I called the devil, and he came,
And with wonder his form did I closely scan;
He is not ugly, and is not lame,
But really a handsome and charming man.
A man in the prime of life is the devil,
Obliging, a man of the world, and civil;
A diplomatist too, well skilled in debate,
He talks quite glibly of church and state.
_Pictures of Travel: Return Home_. H. HEINE.
The Devil was sick, the Devil a monk would be;
The Devil was well, the Devil a monk was he.
_Works, Bk. IV_. F. RABELAIS.
He must needs go that the devil drives.
_All's Well that Ends Well, Act i. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
The prince of darkness is a gentleman.
_King Lear, Act iii. Sc. 4_. SHAKESPEARE.
The devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape.
_Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
Win us with honest trifles, to betray us
In deepest consequence.
_Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
But the trail of the serpent is over them all.
_Paradise and the Peri_. T. MOORE.