The Count of Gabalis

“The Count of Gabalis, or the extravagant mysteries of the Cabalists exposed in five pleasant discourses on the Secret Sciences. Done into English by P. A. Gent. with Short animadversions.—London printed for B. M. Printer to the Cabalistical Society of the Sages at the Sign of the Rosy-Crucian.”

The belief in the existence of beings of supernatural origin and power has been universal in all the nations of the world. No age, except perhaps our own immediate one, has been exempt from this preposterous fancy. Poets and sages have alike acknowledged the potency and agency of beings “a little lower than the angels”—who resembled man in their passions and habits, but were inferior to him in the hope of immortality. It seems to have originated in an attempt to penetrate and account for that scheme of universal providence, or immediate direction of “the divinity which stirs within us,” and which has been acknowledged and adored in all countries and at all times: a brilliant fable, invented to explain those phenomena, the existence of which was in a constant course of proof, and which were much more evident to the senses than to the reason of mankind. It was the offspring of ignorance, and has kept pace with the refinements of civilization, until the days arrived when the pure light of philosophy dispelled the monstrous forms which had been created by its absence. In the absence of these lights, it cannot be wondered that the credulous, with a mixed effort of reason and fancy, in endeavouring to burst the thick shell of ignorance which surrounded them, should people the groves, the waves, the teeming earth, and the viewless air, with beings who assisted in, and interfered with, the affairs of mankind.—

        innumerabili, infiniti
Spiriti, parte che n’aria alberga e erra,
Parte di quei che son dal fondo usciti
Caliginoso e tetro della terra.

In the East, the mother-country of all the numerous family of superstitions, as well as of civilization, all the charms of oriental splendour were added to their beautiful fictions, which were carried to the highest possible pitch.—The Peri (from whom our own Fairies are descended in a direct line) resembled the supernatural beings of our own climes in their nature, while the Genii were more like them in their other attributes.

Our northern regions have imparted something of their chilling nature even to these beings of fancy’s creation. They are not decked in the brilliance of the Eastern supernaturals, and are subject to more sober regulations. We have even gone so far as to impose laws upon the elfin kingdom, and philosophise upon their characters. The belief in their existence has, however, been neither less powerful nor less extensive; and in the Rosi-crucian, which is the most finished and elaborate of all the schemes, the professors have formed a digested summary from the superstitions scattered through the various nations; they have classified and accurately disposed the various genera, and even species, of supernatural beings, and have given to the “airy nothings a local habitation and a name.” This system is remarkable for the purity of its principles;—devotion, and moral propriety, being indispensible to the attainment of the benefits attending it. It is founded upon a sort of rational piety; and if the unmixed folly of some of its positions were not too much for mortal gravity, it would deserve great respect—as it stands, we can only feel surprised that men of genius (for the greater part of its professors had indubitable pretensions to this character) could so far begull themselves as to yield up their reason to the belief. In our own country, the superstition was almost always confined to the lower classes of society; it was not so upon the continent: there the system was cultivated in all branches, and, as in the instance of some political societies in Germany, was believed to have been made conducive to other ends. The book which forms the subject of this article was written at a time when the belief had lost its ground, and folks began to laugh at that which they had been terrified at, and, like children, amused themselves with their former bug-bears.

In France it was always a favorite, being in its very nature adapted to the national character. The Fairy Tales of this country are superior to those of every other. The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments are much indebted to M. Galland, not only for being introduced to the public, but for much of the dress in which they appear. The lively Fairy Tales of Madame d’Aulnois, have been the delight of all the nurseries in Europe; and, “though last not least in our dear love,” the inimitable fictions of Le Comte Antoine Hamilton, whom we like not the less because he is almost a countryman, and whose “Memoires de Grammont,” model as they are of all that is witty and elegant, cannot surpass his “Quatre Facardins,” and the rest of his half-jest half-earnest Fairy Tales.

