As to Shadows of Devils, and imaginary Appearances, fuch as appear, and yet are invifible at the fame time, I had thought to bestow'd a Chapter upon them by themfelves, but it may be as much to the Purpose to let them alone, as to meddle with them; 'tis faid our old Friend Lutherufed to De exceedingly troubled with fuch invifible Apparitions, and he tells us much of them, in what they call his Table-talk ; but with Mafter Luther's leave, tho' the Devil paffes for avery great Lyar, I could fwallow many things of his own proper making, as foon as fome of thofe I find in a Book that goes by his Name, particularly the Story of the Devil in a Basket, the Child flying out of the Cradle, and the

like.

In a Word, the walking Devils that we have generally among us, are of the female Sex; whether it be that the Devil finds lefs difficulty to manage them,or that he lives quieter with them, or that they are fitter for his Business than the Men, I fhall not now enter into a dispute about that; per haps he goes better difguis'd in the fair Sex than otherwife; Antiquity gives us many Hiftorics of She-devils, fuch as we can very feldom match for Wickedness among the Men; fuch now as in the Text, Lot's Daughters, Jofeph's Miftrefs, Sampfon's Dalilah, Herod's Herodias, thefe were certainly Devils, or play'd the Devil fufficiently in their Turn; one Male Apparition indeed the Scripture furnishes you with, and that is Judas; for his Mafter fays exprefly of him, One of you is a Devil; not has the Devil, or is poffefs'd of the DEVIL; but really is a DEVIL, or is a real DEVIL.

How

How happy is it, that this great Secret comes thus to be difcover'd to Mankind? Certainly the World has gone on in Ignorance a long time, and at a strange rate, and that we should have fo many Devils continually walking about among us in human Shape, and we know it not.

Philofophers tell us that there is a World of Spirits, and many learned Pieces of Guess-work they make at it, reprefenting the World to be fo near us, that the Air, as they defcribe it, muft be full of Dragons and Devils, enough to fright our Imaginations with the very Thoughts of them; and if they fay true, 'tis our great Felicity that we cannot fee any farther into it than we do, which if we could, would appear as frightful as Hell it felf, but none of thofe Sages ever told us till now, that half the People who converse with us are Apparitions, especially of the Women; and among them efpecially this valuable Part, the Women of Figure, the fair, the beautiful, or patch'd and painted.

This unufual Phænomenon has been feen but a little while, and but a little way, and the general Part of Mankind cannot come into the fame Notions about it; nay, perhaps they will all think it ftrange; but be it as ftrange as it will, the Nature of the Thing confirms it, this lower Sphere is full of Devils and fome of both Sexes have given ftrange Teftimonies of the Reality of their pre-exiftent Devilifm for many Ages paft, tho' I think it never came to that Height

as it has now.

It is true, in former times Satan dealt much in old Women, and thofe, as I have obferv'd alrea

dy,

dy, very ugly, Ugly as a Witch, Black as a Witch, I look like a Witch, all proverbial Speeches, and teftify'd what Tools it was Satan generally work'd with; and these old Spectres, they tell us, us'd to ride thro' the Air in the Night, and upon Broomsticks too, all mighty homely Doings;; fome fay they us'd to go to vifit their Grand Seignior the Devil, in thofe Nocturnal Peram-. bulations: But be that as it will, 'tis certain the Devil has chang'd hands, and that now he walks: about the World cloth'd in Beauty, cover'd with': the Charms of the Lovely, and he fails not to difguife himself effectually by it, for who would: think a beautiful Lady could be a Masque to the Devil? and that a fine Face, a divine Shape, ai heavenly Afpect, fhould bring the Devil in her Company, nay, fhould be herself an Apparition, a meer DEVIL.

The Enquiry is indeed worth our while, and therefore I hope all the enamour'd Beaus and Boys, all the Beauty-hunters and Fortune-hun-ters, will take heed, for I fuppofe if they get theDevil, they will not complain for want of a For-tune; and there's danger enough, I affure you,, for the World is full of Apparitions, non rofa fine? fpinis; not a Beauty without a Devil, the old! Women Spectres, and the young Women Appa-ritions; the ugly ones Witches, and the hand-fome ones Devils; Lord ha' Mercy, and a may be fet on the Man's Door that goes a Courting

CHAP. VIII.

Of the Cloven-Foot walking about the World without the Devil, (viz.) of Witches making Bargains for the Devil, and particularly of Telling the Soul to the Devil.

I

Have dwelt long upon the Devil in Mafque as he goes about the World incog. and efpecially without his Cloven-Foot, and have touched upon fome of his Difguifes in the Management of his Intereft in the World; I muft fay fome of his Difguifes only, for who can give a full account of all his Tricks and Arts in fo nar. row a Compafs as I am prescrib'd to?

But as I faid, that every Devil has not a Cloven-Foot, fo I must add now for the present Purpose, that every Cloven-Foot is not the Devil.

Not but that wherever I fhould meet the Cloven-Hoof, I should expect that the Devil was not far off, and should be apt to raise the Posse against him, to apprehend him; yet it may happen otherwife, that's certain; every Coin has its Coun-. terfeit, every Art its Pretender, every Whore her Admirer, every Error its Patron, and every Day has its DEVIL.

I have had fome thought of making a full and compleat Discovery here of that great Doubt which has fo long puzzl'd the World, namely, whether there is any fuch Thing, as fecret making Bargains with the Devil, and the firft pofitive Affurance I can give you in the Cafe, is, that if there is not, 'tis not his Fault, 'tis not for want of his Endeavour, 'tis plain, if you will pardon

me

me for taking fo mean a Step, as that of quoting Scripture; I fay, 'tis evident he would fain have made a Contract with our Saviour, and he bidboldly (give him his due) namely, all the Kingdoms of the World for one bend of his Knee: Impudent Seraph! To think thy Lord fhould pay thee Homage! How many would agree with him here for a lefs Price! They fay, Oliver Crom-well ftruck a Bargain with him, and that he gave Oliver the Protectorship, but would not let him call himself King, which ftuck fo close to that Furiofo, that the Mortification fpread into his. Soul, and 'tis faid, he dy'd of a Gangreen in the Spleen. But take Notice and do Oliver Juftice; I do not vouch the Story, neither does the Bishop fay one Word of it.

Fame us'd to fay, that the old famous Duke of Luxemburg made a Magic compact of this Kind; nay, I have heard many an (old Woman) Officer of the Troops, who never car'd to fee his Face, declar'd he carry'd the Devil at his Back. I remember a certain Author of a News Paper in London, was once taken up, and they fay, it coft him fol. for printing in his News, that Luxemburg was Humpback'd. Now if I have refolv'd the Difficulty, namely, that he was not hump'd, only carry'd the Devil at his Back; I think the poor Man fhould have his 50 l. again, or I fhould have it for the Discovery.

I confefs, I do not well understand this compacting with fuch a Fellow as can neither write nor read; nor do I know who is the Scrivener between them, or how the Indenture can be exe-cuted; but that which is worse than all the rest