Of The Devil's Management In The Pagan Hierarchy By Omens Entrails Augurs Oracles And Such Like Pageantry Of Hell
Of the Devil's Management in the Pagan Hierarchy by Omens,
Entrails, Augurs, Oracles, and such like Pageantry of Hell;
and how they went
off the Stage at last by the Introduction of true Religion.
I have adjourn'd, not finished, my Account of the Devil's secret
Management by Possession, and shall reassume it, in its Place; but I
must take leave to mention some other Parts of
his retir'd Scheme, by
which he has hitherto manag'd Mankind, and the first of these is by that
Fraud of all Frauds call'd Oracle.
Here his Trumpet yielded an uncertain Sound for some Ages, and like what
he was, and according to what he practised from the Beginning, he
deliver'd out Falshood and Delusion by Retale: The Priests of Apollo
acted this Farce for him to a great Nicety at Delphos; there were
divers others at the same Time, and some, which to give the Devil his
due, he had very little Hand in, as we shall see presently.
There were also some smaller, some greater, some more, some less famous
Places where those Oracles were seated, and Audience given to the
Enquirers, in all which the Devil, or some Body for him, Permissu
Superiorum, for either vindictive or other hidden Ends and Purposes,
was allow'd to make at least a Pretension to the Knowledge of Things to
come; but, as publick Cheats generally do, they acted in Masquerade, and
gave such uncertain and inconsistent Responses, that they were oblig'd
to use the utmost Art to reconcile Events to the Prediction, even after
things were come to pass.
Here the Devil was a lying Spirit, in a particular and extraordinary
manner, in the Mouths of all the Prophets; and yet he had the Cunning to
express himself so, that whatever happen'd, the Oracle was suppos'd to
have meant as it fell out; and so all their Augurs, Omens and Voices, by
which the Devil amus'd the World, not at that Time only, but since, have
been likewise interpreted.
Julian the Apostate dealt mightily in these Amusements, but the Devil,
who neither wish'd his Fall, or presag'd it to him, evidenc'd that he
knew nothing of Julian's Fate; for that, as he sent almost to all the
Oracles of the East, and summon'd all the Priests together to inform him
of the Success of his Persian Expedition, they all, like Ahab's
Prophets, having a lying Spirit in them, encourag'd him and promis'd
him Success.
Nay, all the ill Omens which disturb'd him, they presag'd good from;
for Example, he was at a prodigious Expence when he was at Antioch
to buy up white Beasts, and white Fowls, for Sacrifices, and for
predicting from the Entrails; from whence the Antiochians, in
contempt, call'd him Victimarius; but whenever the Entrails foreboded
Evil, the cunning Devil made the Priests put a different Construction
upon them, and promise him Good: When he entred into the Temple of the
Genij to offer Sacrifice, one of the Priests dropt down dead; this,
had it had any Signification more than a Man falling dead of an
Apoplectic, would have signified something fatal to Julian, who made
himself a Brother Sacrist or Priest; whereas the Priests turn'd it
presently to signify the Death of his Colleague, the Consul Sallust
which happen'd just at the same Time, tho' eight hundred Miles off; so
in another Case, Julian thought it ominous that he, who was Augustus
should be nam'd with two other Names of Persons, both already dead; the
Case was thus, the Stile of the Emperor was Julianus Foelix
Augustus, and two of his principal Officers were Julianus and
Foelix; now both Julianus and Foelix died within a few Days of
one another, which disturb'd Him much, who was the third of the three
Names; but his flattering Devil told him it all imported Good to him
(viz.) that tho' Julianus and Foelix should die, Augustus
should be immortal.
Thus whatever happen'd, and whatever was foretold, and how much soever
they differ'd from one another, the lying Spirit was sure to reconcile
the Prediction and the Event, and make them at least seem to
correspond in Favour of the Person enquiring.
