Даниэль Дефо
The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts
Such an eminent Statesman and prime Minister, – No Witch.
Such a Ribbon with a Set of great Letters added, – No Conjurer.
It presently occurr’d to me that tho’ Oracles were ceased, and we had now no more double Entendre in such a Degree as before, yet that ambiguous Answers were not at an End; and that whether those Negatives were meant so by the Writers, or not, ’twas certain Custom led the Readers to conclude them to be Satyrs, that they were to be rung backwards like the Bells when the Town’s on fire; tho’ in short, I durst not read them backward any where, but as speaking of foreign People, for fear of raising the Devil I am talking of.
But to return to the Subject; to such mean Things is the Devil now reduc’d in his ordinary Way of carrying on his Business in the World, that his Oracles are deliver’d now by the Bellmen and the Chimney-Sweepers, by the meanest of those that speak in the Dark, and if he operates by them, you may expect it accordingly; his Agents seem to me as if the Devil had singl’d them out by their Deformity, or that there was something particular requir’d in their Aspect to qualify them for their Employment; whence it is become proverbial, when our Looks are very dismal and frightful, to say, I look like a Witch, or in other Cases to say, as ugly as a Witch; in another Case to look as envious as a Witch; now whether there is any Thing particularly requir’d in the Looks of the Devil’s modern Agents, which is assisting in the Discharge of their Offices, and which make their Answers appear more solemn, this the Devil has not yet reveal’d, at least not to me; and therefore why it is that he singles out such Creatures as are fit only to fright the People that come to them with their Enquiries, I do not take upon me to determine.
Perhaps it is necessary they should be thus extraordinary in their Aspect, that they might strike an Awe into the Minds of their Votaries, as if they were Satan’s true and real Representatives; and that the said Votaries may think when they speak to the Witches they are really talking to the Devil; or perhaps ’tis necessary to the Witches themselves, that they should be so exquisitely ugly, that they might not be surpriz’d at whatever Figure the Devil makes when he first appears to them, being certain they can see nothing uglier than themselves.
Some are of the Opinion that the Communication with the Devil, or between the Devil and those Creatures his Agents, has something assimulating in it, and that if they were tolerable before, they are, ipso facto, turn’d into Devils by talking with him; I will not say but that a Tremor in the Limbs, a Horror in the Aspect, and a surprizing Stare in the Eyes may seize upon some of them when they really see the Devil, and that the frequent Repetition may make those Distortions, which we so constantly see in their Faces becomes natural to them; by which if it does not continue always upon the Countenance, they can at least, like the Posture-Masters, cast themselves into such Figures and frightful Dislocations of the Lines and Features in their Faces, and so assume a Devil’s Face suitable to the Occasion, or as may serve the turn for which they take it up, and as often as they have any use for it.
But be it which of these the Enquirer pleases, ’tis all one to the Case in Hand; this is certain, that such deform’d Devil-like Creatures, most of those we call Hags and Witches, are in their Shapes and Aspects, and that they give out their Sentences and frightful Messages with an Air of Revenge for some Injury receiv’d; for Witches are fam’d chiefly for doing Mischief.
It seems the Devil has always pick’d out the most ugly and frightful old Women to do his Business; Mother Shipton, our famous English Witch or Prophetess, is very much wrong’d in her Picture, if she was not of the most terrible Aspect imaginable; and if it be true that Merlin, the famous Welch Fortune-Teller, was a frightful Figure, it will seem the more rational to believe, if we credit another Story, (viz.) that he was begotten by the Devil himself, of which I shall speak by it self: But to go back to the Devil’s Instruments being so ugly; it may be observed, I say, that the Devil has always dealt in such sort of Cattle; the Sybils, of whom so many strange prophetic Things are recorded, whether true or no is not to the Question, are (if the Italian Painters may have any Credit given them) all represented as very old Women; and as if Ugliness were a Beauty to old Age, they seem to paint them out as ugly and frightful as (not they, the Painters) but even as the Devil himself could make them; not that I believe there are any original Pictures of them really extant; but it is not unlikely that the Italians might have some traditional Knowledge of them, or some remaining Notions of them, or particularly that antient Sybil named Anus, who sold the fatal Book to Tarquin; ’tis said of her that Tarquin supposed she doated with Age.
