ke with his sarcasms
the Church and the female sex.

Jewish theology, expanded by their leading divines, includes a
formidable array of various demons; and the whole of nature in
Christian belief was peopled with every kind

'Of those demons that are found
In fire, air, flood, or under ground.'

Various opinions have been held concerning the nature of devils
and demons. Some have maintained, with Tertullian, that they are
'the souls of baser men.' It is a disputed question whether they
are mortal or immortal; subject to, or free from, pain. 'Psellus,
a Christian, and sometime tutor to Michael Pompinatius, Emperor
of Greece, a great observer of the nature of devils, holds they
are corporeal, and live and die: ... that they feel pain if they
be hurt (which Cardan confirms, and Scaliger justly laughs him to
scorn for); and if their bodies be cut, with admirable celerity
they come together again. Austin approves as much; so doth
Hierome, Origen, Tertullian, Lactantius, and many eminent fathers
of the Church; that in their fall their bodies were changed into
a more aerial and gross substance.' The Platonists and some
rabbis, Porphyrius, Plutarch, Zosimus, &c., hold this opinion,
which is scornfully denied by some others, who assert that they
only deceive the eyes of men, effecting no real change. Cardan
believes 'they feed on men's souls, and so [a worthy origin]
belike that we have so many battles fought in all ages,
countries, is to make them a feast and their sole delight: but if
displeased they fret and chafe (for they feed belike on the souls
of beasts, as we do on their bodies) and send many plagues
amongst us.'

Their exact numbers and orders are differently estimated by
different authorities. It is certain that they fill the air, the
earth, the water, as well as the subterranean globe. The air,
according to Paracelsus, is not so full of flies in summer as it
is at all times of invisible devils. Some writers, professing to
follow Socrates and Plato, determine nine sorts. Whatever or
wherever the supralunary may be, our world is more interested in
the sublunary tribes. These are variously divided and subdivided.
One authority computes six distinct kinds--Fiery, Aerial,
Terrestrial, Watery, Subterranean and Central: these last
inhabiting the central regions of the interior of the earth. The
Fiery are those that work 'by blazing stars, fire-drakes; they
counterfeit suns and moons, stars oftentimes. The