'I am much
indebted to you; but it is right that the artist should prove his own
work.' He then made Perillus creep into the beast's belly; and when the
fire was laid beneath it, he did in reality bellow like a bull. Thus did
Phalaris, a thousand years ago, play very much the same part with
Perillus which the most Christian king has been playing with you, most
reverend Bishop of Verdun."

_Bishop_. I wish I had heard this story twenty years ago; I should then
have taken warning from it.

_Faustus_. You see that history may sometimes be useful, even to a
bishop. I weep for the fate of your companions in misery; but I laugh at
yours.

Faustus wished now to see this king, whose horrible deeds had so heated
his imagination, that he could hardly represent him to himself under a
human figure. The Devil told him that it would be impossible for them in
their present forms to enter the Castle of Plessis du Parc, where
cowardice and fear kept the tyrant a prisoner. He added, that no one,
with the exception of some necessary domestics, the physician, the
confessor, and one or two astrologers, could enter without a particular
order.

_Faustus_. Then let us assume other figures and dresses.

_Devil_. Good; I will instantly remove two of his guards, and we will do
their duty. This is an excellent time to see the tyrant. The fear of
death is already avenging upon his cowardly spirit the thousands whom he
has slaughtered. Day and night he only thinks of putting off the moment
which is to terminate his existence, and death seems to him more hideous
every second. I will make you a witness of his torments.

The Devil instantly put his project into execution, and they found
themselves standing sentinels in the interior of the castle, where
reigned the mournful silence of the tomb. Thither had he, before whom
millions trembled, banished himself, in order to escape from the
vengeance of the relations of the murdered. Although he could thus fly
from the sight of his subjects, he could not escape the cutting remorse
of his own heart, nor the pains of his emaciated body. In vain did he
implore Heaven to grant him health and repose; in vain did he attempt to
bribe it by presents to saints, to priests, and to churches; in vain did
he cover himself with relics from all parts of the world: that frightful
sentence, _thou shall die_, seemed always ringing in his ears. He
scarcely ventured to move out of his chamber, lest he s