'bogett' and found it full of stones. So he sware 'gret othes' and took himself by the hair and altogether carried on mightily, and finally 'made his advow that he would never ete fisshe ne fleissh until he had been at Saint Rynyons in Scotland if he might here of his goodes.' Then, with his bed-companion of the previous night, he rode over to Cambridge 'to make calculacion for the said goodes,' but at that seat of learning 'they coude find noo clerk or other person that wold take on hand to calcle for the said money.' However, when Robert Cooke got to London he had no difficulty in finding astrologers, who expressed the utmost confidence in their ability to 'calcle,' and told him that 'he shulde by the crafte of astronomye, if he wold, have hys eye or arme or other joynte of hys body thatt hadd robbed hym, att hys pleasure.' This ferocious promise, it may be pointed out, merely meant that the astronomer could give a description of any particular physical traits necessary to indentify the robber. In this particular instance the description was that of a fair man with large eyes, hair neither curly nor straight, and a large nose, of medium height, good looking, with a bright expression, and having one or more black teeth. This elaborate account the astronomer, with becoming modesty, had submitted to the judgment of others more learned and experienced than himself, and they guaranteed its accuracy. It was found to correspond with the appearance of John Balenger the younger, son of Cooke's host, except that the latter 'hath no blak toth in his hed as yt apperith iff ony lust to serch therfor,' and in order to prove this 'the said John Balenger was caused to sytte down and in large wyse to gape and open his jowes to be duely seen ... and after due serch therin made yt appeared that the said John had alle his teth whyte and in good maner proporconed.' Adding to this the fact that he was 'callid a good young man and wele ruled, not slaundered neither with dicyng, carding ne other misrule,' and the rather suspicious circumstance that the biggest stone found in Cooke's 'bogett' after the supposed robbery was a piece of ironstone of a kind not found within forty miles of St. Ives but very plentiful in Kendale, it is not surprising that the magistrates should have dismissed the case against the younger John Balenger. After all, a black tooth is like a finger-tip print--damning evidence if present but powerful for acquittal if absent, and who is a Justice of the Peace that he should contradict Jupiter? [Illustration: '_... caused to sytte down and in large wyse to gape._'] BLACK MAGIC