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The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campell
Mr. Campbell, who has been long a settled and reputable inhabitant in many eminent parts of the city of London, cannot, I am sure, be looked upon as one of those these Acts of Parliament were made against, unless we first strip the Acts themselves of their own natural, express, and plain meaning, and clothe them with that which is more obscure, unnatural, forced, and constrained a practise; which, if allowed, would make them wound the innocent and clear the guilty, and render them not our defence but our greatest evil; they would, by that means, become a perfect enigma, and be so far from being admired for their plainness, that they would be even exploded like the oracles of the heathen for their double meaning.
If Mr. Campbell has the second-sight, as is unquestionable, from the allowed maxim, that what has been may be again, and by that means can take a view of contingences and future events; so long as he confines these notices of approaching occurrences to a good purpose, and makes use of them only innocently and charitably to warn persons from doing such things, that according to his conceptions would lead them into misfortune, or else in putting them upon such arts that may be of use and benefit to themselves and posterity, always having a strict regard to morality and religion, to which he truly adheres; certainly, I think, he ought so much the more to be admired for the same, by how much the more this his excellent knowledge is surpassing that of other men, and not be therefore unjustly upbraided with the injurious character of a cheat, or an ill man: however, this I will presume to affirm, and I doubt not but to have my opinion confirmed by the learned sages of the law, that this his innocent practice, and I venture to add, honest one too, doth by no means entitle him to the penalties of the before-mentioned laws made against fortune-tellers, and such sort of profligate wretches; which it is as great an absurdity to decry, as it would be to call him, who is a settled and reputable inhabitant, a stroller or wandering beggar.
Again; it is true that Mr. Campbell has relieved many that have been supposed to have been bewitched, as is related and well attested in the book of his life; but will any one from thence argue that he himself is a real conjurer, or wizard, because he breaks the chains by which those unhappy wretches were bound? No, surely; for if that were the case, we might then as well indict the physician who drives away a malignant distemper, and roots out its latent cause by his mysterious skill in plants and drugs; or conclude that the judge, who condemns a criminal, is for the same reason guilty of the self-same crime for which the offender is so by him condemned. Persons who delight in such unnatural conclusions, must certainly be in love with the greatest absurdities, and must entirely abandon their natural reason before they can be brought to conclude that the Prince of Darkness would assist men in destroying his own power.
The best answer I can afford those men is silence; for if they will not argue upon the principles of reason, or be guided by her dictates, I think them no more fit to be contended with in a rational and decent manner than bedlamites, and such who are bereft of all understanding. A rod is the best argument for the back of a fool, and contempt the best usage that ought to be shown to every headstrong and ignorant opponent.
In a word, I know of no branch of Mr. Campbell's practice that bears the least resemblance to those crimes mentioned in the foregoing Acts. That he can and doth tell people's names at first sight, though perfect strangers to him, is confessed by all who have made the curious inquiry at his hands; but what part of the Acts, I would fain know, is that against? Knowledge, and a clear sight into things not common, is not only an allowable, but a commendable qualification; and whether this knowledge in him be inherent, accidental, or the result of a long study, the case is still the same; since we are assured he doth it by no unlawful intelligence, or makes use of the same to any ill purpose, and therefore is undoubtedly as lawful as to draw natural conclusions from right premises. Hard is the fate of any man to be ignorant, but much harder would his lot be if he were to be punished for being wise; and, like Mr. Campbell, excelling others in this kind of knowledge.
Much more might be said in defence of Mr. Campbell and the art he professeth, but as the arguments which are brought against him by his enemies on the one hand, are trivial and ill-grounded, I therefore think they deserve no farther refutation; so on the other, his innocency is too clear to require it.
After having thus taken a survey of Mr. Campbell's acts, with regard to their legality according to the statutes and the laws of the nation wherein he lives, we will consider next, whether, according to the stated rules of casuistry, among the great divines eminent for their authority, it may be lawful for Mr. Campbell to predict, or for good Christian persons to visit his house, and consult him about his predictions. I have upon this head examined all the learned casuists I could meet with in ancient times, for I cannot meet, in my reading, with any moderns that treat thoroughly upon this case, or I should rather have chosen them, because, perhaps, the second-sight was less known in those ancient days than it has been since, and so might escape their notice.
