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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/77145-0.txt b/77145-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd8a7aa --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18141 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77145 *** + + + + + The History of Civilization + _Edited by C. K. OGDEN, M.A._ + + The History of Witchcraft + + + + +The History of Civilization + +_Edited by C. K. OGDEN, M.A._ + +HARRY ELMER BARNES, Ph.D., Consulting American Editor. + + +_The volumes already published are_: + + *SOCIAL ORGANIZATION W. H. R. Rivers, F.R.S. + *A THOUSAND YEARS OF THE TARTARS Professor E. H. Parker + *THE THRESHOLD OF THE PACIFIC Dr. C. E. Fox + THE EARTH BEFORE HISTORY Edmond Perrier + PREHISTORIC MAN Jacques de Morgan + LANGUAGE Professor J. Vendryes + *HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF CHRISTIANITY Professor P. de Labriolle + *CHINA AND EUROPE Adolf Reichwein + *LONDON LIFE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY M. Dorothy George + A GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY Professor Lucien Febvre + *THE DAWN OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION V. Gordon Childe, B.Litt. + MESOPOTAMIA: BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN CIVILIZATION Prof. L. Delaporte + *THE ÆGEAN CIVILIZATION Professor Gustave Glotz + *THE PEOPLES OF ASIA L. H. Dudley Buxton + *THE MIGRATION OF SYMBOLS Donald A. Mackenzie + *LIFE AND WORK IN MODERN EUROPE Professor Georges Renard + *TRAVEL AND TRAVELLERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES Edited by Prof. A. P. Newton + *CIVILIZATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS Rafael Karsten + RACE AND HISTORY Professor E. Pittard + FROM TRIBE TO EMPIRE Professor A. Moret + *A HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT Montague Summers + *ANCIENT GREECE AT WORK Professor G. Glotz + THE FORMATION OF THE GREEK PEOPLE Professor A. Jardé + *THE ARYANS V. Gordon Childe, D.Litt. + PRIMITIVE ITALY Professor Léon Homo + ROME THE LAW-GIVER Professor J. Declareuil + THE ROMAN SPIRIT Professor A. Grenier + +_In preparation_: + + *LIFE AND WORK IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE Professor Boissonade + *A HISTORY OF MEDICINE C. G. Cumston, M.D. + ANCIENT PERSIA AND IRANIAN CIVILIZATION Professor C. Huart + *ANCIENT ROME AT WORK Paul Louis + THE LIFE OF BUDDHA E. H. Thomas, D.Litt. + +* _An asterisk indicates that the volume does not form part of the French +collection “L’Évolution de l’Humanité.”_ + +_A complete classified list of the SERIES will be found at the end of +this volume._ + + + + +[Illustration: PLATE I + +THE DEPARTURE FOR THE SABBAT. David Teniers + +[_frontispiece_] + + + + + The History of Witchcraft and + Demonology + + By + MONTAGUE SUMMERS + + _Initiati sunt Beelphegor: et comederunt sacrificia mortuorum._ + _Et immolauerunt filios suos, et filias suas dæmoniis_ + _Et effuderunt sanguinem innocentem. Et fornicati sunt in + adinuentionibus suis._—PSALM CV. + + [Illustration] + + NEW YORK + ALFRED A. KNOPF + 1926 + + + + + _To_ + + _PATRICK,_ + + _in memory of Loreto and Our Lady’s Holy House, as also + of Our Lady’s miraculous Picture at Campocavallo, Our + Lady of Pompeii, La Consolata of Turin, Consolatrix + Afflictorum in S. Caterina ai Funari at Rome, la Santissima + Vergine del Parto of S. Agostino, the Madonna della Strada + at the Gesù, La Nicopeja of San Marco at Venice, + Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle of Rennes, Notre-Dame de + Grande Puissance of Lamballe, and all the Italian and + French Madonnas at whose shrines we have worshipped._ + + Printed in Great Britain at + _The Mayflower Press, Plymouth_. William Brendon & Son, Ltd. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION vii + + CHAPTER + + I. THE WITCH: HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 1 + + II. THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH 51 + + III. DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 81 + + IV. THE SABBAT 110 + + V. THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT 173 + + VI. DIABOLIC POSSESSION AND MODERN SPIRITISM 198 + + VII. THE WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 276 + + BIBLIOGRAPHY 315 + + INDEX 347 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PLATE + + I. THE DEPARTURE FOR THE SABBAT (David Teniers) _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + + II. THE WORLD TOST AT TENNIS. 4to., 1620 8 + (_Facsimile title-page._) + + III. COMPENDIVM MALEFICARVM. MEDIOLANI, 1626 82 + (_Facsimile title-page of second edition._) + + IV. OFF TO THE SABBAT (Queverdo) 120 + + V. THE SABBAT (Ziarnko) 144 + + VI. THE WITCH OF ENDOR (W. Faithorne) 178 + (_Frontispiece to Sadducismus Triumphatus_, 1681) + + VII. S. JAMES VISITS THE WARLOCK’S DEN (Pieter Breughel) 250 + + VIII. THE WITCH OF EDMONTON. 4to., 1658 290 + (_Facsimile title-page._) + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The history of Witchcraft, a subject as old as the world and as wide as +the world,—since I understand for the present purpose by Witchcraft, +Sorcery, Black Magic, Necromancy, secret Divination, Satanism, and +every kind of malign occult art,—at once confronts the writer with a +most difficult problem. He is called upon to exercise a choice, and his +dilemma is by no means made the easier owing to the fact he is acutely +conscious that whichever way he may decide he is laying himself open to +damaging and not impertinent criticism. Since it is essential that his +work should be comprised within a reasonable compass he may elect to +attempt a bird’s-eye view of the whole range from China to Peru, from the +half-articulate, rhythmic incantations of primitive man at the dawn of +life to the last spiritistic fad and manifestation at yesterday’s séance +or circle, in which case his pages will most certainly be thin and often +superficial: or again he may rather concentrate upon one or two features +in the history of Witchcraft, deal with these at some length, stress some +few forgotten facts whose importance is now neglected and unrealized, +utilize new material the result of laborious research, but all this at +the expense of inevitable omissions, of hiatus, of self-denial, the +avoidance of fascinating by-ways and valuable inquiry, of silence when he +would fain be entering upon discussion and exposition. With a full sense +of its drawbacks and danger I have selected the second method, since in +dealing with a topic such as Witchcraft where there is no human hope of +recording more than a tithe of the facts I believe it is better to give +a documented account of certain aspects rather than to essay a somewhat +huddled and confused conspectus of the whole, for such, indeed, even at +best is itself bound to have no inconsiderable gaps and lacunæ, however +carefully we endeavour to make it complete. I am conscious, then, that +there is scarcely a paragraph in the present work which might not easily +be expanded into a page, scarcely a page which might not to its great +advantage become a chapter, and certainly not a chapter that would not be +vastly improved were it elaborated to a volume. + +Many omissions are, as I have said, a necessary consequence of the plan I +have adopted; or, indeed, I venture to suppose, of any other plan which +contemplates the treatment of so universal a subject as Witchcraft. I +can but offer my apologies to these students who come to this History to +find details of Finnish magic and the sorceries of Lapland, who wish to +inform themselves concerning Tohungaism among the Maoris, Hindu devilry +and enchantments, the Bersekir of Iceland, Siberian Shamanism, the blind +Pan Sus and Mutangs of Korea, the Chinese Wu-po, Serbian lycanthropy, +negro Voodoism, the dark lore of old Scandinavia and Islam. I trust my +readers will believe that I regret as much as any the absence of these +from my work, but after all in any human endeavour there are practical +limitations of space. + +In a complementary and companion volume I am intending to treat the +epidemic of Witchcraft in particular localities, the British Isles, +France, Germany, Italy, New England, and other countries. Many famous +cases, the Lancashire witch-trials, the activities of Matthew Hopkins, +Gilles de Rais, Gaufridi, Urbain Grandier, Cotton Mather and the Salem +sorceries, will then be dealt with and discussed in some detail. + +It is a surprising fact that amongst English writers Witchcraft in +Europe has not of recent years received anything like adequate attention +from serious students of history, who strangely fail to recognize the +importance of this tragic belief both as a political and a social factor. +Magic, the genesis of magical cults and ceremonies, the ritual of +primitive peoples, traditional superstitions, and their ancillary lore, +have been made the subject of vast and erudite studies, mostly from an +anthropological and folk-loristic point of view, but the darker side of +the subject, the history of Satanism, seems hardly to have been attempted. + +Possibly one reason for this neglect and ignorance lies in the fact that +the heavy and crass materialism, which was so prominent a feature during +the greater part of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in England, +intellectually disavowed the supernatural, and attempted not without +some success to substitute for religion a stolid system of respectable +morality. Since Witchcraft was entirely exploded it would, at best, +possess merely an antiquarian interest, and even so, the exhumation of +a disgusting and contemptible superstition was not to be encouraged. +It were more seemly to forget the uglier side of the past. This was +the attitude which prevailed for more than a hundred and fifty years, +and when Witchcraft came under discussion by such narrowly prejudiced +and inefficient writers as Lecky or Charles Mackay they are not even +concerned to discuss the possibility of the accounts given by the earlier +authorities, who, as they premise, were all mistaken, extravagant, +purblind, and misled. The cycle of time has had its revenge, and this +rationalistic superstition is dying fast. The extraordinary vogue of +and immense adherence to Spiritism would alone prove that, whilst the +widespread interest that is taken in mysticism is a yet healthier sign +that the world will no longer be content to be fed on dry husks and the +chaff of straw. And these are only just two indications, and by no means +the most significant, out of many. + +It is quite impossible to appreciate and understand the true lives of men +and women in Elizabethan and Stuart England, in the France of Louis XIII +and his son, in the Italy of the Renaissance and the Catholic Reaction—to +name but three countries and a few definite periods—unless we have +some realization of the part that Witchcraft played in those ages amid +the affairs of these kingdoms. All classes were concerned from Pope to +peasant, from Queen to cottage gill. + +Accordingly as actors are “the abstracts and brief chronicles of the +time” I have given a concluding chapter which deals with Witchcraft as +seen upon the stage, mainly concentrating upon the English theatre. +This review has not before been attempted, and since Witchcraft was so +formidable a social evil and so intermixed with all stations of life it +is obvious that we can find few better contemporary illustrations of it +than in the drama, for the playwright ever had his finger upon the public +pulse. Until the development of the novel it was the theatre alone that +mirrored manners and history. + +There are many general French studies of Witchcraft of the greatest +value, amongst which we may name such standard works as Antoine-Louis +Daugis, _Traité sur la magie, le sortilège, les possessions, +obsessions et maléfices_, 1732; Jules Garinet, _Histoire de la Magie +en France depuis le commencement de la monarchie jusqu’à nos jours_, +1818; Michelet’s famous _La Sorcière_; Alfred Maury, _La Magie et +l’Astrologie_, 3rd edition, 1868; L’Abbé Lecanu, _Histoire de Satan_; +Jules Baissac, _Les grands Jours de la Sorcellerie_, 1890; Theodore de +Cauzons, _La Magie et la Sorcellerie en France_, 4 vols., 1910, etc. + +In German we have Eberhard Hauber’s _Bibliotheca Magica_; Roskoff’s +_Geschichte des Teufels_, 1869; Soldan’s _Geschichte der Hexenprozesse_ +(neu bearbeitet von Dr. Heinrich Heppe), 1880; Friedrich Leitschuch’s +_Beitræge zur Geschichte des Hexenwesens in Franken_, 1883; Johan +Dieffenbach’s _Der Hexenwahn vor und nach der Glaubensspaltung in +Deutschland_, 1886; Schreiber’s _Die Hexenprozesse im Breisgau_; Ludwig +Rapp’s _Die Hexenprozesse und ihre Gegner aus Tirol_; Joseph Hansen’s +_Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwahns_, 1901; and +very many more admirably documented studies. + +In England the best of the older books must be recommended with necessary +reservations. Thomas Wright’s _Narratives of Sorcery and Magic_, 2 vols., +1851, is to be commended as the work of a learned antiquarian who often +referred to original sources, but it is withal sketchy and can hardly +satisfy the careful scholar. Some exceptionally good writing and sound, +clear, thinking are to be met with in Dr. F. G. Lee’s _The Other World_, +2 vols., 1875; _More Glimpses of the World Unseen_, 1878; _Glimpses in +the Twilight_, 1885; and _Sight and Shadows_, 1894, all of which deserve +to be far more widely known, since they well repay an unhurried and +repeated perusal. + +Quite recent work is represented by Professor Wallace Notestein’s +_History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718_, published in +1911. This intimate study of a century and a half concentrates, as its +title tells, upon England alone. It is supplied with ample and useful +appendixes. In respect of the orderly marshalling of his facts, garnered +from the trials and other sources—no small labour—Professor Notestein +deserves a generous meed of praise; his interpretation of the facts and +his deductions may not unfairly be criticized. Although his incredulity +must surely now and again be shaken by the cumulative force of reiterated +and corroborative evidence, nevertheless he refuses to admit even the +possibility that persons who at any rate affected supernatural powers +held clandestine meetings after nightfall in obscure and lonely places +for purposes and plots of their own. If human testimony is worth +anything at all, unless we are to be more Pyrrhonian than the famous +Dr. Marphurius himself who would never say, “Je suis venu; mais; Il me +semble que je suis venu,” when in 1612 Roger Nowell had swooped down on +the Lancashire coven and carried off Elizabeth Demdike with three other +beldames to durance vile in Lancaster Castle, Elizabeth Device summoned +the whole Pendle gang to her home at Malking Tower, in order that they +might discuss the situation and contrive the delivery of the prisoners. +As soon as they had forgathered, they all sat down to dinner, and had +a good north country spread of beef, bacon, and roast mutton. Surely +there is nothing very remarkable in this; and the evidence as given in +Thomas Potts’ famous narrative, _The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches +in the countie of Lancaster_ (London, 1613), bears the very hall-mark +and impress of truth: “The persons aforesaid had to their dinners Beefe, +Bacon, and roasted Mutton; which Mutton (as this Examinates said brother +said) was of a Wether of Christopher Swyers of Barley: which Wether was +brought in the night before into this Examinates mothers house by the +said Iames Deuice, the Examinates said brother: and in this Examinates +sight killed and eaten.” But Professor Notestein will none of it. He +writes: “The concurring evidence in the Malking Tower story is of no +more compelling character than that to be found in a multitude of +Continental stories of witch gatherings which have been shown to be the +outcome of physical or mental pressure and of leading questions. It seems +unnecessary to accept even a substratum of fact” (p. 124). In the face +of such sweeping and dogmatic assertion mere evidence is no use at all. +For we know that the Continental stories of witch gatherings are with +very few exceptions the chronicle of actual fact. It must be confessed +that such feeble scepticism, which repeatedly mars his summary of the +witch-trials, is a serious blemish in Professor Notestein’s work, and in +view of his industry much to be regretted. + +Miss M. A. Murray does not for a moment countenance any such summary +dismissal and uncritical rejection of evidence. Her careful reading +of the writers upon Witchcraft has justly convinced her that their +statements must be accepted. Keen intelligences and shrewd investigators +such as Gregory XV, Bodin, Guazzo, De Lancre, D’Espagnet, La Reynie, +Boyle, Sir Matthew Hale, Glanvill, were neither deceivers nor deceived. +The evidence must stand, but as Miss Murray finds herself unable to +admit the logical consequence of this, she hurriedly starts away with +an arbitrary, “the statements do not bear the construction put upon +them,” and in _The Witch-Cult in Western Europe_ (1921) proceeds to +develop a most ingenious, but, as I show, a wholly untenable hypothesis. +Accordingly we are not surprised to find that many of the details +Miss Murray has collected in her painstaking pages are (no doubt +unconsciously) made to square with her preconceived theory. However much +I may differ from Miss Murray in my outlook, and our disagreement is, I +consider, neither slight nor superficial, I am none the less bound to +commend her frank and courageous treatment of many essential particulars +which are all too often suppressed, and in consequence a false and +counterfeit picture has not unseldom been drawn. + +So vast a literature surrounds modern Witchcraft, for frankly such is +Spiritism in effect, that it were no easy task to mention even a quota +of those works which seem to throw some real light upon a complex and +difficult subject. Among many which I have found useful are Surbled, +_Spiritualisme et spiritisme_ and _Spirites et médiums_; Gutberlet, +_Der Kampf um die Seele_; Dr. Marcel Viollet, _Le spiritisme dans ses +rapports avec la folie_; J. Godfrey Raupert, _Modern Spiritism_ and +_Dangers of Spiritualism_; the Very Rev. Alexis Lépicier, O.S.M., _The +Unseen World_; the Rev. A. V. Miller, _Sermons on Modern Spiritualism_; +Lapponi, _Hypnotism and Spiritism_; the late Monsignor Hugh Benson’s +_Spiritualism_ (_The History of Religions_); Elliot O’Donnell’s _The +Menace of Spiritualism_; and Father Simon Blackmore’s _Spiritism: Facts +and Frauds_, 1925. My own opinion of this movement has been formed not +only from reading studies and monographs which treat of every phase of +the question from all points of view, but also by correspondence and +discussion with ardent devotees of the cult, and, not least, owing to +the admissions and warnings of those who have abandoned these dangerous +practices, revelations made in such circumstances, however, as altogether +to preclude even a hint as to their definite import and scope. + +The History of Witchcraft is full of interest to the theologian, the +psychologist, the historian, and cannot be ignored. But it presents a +very dark and terrible aspect, the details of which in the few English +studies that claim serious attention have almost universally been +unrecorded, and, indeed, deliberately burked and shunned. Such treatment +is unworthy and unscholarly to a degree, reprehensible and dishonest. + +The work of Professor Notestein, for example, is gravely vitiated, +owing to the fact that he has completely ignored the immodesty of the +witch-cult and thus extenuated its evil. He is, indeed, so uncritical, I +would even venture to say so unscholarly, as naïvely to remark (p. 300): +“No one who has not read for himself can have any notion of the vile +character of the charges and confessions embodied in the witch pamphlets. +It is an aspect of the question which has not been discussed in these +pages.” Such a confession is amazing. One cannot write in dainty phrase +of Satanists and the Sabbat. However loathly the disease the doctor must +not hesitate to diagnose and to probe. This ostrich-like policy is moral +cowardice. None of the Fathers and great writers of the Church were thus +culpably prudish. When S. Epiphanius has to discuss the Gnostics, he +describes in detail their abominations, and pertinently remarks: “Why +should I shrink from speaking of the things you do not fear to do? By +speaking thus, I hope to fill you with horror of the turpitudes you +commit.” And S. Clement of Alexandria says: “I am not ashamed to name the +parts of the body wherein the fœtus is formed and nourished; and why, +indeed, should I be, since God was not ashamed to create them?” + +A few authors have painted the mediæval witch in pretty colours on +satin. She has become a somewhat eccentric but kindly old lady, shrewd +and perspicacious, with a knowledge of healing herbs and simples, ready +to advise and aid her neighbours who are duller-witted than she; not +disdaining in return a rustic present of a flitch, meal, a poult or eggs +from the farm-yard. And so for no very definite reason she fell an easy +prey to fanatic judges and ravening inquisitors, notoriously the most +ignorant and stupid of mortals, who caught her, swum her in a river, +tried her, tortured her, and finally burned her at the stake. Many modern +writers, more sceptical still, frankly relegate the witch to the land of +nursery tales and Christmas pantomime; she never had any real existence +other than as Cinderella’s fairy godmother or the Countess D’Aulnoy’s +Madame Merluche. + +I have even heard it publicly asserted from the lecture platform by +a professed student of the Elizabethan period that the Elizabethans +did not, of course, as a matter of fact believe in Witchcraft. It +were impossible to imagine that men of the intellectual standard of +Shakespeare, Ford, Jonson, Fletcher, could have held so idle a chimæra, +born of sick fancies and hysteria. And his audience acquiesced with no +little complacency, pleased to think that the great names of the past had +been cleared from the stigma of so degrading and gross a superstition. A +few uneducated peasants here and there may have been morbid and ignorant +enough to dream of witches, and the poets used these crones and hags with +effect in ballad and play. But as for giving any actual credence to such +fantasies, most assuredly our great Elizabethans were more enlightened +than that! And, indeed, Witchcraft is a phase of and a factor in the +manners of the seventeenth century, which in some quarters there seems a +tacit agreement almost to ignore. + +All this is very unhistorical and very unscientific. In the following +pages I have endeavoured to show the witch as she really was—an evil +liver; a social pest and parasite; the devotee of a loathly and obscene +creed; an adept at poisoning, blackmail, and other creeping crimes; a +member of a powerful secret organization inimical to Church and State; +a blasphemer in word and deed; swaying the villagers by terror and +superstition; a charlatan and a quack sometimes; a bawd; an abortionist; +the dark counsellor of lewd court ladies and adulterous gallants; a +minister to vice and inconceivable corruption; battening upon the filth +and foulest passions of the age. + +My present work is the result of more than thirty years’ close attention +to the subject of Witchcraft, and during this period I have made a +systematic and intensive study of the older demonologists, as I am +convinced that their first-hand evidence is of prime importance and +value, whilst since their writings are very voluminous and of the +last rarity they have universally been neglected, and are allowed to +accumulate thick dust undisturbed. They are, moreover, often difficult +to read owing to technicalities of phrase and vocabulary. Among the most +authoritative I may cite a few names: Sprenger (_Malleus Maleficarum_); +Guazzo; Bartolomeo Spina, O.P.; John Nider, O.P.; Grilland; Jerome +Mengo; Binsfeld; Gerson; Ulrich Molitor; Basin; Murner; Crespet; Anania; +Henri Boguet; Bodin; Martin Delrio, S.J.; Pierre le Loyer; Ludwig Elich; +Godelmann; Nicolas Remy; Salerini; Leonard Vair; De Lancre; Alfonso de +Castro; Sebastian Michaelis, O.P.; Sinistrari; Perreaud; Dom Calmet; +Sylvester Mazzolini, O.P. (Prierias). When we supplement these by the +judicial records and the legal codes we have an immense body of material. +In all that I have written I have gone to original sources, and it has +been my endeavour fairly to weigh and balance the evidence, to judge +without heat or prejudice, to give the facts and the comment upon them +with candour, sincerity, and truth. At the same time I am very well aware +that several great scholars for whom I have the sincerest personal regard +and whose attainments I view with a very profound respect will differ +from me in many particulars. + +I am conscious that the rough list of books which I have drawn up does +not deserve to be dignified with the title, Bibliography. It is sadly +incomplete, yet should it, however inadequate, prove helpful in the +smallest way it will have justified its inclusion. I may add that my +Biblical quotations, save where expressly otherwise noted, are from the +Vulgate or its translation into English commonly called the Douai Version. + + IN FESTO S. TERESEIÆ, _V._ + 1925. + + + + +THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WITCH: HERETIC AND ANARCHIST + + +“Sorcier est celuy qui par moyens Diaboliques sciemment s’efforce +de paruenir a quel que chose.” (“A sorcerer is one who by commerce +with the Devil has a full intention of attaining his own ends.”) With +these words the profoundly erudite jurisconsult Jean Bodin, one of +the acutest and most strictly impartial minds of his age, opens his +famous _De la Demonomanie des Sorciers_,[1] and it would be, I imagine, +hardly possible to discover a more concise, exact, comprehensive, and +intelligent definition of a Witch. The whole tremendous subject of +Witchcraft, especially as revealed in its multifold and remarkable +manifestations throughout every district of Southern and Western Europe +from the middle of the thirteenth until the dawn of the eighteenth +century,[2] has it would seem in recent times seldom, if ever, been +candidly and fairly examined. The only sound sources of information are +the contemporary records; the meticulously detailed legal reports of +the actual trials; the vast mass of pamphlets which give eye-witnessed +accounts of individual witches and reproduce evidence _uerbatim_ as +told in court; and, above all, the voluminous and highly technical +works of the Inquisitors and demonologists, holy and reverend divines, +doctors _utriusque iuris_, hard-headed, slow, and sober lawyers,—learned +men, scholars of philosophic mind, the most honourable names in the +universities of Europe, in the forefront of literature, science, +politics, and culture; monks who kept the conscience of kings, pontiffs; +whose word would set Europe aflame and bring an emperor to his knees at +their gate. + +It is true that Witchcraft has formed the subject of a not inconsiderable +literature, but it will be found that inquirers have for the most +part approached this eternal and terrible chapter in the history of +humanity from biassed, although wholly divergent, points of view, and +in consequence it is often necessary to sift more or less thoroughly +their partial presentation of their theme, to discount their unwarranted +commentaries and illogical conclusions, and to get down in time to the +hard bed-rock of fact. + +In the first place we have those writings and that interest which may be +termed merely antiquarian. Witchcraft is treated as a curious by-lane +of history, a superstition long since dead, having no existence among, +nor bearing upon, the affairs of the present day. It is a field for +folk-lore, where one may gather strange flowers and noxious weeds. Again, +we often recognize the romantic treatment of Witchcraft. ’Tis the Eve +of S. George, a dark wild night, the pale moon can but struggle thinly +through the thick massing clouds. The witches are abroad, and hurtle +swiftly aloft, a hideous covey, borne headlong on the skirling blast. In +delirious tones they are yelling foul mysterious words as they go: “Har! +Har! Har! Altri! Altri!” To some peak of the Brocken or lonely Cevennes +they haste, to the orgies of the Sabbat, the infernal Sacraments, the +dance of Acheron, the sweet and fearful fantasy of evil, “Vers les +stupres impurs et les baisers immondes.”[3] Hell seems to vomit its +foulest dregs upon the shrinking earth; a loathsome shape of obscene +horror squats huge and monstrous upon the ebon throne; the stifling air +reeks with filth and blasphemy; faster and faster whirls the witches’ +lewd lavolta; shriller and shriller the cornemuse screams; and then a +wan grey light flickers in the Eastern sky; a moment more and there +sounds the loud clarion of some village chanticleer; swift as thought the +vile phantasmagoria vanishes and is sped, all is quiet and still in the +peaceful dawn. + +But both the antiquarian and the romanticist reviews of Witchcraft may +be deemed negligible and impertinent so far as the present research is +concerned, however entertaining and picturesque such treatment proves to +many readers, affording not a few pleasant hours, whence they are able +to draw highly dramatic and brilliantly coloured pictures of old time +sorceries, not to be taken too seriously, for these things never were and +never could have been.[4] + +The rationalist historian and the sceptic, when inevitably confronted +with the subject of Witchcraft, chose a charmingly easy way to deal with +these intensely complex and intricate problems, a flat denial of all +statements which did not fit, or could not by some means be squared with, +their own narrow prejudice. What matter the most irrefragable evidence, +which in the instance of any other accusation would unhesitatingly have +been regarded as final. What matter the logical and reasoned belief of +centuries, of the most cultured peoples, the highest intelligences of +Europe? Any appeal to authority is, of course, useless, as the sceptic +repudiates all authority—save his own. Such things could not be. We must +argue from that axiom, and therefore anything which it is impossible +to explain away by hallucination, or hysteria, or auto-suggestion, +or any other vague catch-word which may chance to be fashionable at +the moment, must be uncompromisingly rejected, and a note of superior +pity, to candy the so suave yet crushingly decisive judgement, has +proved of great service upon more occasions than one. Why examine the +evidence? It is really useless and a waste of time, because we know that +the allegations are all idle and ridiculous; the “facts” sworn to by +innumerable witnesses, which are repeated in changeless detail century +after century in every country, in every town, simply did not take place. +How so absolute and entire falsity of these facts can be demonstrated +the sceptic omits to inform us, but we must unquestioningly accept his +infallible authority in the face of reason, evidence, and truth. + +Yet supposing that with clear and candid minds we proceed carefully to +investigate this accumulated evidence, to inquire into the circumstances +of a number of typical cases, to compare the trials of the fifteenth +century in France with the trials of the seventeenth century in England, +shall we not find that amid obvious accretions of fantastic and +superfluous detail a certain very solid substratum of a permanent and +invaried character is unmistakably to be traced throughout the whole? +This cannot in reason be denied, and here we have the core and the +enduring reality of Witchcraft and the witch-cult throughout the ages. + +There were some gross superstitions; there were some unbridled +imaginations; there was deception, there was legerdemain; there was +phantasy; there was fraud; Henri Boguet seems, perhaps, a trifle +credulous, a little eager to explain obscure practices by an instant +appeal to the supernormal; Brother Jetzer, the Jacobin of Berne, can +only have been either the tool of his superiors or a cunning impostor; +Matthew Hopkins was an unmitigated scoundrel who preyed upon the fears of +the Essex franklins whilst he emptied their pockets; Lord Torphichen’s +son was an idle mischievous boy whose pranks not merely deluded both +his father and the Rev. Mr. John Wilkins, but caused considerable +mystification and amaze throughout the whole of Calder; Anne Robinson, +Mrs. Golding’s maid, and the two servant lasses of Baldarroch were +prestidigitators of no common sleight and skill; and all these examples +of ignorance, gullibility, malice, trickery, and imposture might easily +be multiplied twenty times over and twenty times again, yet when every +allowance has been made, every possible explanation exhausted, there +persists a congeries of solid proven fact which cannot be ignored, save +indeed by the purblind prejudice of the rationalist, and cannot be +accounted for, save that we recognize there were and are individuals and +organizations deliberately, nay, even enthusiastically, devoted to the +service of evil, greedy of such emotions and experiences, rewards the +thraldom of wickedness may bring. + +The sceptic notoriously refuses to believe in Witchcraft, but a sanely +critical examination of the evidence at the witch-trials will show that a +vast amount of the modern vulgar incredulity is founded upon a complete +misconception of the facts, and it may be well worth while quite briefly +to review and correct some of the more common objections that are so +loosely and so repeatedly maintained. There are many points which are +urged as proving the fatuous absurdity and demonstrable impossibility of +the whole system, and yet there is not one of these phenomena which is +not capable of a satisfactory, and often a simple, elucidation. Perhaps +the first thought of a witch that will occur to the man in the street +is that of a hag on a broomstick flying up the chimney through the +air. This has often been pictorially impressed on his imagination, not +merely by woodcuts and illustrations traditionally presented in books, +but by the brush of great painters such as Queverdo’s _Le Départ au +Sabbat_, _Le Départ pour le Sabbat_ of David Teniers, and Goya’s midnight +fantasies. The famous Australian artist, Norman Lindsay, has a picture +_To The Sabbat_[5] where witches are depicted wildly rushing through +the air on the backs of grotesque pigs and hideous goats. Shakespeare, +too, elaborated the idea, and “Hover through the fog and filthy air” +has impressed itself upon the English imagination. But to descend from +the airy realms of painting and poetry to the hard ground of actuality. +Throughout the whole of the records there are very few instances when +a witness definitely asserted that he had seen a witch carried through +the air mounted upon a broom or stick of any kind, and on every occasion +there is patent and obvious exaggeration to secure an effect. Sometimes +the witches themselves boasted of this means of transport to impress +their hearers. Boguet records that Claudine Boban, a young girl whose +head was turned with pathological vanity, obviously a monomaniac who +must at all costs occupy the centre of the stage and be the cynosure of +public attention, confessed that she had been to the Sabbat, and this +was undoubtedly the case; but to walk or ride on horseback to the Sabbat +were far too ordinary methods of locomotion, melodrama and the marvellous +must find their place in her account and so she alleged: “that both she +and her mother used to mount on a broom, and so making their exit by the +chimney in this fashion they flew through the air to the Sabbat.”[6] +Julian Cox (1664) said that one evening when she was in the fields +about a mile away from the house “there came riding towards her three +persons upon three Broom-staves, born up about a yard and a half from the +ground.”[7] There is obvious exaggeration here; she saw two men and one +woman bestriding brooms and leaping high in the air. They were, in fact, +performing a magic rite, a figure of a dance. So it is recorded of the +Arab crones that “In the time of the Munkidh the witches rode about naked +on a stick between the graves of the cemetery of Shaizar.”[8] Nobody can +refuse to believe that the witches bestrode sticks and poles and in their +ritual capered to and fro in this manner, a sufficiently grotesque, but +by no means an impossible, action. And this bizarre ceremony, evidence +of which—with no reference to flying through the air—is frequent, has +been exaggerated and transformed into the popular superstition that +sorcerers are carried aloft and so transported from place to place, a +wonder they were all ready to exploit in proof of their magic powers. And +yet it is not impossible that there should have been actual instances of +levitation. For, outside the lives of the Saints, spiritistic séances +afford us examples of this supernormal phenomenon, which, if human +evidence is worth anything at all, are beyond all question proven. + +As for the unguents wherewith the sorcerers anointed themselves we have +the actual formulæ for this composition, and Professor A. J. Clark, who +has examined these,[9] considers that it is possible a strong application +of such liniments might produce unwonted excitement and even delirium. +But long ago the great demonologists recognized and laid down that of +themselves the unguents possessed no such properties as the witches +supposed. “The ointment and lotion are just of no use at all to witches +to aid their journey to the Sabbat,” is the well-considered opinion +of Boguet who,[10] speaking with confident precision and finality, on +this point is in entire agreement with the most sceptical of later +rationalists. + +The transformation of witches into animals and the extraordinary +appearance at their orgies of “the Devil” under many a hideously +unnatural shape, two points which have been repeatedly held up to +scorn as self-evident impossibilities and proof conclusive of the +untrustworthiness of the evidence and the incredibility of the whole +system, can both be easily and fairly interpreted in a way which offers +a complete and convincing explanation of these prodigies. The first +metamorphosis, indeed, is mentioned and fully explained in the _Liber +Pœnitentialis_[11] of S. Theodore, seventh Archbishop of Canterbury +(668-690), capitulum xxvii, which code includes under the rubric _De +Idolatria et Sacrilegio_ “qui in Kalendas Ianuarii in ceruulo et in +uitula uadit,” and prescribes: “If anyone at the Kalends of January goes +about as a stag or a bull; that is, making himself into a wild animal +and dressing in the skin of a herd animal, and putting on the heads of +beasts; those who in such wise transform themselves into the appearance +of a wild animal, penance for three years because this is devilish.” +These ritual masks, furs, and hides, were, of course, exactly those the +witches at certain ceremonies were wont to don for their Sabbats. There +is ample proof that “the Devil” of the Sabbat was very frequently a +human being, the Grand Master of the district, and since his officers +and immediate attendants were also termed “Devils” by the witches some +confusion has on occasion ensued. In a few cases where sufficient +details are given it is possible actually to identify “the Devil” by +name. Thus, among a list of suspected persons in the reign of Elizabeth +we have “Ould Birtles, the great devil, Roger Birtles and his wife, and +Anne Birtles.”[12] The evil William, Lord Soulis, of Hermitage Castle, +often known as “Red Cap,” was “the Devil” of a coven of sorcerers. Very +seldom “the Devil” was a woman. In May, 1569, the Regent of Scotland was +present at S. Andrews “quhair a notabill sorceres callit Nicniven was +condemnit to the death and burnt.” Now Nicniven is the Queen of Elphin, +the Mistress of the Sabbat, and this office had evidently been filled +by this witch whose real name is not recorded. On 8 November, 1576, +Elizabeth or Bessy Dunlop, of Lyne, in the Barony of Dalry, Ayrshire, +was tried for sorcery, and she confessed that a certain mysterious Thom +Reid had met her and demanded that she should renounce Christianity and +her baptism, and apparently worship him. There can be little doubt that +he was “the Devil” of a coven, for the original details, which are very +full, all point to this. He seems to have played his part with some +forethought and skill, since when the accused stated that she often saw +him in the churchyard of Dalry, as also in the streets of Edinburgh, +where he walked to and fro among other people and handled goods that were +exposed on bulks for sale without attracting any special notice, and was +thereupon asked why she did not address him, she replied that he had +forbidden her to recognize him on any such occasion unless he made a sign +or first actually accosted her. She was “convict and burnt.”[13] In the +case of Alison Peirson, tried 28 May, 1588, “the Devil” was actually her +kinsman, William Sympson, and she “wes conuict of the vsing of Sorcerie +and Witchcraft, with the Inuocatioun of the spreitis of the Deuill; +speciallie in the visioune and forme of ane Mr. William Sympsoune, hir +cousing and moder-brotheris-sone, quha sche affermit wes ane grit scoller +and doctor of medicin.”[14] _Conuicta et combusta_ is the terse record of +the margin of the court-book. + +One of the most interesting identifications of “the Devil” occurs in the +course of the notorious trials of Dr. Fian and his associates in 1590-1. +As is well known, the whole crew was in league with Francis Stewart, Earl +of Bothwell, and even at the time well-founded gossip, and something more +than gossip, freely connected his name with the spells, Sabbats, and +orgies of the witches. He was vehemently suspected of the black art; he +was an undoubted client of warlocks and poisoners; his restless ambition +almost overtly aimed at the throne, and the witch covens were one and +all frantically attempting the life of King James. There can be no sort +of doubt that Bothwell was the moving force who energized and directed +the very elaborate and numerous organization of demonolaters, which was +almost accidentally brought to light, to be fiercely crushed by the +draconian vengeance of a monarch justly frightened for his crown and his +life. + +In the nineteenth century both Albert Pike of Charleston and his +successor Adriano Lemmi have been identified upon abundant authority as +being Grand Masters of societies practising Satanism, and as performing +the hierarchical functions of “the Devil” at the modern Sabbat. + +God, so far as His ordinary presence and action in Nature are concerned, +is hidden behind the veil of secondary causes, and when God’s ape, the +Demon, can work so successfully and obtain not merely devoted adherents +but fervent worshippers by human agency, there is plainly no need for him +to manifest himself in person either to particular individuals or at the +Sabbats, but none the less, that he can do so and has done so is certain, +since such is the sense of the Church, and there are many striking cases +in the records and trials which are to be explained in no other way. + +That, as Burns Begg pointed out, the witches not unseldom “seem to have +been undoubtedly the victims of unscrupulous and designing knaves, who +personated Satan”[15] is no palliation of their crimes, and therefore +they are not one whit the less guilty of sorcery and devil-worship, for +this was their hearts’ intention and desire. Nor do I think that the man +who personated Satan at their assemblies was so much an unscrupulous and +designing knave as himself a demonist, believing intensely in the reality +of his own dark powers, wholly and horribly dedicated and doomed to the +service of evil. + +[Illustration: PLATE II + +THE WORLD TOST AT TENNIS. The First Quarto + +[_face p. 8_] + +We have seen that the witches were upon occasion wont to array +themselves in skins and ritual masks and there is complete evidence +that the hierophant at the Sabbat, when a human being played that rôle, +generally wore a corresponsive, if somewhat more elaborate, disguise. +Nay more, as regards the British Isles at least—and it seems clear that +in other countries the habit was very similar—we possess a pictorial +representation of “the Devil” as he appeared to the witches. During the +famous Fian trials Agnes Sampson confessed: “The deuell wes cled in ane +blak goun with ane blak hat vpon his head.... His faice was terrible, his +noise lyk the bek of ane egle, greet bournyng eyn; his handis and leggis +wer herry, with clawes vpon his handis, and feit lyk the griffon.”[16] +In the pamphlet _Newes from Scotland, Declaring the Damnable life and +death of Doctor Fian_[17] we have a rough woodcut, repeated twice, which +shows “the Devil” preaching from the North Berwick pulpit to the whole +coven of witches, and allowing for the crudity of the draughtsman and +a few unimportant differences of detail—the black gown and hat are not +portrayed—the demon in the picture is exactly like the description Agnes +Sampson gave. It must be remembered, too, that at the Sabbat she was +obviously in a state of morbid excitation, in part due to deep cups of +heady wine, the time was midnight, the place a haunted old church, the +only light a few flickering candles that burned with a ghastly blue flame. + +Now “the Devil” as he is shown in the _Newes from Scotland_ illustration +is precisely the Devil who appears upon the title-page of Middleton and +Rowley’s Masque, _The World tost at Tennis_, 4to, 1620. This woodcut +presents an episode towards the end of the masque, and here the Devil +in traditional disguise, a grim black hairy shape with huge beaked +nose, monstrous claws, and the cloven hoofs of a griffin, in every +particular fits the details so closely observed by Agnes Sampson. I +have no doubt that the drawing for the masque was actually made in the +theatre, for although this kind of costly and decorative entertainment +was almost always designed for court or some great nobleman’s house we +know that _The World tost at Tennis_ was produced with considerable +success on the public stage “By the Prince his Seruants.” The dress, +then, of “the Devil” at the Sabbats seems frequently to have been an +elaborate theatrical costume, such as might have been found in the stock +wardrobe of a rich playhouse at London, but which would have had no such +associations for provincial folk and even simpler rustics. + +From time to time the sceptics have pointed to the many cases upon record +of a victim’s sickness or death following the witch’s curse, and have +incredulously inquired if it be possible that a malediction should have +such consequences. Whilst candidly remarking that personally I believe +there is power for evil and even for destruction in such a bane, that a +deadly anathema launched with concentrated hate and all the energy of +volition may bring unhappiness and fatality in its train, I would—since +they will not allow this—answer their objections upon other lines. When +some person who had in any way annoyed the witch was to be harmed or +killed, it was obviously convenient, when practicable, to follow up the +symbolism of the solemn imprecation, or it might be of the melted wax +image riddled with pins, by a dose of subtly administered poison, which +would bring about the desired result, whether sickness or death; and +from the evidence concerning the witches’ victims, who so frequently +pined owing to a wasting disease, it seems more than probable that lethal +drugs were continually employed, for as Professor A. J. Clark records +“the society of witches had a very creditable knowledge of the art of +poisoning,”[18] and they are known to have freely used aconite, deadly +nightshade (belladonna), and hemlock. + +So far then from the confessions of the witches being mere hysteria +and hallucination they are proved, even upon the most material +interpretation, to be in the main hideous and horrible fact. + +In choosing examples to demonstrate this I have as yet referred almost +entirely to the witchcraft which raged from the middle of the thirteenth +to the beginning of the eighteenth century, inasmuch as that was the +period when the diabolic cult reached its height, when it spread as a +blight and a scourge throughout Europe and flaunted its most terrific +proportions. But it must not for a moment be supposed, as has often been +superficially believed, that Witchcraft was a product of the Middle +Ages, and that only then did authority adopt measures of repression +and legislate against the warlock and the sorceress. If attention has +been concentrated upon that period it is because during those and the +succeeding centuries Witchcraft blazed forth with unexampled virulence +and ferocity, that it threatened the peace, nay in some degree, the +salvation of mankind. But even pagan emperors had issued edicts +absolutely forbidding goetic theurgy, confiscating grimoires (_fatidici +libri_) and visiting necromancers with death. In A.U.C. 721 during +the triumvirate of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, all astrologers and +charmers were banished.[19] Maecenas called upon Augustus to punish +sorcerers, and plainly stated that those who devote themselves to magic +are despisers of the gods.[20] More than two thousand popular books of +spells, both in Greek and Latin, were discovered in Rome and publicly +burned.[21] In the reign of Tiberius a decree of the Senate exiled all +traffickers in occult arts; Lucius Pituanius, a notorious wizard, they +threw from the Tarpeian rock, and another, Publius Martius, was executed +_more prisco_ outside the Esquiline gate.[22] + +Under Claudius the Senate reiterated the sentence of banishment: +“De mathematicis Italia pellendis factum Senatus consultum, atrox +et irritum,” says Tacitus.[23] During the few months he was emperor +Vitellius proceeded with implacable severity against all soothsayers and +diviners; many of whom, when accused, he ordered for instant execution, +not even affording them the tritest formality of a trial.[24] Vespasian, +again, his successor, refused to permit scryers and enchanters to set +foot in Italy, strictly enforcing the existent statutes.[25] It is clear +from all these stringent laws, and the list of examples might be greatly +extended, that although under the Cæsars omens were respected, oracles +were consulted, the augurs honoured, and haruspices revered, the dark +influences and foul criminality of the reverse of that dangerous science +were recognized and its professors punished with the full force of +repeated legislation. + +M. de Cauzons has expressed himself somewhat vigorously when speaking +of writers who trace the origins of Witchcraft to the Middle Ages: +“C’est une mauvaise plaisanterie,” he remarks,[26] “ou une contrevérité +flagrante, d’affirmer que la sorcellerie naquit au Moyen-Age, et +d’attribuer son existence à l’influence ou aux croyances de l’Eglise.” +(It is either a silly jest or inept irony to pretend that Witchcraft +arose in the Middle Ages, to attribute its existence to the influence or +the beliefs of the Catholic Church.) + +An even more erroneous assertion is the charge which has been not +infrequently but over-emphatically brought forward by partial +ill-documented historians to the effect that the European crusade against +witches, the stern and searching prosecutions with the ultimate penalty +of death at the stake, are entirely due to the Bull _Summis desiderantes +affectibus_, 5 December, 1484, of Pope Innocent VIII; or that at any +rate this famous document, if it did not actually initiate the campaign, +blew to blasts of flame and fury the smouldering and half-cold embers. +This is most preposterously affirmed by Mackay, who does not hesitate +to write[27]: “There happened at that time to be a pontiff at the head +of the Church who had given much of his attention to the subject of +Witchcraft, and who, with the intention of rooting out the supposed +crime, did more to increase it than any other man that ever lived. John +Baptist Cibo, elected to the papacy in 1485,[28] under the designation +of Innocent VIII, was sincerely alarmed at the number of witches, and +launched forth his terrible manifesto against them. In his celebrated +bull of 1488, he called the nations of Europe to the rescue of the Church +of Christ upon earth, ‘imperilled by the arts of Satan’” which last +sentence seems to be a very fair statement of fact. Lecky notes the Bull +of Innocent which, he extravagantly declares, “gave a fearful impetus to +the persecution.”[29] Dr. Davidson, in a brief but slanderous account +of this great pontiff, gives angry prominence to his severity “against +sorcerers, magicians, and witches.”[30] It is useless to cite more of +these superficial and crooked judgements; but since even authorities of +weight and value have been deluded and fallen into the snare it is worth +while labouring the point a little and stressing the fact that the +Bull of Innocent VIII was only one of a long series of Papal ordinances +dealing with the suppression of a monstrous and almost universal evil.[31] + +The first Papal Bull directly launched against the black art and its +professors was that of Alexander IV, 13 December, 1258, addressed to +the Franciscan inquisitors. And it is worth while here to examine +precisely what was the earlier connotation of the terms “inquisitor” +and “inquisition,” so often misunderstood, as our research, though +brief, will throw a flood of light upon the subject of Witchcraft, and, +moreover, incidentally will serve to explain how that those writers who +assign the beginnings of Witchcraft to the Middle Ages, although most +certainly and even demonstrably in error, have at any rate been very +subtilely and easily led wrong, since sorcery in the Middle Ages was +violently unmasked and the whole horrid craft then first authoritatively +exposed in its darkest colours and most abominable manifestations, as +had indeed existed from the first, but had been carefully hidden and +scrupulously concealed. + +By the term Inquisition (_inquirere_ = to look into) is now generally +understood a special ecclesiastical institution for combating or +suppressing heresy, and the Inquisitors are the officials attached to +the said institution, more particularly judges who are appointed to +investigate the charges of heresy and to try the persons brought before +them on those charges. During the first twelve centuries the Church was +loath to deal with heretics save by argument and persuasion; obstinate +and avowed heretics were, of course, excluded from her communion, a +defection which in the ages of faith, naturally involved them in many and +great difficulties. S. Augustine,[32] S. John Chrysostom,[33] S. Isidore +of Seville[34] in the seventh century, and a number of other Doctors +and Fathers held that for no cause whatsoever should the Church shed +blood; but, on the other hand, the imperial successors of Constantine +justly considered that they were obliged to have a care for the material +welfare of the Church here on earth, and that heresy is always inevitably +and inextricably entangled with attempts on the social order, always +anarchical, always political. Even the pagan persecutor Diocletian +recognized this fact, which heretics, until they obtain the upper hand, +have throughout the ages consistently denied and endeavoured to disguise. +For in 287, less than two years after his accession, he sent to the +stake the leaders of the Manichees; the majority of their followers were +beheaded, and a few less culpable sent to perpetual forced labour in the +government mines. Again in 296 he orders their extermination (_stirpitus +amputari_) as a sordid, vile, and impure sect. So the Christian Cæsars, +persuaded that the protection of orthodoxy was their sacred duty, began +to issue edicts for the suppression of heretics as being traitors +and anti-social revolutionaries.[35] But the Church protested, and +when Priscillian, Bishop of Avila, being found guilty of heresy and +sorcery,[36] was condemned to death by Maximus at Trier in 384, S. Martin +of Tours addressed the Emperor in such plain terms that it was solemnly +promised the sentence should not be carried into effect. However, the +pledge was broken, and S. Martin’s indignation was such that for a long +while he refused to hold communion with those who had been in any way +responsible for the execution, which S. Ambrose roundly stigmatized as a +heinous crime.[37] Even more crushing were the words of Pope S. Siricius, +before whom Maximus was fain to humble himself in lowliest penitence, and +the supreme pontiff actually excommunicated Bishop Felix of Trier for his +part in the deed. + +From time to time heretics were put to death under the civil law to +which they were amenable, as in 556 when a band of Manichees were +executed at Ravenna. Pope Pelagius I, who was consecrated that very +year, when Paulinus of Fossombrone, rejecting his authority, openly +stirred up schism and revolt, merely relegated the recalcitrant bishop +to a monastery. Saint Cæsarius of Arles, who died in 547, speaking[38] +of the punishment to be meted out to those who obstinately persevere +in overt paganism, recommends that they should first be remonstrated +with and reprimanded, that they should if possible be thus persuaded of +their errors; but if they persist certain corporal chastisement is to be +given; and in extreme cases a course of domestic discipline, the cutting +of the hair close as a mark of indignity and confinement within doors +under restraint, may be adopted. There is no hint of anything more than +private measures, no calling in of any ecclesiastical authority, far +less an appeal to any punitive tribunal. + +In the days of Charlemagne the aged Elipandus, Archbishop of Toledo, +taught an offshoot of the Nestorian heresy, Adoptionism, a crafty but +deadly error, to which he won the slippery dialectician Felix of Urgel. +Felix, as a Frankish prelate, was summoned to Aix-la-Chapelle. A synod +condemned his doctrine and he recanted, only to retract his words and to +reiterate his blasphemies. He was again condemned, and again he recanted. +But he proved shifty and tricksome to the last. For after his death +Agobar of Lyons found amongst his papers a scroll asserting that of this +heresy he was fully persuaded, in spite of any contradictions to which he +might hypocritically subscribe. Yet Felix only suffered a short detention +at Rome, whilst no measures seem to have been taken against Elipandus, +who died in his errors. It was presumably considered that orthodoxy could +be sufficiently served and vindicated by the zeal of such great names as +Beatus, Abbot of Libana; Etherius, Bishop of Osma; S. Benedict of Aniane; +and the glorious Alcuin.[39] + +Some forty years later, about the middle of the ninth century, +Gothescalch, a monk of Fulda, caused great scandal by obstinately and +impudently maintaining that Christ had not died for all mankind, a +foretaste of the Calvinistic heresy. He was condemned at the Synods +of Mainz in 848, and of Kiersey-sur-Oise in 849, being sentenced to +flogging and imprisonment, punishments then common in monasteries +for various infractions of the rule. In this case, as particularly +flagrant, it was Hinemar, Archbishop of Rheims, a prelate notorious +for his severity, who sentenced the culprit to incarceration. But +Gothescalch had by his pernicious doctrines been the cause of serious +disturbances; and his inflammatory harangues had excited tumults, +sedition, and unrest, bringing odium upon the sacred habit. The sentence +of the Kiersey Synod ran: “Frater Goteschale ... quia et ecclesiastica +et ciuilia negotia contra propositum et nomen monachi conturbare iura +ecclesiastica præsumpsisti, durissimis uerberibus te cagistari et +secundum ecclesiasticas regulas ergastulo retrudi, auctoritate episcopali +decernimus.” (Brother Gothescalch, ... because thou hast dared—contrary +to thy monastic calling and vows—to concern thyself in worldly as well +as spiritual businesses and hast violated all ecclesiastical law and +order, by our episcopal authority we condemn thee to be severely scourged +and according to the provision of the Church to be closely imprisoned.) + +From these instances it will be seen that the Church throughout all those +centuries of violence, rapine, invasion, and war, when often primitive +savagery reigned supreme and the most hideous cruelty was the general +order of the day, dealt very gently with the rebel and the heretic, whom +she might have executed wholesale with the greatest ease; no voice would +have been raised in protest save that of her own pontiffs, doctors, +and Saints; nay, rather, such repression would have been universally +applauded as eminently proper and just. But it was the civil power who +arraigned the anarch and the misbeliever, who sentenced him to death. + +About the year 1000, however, the venom of Manichæism obtained a new +footing in the West, where it had died out early in the sixth century. +Between 1030-40 an important Manichæan community was discovered at +the Castle of Monteforte, near Asti, in Piedmont. Some of the members +were arrested by the Bishop of Asti and a number of noblemen in the +neighbourhood, and upon their refusal to retract the civil arm burned +them. Others, by order of the Archbishop of Milan, Ariberto, were brought +to that city since he hoped to convert them. They answered his efforts +by attempts to make proselytes; whereupon Lanzano, a prominent noble and +leader of the popular party, caused the magistrates to intervene and when +they had been taken into the custody of the State they were executed +without further respite. For the next two hundred years Manichæism +spread its infernal teaching in secret until, towards the year 1200, +the plague had infected all Italy and Southern Europe, had reached +northwards to Germany, where it was completely organized, and was not +unknown in England, since as early as 1159 thirty foreign Manichees had +privily settled here. They were discovered in 1166, and handed over to +the secular authorities by the Bishops of the Council of Oxford. In high +wrath Henry II ordered them to be scourged, branded in the forehead, and +cast adrift in the cold of winter, straightly forbidding any to succour +such vile criminals, so all perished from cold and exposure. Manichæism +furthermore split up into an almost infinite number of sects and systems, +prominent amongst which were the Cathari, the Aldonistæ and Speronistæ, +the Concorrezenses of Lombardy, the Bagnolenses, the Albigenses, +Pauliciani, Patarini, Bogomiles, the Waldenses, Tartarins, Beghards, +Pauvres de Lyon. + +It must be clearly borne in mind that these heretical bodies with their +endless ramifications were not merely exponents of erroneous religious +and intellectual beliefs by which they morally corrupted all who came +under their influence, but they were the avowed enemies of law and +order, red-hot anarchists who would stop at nothing to gain their ends. +Terrorism and secret murder were their most frequent weapons. In 1199 +the Patarini followers of Ermanno of Parma and Gottardo of Marsi, two +firebrands of revolt, foully assassinated S. Peter Parenzo, the governor +of Orvieto. On 6 April, 1252, whilst returning from Como to Milan, as he +passed through a lonely wood S. Peter of Verona was struck down by the +axe of a certain Carino, a Manichæan bravo, who had been hired to the +deed.[40] By such acts they sought to intimidate whole districts, and to +compel men’s allegiance with blood and violence. The Manichæan system was +in truth a simultaneous attack upon the Church and the State, a desperate +but well-planned organization to destroy the whole fabric of society, to +reduce civilization to chaos. In the first instance, as the Popes began +to perceive the momentousness of the struggle they engaged the bishops to +stem the tide. At the Council of Tours, 1163, Alexander III called upon +the bishops of Gascony to take active measures for the suppression of +these revolutionaries, but at the Lateran Council of 1179 it was found +these disturbers of public order had sown such sedition in Languedoc that +an appeal was made to the secular power to check the evil. In 1184 Lucius +III issued from Verona his Bull _Ad Abolendam_ which expressly mentions +many of the heretics by name, Cathari, Patarini, Humiliati, Pauvres de +Lyon, Pasagians, Josephins, Aldonistæ. The situation had fast developed +and become serious. Heretics were to be sought out and suitably punished, +by which, however, capital punishment is not intended. Innocent III, +although adding nothing essential to these regulations yet gave them +fuller scope and clearer definition. In his Decretals he precisely +speaks of accusation, denunciation, and inquisition, and it is obvious +that these measures were necessary in the face of a great secret society +aiming at nothing less than the destruction of the established order, +for all the sectaries were engaged upon the most zealous propaganda, +and their adherents had spread like a network over the greater part of +Europe. The members bore the title of “brother” and “sister,” and had +words and signs by which the initiate could recognize one another without +betraying themselves to others.[41] Ivan de Narbonne, who was converted +from this heresy, in a letter to Giraldus, Archbishop of Bordeaux, as +quoted by Matthew of Paris, says that in every city where he travelled he +was always able to make himself known by signs.[42] + +It was necessary that the diocesan bishops should be assisted in their +heavy task of tracking down heretics, and accordingly the Holy See had +resource to legates who were furnished with extraordinary powers to +cope with so perplexing a situation. In 1177 as legate of Alexander +III, Peter, Cardinal of San Crisogono, at the particular request of +Count Raymond V, visited the Toulouse district to check the rising tide +of Catharist doctrine.[43] In 1181, Henry, Abbot of Clairvaux, who had +been in his suite, now Cardinal of Albano, as legate of the same Pope, +received the submission of various heretical leaders, and, so extensive +were his powers, solemnly deposed the Archbishops of Lyons and Narbonne. +In 1203 Peter of Castelnau and Raoul were acting at Toulouse on behalf +of Innocent III, seemingly with plenipotentiary authority. The next year +Arnauld Amaury, Abbot of Citeaux, was joined to them to form a triple +tribunal with absolute power to judge heretics in the provinces of Aix, +Arles, Narbonne, and the adjoining dioceses. At the death of Innocent III +(1216) there existed an organization to search out heretics; episcopal +tribunals at which often sat an assessor (the future inquisitor) to watch +the conduct of the case; and above all the legate to whom he might make a +report. The legate, from his position, was naturally a prelate occupied +with a vast number of urgent affairs—Arnauld Amaury, for example, was +absent for a considerable time to take part in the General Chapter +at Cluny—and gradually more and more authority was delegated to the +assessor, who insensibly developed into the Inquisitor, a special but +permanent judge acting in the name of the Pope, by whom he was invested +with the right and the duty to deal legally with offences against the +Faith. And as just at this time there came into being two new Orders, the +Dominicans and Franciscans, whose members by their theological training +and the very nature of their vows seemed eminently fitted to perform the +inquisitorial task with complete success, absolutely uninfluenced by any +worldly motive, it is natural that the new officials should have been +selected from these Orders, and, owing to the importance attached by the +Dominicans to the study of divinity, especially from their learned ranks. + +It is very obvious why the Holy See so sagaciously preferred to assign +the prosecution of heretics, a matter of the first importance, to an +extraordinary tribunal rather than leave the trials in the hands of the +bishops. Without taking into consideration the fact that these new duties +would have seriously encroached upon, if not wholly absorbed, the time +and activities of a bishop, the prelates who ruled most dioceses were +the subject of some monarch with whom they might have come in conflict +on many a delicate point which could easily be conceived to arise, and +the result of such disagreement would have been fraught with endless +political difficulties and internal embarrassments. A court of religious, +responsible to the Pope alone, would act more fairly, more freely, +without fear or favour. The profligate Philip I of France, for example, +during his long, worthless, and dishonoured reign (1060-1108), by his +evil courses drew upon himself the censure of the Church, whereupon +he banished the Bishop of Beauvais and revoked the decisions of the +episcopal courts.[44] In a letter[45] to William, Count of Poitiers, +Pope S. Gregory VII energetically declares that if the King does not +cease from molesting the bishops and interfering with their judicature +a sentence of excommunication will be launched. In another letter the +same pontiff complains of the disrespect shown to the ecclesiastical +tribunals, and addressing the French bishops he cries: “Your king, who +sooth to say should be termed not a king but a cruel tyrant, inspired +by Satan, is the head and cause of these evils. For he has notoriously +passed all his days in foulest crimes, in seeking to do wickedness and to +ensue it.”[46] The conflict of the bishops of a realm with an unworthy +and evil monarch is a commonplace of history. These troubles could +scarcely arise in the case of courts forane. + +The words “inquisition” and “inquisitors” began definitely to acquire +their accepted signification in the earlier half of the thirteenth +century. Thus in 1235 Gregory IX writes to the Archbishop of Sens: “Know +then that we have charged the Provincial of the Order of Preachers in +this same realm to nominate certain of his brethren, who are best fitted +for so weighty a business, as Inquisitors that they may proceed against +all notorious evildoers in the aforesaid realm ... and we also charge +thee, dear Brother, that thou shouldest be instant and zealous in this +matter of establishing an Inquisition by the appointment of those who +seem to be best fitted for such a work, and let thy loins be girded, +Brother, to fight boldly the battles of the Lord.”[47] In 1246 Innocent +IV wrote to the Superiors of the Franciscans giving them leave to recall +at will: “those brethren who have been sent abroad to preach the Mystery +of the Cross of Christ, or to seek out and take measure against the +plague sore of heresy.”[48] + +All the heresies, and the Secret Societies of heretics, which infested +Europe during the Middle Ages were Gnostic, and even more narrowly, +Manichæan in character. The Gnostics arose almost with the advent of +Christianity as a School or Schools who explained the teachings of Christ +by blending them with the doctrines of pagan fantasts, and thus they +claimed to have a Higher and a Wider Knowledge, the Γνῶσις the first +exponent of which was unquestionably Simon Magus. “Two problems borrowed +from heathen philosophy,” says Mansel,[49] “were intruded by Gnosticism +on the Christian revelation, the problem of absolute existence, and +the problem of the Origin of Evil.” The Gnostics denied the existence +of Free-will, and therefore Evil was not the result of Man’s voluntary +transgression, but must in some way have emanated from the Creator +Himself. Arguing on these lines the majority asserted that the Creator +must have been a malignant power, Lord of the Kingdom of Darkness, +opposed to the Supreme and Ineffable God. This doctrine was taught by +the Gnostic sects of Persia, which became deeply imbued with the religion +of Zoroaster, who assumed the existence of two original and independent +Powers of Good and of Evil. Each of these Powers is of equal strength, +and supreme in his own dominions, whilst constant war is waged between +the two. This doctrine was particularly held by the Syrian Gnostics, the +Ophites, the Naasseni, the Peratæ, the Sethians, amongst whom the serpent +was the principal symbol. As the Creator of the world was evil, the +Tempter, the Serpent, was the benefactor of man. In fact, in some creeds +he was identified with the Logos. The Cainites carried out the Ophite +doctrines to their fullest logical conclusion. Since the Creator, the +God of the Old Testament, is evil all that is commended by the Scripture +must be evil, and conversely all that is condemned therein is good. Cain, +Korah, the rebels, are to be imitated and admired. The one true Apostle +was Judas Iscariot. This cult is very plainly marked in the Middle Ages +among the Luciferians; and Cainite ceremonies have their place in the +witches’ Sabbat.[50] + +All this Gnostic teaching was summed up in the gospel of the Persian +Mani, who, when but a young man of twenty-six, seems first to have +proclaimed in the streets and bazaars of Seleucia-Ctesiphon his supposed +message on Sunday, 20 March, 242, the coronation festival of Shapur I. +He did not meet with immediate success in his own country, but here +and there his ideas took deep root. In 276-277, however, he was seized +and crucified by the grandson of Shapur, Bahram I, his disciples being +relentlessly pursued. Whenever Manichees were discovered they were +brought to swift justice, executed, held up to universal hatred and +contempt. They were considered by Moslems as not merely Unbelievers, +the followers of a false impostor, but unnatural and unsocial, a menace +to the State. It was for no light cause that the Manichee was loathed +and abhorred both by faithful Christian and by those who proclaimed +Mohammed as the true prophet of Allah. But later Manichæism spread +in every direction to an extraordinary degree, which may perhaps be +accounted for by the fact that it is in some sense a synthesis of the +Gnostic philosophies, the theory of two eternal principles, good and +evil, being especially emphasized. Moreover, the historical Jesus, +“the Jewish Messias, whom the Jews crucified,” was “a devil, who was +justly punished for interfering in the work of the Æon Jesus,” who was +neither born nor suffered death. As time went on, the elaborate cosmogony +of Mani disappeared, but the idea that the Christ must be repudiated +remained. And logically, then, worship is due to the enemy of Christ, +and a sub-sect, the Messalians or Euchites, taught that divine honours +must be paid to Satan, who is further to be propitiated by means of every +possible outrage done to Christ. This, of course, is plain and simple +Satanism openly avowed. Carpocrates even went so far as to aggravate the +teaching of the Cainites, for he made the performance of every species +of sin forbidden in the Old Testament a solemn duty, since this was the +completest mode of showing defiance to the Evil Creator and Ruler of the +World. This doctrine was wholly that of mediæval witches, and is flaunted +by modern Satanists. Although the Manichees affected the greatest purity, +it is quite certain that not unchastity but the act of generation alone +was opposed to their views; secretly they practised the most hideous +obscenities.[51] The Messalians in particular, vaunted a treatise +_Asceticus_, which was condemned by the Third General Council of Ephesus +(431) as “that filthy book of this heresy,” and in Armenia, in the fifth +century, special edicts were passed to restrain their immoralities, so +that their very name became the equivalent for “lewdness.” The Messalians +survived unto the Middle Ages as Bogomiles. + +Attention has already been drawn to the striking fact that even +Diocletian legislated with no small vigour against the Manichees, and +when we find Valentinian I and his son Gratian, although tolerant of +other bodies, passing laws of equal severity in this regard (372), we +feel that such interdiction is especially significant. Theodosius I, by +a statute of 381, declared Manichees to be without civil rights, and +incapable of inheriting; in the following year he condemned them to +death, and in 389 he sternly directed the rigorous enforcement to the +letter of these penalties. + +Valentinian II confiscated their goods, annulled their wills, and sent +them into exile. Honorius in 399 renewed the draconian measures of his +predecessors; in 405 he heavily fined all governors of provinces or +civil magistrates who were slack in carrying out his orders; in 407 he +pronounced the sect outlaws and public criminals having no legal status +whatsoever, and in 408 he reiterated the former enactments in meticulous +detail to afford no loophole of escape. Theodosius II (423), again, +repeated this legislation, whilst Valentinian III passed fresh laws in +425 and 445. Anastasius once more decreed the penalty of death, which +was even extended by Justin and Justinian to convert from Manichæism who +did not at once denounce their former coreligionists to the authorities. +This catena of laws which aims at nothing less than extermination is of +singular moment. + +About 660 arose the Paulicians, a Manichæan sect, who rejected the Old +Testament, the Sacraments, and the Priesthood. In 835 it was realized +that the government of this body was political and aimed at revolution +and red anarchy. In 970 John Zimisces fixed their headquarters in +Thrace. In 1115 Alexis Comnenus established himself during the winter +at Philippopolis, and avowed his intention of converting them, the only +result being that the heretics were driven westward and spread rapidly in +France and Italy. + +The Bogomiles were also Manichees. They openly worshipped Satan, +repudiating Holy Mass and the Passion, rejecting Holy Baptism for some +foul ceremony of their own, and possessing a peculiar version of the +Gospel of S. John. As Cathari these wretches had their Centre for France +at Toulouse; for Germany at Cologne; whilst in Italy, Milan, Florence, +Orvieto, and Viterbo were their rallying-points. Their meetings were +often held in the open air, on mountains, or in the depths of some lone +valley; the ritual was very secret, but we know that at night they +celebrated their Eucharist of Consolamentum, when all stood in a circle +round a table covered with a white cloth and numerous torches were +kindled, the service being closed by the reading of the first seventeen +verses of their transfigured gospel. Bread was broken, but there is a +tradition that the words of consecration were not pronounced according to +the Christian formula; in some instances they were altogether omitted. + +During the eleventh century, then, there began to spread throughout +Europe a number of mysterious organizations whose adherents, in a +secrecy that was all but absolute, practiced obscure rites embodying +their beliefs, the central feature of which was the adoration of the +evil principle, the demon. But what is this save Satanism, or in other +words Witchcraft? It is true that when these heresies came into sharp +conflict with the Catholic Church they developed on lines which lost +various non-essential accretions and Eastern subtleties of extravagant +thought, but the motive of the Manichæan doctrines and of Witchcraft is +one and the same, and the punishment of Manichees and of witches was the +same death at the stake. The fact that these heretics were recognized +as sorcerers will explain, as nothing else can, the severity of the +statutes against them, evidence of no ordinary depravity, and early in +the eleventh century Manichee and warlock are recognized as synonymous. + +The sorcery of the Middle Ages, says Carl Haas, a learned and impartial +authority, was born from the heresies of earlier epochs, and just as +Christian authority had dealt with heresy, so did it deal with the spawn +witchcraft. Both alike are the result of doubts, of faithlessness, a +disordered imagination, pride and presumption, intellectual arrogance; +sick phantasy both, they grow and flourish apace in shadow and sin, until +right reasoning, and sometimes salutary force, are definitely opposed to +them. The authors of the _Malleus Maleficarum_ clearly identify heresy +and Witchcraft. When the Prince Bishop of Bamberg, John George II Fuchs +von Bornheim, (1623-33), built a strong prison especially for sorcerers, +the _Drudenhaus_, he set over the great door a figure of Justice, and +inscribed above Vergil’s words: _Discite iustitiam moniti et non temnere +Diuos_ (_Æneid_, VI, 620), + + (Behold, and learn to practise right, + Nor do the blessed Gods despite). + +To the right and the left were engraved upon two panels, the one Latin, +the other German, two verses from the Bible, 3 Kings ix. 8, 9; which are +Englished as follows: “This house shall be made an example of: every +one that shall pass by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and say: +Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house? And they +shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their +fathers out of the land of Egypt, and followed strange gods, and adored +them, and worshipped them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them +all this evil.” This is a concise summary of the basic reason for the +prosecution of witches, the standpoint of Christian authority, whose +professors justly and logically regarded sorcery as being in essence +heresy, to be suppressed by the same measures, to be punished with the +same penalties. + +In connexion with the close correlation between Witchcraft and heresy +there is a very remarkable fact, the significance of which has—so far +as I am aware—never been noted. The full fury of prosecution burst over +England during the first half of the seventeenth century, that is to +say, shortly after the era of a great religious upheaval, when the work +of rehabilitation and recovery so nobly initiated by Queen Mary I had +been wrecked owing to the pride, lust, and baseness of her sister. In +Scotland, envenomed to the core with the poison of Calvin and Knox, +fire and cord were seldom at rest. It is clear that heresy had brought +Witchcraft swiftly in its train. Ireland has ever been singularly free +from Witchcraft prosecutions, and with the rarest exceptions—chiefly, if +not solely, the famous Dame Alice Kyteler case of 1324—the few trials +recorded are of the seventeenth century and engineered by the Protestant +party. The reason for this exemption is plain. Until the stranger forced +his way into Ireland, heresy had no foothold there. That the Irish firmly +believed in witches, we know, but the Devil’s claws were finely clipped. + +In 1022 a number of Manichees were burned alive by order of Robert I. +They had been condemned by a Synod at Orleans and refused to recant +their errors.[52] A contemporary document clearly identifies them with +witches, worshippers of the Demon, who appeared to them under the form +of an animal. Other abominable rites are fully set forth, comparable to +the pages of Sprenger, Bodin, Boguet, De Lancre, Guazzo, and the rest. +The account runs as follows: “Before we proceed to other details I will +at some length inform those who are as yet ignorant of these matters, +how that food which they call Food from Heaven is made and provided. On +certain nights of the year they all meet together in an appointed house, +each one of them carrying a lantern in his hand. They then begin to sing +the names of various demons, as though they were chanting a litany, +until suddenly they perceive that the Devil has appeared in the midst +of them in the shape of some animal or other. As he would seem to be +visible to them all in some mysterious way they immediately extinguish +the lights, and each one of them as quickly as he can seizes upon the +woman, who chances to be nearest at hand.... When a child happens to +be born ... on the eighth day they all meet together and light a large +fire in their midst, and then the child is passed through the fire, +ceremonially, according to the sacrifices of the old heathen, and +finally is burnt in the flames. The ashes are collected and reserved, +with the same veneration as Christians are wont to reserve the Blessed +Sacrament, and they give those who are on the point of death a portion +of these ashes as if it were the Viaticum. There appears to be such +power infused by the Devil into the said ashes that a man who belongs +to these heretics and happens to have tasted even the smallest quantity +of these ashes can scarcely ever be persuaded to abandon his heresies +and to turn his thoughts towards the true path. It must suffice to give +only these details, as a warning to all Christians to take no part in +these abominations, and God forbid that curiosity should lead anybody to +explore them.”[53] + +At Forfar, in 1661, Helen Guthrie and four other witches exhumed the +body of an unbaptised infant, which was buried in the churchyard near +the south-east door of the church, “and took severall peices thereof, +as the feet, hands, a pairt of the head, and a pairt of the buttock, +and they made a py thereof, that they might eat of it, that by this +meanes they might never make a confession (as they thought) of their +witchcraftis.”[54] + +The belief of 1022 and 1661 is the same, because it is the same +organization. The very name of the Vaudois, stout heretics, survives in +Voodoo worship, which is, in effect, African fetishism or Witchcraft +transplanted to America soil. + +In 1028 Count Alduin burned a number of Manichees at Angoulême, and the +chronicle runs: “Interea iussu Alduini flammis exustæ sunt mulieres +maleficæ extra urbem.”[55] (About this time certain evil women, heretics, +were burned without the city by the command of Alduin.) The Templars, +whose Order was suppressed and the members thereof executed on account +of their sorceries, were clearly a Society of Gnostic heretics, active +propagandists, closely connected with the Bogomiles and the Mandæans or +Johannites.[56] + +It is true that in his recent study _The Religion of the Manichees_,[57] +Dr. F. G. Buskitt, with a wealth of interesting detail and research, has +endeavoured to show that the Bogomiles, the Cathari, the Albigenses, +and other unclean bodies only derived fragments of their teaching from +Manichæan sources, and he definitely states “I think it misleading to +call these sects, even the Albigensians, by the name of Manichees.” But +in spite of his adroit special pleading the historical fact remains; +although we may concede that the abominable beliefs of these various +Gnostics were perhaps a deduction from, or a development of, the actual +teaching of Mani. Yet none the less their evil was contained in his +heresy and a logical consequence of it. + +In the early years of this century important discoveries of Manichæan +MSS. have been made. Three or four scientific expeditions to Chinese +Turkestan brought back some thousands of fragments, especially from the +neighbourhood of a town called Turfan. Many of these screeds are written +in the peculiar script of the Manichees, some of which can be deciphered, +although unfortunately the newly found documents are mere scraps, bits of +torn books and rolls, and written in languages as yet imperfectly known. +Much of the new doctrine is of the wildest and most fantastic theosophy, +and the initiate were, as we know, sufficiently cunning not to commit +the esoteric and true teachings to writing, but preferred that there +should be an oral tradition. One important piece, the _Khuastuanift_, +i.e. “Confession,” has been recovered almost in its entirety. It is +in the old Turkestan Turkish language, and seems full of the most +astounding contradictions or paradoxes, a consensus of double meanings +and subtleties. + +The question is asked whether we ought to consider Manichæism as an +independent religion or a Christian heresy? Eznih of Kolb, the Armenian +writer of the fifth century, when attacking Zoroastrianism, obviously +treats Manichæism as a variety of Persian religion. The orthodox +documents, however, from Mark the Deacon onwards treat Manichæism as in +the main a Christian heresy and this is assuredly the correct view. There +is in existence a polemical fragment, a single ill-preserved pair of +leaves, in which the Manichæan writer pours forth horrid blasphemies and +vilely attacks those who call Mary’s Son (_Bar Maryam_) the Son of Adonay. + +It may be worth while here to say just a word correcting a curious +old-fashioned misapprehension which once prevailed in certain quarters +concerning the Albigenses, an error of which we occasionally yet catch +the echoes, as when Mrs. Grenside wrote that the Albigenses were “a sect +of the 14th century which, owing to their secret doctrine, endured much +ecclesiastical persecution.”[58] The impression left, and it is one +which was not altogether uncommon some seventy years ago, is that the +Albigensian was a stern old Protestant father, Bible and sword in hand, +who defended his hearth and home against the lawless brigands spurred +on to attack him by priestly machinations. Nothing, of course, could be +further from the truth. The Albigensian was a Satanist, a worshipper of +the powers of evil, and he would have found short shrift indeed, fire +and the stake, in Puritan England under Cromwell, or in Calvinistic +Scotland had his practices been even dimly guessed at by the Kirk. As Dr. +Arendzen well says[59]: “Albigensianism was not really a heresy against +Christianity and the Catholic Church, it was a revolt against nature, a +pestilential perversion of human instinct.” + +Towards the end of the nineteenth century a _Neo-Gnostic Church_ was +formed by Fabre des Essarts, but that great pontiff Leo XIII promptly +condemned it with fitting severity as a recrudescence of the old +Albigensian heresy, complicated by the addition of new false and impious +doctrines. It is said still to have a number of unhappy adherents. +These Neo-Gnostics believe that the world is created by Satan, who is a +powerful rival to the omnipotence of God. They also preach a dangerous +communism, speciously masqued under some such titles as the “Brotherhood +of Man” or the “Brotherhood of Nations.” + +In 1900, after a letter from Joanny Bricaud,[60] the patriarch of +universal Gnosticism at Lyons, where, in 1913, he was residing at 8, rue +Bugeaud, the Neo-Gnostics joined with the Valentinians, a union approved +by their pseudo-Council of Toulouse in 1903. But some years later Dr. +Fugairon of Lyons, who adopted the name of Sophronius, amalgamated all +the branches, with the exception of the Valentinians, under the name +of the _Gnostic Church of Lyons_. These, however, although excluded, +continued to follow their own way of salvation, and in 1906 formally +addressed a legal declaration to the Republican Government defending +their religious rights of association. Truly might Huysmans tell us that +Satanism flourished at Lyons, “où toutes les hérésies survivent,” “where +every heresy pullulates and is green.” These Gnostic assemblies are +composed of “perfected ones,” male and female. The modern Valentinians, +it is said, have a form of spiritual marriage, bestowing the name +of Helen upon the mystic bride. The original founder of this sect, +Valentinus, was, according to S. Epiphanius (_Hæresis_ XXXI) born in +Egypt, and educated at Alexandria. His errors led to excommunication and +he died in Cyprus, about A.D. 160-161. His heresy is a fantastic medley +of Greek and Oriental speculation, tinged with some vague colouring of +Christianity. The Christology of Valentinus is especially confused. He +seems to have supposed the existence of three redeemers, but Christ, the +Son of Mary, did not have a real body and did not suffer. Even his more +prominent disciples, Heracleon, Ptolemy, Marcos, and Bardesanes, widely +differed from their master, as from one another. Many of the writings +of these Gnostics, and a large number of excerpts from Valentinus’s own +works yet survive. + +One or two writers of the nineteenth century remarked that there seemed +to be some connexion between certain points of the Sabbat ceremonial and +the rites of various pagan deities, which is, of course, a perfectly +correct observation. For we have seen that Witchcraft as it existed in +Europe from the eleventh century was mainly the spawn of Gnostic heresy, +and heresy by its very nature embraced and absorbed much of heathendom. +In some sense Witchcraft was a descendant of the old pre-Christian magic, +but it soon assumed a slightly different form, or rather at the advent +of Christianity it was exposed and shown in its real foul essence as the +worship of the Evil Principle, the Enemy of Mankind, Satan. + +It may freely be acknowledged that there are certain symbols common to +Christianity itself and to ancient religions. It would in truth be very +surprising if, when seeking to propagate her doctrines in the midst of +Græco-Roman civilization, the Church had adopted for her intercourse with +the people a wholly unknown language, and had systematically repudiated +everything that until then had served to give expression to religious +feeling. + +Within the limits imposed by the conventions of race and culture, the +method of interpreting the emotions of the heart cannot be indefinitely +varied, and it was natural that the new religion should appropriate and +incorporate all that was good in a ritual much of which only required +to be rightly interpreted and directed to become the language of the +Christian soul aspiring to the one True God. Certain attitudes of +prayer and reverence, the use of incense and of lamps burning day and +night in the sanctuary, the offering of ex-votos as a testimony to +benefits received, all these are man’s natural expressions of piety and +gratitude towards a divine power, and it would be strange indeed if their +equivalents were not met with in all religions. + +Cicero tells us that at Agrigentum there was a much-venerated statue +of Hercules, of which the mouth and chin were worn away by the many +worshippers who pressed their lips to it.[61] The bronze foot of the +statue of the first Pope, S. Peter, in Rome has not withstood any +better the pious kisses of the faithful. Yet he were a very fool who +imagined that modern Christians have learned anything from the Sicilian +contemporaries of Verres. What is true is that the same thought in +analogous circumstances has found natural expression after an interval of +centuries in identical actions and attitudes. + +Among the Greeks, heroes, reputed to be the mortal sons of some divinity, +were specially honoured in the city with which they were connected by +birth and through the benefits they had conferred upon it. After death +they became the patrons and protectors of these towns. Every country, +nay, almost every village, had such local divinities to whom monuments +were raised and whom the people invoked in their prayers. The centre +of devotion was generally the hero’s tomb, which was often erected in +the middle of the agora, the nave of public life. In most cases it was +sheltered by a building, a sort of chapel known as ἡρῷον. The celebrated +temples, too, were not infrequently adorned with a great number of +cenotaphs of heroes, just as the shrines of Saints are honoured in +Christian churches.[62] More, the translations of the bones or ashes +of heroes were common in Greece. Thus in the archonship of Apsephion, +469 B.C., the remains of Theseus were brought from Scyros to Athens, +and carried into the city amid sacrifices and every demonstration of +triumphal joy.[63] Thebes recovered from Ilion the bones of Hector, and +presented to Athens those of Œdipus, to Lebadea those of Arcesilaus, and +to Megara those of Aigialeus.[64] + +The analogy between these ancient practices and Christianity may be +pushed further yet. Just as, in our own churches, objects that have +belonged to the Saints are exposed for the veneration of the faithful, so +in the old temples visitors were shown divers curiosities whose connexion +with a god or a hero would command their respect. At Minihi Tréguier we +may reverence a fragment of the Breviary of S. Yves, at Sens the stole +of S. Thomas of Canterbury, at Bayeux the chasuble of S. Regnobert, in +S. Maria Maggiore the cincture and veil of S. Scholastica; so in various +localities of Greece were exhibited the cittara of Paris, the lyre of +Orpheus, portions of the ships of Agamemnon and Æneas. Can anything +further be needed to prove that the veneration of Holy Relics is merely a +pagan survival? + +Superficially the theory seems plausible enough, and yet it will not +stand a moment before the judgement of history. The cultus of the +Saints and their Relics is not an outcome of ancient hero-worship, but +of reverence for the Martyrs, and this can be demonstrated without any +possibility of question. So here we have two very striking parallels, +each of which has an analogous starting-point, two cults which naturally +develop upon logical and similar lines, but without any interdependence +whatsoever. Needless to say, the unbalanced folklorist, who is in general +far too insufficiently equipped for any such inquiry, has rushed in with +his theories—to his own utter undoing. And so, with regard to Witchcraft, +there appear in the rites of the Sabbat and other hellish superstitions +to be ceremonies which are directly derived from heathendom, but this, as +a matter of fact, is far from the case. Accordingly we recognize that the +thesis of Miss M. A. Murray in her anthropological study _The Witch-Cult +n Western Europe_,[65] although worked out with nice ingenuity and no +little documentation, is radically and wholly erroneous. Miss Murray +actually postulates that “underlying the Christian religion was a cult +practised by many classes of the community” which “can be traced back +to pre-Christian times, and appears to be the ancient religion of +Western Europe.” We are given a full account of the chief festivals of +this imaginary cult, of its hierarchy, its organization, and many other +details. The feasts and dances—the obscene horrors of the Sabbat—“show +that it was a joyous religion”! It is impossible to conceive a more +amazing assertion. Miss Murray continues to say that “as such it must +have been quite incomprehensible to the gloomy Inquisitors and Reformers +who suppressed it.” The Reformers, for all their dour severity, perfectly +well appreciated with what they were dealing, and the Inquisitors, the +sons of S. Dominic who was boundless in his charity and of S. Francis, +whose very name breathes Christ-like love to all creation, were men of +the profoundest knowledge and deepest sympathies, whose first duty it +was to stamp out the infection lest the whole of Society be corrupted +and damned. Miss Murray does not seem to suspect that Witchcraft was +in truth a foul and noisome heresy, the poison of the Manichees. Her +“Dianic cult,” which name she gives to this “ancient religion” supposed +to have survived until the Middle Ages and even later and to have been +a formidable rival to Christianity, is none other than black heresy and +the worship of Satan, no primitive belief with pre-agricultural rites, +in latter days persecuted, misinterpreted, and misunderstood. It is +true that in the Middle Ages Christianity had—not a rival but a foe, +the eternal enemy of the Church Militant against whom she yet contends +to-day, the dark Lord of that city which is set contrariwise to the City +of God, the Terrible Shadow of destruction and despair. + +Miss Murray with tireless industry has accumulated a vast number of +details by the help of which she seeks to build up and support her +imaginative thesis. Even those that show the appropriation by the cult +of evil of the more hideous heathen practices, both of lust and cruelty, +which prevailed among savage or decadent peoples, afford no evidence +whatsoever of any continuity of an earlier religion, whilst by far +the greater number of the facts she quotes are deflected, although +no doubt unconsciously, and sharply wrested so as to be patent of the +signification it is endeavoured to read into them. Miss Murray speaks, +for example, of witches “who, like the early Christian martyrs, rushed +headlong on their fate, determined to die for their faith and their +God.”[66] And later, discussing the “Sacrifice of the God,” a theme which +it is interesting and by no means impertinent to note, folklorists have +elaborated in the most fanciful manner, basing upon the scantiest and +quite contradictory evidence an abundant sheaf of wildly extravagant +theories and fables, she tells us that the burning of witches at the +hands of the public executioner was a “sacrifice of the incarnate +deity.”[67] One might almost suppose that the condemned went cheerfully +and voluntarily to the cruellest and most torturing punishment, for +the phrase “Self-devotion to death” is used in this connexion. On the +contrary, we continually find in the witch-trials that the guilty, as +was natural, sought to escape from their doom by any and every means; +by flight, as in the case of Gilles de Sillé and Roger de Bricqueville, +companions of Gilles de Rais; by long and protracted defences, such as +was that of Agnes Fynnie, executed in Edinburgh in 1644; by threats and +blackmail of influential patrons owing to which old Bettie Laing of +Pittenween escaped scot-free in 1718; by pleading pregnancy at the trial +as did Mother Samuel, the Warbois witch, who perished on the gallows 7 +April, 1593; by suicide as the notorious warlock John Reid, who hanged +himself in prison at Paisley, in 1697. + +Of the theoretical “Sacrifice of the incarnate deity” Miss Murray writes: +“This explanation accounts for the fact that the bodies of witches, male +or female, were always burnt and the ashes scattered; for the strong +prejudice which existed, as late as the eighteenth century, against any +other mode of disposing of their bodies; and for some of the otherwise +inexplicable occurrences in connexion with the deaths of certain of the +victims.”[68] Three instances are cited to prove these three statements, +but it will be seen upon examination that not one of these affords the +slightest evidence in support of the triple contention. In the first +place we are informed that “in the light of this theory much of the +mystery which surrounds the fate of Joan of Arc is explained.” How +is not divulged, but this is capped by the astounding and indecorous +assertion that S. Joan of Arc “belonged to the ancient religion, not to +the Christian.” It is superfluous to say that there is not a tittle of +evidence for such an amazing hypothesis in reference to the Saint. + +Gilles de Rais, whose execution is next quoted by Miss Murray in support +of her postulate, proves a singularly unfortunate example. We are told +that “like Joan he was willing to be tried for his faith,” by which is +meant the imaginary “Dianic cult.” This is a purely gratuitous assertion, +not borne out in any way by his behaviour at his trial, nor by the +details of any authoritative account or report of the proceedings. Gilles +de Rais was hanged on a gibbet above a pyre, but when the heat had burned +through the rope the body was quickly taken up from the blazing wood, and +afterwards buried in the neighbouring Carmelite church. One may compare +the execution of Savonarola and his two fellow friars on 25 May, 1498. +They were strangled at the gallows, their bodies committed to the flames, +and their ashes carefully gathered and thrown into the Arno. Gilles de +Rais was condemned by three distinct courts; by the Holy Inquisition, +the presidents being Jean de Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes, and Jean +Blouyn, vice-inquisitor, O.P., S.T.M., on charges of heresy and sorcery; +by the episcopal court on charges of sacrilege and the violation of +ecclesiastical rights; by the civil court of John V, Duke of Brittany, on +multiplied charges of murder. + +The third case quoted by Miss Murray is that of Major Weir, who “offered +himself up and was executed as a witch in Edinburgh.” Thomas Weir, who +was a hypocritical Puritan, a leader “among the Presbyterian strict +sect,” and regarded as a Saint throughout Edinburgh, had all the while +secretly led a life of hideous debauchery and was stained with the most +odious and unnatural crimes. In 1670, which was the seventieth year of +his age, he appears to have been stricken with terrible fits of remorse +and despair; the pangs of his guilty conscience drove him to the verge of +madness and his agony could only be eased by a full, ample, and public +confession of his misdeeds. For a few months his party, in order to avoid +the scandal and disgrace, contrived to stifle the matter, but a minister +“whom they esteemed more forward than wise” revealed the secret to the +Lord Provost of the city, and an inquiry was instituted. The wretched old +man, insistently declaring that “the terrors of God which were upon his +soul urged him to confess and accuse himself,” was arrested, together +with his crazy sister Jean, who was implicated in his abominations. “All +the while he was in prison he lay under violent apprehension of the +heavy wrath of God, which put him into that which is properly called +despair,” and to various ministers who visited him he declared, “I know +my sentence of damnation is already sealed in Heaven ... for I find +nothing within me but blackness, darkness, Brimstone, and burning to the +bottom of Hell.”[69] The whole account gives a complete and perfectly +comprehensible psychological study. So sudden a revulsion of feeling, the +loathing of foul acts accompanied by the sheer inability to repent of +them, is quite understandable in a septuagenarian, worn out in body by +years of excess and enfeebled in mind owing to the heavy strain of hourly +acting an artificial and difficult rôle. The intense emotionalism of the +degenerate has not infrequently been observed eventually to give way to +a state of frenzied anguish, for which the alienist Magnan coined the +name “Anxiomania,” a species of mental derangement that soon drives the +patient to hysterical confession and boundless despair. “I am convinced,” +says one writer with regard to Major Weir, “of the prisoner having +been delirious at the time of his trial.”[70] His sister frantically +accused her brother of Witchcraft, but it is remarkable that in his case +this charge was not taken up and examined. I do not say that Weir was +not supposed to be a warlock; as a matter of fact he was notoriously +reputed such, and strange stories were told of his magic staff and other +enchantments, but Witchcraft was not the main accusation brought against +him in the official courts. He was found guilty of adultery, fornication, +incest, and bestiality, and on these several counts sentenced to be +strangled at a stake betwixt Edinburgh and Leith, on Monday, 11 April, +1670, and his body to be burned to ashes. Jean Weir was condemned for +incest and Witchcraft and hanged on 12 April in the Grassmarket at +Edinburgh. To the last this miserable lunatic placed “a great deal of +confidence in her constant adherence to the Covenant, which she called +_the cause and interest of Christ_.”[71] + +It will be seen that Miss Murray’s citation is incorrect and therefore +impertinent. Major Weir was not executed “as a witch.” Moreover, both +he and Gilles de Rais were actually strangled, and such examples must +entirely fail to account “for the fact that the bodies of witches, male +or female, were always burnt and the ashes scattered,” especially since +in the latter case, as we have noticed, the body was honourably buried in +the church of the Whitefriars. In fine, to endeavour to connect, however +ingeniously, the fate of S. Joan of Arc, the execution of Gilles de Rais +and Major Weir, with the folklorists’ theory of “the sacrifice of the +incarnate deity” is merest fantasy. + +The gist of the whole matter lies elsewhere. Death at the stake was the +punishment reserved for heretics. As we have already noticed, Diocletian +ruthlessly burned the Manichees: “We order then that the professors and +teachers be punished with the utmost penalties, which is to say they +are to be burned with fire together with all their execrable books and +writings.”[72] The Visigoth code condemned pagans or heretics who had +committed sacrilege to the flames, and together with them it grouped all +Manichees: “It is known that many Proconsuls have thrown blasphemers to +the beasts, nay, have even burned some alive.”[73] The Visigoth code of +Rekeswinth (652-672) punishes Judaizers with death, “aut lapide puniatur, +aut igne cremetur.” (Let them be stoned or burned with fire.) But it was +actually in the eleventh century that the civil power first generally +ordained the penalty of the stake for the heretics, who were, it must +always be remembered, mad anarchists endeavouring to destroy all social +order, authority, and decency. “In Italy even many adherents of this +pestilential belief were found, and these wretches were slain with the +sword or burned at the stake,”[74] writes Adhémar de Chabannes, a monk +of Angoulême, about the middle of the eleventh century. In a letter of +Wazon, Bishop of Liège, there is an allusion to similar punishments which +were being inflicted in Flanders. + +A striking example of the heretical anarchists who troubled Europe about +the beginning of the twelfth century may be seen in Tanchelin[75] and +his followers. This fanatic, who was originally a native of Zealand, +journeyed throughout Flanders preaching his monstrous doctrines +everywhere he could find listeners and especially concentrating upon +the city of Antwerp. In 1108 and 1109 he appeared at Arras and Cambrai, +persuading many evil and ignorant persons to accept his abominable +tenets. The tares were thickly sown, and it is terribly significant that +some three centuries later, about 1469, there was a fearful epidemic of +sorcery throughout the whole district of the Artois, in reference to +which the anonymous author—probably an Inquisitor—of a contemporary work +entitled _Erreurs des Gazariens ou de ceux que l’on prouve chevaucher +sur un balai ou un bâton_ expressly identified such heretics as the +Gazariens, who are Cathari, and the Vaudois (Poor Lombards) with warlocks +and sorcerers. In 1112 Tanchelin, who had actually visited Rome itself, +was upon his return arrested and thrown into prison at Cologne, whence, +however, he managed to escape, and accompanied by an apostate priest +Everwacher and a Jew Manasses, who had formerly been a blacksmith, at +the head of a formidable band of three thousand ruffians, outlaws, cast +gamesters, brigands, murderers, beggars and thieves, the parbreak of +every slum and stew, he terrorized the whole countryside, the people +being afraid, the bishops and secular princes seemingly unable to resist +him. + +The teaching of Tanchelin was, as might be expected, largely incoherent +and illogical, the ravings of a frantic brain, but none the less +dangerous and wholly abominable. The Church was, of course, directly +attacked and blasphemed. With abuse and foul language, extraordinarily +like the language of the so-called Reformers in the sixteenth century, +the hierarchy and all ecclesiastical order were repudiated and +contemned, priests and religious in particular were to be persecuted +and exterminated since the priesthood was a fiction and a snare; the +Sacrifice of Holy Mass was a mockery, all Sacraments were void and empty +forms, useless for salvation[76]; the churches themselves were to be +accounted as brothels and markets of shame. “This very spawn of Satan +and black angel of woe declared that the churches, dedicated to God’s +worship, were bawdy-houses. That, at Holy Mass there was no Sacrifice +at the hands of the priest; the Service of the Altar was filth, not a +Sacrament.”[77] Tanchelin declared himself to be the Messiah, God, the +Son of God, the Perfect Man, the sum of all the divine emanations in one +system, upon whom had descended and in whom abode the pleroma of the Holy +Spirit. “This miserable wretch advanced from evil to evil and at length +proceeded to such an extremity of unheard-of wickedness that he gave +himself out to be God, asserting that if Christ be God because the Holy +Ghost dwelt in Him, he himself was not less than and of the same nature +as God, seeing that he enjoyed the plenitude of the Holy Ghost.”[78] Here +the Gnostic character of his teaching is very apparent. He even caused a +temple to be erected in his honour where he was worshipped with sacrifice +and hymns. His followers, indeed, regarded this lunatic wretch with such +an excess of veneration that the dirty water from his bath was actually +collected in phials and solemnly distributed among them, whereof they +partook as of a sacrament. + +It must be borne in mind that Tanchelin’s programme did not solely +comprise a negation of Christian dogma; this we find in most of the +innovators at the time of the so-called Reformation, but his ultimate +aim was to effect a social revolution, to overturn the existing order +of things and produce communistic chaos with himself as overlord +and dictator. The way for anarchy could only have been paved by the +destruction of the Church, the supreme representative of authority and +order throughout the world, and it was accordingly against the Church +that this superman launched his fiercest diatribes. To further his ends +he encouraged, nay, commanded, the open practice of the foulest vices; +incest, adultery, fornication were declared to be works of spiritual +efficacy; unmentionable abominations flaunted themselves in the face +of day; virtue became an offence; men were driven to vice and crime, +and anon they gradually sank in a stupor of infamy and sheer boneless +degradation. + +The unfortunate town of Antwerp came directly under Tanchelin’s +influence. Here he reigned as king, surrounded by vile and obsequious +satellites who ground the miserable citizens to the dust and filled each +street and corner with orgies of lust and blood. There is a strange and +striking parallel between the details of his foul career and the Russian +tyranny to-day. Little wonder that in 1116 a priest, maddened by the +outrages and profanities of this hellish crew, scattered the heretic’s +brains upon the deck of his royal barge as one afternoon he was sailing +in pompous state down the river Schelde: “After a life of infamy, +bloodshed, and heresy, whilst he was sailing on the river he was struck +on the head by a certain priest and falling down died there.”[79] All +unfortunately, however, the pernicious errors of Tanchelin did not expire +with their author. Antwerp remained plunged in dissipation and riot, and +although strenuous efforts were made to restore decency and order, at +first these seemed to be entirely nugatory and fruitless. Burchard, the +Bishop of Cambrai, at once sent twelve of his most revered and learned +canons under the conduct of Hidolphe, a priest of acknowledged sagacity +and experience, to endeavour to reform the town by word and example, but +it seemed as though their efforts were doomed to failure and ill-success. +At length, almost in despair, the good prelate begged S. Norbert,[80] who +some three years before had founded his Order at Prémontré, to essay the +thankless and wellnigh impossible task. Without demur or hesitation the +Saint cheerfully undertook so difficult a mission and accompanied only by +S. Evermonde,[81] and Blessed Waltman, together with a few more of his +most fervent followers he arrived at Antwerp without delay to begin his +work there towards the end of 1123. Success at once crowned his efforts; +in an incredibly short space of time the people confessed their errors, +abuses were reformed, the leprous town cleansed of its foulness, public +safety, order, and decorum once again established, and, what is extremely +striking to notice, the old chroniclers draw attention to the fact that +a large number both of men and women in deepest penitence brought to S. +Norbert quantities of consecrated Hosts which they had purloined from +the tabernacles and kept concealed in boxes and other hiding-places to +utilize for charms and evil invocations, to profane in devil-worship and +at the Sabbat. So marvellous was the change from darkness to light that +year by year the Premonstratensian Order upon the Saturday[82] after the +Octave of Corpus Christi solemnly observes a fitting memorial thereof in +the glad Feast of the Triumph of Holy Father Norbert. + +In this incident of the stolen Hosts the connexion between Gnostic +heresy and Satanism is clearly seen. It was in such soil as the +antinomianism of Tanchelin that the poisoned weeds of sorcery would +thrive apace. The authorities recognized that drastic measures must be +employed, and at Bonn a company of impure fanatics who attempted to +disseminate his ideas were incontinently sent to the stake. + +The other arguments brought forward by Miss Murray to support her thesis +of the continuity of a primitive religion are mainly “the persistence +of the number thirteen in the Covens, the narrow geographical range +of the domestic familiar, the avoidance of certain forms in the +animal transformations, the limited number of personal names among +the women-witches, and the survival of the names of some of the early +gods.”[83] Even if these details could be proved up to the hilt and +shown to be pertinent the evidence were not convincing; it would at best +point to some odd survivals, such as are familiar in an hundred ways to +every student of hagiography, history, myths and legends, old religions, +geography, iconography, topography, etymology, anthropology, and +antiquarian lore in a myriad branches. If we examine the matter broadly +we shall find that these circumstances are for the most part local, not +general, that in many instances they cannot be clearly substantiated, for +the evidence is conflicting and obscure. + +“The ‘fixed number’ among the witches of Great Britain,” Miss Murray +notes, “seems to have been thirteen,”[84] and certainly in many cases +amongst the English trials the coven appears to have consisted of +thirteen members, although it may be borne in mind that very probably +there were often other associates who were not traced and involved and +so escaped justice. Yet Miss Murray does not explain why the number +thirteen should form any link with an earlier ritual and worship. On the +other hand, the demonologists are never tired of insisting that Satan is +the ape of God in all things, and that the worshippers of evil delight +to parody every divine ordinance and institution. The explanation is +simple. The number thirteen was adopted by the witches for their covens +in mockery of Our Lord and His Apostles. + +“The narrow geographical range of the domestic familiar” is not at all +apparent, and it were futile to base any presumption upon so slender +a line of argument. “The avoidance of certain forms in the animal +transformation” is upon a general view of Witchcraft found to be nothing +other than the non-occurrence of the lamb and the dove, and these two +were abhorred by sorcerers, seeing that Christ is the Lamb of God, Agnus +Dei, whilst the Dove is the manifestation of the Holy Ghost.[85] There is +one instance, the trial of Agnes Wobster at Aberdeen in 1597, when the +Devil is said to have appeared to the witch “in the liknes of a lamb, +quhom thou callis thy God, and bletit on the, and thaireftir spak to +the.”[86] But this rare exception must be understood to be a black and +deformed lamb, not the snow-white Agnus Dei. In pictures of the Doctors +of the Church, particularly perhaps S. Gregory the Great and S. Alphonsus +de Liguori, the Dove is seen breathing divine inspiration into the ear +of the Saint who writes the heavenly message, thus directly given by God +the Holy Ghost. So in a Franco-German miniature of the eleventh century +in the _Hortus Deliciarum_ we see a black hideous bird breathing into the +ear of a magician thoughts evil and dark. This cloudy and sombre spirit, +violent in its attitude and lean in body stretches its meagre throat +towards the ear of the wicked man, who, seated at a desk, transcribes +upon a parchment the malevolent and baleful charms which it dictates. It +is in fact the Devil.[87] + +With reference to the argument based upon “the limited number of personal +names among the women-witches” this simply resolves itself into the fact +that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there were in general +use (particularly amongst the peasantry) far fewer personal names than +have been employed of more recent years. To assert “that the name +_Christian_ clearly indicates the presence of another religion”[88] is +simple nonsense. It may be noticed, too, how many of the names which +Miss Murray has catalogued in such conscientious and alas! impertinent +detail are those of well-known Saints whose cult was universal throughout +Europe: Agnes, Alice, Anne, Barbara, Christopher, Collette, Elizabeth, +Giles, Isabel, James, John, Katherine, Lawrence, Margaret, Mary, Michael, +Patrick, Thomas, Ursula—and the list might be almost indefinitely +prolonged. + +“The survival of the names of some of the early gods” is also asserted. +In connexion with Witchcraft, however, very few examples of this can +be traced even by the most careful research. An old charm or two, a +nonsense rhyme, may now and again repeat some forgotten meaningless word +or refrain. Thus in a spell used by the witches of the Basses-Pyrénées, +cited by De Lancre (1609), we find mention of the old Basque deity +Janicot: “In nomine patrica, Aragueaco Petrica, Gastellaco Ianicot, +Equidæ ipordian pot.” Bodin gives a dance-jingle, “Har, har, diable, +diable, saute icy, saute là, ioüe icy, ioüe là,” to which the chorus +was “sabath sabath.” Miss Murray tells us that the Guernsey version +“which is currently reported to be used at the present day,” runs: “Har, +har, Hon, Hon, danse ici.”[89] Hon was an old Breton god, and there are +still remote districts whose local names recall and may be compounded +with that of this ancient deity. It is significant that in one case we +have a Basque deity, in the other a Breton; for Basque and Breton are +nearly, if obscurely, correlated. Such traces are interesting enough, +but by no means unique, hardly singular indeed, since they can be so +widely paralleled, and it were idle to base any elaborate argument +concerning the continuity of a fully organized cult upon slight and +unrelated survivals in dialect place-names and the mere doggerel lilt of +a peasant-song. + +There is in particular one statement advanced by Miss Murray which goes +far to show how in complete unconsciousness she is fitting her material +to her theory. She writes: “There is at present nothing to show how much +of the Witches’ Mass (in which the bread, the wine, and the candles were +black) derived from the Christian ritual and how much belonged to the +Dianic cult [the name given to this hypothetical but universal ancient +religion]; it is, however, possible that the witches’ service was the +earlier form and influenced the Christian.”[90] This last sentence is in +truth an amazing assertion. A more flagrant case of hysteron-proteron +is hardly imaginable. So self-evident is the absurdity that it refutes +itself, and one can only suppose that the words were allowed to remain +owing to their having been overlooked in the revision of a long and +difficult study, a venial negligence. Every prayer and every gesture +of Holy Mass, since the first Mass was celebrated upon the first +Maundy Thursday, has been studied in minutest detail by generations of +liturgiologists and ceremonialists, whose library is almost infinite +in its vastness and extent from the humblest pamphlets to the hugest +folios. We can trace each inspired development, when such an early phrase +was added, when such a hallowed sign was first made at such words in such +an orison. The witches’ service is a hideous burlesque of Holy Mass, and, +briefly, what Miss Murray suggests is that the parody may have existed +before the thing parodied. It is true that some topsy-turvy writers +have actually proclaimed that magic preceded religion, but this view +is generally discredited by the authorities of all schools. Sir James +Frazer, Sir A. L. Lyall, and Mr. F. B. Jevons, for example, recognize “a +fundamental distinction and even opposition of principle between magic +and religion.”[91] + +In fine, upon a candid examination of this theory of the continuity of +some primitive religion, which existed as an underlying organization +manifested in Witchcraft and sorcery, a serious rival feared and hated +by the Church, we find that nothing of the sort ever survived, that +there was no connexion between sorcery and an imaginary “Dianic cult.” +To write that “in the fifteenth century open war was declared against +the last remains of heathenism in the famous Bull of Innocent VIII”[92] +is to ignore history. As has been emphasized above, the Bull _Summis +desiderantes affectibus_ of 1484 was only one of a long series of Papal +ordinances directed against an intolerable evil not heathenism indeed, +but heresy. For heresy, sorcery, and anarchy were almost interchangeable +words, and the first Bull launched directly against the black art was +that of Alexander IV, 1258, two hundred and twenty-six years before. + +That here and there lingered various old harmless customs and festivities +which had come down from pre-Christian times and which the Church had +allowed, nay, had even sanctified by directing them to their right +source, the Maypole dances, for example, and the Midsummer fires which +now honour S. John Baptist, is a matter of common knowledge. But this is +no continuance of a pagan cult. + +From the first centuries of the Christian era, throughout the Middle +Ages, and continuously to the present day there has invariably been an +open avowal of intentional evil-doing on the part of the devotees of the +witch-cult, and the more mischief they did the more they pleased their +lord and master. Their revels were loathly, lecherous, and abominable, a +Sabbat where every circumstance of horror and iniquity found expression. +This in itself is an argument against Miss Murray’s theory, as none of +the earlier religions existed for the express purpose of perpetrating +evil for evil’s sake. We have but to read the eloquent and exquisite +description of the Eleusinian Mysteries by that accomplished Greek +scholar Father Cyril Martindale, S.J.,[93] to catch no mean nor mistaken +glimpse of the ineffable yearning for beauty, for purity, for holiness, +which filled the hearts of the worshippers of the goddess Persephoneia, +whose stately and impressive ritual prescribing fasts, bathing in +the waters of the sea, self-discipline, self-denial, self-restraint, +culminated in the Hall of Initiation, hallowed by the Earth-Mother, +Demeter, where the symbolic drama of life, death, and resurrection was +shown by the Hierophant to those who had wrestled, and endured, and were +adjudged worthy. How fair a shadow was this, albeit always and ever a +shadow, of the imperishable and eternal realities to come! How different +these Mysteries from the foul orgies of witches, the Sabbat, the black +mass, the adoration of hell. + +In truth it was not against heathenism that Innocent VIII sounded the +note of war, but against heresy. There was a clandestine organization +hated by the Church, and this was not sorcery nor any cult of witches +renewing and keeping green some ancient rites and pagan creed, but a +witch-cult that identified itself with and was continually manifested in +closest connexion with Gnosticism in its most degraded and vilest shapes. + +There is a curious little piece of symbolism, as it may be, which has +passed into the patois of the Pyrenees. Wizards are commonly known as +_poudouès_ and witches _poudouèros_, both words being derived from +_putere_, which signifies to have an evil smell. The demonologists +report, and it was commonly believed, that sorcerers could often be +detected by their foul and fetid odour. Hagiographers tell that S. +Philip Neri could distinguish heretics by their smell, and often he was +obliged to turn away his head when meeting them in the street. The same +is recorded of many other Saints, and this tradition is interesting +as it serves to show the close connexion there was held to be between +magic and heresy.[94] Saint Pachomius, the cenobite, could distinguish +heretics by their insupportable stench; the abbot Eugendis could tell +the virtues and vices of those whom he met by the perfume or the stink. +Saint Hilarion, as S. Jerome relates, could even distinguish a man’s sins +by the smell of a warm garment or cloak. Blessed Dominica of Paradise, +passing a soldier in the street, knew by the foul smell that he had +abandoned the faith, to which, however, her fervid exhortations and +prayers eventually restored him. Saint Bridget of Sweden was wellnigh +suffocated by the fetor of a notorious sinner who addressed her. Saint +Catherine of Siena experienced the same sensations; whilst Saint +Lutgarde, a Cistercian nun, on meeting a vicious reprobate perceived a +decaying smell of leprosy and disease. + +On the other hand, the Saints themselves have diffused sweetest +fragrances, and actually “the odour of sanctity” is more than a mere +phrase. One day in 1566, when he had entered the church at Somascha, a +secluded hamlet between Milan and Bergamo, S. Charles Borromeo exclaimed: +“I know by the heavenly fragrance in this sanctuary that a great Servant +of God lies buried here!” The church, in fact, contained the body of +S. Jerome Emiliani, who died in 1537. S. Herman Joseph could be traced +through the corridors of Steinfeld by the rare perfumes he scattered +as he walked. The same was the case with that marvellous mystic S. +Joseph of Cupertino. S. Thomas Aquinas smelt of male frankincense. I +myself have known a priest of fervent faith who at times diffused the +odour of incense. Maria-Vittoria of Genoa, Ida of Louvain, S. Colette, +S. Humiliana, were fragrant as sweet flowers. S. Francis of Paul and +Venturini of Bergamo scattered heavenly aromas when they offered the Holy +Sacrifice. The pus of S. John of the Cross gave forth a strong scent of +lilies. + +Miss Murray has worked out her thesis with no inconsiderable ingenuity, +but when details are considered, historically examined, and set in their +due proportions, it must be concluded that the theory of the continuity +of an ancient religion is baseless. Her book is called _A Study in +Anthropology_, and here we can, I think, at once put our finger upon +the fundamental mistake. Anthropology alone offers no explanation of +Witchcraft. Only the trained theologian can adequately treat the subject. +An amount of interesting material has been collected, but the key to the +dark mystery could not be found. + +Yet, as our investigations have shown, it was not so far to seek. +In the succinct phrase of that profound and prolific scholar Thomas +Stapleton[95]: “Crescit cum magia hæresis, cum hæresi magia.” (The weed +heresy grows alongside the weed witchcraft, the weed witchcraft alongside +the weed heresy.) + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER I. + +[1] _Paris. Jacques du Puys._ 4to. 1580. The preface, addressed to De +Thou, is signed: “De _Laon_, ce xx iour de _Decembre_, M.D.LXXIX.” There +were nine editions before 1604. The most complete is _Paris_, 4to. 1587. +In addition to the text it contains ten extra pages only found here +giving the trial of a sorcerer, Abel de la Rue, executed in 1582. + +[2] The first Papal bull dealing with sorcery was issued by Alexander +IV, 13 December, 1258. The last Papal Constitution concerned with this +crime is that of Urban VIII, _Inscrutabilis iudiciorum Dei altitudo_, +1 April, 1631. The last regular English trial seems to have been that +of an old woman and her son, acquitted at Leicester in 1717. In 1722 +the last execution of a Scottish witch took place at Loth; both English +and Scottish statutes were repealed in 1735. The Irish Statute was not +repealed until 1821. At Kempten in Bavaria, a mad heretic, a woman, was +executed for sorcery in 1775. In the Swiss canton of Glaris, a wench +named Anna Goeldi, was hanged as a witch, 17 June, 1782. Two hags were +burned in Poland on the same charge as late as 1793. + +[3] Roland Brévannes. _Les Messes Noires_, Iⁱᵉʳ tableau, scène VII. + +[4] I have actually heard it categorically laid down by a speaker in +a Shakespearean debate, a litterateur of professed culture, that the +Elizabethans could not, of course, really have believed in witchcraft. + +[5] In the Exhibition of this artist’s work at the Leicester Galleries, +London, in March, 1925. + +[6] ... qu’elle, & sa mère montoient sur vne ramasse, & que sortans le +contremont de la cheminée elles alloient par l’air en ceste façon au +Sabbat. Boguet, _Discours_, p. 104. + +[7] Glanvill, Part II. p. 194. + +[8] Julius Wellhausen. _Reste arabischen Heidenthums_, p. 159. Berlin, +1897. + +[9] _Apud_ Miss Murray’s _The Witch-Cult_. (1921). Appendix V. pp. 279-80. + +[10] Boguet, _Discours_. XVI. 4. + +[11] Benjamin Thorpe, _Monumenta Ecclesiastica_, II. p. 34. London, 1840. +The _Liber Pœnitentialis_ was first published complete by Wasserschleben +in 1851; a convenient edition is Migne, _P.L._ XCIX. + +[12] _Calendar of State Papers._ Domestic, 1584. + +[13] Sir Walter Scott, _Demonology and Witchcraft_, Letter V, gives the +narrative of this case, but in the light of later research his version +must be slightly corrected. + +[14] Pitcairn. I. pt. ii. p. 162. + +[15] _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, New Series, +vol. X. Edinburgh. + +[16] Sir James Melville, _Memoirs_. Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh. pp. 395-6. + +[17] London. “for _William Wright_.” N.D. [1591]. The woodcut is on the +title-page verso, and signature [c.ij.] verso. The pages are not numbered. + +[18] _Flying Ointments._ _Apud_ Miss Murray’s _Witch-Cult in Western +Europe_, p. 279. It may be noted that the scandals of the Black Mass +under Louis XIV were closely concerned with wholesale accusations of +poisoning. La Voisin was a notorious vendor of toxic philtres. The +possibility of poisoning the King, the Dauphin, Colbert and others was +frequently debated. + +[19] Dio Cassius. XLIX. 43. p. 756. ed. Sturz. + +[20] _Idem._ LII. 36. p. 149. + +[21] Suetonius. _Augustus._ 31. + +[22] Tacitus. _Annales._ II. 32. _More prisco._ “Ut eum infelici arbori +alligatum uirgis cædi, et postremo securi percuti iuberent.” Muret. + +[23] XII. 32. + +[24] Suetonius. _Vitellius._ 14. + +[25] Dio Cassius. LXVI. 10. + +[26] _La Magie et la Sorcellerie._ Paris. (1912.) I. p. 33. + +[27] _Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions_, II. p. 117. + +[28] The dates are as inaccurate as the statements. Giovanni Battista +Cibò was elected Pope 29 August, 1484; and the Bull was issued in the +December of that year, not in 1488. + +[29] _Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe_, c. 1. + +[30] _Dictionary of Universal Biography._ VIII. (1890). + +[31] A more detailed treatment will be found in the present writer’s _The +Geography of Witchcraft_, where the Bull is given _in extenso_. + +[32] _Epist._, c.n. 1. + +[33] _Hom._, XLVI. c. 1. + +[34] _Sententianum_, III. iv. nn. 4-6. + +[35] Theodosius II. _Nouellæ_, tit. III. A.D. 438. + +[36] Uanissimus [Priscillianus] et plus iusto inflatior profanarum rerum +scientia: quin et magicas artes ab adolescentia cum exercuisse creditum +est. Sulpicius Severus. II. 47. + +[37] H. C. Lea in his _History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages_, +(1888) I. 215, asserts that Leo I justified the act, and that successive +edicts against heresy were due to ecclesiastical influence. This is the +exact opposite of historical truth, and the writer has not hesitated to +transfer words of the Emperor to the Pope. + +[38] In a sermon published in 1896 by Dom Morin _Revue benédictine_, c. +xiii. p. 205. + +[39] _Epistola Elipandi ad Alcuinum_, Migne. Pat. Lat. CXCVI. p. 872. +Alcuin. _Opera Omnia._ Migne Pat. Lat. C-CI, especially _Liber Albini +contra hæresim Felicis_; _Libri VII aduersus Felicem_; _Aduersus +Elipandum Libri IV_. Florez, _España sagrada_. V. p. 562. Menendez y +Pelayo, _Historia de los heterodoxos españoles_, Madrid, 1880, I. p. 274. + +[40] The martyrdom of S. Peter is a well-known subject in art. Titian’s +masterpiece in the Dominican church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo at Venice was +destroyed by a fire on 16 August, 1867. But there are exquisite paintings +of the scene by Lorenzo Lotto and Bellini. S. Peter, whose shrine is in +San Eustorgio, Milan, was canonized 25 March, 1253, by Innocent IV. Major +Feast, 29 April. + +[41] Muratori. _Antiquitates italicæ medii æui_, Milan, 1738-42. + +[42] Gabriel Rossetti, _Disquisitions_, vol. I. p. 27. + +[43] Gervasius Dorobernensis, _Chronicon_. + +[44] _Vita S. Romanæ._ n. 10; Acta SS. die, 3 Oct. p. 138. S. Gregorii +VII. Lib. I. Epistola 75, _ad Philippum_. + +[45] Labbe. _Sacrosancta concilia._ 18 vols. folio. 1671. Vol. X. col. 84. + +[46] Quarum rerum rex uester, qui non rex sed tyrannus dicendus est, +suadente diabolo, caput et causa est, qui omnem aetatem suam flagitiis et +facinoribus polluit. _Idem_, vol. X. col. 72. + +[47] Sane ... prouinciali ordinis prædicatorum in eodem regno dedimus +in mandatis, ut aliquibus fratribus suis aptis ad hoc, inquisitionem +contra illos committeret in regno præfato ... fraternitati tuæ ... +mandamus quatenus ... per alios qui ad hoc idonei uidebuntur, festines +... procedere in inquisitionis negotio et ad dominicum certamen accingi. +Ripoll et Brémond, _Bullarium ordinis S. Dominici_, I. p. 80. (8 vols. +Romæ. 1737, _sqq._). + +[48] Fratres ... qui ad prædicandum crucem uel inquirendum contra +prauitatem hæreticam ... sunt deputati. Wadding. _Annales Minorum._ ed. +secunda. 24 vols. Romæ, 1732, _sqq._ III. 144. + +[49] _Gnostic Heresies._ + +[50] Jules Bois. _Le Satanisme et la Magie_, c. 6. + +[51] It is true that S. Augustine does not bring a charge of depravity +against the Manichæans, but they veiled their vices with the greatest +caution, and S. Augustine was simply a catechumen, one of the Auditors, +who would have known nothing of these esoteric abominations. + +[52] Extra ciuitatis educti muros in quodam tuguriolo copioso igne +accenso ... cremati sunt. _Gesta synodi Aurelianensis._ Arnould. +_L’Inquisition._ (Paris, 1869). VI. p. 46. + +[53] Sed antequam ad conflictum ueniamus, de cibo illo, qui cœlestis +ab illis dicebatur, quali arte conficiebatur, nescientibus demonstrare +curabo. Congregabantur si quidem certis noctibus in domo denominata, +singuli lucernas tenentes in manibus, ad instar letaniæ demonum nomina +declamabant, donec subito Dæmonem in similitudine cuiuslibet bestiolæ +inter eos uiderent descendere. Qui statim, ut uisibilis ille uidebatur +uisio, omnibus extinctis luminaribus, quamprimum quisque poterat, +mulierem, quæ ad manum sibi ueniebat, ad abutendum arripiebat, sine +peccati respectu, et utrum mater, aut soror, aut monacha haberetur, +pro sanctitate et religione eius concubitus ab illis æstimabatur; ex +quo spurcissimo concubitu infans generatus, octaua die in medio eorum +copioso igne accenso probabatur per ignem more antiquorum Paganorum; et +sic in igne cremabatur. Cuius cinis tanta ueneratione colligebatur atque +custodiebatur, ut Christiana religiositas Corpus Christi custodire solet, +ægris dandum de hoc sæculo exituris ad uiaticum. Inerat enim tanta uis +diabolicæ fraudis in ipso cinere ut quicumque de præfata hæresi imbutus +fuisset, et de eodem cinere quamuis sumendo parum prælibauisset, uix +unquam postea de eadem heresi gressum mentis ad uiam ueritatis dirigere +ualeret. De qua re parum dixisse sufficiat, ut Christicolæ caueant se ab +hoc nefario opere, non ut studeant sectando imitari. Schmidt. _Histoire +et doctrine des Cathares ou Albigeois._ Paris. 1849. I. p. 31. + +[54] G. R. Kinloch. _Reliquiæ Antiquæ Scoticæ._ Edinburgh, 1848. + +[55] Adhémar de Chabannes. (A monk of Angoulême.) _Chronicon, Recueil des +historicus_, vol. X. p. 163. + +[56] Fabré Palaprat. _Recherches Historiques sur les Templiers_, Paris. +1835. + +[57] Cambridge University Press, 1925. + +[58] _The Philosopher_, July-August, 1924. + +[59] _The Philosopher_, January-March, 1925. _The Albigenses_, pp. 20-25. +The whole article, which is written with extraordinary restraint, should +be read. + +[60] He is the author of _Éléments d’Astrologie_; _Un disciple de Cl. de +Saint-Martin, Dutoit-Membrini_; _Premiers Éléments d’Occultisme_; _La +petite Église anticoncordataire, son histoire, son état actuel_; _J. K. +Huysmans et le Satanisme_; _Huysmans, Occultiste et Magicien_. + +[61] _In Uerrem._ IV. 43. + +[62] H. Th. Pyl, _Die griechischen Rundbauten_, 1861, pp. 67, _sqq._ + +[63] Plutarch, _Theseus_ 36; _Cimon_ 8. + +[64] Pausanias is the chief authority on this point. See Rohde _Psyche_, +I. p. 161. + +[65] Clarendon Press, 1921. + +[66] _The Witch-Cult in Western Europe_, p. 16. It is true that the +Brethren of the Free Spirit, anarchists, who vaunted the Adamite heresy, +in the Thirteenth century, went to the stake with pæans of joy. But they +were probably drugged. J. L. Mosheim, _Ecclesiastical History_. London. +1819. III. p. 278. _sqq._ The Adamites were a licentious sect who called +their church Paradise and worshipped in a state of stark nudity. They +were Gnostics and claimed complete emancipation from the moral law. They +lived in shameful communism. Bohemian Adamites existed as late as 1849. +In Russia the _teleschi_, a branch of the sect known as the “Divine Men,” +performed their religious rites in a state of nature, following the +example, as they asserted, of Adam and Eve in Paradise. These assemblies +were wont to end in promiscuous debauchery. + +[67] _Idem._ p. 161. + +[68] _Witch-Cult in Western Europe_, p. 161. + +[69] _Additional Notices of Major Weir and his Sister_; Sinclar’s +_Satan’s Invisible World_. (Reprint. 1875). + +[70] _Criminal Trials_, 1536-1784; Hugo Arnot, 4to, 1785. + +[71] _Ravillac Rediuius_, Dr. George Hickes, 4to, 1678. + +[72] Iubemus namque, auctores quidem et principes, una cum abominandis +scripturis eorum seueriori pœnæ subiici, ita ut flammeis ignibus +exurantur. Baronius, 287, 4. + +[73] Scio multos [Proconsules] et ad bestias damnasse sacrilegos, +nonnullos etiam uiuos exussisse. _Lex Romana Visigothorum nouella_, +XLVIII. tit. xiii. c. 6-7. + +[74] Plures etiam per Italiam tunc huius pestiferi dogmatis sunt reperti, +qui aut gladiis, aut incendiis perierunt. + +[75] Tanchelinus, Tandemus, Tanchelmus. The history of this important +revolutionary movement has been carefully studied. The following +authoritative books are a few from many of great value and learning. +_Corpus documentorum Inquisitionis hereticæ prauitatis neerlandicæ_, ed. +Dr. Paul Frédéricq, vol. I, p. 15 _et sqq._ Ghent. 1889; _Tanchelijn_ by +Janssen in the _Annales de l’académie Royale d’archéologie de Belgique_, +vol. XXIII, p. 448 _et sqq._ 1867; Foppens, _Historia Episcopatus +Antuerpiensis_, p. 8 and p. 146, Brussels, 1717; Dierxsens, _Antuerpia +Christo nascens et crescens_, vol. I, p. 88, Antwerp, 1773; Poncelet, +_Saint Norbert et Tanchelin_ in the _Analecta bollandiniana_, vol. XIII, +p. 441, 1893; Schools, _Saint Norbert et Tanchelin à Anvers_ in the +_Bibliothèque norbertine_, vol. II, p. 97, 1900; De Schapper, _Réponse +à la question: Faites connaître l’hérésiarque Tanchelin et les erreurs +qu’il répandit au commencement du XIIIᵉ siècle_ [an error for _XIIᵉ +siècle_] in the _Collationes Brugenses_, vol. XVII, p. 107, 1912. L. +Vander Essen, _De Katterij van Tanchelm in de XIIᵉ eeuw_ in _Ons Geloof_, +vol. II, p. 354, 1912; _Antwerpen en de H. Norbertus_ in the _Bode van +Onze Lieve Vrouw van het H. Hert van Averbode_, Nos. 18 and 19, pp. +207-211 and 217-220, 1914. + +[76] “That most vile and abandoned scoundrel had become so open and +utterly depraved an enemy to the Christian faith and all religious +observance that he denied any respect was due to Bishops and priests; +moreover, he affirmed that the reception of the most holy Body and Blood +of Our Lord availed nothing to eternal life and man’s salvation.” “Erat +quidem ille sceleratissimus et christianæ fidei et totius religionis +inimicus in tantum ut obsequium episcoporum et sacerdotum nihil esse +diceret, et sacrosancti corporiset sanguinis Domini J. C. perceptionem +ad salutem perpetuam prodesse denegeret.” _Vita Noberti archiepiscopi +Magdeburgensis, Vita A. Monument. Germ. Scriptores_, vol. XII. p. 690, +ed. G. A. Pertz, Hanover, Berlin. + +[77] “Immo uere ipse angelus Sathanæ declamabat eccelsias Dei lupinaria +esse reputanda. Nihil esse, quod sacerdotum officio in mensa dominica +conficeretur; pollutiones, non sacramenta nominanda.” _Lettre des +chanoines d’Utrecht au nom de leur diocèse à Frédéric, archevêque de +Cologne._ _Apud_ Frédéricq, vol. I. n. 11. + +[78] Talibus nequitiæ successibus miscro homini tanta sceleris accessit +audacia, ut etiam se Deum diceret, asserens, quia, si Christus ideo Deus +est, quia Spiritum Sanctum habuisset, se non inferius nec dissimilius +Deum, quia plenitudinem Spiritus Sancti accepisset. _Idem._ + +[79] Qui tandem post multos errores et cædes, dum nauigaret, a quodam +presbytero percussus in cerebro occubuit. _Sigiberti continuatio._ +Apud _Monument. Germ. Scriptores_, vol. VI, p. 449. See also, Johannes +Trithemius, _Annales Hirsaugienses_, vol. I, p. 387, Saint-Gall, 1690; Du +Plessis d’Argentré, _Collectio iudiciorum_, vol. I, p. 11 _sqq._ Paris, +1728; Schmidt, _Histoire et doctrine des Cathares ou Albigeois_, vol. I, +p. 49, Paris, 1849. + +[80] There is a contemporary _Uita Norberti_ of which two recensions +have been published: _Uita A._ by R. Wilmans in the _Mon. Germ. Hag._, +SS., vol. XIII, pp. 663-706, Hanover, 1853; _Uita B._ by Surius, _De +probatis Sanctorum historiis_, vol. III, pp. 517-547, Cologne, 1572. +Other authoritative works are: J. Van der Sterse, _Uita S. Norberti_, +Antwerp, 1622; Du Pré, _La Vie du bienheureux saint Norbert_, Paris, +1627; Ch. Hugo, _La Vie de St. Norbert_, Luxembourg, 1704; G. Madelaine, +_Histoire de St. Norbert_, Lille, 1886; B. Wazasek, _Der Hl. Norbert_, +Vienna, 1914. An excellent brief but scholarly account is _The Life of S. +Norbert_, London, 1886, by my late revered friend Abbot Geudens, C.R.P. + +[81] Feast, 17 February. + +[82] Formerly kept upon the Sunday. + +[83] _Op. cit._, pp. 16, 17. + +[84] _Op. cit._, p. 191. + +[85] For a full and detailed statement see Didron’s great work, +_Iconographie chrétienne_, Paris, 1843. + +[86] _Spalding Club Miscellany_, I, p. 129. Aberdeen, 1841. + +[87] At their black mass the witches of the Basses-Pyrénées (1609) when +the host was elevated said “Corbeau noir, corbeau noir.” De Lancre, +_Tableau de l’Inconstance des mauvais Anges_, Paris, 1613. + +[88] _Op. cit._, p. 255. + +[89] _Op. cit._, p. 165. It is not at all evident that “the word _diable_ +is clearly Bodin’s own interpellation for the name of the god,” indeed +this assumption is purely gratuitous to support the argument, and cannot +be admitted. + +[90] _Op. cit._, pp. 14, 15. I would not dwell upon the offensiveness of +this suggestion, since it is, I am sure, unintentional. + +[91] _Golden Bough_, Part I. vol. I. p. xx. Third Edition. 1911. + +[92] _Op. cit._, p. 19. + +[93] _The Goddess of Ghosts_, pp. 137-158. + +[94] Cassiodorus, _Hist. Eccl._, VII, 11. _fin._ speaks of the +_fetidissimus fons_ of heresy. + +[95] 1535-1598. His works were collected in four folio volumes, Paris, +1620, prefaced by Henry Holland’s _Uita Thomæ Stapletoni_. An original +portrait is preserved at Douai Abbey, Woolhampton. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH + + +In order clearly to understand and fully to realize the shuddering horror +and heart-sick dismay any sort of commerce between human beings and +evil spirits, which is the very core and kernel of Witchcraft, excited +throughout the whole of Christendom, to appreciate why tome after tome +was written upon the subject by the most learned pens of Europe, why +holiest pontiffs and wisest judges, grave philosopher and discreet +scholar, king and peasant, careless noble and earnest divine, all alike +were of one mind in the prosecution of sorcery; why in Catholic Spain and +in Puritan Scotland, in cold Geneva and at genial Rome, unhesitatingly +and perseveringly man sought to stamp out the plague with the most +terrible of all penalties, the cautery of fire; in order that by the +misreading of history we should not superficially and foolishly think +monk and magistrate, layman and lawyer were mere tigers, mad fanatics—for +as such have they, too, often been presented and traduced,—it will be not +wholly impertinent briefly to recapitulate the orthodox doctrine of the +Powers of Darkness, facts nowadays too often forgotten or ignored, but +which to the acute mediæval mind were ever fearfully and prominently in +view. + +And here, as in so many other beliefs, we shall find a little dogma; +certain things that can hardly be denied without the note of temerity; +and much concerning which nothing definite can be known, upon which +assuredly no pronouncement will be made. + +In the first place, the name Devil is commonly given to the fallen +angels, who are also called Demons. The exact technical distinction +between the two terms in ecclesiastical usage may be seen in the phrase +used in the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council[1]: “Diabolus enim et +alii dæmones.” (The devil and the other demons), i.e. all are demons, +and the chief of the demons is called the Devil. This distinction is +preserved in the Vulgate New Testament, where _diabolus_ represents the +Greek διάβολος, and in almost every instance refers to Satan himself, +whilst his subordinate angels are described, in accordance with the +Greek, as _dæmones_ or _dæmonia_. But save in some highly specialized +context when the most meticulous accuracy is required, we now use the +words “devil,” “demon” indifferently, and employ the definite article to +denote Lucifer (Satan), chief of the devils, The Devil. So in S. Matthew +xxv. 41, is written “the devil and his angels.” The Greek word διάβολος +means a slanderer, an accuser, and in this sense is it applied to him of +whom it is said “the accuser [ὁ κατήγορος] of our brethren is cast forth, +who accused them before our God day and night” (Apocalypse xii. 10). Thus +it answers to the Hebrew name Satan, which signifies an adversary, an +accuser. + +Mention is made of the Devil in many passages both of the Old and New +Testaments, but much is left in obscurity, and the full Scriptural +teaching on the legions of evil can best be ascertained by combining +the scattered notices and reading them in the light of patristic and +theological tradition. The authoritative teaching of the Church is +declared in the Decrees of the Fourth Lateran Church (cap. 1. _Firmiter +credimus_), wherein, after setting forth that God in the beginning had +created two creatures, the spiritual and corporeal; that is to say, the +angelic and the earthly, and lastly man, who was made of both earth and +body; the Council continues: “For the Devil and the other demons were +created by God naturally good; but they themselves of themselves became +evil.”[2] The dogma is here clearly laid down that the Devil and the +other demons are spiritual or angelic creatures created by God in a state +of innocence, and that they became evil by their own free act. It is +added that man sinned by suggestion of the Devil, and that in the next +world the reprobate and impenitent will suffer punishment with him. This +then is the actual dogma, the dry bones of the doctrine, so to speak. +But later theologians have added a great deal to this,—the authoritative +Doctor Eximius, Francisco Suarez, S.J.,[3] _De Angelis_, VII, is +especially valuable—and much of what they deduce cannot be disputed +without such rejection incurring the grave censure technically known as +“Erroneous.”[4] + +It is remarkable that for an account of the Fall of the angels, which +happened before the creation of the world, we must turn to the last book +in the Bible, the Apocalypse of S. John. For although the picture of the +past be blended with prophecies of what shall be in the future, thus +must we undoubtedly regard the vision of Patmos. “And there was a great +battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the +dragon fought and his angels: and they prevailed not, neither was their +place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that +old serpent, who is called the Devil, and Satan, who seduceth the whole +world; and he was cast down unto the earth, and his angels were thrown +down with him” (Apocalypse xii. 7-9). To this may be added the words of +S. Jude: “And the angels who kept not their principality, but forsook +their own habitation, he hath reserved under darkness in everlasting +chains, unto the judgement of the great day.” To these references should +be added a striking passage from the prophet Isaiah: “How art thou fallen +from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning! how art thou +fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations! And thou saidst in +thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the +stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides +of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be +like the most High. But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the +depth of the pit” (Isaiah xiv. 12-15). The words of the prophet may in +one sense, perhaps primarily, be directed against Merodach-baladan, King +of Babylon, but all the early Fathers and later commentators are agreed +in understanding the passage as applying with deeper significance to the +fall of the rebel angel. This interpretation is confirmed by the words +of Our Lord to His disciples: “I saw Satan like lightning falling from +heaven.” (Uidebam Satanam sicut fulgur de cœlo cadentem.) S. Luke x. 18. + +An obvious question which next arises and which has been amply discussed +by the theologians is: What was the nature of the sin of the rebel +angels? This point presents some difficulty, for theology has logically +formed the highest estimate of the perfection of the angelic nature, +the powers and possibilities of the angelic knowledge. Sins of the flesh +are certainly impossible to angels, and from many sins which are purely +spiritual and intellectual they would seem to be equally debarred. The +great offence of Lucifer appears to have been the desire of independence +of God and equality with God. + +It is theologically certain that Lucifer held a very high rank in the +celestial hierarchy, and it is evident that he maintains some kind of +sovereignty over those who followed him in his rebellion: “Si autem,” +says Our Lord, “et Satanas in seipsum diuisus est quomodo stabit regnum +eius?” (If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom +stand?) And S. Paul speaks of “Principem potestatis æris huius, qui nunc +operatur in filios diffidentiæ.” (The Prince of the power of this air, +who now worketh in the sons of disobedience) Ephesians ii. 2. It may +seem strange that those rebellious spirits who rose against their Maker +should be subordinate to and obey one of their fellows who led them to +destruction, but this in itself is a proof that Lucifer is a superior +intelligence, and the knowledge of the angels would show them that they +can effect more mischief and evil by co-operation and organization, +although their unifying principle is the bond of hate, than by anarchy +and division. There can be little doubt that among their ranks are many +mean and petty spirits[5]—to speak comparatively—but even these can +influence and betray foolish and arrogant men. We shall be on safe ground +if we follow the opinion of Suarez, who would allow Lucifer to have +been the highest of all angels negatively, i.e. that no one was higher, +although many (and among these the three great Archangels, S. Michael, S. +Gabriel, S. Raphael) may have been his equals. + +It has been argued that the highest of the angels, by reason of their +greater intellectual illumination, must have entirely realized the utter +impossibility of attaining to equality with God. So S. Anselm, _De Casu +Diaboli_ (IV), says: “Non enim ita obtusæ mentis [diabolus] erat, ut +nihil aliud simile Deo cogitari posse nesciret?” (The devil was surely +not so dull of understanding as to be ignorant of the inconceivability +of any other entity like to God?) And S. Thomas writes, in answer to +the question, whether the Devil desired to be “as God,” “if by this we +mean equality with God, then the Devil would not desire it, since he +knew this to be impossible.” But as the Venerable Duns Scotus, Doctor +subtilis, admirably points out, we must distinguish between efficacious +volition and the volition of complaisance, and by the latter act an angel +could desire that which is impossible. In the same way he shows that, +though a creature cannot directly will its own destruction, it may do +this _consequenter_, i.e. it can will something from which this would +inevitably follow. + +And although man must realize that he cannot be God, yet there have been +men who have caused themselves to be saluted as God and even worshipped +as God. Such was Herod Agrippa I, who on a festival day at Cæsarea, had +himself robed in a garment made wholly of silver, and came into the +crowded theatre early in the morning, so that his vesture shone out in +the rays of the sun with dazzling light, and the superstitious multitude, +taught by his flatterers, cried out that he was a god, and prayed to +him as divine, saying: “Be thou merciful unto us, for although we have +hitherto reverenced thee only as a man yet henceforth we own thee to +be god.”[6] Caligula, also, arrogated to himself divinity. “Templum +etiam numini suo proprium, et sacerdotes et excogitatissimas hostias +instituit.”[7] (He also built a temple in honour of his own godhead, +and consecrated priests to offer him most splendid sacrifices.) This +emperor, moreover, set up his statue in the Temple at Jerusalem, and +ordered victims to be sacrificed to him. Domitian, with something more +than literary compliment, is addressed by Martial as “Dominus Deusque +noster”[8] (Our Lord and our God), and he lived up to his title. +Heliogabalus identified himself in some mystic way with the deity of +Edessa, and ordered no god save himself to be worshipped at Rome, nay, +throughout the wide world: “Taking measures that at Rome no god should be +honoured save Heliogabalus alone.... Nor did he wish to stamp out only +the various Roman cults, but his desire was that all the whole wide world +through, only one god, Heliogabalus, should everywhere be worshipped.”[9] +To cite further examples, and they are numerous, from Roman history were +superfluous.[10] Perhaps the most astounding case of all was that of the +Persian king, Khosroes (Khusrau) II, who in the seventh century sacked +Jerusalem and carried off the True Cross to his capital. Intoxicated +with success he announced by solemn proclamation that he was Almighty +God. He built an extraordinary palace or tower, in which there were vast +halls whose ceilings were painted with luminous suns, moons, and stars +to resemble the firmament. Here he sat upon a lofty throne of gold, a +tiara upon his head, his cope so sewn with diamonds that the stuff could +not be seen, sceptre and orb in his hands, upon one side the Cross, +upon the other a jewelled dove, and here he bade his subjects adore him +as God the Father, offering incense and praying him “Through the Son.” +This insane blasphemy was ended when the Persians were vanquished by the +Emperor Heraclius, and in the spring of 629 the Cross was restored to +Jerusalem.[11] + +Montanus, the Phrygian heretic of the second century, who had originally, +as S. Jerome tells us, been a priest of Cybele, actually claimed to be +the Trinity. “I am the Father, the Word, and the Paraclete,”[12] he said, +and again, “I am the Lord God omnipotent who have descended into a man +... neither an angel, nor an ambassador, but I, the Lord, the Father, am +come.”[13] Elipandus of Toledo in the eighth century spoke of Christ as +“a God among gods,” inferring that there were many others who had been +divine. One may compare the incarnate gods adored in China and Tibet +to-day. A Bohemian woman named Wilhelmina, who died in Milan, 1281, +declared herself to be an incarnation of the Third Person of the Blessed +Trinity, and was actually worshipped by crowds of fanatics, who caused +great scandal and disorder. The Khlysti in Russia have not only prophets +but “Christs” and “Redeemers,” and they pray to one another. About 1830 +there appeared in one of the American states bordering upon Kentucky +an impostor who declared himself to be Christ. He threatened the world +with immediate judgement, and a number of ill-balanced and hysterical +subjects were much affected by his denunciations. One day, when he was +addressing a large gathering in his usual strain, a German standing +up humbly asked him if he would repeat his warnings in German for the +benefit of those present who only knew that tongue. The speaker answered +that he had never been able to learn that language, a reply which +seemed so ludicrous in one claiming divinity that many of the auditors +were convulsed with laughter and so profane a charlatan soon lost all +credit. Monsignor Flaget, Bishop of Bardstoun, wrote an account of this +extraordinary imposture in a letter dated 4 May, 1833,[14] where he says +the scene took place some three years before. About 1880 at Patiala +in the Punjaub, a fanatic of filthy appearance named Hakim Singh gave +himself out to be Christ, and in a short time had a following of more +than four thousand persons, but within a few months they melted away.[15] +Many “false Christs” have organized Russian sects. In 1840 a man drained +the peasants of Simboisk and Saratov of their money by declaring himself +to be the Saviour; about 1880 the founder of the _bojki_, an illiterate +fanatic named Sava proclaimed that he was the Father, and his kinsman, +Samouil, God the Son. Ivan Grigorieff, founder of the “Russian Mormons,” +taught that he was divine; and other frenzied creatures, Philipoff, +Loupkin, Israil of Selengisk, have all claimed to be the Messiah and God. + +It is apparent then, that although rationally it should be inconceivable +that any sentient creature could claim divinity, actually the contrary +is the case. The sin of Satan would appear to have been an attempt to +usurp the sovereignty of God. This is further borne out by the fact that +during the Temptation of our Lord the Devil, showing Him “omnia regna +mundi, et gloriam eorum” (all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of +them), said, “Hæc omnia tibi dabo, si cadens adoraueris me.” (All these +will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.) And he is +rebuked: “Uade Satana: Scriptum est enim: Dominum Deum tuum adorabis, et +illi soli seruies.” (Begone, Satan: for it is written: The Lord thy God +shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve.) It should be remarked +that Lucifer was telling a lie. The kingdoms of this world are not his to +offer, but only its sins and follies, disappointment and death. But here +the Devil is demanding that divine honours should be paid him. And this +claim is perpetuated throughout the witch trials. The witches believed +that their master, Satan, Lucifer, the fiend, the principle of evil, +was God, and as such they worshipped him with latria, they adored him, +they offered him homage, they addressed prayer to him, they sacrificed. +So Lambert Danéau, _Dialogue of Witches_ (trans. 1575), asserts: “The +Diuell com̅aundeth them that they shall acknowledge him for their god, +cal vpo̅ him, pray to him, and trust in him.—Then doe they all repeate +the othe which they haue geuen vnto him; in acknowledging him to be their +God.” Cannaert records that the accusation against Elisabeth Vlamynex of +Alost, 1595, was “You were not even ashamed to kneel before Belzebuth, +whom you worshipped.”[16] De Lancre, in his _Tableau de l’Inconstance +des mauvais Anges_ (1613), informs us that when the witches presented a +young child they fell on their knees before the demon and said: “Grand +Seigneur, lequel i’adore.” (Great Lord, whom I worship.) The novice +joining the witches made profession in this phrase: “I abandon myself +wholly to thy power and I put myself in thy hands, acknowledging no other +god; and this since thou art my god.”[17] The words of Silvain Nevillon, +tried at Orleans in 1614, are even plainer: “We say to the Devil that we +acknowledge him as our master, our god, our creator.”[18] In America[19] +in 1692, Mary Osgood confessed that “the devil told her he was her God, +and that she should serve and worship him.” + +There are numberless instances of prayer offered to the Devil by his +servants. Henri Boguet, in his _Discours des Sorciers_ (Lyons, 1608), +relates that Antide Colas, 1598, avowed that “Satan bade her pray to +him night and morning, before she set about any other business.”[20] +Elizabeth Sawyer, the notorious witch of Edmonton (1621), was taught +certain invocations by her familiar. In her confession to the Rev. Henry +Goodcole, who visited her in Newgate, upon his asking “Did the Diuell +at any time find you praying when he came unto you, and did not the +Diuell forbid you to pray to Iesus Christ, but to him alone? and did he +not bid you to pray to him, the Diuell as he taught you?” She replied: +“He asked of me to whom I prayed, and I answered him to Iesus Christ, +and he charged me then to pray no more to Iesus Christ, but to him the +Diuell, and he the Diuell taught me this prayer, _Sanctibecetur nomen +tuum, Amen_.”[21] So as Stearne reports in _Confirmation and Discovery +of Witchcraft_ (1648), of the Suffolk witches: “_Ellen_, the wife of +_Nicholas Greenleife_ of _Barton_ in _Suffolke_, confessed, that when +she prayed she prayed to the Devill and not to God.” + +In imitation of God, moreover, the Devil will have his miracles, +although these are θαύματα, mere delusive wonders which neither profit +nor convince. Such was the feat of Jannes and Mambres, the Egyptian +sorcerers, who in emulation of Moses changed their rods to serpents. To +this source we can confidently refer many tricks of Oriental jugglers. +“I am satisfied,” wrote an English officer of rank and family, “that the +performances of the native ‘wise-men’ are done by the aid of familiar +spirits. The visible growth of a mango tree out of an empty vessel into +which a little earth is placed, a growth which spectators witness, and +the secret of which has never been discovered, may not be unreasonably +referred to the same occult powers which enabled the Egyptian magicians +of old to imitate the miraculous acts which Moses, by God’s command, +openly wrought in the face of Pharaoh and his people.”[22] In the +basket-trick, which is performed without preparation in any place or +spot—a greensward, a paved yard, a messroom—a boy is placed under a +large wicker basket of conical shape, which may be examined and handled +by all, and this is then stabbed through and through by the fakir with +a long sword that pierces from side to side. Screams of pain follow +each thrust, and the weapon is discerned to be covered with fresh +blood. The cries grow fainter and at length cease altogether. Then the +juggler uttering cries and incantations dances round the basket, which +he suddenly removes, and no sign of the child is to be seen, no rent in +the wicker-work, no stain on the steel. But in a few seconds the boy, +unharmed and laughing, appears running forward from some distant spot. In +this connexion we may well recall the words of Suarez: “[The Devil] can +deceive and trick the senses so that a head may appear to be cut off and +blood to flow, when in truth no such thing is taking place.”[23] + +The wizards of Tartary and Tibet, _bokte_, upon certain special days will +with great ceremony appear in the temples, which are always thronged +on these occasions, and whilst their disciples howl and shriek out +invocations, they suddenly throw aside their robes and with a sharp +knife seem to rip open their stomachs from top to bottom, whilst blood +pours from the gaping wound. The worshippers, lashed to frenzy, fall +prostrate before them and grovel frantically upon the floor. The wizard +appears to scatter his blood over them, and after some five minutes he +passes his hands rapidly over the wound, which instantly disappears, not +leaving even the trace of a scar. The operator is noticed to be overcome +with intense weariness, but otherwise all is well. Those who have seen +this hideous spectacle assure us that it cannot be explained by any +hallucination or legerdemain, and the only solution which remains is to +attribute it to the glamour cast over the deluded crowd by the power of +discarnate evil intelligences.