> The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;
> The devil was well, the devil a monk was he.

People who make pious resolutions in time of illness or peril forget all about
them when they are healthy and safe again. John Owen wrote this epigram:

> God and the Doctor are alike adore
> But only when in danger, not before;
> The danger o’er, both are alike requited,
> God is forgotten, the Doctor slighted.

The phrase ‘the devil a monk was he’ is a play on words; it does not mean that
the devil became a monk, but that he did not. We find it in such other
contexts as: ‘I asked everybody to attend the meeting, but devil a one turned
up.’ Nobody came.