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 telling him to ask for something. He replied, that he wished to be transported to the side of his Sicilian mistress; but the demons were evidently unpropitious, for nothing came of it. His instructor, however, told him that they must repeat their experiments a second time, and that Benvenuto must bring with him a child that had never committed sin. The next time Benvenuto took with him a boy of twelve years old whom he had in his service, and his friends Romoli and Guddi. When they arrived at the place of meeting, they found the priest had made the same preparations as before. This time, however, he used more powerful conjurations, calling on a number of demons by their names, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; so that the ruin was filled with a still greater mass of them than on the other occasion. The fire and perfumes were put under the charge of Guddi and Romoli, and he gave Benvenuto a magic picture to hold in a certain direction, the boy being placed underneath it. The priest told him again to wish to be in the company of his lady love, but on his expressing the wish, the magician told him that the demons still refused to do his bidding in this way, but that he should visit her once more in a month's time. The poor boy underneath the magic picture was seized with a terrible fright, and exclaimed, that he saw millions of ferocious spirits and four giants, all endeavouring to break through the magic circle the priest had formed. All there were evidently in a most abject state of terror, and remained in the place until the church bells began to ring for morning prayers, when they returned home, the boy declaring that two of the demons preceded them, dancing and gambolling before them, and sometimes running along the housetops.

The priest then advised him to try another spiritual séance, and endeavour to induce the demons to point out sundry pots of buried gold, so that they all might