62S Agrippa and kt's Dog. 



St. Paul's and oil in vain. There was something still wanting ; he had 

 all the materiel of the art but the morale was absent ; he had constructed, 

 as it were, the outward form of a human body but knew not where to 

 find the soul. His resolution, however, was now taken. All things are 

 lawful in the pursuit of knowledge : to steal wisdom is no crime. Not 

 even the punishment of our first parents had power to scare him from his 

 purpose ; for, like a true disciple of his master, he denied that their curio- 

 sity, in itself so laudable, could have been the object of Almighty pro- 

 scription and vengeance holding that their unchaste love was the only 

 crime for which they suffered. He had observed, when in the study, a 

 small panel-door, which doubtless led into the inner chamber where the 

 magic book was kept ; and he determined, during oi.e of the long absences 

 of Agrippa, to obtain entrance either by fraud or violence, and to possess 

 himself at once of that secret which so many sages had sought in vain. An 

 opportunity was not long wanting of executing his project; for Agrigpa, the 

 very next day, announced publicly his intention of going into the country 

 for some time. Louvet saw him deliver, according to his custom on such 

 occasions, a bunch of keys to Paulina, and overheard him caution her in 

 a low voice to admit no one into his study. He had scarcely turned his 

 back when the impatient student went into the room where the lady was 

 sitting at work ; and, after a good deal of hesitation, besought her to lend 

 him the keys for an instant, that he might go to seek a book which his 

 master had ordered him to read, but had forgotten to leave out. ' Paulina 

 refused, at first coldly, and then with anger ; but seeing the student per- 

 severe, she laid down her work, and looking at him with a mournful smile, 

 " Go, then," said she, " thou foolish boy ! seek what thou shaltnot find ; 

 search after the light, and obtain blindness ; sow in wisdom, and reap 

 folly. Do what thou wilt, or what thou must but do it quickly ; and, 

 having reached the wall, beyond which there is no passage, turn back 

 speedily neither in shame nor yet in scoffing but with meekness and 

 moderation of spirit ; and so thy young life shall not run away in a dream." 

 Louvet, uttering a thousand promises and thanks, without having heard a 

 syllable she said, seized the keys, and in a moment found himself in Agrip- 

 pa's study. He tried one of the keys to the lock of the panel-door ; and, 

 as if by instinct, stumbled at the first on the right one. He then entered 

 the secret chamber of the magician, and, as is meet in such places, shut 

 the door after him. It was a good-sized room, being nearly five yards 

 square. There were two windows in the end opposite to where he had 

 entered, and two at each of the sides ; but these having been built or 

 boarded up very nearly to the top and, besides, having a curtain hanging 

 down from the roof to the floor, afforded but little light. The floor and 

 the panels along the walls, by dint of frequent and laborious cleaning, had 

 received a polish which made it seem as if they had been formed of some 

 rich and curious wood; and, indeed, every thing in the apartment bore 

 token of the utmost nicety of attention, on the part of the proprietor, to 

 cleanliness and neatness. On the floor were three circles, drawn at regular 

 distances, one within the other, the outermost about nine fieet in diameter, 

 and the whole inscribed with names and words of potency. At the upper 

 end of the room there was a table raised like an altar, and set towards the 

 east, covered with white cloth of fine linen. On one corner of it there 

 hung a robe, also of white linen, and in fashion like a priest's garment, 

 close both before and behind, with a veil of the same colour and substance, 

 and a girdle of black leather, having a plate of gold set in the middle.; 



