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.