] 827. j Agrippa and /m Dog. 629 



inscribed with the omnipotent name " Tetragrammaton." There were, 

 besides, various little earthen dishes, containing perfumes and other sub- 

 stances as red sanders, aloes, pepper, mastic, saffron, peppermint, and 

 sulphur; also pieces of wax and metals, blood, bones, milk, and honey : a 

 two-edged sword, with a sharp point, lay at one of the sides ; a censer 

 for burning the perfumes, and a flask of oil. The only other objects which 

 caught the attention of the novice were two wax lights, set at each end of 

 the table, ready for use, and something in the middle, wrapped in a clean 

 white towel, which he knew to be the treasure he sought the magic 

 book for one peep into which he had thus dared the wrath of Agrippa, 

 and the malice of all the fiends of hell. When he would have stretched 

 forth his hand, however, to seize it, a sudden faintness came over his spirit, 

 and he was constrained for some moments to lean against the altar. Per- 

 haps the closeness of the room, from which every breath of the outer air 

 seemed to have been sedulously excluded, together with the smell of the 

 different perfumes, had sickened him ; or, it may be, the errand on which 

 he had come, rendered more awful by the profound silence which reigned 

 in this chamber of mystery, and the doubtful twilight in which every 

 thing was enveloped, had unnerved him at the moment when courage was 

 most wanting. Summoning all his energies, how r ever, to his assistance, 

 and fortifying his resolution by several hearty ejaculations from the most 

 pithy texts of the Holy Scriptures, he suddenly started up from his reclining 

 posture, seized on the mystical treasure, and, undoing the towel, placed the 

 book before him. At the side at which it should be opened there hung 

 various pieces of parchment, impressed with seals, and inscribed with mys- 

 tical characters, which formed a sort of index of reference to its contents, 

 and, at the same time, served to guard the reader against the clanger of 

 opening it in a wrong or unexpected place. Louvet paused in perplexity ; 

 for he knew enough of magic to be aware of the danger of calling up "in 

 ignorance a spirit whose services he had not science sufficient to make use 

 of; and whose absence, when once called up, he had not power enough 

 to command. But the time was flying ; and making his election, at a 

 venture, at the sign of the planet Mercury, he opened the book. At this 

 moment a sudden knocking at the wall broke the dead silence of the apart- 

 ment ; but Louvet read the first line without turning his head : at the 

 second, the knocking was repeated louder than before, and attended by a 

 noise of growling ad gnawing : at the third, a heavy panel fell from the 

 wall with a tremendous crash, and the novice turned round in fear and 

 horror. At first he could see nothing but a mass of dust and mortar, which 

 surrounded the opening, and, brightened by the beams of the sun behind, 

 assumed the appearance of silver-coloured clouds : but the next moment 

 the black dog darted through the wall, and, with a furious howl, sprung 

 upon the student. " In nomine Patris .'" cried Louvet " O God, 1 shall 

 be strangled ! Filii holy Jesus ! what will become of me ? et Spiritu 

 Sancti I am lost !" continued he, intermixing the dead and the living 

 languages, and struggling as lustily with the arm of the flesh as with that 

 of the spirit. The only reply of the fiend, however, was a growl and a 

 gnaw, to each word of his victim ; and the scholar had recourse to other 

 conjurations. 



" By the might of the name Adonai," said he, " exorciso te !" " Bow, 

 wow, wow!" answered the fiend, tearing down his mantle to the skirts. 



" By El, and Elhoe, and Elohim " Ugh, agh, ogh !" said 



the fiend, worrying on the scholar's arm. 