[24] + +The portentous growth of Spiritism,[25] which within a generation passed +beyond the limits of a popular and mountebank movement and challenged +the serious attention and expert inquiry of the whole scientific and +philosophical world, furnishes us with examples of many extraordinary +phenomena, both physical and psychical, and these, in spite of the most +meticulous and accurate investigation, are simply inexplicable by any +natural and normal means. Such phenomena have been classified by Sir +William Crookes, in his _Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism_. +They include the movement of heavy bodies without contact, or with +contact altogether insufficient to explain the movement; the alteration +of weight of bodies; the rising of tables and chairs off the ground +without contact with any human person; the levitation of human beings; +“apports,” objects such as flowers, coins, pieces of stone conveyed into +a hermetically closed room without any visible agency to carry them; +luminous appearances; more or less distinct phantom faces and forms. +In spite of continual and most deliberate trickery, repeated and most +humiliating exposure, and this not only in the case of cheap charlatans +but also of famous mediums such as William Eglinton, there occur and have +always occurred phenomena which are vouched for upon the evidence of +names whose authority cannot be gainsaid. Do such manifestations proceed +from the spirits of the departed or from intelligences which have never +been in human form? Even avowed believers in a beneficent Spiritism, +anxious to establish communication with dead friends, are forced to +admit the frequent and irresponsible action of non-human intelligences. +This conclusion is based upon lengthy and detailed evidence which it is +only possible very briefly to summarize. It proves almost impossible +satisfactorily to establish spirit identity, to ascertain whether the +communicator is actually the individual he or it purports to be; the +information imparted is not such as would naturally be expected from +those who have passed beyond this life but trivial and idle to a degree; +the statements which the spirits make concerning their own condition are +most contradictory and confused; the moral tone which pervades these +messages, at first vague and unsatisfactory, generally becomes repulsive +and even criminally obscene. All these particulars unmistakably point +to demoniac intervention and deceit.[26] The Second Plenary Council of +Baltimore (1866) whilst making due allowance for fraudulent practice +and subtle sleights in Spiritism declares that some at least of the +manifestations are to be ascribed to Satanic intervention, for in no +other manner can they be explained. (_Decreta_, 33-41.) A decree of the +Holy Office, 30 March, 1898, condemns Spiritistic practices, even though +intercourse with evil spirits be excluded and intercourse sought only +with good angels. + +Not only with miracles but also in prophecies does Lucifer seek to +emulate that God Whose Throne he covets. This point is dealt with by +Bishop Pierre Binsfeld, who in his _De Maleficis_ (1589) writes: “Nunc +uidendum est an dæmones præscientiam habeant futurorum et secretorum, +ita ut ex eorum reuelatione possit homo prognosticare[27] et occulta +cognoscere?... Prima conclusio: Futura, si in seipsis considerentur, +anullo præterquam a solo Deo cognosci possunt.” (Next we will inquire +whether devils can have any foreknowledge of future events or of hidden +things so that a man might from their revelations to him foretell the +future and discover the unknown?... First conclusion: The future, +precisely considered, can be known to none save to God alone.) But it +must be borne in mind that the intelligence of angels, though fallen, +is of the acutest order, as Simon Maiolo in his _Dies caniculares_ +explains: “Astutia, sapientia, acumine longe superant homines, et longius +progrediuntur ratiocinando.” (In shrewdness, knowledge, perspicuity, they +far excel mankind, and they can look much further into the future by +logical deduction.) And it is in this way that a demon will often rightly +divine what is going to happen, although more often the response will +either be a lie or wrapped up in meaningless and ambiguous phrase, such +as were the pagan oracles. A notable example of false prophets may be +found in the Camisards (probably from _camise_, a black blouse worn as a +uniform), a sect of evil fanatics who terrorized Dauphiné, Vivarais, and +chiefly the Cévennes at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Their +origin was largely due to the Albigensian spirit, which had never been +wholly stamped out in that district, and which was fanned to flame by the +anarchical preaching and disordered pamphlets of the French Calvinists, +such as Jurieu’s _Accomplissement des prophéties_. Pope Clement XI styles +the Camisards “that execrable race of ancient Albigenses.” De Serre, a +rank old Calvinist of Dieulefit in Dauphiné, became suddenly inspired and +a wave of foul hysteria spread far and wide. In 1702 the saintly abbé de +Chaila was treacherously murdered by these wretches, who seized arms and +formed themselves into offensive bands under such ruffians as Séguier, +Laporte, Castanet, Ravenal, and Cavalier. Louis XIV sent troops to subdue +them, but the Catholic leaders at first do not seem to have appreciated +the seriousness of the position, and a desultory guerilla warfare dragged +on for some years. Cavalier escaped to England,[28] whence he returned in +1709, and attempted to kindle a revolt in Vivarais. On 8 March, 1715, by +a proclamation and medals, Louis XIV announced that these demoniacs were +entirely extinct. + +A number of these prophets fled to England, where they created great +disturbances, and Voltaire, _Siècle de Louis XIV_, XXXVI, tells us that +one of the leading refugees, a notorious rebel, Elie Marion, became so +obnoxious on account of his _avertissements prophétiques_ and false +miracles, that he was expelled the country as a common nuisance.[29] + +The existence of evil discarnate intelligences having been orthodoxly +established, a realm which owns one chief, and it is reasonable to +suppose, many hierarchies, a kingdom that is at continual warfare with +all that is good, ever striving to do evil and bring man into bondage; it +is obvious that if he be so determined man will be able in some way or +another to get into touch with this dark shadow world, and however rare +such a connexion may be it is, at least, possible. It is this connexion +with its consequences, conditions, and attendant circumstances, that is +known as Witchcraft. The erudite Sprenger in the _Malleus Maleficarum_ +expressly declares that in his opinion a denial of the possibility of +Witchcraft is heresy. “After God Himself hath spoken of magicians and +sorcerers, what infidel dare doubt that they exist?” writes Pierre +de Lancre in his _L’Incredulité et Mescreance du Sortilège_ (Paris, +1622)[30]. That eminent lawyer Blackstone, in his _Commentaries_ (1765), +IV, 4, asserts: “To deny the possibility, nay, actual existence of +Witchcraft and Sorcery, is at once flatly to contradict the revealed Word +of God in various passages both of the Old and New Testament; and the +thing itself is a truth to which every Nation in the World hath in its +turn borne testimony, either by examples seemingly well attested, or by +prohibitory laws, which at least suppose the possibility of commerce with +evil spirits.” Even the ultra-cautious—I had almost said sceptical—Father +Thurston acknowledges: “In the face of Holy Scripture and the teaching +of the Fathers and theologians the abstract possibility of a pact with +the Devil and of a diabolical interference in human affairs can hardly +be denied.” Imposture, trickery, self-deception, hypnotism, a morbid +imagination have, no doubt, all played an important part in legends of +this kind. It is not enough quite sincerely to claim magical powers to +possess them in reality. Plainly, a man who not only firmly believes in +a Power of evil but also that this Power can and does meddle with and +mar human affections and human destinies, may invoke and devote himself +to this Power, may give up his will thereunto, may ask this Power to +accomplish his wishes and ends, and so succeed in persuading himself +that he has entered into a mysterious contract with evil whose slave and +servant he is become.[31] Moreover, as we should expect, the records +teem with instances of common charlatanry, of cunning villainies and +crime masquerading under the cloak of superstition, of clever fraud, of +what was clearly play acting and mumming to impress the ignorant and +vulgar, of diseased vanity, sick for notoriety, that craved the name and +reputation of witch, of quackery and cozening that proved lucrative and +comfortable enough. + +But when every allowance has been made, as we examine in detail the long +and bloody history of Witchcraft, as we recognize the fearful fanaticism +and atrocious extravagances of the witch mania, as we are enabled to +account for in the light of ampler knowledge, both psychological and +physical, details and accidents which would have inevitably led to the +stake without respite or mercy, as we can elucidate case after case—one +an hysterical subject, a cataleptic, an epileptic, a sufferer from some +obscure nervous disorder even to-day not exactly diagnosed; another, +denounced by the malice of private enemies, perhaps on political grounds; +a third, some doting beldame the victim of idlest superstition or mere +malignity; a fourth, accused for the sake of gain by a disappointed +blackmailer or thief; others, silly bodies, eccentrics, and half-crazed +cranks; and the even greater number of victims who were incriminated by +poor wretches raving in the agonies of the rack and boots;—none the less +after having thus frankly discounted every possible circumstance, after +having completely realized the world-wide frenzy of persecution that +swept through those centuries of terror, we cannot but recognize that +there remain innumerable and important cases which are not to be covered +by any ordinary explanation, which fall within no normal category. As a +most unprejudiced writer has well said: “The underlying and provocative +phenomena had really been present in a huge number of cases.”[32] And +there is no other way of accounting for these save by acknowledging +the reality of Witchcraft and diabolic contracts. It must be steadily +remembered that the most brilliant minds, the keenest intelligences, the +most learned scholars, the noblest names, men who had heard the evidence +at first hand, all firmly believed in Witchcraft. Amongst them are such +supreme authorities as S. Augustine, “a philosophical and theological +genius of the first order, dominating, like a pyramid, antiquity and the +succeeding ages”[33]; Blessed Albertus Magnus, the “Universal Doctor” +of encyclopædic knowledge; S. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor Angelicus, one of +the profoundest intellects the world has ever seen; the Seraphic S. +Bonaventura, most loving of mystics; Popes not a few, Alexander IV, the +friend of the Franciscans, prudent, kindly, deeply religious, “assiduous +in prayer and strict in abstinence”[34]; John XXII, “a man of serious +character, of austere and simple habits, broadly cultivated”[35]; +Benedict XII, a pious Cistercian monk, most learned in theology; Innocent +VIII, a magnificent prelate, scholar and diplomatist; Gregory XV, an +expert in canon and civil law, most just and merciful of pontiffs, +brilliantly talented. We have the names of learned men, such as Gerson, +Chancellor of Notre-Dame and of the University of Paris, “justly regarded +as one of the master intellects of his age”[36]; James Sprenger, O.P., +who for all his etymological errors was a scholar of vast attainments; +Jean Bodin, “one of the chief founders of political philosophy and +political history”[36]; Erasmus; Bishop Jewell, of Salisbury, “one +of the ablest and most authoritative expounders of the true genius and +teaching of the reformed Church of England”[37]; the gallant Raleigh; +Lord Bacon; Sir Edward Coke; Cardinal Mazarin; the illustrious Boyle; +Cudworth, “perhaps the most profound of all the great scholars who +have adorned the English Church”[36]; Selden; Henry More; Sir Thomas +Browne; Joseph Glanvill, who “has been surpassed in genius by few of his +successors”[36]; Meric Casaubon, the learned Prebendary of Canterbury; +Sir Matthew Hale; Sir George Mackenzie; William Blackstone; and many +another divine, lawyer, scholar, of lesser note. It is inconceivable +that all these, mistaken as they might be in some details, should have +been wholly deluded and beguiled. The learned Sinistrari in his _De +Dæmonialitate_,[38] upon the authoritative sentence of Francesco-Maria +Guazzo, an Ambrosian, (_Compendium Maleficarum_, Liber I. 7), writes: +“Primo, ineunt pactum expressum cum Dæmone aut alio Mago seu Malefico +uicem Dæmonis gerente, et testibus præsentibus de seruitio diabolico +suscipiendo: Dæmon uero uice uersa honores, diuitias, et carnales +delectationes illis pollicetur.” (Firstly, the Novices have to conclude +with the Demon, or some other Wizard or Magician acting in the Demon’s +place, an express compact by which, in the presence of witnesses, they +enlist in the Demon’s service, he giving them in exchange his pledge for +honours, riches, and carnal pleasures.) + +It is said that the formal pact was sometimes verbal, sometimes a +signed document. In every case it was voluntary, and as Görres points +out, the usual initiation into these foul mysteries was through some +secret society at an assembly of which the neophyte bound himself with +terrific oaths and a blasphemy to the service of evil. But there are +cases which can only be explained by the materialization of a dark +intelligence who actually received a bond from the worshipper. These +are, of course, extremely rare; but occasionally the judges were able +to examine such parchments and deeds. In 1453 Guillaume Edelin, Prior +of S. Germain-en-Laye, signed a compact with the Devil, and this was +afterwards found upon his person. Pierre de Lancre relates that the witch +Stevenote de Audebert, who was burned in January, 1619, showed him “le +pacte & conuention qu’elle auoit faict auec le Diable, escrite en sang de +menstrues, & si horrible qu’on auoit horreur de la regarder.”[39] In the +library at Upsala is preserved the contract by which Daniel Salthenius, +in later life Professor of Hebrew at Königsberg, sold himself to Satan. + +In the archives of the Sacred Office is preserved a picture of the +Crucifixion of which the following account is given: A young man of +notoriously wicked life and extreme impiety having squandered his +fortune, and being in desperate need, resolved to sell himself body +and soul to Lucifer on condition that he should be supplied with money +enough to enable him to indulge in all the luxuries and lusts he desired. +It is said the demon assumed a visible form, and required him to write +down an act of self-donation to hell. This the youth consented to do on +one proviso. He asked the demon if he had been present on Calvary, and +when he was answered in the affirmative he insisted that Lucifer should +trace him an exact representation of the Crucifixion, upon which he +would hand over the completed document. The fiend after much hesitation +consented, and shortly produced a picture. But at the sight of the racked +and bleeding Body stretched on the Cross the youth was seized with such +contrition that falling upon his knees he invoked the help of God. His +companion disappeared, leaving the fatal contract and picture. The +penitent, in order to gain absolution for so heinous guilt, was obliged +to have recourse to the Cardinal Penitentiary, and the picture was taken +in charge by the Holy Office. Prince Barberini afterwards obtained +permission to have an exact copy made of it, and this eventually he +presented to the Capuchins at S. Maria della Concezione. + +A contract with Satan was said always to be signed in the blood of +the executor. “The signature is almost invariably subscribed with the +writer’s own blood.... Thus at Augsburg Joseph Egmund Schultz declared +that on the 15 May, 1671, towards midnight, when it was betwixt eleven +and twelve of the clock, he threw down, where three crossroads met, an +illuminated parchment, written throughout in his own blood and wrapped up +in a fair kerchief, and thus he sealed the compact ... Widmann also tells +us how that unhappy wretch Faust slightly cut his thumb and with the +drops of blood which trickled thence devoted himself in writing body and +soul to the Devil, utterly repudiating God’s part in him.”[40] From the +earliest times and in many nations we find human blood used inviolably +to ratify the pledged word.[41] Rochholz, I, 52, relates that it is +a custom of German University freshmen (Burschen) for the parties to +write “mutually with their own blood leaves in each other’s albums.” The +parchment is still said to be in existence on which with his own blood +Maximilian, the great and devout Bavarian elector, religiously dedicated +himself to the Most Holy Mother of God. Blood was the most sacred and +irrevocable of seals, as may be seen in the custom of blood-brotherhood +when friendship was sworn and alliances concluded. Either the blood +itself was drunk or wine mixed with blood. Herodotus (IV, 70) tells us +that the Scythians were wont to conclude agreements by pouring wine into +an earthen vessel, into which the contracting parties having cut their +arms with a knife let their blood flow and mingle. Whereupon both they +and the most distinguished of their following drank of it. Pomponius +Mela, _De Situ Orbis_, II, 1, records the same custom as still existing +among them in his day: “Not even their alliances are made without +shedding of blood: the partners in the compact wound themselves, and +when the blood gushes out they mingle the stream and taste of it when it +is mixed. This they consider to be the most assured pledge of eternal +loyalty and trust.”[42] Gyraldus, _Topographia Hibernorum_, XXII, p. +743, says: “When the Ireni conclude treaties the one drinks the blood of +the other, which is shed voluntarily for this purpose.” In July, 1891, +a band of brigands which had existed for three years was discovered and +broken up in South Italy. It was reported that in the ritual of these +outlaws, who were allied to the “Mala Vita” of Bari, “the neophytes +drank blood-brotherhood with the captain of the band by sucking out and +drinking the blood from a scratch wound, which he had himself made in the +region of his heart.” + +In several grimoires and books of magic, such as _The Book of Black Magic +and of Pacts_, _The Key of Solomon the King_, _Sanctum Regnum_, may be +found goetic rituals as well as invocations, and if these, fortunately +for the operators, are occasionally bootless, it can only be said that +Divine Power holds in check the evil intelligences. But, as Suarez justly +observes, even if no response be obtained from the demon “either because +God does not allow it, or for some other reason we may not know,”[43] the +guilt of the experimenter in this dark art and his sin are in no wise +lightened.[44] Towards the end of the eighteenth century a certain Juan +Perez, being reduced to the utmost misery, vowed himself body and soul +to Satan if he were revenged upon those whom he suspected of injuring +him. He consulted more than one magician and witch, he essayed more than +one theurgic ceremonial, but all in vain. Hell was deaf to his appeal. +Whereupon he openly proclaimed his disbelief in the supernatural, in +the reality of devils, and mocked at Holy Scripture as a fairy tale, a +nursery fable. Naturally this conduct brought him before the Tribunal of +the Holy Office, to whom at his first interrogation he avowed the whole +story, declaring himself ready to submit to any penance they might seem +fit to inflict. + +Any such pact which may be entered into with the demon is not in the +slightest degree binding. Such is the authoritative opinion of S. +Alphonsus, who lays down that a necromancer or person who has had +intercourse with evil spirits now wishing to give up his sorceries is +bound: “1. Absolutely to abjure and to renounce any formal contract or +any sort of commerce whatsoever he may have entered into with demonic +intelligences; 2. To burn all such books, writings, amulets, talismans, +and other instruments as appertain to the black art (i.e. crystals, +planchettes, ouija-boards, pagan periapts, and the like); 3. To burn the +written contract if it be in his possession, but if it be believed that +it is held by the demon, there is no need to demand its restoration since +it is wholly annulled by penitence; 4. To repair any harm he has done +and make good any loss.”[45] It may be remarked that these rules have +been found exceedingly useful and entirely practical in dealing with +mediums and others who forsake spiritism, its abominations and fearful +dangers. + +There are examples in history, even in hagiography, of sorcerers who +have been converted. One of the most famous of these is S. Theophilus +the Penitent;[46] and even yet more renowned is S. Cyprian of Antioch +who, with S. Justina, suffered martyrdom during the persecution of +Diocletian at Nicomedia, 26 September, 304.[47] Blessed Gil of Santarem, +a Portuguese Dominican, in his youth excelled in philosophy and medicine. +Whilst on his way from Coimbra to the University of Paris he fell into +company with a courteous stranger who offered to teach him the black art +at Toledo. As payment the stranger required that Gil should make over his +soul to the Devil and sign the contract with his blood. After complying +with the conditions he devoted seven years to magical studies, and then +proceeding to Paris easily obtained the degree of doctor of medicine. +Gil, however, repented, burned his books of spells, and returned to +Portugal, where he took the habit of S. Dominic. After a long life of +penitence and prayer he died at Santarem, 14 May, 1205, and here his body +is still venerated.[48] His cult was ratified by Benedict XIV, 9 March, +1748. His feast is observed 14 May. + +The contract made by the witch was usually for the term of her life, +but sometimes it was only for a number of years, at the end of which +period the Devil was supposed to kill his votary. Reginald Scot remarks: +“Sometimes their homage with their oth and bargaine is receiued for a +certeine terme of yeares; sometimes for ever.”[49] Magdalena de la Cruz, +a Franciscan nun, born at Aquilar in 1487, entered the convent of Santa +Isabel at Cordova in 1504. She acquired an extraordinary reputation +for sanctity, and was elected abbess in 1533, 1536, and 1539. Scarcely +five years later she was a prisoner of the Inquisition, with charges of +Witchcraft proven against her. She confessed that in 1499 a spirit who +called himself by the grotesque name Balbar, with a companion Pithon, +appeared to her at the tender age of twelve, and she made a contract +with him for the space of forty-one years. In 1543 she was seized with +a serious illness, during which she confessed her impostures and demonic +commerce. She was confined for the rest of her life as a penitent in a +house of the utmost austerity. Joan Williford, a witch of Faversham, +acknowledged “that the Devil promised to be her servant about twenty +yeeres, and that the time is now almost expired.”[50] In 1646 Elizabeth +Weed, a witch of Great Catworth in Huntingdonshire, confessed that “the +Devill then offer’d her that hee would doe what mischiefe she should +require him; and said she must covenant with him that he must have her +soule at the end of one and twenty years which she granted.”[51] In 1664, +a Somerset sorceress, Elizabeth Style, avowed that the Devil “promised +her Mony, and that she should live gallantly, and have the pleasure of +the World for Twelve years, if she would with her Blood sign his Paper, +which was to give her Soul to him.”[52] + +Satan promises to give his votaries all they desire; knowledge, wealth, +honours, pleasure, vengeance upon their enemies; and all that he can give +is disappointment, poverty, misery, hate, the power to hurt and destroy. +He is ever holding before their eyes elusive hopes, and so besotted are +they that they trust him and confide in him until all is lost. Sometimes +in the case of those who are young the pact is for a short while, but +he always renews it. So at Lille in 1661 Antoinette Bourignon’s pupils +confessed: “The Devil gives them a Mark, which Marks they renew as often +as those Persons have any desire to quit him. The Devil reproves them +the more severely, and obligeth them to new Promises, making them also +new Marks for assurance or Pledge, that those Persons should continue +faithful to him.”[53] + +The Devil’s Mark to which allusion is here made, or the Witches’ Mark, +as it is sometimes called, was regarded as perhaps the most important +point in the identification of a witch, it was the very sign and seal +of Satan upon the actual flesh of his servant, and any person who bore +such a mark was considered to have been convicted and proven beyond all +manner of doubt of being in league with and devoted to the service of the +fiend. This mark was said to be entirely insensible to pain, and when +pricked, however deeply, it did not bleed. So Mr. John Bell, minister +at Gladsmuir, in his tract _The Trial of Witchcraft; or Witchcraft +Arraigned and Condemned_, published early in the eighteenth century, +explains: “The witch mark is sometimes like a blew spot, or a little +tate, or reid spots, like flea biting; sometimes also the flesh is sunk +in, and hollow, and this is put in secret places, as among the hair of +the head, or eye-brows, within the lips, under the arm-pits, and in the +most secret parts of the body.” Robert Hink, minister at Aberfoill, in +his _Secret Commonwealth_ (1691), writes: “A spot that I have seen, as a +small mole, horny, and brown-coloured; throw which mark, when a large pin +was thrust (both in buttock, nose, and rooff of the mouth), till it bowed +and became crooked, the witches both men and women, nather felt a pain +nor did bleed, nor knew the precise time when this was doing to them, +(their eyes only being covered).” This mark was sometimes the complete +figure of a toad or a bat; or, as Delrio says, the slot of a hare, the +foot of a frog, a spider, a deformed whelp, a mouse.[54] The same great +authority informs us on what part of the body it was usually impressed: +“In men it may often be seen under the eyelids, under the lips, under the +armpits, on the shoulders, on the fundament; in women, moreover, on the +breast or on the pudenda.”[55] + +In his profound treatise _De Dæmonialitate_ that most erudite Franciscan +Ludovico Maria Sinistrari writes: “[Sagæ seu Malefici] sigillantur a +Dæmone aliquo charactere, maxime ii, de quorum constantia dubitat. +Character uero non est semper eiusdem formæ, aut figuræ: aliquando enim +est simile lepori, aliquando pedi bufonis, aliquando araneæ, uel catello, +uel gliri; imprimitur autem in locis corporis magis occultis: uiris +quidem aliquando sub palpebris, aliquando sub axillis, aut labiis, aut +humeris, aut sede ima, aut alibi: mulieribus autem plerumque in mammis, +seu locis mulieribus. Porro sigillum, quo talia signa imprimuntur, est +unguis Diaboli.” (The Demon imprints upon [the Witches or Wizards] +some mark, especially on those whose constancy he suspects. That mark, +moreover, is not always of the same shape or figure: sometimes it is the +image of a hare, sometimes a toad’s leg, sometimes a spider, a puppy, a +dormouse. It is imprinted on the most hidden parts of the body: with men, +under the eye-lids, or the armpits, or the lips, on the shoulder, the +fundament, or somewhere else: with women it is usually on the breasts or +the privy parts. Now, the stamp which imprints these marks is none other +but the Devil’s claw.) + +This Mark was made by the Devil, or by the Devil’s vicegerent at the +Sabbats upon the admission of a new witch. “The Diuell giveth to euerie +nouice a marke, either with his teeth or his clawes,” says Reginald +Scot, _Discoverie of Witchcraft_, 1584. The young witches of Lille +in 1661 confessed that “the Devil branded them with an iron awl upon +some part of the body.”[56] In Scotland, Geillis Duncane, maid-servant +to the deputy bailiff of Tranent, one David Seaton, a wench who was +concerned in the celebrated trial of Doctor Fian, Agnes Sampson, Euphemia +McCalyan, Barbara Napier, and their associates, would not confess even +under torture, “whereuppon they suspecting that she had been marked by +the devill (as commonly witches are) made diligent search about her, +and found the enemies mark to be in her fore crag, or fore part of her +throate; which being found, shee confessed that all her doings was done +by the wicked allurements and entisements of the devil, and that she +did them by witchcraft.”[57] In 1630 Catharine Oswald of Niddrie was +found guilty of sorcery, “the advocate for the instruction of the assyze +producing the declaration of two witnesses, that being in the tolbuith, +saw Mr. John Aird, minister, put a pin in the pannell’s shoulder, +(where she carries the devill’s mark) up to the heid, and no bluid +followed theiron, nor she shrinking thereat; which was againe done in +the justice-depute his own presence.” In 1643 Janet Barker at Edinburgh +confessed to commerce with the demon, and stated that he had marked +her between the shoulders. The mark was found “and a pin being thrust +therein, it remained for an hour unperceived by the pannell.”[58] + +On 10 March, 1611, Louis Gaufridi, a priest of Accoules in the diocese of +Marseilles, was visited in prison, where he lay under repeated charges of +foulest sorcery, by two physicians and two surgeons who were appointed to +search for the Devil’s mark. Their joint report ran as follows: “We, the +undersigned doctors and surgeons, in obedience to the directions given us +by Messire Anthoine de Thoron, sieur de Thoron, Councillor to the King +in his Court of Parliament, have visited Messire L. Gaufridy, upon whose +body we observed three little marks, not very different in colour from +the natural skin. The first is upon his right thigh, about the middle +towards the lower part. When we pierced this with a needle to the depth +of two fingers breadth he felt no pain, nor did any blood or other humour +exude from the incision. + +“The second is in the region of the loins, towards the right, about an +inch from the spine and some four fingers breadth above the femoral +muscles. Herein we drove the needle for three fingers breath, leaving it +fixed in this spot for some time, as we had already done in the first +instance, and yet all the while the said Gaufridy felt no pain, nor was +there any effluxion of blood or other humour of any kind. + +“The third mark is about the region of the heart. At first the needle +was introduced without any sensation being felt, as in the previous +instances. But when the place was probed with some force, he said he +felt pain, but yet no moisture distilled from this laceration. Early the +next morning we again visited him, but we found that the parts which had +been probed were neither swollen nor red. In our judgement such callous +marks which emit no moisture when pierced, cannot be due to any ancient +affection of the skin, and in accordance with this opinion we submit our +report on this tenth day of March, 1611. + + _Fontaine_, _Grassy_, Doctors; + _Mérindol_, _Bontemps_, Surgeons.”[59] + +On 26 April, 1634, during the famous Loudun trials, Urbain Grandier, the +accused was examined in order to discover the witch-mark. He was stripped +naked, blindfolded, and in the presence of the officials, René Mannoury, +one of the leading physicians of the town, conducted the search. Two +marks were discovered, one upon the shoulder-blade and the other upon the +thigh, both of which proved insensible even when pierced with a sharp +silver pin. + +Inasmuch as the discovery of the devil-mark was regarded as one of the +most convincing indications—if not, indeed, an infallible proof—that +the accused was guilty since he bore indelibly branded upon his flesh +Satan’s own sign-manual, it is easy to see how the searching for, +the recognition and the probing of, such marks actually grew to be a +profession in which not a few ingenious persons came to be recognized +as experts and practical authorities. In Scotland, especially, the +“prickers,” as they were called, formed a regular gild. They received a +good fee for every witch they discovered, and, as might be expected, they +did not fail to reap a golden harvest. At the trial of Janet Peaston, +in 1646, the magistrates of Dalkeith “caused John Kincaid of Tranent, +the common pricker, to exercise his craft upon her. He found two marks +of the Devil’s making; for she could not feel the pin when it was put +into either of the said marks, nor did the marks bleed when the pin was +taken out again. When she was asked where she thought the pins were +put into her, she pointed to a part of her body distant from the real +place. They were pins of three inches in length.”[60] Another notorious +pricker was John Bain, upon whose unsupported evidence a large number of +unfortunate wretches were sentenced to death. About 1634 John Balfour of +Corhouse was feared over all the countryside for his exploits; whilst +twenty years later one John Dick proved a rival to Kincaid himself. The +regular trade of these “common prickers” came to be a serious nuisance, +and confessedly opened the door to all sorts of roguery. The following +extraordinary incident shows how dangerous and villainous in mountebank +hands the examinations could become, which, if conducted at all, ought +at least to be safeguarded by every precaution and only entrusted to +skilled physicians, who should report the result to grave and learned +divines. “There came then to Inverness one Mr. Paterson, who had run +over the kingdom for triall off witches, and was ordinarily called the +Pricker, because his way of triall was with a long brass pin. Stripping +them naked, he alledged that the spell spot was seen and discovered. +After rubbing over the whole body with his palms he slips in the pin, +and, it seemes, with shame and fear being dasht, they felt it not, but +he left it in the flesh, deep to the head, and desired them to find and +take it out. It is sure some witches were discovered but many honest men +and women were blotted and break by this trick. In Elgin there were two +killed; in Forres two; and one Margret Duff, a rank witch, burned in +Inverness. This Paterson came up to the Church of Wardlaw, and within +the church pricked 14 women and one man brought thither by the Chisholm +of Commer, and 4 brought by Andrew Fraser, chamerlan of Ferrintosh. He +first polled all their heads and amassed the heap of haire together, +hid in the stone dich, and so proceeded to pricking.[61] Severall of +these dyed in prison never brought to confession. This villan gaind a +great deale off mony, haveing two servants; at last he was discovered +to be a woman disguished in mans cloathes. Such cruelty and rigure was +sustained by a vile varlet imposture.”[62] No doubt in very many, in +the majority of instances, these witch-marks were natural malformations +of the skin, thickened tissue, birthmarks—I myself have known a subject +who was by prenatal accident stamped upon the upper part of the arm with +the complete figure of a rat—moles, callous warts, or spots of some +kind. But this explanation will not cover all the cases, and even the +sceptical Miss Murray who writes: “Local anæsthesia is vouched for in +much of the evidence, which suggests that there is a substratum of truth +in the statements,” is bound candidly to confess, “but I can at present +offer no solution of this problem.”[63] Moreover, as before noticed, this +mark was not infrequently branded upon the novice at admission, often +by the Witch-Master, who presided over the rout, sometimes—it must be +admitted—by non-human agency. + +The “little Teat or Pap,” so often found on the body of the wizard or +witch, and said to secrete milk which nourished the familiar, must be +carefully distinguished from the insensible devil-mark. This phenomenon, +for no explainable reason, seems to occur only in the records of +England and New England, where, however, it is of exceedingly frequent +occurrence. It is worth remarking that in the last act of Shadwell’s +play, _The Lancashire Witches_ (1681), the witches are searched by a +woman, who reports “they have all great Biggs and Teats in many Parts, +except Mother _Madge_, and hers are but small ones.” Shadwell, who in +his voluminous notes has citations from nearly fifty authors, on this +point writes: “The having of Biggs and Teats all modern Witchmongers +in _England_ affirm.”[64] In 1597 at the trial of a beldame, Elizabeth +Wright, of Stapenhill, near Burton-on-Trent: “The old woman they stript, +and found behind her right sholder a thing much like the vdder of an ewe +that giueth sucke with two teates, like vnto two great wartes, the one +behinde vnder her armehole, the other a hand off towardes the top of her +shoulder. Being demanded how long she had those teates, she answered +she was borne so.”[65] In the case of the Witch of Edmonton, Elizabeth +Sawyer, who was in spite of her resistance searched upon the express +order of the Bench, it was found by Margaret Weaver, a widow of an honest +reputation, and two other grave matrons, who performed this duty that +there was upon her body “a thing like a Teate the bignesse of the little +finger, and the length of half a finger, which was branched at the top +like a teate, and seemed as though one had suckt it.”[66] John Palmer +of St. Albans (1649) confessed that “upon his compact with the Divel, +hee received a flesh brand, or mark, upon his side, which gave suck +to two familiars.”[67] The Kentish witch, Mary Read of Lenham (1652), +“had a visible Teat, under her Tongue, and did show it to many.”[68] At +St. Albans about 1660 there was a wizard who “had like a Breast on his +side.”[69] In the same year at Kidderminster, a widow, her two daughters, +and a man were accused; “the man had five teats, the mother three, and +the eldest daughter, one.”[70] In 1692 Bridget Bishop, one of the Salem +witches, was brought to trial: “A Jury of Women found a preternatural +Teat upon her Body: But upon a second search, within 3 or 4 hours, there +was no such thing to be seen.”[71] There is similar evidence adduced +in the accounts of Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, two Suffolk witches, +executed in 1664; Elizabeth Horner, a Devon witch (1696); Widow Coman, +an Essex witch, who died in her bed (1699); and, indeed, innumerable +other examples might be quoted affording a whole catena of pertinent +illustrations. No doubt many of these are explicable by the cases of +polymastia (_mammæ erraticæ_) and polythelia (supernumerary nipples) +of which there are continual records in recent medical works. It must +be freely admitted that these anatomical divagations are commoner than +is generally supposed; frequently they are so slight that they may +pass almost unnoticed; doubtless there is exaggeration in many of the +inexactly observed seventeenth-century narratives. However, it has to be +said, as before, that when every most generous allowance is made, the +facts which remain, and the details are very ample, cannot be covered by +physical peculiarities and malformations. There is far more truth in the +records of the old theologians and witch finders than many nowadays are +disposed to allow. + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER II. + +[1] Under Innocent III, 1215. + +[2] Diabolus enim et alii dæmones a Deo quidem natura creati sunt boni, +sed ipsi per se facti sunt mali. + +[3] Bossuet says that the writings of Suarez contain the whole of +Scholastic Philosophy. + +[4] Since it contradicts a definite (_certa_) theological conclusion or +truth clearly consequent upon two premises, of which one is an article of +faith (_de fide_), the other naturally certain. + +[5] Which explains much of the trifling and silliness in Spiritism; the +idle answers given through the mediums of the influences at work. + +[6] Josephus, _Antiquities_, XIX. 8. 2. + +[7] Suetonius, _Caligula_, XXII. Here ample details of Caligula’s worship +may be read. + +[8] _Epigrammatum_, V. 8. 1. See also IX. 4, _et sæpius_. + +[9] ... id agens ne quis Romæ deus nisi Heliogabalus coleretur.... Nec +Romanas tantum extinguere uoluit religiones, sed per orbem terræ unum +studens ut Heliogabalus deus unus ubique coleretur. Ælius Lampridius, +_Antoninus Heliogabalus_, 3; 6. + +[10] Even the Christian (Arian) Constantius II suffered himself to be +addressed as “Nostra Æternitas.” + +[11] Now commemorated on 14 September, the Feast of the Exaltation of +Holy Cross. Shortly after the Restoration of the Cross to Jerusalem, the +wood was cut up (perhaps for greater safety) into small fragments which +were distributed throughout the Christian world. + +[12] Didymus, _De Trinitate_, III. xli. + +[13] Epiphanius, _Hær._, xlviii. 11. + +[14] _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, VII (1834), p. 84. + +[15] D. C. J. Ibbetson, _Outlines of Punjaub Ethnography_, Calcutta. +1883. p. 123. + +[16] ... vous n’avez pas eu honte de vous agenouiller devant votre +Belzebuth, que vous avez adoré. J. B. Cannaert, _Olim procès des +Sorcières en Belgique_, Gand, 1847. + +[17] Ie me remets de tout poinct en ton pouuoir & entre tes mains, ne +recognois autre Dieu: si bien que tu es mon Dieu. + +[18] On dit au Diable nous vous recognoissons pour nostre maistre, nostre +Dieu, nostre Createur. + +[19] John Hutchinson, _History of the Province of Massachusett’s Bay_, +1828, II. p. 31. + +[20] Satan luy comma̅da de le prier soir & matin, auant qu’elle s’addonat +à faire autre œuure. + +[21] _Wonderful Discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer_, London, 1621. + +[22] Rev. F. G. Lee, _More Glimpses of the World Unseen_, 1878, p. 12. + +[23] Potest [diabolus] eludere sensus et facere ut appareat caput +abcisum, _De Religione_, l. 2, c. 16, n. 13, t. 13, p. 578. + +[24] Huc. _Voyage dans la Tartarie, le Thibet et la Chine_, I, ix, p. +308. The author remarks: Ces cérémonies horribles se renouvellent assez +souvent dans les grandes lamaseries de la Tartarie et du Thibet. Nous +ne pensons nullement qu’on puisse mettre toujours sur le compte de la +superchérie des faits de ce genre: car d’après tout ce que nous avons vu +et entendu parmi les nations idolâtres, nous sommes persuadé que le démon +y joue un grand rôle. (These horrible ceremonies frequently occur in the +larger lamaseries of Tartary and Tibet. I am very certain that we cannot +always ascribe happenings of this sort to mere juggling or trickery; for, +after all that I have seen and heard among heathen people, I am confident +that the powers of evil are very largely concerned therein.) + +[25] I use this term rather than the more popular “Spiritualism.” +Spiritism obtains in Italy, France and Germany. “Spiritualism” is +correctly a technical name for the doctrine which denies that the +contents of the universe are limited to matter and the properties and +operations of matter. + +[26] For fuller, and, indeed, conclusive details see Godfrey Raupert’s +_Modern Spiritism_, London, 1904; and Monsignor Benson’s _Spiritualism_, +_Dublin Review_, October, 1909, and reprinted by the Catholic Truth +Society. + +[27] _Prognosticare_ is a late word. Strictly to prognosticate is to +deduce from actual signs, to prophesy is to foretell the future without +any such sign or token. + +[28] The Camisards were agreeably satirized by D’Urfey in his comedy _The +Modern Prophets; or, New Wit for a Husband_, produced at Drury Lane, 5 +May, 1709, (_Tatler_, 11), and printed quarto, 1709, (no date). One of +the principal characters is “_Marrogn_, A Knavish French Camizar and +Priest,” created by Bowen. This is a portrait of Elie Marion. In his +preface D’Urfey speaks of “the abominable Impostures of those craz’d +Enthusiasts” whom he lashes. The play had been composed in 1708, but +production was postponed owing to the death of the Prince Consort, +28 October of that year. Swift, _Predictions for the Year 1708_, +has: “_June_. This month will be distinguished at home, by the utter +dispersing of those ridiculous deluded enthusiasts, commonly called +the _prophets_; occasioned chiefly by seeing the time come, when many +of their prophecies should be fulfilled, and then finding themselves +deceived by contrary events.” + +[29] See also Fléchier’s _Récit fidèle_ in _Lettres choisies_, Lyons, +1715; and Brueys’ _Histoire du fanatisme de notre temps_, Montpellier, +1713. + +[30] Après que Dieu a parlé de sa propre bouche des magiciens et +sorciers, qui est l’incredule qui on peut justement douter? + +[31] In the fourteenth century bas-reliefs on cathedrals frequently +represent men kneeling down before the Devil, worshipping him, and +devoting themselves to him as his servants. Martonne, _Piété au Moyen +Âge_, p. 137. + +[32] George Ives, _A History of Penal Methods_, p. 75. His admirable and +documented chapter II, “The Witch Trials,” should be carefully read. + +[33] Philip Schaff, _History of the Christian Church_. + +[34] Matthew Paris, _Chronica Maiora_. + +[35] J. P. Kirsch. + +[36] All these quotations are from W. H. Lecky, _History of Rationalism +in Europe_, c. 1. + +[37] Rev. Peter Lorimer, D.D. + +[38] First published by Isidore Liseux, 1875. p. 21. XIII. Ludovico Maria +Sinistrari, Minorite, was born at Ameno (Novara) 26 February, 1622. He +was Consultor to the Supreme Tribunal of the Holy Office; Vicar-general +of the Archbishop of Avignon, and Theologian Advisory to the Archbishop +of Milan. He is described as “omnium scientiarum uir.” He died 6 March, +1701. + +[39] _L’Incredulité et Mescreance du Sortilege_, Paris, 1622, p. 38. + +[40] Subscriptio autem sæpissime peragitur proprio sanguine.... Sic +Augustæ referebat Joseph Egmund Schultz, se anno 1671. d. 15. Maji +sanguine proprio tinctum manuscriptum, in membrana, nomine picto, +obuolutoque muccinio, in media nocte, cum hora undecima & duodecima +agebatur, in compitum iecisse, atque pactum sic corroborasse.... Sic de +infausto illo Fausto _Widmannus_ refert, proprio sanguine ex leuiter +uulnerato pollice emisso illum se totum diabolo adscripsisse, Deoque +repudium misisse. _De Sagis_, Christian Stridtheckh, Lipsiæ, 1691. (XXII). + +[41] See Götz, _De subscriptionibus sanguine humano firmatis_, Lübeck, +1724. Also Scheible, _Die Sage vom Faust_. Stuttgart, 1847. So far as I +am aware this point has been neglected by writers on Witchcraft. + +[42] Ne fœdora quidem incruenta sunt: sauciant se, qui paciscuntur, +exemtumque sanguinem, ubi permiscuere, degustant. Id putant mansuræ fidei +pignus certissimum. + +[43] ... uel quia Deus non permittit, uel propter alias rationes nobis +occultas. _De Superstitione_, VIII. i. 13. + +[44] Tunc autem propria culpa diuinationis iam commissa est ab homine, +etiamsi effectus desideratas non fuerit subsecutus. (For the sin of +divination is actually committed by the sinner and that willingly, +although he obtain not the desired effect of his action.) _Idem._ + +[45] _Theologia moralis_, l. iii. n. 28. Monendi sunt se teneri 1. +Pactum expressum, si quod habent cum dæmone, aut commercium abiurare et +dissoluere; 2. Libros suos, schedas, ligaturas, aliaque instrumenta artis +comburere; 3. Comburere chirographum, si habeat: si iuro solus dæmon id +habeat, non necessario cogendus est ut reddat, quia pactum sufficienter +soluitur per pœnitentiam; 4. Damna illata resarcire. + +[46] Bollandists, 4 February. + +[47] _Breuiarium Romanum_, Paris Autumnalis, 26 September, lectio iii. of +Matins. Upon this history Calderon has founded his great drama _El Magico +Prodigioso_. + +[48] Bollandists, 14 May. _Breuiarium iuxta S. Ordinis Prædicatorum._ +14 May. In Nocturno, Lectiones ii, iij. Touron _Histoire des hommes +illustres de l’ordre de Saint Dominique_. (Paris, 1743.) + +[49] _Discoverie of Witchcraft_, Book III. + +[50] _Examination of Joane Williford_, London, 1643. + +[51] John Davenport, _Witches of Huntingdon_, London, 1646. + +[52] Glanvill, _Sadducismus Triumphatus_. + +[53] Antoinette Bourignon, _La Vie exterieure_, Amsterdam, 1683. + +[54] Delrio. _Disquisitiones magicæ_, l. v. sect. 4. t. 2. Non eadem est +forma signi; aliquando est simile leporis uestigio, aliquando bufonis +pedi, aliquando araneæ, uel catello, uel gliri. + +[55] _Idem._ In uirorum enim corpore sæpe uisitur sub palpebris, sub +labiis, sub axillis, in humeris, in sede ima: feminis etiam, in mammis +uel muliebribus locis. + +[56] ... le Diable leur fait quelque marque comme avec une aleine de fer +en quelque partie du corps. + +[57] _Newes from Scotland_, London. (1592.) Roxburgh Club reprint, 1816. + +[58] _Abbreviate of the Justiciary Record._ + +[59] Nous, medecins et chirurgiens soussignés, suivant le commandement à +nous fait par messire Anthoine de Thoron, sieur de Thoron, conseiller du +roy en sa cour de parlement, avons visité messire L. Gaufridy au corps +duquel avons remarqué trois petites marques peu differentes en couleur du +reste du cuir. L’une en sa cuisse sénestre sur le milieu et en la partie +inferieure, en laquelle ayant enforcé une aiguille environ deux travers +de doigts n’a senti aucune douleur, ni de la place n’est sorti point de +sang ni autre humidité. + +La seconde est en la region des lombes en la partie droite, un poulce +près de l’épine du dos et quatre doigts au-dessus les muscles de la +fesse, en laquelle nous avons enfoncé l’aiguille trois travers de doigts, +la laissons comme avions fait à la première plantée en cette partie +quelque espace de temps, sans toutefois que le dit Gaufridy ait senti +aucune douleur et que sang ni humeur quelconque en soit sorti. + +La troisième est vers la région du cœur. Laquelle, au commencement qu’on +mit l’aiguille parut comme les autres sans sentiment; mais à mesure que +l’on enfonçait fort avant, il dit sentir quelque douleur; ne sortant +toutefois aucune humidité, et l’ayant visité le lendemain au matin, +n’avons reconnu aux parties piquées ni tumeur, ni rougeur. A cause de +quoi nous disons telles marques insensibles en rendant point d’humidité +étant piquées, ne pouvoir arriver par aucune maladie du cuir précédante, +et tel faisons notre rapport ce 10 mars, 1611. _Fontaine_, _Grassy_, +médecins; _Mérindol_, _Bontemps_, chirurgiens. + +So great was the importance attached to the discovery of a witch-mark +upon the body of the accused that when the above medico-legal report was +read in court, Father Sebastian Michaelis, a learned Dominican, who was +acting as consultor in the case, horror-struck, involuntarily exclaimed: +“Good sooth, were we at Avignon this man would be executed to-morrow!” +Gaufridi confessed: “J’advoue que les dites marques sont faites pour +protestation qu’on sera toujours bon et fidèle serviteur du diable toute +la vie.” (I confess that these marks were made as a sign that I shall be +a good and faithful servant to the Devil all my life long.) + +[60] Pitcairn, _Records of Justiciary_. In 1663 Kincaid was thrown into +jail, where he lay nine weeks for “pricking” without a magistrate’s +warrant. He was only released owing to his great age and on condition +that he would “prick” no more. + +[61] This shaving of the head and body was the usual procedure before +the search for the devil-mark. We find it recorded in nearly every case. +Generally a barber was called in to perform the operation: e.g. the +trials of Gaufridi and Grandier, where the details are very ample. + +[62] _The Wardlaw Manuscript_, p. 446. Scottish History Society +publication, Edinburgh. + +[63] _The Witch-Cult in Western Europe_, p. 86. + +[64] Angelica in _Love for Love_ (1695), II, mocking her superstitious +old uncle, Foresight, and the Nurse, cries: “Look to it, Nurse; I can +bring Witness that you have a great unnatural Teat under your Left Arm, +and he another; and that you Suckle a young Devil in the shape of a +Tabby-Cat by turns, I can.” + +[65] _The most wonderfull ... storie of a ... Witch named Alse +Gooderidge._ London. 1597. + +[66] Goodcole’s _Wonderfull Discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer_, London, +1621. There is an allusion in Ford and Dekker’s drama, IV: + + _Sawyer._ My dear _Tom-boy_, welcome ... + Comfort me: thou shalt haue the teat anon. + + _Dog._ Bow, wow! I’ll haue it now. + +[67] W. B. Gerish. _The Devil’s Delusions_, Bishops Stortford, 1914. + +[68] _Prodigious and Tragicall Histories_, London, 1652. + +[69] W. B. Gerish, _Relation of Mary Hall of Gadsden_, 1912. + +[70] T. B. Howell, _State Trials_, London, 1816. + +[71] Cotton Mather, _Wonders of the Invisible World_. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DEMONS AND FAMILIARS + + +One of the most authoritative of the older writers upon Witchcraft, +Francesco-Maria Guazzo, a member of the Congregation of S. Ambrose ad +Nemus,[1] in his encyclopædic _Compendium Maleficarum_, first published +at Milan, 1608, has drawn up under eleven heads those articles in which a +solemn and complete profession of Witchcraft was then held to consist: + +_First_: The candidates have to conclude with the Devil, or some other +Wizard or Magician acting in the Devil’s stead, an express compact by +which, in the presence of witnesses they devote themselves to the service +of evil, he giving them in exchange his pledge for riches, luxury, and +such things as they desire. + +_Secondly_: They abjure the Catholic Faith, explicitly withdraw from +their obedience to God, renounce Christ and in a particular manner the +Patronage and Protection of Our Lady, curse all Saints, and forswear +the Sacraments. In Guernsey, in 1617, Isabel Becquet went to Rocquaine +Castle, “the usual place where the Devil kept his Sabbath: no sooner had +she arrived there than the Devil came to her in the form of a dog, with +two great horns sticking up: and with one of his paws (which seemed to +her like hands) took her by the hand: and calling her by her name told +her that she was welcome: then immediately the Devil made her kneel down: +while he himself stood up on his hind legs; he then made her express +detestation of the Eternal in these words: _I renounce God the Father, +God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost_; and then caused her to worship and +invoke himself.”[2] De Lancre tells us that Jeannette d’Abadie, a lass +of sixteen, confessed that she was made to “renounce & deny her Creator, +the Holy Virgin, the Saints, Baptism, father, mother, relations, Heaven, +earth, & all that the world contains.”[3] In a very full confession made +by Louis Gaufridi on the second of April, 1611, to two Capuchins, Father +Ange and Father Antoine, he revealed the formula of his abjuration of +the Catholic faith. It ran thus: “I, Louis Gaufridi, renounce all good, +both spiritual as well as temporal, which may be bestowed upon me by +God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the Saints of Heaven, particularly my +Patron S. John-Baptist, as also S. Peter, S. Paul, and S. Francis, and +I give myself body and soul to Lucifer, before whom I stand, together +with every good that I may ever possess (save always the benefit of the +sacraments touching those who receive them). And according to the tenour +of these terms have I signed and sealed.”[4] Madeleine de la Palud, one +of his victims, used a longer and more detailed declaration in which +the following hideous blasphemies occurred: “With all my heart and most +unfeignedly and with all my will most deliberately do I wholly renounce +God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the most Holy Mother of God; all the +Angels and especially my Guardian Angel, the Passion of Our Lord Jesus +Christ, His Precious Blood and the merits thereof, my lot in Paradise, +all the good inspirations which God may give me in the future, all +prayers which are made or may be made for me.”[5] + +_Thirdly_: They cast away with contempt the most Holy Rosary, delivered +by Our Lady to S. Dominic;[6] the Cord of S. Francis; the cincture of S. +Augustine; the Carmelite scapular bestowed upon S. Simon Stock; they cast +upon the ground and trample under their feet in the mire the Cross, Holy +Medals, _Agnus Dei_,[7] should they possess such or carry them upon their +persons. S. Francis girded himself with a rough rope in memory of the +bonds wherewith Christ was bound during His Passion, and a white girdle +with three knots has since formed part of the Franciscan habit. Sixtus +IV, by his Bull _Exsupernæ dispositionis_, erected the Archconfraternity +of the Cord of S. Francis in the basilica of the Sacro Convento at +Assisi, enriching it with many Indulgences, favours which have been +confirmed by pontiff after pontiff. Archconfraternities are erected not +only in Franciscan but in many other churches and aggregated to the +centre at Assisi. The Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Consolation, or +of the Black Leathern Belt of S. Monica, S. Augustine and S. Nicolas +of Tolentino, took its rise from a vision of S. Monica, who received +a black leathern belt from Our Lady. S. Augustine, S. Ambrose, and +S. Simplicianus all wore such a girdle, which forms a distinctive +feature of the dress of Augustinian Eremites. After the canonization +of S. Nicolas of Tolentino it came into general use as an article of +devotion, and Eugenius IV in 1439 erected the above Archconfraternity. +A Bull of Gregory XIII _Ad ea_ (15 July, 1575) confirmed this and added +various privileges and Indulgences. The Archconfraternity is erected in +Augustinian sanctuaries, from the General of which Order leave must be +obtained for its extension to other churches. + +[Illustration: PLATE III + +COMPENDIVM MALEFICARVM. Francesco-Maria Guazzo. Title-page of Second +Edition + +[_face p. 82_] + +_Fourthly_: All witches vow obedience and subjection into the hands +of the Devil; they pay him homage and vassalage (often by obscene +ceremonies), and lay their hands upon a large black book which is +presented to them. They bind themselves by blasphemous oaths never +to return to the true faith, to observe no divine precept, to do no +good work, but to obey the Demon only and to attend without fail the +nightly conventicles. They pledge themselves to frequent the midnight +assemblies.[8] These conventicles or covens[9] (from _conuentus_) were +bands or companies of witches, composed of men and women, apparently +under the discipline of an officer, all of whom for convenience’ sake +belonged to the same district. Those who belonged to a coven were, it +seems from the evidence at trials, bound to attend the weekly Esbat. +The arrest of one member of a coven generally led to the implication +of the rest. Cotton Mather remarks, “The witches are organized like +Congregational Churches.” + +_Fifthly_: The witches promise to strive with all their power and to +use every inducement and endeavour to draw other men and women to their +detestable practices and the worship of Satan. + +The witches were imbued with the missionary spirit, which made them +doubly damnable in the eyes of the divines and doubly guilty in the eyes +of the law. So in the case of Janet Breadheid of Auldearne, we find that +her husband “enticed her into that craft.”[10] A girl named Bellot, of +Madame Bourignon’s academy, confessed that her mother had taken her to +the Sabbat when she was quite a child. Another girl alleged that all +worshippers of the Devil “are constrained to offer him their Children.” +Elizabeth Francis of Chelmsford, a witch tried in 1566, was only about +twelve years old when her grandmother first taught her the art of +sorcery.[11] The famous Pendle beldame, Elizabeth Demdike “brought vp her +owne Children, instructed her Graundchildren, and tooke great care and +paines to bring them to be Witches.”[12] At Salem, George Burroughs, a +minister, was accused by a large number of women as “the person who had +Seduc’d and Compell’d them into the snares of Witchcraft.” + +_Sixthly_: The Devil administers to witches a kind of sacrilegious +baptism, and after abjuring their Godfathers and Godmothers of Christian +Baptism and Confirmation they have assigned to them new sponsors—as it +were—whose charge it is to instruct them in sorcery: they drop their +former name and exchange it for another, generally a scurrilous and +grotesque nickname. + +In 1609 Jeanette d’Abadie, a witch of the Basses-Pyrénées, confessed +“that she often saw children baptized at the Sabbat, and these she +informed us were the offspring of sorcerers and not of other persons, but +of witches who are accustomed to have their sons and daughters baptized +at the Sabbat rather than at the Font.”[13] June 20, 1614, at Orleans, +Silvain Nevillon amongst other crimes acknowledged that he had frequented +assemblies of witches, and “that they baptize babies at the Sabbat with +Chrism.... Then they anoint the child’s head therewith muttering certain +Latin phrases.”[14] Gentien le Clerc, who was tried at the same time, +“said that his mother, as he had been told, presented him at the Sabbat +when he was but three years old, to a monstrous goat, whom they called +l’Aspic. He said that he was baptized at the Sabbat, at Carrior d’Olivet, +with fourteen or fifteen other children....”[15] + +Among the confessions made by Louis Gaufridi at Aix in March, 1611, were: +“I confess that baptism is administered at the Sabbat, and that every +sorcerer, devoting himself to the Devil, binds himself by a particular +vow that he will have all his children baptized at the Sabbat, if this +may by any possible means be effected. Every child who is thus baptized +at the Sabbat receives a name, wholly differing from his own name. I +confess that at this baptism water, sulphur, and salt are employed: the +sulphur renders the recipient the Devil’s slave whilst salt confirms his +baptism in the Devil’s service. I confess that the form and intention are +to baptize in the name of Lucifer, Belzebuth and other demons making the +sign of the cross beginning backwards and then tracing from the feet and +ending at the head.”[16] + +A number of Swedish witches (1669) were baptized: “they added, that he +caused them to be baptized too by such Priests as he had there, and made +them confirm their Baptism with dreadful Oaths and Imprecations.”[17] + +The giving of a new name seems to have been very general. Thus in May, +1569, at S. Andrews “a notabill sorceres callit Nicniven was condemnit to +the death and burnt.” Her Christian name is not given merely her witch’s +name bestowed by the demon. In the famous Fian case it was stated that +when at the meeting in North Berwick kirk Robert Grierson was named great +confusion ensued for the witches and warlocks “all ran hirdie-girdie, +and were angry, for it was promised that he should be called Robert +the Comptroller, for the expriming of his name.”[18] Euphemia McCalyan +of the same coven was called Cane, and Barbara Napier Naip. Isabel +Goudie of Auldearne (1662) stated that many witches known to her had +been baptized in their own blood by such names as “Able-and-Stout,” +“Over-the-dike-with-it,” “Raise-the-wind,” “Pickle-nearest-the-wind,” +“Batter-them-down-Maggy,” “Blow-Kate,” and similar japeries. + +_Seventhly_: The witches cut off a piece of their own garments, and as a +token of homage tender it to the Devil, who takes it away and keeps it. + +_Eighthly_: The Devil draws on the ground a circle wherein stand the +Novices, Wizards, and Witches, and there they confirm by oath all their +aforesaid promises. This has a mystical signification. “They take this +oath to the Demon standing in a circle described upon the ground, +perchance because a circle is the Symbol of Divinity, & the earth God’s +footstool and thus he assuredly wishes them to believe that he is the +lord of Heaven and earth.”[19] + +_Ninthly_: The sorcerers request the Devil to strike them out of the book +of Christ, and to inscribe them in his own. Then is solemnly brought +forward a large black book, the same as that on which they laid their +hands when they did their first homage, and they are inscribed in this +by the Devil’s claw. + +These books or rolls were kept with great secrecy by the chief officer +of the coven or even the Grand Master of a district. They would have +been guarded as something as precious as life itself, seeing that they +contained the damning evidence of a full list of the witches of a +province or county, and in addition thereto seems to have been added a +number of magic formulæ, spells, charms, and probably, from time to time, +a record of the doings of the various witches. The signing of such a book +is continually referred to in the New England trials. So when Deliverance +Hobbs had made a clean breast of her sorceries, “She now testifi’d, that +this _Bishop_ [Bridget Bishop, condemned and executed as a long-continued +witch] tempted her to sign the _Book_ again, and to deny what she had +confess’d.” The enemies of the notorious Matthew Hopkins made great +capital out of the story that by some sleight of sorcery he had got +hold of one of these Devil’s memorandum-books, whence he copied a list +of witches, and this it was that enabled him to be so infallible in his +scent. The Witch-Finder General was hard put to it to defend himself from +the accusation, and becomes quite pitiful in his whining asseverations of +innocence. There is a somewhat vague story, no dates being given, that +a Devil’s book was carried off by Mr. Williamson of Cardrona (Peebles), +who filched it from the witches whilst they were dancing on Minchmoor. +But the whole coven at once gave chase, and he was glad to abandon it and +escape alive. + +Sometimes the catalogue of witches was inscribed on a separate parchment, +and the book only used to write down charms and spells. Such a volume was +the Red Book of Appin known to have actually been in existence a hundred +years ago. Tradition said it was stolen from the Devil by a trick. It +was in manuscript, and contained a large number of magic runes and +incantations for the cure of cattle diseases, the increase of flocks, the +fertility of fields. This document, which must be of immense importance +and interest, when last heard of was (I believe) in the possession of the +now-extinct Stewarts of Invernahyle. This strange volume, so the story +ran, conferred dark powers on the owner, who knew what inquiry would be +made ere the question was poised; and the tome was so confected with +occult arts that he who read it must wear a circlet of iron around his +brow as he turned those mystic pages. + +Another volume, of which mention is made—one that is often confused[20] +with, but should be distinguished from, these two—is what we may term +the Devil’s Missal. Probably this had its origin far back in the midst +of the centuries among the earliest heretics who passed down their +evil traditions to their followers, the Albigenses and the Waldenses +or Vaudois. This is referred to by the erudite De Lancre, who in his +detailed account of the Black Mass as performed in the region of the +Basses-Pyrénées (1609) writes: “Some kind of altar was erected upon the +pillars of infernal design, and hereon, without reciting the _Confiteor_ +or _Alleluya_, turning over the leaves of a certain book which he held, +he began to mumble certain phrases of Holy Mass.”[21] Silvain Nevillon +(Orleans, 1614) confessed that “the Sabbat was held in a house.... He +saw there a tall dark man opposite to the one who was in a corner of +the ingle, and this man was perusing a book, whose leaves seemed black +& crimson, & he kept muttering between his teeth although what he said +could not be heard, and presently he elevated a black host and then +a chalice of some cracked pewter, all foul and filthy.”[22] Gentien +le Clerc, who was also accused, acknowledged that at these infernal +assemblies “Mass was said, and the Devil was celebrant. He was vested +in a chasuble upon which was a broken cross. He turned his back to the +altar when he was about to elevate the Host and the Chalice, which were +both black. He read in a mumbling tone from a book, the cover of which +was soft and hairy like a wolf’s skin. Some leaves were white and red, +others black.”[23] Madeleine Bavent, who was the chief figure in the +trials at Louviers (1647), acknowledged: “Mass was read from the book +of blasphemies, which contained the canon. This same volume was used in +processions. It was full of the most hideous curses against the Holy +Trinity, the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, the other Sacraments and +ceremonies of the Church. It was written in a language completely unknown +to me.”[24] Possibly this blasphemous volume is the same as that which +Satanists to-day use when performing their abominable rites. + +_Tenthly_: The witches promise the Devil sacrifices and offerings at +stated times; once a fortnight, or at least once a month, the murder of +some child, or some mortal poisoning, and every week to plague mankind +with evils and mischiefs, hailstorms, tempest, fires, cattle-plagues and +the like. + +The _Liber Pœnitentialis_ of S. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury +668-690, the earliest ecclesiastical law of England, has clauses +condemning those who invoke fiends, and so cause the weather to change +“si quis emissor tempestatis fuerit.” In the _Capitaluria_ of Charlemagne +(died at Aachen, 28 January, 814), the punishment of death is declared +against those who by evoking the demon, trouble the atmosphere, excite +tempests, destroy the fruits of the earth, dry up the milk of cows, and +torment their fellow-creatures with diseases or any other misfortune. +All persons found guilty of employing such arts were to be executed +immediately upon conviction. Innocent VIII in his celebrated Bull, +_Summis desiderantes affectibus_, 5 December, 1484, charges sorcerers +in detail with precisely the same foul practices. The most celebrated +occasion when witches raised a storm was that which played so important +a part in the trial of Dr. Fian and his coven, 1590-1, when the witches, +in order to drown King James and Queen Anne on their voyage from +Denmark, “tooke a Cat and christened it,” and after they had bound a +dismembered corpse to the animal “in the night following the said Cat +was convayed into the middest of the sea by all these witches, sayling +in their riddles or cives, ... this doone, then did arise such a tempest +in the sea, as a greater hath not bene seene.”[25] The bewitching of +cattle is alleged from the earliest time, and at Dornoch in Sutherland +as late as 1722, an old hag was burned for having cast spells upon the +pigs and sheep of her neighbours, the sentence being pronounced by the +sheriff-depute, Captain David Ross of Little Dean. This was the last +execution of a witch in Scotland. + +With regard to the sacrifice of children there is a catena of ample +evidence. Reginald Scot[26] writes in 1584: “This must be an infallible +rule, that euerie fortnight, or at the least euerie month, each witch +must kill one child at the least for hir part.” When it was dangerous or +impossible openly to murder an infant the life would be taken by poison, +and in 1645 Mary Johnson, a witch of Wyvenhoe, Essex, was tried for +poisoning two children, no doubt as an act of sorcery.[27] It is unknown +how many children Gilles de Rais devoted to death in his impious orgies. +More than two hundred corpses were found in the latrines of Tiffauges, +Machecoul, Champtocé. It was in 1666 that Louis XIV was first informed of +the abominations which were vermiculating his capital “des sacrilèges, +des profanations, des messes impies, des sacrifices de jeunes enfants.” +Night after night in the rue Beauregard at the house of the mysterious +Catherine la Voisin the abbé Guibourg was wont to kill young children for +his hideous ritual, either by strangulation or more often by piercing +their throats with a sharp dagger and letting the hot blood stream into +the chalice as he cried: “Astaroth, Asmodée, je vous conjure d’accepter +le sacrifice que je vous présente!” (Astaroth! Asmodeus! Receive, I +beseech you, this sacrifice I offer unto you!) A priest named Tournet +also said Satanic Masses at which children were immolated; in fact the +practice was so common that la Chaufrein, a mistress of Guibourg, would +supply a child for a crown[28] piece. + +_Eleventhly_: The Demon imprints upon the Witches some mark.... When +this has all been performed in accordance with the instructions of those +Masters who have initiated the Novice, the latter bind themselves by +fearful oaths never to worship the Blessed Sacrament; to heap curses on +all Saints and especially to abjure our Lady Immaculate; to trample under +foot and spit upon all holy images, the Cross and Relics of Saints; never +to use the Sacraments or Sacramentals unless with some magical end in +view; never to make a good confession to the priest, but always to keep +hidden their commerce with hell. In return the Demon promises that he +will at all times afford them prompt assistance; that he will accomplish +all their desires in this world and make them eternally happy after their +death. This solemn profession having been publicly made each novice has +assigned to him a several demon who is called _Magistellus_ (a familiar). +This familiar can assume either a male or a female shape; sometimes he +appears as a full-grown man, sometimes as a satyr; and if it is a woman +who has been received as a witch he generally assumes the form of a rank +buck-goat. + +It is obvious that there is no question here of animal familiars, but +rather of evil intelligences who were, it is believed, able to assume +a body of flesh. The whole question is, perhaps, one of the most dark +and difficult connected with Witchcraft and magic, and the details of +these hideous connexions are such—for as the Saints attain to the purity +of angels, so, on the other hand, will the bond slaves of Satan defile +themselves with every kind of lewdness—that many writers have with an +undue diffidence and modesty dismissed the subject far too summarily +for the satisfaction of the serious inquirer. In the first place, we +may freely allow that many of these lubricities are to be ascribed to +hysteria and hallucinations, to nightmare and the imaginings of disease, +but when all deductions have been made—when we admit that in many cases +the incubus or succubus can but have been a human being, some agent of +the Grand Master of the district,—none the less enough remains from the +records of the trials to convince an unprejudiced mind that there was +a considerable substratum of fact in the confessions of the accused. +As Canon Ribet has said in his encyclopædic _La Mystique Divine_, a +work warmly approved by the great intellect of Leo XIII: “After what +we have learned from records and personal confessions we can scarcely +entertain any more doubts, and it is our plain duty to oppose, even if +it be but by a simple affirmation on our part, those numerous writers +who, either through presumption or rashness, treat these horrors as idle +talk or mere hallucination.”[29] Bizouard also in his authoritative +_Rapports de l’homme avec le démon_ writes of the incubus and succubus: +“These relations, far from being untrue, bear the strongest marks of +authenticity which can be given them by official proceedings regulated +and approved with all the caution and judgement brought to bear upon them +by enlightened and conscientious magistrates who, throughout all ages, +have been in a position to test plain facts.”[30] + +It seems to me that if unshaken evidence means anything at all, if +the authority of the ablest and acutest intellects of all ages in all +countries is not to count for merest vapourings and fairy fantasies, the +possibility—I do not, thank God, say the frequency—of these demoniacal +connexions is not to be denied. Of course the mind already resolved +that such things cannot be is inconvincible even by demonstration, +and one can only fall back upon the sentence of S. Augustine: “Hanc +assidue immunditiam et tentare et efficere, plures talesque asseuerant, +ut hoc negare impudentiæ uideatur.”[31] In which place the holy doctor +explicitly declares: “Seeing it is so general a report, and so many +aver it either from their own experience or from others, that are of +indubitable honesty and credit, that the sylvans and fawns, commonly +called incubi, have often injured women, desiring and acting carnally +with them: and that certain devils whom the Gauls call _Duses_, do +continually practise this uncleanness, and tempt others to it, which is +affirmed by such persons, and with such confidence that it were impudence +to deny it.” + +The learned William of Paris, confessor of Philip le Bel, lays down: +“That there exist such beings as are commonly called incubi or succubi +and that they indulge their burning lusts, and that children, as it +is freely acknowledged, can be born from them, is attested by the +unimpeachable and unshaken witness of many men and women who have been +filled with foul imaginings by them, and endured their lecherous assaults +and lewdness.”[32] + +S. Thomas[33] and S. Bonaventura,[34] also, speak quite plainly on the +subject. + +Francisco Suarez, the famous Jesuit theologian, writes with caution +but with directness: “This is the teaching on this point of S. Thomas, +who is generally followed by all other theologians.... The reason for +their opinion is this: Such an action considered in its entirety by +no means exceeds the natural powers of the demon, whilst the exercise +of such powers is wholly in accordance with the malice of the demon, +and it may well be permitted by God, owing to the sins of some men. +Therefore this teaching cannot be denied without many reservations and +exceptions. Wherefore S. Augustine has truly said, that inasmuch as +this doctrine of incubi and succubi is established by the opinion of +many who are experienced and learned, it were sheer impudence to deny +it.”[35] The Salmanticenses—that is to say, the authors of the courses +of Scholastic philosophy and theology, and of Moral theology, published +by the lecturers of the theological college of the Discalced Carmelites +at Salamanca—in their weighty _Theologia Moralis_[36] state: “Some deny +this, believing it impossible that demons should perform the carnal +act with human beings,” but they affirm, “None the less the opposite +opinion is most certain and must be followed.”[37] Charles René Billuart, +the celebrated Dominican, in his _Tractatus de Angelis_ expressly +declares: “The same evil spirit may serve as a succubus to a man, and +as an incubus to a woman.”[38] One of the most learned—if not the most +learned—of the popes, Benedict XIV, in his erudite work _De Seruorum +Dei Beatificatione_, treats this whole question at considerable length +with amplest detail and solid references, Liber IV, Pars i. c. 3.[39] +Commenting upon the passage “The sons of God went unto the daughters of +men” (Genesis vi. 4), the pontiff writes: “This passage has reference +to those Demons who are known as incubi and succubi.... It is true that +whilst nearly all authors admit the fact, some writers deny that there +can be offspring.... On the other hand, several writers assert that +connexion of this kind is possible and that children may be born from +it, nay, indeed, they tell us that this has taken place, although it +were done in some new and mysterious way which is ordinarily unknown to +man.”[40] + +S. Alphonsus Liguori in his _Praxis confessariorum_, VII, n. 111, writes: +“Some deny that there are evil spirits, incubi and succubi; but writers +of authority for the most part assert that such is the case.”[41] + +In his _Theologia Moralis_ he speaks quite precisely when defining the +technical nature of the sin witches commit in commerce with incubi.[42] +[43] This opinion is also that of Martino Bonacina,[44] and of Vincenzo +Filliucci, S.J.[45] “Busembaum has excellently observed that carnal +sins with an evil spirit fall under the head of the technical term +_bestialitas_.”[46] This is also the conclusion of Thomas Tamburini, +S.J. (1591-1675); Benjamin Elbel, O.F.M. (1690-1756);[47] Cardinal +Cajetan, O.P. (1469-1534) “the lamp of the Church”; Juan Azor, S.J. +(1535-1603); “in wisdom, in depth of learning and in gravity of judgement +taking deservedly high rank among theologians” (Gury); and many other +authorities.[48] What a penitent should say in confession is considered +by Monsignor Craisson, sometime Rector of the Grand Seminary of Valence +and Vicar-General of the diocese, in his Tractate _De Rebus Uenereis ad +usum Confessariorum_.[49] Jean-Baptiste Bouvier (1783-1854) the famous +bishop of Le Mans, in his _Dissertatio in Sextum Decalogi Præceptum_[50] +(p. 78) writes: “All theologians speak of ... evil spirits who appear in +the shape of a man, a woman, or even some animal. This is either a real +and actual presence, or the effect of imagination. They decide that this +sin ... incurs particular guilt which must be specifically confessed, +to wit an evil superstition whereof the essence is a compact with the +Devil. In this sin, therefore, we have two distinct kinds of malice, one +an offence against chastity; the other against our holy faith.”[51] Dom +Dominic Schram,[52] O.S.B., in his _Institutiones Theologiæ Mysticæ_ +poses the following: “The inquiry is made whether a demon ... may thus +attack a man or woman, whose obsession would be suffered if the subject +were wholly bent upon obtaining perfection and walking the highest paths +of contemplation. Here we must distinguish the true and the false. It is +certain that—whatever doubters may say—there exist such demons, incubi +and succubi: and S. Augustine asserts (_The City of God_, Book XV, +chapter 23) that it is most rash to advance the contrary.... S. Thomas, +and most other theologians maintain this too. Wherefore the men or women +who suffer these impudicities are sinners who either invite demons ... +or who freely consent to demons when the evil spirits tempt them to +commit such abominations. That these and other abandoned wretches may be +violently assaulted by the demon we cannot doubt ... and I myself have +known several persons who although they were greatly troubled on account +of their crimes, and utterly loathed this foul intercourse with the +demon, were nevertheless compelled sorely against their will to endure +these assaults of Satan.”[53] + +It will be seen that great Saints and scholars and all moral theologians +of importance affirm the possibility of commerce with incarnate evil +intelligences. The demonologists also range themselves in a solid phalanx +of assent. Hermann Thyraus, S.J.,[54] in his _De Spirituum apparitione_ +says: “It is so rash and inept to deny these (things) that so to adopt +this attitude you must needs reject and spurn the most weighty and +considered judgements of most holy and authoritative writers, nay, you +must wage war upon man’s sense and consciousness, whilst at the same +time you expose your ignorance of the power of the Devil and the empery +evil spirits may obtain over man.”[55] Delrio, in his _Disquisitiones +Magicæ_, is even more emphatic: “So many sound authors and divines +have upheld this belief that to differ from them is mere obstinacy and +foolhardiness; for the Fathers, theologians, and all the wisest writers +on philosophy agree upon this matter, the truth of which is furthermore +proved by the experience of all ages and peoples.”[56] The erudite +Sprenger in the _Malleus Maleficarum_ has much the same.[57] John Nider, +O.P. (1380-1438) in his _Formicarius_, which may be described as a +treatise on the theological, philosophical, and social problems of his +day, with no small acumen remarks: “The reason why evil spirits appear as +incubi and succubi would seem to be that ... they inflict a double hurt +on man, both in his soul and body, and it is a supreme joy to devils thus +to injure humankind.”[58] Paul Grilland in his _De Sortilegio_ (Lyons, +1533) writes: “A demon assumes the form of the succubus.... This is the +explicit teaching of the theologians.”[59] + +“It has often been known by most certain and actual experience that +women in spite of their resistance have been overpowered by demons.” +Such are the words of the famous Alfonso de Castro, O.F.M.,[60] whose +authoritative pronouncements upon Scripture carried such weight at the +Council of Trent, and who was Archbishop-elect of Compostella when he +died. Pierre Binsfeld, _De confessione maleficarum_, sums up: “This is a +most solemn and undoubted fact not only proved by actual experience, but +also by the opinion of all the ages, whatever some few doctors and legal +writers may suppose.”[61] + +Gaspar Schott, S.J. (1608-66), physicist, doctor, and divine, “one +of the most learned men of his day, his simple life and deep piety +making him an object of veneration to the Protestants as well as to the +Catholics of Augsburg,” where his declining years were spent, lays down: +“So many writers of such high authority maintain this opinion, that it +were impossible to reject it.”[62] Bodin, de Lancre, Boguet, Görres, +Bizouard,[63] Gougenot des Mousseaux,[64] insist upon the same sad facts. +And above all sounds the solemn thunder of the Bull of Innocent VIII +announcing in no ambiguous phrase: “It has indeed come to our knowledge +and deeply grieved are we to hear it, that many persons of both sexes, +utterly forgetful of their souls’ salvation and straying far from the +Catholic Faith, have (had commerce) with evil spirits, both incubi and +succubi.”[65] + +I have quoted many and great names, men of science, men of learning, +men of authority, men to whom the world yet looks up with admiration, +nay, with reverence and love, inasmuch as to-day it is difficult, +wellnigh inconceivable in most cases, for the modern mind to credit the +possibility of these dark deeds of devilry, these foul lusts of incubi +and succubi.[66] They seem to be some sick and loathly fantasy of dim +mediæval days shrieked out on the rack by a poor wretch crazed with agony +and fear, and written down in long-forgotten tomes by fanatics credulous +to childishness and more ignorant than savages. “Even if such horrors +ever could have taken place in the dark ages,”—those vague Dark Ages!—men +say, “they would never be permitted now.” And he who knows, the priest +sitting in the grated confessional, in whose ears are poured for shriving +the filth and folly of the world, sighs to himself, “Would God that in +truth it were so!” But the sceptics are happier in their singleness +and their simplicity, happy that they do not, will not, realize the +monstrous things that lie only just beneath the surface of our cracking +civilization. + +It may not impertinently be inquired how demons or evil intelligences, +since they are pure spiritual beings, can not only assume human flesh +but perform the peculiarly carnal act of coition. Sinistrari, following +the opinion of Guazzo, says that either the evil intelligence is able to +animate the corpse of some human being, male or female, as the case may +be, or that, from the mixture of other materials he shapes for himself +a body endowed with motion, by means of which he is united to the human +being: “ex mixtione aliarum materiarum effingit sibi corpus, quod mouet, +et mediante quo homini unitur.”[67] In the first instance, advantage +might be taken, no doubt, of a person in a mediumistic trance or hypnotic +sleep. But the second explanation seems by far the more probable. Can +we not look to the phenomena observed in connexion with ectoplasm as +an adequate explanation of this? It must fairly be admitted that this +explanation is certainly borne out by the phenomena of the materializing +séance where physical forms which may be touched and handled are built +up and disintegrated again in a few moments of time. Miss Scatcherd, +in a symposium, _Survival_,[68] gives certain of her own experiences +that go far to prove the partial re-materialization of the dead by the +utilization of the material substance and ectoplasmic emanations of the +living. And if disembodied spirits can upon occasion, however rare, thus +materialize, why not evil intelligences whose efforts at corporeality are +urged and aided by the longing thoughts and concentrated will power of +those who eagerly seek them? + +This explanation is further rendered the more probable by the recorded +fact that the incubus can assume the shape of some person whose embraces +the witch may desire.[69] Brignoli, in his _Alexicacon_, relates that +when he was at Bergamo in 1650, a young man, twenty-two years of age, +sought him out and made a long and ample confession. This youth avowed +that some months before, when he was in bed, the chamber door opened and +a maiden, Teresa, whom he loved, stealthily entered the room. To his +surprise she informed him that she had been driven from home and had +taken refuge with him. Although he more than suspected some delusion, +after a short while he consented to her solicitations and passed a night +of unbounded indulgence in her arms. Before dawn, however, the visitant +revealed the true nature of the deceit, and the young man realized he had +lain with a succubus. None the less such was his doting folly that the +same debauchery was repeated night after night, until struck with terror +and remorse, he sought the priest to confess and be delivered from this +abomination. “This monstrous connexion lasted several months; but at last +God delivered him by my humble means, and he was truly penitent for his +sins.”[70] + +Not infrequently the Devil or the familiar assigned to the new witch +at the Sabbat when she was admitted must obviously have been a man, +one of the assembly, who either approached her in some demoniacal +disguise or else embraced her without any attempt at concealment of his +individuality, some lusty varlet who would afterwards hold himself at +her disposition. For we must always bear in mind that throughout these +witch-trials there is often much in the evidence which may be explained +by the agency of human beings; not that this essentially meliorates their +offences, for they were all bond-slaves of Satan, acting under his +direction and by the inspiration of hell. When the fiend has ministers +devoted to his service there is, perhaps, less need for his interposition +_in propria persona_. Howbeit, again and again in these cases we meet +with that uncanny quota, by no means insignificant and unimportant, +which seemingly admits of no solution save by the materialization of +evil intelligences of power. And detailed as is the evidence we possess, +it not unseldom becomes a matter of great difficulty, when we are +considering a particular case, to decide whether it be an instance of a +witch having had actual commerce and communion with the fiend, or whether +she was cheated by the devils, who mocked her, and allowing her to deem +herself in overt union with them, thus led the wretch on to misery and +death, duped as she was by the father of lies, sold for a delusion and by +profitless endeavour in evil. There are, of course, also many cases which +stand on the border-line, half hallucination, half reality. Sylvine de +la Plaine, a witch of twenty-three, who was condemned by the Parliament +of Paris, 17 May, 1616, was one of these.[71] Antoinette Brenichon, a +married woman, aged thirty, made a confession in almost exactly the same +words. Sylvine, her husband Barthélemi Minguet, and Brenichon were hanged +and their bodies burned. + +Henri Boguet, a Judge of the High Court of Burgundy, in his _Discours des +Sorciers_, devotes chapter xii to “The carnal connexion of the Demons +with Witches and Sorcerers.” He discusses: 1. The Devil knows all the +Witches, & why. 2. He takes a female shape to pleasure the Sorcerers, +& why. 3. Other reasons why the Devil (has to do) with warlocks and +witches.[72] Françoise Secretain, Clauda Ianprost, Iaquema Paget, Antoine +Tornier, Antoine Gandillon, Clauda Ianguillaume, Thieuenne Paget, Rolande +du Vernois, Ianne Platet, Clauda Paget, and a number of other witches +confessed “their dealings with the Devil.”[73] Pierre Gandillon and his +son George also confessed to commerce with the Demon. Under his third +division Boguet lays down explicit statements on the matter.[74][75] + +This unnatural physical coldness of the Demon is commented upon again and +again by witches at their trials in every country of Europe throughout +the centuries. I have already suggested that in some cases there was a +full materialization due to ectoplasmic emanations. Now, ectoplasm is +described[76] as being to the touch a cold and viscous mass comparable +to contact with a reptile, and this certainly seems to throw a flood of +light upon these details. It may be that here indeed we have a solution +of the whole mystery. In 1645 the widow Bash, a Suffolk witch, of Barton, +said that the Devil who appeared to her as a dark swarthy youth “was +colder than man.”[77] Isobel Goudie and Janet Breadheid, of the Auldearne +coven, 1662, both asserted that the Devil was “a meikle, blak, rock man, +werie cold; and I fand his nature als cold, a spring-well-water.”[78] +Isabel, who had been rebaptized at a Sabbat held one midnight in +Auldearne parish church, and to whom was assigned a familiar named the +Red Riever, albeit he was always clad in black, gave further details +of the Devil’s person: “He is abler for ws that way than any man can +be, onlie he ves heavie lyk a malt-sek; a hudg nature, uerie cold, as +yce.”[79] + +In many of the cases of debauchery at Sabbats so freely and fully +confessed by the witches their partners were undoubtedly the males who +were present; the Grand Master, Officer, or President of the Assembly, +exercising the right to select first for his own pleasures such women as +he chose. This is clear from a passage in De Lancre: “The Devil at the +Sabbat performs marriages between the warlocks and witches, and joining +their hands, he pronounces aloud + + Esta es buena parati + Esta parati lo toma.”[80] + +And in many cases it is obvious that use must have been made of an +instrument, an artificial phallus employed.[81] + +The artificial penis was a commonplace among the erotica of ancient +civilizations; there is abundant evidence of its use in Egypt, Assyria, +India, Mexico, all over the world. It has been found in tombs; frequently +was it to be seen as an ex-voto; in a slightly modified form it is yet +the favourite mascot of Southern Italy.[82] Often enough they do not +trouble to disguise the form. Aristophanes mentions the object in his +_Lysistrata_ (411 B.C.), and one of the most spirited dialogues (VI) of +Herodas (_circa_ 300-250 B.C.) is that where Koritto and Metro prattle +prettily of their βαύβων, whilst (in another mime, VII) the ladies visit +Kerdon the leather-worker who has fashioned this masterpiece. Truly +Herodas is as modern to-day in London or in Paris as he ever was those +centuries ago in the isle of Cos. _Fascinum_, explains the _Glossarium +Eroticum Linguæ Latinæ_,[83] “Penis fictitius ex corio, aut pannis +lineis uel sericis, quibus mulieres uirum mentiebantur. Antiquissima +libido, lesbiis et milesiis feminis præsertim usitatissima. _Fascinis_ +illis abutebantur meretrices in tardos ascensores.” As one might expect +Petronius has something to say on the subject in a famous passage where +that savage old hag[84] Œnothea fairly frightened Encolpius with her +_scorteum fascinum_, upon which an erudite Spanish scholar, Don Antonio +Gonzalez de Salas, glosses: “Rubrum penem coriaceum ut Suidas exsertim +tradit uoce φαλλόι. Confecti & ex uaria materia uarios in usus olim +_phalli_ ex ligno, _ficu_ potissimum qui _ficulnei_ sæpius adpellati, +ex _ebore_, ex _auro_, ex _serico_, & ex _lineo panno_, quibus Lesbiæ +tribades abutebantur.”[85] And Tibullus, speaking of the image of +Priapus, has:[86] + + Placet Priape? qui sub arboris coma + Soles sacrum reuincte pampino caput + Ruber sedere cum rubente fascino. + +The Church, of course, condemned with unhesitating voice all such +practices, whether they were connected (in however slight a degree) with +Witchcraft or not. Arnobius, who regards all such offences as detestable, +in his _Aduersus Nationes_, V (_circa_ A.D. 296), relates a curiously +obscene anecdote which seems to point to the use of the fascinum by the +Galli, the priests of Berecynthian Cybele,[87] whose orgies were closely +akin to those of Dionysus. And the same story is related by Clement +of Alexandria Προτρεπτικὸς πρὸς Ἕλληνας (_circa_ A.D. 190); by Julius +Firmicus Maternus, _De Errore profanarum Religionum_ (A.D. 337-350); +by Nicetas (_ob._ _circa_ A.D. 414) in a commentary on S. Gregory of +Nanzianzus, oratio XXXIX; and by Theodoret (_ob._ _circa_ A.D. 457) +_Sermo octaua de Martyribus_. Obviously some very primitive rite is in +question. + +Lactantius, in his _De Falsa Religione_ (_Diuinarum Institutionum_, +I, _circa_ A.D. 304), speaks of a phallic superstition, akin to the +fascinum, as favoured by the vestals, and implies it was notoriously +current in his day. That eminent father, S. Augustine, _De Ciuitate +Dei_, VII, 21, gives some account of the fascinum as used in the rites +of Bacchus, and when he is detailing the marriage ceremonies (VI, +9), he writes: “Sed quid hoc dicam, cum tibi sit et Priapus nimius +masculus, super cuius immanissimum et turpissimum fascinum sedere nona +nupta iubeatur, more honestissimo et religiosissimo matronarum.” The +historian, Evagrius Scholasticus (_ob._ post A.D. 504), in his _Historia +Ecclesiastica_ (XI, 2), says that the ritual of Priapus was quite open +in his day, and the fascinum widely known. Nicephorus Calixtus, a later +Byzantine, who died about the middle of the fourteenth century but whose +Chronicle closed with the death of Leo Philosophus, A.D. 911, speaks of +phallic ceremonies and of the use of ithy-phalli.[88] + +Council after council forbade the use of the fascinum, and their very +insistence of prohibition show how deeply these abominations had taken +root. The Second Council of Châlon-sur-Saône (813) is quite plain and +unequivocal; so are the synods of de Mano (1247) and Tours (1396). +Burchard of Worms (died 25 Aug., 1025) in his famous _Decretum_ has: +“Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent, ut facere quoddam molimen +aut mechinamentum in modum uirilis membri, ad mensuram tuæ uoluptatis, +et illud loco uerendorum tuorum, aut alterius, cum aliquibus ligaturis +colligares, et fornicationem faceres cum aliis mulierculis, uel aliæ +eodem instrumento, siue alio, tecum? Si fecisti, quinque annos per +legitimas ferias pœniteas.” And again: “Fecisti quod quædam mulieres +facere solent, ut iam supra dicto molimine uel alio aliquo machinamento, +tu ipsa in te solam faceres fornicationem? Si fecisti, unum annum per +legitimas ferias pœniteas.” + +Other old Penitentials have: “Mulier qualicumque molimine aut per seipsum +aut cum altera fornicans, tres annos pœniteat; unum ex his in pane et +aqua.” + +“Cum sanctimoniali per machinam fornicans annos septem pœniteat; duos ex +his in pane et aqua.” + +“Mulia qualicumque molimine aut seipsam polluens, aut cum altera +fornicans, quatuor annos. Sanctimonialis femina cum sanctimoniali per +machinamentum polluta, septem annos.” + +It is demonstrable, then, that artificial methods of coition, common +in pagan antiquity, have been unblushingly practised throughout all +the ages, as indeed they are at the present day, and that they have +been repeatedly banned and reprobated by the voice of the Church. This +very fact would recommend them to the favour of the Satanists, and +there can be no doubt that amid the dark debaucheries which celebrated +the Sabbats such practice was wellnigh universal. Yet when we sift +the evidence, detailed and exact, of the trials, we find there foul +and hideous mysteries of lust which neither human intercourse nor the +employ of a mechanical property can explain. Howbeit, the theologians +and the inquisitors are fully aware what unspeakable horror lurks in the +blackness beyond. + +The animal familiar was quite distinct from the familiar in human shape. +In England particularly there is abundance of evidence concerning them, +and even to-day who pictures a witch with nut-cracker jaws, steeple hat, +red cloak, hobbling along on her crutch, without her big black cat beside +her? It is worth remark that in other countries the domestic animal +familiar is rare, and Bishop Francis Hutchinson even says: “I meet with +little mention of _Imps_ in any Country but ours, where the Law makes +the feeding, suckling, or rewarding of them to be Felony.”[89] Curiously +enough this familiar is most frequently met with in Essex, Suffolk, and +the Eastern counties. We find that animals of all kinds were regarded +as familiars; dogs, cats, ferrets, weasels, toads, rats, mice, birds, +hedgehogs, hares, even wasps, moths, bees, and flies. It is piteous +to think that in many cases some miserable creature who, shunned and +detested by her fellows, has sought friendship in the love of a cat or +a dog, whom she has fondled and lovingly fed with the best tit-bits she +could give, on the strength of this affection alone was dragged to the +gallows or the stake. But very frequently the witch did actually keep +some small animal which she nourished on a diet of milk and bread and +her own blood in order that she might divine by its means. The details +of this particular method of augury are by no means clear. Probably the +witch observed the gait of the animals, its action, the tones of its +voice easily interpreted to bear some fanciful meaning, and no doubt a +dog, or such a bird as a raven, a daw, could be taught tricks to impress +the simplicity of inquirers. + +The exceeding importance of blood in life has doubtless been evident +to man from the earliest times. Man experienced a feeling of weakness +after the loss of blood, therefore blood was strength, life itself, and +throughout the ages blood has been considered to be of the greatest +therapeutic, and the profoundest magical, value. The few drops of +blood the witch gave her familiar were not only a reward, a renewal of +strength, but also they established a closer connexion between herself +and the dog, cat, or bird as the case might be. Blood formed a psychic +copula. + +At the trial of Elizabeth Francis, Chelmsford, 1556, the accused +confessed that her familiar, given to her by her grandmother, a notorious +witch, was “in the lykenesse of a whyte spotted Catte,” and her +grandmother “taughte her to feede the sayde Catte with breade and mylke, +and she did so, also she taughte her to cal it by the name of Sattan and +to kepe it in a basket. Item that euery tyme that he did any thynge for +her, she sayde that he required a drop of bloude, which she gaue him +by prycking herselfe, sometime in one place and then in another.”[90] +It is superfluous to multiply instances; in the witch-trials of Essex, +particularly whilst Matthew Hopkins and his satellite John Stearne were +hot at work from 1645 to 1647 the animal familiar is mentioned again +and again in the records. As late as 1694 at Bury St. Edmunds, when +old Mother Munnings of Hartis, in Suffolk, was haled before Lord Chief +Justice Holt, it was asserted that she had an imp like a polecat. But +the judge pooh-poohed the evidence of a pack of clodpate rustics and +directed the jury to bring a verdict of Not Guilty.[91] “Upon particular +Enquiry,” says Hutchinson, “of several in or near the Town, I find most +are satisfied it was a very right Judgement.” In 1712 the familiar of +Jane Wenham, the witch of Walkerne, in Hertfordshire, was, at her trial, +stated to be a cat. + +In Ford and Dekker’s _The Witch of Edmonton_ the familiar appears upon +the stage as a dog. This, of course, is directly taken from Henry +Goodcole’s pamphlet _The Wonderfull Discouerie of Elizabeth Sawyer_ +(London, 4to, 1621), where in answer to this question the witch confesses +that the Devil came to her in the shape of a dog, and of two colours, +sometimes of black and sometimes of white. Some children had informed +the Court that they had seen her feeding imps, two white ferrets, with +white bread and milk, but this she steadfastly denied. In Goethe’s +_Faust_, Part I, Scene 2, Mephistopheles first appears to Faust outside +the city gates as a black poodle and accompanies him back to his study, +snarling and yelping when _In Principio_ is read. This is part of the +old legend. Manlius (1590), in the report of his conversation with +Melanchthon, quotes the latter as having said: “He [Faust] had a dog +with him, which was the devil.” Paolo Jovio relates[92] that the famous +Cornelius Agrippa always kept a demon attendant upon him in the shape +of a black dog. But John Weye, in his well-known work _De Præstigiis +Dæmonum_,[93] informs us that he had lived for years in daily attendance +upon Agrippa and that the black dog, _Monsieur_, respecting which such +strange stories were spread was a perfectly innocent animal which he +had often led about himself in its leash. Agrippa was much attached to +his dog, which used to eat off the table with him and of nights lie in +his bed. Since he was a profound scholar and a great recluse he never +troubled to contradict the idle gossip his neighbours clacked at window +and door. It is hardly surprising when one considers the hermetic works +which go under Agrippa’s name that even in his lifetime this great man +should have acquired the reputation of a mighty magician. + +Grotesque names were generally given to the familiar: Lizabet; Verd-Joli; +Maître Persil (parsley); Verdelet; Martinet; Abrahel (a succubus); and +to animal familiars in England, Tissy; Grissell; Greedigut; Blackman; +Jezebel (a succubus); Ilemanzar; Jarmara; Pyewackett. + +The familiar in human shape often companied with the witch and was +visible to clairvoyants. Thus in 1324 one of the accusations brought +against Lady Alice Kyteler was that a demon came to her “quandoque in +specie cuiusdam æthiopis cum duobus sociis.” The society met with at +Sabbats is not so easily shaken off as might be wished. + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER III. + +[1] Two local Milanese Orders, the Apostolini of S. Barnabas and the +Congregation of S. Ambrose _ad Nemus_, were united by a Brief of +Sixtus V, 15 August, 1589. 11 January, 1606, Paul V approved the new +Constitutions. The Congregation retaining very few members was dissolved +by Innocent X in 1650. The habit was a tunic, broad scapular, and capuche +of chestnut brown. They were calced, and in the streets a wide cloak of +the same colour as the habit. + +[2] E. Goldsmid, _Confessions of Witches under Torture_, Edinburgh, 1886. + +[3] ... renoncer & renier son Createur, la saincte Vierge, les Saincts, +le Baptesme, pere, mere, parens, le ciel, la terre & tout ce qui est au +monde. _Tableau de l’Inconstance des mauvais Anges_, Paris, 1613. + +[4] Je, Louis Gaufridi, renonce à tous les biens tant spirituels que +temporels qui me pourraient être conferés de la part de Dieu, de la +Vierge Marie, de tous les Saints et Saintes du Paradis, particulièrement +de mon patron Saint Jean-Baptiste, Saints Pierre, Paul, et François, et +me donne corps et âme à vous Lucifer ici présent, avec tous les biens que +je posséderai jamais (excepté la valeur des sacrements pour le regard de +ceux qui les recurent). Ainsi j’ai signé et attesté. _Confession faicte +par messire Loys Gaufridi, prestre en l’église des Accoules de Marseille, +prince des magiciens ... à deux pères capucins du couvent d’Aix, la +veille de Pasques le onzième avril mil six cent onze._ A Aix, par Jean +Tholozan, MVCXI. + +[5] Je renonce entièrement de tout mon cœur, de toute ma force, et de +toute ma puissance à Dieu le Père, au Fils et au Saint-Esprit, à la très +Sainte Mère de Dieu, à tous les anges et spécialement à mon bon ange, à +la passion de Notre Seigneur Jésus Christ, à Son Sang, à tous les mérites +d’icelle, à ma part de Paradis, à toutes les inspirations que Dieu me +pourrait donner à l’avenir, à toutes les prières qu’on a faites et +pourrait faire pour moi. + +[6] S. Pius V, Bull _Consueuerunt_, 17 September, 1569: Bl. Francisco de +Possadas, _Vida di Santo Domingo_, Madrid, 1721. + +[7] In England at this date it was felony to possess an _Agnus Dei_. + +[8] _Spondent quod ... ad conuentus nocturnos diligenter accedent._ + +[9] Coven, coeven, covine, curving, covey, are among the many spellings +of this word. + +[10] R. Pitcairn, _Criminal Trials_, Edinburgh, 1833. + +[11] _Examination of Certain Witches_, Philobiblion Society, London, +1863-4. + +[12] Thomas Potts, _Discoverie of Witches_. + +[13] ... qu’elle a veu souuent baptiser des enfans au sabbat, qu’elle +nous expliqua estre des enfans des sorcieres & non autres, lesquelles ont +accoutumé faire plustost baptiser leurs enfans au sabbat qu’en l’église. +Pierre de Lancre, _Tableau de l’Inconstance des mauvais Anges_, Paris, +1613. + +[14] ... qu’on baptise des enfans au Sabbat auec du Cresme, que des +femmes apportent, & frottent la verge de quelque homme, & en font sortir +de la semence qu’elles amassent, and la meslent auec le Cresme, puis +mettant cela sur la teste de l’enfant en prononçant quelques paroles en +Latin. Contemporary tract, _Arrest & procedure faicte par le Lieutenant +Criminel d’Orleans contre Siluain Neuillon_. + +[15] ... dit que sa mère le presenta (dit-on) en l’aage de trois ans +au Sabbat, à vn bouc, qu’on appelloit l’Aspic. Dit qu’il fut baptisé +au Sabbat, au Carrior d’Oliuet, auec quatorze ou quinze autres, & que +Jeanne Geraut porta du Chresme qui estoit jaune dans vn pot, & que +ledit Neuillon ietta de la semence dans ledit pot, & vn nommé Semelle, +& brouilloient cela auec vne petite cuilliere de bois, & puis leur en +mirent à tous sur la teste. + +[16] J’advoue comme on baptise au Sabath et comme chacun sorcier fait vœu +particulièrement se donnant au diable et faire baptiser tous ses enfants +au Sabath (si faire se peut). Comme aussi l’on impose des noms à chacun +de ceux qui sont au Sabath, différents de leur propre nom. J’advoue +comme au baptême on se sert de l’eau, du soufre et du sel: le soufre +rend esclave le diable et le sel pour confirmer le baptême au service du +diable. J’advoue comme la forme et l’intention est de baptiser au nom +de Lucifer, de Belzebuth et autres diables faisant le signe de la croix +en le commençant par le travers et puis le poursuivant par les pieds et +finissant à la tête. Contemporary tract, _Confession faicte par messire +Loys Gaufridi, prestre en l’église des Accoules de Marseille, prince des +magiciens_, MVCXI. + +[17] Anthony Hornech’s appendix to Glanvill’s _Sadducismus Triumphatus_, +London, 1681. + +[18] _Newes from Scotland_, London, W. Wright, 1592. + +[19] Præstant Dæmoni ... iuramentum super circulo in terram sculpto +fortasse quia cum circulus sit Symbolum Divinitatis, & terra scabellum +Dei sic certe uellet eos credere se esse Dominum cœli & terræ. Guazzo, +_Compendium_, I. 7, p. 38. I have corrected the text, which runs “uellet +eos credere eum esset ...” + +[20] Even by so industrious a searcher as Miss M. A. Murray. + +[21] Dressant quelque forme d’autel sur des colon̅es infernales, & sur +iceluy sans dire le _Confiteor_, ny l’_Alleluya_, tournant les feuillets +d’vn certain liure qu’il a en main, il commence à marmoter quelques mots +de la Messe. De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 401. + +[22] ... que le Sabbat se tenoit dans vne maison.... Vit aussi vn grand +homme noir à l’opposite de celuy de la cheminée, qui regardoit dans vn +liure, dont les feuillets estoient noirs & bleuds, & marmotait entre ses +dents sans entendre ce qu’il disoit, leuoit vne hostie noire, puis vn +calice de meschant estain tout crasseux. + +[23] On dit la Messe, & que c’est le Diable qui la dit, qu’il a vne +Chasuble qui a vne croix: mais qu’elle n’a que trois barres: & tourne le +dos à l’Autel quand il veut leuer l’Hostie & le Calice, qui sont noirs, & +marmote dans vn liure, duquel le couuerture est toute velue comme d’vne +peau de loup, auec des feuillets blancs & rouges, d’autres noirs. + +[24] On lisait la messe dans le livre des blasphèmes, qui servait de +canon et qu’on employait aussi dans les processions. Il renfermait les +plus horribles malédictions contre la sainte Trinité, le Saint Sacrement +de l’autel, les autres sacrements et les cérémonies de l’Eglise, et il +était écrit dans une langue qui m’était inconnue. Görres, _La Mystique +Divine_, trad., Charles Sainte-Foi, V. p. 230. There is a critical +recension of _Die christliche Mystik_ by Boretius and Krause, Hanover, +1893-7. + +[25] _Newes from Scotland_, London, W. Wright (1592). + +[26] Book III. p. 42. + +[27] T. B. Howell, _State Trials_, London, 1816. IV, 844, 846. + +[28] S. Caleb, _Les Messes Noires_, Paris, s.d. + +[29] Après ce que nous ont appris les livres et les âmes, il ne nous est +pas permis de douter, et notre devoir est de combattre, ne fût-ce que +par un simple affirmation, les nombreux auteurs qui, effrontément ou +témérairement, traitent ces horreurs de fables ou d’hallucinations. _La +Mystique Divine_, nouvelle édition, Paris, 1902. III, pp. 269, 270. + +[30] Ces histoires, loin d’être fabuleuses, ont toute l’authenticité +que peut leur donner une procédure instruite avec tout le zèle et le +talent que pouvaient y apporter des magistrats éclairés et consciencieux, +auxquels, à toutes les époques, les faits ne manquaient pas. Libre III. +c. 8. + +[31] _De Ciuitate Dei_, xv. 23. I quote Healey’s translation, 1610. + +[32] Esse eorum (qui usualiter incubi uel succubi nominantur) et +concupiscentiam eorum libidinosam, necnon et generationem ab eis esse +famosam atque credibilem fecerunt testimonia uirorum et mulierem qui +illusiones ipsorum, molestiasque et improbitates, necnon et uiolentias +libidinis ipsorum, se passos fuisse testificati sunt et adhuc asserunt. +_De Universitate_, Secunda Pars, III. 25. + +[33] Si tamen ex coitu dæmonum aliqui interdum nascuntur, hoc non est per +semen ab eis decisum, aut a corporibus assumptis; sed per semen alicuius +hominis ad hoc acceptum, utpote quod idem dæmon qui est succubus ad +uirum, fiat incubus ad mulierem. _Summa_, Pars Prima, quæstio 1, a 3. at +6. + +[34] Succumbunt uiris in specie mulieris, et ex eis semen pollutionis +suscipiunt, et quadam sagacitate ipsum in sua uirtute custodiunt, +et postmodum, Deo permittente, fiunt incubi et in uasa mulierum +transfundunt. _Sententiarum_, Liber II, d. viii, Pars Prima, a 3. q. 1. + +[35] Docet S. Thomas ... et consentiunt communiter reliqui theologi.... +Ratio huius sententiæ est quia tota illa actio non excedit potestatem +naturalem dæmonis, usus autem talis potestatis est ualde conformis prauæ +uoluntati dæmonis, et iuste a Deo permitti potest propter aliquorum +hominum peccata. Ergo non potest cum fundamento negari, et ideo non +immerito dixit Augustinus, cum de illo usu multis experientiis et +testimoniis constet, non sine impudentia negari. _De Angelis_, l. iv. c. +38. nn. 10, 11. + +[36] Begun in 1665 by Fra Francisco de Jésus-Maria (_ob._ 1677). + +[37] Negant aliqui, credentes impossible esse quod dæmones actum carnalem +cum hominibus exercere ualent. Sed tenenda est ut omnino certa contraria +sententia. _Theologia moralis_, Tr. xxi. c. 11. p. 10. nn. 180, 181. + +[38] Idem dæmon qui est succubus ad uirum potest fieri incubus ad +mulierem. In his monumental _Summa S. Thomæ hodiernis Academiarum moribus +accomodata_, 19 vols. Liège, 1746-51. + +[39] _De Seruonem Dei Beatificatione_, Romæ, MDCCXC, Cura Aloysii +Salvioni. Tom. VII. pp. 30-33. + +[40] Quæ leguntur de Dæmonibus incubis et succubis.... Quamuis enim +prædicti concubitus communiter admittantur, sed generatis a nonnullis +excludetur ... alii, tamen, tum concubitum, tum generationem fieri +posse, et factam fuisse existimauerunt, modo quodam nouo et inusitate, +et hominibus incognito. Sancho de Avila, bishop of Murcia, Jaen, and +Siguenza, S. Teresa’s confessor (_ob._ December, 1625), in a commentary +on Exodus discusses the curious question: _An Angeli de se generare +possint?_ + +[41] Quidam hos dæmones incubos uel succubos dari negarunt; sed +communiter id affirmant auctores. + +[42] Ad bestialitatem autem reuocatur peccatum cum dæmone succubo, uel +incubo; cui peccato superadditur malitia contra religionem; et præterea +etiam sodomiæ, adulterii, uel incestus, si affectu uiri, uel mulieris, +sodomitico, adulterino uel incestuoso cum dæmone coeat. Lib. III, Tract +iv. c. 2. Dubium 3. + +[43] The word bestialitas has theologically a far wider signification +than the word _bestiality_. In 1222 a deacon, having been tried before +Archbishop Langton, was burned at Oxford on a charge of bestiality. He +had embraced Judaism in order to marry a Jewess. Professor E. P. Evans +remarks: “It seems rather odd that the Christian lawgivers should have +adopted the Jewish code against sexual intercourse with beasts, and +then enlarged it so as to include the Jews themselves. The question was +gravely discussed by jurists whether cohabitation of a Christian with +a Jewess, or _vice versa_, constitutes sodomy. Damhouder (_Prax. rer. +crim._ c. 96 n. 48) is of the opinion that it does, and Nicolaus Boer +(_Decis._, 136, n. 5) cites the case of a certain Johannes Alardus, or +Jean Alard, who kept a Jewess in his house in Paris and had several +children by her: he was convicted of sodomy on account of this relation +and burned, together with his paramour, ‘since coition with a Jewess +is precisely the same as if a man should copulate with a dog’ (_Dopl. +Theat._ ii, p. 157). Damhouder includes Turks and Saracens in the same +category.” _The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals_, +p. 152. London, 1906. + +[44] An oblate of S. Charles, d. 1631. + +[45] 1566-1622. His _Synopsis Theologiæ Moralis_ is a posthumous work, +published 1626. + +[46] Bene ait Busembaum quod congressus cum dæmone reducitur ad peccatum +bestialitatis. Hermann Busembaum, S.J., 1600-1668. + +[47] _Theologia moralis decalogalis et sacramentalis._ Venice, 1731. + +[48] Præter autem crimen bestialitatis accedit scelus superstitionis. An +autem, qui coit cum dæmone apparente in forma conjugatæ, monialis, aut +consanguiniæ, peccet semper affective peccato adulterii, sacrilegii, aut +incestus? Uidetur uniuerse affirmare Busembaum cum aliis ut supra. + +[49] Paris, 1883. + +[50] A private manual only delivered to priests. + +[51] Omnes theologi loquuntur de congressu cum dæmone in forma uiri, +mulieris aut alicuius bestiæ apparente, uel ut præsente per imaginationem +repræsentato, dicuntque tale peccatum ad genus bestialitatis reuocandum +esse, et specialem habere malitiam in confessione declarandam, scilicet +superstitionem in pacto cum dæmone consistentem. In hoc igitur scelere +duæ necessario reperiuntur malitiæ, una contra castitatem, et altera +contra uirtutem religionis. Si quis ad dæmonem sub specie uiri apparentem +affectu sodomitico accedat, tertia est species peccati, ut patet. Item si +sub specie consanguineæ aut mulieris conjugatæ fingatur apparere, adest +species incestus uel adulterii; si sub specie bestiæ, adest bestialitas. + +[52] 1722-1797. He was a monk of Bans, near Bamberg. + +[53] Quæri potest utrum dæmon per turpem concubitum possit uiolenter +opprimere marem uel feminam cuius obsessio permissa sit ob finem +perfectionis et contemplationis acquirendæ. Ut autem uera a falsis +separemus, sciendum est quod dæmones (incubi et succubi, quidquid dicant +increduli) uere dantur: immo hoc iuxta doctrinam Augustini (lib. 15, _de +Ciuit. Dei_, cap. 23) sine aliqua impudentia negati nequit: ... Hoc idem +asserit D. Thomas, aliique communiter. Hic uero, qui talia patiuntur, +sunt peccatores qui uel dæmones ad hos nefandos concubitus inuitant, uel +dæmonibus turpia hæc facinora intentantibus ultro assentiuntur. Quod +autem hi aliique praui homines possint per uiolentiam a dæmone opprimi +non dubitamus: ... et ego ipse plures inueni qui quamuis de admissis +sceleribus dolerent; et hoc nefarium diaboli commercium exsecrarentur, +tamen illud pati cogebantur inuiti. D. Schram, _Theologia Mystica_, I. +233, scholium 3, p. 408. Paris, 1848. + +[54] 1532-1591. Provincial of the Jesuit province of the Rhine. + +[55] Congressus hos dæmonum cum utriusque sexus hominibus negare, ita +temerarium est, ut necessarium sit simul conuellas et sanctissimorum et +grauissimorum hominum grauissimas sententias, et humanis sensibus bellum +indicas, et te ignorare fatearis quanta sit illorum spirituum in hæc +corpora uis utque potestas. C. x. n. 3. + +[56] Placuit enim affirmatio axiomatis adeo multis, ut uerendum sit ne +pertinaciæ et audaciæ sit ab eis discedere; communis namque hæc est +sententia Patrum, theologorum et philosophorum doctiorum, et omnium fere +sæculorum atque nationum experientia comprobata. Liber II, quæstio 15. + +[57] Asserere per incubos et succubos dæmones homines interdum procreari +in tantum est catholicum, quod eius oppositum asserere est nedum dictis +Sanctorum, sed et traditioni sacræ Scripturæ contrarium. _Pars prima, +quæstio_ 3. + +[58] Causa autem quare dæmones se incubos faciunt uel succubos esse +uidetur, ut per luxuriæ uitium hominis utramque naturam lædant, corporis +uidelicet et animæ, qua in læsione præcipue delectari uidentur. This +divine was a prominent figure at the Council of Bâle. I have used the +Douai edition, 5 vols. 1602. + +[59] Dæmon in forma succubi se transformat, et habet coitum cum uiro ...; +accedit ad mulierem in forma scilicet uiri.... Ita firmant communiter +Theologi. + +[60] Certissima experientia sæpe cognitum est fœminas etiam inuitas a +dæmonibus fuisse compressas. _De justa hæreticorum punitione_, Lib. I. c. +xviii. Salamanca, 1547. + +[61] Hæc est indubitata ueritas quam non solum experientia certissima +comprobat, sed etiam antiquitas confirmat, quidquid quidam medici et +iurisperiti opinentur. _Conclusio quinta._ + +[62] Affirmatiuam sententiam tam multi et graues tuentur auctores, ut +sine pertinaciæ nota ab illa discedi non posse uidatur. + +[63] _Rapports de l’homme avec le démon._ + +[64] _Les hauts phénomènes de la magic._ + +[65] Sane ad nostrum, non sine ingenti molestia, peruenit auditum quod +... complures utriusque sexus personæ, propriæ salutis immemores et a +fide catholica deuiantes, cum dæmonibus incubis et succubis abuti. + +[66] The Dean of S. Paul’s (_Christian Mysticism_, 1899, p. 265) urbanely +dismisses the whole subject with a quotation from Lucretius: + + Hunc igitur terrorem animi, tenebrasque necessest + Non radii solis, neque lucida tela diei + Discutiant, sed naturæ species ratioque. (I. 147-49.) + + These Fears, that darkness that o’erspreads our Souls, + Day can’t disperse, but those _eternal_ rules + Which from firm Premises true _Reason_ draws, + And a deep insight into _Natures_ laws. (_Creech._) + +[67] _De Dæmonialitate_, 24. + +[68] _Survival_, by various authors. Edited by Sir James Marchant, +K.B.E., LL.D. London and New York. + +[69] So in Middleton’s _The Witch_, when the young gallant Almachildes +visits Hecate’s abode, she exclaims: + + ’Tis Almachildes—the fresh blood stirs in me— + The man that I have lusted to enjoy: + I’ve had him thrice in incubus already. + +And in a previous scene Hecate has said: + + What young man can we wish to pleasure us, + But we enjoy him in an incubus? + +[70] Ce commerce monstreux dura plusiers mois; mais Dieu le délivra enfin +par mon entremise et il fit pénitence de ses péchés. + +[71] Auoir esté au Sabbat; ne sçait comme elle y fut transportée ... +qu’au Sabbat le Diable cogneust charnellement toutes les femmes qui y +estoient, & elle aussi la marqua en deux endroicts.... Que le Diable +la cogneu vne autrefois, & qu’il a le membre faict comme un cheual, en +entrant est froid comme glace, iette la semence fort froide, & en sortant +la brusse comme si c’estoit du feu. Qu’elle receut tout mescontentement +que lors qu’il eut habité auec elle au Sabbat, vn autre homme qu’elle ne +cognoist fit le semblable en presence de tous, que son mary s’appercut +quand le Diable eut affaire auec elle, & que le Diable se vint coucher +auprez d’elle fort froid, luy mit la main sur le bas du ventre, dont +elle effrayée en ayant aduerty son mary, il luy dict ces mots, Taise-toy +folle, taise-toy. Que son mary vit quand le Diable la cogneust au Sabbat, +ensemble cet autre qui la cogneust après. + +[72] L’accouplement du Demon avec la Sorcière et le Sorcier.... 1. Le +Demon cognoit toutes les Sorcieres, & pourquoy. 2. Il se met aussi en +femme pour les Sorciers, & pourquoy. 3. Autres raisons pour lesquelles le +Demon cognoit les Sorciers, & Sorcieres. + +[73] ... qui Satan l’auoit cogneue charnellement.... Et pource que les +hommes ne cedent guieres aux femmes en lubricité. + +[74] Il y a encor deux autres raisons pour lesquelles le Diable +s’accouple auec le Sorcier: La premiere, que l’offense est de tant plus +grande: Car si Dieu a en si grande haine l’accouplement du fidelle auec +l’infidele (Exodus xxxiv., Deuteronomy xxxvii.), à combien plus forte +raison détesterait celuy de l’homme auec le Diable. La seconde raison +est, que parce moyen la semence naturelle de l’homme se pert, d’où vient +que l’amitié qui est entre l’homme & la femme, se conuertit le plus +souuent en haine, qui est l’vn des plus grands mal-heurs, qui pourroient +arriuer au mariage. + +[75] In chapter xiii Boguet decides: l’accouplement de Satan auec le +Sorcier est réel & non imaginaire.... Les vns donc s’en mocque̅t ... mais +les confessions des Sorciers qui j’ay eu en main, me font croire qu’il en +est quelque chose! dautant qu’ils ont tout recogneu, qu’ils auoient esté +couplez auec le Diable, & que la semence qu’il iettoit estoit fort froide +... Iaquema Paget adioustoit, qu’elle auoit empoigné plusiers fois auec +la main le me̅bre du Demon, qui la cognoissoit, & que le membre estoit +froid comme glace, lo̅g d’vn bon doigt, & moindre en grosseur que celuy +d’vn homme: Tieuenne Paget, & Antoine Tornier adioustoient aussi, que le +membre de leurs Demons estoit long, & gros comme l’vn de leurs doigts. + +[76] Heuze, _Do the Dead Live?_ 1923. + +[77] John Stearne’s _Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft_. + +[78] Robert Pitcairn, _Criminal Trials_, Edinburgh, 1833, III. pp. 603, +611, 617. + +[79] _Idem._ + +[80] Le Diable faict des mariages au Sabbat entre les Sorciers & +Sorcieres, & leur joignant les mains, il leur diet hautement + + Esta es buena parati + Esta parati lo toma. + +Mais auant qu’ils couchent ensemble, il s’accouple auec elles, oste la +virginité des filles. Lancre, _Tableau de l’Inconstance_, p. 132. + +[81] This has been emphasized by Miss Murray in _The Witch-Cult in +Western Europe_ (“The Rites”), but she did not realize that the fascinum +was well-known to demonologists, and the use thereof severely reprobated +_sub mortali_ by the Church. + +[82] See G. Belluci, _Amuletti Italiani antichi e contemporanei_; also +_Amuletti italiani contemporanei_. Perugia, 1898. + +[83] Auctore P.P. Parisiis, MDCCCXXVI. + +[84] Crudelissima anus. _Petronii Satirae._ 138. p. 105. Tertium edidit +Buecheler. Berlin. 1895. + +[85] _Titi Petronii Satyricon_, Concinnante Michaele Hadrianide. +Amstelodami, 1669. Amongst the figures on the engraved title-page is a +witch mounted on her broomstick. + +[86] _Priapeia._ LXXXIV. + +[87] For whose impudicities see S. Augustine, _De Ciuitate Dei_, VII. 26. + +[88] Priapi lignei in honorem Bacchi. + +[89] Francis Hutchinson, _Historical Essay_, London, 1718. + +[90] _Witches at Chelmsford_, Philobiblion Society, VIII. + +[91] Francis Hutchinson, _Historical Essay on Witchcraft_, 1718. + +[92] _Elogia Doctorum Uirorum_, c. 101. + +[93] Liber II.; c. v.; 11, 12. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SABBAT + + +The Assemblies of the witches differed very much from each other in an +almost infinite number of ways. On certain ancient anniversaries the +meeting was always particularly solemn, with as large an attendance as +possible, when all who belonged to the infernal cult would be required +to present themselves and punishment was meted out to those who proved +slack and slow; at other times these gatherings would be occasional, +resorted to by the company who resided within a certain restricted area, +it might be by only one coven of thirteen, it might be by a few more, as +opportunity served. There were also, as is to be expected, variations +proper to each country, and a seemingly endless number of local +peculiarities. There does not clearly appear to be any formal and fair +order in the ceremonies throughout, nor should we look for this, seeing +that the liturgy of darkness is of its essence opposed to the comely +worship of God, wherein, as the Apostle bids, all things are to be done +“decently and in order.”[1] The ceremonial of hell, sufficiently complex, +obscure, and obscene, is even more confused in the witches’ narratives +by a host of adventitious circumstances, often contradictory, nay, even +mutually exclusive, and so although we can piece together a very complete +picture of their orgies, there are some details which must yet remain +unexplained, incomprehensible, and perhaps wholly irrational and absurd. +“Le burlesque s’y mêle à l’horrible, et les puérilités aux abominations.” +(Ribet, _La Mystique Divine_, III. 2. Les Parodies Diaboliques.) (Mere +clowning and japery are mixed up with circumstances of extremest horror; +childishness and folly with loathly abominations.) In the lesser +Assemblies much, no doubt, depended upon the fickle whim and unwholesome +caprice of the officer or president at the moment. The conduct of the +more important Assemblies was to a certain extent regularized and more +or less loosely ran upon traditional lines. The name Sabbat may be held +to cover every kind of gathering,[2] although it must continually be +borne in mind that a Sabbat ranges from comparative simplicity, the +secret rendezvous of some half a dozen wretches devoted to the fiend, +to a large and crowded congregation presided over by incarnate evil +intelligences, a mob outvying the very demons in malice, blasphemy, and +revolt, the true face of pandemonium on earth. + +The derivation of the word Sabbat does not seem to be exactly +established. It is perhaps superfluous to point out that it has nothing +to do with the number seven, and is wholly unconnected with the Jewish +festival. Sainte-Croix and Alfred Maury[3] are agreed to derive it from +the debased Bacchanalia. Sabazius (Σαβάζιος) was a Phrygian deity, +sometimes identified with Zeus, sometimes with Dionysus, but who was +generally regarded as the patron of licentiousness and worshipped with +frantic debaucheries. He is a patron of the ribald old Syrian eunuch +in Apuleius: “omnipotens et omniparens Dea Syria et sanctus Sabadius +et Bellona et Mater Idaea (ac) cum suo Adone Venus domina”[4] are the +deities whom Philebus invokes to avenge him of the mocking crier. +Σαβαζεῖν is found in the Scholiast on Aristophane (_Birds_, 874), and +σαβαῖ, a Bacchic yell, occurs in a fragment of the _Baptæ_ of Eupolis; +the fuller phrase εὐοῖ Σαβοῖ being reported by Strabo the geographer. The +modern Greeks still call a madman ζαβός. But Littré entirely rejects any +such facile etymology. “Attempts have been made to trace the etymology of +the Sabbat, the witches’ assembly, from _Sabazies_; but the formation of +the word does not allow it; besides, in the Middle Ages, what did they +know about _Sabazies_?”[5] + +Even the seasons of the principal Assemblies of the year differ in +various countries. Throughout the greater part of Western Europe one of +the chief of these was the Eve of May Day, 30 April;[6] in Germany[7] +famous as Die Walpurgis-Nacht. S. Walburga (Walpurgis; Waltpurde; at +Perche Gauburge; in other parts of France Vaubourg or Falbourg) was born +in Devonshire _circa_ 710. She was the daughter of S. Richard, one of the +under-kings of the West Saxons, who married a sister of S. Boniface. In +748 Walburga, who was then a nun of Wimbourne, went over to Germany to +found claustral life in that country. After a life of surpassing holiness +she died at Heidenheim, 25 February, 777. Her cultus began immediately, +and about 870 her relics were translated to Eichstadt, where the +Benedictine convent which has charge of the sacred shrine still happily +flourishes. S. Walburga was formerly one of the most popular Saints in +England, as well as in Germany and the Low Countries. She is patroness of +Eichstadt, Oudenarde, Furnes, Groningen, Weilburg, Zutphen, and Antwerp, +where until the Roman office was adopted they celebrated her feast four +times a year. In the Roman martyrology she is commemorated on 1 May, but +in the Monastic Kalendar on 25 February. The first of May was the ancient +festival of the Druids, when they offered sacrifices upon their sacred +mountains and kindled their May-fires. These magic observances were +appropriately continued by the witches of a later date. There was not a +hill-top in Finland, so the peasant believed, which at midnight on the +last day of April was not thronged by demons and sorcerers. + +The second witches’ festival was the Eve of S. John Baptist, 23 June. +Then were the S. John’s fires lit, a custom in certain regions still +prevailing.[8] In olden times the Feast was distinguished like Christmas +with three Masses; the first at midnight recalled his mission as +Precursor, the second at dawn commemorated the baptism he confessed, the +third honoured his sanctity. + +Other Grand Sabbat days, particularly in Belgium and Germany, were S. +Thomas’ Day (21 December) and a date, which seems to have been movable, +shortly after Christmas. In Britain we also find Candlemas (2 February), +Allhallowe’en (31 October), and Lammas (1 August), mentioned in the +trials. Wright, _Narratives of Sorcery and Magic_ (I. p. 141), further +specifies S. Bartholomew’s Eve, but although a Sabbat may have been held +on this day, it would seem to be an exceptional or purely local use. + +During a famous trial held in the winter of 1610 at Logrono, a town of +Old Castille, by the Apostolic Inquisitor, Alonso Becerra Holguin, an +Alcantarine friar, with his two assessors Juen Valle Alvarado and Alonso +de Salasar y Frias, a number of Navarrese witches confessed that the +chief Sabbats were usually held at Zugarramurdi and Berroscoberro in the +Basque districts, and that the days were fixed, being the vigils of the +“nine principal feasts of the year,” namely, Easter, Epiphany, Ascension +Day, the Purification and Nativity of Our Lady, the Assumption, Corpus +Christi, All Saints, and the major festival of S. John Baptist (24 June). +It is certainly curious to find no mention of Christmas and Pentecost +in this list, but throughout the whole of the process not one of the +accused—and we have their evidence in fullest detail—named either of +these two solemnities as being chosen for the infernal rendezvous.[9] + +Satan is, as Boguet aptly says, “Singe de Dieu en tout,”[10] and it +became common to hold a General Sabbat about the time of the high +Christian festivals in evil mockery of these holy solemnities, and he +precisely asserts that the Sabbat “se tient encor aux festes les plus +solemnelles de l’année.”[11] (Is still held on the greatest festivals +of the year.) So he records the confession of Antide Colas (1598), who +“auoit esté au Sabbat à vn chacun bon iour de l’an, comme à Noel, à +Pasques, à la feste de Dieu.” The Lancashire witches met on Good Friday; +and in the second instance (1633) on All Saints’ Day; the witches of +Kinross (1662) held an assembly on the feast of Scotland’s Patron, S. +Andrew, 30 November, termed “S. Andrew’s Day at Yule,” to distinguish it +from the secondary Feast of the Translation of S. Andrew, 9 May. The New +England witches were wont to celebrate their chief Sabbat at Christmas. +In many parts of Europe where the Feast of S. George is solemnized with +high honour and holiday the vigil (22 April) is the Great Sabbat of +the year. The Huzulo of the Carpathians believe that then every evil +thing has power and witches are most dangerous. Not a Bulgarian or +Roumanian farmer but closes up each door and fastens close each window at +nightfall, putting sharp thorn-bushes and brambles on the lintels, new +turf on the sills, so that no demon nor hag may find entry there. + +The Grand Sabbats were naturally held in a great variety of places, +whilst the lesser Sabbats could be easily assembled in an even larger +number of spots, which might be convenient to the coven of that district, +a field near a village, a wood, a tor, a valley, an open waste beneath +some blasted oak, a cemetery, a ruined building, some solitary chapel or +semi-deserted church, sometimes a house belonging to one of the initiates. + +It was advisable that the selected locality should be remote and deserted +to obviate any chance of espionage or casual interruption, and in many +provinces some wild ill-omened gully or lone hill-top was shudderingly +marked as the notorious haunt of witches and their fiends. De Lancre says +that the Grand Sabbat must be held near a stream, lake, or water of some +kind,[12] and Bodin adds: “The places where Sorcerers meet are remarkable +and generally distinguished by some trees, or even a cross.”[13] These +ancient cromlechs and granite dolmens, the stones of the Marais de Dol, +the monolith that lies between Seny and Ellemelle (Candroz), even the +market-crosses of sleepy old towns and English villages, were among the +favourite rendezvous of the pythons and warlocks of a whole countryside. +On one occasion, which seems exceptional, a Sabbat was held in the +very heart of the city of Bordeaux. Throughout Germany the Blocksburg +or the Brocken, the highest peak of the Hartz Mountains, was the great +meeting-place of the witches, some of whom, it was said, came from +distant Lapland and Norway to forgather there. But local Blocksburgs +existed, or rather hills so called, especially in Pomerania, which +boasted two or three such crags. The sorcerers of Corrières held their +Sabbat at a deserted spot, turning off the highway near Combes; the +witches of la Mouille in a tumbledown house, which had once belonged to +religious; the Gandillons and their coven, who were brought to justice +in June, 1598, met at Fontenelles, a forsaken and haunted spot near +the village of Nezar. Dr. Fian and his associates (1591) “upon the +night of Allhollen-Even” assembled at “the kirke of North-Berrick in +Lowthian.” Silvain Nevillon, who was executed at Orleans, 4 February, +1615, confessed “que le Sabbat se tenoit dans vne maison,” and the full +details he gave shows this to have been a large château, no doubt the +home of some wealthy local magnate, where above two hundred persons could +assemble. Isobel Young, Christian Grinton, and two or three other witches +entertained the Devil in Young’s house in 1629. Alexander Hamilton, +a “known warlock” executed at Edinburgh in 1630, confessed that “the +pannel took him one night to a den betwixt Niddrie and Edmiston, where +the devill had trysted hir.” Helen Guthrie, a Forfar witch, and her +coven frequented a churchyard, where they met a demon, and on another +occasion they “went to Mary Rynd’s house, and sat doune together at the +table ... and made them selfes mirrie, and the divell made much of them +all” (1661). The Lancashire witches often held their local Sabbat at +Malking Tower. From the confession of the Swedish witches (1670) at Mohra +and Elfdale they assembled at a spot called _Blockula_ “scituated in a +delicate large Meadow.... The place or house they met at, had before it +a Gate painted with divers colours; ... In a huge large Room of this +House, they said, there stood a very long Table, at which the Witches did +sit down; And that hard by this Room was another Chamber in which there +were very lovely and delicate Beds.”[14] Obviously a fine Swedish country +house, perhaps belonging to a wealthy witch, and in the minds of the +poorer members of the gang it presently became imaginatively exaggerated +and described. + +Christian Stridtheckh _De Sagis_ (XL) writes: “They have different +rendezvous in different districts; yet their meetings are generally held +in wooded spots, or on mountains, or in caves, and any places which are +far from the usual haunts of men. Mela, Book III, chapter 44, mentions +Mount Atlas; _de Vaulx_, a warlock executed at Etaples in 1603, confessed +that the witches of the Low Countries were wont most frequently to meet +in some spot in the province of Utrecht. In our own country, the Mountain +of the Bructeri, which some call Melibœus, in the duchy of Brunswick, is +known and notorious as the haunt of witches. In the common tongue this +Mountain is called the _Blocksberg_ or _Heweberg_, _Brockersburg_ or +_Vogelsberg_, as _Ortelius_ notes in his _Thesaurus Geographicus_.”[15] +The day of the week whereon a Sabbat was held differed in the various +districts and countries, although Friday seems to have been most +generally favoured. There is indeed an accumulation of evidence for every +night of the week save Saturday and Sunday. De Lancre records that in +the Basses-Pyrénées “their usual rendezvous is the spot known as Lane du +Bouc, in the Basque tongue _Aquelarre de verros, prado del Cabron_, & +there the Sorcerers assemble to worship their master on three particular +nights, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.”[16] Boguet says that the day of +the Sabbat varied, but usually a Thursday night was preferred.[17] In +England it was stated that the “Solemn appointments, and meetings ... are +ordinarily on Tuesday or Wednesday night.”[18] Saturday was, however, +particularly avoided as being the day sacred to the immaculate Mother of +God. + +It is true that the hysterical and obscene ravings of Maria de Sains, a +witness concerned in the trial of Louis Gaufridi and who was examined +on 17-19 May, 1614, assert that the Sabbat used to be held on every day +of the week. Wednesday and Friday were the Sabbats of blasphemy and the +black ass. To the other days the most hideous abominations of which +humanity is capable were allotted. The woman was obviously sexually +deranged, affected with mania blasphematoria and coprolalia. + +Night was almost invariably the time for the Sabbat, although, as Delrio +says, there is no actual reason why these evil rites should not be +performed at noon, for the Psalmist speaks of “the terror of the night,” +the “business that walketh about in the dark,” and of “the noonday +devil.”[19] (“Non timebis a timore nocturno ... a negotio perambulante +in tenebris; ab incursu et dæmonio meridiano.”) And so Delrio very aptly +writes: “Their assemblies generally are held at dead of night when the +Powers of Darkness reign; or, sometimes, at high noon, even as the +Psalmist saith, when he speaks of ‘the noonday devil.’ The nights they +prefer are Monday and Thursday.”[20] + +The time at which these Sabbats began was generally upon the stroke +of midnight. “Les Sorciers,” says Boguet, “vont enuiron la minuict +au Sabbat.”[21] It may be remembered that in the _Metamorphoseon_ of +Apuleius, I, xi, the hags attack Socrates at night “circa tertiam +ferme uigiliam.” Agnes Sampson, “a famous witch”—as Hume of Godscroft +in his Account of Archibald, ninth Earl of Angus, calls her—commonly +known as the wise wife of Keith, who made a prominent figure[22] in +the Fian trials, 1590, confessed that the Devil met her, “being alone, +and commanded her to be at North-Berwick Kirk the next night,” and +accordingly she made her way there as she was bid “and lighted at the +Kirk-yard, or a little before she came to it, about eleven hours at +even.”[23] In this case, however, the Sabbat was preceded by a dance +of nearly one hundred persons, and so probably did not commence until +midnight. Thomas Leyis, Issobell Coky, Helen Fraser, Bessie Thorn, and +the rest of the Aberdeen witches, thirteen of whom were executed in +1597, and seven more banished, generally met “betuixt tuell & ane houris +at nycht.”[24] Boguet notes that in 1598 the witch Françoise Secretain +“adioustoit qu’elle alloit tousiours au Sabbat enuiron la minuit, & +beaucoup d’autres sorciers, que i’ay eu en main, ont dit le mesme.” In +1600 Anna Mauczin of Tubingen confessed that she had taken part in witch +gatherings which she dubbed _Hochzeiten_. They seem to have been held by +a well just outside the upper gate of Rotenburg, and her evidence insists +upon “midnight dances” and revelling. A Scotch witch, Marie Lamont, “a +young woman of the adge of Eighteen Yeares, dwelling in the parish of +Innerkip” on 4 March, 1662, confessed most ingenuously “that when shee +had been at a mietting sine Zowle last, with other witches, in the night, +the devill convoyed her home in the dawing.”[25] + +The Sabbat lasted till cock-crow, before which time none of the assembly +was suffered to withdraw, and the advowal of Louis Gaufridi, executed at +Aix, 1610, seems somewhat singular: “I was conveyed to the place where +the Sabbat was to be held, and I remained there sometimes one, two, +three, or four hours, for the most part just as I felt inclined.”[26] +That the crowing of a cock dissolves enchantments is a tradition of +extremest antiquity. The Jews believed that the clapping of a cock’s +wings will make the power of demons ineffectual and break magic spells. +So Prudentius sang: “They say that the night-wandering demons, who +rejoice in dunnest shades, at the crowing of the cock tremble and scatter +in sore affright.”[27] The rites of Satan ceased because the Holy +Office of the Church began. In the time of S. Benedict Matins and Lauds +were recited at dawn and were actually often known as _Gallicinium_, +Cock-crow. In the exquisite poetry of S. Ambrose, which is chanted at +Sunday Lauds, the praises of the cock are beautifully sung: + + Light of our darksome journey here, + With days dividing night from night! + Loud crows the dawn’s shrill harbinger, + And wakens up the sunbeams bright. + + Forthwith at this, the darkness chill + Retreats before the star of morn; + And from their busy schemes of ill + The vagrant crews of night return. + + Fresh hope, at this, the sailor cheers; + The waves their stormy strife allay; + The Church’s Rock at this, in tears, + Hastens to wash his guilt away. + + Arise ye, then, with one accord! + No longer wrapt in slumber lie; + The cock rebukes all who their Lord + By sloth neglect, by sin deny. + + At his clear cry joy springs afresh; + Health courses through the sick man’s veins; + The dagger glides into its sheath; + The fallen soul her faith regains.[28] + +A witch named Latoma confessed to Nicolas Remy that cocks were most +hateful to all sorcerers. That bird is the herald of dawn, he arouses men +to the worship of God; and many an odious sin which darkness shrouds will +be revealed in the light of the coming day. At the hour of the Nativity, +that most blessed time, the cocks crew all night long. A cock crew +lustily at the Resurrection. Hence is the cock placed upon the steeple +of churches. Pliny and Ælian tell us that a lion fears the cock; so the +Devil “leo rugiens” flees at cock-crow. + +“Le coq,” says De Lancre, “s’oyt par fois es Sabbats sonna̅t la retraicte +aux Sorciers.”[29] + +The witch resorted to the Sabbat in various manners. If it were a +question of attending a local assembly when, at most, a mile or two had +to be traversed, the company would go on foot. Very often the distance +was even less, for it should be remembered that in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries, and indeed, as a matter of fact, up to a quite +recent date, when the wayfarer had gone a few steps outside the gates +of a town or beyond the last house in the village he was enfolded in +darkness, entirely solitary, remote, eloined. If footmen with flambeaux, +at least the humbler linkboy, were essential attendants after nightfall +in the streets of the world’s great cities, London, Rome, Paris, +Madrid,[30] how black with shadows, dangerous, and utterly lonesome +was the pathless countryside! Not infrequently the witches of necessity +carried lanterns to light them on their journey to the Sabbat. The +learned Bartolomeo de Spina, O.P.,[31] in his _Tractatus de Strigibus +et Lamiis_ (Venice, 1533), writes that a certain peasant, who lived at +Clavica Malaguzzi, in the district of Mirandola, having occasion to rise +very early one morning and drive to a neighbouring village, found himself +at three o’clock, before daybreak, crossing a waste tract of considerable +extent which lay between him and his destination. In the distance he +suddenly caught sight of what seemed to be numerous fires flitting to +and fro, and as he drew nearer he saw that these were none other than +large lanthorns held by a bevy of persons who were moving here and there +in the mazes of a fantastic dance, whilst others, as at a rustic picnic, +were seated partaking of dainties and drinking stoups of wine, what time +a harsh music, like the scream of a cornemuse, droned through the air. +Curiously no word was spoken, the company whirled and pirouetted, ate +and drank, in strange and significant silence. Perceiving that many, +unabashed, were giving themselves up to the wildest debauchery and +publicly performing the sexual act with every circumstance of indecency, +the horrified onlooker realized that he was witnessing the revels of +the Sabbat. Crossing himself fervently and uttering a prayer he drove +as fast as possible from the accursed spot, not, however, before he had +recognized some of the company as notorious evil-doers and persons living +in the vicinity who were already under grave suspicion of sorcery. The +witches must have remarked his presence, but they seem to have ignored +him and not even to have attempted pursuit. In another instance Fra +Paolo de Caspan, a Dominican of great reputation for piety and learning, +reports that Antonio de Palavisini, the parish priest of Caspan in the +Valtellina, a territory infected with warlocks, most solemnly affirmed +that when going before daybreak to say an early Mass at a shrine hard by +the village he had seen through clearings in the wood an assembly of men +and women furnished with lanterns, who were seated in a circle and whose +actions left no doubt that they were witches engaged in abominable rites. +In both the above cases the lanterns were not required in the ceremonies +of the Sabbat, and they must have been carried for the purely practical +purpose of affording light. + +Very often when going to a local Sabbat the coven of witches used to +meet just beyond the village and make their way to the appointed spot in +a body for mutual help and security. This is pointed out by Bernard of +Como, a famous scholar, who says: “When they are to go to some spot hard +by they proceed thither on foot cheerily conversing as they walk.”[32] +The fact that the dark initiates walked to the Sabbat is frequently +mentioned in the trials. Boguet, who is most exact in detail, writes: +“Sorcerers, nevertheless, sometimes walk to the Sabbat, and this is +generally the case when the spot where they are to assemble does not lie +very far from their dwellings.”[33] And in the interrogatory, 17 May, +1616, of Barthélemi Minguet of Brécy, a young fellow of twenty-five, +accused with seventeen more, we have: “He was then asked in what place +the Sabbat was held the last time he was present there. + +“He replied that it was in the direction of Billcron, at a cross-road +which is on the high-road leading to Aix, in the Parish of Saint +Soulange. He was asked how he proceeded thither. He replied that he +walked to the place.”[34] + +When Catharine Oswald of Niddrie (1625) one night took Alexander Hamilton +“a known warlock” “to a den betwixt Niddrie and Edmiston, where the +devill had trysted hir,” it is obvious that the couple walked there +together. + +On one occasion the truly subtle point was raised whether those who +walked to the Sabbat were as guilty as those who were conveyed thither by +the Devil. But De Lancre decides: “It is truly as criminal & abominable +for a Sorcerer to go to the Sabbat on foot as to be voluntarily conveyed +thither by the Devil.”[35] + +Major Weir and his sister seem to have gone to a meeting with the +Devil in a coach and six horses when they thus drove from Edinburgh to +Musselburgh and back again on 7 September, 1648. So the woman confessed +in prison, and added “that she and her brother had made a compact with +the devil.”[36] + +[Illustration: PLATE IV + +OFF TO THE SABBAT. Queverdo + +[_face p. 120_] + +Agnes Sampson, the famous witch of North Berwick (1590), confessed “that +the _Devil_ in mans lickness met her going out to the fields from her +own house at _Keith_, betwixt five and six at even, being alone and +commanded her to be at _North-berwick_ Kirk the next night. To which +place she came on horse-back, conveyed by her Good-son, called Iohn +Couper.”[37] The Swedish witches (1669) who carried children off to +Blockula “set them upon a _Beast_ of the _Devil’s_ providing, and then +they rid away.” One boy confessed that “to perform the Journey, he took +his own Fathers horse out of the Meadow, where it was feeding.”[38] Upon +his return one of the coven let the horse graze in her own pasture, and +here the boy’s father found it the next day. + +In the popular imagination the witch is always associated with the +broomstick, employed by her to fly in wild career through mid-air. This +belief seems almost universal, of all times and climes. The broomstick +is, of course, closely connected with the magic wand or staff which was +considered equally serviceable for purposes of equitation. The wood +whence it was fashioned was often from the hazel-tree, witch-hazel, +although in De Lancre’s day the sorcerers of Southern France favoured the +“Souhandourra”—_Cornus sanguinea_, dog-wood. Mid hurricane and tempest, +in the very heart of the dark storm, the convoy of witches, straddling +their broomsticks, sped swiftly along to the Sabbat, their yells and +hideous laughter sounding louder than the crash of elements and mingling +in fearsome discord with the frantic pipe of the gale. + +There is a very important reference to these beliefs from the pen of the +famous and erudite Benedictine Abbot, Regino of Prüm (A.D. 906), who in +his weighty _De ecclesiasticis disciplinis_ writes: “This too must by +no means be passed over that certain utterly abandoned women, turning +aside to follow Satan, being seduced by the illusions and phantasmical +shows of demons firmly believe and openly profess that in the dead of +night they ride upon certain beasts along with the pagan goddess Diana +and a countless horde of women, and that in those silent hours they +fly over vast tracts of country and obey her as their mistress, whilst +on certain other nights they are summoned to do her homage and pay +her service.”[39] The witches rode sometimes upon a besom or a stick, +sometimes upon an animal, and the excursion through the air was generally +preceded by an unction with a magic ointment. Various recipes are given +for the ointment, and it is interesting to note that they contain +deadly poisons: aconite, belladonna, and hemlock.[40] Although these +unguents may in certain circumstances be capable of producing definite +physiological results, it is Delrio who best sums up the reasons for +their use: “The Demon is able to convey them to the Sabbat without the +use of any unguent, and often he does so. But for several reasons he +prefers that they should anoint themselves. Sometimes when the witches +seem afraid it serves to encourage them. When they are young and tender +they will thus be better able to bear the hateful embrace of Satan who +has assumed the shape of a man. For by this horrid anointing he dulls +their senses and persuades these deluded wretches that there is some +great virtue in the viscid lubricant. Sometimes too he does this in +hateful mockery of God’s holy Sacraments, and that by these mysterious +ceremonies he may infuse, as it were, something of a ritual and +liturgical nature into his beastly orgies.”[41] + +Although the witch is universally credited with the power to fly through +the air[42] to the Sabbat mounted upon a besom or some kind of stick, it +is remarkable in the face of popular belief to find that the confessions +avowing this actual mode of aerial transport are extraordinarily few. +Paul Grilland, in his tractate _De Sortilegiis_ (Lyons, 1533), speaks of +a witch at Rome during whose trial, seven years before, it was asserted +she flew in the air after she had anointed her limbs with a magic +liniment. Perhaps the most exactly detailed accounts of this feat are to +be found in Boguet,[43] than whom scarcely any writer more meticulously +reports the lengthy and prolix evidence of witches, such evidence as he +so laboriously gathered during the notorious prosecutions throughout +Franche-Comté in the summer of 1598. He records quite plainly such +statements as: “Françoise Secretain disoit, que pour aller au Sabbat, +elle mettoit un baston blanc entre ses iambes & puis prononçait certaines +paroles & dés lors elle estoit portée par l’air iusques en l’assemblée +des Sorciers.” (Françoise Secretain avowed that in order to go to the +Sabbat she placed a white stick between her legs & then uttered certain +words & then she was borne through the air to the sorcerers’ assembly). +In another place she confessed “qu’elle avoit esté vne infinité de fois +au Sabbat ... & qu’elle y alloit sur vn baston blanc, qu’elle mettoit +entre ses iambes.” (That she had been a great number of times to the +Sabbat ... and that she went there on a white stick which she placed +between her legs.) It will be noticed that in the second instance she +does not explicitly claim to have been borne through the air. Again: +“Françoise Secretain y estoit portée [au Sabbat] sur vn baston blanc. +Satan y tra̅sporta Thieuenne Paget & Antide Colas estant en forme d’vn +homme noir, sortans de leurs maison le plus souuent par la cheminée.” +“Claudine Boban, ieune fille confessa qu’elle & sa mère montoient sur vne +ramasse, & que sortans le contremont de la cheminée elles alloient par +l’air en ceste façon au Sabbat.” (Françoise Secretain was carried [to the +Sabbat] on a white stick. Satan, in the form of a tall dark man conveyed +thither Thieuenne Paget & Antide Colas, who most often left their house +by way of the chimney.... Claudine Boban, a young girl, confessed that +both she and her mother mounted on a besom, & that flying out by the +chimney they were thus borne through the air to the Sabbat.) A marginal +note explains _ramasse_ as “autrement balai, & en Lyonnois coiue.” + +Glanvill writes that Julian Cox, one of the Somerset coven (1665), said +“that one evening she walkt out about a Mile from her own House and +there came riding towards her three persons upon three Broom-staves, +born up about a yard and a half from the ground. Two of them she +formerly knew, which was a Witch and a Wizzard.” It might easily be +that there is some exaggeration here. We know that a figure in one of +the witch dances consisted of leaping as high as possible into the air, +and probably the three persons seen by Julian Cox were practising this +agile step. A quotation from Bodin by Reginald Scot is very pertinent in +this connexion. Speaking of the Sabbat revels he has: “And whiles they +sing and dance, euerie one hath a broome in his hand, and holdeth it vp +aloft. Item he saith, that these night-walking or rather night-dansing +witches, brought out of _Italie_ into _France_, that danse which is +called _La Volta_.”[44] Sir John Davies in his _Orchestra or A Poeme on +Dauncing_ (18mo, 1596) describes the lavolta as “A loftie iumping, or a +leaping round.” De Lancre observes that after the regular country dance +at the Sabbat the witches sprang high into the air. “Après la dance ils +se mettent par fois à sauter.”[45] At their assembly certain of the +Aberdeen witches (1597) “danced a devilish dance, riding on trees, by a +long space.” In an old representation of Dr. Fian and his company swiftly +pacing round North Berwick church withershins the witches are represented +as running and leaping in the air, some mounted on broomsticks, some +carrying their besoms in their hands. + +There was discovered in the closet of Dame Alice Kyteler of Kilkenny, who +was arrested in 1324 upon the accusation of nightly meeting a familiar +Artisson and multiplied charges of sorcery, a pipe of ointment, wherewith +she greased a staff “upon which she ambolled and gallopped thorough +thicke and thin, when and what manner she listed.”[46] In the trial of +Martha Carrier, a notorious witch and “rampant hag” at the Court of Oyer +and Terminer, held by adjournment at Salem, 2 August, 1692, the eighth +article of the indictment ran: “One _Foster_, who confessed her own share +in the Witchcraft for which the Prisoner stood indicted, affirm’d, that +she had seen the prisoner at some of their _Witch-meetings_, and that it +was this _Carrier_, who perswaded her to be a Witch. She confessed that +the Devil carry’d them on a pole, to a Witch-meeting: but the pole broke, +and she hanging about _Carriers_ neck, they both fell down, and she then +received an hurt by the Fall, whereof she was not at this very time +recovered.”[47] + +In many of these instances it is plain that there is no actual flight +through the air implied; although there is a riding a-cock-horse of +brooms or sticks, in fact, a piece of symbolic ritual. + +It is very pertinent, however, to notice in this connexion the actual +levitation of human beings, which is, although perhaps an unusual, yet +by no means an unknown, phenomenon in the séances of modern spiritism, +where both the levitation of persons, with which we are solely concerned, +and the rising of tables or chairs off the ground without contact with +any individual or by any human agency have occurred again and again +under conditions which cannot possibly admit of legerdemain, illusion, +or charlatanry. From a mass of irrefutable evidence we may select some +striking words by Sir William Crookes, F.R.S., upon levitation. “This +has occurred,” he writes, “in my presence on four occasions in darkness; +but ... I will only mention cases in which deductions of reason were +confirmed by the sense of sight.... On one occasion I witnessed a chair, +with a lady sitting on it, rise several inches from the ground.... On +another occasion the lady knelt on the chair in such manner that the +four feet were visible to us. It then rose about three inches, remained +suspended for about ten seconds, and then slowly descended.... + +“The most striking case of levitation which I have witnessed has been +with Mr. Home. On three separate occasions have I seen him raised +completely from the floor of the room.... On each occasion I had full +opportunity of watching the occurrence as it was taking place. There +are at least a hundred recorded instances of Mr. Home’s rising from the +ground.”[48] + +Writing in July, 1871, Lord Lindsay said: “I was sitting with Mr. Home +and Lord Adare and a cousin of his. During the sitting Mr. Home went +into a trance, and in that state was carried out of the window in the +room next to where we were, and was brought in at our window. The +distance between the windows was about seven feet six inches, and there +was not the slightest foothold between them, nor was there more than a +twelve-inch projection to each window, which served as a ledge to put +flowers on. We heard the window in the next room lifted up, and almost +immediately after we saw Home floating in air outside our window.”[49] + +William Stainton Moses writes of his levitation in August, 1872, in the +presence of credible witnesses: “I was carried up ... when I became +stationary I made a mark [with a lead pencil] on the wall opposite to my +chest. This mark is as near as may be six feet from the floor.... From +the position of the mark on the wall it is clear that my head must have +been close to the ceiling.... I was simply levitated and lowered to my +old place.”[50] + +When we turn to the lives of the Saints we find that these manifestations +have been frequently observed, and it will suffice to mention but a few +from innumerable examples. + +S. Francis of Assisi was often “suspended above the earth, sometimes +to a height of three, sometimes to a height of four cubits”; the +same phenomenon has been recorded by eye-witnesses in many instances +throughout the centuries. Among the large number of those who are +known to have been raised from the ground whilst wrapt in prayer are +the stigmatized S. Catherine of Siena; S. Colette; Rainiero de Borgo +San-Sepolcro; S. Catherine de Ricci; S. Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J.; +S. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi; Raimond Rocco; Bl. Charles de Sezze; S. +Veronica Giuliani the Capuchiness; S. Gerard Majella, the Redemptorist +thaumaturge; that wondrous mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich; Dominica +Barbagli (died in 1858), the ecstatica of Montesanto-Savino (Florence), +whose levitations were of daily occurrence. S. Ignatius Loyola whilst +deeply contemplative was seen by John Pascal to be raised more than a +foot from the pavement; S. Teresa and S. John of the Cross were levitated +in concurrent ecstasies in the shady locutorio of the Encarnacion, as +was witnessed by Beatriz of Jesus and the whole convent of nuns;[51] +S. Alphonsus Liguori whilst preaching in the church of S. John Baptist +at Foggia was lifted before the eyes of the whole congregation several +feet from the ground;[52] Gemma Galgani of Lucca, who died 11 April, +1903, was observed whilst praying one evening in September, 1901, before +a venerated Crucifix, to rise in the air in a celestial trance and to +remain several minutes at some distance from the floor.[53] Above all, +S. Joseph of Cupertino (1603-63), one of the most extraordinary mystics +of the seventeenth century, whose whole life seemed one long series of +unbroken raptures and ecstasies, was frequently lifted on high to remain +suspended in mid-air. Such notice was attracted by this marvel that his +superiors sent him from one lonely house of Capuchins or Conventuals +to another, and he died at the little hill town of Osimo, where his +remains are yet venerated. For many years he was obliged to say Mass +at a private altar so inevitable were the ecstasies that fell upon him +during the Sacrifice. There are, I think, few sanctuaries more sweet and +more fragrant with holiness than this convent at Osimo. During a most +happy visit to the shrine of S. Joseph I was deeply touched by the many +memorials of the Saints, and by the kindness of the Fathers, his brethren +to-day. S. Philip Neri and S. Francis Xavier were frequently raised from +the ground at the Elevation, and of the ascetic S. Paul of the Cross +the Blessed Strambi writes: “Le serviteur de Dieu s’éleva en l’air à +la hauteur de deux palmes, et cela, à deux reprises, avant et après +la consecration.”[54] (The servant of God during Holy Mass was twice +elevated in the air to a height of two hand-breadths from the ground +both before and after the Consecration.) It is well known that in a +certain London church a holy religious when he said Mass was not unseldom +levitated from the predella, which manifestation I have myself witnessed, +although the father was himself unconscious thereof until the day of his +death. + +But, as Görres most aptly remarks,[55] although many examples may be +cited of Saints who have been levitated in ecstasy, and although it is +not impossible that this phenomenon may be imitated by evil powers—as, +indeed, it undoubtedly is in the cases of spiritistic mediums—yet nowhere +do we find in hagiography that a large number of Saints were in one +company raised from the earth together or conveyed through the air to +meet at some appointed spot. Is it likely, then, that the demons would +be allowed seemingly to excel by their power a most extraordinary and +exceptional manifestation? It must be remembered, also, that save in very +rare and singular instances, such as that of S. Joseph of Cupertino, +levitation is only for a height of a foot or some eighteen inches, and +even this occurs seldom save at moments of great solemnity and psychic +concentration. + +A question which is largely discussed by the demonologists then arises: +Do the witches actually and in person attend the Sabbat or is their +journey thither and assistance thereat mere diabolic illusion? Giovanni +Francesco Ponzinibio, in his _De Lamiis_,[56] wholly inclines to the +latter view, but this is superficial reasoning, and the celebrated +canonist Francisco Peña with justice takes him very severely to task for +his temerity. Peña’s profound work, _In Bernardi Comensis Dominicani +Lucernam inquisitorum notæ et eiusdem tractatum de strigibus_,[57] +a valuable collection of most erudite glosses, entirely disposes of +Ponzinibio’s arguments, and puts the case in words of weighty authority. + +Sprenger in the _Malleus Maleficarum_, I, had already considered +“How witches are bodily transported from one place to another,” +and he concludes “It is proven, then, that sorcerers can be bodily +transported.”[58] Paul Grilland inquires: “Whether magicians & witches +or Satanists are bodily & actually conveyed to and fro by the Devil, +or whether this be merely imaginary?” He freely acknowledges the +extraordinary difficulty and intricacy of the investigation, beginning +his answer with the phrase “Quæstio ista est multum ardua et famosa.”[59] +(This is a very difficult and oft-discussed question.) But S. Augustine, +S. Thomas, S. Bonaventure, and a score of great names are agreed upon the +reality of this locomotion, and Grilland, after balancing the evidence to +the nicety of a hair wisely concludes: “Myself I hold the opinion that +they are actually transported.”