in casa_," and divers
other manifestations, going back as far as 1531--croaking of ravens,
barking of dogs, and the ignition of fire-wood--must all have been brought
about by the working of this powerful spirit. In 1570 there happened to
him one of his everyday experiences of the presence of supernatural
powers. In the middle of the night he was conscious of some presence
walking about the room. It sat down beside him, and at the same time a
loud noise arose from a chest which stood near. This phenomenon, he
admits, might well have been the figment of a brain overburdened with
thought; but suddenly his memory flies back to an experience of his
twentieth year, upon which he proceeds to build a story, wild and fanciful
even for his powers of imagination. "What man was it," he asks, "who sold
me that copy of Apuleius when I was in my twentieth year, and forthwith
went away? I indeed, at that time, had made only one essay in the literary
arena, and had no knowledge of the Latin tongue; but in spite of this, and
because the book had a gilded cover, I was imprudent enough to buy it. The
very next day I found myself just as well versed in Latin as I am now.
Moreover, almost at the same time I acquired knowledge of Greek and
Spanish and French, sufficient for reading books written in these
languages."

Cardan was by this time completely possessed by the belief in his
attendant genius, and the flash of memory which recalled the purchase of
some book or other in his youth, suggested likewise the attribution of
certain mystic powers to this guardian genius, and conjured up some
fanciful explanation as to the way these powers had been exercised upon
himself; he, the person most closely concerned, being entirely unconscious
of their operation at the time when they first affected him. This recorded
belief in a gift of tongues is one of the most convincing bits of evidence
to be gleaned from Cardan's writings of the insanity which undoubtedly
afflicted him, at least periodically, at this crisis of his life.

FOOTNOTES:

[221] He mentions this matter briefly in the _De Vita Propria_: "Bis
arsisset lectus, praedixi me non permansurum Bononiae, et prima vice
restiti, secunda non potui."--ch. xli. p. 151. A fuller account of it is
in _Opera_, tom. x. p. 464.

[222] _Opera_, tom. x. p. 464.

[223] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xxx. p. 80. He seems to have had many
untoward experiences in driving. He tells of another mishap (_Opera_, tom.
i.