630 Agrippa and his Dog. [j UNE, 



Zebaoth, Escherchie,Jah, Sadai, Tetragramraaton !" groaned 

 Louvet, waxing faint with the unequal strife ; but the incarnate spirit of 

 darkness was unmoved. 



" By the name Schemes Amathia, which Joshua called on, and the sun 

 stood still!" Even this would not do. 



" By the name Primeamadon, which Moses named, and the earth 

 swallowed up Corah, Dathan, and Abiram !" But the fiend snapped at 

 his throat. 



" In the name of thy master, then, take this!" cried Louvet, hurling, 

 with a last effort, the fatal book at the head of his adversary. The beast 

 received the gift with an unearthly yell, which resounded through the 

 chamber, and the tyro of philosophy sunk fainting under his jaws upon 

 the floor. 



Martin Del Rio, in relating this story in bis Disquisitions, says that 

 the fiend actually strangled the scholar; and that Agrippa, coming in 

 soon after, being in fear of the impression which such an accident, happen- 

 ing under his roof, might make on the public mind, caused the destroyer 

 to enter into the body of his victim, and walk out into the court before the 

 scholars ; where, as the evil spirit left him at the word of command, the 

 lifeless body of Louvet fell down, to all human appearance the victim of 

 apoplexy. Martin Del Rio is mistaken. The conjurations of the novice, 

 although not potent enough to reduce the fiend to obedience, were yet 

 sufficiently so to preserve his own life. When he recovered from his 

 swoon, he made what haste he could out of the house, and through the 

 court; but, in passing along, he met the black dog, who, at the sight of 

 his enemy, took to flight and hunted across the area; while Louvet him- 

 self, no less dismayed, sunk into a second fit before the scholars. When 

 he recovered from this also, he did not stay to contradict the report of his 

 death which had already gone abroad, but hied him home to his village 

 as fast as he could, renouncing for ever his search after the philosopher's 

 stone, and relinquishing all claim to dominion over the powers of the air. 



The reader may here ask what authority I have for this version of the 

 story ; but I inquire, in turn, what evidence does Martin Del Rio produce 

 for his ? However the facts may be, the affair made so much noise in 

 Lou vain, that Agrippa was fain to leave it in a few days after, followed, 

 as usual, by the black dog. It appears, however, according to Paul Jovius 

 (see Elog. c. 91), that the persecution he sustained by all Europe on this 

 subject made him resolve at length to get rid of his companion ; for, one 

 day, walking on the banks of the Saone, he took off trie dog's collar, 

 which was inscribed with mystical characters, and, throwing it into the river, 

 said to him, " Go, unhappy beast, who art the cause of my eternal rain !" 

 when the obedient Monsieur immediately leaped in after it, and was 

 swept away by the torrent. It is needless to add, that the word eternal 

 is an interpolation of the accusers of Agrippa persons who had not sense 

 enough to distinguish the difference between a magician and a sorcerer. 



