“Be persuaded,” said he, “that if I preach not agreeable things, I announce wholesome truths: believe also, that I have many preachers dependent upon me. ‘Who are they?’ you inquire. They are those who preach for their own glory, to establish a reputation, to acquire celebrity, to gain benefices, and levy contributions upon poor devotees. They commit wickedness in doing good to others; in teaching and edifying them. If we lose the hearers through the instrumentality of their discourses, we gain the pastors, which is more honourable to us. Finally, I declare to you, that it is by the order of God, that I speak to you before all these persons: I warn you, in particular, that you are lost, unless you abandon all the projects of ambition you have formed, and unless you renounce poetry, which is at the same time so agreeable and fatal. “Draw near,” said he, to an old man, a relation of the possessed: “restore the three farms you illegally detain. You, young man, imitate Hercules no more with your strength and intrigue; Hercules is dead; you may find men who will kill you.—You old judge of the village, you have a very delicate and perilous charge: you were the valet of the lord of the domain; you have preserved in your new station, the spirit of servitude, which is not sympathetic with justice. The petition of your ancient master, you stupid wretch. The three peasants who have bound and strangled the helpless patient upon his bed, are those who enjoy the benefit. It is now six years since the farm-house of their master was consumed with fire: they ought to be punished for these crimes.—As to those young ladies, they would do well not to admit, for the future, the two strangers, whom they entertain every evening in their chambers, and whom they introduce by the garden. Profit, all of you, by what you have now heard: I shall speak to you no more, for to-morrow the priest comes to exorcise me, and I shall depart from the body of this subject, it being the will of God that I should go forth, to attest his power and the glory of his name.” The demon having finished this discourse, took pleasure in tormenting the possessed, and making him utter moving cries. I feared the neighbourhood would be alarmed, and that some one would recognize me in a place where I could not be with honour. In returning to my house, I reflected upon the wisdom of God, who draweth good from evil, and causeth demons to speak as angels of light. The prophet hath also remarked, that divine Providence disposeth things in such a manner, that the hands of our enemies can conduce to our welfare. This is the first possessed I ever saw in the course of my life, and the first time I ever conversed with a demon. God grant that I may never behold another, neither in this world, nor in the world to come! SECOND NIGHT DEATH AND HER PALACE.