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Har. Did not you hear a voice?

Inv. None. Fancy, my love; only your fears.
Devil. Heigh-ho!

Har. There again!

Inv. I hear it now.-Who is there?
Devil. Me.

Inv. Me! he speaks English! Who and where are you?

Devil. Here in this bottle; where I have been cork'd up for these six months.

Inv. Cork'd up in a bottle! I never heard of such a thing in my life, unless, indeed, in the Hay-market once.-Cork'd up in a bottle d'ye say?

Devil. Ay; by the master of this house, a magician.

Inv. A magician! Why then you are a spirit, I suppose.

Devil. You are right; I am the Devil.
Har. Mercy on us!

Devil. Don't be terrified, miss: You remember the old proverb, "The devil is not so black as he is painted."

Inv. Well, but, sir

Devil. A truce to your questions, my good sir, for the present !—Consider, rammed up in this narrow compass, I can't be much at my ease; now if you will but break the bottle before you on the floorHar. For heaven's sake, Mr. Invoice, take care what you do!

Devil. Why, my pretty iniss, what risk do you run? our affairs can hardly be changed for the worse. Har. That's true, indeed!

Devil. Believe me, miss, as matters stand, we can e of mutual use: Your lover may deliver me from arison, and I can prevent you both from going into

confinement.

Inv. What says my Harriet? shall I rely on the gentleman's word?

Devil. Do, madam! I am a devil of honour.

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Devil. As thus: In describing your friends, or your foes, they are devilish rich, devilish poor, devilish ugly, devilish "handsome; now and then, indeed, to vary the mode of conversing, you make a little free with our condition and country, as, hellish dull, damn'd clever, hellish cold; Psha! how damn'd hot it is!

Inv. True, sir; but I consider this as a rhetorical figure, a manner of speaking devis'd and practis'd by dulness, to conceal the lack of ideas, and the want of expressions.

:

Devil. Partly that, I confess Not but there is some truth in the case; for at different times we have

the power, and do assume the various forms you assign us.

Inv. We? I observe you always make use of the plural; is that, sir, by way of distinction, or, is your family pretty large and extensive?

Devil Multitudinous as the sands on the beach; or the moats in a sun-beam: How the deuce else do you think we could do all the business below? Why, there's scarce an individual amongst you, at least of any rank or importance, but has five or six of us in his train.

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Devil. Yes; quite out of his: He only s their cent. per cent. squeezings, and pro various modes of extortion and rapine room, they have six or seven demons direct the dissipation of their ill-gotten we Inv. Indeed!

Devil. Poor Lucifer, it is a

Devil. The dæmon of power and I had long laid siege to a subject, the man a grandee; I was then a popular spirit, and wore the mask of a patriot; at all over different times, we possessed him by turns; but, in were not for the fluctuation of India, the midst of a violent struggle, (by which means I got lottery, or a contested election, the Alley lame on this leg, and obtained the nick-name of the empty, and Lucifer have as little to do Devil upon sticks,) the dæmon of vanity, a low under-pocket when the playhouses are shut. strapper amongst us, held over his head a circle of gold, with five knobs on the top, and, whew! flew away with our prize in an instant.

Inv. Under-strapper! what, are there different ranks and orders amongst you?

Devil. Without doubt.

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Inv. Perhaps, sir, your name may be B Devil. He! worse and worse t has the least regard to his character wall be seen in his company. Besides, it is the lant, waspish, quarrelsome cur-Bol so is the imp of chicane, and protects the relia the law.

Inv. Then he, at least, has employed Devil. Yes, during the term, he has do: He is the parent of quibbles, the pettifoggers, bad bail, and of bailiik; the alibies, the source of sham pleas, the me of flaws, the patron of perjury, and a sw trials by jury! Not long ago, though, ay was put to his shifts.

Inv. How was that?

Devil The law had laid hold of his, for being too positive as to a mainte , evasion, protraction, le

employed to acquit hiny that

skill could suggest; but ill to no purp

Jav. That was strange.

Devil. Beyond all belief; he could have hang'd a dozen innocent people, with half the pains that this paltry perjury gave him,

inv. How came that about?

Devil. Why I don't know-he had unfortunately to do with an obstinate magist.ate, who bears a mortal hatred to rogues, and whose sagacity could not be deceived, But, however, tho' he was not able to save his friend from the shame of conviction, (a trifle, which he indeed but little regarded,) yet he had the address to evade, or at least defer, the time of his punishment.