I had Thoughts indeed here to have entred into a learned Disquisition of the Excellency of old Women in all diabolical Operations, and particularly of the Necessity of having recourse to them for Satan’s more exquisite Administration, which also may serve to solve the great Difficulty in the natural Philosophy of Hell; namely, why it comes to pass that the Devil is oblig’d for want of old Women, properly so call’d, to turn so many antient Fathers, grave Counsellors both of Law and State, and especially Civilians or Doctors of the Law into old Women, and how the extraordinary Operation is perform’d; but this, as a Thing of great Consequence in Satan’s Management of humane Affairs, and particularly as it may lead us into the necessary History, as well as Characters of some of the most eminent of these Sects among us, I have purposely reserv’d for a Work by it self, to be published, if Satan hinders not, in fifteen Volumes in Folio, wherein I shall in the first Place define in the most exact Manner possible, what is to be understood by a Male old Woman, of what heterogeneous Kind they are produced, give you the monstrous Anatomy of the Parts, and especially those of the Head, which being fill’d with innumerable Globules of a sublime Nature, and which being of a fine Contexture without, but particularly hollow in the Cavity, defines most philosophically that antient paradoxical Saying, (viz.) being full of Emptiness, and makes it very consistent with Nature and common Sense.
I shall likewise spend some Time, and it must be Labour too, I assure you, when ’tis done, in determining whether this new Species of Wonderfuls are not deriv’d from that famous old Woman Merlin, which I prove to be very reasonable for us to suppose, because of the many several judicious Authors, who affirm the said Merlin, as I hinted before, to have been begotten by the Devil.
As to the deriving his Gift of Prophesy from the Devil, by that pretended Generation, I shall omit that Part, because, as I have all along insisted upon it, that Satan himself has no prophetic or predicting Powers of his own, it is not very clear to me that he could convey it to his Posterity, nil dat quod not habet.
However, in deriving this so much magnified Prophet in a right Line from the Devil, much may be said in favour of his ugly Face, in which it was said he was very remarkable, for it is no new Thing for a Child to be like the Father; but all these weighty Things I adjourn for the present, and proceed to the Affair in Hand, namely, the several Branches of the Devil’s Management since his quitting his Temples and Oracles.
Chap. VI
Of the extraordinary Appearance of the Devil, and particularly of the Cloven-Foot
Some People would fain have us treat this Tale of the Devil’s appearing with a Cloven-Foot with more Solemnity than I believe the Devil himself does; for Satan, who knows how much of a Cheat it is, must certainly ridicule it, in his own Thoughts, to the last Degree; but as he is glad of any Way to hoodwink the Understandings, and bubble the weak Part of the World; so if he sees Men willing to take every Scarecrow for a Devil, it is not his Business to undeceive them; on the other Hand, he finds it his Interest to foster the Cheat, and serve himself of the Consequence: Nor could I doubt but the Devil, if any Mirth be allow’d him, often laughs at the many frightful Shapes and Figures we dress him up in, and especially to see how willing we are first to paint him as black, and make him appear as ugly as we can, and then stare and start at the Spectrum of our own making.
The Truth is, that among all the Horribles that we dress up Satan in, I cannot but think we shew the least of Invention in this of a Goat, or a Thing with a Goat’s Foot, of all the rest; for tho’ a Goat is a Creature made use of by our Saviour in the Allegory of the Day of Judgment, and is said there to represent the wicked rejected Party, yet it seems to be only on Account of their Similitude to the Sheep, and so to represent the just Fate of Hypocrisy and Hypocrites, and in particular to form the necessary Antithesis in the Story; for else, our whimsical Fancies excepted, a Sheep or a Lamb has a Cloven-Foot as well as a Goat; nay, if the Scripture be of any Value in the Case, ’tis to the Devil’s Advantage, for the dividing the Hoof was the distinguishing Character or Mark of a clean Beast, and how the Devil can be brought into that Number is pretty hard to say.
One would have thought if we had intended to have given a just Figure of the Devil, it would have been more apposite to have rank’d him among the Cat-kind, and given him a Foot (if he is to be known by his Foot) like a Lion, or like a red Dragon, being the same Creatures which he is represented by in the Text, and so his Claws would have had some Terror in them as well as his Teeth.
But neither is the Goat a true Representative of the Devil at all, for we do not rank the Goats among the Subtle or cunning Part of the Brutes; he is counted a fierce Creature indeed of his Kind, tho’ nothing like those other abovemention’d; and he is emblematically used to represent a lustful Temper, but even that Part does not fully serve to describe the Devil, whose Operation lies principally another Way.
