The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
"At length he took an extraordinary fancy to the young Magdalen
de la Palude; but he found her difficult of approach, on
account of the watchfulness of her mother, and he only overcame
the difficulty by breathing on the mother before he seduced the
daughter. He thus gained his purpose; took the girl to the cave
in the manner she had already described, and became so much
attached to her that he often repeated his charm on her, to
make her more devoted in her love. Three days after their first
visit to the cave, he gave her a familiar named Esmodes.
Finding her now perfectly devoted to his will, he determined to
marry her to Beelzebub, the prince of the demons; and she
readily agreed to his proposal. He immediately called the demon
prince, who appeared in the form of a handsome gentleman; and
she then renounced her baptism and Christianity, signed the
agreement with her blood, and received the demon's mark....
"The priest gave an account of the Sabbaths, at which he was a
regular attendant. When he was ready to go--it was usually at
night--he either went to the open window of his chamber, or
left the chamber, locking the door, and proceeded into the open
air. There Lucifer made his appearance, and took him in an
instant to their place of meeting, where the orgies of the
witches and sorcerers lasted usually from three to four hours.
Gaufridi divided the victims of the Evil One into three
classes: the masques, (perhaps the novices,) the sorcerers, and
the magicians. On arriving at the meeting, they all worshipped
the demon according to their several ranks; the masques falling
flat on their faces, the sorcerers kneeling with their heads
and bodies humbly bowed down, and the magicians, who stood
highest in importance, only kneeling. After this they all went
through the formality of denying God and the Saints. Then they
had a diabolical service in burlesque of that of the church, at
which the Evil One served as priest in a violet chasuble; the
elevation of the demon host was announced by a wooden bell, and
the sacrament itself was made of unleavened bread. The scenes
which followed resembled those of other witch-meetings.
Gaufridi acknowledged that he took Magdalen thither, and that
he made her swallow magical 'characters' that were to increase
her love to him; yet he proved unfaithful to her at these
Sabbaths with a multitude of persons, and among the rest with
'a princess of Friesland.' The unhappy sorcerer confessed,
among other things, that his demon was his constant companion,
though generally invisible to all but himself; and that he only
left him when he entered the church of the Capuchins to perform
his religious duties, and then he waited for him outside the
church door.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account