A.D . 885. Stephanas was appointed to the See of Rome, and filled the papal chair five years and eight days. The same year, Charles, the son of Lewis, having obtained the sovereignty of the empire of the Romans and of the kingdom of France, having summoned the bishops and nobles of the kingdom, related to them a wonderful vision which he had seen, in the following manner :— " In the name of God, the supreme King of all kings, I, Charles, king of the French and patrician of the Romans, on the holy night of the Lord's Day, after having celebrated the onice of Nocturne, when I was going to bed and was desirous of enjoying the repose of sleep, heard a voice which came upon me, saying in an awful manner, 'Charles, your spirit shall presently depart from you at no distant hour.' . And immediately I was borne off in the spirit, and he who bore me aloft in the spirit was white to behold, and held in his hand a ball of flaxen thread, emitting a ray of most brilliant light, such as comets are accustomed to display when they appear, and he began to unwind it, saying to me, ' Behold this ball o f shilling thread ; bind it and knot it firmly on the thumb o f your right hand, because by it you shall be led into the labyrinth-like punishments of hell/ And when he had said this, he went before me with great speed, unwinding the thread of the hght-difiusing ball, and guided me into very deep and fiery vallies, which were full of wells glowing with pitch and brimstone, and lead, and wax, and fat. There I found the pontiffs of my father and of my uncle; and when I, trembling, put questions to them as to why they were suffering such terrible torments, they answered me, 'We were the bishops of your father and of your uncles, and though we ought to have admonished them and their people of the duties of peace and concord ; and though we ought to have prayed to God, we yet sowed discords among them,and were exciters ofinischiefs ; o n which account we are now burning in these hellish punishments, and not only we, but all other lovers of murder and tapine. And to this place your bishops and guards will also come, who now love to act m a similar manner.' And while I was listening in trembling to these words, lo ! some very black demons, flying towards me with fiery hooks, sought to catch hold of the thread of the ball which I was holding, and to draw it towards themselves ; but, because the rays of the ball beat them back, they were not able to touch the thread. Then, running behind my back, they sought to lay hold of me