under me only: think of that! You will for ever bless the day when you came over to my side. I make my servants happy, jolly, and light-hearted; and they have their fill of pleasure—theatre-going, boxing, horse-racing, gambling, drinking. I give them unbounded prosperity, riches, unimagined joys, and all kinds of grandeur; and I watch over them with the care and affection of a fond father. Ever since the world was created, I have looked well after my children and servants. To you I promise power unlimited, and unbounded wealth—castles, gardens, parks, forests, cringing slaves, and everything yon can wish for—but you must come of your own free will; I do not use compulsion, although I might if I pleased. Take the other side, and you are poor and miserable for your whole life, despised by men, abhorred by my followers, in constant fear of ruin, and dread of offending a hard and exacting Master, who very probably will throw you over at last.'
Here the Demon laughed with a low, diabolical chuckle, and gave me a familiar poke in the ribs.
The lumbering vehicle entered one of the largest of the caverns, under a gigantic arch of marvellous construction, and I shuddered as I looked around me. If the Demon thought to bind me to his service by bringing me to a place like this, he was mistaken. We have often observed that those who give themselves up to wanton excesses are not deterred from pursuing that course by the sudden fall of others, or by the fear of the hopeless ruin, or the terrible and disgrace, which are sure to overtake them. What infatuated gambler is frightened from his fascinating game by the sight of the miserable wretch who, mad with disappointment, and cursing his existence, has laid down his life at the shrine of Mammon? What drunkard is reclaimed in the society of other drunkards, who are rushing headlong to destruction? What liar, or slanderer, or heart-
