[21] Paradise Lost.
[22] Rape of the Lock. Ch. 1.
[23] The black colour which is popularly ascribed to the devil, was probably derived from old monkish legends, which affirmed that he often appeared as an Ethiopian. (Jortin. Vol. II., p. 13, ed. 1805.)
[24] Bonomi. Op. cit., p. 159. "The root, or the original word from which teraphim is derived, signifies, to relax with fear, to strike with terror, or 'Repheh,' an appaller, one who makes others faint or fail; a signification that singularly accords with the terrifying images found by Botta." The possible connection between these images and the images (teraphim) which Rachel had stolen from her father Laban, is of great interest.
[25] This custom is probably a relic of old Scandinavian mythology. In the "Prose Edda," it is stated, that the gods having captured Loki (the personification of evil), who had fled from their justly excited anger, "dragged him without commiseration into a cavern, wherein they placed three sharp-pointed rocks, boring a hole through each of them."
[26] Notes and Queries, Vol. VIII, p. 200.—Eusebius, in his Oration in praise of the Emperor Constantine, writes, that the Emperor honoured "the triumphall signe of the crosse, having really experienced and found the divine virtue that is therein. For by it the multitudes of his enemies were put to flight; by it the vaine ostentation of the enemies of God was suppressed, the petulant tongues of evil speakers and wicked men were silenced; by it the barbarous people were subdued; by it the invisible powers of the divil were vanquished and driven away; and by it the superstitious errors were confuted and abolished."
[27] Bede. Ecclesiastical History. B. I., ch. 30. Dr. Giles' Transl. Bohn.
[28] Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. Vol. I. p. 201. Note. Michaelmas Day.
[29] Cicero. De Naturâ Deorum. B. III., ch. 5.
[30] See "Notes and Queries." Sir J. E. Tennant, Vol. V., p. 121; W. Blood, &c., Vol. VIII., p. 413.