nvestigate
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 Saint Bruno. The deed is dated in 1259.
[Garinet. Histoire de la Magie en France, page 75.] 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.

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 around 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 they came 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 show 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 proved that the house is troubled by evil spirits, but
that there was an informality in the proceedings before the Civil Court
of Tours, that rendered its deci