t night the
image of Venus appeared to him and said, "Thou hast espoused me, and
shalt not enjoy the society of any other woman." Again returning to
the statue in the morning he found the finger straight, and discovered
that the ring was gone. So greatly was he troubled, that he consulted
a magician, who put him on a plan of obtaining his ring and releasing
him of his engagement with Venus. The magician wrote a letter to a
principal spirit in the dominion to which Venus belonged, and, giving
it to the unhappy young man, instructed him to watch at a certain time
and place, when he would see a troop of spirits pass by him, one of
which, he said, would be seated on a chariot; and he it was for whom
the letter was written. The young man, on acting as directed, espied
the spirits, and gave the letter to the one for which it was intended.
As soon as the fiend read its contents he burst into a rage,
exclaiming, "How long shall we be subject to this accursed magician?"
With hesitation, he called on a most beautiful woman near the chariot,
and commanded her to return the ring to its owner, an order she
reluctantly obeyed.

Henry Cornelius Agrippa, who was born at Cologne in 1486, was an
astrologer and magician. When travelling, he paid his hotel bills with
pieces of horn, which appeared as gold to those to whom they were
presented. A foolish fellow entered Agrippa's study, and raised the
devil therein during the magician's absence. The novice, being unable
to subdue the fiend, lost his life. On Agrippa coming home, he found
several spirits dancing on the house-top. He ordered them to enter the
dead body, which they did, and then he cast it into a pit. Though
Agrippa seldom left his study or conversed with any one, he was well
acquainted with everything going on at home and abroad. People were of
opinion that a black dog he kept was an evil spirit, which duly
informed him of what was taking place far and near.

Every magical charm had its first principles according to certain
laws; and the garments worn by magicians were manufactured and
stitched at stated hours. The time was generally in the hour of Luna
or of Saturn, in the moon's increase. Their needles were made of
hedgehog's prickles, or bones of animals, as iron or steel possessed
virtues not always favourable to magic. Their ointments were of man's
fat, blood, hog's grease, oil, etc. Their characters were ancient
Hebrew, and their speech in the learned languages; their f