you will deal justly even with the devil. Civilized men have a proverb, about giving the devil his due; but that is all. I know very well what their expressions amount to: vox et præterea nihil.

Piomingo. My dear sir, (meaning you damned black rascal) My dear sir, you do me great honor: be pleased to proceed-but I beg your pardon-Excuse my inattention-(handing a chair) I beg you will be seated. [We shall not be accused of abject servility in showing this attention to the devil, when it is remembered that we were in the presence of a powerful being "the prince of the power of the air," who could in a moment have blown fire enough out of his nostrils to have burned us and our house to a cinder. We have heard that he is in the habit of carrying off half the house in his flight, if he be any way dissatisfied with the treatment he receives. It was probably owing to our intercourse with civilized society, that we were able to avert, by a few soothing expressions, (which cost nothing) so dreadful a calamity. The old fellow took the chair we had offered, and, drawing it up close to ours sat down with the greatest composure. We renewed the light; and had full leisure to examine his person and dress. We were amazed at the fairness of his complexion and the whiteness of his raiment, until it occurred to us, all at once, that he had transformed himself into an "angel of light." He observed our tobacco pipe lying on a stand, and, reaching out his hand, took it up, and immediately began to smoke.] Devil. (puffing the smoke in our face) I find much entertainment in smoking.

Piomingo. I am overpowered by the condescension of your majesty, (meaning, damn your familiarity.) [It here occurred to us that we ought to give him his princely titles: and this civilized stroke of ours had the desired effect. He became remarkably cheerful and pleasant; and we pledge our savage word that his countenance was not disagreeable. However, upon close inspection, (for we have studied Lavater) there appeared, in his countenance, lurking behind a profusion of smiles, something of cunning and malignity. Such visages we have often met with among men of the world.]

Devil. It is a fact, Piomingo, that men use me very ill. Piomingo. I believe they do-but, would your infernal sublimity taste a glass of wine? [Here we arose and brought a decanter and a couple of glasses, saying, aside, (not so loud as they do at the theatre though) "The old scoundrel! I wish it was melted lead for his sake!" but as we did not wish to make the old fellow tipsy, we slyly mixed a little water with the wine. For all which proceedings, we have the best civilized authority.]

Piomingo. (bowing) Your majesty's health (meaning, May you be roasted on the gridiron of damnation!) Devil. (bowing) Your health! I wish you everlasting prosperity! [Non ego credulus illi]

[Could there be any thing wrong in our showing this attention to the devil? It was a lesson we learned from the men of the world. We have often seen them adulating and caressing men whom they hated much more than we do the devil. If we were wrong, they are doubly so.] Piomingo. Men, now, as well as formerly, speak evil of dignities.

Devil. Yes, men are very wrong in attributing to me the evils which they, themselves, commit. I declare, upon the honor of a devil, that I do not concern myself with the affairs of the world.

Piomingo. How then did it happen that you seduced our great grandmother Eve, from the paths of rectitude, by your subtle devices?

Devil. O, that was a very different case. Eve was virtuous: she was correct in her conduct, and it required all the ingenuity of the devil to set her wrong. Your poet Milton gives a very true account of the trouble I had in that affair. Milton, indeed, is the only writer that gives any thing like a correct idea of diabolical man

ners.

Piomingo. But, may it please your tartarean highness, have we not accounts of your interfering in the concerns of the world long since the fall of man: as in the case of Job?

Devil. O yes, when any thing occurs worthy of my attention, I am not backward, on my part, in furthering the interests of my kingdom. When, once in a thousand

years, or so, the world produces a man like Job, I then find it necessary to exert all my infernal talents to degrade him; lest his example should become destructive to the cause of immorality; but, I protest to you, by the majesty of Pandemonium, that the world is at present so wicked, that there is not the smallest necessity for the malignant agency of the devil. Job was an object worthy of my ambition: but do you suppose that it was through my instigations that his wife acted in the manner she did? If you do, you are mistaken.

Piomingo. Your excellency knows best: I yield full credence to all your assertions. (Meaning, I know you to be the "father of lies," and do not believe a word you say.)

Devil. But that, which displeases me more than any thing else, is their habit of attributing to me the origination of a thousand pitiful sneaking little criminalities, with which, I swear by the blue blazes of Tophet, I would not dirty my fingers. My conscience is, certainly, not very troublesome; but I indubitably would not debase my infernal dignity so much as to assist in the perpetration of a thousand little meannesses to which men are addicted.