Besides it is not the Goat himself that is made use of, ’tis the Cloven-Hoof only, and that so particularly, that the Cloven Foot of a Ram or a Swine, or any other Creature, may serve as well as that of a Goat, only that History gives us some Cause to call it the Goat’s Foot.
In the next Place ’tis understood by us not as a bare Token to know Satan by, but as if it were a Brand upon him, and that like the Mark God put upon Cain, it was given him for a Punishment, so that he cannot get leave to appear without it, nay cannot conceal it whatever other Dress or Disguise he may put on; and as if it was to make him as ridiculous as possible, they will have it be, that whenever Satan has Occasion to dress himself in any humane Shape, be it of what Degree soever, from the King to the Beggar, be it of a fine Lady or of an old Woman, (the Latter it seems he oftenest assumes) yet still he not only must have this Cloven-Foot about him, but he is oblig’d to shew it too; nay, they will not allow him any Dress, whether it be a Prince’s Robes, a Lord Cha – r’s Gown, or a Lady’s Hoop and long Petticoats, but the Cloven-Foot must be shew’d from under them; they will not so much as allow him an artificial Shoe or a Jack-Boot, as we often see contriv’d to conceal a Club-Foot or a Wooden-Leg; but that the Devil may be known wherever he goes, he is bound to shew his Foot; they might as well oblige him to set a Bill upon his Cap, as Folks do upon a House to be let, and have it written in capital Letters, I am the Devil.
It must be confess’d this is very particular, and would be very hard upon the Devil, if it had not another Article in it, which is some Advantage to him, and that is, that the Fact is not true; but the Belief of this is so universal, that all the World runs away with it; by which Mistake the good People miss the Devil many times where they look for him, and meet him as often where they did not expect him, and when for want of this Cloven-Foot they do not know him.
Upon this very Account I have sometimes thought, not that this has been put upon him by meer Fancy, and the Cheat of a heavy Imagination, propagated by Fable and Chymny-Corner Divinity, but that it has been a Contrivance of his own; and that, in short, the Devil rais’d this Scandal upon himself, that he might keep his Disguise the better, and might go a Visiting among his Friends without being known; for were it really so, that he could go no where without this particular Brand of Infamy, he could not come into Company, could not dine with my Lord Mayor, nor drink Tea with the Ladies, could not go to the Drawing-R – at – , could not have gone to Fountainbleau to the King of France’s Wedding, or to the Diet of Poland, to prevent the Grandees there coming to an Agreement; nay, which would be still worse than all, he could not go to the Masquerade, nor to any of our Balls; the Reason is plain, he would be always discover’d, expos’d and forc’d to leave the good Company, or which would be as bad, the Company would all cry out the Devil and run out of the Room as if they were frighted; nor could all the Help of Invention do him any Service, no Dress he could put on would cover him; not all our Friends at Tavistock Corner could furnish him with a Habit that would disguise or conceal him, this unhappy Foot would spoil it all: Now this would be a great a Loss to him, that I question whether he could carry on any of his most important Affairs in the World without it; for tho’ he has access to Mankind in his compleat Disguise, I mean that of his Invisibility, yet the Learned very much agree in this, that his corporal Presence in the World is absolutely necessary upon many Occasions, to support his Interest and keep up his Correspondences, and particularly to encourage his Friends when Numbers are requisite to carry on his Affairs; but this Part I shall have Occasion to speak of again, when I come to consider him as a Gentleman of Business in his Locality, and under the Head of visible Apparition; but I return to the Foot.
As I have thus suggested that the Devil himself has politically spread about this Notion concerning his appearing with a Cloven-Foot, so I doubt not that he has thought it for his Purpose to paint this Cloven-Foot so lively in the Imaginations of many of our People, and especially of those clear sighted Folks who see the Devil when he is not to be seen, that they would make no Scruple to say, nay and to make Affidavit too, even before Satan himself, whenever he sat upon the Bench, that they had seen his Worship’s Foot at such and such a Time; this I advance the rather because ’tis very much for his Interest to do this, for if we had not many Witnesses, viva voce, to testify it, we should have had some obstinate Fellows always among us, who would have denied the Fact, or at least have spoken doubtfully of it, and so have rais’d Disputes and Objections against it, as impossible, or at least as improbable; buzzing one ridiculous Notion or other into our Ears, as if the Devil was not so black as he was painted, that he had no more a Cloven-Foot than a Pope, whose Apostolical Toes have so often been reverentially kiss’d by Kings and Emperors: but now alas this Part is out of the Question, not the Man in the Moon, not the Groaning-Board, not the speaking of Fryar Bacon’s Brazen-Head, not the Inspiration of Mother Shipton, or the Miracles of Dr. Faustus, Things as certain as Death and Taxes, can be more firmly believ’d: The Devil not have a Cloven-Foot! I doubt not but I could, in a short Time, bring you a thousand old Women together, that would as soon believe there was no Devil at all; nay, they will tell you, he could not be a Devil without it, any more than he could come into the Room, and the Candles not burn blue, or go out and not leave a smell of Brimstone behind him.
