[129] Any one who wishes to see compressed within one volume an account of the opinions of the human race all through time regarding Satan, will find it in The History of the Devil, Ancient and Modern, already mentioned. The second part of the work deals more particularly to the line of thought suggested by Janet. An edition of the work, published in London in 1793, lies before us; and the following verse on the title-page, referring in a slight degree to the remark in the text, may be quoted:—
‘Bad as he is, the Devil may be abus’d,
Be falsely charged, and causelessly accused:
When Men, unwilling to be blamed alone,
Shift off those crimes on him which are their own.’
[130] It would be difficult to find so much folk-lore compressed into so few lines. The passage is a valuable representation of the popular belief.
[131] Illustrations of the use of the advice here given may be found in a note to John Cheap the Chapman, at p. 104 of this volume.
[132] See first note on [p. 95] of the present volume.
[133] In the Edinburgh reprint of 1820, all after the word ‘Paepery’ in this paragraph is left out here. After Janet’s reply, beginning—‘But Maggy, an ye be a mind to marry,’ etc, it is inserted as a separate speech by Margaret, all between ‘Paepery’ and ‘O woman, but a man,’ etc., being omitted altogether, the paragraph opening with the last quoted words.
[134] The ‘duket,’ or dove-cot, would be one of those large stone structures only occasionally to be found in Scotland now.