Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-05-17

| unholy intent in hearts which have not yet
learned to beat There is only one Mcphis-
| topheles; but he is protean in shape. The
| little gentlemen in black the hero Of 20
many strange stories, is but the Teutonic
incarnation Of spirit which takes many
| forms in many lands. Olt Of the brain Of
/ the great German poet he steps, in Ruise
which is knoTR and recognized wherever
/ the story of love and betrayal ind, an echo
in human hearts. Poor Gretchen She
had heard of Satan, and had been rocked
to sleep by tales Of the Loreley, and knew
! from her Bible that there was an evil spirit
in the world seeking whom he might devour.
But little did she dream. when she stopped
her spinning wheel to think for moment
of the gallant young lover who wooed her
80 ardently, that the glance Of bis eye was
! lighted with the fame Of eternal fire. and
that the fond words of love he spoke were
hot breathings from the regions of the ae.
cursed. Poor Gretchen
But. my dear Madam, this is all fable.
Mephstophees-the real, vital, moving
ephistopheles-ba outlived Goethe, and
will outlast the very memory of the unhap-
ny heroine of his noble poem. He walks
the streets to day as fresh and persuasive
as when. in ophidian form, he haunted that
lovely garden which is said to have once
stood near the banks of the Eupl rates, and
there beguiled the mother of mankind
Your friend Asmodeus-albeit not the
quondam friend of that name for whose
especial amusement he unroofed so many
houses in the last century, when he was SUI
fering from severe lameness--has discern
ing eye to pierce his many DISCUSSES. He
does not walk our streets now a-days in red
tights or with tinsel eyes he does not limp
about with sardonic laugh nor could you
see the cloven hoof which is said tn betray
his identity. Were such the case, the little
street boys would point him out. and the
daily papers, with which his friend Dr.
Faustus had so much to do in their origin,
would record his movements with greater
eagerness than thev do the comings and 60
ings of generals and governors. No, my
dear Madam. he assumes no such striking
costumes But he brushes by you in your
daily walks, he sits beside you in the car,
the theatre, AVID even in the church, in re
spectacle. fashionable attire Frank dick.
ers with him in his counting room, Tommy
chases him in the playground, Mrs. As
modeus make him fashionable call, and
God help ms all!--we sometimes find him
sitting domicied at our hearthstones. -
He changes like the wizard we used to read
of in our wonderful fairy books, who was
an ogre one moment and a mouse the next
He is more potent than the philosophers
stone for that changed everything into
gold only, while he becomes, at will, all the
ores and alloys of creation Fortunatus's
wishing cap and Prince Husseiu's tapestry
were baby toys to him. They whisked their
owners away to the place where they wish
ed, at the moment, be. Heis ubiquitous.
He turks under the liberty cap of the
goddess whose features are stamped in the
shining gold, and his laugh is the clink of
the iingling pieces. He turns himself into
regal sceptre that swayS the gaming crowd,
and it becomes a magnet that draws with
resistless power the outstrstched. itching
palms of men. He takes the witching form
of woman, paints her PUPPY cheek with
peachy bloom. knots into grace her mass Of
wavy hair. lights in her sparkling eye the
kiniling flame, hangs on her pouting lip the
expectant kiss, and bids her supple waist
invite cares'; and more seductive far than
gold or power are these cunning lures to win
men to how down in ahiect, groveling wor.
ship of his might My dear Madam, |
would not imply that your beauty and grace
are exhibitions Of his skill. BY no manner
of means I faithfully believe that Frank
was drawn to you by the hoiest, purest,
best of emotions. But then, you know, so
many of your lovely sex are under the in
huence Of that cunning gentleman while
they least suspect it. When a poor girl
who owns but one jewel on earth-t price
less one that adorns and ennobes her low.
liness-barters that treasure away for the
cheap glitter of polished stones or the rust
ling sweep of gaudy silk, is not the basilisk
gleam of the Mephistophelean eye visible
in the sparkling Of those gewgaws and the
sheen of that stuff? When your friend
Asmodeus, honest in his modest selt-respect,
is most ignominiously ignored by the stylish
Mrs. Money,--her father was cobbler,-
more noted for brocades than brains, or the
refined Miss Blood.-her grandfather was
third-cousn to some Revolutionary major,
more distinguished for shallowness than
for pirit,-does he not smile in his sleeve,
with great irrevsrance for the brocades and
the birth, at the easy way in which the old
fellow has wheedled them into his power by
tickling their conceit and vanity? He creeps
into all sorts of corners, and turks in the
smallest of hiding places He lies perdu in
the folds of the fqurante's gauze, nestles
under the devotee' sombre veil, waves in
the fiirt's fan, and swims in the gossip's
teacup He burrows in dimp!e, floats on
sigh, rides on glance, and hovers in
thought. -
But would not infer, Madam, that he
is the particular pet of the fair, or that he
specially devotes himself to their subjuga-
tion. 1t is certain that he employs them
with his most cunning skill, and sways the
world most powerfully by their regnant
charms, Bat the lords of creation are like,
wise the slaves of his will and the dupes of
his deception. He bcstrides the nib Of the
statesman's pen and guides it into faIsehood
and treason. He perches on the cardinals
hat and couusels bigotry and oppression
| He sits on the tradesman' counter and bears
down the unweighted scale. He hides in
the lawyers bag and makes speciotfs pleas
for adroit rogues. He slips into the gam
bler's greasy pack and rolls over his yellow
dice. He dances on the bubbles Of the
drunkard's glass, swings on the knot of the
planters lash, and darts.on the point of the
assassin's knife. He revels in a coarse oath,
laughs in perjured VOW, and breathes in a
File. He has kept celebrated company in
times gone by He was Superintendent of
the Coliseum when the Christian martyrs
were given to the wild beasts. He was long
time a familiar in the Spanish Inqui>ition,
and adviser of the Catholic priesthood in
those days, and Governor of the Bastilc
Afterwards. He was the kings minister OF
pleasure in the days of the latter iLouises;