Little Poems in Prose

perstition, and acknowledged to me that he had never had fear as to his own power but once; and that was one day when he had heard a preacher, more subtle than his col- leagues, bawl from the pulpit, “Dearly beloved brethren let us never forget when we hear boasts of progress and light that the cleverest stratagem of the devil is to persuade us that he does not exist.” His recollection of this famous orator natu- rally led us to the subject of Universities, and my strange companion assured me that he did not consider it beneath him in many cases to inspire the pen, the tongue, and the brain of dons, and that he was almost always present in person, although invisible, at all academic gatherings. Encouraged by so much affability, I asked him for news of God, and if he had seen Him lately. He answered me with an indifference shaded by a certain sadness, “We bow when we meet, but like two old noblemen whose in- nate politeness cannot altogether extinguish the memory of ancient ill-will.” It is doubtful whether His Highness had ever before given so lengthy an audience to a mere mortal, and I feared to abuse his kindness. Fi- nally, as the shuddering dawn whitened the window panes, this famous personage,