With all this Apparatus, the Company separating sat down, the Gentlemen at their Table, and the Ladies at theirs, to play as above; when after some time the Gentleman of the House said hastily to a Servant, what a P—— ails the Candles? and turning to the Servant raps out an Oath or two, and bids him snuff the Candles, for they burnt as if the Devil was in the Room.
The Fellow going to snuff one of the Candles, snuffs it out, at which his Master being in a Passion the Fellow lights it again immediately at the other Candle, and then being in a little hurry, going to snuff the other Candle snuffed that out too.
The first Candle that was relighted (as is usual in such Cases) burn’d dim and dull for a good while, and the other being out, the Room was much darker than before, and a Wench that stood by the Ladies Table, bawls out to her Mistress, Law Madam! the Candles burn blue; an old Lady that sat by says, ay Betty! so they do; upon this one of the Ladies starts up, Mercy upon us, says she, what is the Matter! In this unlucky Moment another Servant, without Orders, went to the great Peer Sconce, and because, as he thought, he would be sure to snuff the Candle well, he offers to take it down, but very unhappily, I say, the Hook came out and down falls the Sconce Candle and all, and the Looking-Glass broke all to pieces, with a horrible Noise; however, the Candle falling out of the Sconce did not go out, but lay on the Floor burning dully, and as it is usual on such Cases, all on one Side, Betty cries out again, Law Madam, that Candle burns blue too; the very Moment she said this, the Footman that had thrown down the Sconce, says to his fellow Servant, that came to his Assistance, I think the Devil is in the Candles to Night, and away he run out of the Room, for fear of his Master.
The old Lady, who, upon the Maid Betty’s Notion of the Candles burning blue, had her Head just full of that old Chimney-Corner Story, the Candles burn blue when the Spirits are in the Room, heard the Footman Say the Word Devil, but heard nothing else of what he said; upon this she rises up in a terrible Fright, and cries out that the Footman said the Devil was in the Room; as she was, indeed, frighted out of her Wits, she frighted the Ladies most terribly, and they all starting up together, down goes the Card Table, and put the Wax-Candles out.
Mrs. Betty, that had frighted them all, runs to the Sconce next the Chimney, but that having a long Snuff, she cried out it burnt blue too, and she durst not touch it; in short, tho’ there were three Candles left still burning in the Room, yet the Ladies we’re all so frighted, that they and the Maids too run out of the Parlour screaming like mad Folks. The Master in a Rage kick’d his first Man out of the Room, and the second Man was run out to avoid, as I said before, the like, so that no Servant was to be had, but all was in Confusion.
The two other Gentlemen, who were sitting at the first Table, kept their Seats composed and easy enough, only concern’d to see all the House in such a fright; it was true, they said, the Candles burnt dim and very oddly, but they could not perceive they burnt blue, except one of those over the Chimney, and that on the Table, which was relighted after the Fellow had snufft it out.
However, the Maid, the old Lady and the Footman that pull’d down the Sconce, all insist that the Candles burnt blue, and all pretend that the Devil was certainly in the Room, and was the Occasion of it; and they now came to me with the Story, to desire my Opinion of it.
This put me upon Enquiry into the Notion of Candles burning blue when Spirits are in a Room, which upon all the Search into Things, that I am able to make, amounts to no more than this; that upon any extraordinary Emission of sulphureous or of nitrous Particles, either in a close Room, or in any not very open Place, if the Quantity be great, a Candle or Lamp, or any such little Blaze of Fire will seem to be, or to burn blue; and if then they can prove that any such Effluvia attends or is emitted from a Spirit, then when Satan is at Hand it may be so.
But then ’tis begging the Question grossly, because no Man can assure us that the Devil has any sulphureous Particles about him.
It is true, the Candles burn thus in Mines and Vaults, and damp Places; and ’tis as true that they will do so upon Occasion of very damp, stormy and moist Air, when an extraordinary Quantity of Vapours are supposed to be dispers’d abroad, as was the Case when this happen’d; and if there was any Thing of that in it on that Monday Night, the Candles might, perhaps, burn blue upon that Occasion; but that the Devil was abroad upon any extraordinary Business that Night, that I cannot grant, unless I have some better Testimony than the old Lady that heard the Footman’s out-cry but by halves, or than Mrs. Betty, who first fancied the Candles burnt blue; so I must suspend my Judgment till I hear farther.