could just discern, by the light of the stars, something dark that kept leaping up and down. By way of making an experiment he demanded, although but mentally, to have double the amount of the sum he had just expended, in his right hand, when he instantly felt ten ducats there. He now returned in glee to the tavern, and the rest of the company, who were still carousing there, were not a little astonished at perceiving what cheerful countenances were now worn by those, who were lately in so melancholy a mood. But the Spaniard quickly retired without awaiting the costly banquet which, late as it was, Richard had ordered to be prepared, having first satisfied the demands of the wary host before hand, for his pockets were well lined with brave new ducats, which flocked thither merely at his wishing. Those who are most anxious for a similar bargain, will best imagine what kind of a life our wild gallant now led: unless, indeed, they should be devoted to mere sordid avarice. Even the most charitable, may well suppose that he spent not his days or nights in abstinence and fasting. The first thing he did was to choose, as the minion of his pleasures, the courtesan whose acquaintance cost him so dear at his first arrival at Venice. On this worthless creature did he lavish unheard of sums, purchasing for her a mansion in the city, and two villas, all of which he furnished with the utmost sumptuousness. It chanced one day, as he was sitting with Lucretia, such was the name of his harlot mistress, in the garden of one of his villas, upon the bank of a little stream, that she suddenly snatched the phial which Richard constantly wore in his bosom, attached to his neck by a chain of gold. She had seized it before he was aware, and now held the little bottle up against the light. At first she was highly amused at beholding the antics of the little black figure; but at length she shrieked out in a voice of terror:-"Ah! the nasty creature is a toad!" and immediately flung chain, phial, and bottle-devil, altogether into the water, where the current as quickly carried them away. The youth endeavoured as well as he could, to conceal his distress, lest his mistress should enquire farther into the matter, and perhaps accuse him publicly of witchcraft. He pretended, therefore, that it was merely a curious toy; then, as soon as he could, he quitted Lucretia, in order to consider what was best for him now to do. He was still in possession of his palace and villas, and had, moreover in his pockets, no inconsiderable sum, in the shape of bright ducats. But how great was his joy when, on putting his hand into his pocket to examine the latter, he discovered there his lost phial. The chain probably remained at the bottom of the stream, but the phial and its little black tenant had faithfully returned back to their owner.-" "Now then," exclaimed he, in a burst of transport," now then, I find that I possess here a treasure, of which no accident, no earthly power can possibly deprive me!" Nay, he had even kissed the very phial, had not the little jumping black figure excited his aversion, so loathsome did it appear. If his doings were wild and mad enough before, they were now ten times worse. The infatuated youth regarded even the potentates and princes of the world with a disdainful compassion; convinced that not one of them was able to indulge in such a luxurious life as himself. Even Venice, the most opulent mart in the world, could hardly find dainties enough for his extravagant banquets. Did a well meaning friend hint at the folly of this continual rioting, he would indignantly reply: "Richard is my name, and my riches are boundless." Often would he, in a fit of intemperate mirth, rudely jest at the folly of the Spaniard, who had cast such a prize from him, and, as he had heard it reported, had retired into a convent. On this earth, however, there is nothing that lasts for ever. This too our gallant soon experienced to be truth, much sooner, indeed, than he would otherwise have done, in consequence of the intemperance with which he plunged into all sensual delights. A languor like that of death seized his exhausted frame, in spite of all the virtue of his phial, which he vainly kept invoking for health, at the first attack of his disease. Recovery visited him not, but on the contrary frightful dreams. It seemed to him that one of the phials which were standing by his bedside, began to set up a wild dance, jostling against the rest in a furious manner. After gazing at it for some minutes, Richard recognized it to be that in which the little Spirit was inclosed, and exclaimed: Bottle-devil, bottle-devil, thou assistest me no more, but rather destroyest that which should work my cure." Whereupon the little black thing sang in a hoarse voice : "Richard! Richard! thou prayest in vain: After which it immediately stretched itself out, quite long and thin, and, notwithstanding that Richard held the phial stopped as closely as possible, it crept out between his thumb and the cork it then suddenly became a large black man, who began to dance in the most hideous manner, clapping to and fro, at the same time, his huge dusky wings; and at length placed his hairy, leathern breast upon Richard's bosom, and his grinning face upon Richard's face, so that the latter felt as if he were himself assuming the hideous figure, and in a tone of wild agony, screamed out for a mirror. A cold sweat stood upon his brow, as he awoke out of the ghastly dream, and he thought that he perceived a monstrous black toad creep down beside him into his bed; but, upon putting down his hand, he felt only the phial, in which the little black figure lay panting and apparently exhausted. How awfully long did the remainder of this horrible night seem to the sick and phrensied wretch. He dared not again to resign himself to sleep, lest the terrific vision should re-appear; hardly too, did he venture to open his wearied eyes even in the dark, lest he should perceive the monstrous fiend squatted in some corner of the apartment. Yet did he shut his eyes but for a moment, he thought that it was again upon him, and started up with horror. He rang aloud for his attendants, but no one came, all was still as the grave; as for Lucretia he had not