Now we are told Oracles are ceased, and the Devil is farther limited
for the Good of Mankind, not being allow'd to vent his Delusions by the
Mouths of the Priests and Augurs, as formerly: I will not take upon me
to say how far they are really ceas'd, more than they were before; I
think 'tis much more reasonable to believe there was never any Reality
in them at all, or that any Oracle ever gave out any Answers but what
were the Invention of the Priests and the Delusions of the DEVIL; I have
a great many antient Authors on my Side in this Opinion, as Eusebius,
Tertullian, Aristotle, and others, who as they liv'd so near the
Pagan Times, and when even some of those Rites were yet in Use, they had
much more Reason to know, and could probably pass a better Judgment upon
them; nay Cicero himself ridicules them in the openest manner; again,
other Authors descend to Particular and shew how the Cheat was manag'd
by the Heathen Sacrists and Priests, and in what enthusiastic manner
they spoke; namely, by going into the hollow Images, such as the brazen
Bull and the Image of Apollo, and how subtilly they gave out dubious
and ambiguous Answers; that when the People did not find their
Expectations answer'd by the Event, they might be imposed upon by the
Priests, and confidently told they did not rightly understand the
Oracle's Meaning: However, I cannot say but that indeed there are some
Authors of good Credit too, who will have it that there was a real
prophetic Spirit in the Voice or Answers given by the Oracles, and that
oftentimes they were miraculously exact in those Answers; and they give
that of the Delphic Oracle answering the Question which was given
about Croesus for an Example, viz. what Croesus was doing at
that time? to wit, that he was boiling a Lamb and the Flesh of a
Tortoise together, in a brass Vessel, or Boiler, with a Cover of the
same Metal; that is to say, in a Kettle with a brass Cover.
To affirm therefore, that they were all Cheats, a Man must encounter
with Antiquity, and set his private Judgment up against an establish'd
Opinion; but 'tis no matter for that; if I do not see any thing in that
receiv'd Opinion capable of Evidence, much less of Demonstration, I must
be allow'd still to think as I do; others may believe as they list; I
see nothing hard or difficult in the Thing; the Priests, who were always
historically inform'd of the Circumstances of the Enquirer, or at least
something about them, might easily find some ambiguous Speech to make,
and put some double Entendre upon them, which upon the Event solv'd
the Credit of the Oracle, were it one way or other; and this they
certainly did, or we have room to think the DEVIL knows less of Things
now than he did in former Days.
It is true that by these Delusions the Priests got infinite Sums of
Money, and this makes it still probable that they would labour hard, and
use the utmost of their Skill to uphold the Credit of their Oracles; and
'tis a full Discovery, as well of the Subtlety of the Sacrists, as of
the Ignorance and Stupidity of the People, in those early Days of
Satan's Witchcraft; to see what merry Work the Devil made with the
World, and what gross Things he put upon Mankind: Such was the Story of
the Dordonian Oracle in Epirus, viz. That two Pigeons flew out
of Thebes (N. B. it was the Egyptian Thebes) from the Temple of
Belus, erected there by the antient Sacrists, and that one of these
fled Eastward into Lybia, and the Desarts of Africk, and the other
into Greece, namely, to Dordona, and these communicated the divine
Mysteries to one another, and afterwards gave mystical Solutions to the
devout Enquirers; first the Dordonian Pigeon perching upon an Oak
spoke audibly to the People there, that the Gods commanded them to build
an Oracle, or Temple, to Jupiter, in that Place; which was accordingly
done: The other Pigeon did the like on the Hill in Africa, where it
commanded them to build another to Jupiter Ammon, or Hammon.
Wise Cicero contemned all this, and, as Authors tell us, ridiculed the
Answer, which, as I have hinted above, the Oracle gave to Croesus
proving that the Oracle it self was a Liar, that it could not come
from Apollo, for that Apollo never spoke Latin: In a Word,
Cicero rejected them all, and Demosthenes also mentions the Cheats
of the Oracles; when speaking of the Oracle of Apollo, he said,
Pithia Philippiz'd; that is, that when the Priests were brib'd with
Money, they always gave their Answers in favour of Philip of
Macedon.
