“The notion of this story is ingenious, and might have been made productive of entertaining incident, had Belphagor been led by his connubial connections from one crime to another. But Belphagor is only unfortunate, and in no respect guilty; nor did anything occur during his abode on earth that testified to the power of woman in leading us to final condemnation. The story of the peasant and the possession of the princesses bears no reference to the original idea with which the tale commences, and has no connection with the object of the infernal deputy’s terrestrial sojourn” (J. C. Dunlop, _History of Fiction_). To this criticism Mr. Thomas Roscoe replies that “part of the humour of the story seems to consist in Belphagor’s earthly career being cut short before he had served the full term of his apprenticeship. But from the follies and extravagances into which he had already plunged, we are now authorized to believe that, even if he had been able longer to support the asperities of the lady’s temper, he must, from the course he was pursuing, have been led from crime to crime, or at least from folly to folly, to such a degree that he would infallibly have been condemned” (T. Roscoe, _Italian Novelists_). The demon of Machiavelli offers no features of a deep psychology, but he distinguishes himself from the other demons of his period by his elegant manners. Like creator, like creature. Belphagor, the god of the Moabites, like all other pagan gods, joined the infernal forces of Satan when driven off the earth by the Church Triumphant. The parliament of devils, which we find in this story, was taken from the mystery-plays where the ruler of hell is represented as holding occasional receptions when he listens to the reports of their recent achievements on his behalf, and consults their opinion on matters of state. Satan, who has always wished to rival God, has instituted the infernal council in imitation of the celestial council described in the Book of Job. The source for the parliament of devils is the apocryphal book _Evangelium Nicodemi_. An early metrical tract under the title of the _Parlement of Devils_ was printed two or three times in London about 1520. A “Pandemonium” is also found in Tasso, Milton, and Chateaubriand. The _Parlement of Foules_ (14th century) is but a modification of the _Parlement of Devils_, for the devil and the fool were originally identical in person and may be traced back to the demonic clown of the ancient heathen cult (cf. the present writer’s book, _The Origin of the German Carnival Comedy_, p. 37). A far echo is Thomas Chatterton’s poem _The Parliament of Sprites_. This story recalls to us the saying that the heart of a beautiful woman is the most beloved hiding-place of at least seven devils. THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER BY WASHINGTON IRVING