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§ 4. The Grimoire of Honorius Despite the iniquities of the Pacta Conventa Dæmonum , the Grand Grimoire has failed, however, to invoke upon itself such severe condemnation as the Grimoire of Honorius the Great , otherwise Honorius the Third. It is scarcely too much to say that almost every accusation preferred against this remarkable work is false generally and specifically, the chief distinction between them being that some are the misrepresentations of ignorance and others the false interpretations of prejudgment. The French occultist, Papus, alone seems to take the middle view, though he speaks with some vagueness when he says that the sorcery of this Grimoire is more dangerous for weak experimentalists than for the enemies of the sorcerer. Éliphas Lévi observes that the work is not without importance for the students of occult science. At first sight it seems to be nothing but a tissue of repulsive absurdities, but for those who are initiated in the signs and secrets of the Kabalah, it is said that it becomes a veritable monument of human perversity. There was seldom a statement for which there was less foundation; there was never a magical work which less connected with Kabalism; the relation in so far as it exists, and it is confined to a few words which occur in the Conjurations, is common to all Ceremonial Magic, and this is the one Grimoire which is most permeated with Christian elements. Those, however, who are well acquainted with the principles of interpretation which obtain in the writings of Lévi, will not take a charge seriously which depends upon the significance of Kabalistic words or signs, for it is notorious that with the French occultist they meant many things according to his humour, and that he did not know his subject. But Éliphas Lévi was not contented with the general impeachment; in a later work he elaborated a more particular charge. In common with the Key of Solomon , and all the Grimoires, the work of Honorius prescribes the sacrifice of a virgin kid, with the object of ensuring the possession of a virgin parchment by the operator. Now, Lévi affirms that when the "abominable author" mentions a kid, he means really a human child. In this interpretation he has not even the excuse of the humorous analogy which has been instituted in vulgar English, for his acquaintance, had he any, with our language was exceedingly slight. There is not a particle of foundation for the charge; the sacrifice in the case of the Grimoire of Honorius means, and can mean, no more than in the case of the Key of Solomon . There was a defined purpose in connection with the slaughter of the victim, which was the same in both instances. So far concerning the misinterpretations of writers who pretend to some first-hand acquaintance with the work under notice. Others who have mentioned it within recent years have been content to follow the French authority without examination. Thus it is that I find Mr. J. H. Slater, in a paper read before the Bibliographical Society, and printed in its Transactions, describing this Grimoire as an advocate of murder and all kinds of crimes. Furthermore, he confuses it throughout with the Grand Grimoire . Taking the work at first hand, the initial question concerning it is the attribution of the authorship. From what we know of magical literature, to say nothing of pontifical dignity, it is antecedently unlikely that it is the work of a Roman bishop, more especially of such a bishop as Honorius.