But that which is most strange to me is, that in this Dispute about the
Reality of Oracles, the Heathen who made use of them are the People who
expose them, and who insist most positively upon their being Cheats and
Impostors, as in particular those mentioned above; while the Christians
who reject them, yet believe they did really foretel Things, answer
Questions, &c. only with this Difference, that the Heathen Authors who
oppose them, insist that 'tis all Delusion and Cheat, and charge it upon
the Priests; and the Christian Opposers insist that it was real, but
that the Devil, not the Gods, gave the Answers; and that he was
permitted to do it by a superior Power, to magnify that Power in the
total silencing them at last.
But, as I said before, I am with the Heathen here, against the Christian
Writers, for I take it all to be a Cheat and Delusion: I must give my
Reason for it, or I do nothing; my Reason is this, I insist Satan is as
blind in Matters of Futurity, as we are, and can tell nothing of what is
to come; these Oracles often pretending to predict, could be nothing
else therefore but a Cheat form'd by the Money-getting Priests to amuse
the World, and bring Grist to their Mill: If I meet with any thing in my
Way to open my Eyes to a better Opinion of them, I shall tell it you as
I go on.
On the other hand, whether the Devil really spake in those Oracles, or
set the cunning Priests to speak for him; whether they predicted, or
only made the People believe they predicted; whether they gave Answers
which came to pass, or prevail'd upon the People to believe that what
was said did come to pass, it was much at one, and fully answer'd the
Devil's End; namely, to amuse and delude the World; and as to do, or
to cause to be done, is the same Part of Speech, so whoever did it, the
Devil's Interest was carried on by it, his Government preserv'd, and
all the Mischief he could desire was effectually brought to pass, so
that every way they were the Devil's Oracles, that's out of the
Question.
Indeed I have wonder'd sometimes why, since by this Sorcery the Devil
perform'd such Wonders, that is, play'd so many Tricks in the World, and
had such universal Success, he should set up no more of them; but there
might be a great many Reasons given for that, too long to tire you with
at present: 'Tis true, there were not many of them, and yet considering
what a great deal of Business they dispatch'd, it was enough, for six or
eight Oracles were more than sufficient to amuse all the World: The
chief Oracles we meet with in History are among the Greeks and the
Romans, viz.
That of Jupiter Ammon, in Lybia, as above.
The Dordonian, in Epirus.
Apollo Delphicus, in the Country of Phocis in Greece.
Apollo Clavius, in Asia Minor.
Serapis, in Alexandria in Egypt.
Trophomis, in Baeotia.
Sybilla Cumaea, in Italy.
Diana, at Ephesus.
Apollo Daphneus, at Antioch.
Besides many of lesser Note, in several other Places, as I have
hinted before.
I have nothing to do here with the Story mentioned by Plutarch, of a
Voice being heard at Sea, from some of the Islands call'd the
Echinades, and calling upon one Thamuz, an Egyptian, who was on
board a Ship, bidding him, when he came to the Palodes, other Islands
in the Ionian Seas, tell them there that the great God PAN was dead;
and when Thamuz perform'd it, great Groanings, and Howlings, and
Lamentation were heard from the Shore.
This Tale tells but indifferently, tho' indeed it looks more like a
Christian Fable, than a Pagan; because it seems as if made to honour
the Christian Worship, and blast all the Pagan Idolatry; and for that
Reason I reject it, the Christian Profession needing no such fabulous
Stuff to confirm it.
Nor is it true in fact, that the Oracles did cease immediately upon the
Death of Christ; but, as I noted before, the Sum of the Matter is this;
the Christian Religion spreading it self universally, as well as
miraculously, and that too by the Foolishness of Preaching, into all
Parts of the World, the Oracles ceas'd; that is to say, their Trade
ceas'd, their Rogueries were daily detected, the deluded People being
better taught, came no more after them, and being asham'd, as well as
discourag'd, they sneak'd out of the World as well as they could; in
short the Customers fell off, and the Priests, who were the Shopkeepers,
having no Business to do, shut up their Shops, broke, and went away; the
Trade and the Tradesmen were hiss'd off the Stage together; so that the
Devil, who, it must be confess'd, got infinitely by the Cheat, became
bankrupt, and was oblig'd to set other Engines at work, as other Cheats
and Deceivers do, who when one Trick grows stale, and will serve no
longer, are forc'd to try another.
