of it and very often; till, in short, we began at
length to enter into a friendly treaty about parting.

Nothing could be more criminal than the several discourses we had upon
this subject; she demanded a separate maintenance, and in particular, at
the rate of L300 a year; and I demanded security of her that she should
not run me in debt; she demanding the keeping of the child, with an
allowance of L100 a year for that, and I demanding that I should be
secured from being charged for keeping any she might have by somebody
else, as she had threatened me.

In the interval, and during these contests, she dropped her burthen (as
she called it), and brought me a son, a very fine child.

She was content during her lying-in to abate a little, though it was but
a very little indeed, of the great expense she had intended; and with
some difficulty and persuasion was content with a suit of child-bed
linen of L15 instead of one she had intended of threescore; and this she
magnified as a particular testimony of her condescension, and a yielding
to my avaricious temper, as she called it.

THE DEVIL DOES NOT CONCERN HIMSELF WITH PETTY MATTERS

From 'The Modern History of the Devil'

Nor will I undertake to tell you, till I have talked farther with him
about it, how far the Devil is concerned to discover frauds, detect
murders, reveal secrets, and especially to tell where any money is hid,
and show folks where to find it; it is an odd thing that Satan should
think it of consequence to come and tell us where such a miser hid a
strong box, or where such an old woman buried her chamberpot full of
money, the value of all which is perhaps but a trifle, when, at the same
time he lets so many veins of gold, so many unexhausted mines, nay,
mountains of silver (as we may depend on it are hid in the bowels of the
earth, and which it would be so much to the good of whole nations to
discover), lie still there, and never say one word of them to anybody.
Besides, how does the Devil's doing things so foreign to himself, and so
out of his way, agree with the rest of his character; namely, showing a
friendly disposition to mankind, or doing beneficent things? This is so
beneath Satan's quality, and looks so little, that I scarce know what to
say to it; but that which is still more pungent in the case is, these
things are so out of his road, and so foreign to his calling, that it
shocks our faith in them, and seems to clash with all the just