all these , however , were mere terrors of the night , phantoms of the mind that walk in darkness ; and though he had seen many spectres in his time , and been more than once beset by satan in divers shapes , in his lonely perambulations , yet daylight put an end to all these evils ; and he would have passed a pleasant life of it , in despite of the devil and all his works , if his path had not been crossed by a being that causes more perplexity to mortal man than ghosts , goblins , and the whole race of witches put together , and that was -- a woman .