AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL.

In the middle ages people were much better acquainted with the devil than now-a-days; thus we must look to books three to five hundred years old for information as to the many tricks and peculiarities of the "old gentleman" and as to his metamorphoses. In our times, even under the most favor. able circumstances and with an introduction by General Booth, we would not be able to get a glimpse of the Prince of Darkness, as, no doubt, he has changed his system and tactics. He is so little in evidence that those naughty sceptics of the nineteenth century dare to doubt the truthfulness of mediæval confessions of witchcraft. Some go so far as to declare that they would prefer the company of his Satanic majesty, and of his beautiful witches, to that of the Salvation Army saint and of the New Woman. But as we hear so much from our pulpits of the increasing depravity of the human species we must come to the conclusion that Satan disdains to appear to his victims in human or animal form, and acts as a pure spirit throughout. No doubt by this time he has become quite accustomed to holy water and to the sign of the cross, which, centuries ago, frightened him into fits and contortions. At that time many charming witches confessed voluntarily, and on the rack, that they had had the most intimate sexual relations with Belzebub, and minutely described his behaviour. They were burned alive in due course, while the witch of the new era sits at table next to a bishop or cardinal, and Old Nick seems to have no claim upon her body until she departs from this world.

In convents and cloisters, however, even in our times, the devil appears in human form, if we may believe the reports which are duly registered at the Vatican, and he seems particularly energetic in possessing nuns and monks and in carrying them bodily to his abode.

When I was a boy I often tried in vain to make the devil's personal acquaintance. I was not so fortunate as Heinrich Heine, "who called the devil and he came ", although I was quite ready to sign and seal a deed, like Faust, with the view of studying his craft and of being introduced into his realm.

Near the convent where I was educated with about two hundred other boys, not far from the Alsatian border, there stood a disused chapel which, according to "trustworthy " reports, was in possession of Mephistophiles, and at regular

intervals, and particularly on Walpurgis night, was visited by the great enemy of mankind, with a retinue of old and young witches who indulged in the most horrible orgies. It was a cursed building which centuries ago had been consecrated as a place of worship; but since a rape and murder had been committed there by a priest, it had withstood all attempts of reconsecration and was abandoned to the powers of hell. A bishop who had attempted the task of recovering the place from the devil, at the end of the last century, was struck dead by an unseen power, and the holy water which he had sprinkled on the altar ignited spontaneously.

Since then nobody had ever entered the place. The whole edifice was covered with ivy and moss, and only parts of the high gothic windows could be seen through the green curtain. Around the doomed building the reverent fathers had placed a wall six or seven feet high, without any door or aperture. The large iron cross had fallen from the steeple and stuck in the roof.

The monks knew for certain that the devil appeared in the church at midnight on the first of May in each year, and remained there with his followers until the dawn of day.

Here was a unique opportunity for an impetuous boy to make the acquaintance of his majesty, and I selected two of my schoolfellows to share the adventure. After all, this enterprise could not be so very dangerous, for I had heard my father say that he would prefer to go to hell as all the nice people and all the beautiful women would be there, while heaven would be full of old hags and dunces. A preliminary examination of the place (which we could easily reach by letting ourselves down from a branch of a big tree which overhung the high wall) revealed the fact that the massive church door was not locked, that hundreds of birds nested in the recesses, and that spiders had taken possession of the old pews and carved wood-work. A large family of owls occupied the clock tower. We discovered nothing unusual in the cursed place; but in the vault underneath the sacristy we found a large cask of delicious old wine nearly fully enveloped in spider webs, apparently the communion wine stored away about a hundred years ago in the dark cellar and forgotten. My companions showed more pluck than I; they set about to clean and dust the old oak cupboards in the sacristy, and to make themselves comfortable in the devil's house. We decided to defy him on Walpurgis night; but my friend remarked that Der Geist der stets verneint could not possibly come to the place on that particular night because he and the witches would be engaged then on the Blocksberg in the Hartz mountains, on their annual holiday.

We slipped from our beds in the dormitory when the clock struck eleven. My elder friend had a loaded pistol, and we were armed with heavy sticks when entering the mysterious chapel. We lighted huge wax candles and sat down on the old oak settles in the sacristy, awaiting events. In our imagination we pictured the arrival of Satan with his witches riding stark naked on broomsticks, and I at least trembled. My friend observing my faint-heartedness took from the shelf a copper jug and from the table one of the big candles. He descended alone into the vault beneath, and returned with the jug full of the old wine. Setting it down on the heavy table, he drily remarked, "If they come they will be glad to have a drop of that stuff". We had no glasses and enjoyed long draughts from the jug. The old wine revived our courage, or at least mine, and I felt I could meet the devil now. Absolute silence reigned everywhere when the clock struck twelve, and we breathlessly entered the church. No devilno witches.