[60] + +In his _Compendium Maleficarum_ Francesco Maria Guazzo discusses (Liber +I. 13) “Whether Witches are actually and bodily conveyed from place +to place to attend their Sabbats”; and lays down: “The opinion which +many who follow Luther & Melancthon hold is that Witches only assist at +these assemblies in their imagination, & that they are choused by some +trick of the devil, in support of which argument the objectors assert +that the Witches have very often been seen lying in one spot and not +moving thence. Moreover, what is related in the life of S. Germain is +not impertinent in this connexion, to wit, when certain women declared +that they had been present at a banquet, & yet all the while they +slumbered and slept, as several persons attested. That women of this +kind are very often deceived in such a way is certain; but that they +are always so deceived is by no means sure.... The alternative opinion, +which personally I hold most strongly, is that sometimes at any rate +Witches are actually conveyed from one place to another by the Devil, +who under the bodily form of a goat or some other unclean & monstrous +animal himself carries them, & that they are verily and indeed present at +their foul midnight Sabbats. This opinion is that generally held by the +authoritative Theologians and Master Jurisprudists of Italy and Spain, +as also by the Catholic divines and legalists. The majority of writers, +indeed, advance this view, for example, Torquemada in his commentary +on Grilland, Remy, S. Peter Damian, Silvester of Abula, Tommaso de +Vio Gaetani, Alfonso de Castro, Sisto da Siena, O.P., Père Crespet, +Bartolomeo Spina in his glosses on Ponzinibio, Lorenzo Anania, and a vast +number of others, whose names for brevity’s sake I here omit.”[61] + +This seems admirably to sum up the whole matter. In the encyclopædic +treatise _De Strigibus_[62] by an earlier authority, Bernard of Como, the +following remarkable passage occurs: “The aforesaid abominable wretches +actually & awake & in full enjoyment of their normal senses attend these +assemblies or rather orgies, and when they are to go to some spot hard +by they proceed thither on foot, cheerily conversing as they walk. If, +however, they are to meet in some distant place then are they conveyed by +the Devil, yet by whatsoever means they proceed to the said place whether +it be on foot or whether they are borne along by the Devil, it is most +certain that their journey is real and actual, and not imaginary. Nor +are they labouring under any delusion when they deny the Catholic Faith, +worship and adore the Devil, tread upon the Cross of Christ, outrage the +Most Blessed Sacrament, and give themselves up to filthy and unhallowed +copulations, fornicating with the Devil himself who appears to them in a +human form, being used by the men as a succubus, & carnally serving the +woman as an incubus.”[63] + +The conclusion then is plain and proven. The witches do actually and +individually attend the Sabbat, an orgy of blasphemy and obscenity. +Whether they go thither on foot, or horseback, or by some other means is +a detail, which in point of fact differs according to the several and +infinitely varied circumstances. + +It is not denied that in some cases hallucination and self-deception +played a large part, but such examples are comparatively speaking few +in number, and these, moreover, were carefully investigated and most +frequently recognized by the judges and divines. Thus in the _Malleus +Maleficarum_ Sprenger relates that a woman, who had voluntarily +surrendered herself to be examined as being a witch, confessed to the +Dominican fathers that she nightly assisted at the Sabbat, and that +neither bolts nor bars could prevent her from flying to the infernal +revels. Accordingly she was shut fast under lock and key in a chamber +whence it was impossible for her to escape, and all the while carefully +watched by lynx-eyed officers through a secret soupirail. These reported +that immediately the door was closed she threw herself on the bed where +in a moment she was stretched out perfectly rigid in all her members. +Select members of the tribunal, grave and acute doctors, entered the +room. They shook her, gently at first, but presently with considerable +roughness. She remained immobile and insensible. She was pinched and +pulled sharply. At last a lighted candle was brought and placed near +her naked foot until the flesh was actually scorched in the flame. She +lay stockish and still, dumb and motionless as a stone. After a while +her senses returned to her. She sat up and related in exact detail the +happenings at the Sabbat she had attended, the place, the number of the +company, the rites, what was spoken, all that was done, and then she +complained of a hurt upon her foot. Next day the fathers explained to her +all that had passed, how that she had never stirred from the spot, and +that the pain arose from the taper which to ensure the experiment had +been brought in contact with her flesh. They admonished her straightly +but with paternal charity, and upon the humble confession of her error +and a promise to guard against any such ill fantasies for the future, a +suitable penance was prescribed and the woman dismissed. + +In the celebrated cases investigated by Henri Boguet, June, 1598, young +George Gandillon confessed to having walked to the Sabbat at a deserted +spot called Fontenelles, near the village of Nezar, and also to having +ridden to the Sabbat. Moreover, in his indictment the following occurs: +“George Gandillon, one Good Friday night, lay in his bed, rigid as a +corpse, for the space of three hours, & then on a sudden came to himself. +He has since been burned alive here with his father & his sister.”[64] + +Since Boguet, who is one of our chief authorities, discusses the Sabbat +with most copious details in his _Discours des Sorciers_ it will not be +impertinent to give here the headings and subdivisions of his learned and +amply documented chapters.[65] + + Chapter XVI. How, & in what way Sorcerers are conveyed to the + Sabbat. + + 1. _They are sometimes conveyed there mounted on a stick, + or a broom, sometimes on a sheep or a goat, & sometimes by + a tall black man._ + + 2. _Sometimes they anoint themselves with ointment, & + sometimes not._ + + 3. _There are some people, who although they are not + Sorcerers, if they are anointed, are none the less carried + off to the Sabbat. The reason for this._ + + 4. _The unguent, & the ointment are actually of no use + to the Sorcerers, and do not in effect carry them to the + Sabbat._ + + 5. _Sorcerers are sometimes conveyed to the Sabbat by a + blast of wind & a sudden storm._ + + Chapter XVII. Sorcerers may sometimes walk to the Sabbat on + foot. + + Chapter XVIII. Is the journey of Sorcerers to the Sabbat merely + imagination? + + 1 & 3. _Reasons for supposing this to be the case, & + examples._ + + 2. _Indications, owing to which it may be supposed, that a + certain woman paid a purely imaginary visit to the Sabbat._ + + 4. _Reasons for supposing that the journey of Sorcerers to + the Sabbat, is a real expedition and not imaginary._ + + 5. _How we are to understand what is related concerning + Erichtho, & Apollonius; the first of whom raised a soldier + to life, & the latter a young girl._ + + 6. _Sorcerers cannot raise the dead to life. Examples._ + + 7. _Neither can heretics perform miracles. Examples._ + + 8. _The Author’s opinion concerning the subject of this + chapter._ + + 9. _Satan most frequently deceives mankind. Examples._ + + Chapter XIX. + + 1. _Sorcerers go to the Sabbat about midnight._ + + 2. _The reason why the Sabbat is generally held at night._ + + 3. _Satan delights in darkness & blackness, which are + opposite to the whiteness and light that please Heaven._ + + 4. _At the Sabbat Sorcerers dance back to back. For the + most part they wear masks._ + + 5 & 8. _When the cock crows the Sabbat immediately comes to + an end, and vanishes away. The reason for this._ + + 6. _The voice of the cock frightens Satan in the same way + as it terrifies lions & serpents._ + + 7. _Several authors relate that demons fear a naked sword._ + + Chapter XX. The days on which the Sabbat is held. + + 1. _The Sabbat may be held on any day of the week, but + particularly on a Friday._ + + 2. _It is also held on the greatest festivals of the year._ + + Chapter XXI. The places where the Sabbat is held. + + 1. _According to many writers the place where the Sabbat is + held is distinguished by a clump of trees, or sometimes by + a cross. The Author’s opinion on this point._ + + 2. _A remarkable account of a place where the Sabbat was + held._ + + 3. _There must be water near the place where the Sabbat is + held. The reason for this._ + + 4. _If there is no water in the place, the Sorcerers dig a + hole in the ground and urinate in this._ + + Chapter XXII. The proceedings at the Sabbat. + + 1. _The Sorcerers worship the Devil who appears under the + form of a tall black man, or as a goat. They offer him + candles & kiss his posterior._ + + 2. _They dance. A description of their dances._ + + 3. _They give themselves up to every kind of filthy + abomination. The Devil transforms himself into an Incubus & + into a Succubus._ + + 4. _The hideous orgies & foul copulations practised by the + Euchites, & Gnostics._ + + 5. _The Sorcerers feast at the Sabbat. Their meat & their + drink. The way in which they say grace before and after + table._ + + 6. _However, this food never satisfies their appetites, & + they always arise from table as hungry as before._ + + 7. _When they have finished their meal, they give the Devil + a full account of all their actions._ + + 8. _They again renounce God, their baptism, &c. How Satan + incites them to do evil._ + + 9. _They raise dark storms._ + + 10. _They celebrate their mass. Of their vestments, & holy + water._ + + 11. _Sometimes to conclude the Sabbat Satan seems to be + consumed in a flame of fire, & to be completely reduced to + ashes. All present take a small part of these ashes, which + the Sorcerers use for their charms._ + + 12. _Satan is always the Ape of God in everything._ + +As the procedure in the various Sabbats differed very greatly according +to century, decade, country, district, nay, even in view of the station +of life and, it would seem, the very temperaments of the assembly, +it is only possible to outline in a general way some of the most +remarkable ceremonies which took place on the occasions of these infernal +congregations. An intimate and intensive study of the Sabbat would +require a large volume, for it is quite possible to reconstruct the rites +in every particular, although the precise order of the ritual was not +always and everywhere the same. + +Dom Calmet, it is true, has very mistakenly said: “To attempt to give +a description of the Sabbat, is to attempt a description of what does +not exist, & what has never existed save in the fantastic & disordered +imagination of warlocks & witches: the pictures which have been drawn of +these assemblies are merely the phantasy of those who dreamed that they +had actually been borne, body & soul, through the air to the Sabbat.”[66] +Happy sceptic! But unfortunately the Sabbat did—and does—take place; +formerly in deserted wastes, on the hill-side, in secluded spots, now, +as often as not, in the privacy of vaults and cellars, and in those lone +empty houses innocently placarded “To be Sold.” + +The President of the Sabbat was in purely local gatherings often the +Officer of the district; in the more solemn assemblies convened from a +wider area, the Grand Master, whose dignity would be proportionate to +the numbers of the company and the extent of his province. In any case +the President was officially known as the “Devil,” and it would seem +that his immediate attendants and satellites were also somewhat loosely +termed “devils,” which formal nomenclature has given rise to considerable +confusion and not a little mystification in the reports of witch trials +and the confessions of offenders. But in many instances it is certain—and +orthodoxy forbids us to doubt the possibility—that the Principle of +Evil, incarnate, was present for the hideous adoration of his besotted +worshippers. Such is the sense of the Fathers, such is the conclusion +of the theologians who have dealt with these dark abominations. +Metaphysically it is possible; historically it is indisputable. + +When a human being, a man, occupied the chief position at these meetings +and directed the performance of the rites, he would sometimes appear +in a hideous and grotesque disguise, sometimes without any attempt at +concealment. This masquerade generally took the shape of an animal, and +had its origin in heathendom, whence by an easy transition through the +ceremonial of heretics, it passed to the sorcerer and the witch. As early +as the _Liber Pœnitentialis_ of S. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, +668-690, we have a distinct prohibition of this foul mummery. Capitulum +xxvii denounces the man who “in Kalendas Ianuarii in ceruulo et in uitula +uadit.” “If anyone at the kalends of January goes about as a stag or a +bull; that is making himself into a wild animal and dressing in the skin +of a herd animal, and putting on the head of beasts; those who in such +wise transform themselves into the appearance of a wild animal, penance +for three years because this is devilish.” + +Among the many animal forms which the leader of the Sabbat (the “Devil”) +assumed in masquerade the most common are the bull, the cat, and above +all the goat. Thus the Basque term for the Sabbat is “Akhelarre,” “goat +pasture.” Sometimes the leader is simply said to have shown himself in +the shape of a beast, which possibly points to the traditional disguise +of a black hairy skin, horns, hoofs, claws, and a tail, in fact the +same dress as a demon wore upon the stage.[67] In an old German ballad, +_Druten Zeitung_, printed at Smalcald in 1627, “to be sung to the tune of +_Dorothea_,” it is said that the judges, anxious to extort a confession +from a witch, sent down into her twilight dungeon the common hangman +dressed in a bear’s skin with horns, hoofs, and tail complete. The +miserable prisoner thinking that Lucifer had indeed visited her at once +appealed to him for help: + + Man shickt ein Henkersnecht + Zu ihr in Gefängniss n’unter, + Den man hat kleidet recht, + Mit einer Bärnhaute, + Als wenns der Teufel wär; + Als ihm die Drut anschaute + Meints ihr Bühl kam daher. + +Here we have a curious and perhaps unique example of the demoniac +masquerade subtly used to obtain evidence of guilt by a trick. The +Aberdeen witch Jonet Lucas (1597) said that the Devil was at the Sabbat +“beand in likenes of ane beist.” But Agnes Wobster of the same company +declared that “Satan apperit to them in the likenes of a calff,” so +possibly two masquerades were employed. Gabriel Pellé (1608) confessed +that he attended a Sabbat presided over by the Devil, and “le Diable +estoit en vache noire.”[68] Françoise Secretain, who was tried in August, +1598, saw the Devil “tantost en forme de chat.” Rolande de Vernois +acknowledged “Le Diable se presenta pour lors au Sabbat en forme d’vn +groz chat noir.”[69] To the goat there are innumerable allusions. In the +Basses-Pyrénées (1609): “Le Diable estoit en forme de bouc ayant vne +queue & audessous vn visage d’homme noir.” (The Devil appeared in the +form of a goat having a tail & his fundament was the face of a black +man.) Iohannis d’Aguerre said that the Devil was “en forme de bouc.”[70] +“Marie d’Aguerre said that there was in the midst of the ring an immense +pitcher whence the Devil issued in the form of a goat.” Gentien le Clerc, +who was tried at Orleans in 1614, “said that, as he was told, his mother +when he was three years old presented him at the Sabbat to a goat whom +they saluted as l’Aspic.”[71] “Sur le trône,” writes Görres, “est assis +un bouc, ou du moins la forme d’un bouc, car le démon ne peut cacher ce +qu’il est.”[72] + +In 1630 Elizabeth Stevenson, _alias_ Toppock, of Niddrie, avowed to +her judges that in company with Catharine Oswald, who was tried for +being by _habite and repute_ a witch, and Alexander Hamilton, “a known +warlock,” she went “to a den betwixt Niddrie and Edmiston, where the +devill had trysted hir, where he appeared first to them like a foall, +and then like a man, and appointed a new dyet at Salcott Muire.” When +one of Catharine Oswald’s intimates, Alexander Hunter, _alias_ Hamilton, +_alias_ Hattaraick, a “Warlok Cairle” who “abused the Countrey for a long +time,”[73] was apprehended at Dunbar he confessed that the Devil would +meet him riding upon a black horse, or in the shape of a _corbie_, a cat, +or a dog. He was burned upon Castle Hill, Edinburgh, 1631. + +Sometimes those who are present at the Sabbat are masked. Canon Ribet +writes: “Les visiteurs du sabbat se cachent quelquefois sous des +formes bestiales, on se couvrent le visage d’un masque pour demeurer +inconnus.”[74] (Those who attend the Sabbat sometimes disguise themselves +as beasts, or cover their faces to conceal their identities.) + +At the famous Sabbat of one hundred and forty witches in North Berwick +churchyard on All Hallow e’en, 1590, when they danced “endlong the +Kirk-yard” “John Fian, missellit [masked] led the ring.” The Salamanca +doctors mention the appearance at the Sabbats of persons “aut aperta, +aut linteo uelata facie,”[75] “with their faces sometimes bare, +sometimes shrouded in a linen wimple.” And Delrio has in reference to +this precaution: “Facie interdum aperta, interdum uelata larua, linteo, +uel alio uelamine aut persona.”[76] (Sometimes their faces are bare, +sometimes hidden, either in a vizard, a linen cloth, or a veil, or a +mask.) + +In the latter half of the eighteenth century the territory of Limburg was +terrorized by a mysterious society known as “The Goats.” These wretches +met at night in a secret chapel, and after the most hideous orgies, which +included the paying of divine honours to Satan and other foul blasphemies +of the Sabbat, they donned masks fashioned to imitate goats’ heads, +cloaked themselves with long disguise mantles, and sallied forth in bands +to plunder and destroy. From 1772 to 1774 alone the tribunal of Foquemont +condemned four hundred Goats to the gallows. But the organization was not +wholly exterminated until about the year 1780 after a regime of the most +repressive measures and unrelaxing vigilance. + +Among certain tribes inhabiting the regions of the Congo there exists a +secret association of Egbo worshippers. Egbo or Ekpé is the evil genius +or Satan. His rites are Obeeyahism, the adoration of Obi, or the Devil, +and devil-worship is practised by many barbarous races, as, for instance, +by the Coroados and the Tupayas, in the impenetrable forests between the +rivers Prado and Doce in Brazil, by the Abipones of Paraguay, as well as +by the Bachapins, a Caffre race, by the negroes on the Gold Coast and the +negroes of the West Indies. In the ju-ju houses of the Egbo sorcerers +are obscene wooden statues to which great veneration is paid, since by +their means divination is solemnly practised. Certain festivals are +held during the year, and at these it is interesting to note that the +members wear hideous black masks with huge horns which it is death for +the uninitiated to see. + +The first ceremony of the Sabbat was the worship of, and the paying +homage to the Devil. It would seem that sometimes this was preceded by +a roll-call of the evil devotees. Agnes Sampson confessed that at the +meeting in North Berwick, when the whole assembly had entered the church, +“The _Devil_ started up himself in the _Pulpit_ like a mickle black man, +and calling the Row, every one answered _Here_. _Mr. Robert Grierson_ +being named, they all ran _hirdie girdie_, and were angry: for it was +promised he should be called _Robert_ the _Comptroller_, _alias Rob_ +the _Rower_, for expriming of his name. The first thing he demanded was +whether they had been good servants, and what they had done since the +last time they had convened.” + +The witches adored Satan, or the Master of the Sabbat who presided in +place of Satan, by prostrations, genuflections, gestures, and obeisances. +In mockery of solemn bows and seemly courtesies the worshippers of the +Demon approach him awkwardly, with grotesque and obscene mops and mows, +sometimes straddling sideways, sometimes walking backwards, as Guazzo +says: Cum accedunt ad dæmones eos ueneraturi terga obuertunt & cessim eum +cancrorum more supplicaturi manus inuersas retro applicant.[77] But their +chief act of homage was the reverential kiss, _osculum infame_. This +impious and lewd ritual is mentioned in detail by most authorities and +is to be found in all lands and centuries. So Delrio writes: “The Sabbat +is presided over by a Demon, the Lord of the Sabbat, who appears in some +monstrous form, most generally as a goat or some hound of hell, seated +upon a haughty throne. The witches who resort to the Sabbat approach the +throne with their backs turned, and worship him ... and then, as a sign +of their homage, they kiss his fundament.” Guazzo notes: “As a sign of +homage witches kiss the Devil’s fundament.” And Ludwig Elich says: “Then +as a token of their homage—with reverence be it spoken—they kiss the +fundament of the Devil.”[78] “Y al tiempo que le besan debajo de la cola, +da una ventosidad de muy horrible olor,” adds the Spanish _Relacion_, +“fetid, foul, and filthy.” + +To cite other authorities would be but to quote the same words. Thomas +Cooper, indeed, seems to regard this ceremony as a part of the rite +of admission, but to confine it to this occasion alone is manifestly +incorrect, for there is continual record of its observance at frequent +Sabbats by witches of many years standing. “Secondly,” he remarks, “when +this acknowledgement is made, in testimoniall of this subiection, Satan +offers his back-parts to be kissed of his vassall.”[79] But in the dittay +of the North Berwick witches, all of whom had long been notorious for +their malpractices, “_Item_, the said Agnis Sampson confessed that the +divell being then at North Barrick Kerke, attending their comming, in the +habit or likenesse of a man,[80] and seeing that they tarried over long, +hee at their comming enjoyned them all to a pennance, which was, that +they should kisse his buttockes, in sign of duety to him, which being put +over the pulpit bare, every one did as he had enjoyned them.”[81] + +One of the principal charges which was repeatedly brought against +the Knights Templars during the lengthy ecclesiastical and judicial +processes, 1307-1314, was that of the _osculum infame_ given by the +juniors to their preceptors. Even so prejudiced a writer as Lea cannot +but admit the truth of this accusation. In this case, however, it has +nothing to do with sorcery but must be connected with the homosexuality +which the Order universally practised. + +There are some very important details rehearsed in a Bull, 8 June, +1303, of the noble but calumniated Boniface VIII, with reference to the +case of Walter Langton, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (1296-1322), +and treasurer of Edward I, when this prelate was accused of sorcery +and homage to Satan: “For some time past it has come to our ears that +our Venerable Brother Walter Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield has +been commonly defamed, and accused, both in the realm of England and +elsewhere, of paying homage to the Devil by kissing his posterior, and +that he hath had frequent colloquies with evil spirits.”[82] The Bishop +cleared himself of these charges with the compurgators. Bodin refers to +Guillaume Edeline, who was executed in 1453 as a wizard. He was a doctor +of the Sorbonne, and prior of St. Germain en Laye: “The aforesaid sire +Guillaume confessed ... that he had done homage to the aforesaid Satan, +who appeared in the shape of a ram, by kissing his buttocks in token of +reverence and homage.”[83] A very rare tract of the fourteenth century +directed against the Waldenses among other charges brings the following: +“Item, in aliquibus aliis partibus apparet eis dæmon sub specie et figura +cati, quem sub cauda sigillatim osculantur.” (The Devil appears to them +as a cat, and they kiss him _sub cauda_.)[84] + +Barthélemy Minguet of Brécy, a young man of twenty-five, who was tried +in 1616, said that at the Sabbat “he often saw [the Devil] in the shape +of a man, who held a horse by its bridle, & that they went forward to +worship him, each one holding a pitch candle of black wax in their +hands.”[85] These candles, as Guazzo tells us, were symbolic and required +by the ritual of the Sabbat, not merely of use for the purpose of giving +light: “Then they made an offering of pitch black candles, and as a +sign of homage kissed his fundament.”[86] The candles were ordinarily +black, and one taper, larger than the rest, was frequently carried by the +Devil himself. At the North Berwick meeting when the witches were all to +assemble in the church, “_Iohn Fein_ blew up the Kirk doors, and blew in +the lights, which wer like _Mickl black candles sticking round about the +Pulpit_.”[87] Boguet relates that the witches whom he tried confessed +that the Sabbat commenced with the adoration of Satan, “who appeared, +sometimes in the shape of a tall dark man, sometimes in the shape of a +goat, & to express their worship and homage, they made him an offering +of candles, which burned with a blue light.”[88] John Fian, also, when +doing homage to the Devil “thought he saw the light of a candle ... which +appeared blue lowe.” This, of course, was on account of the sulphurous +material whence these candles were specially compounded. De Lancre +expressly states that the candles or flambeaux used at the Sabbat were +made of pitch. + +An important feature of the greater Sabbats was the ritual dance, for the +dance was an act of devotion which has descended to us from the earliest +times and is to be found in every age and every country. Dancing is a +natural movement, a primitive expression of emotion and ideals. In the +ancient world there can have been few things fairer than that rhythmic +thanksgiving of supple limbs and sweet voices which Athens loved, and +for many a century was preserved the memory of that day when the young +Sophocles led the choir in celebration of the victory of Salamis.[89] +The Mystæ in the meadows of Elysium danced their rounds with the silver +clash of cymbals and with madly twinkling snow-white feet. At the solemn +procession of the Ark from Cariathiarim (Kirjath Jearim) King David +“danced with all his might before the Lord, ... dancing and leaping +before the Lord.” S. Basil urges his disciples to dance on earth in order +to fit themselves for what may be one of the occupations of the angels +in heaven. As late as the seventeenth century the ceremonial dance in +church was not uncommon. In 1683 it was the duty of the senior canon to +lead a dance of choir-boys in the Paris cathedral. Among the Abyssinian +Christians dancing forms no inconsiderable part of worship. Year by +year on Whit Tuesday hundreds of pilgrims dance through the streets +of Echternach (Luxemburg) to the shrine of S. Willibrod in S. Peter’s +Church. Formerly the devotees danced three times round the great Abbey +Courtyard before proceeding to the sanctuary. But beyond all these the +dance has its own place in the ritual of Holy Church even yet. Three +times a year in Seville Cathedral—on Holy Thursday, upon Corpus Christi +and the Immaculate Conception—Los Seises dance before a specially +constructed altar, exquisitely adorned with flowers and lights, erected +near the outer door of the grand western entrance of the cathedral. The +ceremony in all probability dates from the thirteenth century. + +The dresses of the boys, who dance before the improvised altar at +Benediction on Corpus Christi, are of the period of Philip III, and +consist of short trousers and jackets that hang from one shoulder, the +doublets being of red satin, with rich embroidery. Plumed white hats with +feathers are worn, also shoes with large scintillating buckles. On Holy +Thursday the costume is also red and white, whilst it is blue and white +for “the day of the Virgin.” + +The eight boy choristers—with eight others as attendants—dance, with +castanets in their hands, to a soft organ obbligato, down the centre of +the cathedral to the decorated altar, advancing slowly and gracefully. +Here they remain for about a quarter of an hour, singing a hymn, and +accompanying it (as the carols of the olden time) with dance and +castanets. They sing a two-part hymn in front of the altar, forming in +two eights, facing each other, the clergy kneeling in a semicircle round +them. + +Assuredly I cannot do better than quote Mr. Arthur Symons’ verdict on +this dance as he saw it a few years back in Seville: “And, yes, I found +it perfectly dignified, perfectly religious, without a suspicion of +levity or indecorum. This consecration of the dance, this turning of a +possible vice into a means of devotion, this bringing of the people’s +art, the people’s passion, which in Seville is dancing, into the church, +finding it a place there, is precisely one of those acts of divine +worldly wisdom which the Church has so often practised in her conquest of +the world.” + +Not too fantastically has a writer suggested that High Mass itself in +some sense enshrines a survival of the ancient religious dance—that +stately, magnificent series of slow movements which surely may express +devotion of the most solemn and reverent kind, as well as can the colour +of vestment or sanctuary, or the sounds of melody. + +Since the dance is so essentially religious it must needs be burlesqued +and buffooned by God’s ape. For the dance of the witches is degraded, +awkward, foul, and unclean. These very movements are withershins, as +Guazzo points out: “Then follow the round dances in which, however, they +always tread the measure to the left.”[90] “The Sorcerers,” says Boguet, +“dance a country-dance with their backs turned one to the other.”[91] +This, of course, being the exact reverse of the natural country-dance. +“Sometimes, although seldom,” he adds, “they dance in couples, & +sometimes one partner is there, another here, for always everything is +in confusion.”[92] De Lancre writes of witches’ revels: “They only dance +three kinds of brawls.... The first is _à la Bohémienne_ ... the second +with quick trippings: these are round dances.”[93] In the third Sabbat +measure the dancers were placed one behind another in a straight line. + +An old Basque legend reported by Estefanella Hirigaray describes how the +witches were wont to meet near an old limekiln to dance their rounds, a +ceremony regarded throughout that district as an essential feature of +the Sabbat. De Lancre notes the brawls _à la Bohémienne_ as especially +favoured by sorcerers in Labourd. Sylvester Mazzolini, O.P. (1460-1523), +Master of the Sacred Palace, and the great champion of orthodoxy +against the heresiarch Luther, in his erudite _De Strigimagia_[94] +relates that in Como and Brescia a number of children between eight and +twelve years old, who had frequented the Sabbat, but had been happily +converted by the unsparing patience of the Inquisitors, at the request +of the Superiors gave exhibitions of these dances when they showed such +extraordinary adroitness and skill in executing the most intricate +and fantastic figures that it was evident they had been instructed +by no mere human tutelage. Marco de Viqueria, the Dominican Prior of +the Brussels monastery, closely investigated the matter, and he was a +religious of such known acumen and exceptional probity that his testimony +soon convinced many prelates at Rome who were inclined to suspect some +trickery or cunning practice. In Belgium this Sabbat dance was known as +_Pauana_. + +In the Fian trial Agnes Sampson confessed that “They danced along the +_Kirk-yeard_, _Geilic Duncan_ playing on a _Trump_, and _John Fein_ +mussiled led the _Ring_. The said _Agnes_ and her daughter followed next. +Besides these were _Kate Gray_, _George Noilis_ his wife, ... with the +rest of their Cummers above an hundred Persons.”[95] She further added +“that this Geillis Duncane did goe before them, playing this reill or +daunce uppon a small trumpe, called a Jewe’s trumpe, untill they entered +into the Kerk of North Barrick.”[96] “These confessions made the King +[James I, then James VI of Scotland] in a wonderfull admiration, and sent +for the saide Geillis Duncane, who, upon the like trumpe, did play the +saide daunce before the kinges maiestie.” + +Music generally accompanied the dancers, and there is ample evidence that +various instruments were played, violins, flutes, tambourines, citterns, +hautboys, and, in Scotland, the pipes. Those of the witches who had +any skill were the performers, and very often they obliged the company +awhile with favourite airs of a vulgar kind, but the concert ended in +the most hideous discords and bestial clamour; the laws of harmony +and of decency were alike rudely violated. In August, 1590, a certain +Nicolas Laghernhard, on his way to Assencauria, was passing through the +outskirts of a wood when he saw through the trees a number of men and +women dancing with filthy and fantastic movements. In amaze he signed +himself and uttered the Holy Name, whereupon the company perceiving him +took to flight, but not before he had recognized many of these wretches. +He was prompt to inform the ecclesiastical tribunals, and several persons +being forthwith questioned freely acknowledged their infamies. Amongst +these a shepherd named Michael, who enjoyed a considerable reputation for +his musical talents and strangely fascinating voice, confessed that he +was the piper at the local Sabbat and that his services were in constant +requisition. At the lesser Sabbats (_aquelarre_) of Zugarramurdi, a +hamlet of Navarre, some six hundred souls, in the Bastan valley, some +twelve leagues from Pampluna, one Juan de Goyburu was wont to play upon +the flute, and Juan de Sansin the tambourine. These two unhappy wretches, +having shown every sign of sincerest contrition, were reconciled to the +Church. + +Sinclar in his Relation XXXV, “Anent some Prayers, Charms, and Avies, +used in the _Highlands_,” says: “As the Devil is originally the Author +of _Charms_, and _Spells_, so is he the Author of several baudy Songs, +which are sung. A reverend Minister told me, that one who was the Devils +Piper, a wizzard confest to him, that at a Ball of dancing, the Foul +Spirit taught him a Baudy song to sing and play, as it were this night, +and ere two days past all the Lads and Lasses of the town were lilting +it throw the street. It were abomination to rehearse it.” Philip Ludwig +Elich precisely sums up the confused scene: “The whole foul mob and +stinkard rabble sing the most obscene priapics and abominable songs in +honour of the Devil. One witch yells, _Harr, harr_; a second hag, Devil, +Devil; jump hither, jump thither; a third, Gambol hither, gambol thither; +another, _Sabaoth, Sabaoth_, &c.; and so the wild orgy waxes frantic what +time the bedlam rout are screeching, hissing, howling, caterwauling, and +whooping lewd wassail.”[97] Of all the horrors of the Sabbat the climax +was that appalling blasphemy and abominable impiety by which the most +Holy Sacrifice of the Altar was mocked and burlesqued in hideous fashion. +And since no Christian will receive the Blessed Sacrament save he be duly +fasting as the Church so strictly enjoins, the witches in derision of +Christ’s ordinance satiate their appetites with a wolfish feast and cram +themselves to excess with food of all kinds, both meat and drink, before +they proceed to the ritual of hell. These orgies were often prolonged +amid circumstances of the most beastly gluttony and drunkenness. + +Guazzo writes: “Tables are laid and duly furnished, whereupon they set +themselves to the board & begin to gobbet piecemeal the meats which the +Devil provides, or which each member of the party severally brings with +him.”[98] De Lancre also says: “Many authors say that sorcerers at the +Sabbat eat the food which the Devil lays before them: but very often +the table is only dressed with the viands they themselves bring along. +Sometimes there are certain tables served with rare dainties, at others +with orts and offal.” “Their banquets are of various kinds of food +according to the district & the quality of those who are to partake.”[99] +It seems plain that when the local head of the witches, who often +presided at these gatherings _absente diabolo_, was a person of wealth or +standing, delicacies and choice wines would make their appearance at the +feast, but when it was the case of the officer of a coven in some poor +and small district, possibly a meeting of peasants, the homeliest fare +only might be served. The Lancashire witches of 1613, when they met at +Malking Tower, sat down to a goodly spread of “Beefe, Bacon, and roasted +Mutton,” the sheep having been killed twenty-four hours earlier by James +Device; in 1633 Edmund Robinson stated that the Pendle witches offered +him “flesh and bread upon a trencher, and drink in a glass,” they also +had “flesh smoaking, butter in lumps, and milk,” truly rustic dainties. +Alice Duke, a Somerset witch, tried in 1664, confessed that the Devil +“bids them _Welcome_ at their _Coming_, and brings them _Wine_, _Beer_, +_Cakes_, and _Meal_, or the like.”[100] At the trial of Louis Gaufridi +at Aix in 1610 the following description of a Sabbat banquet was given: +“Then they feasted, three tables being set out according to the three +aforesaid degrees. Those who were employed in serving bread had loaves +made from wheat privily stolen in various places. They drank malmsey +in order to excite them to venery. Those who acted as cup-bearers had +filched the wine from cellars where it was stored. Sometimes they ate the +tender flesh of little children, who had been slain and roasted at some +Synagogue, and sometimes babes were brought there, yet alive, whom the +witches had kidnapped from their homes if opportunity offered.”[101] In +many places the witches were not lucky enough to get bumpers of malmsey, +for Boguet notes that at some Sabbats “They not unseldom drink wine but +more often water.”[102] + +[Illustration: PLATE V + +THE SABBAT. Ziarnko + +[_face p. 144_] + +There are occasional records of unsavoury and tasteless viands, and there +is even mention of putrefying garbage and carrion being placed before his +evil worshippers by their Master. Such would appear to have been the case +at those darker orgies when there was a manifestation of supernatural +intelligences from the pit. + +The Salamanca doctors say: “They make a meal from food either furnished +by themselves or by the Devil. It is sometimes most delicious and +delicate, and sometimes a pie baked from babies they have slain or +disinterred corpses. A suitable grace is said before such a table.”[103] +Guazzo thus describes their wine: “Moreover the wine which is usually +poured out for the revellers is like black and clotted blood served in +some foul and filthy vessel. Yet there seems to be no lack of cheer at +these banquets, save that they furnish neither bread nor salt. Isabella +further added that human flesh was served.”[104] + +Salt never appeared at the witches’ table. Bodin gives us the reason that +it is an emblem of eternity,[105] and Philip Ludwig Elich emphatically +draws attention to the absence of salt at these infernal banquets.[106] +“At these meals,” remarks Boguet, “salt never appears.”[107] Gentien le +Clerc, who was tried in Orleans in 1615, confessed: “They sit down to +table, but no salt is ever seen.”[108] Madeleine de la Palud declared +that she had never seen salt, olives, or oil at the Devil’s feasts.[109] + +When all these wretches are replete they proceed to a solemn parody of +Holy Mass. + +At the beginning of the eighteenth century Marcelline Pauper of the +Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers was divinely called +to offer herself up as a victim of reparation for the outrages done to +the Blessed Sacrament, especially by sorcerers in their black masses at +the Sabbat. In March, 1702, a frightful sacrilege was committed in the +convent chapel. The tabernacle was forced open, the ciborium stolen, and +those of the Hosts which had not been carried away by the Satanists were +thrown to the pavement and trampled under foot. Marcelline made ceaseless +reparation, and at nine o’clock of the evening of 26 April, she received +the stigmata in hands, feet, and side, and also the Crown of Thorns. +After a few years of expiation she died at Tulle, 25 June, 1708. + +The erudite Paul Grilland tells us that the liturgy is burlesqued in +every detail: “Those witches who have solemnly devoted themselves to +the Devil’s service, worship him in a particular manner with ceremonial +sacrifices, which they offer to the Devil, imitating in all respects the +worship of Almighty God, with vestments, lights, and every other ritual +observance, and with a set liturgy in which they are instructed, so +that they worship and praise him eternally, just as we worship the true +God.”[110] This abomination of blasphemy is met with again and again in +the confessions of witches, and although particulars may differ here +and there, the same quintessence of sacrilege persisted throughout the +centuries, even as alas! in hidden corners and secret lairs of infamy it +skulks and lurks this very day. + +What appears extremely surprising in this connexion is the statement of +Cotton Mather that the New England witches “met in Hellish _Randezvous_, +wherein the Confessors (i.e. the accused who confessed) do say, they have +had their Diabolical Sacraments, imitating the _Baptism_ and the _Supper_ +of our Lord.”[111] At the trial of Bridget Bishop, _alias_ Oliver, at +the Court of Oyer and Terminer, held at Salem, 2 June, 1692, Deliverance +Hobbs, a converted witch, affirmed “that this _Bishop_ was at a General +Meeting of the Witches, in a Field at _Salem_-Village, and there partook +of a Diabolical Sacrament in Bread and Wine then administered.” In the +case of Martha Carrier, tried 2 August, 1692, before the same court, +two witnesses swore they had seen her “at a Diabolical Sacrament ... +when they had Bread and Wine Administered unto them.” Abigail Williams +confessed that on 31 March, 1692, when there was a Public Fast observed +in Salem on account of the scourge of sorcery “the Witches had a +_Sacrament_ that day at an house in the Village, and that they had +_Red Bread_ and _Red Drink_.” This “Red Bread” is certainly puzzling. +But the whole thing, sufficiently profane no doubt, necessarily lacks +the hideous impiety of the black mass. A minister, the Rev. George +Burroughs, is pointed to by accumulated evidence as being the Chief of +the Salem witches; “he was Accused by Eight of the Confessing Witches as +being an Head Actor at some of their Hellish Randezvouses, and one who +had the promise of being a King in Satan’s kingdom”; it was certainly he +who officiated at their ceremonies, for amongst others Richard Carrier +“affirmed to the jury that he saw Mr. George Burroughs at the witch +meeting at the village and saw him administer the sacrament,” whilst Mary +Lacy, senr., and her daughter Mary “affirmed that Mr. George Burroughs +was at the witch meetings with witch sacraments.”[112] + +The abomination of the black mass is performed by some apostate or +renegade priest who has delivered himself over to the service of evil and +is shamefully prominent amongst the congregation of witches. It should be +remarked from this fact that it is plain the witches are as profoundly +convinced of the doctrines of Transubstantiation, the Totality, +Permanence, and Adorableness of the Eucharistic Christ, and of the power +also of the sacrificing priesthood, as is the most orthodox Catholic. +Indeed, unless such were the case, their revolt would be empty, void at +any rate of its material malice. + +One of the gravest charges brought against the Templars and in the +trials (1307-1314) established beyond any question or doubt was that of +celebrating a blasphemous mass in which the words of consecration were +omitted. It has, indeed, been suggested that the liturgy used by the +Templars was not the ordinary Western Rite, but that it was an Eastern +Eucharist. According to Catholic teaching the Consecration takes place +when the words of institution are recited with intention and appropriate +gesture, the actual change of the entire substances of bread and wine +into the Body and Blood of Christ being effected in virtue of the words +_Hoc est enim Corpus meum; Hic est enim Calix sanguinis mei_.... This +has been defined by a decree of the Council of Florence (1439): “Quod +ilia uerba diuina Saluatoris omnem uirtutem transsubstantiationis +habent.” (These divine words of Our Saviour have full power to effect +transubstantiation.) But the Orthodox Church holds that an Epiklesis is +necessary to valid consecration, the actual words of Our Lord being +repeated “as a narrative” [διηγηματικῶς],[113] which would seem logically +to imply that Christ’s words have no part in the form of the Sacrament. +In all Orthodox liturgies the words of Consecration are found together +with the Epiklesis, and there are in existence some few liturgies, +plainly invalid, which omit the words of Consecration altogether. These +are all of them forms which have been employed by heretical sects; and it +may be that the Templars used one of these. But it is far more probable +that the words were purposely omitted; the Templars were corroded with +Gnostic doctrines, they held the heresies of the Mandæans or Johannites +who were filled with an insane hatred of Christ in much the same way +as witches and demonolaters, they followed the tenets of the Ophites +who venerated the Serpent and prayed to him for protection against the +Creator, they adored and offered sacrifice before an idol, a Head, which, +as Professor Prutz holds, represented the lower god whom Gnostic bodies +worshipped, that is Satan. At his trial in Tuscany the knight Bernard of +Parma confessed that the Order firmly believed this idol had the power +to save and to enrich, in fine, flat diabolism. The secret mass of the +Templars may have burlesqued an Eastern liturgy rather than the Western +rite, but none the less it was the essential cult of the evil principle. + +In 1336 a priest who had been imprisoned by the Comte de Foix, Gaston III +Phébus, on a charge of celebrating a Satanic mass, was sent to Avignon +and examined by Benedict XII in person. The next year the same pontiff +appointed his trusty Guillaume Lombard to preside at the trial of Pierre +du Chesne, a priest from the diocese of Tarbes, accused of defiling the +Host. + +Gilles de Sillé, a priest of the diocese of S. Malo, and the Florentine +Antonio Francesco Prelati, formerly of the diocese of Arezzo, were wont +to officiate at the black masses of Tiffauges and Machecoul, the castles +of Gilles de Rais, who was executed in 1440. + +A priest named Benedictus in the sixteenth century caused great scandal +by the discovery of his assistance at secret and unhallowed rites. +Charles IX employed an apostate monk to celebrate the eucharist of +hell before himself and his intimates, and during the reign of his +brother the Bishop of Paris burned in the Place de Grève a friar named +Séchelle who had been found guilty of participating in similar profane +mysteries. In 1597 the Parliament of Paris sentenced Jean Belon, curé of +S. Pierre-des-Lampes in the Bourges diocese, to be hanged and his body +burned for desecration of the Sacrament and the repeated celebration +of abominable ceremonies.[114] The Parliament of Bordeaux in 1598 +condemned to the stake Pierre Aupetit, curé of Pageas, near Chalus +Limousin. He confessed that for more than twenty years he had frequented +Sabbats, especially those held at Mathe-goutte and Puy-de-Dôme, where he +worshipped the Devil and performed impious masses in his honour.[115] +August 14, 1606, a friar named Denobilibus was put to death at Grenoble +upon a similar conviction. In 1609 the Parliament of Bordeaux sent Pierre +De Lancre and d’Espagnet to Labourd in the Bayonne district to stamp +out the sorcerers who infested that region. No less than seven priests +were arrested on charges of celebrating Satan’s mass at the Sabbat. Two, +Migalena, an old man of seventy, and Pierre Bocal, aged twenty-seven, +were executed, but the Bishop of Bayonne interfered, claimed the five +for his own tribunal and contrived that they should escape from prison. +Three other priests who were under restraint were immediately set free, +and wisely quitted the country. A twelvemonth later Aix and the whole +countryside rang with the confessions of Madeleine de la Palud who “Dit +aussi que ce malheureux Loys magicien ... a controuvé le premier de dire +la messe au sabatt et consacrer Véritablement et présenter le sacrifice à +Lucifer.”[116] It was, of course, mere ignorance on her part to suppose +that “that accursed Magician Lewes did first inuent the saying of Masse +at the Sabbaths,” although Gaufridi may have told her this to impress +her with a sense of his importance and power among the hierarchies of +evil. Certainly in her evidence the details of the Sabbat worship are +exceptionally detailed and complete. + +They are, however, amply paralleled, if not exceeded, by the narrative +of Madeleine Bavent, a Franciscan sister of the Third Order, attached +to the convent of SS. Louis and Elizabeth at Louviers. Her confessions, +which she wrote at length by the direction of her confessor, des Marets, +an Oratorian, meticulously describe scenes of the most hideous blasphemy +in which were involved three chaplains, David, Maturin Picard, the curé +of Mesnil-Jourdain, and Thomas Boullé, sometime his assistant. Amongst +other enormities they had revived the heresy of the Adamites, an early +Gnostic sect, and celebrated the Mass in a state of stark nudity amid +circumstances of the grossest indecency. Upon one Good Friday Picard +and Boullé had compelled her to defile the crucifix and to break a +consecrated Host, throwing the fragments upon the ground and trampling +them. David and Picard were dead, but Boullé was burned at Rouen, 21 +August, 1647.[117] + +During the reign of Louis XIV a veritable epidemic of sacrilege seemed +to rage throughout Paris.[118] The horrors of the black mass were said +in many houses, especially in that of La Voisin (Catherine Deshayes) +who lived in the rue Beauregard. The leading spirit of this crew was +the infamous abbé Guibourg, a bastard son—so gossip said—of Henri de +Montmorency. With him were joined Brigallier, almoner of the Grande +Mademoiselle; Bouchot, director of the convent of La Saussaye; Dulong, a +canon of Notre-Dame; Dulausens, vicar of Saint-Leu; Dubousquet; Seysson; +Dussis; Lempérier; Lépreux; Davot, vicar of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle; +Mariette, vicar of Saint-Séverin, skilled in maledictions; Lemeignan, +vicar of Saint-Eustache, who was convicted of having sacrificed +numberless children to Satan; Toumet; Le Franc; Cotton, vicar of St. +Paul, who had baptized a baby with the chrism of Extreme Unction and then +throttled him upon the altar; Guignard and Sébault of the diocese of +Bourges, who officiated at the black mass in the cellars of a house at +Paris, and confected filthy charms under conditions of the most fearful +impiety. + +In the eighteenth century the black mass persisted. In 1723 the police +arrested the abbé Lecollet and the abbé Bournement for this profanity; +and in 1745 the abbé de Rocheblanche fell under the same suspicion. At +the hotel of Madame de Charolais the vilest scenes of the Sabbat were +continued. A gang of Satanists celebrated their monstrous orgies at +Paris on 22 January, 1793, the night after the murder of Louis XVI. The +abbé Fiard in two of his works, _Lettres sur le diable_, 1791, and _La +France Trompée_ ... Paris, 8vo, 1803, conclusively shows that eucharistic +blasphemies were yet being perpetrated but in circumstances of almost +impenetrable secrecy. In 1865 a scandal connected with these abominations +came to light, and the Bishop of Sens, in whose diocese it occurred, was +so horrified that he resigned his office and retired to Fontainebleau, +where he died some eighteen months later, practically of shock. Similar +practices were unmasked at Paris in 1874 and again in 1878, whilst it is +common knowledge that the characters of Joris Karl Huysmans’ _Là-Bas_ +were all persons easy of identification, and the details are scenes +exactly reproduced from contemporary life.[119] The hideous cult of evil +yet endures. Satanists yet celebrate the black mass in London, Brighton, +Paris, Lyons, Bruges, Berlin, Milan, and alas! in Rome itself. Both South +America and Canada are thus polluted. In many a town, both great and +small, they have their dens of blasphemy and evil where they congregate +unsuspected to perform these execrable rites. Often they seem to +concentrate their vile energies in the quiet cathedral cities of England, +France, Italy, in vain endeavour to disturb the ancient homes of peace +with the foul brabble of devil-worship and all ill. + +They have even been brought upon the public stage. One episode of _Un +Soir de Folie_, the revue (1925-6) at the Folies Bergère, Paris, was +“Le Sabbat et la Herse Infernale,” where in a Gothic cathedral an actor +(Mons. Benglia) appeared as Satan receiving the adoration of his devotees. + +At the more frequented Sabbats the ritual of Holy Mass was elaborately +burlesqued in almost every detail. An altar was erected with four +supports, sometimes under a sheltering tree, at others upon a flat rock, +or some naturally convenient place, “auprès d’vn arbre, ou parfois auprès +d’vn rocher, dressant quelque forme d’autel sur des colonés infernales,” +says De Lancre.[120] In more recent times and to-day when the black mass +is celebrated in houses such an altar is often permanent and therefore +the infernal sanctuary can be builded with a display of the full +symbolism of the hideous cult of evil. The altar was covered with the +three linen cloths the ritual enjoins, and upon it were six black candles +in the midst of which they placed a crucifix inverted, or an image of +the Devil. Sometimes the Devil himself occupied this central position, +standing erect, or seated on some kind of monstrous throne. In 1598, +at a celebrated witch-trial before the Parliament of Bordeaux with the +Vicar-general of the Bishop of Limoges and a learned councillor Peyrat +as assessors, Antoine Dumons of Saint-Laurent confessed that he had +frequently provided a large number of candles for the Sabbat, both wax +lights to be distributed among those present and the large black tapers +for the altar. These were lit by Pierre Aupetit, who held a sacristan’s +reed, and apparently officiated as Master of the Ceremonies when he was +not actually himself saying the Mass.[121] + +In May, 1895, when the legal representatives of the Borghese family +visited the Palazzo Borghese, which had been rented for some time in +separate floors or suites, they found some difficulty in obtaining +admission to certain apartments on the first floor, the occupant of +which seemed unaware that the lease was about to expire. By virtue of +the terms of the agreement, however, he was obliged to allow them to +inspect the premises to see if any structural repairs or alterations were +necessary, as Prince Scipione Borghese, who was about to be married, +intended immediately to take up his residence in the ancestral home with +his bride. One door the tenant obstinately refused to unlock, and when +pressed he betrayed the greatest confusion. The agents finally pointed +out that they were within their rights to employ actual force, and that +if access was longer denied they would not hesitate to do so forthwith. +When the keys had been produced, the cause of the reluctance was soon +plain. The room within was inscribed with the words _Templum Palladicum_. +The walls were hung all round from ceiling to floor with heavy curtains +of silk damask, scarlet and black, excluding the light; at the further +end there stretched a large tapestry upon which was woven in more than +life-size a figure of Lucifer, colossal, triumphant, dominating the +whole. Exactly beneath an altar had been built, amply furnished for the +liturgy of hell: candles, vessels, rituals, missal, nothing was lacking. +Cushioned prie-dieus and luxurious chairs, crimson and gold, were set +in order for the assistants; the chamber being lit by electricity, +fantastically arrayed so as to glare from an enormous human eye. The +visitors soon quitted the accursed spot, the scene of devil-worship +and blasphemy, nor had they any desire more nearly to examine the +appointments of this infernal chapel.[122] + +The missal used at the black mass was obviously a manuscript, although +it is said that in later times these grimoires of hideous profanity have +actually been printed. It is not infrequently mentioned. Thus De Lancre +notes that the sorcerers of the Basses-Pyrénées (1609) at their worship +saw the officiant “tournant les feuillets d’vn certain liure qu’il a en +main.”[123] Madeleine Bavent in her confession said: “On lisait la messe +dans le livre des blasphèmes, qui servait de canon et qu’on employait +aussi dans les processions.”[124] The witches’ missal was often bound in +human skin, generally that of an unbaptized babe.[125] Gentien le Clerc, +tried at Orleans, 1614-1615, confessed that “le Diable ... marmote dans +un liure duquel la couuerture est toute veluë comme d’vne peau de loup, +auec des feuillets blancs & rouges, d’autres noires.” + +The vestments worn by the celebrant are variously described. On rare +occasions he is described as being arrayed in a bishop’s pontificalia, +black in hue, torn, squalid, and fusty. Boguet reports that a witch +stated: “Celuy, qui est commis à faire l’office, est reuestu d’vne chappe +noire sans croix,”[126] but it seems somewhat strange that merely a plain +black cope should be used, unless the explanation is to be found in the +fact that such a vestment was most easily procurable and no suspicion of +its ultimate employment would be excited. The abbé Guibourg sometimes +wore a cope of white silk embroidered with fir-cones, which again seems +remarkable, as the symbolism is in no way connected with the Satanic +rites he performed. But this is the evidence of Marguerite, La Voisin’s +daughter, who was not likely to be mistaken.[127] It is true that the +mass was often, perhaps, partially erotic and not wholly diabolic in the +same sense as the Sabbat masses were, but yet Astaroth, Asmodeus, and +Lucifer were invoked, and it was a liturgy of evil. On other occasions +Guibourg seems to have donned the orthodox eucharistic chasuble, stole, +maniple, girdle, alb, and amice. In the thirty-seventh article of his +confession Gaufridi acknowledged that the priest who said the Devil’s +mass at the Sabbat wore a violet chasuble.[128] Gentien le Clerc, tried +at Orleans in 1614-1615, was present at a Sabbat mass when the celebrant +“wore a chasuble which was embroidered with a Cross; but there were +only three bars.”[129] Later a contemporary witness points to the use +of vestments embroidered with infernal insignia, such as a dark red +chasuble, the colour of dried blood, upon which was figured a black buck +goat rampant; a chasuble that bore the inverse Cross, and similar robes +adorned by some needle with the heraldry of hell. + +In bitter mockery of the _Asperges_ the celebrant sprinkled the witches +with filthy and brackish water, or even with stale. “The Devil at the +same time made water into a hole dug in the earth, & used it as holy +water, wherewith the celebrant of the mass sprinkled all present, using +a black aspergillum.”[130] Silvain Nevillon, a sorcerer who was tried +at Orleans in 1614-1615, said: “When Tramesabot said Mass, before he +commenced he used to sprinkle all present with holy water which was +nothing else than urine, saying meanwhile _Asperges Diaboli_.”[131] +According to Gentien le Clerc: “The holy water is yellow ... & after +it has been duly sprinkled Mass is said.”[132] Madeleine de la Palud +declared that the sorcerers were sprinkled with water, and also with +consecrated wine from the chalice upon which all present cried aloud: +_Sanguis eius super nos et super filios nostros._[133] (His blood be upon +us and upon our children.) + +This foul travesty of the holiest mysteries began with an invocation +of the Devil, which was followed by a kind of general confession, only +each one made mock acknowledgement of any good he might have done, and +as a penance he was enjoined to utter some foul blasphemy or to break +some precept of the Church. The president absolved the congregation by +an inverse sign of the Cross made with the left hand. The rite then +proceeded with shameless profanity, but De Lancre remarks that the +_Confiteor_ was never said, not even in a burlesque form, and _Alleluia_ +never pronounced. After reciting the Offertory the celebrant drew back +a little from the altar and the assembly advancing in file kissed his +left hand. When the Queen of the Sabbat—the witch who ranked first after +the Grand Master, the oldest and most evil of the witches (“en chasque +village,” says De Lancre, “trouuer vne Royne du Sabbat”)—was present she +sat on the left of the altar and received the offerings, loaves, eggs, +any meat or country produce, and money, so long as the coins were not +stamped with a cross. In her hand she held a disc or plate “vne paix ou +platine,” engraved with a figure of the Devil, and this his followers +devoutly kissed. In many places to-day, especially Belgium, during Holy +Mass the pax-brede (_instrumentum pacis_) is kissed by the congregation +at the Offertory, and universally when Mass is said by a priest in the +presence of a Prelate the pax-brede is kissed by the officiant and the +Prelate after the _Agnus Dei_ and the first appropriate ante-communion +prayer. + +Silvain Nevillon, who was tried at Orleans in 1614-15, avowed: “The Devil +preached a sermon at the Sabbat, but nobody could hear what he said, for +he spoke in a growl.”[134] + +At the Sabbat a sermon is not infrequently delivered, a farrago of +impiety and evil counsel. + +The hosts are then brought to the altar. Boguet describes them as dark +and round, stamped with a hideous design; Madeleine Bavent saw them as +ordinary wafers only coloured red; in other cases they were black and +triangular in shape. Often they blasphemed the Host, calling it “Iean le +blanc,” just as Protestants called it “Jack-in-the-box.” The chalice is +filled, sometimes with wine, sometimes with a bitter beverage that burned +the tongue like fire. At the _Sanctus_ a horn sounded harshly thrice, +and torches burning with a sulphurous blue flare “qui est fort puante” +were kindled. There was an elevation, at which the whole gang, now in +a state of hysterical excitement and unnatural exaltation, burst forth +with the most appalling screams and maniac blasphemies, rivalling each +other in filthy adjurations and crapulous obscenities. The protagonist +poured out all the unbridled venom that diabolic foulness could express, +a stream of scurrility and pollution; hell seemed to have vomited its +reeking gorge on earth. _Domine adiuua nos, domine adiuua nos_, they +cried to the Demon, and again _Domine adiuua nos semper_. Generally all +present were compelled to communicate with the sacrament of the pit, to +swallow morsels soiled with mud and ordures, to drink the dark brew of +damnation. Gaufridi confessed that for _Ite missa est_ these infernal +orgies concluded with the curse: “Allez-vous-en tous au nom du diable!” +Whilst the abbé Guibourg cried: “_Gloria tibi, Lucifero!_” + +The black mass of the Sabbat varied slightly in form according to +circumstances, and in the modern liturgy of the Satanists it would appear +that a considerable feature is made of the burning of certain heavy and +noxious weeds, the Devil’s incense. In the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries the use of incense is very rare at the Sabbat, although Silvain +Nevillon stated that he had seen at the Sabbat “both holy water and +incense. This latter smelled foul, not fragrant as incense burned in +church.”[135] + +The officiant nowadays consecrates a host and the chalice with the actual +sacred words of Holy Mass, but then instead of kneeling he turns his back +upon the altar,[136] and a few moments later—_sit uenia uerbis!_—he cuts +and stabs the Host with a knife, throwing it to the ground, treading upon +it, spurning it. A part, at least, of the contents of the chalice is +also spilled in fearful profanation, and not infrequently there further +has been provided a ciborium of consecrated Hosts, all stolen from +churches[137] or conveyed away at Communion in their mouths by wretches +unafraid to provoke the sudden judgement of an outraged God. These the +black priest, for so the celebrant is called by the Devil worshippers, +scatters over the pavement to be struggled and fought for by his +congregation in their madness to seize and outrage the Body of Christ. + +Closely connected with the black mass of the Satanists and a plain +survival from the Middle Ages is that grim superstition of the Gascon +peasant, the Mass of S. Sécaire.[138] Few priests know the awful ritual, +and of those who are learned in such dark lore fewer yet would dare to +perform the monstrous ceremonies and utter the prayer of blasphemy. No +confessor, no bishop, not even the Archbishop of Auch, may shrive the +celebrant; he can only be absolved at Rome by the Holy Father himself. +The mass is said upon a broken and desecrated altar in some ruined or +deserted church where owls hoot and mope and bats flit through the +crumbling windows, where toads spit their venom upon the sacred stone. +The priest must make his way thither late attended only by an acolyte +of impure and evil life. At the first stroke of eleven he begins; the +liturgy of hell is mumbled backward, the canon said with a mow and a +sneer; he ends just as midnight tolls. The host is triangular, with +three sharp points and black. No wine is consecrated but foul brackish +water drawn from a well wherein has been cast the body of an unbaptized +babe. The holy sign of the cross is made with the left foot upon the +ground. And the man for whom that mass is said will slowly pine away, nor +doctor’s skill nor physic will avail him aught, but he will suffer, and +dwindle, and surely drop into the grave.[139] + +Although there is, no doubt, some picturesque exaggeration here the main +details are correct enough. A black, triangular wafer is not infrequently +mentioned in the witch-trials as having been the sacramental bread of +the Sabbat, whilst Lord Fountainhall[140] in describing the devilish +communion of the Loudian witches says: “the drink was sometimes blood, +sometimes black moss-water,” and many other details may be closely +paralleled. + +When the blasphemous liturgy of the Sabbat was done all present gave +themselves up to the most promiscuous debauchery, only interrupting +their lasciviousness to dance or to spur themselves on to new enormities +by spiced foods and copious draughts of wine. “You may well suppose,” +writes Boguet, “that every kind of obscenity is practised there, yea, +even those abominations for which Heaven poured down fire and brimstone +on Sodom and Gomorrah are quite common in these assemblies.”[141] The +erudite Dominican, Father Sebastian Michaelis, who on the 19 January, +1611, examined Madeleine de la Palud concerning her participation in +Sabbats, writes[142] that she narrated the most unhallowed orgies.[143] +The imagination reels before such turpitudes! But Madeleine Bavent (1643) +supplied even more execrable details.[144] Gentien le Clerc at Orleans +(1614-1615) acknowledged similar debauchery.[145] Bodin relates that +a large number of witches whom he tried avowed their presence at the +Sabbat.[146] In 1459 “large numbers of men & women were burned at Arras, +many of whom had mutually accused one another, & they confessed that +at night they had been conveyed to these hellish dances.”[147] In 1485 +Sprenger executed a large number of sorcerers in the Constance district, +and “almost all without exception confessed that the Devil had had +connexion with them, after he had made them renounce God and their holy +faith.”[148] Many converted witches likewise confessed these abominations +“and let it be known that whilst they were witches demons had swived +them lustily. Henry of Cologne in confirmation of this says that it +is very common in Germany.”[149] Throughout the centuries all erudite +authorities have the same monstrous tale to tell, and it would serve no +purpose merely to accumulate evidence from the demonologists. To-day the +meetings of Satanists invariably end in unspeakable orgies and hideous +debauchery. + +Occasionally animals were sacrificed at the Sabbat to the Demon. The +second charge against Dame Alice Kyteler, prosecuted in 1324 for sorcery +by Richard de Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory, was “that she was wont to offer +sacrifices to devils of live animals, which she and her company tore limb +from limb and made oblation by scattering them at the cross-ways to a +certain demon who was called Robin, son of Artes (Robin Artisson), one of +hell’s lesser princes.”[150] + +In 1622 Margaret McWilliam “renounced her baptisme, and he baptised her +and she gave him as a gift a hen or cock.”[151] In the Voodoo rites of +to-day a cock is often the animal which is hacked to pieces before the +fetish. Black puppies were sacrificed to Hecate; Æneas offers four jetty +bullocks to the infernal powers, a coal-black lamb to Night;[152] at +their Sabbat on the Esquiline Canidia and Sagana tear limb from limb +a black sheep, the blood streams into a trench.[153] Collin de Plancy +states that witches sacrifice black fowls and toads to the Devil.[154] +The animal victim to a power worshipped as divine is a relic of remotest +antiquity. + +The presence of toads at the Sabbat is mentioned in many witch-trials. +They seem to have been associated with sorcerers owing to the repugnance +they generally excite, and in some districts it is a common superstition +that those whom they regard fixedly will be seized with palpitations, +spasms, convulsions, and swoons: nay, a certain abbé Rousseau of the +eighteenth century, who experimented with toads, avowed that when one of +these animals looked upon him for some time he fell in a fainting fit +whence, if help had not arrived, he would never have recovered.[155] A +number of writers—Ælian, Dioscorides, Nicander, Ætius, Gesner—believe +that the breath of the toad is poisonous, infecting the places it +may touch. Since such idle stories were credited it is hardly to be +surprised at that we find the toad a close companion of the witch. De +Lancre says that demons often appeared in that shape. Jeannette d’Abadie, +a witch of the Basses-Pyrénées, whom he tried and who confessed at +length, declared that she saw brought to the Sabbat a number of toads +dressed some in black, some in scarlet velvet, with little bells attached +to their coats. In November, 1610, a man walking through the fields near +Bazas, noticed that his dog had scratched a large hole in a bank and +unearthed two pots, covered with cloth, and closely tied. When opened +they were found to be packed with bran, and in the midst of each was a +large toad wrapped in green tiffany. These doubtless had been set there +by a person who had faith in sympathetic magic, and was essaying a +malefic spell. No doubt toads were caught and taken to the Sabbat, nor is +the reason far to seek. Owing to their legendary venom they served as a +prime ingredient in poisons and potions, and were also used for telling +fortunes, since witches often divined by their toad familiars. Juvenal +alludes to this when he writes: + + “I neither will, nor can Prognosticate + To the young gaping Heir, his Father’s Fate + Nor in the Entrails of a Toad have pry’d.”[156] + +Upon which passage Thomas Farnabie, the celebrated English scholar +(1575-1647) glosses thus: “He alludes to the office of the Haruspex who +used to inspect entrails & intestines. Pliny says: The entrails of the +toad (_Rana rubeta_), that is to say the tongue, tiny bones, gall, heart, +have rare virtue for they are used in many medicines and salves. Haply +he means the puddock or hop-toad, thus demonstrating that these animals +are not poisonous, their entrails being completely inefficacious in +confecting poisons.”[157] In 1610 Juan de Echalar, a sorcerer of Navarre, +confessed at his trial before the Alcantarine inquisitor Don Alonso +Becerra Holguin that he and his coven collected toads for the Sabbat, +and when they presented these animals to the Devil he blessed them with +his left hand, after which they were killed and cooked in a stewpot with +human bones and pieces of corpses rifled from new-made graves. From +this filthy hotch-potch were brewed poisons and unguents that the Devil +distributed to all present with directions how to use them. By sprinkling +corn with the liquid it was supposed they could blight a standing field, +and also destroy flowers and fruit. A few drops let fall upon a person’s +garments was believed to insure death, and a smear upon the shed or sty +effectually diseased cattle. From these crude superstitions the fantastic +stories of dancing toads, toads dressed _en cavalier_, and demon toads at +the Sabbat were easily evolved. + +There is ample and continuous evidence that children, usually tender +babes who were as yet unbaptized, were sacrificed at the Sabbat. These +were often the witches’ own offspring, and since a witch not unseldom was +the midwife or wise-woman of a village she had exceptional opportunities +of stifling a child at birth as a non-Sabbatial victim to Satan. “There +are no persons who can do more cunning harm to the Catholic faith than +midwives,” says the _Malleus Maleficarum_, Pars I, q. xi: “_Nemo fidei +catholicæ amplius nocet quam obstetrices._” The classic examples of +child-sacrifice are those of Gilles de Rais (1440) and the abbé Guibourg +(1680). In the process against the former one hundred and forty children +are explicitly named: some authorities accept as many as eight hundred +victims. Their blood, brains, and bones were used to decoct magic +philtres. In the days of Guibourg the sacrifice of a babe at the impious +mass was so common that he generally paid not more than a crown-piece for +his victim. “Il avait acheté un écu l’enfant qui fut sacrifié à cette +messe.” (“The child sacrificed at this mass he had bought for a crown.”) +These abominable ceremonies were frequently performed at the instance of +Madame de Montespan in order that Louis XIV should always remain faithful +to her, should reject all other mistresses, repudiate his queen, and in +fine raise her to the throne.[158] The most general use was to cut the +throat of the child, whose blood was drained into the chalice and allowed +to fall upon the naked flesh of the inquirer, who lay stretched along +the altar. La Voisin asserted that a toll of fifteen hundred infants had +been thus murdered. This is not impossible, as a vast number of persons, +including a crowd of ecclesiastics, were implicated. Many of the greatest +names in France had assisted at these orgies of blasphemy. From first to +last no less than two hundred and forty-six men and women of all ranks +and grades of society were brought to trial, and whilst thirty-six of +humbler station went to the scaffold, one hundred and forty-seven were +imprisoned for longer or shorter terms, not a few finding it convenient +to leave the country, or, at any rate, to obscure themselves in distant +châteaux. But many of the leaves had been torn out of the archives, and +Louis himself forbade any mention of his favourite’s name in connexion +with these prosecutions. However, she was disgraced, and it is not +surprising that after the death of Maria Teresa, 31 July, 1683, the king +early in the following year married the pious and conventual Madame de +Maintenon. + +Ludovico Maria Sinistrari writes that witches “promise the Devil +sacrifices and offerings at stated times: once a fortnight, or at least +each month, the murder of some child, or an homicidal act of sorcery,” +and again and again in the trials detailed accusation of the kidnapping +and murder of children are brought against the prisoners. In the same +way as the toad was used for magical drugs so was the fat of the child. +The belief that corpses and parts of corpses constitute a most powerful +cure and a supreme ingredient in elixirs is universal and of the highest +antiquity. The quality of directly curing diseases and of protection +has long been attributed to a cadaver. Tumours, eruptions, gout, are +dispelled if the afflicted member be stroked with a dead hand.[159] +Toothache is charmed away if the face be touched with the finger of a +dead child.[160] Birthmarks vanish under the same treatment.[161] Burns, +carbuncles, the herpes, and other skin complaints, fearfully prevalent in +the Middle Ages, could be cured by contact with some part of a corpse. +In Pomerania the “cold corpse hand” is a protection against fire,[162] +and Russian peasants believe that a dead hand protects from bullet wounds +and steel.[163] It was long thought by the ignorant country folk that the +doctors of the hospital of Graz enjoyed the privilege of being allowed +every year to exploit one human life for curative purposes. Some young +man who repaired thither for toothache or any such slight ailment is +seized, hung up by the feet, and tickled to death! Skilled chemists boil +the body to a paste and utilize this as well as the fat and the charred +bones in their drug store. The people are persuaded that about Easter a +youth annually disappears in the hospital for these purposes.[164] This +tradition is, perhaps, not unconnected with the Jewish ritual sacrifices +of S. William of Norwich (1144); Harold of Gloucester (1168); William of +Paris (1177); Robert of Bury S. Edmunds (1181); S. Werner of Oberwesel +(1286); S. Rudolph of Berne (1294); S. Andreas of Rinn (1462); S. Simon +of Trent, a babe of two and a half years old (1473); Simon Abeles, whose +body lies in the Teyn Kirche at Prague, murdered for Christ’s sake on +21 February, 1694, by Lazarus and Levi Kurtzhandel; El santo Niño de la +Guardia, near Toledo (1490), and many more.[165] + +The riots which have so continually during three centuries broken out in +China against Europeans, and particularly against Catholic asylums for +the sick, foundling hospitals, schools, are almost always fomented by an +intellectual party who begin by issuing fiery appeals to the populace: +“Down with the missionaries! Kill the foreigners! They steal or buy our +children and slaughter them, in order to prepare magic remedies and +medicines out of their eyes, hearts, and from other portions of their +dead bodies.” Baron Hübner in his _Promenade autour du monde_, II (Paris, +1873) tells the story of the massacre at Tientsin, 21 June, 1870, and +relates that it was engineered on these very lines. In 1891 similar +risings against Europeans resident in China were found to be due to the +same cause. Towards the end of 1891 a charge was brought in Madagascar +against the French that they devoured human hearts and for this purpose +kidnapped and killed native children. Stern legislation was actually +found necessary to check the spread of these accusations.[166] + +In the Navarrese witch-trials of 1610 Juan de Echelar confessed that a +candle had been used made from the arm of an infant strangled before +baptism. The ends of the fingers had been lit, and burned with a clear +flame, a “Hand of Glory” in fact. At Forfar, in 1661, Helen Guthrie +and four other witches exhumed the body of an unbaptized babe and made +portions into a pie which they ate. They imagined that by this means no +threat nor torture could bring them to confession of their sorceries. +This, of course, is clearly sympathetic magic. The tongue of the infant +had never spoken articulate words, and so the tongues of the witches +would be unable to articulate. + +It is a fact seldom realized, but none the less of the deepest +significance, that almost every detail of the old witch-trials can be +exactly paralleled in Africa to-day. Thus there exists in Bantu a society +called the “Witchcraft Company,” whose members hold secret meetings at +midnight in the depths of the forest to plot sickness and death against +their enemies by means of incantations and spells. The owl is their +sacred bird, and their signal call an imitation of its hoot. They profess +to leave their corporeal bodies asleep in their huts, and it is only +their spirit-bodies that attend the magic rendezvous, passing through +walls and over the tree-tops with instant rapidity. At the meeting they +have visible, audible, and tangible communication with spirits. They +hold feasts, at which is eaten the “heart-life” of some human being, who +through this loss of his heart falls sick and, unless “the heart” be +later restored, eventually dies. Earliest cock-crow is the warning for +them to disperse, since they fear the advent of the morning-star, as, +should the sun rise upon them before they reach their corporeal bodies, +all their plans would not merely fail, but recoil upon themselves, +and they would pine and languish miserably. This hideous Society was +introduced by black slaves to the West Indies, to Jamaica and Hayti, +and also to the Southern States of America as Voodoo worship. Authentic +records are easily procurable which witness that midnight meetings were +held in Hayti as late as 1888, when human beings, especially kidnapped +children, were killed and eaten at the mysterious and evil banquets. +European government in Africa has largely suppressed the practice of +the black art, but this foul belief still secretly prevails, and Dr. +Norris[167] is of opinion that were white influence withdrawn it would +soon hold sway as potently as of old. + +A candid consideration will show that for every detail of the Sabbat, +however fantastically presented and exaggerated in the witch-trials of so +many centuries, there is ample warrant and unimpeachable evidence. There +is some hallucination no doubt; there is lurid imagination, and vanity +which paints the colours thick; but there is a solid stratum of fact, and +very terrible fact throughout. + +And as the dawn broke the unhallowed crew separated in haste, and hurried +each one on his way homewards, pale, weary, and haggard after the night +of taut hysteria, frenzied evil, and vilest excess. + +“Le coq s’oyt par fois és sabbats sonna̅t le retraicte aux +Sorciers.”[168] (The cock crows; the Sabbat ends; the Sorcerers scatter +and flee away.) + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER IV + +[1] Omnia autem honeste et secundum ordinem fiant. I Cor. xiv. 40. + +[2] Miss Murray, misled no doubt by the multiplicity of material, +postulates two separate and distinct kinds of assemblies: The Sabbat, the +General Meeting of all members of the religion; the Esbat “only for the +special and limited number who carried out the rites and practices of the +cult, and [which] was not for the general public.” _The Witch-Cult in +Western Europe_, p. 97. Görres had already pointed out that the smaller +meetings were often known as _Esbats_. The idea of a “general public” at +a witches’ meeting is singular. + +[3] On a voulu trouver l’etymologie du sabbat, réunion des sorciers, +dans les _sabazies_; mais la forme ne le permet pas; d’ailleurs comment, +au moyen âge aurait on connu les sabazies? Saint-Croix, _Recherches sur +les mystères du paganisme_; Maury, _Histoire des religions de la Grèce +antique_. + +[4] _Metamorphoseon_, VIII. 25. + +[5] Miss Murray thinks that Sabbat “is possibly a derivative of +_s’esbattre_, ‘to frolic,’” and adds “a very suitable description of the +joyous gaiety of the meetings”!! + +[6] Miss Murray mistakenly says (p. 109) that May Eve (30 April) is +called Roodmas or Rood Day. Roodmas or Rood Day is 3 May, the Feast of +the Invention of Holy Cross. An early English calendar (702-706) even +gives 7 May as Roodmas. The Invention of Holy Cross is found in the +Lectionary of Silos and the Bobbio Missal. The date was not slightly +altered. The Invention of Holy Cross is among the very early festivals. + +[7] Especially in the North and North-East. Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and +Baden, knew little of this particular date. + +[8] In the _Rituale_ we have “Benedictio Rogi, quæ fit a Clero extra +Ecclesiam in Uigilia Natiuitatis S. Joannis Baptistæ.” (Blessing of a +pyre, which the Clergy may give on the Vigil of the Nativity of S. John +Baptist, but outside the Church.) This form is especially approved for +the Diocese of Tarbes. + +[9] _Relacion de las personas que salieron al auto de la fé que los +inquisidores apostólicos del reino de Navarra y su distrito, celebraron +en la ciudad De Logroño, en 7 y 8 del mes de noviembre de 1610 años_, +1611. + +[10] _Discours des Sorciers_, XXII. 12. Tertullian’s _Diabolus simia Dei_. + +[11] _Idem_, XX. 2. + +[12] _Tableau_, p. 65. + +[13] Les lieux des assemblées des Sorciers sont notables et signalez de +quelques arbres, ou croix. _Fleau_, p. 181. + +[14] Anthony Horneck; Appendix to Glanvill’s _Sadducismus Triumphatus_. +London, 1681. + +[15] Locus in diuersis regionibus est diuersus; plerumque autem +comitia in syluestribus, montanis, uel subterraneis atque ab hominum +conuersatione dissitis locis habentur. _Mela._ _Lib._ 3. _cap._ 44. +montem Atlantem nominat; _de Vaulx_ Magus Stabuleti decollatus, fatebatur +1603, in Hollandia congregationem frequentissimam fuisse in Ultraiectinæ +ditionis aliquo loco. Nobis ab hoc conuentu notus atq; notatus mons +Bructerorum, Melibœus alias dictus in ducatu Brunsuicensi, uulgo _der +Blocksberg oder Heweberg_, Peucero, _der Brockersberg_, & Tilemanno +Stellæ, _der Vogelsberg_, perhibonte _Ortelio in Thesauro Geographico_. +For the Bructeri see Tacitus, _Germania_, 33: Velleius Paterculus, II, +105, i. _Bructera natio_, Tacitus, _Historiæ_, IV, 61. + +[16] ... le lieu où on le trouue ordinairement s’appelle Lanne de bouc, +& en Basque _Aquelarre de verros, prado del Cabrón_, & là des Sorciers +le vont adorer trois nuicts durant, celle du Lundy, du Mercredy, & du +Vendredy. De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 62. + +[17] Boguet, _Discours des Sorciers_, p. 124. + +[18] _A Pleasant Treatise of Witches_, London, 1673. + +[19] Psalm xc. + +[20] Conuentus, ut plurimum ineuntur uel noctis mediæ silentio, quando +uiget potestas tenebrarum; uel interdiu meridie, quo sunt qui referant +illud Psalmistæ notum de dæmonio meridiano. Noctes frequentiores, quæ +feriam tertiam et sextam præcedunt. Delrio, _Disquisitiones Magicæ_, Lib. +II. xvi. + +[21] _Discours_, XIX. 1. “The Sorcerers assemble at the Sabbat about +midnight.” + +[22] Her indictment consists of fifty-three points. + +[23] Spottiswoode’s _Practicks_. + +[24] Spalding Club, _Miscellany_, I. + +[25] MS. formerly in the possession of Michael Stewart Nicolson, Esq. + +[26] ... je me trouvais transporté au lieu où le Sabatt se tenait, y +demeurant quelquefois une, deux, trois, quatre heures pour le plus +souvent suivant les affections. + +[27] + + Ferunt uagantes Dæmonas + Lætas tenebras noctium + Gallo canente exterritos + Sparsim timere et credere. + +[28] + + Nocturna lux uiantibus + A nocte noctem segregans, + Præco diei iam sonat, + Iubarque solis euocat. + Hoc nauta uires colligit, + Pontique mitescunt freta: + Hoc, ipsa petra Ecclesiæ, + Canente, culpam diluit. + Surgamus ergo strenue: + Gallus iacentes excitat, + Et somnolentes increpat, + Gallus negantes arguit. + Gallo canente, spes redit, + Ægris salus refunditur, + Mucro latronis conditur, + Lapsis fides reuertitur. + +The translation in text is by Caswall, 1848. + +[29] _Tableau_, p. 154. + +[30] For London, see Dr. Johnson’s _London_ (1738): + + Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, + And sign your will before you sup from home. + +In 1500 Paolo Capello, the Venetian Ambassador, wrote: “Every night they +find in Rome four or five murdered men, Prelates and so forth.” During +the reign of Philip IV (1621-1665) the streets of Madrid, noisome, +unpaved, were only lit on the occasion of festal illuminations. + +[31] 1475-1546. + +[32] Quando uadunt ad loca propinqua uadunt pedestres mutuo se inuicem +inuitantes. _De Strigibus_, II. + +[33] Les Sorciers neâtmoins vont quelquefois de pied au Sabbat, ce qui +leur aduient principalement, lors que le lieu où ils font leur assemblée, +n’est pas guieres eslongé de leur habitation. _Discours_, c. xvii. + +[34] + + Enquis en quel lieu se tint le Sabbat le dernier fois qu’il y + fut. + + Respond que ce fut vers Billeron à un Carroy qui est sur le + chemin tendant aux Aix, Parroisse de Saincte Soulange, Iustice + de ceans. + + Enquis de quelle façon il y va. + + Respond qu’il y va de son pied. + + De Lancre, _Tableau_, pp. 803-805. + +[35] Aussi vilain & abominable est au Sorcier d’y aller de son pied que +d’y estre transporté de son consentement par le Diable. _Tableau_, p. 632. + +[36] Sinclar, _Satan’s Invisible World Discovered_ (Reprint 1875), VII. + +[37] _Idem_, p. 25. + +[38] _Idem_, pp. 175, 178. + +[39] Illud etiam non omittendum quod quædam sceleratæ mulieres retro post +Satanam conuersæ, dæmonum illusoribus et phantasmatibus seductæ credunt +se et profitentur nocturnis horis cum Diana paganorum dea et innumera +multitudine mulierum equitare super quasdam bestias et multa terrarum +spatia intempestæ noctis silentio pertransire eiusque iussionibus uelut +dominæ obedire, et certis noctibus ad eius seruitium euocari. Minge, +_Patres Latini_, CXXXII. 352. + +[40] See Professor A. J. Clark’s note upon “Flying Ointments.” +_Witch-Cult in Western Europe_, pp. 279-280. + +[41] Posset dæmon eas transferre sine unguento, et facit aliquando; +sed unguento mauult uti uariis de causis. Aliquando quia timidiores +sunt sagæ, ut audeant; uel quia teneriores sunt ad horribilem illum +Satanæ contactum in corpore assumpto ferendum; horum enim unctione +sensum obstupefacit et miseris persuadet uim unguento inesse maximam. +Alias autem id facit ut sacrosancta a Deo instituta sacramenta inimice +adumbret, et per has quasi cerimonias suis orgiis reuerentiæ et +uenerationis aliquid conciliat. Delrio, _Disquitiones magicæ_, Liber II, +qᵗᵒ xvi. + +[42] In antiquity we have the case of Simon Magus, who was levitated in +the presence of Nero and his court. + +[43] Henri Boguet, the High Justice of the district of Saint-Claude, died +in 1616. The first edition (of the last rarity) of his _Discours des +Sorciers_ is Lyons, 1602; second edition, Lyons 1608; but there is also a +Paris issue, 1603. Pp. 64 and 104. + +[44] Scot, _Discoverie of Witchcraft_ (1584). Book III. p. 42. + +[45] De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 211. + +[46] Thomas Wright, _Proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler_, Camden +Society. 1843. + +[47] Cotton Mather, _Wonders of the Invisible World_, 1693. (Reprint, +1862. P. 158.) + +[48] _Quarterly Journal of Science_, January, 1874. + +[49] J. Godfrey Raupert, _Modern Spiritism_. 1904. Pp. 34, 35. See also +Sir W. Barrett, _On the Threshold of the Unseen_, p. 70. + +[50] Arthur Lillie, _Modern Mystics and Modern Magic_, 1894, pp. 74, 75. + +[51] David Lewis, _Life of S. John of the Cross_ (1897), pp. 73-4. + +[52] See the Saint’s own letter (written in 1777) to the Bishop of +Foggia. _Lettere di S. Alfonso Maria de’ Liguori_ (Roma, 1887), II. 456 f. + +[53] Philip Coghlan, C.P. _Gemma Galgani_ (1923), p. 62. For fuller +details see the larger biography by Padre Germano. + +[54] _Vie du B. Paul de la Croix._ (French translation.) I. Book ii. c. 3. + +[55] _La Mystique Divine._ Traduit par Sainte-Foi. V. viii. 17. p. 193. + +[56] Giovanni Francesco Ponzinibio was a lawyer whose _De Lamiis_ was +published at Venice, 1523-4. It called forth a reply, _Apologiæ tres +aduersum Joannem Franciscum Ponzinibium Iurisperitum_, Venice, 1525. The +edition of _De Lamiis_ I have used is Venice, 1584, in the _Thesaurus +Magnorum iuris consultorum_. This reprint was met by Peña’s answer and +two treatises by Bartolomeo Spina, O.P. + +[57] Rome, 1584. + +[58] De modo quo localiter transferentur [sagæ] de loco ad locum.... +Probatur quod possint malefici corporaliter transferri. + +[59] An isti Sortilegi & Strigimagæ siue Lamiæ uere & corporaliter +deferantur a dæmone uel solum in spiritu? _De Sortilegiis_, VII. + +[60] Sum modo istius secundæ opinionis quod deferantur in corpore. + +[61] Doctrina multi eorum qui sequuti sunt Lutherum, & Melanctonem, +tenuerent Sagas ad conuentus accedere animi duntaxat cogitatione, & +diabolica illusione interesse, allegantes quod eorum corpora inuenta +sunt sæpe numero eodem loco iacentia, nec inde mora fuisse, ad hoc illud +pertinens quod est in uita D. Germani, de mulierculis conuiuantibus, vt +uidebantur, & tame̅ dormierant dormientes. Huiusmodi mulierculas sæpe +numero decipi certum est, sed semper ita fieri non probatur.... Altera, +quam uerissimam esse duco, est, nonnunquam uere Sagas transferri a Dæmone +de loco ad locum, hirco, uel alteri animali fantastico vt plurimum eas +simul asportanti corporaliter, & conuentu nefario interesse, & hæc +sententia est multo communior Theologorum, imò & Iurisconsultorum Italiæ, +Hispaniæ, & Germaniæ inter Catholicos; hoc idem tenent alii quam plurimi. +Turrecremata super Grillandum,[A] Remigius,[B] Petrus Damianus,[C] +Siluester Abulensis,[D] Caietanus[E] Alphonsus a Castro[F] Sixtus +Senensis[G] Crespetus[H] Spineus[I] contra Ponzinibium, Ananias,[J] & +alii quam plurimi, quos breuitatis gratia omitto. _Per Fratrem Franciscum +Mariam Guaccium Ord. S. Ambrosii ad Nemus Mediolani compilatum._ +Mediolani. Ex Collegii Ambrosiani Typographia. 1626. + +[A] _De hæreticis et sortilegiis._ Lugduni. 1536. + +[B] Nicolas Remy, _De la démonolâtrie_. + +[C] Epistolarum, IV. 17. + +[D] Silvester of Avila. + +[E] Tommaso de Vio Gaetani, O.P. 1469-1534. + +[F] Alfonso de Castro, Friar Minor. (1495-1558). Confessor to Charles V +and Philip II of Spain. + +[G] Sisto da Siéna, O.P. Bibliotheca Sancta ... (Liber V). Secunda +editio. Francofurti. 1575. folio. + +[H] Père Crespet, Celestine monk. _Deux livres de la haine de Satan et +des malins esprits contre l’homme._ Paris. 1590. + +[I] Bartholomeo Spina, O.P. _De lamiis._ _De strigibus._ Both folio. +Venice, 1584. _Apologiæ tres aduersus Joannem Franciscum Ponzinibium +Jurisperitum._ Venice. 1525. Giovanni Francesco Ponzinibio wrote a +_Dedamiis_ of which I have used a late edition. Venice. 1584. + +[J] Giovanni Lorenzo Anania, _De natura dæmonum_: libri iiii. Venetiis. +1581. 8vo. + +[62] _De Strigibus_, II. I have used the reprint, 1669, which is given +in the valuable collection appended to the _Malleus Maleficarum_ of that +date, 4 vols. 4to. + +[63] Ad quam congregationem seu ludum præfatæ pestiferæ personæ uadunt +corporaliter & uigilantes ac in propriis earū sensibus & quando uadunt +ad loca propinqua uadunt pedestres mutuo se inuicem inuitantes. Si aute̅ +habent congregari in aliquo loco distanti tunc deferuntur a diabolo, & +quomodocunque uadant ad dictum locum siue pedibus suis siue adferantur +a diabolo uerū est quod realiter et ueraciter & no̅ pha̅tastice, neque +illusorii abnegant fide̅ catholicam, adorant diabolum, conculcant crucem, +& plura nefandissima opprobria committunt contra sacratissimum Corpus +Christi, ac alia plura spurcissima perpetrant cum ipso diabolo eis in +specie humana apparenti, & se uiris succubum, mulieribus autem incubum +exhibenti. + +[64] George Gandillon, la nuict d’vn Ieudy Sainct, demeura dans son +lict, comme mort, pour l’espace de trois heures, & puis reuint à soy en +sursaut. Il a depuis esté bruslé en ce lieu auec son père & vne sienne +sœur. + +[65] Chapitre xvi. Comme, & en quelle façon les Sorciers sont portez au +Sabbat. + + 1. _Ils y sont portez tantost sur un baston, ou ballet, tantost + sur un mouton ou bouc, & tantost par un homme noir._ + + 2. _Quelquefois ils se frotte̅t de graisse, & à d’autres non._ + + 3. _Il y en a, lesquels n’estans pas Sorciers, & s’estans + frottez, ne delaissent pas d’estre transportez au Sabbat, & la + raison._ + + 4. _L’onguent, & la graisse ne seruent de rien aux Sorciers, + pour leur transport au Sabbat._ + + 5. _Les Sorciers sont quelquefois portez au Sabbat par un vent + & tourbillon._ + +Chapitre xvii. Les Sorciers vont quelques fois de pied au Sabbat. + +Chapitre xviii. Si les Sorciers vont en ame seulement au Sabbat. + + 1 & 3. _L’affirmatiue, & exemples._ + + 2. _Indices, par lesquels on peut coniecturer, qu’vne certaine + femme estoit au Sabbat en ame seulement._ + + 4. _La negatiue._ + + 5. _Comme s’entend ce que l’on dit d’Erichtho, & d’Apollonius + lesquels resusciterent l’un un soldat, & l’autre une ieune + fille._ + + 6. _Les Sorciers ne peuuent resusciter un mort, & exemples._ + + 7. _Non plus que les heretiques & exemples._ + + 8. _Opinion de l’Autheur sur le suiect de ce chapitre._ + + 9. _Satan endort le plus souuent les personnes, & exemples._ + +Chapitre xix. + + 1. _Les Sorciers vont enuiron la minuict au Sabbat._ + + 2. _La raison pourquoy le Sabbat si tient ordinairement de + nuict._ + + 3. _Satan se plait aux tenebres, & à la couleur noire, estant + au contraire la blancheur agreable à Dieu._ + + 4. _Les Sorciers dansent doz contre doz au Sabbat, & se + masquent pour la plus part._ + + 5, 8. _Le coq venant à chanter, le Sabbat disparoit aussi tost, + & la raison._ + + 6. _La voix du coq funeste à Satan tout ainsi qu’au lyon, & au + serpent._ + + 7. _Le Demon, selon quelques uns a crainte d’vne espée nue._ + +Chapitre xx. Du iour du Sabbat. + + 1. _Le Sabbat se tient à un chacun iour de la semaine, mais + principalement le Ieudy._ + + 2. _Il se tient encor aux festes les plus solemnelles de + l’année._ + +Chapitre xxi. Du lieu du Sabbat. + + 1. _Le lieu du Sabbat est signalé, selon aucuns, de quelques + arbres ou bien de quelques croix, & l’opinion de l’autheur sur + ce suiect._ + + 2. _Chose remarquable d’vn lieu pretendu pour le Sabbat._ + + 3. _Il faut de l’eau au lieu, où se tient le Sabbat, & + pourquoy._ + + 4. _Les Sorciers, à faute d’eau, urinent dans un trou, qu’ils + font en terre._ + +Chapitre xxii. De ce qui se fait au Sabbat. + + 1. _Les Sorciers y adorent Satan, estăt en forme d’homme noir, + ou de bouc, & luy offrent des chandelles, & le baisent aux + parties honteuses de derriere._ + + 2. _Ils y dansent, & de leurs danses._ + + 3. _Ils se desbordent en toutes sortes de lubricitez, & comme + Satan se fait Incube & Succube._ + + 4. _Incestes, & paillardises execrebles des Euchites & + Gnostiques._ + + 5. _Les Sorciers banquettent au Sabbat, de leurs viandes, & + breuuages, & de la façon qu’ils tiennent à benir la table, & à + rendre graces._ + + 6. _Ils ne prennent cependant point de gout aux Viandes, & + sortent ordinairement auec faim du repas._ + + 7. _Le repas paracheué, ils rendent conte de leurs actions à + Satan._ + + 8. _Ils renoncent de nouueau à Dieu, au Chresme, &c. Et comme + Satan les sollicite à mal faire._ + + 9. _Ils y font la gresle._ + + 10. _Ils y celebrent messe, & de leurs chappes, & eau benite._ + + 11. _Satan se consume finalement en feu, & se reduit en cendre, + de laquelle les Sorciers prennent tous, & a quel effet._ + + 12. _Satan Singe de Dieu en tout._ + + +[66] Vouloir donner une description du Sabbat, c’est vouloir decrire ce +qui n’existe point, & n’a jamais subsisté que dans l’imagination creuse +& séduite des Sorciers & Sorcieres: les peintures qu’on nous en fait, +sont d’après les rêveries de ceux & de celles qui s’imaginent d’être +transportés à travers les airs au Sabbat en corps & en ame. _Traité sur +les Apparitions des Esprits_, par le R. P. Dom Augustin Calmet, Abbé de +Sénones. Paris, 1751, I. p. 138. + +[67] See the woodcut upon the title-page of Middleton & Rowley’s _The +World tost at Tennis_, 4to, 1620. + +[68] De Lancre, _L’Incrédulité_, p. 769. + +[69] Boguet, _Discours des Sorciers_. + +[70] De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 217. + +[71] De Lancre, _L’Incrédulité_, p. 800. + +[72] Görres, _La Mystique Divine_, traduit par Charles Sainte-Foi. V. +viii. 19. p. 208. + +[73] George Sinclar, _Satan’s Invisible World Discovered_, Relation XVII. + +[74] _La Mystique Divine_, 1902 (Nouvelle édition). III. p. 381. + +[75] _Tractatus_, xxi. c. 11. P. xi. n. 179. + +[76] _Disquisitiones Magicæ_, Lib. II. qᵗᵒ x. + +[77] _Compendium Maleficarum_, p. 78. + +[78] “Solent ad conuentum delatæ dæmonem conuentus præsidem in solio +considentem forma terrifica, ut plurimum hirci uel canis, obuerso ad +illum tergo accedentes, adorare ... et deindo, homagii quod est indicium, +osculari eum in podice.”[K] Guazzo notes: “Ad signum homagii dæmonem +podice osculantur.”[L] And Ludwig Elich says: “Deinde quod homagii +est indicium (honor sit auribus) ab iis ingerenda sunt oscula Dæmonis +podici.”[M] + +[K] _Disquisitiones Magicæ_, Lib. II. qto xvi. + +[L] _Compendium Maleficarum_, I. 13. + +[M] _Dæmonomagia_, Quæstis x. + +[79] _Mystery of Witchcraft._ + +[80] It may be remembered that, as related elsewhere, there is strong +reason to suppose Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, grandson of James V, +was “the Devil” on this occasion, as he was certainly the Grand Master of +the witches and the convener of the Sabbat. + +[81] _Newes from Scotland, declaring the damnable Life of Doctor Fian._ +London. W. Wright. [1592]. + +[82] Dudum ad audientiam nostram peruenit, quod uenerabilis frater +noster G. Conuentrensis et Lichefeldensis episcopus erat in regno Angliæ +et alibi publice defamatur quod diabolo homagium fecerat et eum fuerat +osculatus in tergo eique locutus multotius. + +[83] Confessa ledit sire Guillaume ... avoir fait hommage audit ennemy +en l’espèce et semblance d’ung mouton en le baisant par le fondement en +signe de révérence et d’hommage. Jean Chartier, _Chronique de Charles +VII_ (ed. Vallet de Viriville). Paris, 1858. III. p. 45. Shadwell, who +has introduced this ceremony into _The Lancashire Witches_, II, (The +Scene Sir _Edward’s_ Cellar), in his notes refers to “Doctor _Edlin_ ... +who was burn’d for a Witch.” + +[84] _Reliquiæ Antiquæ_, vol. I. p. 247. + +[85] Il a veu [le diable] quelque fois en forme d’homme, tenant son +cheval par le frein, & qu’ils le vont adorer tenans vue chandelle de poix +noir en leurs mains, le baisent quelque fois au nombril, quelque fois au +cul. De Lancre, _L’Incredulité_, p. 25. + +[86] Tum candelis piceis oblatis, vel vmbilico infantili, ad signum +homagii eum in podico osculantur, Liber I. xiii. + +[87] _Satan’s Invisible World Discovered_, Relation III. + +[88] ... qui apparait là, tantost en forme d’vn grand homme noir, +tantost en forme de bouc, & pour plus grand hommage, ils luy offrent +des chandelles, qui rendent vne flamme de couleur bleüe. _Discours des +Sorciers_, p. 131. + +[89] + + εἴθε λύρα καλὴ γενοίμην ἐλεφαντίνη, + καί με καλοὶ παίδες φέροειν Διονύσιον ες χορόν. + +(Fain would I be a fair lyre of ivory, and fair boys carrying me to +Dionysus’ choir.) + +[90] Sequuntur his choree quas in girum agitant semper tamen ad læuam +progrediendo. _Compendium Maleficarum_, I. xiii. + +[91] Les Sorciers, dansent & font leurs danses en rond doz contre doz. + +[92] Quelquefois, mais rarement, ils dansent deux à deux, & par fois l’vn +çà & l’autre là, & tousiours en confusion. + +[93] On n’y dançoit que trois sortes de bransles.... La premiere c’est à +la Bohemienne.... La seconde c’est à sauts: ces deux sont en rond. Sir +John Davies in his _Orchestra or A Poeme on Dauncing_, London, 18mo, +1596, describes the seven movements of the Cransles (Crawls) as: + + _Upward_ and _downeward_, _forth_ and _back againe_, + _To this side_ and _to that_, and _turning round_. + +[94] II. 1. + +[95] Sinclar, _Satan’s Invisible World Discovered_, III. + +[96] _Newes from Scotland_,(1592). + +[97] Tota turba colluuiesque pessima fescenninos in honorem dæmonum +cantat obscenissimos. Hæc cantat _Harr, harr_; illa Diabolo, Diabolo, +salta huc, salta illuc; altera lude hic, lude illic; alia Sabaoth, +Sabaoth, &c.; immo clamoribus, sibilis, ululatibus, propicinis furit ac +debacchatur. _Dæmonomagia_, Quæstio x. + +[98] Hi habent mensas appositas & instructas accumbunt & incipiunt +conuiuari de cibis quos Dæmon suppeditat uel iis quos singuli attulere, +_Compendium Maleficarum_, I. xiii. + +[99] Les liures disent que les sorciers mangent au Sabbat de ce que +le Diable leur a appresté: mais bien souue̅t il ne s’y trouue que des +viandes qu’ils ont porté eux mesmes. Parfois il y a plusieurs tables +seruies de bons viures & d’autres fois de tres meschans. “Les Sorciers +... banquettent & se festoient,” remarks Boguet, “leur banquets estans +composez de plusieurs sortes de viandes, selon les lieux & qualitez des +personnes.” _Tableau_, p. 197. _Discours des Sorciers_, p. 135. + +[100] Sinclar, _Invisible World Discovered_, Relation XXIX. + +[101] Ils banquêtent, dressant trois tables selon les trois diversités +des gens susnommés. Ceux qui ont la charge du pain, ils portent le pain +qu’ils font de blé dérobé aux aires invisiblement en divers lieux. Ils +boivent de la malvoisie, pour eschauffer la chair à la luxure, que les +députés portent, la dérobant des caves où elle se trouve. Ils y mangent +ordinairement de la chair des petits enfants que les députés cuisent à +la Synagogue et parfois les y portent tout vifs, les dérobant à leurs +maisons quand ils trouvent la commodité. Père Sébastien Michaëlis, O.P. +_Histoire admirable de la possession_, 1613. + +[102] On y boit aussi du vin, et le plus souvent de l’eau. + +[103] Conuiuant de cibis a se uel a dæmone allatis, interdum +delicatissimis, et interdum insipidis ex infantibus occisis aut +cadaueribus exhumatis, præcedente tamen benedictione mensæ tali coetu +digna. _Salamanticenses_, Tr. xxi. c. 11. P. 11. n. 179. + +[104] Uinum eorum præterea instar atri atque insinceri sanguinis in +sordido aliquo scipho epulonibus solitum propinari. Nullam fere copiam +rerum illic deesse afferunt præterqua̅ panis et salis. Addit Dominica +Isabella apponi etiam humanas carnes. _Compendium Maleficarum_, I. xiii. + +[105] _De la Démonomanie_, III. 5. + +[106] _Dæmonomagio_, Quæstio vii. + +[107] Il n’y a jamais sel en ces repas. _Discours des Sorciers_. + +[108] On se met à table, où il n’a iamais veu de sel. + +Shadwell draws attention to this detail: _The Lancashire Witches_, II, +the Sabbat scene; where Mother Demdike says: + + See our Provisions ready here, + To which no Salt must e’er come near! + +[109] Père Sébastien Michaëlis, O.P. _Histoire admirable_, 1613. + +[110] Isti uero qui expressam professionem fecerunt, reddunt etiam +expressum cultum adorationis dæmoni per solemnia sacrificia, quæ ipsi +faciunt diabolo, imitantes in omnibus diuinum cultum, cum paramentis, +luminaribus, et aliis huiusmodi, ac precibus quibusdam et orationibus +quibus instructi sunt, adeo ipsum adorant et collaudant continue, sicut +nos uerum Creatorem adoramus. _De Sortilegiis_, Liber II. c. iii. n. 6. + +[111] _The Wonders of the Invisible World_. A Hortatory Address, p. 81. + +[112] J. Hutchinson, _History of Massachusett’s Bay_, II. p. 55. (1828.) + +[113] _Euchologion_ of the Orthodox Church, ed. Venice, 1898, p. 63. + +[114] Baissac, _Les grands jours de la Sorcellerie_ (1890), p. 391. + +[115] Calmeil, _De la folie_, I. p. 344. + +[116] Sébastien Michaëlis, _Histoire admirable_. 1613. Translated as +_Admirable Historie_. London, 1613. + +[117] Desmarest, _Histoire de Magdelaine Bavent_. Paris. 4to. 1652. + +[118] For full details see François Ravaisson, _Archives de la Bastille_, +Paris, 1873, where the original depositions are given. + +[119] _Là-Bas_ appeared in the _Echo de Paris_, 1890-1. + +[120] _Tableau_, p. 401. For the full account of these ceremonies I have +chiefly relied upon Guazzo; Boguet, _Discours_, XXII, 10; De Lancre, pp. +86, 122, 126, 129; and Görres, _Mystique_, V. pp. 224-227. It hardly +seems necessary to give particular citations here for each circumstance. + +[121] De Lancre, _Tableau_, IV. 4. + +[122] _Corriere Nazionale di Torino_, Maggio. 1895. + +[123] De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 401. + +[124] Görres, _Mystique_, V. p. 230. + +[125] Roland Brévannes, _L’Orgie Satanique_, IV. Le Sabbat, p. 122. + +[126] _Discours_, p. 141. + +[127] S. Caleb, _Messes Noires_, p. 153. + +[128] _Confession faicte par Messire Loys Gaufridi_, A Aix. MVCXI. + +[129] A vne Chasuble qui a vne croix; mais qu’elle n’a que trois barres. + +[130] Le Diable en mesme temps pisse dans vn trou à terre, & fait de +l’eau beniste de son vrine, de laquelle celuy, qui dit la messe, arrouse +tous les assistants auec vn asperges noir. Boguet, _Discours_, p. 141. + +[131] ... lors que Tramesabot disoit la Messe, & qu’auant la commencer +li iettoit de l’eau beniste qui estoit faicte de pissat, & faisoit +la reverence de l’espaule, & disoit _Asperges Diaboli_. De Lancre, +_L’Incredulité_. + +[132] L’eau beniste est iaune comme du pissat d’asne, & qu’apres qu’on la +iettée on dit la Messe. + +[133] Michaëlis _Histoire admirable_, 1613. Miss Murray, _The +Witch-Cult_, p. 149, suggests that this sprinkling was “a fertility +rite”! An astounding theory. This blasphemy, of course, alludes to the +curse of the Jews, S. Matthew xxvii. 25. + +[134] Que le Diable dit le Sermo au Sabbat, mais qu’on n’entend ce qu’il +dit, parce qu’il parle com̅e en gro̅dant. Which suggests the wearing of a +mask, or, at least, a voice purposely disguised. + +[135] Dit qu’il a veu bailler au Sabbat du pain benist & de l’encens, +mais il ne sentoit bon comme celuy de l’Eglise. + +[136] So in the Orleans trial Gentil le Clerc confessed that the Devil +“tourne le dos à l’Autel quand il veut leuer l’Hostie & le Calice, qui +sont noirs.” + +[137] Silvain Nevillon, (1614-1615). Dit aussi auoir veu des Sorciers & +Sorcieres qui apportoient des Hosties au Sabbat, lesquelles elles auoient +gardé lors qu’on leur auoit baillé à communier à l’Eglise. + +[138] Presumably S. Cæsarius of Arles, 470-543, who incidentally was +famous for eradicating the last traces of Pagan superstitions and +practices. He imposed the penalty of excommunication upon all those who +consulted augurs and wore heathen amulets. The Gnostics were especially +notorious for their employment of such periapts, talismans, and charms. + +[139] J. F. Bladé, _Quatorze superstitions populaires de la Gascogne_, +pp. 16 _sqq._ Agen. 1883. + +[140] _Decisions._ Edinburgh, 1759. + +[141] Ie laisse à penser si l’on n’exerce pas là toutes les especes de +lubricités veu encor que les abominations, qui firent foudre & abismer +Sodome & Gomorrhe, y font fort communes. Boguet, _Discours_, c. xxii. p. +137. + +[142] _Histoire admirable_, 1613. + +[143] Finalement, ils paillardent ensemble: le dimanche avec les diables +succubes ou incubes; le jeudi, commettent la sodomie; le samedi la +bestialité; les autres jours à la voie naturelle. + +[144] The Louviers process lasted four years, 1643-7. + +[145] Après la Messe on dance, puis on couche ensemble, hommes auec +hommes, & auec des femmes. Puis on se met à table.... Dit qu’il a cognu +des hommes & s’est accouplé auec eux; qu’il auoit vne couppe on gondolle +par le moyen de laquelle toutes les femmes le suiuoient pour y boire. + +[146] Apres la danse finie les diables se couchere̅t auecques elles, & +eure̅t leur co̅pagnie. + +[147] ... grand nombre d’hommes & femmes furent bruslees en la ville +d’Arras, accusees les vns par les autres, & co̅fesserent qu’elles +estoient la nuict transportees aux danses, & puis qu’ils se couploient +auecques les diables, qu’ils adoroient en figure humaine. + +[148] ... toutes generalement sans exception, confessoient que le diable +auoit copulation charnelle auec elles, apres leur auoir fait renoncer +Dieu & leur religion. + +[149] ... c’est à sçauoir que les diables, ta̅t qu’elles auoient esté +Sorcieres, auoie̅t eu copulation auec elles. Henry de Cologne confirmant +ceste opinion dit, qu’il y a rien plus vulgaire en Alemaigne. + +[150] ... quod sacrificia dabant dæmonibus in animalibus uiuis, quæ +diuidebant membratim et offerebant distribuendo in inferne quadruuiis +cuidam dæmoni qui se facit appellari Artis Filium ex pauperioribus +inferni. _Dame Alice Kyteler_, ed. T. Wright. Camden Society. 1843. pp. +1-2. + +[151] _Highland Papers_, III. p. 18. + +[152] _Æneid_, VI. 243-251. + +[153] Horace, _Sermonum_, I. viii. + +[154] _Dictionnaire Infernal_, ed. 1863, p. 590. + +[155] Salgues, _Des erreurs et des prejugés_, I. p. 423. + +[156] III. 44-45. + +[157] Alludit ad Haruspicis officium, qui exta & viscera inspiciebat. +Plinius inquit: _Ex ranæ rubetæ uisceribus; id est, lingua, ossiculo, +licne, corde, mira fieri posse constat, sunt enin plurimis medicaminibus +referta_. Forte intelligit rubetam uel bufonem, indicans se non esse +ueneficum, nec rubetarum extis uti ad uenefica. Cf. also Pliny, _Historia +Naturalis_, XXXII. 5. + +[158] Ravaisson, _Archives de la Bastille_, VI. p. 295 _et alibi_. The +interrogatories of these scandals may be found in volumes IV and V of +this work. + +[159] L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_ +(1867), I. 70. + +[160] _Königsberger Hartung’sche Zeitung_, 1866. No. 9. + +[161] V. Fossel. _Volksmedicin und medicinischer Aberglaube in +Steiermark_, Graz, 1886. + +[162] U. Jahn, _Zauber mit Menschenblut und anderen Teilen des +menschlichen Körpers_, 1888. + +[163] A. Löwenstimm, _Aberglaube und Strafecht_, (_Die Volksmedizin_), +1897. + +[164] V. Fossel, _Volksmedicin_, _ut supra_. + +[165] Adrian Kembter, C.R.P., writing in 1745 enumerates 52 instances, +and his last is dated 1650. This number might be doubled, and extends +until the present century. H. C. Lee, in an article, _El santo nino de la +Guardia_, has signally failed to disprove the account. See the series of +forty-four articles in the _Osservatore Cattolico_ March and April, 1892, +Nos. 8438-8473. + +[166] _Le Temps_, Paris, 1 Feb. and 23 March, 1892. + +[167] _Fetichism in West Africa_, New York, 1904. + +[168] De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 154. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT + + +In the course of the Holy Scriptures there occur a great number of +words and expressions which are employed in connexion with witchcraft, +divination, and demonology, and of these more than one authority has +made detailed and particular study. Some terms are of general import, +one might even venture to say vague and not exactly defined, some are +directly specific: of some phrases the signification is plain and +accepted; concerning others, scholars are still undecided and differ more +or less widely amongst themselves. Yet it is noteworthy that from the +very earliest period the attitude of the inspired writers towards magic +and related practices is almost wholly condemnatory and uncompromisingly +hostile. The vehement and repeated denunciations launched against the +professors of occult sciences and the initiate in foreign esoteric +mysteries do not, moreover, seem to be based upon any supposition of +fraud but rather upon the “abomination” of the magic in itself, which +is recognized as potent for evil and able to wreak mischief upon life +and limb. It is obvious, for example, that the opponents of Moses, the +sorcerers[1] Jannes and Mambres, were masters of no mean learning and +power, since when, in the presence of Pharaoh, Aaron’s rod became a live +serpent, they also and their mob of disciples “fecerunt per incantationes +Ægyptiacas et arcana quædam similiter,” casting down their rods, which +were changed into a mass of writhing snakes. They were able also to bring +up frogs upon the land, but it was past their wit to drive them away. +We have here, however, a clear acknowledgement of the reality of magic +and its dark possibilities, whilst at the same time prominence is given +to the fact that when it contests with the miraculous power divinely +bestowed upon Moses it fails hopelessly and completely. The serpent, +which was Aaron’s rod, swallows all the other serpents. The swarms of +mosquitoes and gadflies which Aaron caused to rise in myriads from the +dust the native warlocks could not produce, nay, they were constrained +to cry “Digitus Dei est hic”; whilst a little later they were unable to +protect even their own bodies from the pest of blains and swelling sores. +None the less a supernatural power was possessed by Jannes and Mambres +as truly as by Moses, although not to the same extent, and derived from +another, in fact, from an opposite and antagonistic source. + +Even more striking is the episode of Balaam, who dwelt at Pethor, a +city of Mesopotamia (the Pitru of the cuneiform texts), and who was +summoned thence by Balak, King of Moab, to lay a withering curse upon +the Israelites, encamped after their victory over the Amorrhites at the +very confines of his territory. The royal messengers come to Balaam “with +the rewards of divination in their hand,” a most illuminating detail, +for it shows that already the practice of magical arts is rewarded with +gifts of great value.[2] In fact when Balaam refuses, although with +reluctance, to accompany the first embassy, princes of the highest rank +are then sent to him with injunctions to offer him rank and wealth or +whatsoever he may care to ask. “I will promote thee to very great honour, +and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me; come, therefore, and curse +this people,” are the king’s actual words. After great difficulties, for +Balaam is, at first, forbidden to go and only wins his way on condition +that he undertakes to do what he is commanded and to speak no more than +he is inspired to say, the seer commences his journey and is met by +the king at a frontier town, and by him taken up “unto the high places +of Baal,” to the sacred groves upon the hill-tops, where seven mystic +altars are built, and a bullock and a ram offered upon each. Balaam then +senses the imminent presence of God, and withdraws swiftly apart to some +secret place where “God met” him. He returns to the scene of sacrifice +and forthwith blesses the Israelites. Balak in consternation and dismay +hurries him to the crest of Pisgah (Phasga), and the same ceremonies are +performed. But again Balaam pours forth benisons upon the people. A third +attempt is made, and this time was chosen the summit of Peor (Phogor), a +peculiarly sacred sanctuary, the centre of the local cult of Baal Peor, +whose ancient worship comprised a ritual of most primitive obscenity.[3] +Again the sevenfold sacrifice is offered upon seven altars, and this +time Balaam deliberately resists the divine control, a vain endeavour, +since he passes into trance, and utters words of ineffable benediction +gazing down the dim avenues of futurity to the glorious vision of the +Madonna, Stella Jacob, and her Son, the Sceptre of Israel. Beating his +clenched hands together in an access of ungovernable fury the choused and +exasperated king incontinently dismisses his guest. + +It must be remarked that throughout the whole of this narrative, the +details of which are as interesting as they are significant, there is on +the part of the writer a complete recognition of the claims put forth by +Balaam and so amply acknowledged and appreciated by Balak. Balaam was a +famous sorcerer, and one, moreover, who knew and could launch the mystic +Word of Power with deadly effect. Among the early Arabs as among the +Israelites the magic spell, the Word of Blessing or the Curse, played a +prominent part. In war, the poet, by cursing the enemy in rhythmic runes, +rendered services not inferior to the heroism of the warrior himself. +So the Jews of Medina used to bring into their synagogues images of +their hated enemy Malik b. al-Aglam; and at these effigies they hurled +maledictions each time they met. The reality of Balaam’s power is clearly +the key-note of the Biblical account. Else why should his services be +transferred to the cause of Israel? Balak’s greeting to the seer is no +empty compliment but vitally true: “I wot that he whom thou blessest is +blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.” Not impertinent is the +bitter denunciation in the song of Deborah, Judges v. 23, “Curse ye me +Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants +thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord against the +mighty!” (A.V.) Belief in the potency of the uttered word has existed at +all times and in all places, and yet continues to exist everywhere to-day. + +Although Balaam prophesied it must be borne in mind that he was not a +prophet in the Scriptural sense of the term; he was a soothsayer, a +wizard; the Vulgate has _hariolus_,[4] which is derived from the Sanskrit +_hira_, entrails, and equivalent to _haruspex_. This term originally +denoted an Etruscan diviner who foretold future events by an inspection +of the entrails of sacrificial victims. It was from the Etruscans +that this practice was introduced to the Romans. It is probable that +Balaam employed the seven bullocks and rams in this way, the technical +_extispicium_, a method of inquiry and forecasting which seems to have +been almost universal, although the exact manner in which the omens +were read differed among the several peoples and at various times. It +persisted, none the less, until very late, and indeed it is resorted to, +so it has been said, by certain occultists even at the present day. It is +known to have been practised by Catherine de’ Medici, and it is closely +connected with the dark Voodoo worship of Jamaica and Hayti. S. Thomas, +it is true, has spoken of Balaam as a prophet, but the holy doctor +hastens to add “a prophet of the devil.” The learned Cornelius à Lapide, +glossing upon Numbers xxii and xxiii writes: “It is clear that Balaam +was a prophet, not of God, but of the Devil.... He was a magician, and +he sought for a conference with his demon to take counsel with him.”[5] +He is of opinion that the seven altars were erected in honour of the +Lords of the Seven Planets. Seven is, of course, the perfect number, the +mystic number, even as three; and all must be done by odd numbers. The +woman in Vergil who tries to call back her estranged lover Daphnis by +potent incantations cries: _numero deus impare gaudet_. (Heaven loves +unequal numbers.) Eclogue viii. 75 (_Pharmaceutria_). S. Augustine, S. +Ambrose, and Theodoret consider that when Balaam on the first occasion +withdrew hastily saying “Peradventure the Lord will come to meet me,” he +expected to meet a demon, his familiar. But “God met Balaam.” The very +precipitation and disorder seem to point to the design of the sorcerer, +for as in the Divine Liturgy all is done with due dignity, grace, and +comeliness, so in the functions of black magic all is hurried, ugly, and +terrible. + +One of the most striking episodes in the Old Testament is concerned with +necromancy, the appearance of Samuel in the cave or hut at Endor. Saul, +on the eve of a tremendous battle with the Philistines, is much dismayed +and almost gives away to a complete nervous collapse as he sees the +overwhelming forces of the ruthless foe. To add to his panic, when he +consulted the Divine Oracles, no answer was returned, “neither by dreams, +nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” And although he had in the earlier years +of his reign shown himself a determined represser of Witchcraft, in his +dire extremity he catches at any straw, and bids his servants seek out +some woman “that hath a familiar spirit,” and his servants said to him, +“Behold there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor,” which is +a miserable hamlet on the northern slope of a hill, lying something south +of Mount Tabor. + +The phrase here used, rendered by the Vulgate “pytho” (Quærite mihi +mulierem habentem pythonem) and by the Authorized Version “familiar +spirit,” is in the original _’ôbh_,[6] which signifies the departed +spirit evoked, and also came to stand for the person controlling such a +spirit and divining by its aid. The Witch of Endor is described as the +possessor of an _’ôbh_. The LXX. translates this word by ἐγγαστράμυθος, +which means ventriloquist, either because the real actors thought that +the magician’s alleged communication with the spirit was a mere deception +to impose upon the inquirer who is tricked by the voice being thrown +into the ground and being of strange quality—a view which mightily +commends itself to Lenormant [7] and the sceptical Renan[8] but which +is quite untenable—or rather because of the belief common in antiquity +that ventriloquism was not a natural faculty but due to the temporary +obsession of the medium by a spirit. In this connexion the prophet +Isaias has a remarkable passage: Quærite a pythonibus, et a diuinis qui +strident in incantationibus suis. (Seek unto them that have familiar +spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter. _A.V._) Many Greek +and Latin poets attribute a peculiar and distinctive sound to the voices +of spirits. Homer (_Iliad_, XXIII, 101; _Odyssey_, XXIV, 5, and 9) uses +τρίξειν, which is elsewhere found of the shrill cry or chirping of +partridges, young swallows, locusts, mice, bats,[9] and of such other +sounds as the creaking of a door, the sharp crackling of a thing burned +in a fire. Vergil _Æneid_, III, 39, speaks of the cry of Polydorus from +his grave as _gemitus lacrimabilis_, and the clamour of the spirits in +Hades is _uox exigua_. Horace also in his description of the midnight +Esbat on the Esquiline describes the voice as _triste et acutum;_ +(_Sermonum_, I. viii, 40-1): + + singula quid memorem, quo pacto alterna loquentes + umbrae cum Sagana resonarent triste et acutum. + +Statius, _Thebais_, VII, 770, has “stridunt animæ,” upon which Kaspar von +Barth, the famous sixteenth-century German scholar, annotates “Homericum +hoc est qui corporibus excedentes animas stridere excogitauit.” So in +Shakespeare’s well-known lines, _Hamlet_ I, 1: + + the sheeted dead + Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets. + +When he had been informed of this witch Saul, accordingly, completely +divested himself of the insignia of royalty and in a close disguise +accompanied only by two of his most trusted followers similarly muffled +in cloaks, he painfully made his way at dead of night to her remote and +squalid hovel. He eagerly requested her to exercise her powers, and to +raise the spirit of the person whom he should name. At first she refused, +since some years before the laws had been stringently enforced and the +penalty of death awaited all sorcerers and magicians. Not unreasonably +she feared that these mysterious strangers might be laying a trap for +her, to imperil her life. But the concealed king persuaded her, and bound +himself by a mighty oath that she should come to no harm. Whereupon she +consented to evoke the soul of the prophet Samuel, as he desired. The +charm commenced, and after the vision of various familiars—the woman +said: Deos uidi ascendentes de terra—and S. Gregory of Nyssa explains +these as demons, τὰ φαντάσματα,—Samuel appeared amid circumstances of +great terror and awe, and in the same moment the identity of her visitant +was recognized (we are not informed how) by the sybil.[10] In a paroxysm +of rage and fear the haggard crone turned to him and shrieked out: “Why +hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul.” The king, however, tremblingly +reassured her for her own safety, and feeling that he was confronted +by no earthly figure—he could not see the phantom, although he sensed +a presence from beyond the grave—he asked: “What form is he of?” And +when the beldame, to whom alone the prophet was visible, described the +spirit: “An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle,” Saul at +once recognized Samuel, and fell prostrate upon the ground, whilst the +apparition spake his swiftly coming doom. + +[Illustration: PLATE VI + +THE WITCH OF ENDOR. + +[_face p. 178_] + +Here we have a detailed scene of necromancy proper. There are, it +is true, some remarkable, and perhaps unusual, features: the witch +alone sees the phantom, but Saul instantly knows who it is from her +description; he directly addresses Samuel, and he hears the prediction of +the dead prophet. The whole narrative undoubtedly bears the impress of +actuality and truth. + +There are several interpretations of these incidents. In the first place +some writers have denied the reality of the vision, and so it is claimed +that the witch deceived Saul by skilful trickery. This hardly seems +possible. It is not likely that she would have run so grave a risk as the +exercise, or pretended exercise, of magical arts must entail were she +a mere charlatan; an accomplice of remarkably quick wit and invention +would have been necessary to carry out the details of the plot; it is +surely incredible that they should have ventured upon so uncompromising a +denunciation of the king and have foretold so evil an end to his house. +In fact the whole tenor of the story conflicts with this explanation, +which is not allowed by the Fathers. Theodoret, it is true, inclines +to suppose that some deception was practised, but he hesitates to +maintain an unequivocal opinion in the matter. In his _Quæstiones in I +Regum_ Cap. xxviii he asks πῶς τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἐγγαστρίμυθον νοητέον;[11] +and says that some think that the witch actually evoked Samuel, others +believe the Devil took the likeness of the prophet. The first opinion he +characterizes as impious, the second foolish. + +S. Jerome, whose authority would, of course, be entirely conclusive, does +not perhaps pronounce definitely; but his comments sufficiently show, I +think, that he regarded the apparition as being really Samuel. In his +tractate _In Esaiam_, III, vii, he writes: “Most authors think that a +clear sign was given Saul from the earth itself and from the very depths +of Hades when he saw Samuel evoked by incantations and magic spells.”[12] +And again, _In Ezechielem_, Lib. IV; xiii, the holy doctor, speaking of +witches, has: “they are inspired by an evil spirit. The Hebrews say that +they are well versed in baleful crafts, necromancy and soothsayings, +such as was the hag who seemed to raise up the soul of Samuel.”[13] + +Some authors directly attribute this appearance of Samuel to an evil +spirit, who took the form of the prophet in order to dishearten Saul +and tempt him to despair. Thus S. Gregory of Nyssa in his letter _De +pythonissa ad Theodosium_[14] says that the Devil deceived the witch, +who thus in her turn deceived the king. S. Basil expressly lays down +(_In Esaiam_, VIII. 218): “They were demons who assumed the appearance +of Samuel.”[15] And he conjectures that, inasmuch as the denunciation +of Saul was strictly true in every detail, the demons having heard +the sentence delivered by God merely reported it. Among the Latins +Tertullian, more than a century before, had written: “And I believe that +evil spirits can deceive many by their lies; for a lying spirit was +allowed to feign himself to be the shade of Samuel.”[16] + +The preponderance of opinion, however, is decidedly in favour of a +literal and exact understanding of the event, that it was, in effect, +Samuel who appeared to the guilty monarch and foretold his end. Origen +argues upon these lines, basing his reasons upon the plain statements +of Holy Writ: “But it is distinctly stated that Saul knew it was +Samuel.”[17] And later he adds: “The Scripture cannot lie. And the words +of Scripture are: And the woman saw Samuel.”[18] Elsewhere when treating +of evil spirits he precisely states: “And that souls have their abiding +place I have made known to you from the evocation by the witch of Samuel, +when Saul requested her to divine.”[19] S. Ambrose also says: “Even after +his death Samuel, as Holy Scripture informs us, prophesied of what was to +come.”[20] We have further the overwhelming witness of S. Augustine, who +in more than one place discusses the question at some length, and decides +that the phantom evoked by the sibyl was really and truly the soul of the +prophet Samuel. Thus in that important treatise _De Doctrina Christiana_, +commenced in 397 and finally revised for issue in 427, he has: “The shade +of Samuel, long since dead, truly foretold what was to come unto King +Saul.”[21] Whilst a passage in the even more famous and weighty _De Cura +pro mortuis gerenda_, written in 421, asserts: “For the prophet Samuel, +who was dead, revealed the future to King Saul, who was yet alive.”[22] + +Josephus believed the apparition to have been summoned by the witch’s +necromantic powers, for in his _Jewish Antiquities_, VI, xiv, 2, when +dealing with the story of Endor, he chronicles: “[Saul] bade her bring up +to him the soul of Samuel. She, not knowing who Samuel was, called him +out of Hades,”[23] a remarkable testimony. + +Throughout the whole of the Old Testament the sin of necromancy is +condemned in the strongest terms, but the very reiteration of this ban +shows that none the less evocation of the dead was extensively and +continuously practised, albeit in the most clandestine and secret manner. +The Mosaic law denounces such arts again and again: “Go not aside after +wizards, neither ask any thing of soothsayers, to be defiled by them: I +am the Lord your God” (Leviticus xix. 31); “The soul that shall go aside +after magicians and soothsayers, and shall commit fornication with them, +I will set my face against that soul, and destroy it out of the midst of +its people” (Leviticus xx. 6). Even more explicit in its details is the +following prohibition: “Neither let there be found among you any one ... +that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, neither let +there be any wizard, nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic +spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead. For +the Lord abhorreth all these things” (Deuteronomy xviii. 10-12). Hence it +is obvious that the essential malice of the sin lay in the fact that it +was _lèse-majesté_ against God, such as is also the sin of heresy.[24] +This is, moreover, clearly brought out in the fact that the temporal +penalty was death. “A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical +or divining spirit, dying, let them die” (Leviticus xx. 27). And the +famous statute, Exodus xxii. 18, expressly says: “Wizards thou shalt not +suffer to live.” Nevertheless, necromancy persisted, and on occasion, +such as during the reign of Manasses, thirteenth king of Juda (692-638 +B.C.),[25] it no longer lurked in dark corners and obscene hiding-holes, +but flaunted its foul abomination unabashed in the courts of the palace +and at noon before the eyes of the superstitious capital. In the days of +this monarch divination was openly used, omens observed, pythons publicly +appointed, whilst soothsayers multiplied “to do evil before the Lord, and +to provoke Him” (4 Kings [2 Kings] xxi. 6). The ghastly rites of human +sacrifice were revived, and it was common knowledge that the sovereign +himself, upon the slightest and most indifferent pretexts, resorted to +_extispicium_, the seeking of omens from the yet palpitating entrails +of boys devoted to this horrid purpose. “Manasses shed also very much +innocent blood, till he filled Jerusalem up to the mouth” (4 Kings [2 +Kings] xxi. 16). We may parallel the foul sorceries of the Jewish king +with the detailed confession of Gilles de Rais, who at his trial “related +how he had stolen away children, detailed all his foul cajolements, +his hellish excitations, his frenzied murders, his ruthless rapes and +ravishments: obsessed by the morbid vision of his poor pitiful victims, +he described at length their long-drawn agonies or swift torturings; +their piteous cries and the death-rattle in their throats; he avowed that +he had wallowed in their warm entrails; he confessed that he had torn +out their hearts through large gaping wounds, as a man might pluck ripe +fruit.”[26] The demonolatry of the sixth century before Christ is the +same as that of fourteen hundred years after the birth of Our Lord. + +As has been previously noticed, Balaam employed bullocks and rams for +_extispicium_, and nine centuries later, in the book of Ezechiel (xxi. +21), Esarhaddon is represented as looking at the liver of an animal +offered in sacrifice with a view to divination. “For the king of Babylon +stood in the highway, at the head of two ways, seeking divination, +shuffling arrows: he inquired of the idols, and consulted entrails. On +his right hand was the divination of Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to +open the mouth in slaughter.” The mode of sortilege by arrows, belomancy, +to which allusion is here made was extensively practised among the +Chaldeans, as also by the Arabs. Upon this passage S. Jerome comments: +“He shall stand in the highway, and consult the oracle after the manner +of his nation, that he may cast arrows into a quiver, and mix them +together, being written upon or marked with the names of each people, +that he may see whose arrow will come forth, and which city he ought +first to attack.” + +Among the three hundred and sixty idols which stood round about the Caaba +of Mecca, and which were all destroyed by Mohammed when he captured the +city in the eighth year of the Hejira, was the statue of a man, made of +agate, who held in one hand seven arrows such as the pagan Arabs used in +divination. This figure, which, it is said, anciently represented the +patriarch Abraham, was regarded with especial awe and veneration. + +The arrows employed by the early Arabs for magical practices were more +generally only three in number. They were carefully preserved in the +temple of some idol, before whose shrine they had been consecrated. Upon +one of them was inscribed “My Lord hath commanded me”; upon another “My +Lord hath forbidden me”; and the third was blank. If the first was drawn +the inquirer looked upon it as a propitious omen promising success in the +enterprise; if the second were drawn he augured failure; if the third, +all three were mixed again and another trial was made. These divining +arrows seem always to have been consulted by the Arabs before they +engaged in any important undertaking, as, for example, when a man was +about to go upon a particular journey, to marry, to commence some weighty +business. + +In certain cases and in many countries rods were used instead of arrows. +Small sticks were marked with occult signs, thrown into a vessel and +drawn out; or, it might be, cast into the air, the direction they +took and the position in which they fell being carefully noted. This +practice is known as rhabdomancy. The LXX, indeed, Ezechiel xxi. 21, has +ῥαβδομαντεία not βελομαντεία, and rhabdomancy is mentioned by S. Cyril of +Alexandria. + +In the Koran, chapter V, The Table or The Chapter of Contracts, “divining +arrows” are said to be “an abomination of the work of Satan,” and the +injunction is given “therefore avoid them that ye may prosper.” + +It is noticeable that in the early Biblical narrative one form of +divination is mentioned, if not with approval, at any rate without overt +reproach. Upon the occasion of the second journey of Jacob’s sons to +Egypt to buy corn in the time of famine, Joseph gave orders that their +sacks were to be filled with food, that each man’s money was to be put +in the mouth of his sack, but that in the sack of Benjamin was also to +be concealed the “cup, the silver cup.” And the next morning when they +had set out homewards and were gone a little way out of the city they +were overtaken by a band of Joseph’s servants under the conduct of his +steward who arrested their progress and accused them of the theft of +the cup: “Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed +he divineth? Ye have done evil in so doing” (_A.V._). The Vulgate has: +“Scyphus quem furati estis, ipse est in quo bibit dominus meus et in quo +augurari solet: pessimam rem fecistis” (Genesis xliv. 5). And later when +they are brought back in custody and led into the presence of Joseph +he asks them: “Wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?” +Vulgate: “An ignoratis quod non sit similis mei in augurandi scientia?” + +In the first place it cannot be for a moment supposed that Joseph’s +claim, which here he so publicly and so emphatically states, to be +a diviner of no ordinary powers was a mere device for the occasion. +From the prominence given to the cup in the story it is clear that his +steward regarded it as a vessel of especial value and import, dight with +mysterious properties. + +This cup was used for that species of divination known as hydromantia, +a practice almost universal in antiquity and sufficiently common at the +present day. The seer, or in some cases the inquirer, by gazing fixedly +into a pool or basin of still water will see therein reflected as in a +mirror a picture of that which it is sought to know. Strabo, XVI, 2, +39, speaking of the Persians, writes: παρὰδε τοῖς πέρσαις οἱ Μάγοι καὶ +νεκυομάντεις καὶ ἔτι οἱ λεγόμενοι λεκανομάντεις καὶ ὑδρομάντεις. King +Numa, according to one very ancient tradition, divined by seeing gods in +a clear stream. “For Numa himself, not being instructed by any prophet +or Angel of God, was fain to fall to hydromancy: making his gods (or +rather his devils) to appear in water, and instruct him in his religious +institutions. Which kind of divination, says Varro, came from Persia and +was used by Numa and afterwards by Pythagoras, wherein they used blood +also and called forth spirits infernal. Necromancy, the Greeks call it, +but necromancy or hydromancy, whether you like, there it is that the dead +seem to speak” (_S. Augustine De Ciuitate Dei_. VII. 35).[27] + +Apuleius in his _De Magia_,[28] quoting from Varro, says: “Trallibus de +euentu Mithridatici belli magica percontatione consultantibus puerum +in aqua simulacrum Mercuri contemplantem, quæ futura erant, centum +sexaginta uersibus cecinisse.” In Egypt to-day the Magic Mirror is +frequently consulted. A boy is engaged to gaze into a splash of water, +or it may be ink or some other dark liquid poured into the palm of the +hand, and therein he will assuredly see pictorially revealed the answers +to those questions put to him. When a theft has been committed the Magic +Mirror is invariably questioned thus. In Scandinavia the country folk, +who had lost anything, would go to a diviner on a Thursday night to see +in a pail of water who it was had robbed them.[29] All the world over +this belief prevails, in Tahiti and among the Hawaiians, in the Malay +Peninsula, in New Guinea, among the Eskimos. + +Similar forms of divination are those by things dropped into some liquid, +a precious stone or rich amulet is cast into a cup, and the rings +formed on the surface of the contents were held to predict the future. +Again warm wax or molten lead is poured into a vessel of cold water, +and significant letters of the alphabet may be spelled out or objects +discerned from the shapes this wax or lead assumes; or again, the empty +tea-cup is tilted and from the leaves, their size, shape, and the manner +in which they lie, prognostications are made. This is common in England, +Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Lithuania, whilst in Macedonia coffee-dregs +are employed in the same manner. + +But whether the seer be Hebrew patriarch or Roman king and the divination +dignified by some occult name, Ceromancy (the melting of wax), +Lecanomancy (basins of water), Oinomancy (the lees of wine), or whether +it be some old plaid-shawled grandam by her cottage fire peering at the +leaves of her afternoon tea, the object is the same throughout the ages, +for all systems of divination are merely so many methods of obscuring the +outer vision, in order that the inner vision may become open. + +As was inevitable hydromantia lent itself to much trickery, and +Hippolytus of Rome, presbyter and antipope (_ob._ _circa_ A.D. 236), +in his important polemic against heretics, _Philosophumena_,[30] IV, +35, explains in detail how persons were elaborately duped by the +pseudo-magicians. A room was prepared, the roof of which was painted blue +to resemble the sky, there was set therein a large vessel full of water +with a glass bottom, immediately under which lay a secret chamber. The +inquirer gazed steadfastly into the water, and the actors walking in the +secret chamber below would seem as though they were figures appearing in +the water itself. + +In view of the severe and general condemnation of magical practices found +throughout Holy Writ it is remarkable that the Pentateuchal narrative +does not censure Joseph’s hydromantic arts. Indeed, except in the book +Genesis, it is seldom that any forms of presaging or the use of charms +are noted save with stern reprobation. In Isaias iii. 2, however, +the Kōsēm, magician or diviner, is mentioned with singular respect. +“Ecce enim dominator Dominus exercituum auferet a Jerusalem et a Juda +ualidum et fortem omne robur panis et omne robur aquæ, fortem, et uirum +bellatorem, iudicem, et prophetam, et _hariolum_, et senem.” Here the +Authorized Version deliberately mistranslates and obscures the sense: +“For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem +and from Judah, the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the +whole stay of water, the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and +the prophet, and _the prudent_, and the ancient.” “The Prudent” is by no +means a rendering of Kōsēm which “hariolus” perfectly represents. + +In the thirteenth chapter of Genesis we have a most detailed and striking +narrative of sympathetic magic. Jacob, who is serving Laban, is to +receive as a portion of his hire all the speckled and spotted cattle, +all the brown among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the +goats. But the crafty old Syrian prevented his son-in-law by removing +to a distance, a journey of three days, all such herds as had been +specified, “and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. Thereupon Jacob +took rods of green poplar, hazel, and chestnut, and peeled these rods in +alternate stripes of white and bark, and he put them in the gutters in +the watering-troughs when the flocks came to drink.” The animals duly +copulated, and “the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth +cattle, ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.” Moreover, it was only when +the stronger cattle conceived that Jacob set the rods before their eyes, +so that eventually all the best of the herds fell to his share. The +names of the trees are in themselves significant. The poplar in Roman +folklore was sacred to Hercules,[31] and as it grew on the banks of +the river Acheron in Epirus it was connected with Acheron, the waters +of woe in the underworld, a confused tradition which is undoubtedly of +very early origin. So Pausanias has: τὴν λευκην ὁ Ἡρακλῆς πεφυκυῖαν παρὰ +τὸν Ἀχέροντα εὔρετο ἐν Θεσπρωτιᾳ ποταμόν· In seventeenth-century England +poplar-leaves were accounted an important ingredient in hell-broths and +charms. The hazel has been linked with magic from remotest antiquity, +and the very name witch-hazel remains to-day. The chestnut-tree and its +nuts seem to have been associated with some primitive sexual rites. The +connexion is obscure, but beyond doubt traceable. In that most glorious +marriage song, the Epithalamium of Catullus, as the boys sang their +Fescennines of traditional obscenity nuts were scattered among the +crowd.[32] Petronius (Fragmentum XXXIII, ed. Buecheler, Berolini, 1895) +mentions chestnuts as an amatory gift: + + aurea mala mihi, dulcis mea Marcia, mittis + mittis et hirsutae munera castaneae. + +In Genesis again is recorded a most interesting and instructive example +of the belief in the magic efficacy of plants. “And Reuben went in the +days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field and brought them +to his mother Leah” (xxx. 14 A.V.). Reuben brings his mother mandrakes +(Love Apples), which Rachel desires to have. Whereupon Leah bargains +with Rachel, and the latter for a portion of the fruit consents that +Jacob shall that night return to the bed of his elder wife, who indeed +conceives and in due time she bare Issachar. Leah ate of the mandrake as +a charm to induce pregnancy, and no disapproval of such use is expressed. + +A similar theme is treated in Machiavelli’s famous masterpiece of +satirical comedy _La Mandragola_,[33] written between 1513 and 1520, +and performed by request before Leo X in the April of the latter year. +It had already been acted in Florence. In this play Callimaco is bent +upon securing as his mistress Lucrezia, the wife of a gullable doctor of +laws, Messer Nicia, whose one wish in life is to get a son. Callimaco is +introduced as a physician to Nicia, to whom he explains that a potion +of mandragora administered to the lady will remove her sterility, but +that it has fatal consequences to the husband. He must perish unless +some other man be first substituted whose action will absorb the poison, +and leave Lucrezia free to become the mother of a blooming family. This +plot is fully worked out, and by the services of his supple confederates +Callimaco is introduced to Lucrezia’s bedchamber as the necessary victim, +and gains his desire. + +Mandrakes and mallows were potent in all forms of enchantment, and about +the mandrake in particular has grown up a whole library of legend, which +it would require much time and space thoroughly to investigate. Western +lore is mainly of somewhat a grim character, but not entirely, and by the +Orientals mandrake is regarded as a powerful aphrodisiac. So in Canticles +VII, 13, we have: Mandragoræ dederunt odorem. (The mandrakes give a +fragrant smell.) In antiquity mandrakes were used as an anæsthetic. +Dioscorides alludes to the employment of this herb before patients have +to be cut or burned; Pliny refers to its odour as causing sleep during +an operation; Lucian speaks of it as used before cautery; and both Galen +and Isidorus have passages which mention its dormitive quality. The +Shakespearean allusions have rendered this aspect familiar to all. + +The Arabs and ancient Germans thought that a powerful spirit inhabited +the plant, an idea derived, perhaps, from the fancied resemblance +of the root to the human form. Ducagne has under Mandragore: “Pomi +genus cuius mentio fit, Gen. xxx. 14. nostris etiam notis sub nomine +_Mandragores_, quod pectore asseruatum sibi diuitiis acquirendis idoneum +somniabunt.” And Littré quotes the following from an old chronicle of +the thirteenth century: “Li dui compaignon [un couple d’éléphants] vont +contre Orient près du paradis terreste, tant que la femelle trouve une +herbe que on apele mandragore, si en manjue, et si atize tant son masle +qu’il en manjue avec li, et maintenant eschaufe la volenté de chascun, +et s’entrejoignent à envers et engendrent un filz sanz plus.” In the +_Commentaria ad Historiam Caroli VI et VII_ it is related that several +mandrakes found in the possession of Frère Richard, a Cordelier, were +seized and burned as savouring of witchcraft. + +It seems certain that the teraphim, which Rachel stole from her father +(Genesis xxxi, 19, and 31-35), and which when he was in pursuit she +concealed by a subtle trick, were used for purposes of divination. From +the relation of the incident it is obvious that they were regarded of +immense value—he who had conveyed them away was, if found, to die the +death—and invested with a mysterious sanctity. Centuries later, during +the period of drastic reform, King Josias (639-608 B.C.) would no longer +tolerate them: “Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the +wizards, and the images [teraphim], and the idols, and all abominations +that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem did Josiah put +away” (2 Kings xxiii. 24. A.V.). The Vulgate has: “Sed et pythones, +et hariolos, et figuras idolorum, et immunditias, et abominationes, +quæ fuerant in terra Juda et Jerusalem, abstulit Josias.” In Ezechiel +xxi. 21, Esarhaddon is said to have divined by teraphim as well as by +belomancy; and in Zacharias (x. 2) the teraphim are stated on occasion +to have deceived their inquirers, “simulacra locuta sunt inutile,” “the +idols have spoken vanity.” Notwithstanding this it is obvious from Osee +(Hosea) iii. 4, that divination by teraphim was sometimes permitted: +“Dies multos sedebunt filii Israel sine rege, et sine principe, et sine +sacrificio, et sine altari, et sine ephod, et sine teraphim.” “The +children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a +prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an +ephod, and without teraphim.” + +The learned Cornelius à Lapide glossing on Genesis xxxi writes: “Idola, +_teraphim_ quod significat statuæ humanæ siue humaneas formas habentes +ut patet, I. Reg. xix.” The allusion is to the deception practised by +Michal on Saul’s messengers, when putting one of the teraphim in bed +and covering it with quilts she pretended it was David who lay sick. +“Secundo,” continues à Lapide, “nomen _theraphim_ non appropriatum est in +eas statuas, quæ opera dæmonorum deposci debent, ut patet Judicum, xviii, +18,” the reference being to the history of Micas. Calvin very absurdly +says: “Theraphim sunt imagines quales habent papistæ.” + +Spencer[34] is of opinion that these teraphim were small images or +figures, and the point seems conclusively settled by S. Jerome, who in +his twenty-ninth Epistle, _De Ephod et Teraphim_, quotes 1 Kings xix. +15, and uses “figuras siue figurationes” to translate μορφώματα of +Aquila of Pontus. This writer was the author of a Greek version of the +Old Testament published _circa_ A.D. 128. About eight years before he +seems to have been expelled from the Christian community, by whom he was +regarded as an adept in magic. The work of Aquila, who studied in the +school of Rabbi Akiba, the founder of Rabbinical Judaism, is said by S. +Jerome to have attained such exactitude that it was a good dictionary to +furnish the meaning of the obscurer Hebrew words. The Targum of Jonathan +commenting upon Genesis xxxi. 19, puts forward the singular view that the +teraphim, concealed by Rachel, consisted of a mummified human head. + +In the book Tobias we have a detailed and important account of exorcism, +and one, moreover, which throws considerable light upon the demonology of +the time. Tobias, the son of Tobias, is sent under the guidance of the +unknown Angel, S. Raphael, to Gabelus in Rages of Media, to obtain the +ten talents of silver left in bond by his father. Tobias, whilst bathing +in the Tigris is attacked by a monstrous fish, of which he is told by his +Angel protector to reserve the heart, liver, and gall; the first two of +these are to prevent the devil who had slain seven previous husbands of +Sara, the beautiful daughter of Raguel, from attacking him. They arrive +at the house of Raguel, and Tobias seeks the hand of Sara. She, however, +is so beloved by the demon Asmodeus that seven men who had in turn +married her were by him put to death the night of the nuptials, before +consummation. Tobias, however, by exorcism, by the odour of the burning +liver of the fish, and by the help of S. Raphael, routs Asmodeus, “Then +the Angel Raphael took the Devil, and bound him in the desert of upper +Egypt.” The story which must be accepted as fact-narrative was originally +written during the Babylonian exile in the early portion of the seventh +century, B.C. It plainly shows that demons were considered to be capable +of sexual love, such as was the love of the sons of God for the daughters +of men recorded in Genesis (vi. 2). One may compare the stories of the +Jinns in Arabian lore. Asmodeus is perhaps to be identified with the +Persian _Aëshma daêva_, who in the _Avesta_ is next to Angromainyus, the +chief of the evil spirits. The introduction of Tobias’s dog should be +remarked. The dog accompanies his master on the journey and when they +return home “the dog, which had been with them in the way, ran before, +and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning +and wagging his tail.” Among the Persians a certain power over evil +spirits was justly assigned to the faithful dog. + +The New Testament evidence for the reality of magic and divination +is such that cannot be disregarded by any who accept the Christian +revelation. + +In the Gospels we continually meet with possession by devils; the miracle +wrought in the country of the Gerasenes (Gergesenes) (S. Matthew viii. +28-34), the dumb man possessed by a devil (S. Matthew ix. 32-34), the +healing of the lunatic boy who was obsessed (S. Matthew xvii. 14-21), the +exorcism of the unclean spirit (S. Mark i. 23-27), the casting out of +devils whom Christ suffered not to speak (S. Mark i. 32-34), the exorcism +in the name of Jesus (S. Mark ix. 38), the demons who fled our Lord’s +presence crying out “Thou art Christ, the son of God” (S. Luke iv. 41), +the healing of those vexed with unclean spirits (S. Luke vi. 18), and +many instances more. + +Very early in the Apostolic ministry appears one of the most famous +figures in the whole history of Witchcraft, Simon, who is as Simon +Magus, sorcerer and heresiarch. At the outbreak of that persecution +(_circa_ A.D. 37) of the Christian community in Jerusalem which began +with the martyrdom of S. Stephen, when Philip the Deacon went down to +Samaria, Simon, a native of Gitta, was living in that city. By his magic +arts and by his mysterious doctrine, in which he announced himself as +“the great power of God,” he had made a name for himself and gained +many adherents. He listened to Philip’s sermons, was greatly impressed +by them, he saw with wonder the miracles of healing and the exorcisms +of unclean spirits, and like many of his countrymen was baptized and +united with the community of believers in Christ. But it is obvious that +he only took this step in order to gain, as he hoped, greater magical +power and thus increase his influence. For when the Apostles S. Peter +and S. John came to Samaria to bestow upon those who had been baptized +by Philip the outpouring of the Holy Ghost which was accompanied by +heavenly manifestations Simon offered them money, saying, “Give me also +this power,” which he obviously regarded as a charm or occult spell. S. +Peter forthwith sharply rebuked the unholy neophyte, who, alarmed at this +denunciation, implored the Apostles to pray for him. + +Simon is not mentioned again in the New Testament, but the first +Christian writers have much to say concerning him. S. Justin Martyr, +in his first _Apologia_ (A.D. 153-155) and in his dialogue _Contra +Tryphonem_ (before A.D. 161), describes Simon as a warlock who at the +instigation of demons claimed to be a god. During the reign of the +Emperor Claudius, Simon came to Rome, and by his sorceries won many +followers who paid him divine honours. He was accompanied by a lewd +concubine from Tyre, Helena, whom he claimed was Heavenly Intelligence, +set free from bondage by himself the “great power.” + +In the _Pseudo-Clementine Homilies_ (probably second century) Simon +appears as the chief antagonist of S. Peter, by whom his devilish +practices are exposed and his enchantments dissolved. The apocryphal +_Acts of S. Peter_, which are of high antiquity,[35] give in detail the +well-known legend of the death of Simon Magus. By his spells the warlock +had almost won the Emperor Nero to himself, but continually he was being +foiled and thwarted owing to the intercession of the Apostle. At last +when Cæsar demanded one final proof of the truth of his doctrines, some +miracle that might be performed at midday in the face of all Rome, Simon +offered to take his flight into the heavens—a diabolical parody of the +Ascension—so that men might know his power was full as mighty as that of +Him whom the Christians worshipped as God. + +A mighty concourse gathered in the Forum: Vestal Virgins, Senators, +Equites, their ladies, and a whole rabble of lesser folk. In the +forefront of a new Imperial box sat the Lord Nero Claudius Cæsar Augustus +Germanicus, on one side his mother, Agrippina, on the other Octavia +his wife. Magic staff in hand the magician advanced into the midst of +the arena: muttering a spell he bade his staff await his return, and +forthwith it stood upright, alone, upon the pavement. Then with a deep +obeisance to the ruler of the known world Simon Magus stretched forth +his arms, and a moment more with rigid limbs and stern set face he rose +from the ground and began to float high in air toward the Capitol. Like +some monstrous bird he rose, and hovered fluttering in space awhile. But +among the throng stood S. Peter, and just as the sorcerer had reached +the topmost pinnacles of the shrine of Juno Moneta, now Santa Maria in +Aracœli, where brown Franciscans sing the praises of God, the first Pope +of Rome kneeled down, lifted his right hand and deliberately made a +mighty Sign of the Cross towards the figure who usurped the privileges +of the Incarnate Son of Mary. Who shall say what hosts of hells fled at +that moment? The wizard dropped swift as heavy lead; the body whirled +and turned in the air; it crashed, broken and breathless, at the foot of +the Emperor’s seat, which was fouled and bespattered with black gouts +of blood. At the same moment with a ringing sound the staff fell prone +on the pavement. The flag upon which S. Peter kneeled may be seen even +until this day in the Church of Santa Francesca Romana. For, in order to +commemorate the defeat of the warlock, Pope S. Paul I (757-767) built +a church upon the site of his discomfiture, and in 850 Pope S. Leo IV +reconstructed it as Santa Maria Nova, which gave place to the present +fane dedicated in 1612. + +But the fame of Simon Magus as a wizard has been swallowed up in his +ill repute as a heretic; so early do heresy and magic go hand in hand. +He was the first Gnostic, whose disciples the Simonians, an Antinomian +sect of the second century, indulged the sickest fantasies. Menander, +the successor of Simon, proclaimed himself the Messiah and asserted that +by his baptism immortality was conferred upon his followers. He also was +regarded as a mighty magician, and the sect which was named after him, +the Menandrians, seems to have lasted for no inconsiderable time. + +In his missionary journeys S. Paul was continually combating Witchcraft. +At Paphos he was opposed by the sorcerer Elymas; in Philippi a medium, +“a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination,” “spiritum +pythonem,” followed him along the streets crying out and naming him +as “a servant of the most high God,” until he exorcized the spirit; +at Ephesus, a hotbed of sorcery and superstition, he converted many +diviners and witches, who cleansed their souls by the Sacrament of +Penance, and burned their conjuring books, a library of no mean value. +It amounted indeed to fifty thousand drachmas (£2000), and one may +suppose that in addition to manuscripts there were amulets of silver and +gold, richly wrought and jewelled. In Ephesus, also, had foregathered a +large number of vagabond Jews, exorcists. The chief characteristic of a +Jewish exorcism was the recitation of names believed to be efficacious, +principally names of good angels, which were used either alone, or +in combination with El (God); and, indeed, a blind reliance upon the +sound of mere names had long been a settled practice with these amateur +sorcerers, who considered that the essence of their charms lay in the +use of particular names declaimed in a particular order, which differed +on several occasions. It was this belief, no doubt, that induced the +seven sons of Sceva, who had witnessed S. Paul’s exorcisms in the name +of Jesus, to try upon their own account the formula “I conjure thee by +Jesus whom Paul preacheth,” an experiment disastrous to their credit. +For in one case the patient cried out “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, +but who are ye?” and leaped upon them with infernal strength, beating +and wounding them, so that they fled for safety from the house, their +limbs bruised and their garments torn, to the great scandal of the +neighbourhood. + +For the fact of demoniac possession the authority of Christ Himself is +plainly pledged; whilst Witchcraft is explicitly ranked by S. Paul with +murder, sedition, hatred, and heresy (Galatians v. 20-21). S. John, +also, twice mentions sorcerers in a hideous catalogue of sinners. There +can be no doubt whatsoever that the reality of Witchcraft is definitely +maintained by the New Testament writers,[36] and any denial of this +implicitly involves a rejection of the truth of the Christian revelation. + +Among the Jews of a later period, and probably even to-day, various +diseases are said to be induced by demons, who, it is instructive to +notice, haunt marshy places, damp and decayed houses, latrines, squalid +alleys, foul atmospheres where sickness is bred and ripened. + +Josephus (_ob._ A.D. 100) relates that God taught Solomon how demons were +to be expelled, a “science useful and sanitative to men.” He also gives +an account of Eliezar, a celebrated exorcist of the time, whom, in the +presence of the Emperor Vespasian, the historian actually saw casting +out evil spirits. The operator applied to the nose of the possessed +a ring having attached to it a root which Solomon is said to have +prescribed—“Baaras,” a herb of magical properties, and one dangerous for +the uninitiate to handle. As the devils came forth Eliezar caused them +to pass into a basin filled with water, which was at once poured away. +It may be noticed also that demonology plays an important part in the +Book of Enoch (before 170 B.C.). Even in the Mishna there are undoubted +traces of magic, and in the Gemara demonology and sorcery loom very +largely. Throughout the Middle Ages Jewish legend played no insignificant +part in the history of Witchcraft, and, especially in Spain, until the +nineteenth century at least, there were prosecutions, not so much for +the observance of Hebrew ceremonies as is often suggested and supposed, +but for the practice of the dark and hideous traditions of Hebrew magic. +Closely connected with these ancient sorceries are those ritual murders, +of which a learned Premonstratensian Canon of Wilthin, Adrian Kembter, +writing in 1745, was able to enumerate no less than two-and-fifty,[37] +the latest of these having taken place in 1650, when at Cadan in Bohemia, +Matthias, a lad of four years old, was killed by certain rabbis with +seven wounds. In many cases the evidence is quite conclusive that the +body, and especially the blood of the victim, was used for magical +purposes. Thus with reference to little S. Hugh of Lincoln, after various +very striking details, the chronicler has: “Et cum exspirasset puer, +deposuerunt corpus de cruce, et nescitur qua ratione, euiscerarunt +corpusculum; dicitur autem, quod ad magicas artes exercendas.” In 1261 +at Forcheim in Bavaria the blood of a murdered boy was used to sprinkle +certain thresholds and doors. In 1285 at Munich a witch was convicted of +selling Christian children to the Jews, who carefully preserved the blood +in curious vessels for secret rites. In 1494 at Tyrnau twelve vampires +were executed for having opened the veins of a boy whom they had snared, +and having drunk his warm blood thence whilst he was yet alive. A deed +of peculiar horror was discovered at Szydlow in 1597 when the victim was +put to death in exquisite tortures, the blood and several members of the +body being partaken of by the murderers. In almost every case the blood +was carefully collected, there can be no doubt for magical purposes, the +underlying idea being the precept of the Mosaic law: Anima enim omnis +carnis in sanguine est:[38] For the life of all flesh is in the blood +thereof. + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER V + +[1] _Khartummim._ The same word is used to describe the magicians whom +Pharaoh summoned to interpret his dream, _Genesis_ xli. 8, where the +Vulgate has _coniectores_. _Exodus_ viii. 11, the Vulgate reads: “Uocauit +autem Pharao sapientes et maleficos.” + +[2] It is perhaps worth mentioning that even the most modernistic +commentators assign the history of Balaam to the oldest document of the +Hexateuch, that they call the Jehovistic. + +[3] In his commentary on the ninth chapter of the prophet Osee (Hosea), +S. Jerome says: “Ingressi [sunt] ad Beel-Phegor, idolum Moabitarum +quem nos PRIAPUM possumus appelare.” And Rufinus on the same prophet +has: “Beel-Phegor figuram Priapi dixerunt tenere.” (They entered in +unto Beel-Phegor, the idol of the Moabites, whom we may identify with +PRIAPUS.... Beel-Phegor is said to have had the same shape as Priapus.) + +[4] Balaam hariolus a Domino mittitur ut decipiat Balac filium Beor. _In +Ezechielem_, IV. xiv. Migne, _Patres Latini_, XXV. p. 118. (Baalam, a +soothsayer, is sent by God to deceive Balac, son of Beor.) + +[5] Balaam fuisse prophetam non Dei, sed diaboli constat.... Fuit ipse +magus, et dæmonis alloquium quærebat, eumque consulere. + +[6] The word is usually found with _yidde ’onim_ (from _yada_, “to +know,”) and they are generally considered to be identical in meaning. But +W. R. Smith, _Journ. Phil._, XIV. 127, makes the following distinction: +Yidde ’oni is a familiar spirit, one known to him who calls it up; the +’ôbh is any spirit who may be invoked by a spell and forced to answer +questions. + +[7] _Divination, et la science des présages_, Paris, 1875. p. 161 ff. + +[8] _History of the People of Israel_, 3 vols., London, 1888-91. I. p. +347. + +[9] Cf. Ovid, _Metamorphoseon_, IV, 412-3, of bats: + + Conatæque loqui, minimam pro corpore uocem + Emittunt; peraguntque leues stridore querelas. + +[10] Josephus says that Samuel told the witch it was Saul. + +[11] Migne, _Patres Græci_, LXXX. p. 589. + +[12] Plerique putant Saulem signum accepisse de terra et de profundo +inferni quando Samuelem per incantationes et artes magicas uisus est +suscitasse. Migne, _Patres Latini_, XXIV. p. 106. + +[13] ... inspirantur diabolico spiritu. Has autem dicunt Hebræi maleficis +artibus eruditas per necromantias et pythicum spiritum qualis fuit illa +quæ uisa est suscitare animam Samuelis. _Idem_, XXV. p. 114. + +[14] Migne, _Patres Græci_, XLV. pp. 107-14. + +[15] Δαίμονες γαρ ἦσαν οἱ κατασχηματίζουτες ὲαυτοὺς εἰς τὸ τοῦ Σαμουὴλ +πρόσωπον. _Idem_, XXX. p. 497. + +[16] Et credo quia [spiritus immundi] mendacio possunt; nec enim +pythonico tunc spiritui minus liciut animam Samuelis effingere. (_De +Anima_, LVII.) Migne, _Patres Latini_, II. p. 749. + +[17] Ἀλλὰ γέγραπται, ὁτὶ ἔγνω Σαουλ ὅτι Σαμουὴλ ἔστι. + +[18] ἐπεὶ οὐ δύναται ψευδέσθαι ἡ Γραφη. τὰ δε ῥήματα τῆς Γραφῆς ἐστὶν· +Καὶ εἶδεν ἡ γυνὴ τὸν Σαμουήλ. (_In librum Regum._ Homilia II.) Migne, +_Patres Græci_, XII. p. 1013. + +[19] καὶ ὅτι μένουσιν αὶ ψυχαὶ, ἀπέδειξα ὑμῖν ἐκ τοῦ καὶ τὴν Σαμουὴλ +ψυχὴν κληθῆναι ὑπὸ τῆς ἐγγαστριμμύθου, ὡς ἠξίωσιν ὁ Σαουλ. (_In I. +Regum._ XXVIII.) _Idem_, XII. + +[20] Samuel post mortem, secundum Scripturæ Testimonium futura non +tacuit. _I. Regum._ XXVIII. 