he _Devil_ who plac'd himself there in order to finish the Murther
of the Man who he had, _Devil_-like, tempted before, and prevail'd with
to be his own Executioner. Besides, it corresponds so well with the
_Devil_'s Nature, and with his Business, _viz._ that of a _Murtherer_,
that I never question'd it; nor can I think we wrong the _Devil_ at all
to charge him with it.

_N. B._ I cannot be positive in the remaining Part of this Story,
_viz._ whether the Man was cut down soon enough to be recover'd,
or whether the _Devil_ carry'd his Point, and kept off the Man and
Woman till it was too late; but be it which it will, 'tis plain he
did his Devilish Endeavour, and stay'd till he was forc'd to
abscond again.

We have many solid Tales well attested, as well in History as in the
Reports of honest People, who could not be deceived, intimating the
_Devil_'s personal Appearance, some in one Place, some in another; as
also sometimes in one Habit or Dress, and sometimes in another; and it
is to be observed, that in none of those which are most like to be real,
and in which there is least of Fancy and Vapour, you have any Mention of
the _Cloven Foot_, which rather seems to be a mere Invention of Men (and
perhaps chiefly of those who had a Cloven Understanding) I mean a
shallow kind of Craft, the Effect of an empty and simple Head, thinking
by such a well-meant, tho' weak Fraud, to represent the _Devil_ to the
old Women and Children of the Age, with some Addition suitable to the
Weakness of their Intellects, and suited to making them afraid of him.

I have another Account of a Person who travell'd upwards of four Years
with the _Devil_ in his Company, and convers'd most intimately with him
all the while; nay, if I may believe the Story, he knew most part of the
Time that he was the _Devil_, and yet convers'd with him, and that very
profitably, for he perform'd many very useful Services for him, and
constantly preserv'd him from the Danger of Wolves and wild Beasts,
which the Country he travell'd thro' was intolerably full of. Where, by
the way, you are to understand, that the Wolves and Bears in those
Countries knew the _Devil_, whatever Disguise he went in; or that the
_Devil_ has some Way to fright Bears and such Creatures, more than we
know of. Nor could this _Devil_ ever be prevail'd upon to hurt him or
any of his Company. This Account has an innumerable Number of diverting
Incid