Paschal Beverly Randolph

“ My mind framed a desire to behold something of the future that should be as plain as the pictures of the past had been, and if there was any means whereby the blows of fate might be softened, any field in which to live and act free from the loneliness hitherto endured, and when next my eyes glanced through the magic tube, there passed across the field of vision a solitary human head and bust. ”

“ You have already been informed of the singular doom that hangs over me—that I am condemned to perpetual transmigrations, unless relieved by a marriage with a woman in whom not one drop of the blood of Adam circulates—and even then, the love must be perfect and mutual. Thus my chance is about as one in three hundred and ninety-six billions against, to a single one for me. This doom has brought around me, as it did around others before me, certain beings, powers, influences, and at length I became a voluntary adept in the Rosicrucian mysteries and brotherhood. ”

“ I flatter myself on my ability to measure men and to circumvent deliberate villainy, and no sooner had I heard the tones of Ravalette’s voice, and seen the clear-cut features of his face, than I at once suspected some sort of foul play was on the tapis, and which I determined to thwart, even if I had to give him the solid contents of a couple of Derringers and a Colt’s revolver, which I had taken care to provide myself with before venturing into what might have been the den of unscrupulous wretches, for aught I knew to the contrary. ”

“ It has been the habit of the wiseacres of this world to deride the idea that it is possible to make gold; to laugh in face of the notorious fact that nature is constantly making it, and that, too, of gasses in the earth, as all things else, save souls, are made. It has been fashionable to laugh at the idea of compounding a material capable of freeing the system of all its gross and clogging impurities—the only friction to the wheels of life; a mixture which would exhilarate, purify, strengthen, and supply to the body the chemical and dynamic forces of which it is constantly being robbed. ”

“ Now I control men because I know at a glance which is the most vulnerable portion of their nature. Self-love, Emulation and Will are the trinity in unity around which the Psychal Republic revolves. One of these is always vulnerable; subdue that, and you subdue the man. Now, when I perform such experiments as those now being exhibited, I first mesmerize, not the entire brain, but a single faculty, which in turn speedily subdues all the rest. The mind of man is a mirror! ”

“ The mystery of my being cannot yet be solved. I am not alone! The mastery, over Matter and over Magic, is an inheritance of the ages. We who were once as others are, became doomed ones by reason of the curse of a dying man, and like Isaac Ahasuerus, the Hebrew of Jerusalem, who cursed and spat upon the Man of Sorrows when bearing his gibbet up the steep lane of the Dolorous Way, and whom the Meek one cursed, and bade tarry on earth till he came—even so is he not alone. ”

“ The man could appreciate only the external and superficial qualities and excellences of his wife, while her inner, higher, better self—her soul, was a terra incognita to him, which, like so many other husbands, he never even once dreamed of exploring; he had no idea whatever of the inestimable qualities of her heart, intellect, or spirit, and he had never found out that her body is the least a woman gives away—that she has gifts so regal for the man she loves, that glittering diamonds are sparkless, insipid, valueless in comparison. ”

“ Everybody knows that, at any of the barrières leading from Paris, a large crowd of blouses, men and of office, women and children of the lower orders, may, in fair or foul weather, always be found—loiterers, having nothing to do, apparently, except to lounge about, to see and be seen. Such a crowd I found at the barrière, and amidst it I noticed a bonné, or nurse, having in charge three beautiful children, one of whom, a lad of seven years, appeared to take an unusual interest in myself, doubtless observing that I was in a great hurry to accomplish something. ”

“ The next moment these emotions underwent an entire change, for the woman, who appeared not to have taken the least notice of her father’s action or speech, went straight up to Ravalette, placed her jewelled hand upon his shoulder, looked him straight in the eye, as if she would wither and crush him at a glance, and in a voice low, but clear and deep, said: “And so, thou fiend, we meet again! Art going to essay more of thy tricks and magic spells? Art going to set more snares for the daughter of Im Hokeis? ”

“ The great multitude had gathered about him as city sight-seers gather round the last new novelty in the museum—a child with two heads, a dog with two tails, or the Japanese mermaid—duly compounded of codfish and monkey—and then, satisfied with their inspection, they turned from, and left him in all his deep loneliness and misery, all the more bitter for the transient light of sympathy thrown momentarily upon him. Genius must be sympathetically treated, else it eats its own heart, and daily dies a painful, lingering death. ”

“ It is difficult, if not impossible, to either over-rate the advantages to be derived by the possession of the power I allude to, or to define and characterize it in words, mainly for the reason that, although the idea stands out well marked and distinct before the mind, yet the language which you speak has no terms of symbols adequate to its naming or expression; for, at best, words are coarse raiment for thought, and no more show the beauty of what they cover, than the preposterous costumes of Christendom display the superlative glories of the human form. ”

“ Rosicrucians, and all other delvers in the mines of mystery, all dealers with the dead, all whose idiosyncracies are toward the ideal, the mystic and the sublime, are debtors to nature, and the price they pay for power is groans, tears, breaking hearts, and a misery that none but such doomed ones can either appreciate or understand. Compensation is an inexorable law of being, nor can there, by any possibility, be any evasion of it. The possession of genius is a certificate of perpetual suffering. ”

“ This bit of Cornhill swindling was considered rather sharp practice, even for that locality, and ended by shrouding the girl in an impenetrable mystery, and giving to the old chief a child, who, as she expanded and grew up became quite as dear to his heart as any one of his own offspring; and in fact, by reason of her superior intelligence, she became far more so, for mind ever makes itself felt and admired. ”

