{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_68341/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_68341","id":"gutenberg_68341","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68341","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Witchcraft"],"text":"THE BOOK OF WITCHES\n\n\n\n\n THE\n BOOK OF WITCHES\n\n BY\n OLIVER MADOX HUEFFER\n\n _Author of \"In Arcady and Out,\" &c._\n\n With Frontispiece in Colours by W. Heath Robinson\n\n\n THE JOHN McBRIDE CO\n NEW YORK\n 1909\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  CHAPTER I.\n\n                                         PAGE\n\n  ON A POSSIBLE REVIVAL OF WITCHCRAFT       1\n\n\n  CHAPTER II.\n\n  A SABBATH-GENERAL                        19\n\n\n  CHAPTER III.\n\n  THE ORIGINS OF THE WITCH                 45\n\n\n  CHAPTER IV.\n\n  THE HALF-WAY WORLDS                      61\n\n\n  CHAPTER V.\n\n  THE WITCH'S ATTRIBUTES                   88\n\n\n  CHAPTER VI.\n\n  SOME REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH WITCHES     114\n\n\n  CHAPTER VII.\n\n  THE WITCH OF ANTIQUITY                  127\n\n\n  CHAPTER VIII.\n\n  THE WITCH IN GREECE AND ROME            141\n\n\n  CHAPTER IX.\n\n  FROM PAGANISM TO CHRISTIANITY           163\n\n\n  CHAPTER X.\n\n  THE WITCH-BULL AND ITS EFFECTS          188\n\n\n  CHAPTER XI.\n\n  THE LATER PERSECUTIONS IN ENGLAND       206\n\n\n  CHAPTER XII.\n\n  PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND                232\n\n\n  CHAPTER XIII.\n\n  OTHER PERSECUTIONS                      253\n\n\n  CHAPTER XIV.\n\n  PHILTRES, CHARMS AND POTIONS            278\n\n\n  CHAPTER XV.\n\n  THE WITCH IN FICTION                    298\n\n\n  CHAPTER XVI.\n\n  SOME WITCHES OF TO-DAY                  315\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nLest any reader should open this volume expecting to read an\nexhaustive treatise on witches and witchcraft, treated scientifically,\nhistorically, and so forth, let me disarm him beforehand by telling\nhim that he will be disappointed. The witch occupies so large a place\nin the story of mankind that to include all the detail of her natural\nhistory within the limits of one volume would need the powers of a\nmagician no less potent than was he who confined the Eastern Djinn\nin a bottle. I have attempted nothing so ambitious as a large-scale\nOrdnance Map of Witchland; rather I have endeavoured to produce a\npicture from which a general impression may be gained. I have chosen,\nthat is to say, from the enormous mass of material only so much as\nseemed necessary for my immediate purpose, and on my lack of judgment\nbe the blame for any undesirable hiatus. I have sought, again, to show\nwhence the witch came and why, as well as what she was and is; to point\nout, further, how necessary she is and must be to the happiness of\nmankind, and how great the responsibility of those who, disbelieving in\nher themselves, seek to infect others with their scepticism. We have\nfew picturesque excrescences left upon this age of smoothly-running\nmachine-wheels, certainly we cannot spare one of the most time-honoured\nand romantic of any. And if anything I have written about her seem\nincompatible with sense or fact, I would plead in extenuation that\nneither is essential to the firm believer in witchcraft, and that to\nbe able to enter thoroughly into the subject it is above all things\nnecessary to cast aside such nineteenth-century shibboleths.\n\nI would here express my gratitude to the many friends who have assisted\nme with material, and especially to Miss Muriel Harris, whose valuable\nhelp has done much to lighten my task.\n\n LONDON, _September, 1908_.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF WITCHES\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nON A POSSIBLE REVIVAL OF WITCHCRAFT\n\n\nTo the superficial glance it might seem that he who would urge a\nrevival of witchcraft is confronted by a task more Herculean than that\nof making dry bones live--in that the bones he seeks to revivify have\nnever existed. The educated class--which, be it remembered, includes\nthose who have studied in the elementary schools of whatever nation--is\nunited in declaring that such a person as a witch never did, never\ncould, and never will exist. It is true that there are still those--a\nwaning band--who, preserving implicit faith in the literal exactitude\nof revealed religion, maintain that witchcraft--along with Gardens of\nEden, giants, and Jewish leaders capable of influencing the movements\nof sun and moon--flourished under the Old Dispensation, even though\nit has become incredible under the New. Yet, speaking generally, the\nwitch is as extinct in civilised men's minds as is the dodo; so that\nthey who accept as gospel the vaticinations of race-course tipsters or\nswallow patent medicines with implicit faith, yet moralise upon the\nillimitability of human superstition when they read that witch-doctors\nstill command a following in West Africa, or that Sicilian peasants are\nnot yet tired of opening their purses to sham sorcerers.\n\nWere the reality of sorcery dependent upon a referendum of our\nuniversities--or, for that matter, of our elementary school\nmistresses--it were at once proclaimed a clamant imposture. Fortunately\nfor the witch, and incidentally for a picturesque aspect of the human\nintellect, the Enlightened, even if we include among them those who\naccept their dogma as the New Gospel, are but a small--a ridiculously\nsmall--item of the human race. Compared with the whole population\nof the world, their numbers are so insignificant as to be for all\npractical purposes nonexistent. There are villages but a few miles\nbeyond the boundary of the Metropolitan Police District, where the\nwitch is as firmly enthroned in the imaginations of the mobility\nas in those of their ancestors three centuries ago. There are many\nBritish legislators who would refuse to start an electioneering\ncampaign upon a Friday. I myself have known a man--and know him\nstill--a Romney Marshlander, who, within the last decade, has suffered\ngrievously--himself and through his children--at the hands of witches\nwhose names and whereabout he can detail. And I have known a woman--she\nkept a lodging-house in the Kennington Road--who, if not herself a\nwitch, was yet the daughter of one, and of acknowledged power. It\nis true that, if the daughter's tale--told to me in the small front\nparlour in intervals between the crashing passage of electric trams and\nmotor-lorries--may be accepted, her mother's gifts were put to no worse\nuse than the curing of her Devonshire neighbours' minor ailments.\n\nThere is no need to go fifty, nor five, miles from London to find\nmaterial for a revival in Black Magic. Scarcely a week passes but some\nold crone is charged before a Metropolitan police magistrate with\nhaving defrauded silly servant-girls on the pretence of telling them\ntheir futures. You cannot pass down Bond Street during the season\nwithout encountering a row of sandwich-men--themselves preserving very\nfew illusions--earning a meagre wage in the service of this, that, or\nthe other Society crystal-gazer, palmist, or clairvoyant. Who has not\nseen some such advertisement as the following--quoted from a current\njournal--proffering information about the future, \"calculated from\nastrological horoscopes,\" at the very moderate charge of half-a-crown.\nThe advertiser--in deference to modern convention he is described as\na \"Professor\" rather than a sorcerer--further protests his mastery\nof Phrenology, Graphology, Clairvoyance, and Psychometry. And this\nadvertiser is but one of many, all seeking to gain some humble profit\nby following in the footsteps of Diana and Mother Demdyke of Pendle\nForest.\n\nAre there not a hundred and one select Societies, each with its band\nof earnest adherents--many with official organs, published at more or\nless regular intervals and commanding circulations of a sort--openly\nfurthering \"arts\" such as would, two centuries ago, have entailed upon\ntheir members the charge of Witchcraft? Is not spiritualism exalted\ninto an international cult? The very existence of such a coterie as the\n\"Thirteen Club,\" with a membership sworn to exhibit, _hic et ubique_,\ntheir contempt of degrading superstitions, is the strongest testimony\nto their ubiquitous regard. Most curious fact of all, it is in America,\nthe New World, home of all that is most modern and enlightened, that we\nfind superstitions commanding most implicit faith. It is only necessary\nto glance through the advertisement pages of an American popular\nmagazine to realise how far the New World has outstripped the Old in\nits blind adherence to this form of faith. Nowhere has the Hypnotic,\nthe Mesmeric, the Psychic Quack such unchallenged empire.\n\nIn Lady Charlotte Bury's \"Memoirs of a Lady in Waiting,\" we find\nan example of the belief in Witchcraft cherished in the most\nexalted circle in the nineteenth century. Writing of the unhappy\nPrincess--later Queen--Caroline, wife of George IV., she says as\nfollows:--\"After dinner her Royal Highness made a wax figure as usual,\nand gave it an amiable addition of large horns; then took three pins\nout of her garment and stuck them through and through, and put the\nfigure to roast and melt at the fire.... Lady ---- says the Princess\nindulges in this amusement whenever there are no strangers at table,\nand she thinks her Royal Highness really has a superstitious belief\nthat destroying the effigy of her husband will bring to pass the\ndestruction of his Royal Person.\" We laugh at this instance of Royal\ncredulity; yet is not the \"mascot\" a commonplace of our conversation?\nMadame de Montespan, it is recorded, had recourse--not without\nsuccess--to the Black Mass as a means towards gaining the affections\nof Louis XIV. It is but a few years since the attention of the police\nwas directed towards the practices of those--Society leaders for the\nmost part--who had revived, in twentieth-century Paris, the cult of\nDevil worship. The most widely circulated London newspapers of the\nday gravely discuss in \"special articles\" the respective value of\nvarious mascots for motorists, or insert long descriptive reports of\nthe vaticinations of this spiritualist or that wise-woman as to the\nprobable perpetrators of mysterious murders. This is no exaggeration,\nas he may prove for himself who has patience to search the files of the\nLondon daily Press for 1907. And, be it remembered, the self-proclaimed\nmission of the contemporary Press is to mirror the public mind as the\nmost obvious way of instructing it.\n\nUnder these circumstances it is easy to credit the possibility of\na revival of the belief in witchcraft even in the most civilised\ncountries of the modern world. What is more, it is far from certain\nthat such a revival would be altogether deplorable. Granted that oceans\nof innocent blood were shed in the name of witchcraft--the same might\nbe said of Christianity, of patriotism, of liberty, of half a hundred\nother altogether unexceptionable ideals. And, as with them, the total\nextinction of the witchcraft superstition might, not impossibly, have\nresults no less disastrous than, for instance, the world-wide adoption\nof European fashions in dress. This quite apart from any question of\nwhether or no witches have ever existed or do still exist. Even if\nwe grant that superstition is necessarily superstitious in the more\ndegraded sense of the word, we need not therefore deny it some share in\nalleviating the human lot.\n\nA very large--perhaps the greater--share of human happiness is based\nupon \"make believe.\"\n\nThe world would be dull, miserable, intolerable did we believe only\nwhat our unfeeling stepmother Science would have us believe. It is\nalready perceptibly less endurable--for those unfortunate enough to\nbe civilised--since we definitely abandoned judgment by the senses in\nfavour of algebraical calculations. While it might be too much to say\nthat the number of suicides has increased in proportion to the decline\nof witchcraft, it is at least certain that superstition of whatever\nkind has, in the past, played a notable part in making humanity\ncontented with its lot. The scientist has robbed us of Romance--he has\ntaken from many of us our hope of Heaven, without giving us anything\nto put in its place; he reduces the beauty of Nature to a formula, so\nthat we may no longer regard a primrose as a primrose and nothing more;\nhe even denies us the privilege of regarding our virtues and vices as\nanything more than the inevitable results of environment or heredity.\nEvery day he steals away more and more of our humanity, strips us of\nyet another of the few poor garments of phantasy shielding us from the\nUnbearable. He is indeed the Devil of modern days, forcing knowledge\nupon us whether we will or no. And we, instead of execrating him after\nthe goodly fashion of our forefathers, offer our happiness upon his\naltars as though he were indeed the God he has explained away. And why?\nPurely on the faith of his own asseverations.\n\nWhy should we accept the scientist more than his grandmother, the\nwitch? We have no better reason for accepting him than for rejecting\nwhat he tells us are no more than idle dreams. Let him discover what he\nwill, it does but vouch the more decidedly for the illimitability of\nhis, and our, ignorance. It is true he can perform apparent miracles;\nso could the witch. He pooh-poohs the arts that were so terrible to\nformer generations; our posterity will laugh at his boasted knowledge\nas at a boastful child's. Already there are world-wide signs that\nwhatever his success in the material world, mankind is ready to revolt\nagainst his tyranny over the Unseen. The innumerable new religious\nsects, the thousand and one ethical fads, the renaissance of so many\nancient faiths--the Spiritualist and the Theosophist, the Christian\nScientist and the Cooneyite, the Tolstoyan and the Salvationist--laugh\nat them individually who may--are all alike outward and visible signs\nof the revolt of man against being relegated to the insignificance\nof a scientific incident. And among such troubled waters witchcraft\nmay well come into its own again. For it, as much as any, has brought\nhappiness out of misery. Consider the unsuccessful man. Under the\n_r\u00e9gime_ of enlightenment he can find no one to blame for his sorrows,\nnor anywhere to look for their solacement. Everything works according\nto immutable laws; he is sick, poor, miserable, because the Law of\nthe Inevitable will have it so; he has no God to whom he can pray for\nsome capricious alleviation; he cannot buy good fortune from the Devil\neven at the price of his soul--there is no God, nor Devil, nor good\nfortune nor ill; nothing but the imperturbably grinding cog-wheels\nupon whose orbit he is inevitably bound. Were he not a happier man if\nhe might find an old-time witch whose spells, being removed, would\nleave him hope, even though fulfilment never come? Undoubtedly. We have\nbeen told that had there been no God, it would have been necessary to\ninvent one. Yes, and along with Him a Devil and good and evil spirits,\nand good luck and bad, and superstitions as many as we can cram into\nour aching pates--anything, everything that may save us from the\nhorrible conception of a machine-like Certainty, from which there is no\nescape, after which there is no future. Surely it were better that a\nfew thousand old women be murdered in the name of superstition, a few\nmillions of human beings butchered in the name of religion, than that\nall mankind be doomed to such a fate.\n\nBe it remembered, too, that even the witch has her grievance against\nthe learned numbskulls who have undone her. For the witch-life was\nnot without its alleviations. Consider. Without her witchcraft she was\nno more than a poor old, starved, shrunken woman, inconsiderable and\nunconsidered, ugly, despised, unhappy. With it she became a Power.\nShe was feared--as all mankind wishes to be--hated perhaps, but still\nfeared; courted, also, by those who sought her help. She was again\nSomebody, a recognisable entity, a human being distinguished from the\ncommon ruck. Surely that more than outweighed the chances of a fiery\ndeath. Nor was the method of her death without its compensations.\nPainful indeed it was, though scarcely more so than slow starvation.\nBut if she knew herself innocent, she knew as well that her short agony\nwas but the prelude to the eternal reward of martyrdom. If she believed\nherself, with that poor weary brain of hers, sold to the Devil, what a\nworld of consolation in the thought that he, the Prince of the Powers\nof Darkness, scarcely inferior to the Almighty Himself, and to Him\nalone, should have singled her out as the one woman whose help he\nneeded in all the countryside. And this being so, was there not always\nthe hope that, as he had promised, he might appear even at the eleventh\nhour and protect his own. If he failed, the witch had but little time\nto realise it and all the Hereafter, full of infinite possibilities,\nbefore her. Few witches, I think, but would have preferred their grim\npre-eminence, with its sporting interest, to being made the butt of\ndoctors little wiser than themselves in the sight of infinity, held up\nto mockery as silly old women, cozening or self-cozened.\n\nIf witches do not in fact exist for us, it is because we have killed\nthem with laughter--as many a good and evil cause has been killed. Had\nwe laughed at them from the beginning of things it is even possible\nthat they had never existed. But, as between them and Science, the\nwhole weight of evidence is in their favour. There is the universal\nverdict of history. For untold centuries, as long as mankind has lorded\nit over the earth, their active existence was never held in doubt,\ndown to within the last few generations. The best and wisest men of\ntheir ages have seen them, spoken with them, tested their powers and\nsuffered under them, tried, sentenced, executed them. Every nation,\nevery century bears equal testimony to their prowess. Even to-day, save\nfor a tiny band of over-educated scoffers sprung for the most part from\na race notorious for its wrong-headed prejudice, the universal world\naccepts them without any shadow of doubt. In August of the present year\na police-court case was heard at Witham, an Essex town not fifty miles\nfrom London, in which the defendant stood accused of assaulting another\nman because his wife had bewitched him. And it was given in evidence\nthat the complainant's wife was generally regarded as a witch by the\ninhabitants of the Tiptree district. Nor, as I have already pointed\nout, does Tiptree stand alone. Dare we, then, accept the opinion of\nso few against the experience, the faith, of so many? If so, must we\nnot throw all history overboard as well? We are told that an Attila, a\nMahomet, an Alexander, or, to come nearer to our own days, a Napoleon\nexisted and did marvellous deeds impossible to other men. We read of\nmiracles performed by a Moses, a Saint Peter, a Buddha. Do we refuse\nto believe that such persons ever existed because their recorded deeds\nare more or less incompatible with the theories of modern science?\nThe witch carries history and the supernatural tightly clasped in her\nskinny arms. Let us beware lest in turning her from our door she carry\nthem along with her, to leave us in their place the origin of species,\nradium, the gramophone, and some imperfect flying-machines.\n\nThose same flying-machines provide yet another argument in the witch's\nfavour. Why deny the possibility that she possessed powers many of\nwhich we possess ourselves. The witch flew through the air upon a\nbroomstick; Mr. Henry Farman and Mr. Wilbur Wright, to mention two\nout of many, are doing the same daily as these lines are written.\nThe vast majority of us have never seen either gentleman; we take\ntheir achievements on trust from the tales told by newspaper\ncorrespondents--a race of men inevitably inclined towards exaggeration.\nYet none of us deny that Mr. Farman exists and can fly through the air\nupon a structure only more stable than a broomstick in degree. Why\ndeny to the witch that faith you extend to the aeronaut? Or, again, a\nwitch cured diseases, or caused them, by reciting a charm, compounding\na noxious brew in a kettle, making passes in the air with her hands.\nA modern physician writes out a prescription, mixes a few drugs in a\nbottle--and cures diseases. He could as easily cause them by letting\nloose invisible microbes out of a phial. Is the one feat more credible\nthan the other? The witch sent murrains upon cattle--and removed them.\nHe were a poor M.R.C.V.S. who could not do as much. In a story quoted\nelsewhere in this volume, a sorcerer of Roman days bewitched his horses\nand so won chariot-races. We refuse him the tribute of our belief,\nbut we none the less warn the modern \"doper\" off our racecourses.\nThe witch could cause rain, or stay it. Scarcely a month passes but\nwe read well attested accounts of how this or that desert has been\nmade to blossom like the rose by irrigation or other means. But a few\nmonths since we were told that an Italian scientist had discovered a\nmeans whereby London could be relieved of fogs through some subtle\nemployment of electricity. It is true that since then we have had our\nfull complement of foggy weather; but does anyone regard the feat as\nincredible?\n\nIn all the long list of witch-attainments there is not one that would\ngain more than a passing newspaper paragraph in the silly season\nwere it performed in the London of to-day. Why, then, this obstinate\ndisbelief in the perfectly credible? Largely, perhaps, because the\nwitch was understood to perform her wonders by the aid of the Devil\nrather than of the Dynamo. But must she be therefore branded as an\nimpostor? Certainly not by those who believe in a personal Spirit of\nEvil. I do not know the proportion of professing Christians who to-day\naccept the Devil as part of their faith, but it must be considerable;\nand the same is the case with many non-Christian beliefs. They who can\nswallow a Devil have surely no excuse for refusing a witch. Nor is the\ndifficulty greater for those who, while rejecting the Devil, accept\nthe existence of some sort of Evil Principle--recognise, in fact,\nthat there is such a thing as evil at all. For them the picturesque\nincidentals of witch-life, the signing of diabolical contracts,\naerial journeyings to the Sabbath, and so forth, are but allegorical\nexpression of the fact that the witch did evil and was not ashamed,\nare but roundabout ways of expressing a great truth, just as are the\nfirst three chapters of Genesis or the story that Hannibal cut his way\nthrough the Alps by the use of vinegar.\n\nThe conscientious agnostic, again, has no greater reason for\ndisbelieving in witches and all their works than for refusing his\nbelief to such historical characters as Cleopatra and Joan of\nArc--eminent witches both, if contemporary records may be trusted. I\npass over the great army of heterodox sects, Unitarians, Christian\nScientists, and the like, many of whom unite with the orthodox in\naccepting the principle of Evil in some form or other, and with it,\nas a natural corollary, the existence of earthly agencies for its\nbetter propagation; while, for the rest, witchcraft stands in no worse\nposition than do the other portions of revealed religion which they\naccept or do not accept, as their inclinations lead them.\n\nIt is sometimes held out as an argument for implicit belief in the\nBiblical legend of the Deluge that its universality among all races\nof mankind from China to Peru can only be accounted for by accepting\nNoah and his Ark. How much more forcibly does the same argument uphold\nthe _bona fides_ of the witch. Not only has she been accepted by\nevery age and race, but she has everywhere and always been dowered\nwith the same gifts. We find the witch of ancient Babylon an adept\nin the making of those same waxen or clay images in which, as we\nhave seen, a nineteenth-century Queen of England placed such fond\nreliance. Witch-knots, spells, philtres, divination--the witch has\nbeen as conservative as she has been enduring. Every other profession\nchanges and has changed its aspects and its methods from century to\ncentury. Only the witch has remained faithful to her original ideals,\nconfident in the perfection of her art. And for all reward of such\nunexampled steadfastness we, creatures of the moment, deny that this\none unchanging human type, this Pyramid of human endeavour, has ever\nexisted at all! Buttressed, then, upon the Scriptures, to say nothing\nof the holy writings of Buddhist, Brahmin, Mahometan, and every\nother religion of the first class, countenanced, increasingly though\nunwittingly, by the researches of science into the vastness of our\nignorance; acceptable to orthodox and heterodox alike, vouched for by\nhistory and personal testimony of the most convincing, our rejection\nof the witch is based but upon the dogmaticisms of one inconsiderable\nclass, the impenitent atheist, blinded by the imperfection of his\nsenses into denying everything beyond their feeble comprehension. To\ndeny our recognition to a long line of women who, however mistakenly,\nhave yet, in the teeth of prodigious difficulties, persevered in their\nself-allotted task with an altruistic enthusiasm perhaps unrivalled\nin the history of the world--to relegate those who have left such\nenduring marks upon the face of history to an obscure corner of the\nnursery, and that upon such feeble and suspect testimony, were to\nbrand ourselves as materialists indeed. Rather let us believe--and\nthus prove our belief in human nature--that long after the last\natheist has departed into the nothingness he claims as his birthright,\nthe witch, once more raised to her seat of honour, will continue to\nregulate the lives and destinies of her devotees as unquestioned and as\nunquestionable as she was in the days of Saul and of Oliver Cromwell.\nIt is to women that we must look chiefly for the impetus towards\nthis renaissance. Always the more devout, the more faithful half of\nhumanity, there is yet another peculiar claim upon her sympathies\ntowards the witch. In days such as ours, when the whole problem of\nthe rights and wrongs of women is among the most urgent and immediate\nwith which we have to deal, it were as anachronistic as unnatural\nthat Woman should allow the high purpose, the splendid endurance,\nthe noble steadfastness in inquiry, of a whole great section of her\nsex--including some of the most deservedly famous women that ever\nlived--should allow all this not only to be forgotten, but to be\nabsolutely discredited and denied. Persecuted by man-made laws as she\nhas ever been, and as eternally in revolt against them, there could be\nno more appropriate or deserving figure to be chosen as Patroness of\nthe great fight for freedom than the much-libelled, much-martyrised,\nlong-enduring, eternally misunderstood Witch.\n\nNo. The time has come when we can appreciate the artistic temperament\nof Nero; when Bluebeard is revealed to us in the newer and more kindly\naspect of an eccentric Marshal of France; when many of us are ready\nto believe that C\u00e6sar Borgia acted from a mistaken sense of duty; and\nthat Messalina did but display the qualities natural to a brilliant\nSociety leader. Surely among them all not one is more deserving of\n\"whitewashing\" than that signal instance of the _femme incomprise_, the\nWitch. We may not approve all her actions, we may not accept her as an\nexample to be generally followed; let us at least so far escape the\ncharge of narrow-mindedness and lack of imagination as to pay her the\ntribute, if not of a tear, at least of respectful credulity.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nA SABBATH-GENERAL\n\n\nIt is wild weather overhead. All day the wind has been growing more\nand more boisterous, blowing up great mountains of grey cloud out of\nthe East, chasing them helter-skelter across the sky, tearing them\ninto long ribbons and thrashing them all together into one whirling\ntangle, through which the harassed moon can scarcely find her way. The\nlate traveller has many an airy buffet to withstand ere he can top the\nlast ascent and see the hamlet outlined in a sudden glint of watery\nmoonlight at his feet. Those who lie abed are roused by the moaning in\nthe eaves, to mutter fearfully, \"The witches are abroad to-night!\"\n\nThe witch lives by herself in a dingle, a hundred yards beyond the\nlast cottage of the hamlet. The dingle is a wilderness of brush-wood,\nthrough which a twisted pathway leads to the witch's door. Matted\nbranches overhang her roof-tree, and even when the moon, breaking for a\nmoment from its net of cloud, sends down a brighter ray than ordinary,\nit does but emphasise the secretiveness of the ancient moss-grown\nthatch and the ill-omened plants, henbane, purple nightshade, or white\nbryony, that cluster round the walls. He were a bold villager who dared\nventure anywhere within the Witch's dingle on such a night as this.\nThe very wind wails among the clashing branches in a subdued key, very\ndifferent from its boisterous carelessness on the open downs beyond.\n\nThere is but one room--and that of the barest--in the witch's cottage.\nThe village children, who whisper of hoarded wealth as old Mother\nHackett passes them in the gloaming, little know how scant is the fare\nand small the grace they must look for who have sold themselves to such\na master. She sleeps upon the earthen floor, with garnered pine-needles\nfor mattress. She has a broken stool to sit on, and a great iron pot\nhangs above the slumbering embers on the clay hearth.\n\nIt wants still an hour to midnight, this eve of May Day, when there\ncomes a stirring among these same embers. They are thrust aside, and\nup from beneath them Something heaves its way into the room. It is\nthe size of a fox, black and hairy, shapeless and with many feet.\nFrom somewhere in its middle two green eyes shed a baleful light that\nhorribly illuminates the room. It moves across the floor, after the\nmanner of a great caterpillar, and as it nears her the witch casts a\nskinny arm abroad and mutters in her sleep. It reaches the bed, lifts\nitself upon it, and mumbles something in her ear. She awakes, rises\nupon her elbow, and replies peevishly. She has no fear of the Thing--it\nis a familiar visitant. She is angry, and scolds it in a shrill old\nvoice for disturbing her too soon. Has she not the Devil's marks upon\nher--breast and thigh--round, blue marks that are impervious to all\npain from without, but itch and throb when it is time for her to go\nabout her devilish business? The Thing takes her scoldings lightly,\ntwitting her with having overslept herself at the last Sabbath--which\nshe denies. They fall a-jesting; she calls it Tom--Vinegar Tom; and\nthey laugh together over old exploits and present purposes.\n\nA moonbeam glints through a hole in the thatch. Where the witch has\nlain now sits a black cat, larger than any of natural generation--as\nlarge, almost, as a donkey. It talks still with the witch's voice, and\nlingers awhile, the two pairs of green eyes watching each other through\nthe darkness. At last, with a careless greeting, it bounds across the\nfloor, leaps up the wall to the chimney opening, and is gone. The\nshapeless Thing remains upon the bed. Its sides quiver, it chuckles\nbeneath its breath in a way half-human, yet altogether inhuman and\nobscene.\n\nThe black cat is hastening towards the hamlet under the shadow of the\nbrush-wood. When she comes within sight of the end house, she leaves\nthe path and strikes out into the gorse-clad waste beyond the pasture,\nkeeping to it until she is opposite the cottage of Dickon the waggoner.\nA child has been born, three days back, to Dickon and Meg his wife.\nIt is not yet baptised, for the priest lives four miles away, beyond\nthe downs, and Dickon has been too pressed with work to go for him.\nTo-morrow will be time enough, for it is the healthiest child, not to\nsay the most beautiful, the gossips have ever set eyes upon. Perhaps,\nif Meg had not forgotten in her new-found happiness how, just after her\nwedding, when old Mother Hackett passed her door, she made the sign of\nthe cross and cried out upon the old dame for a foul witch, she might\nnot be sleeping so easily now with her first-born on her bosom.\n\nThe black cat creeps on under the shadow of a hedge. Old Trusty, the\nshepherd's dog, left to guard the flock during the night, sees where\nshe goes, and, taking her for a lurking fox, charges fiercely towards\nthe hedge, too eager to give tongue. But at the first flash of the\ngreen eyes as she turns her head, he knows with what he has to deal,\nand flies whimpering for shelter in the gorse, his tail between his\nlegs. For a dog can tell a witch more readily than can his master--and\nfears her as greatly.\n\nThe black cat being come to Dickon's cottage, waits for a moment to\nbe sure that all is quiet, then leaps upon the low roof, gains the\nsummit, and so descends by way of the chimney to the room where lie the\nsleeping family. Again it waits, listening to their regular breathing,\nits tail whipping to and fro in suppressed excitement. It rises upon\nits hinder legs and makes certain passes in the air, North and South\nand East and West. It approaches the bed, and softly, softly draws the\nchild from its sleeping mother's arms. It makes again for the chimney,\nand in two bounds is in the open air, carrying the child nestled\nagainst its warm black fur. Scarcely has it gained the shadow of the\nhedge when the mother, her sleep disturbed, it may be, by some vague\npresentiment of danger, opens her eyes. But the warm weight is still\nupon her breast, and she drops off to sleep again in security. Did\nyou peep into the witch's cottage now, you would find that the black\nshapeless Thing is gone. For the Devil's imps can take what shape they\nwill in their master's service.\n\nThe black cat, with its sleeping charge, hastens back towards the\ndingle. Reaching the cottage, it places the child upon the bed, turns\ntwice, and in that moment the witch, clad only in her shift, stands\nwhere the cat has been. She is awaiting something, and grows anxious\nand uneasy, hobbling hither and thither about the room, mumbling\nbelow her breath, and once, when the child wakes and wails, taking it\nin her arms and hushing it, almost as might a woman. It is close upon\nmidnight, yet the sign has not come. For the Evil One, being above all\nthings inconstant, never lets his servants know time or place until the\nlast moment, and that in some unlooked-for way.\n\nAt last, when she is quite tormented with anxiety lest she have\nunwittingly angered her master, comes a stealthy clattering of wings\nupon the thatch, and down through the hole that serves for chimney\nrustles a black raven with fiery eyes. It flutters straight for the\nwitch's shoulder and there settles, whispering hoarsely in her ear,\nwhile the light from its eyes throws her lean features, with their\ntwitching muscles, into pale relief against the darkness. Nodding eager\nassent to the message, Mother Hackett hobbles to her bed, and, from a\nsafe hiding-place among the rustling pine-needles, draws out a phial.\nNext she makes for the corner beside the hearth, and picks up the\nbroomstick leaning against the wall. The raven quits her shoulder for\nthe pillow, thence to watch her with its head at an approving angle.\nShe opens the phial and smears the contents on the broomstick, head and\nhandle. It is an ointment, and it shines with the phosphorescent light\nthat is born of corruption. Well it may, for it is compounded of black\nmillet and the dried powdered liver of an unbaptised child, just such\na one as now lies upon the witch's bed, with the grim raven gazing down\non it. The witch--deluded wretch--believes the ointment to have magic\npowers; that, smeared upon her broomstick, it gives the senseless wood\nvolition and the power to carry her sky-high; or, if she swallow it,\nthat it will render her insensible to pain, so that the worst efforts\nof the torturer and the executioner shall force her to confess nothing.\nThe Devil, her master, knows--none better--that no such potency is in\nany ointment, but that his own hellish magic supports his minions in\nthe air and comes, and he so will, to their aid in time of trial. But\nthis he hides from them, so that in their folly they may be led to\nmurder babes--the sacrifice he loves above all other.\n\nThe witch takes a broken eggshell and smears it also with the ointment.\nShe goes to the bed and picks up the child, the broomstick hopping\nafter her across the floor. Being now ready to set out, she steps\nastride the broom-handle, that holds itself aslant for her easier\nmounting. She waves her hand to the attendant raven, and with a rush\nthat sends a spirtle of bright sparks up from the embers, she is\naway--up the chimney, through the overhanging branches, through the\nragged clouds, and far on her journey under the stars. Yet, if any\nshould enter the witch's hut then or thereafter till the dawn, they\nwould find her sleeping peacefully upon the bed. The raven, having\ncarried their master's message, has this further duty: to take upon\nhimself the witch's shape until her return, lest any, finding her from\nhome, should scent out her errand.\n\nThe wind is from the East. The witch must steer across it, for the\nSabbath-General, as the corvine messenger has told her, is to be held\non a lonely peak of the Cevennes, in mid-France. Her task is not of\nthe easiest, for the gusts come fierce and sudden, and the broomstick\ndips and leaps before them like a cockle-boat on a rough sea. The\nwitch's scanty locks and scantier clothing stream out almost at a right\nangle, and once the baby in her arms raises its voice in a tiny wail\nthat would soften the heart of any but a servant of the Devil. Up here\nthe moonlight wells down unchecked, turning the clouds below into the\nshifting semblance of snow mountains and lakes of silver. They open\nout now and again at the wind's bidding to allow glimpses of the dark,\nsilent earth far down beneath.\n\nSo for a time--a little time, for Devil's messengers fly fast--the\nwitch drives onward in mid-air. At last the broomstick slackens speed,\nseems to hesitate, circles twice or thrice, and then dives earthwards.\nThe hag alights upon the sea-shore, upon a pebbly beach whereon the\nwaves fling themselves in white fury at the lashings of the wind, now\ngrown so high that Mother Hackett can scarcely stand against it.\nWhether because he foresees some chance of evil-doing, or from mere\ninconstancy, for he works without method and against reason, the Devil\nhas ordered that she shall not cross the Channel on her broomstick.\nShe seizes the interval between two waves to launch the eggshell she\nhas brought with her, steps into it, raises the broomstick aloft as\nsail or ensign, and puts out to sea in the teeth of the gale. The great\nwaves roar far above her head, in foaming whirlpools that might sink\na war-fleet, but the eggshell rides triumphantly among them, dancing\nupon their crests and shipping never a drop of water on its passage.\nNor can the best efforts of the wind stay its speed. Only once does it\ndeviate from its course, when a straining ship, its spars and sails all\nsplintered and riven, drives through the mist to leeward. As she nears\nit, the witch rises to her feet, throws out one skinny hand towards it,\nand shrieks an incantation down the wind. A flicker of lightning shows\nitself in the East, and a cloud drives over the face of the moon. When\nits shadow is past, there is no more sign of the ship or its toiling\ncrew upon the lonely face of the waters. Mother Hackett mews gleefully\nas she speeds Francewards.\n\nComing to where the low grey coast rises from the waves, she once\nmore sets herself astride the broomstick. As she speeds on, sky-high,\ntowards the meeting-place, she falls in with company bent on the same\nerrand. From all sides they come, converging to the goal, old, lean\nhags like herself, women in the prime of life, young girls not yet out\nof their teens. Some bear with them unweaned babes, others children of\na larger growth, yet others youths or grown men, as offerings to Satan.\nThese they carry pillion-wise before them, for in the Devil's kingdom\nall is awry, imperfect, contrariwise to the ways of Christian folk.\nSome of them are mounted on goats, some upon great toads, or flying\nsnakes, or reptiles of uncertain shape, or simple broomsticks, as fancy\nhas directed their imperious despot. One--a man--rides side-seated upon\na great fiery dragon, that in the distance glows like a newly-risen\nstar. He is a mighty sorcerer, one who commands Satan instead of\nserving him, coming to the Sabbath for some reason of his own, and\nmounted on a steed of his own providing.\n\nThe meeting-place of the Sabbath-General, as Satan, in mockery of\nChristian ritual, chooses to call this foregathering of his servants,\nis a bare peak in the loneliest part of the Cevennes. It stands a\nlittle removed from the centre of a great mountain amphitheatre, and\njust below the summit is a mountain tarn, crystal-pure and casting\nback the starlight as peacefully as though there were no such things\nas witch or warlock beneath God's Heaven. Yet it is not the first\ntime the same meeting-place has been chosen, for not a blade of grass,\nnot the humblest creeping plant, grows upon the sterile rocks. Every\ngrowing thing withered away, root and branch, when last the forces of\nHell gathered here. So must the place remain, desert and bare, mute\nwitness of its desecration, until the Judgment Day.\n\nThe witches come skirling down from the sky like a flight of unclean\nbirds, circling above the crags, hovering to choose a settling-place\nwhere no sharp-pointed rock shall gash their naked feet, chattering\nshrilly the while. Those already arrived are seated in a wide circle\non a flat rock-ledge jutting from the mountain side. They are mostly\nwitches of the neighbourhood, who have come afoot and have set out\nbetimes lest they be detained upon the way. As more and more join\nthe circle you may find proof that they lie who declare the Devil's\nservants mostly women. It is true that woman, by reason of the frailty\nof her nature, seeks more often to pry into forbidden things, to her\nown destruction, and thus there are many more witches than warlocks or\nmagicians. Yet of those gathered for this Sabbath-General, for every\nwitch there is one mortal man, to say nothing of demons; for while\nsome, as Mother Hackett, have come alone, others, being the younger\nand fairer of the witches, have brought with them two or even three\nyouths or young men, ready to take service with the Evil One and cast\naway their hope of salvation, as did our Father Adam, at the bidding\nof these Delilahs. Thus it is that, in the unholy dances which are to\nfollow, every witch will have a man for her partner, save the most\nfavoured who dance with the superior demons, for thus the Devil will\nhave it.\n\nMother Hackett, when she dismounts from her broomstick, takes her\nplace beside one Luckie, a gossip of former Sabbaths, ill-favoured as\nherself, who comes from the kingdom of Fife, where she is much feared\nfor the sudden tempests she raises when the fishing-fleets are sailing\nhomeward with full catches. Next to her is a younger witch, fair and\nwell-born, Sidonia by name, of a noble house in Mecklenburg. She is\na tall, pale girl, with hair the colour of ripe wheat, and grey-blue\neyes. She is held in high esteem by Satan, both for her beauty and\nfor the number of well-born youths she has delivered into his hands.\nNext to her is a witch of Spain, beautiful also, though brown and with\nblack, beady eyes. Between these two there is little love lost, seeing\nthat they are women no less than witches, and either would do the other\na mischief could she compass it.\n\nThough all those bidden have joined the circle, there is yet no sign of\nthe Devil's coming. The witches cease their clacking and scan the sky\nimpatiently, muttering curses against their master. Can it be that he\nmeans to play them false, having bidden them merely for a jest and to\nmake a mock of them? It would not be for the first time--for his mind\nis so crafty and so uncertain, his purpose so errant, that not the most\nfavoured of his ministers has any inkling of it.\n\nSuddenly there is an eager rustling around the expectant circle. A\nfigure has appeared in the centre. But their relief fades into angry\ndisappointment. It is not the Devil himself. It is a small, mean,\ninconsiderable devil, so inferior in the infernal hierarchy that he has\nnot even horns upon his head. The circle grows smaller as the witches\npress towards him, buzzing with angry questions. They have no fear,\nno respect for him; he is a servant like themselves. If he have been\ndeputed to represent his master, he must expect to pay dearly for the\nhonour. He scans the lowering faces anxiously and mutters apologies.\nNo doubt their Master is upon the way and will soon arrive. He himself\nis but a poor devil, a little devil; they may be sure that he would\nnot think of putting a slight on witches of such eminence. But fair\nwords will not placate them. Already hands are raised to strike him,\nalready some of them are preparing to scratch him with the nails of\ntheir little fingers, always worn long and sharp by witches, such being\none of the signs you may know them by. Already he has been tweaked\nand buffeted as earnest of what he is to look for. But now another,\nmore dreadful shape looms up in the very centre of the circle, and the\nangry witches fall back before it in grovelling terror. At first, seen\nin the dim light of the waning moon, it is shapeless, inchoate. Slowly\nit takes form before their eyes into the trunk of a great tree, with\ntangled limbs stretching out from it. It has about it the suggestion\nof a face, leering and horrible, with set features that half emerge\nand half conceal themselves in the gnarling of the bark--such a face\nas a man may see peering after him out of the darkness when he passes,\ntip-toe, through the depths of an ancient forest at midnight. Before\nit the witches make obeisance, turning their backs upon it and bowing\nto the ground, in mockery of Christian reverence. When they turn\nagain the tree has changed into a goat, its eyes aflame with obscene\npassion, and, even as they look, the goat fades into a lion with bloody\njaws. The lion fades in turn into a man, a comely man in all but his\nexpression, and his eyes, which, whatever his shape, are always those\nof a goat, bestial and foul. He is dressed all in black, but his face\nand hands are dull red--for his vitals are consuming in the flames of\nHell--and when he raises his hand, his wrist and forearm glow within\nhis cuff as though they were made of molten iron. On his left hand the\nfingers are all grown together into one misshapen claw, for however\nfair the human seeming into which the Devil moulds himself, you may\nalways know him for what he is, in that some part of him, an ear, a\nfoot, or a hand, is horribly misshapen.\n\nNow at last, all being prepared, attendant imps pass round the circle,\nchecking the numbers of those present and who bears the Devil's\nmark and who must still receive it, and who has carried out her\nappointed task and who has failed. Returning, they whisper the tale\ninto their master's ear, who gibbers with delight and leaps into the\nair and cracks his heels together, for there is nothing noble or of\ndignity about him, being in all things mean and petty, a thing of\nlow vices rather than of heroic crimes. Thereafter he sits upon a\nthrone, seemingly of gold, that rises from the earth to receive him,\nwhile his attendants hold aloft candles made of the fat of drowned\nmariners, burning with a pale blue light. One by one he calls the\nwitches before him, calling them by nicknames, as \"Old Toothless,\" or\n\"Wag-in-the-wind,\" or \"Cozling,\" but never by the names given them in\nHoly Baptism. And they, making obscene obeisance before his throne,\nspeak to him thuswise also, calling him \"Monsieur,\" or \"Grizzleguts,\"\nor other fouler names. Next, standing with her back towards the throne,\neach in turn makes recital of her foul deeds since their last meeting:\nhow many of God's children she has ruined and undone, what evil spells\nshe has cast upon crops and bestial, what tempests she has raised, how\nshe has fared in furthering her master's kingdom. Those who have done\nwell Satan fondles and caresses, promising them great reward, but the\nothers he hands over to his imps for present punishment. Thus there\nis one, plump and well-favoured, being a witch of Sweden, who, having\nbeen given for her task that she shall bring a neighbour's son--a\nrich young farmer--to her master's allegiance, has failed therein,\nand that although granted extension of time for the emprise. Her the\nDevil, losing all further patience, of which he has but little at the\nbest of times, marks out for punishment, and his demons, casting her\nstraightway to the ground, beat her with whips of living snakes and\nscorpions, and bite and otherwise torment her with tooth and claw,\nso that the blood runs from her in streams. And while she yells and\nscreams for mercy, flapping here and there upon the ground like a fish\nupon a line, the whole assembly shakes with hideous laughter at the\ngrotesqueness of her agony.\n\nMother Hackett, her turn being come, rises eagerly, knowing that she\nhas done evil full measure since the last Sabbath. The waggoner's\nchild she hands to Gossip Luckie, the time for its presentation\nbeing not yet come, and hobbles her fastest to her place before the\nthrone, puckering her old eyes beneath the glare from the surrounding\ncorpse-candles. It is for this that she has borne the hardships, the\nhatred and persecution of her Christian neighbours, the starvation of\nhunger and cold during the long winter months since the last Sabbath.\nHer tale is of murrains cast upon a rich farmer's cattle, of a crop of\nbarley that has withered away beneath her spell, of a tempest raised\nby her to unroof the priest's tithe-barn three parishes away, of the\ndigging up of bodies from the churchyard to grace the Sabbath banquet,\nof three boys who, having stoned her, have ever since gone cross-eyed,\nvomiting needles incessantly, and of the ship sunk in mid-Channel upon\nher late crossing. Also there is the unbaptised child she has brought\nwith her, to be devoted to the Devil's service for all time. When her\ntale is told she waits yet a long moment, expectant of praise and\nreward. Praise indeed her master lavishes upon her, though he chides\nher also for having brought him but a waggoner's brat in place of a\nchild well-born, for in them he delights most--and of future reward\ngreat promise. But he speaks as one whose thoughts are elsewhere,\nand his eyes--which are always the eyes of a lustful goat--wander to\nwhere the beauteous Sidonia waits smiling for her turn. So Mother\nHackett must hobble back to her place in the circle, her heart full of\nbitterness and disappointment, feeling that she has been tricked out\nof her deserts, knowing that she must labour in ill-doing yet another\nyear before she can hope for the rich rewards promised her so many\nweary years ago, yet still to look for. And she curses under her breath\nas Sidonia passes in all the pride of her unholy beauty, going to where\nthe Evil One leans forward in his chair, his eyes glowing like hot\ncoals, and motions to her to come yet nearer as she tells with trills\nof silvery laughter, that yet is altogether horrible, of three youths\nshe has bewitched, and how one has hanged himself, cursing the name\nof God, and how another has murdered his own brother, and now lies in\ndurance awaiting death, and the third she has brought with her to the\nSabbath, to enter himself among the Devil's servants, abandoning his\nhope of Heaven for her sake. Of her tale Satan loses no word, and when\nshe is done he clips her in his arms and fondles her and keeps her\nbeside him throughout what follows.\n\nWhen all the witches have rendered account, it is the turn of the\nvictims they have brought with them, the unbaptised children first\nand they of tender years. They are led or carried before the Devil's\nthrone, and stand there, curious and open-eyed, understanding nothing\nof what is going forward, clustering together in a group, the elder\ngirls holding the infants in their arms and hushing them awkwardly\nwhen they cry. The Evil One speaks to them, suiting his words to their\ncondition, his voice purring like a cat. He draws bright pictures of\nthe reward they may expect for absolute obedience--if they renounce\ntheir kindred and, those of them who are baptised, their godfathers\nand godmothers, and with them God and the Child Jesus. Some of the\nelder among them demur at this, whereupon he reasons with them, his\nvoice still soft and cruel as a cat's, telling them that what they have\nlearned of Holy Writ is but an old wife's tale, and that there is no\nGod but he who speaks, being master of both worlds. Then his eyes blaze\nbrighter and his voice grows fierce and menacing, and he leads them to\nthe side of the mountain and shows them, far below, a dreadful chasm\nwith fierce flames leaping about it and grim fire-monsters lifting up\ntheir open jaws from its centre. It is but a lying vision, conjured up\nby his hellish arts; but how should such poor babes know false from\ntrue? The witches gather round them and cozen and threaten, telling\nthem that if they refuse they will be surely cast into the flames,\nbut if they obey they shall have all that a child best loves, full\nmeasure. So at last they do as they are bidden, and swear away their\nyoung souls and their hope of salvation for ever and ever, and make\nobeisance to Satan with obscene ceremonies of which they understand\nnothing, doing all for fear of the witches who instruct them. When all,\neven to the unweaned babes, are bound for ever to Satan's allegiance,\nthey are led away to the shore of the mountain tarn, whither come great\ntoads swimming up from its clear depths and clambering to the shore.\nThese the children are set to mind, being given little white switches\nfor that end--Satan promising that next year, if they have deserved\nwell, they shall be granted the full privileges of servants of Hell.\nChildlike, when they have overcome their first horror of the hideous\ntoads, they make play-things of them, seeking to make them gallop with\nthe white switches, and, especially the boys, forgetting all that has\npassed in the gleefulness of the moment.\n\nMeanwhile the more mature recruits to Satan's army are called in turn\nbefore him, to be examined in their love of evil, to make obeisance\nand to receive his mark--invented by him in impious mockery of our\nSaviour's wounds and the stigmata borne on their bodies by many of His\nsaints. All this to the accompaniment of rites so foul and bestial\nthat they may not be written down. And next, the present business\nbeing disposed of, the whole crew falls a-dancing, men, women, and\nimps together. Back to back the couples dance, for the most part\nstark-naked, and some with black cats hanging from their necks or\nwaists, spitting and scratching, and some with hideous toads and\nserpents pressed to their bosoms, and all capering and gesturing with\nsuch lewd and obscene antics that the mind of man can scarcely follow\nthem. The imps who are of the number hold aloft their corpse-candles,\nto light their paces, and in the middle of all sits the Devil blowing\nupon a bag-pipe, sometimes in one form and sometimes in another, as the\nwhim takes him. Higher and higher they leap, and faster and faster grow\ntheir steps, whirling hither and thither under the blue light of the\ncandles, spurred on by the droning of the infernal pipes, until they\nfall a-gasping. When the last couple has ceased its pirouettings, the\nDevil--being now again in the form of a man--lays aside his instrument\nand leads them to where a banquet is prepared for them. The tables are\nheaped high with all the delicacies of the earth, the rarest fruits,\nthe choicest meats, and the most costly wines, heaped upon golden\ndishes that might ransom all the kings of Christendom. For attendants\nthere are demons of inferior rank, who have tricked themselves out\ninto the strangest shapes they can devise. Thus, one has a monstrous\nnose, shaped like a flute, upon which he plays with his hands. Another\nhas sparks shooting from horns and tail, the which, as they fall upon\nthe table, turn into great beetles. Another, having neither arms nor\nlegs nor head, rolls like a wheel upon his belly, in the centre of\nwhich blazes one great eye. Another is nought but a huge mouth, and\nhops underneath the tables biting the ankles of the witches. While\nyet another takes the shape of a beaker, whence pours sparkling wine\ninto the goblets of the guests. If they seek to drink, it turns to\nburning pitch. Thus it is indeed with all the viands, for though they\nseem all that the heart or belly of man can desire and of all things\nplenty--saving only salt, for that Satan cannot abide, as recalling\nthe Last Supper upon earth of the Lord Christ--yet being tested they\nare proved a mockery. For when the guests stretch out their hands for\nwhat they most covet it vanishes from their eyes, and in its place is\ncorruption and rottenness, the reeking flesh of murderers and heretics\nor of cattle that have died of a murrain, the entrails of reptiles\nor the scrapings of middens, with, for drink, water in which drowned\nsuicides have rotted, and such-like. Some of those but newly entered\ndraw back in horror from such fare, whereat the more hardened mock at\nthem, falling upon it themselves with horrid zest.