Since then the Certainty of the Thing is so well establish’d, and there are so many good and substantial Witnesses ready to testify that he has a Cloven-Foot, and that they have seen it too; nay, and that we have Antiquity on our Side, for we have this Truth confirm’d by the Testimony of many Ages; why should we doubt it any longer? we can prove that many of our Ancestors have been of this Opinion, and divers learn’d Authors have left it upon Record, as particularly that learned Familiarist Mother Hazel, whose Writings are to be found in MS. in the famous Library at Pye-Corner; also the admir’d Joan of Amesbury, the History of the Lancashire Witches, and the Reverend Exorcist of the Devil’s of London, whose History is extant among us to this Day; all these and many more may be quoted, and their Writings referr’d to for the Confirmation of the Antiquity of this Truth; but there seems to be no Occasion for farther Evidence, ’tis enough, Satan himself, if he did not raise the Report, yet tacitly owns the Fact, at least he appears willing to have it believ’d, and be receiv’d as a general Truth for the Reasons above.
But besides all this, and as much a Jest as some unbelieving People would have this Story pass for, who knows but that if Satan is empower’d to assume any Shape or Body, and to appear to us visibly, as if really so shap’d; I say, who knows but he may, by the same Authority, be allow’d to assume the Addition of the Cloven-Foot, or two or four Cloven-Feet, if he pleased? and why not a Cloven-Foot as well as any other Foot, if he thinks fit? For if the Devil can assume a Shape, and can appear to Mankind in a visible Form, it may, I doubt not, with as good Authority be advanc’d that he is left at Liberty to assume what Shape he pleases, and to choose what Case of Flesh and Blood he’ll please to wear, whether real or imaginary; and if this Liberty be allow’d him, it is an admirable Disguise for him to come generally with his Cloven-Foot, that when he finds it for his Purpose, on special Occasions to come without it, as I said above, he may not be suspected; but take this with you as you go, that all this is upon a Supposition that the Devil can assume a visible Shape, and make a real Appearance, which however I do not yet think fit to grant or deny.
Certain it is, the first People who bestow’d a Cloven-Foot upon the Devil, were not so despicable as you may imagine, but were real Favourites of Heaven; for did not Aaron set up the Devil of a Calf in the Congregation, and set the People a dancing about it for a God? Upon which Occasion, Expositors tell us, that particular Command was given, Levit. xvii. 7. They shall no more offer their Sacrifices unto Devils, after whom they have gone a Whoring; likewise King Jeroboam set up the two Calves, one at Dan and the other at Bethel, and we find them charg’d afterwards with setting up the Worship of Devils instead of the Worship of God.
After this we find some Nations actually sacrificed to the Devil in the Form of a Ram, and others of a Goat; from which, and that above of the Calves at Horeb, I doubt not the Story of the Cloven-Foot first derived; and it is plain that the Worship of that Calf at Horeb is meant in the Scripture quoted above, Levit. xvii. 7. Thou shalt no more offer Sacrifices unto Devils: The Original is Seghnirim; that is, rough and hairy Goats or Calves; and some think also in this Shape the Devil most ordinarily appeared to the Egyptians and Arabians, from whence it was derived.
Also in the old Writings of the Egyptians, I mean their hieroglyphick Writing, before the Use of Letters was known, we are told this was the Mark that he was known by; and the Figure of a Goat was the Hieroglyphick of the Devil; some will affirm that the Devil was particularly pleased to be so represented; how they came by their Information, and whether they had it from his own Mouth or not, Authors have not yet determined.
But be this as it will, I do not see that Satan could have been at a Loss for some extraordinary Figure to have banter’d Mankind with, tho’ this had not been thought of; but thinking of the Cloven-Foot first, and the Matter being indifferent, this took place, and easily rooted it self in the bewildred Fancy of the People, and now ’tis riveted too fast for the Devil himself to remove it if he was disposed to try; but as I said above, ’tis none of his Business to solve Doubts or remove Difficulties out of our Heads, but to perplex us with more, as much as he can.
