My Library

machinations, as well as of the frauds of Cagliostro and other notorious impostors.” So much for the wiseacre who wrote this account at so much a line for the “American Encyclopedia.” In juxta-position to the above, I quote part of pages 132-3-4 and 5, verbatim, of the autobiography of Heinrich Jung Stilling, late Aulic Counsellor to the Grand Duke of Baden. London: 1858. James Nisbet, Berners street. 3d Edition. Says this incomparable man: “One morning in the spring of 1796, a handsome young man, in a green silk-plush coat, and otherwise well dressed, came to Stilling’s house at Ockershaussen. This gentleman introduced himself in such a manner as betrayed a polished and genteel education. Stilling inquired who he was, and learnt that he was the remarkable ——. Stilling was astonished at the visit, and his astonishment was increased by the expectation of what this extremely enigmatical individual might have to communicate. After both had sat down, the stranger began by saying that he wished to consult Stilling relative to a person diseased in the eyes. However, the real object of his visit pressed him in such a manner that he began to weep; kissed, first, Stilling’s hand, then his arm, and said: ‘Sir, are not you the author of the “Nostolgia?”’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘You are, therefore, one of my secret superiors’ (in the Grand Lodge