The taste for them in France continued long, and indeed continues to this day. Even so late as the time of Marmontel, it was thought by him strong enough to be an object for his delicate satire, which he has played off so powerfully, and yet so tenderly, in his beautiful tale of the Sylph Husband, which we mention for the purpose of referring our readers to the most polished model of French style, before its purity was sullied by the affectations of modern days.

The author feigns himself to have held five pleasant discourses with his adept friend the Comte de Gabalis, in which, under pretence of the latter’s explaining the principles of the Cabalists to him, and reciting the arguments by which they are to be supported, he goes about to prove their fallacy per absurdium. Being incredulous, but still unwilling to condemn unexamined the whole of what are called the secret sciences, the author cultivates the acquaintance of some of the most considerable Rosy-Crucians, and among others that of the Comte, a great cabalist, whose estate lay upon the frontiers of Poland;—having sent him the scheme of his nativity, the Comte is so much delighted with the aspect of it, that he considers the author a chosen vessel to receive the wonders of his system, and he resolves to impart to him the secrets of his knowledge. The communications between the author and his erudite friend had been long carried on by letters, when the Comte one day enters the author’s study: after some preliminaries are got over, the friends retire to a private garden, where the Comte explains to the author the system of the Cabala.

“When you shall he enrolled,” says he, “amongst the children of philosophy, and your eyes shall be fortified by the use of our sacred medicine, you shall immediately discover that the elements are inhabited by the most perfect creatures, from the knowledge and commerce of whom the sin of the unfortunate Adam has excluded all his too unhappy posterity. This immense space which is between the Earth and the Heavens has more noble inhabitants than Birds and Flies. This vast ocean has also other troops besides Dolphins and Whales. The profundity of the earth is not only for Moles; and the element of Fire (more noble than the other three) was not made to be unprofitable and void.

“The Air is full of an innumerable multitude of people having human shape, somewhat fierce in appearance, but tractable upon experience; great lovers of the sciences, subtle, officious to the sages, and enemies to sots and ignorants. Their wives and their daughters have a kind of masculine beauty, such as we describe the Amazons to have. · · · · · The seas and the rivers are inhabited as well as the air; the ancient sages have called these kind of people Undians, or Nymphs. They have but few males amongst them, but the women are there in great numbers. Their beauty is marvellous, and the daughters of men have nothing in them comparable to these.

“The earth is filled almost to the centre with Gnomes, or Pharyes, a people of small stature, and the guardians of treasures, of mines, and of precious stones. They are ingenious friends of men, and easy to be commanded. They furnish the children of the sages with as much money as they have need of, and never ask any other reward of their services than the glory of being commanded. The Gnomides, or wives of these Gnomes or Pharyes, are little, but very handsome, and their habit marvellously curious.

“As for the Salamanders, the inhabitants of the region of Fire, they serve the philosophers, but they seek not for their company with any great eagerness, and their wives and daughters will rarely be seen.”

“They do wisely,” interrupted I; “and for my share I shall excuse their appearing to me.”

“Why so?” said the Count.

“Why sir,” replied I, “what business can I have to converse with so ugly a creature as a salamander, be it either male or female?”

“You are mistaken,” answered he; “that is the idea which the ignorant painters and sculptors have given of them. The wives of the salamanders are fair, nay rather more fair than all others, seeing they are of a purer element. But I forbear to speak more of that, and shall give but a slight description of these people, because you shall see them yourself at your leisure, and that very easily too, if you have the curiosity for it. You shall see their habits, their diet, their manners, their policy, and their admirable laws. You will be charmed more with the beauty of their wit than with that of their body: yet you cannot choose but be grieved for these poor wretches when they shall tell you that their soul is mortal, and that they have no hope of enjoying eternal happiness and of the Supreme Being, which they acknowledge and religiously adore. They will tell us, that being composed of the most pure parts of the elements which they inhabit, and not having in them any contrary qualities, seeing they are made but of one element, they die not but after many ages. But, alas! what is such a time in respect of eternity?”

