cunning

Defoe composed the Political History to convince readers of the reality and pervasive influence of the Devil, so that "no cunninger Men" can "lay him again" and try to "dispose him out of your Sight" (279).

Further proof of the Squire's tyranny is provided by his avocation: he is, like all squires, an accomplished horseman, and in chapter 19 the Vicar expresses his fear of an unbridled natural superiority with an equestrian metaphor: "for as sure as your groom rides your horses, because he is a cunninger animal than they, so surely will the animal that is cunninger or stronger than he, sit upon his shoulders in turn" (99).