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ritual magic and geomancy earned him much animosity, and that Smith had often told him “he wished he had never troubled himself with the study of these sciences to the extent that he had, as he felt certain the truth of them was very problematical.”99 We should not take this too seriously; his last issue of The Prophetic Messenger included an advertisement for The New Astrologer of the 19th Century, including “A COMPLETE AND FAMILIAR SYSTEM OF GEOMANCY” and “ANCIENT SUPERSTITIONS DISPLAYED, particularly those related to magical ceremonies, talismans, and divination.”100

Little attention has been paid to Smith’s efforts to blend magic with fiction. One key example is a story entitled “The Necromancers, and the Prediction,” published in The Book of Spirits and Tales of the Dead (1827) and republished after his death under the more apt title Tales of the Horrible (1837). This work draws from a folktale regarding a local tower structure known as Cook’s Folly, likely built in 1693 by John Cooke, in which a man is walled up inside to avoid a foretold death.101 Smith reworks the tale in light of his magical research. The Roma fortune teller or astrologer in other versions is replaced with a necromancer. This dread wizard dwells in a cave described as similar to Burwall’s Cave, a short distance from the Clifton Suspension Bridge. To meet Cooke’s desire for prognostication, he and the necromancer go to the churchyard in Abbots Leigh, where the spirit “Birto”—present in Oberon and other early modern manuscripts—is summoned under dreadful and terrifying circumstances. It seems that Smith is here combining Bristol folklore and landscape with Gothic sensibilities and his own reading of magical manuscripts.102

Smith married Sarah Lucas in 1820 and was believed to have six children by the time of his death.103 He passed on February 26, 1832, after a period in illness, sitting by the fire at home.104 Even after his death, the name “Raphael” was taken up by a succession of astrologers who followed in his footsteps.105

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Smith’s addition to this book is a leaf inserted just before page 264, folded in half and glued into the text. The section consists of two pages on talismans; a one-page discussion of the astronomical significance of Herschel, including a note on the chart of “H. W.,”

99. Dixon, True Prophetic Messenger, 88. 100. Raphael, Prophetic Messenger. 101. Quinn, “Fact and Folly,” 10; Harte, “Exotic Snakes” 10–11; “Cooke’s Folly,” 4. 102. Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century and Wright, Tales of the Horrible, 65–80. 103. Dixon, True Prophetic Messenger, 86. 104. Dixon, True Prophetic Messenger, 91. 105. Howe, Urania’s Children, 31–32; Howe, Raphael, 27–35.