This unusual Phænomenon has been seen but a little while, and but a little way, and the general Part of Mankind cannot come into the same Notions about it; nay, perhaps they will all think it strange; but be it as strange as it will, the Nature of the Thing confirms it, this lower Sphere is full of _Devils_; and some of both Sexes have given strange Testimonies of the Reality of their pre-existent _Devilism_ for many Ages past, 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 those, as I have observ'd already, very ugly, _Ugly as a Witch_, _Black as a Witch_, _I look like a Witch_, all proverbial Speeches, and which testify'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; some say they us'd to go to visit their Grand Seignior the _Devil_, in those Nocturnal Perambulations: 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 disguise 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, a heavenly Aspect, should bring the _Devil_ in her Company, nay, should be herself an _Apparition_, a mere 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-hunters, will take heed, for I suppose if they get the _Devil_, they will not complain for want of a Fortune; and there's Danger enough, I assure you, for the World is full of Apparitions, _non rosa sine spinis_; not a Beauty without a _Devil_, the old Women Spectres, and the young Women Apparitions; the ugly ones Witches, and the handsome ones _Devils_; Lord ha' Mercy, and a [Illustration: Cross] may be Set on the Man's Door that goes a courting.
_Of the Cloven-Foot walking about the World without the_ Devil, (viz.) _of Witches making Bargains for the_ Devil, _and particularly of selling the Soul to the_ Devil.
I have dwelt long upon the _Devil_ in Masque as he goes about the World incog. and especially without his Cloven-Foot, and have touched upon some of his Disguises in the Management of his Interest in the World; I must say some of his Disguises only, for who can give a full account of all his Tricks and Arts in so narrow a Compass as I am prescrib'd to?