Page 8 (part 3)

It is a noticeable fact that in this work the first section is entitled Clavis , and if we may regard the Sepher Raziel as antedating the Claviculæ , it explains why a Key was attributed to Solomon. The Clavis in question is, however, concerned with the magical influences of the stars, "without which we can effect nothing." The second book is called Ala ; it treats of the virtues of stones, herbs and beasts. The third is Tractatus Thymiamalum , the use of which term connects it with the Sworn Book of Honorius; it treats of suffumigations. The fourth sets out the times of the year, day and night which are disposed to operation; the fifth embodies the laws regarding lustrations and abstinence; while the sixth, called Samaim , expounds the nature of the heavens, of the angels and of the operations of each. The seventh and last book is concerned with the virtues of names. A Latin version of the Sepher Raziel occurs in Sloane MS. 3853, ascribed to the same period. It differs from the former in several considerable respects, being also much shorter and full of rare magical symbols. The MSS. of the third group are all in English, and all of late date. Sloane 2731 is a very neat MS., begun on January 10, 1676, and containing the entire Lemegeton , or Lesser Key of Solomon , in English. Some account of this celebrated work, which has so unaccountably escaped publication, will be found in the third chapter of this part. Sloane 3648 is another manuscript of the Lemegeton , also in English, together with the Ars Notoria , a book of invocations and prayers attributed to Solomon, of which there are many examples extant in England and on the Continent. It is a work which connects with Magic without being itself Magical, and, in fact, stands in much the same relation to the Key or Clavicle as the Enchiridion of Pope Leo to the Isagoge of the Arbatel . Lastly, the same MS. contains the Magical Archidoxies of Paracelsus, but the version seems to be quite distinct from the treatise so entitled in the Geneva folio, containing the collected writings of the German adept. In either case, it is not a work of Ceremonial Magic, its title notwithstanding. Sloane 3805 is a quarto MS., chiefly alchemical and medical, comprising a translation of the forged epistles of Sendivogius, and towards the end the Lemegeton , started by the writer apparently with the intention of transcribing all the works attributed to Solomon under the heading of this angelic name. It breaks off, however, at the end of the offices of the thirteenth spirit belonging to the Infernal Hierarchy. It should be added that the three groups contain materials which are common to all. The independent treatises which follow the Sepher Raziel in Sloane 3826 extract matter from the Sworn Book , while that entitled Liber Lunæ , concerning the intelligences of the mansions of the moon, the squares of the planets, their seals, rings and so forth--which, by the way, seems in this form unknown to modern critics--has given material to other and later collections. The unprinted literature of Ceremonial Magic offers a considerable field to research, though even in the historical or bibliographical interest it is questionable whether it would repay the pains, unless research of all kinds whatsoever is to be regarded as its own reward. Among the miscellaneous MSS. in the British Museum, it is here only necessary to notice two, as they contain materials connected with the present design.