NOTES
(H. D. Taylor, Mediaeval Mind). We now can understand why in Eugene Field's story "Daniel and the Devil" it seems to Satan so strange that he should be asked for a written guarantee that he too would fulfil his part of the contract. Apparently this was the first time that the devil had any transactions with an American business man, who has not even faith in Old Nick.
Reference is made in this story by the devil himself to the popular saying that the devil is not so black as he is painted. Even the devout George Herbert wrote—
"We paint the devil black, yet he
Hath some good in him all agree."
This story recalls to us the proverb: "Talk of the devil, and he will either come or send."
Washington Irving, as we have seen, thinks that he is not always very obliging.
Satan, the father of lies, is said to be the patron of lawyers. The men of the London bar formed a "Temple" corps, which was dubbed "The Devil's Own." The tavern of the lawyers on Fleet Street in London was called "The Devil."
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