Some People carry this Matter a great deal higher still, and will have the Cloven-Foot be like the great Stone which the Brasilian Conjurers used to solve all difficult Questions upon, after having used a great many monstrous and barbarous Gestures and Distortions of their Bodies, and cut certain Marks or magical Figures upon the Stone; so, I say, they will have this Cloven-Foot be a kind of a Conjuring-Stone, and tell us, that in former Times, when Satan drove a greater Trade with Mankind in publick, than he has done of late, he gave this Cloven-Foot as a Token to his particular Favourites to work Wonders with, and to conjure by, and that Witches, Fairies, Hobgoblins, and such Things, of which the Antients had several Kinds, at least in their Imagination, had all a Goat’s Leg with a Cloven-Foot to put on upon extraordinary Occasions; it seems this Method is of late grown out of Practice, and so like the melting of Marble and the painting of Glass, ’tis laid aside among the various useful Arts which History tells us are lost to the World; what may be practised in the Fairy World, if such a Place there be, we can give no particular Account at present.
But neither is this all, for other wou’d-be-wise People take upon them to make farther and more considerable Improvements upon this Doctrine of the Cloven-Foot, and treat it as a most significant Instrument of Satan’s private Operation, and that as Joseph is said to Divine, that is to say, to conjure by his Golden Cup which was put into Benjamin’s Sack, so the Devil has managed several of his secret Operations, and Possessions, and other hellish Mechanisms upon the Spirits as well as Bodies of Men, by the Medium or Instrumentality of the Cloven-Foot; accordingly it had a Kind of an hellish Inspiration in it, and a separate and magical Power by which he wrought his infernal Miracles; that the Cloven-Foot had a superior Signification, and was not only emblematic and significative of the Conduct of Men, but really guided their Conduct in the most important Affairs of Life; and that the Agents the Devil employ’d to influence Mankind, and to delude them and draw them into all the Snares and Traps that he lays continually for their Destruction, were equipp’d with this Foot in Aid of their other Powers for Mischief.
Here they read us learn’d Lectures upon the sovereign Operations which the Devil is at present Master of, in the Government of human Affairs; and how the Cloven-Foot is an Emblem of the true double Entendre or divided Aspect, which the great Men of the World generally act with, and by which all their Affairs are directed; from whence it comes to pass that there is no such Thing as a single hearted Integrity, or an upright Meaning to be found in the World; that Mankind, worse than the ravenous Brutes, preys upon his own Kind, and devours them by all the laudable Methods of Flattery, Whyne, Cheat and Treachery; Crocodile like, weeping over those it will devour, destroying those it smiles upon, and, in a Word, devours its own Kind, which the very Beasts refuse, and that by all the Ways of Fraud and Allurement that Hell can invent; holding out a cloven divided Hoof, or Hand, pretending to save, when the very Pretence is made use of to ensnare and destroy.
Thus the divided Hoof is the Representative of a divided double Tongue, and Heart, an Emblem of the most exquisite Hypocrisy, the most fawning and fatally deceiving Flattery; and here they give us very diverting Histories, tho’ tragical in themselves, of the manner which some of the Devil’s inspired Agents have manag’d themselves under the especial Influence of the Cloven-Foot; how they have made War under the Pretence of Peace, murther’d Garrisons under the most sacred Capitulations, massacred innocent Multitudes after Surrenders to Mercy.
Again, they tell us the Cloven-Foot has been made use of in all Treasons, Plots, Assassinations, and secret as well as open Murthers and Rebellions. Thus Joab under the Treason of an Embrace, shew’d how dexterously he could manage the Cloven-Foot, and struck Abner under the fifth Rib: Thus David play’d the Cloven-Foot upon poor Uriah, when he had a Mind to lie with his Wife: Thus Brutus play’d it upon Cæsar; and to come nearer home, we have had a great many retrograde Motions in this Country by this magical Implement the Foot; Such as that of the Earl of Essex’s Fate, beheading the Queen of Scots, and diverse others in Queen Elizabeth’s Time: That of the Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir Thomas Overbury, Gondamor and Sir Walter Raleigh, and many others in King James the I.’s Time; in all which, if the Cloven-Foot had not been dexterously manag’d, those Murthers had not been so dexterously manag’d, or the Murtherers have so well been skreen’d from Justice; for which and the imprecated Justice of Heaven unappeased, some have thought the innocent Branches of the Royal House of Stuart did not fare the better in the Ages which follow’d.