17 _et seq._ (_In Lucam._ I. 33.) Migne, +_Patres Latini_. XV. p. 1547. + +[21] Imago Samuelis mortui Saul regi uera prænuntiauit. _Idem_, XXXIV. p. +52. And _De Cura_, XL. p. 606. + +[22] Nam Samuel propheta defunctus uiuo Sauli etiam regi futura prædixit. + +[23] Whiston’s translation. Ed. 1825. Vol. I, p. 263. + +[24] So _1 Kings_ (_Samuel_) xv. 23: “Because it is like the sin of +witchcraft, to rebel.” Heresy and rebellion are fundamentally the same. + +[25] Schrader, _Die Keilenscheiften und das alte Testament_, Giessen, 2nd +ed., 1883. + +[26] ... raconta ses rapts d’enfants, ses hideuses tactiques, ses +stimulations infernales, ses meurtres impétueux, ses implacables viols; +obsédé par la vision des ses victimes, il décrivit leurs agonies +ralenties ou hâtées, leurs appels et leurs râles; il avoua s’être vautré +dans les élastiques tiédeurs des intestins; il confessa qu’il avait +arraché des cœurs par des plaies élargies, ouvertes, telles que des +fruits mûrs. _Là-Bas_, J. K. Huysmans, c. xviii. + +[27] Healey’s translation, 1610. + +[28] _De Magia_, XLVII. + +[29] _The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia_, Sven Nilsson. 3rd +edition. 1868. p. 241. + +[30] The original title is κατὰ πασῶν αἱρέσεων ἔλεγχος. A Refutation of +all Heresies. The first book had long been known; books IV-X, which had +been discovered a short time previously, were first published in 1851 +(Oxford) by Miller as the work of Origen, but edited by Duncker and +Schneidewin as by Hippolitus, eight years later, Göttingen, 1859. The +first chapters of the Fourth, and the whole of the Second and Third Books +are still missing. + +[31] Theocritus, II. 121. Κρατὶ δ’ ἔχων λεύκαν Ἡρακλέος ἱερὸν ἔρνος. +Vergil. _Eclogue_ VIII, 61: Populus Alcidæ gratissima. _Æneid_, VIII, +276: Herculea bicolor quem populus umbra.... + +[32] Pliny (_Historia Naturalis_, XV. 86) says walnuts were thrown, and +it appears from an inscription that this custom prevailed on birthdays +as well as at weddings. But originally, at any rate, chestnuts were also +used. In time the meaning became obscured, and as nuts were used in all +kinds of games they merely became synonymous with playthings. + +[33] The play is referred to in 1520 as _Messer Nicia_, and the first +edition printed at Florence _circa_ 1524 has the title _The Comedy of +Callimaco and Lucrezia_, but the Prologue definitely gives the name _La +Mandragola_ (_The Mandrake_), and this is used in all later editions. The +story has been imitated by La Fontaine; the play itself (which is still +acted in Italy) has been repeatedly translated, at least six times into +French and five times into German, but as yet no English version has been +published. + +[34] _De Legibus Hebræorum ritualibus earumque rationibus_, 2 vols., +Tubingæ, 1732. + +[35] Not later than A.D. 200. They were well known to Commodian, who +wrote about A.D. 250. + +[36] This is, of course, the view of the Fathers, and even later +theological writers (e.g. Alfred Edersheim, Delitzsch, Rev. Walter Scott) +accept this literal truth. + +[37] In his book _Acta pro Ueritate Martyrii corporis, & cultus publici +B. Andreæ Rinnensis_, Innsbruck, 1745. Blessed Andrew, a child, was +killed at Rinn in the Tyrol, 12 July, 1462. A systematic investigation +would, no doubt, wellnigh double the number of instances recorded by +Kembter, and there are 15 for the eighteenth, 39 for the nineteenth +century. In 1913 Mendil Beiliss was tried upon the charge of ritually +murdering a Russian lad, Yushinsky. + +[38] Leviticus xvii. 14. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +DIABOLIC POSSESSION AND MODERN SPIRITISM + + +The phenomenon of diabolic possession, the mere possibility of which +materialists and modernists in recent years have for the most part +stoutly denied, has, nevertheless, been believed by all peoples and at +all periods of the earth’s history. In truth he who accepts the spiritual +world is bound to realize all about him the age-long struggle for empery +of discarnate evil ceaselessly contending with a thousand cunning +sleights and a myriad vizardings against the eternal unconquerable powers +of good. Nature herself bears witness to the contest; disease and death, +cruelty and pain, ugliness and sin, are all evidences of the mighty +warfare, and it would be surprising indeed if some were not wounded in +the fray—for we cannot stand apart, each man, S. Ignatius says, must +fight under one of the two standards—if some even did not fall. + +The ancient Egyptians, whose religion of boundless antiquity is +pre-eminent in the old world for its passionate earnestness, its purity, +and lofty idealism certainly held that some diseases were due to the +action of evil spirits or demons, who in exceptional circumstances had +the power of entering human bodies and of vexing them in proportion to +the opportunities consciously or unconsciously given to their malign +natures and influences. Moreover, the Egyptians were regarded as being +supremely gifted in the art of curing the diseases caused by demoniacal +possession, and one noteworthy instance of this was inscribed upon a +stele and set up in the temple of the god Khonsu at Thebes so that all +men might learn his might and his glory.[1] When King Rameses II was in +Mesopotamia the various princes made him many offerings of gold and gems, +and amongst other came the Prince of Bekhten, who brought his daughter, +the fairest maiden of that land. When the king saw he loved her and +bestowed upon her the title of “Royal spouse, chief lady, Rā-neferu” +(the beauties of Ra, the Sun-god), and taking her back to Egypt he +married her with great pomp and hallowed solemnity. In the fifteenth +year of the king’s reign there arrived at his court an ambassador from +the Prince of Bekhten, bearing rich presents and beseeching him “on +behalf of the lady Bent-ent-resht, the younger sister of the royal +spouse Rā-neferu, for, behold, an evil disease hath laid hold upon her +body,” “wherefore,” said the envoy, “I beseech thy Majesty to send a +physician[2] to see her.” Rameses ordered the books of the “double house +of life” to be brought and the wise men to choose from their number one +who might be sent to Bekhten. They selected the sage Tehuti-em-heb, who +in company with the ambassador forthwith departed on their journey, +and when they had arrived the Egyptian priest soon found the lady +Bent-ent-resht was possessed of a demon or spirit over which he was +powerless. Wellnigh in despair the Prince of Bekhten sent again to the +king begging him to dispatch even a god to his help. + +When the ambassador arrived a second time Rameses was worshipping in the +temple of Khonsu Nefer-hetep at Thebes, and he at once besought that +deity to allow his counterpart Khonsu to go to Bekhten and to deliver +the daughter of the prince of that country from the demon who possessed +her. Khonsu Nefer-hetep granted the request, and a fourfold measure of +magical power was imparted to the statue of the god which was to go to +Bekhten. The god, seated in his boat, and five other boats with figures +of gods in them, accompanied by a noble attendance of horses and chariots +upon the right and the left, set out for Bekhten, where in due course +they were received with great honour. The god Khonsu was brought to the +place where the princess was, magical ceremonies were performed, and the +demon incontinently departed. Khonsu remained in Bekhten three years, +four months, and five days, being worshipped with the utmost veneration. +One night, however, the Prince had a dream in which he saw a hawk of +gold issue from the sacred shrine and wing its way towards Egypt. In +the morning the Egyptian priests interpreted his dream as meaning that +the god now wished to return, and accordingly he was escorted back in +superb state, and with him were sent grateful gifts and thank offerings +innumerable to be laid in the temple of Khonsu Nefer-hetep at Thebes. + +The Greeks of the earlier civilization were inclined generally to +attribute all sickness to the gods, who again often by this particular +means took almost immediate revenge upon those who had insulted their +images, profaned their sanctuaries, or derided their worship. Thus +Pentheus who resists the introduction of the mysteries of Dionysus +into Thebes is driven mad by the affronted deity.[3] The madness of +Ajax, and that of the daughters of Proetus,[4] who imagined themselves +changed into cows, shows us that this belief went back to heroic times. +In later days Demaratus and his brother Alopecos were driven lunatic +(παραφρονήσαν) after having found the statue of Artemis Orthosia, and +this was considered to be the power of the goddess.[5] The frenzy which +attacked Quintus Fulvius was regarded as a punishment, a possession by +evil spirits on account of his sacrilege in having stolen the marble roof +of the temple of Juno Lacinia at Locri.[6] + +Pythagoras taught that the ailments both of men and of animals are due +to demons who throng the regions of the air, and this doctrine does no +more than state clearly what had been more or less vaguely believed from +the dawn of human history. Wherefore Homer in the _Odyssey_, speaking +of a man who is racked by a sore disease, says that a hateful demon is +tormenting him: στυγερὸς δέ οἱ ἔχραε δαίμων, V, 396. (But a hateful demon +griped him fast.) The word κακοδαιμονία, possession by an evil spirit, in +Aristophanes signifies “raving madness,” and the verb κακοδαιμονάω, to be +tormented by an evil spirit, is used by Xenophon, Demosthenes, Dinarchus, +and Plutarch[7] amongst other authors. + +Many philosophers believed that each man has a protecting daimon, who in +some sense personifies his individuality. It followed that lunatics and +the delirious were afflicted with madness by these spirits who guided +them, and accordingly the Greek names for those distraught are highly +significant: ἐνεργούμενοι (in later Greek, persons possessed of an evil +spirit), δαιμονιόληπτοι (influenced by devils), θεόληπτοι, θεόβλαβες +(stricken of God), θεόμανες (maddened by the gods); and so Euripides has +λύσσα θεομανής, and again θεομανης πότμος.[8] The very name μανία given +by the Greeks to madness was derived from the root-word _man, men_,[9] +which occurs in the Latin _Manes_, and indeed the Romans thought that +a madman was tormented by the goddess Mania, the mother of the Lares, +the hallucinations of lunatics being taken to be spectres who pursued +them.[10] And so a madman was _laruarum plenus_, _laruatus_,[11] one whom +phantoms disturbed; as in Plautus, where the doctor says: “What kind of +a disease is this? Explain. Unfold, old sire, I say. Art thou crazed +(_laruatus_) or lunatic? Tell me now.”[12] + +The frantic exaltation which thrilled the Galli, and the Corybantes +when they celebrated the Dionysia, seems to have been epidemic, and was +universally attributed to divine possession. There are many allusions to +the connexion between the rites of Cybele and Dionysus. Apollodorus[13] +says Dionysus was purified from madness by Rhea at the Phrygian Cybela, +and was then initiated into her rites and took her dress; thence he +passed into Thrace with a train of Bacchanals and Satyrs. Strabo,[14] on +the other hand, thinks the rites were brought from Thrace by colonists +from that country into Phrygia; he even quotes a fragment from the +_Edoni_ of Æschylus[15] as proving the identity of the cultus of Dionysus +and Cybele. So also we have in Euripides, _Bacchæ_, 58, + + Up, and wake the sweet old sound, + The clang that I and mystic Rhea found, + The Timbrel of the Mountains.[16] + +It is interesting to remark that Nicander of Claros,[17] who was +a physician, in his _Alexipharmaca_ (Ἀλεξιφάρμακα), speaking of a +particular form of lunacy, compares the shrieks uttered by patients with +those of a priestess of Rhea, when on the ninth day she makes all whom +she encounters in the streets tremble at the hideous howl of the Idæan +Mother; κερνοφόρος ζάκορος βωμίστρια Ῥείης is the exact phrase.[18] + +In the _Hippolytus_ (141 _sqq._) the Chorus speaking to Phædra says: + + Is this some spirit, O child of man? + Doth Hecat hold thee perchance, or Pan? + Doth She of the Mountains work her ban, + Or the Dread Corybantes bind thee?[19] + +And in the _Medea_ (1171-2) we have: “She seemed, I wot, to be one +frenzied, inspired with madness by Pan or some other of the gods.”[20] + +Here τινὸς θεῶν, says Paley, alludes to Dionysus or Cybele. Madness was +sometimes thought to be sent by Pan for any neglect of his worship, so in +the _Rhesus_ Hector cries (36-7): “Can it be that you are scared by the +fear-causing stroke of Pan of old Kronos’s line?”[21] + +Aretæus, the medical writer, who is especially celebrated for his +accuracy of diagnosis, in his _De signis chronicorum morborum_, VI, +describes Corybantic frenzy as a mental malady and says that patients +may be soothed and even cured by the strains of soft music.[22] We have +here then the same remedy as was applied in the case of Saul, whom, we +are told, “an evil spirit from the Lord troubled,”[23] and to whose court +David, the sweet harper, was summoned. This seems to be the only instance +of demoniac possession in the Old Testament and although the Hebrew word +_rûah_ need not absolutely imply a personal influence, if we may judge +from Josephus[24] the Jews certainly gave the word that meaning in this +very passage. + +It may be well here clearly to explain the difference between possession +and obsession, two technical terms sometimes confounded. By obsession +is meant that the demon attacks a man’s body from without;[25] by +possession is meant that he assumes control of it from within. Thus S. +Jerome describes the obsessions which beset S. Hilarion: “Many were +his temptations; day and night did the demons change and renew their +snares.... As he lay down how often did not nude women encircle him? +When he was an hungered how often a plenteous board was spread before +him?”[26] S. Antony the Great, also was similarly attacked: “The devil +did not let to attack him, at night assuming the form of some maiden +and imitating a woman’s gestures to deceive Antony.”[27] These painful +phenomena are not uncommon in the lives of the Saints. Very many +examples might be cited, but one will suffice, that of S. Margaret of +Cortona,[28] the Franciscan penitent,[29] who was long and terribly +tormented: “Following her to and fro up and down her humble cell as +she wept and prayed [the devil] sang the most filthy songs, and lewdly +incited Christ’s dear handmaid, who with tears was commending herself to +the Lord, to join him in trolling forth bawdy catches ... but her prayers +and tears finally routed the foul spirit and drove him far away.”[30] +The theologians, however, warn us to be very cautious in dealing +with so difficult a matter, and the supreme authority of S. Alphonsus +Liguori advises us that by far the greater part of these obsessions are +distressing hallucinations, neurasthenia, imagination, hysteria, in a +word, pathological: “It is advisable always to be very suspicious of +such diabolic attacks, for it cannot be gainsaid that for the most part +they are fancy, or the effect of imagination, or weakness, especially +when women are concerned.”[31] Dom Dominic Schram presses home the same +point with equal emphasis: “Very often what are supposed to be demoniacal +obsessions are nothing else than natural ailments, or morbid imaginings, +or even distractions or actual lunacy. Wherefore it is necessary to deal +with these cases most carefully, until the peculiar symptoms clearly show +that it is actual obsession.”[32] + +Demoniac possession is frequently presented to us in the New Testament, +and we have the authority of Christ Himself as to its reality. The +infidel argument is to deny the possibility of possession in any +circumstances, either on the hypothesis that there are no evil spirits +in existence, or that they are powerless to influence the human body +in the manner described. But whatever view Rationalists may adopt—and +they are continually shifting their ground—no reader of the Scriptural +narrative can deny that Christ by word and deed showed His entire belief +in possession by evil spirits. And if Christ were divine how came He to +foster and encourage a delusion? Why did He not correct it? Only two +answers can be supposed. Either He was ignorant of a religious truth, or +He deliberately gave instructions that He knew to be false, frequently +acting in a way which was something more than misleading. To a Christian +either of these explanations is, of course, unthinkable. The theory of +accommodation formulated by Winer[33] may be accepted by Modernists, but +will be instantly condemned by all others. Accommodation is understood +as the toleration of harmless illusions of the day having little or +no connexion with religion. Even if this fine piece of profanity were +allowed, which, of course, must not be the case, the argument could not +be applied here, indeed it seems wholly repugnant even in regard to a +Saint, but entirely impossible in consideration of the divinity of Christ. + +The victims of possession were sometimes deprived of speech and sight: +“Then was offered to him one possessed of a devil, blind and dumb: and +he healed him, so that he spoke and saw” (S. Matthew xii. 22). Sometimes +they had lost speech alone: “Behold, they brought him a dumb man, +possessed with a devil, and after the devil was cast out the dumb man +spoke” (S. Matthew ix. 32, 33); also “And he was casting out a devil, and +the same was dumb: and when he had cast out the devil the dumb spoke” +(S. Luke xi. 14). In many cases the mere fact of possession is mentioned +without further details: “they presented to him such as were possessed +by devils, and lunatics ... and he cured them” (S. Matthew iv. 24); “and +when evening was come, they brought to him many that were possessed with +devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word” (S. Matthew viii. 16); +“And, behold a woman of Canaan, who came out of those coasts, crying out, +said to him: Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David: my daughter is +grievously troubled by a devil ... Then Jesus answering, said to her: +O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: and her +daughter was cured from that hour” (S. Matthew xv. 22-28); “And when +it was evening after sunset they brought to him all that were ill and +that were possessed with devils”; “And he cast out many devils, and he +suffered them not to speak, because they knew him”; “And he was preaching +in their synagogues, and in all Galilee, and casting out devils” (S. Mark +i. 32, 34, 39); “And the unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down +before him: and they cried, saying: Thou art the Son of God” (S. Mark +iii. 11, 12); “And devils went out from many, crying out and saying: Thou +art the Son of God” (S. Luke iv. 41); “And they that were troubled with +unclean spirits were cured” (S. Luke vi. 18); “And in that same hour, he +cured many of their diseases, and hurts, and evil spirits” (S. Luke vii. +21). The exorcism of the man “who had a devil now a very long time,” and +who dwelt among the tombs in the country of the Gerasens (Gadarenes) is +related by S. Luke (viii. 27-39). The possessed is tormented by so many +unclean spirits that they proclaim their name as Legion: he is endowed +with supernatural strength so that he breaks asunder bonds and fetters: +the devils recognize Christ as God, and Our Lord converses with them, +asking how they are called. Immediately the devils have been cast out the +man is clothed, peaceable, reasonable, and quiet, “in his right mind.” + +At the foot of Mount Tabor a young man is brought by his father to be +healed. The youth is possessed of a dumb spirit, “who, wheresoever he +taketh him dasheth him, and he foameth, and gnasheth with the teeth, and +pineth away.” When Jesus approached, “immediately the spirit troubled +him; and being thrown down upon the ground, he rolled about foaming.” +The patient had been thus afflicted “from his infancy, and oftentimes +hath he cast him into the fire and into waters to destroy him.” Our +Lord threatened the spirit, and forthwith expelled it. (S. Mark ix. +14-28.) It should be noticed that it is the demons who are addressed +on these occasions, not their victims. In the face of this catena of +Biblical evidence and the various circumstances attending these exorcisms +it is impossible to maintain that the possessed suffered merely from +epilepsy, paralysis, acute mania, or any other such disease. In fact the +Evangelists carefully separate natural maladies from diabolic possession: +“He cast out the spirits with his word: and all that were sick he healed” +(S. Matthew viii. 16); “They brought to him all that were ill and that +were possessed with devils ... and he healed many that were troubled with +divers diseases and he cast out many devils” (S. Mark i. 32, 34). In the +original Greek the distinction is still more clearly and unmistakably +shown: πάντας τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας καὶ τοὺς δαιμονιζομένους. Saint Matthew, +again, differentiates: “they presented to him all sick people that were +taken with divers diseases [ποικίλαις νόσοις] and torments [βασάνοις] +and such as were possessed by devils [δαιμονιζομένους] and lunatics +[σεληνιαζομένους] and those who had the palsy [παραλυτικούς] and he +cured them,” iv. 24. Moreover, Our Lord expressly distinguishes between +possession and natural disease; “Behold I cast out devils and do cures,” +are the Divine Words; ἰδοὺ ἐκβάλλω δαιμόνια καὶ ἰάσεις ἀποτελῶ (S. Luke +xiii. 32). + +That the demoniacs were often afflicted with other diseases as well is +highly probable. The demons may have attacked those who were already +sick, whilst the very fact of obsession or possession would of itself +produce disease as a natural consequence. + +According to S. Matthew x. 1, Our Lord gave special powers to the +Apostles to exorcize demons: “And having called his twelve disciples +together, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out, and +to heal all manner of diseases, and all manner of infirmities.” And S. +Peter, when describing the mission and miracles of Christ, stresses this +very point: “Jesus of Nazareth: how God anointed him with the Holy Ghost, +and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were +possessed by the devil,” τοὺς καταδυναστευομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου (Acts +x. 38). Our Lord Himself directly appeals to His power over evil spirits +as a proof of His Messiahship: “If I by the finger of God cast out +devils; doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you”; εἰ δὲ ἐν δακτύλῳ +Θεοῦ ἐκβάλλω τά δαιμόνια, ἄρα ἔφθασεν ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ (S. +Luke xi. 20). + +Whilst yet on earth Christ empowered the Apostles to cast out demons +in His Name, and in His last solemn charge He promised that the same +delegated power should be perpetuated: “These signs shall follow them +that believe: in my name they shall cast out devils”; σημεῖα δὲ τοῖς +πιστεύσασι ταῦτα παρακολουθήσει· ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου δαιμόνια ἐκβαλοῦσι +(S. Mark xvi. 17.) But the efficacy of exorcism was conditional, not +absolute as in the case of Our Lord Himself, for He explained, upon an +occasion when the Apostles seemed to fail, that certain spirits could +only be expelled by prayer and fasting. Moreover, a perfect belief and +complete command are necessary for the exorcizer. τότε προσέλθοντες οἱ +μαθηταὶ τῷ Ἱησοῦ κατ ἰδίαν εἶπον, Διατί ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἠδυνήθημεν ἐκβαλεῖν +αὐτό; ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς λέγει αὐτοῖς, Διὰ τὲν ὀλιγοπιστίαν ὑμῶν· ... τοῦτο δὲ +τὸ γένος οὐκ ἑκπορεύεται εἰ μὴ ἐν προσευχῇ καὶ νηστείᾳ ... (S. Matthew +xvii. 19-21). S. Paul, and no doubt the other Apostles and Disciples, +regularly made use of this exorcizing power. Thus, at Philippi, where +the girl “having a pythonical spirit ... who brought to her masters +much gain by divining” (παιδίσκην τινὰ ἔχουσαν πεῦνμα πύθωνα ... ἥτις +ἐργασίαν πολλὴν παρεῖχε τοῖς κυρίοις αὐτῆς μαντευπμένη)[34] met S. Paul +and S. Luke and proclaimed them as servants of the most high God, S. Paul +“being grieved, turned, and said to the spirit: I command thee, in the +name of Jesus Christ, to go out from her. And he went out the same hour” +(Acts xvi. 16-18). And at Ephesus, a hot-bed of magic and necromancy, +“God wrought by the hand of Paul more than common miracles. So that even +there were brought from his body to the sick, handkerchiefs and aprons, +and the diseases departed from them, and the wicked spirits went out of +them” (Acts xix. 11, 12). Those who do not imagine that the powers Our +Lord perpetually bestowed upon the Apostles and their followers abruptly +ceased with the thirty-first verse of the twenty-eighth chapter of The +Acts of the Apostles, realize that the charisma of exorcism has continued +through the ages, and in truth the Church has uninterruptedly practised +it until the present day. + +The Exorcist is ordained by the Bishop for this office, ordination to +which is the second of the four minor orders of the Western Church. Pope +Cornelius (251-252) mentions in his letter to Fabius that there were then +in the Roman Church forty-two acolytes, and fifty-two exorcists, readers, +and door-keepers, and the institution of these orders together with the +organization of their functions, seems to have been the work of the +predecessor of Cornelius, Pope Saint Fabian the Martyr (236-251). + +The rite of the Ordination of Exorcists, “De Ordinatione Exorcistarum,” +is as follows: First, the Book of Exorcisms, or in its place the +Pontifical or Missal must be ready at hand; _Pro Exorcistis ordinandis +paretur liber exorcismorum, cuius loco dari potest Pontificale uel +Missale_ (A Book of Exorcisms must be prepared for those who are to +be ordained Exorcists. Howbeit in place thereof the Pontifical or the +Missal may be handed to them) runs the rubric. When the Lectors have been +ordained, the Bishop resuming his mitre takes his place upon his seat or +faldstool at the Epistle side of the altar, and the Missal with the bugia +being brought by his acolytes he proceeds to read the Gradual, or (if it +be within the Octave of Pentecost) the _Alleluia_. Meantime the Gradual +is sung by the choir. When it is finished, he rises, takes off his mitre, +and turning to the altar intones the third collect. He next sits again, +resumes his mitre, and the third Lection is read. Two chaplains assist +him with bugia and book whence he reads the Lection. The Archdeacon now +summons the ordinandi, who approach, holding lighted tapers in their +hands, and kneel before the Bishop, who solemnly admonishes them with the +prayer: + +“Dearest children who are about to be ordained to the office of +Exorcists, ye must duly know what ye are about to undertake. For an +Exorcist must cast out devils; and announce to the people that those +that may not be present at the sacrifice should retire; and at the altar +minister water to the priest. Ye receive also the power of placing your +hand upon energumens, and by the imposition of your hands and the grace +of the Holy Spirit and the words of exorcism unclean spirits are driven +out from the bodies of those who are obsessed. Be careful therefore +that as ye drive out devils from the bodies of others, so ye banish all +uncleanness and evil from your own bodies lest ye fall beneath the power +of those spirits who by your ministry are conquered in others. Learn +through your office to govern all imperfections lest the enemy may claim +a share in you and some dominion over you. For truly will ye rightly +control those devils who attack others, when first ye have overcome +their many crafts against yourselves. And this may the Lord vouchsafe to +grant you through His Holy Spirit.”[35] After which the Bishop hands to +each severally the Book of Exorcisms (or Pontifical or Missal), saying: +“Receive this and commit it to thy memory and have power to place thy +hands upon energumens, whether they be baptized, or whether they be +catechumens.”[36] All kneel, and the Bishop, wearing his mitre, stands +and prays: + +“Dearest brethren, let us humbly pray God the Father Almighty that He +may vouchsafe to bless these his servants to the office of Exorcists +that they may have the power to command spirits, to cast forth from +the bodies of those who are obsessed demons with every kind of their +wickedness and deceit. Through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ Our +Lord who with Him liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit, +one God, world without end. _R._ Amen.”[37] Then, his mitre having been +removed, he turns to the altar with “Oremus” to which is given the reply +“Flectamus genua” with “Leuate,” and the last prayer is said over the +kneeling exorcists: “Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God vouchsafe +to bless these thy servants to the office of Exorcists; that by the +imposition of our hands and the words of our mouth they may have power +and authority to govern and restrain all unclean spirits: that they may +be skilful physicians for Thy Church, that they may heal many and be +themselves strengthened with all Heavenly Grace. Through Our Lord Jesus +Christ Thy Son who with Thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy +Spirit one God world without end. _R._ Amen.” And then, at a sign from +the Archdeacon, they return to their places.[38] + +It should be remarked that the Exorcist is specifically ordained “to cast +out demons,” and he receives “power to place his (your) hands upon the +possessed, so that by the imposition of his (your) hands,[39] the grace +of the Holy Ghost, and the words of exorcism, evil spirits are driven out +from the bodies of the possessed.” The very striking term _spiritualis +imperator_ is strictly applied to him, and God the Father is earnestly +entreated to grant him the grace “to cast out demons from the bodies of +the possessed with all their many sleights of wickedness.” Nothing could +be plainer, nothing could be more solemn, nothing could be more pregnant +with meaning and intention. The Order and delegated power of Exorcists +cannot be minimized; at least, so to do is clean contrary to the mind of +the Church as emphatically expressed in her most authoritative rites. In +actual practice the office of Exorcist has almost wholly been taken over +by clerics in major orders, but this, of course, in no way affects the +status and authority of the second of the four minor orders. + +Every priest, more especially perhaps if he be a parish priest, is +liable to be called upon to perform his duty as Exorcist. In doing so +he must carefully bear in mind and adhere to the prescriptions of the +_Rituale Romanum_, and he will do well to have due regard to the laws of +provincial or diocesan synods, which for the most part require that the +Bishop should be consulted and his authorization obtained before exorcism +be essayed. + +The chief points of importance in the detailed instructions under +twenty-one heads prefixed to the rite in the _Rituale_ may thus be +briefly summarized: (1) The priest or exorcist should be of mature age, +humble, of blameless life, courageous, of experience, and well-attested +prudence. It is fitting he should prepare himself for his task by +special acts of devotion and mortification, by fervent prayer and by +fasting (S. Matthew xvii. 20). (2) He must be a man of scholarship and +learning, a systematic student and well versed in the latest trends and +developments of psychological science. (3) Possession is not lightly +to be taken for granted. Each case is to be carefully examined and +great caution to be used in distinguishing genuine possession from +certain forms of disease. (4) He should admonish the possessed in so +far as the latter is capable, to dispose himself for the exorcism by +prayer, fasting, by confession, and Holy Communion, and while the rite +is in progress he must excite in his heart a most lively faith in the +goodness of God, and perfect resignation to the divine will. (5) The +exorcism should take place in the Church, or some other sacred place, if +convenient, but no crowd of gazers must be suffered to assemble out of +mere curiosity. There should, however, be a number of witnesses, grave +and devout persons of standing, eminent respectability, and acknowledged +probity, not prone to idle gossip, but discreet and silent. If on account +of sickness or for some legitimate reason the exorcism takes place in a +private house it is well that members of the family should be present; +especially is this enjoined, as a measure of precaution, if the subject +be a woman. (6) If the patient seems to fall asleep, or endeavours to +hinder the exorcist in any way during the rite he is to continue, if +possible with greater insistence, for such actions are probably a ruse +to trick him. (7) The exorcist, although humble and having no reliance +upon himself alone, is to speak with command and authority, and should +the patient be convulsed or tremble, let him be more fervent and more +insistent; the prayers and adjurations are to be recited with great +faith, a full and assured consciousness of power. (8) Let the exorcist +remember that he uses the words of Holy Scripture and Holy Church, not +his own words and phrases. (9) All idle and impertinent questioning of +the demon is to be avoided, nor should the evil spirit be allowed to +speak at length unchecked and unrebuked. (10) The Blessed Sacrament is +not to be brought near the body of the obsessed during exorcism for fear +of possible irreverence; Relics of the Saints may be employed, but in +this case every care must be most scrupulously observed that all due +veneration be paid to them; the Crucifix and Holy Water are to be used. +(11) If expulsion of the evil spirit, who will often prove obstinate, is +not secured at once, the rite should be repeated as often as need be. + +It will be seen that the Church has safeguarded exorcism with +extraordinary precautions, and that everything which is humanly possible +to prevent superstition, indecorum, or abuse is provided for and +recommended. Again and again the warning is repeated that so solemn, and +indeed terrible, an office must not lightly be undertaken. The actual +form in present use is as follows:[40] + + THE FORM OF EXORCISING THE POSSESSED + + [TRANSLATED FROM THE “ROMAN RITUAL.”] + + _The Priest, having confessed, or at least hating sin in his + heart, and having said Mass, if it possibly and conveniently + can be done, and humbly implored the Divine help, vested in + surplice and violet stole, the end of which he shall place + round the neck of the one possessed, and having the possessed + person before him, and bound if there be danger of violence, + shall sign himself, the person, and those standing by, with + the sign of the Cross, and sprinkle them with holy water, and + kneeling down, the others making the responses, shall say the + Litany as far as the prayers._ + + _At the end the Antiphon._ Remember not, Lord, our offences, + nor the offences of our forefathers, neither take Thou + vengeance of our sins. + + Our Father. _Secretly._ + + ℣ And lead us not into temptation. + ℟ But deliver us from evil. + + _Psalm_ liii. + + _Deus, in Nomine._ + + _The whole shall be said with_ Glory be to the Father. + + ℣. Save Thy servant, + ℟. O my God, that putteth his trust in Thee. + + ℣. Be unto him, O Lord, a strong tower, + ℟. From the face of his enemy. + + ℣. Let the enemy have no advantage of him, + ℟. Nor the son of wickedness approach to hurt him. + + ℣. Send him help, O Lord, from the sanctuary, + ℟. And strengthen him out of Sion. + + ℣. Lord, hear my prayer, + ℟. And let my cry come unto Thee. + + ℣. The Lord be with you, + ℟. And with thy spirit. + + Let us pray. + + O God, Whose property is ever to have mercy and to forgive: + receive our supplications and prayers, that of Thy mercy + and loving-kindness Thou wilt set free this Thy servant (or + handmaid) who is fast bound by the chain of his sins. + + O holy Lord, Father Almighty, Eternal God, the Father of our + Lord Jesus Christ: Who hast assigned that tyrant and apostate + to the fires of hell; and hast sent Thine Only Begotten Son + into the world, that He might bruise him as he roars after + his prey: make haste, tarry not, to deliver this man, created + in Thine Own image and likeness, from ruin, and from the + noon-day devil. Send Thy fear, O Lord, upon the wild beast, + which devoureth Thy vine. Grant Thy servants boldness to fight + bravely against that wicked dragon, lest he despise them that + put their trust in Thee, and say, as once he spake in Pharaoh: + I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. Let Thy + right hand in power compel him to depart from Thy servant N. + (or Thy handmaid N.) ✠, that he dare no longer to hold him + captive, whom Thou hast vouchsafed to make in Thine image, and + hast redeemed in Thy Son; Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in + the Unity of the Holy Spirit, ever One God, world without end. + Amen. + + _Then he shall command the spirit in this manner._ + + I command thee, whosoever thou art, thou unclean spirit, and + all thy companions possessing this servant of God, that by + the Mysteries of the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection and + Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the sending of the Holy + Ghost, and by the Coming of the same our Lord to judgment, + thou tell me thy name, the day, and the hour of thy going out, + by some sign: and, that to me, a minister of God, although + unworthy, thou be wholly obedient in all things: nor hurt this + creature of God, or those that stand by, or their goods in any + way. + + _Then shall these Gospels, or one or the other, be read over + the possessed._ + + The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. John i. 1. _As he + says these words he shall sign himself and the possessed on the + forehead, mouth, and breast._ In the beginning was the Word ... + full of grace and truth. + + The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Mark xvi. 15. At + that time: Jesus spake unto His disciples: Go ye into all the + world ... shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. + + The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Luke x. 17. At + that time: The seventy returned again with joy ... because your + names are written in heaven. + + The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Luke xi. 14. At + that time: Jesus was casting out a devil, and it was dumb ... + wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. + + ℣. Lord, hear my prayer, + ℟. And let my cry come unto Thee. + + ℣. The Lord be with you, + ℟. And with thy Spirit. + + Let us pray. + + Almighty Lord, Word of God the Father, Jesus Christ, God and + Lord of every creature: Who didst give to Thy Holy Apostles + power to tread upon serpents and scorpions: Who amongst other + of Thy wonderful commands didst vouchsafe to say—Put the + devils to flight: by Whose power Satan fell from heaven like + lightning: with supplication I beseech Thy Holy Name in fear + and trembling, that to me Thy most unworthy servant, granting + me pardon of all my faults, Thou wilt vouchsafe to give + constancy of faith and power, that shielded by the might of Thy + holy arm, in trust and safety I may approach to attack this + cruel devil, through Thee, O Jesus Christ, the Lord our God, + Who shalt come to judge the quick and the dead, and the world + by fire. Amen. + + _Then defending himself and the possessed with the sign of the + Cross, putting part of his stole round the neck, and his right + hand upon the head of the possessed, firmly and with great + faith he shall say what follows._ + + ℣. Behold the Cross of the Lord, flee ye of the contrary part, + ℟. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed. + + ℣. Lord, hear my prayer, + ℟. And let my cry come unto Thee. + + ℣. The Lord be with you, + ℟. And with thy spirit. + + Let us pray. + + O God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I call upon Thy + Holy Name, and humbly implore Thy mercy, that Thou wouldest + vouchsafe to grant me help against this, and every unclean + spirit, that vexes this Thy creature. Through the same Lord + Jesus Christ. + + THE EXORCISM. + + I exorcise thee, most foul spirit, every coming in of the + enemy, every apparition, every legion; in the Name of our + Lord Jesus ✠ Christ be rooted out, and be put to flight from + this creature of God ✠. He commands thee, Who has bid thee be + cast down from the highest heaven into the lower parts of the + earth. He commands thee, Who has commanded the sea, the winds, + and the storms. Hear therefore, and fear, Satan, thou injurer + of the faith, thou enemy of the human race, thou procurer + of death, thou destroyer of life, kindler of vices, seducer + of men, betrayer of the nations, inciter of envy, origin of + avarice, cause of discord, stirrer-up of troubles: why standest + thou, and resistest, when thou knowest that Christ the Lord + destroyest thy ways? Fear Him, Who was sacrificed in Isaac, Who + was sold in Joseph, was slain in the Lamb, was crucified in + man, thence was the triumpher over hell. _The following signs + of the Cross shall be made upon the forehead of the possessed._ + Depart therefore in the Name of the Father ✠, and of the Son ✠, + and of the Holy ✠ Ghost: give place to the Holy Ghost, by this + sign of the holy ✠ Cross of Jesus Christ our Lord: Who with + the Father, and the same Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth ever + one God, world without end. Amen. + + ℣. Lord, hear my prayer. + ℟. And let my cry come unto Thee. + + ℣. The Lord be with you. + ℟. And with thy spirit. + + Let us pray. + + O God, the Creator and Protector of the human race, Who hast + formed man in Thine own Image: look upon this Thy servant N. + (_or_ this Thy handmaid N.), who is grievously vexed with + the wiles of an unclean spirit, whom the old adversary, the + ancient enemy of the earth, encompasses with a horrible dread, + and blinds the senses of his human understanding with stupor, + confounds him with terror, and harasses him with trembling + and fear. Drive away, O Lord, the power of the devil, take + away his deceitful snares: let the impious tempter fly far + hence: let Thy servant be defended by the sign ✠ (_on his + forehead_) of Thy Name, and be safe both in body, and soul. + (_The three following crosses shall be made on the breast of + the demoniac._) Do Thou guard his inmost ✠ soul, Thou rule his + inward ✠ parts, Thou strengthen his ✠ heart. Let the attempts + of the opposing power in his soul vanish away. Grant, O Lord, + grace to this invocation of Thy most Holy Name, that he who up + to this present was causing terror, may flee away affrighted, + and depart conquered; and that this Thy servant, strengthened + in heart, and sincere in mind, may render Thee his due service. + Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. + + THE EXORCISM. + + I adjure thee, thou old serpent, by the Judge of the quick + and the dead, by thy Maker, and the Maker of the world: by + Him, Who hath power to put thee into hell, that thou depart + in haste from this servant of God N., who returns to the + bosom of the Church, with thy fear and with the torment of + thy terror. I adjure Thee again ✠ (_on his forehead_), not in + my infirmity, but by the power of the Holy Ghost, that thou + go out of this servant of God N., whom the Almighty God hath + made in His Own Image. Yield, therefore, not to me, but to the + minister of Christ. For His power presses upon thee Who subdued + thee beneath His Cross. Tremble at His arm, which, after the + groanings of hell were subdued, led forth the souls into light. + Let the body ✠ (_on his breast_) of man be a terror to thee, + let the image of God ✠ (_on his forehead_) be an alarm to thee. + Resist not, nor delay to depart from this person, for it has + pleased Christ to dwell in man. And think not that I am to be + despised, since thou knowest that I too am so great a sinner. + God ✠ commands thee. The majesty of Christ ✠ commands thee. God + the Father ✠ commands thee. God the Son ✠ commands thee. God + the Holy ✠ Ghost commands thee. The Sacrament of the Cross ✠ + commands thee. The faith of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, + and of all the other Saints ✠, commands thee. The blood of + the Martyrs ✠ commands thee. The stedfastness (_continentia_) + of the Confessors ✠ commands thee. The devout intercession of + all the Saints ✠ commands thee. The virtue of the Mysteries of + the Christian Faith ✠ commands thee. Go out, therefore, thou + transgressor. Go out, thou seducer, full of all deceit and + wile, thou enemy of virtue, thou persecutor of innocence. Give + place, thou most dire one: give place, thou most impious one: + give place to Christ in Whom thou hast found nothing of thy + works: Who hath overcome thee, Who hath destroyed thy kingdom, + Who hath led thee captive and bound thee, and hath spoiled thy + goods: Who hath cast thee into outer darkness, where for thee + and thy servants everlasting destruction is prepared. But why, + O fierce one, dost thou withstand? why, rashly bold, dost thou + refuse? thou art the accused of Almighty God, whose laws thou + hast broken. Thou art the accused of Jesus Christ our Lord, + whom thou hast dared to tempt, and presumed to crucify. Thou + art the accused of the human race, to whom by thy persuasion + thou hast given to drink thy poison. Therefore, I adjure thee, + most wicked dragon, in the Name of the immaculate ✠ Lamb, Who + treads upon the lion and adder, Who tramples under foot the + young lion and the dragon, that thou depart from this man ✠ + (_let the sign be made upon his forehead_), that thou depart + from the Church of God ✠ (_let the sign be made over those + who are standing by_): tremble, and flee away at the calling + upon the Name of that Lord, of Whom hell is afraid; to Whom + the Virtues, the Powers, and the Dominions of the heavens are + subject; Whom Cherubim and Seraphim with unwearied voices + praise, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. The + Word ✠ made Flesh commands thee. He Who was born ✠ of the + Virgin commands thee. Jesus ✠ of Nazareth commands thee; Who, + although thou didst despise His disciples, bade thee go bruised + and overthrown out of the man: and in his presence, having + separated thee from him, thou didst not presume to enter into + the herd of swine. Therefore, thus now adjured in His Name ✠, + depart from the man, whom He has formed. It is hard for thee + to wish to resist ✠. It is hard for thee to kick against the + pricks ✠. Because the more slowly goest thou out, does the + greater punishment increase against thee, for thou despisest + not men, but Him, Who is Lord both of the quick and the dead, + Who shall come to judge the quick and the dead, and the World + by fire. ℟. Amen. + + ℣. Lord, hear my prayer. + ℟. And let my cry come unto thee. + + ℣. The Lord be with you. + ℟. And with thy spirit. + + Let us pray. + + O God of heaven, God of earth, God of the Angels, God of the + Archangels, God of the Prophets, God of the Apostles, God of + the Martyrs, God of the Virgins, God, Who hast the power to + give life after death, rest after labour; because there is none + other God beside Thee, nor could be true, but Thou, the Creator + of heaven and earth, Who art the true King, and of Whose + kingdom there shall be no end: humbly I beseech Thy glorious + majesty, that Thou wouldest vouchsafe to deliver this Thy + servant from unclean spirits, through Christ our Lord. Amen. + + THE EXORCISM. + + I therefore adjure thee, thou most foul spirit, every + appearance, every inroad of Satan, in the Name of Jesus Christ + ✠ of Nazareth, Who, after His baptism in Jordan, was led into + the wilderness, and overcame thee in thine own stronghold: that + thou cease to assault him whom He hath formed from the dust + of the earth for His own honour and glory: and that thou in + miserable man tremble not at human weakness, but at the image + of Almighty God. Yield, therefore, to God ✠ Who by His servant + Moses drowned thee and thy malice in Pharaoh and his army in + the depths of the sea. Yield to God ✠ Who put thee to flight + when driven out of King Saul with spiritual song, by his most + faithful servant David. Yield thyself to God ✠ Who condemned + thee in the traitor Judas Iscariot. For He touches thee with + Divine ✠ stripes, when in His sight, trembling and crying out + with thy legions, thou saidst: What have I to do with Thee, + Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Art Thou come hither to + torment us before the time? He presses upon thee with perpetual + flames, Who shall say to the wicked at the end of time—Depart + from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the + devil and his angels. For thee, O impious one, and for thy + angels, is the worm that dieth not; for thee and thy angels + is the fire unquenchable prepared: for thou art the chief of + accursed murder, thou the author of incest, thou the head of + sacrileges, thou the master of the worst actions, thou the + teacher of heretics, thou the instigator of all uncleanness. + Therefore go out ✠ thou wicked one, go out ✠, thou infamous + one, go out with all thy deceits; for God hath willed that man + shall be His temple. But why dost thou delay longer here? Give + honour to God the Father ✠ Almighty, before Whom every knee is + bent. Give place to Jesus Christ ✠ the Lord, Who shed for man + His most precious Blood. Give place to the Holy ✠ Ghost, Who by + His blessed Apostle Peter struck thee to the ground in Simon + Magus; Who condemned thy deceit in Ananias and Sapphira; Who + smote thee in Herod, because he gave not God the glory; Who by + his Apostle Paul smote thee in Elymas the sorcerer with a mist + and darkness, and by the same Apostle by his word of command + bade thee come out of the damsel possessed with the spirit + of divination. Now therefore depart ✠, depart, thou seducer. + The wilderness is thy abode. The serpent is the place of thy + habitation: be humbled, and be overthrown. There is no time now + for delay. For behold the Lord the Ruler approaches closely + upon thee, and His fire shall glow before Him, and shall go + before Him; and shall burn up His enemies on every side. If + thou hast deceived man, at God thou canst not scoff: One + expels thee, from Whose Sight nothing is hidden. He casts thee + out, to Whose power all things are subject. He shuts thee out, + Who hast prepared for thee and for thine angels everlasting + hell; out of Whose mouth the sharp sword shall go out, when He + shall come to judge the quick and the dead, and the World by + fire. Amen. + + _All the aforesaid things being said and done, so far as there + shall be need, they shall be repeated, until the possessed + person be entirely set free._ + + _The following which are noted down will be of great + assistance, said devoutly over the possessed, and also + frequently to repeat the_ Our Father, Hail Mary, _and_ Creed. + + _The Canticle._ Magnificat. + + _The Canticle._ Benedictus. + + _The Creed of S. Athanasius._ + + _Quicunque uult._ + + Psalm xc. _Qui habitat._ + + Psalm lxvii. _Exurgat Deus._ + + Psalm lxix. _Deus in adiutorium._ + + Psalm liii. _Deus, In Nomine Tuo._ + + Psalm cxvii. _Confitemini Domino._ + + Psalm xxxiv. _Iudica, Domine._ + + Psalm xxx. _In Te, Domine, speraui._ + + Psalm xxi. _Deus, Deus meus._ + + Psalm iii. _Domine, quid multiplicasti?_ + + Psalm x. _In Domino confido._ + + Psalm xii. _Usquequo, Domine?_ + + _Each Psalm shall be said with_ Glory be to the Father, &c. + + _Prayer after being set free._ + + We pray Thee, O Almighty God, that the spirit of wickedness may + have no more power over this Thy servant N. (_or_ Thy handmaid + N.), but that he may flee away, and never come back again: at + Thy bidding, O Lord, let there come into him (_or_ her) the + goodness and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have + been redeemed, and let us fear no evil, for the Lord is with + us, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the Unity of the Holy + Ghost, ever one God, world without end. ℟. Amen. + +A shorter form of exorcism, which, being general, differs in aim and use, +was published by order of Pope Leo XIII and may be found in the later +editions of the _Rituale Romanum_, “Exorcismus in Satanam et Angelos +apostalicos.”[41] After the customary invocation _In nomine_ ... the rite +begins with a prayer to S. Michael, the solemn adjuration of some length +follows with versicles and responses, a second prayer is next recited, +and the whole concludes by three aspirations from the Litany: “From the +deceits and crafts of the Devil; O Lord, deliver us. That it may please +Thee to rule Thy Church so it shall alway serve Thee in lasting peace and +true liberty; We beseech Thee, hear us. That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to +beat down and subdue all the enemies of Thy Holy Church; We beseech Thee, +hear us.” _And the place is sprinkled with Holy Water_,[42] is the final +rubric. + +The Baptismal Exorcism and exorcisms such as those of water, salt,[43] +and oil, it were perhaps impertinent to treat of here. It may, however, +be noticed that in the ceremony of the Blessing of the Waters[44] +(approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, 6 December, 1890), +performed on the Vigil of the Epiphany, there occurs a solemn “Exorcismus +contra Satanam et Angelos apostalicos,” followed by “Exorcismus salis” +and “Exorcismus aquæ.” + +There are recorded throughout history innumerable examples of obsession +and demoniacal possession, as also of potent and successful exorcism. It +is, of course, quite possible, and indeed probable, that many of these +cases were due to natural causes, epilepsy, acute hysteria, incipient +lunacy, and the like. But, none the less, when every allowance has been +made for incorrect diagnosis, for ill-informed ascriptions of rare and +obscure forms of both physical and mental maladies, for credulity, honest +mistakes, and exaggerations of every kind, there will yet remain a very +considerable quota which it seems impossible to account for and explain +save on the score of possession by some evil and hostile intelligence. +But nobody is asked to accept all the instances of diabolic possession +recorded in the history of the Church, nor even to form any definite +opinion upon the historical evidence in favour of any particular +case. That is primarily a matter for historical and medical science. +And, perhaps, even at the present day and among civilized races this +phenomenon is not so rare as is popularly supposed. + +The annals of Bedlam, of many a private madhouse, and many an asylum +could tell strange and hideous histories. And if we may judge from the +accounts furnished by the pioneers of the Faith in missionary countries +the evidences of diabolical agency there are as clearly defined and +unmistakable as they were in Galilee in the time of Christ.[45] + +Demoniacal possession is frequently described and alluded to by the early +fathers and apologists in matter-of-fact terms which leave no shadow of +doubt as to their belief in this regard. Indeed the success of Christian +exorcism is often brought forward as an argument for the acceptance of +the Divinity of the founder of Christianity. It would be an easy, but +a very lengthy process, to make a catena of such passages from Greek +and Latin authors alike.[46] S. Justin Martyr (_ob._ _circa_ A.D. 165) +speaks of demons flying from “the touch and breathing of Christians” +(_Apologia_, II, 6), “as from a flame that burns them,” adds S. Cyril +of Jerusalem (_ob._ 385-6: _Catechesis_, XX, 3). Origen (_ob._ 253-4) +mentions the laying on of hands to cast out devils, whilst S. Ambrose[47] +(_ob._ 397), S. Ephrem Syrus[48] (_ob._ 373), and others used this +ceremony when exorcizing. The holy sign of the Cross also is extolled by +many Fathers for its efficacy against all kinds of diabolic molestation; +thus Lactantius writes: “Nunc satis est, huius signi [Crucis] potentiam, +quantum ualeat exponere. Quanto terrori sit dæmonibus hoc signum, +sciet, qui uiderit, quatenus adiurati per Christum, de corporibus, quæ +obsederint, fugiant,”[49] _Diuinarum Institutionum_, IV, xxvii.[50] S. +Athanasius (_ob._ 373), _De Incarnatione Uerbi_, XLVII; S. Basil (_ob._ +379), _In Esaiam_, XI, 249; S. Cyril of Jerusalem, _Catechesis_, XIII; +S. Gregory of Nazianzus (_ob._ _circa_ 389), _Carmen aduersus Iram_, 415 +_sqq._, all have passages of no little weight to the same effect. S. +Cyril, _Procatechesis_, IX; and S. Athanasius, _Ad Marcellum_, XXIII, +recommend that the prayers of exorcism and the adjuration should as far +as possible repeat the exact words of Holy Scripture. + +In the annals of hagiography we find from the earliest days until our +own time very many instances of possession, very many cases where a poor +afflicted wretch has been released and relieved by the power and prayer +of some Saint or holy servant of God.[51] + +Thus in the life of S. Benedict, that noble, calm, dignified, prudent, +great-souled, and high-minded hero, there are recorded several +occasions upon which he was confronted by extraordinary manifestations +of evil spirits who resisted the building of his monastery upon the +crest of Monte Cassino, where Satanism had been previously practised. +It is not said that there were any visible appearances, save to S. +Benedict alone,[52] but a succession of untoward accidents, of abnormal +occurrences and constant alarms, plainly showed that the Saint was +contending against superhuman difficulties. More than once he found it +necessary to exorcize certain of his monks,[53] and so marked was his +triumph over these malignant and destructive influences that he has +always been venerated in the Church as a most potent “effugator dæmonum,” +and is confidently invoked in the hour of spiritual peril and deadly +attack. Great faith also is placed in the Medal of Saint Benedict. This +medal, originally a cross, is dedicated to the devotion in honour of the +Patriarch. One side bears the figure of the Saint holding a cross in his +right hand, and the Holy Rule in his left. Upon the other is a cross +together with the following letters arranged on and around it: C.S.P.B., +Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti (The Cross of the holy Father Benedict). +C.S.S.M.L., Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux (May the holy Cross be my Light). +N.D.S.M.D., Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux (Let not the Devil be my guide). +U.R.S.: N.S.M.U.: S.M.Q.L.: I.U.B.: Uade Retro Satana: Nunquam Suade +Mihi Uana: Sunt Mala Quæ Libas: Ipse Uenena Bibas. (Begone, Satan, never +suggest things to me, what thou offerest is evil, drink thou thyself thy +poison).[54] The “Centenary” form of the medal (struck at Monte Cassino +in 1880 to commemorate the 13th centenary of the birth of S. Benedict in +480) has under the figure the words: _Ex S.M. Cassino MDCCCLXXX_. Upon +the same side round the edge runs the inscription: Eius in obitu n̅r̅o +præsentia muniamur (May we be protected by his presence at the hour of +our death), and the word PAX appears above the cross. + +It is doubtful when the Medal of S. Benedict originated, but during +a trial for Witchcraft at Natternberg, near the abbey of Metten, in +Bavaria, during the year 1647, the accused women testified that they had +no power over Metten which was under the particular protection of the +cross. Upon investigation a number of painted crosses surrounded by the +letters which are now engraved upon Benedictine medals were found on the +walls of the abbey, but their signification had been wholly forgotten. At +length, in an old manuscript, written in 1415, was discovered a picture +representing S. Benedict holding in one hand a staff which ended in a +cross, and in the other a scroll. On the staff and scroll were written +in full the formulas of which the mysterious letters were the initials. +Medals with the figure of S. Benedict, a cross, and these letters began +now to be struck and rapidly spread over Europe. The medals were first +authoritatively approved by Benedict XIV in his briefs of 23 December, +1741, and 12 March, 1742. + +In the case of the possessed boys of Illfurt (Alsace) they exhibited the +utmost horror and dread of a Medal of S. Benedict. + +These medals are hallowed with a proper rite[55] in which the adjuration +commences: “Exorcizo uos, numismata, per Deum Patrem ✠ omnipotentem....” +“I exorcize ye, medals, through God the Father ✠ Almighty.... May the +power of the adversary, all the host of the Devil, all evil attack, +every spirit and glamour of Satan, be utterly put to flight and driven +far away by the virtue of these medals....”[56] The prayer runs: “O Lord +Jesus Christ ... by Thy most Holy Passion I humbly pray and beseech Thee, +that Thou wouldest grant that whosoever devoutly invoketh Thy Holy Name +in this prayer and petition which Thou Thyself hast taught us, may be +delivered from every deceit of the Devil and from all his wiles, and that +Thou wouldest vouchsafe to bring Thy servant to the harbour of salvation. +Who livest and reignest....”[57] + +S. Maurus also, the beloved disciple of S. Benedict, was famous for the +cures he wrought in cases of possession.[58] Visiting France in 543 he +became founder and superior of the abbey of Glanfeuil, Anjou, later +known by his name, St. Maur-sur-Loise.[59] The relics of S. Maurus after +various translations were finally enshrined at St. Germain-des-Prez. +In the eleventh century an arm of the Saint had been with great +devotion transferred to Monte Cassino, where by its touch a demoniac +was delivered. This is related by Desiderius,[60] who was abbot at that +time, and afterwards became Pope, Blessed Victor III (_ob._ 16 September, +1087). Throughout the Middle Ages the tomb of S. Maur at St. Germain was +a celebrated place of pilgrimage, and the possessed were brought here in +large numbers to be healed.[61] + +The Holy Winding Sheet of Besançon, again, was greatly resorted to for +the relief and cure of possession. This venerable relic, being one of +the linen cloths used at the burial of Christ, was brought to Besançon +in 1206 by Otto de la Roche, and the feast of its arrival (_Susceptio_) +was ordered to be kept on 11 July. At present it is a double of the first +class in the cathedral, St. Jean, and of the second class throughout the +diocese. + +Novenas made in the church at Bonnet, near Nantes, were popularly +supposed to be of especial efficacy in healing possession. + +It is, of course, impossible even briefly to catalogue the most important +and striking of the numberless cases of possession recorded throughout +the centuries in every country and at every era. Of these a great number +are, no doubt, to be attributed to disease; very many to a commixture of +hysteria and semi-conscious, or more frequently unconscious, fraud; some +few to mere chousing; and, if human evidence is worth anything at all, +many actually to diabolic influence. + +There were some curious episodes in England during Queen Elizabeth’s +reign, when a third-rate Puritan minister, John Darrel, made a +considerable stir owing to his attempts at exorcism. This idea seems +to have been suggested to him by the exorcisms of the famous Jesuit +missionary priest, William Weston, who after having been educated at +Oxford, Paris, and Douai, entered the Society on 5 November, 1575, at +Rome. He then worked and taught in Spain, until he was called to his +native mission, actually arriving in England, 20 September, 1584. In +the course of his labours, which at that dangerous time were carried +on in circumstances of extremest peril, he was required to perform the +rite of exorcism upon several distressed persons, who were for the most +part brought to him at the houses of two zealous Catholics, Sir George +Peckham of Denham, near Uxbridge, and Lord Vaux of Hackney, both of +which gentlemen had suffered in many ways for their faith. With regard +to the patients we can only say that we lack evidence to enable us to +decide whether the cases were genuine, or whether they were merely sick +and ailing folk; but we can confidently affirm that there is no suspicion +of any fraud or cozenage. Father Weston is acknowledged to have been +a man of the most candid sincerity, intensely spiritual, and of no +ordinary powers. Although the rites, in which several priests joined, +were performed with the utmost secrecy and every precaution was taken to +prevent any report being spread abroad, somebody gossiped, and in about a +year various exaggerated accounts were being circulated, until the matter +came before the Privy Council. A violent recrudescence of persecution at +once followed, many of the exorcists were seized and butchered for their +priesthood, the rest, including Weston, were flung into jail, August, +1586. A long period of imprisonment ensued, and in 1599 Weston was +committed to the Tower, where he suffered such hardships that he wellnigh +lost his sight. Eventually in 1603 he was banished, and spent the rest of +his days at Seville and Valladolid. He was rector of the latter college +at the time of his death, 9 June, 1615.[62] + +It was in 1586, just when the exorcisms of the Jesuit fathers had +unfortunately attracted so widespread attention and foolish comment, +that John Darrel, although a Protestant and lacking both appropriate +ordination and training, rashly resolved to emulate their achievements. +He was young, not much more than twenty, he was foolhardy and he was +ignorant, three qualities which even in our own time often win cheap +notoriety. It seems that he was first called in to cure a young girl of +seventeen, Katherine Wright, who lived at Mansfield, Nottingham. Darrel +forthwith pronounced that she was afflicted by an evil spirit, and he +prayed over her from four o’clock in the morning till noon, but entirely +without result. He then declared that the wench had been bewitched and +that the demon, moreover, was sent by one Margaret Roper, with whom the +patient had recently quarrelled. The girl backed his story, and the +accused woman was at once taken into custody by the constable. When, +however, she appeared before Mr. Fouliamb, a justice of the peace, not +only was she incontinently discharged, but Darrel received a smart rebuff +and found himself in no small danger of arrest. + +This mischance sufficiently scared the would-be exorcist, and for some +ten years he disappeared from view, only to come before the public again +at Burton-upon-Trent, where he was prominent in the sensation and the +scandal that centred round Thomas Darling, a young Derbyshire boy. This +imaginative juvenal was subject to fits—real or feigned—during which he +had visions of green angels and a green cat. Betimes his conversation +became larded with true Puritan cant, and he loved to discourse with +godly ministers. A credulous physician suggested that the lad was +bewitched, and very soon afterwards it was noticed that the reading +aloud of the Bible, especially certain verses in the first chapter of S. +John’s Gospel, threw him into frantic convulsions. He also began a long +prattling tale about “a little old woman” who wore “a broad thrimmed +hat,” which proved amply sufficient to cause two women, Elizabeth +Wright, and her daughter, Alse Gooderidge, long vehemently suspected of +sorcery, to be examined before two magistrates, who committed Alse to +jail. Next those concerned summoned a cunning man, who used various rough +methods to induce the prisoner to confess. After having been harried and +even tortured the wretched creature made some rambling and incoherent +acknowledgements of guilt, which were twisted into a connected story. By +now Darling had been ill for three months, and so far from improving, was +getting worse. + +At this juncture, exactly the dramatic moment, John Darrel, full of +bluff and bounce, appeared upon the scene, and forthwith took charge +of affairs. According to his own account his efforts were singularly +blessed; that is to say the boy got better and the sly Puritan claimed +all the credit. Alse Gooderidge was tried at the assizes, convicted by +the jury, and sentenced to death by Lord Chief Justice Anderson; “She +should have been executed but that her spirit killed her in prison,” says +John Denison the pamphleteer! The whole affair greatly increased Darrel’s +reputation. + +Not long after a much-bruited case of alleged possession in Lancashire +gave him further opportunity to pose in the limelight. Ann Starchie, aged +nine, and John, her brother, aged ten, were seized with a mysterious +disorder; “a certaine fearefull starting and pulling together of her +body” affected the girl, whilst the boy was “compelled to shout” on his +way to school. Both grew steadily worse until their father, Nicholas +Starchie, consulted Edmund Hartley, a notorious conjurer of no very fair +repute. Hartley seems to have quieted the children by means of various +charms, and the father paid him something like a retaining fee of forty +shillings a year. This, however, he insisted should be increased, and +when any addition was denied, there were quarrels, and presently the +boy and girl again fell ill. The famous Dr. Dee was summoned, but he +was obviously nonplussed, and whilst he “sharply reproved and straitly +examined” Hartley, in his quandary could do or say little more save +advise the help of “godlie preachers.” The situation in that accursed +house now began to grow more serious. Besides the children three young +wards of Mr. Starchie, a servant, and a visitor, were all seized with the +strange disease. “All or most of them joined together in a strange and +supernatural loud whupping that the house and grounde did sounde therwith +again.” Hartley fell under suspicion, and was haled before a justice +of the peace, who promptly committed him to the assizes. Evidence was +given that he was continually kissing the Starchie children, in fact, +he kept embracing all the possessed, and it was argued that he had thus +communicated an evil spirit to them. He was accused of having drawn magic +circles upon the ground, and although he stoutly denied the charge, he +was convicted of felony and hanged at Lancaster. John Darrel and his +assistant, George More, minister of a church in Derbyshire, undertook +to exorcize the afflicted, and in a day or two, after long prayers and +great endeavours, they managed to expel the devils. Here we have folly, +imposture, and hysteria all blended together to make a horrible tale. + +At this time Darrel was officiating as a minister at Nottingham, where +there happened to be living a young apprenticed musician, a clever and +likely lad, William Somers, who some years before had met Darrel at +Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where both had been resident. It appears that the boy +had once met a strange woman, whom he offended in some way, and suddenly +he “did use such strang and idle kinde of gestures in laughing, dancing, +and such like lighte behaviour, that he was suspected to be madd.” The +famous exorcist was sent for on the 5th of November, 1597, and forthwith +recognized the signs of possession. The lad was suffering for the sins of +Nottingham. Accordingly sermons were delivered and prayers were read in +true ranting fashion, and when Darrel named one after the other fourteen +signs of possession the patient, who had been most carefully coached, +illustrated each in turn. + +It is possible that Darrel had to some extent mesmeric control over +Somers, whose performance was of a very remarkable nature at least, for +“he tore; he foamed; he wallowed; his face was drawn awry; his eyes would +stare and his tongue hang out”; together with a thousand other such apish +antics which greatly impressed the bystanders. Finally the boy lay as if +dead for a quarter of an hour, and then rose up declaring he was well and +whole. + +However, obsession followed possession. The demon still assailed him, and +it was not long before Master Somers accused thirteen women of having +contrived his maladies by their sorcery. Darrel, the witch-finder, had +by this time attained a position of no small importance in the town, +being chosen preacher at S. Mary’s, and he was prepared to back his +pupil to the uttermost. Yet even his influence for some reason did not +serve, and all but two of the women concerned were released from prison. +Next certain unbelieving citizens had the bad taste to interfere, and to +carry off the chief actor to the house of correction, where he pretty +soon confessed his impostures, in which, as he acknowledged, he had been +carefully instructed by Darrel. The matter now became a public scandal, +and upon the report of the Archdeacon of Derby the Archbishop of York +appointed a commission to inquire into the facts. Brought before these +ministers, not one of whom could possibly have had any means of forming a +correct judgement, Somers retracted his words, asserted that he had been +induced to slander Darrel, and thereat fell into such fits, foamings, and +contortions that the ignoramuses were convinced of the reality of his +demoniac possession. + +At the Nottingham assizes, however, things went differently. Summoned to +court and encouraged by the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Edmund Anderson,[63] +to tell the truth the wretched young man made a clean breast of all his +tricks. The case against Alice Freeman, the accused, was dismissed, and +Sir Edmund, shocked at the frauds, wrote a weighty letter to Whitgift, +the Archbishop of Canterbury. Darrel and More were cited to the Court of +High Commission, where Bancroft, Bishop of London, two of the Lord Chief +Justices, the Master of Requests, and other high officials heard the +case. It is obvious that Bancroft really controlled the examination from +first to last, and that he combined the rôles of prosecutor and judge. +Somers now told the Court how he had been in constant communication with +Darrel, how they had met secretly when Darrel taught him “to doe all +those trickes which Katherine Wright did” and later sent him to see and +learn of the boy of Burton. In fact Darrel made him go through a whole +series of antics again and again in his presence, and it was after all +these preliminaries and practice that the lad posed as a possessed person +at Nottingham and was prayed over and exhibited. The vulpine Puritan +was fairly caught. No doubt the Bishop of London may have been a trifle +arbitrary, but after all he was dealing with a rank impostor. Darrel and +More were deposed from the ministry, and committed to close prison. + +The whole of this case is reported by Samuel Harsnett, chaplain to +Bancroft, in a book of three hundred and twenty-four pages, _A Discovery +of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel, Bacheler of Artes_.... +London, 1599, and a perfect rain of pamphlets followed. Both Darrel and +More answered Harsnett, drawing meantime a number of other persons into +the paper fray. We have such works as _An Apologie, or defence of the +possession of William Sommers, a young man of the towne of Nottingham.... +By John Darrell, Minister of Christ Jesus_ ... a black letter brochure +which is undated but may be safely assigned to 1599; _The Triall of +Maist. Dorrel, or A Collection of Defences against Allegations_ ... +1599;[64] and Darrel’s abusive _A Detection of that sinnful, shamful, +lying, and ridiculous discours of Samuel Harshnet_, 1600. There are +several allusions in contemporary dramatists to the scandal, and Jonson +in _The Divell is an Asse_, acted in 1616, V, 3, has: + + It is the easiest thing, Sir, to be done. + As plaine as fizzling: roule but wi’ your eyes, + And foame at th’ mouth. A little castle-soape + Will do’t, to rub your lips: And then a nutshell, + With toe and touchwood in it to spit fire, + Did you ner’e read, Sir, little _Darrel’s_ tricks, + With the boy o’ _Burton_, and the 7 in _Lancashire_, + Sommers at _Nottingham_? All these do teach it. + And wee’l give out, Sir, that your wife ha’s bewitch’d you. + +It is probable that in his books Harsnett is to a large extent the +mouthpiece of the ideas of Bancroft,[65] whose opinions must have +carried no small weight seeing that in 1604 he became Archbishop of +Canterbury. But Harsnett himself was also a man who could well stand +alone, a divine marked out for the highest preferments. As Master of +Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, Vice-chancellor of that University, Bishop +of Chichester, Bishop of Norwich, and finally in 1628 Archbishop of +York,[66] he was certainly one of the most prominent men of the day. His +views, therefore, are not only of interest, but may be regarded as an +expression of recognized Anglican authority. Bancroft, who was a bitter +persecutor of Catholics, seems to have turned over a quantity of material +he had collected to Harsnett, who in 1603 published a verjuiced attack +upon the priesthood in particular and upon the supernatural in general +under the title of _A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures_.[67] +This violent and foolish polemic with its heavy periods of coarse +ill-humour and scornful profanity jars upon the reader like the harsh +screeching of some cankered scold. True, it has a certain force due to +the very vehemence and elaborate gusto of the wrathful ecclesiastic, +the force of Billingsgate and deafening vituperation bawled by leathern +lungs and raucous tongue. As a sober argument, a reasoned contribution +to controversy and debate, the thing is negligible and has been wholly +forgotten. Nevertheless, historically Harsnett and Bancroft are +important, for it was the latter who drew up, or at least inspired, +carried through Convocation, and at once enforced the Canons generally +known as those of 1604, of which number 72 lays down: “No minister or +ministers shall ... without the license or direction (_mandatum_) of the +Bishop ... attempt upon any pretence whatsoever either of possession or +obsession, by fasting or prayer, to cast out any devil or devils, under +pain of the imputation of imposture or cozenage, and deposition from the +ministry.” + +This article seems definitely intended to fix the position of the +Church of England.[68] The whole question of exorcism had, in common +with every other point of Christian doctrine, caused the most acrid +disagreement. The Lutherans retained exorcism in the baptismal rite and +were both instant and persevering in their exorcisms of the possessed. +Martin Luther himself had a most vivid realization of and the firmest +belief in the material antagonism of evil. The black stain in the castle +of Wartburg still marks the room where he flung his ink-horn at the +Devil. The silly body, the blind, the dumb, the idiot, were, as often +as not, afflicted by demons; the raving maniac was assuredly possessed. +Physicians might explain these evils as natural infirmity, but such +physicians were ignorant men; they did not know the craft and power of +Satan. Many a poor wretch who was generally supposed to have committed +suicide had in truth been seized by the Fiend and strangled by him. +The Devil could beget children; had not Luther himself come in contact +with one of them?[69] At the close of the sixteenth century, however, +an interminable and desperate struggle took place between the believers +in exorcism and the Swiss and Silesian sectaries who entirely discarded +exorcism,[70] either declaring it to have belonged only to the earliest +years of Christianity or else trying to explain away the Biblical +instances on purely rationalistic grounds. In England baptismal exorcism +was retained in the First Prayer Book of 1549, but by 1552, owing to +the authority of Martin Bucer, we find it entirely eliminated. Under +Elizabeth the ever-increasing influence of Zurich and Geneva, to which +completest deference was paid, thoroughly discredited exorcisms of any +kind, and this misbelieving attitude is repeatedly and amply made clear +in the sundry “Apologies” and “Defences” of Jewel and his followers. + +A letter of Archbishop Parker in 1574[71] with reference to the proven +frauds of two idle wenches, Agnes Bridges and Rachel Pinder,[72] shows +that he was thoroughly sceptical as to the possibility of possession, and +his successor, the stout old Calvinist Whitgift, was certainly of the +same mind. + +In 1603 five clergymen attempted exorcism in the case of Mary Glover, the +daughter of a merchant in Thames Street, who was said to be possessed +owing to the sorceries of a certain Elizabeth Jackson. John Swan, “a +famous Minister of the Gospel,” took the lead in this business, which +made considerable noise at the time. The Puritans were not unnaturally +anxious to vindicate their powers over the Devil and they seem avidly +to have grasped at any such opportunity that offered. Swan did not fail +to advertise his supposed triumph in _A True and Breife Report of Mary +Glover’s Vexation and of her deliverance by the meanes of fastinge and +prayer_, 1603; moreover, after her deliverance he took her home to be +his servant “least Satan should assault her again.” Old Mother Jackson +was indicted, committed by Sir John Crook, the Recorder of London, and +actually sentenced by Sir Edmund Anderson, the Lord Chief Justice, to +be pilloried four times and be kept a year in prison. Unfortunately for +the would-be exorcists and their pretensions King James, whose shrewd +suspicions were aroused, sent to examine the girl, a physician, Dr. +Edward Jorden, who detected her imposture, in which, I doubt not, she had +been well coached by the Puritans. Dr. Jorden recounted the circumstance +in his pamphlet _A briefe discourse of a disease called the Suffocation +of the Mother, Written uppon occasion which hath beene of late taken +thereby to suspect possession of an evill spirit_ (London, 1603). The +ministers were extremely chagrined, and one Stephen Bradwell even took up +the cudgels in a tart rejoinder to Jorden, which was singularly futile +as his lucubrations remain unpublished.[73] It is not improbable that +this performance had its share of influence on Bancroft when he drew up +article 72 of the 1604 Canons. + +Francis Hutchinson in his _Historical Essay on Witchcraft_ (1718)[74] +doubts whether any Bishop of the Church of England ever granted a licence +for exorcism to any one of his clergy, and indeed the case which is given +by Dr. F. G. Lee,[75] who relates how Bishop Seth Ward of Exeter assigned +a form under his own signature and seal in January, 1665, to the Rev. +John Ruddle, vicar of Altarnon, is probably unique. And even so, this +was not strictly speaking an instance of exorcism, at least there was no +deliverance of a person possessed. Mr. Ruddle records in his MS. Diary +that in a lonely field belonging to the parish of Little Petherick[76] +an apparition was seen by a lad aged about sixteen, the son of a certain +Mr. Bligh. The ghost, which was that of one Dorothy Durant, who had died +eight years before, appeared so frequently to the boy at this same spot +which he was obliged to pass daily as he went to and from school, that +he fell ill and at last confessed his fears to his family, who treated +the matter with ridicule and scolded him roundly when they saw that jest +and mockery were of no avail. Eventually Mr. Ruddle was sent for to argue +him out of his foolishness. The vicar, however, was not slow to perceive +that young Bligh was speaking the truth, and he forthwith accompanied his +pupil to the field, where they both unmistakably saw the phantom just as +had been described. After a little while Mr. Ruddle visited Exeter to +interview his diocesan and obtain the necessary licence for the exorcism. +The Bishop, however, asked: “On what authority do you allege that I am +entrusted with faculty so to do? Our Church, as is well known, hath +abjured certain branches of her ancient power, on grounds of perversion +and abuse.” Mr. Ruddle quoted the Canons of 1604, and this appears to +have satisfied the prelate, who called in his secretary and assigned a +form “insomuch that the matter was incontinently done.” But the worthy +vicar was not permitted to depart without a thoroughly characteristic +caution: “Let it be secret, Mr. Ruddle,—weak brethren! weak brethren!” +The MS. Diary gives some details of the manner in which the ghost was +laid, and it is significant to read that the operator described a circle +and a pentacle upon the ground further making use of a rowan “crutch” +or wand. He mentions “a parchment scroll,” he spoke in Syriac and +proceeded to demand as the books advise; he “went through the proper +forms of dismissal and fulfilled all, as it was set down and written in +my memoranda,” and then “with certain fixed rites I did dismiss that +troubled ghost.” It would be interesting to know what form and ceremonies +the Bishop prescribed. It does not sound like the details of a Catholic +exorcism, but rather some superstitious and magical ritual. From what is +related the form can hardly have been arranged for the nonce. + +Although exorcism was not recognized by Protestants there are instances +upon record where an appeal has been made by English country-folk for +the ministrations of a Catholic priest. In April, 1815, Father Edward +Peach of the Midland District, was implored to visit a young married +woman named White, of King’s Norton, Worcestershire. She had for two +months been afflicted with an extraordinary kind of illness which doctors +could neither name nor cure. Her sister declared that a young man of bad +repute, whose hand had been rejected, had sworn revenge and had employed +the assistance of a reputed wizard at Dudley to work some mischief. +However that might be, the unhappy girl seemed to lie at death’s door; +she raved of being beset day and night by spirits who mocked and moped +at her, threatening to carry her away body and soul, and suggesting +self-destruction as the only means to escape them. The clergyman of the +parish visited and prayed with her, but no good resulted from all his +endeavours. It so happened that a nurse who was called in was a Catholic, +and horrified at the hideous ravings of the patient she procured a bottle +of holy water, with which she sprinkled the room and bed. A few drops +fell upon the sufferer, who uttered the most piercing cries, and screamed +out, “You have scalded me! You have scalded me!” The paroxysm, however, +passed, and she fell for the first time during many weeks into a sound +slumber. After some slight improvement for eight and forty hours she was +attacked by violent convulsions, and her relatives, in great alarm, on +Tuesday in Rogation Week, 2 May, 1815, sent a special messenger to beg +Father Peach to come over immediately. + +When the priest appeared the girl was being held down in bed by two women +who were forced to put forth all their strength, and as soon as she saw +him—he was a complete stranger to her nor could his sacred profession +be recognized by his attire—so terrible were her struggles that her +husband was bound to lend his aid also to master her writhing limbs. +Presently she fell into a state of complete exhaustion, and Father Peach, +dismissing the rest of the company, was able to talk to her long and +seriously. He seems to have been quite satisfied that it was a genuine +case of diabolic possession, and his evidence, carefully expressed and +marshalled with great moderation, leave no reasonable doubt that this +strange sickness owned no natural origin. In the course of conversation +it appeared that she had never been baptized. A simple instruction was +given and finding her in excellent dispositions Father Peach at once +baptized her. During the administration of this sacrament she trembled +like a leaf, and as the water fell upon her she winced pitifully, a spasm +of agony distorting her countenance. She afterwards averred that it gave +her as much pain as if boiling water had been poured upon her bare flesh. +Immediately afterwards there followed a truly remarkable change in her +health and spirits; her husband and sister were overjoyed and thought +it no less than a miracle. The next day Father Peach visited her again +and noticed a rapid improvement. Save for a slight weakness she seemed +perfectly restored, and, says the good father, writing a twelvemonth +later than the event from notes he had taken at the time, there was no +return, nor the least lingering symptom of her terrible and distressing +malady. + +In its issue of 11 October, 1925, _The Sunday Express_, under the heading +“Evil Spirit Haunts A Girl,” devoted a prominent column to the record of +some extraordinary happenings. The account commences: + +“Haunted for twelve months and more by a mischievous spirit—called a +Poltergeist—driven almost to a state of distraction, threatened with a +lunatic asylum, and then cured by the help of a band of spirit Indians, +is the extraordinary experience of the nineteen-year-old Gwynneth Morley, +who lives with her widowed mother at Keighley, and who was employed in +the spinning mills of Messrs. Hay and Wright.” + +These phenomena were communicated to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who +informed Mr. Hewet McKenzie, with the result that the girl was brought +to London for psychic treatment, Mr. McKenzie being “honorary principal +of the British College of Psychic Science,” an institution which is +advertised as the “Best equipped Centre for the study of Psychic +Science in Britain,” and announces “Lectures on Practical Healing,” +“Public Clairvoyance,” “A Small Exhibition of notable water colours ... +representing Soul development, or experience of the Soul in ethereal +conditions.” “The College” is, I am given to understand, a well-known +centre for spiritistic séances. + +Gwynneth Morley worked in Mr. McKenzie’s family for three months “as a +housemaid, under close observation, and receiving psychic treatment. + +“Day by day the amazing manifestations of her tormenting spirit were +noted down. In between the new and full moon the disturbances were worse. +Everything in the room in which Gwynneth happened to be would be thrown +about and smashed. Tables were lifted and overturned, chairs smashed to +pieces, bookcases upset, and heavy settees thrown over. + +“In the kitchen of Holland Park the preparation of meals, when Gwynneth +was about, was a disconcerting affair. Bowls of water would be spilt and +pats of butter thrown on the floor. + +“On another occasion when Gwynneth was in the kitchen the housekeeper, +who was preparing some grape fruit for breakfast, found that one half +had disappeared and could be found neither in the kitchen nor in the +scullery. She got two bananas to take its place, and laid them on the +table beside her; immediately the missing grape fruit whizzed past her +ear and fell before her and the bananas vanished. Some ten minutes later +they were found on the scullery table. + +“All this time Gwynneth was being treated by psychic experts. Every week +the girl sat with Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie and others. It was found that she +was easily hypnotised, and that tables moved towards her in the circle. + +“At other times during the cure the Poltergeist seemed to accept +challenges. One night after a particularly exciting day, Mrs. Barkel +magnetised her head and quietened her, and Mrs. McKenzie suggested that +she should go to bed, saying ‘Nothing happens when you get into bed.’ +Going up the stairs a small table and a metal vase crashed over, and a +little later a great noise of banging and tearing was heard in Gwynneth’s +room. When Mrs. McKenzie went into the room it looked as if a tornado had +swept over it. + +“After an active spell from June 21 to June 25 the spirit behaved itself +until July 1, when the girl had a kind of fit. Suddenly she fell off her +chair with her hands clenched. They laid her on a bed, and she fell into +another fit. She gripped her own throat powerfully. + +“Since that evening she has had no further attacks, nor have there been +any disturbances.” + +The main cause of this apparent cure is said to be the mediumship of Mrs. +Barkel. + +“On many occasions Mrs. Barkel gave Gwynneth excellent clairvoyance, +describing deceased relatives, friends, and incidents in her past life +which the girl acknowledged and corroborated. + +“One near relative, says Mr. McKenzie, whose life had been misspent, +and who had been a heavy drinker, was clearly seen. The girl feared and +hated this personality, in life and beyond death, and had herself often +seen him clairvoyantly before the disturbances began at all. Through +Mrs. Barkel’s spirit guide, Mr. McKenzie got into touch with him, and +he promised to carry out any instructions that might be given for the +benefit of the girl. + +“The request was made that he should withdraw altogether from any contact +with her and not return except by request. ‘Professor J.,’ a worker on +the other side, became interested. Mr. McKenzie asked that a band of +Indians, who sometimes profess to be able to help, should take Gwynneth +in hand and protect her from the assaults of disturbing influences. + +“The following day Mrs. Barkel described an Indian who had come to +help, and improvements were noted from about this date. The ‘professor’ +encouraged the treatment by suggestion, and told Mr. McKenzie that in a +few weeks, with the help of the Indian workers, he would place the medium +in an entirely new psychic condition. Mr. McKenzie says that the promise +was kept.” + +I have quoted this case at some length owing to the prominence +afforded it in a popular and widely read newspaper. That the facts are +substantially true I see no reason at all to doubt. It is an ordinary +instance of obsession, and will be easily recognized as such by those +priests whose duty has required them to study these distressing +phenomena. That the interpretation put upon some of the occurrences is +utterly false I am very certain. The clairvoyance is merely playing with +fire—I might say, with hell-fire—by those who cannot understand what they +are about, what forces they are thus blindly evoking. “Professor J.” and +“the band of Indians,” indeed all these “workers on the other side” are +nothing else than evil, or at the least gravely suspect intelligences, +masquerading as spirits of light and goodness. If, indeed, the girl is +relieved from obsession one cannot but suppose some ulterior motive lurks +in the background; it is but part of a scheme organized for purposes +of their own by dark and secret powers ever alert to trick and trap +credulous man. The girl, Gwynneth Morley, should have been exorcized by +a trained and accredited exorcist. These amateurs neither know nor even +faintly realize the harm they may do, the dangers they encounter. A bold +mind, such as that of Guazzo, might specify their attempts—well-meaning +as they are, no doubt—in terms I do not care to use. + +At Illfurt, five miles south of Mulhausen in Alsace, is a monument +consisting of a stone column thirty feet high surmounted with a statue +of the Immaculate Conception, and upon the plinth of the pillar may +be read the following remarkable inscription: _In memoriam perpetuam +liberationis duorum possessorum Theobaldi et Josephi Burner, obtentæ per +intercessionem Beatæ Mariæ Uirginis Immaculatæ, Anno Domini 1869_. + +Joseph Burner[77] and Anna Maria, his wife, were poor but intelligent +persons, who were not merely respected but even looked up to for their +probity and industry by their fellow-villagers of Illfurt. The family +consisted of five children, the eldest son, Thiébaut, being born on +21 August, 1855, and the second, Joseph, on 29 April, 1857. They were +quiet lads of average ability, who, when eight years old, were sent +in the usual course to the local elementary school. In the autumn of +1864 both were seized with a mysterious illness which would not yield +to the ordinary remedies. Dr. Levy, of Altkirch, who was called in to +examine the case acknowledged himself completely baffled, and a number +of other doctors who were afterwards consulted declared themselves +unable to diagnose such extraordinary symptoms. From 25 September, +1865, the two boys displayed most abnormal phenomena. Whilst lying +on their backs they spun suddenly round like whirling tops with the +utmost rapidity. Convulsions seized them, twisting and distorting every +limb with unparalleled mobility, or again their bodies would for hours +together become absolutely rigid and motionless so that no joint could +be bent, whilst they lay motionless as stocks or stones. Fearful fits +of vomiting often concluded these attacks. Sometimes they were dumb +for days and could only gibber and mow with blazing eyes and slabbering +lips, sometimes they were deaf so that even a pistol fired close to their +ears had not the slightest effect.[78] Often they became fantastically +excited, gesticulating wildly and shouting incessantly. Their voices +were, however, not their normal tones nor even those of children at all, +but the strong, harsh, hoarse articulation of rough and savage men. For +hours together they would blaspheme in the foulest terms, cursing and +swearing, and bawling out such hideous obscenities that the neighbours +took to flight in sheer terror at the horrible scenes, whilst the +distracted parents knew not whence to turn for help or comfort. Not only +did the sufferers use the filthy vocabulary of the lowest slums, but +they likewise spoke with perfect correctness and answered fluently in +different languages, in French, Latin, English, and even in most varied +dialects of Spanish and Italian, which could by no possible means have +been known to them in their normal state. Nor could they at any time have +heard conversation in these languages and subconsciously assimilated +it. A famous case is on record where a servant girl of mean education +fell ill and during a delirium began to mutter and babble in a language +which was recognized as Syriac. This was considered to be accounted +for when it was discovered that formerly she had been in service in a +house where there was lodging a theological student, who upon the eve +of his examinations used to walk up and down stairs and pace his room +saying aloud to himself Syriac roots and vocables, which she thus often +overheard and which in this way registered themselves in her brain. But +there could not be any such explanation in the case of Thiébaut and +Joseph Burner, since they did not merely reel out disconnected words and +phrases in any one or two tongues, but conversed easily and sensibly +in a large variety of languages and even in dialects. This has always +been considered one of the genuine signs of diabolic possession, as is +stated in the third article of _De Exorcizandis Obsessis a Dæmonio_: “3. +In primis, ne facile credat, aliquem a dæmonio obsessum esse, sed nota +habeat ea signa, quibus obsessus dignoscitur ab iis, qui uel atra bile, +uel morbo aliquo laborant. Signa autem obsidentis dæmonis sunt: ignota +lingua loqui pluribus uerbis, uel loquentem intelligere; distantia et +occulta patefacere; uires super ætatis seu conditionis naturam ostendere; +et id genus alia, quæ cum plurima concurrunt, maiora sunt indicia.” +Moreover, both Thiébaut and Joseph Burner repeatedly and in exactest +detail described events which were happening at a distance, and upon +investigation their accounts were afterwards found to be precisely true +in every particular. Their strength was also abnormal, and often in +their paroxysms and convulsions it needed the utmost exertions of three +powerful men severally to hold these lads who were but nine and seven +years old. + +It was noticed at the very beginning of these maladies that the patients +were thrown into the most violent fits and every symptom of disease and +disorder exacerbated by the presence of any sacramental such as holy +water, or medals, rosaries, and other objects which had been blessed +according to the ritual. They seemed particularly enraged by the blessed +Medal of S. Benedict and pictures of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. On +one occasion Monsieur Ignace Spies, the _Maire_ of Selestat, a man of +exceptional devotion and piety, held before their eyes a Relic of S. +Gerard Majella,[79] the Redemptorist thaumaturge, when their shrieks +and yells were truly terrific, finally dying away in inhuman whines +and groans of despair. It so happened that a Corpus Christi procession +passed the house, opposite which an Altar of Repose had been erected. The +children, who were in bed, knew nothing of this and seemed to lie in a +deep stupor. However, as the Blessed Sacrament approached their behaviour +is said to have been indescribable. They poured forth torrents of filth +and profanity, distorting their limbs into a thousand unnatural postures, +their eyes almost starting from their heads, a crisis which was succeeded +by a sudden horrible composure, whilst they crept away into the furthest +corners of the room moaning, panting, and retching as if in mortal agony. +Above all, pictures and Medals of Our Lady and the invocation of Her Most +Holy Name filled the possessed with terror and rage. At any mention of +“the Great Lady,” as they termed Her, they would curse and howl in so +monstrous a way that all who had heard them shook and sweated with fear. + +The abbé Charles Brey, parish priest of Illfurt, quickly made up his +mind as to the diabolic nature of the phenomena. It was an undoubted +case of possession, since in no other way could what was taking place +be explained. Accordingly he sent to his diocesan, Monsignor Andreas +Räss (1842-87) a full account of such extraordinary and fearful events. +The Bishop, however, was far from satisfied that these things could not +be accounted for naturally. In fact it was only after three or four +years’ delay that at the instance of the Dean of Altkirch he decided to +order a special ecclesiastical investigation. He finally appointed for +this task three acute theologians, Monsignor Stumpf,[80] Superior of +his Grand Seminary at Strasburg; Monsignor Freyburger, Vicar-General of +the diocese; and Monsieur Sester, rector of Mulhausen. These priests, +then, presented themselves unexpectedly at the Burner’s house on Tuesday +morning, 13 April, 1869, at 10 o’clock. It was found that Joseph Burner +had already concealed himself, and it was only after a prolonged search +he could with difficulty be dragged from under his bed where he had taken +refuge. Thiébaut feigned to be unconscious of the presence of strangers. +The inquiry lasted for more than two hours, and it was not until past +noon that the investigators left the house. Meanwhile they had witnessed +the most hideous scenes, and their minds were quite made up as to the +reality of the possession. They shortly presented their report to the +Bishop, who then, and not until then, allowed himself to be convinced of +the facts. + +Even so, the prudent prelate ordered fresh precautions to be taken. At +the beginning of September, 1869, Thiébaut was conveyed in the company +of his unhappy mother, to the orphanage of S. Charles at Schiltigheim, +where he was to be lodged whilst the case was investigated _de nouo_ +by Monsignor Rapp, Monsignor Stumpf, and Father Eicher, S.J., Superior +of the Jesuit house at Strasburg. At the same time Father Hausser, the +chaplain of S. Charles, and Father Schrantzer, a well-known scholar and +psychologist, were to keep the boy systematically but secretly under the +closest observation. + +It was decided to proceed to exorcism, and a priest of great reverence +and experience, Father Souquat, was commissioned by the Bishop to +perform the solemn rite. At two o’clock on Sunday, 3 October, Thiébaut +was forcibly brought into the chapel of S. Charles, which hitherto he +had always sedulously avoided, and when compelled to enter he uttered +without intermission such hoarse yells that it was necessary to remove +him for fear of scandal and alarming the other inmates. The lad, +however, was now held fast by the abbés Schrantzer and Hausser, assisted +by Charles André, the gardener of the establishment, a stalwart and +muscular Hercules. The sufferer stood upon a carpet spread just before +the communion rails, his face turned towards the tabernacle. He struggled +and writhed in the grasp of those who were restraining him; his face +was scarlet; his eyes closed; whilst from his swollen and champing lips +there flowed down a stream of thick yellowish froth which fell in great +viscous gouts to the floor. The Litanies began, and at the words “Sancta +Maria, ora pro nobis” a hideous yell burst from his throat. The exorcizer +unmoved continued the prayers and gospels of the Ritual. Meanwhile the +possessed blasphemed and defied their utmost efforts. It was resolved to +recommence upon the following day. Thiébaut, accordingly, was confined +in a strait jacket and strapped down in a red arm-chair, around which +stood the three guards as before. The evil spirit roared and howled in +a deep bass voice, raising a terrific din; the boy’s limbs strained +and contorted but the bonds held tight; his face was livid; his mouth +flecked with the foam of slobbering saliva. In a firm voice the priest +adjured the demon; he held the crucifix before his eyes, and finally a +statue of Our Lady with the words: “Unclean spirit, disappear before +the face of the Immaculate Conception! She commands! Thou must obey! +Thou must depart!” The assistants upon their knees fervently recited the +_Memorare_, when the air was rent by a yell of hideous agony, the boy’s +limbs were convulsed in one sharp convulsion, and suddenly he lay still +wrapped in a deep slumber. At the end of about an hour he awoke gently +and gazed about him with wondering eyes. “Where am I?” he asked. “Do you +not know me?” questioned the abbé Schrantzer. “No, father, I do not,” was +the reply. In a few days Thiébaut was able to return home, worn and weak +but bright and happy. Of all that happened during those fateful years +he had not the smallest recollection. He returned to school, and was in +every respect a normal healthy boy. + +Joseph, who had grown steadily worse, was meantime secluded from his +brother, pending the preparations for his exorcism. On 27 October he was +taken very early in the morning to the cemetery chapel near Illfurt. +Only the parents, Mons. Ignace Spies, Professor Lachemann, and some half +a dozen more witnesses were present, as the affair was conducted in the +utmost privacy. At six o’clock the abbé Charles Brey said Mass, after +which he exorcized the unhappy victim. During three successive hours +they renewed prayers and adjurations, until at last some present began +to feel discouraged. But the glowing faith of the priest sustained them, +and at length with a loud groan that sounded like a deep roar the boy, +who had been struggling and screeching in paroxysms of frantic fury all +the while, fell back into a deep swoon and lay motionless. After no long +pause he sat up, opened his eyes as awaking from sleep, and was overcome +with amazement to find himself in a church with strange people around him. + +Neither Thiébaut nor Joseph ever experienced any recurrence of this +strange malady. The former died when he was only sixteen years old on 3 +April, 1871. The latter, who obtained a situation at Zillisheim, died +there in 1882 at the age of twenty-five. + +An even more recent case of possession, which has been authoritatively +studied in minutest detail and at first hand, presents many of the same +features.[81] Hélène-Joséphine Poirier, the daughter of an artisan +family—her father was a mason—was born on 5 November, 1834, at Coullons, +a small village some ten miles from Gien in the district of the Loire. +Whilst still young she was apprenticed to Mlle Justine Beston, a working +dressmaker, and soon became skilful with her needle and a remarkable +embroideress. Already she had attracted attention by her sincere and +modest piety, and was thought highly of by the parish priest, M. +Preslier, a man of unusual discernment and the soundest common sense. +On the night of 25 March, 1850, she was suddenly awakened by a series +of sharp raps, which soon became violent blows, as if struck upon the +walls of the small attic where she slept. In terror she rushed into her +parents’ room next door, and they returned with her to search. Nothing +at all could be discovered, and she was persuaded to go back to bed. +Although they could actually see no cause for alarm her parents had heard +the extraordinary noises. “From this date,” says M. Preslier, “the life +of Hélène in the midst of such terrible physical and moral suffering that +she might well have given utterance to the complaints of holy Job.”[82] + +These manifestations to Hélène Poirier may not unfittingly be compared +with the famous “Rochester knockings,” the phenomenon of the rappings +at Hydesville in 1848 at the house of the Fox family, which by many +writers is considered to be the beginning of that world-wide movement +known as Spiritism or Spiritualism in its modern manifestations and +recrudescence.[83] + +Some months after this event Hélène suddenly fell rigid to the ground as +if she had been thrown down by some strong hands. She was able to get +up immediately but only to fall again. It was thought she was epileptic +or at any rate seized with some unusual attack, some fit or convulsion. +But after a careful observation of her case Dr. Azéma, the local +practitioner, shrewdly remarked: “Nobody here but the Priest can cure +you.” From this time disorders of spirit and physical maladies increased +with unprecedented rapidity and violence. “Her physical and mental +sufferings, which began on 25 March, 1850, continued until her death on +8 January, 1914, that is to say during a period of sixty-four years. +But those of diabolic origin ceased towards the end of 1897. So the +diabolic attacks actually lasted for some seven-and-forty years, and for +six years of this time she was possessed.”[84] It was in January, 1863, +it first became undeniably evident that her sufferings, her spasms, and +painful trances had a supernatural origin. The abbé Bougaud, Archdeacon +of Orleans, having interviewed her, advised that she should be brought +to the Bishop, Monsignor Dupanloup, and made arrangements for her to +stay at a Visitation convent in the suburbs, promising that a commission +of theologians and doctors should examine her case. On Thursday, 28 +October, 1865, Hélène accordingly commenced a retreat at the convent, +where she was kindly received. M. Bougaud saw her for about two minutes, +and she was handed an official order which would allow her access to the +Bishop without waiting for a summons from his lordship or any other +undue delay. But there was some misunderstanding, for on the Friday a +doctor of high repute called at the convent, as he had been requested, +interrogated and examined her for some three-quarters of an hour and then +roundly informed the Mother Superior that she was mad, stark mad, and +had better be sent home at once. He seems to have impressed the Bishop +with his report, for Monsignor Dupanloup sent a messenger to direct the +nuns to dismiss her forthwith, and accordingly she was perforce taken +back to Coullons after a fruitless journey of bitter disappointments and +discouragement. Many persons now began to regard her with suspicion, but +in the following year, 1866, the Bishop, whilst visiting Coullons for +an April confirmation, granted her an interview which caused him very +considerably to modify his first opinion, and M. Bougaud, who saw her in +September, declared himself convinced of the supernatural origin of the +symptoms she displayed. + +The most terrible obsessions now attacked her, and more than once she +was driven to the verge of suicide and despair. “From 25 March, 1850, +until March, 1868, Hélène was _only obsessed_. This obsession _lasted 18 +years_. At the end of this time she was _both obsessed and possessed_ for +13 months. From this double agony of obsession and possession she was +completely delivered by the exorcisms, which the Bishop had sanctioned, +at Orleans, on 19 April, 1869. Four months’ peace followed, until with +heroic generosity she voluntarily submitted to new inflictions. + +“At the end of August, 1869, she accepted from the hands of Our Lord +the agony of a new obsession and possession in order to obtain the +conversion of the famous general Ducrot. When he was converted, she was +delivered from her torments at Lourdes on 3 September, 1875, the cure +being effected by the prayers of 15,000 pilgrims who had assembled there. +_The obsession and possession in their new form_ had lasted five years. +During the forty years which passed before her death, she was never again +subject to possession, but she was continually obsessed, the attacks now +being of short duration, now long and severe. The sufferings of every +kind which she endured as well she offered with the intention of the +triumph and good estate of God’s priests. Why she was originally thus +persecuted by the Devil for nineteen years, and with what intention she +offered those torments from which she was delivered by the exorcisms +directed by the Bishop, must always remain a secret.”[85] On Tuesday, +13 August, 1867, a supernormal impulse came over her to write a paper +full of the most hideous blasphemies against Our Lord and His Blessed +Mother, and, what is indeed significant, to draw blood from her arm and +to sign therewith a deed giving herself over body and soul to Satan. +This she happily resisted after a terrible struggle. Upon the following +28 August reliable witnesses saw her levitated from the ground on two +distinct occasions. With this phenomenon we may compare the levitation +of mediums at spiritistic séances. Sir William Crookes in _The Quarterly +Journal of Science_, January, 1874, states that “There are at least a +hundred recorded instances of Mr. Home’s rising from the ground.” Of the +same medium he writes: “On three separate occasions have seen him raised +completely from the floor of the room.” + +In March, 1868, it became evident that the poor sufferer was actually +possessed. Fierce convulsive fits seized her; she suddenly fell with +a maniacal fury and a deep hoarse voice uttered the most astounding +blasphemies; if the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary were spoken in her +presence she gnashed her teeth and literally foamed at the mouth; she was +unable to hear the words _Et caro Uerbum factum est_ without an access +of insane rage which spent itself in wild gestures and an incoherent +howling. She was interrogated in Latin, and answered the questions +volubly and easily in the same tongue. The case attracted considerable +attention, and was reported by the Comte de Maumigny to Padre Picivillo, +the editor of the _Civiltá Cattolica_, who gave an account thereof to the +Holy Father. The saintly Pius IX[86] showed himself full of sympathy, and +even sent through the Comte de Maumigny a message of most salutary advice +recommending great caution and the avoidance of all kinds of curiosity or +advertisement. + +In February, 1869, when interrogated by several priests Hélène gave most +extraordinary details concerning bands of Satanists. “In order to gain +admission it is necessary to bring one or more consecrated Hosts, and to +deliver these to the Devil, who in a materialized form visibly presides +over the assembly. The neophyte is obliged to profane the Sacred Species +in a most horrible manner, to worship the Devil with humblest adoration, +and to perform with him and the other persons present the most bestial +acts of unbridled obscenity, the foulest copulations. Three towns, Paris, +Rome, and Tours, are the headquarters of the Satanic bands.”[87] She also +spoke of a gang of devil-worshippers at Toulouse. It is obvious that a +mere peasant woman could have no natural knowledge of these abominations, +the details concerning which were unhappily only too true. + +In the following April Hélène was taken to Orleans to be examined and +solemnly exorcized. The interrogatories were conducted by Monsieur +Desbrosses, a consultor in theology for the diocese, Monsieur Bougaud, +and Monsieur Mallet, Superior of the Grand Seminary. They witnessed the +most terrible crisis; the sufferer was tortured by fierce cramps and +spasms; she howled like a wild beast; but they persisted patiently. +Mons. Mallet questioned her on difficult and obscure points in theology +and philosophy using now Latin, now Greek. She replied fluently in +both tongues, answering his queries concisely, clearly, and to the +point, incontestable proof that she was influenced by some supernormal +power. Two or three days later the Bishop was present at a similar +examination, and forthwith commissioned his own director, Monsieur Roy, +a professor at the Seminary, to undertake the exorcisms. With him were +associated Monsieur Mallet, the parish priest of Coullons, and Monsieur +Gaduel, Vicar-General of the diocese. Two nuns and Mlle Preslier held +the patient. It was found necessary to repeat the rite five times upon +successive days. On the last occasion the cries of the unhappy Hélène +were fearful to hear. She writhed and foamed in paroxysms of rage; she +blasphemed and cursed God, calling loudly upon the fiends of hell; +she broke free from all restraint, hurling chairs and furniture in +every direction with the strength of five men; it was with the utmost +difficulty she could be seized and restrained before some serious +mischief was done; at last with an unearthly yell, twice repeated, her +limbs relaxed, and after a short period of insensibility she seemed to +awake, calm and composed, as if from a restful slumber. The possession +had lasted thirteen months from March, 1868, to April, 1869. + +Into the details of her second possession from 23 August, 1869, until 3 +September, 1874, it is hardly necessary to enter at any length. Monsieur +Preslier noted: “The second crisis of possession was infinitely more +terrible than the first; 1st, owing to the length; the first lasted +thirteen months, the second five years. 2nd, the first was relieved with +a number of heavenly consolations, but very little solace was obtained +during the second. 3rd, there was much bodily suffering in the first, in +the second there were far keener mental sufferings and more exquisite +pain.”[88] She was finally and completely delivered at Lourdes on +Thursday, 3 September, 1874. It is not to be supposed that she passed the +remaining forty years of her life without occasional manifestations of +extraordinary phenomena. After much sickness, cheerfully and smilingly +borne, she made a good end in her eightieth year, on 8 January, 1914, and +is buried in the little village cemetery of her native place. + +We have here the case of a woman who was mediumistic and clairvoyant +to an almost unexampled degree, and it is very certain that if these +would-be fortune-tellers and mages who so freely advertise their powers +in many spiritistic journals to-day truly realized to what terrible +dangers and very real psychic perils the use and even the mere possession +of such faculties expose them, they would, so far from trafficking in +the presumption of abnormal gifts, regard them with caution and indeed +shrink from any occult practice at all, lest haply they become the prey +of controls and influences so cunning, so potent for evil, as to merge +them body and soul in untold miseries and shadows darker even than the +bitterness of death. + +The modern Spiritistic movement, so strongly supported by recent +scientific utterances, is increasingly affecting all classes and +conditions of society, and is beginning in every direction to undermine +and actually to usurp the religious belief and convictions of thousands +of earnest and seriously inclined but not very accurately informed or +well-instructed persons. The basis of the movement is the claim that the +spirits of the dead are continually seeking to communicate and, indeed, +communicating with us through the agency of sensitives, so that it is +possible to get into touch and to converse with our dear ones who have +passed from this life. It is hardly necessary to emphasize the almost +infinite consolation and comfort such a doctrine holds for the bereaved, +how eagerly and with what yearning mourners will embrace such teaching, +and how perseveringly and with what tender agonies of an hungered love +they will devote themselves to the practices they imagine will place +them in closest connexion and communion with those whom they have lost +awhile, but whose voices they ever long to hear, whose faces they long +to see once again. It is a matter of common knowledge that during and +since the Great War Spiritism has increased tenfold; many who were wont +to laugh at it, who refused to listen to its claims and scorned it as +futile nonsense, are now among its most enthusiastic devotees. In truth +there must be few of us who cannot appreciate the irresistible influence +such beliefs will have upon the mind. Spiritism is seemingly full of joy, +and hope, and promise, and happiness. It will wipe all tears of sorrow +from poor human eyes; it is balm to the wounded heart; divine solace and +sympathy; the barriers of death are broken down; mortality is robbed of +its terrors. + +Were it true, could we summon to our side the spirits of those whom +we have so fondly cherished and converse with them of things holy and +eternal, could we learn wisdom from their fuller knowledge, could we be +assured in their own sweet accents of their fadeless love, could we now +and again be comforted with a sight of their well-known faces, the touch +of their hands upon ours, were it God’s will that this should be so, then +assuredly Spiritism is a most blessed and sacred thing, consolation to +the afflicted, succour to the distressed, a shining light upon earth’s +dark ways, a very ready help to us all. But if on the other hand there +is reason and grave reason to suppose that the spirits, with whom it is +possible under certain exceptional conditions and by certain remarkable +devices to establish a contact, although often claiming to be departed +friends or relatives and supporting their contention (we acknowledge) +with no little plausibility, are again and again found to be masquerading +intelligences, in some cases undoubtedly actors of excellence who play +their part for a time with consummate skill, but who have never at any +séance whatsoever anywhere been able conclusively to demonstrate their +identity, if in fact these manifesting intelligences are deceivers, +imposing for purposes of their own a fraudulent impersonation upon those +who with breaking hearts are so eagerly longing to communicate with son +or husband fallen in battle, it may be, or on some lone shore, if they +are proven liars, if their messages are trivial, ambiguous, cryptic, +incapable of verification, shifty, ignorant, nay worse, blasphemous and +hideously obscene, then are we justified—and we are in point of fact +fully and completely justified—in concluding that the spirits are not +those of the departed, but evil intelligences who never have been and +never will be incarnate, unclean spirits, demons, and then assuredly +Spiritism is most foul, most loathly, most dangerous, and most damnable. + +The mediums, who of their own will freely open the door to these spirits, +who invite them to enter, stand in the most deadly peril. A Spiritist of +many years’ experience who saw not too late the hazard and abandoned that +creed, writes as follows: “Spirit communion soon absorbs all the time, +faculties, hopes, fears, and desires of its devotees, and herein lies one +of the greatest dangers of spiritualism. Infatuated by communication with +the unseen inhabitants of the hidden world, the medium loses his or her +interest in the things pertaining to everyday life and interest. A soft +and pleasing atmosphere appears to surround them. The realities of flesh +and blood are lost in ideal dreaming and there is no incentive to break +away from a state of existence so agreeable, no matter how monstrous are +the delusions practised by the spirits. Their consciences are so callous +as if seared with a hot iron, sin has to them lost its wickedness, and +they are willing dupes to unseen beings who delight to control their +every faculty. Very seldom has a full-fledged spiritualist been able to +comprehend the necessity and blessedness of the religion of Jesus Christ, +and to withdraw from the morbid conditions into which he has fallen.... + +“For about three months I was in the power of spirits, having a +dual existence, and greatly tormented by their contradictory and +unsatisfactory operations.... They tormented me to a very severe extent, +and I desired to be freed from them. I lost much of my confidence in +them, and their blasphemy and uncleanness shocked me. But they were +my constant companions. I could not get rid of them. They tempted me +to suicide and murder, and to other sins. I was fearfully beset and +bewildered and deluded. There was no human help for me. They led me +into some extravagances of action, and to believe, in a measure, a few +of their delusions, often combining religion and devilry in a most +surprising manner.”[89] + +[Illustration: PLATE VII + +S. JAMES VISITS THE WARLOCK’S DEN. Breughel + +[_face p. 250_] + +In my own experience, I myself, not once, but over and over again, have +seen all these symptoms unmistakably marked in those whose sole interest +and aim in life seemed to be a constant attendance at séances. I have +watched, in spite of every effort unable to check and dissuade, the +fearfully rapid development of such characteristics in persons who have +begun to dabble with Spiritism, at first no doubt in moods of levity +and wanton curiosity, but soon with hectic anxiety and the most morbid +absorption. Some fifteen years ago in a well-known English provincial +town a circle was formed by a number of friends to experiment with +table-turning, psychometry, the planchette, ouija-boards, crystal-gazing, +and the like. They were, perhaps, a little tired of the usual round +of social engagements, dances, concerts, bridge, the theatre, dinner +parties, and all those mildly pleasurable businesses which go to make +up life, or at least a great portion of life, for so many. They wanted +some new excitement, something a little out of the ordinary. A lady, +just returned home from a prolonged visit to London, had (it seems) been +taken to some Spiritistic meeting, and she was full of the wonders both +witnessed and heard there. The sense of the eerie, the unknown, lent a +spice of adventure too. The earlier meetings were informal, first at one +house, now at another. They began by being infrequent, almost casual, at +fairly long intervals. Next a certain evening each week was fixed for +these gatherings, which soon were fully attended by all concerned. No +member would willingly miss a single reunion. Before long they met twice, +three times, every evening in the week. Professional mediums were engaged +who travelled down from London and other great cities, some at no small +distance, to give strange exhibitions of their powers. I myself met two +of these experts, a man and a woman, both of whose names I have since +seen advertised in Spiritistic journals of a very recent date, and I am +bound to say that I was most unfavourably impressed in each instance. +Not that I for a moment think they were fraudulent, nor do I suspect +any vulgar trickery or pose; they were undoubtedly honest, thoroughly +convinced and sincere, which makes the matter ten times worse. And so +from being mere idle triflers at a new game, incredulous and a little +mocking, the whole company became besotted by their practices, fanatics +whose thoughts were always and ever centred and concentrated upon their +communion with spirits, who talked of nothing else, who seemed only to +live for those evenings when they might meet and enter—as it were—another +world. Argument, pleading, reproof, authority, official admonishment, +all proved useless; one could only stand by and see the terrible thing +doing its deadly work. The symptoms were exactly as above described. In +two cases, men, the moral fibre was for a while apparently destroyed +altogether; in another case, a woman, there was obsession, and persons +who either knew nothing of, or had no sort of belief in, Spiritism, +whispered of eccentricities, of outbursts of uncontrolled passion and +ravings, which pointed to a disordered mind, to an asylum. All sank into +a state of apathy; former interests vanished; the amenities of social +intercourse were neglected and forgotten; old friendships allowed to +drop for no reason whatsoever; a complete change of character for the +worse, a terrible deterioration took place; the physical health suffered; +their faces became white and drawn, the eyes dull and glazed, save +when Spiritism was discussed, and then they lit with hot unholy fires; +one heard covert gossip that hinted of crude debauch, of blasphemous +speeches, of licence and degradation. Fortunately by a series of +providential events the circle was broken up; outside circumstances +compelled the principals to fall away, and what was doubtless a more +potent factor than any, one or two were suddenly brought to realize +the deadly peril and the folly of their proceedings. It proved a hard +struggle indeed to rid themselves of the controls to which they had +so blindly and so utterly submitted; their wills were weakened, their +health impaired; more than once they slid back again into the old danger +zone, more than once they were on the verge of giving up the contest in +despair. But under direction and availing themselves of those means of +grace the Church so bounteously proffers they persevered, and were at +length made clean. + +There must be many who have had similar experiences, who know intimately, +even if they have not actually had to rescue and to guide, those who have +been meshed and trapped by Spiritism and are endeavouring to escape. +They will appreciate how difficult is the task, they will realize how +pernicious, how potent, how evil, such toils may be. Nobody who has had +to deal with sensitives, with poor dupes who are eager to abandon their +practices, can think lightly of Spiritism. + +That Spiritism opens the door to demoniac possession, so often classed +as lunacy, is generally acknowledged by all save the prejudiced and +superstitious. As far back as 1877 Dr. L. S. Forbes Winslow wrote in +_Spiritualistic Madness_: “Ten thousand unfortunate people are at the +present time confined in lunatic asylums on account of having tampered +with the supernatural.” And quoting an American journal he goes on to +say: “Not a week passes in which we do not hear that some of these +unfortunates destroy themselves by suicide, or are removed to a lunatic +asylum. The mediums often manifest signs of an abnormal condition of +their mental faculties, and among certain of them are found unequivocal +indications of a true demoniacal possession. The evil spreads rapidly, +and it will produce in a few years frightful results.... Two French +authors of spiritualistic works, who wrote _Le Monde Spirituel_ and +_Sauvons le genre humain_, died insane in an asylum; these two men were +distinguished in their respective professions; one as a highly scientific +man, the other as an advocate well learned in the Law. These individuals +placed themselves in communication with spirits by means of tables. I +could quote many such instances where men of the highest ability have, so +to speak, neglected all and followed the doctrines of Spiritualism only +to end their days in the lunatic asylum.” + +Some half a dozen years ago an inquiry was undertaken and there was +circulated an interrogatory or _enquête_ which invited opinions upon (1) +“the situation as regards the renewed interest in psychic phenomena”; +(2) whether this “psychic renewal” denoted a “passing from a logical and +scientific (deductive) to a spiritual and mystic (inductive) conception +of life,” or “a reconciliation between the two, that is between science +and faith”;[90] (3) “the most powerful argument for, or against, human +survival”; (4) “the best means of organizing this (psychic) movement in +the highest interest, philosophical, religious and scientific, of the +nation, especially as a factor of durable peace.” Five-and-fifty of the +answers were collected and published under the title _Spiritualism: Its +Present-Day Meaning_,[91] a book which certainly makes most interesting +and illuminating if extremely varied reading. Being a symposium, all +schools of thought are represented, and I would venture to add that among +the contributions are some outpourings which evince no thought at all, a +fact which is of itself not without considerable significance. We have +the unflinching logic and sound common-sense of Father Bernard Vaughan, +whose verdict is reiterated by the Rev. James Adderley and the Rev. J. +A. V. Magee; the concise, outspoken, pertinent and telling comments of +General Booth; the vague hopelessly inadequate flotsam of Dr. Percy +Dearmer,[92] vapid stuff which makes a theologian writhe; the sweet +sugary sentimentalism of Miss Evelyn Underhill, so anæmic, so obviously +popular, and so ingenuously miscalled mysticism; the dull worthless dross +of Mr. McCabe’s superstitious materialism; the feverish panicky special +pleading of the convinced Spiritists. Here, too, we have much that +directly bears out our present contention, the medical evidence of such +names as Sir Bryan Donkin; Dr. W. H. Stoddart, who treats of “The Danger +to Mental Sanity”; with Dr. Bernard Hollander on “The Peril of Spirits”; +and Dr. A. T. Schofield on “The Spiritist Epidemic.” Thus Dr. Stoddart +writes: “In some cases the spiritualistic hallucinations so dominate +the whole mental life that the condition amounts to insanity; and I +can confirm Sir Bryan Donkin’s statement that spiritualistic inquiries +tend to induce insanity.”[93] Dr. Hollander is even more emphatic: “The +practice is a dangerous one. Persons become intoxicated with spirits of +that nature as others do with spirits of another kind. And similarly, as +not all persons who take alcohol get drunk, so not all spiritualists show +the effects of their indulgences.... But that is no proof against the +harmful nature of these practices, and, as a mental specialist, I confess +I have seen victims of both, and that the one addicted to material +spirits is the easier to treat.”[94] Spiritism, Dr. Schofield points +out, “has been known to Christians for 2000 years. Any benefit derived +therefrom is more than neutralized by the very doubtful surroundings and +character of the supposed revelation (I say ‘supposed’ because it has +been known so long). If, however, it must be coupled with the dangers, +horrors, and frauds that so often in modern Spiritism accompany the +knowledge of the unseen, we are almost as well without it, at any rate +from such a source.... There can be no doubt the epidemic will eventually +subside, but before it does, the vast mischief of a spiritual tidal wave +of very doubtful origin will be most disastrously done, and thousands +of unstable souls will be wrecked in spirit, if not in mind and body +as well.... To class it as a religion is an insult to the faith of +Christ.”[95] + +Sir William Barrett utters a word of grave import: “All excitable +and unbalanced minds need to be warned away from a subject that may +cause, and in many cases has caused, serious mental derangement.”[96] +“Spiritualism,” says Father Bernard Vaughan, “only too often means loss +of health, loss of morals and loss of faith. Consult not Sir Oliver Lodge +or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Mr. Vale Owen, but your family medical +adviser, and he will tell you to keep away from the séance-room as you +would from an opium den. In fact, the drug habit is not more fatal +than the practice of Spiritualism in very many cases. Read the warning +note sounded by Dr. Charles Mercier, or by Dr. G. H. Robertson or by +Colonel R. H. Elliot, and be satisfied that yielding to Spiritualism is +qualifying for an asylum. You may not get there but you deserve to be +an inmate.”[97] The following letter written by Miss Mary G. Cardwell, +M.B., Ch.B., from the Oldham Union Infirmary, speaks for itself: “One +day recently I admitted a woman of thirty-five years to the hospital of +which I have the honour to be resident medical officer. She was sent in +as incapable of looking after herself or her family. She told me that she +was a medium, having been introduced into Spiritualism by a man, also +a medium, who said he could thereby help her over some family worries. +As a direct result of this, she has neglected her children, so that the +public authorities have removed them from her care, her home is ruined, +and she herself is a mental and moral wreck. She had paid the other +medium for his services by the sacrifice of her virtue.”[98] And this is +no isolated, no exceptional, instance. I have myself known precisely +similar cases. + +Occasionally some particularly shocking incident will find its way into +the public Press and we have records such as the following, which was +headed “Family of Eleven Mad. Burning Mania after Séance. Child to be +Sacrificed. + +“The story of an entire family of eleven persons, in the village of +Krucktenhofen, Bavaria, going out of their minds after a spiritualistic +séance is sent by the Exchange Paris correspondent, quoting the _Berliner +Tageblatt_. + +“Renouncing the goods of this world, the father, mother, three sons, two +elder daughters, and subsequently the remaining four younger members of +the family, joined in burning their furniture and bedding. + +“Finally, the three-months-old child of one of the daughters was about +to be burnt when neighbours interfered. The whole family is now in an +asylum.” (_Daily Mirror_, 19 May, 1921.) + +“Camouflage it as you will, Spiritualism with its kindred superstitions, +such as necromancy and occultism, is a recrudescence of the old, old +practices cultivated in the days of long ago.”[99] In other words this +“New Religion” is but the Old Witchcraft. There is, I venture to assert, +not a single phenomenon of modern Spiritism which cannot be paralleled in +the records of the witch trials and examinations; not a single doctrine +which was not believed and propagated by the damnable Gnostic heresies of +long ago. + +Some of the definitions of Spiritism given by spiritists themselves +are sufficiently startling. They frankly tell us that “Spiritualism is +the science or art of communion with spirits.... It does not follow +that because a communication comes from ‘the unseen,’ it is therefore +from God, as a revelation. It may be from the latest dead lounger, as +an amusement,”[100] or, I would add, from a demon as a snare. There +is something inexpressibly ugly and revolting about this cold-blooded +necromancy defined in set categorical terms. + +Modern Spiritism is usually considered to have had its origin in America. +In the year 1848 there lived at Hydesville, Wayne, New York State, a +family of the Methodist persuasion named Fox; a father, mother, and two +daughters, Margaretta and Katie, aged fifteen and twelve respectively. +During the month of March all the household began to declare that they +were kept awake at night by the most extraordinary noises, loud knockings +on the wall, and footsteps. The children amused themselves by trying +to imitate the noises; they tapped on the wainscot, and to their great +surprise answering taps came back, so that they found they could get into +communication with the unknown agency. They would ask a question and +invite it to respond with one sharp rap for “no” and three for “yes,” and +thus it continually replied. They further held actual conversations in +this way by repeating the alphabet and establishing a regular code. Mrs. +Fox then began to make inquiries concerning the former occupants of the +house, and soon discovered that a pedlar named Charles Rayn was said to +have been murdered in the very bedroom where her two girls were sleeping, +and that his body had been buried in the cellar. Public curiosity was +aroused, and it was now generally believed that it was the spirit of the +unfortunate victim who haunted the farm-house, endeavouring to convey +some message to those whom he had left. Actually no body was found in +the cellar, and the alleged murderer whose name was given, appeared +at Hydesville and “threw very hot water on the story.” Later when the +family moved to Rochester—it is said they were practically driven out of +Hydesville by the Methodist minister there—the rappings followed them, +and the whole town was speedily on the tiptoe of excitement. It was +then given out that the noises were communications from the spirits of +those recently dead, and that the Fox girls, who apparently attracted +them, were gifted with some special faculty which rendered intercourse +of this kind possible. People soon began to flock round them asking +their assistance in getting messages from their departed relatives and +friends; the two girls held regular séances, and netted a fair sum of +money. It was not long before other persons discovered that they also +possessed this extraordinary faculty of attracting spirit manifestations, +and of getting into communication with the other world at will. But +the Fox sisters were first in the field, and to them came a continuous +stream of persons with well-filled pockets from all parts of America. +There was also opposition, which sometimes took a very violent form. +As early as November, 1850, an attack was made upon Margaretta Fox, +who was staying at West Troy in the house of a Mr. Bouton. A rough mob +surrounded the premises, stones were thrown at the windows, and shots +fired, whilst both men and women uttered threats and imprecations against +the “unholy witch-woman within.” At one of the séances Dr. Kane, a famous +Arctic explorer was present, and he was so fascinated by the beauty of +Margaretta Fox that he never rested until he had taken her away from +her sordid and harmful surroundings, had her educated at Philadelphia, +and finally, much to the annoyance of his relations, who loathed any +connexion with the Fox family, made her his wife. + +Dr. Kane died soon after his marriage, but in the book published by his +widow there are several references to his abhorrence of Spiritism. “Do +avoid spirits,” he urges, “I cannot bear to think of you as engaged in a +course of wickedness and deception.” For ten years Mrs. Kane did indeed +abandon it; in fact in August, 1858, she was baptized as a Catholic at +New York; but then,[101] owing perhaps to the pinch of poverty, she +again took up work as a medium, and was received back with acclamations +by the whole Spiritistic community. From that moment dates her steady +deterioration, both physical and moral. + +Kate Fox, Mrs. Jencken as she had become, the wife of a London barrister, +was the mother of a baby whom popular talk credited with mediumistic +powers of the most extraordinary kind. The whole Spiritistic following +prophesied a brilliant future for the poor child, of whom, however, there +is nothing recorded save that he was sadly neglected by his miserable +mother, who died of chronic alcoholism in June, 1892. Mrs. Kane survived +her sister for nine months, a pitiable and hopeless wreck, craving only +for drink. The last few weeks of her life were spent in a derelict +tenement house. “This wreck of womanhood has been a guest in palaces and +courts. The powers of mind now imbecile were the wonder and the study +of scientific men in America, Europe, and Australia.... The lips that +utter little else now than profanity, once promulgated the doctrine of a +new religion.”[102] It would, indeed, be difficult to conceive anything +more sordid and more miserable than this sad and shocking story of utter +degradation. The collapse and moral corruption of the first apostles of +modern Spiritism should surely prove a timely warning and a danger signal +not to be mistaken.[103] + +In the earliest days of Spiritism the subject was investigated by men +like Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison, Robert Hare, professor of +chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, and John Worth Edmonds, +a judge of the Supreme Court of New York State. Conspicuous among the +spiritists we find Andrew Jackson Davis, whose work _The Principles of +Nature_ (1847), dictated by him in trance, contained theories of the +universe closely resembling those of the Swedenborgians. From America the +movement filtered through to Europe, and when in 1852 two mediums, Mrs. +Haydon and Mrs. Roberts, came to London, not merely popular interest but +the careful attention of the leading scientists of the day was attracted. +Robert Owen, the Socialist, frankly accepted the Spiritistic explanation +of the various phenomena, while Professor De Morgan, the mathematician, +in his account of a sitting with Mrs. Haydon declared himself convinced +that “somebody or some spirit was reading his thoughts.” In the spring +of 1855 Daniel Dunglas Home (Hume)—Home was the son of the eleventh +Lord Home and a chambermaid at the Queen’s Hotel, Southampton, but was +brought up in America—who was then a young man of twenty-two, crossed +to England from America. In 1856 Home was received into the Church at +Rome by Father John Etheridge, S.J., and he then gave a promise to +refrain from all exercise of his mediumistic powers, but in less than +a year he had broken his pledge and was living as before. This famous +medium is almost the only one who, as even Podmore admits, was never +clearly convicted of fraud. Sir David Brewster, the scientist, and Dr. +J. J. Garth Wilkinson, a scholar of unblemished integrity and one of the +leading homœopathic physicians, both avowed that they were incapable of +explaining the phenomena they had witnessed by any natural means. It was +in 1855 that the first English periodical dealing exclusively with the +subject, _The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph_, was published at Keighley, +in Yorkshire. In 1864 the Davenport brothers visited England, and in 1876 +Henry Slade. Amongst English mediums the Rev. William Stainton Moses +became prominent in 1872,[104] and about the same year Miss Florence +Cook, so well known for the materializations of “Katie King,” which +were scrupulously investigated by the late Sir William Crookes. In 1873 +and in 1874, however, the trickery of two mediums, Mrs. Bassett and Miss +Showers, was definitely exposed.[105] In 1876 and 1877 the sensitive +“Dr.” Monck was at the height of his reputation, and both Dr. Alfred +Russel Wallace, F.R.S., and the late Archdeacon Colley state that in +various séances with him they witnessed on several occasions phenomena, +including materialization, under rigid test conditions which admitted +of no dispute as to their genuineness. It is true that in 1876 Monck +had been in trouble and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment under +the Vagrant Act. About the same time William Eglinton, who figures in +Florence Marryat’s work _There is No Death_, appeared on the scenes +and for a while loomed largely in the public eye. He became famous for +his slate-writing performances as well as his materializations. He +was, however, exposed by Archdeacon Colley, who during the discussion +which had centred round a medium named Williams, detected in fraudulent +practices during séances in Holland, wrote to _The Medium and Daybreak_ +to say: “It unfortunately fell to me to take muslin and false beard from +Eglinton’s portmanteau.... Some few days before this I had on two several +occasions cut pieces from the drapery worn by, and clipped hair from the +beard of, the other figure representing Abdullah. I have the pieces so +cut off beard and muslin still. But note that when I took these things +into my possession I and a medical gentleman (25 years a Spiritualist and +well known to the old members of the Movement) found the pieces of muslin +cut fit exactly into certain corresponding portions of the drapery thus +taken.”[106] + +The medium Slade, who was famous for slate-writing, was upon one +occasion suddenly seized as he was about to put the slate under the +table. His hands were held fast, and when the slate was snatched from +him it was seen to be already covered with characters. Anna Rothe, who +died in 1901, a medium well known for her apports of flowers, suffered +a term of imprisonment in Germany on a charge of fraud. When Baily, the +Australian sensitive, visited Italy he refused to sit under the strict +conditions which were arranged in answer to a challenge of his powers. +Charles Eldred of Clowne, an adept at materialization, employed a chair +skilfully made with a double seat, and in this recess were discovered the +whole paraphernalia he employed in his performances. + +Mrs. Williams, an American medium, who for a long while was a centre of +spiritistic attention at Paris, used to materialize a venerable doctor +with a flowing beard who was sometimes accompanied by a young girl +dressed in white. At one circle Mons. Paul Leymaric gave a prearranged +signal. He and a friend each laid hold of one of the apparitions; a +third spectator seized Mrs. Williams’ assistant; and a fourth turned on +the lights. Mons. Leymaric was seen to be struggling with the medium, +who had donned a grey wig and a long property beard; the young girl was +a mask from which were draped folds of fine white muslin and which she +manipulated with her left hand. Miller, a Californian medium, was more +than suspected of producing spirits from gauze and nun’s veiling.[107] +From one of the mediums of Mons. de Rochas, Valentine, there emanated +mysterious lights, which moved quickly hither and thither during the +séances. Colonel de Rochas, when this manifestation was once at its +height, suddenly switched on a powerful electric torch and Valentine was +seen to have slipped off his socks and to be waving in the air his feet, +which were covered with some preparation of phosphorus.[108] As early as +June, 1875, a photographer named Buguet was convicted of selling faked +photographs of spirits by which he netted a very pretty sum.[109] + +It is notorious that in Spiritistic séances and circles charlatanry and +swindling of every kind are rife; that again and again mediums have +been convicted of fraud; that not infrequently all kinds of properties, +stuffed gloves, gauzes, yards of diaphanous muslin, invisible wires, +hooks, beards, wigs, have been discovered; that the use of luminous +paint is very effective and far from uncommon; that a sliding trap or +panel may on occasion prove of inestimable service; that we must allow +for self-deception, delusions, suggestion, hypnotism even; but when all +has been said, when we candidly acknowledge the imposture, the adroit +legerdemain, the conjurer’s clever tricks, the significant _mise en +scène_, the verbal wit and quibbling, the deliberate and subtle cozenage +contrived by shrewd minds and the full play of dramatic instinct and +energy, nevertheless there yet remain numbers of instances when it has +been repeatedly proven that acute and trained observers have witnessed +phenomena which could not by any possibility whatsoever have been +fraudulently produced; that clear-headed, cold-hearted, suspicious, hard +men of science with every sense keenly alert at that very moment have +conversed with, inspected, nay, actually handled, materialized forms and +figures no personation could have devised and manifested. + +The proceedings against Monck plainly showed that he had at any rate +a firm belief in his own psychic powers, and although Eglinton was +detected in a trick upon more than one occasion there is irrefutable +evidence to prove that in other instances when he assisted at séances +any normal mode of production of the phenomena seen there was quite +impossible. A large number of Miller’s manifestations also were +genuine.[110] The same may be said of very many mediums. This means, +in fine, that although the manifestations of almost any medium may in +some cases have been artificially contrived, such phenomena are not on +any account to be adjudged _always_ fraudulent, and even if the charge +of imposture could be brought home far more conclusively than has so +far been possible as regards the majority of sensitives, yet it were +a false inference indeed to deduce therefrom that all phenomena are +equally fraudulent and devised. It is only the recklessly illogical mind +and the loose thinker who will in the face of absolutely conclusive +proof of genuine manifestations continue to maintain that a certain +quota of quackery can invalidate the whole. Writers of the temper of +Messrs. Edward Clodd, Joseph McCabe, J. M. Robertson must, of course, be +expected to condemn Spiritism without knowing the facts or weighing the +evidence as an obvious absurdity which calls for no serious refutation. +But this, I think, matters little. The superstitious dogmatism of the +materialist is gravely discredited nowadays. True, the sort of book +he produces is widely circulated and very successful within certain +limits. We should expect tenth-rate ideas which could only emanate from +a lack of understanding, a total want of imagination, and no training +in metaphysics or philosophy, to have a direct appeal to the immature +intelligences, the uneducated vulgar and the blatant yet presumptuous +ignorance, which alone are eager for this kind of outmoded fare. + +In France Spiritism was first proclaimed by a pamphlet of Guillard +_Table qui danse et Table qui répond_. The way had been long paved owing +to the interest which was generally taken in the doctrines of Emanuel +Swedenborg. Balzac had published in 1835 his esoteric hybrid _Séraphita_ +(_Séraphitus_), a fanciful yet interesting work, in which there are many +pages of theosophic philosophy. Perhaps he meant these seriously, but +it is impossible to take them as other than flights of romance. In 1848 +Cohognet more immediately heralded Guillard by publishing at Paris the +first volume of his _Arcanes de la vie future devoilées_, which actually +contains what purport to be communications from the dead. In 1853 +séances were being held at Bourges, Strasburg, and Paris, and a regular +furore ensued. Nothing was talked of but the wonders of Spiritism, +which, however, soon met an opponent, Count Agénor de Gasparin, a Swiss +Protestant, who carefully investigated table-turning with a circle of +his friends and came to the conclusion that the phenomena originated +in some physical force of the human body. It must be admitted that his +_Des Tables Tournantes_ (Paris, 1854) is unconvincing and to some extent +superficial, but more perhaps could hardly be expected from a pioneer in +so tortuous an investigation. The Baron de Guldenstubbe, on the contrary, +declared his firm belief in the reality of these phenomena and spirit +intervention in general. His work _La Réalité des Esprits_ (Paris, 1857) +eloquently argued for his convictions, whilst _Le Livre des Esprits_ +(Paris, 1853) by M. Rivail or Rival, better known under his pseudonym +Allan Kardec, became a world-wide textbook to the whole subject. In these +early days the most distinguished men were wont to meet in the rue des +Martyrs at Paris for séances. Tiedmen Marthèse, governor of Java; the +academician Saint-René-Taillandier; Sardou, with his son; Flammarion; all +were constant visitors. The notorious Home was, it is said, expelled from +France after a séance at the Tuileries, during which he had touched the +arm of the Empress with his naked foot, pretending that it was a caress +from the tiny hands of a little child who was about fully to materialize. +No one, I think, could be surprised to know that the famous Joris Karl +Huysmans, an epicure in the byways of the occult, made many experiments +in Spiritism, and séances were frequently held at No. 11 rue de Sèvres +where he lived. Extraordinary manifestations took place, and upon one +occasion at least the circle effected a materialization of General +Boulanger, or an apparition of the General appeared to them. + +At the present time Spiritism is as widely spread in France as in +England, if indeed not far more widely. Thus _La Science de l’Ame_ is a +new bi-monthly journal issued under the auspices of _La Revue Spirite_. +It has articles on Magnetism and Radio-activity, the analysis of the +soul, and vital radiations. In the number of _La Revue Spirite_, which +commences the year 1925, Mons. Camille Flammarion prints a signed letter +from Heliopolis, which describes a first experience of a séance, where +the death of the writer’s father was predicted in six months and took +place ten days after the allotted time. Elsewhere in the issue are +particulars of the International Congress of Spiritism which was to be +held at Paris in September, 1925, and would be open to all Federations, +Societies, and Groups everywhere. An immense concourse was expected. +The President is Mr. George F. Berry, a well-known name in English +Spiritistic circles, and the compliment of honorary membership is paid to +Léon Denis,[111] Gabriel Delanne, Sir William Barrett, and Ernest Bozzano. + +A glance at the pages of any Spiritistic journal in England will show +almost endless activities in every direction. In one issue of the +weekly _Light_ (Saturday, 21 February, 1925) we have amongst other +announcements nine “Sunday’s Society Meetings” in various districts of +London, with addresses on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The following seems +sufficiently startling and a close enough imitation: “_St. Luke’s Church +of the Spiritual Evangel of Jesus the Christ, Queen’s-road, Forest +Hill, S.E._—Minister: Rev. J. W. Potter. February 22nd, 6.30, Service, +Holy Communion and Address. Healing Service, Wed., Feb. 25th, 7 p.m.” +In the next column are details of “Rev. G. Vale Owen’s Lecture Tour.” +The “London Spiritualist Alliance, Ltd.” has a list of meetings. There +are discussion classes and demonstrations of clairvoyance, psychometry, +and Mystic Pictures. Among “Books that will Help you” we find _Talks +with the Dead_, _Report on Spiritualism_, _The Aquarian Gospel of +Jesus the Christ_—(is this used at St. Luke’s Church of the Spiritual +Evangel?)—_Spirit Identity, Spiritualism_, and many more of similar +import. There is a “British College of Psychic Science” where Mr. Horace +Leaf, a medium of some repute, lectures on “The Psychology and Practice +of Mediumship,” Mrs. Barker demonstrates Trance Mediumship, and Mrs. +Travers Smith the Ouija-Board and Automatic Writing. There is a “London +Spiritual Mission” and a “Wimbledon Spiritualist Mission.” At Brighton +“St. John’s Brotherhood Church” provides “The Spiritual Evangel of Jesus +the Christ,” “Minister, Brother John.” And all this is scarcely a tithe +of the various announcements and advertisements. + +However grotesque, and indeed often puerile in its bombast and +grandiloquence, such a mass of heterogeneous notices may seem we must +remember that these people are in deadly earnest, and I doubt not but +their meetings and assemblies are well attended by enthusiastic devotees. +In a report of an address by the Rev. G. Vale Owen at the “Spiritualist +Community Services in the County Hall” on Sunday evening, 15 February, +1925, I read “all seats were filled long before the advertised hour +for starting. The doors were closed and many for a time were denied +admission. A little later they were allowed to enter and take up +positions along the edges of the dais and other odd places about the +hall.”[112] This, of course, was possibly some exceptional occasion, but +there is no indication that such was the case. Mr. Vale Owen may be a +very eloquent speaker and able to hold his audience spell-bound with the +magic of his words. It must assuredly be his manner and not his matter, +for his so-called revelations of the life beyond the grave, written under +control and presumed to be directly derived from spirit agency, which +appeared in _The Weekly Dispatch_ are vapid, inept, idle, and insipid to +the last degree. Such banal ramblings would provoke a smile, were it not +for the pity that any person can be so self-deluded, and can apparently +induce others to give credit to his silliness. + +There have been large numbers of mediums in recent years who owing to +one cause or another attracted considerable attention from time to +time, and there are many well-known contemporary sensitives widely +practising to-day. Mrs. Verrall and Mrs. Holland, who were believed to +have obtained spirit messages from the late F. W. H. Myers, occupied +the serious attention of the Society of Psychical Research[113] for a +considerable period; Mrs. Piper is an automatic writer of no little +repute; Mr. Vout Peters specializes in psychometry and clairvoyance; +Mr. Vearncombe and Mrs. Deane have recently enjoyed their full share +of notoriety;[114] the Rev. Josie K. Stewart (Mrs. Y.), a lady hailing +from the United States, has a gift for the production of “writing and +drawings on cards held in her hand”; Mrs. Elizabeth A. Tomson, in spite +of being detected of fraud at a Spiritistic “Church” in Brooklyn, still +has devoted followers; Franek Kluski, Stella C., and Ada Besinnet, are +in the forefront of American mediums; whilst the famous Goligher circle +at Belfast was carefully and patiently investigated for no less than +three months by Dr. Fournier d’Albe, who has published the result of +his experiences.[115] The very cream of these occult manifestations +is materialization, the most complex problem of all, which has been +described as “the exercise of the power of using of the matter of the +medium’s and the sitters’ bodies in the formation of physical structures +on a principle totally unknown to ordinary life, although probably +present there.”[116] Recently (1922) Erto, the Italian medium, appears to +have been the subject of careful experiments at the French Metaphysical +Institute during a period of several months, those who assisted being +pledged to silence until a decision had been reached. The particular +phenomena produced by or in his presence were chiefly characterized by +the radiation of an extraordinary light about his person. At the end +of 1922 two papers appeared in _La Revue Métapsychique_ on the part of +Dr. Sanguinetti and Dr. William Mackenzie of Genoa indicating their +assurance (1) that every scientific precaution had been taken, and +(2) that the phenomena were genuine. However, the experiments seem to +have continued and later there appeared in _Le Matin_ an enthusiastic +contribution by Dr. Stephen Chauvet, which caused Dr. Gustave Geley, +Director of the Metaphysical Institute, to come forward in confirmation +of the testimony. It is only fair to add that immediately afterwards +Dr. Geley to a certain extent retracted his statement, as he suggested +that the psychic lights could be produced with _ferro-cerium_, and +it was thought that traces of this substance could be found on Erto’s +clothes. The medium protested his innocence of any deception, and offers +himself for further experiments. A writer in _Psychica_ is inclined to +believe that the phenomena were genuine, but that later some fraud may +have been practised owing to waning power. This is possibly the case, +for that the radiations were at first supernormal cannot, I think, be +gainsaid in view of the high testimony adduced. For this phenomenon Mr. +Cecil Hush and Mr. Craddock have sat repeatedly; of the extraordinary +manifestations of the late Eusapia Palladino there can be no reasonable +doubt at all; the materializations of Mlle “Eva Carrère,”[117] although +on several occasions not altogether successful, are at other times +supported by the strongest evidence; Nino Pecoraro, who is described as +“a remarkably muscular young Neapolitan,” is famous for “ectoplasmic +effects”; and Stanislava P., Willy S., the Countess Castelvicz, and +very many more psychics possess these supernormal powers, although, as +we might expect, they have to be used with the utmost caution and often +prove very exhausting to the subject. After all, it must be remembered +that probably under certain conditions materialization cannot take place, +whilst under favourable conditions it can be completely effected. For an +exhaustive and authoritative discussion of the whole matter the Baron Von +Schrenck-Notzing’s _Phenomena of Materialization_ (Kegan Paul, 1923), +should be consulted. The 225 photographic reproductions are of the utmost +importance, whilst the investigations were carried on under conditions +of such pitiless severity to eliminate any hypothesis of fraud that the +mediums cannot but have been subjected to the intensest physical and +moral strain. + +Among recent psychic phenomena very general attention has been attracted +by what is known as “The Oscar Wilde Script,” which was widely discussed +in 1923-24. Briefly, this purports to be a number of communications which +were delivered by the spirit of the late Oscar Wilde at the rate of 1020 +words in an hour by means of automatic writing through the mediumship +of Mrs. Travers Smith (Mrs. Hester M. Dowden)[118] and a certain Mr. V. +True, there were published in _The Sunday Express_ pages which had a +superficial resemblance to the more flashy characteristics of Wilde’s +flamboyant style, but it seemed as if the wit and point had vanished, +leaving only a somewhat heavy and imitative prose; one had a sense of +damp fireworks, and personally I do not for a moment accept this script +as being inspired or dictated by Wilde. I hasten to add that I do not +suggest there was any conscious fraud or trickery on the part of those +concerned; it is quite probable that these psychic messages were conveyed +by some intelligence of no very high standing, and the result in fine is +not of any value. It is said that a three act play is being or has been +communicated through the ouija-board from what purports to be Wilde. This +I have not read, and therefore I am not in a position to pronounce upon +it. + +Spiritism is upheld by many distinguished names. Sir Oliver Lodge, +F.R.S., has battled on its behalf, as also have Sir William Barrett, +F.R.S., and Sir William Crookes, F.R.S., Professors Charles Richet, +Janet, Bernheim, Lombroso, and Flammarion lend it the weight of their +authority, whilst Sir Conan Doyle has poured forth his benedictions upon +occultism of every kind.