“There is, however, a remedy for this evil.—The Sylphs, the Gnomes, the Nymphs, and the Salamanders, by the alliance which they may contract with man, might be made partakers of immortality. So a She-Nymph, or a Sylphide, becomes immortal, and capable of the blessing to which we aspire, when they shall be so happy as to be married to a Sage. A Gnome or a Sylph ceases to be mortal from the moment that he espouses one of our daughters.”

Our author does not at all relish this commerce with the elementary ladies, and peremptorily refuses to interfere in it. The Comte is at first angry, but on re-perusing the scheme of his nativity, he assures the author it is in vain for him to resist; that he is ordained to immortalise some lovely Sylphide. The author then objects to the performing of certain ceremonies which he has heard may be necessary. The Comte satisfies his scruples by explaining the innocence of the preparation.

“The Cabalists do nothing but by the principles of nature; and if there are sometimes found in our books certain strange words, characters, or fumigations, ’tis but to conceal the philosophical principles from the ignorant. Admire the simplicity of nature in all her most marvellous operations!

“The Salamanders are composed of the most subtle parts of the sphere of Fire, conglobulated and organised by the action of the universal Fire, so called because it is the principle of all the motions of nature. The Sylphs, in like manner, are composed of the purest atoms of the Air; the Nymphs of the most delicate parts of the Water; and the Gnomes of the subtlest parts of the Earth. There was a great proportion betwixt Adam and these so perfect creatures, because they being composed of that which was the most pure in the four elements, he comprehended the perfections of these four sorts of people, and was their natural king. But since the time that his sin precipitated him into the excrements of the elements, the harmony was disordered, and there was no more proportion, he being become impure and dull in respect of these substances so pure and subtle.

“If we would recover that empire over the Salamanders, we must purify and exalt the element of Fire which is in us, and raise up the tone of this slackened string; we need do no more but concenter the Fire of the world by concave mirrors in a globe of glass. And herein is the great art which all the ancients have so religiously concealed, and which the divine Theophrastus has discovered. There is formed in this globe a solar powder, which being purified by itself from the mixture of other elements, and being prepared according to art, becomes in a very little time sovereignly proper to exalt the fire which is in us, and make us become of a fiery nature. From that time the inhabitants of the sphere of Fire become our inferiors; and ravished to see our mutual harmony re-established, and that we once more approach them, they have all the kindness for us which they have for their own species, all the respect which they owe to the Image and Lieutenant of their Creator, and all the concern which may make evident in them the desire of obtaining by us the immortality which they want. ’Tis true, that as they are more subtle than those of the other elements, they live a very long time, so they are not very forward to importune the Sages to make them immortal. It will not be so with the Sylphs, the Gnomes, and the Nymphs; for they living a less time have more need of us, and so their familiarity is more easy to obtain. You need but shut up a glass filled with conglobulated air, water, or earth, and expose it to the sun for a month. Then separate the element according to art, which is very easy to do if it be Earth or Water. ’Tis a marvellous thing to see what a virtue every one of these purified elements have to attract the Nymphs, Sylphs, and Gnomes. In taking but never so little every day for about a month together, one shall see in the air the volant republic of the Sylphs; the Nymphs come in shoals up the rivers; and the guardians of treasures presenting you with their riches. Thus, without characters, without ceremonies, without barbarous words, you become absolute master over all these people. They require no worship of the Sage, since they know well enough that he is nobler than they. Thus venerable Nature teaches her children how to repair the elements by the elements—thus is harmony re-established—thus man recovers his natural empire, and can do all things in the elements without dæmon or unlawful art:—thus you see, my son, the Sages are more innocent than you thought.”

