The poor friar lived a
very short time after; whether he died a natural death, or was otherwise
poisoned or made away by Kelly, the merchant who related this did not
certainly know."
Kelly was born at Worcester, and had been an apothecary. He had a sister
who lived there for some time after his death, and who used to exhibit
some gold made by her brother's projection. "It was vulgarly reported
that he had a compact with the devil, which he outlived, and was seized
at midnight by infernal spirits, who carried him off in sight of his
family, at the instant he was meditating a mischievous design against
the minister of the parish, with whom he was greatly at enmity."
It would have been easy to select a more historical statement of facts
respecting Kelly; but the following tale, the events of one day only,
will, we hope, be more interesting to the generality of readers. It
exhibits a curious display of the intrigues and devices by which these
impostors acquired an almost unlimited power over the minds of their
fellow-men. Human credulity once within their grasp, they could wield
this tremendous engine at their will, directing it either to good or bad
intents, but more often to purposes of fraud and self-aggrandisement.
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