t which never lets me rest? Did I fashion my soul, so
that it will not submit, and will not bear contempt? Perhaps I am like
the earthen pot, which, formed by a strange hand, is broken into pieces,
because it does not hit the fancy of the maker, and because it does not
answer the use for which it appears to have been designed. Alas! I am a
mere vessel; yet wherefore then this struggle with my destiny, which
would fetter my noblest resolves? And was mind given for no purpose?
Surely not! The bull trusts in his horns, and the stag in his swiftness
to escape from the hunter; and is that which so eminently distinguishes
man less his own? Mind I possess; I employed it for the benefit of my
fellow-men, and neglect was my reward; perhaps the devils will respect it
more."

Here he sprung furiously into the circle; while the lamentations of his
wife, father, and children seemed to echo, in the deep tones of despair,
"Lost! for ever lost!"

Satan, ruler of hell, had, by the hoarse sound of his trumpets, which
echoed even to the glowing sides of the sun, announced to all the fallen
spirits dispersed through the upper and lower world, that he intended on
this day to give a great festival. The spirits assembled at the mighty
call. Even his envoys at the papal stool, and at the different courts of
Europe, forsook their posts; for the invitation led them to expect
something great and important.

Already the monstrous vaults of hell resounded with the wild cries of the
fiendish populace, while myriads seated themselves upon the scorched
ground. The princes then stepped forth, and commanded silence to the
multitude, whilst Satan heard the intelligence brought by his envoys from
the upper world. The devils obeyed, and a death-like stillness prevailed
amid the thick, misty darkness, interrupted only by the groans of the
damned. In the mean time the slaves of the fiends--shades who are
neither worthy of happiness nor damnation--prepared the immeasurable
tables for the banquet; and they deserved to be under the thraldom of
such a task. When they were yet in flesh and blood, and ate the fruits
of the earth, they were of that equivocal kind, who seem the friends of
all men and yet are the friends of none; whose tongues continually
prattle of the noble precepts of virtue, which they feel not in their
hearts; who only abstain from evil because it is accompanied by danger,
and from doing good because it requires courage and self-de