complete faith and reliance upon his powers; an advantage which the most
impudent charlatans often possess over the regular practitioner.

While thus in a fair way of making his fortune he became acquainted with
the beautiful Lorenza Feliciana, a young lady of noble birth, but without
fortune. Cagliostro soon discovered that she possessed accomplishments
that were invaluable. Besides her ravishing beauty, she had the readiest
wit, the most engaging manners, the most fertile imagination, and the
least principle of any of the maidens of Rome. She was just the wife for
Cagliostro, who proposed himself to her, and was accepted. After their
marriage, he instructed his fair Lorenza in all the secrets of his
calling--taught her pretty lips to invoke angels, and genii, sylphs,
salamanders, and undines, and, when need required, devils and evil
spirits. Lorenza was an apt scholar; she soon learned all the jargon of
the alchymists and all the spells of the enchanters; and thus accomplished
the hopeful pair set out on their travels, to levy contributions on the
superstitious and the credulous.

They first went to Sleswig on a visit to the Count de St. Germain, their
great predecessor in the art of making dupes, and were received by him in
the most magnificent manner. They no doubt fortified their minds for the
career they had chosen by the sage discourse of that worshipful gentleman;
for immediately after they left him, they began their operations. They
travelled for three or four years in Russia, Poland, and Germany,
transmuting metals, telling fortunes, raising spirits, and selling the
_elixir vitae_ wherever they went; but there is no record of their doings
from whence to draw a more particular detail. It was not until they made
their appearance in England in 1776, that the names of the Count and
Countess di Cagliostro began to acquire a European reputation. They
arrived in London in the July of that year, possessed of property, in
plate, jewels, and specie, to the amount of about three thousand pounds.
They hired apartments in Whitcombe Street, and lived for some months
quietly. In the same house there lodged a Portuguese woman, named Blavary,
who, being in necessitous circumstances, was engaged by the count as
interpreter. She was constantly admitted into his laboratory, where he
spent much of his time in search of the philosopher's stone. She spread
abroad the fame of her entertainer in return for his hospitality, and
labour