“ But its principal vogue was in France in 1812, where the top was called “le diable.” Amusing old prints exist (see Fry's Magazine, March and December 1907) , depicting examples of the popular craze in France at the time. The diable of those days resembled a globular wooden dumb-bell with a short waist, and the sonorous hum when spinning—the bruit du diable—was a pronounced feature. At intervals during the century occasional attempts to revive the game of spinning a top of this sort on a string were made, but it was not till 1906 that the sensation of 1812 began to be repeated. ”