Nor was the Devil to seek in new Measures; for tho' he could not give
out his delusive Trash as he did before, in Pomp and State, with the
Solemnity of a Temple and a Set of Enthusiasts call'd Priests, who plaid
a thousand Tricks to amuse the World, he then had Recourse to his old
Egyptian Method, which indeed was more antient than that of Oracles;
and that was by Magic, Sorcery, Familiars, Witchcraft, and the like.
Of this we find the people of the South, that is, of Arabia and
Chaldea were the first, from whence we are told of the Wise Men, that
is to say, Magicians, were call'd Chaldeans and Southsayers. Hence
also we find Ahaziah the King of Israel sent to Baalzebub the God
of Ekron, to enquire whether he should live or die? This some think
was a kind of an Oracle, tho' others think it was only some over-grown
Magician, who counterfeited himself to be a Devil, and obtain'd upon
that Idol-hunting Age to make a Cunning Man of him; and for that Purpose
he got himself made a Priest of Baalzebub, the God of Ekron, and
gave out Answers in his Name. Thus those merry Fellows in Egypt,
Jannes and Jambres, are said to mimick Moses and Aaron, when
they work'd the miraculous Plagues upon the Egyptians; and we have
some Instances in Scripture that support this, such as the Witch of
Endor, the King Manasses, who dealt with the Devil openly, and had
a Familiar; the Woman mentioned Acts xvi. who had a Spirit of
Divination, and who got Money by playing the Oracle; that is,
answering doubtful Questions, &c. which Spirit, or Devil, the
Apostles cast out.
Now tho' it is true that the old Women in the World have fill'd us with
Tales, some improbable, others impossible; some weak, some ridiculous,
and that this puts a general Discredit upon all the graver Matrons, who
entertain us with Stories better put together, yet 'tis certain, and I
must be allow'd to affirm, that the Devil does not disdain to take
into his Service many Troops of good Old Women, and Old Women-Men too,
who he finds 'tis for his Service to keep in constant Pay; to these he
is found frequently to communicate his Mind, and oftentimes we find them
such Proficients, that they know much more than the Devil can teach
them.
How far our antient Friend Merlin, or the grave Matron his (Satan's)
most trusty and well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor, Mother Shipton,
were commissioned by him to give out their prophetic Oracles, and what
degree of Possession he may have arrived to in them upon their Midnight
Excursions, I will not undertake to prove; but that he might be
acquainted with them both, as well as with several of our modern
Gentlemen, I will not deny neither.
I confess it is not very incongruous with the Devil's Temper, or with
the Nature of his Business, to shift hands; possibly he found that he
had tried the World with Oracular Cheats; that Men began to be forfeited
with them, and grew sick of the Frauds which were so frequently
detected; that it was time to take new Measures, and contrive some new
Trick to Bite the World, that he might not be expos'd to Contempt; or
perhaps he saw the Approach of new Light, which the Christian Doctrine
bringing with it began to spread in the Minds of Men; that it would
out-shine the dim burning ignis fatuus, with which he had so long
cheated Mankind, and was afraid to stand it, lest he should be mobb'd
off the Stage by his own People, when their Eyes should begin to open:
That upon this foot he might in Policy withdraw from those old Retreats
the Oracles, and restrain those Responses before they lost all their
Credit; for we find the People seem'd to be at a mighty Loss for some
time, for want of them, so that it made them run up and down to
Conjurers, and Man-Gossips, to brazen Heads, speaking Calves, and
innumerable simple Things, so gross that they are scarce fit to be
named, to satisfy the Itch of having their Fortunes told them, as we
call it.
