ated, were exceedingly wrath that the devil should play such antics
right opposite their dwelling, and hinted to the commissioners sent down
by Saint Louis to investigate the matter, that if they were allowed to
inhabit the palace, they would very soon make a clearance of the evil
spirits. The king was quite charmed with their piety, and expressed to
them how grateful he felt for their disinterestedness. A deed was
forthwith drawn up, the royal sign-manual was affixed to it, and the
palace of Vauvert became the property of the monks of St. Bruno. The deed
is dated 1259. The disturbances ceased immediately, the lights
disappeared, and the green ghost (so said the monks) was laid at rest for
ever under the waves of the Red Sea.[41]

[41] Garinet, _Histoire de la Magie en France_, p. 75.

In the year 1580, one Gilles Blacre had taken the lease of a house in the
suburbs of Tours, but repenting him of his bargain with the landlord,
Peter Piquet, he endeavoured to prevail upon him to cancel the agreement.
Peter, however, was satisfied with his tenant and his terms, and would
listen to no compromise. Very shortly afterwards, the rumour was spread
all over Tours that the house of Gilles Blacre was haunted. Gilles himself
asserted that he verily believed his house to be the general rendezvous of
all the witches and evil spirits of France. The noise they made was awful,
and quite prevented him from sleeping. They knocked against the wall,
howled in the chimneys, broke his window-glass, scattered his pots and
pans all over his kitchen, and set his chairs and tables a dancing the
whole night through. Crowds of persons assembled round the house to hear
the mysterious noises: and the bricks were observed to detach themselves
from the wall, and fall into the streets upon the heads of those who had
not said their paternoster before coming out in the morning. These things
having continued for some time, Gilles Blacre made his complaint to the
Civil Court of Tours, and Peter Piquet was summoned to shew cause why the
lease should not be annulled. Poor Peter could make no defence, and the
court unanimously agreed that no lease could hold good under such
circumstances, and annulled it accordingly, condemning the unlucky owner
to all the expenses of the suit. Peter appealed to the parliament of
Paris; and after a long examination, the parliament confirmed the lease.
"Not," said the judge, "because it has not been fully and satisfactorily