My design is first to give the reader a distinct summary of all that has been said of this matter, and to do it as succinctly and briefly as possible, and then to argue myself from what they agree upon as to this man's particular case.
That the reader may have recourse to the authors themselves, if they have a curiosity, and find that I do not go about to impose upon their judgments, I will here tell the reader where he may find the whole contents of the following little abstract of divinity and casuistry, because it would be a tedious piece of work to set down the words of each of them distinctly, and quote them every one round at the end of their several different sentences, which tend to the same meaning, but I will strictly keep to the sense of them all; and I here give the reader their names, and the places, that he may consult them himself, if his inclination leads him to be so curious: Thomas Aquinas, iv. Distin. 34. Quæstio. 1. Art. 3; Bona, ii. Dist. 7. Art. 2. Quæst. 1; Joannes Major, iv. Dist. 34. Quæst. 2; Sylvester, Verbo Malefico. Quæst. 8; Rosella, Verb Impedimentum, xv. cap. 18; Tabiena, Verb. Impedimentum, 12 vers.; Cajetan, tom. ii. Opusc. 12. de Malefic; Alphonsus, a Cast. lib. x. de Justa Hæreticorum Punitione, cap. 15; Cosmus Philiarchus, de Offic. Sacerdot, p. 2. lib. iii. cap. 11; Toletus, in Summa. lib. iv., cap. 16; Spineus, in Tract. de Strigibus; Petrus Binsfield, in Tract. de Confessionibus Maleficorum.
These divines have generally written upon impious arts of magic, which they call by the name of divination; and this divination, as they term it, they divide into two kinds; the one, in which the devil is expressly invoked, to teach hidden and occult things; the other, in which he is tacitly called upon to do the same. An express invocation is made by word or deed, by which a real pact is actually made with the devil, and that is a sin that affects the death of the soul, according to the laws of theology, and ought to affect the death of the body, according to civil and political laws. The tacit invocation of demons is then only, when a man busies himself so far with such persons, that it is meet and just that the devil should be permitted to have to do with him, though it was opposite to the intention of the man.
But then this express invocation is again subdivided into several species, according to the divers manners by which the devil instructs these men.
The first is enchantment, which I need not describe, and of which I will speak no more, because it is what everybody knows to be detestable, and nobody ought to know the art thereof.
The second is divination by dreams, when any instructions are expected from the devil by way of dream, which is a capital crime.
The third is called necromancy, which is, when by the use of blood and writing, or speaking certain verses, the dead seem to rise again, and speak and teach future things. For though the devil cannot recall a soul departed, yet he can, as some have thought, take the shape of the dead corpse, himself actuate it by his subtlety, as if it was informed with a soul. And some affirm, that by the divine permission the devil can do this, and spake so in the case of Samuel and Saul. But divines of a more solid genius attribute that power only to the Deity, and say, with reason, that it is beyond the devil's capacity. But it is certain this was a divination done in dead animals by the use of their blood, and therefore the word is derived from the Greek νεκρον, which signifies dead, and Μαντἡα, which signifies divination.
The fourth species is called divination by the Pythians, which was taken from Apollo, the first diviner, as Thomas Aquinas says in his Secundâ Secundæ, Quæst. 95. Art. 3.
The fifth is called geomancy, which is when the devil teaches anything by certain signs appearing in the earthly bodies, as in wood, iron, or polished stones, beryls, or glass.
The sixth is named hydromancy, as when a demon teaches anything by appearances in the water.
The seventh is styled æromancy; and it is when he informs people of such things by figures in the air.
The eighth is entituled pyromancy; that is, when it instructs people by forms appearing in the fire.
The ninth is termed aruspicy; which is when by signs appearing in the bowels of sacrificed animals the demon predicts at altars.
Thus far as to express divination, or invocation of the devil, which is detestable; and the very consulting of persons that use such unlawful means is, according to the judgment of all casuists, the high road to eternal damnation.
