aven
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