Now as the DEVIL is very seldom blind to his own Interest, and therefore
thought fit to quit his old way of imposing upon the World by his
Oracles, only because he found the World began to be too wise to be
imposed upon that way; so on the other hand, finding there was still a
Possibility to delude the World, tho' by other Instruments, he no sooner
laid down his Oracles, and the solemn Pageantry, magnificent
Appearances, and other Frauds of his Priests and Votaries, in their
Temples and Shrines; but he set up a new Trade, and having, as I have
said, Agents and Instruments sufficient for any Business that he could
have to employ them in, he begins in Corners, as the learned and merry
Dr. Brown says, and exercises his minor Trumperies by way of his own
contriving, lifting a great Number of new-found Operators, such as
Witches, Magicians, Diviners, Figure-casters, Astrologers, and such
inferior Seducers.
Now it is true, as that Doctor says, this was running into Corners, as
if he had been expell'd his more triumphant way of giving Audience in
Form, which for so many Ages had been allow'd him; yet I must add, that
as it seem'd to be the DEVIL's own doing, from a right Judgment of his
Affairs, which had taken a new Turn in the World, upon the shining of
new Lights from the Christian Doctrine, so it must be acknowledged the
Devil made himself amends upon Mankind, by the various Methods he
took, and the Multitude of Instruments he employ'd, and perhaps deluded
Mankind in a more fatal and sensible manner than he did before, tho' not
so universally.
He had indeed before more Pomp and Figure put upon it, and he cheated
Mankind then in a Way of Magnificence and Splendor; but this was not in
above eight or ten principal Places, and not fifty Places in all, public
or private; whereas now fifty thousand of his Angels and Instruments,
visible and invisible, hardly may be said to suffice for one Town or
City; but in short, as his invisible Agents fill the Air, and are at
hand for Mischief on every Emergence, so his visible Fools swarm in
every Village, and you have scarce a Hamlet or a Town but his Emissaries
are at Hand for Business; and which is still worse, in all Places he
finds Business; nay even where Religion is planted and seems to
flourish; yet he keeps his Ground and pushes his Interest according to
what has been said elsewhere upon the same Subject, that wherever
Religion plants, the Devil plants close by it.
Nor, as I say, does he fail of Success, Delusion spreads like a Plague,
and the Devil is sure of Votaries; like a true Mountebank, he can always
bring a Croud about his Stage, and that some Times faster than other
People.
What I observe upon this Subject is this, that the World is at a strange
Loss for want of the Devil; if it was not so, what's the Reason, that
upon the silencing the Oracles, and Religion telling them that Miracles
are ceas'd, and that God has done speaking by Prophets, they never
enquire whether Heaven has established any other or new Way of
Revelation, but away they ran with their Doubts and Difficulties to
these Dreamers of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes, and personal Oracles to
be resolv'd; as if when they acknowledge the Devil is dumb, these could
speak; and as if the wicked Spirit could do more than the Good, the
Diabolical more than the Divine, or that Heaven having taken away
the DEVIL's Voice, had furnish'd him with an Equivalent, by allowing
Scolds, Termagants, and old weak and superannuated Wretches to speak for
him; for these are the People we go to now in our Doubts and
Emergencies.
While this Blindness continues among us, 'tis Nonsense to say that
Oracles are silenced, or the Devil is dumb, for the Devil gives
Audience still by his Deputies; only as Jeroboam made Priests of the
meanest of the People, so he is grown a little humble, and makes use of
meaner Instruments than he did before; for whereas the Priests of
Apollo, and of Jupiter, were splendid in their Appearance, of grave
and venerable Aspect, and sometimes of no mean Quality; now he makes use
of Scoundrels and Rabble, Beggars and Vagabonds, old Hags, superannuated
miserable Hermits, Gypsies and Strollers, the Pictures of Envy and ill
Luck.