\n\nGrown merry after such feasting, they fall a-rioting, jesting, and\nplaying after such wise as may not be told, until the time is come\nfor their next enterprise, what time the Devil toys with the most\nwell-favoured wantons among them. When at last the signal is given,\nthe whole hellish crew rise into the air again, their master leading\nthem, shrilling and squawking like a flight of wild geese across\nthe darkling sky. The Devil leads them to an old cathedral town, a\nplace of ancient towers and crumbling walls and tall, high-shouldered\nhouses that lean out over narrow lanes as if a-gossiping. Before the\ngreat cathedral is a wide market-place, very busy in the day, but\nsilent now as a graveyard, with only now and then the creaking of\nsome wind-harried sign to tell of human energies. Four roads meet in\nthe centre of the market-place, and there the Evil One alights, his\nministers behind him, and there his throne is set up facing the portal\nof the cathedral--for it is thus that Satan loves best to carry on\nhis mockery of Christian ritual. First is gone through a blasphemous\nparody of Holy Baptism, toads taking the place of children. Each is\ntricked out in a velvet suit of black or scarlet, with a bell tied to\neach paw and one hung round its neck. An unfrocked priest, who has\nbeen a miracle of shamelessness and is now sold to Satan, performs the\nblasphemy, and the oldest and foulest witches stand as sponsors, vying\nwith each other in the lewdness of their responses. While this is going\nforward a brace of night-rovers, intent upon a deed of sacrilege, come\ncreeping through the shadows round the cathedral walls, seeking to\nforce an entrance into the holy place. Their eyes and ears are at their\nkeenest, lest they be apprehended, but though they look right through\nthe crowd of demons and witches thronging the open market-place, they\nyet see nothing of them--for, evil-doers though they be, they have not\nyet lost their chance of salvation, and none but those irrevocably\nsworn of Satan's following can see what befalls upon a Witches' Sabbath.\n\nThe christening of the toads being gone through, follows the yet more\nblasphemous celebration of the Black Mass. The foresworn priest again\nofficiates, the imps, witches, and demons acting as deacons, acolytes,\nor worshippers, all impiously mimicking the servants of God. In place\nof the Host is exalted a black wafer, cut in the form of a triangle,\nand the whole service of the Mass is gone through backwards from end\nto beginning. The onlookers also make their obeisances backwards, with\nlewd gesture not forgotten, towards where the father of all evil sits\ngrinning and mowing upon his throne over against the cathedral door.\nYet are they not permitted to finish their blasphemies, for even as\nthe false priest makes to administer the wafer to an imp, who receives\nit, for the greater mockery, standing upon his head, the first pale\nshadow of the dawn creeps up the eastern sky. Seeing it, a lusty cock,\nroosting in some farmyard beyond the city walls, welcomes it with\nshrill crowings. The Devil's brood break off and listen fearfully,\nfor Chanticleer is a servant of God, and held in awe by all demons,\nwitches, and sorcerers as the herald of God's daylight. A rival\nbird takes up the challenge, and it is echoed far and wide over the\ncountryside. The Evil One waits no longer, but sinks at once, with\nhis throne, downwards through the cobble-stones to his abiding-place,\nfollowed by his attendant demons. The witches and sorcerers of the\ncompany tarry not, but cast themselves afloat upon the air, wasting no\ntime or breath upon their farewells lest daylight surprise them ere\nthey can reach their homes and all their wickedness be made clear.\n\nMother Hackett, among the rest, throws herself astride her broom-handle\nand sails off down the wind. On this her return she wastes no time\nat the sea-coast, but shoots onward high in the air, through the\nincreasing pallor of the morning. Over sea and down she flies, and,\ndropping like a stone into the dingle, enters her cottage by the\nchimney, unseen even by the earliest ploughman. At her coming the\nexpectant demon in her shape rises from the bed and takes again the\nsemblance of a raven. A few words of greeting and inquiry, and it makes\nits exit by the road it came, flying off heavily across the fields,\nregardless of the daylight, for who, seeing a raven fly towards the\nsea, would think of sorcery or witchcraft? Who, again, entering her\nhumble cot and seeing there a poor old woman sleeping on a bed of\npoverty would recognise in her a foul witch, forward in all wickedness\nand a most potent agent of her master Satan. For so cunningly do these\ndevilish hags, aided by their master's arts, conceal their exits and\ntheir entrances, their spells and incantations, that there be many\nignorant men who, openly flouting Holy Writ, declare, even in these\nenlightened days, that there is no such thing as witchcraft or sorcery,\nand that they who seek out witches and slay them are no better than\ncruel murderers of poor helpless old women. Such are the craft and\nmalice of Satan and the folly of mankind.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE ORIGINS OF THE WITCH\n\n\nThe witch, in the broader sense of the word, may be said to have\nexisted ever since mankind first evolved an imagination, and may be\nexpected to expire only with the death of the last woman. Given the\nsupernatural, and sorcery must follow in some shape or other as its\ncorollary. Whence also the witch is as ubiquitous as she is enduring.\nUnder some form or other she exists, and has existed, in every quarter\nof the globe; she is as familiar to the English peasant as to the West\nAfrican, in South America as in Japan. Her attributes vary, and have\nvaried, with the racial temperament and the religious conceptions\nof her worshippers and persecutors, as widely as do, and have done,\ntheir gods. But it was left for medi\u00e6val Christianity to give her the\ndefinite shape in which she is now most universally recognised, and it\nis to the Christian ideal of celibacy that she owes, if indirectly,\nthe more obscene, and latterly the more grotesque, of her attributes,\nlifting her at first to an evil equality with the horned Devil of the\nMiddle Ages, degrading her ultimately to the \"horrid old witch\" of\nnursery legend.\n\nIt is a far cry from this same \"horrid old witch\" to the pagan\ndivinity, but there is no break in the long pedigree. It may be traced\nstill further through the mists of antiquity--to the earliest days of\nhuman motherhood. Only, as between goddess and witch, we are confronted\nwith a Darwinian problem. Is the witch indeed daughter of the goddess,\nor are both descended from a common ancestress? To my mind, the latter\nis the more correct line of descent, with the pagan priestess as\nconnecting link.\n\n\"To one wizard, ten thousand witches,\" quotes Michelet from a forgotten\nwriter of the days of Louis Treize; and throughout all the history\nof sorcery women have formed the majority of its practitioners. Our\nforefathers attributed this to the weakness of womankind, always\ncurious to probe the mysteries of the Unknown, always prone to fall\ninto the snare of evil. A more charitable--and correcter--explanation\nwould be found in the greater quickness of her perceptions. If Eve\nfirst gave the apple to Adam, she gave with it the future of civilised\nhumanity. The first mother gave birth to twin-daughters, the goddess\nand the witch, and from one or other of them came the impetus which has\ncarried mankind to its present stage of progress, and will carry it\nyet nearer towards Heaven.\n\nThe primitive father was an animal, with potentialities--among animals\nwithout them. His intellect was concentrated in his activities, in\nproviding for the material needs of himself and his family. His\nposition towards his wife was very much what satirists would have us\nbelieve is that of the American business man to-day. His laborious\ndays were spent in tracking his prey through the forest, his leisure\nin sleeping, eating, and digesting. The mother, on the other hand, was\nbound to the home by reason of her motherhood. Less active, she was\nmore contemplative, noting in the order of events the best means of\npreservation for the small pink thing that could not live without her\ncare, her mind always alert to the exigencies of the moment. Thus she\nacquired knowledge of things beneficent or harmful, of the food most\napt for its nourishment, of the herbs growing around the clearing best\nfitted to cure its infantile complaints. She experimented, cautiously\nbut continuously, and with each recurrent need she added a little to\nher small stock of wisdom. Small in itself, but vast in proportion\nto that of men or childless women. Little by little she \"walked her\nhospital\"; little by little she learnt the relative value of her\nsimple potions, to whom they should be given, and how, and when. To\nthe primitive mind this was cause for wonder, as indeed it is, almost\nas wonderful as the first smile of the first baby. Pain can no longer\nrun riot unchecked. If it have not yet found its mistress, at least\na protest has been entered against it--reason not only for joy and\nwonder, but for respect and gratitude--even perhaps for worship.\n\nWhatever his divinity, Man worships himself. In every form of religion\nthe worshipped tends to become confused with the worshipper. Man cannot\nescape his own environment. The thunderstorm frightens him; there must\nbe a storm-demon. What is that demon but another man like himself,\nthough uglier and wickeder and very much more powerful? Such a demon\nmust be flattered and propitiated as an angry man of might must be. But\na Primitive with his living to make cannot spare the time necessary\nto propitiate a worldful of demons. He deputes the duty to a weaker\nneighbour, one who sits at home, engaging for his own part to find\nfood for both. Whence the first priestess--from whom later descends\nthe first priest. For who so apt at propitiation as she who can cajole\nthat most domesticated of demons, the ever-present Pain. So, later,\nwhen the propitiation of Evil gives place to the invocation of good,\nwho so worthy of honour, which is to say of worship, as she who, in the\ndawning of the race, first relieved poor humanity of its bodily ills?\nGoddess, priestess, White Witch and Black--all are but variations on\nthat oldest and most beautiful of themes, Motherhood.\n\nTo return to the first house-wife. Throughout her life she adds always\na little to her store of natural knowledge, and when she dies she\nbequeaths it to her daughters. They in turn add to it until the time\ncomes when to the cure of bodies is added that of minds. For Man's\nnascent mind begins to trouble him almost as much as does his body.\nAlready the eternal problem of why and wherefore raises its head;\nalready he begins his age-long struggle with the inevitable. That \"all\nthat is, is good\" does not commend itself to Pre-historic Man. He\nknows so much better. He must often go hungry, his cattle die, drought\ndestroys his meagre crops, his neighbour robs him of his war-spoil.\nHe appeals to the woman, who thinks so much, for a way out. Cannot\nshe, who with her potions drove the pain out of his body, help him in\nthis also? Can she not cure his cattle? Can she not reason with the\ndelinquent rain-demon, or, by making a little rain herself, move him\nto emulation? Best of all, can she not, out of the plenitude of her\nwisdom, suggest some means of outwitting that treacherous neighbour? He\nwill reward her handsomely, especially for this last.\n\nIt is at this point that the priestess and the witch come to the\ncrossing of the ways, henceforward to follow divergent paths. The one\nsister, from whom is to be born the devout priestess, is ready to do\nall that she can. She invokes the cattle-demon, the rain-demon; she,\nno more than the man, has any doubt of their invocability, but if they\nrefuse to answer it must be because they are angry. She cannot make it\nrain if the demon gainsay her prayer. She is honest, acknowledging her\ninferiority to the supernatural. Only she claims to understand more\nthan most the best way to approach it.\n\nConsider the other woman--the ancestress of the witch, in the\nopprobrious sense. She knows very well that she cannot make rain.\nProbably she has made the experiment already. But--such faith in her\npower is tempting--so are the gifts thus easy to be earned. The man\nbelieves in her--almost she begins to believe in herself. Perhaps\nshe tries to persuade herself that she may succeed this time. She\nis weatherwise, and she reads in natural signs the probability that\nrain may shortly be expected. If it should not--well, she must take\nprecautions against incurring blame. She must impose conditions, and\nany failure must be set down to their non-fulfilment. There is a\nvery pleasant sense of power in gulling the overgrown baby who is so\nready to be gulled. She accepts the trust, commands the rain-demon\nto let down his showers. Her reading of the signs is justified--the\nexpected rain comes. Her reputation is assured--until belief in the\nsupernatural shall be no more. Her daughter and her grand-daughters\ninherit her claims. They also command the storm, using the same form\nof words. Possibly they are themselves deceived--believing that there\nis some virtue in the form of their mother's words, now become an\nincantation. From the first claim to power over the elements, to the\nfinished sorceress, and thence to the \"horrid old witch\" of fairy\nlegend, is but a matter of regular evolution.\n\nJust as the priestess was the mother of the priest, so the wizard is\nborn of the witch. Man, though he start later--very much as the boy\nis slower in development than is his sister--is not content always\nto remain second in the race for knowledge. For a time--perhaps for\nlong centuries--he has been content to leave things intellectual to\nhis womenfolk. But when he starts he is not content to stay upon\nthe threshold of knowledge, as woman, who has approached it only\nfrom necessity, has done. One day a male iconoclast rebels, pitting\nhis awakening intellect against the woman's inherited reputation.\nVictorious, he yet trembles at his victory, while all Pal\u00e6olithia\nawaits the angry fire from Heaven. But nothing happens. No lightning\nstrikes him; no swift disease destroys him, or his children, or his\ncattle. A new era has begun--the wizard places himself beside the\nwitch, slowly but surely to elbow her into the second place.\n\nAs the slow centuries pass society has been gradually forming and\nshaping itself. In his search for a civilisation Man has left the\nsecluded cave wherein he wrung the empire of the world from the jaws\nof the cave-bear and the scythe-toothed tiger. He has built himself\nhomes and collected them into villages; from the scattered family he\nhas evolved the tribe, and from the tribe the nation. Having learned\nhis own power when buttressed upon that of his neighbours, he is slowly\nbroadening and extending it until it is little inferior to that of the\ndivinities before whom it pleases him to tremble. He--or Nature for\nhim--chooses out rulers, who become his gods in all but divinity; and\nhis respect for them, if less absolute, is more immediate than for his\ngods. Government, making all things possible, becomes an accomplished\nfact.\n\nGovernment, once instituted, loses no time in measuring itself\nagainst Heaven. In one form or other the conflict between Church and\nState--disguise it as men may--has lasted from the beginning, and\nmust last as long as both survive. That ideal which reached the point\nnearest of attainment in the theoretic constitution of the Holy Roman\nEmpire, of two rulers, co-existent and co-equal, governing one the\nspiritual and one the material empire of the world, was in the very\nnature of things doomed to remain an ideal. Either God or Man must be\nfirst. With their struggles for the mastery the fortunes of the witch,\nas of all exponents of the supernatural, were intimately bound up.\n\nAt first sheltering itself beneath the wings of the spiritual power,\nthe material flourished--at its protector's expense. The realm of\nNature seemed at first so inconsiderable compared to that of the\nsupernatural, that he were a bold iconoclast who dared compare them.\nOnly, the King was always in the midst of his people; the god, century\nby century, retreated further into the unscaleable skies. Slowly the\ncivil power emancipated itself from the tutelage of the spiritual--as\nit is still doing in our own time--slowly and with many falterings and\nmany backward glances, asserting itself in prosperity, appealing for\nhelp in adversity, retreating often, but never so far as it advanced.\n\nWith the first introduction of civil government the witch and the\npriestess finally part company, to range themselves henceforward\nupon opposite sides. It is true that as religion follows religion\nthe priestess of the former era often becomes the witch of its\nsuccessor, thereby only accentuating the distinction. For, in the\nunceasing efforts to arrange a _modus vivendi_ between the human\nand the supernatural worlds, the priestess accommodates herself to\ncircumstances--the witch defies them. The priestess, acknowledging\nher own humanity, claims only to interpret the wishes of the god, to\nintercede with him on behalf of her fellow-men. The witch, staunch\nTory of the old breed, claims to be divine, in so far as she exercises\ndivine power unamenable to human governance, and thus singles herself\nout as one apart, independent of civil and ecclesiastical powers\nalike--and as such an object of fear and of suspicion. Even so she\nis still respectable, suspect indeed, but not condemned. The public\nattitude towards her is variable; she is alternately encouraged and\nsuppressed, venerated and persecuted--and through all she flourishes,\nnow seductive as Circe, now hag-like as was Hecate.\n\nAges pass, empires flourish and decay, and slowly a great change is\ncoming over society. Unrest is in the air; old systems and old creeds\nare dying of inertia, and men look eagerly for something to take\ntheir place. The spirit of individual liberty steals round the world,\nwhispering in all men's ears. The slave, toiling at the oar, hears\nthem, though he dare not listen, and hugs them in his heart--and a\nheresy, threatening the very foundations of society, spreads far and\nwide. Is it just possible that men are not born slave or master by\ndivine decree?\n\nThe First Socialist is born in the East. He and His disciples preach a\ncreed so blasphemous, so incompatible with the rights of property, that\nit becomes a sacred duty, if vested interests are to be preserved, to\ncrucify Him as an encouragement to others. He proclaims, in a word,\nthat all men are equal. It is well for Christianity that He adds the\nqualification, \"In the sight of God,\" or how could either slave or\nmaster believe in anything so contrary to the senses' evidence? Vested\ninterests notwithstanding, the new creed spreads, as any creed so\ncomforting to the great majority, the downtrodden and oppressed, is\nbound to spread. But, though it preached the acceptable doctrines of\nliberty, equality, and fraternity, Christianity introduced with them\nsin into the world. All men might be equal in the sight of God, but\nthey were all equally sinners. Humility and self-abasement were to take\nthe place of the old pagan joyousness. To the Christian--to the Early\nChristian, at any rate--the world ceased to be man's inheritance, as\nHeaven was that of a congerie of shifting divinities-an inheritance the\nenjoyment of which was as blameless as it was natural. It was become a\nplace of discipline and education, a hard school designed to prepare\nhim for a glorious future, and one in which only the elect were to\nshare. Everything that did not actively help towards that end was evil;\nall who did not work towards that end were evil-doers. The pagan and\nhis easy-going paganism were alike accursed and tolerance a sin.\n\nThe contest between two such schools of thought--however long drawn\nout--could have but one conclusion. Capricious persecutions, on civil\nrather than religious grounds, gave the iconoclasts the one remaining\nimpetus needed to snatch the sceptre of the world. Successful, they\npersecuted in their turn, systematically and with the thoroughness born\nof conscious virtue. In spite--or because of--such attempts to stamp\nout pagan and paganism together, the old order still survived in secret\nlong after the known world was officially Christianised. Naturally\nenough, the Christian could only suppose that such criminal persistence\nwas the direct work of that Evil One whom he first had exploited. Pagan\nrites were nothing more nor less to him than Devil worship, those who\npractised them the direct representatives of Satan. Some of the pagan\ngods had been pressed into the service of Christianity as saints, their\nfestivals as saints' days. Those that remained were classed together,\nwith their ministers and attributes, under the generic heading of\nMagic, shunned and feared at first, but as the Church more and more\nstepped into the shoes of the civil power, warred upon without mercy.\n\nFaced by such forcible arguments for conversion, the Pagan witch was\nnot long in adopting the Christian Devil as a more potent protector\nthan the old, easy-going gods who had formerly peopled the supernatural\nworld. Pagan or nominal Christian, she was equally anathema to the\nChurch, if only that she was consistently Protestant, claiming to\nhold direct communication with the Unseen quite regardless of the\nproper ecclesiastical channels. And by this very independence her\nhold upon the imagination of her neighbours continued to increase as\nChristianity progressed towards universal empire. The very definite\npronouncements of the Church against witches, witchcraft, and all kinds\nof magic served to foster the general belief in their powers. What was\nso forcibly condemned must of necessity exist. There was, moreover, a\ncertain satisfaction in this same tangibility. It simplified, smoothed\nout the path of virtue. With witchcraft about, your duty was plain and\nyour task easy. You had but to mention a holy name, to make a sacred\nsign, to sprinkle a little holy water, and victory was assured. If all\nassaults of the devil were so straightforward and so vincible, the path\nto Heaven were broad and smooth indeed.\n\nIt was, perhaps, the popular sense of victorious ability against\nher spells which protected the witch, _per se_, against over-severe\npersecution until towards the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.\nAbsolute confidence in the power to suppress an evil diminishes the\nurgency for its suppression. Here and there a witch was executed,\nlocal persecutions of inconsiderable extent occurred, but for general\nholocausts we must wait until the more enlightened times of a James I.\nor a Louis XIV. The witch of the Dark Ages might count upon a life of\ncomparative security, sweetened by the offerings of those who, pining\nfor present joys, acted upon the advice of Omar Khayyam rather than\nfollowing that of their ghostly advisers. Meanwhile, however, a mass of\ntradition and precedent was growing up, to be put to deadly purpose in\nthe animadversions of learned sixteenth and seventeenth century writers\nupon the vile and damnable sin of witchcraft.\n\nBy the eleventh century the witch was firmly identified, in the popular\nas well as the ecclesiastical mind, as a woman who had entered upon\na compact with Satan for the overthrowing of Christ's kingdom. The\npopular conception of her personality had also undergone a change.\nBy the twelfth century there was no more question of her as a fair\nenchantress--she was grown older and uglier, poorer and meaner, showing\nnone of the advantages her compact with the Evil One might have been\nexpected to bring in its train.\n\nThe increasing tendency towards dabbling in things forbidden brought\nabout greater severity in its repression, but it was not until the\ndays of Innocent VIII., when witchcraft was officially identified with\nheresy, that the period of cruel persecution may be said really to\nhave begun. Sorcery in itself was bad enough; associated with heresy\nno crime was so pernicious and no punishment too condign, especially\nwhen inflicted by the Holy Inquisition. The inquisitorial power was\nfrequently misused; the fact that the possessions of the accused became\nforfeit to her judges when tried in an ecclesiastical court may seem to\nthe sceptic to provide ample reason why the ecclesiastical authorities\nundertook so many more prosecutions than did the civil. But of the\nabsolute sincerity with which all classes set themselves to stamp out\nso dreadful a crime, the portentous and voluminous writings of the\nperiod leave no doubt whatever. Catholic and, after the Reformation,\nProtestant, rich and poor, patriot and philanthropist alike, vied with\neach other in the enthusiasm with which they scented out their prey,\nand the pious satisfaction with which they tortured helpless old women\nto the last extremity in the name of the All-Merciful.\n\nFrom the fourteenth century onwards the type of recognised witch varies\nonly in detail. Though not invariably she is commonly the conventional\nhag. If young, she has been led astray by a senior, or taken to the\nSabbath in childhood under constraint--which was not, however, regarded\nas a valid defence in time of trial. Many such were executed in the\nsixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in many cases mere children. But\nit was the toothless hag whose mumblings held the public ear and became\nacknowledged as the truest type. Even when men ceased to fear her she\nlost nothing of her grotesque hideousness to the childish mind, and\nas such has become finally enshrined in the nursery lore of Europe.\nAs such, also, I have endeavoured to reconstruct her in her habit as\nshe lived in the eyes of her medi\u00e6val contemporaries elsewhere in this\nvolume.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE HALF-WAY WORLDS.\n\n\nHaving decided, very early in his earthly career, to acknowledge a\nsupernatural world, Man promptly set to work to people it after his\nown image. One not providing scope for his quickening imagination, he\nadded another to it, supplementing the heavenly by the infernal, good\nby evil--if, indeed, as is more probable, he did not rather deduce good\nout of evil. But just as there are many stages between high noon and\nmidnight, so to the world he saw and those he imagined he added yet\nothers which should act as their connecting links. Between the divine\nand the human he placed the semi-divine, between the human and the\ninfernal the half-human. He mated God with Man and both with Devil, and\ndowered them with a numerous family, God-Man, Man-Devil, God-Devil,\nand so on, until the possibilities of his earlier imagination were\nexhausted. Each has his own world--and the stars cannot rival them in\nnumber; each world has its cities and its nations, differing in all\nthings save one--that all alike feel, act, think, after the manner of\nmankind. So is it, again, with the other universe of half-way worlds,\nfilling the space between the human and the bestial--centaur, satyr,\nwere-wolf, or mermaid, all alike reflect the human imagination that has\nevolved them--to nondescript bodies they unite the reflected mind of\nman.\n\nConforming to the general rule, the witch is but one dweller in a\nhalf-way world that is thickly populated and in itself forms one of an\nintricate star-group. Externally at least, its orbit nearly coincides\nwith that of our human world, in that its inhabitants are for the most\npart of human origins acquiring those attributes which raise them\nabove--or degrade them below--the commonalty subsequently to their\nbirth. This not invariably--nothing is invariable to the imagination.\nThus the fairies, although not human beings, may yet be witches--demons\nalso, unless many grave and reverend authorities lie. Under certain\nconditions they may even become human beings, as mermaids may--many\na man has married a fairy wife--and it is an open question whether\nthey have altogether lost their hope of Heaven, as witches invariably\nhave. As witches, they must be regarded as belonging to the White,\nor beneficent, type; for although, as Mercutio has told us, they may\nsometimes play unkind pranks upon the idle or undeserving, they have\nalways a kindly eye for the virtuous, and frequently devote themselves\naltogether to good works, as in the case of Lob-lie-by-the-Fire, and\nothers equally difficult to catalogue. For the more we investigate\nthe various orbits of the half-way worlds, the more do we find them\ninextricably interwoven. The Western Fairy or Oriental Djinn may\npartake of half-a-hundred different natures--may pervade half the\nimaginative universe--and as does the Fairy, so does the Witch. Hecate,\na goddess, was yet no less notorious a witch than was Mother Shipton,\na human being of no elevated rank. The were-wolf, though usually of\nhuman parentage, might yet have been born a wolf and obtained the power\nof taking human shape from some subsequent external cause. The Beast\nin the fairy story, though at heart a youthful Prince of considerable\nattractions, once transmogrified might have remained a Beast for good\nand all but for his fortunate encounter with Beauty's father. Who shall\nsay exactly in which world to place, how to class beyond possibility of\nconfusion, Circe--witch, goddess, and woman, and the men she turned to\nswine--or the fairies and mermaids who have, usually for love, divested\nthemselves of their extra-human attributes and become more or less\npermanently women--or those human children who, stolen by the fairies,\nhave become fairies for good and all--or how distinguish between all\nof these and the ladies with romantic names and uncertain aspirates who\ndeal out destinies in modern Bond Street.\n\nEven if we agree to confine the witch to the narrowest limits, to\nregard her, that is to say, as primarily a human being and only\nincidentally possessed of superhuman powers and attributes, there still\nremain many difficulties in the way of exact classification. Her powers\nare varied, and by no means always common to every individual. Or,\nagain, she has the power to turn herself corporeally into a wolf or a\ncat--which brings her into line with the were-wolf, just as the cat or\nwolf may under certain circumstances transform themselves, permanently\nor otherwise, into a human witch. She may acquire the mind of a wolf\nwithout its body; on the other hand, many a beautiful princess has\nbeen transformed into a white doe by witchcraft. So with her male\ncolleagues--sorcerer, magician, wizard, warlock, male-witch, diviner,\nand the rest of the great family. We may reach firm ground by agreeing\nto recognise only such as are of human origin, though by so doing we\nrule out many of the most eminent--the great Merlin himself among them.\nBut even so, it is impossible to dogmatise as to where the one begins,\nthe other ends. There have been many male-witches--more particularly in\nScotland--as distinguished from wizards. Wizard and warlock again, if\nit be safe to regard them as distinct species, though differing from\nmagician and sorcerer, are yet very difficult of disentanglement. The\nposition is complicated by the fact that, just as a man may be clerk,\nsinger, cricketer, forger, philanthropist, and stamp-collector at one\nand the same time, so might one professor of the Black Art take half a\ndozen shapes at the same time or spread over his career.\n\nThere is indeed but one pinnacle of solid rock jutting out from the\ngreat quagmire of shifting uncertainty--witch, wizard, were-wolf,\nor whatsoever their sub-division--one and all unite in one great\ncertainty: that of inevitable damnation. Whatever their form, however\ndivergent their powers, to that one conclusion they must come at last.\nAnd thus, and only thus, we may know them--posthumously.\n\nIt is true that certain arbitrary lines may be drawn to localise the\nwitch proper, even though the rules be chiefly made up of exceptions.\nThus she is, for the most part, feminine. The Scots male-witch, and\nthose elsewhere occurrent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,\nmight as correctly be termed wizards or warlocks, for any absolute\nproof to the contrary. The witch, again, has seldom risen to such\nheights in the profession as have her male competitors. The magician\nbelongs, as we have seen, to a later stage of human development than\ndoes the witch, but, once evolved, he soon left her far behind; it\nis true that he was able to avail himself of the store of knowledge\nby her so slowly and painfully acquired. With its aid he soon raised\nhimself to the highest rank in the profession--approaching it from the\nscientific standpoint, and leaving her to muddle along empirically\nand by rule of thumb. Nor was he content until he had made himself\nmaster of the Devil--using Satan and all his imps for his own private\nends--while the less enterprising witch never rose to be more than the\nDevil's servant, or at best his humble partner in ill-doing.\n\nThe Magician, whatsoever his own private failings, has certainly\ndeserved well of posterity. Just as the quack and the Bond Street sybil\nare representatives of the witch in the direct line, so, from the\nalchemist and the sorcerer are descended the great scientists of our\nown day--an impious brood indeed, who deny that their own father was\naught but an impostor and a charlatan. The proprietor of, let us say,\n\"Dr. Parabole's Pellets,\" is own brother--illegitimate though he be--to\nthe discoverer of the R\u00f6ntgen ray. The researches of the old-time\nsorcerer into the Forbidden, whatever their immediate profit, at least\npointed out the direction for more profitable researches. Merlin,\nCornelius Agrippa, or Albertus Magnus, had they been born in our day,\nwould certainly have achieved the Fellowship of the Royal Society--and\nwith good reason. It is to the search after the philosopher's stone and\nthe elixir vit\u00e6 that we owe the discovery of radium. It was only by\ncalling in the aid of the Devil that mankind acquired the prescience of\na God.\n\nThe witch proper, on the other hand, did not trouble herself with\nresearch work. Having attained that dominion over her fellows dear\nto the heart of woman, she was content to rest upon her laurels.\nCertain incantations or charms, learned by rote, the understanding\nof the effect and cure of certain poisons--these were sufficient\nstock-in-trade to convince her neighbours, and perhaps herself.\nDoubtless Dr. Parabole, however aware in the beginning of the\nworthlessness of his own pills, comes after years of strenuous\nadvertising to believe in them. He may stop short of taking them\nhimself--at least he will prescribe them to his dearest friend in\nabsolute good faith. So with the witch, his grandmother. Many, no\ndoubt, of the millions offered up as sacrifice to the All-Merciful,\nwere guiltless even in intention; many more allowed themselves to be\nconvinced of their own sinfulness by the suspicions of their neighbours\nor the strenuous arguments of their judge-persecutors; many were\nhysterical, epileptic, or insane. But the larger proportion, it is\nscarcely too much to say, only lacked the power while cherishing the\nintention--witches they were in everything but witchcraft.\n\nWe thus may briefly state the difference between the witch and the\nmagician as that the one professed powers in which she might herself\nbelieve or not believe, inherited or received by her, and by her\npassed on to her successors without any attempt to augment them. The\nmagician, on the other hand, was actually a student of the mysteries\nhe professed, and thus, if we leave aside his professional hocus-pocus\ndevilry, cannot be considered as altogether an impostor. With the\nalchemist and the astrologer, more often than not combining the three\ncharacters in his one person, he stands at the head of the profession\nof which the witch--male or female--brings up the rear. Another\ndistinction is drawn by sixteenth-century authorities between witches\nand conjurers on the one side, and sorcerers and enchanters on the\nother--in that while the two first-mentioned have personal relations\nwith the Devil, their colleagues deal only in medicines and charms,\nwithout, of necessity, calling up apparitions at all. It is to be noted\nin this connection that the sorcerer often leads Devil and devilkin by\nthe nose, in more senses than one--devils having extremely delicate\nnoses, and being thus easily soothed and enticed by fumigations, a\npeculiarity of which every competent sorcerer avails himself. Thus,\nSaint Dunstan, and those other saints of whom it is recorded that\nthey literally led the Devil by the nose, using red-hot pincers for\nthe purpose, were but following the path pointed out for them by\nprofessors of the Art Magical.\n\nBetween the witch and the conjurer a wide gulf is fixed. The conjurer\ncoerces the Devil, against his infernal will, by prayers and the\ninvocation of God's Holy Name; the witch concludes with him a business\nagreement, bartering her body, soul, and obedience for certain more or\nless illusory promises. The conjurer is almost invariably beneficent,\nthe witch usually malignant, though the White Witch exercises her\npowers only for good, if sometimes with a certain mischievousness,\nwhile the Grey Witch does good or evil as the fancy takes her, with a\ncertain bias towards evil. The wizard, again, though often confused\nwith the male-witch, is in reality a practitioner of great distinction,\npossessing supernatural powers of his own attaining, and, like the\nmagician, constraining the Devil rather than serving him. He also is\ncapable of useful public service, so much so indeed that Melton, in\nhis \"Astrologastra,\" published in 1620, includes what may pass as a\nPost Office Directory of the wizards of London. He enumerates six of\nimportance, some by name, as Dr. Forman or \"Young Master Olive in\nTurnbull Street,\" others by vaguer designations, as \"the cunning man of\nthe Bankside\" or \"the chirurgeon with the bag-pipe cheek.\" He includes\none woman in the list, probably a White Witch.\n\nThe Diviners, or peerers into the future, form yet another sub-section\nof dabblers in the supernatural--and one which numbers very many\npractitioners even in our own day. Naturally enough, seeing that\nthe desire to influence the future is the obvious corollary to that\nof knowing it, the part of diviner was more often than not doubled\nwith that of witch or sorcerer. Divination is an art of the most\ncomplicated, boasting almost as many branches as medicine itself,\neach with its select band of practitioners. Different nations, again,\nfavoured different methods of divining--thus the Hebrews placed most\nconfidence in Urim and Thummim; the Greeks were famous for axinomancy,\nthe machinery for which consisted of an axe poised upon a slate or\notherwise handled. This method was as apt for present as for future\nneeds, being especially potent in the discovery of criminals. Crime\ndetection by divination has been--and remains--greatly favoured in the\nEast. The Hindus, in particular, place greater reliance upon it than\nupon the more usual methods of our Occidental police, and many stories\nare told of the successes achieved by their practitioners. Nor is this\nsurprising in cases where the diviner shows such shrewd knowledge of\nhuman nature as in that, oft-quoted, whereby all those under suspicion\nof a theft are ranged in a row and presented with mouthfuls of grain,\nwith the assurance that the guilty man alone will be unable to swallow\nit--a phenomenon which nearly always does occur if the thief be among\nthose present--and not infrequently when he is not! This and similar\nstories, though scarcely falling under the heading of divination\nproper, are so far pertinent to the subject that they suggest the\nexplanation of many of its more remarkable successes. Tell a nervous\nman that he is destined to commit suicide upon a certain day, and,\ngranted that he has any faith in your prophetic powers, the odds are\nthat he will prove the correctness of your prophecy. We may compare\nwith this the powerful influence of \"tapu\" upon the South Sea Island\nmind. Many natives have died--as has been vouched for by hundreds of\ncredit-worthy witnesses--for no more tangible reason than fear at\nhaving incurred the curse of desecrating something placed under its\nprotection. It may be added that the Islanders, observing that white\nmen do not suffer the same fate, account for it by declaring that the\nWhite Man's Gods, being of a different persuasion from their own,\nprotect their own votaries.\n\nDivination proper takes almost innumerable forms. Without entering\ntoo closely upon a wide subject, a few examples may be profitably\nquoted. Among the best known are Belomancy, or divination by the flight\nof arrows, a form much favoured by the Arabs; Bibliomancy (of which\nthe \"Sortes Virgilian\u00e6\" is the most familiar example); Oneiromancy\n(or divination by dreams, honoured by Archbishop Laud and Lord Bacon\namong others); Rhabdomancy (by rods or wands. The \"dowser,\" or\nwater-finder, whose exploits have aroused so much attention of recent\nyears, is obviously akin to the Rhabdomancist). Crystallomancy, or\ncrystal-gazing, was first popularised in this country by the notorious\nDr. Dee, and still finds many votaries in Bond Street and elsewhere.\nHydromancy, or divination by water, is another variety much favoured\nby the Bond Street sybil, a pool of ink sometimes taking the place of\nthe water. Cheiromancy, or Palmistry, most popular of any, may possess\nsome claim to respect in its least ambitious form as a means towards\ncharacter reading. Divination by playing-cards, another popular method,\nis, needless to say, of later, medi\u00e6val origin. The Roman augurs, who,\nas every schoolboy knows, deduced the future from the flight of birds,\nprovide yet another example of this universal pastime, perhaps the\nleast harmful sub-section of the Black Arts.\n\nAmong the most brilliant luminaries of the half-way worlds are\nthose twin-stars inhabited by the Alchemist and the Astrologer. The\npseudo-science of star-reading may be supposed to date from the first\nnightfall--and may thus claim a pedigree even older, if only by a\nfew months or years, than that of Magic proper. Alchemy, despite\nits Moorish name, has a scarcely less extended history. It owes its\nbirth--traditionally, at any rate--to the same Egyptian Man-God who\nfirst introduced witchcraft and magic in their regularised forms to an\nexpectant world. Its principles having been by him engraved in Punic\ncharacters upon an emerald, were discovered in his tomb by no less a\nperson than Alexander the Great. It should perhaps be added that doubts\nhave been cast upon this resurrection. However that may be, it was much\npractised by the later Greeks in Constantinople from the fifth century\nA.D. until the Moslem conquest of the city. From them the Arabs adopted\nit, gave it the name by which it has ever since been known, and became\nthe most successful of its practitioners.\n\nTo attempt any close study of the great alchemists were foreign to my\npresent purpose, and would entail more space than is at my disposal.\nAt the same time, so close was their connection, in the eyes of the\nvulgar, so intimate their actual relationship with witchcraft, that it\nis impossible altogether to ignore them. What is more, they lend to the\nwitch a reflected respectability such as she can by no means afford to\nforgo. They held, in fact, in their own day, much the same position\nas do the great inventors and scientists of to-day. Mr. Edison and\nMr. Marconi, had they been born ten centuries since, would certainly\nhave taken exalted rank as alchemists or magicians. As it is, in ten\ncenturies a whole world of magical romance will have been very likely\nwoven about their names, even if they have not been actually exalted to\ndivinity or inextricably confused with Lucifer and Prometheus. While\nsome of their predecessors may have actually claimed power over the\nsupernatural--either in self-deception or for self-aggrandisement--the\ngreat majority undoubtedly had such claims thrust upon them, either\nby their contemporaries or by posterity, and would have themselves\nclaimed nothing higher than to be considered students of the unknown.\nThe Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir Vit\u00e6 may have served indeed\nas the ideal goal of their researches, much as they do under their\nmodern form of the Secret of Life in our own time; but their actual\ndiscoveries, accidental and incidental though they may have been, were\nnone the less valuable. After such a lapse of time it is as difficult\nto draw the line between the alchemist-scientist and the charlatan as\nit will be a century hence to distinguish the false from the true among\nthe \"inventors\" and \"scientists\" of to-day, so absolutely do the mists\nof tradition obscure the face of history. Leaving out of the question\nsuch purely legendary figures as Merlin, we may class them under three\nheadings, and briefly consider one example under each. In the first\nmay be placed the more or less mythical figures of Gebir and Albertus\nMagnus, both of whom, so far as it is now possible to judge, owe their\nambiguous reputations entirely to the superstitions of their posterity.\n\nSuch a personage as the great Arabian physician Gebir, otherwise\nAbou Moussah Djafar, surnamed Al Sofi, or the Wise, living in the\neighth century, was certain to gain the reputation of possessing\nsupernatural power, even had he not busied himself in the discovery\nof the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir. Though he found neither,\nhe yet in seeking them made other discoveries little less valuable,\nand it is scarcely too much to say, made their discovery possible in\nlater centuries. Thus, in default of the means of making gold, he gave\nus such useful chemicals as nitric acid, nitrate of silver, and oxide\nof copper. Incidentally he wrote several hundred treatises on his two\n\"subjects,\" an English translation of one, the \"Summ\u00e6 Perfectionis,\"\nhaving been published in 1686 by Richard Russell, himself an alchemist\nof respectable attainments.\n\nAlbertus Magnus, again, gave every excuse to the vulgar for regarding\nhim as infernally inspired. That is to say, he was a scholar of great\nattainments in a day when scholars were chiefly remarkable for their\ndense ignorance, and fully deserved some less ambiguous sobriquet than\nthat bestowed upon him by some writers of \"Founder of the Schoolmen.\"\nA Dominican, he held the chair of Theology at Padua in 1222 while\nstill a young man. Grown weary of a sedentary life, he resigned his\nprofessorship and taught in many of the chief European cities, and more\nparticularly in Paris, where he lived for three years in company with\nhis illustrious pupil, Thomas Aquinas. He was at one time appointed\nBishop of Regensburg, but very soon resigned, finding his episcopal\nduties interfere with his studies. Of the twenty-five folios from his\npen, one is devoted to alchemy, and he was a magician of the first\nclass--so, at least, succeeding generations averred, though he himself\nvery likely had no suspicions thereof. Among other of his possessions\nwas a brazen statue with the gift of speech, a gift exercised with such\nassiduity as to exhaust the patience even of the saintly Thomas Aquinas\nhimself, so that he was constrained to shatter it to pieces.\n\nRoger Bacon, inventor and owner of an even more famous brazen head,\nwas no less illustrious a scholar, and as fully deserved his admiring\nnickname \"The Admirable Doctor,\" even though he were not in actual\nfact the inventor of gunpowder and the telescope, as asserted by his\nadmirers. A native of Somerset, and born, traditionally, the year\nbefore the signing of Magna Charta, he might have ranked among the\ngreatest Englishmen had not his reputation as a magician given him\nthe suggestion of being a myth altogether. Something of a heretic\nhe was, although in orders, and his writings brought down upon him\nthe suspicions of the General of the Franciscan Order, to which he\nbelonged. Pope Clement IV. extended protection to him for a time, even\nto the extent of studying his works, and more particularly his \"Magnum\nOpus,\" but later the Franciscan General condemned his writings, and he\nspent fourteen years in prison, being released only two years before\nhis death. But his historical achievements were as nothing to his\nlegendary possession, in partnership with Friar Bungay, of the Talking\nHead. Less garrulous than Albertus' statue, it emitted only three\nsentences: \"Time is. Time was. Time is past.\" Its last dictum, having\nunfortunately for all audience a foolish servant, and being by him held\nup to ridicule, it fell to the ground and was smashed to pieces, thus\ndepriving its inventor of his cherished scheme--by its help to surround\nEngland with a brazen rampart no whit less efficacious against the\nassaults of the King's enemies than are our present-day ironclads.\n\nFriar Bacon was not undeserving of the posthumous popularity he\nachieved in song and story, for he it was who made magic and\nalchemy really popular pursuits in this country. So numerous were\nhis imitators that rather more than a century after his death--in\n1434--the alchemical manufacture of gold and silver was declared a\nfelony. Twenty-one years later Henry VI., being, as he usually was,\nin urgent need of ready money, saw reason to modify the Governmental\nattitude, and granted a number of patents--to ecclesiastics as well as\nlaymen--for seeking after the Philosopher's Stone, with the declared\npurpose of paying the Royal debts out of the proceeds. In which design\nhe was, it is to be feared, disappointed.\n\nDr. Dee, the friend and gossip of Queen Elizabeth, may be taken as\nmarking the point at which the alchemist ceases to be an inhabitant\nof any half-way world and becomes altogether human. A Londoner by\nbirth, he was born in 1527, became a B.A. of Cambridge University\nand Rector of Upton-upon-Severn. His ecclesiastical duties could not\ncontain his energies, and so well versed did he become in arts magical\nthat, upon a waxen effigy of Queen Elizabeth being found in Lincoln's\nInn Fields--and a waxen effigy had only one meaning in Elizabeth's\ntime--he was employed to counteract the evil spells contained in it,\nwhich he did with such conspicuous success that the Royal Person\nsuffered no ill-effects whatever. Unfortunately for himself, Dr. Dee\nacquired in course of time a disciple, one Edward Kelly. Kelly proved\nan apt daunter of demons, but he was totally lacking in the innocent\ncredulity so noticeable in the character of his reverend mentor. At\nhis prompting Dr. Dee undertook a Continental tour, which resulted\nin disaster of the most overwhelming and the total loss of Dr. Dee's\ngood name. It is true that he may be considered to have deserved his\nfate, for so absolute was his belief in his disciple that when that\n_chevalier d'industrie_ received a message from a demoniacal familiar\nthat it was essential for the success of their alchemical enterprises\nthat they should exchange wives--Mrs. Dee being as well-favoured as\nMrs. Kelly was the reverse--the doctor accepted the situation with\nimplicit faith, and agreed to all that the spirits desired.\n\nAmong other seekers after the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir Vit\u00e6\nwho may be briefly referred to were Alain de l'Isle, otherwise Alanus\nde Insulis, notable in that he actually discovered the elixir, if\nhis contemporaries may be believed, and who so far lived up to his\nreputation as to defer his death, which occurred in 1298, until his\n110th year; Raymond Lully, who, visiting England in or about 1312,\nwas provided with a laboratory within the precincts of Westminster\nAbbey, where many years later a supply of gold-dust was found; Nicholas\nFlamel, who died in 1419, and who gained most of his occult knowledge\nfrom a volume written in Latin by the Patriarch Abraham; and, to come\nto later years, William Lilly, a famous English practitioner of the\nseventeenth century, and an adept in the use of the divining rod, with\nwhich he sought for hidden treasures in Westminster Abbey, possibly\nthose left behind him by Raymond Lully.\n\nPerhaps no symptom of civilisation is more disquieting than the\nincreasing tendency to compress the half-way worlds--built up by our\nforefathers with such lavish expenditure of imagination--into the\nnarrow limits of that in which we are doomed to spend our working\ndays--not too joyously. We have seen how the alchemist and the magician\nfrom semi-divine beings, vested with power over gods and men, have by\ndegrees come to be confounded with the cheap-jack of a country fair.\nSo it has been with many another denizen of the Unseeable. Consider,\nfor example, the once formidable giant. Originally gods, or but\nlittle inferior to them, so that Olympus must exercise all its might\nto prevail against them; at one time a nation in themselves, located\nsomewhere in Cornwall, with kings of their own, Corcoran, Blunderbore,\nand the rest, aloof from man except when, for their pastime or\nappetite, they raided his preserves, vulnerable, indeed, though only to\na superhuman Jack; where are your giants now? Goliath, though defeated\nby David, was yet not dishonoured, in that he was warring not against a\npuny, sling-armed shepherd, but against the whole might of the Jewish\nJehovah. There were giants on the earth in those days, the Scriptures\ntell us, and that in terms giving us to understand that a giant was to\nbe regarded with respect, if not with admiration. Polyphemus, again,\nthough outwitted by a mortal, was none the less a figure almost divine,\ngod-like in his passions and his agony. The whole ancient world teems\nwith anecdotes, all proving the respectability of the old-time giant.\nAnd to-day? I saw a giant myself some few years back. He was in a\nshow--and he was known as Goliath. A poor, lean, knock-kneed wavering\ncreature, half-idiotic, too, with a sickly, apologetic smile, as though\nseeking to disarm the inevitable criticism his very existence must\nprovoke. Yet he was not to blame, poor, anachronistic wretch. Rather it\nwas the spirit of the age, that preferred to see him, set up for every\nfool to jeer at, at sixpence a time, in a showman's booth, rather than\nto watch him afar off, his terror magnified by distance, walking across\na lonely heath in the twilight, bearing a princess or a captive knight\nalong with him as his natural prey. The same spirit that has made the\ngiant shrink to an absurdity can see only the charlatan beneath the\nflowing robes of the astrologer; and has argued the witch even out of\nexistence.\n\nSo it is with the mermaid. They showed one at the same booth wherein\nthe degenerate giant was mewed. A poor, shrunken, grotesque creature\nenough, yet even so it might have passed for a symbol, if no more, had\nthey been content to leave it to our imagination. Instead they must\nexplain, even while they pocketed our sixpences, that the whole thing\nwas a dreary sham, concocted out of the fore-quarters of a monkey and\nthe tail end of a codfish, the whole welded together by the ingenious\nfingers of some Japanese trickmonger. Yet there are those who would\nuphold such cruel candour, who would prefer to pay sixpence in order to\nsee an ape-codfish rather than to remain in blissful ignorance, rather\nthan imagine that every wave may have its lovely tenant, a sea-maiden\nof more than earthly tenderness and beauty. Civilisation prates to\nus of dugongs and of manatees, and other fish-beasts that, it says,\nrising upon the crest of a wave, sufficiently resemble the human form\nto be mistaken for it by credulous, susceptible mariners. But is not\nour faith in that tender story of the little mermaid who, for love\nof a man, sought the earth in human shape even though she knew that\nevery step must cause her agony, every foot-mark be outlined with her\nblood--is not it better for us to believe that fairy-tale than to cram\nour weary brains with all the cynical truths of all the dime-museums or\nschools of science between London and San Francisco?