Devil by C. Dibdin

The Devil By C. Dibdin is a late 18th-century English satirical periodical attributed to Charles Dibdin. The work appeared as a weekly pamphlet issued by a Society of Literary Gentlemen and billed as a Review and Investigation of all public subjects, designed to “furnish the world with every material intelligence and remark” and to defend the liberty of the English press. Across No. I through No. XIII, the text blends fiction, editorials, and epistolary dialogue to lampoon politics, Parliament, the press, and the theatre, while policing moral and cultural norms. Its frame features the Devil as editor and narrator, interleaved with dream-visions (notably Torpedo’s Dream) and meta-commentaries on journalism, literature, and public opinion. The work mocks prominent figures of the era—Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, Hastings—and satirizes party conflict, media vanity, and theatrical pretensions, often through parodic showpieces and theatrical critiques. It champions freedom of discourse and candour, while exposing hypocrisy and corruption in public life. A brisk, polyphonic satire, it stands as an early foray into media critique and propagates a pledge to honest journalism and fearless wit.