XXI 
  
THE TEMPTATIONS: 
  
OR, 
  
LOVE, RICHES AND GLORY 
  
  
TWO superb Satans and a She-Devil not 
less remarkable than they, last night climbed 
the 
mysterious 
staircase 
by 
which 
Hell 
emerges to assault the weakness of a sleeping 
man, and secretly communicates with him. In 
their glory they came as it were erect upon a 
platform and stood in front of me. A sulphur-
ous splendour emanated from these three 
mighty Beings, cutting them from the thick 
darkness of the night. So proud and so master-
ful was their manner that at first I took them 
to be indeed gods. 
The face of the first Satan was epicene, and 
he had also in every line of his body the soft-
ness of old Bacchus. Lovely were his eyes, and 
languishing, of a shadowy and undecided col-
our, resembling violets still wetted with the 
heavy tears of the storm, and his half-opened