New-York tribune., 1897-01-03
THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS.
NOTES ON THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE
AND WAYS OF THE DEVIL.


PIX. S6s london: Ward & Downey New
York: Charles Scrbner's Sons.
Nothing is more remarkable in Mr.. Ashton's d.
gest of cases where the devil figures as derend-
ant or co-defendant than the Protean vagaries OF
His Satanic Majesty in point OF FORM size anu
general appearance. 1t Is possible tnat moderh
ideas on this subject are not more UNIFORM thah
those Of the times to which Mr. Ashton turns
But most people nowadays, II asked TOT ue-
scription Of the devil at large going 10 anu Ho
IN the earth and walking up and down In 1t,
would perhaps. show in their reply the influence
Of the operatic Mephistopheles long. lank, base
cynical a flaming icicle from just that circle III
hell where fire and glacier meet Others might
think of that cool. business-like gentleman IN
black who figures in Chamsso's deligntfui taie
OF "The Man Without Shadow Bot few look
now at the devils feet for, as Othello remarked
some time ago, that's a fable; and the horns
since the Renaissance. have ceased 10 De cnar-
acteristic. Moses has them, too and Alexander
and love. not to mention THE Great God Pan"
to whom Mr.. Ashton refers for most OF the
medieval devirs externalities. horns. hoofs and
coat Of shaggy hair.
It only shows how absurdly subsequent ages
msused the correct pictorial allegories OF the
Greeks to think Of the devil with horns and
He piped where the goats browsed and 80 he was
like them. Even those earlier artists the Assyri-
ans. had the wit to place their man-bull Eabani
in rustic surroundings. But the Middle Age gave
its devil the predatory instincts Of the felidae
underneath a bovine exterior "Graminivorous
and decidedly ruminant' was Cuvier's humorous
classification OF the devil an animal. 1t Is the
same way with angels; they all have swans
wings to this day. But Greek did not put
swans wings on his swift-hying messengers
from Olympus. He either did not trouble him.
self about wings. or he chose those Of birds that
could fly swiftly, and II his deity was OF the
night or Of sleep. then the wings were made like
the rest Of the figure TO suit the attributes Of the
god or goddess. A gramnvorous and decidedly
ruminant devil going about like rearing lion
seeking whom he may devour Is the very perfec-
ton Of an Irish bull. Those monkish scribes
and illuminators who overran Europe from Ire
land just before the time Of Charemagne might
be blamed for this confusion Of species in one
figure There is a carving Of Daniel in the Lions
Den on cross in Moone Abbey Churchyard.
County Kildare. where the lions look more like
pigs than anything else; on the other hand
Kildare Cathedral has a very distinct portrait OF
the devil not with hoofs, but with claws This,
however. dates only from the fourteenth CEN
tury. One Saxon artist OF Westmoreland has
left diabolcal figure with rams horns, as II
he had heard something Of Jupiter Ammon. In
general there Is a lack Of uniformity In the
antique sculpture Of Britain, as we'll as else
where. so far as Satan and his imps are con-
cerned, What Morhof said OF the imaginings
Of Paracelsus. "Sed lila exempa ad lusus dae-
monum referenda. sunt," could we'll be said of
Mr.. Ashton's British artist whose pencil may not
Ln,,o "a he do.
guided by him. 1t drew creatures with cows
horns and eagles claws, worms with wings
horses with horns, figures with horns and beard
Of goats and something nearly like the tail of
fish that they might well have realized one OF
Horaces ludcrous fances about the Fortunate
Islands; men with tusks like a wild boar's a
Haunting tail and the talons OF a bird OF prey.
Satyrs with the butterfly wings OF Psyche. and
cats and dogs In every degree OF Transformation.
,, The devil who carried of the famous old woman
Of Berkeley was pictured with two sets Of horns.
one pair like those Of OK. the other like those
Of a ram, and besides. his knees were faces and
had crooked horn where the nose should be
He ended foul with claws like those of a yult-
ure. Even Southey was not able to make an
impression so grotesque and at the same time 40
horrible a. that produced by the unknown en-
graver Of an earlier time
II the artists had all been Blakes they would
have insisted that they drew only what they
saw. But there were plenty Of visionarIes who
insisted that they saw what they could not
delineate. They saw demons with heads like
iron pots and with teeth and talons of iron.
Frankenstein's monstrous creation was less nh.
noxious than these beings whose native element
was fire and whose unmixed delight 1t was TO
give endless pain. However, the average super
ctttla
st'tious person saw no such beings The Indian
woman Titibe. who was instrumental in the
outbreak OF witchcraft and persecution in Salem.
MASS had as familiar spirits hog. a dog and
two rats. one black. the other red. and she knew
another witch whose attendant was a yellow
bird. and another whose demon servant WAS n
winged creature with head like that OF n
woman. Still another woman was seen in com.
panv with q little child which had bewilderins