f mutual love between man and woman, and as such highly valuable to
both. The knowledge of secrets like this he had gathered during journeys
through France and Italy, in which countries he had spent his life since
he was fifteen years old. Those who had travelled in the latter country
knew what a miracle art there performs in behalf of beauty; how women
of forty bear the same countenance as those of fifteen, ages being in
no way distinguished by appearances; whereas in England, by looking at a
horse in the mouth and a woman in the face, it was possible to tell the
number of their years. He could, therefore, give such remedies as would
render those who came to him perfectly fair; clearing and preserving
them from all spots, freckles, pimples, marks of small-pox, or traces
of accidents. He would, moreover, cure the teeth, clear the breath, take
away fatness, and add flesh.

A man who vouched to perform such wonders was not long without patients.
At first these were drawn from his immediate neighbourhood, but soon his
fame reached the heart of the city. Accordingly, many ladies of
whose hospitality he had partaken, and of whose secrets he had become
possessed, hurried to consult him; and the marvellous insight he
betrayed regarding their past, and strange predictions he pronounced
concerning their future, filled them with amazement, and occasionally
with alarm. And they, proclaiming the marvels of his wisdom, widened the
circle of his reputation, until his name was spoken within the precincts
of Whitehall.

Curiosity concerning so remarkable a man at once beset the minds of
certain ladies at court, who either feared or expected much from the
future, and were anxious to peer into such secrets as it held concerning
themselves. But dreading the notoriety their presence would naturally
cause in the vicinity of Tower Street, a spot to them unknown, they,
acting with a prudence not invariably characteristic of their
conduct, sent their maids to ascertain from personal experience if the
astrologer's wisdom was in truth as marvellous as reported. Now, when
these appeared in fear and trembling before the great Alexander Bendo,
the knowledge he revealed concerning themselves, and their mistresses
likewise, was so wonderful that it exceeded all expectation.
Accordingly, the maids returned to court with such testimonies
concerning the lore of this star-reader, as fired afresh their
mistresses' desires to see and converse with him in