ina of
Salms, wife of Duke Francis II., and mother of the Duke Charles IV.,
and of having inflicted maladies on different persons, which maladies
the doctors attribute to evil spells. Charles IV. had conceived
violent suspicions against Desbordes, since one day when in a
hunting-party this valet-de-chambre had served a grand dinner to the
duke and his company, without any other preparation than having to
open a box with three shelves; and to wind up the wonders, he had
ordered three robbers, who were dead and hung to a gibbet, to come
down from it, and come and make their bow to the duke, and then to go
back and resume their place at the gallows. It was said, moreover,
that on another occasion he had commanded the personages in a piece of
tapestry to detach themselves from it, and to come and present
themselves in the middle of the room.

Charles IV. was not very credulous; nevertheless, he allowed Desbordes
to be tried. He was, it is said, convicted of magic, and condemned to
the flames; but I have since been assured[436] that he made his
escape; and some years after, on presenting himself before the duke,
and clearing himself, he demanded the restitution of his property,
which had been confiscated; but he recovered only a very small part of
it. Since the adventure of Desbordes, the partisans of Charles IV.
wished to cast a doubt on the validity of the baptism of the Duchess
Nichola, his wife, because she had been baptized by Lavallee, Chantre
de St. George, a friend of Desbordes, and like him convicted of
several crimes, which drew upon him similar condemnation. From a doubt
of the baptism of the duchess, they wished to infer the invalidity of
her marriage with Charles, which was then the grand business of
Charles IV.

Father Delrio, a Jesuit, says that the magician called Trois-Echelles,
by his enchantments, detached in the presence of King Charles IX. the
rings or links of a collar of the Order of the King, worn by some
knights who were at a great distance from him; he made them come into
his hand, and after that replaced them, without the collar appearing
deranged.

John Faust Cudlingen, a German, was requested, in a company of gay
people, to perform in their presence some tricks of his trade; he
promised to show them a vine loaded with grapes, ripe and ready to
gather. They thought, as it was then the month of December, he could
not execute his promise. He strongly recommended them not to stir
from their plac