The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts

by Daniel Defoe

I have another Account of a Person who travell’d upwards of four Years with the Devil in his Company, and convers’d most intimately with him all the while; nay, if I may believe the Story, he knew most part of the Time that he was the Devil, and yet convers’d with him, and that very profitably, for he perform’d many very useful Services for him, and constantly preserv’d him from the Danger of Wolves and wild Beasts, which the Country he travell’d thro’ was intolerably full of. Where, by the way, you are to understand, that the Wolves and Bears in those Countries knew the Devil, whatever Disguise he went in; or that the Devil has some Way to fright Bears and such Creatures, more than we know of. Nor could this Devil ever be prevail’d upon to hurt him or any of his Company. This Account has an innumerable Number of diverting Incidents attending it; but they are equal to all the rest in Bulk, and therefore too long for this Book.

I find too upon some more ordinary Occasions the Devil has appear’d to several People at their Call: This indeed shews abundance of good Humour in him, considering him as a Devil, and that he was mighty complaisant: Nay some, they tell us, have a Power to raise the Devil whenever they think fit; this I cannot bring the Devil to a Level with, unless I should allow him to be Servus Servorum, as another Devil in Disguise calls himself; subjected to ever old Wizard’s Call; or that he is under a Necessity of appearing on such or such particular Occasions, whoever it is that calls him; which would bring the Devil’s Circumstances to a pitch of Slavery which I see no Reason to believe of them.

Here also I must take Notice again, that tho’ I say the Devil, when I speak of all these Apparitions, whether of a greater or lesser Kind, yet I am not oblig’d to suppose Satan himself in Person is concern’d to shew himself, but that some of his Agents, Deputies and Servants, are sent to that Purpose, and directed what Disguise of Flesh and Blood to put on, as may be suitable to the Occasion.

This seems to be the only Way to reconcile all those simple and ridiculous Appearances which not Satan, but his Emissaries, (which we old Women call Imps) sometimes make, and the mean and sorry Employment they are put to: Thus Fame tells us of a certain Witch of Quality, who call’d the Devil once to carry her over a Brook where the Water was swell’d with a hasty Rain, and lash’d him soundly with her Whip for letting her Ladyship fall into the Water before she was quite over. Thus also, as Fame tells us, she set the Devil to work, and made him build Crowland Abbey, where there was no Foundation to be found, only for disturbing the Workmen a little who were first set about it. So it seems another laborious Devil was oblig’d to dig the great Ditch cross the Country from the Fenn Country to the Edge of Suffolk and Essex; which who ever he has preserv’d the Reputation of, and where it crosses New-Market Heath, ’tis call’d Devil’s Ditch to this Day.

Another Piece of Punishment no doubt it was, when the Devil was oblig’d to bring the Stones out of Wales into Wiltshire, to build Stone-heng: How this was ordered in those Days, when it seems they kept Satan to hard Labour, I know not; I believe it must be registred among the antient Pieces of Art which are lost in the World, such as melting of Stone, painting of Glass, &c. Certainly they had the Devil under Correction in those Days; that is to say, those lesser Sorts of Devils; but I cannot think that the muckle Thief Devil, as they call him in the North, the Grand Seignior Devil of all, was ever reduced to Discipline. What Devil it was that Dunstan took by the Nose with his red hot Tongs, I have not yet examin’d Antiquity enough to be certain of, any more than I can what Devil it was that St. Francis play’d so many warm Tricks with, and made him run away from him so often: However, this I take upon me to say, in the Devil’s Behalf, that it cou’d not be our Satan, the Arch Devil of all Devils, of whom I have been talking so long.

Now is it unworthy the Occasion, to take notice that we really wrong the Devil, and speak of him very much to his Disadvantage, when we say of such a Great Lord, or of such a Lady of Quality, I think the Devil is in your Grace: No, no, Satan has other Business, he very rarely possesses F—ls: Besides, some are so far from having the Devil in them, that they are really transmigrated into the very Essence of the Devil themselves; and others again not transmigrated, or assimilated, but Indeed and in Truth shew us that they are to have mere native Devils in every Part and Parcel of them, and that the rest is only Masque and Disguise. Thus if Rage, Envy, Pride and Revenge can constitute the Parts of a Devil, why should not a Lady of such Quality, in whom all those Extraordinaries abound, have a Right to the Title of being a Devil really and substantially, and to all Intents and Purposes, in the most perfect and absolute Sense, according to the most exquisite Descriptions of Devils already given by me or any Body else; and even just as Joan of Arc, or Joan Queen of Naples were, who were both sent home to their native Country, as soon as it was discovered that they were real Devils, and that Satan acknowledg’d them in that Quality.

Nor does my Lady D——ss’s wearing sometimes a Case of Humanity about her, call’d Flesh and Blood, at all alter the Case; for so ’tis Evident, according to our present Hypothesis, Satan has been always allow’d to do, upon urgent Occasions; ay, and to make his Personal Appearance as such, among even the Sons and Daughters of God too, as well as among the Children of Men; and therefore her Grace may have appeared in the Shape of a fine Lady, as long as she has been suppos’d to do, without any Impeachment of her just Claim to the Title of Devil; which being her true and natural Original, she ought not, nor indeed shall not, by me, be denied her Shapes of Honour, whenever she pleases to declare for a Re-assumption.

And farther, to give every Truth its due Illustration, this need not be thought so strange; and is far from being unjust; her Grace (as she, it may be, is now stiled) has not acted, at least that I never heard of, so unworthy her great and illustrious Original, that we should think she has lost any thing by walking about the World so many Years in Apparition: But to give her the due Homage of her Quality, she has acted as consonant to the Essence and Nature of Devil, which she has such a Claim to, as was consistent with the needful Reserve of her present Disguise.

Nor shall we lead the Reader into any Mistake concerning this part of our Work, as if this was or is meant to be a particular Satyr upon the D——ss of —————, and upon her only, as if we had no Devils among us in the Phenomena of fair Ladies, but this one: If Satan would be so honest to us as he might be (and ’twou’d be very ingenuous in him, that must be acknowledg’d, to give us a little of his Illumination in this Case) we should soon be able to unmasque a great many notable Figures among us, to our real Surprize.

Indeed ’tis a Point worth our further Enquiry, and would be a Discovery many ways to our Advantage, were we bless’d with it, to see how many real Devils we have walking up and down the World in Masque, and how many Hoop-Petticoats compleat the entire Masque that disguises the Devil in the Shape of that Thing call’d Woman.