[119] He has even presided over the opening +of a most attractive bookshop in Victoria Street, Westminster, where +Spiritistic publications are sold. + +How then are we to regard this mighty movement at which it were folly +to sneer, which it is impossible to ignore? The Catholic Church does +neither. But none the less she condemns it utterly and entirely. Not +because she disbelieves in it, but because she believes in it so +thoroughly, because she knows what is the real nature of the moving +forces, however skilfully they may disguise themselves, however quick +and subtle their shifts and turns, the intelligences which inform and +direct the whole. It is a painful subject since (I reiterate) many +good people, no doubt many thoughtful seekers after truth, have been +fascinated and swept along by Spiritism. They are as yet conscious of +neither physical nor moral harm, and, it may be, they have been playing +with the fire for years. Nay more, Spiritism has been a sweet solace +to many in most poignant hours of bitter sorrow and loss; wherefore +it is hallowed in their eyes by tenderest memories. They are woefully +deceived. Hard as it may seem, we must get down to the bed-rock of +fact. Spiritism has been specifically condemned on no less than four +occasions by the Holy Office,[120] whose decree, 30 March, 1898, utterly +forbids all Spiritistic practices although intercourse with demons be +strictly excluded, and communication sought with good spirits only. +Modern Spiritism is merely Witchcraft revived. The Second Plenary Council +of Baltimore (1866), whilst making ample allowance for prestidigitation +and trickery of every kind, warns the faithful against lending any +support whatsoever to Spiritism and forbids them to attend séances even +out of idle curiosity, for some, at least, of the manifestations must +necessarily be ascribed to Satanic intervention since in no other manner +can they be understood or explained. + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER VI + +[1] E. de Rougé, _Étude sur une stèle Égyptienne_, Paris, 1858: E. A. W. +Budge, _Egyptian Magic_, VII. + +[2] _Rekh Khet_, “knower of things.” + +[3] Euripides, _Bacchæ_: passim; Ovid, _Metamorphoses_, III. 513, _sqq._; +Apollodorus, III. v. 2.; Hyginus, _Fabulæ_, 184; Nonnus, _Dionysiaca +(Bassarica)_, XIV, 46. + +[4] Sophocles, _Ajax_; Pindar, _Nemea_, VII, 25; Ovid, _Metamorphoses_, +XIII, 1-398. + +[5] Pausanias, III, xvi, 6. + +[6] Valerius Maximus, I, 11, 5. Lacinium was a promontory on the east +coast of Bruttium, a few miles south of Croton, and forming the western +boundary of the Tarentine gulf. The remains of the temple of Juno Lacinia +are still extant, and have given the modern name to the promontory, _Capo +delle Colonne_ or _Capo di Nao_ (ναός). + +[7] Xenophon, _Memorabilia_, II. i. 5; Demosthenes, XCIII, 24; Dinarchus, +CI, 41; Plutarch, _Lucullus_, IV. + +[8] Euripides, _Orestes_, l. 854, and l. 79. + +[9] Cf. μάντις. + +[10] Cf. Vergil _Æneid_, IV. 471-3: + + Agamemnonius scænis agitatus Orestes + armatam facibus matrem et serpentibus atris + cum fugit, ultricesque sedent in limine Diræ. + + (Or as the Atridan matricide + Runs frenzied o’er the scene, + What time with snakes and torches plied + He flees the murdered queen, + While at the threshold of the gate + The sister-fiends expectant wait.) + +[11] Plautus, _Amphitruo_, II. 2. 145. Nam hæc quidem edepol lauarum +plenast. + +[12] + + Quid esset illi morbi, dixeras? Narra, senex. + Num laruatus, aut cerritus? fac sciam. + +_Menæchmei._ V. I, 2. Apuleuis has _laruans_ = a madman: “hunc +[pulcherrimam Mercurii imaginem] denique qui laruam putat, ipse est +laruans.” (_Laruatus_ is a poorer reading in this passage.) _Cerritus_, +a rare word, is contracted from _cerebritus_ (_cerebrum_), and not +connected with Ceres, as was formerly suggested. Cf. Horace, _Sermonum_, +II, iii. 278. + +[13] _Bibl._ III, v, 1. + +[14] 471, _sqq._ + +[15] 56, Nauck. + +[16] + + τἀπιχώρἰ ἐν πόλει φρυγῶν τύμπανα, + Ῥέας τε μητρὸς ἐμά θ’ εὑρήματα. + +[17] _Circa_ 185-135 B.C. + +[18] Professor Leuba, _The Psychology of Religious Mysticism_ Kegan Paul, +London, 1925, p. 11 _sqq._ has some very important references to the +worship of Dionysus. + +[19] + + σὺ γὰρ ἔνθεος, ὦ κούρα, + εἴτ’ ἐκ Πανὸς εἴθ’ Ἑκάτας + ἢ σεμνῶν Κορυβάντων + φοιτᾷς, ἢ ματρὸς ὀρείας. + +[20] + + δόξασά που + ἢ Πανὸς ὀργὰς ἢ τινὸς θεῶν μολεῖν. + +[21] + + ἀλλ’ ἦ Κρονίου Πανὸς τρομερᾷ + μάστιγι φοβεῖ; + +[22] Pythagoras prescribes music for mental disorders, Eunapius _Uita +philosophurum_, 67; and Cælius Aurelianus by his references shows that +this was a common remedy in such cases, _De Morbis Chronicis (Tardarum +Passionum)_ VI. Origen, _Aduersus Celsum_, III, x, and Martianus Capella +_De Nuptiis Philologiæ et Mercurii_ IX, 925, have similar allusions. + +[23] 1 Kings xvi. 14 (A.V. 1 Samuel xvi. 14): “Exagitabat eum [Saul] +spiritus nequam a Domino.” + +[24] _Antiquitates Iud._, VI, viii, 2; ii, 2. + +[25] _La Mystique Divine_, Ribet, II, ix, 4, it is true, speaks of +“l’obsession intérieure,” but he makes the above distinction, and +further says: “L’obsession purement intérieure ne diffère des tentations +ordinaires que par la véhémence et la durée.” + +[26] Multæ sunt tentationes eius, et die noctuque uariæ dæmonum +insidiæ.... Quoties illi nudæ mulieres cubanti, quoties esurienti +largissimæ apparuere dapes? _Uita S. Hilarionis._ VII. Migne. vol. XXIII. +col. 32. + +[27] Sustinebat miser diabolus uel mulieris formam noctu induere, +feminæque gestus imitari, Antonium ut deciperet. S. Athanasius, _Uita S. +Antonii_, V. Migne. vol. XXVI. col. 847. + +[28] Feast (duplex maius apud Minores), 22 February. + +[29] It may perhaps not be amiss to point out that S. Margaret before +her conversion was by no means the woman of scandalous life so many +biographers have painted her. + +[30] Sectando per cellam orantis et flentis, cantauit [diabolus] +turpissimas cantationes, et Christi famulam lacrymantem et se Domino +commendantem procaciter inuocabat ad cantum ...; tentantem precibus et +lacrymis repulit ac eiecit. Bollandists, 22 February. Vol. VI. + +[31] Ceterum consilium est semper de talibus inuasionibus suspicionem +habere, non enim negandum maiorem earum partem esse aut fictiones, +aut imaginationes, aut infirmitates, præsertim in mulieribus. _Praxis +confessariorum_, n. 120. + +[32] Sæpissime, quæ putantur dæmonis obsessiones, non sunt nisi morbi +naturales, aut Naturales imaginationes, uel etiam inchoata aut perfecta +amentia. Quare caute omnino procedendum, usquedum per specialissima signa +de obsessione constet. _Theologia mystica_, I. n. 228. + +[33] _Biblisches Realworterbuch_, Leipsig, 1833. + +[34] This word is found nowhere else in the New Testament, and wherever +it is used in the LXX, it is invariably of the sayings of lying prophets, +or those who practised arts forbidden by the Jewish Law. Thus of the +witch of Endor (1 Kings (1 Samuel) xxviii. 8) μάντευσαι δή μοι ἐν τῷ +ἐγγαστριομύθῳ, and (Ezechiel xiii. 6) βλέπουτες ψευδῆ, μαντευόμενοι +μάταια. + +[35] Ordinandi, filii charissimi, in officium Exorcistarum, debitis +noscere quid suscipitis. Exorcistam etenim oportet abiicere dæmones; et +dicere populo, ut, qui non communicat, det locum; et aquam in ministerio +fundere. Accipitis itaque potestatem imponendi manum super energumenos, +et per impositionem manuum uestrarum, gratia spiritus sancti, et +uerbis exorcismi pelluntur spiritus immundi a corporibus obsessis. +Studete igitur, ut, sicut a corporibus aliorum dæmones expellitis, +ita a mentibus, et corporibus uestris omnem immunditiam, et nequitiam +eiiciatis; ne illis succumbatis, quos ab aliis, uestro ministerio, +effugatis. Discite per officium uestrum uitiis imperare; ne in moribus +uestris aliquid sui iuris inimicus ualeat uindicare. Tunc etenim recte +in aliis dæmonibus imperabitis, cum prius in uobis eorum multimodam +nequitiam superatis. Quod nobis Dominus agere concédât per Spiritum suum +sanctum. + +[36] Accipite, et commendate memoriæ, et habete potestatem imponendi +manus super energumenos, siue baptizatos, siue catechumenos. + +[37] Deum Patrem omnipotentem, fratres charissimi, supplices deprecamur, +ut hos famulos suos bene ✠ dicere dignetur in officium Exorcistarum; +ut sint spirituales imperatores, ad abiiciendos dæmones de corporibus +obsessis, cum omni nequitia eorum multiformi. Per unigenitum Filium suum +Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, qui cum eo uiuit et regnat in unitate +Spiritus sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. _R._ Amen. + +[38] Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus, bene ✠ dicere dignare +hos famulos tuos in officium Exorcistarum; ut per impositionem manuum, +et oris officium, potestatem, et imperium habeant spiritus immundos +coercendi: ut probabiles sint medici Ecclesiæ tuæ, gratia curationum +uirtuteque cœlesti confirmati. Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium +tuum, qui tecum uiuit, et regnat in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus, per +omnia sæcula sæculorum. _R._ Amen. _Post hæc, suggerente Archidiacono, +redeunt ad loca sua._ + +[39] Sulpitius Severus (d. 420-5) in his _Dialogues_, III (II), 6; +(Migne, _Patres Latini_, XX, 215) tells us that S. Martin of Tours was +wont to cast out demons by prayer alone without the imposition of hands +or the use of the formulæ recommended to the clergy. Similar instances +occur in the lives of the Saints. + +[40] Translated from the _Rituale Romanum_. There are several forms +extant, some authorized, but more, perhaps, unauthorized. There is +an authorized form in the Greek _Euchologion_. It commences with the +Trisagion, and Psalms, _Domine exaudi_ (cxlii.), _Dominus regit me_ +(xxii.), _Dominus illuminatio mea_ (xxvi.), _Esurgat Deus_ (lxvii.), +_Miserere_ (lvi.), _Domine ne in furore_ (vi.), _Domine exaudi orationem_ +(ci.). Then follows the Consolatory Canon, with a long Hymn addressed to +Our Lord, Our Lady, and All Saints. Next the priest anoints the patient, +saying a prayer over him, and so the office closes. + +[41] It is also given in the _Horæ Diurnæ O.P._, Rome, 1903, where an +indulgence of 300 days is attached, plenary once a month. + +[42] Ab insidiis diaboli, libera nos Domine; Ut Ecclesiam tuam secura +tibi facias libertate seruire, te rogamus, audi nos; Ut inimicos sanctæ +Ecclesiæ humiliare digneris, te rogamus, audi nos. _Et aspergatur locus +aqua benedicta._ + +[43] Holy water, the commonest of the sacramentals, is a mixture of +exorcised salt and exorcised water. + +[44] Of Eastern origin. It should be remembered that the Baptism of +Christ in Jordan is commemorated on the Epiphany. In the present Breviary +office in Nocturn I the first response for the day, the Octave, and +the Sunday within the Octave deal with the Baptism, as does the second +response. The antiphon to the Benedictus and the Magnificat antiphon at +Second Vespers also make mention of the same mystery. In Rome the Latin +rite of the Blessing of the Waters is pontificated by a Cardinal at +S. Andrea della Valle on 5 January, about 3.30 p.m., at the church of +the Stimmate of S. Francesco at 9.30 a.m. on the Feast itself. On the +Vigil the Oriental rite is performed at the Greek church of S. Atanasio, +beginning about 3.30 a.m. + +[45] See Wilson, _Western Africa_; and the article “Possession +diabolique” by Waffelaert in the _Dictionnaire apologétique de la foi +catholique_, Paris, 1889. The opinion of the Cistercian Dom Robert de la +Trappe (Dr. Pierre-Jean-Corneille Debreyne), who, whilst acknowledging +that the demoniac possessions as detailed in the New Testament are _de +fide_, supposes that all other cases are to be attributed to fraud or +disease, must be severely censured as regrettably rash and even culpable. +_Essai sur la théologie morale_, IV. p. 356. + +[46] S. Justin. Martyr, _Apologia_, VI; _Dialogues_, XXX, LXXXV: Minutius +Felix, _Octavius_, XXVII; Origen, _Contra Celsum_, I, 25; VII, 4, 67: +Tertullian, _Apologia_, XXII, XXIII. + +[47] Paulinus, _Uita Ambrosii_, 28, 43. + +[48] S. Gregory of Nyssa, _De Uita Ephraem_. + +[49] Upon this passage Servatius Galle (1627-1709), a Dutch minister at +Haarlem, in his edition of Lactantius, 1660, writes the most absurd note +I have ever met with in any commentator. + +[50] Published between 304-313. De Labriolle, _Histoire de la Littérature +Latine Chrétienne_, p. 272. + +[51] A very full and scholarly monograph upon this subject may +be recommended: _La Réalité des Apparitions Démoniaques_, by Dom +Bernard-Marie Maréchaux, Olivetan, O.S.B., Paris, Téqui, 1899. + +[52] It is true that on one occasion S. Maurus, who was with S. Benedict, +beheld an apparition, and S. Benedict once enabled a monk to see a +similar vision. + +[53] One of Sodoma’s exquisite frescoes at Monte Oliveto (Siena) depicts +an exorcism by S. Benedict. + +[54] The letters have been thus translated by Dom Benedict McLaughlin of +Ampleforth: + + Holy Cross be thou my light, + Put the evil one to flight. + Behind me Satan speedily, + Whisper not vain things to me. + You can give but evil, then + Keep it for yourself. Amen. + +[55] All English Benedictine priests hold the special faculty to use +this (bestowed 23 February, 1915), and it has also been granted to many +others, religious and seculars. + +[56] Omnis virtus aduersarii, omnis exercitus diaboli, et omnis incursus, +omnis phantasma Satanæ, eradicate et effugare ab his numismatibus.... + +[57] Domine Iesu Christe ... per hanc tuam sanctissimam passionem +humiliter exoro; ut omnes diabolicas insidias et fraudes expellas ab eo, +qui nomen sanctum tuum, his litteris ac characteribus a te designatis, +deuote inuocauerit, et eum ad salutis portum perducere digneris. Qui +uiuis et régnas.... + +[58] The _Rituale Romanum_ has “Benedictio Infirmorum cum Ligno SS. +Crucis, D.N.J.C. _seu_ Signum S. Mauri Abbatis.” This is a blessing of +the sick with a Relic of the Holy Cross and the invocation of S. Benedict +and S. Maurus. + +[59] The _Uita S. Mauri_ (Mabillon, _Acta S.S. O. S.B._, I, 274) +is ascribed to a companion, the monk Faustus of Monte Cassino. +Père Delehaye, in his unfortunate and temerarious work _Légendes +Hagiographiques_ (translation. London, 1907), indecorously attacks this +and treats S. Maurus with scant respect. A worthy defence was made by +Adlhoch, _Stud. u. Mittheil._, 1903, 3; 1906, 185. According to Peter the +Deacon he also wrote a _Cantus ad B. Maurum_. + +[60] Blessed Victor III. _Dialogues_, I, 2. + +[61] Abbé Lebeuf. _Histoire du diocèse de Paris_, V. 129 _sqq._ + +[62] Portraits of him are preserved at Rome and Valladolid. + +[63] A hearty believer in witchcraft. He had sent at least one witch to +the gallows, and another to prison. + +[64] Apparently the work of Darrel himself, but in the Huth catalogue (V, +1643) ascribed to James Bamford. + +[65] Darrel in his _Detection of that sinnful, shamful, lying, and +ridiculous discours of Samuel Harshnet_, 1600, writes: “There is no +doubt but that S.H. stand for Samuell Harsnet, chapline to the Bishop of +London, but whither he alone, or his lord and hee, have discovered this +counterfeyting and cosonage there is the question. Some think the booke +to be the Bishop’s owne doing: and many thinke it to be the joynt work of +them both.” + +[66] On 10 November, 1629, he was sworn of the Privy Council. + +[67] Whence Shakespeare derived the names of various evil spirits whom +Edgar mentions in _King Lear_. + +[68] I do not conceive that at the present time many, if any, Bishops +of the Church of England would license exorcism. Certainly the more +scientifically minded and modernistic Lords Spiritual of the Anglican +bench have rid themselves of such an idle superstition. How they would +explain Our Blessed Lord’s words and actions I do not pretend to know, +but I suppose that according to their wider knowledge Christ—_sit uenia +uerbis_—was mistaken in this as in other particulars. + +[69] _Colloquia Mensalia_, passim. + +[70] It is difficult to see how the teachings of such a Protestant leader +as Gaspar von Schwenckfeld (1489-90—1561) are anything save tantamount to +mere personal morality and a vague individual pietism. A critical edition +of his numerous works is in course of publication under the editorship +of Hartranft, Schlutter, and Johnson: _Corpus Schwenckfeldianorum_, I, +Leipzig, 1907. + +[71] Parker’s _Correspondence_, Parker Society, Cambridge, 1856, pp. +465-6. + +[72] By vomiting pins and straws they had made many believe that they +were bewitched, but the tricks were soon found out and they were +compelled to public penance at S. Paul’s. There is a black letter +pamphlet _The discloysing of a late counterfeyted possession by the devyl +in two maydens within the Citie of London_ [1574], which describes +this case. See also Holinshed, _Chronicles_ (ed. London, 1808), IV, 325, +and Stow _Annales_, London, 1631, p. 678. But the fact that there are +malingerers does not mean there are none sick. + +[73] _Marie Glover’s late woefull case.... A defence of the truthe +against D. J. his scandalous Impugnations_, British Museum, Sloane +MSS., 831. Sinclar, _Satan’s Invisible World Discovered_, Edinburgh, +1685, Relation XII quotes an account of Mary Glover from Lewis Hughes’ +_Certaine Grievances_ (1641-2); and hence Burton, _The Kingdom of +Darkness_, and Hutchinson, _Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft_, both +assign a wrong date (1642) to the occurrence. + +[74] Enlarged edition, 1720. + +[75] _The Other World_, London, 1875, I, pp. 59-69. The incident is +narrated by Fortescue Hitchins, _The History of Cornwall_, Helston, 1824, +II, pp. 548-51; and also in fuller detail by the Rev. R. S. Hawker, +_Footprints of Former Men in Far Cornwall_, London, 1870, who quotes from +Ruddle’s MS. Diary. + +[76] Six miles north of S. Columb and three miles due south from Padstow. + +[77] A full and documented account of these strange happenings may be +found in _Lucifer, or the True Story of the Famous Diabolic Possession in +Alsace_, London, 1922, with the Imprimatur of the Bishop of Brentwood. +Compiled from original documents by the abbé Paul Sutter and translated +by the Rev. Theophilus Borer. + +[78] Jesus ... comminatus est spiritui immundo, dicens illi: Surde et +mute spiritus, Ego præcipio tibi, exi ab eo: et amplius ne introcas in +eum. _Euan. sec. Marcum._ IX. 25. + +[79] 1726-1755. This great Saint was then Venerable; he was beatified by +Leo XIII, 29 January, 1893, and canonized by Pius X, 11 December, 1903. +His feast is kept on 16 October. + +[80] Peter Paul Stumpf succeeded Andreas Räss as Bishop of Strasburg, +1887-1890. + +[81] _Une Possédée Contemporaine_ (1834-1914). _Hélène Poirier de +Coullons_ (_Loiret_). Paris, Téqui, 1924. An ample study, profusely +documented, of 517 pages, edited by M. le Chanoine Champault of the +diocese of Orleans. + +[82] A partir de cette époque, la vie d’Hélène s’écoulera au milieu de +souffrances physiques et morales si grandes, que dans sa bouche les +plaintes de Job ne seraient point déplacées. + +[83] Mr. G. R. S. Mead, however, in this connexion not impertinently +recalls the “controlling” of members of the Shaker communities by what +purported to be spirits of North American Indians. This was prior to 1848. + +[84] Ses souffrances physiques et morales, commencées le 25 mars, +1850, se poursuivirent jusqu’à sa mort, 8 janvier, 1914, soit pendant +soixante-quatre ans. Toutefois les vexations diaboliques cessèrent vers +la fin de 1897. Ces vexations durèrent donc près de quarante-sept années, +dont six de possession. + +[85] Du 25 mars, 1850, au courant de mars, 1868, Hélène _fut seulement +obsédée. Cette obsession dura donc 18 années_. Au bout de ce temps et +pendant 13 _mois_ elle fut _obsédée et possédée tout ensemble_. + +De I’obsession et de la possession elle fut complètement délivrée par les +exorcismes officiels, à Orléans, le 19 avril, 1869. + +Suivirent quatre mois de tranquillité, jusqu’au recommencement volontaire +et généreux de ses peines. + +A la fin d’août, 1869, elle accepta de la main de Notre Seigneur les +tourments d’une nouvelle obsession et possession afin d’obtenir la +conversion du célèbre général Ducrot. La conversion obtenue, elle fut +délivrée à Lourdes le 3 septembre, 1875, par les prières des 15,000 +pèlerins qui s’y trouvaient réunis. _Obsession et possession renouvelées_ +avaient duré cinq ans. + +Plus jamais, pendant les quarante ans qu’elle avait encore à vivre, elle +ne fut possédée; mais elle continua à être obsédée tantôt plus, tantôt +moins. Les souffrances de toutes sortes, qu’elle endura alors, eurent +pour but d’obtenir le salut et le triomphe du clergé. + +Quant aux raisons et au but des premières persécutions diaboliques +qu’elle subit pendant dix-neuf ans et dont elle fut délivrée par +les exorcismes officiels, ils sont restés inconnus. _Une Possédée +Contemporaine_ (1834-1914), pp. 171-2. + +[86] A fragment of the soutane of this most holy Pontiff was taken to +Hélène and during one of her fits placed upon her forehead. At the +contact she cried out: “Le Pape est un saint, oui un grand saint.” (The +Pope is a Saint, truly a great Saint!) + +[87] Pour y être admis, il faut apporter une ou plusiers hosties +consacrées, les remettre au démon qui, sous forme corporelle ou visible, +préside l’assemblée. Il faut les profaner d’une manière horrible, adorer +le démon lui-même et commettre avec lui et les autres sociétaires les +actes d’impudicité les plus révoltants. Trois villes: Paris, Rome, et +Tours sont les sièges de cette société infernale. + +[88] La seconde possession fut plus terrible que la première. 1ᵉ: Par la +durée; la première fut de treize mois, la seconde de cinq ans. 2ᵉ: La +première fut adoucie par de nombreuses consolations surnaturelles; la +seconde très peu. 3ᵉ: Les dévices abondèrent dans la première; dans la +seconde les avanies morales l’emportèrent de beaucoup sur les avanies +physiques. _Une Possédée Contemporaine_ (1834-1914), p. 405. + +[89] _Spirit Possession_, Henry M. Hugunin, published in Sycamore, Ill., +U.S.A. + +[90] One should note the implication that science and faith are opposed. +Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell pointedly comments: “This question seems inept. +To me the terms are not in antithesis, i.e. logical _v._ spiritual.” + +[91] Edited by Huntly Carter. Fisher Unwin, 1920. + +[92] Whose contribution, _From Non-Religion to Religion_, opens with the +following ineptitude: “I think that the renewal of Spiritualism is mainly +due to a real increase in our knowledge of psychical facts.” This phrase +could only have been written by one wholly ignorant of mystical theology, +and, it would seem, of historical Christianity. + +[93] _Spiritualism, Its Present-Day Meaning_, p. 258. + +[94] _Idem_, p. 269. + +[95] _Idem_, pp. 270-1. + +[96] _Idem_, p. 245. + +[97] _Idem_, p. 206. + +[98] _Idem_, pp. 206-7. + +[99] _Idem_, p. 205. The words are those of Father Bernard Vaughan. + +[100] “Seventeen Elementary Facts concerning Spiritualism.” _Light_, 21 +February, 1925. Here we also have the frank avowal: “Modern Spiritualism +is only a revival of phenomena and experiences that were well known in +ancient times.” It should be remarked that similar phenomena, believed +to be a genuine case of haunting, occurred at the house of Mr. Samuel +Wesley, at Epworth, Lincolnshire, in 1716, and attracted universal +attention. It is said that the knockings at the house of Parsons, Cock +Lane, West Smithfield, in 1760, were proved to be fraud, but I do not +know that the case has ever been candidly studied. + +[101] She took part in a séance on 25 October, 1860, but this seems to +have been exceptional. + +[102] _Washington Daily Star_, 7 March, 1893, quoted in _The Medium and +the Daybreak_, 7 April, 1893. + +[103] In the “educational” primers prepared by certain spiritists for use +by children the story of the Fox Sisters is told in glowing colours to a +point, but the history of their downfall is suppressed. + +[104] He died at Bedford, 5 September, 1892. His control was the spirit +Imperator, who claimed to be the prophet Malachias. For a very full +biography see Arthur Lillie’s _Modern Mystics and Modern Magic_. London. +1894. + +[105] For Mrs. Bassett see _The Medium_, 11 April and 18 April, 1873, pp. +174 and 182; for Miss Showers, _The Medium_, 8 May and 22 May, pp. 294 +and 326. + +[106] _Medium and Daybreak_, 15 November, 1878, p. 730. + +[107] _L’Eclair_, 6 April, 1909. + +[108] Dr. Grasset, _L’Occultisme_, pp. 56, _sqq._; p. 424. + +[109] _Procès des Spirites_, 8vo. Paris. 1875. + +[110] _La Revue Spirite_ and _L’Echo du Mentalisme_, Nov., 1908. + +[111] Who apparently believes that Spiritism is authorized by the +Scriptures, and that many of the prophets, nay, even Our Divine Lord +Himself, were but mediums. + +[112] _Light._ Saturday, 21 February, 1925, p. 89. + +[113] Organized in 1882 for the scientific examination of “debatable +phenomena.” + +[114] See the Report presented 11 May, 1922, and published by The Magic +Circle, Anderton’s Hotel, Fleet Street. + +[115] _The Goligher Circle, May to August, 1921._ Experiences of E. E. +Fournier d’Albe, D.SC. London, Watkins, 1922. + +[116] _The Classification of Psychic Phenomena_, by W. Loftus Hare. _The +Occult Review_, July, 1924, p. 38. + +[117] Her real name appears to be Marthe Béraud. Professor Richet is +satisfied that in his experiments with this medium at the Villa Carmen +(Algiers) in 1905 genuine materialization was effected. + +[118] Who, as noted above, specializes in the Ouija-Board and Automatic +Writing. + +[119] He has written such works as _The New Revelation_, and compiled +_The Spiritualists’ Reader_, “A Collection of Spirit Messages from many +sources, specially prepared for Short Readings.” + +[120] In all of whose documents the distinction is clearly drawn between +legitimate scientific investigation and superstitious abuses. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE + + +The English theatre, in common with every other form of the world’s +drama, had a religious, or even more exactly a liturgical, origin. +At the Norman Conquest as the English monasteries began to be filled +with cultured French scholars there is evidence that Latin dialogues, +the legends of saints and martyrs, something after the fashion of +Hrotsvitha’s comedies, which we do not imagine to have been a unique +phenomenon, found their way here also, and from recitation to the +representation of these was an easy and indeed inevitable step. For it is +almost impossible to declaim without appropriate action. From the very +heart of the liturgy itself arose the Mystery Play. + +The method of performing these early English guild plays has been +frequently and exactly described, and I would only draw attention to one +feature of the movable scaffold which passed from station to station, +that is the dark cavern at the side of the last of the three sedes, +Hell-mouth. No pains were spared to make this as horrible and realistic +as might be. Demons with hideous heads issued from it, whilst ever and +anon lurid flames burst forth and dismal cries were heard. Thus the +Digby S. Mary Magdalen play has the stage-direction: “a stage, and Helle +ondyrneth that stage.” At Coventry the Cappers had a “hell-mouth” for +the Harrowing of Hell, and the Weavers another for Doomsday. This was +provided with fire, a windlass, and a barrel for the earthquake. In +the stage-directions to Jordan’s Cornish Creation of the World Lucifer +descends to hell “apareled fowle wᵗʰ fyre about hem” and the place is +filled with “every degre of devylls of lether and spirytis on cordis.” +Among the “establies” required for the Rouen play of 1474 was “Enfer fait +en maniere d’une grande gueulle se cloant et ouvrant quant besoing en +est.” The last stage-direction of the _Sponsus_, a liturgical play from +Limoges,—assigned by M. M. W. Cloetta and G. Paris to the earlier half of +the twelfth century—which deals with the Wise and Foolish Virgins runs as +follows: “_Modo accipiant eas [fatuas uirgines] dæmones et præcipitentur +in infernum_.” + +The Devil himself is one of the most prominent characters in the Mystery, +the villain of the piece. So the York cycle commences with _The Creation +and the Fall of Lucifer_. Whilst the Angels are singing “Holy, Holy, +Holy” before the throne of God, Satan appears exulting in his pride to +be cast down speedily into hell whence he howls his complaint beginning +“Owte, owte! harrowe!” There is a curious incident in the episode of the +Dream of Pilate’s wife. Whilst she sleeps Satan whispers in her ear the +vision which moves her to try to stay the condemnation of Jesus whereby +mankind is to be redeemed. The last play of the York cycle is the _Day of +Judgement_. + +In like manner the Towneley cycle opens with _The Creation_, and +presently we have the stage-direction _hic deus recedit à suo solio & +lucifer sedebit in eodem solio_. The scene soon shifts to hell when we +hear the demons reproaching Lucifer for his pride. After the creation of +Adam and Eve follows Lucifer’s lament. In the long episode of _Doomsday_ +a number of demons appear and are kept inordinately busy. + +The Devil was represented as black, with goat’s horns, ass’s ears, cloven +hoofs, and an immense phallus. He is, in fact, the Satyr of the old +Dionysiac processions, a nature-spirit, the essence of joyous freedom +and unrestrained delight, shameless if you will, for the old Greek +knew not shame. He is the figure who danced light-heartedly across the +Aristophanaic stage, stark nude in broad midday,[1] animally physical, +exuberant, ecstatic, crying aloud the primitive refrain, Φαλῆς, ἑταῖρε +Βακχίου, ξύγκωμε, νυκτεροπλάνητε, μοιχε, παιδεραστά, (Phales, boon mate +of Bacchus, joyous comrade in the dance, wanton wanderer o’ nights, +fornicating Phales), in a word he was Paganism incarnate, and Paganism +was the Christian’s deadliest foe; so they took him, the Bacchic +reveller, they smutted him from horn to hoof, and he remained the +Christian’s deadliest foe, the Devil.[2] + +It was long before the phallic demon was banished the stage, for strange +as it may seem, positive evidence exists that he was known there as late +as Shakespeare’s day. In 1620 was published in London by Edward Wright +_A Courtly Masque: The Deuice called, The World tost at Tennis_. “As it +hath beene diuers times Presented to the Contentment of many Noble and +Worthy Spectators: By the Prince his Seruants.” It was “Inuented and set +downe by Tho: Middleton, Gent, and William Rowley, Gent.” The title-page +presents a rough engraving of the various characters in this masque, +doubtless from a sketch made at the actual performance. Outside the main +group stands a hideous black figure “The Diuele,” who made his appearance +towards the end to take part in the last dance, furnished with horns, +hoofs, talons, tail, and a monstrous phallus. It may be remarked that +these horns are prominent on the goat-like head (a clear satyr) of the +Devil in _Doctor Faustus_ as depicted on the title-page of the Marlovian +quarto. A phallus, to which reference is made in the text, was also worn +by the character dressed up as the monkey (_Bavian_) in the May-dance +scene in Shakespeare & Fletcher’s _The Two Noble Kinsman_, Act III, 5, +1613. It is worth remembering that troops of phallic demons formed a +standing characteristic of the old German carnival comedy. Moreover, +several of the grotesque types of the Commedia dell’ arte in the second +decade of the seventeenth century were traditionally equipped in like +manner.[3] That the Devil was so represented in the English theatre +is important. It gives us the popular idea of the Prince of Evil, and +incidentally throws a side-light upon much of the grotesque and obscene +evidence in the contemporary witch-trials. + +In Skelton’s lost _Nigramansir_ one of the stage directions is stated to +have been “Enter Balsebub with a beard,” no doubt the black vizard with +an immense goatish beard familiar to the old religious drama. Presumably +the chief use of the Necromancer, who gives his name to this play, was +indeed but to speak the Prologue which summons the Devil who buffets and +kicks him for his pains. However, we only know the play from Warton, +who describes it as having been shown him by William Collins, the poet, +at Chichester, about 1759. He says: “It is the Nigramansir, a morall +_Enterlude_ and a pithie, written by Maister Skelton laureate, and plaid +before the King and other estatys at Woodstoke on Palme Sunday. It was +printed by Wynkyn de Worde in a thin quarto, in the year 1504. It must +have been presented before Henry VII, at the royal manor or palace at +Woodstock in Oxfordshire, now destroyed. The characters are a Necromancer +or conjurer, the devil, a notary public, Simony, and Philargyria or +Avarice. It is partly a satire on some abuses in the Church.... The +story, or plot, is the trial of Simony and Avarice.” Beyond what Warton +tells us nothing further is known of the play. Ritson, _Bibliographia +Poetica_, 106, declared: “it is utterly incredible that the _Nigramansir_ +... ever existed.” It has been shown, too, that Warton as a literary +historian is not infrequently suspect, and E. G. Duff, _Hand Lists of +English Printers_, can trace no extant copy of this “morall _Enterlude_.” + +In the English moralities the Devil plays an important part, and, as +in their French originals or analogues, he is consistently hampering +and opposing the moral purpose or lesson which the action of these +compositions is designed to enforce. In the later English plays also +which evolved with added regularity from these interludes the Devil is +always a popular character. He is generally attended by the Vice, who +although in some sort a serving-man or jester in the fiend’s employ, +devotes his time to twitting, teazing, tormenting, and thwarting his +master for the edification, not unmixed with fun, of the audience. In +_The Castell of Perseverance_ Lucifer appears shouting in good old +fashion “Out herowe I rore,” just as he was wont to announce himself in +the Mysteries, and he is wearing his “devil’s array” over the habit of a +“prowde galaunt.” Wever’s _Lusty Juventus_ has unmistakable traces of the +slime of the evil days of Edward VI, in whose reign it was written, and +when the Devil calls Hipocrisy to his aid we are prepared for a flood of +empty but bitter abuse which embodies the sour Puritan hatred against the +Catholic Church, and towards the end, under the misnomer God’s Merciful +Promises, we are not surprised to meet a tiresome old gentleman who +cantingly expounds the doctrine of Justification by Faith. + +In the interlude to which Collier has assigned the name _Mankind_ +Mischief summons to her aid the fiend Titivillus, who had appeared in +the _Judicium_ of the Towneley Mysteries. Once the Devil’s registrar and +tollsman, he is best known as “Master Lollard.” According to a silly old +superstition Titivillus was an imp whose business it was to pick up the +words any priest might drop and omit whilst saying Mass. + +When we pass to the beginnings of the regular drama we find an extremely +interesting play that introduces, if not magic, at least fortune-telling, +John Lyly’s “Pleasant Conceited Comedie” _Mother Bombie_, acted by the +children of Paul’s and first printed in 1594. Although the plot is of +the utmost complexity and artificiality it does not seem to be derived, +as are most of Lyly’s stories, from any classical or pseudo-classical +source, whilst the cunning old woman of Rochester, who supplies the +title, has in fact little to say or do, except that her intervention +helps to bring about the unravelling of a perfect maze and criss-cross of +incidents. When Selena addresses the beldame with “They say, you are a +witch,” Mother Bombie quickly retorts “They lie, I am a cunning woman,” a +passage not without significance. + +Upon a very different level from Lyly’s play stands Marlowe’s magnificent +drama _The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus_. The legend of a man who +sells his soul to the Devil for infinite knowledge and absolute power +seems to have crystallized about the sixth century, when the story of +_Theophilus_ was supposed to have been related in Greek by his pupil +Eutychianus. Of course, every warlock had bartered his soul to Satan, and +throughout the whole of the Middle Ages judicial records, the courts of +the Inquisition, to say nothing of popular knowledge, could have told of +a thousand such. But this particular legend seems to have captured the +imagination of both Western and Eastern Christendom; it is met with in +a variety of forms; it was introduced into the collections of Jacopo à +Voragine; it found its way into the minstrel repertory through Rutebeuf, +a French _trouvère_ of the thirteenth century; it reappeared in early +English narrative and in Low-German drama. Icelandic variants of the +story have been traced. It was made the subject of a poem by William +Forrest, priest and poet, in 1572; and it also formed the material for +two seventeenth-century Jesuit “comedies.” + +That the original Faust was a real personage,[4] a wandering conjurer and +medical quack, who was well known in the south-west of the German Empire, +as well as in Thuringia, Saxony, and the adjoining countries somewhere +between the years 1510-1540, does not now admit of any serious doubt. +Philip Begardi, a physician of Worms, author of an _Index Sanitatis_ +(1539), mentions this charlatan, many of whose dupes he personally knew. +He says that Faust was at one time frequently seen, although of later +years nothing had been heard of him. It has indeed been suggested the +whole legend originated in the strange history of Pope S. Clement I and +his father Faustus, or Faustinianus, as related in the _Recognitions_, +which were immensely popular throughout the Middle Ages. But Melanchthon +knew a Johannes Faustus born at Knütlingen, in Wurtemberg, not far from +his own home, who studied magic at Cracow, and afterwards “roamed about +and talked of secret things.” There was a doctor Faustus in the early +part of the sixteenth century, a friend of Paracelsus and Cornelius +Agrippa, a scholar who won an infamous reputation for the practice of +necromancy. In 1513 Conrad Mutt, the Humanist, came across a vagabond +magician at Erfurt named Georgius Faustus Hermitheus of Heidelberg. +Trithemius in 1506, met a Faustus junior whose boast it was that if +all the works of Plato and Aristotle were burned he could restore them +from memory. It seems probable that it was to the Dr. Faustus, the +companion of Paracelsus and Cornelius[5] Agrippa, that the legend became +finally and definitely attached. The first literary version of the story +was the _Volksbuch_, which was published by Johann Spies in 1587, at +Frankfort-on-the-Main, who tells us that he obtained the manuscript “from +a good friend at Spier,” and it soon afterwards appeared in England +as _The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Dr. John +Faustus_, a chap-book to which Marlowe mainly adhered for the incidents +in his play. The tragedy was carried across to Germany by the English +actors who visited that country in the last years of the sixteenth and +the earlier part of the seventeenth century, and thus, while it was +itself derived from a German source, it greatly influenced, if it did +not actually give rise to, the treatment of the same theme by the German +popular drama and puppet-play. These were seldom printed, and usually for +the most part extemporized, keeping all the while more or less closely +to the theme. Scheible in his _Kloster_ (1847), Volume V, gives the +excellent Ulm piece, and there are marionette versions edited by W. Hamm +(1850; English translation by T. C. H. Hedderwick, 1887), O. Schade +(1856), K. Engel (1874), Bielschowsky (1882), and Kralik and Winter +(1885). + +Lessing projected two presentations of the story, and Klinger worked the +subject into a romance, _Fausts Leben, Thaten, und Höllenfahrt_ (1791; +translated into English by George Barrow in 1826). A bombast tragedy was +published by Klingemann in 1815, whilst Lenau issued his epico-dramatic +_Faust_ in 1836. Heine’s ballet _Der Doctor Faust, ein Tanzpoem_ appeared +in 1851. The libretto for Spohr’s opera (1814) was written by Bernard. + +Goethe’s masterpiece, planned as early as 1774, was given to the world in +1808, but the second part was delayed until 1831. + +General evidence points to 1588 as the date of the first production of +Marlowe’s _Doctor Faustus_, for it seems certain that the ballad of the +_Life and Death of Doctor Faustus the great Conjurer_, entered in the +Stationers’ Register, February, 1589, did not precede but was suggested +by the drama. The first extant quarto is 1604, but already it had been +subjected to more than one revision. Upon the stage _Doctor Faustus_ +long remained popular, and in England, at least, however fragmentary +Marlowe’s tragedy may be it has never been supplemented by any other +literary handling of its theme. Old Prynne in his _Histriomastix_ +(1633) retails an absurd story to the effect that the Devil _in propria +persona_ “appeared on the stage at the _Belsavage_ Playhouse in Queen +_Elizabeth’s_ days” whilst the tragedy was being performed, “the truth +of which I have heard from many now alive who well remember it.” It was +revived after the Restoration, and on Monday, 26 May, 1662, Pepys and +his wife witnessed the production at the Red Bull, “but so wretchedly +and poorly done that we were sick of it.” It was being performed at the +Theatre Royal in the autumn of 1675, but no details are recorded. In +1685-6 at Dorset Garden appeared William Mountfort’s _The Life and Death +of Doctor Faustus, Made into a Farce, with the Humours of Harlequin +and Scaramouch_, a queer mixture of Marlowe’s scenes with the Italian +_commedia dell’ arte_. Harlequin was acted by nimble Thomas Jevon, the +first English harlequin, and Scaramouch by Antony Leigh, the most +whimsical of comedians. At the end of the third act after Faustus has +been carried away by Lucifer and Mephistopheles, his body is discovered +torn in pieces. Then “Faustus _Limbs come together. A Dance and Song_.” +This farce was continually revived with great applause, and during the +whole of the eighteenth century Faust was the central figure of pantomime +after pantomime. Nearly forty dramatic versions of the Faust legend might +be enumerated. Many are wildly romantic and were especially beloved of +the minor theatres: such are _Faustus_ by G. Soane and D. Terry, produced +at Drury Lane 16 May, 1825, with “O” Smith as Mephistopheles; H. P. +Grattan’s _Faust, or The Demon of the Drachenfels_ performed at Sadlers +Wells, 5 September, 1842, with Henry Marston, Mephistopheles, T. Lyon, +Faust, “the Magician of Wittenberg,” Caroline Rankley, Marguerite; T. +W. Robertson’s _Faust and Marguerite_, played at the Princess’s Theatre +in April, 1854: some are operatic; the ever-popular _Faust_ of Gounod, +with libretto by Barbier and Carré, first seen at the Théâtre Lyrique, +Paris, in 1859; and Hector Berlioz’ _The Damnation of Faust_, which, +adapted to the English stage by T. H. Friend, was performed at the Court, +Liverpool, 3 February, 1894; many more are burlesques, descendants +of the eighteenth-century farces, amongst which may be remembered F. +C. Burnard’s _Faust and Marguerite_, S. James, 9 July, 1864; C. H. +Hazlewood’s _Faust: or Marguerite’s Mangle_, Britannia Theatre, 25 March, +1867; Byron’s _Little Doctor Faust_ (1877); _Faust in Three Flashes_ +(1884); _Faust in Forty Minutes_ (1885); and the most famous of all the +travesties _Faust Up to Date_, produced at the Gaiety, 30 October, 1888, +with E. J. Lonnen as Mephistopheles and Florence St. John as Marguerite. +In France the _Faust_—après Goethe—of Theaulou and Gondelier first seen +at the Nouveautés, 27 October, 1827, had a great success, and in the +following year no less than three pens, Antony Béraud, Charles Nodier, +and Merle, combined to produce a _Faust_ in three acts, the music of +which is by Louis Alexandre Piccini, the grandson of Gluck’s famous +rival. In 1858 Adolphe Dennery gave the Parisian stage _Faust_, a “drame +fantastique” in five acts and sixteen tableaux, a drama of the Grattan +school, effective enough in a lurid Sadlers Wells way, which is, at any +rate, a vein greater dramatists have exploited with profit and applause. + +Of more recent English dramas which have the Faust legend as their theme +the most striking is undoubtedly the adaptation by W. G. Wills from the +first part of Goethe’s tragedy, which was produced at the Lyceum 19 +December, 1885, with H. H. Conway as Faust; George Alexander, Valentine; +Mrs. Stirling, Martha; Miss Ellen Terry, Margaret; and Henry Irving, +Mephistopheles. Not merely in view of the masterpieces of Marlowe and +Goethe, but even by the side of theatrical versions of the legend +from far lesser men the play itself was naught, a superb pantomime, a +thing helped out by a witches’ kitchen, by a bacchanalia of demons, by +chromo-lithographic effects, by the mechanist and the brushes of Telbin +and Hawes Craven, but it was informed throughout and raised to heights +of greatness, nay, even to awe and terror, by the genius of Irving as +the red-plumed Mephistopheles, that sardonic, weary, restless figure, +horribly unreal yet mockingly alert and alive, who dominated the whole. + +To attempt a comparison between Marlowe and Goethe were not a little +absurd, and it is superfluous to expatiate upon the supreme merits of +either masterpiece. In Goethe’s mighty and complex work the story is +in truth refined away beneath a wealth of immortal philosophy. Marlowe +adheres quite simply to the chap-book incidents, and yet in all profane +literature I scarcely know words of more shuddering dread and complete +agony than Faust’s last great speech: + + Ah, Faustus, + Now hast thou but one bare hour to live. + And then thou must be damned perpetually! + +The scene becomes intolerable. It is almost too painful to be read, too +overcharged with hopeless darkness and despair. + +As it is in some sense at least akin to the Faust story it may not be +impertinent briefly to mention here an early Dutch secular drama, which +has been called “one of the gems of Dutch mediæval literature,” _A +Marvellous History of Mary of Nimmegen, who for more than seven years +lived and had ado with the Devil_,[6] printed by William Vorsterman of +Antwerp about 1520. It is only necessary to call attention to a few +features of the legend. Mary, the niece of the old priest Sir Gysbucht, +one night meets the Devil in the shape of _Moonen with the single eye_. +He undertakes to teach her all the secrets of necromancy if she will but +refrain from crossing herself and change her name to Lena of Gretchen. +But Mary, who has had a devotion to our Lady, insists upon retaining +at least the M in her new nomenclature, and so becomes Emmekin. “Thus +Emma and Moonen lived at Antwerp at the sign of the Golden Tree in the +market, where daily of his contrivings were many murders and slayings +together with every sort of wickedness.” Emma then resolves to visit +her uncle, and insists upon Moonen accompanying her to Nimmegen. It is +a high holiday and she sees by chance the mystery of _Maskeroon_ on a +pageant-waggon in a public square. Our Lady is pleading before the throne +of God for mankind, and Emma is filled with strange remorse to hear such +blessed words. Moonen carries her off, but she falls and is found in a +swoon by the old priest, her uncle. No priest of Nimmegen dared shrive +her, not even the Bishop of Cologne, and so she journeyed to Rome, where +the Holy Father heard her confession and bade her wear in penitence three +strong bands of iron fastened upon neck and arms. Thus she returned to +Maestricht to the cloister of the Converted Sinners, and there her sorrow +was so prevailing and her humility so unfeigned that an Angel in token of +Divine forgiveness removed the irons as she slept. + + And go ye to Maestricht, an ye be able + And in the Converted Sinners shall ye see + The grave of Emma, and there all three + The rings be hung above her grave.[7] + +Magic and fairy-land loom large in the plays of Robert Greene, whose +place in English literature rests at least as much upon his prose-tracts +as on his dramas. It seems to me fairly obvious that _The Honourable +History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_, which almost certainly dates +from 1589, although the first quarto is 1594, was composed owing to the +success of Marlowe’s _Doctor Faustus_. Greene was not the man to lose an +opportunity of exploiting fashion, and with his solid British bent I have +no doubt he considered an old English tale of an Oxford magician would be +just as effective as imported legends from Frankfort and Wittenberg. To +say that the later play is on an entirely different level is not to deny +it interest and considerable charm. But in spite of Bacon’s avowal + + Thou know’st that I have divèd into hell + And sought the darkest palaces of fiends; + That with my magic spells great Belcephon, + Hath left his lodge and kneeled at my cell, + +his sorceries are in lighter vein than those of Faustus; moreover neither +his arts nor the magic of Friar Bungay form the essential theme of the +play, which also sketches the love of Edward, Prince of Wales (afterwards +Edward I) for Margaret, “the fair Maid of Fressingfield.” It is true +Bacon conjures up spirits enough, and we are shown his study at Brasenose +with the episode of the Brazen Head. It may be noted that Miles, Bacon’s +servant, is exactly the Vice of the Moralities, and at the end he rides +off farcically enough on the Devil’s back, whilst Bacon announces his +intention of spending the remainder of his years in becoming penitence +for his necromancy and magic. + +In Greene’s _Orlando Furioso_, 4to, 1594, which is based on Ariosto, +canto XXIII, we meet Melissa, an enchantress: and in _Alphonsus, King +of Arragon_, 4to, 1599, which is directly imitative of _Tamburlaine_, +a sibyl with the classical name Medea, conjures up Calehas “in a white +surplice and cardinal’s mitre,” and here we also have a Brazen Head +through which Mahomet speaks. A far more interesting play is _A Looking +Glasse for London and England_, 4to, 1594, an elaborated Mystery upon +the history of the prophet Jonah and the repentance of Nineveh. Among +the characters are a Good Angel, an Evil Angel, and “one clad in +Devil’s attire,” who is soundly drubbed by Adam the buffoon. In 1598 +was published, “As it hath bene sundrie times publikely plaide,” _The +Scottish Historic of Iames the fourth, slaine at Flodden. Entermixed +with a pleasant Comedie, presented by Oboram, King of Fayeries._ But +the fairies only appear in a species of prose prologue, and in brief +interludes between the acts. + +George Peele’s charming piece of folk-lore _The Old Wives’ Tale_ +introduces among its quaint commixture of episodes the warlock Sacripant, +son of a famous witch Meroe,[8] who has stolen away and keeps under a +spell the princess Delia. His power depends upon a light placed in a +magic glass which can only be broken under certain conditions. Eventually +Sacripant is overcome by the aid of a friendly ghost, Jack, the glass +broken, the light extinguished, and the lady restored to her lover and +friends. + +Other magicians who appear in various dramas of the days of Elizabeth and +her immediate successors are Brian Sansfoy in the primitive _Sir Clyomon +and Sir Clamydes_, 4to, 1599; the Magician in _The Wars of Cyrus_; Friar +Bacon, Friar Bungay, and Jaques Vandermast in Greene’s _Friar Bacon and +Friar Bungay_, Merlin and Proximus in the pseudo-Shakespearean _The Birth +of Merlin_, where the Devil also figures; Ormandini and Argalio in _The +Seven Champions of Christendom_, where we likewise have Calib, a witch, +her incubus Tarpax, and Suckabus their clownish son; Comus in Milton’s +masque; Mago the conjurer with his three familiars Eo, Meo, and Areo in +Cokain’s _Trappolin Creduto Principe, Trappolin suppos’d a Prince_, 4to, +1656, excellent light fare, which Nahum Tate turned into _A Duke and No +Duke_ and produced at Drury Lane in November, 1684, and which in one form +or another, sometimes “a comic melodramatic burletta,” sometimes a ballad +opera, sometimes a farce, was popular until the early decades of the +nineteenth century. + +Seeing that actors are “the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time,” +it is not surprising to find that Witchcraft has a very important part +in the theatre of Shakespeare. Setting aside such a purely fairy fantasy +as _A Midsummer-Night’s Dream_, such figures as the “threadbare juggler” +Pinch in _The Comedy of Errors_, such scenes as the hobgoblin mask +beneath Herne’s haunted oak, such references as that to Mother Prat, the +old woman of Brainford, who worked “by charms, by spells, by the figure,” +or the vile abuse by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, of “Edward’s wife, that +monstrous witch, Consorted with that harlot strumpet Shore,” we have +one historical drama _King Henry VI_, Part II, in which an incantation +scene plays no small part; we have one romantic comedy _The Tempest_, one +tragedy _Macbeth_, the very motives and development of which are due to +magic and supernatural charms. It must perhaps be remarked that _King +Henry VI_, Part I, is defiled by the obscene caricature of S. Joan of +Arc, surely the most foul and abominable irreverence that shames English +literature. It is too loathsome for words, and I would only point out the +enumeration in one scene where various familiars are introduced of the +most revolting details of contemporary witch-trials, but to think of such +horrors in connexion with S. Joan revolts and sickens the imagination. + +In _King Henry VI_ (Part II) the Duchess of Gloucester employs John Hume +and John Southwell, two priests; Bolingbroke, a conjurer; and Margery +Jourdemain, a witch, to raise a spirit who shall reveal the several +destinies of the King, and the Dukes of Suffolk and Somerset. The scene +is written with extraordinary power and has not a little of awe and +terror. Just as the demon is dismissed ’mid thunder and lightning the +Duke of York with his guards rush in and arrest the sorcerers. Later the +two priests and Bolingbroke are condemned to the gallows, the witch in +Smithfield is “burn’d to ashes,” whilst the Duchess of Gloucester after +three days’ public penance is banished for life to the Isle of Man. + +The incidents as employed by Shakespeare are fairly correct. It is +certain that the Duchess of Gloucester, an ambitious and licentious +woman, called to her counsels Margery Jourdemain, commonly known as the +Witch of Eye, Roger Bolingbroke an astrologer, Thomas Southwell, Canon of +S. Stephen’s, a priest named Sir John Hume or Hun, and a certain William +Wodham. These persons frequently met in secret, and it was discovered +that they had fashioned according to the usual mode a wax image of the +King which they melted before a slow fire. Bolingbroke confessed, and +Hume also turned informer; and in 1441 Bolingbroke was placed on a high +scaffold before Paul’s Cross together with a chair curiously carved and +painted, found at his lodging, which was supposed to be an instrument of +necromancy, and in the presence of Cardinal Beaufort of Winchester, Henry +Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, and an imposing array of bishops, +he was compelled to make abjuration of his wicked arts. The Duchess of +Gloucester, being refused sanctuary at Westminster, was arrested and +confined in Leeds Castle, near Maidstone. She was brought to trial with +her accomplices in October, when sentence was passed upon her as has been +related above. Margery Jourdemain perished at the stake as a witch and +relapsed heretic; Thomas Southwell died in prison; and Bolingbroke was +hanged at Tyburn, 18 November. + +In _The Tempest_ Prospero is a philosopher rather than a wizard, and +Ariel is a fairy not a familiar. The magic of Prospero is of the +intellect, and throughout, Shakespeare is careful to insist upon a +certain detachment from human passions and ambitions. His love for +Miranda, indeed, is exquisitely portrayed, and once—at the base +ingratitude of Caliban—his anger flashes forth, but none the less, albeit +superintending the fortunes of those over whom he watches tenderly, +and utterly abhorring the thought of revenge, he seems to stand apart +like Providence divinely guiding the events to the desired issue of +reconciliation and forgiveness. Even so, the situation was delicate to +place before an Elizabethan audience, and how nobly and with what art +does Shakespeare touch upon Prospero’s “rough magic”! In Sycorax we +recognize the typical witch, wholly evil, vile, malignant, terrible for +mischief, the consort and mistress of devils. + +There are few scenes which have so caught the world’s fancy as the wild +overture to _Macbeth_. In storm and wilderness we are suddenly brought +face to face with three mysterious phantasms that ride on the wind and +mingle with the mist in thunder, lightning, and in rain. They are not +agents of evil, they are evil; nameless, spectral, wholly horrible. And +then, after the briefest of intervals, they reappear to relate such +exploits as killing swine and begging chestnuts from a sailor’s wife, +to brag of having secured such talismans as the thumb of a drowned +pilot, businesses proper to Mother Demdike or Anne Bishop of Wincanton, +Somerset. Can this change have been intentional? I think not, and its +very violence and quickness are jarring to a degree. The meeting with +Hecate, who is angry, and scolds them “beldames as you are, Saucy and +overbold” does not mend matters, and in spite of the horror when the +apparitions are evoked, the ingredients of the cauldron, however noisome +and hideous, are too material for “A deed without a name.” There is a +weakness here, and it says much for the genius of the tragedy that this +weakness is not obtrusively felt. Nevertheless it was upon this that +the actors seized when for theatrical effect the incantation scenes had +to be “written up” by the interpolation of fresh matter. Davenant also +in his frankly operatic version of _Macbeth_, produced at Dorset Garden +in February, 1672-3 elaborated the witch scenes to an incredible extent, +although by ample conveyance from Middleton’s _The Witch_ together with +songs and dances he was merely following theatrical tradition.[9] + +There seems no reasonable doubt that _The Witch_ is a later play than +_Macbeth_, but it is only fair to say that the date of _The Witch_ +is unknown—it was first printed in 1778 from a manuscript now in the +Bodleian—and the date of _Macbeth_ (earlier than 1610, probably 1606) is +not demonstrably certain. _The Witch_ is a good but not a distinguished +play. Owing to the incantation scenes and its connexion with _Macbeth_ +it has acquired an accidental interest, and an enduring reputation. The +witches themselves, Hecate and her crew, stand midway between the mystic +Norns of the first scene in _Macbeth_, and the miserable hag of Dekker +in _The Witch of Edmonton_; they are just a little below the Witches in +_Macbeth_ as they appear after the opening lines. There is a ghastly +fantasy in their revels which is not lessened by the material grossness +of Firestone the clown, Hecate’s son. They raise “jars, jealousies, +strifes, and heart-burning disagreements, like a thick scurf o’er life,” +and although their figures are often grotesque their power for evil is +not to be despised. Much of their jargon, their charms and gaucheries +complete, are taken word for word from Reginald Scott’s _Discoverie of +Witchcraft_, London, 1584. + +The village witch, as she appeared to her contemporaries, a filthy old +doting crone, hunch-backed, ignorant, malevolent, hateful to God and man, +is shown with photographic detail in _The Witch of Edmonton; A known True +Story_ by Rowley, Dekker, and Ford, produced at the Cockpit in Drury Lane +during the autumn or winter of 1621. It seems to have been very popular +at the time, and not only was it applauded in the public theatre, but it +was presented before King James at Court. It did not, however, find its +way into print until as late as 1658. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII + +THE WITCH OF EDMONTON. The First Quarto + +[_face p. 290_] + +The trial and execution (19 April, 1621) of Elizabeth Sawyer attracted +a considerable amount of attention. Remarkable numbers of ballads and +doggerel songs were made upon the event, detailing her enchantments, +how she had blighted standing corn, how a ferret and an owl constantly +attended her, and of many demons and familiars who companied with her +in the prison. Not only were these ditties trolled out the day of the +execution but many were published as broadsides, and sold widely. +Accordingly the Newgate Ordinary hastened to pen _The Wonderfull +Discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer, a Witch, Late of Edmonton, Her +Conviction, and Condemnation, and Death, Together with the Relation of +the Divels Accesse to Her, and Their Conference Together_, “Written by +Henry Goodcole, Minister of the Word of God, and her Continual Visiter in +the Gaole of Newgate,” Published by Authority, 4to, 1621. This tractate +is in the form of a dialogue, question and answer, between Goodcole and +the prisoner, who makes ample confession of her crimes. + +In some ways _The Witch of Edmonton_ is the most interesting and valuable +of the witch dramas, because here we have the hag stripped of the least +vestige of glamour and romance presented to us in the starkest realism. +We see her dwelling apart in a wretched hovel, “shunned and hated like +a sickness,” miserably poor, buckl’d and bent together, dragging her +palsied limbs wearily through the fields, as she clutches her dirty rags +round her withered frame. And if she but dare to gather a few dried +sticks in a corner she is driven from the spot with hard words and blows. +What wonder her mouth is full of cursing and revenge? + + ’Tis all one + To be a witch as to be counted one. + +Then appears the Black Dog and seals a contract with her blood. She +blights the corn and sends a murrain on the cattle of her persecutors; +here a horse has the glanders, there a sow casts her farrow; the maid +churns butter nine hours and it will not come; above all a farmer’s wife, +whom she hates, goes mad and dies in frantic agony; mischief and evil +run riot through the town. But presently her familiar deserts her, she +falls into the hands of human justice, and after due trial is dragged to +Tyburn shrieking and crying out in hideous despair. It is a sordid and a +terrible, but one cannot doubt, a true picture. + +It is obvious that in this drama[10] Frank Thorney, a most subtle and +minute study of weakness and degeneracy, is wholly Ford’s. Frank Thorney +may be closely paralleled with Giovanni in _’Tis Pity She’s a Whore_. +Winnifride, too, has all the sentimental charm of Ford’s heroines, +Annabella and Penthea. + +Carter is unmistakably the creation of Dekker. Simon Eyre and Orlando +Friscobaldo are the same hearty, bluff, hospitable, essentially honest +old fellows. To Dekker also I would assign Mother Sawyer herself. + +Rowley’s hand is especially discernible in the scenes where Cuddy Banks +and the clowns make their appearance. + +It may be mentioned that Elizabeth Sawyer figures in Caulfield’s +_Portraits, Memoirs, and Characters of Remarkable Persons_, 1794; and she +is also referred to in Robinson’s _History and Antiquities of the Parish +of Edmonton_ with a woodcut “from a rare print in the collection of W. +Beckford, esq.” + +A second drama which was also actually founded upon a contemporary trial +is Heywood and Brome’s _The Late Lancashire Witches_, “A Well Received +Comedy” produced at the Globe in 1634.[11] In the previous year, 1633, a +number of trials for Witchcraft had drawn the attention of all England to +Pendle Forest. A boy, by name Edmund Robinson, eleven years of age, who +dwelt here with his father, a poor wood-cutter, told a long and detailed +story which led to numerous arrests throughout the district. Upon All +Saints’ Day when gathering “bulloes” in a field he saw two greyhounds, +one black, the other brown, each wearing a collar of gold. They fawned +upon him, and immediately a hare rose quite near at hand. But the dogs +refused to course, whereupon he beat them with a little switch, and +the black greyhound started up in the shape of an old woman whom he +recognized as Mother Dickenson, a notorious witch, and the other as a +little boy whom he did not know. The beldame offered him money, either to +buy his silence or as the price of his soul, but he refused. Whereupon +taking something like a Bridle “that gingled” from her pocket she threw +it over the little boy’s head and he became a white horse. Seizing young +Robinson in her arms they mounted and were conveyed with the utmost speed +to a large house where had assembled some sixty other persons. A bright +fire was burning on the hearth with roast meat before it. He was invited +to partake of “Flesh and Bread upon a Trencher and Drink in a Glass,” +which he tasted, but at once rejected. He was next led into an adjoining +barn where seven old women were pulling at seven halters that hung from +the roof. As they tugged large pieces of meat, butter in lumps, loaves +of bread, black puddings, milk, and all manner of rustic dainties fell +down into large basins which were placed under the ropes. When the seven +hags were tired their places were taken by seven others. But as they +were engaged at their extraordinary task their faces seemed so fiendish +and their glances were so evil that Robinson took to his heels. He was +instantly pursued, and he saw that the foremost of his enemies was a +certain Mother Lloynd. But luckily for himself two horsemen, travellers, +came up, whereupon the witches vanished. A little later when he was sent +in the evening to fetch home two kine, a boy met him in the dusk and +fought him, bruising him badly. Looking down he saw that his opponent had +a cloven foot, whereupon he ran away, only to meet Mother Lloynd with a +lantern in her hand. She drove him back and he was again mauled by the +cloven-footed boy.[12] + +Such was the story told to the justices and corroborated by Robinson’s +father. A reign of terror ensued. Mother Dickenson and Mother Lloynd were +at once thrown into jail, and in the next few days more than eighteen +persons were arrested. The informer and his father netted a good sum +by going round from church to church to point out in the congregations +persons whom he recognized as having been in the house and barn to which +he was led. A little quiet blackmail of the wealthier county families, +threats to disclose the presence of various individuals at the witches’ +feast, brought in several hundreds of pounds. + +The trial took place at Lancaster Assizes and seventeen of the accused +were incontinently found guilty. But the judge, completely dissatisfied +with so fantastic a story, obtained a reprieve. Four of the prisoners +were sent up to London, where they were examined by the Court physicians. +King Charles himself also questioned one of these poor wretches and, +discerning that the whole history was a fraud, forthwith pardoned all who +had been involved. Meantime Dr. John Bridgeman, the Bishop of Chester, +had also been holding a special inquiry into the case. Young Robinson +was lodged separately, being allowed to hold no communication with his +relatives, and when closely interrogated he gave way and confessed that +the scare from beginning to end had been manœuvred by his father, who +carefully coached him in his lies. In spite of this fiasco the talk did +not die down immediately, and there were many who continued to maintain +that Mother Dickenson was indeed a witch, however false the evidence on +this occasion might be. It must be remembered, moreover, that twenty-two +years before, in the very same district, a coven of thirteen witches, of +whom the chief was Elizabeth Demdike, had been brought to justice, “at +the Assizes and Generall Gaole-Delivery, holden at Lancaster, before Sir +Edward Bromley and Sir James Eltham.” Old Demdike herself—she was blind +and over eighty years of age—died in prison, but ten of the accused were +executed, and the trial, which lasted two days, occasioned a tremendous +stir. + +It seems not at all improbable that Heywood had written a topical play +in 1612 dealing with this first sensational prosecution, and that when +practically the same events repeated themselves in the same place less +than a quarter of a century after he and the ever-ready Brome fashioned +anew the old scenes. In the character of the honourable country-gentleman +Master Generous, whose wife is discovered to be guilty of Witchcraft, +there is something truly noble, and his tender forgiveness of her crime +when she repents is touched with the loving pathos that informs _A +Woman Kilde with Kindnesse_, whilst his agony at her subsequent relapse +is very real, although Heywood has wisely refrained from any attempt +to show a broken heart save by a few quite simple but poignant words. +The play as a whole is a faithful picture of country life, homely +enough, yet not without a certain winsome beauty. The comic episodes +are sufficiently broad in their humour; we have a household turned +topsy-turvy by enchantment, a wedding-breakfast bewitched: the kitchen +invaded by snakes, bats, frogs, beetles, and hornets, whilst to cap all +the unfortunate bridegroom is rendered impotent. In Act II we have the +incident of a Boy with a switch (young Edmund Robinson) and the two +greyhounds. Gammer Dickison carries him off against his will “to a brave +feast,” where we see the witches pulling ropes for food: + + Pul for the poultry, foule and fish, + For emptie shall not be a dish. + +In Act V the Boy tells Doughty the story of his encounter with the Devil: +“He came to thee like a boy, thou sayest, about thine owne bisnesse?” +they ask him, and the whole scene meticulously follows the detailed +evidence given before the judge at Lancaster. Of the witches, Goody +Dickison, Mal Spencer, Mother Hargrave, Granny Johnson, Meg, Mawd, are +actual individuals who were accused by Robinson; Mrs. Generous alone +is the poet’s fiction. When Robin, the blunt serving-man, refuses to +saddle the grey gelding she shakes a bridle over his head and using +him as a horse makes him carry her to the satanical assembly. There is +a mill, which is haunted by spirits in the shape of cats, and here a +soldier undertakes to watch. For two nights he is undisturbed, but on +the third “_Enter_ Mrs. Generous, Mal, _all the_ Witches and _their +Spirits_ (_at severall dores_).” “_The_ Spirits _come about him with a +dreadfull noise_,” but he beats them thence with his sword, lopping off +a tabby’s paw in the hurly-burly. In the morning a hand is found, white +and shapely, with jewels on the fingers. These Generous recognizes as +being his wife’s rings, and Mrs. Generous, who is in bed ill, is found to +have one hand cut off at the wrist. This seals her fate. All the witches +are dragged in and in spite of their charms and bug-words are identified +by several witnesses including the boy who “saw them all in the barne +together, and many more, at their feast and witchery.” + +The play was evidently produced just after the Lancaster Assizes, whilst +four of the accused were in the Fleet prison, London, for further +examination, and the King’s pardon had not as yet been pronounced. This +is evident from the Epilogue, which commences: + + Now while the witches must expect their due, + By lawfull justice, we appeale to you + For favourable censure; what their crime + May bring upon ’em ripens yet of time + Has not reveal’d. Perhaps great mercy may, + After just condemnation, give them day + Of longer life. + +It will be convenient to consider in this connexion a drama largely +founded upon Heywood and Brome, and produced nearly half a century later +at the Duke’s House, Dorset Garden, Shadwell’s _The Lancashire Witches +and Teague o Divelly, the Irish Priest_, which was first seen in the +autumn of 1681 (probably in September). The idea of using magic in a +play was obviously suggested to Shadwell by his idolized Ben Jonson’s +_Masque of Queens_, performed at Whitehall, 2 February, 1609. In close +imitation of his model Shadwell has further appended copious notes to +Acts one, two, three, and five, giving his references for the details of +his enchantments. In the Preface (4to, 1682) he naïvely confesses: “For +the magical part I had no hopes of equalling _Shakespear_ in fancy, who +created his witchcraft for the most part out of his own imagination (in +which faculty no man ever excell’d him), and therefore I resolved to take +mine from authority. And to that end there is not one action in the Play, +nay, scarce a word concerning it, but is borrowed from some antient, or +modern witchmonger. Which you will find in the notes, wherein I have +presented you a great part of the doctrine of witchcraft, believe it who +will.” And he has indeed copious citations from Vergil, Horace, Ovid, +Propertius, Juvenal, Tibullus, Seneca, Tacitus, Lucan, Petronius, Pliny, +Apuleius, Aristotle, Theocritus, Lucian, Theophrastus; S. Augustine, S. +Thomas Aquinas; Baptista Porta; Ben Jonson (_The Sad Shepherd_); from +the _Malleus Maleficarum_ of James Sprenger, O.P., and Henry Institor +(Heinrich Kramer), written _circa_ 1485-89, from Jean Bodin’s (1520-96) +_La Demonomanie des Sorciers_, 1580; the _Dæmonolatria_, 1595, of Nicolas +Remy; _Disquisitionum Magicarum libri six_ of Martin Delrio, S.J. +(1551-1608); _Historia Rerum Scoticarum_, Paris, 1527, of Hector Boece +(1465-1536); _Formicarius_, 5 vols., Douai, 1602, of John Nider, O.P. +(1380-1438); _De Præstigiis Dæmonum_, 1563, by the celebrated John Weyer, +physician to the Duke of Cleves; _De Gentibus Septentrionalibus_,[13] +Rome, 1555, by Olaus Magnus, the famous Archbishop of Upsala; _Discoverie +of Witchcraft_, 1584, by Reginald Scot; _Dæmonomagia_, by Philip Ludwig +Elich, 1607; _De Strigimagis_, by Sylvester Mazzolini, O.P. (1460-1523), +Master of the Sacred Palace and champion of the Holy See against +the heresiarch Luther; _Compendium Maleficarum_ (Milan, 1608), by +Francesco Maria Guazzo of the Congregation of S. Ambrose; _Disputatio +de Magis_ (Frankfort, 1584), by Johan Georg Godelmann; _Tractatus de +Strigiis et Lamiis_ of Bartolommeo Spina, O.P.; the _Decretum_ (about +1020) of Burchard, Bishop of Worms; the _De Sortilegiis_ (Lyons, 1533) +of Paolo Grilland; the _De Occulta Philosophia_ (Antwerp, 1531) of +Cornelius Agrippa; the _Apologie pour tous les Grands Hommes qui ont +este faussement supconnez de Magie_ (1625) of Gabriel Naudé, librarian +to Cardinal Mazarin; _De Subtilitate_ (libri XXI, Nuremberg, 1550) of +Girolamo Cardano, the famous physician and astrologer; _De magna et +occulta Philosophia_ of Paracelsus; _IIII Livres des Spectres_ (Angers, +1586) by Pierre le Loyer, Sieur de Brosse, of which Shadwell used the +English version (1605) _A treatise of Specters_ ... translated by Z. +Jones. + +It will be seen that no less than forty-one authors, authorities on +magic, are quoted by Shadwell in these notes, whilst not infrequently the +same author is cited again and again, and extracts of some length, not +merely general references, are given. + +But for all this parade of learning, perchance because of all this parade +of learning, Shadwell’s witch scenes are intolerably clumsy, they are +gross without being terrible. Shadwell was a clever dramatist, he was +able to draw a character, especially a crank, with quite remarkable +vigour, and his scenes are a triumph of photographic realism. True, he +could not discriminate and select; he threw his world _en masse_ higgledy +piggledy on to the stage, and as even in the reign of the Merry Monarch +there were a few tedious folk about, so now and again—but not very +often—one chances upon heavy passages in Shadwell’s robust comedies. On +the other hand _The Sullen Lovers_, _Epsom Wells_, _The Virtuoso, Bury +Fair_, _The Squire of Alsatia_, _The Volunteers_, in fact all his native +plays, are full of bustle and fun, albeit a trifle riotous and rude +as the custom was. Dryden, who very well knew what he was about, for +purposes of his own cleverly dubbed Shadwell dull. And dull he has been +dubbed ever since by those who have not read him. But Shadwell had not a +spark of poetry in his whole fat composition. And so his witches become +farcical, yet farcical in a grimy unpleasant way, for we are spared +none of the loathsome details of the Sabbat, and should anyone object, +why, there is the authority of Remy or Guazzo, the precise passage from +Prierias or Burchard to support the author. Indeed we feel that these +witches are very real in spite of their materialism. They present a clear +picture of one side of the diabolic cult, however crude and crass. + +Even so, these incantation scenes are not, I venture to think, the worst +thing in the play. The obscene caricature of the Catholic priest, Teague +o Divelly, is frankly disgusting beyond words. He is represented as +ignorant, idle, lecherous, a liar, a coward, a buffoon, too simiously +cunning to be a fool, too basely mean to be a villain. It is a filthy +piece of work, malignant and harmful prepense.[14] + +But Shadwell showed scant respect for the Protestants too, since Smerk, +Sir Edward Hartfort’s chaplain, is described as “foolish, knavish, +popish, arrogant, insolent; yet for his interest, slavish.” + +It is hardly a matter for surprise that after the play had been in the +actors’ hands about a fortnight complaints from such high quarters were +lodged with Charles Killigrew, the Master of the Revels, that he promptly +sent for the script, which at first he seems to have passed carelessly +enough, and would only allow the rehearsals to proceed on condition +that a quantity of scurrilous matter was expunged. Even so the dialogue +is sufficiently offensive and profane. There was something like a riot +in the theatre at the first performance, and the play was as heartily +hissed as it deserved. Yet it managed to make a stand: those were the +days of the Third Exclusion Bill and rank disloyalty, but the tide was +on the turn, a rebel Parliament had been dissolved on the 28th March, on +the 31st of August Stephen College, a perjured fanatic doubly dyed in +treason and every conceivable rascality, had met his just reward on the +gallows, whilst the atrocious Shaftesbury himself was to be smartly laid +by the heels in the November following. That part of the dialogue which +was not allowed to be spoken on the stage Shadwell has printed in italic +letter,[15] and so we plainly see that the censor was amply justified in +his demands. The political satire is of the muddiest; the railing against +the Church is lewd and rancorous. + +Such success as _The Lancashire Witches_ had in the theatre—and it was +not infrequently revived—was wholly due to the mechanist and the scenic +effects, the “flyings” of the witches, and the music, this last so +prominent a feature that Downes does not hesitate to call it “a kind of +Opera.” + +In Shadwell’s Sabbat scenes the Devil himself appears, once in the form +of a Buck Goat and once in human shape, whilst his satellites adore +him with disgusting ceremonies. The witches are Mother Demdike, Mother +Dickenson, Mother Hargrave, Mal Spencer, Madge, and others unnamed. + +Elizabeth Demdike and Jennet Hargreaves belonged to the first Lancashire +witch-trials, the prosecutions of 1612; Frances Dickenson and Mal Spencer +were involved in the Robinson disclosures of 1633; so it is obvious +that Shadwell has intermingled the two incidents. In his play we have a +coursing scene where the hare suddenly changes to Mother Demdike; the +witches raise a storm and carouse in Sir Edward’s cellar something after +the fashion of Madge Gray, Goody Price, and Goody Jones in _The Ingoldsby +Legends_; Mal Spencer bridles Clod, a country yokel, and rides him to a +witches’ festival, where Madge is admitted to the infernal sisterhood; +the witches in the guise of cats beset a number of persons with horrible +scratchings and miauling, Tom Shacklehead strikes off a grimalkin’s paw +and Mother Hargreave’s hand is found to be missing: “the cutting off the +hand is an old story,” says Shadwell in his notes. It will be seen that +the later dramatist took many of his incidents from Heywood and Brome, +although it is only fair to add that he has also largely drawn from +original sources. + +Shortly after the Restoration was published a play dealing with one of +the most famous of English sibyls, _The Life of Mother Shipton_. “A New +Comedy. As it was Acted Nineteen dayes together with great Applause.... +Written by T[homas] T[homson].” Among the Dramatis Personæ appear Pluto, +the King of Hell, with Proserpina, his Queen; Radamon, A chief Spirit; +Four other Devils. The scene is “The City of York, or Naseborough Grove +in Yorkshire.” It is a rough piece of work, largely patched together +from Middleton’s _A Chaste Maid in Cheapside_ and Massinger’s _The City +Madam_, whilst the episodes in which Mother Shipton is concerned would +seem to be founded on one of the many old chap-books that relate her +marvellous adventures and prophetic skill. Agatha Shipton (her name +is usually given as Ursula) is complaining of her hard lot when she +encounters Radamon, a demon who holds high rank in the court of Dis. He +arranges to meet her later, and returns to his own place to boast of his +success. He reappears to her dressed as a wealthy nobleman; he marries +her; and for a while she is seen in great affluence and state. At the +commencement of Act III she finds herself in her poor cottage again. As +she laments Radamon enters, he informs her who he really is, and bestows +upon her magical powers. Her fame spreads far and wide, and as popular +story tells, the abbot of Beverley in disguise visits her to make trial +of her art. She at once recognizes him, and foretells to his great +chagrin the suppression of the monasteries with other events. In the end +Mother Shipton outwits and discomforts the devils who attempt to seize +her, she is vouchsafed a heavenly vision, and turns to penitence and +prayer. The whole thing is a crude enough commixture, of more curiosity +than value. + +There are some well-written episodes in Nevil Payne’s powerful tragedy +_The Fatal Jealousie_,[16] produced at Dorset Garden early in August, +1672. Among the characters we have Witch, Aunt of Jasper, the villain +of the piece. Jasper, who is servant to Antonio, applies to his aunt to +help him in his malignant schemes. At first he believes she is a genuine +sorceress, but she disabuses him and frankly acknowledges: + + I can raise no Devils, + Yet I Confederate with Rogues and Taylors, + Things that can shape themselves like Elves, + And Goblins—— + +Her imps _Ranter_ and _Swash_, _Dive_, _Fop_, _Snap_, _Gilt_, and +_Picklock_, are slim lads in masquing habits, trained to trickery. None +the less they manage an incantation scene to deceive Antonio and persuade +him that his wife, Caelia, is false. An “Antick Dance of Devils” which +follows is interrupted by the forcible entry of the Watch. The Aunt shows +Jasper a secret hiding-place, whereupon he murders her and conceals the +body in the hole. He pretends that she was in truth a witch and has +vanished by magic. The Captain of the Watch, however, had detected her +charlatanry long before, and presently a demon’s vizor and a domino are +found on the premises. Later a little boy, who is caught in his devil’s +attire, confesses the impostures, and trembling adds that in one of their +secret chambers they have discovered their mistress’s corpse stabbed to +death. Finally Jasper is unmasked, and only escapes condign punishment by +his dagger. The character of the Witch is not unlike that of Heywood’s +_Wise Woman of Hogsdon_, although in _The Fatal Jealousie_ the events +take a tragic and bloody turn. Smith acted Antonio; Mrs. Shadwell, +Caelia; Mrs. Norris, the Witch; and Sandford was famous in the rôle of +Jasper. + +There are incantation scenes in Dryden’s tragedies, but these hardly come +within our survey, as the magicians are treated romantically, one might +even say decoratively, and certainly here no touch of realism is sought +or intended. We have the famous episode in _The Indian-Queen_ (produced +at the Theatre Royal in January, 1663-4), when Zempoalla seeks Ismeron +the prophet who raises the God of Dreams to prophesy her destiny;[17] +in the fourth act of _Tyrannick Love_ (Theatre Royal, June, 1669), the +scene is an Indian cave, where at the instigation of Placidius the +magician Nigrinus raises a vision of the sleeping S. Catharine, various +astral spirits appear only to fly before the descent of Amariel, the +Saint’s Guardian-Angel; in _Œdipus_, by Dryden and Lee (Dorset Garden, +December, 1678), Teresias plays a considerable part, and Act III is +mainly concerned with a necromantic spell that raises the ghost of Laius +in the depths of a hallowed grove. In _The Duke of Guise_, moreover +(Theatre Royal, December, 1682), there is something of real horror in the +figures of Malicorne and his familiar Melanax, and the scene[18] when the +miserable wizard, whose bond is forfeit, is carried shrieking to endless +bale, cannot be read without a shudder even after the last moments of +Marlowe’s _Faustus_. Act IV of Lee’s _Sophonisba_ (Theatre Royal, April, +1675) commences with the temple of Bellona, whose priestesses are shown +at their dread rites. Cumana is inspired by the divinity, she raves in +fury of obsession, there is a dance of spirits, and various visions are +evoked. + +In Otway’s curious rehandling of _Romeo and Juliet_ which he Latinized +as _The History and Fall of Caius Marius_ produced at Dorset Garden in +the autumn of 1679, the Syrian witch Martha only appears for a moment to +prophesy good fortune to Marius and to introduce a dance of spirits by +the waving of her wand. + +Charles Davenant’s operatic _Circe_ (Dorset Garden, March, 1676-7) is +an amazing distortion of mythological story. There are songs without +number, a dance of magicians, storms, dreams, an apparition of Pluto in a +Chariot drawn by Black Horses, but all these are very much of the stage, +stagey, born of candle-light and violins, hardly to be endured in cold +print. Ragusa, the Sorceress in Tate’s _Brutus of Alba: or the Enchanted +Lovers_ (Dorset Garden, May, 1678) is a far more formidable figure. Tate +has managed his magic not without skill, and the conclusion of Act III, +an incantation, was deservedly praised by Lamb. Curiously enough the +plot of _Brutus of Alba_ is the story of Dido and Æneas, Vergil’s names +being altered “rather than be guilty of a breach of Modesty,” Tate says. +But Tate supplied Henry Purcell with the libretto for his opera _Dido +and Æneas_, wherein also witches appear. It must not be forgotten that +_Macbeth_ was immensely popular throughout the whole of the Restoration +period, when, as has been noted above, the witch scenes were elaborated +and presented with every resource of scenery, mechanism, dance, song, and +meretricious ornament. Revival followed revival, each more decorative +than the last, and the theatre was unceasingly thronged. Duffett +undertook to burlesque this fashion, which he did in an extraordinary +Epilogue to his skit _The Empress of Morocco_, produced at the Theatre +Royal in the spring of 1674, but for all his japeries _Macbeth_ never +waned in public favour. + +Spirits in abundance appear in the Earl of Orrery’s unpublished tragedy +_Zoroastres_,[19] the principal character being described as “King of +Persia, the first Magician.” He is attended by “several spirits in black +with ghastly vizards,” and at the end furies and demons arise shaking +dark torches at the monarch whom they pull down to hell, the sky raining +fire upon them. It was almost certainly never acted, and is the wildest +type of transpontine melodrama. + +Edward Ravenscroft’s “recantation play” _Dame Dobson, or, The Cunning +Woman_ (produced at Dorset Garden in the early autumn of 1683) is an +English version of _La Devineresse; ou les faux Enchantements_ (sometimes +known as _Madame Jobin_), a capital comedy by Thomas Corneille and Jean +Donneau de Vise. This French original had been produced in 1679, and +both the stage-craft and the adroit way in which the various tricks and +conjurations are managed must be allowed to be consummately clever. An +English comedy on a similar theme is _The Wise Woman of Hogsdon_, the +intricacies of which are a triumph of technique. _La Devineresse_ was +published in 1680 with a frontispiece picturing a grimalkin, a hand of +glory, noxious weeds, two blazing torches and other objects beloved of +necromancy. There are, moreover, eight folding plates which embellish +the little book, and these have no small interest as they depict +scenes in the comedy. But _Dame Dobson_ cannot be accounted a play of +witchcraft; it is no more than an amusing study of dextrous charlatanry. +The protagonist herself[20] is of that immortal sisterhood graced by +Heywood’s sibyl, of whom it is said “She is a cunning woman, neither hath +she her name for nothing, who out of her ignorance can fool so many that +think themselves wise.” + +Mrs. Behn, in her amusing comedy _The Luckey Chance; or, An Alderman’s +Bargain_, produced at Drury Lane in the late winter of 1686, 4to, 1687, +has made some play with pretended magic in the capital scenes where +Gayman (Betterton) is secretly brought by the prentice Bredwel (Bowman), +disguised as a devil, to the house of Lady Fulbank (Mrs. Barry). Here +he is received by Pert, the maid, who is dressed as an old witch, and +conducted to his inamorata’s embraces. But the whole episode is somewhat +farcically treated, and it is, of course, an elaborate masquerade for the +sake of an intrigue.[21] + +Shadwell in 1681 took Witchcraft seriously, and notwithstanding the +half-hearted disclaimer in his address “To the Reader” that prefaces +_The Lancashire Witches_ I think he was sensible enough to recognize the +truth which lies at the core of the matter in spite of the grotesqueness +of the formulæ and spells doting hags and warlocks are wont to employ. +Witchcraft was still a capital offence when some fifteen years later +Congreve lightly laughed it out of court. Foresight (_Love for Love_), +“an illiterate old Fellow, peevish and positive, superstitious, and +pretending to understand Astrology, Palmistry, Phisiognomy, Omens, +Dreams, etc.,” is in close confabulation with his young daughter’s Nurse, +when Angelica his niece trips in to ask the loan of his coach, her +own being out of order. He says no, and presses her to remain at home, +muttering to himself some old doggerel which bodes no good to the house +if all the womenfolk are gadding abroad. The lady fleers him, twits him +with jealousy of his young wife: “Uncle, I’m afraid you are not Lord +of the Ascendant, ha! ha! ha!” He is obstinate in his refusal; and she +retorts: “I can make Oath of your unlawful Midnight Practices; you and +the Old Nurse there.... I saw you together, through the Key-hole of +the Closet, one Night, like _Saul_ and the Witch of _Endor_, turning +the Sieve and Sheers, and pricking your Thumbs to write poor innocent +Servants’ Names in Blood about a little Nutmeg-Grater, which she had +forgot in the Caudle-Cup.” “Hussy, Cockatrice,” storms the old fellow +beside himself with rage. Angelica mocks him even more bitterly, accuses +him and the Nurse of nourishing a familiar, “a young Devil in the shape +of a Tabby-Cat,” and with a few last thrusts she departs, trilling with +merriment, in a sedan-chair. + +To return for a brief space to an earlier generation when it would have +hardly been possible, or at least highly inadvisable, to treat Witchcraft +in this blithesome mood, of two plays that would almost certainly have +been of great interest in this connexion we have only the names, _The +Witch of Islington_, acted in 1597, and _The Witch Traveller_, licensed +in 1623. + +In addition to _The Masque of Queens_, which as has already been +noted, served to some extent for a model to Shadwell when inditing his +encyclopædic notes on magic, Ben Jonson in that sweet pastoral _The Sad +Shepherd_ introduces a Scotch witch, Maudlin. The character is drawn with +vigorous strokes; realism mingles with romance. + +During the quarrel scene which opens _The Alchemist_ Face threatens +Subtle: + + I’ll bring thee, rogue, within + The statute of sorcerie, _tricesimo tertio_ + Of Harry the Eight. + +Dapper the gull asks Subtle for a familiar, as Face explains (I, 2): + + Why, he do’s aske one but for cups, and horses, + A rifling flye: none o’ your great familiars. + +And later in order to trick him thoroughly Dol Common appears as the +“Queene of Faerie.” The Queen of Elphin or Elfhame, who is particularly +mentioned in the Scotch witch-trials, seems to be identical with the +French Reine du Sabbat. In 1670 Jean Weir confessed: “That when she +keeped a school at Dalkeith, and teached childering, ane tall woman came +to the declarant’s hous when the childering were there; and that she had, +as appeared to her, ane chyld upon her back, and one or two at her foot; +and that the said woman disyred that the declarant should imploy her to +spick for her to the Queen of Farie, and strik and battle in her behalf +with the said Queen, (which was her own words).”[22] + +Beaumont and Fletcher afford us but few instances of witchcraft in the +many dramas that conveniently go under their names. We have, it is true, +a she-devil, Lucifera, in _The Prophetess_, but the incident is little +better than clowning. Delphia herself is a severely classical pythoness +far removed from the Sawyers, Demdikes, and Dickensons Sulpitia, in _The +Custom of the County_ dons a conjurer’s robe and at Hippolita’s bidding +blasts Zenocia almost to death by her spells, but yet she is more bawd +than witch. Peter Vecchio in _The Chances_, “a reputed wizard,” is as +sharp and cozening a practitioner as Forobosco, the mountebank, a petty +pilferer, who is exposed and sent to the galleys at the end of _The Fair +Maid of the Inn_; or Shirley’s Doctor Sharkino[23] whom silly serving-men +consult about the loss of silver spoons and napkins; or Tomkis’s +Albumazar; nay, Jonson’s Subtle himself.[24] + +In Marston’s _Sophonisba_ (4to, 1606) appears Erictho, borrowed from +Lucan. The Friar in Chapman’s _Bassy d’Ambois_ (4to, 1607) puts on a +magician’s habit, and after a sonorous Latin invocation raises the +spirits Behemoth and Cartophylax in the presence of Bussy and Tamyra. + +A far more interesting drama than these is Shirley’s _S. Patrick for +Ireland_, acted in Dublin, 1639-40, which has as its theme the conversion +of Ireland by S. Patrick and the opposition of the Druids under their +leader Archimagus. The character of S. Patrick moves throughout with a +quiet spiritual dignity that has true beauty, and the magicians in their +baffled potency for evil are only less effective. This drama is a work of +stirling merit, to which I would unhesitatingly assign a very high place +in Shirley’s theatre. We are shown the various attempts upon S. Patrick’s +life: poison is administered in a cup of wine, the Saint drinks and +remains unharmed; Milcho, a great officer, whose servant S. Patrick once +was, locks him and his friends in a house and fires it. The Christians +pass out unscathed through the flames which devour the incendiary. In +the last scene whilst S. Patrick sleeps Archimagus summons a vast number +of hideous serpents to devour him, but the Apostle of Ireland wakes, and +expels for ever all venomous reptiles from his isle, whereon the earth +gapes and swallows the warlock alive. Particularly impressive is the +arrival of S. Patrick, when as the King and his two sons, his druids +and nobles, are gathered in anxious consultation at the gates of their +temple, they see passing in solemn procession through the woods a fair +company with gleaming crosses, silken banners, bright tapers and incense, +what time the sweet music of a hymn strikes upon the ear: + + Post maris sæui fremitus Iernæ + (Nauitas cœlo tremulas beante) + Uidimus gratum iubar enatantes + Littus inaurans. + +(Now that we have crossed the fierce waves of ocean to Ireland’s coast, +and Heaven has blessed its poor fearful wanderers, wending our way along +with joy do we see a sunbeam of light gilding these shores.) + +As Marlowe’s _Dr. Faustus_ has already been treated in this connexion it +may not be altogether impertinent very briefly to consider some three +or four other Elizabethan plays in which the Devil appears among the +Dramatis Personæ, even if he act no very prominent part. These for the +most part fluctuate between the semi-serious and merest buffoonery. Thus +the prologue of _The Merry Devil of Edmonton_ (4to, 1608), in which +the enchanter Peter Fabell tricks the demon who has come to demand the +fulfilment of his contract, is at the opening managed with due decorum, +but it soon adopts a lighter, and even trivial, vein. William Rowley’s +_The Birth of Merlin, or The Childe hath found his Father_ (not printed +until 1662) is a curious medley of farce and romance, informed with a +certain awkward vigour and not wholly destitute of poetry. Dekker’s _If +it be not good, the Divel is in it_ (4to, 1612), which may be traced +to the old prose _History of Friar Rush_, depicts the exploits of three +lesser fiends who are dispatched to spread their master’s kingdom in +Naples. It is an unequal play, the satire of which falls very flat, since +it is obvious that the poet was not sincere in his extravagant theme.[25] + +Ben Jonson’s _The Devil is an Ass_, acted in 1616, is wholly comic. Pug, +“the less devil,” who visits the earth, and engages himself as servant to +a Norfolk squire, Fabian Fitzdottrel, is hopelessly outwitted on every +occasion by the cunning of mere mortals. Eventually he finds himself +lodged in Newgate, and in imminent danger of the gallows were he not +rescued by the Vice, Iniquity, by whom he is carried off rejoicing to +the nether regions. His fate may be compared with that of Roderigo in +Wilson’s excellent comedy _Belphegor: or, The Marriage of the Devil_ +(produced at Dorset Garden in the summer of 1690), who with his two +attendant devils flies back to his native hell to escape the woes of +earth. + +In _The Devil’s Charter_, however, by Barnaby Barnes (1607), we have +what is undoubtedly a perfectly serious tragedy, which if not exactly +modelled upon, at least owes many hints to Marlowe’s _Faustus_. It is +flamboyant melodrama and wildly unhistorical throughout, a very tophet of +infernal horror. The chief character is a loathsome caricature of Pope +Alexander VI,[26] and, as we might expect, all the lies and libels of +Renaissance satirists and Protestant pamphleteers are heaped together to +portray an impossible monster of lust and crime. The filthiest scandals +of Burchard, Sanudo, Giustiniani, Filippo Nerli, Guicciardini, Paolo +Giovio, Sannazzaro and the Neapolitans, have been employed with one might +almost say a scrupulous conscientiousness. The black art, in particular, +occupies a very prominent place in these lurid scenes. Alexander has +signed a bond with a demon Astaroth, and it is to this contract that all +his success is ascribed. In Act IV there is a long incantation when the +Pope puts on his magical robes, takes his rod and pentacle, and standing +within the circle he has traced conjures in strange terms, commencing +a Latin exorcism which tails off into mere gibberish. Various devils +appear, and he is shown a vision of Gandia’s murder by Cæsar,[27] with +other atrocities. At the climax of the piece we have the banquet with +Cardinal Adrian of Corneto, and whilst the guests talk “The Devill +commeth and changeth the Popes bottles.” The Borgias are poisoned, and +in a far too protracted “Scena Ultima” Alexander discourses and disputes +frantically with the demons who appear to mock and torment him. There +is the old device of an ambiguous contract; presently a “Devil like a +Poast” enters winding a horn to summon the unhappy wretch, who raves +and shrieks out meaningless ejaculations as he is dragged away amid +thunder and lightning. This sort of thing pandered to the most brutalized +appetites of the groundlings, and _The Devil’s Charter_ may be summed up +as a disgusting burlesque not without its quota of vile stuff that is so +repulsive as to be physically sickening. + +Upon a careful consideration of those seventeenth-century plays which +have Witchcraft as their main theme, and leaving on one side, for our +purpose, the essentially romantic treatment of the subject, however +realistic some details of the picture may be, it is, I think, beyond +dispute that _The Witch of Edmonton_ in the figure of Mother Sawyer +offers us the best contemporary illustration of the Elizabethan witch. +The drama itself is one of no ordinary merit and power, whilst the +understanding and restraint which set the play apart from its fellows +also raises it to the level of genuine tragedy. It should be noticed that +we see a witch, so to speak, in the process of making. Mother Sawyer is +in truth the victim of the prejudices of the village hinds and ignorant +yokels. When she first appears it is merely as a poor old crone driven +to desperation by her brutal neighbours; the farmers declare she is a +witch, and at length persecution makes her one. She is malignant and evil +enough once the compact with the demon has been confirmed; she longs from +the first to be revenged upon her enemies and mutters to herself “by +what art May the thing called Familiar be purchased?” But, in one sense, +she is urged and hounded to her destiny, and the authors, although never +doubting her compact with the powers of darkness, her vile and poisonous +life, show a detached but very real sympathy for her. It is this touch +of humanity, the pathos and pity of the poor old hag, repulsive, wicked, +and baleful as she may be, which must place _The Witch of Edmonton_ in my +opinion among the greatest and most moving of all Elizabethan plays. + +It is no pleasant task to turn now to the theatre of the eighteenth +century in this connexion. The witch became degraded; she was comic, +burlesqued, buffooned; a mere property for a Christmas pantomime: +_Harlequin Mother Bunch_, _Mother Goose_, _Harlequin Dame Trot_, Charles +Dibdin’s _The Lancashire Witches, or The Distresses of Harlequin_[28] +whose tinsel, music, and mummery drew all the macaronis and cyprians in +London to the Circus during the winter of 1782-3. + +Some subtle premonition of the great success of Harrison Ainsworth’s +powerful story _The Lancashire Witches_—for this and the macabre +_Rookwood_ are probably the best of the work of a talented writer now +unduly depreciated and decried—seems to have suggested to the prolific +Edward Fitzball his “Legendary Drama in Three Acts,” _The Lancashire +Witches, A Romance of Pendle Forest_, produced at the Adelphi Theatre, +3 January, 1848. It was quick work, for it was only a month before, +3 December, 1847, that Ainsworth, writing to his friend Crossley of +Manchester, states that he has accepted the liberal offer of the _Sunday +Times_—£1000 and the copyright to revert to the author on the completion +of the work—that his new romance _The Lancashire Witches_ should make +its appearance as a serial in the paper. He had already sketched out +the plan, and he must have given Fitzball an idea of this, or at least +have allowed the dramatist the use of some few rough notes, for although +the play and the novel have little, one might say nothing essential, +in common, the chief character in the theatre, Bess of the Woods, “140 +years old, formerly Abbess of S. Magdalen’s, doomed for her crimes to an +unearthly age,” is none other than the anchoress Isolde de Heton.[29] +The fourth scene of the second act presents the ruins of Whalley Abbey +by moonlight. During an incantation the picture gradually changes; the +broken arches form themselves into perfect masonry; the ivy disappears +from the windows to show the ruby and gold of coloured glass; the +decaying altar glitters with piled plate and the gleam of myriad tapers. +A choir of nuns rises from the grave to dance with spectral gallants. +Among the votaries are Nutter, Demdike, and Chattox “Three Weird Sisters, +doomed for their frailties to become Witches.” But they utter no word, +and have no part save this in the action. This scene must have proved +extraordinarily effective upon the stage. It owes much to the haunted +convent in Meyerbeer’s _Robert le Diable_, produced at the Académie +Royale in November, 1831, and given in a piratical form both at Drury +Lane and Covent Garden within a few weeks. Nor is it comparable to its +original. In Fitzball’s melodrama O. Smith appeared as Gipsy Dalian, a +new character; and Miss Faucit (Mrs. Bland) as Bess of the Woods. The +play, for what it is, a luridly theatrical and Surrey-side sensation, +has merit; but to speak of it in the same breath as Middleton or even as +Barnes would be absurd. + +Shelley’s genius has with wondrous beauty translated for us scenes from +Calderon’s _El Magico Prodigioso_, one of the loveliest songs of the +Spanish nightingale. On another plane, admittedly, but yet, I think, +far from lacking a simple comeliness of its own and surely not without +most poignant pathos, is Longfellow’s New England Tragedy _Giles Corey +of the Salem Farms_.[30] The honest sincerity of Cotton Mather, the +bluff irascible heartiness of Corey himself, the inopportune scepticism +of his wife—which to many would seem sound common sense—the hysteria +of Mary Walcot, the villainy of John Gloyd, all these are sketched +with extraordinary power, a few quiet telling touches which make each +character, individual, alert, alive. + +In the French theatre we have an early fourteenth-century _Miracle de +Nostre Dame de Robert le Dyable_, and in 1505 was acted _Le mystère du +Chevalier qui donna sa femme au Diable_, à dix personnages. As one might +well expect during the long classical period of the drama Witchcraft +could have found no place in the scenes of the French dramatists. It +would have been altogether too wild, too monstrous a fantasy. And so it +is not until the 24 floréal, An XIII (11 June, 1805) that a play which +interweaves sorcery as its theme is seen at the Théâtre français, when +_Les Templiers_ of Raynouard was given there. A few years later _Le +Vampire_, a thrilling melodrama by Charles Nodier and Carmouche, produced +on 13 August, 1820, was to draw all idle Paris to the Porte-Saint-Martin. +In 1821 two facile writers quick to gauge the public appetite, Frédéric +Dupetit-Mèré and Victor Ducagne, found some favour with _La Sorcière, ou +l’Orphelin écossais_. Alexandre Dumas, and one of his many ghosts Auguste +Maquet, collaborated (if one may use the term) in a grandiose five-act +drama _Urbain Grandier_, 1850. _La Sorcière Canidie_, a one-act play +by Aurélien Vivie, produced at Bordeaux in 1888 is of little account. +_La Reine de l’Esprit_ (1891) of Maurice Pottecher is founded to some +extent on the _Comte de Gabalis_, whilst the same author’s three-act +_Chacun cherche son Trésor_, “histoire des sorciers” (1899) was not a +little helped by the music of Lucien Michelet. There are many excuses +for passing over with a mere mention _Les Noces de Sathan_ (1892), a +“drama ésoterique,” by Jules Bois, and _Les Basques ou la Sorcière +d’Espelette_, a lyric drama in three acts by Loquin and Mégret de +Belligny, produced at Bordeaux in 1892, has an interest which is almost +purely local. Alphonse Tavan’s _Les Mases_ (sorciers), a legendary drama +of five acts of alternating prose and verse seen in 1897 was helped out +by every theatrical resource, a ballet, chorus, mechanical effects, and +confident advertisement. Serge Basset’s _Vers le Sabbat_ “évocation de +sorcellerie en un acte” which appeared in the same year need not be +seriously considered. Nor does an elaborate episode “Le Sabbat et la +Herse Infernale,” wherein Mons. Benglia appeared as Satan, that was seen +in the Folies Bergère revue, _Un Soir de Folie_, 1925-6, call for more +than the briefest passing mention. + +In more recent days Victor Sardou’s _La Sorcière_ is a violent, but +effective, melodrama. Produced at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, 15 +December, 1903, with De Max as Cardinal Ximenes and Sarah Bernhardt as +the moresque Zoraya, it obtained a not undeserved success. The locale of +the tragedy is Toledo, anno domini 1506; Act IV, the Inquisition scene; +and Act V, the square before the Cathedral with the grim pyre ready for +the torch, were—owing to the genius of a great actress—truly harrowing. +Of course it is very flamboyant, very unbalanced, very unhistorical, but +in its gaudy theatrical way—all the old tricks are there—_La Sorcière_ +had an exciting thrill for those who were content to be unsophisticated +awhile. + +John Masefield’s adaptation from the Norwegian of Wiers-Jennsen, _The +Witch_,[31] a drama in four acts, is a very different thing. Here we +have psychology comparable to that of Dekker and Ford. Nor will the +performances of Miss Janet Achurch as Merete Beyer and Miss Lillah +McCarthy as Anne Pedersdotter easily be forgotten. As a picture of the +horror of Witchcraft in cold Scandinavia, the gloom and depression of +formidable fanaticism engendered by Lutheran dogma and discipline with +the shadow of destiny lowering implacably over all, this is probably the +finest piece of work dealing in domestic fashion with the warlock and the +sorceress that has been seen on the English stage since the reign of wise +King James three hundred years ago. + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER VII + +[1] The _Floralia_, the most wanton of Roman festivals, commenced on +the fourth day before the Kalends of May, and during these celebrations +the spectators insisted that the _mimæ_ should play naked, “agebantur +[_Floralia_] a meretricibus ueste exutis omni cum uerborum licentia, +motuumque obscænitate,” says the old commentator on Martial I, 1. +“Lasciui Floralia laeta theatri” Ausonius names them, _De Feriis +Romanis_, 25. Lactantius, _De Institutionibus Diuinis_, I, 20, writes: +“Celebrantur ergo illi ludi cum omni lasciuia, conuenientes memoriæ +meretricis. Nam praeter uerborum licentiam, quibus obscænitas omnis +effunditur; exuuntur etiam uestibus populo flagitante meretrices; +quæ tunc mimorum funguntur officio; et in conspectu populi usque ad +satietatem impudicorum luminum cum pudendis motibus detinentur.” Both S. +Augustine and Arnobius reprehend the lewdness of these naked dances. At +Sens during the Feast of Fools, when every licence prevailed, men were +led in procession _nudi_. Warton (_History of English Poetry_, by T. +Warton, edited by W. C. Hazlitt, 4 vols., 1871), II, 223, states that in +the Mystery Plays “Adam and Eve are both exhibited on the stage naked, +and conversing about their nakedness; this very pertinently introduces +the next scene, in which they have coverings of fig-leaves.” In a +stage-direction of the Chester Plays we find: “Statim nudi sunt.... Tunc +Adam et Eua cooperiant genitalia sua cum foliis.” Chambers, _The Mediæval +Stage_, II, 143, doubts whether the players were actually nude, and +suggests a suit of white leather. Warton, however, is probably right. + +[2] Phales was an early deity, very similar to Priapus, and closely +associated with the Bacchic mysteries. For the refrain see _The +Acharnians_, 263-265. + +[3] See Callot’s series of character-etchings, _I Balli di Sfessanio_. + +[4] Not to be confused with the printer Fust, as was at one time +frequently supposed. + +[5] In Marlowe’s play Faust welcomes “German Valdes and Cornelius.” Who +Valdes is has not been satisfactorily explained. The suggestion of Dr. +Havelock Ellis that Paracelsus seems intended is no doubt correct. + +[6] Translated from the Middle Dutch by Harry Morgan Ayres, with an +Introduction by Adriaan J. Barnouw. _The Dutch Library_, The Hague: +Martinus Nijhoff. 1924. + +[7] The International Theatre Society gave a private subscription +performance of _Mary of Nimmegen_ at Maskelyne’s Theatre on Sunday, 22 +February, 1925. But such a play, presenting crowded scenes of burgher +life, the streets, the market-place, to be effective demands a large +stage and costly production. + +[8] Meroe is the hag “saga et diuina” in Apuleius, _Metamorphoseon_, I. + +[9] _Macbeth_ was tinkered at almost from the first. Upon the revival of +the play immediately after the Restoration the witch scenes were given +great theatrical prominence. 7 January, 1667, Pepys declared himself +highly delighted with the “divertissement, though it be a deep tragedy.” + +[10] _The Witch of Edmonton_ was revived under my direction for two +performances at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 24 and 26 April, 1921. +Sybil Thorndike played the Witch, Russell Thorndike, the Familiar; Ion +Swinley, Frank Thorney; Edith Evans, Ann Ratcliffe; and Frank Cochrane, +Cuddy Banks. + +[11] 4to 1634: _Stationers’ Register_, 28 October. + +[12] In a famous Scotch trial for witchcraft, 1661, Jonet Watson of +Dalkeith confessed “that the Deivill apeired vnto her in the liknes of +ane prettie boy, in grein clothes.” + +[13] Liber III. _De Magis et Maleficis Finnorum._ + +[14] Tegue o’ Divelly was acted by Antony Leigh, the most famous comedian +of his day, and an intimate friend of Shadwell. + +[15] Curiously enough Halliwell in _The Poetry of Witchcraft_, a private +reprint of Heywood and Shadwell’s plays, 80 copies only, 1853, has not +reproduced the italic letter but gives all the dialogue in roman to the +great detriment of this edition. + +[16] Licensed for printing 2 November, 1672, and published quarto with +date 1673. + +[17] At a later revival Ismeron’s recitative “Ye twice ten hundred +Deities” was set by Purcell. + +[18] Dryden’s. He wrote the first scene of the first act, the whole +of the fourth act, rather more than one-half of act five, and Lee is +responsible for the rest of the tragedy. + +[19] For a full analysis and critical examination of _Zoroastres_ see my +article in the _Modern Language Review_, XII, Jan., 1917. + +[20] The title-rôle Dame Dobson was played by Mrs. Corey, a mistress of +broad comedy, who was much admired for her humour by Samuel Pepys. + +[21] Mrs. Behn owes a hint to Shirley’s _The Lady of Pleasure_, licensed +by Sir Henry Herbert, 15 October, 1635; 4to. 1637. It must be confessed +that she has managed her scenes with more wit and spirit than the older +dramatist, whose charming verse is perhaps too seriously poetical for the +actual situation. + +[22] George Sinclar, _Satan’s Invisible World Discovered_, 1685. Reprint, +Edinburgh, 1871. Supplement, I, p. xii. + +[23] _The Maid’s Revenge_, acted 1626, printed 1639. + +[24] Compare Mopus in Wilson’s _The Cheats_ (acted in 1662); Stargaze +in _The City Madam_; Rusee, Norbrett, and their accomplices in _Rollo_; +Iacchelino in Ariosto’s _Il Negromante_; and a score beside. + +[25] Sir Adolphus Ward, _English Dramatic Literature_, 1899, II, 465, +says that Langbaine wrongly supposed the source of this play to be +“Machiavelli’s celebrated _Novella_ on the marriage of Belphegor.” But +this is hardly correct. Langbaine wrote: “The beginning of his Play seems +to be writ in imitation of _Matchiavel’s_ Novel of _Belphegor_: where +_Pluto_ summons the Devils to Councel.” + +[26] For a fitting account of Alexander VI see _Le Pape Alexandre VI et +les Borgia_, Paris, 1870, by Père Ollivier, O.P.; also Leonetti _Papa +Alessandro VI secondo documenti e carteggi del tempo_, 3 vols., Bologna, +1880. _Chronicles of the House of Borgia_, by Frederick, Baron Corvo, +1901, may be studied with profit. Monsignor de Roo’s _Material for a +History of Pope Alexander VI_, 5 vols., Bruges, 1924, is of the greatest +value, and completely authoritative. + +[27] The murderer of the Duke of Gandia is unknown to history, if not to +historians. + +[28] The songs only are printed, 8vo, 1783. + +[29] Fosbrooke, _British Monachism_, says that in the reign of Henry VI +one Isolde de Heton petitioned the King to let her be admitted as an +anchoress in the Abbey of Whalley. But afterwards she left the enclosure +and broke her vows, whereupon the King dissolved the hermitage. + +[30] The incidents are historically correct. See Cotton Mather’s _Wonders +of the Invisible World_. Corey refusing to plead was pressed to death. + +[31] Originally produced 10 October, 1910, at the Royalty, Glasgow: in +London, 31 January, 1911, at the Court. Revived at the Court, 29 October, +1913, when it ran for a month, and was afterwards included in the +subsequent three weeks’ repertory season. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +This Bibliography does not aim at anything beyond presenting a brief and +convenient hand-list of some of the more important books upon Witchcraft. +It does not even purport to give all those monographs to which reference +is made in the body of this study. A large number of books I have +thought it superfluous to include. Thus I have omitted general works of +reference such as the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, Du Cange’s _Glossarium +ad scriptores mediæ et infimæ latinitatis_, Dugdale’s _Monasticon_; daily +companions such as the Missal, the Breviary, the Bible; Homer, Vergil, +Horace, Ovid, Petronius, Lucan; Shakespeare, Marlowe, Ford, Dryden, +Burton’s _Anatomy of Melancholy_, and English classics; those histories +which are on every library shelf, Gibbon, Lingard, Ranke; and such +histories as the _Cambridge Modern History_. + +On the other hand, I have of purpose included various books which may not +seem at first sight to have much connexion with Witchcraft, although they +are, as a matter of fact, by no means impertinent. In order to appreciate +this vast subject in all its bearings, even the desultory or amateur +investigator should at least be fairly grounded in theology, philosophy, +and psychology. The student must be a capable theologian. + +I have devoted some particular attention to the works of the +demonologists, now almost universally neglected, but a close study of +which is essential to the understanding of occultism and the appreciation +of the grave dangers that may lurk there. + +I am only too conscious of the plentiful lacunæ in this Bibliography. +However, to attempt anything like a complete catalogue—if, indeed, it +were possible to essay so illimitable a task—would involve the listing of +very many thousands of books, and would itself require no inconsiderable +a tale of volumes. + +I need hardly point out that side by side with works of the highest +importance it has been found necessary to include a few of no great +value, which yet have their use to illustrate some one point or special +phase. + + +GENERAL + +CAILLET, ALBERT L. _Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques +ou occultes, science des Mages, hermétique, astrologie, Kabbale, +Francmaçonnerie, médecine ancienne, mesmérisme, sorcellerie, +singularités, etc._ 3 vols. Paris, 1913. + +GRÆSSE, JOHAN GEORG THEODOR. _Bibliotheca magica et pneumatica._ Leipzig, +1843. (In spite of obvious defects a very valuable bibliography.) + +YVE-PLESSIS, R. _Bibliographie française de la sorcellerie._ Paris, 1900. +(An immense and exhaustive work on French books.) + +AARON THE GREEK [Simon Blocquel]. _La Magie rouge._ Paris, 1821. + +ABNER, THEODORE. _Les apparitions du Diable._ Brussels, 1879. + +ACONTIUS. _Stratagemata Satanæ._ Libri VIII. Basle, 1565. + +_Acta Sanctorum._ Par les Bollandistes. Antwerp, Tongerloo, Brussels, +1644 _sqq._ Reprinted, Paris, 1863 _sqq._ + +ADHÉMAR DE CHABANNES. _Chronicle_: in _Monumenta Germaniæ historica_. Ed. +G. A. Pertz, etc. Vol. IV. + +AGOBARD, S. _Opera omnia._ Migne, _Patrologia latina_. Vol. CIV. + +AGRIPPA, HEINRICH CORNELIUS. _La philosophie occulte de Henr. Corn. +Agrippa ... traduite du latin_ [par A. Levasseur]. 2 vols. Hague, 1727. + + _Œuvres magiques ... mises en français par Pierre d’Aban._ + Rome, 1744. (Of the last rarity. There are other editions, + Liège, 1788; Rome, 1800; Rome, 1744 (_circa_ 1830); but all + these are extremely scarce.) + +ALANUS (Alain de Lille). _Aduersus hæreticos et Waldenses._ Ed. J. +Masson. Paris, 1612. + +ALANUS, HENRICUS. _Ciceronis de Divinatione et de Fato._ 1839. + +ALBERT, LE PETIT. _Alberti Parui Lucii libellus de mirabilibus Naturæ +arcanis._ (This treatise which tells how to confect philtres, make +talismans, use the hand of glory, discover treasures, etc., has been very +frequently translated into French, generally under the running title _Les +secrets merveilleux de la magie naturelle et cabalistique_....) + +BL. ALBERTUS MAGNUS, O.P. _Opera omnia._ Ed. Father Peter Jammy, O.P. 21 +vols. Lyons, 1651, etc. + + _De alchimia._ (This treatise is said to be doubtful.) + + _De secretis mulierum._ (This work is certainly not from the + pen of the great Dominican doctor, to whom, however, it was + universally ascribed. There are a vast number of editions, and + translations, especially into French. _Les secretz des femmes + et homes ... stampato in Torino par Pietro Ranot_, N.D. _circa_ + 1540. _Les secrets admirables du grand Albert._ Paris, 1895.) + + _Commentaria._ Lib. IV, dist. 34. _An maleficii impedimento + aliquis potest impediri a potentia cocundi._ (_Nœud de + l’aiguillette._) + +ALEXANDER III, POPE. _Epistolæ_ apud _Regesta R. R. Pontificum_. Nos. 10, +584-14, 424. Ed. Jaffé. And Löwenfeld’s _Epistolæ Pontif. Rom. ineditæ_. +Leipzig, 1885. + +ALEXIS. _Secreti del reverendo Donno Alessio Piemontese._ Venice, 1555. +(Attributed by Girolamo Muzio to the alchemist Girolamo Ruscelli.) + +ALLARD, PAUL. _Histoire des persécutions._ 5 vols. Paris, 1892. + + _Julien l’Apostat._ 3 vols. Paris, 1900. + +ALPHONSUS LIGUORI, S. _Theologia Moralis._ 9 vols. Malines, 1828. Also +ed. P. Gaudé, C. SS. R. Rome, 1905. + +ALVARO, PELAYO. _De Planctu Ecclesiæ._ Venice, 1560. + +AMBROISE DA VIGNATE (_c._ 1408). _Tractatus de Hæreticis._ Rome, 1581. + +AMBROSE, S. _Opera omnia._ Ed. Paolo Angelo Ballerini. 6 vols. Folio. +Milan, 1875. + +ANANIA, GIOVANNI LORENZO. _De Natura Dæmonum._ Apud Vol. II. _Malleus +Maleficarum._ 1669. + +_Anonymi Gesta Francorum et Aliorum Hierosolymitanorum._ Oxford. + +ANTONELLI, G. PROF. _Lo spiritismo._ _Fede e Scienza_, II. 11, 12. Rome. + +ANTONINUS, O. P. S. _Confessionale._ Florence, 1496. + +ANTONIO A SPIRITU SANCTO, O.D.C. _Directorium Mysticum._ Paris, 1904. + +AREMI (LE SAGE). _Secrets de vieux Druide._ Lille, 1840. + +ARETINI, ANGELO. _Tractatus de maleficiis._ 1521. + +ARIES, MARTIN. _De superstitionibus maleficorum._ Rome, 1559. + +ARIMINENSIS, AUGUSTINUS. _Additiones in Angeli Aretini Tractatum de +maleficiis._ Milan, 1514. + +ARNAULD DE VILLENEUVE. _De Maleficiis._ Lyons, 1509. + +ARNOULD, ARTHUR. _Histoire de l’Inquisition._ Paris, 1869. + +AROUX. _Mystères de la Chevalerie et de l’amour platonique._ 1857-8. + +ARPE (PETR. FRID.). _De Prodigiosis Naturæ et Artis Operibus Talismanes +et Amuleta._ Hamburg, 1717. + +ATHANASIUS, S. _Opera omnia._ Migne, _Pat. Græci_. Vols. XXIII-XXVIII. + +ATWOOD, M. A. _A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery._ + +AUGUSTINE, S. _Opera omnia._ Migne, _Pat. Lat._ Vols. XXXIX-XLVII. + + _De Ciuitate Dei._ Ed. J. E. C. Welldon, D.D., Dean of Durham. + 2 vols. 1924. (The introduction and appendices must be used + with caution.) + + _Confessiones._ Ed. P. Knöll. _Corpus Scriptorum Eccl. + Latinorum_ (Vienna.) XXXIII. + +D’AUTUN, JACQUES. _L’Incredulité savante._ Lyons, 1674. + +D’AVALLON, ANDRÉ, ET CONDIS. _Dictionnaire de droit canonique._ + +AZPILCEUTA, MARTIN. _Opera omnia._ 3 vols. Lyons, 1589. + +BACO, R. _De secretis operibus magiæ._ Paris, 1542. + +BACON, ROGER. _Epistola de secretis operibus._ Hamburg, 1608; 1618. (The +same work as _De mirabili potestate artis et naturæ et de nullitate +magiæ_. Paris, 1542; Oxford, 1604; London, 1859.) + +BAISSAC, JULES. _Les grands jours de la sorcellerie._ Paris, 1890. + +BALLERINI, ANTONIO, S.J. _Opus theologicum morale._ 7 vols. Prati, 1892. + +BANG. _Norske Hexeformularer._ Christiania, 1902. + +BARONIUS, CESARE VEN. _Annales ecclesiastici._ 38 vols. 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S. _False Gods, or the Idol Worship of the World._ Boston, +_circa_ 1870. + +DORAT, S.J., JOSEPH. _Psychologia._ Vol. VI of _Summa Philosophiæ +Christianæ_. 8 vols. Rome. + +DRAGO, LUIGI VINCENZO. _Il materialismo e il dogma._ _Fede e Scienza._ +IV, 40 Rome. + +DULAURE, J. A. _Des Cultes qui ont précédé et amené l’idolâtrie._ 1805. + + _Des Divinités Génératrices._ Paris, 1805. + +DU PREL, CARL. Tr. C. C. Massey. _The Philosophy of Mysticism._ 2 vols. +London, 1889. + +ELICH, PHILIP LUDWIG. _Dæmonomagia, siue de dæmonis cacurgia._ Frankfort, +1607. + +ENNEMOSER, JOSEPH. _The History of Magic._ 2 vols. London, 1854. + +ERASTUS, THOMAS. _De lamiis seu strigibus._ Basle, 1577. + +_Errores Gazariorum seu illorum qui scobam uel baculum equitare +probantur._ 1450. + +EVENIUS, SIGISMUND. _Dissertatio physica de magia._ 1512. + +EWICK, JOHN. _De sagorum quos uulgo ueneficos appellant natura._ Bremen, +1584. + +EYMERIC, O.P., NICHOLAS. _Directorium Inquisitorum._ Rome, 1585; Venice, +1607. + +FERRERES, S.J., I. B. _Theologia Moralis._ 11th ed. Rome, 1921. + +FRANZELIN, S.J., CARDINAL I.B. _De Deo Uno._ Rome. + +FRAZER, SIR JAMES. _Folk-Lore in the Old Testament._ London, 1923. + +FREDERICQ, DR. PAUL. _Corpus documentorum Inquisitionis hæreticæ +prauitatis neerlandicæ._ 5 vols. Ghent, 1889 _sqq_. + + _Geschiednes der Inquisitie de Neerlanden tot aen hare + herinrichting onder Keizer Karel V_ (1025-1520). Ghent, 1892 + _sqq._ + +FREUD, SIGISMUND. _Totem and Taboo. Resemblances between the Psychic +Lives of Savages and Neurotics._ London, 1919. + +GAFFARELLUS, JAC. _Curiositates Inauditæ._ Hamburg, 1706. + +GAMS, PIUS BONIFACIUS, O.S.B. _Die Kirchengeschichte von Spanien._ 5 +vols. Regensburg, 1862. + +GARRIGON-LEGRANGE, O.P., REGINALD. _De Reuelatione._ 2nd ed. 1921. + +GAYA, LOUIS DE. _Cérémonies nuptiales de toutes les nations._ Paris, 1680. + +GEBHART, EMILE. _L’Italie mystique._ Paris, 1893. + +GEILER, JOHANN. _Die Emeis. Dies ist das Buch von der Omeissen._ 1516. + +GEMELLI, O.F.M., AGOSTINO. _Psicologia e Biologia._ Rome, 1920. + + _Non Moechaberis._ Milan, 1923. + +GERBERT. _Epistolæ._ Migne. _Pat. Lat._ Vol. CXXXIX. + +GERUASIUS OF TILBURY. _Otia imperialia._ Written _circa_ 1214. + +GIESSLER, J. C. L. _Ecclesiastical History._ Eng. tr. 1853. + +GILLY, WILLIAM STEPHEN. _Narrative of Researches among the Vaudois._ +London, 1824. + +GIUSTINIANUS, BERNARDUS. _Historia Generale della Monarchia Spagnuola +Antica, e Moderna._ Venezia, 1674. + +GODELMANN, JOHAN GEORG. _Disputatio de Magis_. Frankfort, 1584. +_Tractatus de Magis._ 1591. + +GODWIN, WILLIAM. _Lives of the Necromancers._ London, 1834. + +GÖRRES, JOHANN JOSEPH. _Die christliche Mystik._ 4 vols. 1836-42. French +translation: _La Mystique Divine, Naturelle, et Diabolique_.... 5 vols. +Paris, 1861. + +GOUGENOT DES MOUSSEAUX, HENRI ROGER. + + _Dieu et les Dieux._ Paris, 1854. + + _Mœurs et pratiques des Démons._ Paris, 1854. + + _La magie au dix-neuvième siècle._ Paris, 1860. + + _Les médiateurs et les moyens de la magie._ Paris, 1863. + + _Les hauts phénomènes de la magie._ Paris, 1864. + + (Vampires; the Incubus and the Succubus.) + +GOUJET, ABBÉ. _Histoire des inquisitions._ 2 vols. Cologne, 1759. + +GREGOROVIUS, FERDINAND. _Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittlealter._ 7 +vols. 5th ed. Stuttgard and Berlin, 1903 _sqq._ + +GREGORY VII, POPE S. _Epistolarum libri_ apud Mansi _Sacrorum conciliorum +nona ... collectio_. Florence, 1759. Also _S. Gregorii VII epistolæ et +diplomata_. Ed. Horoy. Paris, 1877. + +GREGORY XV, POPE. _Gesta Pontificum Romanorum._ Venice, 1688. IV, 522-36. + +GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE S. _Opera omnia._ Ed. J. B. Gallicoli. 17 vols. +Venice, 1765-76. Reprinted by Migne. _Pat. Lat._ LXXV-LXXIX. + +GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS, S. _Opera omnia._ Paris, 1609-11. Migne. _Pat. Gr._ +4 vols. XXXV-XXXVIII. + +GREGORY OF TOURS, S. _Scriptores Rerum Merouinginarum apud monumenta +Germaniæ historica._ I, Pt. I, pp. 1-30. 1884-5. + +GRILLANDUS, PAULUS. _De sortilegiis._ Lyons, 1533. + +GUAITA, STANISLAS DE. _Essais de sciences maudites._ Paris and Brussels, +1886. + +GUAZZO, FRANCESCO MARIA, AMBROSIAN. _Compendium Maleficarum._ Milan, +1608. (One of the most valuable of the earlier writers.) + +GUI, BERNARD. _Practica Inquisitionis hæreticæ prauitatis._ Ed. Mgr. C. +Douais. Paris, 1886. + +GURY, S.J., I. P. _Theologia moralis._ 15th ed. Rome, 1907. Cum +supplemento, Acta et Decreta nouissima. 2 vols. Rome, 1915. + +HALES, ALEXANDER OF. _Summa uniuersæ theologiæ._ Cologne, 1622. + +HANSEN, J. _Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwahns._ +Bonn, 1901. + +HARTMANN, FRANZ. _The Life of Phillippus Theophrastus Bombast, of +Hohenheim, known by the name of Paracelsus, and the Substance of his +Teachings. Magic, White and Black._ + +HASKINS, CHARLES HOMER. _Studies in the History of Mediæval Science._ +London, 1924. + +HAUBER, E. D. _Bibliotheca magica et scripta magica._ 1738-45. + +HAURÉAU, B. _Histoire de la Philosophie Scolastique._ Paris, 1880. + +HECKETHORN, CHARLES WILLIAM. _Secret Societies of All Ages and +Countries._ 2 vols. London, 1897. + +HEDELIN, FRANÇOIS. _Des Satyres, Brutes, Monstres et Demons._ Paris, +1627. Reprinted, Liseux, 1888. + +HEINER, FREDERICH. _De Processu Criminali Ecclesiastico._ Rome, 1920. + +HEISTERBACH, CÆSARIUS. _Dialogus Miraculorum._ _Circa_ 1225. Reprints, +1861, 1901. + +HERRMANN. _Institutiones Theologiæ Dogmaticæ._ 2 vols. Rome, 1914. + +HETZENAUER, O.M.C., MICHAEL. _Commentarius in librum Genesis._ Rome, 1910. + +HILDEBERT, S. _Opera omnia._ Paris, 1708. + +HINCMAR. _Opera omnia._ Migne, _Pat. Lat._ Vols. CXXV, CXXVI. + +HOCHSTRATEN, JACOB VON. _Quam grauiter peccent quærentes auxilium a +maleficiis._ 1510. + +HOFFMANN, FRIDOLIN. _Geschichte des Inquisition._ 2 vols. Bonn, 1878. + +HOLMES, EDMOND. _The Albigensian or Catharist Heresy._ London, 1925. + + (A truly amazing defence of the Albigensians. The author has + completely misunderstood their heresies.) + +HOWEY, M. OLDFIELD. _The Horse in Magic and Myth._ London, 1923. + +HUEBER. _Menologium S. Francisci._ Munich, 1608. + +HUGON, R. P. _De Deo Uno et Trino._ 2 vols. Rome. + +_Inquisition._ _Orden que Comunmente se Guarda en el Santo Oficio de la +Inquisition._ Valencia, 1736. (Contains all the forms and procedure of +the Holy Office.) + +IVES, GEORGE. _A History of Penal Methods._ 1914. Chapter II: “The Witch +Trials.” (The whole volume is valuable.) + +JACOLLIOT, LOUIS. _Occult Science in India and among the Ancients._ + +JACQUERIUS, NICOLAS. _Flagellum Dæmonum Fascinariorum._ 1458. + +JADEROSA, FEDERICO. _Theologia Moralis._ Rome, 1922. + +JAUER, NICOLAUS VON. _Tractatus de superstitionibus._ 1405. + +JENNINGS, HARGRAVE. _The Rosicrucians: their Rites and Mysteries._ + +JORDANUS DE BERGAMO. _Quæstio de strigis._ 1476. MS. 3446. Bibliothèque +nationale, Paris. + +KELLY, EDWARD. _The Alchemical Writings of Edward Kelly._ Trans. from the +Hamburg Edition of 1676. 1893. + +KHUNRATH, H. _Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ Æternæ Solius Veræ, +Christiano-Kabalisticum, Diuino-Magicum, nec non Physico-Chymicum, +Tertriunum, Catholicon._ Hanover, 1609. + +KRAKEWITZ VON, ALBERT JOACHIM. _De theologia dæmonum._ Wittenberg, 1715. + +KRONE. _Fra Dolcino und die Patarerer._ Leipzig, 1844. + +LAURENT-NAGOUR. _Occultismus und Liebe_, 1903. + +LAVATER, LOYS. _De spectris, lemuribus, etc._ Geneva, 1570. + +LEA, HENRY CHARLES. _History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages._ New +York, 1887; London, 1888; and 3 vols., 1906. + + _Superstition and Force._ Philadelphia, 1866. 3rd ed., 1878; + 4th ed., 1892. + + _Studies in Church History._ Philadelphia, 1869. + + _History of the Inquisition in Spain._ 4 vols. London, 1906-7. + + _The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies._ New York, 1908. + + (The works of Henry Charles Lea, lengthy and laborious as they + are, must be used with the utmost caution and need continually + to be corrected. They are insecure, and bitterly biased, since + even when facts are not widely distorted a wrong interpretation + is inevitably placed upon them. Their value and merit can but + be regarded as fundamentally shaken. The following criticism + will be found useful: Paul Maria Baumgarten: _Die Werke von + Henry Charles Lea und verwandte Bücher_, 1908. Eng. tr.: _H. C. + Lea’s Historical Writings: A critical inquiry into their method + and merit_. 1909.) + +LEE, FREDERICK GEORGE, D.D. _The Other World._ 2 vols. London, 1875. + + _More Glimpses of the World Unseen._ 1878. + + _Glimpses in the Twilight._ 1885. + + _Sights and Shadows._ 1894. + + (Scholarly and valuable works.) + +LEHMANN. _Aberglaube._ 2nd ed. 1908. + +LEHMKUHL, S.J., AUG. _Casus conscientiæ._ 2 vols. Rome, 1913. + +LE LOYER, PIERRE. _Discours et histoires des spectres._ Paris, 1605. + +LÉVI, ELIPHAS (ALPHONSE LOUIS CONSTANT). _The History of Magic._ Trans. +by Arthur Edward Waite. 1922. + +_The Paradoxes of the Highest Science._ (Footnotes by a Master of the +Wisdom.) + +_Transcendental Magic._ (Translated, annotated, and introduced by Arthur +Edward Waite.) + +LEYSER, AUGUST. _De crimine magiæ._ Wittenberg, 1737. + +LICOSTHENES, CONRAD. _De prodigiis et ostentis._ 1557. + +LOCATI, UMBERTO. _Opus iudiciale inquisitorum._ Rome, 1572. + +LOMBARD, PETER. _Quatuor Libri Sententiarium._ Printed 1472. Paris, 1892. +(Best edition is that found in the Commentary of S. Bonaventura. _Opera +S. Bonauenturæ._ Quaracchi, 1885, I-IV.) + +LOMEIER, J. _Epimenides sive De Ueterum Gentilium Lustrationibus +Syntagma._ Zutphen, 1700. + +LOTTINI, O.P., GIOVANNI. _Compendium Philosophiæ Scholasticæ._ 3 vols. +Rome, 1912. + +LUANCO, J. RAMÓN DE. _Ramón Lull considerado come Alquimista._ Barcelona, +1870. + +LULL, BL. RAMÓN. _Opera omnia._ 10 vols. Mainz, 1721-42. + +MACKAY, CHARLES. _Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions._ 2 vols. +London, 1852. (Must be used with caution, very frequently reprinted.) + +MADDEN, R. R. _Phantasmata._ 2 vols. 1857. + +MAIER, M. _Themis Aurea_ (on the Rosicrucians). Frankfurt, 1618. + +MAMOR, PIETRO. _Flagellum maleficorum._ _Circa_ 1462. + +MANGETUS. _Bibliotheca Chemico Curiosa._ 1702. + +MARÉCHAUX, O.S.B., BERNARD-MARIE. _La Réalité des Apparitions +Angéliques._ Paris, 1901. + +MARCHESE. _Diario Domenicano._ Naples, 1668-81. + +MARTINDALE, C. C., S.J. _Antichrist._ C.T.S. (Do. 83). + + _Theosophy._ + +MAURITIUS, E. _De denunciatione sagarum._ Tubingen, 1664. + +MAYER, J. B. _Ancient Philosophy._ Cambridge, 1895. + +MAYO, HERBERT. _On the Truths contained in Popular Superstitions._ +Edinburgh, 1851. + +MAZZARA. _Leggendario francescano._ Venice, 1721. + +MAZZELLA, HOR. _Prælectiones Scholastico-Dogmaticæ._ 4 vols. Rome. + +MAZZOLINI (MOZOLINI, PRIERIAS), O.P., SYLVESTER. _De strigimagorum libri +III._ Rome, 1521. + +MECHLINIA, JOHANNES DE. _Utrum perfecta dei opera possint impediri +dæmonis malicia._ _Circa_ 1450. + +MEMMINGIUS, NICOLAS. _Admonitio de superstitionibus magicis uitandis._ +_s.l._ 1575. + +MENANT, JOACHIM. _Les Yezidiz. Episodes de l’histoire des adorateurs du +Diable._ Paris, 1892. + +MENGO, GIROLAMO, CAPUCHIN. _Flagellum Dæmonum._ Bologna, 1578. + + _Euersio dæmonum e corporibus oppressis._ Bologna, 1588. + + _Fustis dæmonum._ Bologna, 1589. + +_Menologium Cisterciense._ + +MERCER, REV. J. E. _Alchemy: its Science and Romance._ + +MERIC, MGR. _L’Autre vie._ 13 ed. Paris, 1919. + + _L’Imagination et les Prodigues._ Paris, 1918. + + _Revue de Monde Invisible._ Edited by Mgr. Meric. 1909—in + continuation. + +MICHELET, JULES. _La sorcière._ Paris, 1862. (This original edition is of +the last rarity. Reprinted 1862.) + +MIRANDOLA, G. P. P. DELLA. _Strix siue de ludificatione dæmonum._ 1523. + +MOLITOR, ULRICH. _De lamiis et phitonicis mulieribus, teutonice unholden +uel hexen._ 1489. + +MOREAU, PAUL. _Des Aberrations du Sens Génésique._ 4th ed. 1887. + +MOSHEIM, J. J. VON. _Institutes of Ecclesiasticæ History._ Eng. tr. 2nd +ed. 1850. + +MURNER, O.M., THOMAS. _De phitonico contractu._ 1499. + +MURRAY, MARGARET ALICE. _The Witch-Cult in Western Europe._ Oxford, 1921. + +NAUDÉ, GABRIEL. _Apologie pour tous les grands hommes qui ont esté +faussement soupconnez de magie._ Paris, 1625. + +NEALE, REV. JOHN MASON. _The Unseen World._ 1847. + +NEVIUS, REV. JOHN L. _Demon Possession and Allied Themes._ New York, 1893. + +NIDER, JOHAN, O.P. _Formicarius._ 5 vols. Douai, 1602. + +_Occult Review, The._ (In continuation.) + +PAPUS (pseud, of Gérard Encausse). _Absolute Key to Occult Science: The +Tarot of the Bohemians._ Trans. by A. P. Morton. 1896. + +PARACELSUS (Aureolus Philippus, i.e. Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim). +_Philosophy Reformed and Improved._ Made English by H. Pinnell. 2 vols. +1657. + +PARAMO, LUDOVICO À. _De origine et progressu officii Sanctæ +Inquisitionis._ Madrid, 1598. + +PASCH, G. _De operationibus Dæmonum duo problemata curiosa utrum possint +generare et utrum homines in bestias transformari._ 1684. + +—— PATRICIUS, FR. _Magia Philosophica._ Hamburg, 1593. + +PEEBLES, J. M. _The Demonism of the Ages._ Battle Creek, Mich., 1904. + +PEÑA, FRANCESCO. _Inquirendorum hæreticorum lucerna._ Rome, 1572. + +PERRY, W. J. _The Origin of Magic and Religion._ + +PEUCER, CASPAR. _Commentarius De Præcipuis Generibus Diuinationum._ +Witenberga, 1560. + +PIGNATARO, F. S. J. _De Disciplina Pœnitentiali._ + +PONS, VINCENT. _De potentia Dæmonum._ Aquis Sextiis, 1613. + +PONZINIBIO, FRANCESCO. _De lamiis._ Apud _Thesaurus iurisconsultorum_. +Venice, 1584. + +PRUMMER, O.P., DOMINIC. _Manuale Theologiæ Moralis secundum principia S. +Thomæ Aquinatis._ 3 vols. Rome, 1915. + +PRYCE, F. N. _The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity of R. C., +commonly of the Rosie Cross._ London, 1652. + +QUÉTIF-ECHARD. _Scriptores Ordinis Prædicatorum._ 2 vols. Paris, 1719. + +RAMUS, S.J., LE PÈRE MARIE. _La Dévotion à Sainte Anne._ Lyons, 1888. + +REDGROVE, H. STANLEY. _Alchemy, Ancient and Modern._ + +REGINO, ABBOT OF PRÜM. _Libri duo de synodalibus causis._ Migne. _Pat. +Lat._ Vol. CXXXII. + +REMY, NICOLAS (Remigius). _Dæmonolatriæ libri tres._ Lyons, 1595. + +_Repertorium penitile de prauitate hæreticorum._ 1494. + +RÉVILLE, A. _The Devil._ London, 1871. + +RIBADENEIRA, S.J., PEDRO. _Uita Ignatii._ Naples, 1572. + +RIBET, M. J. _La Mystique Divine._ 4 vols. Paris, 1895. + +RICARDUS, ANGENTNUS. _De præstigiis et incantationibus dæmonum._ Basle, +1568. + +RICHALMUS, B. (Reichhelm). _Liber de Insidiis Dæmonum._ _Circa_ 1270. + +RÖMER, WILHELM. _Die Hexenbulle des Papster Innocenz VIII._ Schaffhausen, +1889. + +ROSKOFF, GUSTAV. _Geschichte des Teufels._ 2 vols. Leipzig, 1859. + +ROYAS, À J. _De Hæreticis._ Apud Zilettum, _q.u._ + +SABETTI, ALOYSIUS, S.J. _Compendium Theologiæ Moralis._ Ed. Uicesima +Quinta. Recog. a Timotheo Barrett, S.J. 1916. (Tractatus VI. 2. _De +Uitiis Religioni Oppositis._ 3. _De Diuinatione._ 4. _De Magia et +maleficio._) + +SAINT-HEBIN, ALEXANDRE. _Du culte de Satan._ Paris, 1867. + +SBARALEA. _Bullarium Franciscanum._ 5 vols. Rome, 1759 sqq. + +SCHELTEMA, JACOBUS. _Geschiedenis der Heksenprocessen, eene bijdrage tot +den roem des vaderlands._ Haarlem, 1828. + +SCHERARTZ, SIGISMUND. _Libellus de spectris._ Wittenberg, 1620. + +SCHMIDT. _Histoire et Doctrine de la secte des Cathares ou Albigeois._ +Paris, 1849. + +SCHRAM, DOMINIC, O.S.B. _Institutiones Theologiæ Mysticæ._ 2 vols. +Ausburg, 1774. (A most valuable work.) + +SCHWAB, J. B. _Jean Gerson._ Würzburg, 1858. + +SCOTUS, DUNS. _Opera omnia._ 12 vols. Ed. Wadding. Lyons, 1639. Reprint, +26 vols. (Vives) Paris, 1891-95. + +SIMANCAS. _De Catholicis Institutionibus._ Apud Zilettum, _q.u._ + +SINISTRARI, O.M., LUDOVICO MARIA. _Opera omnia._ Rome. 3 vols. 1753-4. + + _De Dæmonialitate._ First published by Liseux. Paris, 1875. + Eng. tr. _Demonality, or Incubi and Succubi._ Paris, 1879. + +SOCINUS, MARIANUS. _De sortilegiis._ _Circa_ 1465. + +SOLE, JACOBUS. _De Delictis et Pœnis._ Rome, 1920. + +SPEE, S.J., FREDERICK. _Cautio criminalis._ 1631. Cologne, 1632. + +SPENCE, LEWIS. _An Encyclopedia of Occultism: a Compendium of Information +on the Occult Sciences, Occult Personalities, Psychic Sciences, Magic, +Demonology, Spiritism, and Mysticism._ London, 1920. + +_Spicilegium dæmonolatriæ._ _Circa_ 1330. + +SPINA, BARTOLOMEO, O.P. _Tractatus de Strigibus et Lamiis._ Venice, 1523. + +SPRENGER, O.P., JAMES and KRAMER (Institor), HEINRICH. (_Editio +princeps_) _Malleus Maleficarum_. Nuremburg, 1494 and 1496. Cologne, +1489 and 1494. Frankfort, 1582. Cologne, 1511 and 1520. Lyons, 1595 +and (a fuller edition) 1620. (There are several other issues.) Of this +authoritative work I have used the Lyons edition. + +_Sumptibus Claudii Bovrgeat._ 4 vols. 1669, which contains the following +valuable collections:— + +Vol. I. + +NIDER, O.P., JOHN. _Formicarius de maleficiis._ + +SPRENGER and KRAMER. _Malleus Maleficarum._ + +Vol. II. + +ANANIA, GIOVANNI LORENZO. _De Natura Dæmonum._ + +BASIN, BERNARD. _De Artibus magicis._ + +BERNARD OF COMO, O.P. _De Strigibus._ (With the annotations of Francesco +Peña.) + +CASTRO, O.M., ALFONSO À. _De impia Sortilegarum hæresi._ + +DE VIGNATE, AMBROSE. _Quæstio de Lamiis._ (With a commentary by Peña.) + +GERSON, JOHN. _De Probatione Spirituum. De erroribus circa artem magicam +reprobatis._ + +GRILLAND, PAUL. _De Sortilegiis._ + +LEONE, GIOVANNI FRANCESCO. _De Sortilegiis._ + +MOLITOR, ULRICH. _De Pythonicis mulieribus._ + +MURNER, O.M., THOMAS. _De Pythonico Contractu._ + +SIMANCAS, IAGO. _De Lamiis._ + +SPINA, O.P., BARTOLOMEO. _De Strigibus._ + + _In Ponzinibium de Lamiis Apolegia._ + +Vol. III + +GORICHEN, HEINRICH DE. _De superstitioris quibusdam casibus._ + +MAMOR, PIETRO. _Flagellum maleficorum._ + +MENGO, GIROLAMO, CAPUCHIN. _Flagellum Dæmonum._ + + _Fustis Dæmonum._ + +STAMPA, PIETRO ANTONIO. _Fuga Satanæ._ + +Vol. IV. + + _Ars exorcistica tribus partibus._ + +(It is hardly possible to overestimate the value of this collection.) + +STEAD, W. T. _Real Ghost Stories._ Reprinted from “The Review of +Reviews,” 1891-2. London, 1897. + +STEINER, RUDOLF. _Les Mystères antiques et le Mystère chrétien._ Paris, +1920. + +STENGESIUS, G. _De Monstris et Monstrosis._ 1647 (?). + +STRIDTHECKH, CHRISTIAN. _De Sagis, siue Fœminis, commercium cum Malo +Spiritu habentibus._ Leipzig, 1691. + +SUTTER, PAUL ABBÉ. _Lucifer._ Tr. by the Rev. Theophilus Borer. London, +1922. + +TAGEREAU, VINCENT. _Discours sur l’impuissance de l’homme et de la +femme._ Paris, 1612. + +TAILLEPIED, FRÈRE NOEL. _Psichologie, ou traité de l’apparition des +Esprits._ Paris, 1588; and many other eds. + +TARREGA, RAIMUNDUS. _De inuocatione dæmonum._ _Circa_ 1370. + +TARTAROTTI, GIROLAMO. _Del Congresso Notturno delle Lammie._ Rovereto, +1749. + +TAXIL, JEAN. _Traicté de l’Epilepsie._ Lyons, 1602. C. XVII (pp. 150-162) +treats of demoniacs, sorcerers, and possession. + +THEATINUS, JOHANN BAPISTA. _Aduersus artem magicam et striges._ _Circa_ +1510. + +_Theatrum Diabolorum._ 1587. + +S. THOMAS AQUINAS. _Opera omnia iussu edita Leonis XIII., P.M._ The +Leonine edition. + +THUMMIUS, THEODORE. _De Sagarum impictate._ Tubingen, 2nd ed., 1666. + +TINCTOR, JOHANNES. _Sermo de secta Uaudensium._ 1460. + +TOMASETTI. Ed. _Bullarium ... Romanorum Pontificum._ 22 vols. Turin, +1857, etc.; and Naples, 1867-85. + +TRIEZ, ROBERT DU. _Les ruses, finesses, et impostures des Esprits +malins._ Cambrai, 1563. + +TRITHEMIUS, JOHANNES. _Liber Octo quæstionum._ 1508. + + _Antipalus Maleficiorum._ 1508. + +TUBERVILLE, A. S. _Mediæval Heresy and the Inquisition._ London, 1920. + +UGOLINI, ZANCHINO. _De Hæreticis._ Apud Zilettum, _q.u._ + +ULRICHS, K. H. _Incubus, Urningsliebe, und Blutgier._ Leipzig, 1869. + +ULYSSE, ROBERT. _Les signes d’infamie au Moyen Age._ Paris, 1891. + +URSTISIUS. _Germanicæ historiæ scriptores._ Frankfort, 1585. + +VAIR, LEONARD. _Trois livres des charmes, sorceleges, ov enchantments.... +Faits en latin par Leonard Vair et mis en Francois par Iulian Bavdon, +Angeuin._ Paris, 1583. + +DE VALLE DE MOURA. _De incantationibus._ 1620. + +VALOIS, N. _La France et le Grand Schisme d’Orient._ Paris, 1896-1902 + +VAUGHAN, THOMAS (Eugenius Philalethes). _Magical Writings of Thomas +Vaughan._ Edited by Arthur Edward Waite. 1888. + +_Veritable Dragon Rouge ou il est traite de l’Art de commander les +esprits infernaux aeriens et terrestres, faire apparaitre les morts ... +plus La Poule Noire._ Sur l’Edition de 1521 [_circa_ 1900]. + +VERPOORTEN, G. 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O. _History of Crime in England._ London, 1873. + +PITCAIRN, ROBERT. _Criminal Trials._ Edinburgh, 1833. + +_Pittenweem, A true and full Relation of the Witches of._ Edinburgh, 1704. + +POLLOCK and MAITLAND. _History of English Law._ 2nd ed. Cambridge, 1898. + +_Prodigious and Tragicall History._ London, 1652. + +QUIBELL, JAMES EDWARD. _Hierakonpolis._ II. London, 1902. + +_Register of the Privy Council of Scotland._ Edinburgh, 1881. + +_Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum._ Edinburgh, 1886. + +ROBERTS, ALEXANDER. _Treatise of Witchcraft._ London, 1616. + +_Sadducismus Debellatus._ London, 1698. + +SANDYS, GEORGE. _Relation of a Journey._ London, 1632. + +SAUNDERS, W. H. B. _Legends and Traditions of Huntingdonshire._ 1888. + +SCOT, REGINALD. _Discoverie of Witchcraft._ London, 1584. + +SCOTT, SIR WALTER. _Demonology and Witchcraft._ + +_Scottish History Society._ Vol. XXV. Edinburgh, 1896. + +SEYMOUR, S. JOHN D. _Irish Witchcraft and Demonology._ Dublin, 1913. + +SHARPE, CHARLES K. _Historical Account of Witchcraft in Scotland._ +London, 1884. + +SHAW. _Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips._ Northampton, 1866. + +SINCLAR, GEORGE. _The Hydrostaticks._ Edinburgh, 1672. + + _Satan’s Invisible World Discovered._ Edinburgh, 1871. + +SMITH, CHARLOTTE FELL. _John Dee (1527-1608)._ London, 1909. + +_Spalding Club Miscellany._ Aberdeen, 1841. + +SPOTTISWODE, JOHN. _History of the Church of Scotland._ Edinburgh, +1847-50. + +STEPHEN, SIR J. F. _History of the Criminal Law in England._ London, 1883. + +STEVENSON, J. _Chronicon de Lanercost._ _Maitland Club._ Glasgow, 1839. + +STEWART, WILLIAM GRANT. _Popular Superstitions of the Highlands._ +Edinburgh, 1823. + +STRYPE, JOHN. _Annals of the Reformation._ London, 1709-31. Oxford, 1824. + +_Surtees Society._ Vol. XL. Durham, 1861. + +TAYLOR, JOHN. _Tracts relating to Northamptonshire._ Northampton, 1866. + +THORPE, BENJAMIN. _Monumenta Ecclesiastica._ London, 1840. + +VETTER, THEODOR. _Relations between England and Zurich during the +Reformation._ London, 1904. + +VICKARS, K. H. _Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester._ London, 1907. + +WAGSTAFFE, JOHN. _Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft._ London, 1671. + +WALSH. _Examination of John Walsh._ London, 1566. + +WHITAKER, T. D. _History of Whalley._ London, 1818. + +WILKINS, DAVID. _Concilia Magnæ Britanniæ._ London, 1737. + +WILSON, ARTHUR. _Life and Reign of James I._ London, 1653. + +_Witchcraft, Collection of rare and curious tracts on._ Edinburgh, 1891. + +_Witchcraft, Collections of rare and curious Tracts relating to._ London, +1838. + +_Witchcraft Detected._ 1826. + +ZIMMERMAN, G. _De Mutata Saxonum veterum religione._ 1839. + + +ENGLAND: THE PAMPHLET LITERATURE + +(Arranged in chronological order) + +_The Examination and confession of certaine Wytches at Chensforde in the +Countie of Essex before the Quenes maiesties Judges, the XXVI daye of +July Anno 1566._ + +_A Rehearsall both straung and true of hainous and horrible actes +committed by Elizabeth Stile, alias Rockingham, Mother Dutten, Mother +Devell, Mother Margaret. Fower notorious Witches apprehended at Winsore +in the Countie of Barks, and at Abington arraigned, condemned and +executed on the 28 daye of Februarie last anno 1579._ + +_A Detection of damnable driftes, practised by three Witches arraigned at +Chelmsforde in Essex ... whiche were executed in Aprill 1579._ 1579. + +_The apprehension and confession of three notorious Witches arraigned and +by Justice condemnede in the Countye of Essex the 5 day of Julye last +past._ 1589. + +_A True and just Recorde of the Information, Examination and Confessions +of all the Witches taken at St. Oses in the countie of Essex: wherefore +some were executed, and other some entreated accordingly to the +determination of Lawe.... Written orderly, as the cases were tryed by +evidence, by W. W._ 1582. + +_The most strange and admirable discoverie of the three Witches of +Warboys, arraigned, convicted and executed at the last assizes at +Huntingdon._ London, 1593. + + (This was one of the most famous cases of English Witchcraft. A + whole literature grew up in connexion therewith. In _Notes and + Queries_, Twelfth Series, I, 1916, p. 283 and p. 304, will be + found: “The Witches of Warboys: Bibliographical Note,” where + twenty-eight entries are made.) + +_The most wonderfull and true storie of a certaine Witch named Alse +Gooderidge of Stapenhill, who was arraigned and convicted at Darbie.... +As also a true Report of the strange Torments of Thomas Darling, a boy +of thirteen years of age, that was possessed by the Devill, with his +horrible Fittes and terrible apparitions by him uttered at Burton upon +Trent, in the county of Stafford, and of his marvellous deliverance._ +London, 1597. [By John Denison.] + +_The Arraignment and Execution of 3 detestable Witches, John Newell, +Joane his wife, and Hellen Calles; two executed at Barnett, and one at +Braynford, 1 Dec. 1595._ + +_The severall Facts of Witchcrafte approved on Margaret Haskett of +Stanmore, 1585._ Black letter. + +_An Account of Margaret Hacket, a notorious Witch, who consumed a young +Man to Death, rotted his Bowells and back bone asunder, who was executed +at Tiborn, 19 Feb. 1585._ London, 1585. + +_The Examination and Confession of a notorious Witch named Mother Arnold, +alias Whitecote, alias Glastonbury, at the Assise of Burntwood in July, +1574: who was hanged for Witchcraft at Barking._ 1575. + + (The four preceding pamphlets although referred to by Lowndes + and other bibliographers apparently have not been traced.) + +_A true report of three Straunge Witches, lately found at Newnham Regis._ + + (Not traced. Hazlitt, _Handbook_, p. 231.) + +_A short treatise declaringe the detestable wickednesse of magicall +sciences, as Necromancie, Coniuration of Spirites, Curiouse Astrologie +and such lyke.... Made by Francis Coxe._ [London, 1561.] Black letter. + +_The Examination of John Walsh, before Master Thomas Williams, Commissary +to the Reverend father in God, William, bishop of Excester, upon certayne +Interrogatories touchyng Wytch-crafte and Sorcerye, in the presence of +divers gentlemen and others, the XX of August, 1566._ 1566. Black letter. + +_The discloysing of a late counterfeyted possession by the devyl in two +maydens within the Citie of London._ [1574.] Black letter. + +_The Wonderfull Worke of God shewed upon a Chylde, whose name is William +Withers, being in the Towne of Walsam ... Suffolk, who, being Eleven +Yeeres of age, laye in a Traunce the Space of tenne Days ... and hath +continued the Space of Three Weeks._ London, 1581. + +_A Most Wicked worke of a Wretched Witch (the like whereof none can +record these manie yeares in England) wrought on the Person of one +Richard Burt, servant to Maister Edling of Woodhall in the Parrish +of Pinner in the Countie of Myddlesex, a myle beyond Harrow. Latelie +committed in March last, An. 1592 and newly recognized acording to the +truth. By G. B. maister of Artes._ [London, 1593.] + +_A defensative against the poyson of supposed prophecies, not hitherto +confuted by the penne of any man; which being eyther uppon the warrant +and authority of old paynted bookes, expositions of dreames, oracles, +revelations, invocations of damned spirits ... have been causes of great +disorder in the commonwealth and chiefly among the simple and unlearned +people._ _Circa_ 1581-3. + +_The scratchinge of the wytches._ 1579. + +_A warnynge to wytches._ 1585. + +_A lamentable songe of Three Wytches of Warbos, and executed at +Huntingdon._ 1593. + + (The three preceding are ballads. See Hazlitt, _Bibliographical + Collections and Notes_, 2nd Series. London, 1882.) + +_A poosye in forme of a visyon, agaynste wytche Crafte, and Sosyrye._ + +_A Breife Narration of the possession, dispossession, and repossession +of William Sommers.... Together with certaine depositions taken at +Nottingham._ 1598. + +_An Apologie, or defence of the possession of William Sommers, a yong +man of the towne of Nottingham.... By John Darrell, Minister of Christ +Jesus._ [1599?] Black letter. + +_The Triall of Maist. Dorrel, or A Collection of Defences against +Allegations...._ 1599. + + (Apparently written by Darrel himself; but the Huth catalogue + (V. 1643) ascribes it to James Bamford.) + +_A brief Apologie proving the possession of William Sommers. Written by +John Dorrel, a faithful Minister of the Gospell, but published without +his knowledge...._ 1599. + +_A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel, Bacheler of +Artes...._ London, 1599. (By Samuel Harsnett.) + +_A True Narration of the strange and grevous Vexation by the Devil of +seven persons in Lancashire...._ 1600. Written by Darrel. + + (Reprinted in 1641, and again in the _Somers Tracts_, III.) + +_A True Discourse concerning the certaine possession and dispossession of +7 persons in one familie in Lancashire, which also may serve as part of +an Answere to a fayned and false Discoverie.... By George More, Minister +and Preacher of the Worde of God...._ 1600. + +_A Detection of that sinnful, shamful, lying, and ridiculous discours of +Samuel Harshnet._ 1600. (By Darrel in answer to Harsnett.) + +_A Summarie Answere to al the Material Points in any of Master Darel +his bookes, More especiallie to that one Booke of his, intituled, the +Doctrine of the Possession and Dispossession of Demoniaks out of the word +of God. By John Deacon [and] John Walker, Preachers._ London, 1601. + +_A Survey of Certaine Dialogical Discourses, written by John Deacon and +John Walker.... By John Darrell, minister of the gospel...._ 1602. + +_The Replie of John Darrell, to the Answer of John Deacon, and John +Walker concerning the doctrine of the Possession and Dispossession of +Demoniakes...._ 1602. + +_A True and Breife Report of Mary Glover’s Vexation, and of her +deliverance by the meanes of fastinge and prayer.... By John Swan, +student in Divinitie...._ 1603. + + Elizabeth Jackson was indicted on the charge of having + bewitched Mary Glover, but Dr. Edward Jorden, who examined the + girl declared her an hysterical impostor in his pamphlet. + +_A briefe discourse of a disease called the Suffocation of the Mother, +Written uppon occasion which hath beene of late taken thereby, to suspect +possession of an evill spirit...._ London, 1603. + +_A history of the case of Catherine Wright._ + +_The strange Newes out of Sommersetshire, Anno 1584, tearmed, a dreadfull +discourse of the dispossessing of one Maggaret Cooper at Ditchet, from a +devill in the likenes of a headlesse beare. Discovery of the Fraudulent +Practices of John Darrel._ 1584. + +_The Most Cruell and Bloody Murther committed by an Inn-keepers Wife +called Annis Dell, and her Sonne George Dell, Foure Years since.... With +the severall Witch-crafts and most damnable practices of one Iohane +Harrison and her Daughter, upon several persons men and women at Royston, +who were all executed at Hartford the 4 of August last past 1606._ +London, 1606. + +_The Witches of Northamptonshire._ + + _Agnes Browne_ + _Arthur Bill_ + _Joane Vaughan_ + _Hellen Jenkenson_ + _Mary Barber_ + _Witches_ + +_Who were all executed at Northampton the 22 of July last. 1612._ 1612. + +_The severall notorious and lewd Cosenages of Iohn West and Alice West, +falsely called the King and Queene of Fayries ... convicted.... 1613._ +London, 1613. + +_The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the countie of Lancaster. With +the Arraignment and Triall of Nineteene notorious Witches, at the Assizes +and Gaole deliverie, holden at the Castle of Lancaster, upon Munday, the +seventeenth of August last, 1612. Before Sir James Altham, and Sir Edward +Bromley._ London, 1613. + + (Reprinted by the Chetham Society, edited James Crossley. 1845. + One of the most famous of the witch-trials.) + +_Witches Apprehended, Examined and Executed, for notable villanies by +them committed both by Land and Water. With a strange and most true trial +how to know whether a woman be a Witch or not._ London, 1613. + +_A Booke of the Wytches Lately condemned and executed at Bedford, +1612-1613._ + +_A Treatise of Witchcraft.... With a true Narration of the Witchcrafts +which Mary Smith, wife of Henry Smith, Glover, did practise ... and +lastly, of her death and execution.... By Alexander Roberts, B.D. and +Preacher of Gods Word at Kings-Linne in Norffolke._ London, 1616. + +_The Wonderful Discoverie of the Witchcrafts of Margaret and Phillip +Flower, daughters of Joan Flower neere Bever Castle: executed at +Lincolne, March 11, 1618. Who were specially arraigned and condemned +... for confessing themselves actors in the destruction of Henry, Lord +Rosse, with their damnable practises against others the Children of the +Right Honourable Francis Earle of Rutland. Together with the severall +Examinations and Confessions of Anne Baker, Joan Willimot, and Ellen +Greene, Witches of Leicestershire._ London, 1619. + +_Strange and wonderfull Witchcrafts, discovering the damnable Practises +of seven Witches against the Lives of certain noble Personages and others +of this Kingdom; with an approved Triall how to find out either Witch or +any Apprentise to Witchcraft._ 1621. Another edition in 1635. + +_The Wonderfull discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer ... late of Edmonton, +her conviction, condemnation and Death.... Written by Henry Goodcole, +Minister of the word of God, and her continuall Visiter in the Gaole of +Newgate...._ 1621. + + (Reprinted in Vol. I (lxxxi-cvii) of Bullen’s recension of the + Dyce-Gifford Ford. 3 vols. London, 1895.) + +_The Boy of Bilson: or A True Discovery of the Late Notorious Impostures +of Certaine Romish Priests in their pretended Exorcisme, or expulsion of +the Divell out of a young Boy, named William Perry...._ London, 1622. + +_A Discourse of Witchcraft As it was acted in the Family of Mr. Edward +Fairfax of Fuystone in the County of York, in the year 1621._ Edited by +R. Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton) for Vol. V of _Miscellanies of the +Philobiblon Soc._ London, 1858-1859. (The editor says the original MS. is +still in existence.) + +_A Most certain, strange and true Discovery of a Witch, Being overtaken +by some of the Parliament Forces, as she was standing on a small +Planck-board and sayling on it over the River of Newbury, Together with +the strange and true manner of her death._ 1643. + +_A Confirmation and Discovery of Witch-craft ... together with the +Confessions of many of those executed since May, 1645.... By John +Stearne._ + +_The Examination, Confession, Triall, and Execution of Joane Williford, +Joan Cariden and Jane Hott: who were executed at Faversham, in Kent ... +all attested under the hand of Robert Greenstreet, Maior of Faversham._ + +_A true and exact Relation of the severall Informations, Examinations, +and Confessions of the late Witches arraigned ... and condemned at the +late Sessions, holden at Chelmsford before the Right Honorable Robert, +Earle of Warwicke, and severall of his Majesties Justices of Peace, the +29 of July, 1645._ + +_A True Relation of the Arraignment of eighteene Witches at St. +Edmundsbury, 27th August, 1645.... As Also a List of the names of those +that were executed._ + +_Strange and fearfull newes from Plaisto in the parish of Westham neere +Bow foure miles from London._ London, 1645. + +_The Lawes against Witches and Conjuration, and Some brief Notes and +Observations for the Discovery of Witches. Being very Usefull for these +Times wherein the Devil reignes and prevailes.... Also The Confession of +Mother Lakeland, who was arraigned and condemned for a Witch at Ipswich +in Suffolke.... By Authority._ London, 1645. + +_Signes and Wonders from Heaven.... Likewise a new discovery of Witches +in Stepney Parish. And how 20. Witches more were executed in Suffolk this +last Assize. Also how the Divell came to Sofforn to a Farmer’s house in +the habit of a Gentlewoman on horse backe._ London [1645]. + +_Relation of a boy who was entertained by the Devil to be Servant to him +... about Credition in the West, and how the Devil carried him up in the +aire, and showed him the torments of Hell, and some of the Cavaliers +there, etc., with a coppie of a Letter from Maior Generall Massie, +concerning these strange and Wonderfull things, with a certaine box of +Reliques and Crucifixes found in Tiverton Church._ 1645. + + (A ridiculous, but not uninteresting, publication.) + +_The Witches of Huntingdon, their Examinations and Confessions...._ +London, 1646. + + (The Dedication is signed by John Davenport.) + +_The Discovery of Witches: in answer to severall Queries, lately +Delivered to the Judges of Assize for the County of Norfolk. And now +published by Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder. For the Benefit of the Whole +Kingdome...._ London, 1647. + + (The most famous of the “Hopkins series.”) + +_A strange and true Relation of a Young Woman possest with the Devill. +By name Joyce Dovey dwelling at Bewdley neer Worcester.... Also a Letter +from Cambridge, wherein is related the late conference between the Devil +(in the shape of a Mr. of Arts) and one Ashbourner, a Scholler of S. +Johns Colledge ... who was afterwards carried away by him and never heard +of since onely his Gown found in the River._ London, 1647. + +_The Full Tryals, Examination and Condemnation of Four Notorious Witches, +At the Assizes held in Worcester on Tuseday the 4th of March.... As also +Their Confessions and last Dying Speeches at the place of Execution, with +other Amazing Particulars...._ London, no date. + +_The Divels Delusions or A faithfull relation of John Palmer and +Elizabeth Knot two notorious Witches lately condemned at the Sessions of +Oyer and Terminer in St. Albans._ 1649. + +_Wonderfull News from the North, Or a True Relation of the Sad and +Grievous Torments Inflicted upon the Bodies of three Children of Mr. +George Muschamp, late of the County of Northumberland, by Witchcraft.... +As also the prosecution of the sayd Witches, as by Oaths, and their own +Confessions will appear and by the Indictment found by the Jury against +one of them, at the Sessions of the Peace held at Alnwick, the 24 day of +April, 1650._ London, 1650. + +_The strange Witch at Greenwich haunting a Wench, 1650._ + +_A Strange Witch at Greenwich, 1650._ + +_The Witch of Wapping, or an Exact and Perfect Relation of the Life and +Devilish Practises of Joan Peterson, who dwelt in Spruce Island, near +Wapping; Who was condemned for practising Witchcraft, and sentenced to be +Hanged at Tyburn, on Munday the 11th of April, 1652._ London, 1652. + +_A Declaration in Answer to several lying Pamphlets concerning the Witch +of Wapping, ... shewing the Bloudy Plot and wicked Conspiracy of one +Abraham Vandenhemde, Thomas Crompton, Thomas Collet, and others._ London, +1652. + +_The Tryall and Examinations of Mrs. Joan Peterson before the Honourable +Bench at the Sessions house in the Old Bayley yesterday._ [1652.] + +_Doctor Lamb’s Darling, or Strange and terrible News from Salisbury; +Being A true, exact, and perfect Relation of the great and wonderful +Contract and Engagement made between the Devil, and Mistris Anne +Bodenham; with the manner how she could transform herself into the shape +of a Mastive Dog, a black Lyon, a white Bear, a Woolf, a Bull, and a +Cat.... The Tryal, Examinations, and Confession ... before the Lord Chief +Baron Wild.... By James [Edmond?] Bower, Cleric._ London, 1653. + +_Doctor Lamb Revived, or, Witchcraft condemn’d in Anne Bodenham ... who +was Arraigned and Executed the Lent Assizes last at Salisbury, before the +Right Honourable the Lord Chief Baron Wild, Judge of the Assize.... By +Edmund Bower, an eye and ear Witness of her Examination and Confession._ +London, 1653. (Bower’s second and more detailed account.) + +_A Prodigious and Tragicall History of the Arraignment, Tryall, +Confession, and Condemnation of six Witches at Maidstone, in Kent, at the +Assizes there held in July, Fryday 30, this present year, 1652. Before +the Right Honorable, Peter Warburton.... Collected from the Observations +of E. G. Gent, a learned person, present at their Convictions and +Condemnation._ London, 1652. + +_The most true and wonderfull Narration of two women bewitched in +Yorkshire: Who comming to the Assizes at York to give Evidence against +the Witch after a most horrible noise to the terror and amazement of all +the beholders, did vomit forth before the Judges, Pins, wool.... Also a +most true Relation of a young Maid ... who ... did ... vomit forth wadds +of straw, with pins a crosse in them, iron Nails, Needles, ... as it +is attested under the hand of that most famous Phisition Doctor Henry +Heers...._ 1658. + +_A more Exact Relation of the most lamentable and horrid Contract with +Lydia Rogers, living in Pump-Alley in Wapping, made with the Divel.... +Together with the great pains and prayers of many eminent Divines...._ +1658. + +_The Snare of the Devill Discovered: Or, A True and perfect Relation of +the sad and deplorable Condition of Lydia the Wife of John Rogers House +Carpenter, living in Greenbank in Pumpe alley in Wappin.... Also her +Examination by Mr. Johnson the Minister of Wappin, and her Confession. As +also in what a sad Condition she continues...._ London, 1658. + +_Strange and Terrible Newes from Cambridge, being A true Relation of the +Quakers bewitching of Mary Philips ... into the shape of a Bay Mare, +riding her from Dinton towards the University. With the manner how she +became visible again ... in her own Likeness and Shape, with her sides +all rent and torn, as if they had been spur-galled, ... and the Names +of the Quakers brought to tryal on Friday last at the Assizes held at +Cambridge...._ London, 1659. + +_The Power of Witchcraft, Being a most strange but true Relation of the +most miraculous and wonderful deliverance of one Mr. William Harrison +of Cambden in the County of Gloucester, Steward to the Lady Nowel...._ +London, 1662. + +_A True and Perfect Account of the Examination, Confession, Tryal, +Condemnation and Execution of Joan Perry and her two Sons ... for the +supposed murder of William Harrison, Gent...._ London, 1676. + +_A Tryal of Witches at the assizes held at Bury St. Edmonds for the +County of Suffolk; on the tenth day of March, 1664._ London, 1682; and +1716. + +_The Lord’s Arm Stratched Out in an Answer of Prayer or a True Relation +o; the Wonderful Deliverance of James Barrow, the Son of John Barrow of +Olaves Southwark, London, 1664._ (A Baptist tract.) + +_The wonder of Suffolke, being a true relation of one that reports he +made a league with the Devil for three years, to do mischief, and now +breaks open houses, robs people daily ... and can neither be shot nor +taken, but leaps over walls fifteen feet high, runs five or six miles in +a quarter of an hour, and sometimes vanishes in the midst of multitudes +that go to take him. Faithfully written in a letter from a solemn person, +dated not long since, to a friend in Ship-Yard near Temple-bar, and ready +to be attested by hundreds...._ London, 1677. + +_Daimonomageia: a small Treatise of Sicknesses and Diseases from +Witchcraft and Supernatural Causes.... Being useful to others besides +Physicians, in that it confutes Atheistical, Sadducistical, and Sceptical +Principles and Imaginations...._ London, 1665. + +_Hartford-shire Wonder. Or, Strange News from Ware, Being an Exact and +true Relation of one Jane Stretton ... who hath been visited in a strange +kind of manner by extraordinary and unusual fits...._ London, 1669. + +_A Magicall Vision, Or a Perfect Discovery of the Fallacies of +Witchcraft, As it was lately represented in a pleasant sweet Dream to a +Holysweet Sister, a faithful and pretious Assertor of the Family of the +Stand-Hups, for preservation of the Saints from being tainted with the +heresies of the Congregation of the Doe-Littles._ London, 1673. (Hazlitt, +_Bibliographical Collections_, fourth series, _s. u._ Witchcraft.) + +_A Full and True Relation of The Tryal, Condemnation, and Execution of +Ann Foster ... at the place of Execution at Northampton. With the Manner +how she by her Malice and Witchcraft set all the Barns and Corn on Fire +... and bewitched a whole Flock of Sheep...._ London, 1674. + +_Strange News from Arpington near Bexby in Kent: Being a True Narrative +of a yong Maid who was Possest with several Devils...._ London, 1679. + +_Strange and Wonderful News from Yowell in Surry; Giving a True and Just +Account of One Elizabeth Burgess, Who was most strangely Bewitched and +Tortured at a sad rate._ London, 1681. + +_An Account of the Tryal and Examination of Joan Buts, for being a Common +Witch and Inchantress, before the Right Honourable Sir Francis Pemberton, +Lord Chief Justice, at the Assizes...._ 1682. Single leaf. + +_The Tryal, Condemnation, and Execution of Three Witches, viz., +Temperance Floyd, Mary Floyd, and Susanna Edwards. Who were Arraigned at +Exeter on the 18th of August, 1682._ London, 1682. + +_A True and Impartial Relation of the Informations against Three Witches, +viz., Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles, and Susanna Edwards, who were ... +Convicted at the Assizes holden ... at ... Exon, Aug. 14, 1682. With +their several Confessions ... as also Their ... Behaviour, at the ... +Execution on the Twenty fifth of the said Month._ London, 1682. + +_Witchcraft discovered and punished Or the Tryals and Condemnation of +three Notorious Witches, who were Tryed the last Assizes, holden at +the Castle of Exeter ... where they received sentence of Death, for +bewitching severall Persons, destroying Ships at Sea, and Cattel by Land. +To the Tune of Doctor Faustus; or Fortune my Foe._ + + (A ballad. Roxburghe Collection. Broadside.) + +_The Life and Conversation of Temperance Floyd, Mary Lloyd and Susanna +Edwards ...; Lately Condemned at Exeter Assizes; together with a full +Account of their first Agreement with the Devil: With the manner how they +prosecuted their devilish Sorceries...._ London, 1687. + +_A Full and True Account of the Proceedings at the Sessions of Oyer +and Terminer ... which began at the Sessions House in the Old Bayley +on Thursday, June 1st, and Ended on Fryday, June 2nd, 1682. Wherein is +Contained the Tryall of Jane Kent for Witchcraft._ + +_Strange and Dreadful News from the Town of Deptford in the County of +Kent, Being a Full, True, and Sad Relation of one Anne Arthur._ 1684-5. +One leaf, folio. + +_Strange newes from Shadwell, being a ... relation of the death of Alice +Fowler, who had for many years been accounted a witch._ London, 1685. + +_A True Account of a Strange and Wonderful Relation of one John Tonken, +of Pensans in Cornwall, said to be Bewitched by some Women: two of which +on Suspition are committed to Prison._ London, 1686. + +_News from Panier Alley; or a True Relation of Some Pranks the Devil hath +lately play’d with a Plaster Pot there._ London, 1687. + +_A faithful narrative of the ... fits which ... Thomas Spatchet ... was +under by witchcraft...._ 1693. + +_The Second Part of the Boy of Bilson, Or a True and Particular Relation +of the Imposter Susanna Fowles, wife of John Fowles of Hammersmith in the +Co. of Midd., who pretended herself to be possessed._ London, 1698. + +_A Full and True Account Both of the Life: And also the Manner and Method +of carrying on the Delusions, Blasphemies, and Notorious Cheats of Susan +Fowls, as the same was Contrived, Plotted, Invented, and Managed by +wicked Popish Priests and other Papists._ + +_The trial of Susannah Fowles, of Hammersmith, for blaspheming Jesus +Christ, and cursing the Lord’s Prayer...._ London, 1698. + +_The Case of Witchcraft at Coggeshall, Essex, in the year 1699. Being the +Narrative of the Rev. J. Boys, Minister of the Parish._ Printed from his +manuscript in the possession of the publisher (A. Russell Smith). London, +1901. + +_A True and Impartial Account of the Dark and Hellish Power of +Witchcraft, Lately Exercised on the Body of the Reverend Mr. Wood, +Minister of Bodmyn. In a Letter from a Gentleman there, to his Friend in +Exon, in Confirmation thereof._ Exeter, 1700. + +_A Full and True Account of the Apprehending and Taking of Mrs. Sarah +Moordike, Who is accused for a Witch, Being taken near Pauls’ Wharf +... for having Bewitched one Richard Hetheway.... With her Examination +before the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas Lane, Sir Oven Buckingham, and Dr. +Hambleton in Bowe-lane._ 1701. + +_A short Account of the Trial held at Surry Assizes, in the Borough of +Southwark; on an Information against Richard Hathway ... for Riot and +Assault._ London, 1702. + +_The Tryall of Richard Hathaway, upon an Information For being a Cheat +and Imposter. For endeavouring to take away the Life of Sarah Morduck, +For being a Witch at Surry Assizes...._ London, 1702. + +_A Full and True Account of the Discovery, Apprehending, and taking of +a Notorious Witch, who was carried before Justice Bateman in Well-Close +on Sunday, July the 23. Together with her Examination and Commitment to +Bridewel, Clerkenwell._ London, 1704. + +_An Account of the Tryals, Examination, and Condemnation of Elinor Shaw +and Mary Phillips...._ 1705. + +_The Northamptonshire Witches...._ 1705. + +_The Devil Turned Casuist, or the Cheats of Rome Laid open in the +Exorcism of a Despairing Devil at the House of Thomas Bennington in +Oriel.... By Zachary Taylor, M.A., Chaplain to the Right reverend Father +in God, Nicholas, Lord Bishop of Chester, and Rector of Wigan._ London, +1696. + +_The Surey Demoniack, Or an Account of Satan’s Strange and Dreadful +Actings, In and about the Body of Richard Dugdale of Surey, near Whalley +in Lancashire. And How he was Dispossest by Gods blessing on the Fastings +and Prayers of divers Ministers and People._ London, 1697. + +_The Surey Imposter, being an answer to a late Fanatical Pamphlet, +entituled The Surey Demoniack._ By Zachary Taylor. London, 1697. + +_A Vindication of the Surey Demoniack as no Imposter: Or, A Reply to +a certain Pamphlet publish’d by Mr. Zach. Taylor, called The Surey +Imposter...._ By T. J., London, 1698. + +_Popery, Supersitition, Ignorance and Knavery very unjustly by a letter +in the general pretended; but as far as was charg’d very fully proved +upon the Dissenters that were concerned in the Surey Imposture._ 1698. +Written by Zachary Taylor. + +_The Lancashire Levite Rebuked, or a Vindication of the Dissenters from +Popery, Superstition, Ignorance, and Knavery, unjustly Charged on them by +Mr. Zachary Taylor...._ London, 1698. + +_The Lancashire Levite Rebuked, or a Farther Vindication._ 1698. + +_Popery, Superstition, Ignorance, and Knavery, Confess’d and fully +Proved on the Surey Dissenters, from a Second Letter of an Apostate +Friend, to Zach. Taylor. To which is added a Refutation of T. Jollie’s +Vindication...._ London, 1699. Written by Zachary Taylor. + +_A Refutation of Mr. T. Jolly’s Vindication of the Devil in Dugdale; Or, +The Surey Demoniack._ London, 1699. + +_The Portsmouth Ghost, or A Full and true Account of a Strange, +wonderful, and dreadful Appearing of the Ghost of Madam Johnson, a +beautiful young Lady of Portsmouth, Shewing, 1. Her falling in Love with +Mr. John Hunt, a Captain in one of the Regiments sent to Spain. 