Inv. By what means?
Devil. By finding a flaw.

Inv. A flaw! what's a flaw?

Devil. A legal loophole, that the lawyers leave open for a rogue now and then to creep through, that the game mayn't be wholly destroyed.

Inc. Provident sportsmen! Would it not be too much trouble to favour me with this particular instance?

Ins. That ought not to be; the contempt of the public, that necessary supplement to the best digested body of laws, should in these cases be never dispensed with.

Devil. In days of yore, when the world was but young, that method had merit, and the sense of shame was a kind of a curb; but knaves are now so numerous and wealthy, they can keep one another in countenance, and laugh at the rest of the world.`

Inv. There may be something in that. Well, sir, I have twice been out of my guess; will you give me leave to hazard a third? Perhaps you are Belphegor, or Uriel ?

Devil. Neither. They too are but diminutive devils: the first favours the petty pilfering frauds; he may be traced in the double score and soap'd pot of the publican, the alum and chalk of the baker, in the sophisticated mixtures of the brewers of wine and beer, and in the false measures and weights of them all. Inv. And Uriel?

Devil. He is the demon of quacks and of mountébanks; a thriving race all over the world, but their true seat of empire is England: there, a short sword, a tie, and a nostrum, a month's advertising, with a shower of handbills, never fail of creating a fortune. But of this tribe I foresee I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. Inv. Well, but, sir

Devil. Not at all. Why, sir, when matters grew desperate, and the case was given over for lost, little Belzy starts up in the form of an able practitioner, and humbly conceived, that his client could not be convicted upon that indictment; for as much as therein he was charg'd with fores wearing himself NOW; whereas it clearly appeared, by the evi- Devil. Come, sir, I will put an end to your pain; dence, that he had only foresworn himself THEN: If, for, from my appearance, it is impossible you should indeed, he had been indicted generally, for commit-ever guess at my person.-Now, miss, what think you ting perjury now and then, proofs might be produced of Cupid. of any perjury he may have commited; whereas, by limiting the point of time to the now, no proofs could be admitted as to the then. So that, with submission, he humbly conceived, his client was clearly absolved, and his character as fair and as spotless as a babe that's just born, and immaculate as asheet of white paper.

Fav. And the objection was good?

Devil Fatal; there was no getting rid of the flaw.
F. And the gentleman

Devil Walks about at his ease; not public
place, but he thrusts his person full in your face,
❖རྗ་

Har. You? you Cupid? you the gay god of love? Devil. Yes; me, me, miss!-What, I suppose you expected the quiver at my back, and the bow in my hand; the purple pinions, and filleted forehead, with the blooming graces of youth and of beauty,

Har. Why, I can't but say the poets had taught me to expect charms

Devil That never existed but in the fire of their fancy; all fiction and phrenzy!

Inv. Then, perhaps, sir, these creative gentlemen may err as much in your office, as it is clear they have mistaken your person.

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Devil. Why, their notions of me are but narrow. It is true, I do a little business in the amorous way; but my dealings are of a different kind to those they describe. My province lies in forming conjunctions absurd and preposterous: it is I that couple boys and beldames, girls and greybeards, together; and when you see a man of fashion lock'd in legitimate wedlock with the stale leavings of half the fellows in town, or a lady of fortune setting out for Edinburgh in a postchaise with her footman, you may always set it down as some of my handywork. But this is but an inconsiderable branch of my business.

Inv. Indeed!

Devil. The several arts of the drama, dancing, music, and painting, owe their existence to me: I am the father of fashions, the inventor of quinte, trente, quarante, and hazard; the guardian of gamesters, the genius of gluttony, and the author, protector, and patron of licentiousness, lewdness, and luxury.

Inv. Your department is large.

Devil. One time or other I may give you a more minute account of these matters; at present we have not a moment to lose. Should my tyrant return, I must expect to be again cork'd up in a bottle. [Knock ing.] And hark! it is the consul that knocks at the door; therefore be quick! how can I serve you?

Inv. You are no stranger, sir, to our distress: here, we are unprotected and friendless; could your art convey us to the place of our birth

Devil. To England?

Inv. If you please.