\n\nEven those who smile at Neptune and his daughters cannot refuse the\ntribute of a shudder to the Man-Beast. For however it be with the\nmermaid, the were-wolf is no figment of the imagination. Not the\nfanciful alone are convinced that many human beings partake of the\nnature of certain beasts. You may pass them by the hundred in every\ncity street--men and women showing in their faces their kinship with\nthe horse, the dog, cat, monkey, lion, sparrow. And not in their faces\nalone--for their features do but reflect the minds within them--the\nman with the sharp, rat-like face nine times out of ten has all the\nselfish canning of the rat. We have no need to seek for further\nexplanation of the centaur myth--to argue that some horseless nation,\nseeing horsemen for the first time, accepted the man and his mount\nas one and indivisible; there are plenty of men who have as much of\nthe equine as of the human in their composition. So it is with the\nwolf-man--the were-wolf. He exists, and to this day, despite all your\ncivilising influences. Not among savages alone--or chiefly. He roams\nthe streets of our great cities, seeking his prey. Perhaps he lives in\nthe next street to you--a prosperous, respected citizen, with a shop\nin Cheapside, a wife and family, and the regard of all his neighbours.\nThe wolf in him has never been aroused--may never be. Only, let Fate\nor chance so will it, and--well, who can tell us Jack the Ripper's\nantecedents? And where in all the annals of lycanthropy can you find a\ngrimmer instance of the man-wolf than Jack the Ripper?\n\nWith the were-wolf we return to closer contact with witchcraft\nproper. It is true that the were-wolf was not always bewitched.\nSometimes the tendency was inborn--the man or woman was transformed\ninto the wolf at each recurrent full moon. In France--and more\nparticularly in the South, where lycanthropy has always had one of\nits strongholds--the liability of certain individuals, especially\nif they be born illegitimate, to this inconvenience is still firmly\ncredited by the popular mind. The were-wolf may be recognised for\nthat matter, even when in his human form, usually by the shape of his\nbroad, short-fingered hands and his hairy palm. It is even possible to\neffect a permanent cure should the opportunity occur, and that by the\nsimple means of stabbing him three times in the forehead with a knife\nwhile in his lupine shape. Again, in Scandinavia and elsewhere certain\nmen could transform themselves into wolves at will--a superstition\narising naturally enough out of traditions of the Berserkers and the\nfits of wolfish madness into which they threw themselves. Yet again, as\nHerodotus tells us, lycanthropy was sometimes a national observance.\nThe Neuri, if the Scythians were to be believed, were in the habit of\nchanging themselves into wolves once a year and remaining in that\nshape for several days. But more frequently the change was attributable\nto some evil spell cast by a witch. It is true that the wolf was only\none of many animals into whose shape she might condemn a human soul to\nenter. Circe is, of course, a classical example; Saint Augustine, in\nhis \"De Civitate Dei,\" relates how an old lady of his acquaintance used\nto turn men into asses by means of enchantments--an example which has\nbeen followed by younger ladies ever since, by the way--while Apuleius'\n\"Golden Ass\" gives us an autobiographical testimony to the efficacy of\ncertain drugs towards the same end.\n\nDoubtless because the wolf was extirpated in this country at a\ncomparatively early date English were-wolf legends are few and far\nbetween. They could indeed only become universally current in a\ncountry mainly pastoral and infested by wolves, as, for instance, in\nancient Arcadia, where indeed the were-wolf came into his highest\nestate, or in many parts of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe to-day.\nIn certain Balkan districts the were-wolf shares the attributes of the\nvampire, another allied superstition which is by no means without its\nfoundations of fact. Most people must have, indeed, been acquainted at\nsome time or other with the modern form of vampire, individuals who\nunconsciously feed upon the vitality of those with whom they come into\ncontact. Many stories have been written, many legends founded upon\nthis phenomenon, to the truth of which many people have testified from\ntheir own experience. At which point I leave the subject to those with\nmore scientific knowledge than myself.\n\nIn case there should be any who desire to transform themselves into a\nwolf without the trouble and expense of resorting to a witch, I will\nclose this chapter with a spell warranted to produce the desired effect\nwithout any further outlay than the price of a small copper knife. It\nis of Russian origin, and is quoted from Sacharow by Mr. Baring Gould.\n\"He who desires to become an oborot (oborot = 'one transformed' =\nwere-wolf) let him seek in the forest a hewn-down tree; let him stab\nit with a small copper knife and walk round the tree, repeating the\nfollowing incantation:\n\n On the sea, on the ocean, on the island, on Bujan,\n On the empty pasture gleams the moon, on an ash-stock lying\n In a greenwood, in a gloomy vale.\n Towards the stock wandereth a shaggy wolf,\n Horned cattle seeking for his sharp white fangs;\n But the wolf enters not the forest,\n But the wolf dives not into the shadowy vale.\n Moon, moon, gold-horned moon\n Check the flight of bullets, blunt the hunters' knives,\n Break the shepherds' cudgels,\n Cast wild fear upon all cattle,\n On men, on all creeping things,\n That they may not catch the grey wolf,\n That they may not rend his warm skin!\n My word is binding, more binding than sleep,\n More binding than the promise of a hero!\n\n\"Then he springs thrice over the tree and runs into the forest,\ntransformed into a wolf.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE WITCH'S ATTRIBUTES\n\n\nIn his very learned and exhaustive treatise, \"De la D\u00e9monomanie des\nSorciers,\" the worthy Bodin, with enterprise worthy of a modern\nserial-story writer, keeps his reader's curiosity whetted to its\nfullest by darkly hinting his knowledge of awesome spells and charms\ncommonly employed by Satan's servants. Unlike the modern writer,\nhowever, he refrains from detailing them at length in his last chapter,\nfearing to impart knowledge which may easily be put to the worst\naccount. However valuable a testimony to his good faith and discretion,\nthis would certainly have brought down upon him the strictures of\nmodern critics, and might indeed have entailed serious loss to the\nworld had not other less conscientious writers more than rectified the\nomission.\n\nIt were, of course, impossible to include within the limits of such\na volume as is this--or of a hundred like it--one tithe of the great\nstore of spells, charms, and miscellaneous means towards enchantment\ngathered together in the long centuries since the birth of the first\nwitch. So also it is impossible to select any particular stage in her\nlong evolution as the most characteristic, as regards her manners\nand customs, of all that we imply by the word \"witch.\" On the other\nhand, she has definitely crystallised in the minds of those of us who\nhave ever been children, in the shape of the \"horrid old witch\" of\nfairy lore; and just as, in a preceding chapter, I have endeavoured\nto reproduce one of her working days--as imaged in the popular\nmind--so the witch of the Middle Ages may best be chosen when we would\nreconstruct her more human aspect.\n\nOf her actual appearance, divested of her infernal attributes, no\nbetter description could be desired than that given by Reginald\nScot in \"The Discoverie of Witchcraft\":--\"Witches be commonly old,\nlame, bleare-eied, pale, fowle, and full of wrinkles; poore, sullen,\nsuperstitious, and papists\"--(it is perhaps unnecessary to point out\nthat Scot was of the Reformed Faith)--\"or such as know no religion;\nin whose drousie minds the devill hath goten a fine seat; so as, what\nmischiefe, mischance, calamitie or slaughter is brought to passe, they\nare easilie persuaded the same is doone by themselves, imprinting in\ntheir minds an earnest and constant imagination hereof. They are leane\nand deformed, showing melancholie in their faces to the horror of all\nthat see them. They are doting, scolds, mad, devilish.\"\n\nEndowed with so unfortunate a personality, it is not surprising that,\nas Scot goes on to inform us, the witch should have found it difficult\nto make a living. It is indeed an interesting example of the law of\nsupply and demand that such woeful figures being needed for the proper\npropagation of the witch-mania, the conditions of medi\u00e6val life, by\ntheir harsh pressure upon the poor and needy among women, should\nhave provided them by the score in every village. You may find the\nconventional witch-figure to-day in the lonely hamlet or in the city\nworkhouse, but, thanks to our better conditions of life, she has become\nalmost as rare as have accusations of witchcraft against her.\n\nThe only means of subsistence open to her, Scot goes on, is to beg from\nhouse to house. In time it comes about that people grow weary of her\nimportunities. Perhaps they show their impatience too openly. \"Then,\"\nsays Scot, \"she curses one or the other, from the master of the house\nto the little pig that lieth in the stie.\" Someone in the wide range\nbetween those two extremes will be certain to suffer some kind of\nmischance before long--on much the same principle as that which gives\nlife to one of our most popular present-day superstitions, the ill-luck\nattending a gathering of \"thirteen at table.\" Any such disaster is\nnaturally attributed to the old beggar-woman--who is thus at once\nelevated to the dangerous eminence of witch-hood. Nor did the sufferer\nalways wait for her curse. Edward Fairfax, for example, the learned\nseventeenth century translator of Tasso, upon an epidemic sickness\nattacking his children, sought out their symptoms in a \"book of\nmedicine.\" Not finding any mention of \"such agonies\" as those exhibited\nby his children, he determined that some unholy agency must be at\nwork. His thoughts turned, naturally enough, to the gloomy forest of\nKnaresborough, within convenient distance of his abode. Nothing could\nbe more suspicious than the mere fact of living in such a suggestive\nlocality, yet Margaret White, widow of a man executed for theft, her\ndaughter, and Jennie Dibble, an old widow coming of a family suspected\nof witchcraft for generations past, were imprudent, or unfortunate,\nenough to live within its borders. The natural result attended their\nrashness--and so earnest was the worthy Fairfax that he set the whole\nproceedings down in a book, adding a minute account of the symptoms and\ndelusions of the invalids.\n\nAs the King has his orb and sceptre, the astrologer his spheres and\nquadrant, so the witch has her insignia of office. And it is a strong\nindication of her descent from the first house-wife that most of them\nare domestic or familiar objects. The imp or \"familiar\" who attends\nher may have the form of a bird or dog, but is far more often the\nmost domestic animal of all, the cat. Frequently it is malformed or\nmonstrous, in common with Satan himself and all the beings who owe him\nallegiance. It may have any number of legs, several tails, or none at\nall; its mewing is diabolic; it may be far above the usual stature\nof its kind. Usually it is black, but is equally eligible if white\nor yellow. As is a common incident of all religions, the symbol is\nsometimes confused with the office, the witch and her cat exchanging\nidentities. Thus witches have confessed under torture to have formerly\nbeen cats, and to owe their human shape to Satan's interference with\nnatural laws. A piebald cat is said to become a witch if it live for\nnine years, and the witch, when upon a nefarious errand, frequently\nassumes a feline shape.\n\nA characteristic of the witch, in common with demons and imps in\ngeneral, is that she does everything contrary to the tastes and customs\nof good Christians. With the one steady exception of the cat, she\nmost esteems animals repellent to the ordinary person, to women in\nparticular, and her imps may appear as rats or mice, usually tailless,\nspiders, fleas, nits, flies, toads, hares, crows, hornets, moles,\nfrogs, or, curiously enough, domestic poultry. An important item in\nher outfit is her broomstick--as homely an insignia as the cat. Its\nfeminine connection is obvious, though possibly its power of flight may\nbe derived from the magic wand. Smeared with a Satanic ointment, it\nacts as her chariot, or is prepared to serve her as a weapon of offence\nor defence--and woe to him who suffers a beating from the witch's\nbroom-handle.\n\nThe spindle, emblem of domesticity, becomes in the witch's hands a\nmaleficial instrument, and may be applied by her to a number of evil\nuses. The idea of the thread of life enters into many mythologies, and\nit, from some confusion of ideas, may well have been instrumental in\ntransforming the natural occupation of an old woman into one of the\ndangerous tricks of witchcraft.\n\nJust as \"loathly\" reptiles, the snake, the lizard, and the toad, stand\nin close relation to the witch, so plants growing in suggestive places\nor notoriously poison-bearing are especially connected with her.\nHemlock, mandrake, henbane, deadly nightshade--or moonshade, as it was\nsometimes called--saffron, poplar-leaves, all avoided by the common\nfolk, are held in high esteem by Satan's servants for their use in the\nconcoction of love-philtres and other noxious brews.\n\nFor the brewing of potions a cauldron is a matter of course, and the\nmixtures popularly supposed to have been brewed in it were enough to\nhave given it an evil reputation for all time. The enumeration of\ntheir ingredients is unpleasantly suggestive, even to the unbeliever,\nand the credulous may well have shuddered at such a mixture as:\n\n Eye of newt and toe of frog,\n Wool of bat and tongue of dog,\n Adder's fork and blindworm's sting,\n Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,\n\n Liver of blaspheming Jew,\n Gall of goat and slips of yew,\n\n Finger of birth-strangled babe, &c., &c.\n\nIt is true that a Macbeth was not to be catered for every day, and\nsimpler effects could have been obtained by less complicated, though\nperhaps not less unappetising means.\n\nOf all these insignia and attributes of her office the most important,\nas the most characteristic, were her \"familiars\" or imps. In medi\u00e6val\nreal life, just as in modern fairy-lore, the witch's possession of\na cat--or other animal, however harmless it might seem--was proof\npositive of her guilt. Without her familiar, indeed, she could scarcely\nhave claimed the powers attributed to her, for, whatever its form,\nit was the ever-present reminder of her contract with their common\nmaster, and in many cases the channel through which his commands\nand the means for their carrying out were communicated to her. The\ninfinite variations of form and kind of these same \"imps,\" as set\nout in the proceedings at the trials, bear strong testimony of the\nwild imaginations possessed by our forefathers or the Devil, as we\nmay prefer to believe. Thus Margaret White, in the Fairfax case just\nreferred to, had for familiar a deformed creature with many feet,\nsooty in hue and rough-haired, being of name unknown. Her daughter,\nwho resembled her in all things, with the addition of \"impudency and\nlewd behaviour,\" had a white cat spotted with black. Jennie Dibble had\na black cat called Gibbe, \"who hath attended her above 40 yeares.\" All\nthese imps, whatever their shape, obtained their nourishment by sucking\ntheir mistress's blood, leaving marks upon her body, which formed\ndeadly evidence against her at her trial. Nor was there any hope of\ncheating justice by giving these devil's marks commonplace forms, for\nthey were recognised even when made, by the Devil's cunning, to appear\nlike moles, birth-marks, or even flea-bites!\n\nThere is some slight confusion about the provenance of this same\nwitch-mark, unless it varied in individual cases--whether, that is\nto say, the marks were the result of suckling the imps, or whether,\nbeing already imprinted on the witch's body, they were selected for\nthat reason. Certainly there is frequent reference to the ceremony\nof its imprinting immediately after the signature of the contract\nwith Satan, and at the same time that her nickname and familiars were\nassigned to his new servant. Its object is ingeniously explained by\nthe unctuous Pierre de Lancre, no mean authority. Satan, he tells us,\nwishing to ape God in all things, has instituted this marking of his\nservants in imitation of the stigmata and also of the circumcision. A\nmore practical explanation, given by some writers, is that the Devil's\nmark, having the quality of itching at certain seasons, is conferred\nupon witches that they may never oversleep themselves and thus be late\nfor the Sabbath ceremonies. The root of the whole matter, however, as\nthe worthy Pierre is half-inclined to believe--and as some of us may\nbe half-inclined to agree with him in thinking--is that the mark (he\ncompares it to a toad's foot) has merely been instituted by Satan out\nof his love of importance and display, and with no further motive.\n\nAlthough in earlier ages this formality may have been dispensed with,\nby the sixteenth century the witch invariably signed a definite\ncontract with Satan. As was only too probable, seeing that they\ndispensed with an attorney, while the other person to the bargain,\nhimself of no mean intelligence, might chose among an infinity of legal\nadvisers, the contract was of a very one-sided nature. Nothing, at\nleast, was ever outwardly visible of those advantages for which she\nbartered away body and soul. Even such satisfaction as may have come\nfrom attending the Sabbaths was dearly bought, for not only did her\nearthly neighbours show their resentment in the most forcible manner,\nbut her reception by Satan, unless she had carried out his instructions\nto the furthest limit, was apt to be unamiable in the extreme. Of any\nmore material satisfaction--save, of course, that, and it is perhaps as\nsubstantial as human happiness can be--of paying off old scores, there\nis no sign at all. It is perhaps this lack of business instinct which\nmost markedly differentiates the witch from the sorcerer. He almost\ninvariably gained whatever worldly advantages he desired during the\nterm of his agreement, and not infrequently tricked Satan out of his\nshare of the bargain at the end of it.\n\nOf the preliminaries leading up to the bargain we are given an\nilluminating glimpse by Edward Fairfax in his already quoted book. His\ndaughter Helen, being in a trance, saw the wife of one Thorp, and, with\nthe impertinent enthusiasm of youth--as it now seems to us--urged her\nto pray \"with such vehemence that Thorp's wife wept bitterly a long\ntime. Then she asked her how she became a witch, and the woman answered\nthat a man like to a man of this world came unto her upon the moor\nand offered her money, which at first she refused, but at the second\ntime of his coming he did overcome her in such sort that she gave him\nher body and soul, and he made her a lease back again of her life for\n40 years, which was now ended upon Shrove Tuesday last. The man did\nwrite their lease with their blood, and they likewise with their blood\nset their hands to them. That her lease was in his keeping, and every\n7th year he showed it unto them, and now it was 3 years since she saw\nhers, and that each 7th year they renewed it. She said further that\nshe knew 40 witches, but there were only 7 of her company.\" From other\naccounts we learn that in the act of signing the contract the witch\nfrequently put one hand to the sole of her foot and the other to the\ncrown of her head--a gymnastic exercise that can scarcely have been\ncoincident with the affixing of her signature, however. Anyone who,\ndespite his cozening of witches, may urge the number of times when\nSatan was over-reached by sorcerers, as a proof that his intelligence\nis over-rated, may find evidence that he is occasionally gifted with\nbusiness acumen in the confession of one M. Guillaume de Livre, Doctor\nof Theology, who was so unlucky as to be condemned for witchcraft in\n1453. By the terms of his bargain with Satan he was bound to preach\nwhenever possible that there was no such thing as real sorcery. \"Such,\"\nas Bodin very acutely remarks, \"are the wiles and lures of the Evil\nOne.\"\n\nHer contract once signed, the witch naturally became as soon as\npossible proficient in the \"Devil's rudiments,\" which James I.\ndescribes as \"unlawful charms without natural causes. Such kinde of\ncharms as commonlie dafte wives use, for healing of forspoken goodes,\nfor preserving them from evil eyes, by knitting roun trees or sundriest\nkinde of hearbes, to the haire or tailes of the goodes; by curing the\nworme, by stemming of bloode; by healing of Horse-crookes, by turning\nof the riddle, or doing of such-like innumerable things by words\nwithout applying aniething meete to the part offended, as Mediciners\ndoe.\" \"Children cannot smile upon a witch without the hazard of a\nperpetual wry smile,\" writes Stephens in 1615. \"Her prayers and amens\nbe a charm and a curse ... her highest adoration hie yew trees, dampest\nchurchyards, and a fayre moonlight; her best preservatives odde numbers\nand mightie Tetragrammaton.\"\n\nHer crimes were many and varied enough to provide contemporary writers\nwith long pages of delectable matter. Thus, Holland declares, in \"A\nTreatise Against Witchcraft\" (1590), that:--\n\n They renounce God and all true religion.\n\n They blaspheme and provoke His Divine Majesty with unspeakable\n contempt.\n\n They believe in the Devill, adore him, and sacrifice unto him.\n\n They offer their children unto devills.\n\n They sweare unto Satan, and promise to bring as many as they can unto\n his service and profession.\n\n They invocate Satan in their praiers, and sweare by his name.\n\nBesides preaching gross immorality:--\n\n They commit horrible murders, and kill young infants.\n\n All Sorcerers for the most part exercise poison, and to kill with\n poison is far more heinous than simple murder.\n\n They kill men's cattle.\n\n And, lastly, the witches (as they themselves confesse) commit many\n abominations and filthenes.\n\nOther accounts follow similar lines or add further indictments; as\nJean Bodin, who also details the crimes of eating human flesh and\ndrinking blood, destroying fruit and causing famine and sterility.\nGenerally speaking, then, the crimes of witchcraft fall under the\nheadings of offences against religion and the Church; of those against\nthe community in general, such as causing epidemics or bad weather;\nand of those against individuals, including murder, especially of\nyoung children, causing disease, and injury to property. Such catholic\nappreciation in wrong-doing could not fail to arouse the disapproval\nof all right-thinking people, and as the mere charge of witchcraft,\nsupported by any one accusation, implied the perpetration of all\nthese various misdeeds, it is scarcely wonderful that the witch, once\napprehended, had small chance of escape.\n\nAlthough less generally harmful in its effects, the witch's passion\nfor aviation was as reprehensible as the rest of her proceedings. For\none thing, it was generally considered an offensive parody of the\nangels' mode of progression. Pierre de Lancre, indeed, who is unusually\nwell informed, states this as a fact. He points out further that the\ngood angels can fly much faster, being able to use their wings, while\nthe witch has to make use of some artificial means of support, as,\nfor example, a broomstick. It is characteristic of the cross-grained\neccentricity of witches that whereas a good angel, like a good\nChristian, enters or leaves the room by the door, the witch prefers the\nless convenient egress of the chimney. This was the more aggravating\nthat it rendered useless any attempts by beleaguering the house to\ncatch her in the act, seeing that she only flies by night; and Satan\nfurther provides against discovery by allowing her to leave her imp in\nher own shape behind her, and thus, if need be, provide a satisfactory\nalibi. The only way of getting at the real fact of the matter was then\nby obtaining a confession from the witch herself--which could, however,\nusually be arranged for by the authorities. The broomstick, be it\nnoted, was not an essential to the witch's aerial journeys; asses and\nhorses, if properly anointed with witch-ointment, could be used at a\npinch, as could a straw, an eggshell, or a barndoor fowl--to mention\nthree out of many possible mounts. Satan has been known to take upon\nhimself the shape of a goat, and thus to provide a steed for those\nhe most delights to honour. This is, however, attended by one grave\nand dangerous disadvantage. Satan hates the sound of church-bells,\nand should he hear the sound of the Ave Maria while carrying a witch\nthrough the air, will very likely drop her at once--as actually\nhappened to a witch named Lucrece in 1524.\n\nThe ever-helpful De Lancre details four ways of getting to the Sabbath:\n\n(1) By thought or meditation, as in the vision of Ezekiel.\n\n(2) On foot.\n\n(3) By being carried through the air by Satan.\n\n(4) By going in dreams or illusions, which leave the witch uncertain\nwhether she has really been present in the flesh or only had a\nnightmare. But De Lancre is assured that the transport is real, seeing\nthat they have actually been seen descending from the clouds, naked and\noften wounded, while they are often so exhausted thereafter as to be\nobliged to keep their beds for several days.\n\nThe ointment used by witches for such purposes are by many considered\nto have been but another instance of Satan's cunning and lack of good\nfaith. As a tangible token of her service, they flatter the witch's\nsense of importance--though in themselves quite useless--while the\nobtaining of these ingredients necessitates a good deal of mischief\nbeing done to good Christians. Holland, who tells us that \"Witches\nmake oyntements of the fatte of young children,\" adds that Satan has\nno great opinion of the said \"oyntements,\" but loves the bloodshed\nit entails. Wierus provides us with a more detailed gruesome recipe.\nBy their spells witches cause young children to die in the cradle or\nby their mother's side. When they are dead, of suffocation or other\ncauses, and have been buried, the witches take them out of the grave\nand boil them in a cauldron until the flesh leaves the bones, and\nthe rest is as easy to drink as melted wax. Of the thicker portions\nthe ointment is made; while whoever drinks the liquid will become\nmistress of the whole art of witchcraft. Bacon speaks of several other\ningredients. To the customary fat of children \"digged out of their\ngraves,\" he adds the juices of smallage, wolf-bane, and cinque-foil,\nmingled with the meal of fine wheat, and, he says, \"I suppose the\nsoporiferous medicines are likest to do it, which are henbane, hemlock,\nmandrake, moonshade, tobacco, opium, saffron, and poplar-leaves.\" Some\nare of opinion that such soporific elements are introduced into the\nointment by the Devil in order to dull the senses of his servants, that\nhe may the more easily do as he likes with them--but as those who have\ngone so far in procuring the _pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance_ of the mixture\nare not likely to be over-scrupulous, such a precaution seems almost\nunnecessary.\n\nThe poisons, \"charms,\" and baleful powders needed by the witches\nin their ordinary business-routine may be made either in their own\ndomestic cauldron or at the Sabbath. They include such ingredients\nas the heads of toads, spiders, or the bark and pith of the \"Arbre\nMaudit.\" The semi-solids are the most poisonous to human beings,\nwhile the liquid varieties are used to destroy crops and orchards.\nFor doing damage on the sea or among the mountains, powders are well\nconsidered--made of toads' flesh, roasted, dried, and pulverised, and\nsubsequently cast into the air or scattered on the ground, according\nto the circumstances of the case. Another and very baleful poison may\nbe made of \"green water\"; so potent is it that even to touch it causes\ninstant death. A paste entirely efficacious against confession under\ntorture may be made with black millet mixed with the dried liver of an\nunbaptised child. A skinned cat, a toad, a lizard or an asp, roasted,\ndried, pulverised, and burned until required, may be put to excellent\npurposes of offence. Cast in the air or on the ground, with the words\n\"This is for corn, this for apples,\" and so forth, such a powder, if\nused in sufficient quantities, will turn a smiling countryside into a\ndesert. There is, indeed, one plant which resists all such spells--the\ncommon onion. Thus De Lancre tells us of a certain garden so injured\nby these powders that everything died except the onions--for which,\nhe adds, the Devil has a particular respect. If this respect comes\nfrom dislike of its smell--and Satan is known to have a very delicate\nnose--our modern prejudice against the onion-eater immediately after\ndinner would seem to be only another proof of man's natural tendency to\nevil.\n\nIn deference to the unceasing demand, the witch has ever been a\nprominent exponent of prophecy and divination--nor have any of her\npractices given more offence to Holy Church. At the late period of\nher history we are now considering, she had acquired a sufficiently\nvaried repertoire of methods to satisfy the most exacting. To quote\nfrom a long list supplied us by Holland, the witch of his times could\ndivine:--\"By fire, by the ayer, by water, by the earth, by the dead,\nby a sive, by a cocke, by a twibble or an axe, by a ring, by Ise, by\nmeale, by a stone, by a lawrell, by an asse's head, by smoake, by a\nrodde, by pieces of wood, by a basin of water, by certain round vessels\nof glasse full of water, by rubbing of the nayles.\" All of which go\nto show that she had lost little of the skill possessed before her by\nEgyptian necromancers and medi\u00e6val magicians.\n\nBut the most fantastic, as it became the most famous, incident of\nthe witch's life, as viewed by her contemporaries, was certainly\nthe Sabbath. In a previous chapter I have endeavoured to provide\nsome narrative account of such a gathering as being the simplest\nand directest method of reconstruction. It was, however, obviously\nimpossible to include one tithe of the various incidents at one or\nother period attached thereto by writers, Inquisitors or witches\nthemselves--and this quite apart from the obvious limitations entailed,\nin matters of detail, upon one who writes for the general public.\n\nThese same Sabbaths might be described in modern terms of commerce as\nSatan's stock-takings, whereon he might check the number and loyalty\nof his subjects. They were of two kinds--the more important, or\n\"Sabbaths-General,\" to which flocked witches from all parts of the\nworld, and the more localised and frequent \"Sabbaths\" simple. Their\nplace and time varied, though most frequently held after midnight\non Friday--an arrangement agreeable to the Church view of the Jews\nand their Sabbath, and not impossibly arising therefrom. In earlier\ndays--or so De Lancre informs us--the Devil chose Monday, the first\nday of the week, as most suitable, but, with his usual inconstancy,\nhas varied it several times since then. Darkness was not essential,\nSabbaths having been occasionally held at high noon. In Southern\ncountries, indeed, the hours between midday and 3 p.m. were considered\nthe most dangerous to mortals, the terrestrial demons having then most\npower. The pleasures of the midday meal might have a fatal influence in\nputting the intended victim off his guard, his sleepy content making\nhim peculiarly susceptible to the attacks of Satan's agents. Some\nauthorities give from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. as the hours, seeing that, as\nin more legitimate assemblies, everybody could not arrive at once,\nand there was much business to be gone through. The Sabbaths-General,\nin mockery of the Church, were usually held on the four great annual\nfestivals. They might take place anywhere, though certain spots were\nespecially favoured. Market-places, especially if beside an important\nchurch, were among them. The mountain of D\u00f4me, in Perigord, again, was\namong the most famous meeting-places in France, as were the Wrekin\nin England, the Blocksburg in Germany, and the Blockula in Sweden.\nAttendance was not a mere matter of pleasure, witches who failed being\nseverely punished by demons sent in search of them or on their next\nappearance.\n\nSatan himself usually presided in person, though he was occasionally\nrepresented by an underling, to the great anger of the witches. Thus,\non one occasion, he deprecated their wrath by the explanation that in\nview of a strenuous persecution then on foot he had been pleading the\ncause of his followers with Janicot--an impious name for Jesus--that\nhe had won his case, and that they would not be burnt. As a reward, he\nadded, they must bring him eighty children, to be given to a certain\npriest present at the Sabbath, and later tried for sorcery. He appeared\nin many forms, that of a goat being perhaps his favourite. Anyone who\nhas ever studied a goat's face, and more particularly the expression\nof its eyes, can testify to Satan's sense of the fitness of things\nin so doing, as also to that of the old Flemish painters, and more\nparticularly Jerome Bosch, who, in the paintings of devils for which\nhe is so justly famous, has made copious use of the goat's head as\na model for his most demoniacal demons. As a goat Satan was usually\nof monstrous size, having one face in the usual position and another\nbetween his haunches. Marie d'Aguerre, who attended a Sabbath at the\nmature age of thirteen, and afterwards paid the penalty with her life,\ntestified that in the middle of the assembly was a huge pitcher of\nwater, out of which Satan emerged as a goat, grew to enormous size,\nand, on his departure, returned again into the pitcher. Sometimes he\nhad two pairs of horns, in front and behind, more usually only three in\nall, that in the centre supporting a light, to serve the double purpose\nof illuminating the proceedings and of lighting the candles carried\nby the witches in mockery of Christian ceremonies. Above his horns he\nsometimes wore a species of cap, and sometimes he had a long tail, in\nthe usual place, with a human face above it. This was saluted by his\nguests, but he was unable to speak with it.\n\nHe might also appear in the form of a tree-trunk, without arms or feet,\nbut with the indistinct suggestion of a face, seated on a throne;\nsometimes like a giant, clad in dark clothes, as he does not wish\nhis disciples to realise that he is himself suffering the proverbial\ntorture of hell. Some attendants at the Sabbath--as, for instance, poor\nlittle Corneille Brolic, aged twelve--saw him as a four-horned man;\nothers, Janette d'Abadie among them, vouch for his having two faces;\nothers saw him as a black greyhound or a huge brass bull lying on the\nground. The constant uncertainty as to the form likely to be taken\nby the host must have been an added interest to the proceedings--and\nit has been supposed by some that his powerful imagination led him\noccasionally to appear in a different shape to each several guest,\nand to change from one to another at frequent intervals during the\nproceedings.\n\nThe actual ceremonies, festivities, and ritual of the Sabbath varied\ngreatly at different times and places, but having already given a\ntypical example in an earlier chapter, it is unnecessary to dwell\nfurther on so unsavoury a subject. The various accounts, evolved from\nthe imaginations of over-willing witnesses or tortured witch, however\nmuch they may suffer in detail, unite in being the expression of the\nfoulest and most obscene images of a disordered brain, and as such\nwe may leave them. So again the Devil's Mass was conducted in such a\nmanner as might most impiously parody the Christian ritual. The Devil,\nhowever, as an old writer astutely points out, in thinking to imitate\nChrist by sitting on a great golden throne during the ceremony, only\nshows his exceeding folly, forgetting that, although Christ often\nspoke while sitting, He yet gained His greatest triumph on the Cross.\nWith the aforesaid throne Satan conjures up all the paraphernalia\nof worship--temples, altars, music, bells--though only little ones,\nfor he hates and fears church-bells--and even crosses. Four priests,\none serving the Mass, a deacon, and a sub-deacon usually officiate.\nCandles, holy water, incense, the offertory, sermons, and the elevation\nof the Host all find place in the Devil's Mass. The sign of the cross\nis made with the left hand, and in further mockery they chant:--\n\n In nomine Patricia Aragueaco\n Petrica, agora, agora! Valentia\n Jouanda goure gaitz goustia.\n\nWhich is to say:--\n\n Au nom de Patrique, Petrique d'Arragon, \u00e0 cette heure. Valence, tout\n nostre mal est pass\u00e9.\n\nThree languages, according to French authorities, Latin, Spanish and\nBasque, are employed in mockery of the Trinity. The priest usually\nelevates the Host--which is black and triangular--standing upon his\nhead. At the elevation of the cup--often black--the whole assembly\ncry \"Black crow!\" but not even Satan dare say this at the elevation\nof the Host. The ceremony of baptism is performed upon toads; while\neven martyrs are not forgotten--this part being played by sorcerers so\nbemused that torture has become a mockery to them.\n\nOne Jehannes du Hard, in her confession, gives us an account of the\nmethod of compounding poisons and witch-ointments at the Sabbaths.\nOn her second attendance she saw a great man dressed in black. At\nattendant produced an earthenware pot, in which were many great spiders\nand a white slug, along with two toads. These latter Jehannes skinned,\nwhile a companion pounded the spiders and the slug with a pestle. To\nthis mixture the skinned toads were added later, having first been\nbeaten with switches to render them more poisonous. The resultant\nmixture was used with entire success to poison cattle. There is some\nuncertainty whether this, and similar poisons, was identical with the\nointment used by witches to anoint their broomsticks. In any case, it\nis intended by Satan in mockery of the sacrament of baptism and Holy\nUnction.\n\nWere there any room for doubting that Satan habitually breaks faith\nwith his servants, it would be dispelled by the testimony given before\nthe oft-quoted authority, Pierre de Lancre, when that learned gentleman\nwas holding an inquisition in the hag-ridden district of Labourt by\ncommand of the Parliament of Bordeaux. That of one witness, Legier\nRiuasseau, was the more dependable in that, although an eye-witness at\nthe Sabbath, he was yet under no sort of obligation to Satan, having\nbought the privilege from him for the moderate price of two fingers and\ntwo and a half toes. His object was worthier than the mere gratifying\nof curiosity, for he wished to disenchant a certain Jeanne Perrin, who\nwas among those present. That he might be present without danger, two\nfriends shut him in a dark room, wherein he remained for eight days.\nThere the Devil appeared to him, and explained that if he wished to\nsee the Sabbath and also acquire the power of healing he could do it\nfor two toes and half a foot, to which bargain he agreed. His friends\nafterwards released him from his voluntary captivity, but he could\nnot escape the dark man, who eight days later took the flesh from the\ngreat and second toes and half the third of his left foot, without,\nhowever, hurting him in the least. Had he desired the power of doing\nevil as well, he might have bought it for the remainder of his toes\nand half the foot, but being as good as he was prudent he refrained.\nFrom his further evidence we learn that the Sabbath takes place in the\nmarket-square towards midnight on Wednesday or Friday--Satan preferring\nstormy weather, that the wind may scatter poisons over a wider area.\nThat witnessed by Riuasseau was presided over by a large and a small\ndevil, and all present--the witness presumably excepted--adored Satan\nby kissing his posterior face. Thereafter sixty witches danced before\nhim, each with a cat tied to the tail of her shift. Marie de la Ralde,\nanother witness, deposed that she often saw Satan approach the children\npresent with a hot iron, but could not say definitely whether or not he\nbranded them. She asserted that all enjoyed the Sabbath to the utmost,\nthe Devil having absolute command over their hearts and wills. Witches,\nshe added, hear heavenly music and really believe themselves to be in\nParadise. The Devil persuades them that there is no such place as Hell,\nand further, by rendering them momentarily immune, that fire has no\npower over them. As a further proof of Satanic astuteness, she declared\nthat witches see so many priests, pastors, confessors, and other\npersons of quality attending the Sabbath as to be perfectly convinced\nof the entire correctness of the proceedings. She herself, even when\nshe saw that the Host was black instead of white, did not at the time\nrealise that anything was wrong.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nSOME REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH WITCHES\n\n\nHaving seen how the witch in general lived and went about her evil\nbusiness, it may be well to consider the personality of individual\nmembers of the craft. There have been, needless to say, many women\nfamous in other directions, who have been incidentally regarded by\ntheir contemporaries as possessing superhuman powers. Indeed, to be\ncondemned as a witch was but to have an official seal set upon the\nhighest compliment payable to a woman in more than one period of the\nearth's history, seeing that it marked her out from the dead level\nof mediocrity to which her sex was legally and socially condemned.\nIt is as unnecessary as it is unfair to believe that the English and\nFrench worthies who burnt Joan of Arc were hypocrites. That a woman\ncould do as she had done was to them capable only of two explanations.\nEither she must be inspired from above or from below, according to\nthe point of view. As it was too much to expect that those whom she\nhad defeated should regard her victories as divine, it followed that\nthey could seem nothing but infernal. From Cleopatra or the Witch of\nEndor onwards, the exceptional woman has had the choice of effacing her\nindividuality or of being regarded as an agent of the devil. It is true\nthat in our own more squeamish days, we prefer to regard her as either\neccentric or improper, according to her social position and other\nattendant circumstances.\n\nWe may then disregard such historical characters as have other claims\nto fame, and confine our attention to those whose activities were\nconcentrated upon witchcraft pure and simple. Nor have we to go far\nafield for noteworthy examples, seeing that they abound, not only\nin England, but even in London itself. Perhaps the most generally\nrespected of English witches, alike by her contemporaries and\nsucceeding generations is Mother Shipton, who flourished in the reign\nof Henry VII. More fortunate than the majority of her colleagues,\nshe died a natural death, and it is scarcely too much to say that\nher memory is green even to-day--among certain classes of society,\nat any rate. In common with the Marquess of Granby, Lord Nelson, and\nother popular idols, Mother Shipton has acted as sponsor for more than\none public house in different English counties; the most familiar to\nLondoners being perhaps that at the corner of Malden Road, Camden Town,\na stopping-place on the tram and omnibus route to Hampstead Heath. I\nhave not been able to trace any definite connection between the witch\nand the hostelry--probably the choice of a sign was made in order to\nrival another inn named after Mother Redcap--herself a witch of some\neminence--in the same district. Mother Shipton was a native of the\ngloomy forest of Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, a famous forcing-ground\nof Black Magic, and, although few details of her life have been\npreserved, we know, so far as tradition may be trusted, that despite\nher evil reputation and the certainty that she had sold herself to the\ndevil, she was granted Christian burial in the churchyard at Clifton,\nin Yorkshire, where she died. Whether this implies that she repented,\nand cheated the devil of his bargain, before her death, or only that\nthe local authorities were lax in their supervision of the parish\ncemetery, is an open question. At least, a tombstone is said to have\nbeen there erected to her memory with the following inscription:--\n\n Here lies she who never lied,\n Whose skill often has been tried.\n Her prophecies shall still survive\n And ever keep her name alive.\n\nNo doubt Mother Shipton was as gifted as her fellows in the customary\narts of witchcraft, but tradition draws a merciful veil over her\nexploits as poisoner or spell-caster. Her fame rests upon her\nprophecies, and whether she actually uttered them herself or they\nwere attributed to her after the event, by admiring biographers, they\nhave ever since been accepted as worthy of all respect even when not\nattended by the result she anticipated. Thus, although she is said to\nhave foretold the coming of the Stuarts in the person of James I. with\nthe uncomplimentary comment that with him:--\n\n From the cold North\n Every evil shall come forth.\n\nthe British Solon yet placed the greatest reliance upon her\nprognostications, as did Elizabeth before him. It is even said that his\nattempts by various pronunciamentos to stay the increase in the size of\nLondon were prompted by Mother Shipton's well-known prophecy that:--\n\n When Highgate Hill stands in the midst of London,\n Then shall the folk of England be undone.\n\nIf it be argued by the sceptical that, although the London boundaries\nare now considerably beyond Highgate Hill, the country has so far\nprospered, it is to be remembered that the prophetess gave no date\nfor the undoing of the English people, and that, if we may believe\nthe mournful views taken of our national future by the leaders of\nwhichever political party happens to be out of office, Mother Shipton's\nreliability is in a fair way of being vindicated within a very few\nyears.\n\nYet another of her predictions--perhaps the most famous, indeed--may\nhave been verified already in the days of Marlborough, Nelson, or\nany of several eminent commanders, or may be still in process of\nfulfilment. It runs as follows:\n\n The time shall come when seas of blood\n Shall mingle with a greater flood;\n Great noise shall then be heard;\n Great shouts and cries\n And seas shall thunder louder than the skies;\n Then shall three lions fight with three, and bring\n Joy to a people, honour to a king.\n That fiery year as soon as o'er\n Peace shall then be as before;\n Plenty shall everywhere be found,\n And men with swords shall plough the ground.\n\nThe vagueness of this and other prophecies by Mother Shipton, however\nmuch they may exasperate the stickler for exactitude, bear witness to\nher direct descent from the ancient sibyls and pythons, few, if any, of\nwhom ever vouchsafed anything more definite.\n\nPassing by Young Nixon, the dwarf, who, although a prophet scarcely\nless inferior in fame to Mother Shipton, scarcely falls within the\nlimit of this volume--though it may be noted that one of his best-known\nprophecies, that he would starve to death, did actually come true--we\nmay next consider the life-history of a witch less legendary than\nMother Shipton--the Mother Redcap referred to above as having provided\na sign for a Camden Town public house. Her career is detailed with\nsuch care in Palmer's \"St. Pancras and its History,\" and at the same\ntime provides so vivid a sketch of the probable career of many another\nwitch, that I may be excused for quoting the extract at length:--\n\n\"This singular character, known as Mother Damnable, is also called\nMother Redcap and sometimes the Shrew of Kentish Town. Her father's\nname was Jacob Bingham, by trade a brickmaker, in the neighbourhood of\nKentish Town. He enlisted in the army, and went with it to Scotland,\nwhere he married a Scotch pedlar's daughter. They had one daughter,\nthis Mother Damnable. This daughter they named Jinney. Her father,\non leaving the army, took again to his old trade of brick-making,\noccasionally travelling with his wife and child as a pedlar. When the\ngirl had reached her sixteenth year, she had a child by one Coulter,\nwho was better known as Gipsy George. This man lived no one knew how,\nbut he was a great trouble to the magistrates. Jinney and Coulter\nafter this lived together, but being brought into trouble for stealing\nsheep from some lands near Holloway, Coulter was sent to Newgate,\ntried at the Old Bailey, and hung at Tyburn. Jinney then associated\nwith one Darby, but this union produced a cat and dog life, for Darby\nwas constantly drunk; so Jinney and her mother consulted together;\nDarby was suddenly missed, and no one knew whither he went. About this\ntime, her parents were carried before the justices for practising the\nblack art, and therewith causing the death of a maiden, for which\nthey were both hung. Jinney then associated herself with one Pitcher,\nthough who or what he was never was known; but after a time his body\nwas found crouched up in the oven, burnt to a cinder. Jinney was tried\nfor the murder, but acquitted because one of her associates proved he\nhad 'often got into the oven to hide himself from her tongue.' Jinney\nwas now a lone woman, for her former companions were afraid of her.\nShe was scarcely ever seen, or if she were it was at nightfall, under\nthe hedges or in the lane; but how she subsisted was a miracle to\nher neighbours. It happened during the troubles of the Commonwealth\nthat a man, sorely pressed by his pursuers, got into her house by\nthe back-door, and begged on his knees for a night's lodging. He was\nhaggard in his countenance and full of trouble. He offered Jinney\nmoney, of which he had plenty, and she gave him a lodging. This man,\nit is said, lived with her many years, during which time she wanted\nfor nothing, though hard words and sometimes blows were heard from\nher cottage. The man at length died, and an inquest was held on the\nbody, but, though everyone thought him poisoned, no proof could be\nfound, and so she again escaped harmless. After this Jinney never\nwanted money, as the cottage she lived in was her own, built on waste\nland by her father. Years thus passed, Jinney using her foul tongue\nagainst everyone, and the rabble in return baiting her as if she were\na wild beast. The occasion of this arose principally from Jinney being\nreputed a practiser of the black art--a very witch. She was resorted\nto by numbers, as a fortune-teller and healer of strange diseases;\nand when any mishap occurred, then the old crone was set upon by the\nmob, and hooted without mercy. The old, ill-favoured creature would\nat such times lean out of her hatch door, with a grotesque red cap on\nher head. She had a large broad nose, heavy shaggy eyebrows, sunken\neyes, and lank and leathern cheeks; her forehead wrinkled, her mouth\nwide, and her look sullen and unmoved. On her shoulders was thrown a\ndark grey striped frieze with black patches, which looked at a distance\nlike flying bats. Suddenly she would let her huge black cat jump\nupon the hatch by her side, when the mob instantly retreated from a\nsuperstitious dread of the double foe.\"\n\nThe extraordinary death of this singular character is given in an old\npamphlet. \"Hundreds of men, women, and children were witnesses of the\ndevil entering her house, in his very appearance and state, and that\nalthough his return was narrowly watched for, he was not seen again;\nand that Mother Damnable was found dead on the following morning,\nsitting before the fireplace holding a crutch over it with a teapot\nfull of herbs, drugs, and liquid, part of which being given to the\ncat, the hair fell off in two hours and the cat soon after died; that\nthe body was stiff when found and that the undertaker was obliged to\nbreak her limbs before he could place them in the coffin, and that\nthe justices have put men in possession of the house to examine its\ncontents.\"\n\n\"Such is the history of this strange being whose name will ever be\nassociated with Camden Town, and whose reminiscence will ever be\nrevived by the old wayside house which, built on the site of the old\nbeldame's cottage, wears her head as the sign of the tavern.\"\n\nMother Redcap who, to judge from the above account, would have had\nlittle cause of complaint had she suffered at the hands of the\nexecutioner instead of those of the devil, was more fortunate than many\nother London witches. Wapping, nowadays, is a sufficiently prosaic\nspot. In the seventeenth century it was the abode of one Joan Peterson,\nwidely famous as the witch of Wapping. She was hanged at Tyburn in\n1652 on evidence such as it must be confessed would nowadays scarcely\nsatisfy even a country J.P. trying a poacher. A black cat had alarmed\na woman by entering a house near Joan's abode. The woman consulted a\nlocal baker, who replied that \"on his conscience he thought it was old\nMother Peterson, for he had met her going towards the island a little\nwhile before.\" He clenched the matter when giving evidence at the trial\nby declaring that although he had never before been frightened by a\ncat, the sight of this one had terrified him exceedingly. After which\nno reasonable jury could entertain a doubt of Mother Peterson's guilt.\nFifty years before, as recorded in Sinclair's \"Satan's Invisible World\nDisplayed,\" another notorious witch, Mother Jackson by name, was hanged\nfor having bewitched Mary Glover, of Thames Street, and similar cases\nare common enough to show that the seventeenth-century Londoner was\nas open to this form of the devil's assaults as he now is to others\nmore subtle. It is true that some professed victims of the black art\nwere proved to be impostors. Thus in 1574, as we learn from Stow,\nRachel Pinder and Agnes Briggs did penance at Paul's Cross for having\npretended to be diabolically possessed, vomiting pins and so forth,\nmuch, no doubt, to the relief of the witch accused of besetting them.\n\nThe earliest English witch to attain any individual immortality was\nshe of Berkeley, who differed from most of her successors by being\nextremely well off. Possibly because of this--for even in the ninth\ncentury money had its value--she was accorded Christian burial, and the\nprayers of the church thereafter. They were not, however, sufficient\nto ensure her salvation, for under the very nose of the priest the\ndevil carried her body away from where it lay at the foot of the\nhigh altar. Although sufficiently historical to have inspired one of\nSouthey's ballads, the Witch of Berkeley is a shadowy figure enough.\nAnother who, seeing that she was acquitted, does not perhaps deserve\nto be here considered was Gideon, accused of sorcery by Agnes, wife of\nthe merchant Odo, in the tenth year of King John's reign. Although less\npopular as a legendary figure, Gideon has a definite claim to regard in\nthat her trial is the first to be found in English legal records--the\n\"Abbrevatio Placitorum,\" quoted by Thomas Wright in his narrative of\nsorcery and magic. It is satisfactory to know that Gideon, having\npassed through the ordeal by red-hot iron, was acquitted in due course.\n\nA famous witch was Margery Jourdemain, better known as the Witch of\nEye, who gains a reflected halo of respectability in that she was\nburnt at Smithfield in 1441 as an accomplice of Eleanor of Gloucester,\nelsewhere referred to. The Duchess of Bedford, charged in 1478 with\nhaving bewitched Edward IV. by means of a leaden image \"made lyke a man\nof arms, conteyning the lengthy of a mannes finger, and broken in the\nmyddes and made fast with the wyre,\" as well as the unhappy Jane Shore,\ncome under the heading of political offenders against whom witchcraft\nwas alleged only as a side issue. More apt to our purpose, in that she\nwas charged with the offence of witchcraft only, and for it condemned\nto death by Henry VIII., and executed at Tyburn in 1534, was Elizabeth\nBarton of Aldington, better known as the Fair Maid of Kent. It is true\nthat she was a crazed enthusiast, suffering from a religious mania,\nrather than a witch, and that she was, further, a pawn in a political\nintrigue whereby the Catholic party endeavoured to influence the King's\nmatrimonial schemes.