The Comte then makes a long discourse upon the oracles of antiquity, all of which he refers to his own system, but still fails to convince his friend. His scruples are invincible, his repugnance to a marriage with the daughters of the elements cannot be overcome. Still the Comte is so well satisfied of his incredulous disciple’s destination to the privileges of the Sages, even in spite of himself, that he relates to him some instances of these supernatural unions, for the purpose of obviating his dislike. It is not enough that he proves their descent and their union with mortals from the days of Noah; that he contends a Salamander to have been the father of Romulus, of Apollonius Tyanaus, who, as he asserts, was no conjuror; that a Sylph was the parent of our great Merlin, and has even been ingrafted into the genealogical tree of the noble house of Cleve, and that of Poitiers; but he gives some instances which are remarkable for the gravity with which they are related, and the romantic nature of the circumstances accompanying them. I shall select two of them.—A young Spanish lady was fair, but as cruel as fair. A Castilian gentleman, who loved her to no purpose, took a resolution one morning to leave her without speaking to her, and to travel ’till such time as he should be cured of his unprofitable passion. A Sylph finding this fair one to his liking, thought it his best course to lay hold on this opportunity. He goes to see the gentlewoman, taking the shape of her absent lover. He complains, sighs, and is repulsed;—he presses, he solicits, he perseveres. After many months he works upon her, makes himself beloved, he persuades, and, in short, is happy. There was born from their loves a son, whose birth was kept secret, and the address of this aerial lover managed privately from the knowledge of her parents. Their love continues. In the mean time, the gentleman, cured by absence, comes back to Seville; and impatient to see his inhuman mistress again, makes all haste he could to tell her, that at last he is in a condition of displeasing her no more; and that he is come to declare to her that he had done loving her.

Imagine if you please the astonishment of this young woman: her tears, her reproaches, and their surprising dialogue. She affirms that she has made him happy, which he denies; and would have reminded him that their child was in such a place; that he is the father of it, and that she is big of another, which he is also father of. He is obstinate to disown all. She throws herself against the ground, and tears her hair. The parents came running in at her cries; the desperate lover continues her complaints and invectives. The gentleman produces testimony that he had been absent the space of two years: the first child is sought for and found, and the second was born in the right term.”

“And what part played the airy lover,” interrupted I, “all this while?”

“I see well enough,” answered the Count, “that you are displeased that he should forsake his mistress, leaving her to the rigour of her parents and the fury of the Inquisitors. But he had reason to complain of her. She was not devout enough: for when these gentlemen immortalise themselves, they work seriously, and live very holily, that they lose not the right which they came to acquire of the sovereign good. So they would have the person to whom they are allied live with exemplary innocence, as may be seen in that famous adventure of a young Lord of Bavaria.

“He was not to be comforted for the death of his wife, whom he loved passionately. A Sylphide was advised by one of our Sages to take upon her the shape of this woman. She was persuaded to it, and presents herself to the afflicted young man, saying, that God had raised her from the dead again to comfort him in his extreme affliction. They live together many years, and had many lovely children together, but the young man was not so honest as he should be to retain his discreet Sylphide: he swore, and spoke lewd uncivil words. She reproved him sometimes; but seeing that her cautions were unprofitable, she vanished one day from him, and left him nothing but her clothes, and the repentance of his not having followed her holy councils.”

The learned Comte proves all he advances not only by numerous instances, among others those above quoted, but by the authorities of all the philosophers professing the occult sciences from Zoroaster down to Dr. Fludd. Alas! it is all in vain; the infidel author remains unconvinced, and is even profane enough to laugh, in a sly way, at the Comte and his authorities. The ingenious translator indeed, P. A. Gent. has conducted himself with a more respectful, though hostile, demeanour; for he, good pains-taking man, has, in his “Short Animadversions,” endeavoured to shew that the whole of the deductions are false, that the facts are not authentic, and, as the Irish bishop said of Gulliver’s Travels, that “Upon his conscience he does not believe one word of it.”

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Note: The author of this book review is anonymous. The first installment of Anna Jane Vardill’s The Secrets of Cabalism opens with a reference to this review. It may be surmised that it was written by Vardill herself, coming as it does after a lengthy cabalistic reference in The Austrian Assassin, and before The Secrets of Cabalism, to which it provides an illuminating introduction. — JB