The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Cagliostro, Alessandro

CAGLIOSTRO, käl-yōs'trō, Alessandro (Count of) (real name Giuseppe Balsamo), Italian charlatan: b. Palermo, 8 June 1743; d. Saint Leon, Italy, 26 Aug. 1795. He entered the order of the Brothers of Mercy, where he found an opportunity to cultivate his talents for medical science, by which he afterward distinguished himself. But as he showed at the same time a great love of dissipation, he was compelled to separate from the order. He returned to Palermo, where, among other tricks, he deceived some credulous persons by his pretended skill in magic and the finding of hidden treasures. He also showed himself adroit in counterfeiting handwriting, and attempted to get possession of a contested estate by means of a forged document, but was discovered and was obliged to flee. He now determined to go to Rome, and in his journey through Calabria became acquainted with Lorenza Feliciani, daughter of a belt-maker, who appeared to him intended by fortune to assist his designs. He formed an intimacy with her, and they began their travels, in which he assumed the character of a man of rank, first appearing under the name of the Marquis Pellegrini, and finally under that of the Count Cagliostro. He traveled through many countries of Europe, stopped in the capital cities, and by his chemical mixtures, his tricks, and by the amours of his companion, gained considerable sums. He knew how to cheat with great ingenuity, and was always fortunate enough to preserve himself by an early flight, if men's eyes began to be opened, or waking justice threatened him with imprisonment. The discovery of the philosopher's stone, the preparation of a precious elixir vitæ, etc., were the pretenses by means of which he extracted considerable sums from credulous people. Many had recourse to his assistance not indeed to be initiated into the mysteries of magic, but to purchase at a high rate different kinds of medicine, one of which was the water of beauty. This profitable business employed him many years; but his trade in medicine began to grow less lucrative, and he determined to seek his fortune as the founder of a new and secret sect. In pursuance of this plan he passed himself off during his second residence in London for a Free Mason, and played the part of a magician and worker of miracles, in which character he drew upon himself the eyes of all the enthusiasts in Europe. The Countess Cagliostro, on her part, did not remain idle. She was the first and most perfect scholar of her husband, and ably played the part of a priestess to this new order. His plan for reviving an old Egyptian order, the founders of which he declared to be Enoch and Elias, contained a mass of absurdities, but his pretensions to supernatural power, the mystery with which his doctrines were enveloped, his pretended ability to work miracles, his healing the sick without pay, with the greatest appearance of generosity, and the belief that, as the Great Kophta (this name he had taken as the restorer of Egyptian masonry), he could reveal the secrets of futurity, gained him many friends and supporters. Cagliostro again traveled through Europe, and attracted great attention in Mittau, Strassburg, Lyons and Paris. While in this last city (1785) he had the misfortune to be implicated in the scandalous affair of the Diamond Necklace, and was banished the country as a confidant of Cardinal Rohan. He now returned to London, and sent many epistles to his followers, wherein he bitterly complained of the injury he had received in France, and painted the French court in the blackest colors. From London, where he could not long remain, he went to Basel and other cities in that quarter. But at length, listening to the repeated entreaties of his wife and other friends, he returned (1789) to Rome. Here he busied himself about Freemasonry; but being discovered and committed to the Castle of Saint Angelo, he was condemned by a decree of the Roman Inquisition to imprisonment for life as a Freemason, an arch heretic and a very dangerous foe to religion. He died after five years' imprisonment. His wife retired to a convent. Consult the Cagliostro bibliography by W. E. A. Axon in ‘Notes and Queries’ (4th series, Vol. X, London 1872); Carlyle, Thomas, ‘The Life of Count Cagliostro’ (London 1787); ‘The Life of Joseph Balsamo, Commonly Called Count Cagliostro’ (London 1791); Trowbridge ‘Cagliostro; the Splendor and Misery of a Master of Magic’ (New York 1910). There is much spurious material in existence concerning Cagliostro, such as the so-called ‘Mémoires authentiques’ (Paris 1786).