And as the youth, with holy warmth,

Her hand in his did hold,

Sudden he felt Donica's hand
Grow deadly damp and cold.

And loudly did he shriek, for lo!
A Spirit met his view;

And Eberhard in the angel form

His own Donica knew.

That instant from her earthly frame Howling the dæmon fled,

And at the side of Eberhard

The livid form fell dead.

No. XXIX.

CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S BLOODY BOOK.

ROBERT SOUTHEY.

CORNELIUS AGRIPPA went out one day,
His study he lock'd ere he went away;
And he gave the key of the door to his wife,
And charged her to keep it lock'd on her life.

-"And if any one ask my study to see,
"I charge you trust them not with the key;
"Whoever may beg, and intreat, and implore,
"For your life let nobody enter that door.".

There lived a young man in the house, who in vain Access to that study had strove to obtain,

And he begg'd and pray'd the books to see,

'Till the foolish woman gave him the key.

On the study table a book there lay,

Which Agrippa himself had been reading that day; The letters were written with blood within,

And the leaves were made of dead men's skin.

And these horrible leaves of magic between
Were the ugliest pictures that ever were seen;
The likeness of things so foul to behold,
That what they were is not fit to be told.

The young man he began to read

He knew not what, but he would proceed;
When there was heard a sound at the door,
Which, as he read on, grew more and more.

And more and more the knocking grew,

The

young man knew not what to do;

But trembling in fear he sat within,

'Till the door was broke, and the Devil came in.

Two hideous horns on his head he had got,

Like iron heated nine times red-hot;

The breath of his nostrils was brimstone blue,

And his tail like a fiery serpent grew.

"What would'st thou with me?"-the wicked one cried, But not a word the youth replied;

Every hair on his head was standing upright,

And his limbs, like a palsy, shook with affright.

"What would'st thou with me?"-cried the author of ill, But the wretched young man was silent still;

Not a word had his lips the

power to say,

And his marrow seem'd to be melting away.

-"What would'st thou with me?"-the third time, he

cries,

And a flash of lightning came from his eyes;

And he lifted his griffin-claw in the air,

And the young man had not strength for a prayer.

His eyes with a furious joy were possess'd,

As he tore the young man's heart from his breast;
He grinn'd a horrible grin at his prey,
And with claps of thunder vanish'd away.
Henceforth let all young men take heed
How in a Conjurer's books they read,

No. XXX.

RUDIGE R.

ROBERT SOUTHEY.

Divers Princes and Noblemen being assembled in a beautiful and fair palace, which was situate upon the river Rhine, they beheld a boat, or small barge, make toward the shore, drawn by a Swan in a silver chain, the one end fastened about her neck, the other to the vessel; and in it an unknown Soldier, a man of a comely personage and graceful presence, who stepped upon the shore; which done, the boat, guided by the swan, left him, and flouted down the river. This man fell afterward in league with a fair gentlewoman, married her, and by her had many children. After some years the same swan came with the same barge, unto the same place; the soldier entering into it, was carried thence the way he came, left wife, children, and family, and was never seen amongst them after.

Now who can judge this to be other than one of those spirits that are named Incubi? says Thomas Heywood. I have adopted his story, but not his solution, making the unknown soldier not an evil spirit, but one who had purchased happiness of a malevolent being, by the promised sacrifice of his first-born child.

BRIGHT on the mountain's heathy slope

The day's last splendours shine,
And rich with many a radiant hue,
Gleam gaily on the Rhine.