"You hear that noise," said my younger friend, "it is like the fluttering of wings, perhaps the devil. . . ."; and my little friend nearly fainted. "Oh, that's the owls; don't be frightened," said our leader, who at this moment discharged his pistol in the direction of the tower, and standing on the altar steps, called the devil in a loud voice three times. But perfect silence followed, and we returned to the sacristy to empty the jug. Before the strong wine commenced to act on the system, we were again in bed and sound asleep.

The next day the whole convent was alarmed. The night watchman had distinctly heard the devils' and the witches' voices in the old church, and he had seen a mysterious light through the ivy covering the windows. Trembling all over his body, he had called the Baas (as the Father Superior was called) and both had ascertained the gruesome facts from a safe distance. There could be no doubt about a loud report like that caused by an explosion, and after that the mysterious light had disappeared, and the devil departed unseen through the air. We kept silence for good reasons, but many times after that memorable night we scaled the high wall, and in due course we emptied the cask. Never in my life have I tasted a better wine, but, if the devil was there at any time during our visits, he was not visible to the human eye.

After such vain attempts to make the acquaintance of the great antagonist of the human race, it is a highly attractive study to examine the reports of persons who have been more fortunate in their exploits. Therefore, we are indebted to those who make the literature of Demonology accessible to

the great majority who have no time and opportunity to explore the treasures hidden in our libraries.

Since the civilised world looks with the greatest suspicion on even duly authenticated reports of the doings of Satan, the subject is of the greatest psychological interest, and offers a valuable insight into the childlike mind of our forefathers.

From this standpoint we welcome a new book which is of special value, as it is limited to the devil in Britain and America, and ignores the prototype of the English devil, who was familiar to continental Christianity.

This work is a very carefully compiled description of the devil's work in the British Islands. It contains the facsimile of the only known specimen of the devil's handwriting, and a great number of wood engravings from old books representing witches and devils. Here the reader makes the acquaintance of Satan and his tribe, and the student will be able to observe how with the progressing civilisation the devil became more and more civilised.

"Auch die Kultur, die alle Welt beleckt,

Hat auf den Teufel sich erstreckt."

Mr. John Ashton, the Author, has made careful research into the original sources of information, and has reproduced many cases which, for centuries, have escaped the observation of demonologists.

The appendix, giving the original sources, is very valuable to the student of English Satanology; a true guide to the whole subject.

The first six chapters introduce the reader to a number of typical cases of witchcraft, to prove the universal belief in the personality of the devil and his subordinates. The author gives us an interesting statement as to the number of devils, by an eminent authority on the subject, viz., Reginald Scott:

"Their first and principall King is called Baell; who, when he is conjured up, appeareth with three heads; the first like a tode; the second like a man; the third like a cat. He speaketh with a hoarse voice, he maketh a man go invisible, he has under his obedience and rule sixtie and six legions of divels" ("The Discoverie of Witchcraft ", 1584, P. 377).

Reginald Scott, Esq., describes all the other chiefs, and arrives at a total of not less than 14,198,580 devils.

Interesting stories are those of the "Just Devil of Woodstock", and 66 'The Dæmon of Tedworth". "The Demon in Gilbert Campbell's Family" and the "Strange and grievous vexation by the devil of seven persons in Lancashire" attract our attention; and we read with astonishment

1 "The Devil in Britain and America ", by John Ashton. London, 1896. Ward and Downey.

the definition of the "Legal witch" by King James I of England, which is part and parcel of our Statute Law:

'One that shall use, practice, or exercise any invocation or conjuration of any evill or wicked spirit; or consult, covenant with, entertaine, or employ, feede or reward any evill or wicked spirit, to or for any intent or purpose; or take up any dead man, woman or child, out of his, her, or their grave, or any other place, where the dead body resteth, or the skin, bone or other part of any dead person to be employed or used in any manner of Witchcraft, Sorcery, Charme, or Enchantment, etc. etc. Such offenders, duly and lawfully convicted and attainted, shall suffer death." We learn through Mr. Ashton's delightful book, "How a witch was made", and all about the festivities on the witches' Sabbath and concerning their faculty to change into animals. We are also keenly interested in the "Tests for and Examination of Witches". The case of Elizabeth Sawyer, known as the witch of Edmonton, executed at Tyburn, April 19, 1621, is a typical one for the treatment and examination of witches in London. It contains one of those interesting confessions of witchcraft and intercourse with the devil that are a puzzle to all of us.

"The Devil in Britain and America" will be extremely amusing if the mind of the reader is not overwhelmed with sadness at the thought that only a few centuries ago, and even under the reign of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth, so many innocent women were tortured and put to cruel death as the result of Christian superstition and cruelty.

R. COLOMBIer.