When wi' an eldritch stour, 'quaick! quaick!'

From Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Chapter 10: The Witch-Mania.  Discussing the character of the devil in medieval times:

"It was believed that he endeavoured to trip people up, by laying his long invisible tail in their way, and giving it a sudden whisk when their legs were over it; — that he used to get drunk, and swear like a trooper, and be so mischievous in his cups as to raise tempests and earthquakes, to destroy the fruits of the earth and the barns and homesteads of true believers; — that he used to run invisible spits into people by way of amusing himself in the long winter evenings, and to proceed to taverns and regale himself with the best, offering in payment pieces of gold which, on the dawn of the following morning, invariably turned into slates. Sometimes, disguised as a large drake, he used to lurk among the bulrushes, and frighten the weary traveller out of his wits by his awful quack."

I suppose if that if someone were to jump out of the bushes and go "Quick!  Name one thing for which we can be thankful for with regards to Milton!" then I'd have to say "He at least helped popularise the idea of a devil who didn't merely resemble some drunken frat boy."

I'm sorry, but I can't take seriously a "Great Adversary of Mankind" whose idea of tormenting people is to hide in the bushes and make duck noises.