\n\nMother Demdyke, of Pendle Forest, in Lancashire, immortalised by\nHarrison Ainsworth in \"The Lancashire Witches,\" is elsewhere referred\nto.\n\nElizabeth Sawyer, the Witch of Edmonton, though during her life gaining\nonly local fame, yet achieved the posthumous glory of providing Ford\nand Dekker with the material for a play. In this, indeed, she did but\nplagiarise Mr. Peter Fabell of the same town, otherwise known as the\nMerry Devil of Edmonton, who there lived and died in Henry VIII.'s\nreign, and upon whose pranks was founded the play called after him,\nand long attributed to no less an author than Shakespeare. But whereas\nMr. Fabell was a sorcerer of no mean power, in that he successfully\ncheated the devil and died in his bed, poor Elizabeth was no more than\na common witch, and as such came to the usual end. The manner of her\ndeath in 1621 may be found in the chap-book published in that year\nand entitled, \"The Wonderfull Discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer, A Witch\nlate of Edmonton: Her Conviction, Condemnation and Death: Together\nwith the relation of the Devil's Accesse to her and their Conference\ntogether. Written by Henry Goodcole, Minister of the Word of God, and\nher Continual Visitor in the Gaol of Newgate.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE WITCH OF ANTIQUITY\n\n\nSuch zealous sixteenth and seventeenth century dogmatists as King\nJames I., the Inquisitor Sprenger, Jean Bodin, or Pierre de Lancre\nmight have found it difficult to put forward satisfactory proof for\nthe cause in which they were briefed had it not been for the fortunate\nexistence of one quite unimpeachable witness--the direct command in\nthe book of Exodus, \"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.\" Probably\nno other sentence ever penned has been so destructive to human life\nor so provocative of human misery; certainly it has provided Saladin\nwith the excuse for his bitter indictment of Christianity as being\n_par excellence_, as based upon the Old Testament, the religion of\nwitchcraft. To which he adds that Christianity, now grown ashamed of\nits former belief, seeks to explain it away by the suggestion that the\nHebrew word \"chasaph\" should be translated, not as \"witch,\" but as\n\"poisoner.\"\n\nIt is, of course, as true as it was natural that Christian writers\non witchcraft seized eagerly upon definite Biblical authority for\nthe sin they were condemning. Origen, who protests against literal\ninterpretation of the Bible, is inclined to ascribe Biblical witchcraft\naltogether to the Devil, basing his theory upon the tribulations of\nJob. But St. Augustine needs no more definite proof for this variety of\nsin than the Bible denunciation, while Luther and Calvin, in a later\nage, are equally definite. At the same time, it is to be remembered\nthat the cult of witchcraft would certainly have existed had there\nbeen no mention of it in the Bible at all. It is as universal,\nas ubiquitous, and as enduring as the religious instinct itself;\nChristianity did not invent the witch, it did but improve upon her. A\nBiblical text was perhaps the most convincing evidence; failing it,\nearly Christian Fathers or late Inquisitors would have found little\ndifficulty in adducing a substitute. Even as it was, although they\nquoted the Bible--and in both Old and New Testaments, from Genesis to\nRevelations, witchcraft is recognised and condemned--they also referred\nwith equal zest to the great edifice of tradition and superstition\nfounded upon the struggles after celibacy of the early fathers and\ntheir relegation of all pagan rites to the realms of Black Magic.\n\nThe Christians, in adopting to their own uses certain pagan rites and\nbeliefs, and regarding all the rest as witchcraft and an abominable\nsin, were but following the example of their predecessors, the Jews.\nThroughout the Old Testament Jehovah is proclaimed as the one and\nonly God, despite the backslidings to which the constant reiterations\nof \"Thou shalt have none other gods but Me\" would, in the absence of\nother record, be sufficient witness. The deities of other nations were\n\"false gods\" and idols, being regarded by the Jew very much as were\nwitches and sorcerers by the Christian. Again and again he turned from\nthe one and only God to the gods of the heathen, just as the early\nChristian was wont to help himself out with pagan rites when his new\nfaith failed him, a course of action which of late years shows signs\nof a reviving popularity. Such being the case, it was as natural that\nthe great Jewish rulers should denounce to the furthest limits of their\nvocabulary those who, religiously and politically, were undermining a\ntheocratic government, as that a modern Pope should hail the Italian\nKing accursed who seized upon the Patrimony.\n\nThe Jews had no national system of magic or witchcraft. Though Abraham\nmigrated to Canaan from Ur of the Chaldees, the God of Abraham was\nsternly opposed to those beliefs and rites for which the Chaldeans\nhave ever since been famous. These they partly inherited from that\nearlier Shumiro-Accadian people inhabiting the region between the\nlower courses of the Tigris and the Euphrates, whose country they\ninvaded some forty centuries B.C. Besides peopling the universe with\ngood and evil spirits, and having knowledge of the arts of writing\nand of metal-working, the Shumiro-Accadians practised sorcery and\nmagic wherewith to conjure evil spirits, reserving prayers in the more\nordinary sense of the word for the beneficent gods. At the coming of\nthe Chaldeans, the old religion was superseded by the worship of the\nSun-god Bel, whose priests were the first practising astrologers.\nAstrology, divination, conjuration, and incantation thus all had their\npart in the magico-religious practices of the Chaldeans. An elaborate\nsystem of demonology provided constant menace to the happiness of the\npoor Chaldeo-Babylonian, and, very naturally, by degrees he established\na counter influence by whose aid to obtain relief from his tormentors.\nMost potent were the regular magicians, who, with elaborate ritual and\nceremony, were able to drive out the demons possessing the worshipper.\nSuch demons were controlled by the use of potions, by the tying of\nknots wherewith to strangle them, or by such incantations as the\nfollowing:--\n\n They have used all kinds of charms to entwine me as with ropes,...\n But I, by command of Marduk, the lord of charms,\n By Marduk the master of bewitchment,\n Both the male and the female witch,\n As with ropes I will entwine,\n As in a cage I will catch,\n As with cords I will tie,\n As in a net I will overpower,\n As in a sling I will twist,\n As a fabric I will tear,\n With dirty water as from a well I will fill,\n As a wall throw them down.\n\nSide by side with the regular magicians was a vast host of sorcerers\npractising without elaborate ritual, amongst whom witches were greatly\nin the ascendant. These same Babylonian and Assyrian witches were as\nefficient as they were unamiable. In contradistinction to the magician,\nthe witch was in league with the demons, and ably assisted them in the\ninfliction of bad dreams, misfortune, disease and death itself. With\nenthusiasm worthy of a better cause, she tore her victims' hair and\nclothes, brought about delusions or lasting insanity, destroyed family\nconcord, and aroused hatred between lovers. She was past-mistress\nin the use of the evil eye, the evil mouth, and the evil tongue,\nof effigies and magic knots, while her imprecations were the most\ndreaded of all her practices. Of the witches of Babylon we are told\nthat they haunted the streets and public places, beset wayfarers,\nand forced their way into houses. Their tongues brought bewitchment,\ntheir lips breathed poison, death attended their footsteps. Whether\nas originators or adaptors they were extremely proficient in that\nmethod of enchantment by means of clay, wood, or dough figures, which\nhas continued as among the most familiar of witch-arts until our own\ntimes, and they were adepts in the tying of witch-knots. Naturally\nenough, such practices gained for them the unfriendly attention of the\ngovernment, but it is perhaps significant of the dread inspired by\nthem that although the law provided for their execution by fire, there\nis no definite proof that anything other than their effigies was ever\nactually burnt.\n\nConsidering the superstitions amid which their great forefather had\nbeen brought up, it was scarcely surprising that the monotheistic ideal\npeculiar to the Jews should have suffered occasional eclipses. Nor were\nChaldean magic and Persian Zoroastrianism alone responsible for the\nJewish conception of witchcraft. In time of famine Abraham and his wife\nwent down into Egypt, just as did his descendants, and the Egyptian\nmagician has earned for himself a fame no less enduring than has the\nChaldean. Thot, who revealed himself to man as the first magician,\nwas their divine patron--and it is significant that he also first\ntaught mankind the arts of writing and of music, to say nothing of\narithmetic, geometry, medicine, and surgery. This divine schoolmaster\npointed out in advance days of ill-omen, and, his magical arts making\nhim master of the other gods, provided counteracting remedies. The\nEgyptian magician interpreted dreams, cured demoniacal possession,\nand was skilled in casting nativities. In less amiable mood, he could\nsend nightmares, harass with spectres, constrain the wills of men,\nand cause women to fall victims to infatuations. For the composition\nof an irresistible charm he required no more than a drop of his\nsubject's blood, some nail-parings, hair, or a scrap of linen from his\nraiment--to be incorporated in the wax of a doll modelled and clothed\nto resemble him or her. As with the Babylonian witch and her medi\u00e6val\nsuccessors, anything done to the effigy was suffered by the original.\nThot also taught the magicians how to divide the waters, and a pleasant\nstory has been preserved of a fair maiden who dropped a new turquoise\nornament from a boat into the river, and, appealing in her distress to\nan amiable magician, was consoled by finding it, he having divided the\nwaters for her, safe and sound on a potsherd. It is not difficult to\ntrace to a similar origin the Jewish legend of the Red Sea passage.\n\nIsis, another prominent protector of witchcraft, was, in fact, more\nwitch than goddess. An Egyptian formula against disease, dating from\nabout 1700 B.C., commences, \"O Isis, mistress of sorceries, deliver me,\nset me free from all bad, evil (red) things.\" Red, it may be noted,\nwas the colour of Set, and thus of evil. Woman was, indeed, supposed\nto possess more completely than man the qualities necessary for the\nexercise of magic, legitimate or otherwise. She saw and heard that\nwhich the eyes and ears of man could not perceive; her voice, being\nmore flexible and piercing, was heard at greater distances. She was by\nnature mistress of the art of summoning or banishing invisible beings.\nThe \"great spouse,\" or Queen, of Pharaoh attained, upon her accession\nto such rank, magical powers above the ordinary. In this connection\nwe find another conception of the witch in the sequel to the loss of\nPharaoh's army in the Red Sea. The women and slaves of the drowned\nwarriors, fearing aggressions from the Kings of Syria and the West,\nelected as their queen one Dal\u016bkah, a woman wise, prudent, and skilled\nin magic. She collected all the secrets of Nature in the temples and\nperformed her sorceries at the moment when the celestial bodies were\nmost likely to be amenable to a higher power. Whenever an army set\nout from Arabia or Assyria for the invasion of Egypt, the Witch-Queen\nmade effigies of soldiers and animals corresponding in numbers to its\nstrength, as ascertained by her spies. These she caused to disappear\nbeneath the ground--a fate which thereupon befell the invaders also.\n\nThe Egyptians were very learned in the concoction of love-charms,\nspells, and philtres, a branch of their profession which we may suppose\nto have appealed more to the witch than to the magician. On at least\none occasion a witch gained a notable victory over a male competitor\nin this direction, for it is recorded that Prince Setnau, familiar\nfrom his birth with all the magical arts, was yet bewitched by a very\nbeautiful woman named Tabubu--an occurrence which, if not altogether\nunique in history, vouches for the potency of the lady's charms.\n\nThe use of love-philtres was common among the Jewish women, and it is\nprobable that, with other magical operations, they borrowed it from\nthe Egyptians. Nevertheless, Jewish references to Egyptian magic are\nsomewhat scornful. Thus, in the divination of Pharaoh's dreams, a\nJew triumphs over the best efforts of the Court magicians. When the\nEgyptian sorcerers cast down their rods in emulation of the magic\npowers exercised by Aaron, their rods changed into serpents as readily\nas did his. But his superiority was made manifest by the fact that his\nserpent devoured all the rest. So, too, Nebuchadnezzar, in his own\nrealm, found Daniel and his three friends more than able to hold their\nown against the local magicians and astrologers.\n\nThe Jew, then, was no less apt in magic than were his contemporaries.\nWhere it differed was that it was only legitimate when practised in the\nname and for the service of the God of Abraham, any attempt towards\nmaking use of alien rites or deities being sternly repressed.\n\nThe Babylonian captivity served to strengthen and extend the\nfull-blooded belief in a comprehensive system of demons already\ninherited by the Hebrews. They recognised two varieties of evil\nspirits--the fallen angels and those who were but semi-supernatural.\nThese latter were again divided into the offspring of Eve by certain\nmale spirits and those descended from Adam by Lilith, the first\nreally Jewish witch. Nor were the Jews slow to test the benevolence\nof such beings whenever the severity of Jehovah proved irksome. Saul\nbanished from the land all wizards and those who had familiar spirits.\nNevertheless, being on one occasion afraid of the Philistines, and\nunable to obtain favourable assurances from Jehovah either by dreams,\nby Urim, or by the prophets, he disguised himself and came by night to\nthe witch of Endor. The apparition of Samuel has given rise to much\nspeculation. Wierus, an enlightened sixteenth century writer, though a\nfirm believer in witchcraft withal, holds that the Devil himself took\nthe form of Samuel for the occasion. But Wierus is essentially humane,\nand his contemporaries held much less charitable views of the women\nthey regarded as servants of Satan.\n\nAlthough the idea of a personal Devil was familiar to the Jews--as,\nfor instance, in his trial of strength with Jehovah for the allegiance\nof Job--we find no mention of his having entered into compacts with\nwitches as in later times. On the other hand, they had dealings with\nfamiliar spirits, and, as was natural in a nation distinguished by its\ngenius for prophecy, they excelled in divination. The early law is\nvery severe on the subject. The law-abiding Jew might, indeed, attempt\nto unravel the future so long as he confined his investigations to\nlegitimate channels. These included dreams, prophecies, and Urim and\nThummim, two stones carried in the pocket of the High Priest's ephod,\nengraved with an affirmative and a negative respectively, one of which\nbeing taken out, the message upon the other represented the Divine\nwill. All these, being in connection with the service of Jehovah, were\npermissible. On the other hand, we read in Leviticus that \"a man also\nor a woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard shall surely\nbe put to death. They shall stone them with stones.\" And again, \"Regard\nnot them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards to be\ndefiled by them.\" Saul died not only for transgressing \"against the\nword of the Lord, which he kept not,\" but also for asking counsel of\n\"one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it.\" His further sin\nwould seem to have been that in his perplexity \"he enquired not of the\nLord.\"\n\nManasseh (about the eighth century) incurred condemnation because \"he\nmade his children to pass through the fire,\" practised augury and\nsorcery, used enchantments, \"and dealt with them that had familiar\nspirits and with wizards.\" Nor was it until the Lord punished him by\ncausing him to be carried captive to Babylon that he humbled himself\nand \"knew that the Lord He was God.\" Regarded as a preventative, this\nform of punishment is curious enough, seeing that the daughters of\nBabylon are vehemently accused of the very crime for which Manasseh\nwas sent among them. Isaiah says, in no doubtful terms, that \"the\ndaughters of Babylon are to be punished for the multitude of sorceries\nand enchantments with which they have laboured from their youth.\" And\nthroughout Jewish history the influence of these Babylonian witches is\nnoticeable.\n\nLove-magic was practised in Israel almost entirely by women, and many\nof the Jewish feminine ornaments were amatorial charms. Indeed, the\ndemand for charms of all kinds was as great among the monotheistic\nHebrews as their neighbours. To quote one example out of many, a charm\nvery popular with Jewish mothers against Lilith, the witch of darkness,\nmuch feared by women in travail as having an evil propensity for\nstealing new-born babes, was to write upon the walls the names of three\nangels, Senoi, Sensenoi, and Semangelof.\n\nDespite the wide sway of the evil and the severity of the laws\nagainst it, spasmodically enforced by several of the kings, as Saul\nand Hezekiah, there are no definite records of witch-persecutions\ncomparable to those of medi\u00e6val Christianity until the reign of King\nAlexander Jannai, in the first century B.C. Between 79 and 70 B.C.\nSimon ben Schetach caused eighty witches to be hanged. After the birth\nof Christ but a few instances are recorded, although the Apostle of the\nGentiles waged war against witchcraft with considerable energy. Thus by\nvirtue of his superior powers he brought about the blindness of Elymas,\nthe sorcerer who practised in the island of Paphos. At this early date\na distinction was made between the witch active and those involuntarily\npossessed of evil spirits, a distinction too fine to be regarded by the\nmedi\u00e6val Inquisitor. Thus the maid \"having a spirit of divination\" was\nnot held criminally responsible for her powers. Her soothsaying brought\nher little or no personal gain, and, far from committing voluntarily\n\"the abominable sinne of witchcraft,\" she was dominated by a spirit,\nsubsequently cast out by Saint Paul by means less drastic than might\nhave been the case fifteen centuries later.\n\nIt is, at first sight, surprising that the Chaldean, Egyptian, or\nJewish witch should have conformed so closely to the type familiarised\nby the witch-mania of the Middle Ages. If we remember, however, how\ngreat a proportion of Christian superstitions are directly descended\nfrom Hebrew practices, and how eagerly those who made it their\nlife-work to harry old women in the name of the Lord sought Biblical\nprecedent, this persistence in type becomes natural enough, unique\nthough it be. The conception of the Power who guides the universe must\nvary according to human conceptions of what composes that universe,\nbut so long as we are afraid of the dark the foundations upon which we\nbuild our manifestations of evil need vary little.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE WITCH IN GREECE AND ROME\n\n\nAlthough the Christian witch was the direct descendant of the Jewish,\nthere were yet other branches of her family tree not without their\ninfluence upon her final development. Chief among them were the great\nwitch families of Greece and Rome, the one being in some sense a\ndevelopment of the other and through it inheriting more than a trace of\nPersian blood.\n\nIt is a natural feature of anthropomorphic religion that from a few\nrepresentatives of the more important phases of human existence the\ngods and goddesses tend to increase, until there is hardly a department\nof human activity without its presiding deity. As there are kings and\nqueens among men, so there will be sovereigns among the gods. The\ndivine king will have his officers, servants and warriors just as do\nthose earthly kings who worship him. The personal appearance of the god\ndiffers from that of the man only in degree, his connection with his\nworshippers is almost undignified in the closeness of his intimacy.\nHe suffers the same passions, commits the same crimes, occasionally\naspires to the same virtues; he is, in a word, man in all but name and\ndivine only in his humanity.\n\nAmong no people was this tendency more highly and minutely developed\nthan among the Greeks. Not only did their deities adapt themselves\nto every phase of human life; the famous altar to \"the Unknown God,\"\nattests the limitless potentialities of the Greek Pantheon. Were all\nother records destroyed we could exactly reconstruct Grecian life and\nfeeling from the doings of the Grecian gods; we may expect to find\naccordingly such a phase of belief as witchcraft accurately mirrored\nin Grecian mythology. And, accordingly, the witch proves to have her\ndefinite niche in the Greek Pantheon. Naturally also, she did not rank\namong the greater goddesses. On the one hand she may be looked for as\nthe degenerate form of a goddess; on the other she corresponds nearly\nenough to the heroic demigods in whose veins royal blood mingled with\ndivine ichor.\n\nTo the first category belongs the dire and dreadful form of Hecate.\nOriginally an ancient Thracian divinity, she by degrees assumed\nthe attributes of many, Atis, Cybele, Isis, and others. As the\npersonification of the moon, whose rays serve but to increase the\nmystery of night, she was the patroness of all witches, and was invoked\non all their most baleful undertakings. Gradually she grew into the\nspectral originator of all those horrors with which darkness affects\nthe imagination. Hecate it was who first cast spells and became\nlearned in enchantments; Hecate who at the approach of night loosed\ndemons and phantoms from the lower shades. Did you, hastening through\nthe twilight, meet with a formless monster, hoofed like an ass and\nradiating a stench incomparably foul, you might recognise the handiwork\nof Hecate--designed, perhaps, to punish you for having neglected to\noffer on her altars your accustomed sacrifice of dogs, or honey, or\nblack lambs, or to set out her monthly offering of food--perhaps only\nin wanton exercise of her mysterious power. Did the mournful baying of\nyour kennelled hounds lend point to the gloomy solitude of night, you\nmight know that Hecate was abroad upon the earth somewhere at hand,\nwith dead souls to form her retinue. Must you pass the cross-roads, or\nvisit the place of tombs, hasten, and especially beware the spot where\nthe blood of murdered persons has been spilt, for all such places are\nHecate's chosen haunts. In the gloom and darkness she did her grisly\nwork, now brewing philtres, now potions, with reptiles, human flesh or\nblood of man or beast that had died dreadful deaths for her ingredients.\n\nThe rites of Hecate worship varied in different parts of Greece; she\nplays a leading part in the Orphic poems, and when the old religion\nbegan to be submerged beneath foreign elements, she yet held her own\nand was even invoked by strangers. Her statues were erected before\nthe houses and at the cross-roads in Athens, and such Hecatea were\nconsulted as oracles. Her personal appearance was the reverse of\nattractive. She had either three bodies or three heads, according to\ntime and circumstance, one being of a horse, the second of a dog, the\nthird of a lion. Although usual, this habit of body was not constant,\nher magic arts allowing her to take whatever form she chose as freely\nas could her fellow divinities. But however she appeared she was\ninvariably hideous. Nevertheless, there seem to have been those among\nher votaries bold enough to desire personal interviews with her, and\nfor their benefit she provided a formula of her own composition and\nof such power that she was constrained to obey the citation of those\navailing themselves of it. It may be quoted for the benefit of those\nreaders who desire her closer acquaintance. Make a wooden statue of\nthe root of the wild rue, well-polished, and anoint it with the bodies\nof little common lizards crushed into a paste with myrrh, storax, and\nincense. Leave it in the open air during the waxing of the moon, and\nthen (presumably at full moon) speak as follows:-- \"Come, infernal,\nterrestrial and celestial Bombo, goddess of the highways and the\ncross-ways, enemy of the light who walkest abroad at night, friend and\ncompanion of the night, thou who delightest in the barking of dogs\nand in the shedding of blood, who wanderest amongst the shades and\nabout the tombs, thou who desirest blood and who bringest terror unto\nmortals--Gorgo, Mormo, moon of a thousand forms, cast a propitious eye\nupon our sacrifices.\" Then take as many lizards as Hecate has forms and\nfail not to make a grove of laurel boughs, the laurels having grown\nwild. Then, having addressed fervent prayers to the image, you will see\nher.\n\nHecate, who became the mother of Scylla, and, according to some\naccounts also of Medea and of Circe, was arch-mistress of the knowledge\nof herbs and simples, more especially of poisons. She is almost more\ntypical of the later developments of the witch than of those of her own\ntimes. Hag-like and horrible, she worked only for evil, inspiring her\nvotaries with that terror which she herself personified. Goddess though\nshe be, she provides a poignant illustration of one characteristic\nof the Greek Pantheon which it shares with no other. Its gods and\ngoddesses are always a little more human than their votaries, more\nprone to human weaknesses if not to human virtues. Thus Hecate shows\nherself more horrible and terror-breeding than any of those who did\ntheir best to model themselves upon her. Just as Mars represented\nthe soldier, carried to his logical conclusion, so Hecate represents\nthe witch conception carried to its furthest limits--the concentrated\nessence of witchcraft.\n\nTo the class of semi-divine witches belong those of Thessaly, as well\nas Medea and Circe, the putative daughters of Hecate, from whom they\nlearned their magic arts. Circe was assisted by four attendant witches,\nwho gathered for her the herbs wherewith she might brew such potions\nas turned the companions of Ulysses into swine. The influence of Medea\nwas, on the whole, more benign. She cured Hercules of madness, and\ntaught the Marubians the decidedly useful accomplishment of fascinating\nand subduing venomous serpents. Not that her knowledge of ointments,\npoisonous and otherwise, was in any way inferior to that of her sister.\nEuripides represents her as invoked in terms almost identical with\nthose already quoted in connection with Hecate. The love-sick maiden,\nSimaetha, in the second Idyll of Theocritus, appeals to Hecate to \"make\nthis medicine of mine no less potent than the spells of Circe, or of\nMedea, or of Perimede of the golden hair.\"\n\nEqually skilled in poison were the witches of Thessaly, who could,\nmoreover, draw down the moon out of the sky by their magic songs and\nphiltres. If less awful than Hecate, their proceedings inspired equally\nlittle confidence. They were addicted, for example, to such practices\nas tearing off with their teeth flesh from the faces of the dead,\nfor the concoction of their spells. To prevent this early variant of\nbody snatching, dead bodies had to be watched by night. To circumvent\nthe watchers, the witches, as we learn from Apuleius, took the form\nof dogs, mice, or flies, so that the guardians of the dead must look\nneither to the right nor to the left, nor even wink while on duty.\n\nNor were such grisly exploits confined to Thessaly, for in Syria, as\nMarcassus tells us, troops of witches haunted the battle-field during\nthe night, devouring the bodies of the slain. During the day they took\nthe shape of wolves or hyenas, thus providing a link with the more\ncommon phases of lycanthropy. These same witches were definitely human\nbeings, as distinct from spirits, and it was comparatively easy for\nanyone who so wished, and could obtain the necessary recipe, to follow\ntheir example. Such magic salves were usually composed of narcotics,\namong them being aconite, belladonna, opium, and hyoscyamus, boiled\ndown with the fat of a little child, murdered for the purpose, and\nwith the blood of a bat added. They needed careful and expert usage,\nhowever, lest such a mischance might befall as occurred to \"the Golden\nAss,\" who, seeking to become an owl, found himself to be no more than a\ndonkey.\n\nWhile the Thessalian witches paid more attention to the toxicological\naspect of Hecate's teaching, the pythons exploited one no less\nimportant--the prediction of events to come. Every prudent Greek\nconsulted the oracle at Delphi, before undertaking anything of\nimportance--the oracle displaying equal prudence in the non-committal\nvagueness of her replies. Theseus, who, on the death of his father,\nwished to introduce a new form of Government in Athens, sought advice\nthereon, and received as his answer:--\n\n Son of the Pitthean maid,\n To your town the terms and fates\n My father gives of many states.\n Be not anxious or afraid,\n The bladder will not fail to swim\n On the waves that compass him.\n\nTo Philip of Macedon, again, the utterance of the Pythian priestess\nran:--\n\n The Battle on Thermodon that shall be\n Safe at a distance I desire to see.\n Far like an eagle watching in the air,\n Conquered shall weep, and conqueror perish there.\n\nThat even oracles were--and perhaps are--open to human influence may be\ndeduced from Demosthenes' irreverent suggestion that the prophetess had\nbeen tampered with in Philip's favour.\n\nThe manner of delivering an oracle doubtless gave a ritualistic\nexample to the witches of later ages, and, as such, may be quoted.\nAfter the offering of certain sacrifices, the priestess took her\nseat on a tripod placed over a fissure in the ground at the centre\nof the temple. From this came forth an intoxicating gas which, when\nshe breathed it, caused her to utter wild, whirling words. These were\ninterpreted by the attendant priest and by him handed to the applicant,\nhaving been first written down in hexameters by an official poet.\nDivination in Greece thus owed as much to the witch as to the goddess,\nand it should be noted that, in the case of the Delphic oracle at any\nrate, the priest acted as go-between, the Pythia being only an item of\nthe oracular machinery.\n\nThe Persian wars brought new influences to bear upon Greek religion in\ngeneral and witchcraft in particular. With Darius and Xerxes came the\nmagic practised by the followers of Zoroaster. Pliny has it that Xerxes\nwas accompanied by Osthanes, a writer on magic, and this statement,\nwhether or no correct in itself, expresses a general truth. Later,\nafter the Greek irruptions into Persia and Assyria, the Chaldeans\neffected a peaceful occupation of Greece to such effect that \"Chaldean\"\ncame to be synonymous with doctor, magician, or sorcerer. Like those\nof their descendants whose advertisements make the fortunes of our\nnewspaper proprietors to-day, they cured sufferers from incurable\ndiseases, provided, for a small fee, infallible recipes for making\nmoney quickly, and acted as mediators between heaven and such offenders\nas could not approach it through the regular channels with any hope of\nsuccess. Naturally, also, they did not neglect such a popular \"line\"\nas prophecy, sometimes for distinguished clients, as, for example, the\nfather of Euripides, who is said to have consulted a Chaldean as to\nhis son's destiny. In a word, they took the place of quack-doctors,\npalmists, \"get-rich-quickly\" colleges, and the various other\npractitioners in allied branches of swindling, whose operations to-day\nare generally hailed as remarkable instances of American \"cuteness\" and\noriginality.\n\nThat the Greek witch of the older school should be powerfully\ninfluenced by such innovators was natural enough, the more so that in\nChaldea women took a foremost part in practising the more evil kinds\nof magic. Accordingly, we may accept the date of the Persian Wars as\nthat in which commenced a change in the whole character of Grecian\nwitchcraft. The witch became less terrible in that she was less\nspiritual, but more pernicious in that she dabbled more with material\nevil. Hecate was a sufficiently awesome figure, but her terrors were\nmore or less impartial in their scope, and might affect one man as well\nas another, did he happen to come into contact with them. The witch\nof later times concentrated her malignancy upon a particular object,\nand thus became the apt instrument of private vengeance and a force\ndefinitely detrimental to social weal.\n\nYet another powerful influence upon Greek magic was exerted by Egypt.\nWitchcraft and astrology after the Egyptian method were held in as high\nrespect as were those of the Chaldean convention, and Nectanebus, the\nlast native King of Egypt (about 350 B.C.), was acknowledged in Hellas\nas the most redoubtable of the magicians. He was an adept in the use\nof waxen images, and among those to whom he sent dreams was Philip of\nMacedon.\n\nThus with the gradual rise of astrology in Greece and the decay of\nthe old religion a state of things arose very similar to what is\neven now taking place--the nations of the East coming under the\ninfluence of Grecian culture, and in return providing her with new\ncults and crazes, one more fantastic than the other, but all seized\nupon with equal avidity by the hungry Hellenic intellect, craving\nalways for some new thing. From comparatively simple beginnings Greek\nwitchcraft added always to its complexity until it included everything\npopularly associated with the name, including a full understanding\nof hallucinations, dreams, demoniacal possession, exorcism, and\ndivination, the use of wax images and useful poisons, mostly from\nEastern sources, and with them a very nice understanding of philtres.\nA good example of a love charm is to be found in Theocritus, writing\nin the first decades of the third century B.C. Among the charms of\nwhich the heroine of his idyll avails herself to bring about the\nreturn of her faithless lover are laurel-leaves, bright red wool, and\nwitch-knots--this last a distinctively Babylonian practice. The charm\nhas a recurrent refrain of \"My magic wheel, bring back to me the man\nI love.\" Barley grains must then be scattered in the fire while the\nfollowing spell is intoned:--\n\n 'Tis the bones of Delphis (or another) I am scattering.\n\n Delphis troubled me, and I against Delphis am burning this laurel.\n Even as it crackles loudly, when it has caught the flame, and suddenly\n is burned up, and we see not even the dust thereof, lo! even thus may\n the flesh of Delphis waste in the burning.\n\n Even as I melt this wax, with the god to aid, so speedily may he by\n love be molten.\n\n Three times do I pour libations, and thrice my Lady Moon, I speak this\n spell. Be it with a friend he lingers, be it with a leman that he\n lies, may he as clean forget them as Theseus of old did utterly forget\n the fair-tressed Ariadne.\n\n Coltsfoot is an Arcadian weed that maddens on the hills the young\n stallions and fleet-footed mares: Ah, even as these may I see Delphis.\n\n This fringe from his cloak Delphis has lost, that now I shred and cast\n into the flame....\n\n Lo, I will crush an eft, and a venomous draught to-morrow I will bring\n thee.\n\n But now, Thestylis, take these magic herbs and secretly smear the\n juice on the jambs of his gate-and spit and whisper, 'Tis the bones of\n Delphis that I smear.\n\n When first I saw Delphis I fell sick of love, and consulted every\n wizard and every crone, &c., &c.\n\nHere, then, we have a detailed account of practices identical\nwith those such as subsequently became the object of fierce\npersecutions--the use of effigies, of magic herbs, the burning of some\nsubstance while calling the name of the person to be influenced, the\nusing of a fragment of his personal belongings to his detriment, the\nconsulting with \"crones\" for the satisfaction of love-cravings. It was,\nhowever, too closely related to religion for there to be any continuous\nexpression of unfavourable public opinion. At the same time, laws\nexisted against it, subsequently to find an echo in Roman legislation.\nTheoris, \"the Lemnian woman,\" as Demosthenes calls her, was publicly\ntried in Athens and burned as a witch. Demoniacal possession and\nexorcism were believed in at least as early as 330 B.C., in which year\nDemosthenes refers to them in an oration. His feeling towards the\npractice of exorcism may be deduced from his reproaching \u00c6schinus as\nbeing the son of a woman who gained her living as an exorcist. Plato,\nin the Laws, decrees:--\"If any by bindings-down or allurements or\nincantations or any such-like poisonings whatever appear to be like one\ndoing an injury, if he be a diviner or interpreter of miracles, let him\nbe put to death.\"\n\nBut despite such minor inconveniences, the Greek witch had little to\nfear in the way of persecutions, so that her medi\u00e6val successors might\nwell have looked back to the days of ancient Hellas as their Golden\nAge, alike spiritually and materially.\n\nIf the Greeks, who recognised no predecessors in the possession of\ntheir country, yet imported so much of their witchcraft from abroad,\nit is little to be wondered at that the Romans, by their own account\nforeign settlers in Italy, should have done so. Unlike those of Greece,\nRoman legends provide a definite beginning for Rome itself. The city\nwas founded by a foreigner. What more likely than that he should bring\nwith him the customs, cults, and superstitions of his own country.\n\nGranting that the pious \u00c6neas ever existed, we may also suppose that\nhe was responsible for the Roman tendency in things magical. Of\nGreek magic he would have learned enough--and to spare--in the long\nten years' warring on the plains of Ilium. From Dido also he might\nwell have learned something. Virgil himself was by popular report\nfamiliar with all the laws of witchcraft, and Virgil tells us of\nDido's acquaintance, if not with witchcraft, at least with a witch of\nunquestioned eminence. Half-priestess, half-enchantress, she could\ncause rivers to run backwards, to say nothing of knowing the most\nsecret thoughts of men. Certainly if \u00c6neas wished to introduce a\nreliable system of witchcraft into his adopted country, he could have\ngone to no better instructress.\n\nAs in Greece, so in Rome, the personal character of the witch was\nidentical in some respects with that of the goddess, so as to be\nfrequently indistinguishable. Egeria, the friend and counsellor of\nNuma, was the first witch altogether worthy of the name. The Vestal\nVirgins were also possessed of certain magical powers. An old French\nauthority disposes of them summarily as thorough-going servants of\nSatan, his zeal outrunning his sense of chronological fitness. He adds\nthat when Tuscia was accused of having broken her vow of chastity,\nSatan assisted her to prove her innocence by carrying water in a\nsieve--an expedient which would have certainly caused her to be burnt\ntwo thousand years later.\n\nLike the pythoness of Greece, the Roman sibyl was priestess as well as\nwitch. The existence of the famous Sibylline books presupposes culture\nabove the ordinary; she was also a student of medicine, and, in later\ntimes, more particularly of poisons. This latter art became in time a\nfashionable craze, as we may gather from the many laws enacted against\npoisoners, and Livy, in common with many other male writers, believes\nthat poisoning and superstition alike originated with women. He also,\ndescending to particulars, relates how Publicia and Licinia divorced\ntheir husbands expeditiously by poison, two instances out of many\nquoted by Latin writers.\n\nIn the comprehensive provisions of the Laws of the Twelve Tables\ndrawn up by the Duumvirs in the fifth century B.C., witchcraft is not\noverlooked.\n\n He shall be punished who enchants the corn;\n Do not charm the corn of others;\n Do not enchant,\n\nare among some of its injunctions.\n\nRoman morality being enforced upon social rather than religious\ngrounds, witchcraft was forbidden only in so far as it was considered\na pernicious influence within the State. Even in later times, when\nvarious kinds of magic were prohibited, magical rites for curing\ndiseases and protecting the harvest from hail, snow, or tempest were\nnot only allowed, but even encouraged. The Lex Cornelia de Sicariis\net Veneficis provided against offering sacrifice in order to injure a\nneighbour. The maleficent sorcerer could be burned alive, and those\nwho consulted him or her were liable to crucifixion. The possession\nof magical books was made criminal, and the administration of\nlove-philtres was punishable by labour in the mines, or, in the case\nof persons of rank, by a fine. This contrasts with the earlier laws,\nwhich were interpreted in a far more liberal spirit and only enforced\nin extreme cases.\n\nAlready in the early days of the Laws of the Twelve Tables, Greek\ninfluence on Roman witchcraft was noticeable--it increased in\nproportion as Greek thought extended its sway over the Roman mind. By\nway of Greece also, as well as through independent channels, Oriental\nmagic found its way to Rome, where the wisdom of the Egyptians was held\nin as high regard as in Greece itself. By the time of Marius, when\nthe Romans had come into direct relations with the East, Chaldeans,\nsacrificers and interpreters of the Sibylline books positively swarmed\nin the city, while the use of love-philtres and waxen images was become\namong the commonplaces of every-day life.\n\nHow early Diana, whose close connection with the moon places her on a\npar with Hecate, came to be regarded as queen of the witches may be\ndoubted; later Italian legends and customs are unanimous in according\nher that questionable honour. That must at least be a late conception\nwhich regards her as a constant visitor to the Witches' Sabbath, along\nwith her daughter Herodias! Many such legends are still current in\nTuscany, where, in common with other parts of Italy and Europe, Diana\nwas worshipped long after Christianity was nominally supreme. The\nItalian \"strege\" are the direct descendants of the Latin \"striges,\"\nwho took their name from a bird of ill-omen that flies by night, the\nscreech-owl, and witchcraft is still known to its votaries as \"la\nvecchia religione,\" while actual belief in the old gods still survives\nin one form or other in many parts of the Peninsula.\n\nIt may here be noted that Herodias' father is sometimes said to have\nbeen no other than Lucifer. She also appears under the name of Aradia.\nDiana sends her to sojourn for a time on earth:--\n\n Thou must go to earth below\n To be a teacher unto women and men\n Who would fain study witchcraft.\n And thou shalt be the first of witches,\n And thou shalt teach the art of poisoning,\n And thou shalt teach how to ruin the crops of a rich peasant.\n How to be revenged upon a priest.\n Double the harm and do it in the name of Diana,\n Queen of Witches all.\n\nAnd Aradia taught mortals:--\n\n To bless or curse with power friends or foes,\n To converse with spirits,\n To find hidden treasure in ancient ruins,\n To conjure the spirits of priests who died leaving treasure,\n To understand the voice of the wind,\n To change water into wine,\n To divine with cards,\n To show the secrets of the hand,\n To cure diseases,\n To make the ugly beautiful,\n To tame wild beasts.\n\nLittle cakes of meal, salt, honey and water are still made in the shape\nof Diana's horned moon, and are baked after an incantation to the\ngoddess.\n\nThere are, of course, earlier indications than these of Diana's\npatronage of witchcraft. Thus Horace, in his Ode to Canidia, written in\nthe first century B.C., puts these words into the mouth of Canidia, the\nwitch:--\n\n Oh, night and Dian who with true\n And friendly eyes my purpose view,\n And guardian silence keep whilst I\n My secret orgies safely ply,\n Assist me now, now on my foes\n With all your wrath celestial close.\n\nIn the same ode Horace details many witch-customs, which serve to\nmirror the witch superstitions of the time:--\n\n Canidia with dishevelled hair,\n And short crisp vipers coiling there\n Beside a fire of Colchos stands\n And her attendant hags commands.\n\nFor her fire she makes use of fig-trees torn from dead men's\nsepulchres, cypress, eggs rubbed over with the envenomed gore of\n\"filthy toads,\" screech-owl's plumes, evil herbs, and fleshless bones\nsnatched by a witch from the jaws of starving dogs. The smell from such\ncookery must have been deadly enough in itself to kill any number of\nvictims, even though it does not altogether explain why she bites her\nlong, sharp, unpared thumb-nail while brewing her deadly potion.\n\nHowever universal in its appeal, love was by no means the only disease\nfor which witchcraft provided its remedy. According to Cato, for\nexample, dislocation of a joint could be cured by the utterance of the\nfollowing charm:--\n\n Motas, danata, daries, dardaries, astataries.\n\nTo which Pliny adds that it must be used in conjunction with split\nreeds, a prudent suggestion enough. From him also we may learn\nparticulars of other charms in common use. Love-philtres were composed\nof wild parsnip or mandrake, while the external application of asses'\nfat mixed with gander grease was a means of making certainty more sure.\nAmateur gardeners with a taste for early rising may be interested to\nknow of a cure for the caterpillar pest:--A woman (presumably the\ngardener's wife) is to walk at a particular season round the tree\naffected before sunrise, ungirt and barefoot. And so on, a remedy being\nprovided for all the ills that flesh is heir to.\n\nThe Emperors held widely divergent views on the matter of witchcraft.\nAugustus, realising its hold upon the popular imagination, collected\nthe verses of the sibyls from Samos, Troy, Africa, and elsewhere, and\nordered them to be submitted to the prefects of the city, there to be\njudged and reported on by fifteen very learned men. During the latter\ndays of Pagan Rome there was a marked revival of witchcraft, Marcus\nAurelius and Julian setting the example by their patronage. The earlier\nChristian Emperors revived the old laws against it, but diverted\nthem to attack the old religion. The secret magic condemned by the\nDuumvirs was by them extended to cover the whole system of paganism.\nAlmost immediately after his conversion Constantine decreed that any\nharuspex (diviner) entering a citizen's house with the intention of\ncelebrating his rites should be burned alive, while the property of his\nemployer should be confiscated and his accuser rewarded. The Emperor\nshowed that he was in earnest by ordering the execution of one of his\nfavourites for having caused bad weather and prevented his corn-traffic\nwith Constantinople. It was, nevertheless, declared some two years\nlater that the Emperor had no desire to prohibit such magical rites as\ncured disease or prevented bad weather. In the reign of his successor,\nConstantius, any person accused of witchcraft was liable to be put to\ntorture. Proven sorcerers were ordered to be thrown to wild beasts or\ncrucified, while, if they persisted in denying their offence, their\nflesh was to be torn from their bones with iron hooks. This edict\nalso differentiated between Black and White Magic; magic charms being\npermitted as remedies for drought, disease, storms, and the like.\n\nJulian the Apostate, perhaps not unnaturally, regarded sorcery with a\nmore favourable eye, but later emperors showed themselves always more\ninimical. Valentian added impious prayers and midnight sacrifices to\nthe list of things forbidden; under Theodosius every detail of pagan\nworship was included under the heading of magic, and as such rigorously\nforbidden. In the reign of Honorius, the Sibylline verses collected by\nAugustus were suppressed. The Codex Justinianus devotes a whole title\nto witchcraft.\n\nThe history of the Roman witch is thus prophetic of that of her\nChristian successor. So long as she was subject to the civil power\nalone she suffered little interference from the State, but as soon as\nshe aroused the jealous attention of the more orthodox interpreters of\nthe supernatural, her doom was sealed. We are apt to boast great things\nof the increase of knowledge in our time, and to instance the decay of\nsuperstition in evidence, but, were a sudden religious revival to take\nplace at all comparable to the birth-throes of early Christianity or\nthe Reformation, it is doubtful whether we should not find a belief\nin the wicked prowess of the witch revive along with it, and possibly\nour spiritual pastors and masters among the first to attack it with\ntemporal weapons. It is difficult to see how they could logically\nrefrain.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nFROM PAGANISM TO CHRISTIANITY\n\n\nSeeing that it affects ourselves so considerably, we are in the habit\nof proclaiming the introduction of Christianity as the greatest\nrevolution in history--a claim which will be more capable of\ndemonstration when a few more thousand years have passed, and a few\nmore religions have waxed and waned. At least, the mind of the cultured\n\"Christian\" of to-day varies little in its outlook--save in so far\nas it is affected by modern material discoveries--from that of the\ncultured \"Pagan\" of Imperial Rome, much less, indeed, than do either\nof them from the earnest Early Christian. The ovine tendency of human\nnature makes it inevitable that a few sincere believers--whatever\ntheir belief--will always attain a comet-like tail of followers,\nhypnotised by their earnestness, and themselves understanding very\nlittle about it. However it may have been with the small band of early\nChristians--whose belief was given reality by their sufferings in its\ncause--one may be sure that the ideas of the sixth century Christian\nin the village street upon Heaven, Hell, and their denizens, differed\nonly in the change of a few names, and the addition of some intolerance\nfrom those of his pagan ancestor six centuries before. His spiritual\nadvisers bade him worship the names of Christ, St. John, and St. Peter,\nin place of Apollo, Mercury, or Mars, and he, troubling his head about\nvery little but his means of daily livelihood, accepted the change\nwithout demur. Meanwhile his mind--such as it was--worked along its\nold lines. As in all great religious movements, we find no sudden or\nviolent change--except, of course, in individual cases--the older ideas\nwere abandoned, in name, though only very slowly, and the change from\nDiana to Christ, so far as it affected the great bulk of worshippers,\nwas mentally imperceptible.\n\nThere were many Christians before Christ, just as there were many\npagans after the death of Paganism. For centuries the new ideas,\nafterwards called Christian, had been fermenting in the minds\nof thoughtful pagans. The spirit of the age called for their\ncrystallisation in a leader and the call of the West again received\nits answer from the East. But just as Naaman, a believer in the God\nof Israel, was yet permitted to bow down in the house of Rimmon--or\nas the theory and practice of modern Socialism are time after time\ndirectly contrary--so, save for martyrs and enthusiasts--the Tolstoys\nof their age--the general public accepted Christianity as filling up\nawkward gaps in their earlier beliefs rather than as superseding them\naltogether.\n\nRoman witchcraft--continually reinforced from the Orient--grew in\nimportance as faith in the greater gods decreased. Frowned upon by\nthe police, as being contrary to public order, it was thus liable\nto be confounded with Christianity--which was forbidden on similar\ngrounds--both alike being practised in secret and penalised if brought\ntoo prominently into public notice. Christianity, as being the more\naggressive, was more severely repressed--and was accordingly destined\nto more success. And it was reserved for the successful Christian to\nprove upon his former companions in misfortune the utter uselessness of\npersecution. Just as we may thank the pagan persecutor that we now live\nin the Christian era, so the medi\u00e6val--and modern--witch owed much of\nher existence to the persevering efforts of the early Christian towards\nthe suppression of witchcraft and the witch. It was natural--and\nindeed praiseworthy--that the prominent features of paganism should\nbe relegated to the realms of darkness by the successors to the pagan\nempire--the god of one religion inevitably becomes the devil of its\nsupplanter. But whereas it was easy enough to lump together satyr,\nfaun, centaur and siren, as varieties of demon, the witch was on a\ndifferent footing. She really existed, for one thing--in so far as that\nshe was of flesh and blood at any rate--and she exercised more personal\nfunctions than any number of divinities. Everyone was ready to acclaim\nreforms which did not interfere with his own comfort--and the witch\nwas a fireside necessity. She was family doctor, lawyer, and spiritual\ndirector--and payer-off of your old scores to boot--a factor in your\nlife the loss of which could be compensated by no amount of religion.\nAlso she stood for tradition, \"the good old times,\" the respectability\nof unchanging conservatism. Christianity--novel and iconoclastic--might\nmake head among the inconstant townsfolk, always ready for some new\nthing; the provinces, the village, the lonely farmhouse or the fishing\nhamlet clung tenaciously to what had been good enough for their\ngrandfathers--as, indeed, they have been doing ever since.\n\nNevertheless, from the great cities the creed of Christ spread slowly\nto the villages--suffering many modifications before it reached them.\nDelivered straight from the lips of a Church father, Christian doctrine\nmight be rigid and direct enough. Passed from mouth to mouth, ignorant,\nor understanding, they might reach the distant flock so diluted as\nto have opportunity for compromise with time-honoured precedent--and\nwhat more so than witchcraft. You might--if you were an open-minded\nhusbandman--conceive that you had been mistaken in seeing fauns\ndancing where the sunlight glinted down through tossing leaves, or\nin hearing the voices of nymphs in the chattering of a brook; but a\nwitch--whom you could see, touch, hear, who had cured your toothache\nand revenged you on your dishonest neighbour--she took a great deal of\nexplaining away. Wicked she might be, getting her power from unholy\ncompact with the Evil One--burn, slay, persecute her by all means--if\nit would please Heaven--but to disbelieve in her altogether, that\nwere asking too much of a plain man. How, indeed, could you expect it\nof him when the very Emperors proved by their edicts the openness of\ntheir minds. A Marcus Aurelius not only studied magic, but persecuted\nChristians--slaying, among others, the venerable Polycarp. An Augustus\nmight feel called upon to take police measures against witches; an\nAurelian rebuked the Senate for not consulting the Sibylline books when\nthe barbarians threatened the gates of Rome. \"One might imagine,\" he\nsaid, \"that we were assembled in a Christian church, rather than in the\ntemple of all the gods.\" Where an Elagabalus renewed old superstitions\nand introduced yet others, a Constantine executed his favourite for\nseeking to influence the weather.\n\nThe personal predilections of the Emperors did but reflect the many\nand involved influences at work during the first four centuries after\nChrist. Apart from the enduring influx of Eastern practices and\nsuperstitions, Neo-Platonism was responsible for the revival of belief\nin the supernatural as apart from the divine. The Alexandrian school,\ndiscarding the old systems of philosophy, converted its study into\nthat of magic. The barbarians, again, were everywhere astir. The long\nwarrings between Rome and the Germans culminated in the 9th year of the\nnew era when the German Herman by his great victory over Varus brought\nabout the eventual liberation of his country. In 259 A.D. the Emperor\nGallienus married a barbarian princess and before the close of the\nthird century A.D. the Empire had become largely \"barbarised\" by the\nGoths and Vandals who did it military service, and who, incidentally,\nserved to bolster up paganism and to introduce new features into it.\nThe Teutonic witch met her Roman sister, and introduced her to darker,\ngrimmer, and more vigorous conceptions of her art. The dreadful\npestilence which, in the third century, ravaged the Empire gave a new\npopularity to the black arts, and the Roman witch was never more sought\nafter than in the years preceding the last and most violent persecution\nof the Christians at the hands of Diocletian.