"Thought he, How does the _Devil_ know What 'twas that I design'd to do? His office of intelligence, His oracles, are ceas'd long since; And he knows nothing of the Saints, But what some treach'rous spy acquaints. This is some petty-fogging _fiend_, Some under door-keeper's friend's friend, That undertakes to understand, And juggles at the second hand: And now would pass for spirit Po, And all men's dark concerns foreknow. I think I need not fear him for't; These rallying _devils_ do not hurt. {78} With that he roused his drooping heart, And hastily cry'd out, What art?-- A wretch, quoth he, whom want of grace Has brought to this unhappy place. I do believe thee, quoth the knight; Thus far I'm sure thou'rt in the right, And know what 'tis that troubles thee, Better than thou hast guess'd of me. Thou art some paltry, _blackguard sprite_, Condemn'd to drudg'ry in the night; Thou hast no work to do in th' house, _Nor half-penny to drop in shoes_; Without the raising of which sum You dare not be so troublesome; To pinch the slatterns black and blue, For leaving you their work to do. This is your business, good Pug Robin, And your diversion, dull dry bobbing." _Hudibras_, Part III. Canto 1. line 1385, &c. It will be seen that BUTLER, like FULLER, uses the term in the simple sense as a _guard_ of the Prince of Darkness. But the concluding lines of Hudibras's address to Ralpho explain the process by which, at a late period, this term of the _Black Guard_ came to be applied to the lowest class of domestics in great establishments. The Black Guard of Satan was supposed to perform the domestic drudgery of the kitchen and servants' hall, in the infernal household. The extract from HOBBES (Vol. ii., p. 134.) refers to this:-- "Since my Lady's decay, I am degraded from a cook; and I fear the Devil himself will entertain me but for one of his _black guard_, and he shall be sure to have his roast burnt." Hence came the popular superstition that these goblin scullions, on their visits to the upper world, confined themselves to the servants' apartments of the houses which they favoured with their presence, and which at night they swept and garnished; pinching those of the maids in their sleep who, by their laziness, had imposed such toil on their elfin assistants; but _slipping money into the shoes_ of the more tidy and industrious servants, whose attention to their own duties before going to rest had spared the goblins the task of performing their share of the drudgery. Hudibras apostrophises the ghost as-- "... some paltry _blackguard_ sprite Condemn'd to drudgery in the night; Thou hast no work to do in th' house Nor half-penny to drop in shoes;" and therefore, as the knight concluded--"this devil full of malice" had found sufficient leisure to taunt and rally him in the dark upon his recent disasters.