, Melissa, Fenice, Anna, Pellegrini, Harat, and
Belmonte, nor state the studies and processes by which he picked up
sufficient knowledge of physic, chemistry, the hidden properties of
numbers, astronomy, astrology, mesmerism, clairvoyance, and the genuine
old-fashioned "black art;" but suffice it to say, that he travelled
through every part of Europe, and set it in a blaze with excitement.

There were always enough of silly coxcombs, young and old, of high
degree, to be allured by the siren smiles of his "Countess;" and dupes
of both sexes everywhere, to swallow his yarns and gape at his
juggleries. In the course of his rambles, he paid a visit to his great
brother humbug, the Count of St. Germain, in Westphalia, or Schleswig,
and it was not long afterward that he began to publish to the world his
grand discoveries in Alchemy, of the Philosopher's Stone, and the Elixir
of Life, or Waters of Perpetual Youth. These and many similar wonders
were declared to be the result of his investigations under the Arch of
Old Egyptian Masonry, which degree he claimed to have revived. This
notion of Egyptian Masonry, Cagliostro is said to have found in some
manuscripts left by one George Cofton, which fell into our quack's
hands. This degree was to give perfection to human beings, by means of
moral and physical regeneration. Of these two the former was to be
secured by means of a Pentagon, which removes original sin and renews
pristine innocence. The physical kind of regeneration was to be brought
about by using the "prime matter" or philosopher's stone, and the
"Acacia," which two ingredients will give immortal youth. In this new
structure, he assumed the title of the "Grand Cophta" and actually
claimed the worship of his followers; declaring that the institution had
been established by Enoch and Elias, and that he had been summoned by
"spiritual" agencies to restore it to its pristine glory. In fact, this
pretension, which influenced thousands upon thousands of believers, was
one of the most daring impostures that ever saw the light; and it is
astounding to think that, so late as 1780, it should, for a long time,
have been entirely successful. The preparatory course of exercises for
admission to the mystic brotherhood has been described as a series of
"purgation, starvation, and desperation," lasting for forty days! and
ending in "physical regeneration" and an immortality on earth. The
celebrated Lavater, a mild and genial, but feeble