of his,
named Anquier, who lent him forty livres, and gave him a note by which
he acknowledged he owed him twenty thousand livres and receipted the
payment of the forty livres lent; this note bore date the 27th
September, 1726.

Some time after, Mirable asked Anquier to pay the note. Anquier denied
everything. A great lawsuit ensued; informations were taken and
perquisitions held in Anquier's house; sentence was given on the 10th
of September, 1727, importing that Anquier should be arrested, and
have the question applied to him. An appeal was made to the Parliament
of Aix. Anquier's note was declared a forgery. Bernard, who was said
to have been present at the discovery of the treasure, was not cited
at all; the other witnesses only deposed from hearsay; Magdalen
Caillot alone, who was present, acknowledged having seen the packet
wrapped round with linen, and had heard a ringing as of pieces of gold
or silver, and had seen one of them, a piece about as large as a piece
of two liards.

The Parliament of Aix issued its decree the 17th of February, 1728, by
which it ordained that Bernard, farming servant at the _Bastide du
Paret_, should be heard; he was heard on different days, and deposed
that he had seen neither treasure, nor rags, nor gold pieces. Then
came another decree of the 2d of June, 1728, which ordered that the
attorney-general should proceed by way of ecclesiastical censures on
the facts resulting from these proceedings.

The indictment was published, fifty-three witnesses were heard;
another sentence of the 18th of February, 1729, discharged Anquier
from the courts and the lawsuit; condemned Mirable to the galleys to
perpetuity after having previously undergone the question; and Caillot
was to pay a fine of ten francs. Such was the end of this grand
lawsuit. If we examine narrowly these stories of spectres who watch
over treasures, we shall doubtless find, as here, a great deal of
superstition, deception, and fancy.

Delrio relates some instances of people who have been put to death, or
who have perished miserably as they searched for hidden treasures. In
all this we may perceive the spirit of lying and seduction on the part
of the demon, bounds set to his power, and his malice arrested by the
will of God; the impiety of man, his avarice, his idle curiosity, the
confidence which he places in the angel of darkness, by the loss of
his wealth, his life, and his soul.

John Wierus, in his work entitled "_