“When formerly at Cracow in Poland necromancy was taught publicly, there came one of the name of Johannes Faustus, of Kundling, who in a short time understood this art so well, that a short time ago, before the year 1540, he practised it to the amazement of many and with many lies and frauds in Germany, publicly and without fear. What a strange hoaxer and adventurer he was, and what strange tricks he was able to perform, I will here only demonstrate to the reader by one instance, but with the instruction that he promise me beforehand that he will not imitate him. When on one occasion this necromancer Faustus on account of his wicked tricks was imprisoned at Battenburg, which lies on the River Maas and borders on the Duchy of Geldern, in the absence of the Count Hermann, the chaplain of that place, Dr. Johann Dorsten, a pious, simple man, showed him much kindness, because he had promised to teach him many good arts and make him a profoundly experienced man. Therefore, when he saw that Faust was very fond of drink, he sent him wine so long till the barrel was empty. But when the magician Faustus noticed that, and the chaplain also prepared to go to Graven to get a shave, he told him that if he would procure for him more wine, he would teach him an art, how to remove his beard without a razor or anything. When the chaplain forthwith agreed, he bade him take some arsenic and rub well his beard and chin with it, not telling him to prepare it beforehand and mix it with other things. When he did this, his chin began to burn, so that not only the hair fell out, but the skin and flesh came off as well. I knew another man who had a black beard, and was yellowish of face on account of his melancholy complexion. When he visited the magician Faust, the latter said to him: ‘Really, I thought you were my brother-in-law, my sister’s husband; and so I looked immediately at your feet, to see whether you had long, crooked claws!’ Thus he compared the good man, because he was swarthy, to the devil, and called him also, as was always his custom, his brother-in-law. But he received his reward at last. For, as is said, he was found dead one morning beside his bed in a village in Württemberg, his face turned towards his back, and the previous night there was such a turmoil in the house, that the whole house shook.” And lastly, there is a reference to Faust’s conjuring up the dead in Wolffgang Bütner’s _Epitome Historiarum_, in 1576:— “I have heard that Faustus, at Wittenberg, showed to the students and to an exalted man N——, Hector, Ulysses, Hercules, Æneas, Samson, David and others, who came forth with fierce bearing and earnest countenance and disappeared again, and princely personages are also said to have been present at the time and to have looked on.”