The primum mobile, therefore, and first mover of all superstition, is the devil, that great enemy of mankind, the principal agent, who in a thousand several, shapes, after diverse fashions, with several engines, illusions, and by several names hath deceived the inhabitants of the earth, in several places and countries, still rejoicing at their falls.

The author of "The World's Folly," 1615, uses squitter-wit in the same sense that Nash employs squitter-book: "The primum mobile, which gives motion to these over-turning wheels of wickedness, are those mercenary squitter-wits, miscalled poets.

"The primum mobile of the new system was Motion, in distinction from the Rest which marked the old monastic retreats."