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Saint Germain |
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Saint Germain,
Comte de : Born probably about 1710, one of the
most celebrated mystic adventurers of modem
times. Like Cagliostro and others of his kind
almost nothing is known concerning his
origin, but there is reason to believe that he
was a Portuguese Jew. There are, however, hints
that he was of royal birth, but these have never
been substantiated. One thing is fairly certain,
and that is he was an accomplished spy, for he
resided at many European Courts, spoke several
languages fluently, and was even sent upon
diplomatic missions by Louis XV. He had always
abundance of funds at his command, and is
alluded to by Grimm as the most capable and able
man he had ever known. He pretended to have
lived for centuries, to have known Solomon, the
Queen of Sheba and many other persons of
antiquity; but although obviously a charlatan,
the accomplishments upon which he based his
reputation were in many ways real and
considerable. Especially was this the case as
regards chemistry, a science in which he was
certainly an adept, and he pretended to have a
secret for removing the flaws from diamonds, and
to be able to transmute metals, and of course he
possessed the secret of the elixir of life. He
is mentioned by Horace Walpole as being in
London about 1743, and as being arrested as a
Jacobite spy, who was later released. Walpole
writes of him: " He is called an Italian, a
Spaniard, a Pole, a somebody who married a great
fortune in Mexico and ran away with her jewels
to Constantinople, a priest, a fiddler, a vast
nobleman." Five years after his London
experience, he attached himself to the court of
Louis XV. where he exercised considerable
influence, over that monarch, and was employed
by him upon several secret missions. He was
distinctly the fashion about this time, for
Europe was greatly inclined to the pursuit of
the occult at this epoch; and as he combined
mystical conversation with a pleasing
character.and not a little flippancy, he was the
rage. But he ruined his chances at the French
court by interfering in a dispute between
Austria and France, and was forced to remove
himself to England. He resided in London for one
or two years, but we trace him to St.
Petersburg, 1762, where he is said to have
assisted in the conspiracy which placed
Catherine II. on the Russian throne. After this
he travelled in Germany where he is said in the
Memoirs of Cagliostro to have become the founder
of freemasonry, and to have initiated Cagliostro
into that rite. (See Cagliostro.) If
Cagliostro's account can be credited, he set
about the business with remarkable splendour,
and not a little bombast, posing as a " deity,"
and behaving in a manner calculated to gladden
pseudo-mystics of the age. He was nothing if not
theatrical, and it is probably for this reason
that he attracted the Landgrave Charles of Hesse,
who set aside a residence for the study of the
occult sciences. He died at Schleswig somewhere
between the years 1780 and 1785, but the exact
date of his death and its circumstances are
unknown. It would be a matter of real difficulty
to say whether he possessed any genuine occult
power whatsoever, and in all likelihood he was
merely one of those charlatans in whom his age
abounded. Against this view might be set the
circumstance that a great many really clever and
able people of his own time thoroughly believed
in him; but we must remember the credulous
nature of the age in which he flourished. It has
been said that XVIII. century Europe was
sceptical regarding everything save occultism
and its professors, and it would appear to
unbiassed minds that this circumstance could
have no better illustration than the career of
the Comte de Saint Germain. Home | Alternative
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