2. Of his +promising her Marriage, and leaving her big With Child. 3. Of her selling +herself to the Devil to be revenged on the Captain. 4. Of her ripping +open her own Belly, and the Devil’s flying away with her Body, and +leaving the Child in the room.... 7. Of her Carrying [the Captain] away +in the night in a flame of fire._ Printed and sold by Cluer Dicey and Co. +in Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane. _Circa_ 1704. + +_A Looking Glass for Swearers, Drunkards, Blasphemers, Sabbath Breakers, +Rash Wishers, and Murderers. Being a True Relation of one Elizabeth +Hale, in Scotch Yard in White Cross Street; who having sold herself to +the Devil to be reveng’d on her Neighbours, did on Sunday last, in a +wicked manner, put a quantity of Poyson into a Pot where a Piece of Beef +was a boyling for several Poor Women and Children, Two of which dropt +down dead, and Twelve more are dangerously Ill; the Truth of which will +be Attested by several in the Neighbourhood. Her Examination upon the +Crowners Inquest and her Commitment to Newgate._ Printed by W. Wise and +M. Holt in Fleet Street, 1708. + +_The Witch of the Woodlands; Or, The Cobler’s New Translation._ Printed +and Sold in Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane, London. No date, but about +1710. This pamphlet merely relates an old legend, but is interesting as +reproducing with appropriate woodcuts intimate details of the mediæval +Sabbat. + +_An Account of the Tryal, Examination, and Condemnation of Jane Wenham, +on an Indictment of Witchcraft, for Bewitching of Matthew Gilston and +Anne Thorne of Walcorne, in the County of Hertford...._ + +_A Full and Impartial Account of the Discovery of Sorcery and Witchcraft, +Practis’d by Jane Wenham of Walkerne in Hertfordshire, upon the bodies of +Anne Thorn, Anne Street, &c. ... till she ... receiv’d Sentence of Death +for the same, March 4, 1711-12._ London, 1712. + +_Witchcraft Farther Display’d. Containing (I) An Account of the +Witchcraft practis’d by Jane Wenham of Walkerne, in Hertfordshire, since +her Condemnation, upon the bodies of Anne Thorne and Anne Street.... (II) +An Answer to the most general Objections against the Being and Power of +Witches: With some Remarks upon the Case of Jane Wenham in particular, +and on Mr. Justice Powel’s procedure therein...._ London, 1712. + +_A Full Confutation of Witchcraft: More particularly of the Depositions +against Jane Wenham, Lately Condemned for a Witch; at Hertford. In which +the Modern Notions of Witches are overthrown, and the Ill Consequences +of such Doctrines are exposed by Arguments; proving that, Witchcraft is +Priestcraft.... In a Letter from a Physician in Hertfordshire, to his +Friend in London._ London, 1712. + +_The Impossibility of Witchcraft, Plainly Proving, From Scripture and +Reason, That there never was a Witch; and that it is both Irrational and +Impious to believe there ever was. In which the Depositions against Jane +Wenham, Lately Try’d and Condemned for a Witch, at Hertford, are Confuted +and Expos’d._ London, 1712. + +_The Belief of Witchcraft Vindicated; proving from Scripture, there have +been Witches; and from Reason, that there may be Such still. In answer to +a late Pamphlet, Intituled, The Impossibility of Witchcraft...._ By G. +R., A.M. London, 1712. + +_The Case of the Hertfordshire Witchcraft Consider’d. Being an +Examination of a book entitl’d, A Full and Impartial Account...._ London, +1712. + +_A Defense of the Proceedings against Jane Wenham, wherein the +Possibility and Reality of Witchcraft are Demonstrated from Scripture.... +In Answer to Two Pamphlets Entituled: (I) The Impossibility of +Witchcraft, etc. (II) A Full Confutation of Witchcraft._ By Francis +Bragge, A.B., London, 1712. + +_The Impossibility of Witchcraft Further Demonstrated, Both from +Scripture and Reason ... with some Cursory Remarks on two trifling +Pamphlets in Defense of the existence of Witches._ 1712. + +_An Account of The Tryals, Examination and Condemnation of Elinor Shaw +and Mary Phillips (Two notorious Witches) on Wednesday the 7th of March, +1705, for Bewitching a Woman, and two children.... With an Account of +their strange Confessions._ This is signed at the end, “Ralph Davis, +March 8, 1705.” It was followed very shortly by a completer account, +written after the execution, and entitled: + +_The Northamptonshire Witches, Being a true and faithful account of the +Births, Educations, Lives, and Conversations of Elinor Shaw and Mary +Phillips (The two notorious Witches) That were Executed at Northampton +on Saturday, March the 11th, 1705 ... with their full Confession to the +Minister, and last Dying Speeches at the place of Execution, the like +never before heard of.... Communicated in a Letter last Post, from Mr. +Ralph Davis of Northampton, to Mr. William Simons, Merchantt in London._ +London, 1705. + +_The Whole Trial and Examination of Mrs. Mary Hicks and her Daughter +Elizabeth, But of Nine Years of Age, who were Condemn’d the last Assizes +held at Huntingdon for Witchcraft, and there Executed on Saturday, the +28th of July, 1716 ... the like never heard before; their Behaviour +with several Divines who came to converse with ’em whilst under their +sentence of Death; and last Dying Speeches and Confession at the place of +execution._ London, 1716. There is a copy in the Bodleian Library. + + (These last three pamphlets are almost certainly spurious.) + +_A Terrible and seasonable Warning to young Men. Being a very particular +and True Relation of one Abraham Joiner a young Man about 17 or 18 Years +of Age, living in Shakesby’s Walks in Shadwell, being a Ballast Man by +Profession, who on Saturday Night last pick’d up a leud Woman, and spent +what Money he had about him in Treating her, saying afterwards if she +wou’d have any more he must go to the Devil for it, and slipping out +of her Company, he went to the Cock and Lyon in King Street, the Devil +appear’d to him, and gave him a Pistole, ... appointing to meet him the +next Night at the World’s End at Stepney; Also how his Brother perswaded +him to throw the Money away, which he did; but was suddenly Taken in a +very strange manner; so that they were fain to send for the Reverend Mr. +Constable and other Ministers to pray with him, he appearing now to be +very Penitent...._ Printed for J. Dulton, near Fleet Street. _Circa_ 1718. + +_A Timely Warning to Rash and Disobedient Children Being a strange and +wonderful Relation of a young Gentleman in the Parish of Stepheny in the +Suburbs of London, that sold himself to the Devil for 12 years to have +the Power of being revenged on his Father and Mother, and how his Time +being expired, he lay in a sad and deplorable Condition to the Amazement +of all Spectators._ Edinburgh: Printed Anno 1721. + +_The Kentish Miracle, Or, a Seasonable Warning to all Sinners Shewn in +The Wonderful Relation of one Mary Moore, whose Husband died some time +ago, and left her with two Children, who was reduced to great Want.... +How the Devil appeared to her, and the many great Offers he made to her +to deny Christ, and enter into his Service; and how she confounded Satan +by powerful Arguments ... with an Account how an Angel appeared to her +and relieved her...._ Edinburgh: Printed in the Year 1741. + + (This is probably a reprint. The style of the pamphlet seems + some thirty or forty years earlier.) + +_Trial of Thomas Colley, to which is annexed some Further Particulars of +the Affair from the Mouth of John Osborne._ 1751. (The trial took place +at Hertford Assizes, 30 July, 1751.) + +_Remarkable Confession and Last Dying Words of Thomas Colley._ 1751. + + +FRANCE + +BARTHÉTY, H. _La sorcellerie en Béarn et dans le pays basque._ Pau, 1879. + +BERNOU, J. _La chasse aux sorcières dans le Labourd_ (1609). Agen, 1897. + +BEUGNOT, A. _Histoire de la destruction du Paganisme en occident._ 2 +vols. Paris, 1835. + +BOIS, JULES. _Le Satanisme et la magie. Les Petites Religions de Paris._ + +BONNEMÈRE, EUGÈNE. _Histoire des Camisardes des Cévennes._ Paris, 1869. + +BOUCHARD, H. E. _Annette Taudet, ou les sorciers du Poitou au XIXme +siècle._ Paris, 1867. + +BOURIGNON, ANTOINETTE. _La Parole de Dieu._ Amsterdam, 1683. + + _La vie extérieure._ Amsterdam, 1683. + +BOURNON, JACQUES. _Chroniques de la Lorraine._ Nancy, 1838. + +BRÉVANNES, ROLAND. _L’Orgie Satanique._ Paris, 1904. + +BRICAUD, JOANNY. _J. K. Huysmans et le Satanisme._ Paris, 1912. + + _Huysmans, occultiste et magicien._ Paris, 1913. + + _Un disciple de Cl. de Saint-Martin._ Paris, 1911. + + _Eléments d’Astrologie._ Paris, 1911. + + _Premiers Elements d’Occultisme._ Paris, 1912. + +CANNAERT, J. B. _Olim: procès des sorcières en Belgique sous Philippe +II._ Ghent, 1847. + +CAUFEYNON ET JAF, DRS. _Les Messes Noires._ Paris, 1905. (A valuable +work.) + +CAUZONS, THEODORE DE. _La Magie et la Sorcellerie en France._ 4 vols. +Paris, 1900, etc. (A very important study.) + +CHABLOZ, FRITZ. _Les sorcières neuchatéloises._ Neuchatel, 1868. + +CHRISTIAN, PAUL (Paul Pitois). _Histoire de la Magie._ Paris, 1870. + +CLOSMADEUC, DR. G. DE. _Les sorciers de Lorient._ Vannes, 1885. + +DEBAY, DR. A. _Histoire des sciences occultes._ Paris, 1860. + +DE LA MARTINIÈRE. _Voyage des Pais Septentrionaux._ Paris, 1682. + +_Discours sur la mort et condamnation de Charles de Franchillon Baron de +Chenevieres, exécuté ... pour Crime de Sortilège et de Magie._ Paris, +1626. + +DRAZOR, H. R. _Histoire tragique de trois magiciens qvi ont accvsé à la +mort Mazarin en Italie._ Paris, 1649. + +ELVEN, HENRY VON. _La Tradition._ Vol. V. Paris, 1891. + +FIGUIER, LOUIS. _Histoire du merveilleux dans les temps modernes._ 4 +vols. Paris, 1860-1. + +FONTENELLE, BERNARD LE BOVIER DE. _Histoire des oracles._ Paris, 1687. +(Often reprinted.) + +FOURNIER, ALBAN. _Epidémie de Sorcellerie en Lorraine._ Nancy, 1891. + +GARINET, JULES. _Histoire de la magie en France._ Paris, 1818. + +GARSAULT, F. ALEXANDRE. _Faits des causes célèbres et intéressantes._ +Amsterdam and Paris, 1757. + +HARON, ALFRED. _La Tradition._ Vol. VI. Paris, 1892. + +_Histoire prodigieuse et espouvantable de plus de deux cens 50 sorciers +et sorcières emmenez pour leur estre fait et parfait leur procès au +parlement de Tholoze._ Paris, 1649. + +_Histoire véritable des crimes horribles commis à Boulogne par deux +moynes, deux gentils-hommes, et deux damoiselles, sur le S. Sacrement de +l’Autel, qu’ils out fait consumer à une Cheure et à un Oye, et sur trois +enfants, qu’ils ont fait distiler sur la lambique._ Paris, 1651. + +_Histoire véritable de l’exécrable Docteur Vanini, autrement nommé +Luciolo._ Paris, 1619. + +JAF, LE DR. _Physonomie du vice._ Paris, _circa_ 1903. + + _L’Amour secret._ Paris, _circa_ 1904. + +_Journal d’un bourgeois de Paris._ Panthéon Litteraire. Paris, 1838. + +LADAME, DR. _Procès criminel de la dernière sorcière brulée à Genève, le +6 avril, 1652._ Paris, 1888. + +LAVANCHY, L’ABBÉ J. M. _Sabbats ou synagogues sur les bords du lac +d’Annecy._ Annecy, 1885. + +LECANU, L’ABBE. _Histoire de Satan._ 1861. + +LECOCQ, AD. _Les sorciers de la Beauce._ Chartres, 1861. + +LEMOINE, JULES. _La Tradition._ Vol. VI. Paris, 1892. + +_Les Enfers Lubriques._ Paris, _circa_ 1900. + +LES GOUVELLES, LE VICOMTE HIPPOLYTE. _Apparitions d’une âme du Purgatoire +en Bretagne._ 4th ed. Paris, 1919. (An apparition which visited Jeanne +Audouis [Sœur Marie des Sept Douleurs]). + +_Les sorceleries de Henry de Valois, et les oblations qu’il faisoit au +Diable dans le bois de Vincennes._ 15 pp. Paris, 1589. + + (This attack on Henry III has been reprinted several times; as + by Cimber and Darignon _Archives curieuses de l’Histoire de + France_. Vol. XII, and L’Estoile, _Journal de Henri III._) + +LILLIE, ARTHUR. _The Worship of Satan in Modern France._ 1896. + +LOUÏSE, TH. _De la sorcellerie et de la justice criminelle à +Valenciennes._ Valenciennes, 1861. + +_Magie._ 2 vols. Paris, _circa_ 1904. + +MATTER, JACQUES. _Histoire critique du gnosticisme._ 3 vols. Paris, 1828. + +MAURY, ALFRED. _Histoire des religions de la Grèce antique._ 3 vols. +Paris, 1857-9. + + _La Magie et l’Astrologie._ Paris, 1860. (Often reprinted.) + +MONNOYER, JULES. _La sorcellerie en Hainault ... avec analyse de procès +pour sortilèges (1568-1683)._ Mons, 1886. + +MONSEUR, EUGÈNE. _Le folklore Wallon._ Brussels, 1892. + +ROUÉ, PAUL. _Causes sales._ Paris, 1902. + +SALVERTE, A. J. E. B. DE. _Essai sur la Magie._ Brussels, 1817. + +SCHURÉ, EDOUARD. _Les grandes légendes de France._ 19th ed. Paris, 1922. + +SIMONET, L’ABBE. _Realité de la Magie._ Paris, 1819. + +THUIS, L’ABBÉ JEAN-BAPTISTE. _Traite des superstitions qui regardent les +Sacraments._ 3 vols. Paris, 1703. Reprinted 4 vols., 1741; and 4 vols., +1777. + +_Tradition, La._ Vol. V contains Van Elvan’s _Les Procès de sorcellerie +au moyen âge_. Paris, 1891. Vol. VI contains Harou’s _Sorciers et +sorcières_. Paris, 1892, also Lemoine’s _Sorcellerie contemporaine_. +Paris, 1892. + +UN BADAUD (Paul Marrin). _Coup d’œil sur la Magie as XIXme siècle._ +Paris, 1891. + + _Coup d’œil sur les thaumaturges et les médiums du XIXme + siècle._ Paris, 1891. + +WAITE, ARTHUR EDWARD. _Devil-Worship in France._ London, 1896. + + +FRANCE: SPECIAL CASES + + +_Madeleine Bavent_ + +YVELIN, DR. _Examen de la possession des religieuses de Louviers._ Paris, +1643. + +_Responce à l’Examen de la possession des religieuses de Louviers_, n.d. + +_Récit véritable de ce qui s’est fait et passé à Louviers, touchant les +religieuses possédées_, n.d. + +LE GAUFFRE. _Exorcismes de plusieurs religieuses de la ville de Louuiers +en présence de Monsieur le Penitencier d’Evreux et de Monsieur Le +Gauffre._ + +LE BRETON, JEAN. _La défense de la vérité touchant la possession des +religieuses de Lovviers._ Evreux, 1643. + +DELANGLE. _Procès-verbal de Monsieur le Penitencier d’Evreux._ Paris, +1643. + +_Trois questions touchant l’accident arrivé aux religieuses de Louviers_, +n.d. + +DESMARETS, PÈRE. _Histoire de Magdelaine Bavent, religieuse du monastère +de Saint-Louis de Louviers avec sa confession générale et testamentaire, +ou elle déclare les abominations, impietez et sacrilèges qu’elle a +pratiqué et veu pratiquer, tant dans ledit monastère qu’au Sabbat._ +Paris, 1652. + +HUMIER. _Discours théologique sur l’histoire de Magdelaine Bavent._ +Nyort, 1659. + +MORIN, LOUIS RENÉ. _Histoire de Louviers._ Rouen, 1822. + +DIBON. _Essai historique sur Louviers._ Rouen, 1836. + +DU BOIS, L. _Recherches archéologiques ... sur la Normandie._ Paris, 1843. + +PIERART, Z. _La magnétisme, le somnambulisme et le spiritualisme dans +l’histoire. Affaire curieuse des possédées de Louviers._ Paris, 1858. + + +_Marie Benoist, La Bucaille_ + +_Arrest donné par la chambre ordonée par le Roy au temps des vacations +contre Marie Benoist._ Rouen, 1699. + +_Le tableau prétendu de la pénitence ou le caractère de la dévotion de +sœur Marie Bucaille, accusé d’être sorcière._ Rouen, 1699. + +_Almanach historique, ecclésiastique et politique du Diocèse de Coutances +pour l’année 1774._ + + +_La Cadière and Père Girard_ + +_Justification de demoiselle Catherine Cadière._ 1731. + +_Factum pour Marie Catherine Cadière contre le Père J.-B. Girard, +jésuite, où ce religieux est accusé de l’avoir portée par un abominable +Quietisme aux plus criminels excès de l’impudicité._ Hague, 1731. + +LOUIS, BISHOP OF TOULON. _Mémoires des faits qui se sont passés sous +les yeux de M. l’Evêque de Toulon, lors de l’origine de l’affaire du P. +Girard, jésuite, et de la Cadière._ Toulon, 1731. + +CHAUDON. _Réponse a l’écrit qui a pour titre “Mémoires des faits, etc.”_ +Aix, 1731. + +_Les véritables sentiments de Mademoiselle Cadière ... écrits de sa +propre main._ Aix, 1731. + +BOYER D’AIGUILLES. _Conclusions de M. le procureur général du roi ... au +sujet de procès d’entre le P. Girard...._ n.d. + +_Sentence de monsieur l’official de l’évêché de Toulon, qui renvoie le P. +Girard absous des accusations...._ n.d. + + +_Leonora Galigai_ + +_La Juste pvnition de Lycaon, Florentin, Marquis d’Ancre._ Paris, 1617. + +_Arrest de la Cour de Parlement contre le marechal d’Ancre et sa femmé, +prononce et exécuté à Paris le 8 juillet, 1617._ + +_Harangve de la marquise d’Ancre, estant sur l’echaffaut._ 1617. + +_Bref récit de ce qui s’est passé pour l’exécution ... de la marquise +d’Anchre._ Paris, 1617. + +_Discours sur le mort de Eléonor Galligay, femme de Conchine, marquis +d’Ancre._ Paris, 1617. + +_La Médée de la France, dépeinte en personne de la Marguerite d’Ancre._ +Paris, 1617. + + +_Louis Gaufridi and Madeleine de la Palud_ + +_Arrest de la Covr de Parlement de Provence, portant condamnation +contre Messire Louis Gaufridi ... convaincu de Magie et autres crimes +abominables...._ Aix, 1611. + +_Confession faicte par Messire Lovys Gaufridi, prestre en l’église +Accoules de Marseille, prince de magiciens depuis Constantinople jusques +à Paris...._ Aix, 1611. + +FONTAINE, JACQUES. _Discovrs des marqves des sorciers ... sur le subiect +di procez de ... 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DE. _Les effets miraculeux de l’église romain sur les +estranges et affroyables action des démons._ Paris, 1635. + +_Relation de la sortie du démon Balam du corps de la mère prieure des +ursulines de Loudun._ Paris, 1635. + +SURIN, PÈRE. _Lettre écrite à Monseigneur l’Evêque de Poictiers par un +des Pères Jésuites qui exorcisèrent à Loudun._ Paris, 1635. + +_La gloire de St. Joseph, victorieux des principaux démons de la +possession des Ursulines de Loudun._ Le Mans, 1636. + +LUCHÉ, PÈRE MATHIEU DE. _Les interrogatoires et exorcismes nouvellement +faites à un démon sur le sujet de la possession des filles urcellines de +Loudun._ Paris, 1637. + +SAINTE-CATHERINE. _Le grand pécheur converty, représenté dans les deux +estats de la vie de M. de Queriolet._ Lyons, 1690. + +AUBIN. _Histoire des diables de Loudun._ Amsterdam, 1693. + +LA MÉNARDAYE, M. 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H. _Theorie der Geisterkunde._ + +LANSLOTO, O.S.B., D. I. _Spiritism Unveiled._ St. Louis, 1913. (An +excellent and most valuable work.) + +LEPICIER, O.S.M., ALEXIS. _The Unseen World._ London, 1906. + +LILLIE, ARTHUR. _Modern Mystics and Modern Magic._ London, 1894. + +LODGE, SIR OLIVER. _Raymond, or Life after Death._ London, 1916 + +PAILLOUX, C. S. _Le Magnetisme, le Spiritisme, et la possession._ + +RAUPERT, J. GODFREY. _Spiritistic Phenomena; their interpretation._ + + _New Black Magic._ 1924. + + _Modern Spiritism._ London, 1907. + +SARGENT, EPES. _Planchette or the Despair of Science._ Boston, 1869. + +SCHRENCK-NOTZING, BARON VON. _Phenomena of Materialization._ Trans. by E. +E. Fournier d’Albe. London, 1923. + +SEMENOFF, MARC. _Introduction à la vie secrète._ Paris, 1925. + +SPICER, HENRY. _Sights and Sounds; the Mystery of the Day._ London, 1853. + +SURBLED. _Spiritualism et spiritisme._ Paris, 1898. + + _Spirites et mediums._ Paris, 1901. + +THURSTON, S.J., HERBERT F. _The Problems of Materialization._ _The +Month_, Oct., 1922. (And a number of valuable articles which have been +published of recent years in _The Month_.) + +TRETHEWY, A. W. _The Controls of Stainton Moses._ London, 1925. + +WALLACE, A. R. _Miracles and Modern Spiritualism._ London, 1897. + + + + +INDEX + + + Abraham, Statue of, 183 + + Accommodation theory, false, 203 + + _Ad Abolendam_, Bull of Lucius III, 17 + + Ælian, 118, 158 + + Æneas sacrifices to Night, 158 + + Ætius, 158 + + African witchcraft, 163 + + Agrippa, Cornelius, 103, 296 + + Akiba, Rabbi, 190 + + Albertus Magnus, Blessed, 64 + + Albigenses, 17, 27, 28, 62, 87 + + _Alchemist, The_, 304-5 + + Aldonistæ, 17 + + Alduin, Count, 26 + + Alexander III, 17, 18 + + Alexander IV, 13, 43, 64 + + _Alphonsus, King of Arragon_ (Greene), 287 + + Alphonsus Liguori, S., 41, 68-9, 92, 126, 203 + + Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J., 126 + + Ambrose, S., 14, 117, 176, 180, 224 + + Anania, Lorenzo, 128, 167 + + Andreas, S., of Rinn, 162, 197 + + Anne Catherine Emmerich, 126 + + Antony, S. (the Great), 202 + + Apollodorus, 201 + + Apuleius, Lucius, 111, 116, 184, 296 + + Aquila of Pontus, 190 + + Aquinas, S. Thomas, 45, 64, 91, 128, 176, 296 + + Arab witches, 5 + + Aretæus, 202 + + Ariberto, Archbishop of Milan, 16 + + Aristophanes, 98, 200 + + Aristotle, 296 + + Arnauld Amaury, 18 + + Arnobius, 99 + + Arrows, Divination with, 182-3 + + _Asceticus_, heretical treatise, 22 + + Asmodeus, 190 + + Asperges, mock, at witches’ mass, 154 + + Athanasius, S., 224 + + Augustine of Hippo, S., 13, 64, 100, 128, 176, 180, 184, 296 + + Aupetit, Pierre, 149, 152 + + Azor, S.J., Juan, 92 + + + Bacon, Lord, 65 + + Bagnolenses, 17 + + Balaam, 174, _sqq._ + + Balac, 174, _sqq._ + + Baltimore, Second Council of, 61 + + Balzac, Honoré de, 263 + + Bancroft, Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, 229-30 + + Baptism at the Sabbat, 84-5 + + Barbagli, Domenica (ecstatic), 126 + + Barrett, Sir William, 255, 264, 268 + + Basil, S., 180, 224 + + Basque Sabbats, 112-13, 115 + + _Basques, Les_, 311 + + Bavent, Madeleine, 87, 149, 153, 155, 157 + + Becquet, Isabel, 81 + + Beghards, 17 + + Bekhten, The Prince of, 198-200 + + Belon, Jean, 149 + + _Belphegor_, 307 + + Benedict XII, 65 + + Benedict XIV, 69, 92, 223 + + Benedict, S., 117, 222-23 + + Benedict, S., Medal of, 240 + + Benedictus (a sorcerer), 148 + + Bernard of Como, 120, 129 + + Berry, Mr. George F., 264 + + Besançon, The Holy Winding Sheet of, 224 + + Besinnet, Ada, 266 + + Billuart, O.P., Charles René, 92 + + Binsfeld, Bishop Pierre, 61, 94 + + _Birth of Merlin, The_, 287, 306 + + Bishop, Bridget, 76, 146 + + Black book or roll of witches, 85-6 + + Blackstone’s _Commentaries_, 63 + + Blessing of the Waters (Epiphany), 220 + + Blocksburg, The, 114, 115 + + Blockula, 121 + + Blood used to seal compacts, 67-8 + + Bocal, Pierre, 149 + + Bodin, Jean, 1, 65, 94, 114, 123, 145, 157, 296 + + Bogomiles, 17, 22, 23, 27 + + Boguet, Henri, 5, 6, 58, 94, 97, 113, 116, 117, 122, 130-3, 139, 141, + 145, 157 + + Bois, Jules, 311 + + Bonacina, Martino, 92 + + Bonaventura, S., 64, 91, 128 + + Boulanger, General, 264 + + Boullé, Thomas, 150 + + Bourignon, Antoinette, 70, 83 + + Bournement, Abbé, 150 + + Bouvier, Jean-Baptist, Bishop of Le Mans, 92-3 + + Boyle, Robert, 65 + + Brey, Abbé Charles, 240-3 + + Bricaud, Joanny, 28 + + Brignoli, 96 + + Broomstick, The Witches’, 121-4 + + Browne, Sir Thomas, 65 + + _Brutus of Alba_, 302 + + Bulls dealing with sorcery, 46 + + Burchard of Worms, 100, 297 + + Burner, Thiébaut and Joseph, The Possession of, 238-43 + + Burroughs, George, 84, 147 + + Busembaum, S.J., Hermann, 106 + + Buskitt, Dr. F. G., 27 + + _Bussy d’Ambois_, 305 + + + C., Stella, 266 + + Cæsarius, S., of Arles, 14 + + Cainites, 21 + + _Caius Marius_, 301-2 + + Caligula, 55 + + Calmet, Augustin Dom, 133 + + Camisards, 62, 78 + + Candles, black, used at Sabbat, 139 + + Canidia, 158 + + Carino, the Manichee, 17 + + Carpocrates, 22 + + Carrère, Mlle Eva, 267 + + Carrier, Martha, a Salem witch, 124, 145 + + _Castell of Perseverance, The_, 279 + + Castelvicz, Countess, 267 + + Castro, Alfonso de, 94, 128, 167 + + Cathari, 17, 23, 27, 37 + + Catherine de Medici, 176 + + Catherine de Ricci, S., 126 + + Catherine of Siena, S., 45, 126 + + Charles IX of France, causes black mass to be performed, 148 + + Charles de Sezze, Bl., 126 + + Charolais, Madame de, 150 + + Chesne, Pierre du, 148 + + Cincture of S. Monica, 82-3 + + Clement XI, 63 + + Clement of Alexandria, 99 + + Cockcrow, Sabbat ends at, 117-18 + + Colette, S., 126 + + College, Stephen, 298 + + Colley, Archdeacon, 260 + + Collin de Plancy, 158 + + Coman, Widow, 76 + + Concorrezenses, 17 + + Consolamentum, Manichæan rite, 23 + + Contract of witches with the Devil, 65-70, 81 + + Cook, Florence, 260 + + Cord of S. Francis, 82 + + Cornelius, Pope, 207 + + Cornelius à Lapide, 176 + + Covens, number of members in, 40; + organization of, 83 + + Cox, Julian, 5, 123 + + Craddock, Mr., 267 + + Craisson, Mgr., 92 + + Crespet, Père, 128, 167 + + Crookes, F.R.S., Sir William, 124, 246, 260, 268 + + Cross, Recovery of the True, 56 + + Cullender, Rose, 76 + + _Custom of the Country, The_, 305 + + Cybele, The rites of, 201-2 + + Cyprian of Antioch, S., 69 + + Cyril, S., of Jerusalem, 224 + + Cyril, S., of Alexandria, 182 + + + D’Abadie, Jeannette, 81, 84 + + _Dame Dobson_, 302-3 + + Dance, at the Sabbat, 139-43; + Religious, 140; + at Seville (Los Seises), 140-1 + + Danæus, Lambert, 58 + + Darling, Thomas, 226 + + Darrel, John, 224-30 + + Davenport brothers, 259 + + David, Abbé, 150 + + Davies, Sir John, 123 + + Deane, Mrs., 266 + + Deborah (Debbora), Song of, 175 + + Dee, Dr. John, 227 + + De Lancre, 58, 63, 87, 94, 98, 118, 120, 123, 141, 144, 149, 150, + 151, 153, 154, 159 + + Delrio, S.J., Martin Anton, 71, 93, 116, 137, 296 + + Demaratus, 200 + + Demdike, Elizabeth, 84, 294, 299 + + Demosthenes, 200 + + Denobilibus, 149 + + _De Rebus Uenereis ..._, 92 + + Devil, a man, Grand Master of the Sabbat, 7; + theological teaching concerning, 51-4; + in animal disguise at the Sabbat, 134-7 + + _Devil’s Charter, The_, 307-8 + + _Devil is an Ass, The_, 307 + + Dianic cult, imaginary, 43 + + _Dido and Æneas_, 302 + + Dinarchus, 200 + + Diocletian, 13, 22, 36 + + Dionysus, The rites of, 201-2 + + Dioscorides, 158 + + Divine, men who have claimed to be, 55-7 + + Divining Cup of Joseph, The, 183-4 + + Domitian, 55 + + Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, 235, 255, 268 + + Dryden, 301 + + Dualistic religion, 21 + + Ducrot, General, 245 + + _Duke and No Duke_, 287 + + _Duke of Guise, The_, 301 + + Duny, Amy, 76 + + Dupanloup, Mgr., Bishop of Orleans, 244-5 + + D’Urfey, Tom, 78 + + + Echalar, Juan de (sorcerer), 159 + + Edeline, Guillaume, 66 + + Edmonds, John Worth, 259 + + Egbo sorcerers, 136-7 + + Eglinton, William, 60, 260, 262 + + Egyptian, belief in possession, 198-200; + magicians and Moses, 59 + + Eicher, S.J., Father, 241 + + Elbel, O.F.M., Benjamin, 92 + + Eldred, Charles, 261 + + Eleusinian Mysteries, 44 + + Elich, Philip Ludwig, 143, 145, 296 + + Eliezar, 194-5 + + Elipandus of Toledo, 15, 56 + + Elymas the sorcerer, 193 + + _Empress of Morocco, The_ (Duffett), 302 + + Endor, The Witch of, 176-84 + + Ephrem Syrus, S., Doctor Ecclesiæ, 224 + + Ermanno of Parma, 17 + + Erto (medium), 266-7 + + Etheridge, S.J., Father John, 259 + + Euchites, 22 + + Eugenius IV, 83 + + Euripides, 201-2 + + Evagrius Scholasticus, 100 + + Executions, Last European, 46 + + Exorcism, The rite of, 209-19; + A shorter, 220; + Baptismal, 220 + + Exorcists, Anglican canon concerning, 230-3; + Attempted by Puritan ministers, 232; + Minor Order of, 207; + Ordination of, 207-9 + + Eznih of Kolb, 27 + + + Fabre des Essarts, 28 + + _Fair Maid of the Inn, The_, 305 + + False Christs, 57 + + Familiars, animal, 40, 41 + + Farnabie, Thomas, 159 + + Fascinum, 98-101 + + _Fatal Jealousie, The_, 300-1 + + _Faust_ (Goethe), 103 + + Faust Legend, Dramatic versions of the, 280-4 + + Feasting at the Sabbat, 144-5 + + Felix of Urgel, heretic, 15 + + Fian, Doctor, and his confederates, 72, 85, 88, 116, 124, 139, 142 + + Fiard, Abbé, 150 + + Filliucci, S.J., Vincenzo, 92 + + Fox family (mediums), 256-9 + + _Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_, 285-6 + + Francis, Elizabeth, 102 + + Francis of Assisi, S., 125 + + Francis Xavier, S., 126 + + Fugairon, Dr., of Lyons, 28 + + + _Gallicinium_, 117 + + Garrison, William Lloyd, 250 + + Gasparin, Agénor de, 263 + + Gaufridi, Louis, 72-3, 82, 84-5, 116, 144, 149, 155 + + Gazariens, 37 + + Gemma Galgani, 126 + + Gerard Majella, S., 126, 240 + + Gerson, 65 + + Gesner, 158 + + Gil, of Santarem, Blessed, 69 + + _Giles Corey_, 310 + + Gilles de Rais, 33, 34, 36, 89, 148, 160 + + Glanvill, 65 + + _Glossarium Eroticum_, 99 + + Gnostic, The first, 193 + + Gnostic Church of Lyons, 29 + + Gnostics, 20 + + “Goats, The” (secret society), 136 + + Godelmann, Johann, 297 + + Görres, Johann Joseph, 94, 127 + + Gothescalch of Fulda, heretic, 15, 16 + + Gottardo of Marsi, 17 + + Grandier, Urbain, 73 + + Greek heroes, The cult and relics of, 30, 31 + + Greeley, Horace, 259 + + Gregory VII, S., 19 + + Gregory IX, 20 + + Gregory XIII, 83 + + Gregory XV, 65 + + Gregory, S., of Nyssa, 178, 180 + + Gregory of Nanzianzus, S., 99, 224 + + Grilland, Paul, 94, 122, 127, 128, 145, 167, 297 + + Grimoires, 11, 68 + + Guardia, El santo Nino de la, 162 + + Guazzo, Francesco Maria, 65, 81-9, 95, 128, 137, 141, 144, 145, 167, + 297 + + Guibourg, Abbé, 89 + (and his confederates), 150, 153, 160 + + Guldenstubbe, Baron de, 263 + + Guthrie, Helen, a Forfar witch, 26 + + + Hare, Robert, 259 + + Harold of Gloucester, 162 + + Harsnett, Samuel, 229-30 + + Hartley, Edmund, 227 + + Haydon, Mrs. (medium), 259 + + Heliogabalus, 55 + + Henry II of England, 16 + + Heraclius, 56 + + Herod Agrippa I, 55 + + Herodas, 98-9 + + Hilarion, S., 202 + + Hinemar, Archbishop of Rheims, 15 + + Hippolytus, 185 + + Holland, Mrs. (medium), 266 + + Holt, Lord Chief Justice, 102 + + Home, Daniel D. (medium), 125, 246, 259, 263 + + Homer, 201 + + Hopkins, Matthew, 4, 102 + + Horace, 296 + + Horner, Elizabeth, 76 + + Hosts, as used at witches’ mass, 15, 155, 156-7; + Stolen from churches, 156 + + Hugh of Lincoln, S., 195 + + Humiliati, 17 + + Hush, Mr. Cecil, 267 + + Hutchinson, Bishop Francis, 101-2, 109 + + Huysmans, J. K., 29, 151, 264 + + Hydesville, Home of Fox family, 256-7 + + Hydromantia, 184 + + + _If It Be Not Good, The Divel is in it_, 306-7 + + Ignatius Loyola, S., 126 + + Illfurt, Case of possession at, 238-43 + + Incense, noxious weeds burned for, in witches’ rites, 156 + + Incubi, 89-103 + + _Indian-Queen, The_, 301 + + Innocent III, 18 + + Innocent IV, 20 + + Innocent VIII, 12, 43, 44, 88, 94 + + _Institutiones Theologiæ Mysticæ_ (Schram), 93 + + Ireland, Witchcraft in, 25 + + Isidore of Seville, S., 13 + + + _James the Fourth_ (Greene), 286 + + Janicot, Basque deity, 42 + + Jerome, S., 179, 182, 202 + + Jetzer, Brother, a Jacobin of Berne, 4 + + Joan, S., of Arc, false theories concerning, 33, 34 + + Johannites, 148 + + John XXII, 64 + + John Chrysostom, S., 13 + + John George II, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, 24 + + John of the Cross, S., 45, 126 + + Jonson, Ben, 296 + + Joseph of Cupertino, S., 126-7 + + Josephins, 17 + + Jovio Paolo, 103 + + Judas Iscariot, 21 + + Juno Lacinia, 200 + + Justin Martyr, S., 224 + + Juvenal, 159, 296 + + + Kembter, C.P.R., Adrian, 172, 195 + + Khlysti, 56 + + Khonsu, god of Thebes, 198-200 + + Khosroes (Khusran) II of Persia, 56 + + Kincaid, John, 74 + + _King Henry VI_ (Part II), 287-9 + + Kluski, Franek, 266 + + Kōsēm (magician), 186 + + Kyteler, Dame Alice, 25, 103, 124, 158 + + + Laban and Jacob, 186 + + _Là-Bas_ (Huysmans), 151 + + Lactantius, 99-100, 224 + + _Lancashire Witches, The_ (Ainsworth), 309 + + _Lancashire Witches, The_ (Dibdin), 309 + + _Lancashire Witches, The_ (Fitzball), 309-10 + + _Lancashire Witches, The_ (Shadwell), 296-9, 303 + + Langton, Walter, Bishop of Coventry, 138 + + _Laruatus_ (= crazed), 201 + + _Late Lancashire Witches, The_, 292-6 + + Leaf, Mr. Horace, 265 + + Lecollet, Abbé, 150 + + Lemmi, Adriano, 8 + + Leo IV, Pope, S., 193 + + Leo XIII, 28, 90, 220 + + Levitation, 124-7, 246 + + _Liber Pœnitentialis_ of S. Theodore, 6, 88, 134 + + _Life of Mother Shipton, The_, 299-300 + + Lodge, Sir Oliver, 268 + + Louis XIV, 160, 161 + + _Love for Love_, 80, 303-4 + + Lucan, 296 + + Luciferians, 21 + + Lucius III, 17 + + _Luckey Chance, The_, 303 + + Lunacy, Induced by Spiritism, 253-6 + + _Lusty Juventus_, 279 + + Luther, Martin, 231 + + + _Macbeth_, 289-90 + + Machiavelli Niccolo, 187 + + Magdalena de la Cruz, 69-70 + + _Magico Prodigioso, El_, 310 + + Maiolo, Simon, 61 + + _Malleus Maleficarum_, 24, 63, 94, 127, 129, 160, 296 + + Manasses, King of Juda, 181 + + Mandæans, 148 + + _Mandragola, La_, 187-8, 197 + + Mandrakes, 187-8 + + Mani, 21, 22 + + Mania, Roman goddess, 201 + + Manichees, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 32, 36, 148 + + _Mankind_, 279 + + Manlius, 103 + + Margaret of Cortona, S., 202 + + Maria Maddalena de Pazzi, S., 126 + + Marion, Elie, 62, 78 + + Mark, The Devil’s, 70-5, 89 + + Martin, S., of Tours, 14 + + _Mary of Nimmegen_, 284-6 + + Masks worn at the Sabbat, 136-7 + + _Masque of Queens_, 296, 304 + + Mass, mock, 87 + + Mass of S. Sécaire, 156-7 + + Mass, Witches’, origin of, 42-3; + liturgy of, 145-57 + + Maternus, Julius Firmicus, 99 + + Mather, Cotton, 83, 145 + + Maurus, O.S.B., S., 223-4 + + May-fires, 112 + + Mazzolini, O.P., Sylvester, 142, 296 + + Medal of S. Benedict, 222-3 + + Melancthon, 103, 128 + + Menander (heretic), 193 + + _Merry Devil of Edmonton, The_, 306 + + Messalians, 22 + + Michaelis, Sebastian Ven., 157 + + Middleton, Thomas, 9, 108 + + Midsummer bonfires, 43 + + _Midsummer-Night’s Dream_, 287 + + Miller (medium), 261-2 + + Missal, Devil’s, 87 + + Montanus, 56 + + Montespan, Madame de, 160 + + More, George, 227-9 + + Moses, 59, 173 + + Moses, William Stanton, 125, 259 + + _Mother Bombie_, 280 + + Mousseaux, Gougenot des, 94 + + Munnings, Mother, 102 + + Murray, Miss M. A., 31, 32, 33, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 75 + + Mystery Plays, 276-8 + + _Mystique Divine, La_ (Ribet), 90, 110 + + + Naasseni, 21 + + Name given to witches, 85 + + Naudé, Gabriel, 297 + + Neo-Gnostic Church, 28 + + Neri, S. Philip, 44 + + Nevillon, Silvain, 84 + + _Newes from Scotland_, 9 + + Nicander, 158, 201 + + Nicephorus Calixtus, 100 + + Nicetas, 99 + + Nicniven, “a notabill sorceres,” 7, 85 + + Nider, O.P., John, 94, 296 + + _Nigramansir_, 278-9 + + Nipple, Supernumerary, 75-7 + + Norbert, S., 39, 49, 50 + + North-Berwick Kirk, 116, 121, 138, 142 + + Numa, Second King of Rome, 184 + + + Odour of Sanctity, 45 + + _Œdipus_ (Dryden and Lee), 301 + + Ointment, Flying, 6 + + _Old Wives’ Tales, The_ (Peele), 286-7 + + Ophites, 21, 148 + + Origen, 180 + + _Orlando Furioso_ (Greene), 286 + + Orthodox Eucharist, 147-8 + + _Osculum infame_, 137-9 + + Ovid, 296 + + Owen, Rev. G. Vale, 255, 264-5 + + + P., Stanislava, 267 + + Palladian Temple (_Templum Palladicum_), discovered in Rome, 152-3 + + Palladino Eusapia, 267 + + Palmer, John, a wizard, 76 + + Palud, Madeleine de la, 82, 149, 154, 157 + + Paolo de Caspan, O.P., Fra, 119 + + Pasagians, 17 + + Patarini, 17 + + Paterson, a pricker, 74-5 + + Paul, S., 193-4, 206-7 + + Paul I., Pope S., 193 + + Paul of the Cross, S., 126 + + Pauliciani, 17, 23 + + Pauper, Marcelline, 145-6 + + Pausanias, 187 + + Pauvres de Lyon, 17 + + Pax, burlesqued by witches, 155 + + Peach, Father Edward, 234-5 + + Peckham, Sir George, 224 + + Pecoraro, Nino, 267 + + Pelagius I, 14 + + Peña, Francesco, 127 + + Pentheus, 200 + + Peratæ, 21 + + Peter Damian, S., 128, 167 + + Peter, S., 191-3 + + Peter of Verona, S., 17 + + Peter Parenzo, S., 17 + + Peters, Mr. Vout, 266 + + Petronius Arbiter, 99, 109, 187, 296 + + Phædra, 201 + + Philip I of France, 19 + + Philip Neri, S., 44, 126 + + Philip the Deacon, 191 + + Philippi, a medium healed at, 206-7 + + Picard, Maturin, 150 + + Pike, Albert, of Charleston, 8 + + Piper, Mrs., 266 + + Pius IX, 246 + + Plautus, 201 + + Pliny, 118, 159, 296 + + Plutarch, 200 + + Poirier, Possession of Hélène-Josephine, 243-8 + + Ponzinibio, Giovanni Francesco, 127, 166, 167 + + Porta, Baptista, 296 + + Possession of devils in the Gospels, 191, 203-6 + + Prelati, Antonio Francesco, 148 + + Prickers of witches, Official, 74-5 + + Priscillian of Avila, heretic, 14 + + Propertius, 296 + + Prosecution of witches by the Cæsars, 11, 12 + + Protestant exorcism, 232-3 + + Prudentius, 117 + + Prynne, William, 282 + + Psychic Science, British College of, 235-8 + + Pythagoras, 200 + + + Quintus Fulvius, 200 + + + Raimond Rocco, 126 + + Rameses II, 198-9 + + Raphael, S., 190 + + Read, Mary, 76 + + Red Book of Appin, 86-7 + + Regino of Prüm, 121 + + Reid, Thom, 7 + + Relics, The cultus of, 31 + + _Religion of the Manichees, The_, 27 + + Remy, Nicolas, 118, 128, 167 + + Richet, Professor Charles, 268 + + Robert I of France, 25 + + _Robert le Diable_, 310 + + Robert of Bury S. Edmunds, 162 + + Robinson, Anne, 4 + + Rocheblanche, Abbé de, 150 + + Rosary, The Holy, 82 + + Rothe, Anne, 260 + + Rousseau, Abbé, 158 + + Rowley, William, 11 + + Rudolph, S., of Berne, 162 + + + S., Willy (medium), 267 + + Sabazius, 111 + + Sabbat, Dances at the, 139-43; + Derivation of name, 111; + Feasting at, 143-5; + Liturgy of, 145-7; + Methods of travelling to the, 118-33; + Music at the, 142-3; + When held, 111-6; + Where held, 113-7 + + Sacrament, Diabolical, of Salem witches, 146-7 + + Sacrifice, of animals, 158-60; + of children, 88-9, 160; + of the God, hypothetical, 33-6 + + _S. Patrick for Ireland_, 305-6 + + Salmanticenses, 91-2, 145 + + Samuel, Ghost of, 178-81 + + Saturday, why no Sabbat held on, 116 + + Saul, 202 + + Sawyer, Elizabeth, 58-9, 76, 102, 290-2, 308 + + Scapular, Carmelite, 82 + + Sceva, The seven sons of, 194 + + Schott, S.J., Gaspar, 94 + + Schram, O.S.B., Dominic, 93 + + Schrenck-Notzing, Baron von, 267 + + Scot, Reginald, 69, 88, 123 + + _Secret Commonwealth, The_ (Robert Hink), 71 + + Seneca, 296 + + Sethians, 21 + + _Seven Champions of Christendom, The_, 287 + + Seville Cathedral, Ritual dance at, 140-1 + + Shadwell, Mrs., 301 + + Shadwell, Thomas, 75, 296-9 + + Shrill voice of ghosts, 177-8 + + Sillé, Gilles de, 148 + + Silvester of Abula, 128, 167 + + Simon Abeles, 162 + + Simon Magus, 20, 191 + + Simon, S., of Trent, 162 + + Sinistrari, Ludovico Maria, 65, 71, 78, 95, 161 + + _Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes_, 287 + + Sisto da Siena, 128, 167 + + Slade (a medium), 260 + + _Soir de Folie, Un_ (revue), 151, 311 + + Somers, William, 227-30 + + _Sophonisba_ (Lee), 301 + + _Sophonisba_ (Marston), 305 + + _Sorcière Canidie, La_, 311 + + _Sorcière, La_ (Dupetit-Mèré and Ducagne), 310 + + _Sorcière, La_ (Sardou), 311 + + Soulis, Lord William, of Hermitage, 7 + + Speronistæ, 17 + + Spina, Bartolomeo de, 119, 128, 167, 297 + + Spiritism, Condemned by the Catholic Church, 268-9 + + Spiritism, Some present-day activities of, 264-5 + + Spiritistic churches and assemblies, 264-5, 266 + + Spiritualism, its present-day meaning, 254-5 + + Sprenger, James, vide _Malleus Maleficarum_ + + Stapleton, Thomas, 46 + + Starchie, Nicholas, 227 + + Statius, 178 + + Stearne, John, 102, 108 + + Stewart, Francis, Earl of Bothwell, 8 + + Stewart, Mrs. Josie K., 266 + + Strabo, 184, 201 + + Stridtheckh, Christian, 115 + + Stumpf, Peter-Paul, Bishop of Strasburg, 241 + + Suarez, S.J., Francesco, 52, 54, 68, 91 + + _Summis desiderantes_, Bull of Innocent VIII, 12, 43, 88 + + Symons, Arthur, 141 + + + Tacitus, 296 + + Tamburini, S.J., Thomas, 92 + + Tanchelin and his anarchy, 36-40, 49 + + Targum of Jonathan, 190 + + Tartarins, 17 + + Tartary, Wizards in, 59, 60 + + Tea-leaves used in divination, 185 + + _Tempest, The_, 287, 289 + + Templars, The, 26, 138, 147-8 + + _Templiers, Les_, 310 + + Teraphim, 189-90 + + Teresa, S., 126 + + Tertullian, 180 + + Theodore, S., of Canterbury, 6, 88, 134 + + Theodoret, 99, 176, 179 + + Theodosius II, 23 + + Thurston, S.J., Father, 63 + + Thyraus, S.J., Hermann, 93 + + Tibullus, 99, 296 + + Titivillus, 279-80 + + Toads, associated with Sabbat, 158-9 + + Tobias, 190-1 + + Tomson, Mrs. Elizabeth A., 266 + + _Trappolin Creduto Principe_, 287 + + Travers-Smith, Mrs., 265, 267 + + _Trial of Witchcraft, The_ (John Bell), 70-1 + + Tuileries, Séance at, 263 + + Turrecremata (Torquemada), Juan de, 128 + + _Two Noble Kinsmen, The_, 278 + + _Tyrannick Love_, 301 + + + V., Mr., 267 + + Valentine (medium), 261 + + Valentinian I, 22 + + Valentinian II, 22 + + Valentinian III, 23 + + Valentinians, heretical sect, 29 + + Valentinus, heretic, 29 + + _Vampire, Le_, 310 + + Vaudois, 26, 37, 87 + + Vaughan, S.J., Bernard, 254-5 + + Vearncombe, Mr., 266 + + Vergil, 176, 296 + + Veronica Giuliani, S., 126 + + Verrall, Mrs., 266 + + Vestments worn at witches’ mass, 153-4 + + Victor III Bl. (Desiderius), 224 + + Vio Gaetani, Tommaso de, 128, 167 + + Visigoth code, 36 + + Voisin, Catherine la, 89, 160 + + Voisin, Marguerite la, 153 + + Voodooism, 26, 158, 163 + + + Walburga, S., 111-2 + + Waldenses, 17, 87 + + Walpurgis-Nacht, Die, 111 + + Ward, Seth, Bishop of Exeter, 233 + + _Wars of Cyrus, The_, 287 + + Weir, Major Thomas, 34-6, 120 + + Wenham, Jane, 102 + + Werner, S., of Oberwesel, 162 + + Weston, S.J., William, 224-5 + + Weyer, John, 103, 296 + + Wilde, Oscar, Alleged script by, 267-8 + + William of Paris, boy martyr, 162 + + William, S., of Norwich, 162 + + Williams, Mrs. (medium), 261 + + Willibrod, S., Ritual at shrine of, 140 + + Winer, 203 + + _Wise Woman of Hogsdon_, 303 + + _Witch, The_ (Middleton), 108, 290 + + _Witch, The_ (Wiers-Jennsen), 311-2 + + _Witch of Edmonton, The_ (Ford and Dekker), 102, 290-2, 308 + + _Witch of Islington, The_, 304 + + _Witch Traveller, The_, 304 + + Witchcraft forbidden in the Bible, 181-2 + + _World tost at Tennis, The_, Masque, 9, 10, 278 + + Wright, Elizabeth, 75-6 + + Wright, Katherine, 225-6 + + + _Zoroastres_, 302 + + + + +THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION + +A COMPLETE HISTORY OF MANKIND FROM PREHISTORIC TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY +IN UPWARDS OF 200 VOLUMES DESIGNED TO FORM A COMPLETE LIBRARY OF SOCIAL +EVOLUTION + +_Editor_: C. K. OGDEN, of Magdalene College, Cambridge + +_Consulting American Editor_: Professor HARRY ELMER BARNES. + + +A. PRE-HISTORY AND ANTIQUITY + +I INTRODUCTION AND PRE-HISTORY + + *Social Organization _W. H. R. Rivers_ + The Earth Before History _E. Perrier_ + Prehistoric Man _J. de Morgan_ + *The Dawn of European Civilization _V. Gordon Childe_ + A Linguistic Introduction to History _J. Vendryes_ + A Geographical Introduction to History _L. Febvre_ + Race and History _E. Pittard_ + *The Aryans _V. Gordon Childe_ + From Tribe to Empire _A. Moret_ + *Woman’s Place in Simple Societies _J. L. Myers_ + *Cycles in History _J. L. Myers_ + *The Diffusion of Culture _G. Elliot Smith_ + *The Migration of Symbols _D. A. Mackenzie_ + +II THE EARLY EMPIRES + + The Nile and Egyptian Civilization _A. Moret_ + *Colour Symbolism of Ancient Egypt _D. A. Mackenzie_ + The Mesopotamian Civilization _L. Delaporte_ + The Ægean Civilization _G. Glotz_ + +III GREECE + + The Formation of the Greek People _A. Jardé_ + *Ancient Greece at Work _G. Glotz_ + The Religious Thought of Greece _C. Sourdille_ + The Art of Greece _W. Deonna_ and _A. de Ridder_ + Greek Thought and the Scientific Spirit _L. Robin_ + The Greek City and its Institutions _G. Glotz_ + Macedonian Imperialism _P. Jouguet_ + +IV ROME + + Ancient Italy _L. Homo_ + The Roman Spirit in Religion, Thought, and Art _A. Grenier_ + Roman Political Institutions _L. Homo_ + Rome the Law-Giver _J. Declareuil_ + Ancient Economic Organization _J. Toutain_ + The Roman Empire _V. Chapot_ + *Ancient Rome at Work _P. Louis_ + The Celts _H. Hubert_ + +V BEYOND THE ROMAN EMPIRE + + Germany and the Roman Empire _H. Hubert_ + Persia _C. Huart_ + Ancient China and Central Asia _M. Granet_ + *A Thousand Years of the Tartars _E. H. Parker_ + India _(Ed.) S. Lévi_ + *The Heroic Age of India _N. K. Sidhanta_ + *Caste and Race in India _G. S. Ghurye_ + *The Life of Buddha as Legend and History _E. H. Thomas_ + +B. CHRISTIANITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES + +I THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY + + Israel and Judaism _A. Lods_ + Jesus and the Birth of Christianity _C. Guignebert_ + The Formation of the Church _C. Guignebert_ + The Advance of Christianity _C. Guignebert_ + *History and Literature of Christianity _P. de Labriolle_ + +II THE BREAK-UP OF THE EMPIRE + + The Dissolution of the Western Empire _F. Lot_ + The Eastern Empire _C. Diehl_ + Charlemagne _L. Halphen_ + The Collapse of the Carlovingian Empire _F. Lot_ + The Origins of the Slavs _(Ed.) P. Boyer_ + *Popular Life in the East Roman Empire _N. Baynes_ + *The Northern Invaders _B. S. Phillpotts_ + +III RELIGIOUS IMPERIALISM + + Islam and Mahomet _E. Doutté_ + The Advance of Islam _L. Barrau-Dihigo_ + Christendom and the Crusades _P. Alphandéry_ + The Organization of the Church _R. Genestal_ + +IV THE ART OF THE MIDDLE AGES + + The Art of the Middle Ages _P. Lorquet_ + *The Papacy and the Arts _E. Strong_ + +V RECONSTITUTION OF MONARCHIC POWER + + The Foundation of Modern Monarchies _C. Petit-Dutaillis_ + The Growth of Public Administration _E. Meynial_ + The Organization of Law _E. Meynial_ + +VI SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EVOLUTION + + The Development of Rural and Town Life _G. Bourgin_ + Maritime Trade and the Merchant Gilds _P. Boissonnade_ + *Life and Work in Medieval Europe _P. Boissonnade_ + *The Life of Women in Medieval Times _Eileen Power_ + *Travel and Travellers of the Middle Ages _(Ed.) A. P. Newton_ + +VII INTELLECTUAL EVOLUTION + + Education in the Middle Ages _G. Huisman_ + Philosophy in the Middle Ages _E. Bréhier_ + Science in the Middle Ages _Abel Rey_ and _P. Boutroux_ + +VIII FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO MODERN TIMES + + Nations of Western and Central Europe _P. Lorquet_ + Russians, Byzantines, and Mongols _(Ed.) P. Boyer_ + The Birth of the Book _G. Renaudet_ + *The Grandeur and Decline of Spain _C. Hughes Hartmann_ + *The Influence of Scandinavia on England _M. E. Seaton_ + *The Philosophy of Capitalism _T. E. Gregory_ + *The Prelude to the Machine Age _D. Russell_ + *Life and Work in Modern Europe _G. Renard_ + +_A special group of volumes will be devoted to_ + +(1) SUBJECT HISTORIES + + *The History of Medicine _C. G. Cumston_ + *The History of Money _T. E. Gregory_ + *The History of Costume _M. Hiler_ + *The History of Witchcraft _M. Summers_ + *The History of Taste _J. Isaac_ + *The History of Oriental Literature _E. Powys Mathers_ + *The History of Music _Cecil Gray_ + +(2) HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY + + *The Ethnology of India _T. C. Hodson_ + *The Peoples of Asia _L. H. Dudley Buxton_ + *The Threshold of the Pacific _C. E. Fox_ + *The South American Indians _Rafael Karsten_ + +* An asterisk denotes that the volume does _not_ form part of the French +collection, _L’Evolution de l’Humanité_. + +_In the Sections devoted to MODERN HISTORY the majority of titles will be +announced later. Many volumes are, however, in active preparation, and of +these the first to be published will be_ + + *The Restoration Stage _M. Summers_ + *London Life in the Eighteenth Century _M. Dorothy George_ + *China and Europe in the Eighteenth Century _A. Reichwein_ + +The _New York Times_ calls this series “An adventure in letters and +learning whose range is so audacious as to challenge the imagination to +conceive it in its full implication.... A new type of vision on the whole +perspective of historical science.” + +The _Chicago Evening Post_: “The scope is to be comprehensive and +the performance so far has been brilliant. Mr. Knopf will have done +the public an invaluable service by thus putting at its disposal an +authoritative history of the world, entirely in English, each field +covered by a man who has mastered it.... The History of Civilization +ought to prove a force not only in the spread of knowledge, but in the +propagation of international good-will.” + +James T. Shotwell writes: “The History of Civilization, edited by Mr. +Ogden of Magdalene College, Cambridge, marks a new stage in the History +of History. Hitherto we have had co-operative surveys of sections of +European History, but they have all suffered from limitations of space. +The various contributors have been obliged by the editors to put into a +chapter material which ordinarily would call for a whole volume. This +great History leaves the author a real freedom to cover his subject +adequately, and once this is granted, the chief editorial problem is to +secure the outstanding authority in the particular subject. The list of +authors in this series could hardly be bettered. Each writer can bring a +distinct contribution apart from the data with which he deals; each great +phase of human evolution is presented here in a masterful survey and fits +well into the general synthesis. + +“Turning from the special volumes to the work as a whole, one finds +a conception of history which corresponds to the demands of those +interested in the social and intellectual development of Europe, while +alongside of it the political story still furnishes the traditional +framework. It is a living picture of a vast movement, splendidly +conceived and sure to be adequately executed.” + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77145 *** diff --git a/77145-h/77145-h.htm b/77145-h/77145-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd53f87 --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/77145-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,21428 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The History of Witchcraft and Demonology | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +a { + text-decoration: none; +} + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h2.nobreak { + page-break-before: avoid; +} + +hr.chap { + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + clear: both; + width: 65%; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; +} + +img.w100 { + width: 100%; +} + +div.chapter { + page-break-before: always; +} + +ul { + list-style-type: none; +} + +li.indx { + margin-top: .5em; + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +li.ifrst { + margin-top: 2em; + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +li.isub1 { + padding-left: 4em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +p { + margin-top: 0.5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +p.versicle { + margin-bottom: 0; +} + +p.response { + margin-top: 0; +} + +table { + margin: 1em auto 1em auto; + border-collapse: collapse; +} + +th { + padding: 0.25em; + font-weight: normal; +} + +td { + padding-left: 2.25em; + padding-right: 0.25em; + vertical-align: top; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +.ast { + padding-left: 2.75em; +} + +.sub { + padding-left: 4.25em; +} + +.tdc { + text-align: center; + padding: 0.75em 0.25em 0.5em 0.25em; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.tdr { + text-align: right; +} + +.tdpg { + vertical-align: bottom; + text-align: right; +} + +blockquote { + margin: auto 10%; +} + +.bibliography p { + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +.bibliography blockquote p { + padding-left: 0; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +.bibliography p.book { + padding-left: 3em; +} + +.bibliography p.book2 { + padding-left: 4em; +} + +.center { + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.dedication { + margin: 3em auto; + max-width: 25em; +} + +figcaption p { + text-align: center; + font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0; +} + +figcaption p.caption-r { + text-align: right; + margin-bottom: 1em; +} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.footnote { + font-size: 0.9em; +} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none; +} + +.sub-footnote { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; +} + +.hanging { + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +.larger { + font-size: 150%; +} + +.noindent { + text-indent: 0; +} + +.nw { + white-space: nowrap; +} + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + right: 4%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; +} + +.poetry-container { + text-align: center; +} + +.poetry { + display: inline-block; + text-align: left; +} + +.poetry .stanza { + margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; +} + +.poetry .verse { + padding-left: 3em; +} + +.right { + text-align: right; +} + +.smaller { + font-size: 80%; +} + +.smcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; +} + +.allsmcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; + text-transform: lowercase; +} + +.titlepage { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.x-ebookmaker img { + max-width: 100%; + width: auto; + height: auto; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .poetry { + display: block; + margin-left: 1.5em; +} + +.x-ebookmaker blockquote { + margin: auto 5%; +} + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2.0em;} +.poetry .indent4 {text-indent: -1.0em;} +.poetry .indent10 {text-indent: 2.0em;} +.poetry .indent16 {text-indent: 5.0em;} +.poetry .indent18 {text-indent: 6.0em;} +.poetry .indent20 {text-indent: 7.0em;} +.poetry .indent22 {text-indent: 8.0em;} +.poetry .indent24 {text-indent: 9.0em;} +.poetry .indent28 {text-indent: 11.0em;} + + +.illowp58 {width: 58%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp58 {width: 100%;} +.illowp100 {width: 100%;} +.illowp53 {width: 53%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp53 {width: 100%;} +.illowp56 {width: 56%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp56 {width: 100%;} +.illowp95 {width: 95%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp95 {width: 100%;} +.illowp48 {width: 48%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp48 {width: 100%;} + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77145 ***</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_i">[i]</span></p> + +<p class="center">The History of Civilization<br> +<span class="smaller"><i>Edited by <span class="smcap">C. K. Ogden, M.A.</span></i></span></p> + +<p class="titlepage larger">The History of Witchcraft</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ii">[ii]</span></p> + +<p class="center larger">The History of Civilization</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Edited by <span class="smcap">C. K. Ogden, M.A.</span></i></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Harry Elmer Barnes</span>, Ph.D., Consulting American Editor.</p> + +</div> + +<table> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>The volumes already published are</i>:</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">Social Organization</span></td> + <td class="tdr">W. H. R. Rivers, F.R.S.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">A Thousand Years of the Tartars</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor E. H. Parker</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">The Threshold of the Pacific</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Dr. C. E. Fox</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">The Earth Before History</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Edmond Perrier</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">Prehistoric Man</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Jacques de Morgan</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">Language</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor J. Vendryes</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">History and Literature of Christianity</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor P. de Labriolle</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">China and Europe</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Adolf Reichwein</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">London Life in the Eighteenth Century</span></td> + <td class="tdr">M. Dorothy George</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">A Geographical Introduction to History</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor Lucien Febvre</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">The Dawn of European Civilization</span></td> + <td class="tdr">V. Gordon Childe, B.Litt.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast nw"><span class="smcap">Mesopotamia: Babylonian and Assyrian Civilization</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Prof. L. Delaporte</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">The Ægean Civilization</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor Gustave Glotz</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">The Peoples of Asia</span></td> + <td class="tdr">L. H. Dudley Buxton</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">The Migration of Symbols</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Donald A. Mackenzie</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">Life and Work in Modern Europe</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor Georges Renard</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">Travel and Travellers of the Middle Ages</span></td> + <td class="tdr nw">Edited by Prof. A. P. Newton</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">Civilization of the South American Indians</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Rafael Karsten</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">Race and History</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor E. Pittard</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">From Tribe to Empire</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor A. Moret</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">A History of Witchcraft</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Montague Summers</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">Ancient Greece at Work</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor G. Glotz</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">The Formation of the Greek People</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor A. Jardé</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">The Aryans</span></td> + <td class="tdr">V. Gordon Childe, D.Litt.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">Primitive Italy</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor Léon Homo</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">Rome the Law-Giver</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor J. Declareuil</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">The Roman Spirit</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor A. Grenier</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>In preparation</i>:</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">Life and Work in Medieval Europe</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor Boissonade</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">A History of Medicine</span></td> + <td class="tdr">C. G. Cumston, M.D.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">Ancient Persia and Iranian Civilization</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Professor C. Huart</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<span class="smcap">Ancient Rome at Work</span></td> + <td class="tdr">Paul Louis</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast"><span class="smcap">The Life of Buddha</span></td> + <td class="tdr">E. H. Thomas, D.Litt.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="center">* <i>An asterisk indicates that the volume does not form part of the French +collection “L’Évolution de l’Humanité.”</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>A complete classified list of the <span class="smcap">Series</span> will be found at +the end of this volume.</i></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp58" id="plate1" style="max-width: 34.375em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/plate1.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE I</p> + <p>THE DEPARTURE FOR THE SABBAT.<br>David Teniers</p> + <p class="caption-r">[<i>frontispiece</i></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">[iii]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage larger">The History of Witchcraft and<br> +Demonology</p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">By</span><br> +MONTAGUE SUMMERS</p> + +<div class="poetry-container titlepage"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Initiati sunt Beelphegor: et comederunt sacrificia mortuorum.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Et immolauerunt filios suos, et filias suas dæmoniis</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Et effuderunt sanguinem innocentem. Et fornicati sunt in<br> adinuentionibus suis.</i>—<span class="smcap">Psalm cv.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter titlepage illowp100" style="max-width: 12.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/doggo.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">NEW YORK</span><br> +ALFRED A. KNOPF<br> +<span class="smaller">1926</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iv">[iv]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="dedication"> + +<p class="center"><i>To</i></p> + +<p class="center larger"><i>PATRICK,</i></p> + +<p class="noindent"><i>in memory of Loreto and Our Lady’s Holy House, as also +of Our Lady’s miraculous Picture at Campocavallo, Our +Lady of Pompeii, La Consolata of Turin, Consolatrix +Afflictorum in S. Caterina ai Funari at Rome, la Santissima +Vergine del Parto of S. Agostino, the Madonna della Strada +at the Gesù, La Nicopeja of San Marco at Venice, Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle +of Rennes, Notre-Dame de +Grande Puissance of Lamballe, and all the Italian and +French Madonnas at whose shrines we have worshipped.</i></p> + +</div> + +<p class="titlepage smaller">Printed in Great Britain at<br> +<i>The Mayflower Press, Plymouth</i>. William Brendon & Son, Ltd.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[v]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> + +</div> + +<table> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg smaller">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">vii</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr smaller">CHAPTER</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">I.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Witch: Heretic and Anarchist</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">II.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Worship of the Witch</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">51</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">III.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Demons and Familiars</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">81</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IV.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Sabbat</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">V.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Witch in Holy Writ</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">173</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VI.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Diabolic Possession and Modern Spiritism</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">198</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Witch in Dramatic Literature</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">276</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Bibliography</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#BIBLIOGRAPHY">315</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Index</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#INDEX">347</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +</div> + +<table> + <tr> + <td class="tdr smaller">PLATE</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">I.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Departure for the Sabbat</span> (David Teniers)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#plate1"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg smaller">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">II.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The World Tost at Tennis.</span> 4to., 1620</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#plate2">8</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td class="sub">(<i>Facsimile title-page.</i>)</td> + <td class="tdpg"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">III.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Compendivm Maleficarvm. Mediolani</span>, 1626</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#plate3">82</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td class="sub">(<i>Facsimile title-page of second edition.</i>)</td> + <td class="tdpg"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IV.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Off to the Sabbat</span> (Queverdo)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#plate4">120</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">V.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Sabbat</span> (Ziarnko)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#plate5">144</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VI.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Witch of Endor</span> (W. Faithorne)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#plate6">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td class="sub">(<i>Frontispiece to Sadducismus Triumphatus</i>, 1681)</td> + <td class="tdpg"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">S. James Visits the Warlock’s Den</span> (Pieter Breughel)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#plate7">250</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VIII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Witch of Edmonton.</span> 4to., 1658</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#plate8">290</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td class="sub">(<i>Facsimile title-page.</i>)</td> + <td class="tdpg"></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</h2> + +</div> + +<p>The history of Witchcraft, a subject as old as the world and +as wide as the world,—since I understand for the present +purpose by Witchcraft, Sorcery, Black Magic, Necromancy, +secret Divination, Satanism, and every kind of malign +occult art,—at once confronts the writer with a most difficult +problem. He is called upon to exercise a choice, and his +dilemma is by no means made the easier owing to the fact +he is acutely conscious that whichever way he may decide +he is laying himself open to damaging and not impertinent +criticism. Since it is essential that his work should be comprised +within a reasonable compass he may elect to attempt +a bird’s-eye view of the whole range from China to Peru, +from the half-articulate, rhythmic incantations of primitive +man at the dawn of life to the last spiritistic fad and manifestation +at yesterday’s séance or circle, in which case his +pages will most certainly be thin and often superficial: or +again he may rather concentrate upon one or two features +in the history of Witchcraft, deal with these at some length, +stress some few forgotten facts whose importance is now +neglected and unrealized, utilize new material the result of +laborious research, but all this at the expense of inevitable +omissions, of hiatus, of self-denial, the avoidance of fascinating +by-ways and valuable inquiry, of silence when he would +fain be entering upon discussion and exposition. With a full +sense of its drawbacks and danger I have selected the second +method, since in dealing with a topic such as Witchcraft +where there is no human hope of recording more than a +tithe of the facts I believe it is better to give a documented +account of certain aspects rather than to essay a somewhat +huddled and confused conspectus of the whole, for such, +indeed, even at best is itself bound to have no inconsiderable +gaps and lacunæ, however carefully we endeavour to make +it complete. I am conscious, then, that there is scarcely a +paragraph in the present work which might not easily be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span>expanded into a page, scarcely a page which might not +to its great advantage become a chapter, and certainly not +a chapter that would not be vastly improved were it elaborated +to a volume.</p> + +<p>Many omissions are, as I have said, a necessary consequence +of the plan I have adopted; or, indeed, I venture to +suppose, of any other plan which contemplates the treatment +of so universal a subject as Witchcraft. I can but offer my +apologies to these students who come to this History to find +details of Finnish magic and the sorceries of Lapland, who +wish to inform themselves concerning Tohungaism among +the Maoris, Hindu devilry and enchantments, the Bersekir +of Iceland, Siberian Shamanism, the blind Pan Sus and +Mutangs of Korea, the Chinese Wu-po, Serbian lycanthropy, +negro Voodoism, the dark lore of old Scandinavia and Islam. +I trust my readers will believe that I regret as much as any +the absence of these from my work, but after all in any +human endeavour there are practical limitations of space.</p> + +<p>In a complementary and companion volume I am intending +to treat the epidemic of Witchcraft in particular localities, +the British Isles, France, Germany, Italy, New England, and +other countries. Many famous cases, the Lancashire witch-trials, +the activities of Matthew Hopkins, Gilles de Rais, +Gaufridi, Urbain Grandier, Cotton Mather and the Salem +sorceries, will then be dealt with and discussed in some detail.</p> + +<p>It is a surprising fact that amongst English writers Witchcraft +in Europe has not of recent years received anything like +adequate attention from serious students of history, who +strangely fail to recognize the importance of this tragic +belief both as a political and a social factor. Magic, the +genesis of magical cults and ceremonies, the ritual of primitive +peoples, traditional superstitions, and their ancillary lore, +have been made the subject of vast and erudite studies, +mostly from an anthropological and folk-loristic point of view, +but the darker side of the subject, the history of Satanism, +seems hardly to have been attempted.</p> + +<p>Possibly one reason for this neglect and ignorance lies +in the fact that the heavy and crass materialism, which +was so prominent a feature during the greater part of the +eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in England, intellectually +disavowed the supernatural, and attempted not without some +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span>success to substitute for religion a stolid system of respectable +morality. Since Witchcraft was entirely exploded it would, +at best, possess merely an antiquarian interest, and even so, +the exhumation of a disgusting and contemptible superstition +was not to be encouraged. It were more seemly to +forget the uglier side of the past. This was the attitude +which prevailed for more than a hundred and fifty years, +and when Witchcraft came under discussion by such narrowly +prejudiced and inefficient writers as Lecky or Charles Mackay +they are not even concerned to discuss the possibility of +the accounts given by the earlier authorities, who, as they +premise, were all mistaken, extravagant, purblind, and +misled. The cycle of time has had its revenge, and this +rationalistic superstition is dying fast. The extraordinary +vogue of and immense adherence to Spiritism would alone +prove that, whilst the widespread interest that is taken in +mysticism is a yet healthier sign that the world will no +longer be content to be fed on dry husks and the chaff of +straw. And these are only just two indications, and by no +means the most significant, out of many.</p> + +<p>It is quite impossible to appreciate and understand the +true lives of men and women in Elizabethan and Stuart +England, in the France of Louis XIII and his son, in the +Italy of the Renaissance and the Catholic Reaction—to +name but three countries and a few definite periods—unless +we have some realization of the part that Witchcraft played +in those ages amid the affairs of these kingdoms. All classes +were concerned from Pope to peasant, from Queen to cottage +gill.</p> + +<p>Accordingly as actors are “the abstracts and brief +chronicles of the time” I have given a concluding chapter +which deals with Witchcraft as seen upon the stage, mainly +concentrating upon the English theatre. This review has +not before been attempted, and since Witchcraft was so +formidable a social evil and so intermixed with all stations +of life it is obvious that we can find few better contemporary +illustrations of it than in the drama, for the playwright +ever had his finger upon the public pulse. Until the development +of the novel it was the theatre alone that mirrored +manners and history.</p> + +<p>There are many general French studies of Witchcraft of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[x]</span>the greatest value, amongst which we may name such +standard works as Antoine-Louis Daugis, <i>Traité sur la magie, +le sortilège, les possessions, obsessions et maléfices</i>, 1732; +Jules Garinet, <i>Histoire de la Magie en France depuis le commencement +de la monarchie jusqu’à nos jours</i>, 1818; Michelet’s +famous <i>La Sorcière</i>; Alfred Maury, <i>La Magie et l’Astrologie</i>, +3rd edition, 1868; L’Abbé Lecanu, <i>Histoire de Satan</i>; Jules +Baissac, <i>Les grands Jours de la Sorcellerie</i>, 1890; Theodore de +Cauzons, <i>La Magie et la Sorcellerie en France</i>, 4 vols., 1910, +etc.</p> + +<p>In German we have Eberhard Hauber’s <i>Bibliotheca Magica</i>; +Roskoff’s <i>Geschichte des Teufels</i>, 1869; Soldan’s <i>Geschichte +der Hexenprozesse</i> (neu bearbeitet von Dr. Heinrich Heppe), +1880; Friedrich Leitschuch’s <i>Beitræge zur Geschichte des +Hexenwesens in Franken</i>, 1883; Johan Dieffenbach’s <i>Der +Hexenwahn vor und nach der Glaubensspaltung in Deutschland</i>, +1886; Schreiber’s <i>Die Hexenprozesse im Breisgau</i>; Ludwig +Rapp’s <i>Die Hexenprozesse und ihre Gegner aus Tirol</i>; Joseph +Hansen’s <i>Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des +Hexenwahns</i>, 1901; and very many more admirably documented +studies.</p> + +<p>In England the best of the older books must be recommended +with necessary reservations. Thomas Wright’s +<i>Narratives of Sorcery and Magic</i>, 2 vols., 1851, is to be commended +as the work of a learned antiquarian who often +referred to original sources, but it is withal sketchy and can +hardly satisfy the careful scholar. Some exceptionally good +writing and sound, clear, thinking are to be met with in +Dr. F. G. Lee’s <i>The Other World</i>, 2 vols., 1875; <i>More Glimpses +of the World Unseen</i>, 1878; <i>Glimpses in the Twilight</i>, 1885; +and <i>Sight and Shadows</i>, 1894, all of which deserve to be far +more widely known, since they well repay an unhurried and +repeated perusal.</p> + +<p>Quite recent work is represented by Professor Wallace +Notestein’s <i>History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to +1718</i>, published in 1911. This intimate study of a century +and a half concentrates, as its title tells, upon England alone. +It is supplied with ample and useful appendixes. In respect +of the orderly marshalling of his facts, garnered from the +trials and other sources—no small labour—Professor Notestein +deserves a generous meed of praise; his interpretation +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[xi]</span>of the facts and his deductions may not unfairly be criticized. +Although his incredulity must surely now and again be shaken +by the cumulative force of reiterated and corroborative +evidence, nevertheless he refuses to admit even the possibility +that persons who at any rate affected supernatural powers +held clandestine meetings after nightfall in obscure and lonely +places for purposes and plots of their own. If human testimony +is worth anything at all, unless we are to be more +Pyrrhonian than the famous Dr. Marphurius himself who +would never say, “Je suis venu; mais; Il me semble que +je suis venu,” when in 1612 Roger Nowell had swooped down +on the Lancashire coven and carried off Elizabeth Demdike +with three other beldames to durance vile in Lancaster +Castle, Elizabeth Device summoned the whole Pendle gang +to her home at Malking Tower, in order that they might +discuss the situation and contrive the delivery of the prisoners. +As soon as they had forgathered, they all sat down to dinner, +and had a good north country spread of beef, bacon, and +roast mutton. Surely there is nothing very remarkable +in this; and the evidence as given in Thomas Potts’ famous +narrative, <i>The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the countie +of Lancaster</i> (London, 1613), bears the very hall-mark and +impress of truth: “The persons aforesaid had to their +dinners Beefe, Bacon, and roasted Mutton; which Mutton +(as this Examinates said brother said) was of a Wether of +Christopher Swyers of Barley: which Wether was brought +in the night before into this Examinates mothers house by +the said Iames Deuice, the Examinates said brother: and +in this Examinates sight killed and eaten.” But Professor +Notestein will none of it. He writes: “The concurring +evidence in the Malking Tower story is of no more compelling +character than that to be found in a multitude of Continental +stories of witch gatherings which have been shown to be the +outcome of physical or mental pressure and of leading +questions. It seems unnecessary to accept even a substratum +of fact” (p. 124). In the face of such sweeping +and dogmatic assertion mere evidence is no use at all. For +we know that the Continental stories of witch gatherings are +with very few exceptions the chronicle of actual fact. It +must be confessed that such feeble scepticism, which repeatedly +mars his summary of the witch-trials, is a serious +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[xii]</span>blemish in Professor Notestein’s work, and in view of his +industry much to be regretted.</p> + +<p>Miss M. A. Murray does not for a moment countenance +any such summary dismissal and uncritical rejection of +evidence. Her careful reading of the writers upon Witchcraft +has justly convinced her that their statements must +be accepted. Keen intelligences and shrewd investigators +such as Gregory XV, Bodin, Guazzo, De Lancre, D’Espagnet, +La Reynie, Boyle, Sir Matthew Hale, Glanvill, were neither +deceivers nor deceived. The evidence must stand, but +as Miss Murray finds herself unable to admit the logical +consequence of this, she hurriedly starts away with an +arbitrary, “the statements do not bear the construction +put upon them,” and in <i>The Witch-Cult in Western Europe</i> +(1921) proceeds to develop a most ingenious, but, as I show, +a wholly untenable hypothesis. Accordingly we are not +surprised to find that many of the details Miss Murray has +collected in her painstaking pages are (no doubt unconsciously) +made to square with her preconceived theory. +However much I may differ from Miss Murray in my outlook, +and our disagreement is, I consider, neither slight nor superficial, +I am none the less bound to commend her frank and +courageous treatment of many essential particulars which +are all too often suppressed, and in consequence a false and +counterfeit picture has not unseldom been drawn.</p> + +<p>So vast a literature surrounds modern Witchcraft, for +frankly such is Spiritism in effect, that it were no easy task +to mention even a quota of those works which seem to throw +some real light upon a complex and difficult subject. Among +many which I have found useful are Surbled, <i>Spiritualisme +et spiritisme</i> and <i>Spirites et médiums</i>; Gutberlet, <i>Der +Kampf um die Seele</i>; Dr. Marcel Viollet, <i>Le spiritisme +dans ses rapports avec la folie</i>; J. Godfrey Raupert, <i>Modern +Spiritism</i> and <i>Dangers of Spiritualism</i>; the Very Rev. Alexis +Lépicier, O.S.M., <i>The Unseen World</i>; the Rev. A. V. Miller, +<i>Sermons on Modern Spiritualism</i>; Lapponi, <i>Hypnotism and +Spiritism</i>; the late Monsignor Hugh Benson’s <i>Spiritualism</i> +(<i>The History of Religions</i>); Elliot O’Donnell’s <i>The Menace +of Spiritualism</i>; and Father Simon Blackmore’s <i>Spiritism: +Facts and Frauds</i>, 1925. My own opinion of this movement +has been formed not only from reading studies and monographs +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</span>which treat of every phase of the question from all +points of view, but also by correspondence and discussion +with ardent devotees of the cult, and, not least, owing to the +admissions and warnings of those who have abandoned these +dangerous practices, revelations made in such circumstances, +however, as altogether to preclude even a hint as to their +definite import and scope.</p> + +<p>The History of Witchcraft is full of interest to the theologian, +the psychologist, the historian, and cannot be ignored. +But it presents a very dark and terrible aspect, the details +of which in the few English studies that claim serious attention +have almost universally been unrecorded, and, indeed, +deliberately burked and shunned. Such treatment is unworthy +and unscholarly to a degree, reprehensible and +dishonest.</p> + +<p>The work of Professor Notestein, for example, is gravely +vitiated, owing to the fact that he has completely ignored +the immodesty of the witch-cult and thus extenuated its +evil. He is, indeed, so uncritical, I would even venture to +say so unscholarly, as naïvely to remark (p. 300): “No +one who has not read for himself can have any notion of +the vile character of the charges and confessions embodied in +the witch pamphlets. It is an aspect of the question which +has not been discussed in these pages.” Such a confession +is amazing. One cannot write in dainty phrase of Satanists +and the Sabbat. However loathly the disease the doctor +must not hesitate to diagnose and to probe. This ostrich-like +policy is moral cowardice. None of the Fathers and great +writers of the Church were thus culpably prudish. When +S. Epiphanius has to discuss the Gnostics, he describes in +detail their abominations, and pertinently remarks: “Why +should I shrink from speaking of the things you do not fear +to do? By speaking thus, I hope to fill you with horror of +the turpitudes you commit.” And S. Clement of Alexandria +says: “I am not ashamed to name the parts of the body +wherein the fœtus is formed and nourished; and why, indeed, +should I be, since God was not ashamed to create them?”</p> + +<p>A few authors have painted the mediæval witch in pretty +colours on satin. She has become a somewhat eccentric but +kindly old lady, shrewd and perspicacious, with a knowledge +of healing herbs and simples, ready to advise and aid her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</span>neighbours who are duller-witted than she; not disdaining +in return a rustic present of a flitch, meal, a poult or eggs +from the farm-yard. And so for no very definite reason she +fell an easy prey to fanatic judges and ravening inquisitors, +notoriously the most ignorant and stupid of mortals, who +caught her, swum her in a river, tried her, tortured her, and +finally burned her at the stake. Many modern writers, more +sceptical still, frankly relegate the witch to the land of +nursery tales and Christmas pantomime; she never had any +real existence other than as Cinderella’s fairy godmother or +the Countess D’Aulnoy’s Madame Merluche.</p> + +<p>I have even heard it publicly asserted from the lecture +platform by a professed student of the Elizabethan period +that the Elizabethans did not, of course, as a matter of fact +believe in Witchcraft. It were impossible to imagine that +men of the intellectual standard of Shakespeare, Ford, +Jonson, Fletcher, could have held so idle a chimæra, born of +sick fancies and hysteria. And his audience acquiesced with +no little complacency, pleased to think that the great names +of the past had been cleared from the stigma of so degrading +and gross a superstition. A few uneducated peasants here and +there may have been morbid and ignorant enough to dream +of witches, and the poets used these crones and hags with +effect in ballad and play. But as for giving any actual +credence to such fantasies, most assuredly our great Elizabethans +were more enlightened than that! And, indeed, +Witchcraft is a phase of and a factor in the manners of the +seventeenth century, which in some quarters there seems a +tacit agreement almost to ignore.</p> + +<p>All this is very unhistorical and very unscientific. In the +following pages I have endeavoured to show the witch as +she really was—an evil liver; a social pest and parasite; +the devotee of a loathly and obscene creed; an adept at +poisoning, blackmail, and other creeping crimes; a member +of a powerful secret organization inimical to Church and +State; a blasphemer in word and deed; swaying the villagers +by terror and superstition; a charlatan and a quack sometimes; +a bawd; an abortionist; the dark counsellor of +lewd court ladies and adulterous gallants; a minister to +vice and inconceivable corruption; battening upon the +filth and foulest passions of the age.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[xv]</span></p> + +<p>My present work is the result of more than thirty years’ +close attention to the subject of Witchcraft, and during this +period I have made a systematic and intensive study of the +older demonologists, as I am convinced that their first-hand +evidence is of prime importance and value, whilst since their +writings are very voluminous and of the last rarity they have +universally been neglected, and are allowed to accumulate +thick dust undisturbed. They are, moreover, often difficult +to read owing to technicalities of phrase and vocabulary. +Among the most authoritative I may cite a few names: +Sprenger (<i>Malleus Maleficarum</i>); Guazzo; Bartolomeo +Spina, O.P.; John Nider, O.P.; Grilland; Jerome Mengo; +Binsfeld; Gerson; Ulrich Molitor; Basin; Murner; +Crespet; Anania; Henri Boguet; Bodin; Martin Delrio, +S.J.; Pierre le Loyer; Ludwig Elich; Godelmann; Nicolas +Remy; Salerini; Leonard Vair; De Lancre; Alfonso de +Castro; Sebastian Michaelis, O.P.; Sinistrari; Perreaud; +Dom Calmet; Sylvester Mazzolini, O.P. (Prierias). When +we supplement these by the judicial records and the legal +codes we have an immense body of material. In all that I +have written I have gone to original sources, and it has been +my endeavour fairly to weigh and balance the evidence, to +judge without heat or prejudice, to give the facts and the +comment upon them with candour, sincerity, and truth. +At the same time I am very well aware that several great +scholars for whom I have the sincerest personal regard and +whose attainments I view with a very profound respect will +differ from me in many particulars.</p> + +<p>I am conscious that the rough list of books which I have +drawn up does not deserve to be dignified with the title, +Bibliography. It is sadly incomplete, yet should it, however +inadequate, prove helpful in the smallest way it will have +justified its inclusion. I may add that my Biblical quotations, +save where expressly otherwise noted, are from the Vulgate +or its translation into English commonly called the Douai +Version.</p> + +<p class="hanging"><span class="smcap">In Festo S. Tereseiæ, <i>V.</i></span><br> +1925.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p> + +<h1><span class="smaller">THE</span> +HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT</h1> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I<br> +<span class="smcap">The Witch: Heretic and Anarchist</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p>“Sorcier est celuy qui par moyens Diaboliques sciemment +s’efforce de paruenir a quel que chose.” (“A sorcerer is one +who by commerce with the Devil has a full intention of +attaining his own ends.”) With these words the profoundly +erudite jurisconsult Jean Bodin, one of the acutest and most +strictly impartial minds of his age, opens his famous <i>De la +Demonomanie des Sorciers</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and it would be, I imagine, +hardly possible to discover a more concise, exact, comprehensive, +and intelligent definition of a Witch. The whole +tremendous subject of Witchcraft, especially as revealed in +its multifold and remarkable manifestations throughout every +district of Southern and Western Europe from the middle of +the thirteenth until the dawn of the eighteenth century,⁠<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +has it would seem in recent times seldom, if ever, been +candidly and fairly examined. The only sound sources of +information are the contemporary records; the meticulously +detailed legal reports of the actual trials; the vast mass of +pamphlets which give eye-witnessed accounts of individual +witches and reproduce evidence <i>uerbatim</i> as told in court; +and, above all, the voluminous and highly technical works +of the Inquisitors and demonologists, holy and reverend +divines, doctors <i>utriusque iuris</i>, hard-headed, slow, and sober +lawyers,—learned men, scholars of philosophic mind, the +most honourable names in the universities of Europe, in the +forefront of literature, science, politics, and culture; monks +who kept the conscience of kings, pontiffs; whose word would +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span>set Europe aflame and bring an emperor to his knees at +their gate.</p> + +<p>It is true that Witchcraft has formed the subject of a not +inconsiderable literature, but it will be found that inquirers +have for the most part approached this eternal and terrible +chapter in the history of humanity from biassed, although +wholly divergent, points of view, and in consequence it is +often necessary to sift more or less thoroughly their partial +presentation of their theme, to discount their unwarranted +commentaries and illogical conclusions, and to get down in +time to the hard bed-rock of fact.</p> + +<p>In the first place we have those writings and that interest +which may be termed merely antiquarian. Witchcraft is +treated as a curious by-lane of history, a superstition long +since dead, having no existence among, nor bearing upon, +the affairs of the present day. It is a field for folk-lore, where +one may gather strange flowers and noxious weeds. Again, +we often recognize the romantic treatment of Witchcraft. +’Tis the Eve of S. George, a dark wild night, the pale moon +can but struggle thinly through the thick massing clouds. +The witches are abroad, and hurtle swiftly aloft, a hideous +covey, borne headlong on the skirling blast. In delirious +tones they are yelling foul mysterious words as they go: +“Har! Har! Har! Altri! Altri!” To some peak of the +Brocken or lonely Cevennes they haste, to the orgies of the +Sabbat, the infernal Sacraments, the dance of Acheron, the +sweet and fearful fantasy of evil, “Vers les stupres impurs +et les baisers immondes.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Hell seems to vomit its foulest +dregs upon the shrinking earth; a loathsome shape of obscene +horror squats huge and monstrous upon the ebon throne; +the stifling air reeks with filth and blasphemy; faster and +faster whirls the witches’ lewd lavolta; shriller and shriller +the cornemuse screams; and then a wan grey light flickers +in the Eastern sky; a moment more and there sounds the +loud clarion of some village chanticleer; swift as thought +the vile phantasmagoria vanishes and is sped, all is quiet and +still in the peaceful dawn.</p> + +<p>But both the antiquarian and the romanticist reviews of +Witchcraft may be deemed negligible and impertinent so far +as the present research is concerned, however entertaining +and picturesque such treatment proves to many readers, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span>affording not a few pleasant hours, whence they are able to +draw highly dramatic and brilliantly coloured pictures of +old time sorceries, not to be taken too seriously, for these +things never were and never could have been.⁠<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>The rationalist historian and the sceptic, when inevitably +confronted with the subject of Witchcraft, chose a charmingly +easy way to deal with these intensely complex and intricate +problems, a flat denial of all statements which did not fit, or +could not by some means be squared with, their own narrow +prejudice. What matter the most irrefragable evidence, +which in the instance of any other accusation would unhesitatingly +have been regarded as final. What matter the +logical and reasoned belief of centuries, of the most cultured +peoples, the highest intelligences of Europe? Any appeal +to authority is, of course, useless, as the sceptic repudiates +all authority—save his own. Such things could not be. We +must argue from that axiom, and therefore anything which +it is impossible to explain away by hallucination, or hysteria, +or auto-suggestion, or any other vague catch-word which +may chance to be fashionable at the moment, must be +uncompromisingly rejected, and a note of superior pity, to +candy the so suave yet crushingly decisive judgement, has +proved of great service upon more occasions than one. Why +examine the evidence? It is really useless and a waste of +time, because we know that the allegations are all idle and +ridiculous; the “facts” sworn to by innumerable witnesses, +which are repeated in changeless detail century after +century in every country, in every town, simply did not take +place. How so absolute and entire falsity of these facts can +be demonstrated the sceptic omits to inform us, but we must +unquestioningly accept his infallible authority in the face +of reason, evidence, and truth.</p> + +<p>Yet supposing that with clear and candid minds we proceed +carefully to investigate this accumulated evidence, to inquire +into the circumstances of a number of typical cases, to +compare the trials of the fifteenth century in France with +the trials of the seventeenth century in England, shall we +not find that amid obvious accretions of fantastic and superfluous +detail a certain very solid substratum of a permanent and +invaried character is unmistakably to be traced throughout +the whole? This cannot in reason be denied, and here we +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>have the core and the enduring reality of Witchcraft and the +witch-cult throughout the ages.</p> + +<p>There were some gross superstitions; there were some +unbridled imaginations; there was deception, there was +legerdemain; there was phantasy; there was fraud; Henri +Boguet seems, perhaps, a trifle credulous, a little eager to +explain obscure practices by an instant appeal to the supernormal; +Brother Jetzer, the Jacobin of Berne, can only have +been either the tool of his superiors or a cunning impostor; +Matthew Hopkins was an unmitigated scoundrel who preyed +upon the fears of the Essex franklins whilst he emptied their +pockets; Lord Torphichen’s son was an idle mischievous boy +whose pranks not merely deluded both his father and the +Rev. Mr. John Wilkins, but caused considerable mystification +and amaze throughout the whole of Calder; Anne Robinson, +Mrs. Golding’s maid, and the two servant lasses of Baldarroch +were prestidigitators of no common sleight and skill; and +all these examples of ignorance, gullibility, malice, trickery, +and imposture might easily be multiplied twenty times over +and twenty times again, yet when every allowance has been +made, every possible explanation exhausted, there persists +a congeries of solid proven fact which cannot be ignored, +save indeed by the purblind prejudice of the rationalist, and +cannot be accounted for, save that we recognize there were +and are individuals and organizations deliberately, nay, even +enthusiastically, devoted to the service of evil, greedy of +such emotions and experiences, rewards the thraldom of +wickedness may bring.</p> + +<p>The sceptic notoriously refuses to believe in Witchcraft, +but a sanely critical examination of the evidence at the +witch-trials will show that a vast amount of the modern +vulgar incredulity is founded upon a complete misconception +of the facts, and it may be well worth while quite briefly to +review and correct some of the more common objections that +are so loosely and so repeatedly maintained. There are many +points which are urged as proving the fatuous absurdity and +demonstrable impossibility of the whole system, and yet there +is not one of these phenomena which is not capable of a +satisfactory, and often a simple, elucidation. Perhaps the +first thought of a witch that will occur to the man in the +street is that of a hag on a broomstick flying up the chimney +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span>through the air. This has often been pictorially impressed +on his imagination, not merely by woodcuts and illustrations +traditionally presented in books, but by the brush of great +painters such as Queverdo’s <i>Le Départ au Sabbat</i>, <i>Le Départ +pour le Sabbat</i> of David Teniers, and Goya’s midnight fantasies. +The famous Australian artist, Norman Lindsay, has a picture +<i>To The Sabbat</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> where witches are depicted wildly rushing +through the air on the backs of grotesque pigs and hideous +goats. Shakespeare, too, elaborated the idea, and “Hover +through the fog and filthy air” has impressed itself upon +the English imagination. But to descend from the airy +realms of painting and poetry to the hard ground of actuality. +Throughout the whole of the records there are very few +instances when a witness definitely asserted that he had seen +a witch carried through the air mounted upon a broom or +stick of any kind, and on every occasion there is patent and +obvious exaggeration to secure an effect. Sometimes the +witches themselves boasted of this means of transport to +impress their hearers. Boguet records that Claudine Boban, +a young girl whose head was turned with pathological vanity, +obviously a monomaniac who must at all costs occupy the +centre of the stage and be the cynosure of public attention, +confessed that she had been to the Sabbat, and this was +undoubtedly the case; but to walk or ride on horseback to +the Sabbat were far too ordinary methods of locomotion, +melodrama and the marvellous must find their place in her +account and so she alleged: “that both she and her mother +used to mount on a broom, and so making their exit by the +chimney in this fashion they flew through the air to the +Sabbat.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Julian Cox (1664) said that one evening when +she was in the fields about a mile away from the house +“there came riding towards her three persons upon three +Broom-staves, born up about a yard and a half from the +ground.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> There is obvious exaggeration here; she saw +two men and one woman bestriding brooms and leaping high +in the air. They were, in fact, performing a magic rite, a +figure of a dance. So it is recorded of the Arab crones that +“In the time of the Munkidh the witches rode about naked +on a stick between the graves of the cemetery of Shaizar.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +Nobody can refuse to believe that the witches bestrode sticks +and poles and in their ritual capered to and fro in this manner, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>a sufficiently grotesque, but by no means an impossible, +action. And this bizarre ceremony, evidence of which—with +no reference to flying through the air—is frequent, has been +exaggerated and transformed into the popular superstition +that sorcerers are carried aloft and so transported from place +to place, a wonder they were all ready to exploit in proof +of their magic powers. And yet it is not impossible that there +should have been actual instances of levitation. For, outside +the lives of the Saints, spiritistic séances afford us +examples of this supernormal phenomenon, which, if human +evidence is worth anything at all, are beyond all question +proven.</p> + +<p>As for the unguents wherewith the sorcerers anointed +themselves we have the actual formulæ for this composition, +and Professor A. J. Clark, who has examined these,⁠<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> considers +that it is possible a strong application of such +liniments might produce unwonted excitement and even +delirium. But long ago the great demonologists recognized +and laid down that of themselves the unguents possessed no +such properties as the witches supposed. “The ointment +and lotion are just of no use at all to witches to aid their +journey to the Sabbat,” is the well-considered opinion of +Boguet who,⁠<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> speaking with confident precision and finality, +on this point is in entire agreement with the most sceptical +of later rationalists.</p> + +<p>The transformation of witches into animals and the extraordinary +appearance at their orgies of “the Devil” under +many a hideously unnatural shape, two points which have +been repeatedly held up to scorn as self-evident impossibilities +and proof conclusive of the untrustworthiness of the evidence +and the incredibility of the whole system, can both be easily +and fairly interpreted in a way which offers a complete and +convincing explanation of these prodigies. The first metamorphosis, +indeed, is mentioned and fully explained in the +<i>Liber Pœnitentialis</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> of S. Theodore, seventh Archbishop of +Canterbury (668-690), capitulum xxvii, which code includes +under the rubric <i>De Idolatria et Sacrilegio</i> “qui in Kalendas +Ianuarii in ceruulo et in uitula uadit,” and prescribes: +“If anyone at the Kalends of January goes about as a stag +or a bull; that is, making himself into a wild animal and +dressing in the skin of a herd animal, and putting on the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>heads of beasts; those who in such wise transform themselves +into the appearance of a wild animal, penance for +three years because this is devilish.” These ritual masks, +furs, and hides, were, of course, exactly those the witches +at certain ceremonies were wont to don for their Sabbats. +There is ample proof that “the Devil” of the Sabbat was +very frequently a human being, the Grand Master of the +district, and since his officers and immediate attendants were +also termed “Devils” by the witches some confusion has +on occasion ensued. In a few cases where sufficient details +are given it is possible actually to identify “the Devil” by +name. Thus, among a list of suspected persons in the reign +of Elizabeth we have “Ould Birtles, the great devil, Roger +Birtles and his wife, and Anne Birtles.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The evil William, +Lord Soulis, of Hermitage Castle, often known as “Red +Cap,” was “the Devil” of a coven of sorcerers. Very +seldom “the Devil” was a woman. In May, 1569, the +Regent of Scotland was present at S. Andrews “quhair a +notabill sorceres callit Nicniven was condemnit to the death +and burnt.” Now Nicniven is the Queen of Elphin, the +Mistress of the Sabbat, and this office had evidently been +filled by this witch whose real name is not recorded. On +8 November, 1576, Elizabeth or Bessy Dunlop, of Lyne, in +the Barony of Dalry, Ayrshire, was tried for sorcery, and she +confessed that a certain mysterious Thom Reid had met her +and demanded that she should renounce Christianity and +her baptism, and apparently worship him. There can be +little doubt that he was “the Devil” of a coven, for the +original details, which are very full, all point to this. He +seems to have played his part with some forethought and +skill, since when the accused stated that she often saw him +in the churchyard of Dalry, as also in the streets of Edinburgh, +where he walked to and fro among other people and +handled goods that were exposed on bulks for sale without +attracting any special notice, and was thereupon asked why +she did not address him, she replied that he had forbidden +her to recognize him on any such occasion unless he made +a sign or first actually accosted her. She was “convict and +burnt.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> In the case of Alison Peirson, tried 28 May, 1588, +“the Devil” was actually her kinsman, William Sympson, +and she “wes conuict of the vsing of Sorcerie and Witchcraft, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span>with the Inuocatioun of the spreitis of the Deuill; speciallie +in the visioune and forme of ane Mr. William Sympsoune, +hir cousing and moder-brotheris-sone, quha sche affermit +wes ane grit scoller and doctor of medicin.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> <i>Conuicta et +combusta</i> is the terse record of the margin of the court-book.</p> + +<p>One of the most interesting identifications of “the Devil” +occurs in the course of the notorious trials of Dr. Fian and +his associates in 1590-1. As is well known, the whole crew +was in league with Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, and +even at the time well-founded gossip, and something more +than gossip, freely connected his name with the spells, +Sabbats, and orgies of the witches. He was vehemently +suspected of the black art; he was an undoubted client of +warlocks and poisoners; his restless ambition almost overtly +aimed at the throne, and the witch covens were one and all +frantically attempting the life of King James. There can be +no sort of doubt that Bothwell was the moving force who +energized and directed the very elaborate and numerous +organization of demonolaters, which was almost accidentally +brought to light, to be fiercely crushed by the draconian +vengeance of a monarch justly frightened for his crown and +his life.</p> + +<p>In the nineteenth century both Albert Pike of Charleston +and his successor Adriano Lemmi have been identified upon +abundant authority as being Grand Masters of societies +practising Satanism, and as performing the hierarchical +functions of “the Devil” at the modern Sabbat.</p> + +<p>God, so far as His ordinary presence and action in Nature +are concerned, is hidden behind the veil of secondary causes, +and when God’s ape, the Demon, can work so successfully +and obtain not merely devoted adherents but fervent worshippers +by human agency, there is plainly no need for him to +manifest himself in person either to particular individuals or +at the Sabbats, but none the less, that he can do so and has +done so is certain, since such is the sense of the Church, and +there are many striking cases in the records and trials which +are to be explained in no other way.</p> + +<p>That, as Burns Begg pointed out, the witches not unseldom +“seem to have been undoubtedly the victims of unscrupulous +and designing knaves, who personated Satan”⁠<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> is no +palliation of their crimes, and therefore they are not one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span>whit the less guilty of sorcery and devil-worship, for this +was their hearts’ intention and desire. Nor do I think that +the man who personated Satan at their assemblies was so +much an unscrupulous and designing knave as himself a +demonist, believing intensely in the reality of his own dark +powers, wholly and horribly dedicated and doomed to the +service of evil.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="plate2" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/plate2.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE II</p> + <p>THE WORLD TOST AT TENNIS.<br>The First Quarto</p> + <p class="caption-r">[<i>face p. 8</i></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>We have seen that the witches were upon occasion wont +to array themselves in skins and ritual masks and there is +complete evidence that the hierophant at the Sabbat, when +a human being played that rôle, generally wore a corresponsive, +if somewhat more elaborate, disguise. Nay more, +as regards the British Isles at least—and it seems clear that +in other countries the habit was very similar—we possess a +pictorial representation of “the Devil” as he appeared to +the witches. During the famous Fian trials Agnes Sampson +confessed: “The deuell wes cled in ane blak goun with ane +blak hat vpon his head.... His faice was terrible, his noise +lyk the bek of ane egle, greet bournyng eyn; his handis and +leggis wer herry, with clawes vpon his handis, and feit lyk +the griffon.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> In the pamphlet <i>Newes from Scotland, +Declaring the Damnable life and death of Doctor Fian</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> we +have a rough woodcut, repeated twice, which shows “the +Devil” preaching from the North Berwick pulpit to the +whole coven of witches, and allowing for the crudity +of the draughtsman and a few unimportant differences of +detail—the black gown and hat are not portrayed—the +demon in the picture is exactly like the description Agnes +Sampson gave. It must be remembered, too, that at the +Sabbat she was obviously in a state of morbid excitation, +in part due to deep cups of heady wine, the time was midnight, +the place a haunted old church, the only light a few +flickering candles that burned with a ghastly blue flame.</p> + +<p>Now “the Devil” as he is shown in the <i>Newes from +Scotland</i> illustration is precisely the Devil who appears upon +the title-page of Middleton and Rowley’s Masque, <i>The World +tost at Tennis</i>, 4to, 1620. This woodcut presents an episode +towards the end of the masque, and here the Devil in traditional +disguise, a grim black hairy shape with huge beaked +nose, monstrous claws, and the cloven hoofs of a griffin, in +every particular fits the details so closely observed by Agnes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>Sampson. I have no doubt that the drawing for the masque +was actually made in the theatre, for although this kind of +costly and decorative entertainment was almost always +designed for court or some great nobleman’s house we know +that <i>The World tost at Tennis</i> was produced with considerable +success on the public stage “By the Prince his Seruants.” +The dress, then, of “the Devil” at the Sabbats seems +frequently to have been an elaborate theatrical costume, +such as might have been found in the stock wardrobe of a +rich playhouse at London, but which would have had no +such associations for provincial folk and even simpler +rustics.</p> + +<p>From time to time the sceptics have pointed to the many +cases upon record of a victim’s sickness or death following +the witch’s curse, and have incredulously inquired if it be +possible that a malediction should have such consequences. +Whilst candidly remarking that personally I believe there +is power for evil and even for destruction in such a bane, +that a deadly anathema launched with concentrated hate +and all the energy of volition may bring unhappiness and +fatality in its train, I would—since they will not allow this—answer +their objections upon other lines. When some person +who had in any way annoyed the witch was to be harmed +or killed, it was obviously convenient, when practicable, to +follow up the symbolism of the solemn imprecation, or it +might be of the melted wax image riddled with pins, by +a dose of subtly administered poison, which would bring +about the desired result, whether sickness or death; and +from the evidence concerning the witches’ victims, who so +frequently pined owing to a wasting disease, it seems more +than probable that lethal drugs were continually employed, +for as Professor A. J. Clark records “the society of witches +had a very creditable knowledge of the art of poisoning,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> +and they are known to have freely used aconite, deadly +nightshade (belladonna), and hemlock.</p> + +<p>So far then from the confessions of the witches being mere +hysteria and hallucination they are proved, even upon the +most material interpretation, to be in the main hideous and +horrible fact.</p> + +<p>In choosing examples to demonstrate this I have as yet +referred almost entirely to the witchcraft which raged from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span>the middle of the thirteenth to the beginning of the eighteenth +century, inasmuch as that was the period when the diabolic +cult reached its height, when it spread as a blight and a +scourge throughout Europe and flaunted its most terrific +proportions. But it must not for a moment be supposed, +as has often been superficially believed, that Witchcraft was +a product of the Middle Ages, and that only then did authority +adopt measures of repression and legislate against the +warlock and the sorceress. If attention has been concentrated +upon that period it is because during those and the succeeding +centuries Witchcraft blazed forth with unexampled +virulence and ferocity, that it threatened the peace, nay in +some degree, the salvation of mankind. But even pagan +emperors had issued edicts absolutely forbidding goetic +theurgy, confiscating grimoires (<i>fatidici libri</i>) and visiting +necromancers with death. In <span class="allsmcap">A.U.C.</span> 721 during the triumvirate +of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, all astrologers and +charmers were banished.⁠<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> Maecenas called upon Augustus +to punish sorcerers, and plainly stated that those who devote +themselves to magic are despisers of the gods.⁠<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> More than +two thousand popular books of spells, both in Greek and +Latin, were discovered in Rome and publicly burned.⁠<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> In +the reign of Tiberius a decree of the Senate exiled all +traffickers in occult arts; Lucius Pituanius, a notorious +wizard, they threw from the Tarpeian rock, and another, +Publius Martius, was executed <i>more prisco</i> outside the +Esquiline gate.⁠<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>Under Claudius the Senate reiterated the sentence of +banishment: “De mathematicis Italia pellendis factum +Senatus consultum, atrox et irritum,” says Tacitus.⁠<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> During +the few months he was emperor Vitellius proceeded with +implacable severity against all soothsayers and diviners; +many of whom, when accused, he ordered for instant execution, +not even affording them the tritest formality of a +trial.⁠<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Vespasian, again, his successor, refused to permit +scryers and enchanters to set foot in Italy, strictly enforcing +the existent statutes.⁠<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> It is clear from all these stringent +laws, and the list of examples might be greatly extended, +that although under the Cæsars omens were respected, +oracles were consulted, the augurs honoured, and haruspices +revered, the dark influences and foul criminality of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>reverse of that dangerous science were recognized and its +professors punished with the full force of repeated legislation.</p> + +<p>M. de Cauzons has expressed himself somewhat vigorously +when speaking of writers who trace the origins of Witchcraft +to the Middle Ages: “C’est une mauvaise plaisanterie,” he +remarks,⁠<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> “ou une contrevérité flagrante, d’affirmer que +la sorcellerie naquit au Moyen-Age, et d’attribuer son +existence à l’influence ou aux croyances de l’Eglise.” (It +is either a silly jest or inept irony to pretend that Witchcraft +arose in the Middle Ages, to attribute its existence to the +influence or the beliefs of the Catholic Church.)</p> + +<p>An even more erroneous assertion is the charge which has +been not infrequently but over-emphatically brought forward +by partial ill-documented historians to the effect that the +European crusade against witches, the stern and searching +prosecutions with the ultimate penalty of death at the stake, +are entirely due to the Bull <i>Summis desiderantes affectibus</i>, +5 December, 1484, of Pope Innocent VIII; or that at any +rate this famous document, if it did not actually initiate the +campaign, blew to blasts of flame and fury the smouldering +and half-cold embers. This is most preposterously affirmed +by Mackay, who does not hesitate to write⁠<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a>: “There +happened at that time to be a pontiff at the head of the +Church who had given much of his attention to the subject +of Witchcraft, and who, with the intention of rooting out the +supposed crime, did more to increase it than any other man +that ever lived. John Baptist Cibo, elected to the papacy +in 1485,⁠<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> under the designation of Innocent VIII, was +sincerely alarmed at the number of witches, and launched +forth his terrible manifesto against them. In his celebrated +bull of 1488, he called the nations of Europe to the rescue +of the Church of Christ upon earth, ‘imperilled by the arts +of Satan’” which last sentence seems to be a very fair statement +of fact. Lecky notes the Bull of Innocent which, he +extravagantly declares, “gave a fearful impetus to the +persecution.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Dr. Davidson, in a brief but slanderous +account of this great pontiff, gives angry prominence to his +severity “against sorcerers, magicians, and witches.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> It +is useless to cite more of these superficial and crooked +judgements; but since even authorities of weight and value +have been deluded and fallen into the snare it is worth while +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>labouring the point a little and stressing the fact that the +Bull of Innocent VIII was only one of a long series of Papal +ordinances dealing with the suppression of a monstrous and +almost universal evil.⁠<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>The first Papal Bull directly launched against the black +art and its professors was that of Alexander IV, 13 December, +1258, addressed to the Franciscan inquisitors. And it is +worth while here to examine precisely what was the earlier +connotation of the terms “inquisitor” and “inquisition,” so +often misunderstood, as our research, though brief, will +throw a flood of light upon the subject of Witchcraft, and, +moreover, incidentally will serve to explain how that those +writers who assign the beginnings of Witchcraft to the +Middle Ages, although most certainly and even demonstrably +in error, have at any rate been very subtilely and easily led +wrong, since sorcery in the Middle Ages was violently +unmasked and the whole horrid craft then first authoritatively +exposed in its darkest colours and most abominable +manifestations, as had indeed existed from the first, but had +been carefully hidden and scrupulously concealed.</p> + +<p>By the term Inquisition (<i>inquirere</i> = to look into) is now +generally understood a special ecclesiastical institution for +combating or suppressing heresy, and the Inquisitors are the +officials attached to the said institution, more particularly +judges who are appointed to investigate the charges of heresy +and to try the persons brought before them on those charges. +During the first twelve centuries the Church was loath to +deal with heretics save by argument and persuasion; +obstinate and avowed heretics were, of course, excluded from +her communion, a defection which in the ages of faith, +naturally involved them in many and great difficulties. +S. Augustine,⁠<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> S. John Chrysostom,⁠<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> + S. Isidore of Seville⁠<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> +in the seventh century, and a number of other Doctors and +Fathers held that for no cause whatsoever should the Church +shed blood; but, on the other hand, the imperial successors +of Constantine justly considered that they were obliged to +have a care for the material welfare of the Church here on +earth, and that heresy is always inevitably and inextricably +entangled with attempts on the social order, always anarchical, +always political. Even the pagan persecutor Diocletian +recognized this fact, which heretics, until they obtain the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>upper hand, have throughout the ages consistently denied +and endeavoured to disguise. For in 287, less than two +years after his accession, he sent to the stake the leaders +of the Manichees; the majority of their followers were +beheaded, and a few less culpable sent to perpetual forced +labour in the government mines. Again in 296 he orders +their extermination (<i>stirpitus amputari</i>) as a sordid, vile, and +impure sect. So the Christian Cæsars, persuaded that the +protection of orthodoxy was their sacred duty, began to +issue edicts for the suppression of heretics as being traitors +and anti-social revolutionaries.⁠<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> But the Church protested, +and when Priscillian, Bishop of Avila, being found guilty +of heresy and sorcery,⁠<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> was condemned to death by +Maximus at Trier in 384, S. Martin of Tours addressed the +Emperor in such plain terms that it was solemnly promised +the sentence should not be carried into effect. However, +the pledge was broken, and S. Martin’s indignation was +such that for a long while he refused to hold communion +with those who had been in any way responsible for the +execution, which S. Ambrose roundly stigmatized as a +heinous crime.⁠<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> Even more crushing were the words of +Pope S. Siricius, before whom Maximus was fain to humble +himself in lowliest penitence, and the supreme pontiff +actually excommunicated Bishop Felix of Trier for his part +in the deed.</p> + +<p>From time to time heretics were put to death under the +civil law to which they were amenable, as in 556 when a +band of Manichees were executed at Ravenna. Pope +Pelagius I, who was consecrated that very year, when +Paulinus of Fossombrone, rejecting his authority, openly +stirred up schism and revolt, merely relegated the recalcitrant +bishop to a monastery. Saint Cæsarius of Arles, who died +in 547, speaking⁠<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> of the punishment to be meted out to +those who obstinately persevere in overt paganism, recommends +that they should first be remonstrated with and +reprimanded, that they should if possible be thus persuaded +of their errors; but if they persist certain corporal chastisement +is to be given; and in extreme cases a course of +domestic discipline, the cutting of the hair close as a mark +of indignity and confinement within doors under restraint, +may be adopted. There is no hint of anything more than +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>private measures, no calling in of any ecclesiastical authority, +far less an appeal to any punitive tribunal.</p> + +<p>In the days of Charlemagne the aged Elipandus, Archbishop +of Toledo, taught an offshoot of the Nestorian heresy, +Adoptionism, a crafty but deadly error, to which he won the +slippery dialectician Felix of Urgel. Felix, as a Frankish +prelate, was summoned to Aix-la-Chapelle. A synod condemned +his doctrine and he recanted, only to retract his +words and to reiterate his blasphemies. He was again +condemned, and again he recanted. But he proved shifty +and tricksome to the last. For after his death Agobar of +Lyons found amongst his papers a scroll asserting that of +this heresy he was fully persuaded, in spite of any contradictions +to which he might hypocritically subscribe. Yet +Felix only suffered a short detention at Rome, whilst no +measures seem to have been taken against Elipandus, who +died in his errors. It was presumably considered that +orthodoxy could be sufficiently served and vindicated by the +zeal of such great names as Beatus, Abbot of Libana; +Etherius, Bishop of Osma; S. Benedict of Aniane; and the +glorious Alcuin.⁠<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<p>Some forty years later, about the middle of the ninth +century, Gothescalch, a monk of Fulda, caused great scandal +by obstinately and impudently maintaining that Christ had +not died for all mankind, a foretaste of the Calvinistic heresy. +He was condemned at the Synods of Mainz in 848, and of +Kiersey-sur-Oise in 849, being sentenced to flogging and +imprisonment, punishments then common in monasteries for +various infractions of the rule. In this case, as particularly +flagrant, it was Hinemar, Archbishop of Rheims, a prelate +notorious for his severity, who sentenced the culprit to +incarceration. But Gothescalch had by his pernicious +doctrines been the cause of serious disturbances; and his +inflammatory harangues had excited tumults, sedition, and +unrest, bringing odium upon the sacred habit. The sentence +of the Kiersey Synod ran: “Frater Goteschale ... quia +et ecclesiastica et ciuilia negotia contra propositum et nomen +monachi conturbare iura ecclesiastica præsumpsisti, durissimis +uerberibus te cagistari et secundum ecclesiasticas +regulas ergastulo retrudi, auctoritate episcopali decernimus.” +(Brother Gothescalch, ... because thou hast dared—contrary +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>to thy monastic calling and vows—to concern thyself +in worldly as well as spiritual businesses and hast violated all +ecclesiastical law and order, by our episcopal authority we +condemn thee to be severely scourged and according to the +provision of the Church to be closely imprisoned.)</p> + +<p>From these instances it will be seen that the Church +throughout all those centuries of violence, rapine, invasion, +and war, when often primitive savagery reigned supreme and +the most hideous cruelty was the general order of the day, +dealt very gently with the rebel and the heretic, whom she +might have executed wholesale with the greatest ease; no +voice would have been raised in protest save that of her +own pontiffs, doctors, and Saints; nay, rather, such repression +would have been universally applauded as eminently +proper and just. But it was the civil power who arraigned +the anarch and the misbeliever, who sentenced him to +death.</p> + +<p>About the year 1000, however, the venom of Manichæism +obtained a new footing in the West, where it had died out +early in the sixth century. Between 1030-40 an important +Manichæan community was discovered at the Castle of +Monteforte, near Asti, in Piedmont. Some of the members +were arrested by the Bishop of Asti and a number of noblemen +in the neighbourhood, and upon their refusal to retract +the civil arm burned them. Others, by order of the Archbishop +of Milan, Ariberto, were brought to that city since +he hoped to convert them. They answered his efforts by +attempts to make proselytes; whereupon Lanzano, a +prominent noble and leader of the popular party, caused the +magistrates to intervene and when they had been taken +into the custody of the State they were executed without +further respite. For the next two hundred years Manichæism +spread its infernal teaching in secret until, towards the +year 1200, the plague had infected all Italy and Southern +Europe, had reached northwards to Germany, where it was +completely organized, and was not unknown in England, +since as early as 1159 thirty foreign Manichees had privily +settled here. They were discovered in 1166, and handed over +to the secular authorities by the Bishops of the Council of +Oxford. In high wrath Henry II ordered them to be +scourged, branded in the forehead, and cast adrift in the cold +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>of winter, straightly forbidding any to succour such vile +criminals, so all perished from cold and exposure. Manichæism +furthermore split up into an almost infinite number +of sects and systems, prominent amongst which were the +Cathari, the Aldonistæ and Speronistæ, the Concorrezenses +of Lombardy, the Bagnolenses, the Albigenses, Pauliciani, +Patarini, Bogomiles, the Waldenses, Tartarins, Beghards, +Pauvres de Lyon.</p> + +<p>It must be clearly borne in mind that these heretical +bodies with their endless ramifications were not merely +exponents of erroneous religious and intellectual beliefs by +which they morally corrupted all who came under their +influence, but they were the avowed enemies of law and +order, red-hot anarchists who would stop at nothing to gain +their ends. Terrorism and secret murder were their most +frequent weapons. In 1199 the Patarini followers of Ermanno +of Parma and Gottardo of Marsi, two firebrands of revolt, +foully assassinated S. Peter Parenzo, the governor of Orvieto. +On 6 April, 1252, whilst returning from Como to Milan, as +he passed through a lonely wood S. Peter of Verona was +struck down by the axe of a certain Carino, a Manichæan +bravo, who had been hired to the deed.⁠<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> By such acts they +sought to intimidate whole districts, and to compel men’s +allegiance with blood and violence. The Manichæan system +was in truth a simultaneous attack upon the Church and the +State, a desperate but well-planned organization to destroy +the whole fabric of society, to reduce civilization to chaos. +In the first instance, as the Popes began to perceive the +momentousness of the struggle they engaged the bishops to +stem the tide. At the Council of Tours, 1163, Alexander III +called upon the bishops of Gascony to take active measures +for the suppression of these revolutionaries, but at the +Lateran Council of 1179 it was found these disturbers of public +order had sown such sedition in Languedoc that an appeal +was made to the secular power to check the evil. In 1184 +Lucius III issued from Verona his Bull <i>Ad Abolendam</i> which +expressly mentions many of the heretics by name, Cathari, +Patarini, Humiliati, Pauvres de Lyon, Pasagians, Josephins, +Aldonistæ. The situation had fast developed and become +serious. Heretics were to be sought out and suitably +punished, by which, however, capital punishment is not +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>intended. Innocent III, although adding nothing essential +to these regulations yet gave them fuller scope and clearer +definition. In his Decretals he precisely speaks of accusation, +denunciation, and inquisition, and it is obvious that these +measures were necessary in the face of a great secret society +aiming at nothing less than the destruction of the established +order, for all the sectaries were engaged upon the most +zealous propaganda, and their adherents had spread like +a network over the greater part of Europe. The members +bore the title of “brother” and “sister,” and had words +and signs by which the initiate could recognize one another +without betraying themselves to others.⁠<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Ivan de Narbonne, +who was converted from this heresy, in a letter to Giraldus, +Archbishop of Bordeaux, as quoted by Matthew of Paris, +says that in every city where he travelled he was always +able to make himself known by signs.⁠<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>It was necessary that the diocesan bishops should be +assisted in their heavy task of tracking down heretics, and +accordingly the Holy See had resource to legates who +were furnished with extraordinary powers to cope with so +perplexing a situation. In 1177 as legate of Alexander III, +Peter, Cardinal of San Crisogono, at the particular request +of Count Raymond V, visited the Toulouse district to check +the rising tide of Catharist doctrine.⁠<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> In 1181, Henry, +Abbot of Clairvaux, who had been in his suite, now Cardinal +of Albano, as legate of the same Pope, received the submission +of various heretical leaders, and, so extensive were +his powers, solemnly deposed the Archbishops of Lyons and +Narbonne. In 1203 Peter of Castelnau and Raoul were +acting at Toulouse on behalf of Innocent III, seemingly with +plenipotentiary authority. The next year Arnauld Amaury, +Abbot of Citeaux, was joined to them to form a triple tribunal +with absolute power to judge heretics in the provinces of +Aix, Arles, Narbonne, and the adjoining dioceses. At the +death of Innocent III (1216) there existed an organization +to search out heretics; episcopal tribunals at which often +sat an assessor (the future inquisitor) to watch the conduct +of the case; and above all the legate to whom he might +make a report. The legate, from his position, was naturally +a prelate occupied with a vast number of urgent affairs—Arnauld +Amaury, for example, was absent for a considerable +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>time to take part in the General Chapter at Cluny—and +gradually more and more authority was delegated to the +assessor, who insensibly developed into the Inquisitor, a +special but permanent judge acting in the name of the Pope, +by whom he was invested with the right and the duty to +deal legally with offences against the Faith. And as just at +this time there came into being two new Orders, the Dominicans +and Franciscans, whose members by their theological +training and the very nature of their vows seemed eminently +fitted to perform the inquisitorial task with complete success, +absolutely uninfluenced by any worldly motive, it is natural +that the new officials should have been selected from these +Orders, and, owing to the importance attached by the +Dominicans to the study of divinity, especially from their +learned ranks.</p> + +<p>It is very obvious why the Holy See so sagaciously preferred +to assign the prosecution of heretics, a matter of the +first importance, to an extraordinary tribunal rather than +leave the trials in the hands of the bishops. Without taking +into consideration the fact that these new duties would have +seriously encroached upon, if not wholly absorbed, the time +and activities of a bishop, the prelates who ruled most +dioceses were the subject of some monarch with whom they +might have come in conflict on many a delicate point which +could easily be conceived to arise, and the result of such +disagreement would have been fraught with endless political +difficulties and internal embarrassments. A court of religious, +responsible to the Pope alone, would act more fairly, more +freely, without fear or favour. The profligate Philip I of +France, for example, during his long, worthless, and dishonoured +reign (1060-1108), by his evil courses drew upon +himself the censure of the Church, whereupon he banished +the Bishop of Beauvais and revoked the decisions of the +episcopal courts.⁠<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> In a letter⁠<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> + to William, Count of +Poitiers, Pope S. Gregory VII energetically declares that if +the King does not cease from molesting the bishops and +interfering with their judicature a sentence of excommunication +will be launched. In another letter the same pontiff +complains of the disrespect shown to the ecclesiastical +tribunals, and addressing the French bishops he cries: +“Your king, who sooth to say should be termed not a king +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>but a cruel tyrant, inspired by Satan, is the head and cause +of these evils. For he has notoriously passed all his days in +foulest crimes, in seeking to do wickedness and to ensue it.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> +The conflict of the bishops of a realm with an unworthy and +evil monarch is a commonplace of history. These troubles +could scarcely arise in the case of courts forane.</p> + +<p>The words “inquisition” and “inquisitors” began +definitely to acquire their accepted signification in the earlier +half of the thirteenth century. Thus in 1235 Gregory IX +writes to the Archbishop of Sens: “Know then that we +have charged the Provincial of the Order of Preachers in +this same realm to nominate certain of his brethren, who are +best fitted for so weighty a business, as Inquisitors that they +may proceed against all notorious evildoers in the aforesaid +realm ... and we also charge thee, dear Brother, that thou +shouldest be instant and zealous in this matter of establishing +an Inquisition by the appointment of those who seem to be +best fitted for such a work, and let thy loins be girded, +Brother, to fight boldly the battles of the Lord.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> In 1246 +Innocent IV wrote to the Superiors of the Franciscans giving +them leave to recall at will: “those brethren who have +been sent abroad to preach the Mystery of the Cross of Christ, +or to seek out and take measure against the plague sore +of heresy.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>All the heresies, and the Secret Societies of heretics, which +infested Europe during the Middle Ages were Gnostic, and +even more narrowly, Manichæan in character. The Gnostics +arose almost with the advent of Christianity as a School +or Schools who explained the teachings of Christ by blending +them with the doctrines of pagan fantasts, and thus they +claimed to have a Higher and a Wider Knowledge, the +Γνῶσις the first exponent of which was unquestionably +Simon Magus. “Two problems borrowed from heathen +philosophy,” says Mansel,⁠<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> “were intruded by Gnosticism +on the Christian revelation, the problem of absolute existence, +and the problem of the Origin of Evil.” The Gnostics denied +the existence of Free-will, and therefore Evil was not the +result of Man’s voluntary transgression, but must in some +way have emanated from the Creator Himself. Arguing on +these lines the majority asserted that the Creator must have +been a malignant power, Lord of the Kingdom of Darkness, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>opposed to the Supreme and Ineffable God. This doctrine +was taught by the Gnostic sects of Persia, which became +deeply imbued with the religion of Zoroaster, who assumed +the existence of two original and independent Powers of Good +and of Evil. Each of these Powers is of equal strength, and +supreme in his own dominions, whilst constant war is waged +between the two. This doctrine was particularly held by the +Syrian Gnostics, the Ophites, the Naasseni, the Peratæ, the +Sethians, amongst whom the serpent was the principal +symbol. As the Creator of the world was evil, the Tempter, +the Serpent, was the benefactor of man. In fact, in some +creeds he was identified with the Logos. The Cainites carried +out the Ophite doctrines to their fullest logical conclusion. +Since the Creator, the God of the Old Testament, is evil all +that is commended by the Scripture must be evil, and +conversely all that is condemned therein is good. Cain, +Korah, the rebels, are to be imitated and admired. The one +true Apostle was Judas Iscariot. This cult is very plainly +marked in the Middle Ages among the Luciferians; and +Cainite ceremonies have their place in the witches’ Sabbat.⁠<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>All this Gnostic teaching was summed up in the gospel +of the Persian Mani, who, when but a young man of +twenty-six, seems first to have proclaimed in the streets +and bazaars of Seleucia-Ctesiphon his supposed message on +Sunday, 20 March, 242, the coronation festival of Shapur I. +He did not meet with immediate success in his own country, +but here and there his ideas took deep root. In 276-277, +however, he was seized and crucified by the grandson of +Shapur, Bahram I, his disciples being relentlessly pursued. +Whenever Manichees were discovered they were brought to +swift justice, executed, held up to universal hatred and +contempt. They were considered by Moslems as not merely +Unbelievers, the followers of a false impostor, but unnatural +and unsocial, a menace to the State. It was for no light +cause that the Manichee was loathed and abhorred both by +faithful Christian and by those who proclaimed Mohammed +as the true prophet of Allah. But later Manichæism spread +in every direction to an extraordinary degree, which may +perhaps be accounted for by the fact that it is in some sense +a synthesis of the Gnostic philosophies, the theory of two +eternal principles, good and evil, being especially emphasized. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>Moreover, the historical Jesus, “the Jewish Messias, whom +the Jews crucified,” was “a devil, who was justly punished +for interfering in the work of the Æon Jesus,” who was +neither born nor suffered death. As time went on, the +elaborate cosmogony of Mani disappeared, but the idea that +the Christ must be repudiated remained. And logically, then, +worship is due to the enemy of Christ, and a sub-sect, the +Messalians or Euchites, taught that divine honours must be +paid to Satan, who is further to be propitiated by means of +every possible outrage done to Christ. This, of course, is +plain and simple Satanism openly avowed. Carpocrates even +went so far as to aggravate the teaching of the Cainites, for +he made the performance of every species of sin forbidden +in the Old Testament a solemn duty, since this was the +completest mode of showing defiance to the Evil Creator and +Ruler of the World. This doctrine was wholly that of +mediæval witches, and is flaunted by modern Satanists. +Although the Manichees affected the greatest purity, it is +quite certain that not unchastity but the act of generation +alone was opposed to their views; secretly they practised the +most hideous obscenities.⁠<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> The Messalians in particular, +vaunted a treatise <i>Asceticus</i>, which was condemned by the +Third General Council of Ephesus (431) as “that filthy book +of this heresy,” and in Armenia, in the fifth century, special +edicts were passed to restrain their immoralities, so that +their very name became the equivalent for “lewdness.” The +Messalians survived unto the Middle Ages as Bogomiles.</p> + +<p>Attention has already been drawn to the striking fact that +even Diocletian legislated with no small vigour against the +Manichees, and when we find Valentinian I and his son +Gratian, although tolerant of other bodies, passing laws of +equal severity in this regard (372), we feel that such interdiction +is especially significant. Theodosius I, by a statute +of 381, declared Manichees to be without civil rights, and +incapable of inheriting; in the following year he condemned +them to death, and in 389 he sternly directed the rigorous +enforcement to the letter of these penalties.</p> + +<p>Valentinian II confiscated their goods, annulled their wills, +and sent them into exile. Honorius in 399 renewed the +draconian measures of his predecessors; in 405 he heavily +fined all governors of provinces or civil magistrates who were +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>slack in carrying out his orders; in 407 he pronounced the +sect outlaws and public criminals having no legal status +whatsoever, and in 408 he reiterated the former enactments +in meticulous detail to afford no loophole of escape. +Theodosius II (423), again, repeated this legislation, whilst +Valentinian III passed fresh laws in 425 and 445. Anastasius +once more decreed the penalty of death, which was even +extended by Justin and Justinian to convert from Manichæism +who did not at once denounce their former coreligionists +to the authorities. This catena of laws which aims +at nothing less than extermination is of singular moment.</p> + +<p>About 660 arose the Paulicians, a Manichæan sect, who +rejected the Old Testament, the Sacraments, and the Priesthood. +In 835 it was realized that the government of this +body was political and aimed at revolution and red anarchy. +In 970 John Zimisces fixed their headquarters in Thrace. +In 1115 Alexis Comnenus established himself during the +winter at Philippopolis, and avowed his intention of converting +them, the only result being that the heretics were driven +westward and spread rapidly in France and Italy.</p> + +<p>The Bogomiles were also Manichees. They openly worshipped +Satan, repudiating Holy Mass and the Passion, +rejecting Holy Baptism for some foul ceremony of their own, +and possessing a peculiar version of the Gospel of S. John. +As Cathari these wretches had their Centre for France at +Toulouse; for Germany at Cologne; whilst in Italy, Milan, +Florence, Orvieto, and Viterbo were their rallying-points. +Their meetings were often held in the open air, on mountains, +or in the depths of some lone valley; the ritual was very +secret, but we know that at night they celebrated their +Eucharist of Consolamentum, when all stood in a circle round +a table covered with a white cloth and numerous torches +were kindled, the service being closed by the reading of the +first seventeen verses of their transfigured gospel. Bread was +broken, but there is a tradition that the words of consecration +were not pronounced according to the Christian formula; +in some instances they were altogether omitted.</p> + +<p>During the eleventh century, then, there began to spread +throughout Europe a number of mysterious organizations +whose adherents, in a secrecy that was all but absolute, +practiced obscure rites embodying their beliefs, the central +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>feature of which was the adoration of the evil principle, the +demon. But what is this save Satanism, or in other words +Witchcraft? It is true that when these heresies came into +sharp conflict with the Catholic Church they developed on +lines which lost various non-essential accretions and Eastern +subtleties of extravagant thought, but the motive of the +Manichæan doctrines and of Witchcraft is one and the same, +and the punishment of Manichees and of witches was the +same death at the stake. The fact that these heretics were +recognized as sorcerers will explain, as nothing else can, the +severity of the statutes against them, evidence of no ordinary +depravity, and early in the eleventh century Manichee and +warlock are recognized as synonymous.</p> + +<p>The sorcery of the Middle Ages, says Carl Haas, a learned +and impartial authority, was born from the heresies of earlier +epochs, and just as Christian authority had dealt with heresy, +so did it deal with the spawn witchcraft. Both alike are the +result of doubts, of faithlessness, a disordered imagination, +pride and presumption, intellectual arrogance; sick phantasy +both, they grow and flourish apace in shadow and sin, until +right reasoning, and sometimes salutary force, are definitely +opposed to them. The authors of the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> +clearly identify heresy and Witchcraft. When the Prince +Bishop of Bamberg, John George II Fuchs von Bornheim, +(1623-33), built a strong prison especially for sorcerers, the +<i>Drudenhaus</i>, he set over the great door a figure of Justice, +and inscribed above Vergil’s words: <i>Discite iustitiam moniti +et non temnere Diuos</i> (<i>Æneid</i>, VI, 620),</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">(Behold, and learn to practise right,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor do the blessed Gods despite).</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">To the right and the left were engraved upon two panels, +the one Latin, the other German, two verses from the Bible, +3 Kings ix. 8, 9; which are Englished as follows: “This +house shall be made an example of: every one that shall +pass by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and say: Why +hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house? +And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord their +God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, +and followed strange gods, and adored them, and worshipped +them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this +evil.” This is a concise summary of the basic reason for the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>prosecution of witches, the standpoint of Christian authority, +whose professors justly and logically regarded sorcery as +being in essence heresy, to be suppressed by the same +measures, to be punished with the same penalties.</p> + +<p>In connexion with the close correlation between Witchcraft +and heresy there is a very remarkable fact, the significance +of which has—so far as I am aware—never been noted. +The full fury of prosecution burst over England during the +first half of the seventeenth century, that is to say, shortly +after the era of a great religious upheaval, when the work +of rehabilitation and recovery so nobly initiated by Queen +Mary I had been wrecked owing to the pride, lust, and +baseness of her sister. In Scotland, envenomed to the core +with the poison of Calvin and Knox, fire and cord were seldom +at rest. It is clear that heresy had brought Witchcraft +swiftly in its train. Ireland has ever been singularly free +from Witchcraft prosecutions, and with the rarest exceptions—chiefly, +if not solely, the famous Dame Alice Kyteler case +of 1324—the few trials recorded are of the seventeenth +century and engineered by the Protestant party. The reason +for this exemption is plain. Until the stranger forced his +way into Ireland, heresy had no foothold there. That the +Irish firmly believed in witches, we know, but the Devil’s +claws were finely clipped.</p> + +<p>In 1022 a number of Manichees were burned alive by order +of Robert I. They had been condemned by a Synod at +Orleans and refused to recant their errors.⁠<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> A contemporary +document clearly identifies them with witches, worshippers +of the Demon, who appeared to them under the form of an +animal. Other abominable rites are fully set forth, comparable +to the pages of Sprenger, Bodin, Boguet, De Lancre, +Guazzo, and the rest. The account runs as follows: “Before +we proceed to other details I will at some length inform +those who are as yet ignorant of these matters, how that +food which they call Food from Heaven is made and provided. +On certain nights of the year they all meet together in an +appointed house, each one of them carrying a lantern in his +hand. They then begin to sing the names of various demons, +as though they were chanting a litany, until suddenly they +perceive that the Devil has appeared in the midst of them in +the shape of some animal or other. As he would seem to be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>visible to them all in some mysterious way they immediately +extinguish the lights, and each one of them as quickly as he +can seizes upon the woman, who chances to be nearest at +hand.... When a child happens to be born ... on the +eighth day they all meet together and light a large fire in +their midst, and then the child is passed through the fire, +ceremonially, according to the sacrifices of the old heathen, +and finally is burnt in the flames. The ashes are collected +and reserved, with the same veneration as Christians are +wont to reserve the Blessed Sacrament, and they give those +who are on the point of death a portion of these ashes as +if it were the Viaticum. There appears to be such power +infused by the Devil into the said ashes that a man who belongs +to these heretics and happens to have tasted even the +smallest quantity of these ashes can scarcely ever be persuaded +to abandon his heresies and to turn his thoughts +towards the true path. It must suffice to give only these +details, as a warning to all Christians to take no part in +these abominations, and God forbid that curiosity should +lead anybody to explore them.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>At Forfar, in 1661, Helen Guthrie and four other witches +exhumed the body of an unbaptised infant, which was buried +in the churchyard near the south-east door of the church, +“and took severall peices thereof, as the feet, hands, a pairt +of the head, and a pairt of the buttock, and they made a py +thereof, that they might eat of it, that by this meanes they +might never make a confession (as they thought) of their +witchcraftis.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p> + +<p>The belief of 1022 and 1661 is the same, because it is the +same organization. The very name of the Vaudois, stout +heretics, survives in Voodoo worship, which is, in effect, +African fetishism or Witchcraft transplanted to America +soil.</p> + +<p>In 1028 Count Alduin burned a number of Manichees at +Angoulême, and the chronicle runs: “Interea iussu Alduini +flammis exustæ sunt mulieres maleficæ extra urbem.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> +(About this time certain evil women, heretics, were burned +without the city by the command of Alduin.) The Templars, +whose Order was suppressed and the members thereof +executed on account of their sorceries, were clearly a +Society of Gnostic heretics, active propagandists, closely +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>connected with the Bogomiles and the Mandæans or +Johannites.⁠<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>It is true that in his recent study <i>The Religion of the +Manichees</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> Dr. F. G. Buskitt, with a wealth of interesting +detail and research, has endeavoured to show that the +Bogomiles, the Cathari, the Albigenses, and other unclean +bodies only derived fragments of their teaching from Manichæan +sources, and he definitely states “I think it misleading +to call these sects, even the Albigensians, by the name of +Manichees.” But in spite of his adroit special pleading the +historical fact remains; although we may concede that the +abominable beliefs of these various Gnostics were perhaps +a deduction from, or a development of, the actual teaching +of Mani. Yet none the less their evil was contained in his +heresy and a logical consequence of it.</p> + +<p>In the early years of this century important discoveries +of Manichæan MSS. have been made. Three or four scientific +expeditions to Chinese Turkestan brought back some thousands +of fragments, especially from the neighbourhood of a +town called Turfan. Many of these screeds are written in +the peculiar script of the Manichees, some of which can be +deciphered, although unfortunately the newly found documents +are mere scraps, bits of torn books and rolls, and +written in languages as yet imperfectly known. Much of the +new doctrine is of the wildest and most fantastic theosophy, +and the initiate were, as we know, sufficiently cunning not +to commit the esoteric and true teachings to writing, but +preferred that there should be an oral tradition. One +important piece, the <i>Khuastuanift</i>, i.e. “Confession,” has +been recovered almost in its entirety. It is in the old +Turkestan Turkish language, and seems full of the most +astounding contradictions or paradoxes, a consensus of +double meanings and subtleties.</p> + +<p>The question is asked whether we ought to consider Manichæism +as an independent religion or a Christian heresy? +Eznih of Kolb, the Armenian writer of the fifth century, +when attacking Zoroastrianism, obviously treats Manichæism +as a variety of Persian religion. The orthodox documents, +however, from Mark the Deacon onwards treat Manichæism +as in the main a Christian heresy and this is assuredly the +correct view. There is in existence a polemical fragment, a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>single ill-preserved pair of leaves, in which the Manichæan +writer pours forth horrid blasphemies and vilely attacks those +who call Mary’s Son (<i>Bar Maryam</i>) the Son of Adonay.</p> + +<p>It may be worth while here to say just a word correcting +a curious old-fashioned misapprehension which once prevailed +in certain quarters concerning the Albigenses, an +error of which we occasionally yet catch the echoes, as when +Mrs. Grenside wrote that the Albigenses were “a sect of +the 14th century which, owing to their secret doctrine, +endured much ecclesiastical persecution.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> The impression +left, and it is one which was not altogether uncommon some +seventy years ago, is that the Albigensian was a stern old +Protestant father, Bible and sword in hand, who defended +his hearth and home against the lawless brigands spurred on +to attack him by priestly machinations. Nothing, of course, +could be further from the truth. The Albigensian was a +Satanist, a worshipper of the powers of evil, and he would +have found short shrift indeed, fire and the stake, in Puritan +England under Cromwell, or in Calvinistic Scotland had his +practices been even dimly guessed at by the Kirk. As +Dr. Arendzen well says⁠<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a>: “Albigensianism was not really +a heresy against Christianity and the Catholic Church, it +was a revolt against nature, a pestilential perversion of +human instinct.”</p> + +<p>Towards the end of the nineteenth century a <i>Neo-Gnostic +Church</i> was formed by Fabre des Essarts, but that great +pontiff Leo XIII promptly condemned it with fitting severity +as a recrudescence of the old Albigensian heresy, complicated +by the addition of new false and impious doctrines. It is +said still to have a number of unhappy adherents. These +Neo-Gnostics believe that the world is created by Satan, +who is a powerful rival to the omnipotence of God. They +also preach a dangerous communism, speciously masqued +under some such titles as the “Brotherhood of Man” or the +“Brotherhood of Nations.”</p> + +<p>In 1900, after a letter from Joanny Bricaud,⁠<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> the patriarch +of universal Gnosticism at Lyons, where, in 1913, he was +residing at 8, rue Bugeaud, the Neo-Gnostics joined with the +Valentinians, a union approved by their pseudo-Council +of Toulouse in 1903. But some years later Dr. Fugairon of +Lyons, who adopted the name of Sophronius, amalgamated +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>all the branches, with the exception of the Valentinians, under +the name of the <i>Gnostic Church of Lyons</i>. These, however, +although excluded, continued to follow their own way of +salvation, and in 1906 formally addressed a legal declaration +to the Republican Government defending their religious +rights of association. Truly might Huysmans tell us that +Satanism flourished at Lyons, “où toutes les hérésies survivent,” +“where every heresy pullulates and is green.” +These Gnostic assemblies are composed of “perfected ones,” +male and female. The modern Valentinians, it is said, have +a form of spiritual marriage, bestowing the name of Helen +upon the mystic bride. The original founder of this sect, +Valentinus, was, according to S. Epiphanius (<i>Hæresis</i> XXXI) +born in Egypt, and educated at Alexandria. His errors led +to excommunication and he died in Cyprus, about <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 160-161. +His heresy is a fantastic medley of Greek and Oriental +speculation, tinged with some vague colouring of Christianity. +The Christology of Valentinus is especially confused. +He seems to have supposed the existence of three redeemers, +but Christ, the Son of Mary, did not have a real body and +did not suffer. Even his more prominent disciples, Heracleon, +Ptolemy, Marcos, and Bardesanes, widely differed from their +master, as from one another. Many of the writings of these +Gnostics, and a large number of excerpts from Valentinus’s +own works yet survive.</p> + +<p>One or two writers of the nineteenth century remarked +that there seemed to be some connexion between certain +points of the Sabbat ceremonial and the rites of various +pagan deities, which is, of course, a perfectly correct observation. +For we have seen that Witchcraft as it existed in +Europe from the eleventh century was mainly the spawn +of Gnostic heresy, and heresy by its very nature embraced +and absorbed much of heathendom. In some sense Witchcraft +was a descendant of the old pre-Christian magic, but it soon +assumed a slightly different form, or rather at the advent +of Christianity it was exposed and shown in its real foul +essence as the worship of the Evil Principle, the Enemy of +Mankind, Satan.</p> + +<p>It may freely be acknowledged that there are certain +symbols common to Christianity itself and to ancient +religions. It would in truth be very surprising if, when +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span>seeking to propagate her doctrines in the midst of Græco-Roman +civilization, the Church had adopted for her intercourse +with the people a wholly unknown language, and had +systematically repudiated everything that until then had +served to give expression to religious feeling.</p> + +<p>Within the limits imposed by the conventions of race and +culture, the method of interpreting the emotions of the heart +cannot be indefinitely varied, and it was natural that the +new religion should appropriate and incorporate all that +was good in a ritual much of which only required to be +rightly interpreted and directed to become the language of +the Christian soul aspiring to the one True God. Certain +attitudes of prayer and reverence, the use of incense and of +lamps burning day and night in the sanctuary, the offering +of ex-votos as a testimony to benefits received, all these are +man’s natural expressions of piety and gratitude towards a +divine power, and it would be strange indeed if their equivalents +were not met with in all religions.</p> + +<p>Cicero tells us that at Agrigentum there was a much-venerated +statue of Hercules, of which the mouth and chin +were worn away by the many worshippers who pressed their +lips to it.⁠<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> The bronze foot of the statue of the first Pope, +S. Peter, in Rome has not withstood any better the pious +kisses of the faithful. Yet he were a very fool who imagined +that modern Christians have learned anything from the +Sicilian contemporaries of Verres. What is true is that the +same thought in analogous circumstances has found natural +expression after an interval of centuries in identical actions +and attitudes.</p> + +<p>Among the Greeks, heroes, reputed to be the mortal sons +of some divinity, were specially honoured in the city with +which they were connected by birth and through the benefits +they had conferred upon it. After death they became the +patrons and protectors of these towns. Every country, nay, +almost every village, had such local divinities to whom +monuments were raised and whom the people invoked in +their prayers. The centre of devotion was generally the +hero’s tomb, which was often erected in the middle of the +agora, the nave of public life. In most cases it was sheltered +by a building, a sort of chapel known as ἡρῷον. The +celebrated temples, too, were not infrequently adorned with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>a great number of cenotaphs of heroes, just as the shrines +of Saints are honoured in Christian churches.⁠<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> More, the +translations of the bones or ashes of heroes were common +in Greece. Thus in the archonship of Apsephion, 469 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, +the remains of Theseus were brought from Scyros to Athens, +and carried into the city amid sacrifices and every demonstration +of triumphal joy.⁠<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> Thebes recovered from Ilion +the bones of Hector, and presented to Athens those of +Œdipus, to Lebadea those of Arcesilaus, and to Megara those +of Aigialeus.⁠<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>The analogy between these ancient practices and Christianity +may be pushed further yet. Just as, in our own +churches, objects that have belonged to the Saints are +exposed for the veneration of the faithful, so in the old +temples visitors were shown divers curiosities whose connexion +with a god or a hero would command their respect. At +Minihi Tréguier we may reverence a fragment of the Breviary +of S. Yves, at Sens the stole of S. Thomas of Canterbury, at +Bayeux the chasuble of S. Regnobert, in S. Maria Maggiore +the cincture and veil of S. Scholastica; so in various localities +of Greece were exhibited the cittara of Paris, the lyre of +Orpheus, portions of the ships of Agamemnon and Æneas. +Can anything further be needed to prove that the veneration +of Holy Relics is merely a pagan survival?