"[5]--a fact that does to a slight extent help to
bear out the otherwise ascertained chronological sequence of these
plays. The remainder of the devils belong to the second class. Nine of
these occur in "King Lear," and will be referred to again when the
subject of possession is touched upon.[6]
[Footnote 1: It is perhaps worthy of remark that in every case except
the allusion in the probably spurious Henry VI., "I speak not to that
railing Hecate," (I Hen. VI. III. ii. 64), the name is "Hecat," a
di-syllable.]
[Footnote 2: V. iii. 6.]
[Footnote 3: II. iv. 370.]
[Footnote 4: II. ii. 311.]
[Footnote 5: II. i. 57. Scot, p. 393.]
[Footnote 6: sec. 65.]
39. (ii.) It would appear that each of the greater devils, on the rare
occasion upon which he made his appearance upon earth, assumed a form
peculiar to himself; the lesser devils, on the other hand, had an
ordinary type, common to the whole species, with a capacity for almost
infinite variation and transmutation which they used, as will be seen,
to the extreme perplexity and annoyance of mortals. As an illustration
of the form in which a greater devil might appear, this is what Scot
says of the questionable Balam, above mentioned: "Balam cometh with
three heads, the first of a bull, the second of a man, and the third of
a ram. He hath a serpent's taile, and flaming eies; riding upon a
furious beare, and carrieng a hawke on his fist.
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