Cardan believed himself to have possessed a faculty of divination,[20] by means of voices conveyed to him in different directions. He certainly mistook the symptom called _Tinnitus Aurium_, which accompanies the disease of literary men, for special warnings. In another instance, Cardan has shewed his propensity to ascribe his natural peculiarities to mystical causes. ‘When I lived and lectured at Paris,’ says he, ‘looking accidentally at my hands, I saw, in the ring-finger of the right hand, the figure of a bloody sword, which alarmed me. In the evening a messenger arrived, with letters from my son-in-law, informing me of my son’s imprisonment, and desiring me to go to Milan. That mark continued to spread for fifty-three days, till it reached the point of the finger, and was as red and fiery as blood, to my great consternation. At midnight my son was beheaded; next day the mark had nearly vanished, and in two days afterwards, it was entirely gone.’[21] There can be little doubt, that this appearance was occasioned by an inflamed lymphatic. The voice of lamentation which Cardan fancied he heard, about the time of his son’s execution, was the result of the agitation of his mind, distracted with grief and terror. Beaumont’s perception of sounds consisted chiefly in the tolling of bells, of different sizes, with occasional addresses from the spirits. It is singular, that he never suspected himself to labour under the disease of _Corybantism_, as it has been termed, though he describes it, as applied to others. The most remarkable instance of this kind, is the story of Quarrè, as quoted by Morhoff;[22] but the proof of its accuracy is defective. Philebert de la Mare, in his life of Guion, takes occasion to introduce the story. During the French civil wars, Quarreus, or Quarrè, and other magistrates of the royal party, were obliged to quit Dijon, and remove to Saumur. In the month of August, 1594, about two o’clock in the morning, Quarrè was awakened by a sudden shock, and heard some unknown words pronounced. He awaked his servant, who lay in the room, and ordered him to strike a light, that he might write down the words, which he continued muttering to himself, lest he should forget them. Having written them, according to the sound, they ran thus: _Oug aposondes ton endon distiguion_. Neither himself nor the servant could imagine what the language was, Quarrè being entirely ignorant of Greek. Early in the morning, he met with Guion, on his way to the court, and asked him to interpret the words. Guion knew them to be Greek, and that they ought to be written, Ο’υκ ὰπώσῶντες τῶν ἐνδον δυςτυχίυν: And he added the translation: _Non repulsuri, quod intus infortunium_.