beheld her since he was first attacked by his disorder. Thus did he lay in a state of torturing horror, throughout the whole of that long, dreary night, the terror of which was increased, when he reflected that, if this single night appeared almost an eternity of terrors, what must seem the eternal night of hell, on which no day would ever dawn-that night to whose dreadful visions there would be no end? He determined, at all events, upon getting rid of the fatal phial the very next morning. When, however, the morning came, he felt his spirits so much revived, that he began to ask himself whether he had yet turned the " Bottle-Imp" sufficiently to account. Palace and villas, and all the luxuries wherewith they were furnished, seemed hardly enough; he, therefore, instantly demanded a great heap of ducats to be placed beneath his pillow, and, on finding them there instantaneously, he then began to reflect how best to dispose of the talisman. He knew that his physician was a great naturalist, and one who sought much after all monsters, and all such wonderful productions as are generally kept in spirits; he hoped, therefore, that he should be able to pass off the "Bottle-Imp" to the learned man as a curiosity of this description; for else the doctor was too good a Christian to have any thing to do with the evil . creature. The deceit, indeed, could hardly be termed an innocent one, but need knows no niceties. Accordingly he offered the doctor the little spirit which was now become again exceedingly lively, jumping to and fro in the bottle with great vivacity; insomuch that, anxious to examine what he considered a wonderful lusus naturæ, the learned man agreed to purchase it, if the price demanded for it were not too high. In order to satisfy his conscience as well as he could, Richard asked a sum as nearly approaching to five ducats as was possible: the doctor, however, would give no more than three, which, fearing to lose his customer altogether, the other at last accepted, taking care, however, to bestow it all in alms upon the poor. But the money which he had found under his pillow, he carefully laid by, as the only fund upon which his future wealth and prosperity depended. In the meanwhile, his disorder continued to increase; he lay in a constant delirium, and had he still been tormented by the possession of the bottle-devil, there is no doubt but that he would have actually died of terror and anxiety. At length, however, he gradually grew better; and now the only thing that seemed to retard his recovery, was his solicitude about the ducats, which he could no longer find beneath his pillow. At first he was very loth to make any enquiry after them; when, however, he did so, no one could give any account of them. Being able to obtain no information respecting the gold, it now remained for him to consider how he might best convert his mansion and villas into money. But here, too, he was reckoning without his host, for a throng of creditors appeared with various claims upon his estates, all duly signed by himself, and sealed with his own signet, he having, at the time of his boundless prosperity, given these papers to Lucretia to fill up as she judged proper: all that he could do, therefore, was to depart as quickly as possible with the little he could save from the fangs of these harpies; so that he quitted all his splendour very nearly a beggar. At this juncture, his physician made his appearance, with a countenance betokening serious displeasure. "Doctor," exclaimed the unfortunate young merchant, "if it so be, that you are come hither like the rest of your fraternity with a large bill, I prithee, add another item to the account, and see, good doctor, that it be for opium, or some equally potent drug for my last bread is now baked, as I know but too well, I have no money to buy more." 66 Nay, nay," replied the physician, "things are not yet so bad as that. I am not only ready to renounce every demand upon you, but have also prepared a certain, most efficacious medicine, that will quickly revive you from this despondency; all that I ask for it is, two ducats." "And most readily will I pay them," replied the youth, which, having done, the doctor forthwith departed. On opening the box wherein he expected to find this cordial restorative, be discovered a phial, but how great was his dismay on perceiving that it was that which contained the little bottle-devil ; and that, affixed to it, it had a label containing the following lines: Thy body I strove to cure from ill, Be thine once more the dreadful sprite ; Great, indeed, was Richard's alarm, at finding that he had re-purchased his phial, at so much lower a price. The only consolation that now remained, was to employ it as an instrument of revenging himself upon his treacherous paramour, which he effected in the following manner. Having first of all summoned by a wish, a sum of money double to, that which he had lost, he carried and deposited it all with the nearest scrivener, excepting one hundred and twenty pieces, with which he betook himself to the abode of the faithless Lucretia. His reception was exactly such as he supposed that his gold would procure him: his mistress was as lavish of her caresses towards him, as she had ever been on any former occasion. After some time he displayed the curioustoy he had brought, making the little black puppet, inclosed in the phial, perform abundant antics and tricks. This, he informed Lucretia, was exactly like the one which she once flung into the water. She, like the rest of her sex, was desirous of obtaining such a droll plaything: and, on the youth's sportively demanding a ducat for it, she paid it without hesitation. This bargain being completed, Richard hastened away as quickly as he could, and repaired to the scrivener, with whom he had deposited his money. He now found, however, that gold sticks so fast to certain people's fingers, that they cannot shake it off. The honest man stared with the utmost astonishment, protesting most vehemently, that he had never clapped his eyes on the young fellow before, This worthy specimen of probity, had written his receipt for the sum deposited with a kind of ink that totally disappeared in the space of a few hours: therefore, when Richard