Either the Devil is grown an ill Master, and gives but mean Wages,
that he can get no better Servants; or else Common Sense is grown very
low priz'd and contemptible; that such as these are fit Tools to
continue the Succession of Fraud, and carry on the Devil's Interest in
the World; for were not the Passions and Temper of Mankind deeply
pre-engaged in favour of this dark Prince, we could never suffer our
selves to accept of his Favours by the Hands of such contemptible Agents
as these! How do we receive his Oracles from an old Witch of particular
Eminence, and who we believe to be more than ordinarily inspir'd from
Hell; I say, we receive the Oracle with Reverence; that is to say, with
a kind of Horror, with regard to the Black Prince it comes from, and at
the same time turn our Faces away from the Wretch that mumbles out the
Answers, lest she should cast an Evil Eye, as we call it, upon us, and
put a Devil into us when she plays the Devil before us? How do we
listen to the Cant of those worst of Vagabonds the Gypsies, when at
the same time we watch our Hedges and Hen-roosts for fear of their
thieving?
Either the DEVIL uses us more like Fools than he did our Ancestors, or
we really are worse Fools than those Ages produced, for they were never
deluded by such low-priz'd Devils as we are; by such despicable
Bridewell DEVILS, that are fitter for a Whipping-post than an Altar,
and instead of being receiv'd as the Voice of an Oracle, should be sent
to the House of Correction for Pick-pockets.
Nor is this accidental, and here and there one of these Wretches to be
seen, but in short, if it has been in other Nations as it is with us, I
do not see that the DEVIL was able to get any better People into his
Pay, or at least very rarely: Where have we seen any thing above a
Tinker turn Wizard? and where have we had a Witch of Quality among us,
Mother Je------gs excepted? and if she had not been more of something
else than a Witch, 'twas thought she had never got so much Money by her
Profession.
Magicians, Southsayers, Devil-raisers, and such People, we have heard
much of, but seldom above the Degree of the meanest of the mean People,
the lowest of the lowest Rank: Indeed the Word Wise Men, which the
Devil wou'd fain have had his Agents honour'd with, was used a while
in Egypt, and in Persia, among the Chaldeans, but it continued but
a little while, and never reach'd so far Northward as our Country; nor,
however the Devil has managed it, have many of our great Men, who have
been most acquainted with him, ever been able to acquire the Title of
Wise Men.
I have heard that in older Times, I suppose in good Queen Bess's Days,
or beyond, (for little is to be said here for any thing on this Side of
her time) there were some Counsellors and Statesmen who merited the
Character of wise, in the best Sense; that is to say, good, and
wise, as they stand in Conjunction; but as to what has happen'd since
that, or, as we may call it, from that Queen's Funeral to the late
Revolution, I have little to say; but I'll tell you what honest Andrew
Marvel said of those Times, and by that you may, if you please, make
your Calculation or let it alone, 'tis all one.
"To see a white Staff-maker, a Beggar, a Lord,
"And scarce a wise Man at a long Council-Board.
But I may be told this relates to wise Men in another Constitution, or
wise Men as they are opposed to Fools; whereas we are talking of them
now under another Class, namely, as Wisemen or Magicians,
South-sayers, &c. such as were in former Times call'd by that Name.
But to this I answer, that take them in which Sense you please, it may
be the same; for if I were to ask the Devil the Character of the best
States-man he had employ'd among us for many Years past, I am apt to
think that tho' Oracles are ceased, he would honestly, according to the
old ambiguous Way, when I ask'd if they were Christians, answer they
were (his) Privy-Counsellors.
It is but a little while ago, that I happen'd (in Conversation) to meet
with a long List of the Magistrates of that Age, in a neighbouring
Country, that is to say, the Men of Fame among them; and it was a very
diverting Thing to see the Judgment which was pass'd upon them among a
great deal of good Company; it is not for me to tell you how many white
Staves, Golden Keys, Mareshals Batoons, Cordons Blue, Gordon Rouge and
Gordon Blanc, there were among them, or by what Titles, as Dukes,
Counts, Marquis, Abbot, Bishop, or Justice they were to be
distinguish'd; but the marginal Notes I found upon most of them were
(being mark'd with an Asterism) as follows.
Such a Duke, such eminent Offices added to his Titles (* in the Margin)
------ No Saint.
Such an Arch---- with the Title of Noble added, ------ No Archangel.
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.