Chapter Devil-may-care to Devil's Current of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

his horns;" but the modern euphemism is, "Talk of an angel and you'll see its wings." If "from the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh," their hearts must be full of the evil one who talk about him, and if the heart is full of the devil he cannot be far off.

"Forthwith the devil did appear,
For name him, and he's always near."
Prior: Hans Carvel.

   To hold a candle to the devil is to abet an evildoer out of fawning fear. The allusion is to the story of an old woman who set one wax taper before the image of St. Michael, and another before the Devil whom he was trampling under foot. Being reproved for paying such honour to Satan, she naïvely replied: "Ye see, your honour, it is quite uncertain which place I shall go to at last, and sure you will not blame a poor woman for securing a friend in each."
   To kindle a fire for the devil is to offer sacrifice, to do what is really sinful, under the delusion that you are doing God service.
   To play the very devil with [the matter]. To so muddle and mar it as to spoil it utterly.
   When the devil is blind. Never. Referring to the utter absence of all disloyalty and evil.

"Ay, Tib, that will be [i.e. all will be true and
loyal] when the deil is blind; and his e'en's no
sair yet." - Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering (Dandie
Dinmont to Tib Mumps), chap.xxii.

Devil (A), in legal parlance, is a leader's fag who gets up the facts of a brief, with the laws bearing on it, and arranges everything for the pleader in methodical order.
   These juniors have surplus briefs handed to them by their seniors. A good fag is a good devil and is sure to get on.
   The Attorney-General's devils are the Counsel of the Treasury, who not unfrequently get promoted to the bench.
   A printer's devil. Formerly, the boy who took the printed sheets from the tympan of the press. Old Moxon says: "They do commonly so black and bedaub themselves that the workmen do jocosely call them devils." The errand-boy is now so called. The black slave employed by Aldo Manuzio, Venetian printer, was thought to be an imp. Hence the following proclamation:

"I, Aldo Manuzio, printer to the Doge, have this day made public exposure of the printer's devil. All who think he is not flesh and blood may come and pinch him.' - Proclamation of Aldo Manuzio, 1490.

   Robert the Devil, of Normandy. (See Robert Le Diable.)
   The French Devil. Jean Bart, an intrepid French sailor, born at Dunkirk. (1650-1702.)
   Son of the Devil. Ezzelino, chief of the Gibelins, and Governor of Vicenza, was so called for his infamous cruelties. (1215-1259).

"Fierce Ezelin, that most inhuman lord,
Who shall be deemed by men the child of hell."
Rose: Orlando Furioso, iii. 32.

   The White Devil of Wallachia. George Castriota was so called by the Turks. (1404- 1467.)

Devil's Advocate (The). In the Catholic Church when a name is suggested for canonisation, some person is appointed to oppose the proposition, and is expected to give reasons why it should not take place. This person is technically called Advocatus Diaboli. Having said his say, the conclave decides the question.

Devil's Apple The mandrake.

Devil's Arrows (Yorkshire). Three remarkable "Druid" stones near Boroughbridge, like Harold's Stones, and probably marking some boundary.

Devil's Bird (The). The yellow bunting; is so called from its note, deil.

Devil's Bones Dice, which are made of bones and lead to ruin.

Devil's Books Playing cards. A Presbyterian phrase, used in reproof of the term King's Books, applied to a pack of cards, from the French livre des quatre rois (the book of the four kings). Also called the Devil's Bible.

Devil's Cabinet (The). Belphego, the Devil's ambassador in France; Hutgin, in Italy; Belial, in Turkey; Tharung, in Spain; and Martinet, in Switzerland. His grand almoner is Dagon; chief of the eunuchs is Succor Benoth; banker