nothing by lifting the veil which covers their
unutterable obscenities, unless, like Sterne, he wishes to gather fresh
evidence of "what a beast man is." In that case, he will find plenty
there to convince him that the beast would be libelled by the
comparison.

It was thought that the earth swarmed with millions of demons of both
sexes, many of whom, like the human race, traced their lineage up to
Adam, who, after the fall, was led astray by devils, assuming the forms
of beautiful women to deceive him. These demons "increased and
multiplied," among themselves, with the most extraordinary rapidity.
Their bodies were of the thin air, and they could pass though the
hardest substances with the greatest ease. They had no fixed residence
or abiding place, but were tossed to and fro in the immensity of space.
When thrown together in great multitudes, they excited whirlwinds in
the air and tempests in the waters, and took delight in destroying the
beauty of nature and the monuments of the industry of man. Although
they increased among themselves like ordinary creatures, their numbers
were daily augmented by the souls of wicked men--of children
still-born--of women who died in childbed, and of persons killed in
duels. The whole air was supposed to be full of them, and many
unfortunate men and women drew them by thousands into their mouths and
nostrils at every inspiration; and the demons, lodging in their bowels
or other parts of their bodies, tormented them with pains and diseases
of every kind, and sent them frightful dreams. St. Gregory of Nice
relates a story of a nun who forgot to say her benedicite, and make the
sign of the cross, before she sat down to supper, and who, in
consequence, swallowed a demon concealed among the leaves of a lettuce.
Most persons said the number of these demons was so great that they
could not be counted, but Wierus asserted that they amounted to no more
than seven millions, four hundred and five thousand, nine hundred, and
twenty-six; and that they were divided into seventy-two companies or
battalions, to each of which there was a prince or captain. They could
assume any shape they pleased. When they were male, they were called
incubi; and when female, succubi. They sometimes made themselves
hideous; and at other times, they assumed shapes of such transcendant
loveliness, that mortal eyes never saw beauty to compete with theirs.

Although the devil and his legions could appear to mankind at a