Rhod. Faith, thou followest a figure in thy jests, as country gentlemen follow fashion, when they be wors threadbare.

D'Ol. And what! you stand gazing at what ces here, and admire it, I dare say. Rhod. And do not you?

D'Ol. Not I, I admire nothing but wit.

Rhod. But I wonder how she entertains time in that solitary cell: does she not take tubarca, think you?

D'Ol. She does, she does: others make it their physic, she makes it her food: her sister and she take it by turn, first one, and then the other, and Vandome ministers to them both.

Rhod. How sayest thou by that Helen of Greece the Countess's sister? there were a paragon, Moz sieur D'Olive, to admire and marry too. D'OI. Not for me.

Rhod. No? what exceptions lie against the choice D'OI. Tush, tell me not of choice; if I stood f fected that way, I would choose my wife as men de valentines, blindfold, or draw cuts for them, for so l shall be sure not to be deceived in choosing; for take this of me, there's ten times more deceit in women than in horse-flesh; and I say still, that a pretty met pac'd chamber-maid is the only fashion; if she press full or fulsome, give her but sixpence to buy her hand-basket, and send her the way of all flesh, there's no more but so.

Mug. Indeed that's the savingest way. D'Ol. O me! what a hell 'tis for a man to be Gif Devil. Without danger, and with great expedition. to the continual charge of a coach, with the appe Come to this window, and lay hold of my cloak.-Inances, horses, men, and so forth and then to hav have often resided in England; at present indeed, a man's house pestered with a whole country of guests, there are but few of our family there; every seventh grooms, panders, waiting-aids, &c. I carefel year, we have a general dispensation for residence; please my wife, she careless to displease me; dures for at that time the inhabitants themselves can play if she be honest; intolerable if she be wise; imperion the devil without our aid or assistance.-Off we as an empress; all she does must be law, all she s go! stick fast to your hold! Devil on two Sticks. gospel: oh, what a penance 'tis to endure her! glad to forbear still, all to keep her loyal, and ye perhaps when all's done, my heir shall be e horse-keeper: fie on't the very thought of mania were able to cool the hottest liver in France.

MEN OF WIT AND PLEASURE ABOUT TOWN.

Rhoderique. What, Monsieur D'Olive, the admirer of wit and good words.

only

D'Olive. Morrow, wits: morrow, good wits my little parcels of wit, I have rods in pickle for you. How dost, Jack; may I call thee, sir, Jack yet?

Chapman's Busty D'Ambois.—Old prisp

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drink-April fools, epigram on, 539
Architect, the illustrious, 116
Argumentum ad hominem, 631
Arrests, anagrams on the pains of,

Alderman's feast, stanzas on, 27
head a pie, 203
Aldrich's (Dr. J.) reasons for
ing, 159
love of smoking, 677
Ale warm and ale to warm, 25
All in one story, 490
Alliteration, letter of, 633
All Saints' church in Langham place,

561

All Saints' day,& day of all Saints, 447
Almack's on Friday, 523

Alphabet, Irish mode of teaching, 363
Amateur theatricals, 161

executioners, 432
Ambiguous robbery, 234
Ambition boundless, 63
Amende honourable, specimens of,
416, 485

American and Scotchman, dialogue
between, 239

new world, 186
oddities, 208

Anachronisms in the arts, 413
Anacreontic, or the returned

136

Anagrams, ne plus ultra of, 235
Analogy sympathetic, 117

kiss,

Ancestry, pride and folly of, 109, 183,
530

Ancestors, grammatical, 124
Ancestral enormities, 569

Age, characteristics of the present, Animal and vegetable life, 184

615

criterion of, 421

metamorphoses of, 629

Answer, an idiot's, 115
Anticipation of curses, 54

of being hanged, 442

198

Artemisia, the blue stocking, 263
Artillery of hell against heaven, G47
Ascension day, 633

Assault, extraordinary case of, 665
Assembly at New York, humorous
description of, 237
Ash-stripping, felony of, 22
Assistance, unlooked for, 135
Assize town described, 677
Astrology defined, 567
Astronomer, appointment of, to view
an eclipse, 494

Astronomer's room described, 78
Asylum for lunatics, 235

Athanasian creed, merits of, 347
Attainments, superfluous and se
cond-rate, 639

Atterbury, bishop, and lord Conings-
bury, 119

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