</p> + +<p>Superficially the theory seems plausible enough, and yet +it will not stand a moment before the judgement of history. +The cultus of the Saints and their Relics is not an outcome +of ancient hero-worship, but of reverence for the Martyrs, +and this can be demonstrated without any possibility of +question. So here we have two very striking parallels, each +of which has an analogous starting-point, two cults which +naturally develop upon logical and similar lines, but without +any interdependence whatsoever. Needless to say, the +unbalanced folklorist, who is in general far too insufficiently +equipped for any such inquiry, has rushed in with his theories—to +his own utter undoing. And so, with regard to Witchcraft, +there appear in the rites of the Sabbat and other hellish +superstitions to be ceremonies which are directly derived +from heathendom, but this, as a matter of fact, is far +from the case. Accordingly we recognize that the thesis of +Miss M. A. Murray in her anthropological study <i>The Witch-Cult +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>n Western Europe</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> although worked out with nice +ingenuity and no little documentation, is radically and wholly +erroneous. Miss Murray actually postulates that “underlying +the Christian religion was a cult practised by many +classes of the community” which “can be traced back to +pre-Christian times, and appears to be the ancient religion +of Western Europe.” We are given a full account of the +chief festivals of this imaginary cult, of its hierarchy, its +organization, and many other details. The feasts and dances—the +obscene horrors of the Sabbat—“show that it was +a joyous religion”! It is impossible to conceive a more +amazing assertion. Miss Murray continues to say that “as +such it must have been quite incomprehensible to the gloomy +Inquisitors and Reformers who suppressed it.” The Reformers, +for all their dour severity, perfectly well appreciated +with what they were dealing, and the Inquisitors, the sons +of S. Dominic who was boundless in his charity and of +S. Francis, whose very name breathes Christ-like love to all +creation, were men of the profoundest knowledge and deepest +sympathies, whose first duty it was to stamp out the infection +lest the whole of Society be corrupted and damned. Miss +Murray does not seem to suspect that Witchcraft was in +truth a foul and noisome heresy, the poison of the Manichees. +Her “Dianic cult,” which name she gives to this “ancient +religion” supposed to have survived until the Middle Ages +and even later and to have been a formidable rival to +Christianity, is none other than black heresy and the worship +of Satan, no primitive belief with pre-agricultural rites, in +latter days persecuted, misinterpreted, and misunderstood. +It is true that in the Middle Ages Christianity had—not a +rival but a foe, the eternal enemy of the Church Militant +against whom she yet contends to-day, the dark Lord of +that city which is set contrariwise to the City of God, the +Terrible Shadow of destruction and despair.</p> + +<p>Miss Murray with tireless industry has accumulated a vast +number of details by the help of which she seeks to build up +and support her imaginative thesis. Even those that show +the appropriation by the cult of evil of the more hideous +heathen practices, both of lust and cruelty, which prevailed +among savage or decadent peoples, afford no evidence whatsoever +of any continuity of an earlier religion, whilst by far +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>the greater number of the facts she quotes are deflected, +although no doubt unconsciously, and sharply wrested so as +to be patent of the signification it is endeavoured to read +into them. Miss Murray speaks, for example, of witches +“who, like the early Christian martyrs, rushed headlong on +their fate, determined to die for their faith and their God.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> +And later, discussing the “Sacrifice of the God,” a theme +which it is interesting and by no means impertinent to note, +folklorists have elaborated in the most fanciful manner, +basing upon the scantiest and quite contradictory evidence +an abundant sheaf of wildly extravagant theories and fables, +she tells us that the burning of witches at the hands of the +public executioner was a “sacrifice of the incarnate deity.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> +One might almost suppose that the condemned went cheerfully +and voluntarily to the cruellest and most torturing +punishment, for the phrase “Self-devotion to death” is +used in this connexion. On the contrary, we continually +find in the witch-trials that the guilty, as was natural, sought +to escape from their doom by any and every means; by +flight, as in the case of Gilles de Sillé and Roger de Bricqueville, +companions of Gilles de Rais; by long and protracted +defences, such as was that of Agnes Fynnie, executed in +Edinburgh in 1644; by threats and blackmail of influential +patrons owing to which old Bettie Laing of Pittenween +escaped scot-free in 1718; by pleading pregnancy at the trial +as did Mother Samuel, the Warbois witch, who perished on the +gallows 7 April, 1593; by suicide as the notorious warlock +John Reid, who hanged himself in prison at Paisley, in 1697.</p> + +<p>Of the theoretical “Sacrifice of the incarnate deity” +Miss Murray writes: “This explanation accounts for the +fact that the bodies of witches, male or female, were always +burnt and the ashes scattered; for the strong prejudice +which existed, as late as the eighteenth century, against any +other mode of disposing of their bodies; and for some of the +otherwise inexplicable occurrences in connexion with the +deaths of certain of the victims.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> Three instances are +cited to prove these three statements, but it will be seen +upon examination that not one of these affords the slightest +evidence in support of the triple contention. In the first +place we are informed that “in the light of this theory much +of the mystery which surrounds the fate of Joan of Arc is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>explained.” How is not divulged, but this is capped by the +astounding and indecorous assertion that S. Joan of Arc +“belonged to the ancient religion, not to the Christian.” +It is superfluous to say that there is not a tittle of +evidence for such an amazing hypothesis in reference to the +Saint.</p> + +<p>Gilles de Rais, whose execution is next quoted by Miss +Murray in support of her postulate, proves a singularly +unfortunate example. We are told that “like Joan he was +willing to be tried for his faith,” by which is meant the +imaginary “Dianic cult.” This is a purely gratuitous assertion, +not borne out in any way by his behaviour at his trial, nor +by the details of any authoritative account or report of the +proceedings. Gilles de Rais was hanged on a gibbet above +a pyre, but when the heat had burned through the rope the +body was quickly taken up from the blazing wood, and +afterwards buried in the neighbouring Carmelite church. +One may compare the execution of Savonarola and his two +fellow friars on 25 May, 1498. They were strangled at the +gallows, their bodies committed to the flames, and their +ashes carefully gathered and thrown into the Arno. Gilles +de Rais was condemned by three distinct courts; by the +Holy Inquisition, the presidents being Jean de Malestroit, +Bishop of Nantes, and Jean Blouyn, vice-inquisitor, O.P., +S.T.M., on charges of heresy and sorcery; by the episcopal +court on charges of sacrilege and the violation of ecclesiastical +rights; by the civil court of John V, Duke of Brittany, on +multiplied charges of murder.</p> + +<p>The third case quoted by Miss Murray is that of Major +Weir, who “offered himself up and was executed as a witch +in Edinburgh.” Thomas Weir, who was a hypocritical +Puritan, a leader “among the Presbyterian strict sect,” and +regarded as a Saint throughout Edinburgh, had all the while +secretly led a life of hideous debauchery and was stained +with the most odious and unnatural crimes. In 1670, which +was the seventieth year of his age, he appears to have been +stricken with terrible fits of remorse and despair; the pangs +of his guilty conscience drove him to the verge of madness +and his agony could only be eased by a full, ample, and +public confession of his misdeeds. For a few months his +party, in order to avoid the scandal and disgrace, contrived +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>to stifle the matter, but a minister “whom they esteemed +more forward than wise” revealed the secret to the Lord +Provost of the city, and an inquiry was instituted. The +wretched old man, insistently declaring that “the terrors +of God which were upon his soul urged him to confess and +accuse himself,” was arrested, together with his crazy sister +Jean, who was implicated in his abominations. “All the +while he was in prison he lay under violent apprehension +of the heavy wrath of God, which put him into that which +is properly called despair,” and to various ministers who +visited him he declared, “I know my sentence of damnation +is already sealed in Heaven ... for I find nothing within +me but blackness, darkness, Brimstone, and burning to the +bottom of Hell.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> The whole account gives a complete and +perfectly comprehensible psychological study. So sudden +a revulsion of feeling, the loathing of foul acts accompanied +by the sheer inability to repent of them, is quite understandable +in a septuagenarian, worn out in body by years +of excess and enfeebled in mind owing to the heavy strain +of hourly acting an artificial and difficult rôle. The intense +emotionalism of the degenerate has not infrequently been +observed eventually to give way to a state of frenzied +anguish, for which the alienist Magnan coined the name +“Anxiomania,” a species of mental derangement that soon +drives the patient to hysterical confession and boundless +despair. “I am convinced,” says one writer with regard +to Major Weir, “of the prisoner having been delirious at the +time of his trial.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> His sister frantically accused her brother +of Witchcraft, but it is remarkable that in his case this +charge was not taken up and examined. I do not say that +Weir was not supposed to be a warlock; as a matter of fact +he was notoriously reputed such, and strange stories were +told of his magic staff and other enchantments, but Witchcraft +was not the main accusation brought against him in +the official courts. He was found guilty of adultery, fornication, +incest, and bestiality, and on these several counts +sentenced to be strangled at a stake betwixt Edinburgh and +Leith, on Monday, 11 April, 1670, and his body to be burned +to ashes. Jean Weir was condemned for incest and Witchcraft +and hanged on 12 April in the Grassmarket at Edinburgh. +To the last this miserable lunatic placed “a great +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>deal of confidence in her constant adherence to the Covenant, +which she called <i>the cause and interest of Christ</i>.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>It will be seen that Miss Murray’s citation is incorrect and +therefore impertinent. Major Weir was not executed “as +a witch.” Moreover, both he and Gilles de Rais were actually +strangled, and such examples must entirely fail to account +“for the fact that the bodies of witches, male or female, +were always burnt and the ashes scattered,” especially since +in the latter case, as we have noticed, the body was honourably +buried in the church of the Whitefriars. In fine, to +endeavour to connect, however ingeniously, the fate of +S. Joan of Arc, the execution of Gilles de Rais and Major +Weir, with the folklorists’ theory of “the sacrifice of the +incarnate deity” is merest fantasy.</p> + +<p>The gist of the whole matter lies elsewhere. Death at +the stake was the punishment reserved for heretics. As we +have already noticed, Diocletian ruthlessly burned the +Manichees: “We order then that the professors and teachers +be punished with the utmost penalties, which is to say they +are to be burned with fire together with all their execrable +books and writings.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> The Visigoth code condemned pagans +or heretics who had committed sacrilege to the flames, and +together with them it grouped all Manichees: “It is known +that many Proconsuls have thrown blasphemers to the beasts, +nay, have even burned some alive.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> The Visigoth code +of Rekeswinth (652-672) punishes Judaizers with death, “aut +lapide puniatur, aut igne cremetur.” (Let them be stoned +or burned with fire.) But it was actually in the eleventh +century that the civil power first generally ordained the +penalty of the stake for the heretics, who were, it must always +be remembered, mad anarchists endeavouring to destroy +all social order, authority, and decency. “In Italy even +many adherents of this pestilential belief were found, and +these wretches were slain with the sword or burned at the +stake,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> writes Adhémar de Chabannes, a monk of Angoulême, +about the middle of the eleventh century. In a letter +of Wazon, Bishop of Liège, there is an allusion to similar +punishments which were being inflicted in Flanders.</p> + +<p>A striking example of the heretical anarchists who troubled +Europe about the beginning of the twelfth century may be +seen in Tanchelin⁠<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> and his followers. This fanatic, who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>was originally a native of Zealand, journeyed throughout +Flanders preaching his monstrous doctrines everywhere he +could find listeners and especially concentrating upon the +city of Antwerp. In 1108 and 1109 he appeared at Arras +and Cambrai, persuading many evil and ignorant persons to +accept his abominable tenets. The tares were thickly sown, +and it is terribly significant that some three centuries later, +about 1469, there was a fearful epidemic of sorcery throughout +the whole district of the Artois, in reference to which the +anonymous author—probably an Inquisitor—of a contemporary +work entitled <i>Erreurs des Gazariens ou de ceux que +l’on prouve chevaucher sur un balai ou un bâton</i> expressly +identified such heretics as the Gazariens, who are Cathari, +and the Vaudois (Poor Lombards) with warlocks and sorcerers. +In 1112 Tanchelin, who had actually visited Rome itself, was +upon his return arrested and thrown into prison at Cologne, +whence, however, he managed to escape, and accompanied +by an apostate priest Everwacher and a Jew Manasses, who +had formerly been a blacksmith, at the head of a formidable +band of three thousand ruffians, outlaws, cast gamesters, +brigands, murderers, beggars and thieves, the parbreak of +every slum and stew, he terrorized the whole countryside, +the people being afraid, the bishops and secular princes +seemingly unable to resist him.</p> + +<p>The teaching of Tanchelin was, as might be expected, +largely incoherent and illogical, the ravings of a frantic brain, +but none the less dangerous and wholly abominable. The +Church was, of course, directly attacked and blasphemed. +With abuse and foul language, extraordinarily like the +language of the so-called Reformers in the sixteenth century, +the hierarchy and all ecclesiastical order were repudiated +and contemned, priests and religious in particular were to +be persecuted and exterminated since the priesthood was a +fiction and a snare; the Sacrifice of Holy Mass was a mockery, +all Sacraments were void and empty forms, useless for +salvation⁠<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a>; the churches themselves were to be accounted +as brothels and markets of shame. “This very spawn of +Satan and black angel of woe declared that the churches, +dedicated to God’s worship, were bawdy-houses. That, at +Holy Mass there was no Sacrifice at the hands of the priest; +the Service of the Altar was filth, not a Sacrament.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span>Tanchelin declared himself to be the Messiah, God, the Son +of God, the Perfect Man, the sum of all the divine emanations +in one system, upon whom had descended and in whom abode +the pleroma of the Holy Spirit. “This miserable wretch +advanced from evil to evil and at length proceeded to such +an extremity of unheard-of wickedness that he gave himself +out to be God, asserting that if Christ be God because the +Holy Ghost dwelt in Him, he himself was not less than and +of the same nature as God, seeing that he enjoyed the +plenitude of the Holy Ghost.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> Here the Gnostic character +of his teaching is very apparent. He even caused a temple +to be erected in his honour where he was worshipped with +sacrifice and hymns. His followers, indeed, regarded this +lunatic wretch with such an excess of veneration that the +dirty water from his bath was actually collected in phials +and solemnly distributed among them, whereof they partook +as of a sacrament.</p> + +<p>It must be borne in mind that Tanchelin’s programme did +not solely comprise a negation of Christian dogma; this we +find in most of the innovators at the time of the so-called +Reformation, but his ultimate aim was to effect a social +revolution, to overturn the existing order of things and +produce communistic chaos with himself as overlord and +dictator. The way for anarchy could only have been paved +by the destruction of the Church, the supreme representative +of authority and order throughout the world, and it was +accordingly against the Church that this superman launched +his fiercest diatribes. To further his ends he encouraged, +nay, commanded, the open practice of the foulest vices; +incest, adultery, fornication were declared to be works of +spiritual efficacy; unmentionable abominations flaunted +themselves in the face of day; virtue became an offence; +men were driven to vice and crime, and anon they gradually +sank in a stupor of infamy and sheer boneless degradation.</p> + +<p>The unfortunate town of Antwerp came directly under +Tanchelin’s influence. Here he reigned as king, surrounded +by vile and obsequious satellites who ground the miserable +citizens to the dust and filled each street and corner with +orgies of lust and blood. There is a strange and striking +parallel between the details of his foul career and the Russian +tyranny to-day. Little wonder that in 1116 a priest, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>maddened by the outrages and profanities of this hellish crew, +scattered the heretic’s brains upon the deck of his royal barge +as one afternoon he was sailing in pompous state down the +river Schelde: “After a life of infamy, bloodshed, and heresy, +whilst he was sailing on the river he was struck on the head +by a certain priest and falling down died there.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> All unfortunately, +however, the pernicious errors of Tanchelin did +not expire with their author. Antwerp remained plunged in +dissipation and riot, and although strenuous efforts were +made to restore decency and order, at first these seemed to +be entirely nugatory and fruitless. Burchard, the Bishop +of Cambrai, at once sent twelve of his most revered and +learned canons under the conduct of Hidolphe, a priest of +acknowledged sagacity and experience, to endeavour to +reform the town by word and example, but it seemed as +though their efforts were doomed to failure and ill-success. +At length, almost in despair, the good prelate begged +S. Norbert,⁠<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> who some three years before had founded his +Order at Prémontré, to essay the thankless and wellnigh +impossible task. Without demur or hesitation the Saint +cheerfully undertook so difficult a mission and accompanied +only by S. Evermonde,⁠<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> and Blessed Waltman, together with +a few more of his most fervent followers he arrived at Antwerp +without delay to begin his work there towards the end of +1123. Success at once crowned his efforts; in an incredibly +short space of time the people confessed their errors, abuses +were reformed, the leprous town cleansed of its foulness, +public safety, order, and decorum once again established, +and, what is extremely striking to notice, the old chroniclers +draw attention to the fact that a large number both of men +and women in deepest penitence brought to S. Norbert +quantities of consecrated Hosts which they had purloined +from the tabernacles and kept concealed in boxes and other +hiding-places to utilize for charms and evil invocations, to +profane in devil-worship and at the Sabbat. So marvellous +was the change from darkness to light that year by year the +Premonstratensian Order upon the Saturday⁠<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> after the +Octave of Corpus Christi solemnly observes a fitting memorial +thereof in the glad Feast of the Triumph of Holy Father +Norbert.</p> + +<p>In this incident of the stolen Hosts the connexion between +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>Gnostic heresy and Satanism is clearly seen. It was in such +soil as the antinomianism of Tanchelin that the poisoned +weeds of sorcery would thrive apace. The authorities recognized +that drastic measures must be employed, and at Bonn +a company of impure fanatics who attempted to disseminate +his ideas were incontinently sent to the stake.</p> + +<p>The other arguments brought forward by Miss Murray to +support her thesis of the continuity of a primitive religion +are mainly “the persistence of the number thirteen in the +Covens, the narrow geographical range of the domestic +familiar, the avoidance of certain forms in the animal transformations, +the limited number of personal names among the +women-witches, and the survival of the names of some of +the early gods.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Even if these details could be proved up +to the hilt and shown to be pertinent the evidence were not +convincing; it would at best point to some odd survivals, +such as are familiar in an hundred ways to every student of +hagiography, history, myths and legends, old religions, +geography, iconography, topography, etymology, anthropology, +and antiquarian lore in a myriad branches. If +we examine the matter broadly we shall find that these +circumstances are for the most part local, not general, that +in many instances they cannot be clearly substantiated, for +the evidence is conflicting and obscure.</p> + +<p>“The ‘fixed number’ among the witches of Great Britain,” +Miss Murray notes, “seems to have been thirteen,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> and +certainly in many cases amongst the English trials the coven +appears to have consisted of thirteen members, although it +may be borne in mind that very probably there were often +other associates who were not traced and involved and so +escaped justice. Yet Miss Murray does not explain why the +number thirteen should form any link with an earlier ritual +and worship. On the other hand, the demonologists are never +tired of insisting that Satan is the ape of God in all things, +and that the worshippers of evil delight to parody every +divine ordinance and institution. The explanation is simple. +The number thirteen was adopted by the witches for their +covens in mockery of Our Lord and His Apostles.</p> + +<p>“The narrow geographical range of the domestic familiar” +is not at all apparent, and it were futile to base any presumption +upon so slender a line of argument. “The avoidance +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>of certain forms in the animal transformation” is upon a +general view of Witchcraft found to be nothing other than +the non-occurrence of the lamb and the dove, and these two +were abhorred by sorcerers, seeing that Christ is the Lamb +of God, Agnus Dei, whilst the Dove is the manifestation of +the Holy Ghost.⁠<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> There is one instance, the trial of Agnes +Wobster at Aberdeen in 1597, when the Devil is said to have +appeared to the witch “in the liknes of a lamb, quhom thou +callis thy God, and bletit on the, and thaireftir spak to +the.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> But this rare exception must be understood to be a +black and deformed lamb, not the snow-white Agnus Dei. +In pictures of the Doctors of the Church, particularly perhaps +S. Gregory the Great and S. Alphonsus de Liguori, the Dove +is seen breathing divine inspiration into the ear of the Saint +who writes the heavenly message, thus directly given by +God the Holy Ghost. So in a Franco-German miniature of +the eleventh century in the <i>Hortus Deliciarum</i> we see a black +hideous bird breathing into the ear of a magician thoughts +evil and dark. This cloudy and sombre spirit, violent in its +attitude and lean in body stretches its meagre throat towards +the ear of the wicked man, who, seated at a desk, transcribes +upon a parchment the malevolent and baleful charms which +it dictates. It is in fact the Devil.⁠<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></p> + +<p>With reference to the argument based upon “the limited +number of personal names among the women-witches” this +simply resolves itself into the fact that in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries there were in general use (particularly +amongst the peasantry) far fewer personal names than have +been employed of more recent years. To assert “that the +name <i>Christian</i> clearly indicates the presence of another +religion”⁠<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> is simple nonsense. It may be noticed, too, how +many of the names which Miss Murray has catalogued in +such conscientious and alas! impertinent detail are those +of well-known Saints whose cult was universal throughout +Europe: Agnes, Alice, Anne, Barbara, Christopher, Collette, +Elizabeth, Giles, Isabel, James, John, Katherine, Lawrence, +Margaret, Mary, Michael, Patrick, Thomas, Ursula—and the +list might be almost indefinitely prolonged.</p> + +<p>“The survival of the names of some of the early gods” +is also asserted. In connexion with Witchcraft, however, very +few examples of this can be traced even by the most careful +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span>research. An old charm or two, a nonsense rhyme, may now +and again repeat some forgotten meaningless word or refrain. +Thus in a spell used by the witches of the Basses-Pyrénées, +cited by De Lancre (1609), we find mention of the old Basque +deity Janicot: “In nomine patrica, Aragueaco Petrica, +Gastellaco Ianicot, Equidæ ipordian pot.” Bodin gives a +dance-jingle, “Har, har, diable, diable, saute icy, saute là, +ioüe icy, ioüe là,” to which the chorus was “sabath sabath.” +Miss Murray tells us that the Guernsey version “which is +currently reported to be used at the present day,” runs: +“Har, har, Hon, Hon, danse ici.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> Hon was an old Breton +god, and there are still remote districts whose local names +recall and may be compounded with that of this ancient deity. +It is significant that in one case we have a Basque deity, in +the other a Breton; for Basque and Breton are nearly, if +obscurely, correlated. Such traces are interesting enough, +but by no means unique, hardly singular indeed, since they +can be so widely paralleled, and it were idle to base any +elaborate argument concerning the continuity of a fully +organized cult upon slight and unrelated survivals in dialect +place-names and the mere doggerel lilt of a peasant-song.</p> + +<p>There is in particular one statement advanced by Miss +Murray which goes far to show how in complete unconsciousness +she is fitting her material to her theory. She writes: +“There is at present nothing to show how much of the +Witches’ Mass (in which the bread, the wine, and the candles +were black) derived from the Christian ritual and how much +belonged to the Dianic cult [the name given to this hypothetical +but universal ancient religion]; it is, however, +possible that the witches’ service was the earlier form and +influenced the Christian.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> This last sentence is in truth +an amazing assertion. A more flagrant case of hysteron-proteron +is hardly imaginable. So self-evident is the absurdity +that it refutes itself, and one can only suppose that the words +were allowed to remain owing to their having been overlooked +in the revision of a long and difficult study, a venial +negligence. Every prayer and every gesture of Holy Mass, +since the first Mass was celebrated upon the first Maundy +Thursday, has been studied in minutest detail by generations +of liturgiologists and ceremonialists, whose library is almost +infinite in its vastness and extent from the humblest +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>pamphlets to the hugest folios. We can trace each inspired +development, when such an early phrase was added, when +such a hallowed sign was first made at such words in such +an orison. The witches’ service is a hideous burlesque of +Holy Mass, and, briefly, what Miss Murray suggests is that +the parody may have existed before the thing parodied. +It is true that some topsy-turvy writers have actually proclaimed +that magic preceded religion, but this view is generally +discredited by the authorities of all schools. Sir James Frazer, +Sir A. L. Lyall, and Mr. F. B. Jevons, for example, recognize +“a fundamental distinction and even opposition of principle +between magic and religion.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + +<p>In fine, upon a candid examination of this theory of the +continuity of some primitive religion, which existed as an +underlying organization manifested in Witchcraft and sorcery, +a serious rival feared and hated by the Church, we find that +nothing of the sort ever survived, that there was no connexion +between sorcery and an imaginary “Dianic cult.” To write +that “in the fifteenth century open war was declared against +the last remains of heathenism in the famous Bull of +Innocent VIII”⁠<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> is to ignore history. As has been emphasized +above, the Bull <i>Summis desiderantes affectibus</i> of 1484 +was only one of a long series of Papal ordinances directed +against an intolerable evil not heathenism indeed, but heresy. +For heresy, sorcery, and anarchy were almost interchangeable +words, and the first Bull launched directly against the black +art was that of Alexander IV, 1258, two hundred and twenty-six +years before.</p> + +<p>That here and there lingered various old harmless customs +and festivities which had come down from pre-Christian times +and which the Church had allowed, nay, had even sanctified +by directing them to their right source, the Maypole dances, +for example, and the Midsummer fires which now honour +S. John Baptist, is a matter of common knowledge. But this +is no continuance of a pagan cult.</p> + +<p>From the first centuries of the Christian era, throughout +the Middle Ages, and continuously to the present day there +has invariably been an open avowal of intentional evil-doing +on the part of the devotees of the witch-cult, and the more +mischief they did the more they pleased their lord and master. +Their revels were loathly, lecherous, and abominable, a Sabbat +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span>where every circumstance of horror and iniquity found expression. +This in itself is an argument against Miss +Murray’s theory, as none of the earlier religions existed for +the express purpose of perpetrating evil for evil’s sake. We +have but to read the eloquent and exquisite description of +the Eleusinian Mysteries by that accomplished Greek scholar +Father Cyril Martindale, S.J.,⁠<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> to catch no mean nor +mistaken glimpse of the ineffable yearning for beauty, for +purity, for holiness, which filled the hearts of the worshippers +of the goddess Persephoneia, whose stately and impressive +ritual prescribing fasts, bathing in the waters of the sea, +self-discipline, self-denial, self-restraint, culminated in the +Hall of Initiation, hallowed by the Earth-Mother, Demeter, +where the symbolic drama of life, death, and resurrection was +shown by the Hierophant to those who had wrestled, and +endured, and were adjudged worthy. How fair a shadow +was this, albeit always and ever a shadow, of the imperishable +and eternal realities to come! How different these Mysteries +from the foul orgies of witches, the Sabbat, the black mass, +the adoration of hell.</p> + +<p>In truth it was not against heathenism that Innocent VIII +sounded the note of war, but against heresy. There was a +clandestine organization hated by the Church, and this was +not sorcery nor any cult of witches renewing and keeping +green some ancient rites and pagan creed, but a witch-cult +that identified itself with and was continually manifested +in closest connexion with Gnosticism in its most degraded +and vilest shapes.</p> + +<p>There is a curious little piece of symbolism, as it may be, +which has passed into the patois of the Pyrenees. Wizards +are commonly known as <i>poudouès</i> and witches <i>poudouèros</i>, +both words being derived from <i>putere</i>, which signifies to have +an evil smell. The demonologists report, and it was commonly +believed, that sorcerers could often be detected by +their foul and fetid odour. Hagiographers tell that S. Philip +Neri could distinguish heretics by their smell, and often he +was obliged to turn away his head when meeting them in +the street. The same is recorded of many other Saints, and +this tradition is interesting as it serves to show the close +connexion there was held to be between magic and heresy.⁠<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> +Saint Pachomius, the cenobite, could distinguish heretics by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span>their insupportable stench; the abbot Eugendis could tell +the virtues and vices of those whom he met by the perfume +or the stink. Saint Hilarion, as S. Jerome relates, could even +distinguish a man’s sins by the smell of a warm garment or +cloak. Blessed Dominica of Paradise, passing a soldier in the +street, knew by the foul smell that he had abandoned the +faith, to which, however, her fervid exhortations and prayers +eventually restored him. Saint Bridget of Sweden was +wellnigh suffocated by the fetor of a notorious sinner who +addressed her. Saint Catherine of Siena experienced the +same sensations; whilst Saint Lutgarde, a Cistercian nun, on +meeting a vicious reprobate perceived a decaying smell of +leprosy and disease.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the Saints themselves have diffused +sweetest fragrances, and actually “the odour of sanctity” +is more than a mere phrase. One day in 1566, when he had +entered the church at Somascha, a secluded hamlet between +Milan and Bergamo, S. Charles Borromeo exclaimed: “I +know by the heavenly fragrance in this sanctuary that a +great Servant of God lies buried here!” The church, in fact, +contained the body of S. Jerome Emiliani, who died in 1537. +S. Herman Joseph could be traced through the corridors of +Steinfeld by the rare perfumes he scattered as he walked. +The same was the case with that marvellous mystic S. Joseph +of Cupertino. S. Thomas Aquinas smelt of male frankincense. +I myself have known a priest of fervent faith who at times +diffused the odour of incense. Maria-Vittoria of Genoa, Ida +of Louvain, S. Colette, S. Humiliana, were fragrant as sweet +flowers. S. Francis of Paul and Venturini of Bergamo +scattered heavenly aromas when they offered the Holy +Sacrifice. The pus of S. John of the Cross gave forth a strong +scent of lilies.</p> + +<p>Miss Murray has worked out her thesis with no inconsiderable +ingenuity, but when details are considered, historically +examined, and set in their due proportions, it must be +concluded that the theory of the continuity of an ancient +religion is baseless. Her book is called <i>A Study in Anthropology</i>, +and here we can, I think, at once put our finger upon +the fundamental mistake. Anthropology alone offers no +explanation of Witchcraft. Only the trained theologian can +adequately treat the subject. An amount of interesting +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>material has been collected, but the key to the dark mystery +could not be found.</p> + +<p>Yet, as our investigations have shown, it was not so far +to seek. In the succinct phrase of that profound and prolific +scholar Thomas Stapleton⁠<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a>: “Crescit cum magia hæresis, +cum hæresi magia.” (The weed heresy grows alongside the +weed witchcraft, the weed witchcraft alongside the weed +heresy.)</p> + +<h3 id="NOTES_TO_CHAPTER_I">NOTES TO CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1">[1]</a> <i>Paris. Jacques du Puys.</i> 4to. 1580. The preface, addressed to De Thou, +is signed: “De <i>Laon</i>, ce xx iour de <i>Decembre</i>, M.D.LXXIX.” There were +nine editions before 1604. The most complete is <i>Paris</i>, 4to. 1587. In addition +to the text it contains ten extra pages only found here giving the trial of a +sorcerer, Abel de la Rue, executed in 1582.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2">[2]</a> The first Papal bull dealing with sorcery was issued by Alexander IV, +13 December, 1258. The last Papal Constitution concerned with this crime +is that of Urban VIII, <i>Inscrutabilis iudiciorum Dei altitudo</i>, 1 April, 1631. +The last regular English trial seems to have been that of an old woman and her +son, acquitted at Leicester in 1717. In 1722 the last execution of a Scottish +witch took place at Loth; both English and Scottish statutes were repealed +in 1735. The Irish Statute was not repealed until 1821. At Kempten in +Bavaria, a mad heretic, a woman, was executed for sorcery in 1775. In the +Swiss canton of Glaris, a wench named Anna Goeldi, was hanged as a witch, +17 June, 1782. Two hags were burned in Poland on the same charge as late +as 1793.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3">[3]</a> Roland Brévannes. <i>Les Messes Noires</i>, Iⁱᵉʳ tableau, scène VII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4">[4]</a> I have actually heard it categorically laid down by a speaker in a +Shakespearean debate, a litterateur of professed culture, that the Elizabethans +could not, of course, really have believed in witchcraft.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5">[5]</a> In the Exhibition of this artist’s work at the Leicester Galleries, London, +in March, 1925.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6">[6]</a> ... qu’elle, & sa mère montoient sur vne ramasse, & que sortans le +contremont de la cheminée elles alloient par l’air en ceste façon au Sabbat. +Boguet, <i>Discours</i>, p. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7">[7]</a> Glanvill, Part II. p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8">[8]</a> Julius Wellhausen. <i>Reste arabischen Heidenthums</i>, p. 159. Berlin, 1897.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9">[9]</a> <i>Apud</i> Miss Murray’s <i>The Witch-Cult</i>. (1921). Appendix V. pp. 279-80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10">[10]</a> Boguet, <i>Discours</i>. XVI. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11">[11]</a> Benjamin Thorpe, <i>Monumenta Ecclesiastica</i>, II. p. 34. London, 1840. +The <i>Liber Pœnitentialis</i> was first published complete by Wasserschleben +in 1851; a convenient edition is Migne, <i>P.L.</i> XCIX.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12">[12]</a> <i>Calendar of State Papers.</i> Domestic, 1584.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13">[13]</a> Sir Walter Scott, <i>Demonology and Witchcraft</i>, Letter V, gives the narrative +of this case, but in the light of later research his version must be slightly +corrected.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14">[14]</a> Pitcairn. I. pt. ii. p. 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15">[15]</a> <i>Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland</i>, New Series, vol. X. +Edinburgh.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16">[16]</a> Sir James Melville, <i>Memoirs</i>. Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh. pp. 395-6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17">[17]</a> London. “for <i>William Wright</i>.” N.D. [1591]. The woodcut is on the +title-page verso, and signature [c.ij.] verso. The pages are not numbered.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18">[18]</a> <i>Flying Ointments.</i> <i>Apud</i> Miss Murray’s <i>Witch-Cult in Western Europe</i>, +p. 279. It may be noted that the scandals of the Black Mass under Louis XIV +were closely concerned with wholesale accusations of poisoning. La Voisin +was a notorious vendor of toxic philtres. The possibility of poisoning the +King, the Dauphin, Colbert and others was frequently debated.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19">[19]</a> Dio Cassius. XLIX. 43. p. 756. ed. Sturz.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20">[20]</a> <i>Idem.</i> LII. 36. p. 149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21">[21]</a> Suetonius. <i>Augustus.</i> 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22">[22]</a> Tacitus. <i>Annales.</i> II. 32. <i>More prisco.</i> “Ut eum infelici arbori alligatum +uirgis cædi, et postremo securi percuti iuberent.” Muret.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23">[23]</a> XII. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24">[24]</a> Suetonius. <i>Vitellius.</i> 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25">[25]</a> Dio Cassius. LXVI. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26">[26]</a> <i>La Magie et la Sorcellerie.</i> Paris. (1912.) I. p. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27">[27]</a> <i>Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions</i>, II. p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28">[28]</a> The dates are as inaccurate as the statements. Giovanni Battista Cibò +was elected Pope 29 August, 1484; and the Bull was issued in the December +of that year, not in 1488.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29">[29]</a> <i>Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe</i>, c. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30">[30]</a> <i>Dictionary of Universal Biography.</i> VIII. (1890).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31">[31]</a> A more detailed treatment will be found in the present writer’s <i>The +Geography of Witchcraft</i>, where the Bull is given <i>in extenso</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32">[32]</a> <i>Epist.</i>, c.n. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33">[33]</a> <i>Hom.</i>, XLVI. c. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34">[34]</a> <i>Sententianum</i>, III. iv. nn. 4-6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35">[35]</a> Theodosius II. <i>Nouellæ</i>, tit. III. <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 438.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36">[36]</a> Uanissimus [Priscillianus] et plus iusto inflatior profanarum rerum +scientia: quin et magicas artes ab adolescentia cum exercuisse creditum est. +Sulpicius Severus. II. 47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37">[37]</a> H. C. Lea in his <i>History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages</i>, (1888) +I. 215, asserts that Leo I justified the act, and that successive edicts against +heresy were due to ecclesiastical influence. This is the exact opposite of +historical truth, and the writer has not hesitated to transfer words of the +Emperor to the Pope.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38">[38]</a> In a sermon published in 1896 by Dom Morin <i>Revue benédictine</i>, c. xiii. +p. 205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39">[39]</a> <i>Epistola Elipandi ad Alcuinum</i>, Migne. Pat. Lat. CXCVI. p. 872. +Alcuin. <i>Opera Omnia.</i> Migne Pat. Lat. C-CI, especially <i>Liber Albini contra +hæresim Felicis</i>; <i>Libri VII aduersus Felicem</i>; <i>Aduersus Elipandum Libri IV</i>. +Florez, <i>España sagrada</i>. V. p. 562. Menendez y Pelayo, <i>Historia de los +heterodoxos españoles</i>, Madrid, 1880, I. p. 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40">[40]</a> The martyrdom of S. Peter is a well-known subject in art. Titian’s +masterpiece in the Dominican church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo at Venice was +destroyed by a fire on 16 August, 1867. But there are exquisite paintings +of the scene by Lorenzo Lotto and Bellini. S. Peter, whose shrine is in +San Eustorgio, Milan, was canonized 25 March, 1253, by Innocent IV. +Major Feast, 29 April.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41">[41]</a> Muratori. <i>Antiquitates italicæ medii æui</i>, Milan, 1738-42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42">[42]</a> Gabriel Rossetti, <i>Disquisitions</i>, vol. I. p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43">[43]</a> Gervasius Dorobernensis, <i>Chronicon</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44">[44]</a> <i>Vita S. Romanæ.</i> n. 10; Acta SS. die, 3 Oct. p. 138. S. Gregorii VII. +Lib. I. Epistola 75, <i>ad Philippum</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45">[45]</a> Labbe. <i>Sacrosancta concilia.</i> 18 vols. folio. 1671. Vol. X. col. 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46">[46]</a> Quarum rerum rex uester, qui non rex sed tyrannus dicendus est, +suadente diabolo, caput et causa est, qui omnem aetatem suam flagitiis +et facinoribus polluit. <i>Idem</i>, vol. X. col. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47">[47]</a> Sane ... prouinciali ordinis prædicatorum in eodem regno dedimus +in mandatis, ut aliquibus fratribus suis aptis ad hoc, inquisitionem contra +illos committeret in regno præfato ... fraternitati tuæ ... mandamus +quatenus ... per alios qui ad hoc idonei uidebuntur, festines ... procedere +in inquisitionis negotio et ad dominicum certamen accingi. Ripoll et Brémond, +<i>Bullarium ordinis S. Dominici</i>, I. p. 80. (8 vols. Romæ. 1737, <i>sqq.</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48">[48]</a> Fratres ... qui ad prædicandum crucem uel inquirendum contra +prauitatem hæreticam ... sunt deputati. Wadding. <i>Annales Minorum.</i> +ed. secunda. 24 vols. Romæ, 1732, <i>sqq.</i> III. 144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49">[49]</a> <i>Gnostic Heresies.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50">[50]</a> Jules Bois. <i>Le Satanisme et la Magie</i>, c. 6.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51">[51]</a> It is true that S. Augustine does not bring a charge of depravity against +the Manichæans, but they veiled their vices with the greatest caution, and +S. Augustine was simply a catechumen, one of the Auditors, who would have +known nothing of these esoteric abominations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52">[52]</a> Extra ciuitatis educti muros in quodam tuguriolo copioso igne accenso +... cremati sunt. <i>Gesta synodi Aurelianensis.</i> Arnould. <i>L’Inquisition.</i> +(Paris, 1869). VI. p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53">[53]</a> Sed antequam ad conflictum ueniamus, de cibo illo, qui cœlestis ab illis +dicebatur, quali arte conficiebatur, nescientibus demonstrare curabo. Congregabantur +si quidem certis noctibus in domo denominata, singuli lucernas +tenentes in manibus, ad instar letaniæ demonum nomina declamabant, +donec subito Dæmonem in similitudine cuiuslibet bestiolæ inter eos uiderent +descendere. Qui statim, ut uisibilis ille uidebatur uisio, omnibus extinctis +luminaribus, quamprimum quisque poterat, mulierem, quæ ad manum sibi +ueniebat, ad abutendum arripiebat, sine peccati respectu, et utrum mater, +aut soror, aut monacha haberetur, pro sanctitate et religione eius concubitus +ab illis æstimabatur; ex quo spurcissimo concubitu infans generatus, octaua +die in medio eorum copioso igne accenso probabatur per ignem more antiquorum +Paganorum; et sic in igne cremabatur. Cuius cinis tanta ueneratione +colligebatur atque custodiebatur, ut Christiana religiositas Corpus Christi +custodire solet, ægris dandum de hoc sæculo exituris ad uiaticum. Inerat +enim tanta uis diabolicæ fraudis in ipso cinere ut quicumque de præfata +hæresi imbutus fuisset, et de eodem cinere quamuis sumendo parum prælibauisset, +uix unquam postea de eadem heresi gressum mentis ad uiam ueritatis +dirigere ualeret. De qua re parum dixisse sufficiat, ut Christicolæ caueant +se ab hoc nefario opere, non ut studeant sectando imitari. Schmidt. <i>Histoire +et doctrine des Cathares ou Albigeois.</i> Paris. 1849. I. p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54">[54]</a> G. R. Kinloch. <i>Reliquiæ Antiquæ Scoticæ.</i> Edinburgh, 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55">[55]</a> Adhémar de Chabannes. (A monk of Angoulême.) <i>Chronicon, Recueil +des historicus</i>, vol. X. p. 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56">[56]</a> Fabré Palaprat. <i>Recherches Historiques sur les Templiers</i>, Paris. 1835.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57">[57]</a> Cambridge University Press, 1925.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58">[58]</a> <i>The Philosopher</i>, July-August, 1924.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59">[59]</a> <i>The Philosopher</i>, January-March, 1925. <i>The Albigenses</i>, pp. 20-25. +The whole article, which is written with extraordinary restraint, should be +read.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60">[60]</a> He is the author of <i>Éléments d’Astrologie</i>; <i>Un disciple de Cl. de Saint-Martin, +Dutoit-Membrini</i>; <i>Premiers Éléments d’Occultisme</i>; <i>La petite Église +anticoncordataire, son histoire, son état actuel</i>; <i>J. K. Huysmans et le Satanisme</i>; +<i>Huysmans, Occultiste et Magicien</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61">[61]</a> <i>In Uerrem.</i> IV. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62">[62]</a> H. Th. Pyl, <i>Die griechischen Rundbauten</i>, 1861, pp. 67, <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63">[63]</a> Plutarch, <i>Theseus</i> 36; <i>Cimon</i> 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64">[64]</a> Pausanias is the chief authority on this point. See Rohde <i>Psyche</i>, I. +p. 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65">[65]</a> Clarendon Press, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66">[66]</a> <i>The Witch-Cult in Western Europe</i>, p. 16. It is true that the Brethren +of the Free Spirit, anarchists, who vaunted the Adamite heresy, in the +Thirteenth century, went to the stake with pæans of joy. But they were +probably drugged. J. L. Mosheim, <i>Ecclesiastical History</i>. London. 1819. +III. p. 278. <i>sqq.</i> The Adamites were a licentious sect who called their church +Paradise and worshipped in a state of stark nudity. They were Gnostics +and claimed complete emancipation from the moral law. They lived in +shameful communism. Bohemian Adamites existed as late as 1849. In +Russia the <i>teleschi</i>, a branch of the sect known as the “Divine Men,” performed +their religious rites in a state of nature, following the example, as +they asserted, of Adam and Eve in Paradise. These assemblies were wont +to end in promiscuous debauchery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67">[67]</a> <i>Idem.</i> p. 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68">[68]</a> <i>Witch-Cult in Western Europe</i>, p. 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69">[69]</a> <i>Additional Notices of Major Weir and his Sister</i>; Sinclar’s <i>Satan’s +Invisible World</i>. (Reprint. 1875).</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70">[70]</a> <i>Criminal Trials</i>, 1536-1784; Hugo Arnot, 4to, 1785.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71">[71]</a> <i>Ravillac Rediuius</i>, Dr. George Hickes, 4to, 1678.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72">[72]</a> Iubemus namque, auctores quidem et principes, una cum abominandis +scripturis eorum seueriori pœnæ subiici, ita ut flammeis ignibus exurantur. +Baronius, 287, 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73">[73]</a> Scio multos [Proconsules] et ad bestias damnasse sacrilegos, nonnullos +etiam uiuos exussisse. <i>Lex Romana Visigothorum nouella</i>, XLVIII. tit. xiii. +c. 6-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74">[74]</a> Plures etiam per Italiam tunc huius pestiferi dogmatis sunt reperti, +qui aut gladiis, aut incendiis perierunt.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75">[75]</a> Tanchelinus, Tandemus, Tanchelmus. The history of this important +revolutionary movement has been carefully studied. The following authoritative +books are a few from many of great value and learning. <i>Corpus +documentorum Inquisitionis hereticæ prauitatis neerlandicæ</i>, ed. Dr. Paul +Frédéricq, vol. I, p. 15 <i>et sqq.</i> Ghent. 1889; <i>Tanchelijn</i> by Janssen in +the <i>Annales de l’académie Royale d’archéologie de Belgique</i>, vol. XXIII, p. 448 +<i>et sqq.</i> 1867; Foppens, <i>Historia Episcopatus Antuerpiensis</i>, p. 8 and p. 146, +Brussels, 1717; Dierxsens, <i>Antuerpia Christo nascens et crescens</i>, vol. I, p. 88, +Antwerp, 1773; Poncelet, <i>Saint Norbert et Tanchelin</i> in the <i>Analecta bollandiniana</i>, +vol. XIII, p. 441, 1893; Schools, <i>Saint Norbert et Tanchelin à Anvers</i> +in the <i>Bibliothèque norbertine</i>, vol. II, p. 97, 1900; De Schapper, <i>Réponse +à la question: Faites connaître l’hérésiarque Tanchelin et les erreurs qu’il +répandit au commencement du XIIIᵉ siècle</i> [an error for <i>XIIᵉ siècle</i>] in the +<i>Collationes Brugenses</i>, vol. XVII, p. 107, 1912. L. Vander Essen, <i>De Katterij +van Tanchelm in de XIIᵉ eeuw</i> in <i>Ons Geloof</i>, vol. II, p. 354, 1912; <i>Antwerpen +en de H. Norbertus</i> in the <i>Bode van Onze Lieve Vrouw van het H. Hert van +Averbode</i>, Nos. 18 and 19, pp. 207-211 and 217-220, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76">[76]</a> “That most vile and abandoned scoundrel had become so open and +utterly depraved an enemy to the Christian faith and all religious observance +that he denied any respect was due to Bishops and priests; moreover, he +affirmed that the reception of the most holy Body and Blood of Our Lord +availed nothing to eternal life and man’s salvation.” “Erat quidem ille +sceleratissimus et christianæ fidei et totius religionis inimicus in tantum ut +obsequium episcoporum et sacerdotum nihil esse diceret, et sacrosancti +corporiset sanguinis Domini J. C. perceptionem ad salutem perpetuam +prodesse denegeret.” <i>Vita Noberti archiepiscopi Magdeburgensis, Vita A. +Monument. Germ. Scriptores</i>, vol. XII. p. 690, ed. G. A. Pertz, Hanover, +Berlin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77">[77]</a> “Immo uere ipse angelus Sathanæ declamabat eccelsias Dei lupinaria +esse reputanda. Nihil esse, quod sacerdotum officio in mensa dominica +conficeretur; pollutiones, non sacramenta nominanda.” <i>Lettre des chanoines +d’Utrecht au nom de leur diocèse à Frédéric, archevêque de Cologne.</i> <i>Apud</i> +Frédéricq, vol. I. n. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78">[78]</a> Talibus nequitiæ successibus miscro homini tanta sceleris accessit +audacia, ut etiam se Deum diceret, asserens, quia, si Christus ideo Deus est, +quia Spiritum Sanctum habuisset, se non inferius nec dissimilius Deum, quia +plenitudinem Spiritus Sancti accepisset. <i>Idem.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79">[79]</a> Qui tandem post multos errores et cædes, dum nauigaret, a quodam +presbytero percussus in cerebro occubuit. <i>Sigiberti continuatio.</i> Apud +<i>Monument. Germ. Scriptores</i>, vol. VI, p. 449. See also, Johannes Trithemius, +<i>Annales Hirsaugienses</i>, vol. I, p. 387, Saint-Gall, 1690; Du Plessis d’Argentré, +<i>Collectio iudiciorum</i>, vol. I, p. 11 <i>sqq.</i> Paris, 1728; Schmidt, <i>Histoire et +doctrine des Cathares ou Albigeois</i>, vol. I, p. 49, Paris, 1849.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80">[80]</a> There is a contemporary <i>Uita Norberti</i> of which two recensions have +been published: <i>Uita A.</i> by R. Wilmans in the <i>Mon. Germ. Hag.</i>, SS., +vol. XIII, pp. 663-706, Hanover, 1853; <i>Uita B.</i> by Surius, <i>De probatis +Sanctorum historiis</i>, vol. III, pp. 517-547, Cologne, 1572. Other authoritative +works are: J. Van der Sterse, <i>Uita S. Norberti</i>, Antwerp, 1622; Du Pré, +<i>La Vie du bienheureux saint Norbert</i>, Paris, 1627; Ch. Hugo, <i>La Vie de +St. Norbert</i>, Luxembourg, 1704; G. Madelaine, <i>Histoire de St. Norbert</i>, Lille, +1886; B. Wazasek, <i>Der Hl. Norbert</i>, Vienna, 1914. An excellent brief but +scholarly account is <i>The Life of S. Norbert</i>, London, 1886, by my late revered +friend Abbot Geudens, C.R.P.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81">[81]</a> Feast, 17 February.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82">[82]</a> Formerly kept upon the Sunday.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83">[83]</a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, pp. 16, 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84">[84]</a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85">[85]</a> For a full and detailed statement see Didron’s great work, <i>Iconographie +chrétienne</i>, Paris, 1843.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86">[86]</a> <i>Spalding Club Miscellany</i>, I, p. 129. Aberdeen, 1841.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87">[87]</a> At their black mass the witches of the Basses-Pyrénées (1609) when +the host was elevated said “Corbeau noir, corbeau noir.” De Lancre, <i>Tableau +de l’Inconstance des mauvais Anges</i>, Paris, 1613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88">[88]</a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89">[89]</a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 165. It is not at all evident that “the word <i>diable</i> is clearly +Bodin’s own interpellation for the name of the god,” indeed this assumption +is purely gratuitous to support the argument, and cannot be admitted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90">[90]</a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, pp. 14, 15. I would not dwell upon the offensiveness of this +suggestion, since it is, I am sure, unintentional.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91">[91]</a> <i>Golden Bough</i>, Part I. vol. I. p. xx. Third Edition. 1911.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92">[92]</a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93">[93]</a> <i>The Goddess of Ghosts</i>, pp. 137-158.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94">[94]</a> Cassiodorus, <i>Hist. Eccl.</i>, VII, 11. <i>fin.</i> speaks of the <i>fetidissimus fons</i> +of heresy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95">[95]</a> 1535-1598. His works were collected in four folio volumes, Paris, 1620, +prefaced by Henry Holland’s <i>Uita Thomæ Stapletoni</i>. An original portrait +is preserved at Douai Abbey, Woolhampton.</p></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II<br> +<span class="smcap">The Worship of the Witch</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p>In order clearly to understand and fully to realize the +shuddering horror and heart-sick dismay any sort of commerce +between human beings and evil spirits, which is the very +core and kernel of Witchcraft, excited throughout the whole +of Christendom, to appreciate why tome after tome was +written upon the subject by the most learned pens of Europe, +why holiest pontiffs and wisest judges, grave philosopher +and discreet scholar, king and peasant, careless noble and +earnest divine, all alike were of one mind in the prosecution +of sorcery; why in Catholic Spain and in Puritan Scotland, +in cold Geneva and at genial Rome, unhesitatingly and +perseveringly man sought to stamp out the plague with the +most terrible of all penalties, the cautery of fire; in order +that by the misreading of history we should not superficially +and foolishly think monk and magistrate, layman and lawyer +were mere tigers, mad fanatics—for as such have they, too, +often been presented and traduced,—it will be not wholly +impertinent briefly to recapitulate the orthodox doctrine of +the Powers of Darkness, facts nowadays too often forgotten +or ignored, but which to the acute mediæval mind were ever +fearfully and prominently in view.</p> + +<p>And here, as in so many other beliefs, we shall find a little +dogma; certain things that can hardly be denied without +the note of temerity; and much concerning which nothing +definite can be known, upon which assuredly no pronouncement +will be made.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the name Devil is commonly given to +the fallen angels, who are also called Demons. The exact +technical distinction between the two terms in ecclesiastical +usage may be seen in the phrase used in the decree of the +Fourth Lateran Council⁠<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>: “Diabolus enim et alii dæmones.” +(The devil and the other demons), i.e. all are demons, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span>the chief of the demons is called the Devil. This distinction +is preserved in the Vulgate New Testament, where <i>diabolus</i> +represents the Greek διάβολος, and in almost every instance +refers to Satan himself, whilst his subordinate angels are +described, in accordance with the Greek, as <i>dæmones</i> or +<i>dæmonia</i>. But save in some highly specialized context when +the most meticulous accuracy is required, we now use the +words “devil,” “demon” indifferently, and employ the +definite article to denote Lucifer (Satan), chief of the devils, +The Devil. So in S. Matthew xxv. 41, is written “the +devil and his angels.” The Greek word διάβολος means a +slanderer, an accuser, and in this sense is it applied to him +of whom it is said “the accuser [ὁ κατήγορος] of our +brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God +day and night” (Apocalypse xii. 10). Thus it answers to +the Hebrew name Satan, which signifies an adversary, an +accuser.</p> + +<p>Mention is made of the Devil in many passages both of +the Old and New Testaments, but much is left in obscurity, +and the full Scriptural teaching on the legions of evil can +best be ascertained by combining the scattered notices and +reading them in the light of patristic and theological tradition. +The authoritative teaching of the Church is declared +in the Decrees of the Fourth Lateran Church (cap. 1. <i>Firmiter +credimus</i>), wherein, after setting forth that God in the beginning +had created two creatures, the spiritual and corporeal; +that is to say, the angelic and the earthly, and lastly man, +who was made of both earth and body; the Council continues: +“For the Devil and the other demons were created +by God naturally good; but they themselves of themselves +became evil.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The dogma is here clearly laid down that +the Devil and the other demons are spiritual or angelic +creatures created by God in a state of innocence, and that +they became evil by their own free act. It is added that +man sinned by suggestion of the Devil, and that in the next +world the reprobate and impenitent will suffer punishment +with him. This then is the actual dogma, the dry bones of +the doctrine, so to speak. But later theologians have added +a great deal to this,—the authoritative Doctor Eximius, +Francisco Suarez, S.J.,⁠<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> <i>De Angelis</i>, VII, is especially valuable—and +much of what they deduce cannot be disputed without +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>such rejection incurring the grave censure technically known +as “Erroneous.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>It is remarkable that for an account of the Fall of the +angels, which happened before the creation of the world, +we must turn to the last book in the Bible, the Apocalypse +of S. John. For although the picture of the past be blended +with prophecies of what shall be in the future, thus must we +undoubtedly regard the vision of Patmos. “And there was +a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with +the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: and they +prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in +heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old +serpent, who is called the Devil, and Satan, who seduceth +the whole world; and he was cast down unto the earth, +and his angels were thrown down with him” (Apocalypse +xii. 7-9). To this may be added the words of S. Jude: +“And the angels who kept not their principality, but forsook +their own habitation, he hath reserved under darkness in +everlasting chains, unto the judgement of the great day.” +To these references should be added a striking passage from +the prophet Isaiah: “How art thou fallen from heaven, +O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning! how art thou fallen +to the earth, that didst wound the nations! And thou saidst +in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my +throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain +of the covenant, in the sides of the north. I will ascend +above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most High. +But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth +of the pit” (Isaiah xiv. 12-15). The words of the prophet +may in one sense, perhaps primarily, be directed against +Merodach-baladan, King of Babylon, but all the early Fathers +and later commentators are agreed in understanding the +passage as applying with deeper significance to the fall of +the rebel angel. This interpretation is confirmed by the +words of Our Lord to His disciples: “I saw Satan like +lightning falling from heaven.” (Uidebam Satanam sicut +fulgur de cœlo cadentem.) S. Luke x. 18.</p> + +<p>An obvious question which next arises and which has been +amply discussed by the theologians is: What was the nature +of the sin of the rebel angels? This point presents some +difficulty, for theology has logically formed the highest +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>estimate of the perfection of the angelic nature, the powers +and possibilities of the angelic knowledge. Sins of the flesh +are certainly impossible to angels, and from many sins which +are purely spiritual and intellectual they would seem to be +equally debarred. The great offence of Lucifer appears to +have been the desire of independence of God and equality +with God.</p> + +<p>It is theologically certain that Lucifer held a very high +rank in the celestial hierarchy, and it is evident that he +maintains some kind of sovereignty over those who followed +him in his rebellion: “Si autem,” says Our Lord, “et +Satanas in seipsum diuisus est quomodo stabit regnum eius?” +(If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his +kingdom stand?) And S. Paul speaks of “Principem +potestatis æris huius, qui nunc operatur in filios diffidentiæ.” +(The Prince of the power of this air, who now worketh in +the sons of disobedience) Ephesians ii. 2. It may seem +strange that those rebellious spirits who rose against their +Maker should be subordinate to and obey one of their +fellows who led them to destruction, but this in itself is a +proof that Lucifer is a superior intelligence, and the knowledge +of the angels would show them that they can effect +more mischief and evil by co-operation and organization, +although their unifying principle is the bond of hate, than +by anarchy and division. There can be little doubt that +among their ranks are many mean and petty spirits⁠<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>—to +speak comparatively—but even these can influence and +betray foolish and arrogant men. We shall be on safe ground +if we follow the opinion of Suarez, who would allow Lucifer +to have been the highest of all angels negatively, i.e. that +no one was higher, although many (and among these the +three great Archangels, S. Michael, S. Gabriel, S. Raphael) +may have been his equals.</p> + +<p>It has been argued that the highest of the angels, by reason +of their greater intellectual illumination, must have entirely +realized the utter impossibility of attaining to equality with +God. So S. Anselm, <i>De Casu Diaboli</i> (IV), says: “Non +enim ita obtusæ mentis [diabolus] erat, ut nihil aliud simile +Deo cogitari posse nesciret?” (The devil was surely not +so dull of understanding as to be ignorant of the inconceivability +of any other entity like to God?) And S. Thomas +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>writes, in answer to the question, whether the Devil desired +to be “as God,” “if by this we mean equality with God, +then the Devil would not desire it, since he knew this to +be impossible.” But as the Venerable Duns Scotus, Doctor +subtilis, admirably points out, we must distinguish between +efficacious volition and the volition of complaisance, and by +the latter act an angel could desire that which is impossible. +In the same way he shows that, though a creature cannot +directly will its own destruction, it may do this <i>consequenter</i>, +i.e. it can will something from which this would inevitably +follow.</p> + +<p>And although man must realize that he cannot be God, +yet there have been men who have caused themselves to be +saluted as God and even worshipped as God. Such was +Herod Agrippa I, who on a festival day at Cæsarea, had +himself robed in a garment made wholly of silver, and came +into the crowded theatre early in the morning, so that his +vesture shone out in the rays of the sun with dazzling light, +and the superstitious multitude, taught by his flatterers, +cried out that he was a god, and prayed to him as +divine, saying: “Be thou merciful unto us, for although +we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man yet henceforth +we own thee to be god.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Caligula, also, arrogated to +himself divinity. “Templum etiam numini suo proprium, +et sacerdotes et excogitatissimas hostias instituit.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> (He also +built a temple in honour of his own godhead, and consecrated +priests to offer him most splendid sacrifices.) This emperor, +moreover, set up his statue in the Temple at Jerusalem, and +ordered victims to be sacrificed to him. Domitian, with +something more than literary compliment, is addressed by +Martial as “Dominus Deusque noster”⁠<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> (Our Lord and +our God), and he lived up to his title. Heliogabalus identified +himself in some mystic way with the deity of Edessa, and +ordered no god save himself to be worshipped at Rome, nay, +throughout the wide world: “Taking measures that at Rome +no god should be honoured save Heliogabalus alone.... +Nor did he wish to stamp out only the various Roman cults, +but his desire was that all the whole wide world through, +only one god, Heliogabalus, should everywhere be worshipped.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +To cite further examples, and they are numerous, +from Roman history were superfluous.⁠<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Perhaps the most +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>astounding case of all was that of the Persian king, Khosroes +(Khusrau) II, who in the seventh century sacked Jerusalem +and carried off the True Cross to his capital. Intoxicated +with success he announced by solemn proclamation that he +was Almighty God. He built an extraordinary palace or +tower, in which there were vast halls whose ceilings were +painted with luminous suns, moons, and stars to resemble +the firmament. Here he sat upon a lofty throne of gold, +a tiara upon his head, his cope so sewn with diamonds that +the stuff could not be seen, sceptre and orb in his hands, +upon one side the Cross, upon the other a jewelled dove, and +here he bade his subjects adore him as God the Father, +offering incense and praying him “Through the Son.” This +insane blasphemy was ended when the Persians were vanquished +by the Emperor Heraclius, and in the spring of 629 +the Cross was restored to Jerusalem.⁠<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>Montanus, the Phrygian heretic of the second century, +who had originally, as S. Jerome tells us, been a priest of +Cybele, actually claimed to be the Trinity. “I am the +Father, the Word, and the Paraclete,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> he said, and again, +“I am the Lord God omnipotent who have descended into +a man ... neither an angel, nor an ambassador, but I, the +Lord, the Father, am come.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Elipandus of Toledo in the +eighth century spoke of Christ as “a God among gods,” +inferring that there were many others who had been divine. +One may compare the incarnate gods adored in China and +Tibet to-day. A Bohemian woman named Wilhelmina, who +died in Milan, 1281, declared herself to be an incarnation +of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, and was actually +worshipped by crowds of fanatics, who caused great scandal +and disorder. The Khlysti in Russia have not only prophets +but “Christs” and “Redeemers,” and they pray to one +another. About 1830 there appeared in one of the American +states bordering upon Kentucky an impostor who declared +himself to be Christ. He threatened the world with immediate +judgement, and a number of ill-balanced and hysterical +subjects were much affected by his denunciations. One day, +when he was addressing a large gathering in his usual strain, +a German standing up humbly asked him if he would repeat +his warnings in German for the benefit of those present who +only knew that tongue. The speaker answered that he had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>never been able to learn that language, a reply which seemed +so ludicrous in one claiming divinity that many of the +auditors were convulsed with laughter and so profane a +charlatan soon lost all credit. Monsignor Flaget, Bishop of +Bardstoun, wrote an account of this extraordinary imposture +in a letter dated 4 May, 1833,⁠<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> where he says the scene took +place some three years before. About 1880 at Patiala in the +Punjaub, a fanatic of filthy appearance named Hakim Singh +gave himself out to be Christ, and in a short time had a +following of more than four thousand persons, but within a +few months they melted away.⁠<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Many “false Christs” +have organized Russian sects. In 1840 a man drained the +peasants of Simboisk and Saratov of their money by declaring +himself to be the Saviour; about 1880 the founder of the +<i>bojki</i>, an illiterate fanatic named Sava proclaimed that he +was the Father, and his kinsman, Samouil, God the Son. +Ivan Grigorieff, founder of the “Russian Mormons,” taught +that he was divine; and other frenzied creatures, Philipoff, +Loupkin, Israil of Selengisk, have all claimed to be the +Messiah and God.</p> + +<p>It is apparent then, that although rationally it should be +inconceivable that any sentient creature could claim divinity, +actually the contrary is the case. The sin of Satan would +appear to have been an attempt to usurp the sovereignty +of God. This is further borne out by the fact that during +the Temptation of our Lord the Devil, showing Him “omnia +regna mundi, et gloriam eorum” (all the kingdoms of the +world and the glory of them), said, “Hæc omnia tibi dabo, +si cadens adoraueris me.” (All these will I give Thee, if +Thou wilt fall down and worship me.) And he is rebuked: +“Uade Satana: Scriptum est enim: Dominum Deum tuum +adorabis, et illi soli seruies.” (Begone, Satan: for it is +written: The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only +shalt thou serve.) It should be remarked that Lucifer was +telling a lie. The kingdoms of this world are not his to offer, +but only its sins and follies, disappointment and death. But +here the Devil is demanding that divine honours should be +paid him. And this claim is perpetuated throughout the +witch trials. The witches believed that their master, Satan, +Lucifer, the fiend, the principle of evil, was God, and as +such they worshipped him with latria, they adored him, they +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span>offered him homage, they addressed prayer to him, they +sacrificed. So Lambert Danéau, <i>Dialogue of Witches</i> (trans. +1575), asserts: “The Diuell com̅aundeth them that they +shall acknowledge him for their god, cal vpo̅ him, pray to +him, and trust in him.—Then doe they all repeate the othe +which they haue geuen vnto him; in acknowledging him +to be their God.” Cannaert records that the accusation +against Elisabeth Vlamynex of Alost, 1595, was “You were +not even ashamed to kneel before Belzebuth, whom you +worshipped.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> De Lancre, in his <i>Tableau de l’Inconstance des +mauvais Anges</i> (1613), informs us that when the witches +presented a young child they fell on their knees before the +demon and said: “Grand Seigneur, lequel i’adore.” (Great +Lord, whom I worship.) The novice joining the witches +made profession in this phrase: “I abandon myself wholly +to thy power and I put myself in thy hands, acknowledging +no other god; and this since thou art my god.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> The +words of Silvain Nevillon, tried at Orleans in 1614, are even +plainer: “We say to the Devil that we acknowledge him as +our master, our god, our creator.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> + In America⁠<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> in 1692, +Mary Osgood confessed that “the devil told her he was her +God, and that she should serve and worship him.”</p> + +<p>There are numberless instances of prayer offered to the +Devil by his servants. Henri Boguet, in his <i>Discours des +Sorciers</i> (Lyons, 1608), relates that Antide Colas, 1598, +avowed that “Satan bade her pray to him night and morning, +before she set about any other business.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Elizabeth +Sawyer, the notorious witch of Edmonton (1621), was taught +certain invocations by her familiar. In her confession to the +Rev. Henry Goodcole, who visited her in Newgate, upon his +asking “Did the Diuell at any time find you praying when +he came unto you, and did not the Diuell forbid you to pray +to Iesus Christ, but to him alone? and did he not bid you +to pray to him, the Diuell as he taught you?” She replied: +“He asked of me to whom I prayed, and I answered him +to Iesus Christ, and he charged me then to pray no more to +Iesus Christ, but to him the Diuell, and he the Diuell taught +me this prayer, <i>Sanctibecetur nomen tuum, Amen</i>.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> So +as Stearne reports in <i>Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft</i> +(1648), of the Suffolk witches: “<i>Ellen</i>, the wife +of <i>Nicholas Greenleife</i> of <i>Barton</i> in <i>Suffolke</i>, confessed, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>that when she prayed she prayed to the Devill and not +to God.”</p> + +<p>In imitation of God, moreover, the Devil will have his +miracles, although these are θαύματα, mere delusive wonders +which neither profit nor convince. Such was the feat of +Jannes and Mambres, the Egyptian sorcerers, who in +emulation of Moses changed their rods to serpents. To this +source we can confidently refer many tricks of Oriental +jugglers. “I am satisfied,” wrote an English officer of rank +and family, “that the performances of the native ‘wise-men’ +are done by the aid of familiar spirits. The visible +growth of a mango tree out of an empty vessel into which +a little earth is placed, a growth which spectators witness, +and the secret of which has never been discovered, may not +be unreasonably referred to the same occult powers which +enabled the Egyptian magicians of old to imitate the +miraculous acts which Moses, by God’s command, openly +wrought in the face of Pharaoh and his people.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> In the +basket-trick, which is performed without preparation in any +place or spot—a greensward, a paved yard, a messroom—a +boy is placed under a large wicker basket of conical shape, +which may be examined and handled by all, and this is then +stabbed through and through by the fakir with a long sword +that pierces from side to side. Screams of pain follow each +thrust, and the weapon is discerned to be covered with fresh +blood. The cries grow fainter and at length cease altogether. +Then the juggler uttering cries and incantations dances round +the basket, which he suddenly removes, and no sign of the +child is to be seen, no rent in the wicker-work, no stain on +the steel. But in a few seconds the boy, unharmed and +laughing, appears running forward from some distant spot. +In this connexion we may well recall the words of Suarez: +“[The Devil] can deceive and trick the senses so that a +head may appear to be cut off and blood to flow, when in +truth no such thing is taking place.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>The wizards of Tartary and Tibet, <i>bokte</i>, upon certain +special days will with great ceremony appear in the temples, +which are always thronged on these occasions, and whilst +their disciples howl and shriek out invocations, they suddenly +throw aside their robes and with a sharp knife seem to rip +open their stomachs from top to bottom, whilst blood pours +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>from the gaping wound. The worshippers, lashed to frenzy, +fall prostrate before them and grovel frantically upon the +floor. The wizard appears to scatter his blood over them, +and after some five minutes he passes his hands rapidly +over the wound, which instantly disappears, not leaving +even the trace of a scar. The operator is noticed to be overcome +with intense weariness, but otherwise all is well. Those +who have seen this hideous spectacle assure us that it cannot +be explained by any hallucination or legerdemain, and the +only solution which remains is to attribute it to the glamour +cast over the deluded crowd by the power of discarnate evil +intelligences.⁠<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>The portentous growth of Spiritism,⁠<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> which within a +generation passed beyond the limits of a popular and +mountebank movement and challenged the serious attention +and expert inquiry of the whole scientific and philosophical +world, furnishes us with examples of many extraordinary +phenomena, both physical and psychical, and these, in spite +of the most meticulous and accurate investigation, are simply +inexplicable by any natural and normal means. Such +phenomena have been classified by Sir William Crookes, in +his <i>Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism</i>. They include +the movement of heavy bodies without contact, or with +contact altogether insufficient to explain the movement; the +alteration of weight of bodies; the rising of tables and chairs +off the ground without contact with any human person; +the levitation of human beings; “apports,” objects such as +flowers, coins, pieces of stone conveyed into a hermetically +closed room without any visible agency to carry them; +luminous appearances; more or less distinct phantom faces +and forms. In spite of continual and most deliberate +trickery, repeated and most humiliating exposure, and this +not only in the case of cheap charlatans but also of famous +mediums such as William Eglinton, there occur and have +always occurred phenomena which are vouched for upon the +evidence of names whose authority cannot be gainsaid. Do +such manifestations proceed from the spirits of the departed +or from intelligences which have never been in human form? +Even avowed believers in a beneficent Spiritism, anxious to +establish communication with dead friends, are forced to +admit the frequent and irresponsible action of non-human +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>intelligences. This conclusion is based upon lengthy and +detailed evidence which it is only possible very briefly to +summarize. It proves almost impossible satisfactorily to +establish spirit identity, to ascertain whether the communicator +is actually the individual he or it purports to be; +the information imparted is not such as would naturally be +expected from those who have passed beyond this life but +trivial and idle to a degree; the statements which the spirits +make concerning their own condition are most contradictory +and confused; the moral tone which pervades these messages, +at first vague and unsatisfactory, generally becomes +repulsive and even criminally obscene. All these particulars +unmistakably point to demoniac intervention and deceit.⁠<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> +The Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (1866) whilst +making due allowance for fraudulent practice and subtle +sleights in Spiritism declares that some at least of the +manifestations are to be ascribed to Satanic intervention, +for in no other manner can they be explained. (<i>Decreta</i>, +33-41.) A decree of the Holy Office, 30 March, 1898, condemns +Spiritistic practices, even though intercourse with +evil spirits be excluded and intercourse sought only with +good angels.</p> + +<p>Not only with miracles but also in prophecies does Lucifer +seek to emulate that God Whose Throne he covets. This +point is dealt with by Bishop Pierre Binsfeld, who in his +<i>De Maleficis</i> (1589) writes: “Nunc uidendum est an dæmones +præscientiam habeant futurorum et secretorum, ita ut +ex eorum reuelatione possit homo prognosticare⁠<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> et occulta +cognoscere?... Prima conclusio: Futura, si in seipsis +considerentur, anullo præterquam a solo Deo cognosci +possunt.” (Next we will inquire whether devils can have +any foreknowledge of future events or of hidden things so +that a man might from their revelations to him foretell the +future and discover the unknown?... First conclusion: +The future, precisely considered, can be known to none save +to God alone.) But it must be borne in mind that the +intelligence of angels, though fallen, is of the acutest order, +as Simon Maiolo in his <i>Dies caniculares</i> explains: “Astutia, +sapientia, acumine longe superant homines, et longius progrediuntur +ratiocinando.” (In shrewdness, knowledge, perspicuity, +they far excel mankind, and they can look much +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>further into the future by logical deduction.) And it is +in this way that a demon will often rightly divine what is +going to happen, although more often the response will either +be a lie or wrapped up in meaningless and ambiguous phrase, +such as were the pagan oracles. A notable example of false +prophets may be found in the Camisards (probably from +<i>camise</i>, a black blouse worn as a uniform), a sect of evil +fanatics who terrorized Dauphiné, Vivarais, and chiefly the +Cévennes at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Their +origin was largely due to the Albigensian spirit, which had +never been wholly stamped out in that district, and which +was fanned to flame by the anarchical preaching and disordered +pamphlets of the French Calvinists, such as Jurieu’s +<i>Accomplissement des prophéties</i>. Pope Clement XI styles the +Camisards “that execrable race of ancient Albigenses.” +De Serre, a rank old Calvinist of Dieulefit in Dauphiné, +became suddenly inspired and a wave of foul hysteria spread +far and wide. In 1702 the saintly abbé de Chaila was +treacherously murdered by these wretches, who seized arms +and formed themselves into offensive bands under such +ruffians as Séguier, Laporte, Castanet, Ravenal, and Cavalier. +Louis XIV sent troops to subdue them, but the Catholic +leaders at first do not seem to have appreciated the seriousness +of the position, and a desultory guerilla warfare dragged +on for some years. Cavalier escaped to England,⁠<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> whence he +returned in 1709, and attempted to kindle a revolt in Vivarais. +On 8 March, 1715, by a proclamation and medals, Louis XIV +announced that these demoniacs were entirely extinct.</p> + +<p>A number of these prophets fled to England, where they +created great disturbances, and Voltaire, <i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, +XXXVI, tells us that one of the leading refugees, a notorious +rebel, Elie Marion, became so obnoxious on account of his +<i>avertissements prophétiques</i> and false miracles, that he was +expelled the country as a common nuisance.⁠<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>The existence of evil discarnate intelligences having been +orthodoxly established, a realm which owns one chief, and +it is reasonable to suppose, many hierarchies, a kingdom +that is at continual warfare with all that is good, ever striving +to do evil and bring man into bondage; it is obvious that if +he be so determined man will be able in some way or another +to get into touch with this dark shadow world, and however +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>rare such a connexion may be it is, at least, possible. It +is this connexion with its consequences, conditions, and +attendant circumstances, that is known as Witchcraft. +The erudite Sprenger in the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> expressly +declares that in his opinion a denial of the possibility of +Witchcraft is heresy. “After God Himself hath spoken of +magicians and sorcerers, what infidel dare doubt that they +exist?” writes Pierre de Lancre in his <i>L’Incredulité et +Mescreance du Sortilège</i> (Paris, 1622)⁠<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[30]</a>. That eminent lawyer +Blackstone, in his <i>Commentaries</i> (1765), IV, 4, asserts: “To +deny the possibility, nay, actual existence of Witchcraft +and Sorcery, is at once flatly to contradict the revealed Word +of God in various passages both of the Old and New Testament; +and the thing itself is a truth to which every Nation +in the World hath in its turn borne testimony, either by +examples seemingly well attested, or by prohibitory laws, +which at least suppose the possibility of commerce with evil +spirits.” Even the ultra-cautious—I had almost said sceptical—Father +Thurston acknowledges: “In the face of Holy +Scripture and the teaching of the Fathers and theologians +the abstract possibility of a pact with the Devil and of a +diabolical interference in human affairs can hardly be +denied.” Imposture, trickery, self-deception, hypnotism, a +morbid imagination have, no doubt, all played an important +part in legends of this kind. It is not enough quite sincerely +to claim magical powers to possess them in reality. Plainly, +a man who not only firmly believes in a Power of evil but +also that this Power can and does meddle with and mar +human affections and human destinies, may invoke and +devote himself to this Power, may give up his will thereunto, +may ask this Power to accomplish his wishes and ends, and +so succeed in persuading himself that he has entered into a +mysterious contract with evil whose slave and servant he +is become.⁠<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Moreover, as we should expect, the records +teem with instances of common charlatanry, of cunning +villainies and crime masquerading under the cloak of superstition, +of clever fraud, of what was clearly play acting and +mumming to impress the ignorant and vulgar, of diseased +vanity, sick for notoriety, that craved the name and reputation +of witch, of quackery and cozening that proved lucrative +and comfortable enough.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span></p> + +<p>But when every allowance has been made, as we examine +in detail the long and bloody history of Witchcraft, as we +recognize the fearful fanaticism and atrocious extravagances +of the witch mania, as we are enabled to account for in the +light of ampler knowledge, both psychological and physical, +details and accidents which would have inevitably led to +the stake without respite or mercy, as we can elucidate case +after case—one an hysterical subject, a cataleptic, an +epileptic, a sufferer from some obscure nervous disorder even +to-day not exactly diagnosed; another, denounced by the +malice of private enemies, perhaps on political grounds; a +third, some doting beldame the victim of idlest superstition +or mere malignity; a fourth, accused for the sake of gain +by a disappointed blackmailer or thief; others, silly bodies, +eccentrics, and half-crazed cranks; and the even greater +number of victims who were incriminated by poor wretches +raving in the agonies of the rack and boots;—none the less +after having thus frankly discounted every possible circumstance, +after having completely realized the world-wide +frenzy of persecution that swept through those centuries of +terror, we cannot but recognize that there remain innumerable +and important cases which are not to be covered by any +ordinary explanation, which fall within no normal category. +As a most unprejudiced writer has well said: “The underlying +and provocative phenomena had really been present +in a huge number of cases.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> And there is no other way of +accounting for these save by acknowledging the reality of +Witchcraft and diabolic contracts. It must be steadily +remembered that the most brilliant minds, the keenest +intelligences, the most learned scholars, the noblest names, +men who had heard the evidence at first hand, all firmly +believed in Witchcraft. Amongst them are such supreme +authorities as S. Augustine, “a philosophical and theological +genius of the first order, dominating, like a pyramid, antiquity +and the succeeding ages”⁠<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>; Blessed Albertus Magnus, the +“Universal Doctor” of encyclopædic knowledge; S. Thomas +Aquinas, Doctor Angelicus, one of the profoundest intellects +the world has ever seen; the Seraphic S. Bonaventura, most +loving of mystics; Popes not a few, Alexander IV, the friend +of the Franciscans, prudent, kindly, deeply religious, “assiduous +in prayer and strict in abstinence”⁠<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[34]</a>; John XXII, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>“a man of serious character, of austere and simple habits, +broadly cultivated”⁠<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>; Benedict XII, a pious Cistercian +monk, most learned in theology; Innocent VIII, a magnificent +prelate, scholar and diplomatist; Gregory XV, an +expert in canon and civil law, most just and merciful of +pontiffs, brilliantly talented. We have the names of learned +men, such as Gerson, Chancellor of Notre-Dame and of the +University of Paris, “justly regarded as one of the master +intellects of his age”⁠<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>; James Sprenger, O.P., who for all +his etymological errors was a scholar of vast attainments; +Jean Bodin, “one of the chief founders of political philosophy +and political history”⁠<a href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>; Erasmus; Bishop Jewell, of +Salisbury, “one of the ablest and most authoritative expounders +of the true genius and teaching of the reformed +Church of England”⁠<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[37]</a>; the gallant Raleigh; Lord Bacon; +Sir Edward Coke; Cardinal Mazarin; the illustrious Boyle; +Cudworth, “perhaps the most profound of all the great +scholars who have adorned the English Church”⁠<a href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>; Selden; +Henry More; Sir Thomas Browne; Joseph Glanvill, who +“has been surpassed in genius by few of his successors”⁠<a href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>; +Meric Casaubon, the learned Prebendary of Canterbury; Sir +Matthew Hale; Sir George Mackenzie; William Blackstone; +and many another divine, lawyer, scholar, of lesser note. It +is inconceivable that all these, mistaken as they might be +in some details, should have been wholly deluded and +beguiled. The learned Sinistrari in his <i>De Dæmonialitate</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> +upon the authoritative sentence of Francesco-Maria Guazzo, +an Ambrosian, (<i>Compendium Maleficarum</i>, Liber I. 7), writes: +“Primo, ineunt pactum expressum cum Dæmone aut alio +Mago seu Malefico uicem Dæmonis gerente, et testibus +præsentibus de seruitio diabolico suscipiendo: Dæmon uero +uice uersa honores, diuitias, et carnales delectationes illis +pollicetur.” (Firstly, the Novices have to conclude with the +Demon, or some other Wizard or Magician acting in the +Demon’s place, an express compact by which, in the presence +of witnesses, they enlist in the Demon’s service, he giving +them in exchange his pledge for honours, riches, and carnal +pleasures.)</p> + +<p>It is said that the formal pact was sometimes verbal, +sometimes a signed document. In every case it was voluntary, +and as Görres points out, the usual initiation into these foul +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>mysteries was through some secret society at an assembly +of which the neophyte bound himself with terrific oaths and a +blasphemy to the service of evil. But there are cases which +can only be explained by the materialization of a dark +intelligence who actually received a bond from the worshipper. +These are, of course, extremely rare; but occasionally the +judges were able to examine such parchments and deeds. +In 1453 Guillaume Edelin, Prior of S. Germain-en-Laye, +signed a compact with the Devil, and this was afterwards +found upon his person. Pierre de Lancre relates that the +witch Stevenote de Audebert, who was burned in January, +1619, showed him “le pacte & conuention qu’elle auoit +faict auec le Diable, escrite en sang de menstrues, & si horrible +qu’on auoit horreur de la regarder.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> In the library at Upsala +is preserved the contract by which Daniel Salthenius, in later +life Professor of Hebrew at Königsberg, sold himself to Satan.</p> + +<p>In the archives of the Sacred Office is preserved a picture +of the Crucifixion of which the following account is given: +A young man of notoriously wicked life and extreme impiety +having squandered his fortune, and being in desperate need, +resolved to sell himself body and soul to Lucifer on condition +that he should be supplied with money enough to enable +him to indulge in all the luxuries and lusts he desired. It is +said the demon assumed a visible form, and required him +to write down an act of self-donation to hell. This the youth +consented to do on one proviso. He asked the demon if he +had been present on Calvary, and when he was answered in +the affirmative he insisted that Lucifer should trace him an +exact representation of the Crucifixion, upon which he would +hand over the completed document. The fiend after much +hesitation consented, and shortly produced a picture. But +at the sight of the racked and bleeding Body stretched on +the Cross the youth was seized with such contrition that +falling upon his knees he invoked the help of God. His +companion disappeared, leaving the fatal contract and picture. +The penitent, in order to gain absolution for so heinous guilt, +was obliged to have recourse to the Cardinal Penitentiary, +and the picture was taken in charge by the Holy Office. +Prince Barberini afterwards obtained permission to have +an exact copy made of it, and this eventually he presented +to the Capuchins at S. Maria della Concezione.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span></p> + +<p>A contract with Satan was said always to be signed in the +blood of the executor. “The signature is almost invariably +subscribed with the writer’s own blood.... Thus at +Augsburg Joseph Egmund Schultz declared that on the +15 May, 1671, towards midnight, when it was betwixt eleven +and twelve of the clock, he threw down, where three crossroads +met, an illuminated parchment, written throughout in +his own blood and wrapped up in a fair kerchief, and thus +he sealed the compact ... Widmann also tells us how that +unhappy wretch Faust slightly cut his thumb and with the +drops of blood which trickled thence devoted himself in +writing body and soul to the Devil, utterly repudiating God’s +part in him.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> From the earliest times and in many nations +we find human blood used inviolably to ratify the pledged +word.⁠<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Rochholz, I, 52, relates that it is a custom of +German University freshmen (Burschen) for the parties to +write “mutually with their own blood leaves in each other’s +albums.” The parchment is still said to be in existence on +which with his own blood Maximilian, the great and devout +Bavarian elector, religiously dedicated himself to the Most +Holy Mother of God. Blood was the most sacred and +irrevocable of seals, as may be seen in the custom of blood-brotherhood +when friendship was sworn and alliances concluded. +Either the blood itself was drunk or wine mixed +with blood. Herodotus (IV, 70) tells us that the Scythians +were wont to conclude agreements by pouring wine into an +earthen vessel, into which the contracting parties having cut +their arms with a knife let their blood flow and mingle. +Whereupon both they and the most distinguished of their +following drank of it. Pomponius Mela, <i>De Situ Orbis</i>, II, 1, +records the same custom as still existing among them in his +day: “Not even their alliances are made without shedding +of blood: the partners in the compact wound themselves, +and when the blood gushes out they mingle the stream and +taste of it when it is mixed. This they consider to be the +most assured pledge of eternal loyalty and trust.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> Gyraldus, +<i>Topographia Hibernorum</i>, XXII, p. 743, says: “When the +Ireni conclude treaties the one drinks the blood of the other, +which is shed voluntarily for this purpose.” In July, 1891, +a band of brigands which had existed for three years was +discovered and broken up in South Italy. It was reported +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span>that in the ritual of these outlaws, who were allied to the +“Mala Vita” of Bari, “the neophytes drank blood-brotherhood +with the captain of the band by sucking out and +drinking the blood from a scratch wound, which he had +himself made in the region of his heart.”</p> + +<p>In several grimoires and books of magic, such as <i>The Book +of Black Magic and of Pacts</i>, <i>The Key of Solomon the King</i>, +<i>Sanctum Regnum</i>, may be found goetic rituals as well as +invocations, and if these, fortunately for the operators, are +occasionally bootless, it can only be said that Divine Power +holds in check the evil intelligences. But, as Suarez justly +observes, even if no response be obtained from the demon +“either because God does not allow it, or for some other +reason we may not know,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> the guilt of the experimenter +in this dark art and his sin are in no wise lightened.⁠<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Towards +the end of the eighteenth century a certain Juan Perez, +being reduced to the utmost misery, vowed himself body and +soul to Satan if he were revenged upon those whom he +suspected of injuring him. He consulted more than one +magician and witch, he essayed more than one theurgic +ceremonial, but all in vain. Hell was deaf to his appeal. +Whereupon he openly proclaimed his disbelief in the supernatural, +in the reality of devils, and mocked at Holy Scripture +as a fairy tale, a nursery fable. Naturally this conduct +brought him before the Tribunal of the Holy Office, to whom +at his first interrogation he avowed the whole story, declaring +himself ready to submit to any penance they might seem fit +to inflict.</p> + +<p>Any such pact which may be entered into with the demon +is not in the slightest degree binding. Such is the authoritative +opinion of S. Alphonsus, who lays down that a necromancer +or person who has had intercourse with evil spirits +now wishing to give up his sorceries is bound: “1. Absolutely +to abjure and to renounce any formal contract or any sort +of commerce whatsoever he may have entered into with +demonic intelligences; 2. To burn all such books, writings, +amulets, talismans, and other instruments as appertain to +the black art (i.e. crystals, planchettes, ouija-boards, pagan +periapts, and the like); 3. To burn the written contract if +it be in his possession, but if it be believed that it is held by +the demon, there is no need to demand its restoration since +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>it is wholly annulled by penitence; 4. To repair any harm +he has done and make good any loss.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> It may be remarked +that these rules have been found exceedingly useful and +entirely practical in dealing with mediums and others who +forsake spiritism, its abominations and fearful dangers.</p> + +<p>There are examples in history, even in hagiography, of +sorcerers who have been converted. One of the most famous +of these is S. Theophilus the Penitent;⁠<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> and even yet more +renowned is S. Cyprian of Antioch who, with S. Justina, +suffered martyrdom during the persecution of Diocletian at +Nicomedia, 26 September, 304.⁠<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Blessed Gil of Santarem, +a Portuguese Dominican, in his youth excelled in philosophy +and medicine. Whilst on his way from Coimbra to the +University of Paris he fell into company with a courteous +stranger who offered to teach him the black art at Toledo. +As payment the stranger required that Gil should make over +his soul to the Devil and sign the contract with his blood. +After complying with the conditions he devoted seven years +to magical studies, and then proceeding to Paris easily +obtained the degree of doctor of medicine. Gil, however, +repented, burned his books of spells, and returned to Portugal, +where he took the habit of S. Dominic. After a long life of +penitence and prayer he died at Santarem, 14 May, 1205, +and here his body is still venerated.⁠<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> His cult was ratified +by Benedict XIV, 9 March, 1748. His feast is observed +14 May.</p> + +<p>The contract made by the witch was usually for the term +of her life, but sometimes it was only for a number of years, +at the end of which period the Devil was supposed to kill +his votary. Reginald Scot remarks: “Sometimes their +homage with their oth and bargaine is receiued for a certeine +terme of yeares; sometimes for ever.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Magdalena de la +Cruz, a Franciscan nun, born at Aquilar in 1487, entered the +convent of Santa Isabel at Cordova in 1504. She acquired +an extraordinary reputation for sanctity, and was elected +abbess in 1533, 1536, and 1539. Scarcely five years later +she was a prisoner of the Inquisition, with charges of Witchcraft +proven against her. She confessed that in 1499 a spirit +who called himself by the grotesque name Balbar, with a +companion Pithon, appeared to her at the tender age of +twelve, and she made a contract with him for the space of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>forty-one years. In 1543 she was seized with a serious illness, +during which she confessed her impostures and demonic +commerce. She was confined for the rest of her life as a +penitent in a house of the utmost austerity. Joan Williford, +a witch of Faversham, acknowledged “that the Devil +promised to be her servant about twenty yeeres, and that +the time is now almost expired.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> In 1646 Elizabeth Weed, +a witch of Great Catworth in Huntingdonshire, confessed that +“the Devill then offer’d her that hee would doe what mischiefe +she should require him; and said she must covenant +with him that he must have her soule at the end of one and +twenty years which she granted.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> In 1664, a Somerset +sorceress, Elizabeth Style, avowed that the Devil “promised +her Mony, and that she should live gallantly, and have the +pleasure of the World for Twelve years, if she would with +her Blood sign his Paper, which was to give her Soul to +him.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>Satan promises to give his votaries all they desire; knowledge, +wealth, honours, pleasure, vengeance upon their +enemies; and all that he can give is disappointment, poverty, +misery, hate, the power to hurt and destroy. He is ever +holding before their eyes elusive hopes, and so besotted are +they that they trust him and confide in him until all is lost. +Sometimes in the case of those who are young the pact is +for a short while, but he always renews it. So at Lille in 1661 +Antoinette Bourignon’s pupils confessed: “The Devil gives +them a Mark, which Marks they renew as often as those +Persons have any desire to quit him. The Devil reproves +them the more severely, and obligeth them to new Promises, +making them also new Marks for assurance or Pledge, that +those Persons should continue faithful to him.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>The Devil’s Mark to which allusion is here made, or the +Witches’ Mark, as it is sometimes called, was regarded as +perhaps the most important point in the identification of a +witch, it was the very sign and seal of Satan upon the actual +flesh of his servant, and any person who bore such a mark +was considered to have been convicted and proven beyond +all manner of doubt of being in league with and devoted to +the service of the fiend. This mark was said to be entirely +insensible to pain, and when pricked, however deeply, it +did not bleed. So Mr. John Bell, minister at Gladsmuir, in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>his tract <i>The Trial of Witchcraft; or Witchcraft Arraigned +and Condemned</i>, published early in the eighteenth century, +explains: “The witch mark is sometimes like a blew spot, +or a little tate, or reid spots, like flea biting; sometimes also +the flesh is sunk in, and hollow, and this is put in secret +places, as among the hair of the head, or eye-brows, within +the lips, under the arm-pits, and in the most secret parts +of the body.” Robert Hink, minister at Aberfoill, in his +<i>Secret Commonwealth</i> (1691), writes: “A spot that I have +seen, as a small mole, horny, and brown-coloured; throw +which mark, when a large pin was thrust (both in buttock, +nose, and rooff of the mouth), till it bowed and became +crooked, the witches both men and women, nather felt a +pain nor did bleed, nor knew the precise time when this was +doing to them, (their eyes only being covered).” This mark +was sometimes the complete figure of a toad or a bat; or, +as Delrio says, the slot of a hare, the foot of a frog, a spider, +a deformed whelp, a mouse.⁠<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> The same great authority +informs us on what part of the body it was usually impressed: +“In men it may often be seen under the eyelids, under the +lips, under the armpits, on the shoulders, on the fundament; +in women, moreover, on the breast or on the pudenda.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>In his profound treatise <i>De Dæmonialitate</i> that most erudite +Franciscan Ludovico Maria Sinistrari writes: “[Sagæ seu +Malefici] sigillantur a Dæmone aliquo charactere, maxime +ii, de quorum constantia dubitat. Character uero non est +semper eiusdem formæ, aut figuræ: aliquando enim est +simile lepori, aliquando pedi bufonis, aliquando araneæ, uel +catello, uel gliri; imprimitur autem in locis corporis magis +occultis: uiris quidem aliquando sub palpebris, aliquando +sub axillis, aut labiis, aut humeris, aut sede ima, aut alibi: +mulieribus autem plerumque in mammis, seu locis mulieribus. +Porro sigillum, quo talia signa imprimuntur, est +unguis Diaboli.” (The Demon imprints upon [the Witches +or Wizards] some mark, especially on those whose constancy +he suspects. That mark, moreover, is not always of the +same shape or figure: sometimes it is the image of a hare, +sometimes a toad’s leg, sometimes a spider, a puppy, a +dormouse. It is imprinted on the most hidden parts of the +body: with men, under the eye-lids, or the armpits, or the +lips, on the shoulder, the fundament, or somewhere else: +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>with women it is usually on the breasts or the privy parts. +Now, the stamp which imprints these marks is none other +but the Devil’s claw.)</p> + +<p>This Mark was made by the Devil, or by the Devil’s +vicegerent at the Sabbats upon the admission of a new +witch. “The Diuell giveth to euerie nouice a marke, either +with his teeth or his clawes,” says Reginald Scot, <i>Discoverie +of Witchcraft</i>, 1584. The young witches of Lille in 1661 +confessed that “the Devil branded them with an iron awl +upon some part of the body.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> In Scotland, Geillis Duncane, +maid-servant to the deputy bailiff of Tranent, one David +Seaton, a wench who was concerned in the celebrated trial +of Doctor Fian, Agnes Sampson, Euphemia McCalyan, +Barbara Napier, and their associates, would not confess even +under torture, “whereuppon they suspecting that she had +been marked by the devill (as commonly witches are) made +diligent search about her, and found the enemies mark to +be in her fore crag, or fore part of her throate; which being +found, shee confessed that all her doings was done by the +wicked allurements and entisements of the devil, and that +she did them by witchcraft.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> In 1630 Catharine Oswald +of Niddrie was found guilty of sorcery, “the advocate for +the instruction of the assyze producing the declaration of +two witnesses, that being in the tolbuith, saw Mr. John Aird, +minister, put a pin in the pannell’s shoulder, (where she +carries the devill’s mark) up to the heid, and no bluid +followed theiron, nor she shrinking thereat; which was +againe done in the justice-depute his own presence.” In +1643 Janet Barker at Edinburgh confessed to commerce with +the demon, and stated that he had marked her between the +shoulders. The mark was found “and a pin being thrust +therein, it remained for an hour unperceived by the pannell.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<p>On 10 March, 1611, Louis Gaufridi, a priest of Accoules +in the diocese of Marseilles, was visited in prison, where he +lay under repeated charges of foulest sorcery, by two +physicians and two surgeons who were appointed to search +for the Devil’s mark. Their joint report ran as follows: +“We, the undersigned doctors and surgeons, in obedience to +the directions given us by Messire Anthoine de Thoron, +sieur de Thoron, Councillor to the King in his Court of +Parliament, have visited Messire L. Gaufridy, upon whose +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>body we observed three little marks, not very different in +colour from the natural skin. The first is upon his right +thigh, about the middle towards the lower part. When we +pierced this with a needle to the depth of two fingers breadth +he felt no pain, nor did any blood or other humour exude +from the incision.</p> + +<p>“The second is in the region of the loins, towards the +right, about an inch from the spine and some four fingers +breadth above the femoral muscles. Herein we drove the +needle for three fingers breath, leaving it fixed in this spot +for some time, as we had already done in the first instance, +and yet all the while the said Gaufridy felt no pain, nor was +there any effluxion of blood or other humour of any kind.</p> + +<p>“The third mark is about the region of the heart. At +first the needle was introduced without any sensation being +felt, as in the previous instances. But when the place was +probed with some force, he said he felt pain, but yet no +moisture distilled from this laceration. Early the next +morning we again visited him, but we found that the parts +which had been probed were neither swollen nor red. In our +judgement such callous marks which emit no moisture when +pierced, cannot be due to any ancient affection of the skin, +and in accordance with this opinion we submit our report +on this tenth day of March, 1611.</p> + +<p class="right"><span style="margin-right: 4em;"><i>Fontaine</i>, <i>Grassy</i>, Doctors;</span><br> +<i>Mérindol</i>, <i>Bontemps</i>, Surgeons.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<p>On 26 April, 1634, during the famous Loudun trials, Urbain +Grandier, the accused was examined in order to discover the +witch-mark. He was stripped naked, blindfolded, and in the +presence of the officials, René Mannoury, one of the leading +physicians of the town, conducted the search. Two marks +were discovered, one upon the shoulder-blade and the other +upon the thigh, both of which proved insensible even when +pierced with a sharp silver pin.</p> + +<p>Inasmuch as the discovery of the devil-mark was regarded +as one of the most convincing indications—if not, indeed, +an infallible proof—that the accused was guilty since he +bore indelibly branded upon his flesh Satan’s own sign-manual, +it is easy to see how the searching for, the recognition +and the probing of, such marks actually grew to be a profession +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span>in which not a few ingenious persons came to be recognized +as experts and practical authorities. In Scotland, especially, +the “prickers,” as they were called, formed a regular gild. +They received a good fee for every witch they discovered, +and, as might be expected, they did not fail to reap a golden +harvest. At the trial of Janet Peaston, in 1646, the magistrates +of Dalkeith “caused John Kincaid of Tranent, the +common pricker, to exercise his craft upon her. He found +two marks of the Devil’s making; for she could not feel the +pin when it was put into either of the said marks, nor did +the marks bleed when the pin was taken out again. When +she was asked where she thought the pins were put into her, +she pointed to a part of her body distant from the real place. +They were pins of three inches in length.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> Another +notorious pricker was John Bain, upon whose unsupported +evidence a large number of unfortunate wretches were +sentenced to death. About 1634 John Balfour of Corhouse +was feared over all the countryside for his exploits; whilst +twenty years later one John Dick proved a rival to Kincaid +himself. The regular trade of these “common prickers” +came to be a serious nuisance, and confessedly opened the +door to all sorts of roguery. The following extraordinary +incident shows how dangerous and villainous in mountebank +hands the examinations could become, which, if conducted +at all, ought at least to be safeguarded by every precaution +and only entrusted to skilled physicians, who should report +the result to grave and learned divines. “There came then +to Inverness one Mr. Paterson, who had run over the kingdom +for triall off witches, and was ordinarily called the Pricker, +because his way of triall was with a long brass pin. Stripping +them naked, he alledged that the spell spot was seen and +discovered. After rubbing over the whole body with his +palms he slips in the pin, and, it seemes, with shame and fear +being dasht, they felt it not, but he left it in the flesh, deep +to the head, and desired them to find and take it out. It is +sure some witches were discovered but many honest men and +women were blotted and break by this trick. In Elgin there +were two killed; in Forres two; and one Margret Duff, a +rank witch, burned in Inverness. This Paterson came up to +the Church of Wardlaw, and within the church pricked 14 +women and one man brought thither by the Chisholm of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span>Commer, and 4 brought by Andrew Fraser, chamerlan of +Ferrintosh. He first polled all their heads and amassed the +heap of haire together, hid in the stone dich, and so proceeded +to pricking.⁠<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> Severall of these dyed in prison never brought +to confession. This villan gaind a great deale off mony, +haveing two servants; at last he was discovered to be a +woman disguished in mans cloathes. Such cruelty and +rigure was sustained by a vile varlet imposture.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> No doubt +in very many, in the majority of instances, these witch-marks +were natural malformations of the skin, thickened tissue, +birthmarks—I myself have known a subject who was by +prenatal accident stamped upon the upper part of the arm +with the complete figure of a rat—moles, callous warts, or +spots of some kind. But this explanation will not cover +all the cases, and even the sceptical Miss Murray who writes: +“Local anæsthesia is vouched for in much of the evidence, +which suggests that there is a substratum of truth in the +statements,” is bound candidly to confess, “but I can at +present offer no solution of this problem.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> Moreover, as +before noticed, this mark was not infrequently branded upon +the novice at admission, often by the Witch-Master, who +presided over the rout, sometimes—it must be admitted—by +non-human agency.</p> + +<p>The “little Teat or Pap,” so often found on the body of +the wizard or witch, and said to secrete milk which nourished +the familiar, must be carefully distinguished from the +insensible devil-mark. This phenomenon, for no explainable +reason, seems to occur only in the records of England and +New England, where, however, it is of exceedingly frequent +occurrence. It is worth remarking that in the last act of +Shadwell’s play, <i>The Lancashire Witches</i> (1681), the witches +are searched by a woman, who reports “they have all great +Biggs and Teats in many Parts, except Mother <i>Madge</i>, and +hers are but small ones.” Shadwell, who in his voluminous +notes has citations from nearly fifty authors, on this point +writes: “The having of Biggs and Teats all modern Witchmongers +in <i>England</i> affirm.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> In 1597 at the trial of a +beldame, Elizabeth Wright, of Stapenhill, near Burton-on-Trent: +“The old woman they stript, and found behind her +right sholder a thing much like the vdder of an ewe that +giueth sucke with two teates, like vnto two great wartes, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>the one behinde vnder her armehole, the other a hand off +towardes the top of her shoulder. Being demanded how long +she had those teates, she answered she was borne so.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> +In the case of the Witch of Edmonton, Elizabeth Sawyer, +who was in spite of her resistance searched upon the express +order of the Bench, it was found by Margaret Weaver, a +widow of an honest reputation, and two other grave matrons, +who performed this duty that there was upon her body “a +thing like a Teate the bignesse of the little finger, and the +length of half a finger, which was branched at the top like +a teate, and seemed as though one had suckt it.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> John +Palmer of St. Albans (1649) confessed that “upon his compact +with the Divel, hee received a flesh brand, or mark, +upon his side, which gave suck to two familiars.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> The +Kentish witch, Mary Read of Lenham (1652), “had a visible +Teat, under her Tongue, and did show it to many.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> At +St. Albans about 1660 there was a wizard who “had like +a Breast on his side.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> In the same year at Kidderminster, +a widow, her two daughters, and a man were accused; “the +man had five teats, the mother three, and the eldest daughter, +one.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> In 1692 Bridget Bishop, one of the Salem witches, +was brought to trial: “A Jury of Women found a preternatural +Teat upon her Body: But upon a second search, +within 3 or 4 hours, there was no such thing to be seen.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> +There is similar evidence adduced in the accounts of Rose +Cullender and Amy Duny, two Suffolk witches, executed +in 1664; Elizabeth Horner, a Devon witch (1696); Widow +Coman, an Essex witch, who died in her bed (1699); and, +indeed, innumerable other examples might be quoted affording +a whole catena of pertinent illustrations. No doubt many +of these are explicable by the cases of polymastia (<i>mammæ +erraticæ</i>) and polythelia (supernumerary nipples) of which +there are continual records in recent medical works. It +must be freely admitted that these anatomical divagations +are commoner than is generally supposed; frequently they +are so slight that they may pass almost unnoticed; doubtless +there is exaggeration in many of the inexactly observed +seventeenth-century narratives. However, it has to be said, +as before, that when every most generous allowance is made, +the facts which remain, and the details are very ample, +cannot be covered by physical peculiarities and malformations. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span>There is far more truth in the records of the old theologians +and witch finders than many nowadays are disposed to allow.</p> + +<h3 id="NOTES_TO_CHAPTER_II">NOTES TO CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96">[1]</a> Under Innocent III, 1215.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97">[2]</a> Diabolus enim et alii dæmones a Deo quidem natura creati sunt boni, +sed ipsi per se facti sunt mali.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98">[3]</a> Bossuet says that the writings of Suarez contain the whole of Scholastic +Philosophy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99">[4]</a> Since it contradicts a definite (<i>certa</i>) theological conclusion or truth clearly +consequent upon two premises, of which one is an article of faith (<i>de fide</i>), +the other naturally certain.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100">[5]</a> Which explains much of the trifling and silliness in Spiritism; the idle +answers given through the mediums of the influences at work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101">[6]</a> Josephus, <i>Antiquities</i>, XIX. 8. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102">[7]</a> Suetonius, <i>Caligula</i>, XXII. Here ample details of Caligula’s worship +may be read.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103">[8]</a> <i>Epigrammatum</i>, V. 8. 1. See also IX. 4, <i>et sæpius</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104">[9]</a> ... id agens ne quis Romæ deus nisi Heliogabalus coleretur.... +Nec Romanas tantum extinguere uoluit religiones, sed per orbem terræ unum +studens ut Heliogabalus deus unus ubique coleretur. Ælius Lampridius, +<i>Antoninus Heliogabalus</i>, 3; 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105">[10]</a> Even the Christian (Arian) Constantius II suffered himself to be addressed +as “Nostra Æternitas.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106">[11]</a> Now commemorated on 14 September, the Feast of the Exaltation +of Holy Cross. Shortly after the Restoration of the Cross to Jerusalem, the +wood was cut up (perhaps for greater safety) into small fragments which +were distributed throughout the Christian world.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107">[12]</a> Didymus, <i>De Trinitate</i>, III. xli.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108">[13]</a> Epiphanius, <i>Hær.</i>, xlviii. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109">[14]</a> <i>Annales de la Propagation de la Foi</i>, VII (1834), p. 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110">[15]</a> D. C. J. Ibbetson, <i>Outlines of Punjaub Ethnography</i>, Calcutta. 1883. +p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111">[16]</a> ... vous n’avez pas eu honte de vous agenouiller devant votre Belzebuth, +que vous avez adoré. J. B. Cannaert, <i>Olim procès des Sorcières en Belgique</i>, +Gand, 1847.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112">[17]</a> Ie me remets de tout poinct en ton pouuoir & entre tes mains, ne +recognois autre Dieu: si bien que tu es mon Dieu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113">[18]</a> On dit au Diable nous vous recognoissons pour nostre maistre, nostre +Dieu, nostre Createur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114">[19]</a> John Hutchinson, <i>History of the Province of Massachusett’s Bay</i>, 1828, +II. p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115">[20]</a> Satan luy comma̅da de le prier soir & matin, auant qu’elle s’addonat +à faire autre œuure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116">[21]</a> <i>Wonderful Discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer</i>, London, 1621.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117">[22]</a> Rev. F. G. Lee, <i>More Glimpses of the World Unseen</i>, 1878, p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118">[23]</a> Potest [diabolus] eludere sensus et facere ut appareat caput abcisum, +<i>De Religione</i>, l. 2, c. 16, n. 13, t. 13, p. 578.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119">[24]</a> Huc. <i>Voyage dans la Tartarie, le Thibet et la Chine</i>, I, ix, p. 308. The +author remarks: Ces cérémonies horribles se renouvellent assez souvent dans +les grandes lamaseries de la Tartarie et du Thibet. Nous ne pensons nullement +qu’on puisse mettre toujours sur le compte de la superchérie des faits +de ce genre: car d’après tout ce que nous avons vu et entendu parmi les +nations idolâtres, nous sommes persuadé que le démon y joue un grand rôle. +(These horrible ceremonies frequently occur in the larger lamaseries of Tartary +and Tibet. I am very certain that we cannot always ascribe happenings of +this sort to mere juggling or trickery; for, after all that I have seen and +heard among heathen people, I am confident that the powers of evil are +very largely concerned therein.)</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120">[25]</a> I use this term rather than the more popular “Spiritualism.” Spiritism +obtains in Italy, France and Germany. “Spiritualism” is correctly a +technical name for the doctrine which denies that the contents of the universe +are limited to matter and the properties and operations of matter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121">[26]</a> For fuller, and, indeed, conclusive details see Godfrey Raupert’s <i>Modern +Spiritism</i>, London, 1904; and Monsignor Benson’s <i>Spiritualism</i>, <i>Dublin +Review</i>, October, 1909, and reprinted by the Catholic Truth Society.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122">[27]</a> <i>Prognosticare</i> is a late word. Strictly to prognosticate is to deduce from +actual signs, to prophesy is to foretell the future without any such sign or +token.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123">[28]</a> The Camisards were agreeably satirized by D’Urfey in his comedy +<i>The Modern Prophets; or, New Wit for a Husband</i>, produced at Drury Lane, +5 May, 1709, (<i>Tatler</i>, 11), and printed quarto, 1709, (no date). One of the +principal characters is “<i>Marrogn</i>, A Knavish French Camizar and Priest,” +created by Bowen. This is a portrait of Elie Marion. In his preface D’Urfey +speaks of “the abominable Impostures of those craz’d Enthusiasts” whom +he lashes. The play had been composed in 1708, but production was postponed +owing to the death of the Prince Consort, 28 October of that year. +Swift, <i>Predictions for the Year 1708</i>, has: “<i>June</i>. This month will be +distinguished at home, by the utter dispersing of those ridiculous deluded +enthusiasts, commonly called the <i>prophets</i>; occasioned chiefly by seeing the +time come, when many of their prophecies should be fulfilled, and then +finding themselves deceived by contrary events.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124">[29]</a> See also Fléchier’s <i>Récit fidèle</i> in <i>Lettres choisies</i>, Lyons, 1715; and +Brueys’ <i>Histoire du fanatisme de notre temps</i>, Montpellier, 1713.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125">[30]</a> Après que Dieu a parlé de sa propre bouche des magiciens et sorciers, +qui est l’incredule qui on peut justement douter?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126">[31]</a> In the fourteenth century bas-reliefs on cathedrals frequently represent +men kneeling down before the Devil, worshipping him, and devoting themselves +to him as his servants. Martonne, <i>Piété au Moyen Âge</i>, p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127">[32]</a> George Ives, <i>A History of Penal Methods</i>, p. 75. His admirable and +documented chapter II, “The Witch Trials,” should be carefully read.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128">[33]</a> Philip Schaff, <i>History of the Christian Church</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129">[34]</a> Matthew Paris, <i>Chronica Maiora</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130">[35]</a> J. P. Kirsch.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131">[36]</a> All these quotations are from W. H. Lecky, <i>History of Rationalism in +Europe</i>, c. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132">[37]</a> Rev. Peter Lorimer, <span class="allsmcap">D.D.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133">[38]</a> First published by Isidore Liseux, 1875. p. 21. XIII. Ludovico Maria +Sinistrari, Minorite, was born at Ameno (Novara) 26 February, 1622. He was +Consultor to the Supreme Tribunal of the Holy Office; Vicar-general of the +Archbishop of Avignon, and Theologian Advisory to the Archbishop of Milan. +He is described as “omnium scientiarum uir.” He died 6 March, 1701.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134">[39]</a> <i>L’Incredulité et Mescreance du Sortilege</i>, Paris, 1622, p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135">[40]</a> Subscriptio autem sæpissime peragitur proprio sanguine.... Sic +Augustæ referebat Joseph Egmund Schultz, se anno 1671. d. 15. Maji sanguine +proprio tinctum manuscriptum, in membrana, nomine picto, obuolutoque +muccinio, in media nocte, cum hora undecima & duodecima agebatur, in +compitum iecisse, atque pactum sic corroborasse.... Sic de infausto illo +Fausto <i>Widmannus</i> refert, proprio sanguine ex leuiter uulnerato pollice +emisso illum se totum diabolo adscripsisse, Deoque repudium misisse. <i>De +Sagis</i>, Christian Stridtheckh, Lipsiæ, 1691. (XXII).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136">[41]</a> See Götz, <i>De subscriptionibus sanguine humano firmatis</i>, Lübeck, 1724. +Also Scheible, <i>Die Sage vom Faust</i>. Stuttgart, 1847. So far as I am aware +this point has been neglected by writers on Witchcraft.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137">[42]</a> Ne fœdora quidem incruenta sunt: sauciant se, qui paciscuntur, +exemtumque sanguinem, ubi permiscuere, degustant. Id putant mansuræ +fidei pignus certissimum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138">[43]</a> ... uel quia Deus non permittit, uel propter alias rationes nobis +occultas. <i>De Superstitione</i>, VIII. i. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139">[44]</a> Tunc autem propria culpa diuinationis iam commissa est ab homine, +etiamsi effectus desideratas non fuerit subsecutus. (For the sin of divination +is actually committed by the sinner and that willingly, although he obtain +not the desired effect of his action.) <i>Idem.</i></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140">[45]</a> <i>Theologia moralis</i>, l. iii. n. 28. Monendi sunt se teneri 1. Pactum +expressum, si quod habent cum dæmone, aut commercium abiurare et +dissoluere; 2. Libros suos, schedas, ligaturas, aliaque instrumenta artis +comburere; 3. Comburere chirographum, si habeat: si iuro solus dæmon +id habeat, non necessario cogendus est ut reddat, quia pactum sufficienter +soluitur per pœnitentiam; 4. Damna illata resarcire.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141">[46]</a> Bollandists, 4 February.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142">[47]</a> <i>Breuiarium Romanum</i>, Paris Autumnalis, 26 September, lectio iii. of +Matins. Upon this history Calderon has founded his great drama <i>El Magico +Prodigioso</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143">[48]</a> Bollandists, 14 May. <i>Breuiarium iuxta S. Ordinis Prædicatorum.</i> +14 May. In Nocturno, Lectiones ii, iij. Touron <i>Histoire des hommes illustres +de l’ordre de Saint Dominique</i>. (Paris, 1743.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144">[49]</a> <i>Discoverie of Witchcraft</i>, Book III.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145">[50]</a> <i>Examination of Joane Williford</i>, London, 1643.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146">[51]</a> John Davenport, <i>Witches of Huntingdon</i>, London, 1646.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147">[52]</a> Glanvill, <i>Sadducismus Triumphatus</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148">[53]</a> Antoinette Bourignon, <i>La Vie exterieure</i>, Amsterdam, 1683.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149">[54]</a> Delrio. <i>Disquisitiones magicæ</i>, l. v. sect. 4. t. 2. Non eadem est forma +signi; aliquando est simile leporis uestigio, aliquando bufonis pedi, aliquando +araneæ, uel catello, uel gliri.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150">[55]</a> <i>Idem.</i> In uirorum enim corpore sæpe uisitur sub palpebris, sub labiis, +sub axillis, in humeris, in sede ima: feminis etiam, in mammis uel muliebribus +locis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151">[56]</a> ... le Diable leur fait quelque marque comme avec une aleine de fer +en quelque partie du corps.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152">[57]</a> <i>Newes from Scotland</i>, London. (1592.) Roxburgh Club reprint, 1816.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153">[58]</a> <i>Abbreviate of the Justiciary Record.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154">[59]</a> Nous, medecins et chirurgiens soussignés, suivant le commandement +à nous fait par messire Anthoine de Thoron, sieur de Thoron, conseiller du roy +en sa cour de parlement, avons visité messire L. Gaufridy au corps duquel +avons remarqué trois petites marques peu differentes en couleur du reste du +cuir. L’une en sa cuisse sénestre sur le milieu et en la partie inferieure, en +laquelle ayant enforcé une aiguille environ deux travers de doigts n’a +senti aucune douleur, ni de la place n’est sorti point de sang ni autre +humidité.</p> + +<p>La seconde est en la region des lombes en la partie droite, un poulce près de +l’épine du dos et quatre doigts au-dessus les muscles de la fesse, en laquelle +nous avons enfoncé l’aiguille trois travers de doigts, la laissons comme avions +fait à la première plantée en cette partie quelque espace de temps, sans toutefois +que le dit Gaufridy ait senti aucune douleur et que sang ni humeur +quelconque en soit sorti.</p> + +<p>La troisième est vers la région du cœur. Laquelle, au commencement +qu’on mit l’aiguille parut comme les autres sans sentiment; mais à mesure +que l’on enfonçait fort avant, il dit sentir quelque douleur; ne sortant +toutefois aucune humidité, et l’ayant visité le lendemain au matin, n’avons +reconnu aux parties piquées ni tumeur, ni rougeur. A cause de quoi nous +disons telles marques insensibles en rendant point d’humidité étant piquées, +ne pouvoir arriver par aucune maladie du cuir précédante, et tel faisons +notre rapport ce 10 mars, 1611. <i>Fontaine</i>, <i>Grassy</i>, médecins; <i>Mérindol</i>, +<i>Bontemps</i>, chirurgiens.</p> + +<p>So great was the importance attached to the discovery of a witch-mark +upon the body of the accused that when the above medico-legal report was +read in court, Father Sebastian Michaelis, a learned Dominican, who was +acting as consultor in the case, horror-struck, involuntarily exclaimed: +“Good sooth, were we at Avignon this man would be executed to-morrow!” +Gaufridi confessed: “J’advoue que les dites marques sont faites pour +protestation qu’on sera toujours bon et fidèle serviteur du diable toute la +vie.” (I confess that these marks were made as a sign that I shall be a good +and faithful servant to the Devil all my life long.)</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155">[60]</a> Pitcairn, <i>Records of Justiciary</i>. In 1663 Kincaid was thrown into jail, +where he lay nine weeks for “pricking” without a magistrate’s warrant. +He was only released owing to his great age and on condition that he would +“prick” no more.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156">[61]</a> This shaving of the head and body was the usual procedure before the +search for the devil-mark. We find it recorded in nearly every case. Generally +a barber was called in to perform the operation: e.g. the trials of Gaufridi +and Grandier, where the details are very ample.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157">[62]</a> <i>The Wardlaw Manuscript</i>, p. 446. Scottish History Society publication, +Edinburgh.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158">[63]</a> <i>The Witch-Cult in Western Europe</i>, p. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159">[64]</a> Angelica in <i>Love for Love</i> (1695), II, mocking her superstitious old uncle, +Foresight, and the Nurse, cries: “Look to it, Nurse; I can bring Witness +that you have a great unnatural Teat under your Left Arm, and he another; +and that you Suckle a young Devil in the shape of a Tabby-Cat by turns, +I can.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160">[65]</a> <i>The most wonderfull ... storie of a ... Witch named Alse Gooderidge.</i> +London. 1597.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161">[66]</a> Goodcole’s <i>Wonderfull Discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer</i>, London, 1621. +There is an allusion in Ford and Dekker’s drama, IV:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Sawyer.</i> My dear <i>Tom-boy</i>, welcome ...</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comfort me: thou shalt haue the teat anon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Dog.</i> Bow, wow! I’ll haue it now.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162">[67]</a> W. B. Gerish. <i>The Devil’s Delusions</i>, Bishops Stortford, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163">[68]</a> <i>Prodigious and Tragicall Histories</i>, London, 1652.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164">[69]</a> W. B. Gerish, <i>Relation of Mary Hall of Gadsden</i>, 1912.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165">[70]</a> T. B. Howell, <i>State Trials</i>, London, 1816.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166">[71]</a> Cotton Mather, <i>Wonders of the Invisible World</i>.</p></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III<br> +<span class="smcap">Demons and Familiars</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p>One of the most authoritative of the older writers upon +Witchcraft, Francesco-Maria Guazzo, a member of the +Congregation of S. Ambrose ad Nemus,⁠<a id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> in his encyclopædic +<i>Compendium Maleficarum</i>, first published at Milan, 1608, +has drawn up under eleven heads those articles in which a +solemn and complete profession of Witchcraft was then held +to consist:</p> + +<p><i>First</i>: The candidates have to conclude with the Devil, +or some other Wizard or Magician acting in the Devil’s stead, +an express compact by which, in the presence of witnesses +they devote themselves to the service of evil, he giving them +in exchange his pledge for riches, luxury, and such things as +they desire.</p> + +<p><i>Secondly</i>: They abjure the Catholic Faith, explicitly withdraw +from their obedience to God, renounce Christ and in a +particular manner the Patronage and Protection of Our Lady, +curse all Saints, and forswear the Sacraments. In Guernsey, +in 1617, Isabel Becquet went to Rocquaine Castle, “the +usual place where the Devil kept his Sabbath: no sooner +had she arrived there than the Devil came to her in the form +of a dog, with two great horns sticking up: and with one +of his paws (which seemed to her like hands) took her by the +hand: and calling her by her name told her that she was +welcome: then immediately the Devil made her kneel down: +while he himself stood up on his hind legs; he then made +her express detestation of the Eternal in these words: <i>I +renounce God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost</i>; +and then caused her to worship and invoke himself.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +De Lancre tells us that Jeannette d’Abadie, a lass of sixteen, +confessed that she was made to “renounce & deny her +Creator, the Holy Virgin, the Saints, Baptism, father, mother, +relations, Heaven, earth, & all that the world contains.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span>In a very full confession made by Louis Gaufridi on the +second of April, 1611, to two Capuchins, Father Ange and +Father Antoine, he revealed the formula of his abjuration +of the Catholic faith. It ran thus: “I, Louis Gaufridi, +renounce all good, both spiritual as well as temporal, which +may be bestowed upon me by God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, +all the Saints of Heaven, particularly my Patron S. John-Baptist, +as also S. Peter, S. Paul, and S. Francis, and I give +myself body and soul to Lucifer, before whom I stand, +together with every good that I may ever possess (save +always the benefit of the sacraments touching those who +receive them). And according to the tenour of these terms +have I signed and sealed.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Madeleine de la Palud, one of +his victims, used a longer and more detailed declaration in +which the following hideous blasphemies occurred: “With +all my heart and most unfeignedly and with all my will most +deliberately do I wholly renounce God, Father, Son, and +Holy Ghost; the most Holy Mother of God; all the Angels +and especially my Guardian Angel, the Passion of Our Lord +Jesus Christ, His Precious Blood and the merits thereof, my +lot in Paradise, all the good inspirations which God may +give me in the future, all prayers which are made or may be +made for me.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p><i>Thirdly</i>: They cast away with contempt the most Holy +Rosary, delivered by Our Lady to S. Dominic;⁠<a id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> the Cord +of S. Francis; the cincture of S. Augustine; the Carmelite +scapular bestowed upon S. Simon Stock; they cast upon +the ground and trample under their feet in the mire the Cross, +Holy Medals, <i>Agnus Dei</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> should they possess such or carry +them upon their persons. S. Francis girded himself with a +rough rope in memory of the bonds wherewith Christ was +bound during His Passion, and a white girdle with three +knots has since formed part of the Franciscan habit. +Sixtus IV, by his Bull <i>Exsupernæ dispositionis</i>, erected the +Archconfraternity of the Cord of S. Francis in the basilica +of the Sacro Convento at Assisi, enriching it with many +Indulgences, favours which have been confirmed by pontiff +after pontiff. Archconfraternities are erected not only in +Franciscan but in many other churches and aggregated to +the centre at Assisi. The Archconfraternity of Our Lady of +Consolation, or of the Black Leathern Belt of S. Monica, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>S. Augustine and S. Nicolas of Tolentino, took its rise from +a vision of S. Monica, who received a black leathern belt +from Our Lady. S. Augustine, S. Ambrose, and S. Simplicianus +all wore such a girdle, which forms a distinctive +feature of the dress of Augustinian Eremites. After the +canonization of S. Nicolas of Tolentino it came into general +use as an article of devotion, and Eugenius IV in 1439 erected +the above Archconfraternity. A Bull of Gregory XIII <i>Ad ea</i> +(15 July, 1575) confirmed this and added various privileges +and Indulgences. The Archconfraternity is erected in +Augustinian sanctuaries, from the General of which Order +leave must be obtained for its extension to other churches.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp56" id="plate3" style="max-width: 32.8125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/plate3.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE III</p> + <p>COMPENDIVM MALEFICARVM.<br>Francesco-Maria Guazzo. Title-page of Second Edition</p> + <p class="caption-r">[<i>face p. 82</i></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><i>Fourthly</i>: All witches vow obedience and subjection into +the hands of the Devil; they pay him homage and vassalage +(often by obscene ceremonies), and lay their hands upon a +large black book which is presented to them. They bind +themselves by blasphemous oaths never to return to the true +faith, to observe no divine precept, to do no good work, but +to obey the Demon only and to attend without fail the +nightly conventicles. They pledge themselves to frequent +the midnight assemblies.⁠<a id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> + These conventicles or covens⁠<a id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +(from <i>conuentus</i>) were bands or companies of witches, +composed of men and women, apparently under the discipline +of an officer, all of whom for convenience’ sake belonged to +the same district. Those who belonged to a coven were, +it seems from the evidence at trials, bound to attend the +weekly Esbat. The arrest of one member of a coven generally +led to the implication of the rest. Cotton Mather remarks, +“The witches are organized like Congregational Churches.”</p> + +<p><i>Fifthly</i>: The witches promise to strive with all their +power and to use every inducement and endeavour to draw +other men and women to their detestable practices and the +worship of Satan.</p> + +<p>The witches were imbued with the missionary spirit, which +made them doubly damnable in the eyes of the divines and +doubly guilty in the eyes of the law. So in the case of +Janet Breadheid of Auldearne, we find that her husband +“enticed her into that craft.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> A girl named Bellot, of +Madame Bourignon’s academy, confessed that her mother +had taken her to the Sabbat when she was quite a child. +Another girl alleged that all worshippers of the Devil “are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>constrained to offer him their Children.” Elizabeth Francis +of Chelmsford, a witch tried in 1566, was only about twelve +years old when her grandmother first taught her the art +of sorcery.⁠<a id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The famous Pendle beldame, Elizabeth Demdike +“brought vp her owne Children, instructed her Graundchildren, +and tooke great care and paines to bring them to +be Witches.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> At Salem, George Burroughs, a minister, was +accused by a large number of women as “the person who +had Seduc’d and Compell’d them into the snares of Witchcraft.”</p> + +<p><i>Sixthly</i>: The Devil administers to witches a kind of +sacrilegious baptism, and after abjuring their Godfathers and +Godmothers of Christian Baptism and Confirmation they +have assigned to them new sponsors—as it were—whose +charge it is to instruct them in sorcery: they drop their +former name and exchange it for another, generally a +scurrilous and grotesque nickname.</p> + +<p>In 1609 Jeanette d’Abadie, a witch of the Basses-Pyrénées, +confessed “that she often saw children baptized at the +Sabbat, and these she informed us were the offspring of +sorcerers and not of other persons, but of witches who are +accustomed to have their sons and daughters baptized at +the Sabbat rather than at the Font.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> June 20, 1614, at +Orleans, Silvain Nevillon amongst other crimes acknowledged +that he had frequented assemblies of witches, and “that +they baptize babies at the Sabbat with Chrism.... Then +they anoint the child’s head therewith muttering certain +Latin phrases.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Gentien le Clerc, who was tried at the +same time, “said that his mother, as he had been told, +presented him at the Sabbat when he was but three years +old, to a monstrous goat, whom they called l’Aspic. He said +that he was baptized at the Sabbat, at Carrior d’Olivet, with +fourteen or fifteen other children....”⁠<a id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>Among the confessions made by Louis Gaufridi at Aix in +March, 1611, were: “I confess that baptism is administered +at the Sabbat, and that every sorcerer, devoting himself to +the Devil, binds himself by a particular vow that he will +have all his children baptized at the Sabbat, if this may by +any possible means be effected. Every child who is thus +baptized at the Sabbat receives a name, wholly differing +from his own name. I confess that at this baptism water, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>sulphur, and salt are employed: the sulphur renders the +recipient the Devil’s slave whilst salt confirms his baptism +in the Devil’s service. I confess that the form and intention +are to baptize in the name of Lucifer, Belzebuth and other +demons making the sign of the cross beginning backwards +and then tracing from the feet and ending at the head.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>A number of Swedish witches (1669) were baptized: “they +added, that he caused them to be baptized too by such +Priests as he had there, and made them confirm their Baptism +with dreadful Oaths and Imprecations.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>The giving of a new name seems to have been very general. +Thus in May, 1569, at S. Andrews “a notabill sorceres callit +Nicniven was condemnit to the death and burnt.” Her +Christian name is not given merely her witch’s name bestowed +by the demon. In the famous Fian case it was stated that +when at the meeting in North Berwick kirk Robert Grierson +was named great confusion ensued for the witches and warlocks +“all ran hirdie-girdie, and were angry, for it was +promised that he should be called Robert the Comptroller, +for the expriming of his name.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Euphemia McCalyan of +the same coven was called Cane, and Barbara Napier Naip. +Isabel Goudie of Auldearne (1662) stated that many witches +known to her had been baptized in their own blood by such +names as “Able-and-Stout,” “Over-the-dike-with-it,” +“Raise-the-wind,” “Pickle-nearest-the-wind,” “Batter-them-down-Maggy,” +“Blow-Kate,” and similar japeries.</p> + +<p><i>Seventhly</i>: The witches cut off a piece of their own +garments, and as a token of homage tender it to the Devil, +who takes it away and keeps it.</p> + +<p><i>Eighthly</i>: The Devil draws on the ground a circle wherein +stand the Novices, Wizards, and Witches, and there they +confirm by oath all their aforesaid promises. This has a +mystical signification. “They take this oath to the Demon +standing in a circle described upon the ground, perchance +because a circle is the Symbol of Divinity, & the earth God’s +footstool and thus he assuredly wishes them to believe that +he is the lord of Heaven and earth.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p><i>Ninthly</i>: The sorcerers request the Devil to strike them +out of the book of Christ, and to inscribe them in his own. +Then is solemnly brought forward a large black book, the +same as that on which they laid their hands when they did +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span>their first homage, and they are inscribed in this by the +Devil’s claw.</p> + +<p>These books or rolls were kept with great secrecy by the +chief officer of the coven or even the Grand Master of a +district. They would have been guarded as something as +precious as life itself, seeing that they contained the damning +evidence of a full list of the witches of a province or +county, and in addition thereto seems to have been added a +number of magic formulæ, spells, charms, and probably, +from time to time, a record of the doings of the various +witches. The signing of such a book is continually referred +to in the New England trials. So when Deliverance Hobbs +had made a clean breast of her sorceries, “She now testifi’d, +that this <i>Bishop</i> [Bridget Bishop, condemned and executed as +a long-continued witch] tempted her to sign the <i>Book</i> again, +and to deny what she had confess’d.” The enemies of the +notorious Matthew Hopkins made great capital out of the +story that by some sleight of sorcery he had got hold of one +of these Devil’s memorandum-books, whence he copied a list +of witches, and this it was that enabled him to be so infallible +in his scent. The Witch-Finder General was hard put to it +to defend himself from the accusation, and becomes quite +pitiful in his whining asseverations of innocence. There is a +somewhat vague story, no dates being given, that a Devil’s +book was carried off by Mr. Williamson of Cardrona (Peebles), +who filched it from the witches whilst they were dancing on +Minchmoor. But the whole coven at once gave chase, and +he was glad to abandon it and escape alive.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the catalogue of witches was inscribed on a +separate parchment, and the book only used to write down +charms and spells. Such a volume was the Red Book of +Appin known to have actually been in existence a hundred +years ago. Tradition said it was stolen from the Devil by a +trick. It was in manuscript, and contained a large number +of magic runes and incantations for the cure of cattle diseases, +the increase of flocks, the fertility of fields. This document, +which must be of immense importance and interest, when +last heard of was (I believe) in the possession of the now-extinct +Stewarts of Invernahyle. This strange volume, so +the story ran, conferred dark powers on the owner, who knew +what inquiry would be made ere the question was poised; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>and the tome was so confected with occult arts that he who +read it must wear a circlet of iron around his brow as he +turned those mystic pages.</p> + +<p>Another volume, of which mention is made—one that is +often confused⁠<a id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> with, but should be distinguished from, these +two—is what we may term the Devil’s Missal. Probably +this had its origin far back in the midst of the centuries among +the earliest heretics who passed down their evil traditions to +their followers, the Albigenses and the Waldenses or Vaudois. +This is referred to by the erudite De Lancre, who in his +detailed account of the Black Mass as performed in the region +of the Basses-Pyrénées (1609) writes: “Some kind of altar +was erected upon the pillars of infernal design, and hereon, +without reciting the <i>Confiteor</i> or <i>Alleluya</i>, turning over the +leaves of a certain book which he held, he began to mumble +certain phrases of Holy Mass.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> Silvain Nevillon (Orleans, +1614) confessed that “the Sabbat was held in a house.... +He saw there a tall dark man opposite to the one who was in +a corner of the ingle, and this man was perusing a book, +whose leaves seemed black & crimson, & he kept muttering +between his teeth although what he said could not be heard, +and presently he elevated a black host and then a chalice of +some cracked pewter, all foul and filthy.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> Gentien le Clerc, +who was also accused, acknowledged that at these infernal +assemblies “Mass was said, and the Devil was celebrant. He +was vested in a chasuble upon which was a broken cross. He +turned his back to the altar when he was about to elevate +the Host and the Chalice, which were both black. He read +in a mumbling tone from a book, the cover of which was soft +and hairy like a wolf’s skin. Some leaves were white and red, +others black.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Madeleine Bavent, who was the chief figure +in the trials at Louviers (1647), acknowledged: “Mass was +read from the book of blasphemies, which contained the +canon. This same volume was used in processions. It was +full of the most hideous curses against the Holy Trinity, the +Holy Sacrament of the Altar, the other Sacraments and +ceremonies of the Church. It was written in a language +completely unknown to me.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Possibly this blasphemous +volume is the same as that which Satanists to-day use when +performing their abominable rites.</p> + +<p><i>Tenthly</i>: The witches promise the Devil sacrifices and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>offerings at stated times; once a fortnight, or at least once +a month, the murder of some child, or some mortal poisoning, +and every week to plague mankind with evils and mischiefs, +hailstorms, tempest, fires, cattle-plagues and the like.</p> + +<p>The <i>Liber Pœnitentialis</i> of S. Theodore, Archbishop of +Canterbury 668-690, the earliest ecclesiastical law of England, +has clauses condemning those who invoke fiends, and +so cause the weather to change “si quis emissor tempestatis +fuerit.” In the <i>Capitaluria</i> of Charlemagne (died at Aachen, +28 January, 814), the punishment of death is declared against +those who by evoking the demon, trouble the atmosphere, +excite tempests, destroy the fruits of the earth, dry up the +milk of cows, and torment their fellow-creatures with diseases +or any other misfortune. All persons found guilty of employing +such arts were to be executed immediately upon conviction. +Innocent VIII in his celebrated Bull, <i>Summis desiderantes +affectibus</i>, 5 December, 1484, charges sorcerers in +detail with precisely the same foul practices. The most +celebrated occasion when witches raised a storm was that +which played so important a part in the trial of Dr. Fian +and his coven, 1590-1, when the witches, in order to drown +King James and Queen Anne on their voyage from Denmark, +“tooke a Cat and christened it,” and after they had bound +a dismembered corpse to the animal “in the night following +the said Cat was convayed into the middest of the sea by all +these witches, sayling in their riddles or cives, ... this +doone, then did arise such a tempest in the sea, as a greater +hath not bene seene.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> The bewitching of cattle is alleged +from the earliest time, and at Dornoch in Sutherland as late +as 1722, an old hag was burned for having cast spells upon +the pigs and sheep of her neighbours, the sentence being +pronounced by the sheriff-depute, Captain David Ross of +Little Dean. This was the last execution of a witch in +Scotland.</p> + +<p>With regard to the sacrifice of children there is a catena +of ample evidence. Reginald Scot⁠<a id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> writes in 1584: “This +must be an infallible rule, that euerie fortnight, or at the +least euerie month, each witch must kill one child at the +least for hir part.” When it was dangerous or impossible +openly to murder an infant the life would be taken by poison, +and in 1645 Mary Johnson, a witch of Wyvenhoe, Essex, was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span>tried for poisoning two children, no doubt as an act of +sorcery.⁠<a id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> It is unknown how many children Gilles de Rais +devoted to death in his impious orgies. More than two +hundred corpses were found in the latrines of Tiffauges, +Machecoul, Champtocé. It was in 1666 that Louis XIV +was first informed of the abominations which were vermiculating +his capital “des sacrilèges, des profanations, des +messes impies, des sacrifices de jeunes enfants.” Night after +night in the rue Beauregard at the house of the mysterious +Catherine la Voisin the abbé Guibourg was wont to kill +young children for his hideous ritual, either by strangulation +or more often by piercing their throats with a sharp dagger +and letting the hot blood stream into the chalice as he cried: +“Astaroth, Asmodée, je vous conjure d’accepter le sacrifice +que je vous présente!” (Astaroth! Asmodeus! Receive, +I beseech you, this sacrifice I offer unto you!) A priest +named Tournet also said Satanic Masses at which children +were immolated; in fact the practice was so common that +la Chaufrein, a mistress of Guibourg, would supply a child +for a crown⁠<a id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> piece.</p> + +<p><i>Eleventhly</i>: The Demon imprints upon the Witches some +mark.... When this has all been performed in accordance +with the instructions of those Masters who have initiated +the Novice, the latter bind themselves by fearful oaths never +to worship the Blessed Sacrament; to heap curses on all +Saints and especially to abjure our Lady Immaculate; to +trample under foot and spit upon all holy images, the Cross +and Relics of Saints; never to use the Sacraments or Sacramentals +unless with some magical end in view; never to +make a good confession to the priest, but always to keep +hidden their commerce with hell. In return the Demon +promises that he will at all times afford them prompt assistance; +that he will accomplish all their desires in this world +and make them eternally happy after their death. This +solemn profession having been publicly made each novice +has assigned to him a several demon who is called <i>Magistellus</i> +(a familiar). This familiar can assume either a male or a +female shape; sometimes he appears as a full-grown man, +sometimes as a satyr; and if it is a woman who has been +received as a witch he generally assumes the form of a rank +buck-goat.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span></p> + +<p>It is obvious that there is no question here of animal +familiars, but rather of evil intelligences who were, it is believed, +able to assume a body of flesh. The whole question +is, perhaps, one of the most dark and difficult connected with +Witchcraft and magic, and the details of these hideous connexions +are such—for as the Saints attain to the purity of angels, +so, on the other hand, will the bond slaves of Satan defile themselves +with every kind of lewdness—that many writers have +with an undue diffidence and modesty dismissed the subject +far too summarily for the satisfaction of the serious inquirer. +In the first place, we may freely allow that many of these +lubricities are to be ascribed to hysteria and hallucinations, +to nightmare and the imaginings of disease, but when all +deductions have been made—when we admit that in many +cases the incubus or succubus can but have been a human +being, some agent of the Grand Master of the district,—none +the less enough remains from the records of the trials to +convince an unprejudiced mind that there was a considerable +substratum of fact in the confessions of the accused. As +Canon Ribet has said in his encyclopædic <i>La Mystique Divine</i>, +a work warmly approved by the great intellect of Leo XIII: +“After what we have learned from records and personal +confessions we can scarcely entertain any more doubts, and +it is our plain duty to oppose, even if it be but by a simple +affirmation on our part, those numerous writers who, either +through presumption or rashness, treat these horrors as idle +talk or mere hallucination.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Bizouard also in his authoritative +<i>Rapports de l’homme avec le démon</i> writes of the incubus +and succubus: “These relations, far from being untrue, bear +the strongest marks of authenticity which can be given them +by official proceedings regulated and approved with all the +caution and judgement brought to bear upon them by +enlightened and conscientious magistrates who, throughout +all ages, have been in a position to test plain facts.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>It seems to me that if unshaken evidence means anything +at all, if the authority of the ablest and acutest intellects +of all ages in all countries is not to count for merest vapourings +and fairy fantasies, the possibility—I do not, thank God, +say the frequency—of these demoniacal connexions is not to +be denied. Of course the mind already resolved that such +things cannot be is inconvincible even by demonstration, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>one can only fall back upon the sentence of S. Augustine: +“Hanc assidue immunditiam et tentare et efficere, plures +talesque asseuerant, ut hoc negare impudentiæ uideatur.