Page:All the Year Round - Series 1 - Volume 9.djvu/235

Charles Dickens.] VIRGILIUS THE ENCHANTER, [May 2,1863.] 227 less I be delivered by the hands of men. Therefore, Virgilius, I pray you release me from this pain, and I will show you many books of necromancy, and how you may study them easily, and know the practice therein, so that no man in the science of magic shall surpass you; and moreover I will explain how you may gratify all your desires, help your friends, and make our enemies writhe." Virgilius was tempted by these promises; but first of all he bade the fiend show him the books of which he spoke. This was done (in what manner does not appear); and Virgilius pulled up the board, revealing a little hole, at which the devil wriggled out like an eel, though a moment after he stood before Virgilius like a big man. The youth was greatly astonished how so huge a figure could have proceeded from so small a place; so he said to the demon, "Could you return into the hole you came out of?" The devil said he could. But Virgilius still doubted, or affected to doubt. "I will wager the best pledge that I have," said he, "that you cannot do it." "I consent," rejoined the devil; and he wriggled himself back again into the hole. Virgilius immediately closed the board down on him; and, the word written thereon having apparently a talismanic power, he was unable to come forth. Then he called out dreadfully to Virgilius, "What have you done?" And Virgilius answered, "Abide there to your appointed day!" And there he remains still, and will to the end of all things.

The reader cannot fail to perceive in this story a marked similarity to the release of the rebellious spirit in the Arabian Nights tale of the Fisherman and the Genie. The fisherman, however, only acted in self-defence when he lured the genie back into the brazen jar, and, upon receiving a solemn promise of good treatment, finally released him. Virgilius behaves with shabby ingratitude; but to steal a march on a fiend has always been regarded as fair enough, even though at the same time you avail yourself of the fiend's forbidden arts. The similitude to the Arabian legend is the more noteworthy from the fact that nothing was known in Europe about the Arabian Nights until the commencement of last century, when Galland's French translation made its appearance in Paris; while the fictions concerning Virgilius, as we have seen, date from the middle ages. There can be no doubt that much of the legendary lore of those times was brought from the East by the Crusaders.

Having in this disreputable way acquired a knowledge of the black science, Virgilius soon became famous; but in the course of a few years he was summoned by his mother to Rome, where several of the great lords had possessed themselves of the family inheritance. This they refused to give up; whereupon, Virgilius threw a stream of air over all the fruit and corn in the land which his enemies withheld from him, and caused it to be brought into his own house. The nobles then gathered together a mighty army, and went to besiege the enchanter in his castle; buthe closed all his lands with a stream of air which no living creature could pass; and he cast another stream of air at the rear of the invading host, so that they could neither go forward nor backward. Then said Virgilius, addressing them: "You came to disinherit me, but you shall not; and be assured that you shall have no profit of the lands as long as I live. You may tell the emperor that I will tarry four or five years till he take better counsel. I desire not to plead according to the law, but will seize my goods where I find them; and you may also tell the emperor that I care not for all his power, nor for anything he can do to me." These haughty words being reported to the monarch, he determined on revenge, and marched at the head of his army to the residence of Virgilius; but he was caught in the same necromantic device that had foiled his nobles, for it seemed as if he were surrounded by a great water, which left him no means of escape. The enchanter furthermore tantalised him and his followers by dressing a large quantity of meat, of which they were not allowed to partake, though they could see the steam from it. But one day Virgilius almost found his match; for a man learned in conjurations came to the emperor, and said that he knew of a method by which Virgilius and his people might be thrown into a profound sleep. He was permitted to make trial, and succeeded so well that Virgilius himself could hardly keep himself from slumber. Matters began to look serious; for the spell which held the beleaguering forces in check was broken, and the enemy was beginning to assault the walls of the castle. Virgilius in all haste consulted his books of necromancy, and discovered in what manner he might deliver his people from sleep; when he conjured to such good purpose that he brought the emperor and his army to a stand-still again. Like the inmates of the palace in the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, all were struck motionless in the attitude which they had chanced to assume at the moment. The emperor and the baffled conjuror stood as though they were dead; and those who were on the ladders, with one foot up and the other down, remained in that posture immovably for a whole day. In the night, Virgilius went to the monarch, and taunted him with his inability to proceed; but the latter, being quite humbled by his discomfiture, answered by offering to restore Virgilius his lands, and to make him his chief adviser, if he would remove the spell. Virgilius consented, and, straightway admitting the emperor and his host, feasted and rewarded them with unparalleled magnificence.

Notwithstanding all this penetration and necromantic skill, Virgilius was frequently tricked by women. Having fixed his abode in Rome, he fell. in love with the fairest woman in that city, who, being resolved to deceive her admirer, desired him to repair at midnight to the walls of her castle, which stood in the market-place, promising that she would pull him up to her window in a basket. At the appointed hour, Vir-