Now as to tacit divination, or invocation of the devil, that is divided into two subaltern kinds. The first kind is, when for the sake of knowing hidden things, they make use of a vain and superstitious disposition existing in things to judge from; which disposition is not of a sufficient virtue to lead them to any real judgment. The second kind of tacit divination is, when that knowledge is sought by the disposition of those things which men effect on purpose and of their own accord, in order to come by and acquire that knowledge.
Both these kinds of tacit divination are again subdivided into several species, as are particularly mentioned by St. Thomas, Secundâ Secundæ, Quæst. 95, Art. 3; Gregory de Valentine, tom. iii. Disput. 6. Quæst. 12. Puncto 2; Toletus, in Summa. lib. iv. cap. 15; and Michael Medina, lib. ii. de Recta in Deum fide: post Sanctum Augustinum. lib. ii. de Doct. Christ. cap. 19. et seq.
The first of these kinds of tacit divination contains under it the following several species: —
The first species is called Genethliacal, which is when from the movement or situation of the stars, men's nativities are calculated and inquired into so far, as that from such a search they pretend to deduce the knowledge of human effects, and the contingent events that are to attend them. This Thomas Aquinas and Sixtus Quintus condemns; but I shall, with humility and submission to greater judgments, inquire hereafter into their reasons, and give my opinion why I think this no evil art; but I submit my opinion, if, after it is given, it is thought erroneous.
The second is augury, when anything is predicted from the chattering of birds, or the voice of animals, and this may be either lawful or unlawful. If it comes from natural instinct, for brutes having only a sensitive soul, have their organs subject to the disposition of the greater bodies in which they are contained, and principally of all to the celestial bodies, his augury is not amiss. For if when crows are remarked to caw, as the vulgar phrase is, more than ordinary, it is, judging according to the instinct of their nature, if we expect rain, and we may reasonably depend upon it, we shall be right if we foretell rain to be at hand. But sometimes the devils actuate those brute animals to excite vain ideas in men, contrary to what the instinct of their nature compels them to. This is superstitious and unlawful, and forbid in holy writ.
The third is aruspicy, when from the flight of birds, or any other motion of any animals whatsoever, persons pretend to have an insight and a penetrative knowledge into occult and hidden matters.
The fourth consists in omens, when, for example, a man from any words which others may have spoken on purpose, or by accident, pretends to gather a way of looking into and knowing anything of futurity.
The fifth is chiromancy, which consists in making a pretence to the knowledge of future things by the figures and the lines of the hands; and if it be by consulting the shoulder-bones of any beast, it goes by the name of spatulamancy.
As the first kind of divination, by a tacit invocation of the devil is divided into the five species above mentioned; so also is the second kind of tacit divination, or invocation of the devil, divided into two species by St. Thomas of Aquin.
Secundâ Secundæ, questione nonagesima quinta articulo tertio, and too tedious to insert here.
Now all these ways are by these divines counted wicked, and I set them down that people may avoid them. For how many gipsies and pretenders to chiromancy have we in London and in the country? How many that are for hydromancy, that pretend in water to show men mighty mysteries? And how many in geomancy, with their beryls and their glasses, that, if they are not under the instigation of the devil, propagate the scandal at least by being cheats, and who ought to be punished to the utmost severity, as our English laws enact? Mr. Campbell, who hates, contemns, and abhores these ways, ought, methinks, to be encouraged by their being restrained; and people of curious tempers, who always receive from him moral and good instructions, which make them happy in the conduct of life, should be animated in a public manner to consult him, in order to divert the curious itch of their humours from consulting such wicked impostors, or diabolical practisers, as too frequently abound in this nation, by reason of the inquisitive vulgar, who are more numerous in our climate, than any I ever read of.
But now to argue the case of conscience with regard to his particular practice by way of the second-sight, whether, in foro conscientiæ, it is lawful for him to follow it, or others to consult him? The divines above mentioned having never had any notice of that faculty in all likelihood, or if they had, never mentioned it, makes it a point more difficult for me to discuss; but I think they have stated some cases, by the making of which my premises, I can deduce from all the learned men I have above quoted, a conclusion in favour of our Mr. Duncan Campbell, and of those who consult him; but my opinion shall be always corrected by those who are wiser than myself, and to whom I owe entire submission. I take leave to fix these premises from them first, and to form my argument from them afterwards in the following manner: —
First, It is allowed by all these divines, that a knowledge which one may have of future things within the order of nature, is and may be lawful.
Secondly, They imply, that where justice is not violated, it is lawful both to predict and to consult.
Thirdly, Many of them, but particularly Aureolus, puts this question: Is it lawful to go to one that deals in the black art, to persuade them to cure any innocent body that another necromancer or dealer in the black art may have maliciously afflicted and tormented with pains? And some of these casuists, particularly Aureolus, say, it is lawful on such an occasion to go to such a conjurer, because the end is not conjuration, but freeing a person from it.
But I take leave to dissent from these great men, and think they are in a double mistake; first, in stating the question, and then in making such an answer, provided the question had been stated right.
The question is founded upon this supposition, which is passed by as granted, viz., that one necromancer could release a person bewitched by another, which is absolutely false; for it is against the nature of the devil to be made an instrument to undo his own works of impiety. But admitting and not granting this to be possible, and the question to be rightly stated, why still these casuists are out in their answer. It is lawful, reply they, because the end of going to the conjurers, is not conjuration, but freeing a good person from it; but the end is not the point here to be considered, it is the medium, which is bad, that is to be considered. It is by conjuration, according to their hypothesis, the other conjuration is to be dissolved; and does not the common rule, that a man must not do evil that good may come of it, forbid this practice? And to speak my opinion plainly in that case, the friend that should consult a conjurer for that end, would be only so kind to put his own soul in danger of being guilty of hell torments, to relieve his afflicted friend from some bodily pains, which it would be a virtue in him to suffer with patience and resignation.
Others, almost all divines, indeed, agree, that it is and may be lawful to go to a conjurer that torments another, and give him money not to afflict the patient any longer; because that is only feeing him to desist from acting after his conjuring manner.
These premises thus settled, if we allow the second-sight to be inborn and inbred, and natural and common to some families, which is proved in the book; and if all that Mr. Campbell has predicted in that second-sighted way terminates with moral advice, and the profit of the consulter, and without the violation of justice to others, as the book shows all throughout; if he can relieve from witchcraft, as it seems oath is to be had he can, which no one that deals in black art can do, why then I need not draw the conclusion, every reader will do it naturally; they will avow all the strictest laws of casuistry and morality to be in favour of Mr. Campbell and his consulters.
VERSES
TO MRS. FOWKE,
OCCASIONED BY THE FOREGOING VERSES
Sweet nightingale! whose artful numbers show,Expressive eloquence to silent woe,Sing on, and in thy sex's power presume,By praising Campbell, to strike nations dumb.Whene'er you sing, silent, as he, they'll stand,Speak by their eyes, grow eloquent by hand:Tongues are confusion, but as learnt by you,All but Pythagoras's doctrine's true;Campbell and he taught silence – had he heardHow much thy lays to silence were preferr'd,He had recanted from thy powerful song,And justly wish'd each organ had a tongue.But could he see, what you, in every line,Prophetic tell of Campbell's sight divine,Like Crœsus's sons his loosened nerves must break,And ask the cause – or make his Campbell speak.G. S.TO MR. CAMPBELL
Milton's immortal wish2 you sure must feel,To point those fates which you to all reveal;If second-sight so much alarms mankind,What transports must it give to know thy mind?Thy book is but the shadow of thy worth,Like distant lights, which set some picture forth.But if the artist's skill we nearer trace,And strictly view each feature of the face,We find the charm that animates the whole,And leave the body to adore the soul.Milton's immortal wish you sure must feel,To point those fates which you to all reveal.I. Philips.THE PARALLEL
TO MR. CAMPBELL
As Denham sings, mysterious 'twas, the sameShould be the prophet's and the poet's name3;But while the sons of genius join to praise,What thine presaging dictates to their lays,The things they sweetly sing, and you foreshow,Open the Sampson riddle to our view;Strong are thy prophecies, their numbers sweet,And with the lion combs of honey meet.Late on fantastic cabalistic schemes,Of waking whimsies, or of feverish dreams,New cobweb threads of poetry were spun,In gaudy snares, like flies, were witlings won,Their brains entangled, and our art undone.Pope, first, descended from a monkish race,Cheapens the charms of art, and daubs her face;From Gabalis4 his mushroom fictions rise,Lop off his sylphs – and his Belinda5 dies;The attending insects hover in the air,No longer than they're present is she fair;Some dart those eyebeams, which the youths beguile,And some sit conquering in a dimpling smile.Some pinch the tucker, and some smooth the smock.Some guard an upper, some a lower lock;But if these truant body-guards escape,In whip the gnomes and strait commit a rape;The curling honours of her head they seize,Hairs less in sight, or any hairs they please;But if to angry frowns her brow she bends,Upon her front some sullen gnome descends,Whisks through the furrows with its airy form,Bristles her eyebrows and 'directs the storm.'As wide from these are Addisonian themes,As angels' thoughts are from distempered dreams;Spenser and he, to image nature, knew,Like living persons, vice and virtue drew:At once instructed and well pleas'd we read,While in sweet morals these two poets lead,No less to wisdom than to wit pretence,They led by music, but they led to sense.But Pope scarce ever force to fancy joins,With dancing-master's feet equips his lines,Plumes empty fancy, and in tinsel shines.Or if by chance his judgment seems to lead,Where one poor moral faintly shows its head,'Tis like a judge, that reverently drest,Peeps through the pageants at a lord may'r's feast;By starts he reasons, and seems wise by fits,Such wit's call'd wisdom, that has lost its wits.Unnam'd by me this witling bard had been,Had not the writer's caused the reader's sin;But less by comedies and lewd romances,Are ruin'd, less by French lascivious dances,Than by such rhymers' masqueraded fancies.From such the root of superstition grew,Whose old charms fertile, daily branch'd in new;From such chimeras first inspired, the fairThe conj'rer's ring approach'd, and Jesuit's chair;Throng'd to the doors where magic rogues divin'd,And sold out ignes fatui to the mind.Wizards and Jesuits differ but in name,Both demon's envoys, and their trade the same;Weak wills they lead, and vapour'd minds command,And play the game into each others' hand;Like spiritual jugglers at the cup and ball,Rising by foolish maids, that long to fall.Some into love they damn, and some they pray,For greensick minds are caught a different way;To the same end, tho' several paths, they run,Priests to undo and maids to be undone;Some blacker charms, some whiter spells cajole,As some lick wall and some devour a coal.Here ladies, strong in vapours, see men's facesImprinted in the conjurer's dazzling glasses,There, when, in spring time, the too praying priest,Toasts, and does something better, – to the bestA spouse is promised on next Baptist's6 feast.First some young contrite rake's enjoined to marry,Lest – madam's forc'd to squeak for't – or, miscarry:In June, the lass does to the fields repair,Where good sir Domine just took the air.When, O strange wonder! near a plaintain root,She finds a coal – and so a spouse to boot.She longs to dream and to secure the sportThat very day the youth design'd – must court,He does – she struck with rapture and delight.Bespeaks her fancy – strongly – dreams at night.The yielding fair, the ravish'd youth obtains,A maid she passes – so his child's free gains,He has the pleasure, yet is sav'd the pains.Thus when priest's wench – to cure the growing evilPoor St. John Baptist must forerun the devil.But if the ladies fall, at fall of leaf,Or in the winter – still there's fresh relief;Let her lace close four months, and if she can,St. Agnes7 heals the breach and brings the man.Thus a lewd priest to vapour'd virgins cants,And into pimps reverts his vestal saints.O! dire effects of mask'd impiety!And shall they, Christian muse! have aids from thee;Wilt thou, like witty heathens, lewdly given,To a Gehenna metamorphose Heaven?Wilt thou? – O no – forbid th' unhallow'd song,Such profanations to Rome's bard belong.Let one, who gods and goddesses adores,Paint them like rakes and bullies, bawds, and whores.Our genii, Campbell, shall be all divine,Shall high o'er theirs as much distinguish'd shine,As o'er such priests or chiromancers, thine.Thine, which does future time's