over the kingdom." RALPH'S _History_ Vol. I. p. 562.

4. In truth, the devil and the conjuror did not always play upon the
square, but often took the most unfair advantages of each other.
There is more than one instance of bad faith in the history of that
renowned enchanter, Peter Fabel. On one occasion, he prevailed upon
the devil, when he came to carry him off, to repose himself in an
enchanted chair, from which he refused to liberate him, until he
had granted him an additional lease of seven years. When this term
was also expired, he had the eloquence and art to prevail on the
fiend to allow him a farther respite, till a wax taper, then nearly
expiring, was burned out. This boon being granted, he instantly put
out the light, and deposited the taper in the church at Edmonton.
Hence, in Weiver's "Funeral Monuments," he is thus mentioned: "Here
(at Edmonton) lieth interred, under a seemly tombe without
inscription, the body of Peter Fabell, as the report goes, upon
whom this fable was fathered, that he, by his wittie devices,
beguiled the devill." p 514. See also the _Book of his Merry
Prankes_. Another instance occurs, in the famous history of Friar
Bacon, (London 1666) where that renowned conjurer is recorded to
have saved a man, that had given himself to the devil on condition
of his debts being paid. "The case was referred to the friar.
'Deceiver of mankind, said he (speaking to the devil), it was thy
bargain never to meddle with him so long as he was indebted to any;
now how canst thou demand of him any thing, when he is indebted for
all he hath to thee? When he payeth thee thy money, then take him
as thy due; till then thou hast nothing to do with him; and so I
charge thee to be gone.' At this the devil vanished with great
horrour; but Fryar Bacon comforted the gentleman, and sent him home
with a quiet conscience, bidding him never to pay the devil's money
back, as he tendred his own safety, which he promised for to
observe." From these instances, Melanax might have quoted precedent
for insisting on the literal execution of his stipulation with
Malicorn, since, to give the devil his due, the strict legal
interpretation appears always to have been applied to bargains of
that nature.

TO

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

LAWRENCE