\n\nPersecuted or petted, the witch was never able to progress in the good\nopinion of the Christian, whose protest against her existence was\nsteady and constant whatever his own fate or condition. As soon as the\nlast of his own persecutors had laid aside the sword, he at once seized\nit and set to harassing the witch with a deserving vigour which has\nnever altogether relaxed.\n\nWhereas the pagan had chastised the witch with rods for injuring man,\nthe Christian set about her with scorpions as an enemy of God. Nor was\nthe exalted testimony of the Fathers lacking to inspire his energies.\nTertullian, in the second century, declared the world to be over-run\nwith evil spirits, including among them all heathen gods, whether\namiable or the reverse, from Hebe to Hecate. Origen, in his third\nbook on Job, mentions that enchantments are sometimes of the devil.\nSaint Augustine, in \"De Civitate Dei,\" has no doubt that demons and\nevil spirits have connection with women. The earliest ecclesiastical\ndecree bearing on the subject is that of Ancyra, in 315 A.D., by which\nsoothsayers are condemned to five years' penance. In 525 the Council\nof Auxerre prohibited all resort to soothsayers. Witchcraft, which\nthus took upon its shoulders all the enormities of paganism, attained\nan importance it had never before possessed. The plain man began to\nrealise that his family witch was a more important person than he\nhad hitherto believed. If not herself of semi-infernal birth, he had\nit on Saint Augustine's authority, as aforesaid, that she was in all\nprobability the mistress of a sylvan, faun, or other variety of devil,\nand that her offspring were themselves no less diabolical. Naturally\nenough they increased and multiplied, so that between corporeal and\nspiritual devils the world was over-populated. The Messalians, indeed,\nwent so far as to make spitting a religious exercise--in the hope\nof casting out the devils inhaled at every breath; and the common\nsuperstition concerning sneezing has the same origin. It might almost\nbe said, indeed, that in those early days devils filled, and to\nadmiration, the part now played by the microbe in every-day life.\n\nIt is to be feared that, except by those who seriously studied the\nquestion, the existence of so many devils of one kind or another did\nnot cause such general uneasiness as the clergy might desire--very much\nas now happens when the medical world is appalled by the discovery of\nsome new microbe in strawberry, telephone receiver, or shirt-cuff. The\nplain man accepted them, and having after some centuries discovered\nthat they made little practical difference to his life, ceased to\nfeel more than a languid interest in even the most appalling new\nvarieties discovered by saintly specialists. Their constant insistence\nupon the inherent wickedness of humanity and the almost insuperable\ndangers which assail the Christian on all sides lost something of\ntheir freshness in time, one may suppose, and were succeeded by a\ncertain weariness. Granted that Christianity was the one sure road to\nsalvation in the next world, it was so difficult to follow without\nstumbling that few, if any, could hope to arrive at the goal, save by\nsome such lucky accident as a martyrdom. Christianity was thus bound,\nin practice, if not in theory, to come to some working agreement\nwith the old, comfortable pagan customs it had superseded. Certain\nof the more popular pagan customs and festivals found their way into\nChristian observance, certain popular deities were baptised and became\nChristian saints. A familiar instance of this occurs in the case of\nSaint Walpurg. In Christian hagiology she occurs as a virgin saint, and\nas having accompanied Saint Boniface upon his missionary travels--all\nof which would seem to show that pious scandal-mongering was less\nrife in contemporary religious circles than is the case to-day. In\nfolk-lore we find many wells and springs associated with her and thus\nacquiring valuable medicinal qualities. The oil exuded from her bones\nupon Walpurgis-nacht was valued as relieving the pangs of toothache\nand of childbirth. Potent in the cure of hydrophobia, the dog is\nincluded among her pictorial attributes, while she is also represented\nas bearing in her hand either oil or ears of corn--the symbols of\nagricultural fertility. The festivals and rejoicings which took place\nupon Walpurgis-nacht, with their special connection with witchcraft,\nwould further seem to show that Walpurg before she became a Christian\nsaint had a long history as a mother-goddess. In the same manner in the\ncult of the Virgin may be found traces of that worship of Diana which\nfor 600 years persisted side by side with Christianity, and is far from\nbeing altogether extinct in Italy even to-day.\n\nAs may readily be understood, these paganising tendencies were not\nfavourably regarded by the fathers. In the year 600 A.D. St. Eligius\nfelt called upon to forbid dancing, capering, carols, and diabolical\nsongs upon the festival of Saint John. A statute of Saint Boniface\nforbids choruses of laymen and maidens to sing and feast in the\nchurches. As the Church increased in power, many such practices--as,\nfor example, the dancing of women round sacred trees and wells, with\ntorches or candles in their hands, the common meal, the choral song\nand sacrifice--were roundly forbidden as witchcraft, the uprooting of\nwhich the Church at last felt capable of taking seriously in hand. This\nwas indeed become a matter almost of life and death, for the Church\nfound itself in many ways in acute competition with the witch, the one\nattaining by lawful means similar results to those achieved by the\nother through the assistance of Satan. And just as Adam, upon learning\nthat the apple was forbidden to him, immediately hungered after it to\nthe exclusion of all other fare, so the public showed itself more\neager to obtain the forbidden services of the witch than those of the\nlegitimate practitioner. So much was this the case that the Church was\nsometimes forced to resort to other means than persecution to show\nitself capable of competing against the witch with her own weapons.\nOccasionally, it must be confessed, these methods suggested rather the\nAmerican Trust magnate than the fair competitor, as, for instance,\nthe case of the Blocksberg. This hill was a place of considerable\nimportance to witches, providing a large choice of magical herbs as the\nraw material for their trade in weather-charms. These could, however,\nbe gathered only upon the eve of Saint John and during the ringing of\nthe neighbouring church-bells. The ecclesiastical authorities, becoming\naware of this, gave orders that the bells should be rung only for the\nshortest possible period on that date--a proceeding the unfairness of\nwhich could only have been exceeded by not ringing the bells at all.\n\nAnother story of the kind, quoted by Mr. Lecky, shows that, even in\nfair and open competition, holy water could hold its own against the\nmost powerful of black magic. A certain Christian, Italicus by name,\nwas addicted to horse-racing at Gaza. One of his most dangerous and\nconstant competitors was a pagan Duumvir. This latter, being versed\nin the black arts, therewith \"doped\" his horses so successfully that\nhe invariably won. Italicus, being prohibited from following his\nexample, at last appealed to Saint Hilarion, exhorting him to uphold\nthe honour of the Church by some signal display of supernatural power.\nThe saint, after some hesitation, complied, and presented Italicus with\na bowl of specially consecrated holy-water. At the start of the next\nrace Italicus liberally besprinkled his team, whereupon they drew his\nchariot to the winning-post with supernatural rapidity. The Duumvir's\nhorses, on the other hand, faltered and staggered, as though belaboured\nby an unseen hand--and, needless to say, lost the race. Whether the\nDuumvir appealed to the contemporary Jockey Club to disqualify the\nwinning team, and, if so, with what result, we are not informed.\n\nConsidering the vast and ever-increasing population of witches\nand demons, it seemed an almost hopeless task to exterminate them\naltogether. Nor indeed was it until after the thirteenth century that\nthe Church attempted the task on any universal scale. If an individual\nwitch was unlucky enough to fall into priestly hands, her fate was\nlikely to be unhappy--but in the early days of the faith the priest\nfelt himself capable of triumphing over her by less material weapons.\nOnly, as priests could not be everywhere, and the number of witches\nso largely exceeded their own, means were provided whereby even the\nlayman might withstand them. Thus burning sulphur was very efficacious\nin the driving out of devils, the subtlety (!) of its odour having\ngreat power of purification. The gall of a black dog put in perfume was\nanother acknowledged recipe, as was the smearing of his blood upon the\nwalls of the infested house.\n\nIt is noteworthy, and a fact that vouches strongly for the sincerity\nof the early Church, that although she thus practised what was nothing\nless than sanctified witchcraft, she never attempted one of the most\nfrequent and popular of witch-practices--the foretelling of the future,\nso far, at any rate, as this world was concerned. It is true that the\nChristian's earthly future, being but an uncomfortable preliminary to\nposthumous joys, might be more happily left unforetold. Yet many of\nthem did not altogether despise the pleasures of this life, and were\nvery willing to pay for an anticipatory glimpse of any likely to be\nencountered.\n\nFamiliarity in some measure breeding contempt, the public in these\nearly days thus regarded neither witch nor d\u00e6mon with the dread and\nhatred so manifest in the fifteenth century and onwards. For one\nthing, faith in the power of the Church was more implicit. To dally\nwith the forbidden had all the fascination of a sport with a spice\nof danger in it, when you knew that at any time a power vastly\ngreater than those of evil was ready to step in to protect you from\nthe consequences of your over-rashness. Before the name of a fairly\nefficient saint the most powerful demon must bend his head, especially\nwith holy water anywhere in the neighbourhood. If you fell under the\npower of a witch it could only be through neglecting to take proper\nprecautions or to employ someone else to do so for a moderate fee. Our\nown Anglo-Saxon forefathers showed a very nice spirit of prudence in\nsuch matters--as in the famous meeting between Ethelbert King of Kent\nand Saint Augustine, held, by royal command, in the open air, lest the\nmissionary, being under a roof, might practise unlawful arts upon the\nKing. The witch, in a word, was everywhere, but so were the necessary\nantidotes--some of them of the simplest. Thus, in the story of Hereward\nwe learn how the Wise Woman of Brandon, near Ely, anathematised the\nhero from a wooden scaffolding. To be really efficacious her curses\nmust be thrice repeated, but before she had time to do this the\nscaffold was set on fire by Hereward's followers, and the Wise Woman\nperished miserably. The witch, in fact, like her gossip the Devil,\nalways comes off second best in folk-lore where she is matched against\nthe truly virtuous--a comforting reflection for everybody, however\nominous for their friends.\n\nShe was still to some extent a shadowy personality, of shifting and\nindefinite attributes. Although in 696 the Council of Berkhampstead\ndecreed that any person sacrificing to the Devil should be punished--a\nclear enough reference to witches--it was not until some centuries\nlater that the conception of the witch definitely crystallised into\nits modern form of a woman carrying out an actual compact with Satan,\nworking miracles by his power, and frequently transported through the\nair to pay him homage at Sabbath gatherings. Until then the Church may\nbe said to have been obtaining and sifting evidence, building up a\nformidable mass of precedent and tradition, to be employed with deadly\neffect when witchcraft was definitely branded as heresy.\n\nWhether or no the sins of witch and sorcerer be definitely codified, it\nis the duty of the law-giver to provide for all contingencies; and just\nas Justinian devoted part of his code to dealing with witchcraft, so\nCharlemagne, two centuries and a half later, enacted new and stringent\nlaws for the abatement of sorcery--as in the Capitular of 789, wherein\nsupernatural meteorology is forbidden. More direct, though perhaps less\nefficacious, were such deterrent methods as those of the pious Bishop\nBarbatus, who in the seventh century cut down and uprooted a certain\nnut-tree famous as a meeting place for witches. It may here be noted\nthat trees were at all times much favoured by the evil sisterhood, more\nespecially as meteorological offices. Numerous witch-oaks throughout\nGermany served for this purpose--one, at Buckenhofen, was used as a\nswing by witches attending the Walpurgis-nacht. It is something of a\nparadox that while a grove of oaks--the sacred tree of the Teutons, as\nis the linden of the Slavs--is a protection against magic, particular\ntrees should be famous as gathering-points for witches.\n\nAs the year 1000 approached, the generally optimistic outlook upon\nthings in general suffered a decline. Famine and pestilence grew\nalways more commonplace; the price of corn increased unprecedentedly;\nstarvation became the normal condition of millions throughout Europe;\ncases occurred in which children were killed and devoured by their\nfamished parents; dead bodies were disinterred and used for food.\nOld prophecies had placed the end of the world in the year 1000, and\nto the miseries of hunger and disease were added those of universal\nterror. The forward movement in the Church seemed to have died away,\nand Christian fervour gave place to increased insistence on forms and\nceremonies, regarded by the commonalty as tiresome, if necessary,\nduties. Small wonder that they sought for something which, instead of\nthe hopeless contemplation of inherent sin, should provide some ray of\npresent comfort. Here was the opportunity of the witch, the sorcerer,\nand the alchemist--and here also began the bitterest contest between\npriesthood and witchcraft. Hitherto the Church had been able to regard\nsuch rivals, if not with tolerance, at least with contempt. Now it\nhad to fight against weapons forged in its own furnaces, appealing\nto that abysmal ignorance ordained by the priest upon his flock. If\nthe monopoly in knowledge be power, its application is double-edged;\nthe Church was forced to seek some new means of inspiring the fear of\ncelestial wrath to come into those who could imagine no circumstances\nmore dreadful than what they already daily endured. The time had come\nto prove that those who tampered with the forbidden must expect a\ndouble share of punishment--in this world as well as the next--and\nthat the earthly penalty was quite as much to be dreaded as the best\ninfernal efforts.\n\nIn 1025, Burckhard of Worms inserts the significant question in the\nconfessional:--\"Have you believed that there are women who can turn\nlove into hate and hatred into love, or who can harm their neighbours\nand seize their goods for themselves? Have you believed that godless\nwomen blinded by the Devil ride abroad at night with the demon Holda,\nobeying her as goddess?\" Followed in due course Ethelred's decree of\nbanishment against witches, soothsayers, and magicians, and that of\nCanute, which included love-witchcraft as a branch of heathendom.\n\nThough the anathemas of the Church might for a time stem the increasing\ntide of witch-popularity, they were fundamentally only incentives\ntowards a cult which did not include anathemas or persecution--except,\nindeed, those within the control of the humblest individual. In the\ntwelfth century, moreover--the century of the Crusaders--many new\ninfluences were at work. To counteract the general lethargy into which\nthe Church was sinking, the Popes availed themselves of their knowledge\nof human nature. Epidemical frenzy was aroused by remission of penance,\nabsolution of all sins, past, present, and to come, and the assurance\nof eternal felicity for all who took the cross. Sham miracles and\nprophecies stimulated the popular enthusiasm, and more potent than\neither was the knowledge among millions that any change they might\nexperience must be for the better. But however promising at the time,\nthe great \"revival\" was fraught with danger to the Church that provoked\nit. New conditions evolved new ideas. Asia provided greater luxury for\nbody and mind than any hitherto known to its European invaders. The new\nworld thus opened before them might be sinful; it was at least very\npleasant. Future damnation presents few terrors to the well-fed, and\nthe discovery that millions existed, and in comfort, who had never\ntaken off their hat to a priest in their lives--however shocking it\nmight seem at first--was bound to give furiously to think.\n\nAmong the forbidden institutions upon which the Crusader found reason\nto reconsider his ideas, witchcraft took a prominent place. Anathema\nthough it might be, it had a multitude of Oriental exponents, who,\nwhatever they might have to look for in the next world, had little\ncause to complain of this. Such abominations cried for intelligent\ninvestigation, if only that they might be refuted, with the result\nthat the Crusader returned home with the knowledge of many novel\nfeatures that might be profitably added to the Western ritual of magic.\nMeanwhile in his absence his own native practitioners had not been\nidle. Faithful wives were anxious to know something of their lords'\nwhereabouts, safety, or, it may be, fidelity. Those who were not\nfaithful had even more need of tidings as to his probable return and of\nmeans for delaying it. In such emergencies the services of the witch\nwere indispensable--and priestly prohibitions only served to advertise\nher powers and to increase the number of her suppliants. These various\ncauses, and more particularly the last, combined to give witchcraft an\nimportance in social life hitherto denied to it, and to draw down upon\nit more and more the wrath of Mother Church. She had, indeed, other no\nless pressing calls upon her attention. The long slumber of orthodoxy\nwas at an end; many heresies disturbed the minds of the faithful. The\nrevival of Latin literature stirred thoughts and feelings long blurred\nby Church teaching. The Crusaders were not the sole importers of\nOriental ideas; Greek traders also, along with the drugs and perfumes\nof the East, brought new doctrines, received with dangerous tolerance.\nThe vigorous Innocent III. quickly perceived the danger, and entered\nupon a systematic persecution of heretics. In 1208 a Papal Legate\nhaving been murdered by Raimond of Toulouse--against whom the Church\nhad already serious cause of complaint, Innocent at once proclaimed\na crusade, and the heretical Albigenses were involved in the ruin\nof their most powerful protector, suffering a persecution of almost\nunprecedented severity. The establishment of the Inquisition now became\na logical necessity if the spread of heresy was to be saved, and little\ntime was lost in its creation.\n\nBy this time Satan had assumed a definite form and personality in the\npublic mind, and the idea that the witch obtained her powers through\na compact with him, long sedulously inculcated, had taken root. It is\ntrue that even yet the \"Sabbath\" was but a harmless servile carnival,\nfrowned upon, indeed, and discouraged wherever possible. Coincidentally\nwith the rise of the general heresy hunt, Europe was over-run by a\nnumber of devastating epidemics. Leprosy, epilepsy, and every form\nof skin disease raged almost unchecked. They were attributed to many\ncauses, from lack of faith to the consumption of various Eastern\ndrugs introduced by home-faring Crusaders--though lack of food and\ncleanliness were doubtless the most active agents in spreading them\nabroad. Dirt had long been accounted almost a mark of holiness--and\none so easy of attainment that few cared to disregard it and arouse\nsuspicion as to their orthodoxy by too frequent ablutions. Medical\nscience was at its lowest ebb; the priests, with keen common sense,\ndeclared skin eruptions to be divinely-inflicted punishments, and\ntherefore not amenable to holy water. In despair the unhappy sufferers\nturned to the witch for aid, who, by her knowledge of herbs and\nsimples, was qualified to alleviate, if not to cure. Everything seemed\nto conspire in thrusting forward the witch into dangerous prominence.\n\nThe ecclesiastical measures of repression grew always more severe.\nCanon Law decreed that soothsayers be subjected to excommunication,\nand enjoined upon the bishops to leave no stone unturned for their\nrepression. By the fourteenth century the Sabbaths, under the\npenetrating eye of the Inquisition lost their harmless character and\nbecame forcing grounds of the Black Mass. The practice of medicine by\nwomen, however beneficial, grew more and more into disfavour, and year\nby year the attributes of the witch grew more infernal as the material\nDevil became more and more familiar in men's minds. No doubt the\nincrease of witches was real as well as theoretical. Love of notoriety\nis of no modern growth--and the reputation of possessing infernal\npowers satisfactorily filled the position of the modern newspaper\nparagraph. This in more senses than one--for not only could you obtain\nnotoriety for yourself, as does the modern Apache who murders for the\n_r\u00e9clame_ it will bring him, you could also satisfy a grudge against\na neighbour, with no risk to yourself, by anonymously accusing her to\nthe local clergy. Witchcraft, again, was open to all, without licence,\nexamination, or entrance fee. Poverty, the desire of solitude, a nice\ntaste in invective, and a black cat or so were all the stock-in-trade\nrequired to start in business.\n\nThe convenience, from the Church point of view, of catching witch and\nheretic in the same net was too obvious to be disregarded. By the\nfourteenth century their connection was well established in the eyes\nof church and law. In France, so early as the thirteenth century,\nprosecution took place for \"vauderie,\" an omnibus-word which covered at\nonce witchcraft and the heretical practices of those Vaudois from whose\nname it was derived. In Ireland, in 1324, proceedings for witchcraft\ntaken against Dame Alice Kyteler and others in the Court of the Bishop\nof Ossory, brought about a conflict between Church and State, such\ncases, according to English law, being tried by a secular tribunal.\n\nThe substitution of linen for wool in dress was an efficient factor\nin abating the ravages of skin-diseases, but their place was taken\nby the more terrible Black Death, and, in 1350, epileptic dancings,\nknown as the Dance of Saint Guy, broke out with especial virulence in\nGermany and Flanders. These and other diseases, constant wars, bad\nharvests, and other troubles brought about a series of class-wars,\nthe Jacquerie in France, and Wat Tyler's insurrection in England, for\nexample; the Devil and the witch between them shared the blame in the\neyes of respectable Europe. The greater pestilences were attributed to\nthe Devil's personal intervention, while minor diseases, and especially\npoisonings, fell to the witch's share--this latter accusation being,\nperhaps, not altogether without cause. The public--or that portion\nwhose lives were cast in places sufficiently pleasant to prevent them\ndesiring such consolation as magic might afford them--were now fully\naroused to their iniquity. Against the agents of so grisly a horror\nas the medi\u00e6val devil no measures could be too severe, no torture\ntoo dreadful. Scholasticism vied with the Church in deploring the\nincreasing evil; John XXII.'s publication of the first Bull against\nwitchcraft was capped by the University of Paris, which, in 1398,\nlaid down rules for the judicial prosecution of witches, expressing at\nthe same time regret that the crime of sorcery should be growing more\ncommon than in any former age. In England, from the Conquest onwards,\ncommissions were issued from time to time empowering the Bishops to\nseek out sorcerers. In 1406 such a mission was delegated to the Bishop\nof Lincoln. It was not, however, until 1542 that penalties more severe\nthan fine and imprisonment were inflicted by the Ecclesiastical Courts.\n\nThe ever-increasing prestige of witchcraft in time raised it to a point\nwhere it could be made an apt weapon for political intrigues. The\nburning of Jeanne d'Arc as a witch is a case in point, her tormentors\nby their choice of indictment dimming for long centuries the halo\nwhich surrounded her efforts towards the freeing of her country, while\nat the same time it provided ample opportunity for those who, having\nbeen among the first to hail the rising popular star, are also first\nto enjoy his fall from greatness. Another case, even more definitely\npolitical, was that of Eleanor Duchess of Gloucester, in which the\ncharge of witchcraft proved a serviceable weapon in the hands of\nCardinal Beaufort. The Duchess, although accused of no less a crime\nthan procuring a wax image of Henry VI., manufactured by the Witch of\nEye, with nefarious intent, escaped the death penalty indeed, but was\ncondemned to public penance, followed by life-long banishment.\n\nAs the Reformation grew nearer, public opinion veered round to some\nslight extent in the direction of leniency. The Inquisition was itself\nbecoming so unpopular that its victims were bound to excite some secret\nsympathy. The Renaissance, throwing wide the door to all the intellect\nof classical days, already shook the dominion of the Church to its\nfoundations. The time had come for desperate measures if Orthodoxy was\nto hold her own. In 1484 the Witch-Bull of Innocent VIII. definitely\nhanded the witch over to the care of the Inquisitors--and thus gave\nthe signal for a series of persecutions of unexampled horror, enduring\nthrough more than two centuries, and the last echoes of which have\nscarcely died away even to-day.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nTHE WITCH-BULL AND ITS EFFECTS\n\n\nI have elsewhere in this volume attempted to show that, even in our\nown days, there is nothing particularly incredible about a witch--and\nthat the disrespect into which she has fallen is due rather to our\nmodern lack of any sense of proportion in our beliefs, than to any\nfault of her own. Certainly we have no cause to pride ourselves on\nany intellectual superiority to the great divines and scholars of\npast ages who devoted themselves to the dissection or condemnation\nof witchcraft--rather we should deplore our lack of faith and of\nimagination. For them there existed no possibility of doubt, no\nrelative standard of fact or theory. The premises were absolute.\nThe spiritual world was based upon the word of God as expressed in\nthe Bible and translated by the Church. To argue the absurdity or\ninadmissibility of any particular tenet of Christian doctrine was to\nsuppose a paradox--the fallibility of the infallible. Eminent jurists,\nas was Bodin, or learned physicians such as Wierus, both writing\ntowards the close of the sixteenth century, arguing with great mental\ndexterity on opposite sides, alike accepted the initial axiom, cramp\nand confine them though it might. They had, indeed, no alternative--as\nwell might two modern astronomers in disputing over the whereabouts\nof an undiscovered planet deny the existence of the sun. The humane\nWierus, a friend of Sir Philip Sidney, by the way, preaches from the\nsame text as does the judicial Bodin--though he delivers a different\nsermon. Bodin, supporter of the old conventions, makes a formidable\nonslaught on Wierus--not for any scepticism as to the existence of\nwitches--no ground was given him for such an accusation--but for\nmaintaining against the view of the Church that witches were victims\nrather than disciples of the Devil. Nor, in the face of the very\nexplicit injunction, \"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live\"--and the\nsuggestion was still to be mooted that \"witch\" in the original stood\nfor \"poisoner\"--can we accuse those who obeyed it of having acted from\nany other motives than those of earnest Christians. It is true that\nthey carried zeal to the point of enthusiasm--but zeal has always been\naccounted a mark of grace.\n\nAs we have seen the severest period of witch-persecution commences from\ntheir definite classification as heretics by the Bull of Innocent VIII.\nissued in 1484. The Bull itself was not lacking in directness:--\"It\nhas come to our ears,\" it commences, \"that great numbers of both sexes\nare not afraid to abuse their own bodies with devils that serve to both\nsexes. And with their Inchantments, charms and sorceries to vex and\nafflict Man and Beast with inward and outward pains and tortures....\nTherefore with the authority apostolic we have given power to the\nInquisitor ... to convict, imprison and punish.\"\n\nThe Inquisitor, Sprenger, lost little time in making use of\nthis delegated authority--and such was his zeal and so many his\nopportunities of acquiring knowledge that within two years after the\nissue of the Bull he gave to the world his famous \"Witch's Hammer,\"\nfor the direction and guidance of those upon whom should fall the duty\nof exterminating so vile a heresy. This \"Malleus Maleficarum\" contains\nminute accounts of every description of witch, with suggestions for\ncounteracting and exterminating their influence. Like most of his\npredecessors--and successors--Sprenger blames the whole existence of\nwitchcraft upon the notorious frailty of women. The very word \"f\u0153mina,\"\nhe declares, in the accents of authority, is derived from \"fe\" and\n\"minus\"--because women have less faith than have men. From this\nunhappy constitution of the sex countless ills have sprung--among them\ninnumerable varieties of witch. Of these, thirteen are exhaustively\ndescribed, that all may recognise them. Worst are those who slay and\ndevour children. Others raise hail, tempests, lightning and thunder,\nprocure barrenness in man, woman and beast, make horses kick until\nthey throw their riders, or pass from place to place through the air,\ninvisible. Others can render themselves taciturn and insensible under\ntorture, can find things hidden or lost, foretell the future and\nalter men's minds to inordinate love or hate. They can draw down the\nmoon, destroy unborn children, raise spirits--in a word, there is no\ndepartment of devilry, major or minor, in which they are not adepts, if\nwe may trust their enthusiastic historian, whose work at once became\nan authority--almost a ready reckoner of witchcraft, by which anyone\nwith a knowledge of Latin had at his fingers' ends the best possible\nmethod of recognising, convicting and destroying any variety or variant\nwhatsoever.\n\nIt is pleasant to reflect that so careful and conscientious a work\nearned for its author the affection and admiration alike of his\ncontemporaries and of posterity. Later writers based their theories\nand arguments upon his discoveries as upon a firm rock, while during\nhis lifetime he directed public opinion upon the evil he had set\nhimself to combat so successfully that not one old woman in fifty\ncould be sure of dying in her bed for generations. It is a pregnant\nsign of the genuine horror in which witches were held that all the\nordinary legal conventions were suspended at these trials. Contrary\nto the usual procedure, witness might be borne against them by\nexcommunicated persons, convicts, infants, dishonest servants and\nrunaways. Presumption and conjecture were accepted as evidence, an\nequivocal or doubtful answer was regarded as a confession and rumour\nor common report sufficient to ensure a conviction. It is true that\nsuch improvements in legal procedure cannot be altogether attributed\nto the exertions of the Inquisitor--dating, as many of them do, from\ncenturies before the publication of his magnum opus--at least he\ndevoted a splendid enthusiasm to the object he had set before him, and\non his death-bed was able to look forward with confident humility to\nthe reward merited by a well-spent life.\n\nThe effects of the Witch-Bull were immediate and in every way\nsatisfactory to its authors--a perfect frenzy of witch-finding\nresulting. Forty-one women were burned in one year--commencing in\n1485--by the Inquisitor Cumanus. A colleague, not to be outdone,\nexecuted a hundred in Piedmont--and was perfectly willing to continue\nthe good work, had not public enthusiasm waned in view of the\ninevitable monotony in this form of amusement. A little later a tempest\ndevastated the country around Constance. The inhabitants recognising\nthat--in face of the recent Bull--it were blasphemous to attribute such\na storm to natural causes, seized two old women, obtained confessions\nin the usual way, and burned them. About 1515, some five hundred\npersons were executed in Geneva as \"Protestant witches\"--an instance\nof the alliance between heresy and witchcraft. In Lorraine the learned\nand enthusiastic Inquisitor Remigius put to death nine hundred persons\nin 15 years. Hutchinson, indeed, writing in 1718, puts the number\nat eighteen hundred, but even the smaller--and more correct--total\nshows that Remigius did his duty nobly. Italy, naturally enough, was\ndetermined not to be outdone by foreign holocausts, and accordingly we\nfind that more than a thousand executions took place in Como in 1524,\nand an average of more than a hundred was maintained for several years.\n\nMere lists of figures such as these are apt to pall, especially when,\nas in such a case, it is almost impossible for a modern reader to\nrealise their actual meaning, as that every day throughout a whole\nyear, three unhappy women, old, poor, and defenceless, should be\ninhumanly tortured, and afterwards publicly murdered in the most\npainful way imaginable in one district, not only without a word of\nprotest being raised, but with the approval of all Europe. That it\nshould have actually taken place vouches for the earnestness with which\nour forefathers regarded their religion, if for nothing else.\n\nNor is it to be supposed that Protestants were in any way less\nattentive to this branch of their religious duties than were their\nCatholic neighbours. They might differ upon every other point--on\nthis at least there was no room for disagreement. Martin Luther,\nwith his usual decision, makes his attitude perfectly clear, \"I have\nno compassion on these witches. I would burn them all.\" Perhaps one\nreason for this uncompromising attitude may have been his contempt\nfor Satan's snares, of which he had considerable experience. So\naccustomed did he grow to the assaults of the Devil that, having been\nonce, as it is related, awakened at dead of night by an alarming\nclatter, \"he perceived that it was only the Devil and so went to\nsleep again.\" Calvin, again, says of Psalm v., 6, \"If there were no\ncharms of sorcery, this were but a childish and absurd thing which\nis here written.\" It is true that Protestant and Catholic regarded\nthe witchcraft question from diametrically opposite standpoints.\nWhereas the Roman Church regarded heretics as a variety of witch,\nthe Reformers were inclined to regard Catholic rites and forms as\namong the most virulent of the black arts. At a somewhat later date,\nduring the New England persecutions, a girl was deposed to have been\nallowed, by the Devil, to read \"Popish Books\"--such as \"Cambridge and\nOxford Tracts\"--while good Protestant works, as \"The Bible Assemblies'\nCatechism\" or Colton's \"Milk for Babes\" sent her, being in the power\nof the Devil, into violent convulsions!\n\nHowever enduring might be the enthusiasm of the judges, the commonalty\nin time grew sated with the spectacle of their own and their friends'\naunts and grandmothers being burned to ashes for the glory of God.\nWitch-trials and witch-burnings, however dramatically exciting, were\nlacking in variety--and were expensive as well as entertaining. While\nthe energy of the Inquisitors was stimulated by the forfeiture--in\ntheir favour--of the witch's worldly goods--the community had to lose\nthem, such as they were, besides suffering complete disorganisation of\ndaily business routine. There were even those--difficult of belief as\nit may seem--who so far risked their chance of Paradise as to sicken at\nthe continuance of such useless bloodshed and to grow sceptical as to\nthe singlemindedness of its promoters. Such a one was the humane and\nlearned Dr. Wierus, who, in 1563, published at Basel his famous volume,\n\"De Pr\u00e6stigiis.\" At the time, indeed, this plea for the witch as the\nvictim rather than the ally of Satan, served only to fan the flame of\npersecution, by the bitter controversy to which it gave rise, though\nsubsequently quenching it in no small degree. Although, needless to\nsay, a firm believer in the reality of the black art, Wierus branded\nit as the direct rather than the indirect work of the Devil. As\nhelpless victims, therefore, his agents should not be punished for\ncrimes in which their human frailty was alone guilty. He adopted, in\na word, towards the witch, the modern attitude towards the dangerous\nlunatic--that she should be restrained rather than punished. He even\ndisplays a certain contempt for her powers--understanding, in the light\nof his own medical knowledge, that many so-called cases of bewitchment\nor demoniacal possession, were the result of purely natural causes.\nLike his contemporaries, Wierus concludes that the Devil chooses women\nrather than men to do his will as being easier to influence. Naturally\nmalicious and impatient, they are unable to control their affections\nand are all too credulous--qualities of which Satan takes every\nadvantage. Particularly does he appreciate stupid, weak old women,\nthe shakiness of whose wits places them the more surely in his power.\nWierus parts company from his contemporaries in urging that this very\nfrailty should arouse compassion--that they should be pitied rather\nthan treated as stubborn heretics--and that if punished they should be\ntreated less severely than were men, because of this infirmity of their\nsex.\n\nNot content with stirring up doubt as to the spiritual nature of\nwitchcraft, Wierus has the audacity to question the motives of some\nof its judges. He quotes an example of the profitable side of the\nwitch-mania as having happened in Wurtemburg. The skins of animals\nthat died by mischance there became the property of the executioner.\nThis functionary evidently possessed a spirit far in advance of his\nage, for coincidently with the rise of a local witch-mania, a fatal\nepidemic--attributed, of course, to witchcraft--broke out among the\nsheep, pigs, and oxen of the neighbourhood. The executioner grew\nrich--and had not the wisdom to conceal it. The jealous suspicions of\nhis neighbours were aroused, he was put to the torture, confessed to\nhaving poisoned the animals, and was condemned to be torn to pieces\nwith pincers.\n\nWierus had studied the natural history of the witch no less closely\nthan his predecessor, the Inquisitor Sprenger. Indeed, judging from\nsome of the charges brought against them at contemporary trials,\nwe may agree with him that they were more suited to the attentions\nof a physician than of a judge. Thus, among the commonest of their\ncrimes--as frequently proved by their own confession, it is to be\nremembered--were the dishonouring of the crucifix and the denial\nof salvation, the absconding, despite bolts and bars, to attend\nthe Devil's Sabbath and the partaking in choral dances around the\nwitch-tree of rendezvous. Remigius tells us that many confessed to\nhaving changed themselves into cats, to having belaboured running\nwater with rods in order to bring about bad weather--more particularly\nhail-storms--and other doings of the kind customary to witches of\nall the ages. Wierus, who was held to be a disciple of that prince of\nsorcerers, Cornelius Agrippa, was naturally as expert in all things\nrelating to the Devil and his kingdom as to his earthly slaves. No\nmodern revivalist could exceed the minuteness of his knowledge, nor,\nindeed, the thoroughness expressed in his detailing of it. He even\nseems to have taken a census of the more official population in\nthe under-world, enumerating seventy-two princes of evil, who rule\nover seven million four hundred and five thousand nine hundred and\ntwenty-six devils of inferior rank.\n\nFifteen years after the publication of \"De Pr\u00e6stigiis,\" appeared\nJean Bodin's counterblast. The eminent jurist was well qualified to\nspeak, having done some persecuting on his own account and thus gained\nfirst-hand experience of the ways and customs of the witch. To him\nthe theories of Wierus appeared as those either of a very ignorant\nor of a very wicked man. The suggestion that witches and sorcerers\nshould be pitied rather than punished appeared to him to aim a blow\nat the very framework of society, human and divine, and he felt it\nhis duty to refute Wierus and all his works, \"not through hatred, but\nprimarily for the honour of God.\" He also gives detailed accounts of\nthe various kinds of witches, but unlike Wierus discreetly refrains\nfrom setting down the spells and invocations to the Devil with which\nhe is acquainted, lest, falling into the hands of the evilly disposed,\nimproper use be made of them. For such crimes as those habitually\ncommitted by witches he can find no penalty severe enough, while as to\nWierus' plea that allowance be made for the weakness of women he quotes\napprovingly the law, that \"the punishment for witchcraft shall not be\ndiminished for women as is the case in all other crimes.\"\n\nEngland was in no way singular from the rest of Europe in her method\nof approaching the question, though her persecutions were on a smaller\nscale. The Act of 1541 whereby various kinds of sorcery, such as the\ndestruction of a neighbour's goods or person, the making of images or\npictures of men, women, children, angels, devils, beasts and fowls\nfor magical purposes, were declared felony without benefit of clergy,\nwas repealed in the reign of Edward VI. Another, distinguishing the\nvarious grades of witchcraft, was passed in 1562. By it, conjurations,\ninvocations of evil spirits, the practice of sorceries, enchantments,\ncharms and witchcrafts whereby deaths resulted were declared felony,\nwithout benefit of clergy, and punishable with death. If only\nbodily harm ensued, the penalty for the first offence was a year's\nimprisonment and exposure in the pillory, and for the second, death.\nNotwithstanding such laws, the highest in the land were not averse\nto personal dealings with followers of the black art. Queen Elizabeth\nherself so far exercised her royal prerogative as to have been--unless\nrumour lie--on excellent terms with Dr. John Dee, the eminent\ncrystal-gazer, whose \"black stone\" is now in the British Museum. In\nScotland the principal Act was passed in 1563. By it the practice of\nwitchcraft, sorcery and necromancy, the pretence of possessing magical\nknowledge, and the seeking of help from witches were declared capital\noffences.\n\nIt says much for the common sense of the English nation that it should,\nat such a period, have produced so enlightened a writer on the subject\nas was Reginald Scot. As against his contemporary, Holland, who,\nwriting in 1590, urges that since witches were in the Bible, \"shall\nSatan be less cruel now?\", Scot, in \"The Discoverie of Witchcraft,\"\nscoffs at \"Sprenger's fables and Bodin's bables\"--a conceit that must\nhave afforded him infinite satisfaction. \"I denie not,\" he argues,\n\"that there are witches or images, but I detest the idolatrous opinions\nconceived of them.\" And again: \"I am well assured that if all the old\nwomen in the world were witches, and all the priests conjurers, we\nshould not have a drop of rain the more or the less for them.\" The\nsuggestion of priests as conjurers is, of course, a hit at \"Papish\npractices,\" and another description of witches as \"Papists\" betrays\nhis religious attitude. It must be said that the Anglican Church was\ninclined towards tolerance--the severe witch-persecutions in these\nislands, which I detail elsewhere, being chiefly due to that Puritan\nspirit which dwelt with more satisfaction on the sins than the virtues\nof mankind. For just as it has been said that the only antagonist more\nredoubtable on the battle-field than a swearing Irishman is a praying\nScotsman, so the Puritan was a deadlier persecutor of witches than the\nmost zealous Inquisitor. This with good reason, if we remember that\nthe Catholic offered the chance of Heaven to anyone who was not an\nobstinate heretic; while the Puritan was of much the same opinion as\nthe old Scotswoman, who, having with her brother seceded from the local\nkirk, and being asked by the minister whether she seriously believed\nthat no one but her brother and herself would be saved, replied that\nshe had grave doubts about her brother.\n\nJames I., although upon his succession to the English throne he found\nthe Episcopacy well suited to his theories of kingship, yet preserved\nthe Puritanical sense of other people's sinfulness in his heart. To\nthis no less than to his desire for literary laurels, is to be ascribed\nhis painstaking--not to say pedantic--\"D\u00e6monologia,\" published in\n1597, which the loyal Hutchinson excuses in his \"Historical Essay on\nWitchcraft\"--excuses on the ground of his youth and inexperience.\nJames, needless to say, saw no need of apology for the benefit he was\nconferring on mankind in general and his subjects in particular. In his\nlove for police-court details, indeed, he showed himself altogether\nat one with his subjects, if we may judge from the taste of their\npresent-day descendants. He had, again, every right to consider himself\nan authority on his subject, as one who had himself suffered from\nmagical machinations. A Protestant King seeking a Protestant bride, he\nsuffered all the terrors and discomforts of a temptuous crossing from\nDenmark, brought about through his earthly agents by Satan, filled with\nwrath and consternation at the alliance of two such powerful enemies\nof his kingdom. As he might have expected, his plans were brought to\nnought, and his servants, Agnes Simpson and Dr. Fian, suffered the\nappropriate penalty, the last-named especially being subjected to\nperhaps the most sickening torture on record. King James showed so\nclose an interest in the minuti\u00e6 of the black art that had he moved in\na less exalted sphere he might well have come under suspicion himself.\nThus on one occasion he sent for Grellis Duncan, a performer on the\nJews' harp, and caused her to play before him the identical tune to\nwhich Satan and his companions led the brawl at a Sabbath in North\nBerwick churchyard. It is true, as against this, that many witches\nexecuted in his reign quoted infernal pronouncements that the King was\n\"_un homme de Dieu_\" and Satan's greatest enemy--a form of homage which\nso whetted the Royal ardour that few juries ventured, with the fear of\nhis displeasure before them, to acquit any of their unhappy victims.\n\nIn the \"D\u00e6monologia\" James shows every sign of keen enjoyment. He\nwrites after the manner of the most eminent--and tedious--divines,\ndividing his matter into firstlies, secondlies, and thirdlies--divisions\nand sub-divisions, headings and sub-headings, with royal prodigality.\nHe is fearfully and wonderfully theological--and occasionally indulges\nin touches of elephantine lightness such as might well have given pause\nto the most obstinate sorcerer. His preface, eminently characteristic\nof the whole, opens thus:--\"The feareful abounding at this time in this\ncountrie of these detestable slaves of the Divil, the witches or\nenchaunters, hath moved me (beloved reader) to dispatch in post this\nfollowing Treatise of mine, not in any wise (as I protest) to serve for\na shewe of my learning and ingine, but only (moved of conscience) to\npreasse thereby, so farre as I can, to resolve the doubting heart of\nmanie; both that such assaults of Sathan are most certainly practised,\nand that the instruments thereof merit most severely to be punished.... And\nfor to make this Treatise the more pleasant and facill, I have put it\nin forme of a Dialogue\"--an unwonted concession to the public taste, this\nlast, on the part of one who believed so firmly in the Divine Right of\nKings.\n\nIn common with most dogmatists on the subject, James declares that the\ngreat majority of witches are women, woman being the frailer vessel,\nand therefore, like Eve, more easily entrapped by the Devil than\nthose of his own sex. He recapitulates many of their commonly-quoted\nmisdeeds, and relates how Satan teaches them \"to make pictures by\nwax or clay,\" which, being roasted, utterly destroy the person they\nrepresent. To some he gives powders such as cure certain diseases,\nto others poisons, and so on and so forth. For the practice of such\ninfernal arts the English Solon declares that witches and magicians\nshould be put to death without distinction of sex, age, or rank.\n\nSuch august patronage of their efforts served the ever-increasing tribe\nof professional witch-finders in good stead, and the Act of 1563 was\nenforced more stringently than ever. The trials were sometimes held\nin the ordinary courts, more often before special tribunals, set up,\nas a rule, on the petition of a presbytery or of the Grand Assembly.\nFor the greater convenience and protection of the public, boxes were\nplaced in many churches to receive anonymous accusations, giving\nmagnificent opportunity to slanderers and backbiters. To such a pitch\nhad matters come by 1661 that Parliament directed the judges to visit\nDalkeith and Musselburgh, two notorious centres of the art magical,\ntwice a week to try those accused. In these trials any evidence was\nrelevant, especially if put forward by professional witch-finders or\nwitch-pinchers, while the ordinary methods of torture were aggravated\nwhen confessions were sought for, in view of the Devil's penchant for\nprotecting his own.\n\nThe close of the sixteenth century saw the commencement of a series\nof persecutions fiercer and more general than perhaps any which had\npreceded them, which did not finally die out before the rising sun\nof common-sense until almost our grandfathers' time, and which were\ncarried to almost greater extremes in the New World than in the Old.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE LATER PERSECUTIONS IN ENGLAND\n\n\nThe law--especially in this country--gains half its terrors from\nits pomp and circumstance. An English prisoner, condemned to death\nby a wigless judge, might well regard himself as murdered--and few\nEnglishmen that have attended an American court of law but have felt\nscandalised by its lack of ceremonious decency, even if they have\naccepted its decrees as just. Indeed, it is scarcely too much to hold\nthat the firm belief in the corruptibility of the American judge and\nthe one-sidedness of American justice, which every Englishman cherishes\nas his birthright, was originally based upon his distaste for this lack\nof appropriate ceremonial.\n\nIf this judicial dignity be needed even for the trial of an ordinary\nfellow mortal, how much more must it be needed when Satan himself and\nhis human agents are at the bar. Accordingly, we find the inquisitor or\njudge always ultra-punctilious in bringing all due form and ceremony\nto bear upon a witch-trial. No detail was without its special\nsignificance, no circumstance too trivial for august consideration,\nthe more so that from its very nature a witch-trial could not exactly\nfollow ordinary procedure. The power of Satan--in the seventeenth\ncentury at any rate--was more than a match even for the trained legal\nintellect, and special precautions were necessary to provide for the\nsafety of the judge and the conviction of the witch. So exhaustive\nwere these precautions, indeed, that we can find no trace that any\njudge in England or elsewhere was ever injured by the assaults of the\nDevil, when in court, while but very few witches, once put on trial,\nsucceeded in escaping conviction--the accusation being, to all intents\nand purposes, tantamount to a verdict of guilty.\n\nA host of precautionary measures to be taken by the judge when the\nwitch was brought into court, have been recorded. On no account must\nhe allow her to touch him, especially, as Reginald Scot has it, \"upon\nhis bare.\" He must wear about his neck \"conjured salt, palms, herbes,\nand halowed waxe.\" The prisoner must approach the judge backwards--just\nas she approaches Satan's throne at the Sabbath, by the way--and he\nmust make the sign of the cross frequently the while. As we have seen,\nany evidence, even of those debarred from testifying in ordinary\ncases, might be given against a witch. This, of course, provided an\nexcellent opportunity for the dishonest servant, who, having stolen\nhis mistress' property and with it levanted, need only accuse her of\nwitchcraft to escape any unpleasant consequences to himself. It was,\nhowever, the only means by which the law could escape from the horns\nof a serious dilemma--as none that are honest can detect a witch.\nAgain, she must be denied any chance of proving her innocence--or the\nDevil will certainly take full advantage of it on her behalf, and once\narrested, she must on no account be allowed to leave the prison or go\nhome. Popular suspicion, presumption, and conjecture are sufficient to\nensure a conviction, for in such a case Vox populi is emphatically Vox\nDei. Confession must, however, be extorted at all costs. As the great\nInquisitor, Sprenger, from whose authoritative pronouncements I have\nalready quoted freely, has it: \"If she confess nothing she must be\ndismissed according to the law; therefore every care must be taken to\nensure confession.\"\n\nBefore burning the witch, it was, however, necessary to catch her.\nHere--and more particularly in England--private enterprise stepped in\nto supplement public effort. Witch-finding offered a respectable and\nlucrative career for anyone gifted with the requisite imagination,\nand provided a safe opening for those who had failed in other walks\nof life. Enterprise, imagination, the form of facile expression, the\ninstinct of sensationalism, and so forth--were all necessary for the\nfinished witch-finder, it is true. The names of many have come down to\nus, but none more fully earned the prophetic title of the Napoleon of\nwitch-finding than Matthew Hopkins, who alone gained, by his eminent\nservices to the public, a \"handle to his name\"--that of \"Witch-Finder\nGeneral.\" Hopkins, who flourished in the mid-seventeenth century,\ngauged the public taste in witch-sensation to a nicety--and elevated\nhis trade to an exact science. Yet curiously enough, he only entered it\nby accident, owing to an epidemic of witchcraft in his native town of\nManningtree. His public spirit leading him to take a prominent part in\nthe discovery and punishment of the culprits, it became plainly evident\nin which direction his talents could be best employed, and what had\nbeen a hobby became his life-work. His position having been legalised,\nhe adopted the manner of a judge, taking regular circuits through the\nfour counties which he more particularly took under his protection, or\ngiving his services to any towns applying for them at the extremely\nmodest charge of twenty shillings and expenses. More than a hundred\nwitches were brought to punishment by his painstaking exertions,\nthough perhaps his greatest triumph was achieved in the case of the\nReverend Mr. Lewis, the \"reading\" parson of Framlingham. Mr. Lewis\nwas a churchman, and as such regarded as a malignant by the Puritan\nGovernment, and, needless to say, by Mr. Hopkins, himself a Puritan of\nthe most orthodox type. Mr. Lewis, being eighty-five years of age, was\ntortured after Mr. Hopkins' recipe, and was so brought to confess that\nhe had made a compact with Satan, that he kept two imps, and that he\nhad sunk several ships by his magic arts. He was duly hanged, though it\nis satisfactory to know that at his death he withdrew the confession\nhis human weakness had extorted from him and died with a dignity\nbecoming his age and cloth.