“ I here disavow all intention to deride true spirit phenomena, if such there be; nor do I question the transmundane life of man—for the belief in immortality is a part of my very being—but, while ignoring the claims, and deriding the absurd pretensions of the vast majority of modern Eolists and self-styled mediums, I repeat the question: Is there any positive means or ways whereby even a favored few can penetrate the mysterious veil that hangs like an iron pall between the great human multitude and the infinitely greater BEYOND? ”

“ He rose, took the case, laid it on the table between us, and, while playing with the key, continued—‘If you really desire to pierce through the gloom that palls the human senses, you must abandon all human loves and passions, most especially all that relates to woman; for woman’s love destroys—in the very moment of man’s victory over her, she triumphs—he yields his life, and offers up existence itself on her altars, and then she laughs! ”

“ This apartment was under ground, and the youth, being thrown violently on the floor, revived, and was astonished to find himself bound hand and foot in presence of the king, his vizier, a few soldiers, and—death; for he saw at a glance that his days were numbered. He defended himself from the charge of sorcery, but in vain. He was doomed to die, and the order given, when, just as the blow was about to fall, there appeared the semblance of a gigantic hand, moving as if to stay the uplifted blade ”

“ The mystery of Magic Mirrors I am grateful for being taught. The secret of ages—the art of making the Elixir of Life, whereof whosoever shall drink shall never know decay, but so long as once a year he shall quaff thereof, may enjoy perpetual youth—I am inexpressibly thankful for. ”

“ One who revelled in mental luxuries fit for an angel, yet had not forecast enough to foil a common trickster;—who blindly, and for years, reposed his whole trust in one whose sole aim was to rob him not only of his little competence, but of his character as a man—who suffered one near and dear to him to starve, literally starve to death, and then be buried, at the very moment that himself and his were luxuriating on the very money for which that man had bartered health, and almost life itself! ”

“ But human nature is a very strange compound! My heart, my loves, desires, and emotional nature were all on the side of the ghostly, and eagerly grasped and nursed the occult and weird; and when these reigned in my soul I bravely defended the spiritual theory against all comers. I rose to sublime heights of inspiration and speculation, and being thereby rendered morbidly sensitive to affectional influences, readily yielded to the specious social sophistry of the hour, and, for a while, pursued a course from which, had not reason been utterly blinded, I would have shrunk with ineffable horror ”

“ The views you entertain upon the Past are, in some sense, consonant with my own; and if you are willing to be taught, I am willing to instruct; and in any case, no harm can come of the abrasion of ideas, but perchance much of good.’
“I was delighted to hear Ravalette talk in this manner; for I felt that he was in some sort, notwithstanding our relative disparity of years, a congenial spirit, and I longed for him to unfold to me the rich fabric of his thought and experience. ”

“ To my mind the thing was certain that she, like scores of thousands of others are, was for the time being under the absolute control and dominion of a Will a myriad times stronger than that of any living human being that ever tenanted a body on this terraqueous globe of ours—beings perfectly intelligent, powerful, invisible, and totally conscienceless, wherein is a great difference from human beings. ”

“ Ravalette seemed to have been expecting them, and did not appear at all surprised at their uninvited presence; but the effect upon Hokeis and his daughter, the very moment they beheld his face, was perfectly electrical, yet totally dissimilar, for Hokeis instantly threw himself upon his knees before Ravalette, bent his head, and folded his hands in an attitude half supplicatory, half adoring, and said:
“Oh, dread genius of the Fire and the Flame! do I see thee here? Alas! I am a wretched man, but thou art powerful and will forgive! ”

“ My freed spirit soared away into the superincumbent ether, and far, very far, beneath us rolled the great revolving globe; while far away in the black inane, twinkled myriads of fiery sparks—the starry eyes of God, looking through the tremendous vault of Heaven. Picture to yourself a soul, quitting earth, perhaps forever, and hovering over it like a gold-crested cloud, at set of sun, when all the winds are hushed to sleep on the still and loving bosom of its protecting God, and thine! ”

“ It is only necessary to say ‘I will have these powers!’ and they shall be yours. They all are well worth having. I learned my secret among the magi of the East—men not half so civilized as are we of the West; but who, nevertheless, know a great deal more than the sapient men of Christendom—that is, less of machinery, politics, and finance; but a great deal more of the human soul, its nature, its powers, and the methods of their developement. Instead of being surprised at modern scientific revelations, we of the True Temple——’ ‘What Temple?’ I interrupted him to ask. ”

“ For you I have fomented the most awful war the world has ever seen, and have divided a nation of brothers into two parties, each thirsting for the other’s blood; and while you have been the silent automaton, I have prompted your speech and moved the wires that govern the world, asking nothing whatever in return, and yet you are here to thwart me who have ever been your friend. ”

“ Crimson and red on their edges were they, as if crowned with thunder, and their bowels overcharged with lightnings; and their sombre shadows fell upon the plains below, heavy and pall-like, even as shrouds on the limbs of beauty, or the harsh critic’s sentence upon the first fruits of budding and aspiring genius. ‘It is nothing but a crowd,’ said I; and the being at my side repeated, as if in astonishment, ‘Nothing but a crowd? Boy, the destinies of nations centre in a crowd. Witness Paris. ”

“ Its life is bought with the coin of death. Woman is like the ivy vine mantling round some hoary tower, and the more you are ruined the closer she clings, and the closer she clings the more you are ruined! ”