jogged on from day to day, and would have done so for years, had they
been permitted. But he suddenly dismissed them all, with the exception
of the Italian Prelati, and the physician of Poitou. These he retained
to aid him to discover the secret of the philosopher's stone by a
bolder method. The Poitousan had persuaded him that the devil was the
great depositary of that and all other secrets, and that he would
raise him before Gilles, who might enter into any contract he pleased
with him. Gilles expressed his readiness, and promised to give the
devil anything but his soul, or do any deed that the arch-enemy might
impose upon him. Attended solely by the physician, he proceeded at
midnight to a wild-looking place in a neighbouring forest; the
physician drew a magic circle around them on the sward, and muttered
for half an hour an invocation to the Evil Spirit to arise at his
bidding, and disclose the secrets of alchymy. Gilles looked on with
intense interest, and expected every moment to see the earth open, and
deliver to his gaze the great enemy of mankind. At last the eyes of
the physician became fixed, his hair stood on end, and he spoke, as if
addressing the fiend. But Gilles saw nothing except his companion. At
last the physician fell down on the sward as if insensible. Gilles
looked calmly on to see the end. After a few minutes the physician
arose, and asked him if he had not seen how angry the devil looked?
Gilles replied, that he had seen nothing; upon which his companion
informed him that Beelzebub had appeared in the form of a wild
leopard, growled at him savagely, and said nothing; and that the
reason why the Marshal had neither seen nor heard him, was that he
hesitated in his own mind as to devoting himself entirely to the
service. De Rays owned that he had indeed misgivings, and inquired
what was to be done to make the devil speak out, and unfold his
secret? The physician replied, that some person must go to Spain and
Africa to collect certain herbs which only grew in those countries,