\n\nAs was only to be expected in this imperfect world, Mr. Hopkins'\njust severity and proper disregard for sickly sentimentality brought\nhim many enemies, some of whom no doubt were inspired by envy of his\nprofessional success. Although cheered by the understanding sympathy\nof the superior class, including among them no less a person than\nSir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England, he was continually\nattacked, both publicly and privately, by people who ought to have\nknown better. One of the most virulent of these was one Mr. Gaule,\nminister of Great Stoughton, in Huntingdon, who not only wrote and\npreached against Hopkins and his methods, but refused him permission\nto conduct a witch-hunt at Stoughton. Stung to the heart by such\ningratitude, Mr. Hopkins set forth his side of the argument in a\nletter which Mr. Gaule himself subsequently gave to the world. It is\nsufficiently characteristic to bear re-quotation:\n\n\"My Service to your Worship presented. I have this day received a\nletter not to come to a Toune called Great Stoughton, to search for\nevil-disposed persons, called Witches (though I heare your Minister\nis farre against us through Ignorance:) I intend to come the sooner\nto heare his singular Judgment in the Behalfe of such Parties; I have\nknown a Minister in Suffolk preach as much against this Discovery in a\nPulpit, and forced to recant it by the Committee in the same Place. I\nmuch marvaile such evil Members should have any, much more any of the\nClergy, who should daily preach Terrour to convince such Offenders,\nstand up to take their Parts, against such as are complainants for\nthe King and Sufferers themselves, with their Families and Estates. I\nintend to give your Toune a visit suddenly. I am to come to Kimbolton\nthis Weeke, and it shall be tenne to one, but I will come to your Toune\nfirst, but I would certainly know afore whether your Toune affords\nmany sticklers for such Cattell, or willing to give and afford as\ngood Welcome and Entertainment as other where I have beene, else I\nshall wave your Shire (not as yet beginning in any Part of it myself)\nand betake me to such Places, where I doe, and may, persist without\nControle, but with Thanks and Recompense. So I humbly take my leave and\nrest. Your Servant to be Commanded, Matthew Hopkins.\"\n\nMr. Gaule, however ill-advised, proved himself no despicable\nantagonist. He turned the batteries of ridicule against the worthy\nwitch-finder, and his methods, which he describes as follows: \"Having\ntaken the suspected Witch, she is placed in the middle of a room upon a\nstool or table, cross-legged or in some other uneasy Posture, to which\nif she submits not she is then bound with cords; there she is watched\nand kept without Meat or Sleep for the space of Four and Twenty Hours\n(for they say within that time they shall see her Imp come and suck).\nA little Hole is likewise made in the door, for her Imp to come in\nat--lest it should come in some less discernible shape. They that watch\nher are taught to be ever and anon sweeping the Room, and if they see\nany Spiders or Flies, to kill them, and if they cannot kill them, then\nthey may be sure they are her Imps.\"\n\nBut however earnest in their errors might be Mr. Gaule and those who\nsupported him, it was long ere they could find many supporters in their\ncrusade against one who had so struck the public imagination. Hopkins'\nmethods of torture might be severe, but they produced results--such as\nthe following:--One Penitent Woman confessed that her mother, lying\nsick, and she looking at her, somewhat like a Mole ran into the bed to\nher, which she being startled at, her mother bade her not fear it, but\ngave it her, saying, \"Keep this in a Pot by the fire and thou shalt\nnever want.\" And so on and so forth.\n\nIn the end, however, as too often happens, envy triumphed over modest\nmerit, and Hopkins had to pay the penalty that usually awaits the\npopular idol. Either his severity outran his discretion, or he showed\ntoo openly his belief that the chief object of a profession is to\nprovide a handsome income; or perhaps his inventive faculties did not\nkeep pace with the public desire. Be that as it may, his fall, when it\ncame, was heavy. It is even said, on reputable authority, that Hopkins\nwas himself, at the last, accused of witchcraft, that he was tried by\none of his own methods, that of \"swimming,\" and that like many of the\nold women he had tried, he \"swam,\" was accordingly found guilty, and\nexecuted. It may be agreed that, like the story of Phalaris destroyed\nin the fiery bronze bull of his own devising, or of Dr. Guillotin,\nfirst to suffer on the guillotine he had invented, this end of Hopkins\nhas too much of poetic justice about it to be altogether credible. But\nin all that has to do with witchcraft, faith is a matter of opinion, so\nthere we may leave it.\n\nThat Matthew Hopkins initiated new methods of witch-finding by no\nmeans implies that there was any lack of such before his time. Where\nthe simple rule-of-thumb torture failed to extract the requisite\nconfession, a further range, subtler and more exquisite, came into\nplay. No witch could say the Lord's Prayer--a possible enough\ncontingency under great nervous strain even for a good Christian. Thus\nFairfax relates how Thorp's wife, accused of bewitching his children,\nbeing put to this test, could not say \"Forgive us our trespasses,\" and\nthus convinced the justices of her guilt. Another method much practised\nby Hopkins was the searching for the Devil-marks. These marks, as\nwe have said, were the corporeal proofs of her contract with Satan,\nborne by every witch upon some part of her body, and were further the\nplaces whereat her imps came to suck her blood. Few witches--which is\nto say, suspects--were ever found to pass this test satisfactorily--a\nfact the less surprising in that any blemish, birth-mark, or even\ninsect-bite was accepted by special legal injunction as sufficient\nevidence. The witch-mark was believed to be insensible to pain, whence\narose the popular and lucrative profession of \"witch-pricking.\" The\nwitch-pricker, having blindfolded the witch, proceeded to prick her in\nsuspected places with a three-inch pin, afterwards telling her to point\nout to him the places where she felt pain. If the suspect, half-crazed\nwith shame and terror, was unable to do so with sufficient exactitude,\nthe spot was declared insensible, and her conviction followed. Before\nthe actual pricking, when the witch had been stripped of her clothes,\nshe was shaven, lest she should have concealed in her hair some charm\nagainst confession under torture. Great care was taken at the same time\nlest the Devil, by sucking blood from her little finger or left foot,\nshould make it impossible for her to confess. Further, as a witch was\nnotoriously unable to shed tears, another test of her guilt was to\ncall upon her to weep to order--very much as Miss Haversham in \"Great\nExpectations\" commanded Little Pip, \"Now, play!\"\n\nMost popular test of all, as taking place in the open and thus\nproviding a general holiday, was witch-ducking or \"swimming.\" So near\nwas it to the great heart of the British public that its celebration\ncontinued informally well into the nineteenth century. In Monmouth, so\nlate as 1829, several persons were tried for the ducking of a supposed\nwitch; while in 1857 the Vicar of East Thorpe, in Essex--perhaps the\nmost noted witch-stronghold in England--was compelled to mount guard\nin person over the door of a suspected witch to prevent her from\nundergoing a similar fate. The procedure was of the simplest. The\nthumbs and great toes of the suspect were tied across, and she was\nthus dragged in a sheet to a pond or stream. If she floated, she was\npronounced a witch; if she sank, she was in all probability drowned.\nEven if by a lucky chance she escaped both these perils, the nervous\nshock--to say nothing of what was probably the first cold bath she had\never experienced--acting upon her advanced age, gave her little chance\nof final triumph over her accusers. Another well-known and popular test\nwas that of weighing the suspected witch against the Church Bible.\nHad the authorities provided one of more than common weight which\noutweighed her skin and bone, woe betide her! for her guilt was proved\nbeyond further question.\n\nSuch forms of extraneous evidence were, however, held in less store\nthan was the obtaining of a definite confession, which had the double\nadvantage of justifying the judges to the full as well as of convicting\nthe accused. Of how it might be obtained Reginald Scot gives us a vivid\nexample. \"The seven words of the Cross,\" he says, \"be hanged about the\nwitch's neck and the length of Christ in wax be knit about her bare\nbodie with relikes of saints.\" If torture and other means of persuasion\ncannot obtain a confession, the jailer must pretend to leave her, and\nsome of her friends must visit her, promising that if she will but\nconfess they will help her to escape from prison. Friday, according to\nthe same writer, was the most auspicious day for the purpose. As to\nthe actual torture, the prisoner must first be stripped lest the means\nof witchcraft be sewn into her clothing, the instruments of torture\nbeing so placed that she has an uninterrupted view of them. The judge\nthen exhorts her that if she remains obstinate, he bids the attendants\nmake her fast to the strapado or other chosen instrument. Having\nbeen tortured, she is taken aside and again urged to confess by the\npromise of thus escaping the death-penalty. As the Church conveniently\nabsolved the faithful from the necessity of keeping faith with heretics\nor sorcerers, this promise was never kept. To put it briefly, every\npossible avenue of escape was denied the accused. Even an alibi,\nhowever complete, was unavailing, seeing that in her absence her place\nwas always filled by a demon.\n\nHowever much we may sympathise with the victims of such judicial\nproceedings, it would be less than fair to blame the general public for\nits attitude towards them when such men as Blackstone or Sir Matthew\nHale were convinced of their reasonableness. Blackstone, indeed, one\nof the greatest of English lawyers, went so far as to declare that \"to\ndeny the possibility, nay, the actual existence of witchcraft is at\nonce flatly to contradict the revealed Word of God.\" The attitude of\nSir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice, an enlightened and God-fearing\nman, may best be gathered from an account of one of the trials in which\nhe was concerned. In 1664, at St. Edmundsbury, two women, Amy Duny\nand Rose Cullender, were tried before him upon the usual charges. The\nfirst witness was Dorothy Durent, whose child was under the care of\nRose Cullender. Dorothy had for some time suspected Rose of bewitching\nher child--a fact which throws some doubt upon the witness's maternal\ncare in confiding her offspring to such a nurse. Eventually the witness\nconsulted a witch-doctor, a proceeding which, had she known it,\nrendered her liable to conviction as well as Rose, under the statute\nof James I.[1] The doctor advised her to hang up her child's blanket\nin the chimney, which she did. On taking it down some time later, she\nwas horror-stricken to find a toad in it. This toad she had \"put it\ninto the fire and held it there, though it made a great and horrible\nnoise, and flashed like gunpowder and went off like a pistol, and then\nbecame invisible, and that by this the prisoner was scorched and burnt\nlamentably.\" Other witnesses, Mr. Pacy and Edmund Durent, deposed\nthat Rose Cullender and Amy Duny came to them to buy herrings, and,\non being refused, went away grumbling. Further, it appeared that Amy\nDuny had told Cornelius Sandwell's wife that if she did not fetch her\ngeese home, they would be destroyed. She also told Cornelius that if\nhe did not attend to a rickety chimney in his house it would fall.\nJohn Soan deposed that he had three carts wherein to carry corn. One\nof them \"wrenched Amy Duny's house, whereat she scolded him. That very\nday his cart overturned two or three times, and his children had fits.\"\nProbably such damning evidence would have sufficed by itself. It was\ndriven home by that of Sir Thomas Browne, who declared with dangerous\nmoderation that \"the fits were natural, but heightened by the Devil\nco-operating with the malice of the Witches, at whose Instance he did\nthe villainies.\" This was too much for the Lord Chief Justice. He \"was\nin such fears and proceeded with such caution that he would not so much\nas sum up the evidence, but left it to the Jury, with prayers that the\ngreat God of Heaven would direct their hearts in this weighty manner.\"\nNeedless to say, the jury returned a sentence of \"Guilty.\" Amy Duny\nand Rose Cullender were hanged at Cambridge accordingly, obstinately\nrefusing to confess, and no sooner were they dead than the afflicted\nchildren were cured of their fits and returned to the best of health.\nWhich can have left no further doubt in the mind of Sir Matthew Hale,\nLord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer, as to the justice of his\nsentence, even had he any before.\n\nIt would be both tedious and unprofitable to trace out the whole\nlong history of witch-persecution in the sixteenth and seventeenth\ncenturies. Their details are invariably nauseous, and differ only in\nthe slightest degree; having heard one, the recapitulation of the\nrest can be of interest only to the moralist. Some of the more famous\nexamples may be briefly considered, however, as typical of the rest. I\nhave already referred to the case of the Knaresborough witches, accused\nof bewitching the children of Edward Fairfax, the scholar--a case the\nmore remarkable that the six women accused, although tried before two\nsuccessive assizes, were finally acquitted. The lonely moorlands and\ngrim wastes of the Northern counties were, naturally enough, regarded\nwith suspicion as offering very eligible lurking-places for Satan's\nagents, and accordingly we find that the majority of the earlier\npersecutions concerned that part of the county. Ten years before\nthe Knaresborough trial--in 1612--twenty witches were tried \"at the\nAssizes and Generall Gaole-Delivery, holden at Lancaster, before Sir\nEdward Bromley and Sir James Eltham.\" They came from Pendle Forest, a\nwild district on the eastern extremity of the county, and the most\nprominent among them was Elizabeth Southernes, more generally known\nas Mother Demdyke, who, by her own confession, had been a practising\nwitch for nearly half a century, having been led astray thereto by one\nTibb, a spirit or devil in the form of a boy wearing a parti-coloured\ncoat of brown-and-black, whom she met upon the highway. She and\nher fellow-prisoners were charged with murders, conspiracies, and\nother damnable practices, upon evidence fully borne out by their own\nconfessions. Nevertheless, of the twenty only twelve were hanged,\none, Mother Demdyke herself, cheating the gallows by dying in prison,\nwhile the remaining seven were acquitted--for the time. That so large\na proportion should have escaped speaks ill for the abilities of the\nprosecution, for an example was badly needed. \"This remote country,\"\nsays Scot, \"was full of Popish recusants, travelling priests, and so\nforth, and some of their spells are given in which holy names and\nthings alluded to form a strange contrast with the purpose to which\nthey were applied to secure a good brewing of ale, or the like.\" One\nsuch charm, quoted at the trial, was used by Anne Whittle, _alias_\nChattox, one of the twenty, in order to remove a curse previously laid\nupon John Moore's wife's brewing, and ran as follows:--\n\n Three Biters hast thou bitten,\n   The Host, ill Eye, ill Tongue;\n Three Bitter shall be thy boote,\n   Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost,\n   A God's name.\n Five Paternosters, five Avies,\n   And a creede,\n For worship of five woundes\n   Of our Lord.\n\nWhich would seem to show that whether or no Anne Whittle was a witch,\nshe was certainly a Papist, so we need feel little surprise that she\nwas among the twelve executed.\n\nThe second great persecution in Lancashire, in 1633, rested almost\nentirely on the evidence of a boy of eleven. His name was Edmund\nRobinson, and he lived with his father, a very poor man, in Pendle\nForest, where no doubt he heard many legends of the redoubtable Mother\nDemdyke and her colleagues. Upon All Saints' Day, when gathering\n\"bulloes\" in a field, he there saw two greyhounds, one black, the other\nbrown, each wearing a collar shining like gold. They fawned upon him,\nwhereafter, \"seeing no one, he took them, thinking to course with them.\nAnd presently a Hare did rise very near before him. Whereat he cried,\n'Loo, Loo, Loo'; but the Doggs would not run. Whereupon he, being very\nangry, took them, and with the strings that were about their collars,\ntied them to a little bush at the next hedge, and with a switch that\nhe had in his hand he beat them. And instead of the black greyhound,\none Dickenson's wife stood up, a Neighbour, whom this Informer\nknoweth. And instead of the brown one a little Boy, whom this Informer\nknoweth not.\" Dickenson's wife offered him a shilling as the price of\nhis silence, but he answered, \"Nay, thou art a witch.\" Whereupon she\nput her hand into her pocket and pulled out something like a Bridle,\n\"that gingled,\" and put it over the little Boy's head, upon which\nhe turned into a white horse. Mrs. Dickenson then seized upon the\nInformer, set him before her on the white horse, and carried him to a\nnew house called Hoarstones, about a quarter of a mile away. Here he\nsaw about sixty persons, some by the door, others riding towards the\nhouse on horses of different colours. In the house was a fire with meat\nroasting before it. A young woman offered him \"Flesh and Bread upon\na Trencher and Drink in a Glass,\" but after the first taste he would\nhave no more of it. On going into the adjoining Barn, he there saw six\npersons kneeling and pulling at Ropes fastened to the top of the Barn.\nWhereupon \"there came into the Informer's sight flesh smoking, butter\nin lumps, and milk as it were syling (streaming) from the said Ropes.\nAll of which fell into basins placed under the said Ropes. And when\nthese six had done, there came other six which did likewise, and during\nall the time of their said pulling they made such ugly faces as scared\nthe Informer, so that he was glad to run out and steal homewards.\"\nThey pursued him, but he met two horsemen, whereupon they left him. The\nforemost of his pursuers was one Loind's wife.\n\nThe troubles of the Informer were not yet at an end. \"After he had\ncome from the company aforesaid, his Father bade him go and fetch\nhome two kine and he happed upon a Boy, who fought him.\" The Informer\nhad his ears and face made very bloody in the fight, and looking\ndown he saw the Boy had a cloven foot. With commendable prudence he\nran away, only to see a light like to a lantern, which he pursued,\nthinking it might be carried by a neighbour. But he only found a\nwoman--Loind's wife--standing on a bridge, and running from her he met\nthe cloven-footed Boy again, who hit him and made him cry.\n\nSuch was the dread story told in court, and partly corroborated by\nthe boy's father. The wives of Dickenson and Loind, along with some\neighteen other persons, were arrested at once, while the informer and\nhis father made a comfortable little sum of money by going the round of\nthe neighbouring churches and there detecting others. The trial took\nplace at Lancaster Assizes, when seventeen of the accused were found\nguilty, but the judge, not being satisfied with the evidence, obtained\na reprieve. Four of the accused were sent up to London, and committed\nto the Fleet Prison, where \"great sums of money were gotten by shewing\nthem.\" The Bishop of Chester held a special examination of the case,\nand the informer, being separated from his father, soon confessed that\nhis estimable parent had invented the whole story as a means towards an\nend. So the trial ended in a lamentable fiasco, from the point of view\nof that public who were looking forward to the public executions as a\nholiday.\n\nAlthough the activities of Matthew Hopkins reached their culminating\npoint in the trial of the Manningtree Witches, held before Sir Matthew\nHale at Ipswich in 1645, they were only a part of his bag in that year,\nas we may gather from a statement in Beaumont's \"Treatise on Spirits,\"\nthat \"thirty-six were arraigned at the same time before Judge Coniers,\nan. 1645, and fourteen of them hanged and a hundred more detained in\nseveral prisons in Suffolk and Essex.\" Nearly twenty years later,\nin 1664, we find the Witchfinder-General at work in Great Yarmouth,\nwhere he accused sixteen old women, all of whom were convicted and\nexecuted; and in the same year took place the St. Edmunsbury trials\nalready referred to. Nevertheless it must be said for Matthew Hopkins,\ngent., that by the very enthusiasm he imparted into his business he\ndid something towards checking the tide of persecution even at the\nfull. Although the general public gave little sign of satiety, those\nin authority and the more educated class in general were growing tired\nof so much useless bloodshed. Witch-trials continued unabated, but\ntowards the close of the century the judge's directions to his jury\nwere frequently such as to ensure an acquittal; while, even when found\nguilty, the accused were often reprieved through the judge's exertions.\nAmong these just judges the name of Lord Chief Justice Holt merits a\nhigh place, as of one more than usually in advance of his age.\n\nIn 1694, before the same Lord Chief Justice, at Bury Saint Edmunds,\nwas tried Mother Munnings, of Hartis, in Suffolk. Many things were\ndeposed concerning her spoiling of wort and harming of cattle, and,\nfurther, that several persons upon their death-beds had attributed\ntheir destruction to her arts. Thus it was sworn that Thomas Pannel,\nthe landlord, not knowing how to turn her out of his house, took away\nthe door and left her without one. Some time after, he happening to\npass by, she said to him, \"Go thy way; thy nose shall lie upward\nin the churchyard before Saturday next.\" On the Monday following\nPannel sickened, died on the Tuesday, and was buried within the week,\naccording to her word. To confirm this, another witness added that a\ndoctor, being consulted about another afflicted person, and Mother\nMunnings being mentioned, said that she was a dangerous woman, for she\ncould touch the line of life. In the indictment she was charged with\nhaving an imp like a polecat, and one witness swore that coming from\nthe alehouse about nine o'clock at night, he looked through her window,\nand saw her take two imps out of a basket, a black and a white. It was\nfurther deposed that one Sarah Wager, after a quarrel with the accused,\nwas struck dumb and lame, and was in that condition at home at the time\nof the trial. Many other equally dreadful accusations were brought, and\nthings might have gone hard for Mother Munnings had not the Lord Chief\nJustice been on the bench. He, however, directed the jury to bring in\na verdict of \"Not Guilty,\" which they obediently did. \"Upon particular\nEnquiry,\" says Hutchinson, \"of several in or near the Town, I find\nmost are satisfied it was a very right Judgment. She lived about Two\nyears after without doing any known Harm to any, and died declaring her\nInnocence. Her landlord was a consumptive spent Man, and the Words not\nexactly as they swore them, and the whole thing seventeen Years before\n... the White Imp is believed to have been a Lock of Wool taken out of\nher Basket to spin, and its Shadow, it is supposed, was the Black one.\"\n\nIn the same year Margaret Elmore was tried at the Ipswich Assizes\nbefore the same judge. \"She was committed,\" says Hutchinson, \"upon\nthe account of one Mrs. Rudge, who was Three Years in a languishing\ncondition, as was thought by the Witchcraft of the Prisoner then at the\nBar, because Mr. Rudge, Husband of the afflicted Person, had refused\nletting her a House. Some Witnesses said that Mrs. Rudge was better\nupon the confinement of the woman, and worse again when her chains were\noff. Other witnesses gave account that her grandmother and her aunt had\nformerly been hanged for Witches, and that her Grandmother had said\nshe had 8 or 9 Imps, and that she had given two or three apiece to her\nchildren.\" It was further shown on the evidence of a midwife who had\nsearched her grandmother, that the prisoner had plainer witch-marks\nthan she; while several women who had been on bad terms with her\ntook oath that their bodies were infested with lice and other vermin\nsupposed to be of her sending. But not even the vermin could influence\nthe Lord Chief Justice, and Margaret Elmore was found \"Not Guilty.\"\n\nYet another case, tried before Holt, was that of Elizabeth Horner at\nExeter, in 1696. Three children of one William Borch were said to have\nbeen bewitched by her. One had died, the leg of another was twisted,\nall had vomited pins, been bitten, pricked, and pinched. Their mother\ndeposed \"that one of them walked up a smooth plaistered Wall till her\nFeet were nine foot high, her Head standing off from it. This,\" she\nsaid, \"she did five or six times, and laughed and said Bess Horner held\nher up.\" Poor Elizabeth had a wart on her shoulder, which the children\nsaid was a witch-mark, and was sucked by her toad. But the Lord\nChief Justice seems to have been of another opinion, for he directed\nthe jury to acquit her. Indeed, of all the many cases of witchcraft\nbrought before him, not one prisoner was convicted--a state of things\nwhich would certainly have resulted in a question being asked in\nParliament had it happened in our time. The last woman found guilty of\nwitchcraft in this country was Jane Wenham, the Witch of Walkerne, in\nHertfordshire, who was tried in 1712. The witch-finder was called into\nrequisition, and she was submitted to the usual inane and degrading\ntests. \"They either did themselves or suffered others that were about\nthem to scratch and tear her face and run Pins into her Flesh. They\n... turned the Lord's Prayer into a Charm\"--(the Vicar of Ardely was\nresponsible for this part of the performance, by the way). \"They turned\nto Spectre Evidence, they drave her to such Distraction that by leading\nQuestions they drew from her what they called a Confession. They had\nher to Jail. The witnesses swore to vomiting Pins. The Jury found her\nGuilty, the Judge condemned her, and those clergymen wrote a Narrative\nof the Tryal, which was received and read with such Pleasure that in a\nMonth's Time it had a Fourth Edition.\" But Jane Wenham was fortunate in\nher judge. Being a man of learning and experience, \"he Valued not those\nTricks and Tryals, and though he was forced to condemn her because\na Silly Jury would find her guilty, he saved her Life. And that she\nmight not afterwards be torn to pieces in an ignorant Town, a sensible\nGentleman, who will for ever be in Honour for what he did, Colonel\nPlummer of Gilston, in the same County, took her into his protection\nand placed her in a little house near his own, where she now lives\nsoberly and inoffensively, and keeps her church, and the whole county\nis now fully convinced that she was innocent, and that the Maid that\nwas thought to be bewitched was an Idle Hussy ... and was well as soon\nas her sweetheart came and married her.\"\n\nThenceforward the law of England had no more terrors for the witch,\nthough she was not yet quite out of danger. The Statute of James I. was\nnot repealed until 1736, and long after that the mob was accustomed\nto take the law into its own hands. Thus, in 1751, a man and his wife\nnamed Osborn were ducked at Thring, having been dragged by the mob\nfrom the workhouse where they had been placed by the parish officers\nfor safety. The woman lost her life in the process. She was, however,\nnot unavenged, for a verdict of \"Wilful Murder\" was returned against\nthe ringleader of the mob, a chimney-sweeper named Colley, and he was\nhanged, very much to his own and other people's indignation. There was\nindeed something to be said for the injured Colley when a man like\nWesley, pinning his faith to the Bible, could find no means of evading\nthe direct command, \"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.\" The last\ncase in which the blood of a witch was actually shed in this country,\nso far as I have been able to trace, was in 1875, when a certain Ann\nTurner, a reputed witch, was murdered by a man, who was, however,\ndeclared insane.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 1: \"If any person, or persons, shall use, practise, or\nexercise any invocation or conjuration of any evil and wicked spirit,\nor shall consult, covenant with, entertain, employ, find, or reward any\nevil and wicked spirit, to or for any intent or purpose, or to take up\nany dead man, woman, or child out of his, her, or their grave, or any\nother place where the dead body resteth, or the skin, bone, or any part\nof any dead person to be employed or used in any manner of witchcraft,\nsorcery, charm or enchantment, or shall use, practise, or exercise any\nwitchcraft, enchantment, charm, or sorcery whereby any person shall\nbe killed, destroyed, wasted, consumed, pined, or lamed in his or her\nbody, or any part thereof, every such offender is a felon without\nbenefit of clergy.\" (This Act was not repealed until 1736.)]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nPERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND\n\n\nThe influence of longitude upon national tendencies in superstition is\nfar too wide a subject to be here discussed in any detail, but speaking\ngenerally, it may be said that the superstitions of a people--as\ntheir religion--are largely a matter of climate--milder and more\ngenial in temperate districts, carried to fiercer and more terrible\nlengths amid extremes of heat and cold. The man whose gods are based\nupon his conceptions of the thunderstorm, the grim northern winter\nor the tropical sun, evokes sterner and more dreadful images than he\nwhose lot is cast amid mild skies and gentle breezes. How wide is the\ndifference between the grim gods who ruled the inhospitable heavens of\nScandinavian and Teuton from the tolerant Bohemians who tenanted the\nclassical Olympus. The gentle dryads and light-hearted fauns of Italy\nwould have perished in the first snows of a Baltic winter, just as the\nhungry ravens of Woden would have been metamorphosed into Venus' doves\nin one Italian generation.\n\nNowhere is the influence of climate upon national temperament more\nclearly typified than in the island of Great Britain. The Viking,\nsettling amid the lush meadows and pleasant woodlands of England, laid\naside his heathen sacrifices for the more climatically appropriate\nreligion of Christ with scarcely a regret. Thor and Woden long held\ntheir own in the bare northern fastnesses, not to be finally driven\nout until they had tinged the Christianity which took their place with\nsomething of their own hopelessness and gloom. Just as the gods of\nValhalla ever looked forward to the day of their destruction, so Hell\nrather than Heaven has always held the leading place in the Scottish\nimagination. So it came about that the superstitions of the Scot\nwere gloomier than were those of his neighbour over the Border. The\nconviction of his own sinfulness was always with him; how much deeper\nand more certain that of his neighbours. And because he had a more\nimminent sense of sin, his belief in witches and their malignancy was\nmore intimate and more resentful. The Englishman, again, feared the\nwitch chiefly on his own personal account; the Scotsman took up the\ncudgels on behalf of his Creator as well. The Devil seemed so much more\npowerful to the dwellers of a bleak Highland glen than to the stout\nyeoman walking amid his opulent English pastures. In Scotland he was on\nterms almost of equality with God; it is scarcely too much to say that\nto the majority he was even more powerful, and his earthly agents all\nthe more to be feared and hated.\n\nAs in Rome and Greece, the witch was firmly settled in Scotland\ncenturies before the coming of Christianity. But she was of another\nbreed, as befitted her sterner ancestry. She and her demoniacal\ncoadjutors held all the land under a grip of blood and iron. There was\nnothing amiable, nothing whimsical, nothing human about the spirits,\nof one kind or another, that lorded it among the mists and heather.\nEven the fairies had more in common with Logi than with Oberon, Elfame,\ntheir dwelling-place, resembled rather Hell than Fairyland. In place of\na Lob-lie-by-the-Fire, who found his highest pleasure in the helping\nof good housewives without fee, of a Queen Mab, who tormented no one\nbut the idle or the wicked, you had a Kelpie, lurking in lonely places\nintent upon your murder, or a Banshee, prophesying your coming death\nor ruin. When at last Christianity came, it had a long, stern struggle\nagainst such antagonists--nor, indeed, could it ever altogether\novercome them, even though it forced them to adopt new names and\nnew disguises. The missionary saints found their task of conversion\nincreased tenfold by the strenuous opposition of the witches and other\nevil spirits. St. Patrick, in particular, so enraged them and their\nmaster the Devil, by his pertinacity, that he was forced, for a time,\nto flee before their assaults back to Ireland. One of their most famous\nexploits was the bombardment with a mountain-top of the vessel in which\nhe was embarked. It is true that their aim, like that of Polyphemus,\na member of their own family, was bad, and the mountain-top fell into\nthe sea instead of drowning the saint. But by this very mischance they\nprovided permanent proof of their exploit; for the mountain-top remains\nto this day to testify unto it, being that upon which Dumbarton Castle\nwas subsequently built.\n\nAmong the many legends dealing with these same early Scots witches,\nI am tempted to quote from one, taken down verbatim from the lips of\nan old Highland woman, by the late Dr. Norman Macleod and related\nby him in his \"Reminiscences of a Highland Parish.\" In its modern\nform it was woven around the imaginary misadventures of a Spanish\nPrincess--and the real shipwreck of the _Florida_, one of the vessels\nforming the Spanish Armada, sunk near Tobermory, in Mull, in 1588.\nActually, however, the magical passages have some much more ancient\nhistory, probably, as we may judge from incidental reference to\nDruidism, from pre-Christian days. The first part of the legend relates\nhow the Spanish Princess came to Mull, there had a love affair with\nMaclean of Duart, and was murdered by his jealous wife. The King of\nSpain, hearing of his daughter's fate, fitted out a war-vessel and\ndespatched it to Tobermory to take summary vengeance. Maclean and his\npeople, feeling unequal to resisting it by ordinary means, sought\naid from magic (Druidism, in fact) and by powerful spells and charms\ngathered all the witches of Mull, the _Doideagan Muileach_, together.\nHe explained the position and begged them to raise a tempest and sink\nthe Spanish vessel, pointing out at the same time that her commander,\none Captain Forrest, was himself a magician. The chief witch asked\nif the Spaniard, when declaring his unfriendly intentions, had said,\n\"With God's help!\" On learning that he had omitted that precaution\nshe professed herself ready to undertake the task. This passage is so\nunsuggestive of the pagan witch's usual attitude that I take it to be a\npious interpretation of later date.\n\nIn due time the witches began their work of _\u1e7bbag_, _obag_ and\n_gisreag_ (charm, incantation and chanting), but with little initial\neffect. Stronger measures becoming necessary the chief witch tied a\nstraw rope to a quern-stone, passed it over a rafter, and raised the\nstone as high as she was able. As it rose the wind rose with it, but\nshe could not get it very high owing to the counter-spells of the\nSpanish captain with the English name. Accordingly she called her\nsister-witches to help her--witches with very much finer names, by\nthe way, than their English colleagues could boast of. They were nine\nin all, and the names of five were Luideag (which is to say \"Raggie\"),\nAgus Doideag (or \"Frizzle Hair\"), Agus Corrag Nighin Jain Bh\u00e0in\n(\"The Finger of White John's Daughter\"), Cas a'mhogain Riabhaich \u00e1\nGleancomham (\"Hogganfoot from Glencoe\") and Agus Gormshuil mh\u00f2r bh\u00e0rr\nna Maighe (\"Great Blue-Eye from Moy\"). All pulled together at the rope,\nbut could not raise the quern-stone. Some of them then flew through\nthe air and climbed about the ship's rigging in the shape of cats,\nspitting and swearing. But Captain Forrest only laughed at them. So he\ndid when their number increased to fifteen. At last the _Doideag_ got a\nvery strong man, _Domhnull Dubh L\u00e0idir_, to hold the rope and prevent\nthe stone from slipping down again, while she flew off to Lochaber to\nbeg the assistance of Great Garmal of Moy, the _doyenne_ of Scotch\nwitchcraft, whose powers were more developed than those of all the\nothers put together. Garmal accepted the flattering invitation, and\nset out for the scene of action. No sooner was she in the air than a\ntempest began, and by the time she reached Tobermory Captain Forrest\nrealised that he had better retire. But before his cable could be cut\nGreat Garmal had reached the ship, had climbed to the top of the mast\nin the shape of the largest black cat that ever was seen, and uttered\none spell, whereupon the Spanish man-o'-war with all her crew sank to\nthe bottom of the sea.\n\nAgainst witches of such prowess he must be a powerful man--saint\nor king--who would gainsay them. Many--if not most--of the earlier\nScottish kings had passages with witchcraft, mostly to their own\ndetriment. Leaving aside Macbeth, quite as credible an historic\ncharacter as the rest, we have King Duff, who, towards the end of the\ntenth century, narrowly escaped a lingering death at the hands of the\nwitches--they employing the old-fashioned, even in those days, but\neminently dependable \"waxen image.\" By good luck only he was enabled to\ndiscover the witches and, having burned them and broken up the magic\nbefore it was quite melted before their fire, to recover his usual\nhealth and spirits.\n\nNot only for its long line of eminent witches does Scotland claim an\nimportant place in the annals of the arts magical. In Michael Scot\nshe had one of the most famous wizards known to history, far superior\nin prowess to the great bulk of his successors, if tradition may be\ncredited, and every whit as eminent, while a great deal more probable,\nthan the British Merlin of Arthurian legend. Thomas the Rhymer, he of\nEscildonne, chosen lover of the Fairy Queen, was another wizard of\nrepute.\n\nIt is an indirect testimony to the high, if evil, place held by magic\nin Scotland that so many of its followers and practitioners were men\nand women of the first ranks of life. We have the dread figure of\nWilliam, Lord Soulis, boiled to death as the only fit punishment for\nthe crimes committed in his feudal stronghold, such as put him on an\nevil parity with the Marshal de Retz, the French Bluebeard. Or again,\nin 1479, by which time we are on firm ground, the Earl of Mar, with a\nwhole band of male and female abettors of humbler rank, was burned in\nEdinburgh for attempts on the King's life by aid of waxen images and\nspells. Indeed, the whole family of this peccant nobleman proved, on\ninvestigation, to be tarred with the same magical brush. Lady Glammis\nagain, burned in 1536 as a witch, was one of the proud Douglasses,\ngrand-daughter of Archibald Bell-the-Cat, widow of \"Clean the Causeway\"\nLord Glammis, whom, _inter alia_, she was accused of murdering--young,\nbeautiful, and wealthy. It is true that her death was very necessary\nto one of the contemporary political parties, though that may have\nbeen only a coincidence. Another aristocratic witch was Lady Katherine\nFouliss, who, with her step-son, was tried in 1590 for \"witchcraft,\nincantation, sorcery, and poisoning.\" She, although she seems to have\ngone about her questionable business with an open-hearted publicity\nthat arouses our admiration, was acquitted through family influence,\nand her step-son with her, though several of their humbler accomplices\npaid the penalty in the usual way.\n\nIn the following year occurred a witch-trial of interest in itself,\nand the cause of the great outburst of persecution which for the next\ncentury makes the annals of Scottish justice run red with innocent\nblood--that of Dr. Feane--or Fian, as it is variously spelt. The story\nof the \"Secretar and Register to the Devil\" has been often told, but it\nwill bear recapitulation. Fian was a schoolmaster at Saltpans, Lothian;\nhe was further, according to his accusers, a wizard. More exactly,\nperhaps, he should be described as a male-witch, seeing that he had no\ncontrol over Satan, but, on the other hand, had sworn allegiance to\nhim, received witch-marks--under his tongue--and otherwise conformed\nto the etiquette of the lower grade in the profession. This seems,\nindeed, to have been customary in Scotland, where the distinction which\nI have endeavoured to lay down between the sorcerer and the witch is\noften hard to trace. His magic, however, gains its chief interest from\nits object--no less a person than James I. and VI. This learned and\nProtestant monarch, being on his way to visit his Danish bride in her\nnative land, the Devil and his Secretary laid a plot to drown him. They\nput to sea, after the vessel, along with a whole regiment of witches,\nand there cast an enchanted cat into the sea, raising a fierce storm,\nwhich could not, however, prevent the Divinely-protected James from\nreaching Denmark in safety. On his return journey the plotters tried\nanother plan--to raise a fog whereby the Royal ship might be driven\nashore on the English coast. Towards this end Satan cast a football, or\nits misty semblance, into the sea, and succeeded in raising what may\nbe accurately described as the Devil's own fog. But angels guided the\nship upon its proper course, and again the King escaped the assaults\nof his enemies. For these and other crimes Dr. Fian, with a number of\nwomen-witches, was tried, tortured, forced to confess, and burned on\nCastle Hill--though he withdrew his confession before the end and died\nlike a gentleman and a scholar. It is an interesting point about the\ntrial that in it occurs the first Scottish mention of the Devil's mark.\n\nThe effects of this outrage upon the Lord's Anointed were not to end\nwith the death of its presumed concocters. If the tribe of witches had\ngrown so bold, it was high time they were extirpated, and gallantly\ndid the King and his advisers set about it. It was in 1563 that the\npersecution of the witch was regularised as a distinct branch of crime\nby an enactment of the Estates, \"that nae person take upon hand to use\nany manner of witchcrafts, sorcery, or necromancy, nor give themselves\nfurth to have ony sic craft or knowledge thereof therethrough abusing\nthe people,\" and that \"nae person seek ony help, response, or\nconsultation, at any sic users or abusers of witchcrafts ... under pain\nof death.\"\n\nThenceforward, until the last witch-burning in 1727, the fires were\nseldom allowed to go out, and to be an old and ugly woman was perhaps\nthe most \"dangerous trade\" in Scottish industry. There was, indeed,\none incidental to a witch-burning which may--it is at least to be\nhoped--have sometimes moved the economical Scotsman in the direction of\ntoleration--the expense. Here, for instance, are the items expended in\nthe execution of one batch of witches in Fife in 1633:--\n\n                                         \u00a3  s. d.\n For ten loads of coal to burn them      3  6  8\n For a tar-barrel                          14  0\n For towes                                  6  0\n For harden to be jumps to them             3 10\n For making of them                            8\n                                         --------\n\nOr a grand total of \u00a34 11s. 2d., no small sum, seen with thrifty eyes,\nespecially if we consider the greater value of money in those days.\n\nIt is, perhaps, only characteristic of the national attitude towards\nthe whole subject that the \"White,\" or amiable, witch was held in as\ngreat detestation as her \"Black,\" or malignant, sister. Torture and\npenalty were the same for either. Thus we find that, in 1597, four\nwomen were convicted at Edinburgh for curing, or endeavouring to\ncure, certain of their neighbours' ills by witchcraft, and were in\ndue course strangled and burned. It is true that they did not suffer\nthe greater penalty of being burned alive, which was reserved for\nwitches of unusual malevolence. The dislike and dread of a \"White\"\nwitch was not, be it noted, due to ingratitude alone, but rather\nbecause it entailed the mutilation of the patient at the Resurrection.\nWhile the rest of his body would owe its preservation in this world\nto God Himself, any limb or organ healed by the Devil--acting through\nthe \"White\" witch--would belong to him, and thus be unable to rise\nat the Day of Judgment with the rest. In endeavouring to understand\nthe mental attitude which gave rise to the great persecutions of\nthe seventeenth century, one cannot afford to overlook such points\nof belief as this. Fear and the instinct of self-preservation, not\ncruelty, were the driving-power in the witch-murderer. We, who think no\nshame of shooting partridges for pastime, have little cause to contemn\nthe seventeenth-century Christian who killed witches lest they should\ndestroy him body and soul.\n\nSuch is the similarity of the various Scottish witch-trials that\ntoo-detailed recapitulation would be tedious and unprofitable. Some,\nhowever, stand out from the rest by reason of their grotesque horror\nand exaggeration. Such is the trial of Isobel Grierson, \"spous to\nJohnne Bull, wark-man in the Pannis\" (Preston Pans), tried at Edinburgh\nin March, 1607. Grierson, by the way, was a name very prominent in\nwitch-circles at the time. One Robert Grierson had taken a leading\npart as an accomplice of Dr. Fian, above referred to, his being the\nhand which cast the enchanted cat into the sea in the endeavour to\ndrown King James. He was also, as shown in the confession of another\ndefendant in the same trial, the cause of much disturbance at a Sabbath\nheld in North Berwick Churchyard. Satan, by an unfortunate slip,\naddressed him by his real name. As etiquette strictly demanded that\nChristian names should be ignored, and nicknames--in this instance \"Rab\nthe Rower\"--used instead, the mistake appeared an intentional insult on\nSatan's part, and was so taken by the assembled witches, who expressed\ntheir displeasure with uncompromising vigour, even to the extent of\nrunning \"hirdy girdy\" about the churchyard. But to return to John\nBull's wife. She was accused, _inter alia_, of having conceived a cruel\nhatred and malice against one Adam Clark, and with having for the space\nof a year used all devilish and unholy means to be revenged upon him.\nOn a November night in 1606, between eleven and midnight, Adam and his\nwife being in bed, Isobel entered the house in the form of a black cat,\naccompanied by a number of other cats, and made a great and fearful\nnoise, whereat Adam, his wife, and maid-servant were so frightened as\nalmost to go mad. Immediately afterwards the Devil appeared, in the\nlikeness of a black man, seized the servant's nightcap and cast it\non the fire, and then dragged her up and down the house. Who thereby\ncontracted a great sickness, so that she lay bed-fast, in danger of\nher life, for the space of six weeks. Isobel was further accused of\nhaving compassed the death of William Burnet and of laying on him a\nfearful and uncouth sickness, by casting in at his door a gobbet of\nraw, enchanted flesh. Whereafter the Devil nightly appeared in poor\nWilliam's house in the guise of a naked infant child for the space\nof half a year. Occasionally he varied the performance by appearing\nin the shape of Isobel herself, but being called by her name would\nimmediately vanish away. As a result of all which, Adam languished in\nsickness for the space of three years, unable to obtain a cure, and at\nlast, in great \"douleur and payne,\" departed this life. Another of her\nvictims was Robert Peddan, who remained sick for the space of one year\nand six months, and then suddenly remembering that he owed Isobel nine\nshilling and fourpence, and that before the time of his sickness, as he\nhad refused to pay it, she had delivered to him certain writings that\nshe kept in MS., and thereafter, with divers blasphemous speeches, told\nhim he should repent it. Remembering this, he sought out Isobel and\nsatisfied her the said sum, at the same time asking his health of her\nfor God's sake, saying, \"If ye have done me any wrong or hurt, refrain\nthe same and restore to me my health.\" And within twenty-four hours he\nwas as well as ever before. Yet again, Margaret, the wife of Robert\nPeddan, lying in bed, Isobel, or a spirit in her shape, entered his\nhouse, seized Margaret by the shoulder and flung her upon the floor, so\nthat she swooned with fright, and was immediately seized with a fearful\nand uncouth sickness. Isobel, hearing that rumours of her ill-doing\nwere abroad, caused Mrs. Peddan to drink with her, whereupon her\nsickness left her for eight or ten days. But as Mrs. Peddan, learning\nnothing from experience, declared _hic et ubique_ that Isobel was a\nfoul witch, she straightway laid another charm upon her, so that the\nsickness returned. Isobel, being found guilty of all these and other\ncrimes, was ordered by her judges to be \"taken to the Castle Hill of\nEdinburgh, and there to be strangled at the stake until she be dead and\nher body to be burnt in ashes, as convict of the said crimes; and all\nher movable goods to be escheat and inbrought to our sovereign lord's\nuse, as convict of the said crimes.\" Which was done accordingly.\n\nIn 1622 Margaret Wallace was executed on the charge of inflicting and\ncausing diseases. The chief count against her was of having consulted\nwith Christiane Graham--burned as a witch some time before Margaret's\ntrial--how to cure Margaret Muir, \"a bairne,\" of a disorder, \"to which\nend they went about twelve at night to a yard, and there used their\ndevilish charms, whereby the disease was removed from the bairne.\"\n\nThe next twenty years are filled with a monotonous record of\nwitch-trials, similar in essentials to those already quoted. Perhaps\nthe most outstanding is that of Catharine Oswald, who kept many\nrendezvous with Satan, and cursed the yard of John Clerk so effectually\nthat for four years neither \"kaill, hemp, nor other graine would grow\ntherein.\" Alice Nisbet, also famous in her day, was likewise convicted\nof having \"took paines off a woman in travell, by some charms and\nhorrible words; among which thir ware some, 'the bones to the fire and\nthe soull to the divill.'\"\n\nIn 1633 twenty witches were executed, Sir George Home, of Manderston,\nbeing the most zealous persecutor, chiefly, it was said, to spite his\nwife, with whom he was not on good terms, and who had a taste for\nBlack Magic. Ten years later arose another fierce persecution, so that\nin Fifeshire alone thirty women were executed--the local ministry\ntaking the lead in the prosecution. Two of the accused were domestic\nservants in service at Edinburgh, and with that love of finery which\neven now attends their kind. By their own confession they had been\nintroduced to the Devil by Janet Cranston, a notorious witch, and had\nby him been promised that, if they gave themselves bodies and souls to\nhis allegiance, \"they should be as trimlie clad as the best servants\nin Edinburgh.\" Janet Barker, one of the twain, admitted having the\nDevil's mark between her shoulders, and when a pin was thrust therein\nit remained there for an hour before she noticed it. Needless to say,\nboth were \"wirriet\" (strangled) at the stake and burned. Agnes Fynnie\nwas convicted on no fewer than twenty counts of different offences,\nchiefly of harming the health of personal enemies. Her defence was more\nvigorous than was customary, but although she pleaded that of all the\nwitches already burned not one had mentioned her name, she was found\nguilty and executed.\n\nIt must not be supposed that Satan did not make occasional efforts to\nbefriend his own. Thus we may learn from Sinclair's \"Invisible World\nDiscovered\" that he directly interfered, endeavouring to save the wife\nof one Goodail, \"a most beautiful and comely person,\" for whom he\nhad a particular regard, much to the jealousy of less well-favoured\nwitches. He even visited her prison and endeavoured to carry her off\nthrough the air, so that \"she made several loups upwards, increasing\ngradually till her feet were as high as his breast.\" But James Fleming,\nthe gaoler, was a man of might. He caught hold of her feet, so that\nit was a case of \"Pull Devil, pull Gaoler,\" and the better man--which\nis to say Mr. Fleming--won, and the prisoner was saved for subsequent\nexecution. On another occasion Satan actually released a witch from\nthe church-steeple of Culross, where she was confined. Unfortunately\nfor her, before they had gone far upon their aerial flight, she\nhappened, in the course of conversation, to mention the name of the\nDeity--whereupon he dropped her.\n\nPolitical ups and downs, whomever else they might affect, made no\ndifference in the hard lot of the witch--save, indeed, that she was\nregarded as belonging to the opposite party by that in power. That did\nnot, however, gain for her the sympathy of the defeated. Thus the death\nof Charles I., according to many, could only have been compassed by\nthe Powers of Darkness themselves. Even the brute creation seemed to\nhave realised this, if we may judge from the reputed fact that some of\nthe lions in the Tower of London died from the smell of a handkerchief\ndipped in the martyred monarch's blood. \"Old Noll\" was declared, by\nRoyalists anxious to explain away their defeats, to be Satan's direct\nagent, if not the Devil incarnate, the Commonwealth representing his\nKingdom upon Earth. Thus although the Republicans had done their\nutmost in the way of witch-harrying, their efforts were but feeble\ncompared to those of the Royalists upon the glorious Restoration.\nObviously a witch must be a friend to crop-eared Roundheads--and\nfearfully did she pay the penalty. Somewhere about 120 were executed\nin the year 1661, immediately following the King's entering upon his\nown again--the majority owing their arrest to the exertions of John\nKincaid and John Dick, witch-finders as eminent, though less famous,\nthan Matthew Hopkins himself. And now it was the turn of the victorious\nCavaliers to be regarded, by Presbyterian and Parliamentarian, as owing\ntheir success to the help of Satan and his agents. Their Bishops were\nreported to be cloven-footed and shadowless, their military commanders\nto be bullet-proof by enchantment, and to possess horses that could\nclamber among inaccessible rocks like foxes; the justices who put\nfugitives on trial for treason were seen in familiar converse with the\nFiend, and one of them was known to have offered up his first-born son\nto Satan.\n\nA representative example of the trials held in the latter part of\nthe seventeenth century is that consequent upon the death of Sir\nGeorge Maxwell, of Pollock, slain, as was supposed, by the malice of\n\"some haggs and one wizard.\" A full account of it is given in the\n\"Memorialls\" of Robert Law, writer, edited from his MS. by Charles\nKirkpatrick Sharpe. To put it briefly, Sir George, having been ill for\nsome time, having great pain in his side and shoulder, a dumb girl\ncalled at the house and explained by signs that his waxen \"picture\"\nwas being melted before the fire in a certain woman's house, who had\na grudge against him. Search being made, his image was found up the\nchimney. Two pins being found stuck in the figure's shoulder were\nremoved, whereupon Sir George recovered, and the woman was laid by\nthe heels and found to have several witch-marks. But very soon the\nbaronet was again taken ill. The witch's house, now inhabited by her\nson, was again searched, and a second \"portraitour,\" this time of clay,\nfound under the man's bolster. Arrested, he confessed that the Devil\nhad visited him, in company with four witches, had made the image\nhimself, and stuck pins in the appropriate limbs. The four witches were\napprehended, and, with the young man, burnt at Paisley; but this did\nnot prevent their victim's death. A few months later he died, \"being\nworn to a shadow,\" owing, according to the dumb girl, to the existence\nof yet another \"picture\" which his friends had \"slighted.\"\n\nThe last Scottish execution of a witch took place in 1722. The prisoner\nwas accused of having turned her daughter into a pony, shod by the\nDevil and so ridden upon her--whence the girl was ever afterwards\nlame. Found guilty, this last of a long line of martyrs was burned at\nDornoch, and scandalised the spectators--the weather being chilly--by\ncomposedly warming her hands at the fire that was to consume her.