Exercitatio Magica Nobilissima

Pages dealing with the practice of divining for treasure, using a simple hazel rod.

Exercitatio Magica Nobilissima ("The Most Noble Art of Magic") is "a seventeenth-century attempt to describe all of English magic." It was put up for sale when the library of the Duke of Roxburghe was auctioned off in 1812 [28]. Naturally it was bought by Mr. Norrell.

A somewhat tart epigram from the Exercitatio (1651), taxing our human frailty, runs thus:

Virgula divina
"Some Sorcerers do boast they have a Rod,
Gather'd with Vowes and Sacrifice,
And (borne about) will strangely nod
To hidden Treasure where it lies;
Mankind is (sure) that Rod divine,
For to the Wealthiest (ever) they incline."