on. "Ha, ha!" said the prince of darkness; "so you
think by these churches and convents to put me and mine to your ban,
do you? Poor fool! why, this very night will I swamp the whole land
with the sea." "Forewarned is forearmed," thought St. Cuthman, and
hies him to sister Celia, superior of a convent which then stood on
the spot of the present Dyke House. "Sister," said the saint, "I love
you well. This night, for the grace of God, keep lights burning at the
convent windows from midnight to day-break, and let masses be said
by the holy sisterhood." At sundown came the devil with pickaxe and
spade, mattock: and shovel, and set to work in right good earnest to
dig a dyke which should let the waters of the seas into the downs.
"Fire and brim-stone!"--he exclaimed, as a sound of voices rose and
fell in sacred song--"Fire and brim-stone! What's the matter with
me?" Shoulders, feet, wrists, loins, all seemed paralyzed. Down went
mattock and spade, pickaxe and shovel, and just at that moment the
lights at the convent windows burst forth, and the cock, mistaking the
blaze for daybreak, began to crow most lustily. Off flew the devil,
and never again returned to complete his work. The small digging he
effected still remains in witness of the truth of this legend of the
"Devil's Dyke."

DEVIL'S PARLIAMENT (_The_), the parliament assembled by Henry VI. at
Conventry, 1459. So called because it passed attainders on the duke of
York and his chief supporters.

DEVIL SACRAMENT. This blasphemous rite whereby those who would
practice witchcraft were initiated into the diabolical mysteries is
described by Deodat Lawson in 1704.

"At their cursed supper they were said to have red bread and red
drink, and when they pressed an afflicted person to eat and drink
thereof she turned away her head and spit at it, and said, 'I will
not eat, I will not drink. It is blood.' ... Thus horribly doth Satan
endeavor to have his kingdom and administrations to resemble those of
our Lord Jesus Christ."--Deodat Lawson, _Christ's Fidelity the only
Shield against Satan's Malignity_ (1704).

DEVONSHIRE, according to historic fable, is a corruption of
"Debon's-share." This Debon was one of the companions of Brute, the
descendent of Aene'as. He chased the giant Coulin till he came to a
pit eight leagues across. Trying to leap this chasm, the giant fell
backwards and lost his life.

... that ample pit, yet far renowned
For the great leap which Debon did