:
“What does the partner of thy long wanderings desire?”
“To obey and to serve,” answered Lorenza. Coincident with her words, profound darkness succeeded the glare of light, uproar followed on silence; terror descended upon the visitors to the shrine, and a loud and menacing cry came:
“Woe to those who cannot pass the tests!” Cagliostro and his wife were immediately separated to undergo their respective trials; which, we are told, they endured with exemplary fortitude, and particulars whereof may be found in the Mémoires. When the romantic initiation was over, the two postulants were led back into the temple, with the promise of admission to the divine mysteries. There a man draped in a long mantle cried to them:
