cry of "impostor" was readily raised, and the trade of magic had its
uncertainties, as well as its charms.

Our first author who suffered as an astrologer, though it is extremely
doubtful whether he was ever guilty of the charges brought against him,
was Henry Cornelius Agrippa, who was born at Cologne in 1486, a man of
noble birth and learned in Medicine, Law, and Theology. His supposed
devotion to necromancy and his adventurous career have made his story a
favourite one for romance-writers. We find him in early life fighting in
the Italian war under the Emperor Maximilian, whose private secretary he
was. The honour of knighthood conferred upon him did not satisfy his
ambition, and he betook himself to the fields of learning. At the request
of Margaret of Austria, he wrote a treatise on the Excellence of Wisdom,
which he had not the courage to publish, fearing to arouse the hostility
of the theologians of the day, as his views were strongly opposed to the
scholasticism of the monks. He lived the roving life of a mediaeval
scholar, now in London illustrating the Epistles of St. Paul, now at
Cologne or Pavia or Turin lecturing on Divinity, and at another time at
Metz, where he resided some time and took part in the government of the
city. There, in 1521, he was bereaved of his beautiful and noble wife.
There too we read of his charitable act of saving from death a poor woman
who was accused of witchcraft. Then he became involved in controversy,
combating the idea that St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin, had
three husbands, and in consequence of the hostility raised by his opinions
he was compelled to leave the city. The people used to avoid him, as if he
carried about with him some dread infection, and fled from him whenever he
appeared in the streets. At length we see him established at Lyons as
physician to the Queen Mother, the Princess Louise of Savoy, and enjoying
a pension from Francis I. This lady seems to have been of a superstitious
turn of mind, and requested the learned Agrippa, whose fame for astrology