he possession of the human race, was supposed
to have developed a passion for catching souls. At the death of every
man a real fight takes place over his soul between an angel, who
wishes to lead it to heaven, and a devil, who attempts to drag it to
hell (Jude 9). In order to assure the soul for himself in advance,
Satan attempts to purchase it from the owner while he is still
living--_vivente corpore_, as he tells the _restaurateur_ in Poe's
story. As prince of this world he can easily grant even the most
extravagant wishes of man in exchange for his soul. Office, wealth and
pleasure are mainly the objects for which a man enters into a pact
with the Evil One. Count de Luizzi in Frederic Soulie's _Les Memoires
du Diable_ sells his soul to the devil for an uncommon consideration.
It is not wealth or pleasure that tempts him. What he wants in
exchange for his soul is to know the past lives of his fellowmen and
women, "a thing," as Mr. Saintsbury well remarks, "which a person of
sense and taste would do anything, short of selling himself to the
devil, _not_ to know." The devil fulfils every wish of his contractor
for a stipulated period of time, at the expiration of which the soul
becomes his. Pope Innocent VIII, in his fatal bull "Summis
desiderantes" of the year 1484, officially recognized the possibility
of a compact with the devil. Increase Mather, the New England
preacher, also affirms that many men have made "cursed covenants with
the prince of darkness."

St. Theophilus, of Cilicia, in the sixth century, was the first to
make the notable discovery that a man could enter into a pact of this
nature. The price he set for his soul was a bishopric. This story has
been superseded during the Renaissance period by a similar legend
concerning the German Dr. Faustus. Other famous personages reputed to
have sold their souls to the devil for one consideration or another
are Don Juan in Spain, Twardowski in Poland, Merlin in England, and
Robert le Diable in France. Socrates, Apuleius, Scaliger and
Cagliostro are also said to have entered into compacts with him.

In devil-contracts the Evil One insists that his human negotiator sign
the deed with his own blood, while the man never requires the devil to
sign it even in ink. The human party to the transaction has always had
full confidence in the word of the fiend. There is a universal belief
that the devil invariably fulfils his engagement. In no single
instance of folk-lore has