ALL SMOKE.

THE author of Eöthen entered into a treaty
with a certain old magician of Cairo, by virtue
of which the latter undertook to raise the
devil upon a day named, and in the tombs
near the Pyramids, for the sum of two pounds
ten shillings, payment to be contingent upon
success—no devil, no piastres. It may be
remembered that neither of the old gentlemen
was true to his appointment, the
magician, who belonged to this world; having
very inconsiderately died (as the author was
at the time informed) of the plague. Now
I happen to know that he did not die;
but, having arrived at the conclusion that he
had made a bad bargain, he very wisely
determined that his Satanic Majesty should not
be disturbed for so ridiculous a sum. To put
the question beyond dispute, I am in a
position to state that he is, at this present
moment, carrying on a highly successful and
lucrative business—in the necromantic and
occult science line—within the W. division of
the metropolitan postal district, under the
assumed name of Smith, and that I have
recently beheld a few of the wonders of his
mysterious art in that very locality.

As I am also impressed with the belief
that any effort, however humble, towards the
advancement of science, is gratefully received
by an inquiring public, I intend shortly to
describe a few of the marvels which I there
beheld.

I must premise, however, that Haroun (even
at the risk of affording a clue to the police, I
cannot bring myself to speak of the
venerable Asiatic as Smith) has made one alteration
in his original modus operandi. He has
dispensed with the boy "without sin," who,
according to Mr. Lane and Lord Lindsay,
officiated in Cairo, as the medium through
which the visions invoked were communicated
to the inquirer. This alteration has been
necessary, he informs me, for the very satisfactory
reason, that the juvenile population of the
metropolis is not calculated to afford a
sufficient supply of that particular article.

"What would you that I should see?" said
the voice of Haroun, to me, from the midst
of a thick cloud of aromatic incense, which
rendered the person of the great magician
himself invisible. "What, O inquirer
into the mysteries, would you that I
should see?"

Anxious to put his powers to a severe test
at once, and instigated, moreover, by the
naturally patriotic bias of my mind, I mentally
desired that the magician's art might discover
to him the men most fitted to be placed at
the head of the government of my beloved
country. Hereupon, I said: "O magician!
what do you see?"

There was a pause. The silence was alone
broken by the muttered incantations of the
venerable wizard.

"I see,—" he at length replied, "though the
vision revealed is somewhat dim,—I see
three old women." An irreverent chuckle,
which I could not repress, had the effect
apparently of bringing out the figures more
distinctly, for he proceeded quickly: "I see
three men. The first is old and jaunty; the
second is old and grave; the third is old and small.
Lo! these are the men whom you seek!"

"But how is this, O magician!" I replied.
"Are there not twenty-six millions of
inhabitants in the land? and can it be that these
three aged men only are capable of being
placed at the head of the government of my
beloved country?"

To which the voice from out the smoke
made answer: "It is written, there are only
three!"

Arguing from this lamentable and distressing
failure, that the necromancy of Haroun
was not calculated to throw the least glimmer
of light upon political matters, I did not press
him further upon that subject.

"What would you that I should see?" said
the wizard (with no apparent sense of his
ridiculous failure) once more from out the cloud.

"I would that you should see," I made
reply, "something of which all just men are
ashamed: something (though carefully placed
beyond the reach of our laws) which is, in its
nature, opposed to all principles of honesty,
and uprightness, and truth. Now, O
magician! what do you see?"

"I see," he replied, "a large, handsome
room, in which are many young men, engaged
in writing, whilst others are occupied in
counting piles of gold, and large bundles of
crisp bank notes. The gold and the notes
are the property of the men and women, who,
with smiling faces and glad hearts (they