186 
MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS 
never yields to reason. It destroys aU sense of values. Its 
origin is usually obscure. The least irrational base of it is the 
sense ofsmell. It was, ifI remember rightly, the Comte de St. 
Germain who advised Louise de la Valliere to fix her 
exquisitely broidered kerchief in such wise that it protected 
her from contact with her saddle, and then , after a morning's 
hard gallop, to find an excuse for using it to wipe the brows 
of the perspiring king. It took him years to recover! The 
story is well known, and the plan widely adopted with 
remarkably unvarying success. But be careful not to overdo 
it; for if the source of the perfume is recognized the 
consciousness takes charge, and the result is an tipa thy. 
Many years ago I composed a scent based on similar 
principles, which I intended to market under 
the title 
"Potted Sex Appeal." We tried it out with the assistance of a 
certain 
noble 
Marquess, 
whose 
consequent 
misadventures-won't 
he laugh when he reads this! 
But there are other senses: l'amour de l'oreille may refer 
not only to Othello's way of snaring Desdemona, but 
subtleties of timbre in the voice ... 
Yes, yes, you say impatiently, but there isn't any miracle 
about all this in the ordinary sense of the word. 
True, but why the devil do you want me, so long as you're 
getting what you need? Just being childlike, I suppose! No? 
Merely that you can explain such matters to yourself well 
enough. All right; on to No.2. Shall we look at levitation for 
a change? 
This power-if 
it be one-is very curious indeed. It 
connects more directly with magnetism than almost any 
other. The first thing we think of when someone says 
"magnet" is picking up iron filings as a child. 
Age before honesty! Let Father Poulain SJ. speak first! 
He is obliged to admit the phenomenon, because the Church 
has done so. But precisely similar accounts of the levitation 
of pagans and heretics must be, according to him, lies, or 
Works of the Devil. As for the method, "God employs the