It must be confess’d, the Cloven-Foot was in its full Exercise in the next Reign, and the Generation that rose up immediately after them, arrived to the most exquisite Skill for Management of it; here they fasted and pray’d, there they plunder’d and murther’d; here they rais’d War for the King, and there they fought against him, cutting Throats for God’s Sake, and deposing both King and kingly Government according to Law.
Nor was the Cloven-Foot unemployed on all Sides, for ’tis the main Excellency of this Instrument of Hell, that it acts on every Side, it is its denominating Quality, and is for that Reason call’d a cloven or divided Hoof.
This mutilated Apparition has been so publick in other Countries too, that it seems to convince us the Devil is not confin’d to England only, but that as his Empire extended to all the sublunary World, so he gives them all Room to see he is qualified to manage them his own Way.
What abundant Use did that Prince of Dissemblers, Charles V. make of this Foot? ’twas by the Help of this Apparition of the Foot that he baited his Hook with the City of Milan, and tickled Francis I. of France so well with it, that when he pass’d thro’ France, and was in that King’s Power, he let him go, and never get the Bait off of the Hook neither; it Seems the Foot was not on King Francis’s Side at that Time.
How cruelly did Philip II. of Spain manage this Foot in the Murther of the Nobility of the Spanish Netherlands, the Assassination of the Prince of Orange, and at last: in that of his own Son Don Carlos Infant of Spain? and yet such was the Devil’s Craft, and so nicely did he bestir his Cloven-Hoof, that this Monarch died consolated (tho’ impenitent) in the Arms of the Church, and with the Benediction of the Clergy too, those second best Managers of the said Hoof in the World.
I must acknowledge, I agree with this Opinion thus far; namely, that the Devil acting by this Cloven-Foot, as a Machine, has done great Things in the World for the propagating his dark Empire among us; and History is full of Examples, besides the little low priz’d Things done among us; for we are come to such a Kind of Degeneracy in Folly, that we have even dishonour’d the Devil, and put this glorious Engine the Cloven-Foot to such mean Uses, that the Devil himself seems to be asham’d of us.
But to return a little to foreign History, besides what has been mention’d above, we find flaming Examples of most glorious Mischief done by this Weapon, when put into the Hands of Kings and Men of Fame in the World: How many Games have the Kings of France play’d with this Cloven-Foot, and that within a few Years of one another? First, Charles IX. play’d the Cloven-Foot upon Gaspar Coligni Admiral of France, when he caress’d him, complimented him, invited him to Paris, to the Wedding of the King of Navarre, call’d him Father, kiss’d him, and when he was wounded sent his own Surgeons to take Care of him, and yet three Days after order’d him to be assassinated and murther’d, used with a thousand Indignities, and at last thrown out of the Window into the Street to be insulted by the Rabble?
Did not Henry III. in the same Country, play the Cloven-Foot upon the Duke of Guise, when he call’d him to his Council, and caus’d him to be murther’d as he went in at the Door? The Guises again plaid the same Game back upon the King, when they sent out a Jacobin Friar to assassinate him in his Tent as he lay at the Siege of Paris.
In a Word, this Opera of the Cloven-Foot has been acted all over the Christian World, ever since Judas betray’d the Son of God with a Kiss; nay, our Saviour says expresly of him, One of you is a Devil; and the sacred Text says in another Place, The Devil enter’d into Judas.
It would take up a great deal of Time and Paper too, to give you a full Account of the Travels of this Cloven-Foot; its Progress into all the Courts of Europe, and with what most accurate Hypocrisy Satan has made use of it upon many Occasions, and with what Success; but as in the elaborate Work of which I just now gave you a Specimen I design one whole Volume upon this Subject, and which I shall call, The compleat History of the Cloven-Foot; I say, for that Reason, and diverse others, I shall say but very little more to it in this Place.
It remains to tell you, that this merry Story of the Cloven-Foot is very essential to the History which I am now writing, as it has been all along the great Emblem of the Devil’s Government in the World, and by which all his most considerable Engagements have been answer’d and executed; for as he is said not to be able to conceal this Foot, but that he carries it always with him, it imports most plainly, that the Devil would be no Devil if he was not a Dissembler, a Deceiver, and carried a double Entendre in all he does or says; that he cannot but say one Thing and mean another, promise one Thing and do another, engage and not perform, declare and not intend, and act like a true Devil as he is, with a Countenance that is no Index of his Heart.
