Asmodeus; or, The Devil on Two Sticks

by Alain René Le Sage

I have not thought it necessary to attempt the Life of the Author; it will be enough to me, for fame, not to have murdered one of his children. I have therefore adopted the life, character, and behaviour of Le Sage from one of the most talented of modern French writers, and my readers will doubtless congratulate themselves on my resolve. Neither have I deemed it needful to enter into the controversy as to the originality of this work, except by a note in page [162]: and this I should probably not have appended, had I, while hunting over the early editions there referred to, observed the original dedication of Le Sage to 'the illustrious Don Luis Velez de Guevara,' in which are the following words: "I have already declared, and do now again declare to the world, that to your Diabolo Cojuelo I owe the title and plan of this work ...; and I must further own, that if the reader look narrowly into some passages of this performance, he will find I have adopted several of your thoughts. I wish from my soul he could find more, and that the necessity I was under of accommodating my writings to the genius of my own country had not prevented me from copying you exactly." This is surely enough to exonerate Le Sage from the many charges which have been urged against him; and I quote the concluding sentence of the above, because it is an excuse, from his own pen, for some little liberties which I have, in my turn, thought it necessary to take with his work in the course of my labours.

JOSEPH THOMAS.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.	[vii]
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF LE SAGE.	[xv]
CHAPTER I.
WHAT SORT OF A DEVIL HE OF THE TWO STICKS WAS—WHENAND BY WHAT ACCIDENT DON CLEOPHAS LEANDRO PEREZZAMBULLO FIRST GAINED THE HONOUR OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE.	[1]
CHAPTER II.
WHAT FOLLOWED THE DELIVERANCE OF ASMODEUS.	[15]
CHAPTER III.
WHERE THE DEVIL TRANSLATED THE STUDENT; AND THE FIRSTFRUITS OF HIS ECCLESIASTICAL ELEVATION.	[20]
CHAPTER IV.
STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DEBELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.	[45]
CHAPTER V.
CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DEBELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.	[77]
CHAPTER VI.
NEW OBJECTS DISPLAYED TO DON CLEOPHAS; AND HIS REVENGEON DONNA THOMASA.	[104]
CHAPTER VII.
THE PRISON, AND THE PRISONERS.	[116]
CHAPTER VIII.
OF VARIOUS PERSONS EXHIBITED TO DON CLEOPHAS BY ASMODEUS,WHO REVEALS TO THE STUDENT WHAT EACH HAS DONE INHIS DAY.	[144]
CHAPTER IX.
THE MADHOUSE, AND ITS INMATES.	[168]
CHAPTER X.
THE SUBJECT OF WHICH IS INEXHAUSTIBLE.	[201]
CHAPTER XI.
OF THE FIRE, AND THE DOINGS OF ASMODEUS ON THE OCCASION,OUT OF FRIENDSHIP FOR DON CLEOPHAS.	[218]
CHAPTER XII.
OF THE TOMBS, OF THEIR SHADES, AND OF DEATH.	[224]
CHAPTER XIII.
THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.	[241]
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SQUABBLE BETWEEN THE TRAGIC POET AND THE COMICAUTHOR.	[277]
CHAPTER XV.
CONTINUATION, AND CONCLUSION, OF THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.	[289]
CHAPTER XVI.
THE DREAMERS.	[337]
CHAPTER XVII.
IN WHICH ORIGINALS ARE SEEN OF WHOM COPIES ARE RIFE.	[353]
CHAPTER XVIII.
RELATING TO OTHER MATTERS WHICH THE DEVIL EXHIBITEDTO THE STUDENT.	[365]
CHAPTER XIX.
THE CAPTIVES.	[378]
CHAPTER XX.
OF THE LAST HISTORY RELATED BY ASMODEUS: HOW, WHILECONCLUDING IT, HE WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED; AND OFTHE DISAGREEABLE MANNER, FOR THE WITTY DEMON, INWHICH HE AND DON CLEOPHAS WERE SEPARATED.	[394]
CHAPTER XXI.
OF THE DOINGS OF DON CLEOPHAS AFTER ASMODEUS HAD LEFTHIM; AND OF THE MODE IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THISWORK HAS THOUGHT FIT TO END IT.	[410]