indeed I have not enquir'd into.

2. That Part which these empower'd People do voluntier or beyond
their Commission, to shew their Diligence in the Service of their
new Master, and either (1.) to bring Grist to their own Mill, and
make their Market of their Employment in the best manner they can;
or (2.) to gain Applause, be admir'd, wonder'd at, and applauded,
as if they were ten Times more _Devils_ than really they are.

In a Word, the Matter consists of what the _Devil_ does by the Help of
these People, and what they do in his Name without him; the Devil is
sometimes cheated in his own Business; there are Pretenders to
Witchcraft and Black-Art, who Satan never made any Bargain with, but who
he connives at, because at least they do his Cause no harm, tho' their
Business is rather to get Money, than to render him any Service, of
which I gave you a remarkable Instance before.

But to go back to his real Agents, of which I reckon two.

1. Those who act by Direction and Confederacy, as I have said
already many do.

2. Those whom he acts in and by, and they (perhaps) know it not, of
which Sort History gives us plenty of Examples, from _Machiavel_'s
first Disciple ---- to the famous Cardinal _Alberoni_, and even to
some more modern than his Eminence, of whom I can say no more till
farther Occasion offers.

1. Those who act by immediate Direction of the Devil, and in Confederacy
with him; these are such as I mention'd in the beginning of this
Chapter, whose Arts are truly black, because really infernal; it will be
very hard to decide the Dispute between those who really act thus in
Confederacy with the _Devil_, and those who only pretend to it; so I
shall leave that Dispute where I find it; but that there are, or at
least have been, a Set of People in the World, who really are of his
Acquaintance, and very intimate with him; and tho', as I have said, he
has much alter'd his Schemes and chang'd Hands of late; yet that there
are such People, perhaps of all Sorts; and that the Devil keeps up his
Correspondence with them; I must not venture to deny that Part, lest I
bring upon me the whole Posse of the conjuring and bewitching Crew, Male
and Female, and they should mob me for pretending to deny them the
Honour of dealing with the _Devil_, which they are so exceeding willing
to have the Fame of.

Not that I am hereby oblig'd to believe all the strange Th