( 514 ) 



ASMODEUS AND THE INCOGNITO, 



(Continued from page 407 J 

 " I am a spirit of no common rate ; 

 The summer still doth tend upon my state, 

 And I do love thee ; therefore go with me. 



# # * # # 



And I will purge thy mortal grossness so 



That thou shalt like an airy spirit go." Shahspeare. 



OUR crystal boat soon floated above the towers of Notre Dame, 

 and drifted south-westward over Montargis, Auxerre and Chalons. 

 Asmodeus, acting as Cicerone, said : "Those are the' Alps, by 

 which Italy is separated from the rest of Europe. Oh ! that the 

 Italians knew how to make a good use of that formidable bulwark 1 

 Their country is naturally rich, great and powerful by land and sea ; 

 but by their indolence and disunion Hhey have rendered it unhappy, 

 insignificant, and weak. 'Tis true, that both the Carthaginian Napo- 

 leon of old, and the modern Hannibal of Corsica, were not stopped 

 in their martial career by those almost unsurmountable mountains ; 

 but posterity will probably never witness their equals. It is there- 

 fore actually the fault of the Italians, if their country is condemned, 

 ' A servir sempre o vincitrice, o vinta.' " 



" Well spoken," said I, '* but pray, Asmodeus, let us alight on the 

 summit of Mont Blanc, that I may contemplate for a short time 

 nature's wonders and beauties." " Be it so," was his reply, and, 

 behold, we soon were on terra-firma. 



In getting out of the boat, having been suddenly seized by the 

 intense cold, I began to tremble with all my limbs, and was nearly 

 fainting, when Asmodeus advised me to take a lozenge. Having 

 directly followed his suggestion I felt perfectly comfortable. To 

 describe what is indescribable, being an impossibility, I cannot im- 

 part to the reader the delight, the admiration, and the pleasing and 

 astonishing sensations, by which my mind was overpowered, while I 

 stood at 15,780 feet above the surface of the ground on a pic of 

 massive snow with a good devil at my elbow. Suffice for me to say, 

 that the spectacle was wonderful in every direction. In the shade, 

 even without the aid of the telescope, I could easily perceive the stars 

 twinkling in the cloudless heavens. Under me I viewed with rap- 

 ture the magical effect of numberless high pics covered with eternal 

 snow, the clear lakes of Switzerland and Italy, and the azure waves 

 both of the Mediterranean and Adriatic. On my left the picturesque 

 aspect of the South of France presented a landscape, compared to 

 which the finest specimens of Claude, Poussin, Albano, and Salvator 

 Rosa would appear but failures. On my right, Italy appeared in all her 

 charms, with her fertile plains, and highly cultivated hills and valleys, 

 intersected by limpid rivers, and evergreen Appennines. Here my 

 attention was attracted by foaming- cascades, which afterwards trans- 

 formed themselves into torrents and rivers. There crystalline glaciers, 



