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
ridicu