P. III, commended himself for his Learning and Abilities both to Rabert, King of France, and to the Emperor Otho, he became first Archbishop of Rheims, then of Ravenna, and at length Pope, by the name of SYLVESTER THE SECOND,

His three capital Preferments being at Rheims, Ravenna, and Rome, each beginning with an R, gave occafion to the following barbarous Verfe

Tranfit ab R Gerbertus ad R, poft Papa viget, R*.

"Tis fingular that not his Sacerdotal, nor even his Pontifical Character could screen him from the imputation of MAGIC, incurred merely, as it fhould feem, from his fuperior Ingenuity.

* See Brown's Fafciculus rerum expetendār. et fugiendar. Vol. II. p. 83,

A Bishop

A Bishop Othe, who lived in the next Ch.IX. Century, gravely relates of him, that he obtained the Pontificate by wicked Arts, for in his youth, when he was nothing more then a fimple Monk, having left his Monaftery, he gave himself up wholly to the Devil, on condition he might obtain that, which he defired.

Soon after this, the fame Hiftorian, having given an account of his gradual Rife, fubjoins that at length, by the Devil's help, he was made Roman Pontiff, but then it was upon Compact, that after his-deceafe, he fhould wholly in Body and Soul belong to HIM, thro' whofe frauds he had acquired fo great a Dignity *.

A Car

* Hic (fcilicet Gerbertus) matis artibus Pontificatum obtinuit, eo quod ab adolescentia, cum Monachus esset, relicto Monafterio, fe totum Diabolo obtulit, modo quod optabat obtineret. And foon after, a short narrative of his Rife being given, the Hiftorian subjoins-Poftremò

Romanus

P. III. A Cardinal Benno, of nearly the fame age with this Bishop Otho, fpeaking of the fame great man (Gerbertus I mean) informs us, his Demon had affured him, that he should not die, till he had celebrated Mass at Jerusalem-that Gerbertus, mistaking this for the City fo called, unwarily celebrated Mafs at Rome, in a Church called Jerufalem, and, being deceived by the Equivocation of the Name, met a fudden and a wretched end*.

As to thefe Stories, they are of that

vagabond fort, which wander from Age to Age, and from Perfon to Perfon; which find their way into the Hiftories of diftant periods, and are fometimes transferred from Hiftories to the Theatre.

Romanus Pontifex Diabolo adjuvante fuit conflitutus; hâc tamen lege, ut poft ejus obitum totus ILLIUS in anima et corpore effet, CUJUS fraudibus tantam adeptus effet dignitatem. See Bishop Oтно, in Brown's Fafciculus, juft quoted, V. II. p. 88.

See the fame Fafcicul. p. 88.

THE

THE JERUSALEM TALE may be found Ch.IX. in Shakspeare's HENRY THE FOURTH; and for THE COMPACT, we have all feen it in the Pantomine of DR. FAUSTUS.

ONE thing we cannot but remark: the dull Contemporaries of these fuperior Geniuses, not satisfied with referring their Superiority to Pre-eminence merely natural, recurred abfurdly to Power fupernatural, deeming nothing lefs could fo far exceed themselves.

SUCH was the Cafe of the able Scholar juft mentioned. Such, fome centuries afterward, was the Cafe of ROGER BACON, of FRANCIS PETRARCH, of JOHN FAUST, and many others.

BACON'S Knowlege of Glaffes, and of the Telescope in particular, made them apply to Him literally, what Virgil had faid poetically

Carmina vel Cælo poffunt deducere Lunam.

VIR

thought a Magician, and therefore, because PETRARCH was delighted with the ftudy of fo capital an author, even PETRARCH also was fufpected of MAGIC.

1

FOR JOHN FAUST, as he was either the Inventor, or among the firft Practifers of the Art of Printing, 'tis no wonder the ignorant vulgar fhould refer to Diabolical Affiftance a Power, which multiplied Books in a manner to them fo incomprehenfible.

1

THIS Digreffion has led us to Examples rather against Chronological Order; tho' all of them included within that Age, of which we are writing*. For the

BACON lived in the thirteenth Century; PETRARCH, in the fourteenth, FAUST, in the fifteenth. See a curious Book of Gabriel Naude, a learned Frenchman of the laft Century, intitled Apologie pour les grand Hommes, accufées de MAGIE.

honour