* * * * *
As Le Commandeur De Sillery, who was ambassador from France to the Pope,
was one day walking with the Venetian ambassador, in the square before the
beautiful church of the Gesù, at Rome (where it seems there is always air,
even in the hottest day of summer), he said to him, "What an odd thing it
is that there should be always something of a breeze here? Can your
excellency account for it?" "Perfectly well," replied the Venetian, "upon
a tradition that has been long current in this city. The devil and the
wind were one day walking together in the streets of Rome, when, coming to
the Jesuits' College in this place, the devil said to the wind, 'Pray be
so good as to stay here a minute or two, I have a word to say to these
good fathers within.' The devil, as the story goes, never returned to his
companion, who has been ever since waiting for him at the door."