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

Caesar; 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.



I might indeed go back to Originals, and derive this Cloven-Foot from

Satan's primitive State as a Cherubim or a celestial Being, which

Cherubims, as Moses is said to have seen them about the Throne of God

in Mount Sinai, and as the same Moses, from the Original represented

them afterwards covering the Ark, had the Head and Face of a Man, Wings

of an Eagle, Body of a Lion, and Legs and Feet of a Calf; but this is

not so much to our present Purpose, for as we are to allow that whatever

Satan had of heavenly Beauty before the Fall, he lost it all when he

commenc'd Devil, so to fetch his Original so far up would be only to

say, that he retain'd nothing but the Cloven-Foot, and that all the

rest of him was alter'd and deform'd, become frightful and horrible as

the DEVIL; but his Cloven-Foot, as we now understand it, is rather

mystical and emblematick, and describes him only as the Fountain of

Mischief and Treason, and the Prince of Hypocrites, and as such we are

now to speak of him.



'Tis from this Original all the hypocritic World copy, he wears the Foot

on their Account, and from this Model they act: This made our blessed

Lord tell them, the Works of your Father ye will do, meaning the

Devil, as he had express'd it just before.



Nor does he deny the Use of the Foot to the meaner Class of his

Disciples in the World, but decently equips them all upon every

Occasion with a needful Proportion of Hypocrisy and Deceit; that they

may hand on the Power of promiscuous Fraud thro' all his temporal

Dominions, and wear the Foot always about them as a Badge of their

profess'd Share in whatever is done by that Means.



Thus every Dissembler, every false Friend, every secret Cheat, every

Bearskin-Jobber has a Cloven-Foot, and so far hands on the Devil's

Interest by the same powerful Agency of Art, as the Devil himself uses

to act when he appears in Person, or would act if he was just now upon

the Spot; for this Foot is a Machine which is to be wound up and wound

down, as the Cause it appears for requires; and there are Agents and

Engineers to act in it by Directions of Satan (the grand Engineer) who

lies still in his Retirement, only issuing out his Orders as he sees

convenient.



Again, every Class, every Trade, every Shopkeeper, every Pedlar, nay,

that meanest of Tradesmen, that Church Pedlar the Pope, has a

Cloven-Foot, with which he Paw wa's upon the World, wishes them all

well, and at the same time cheats them; wishes them all fed, and at the

same time starves them; wishes them all in Heaven, and at the same time

marches before them directly to the Devil, alamode de Cloven-Foot.



Nay, the very Bench, the everliving Foundation of Justice in the World;

how often has it been made the Tool of Violence, the Refuge of

Oppression, the Seat of Bribery and Corruption, by this Monster in

Masquerade, and that every where (our own Country always excepted)? They

had much better wipe out the Picture of justice blinded, and having the

Sword and Scales in her Hand, which in foreign Countries is generally

painted over the Seat of those who sit to do Justice, and place instead

thereof a naked unarm'd Cloven-Hoof, a proper Emblem of that Spirit that

Influences the World, and of the Justice we often see administred among

them; human Imagination cannot form an Idea more suitable, nor the

Devil propose an Engine more or better qualified for an Operation of

Justice, by the Influence of Bribery and Corruption; it is this

magnipotent Instrument in the Hands of the Devil, which under the

closest Disguise agitates every Passion, bribes every Affection,

blackens every Virtue, gives a double Face to Words and Actions, and to

all Persons who have any Concern in them, and in a Word, makes us all

Devils to one another.



Indeed the Devil has taken but a dark Emblem to be distinguish'd by, for

this of a Goat was said to be a Creature hated by Mankind from the

beginning, and that there is a natural Antipathy in Mankind against

them: Hence the Scape Goat was to bear the Sins of the People, and to go

into the Wilderness with all that Burthen upon him.



But we have a Saying among us, in Defence of which we must enquire into

the proper Sphere of Action which may be assigned to this Cloven-Foot,

as hitherto described: The Proverb is this; Every Devil has not a

Cloven-Foot. This Proverb, instead of giving us some more favourable

Thoughts of the Devil, confirms what I have said already, that the

Devil rais'd this Scandal upon himself; I mean, the Report that he

cannot conceal or disguise his Devil's Foot, or Hoof, but that it must

appear, under whatever Habit he shews himself; and the Reason I gave

holds good still, namely, that he may be more effectually conceal'd

when he goes abroad without it: For if the People were fully persuaded

that the Devil could not appear without this Badge of his Honour, or

Mark of his Infamy, take it as you will; and that he was bound also to

shew it upon all Occasions, it would be natural to conclude, that

whatever frightful Appearances might be seen in the World, if the

Cloven-Foot did not also appear, we had no Occasion to look for the

Devil, or so much as to think of him, much less to apprehend he was

near us; and as this might be a Mistake, and that the Devil might be

there while we thought our selves so secure, it might on many Occasions

be a Mistake of very ill Consequence, and in particular, as it would

give the Devil room to act in the Dark, and not be discover'd, where

it might be most needful to know him.



From this short Hint, thus repeated, I draw a new Thesis, namely, That

Devil is most dangerous that has no Cloven-Foot; or, if you will have

it in Words more to the common Understanding, the Devil seems to be

most dangerous when he goes without his Cloven-Foot.



And here a learned Speculation offers it self to our Debate, and which

indeed I ought to call a Council of Casuists, and Men learned in the

Devil's Politicks, to determine:



Whether is most hurtful to the World, the Devil walking about without

his Cloven-Foot, or the Cloven-Foot walking about without the Devil?



It is indeed a nice and difficult Question, and merits to be well

enquir'd into; for which Reason, and diverse others, I have referr'd it

to be treated with some Decency, and as a Dispute of Dignity sufficient

to take up a Chapter by itself.