, and that the judges were at hand to hear the cause. The priest
having made up his mind to be at the trial, hid himself behind a tree.
When the judges had taken their seats, the hangman was brought forward
pinioned, and proof adduced that his soul belonged to the devil. On
the other side it was pleaded by our Lady, that at the hour of death
the hangman commended his soul to her. The judges gave sentence that
the hangman's soul should return to his body until he made sufficient
satisfaction. The priest was called from his hiding-place and sent to
the Pope with a rose of rare beauty, and instructions to crave the
prayers of his Holiness for the poor man." Although we are not made
acquainted with the result of the application to the Pope, there can
be little doubt but that, through our Lady and his Holiness, Satan
lost his eagerly desired victim.

Directions are given by the learned how to raise ghosts and evil
spirits. To raise the ghost of one who had hanged himself, the
exorcist was to provide himself with a straight hazel wand, and bind
the head of an owl with a bunch of St. John's-wort to the end thereof.
This done, he was to repair to a place where a miserable wretch had
strangled himself, and at twelve o'clock at night, while the body
remained suspended, begin his conjurations. First, he was directed to
stretch forth his wand towards the four corners of the world, saying,
"I conjure and exorcise thee, thou distressed spirit, to present
thyself here and reveal unto me the cause of thy calamity--why thou
didst offer violence to thine own life, where thou art now in being,
and where thou wilt hereafter be?" Then, gently striking the body nine
times with the wand, he was to demand the spirit of the deceased to
reveal unto him what secrets he wished made known, whether these
referred to the past or future. The conjuration being thrice repeated,
we are assured the spirit would rise and answer the exorcist's
questions. Directions were next given for laying the spirit, and that
might be done by burying the body naked with lime, salt, and sulphur.
If the ghost which the exorcist consulted was of one who died a common
death, and received the usual burial, it was essential to dig the body
out of the grave at twelve o'clock at night; and while the exorcist
held a torch in his left hand, he was to smite the corpse three times
with his consecrated rod, held in the right hand, and demand answers
to his questions. When the ceremon