produced his voucher, he found that he had merely a piece of plain paper. He thus found himself suddenly reduced to poverty, and would, indeed, have been completely a beggar, had he not still thirty ducats remaining from what he had been squandering at Lucretia's. He who lies in too short a bed, must even pull up his legs; he who has no bed, must couch on the bare floor; who cannot afford to ride, must walk :-so was it with our merchant, who was now fain to become a pedlar. For this purpose he provided himself with a suitable box; but with what a heavy heart did he first buckle it on, to take his stand with some small ware in those very streets where, but a few weeks before, he used to pass with a splendid retinue. In a little while, however, he became somewhat reconciled to this new occupation, having no lack of customers. "If I proceed at this rate," thought he, " I may yet again become a prosperous man, and that too at no very distant time. I will then return to my native Germany, where I shall find myself more comfortable than ever, after having been in power of the accursed bottle-devil, and having got out of his clutches by my own skill and dexterity." With such thoughts did our newlymade pedlar cheer and console himself, on retiring for the night to an obscure inn. On his taking off his box, several of the guests, attracted by curiosity, began to examine the various wares it contained. "My good friend," exclaimed one of these inquisitive gentry," prithee, what queer kind of animal is this which you have got here in this phial, and which keeps jumping about at so strange a rate ?" To his great terror Richard now, for the first time, perceived that along with the other articles in his box, he had purchased the fatal bottle-devil. Instantly did he offer it to the bystanders for a mere trifling sum, but not one of them could endure the hideous creature, neither could Richard inform them of any particular use it was of; he, nevertheless, continued to harass them at such a rate with his intreaties to purchase it, that at length, they thrust the impertinent chapman and his wares into the street. In the anguish of his distress he now returned to the person who had sold him the box, and pressed him to take back the little imp, at a lower price. The fellow, however, quite out of temper at being disturbed at such an unseasonable hour, and little disposed to become a dealer in such strange commodities, bade him begone, and take his trumpery to Lucretia, for she was the person that had lately sold him the stock of trinkets, among which was that queer-looking phial. Without waiting to hear another syllable, Richard ran off to Lucretia, as quickly as if he had a devil driving him instead of himself carrying a devil. He found the lewd creature along with a couple of gallants. At first they rated the uncourteous pedlar for daring to intrude upon them; but afterwards they purchased nearly his whole stock, for Lucretia had now recognized some of her old valuables, and also their present vendor nor did the sight of him, in such a condition, seem by any means to damp her mirth. As to the " BottleImp," no one would purchase it; for Lucretia protested that she could not endure to look at the ugly thing. "Say not so," replied Richard, "my fair inconsiderate: permit me but to whisper in your ear some of its virtues, and, I am sure, you will hesitate no longer." She now retired a little aside, and the pedlar disclosed to her all the powerful, occult qualities of his little "Bottle-Imp." "How now! thou cheating varlet," cried the incredulous dame," dost thou think to impose upon people by such fine tales as these? Were it true, I warrant me, thou hadst taken care first to provide thyself with something better than those filthy rags. Out with thee, for a knave! Begone, or I'll denounce thee for a sorcerer and dealer in the black art and then both thyself and thy devil may be burnt together." : Both the gallants now took part in the fray, and kicked the unfortunate pedlar and his wares down stairs: whereupon, the poor wight unable to resent the indignity, and terrified at the idea of being roasted for a wizard, hastened to leave Venice with all possible expedition; insomuch that, on the following day, he had quitted a territory which he now regarded as the land of all his misfortunes. In the meanwhile he did not forget a nearer cause of his unhappiness, but, drawing the little dusky inip from his pocket, he cried :-"Thou miscreant devil! If I again call on thee for thy services, it is, that I may rid myself of thee for ever." Having thus vented the bitterness of his feelings, he forthwith desired to have a sum much more considerable than the last, and then, almost sinking under its weight, he proceeded to the next town. Here he purchased a splendid equipage, hired a numerous retinue, and set out for Rome, convinced that there he should soon be able to find some one, who would not scruple to take his unwelcome little companion off his hands. As often as he expended a ducat, did he require the imp to replace it by another, in order that, after selling his phial, he might still have the entire sum. This seemed to him no more than a fair compensation, for the horrors he constantly endured; for in addition to the nightly visits of the black apparition, that never failed to come, and lay upon his breast, he saw also the bottle-devil constantly frisking about the phial, with the most horrible glee, as if now quite certain of his prey, at the expiration of the due period of his service. Hardly had his wealth and the figure which he made, procured him admission into the first circles of Roman society, than his constant dread would not allow him to wait until a proper opportunity should offer, of freeing himself from his tormentor. He was continually offering his phial to every person, demanding for it three groschen in German money; insomuch that he, in a short time, became to be considered as a lunatic, and was a subject of ridicule to every one. Money makes a good mood, and many a fair friend withal: so was it with our Richard; yet no sooner did he produce his phial, and begin to talk of three groschens, than all present were glad to escape his importunity. So great, at length, was his despair |