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 kind of thing I've been trying to do all my life, and never could succeed. I began at school with toasted cheese and a pitch-fork; and since then I've invoked, with all the eloquence of Goethe, the evil one in the solitude of the Hartz; but without success. I think I should make an excellent bargain with him: of course, I don"t mean that ugly vulgar savage with a fiery tail. Oh, no! Satan himself for me, a perfect gentleman! Or Belial,—Belial would be the most delightful. He's the fine genius of the Inferno, I imagine, the Beranger of Pandemonium."

"Mr. Grey, I really cannot listen to such nonsense one moment longer. What would you have if Belial were here?"

"Let us see. Now, you shall act the spirit, and I, Vivian Grey. I wish we had a shorthand writer here to take down the Incantation Scene. We'd send it to Arnold.—Commençons—Spirit! I'll have a fair castle."