Does any one act preposterously and absurdly; some wise head will be sure to observe, "I cannot tell what the man means. He has lost his senses, or the devil is in him." What distraction! Do the children of Adam suppose that they would act wisely were it not for the wiles of the devil? Must all their folly and insanity be laid on my shoulders, as well as their meannesses and wickednesses?

Then again, they make me a picture of deformity as well as the author of iniquity. Is any one misshapen or hardfavored; some jackanapes will undoubtedly exclaim, "He is as ugly as the devil!" The puppies! must I be the prototype as well of corporal as of mental obliquity! Why should they suppose that I had horns like an ox, or a foot like a goat? By the infernal gods! my imperial blood boils with diabolical indignation, when I think of such slanderous aspersions!-But my time may `come-they may fall in my power-and then, ye pow

ers of darkness! how I will roast them! [Here the devil fell into a furious passion. He foamed at the mouth; sparks flew in myriads from his eyes; and the smoke rolled from his nostrils! We were terrified.]

Piomingo. The resentment shown by your majesty is very just; but –

Devil. True, very true; I should not suffer my serenity to be disturbed by their contemptible malignity. [Here he suppressed his agitation, adjusted his robe, and called up the obedient smiles in his countenance.]

Piomingo. Your sublimity should rather derive amusement from their folly, than suffer it to give you any uneasiness. Your majesty's glass

Devil. Their folly is amusing; (drinking and bowing) very amusing indeed. To hear a fellow call one of his neighbors 66 a great overgrown devil;" and in the same breath describe another as "a poor puny little devil," is, upon my soul, very amusing-ha ha ha!

Piomingo. Ha ha ha! [Our laugh was forced; but had we not been diverted by our infernal visiter's wit, we should have offended him eternally. We therefore dragged the unwilling convulsion into our visage, and laughed most obstreperously. We all know that, in the common occurrences of life, it is absolutely necessary to laugh at all the dull jokes and insipid sayings of a rich man: how much more incumbent was it upon us to be titillated by the pleasantry of his majesty of Pandemonium?

Devil. Of the magnitude of him who

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Collecting all his might, dilated stood, "Like Teneriff or Atlas;

of whom it is said that

"His stature reached the sky, and on his crest
"Sat horror plumed;"

of the magnitude of such a one, I say, mortals may talk with the utmost propriety.

Piomingo. With the utmost propriety. [We had learned that, among men, nothing gives greater pleasure to one who is ambitious of making a display of his oratorical powers in conversation, than barely to assent to every thing that he says: and if this assent be given by

repeating a few of the orator's own words, the satisfaction will be complete. We concluded that, in all probability, the case was the same among devils; and there. fore we played off our civilization upon the god of this world."

Devil. But to talk of a little devil, is as absurd as to talk of a great man

Piomingo. Which would be the height of absurdity. [We felt the meanness of our conduct in yielding this point to the old sinner; but as we had put on the painted visor of refined man, we determined not to throw it off.]

Devil. I have sometimes supposed that your gay ones were like to have correct ideas of infernal beauty, when I have heard them say of a fine girl, "She is devilish handsome;" but I found this was merely owing to a strange partiality they had for the word "devilish:" it being applied indiscriminately to beauty and deformity. Indeed, all words, that have any relation to my lower dominions, appear to be favorites with these mortals. The words certainly are expressive. But the thing that displeases me is this: they use them without any regard to propriety. One man is "damned rich;" another is "damned poor." In summer, it is as "hot as hell;" and in winter, as "cold as damnation:" the word "damn" and its derivatives, making nearly one half of their vocabulary. [The clock struck one. He vanished, leaving nothing behind him but a sulphureous stench. Had he taken his leave in an orderly manner, we would have waited on him to the door, and requested the honor of another visit;-but we were extremely well pleased with the manner of his departure.

After looking cautiously round, and becoming perfectly satisfied that he was actually gone, we began to abuse him most politely, cursing him and all his generation from the beginning of the world to this day, and imputing to his instigation every error of our life. We called him wicked, mean, black, deformed, clovenhoofed, horned; and gave him every other opprobrious epithet that we could find in the English and Muscogulgee languages. We grow civilized.]