Not long after embarking upon the subject of God and melancholy, for example, Mr. Burton veers into "A Digression of the Nature of Spirits, Bad Angels, or Devils, " which leads into an elaborate taxonomy of evil creatures, including the question of whether some devils "have excrements" or "feel pain if they are hurt, " and whether there can be both good and bad devils.
The inexorable progress of the Enlightenment, though it has sent devils packing and committed nymphs and sprites to the realms of silliness, has never managed to stamp out angels.