tory, protesting
that they had never intended treason, and that "at no time had he been
of counsel" when any treason was thought of.[217]

[Sidenote: The wizard summoned before the Council.]

[Sidenote: He undertakes to make the philosopher's stone, and will
jeopard his life upon it.]

The wizard himself was next sent for. The prophecies about the king he
denied wholly. He admitted that he had seen an angel in a dream giving
Sir William Neville the shield of the earldom in Warwick Castle, and
that he had accompanied the two brothers to Warwick, to examine the
tower. Beyond that, he said that he knew nothing either of them or of
their intentions. He declared himself a good subject, and he would
"jeopard his life" to make the philosopher's stone for the king in
twelve months if the king pleased to command him. He desired "no longer
space than twelve months upon silver and twelve and a half upon gold ";
to be kept in prison till he had done it; and it would be "better to the
King's Grace than a thousand men."[218]

[Sidenote: Evidence in these confessions of the unrest and agitation of
the country.]

The result of these examinations does not appear, except it be that the
Nevilles were dismissed without punishment; and the story itself may be
thought too trifling to have deserved a grave notice. I see in it,
however, an illustration very noticeworthy of the temper which was
working in the country. The suspicion of treason in the Neville family
may not have been confirmed, although we see them casting longing looks
on the lost inheritance of Warwick; but their confessions betray the
visions of impending change, anarchy, and confusion, which were haunting
the popular imagination. A craving after prophecies, a restless
eagerness to search into the future by abnormal means, had infected all
ranks from the highest to the lowest; and such symptoms, when they
appear, are a sure evidence of approaching disorder, for they are an
evidence of a present madness which has brought down wisdom to a common
level with folly. At such times, the idlest fancy is more potent with
the mind than the soundest arguments of reason. The understanding
abdicates its functions; and men are given over, as if by magic, to the
enchantments of insanity.

Phenomena of this eccentric kind always accompany periods of
intellectual change. Most men live and think by habit; and when habit
fails them, they are like unskilful sailors who have lost the landma