\n\nIn 1735, English and Scottish statutes against witchcraft were alike\nrepealed, much to the horror of the seceders from the Established Kirk,\nwho, in their annual confession of National and Personal Sins, gave\na prominent place to \"The Penal Statutes against Witches having been\nrepealed by Parliament contrary to the express Law of God.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nOTHER PERSECUTIONS\n\n\nThe universality of the belief in witchcraft carried in its train\ninternational belief in the efficacy of persecution as its cure. When\none nation led the others were bound to follow, and accordingly we\nfind that every European country--to say nothing of non-Christian\npeoples--lent itself vigorously to this form of legalised murder.\nBut so similar are the details of these proceedings that witchcraft\nmight claim to have preceded Volapuk or Esperanto as an international\nbond. Everywhere the persecution followed the same, or parallel lines,\ndiffering only in minor national idiosyncrasies. So far as Catholic\ncountries were in question this was natural enough--seeing that all\nalike drew their inspiration from the same source--Innocent VIII.'s\nBull; while the Protestants, however much they might object to Papal\npersecution of their peculiar tenets, heartily agreed with both the\npurpose and the method of those directed at the common enemy of all.\n\nIn France, as elsewhere, the seventeenth century saw the witch-fever\nrise to its most extravagant height. Though it is difficult to\ncompare them in degree--where all alike rose to the highest level of\nbloodthirstiness--the French may be said to have excelled their ancient\nrivals in thoroughness. Thus the direction of the campaign was in the\ndirect control of either Church or State, rather than being submitted\nto the ordinary process of the law; they were official rather than\nlocal, and witchcraft a religious and political rather than a merely\ncriminal offence. Thus, in 1634, Urbain Grandier, who had satirised\nRichelieu, was accused, at the Cardinal's direct instigation, of\npractising the Black Art upon some nuns at Loudun, and was in due\ncourse burned at the stake; and many similar cases are recorded. A\npoint in which the French practice differed from the English in the\nmatter of witch-finding was that, while in England the affair was\nusually entrusted to the care of such comparatively humble persons as\nMatthew Hopkins, the French Commissioner was an official of importance,\nand usually, as in the case of Pierre de Lancre, of education. This\ngentleman, sent as we have seen at the instance of the King, according\nto his own account, by the Parliament of Bordeaux to investigate the\ncharges of wholesale witchcraft against the inhabitants of the Labourt\ndistrict in 1608, has himself provided us with illuminating insight\ninto such an official's frame of mind. This is shown even more clearly\nin his introductory argument than in his book--already frequently\nreferred to--written to prove the inconstancy of devils and bad angels.\nTowards this end he sets out to prove the inconstancy of the natives\nof Labourt and their peculiar liability to Satan's snares. Then he\nargues that Labourt must, on the face of it, breed an unsettled and\ninconstant race, being both mountainous and situated on the borders\nof three kingdoms, France, Spain, and Navarre. Its language, being\nlikewise varied--a mixture of French, Spanish, and Basque--is in itself\nanother powerful argument. Its inhabitants, again, are for the most\npart sailors, when they might with better reason be farmers, because\nthey prefer the inconstant sea to the firm, unchanging land. Their\nlong absences, he finds, tends to make their wives unfaithful--another\npowerful impetus towards witchcraft. Although the Commissioner--a man\nof open mind--confesses that their dress is not indecent; he has grave\ndoubts about their dances, being not quiet and respectable, but rowdy\nin the extreme, and accompanied upon the tambourine, an instrument\nof baleful significance. They live very largely upon apples--which\nmay also account for their proneness to forbidden things, the Devil's\npower over the apple having been recognised ever since the days of Eve.\nDe Lancre even puts forward the assertions of heretical Scottish and\nEnglish merchants, who have visited Bordeaux to buy wines, and have\nthere assured him that they have often seen large troops of d\u00e6mons\nheading across the sea straight for Labourt. From all of which the\nCommissioner concludes that there is scarcely a family in the district\nbut is more or less deeply involved in or connected with witchcraft and\nits practices.\n\nThe same causes which rendered the French persecutions more severe\nwhile they lasted, also brought it about that any relaxation of the\nGovernmental attitude diminished them to a greater extent than was the\ncase in England, where witchcraft had a more personal aspect. The armed\npeasant, who, musket in hand, proved his possession of supernatural\npowers by defeating the King's best troops led by a Marshall of France,\namong the bare peaks of the Cevennes, in defence of his detestable\nheresies, might look for nothing but ruthless extermination as a\nwizard; but even Governments have human memories, and the humble old\nwoman muttering spells in obscure corners of the kingdom, was apt\nto be overlooked. Sometimes, too, as the years passed, the Royal\nPerson actually interfered to shield the accused from less official\npersecution. Thus, when in 1672, a number of shepherds were arrested\nin Normandy and the Parliament of Rouen prepared for an investigation\nsimilar to that previously held at Labourt, the King ordered all the\naccused to be set at liberty, with salutary effect in dissipating the\nincreasing witch-fever. Some ten years later, however, a Royal edict\nrevived all previous ordinances against sorcery and divination. Many\nsuch cases were tried before the \"Chambre Ardente,\" the last being that\nof a woman named Voisin, condemned for sorcery and poisoning in 1680.\nThe anti-sorcery laws were in force until the mid-eighteenth century,\nwhile as proof of the persistence of the superstition we may again\nquote the case of the Soubervies, in 1850, already referred to.\n\nGermany--the land of sentiment, no less than of common sense--was not\ndifferent from her neighbours in her method of regarding the witch. The\nGerman, though he protested against the methods of the Inquisition, as\napplied to himself, could have no objection to its treatment of the\nwitch-question. Cases were sometimes heard in the civil court, but\nwere far more frequently left to the tender mercies of the Church. At\nthe end of the fifteenth century the Inquisitors Sprenger and Kramer\ntaught the whole duty of an Inquisitor in the \"Malleus Maleficarum,\"\nand found many apt pupils throughout the Empire. Persecutions of\nunprecedented fierceness broke out in many districts, one of the\nmost striking examples being that at Trier in the second half of the\nsixteenth century. For many years there had been failure of crops\nand increasing sterility throughout the land, attributed by many to\nthe increase of witchcraft and the malice of the Devil. In time, so\nferocious became the popular antipathy that scarcely any who fell under\nsuspicion had the remotest chance of escape. It was perhaps the most\ndemocratic persecution recorded in history; neither rank nor wealth was\nof the least avail in face of accusation. Canon Linden, an eye-witness,\nrelates that two Burgomasters, several councillors and associate\njudges, canons of sundry collegiate churches, parish priests and rural\ndeans were among the victims. Dr. Dietrich Flade, judge of the secular\ncourt and deputy governor of the city, strove to check the persecution\nand fell a victim to it for his pains. He was accused, tortured into\nconfessing various crimes of sorcery, and burned at the stake in 1589.\nA Dutch scholar, Cornelius Loos by name, a reputed disciple of Wierus\nand tenant of a professorial chair at the Trier University, also\nventured to enter a protest against the prevalent madness. Failing in\nhis appeal to the authorities he wrote a book, in which his views were\nset forth at length. It was seized while in the printers' hands and\nits author cast into prison. He was, however, released in the spring\nof 1593 upon uttering a solemn recantation--published in book form six\nyears later by Del Rio. Far from curing the barrenness of the land, the\npersecution only increased it--and thus provided its own cure--dying\ndown at last when the general poverty prevented the necessary funds\nbeing provided for its maintenance.\n\nA pathetic incident is recorded of another formidable outburst of the\nwitch-mania--at Bamberg in 1628. The Burgomaster, Johannes Junius, was\namong those put on trial. In the beginning he denied all the charges\nagainst him, but being put to the torture, confessed that he had been\npresent at a witch gathering and a witch-dance and had desecrated the\nHost. Such a confession, though it spared him further torture, did not,\nof course, stay his execution. Some little time after, having partially\nrecovered from his first agonies, he was in great distress of mind as\nto the opinion his dearly-loved daughter should hold of him after his\ndeath. With sorely maimed hands he yet managed to scrawl a letter and\nensure its reaching her. In it he appeals in agony of heart that she\nshall not believe the matter of his enforced confession: \"Innocent\nhave I come into prison, innocent have I been tortured, and innocent\nmust I die.... I confessed only in order to escape the great anguish\nand bitter torture, such as it was impossible for me longer to bear.\"\nUnfortunately the torturers were never satisfied with a confession\nunless it implicated other people as well, and the case of Junius\nand some of his friends and neighbours who also suffered formed no\nexception to the rule.\n\nThe Bamberg persecution was succeeded by one at Wurzburg in the\nfollowing year. Fortunately the noble Jesuit priest and poet, Friedrich\nvon Spee, was appointed confessor of those sentenced to death, and was\ninspired to write, in 1631, his \"Cautio Criminalis,\" which, published\nanonymously, did much to stem the tide of persecution. \"Incredible\namong us Germans,\" he begins, \"and especially (I blush to say it)\namong Catholics, are the popular superstitions, envy, calumnies,\nbackbitings, insinuations and the like, which being neither punished by\nthe magistrates nor refuted by the pulpit, first stir up suspicion of\nwitchcraft. All the Divine judgments which God has threatened in Holy\nWrit are now ascribed to witches. No longer do God or Nature aught, but\nwitches everything.\"\n\nIt was a long time, however, before such enlightened views could obtain\nuniversal credence, and it was in Germany that the last European\nexecution for witchcraft took place, so lately as 1793.\n\nThe international epidemic did not spread to Sweden till the end of the\ncentury, when it broke out, in more than usually eccentric form, in the\nvillage of Mohra. It was chiefly remarkable for the number of children\nconcerned. \"Four score and five persons, fifteen of them children, were\ncondemned, and most, if not all of them, were burnt and executed. There\nwere besides six-and-thirty children that ran the gauntlet and twenty\nwere whipt on the hands at the Church-door every Sunday for three weeks\ntogether.\" The whole proceedings were, indeed, almost a children's\ndrama and no emanation of childish imagination but was eagerly\nswallowed by a normally sober and sensible community. Most probably,\nindeed, the whole affair had its foundation in some myth or folk-story\nmore or less popular in all the local nurseries. Indeed, were we of\nthe present generation to return to the earlier belief in lycanthropy\nand the ceaseless malignancy of ubiquitous were-wolves, it is easily\nwithin the bounds of possibility that \"Red Riding Hood,\" a story which\nquite conceivably owes its origin to the same superstition, might bring\nabout some similar panic. An imaginative child might easily mix up the\ngrandmother in the story with the wolf who devours her: might thus come\nto the conclusion that his own grandmother occasionally masqueraded in\nthe form of a wolf: might in time convince himself that he had actually\nseen her thus transmogrified, and might thus in time bring not only\nhis own venerable relative but those of half the other children in the\nschool that he attended under unpleasant suspicion and not improbably\nto a more unpleasant death.\n\nThe mainstay of the Mohra panic was the sudden belief--propagated by\nthe children themselves--that some hundreds of them had been brought\nunder the power of the Devil by local witches. The whole community\ntook the alarm, the Government was appealed to, and a Royal Commission\nembodied to investigate the charges--with sanguinary results. It\nwas declared that the witches instructed the children to go to the\ncross-ways, and there to invoke the Devil, begging him to carry them to\nthe Blockula, the favourite local mountain meeting-place for Sabbaths.\nSatan, in answering their prayers, appeared in many forms, the most\noriginal being that of a man with a red beard, wearing a grey coat,\nred and blue stockings, a high-crowned hat adorned with ribbons of\nmany colours, and preposterous garters. So attired he must have wanted\nonly a magic pipe to serve as double to the Pied Piper of Hamelin,\nthe Teutonic legend most nearly recalled by the whole circumstance.\nHe provided the children with mounts and anointed them with unguent\ncomposed of the scrapings of altars and the filings of church-clocks.\nAnother account says that the witches accompanied the children, riding\nwith them to the Blockula on men's backs--the said men, upon arriving\nthere, being propped against the wall, fast asleep. Now and again they\npreferred to ride upon posts, or goats transfixed upon spits, and they\nflew through walls, chimneys, and windows without either injuring\nthemselves or breaking the glass and bricks.\n\nThe actual transportation of the children gave rise to many weighty\narguments. All the time they asserted they were at the Blockula, their\nparents declared that they had held them asleep in their arms. It was\nfinally concluded that their nocturnal travels might be either in the\nflesh or the spirit, according to circumstances. So firmly did many\nparents credit their children's assertions that a local clergyman\ndetermined to watch his little son throughout the night, holding him\ntightly in his arms; but even this ocular demonstration did not serve\nto convince the mother.\n\nUpon the Blockula was declared to be a fine house, having a gate\npainted in very gay colours. Within it were a large banqueting-hall\nand other rooms. The food served at the banquets consisted of such\nnourishing fare as coleworts, bacon, and bread, butter, milk and\ncheese--all of them, be it noted, familiar to childish palates, as\nwas the feast of the Lancashire witches--quoted elsewhere--to the\n\"Informer.\" Those who attended the Blockula gave birth to sons and\ndaughters, who were married in their turn to each other, their children\nbeing toads and serpents. They built houses, but so badly that the\nwalls fell upon them, making them black and blue; they were beaten,\nabused, and laughed at--yet when on one occasion they thought the Devil\nwas dead, the place was filled with wailings and lamentations. As\nusually happened in such persecutions, the bloodshed at last brought\npeople to their senses--perhaps the execution of fifteen children gave\ntheir parents pause. At all events, the Commission was in due course\ndissolved, and the persecution came to a sudden end, though prayers\ncontinued to be offered weekly in the church against any other such\nhorrible visitation--as indeed they well might!\n\nIt is not my intention to give more than a general idea of the most\noutstanding historic persecutions--for, as I have said, they differ\nonly in minor degrees in different times and places. There are,\nhowever, yet one other group too striking to be ignored--those which\nraged in the New England Colonies. It might have been supposed, by one\nunconversant with human nature, that the memory of their own sufferings\nwould have softened the hearts of the colonists when they themselves\nwere in power. The reverse was the case; their enmity against their\nformer oppressors was diverted towards this new channel, gaining force\nin the process. There is indeed some excuse to be found for their\nmental attitude. Springing in the most cases from the humbler class,\nthey had many privations and sufferings to endure before they could\ngain any respite in their newly-settled country to think of progressive\neducation. Their warfare against the Indians might well have given both\nsides reason to think that the Devil was indeed arrayed upon the side\nof their enemies--and in time the gloomy superstitions of the natives\nserved to buttress the imported beliefs of Europe.\n\nFrom the beginning of the seventeenth century to the end the settlers\nhad been forced to devote most of their thoughts to means of\nsubsistence alone, and there had been no opportunity for speculative\nthought to modify ideas which, standing still, became more and more\nstereotyped. The precarious existence of the infant State also gave its\nleaders every ground for taking the severest measures towards anything\nconsidered to be dangerous to its welfare. As early as 1648, Margaret\nJones of Charlestone was accused of practising witchcraft. The charge\nwas \"that she was found to have such a malignant touch as many persons,\nmen, women and children whom she stroked or touched in any affliction\nor displeasure, were taken with deafness or vomiting, or other violent\npains or sickness.\" Governor Winthrop, in whose Journals the account is\nfound, also adds that \"in prison there was seen in her arms a little\nchild which ran from her into another room, the officer following it,\nit vanished.\"\n\nMargaret Jones was found guilty of the crime of witchcraft, and was\nhanged according to the law. Soon after her execution her husband\nwished to go to Barbadoes in a vessel lying in Boston Harbour. He was\nrefused a passage as being the husband of a witch, and thereupon the\nvessel began to roll as though it would turn over. Instead of the\nphenomenon being attributed to the refusal to take an innocent man on\nboard, it was reported to the magistrate, and an officer was sent to\narrest Jones. On his exhibiting the warrant for the arrest, the vessel\ninstantly ceased to roll. Jones was thrown into prison, but there is no\nevidence of his ever having been tried.\n\nIn 1655, Ann Hibbins was hanged at Boston for witchcraft; there were\nwitch-executions in different places at ever-decreasing intervals. One\nof the most interesting cases of witchcraft was that of the Goodwin\nfamily in 1688. A full account of this case is given by Cotton Mather,\n\"Minister of the Gospel,\" in a book which purported to contain \"a\nfaithful account of many Wonderful and Surprising Things that have\nbefallen several Bewitched and Possessed Persons in New England.\" In\nhis own words, in 1689, \"There dwells at this time in the South part of\nBoston a sober and pious man, whose name is John Goodwin, whose Trade\nis that of a Mason, and whose Wife (to whom a good Report gives a share\nwith him in all the characters of Virtue) has made him the Father of\nsix (now living) children. Of these children all but the eldest, who\nworks with his Father at his calling, and the youngest, who lives yet\nupon the Breast of its mother, have laboured under the direful effects\nof a (no less palpable than) stupendous WITCHCRAFT.\" After explaining\nthe godly and virtuous tendencies of the children and the excellence\nof their upbringing and religious education, Mather says:--\"Such\nwas the whole Temper and Courage of the children that there cannot\neasily be anything more unreasonable than to imagine that a Design to\nDissemble could cause them to fall into any of their odd Fits.\"\n\nIn 1688 the eldest daughter, on examining the linen, found that some\nof it was missing, and questioned the daughter of the washerwoman with\nregard to it. The washerwoman--as might have happened in much later\ntimes--used very bad language in her daughter's defence, whereupon\npoor Miss Goodwin \"became variously indisposed in her health, and was\nvisited with strange Fits, beyond those that attend an Epilepsy or\na Catalepsy, or those that they call the Diseases of Astonishment.\"\nShortly afterwards one of her sisters and two of her brothers were\nseized in a like manner and \"were all four tortured everywhere in a\nmanner so very grievous that it would have broken an heart of stone to\nhave seen their agonies.\" \"Physicians were of no avail. Sometimes they\nwould be Deaf, sometimes Dumb, and sometimes Blind, and often all this\nat once. One while their Tongues would be drawn down their throats,\nanother while they would be pulled out upon their chins to a prodigious\nlength. They would have their mouths opened into such wideness that\ntheir Jaws went out of joint; and anon they would clap together with\na force like that of a Strong Spring-Lock. The same would happen to\ntheir Shoulder-Blades, and their Elbows and Hand-wrists and several of\ntheir Joints. They would at times ly in a benummed condition, and be\ndrawn together as those that are tyed Neck and Heels, and presently\nbe stretched out, yea, drawn Backwards to such a degree it was feared\nthe very skin of their Bellies would have crack'd.\" There were many\nother symptoms which Mather relates with zealous satisfaction.--At\nlast the distracted father told the Magistrates of his suspicions\nof the washerwoman Glover. On being examined, she gave such a poor\naccount of herself that she was committed to prison. It was found that\nshe could not say the Lord's Prayer, even when it was repeated to her\nclause by clause, and when she was committed it was found that all\nthe children \"had some present ease.\" The supposed witch was brought\nto trial, but, being an Irishwoman, there were difficulties in her\nunderstanding the questions, which told very badly against her. Orders\nwere given to search her house, and several small images--dolls,\nperhaps--made of rags and stuffed with goat's-hair, were found. The\nold woman then confessed \"that her way to torment the objects of her\nmalice was by rubbing of her Finger with her spittle, and stroaking\nof those little Images.\" When one of the images was brought to her,\nshe took it in her hand, and immediately one of the children fell into\nfits before the whole assembly. Witnesses were easily found against\nher, one of whom said that Glover had sometimes come down her chimney.\nAfter her condemnation the worthy Mather visited her in prison, \"but\nshe entertained me with nothing but Irish, which language I have not\nLearning enough to understand without an Interpreter.\" On her way to\nexecution she declared that her death would not end the sufferings\nof the children, as there were more in it besides herself; and so it\nproved. The children would bark like dogs and purr like cats, and\nthey would fly like geese. \"Such is Satanic perversity that if one\nordered them to Rub a clean table, they were able to do it without\nany disturbance; if to rub a dirty Table, presumably they would,\nwith many Torments, be made uncapable.\" Mather relates that owing\nto their Bewitchments, holy Books caused them horrible agonies. One\ngirl told him that if she went to read the Bible, her eyes would be\nstrangely twisted and blinded, and her neck presumably broken, but\nalso that if anyone else did read the Bible in the Room, though it\nwere wholly out of her sight, and without the least voice or noise of\nit, she would be cast into very horrible agonies. \"_A Popish Book_,\"\nsays Mather, \"she would endure very well and also books such as the\n'Oxford Tests'\"--Mather must be forgiven for being a partisan--but\n\"my grand-father Cotton's catechism called 'Milk for Babes' and the\nAssemblie's Catechism would bring hideous convulsions on the child if\nshe look'd into them.\" With a certain unconscious jocularity, Mather\nhopes that he has \"not spoilt the credit of the books by telling how\nmuch the Devil hated them.\"\n\nAt last Cotton Mather and some devout neighbours kept a day of prayer\non behalf of the afflicted children, and gradually \"the liberty of the\nchildren increased daily more and more, and their vexation abated by\ndegrees,\" though demons and spirits continued to trouble Boston for\nsome time after.\n\nIn 1692 Salem village was the scene of a fierce outbreak against\nwitchcraft, which lasted some 16 months. Cotton Mather attributes\nit to the Indian \"Paw-Maws,\" but Hutchinson, with his usual common\nsense, probably hits upon at least one of the real causes. Mather had\npublished a book on witchcraft in 1689. It was strongly recommended in\nEngland by Richard Baxter, who a short time later published his own\n\"Certainty of the World of Spirits.\" This contained a testimony to\nMather, and he, in his turn, caused it to be widely circulated in New\nEngland. The witch epidemic at Salem occurred but a short time after\nthis and Hutchinson attributes it to \"Mr. Baxter's book,\" and \"his and\nhis father's\" (_i.e._, Mather's book and that of his father) and the\nfalse principles and frightful stories that \"filled the people's mind\nwith great fears and dangerous notions.\"\n\nThe witchcraft scare in Salem began in the house of Mr. Parris,\nminister of the place, and several other people soon began to act in\nan unusual manner. \"They crept into holes and under chairs and stools.\nThey used antick gestures and spake ridiculous speeches and fell into\nfits. After some time and a day of prayer kept, the afflicted persons\nnamed several that they said they saw in their fits afflicting them,\nand in particular an Indian woman.\" The Indian woman, Tihuba was\nher name, was deposed to have used charms, at the beginning of the\noutbreak, for the discovery of the witches, but the fact of her being\nan Indian would probably have been sufficient to cast suspicion upon\nher. On being beaten and threatened by her master she confessed that\nshe was a witch, and said the Devil urged her to sign a book. Two other\nwomen, Osborn and Good, were accused by the Parris children of having\nbewitched them, and warrants were issued for their arrest. All three\nwere sent to the jail in Boston. Good's little daughter, Dorcas, aged\nfive, was called upon to testify against her mother, and her evidence\namounted only to this: \"That her mother had 2 birds, one black and\none green, and these birds hurt the children and afflicted persons.\"\nSarah Good was sentenced to be hanged. The Rev. Mr. Voyes told her as\nshe stood on the scaffold, \"You are a witch and you know you are a\nwitch.\" She replied, \"You are a liar. I am no more a witch than you are\na wizard, and if you take my life God will give you blood to drink.\"\nSarah Osborn died in prison, and the bill of the Boston jailer for the\nexpenses of both women runs thus:--\n\n                                   \u00a3 s. d.\n\n To chains for Sarah Good and\n Sarah Osborn                        14  0\n\n To keeping Sarah Osborn from\n the 7th March to 10th May,\n when she died, being nine weeks\n and two days                      1  3  5\n\nTihuba was kept in prison for 13 months and was then sold to pay her\nprison fees.\n\nThe arrest of these three women was followed almost immediately\nby many more accusations. The arrival of Governor Phips in May,\narmed with a charter which empowered the general court to erect and\nconstitute judicatories and courts of record, or other courts of which\nthe Governor was to appoint the judges, gave a great impetus to the\npersecution. Finding the prison full of witches he gave orders for\ntheir immediate trial. All through June and July the cases crowded one\nupon another, and such was the pitch of superstitious terror to which\nthe people of Salem had arrived, that two dogs were put to death for\nwitchcraft. The cases of Martha and Giles Carey, and of Rebecca Nurse,\nare so well-known that we will rather turn to the trial of Susanna\nMartin, held in the court of Oyer and terminated at Salem on June 29th,\n1692.\n\nCotton Mather relates of her that:--\"Susanna Martin, pleading 'Not\nGuilty' to the indictment of witchcraft brought in against her,\nthere were produced the evidences of many persons very sensibly and\ngrievously bewitched, who all complained of the prisoner at the bar as\nthe person they believed the cause of their miseries.\"\n\nAt the examination the cast of Susanna's eye was supposed to strike the\nafflicted people to the ground whether they saw it or not.\n\n _Magistrate._ Pray what ails these people?\n\n _Martin._ I don't know.\n\n _Mag._ But what do you think ails them?\n\n _Martin._ I don't desire to spend my judgment upon it.\n\n _Mag._ Don't you think they are bewitched?\n\n _Martin._ No, I do not think they are.\n\n _Mag._ Tell us your thoughts about them then.\n\n _Martin._ No, my thoughts are my own when they are in; but when they\n are out they are another's. Their master----\n\n _Mag._ Their Master? Who do you think _is their Master_?\n\n _Martin._ If they be dealing in the Black Art, you may know as well as\n I.\n\n _Mag._ Well. What have you done towards this?\n\n _Martin._ Nothing at all.\n\n _Mag._ Why, it is you or your appearance.\n\n _Martin._ I cannot help it.\n\n _Mag._ Is it not _your Master_? How comes your appearance to hurt\n these?\n\n _Martin._ How do I know? He that appeared in the shape of Samuel, a\n glorified Saint, may appear in any-one's shape.\n\nJohn Allen, of Salisbury, testified that he having refused because\nof the weakness of his oxen to cart some staves at Susanna Martin's\nrequest, she was angry and said, \"It had been as good that he had, for\nhis oxen should never do him much more service.\" The witness answered\nher, \"Dost thou threaten me, thou old witch? I'll throw thee into the\nbrook!\" to escape which she flew over the bridge and escaped. From\nthat time various misfortunes happened to his oxen and they ended by\nswimming out into the sea. Of fourteen good oxen only one was saved,\nthe rest were cast up drowned in different places.\n\nJohn Atkinson also testified to the bewitching of cattle by Martin,\nand Bernard Peache said, \"that Being in Bed, on a Lord's Day night, he\nheard a Scrubbing at the Window, whereat he then saw Susanna Martin\ncome in and jumped down upon the floor.\" She took hold of witness's\nfeet and drew his body up into a heap. For two hours he could neither\nspeak nor stir, but at length he caught her hand and bit three of her\nfingers to the bone. Whereupon she went down the stairs and out of the\ndoor. Snow was lying on the ground and drops of blood were found upon\nit, as also in a bucket on the left-hand side of the door. The marks\nof her two feet were found just without the threshold, but there was\nno sign of them any further off. Another accusation against Susanna\nwas that after a long walk her feet were dry when other people's would\nhave been wet. John Kembal had wished to buy a puppy of Martin, but as\nshe would not let him choose the one he wanted he bought one elsewhere.\n\"Whereupon Susanna Martin replied, 'If I live I'll give him puppies\nenough.' Within a few days after this, Kembal coming out of the woods,\nthere arose a little cloud in the N.W. and Kembal immediately felt a\nforce upon him that made him not able to avoid running upon the stumps\nof trees that were before him, albeit that he had a broad plain cartway\nbefore him; but though he had his ax also upon his shoulder to endanger\nhim in his Falls, he could not forbear going out of his way to tumble\nover them. When he came below the Meeting House there appeared unto him\na little thing like a Puppy of a Darkish colour, and it shot Backwards\nand forwards between his Leggs. He had the courage to use all possible\nEndeavours of cutting it with his ax; but he could not Hit it; the\nPuppy gave a jump from him and went, as to him it seem'd, into the\nground. Going a little further, there appeared unto him a Black Puppy,\nsomewhat bigger than the first, but as Black as a Cole. Its motions\nwere quicker than those of his ax; it flew at his Belly and away; then\nat his Throat and over his Shoulder one way and then over his Shoulder\nanother. His heart now began to fail him and he thought the Dog would\nhave tore his Throat out. But he recovered himself and called upon God\nin his Distress; and naming the Name of Jesus Christ, it vanished away\nat once. The Deponent spoke not one word of these accidents for fear\nof affrighting his wife. But the next morning Edmund Eliot going into\nMartin's house, this woman asked him where Kembal was? He Replyed, 'At\nhome abed for aught he knew.' She returned, 'They say he was frighted\nlast night.' Eliot asked, 'With what?' She answered, 'With Puppies.'\nEliot asked when she heard of it, for he had heard nothing of it; she\nrejoined, 'about the Town'; altho' Kembal had mentioned the Matter to\nno creature Living.\"\n\nSusanna could do nothing against such evidence as this. She was found\n\"Guilty\" and executed on July 19th.\n\nIn sixteen months nineteen persons were hanged, one (Giles Corry)\nwas pressed to death and eight more were condemned. More than fifty\nconfessed themselves to be witches, a hundred and fifty were in prison\nand two hundred others were accused. But people were growing weary;\nand it was thought time to cease the persecutions. By about April,\n1693, all those imprisoned were set at liberty, and others who had\nfled the country were allowed to return home. It is a striking comment\nthat Mr. Parris, in whose house the supposed witchcrafts had begun,\nwas accused by his congregation \"that he hath been the beginner and\nprocurer of the sorest afflictions, not to this village only, but to\nthis whole country that did ever befall them,\" and he was dismissed.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nPHILTRES, CHARMS AND POTIONS\n\n\nWere it not that dogs and horses have frequently been observed to\nexpress their fear of ghosts, an apt definition for man would be \"the\nsuperstitious animal.\" Certainly no human feeling is more universal or\nmore enduring. If, as I have endeavoured to prove, the first mother\nwas the first witch, she must have brought superstition with her as a\nlegacy from the unknown world. Not only is it universal in mankind,\nit is also essential to mankind, if only that it is the one barrier\nbetween them and the tyranny of fact. As many-headed as a Hydra, it is\nto be found in one form or other, in the composition of every human\nbeing, from the sage to the savage. Dr. Johnson's idiosyncrasy for\ntouching every post he passed upon his walks abroad, Napoleon's belief\nin his star, the burglar's faith in his lump of coal as his surest\nsafeguard against discovery, and the bunch of bells which every Italian\nwaggoner hangs about his team to scare away errant demons, are all\nalike variations upon the one theme--humanity's revolt against the\ntyranny of knowledge. Our boasted education avails nothing against\nthe rock upon which superstition is securely based. The Girton girl\nwho wears a bracelet hung with lucky-pigs, or rejoices when she finds\nwhite heather growing upon a brae-side, may not perhaps consciously\naccept them as capable of influencing her fortunes, any more than\ndoes the card-player believe with his head that if he wins when not\nplaying for money that his next gamble will result in loss, or the\nrace-course punter that a horse whose name includes some particular\nword such as gold, or love, or black will, for that reason, win races.\nBut all alike have in their hearts this unexpressed belief, and though\nthey may not admit it, does any unexpected good fortune befall them,\ntheir mascot has some share of their thanks. Few of us but hold that\na certain colour, as, for instance, green, or a certain stone, as the\nopal, is unlucky. Many of us would not pass under a ladder if we could\nhelp it, even though we know that we are thus upholding a superstition\nbased upon a former connection between a ladder and a gallows. In\nParis, fashionable people carry little images of their special friends\nand in case of their illness mutter prayers or charms over the part\naffected. Indeed, those who protest most strongly their freedom from\nsuch degrading weakness thereby show themselves the more believing--he\nwho resolutely walks under every ladder he passes as a mute protest is\nbut acknowledging the faith he seeks to outrage.\n\nAll these modern forms of civilised superstition are, of course,\nsurvivals from a former age. Some of them, as, for instance, that\nof spilling salt or sitting thirteen at table, can be traced back\nto religious or other sources. Others, again, have endured from the\nearliest days of the human race. Many directly emanate from the art\nof witchcraft. A full-fledged witch must have her regular recipes\nand prescriptions--the first witch as much as the last. With the\ngenius that made her a witch, she must seize and formulate the\nshadowy conceptions that form so large a share of her _client\u00e8le's_\nbeliefs; with her power of organisation, she must elaborate and adapt\nthem to individual needs; in answer to the primitive appeal, she\nmust return the full-fledged spell or charm. As we have seen, her\nmagical powers were exercised in various directions; her methods were\nconsequently as variant. In her capacity as healer, and conversely as\ndisease-inflicter, her various spells must cover all the ills that\nflesh is heir to. She must be able to cure the disease she inflicts;\nmore, those who combat her must have their own ammunition of the like\nkind. To the Greek Abracadabra the Church must oppose the sign of the\nCross or the mention of the Trinity. Thus in time arose an enormous\nstore of such early methods of faith cure--a store which has since\naccumulated to such vast proportions as make it hopeless to do more\nthan enumerate a few gleaned from various ages and countries as\nexamples of the rest.\n\nA great number of these charms are given by Wierus, who is severely\nreprobated by Bodin for propagating such iniquities. Toothache being a\ncommon and distracting complaint, there were various recipes for its\ncure. To repeat the following was found to be very efficacious:--\n\n Galbes, Galbat, Galdes, Galdat.\n\nOr it was equally good to write the following on a piece of paper, and\nthen to hang it round your neck:--\n\n Strigiles, falcesque, dentatae.\n Dentium, dolorem persanate.\n\nAnother and more religious means was to quote John, ch. ix., concerning\nthe curse of the blind man, and Exodus, ch. xii., where it is written\nthat no bone of the Passover shall be broken; and then to touch your\nteeth during Mass, by which time it was more than probable that your\npains should cease. Ague, another common complaint, had several\nremedies. You might either write Abracadabra triangularly and hang\nit round your neck, or visit at dead of night the nearest cross-road\nfive different times, and there bury a new-laid egg (this has never\nbeen known to fail), or emulate Ashmole, the astrologer, who wrote in\n1661:--\n\n I took early in the morning a good dose of elixir and hung three\n spiders about my neck; they drove my ague away.\n\nAgainst mad-dog bite there were more complicated methods than mere\nPasteurisation, and what is more, you had a large choice. A cure was\neffected by writing on a piece of bread the words:--\n\n Irioni Khiriori effera Kuder fere.\n\nthen swallowing it; or writing on a piece of paper or bread the words:--\n\n Oh, King of Glory, Jesus Christ, come in peace in the name of the\n Father + max in the name of the Son + max in the name of the Holy\n Ghost, prax, Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar + prax + max + God imax +.\n\nSome people were known to have been cured by a man who wrote\n\n Hax, pax, max, Deus adimax\n\non an apple, which he gave the patient to eat; but this, says Wierus,\nwas very impious.\n\nAccording to Cato, bones out of joint could be put back into place by\nthe charm:--\n\n Danata, daries, dardaries, astataries.\n\nDivers were but little distinguished from one another, and we find a\nnumber of cures for fevers included under one generic form. Several\ncures are given by Wierus:--\n\n Wash your hands with the patient and say Psalm 144. \"Exaltabo te, Deus\n meus Rex.\"\n\nOr:--\n\n Take the invalid's hand and say \"Acque facilis tibi febris haec fit,\n atque Mariae Virgini Christi partus.\"\n\nOr:--\n\n Take three holy wafers, and write on the first, \"So is the Father,\n so is Life\"; on the second, \"So is the Son, so is the Saint\"; on\n the third, \"So is the Holy Ghost, so is the remedy.\" Take these\n three wafers to the fever patient and tell him to eat them on three\n consecutive days, neither eating nor drinking anything else; also say\n fifteen times daily the Pater and the Ave.\n\nA similar prescription is found in the following:--\n\n Cut an apple in three places and write on the first, \"Increatus\n Pater\"; on the second, \"Immensus Pater\"; and on the third, \"Aeternus\n Pater\"; then let the patient eat them fasting on three different days.\n\nThe following savours little less of religion:--\n\n For fever wryt thys words on a lorell lef + Ysmael + Ysmael + adjuro\n vos per angelum ut soporetur iste Homo. And ley thys lef under hys\n head that he mete not thereof and let hym ete Letuse oft and drynk\n Ip'e seed smal grounden in a mortar and temper yt with ale.\n\nA cure for epilepsy was contained in the following words:--\n\n Gaspare fert myrrham, thus Melchior, Balthasar aurum\n Haec tria cui secum portabit nomina regum\n Soluitur a morbo Christi pietate caduco.\n\nAnother remedy was to take the hand of the patient and say in his ear:--\n\n I conjure you by the Sun, the Moon, the Gospel of the Day, given of\n God to Saint Hubert, Gilles, Corneille and Jein, that you get up\n without falling again, in the name of the Father, the Sonn and the\n Holy Ghost. Amen.\n\nFor the cure of headache Pliny recommends a plant growing on the head\nof a statue (_i.e._, that has never touched the ground), gathered in\nthe lappet of any one of the garments, and attached to the neck with a\nred string.\n\nAgainst the King's Evil, vervaine, plucked with the root, wrapped in\na leaf, and warmed under cinders, was considered efficacious. This\nmight at first sight seem to differ little in character from a medical\nprescription, whether useless or no, but to be efficacious certain\nconditions must be complied with. It must be applied, that is to say,\nby a young and fasting virgin, and the patient must receive it fasting.\nWhile touching his hand the virgin must say, \"Apollo, let not the\nplague increase which a virgin has allayed.\" And thereafter she must\nspit three times.\n\nPliny also provides us with a recipe against accidents in general,\noriginally taken from the Druids of Gaul:--\"Carry about your person the\nplant 'selago,' gathered without the use of iron and with the right\nhand passed through the left sleeve of the tunic, as though committing\na theft. When you gather it your clothing must be white, your feet\nbare and clean, while a sacrifice of bread and wine must be offered\npreviously.\"\n\nThere were also many specific cures for different accidents. An\nincantation for thorn-pricks is found in the recorded case of one\nMr. Smerdon:--\"When our Saviour Christ was on earth He pricked His\nforefinger on the right hand with a black thorn, or whatever it may be,\nand the Blood sprang up to Heaven, nor moath, nor rust, nor canker did\ncorrupt, and if Mr. Smerdon will put his trust in God his will do the\nsame. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.\"\nThis is to be repeated three times, and at the end Amen and the Lord's\nPrayer are to be said.\n\nA once-popular \"prayer\" for a \"scalt\" is the following:--\n\n Their was two angels came from the East. One carried Fire, the other\n carried Frost. Out Fire. In Frost. Father, Son and Holy Ghost.\n\nA more modern version runs thus:--\n\n There were three Angels came from East and West,\n One brought Fire and another brought Frost,\n And the Third it was the Holy Ghost.\n Out Fire. In Frost, &c., &c.\n\nA simple way of extracting an arrow is:--\n\n Say three times, while kneeling, the Pater and Ave, and then + add\n these words:--A Jewish soldier evilly inclined struck Jesus Christ +\n Lord Jesus Christ I pray Thee + by this iron + by this lance + by this\n blood + and by this water, draw out this iron + in the name, &c., &c.\n\nThere are several charms useful for stanching blood. One runs:--\n\n Jesus that was in Bethlehem born and baptized was in the flumen\n Jordane, as stinte the water at hys comyng, so stinte the blood of\n thys Man N. thy servaunt throw the vertu of Thy Holy Name--Jesu--and\n of Thy cosyn swete Saint Jon. And sey thys charme fyve tymes, with\n fyve Paternosters in the worschip of the fyve woundys.\n\nAnother runs:--\n\n In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, carat, Cara, sarite,\n confirma consana imabolite.\n\nAnd another:--\n\n Sepa + sepaga + sepagoga + Blood cease to flow. All is consummated in\n the Name of the Father + podendi + and of the son + pandera + and of\n the Holy Spirit + pandorica + peace be with you. Amen.\n\nThe following simple charm may be found efficacious against the\nassaults of stinging-nettles:--\n\n Nettle in, Dock out,\n Dock in, Nettle out,\n Nettle in, Dock out,\n Dock rub, Nettle out.\n\nThe famous Nothhemd, or \"_chemise de n\u00e9cessit\u00e9_,\" had such magical\nqualities that it was worn alike by men to protect them against arrows\nand other weapons in battle, and by women to assist them in their\ndelivery. It was spun by virgins upon a night in Christmas week. On the\nbreast were two heads: on the right side that of a bearded man wearing\na morion, that on the left being hideously ugly and having a crown\nlike that of Beelzebub. By a curious confusion of thought, a cross was\nplaced on either side of these heads.\n\nFrom spells and charms against disease and accident we may turn to\nthose intended to protect against injury from outside agencies, as, for\nexample, caterpillars, serpents, and particularly thieves.\n\nWere your cabbages or roses suffering from the over-attentive\ncaterpillar you had no need to approach the chemist for a remedy. In\nThuringia, for example, they might be banished from the cabbage-patch\nif a woman could be found to run naked round the field or garden before\nsunrise on the day of the annual fair. In Cleves it was sufficient to\nsay:--\"Beloved caterpillar, this meat that you are having in the autumn\nprofits you as little as it profits the Virgin Mary when, in eating\nand drinking, people do not speak of Jesus Christ. In the name of God.\nAmen.\"\n\nYet another infallible cure was to pick a switch in the neighbourhood\nof an adulterer's house, or, by a curious contrast, that of an upright\nmagistrate, and to strike with it the infected cabbages. Provided you\nwalk straight through and across the cabbage-bed, the caterpillars\nwill faint and fall away, but if you turn round you lose all chance of\ngetting rid of them.\n\nA good way of exterminating serpents, toads, lizards, and other vermin\nwas to obtain a supply of the herb called \"serpentine.\" When making\nuse of it you must draw three rings on the earth, and say:--In nomine\nPatris an + et Filii elion + et Spiritus sancti tedion + Pater Noster.\nThen say three times:--\"Super aspidem et basilicum ambulabis et\nconculcabis leonem et draconem.\"\n\nThe numerous aids towards discovering thieves seem to indicate that\nthe difficulty of distinguishing between meum and tuum is of no\nmodern growth. Many religious formul\u00e6 were, of course, pressed into\nthe detective service, perhaps the most famous being the curse of\nSaint Adalbert. Such value was placed upon it that the Church only\npermitted its employment with the licence of the Bishop under pain\nof excommunication. It is of interminable length, and commences as\nfollows:--\"In the authority of all-powerful God, Father, Son, and Holy\nGhost and of the Holy Virgin Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and\nof the holy angels and archangels, and of Saint Michael and of John\nthe Baptist, in the name of the apostle Saint Peter and of the other\napostles, of Saint Sylvester, Saint Adalbert, and of all Confessors,\nof Saint Aldegonde, of holy virgins, of all the saints which are in\nHeaven and on the earth to whom power is given to bind and unbind, we\nexcommunicate, damn, curse, and anathematise and forbid the entrance\ninto Holy Mother Church of these thieves, 'sacrilegists,' ravishers,\ntheir companions, coadjutors, and coadjutrices who have committed this\ntheft, or who have taken any part in it,\" &c., &c.\n\nAnother method combines an invocation with the use of a crystal:--\n\n Turn towards the East, make a cross above the crystal with olive oil,\n and write the name of Saint Helen below this cross. Then a young boy\n of legitimate birth must take the crystal in his right hand, while\n you kneel down behind him and say three times devoutly, \"I pray you,\n holy Lady Helen, mother of King Constantine, who have found the cross\n of our Lord Jesus Christ, that in the name and favour of this very\n holy devotion and invention of the cross; in the name of this very\n holy cross; in favour of this joy that you experienced when you found\n this very holy cross; in consideration of the great love you bore your\n son, King Constantine; in short, in the name of all the good things\n you enjoy for ever, may it please you to show in this crystal what I\n ask and am longing to know.\" Then the boy will see the angel in the\n crystal, and you will ask what you want, and the angel will reply.\n This should be done at sunrise and when the sun has risen.\n\nA simpler and more homely means runs thus:--\n\n Go to a running river, and take as many little pebbles as there are\n suspected people. Carry them to your house and make them red-hot; bury\n them under the threshold over which you most commonly pass into the\n house, and leave them there three days. Then dig them up when the sun\n is up, then put a bowl of water in the middle of the circle in which\n there is a cross, having written upon it: \"Christus vicit, Christus\n regnat, Christus imperat.\" The bowl having been set and signed with\n the cross, with a conjuration by the passion of Christ, by his death\n and resurrection, &c., throw the pebbles one after the other in the\n water, each one in the name of the suspects, and when you come to the\n pebble of the thief, it will make the water boil.\n\nWierus sagely adds the comment that it is not \"difficult for the Devil\nto make the water boil in order to convict the innocent.\"\n\nA means of getting a little private revenge upon the thief or the\nwitch, even if the harm they have done you has ceased, is as follows:--\n\n Cut on Saturday morning, before sunrise, a branch of nut-tree a year\n old, saying, \"I cut you, branch of this summer, in the name of him\n whom I mean to strike or mutilate.\" Having done that, put a cloth on\n the table saying, \"In nomine Patris + et Filii + et spiritus sancti.\"\n Say this three times with the following, \"Et incute droch, myrroch,\n esenaroth, + betu + baroch + ass + maarot.\" Then say \"Holy Trinity\n punish him who has harmed me, and take away the harm by your great\n justice + eson elion + emaris ales age\"; then strike the cloth.\n\nThe numerous proverbs dealing with the tender passion seem to imply\nthat it is inclined to go by contraries, which perhaps accounts for\nthe particular nastiness of the ingredients composing love-philtres.\nAnother constant feature is that they are all double-edged, so that\nthe slightest deviation from the prescribed course may turn love into\nhate, or _vice vers\u00e2_, and thus bring about a catastrophe, whereby,\ndoubtless, hang several morals. The \"louppe\" of a colt is a powerful\nphiltre. It must be ground to powder and drunk with the blood of the\nbeloved. Other specific means are the hair on the end of a wolf's tail,\nthe brain of a cat and of a lizard, certain kinds of serpents and fish,\nand the bones of green frogs which have been eaten inside an ant-heap.\nThe frogs' bones must be treated thus:--\"Throw the bones into water,\nso that one part floats above water and the other sinks to the bottom.\nWrap them in silk, and hang them round your neck, and you will be\nloved; but if you touch a man with them, hate will come of it.\"\n\nAnother prescription hard to equal runs thus:--\n\n Take all the young swallows from one nest; put them into a pot, and\n bury them until they are dead of hunger. Those which are found dead\n with open beaks will excite love, and those with closed beaks will\n bring hatred.\n\nIf two people hate each other, write the following words, \"Abrac, amon,\nfilon,\" on a consecrated wafer, and if it be given them to eat they\nwill always be friends.\n\nThe use of images to work death and destruction upon your enemies has\nbeen the subject of tales from time immemorial. Some kinds of images\nare, of course, much more deadly than others, according to their\ndifferences of construction; and whereas some may only subject the\nvictim to great discomfort, others have far more awful results. In any\ncase, a victim will do well to take every means of discovering his\nenemy should he suffer such pains for which he can in no wise account.\nHappier still is he who gives no provocation for the use of this deadly\nand secret means of vengeance.\n\nImages were sometimes made of brass or the dust of a dead man, as well\nas of wax. The limbs were often interchanged and inverted, a hand\nbeing in place of a foot, and _vice vers\u00e2_. The head was also turned\nbackwards. The worst kind was given the form of a man with a certain\nname--Wierus hesitates to give it--written above the head and the magic\nwords, \"Alif, lafeil, Zazahit mel meltat leuatam leutare,\" then it\nshould be buried in a sepulchre.\n\nReginald Scot gives the following variation:--\n\n Make an image in his name whom you would hurt or kill, of new virgine\n wax; under the right arme poke whereof a swallowes hart, and the\n liver under the left; then hang about the neck thereof a new thread\n in a new needle, pricked into the member which you would have hurt,\n with the rehearsalle of certain words (which for the avoiding of\n superstition are omitted).\n\nThis was probably taken straight from Wierus' book, with which it\ncorresponds almost exactly, and the following instructions are, with\nsome changes in the magic words, identical with those given above. This\ndoes not, however, by any means exhaust Wierus' list, as will be seen\nby the following:--\n\n Take two images, one of wax and the other of the dust of a dead man.\n Put an iron, which could cause the death of a man, into the hand of\n one of the figures, so that it may pierce the head of the image which\n represents the person whose death you desire.\n\nCharms for taciturnity under torture, or against feeling the pangs of\ntorture itself, were obviously very freely bestowed by Satan upon his\nservants. As an enlightened and advanced thinker Wierus remarks that\nthe merit of the spells does not lie in the words which compose them,\nbut is merely a piece of Devil's work. One of these spells against the\ntorture runs thus:--\n\n To three unequal branches, three bodies are hung, Dismas, Gestas, et\n Divina potestas, which is in the middle. Dismas is condemned, and\n Gestas has flown to Heaven.\n\nScot's version of this is:--\n\n Three bodies on a bough doo hang,\n For merits of inequalitie.\n Dismas and Gestas, in the midst\n The power of the Divinitie.\n Dismas is damned, but Gestas lifted up\n Above the starres on hie.\n\nPaul Grilland, a jurisconsult, tells a story of a thief who had\nconcealed in his hair a little paper on which he had written, \"+ Jesus\nautem + transiens + per medium illorum ibat + os non comminuitis ex eo\n+.\" He was marked with the cross, and was thus immune from torture.\n\nMuch of this is, of course, mere gibberish, in which the original idea\nmay or may not be traceable. The divorce of the sense from the words\ngradually led people to believe that the words themselves contained\npeculiar merit, and that absurd reiteration of meaningless sounds\nsufficed to give them their heart's desire. This attitude accounts, of\ncourse, for the many spells which recall the patter song in character.\nTheir main feature consists in the repetition or rhyming of certain\nsyllables, as in the cure of toothache, \"Galbas galbat, galdes,\ngaldat\"; or against mad-dog bite, \"Irioni Khiriori effera Kuder fere.\"\nThis characteristic doubtless made them easy to remember, while the\nconfusion of meaning no doubt added to their value in the eyes of the\nfaithful. Witches, too, were probably as susceptible to the fascination\nof jingle and alliteration as is the poet of to-day.\n\nIt will have been noticed that religion and magic are curiously mingled\nin many of the spells--Wierus, indeed, states specially that numbers\nof those given by him were taken secretly from the book of a priest.