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When the witch wanted to get rid of the devil, who was sometimes in the habit of prolonging his visits to an unconscionable length, she had only to repeat the following, also backwards, when he generally disappeared, leaving behind him a suffocating smell: "Zellianelle Heotti Bonus Vagotha Plisos sother osech unicus Beelzebub Dax! Komm! Komm!"

When I got home, as I reflected on the character of this strange cardinal a wit, haughty, vain, and boastful, I resolved to make him a fine present. It was the 'Pandectarum liber unicus' which M. de F. had given me at Berne, and which I did not know what to do with. It was a folio well printed on fine paper, choicely bound, and in perfect preservation.

When it appeared it was at once pronounced to be the brightest gem among histories; its author was greeted as a most wonderful man, the "unique historian", for so went the phrase "inter historicos unicus."

When I got home, as I reflected on the character of this strange cardinal a wit, haughty, vain, and boastful, I resolved to make him a fine present. It was the 'Pandectarum liber unicus' which M. de F. had given me at Berne, and which I did not know what to do with. It was a folio well printed on fine paper, choicely bound, and in perfect preservation.

Quid Vaticanam Bodleianamque objicis, hospes! Unicus est nobis Bibliotheca Liber.

In case the devil staid too long, he could be made to take himself off by addressing to him the following statement, repeated backward: "Zellianelle Heotti Bonus Vagotha Plisos sother osech unicus Beelzebub Dax! Komm! Komm!" Which would evidently make almost anybody go away. A German charm to improve one's finances was perhaps no worse than gambling in gold.