events commandTo leap to sight, and in thy presence stand;Thine, whose eyes glowing with a gifted ray,New roads of life o'er wisdom's Alps survey,And guide benighted travellers to day.Let me, for once, a daring prophet be,Mark from this hour – and poetry thoul't seeDate a new era from thy book and thee;Thy book, where, thro' the stories, thou hast laid,All moral wisdom's to the mind convey'd;And thus far prophecies each page, that allMust rise by virtues, or by vices fall.Poets shall blush to see their wit outdone,Resume their reason and assert its throne,Shall fables still for virtue's sake commend;And wit the means, shall wisdom make its end.Who hopes to please, shall strive to please by pains,Shall gaining fame, earn hard whate'er he gainsAnd Denham's morals join to Denham's strains.Here paint the Thames8 'when running to the seaLike mortal life to meet eternity.'There show both kings and subjects 'one excess,Makes both, by striving, to be greater, less.'Shall climb and sweat, and falling, climb up still,Before he gains the height of Cooper's Hill.In Windsor Forest, if some trifling graceGives, at first blush, the whole a pleasing face,'Tis wit, 'tis true; but then 'tis common-place.The landscape-writer branches out a wood,Then digging hard for't finds a silver flood.Here paints the woodcock quiv'ring in the air,And there, the bounding stag and quaking hare.Describes the pheasant's scarlet-circled eye,And next the slaught'ring gun that makes him die.From common epithets that fame derives,By which his most uncommon merit lives.'Tis true! if finest notes alone could show,(Tun'd justly high or regularly low,)That we should fame to these mere vocals give,Pope more, than we can offer, should receive.For, when some gliding river is his theme,His lines run smoother than the smoothest stream;Not so when thro' the trees fierce Boreas blows,The period blust'ring with the tempest grows.But what fools periods read for periods' sake?Such chimes improve not heads, but make 'em ache;Tho' strict in cadence on the numbers rub,Their frothy substance is whip-syllabub;With most seraphic emptiness they roll,Sound without sense, and body without soul.Not such the bards that give you just applause,Each, from intrinsic worth, thy praises draws,Morals, in ev'ry page, where'er they look,They find divinely scatter'd thro' thy book:They find thee studious with praiseworthy strife,To smooth the future roads of human life,To help the weak, and to confirm the strong,Make our griefs vanish, and our bliss prolong,With Phineus' equal find thy large desert,And in thy praise would equal Milton's art.Some fools, we know, in spite of nature born,Would make thee theirs, as they are mankind's scorn,For still 'tis one of truth's unerring rules,No sage can rise without a host of fools.Coxcombs, by whose eternal din o'ercome,The wise in just revenge, might wish them dumb,Say on the world your dumbness you impose,And give you organs they deserve to lose.Impose, indeed, on all the world you would,If you but held your tongue, because you could;'Tis hard to say, if keeping silence still,In one, who, could he speak, would speak with skill,Is worse, or talk in these, who talk so ill.Why on that tongue should purposed silence dwell,Whence every word would drop an oracle?More fools of thy known foresight make a jest,For all bate greatest gifts who share the least,(As Pope calls Dryden the often to the test9)Such from thy pen, should Irwin's sentence10 wait,And at the gallows own the judge of fate.Or, while with feeble impotence they rail,Write wonders on, and with the wise prevail.Sooner shall Denham cease to be renown'd,Or Pope for Denham's sense quit empty sound,To Addison's immortal heights shall rise,Or the dwarf reach him in his native skies.Sooner shall real gipsies grow most fair,Or false ones mighty truths like thine declare,Than these poor scandal-mongers hit their aim,And blemish thine or Curll's acknowledg'd fame.Great Nostradamus thus, his age advis'd,The mob his counsels jeer'd, some bards0 despis'dHim still, neglecting these his genius fir'd,A king encourag'd, and the world admir'd;Greater (as times great tide increas'd) he grew,When distant ages proved what truths he knew;Thy nobler book a greater king received,Whence I predict, and claim to be believ'd,That by posterity, less fame shall beTo Nostradamus granted, than to thee;Thee! whom the best of Kings does so defend,And (myself barring) the best bards commend.H. Stanhope.Whitehall,