\nBy degrees, however, they became so much used and altered that the\nwitch herself might frequently use spells which had originally been\nformulated by the Church. There are, of course, spells against the\nwitch herself. A preventive against witchcraft was to carry a Bible\nor Prayer-book; mistletoe, four-leaved clover, and a rowan that is\nfound growing out of the top of another tree, are esteemed exceedingly\neffective. In Mecklenburg, herbs which protect people against witches\nare gathered on mid-summer night. \"If you wish to hang a witch by\nthe hair,\" says Wierus, \"take an effigy made of the dust of a dead\nman's head, and baptise it by the name of the person you wish to\nhang, perfume it with an evil-smelling bone, and read backwards the\nwords:--'Domine, dominus noster; dominus illuminatio mea; domine exaudi\norationem meam; Deus laudem meam ne tacueris.' Then bury it in two\ndifferent places.\" If you meet a witch you should take the wall of her\nin town or street, and the right hand of her in lane or field, and when\npassing you should clench both hands, doubling the thumbs beneath the\nfingers. Salute her civilly before she speaks to you, and on no account\ntake any present from her. Finally, the dried muzzle of a wolf is\nrecommended by Pliny as efficacious against enchantments.\n\nCertain stones and vegetables were part of the stock-in-trade of the\nwitch or wizard. The power of mandragore as a philtre was unequalled;\ncinque-foil was used for purification; while olive branches are so\npure that if planted by a rake they will be barren or die. Jasper is\npowerful against apparitions, and coral, worn by infants or mounted in\nbracelets, protects against charms. Perfume made of peewits' feathers\ndrives away phantoms; antirrhinum worn in a bracelet ensures against\npoison; a lemon stuck full of gaily-coloured pins, amongst which are no\nblack ones, brings good luck; while the horseshoe has long been used\nfor the same purpose. Against chafing of the thigh while riding Pliny\nrecommends that a sprig of poplar should be carried in the hand.\n\nOn the whole, the means of enchantment were very easily procured,\nand they were generally most efficacious when most nasty. While some\nof them, such as hellebore, which secured beneficial rest, had real\nmedicinal value, others were adopted for some trivial reason of growth,\nform, or time of year. As much stress was laid on the words that\naccompanied them as on a doctor's prescription, and the strength of\nthe appeal to the imagination was only equalled by the openness of the\nimagination to that appeal.\n\nOne other point is to be remembered ere we close the chapter: that\nthese charms and philtres very often served their purpose. Though\nthere may have been little value for thief taking in the monotonous\nrepetition of a meaningless jingle, it by no means follows that it\nwould be equally useless in the cure of, say, toothache. Only get\nyour patient to believe, or believe yourself, that the pain is on\nthe point of vanishing and--but are not Faith Healers and Christian\nScientists a power in the land to-day. So, again, if a young woman\nshould get to hear that a young man was so impressed by her charms as\nto seek diabolical assistance in gaining her smiles, he would in all\nprobability assume a position in her thoughts more prominent than that\nheld by his rivals--with a possible sequel in matrimony. Let us laugh\nat the folly of our forefathers by all means--no doubt they set us the\nexample--but it does not therefore follow that our means to an end are\nalways the more efficacious through being presumably more sensible.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nTHE WITCH IN FICTION\n\n\nTo those who deny the existence of the witch in fact, any mention\nof the witch in fiction as a separate entity may seem superfluous.\nNevertheless even the enlightened must admit a distinction between\nthe witch as she appeared to Bodin or Pierre de Lancre and the \"very\nrepulsive-looking old witch whose underlip hung down to her chin\" of\nHans Andersen's \"Tinder-box.\" Indeed, this latter can scarcely be\nconsidered a witch at all in the true sense of the word, seeing that\ndespite her underlip she seems to have had no occult powers of her own,\nexcept, indeed, that her checked apron had the faculty of quieting\nsavage dogs. For the rest, though, she seems to have been entirely\ndependent upon the old tinder-box left by her grandmother underground,\nand of which she sent the soldier in search. The only detail, indeed,\nwherein she resembled the more orthodox witch of history was that when\nthe soldier cut off her head without any provocation whatever, he not\nonly incurred no blame, but even thereby paved his way to marrying\na king's daughter--a moral such as would certainly have appealed\nto Mathew Hopkins. Again, the wicked stepmother of \"Snow-white\" in\nGrimm's story of that name, although regarded as a witch and in the\nend suffering appropriate punishment for her crimes, has no more claim\nto take her place beside Circe or Mother Damnable in the pages of\nhistory than is due to the apparently fortuitous possession of a magic\nlooking-glass and some knowledge of toxicology.\n\nThe witch in fiction might serve a more serious purpose than does\nthe heroine of a problem novel, for not only has the perusal of her\nincredible pranks served to enlighten many a weary hour; she is also a\nstanding proof of the _bona fides_ of the real personage upon whom she\nis based. Just as in fiction, dealing with less recondite characters,\nwe find that their doings are for the most part exaggerated caricatures\nof the happenings of every-day life in the real world, and that their\npotentialities of action are limited, not by hard fact, but only by\nthe furthest bounds of the novelist's imagination, so the witch of\nfiction caricatures her historical prototype to the point of verging\non the incredible. For your real witch, whether she be Diana or Mother\nDemdyke, Joan of Arc, or the Witch of Endor, has always--like less\ngifted human beings--conformed to one of several types, varying from\nthem only in the degree proper to human nature. Whether young and\nbeautiful, or old and repulsive, whether hag or heroine, goddess or\ngude-wife, she remains constant to her type, and has done so from the\nbeginning of things. The witch of fiction, on the other hand, like the\nproblematic heroine, doth as her creator wishes in defiance of all\nlaws of possibility. As any inquisitor could tell you, in a court of\njustice, once a witch always a witch; in the pages of Grimm a witch is\nquite as likely to be a fairy godmother or a benevolent old lady, with\na magic golden apple, or, for that matter, a benevolent old lady pure\nand simple. Sometimes, it is true, as with characters in a realistic\nnovel, the witch of fiction may pass for an impressionistic study of\nthe real witch. Thus in the famous story of H\u00e4nsel and Gretel she is\nso far realistic as to desire the capture of small children. But,\ninstead of acting thus in the service and for the honour of her master\nthe Devil, she is moved by no nobler impulse than the desire to eat\nthem, and thus shows herself not a witch at all--for your true witch is\nalways altruistic--nothing better, indeed, than a greedy old cannibal.\nHer methods, again, however creditable to their inventor, are by no\nmeans such as would have commended themselves to the economical tastes\nof her Satanic employer. The real witch was never yet provided with the\ncapital necessary to build herself houses of \"sugar and spice and all\nthat's nice\" either as residence or decoy. She lived notoriously in\nhovels--unless, indeed, she had private means--and the profits of her\ninfernal bargain, even when she received them, were never sufficient\nto provide her with more than the barest living. Grimm's cannibal,\nwith her roof of chocolate and walls of marzipan, might have been a\nsorceress; she certainly was no witch.\n\nMore realistic, and thus all the more misleading, are the weird\nsisters in Macbeth. Did we take them as representative types of\nwitchdom, we should be as much deceived as were he who, reading\nnothing but newspapers, believed that English life was made up of\nmurders, divorces, political speeches and judicial witticisms. They\ngive us, indeed, an excellent impressionist idea of the witch as she\nappeared in the public eye, some valuable recipes for potions, apt\nillustrations of divinatory methods and so forth, but no suggestion\nwhatever of that quiet home life wherein the witch, like the British\npublic, passed most of her existence. No doubt she occasionally took\npart in social reunions, in caverns or on blasted heaths, with Hecate\nas the guest of the evening; no doubt she there interchanged ideas as\nto the surest means of drowning sailors or ruining kingdoms. But these\nwere only paragraphs in the story of her life, very much as being\ntried for murder or presented at Court are outstanding incidents in\nthe life-story of the average Briton. For the most part, she spent\nher time in the quiet seclusion of her hovel, adding to her stock of\nevery-day poisons or giving interviews to the local peasantry. Of this\nShakespeare tells us nothing; to judge from the witches in Macbeth they\nmight have spent the whole of their time waiting about on Scottish\nmoorlands on the chance of making history.\n\nMuch nearer to the truth are the lives of Mother Demdyke, Mother\nChattox, and the rest of the \"Lancashire Witches,\" as portrayed for\nus by Harrison Ainsworth. It is true that for purposes of dramatic\neffect the author exaggerates their characteristics; but such is\nthe privilege of the historical novelist. Nobody supposes--or is\nexpected to suppose--that the Queen Elizabeth of \"The Fa\u00ebrie Queene\"\nor the Richelieu of \"Les Trois Mousquetaires\" corresponds in every\nrespect to the historical personages for whom they stand. In real life\nQueen Elizabeth was probably insufferable, vain, ugly, with the bad\ntemper that comes from biliousness founded on a _r\u00e9gime_ of beer and\nbeefsteak for breakfast; Richelieu an imposing figure only because he\nwas successful. But nobody would think of blaming Spenser or Dumas\nfor having built up an heroic edifice upon a mediocre foundation;\nhad they told us no more than the bare truth, they would certainly\nhave been accused of falsifying history, and, with more justice, of\nlack of literary artistry. The mission of the historical novelist, as\ngenerally understood, at any rate, is, like that of the scene-painter,\nto provide us with the appropriate setting for figures bathed in\nconventional limelight. If he draws things as they were he fails in\nhis duty towards people as they are. So it is with the Mother Demdyke\nof Ainsworth's imagining. The limelight is upon her all the time. She\nis condemned to be theatrical, if she is to be real; her destinies\nmust be interwoven with those of dispossessed abbots, of aristocratic\nheroes, and of beautiful ill-used heroines. When composing a curse,\nshe must never forget what is expected of her by the world beyond the\nfootlights; when she interviews her master the Devil, such an interview\nmust always be melodramatic. In actual fact, we know that when the\nDevil had occasion to visit Lancashire in order to discuss business\nprojects with Mother Demdyke, he did so briefly and without waste of\nwords, for the Devil is above all else a man of business. We know, too,\nthat the real Mother Demdyke was never able to do mischief on such an\nheroic scale as her bioscopic reflection in the novel. At least, if we\nmake full allowance for her creator's necessities, we may admit that he\nhas given us a sufficiently fair picture, if not of Mother Demdyke as\nshe was, at least of what she was supposed to be.\n\nOf a different order of realism is the witch-world described for us\nby Goethe. Here, again, had we no further knowledge of witchdom,\nwe should be sadly led astray, though naturally and inevitably. For\nGoethe, though he gives us some vivid sketches of witch-life, uses\nthem only incidentally. His witches have no greater purpose than to\nform a background against which the figures of Mephistopheles and\nFaust may be the better shown up--nay, more, his witches are but part\nof that background, phantasmagorically confused with Menelaus, Paris,\nOberon, Ariel, Titania, and a hundred other figures of mythology or\nfairy-lore. It is true that by moments he gives us studies of the witch\nas a personal entity, as, for instance, when Faust and his mentor visit\nthe Witch Kitchen, there to interview not only a very witch, but with\nher a miscellaneous collection of her familiars, cats, kittens, and\nthe like. It may be noted as a subtle touch of realism that the witch\ndoes not at first recognise her master owing to his temporary lack of\na cloven hoof and attendant ravens, cursing him roundly before she\nrealises the mistake. But in this the poet overdoes his realism, seeing\nthat in real life the witch had so many opportunities of meeting Satan\nin unexpected forms, as a tree-trunk, a brazen bull, or a greyhound,\nthat any minor modification of his anatomy would certainly not have\ncaused any such mystification. Even in the original, then, we have to\nmake great allowances for poetical or other licence before we can admit\nthat the witches of Faust are at all true to life. When we come to\nthe acting editions of the play as performed in England by ambitious\nactor-managers, we find that the unfortunate witch becomes little\nmore than a caricature. On the Brocken she is elbowed out of place by\nmiscellaneous mythologicals, so that the audience gains no truer idea\nof an ordinary Sabbath than does the visitor of London who only sees\nit on a Bank-holiday. In the Witch-kitchen scene again, not only is\nshe quite lost in a world of red fire and scenic effects, but she is\nrepresented as resembling rather the pantaloon in a pantomime than a\njunior partner of the Devil. At least the witch has so much cause of\ngratitude to the poet, that he and his imitators have given her a new,\neven if rather meretricious, popularity at a period when it is badly\nneeded.\n\nProperly to appreciate the difference between the witch of fiction\nand her prototype in real life, we must seek her in what is, after\nall, her stronghold, the fairy-story. It would seem, indeed, as if,\nhaving been driven to take refuge in the nursery, she has there caught\nsomething of the vitality of its more familiar occupants. For just as\nwe find that the real witch has more than one seeming, so the witch of\nfiction may belong to any of many types--if not to several of them at\nonce. As already noticed, she makes a habit of exceeding the bounds of\npossibility; she is also as frequently as not a dual personality. In\nreal life the witch is always the witch first, the queen, or duchess,\nor gude-wife only incidentally. Were it not for her occult powers she\nwould cease to exist, would be degraded, indeed, to the ordinary level\nof queen or beldame. But in fiction, and especially in fairy fiction,\nthis does not hold good; that is to say, there are certain ranks and\npositions which carry with them almost of right the being considered\na witch. Thus if you happen to marry a king, who has a beautiful\ndaughter, or a particularly eligible son, it is almost a foregone\nconclusion that you are a witch; this, not because widowed monarchs\nare particularly given to making bad marriages, but rather, it would\nseem, on some such principle as that by which the wife of the Egyptian\nPharaoh became a goddess by marriage. It is true that to be a witch\nin fairy-land, you need not have entered into any agreement with the\nDevil, nor possess any supernatural power whatever. As in the already\nquoted story of the Tinder-box, the possession of any magic article\nsufficiently bewitched to do mischief is all that you require. You need\nnot have bewitched it yourself, in many cases you have inherited, in\nothers purchased it, in others had it thrust upon you. You need not,\nagain, be ugly; in most cases you cannot be, for no one can suppose\nthat a royal widower would feel himself called upon to mate with a hag\n_en secondes noces_. Sometimes, of course, you may only assume an\nattractive appearance for the purpose of catching your monarch, but\nthis is rare. The stepmother witch in \"Snow-white,\" for example, we\nknow to have been beautiful on the authority of her magic mirror, for\ndid it not in reply to her queries tell her before the irruption of\nSnow-white that she was the fairest woman in the world? Nor have we any\ncause to doubt that the mirror was truthful, seeing that it sacrificed\nboth expediency and politeness to veracity by maintaining later that\n\"Snow-white is fairest now, I ween.\"\n\nIt is impossible not to feel a certain sympathy with this unfortunate\nroyal lady in her subsequent fate, that of being condemned to dance\nherself to death in red-hot iron shoes; seeing that the sin of envy,\nfor which she suffered, was entailed upon her by all the conventions of\nstepmother-hood, and that, had she failed in it, the story could never\nhave been written.\n\nThat the stepmother witch might and frequently did possess magical\npowers on her own account we may learn from the story of \"The Wild\nSwans,\" as related by Hans Andersen. In that instance the wicked queen,\nby merely making a pass in the air, is able to turn her eleven stepsons\ninto wild swans as easily as Circe herself turned the companions of\nUlysses into swine. Strictly following earthly precedent again, we\nfind that her spells sometimes fail, as when she bids her familiars,\nthree toads, place themselves upon Eliza's head, forehead, and heart,\nso that she may become as stupid, as ugly, and as evilly inclined as\nthemselves. In this they fail altogether, being unable to make headway\nagainst the virtuous innocence of Eliza, very much, as upon earth, all\nevil spells were rendered impotent when confronted with holy words or\nthe sign of the cross. She does not, it may be noted, disdain such\nmore commonplace methods of annoyance, as anointing her stepdaughter's\nface with walnut-juice and driving her from home. Yet another point in\nwhich the story of \"The Wild Swans\" shows itself in accordance with\nthe traditions of the real witch-world is where the good princess, now\nbecome queen, being accused of consorting with witches in a churchyard,\nis herself accused of witchcraft by the local archbishop, and would\ninevitably have been burnt but for the timely intervention of her\nbrothers. It was fortunate for her that she lived in fairy-land and not\nunder the jurisdiction of Innocent VIII. or James I., when it is much\nto be feared that a whole army of brothers would not have sufficed to\nsave her--as a matter of fact they would probably have been among her\nwarmest accusers. This the more so, that she was attended in prison by\nthree familiars in the shape of mice, who would certainly have provided\ndamning evidence in the eyes of any self-respecting inquisitor.\n\nIn seeking for the witch in fairy-land, we must often look for her\nunder some other name--as a fairy, for instance, and especially as\na fairy-godmother. One of the most embarrassing attributes of the\nfairy-godmother is that if you offend her she at once changes into a\nwitch, without giving you any warning whatever. She may have officiated\nas godmother to half a dozen of your children, treating them always as\na real fairy should. But should you once offend her, and especially\nshould you forget to invite her to a christening, she at once becomes\na witch of the utmost malignancy. This is a curious perversion from\nthe habits of the real witch, whose interests are entirely against\nthe baptising of children under any circumstances. It may be supposed\nthat, having for the nonce laid aside her evil doing, and adopted the\ncivilised veneer of fairyism, she is quick to take offence at any\nimplied non-recognition thereof, very much as might a black man if\nanyone said to him, \"I suppose you don't wear trousers at home?\" A\nfamous example of the beneficent fairy godmother occurs, of course, in\n\"Cinderella\"; a cynic might, indeed, argue that her beneficence towards\nCinderella, her provision of fine dresses, six-horse coaches, and glass\nslippers, were induced rather by the desire to spite the ugly sisters\nthan out of any actual love of Cinderella herself. Another common type\nof the double-edged godmother occurs in the story of Prince Hazel\nand Prince Fair. With characteristic perversity, while pretending\nthat each prince will have an equal chance, she yet makes everything\nsmooth for the one, while placing irresistible temptation in the path\nof the other, basing her action upon her preconceived idea of their\ndisposition.\n\nThe witch-fairy need not be a godmother. In the \"Sleeping Beauty,\"\nfor instance, her sole cause of irritation is at not receiving an\ninvitation to the christening. In consequence, as every child knows,\nshe condemns the future Beauty to prick her finger at the age of\nfifteen and thereafter to fall asleep--she and all her entourage--until\na casual prince shall have sufficient curiosity to make his way through\nthe surrounding thorn-thickets. It may be noted in this connection that\nthe every-day inhabitants of fairy-land have never shown themselves\nable to learn from experience. Scarcely a royal christening could take\nplace without some important witch-fairy being forgotten, always with\ndisastrous results, yet no steps seem ever to have been taken to guard\nagainst the recurrence of such disastrous negligence.\n\nThe witch-princess differs from the witch-queen stepmother in that\nshe is usually herself under a spell, which, being removed, usually\nby the intervention of some adventurous lover, she at once resumes\nall the lovable qualities inherent to beautiful princesses. Thus, in\n\"The Travelling Companion,\" the princess is at first made to appear\nin the most unamiable light possible, though her beauty and her mantle\nof butterflies' wings none the less turn the heads of the wooers whose\nskulls are destined to adorn her garden--a phenomenon not unknown on\nsolid earth. Nevertheless, when a suitor arrives with the necessary\nqualifications to overcome the spell, she settles down to a life of the\ndomestic virtues, perhaps on the principle that the reformed rake makes\nthe best husband. The witch-princess, be it noted, is so far of earthly\norigin as to be directly descended from that unhappy heroine, Medea.\n\nI have hitherto refrained from reference to what are perhaps the most\nvividly convincing characters in witch-fiction: \"Sidonia the Sorceress\"\nand \"The Amber Witch,\" the creations of the German Lutheran clergyman,\nWilhelm Meinhold. They can, however, more especially the \"Amber Witch,\"\nscarcely be regarded as absolute fiction, seeing that they provide not\nimaginary portraits, but actual photographs of the witch as she was\nsupposed to live. So carefully did the author collate his facts, so\nexact to truth were the details of the trial, tribulations, and final\nescape of the unhappy girl suspected of witchcraft, that at the time of\nits publication in 1843, \"The Amber Witch\" was generally accepted as an\nactual record of a witchcraft trial in the time of the Thirty Years'\nWar. Perhaps, indeed, Maria Schweidler deserves a better fate than\nto be included as a witch under any heading whatever, seeing that not\nonly was her innocence finally made manifest, but that the accusation\nwas originally aroused against her for no better cause than her own\nkindness of heart and practical benevolence. It is true that many of\nthe names enshrined in the annals of witchcraft would never have been\nthere if guilt or malevolence were the sole rightful claims to this\nform of immortality.\n\nAs might be expected, the wizard, no less than the witch, has\nappealed to the picturesque imagination of the romancist in many\ntimes and countries. What is more, he has, if anything, been taken\nmore seriously. This is perhaps due to the fact that his creator has\ngenerally conformed more closely to his original. The great alchemists\nof history have been pressed into the service of many writers,\nmuch as have the Rosicrucians, the Cabalists, and other members of\nmagico-secret societies. Even when we find the wizard, magician, or\nsorcerer in his purely romantic guise, he conforms more closely to his\noriginal than does the witch. In the \"Arabian Nights,\" for example,\nare many magicians, to say nothing of djinns, but there is scarcely\none among them who transcends the powers of his real-life prototype.\nMerlin, again, despite his ambiguous origins, wherever he appears,\nwhether in Arthurian legend or Maeterlinckian variation, is always\nrecognisable and true to type. Prospero, in the \"Tempest,\" is a\nmagician of no mean power, but he is none the less a man with human\naffections and human aims, taking the side of good in the age-long\nstruggle against evil, as represented by Caliban. No one meeting\nProspero in the society of, let us say, Albertus Magnus, need have\nfound anything to cavil at in his verisimilitude. Even when you find\na magician in fairy-lore, as in the already quoted story of \"The\nTravelling Companion,\" he is, if unamiable, not unreal, unless, indeed,\nin his preference for cushions made of live mice, eating each others'\ntails.\n\nThus in fiction, as in fact, we find the caste distinction between\nthe witch and the wizard rigidly observed, the one approached with\nsomething like reverence, the other regarded with dislike and\nhalf-contemptuous fear. This may be largely due in both worlds to the\nfact that there are \"to ten thousand witches but one wizard,\" and\nthat familiarity breeds contempt. Nevertheless, it should serve but\nas another claim upon our sympathy for the much-abused witch, even\nwhile it exemplifies the truth of the proverb that nothing succeeds\nlike success. The magician, after having led the Devil by the nose\nthroughout a long and ill-spent life, not only succeeds nine times out\nof ten in cheating him in the end, but also preserves to a remarkable\ndegree the sympathies of mankind, whether as devotee or novel-reader.\nThe unfortunate witch, having devoted her industrious days to carrying\nout faithfully the terms of her bargain, is condemned to the flames\nboth in this world and the next amid universal execration. Truly he\ndoes not always bear the palm who best merits it.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nSOME WITCHES OF TO-DAY\n\n\nNo study of witchcraft--however slight--could be considered complete\ndid it ignore its importance in the world of to-day. Dispossessed\nthough she may be, in a small intellectual district of the Western\nWorld, the witch still queens it over the imagination of the vast\nmajority of mankind. What is more, as I have tried to show in an\nearlier chapter, there are many indications that her reconquest of\nher lost territories cannot be long delayed. With the close of the\nnineteenth century--in which the cult of neo-materialism reached its\nwidest sway--the reaction against the great conspiracy may already\nhave begun. The Russo-Japanese war, with its defeat of an Occidental,\nor semi-Occidental, Power at the hands of the Orient, may also be\nheld to typify the approaching victory of witchcraft over science.\nIt is true that the true Russian--the moujik, as apart from the\ngermanised, official class-has always preserved his faith in magic;\ntrue also that the Japanese victories were won by a free adaptation of\nEuropean methods. But this can only obscure, without changing, the\ngreat underlying phenomenon--that the lethargic East, the great home\nof witchcraft and witch-lore, has at last aroused itself from its long\ntrance, and, by whatever methods chastised the fussy West that sought,\nprofessedly for its own good, to change its lotus-dreams to nightmares.\nIt only remains for China to rise up and chastise the inconstant\nJapanese for their treachery to a common ideal, to make the certainty\nof the witch's victory more certain.\n\nThe position of the witch is, indeed, unassailable. Whatever the\nresult of the racial Armageddon of to-morrow, she can lose nothing.\nIf white civilisation stand the test of battle, she is in no worse\nposition than before; if it go down before the hosts of Asia, the\nwitch and her devotees will reap the fruits of victory. It may suit\nthe present Asiatic purpose to drape its limbs with tawdry European\nvestments--but the patent-leather boots worn by the Babu cannot make an\nEnglishman of him. He may be a \"failed B.A. of Allahabad University,\" a\npersistent office-seeker, a bomb-throwing Revolutionist and a professed\nAtheist, but he is none the less a believer in a million gods and ten\ntimes as many witches. In his native village he has an hereditary\nofficial magician, who controls the weather, wards off evil spells,\nperforms incantations and the like at fixed charges--and commands the\nimplicit confidence of educated and uneducated alike. What is more,\nthe Indian cult of witchcraft has flourished the more widely beneath\nthe contemptuous protection of the British Raj. In the old times there\nwere certain inconveniences attendant upon the witch or wizard-life\nin India as elsewhere. Dreaded they were, as they are still, but\nthere were times when an outraged community turned under the pressure\nof their malignant spells and meted out appropriate punishment full\nmeasure. Witch-tests very similar to those employed by Matthew Hopkins\nwere everywhere in use. Among the Bhils, for example, and other allied\ntribes, a form of \"swimming\" prevailed, in many ways an improvement\nupon the fallible British methods. A stake being set up in a shallow\ntank or lake, so that it protrudes above the surface, the suspected\nwitch must lay hold of it and descend to the bottom, there to remain\nwhile an arrow is shot from a bow and brought back by a runner to the\nfiring-place. If the suspect can remain under water until then, she is\ndeclared innocent; if she rises to breathe, she is a confessed witch.\nThis method offers so many opportunities of manipulation, either by the\nsuspect's friends or enemies, that it may well take precedence even of\nthe ordeal by fire, water, or ploughshare favoured among us in feudal\ndays, while the inventiveness of the English witch-finder is put to\nopen shame. Needless to say, Indian witchcraft had and has all the\nmaterial incidentals proper to a cult. There are substances susceptible\nto spells, much as is the case with electricity; there are others, as,\nfor example, the boughs of the castor-oil plant, very effective in its\ncure--so that to flog a witch with such rods is the best possible way\nof rendering her harmless. There are proper ways of punishing her, too,\nas, for example, to rub red pepper into her eyes. But unfortunately for\nthose susceptible to spells, the British Government has now stepped in\nto protect, not the persecuted ryot, but the witch who persecutes him.\nIt is a crime to destroy, even to torture, a witch, however notorious;\nand however strongly we may object to such iniquitous laws, it is\nadvisable to obey them, or to break them only very secretly indeed.\nOwing to this unfortunate state of things, the witch riots unchecked\nthroughout Hindustan, and everywhere increases in importance. For, if\nyou are forbidden to suppress her, the only alternative is to seek\nher favour, and if you have offended to appease her with gifts, or\npay some rival practitioner to weave yet more potent counter-spells.\nOtherwise the odds are heavy that sooner or later, as you are returning\nhome through the jungle one day, she will lie in wait for you in the\ndisguise of a poisonous snake or man-eating tiger, or, failing that,\nthat you will die miserably of typhoid fever or plague.\n\nThe witch of Hindustan, though somewhat exalted in importance by the\nprotection extended to her by the British Government, differs but\nlittle from her sisters in other parts of the Orient, in the Nearer\nEast, in Further India, China, even in enlightened Japan. Everywhere,\nindeed, where any regularised form of religion exists, you may find her\nactively protesting against its decrees, catering for its unsatisfied\ndevotees, or those who agree with that old woman who, discovered\noffering up prayer to the Devil, explained that at her time of life\nshe thought it well to be in with both sides. Sometimes she takes\nthe place of the Devil; sometimes she provides a way of escape from\nheavenly and infernal powers alike; sometimes she embodies the whole of\nthe supernatural. The creed of the African native, by him transported\nto the Americas, may be described as devil-worship--but more properly\nas witchcraft pure and simple. The African witch-doctor, as with the\nmajority of savage tribes, is himself a god, far more powerful than the\ndevilkins whose destinies he directs. More powerful than the European\nmagician of old times, he can command Heaven as well as Hell--and\nwhether by election, assumption, or descent, he is the sole arbiter of\nfate, even though, perhaps out of deference to infiltrated European\nideas, he sometimes professes to act only as the mouthpiece of Destiny.\n\nI have already referred to the persistence of the belief in witches in\nour own and other European countries. Further examples might be quoted,\nalmost _ad infinitum_, all going to prove the same thing, that the\nelementary school is powerless against the inherited tradition. Those\ninterested may find a striking example of belief in witchcraft and the\npower of the evil eye in Somerset, including an incantation of some\nmerit, the whole too long for quotation, in \"Somerset and Dorset Notes\nand Queries\" for December, 1894. Or again, in \"La Mala Vita a Roma,\" by\nSignori Niceforo and Sighele, a chapter is devoted to the present-day\nwitches of the Eternal City, showing conclusively that, among a host of\nfortune-tellers and similar swindlers, the genuine \"strege\" flourish as\nof yore, though they are perhaps less easily to be found by strangers\nin search of them. Instead, however, of quoting further from the\nexperiences of others, I may adduce one or two instances of witches\nwith whom I have personally come in contact. I must admit that, as\nproviding any test of the _bona fides_ of the modern witch, they are\nsingularly unconvincing. They may, however, serve as some proof, not\nonly that the witch can still find many to do her reverence in modern\nChristian Europe, but that, as a profession for women, that of the\nwitch is not without its potentialities in these overcrowded days.\n\nIf you cross over the Ponte Vecchio at Florence and, leaving the Via\ndei Bardi on your left, continue along the Via Porta Romana for about\ntwo hundred yards before turning sharply to the right, you will be\nfollowing a course which has been often trodden by those in search of\nrespite from witch-harrying. If you wish actually to consult the witch\nyou must persevere yet further, through a maze of rather mouldering\nstreets, until you come to a very tall house, painted a pale maroon\ncolour and pock-marked with brown stains where rain has eaten into\nthe plaster. You may recognise the house by the fact that it has two\nsham windows frescoed on its side wall--it stands at a corner of two\nmalodorous lanes--and that one of them purports to be occupied by a\nlady who is smiling at you invitingly. Smiled, I should say, for even\nat the time of my last visit, two years ago, she was fading into the\nplaster background, and by now she may have disappeared altogether\nor have been replaced by a scowling gentleman, for all I know to the\ncontrary. I would not swear, for that matter, that even the house still\nstands where it did, so quick is the march of modern improvement in\nNew Italy. But granted that you find the lane and the house and the\npainted lady, granted further that Emilia has not changed her address,\nyou may be sure of speaking with a witch whose fame has permeated a\nconsiderable portion of Tuscany. You will have to climb a wearisome\ndistance up some incredibly dirty and unpleasantly-smelling stairs to\nreach her first, though, and it is possible that even then you may have\nto wait until she has settled the destiny or cured the ills of some\nclient from a distant village. But having overcome all difficulties,\nyou may count upon a not unamiable reception from a stout, elderly\nwoman with a good-humoured eye and a plentiful crop of glossy black\nhair turning slightly to grey. She will not be at all puffed up by\nher powers or position, and she will be quite ready to accept any\nlittle token of appreciative regard you may be inclined to press upon\nher; but, to be quite candid, I doubt if you will leave her apartment\nknowing much more of witchcraft after the modern Italian convention\nthan when you entered it. This partly from a certain diffidence on\nher part to give away trade secrets, but still more because Emilia's\nItalian is several shades worse than your own, so that unless you are\nan amateur in Tuscan also, you will find her altogether unintelligible.\nOnly, if you should prove able to interchange ideas, you must by all\nmeans ask her about the Old Religion, how far it still prevails among\nthe Apennines, what are its gods, and what their powers. If, further,\nyou ask her opinion as to the magical powers of certain Christian\nsaints, and especially of Saint Anthony, you will be amply repaid,\nsupposing you to be interested in such matters, for all the trouble you\nand your nose have been put to in discovering Emilia's abiding-place.\n\nMy acquaintance with Emilia commenced in a certain hill-top village\nwithin easy walking distance of Florence. I was there honoured by some\nslight intimacy with a worthy contadine who had one fair daughter,\nby name Zita. Having a lustrous eye, a praiseworthy figure, and a\nneat ankle, she had also a sufficiency of admirers, whose fervour was\nnot the less that she was generally regarded as likely to receive an\nacceptable marriage-portion, as such things go thereabouts. Nor was\nZita at all averse to admiration, accepting all that was offered with\nadmirable resignation. Had Zita happened to be the only young woman in\nthe village desirous of admiration I might never have become acquainted\nwith Emilia. As things were, Zita was one day attacked by an illness\nand took to her bed. There was no apparent cause, and dark whispers\nbegan to go abroad of jealousies, witchcraft, and what not. Their\njustice was proved within three days by the discovery, in Zita's bed,\nof an ear of grass, two hen's feathers, and a twig tied together by a\nstrand of horsehair. The whole had been neatly tucked away beneath the\nmattress, where it might have remained undiscovered in a less cleanly\nhousehold than was the Morettis'. Doubt was at an end--obviously Zita\nwas bewitched, and the worst must be feared unless the spell could be\nexpeditiously removed.\n\nIn my ignorance I supposed that the local priest would be the\nproper person to apply to in such a difficulty. But I was very soon\nconvinced of my mistake. To marry you, usher you into or out of the\nworld, the reverend gentleman may have his uses. But to ward off\nthe ills of witchcraft his ministrations are worse than useless,\nseeing that they only serve to irritate the demons and thus make the\npatient's sufferings more intense. All this provided, of course,\nthat he be not himself a stregone, a state of things more common\nthan might be supposed. But just as the priest is the one genuine\nauthority on Heaven, Purgatory, and the simpler issues of Hell, so, to\ngrapple with witchcraft, no one is so capable as a witch. And of all\navailable witches none was so efficient or, be it added, so moderate\nin her charges as Emilia. She was, in fact, the family-witch of the\nMoretti family, frequently called in and as frequently being entirely\nsuccessful in her treatment. She was, for that matter, long since\nbecome a valued family friend, and--in fact, Emilia must be called\nin without delay. I accompanied Zita's elder brother Luigi when he\nvisited Florence for the purpose, and with him and Emilia returned,\ntravelling part of the way by electric tramcar, the conductor being, as\nit chanced, an acquaintance of my companions, and, as such, chatting\npleasantly with Emilia concerning her profession, contrasting it\nfavourably with his own. Exactly what counter-charms she used in\nZita's treatment I was not privileged to know; at least, I can testify\nthat they were entirely successful, and that within a very short time\nZita was herself again, breaking her usual quantity of hearts round and\nabout the village well, and openly jeering at the rival beauty to whom\nshe attributed her indisposition, for the ill-success that had attended\nher. If I cannot claim that through Zita's bewitching and its cure I\ngained much knowledge of Italian witchcraft as presently understood,\nI may at least instance it as an example of the matter-of-fact way\nin which its existence is accepted by the modern Tuscan peasant. He\nregards it indeed with as little, or less, perturbation as the coming\nof the motor-car. Just as the motor has become a danger on every road,\nso the evil spirit throngs every field. You may take precautions\nagainst him and the ill-deeds done by him at the witch's bidding--just\nas you look carefully round before crossing a road nowadays--you\nmay string bells or weave feathers on your horse's head-dress as\npreventatives, or make the requisite sign whenever you have reason to\nbelieve yourself within the radius of an evil eye; but accidents will\nhappen--and it is always well to know the address of such a dependable\npractitioner as Emilia, in case. For that matter, you may sometimes\ndesire to have a spell cast on your own account--it is difficult to\ngo through life without a quarrel or two--and in that case also\nEmilia----But I am becoming indiscreet.\n\nAnother witch with whom I have had personal dealings lives--or did\nlive, for she was reported to be more than one hundred years of age at\nthe time--in a small town, locally termed a city, in North Carolina. I\nmust frankly admit that I learned even less of magical knowledge from\nher than from her Italian colleague. She was a negress, and having\nheard of her existence from the coloured coachman of the friend in\nwhose house I was staying, I determined to leave no stone unturned to\nmake her acquaintance. I hoped to glean from her lips some particulars\nof the extent to which Voodooism--elsewhere referred to in this\nvolume--is still practised by the American negro--a fact of which I was\nrepeatedly assured by Southern friends. I was signally disappointed;\nthe old lady would not, in fact, condescend so much as to open her\nlips to me at all. She lived with her son, who held a position of\nsome trust in connection with the Coloured Baptist Church, in one of\nthe wooden shanties which make up the Coloured town. They stand at\nsome little distance from the august quarters inhabited by the white\ngentry, and the approach is rendered almost impossible upon a wet day\nby oceans of brick-red mud of incredible prehensibility. The old lady\nI found crouching over a fire in approved witch-fashion, her attention\nentirely devoted to the contents of a pot set upon the hob. However it\nmight suggest a magical brew, it consisted in actual fact of broiling\nchickens, very savoury to the smell and speaking well for the worldly\nprosperity of Coloured Baptist office-holders. So concentrated were\nher few remaining senses thereon, to the exclusion of all else, that\nalthough her son supplemented my own efforts and those of my guide\nin endeavouring to attract her attention, she would not so much as\nturn her be-handkerchiefed head in my direction. So concerned was the\ndeacon--if that were his actual rank--at his mother's neglect, that\nI was driven to console him by accepting him as guide through the\nbeauties of the Coloured cemetery near by. It is true that the cemetery\nwas not without its human--its pathetically human--interest, the grave\nof each child being watched over by the humble toys it had played with\nin its lifetime, and those of adults by the medicine-bottles, even down\nto the last, half-emptied, made use of in their illness--this tribute\nbeing intended as mute testimony to the care expended upon them. But it\ncould not console me for the lost opportunity. Nevertheless I can vouch\nfor it that the old lady was a witch, and of no small eminence, for her\nson told me so himself, instancing examples of her power, and he was a\nvery good Christian.\n\nLess elusive, although in some respects scarcely more enlightening,\nwas an interview I once had with a middle-aged witch of unpleasing\nexterior in the kitchen of the suburban house tenanted by a relative.\nTo the practice of witchcraft this example added the collecting of old\nbottles and kitchen refuse as a means of livelihood, and she lived, as\nthe police afterwards informed us, in a caravan temporarily moored on\na piece of waste land in the neighbourhood of Hammersmith Broadway.\nThe mistress of the house, having occasion to enter the kitchen,\nthere found her seated at the table, unravelling the mysteries of\nFate to the cook and scullery-maid by the aid of a very greasy pack\nof playing-cards. Whatever her pretensions to knowledge of the lower\nworld, she had obviously been drinking--so much so, indeed, that I was\ncalled upon for aid in ejecting her from the premises. A large woman,\nof determined aspect and an aggressive tongue, this might have proved\na task of some difficulty had I not luckily bethought me of adjuring\nher in German, before which she slowly retreated, cursing volubly in\nEnglish the while, until she had reached the area-steps, when we were\nable to lock the back door upon her and so be rid of her. It appeared\non subsequent inquiry that she had obtained sums amounting in all to\nsome 17s. 6d. from among the domestics, the greater part being the\nprice of informing the aforesaid scullery-maid that her young man, then\nserving his country in India, still remained faithful to her memory.\nThis information proved in due course to be well founded, the gallant\nwarrior returning six months later filled with amatory ardour. It is\ntrue that the witch forgot to mention that by that time he would be\nousted from Griselda's heart by--if I remember aright--a dashing young\nmilkman, and that he would incur a fine of _circa_ 40s. for assaulting\nand battering him thereafter. Nevertheless public feeling below-stairs\nremained strongly in favour of the ejected sorceress, and no minor\ndomestic mishap could happen for weeks thereafter but it was set down\nas directly resulting from the witch's departing curses.\n\nOne other incursion into the World of Magic lingers in my memory as\nhaving taken place in a seaside town that shall be nameless. While\nthere passing a holiday with some friends, I frequently observed large\nyellow handbills, and even posters, setting forth that a lady, who\nfrom her name appeared to be of Oriental antecedents, was prepared\nto cast horoscopes, read palms, and arrange all kinds of personally\nconducted tours into the future at fees which could only be described\nas ridiculous. It so happened that among the members of the party\nwas a young lady who was then in the throes of her last love-affair.\nNaturally anxious to learn its future course, she, it appears,\nconsulted the seeress, whom I will call, though it was not her name,\nMadame Fatimah. So remarkable did the results appear that the convert\nfelt it her duty to acquaint the rest of us therewith. The fame of\nMadame Fatimah was not long in penetrating to my ears, and the day came\nwhen I found myself waiting upon the witch's doorstep. She was lodged\nin a back street some little distance from the centre of the town, in\none of those lodging-houses which make a point of advertising that\nthey possess a fine sea view, as indeed they may if you ascend to the\nroof or extend your body out of window at an acute angle. Certainly no\nless promising hunting-ground for the witch-finder could be imagined.\nMadame occupied the first floor, and delivered her prognostications\namid an Early-Victorian atmosphere of horsehair and antimacassars that\nwas not altogether unimpressive, though speaking of the past rather\nthan of the future. She was middle-aged, of comfortable rotundity, and\ndressed in a black silk dress, over which was thrown a Japanese kimono\nembroidered with wild geese. Doubtless from the long residence in the\nOrient, to which she took an early opportunity of referring, and where\nshe had studied her art at the fountain-head from the lips of a native\ngentleman very well known in magic circles, and very likely to the Evil\nOne himself, judging from Madame Fatimah's account of his prowess, but\nwhose name I can only vaguely remember as sounding something like Yogi\nChandra Dass--doubtless owing, I say, to her long absence from England,\nfor I understood that she was originally of British birth, though\nmarried early in life to a Turkish or Indian magician of some note, she\nhad acquired a habit of either leaving out her aspirates altogether or\nputting them in the wrong place. She was as businesslike as she was\naffable, and detailed the various methods by which I could be made\nacquainted with my past and future, at charges ranging from 2s. 6d. to\n10s., with a crisp incisiveness. Having chosen what Madame described\nas \"the crystal\" at 5s., she at once seized both my hands in hers\nand gazed narrowly into my face, giving me the opportunity of myself\nreading her past nearly enough to know that onions had been included in\nthe ingredients of her lunch. Satisfied, I trust, of my respectability,\nshe produced a round ball of glass or crystal and placed it on a black\nebony stand upon a table. Then, having darkened the room, made several\ngestures, which I took for incantations, with her hands, and muttered\ncertain mystic formulas, she commanded me to gaze into the crystal and\ntell her what I saw in its depths. I regret to say that my willingness\nto oblige now led me into an indiscretion. Being in actual fact unable\nto see anything at all, I was yet so anxious to appear worthy that I\nimagined something I might expect to see. It took the form of a brown\nbaby, two crossed swords, and what might be either an elephant lying\non his back with his legs in the air, or the church of Saint John,\nWestminster, seen from the north-west, the details being too hazy for\nme to speak with absolute certainty. Madame Fatimah seemed slightly\ndisconcerted at first, but I am bound to admit that she very soon\ndisplayed abundance of _savoir faire_, to say nothing of a sense of\nhumour, for without any further waste of time she announced that I must\nlook forward to a life of misfortune, that whether in business, in\nlove, or in pleasure I could expect nothing but disaster, and that I\nshould inevitably suffer death by hanging in my sixty-seventh year. Let\nme only add that I paid her modest fee with the greatest willingness,\nand that I have ever since remained convinced that the modern witch is\nno whit behind her medi\u00e6val predecessor in those qualities which led\nher to so high a place in the public estimation.\n\nI have instanced these few examples of my personal knowledge of witches\nand witchcraft not as throwing any light either upon their claims\nor their methods, but simply as some proof of what I have adduced\nearlier in this volume, that belief in witchcraft, under one form or\nanother, is as widely prevalent in the modern civilised world as ever\nit was, and that it is ever likely to remain so. Nor does the fact\nthat rogues and vagabonds not a few have availed themselves of its\ntime-honoured respectability as a cloak for their petty depredations\nat all detract from its claims to respectful credence. That great\nfaith is yet to be whose fundamental truths cannot be turned to the\nadvantage of the charlatan, the swindler and the sham devotee--the\ngreater the faith, indeed, so much the greater is, and must be, the\nnumber of its exploiters, battening upon the devotion of the faithful.\nNevertheless, it is not upon questions of credibility or faith alone\nthat the world-empire of the witch is founded. Demonstrably true or\nproven false, the cult of witchcraft has existed from the beginning and\nwill continue until the end of history. Worshipped or reviled, praised,\npersecuted or condemned, witchcraft and the witch have endured and\nwill endure while there remains one man or woman on the earth capable\nof dreading the Unknown. Rejoice or grieve as you will the witch is\nthe expression of one of the greatest of human needs--that of escaping\nfrom humanity and its limitable environment--of one of the greatest of\nhuman world-movements, the revolt against the Inevitable. She does and\nmust exist, for the strongest of all reasons, that constituted as it is\nhumanity could not exist without her.\n\n\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\n\nThe principal authorities made use of in this volume, and not referred\nto in the text, are given in the following list. The dates do not\nnecessarily refer to the original year of publication, but to the\nedition made use of:--\n\n Adams, W.H. \"Witch, Warlock and Magician.\" 1889.\n\n Ainsworth, H. \"The Lancashire Witches.\"\n\n Andersen, Hans. \"Fairy Tales.\"\n\n Augustine. \"De Civitate Dei.\"\n\n Beaumont. \"Treatise on Spirits.\"\n\n Blackstone. \"Commentaries.\"\n\n Blau, Dr. Ludwig. \"Das altj\u00fcdische Zauberwesen.\" 1898.\n\n Bodin, J. \"De la D\u00e9monomanie des Sorciers.\" 1580.\n\n Boulton, Rich. \"A Compleat History of Magick, Sorcery and Witchcraft.\"\n 1715.\n\n Brand, J. \"Popular Antiquities of Great Britain.\" 1905.\n\n Budge, E. A. \"Egyptian Magic.\" 1899.\n\n Burr, G. \"The Witch Persecutions.\" 1897.\n\n Casaubon, M. \"Of Credulity.\" 1668.\n\n Cassel, P. \"On Popular Rhymes and Charms.\" 1890.\n\n Davies, T. W. \"Magic and Divination among the Hebrews.\" 1898.\n\n Fairfax, E. \"D\u00e6monologia.\" 1622.\n\n Frazer, J. G. \"The Golden Bough.\" 1900.\n\n Gomme, G. L. \"Handbook of Folklore.\" 1890.\n\n Gould, S. Baring. \"Old English Fairy Tales.\" 1895.\n\n Gould, S. Baring. \"The Book of Were Wolves.\" 1865.\n\n Grimm. \"Deutsche Mythologie.\"\n\n Harrison, F. (Edit.). \"The New Calendar of Great Men.\" 1892.\n\n Holland, H. \"A Treatise against Witchcraft.\" 1890.\n\n Horace. Sir Theodore Martin's Translation. 1861.\n\n Hughes, T. P. \"Dictionary of Islam.\" 1896.\n\n Hutchinson, F. \"Historical Essay on Witchcraft.\" 1718.\n\n Inman. \"Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names.\"\n\n Innes, J. W. \"Scottish Witchcraft Trials.\" 1880, &c.\n\n James I. \"D\u00e6monologia.\" 1597.\n\n Jastrow, M. \"Religion of Babylonia and Assyria.\" 1895.\n\n John, C. H. W. \"The Oldest Code of Laws in the World.\" (Hammurabi.)\n\n King, L. W. \"Babylonian Magic and Sorcery.\" 1896.\n\n Lancre, Pierre de. \"Tableau de l'Inconstance des Mauvais Anges.\" 1612.\n\n Lane, E. W. \"Arabian Nights\" Translation. 1901.\n\n Law, R. \"Memorialls of the Memorable Things that fell out Within this\n Island of Brittain from 1638-1684.\"\n\n Lecky, W. E. \"History of Rationalism.\" 1869.\n\n Leland, C. G. \"Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches.\" 1899.\n\n Linton, E. Lynn. \"Witch Stories.\" 1861.\n\n Maspero, G. \"The Dawn of Civilization.\" 1901.\n\n Mather, Cotton. \"Memorable Providences relating to Witchcraft.\" 1689.\n\n Mather, Cotton. \"The Wonders of the Invisible World.\" 1693.\n\n Maury, A. \"La Magie et l'Astrologie.\" 1860.\n\n Melton, J. \"Astrologastra.\" 1620.\n\n Meinhold, W. \"Maria Schweidler, die Bernstein-Hexe.\" 1843.\n\n Meinhold, W. \"Sidonia von Bork.\" 1848.\n\n Michelet, J. \"La Sorci\u00e8re.\"\n\n Middlemore, Mrs. \"Spanish Tales.\" 1885.\n\n Mitford, A. \"Tales of Old Japan.\" 1876.\n\n M\u00fcller, W. Max. \"Die Liebespoesie der alten \u00c6gypten.\" 1897.\n\n Nevins, W. S. \"Witchcraft in Salem Village.\" 1892.\n\n Nares, R. \"A Glossary.\" 1857.\n\n Pearson, K. \"The Chances of Death and other Studies in Evolution.\" 1897.\n\n Pitcairn, R. \"Criminal Trials in Scotland.\" 1833.\n\n Plato. \"Laws.\"\n\n Pliny. \"Natural History.\"\n\n Plutarch. \"Lives.\"\n\n Scot, R. \"The Discoverie of Witchcraft.\" 1584.\n\n Scott, Sir Walter. \"Demonology and Witchcraft.\"\n\n Sepp, J. N. \"Orient \u016dnd Occident.\" 1903.\n\n Sharpe, C. K. \"History of Witchcraft in Scotland.\" 1884.\n\n Sinclair, Geo. \"Satan's Invisible World Displayed.\"\n\n Smith. \"Dictionary of the Bible.\"\n\n Sprenger. \"Malleus Maleficarum.\" 1486.\n\n Saladin. \"Witchcraft in Christian Countries.\" 1882.\n\n Theocritus. Translation Bion and Moschus.\n\n Wiedemann, A. \"Religion of the Ancient Egyptians.\" 1897.\n\n Wierus, J. \"De Pr\u00e6stigiis.\" 1563.\n\n Wright, Thomas. \"Narrative of Sorcery and Magic.\"\n\nAlso many pamphlets, chap-books, &c., &c., chiefly of the seventeenth\nand eighteenth centuries.\n\n\nR. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND B\n\nGAY, SUFFOLK.","title":"The book of witches","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":76530}