curiosity, and I determined to attempt the passage of that
strait, and to explore the unknown regions that lay beyond.
The door yielded to my hand, with all that facility with which
the portals of enchanted castles yield to the adventurous
knight-errant. I found myself in a spacious chamber, sur-
rounded with great cases of venerable books. Above the
cases, and just under the cornice, were arranged a great num-
ber of black-looking portraits of ancient authors. About the
room were placed long tables, with stands for reading and
writing, at which sat many pale, cadaverous personages, por-
ing intently over dusty volumes, rummaging among mouldy
manuscripts, and taking copious notes of their contents. The
most hushed stillness reigned through this mysterious apart-
ment, excepting that you might hear the racing of pens over
sheets of paper, or, occasionally, the deep sigh of one of these
sages, as he shifted his position to turn over the page of an
old folio; doubtless arising from that hollowness and flatu-
lency incident to learned research.

Now and then one of these personages would write some-
thing on a small slip of paper, and ring a bell, whereupon a
familiar would appear, take the paper in profound silence,
glide out of the room, and return shortly loaded with ponder-
ous tomes, upon which the other would fall, tooth and nail,
with famished voracity. I had no longer a doubt that I had
happened upon a body of magi, deeply engaged in the study
of occult sciences. The scene reminded me of an old Arabian
tale, of a philosopher, who was shut up in an enchanted library,
in the bosom of a mountain, that opened only once a year;
where he made the spirits of the place obey his commands,
and bring him books of all kinds of dark knowledge, so that
at the end of the year, when the magic portal once more
swung open on its hinges, he issued forth so versed in for-
bidden lore, as to be able to soar above the heads of the
multitude, and to control the powers of Nature.

My curiosity being now fully aroused, I whispered to one
of the familiars, as he was about to leave the room, and begged

-80-