fear'd not, as appear'd afterward.

I come next to an Instance as eminent in History as the other; this was
in _Char._ VI. of _France_, sirnamed, _The Beloved_; who riding over the
Forest near _Mans_, a ghastly frightful Fellow (that is to say, the
_Devil_ so clothed in human Vizor) came up to his Horse, and taking hold
of his Bridle, stop'd him, with the Addition of these Words, _Stop King,
whither go you? You are betray'd!_ and immediately disappear'd. It is
true, the King had been distemper'd in his Head before, and so he might
have been deceived, and we might have charg'd it to the Account of a
whimsical Brain, or the Power of his Imagination; but this was in the
Face of his Attendants, several of his great Officers, Courtiers, and
Princes of the Blood being with him, who all saw the Man, heard the
Words, and immediately, to their Astonishment, lost Sight of the
Spectre, who vanish'd from them all.

Two Witnesses will convict a Murtherer, why not a Traitor? This must be
the _Old Gentleman_, emblematically so called, or who must it be? nay,
who else could it be? His Ugliness is not the Case, tho' _ugly as the
Devil_, is a Proverb in his Favour; but vanishing out of sight is an
Essential to a Spirit, and to an evil Spirit in our Times especially.

These are some of the _Devil_'s Extraordinaries, and it must be
confess'd they are not the most agreeable to Mankind, for sometimes he
takes upon him to disorder his Friends very much on these Occasions, as
in the above Case of _Cha._ VI. of _France_; the King, they say, was
really demented ever after; that is, as we vulgarly, but not always
improperly, express it, he was really _frighted out of his Wits_.
Whether the malicious _Devil_ intended it so, or not, is not certain,
tho' it was not so foreign to his particular Disposition if he did.

But where he is more intimate, we are told he appears in a manner less
disagreeable, and there he is more properly _a familiar Spirit_; that
is, in short, a _Devil_ of their Acquaintance: It is true, the Antients
understand the Word, _a familiar Spirit_, to be one of the kinds of
Possession; but if it serves our turn as well under the Denomination of
an intimate _Devil_, or a _Devil_ visitant, it must be acknowledg'd to
be as near in the literal Sense and Acceptation of the Word, as the
other; nay, it must be allow'd 'tis a very great Piece of Familiarity in
the _Devil_ to make Visits, and shew none of his Disagreeables, not
appear