This piece begins 'Hard by the village of P—-, on the fertile banks of the meandering river N—-, in a country but recently known, there lived a worthy little man, who had industriously applied himself to his business.' In the course of the story the devil visits 'the worthy proprietor as a subject to be equalized with Job of old ... [and] extorted the rents accruing, which he constantly carried away in a canvass bag.' Eventually the 'devil became tired of persecuting the excellent little man ...[and] absented himself, carrying with him one thousand pounds which the proprietor had accumulated.' The worthy ... [proprietor] ...rejoiced even at this infernal robbery. The devil had gone! ... [The devil] had found that the second Job was one of God's own children, and that his persecutions were vain.'
The character of the devil is described as: 'He always held a large box in his hand, which he occasionally opened and applied to his nose, catching the grains that escaped on his huge protuberant lip, and then re-beat the pavement, shaking his grey tail. He wore a little fur, hellish-looking, dark brown cap, which he sometimes removed, and wiped his forehead with a fire-red kerchief.'
The story ends with the sentence: 'The above, forwarded to Tommy Toast, by Miss Stenbow, for the Australian Magazine [signed] Tommy Toast. Castlereagh 10th February, 1838.'
This story resulted in a libel action taken by Jacob Josephson, who thought himself described as the devil. The action came to trial in Sydney in March 1839.
