between his teeth, and pulled it as hard as he could, thinking that it would stretch. The unelastic material gave way and broke. He was not prepared for this, so his head flew back and bumped against the wall. St. Britius was wonderfully amused by the devil's disaster; he laughed heartily, and incurred the momentary displeasure of St. Martin, who did not at first see what was going forward. St. Britius explained, and St. Martin took care to _improve_ the accident for the edification of his hearers."[2] Such fables respecting Satan are so similar to the tales abounding in the traditionary mythology of an early age, relative to wicked sprites, who are represented as combining in their character a strange medley of fun and malice, that it is impossible to mistake their origin. And it may be observed by the way, that such men as St. Martin, St. Benedict, and St. Gregory, who retail many an idle story of this sort, are surely not the men whom a wise and sober-minded Christian would think of choosing as the guides of his faith. But the tales just related are introduced here to show how the church leaned to pagan superstitions, and thus to illustrate the influence which it produced on society. Stories of this description, sanctioned by ecclesiastics, became current among the people, and formed the staple of conversation during the long winter evenings, as the sons and daughters of our distant forefathers gathered round the blazing hearth. They thus bring up before us the domestic scenes of those early times, and show the opinions and sentiments which would be sure to prevail in the popular mind. The church, instead of zealously setting itself to purify, as far as it could, the thoughts of men from the errors and follies which they had derived from paganism, in many cases accommodated itself to them, from motives of policy, or caught their spirit, from sheer sympathy; and thus helped to perpetuate habits of credulity, degrading to the mind, and superstitious feelings, injurious to the heart: the lingering remains of which may be found in many parts of Europe, and in some of the rural districts of our country, to the present hour.