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> +In which place the holy doctor explicitly declares: “Seeing +it is so general a report, and so many aver it either from their +own experience or from others, that are of indubitable +honesty and credit, that the sylvans and fawns, commonly +called incubi, have often injured women, desiring and acting +carnally with them: and that certain devils whom the Gauls +call <i>Duses</i>, do continually practise this uncleanness, and +tempt others to it, which is affirmed by such persons, and +with such confidence that it were impudence to deny it.”</p> + +<p>The learned William of Paris, confessor of Philip le Bel, +lays down: “That there exist such beings as are commonly +called incubi or succubi and that they indulge their burning +lusts, and that children, as it is freely acknowledged, can be +born from them, is attested by the unimpeachable and +unshaken witness of many men and women who have been +filled with foul imaginings by them, and endured their +lecherous assaults and lewdness.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>S. Thomas⁠<a id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> and S. Bonaventura,⁠<a id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> + also, speak quite +plainly on the subject.</p> + +<p>Francisco Suarez, the famous Jesuit theologian, writes +with caution but with directness: “This is the teaching on +this point of S. Thomas, who is generally followed by all other +theologians.... The reason for their opinion is this: Such +an action considered in its entirety by no means exceeds the +natural powers of the demon, whilst the exercise of such +powers is wholly in accordance with the malice of the demon, +and it may well be permitted by God, owing to the sins +of some men. Therefore this teaching cannot be denied +without many reservations and exceptions. Wherefore +S. Augustine has truly said, that inasmuch as this doctrine +of incubi and succubi is established by the opinion of many +who are experienced and learned, it were sheer impudence +to deny it.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> The Salmanticenses—that is to say, the authors +of the courses of Scholastic philosophy and theology, and of +Moral theology, published by the lecturers of the theological +college of the Discalced Carmelites at Salamanca—in their +weighty <i>Theologia Moralis</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> state: “Some deny this, +believing it impossible that demons should perform the carnal +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span>act with human beings,” but they affirm, “None the less the +opposite opinion is most certain and must be followed.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> +Charles René Billuart, the celebrated Dominican, in his <i>Tractatus +de Angelis</i> expressly declares: “The same evil spirit +may serve as a succubus to a man, and as an incubus to a +woman.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> One of the most learned—if not the most learned—of +the popes, Benedict XIV, in his erudite work <i>De +Seruorum Dei Beatificatione</i>, treats this whole question at +considerable length with amplest detail and solid references, +Liber IV, Pars i. c. 3.⁠<a id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> Commenting upon the passage “The +sons of God went unto the daughters of men” (Genesis vi. 4), +the pontiff writes: “This passage has reference to those +Demons who are known as incubi and succubi.... It is true +that whilst nearly all authors admit the fact, some writers +deny that there can be offspring.... On the other hand, +several writers assert that connexion of this kind is possible +and that children may be born from it, nay, indeed, they +tell us that this has taken place, although it were done in +some new and mysterious way which is ordinarily unknown +to man.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>S. Alphonsus Liguori in his <i>Praxis confessariorum</i>, VII, +n. 111, writes: “Some deny that there are evil spirits, incubi +and succubi; but writers of authority for the most part +assert that such is the case.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>In his <i>Theologia Moralis</i> he speaks quite precisely when +defining the technical nature of the sin witches commit in commerce +with incubi.⁠<a id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> ⁠<a id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> + This opinion is also that of Martino +Bonacina,⁠<a id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> and of Vincenzo Filliucci, S.J.⁠<a id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> + “Busembaum +has excellently observed that carnal sins with an evil spirit +fall under the head of the technical term <i>bestialitas</i>.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> This +is also the conclusion of Thomas Tamburini, S.J. (1591-1675); +Benjamin Elbel, O.F.M. (1690-1756);⁠<a id="FNanchor_213" href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Cardinal Cajetan, +O.P. (1469-1534) “the lamp of the Church”; Juan Azor, S.J. +(1535-1603); “in wisdom, in depth of learning and in +gravity of judgement taking deservedly high rank among +theologians” (Gury); and many other authorities.⁠<a id="FNanchor_214" href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> What a +penitent should say in confession is considered by Monsignor +Craisson, sometime Rector of the Grand Seminary of Valence +and Vicar-General of the diocese, in his Tractate <i>De Rebus +Uenereis ad usum Confessariorum</i>.⁠<a id="FNanchor_215" href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Jean-Baptiste Bouvier +(1783-1854) the famous bishop of Le Mans, in his <i>Dissertatio +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span>in Sextum Decalogi Præceptum</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_216" href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> (p. 78) writes: “All theologians +speak of ... evil spirits who appear in the shape +of a man, a woman, or even some animal. This is either a +real and actual presence, or the effect of imagination. They +decide that this sin ... incurs particular guilt which must +be specifically confessed, to wit an evil superstition whereof +the essence is a compact with the Devil. In this sin, therefore, +we have two distinct kinds of malice, one an offence against +chastity; the other against our holy faith.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_217" href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Dom Dominic +Schram,⁠<a id="FNanchor_218" href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> O.S.B., in his <i>Institutiones Theologiæ Mysticæ</i> poses +the following: “The inquiry is made whether a demon ... +may thus attack a man or woman, whose obsession would +be suffered if the subject were wholly bent upon obtaining +perfection and walking the highest paths of contemplation. +Here we must distinguish the true and the false. It is certain +that—whatever doubters may say—there exist such demons, +incubi and succubi: and S. Augustine asserts (<i>The City of +God</i>, Book XV, chapter 23) that it is most rash to advance +the contrary.... S. Thomas, and most other theologians +maintain this too. Wherefore the men or women who suffer +these impudicities are sinners who either invite demons ... +or who freely consent to demons when the evil spirits tempt +them to commit such abominations. That these and other +abandoned wretches may be violently assaulted by the demon +we cannot doubt ... and I myself have known several +persons who although they were greatly troubled on account +of their crimes, and utterly loathed this foul intercourse with +the demon, were nevertheless compelled sorely against their +will to endure these assaults of Satan.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_219" href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>It will be seen that great Saints and scholars and all moral +theologians of importance affirm the possibility of commerce +with incarnate evil intelligences. The demonologists also +range themselves in a solid phalanx of assent. Hermann +Thyraus, S.J.,⁠<a id="FNanchor_220" href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> in his <i>De Spirituum apparitione</i> says: “It +is so rash and inept to deny these (things) that so to adopt +this attitude you must needs reject and spurn the most +weighty and considered judgements of most holy and +authoritative writers, nay, you must wage war upon man’s +sense and consciousness, whilst at the same time you expose +your ignorance of the power of the Devil and the empery +evil spirits may obtain over man.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_221" href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> Delrio, in his <i>Disquisitiones +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>Magicæ</i>, is even more emphatic: “So many sound +authors and divines have upheld this belief that to differ +from them is mere obstinacy and foolhardiness; for the +Fathers, theologians, and all the wisest writers on philosophy +agree upon this matter, the truth of which is furthermore +proved by the experience of all ages and peoples.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_222" href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> The +erudite Sprenger in the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> has much the +same.⁠<a id="FNanchor_223" href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> John Nider, O.P. (1380-1438) in his <i>Formicarius</i>, +which may be described as a treatise on the theological, +philosophical, and social problems of his day, with no small +acumen remarks: “The reason why evil spirits appear as +incubi and succubi would seem to be that ... they inflict +a double hurt on man, both in his soul and body, and it is +a supreme joy to devils thus to injure humankind.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_224" href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> Paul +Grilland in his <i>De Sortilegio</i> (Lyons, 1533) writes: “A demon +assumes the form of the succubus.... This is the explicit +teaching of the theologians.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_225" href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<p>“It has often been known by most certain and actual +experience that women in spite of their resistance have been +overpowered by demons.” Such are the words of the famous +Alfonso de Castro, O.F.M.,⁠<a id="FNanchor_226" href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> whose authoritative pronouncements +upon Scripture carried such weight at the Council of +Trent, and who was Archbishop-elect of Compostella when +he died. Pierre Binsfeld, <i>De confessione maleficarum</i>, sums +up: “This is a most solemn and undoubted fact not only +proved by actual experience, but also by the opinion of all +the ages, whatever some few doctors and legal writers may +suppose.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_227" href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>Gaspar Schott, S.J. (1608-66), physicist, doctor, and divine, +“one of the most learned men of his day, his simple life and +deep piety making him an object of veneration to the +Protestants as well as to the Catholics of Augsburg,” where +his declining years were spent, lays down: “So many +writers of such high authority maintain this opinion, that it +were impossible to reject it.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_228" href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> Bodin, de Lancre, Boguet, +Görres, Bizouard,⁠<a id="FNanchor_229" href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> Gougenot des Mousseaux,⁠<a id="FNanchor_230" href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> + insist upon +the same sad facts. And above all sounds the solemn +thunder of the Bull of Innocent VIII announcing in no +ambiguous phrase: “It has indeed come to our knowledge +and deeply grieved are we to hear it, that many persons of +both sexes, utterly forgetful of their souls’ salvation and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>straying far from the Catholic Faith, have (had commerce) +with evil spirits, both incubi and succubi.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_231" href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>I have quoted many and great names, men of science, men +of learning, men of authority, men to whom the world yet +looks up with admiration, nay, with reverence and love, +inasmuch as to-day it is difficult, wellnigh inconceivable +in most cases, for the modern mind to credit the possibility +of these dark deeds of devilry, these foul lusts of incubi and +succubi.⁠<a id="FNanchor_232" href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> They seem to be some sick and loathly fantasy +of dim mediæval days shrieked out on the rack by a poor +wretch crazed with agony and fear, and written down in +long-forgotten tomes by fanatics credulous to childishness +and more ignorant than savages. “Even if such horrors +ever could have taken place in the dark ages,”—those vague +Dark Ages!—men say, “they would never be permitted +now.” And he who knows, the priest sitting in the grated +confessional, in whose ears are poured for shriving the filth +and folly of the world, sighs to himself, “Would God that in +truth it were so!” But the sceptics are happier in their +singleness and their simplicity, happy that they do not, will +not, realize the monstrous things that lie only just beneath +the surface of our cracking civilization.</p> + +<p>It may not impertinently be inquired how demons or evil +intelligences, since they are pure spiritual beings, can not +only assume human flesh but perform the peculiarly carnal +act of coition. Sinistrari, following the opinion of Guazzo, +says that either the evil intelligence is able to animate the +corpse of some human being, male or female, as the case may +be, or that, from the mixture of other materials he shapes for +himself a body endowed with motion, by means of which he +is united to the human being: “ex mixtione aliarum +materiarum effingit sibi corpus, quod mouet, et mediante +quo homini unitur.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_233" href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> In the first instance, advantage might +be taken, no doubt, of a person in a mediumistic trance or +hypnotic sleep. But the second explanation seems by far +the more probable. Can we not look to the phenomena +observed in connexion with ectoplasm as an adequate +explanation of this? It must fairly be admitted that this +explanation is certainly borne out by the phenomena of the +materializing séance where physical forms which may be +touched and handled are built up and disintegrated again +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>in a few moments of time. Miss Scatcherd, in a symposium, +<i>Survival</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_234" href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> gives certain of her own experiences that go far +to prove the partial re-materialization of the dead by the +utilization of the material substance and ectoplasmic emanations +of the living. And if disembodied spirits can upon +occasion, however rare, thus materialize, why not evil +intelligences whose efforts at corporeality are urged and aided +by the longing thoughts and concentrated will power of those +who eagerly seek them?</p> + +<p>This explanation is further rendered the more probable by +the recorded fact that the incubus can assume the shape of +some person whose embraces the witch may desire.⁠<a id="FNanchor_235" href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> Brignoli, +in his <i>Alexicacon</i>, relates that when he was at Bergamo +in 1650, a young man, twenty-two years of age, sought him +out and made a long and ample confession. This youth +avowed that some months before, when he was in bed, the +chamber door opened and a maiden, Teresa, whom he loved, +stealthily entered the room. To his surprise she informed +him that she had been driven from home and had taken +refuge with him. Although he more than suspected some +delusion, after a short while he consented to her solicitations +and passed a night of unbounded indulgence in her arms. +Before dawn, however, the visitant revealed the true nature +of the deceit, and the young man realized he had lain with +a succubus. None the less such was his doting folly that +the same debauchery was repeated night after night, until +struck with terror and remorse, he sought the priest to +confess and be delivered from this abomination. “This +monstrous connexion lasted several months; but at last +God delivered him by my humble means, and he was truly +penitent for his sins.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_236" href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p> + +<p>Not infrequently the Devil or the familiar assigned to the +new witch at the Sabbat when she was admitted must +obviously have been a man, one of the assembly, who either +approached her in some demoniacal disguise or else embraced +her without any attempt at concealment of his individuality, +some lusty varlet who would afterwards hold himself at her +disposition. For we must always bear in mind that throughout +these witch-trials there is often much in the evidence +which may be explained by the agency of human beings; +not that this essentially meliorates their offences, for they +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>were all bond-slaves of Satan, acting under his direction and +by the inspiration of hell. When the fiend has ministers +devoted to his service there is, perhaps, less need for his +interposition <i>in propria persona</i>. Howbeit, again and again +in these cases we meet with that uncanny quota, by no means +insignificant and unimportant, which seemingly admits of +no solution save by the materialization of evil intelligences +of power. And detailed as is the evidence we possess, it not +unseldom becomes a matter of great difficulty, when we are +considering a particular case, to decide whether it be an +instance of a witch having had actual commerce and communion +with the fiend, or whether she was cheated by the +devils, who mocked her, and allowing her to deem herself in +overt union with them, thus led the wretch on to misery and +death, duped as she was by the father of lies, sold for a +delusion and by profitless endeavour in evil. There are, of +course, also many cases which stand on the border-line, half +hallucination, half reality. Sylvine de la Plaine, a witch of +twenty-three, who was condemned by the Parliament of +Paris, 17 May, 1616, was one of these.⁠<a id="FNanchor_237" href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> Antoinette Brenichon, +a married woman, aged thirty, made a confession in almost +exactly the same words. Sylvine, her husband Barthélemi +Minguet, and Brenichon were hanged and their bodies +burned.</p> + +<p>Henri Boguet, a Judge of the High Court of Burgundy, +in his <i>Discours des Sorciers</i>, devotes chapter xii to “The +carnal connexion of the Demons with Witches and Sorcerers.” +He discusses: 1. The Devil knows all the Witches, & why. +2. He takes a female shape to pleasure the Sorcerers, & why. +3. Other reasons why the Devil (has to do) with warlocks +and witches.⁠<a id="FNanchor_238" href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> Françoise Secretain, Clauda Ianprost, +Iaquema Paget, Antoine Tornier, Antoine Gandillon, Clauda +Ianguillaume, Thieuenne Paget, Rolande du Vernois, Ianne +Platet, Clauda Paget, and a number of other witches confessed +“their dealings with the Devil.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_239" href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> Pierre Gandillon +and his son George also confessed to commerce with the +Demon. Under his third division Boguet lays down explicit +statements on the matter.⁠<a id="FNanchor_240" href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">[74]</a>⁠<a id="FNanchor_241" href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + +<p>This unnatural physical coldness of the Demon is commented +upon again and again by witches at their trials in +every country of Europe throughout the centuries. I have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>already suggested that in some cases there was a full +materialization due to ectoplasmic emanations. Now, +ectoplasm is described⁠<a id="FNanchor_242" href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> as being to the touch a cold and +viscous mass comparable to contact with a reptile, and this +certainly seems to throw a flood of light upon these details. +It may be that here indeed we have a solution of the whole +mystery. In 1645 the widow Bash, a Suffolk witch, of Barton, +said that the Devil who appeared to her as a dark swarthy +youth “was colder than man.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_243" href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> Isobel Goudie and Janet +Breadheid, of the Auldearne coven, 1662, both asserted that +the Devil was “a meikle, blak, rock man, werie cold; and +I fand his nature als cold, a spring-well-water.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_244" href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> Isabel, +who had been rebaptized at a Sabbat held one midnight in +Auldearne parish church, and to whom was assigned a +familiar named the Red Riever, albeit he was always clad +in black, gave further details of the Devil’s person: “He is +abler for ws that way than any man can be, onlie he ves +heavie lyk a malt-sek; a hudg nature, uerie cold, as yce.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_245" href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> + +<p>In many of the cases of debauchery at Sabbats so freely +and fully confessed by the witches their partners were +undoubtedly the males who were present; the Grand Master, +Officer, or President of the Assembly, exercising the right to +select first for his own pleasures such women as he chose. +This is clear from a passage in De Lancre: “The Devil at +the Sabbat performs marriages between the warlocks and +witches, and joining their hands, he pronounces aloud</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Esta es buena parati</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Esta parati lo toma.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_246" href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>And in many cases it is obvious that use must have been +made of an instrument, an artificial phallus employed.⁠<a id="FNanchor_247" href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>The artificial penis was a commonplace among the erotica +of ancient civilizations; there is abundant evidence of its +use in Egypt, Assyria, India, Mexico, all over the world. +It has been found in tombs; frequently was it to be seen as +an ex-voto; in a slightly modified form it is yet the favourite +mascot of Southern Italy.⁠<a id="FNanchor_248" href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> Often enough they do not +trouble to disguise the form. Aristophanes mentions the +object in his <i>Lysistrata</i> (411 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>), and one of the most spirited +dialogues (VI) of Herodas (<i>circa</i> 300-250 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>) is that where +Koritto and Metro prattle prettily of their βαύβων, whilst +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span>(in another mime, VII) the ladies visit Kerdon the leather-worker +who has fashioned this masterpiece. Truly Herodas +is as modern to-day in London or in Paris as he ever was +those centuries ago in the isle of Cos. <i>Fascinum</i>, explains +the <i>Glossarium Eroticum Linguæ Latinæ</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_249" href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> “Penis fictitius +ex corio, aut pannis lineis uel sericis, quibus mulieres uirum +mentiebantur. Antiquissima libido, lesbiis et milesiis feminis +præsertim usitatissima. <i>Fascinis</i> illis abutebantur meretrices +in tardos ascensores.” As one might expect Petronius +has something to say on the subject in a famous passage +where that savage old hag⁠<a id="FNanchor_250" href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> Œnothea fairly frightened +Encolpius with her <i>scorteum fascinum</i>, upon which an erudite +Spanish scholar, Don Antonio Gonzalez de Salas, glosses: +“Rubrum penem coriaceum ut Suidas exsertim tradit uoce +φαλλόι. Confecti & ex uaria materia uarios in usus olim +<i>phalli</i> ex ligno, <i>ficu</i> potissimum qui <i>ficulnei</i> sæpius adpellati, +ex <i>ebore</i>, ex <i>auro</i>, ex <i>serico</i>, & ex <i>lineo panno</i>, quibus Lesbiæ +tribades abutebantur.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_251" href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> And Tibullus, speaking of the +image of Priapus, has:⁠<a id="FNanchor_252" href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Placet Priape? qui sub arboris coma</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soles sacrum reuincte pampino caput</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ruber sedere cum rubente fascino.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The Church, of course, condemned with unhesitating voice +all such practices, whether they were connected (in however +slight a degree) with Witchcraft or not. Arnobius, who +regards all such offences as detestable, in his <i>Aduersus +Nationes</i>, V (<i>circa</i> <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 296), relates a curiously obscene +anecdote which seems to point to the use of the fascinum by +the Galli, the priests of Berecynthian Cybele,⁠<a id="FNanchor_253" href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> whose orgies +were closely akin to those of Dionysus. And the same story +is related by Clement of Alexandria Προτρεπτικὸς πρὸς +Ἕλληνας (<i>circa</i> <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 190); by Julius Firmicus Maternus, +<i>De Errore profanarum Religionum</i> (<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 337-350); by Nicetas +(<i>ob.</i> <i>circa</i> <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 414) in a commentary on S. Gregory of Nanzianzus, +oratio XXXIX; and by Theodoret (<i>ob.</i> <i>circa</i> <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 457) +<i>Sermo octaua de Martyribus</i>. Obviously some very primitive +rite is in question.</p> + +<p>Lactantius, in his <i>De Falsa Religione</i> (<i>Diuinarum Institutionum</i>, +I, <i>circa</i> <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 304), speaks of a phallic superstition, +akin to the fascinum, as favoured by the vestals, and implies +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>it was notoriously current in his day. That eminent father, +S. Augustine, <i>De Ciuitate Dei</i>, VII, 21, gives some account +of the fascinum as used in the rites of Bacchus, and when +he is detailing the marriage ceremonies (VI, 9), he writes: +“Sed quid hoc dicam, cum tibi sit et Priapus nimius masculus, +super cuius immanissimum et turpissimum fascinum sedere +nona nupta iubeatur, more honestissimo et religiosissimo +matronarum.” The historian, Evagrius Scholasticus (<i>ob.</i> +post <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 504), in his <i>Historia Ecclesiastica</i> (XI, 2), says that +the ritual of Priapus was quite open in his day, and the +fascinum widely known. Nicephorus Calixtus, a later +Byzantine, who died about the middle of the fourteenth +century but whose Chronicle closed with the death of Leo +Philosophus, <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 911, speaks of phallic ceremonies and of the +use of ithy-phalli.⁠<a id="FNanchor_254" href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p> + +<p>Council after council forbade the use of the fascinum, and +their very insistence of prohibition show how deeply these +abominations had taken root. The Second Council of +Châlon-sur-Saône (813) is quite plain and unequivocal; so +are the synods of de Mano (1247) and Tours (1396). Burchard +of Worms (died 25 Aug., 1025) in his famous <i>Decretum</i> has: +“Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent, ut facere +quoddam molimen aut mechinamentum in modum uirilis +membri, ad mensuram tuæ uoluptatis, et illud loco uerendorum +tuorum, aut alterius, cum aliquibus ligaturis colligares, +et fornicationem faceres cum aliis mulierculis, uel aliæ eodem +instrumento, siue alio, tecum? Si fecisti, quinque annos per +legitimas ferias pœniteas.” And again: “Fecisti quod +quædam mulieres facere solent, ut iam supra dicto molimine +uel alio aliquo machinamento, tu ipsa in te solam faceres +fornicationem? Si fecisti, unum annum per legitimas ferias +pœniteas.”</p> + +<p>Other old Penitentials have: “Mulier qualicumque molimine +aut per seipsum aut cum altera fornicans, tres annos +pœniteat; unum ex his in pane et aqua.”</p> + +<p>“Cum sanctimoniali per machinam fornicans annos septem +pœniteat; duos ex his in pane et aqua.”</p> + +<p>“Mulia qualicumque molimine aut seipsam polluens, aut cum +altera fornicans, quatuor annos. Sanctimonialis femina cum +sanctimoniali per machinamentum polluta, septem annos.”</p> + +<p>It is demonstrable, then, that artificial methods of coition, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>common in pagan antiquity, have been unblushingly practised +throughout all the ages, as indeed they are at the present +day, and that they have been repeatedly banned and +reprobated by the voice of the Church. This very fact would +recommend them to the favour of the Satanists, and there +can be no doubt that amid the dark debaucheries which +celebrated the Sabbats such practice was wellnigh universal. +Yet when we sift the evidence, detailed and exact, of the +trials, we find there foul and hideous mysteries of lust which +neither human intercourse nor the employ of a mechanical +property can explain. Howbeit, the theologians and the +inquisitors are fully aware what unspeakable horror lurks in +the blackness beyond.</p> + +<p>The animal familiar was quite distinct from the familiar +in human shape. In England particularly there is abundance +of evidence concerning them, and even to-day who pictures +a witch with nut-cracker jaws, steeple hat, red cloak, hobbling +along on her crutch, without her big black cat beside her? +It is worth remark that in other countries the domestic +animal familiar is rare, and Bishop Francis Hutchinson even +says: “I meet with little mention of <i>Imps</i> in any Country +but ours, where the Law makes the feeding, suckling, or +rewarding of them to be Felony.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_255" href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> Curiously enough this +familiar is most frequently met with in Essex, Suffolk, and +the Eastern counties. We find that animals of all kinds were +regarded as familiars; dogs, cats, ferrets, weasels, toads, +rats, mice, birds, hedgehogs, hares, even wasps, moths, bees, +and flies. It is piteous to think that in many cases some +miserable creature who, shunned and detested by her fellows, +has sought friendship in the love of a cat or a dog, whom she +has fondled and lovingly fed with the best tit-bits she could +give, on the strength of this affection alone was dragged to +the gallows or the stake. But very frequently the witch did +actually keep some small animal which she nourished on a +diet of milk and bread and her own blood in order that she +might divine by its means. The details of this particular +method of augury are by no means clear. Probably the +witch observed the gait of the animals, its action, the tones +of its voice easily interpreted to bear some fanciful meaning, +and no doubt a dog, or such a bird as a raven, a daw, could +be taught tricks to impress the simplicity of inquirers.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span></p> + +<p>The exceeding importance of blood in life has doubtless +been evident to man from the earliest times. Man experienced +a feeling of weakness after the loss of blood, therefore blood +was strength, life itself, and throughout the ages blood has +been considered to be of the greatest therapeutic, and the +profoundest magical, value. The few drops of blood the +witch gave her familiar were not only a reward, a renewal +of strength, but also they established a closer connexion +between herself and the dog, cat, or bird as the case might +be. Blood formed a psychic copula.</p> + +<p>At the trial of Elizabeth Francis, Chelmsford, 1556, the +accused confessed that her familiar, given to her by her +grandmother, a notorious witch, was “in the lykenesse of a +whyte spotted Catte,” and her grandmother “taughte her to +feede the sayde Catte with breade and mylke, and she did +so, also she taughte her to cal it by the name of Sattan and +to kepe it in a basket. Item that euery tyme that he did +any thynge for her, she sayde that he required a drop of +bloude, which she gaue him by prycking herselfe, sometime +in one place and then in another.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_256" href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> It is superfluous to +multiply instances; in the witch-trials of Essex, particularly +whilst Matthew Hopkins and his satellite John Stearne were +hot at work from 1645 to 1647 the animal familiar is mentioned +again and again in the records. As late as 1694 at +Bury St. Edmunds, when old Mother Munnings of Hartis, +in Suffolk, was haled before Lord Chief Justice Holt, it was +asserted that she had an imp like a polecat. But the judge +pooh-poohed the evidence of a pack of clodpate rustics and +directed the jury to bring a verdict of Not Guilty.⁠<a id="FNanchor_257" href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> “Upon +particular Enquiry,” says Hutchinson, “of several in or +near the Town, I find most are satisfied it was a very right +Judgement.” In 1712 the familiar of Jane Wenham, the +witch of Walkerne, in Hertfordshire, was, at her trial, stated +to be a cat.</p> + +<p>In Ford and Dekker’s <i>The Witch of Edmonton</i> the familiar +appears upon the stage as a dog. This, of course, is directly +taken from Henry Goodcole’s pamphlet <i>The Wonderfull +Discouerie of Elizabeth Sawyer</i> (London, 4to, 1621), where in +answer to this question the witch confesses that the Devil +came to her in the shape of a dog, and of two colours, sometimes +of black and sometimes of white. Some children had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span>informed the Court that they had seen her feeding imps, +two white ferrets, with white bread and milk, but this she +steadfastly denied. In Goethe’s <i>Faust</i>, Part I, Scene 2, +Mephistopheles first appears to Faust outside the city gates +as a black poodle and accompanies him back to his study, +snarling and yelping when <i>In Principio</i> is read. This is +part of the old legend. Manlius (1590), in the report of his +conversation with Melanchthon, quotes the latter as having +said: “He [Faust] had a dog with him, which was the +devil.” Paolo Jovio relates⁠<a id="FNanchor_258" href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> that the famous Cornelius +Agrippa always kept a demon attendant upon him in the +shape of a black dog. But John Weye, in his well-known +work <i>De Præstigiis Dæmonum</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_259" href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> informs us that he had +lived for years in daily attendance upon Agrippa and that +the black dog, <i>Monsieur</i>, respecting which such strange +stories were spread was a perfectly innocent animal which +he had often led about himself in its leash. Agrippa was +much attached to his dog, which used to eat off the table +with him and of nights lie in his bed. Since he was a profound +scholar and a great recluse he never troubled to contradict +the idle gossip his neighbours clacked at window and door. +It is hardly surprising when one considers the hermetic +works which go under Agrippa’s name that even in his lifetime +this great man should have acquired the reputation +of a mighty magician.</p> + +<p>Grotesque names were generally given to the familiar: +Lizabet; Verd-Joli; Maître Persil (parsley); Verdelet; +Martinet; Abrahel (a succubus); and to animal familiars +in England, Tissy; Grissell; Greedigut; Blackman; Jezebel +(a succubus); Ilemanzar; Jarmara; Pyewackett.</p> + +<p>The familiar in human shape often companied with the witch +and was visible to clairvoyants. Thus in 1324 one of the +accusations brought against Lady Alice Kyteler was that +a demon came to her “quandoque in specie cuiusdam +æthiopis cum duobus sociis.” The society met with at +Sabbats is not so easily shaken off as might be wished.</p> + +<h3 id="NOTES_TO_CHAPTER_III">NOTES TO CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167">[1]</a> Two local Milanese Orders, the Apostolini of S. Barnabas and the Congregation +of S. Ambrose <i>ad Nemus</i>, were united by a Brief of Sixtus V, 15 August, +1589. 11 January, 1606, Paul V approved the new Constitutions. The +Congregation retaining very few members was dissolved by Innocent X in +1650. The habit was a tunic, broad scapular, and capuche of chestnut brown. +They were calced, and in the streets a wide cloak of the same colour as the +habit.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168">[2]</a> E. Goldsmid, <i>Confessions of Witches under Torture</i>, Edinburgh, 1886.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169">[3]</a> ... renoncer & renier son Createur, la saincte Vierge, les Saincts, le +Baptesme, pere, mere, parens, le ciel, la terre & tout ce qui est au monde. +<i>Tableau de l’Inconstance des mauvais Anges</i>, Paris, 1613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170">[4]</a> Je, Louis Gaufridi, renonce à tous les biens tant spirituels que temporels +qui me pourraient être conferés de la part de Dieu, de la Vierge Marie, de +tous les Saints et Saintes du Paradis, particulièrement de mon patron Saint +Jean-Baptiste, Saints Pierre, Paul, et François, et me donne corps et âme à +vous Lucifer ici présent, avec tous les biens que je posséderai jamais (excepté +la valeur des sacrements pour le regard de ceux qui les recurent). Ainsi j’ai +signé et attesté. <i>Confession faicte par messire Loys Gaufridi, prestre en l’église +des Accoules de Marseille, prince des magiciens ... à deux pères capucins du +couvent d’Aix, la veille de Pasques le onzième avril mil six cent onze.</i> A Aix, +par Jean Tholozan, MVCXI.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171">[5]</a> Je renonce entièrement de tout mon cœur, de toute ma force, et de toute +ma puissance à Dieu le Père, au Fils et au Saint-Esprit, à la très Sainte Mère +de Dieu, à tous les anges et spécialement à mon bon ange, à la passion de +Notre Seigneur Jésus Christ, à Son Sang, à tous les mérites d’icelle, à ma part +de Paradis, à toutes les inspirations que Dieu me pourrait donner à l’avenir, +à toutes les prières qu’on a faites et pourrait faire pour moi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172">[6]</a> S. Pius V, Bull <i>Consueuerunt</i>, 17 September, 1569: Bl. Francisco de +Possadas, <i>Vida di Santo Domingo</i>, Madrid, 1721.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173">[7]</a> In England at this date it was felony to possess an <i>Agnus Dei</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174">[8]</a> <i>Spondent quod ... ad conuentus nocturnos diligenter accedent.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175">[9]</a> Coven, coeven, covine, curving, covey, are among the many spellings of +this word.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176">[10]</a> R. Pitcairn, <i>Criminal Trials</i>, Edinburgh, 1833.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177">[11]</a> <i>Examination of Certain Witches</i>, Philobiblion Society, London, 1863-4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178">[12]</a> Thomas Potts, <i>Discoverie of Witches</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179">[13]</a> ... qu’elle a veu souuent baptiser des enfans au sabbat, qu’elle nous +expliqua estre des enfans des sorcieres & non autres, lesquelles ont accoutumé +faire plustost baptiser leurs enfans au sabbat qu’en l’église. Pierre +de Lancre, <i>Tableau de l’Inconstance des mauvais Anges</i>, Paris, 1613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180">[14]</a> ... qu’on baptise des enfans au Sabbat auec du Cresme, que des femmes +apportent, & frottent la verge de quelque homme, & en font sortir de la +semence qu’elles amassent, and la meslent auec le Cresme, puis mettant cela +sur la teste de l’enfant en prononçant quelques paroles en Latin. Contemporary +tract, <i>Arrest & procedure faicte par le Lieutenant Criminel d’Orleans +contre Siluain Neuillon</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181">[15]</a> ... dit que sa mère le presenta (dit-on) en l’aage de trois ans au Sabbat, +à vn bouc, qu’on appelloit l’Aspic. Dit qu’il fut baptisé au Sabbat, au Carrior +d’Oliuet, auec quatorze ou quinze autres, & que Jeanne Geraut porta du +Chresme qui estoit jaune dans vn pot, & que ledit Neuillon ietta de la +semence dans ledit pot, & vn nommé Semelle, & brouilloient cela auec vne +petite cuilliere de bois, & puis leur en mirent à tous sur la teste.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182">[16]</a> J’advoue comme on baptise au Sabath et comme chacun sorcier fait +vœu particulièrement se donnant au diable et faire baptiser tous ses enfants +au Sabath (si faire se peut). Comme aussi l’on impose des noms à chacun de +ceux qui sont au Sabath, différents de leur propre nom. J’advoue comme au +baptême on se sert de l’eau, du soufre et du sel: le soufre rend esclave le +diable et le sel pour confirmer le baptême au service du diable. J’advoue +comme la forme et l’intention est de baptiser au nom de Lucifer, de Belzebuth +et autres diables faisant le signe de la croix en le commençant par le travers +et puis le poursuivant par les pieds et finissant à la tête. Contemporary tract, +<i>Confession faicte par messire Loys Gaufridi, prestre en l’église des Accoules de +Marseille, prince des magiciens</i>, MVCXI.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183">[17]</a> Anthony Hornech’s appendix to Glanvill’s <i>Sadducismus Triumphatus</i>, +London, 1681.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184">[18]</a> <i>Newes from Scotland</i>, London, W. Wright, 1592.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185">[19]</a> Præstant Dæmoni ... iuramentum super circulo in terram sculpto +fortasse quia cum circulus sit Symbolum Divinitatis, & terra scabellum Dei +sic certe uellet eos credere se esse Dominum cœli & terræ. Guazzo, <i>Compendium</i>, +I. 7, p. 38. I have corrected the text, which runs “uellet eos credere +eum esset ...”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186">[20]</a> Even by so industrious a searcher as Miss M. A. Murray.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187">[21]</a> Dressant quelque forme d’autel sur des colon̅es infernales, & sur iceluy +sans dire le <i>Confiteor</i>, ny l’<i>Alleluya</i>, tournant les feuillets d’vn certain liure +qu’il a en main, il commence à marmoter quelques mots de la Messe. De +Lancre, <i>Tableau</i>, p. 401.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188">[22]</a> ... que le Sabbat se tenoit dans vne maison.... Vit aussi vn grand +homme noir à l’opposite de celuy de la cheminée, qui regardoit dans vn liure, +dont les feuillets estoient noirs & bleuds, & marmotait entre ses dents +sans entendre ce qu’il disoit, leuoit vne hostie noire, puis vn calice de meschant +estain tout crasseux.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189">[23]</a> On dit la Messe, & que c’est le Diable qui la dit, qu’il a vne Chasuble qui +a vne croix: mais qu’elle n’a que trois barres: & tourne le dos à l’Autel +quand il veut leuer l’Hostie & le Calice, qui sont noirs, & marmote dans vn +liure, duquel le couuerture est toute velue comme d’vne peau de loup, auec +des feuillets blancs & rouges, d’autres noirs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190">[24]</a> On lisait la messe dans le livre des blasphèmes, qui servait de canon et +qu’on employait aussi dans les processions. Il renfermait les plus horribles +malédictions contre la sainte Trinité, le Saint Sacrement de l’autel, les autres +sacrements et les cérémonies de l’Eglise, et il était écrit dans une langue qui +m’était inconnue. Görres, <i>La Mystique Divine</i>, trad., Charles Sainte-Foi, V. +p. 230. There is a critical recension of <i>Die christliche Mystik</i> by Boretius +and Krause, Hanover, 1893-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191">[25]</a> <i>Newes from Scotland</i>, London, W. Wright (1592).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192">[26]</a> Book III. p. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193">[27]</a> T. B. Howell, <i>State Trials</i>, London, 1816. IV, 844, 846.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194">[28]</a> S. Caleb, <i>Les Messes Noires</i>, Paris, s.d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195">[29]</a> Après ce que nous ont appris les livres et les âmes, il ne nous est pas +permis de douter, et notre devoir est de combattre, ne fût-ce que par un simple +affirmation, les nombreux auteurs qui, effrontément ou témérairement, +traitent ces horreurs de fables ou d’hallucinations. <i>La Mystique Divine</i>, +nouvelle édition, Paris, 1902. III, pp. 269, 270.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196">[30]</a> Ces histoires, loin d’être fabuleuses, ont toute l’authenticité que peut +leur donner une procédure instruite avec tout le zèle et le talent que pouvaient +y apporter des magistrats éclairés et consciencieux, auxquels, à toutes les +époques, les faits ne manquaient pas. Libre III. c. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197">[31]</a> <i>De Ciuitate Dei</i>, xv. 23. I quote Healey’s translation, 1610.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198">[32]</a> Esse eorum (qui usualiter incubi uel succubi nominantur) et concupiscentiam +eorum libidinosam, necnon et generationem ab eis esse famosam atque +credibilem fecerunt testimonia uirorum et mulierem qui illusiones ipsorum, +molestiasque et improbitates, necnon et uiolentias libidinis ipsorum, se passos +fuisse testificati sunt et adhuc asserunt. <i>De Universitate</i>, Secunda Pars, III. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199">[33]</a> Si tamen ex coitu dæmonum aliqui interdum nascuntur, hoc non est per +semen ab eis decisum, aut a corporibus assumptis; sed per semen alicuius +hominis ad hoc acceptum, utpote quod idem dæmon qui est succubus ad +uirum, fiat incubus ad mulierem. <i>Summa</i>, Pars Prima, quæstio 1, a 3. at 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200">[34]</a> Succumbunt uiris in specie mulieris, et ex eis semen pollutionis suscipiunt, +et quadam sagacitate ipsum in sua uirtute custodiunt, et postmodum, +Deo permittente, fiunt incubi et in uasa mulierum transfundunt. <i>Sententiarum</i>, +Liber II, d. viii, Pars Prima, a 3. q. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201">[35]</a> Docet S. Thomas ... et consentiunt communiter reliqui theologi.... +Ratio huius sententiæ est quia tota illa actio non excedit potestatem naturalem +dæmonis, usus autem talis potestatis est ualde conformis prauæ uoluntati +dæmonis, et iuste a Deo permitti potest propter aliquorum hominum +peccata. Ergo non potest cum fundamento negari, et ideo non immerito dixit +Augustinus, cum de illo usu multis experientiis et testimoniis constet, non +sine impudentia negari. <i>De Angelis</i>, l. iv. c. 38. nn. 10, 11.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202">[36]</a> Begun in 1665 by Fra Francisco de Jésus-Maria (<i>ob.</i> 1677).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203">[37]</a> Negant aliqui, credentes impossible esse quod dæmones actum carnalem +cum hominibus exercere ualent. Sed tenenda est ut omnino certa contraria +sententia. <i>Theologia moralis</i>, Tr. xxi. c. 11. p. 10. nn. 180, 181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204">[38]</a> Idem dæmon qui est succubus ad uirum potest fieri incubus ad mulierem. +In his monumental <i>Summa S. Thomæ hodiernis Academiarum moribus accomodata</i>, +19 vols. Liège, 1746-51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205">[39]</a> <i>De Seruonem Dei Beatificatione</i>, Romæ, MDCCXC, Cura Aloysii Salvioni. +Tom. VII. pp. 30-33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206">[40]</a> Quæ leguntur de Dæmonibus incubis et succubis.... Quamuis enim +prædicti concubitus communiter admittantur, sed generatis a nonnullis excludetur +... alii, tamen, tum concubitum, tum generationem fieri posse, et +factam fuisse existimauerunt, modo quodam nouo et inusitate, et hominibus +incognito. Sancho de Avila, bishop of Murcia, Jaen, and Siguenza, S. Teresa’s +confessor (<i>ob.</i> December, 1625), in a commentary on Exodus discusses the +curious question: <i>An Angeli de se generare possint?</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207">[41]</a> Quidam hos dæmones incubos uel succubos dari negarunt; sed communiter +id affirmant auctores.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208">[42]</a> Ad bestialitatem autem reuocatur peccatum cum dæmone succubo, +uel incubo; cui peccato superadditur malitia contra religionem; et præterea +etiam sodomiæ, adulterii, uel incestus, si affectu uiri, uel mulieris, sodomitico, +adulterino uel incestuoso cum dæmone coeat. Lib. III, Tract iv. c. 2. Dubium 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209">[43]</a> The word bestialitas has theologically a far wider signification than the +word <i>bestiality</i>. In 1222 a deacon, having been tried before Archbishop +Langton, was burned at Oxford on a charge of bestiality. He had embraced +Judaism in order to marry a Jewess. Professor E. P. Evans remarks: “It +seems rather odd that the Christian lawgivers should have adopted the Jewish +code against sexual intercourse with beasts, and then enlarged it so as to +include the Jews themselves. The question was gravely discussed by jurists +whether cohabitation of a Christian with a Jewess, or <i>vice versa</i>, constitutes +sodomy. Damhouder (<i>Prax. rer. crim.</i> c. 96 n. 48) is of the opinion that it +does, and Nicolaus Boer (<i>Decis.</i>, 136, n. 5) cites the case of a certain Johannes +Alardus, or Jean Alard, who kept a Jewess in his house in Paris and had +several children by her: he was convicted of sodomy on account of this relation +and burned, together with his paramour, ‘since coition with a Jewess is +precisely the same as if a man should copulate with a dog’ (<i>Dopl. Theat.</i> ii, +p. 157). Damhouder includes Turks and Saracens in the same category.” +<i>The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals</i>, p. 152. London, +1906.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210">[44]</a> An oblate of S. Charles, d. 1631.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211">[45]</a> 1566-1622. His <i>Synopsis Theologiæ Moralis</i> is a posthumous work, +published 1626.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212">[46]</a> Bene ait Busembaum quod congressus cum dæmone reducitur ad peccatum +bestialitatis. Hermann Busembaum, S.J., 1600-1668.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_213" href="#FNanchor_213">[47]</a> <i>Theologia moralis decalogalis et sacramentalis.</i> Venice, 1731.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_214" href="#FNanchor_214">[48]</a> Præter autem crimen bestialitatis accedit scelus superstitionis. An +autem, qui coit cum dæmone apparente in forma conjugatæ, monialis, aut +consanguiniæ, peccet semper affective peccato adulterii, sacrilegii, aut incestus? +Uidetur uniuerse affirmare Busembaum cum aliis ut supra.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_215" href="#FNanchor_215">[49]</a> Paris, 1883.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_216" href="#FNanchor_216">[50]</a> A private manual only delivered to priests.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_217" href="#FNanchor_217">[51]</a> Omnes theologi loquuntur de congressu cum dæmone in forma uiri, +mulieris aut alicuius bestiæ apparente, uel ut præsente per imaginationem +repræsentato, dicuntque tale peccatum ad genus bestialitatis reuocandum +esse, et specialem habere malitiam in confessione declarandam, scilicet superstitionem +in pacto cum dæmone consistentem. In hoc igitur scelere duæ +necessario reperiuntur malitiæ, una contra castitatem, et altera contra uirtutem +religionis. Si quis ad dæmonem sub specie uiri apparentem affectu +sodomitico accedat, tertia est species peccati, ut patet. Item si sub specie +consanguineæ aut mulieris conjugatæ fingatur apparere, adest species incestus +uel adulterii; si sub specie bestiæ, adest bestialitas.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_218" href="#FNanchor_218">[52]</a> 1722-1797. He was a monk of Bans, near Bamberg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_219" href="#FNanchor_219">[53]</a> Quæri potest utrum dæmon per turpem concubitum possit uiolenter +opprimere marem uel feminam cuius obsessio permissa sit ob finem perfectionis +et contemplationis acquirendæ. Ut autem uera a falsis separemus, +sciendum est quod dæmones (incubi et succubi, quidquid dicant increduli) +uere dantur: immo hoc iuxta doctrinam Augustini (lib. 15, <i>de Ciuit. Dei</i>, +cap. 23) sine aliqua impudentia negati nequit: ... Hoc idem asserit D. Thomas, +aliique communiter. Hic uero, qui talia patiuntur, sunt peccatores qui uel +dæmones ad hos nefandos concubitus inuitant, uel dæmonibus turpia hæc +facinora intentantibus ultro assentiuntur. Quod autem hi aliique praui +homines possint per uiolentiam a dæmone opprimi non dubitamus: ... et +ego ipse plures inueni qui quamuis de admissis sceleribus dolerent; et hoc +nefarium diaboli commercium exsecrarentur, tamen illud pati cogebantur +inuiti. D. Schram, <i>Theologia Mystica</i>, I. 233, scholium 3, p. 408. Paris, 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_220" href="#FNanchor_220">[54]</a> 1532-1591. Provincial of the Jesuit province of the Rhine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_221" href="#FNanchor_221">[55]</a> Congressus hos dæmonum cum utriusque sexus hominibus negare, ita +temerarium est, ut necessarium sit simul conuellas et sanctissimorum et +grauissimorum hominum grauissimas sententias, et humanis sensibus bellum +indicas, et te ignorare fatearis quanta sit illorum spirituum in hæc corpora uis +utque potestas. C. x. n. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_222" href="#FNanchor_222">[56]</a> Placuit enim affirmatio axiomatis adeo multis, ut uerendum sit ne pertinaciæ +et audaciæ sit ab eis discedere; communis namque hæc est sententia +Patrum, theologorum et philosophorum doctiorum, et omnium fere sæculorum +atque nationum experientia comprobata. Liber II, quæstio 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_223" href="#FNanchor_223">[57]</a> Asserere per incubos et succubos dæmones homines interdum procreari +in tantum est catholicum, quod eius oppositum asserere est nedum dictis +Sanctorum, sed et traditioni sacræ Scripturæ contrarium. <i>Pars prima, +quæstio</i> 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_224" href="#FNanchor_224">[58]</a> Causa autem quare dæmones se incubos faciunt uel succubos esse +uidetur, ut per luxuriæ uitium hominis utramque naturam lædant, corporis +uidelicet et animæ, qua in læsione præcipue delectari uidentur. This divine +was a prominent figure at the Council of Bâle. I have used the Douai edition, +5 vols. 1602.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_225" href="#FNanchor_225">[59]</a> Dæmon in forma succubi se transformat, et habet coitum cum uiro ...; +accedit ad mulierem in forma scilicet uiri.... Ita firmant communiter Theologi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_226" href="#FNanchor_226">[60]</a> Certissima experientia sæpe cognitum est fœminas etiam inuitas a +dæmonibus fuisse compressas. <i>De justa hæreticorum punitione</i>, Lib. I. +c. xviii. Salamanca, 1547.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_227" href="#FNanchor_227">[61]</a> Hæc est indubitata ueritas quam non solum experientia certissima comprobat, +sed etiam antiquitas confirmat, quidquid quidam medici et iurisperiti +opinentur. <i>Conclusio quinta.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_228" href="#FNanchor_228">[62]</a> Affirmatiuam sententiam tam multi et graues tuentur auctores, ut sine +pertinaciæ nota ab illa discedi non posse uidatur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_229" href="#FNanchor_229">[63]</a> <i>Rapports de l’homme avec le démon.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_230" href="#FNanchor_230">[64]</a> <i>Les hauts phénomènes de la magic.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_231" href="#FNanchor_231">[65]</a> Sane ad nostrum, non sine ingenti molestia, peruenit auditum quod ... +complures utriusque sexus personæ, propriæ salutis immemores et a fide +catholica deuiantes, cum dæmonibus incubis et succubis abuti.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_232" href="#FNanchor_232">[66]</a> The Dean of S. Paul’s (<i>Christian Mysticism</i>, 1899, p. 265) urbanely +dismisses the whole subject with a quotation from Lucretius:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Hunc igitur terrorem animi, tenebrasque necessest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Non radii solis, neque lucida tela diei</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Discutiant, sed naturæ species ratioque. (I. 147-49.)</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">These Fears, that darkness that o’erspreads our Souls,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Day can’t disperse, but those <i>eternal</i> rules</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which from firm Premises true <i>Reason</i> draws,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And a deep insight into <i>Natures</i> laws. (<i>Creech.</i>)</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_233" href="#FNanchor_233">[67]</a> <i>De Dæmonialitate</i>, 24.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_234" href="#FNanchor_234">[68]</a> <i>Survival</i>, + by various authors. Edited by Sir James Marchant, <span class="allsmcap">K.B.E.</span>, +<span class="allsmcap">LL.D.</span> London and New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_235" href="#FNanchor_235">[69]</a> So in Middleton’s <i>The Witch</i>, when the young gallant Almachildes visits +Hecate’s abode, she exclaims:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis Almachildes—the fresh blood stirs in me—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The man that I have lusted to enjoy:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ve had him thrice in incubus already.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>And in a previous scene Hecate has said:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What young man can we wish to pleasure us,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But we enjoy him in an incubus?</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_236" href="#FNanchor_236">[70]</a> Ce commerce monstreux dura plusiers mois; mais Dieu le délivra enfin +par mon entremise et il fit pénitence de ses péchés.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_237" href="#FNanchor_237">[71]</a> Auoir esté au Sabbat; ne sçait comme elle y fut transportée ... qu’au +Sabbat le Diable cogneust charnellement toutes les femmes qui y estoient, & +elle aussi la marqua en deux endroicts.... Que le Diable la cogneu vne autrefois, +& qu’il a le membre faict comme un cheual, en entrant est froid comme +glace, iette la semence fort froide, & en sortant la brusse comme si c’estoit +du feu. Qu’elle receut tout mescontentement que lors qu’il eut habité auec +elle au Sabbat, vn autre homme qu’elle ne cognoist fit le semblable en presence +de tous, que son mary s’appercut quand le Diable eut affaire auec elle, & que +le Diable se vint coucher auprez d’elle fort froid, luy mit la main sur le bas +du ventre, dont elle effrayée en ayant aduerty son mary, il luy dict ces mots, +Taise-toy folle, taise-toy. Que son mary vit quand le Diable la cogneust au +Sabbat, ensemble cet autre qui la cogneust après.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_238" href="#FNanchor_238">[72]</a> L’accouplement du Demon avec la Sorcière et le Sorcier.... 1. Le Demon +cognoit toutes les Sorcieres, & pourquoy. 2. Il se met aussi en femme +pour les Sorciers, & pourquoy. 3. Autres raisons pour lesquelles le Demon +cognoit les Sorciers, & Sorcieres.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_239" href="#FNanchor_239">[73]</a> ... qui Satan l’auoit cogneue charnellement.... Et pource que les +hommes ne cedent guieres aux femmes en lubricité.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_240" href="#FNanchor_240">[74]</a> Il y a encor deux autres raisons pour lesquelles le Diable s’accouple auec +le Sorcier: La premiere, que l’offense est de tant plus grande: Car si Dieu +a en si grande haine l’accouplement du fidelle auec l’infidele (Exodus xxxiv., +Deuteronomy xxxvii.), à combien plus forte raison détesterait celuy de +l’homme auec le Diable. La seconde raison est, que parce moyen la semence +naturelle de l’homme se pert, d’où vient que l’amitié qui est entre l’homme +& la femme, se conuertit le plus souuent en haine, qui est l’vn des plus grands +mal-heurs, qui pourroient arriuer au mariage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_241" href="#FNanchor_241">[75]</a> In chapter xiii Boguet decides: l’accouplement de Satan auec le Sorcier +est réel & non imaginaire.... Les vns donc s’en mocque̅t ... mais les confessions +des Sorciers qui j’ay eu en main, me font croire qu’il en est quelque +chose! dautant qu’ils ont tout recogneu, qu’ils auoient esté couplez auec le +Diable, & que la semence qu’il iettoit estoit fort froide ... Iaquema Paget +adioustoit, qu’elle auoit empoigné plusiers fois auec la main le me̅bre du +Demon, qui la cognoissoit, & que le membre estoit froid comme glace, lo̅g +d’vn bon doigt, & moindre en grosseur que celuy d’vn homme: Tieuenne +Paget, & Antoine Tornier adioustoient aussi, que le membre de leurs Demons +estoit long, & gros comme l’vn de leurs doigts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_242" href="#FNanchor_242">[76]</a> Heuze, <i>Do the Dead Live?</i> 1923.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_243" href="#FNanchor_243">[77]</a> John Stearne’s <i>Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_244" href="#FNanchor_244">[78]</a> Robert Pitcairn, <i>Criminal Trials</i>, Edinburgh, 1833, III. pp. 603, 611, +617.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_245" href="#FNanchor_245">[79]</a> <i>Idem.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_246" href="#FNanchor_246">[80]</a> Le Diable faict des mariages au Sabbat entre les Sorciers & Sorcieres, +& leur joignant les mains, il leur diet hautement</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Esta es buena parati</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Esta parati lo toma.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Mais auant qu’ils couchent ensemble, il s’accouple auec elles, oste la virginité +des filles. Lancre, <i>Tableau de l’Inconstance</i>, p. 132.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_247" href="#FNanchor_247">[81]</a> This has been emphasized by Miss Murray in <i>The Witch-Cult in Western +Europe</i> (“The Rites”), but she did not realize that the fascinum was well-known +to demonologists, and the use thereof severely reprobated <i>sub mortali</i> +by the Church.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_248" href="#FNanchor_248">[82]</a> See G. Belluci, <i>Amuletti Italiani antichi e contemporanei</i>; also <i>Amuletti +italiani contemporanei</i>. Perugia, 1898.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_249" href="#FNanchor_249">[83]</a> Auctore P.P. Parisiis, MDCCCXXVI.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_250" href="#FNanchor_250">[84]</a> Crudelissima anus. <i>Petronii Satirae.</i> 138. p. 105. Tertium edidit +Buecheler. Berlin. 1895.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_251" href="#FNanchor_251">[85]</a> <i>Titi Petronii Satyricon</i>, Concinnante Michaele Hadrianide. Amstelodami, +1669. Amongst the figures on the engraved title-page is a witch +mounted on her broomstick.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_252" href="#FNanchor_252">[86]</a> <i>Priapeia.</i> LXXXIV.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_253" href="#FNanchor_253">[87]</a> For whose impudicities see S. Augustine, <i>De Ciuitate Dei</i>, VII. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_254" href="#FNanchor_254">[88]</a> Priapi lignei in honorem Bacchi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_255" href="#FNanchor_255">[89]</a> Francis Hutchinson, <i>Historical Essay</i>, London, 1718.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_256" href="#FNanchor_256">[90]</a> <i>Witches at Chelmsford</i>, Philobiblion Society, VIII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_257" href="#FNanchor_257">[91]</a> Francis Hutchinson, <i>Historical Essay on Witchcraft</i>, 1718.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_258" href="#FNanchor_258">[92]</a> <i>Elogia Doctorum Uirorum</i>, c. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_259" href="#FNanchor_259">[93]</a> Liber II.; c. v.; 11, 12.</p></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV<br> +<span class="smcap">The Sabbat</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p>The Assemblies of the witches differed very much from each +other in an almost infinite number of ways. On certain +ancient anniversaries the meeting was always particularly +solemn, with as large an attendance as possible, when all +who belonged to the infernal cult would be required to +present themselves and punishment was meted out to those +who proved slack and slow; at other times these gatherings +would be occasional, resorted to by the company who resided +within a certain restricted area, it might be by only one coven +of thirteen, it might be by a few more, as opportunity served. +There were also, as is to be expected, variations proper to +each country, and a seemingly endless number of local +peculiarities. There does not clearly appear to be any formal +and fair order in the ceremonies throughout, nor should we +look for this, seeing that the liturgy of darkness is of its +essence opposed to the comely worship of God, wherein, as +the Apostle bids, all things are to be done “decently and in +order.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_260" href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The ceremonial of hell, sufficiently complex, obscure, +and obscene, is even more confused in the witches’ narratives +by a host of adventitious circumstances, often contradictory, +nay, even mutually exclusive, and so although we can piece +together a very complete picture of their orgies, there are +some details which must yet remain unexplained, incomprehensible, +and perhaps wholly irrational and absurd. “Le +burlesque s’y mêle à l’horrible, et les puérilités aux abominations.” +(Ribet, <i>La Mystique Divine</i>, III. 2. Les Parodies +Diaboliques.) (Mere clowning and japery are mixed up with +circumstances of extremest horror; childishness and folly +with loathly abominations.) In the lesser Assemblies much, +no doubt, depended upon the fickle whim and unwholesome +caprice of the officer or president at the moment. The conduct +of the more important Assemblies was to a certain extent +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>regularized and more or less loosely ran upon traditional +lines. The name Sabbat may be held to cover every kind +of gathering,⁠<a id="FNanchor_261" href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> although it must continually be borne in mind +that a Sabbat ranges from comparative simplicity, the +secret rendezvous of some half a dozen wretches devoted to +the fiend, to a large and crowded congregation presided over +by incarnate evil intelligences, a mob outvying the very +demons in malice, blasphemy, and revolt, the true face of +pandemonium on earth.</p> + +<p>The derivation of the word Sabbat does not seem to be +exactly established. It is perhaps superfluous to point out +that it has nothing to do with the number seven, and is +wholly unconnected with the Jewish festival. Sainte-Croix +and Alfred Maury⁠<a id="FNanchor_262" href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> are agreed to derive it from the debased +Bacchanalia. Sabazius (Σαβάζιος) was a Phrygian deity, +sometimes identified with Zeus, sometimes with Dionysus, +but who was generally regarded as the patron of licentiousness +and worshipped with frantic debaucheries. He is a patron +of the ribald old Syrian eunuch in Apuleius: “omnipotens +et omniparens Dea Syria et sanctus Sabadius et Bellona +et Mater Idaea (ac) cum suo Adone Venus domina”⁠<a id="FNanchor_263" href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> are the +deities whom Philebus invokes to avenge him of the mocking +crier. Σαβαζεῖν is found in the Scholiast on Aristophane +(<i>Birds</i>, 874), and σαβαῖ, a Bacchic yell, occurs in a fragment +of the <i>Baptæ</i> of Eupolis; the fuller phrase εὐοῖ Σαβοῖ +being reported by Strabo the geographer. The modern +Greeks still call a madman ζαβός. But Littré entirely rejects +any such facile etymology. “Attempts have been made +to trace the etymology of the Sabbat, the witches’ assembly, +from <i>Sabazies</i>; but the formation of the word does not +allow it; besides, in the Middle Ages, what did they know +about <i>Sabazies</i>?”⁠<a id="FNanchor_264" href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Even the seasons of the principal Assemblies of the year +differ in various countries. Throughout the greater part +of Western Europe one of the chief of these was the Eve of +May Day, 30 April;⁠<a id="FNanchor_265" href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> in Germany⁠<a id="FNanchor_266" href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> + famous as Die Walpurgis-Nacht. +S. Walburga (Walpurgis; Waltpurde; at Perche +Gauburge; in other parts of France Vaubourg or Falbourg) +was born in Devonshire <i>circa</i> 710. She was the daughter of +S. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West Saxons, who +married a sister of S. Boniface. In 748 Walburga, who was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>then a nun of Wimbourne, went over to Germany to found +claustral life in that country. After a life of surpassing +holiness she died at Heidenheim, 25 February, 777. Her +cultus began immediately, and about 870 her relics were +translated to Eichstadt, where the Benedictine convent which +has charge of the sacred shrine still happily flourishes. +S. Walburga was formerly one of the most popular Saints +in England, as well as in Germany and the Low Countries. +She is patroness of Eichstadt, Oudenarde, Furnes, Groningen, +Weilburg, Zutphen, and Antwerp, where until the Roman +office was adopted they celebrated her feast four times a +year. In the Roman martyrology she is commemorated on +1 May, but in the Monastic Kalendar on 25 February. The +first of May was the ancient festival of the Druids, when they +offered sacrifices upon their sacred mountains and kindled +their May-fires. These magic observances were appropriately +continued by the witches of a later date. There was not a +hill-top in Finland, so the peasant believed, which at midnight +on the last day of April was not thronged by demons +and sorcerers.</p> + +<p>The second witches’ festival was the Eve of S. John +Baptist, 23 June. Then were the S. John’s fires lit, a custom +in certain regions still prevailing.⁠<a id="FNanchor_267" href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> In olden times the +Feast was distinguished like Christmas with three Masses; +the first at midnight recalled his mission as Precursor, the +second at dawn commemorated the baptism he confessed, +the third honoured his sanctity.</p> + +<p>Other Grand Sabbat days, particularly in Belgium and +Germany, were S. Thomas’ Day (21 December) and a date, +which seems to have been movable, shortly after Christmas. +In Britain we also find Candlemas (2 February), Allhallowe’en +(31 October), and Lammas (1 August), mentioned in the +trials. Wright, <i>Narratives of Sorcery and Magic</i> (I. p. 141), +further specifies S. Bartholomew’s Eve, but although a +Sabbat may have been held on this day, it would seem to +be an exceptional or purely local use.</p> + +<p>During a famous trial held in the winter of 1610 at Logrono, +a town of Old Castille, by the Apostolic Inquisitor, Alonso +Becerra Holguin, an Alcantarine friar, with his two assessors +Juen Valle Alvarado and Alonso de Salasar y Frias, a number +of Navarrese witches confessed that the chief Sabbats were +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>usually held at Zugarramurdi and Berroscoberro in the +Basque districts, and that the days were fixed, being the +vigils of the “nine principal feasts of the year,” namely, +Easter, Epiphany, Ascension Day, the Purification and +Nativity of Our Lady, the Assumption, Corpus Christi, All +Saints, and the major festival of S. John Baptist (24 June). +It is certainly curious to find no mention of Christmas and +Pentecost in this list, but throughout the whole of the process +not one of the accused—and we have their evidence in fullest +detail—named either of these two solemnities as being chosen +for the infernal rendezvous.⁠<a id="FNanchor_268" href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>Satan is, as Boguet aptly says, “Singe de Dieu en tout,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_269" href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +and it became common to hold a General Sabbat about the +time of the high Christian festivals in evil mockery of these +holy solemnities, and he precisely asserts that the Sabbat +“se tient encor aux festes les plus solemnelles de l’année.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_270" href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +(Is still held on the greatest festivals of the year.) So he +records the confession of Antide Colas (1598), who “auoit +esté au Sabbat à vn chacun bon iour de l’an, comme à Noel, +à Pasques, à la feste de Dieu.” The Lancashire witches met +on Good Friday; and in the second instance (1633) on +All Saints’ Day; the witches of Kinross (1662) held an +assembly on the feast of Scotland’s Patron, S. Andrew, +30 November, termed “S. Andrew’s Day at Yule,” to distinguish +it from the secondary Feast of the Translation of +S. Andrew, 9 May. The New England witches were wont to +celebrate their chief Sabbat at Christmas. In many parts +of Europe where the Feast of S. George is solemnized with +high honour and holiday the vigil (22 April) is the Great +Sabbat of the year. The Huzulo of the Carpathians believe +that then every evil thing has power and witches are most +dangerous. Not a Bulgarian or Roumanian farmer but +closes up each door and fastens close each window at nightfall, +putting sharp thorn-bushes and brambles on the lintels, +new turf on the sills, so that no demon nor hag may find +entry there.</p> + +<p>The Grand Sabbats were naturally held in a great variety +of places, whilst the lesser Sabbats could be easily assembled +in an even larger number of spots, which might be convenient +to the coven of that district, a field near a village, a wood, +a tor, a valley, an open waste beneath some blasted oak, a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span>cemetery, a ruined building, some solitary chapel or semi-deserted +church, sometimes a house belonging to one of the +initiates.</p> + +<p>It was advisable that the selected locality should be +remote and deserted to obviate any chance of espionage or +casual interruption, and in many provinces some wild ill-omened +gully or lone hill-top was shudderingly marked as +the notorious haunt of witches and their fiends. De Lancre +says that the Grand Sabbat must be held near a stream, +lake, or water of some kind,⁠<a id="FNanchor_271" href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> and Bodin adds: “The places +where Sorcerers meet are remarkable and generally distinguished +by some trees, or even a cross.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_272" href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> These ancient +cromlechs and granite dolmens, the stones of the Marais +de Dol, the monolith that lies between Seny and Ellemelle +(Candroz), even the market-crosses of sleepy old towns and +English villages, were among the favourite rendezvous of +the pythons and warlocks of a whole countryside. On one +occasion, which seems exceptional, a Sabbat was held in the +very heart of the city of Bordeaux. Throughout Germany +the Blocksburg or the Brocken, the highest peak of the Hartz +Mountains, was the great meeting-place of the witches, some +of whom, it was said, came from distant Lapland and Norway +to forgather there. But local Blocksburgs existed, or rather +hills so called, especially in Pomerania, which boasted two or +three such crags. The sorcerers of Corrières held their Sabbat +at a deserted spot, turning off the highway near Combes; +the witches of la Mouille in a tumbledown house, which had +once belonged to religious; the Gandillons and their coven, +who were brought to justice in June, 1598, met at Fontenelles, +a forsaken and haunted spot near the village of Nezar. +Dr. Fian and his associates (1591) “upon the night of +Allhollen-Even” assembled at “the kirke of North-Berrick +in Lowthian.” Silvain Nevillon, who was executed at +Orleans, 4 February, 1615, confessed “que le Sabbat se tenoit +dans vne maison,” and the full details he gave shows this +to have been a large château, no doubt the home of some +wealthy local magnate, where above two hundred persons +could assemble. Isobel Young, Christian Grinton, and two +or three other witches entertained the Devil in Young’s +house in 1629. Alexander Hamilton, a “known warlock” +executed at Edinburgh in 1630, confessed that “the pannel +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>took him one night to a den betwixt Niddrie and Edmiston, +where the devill had trysted hir.” Helen Guthrie, a Forfar +witch, and her coven frequented a churchyard, where they +met a demon, and on another occasion they “went to Mary +Rynd’s house, and sat doune together at the table ... +and made them selfes mirrie, and the divell made much of +them all” (1661). The Lancashire witches often held their +local Sabbat at Malking Tower. From the confession of the +Swedish witches (1670) at Mohra and Elfdale they assembled +at a spot called <i>Blockula</i> “scituated in a delicate large Meadow.... +The place or house they met at, had before it a Gate +painted with divers colours; ... In a huge large Room of +this House, they said, there stood a very long Table, at which +the Witches did sit down; And that hard by this Room was +another Chamber in which there were very lovely and +delicate Beds.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_273" href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Obviously a fine Swedish country house, +perhaps belonging to a wealthy witch, and in the minds of +the poorer members of the gang it presently became imaginatively +exaggerated and described.</p> + +<p>Christian Stridtheckh <i>De Sagis</i> (XL) writes: “They have +different rendezvous in different districts; yet their meetings +are generally held in wooded spots, or on mountains, or in +caves, and any places which are far from the usual haunts +of men. Mela, Book III, chapter 44, mentions Mount +Atlas; <i>de Vaulx</i>, a warlock executed at Etaples in 1603, +confessed that the witches of the Low Countries were +wont most frequently to meet in some spot in the province +of Utrecht. In our own country, the Mountain of the +Bructeri, which some call Melibœus, in the duchy of Brunswick, +is known and notorious as the haunt of witches. In +the common tongue this Mountain is called the <i>Blocksberg</i> +or <i>Heweberg</i>, <i>Brockersburg</i> or <i>Vogelsberg</i>, as <i>Ortelius</i> notes in +his <i>Thesaurus Geographicus</i>.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_274" href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> The day of the week whereon +a Sabbat was held differed in the various districts and +countries, although Friday seems to have been most generally +favoured. There is indeed an accumulation of evidence +for every night of the week save Saturday and Sunday. De +Lancre records that in the Basses-Pyrénées “their usual +rendezvous is the spot known as Lane du Bouc, in the Basque +tongue <i>Aquelarre de verros, prado del Cabron</i>, & there the +Sorcerers assemble to worship their master on three particular +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span>nights, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_275" href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Boguet says that the +day of the Sabbat varied, but usually a Thursday night was preferred.⁠<a id="FNanchor_276" href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> +In England it was stated that the “Solemn appointments, +and meetings ... are ordinarily on Tuesday or Wednesday +night.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_277" href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Saturday was, however, particularly avoided +as being the day sacred to the immaculate Mother of God.</p> + +<p>It is true that the hysterical and obscene ravings of Maria +de Sains, a witness concerned in the trial of Louis Gaufridi +and who was examined on 17-19 May, 1614, assert that the +Sabbat used to be held on every day of the week. Wednesday +and Friday were the Sabbats of blasphemy and the black +ass. To the other days the most hideous abominations of +which humanity is capable were allotted. The woman was +obviously sexually deranged, affected with mania blasphematoria +and coprolalia.</p> + +<p>Night was almost invariably the time for the Sabbat, +although, as Delrio says, there is no actual reason why these +evil rites should not be performed at noon, for the Psalmist +speaks of “the terror of the night,” the “business that +walketh about in the dark,” and of “the noonday devil.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_278" href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +(“Non timebis a timore nocturno ... a negotio perambulante +in tenebris; ab incursu et dæmonio meridiano.”) +And so Delrio very aptly writes: “Their assemblies generally +are held at dead of night when the Powers of Darkness reign; +or, sometimes, at high noon, even as the Psalmist saith, when +he speaks of ‘the noonday devil.’ The nights they prefer are +Monday and Thursday.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_279" href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>The time at which these Sabbats began was generally upon +the stroke of midnight. “Les Sorciers,” says Boguet, “vont +enuiron la minuict au Sabbat.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_280" href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> It may be remembered +that in the <i>Metamorphoseon</i> of Apuleius, I, xi, the hags +attack Socrates at night “circa tertiam ferme uigiliam.” +Agnes Sampson, “a famous witch”—as Hume of Godscroft +in his Account of Archibald, ninth Earl of Angus, calls her—commonly +known as the wise wife of Keith, who made a +prominent figure⁠<a id="FNanchor_281" href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> in the Fian trials, 1590, confessed that the +Devil met her, “being alone, and commanded her to be at +North-Berwick Kirk the next night,” and accordingly she +made her way there as she was bid “and lighted at the +Kirk-yard, or a little before she came to it, about eleven hours +at even.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_282" href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> In this case, however, the Sabbat was preceded +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>by a dance of nearly one hundred persons, and so probably +did not commence until midnight. Thomas Leyis, Issobell +Coky, Helen Fraser, Bessie Thorn, and the rest of the +Aberdeen witches, thirteen of whom were executed in 1597, +and seven more banished, generally met “betuixt tuell & ane +houris at nycht.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_283" href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Boguet notes that in 1598 the witch +Françoise Secretain “adioustoit qu’elle alloit tousiours au +Sabbat enuiron la minuit, & beaucoup d’autres sorciers, que +i’ay eu en main, ont dit le mesme.” In 1600 Anna Mauczin +of Tubingen confessed that she had taken part in witch +gatherings which she dubbed <i>Hochzeiten</i>. They seem to have +been held by a well just outside the upper gate of Rotenburg, +and her evidence insists upon “midnight dances” and +revelling. A Scotch witch, Marie Lamont, “a young woman +of the adge of Eighteen Yeares, dwelling in the parish of +Innerkip” on 4 March, 1662, confessed most ingenuously +“that when shee had been at a mietting sine Zowle last, +with other witches, in the night, the devill convoyed her +home in the dawing.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_284" href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>The Sabbat lasted till cock-crow, before which time none +of the assembly was suffered to withdraw, and the advowal +of Louis Gaufridi, executed at Aix, 1610, seems somewhat +singular: “I was conveyed to the place where the Sabbat +was to be held, and I remained there sometimes one, two, +three, or four hours, for the most part just as I felt inclined.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_285" href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> +That the crowing of a cock dissolves enchantments is a tradition +of extremest antiquity. The Jews believed that the clapping +of a cock’s wings will make the power of demons ineffectual +and break magic spells. So Prudentius sang: “They say +that the night-wandering demons, who rejoice in dunnest +shades, at the crowing of the cock tremble and scatter in +sore affright.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_286" href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> The rites of Satan ceased because the Holy +Office of the Church began. In the time of S. Benedict +Matins and Lauds were recited at dawn and were actually +often known as <i>Gallicinium</i>, Cock-crow. In the exquisite +poetry of S. Ambrose, which is chanted at Sunday Lauds, +the praises of the cock are beautifully sung:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Light of our darksome journey here,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">With days dividing night from night!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Loud crows the dawn’s shrill harbinger,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And wakens up the sunbeams bright.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Forthwith at this, the darkness chill</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Retreats before the star of morn;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from their busy schemes of ill</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The vagrant crews of night return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Fresh hope, at this, the sailor cheers;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The waves their stormy strife allay;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Church’s Rock at this, in tears,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Hastens to wash his guilt away.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Arise ye, then, with one accord!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">No longer wrapt in slumber lie;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cock rebukes all who their Lord</div> + <div class="verse indent2">By sloth neglect, by sin deny.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">At his clear cry joy springs afresh;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Health courses through the sick man’s veins;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dagger glides into its sheath;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The fallen soul her faith regains.⁠<a id="FNanchor_287" href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>A witch named Latoma confessed to Nicolas Remy that +cocks were most hateful to all sorcerers. That bird is the +herald of dawn, he arouses men to the worship of God; and +many an odious sin which darkness shrouds will be revealed +in the light of the coming day. At the hour of the Nativity, +that most blessed time, the cocks crew all night long. A cock +crew lustily at the Resurrection. Hence is the cock placed +upon the steeple of churches. Pliny and Ælian tell us that +a lion fears the cock; so the Devil “leo rugiens” flees at +cock-crow.</p> + +<p>“Le coq,” says De Lancre, “s’oyt par fois es Sabbats +sonna̅t la retraicte aux Sorciers.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_288" href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>The witch resorted to the Sabbat in various manners. If +it were a question of attending a local assembly when, at +most, a mile or two had to be traversed, the company would +go on foot. Very often the distance was even less, for it +should be remembered that in the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries, and indeed, as a matter of fact, up to a quite +recent date, when the wayfarer had gone a few steps outside +the gates of a town or beyond the last house in the village +he was enfolded in darkness, entirely solitary, remote, +eloined. If footmen with flambeaux, at least the humbler +linkboy, were essential attendants after nightfall in the +streets of the world’s great cities, London, Rome, Paris, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>Madrid,⁠<a id="FNanchor_289" href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> how black with shadows, dangerous, and utterly +lonesome was the pathless countryside! Not infrequently +the witches of necessity carried lanterns to light them on +their journey to the Sabbat. The learned Bartolomeo de +Spina, O.P.,⁠<a id="FNanchor_290" href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> in his <i>Tractatus de Strigibus et Lamiis</i> (Venice, +1533), writes that a certain peasant, who lived at Clavica +Malaguzzi, in the district of Mirandola, having occasion to +rise very early one morning and drive to a neighbouring +village, found himself at three o’clock, before daybreak, +crossing a waste tract of considerable extent which lay +between him and his destination. In the distance he suddenly +caught sight of what seemed to be numerous fires flitting to +and fro, and as he drew nearer he saw that these were none +other than large lanthorns held by a bevy of persons who +were moving here and there in the mazes of a fantastic dance, +whilst others, as at a rustic picnic, were seated partaking of +dainties and drinking stoups of wine, what time a harsh +music, like the scream of a cornemuse, droned through the +air. Curiously no word was spoken, the company whirled +and pirouetted, ate and drank, in strange and significant +silence. Perceiving that many, unabashed, were giving themselves +up to the wildest debauchery and publicly performing +the sexual act with every circumstance of indecency, the +horrified onlooker realized that he was witnessing the revels +of the Sabbat. Crossing himself fervently and uttering a +prayer he drove as fast as possible from the accursed spot, +not, however, before he had recognized some of the company +as notorious evil-doers and persons living in the vicinity who +were already under grave suspicion of sorcery. The witches +must have remarked his presence, but they seem to have +ignored him and not even to have attempted pursuit. In +another instance Fra Paolo de Caspan, a Dominican of great +reputation for piety and learning, reports that Antonio de +Palavisini, the parish priest of Caspan in the Valtellina, a territory +infected with warlocks, most solemnly affirmed that when +going before daybreak to say an early Mass at a shrine hard by +the village he had seen through clearings in the wood an +assembly of men and women furnished with lanterns, who +were seated in a circle and whose actions left no doubt that +they were witches engaged in abominable rites. In both +the above cases the lanterns were not required in the ceremonies +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span>of the Sabbat, and they must have been carried for +the purely practical purpose of affording light.</p> + +<p>Very often when going to a local Sabbat the coven of +witches used to meet just beyond the village and make their +way to the appointed spot in a body for mutual help and +security. This is pointed out by Bernard of Como, a famous +scholar, who says: “When they are to go to some spot hard +by they proceed thither on foot cheerily conversing as they +walk.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_291" href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The fact that the dark initiates walked to the +Sabbat is frequently mentioned in the trials. Boguet, who +is most exact in detail, writes: “Sorcerers, nevertheless, +sometimes walk to the Sabbat, and this is generally the case +when the spot where they are to assemble does not lie very +far from their dwellings.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_292" href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> And in the interrogatory, 17 +May, 1616, of Barthélemi Minguet of Brécy, a young fellow +of twenty-five, accused with seventeen more, we have: “He +was then asked in what place the Sabbat was held the last +time he was present there.</p> + +<p>“He replied that it was in the direction of Billcron, at a +cross-road which is on the high-road leading to Aix, in the +Parish of Saint Soulange. He was asked how he proceeded +thither. He replied that he walked to the place.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_293" href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>When Catharine Oswald of Niddrie (1625) one night took +Alexander Hamilton “a known warlock” “to a den betwixt +Niddrie and Edmiston, where the devill had trysted hir,” it +is obvious that the couple walked there together.</p> + +<p>On one occasion the truly subtle point was raised whether +those who walked to the Sabbat were as guilty as those who +were conveyed thither by the Devil. But De Lancre decides: +“It is truly as criminal & abominable for a Sorcerer to go +to the Sabbat on foot as to be voluntarily conveyed thither +by the Devil.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_294" href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>Major Weir and his sister seem to have gone to a meeting +with the Devil in a coach and six horses when they thus +drove from Edinburgh to Musselburgh and back again on +7 September, 1648. So the woman confessed in prison, and +added “that she and her brother had made a compact with +the devil.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_295" href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="plate4" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/plate4.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE IV</p> + <p>OFF TO THE SABBAT.<br>Queverdo</p> + <p class="caption-r">[<i>face p. 120</i></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Agnes Sampson, the famous witch of North Berwick (1590), +confessed “that the <i>Devil</i> in mans lickness met her going +out to the fields from her own house at <i>Keith</i>, betwixt five +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span>and six at even, being alone and commanded her to be at +<i>North-berwick</i> Kirk the next night. To which place she came +on horse-back, conveyed by her Good-son, called Iohn +Couper.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_296" href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> The Swedish witches (1669) who carried children +off to Blockula “set them upon a <i>Beast</i> of the <i>Devil’s</i> providing, +and then they rid away.” One boy confessed that +“to perform the Journey, he took his own Fathers horse out +of the Meadow, where it was feeding.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_297" href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Upon his return +one of the coven let the horse graze in her own pasture, and +here the boy’s father found it the next day.</p> + +<p>In the popular imagination the witch is always associated +with the broomstick, employed by her to fly in wild career +through mid-air. This belief seems almost universal, of all +times and climes. The broomstick is, of course, closely +connected with the magic wand or staff which was considered +equally serviceable for purposes of equitation. The wood +whence it was fashioned was often from the hazel-tree, +witch-hazel, although in De Lancre’s day the sorcerers of +Southern France favoured the “Souhandourra”—<i>Cornus +sanguinea</i>, dog-wood. Mid hurricane and tempest, in the +very heart of the dark storm, the convoy of witches, straddling +their broomsticks, sped swiftly along to the Sabbat, +their yells and hideous laughter sounding louder than the +crash of elements and mingling in fearsome discord with the +frantic pipe of the gale.</p> + +<p>There is a very important reference to these beliefs from +the pen of the famous and erudite Benedictine Abbot, Regino +of Prüm (<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 906), who in his weighty <i>De ecclesiasticis +disciplinis</i> writes: “This too must by no means be passed +over that certain utterly abandoned women, turning aside +to follow Satan, being seduced by the illusions and phantasmical +shows of demons firmly believe and openly profess that +in the dead of night they ride upon certain beasts along with +the pagan goddess Diana and a countless horde of women, +and that in those silent hours they fly over vast tracts of +country and obey her as their mistress, whilst on certain +other nights they are summoned to do her homage and pay +her service.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_298" href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> The witches rode sometimes upon a besom +or a stick, sometimes upon an animal, and the excursion +through the air was generally preceded by an unction with +a magic ointment. Various recipes are given for the ointment, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>and it is interesting to note that they contain deadly poisons: +aconite, belladonna, and hemlock.⁠<a id="FNanchor_299" href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Although these unguents +may in certain circumstances be capable of producing definite +physiological results, it is Delrio who best sums up the reasons +for their use: “The Demon is able to convey them to the +Sabbat without the use of any unguent, and often he does so. +But for several reasons he prefers that they should anoint +themselves. Sometimes when the witches seem afraid it +serves to encourage them. When they are young and tender +they will thus be better able to bear the hateful embrace +of Satan who has assumed the shape of a man. For by this +horrid anointing he dulls their senses and persuades these +deluded wretches that there is some great virtue in the viscid +lubricant. Sometimes too he does this in hateful mockery +of God’s holy Sacraments, and that by these mysterious +ceremonies he may infuse, as it were, something of a ritual +and liturgical nature into his beastly orgies.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_300" href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>Although the witch is universally credited with the power +to fly through the air⁠<a id="FNanchor_301" href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> to the Sabbat mounted upon a besom +or some kind of stick, it is remarkable in the face of popular +belief to find that the confessions avowing this actual mode +of aerial transport are extraordinarily few. Paul Grilland, +in his tractate <i>De Sortilegiis</i> (Lyons, 1533), speaks of a witch +at Rome during whose trial, seven years before, it was +asserted she flew in the air after she had anointed her limbs +with a magic liniment. Perhaps the most exactly detailed +accounts of this feat are to be found in Boguet,⁠<a id="FNanchor_302" href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> than whom +scarcely any writer more meticulously reports the lengthy +and prolix evidence of witches, such evidence as he so +laboriously gathered during the notorious prosecutions +throughout Franche-Comté in the summer of 1598. He +records quite plainly such statements as: “Françoise +Secretain disoit, que pour aller au Sabbat, elle mettoit un +baston blanc entre ses iambes & puis prononçait certaines +paroles & dés lors elle estoit portée par l’air iusques en +l’assemblée des Sorciers.” (Françoise Secretain avowed that +in order to go to the Sabbat she placed a white stick between +her legs & then uttered certain words & then she was borne +through the air to the sorcerers’ assembly). In another +place she confessed “qu’elle avoit esté vne infinité de fois +au Sabbat ... & qu’elle y alloit sur vn baston blanc, qu’elle +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>mettoit entre ses iambes.” (That she had been a great number +of times to the Sabbat ... and that she went there on a +white stick which she placed between her legs.) It will be +noticed that in the second instance she does not explicitly +claim to have been borne through the air. Again: “Françoise +Secretain y estoit portée [au Sabbat] sur vn baston +blanc. Satan y tra̅sporta Thieuenne Paget & Antide Colas +estant en forme d’vn homme noir, sortans de leurs maison +le plus souuent par la cheminée.” “Claudine Boban, ieune +fille confessa qu’elle & sa mère montoient sur vne ramasse, & +que sortans le contremont de la cheminée elles alloient par +l’air en ceste façon au Sabbat.” (Françoise Secretain was +carried [to the Sabbat] on a white stick. Satan, in the form +of a tall dark man conveyed thither Thieuenne Paget & +Antide Colas, who most often left their house by way of the +chimney.... Claudine Boban, a young girl, confessed that +both she and her mother mounted on a besom, & that flying +out by the chimney they were thus borne through the air +to the Sabbat.) A marginal note explains <i>ramasse</i> as “autrement +balai, & en Lyonnois coiue.”</p> + +<p>Glanvill writes that Julian Cox, one of the Somerset coven +(1665), said “that one evening she walkt out about a Mile +from her own House and there came riding towards her three +persons upon three Broom-staves, born up about a yard and +a half from the ground. Two of them she formerly knew, +which was a Witch and a Wizzard.” It might easily be that +there is some exaggeration here. We know that a figure in +one of the witch dances consisted of leaping as high as possible +into the air, and probably the three persons seen by Julian +Cox were practising this agile step. A quotation from Bodin +by Reginald Scot is very pertinent in this connexion. Speaking +of the Sabbat revels he has: “And whiles they sing and +dance, euerie one hath a broome in his hand, and holdeth it +vp aloft. Item he saith, that these night-walking or rather +night-dansing witches, brought out of <i>Italie</i> into <i>France</i>, that +danse which is called <i>La Volta</i>.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_303" href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Sir John Davies in his +<i>Orchestra or A Poeme on Dauncing</i> (18mo, 1596) describes +the lavolta as “A loftie iumping, or a leaping round.” +De Lancre observes that after the regular country dance at +the Sabbat the witches sprang high into the air. “Après la +dance ils se mettent par fois à sauter.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_304" href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> At their assembly +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>certain of the Aberdeen witches (1597) “danced a devilish +dance, riding on trees, by a long space.” In an old representation +of Dr. Fian and his company swiftly pacing round +North Berwick church withershins the witches are represented +as running and leaping in the air, some mounted on +broomsticks, some carrying their besoms in their hands.</p> + +<p>There was discovered in the closet of Dame Alice Kyteler +of Kilkenny, who was arrested in 1324 upon the accusation +of nightly meeting a familiar Artisson and multiplied charges +of sorcery, a pipe of ointment, wherewith she greased a staff +“upon which she ambolled and gallopped thorough thicke +and thin, when and what manner she listed.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_305" href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> In the trial +of Martha Carrier, a notorious witch and “rampant hag” +at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, held by adjournment at +Salem, 2 August, 1692, the eighth article of the indictment +ran: “One <i>Foster</i>, who confessed her own share in the +Witchcraft for which the Prisoner stood indicted, affirm’d, +that she had seen the prisoner at some of their <i>Witch-meetings</i>, +and that it was this <i>Carrier</i>, who perswaded her to +be a Witch. She confessed that the Devil carry’d them on +a pole, to a Witch-meeting: but the pole broke, and she +hanging about <i>Carriers</i> neck, they both fell down, and she +then received an hurt by the Fall, whereof she was not at +this very time recovered.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_306" href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>In many of these instances it is plain that there is no +actual flight through the air implied; although there is a +riding a-cock-horse of brooms or sticks, in fact, a piece of +symbolic ritual.</p> + +<p>It is very pertinent, however, to notice in this connexion the +actual levitation of human beings, which is, although perhaps +an unusual, yet by no means an unknown, phenomenon in +the séances of modern spiritism, where both the levitation of +persons, with which we are solely concerned, and the rising +of tables or chairs off the ground without contact with any +individual or by any human agency have occurred again +and again under conditions which cannot possibly admit of +legerdemain, illusion, or charlatanry. From a mass of +irrefutable evidence we may select some striking words by +Sir William Crookes, F.R.S., upon levitation. “This has +occurred,” he writes, “in my presence on four occasions in +darkness; but ... I will only mention cases in which deductions +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>of reason were confirmed by the sense of sight.... +On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on +it, rise several inches from the ground.... On another +occasion the lady knelt on the chair in such manner that +the four feet were visible to us. It then rose about three +inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, and then +slowly descended....</p> + +<p>“The most striking case of levitation which I have witnessed +has been with Mr. Home. On three separate occasions +have I seen him raised completely from the floor of the +room.... On each occasion I had full opportunity of +watching the occurrence as it was taking place. There are +at least a hundred recorded instances of Mr. Home’s rising +from the ground.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_307" href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>Writing in July, 1871, Lord Lindsay said: “I was sitting +with Mr. Home and Lord Adare and a cousin of his. During +the sitting Mr. Home went into a trance, and in that state +was carried out of the window in the room next to where +we were, and was brought in at our window. The distance +between the windows was about seven feet six inches, and +there was not the slightest foothold between them, nor was +there more than a twelve-inch projection to each window, +which served as a ledge to put flowers on. We heard the +window in the next room lifted up, and almost immediately +after we saw Home floating in air outside our window.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_308" href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> + +<p>William Stainton Moses writes of his levitation in August, +1872, in the presence of credible witnesses: “I was carried +up ... when I became stationary I made a mark [with a +lead pencil] on the wall opposite to my chest. This mark is +as near as may be six feet from the floor.... From the +position of the mark on the wall it is clear that my head must +have been close to the ceiling.... I was simply levitated +and lowered to my old place.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_309" href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>When we turn to the lives of the Saints we find that these +manifestations have been frequently observed, and it will +suffice to mention but a few from innumerable examples.</p> + +<p>S. Francis of Assisi was often “suspended above the earth, +sometimes to a height of three, sometimes to a height of +four cubits”; the same phenomenon has been recorded by +eye-witnesses in many instances throughout the centuries. +Among the large number of those who are known to have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span>been raised from the ground whilst wrapt in prayer are the +stigmatized S. Catherine of Siena; S. Colette; Rainiero de +Borgo San-Sepolcro; S. Catherine de Ricci; S. Alphonsus +Rodriguez, S.J.; S. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi; Raimond +Rocco; Bl. Charles de Sezze; S. Veronica Giuliani the +Capuchiness; S. Gerard Majella, the Redemptorist thaumaturge; +that wondrous mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich; +Dominica Barbagli (died in 1858), the ecstatica of Montesanto-Savino +(Florence), whose levitations were of daily +occurrence. S. Ignatius Loyola whilst deeply contemplative +was seen by John Pascal to be raised more than a foot from +the pavement; S. Teresa and S. John of the Cross were +levitated in concurrent ecstasies in the shady locutorio of the +Encarnacion, as was witnessed by Beatriz of Jesus and the +whole convent of nuns;⁠<a id="FNanchor_310" href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> S. Alphonsus Liguori whilst +preaching in the church of S. John Baptist at Foggia was +lifted before the eyes of the whole congregation several feet +from the ground;⁠<a id="FNanchor_311" href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> Gemma Galgani of Lucca, who died +11 April, 1903, was observed whilst praying one evening in +September, 1901, before a venerated Crucifix, to rise in the +air in a celestial trance and to remain several minutes at +some distance from the floor.⁠<a id="FNanchor_312" href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> Above all, S. Joseph of +Cupertino (1603-63), one of the most extraordinary mystics +of the seventeenth century, whose whole life seemed one +long series of unbroken raptures and ecstasies, was frequently +lifted on high to remain suspended in mid-air. Such notice +was attracted by this marvel that his superiors sent him +from one lonely house of Capuchins or Conventuals to another, +and he died at the little hill town of Osimo, where his +remains are yet venerated. For many years he was obliged +to say Mass at a private altar so inevitable were the ecstasies +that fell upon him during the Sacrifice. There are, I think, +few sanctuaries more sweet and more fragrant with holiness +than this convent at Osimo. During a most happy visit to +the shrine of S. Joseph I was deeply touched by the many +memorials of the Saints, and by the kindness of the Fathers, +his brethren to-day. S. Philip Neri and S. Francis Xavier +were frequently raised from the ground at the Elevation, +and of the ascetic S. Paul of the Cross the Blessed Strambi +writes: “Le serviteur de Dieu s’éleva en l’air à la hauteur +de deux palmes, et cela, à deux reprises, avant et après la +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>consecration.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_313" href="#Footnote_313" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> (The servant of God during Holy Mass was +twice elevated in the air to a height of two hand-breadths +from the ground both before and after the Consecration.) +It is well known that in a certain London church a holy +religious when he said Mass was not unseldom levitated +from the predella, which manifestation I have myself witnessed, +although the father was himself unconscious thereof +until the day of his death.</p> + +<p>But, as Görres most aptly remarks,⁠<a id="FNanchor_314" href="#Footnote_314" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> although many +examples may be cited of Saints who have been levitated +in ecstasy, and although it is not impossible that this +phenomenon may be imitated by evil powers—as, indeed, it +undoubtedly is in the cases of spiritistic mediums—yet +nowhere do we find in hagiography that a large number of +Saints were in one company raised from the earth together +or conveyed through the air to meet at some appointed spot. +Is it likely, then, that the demons would be allowed seemingly +to excel by their power a most extraordinary and +exceptional manifestation? It must be remembered, also, +that save in very rare and singular instances, such as that +of S. Joseph of Cupertino, levitation is only for a height of a +foot or some eighteen inches, and even this occurs seldom +save at moments of great solemnity and psychic concentration.</p> + +<p>A question which is largely discussed by the demonologists +then arises: Do the witches actually and in person attend +the Sabbat or is their journey thither and assistance thereat +mere diabolic illusion? Giovanni Francesco Ponzinibio, in +his <i>De Lamiis</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_315" href="#Footnote_315" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> wholly inclines to the latter view, but +this is superficial reasoning, and the celebrated canonist +Francisco Peña with justice takes him very severely to task +for his temerity. Peña’s profound work, <i>In Bernardi +Comensis Dominicani Lucernam inquisitorum notæ et eiusdem +tractatum de strigibus</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_316" href="#Footnote_316" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> a valuable collection of most erudite +glosses, entirely disposes of Ponzinibio’s arguments, and puts +the case in words of weighty authority.</p> + +<p>Sprenger in the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i>, I, had already considered +“How witches are bodily transported from one place +to another,” and he concludes “It is proven, then, that +sorcerers can be bodily transported.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_317" href="#Footnote_317" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> Paul Grilland +inquires: “Whether magicians & witches or Satanists are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span>bodily & actually conveyed to and fro by the Devil, or +whether this be merely imaginary?” He freely acknowledges +the extraordinary difficulty and intricacy of the +investigation, beginning his answer with the phrase “Quæstio +ista est multum ardua et famosa.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_318" href="#Footnote_318" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> (This is a very difficult +and oft-discussed question.) But S. Augustine, S. Thomas, +S. Bonaventure, and a score of great names are agreed upon +the reality of this locomotion, and Grilland, after balancing +the evidence to the nicety of a hair wisely concludes: “Myself +I hold the opinion that they are actually transported.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_319" href="#Footnote_319" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>In his <i>Compendium Maleficarum</i> Francesco Maria Guazzo +discusses (Liber I. 13) “Whether Witches are actually and +bodily conveyed from place to place to attend their Sabbats”; +and lays down: “The opinion which many who follow +Luther & Melancthon hold is that Witches only assist at +these assemblies in their imagination, & that they are choused +by some trick of the devil, in support of which argument the +objectors assert that the Witches have very often been seen +lying in one spot and not moving thence. Moreover, what is +related in the life of S. Germain is not impertinent in this +connexion, to wit, when certain women declared that they +had been present at a banquet, & yet all the while they +slumbered and slept, as several persons attested. That +women of this kind are very often deceived in such a way +is certain; but that they are always so deceived is by no +means sure.... The alternative opinion, which personally +I hold most strongly, is that sometimes at any rate Witches +are actually conveyed from one place to another by the +Devil, who under the bodily form of a goat or some other +unclean & monstrous animal himself carries them, & that +they are verily and indeed present at their foul midnight +Sabbats. This opinion is that generally held by the authoritative +Theologians and Master Jurisprudists of Italy and +Spain, as also by the Catholic divines and legalists. The +majority of writers, indeed, advance this view, for example, +Torquemada in his commentary on Grilland, Remy, S. Peter +Damian, Silvester of Abula, Tommaso de Vio Gaetani, +Alfonso de Castro, Sisto da Siena, O.P., Père Crespet, Bartolomeo +Spina in his glosses on Ponzinibio, Lorenzo Anania, +and a vast number of others, whose names for brevity’s sake +I here omit.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_320" href="#Footnote_320" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span></p> + +<p>This seems admirably to sum up the whole matter. In +the encyclopædic treatise <i>De Strigibus</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_321" href="#Footnote_321" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> by an earlier authority, +Bernard of Como, the following remarkable passage +occurs: “The aforesaid abominable wretches actually & +awake & in full enjoyment of their normal senses attend these +assemblies or rather orgies, and when they are to go to some +spot hard by they proceed thither on foot, cheerily conversing +as they walk. If, however, they are to meet in some distant +place then are they conveyed by the Devil, yet by whatsoever +means they proceed to the said place whether it be on foot +or whether they are borne along by the Devil, it is most +certain that their journey is real and actual, and not +imaginary. Nor are they labouring under any delusion when +they deny the Catholic Faith, worship and adore the Devil, +tread upon the Cross of Christ, outrage the Most Blessed +Sacrament, and give themselves up to filthy and unhallowed +copulations, fornicating with the Devil himself who appears +to them in a human form, being used by the men as a succubus, +& carnally serving the woman as an incubus.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_322" href="#Footnote_322" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p>The conclusion then is plain and proven. The witches do +actually and individually attend the Sabbat, an orgy of +blasphemy and obscenity. Whether they go thither on foot, +or horseback, or by some other means is a detail, which in +point of fact differs according to the several and infinitely +varied circumstances.</p> + +<p>It is not denied that in some cases hallucination and +self-deception played a large part, but such examples are +comparatively speaking few in number, and these, moreover, +were carefully investigated and most frequently recognized +by the judges and divines. Thus in the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> +Sprenger relates that a woman, who had voluntarily surrendered +herself to be examined as being a witch, confessed +to the Dominican fathers that she nightly assisted at the +Sabbat, and that neither bolts nor bars could prevent her +from flying to the infernal revels. Accordingly she was shut +fast under lock and key in a chamber whence it was impossible +for her to escape, and all the while carefully watched by +lynx-eyed officers through a secret soupirail. These reported +that immediately the door was closed she threw herself on +the bed where in a moment she was stretched out perfectly +rigid in all her members. Select members of the tribunal, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>grave and acute doctors, entered the room. They shook her, +gently at first, but presently with considerable roughness. +She remained immobile and insensible. She was pinched +and pulled sharply. At last a lighted candle was brought +and placed near her naked foot until the flesh was actually +scorched in the flame. She lay stockish and still, dumb and +motionless as a stone. After a while her senses returned to +her. She sat up and related in exact detail the happenings +at the Sabbat she had attended, the place, the number of the +company, the rites, what was spoken, all that was done, and +then she complained of a hurt upon her foot. Next day the +fathers explained to her all that had passed, how that she +had never stirred from the spot, and that the pain arose +from the taper which to ensure the experiment had been +brought in contact with her flesh. They admonished her +straightly but with paternal charity, and upon the humble +confession of her error and a promise to guard against any +such ill fantasies for the future, a suitable penance was +prescribed and the woman dismissed.</p> + +<p>In the celebrated cases investigated by Henri Boguet, +June, 1598, young George Gandillon confessed to having +walked to the Sabbat at a deserted spot called Fontenelles, +near the village of Nezar, and also to having ridden to the +Sabbat. Moreover, in his indictment the following occurs: +“George Gandillon, one Good Friday night, lay in his bed, +rigid as a corpse, for the space of three hours, & then on a +sudden came to himself. He has since been burned alive +here with his father & his sister.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_323" href="#Footnote_323" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>Since Boguet, who is one of our chief authorities, discusses +the Sabbat with most copious details in his <i>Discours des +Sorciers</i> it will not be impertinent to give here the headings +and subdivisions of his learned and amply documented +chapters.⁠<a id="FNanchor_324" href="#Footnote_324" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XVI. How, & in what way Sorcerers are conveyed +to the Sabbat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1. <i>They are sometimes conveyed there mounted on a stick, +or a broom, sometimes on a sheep or a goat, & sometimes +by a tall black man.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>Sometimes they anoint themselves with ointment, & sometimes +not.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">3. <i>There are some people, who although they are not Sorcerers, +if they are anointed, are none the less carried +off to the Sabbat. The reason for this.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">4. <i>The unguent, & the ointment are actually of no use to the +Sorcerers, and do not in effect carry them to the Sabbat.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">5. <i>Sorcerers are sometimes conveyed to the Sabbat by a blast +of wind & a sudden storm.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XVII. Sorcerers may sometimes walk to the +Sabbat on foot.</p> + +<p>Chapter XVIII. Is the journey of Sorcerers to the Sabbat +merely imagination?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1 & 3. <i>Reasons for supposing this to be the case, & +examples.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>Indications, owing to which it may be supposed, that a +certain woman paid a purely imaginary visit to the +Sabbat.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">4. <i>Reasons for supposing that the journey of Sorcerers to +the Sabbat, is a real expedition and not imaginary.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">5. <i>How we are to understand what is related concerning +Erichtho, & Apollonius; the first of whom raised a +soldier to life, & the latter a young girl.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">6. <i>Sorcerers cannot raise the dead to life. Examples.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">7. <i>Neither can heretics perform miracles. Examples.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">8. <i>The Author’s opinion concerning the subject of this +chapter.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">9. <i>Satan most frequently deceives mankind. Examples.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XIX.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1. <i>Sorcerers go to the Sabbat about midnight.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>The reason why the Sabbat is generally held at night.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">3. <i>Satan delights in darkness & blackness, which are opposite +to the whiteness and light that please Heaven.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">4. <i>At the Sabbat Sorcerers dance back to back. For the most +part they wear masks.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">5 & 8. <i>When the cock crows the Sabbat immediately comes +to an end, and vanishes away. The reason for this.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">6. <i>The voice of the cock frightens Satan in the same way as +it terrifies lions & serpents.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">7. <i>Several authors relate that demons fear a naked sword.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span></p> + +<p>Chapter XX. The days on which the Sabbat is held.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1. <i>The Sabbat may be held on any day of the week, but +particularly on a Friday.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>It is also held on the greatest festivals of the year.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XXI. The places where the Sabbat is held.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1. <i>According to many writers the place where the Sabbat is +held is distinguished by a clump of trees, or sometimes +by a cross. The Author’s opinion on this point.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>A remarkable account of a place where the Sabbat was +held.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">3. <i>There must be water near the place where the Sabbat is +held. The reason for this.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">4. <i>If there is no water in the place, the Sorcerers dig a hole +in the ground and urinate in this.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XXII. The proceedings at the Sabbat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1. <i>The Sorcerers worship the Devil who appears under the +form of a tall black man, or as a goat. They offer him +candles & kiss his posterior.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>They dance. A description of their dances.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">3. <i>They give themselves up to every kind of filthy abomination. +The Devil transforms himself into an Incubus +& into a Succubus.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">4. <i>The hideous orgies & foul copulations practised by the +Euchites, & Gnostics.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">5. <i>The Sorcerers feast at the Sabbat. Their meat & their +drink. The way in which they say grace before and +after table.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">6. <i>However, this food never satisfies their appetites, & they +always arise from table as hungry as before.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">7. <i>When they have finished their meal, they give the Devil +a full account of all their actions.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">8. <i>They again renounce God, their baptism, &c. How Satan +incites them to do evil.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">9. <i>They raise dark storms.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">10. <i>They celebrate their mass. Of their vestments, & holy +water.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">11. <i>Sometimes to conclude the Sabbat Satan seems to be +consumed in a flame of fire, & to be completely reduced +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>to ashes. All present take a small part of these ashes, +which the Sorcerers use for their charms.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">12. <i>Satan is always the Ape of God in everything.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +</blockquote> + +<p>As the procedure in the various Sabbats differed very +greatly according to century, decade, country, district, nay, +even in view of the station of life and, it would seem, the +very temperaments of the assembly, it is only possible to +outline in a general way some of the most remarkable +ceremonies which took place on the occasions of these infernal +congregations. An intimate and intensive study of the +Sabbat would require a large volume, for it is quite possible +to reconstruct the rites in every particular, although the +precise order of the ritual was not always and everywhere +the same.</p> + +<p>Dom Calmet, it is true, has very mistakenly said: “To +attempt to give a description of the Sabbat, is to attempt +a description of what does not exist, & what has never existed +save in the fantastic & disordered imagination of warlocks +& witches: the pictures which have been drawn of these +assemblies are merely the phantasy of those who dreamed +that they had actually been borne, body & soul, through the +air to the Sabbat.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_325" href="#Footnote_325" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Happy sceptic! But unfortunately +the Sabbat did—and does—take place; formerly in deserted +wastes, on the hill-side, in secluded spots, now, as often as +not, in the privacy of vaults and cellars, and in those lone +empty houses innocently placarded “To be Sold.”</p> + +<p>The President of the Sabbat was in purely local gatherings +often the Officer of the district; in the more solemn assemblies +convened from a wider area, the Grand Master, whose +dignity would be proportionate to the numbers of the company +and the extent of his province. In any case the President +was officially known as the “Devil,” and it would seem that +his immediate attendants and satellites were also somewhat +loosely termed “devils,” which formal nomenclature has +given rise to considerable confusion and not a little mystification +in the reports of witch trials and the confessions of +offenders. But in many instances it is certain—and orthodoxy +forbids us to doubt the possibility—that the Principle +of Evil, incarnate, was present for the hideous adoration of +his besotted worshippers. Such is the sense of the Fathers, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>such is the conclusion of the theologians who have dealt with +these dark abominations. Metaphysically it is possible; +historically it is indisputable.</p> + +<p>When a human being, a man, occupied the chief position +at these meetings and directed the performance of the rites, +he would sometimes appear in a hideous and grotesque +disguise, sometimes without any attempt at concealment. +This masquerade generally took the shape of an animal, and +had its origin in heathendom, whence by an easy transition +through the ceremonial of heretics, it passed to the sorcerer +and the witch. As early as the <i>Liber Pœnitentialis</i> of +S. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, 668-690, we have +a distinct prohibition of this foul mummery. Capitulum xxvii +denounces the man who “in Kalendas Ianuarii in ceruulo et +in uitula uadit.” “If anyone at the kalends of January goes +about as a stag or a bull; that is making himself into a wild +animal and dressing in the skin of a herd animal, and putting +on the head of beasts; those who in such wise transform +themselves into the appearance of a wild animal, penance +for three years because this is devilish.”</p> + +<p>Among the many animal forms which the leader of the +Sabbat (the “Devil”) assumed in masquerade the most +common are the bull, the cat, and above all the goat. Thus +the Basque term for the Sabbat is “Akhelarre,” “goat +pasture.” Sometimes the leader is simply said to have shown +himself in the shape of a beast, which possibly points to the +traditional disguise of a black hairy skin, horns, hoofs, claws, +and a tail, in fact the same dress as a demon wore upon the +stage.⁠<a id="FNanchor_326" href="#Footnote_326" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> In an old German ballad, <i>Druten Zeitung</i>, printed +at Smalcald in 1627, “to be sung to the tune of <i>Dorothea</i>,” +it is said that the judges, anxious to extort a confession from +a witch, sent down into her twilight dungeon the common +hangman dressed in a bear’s skin with horns, hoofs, and tail +complete. The miserable prisoner thinking that Lucifer had +indeed visited her at once appealed to him for help:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Man shickt ein Henkersnecht</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Zu ihr in Gefängniss n’unter,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Den man hat kleidet recht,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mit einer Bärnhaute,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Als wenns der Teufel wär;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Als ihm die Drut anschaute</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Meints ihr Bühl kam daher.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span></p> + +<p class="noindent">Here we have a curious and perhaps unique example of the +demoniac masquerade subtly used to obtain evidence of +guilt by a trick. The Aberdeen witch Jonet Lucas (1597) +said that the Devil was at the Sabbat “beand in likenes of +ane beist.” But Agnes Wobster of the same company +declared that “Satan apperit to them in the likenes of a calff,” +so possibly two masquerades were employed. Gabriel Pellé +(1608) confessed that he attended a Sabbat presided over by +the Devil, and “le Diable estoit en vache noire.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_327" href="#Footnote_327" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> Françoise +Secretain, who was tried in August, 1598, saw the Devil +“tantost en forme de chat.” Rolande de Vernois acknowledged +“Le Diable se presenta pour lors au Sabbat en forme +d’vn groz chat noir.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_328" href="#Footnote_328" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> To the goat there are innumerable +allusions. In the Basses-Pyrénées (1609): “Le Diable estoit +en forme de bouc ayant vne queue & audessous vn visage +d’homme noir.” (The Devil appeared in the form of a goat +having a tail & his fundament was the face of a black man.) +Iohannis d’Aguerre said that the Devil was “en forme de +bouc.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_329" href="#Footnote_329" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> “Marie d’Aguerre said that there was in the midst +of the ring an immense pitcher whence the Devil issued in +the form of a goat.” Gentien le Clerc, who was tried at +Orleans in 1614, “said that, as he was told, his mother when +he was three years old presented him at the Sabbat to a goat +whom they saluted as l’Aspic.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_330" href="#Footnote_330" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> “Sur le trône,” writes +Görres, “est assis un bouc, ou du moins la forme d’un bouc, +car le démon ne peut cacher ce qu’il est.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_331" href="#Footnote_331" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + +<p>In 1630 Elizabeth Stevenson, <i>alias</i> Toppock, of Niddrie, +avowed to her judges that in company with Catharine +Oswald, who was tried for being by <i>habite and repute</i> a witch, +and Alexander Hamilton, “a known warlock,” she went +“to a den betwixt Niddrie and Edmiston, where the devill +had trysted hir, where he appeared first to them like a foall, +and then like a man, and appointed a new dyet at Salcott +Muire.” When one of Catharine Oswald’s intimates, Alexander +Hunter, <i>alias</i> Hamilton, <i>alias</i> Hattaraick, a “Warlok +Cairle” who “abused the Countrey for a long time,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_332" href="#Footnote_332" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> was +apprehended at Dunbar he confessed that the Devil would +meet him riding upon a black horse, or in the shape of a +<i>corbie</i>, a cat, or a dog. He was burned upon Castle Hill, +Edinburgh, 1631.</p> + +<p>Sometimes those who are present at the Sabbat are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>masked. Canon Ribet writes: “Les visiteurs du sabbat se +cachent quelquefois sous des formes bestiales, on se couvrent +le visage d’un masque pour demeurer inconnus.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_333" href="#Footnote_333" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> (Those +who attend the Sabbat sometimes disguise themselves as +beasts, or cover their faces to conceal their identities.)</p> + +<p>At the famous Sabbat of one hundred and forty witches +in North Berwick churchyard on All Hallow e’en, 1590, when +they danced “endlong the Kirk-yard” “John Fian, missellit +[masked] led the ring.” The Salamanca doctors mention +the appearance at the Sabbats of persons “aut aperta, aut +linteo uelata facie,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_334" href="#Footnote_334" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> “with their faces sometimes bare, +sometimes shrouded in a linen wimple.” And Delrio has in +reference to this precaution: “Facie interdum aperta, interdum +uelata larua, linteo, uel alio uelamine aut persona.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_335" href="#Footnote_335" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> +(Sometimes their faces are bare, sometimes hidden, either in +a vizard, a linen cloth, or a veil, or a mask.)</p> + +<p>In the latter half of the eighteenth century the territory +of Limburg was terrorized by a mysterious society known +as “The Goats.” These wretches met at night in a secret +chapel, and after the most hideous orgies, which included +the paying of divine honours to Satan and other foul blasphemies +of the Sabbat, they donned masks fashioned to +imitate goats’ heads, cloaked themselves with long disguise +mantles, and sallied forth in bands to plunder and destroy. +From 1772 to 1774 alone the tribunal of Foquemont condemned +four hundred Goats to the gallows. But the organization +was not wholly exterminated until about the year +1780 after a regime of the most repressive measures and +unrelaxing vigilance.</p> + +<p>Among certain tribes inhabiting the regions of the Congo +there exists a secret association of Egbo worshippers. Egbo +or Ekpé is the evil genius or Satan. His rites are Obeeyahism, +the adoration of Obi, or the Devil, and devil-worship is +practised by many barbarous races, as, for instance, by the +Coroados and the Tupayas, in the impenetrable forests +between the rivers Prado and Doce in Brazil, by the Abipones +of Paraguay, as well as by the Bachapins, a Caffre race, by +the negroes on the Gold Coast and the negroes of the West +Indies. In the ju-ju houses of the Egbo sorcerers are obscene +wooden statues to which great veneration is paid, since by +their means divination is solemnly practised. Certain +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>festivals are held during the year, and at these it is interesting +to note that the members wear hideous black masks with +huge horns which it is death for the uninitiated to see.</p> + +<p>The first ceremony of the Sabbat was the worship of, and +the paying homage to the Devil. It would seem that sometimes +this was preceded by a roll-call of the evil devotees. +Agnes Sampson confessed that at the meeting in North +Berwick, when the whole assembly had entered the church, +“The <i>Devil</i> started up himself in the <i>Pulpit</i> like a mickle +black man, and calling the Row, every one answered <i>Here</i>. +<i>Mr. Robert Grierson</i> being named, they all ran <i>hirdie girdie</i>, +and were angry: for it was promised he should be called +<i>Robert</i> the <i>Comptroller</i>, <i>alias Rob</i> the <i>Rower</i>, for expriming +of his name. The first thing he demanded was whether they +had been good servants, and what they had done since the +last time they had convened.”</p> + +<p>The witches adored Satan, or the Master of the Sabbat who +presided in place of Satan, by prostrations, genuflections, +gestures, and obeisances. In mockery of solemn bows and +seemly courtesies the worshippers of the Demon approach +him awkwardly, with grotesque and obscene mops and mows, +sometimes straddling sideways, sometimes walking backwards, +as Guazzo says: Cum accedunt ad dæmones eos +ueneraturi terga obuertunt & cessim eum cancrorum more +supplicaturi manus inuersas retro applicant.⁠<a id="FNanchor_336" href="#Footnote_336" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> But their +chief act of homage was the reverential kiss, <i>osculum infame</i>. +This impious and lewd ritual is mentioned in detail by most +authorities and is to be found in all lands and centuries. So +Delrio writes: “The Sabbat is presided over by a Demon, +the Lord of the Sabbat, who appears in some monstrous +form, most generally as a goat or some hound of hell, seated +upon a haughty throne. The witches who resort to the +Sabbat approach the throne with their backs turned, and +worship him ... and then, as a sign of their homage, they +kiss his fundament.” Guazzo notes: “As a sign of homage +witches kiss the Devil’s fundament.” And Ludwig Elich +says: “Then as a token of their homage—with reverence +be it spoken—they kiss the fundament of the Devil.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_337" href="#Footnote_337" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> +“Y al tiempo que le besan debajo de la cola, da una ventosidad +de muy horrible olor,” adds the Spanish <i>Relacion</i>, +“fetid, foul, and filthy.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span></p> + +<p>To cite other authorities would be but to quote the same +words. Thomas Cooper, indeed, seems to regard this ceremony +as a part of the rite of admission, but to confine it to +this occasion alone is manifestly incorrect, for there is +continual record of its observance at frequent Sabbats by +witches of many years standing. “Secondly,” he remarks, +“when this acknowledgement is made, in testimoniall of +this subiection, Satan offers his back-parts to be kissed of +his vassall.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_338" href="#Footnote_338" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> But in the dittay of the North Berwick +witches, all of whom had long been notorious for their +malpractices, “<i>Item</i>, the said Agnis Sampson confessed that +the divell being then at North Barrick Kerke, attending +their comming, in the habit or likenesse of a man,⁠<a id="FNanchor_339" href="#Footnote_339" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> and +seeing that they tarried over long, hee at their comming +enjoyned them all to a pennance, which was, that they should +kisse his buttockes, in sign of duety to him, which being put +over the pulpit bare, every one did as he had enjoyned +them.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_340" href="#Footnote_340" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>One of the principal charges which was repeatedly brought +against the Knights Templars during the lengthy ecclesiastical +and judicial processes, 1307-1314, was that of the +<i>osculum infame</i> given by the juniors to their preceptors. +Even so prejudiced a writer as Lea cannot but admit the +truth of this accusation. In this case, however, it has nothing +to do with sorcery but must be connected with the homosexuality +which the Order universally practised.</p> + +<p>There are some very important details rehearsed in a Bull, +8 June, 1303, of the noble but calumniated Boniface VIII, +with reference to the case of Walter Langton, Bishop of +Lichfield and Coventry (1296-1322), and treasurer of +Edward I, when this prelate was accused of sorcery and +homage to Satan: “For some time past it has come to our +ears that our Venerable Brother Walter Bishop of Coventry +and Lichfield has been commonly defamed, and accused, +both in the realm of England and elsewhere, of paying homage +to the Devil by kissing his posterior, and that he hath had +frequent colloquies with evil spirits.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_341" href="#Footnote_341" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> The Bishop cleared +himself of these charges with the compurgators. Bodin +refers to Guillaume Edeline, who was executed in 1453 as +a wizard. He was a doctor of the Sorbonne, and prior of +St. Germain en Laye: “The aforesaid sire Guillaume +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>confessed ... that he had done homage to the aforesaid +Satan, who appeared in the shape of a ram, by kissing his +buttocks in token of reverence and homage.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_342" href="#Footnote_342" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> A very rare +tract of the fourteenth century directed against the Waldenses +among other charges brings the following: “Item, in aliquibus +aliis partibus apparet eis dæmon sub specie et figura +cati, quem sub cauda sigillatim osculantur.” (The Devil +appears to them as a cat, and they kiss him <i>sub cauda</i>.)⁠<a id="FNanchor_343" href="#Footnote_343" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> + +<p>Barthélemy Minguet of Brécy, a young man of twenty-five, +who was tried in 1616, said that at the Sabbat “he often +saw [the Devil] in the shape of a man, who held a horse by +its bridle, & that they went forward to worship him, each +one holding a pitch candle of black wax in their hands.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_344" href="#Footnote_344" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> +These candles, as Guazzo tells us, were symbolic and required +by the ritual of the Sabbat, not merely of use for the purpose +of giving light: “Then they made an offering of pitch black +candles, and as a sign of homage kissed his fundament.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_345" href="#Footnote_345" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> +The candles were ordinarily black, and one taper, larger than +the rest, was frequently carried by the Devil himself. At +the North Berwick meeting when the witches were all to +assemble in the church, “<i>Iohn Fein</i> blew up the Kirk doors, +and blew in the lights, which wer like <i>Mickl black candles +sticking round about the Pulpit</i>.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_346" href="#Footnote_346" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Boguet relates that the +witches whom he tried confessed that the Sabbat commenced +with the adoration of Satan, “who appeared, sometimes in +the shape of a tall dark man, sometimes in the shape of a +goat, & to express their worship and homage, they made +him an offering of candles, which burned with a blue light.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_347" href="#Footnote_347" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> +John Fian, also, when doing homage to the Devil “thought +he saw the light of a candle ... which appeared blue lowe.” +This, of course, was on account of the sulphurous material +whence these candles were specially compounded. De Lancre +expressly states that the candles or flambeaux used at the +Sabbat were made of pitch.</p> + +<p>An important feature of the greater Sabbats was the ritual +dance, for the dance was an act of devotion which has +descended to us from the earliest times and is to be found +in every age and every country. Dancing is a natural movement, +a primitive expression of emotion and ideals. In the +ancient world there can have been few things fairer than +that rhythmic thanksgiving of supple limbs and sweet voices +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>which Athens loved, and for many a century was preserved +the memory of that day when the young Sophocles led the +choir in celebration of the victory of Salamis.⁠<a id="FNanchor_348" href="#Footnote_348" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> The Mystæ +in the meadows of Elysium danced their rounds with the +silver clash of cymbals and with madly twinkling snow-white +feet. At the solemn procession of the Ark from Cariathiarim +(Kirjath Jearim) King David “danced with all his might +before the Lord, ... dancing and leaping before the Lord.” +S. Basil urges his disciples to dance on earth in order to fit +themselves for what may be one of the occupations of the +angels in heaven. As late as the seventeenth century the +ceremonial dance in church was not uncommon. In 1683 it +was the duty of the senior canon to lead a dance of choir-boys +in the Paris cathedral. Among the Abyssinian Christians +dancing forms no inconsiderable part of worship. Year by +year on Whit Tuesday hundreds of pilgrims dance through +the streets of Echternach (Luxemburg) to the shrine of +S. Willibrod in S. Peter’s Church. Formerly the devotees +danced three times round the great Abbey Courtyard before +proceeding to the sanctuary. But beyond all these the dance +has its own place in the ritual of Holy Church even yet. +Three times a year in Seville Cathedral—on Holy Thursday, +upon Corpus Christi and the Immaculate Conception—Los +Seises dance before a specially constructed altar, exquisitely +adorned with flowers and lights, erected near the outer door +of the grand western entrance of the cathedral. The ceremony +in all probability dates from the thirteenth century.</p> + +<p>The dresses of the boys, who dance before the improvised +altar at Benediction on Corpus Christi, are of the period of +Philip III, and consist of short trousers and jackets that hang +from one shoulder, the doublets being of red satin, with rich +embroidery. Plumed white hats with feathers are worn, also +shoes with large scintillating buckles. On Holy Thursday +the costume is also red and white, whilst it is blue and white +for “the day of the Virgin.”</p> + +<p>The eight boy choristers—with eight others as attendants—dance, +with castanets in their hands, to a soft organ obbligato, +down the centre of the cathedral to the decorated altar, +advancing slowly and gracefully. Here they remain for about +a quarter of an hour, singing a hymn, and accompanying it +(as the carols of the olden time) with dance and castanets. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span>They sing a two-part hymn in front of the altar, forming in +two eights, facing each other, the clergy kneeling in a semicircle +round them.</p> + +<p>Assuredly I cannot do better than quote Mr. Arthur +Symons’ verdict on this dance as he saw it a few years back +in Seville: “And, yes, I found it perfectly dignified, perfectly +religious, without a suspicion of levity or indecorum. This +consecration of the dance, this turning of a possible vice into +a means of devotion, this bringing of the people’s art, the +people’s passion, which in Seville is dancing, into the church, +finding it a place there, is precisely one of those acts of divine +worldly wisdom which the Church has so often practised in +her conquest of the world.”</p> + +<p>Not too fantastically has a writer suggested that High +Mass itself in some sense enshrines a survival of the ancient +religious dance—that stately, magnificent series of slow +movements which surely may express devotion of the most +solemn and reverent kind, as well as can the colour of vestment +or sanctuary, or the sounds of melody.</p> + +<p>Since the dance is so essentially religious it must needs be +burlesqued and buffooned by God’s ape. For the dance of +the witches is degraded, awkward, foul, and unclean. These +very movements are withershins, as Guazzo points out: +“Then follow the round dances in which, however, they +always tread the measure to the left.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_349" href="#Footnote_349" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> “The Sorcerers,” +says Boguet, “dance a country-dance with their backs turned +one to the other.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_350" href="#Footnote_350" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> This, of course, being the exact reverse +of the natural country-dance. “Sometimes, although +seldom,” he adds, “they dance in couples, & sometimes one +partner is there, another here, for always everything is in +confusion.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_351" href="#Footnote_351" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> De Lancre writes of witches’ revels: “They +only dance three kinds of brawls.... The first is <i>à la +Bohémienne</i> ... the second with quick trippings: these are +round dances.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_352" href="#Footnote_352" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> In the third Sabbat measure the dancers +were placed one behind another in a straight line.</p> + +<p>An old Basque legend reported by Estefanella Hirigaray +describes how the witches were wont to meet near an old +limekiln to dance their rounds, a ceremony regarded throughout +that district as an essential feature of the Sabbat. +De Lancre notes the brawls <i>à la Bohémienne</i> as especially +favoured by sorcerers in Labourd. Sylvester Mazzolini, O.P. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>(1460-1523), Master of the Sacred Palace, and the great +champion of orthodoxy against the heresiarch Luther, in his +erudite <i>De Strigimagia</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_353" href="#Footnote_353" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> relates that in Como and Brescia +a number of children between eight and twelve years old, +who had frequented the Sabbat, but had been happily +converted by the unsparing patience of the Inquisitors, at +the request of the Superiors gave exhibitions of these dances +when they showed such extraordinary adroitness and skill +in executing the most intricate and fantastic figures that it +was evident they had been instructed by no mere human +tutelage. Marco de Viqueria, the Dominican Prior of the +Brussels monastery, closely investigated the matter, and he +was a religious of such known acumen and exceptional probity +that his testimony soon convinced many prelates at Rome +who were inclined to suspect some trickery or cunning +practice. In Belgium this Sabbat dance was known as +<i>Pauana</i>.</p> + +<p>In the Fian trial Agnes Sampson confessed that “They +danced along the <i>Kirk-yeard</i>, <i>Geilic Duncan</i> playing on a +<i>Trump</i>, and <i>John Fein</i> mussiled led the <i>Ring</i>. The said +<i>Agnes</i> and her daughter followed next. Besides these were +<i>Kate Gray</i>, <i>George Noilis</i> his wife, ... with the rest of their +Cummers above an hundred Persons.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_354" href="#Footnote_354" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> She further added +“that this Geillis Duncane did goe before them, playing +this reill or daunce uppon a small trumpe, called a Jewe’s +trumpe, untill they entered into the Kerk of North Barrick.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_355" href="#Footnote_355" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> +“These confessions made the King [James I, then +James VI of Scotland] in a wonderfull admiration, and sent +for the saide Geillis Duncane, who, upon the like trumpe, did +play the saide daunce before the kinges maiestie.”</p> + +<p>Music generally accompanied the dancers, and there is +ample evidence that various instruments were played, violins, +flutes, tambourines, citterns, hautboys, and, in Scotland, +the pipes. Those of the witches who had any skill were the +performers, and very often they obliged the company awhile +with favourite airs of a vulgar kind, but the concert ended +in the most hideous discords and bestial clamour; the laws +of harmony and of decency were alike rudely violated. In +August, 1590, a certain Nicolas Laghernhard, on his way to +Assencauria, was passing through the outskirts of a wood +when he saw through the trees a number of men and women +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span>dancing with filthy and fantastic movements. In amaze he +signed himself and uttered the Holy Name, whereupon the +company perceiving him took to flight, but not before he +had recognized many of these wretches. He was prompt +to inform the ecclesiastical tribunals, and several persons +being forthwith questioned freely acknowledged their infamies. +Amongst these a shepherd named Michael, who +enjoyed a considerable reputation for his musical talents and +strangely fascinating voice, confessed that he was the piper +at the local Sabbat and that his services were in constant +requisition. At the lesser Sabbats (<i>aquelarre</i>) of Zugarramurdi, +a hamlet of Navarre, some six hundred souls, in the +Bastan valley, some twelve leagues from Pampluna, one +Juan de Goyburu was wont to play upon the flute, and +Juan de Sansin the tambourine. These two unhappy +wretches, having shown every sign of sincerest contrition, +were reconciled to the Church.</p> + +<p>Sinclar in his Relation XXXV, “Anent some Prayers, +Charms, and Avies, used in the <i>Highlands</i>,” says: “As the +Devil is originally the Author of <i>Charms</i>, and <i>Spells</i>, so is he +the Author of several baudy Songs, which are sung. A +reverend Minister told me, that one who was the Devils +Piper, a wizzard confest to him, that at a Ball of dancing, +the Foul Spirit taught him a Baudy song to sing and play, +as it were this night, and ere two days past all the Lads and +Lasses of the town were lilting it throw the street. It were +abomination to rehearse it.” Philip Ludwig Elich precisely +sums up the confused scene: “The whole foul mob and +stinkard rabble sing the most obscene priapics and abominable +songs in honour of the Devil. One witch yells, <i>Harr, +harr</i>; a second hag, Devil, Devil; jump hither, jump thither; +a third, Gambol hither, gambol thither; another, <i>Sabaoth, +Sabaoth</i>, &c.; and so the wild orgy waxes frantic what time +the bedlam rout are screeching, hissing, howling, caterwauling, +and whooping lewd wassail.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_356" href="#Footnote_356" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> Of all the horrors +of the Sabbat the climax was that appalling blasphemy and +abominable impiety by which the most Holy Sacrifice of +the Altar was mocked and burlesqued in hideous fashion. +And since no Christian will receive the Blessed Sacrament +save he be duly fasting as the Church so strictly enjoins, the +witches in derision of Christ’s ordinance satiate their appetites +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span>with a wolfish feast and cram themselves to excess with +food of all kinds, both meat and drink, before they proceed +to the ritual of hell. These orgies were often prolonged amid +circumstances of the most beastly gluttony and drunkenness.</p> + +<p>Guazzo writes: “Tables are laid and duly furnished, +whereupon they set themselves to the board & begin to +gobbet piecemeal the meats which the Devil provides, or +which each member of the party severally brings with him.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_357" href="#Footnote_357" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> +De Lancre also says: “Many authors say that sorcerers at +the Sabbat eat the food which the Devil lays before them: +but very often the table is only dressed with the viands they +themselves bring along. Sometimes there are certain tables +served with rare dainties, at others with orts and offal.” +“Their banquets are of various kinds of food according to +the district & the quality of those who are to partake.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_358" href="#Footnote_358" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> +It seems plain that when the local head of the witches, who +often presided at these gatherings <i>absente diabolo</i>, was a +person of wealth or standing, delicacies and choice wines +would make their appearance at the feast, but when it was +the case of the officer of a coven in some poor and small +district, possibly a meeting of peasants, the homeliest fare +only might be served. The Lancashire witches of 1613, +when they met at Malking Tower, sat down to a goodly +spread of “Beefe, Bacon, and roasted Mutton,” the sheep +having been killed twenty-four hours earlier by James Device; +in 1633 Edmund Robinson stated that the Pendle witches +offered him “flesh and bread upon a trencher, and drink in +a glass,” they also had “flesh smoaking, butter in lumps, and +milk,” truly rustic dainties. Alice Duke, a Somerset witch, +tried in 1664, confessed that the Devil “bids them <i>Welcome</i> +at their <i>Coming</i>, and brings them <i>Wine</i>, <i>Beer</i>, <i>Cakes</i>, and +<i>Meal</i>, or the like.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_359" href="#Footnote_359" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> At the trial of Louis Gaufridi at Aix +in 1610 the following description of a Sabbat banquet was +given: “Then they feasted, three tables being set out +according to the three aforesaid degrees. Those who were +employed in serving bread had loaves made from wheat +privily stolen in various places. They drank malmsey in +order to excite them to venery. Those who acted as cup-bearers +had filched the wine from cellars where it was stored. +Sometimes they ate the tender flesh of little children, who +had been slain and roasted at some Synagogue, and sometimes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span>babes were brought there, yet alive, whom the witches +had kidnapped from their homes if opportunity offered.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_360" href="#Footnote_360" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> +In many places the witches were not lucky enough to get +bumpers of malmsey, for Boguet notes that at some Sabbats +“They not unseldom drink wine but more often water.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_361" href="#Footnote_361" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp95" id="plate5" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/plate5.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE V</p> + <p>THE SABBAT.<br>Ziarnko</p> + <p class="caption-r">[<i>face p. 144</i></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>There are occasional records of unsavoury and tasteless +viands, and there is even mention of putrefying garbage and +carrion being placed before his evil worshippers by their +Master. Such would appear to have been the case at those +darker orgies when there was a manifestation of supernatural +intelligences from the pit.</p> + +<p>The Salamanca doctors say: “They make a meal from +food either furnished by themselves or by the Devil. It is +sometimes most delicious and delicate, and sometimes a pie +baked from babies they have slain or disinterred corpses. +A suitable grace is said before such a table.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_362" href="#Footnote_362" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Guazzo thus +describes their wine: “Moreover the wine which is usually +poured out for the revellers is like black and clotted blood +served in some foul and filthy vessel. Yet there seems to +be no lack of cheer at these banquets, save that they furnish +neither bread nor salt. Isabella further added that human +flesh was served.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_363" href="#Footnote_363" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> + +<p>Salt never appeared at the witches’ table. Bodin gives us +the reason that it is an emblem of eternity,⁠<a id="FNanchor_364" href="#Footnote_364" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> and Philip +Ludwig Elich emphatically draws attention to the absence +of salt at these infernal banquets.⁠<a id="FNanchor_365" href="#Footnote_365" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> “At these meals,” +remarks Boguet, “salt never appears.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_366" href="#Footnote_366" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> Gentien le Clerc, +who was tried in Orleans in 1615, confessed: “They sit +down to table, but no salt is ever seen.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_367" href="#Footnote_367" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> Madeleine de la +Palud declared that she had never seen salt, olives, or oil +at the Devil’s feasts.⁠<a id="FNanchor_368" href="#Footnote_368" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> + +<p>When all these wretches are replete they proceed to a +solemn parody of Holy Mass.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the eighteenth century Marcelline +Pauper of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of +Nevers was divinely called to offer herself up as a victim +of reparation for the outrages done to the Blessed Sacrament, +especially by sorcerers in their black masses at the Sabbat. +In March, 1702, a frightful sacrilege was committed in the +convent chapel. The tabernacle was forced open, the +ciborium stolen, and those of the Hosts which had not been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>carried away by the Satanists were thrown to the pavement +and trampled under foot. Marcelline made ceaseless reparation, +and at nine o’clock of the evening of 26 April, she +received the stigmata in hands, feet, and side, and also the +Crown of Thorns. After a few years of expiation she died +at Tulle, 25 June, 1708.</p> + +<p>The erudite Paul Grilland tells us that the liturgy is +burlesqued in every detail: “Those witches who have +solemnly devoted themselves to the Devil’s service, worship +him in a particular manner with ceremonial sacrifices, which +they offer to the Devil, imitating in all respects the worship +of Almighty God, with vestments, lights, and every other +ritual observance, and with a set liturgy in which they are +instructed, so that they worship and praise him eternally, +just as we worship the true God.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_369" href="#Footnote_369" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> This abomination of +blasphemy is met with again and again in the confessions +of witches, and although particulars may differ here and +there, the same quintessence of sacrilege persisted throughout +the centuries, even as alas! in hidden corners and secret +lairs of infamy it skulks and lurks this very day.</p> + +<p>What appears extremely surprising in this connexion is +the statement of Cotton Mather that the New England +witches “met in Hellish <i>Randezvous</i>, wherein the Confessors +(i.e. the accused who confessed) do say, they have had their +Diabolical Sacraments, imitating the <i>Baptism</i> and the <i>Supper</i> +of our Lord.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_370" href="#Footnote_370" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> At the trial of Bridget Bishop, <i>alias</i> Oliver, +at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, held at Salem, 2 June, +1692, Deliverance Hobbs, a converted witch, affirmed “that +this <i>Bishop</i> was at a General Meeting of the Witches, in a Field +at <i>Salem</i>-Village, and there partook of a Diabolical Sacrament +in Bread and Wine then administered.” In the case of +Martha Carrier, tried 2 August, 1692, before the same court, +two witnesses swore they had seen her “at a Diabolical +Sacrament ... when they had Bread and Wine Administered +unto them.” Abigail Williams confessed that on +31 March, 1692, when there was a Public Fast observed in +Salem on account of the scourge of sorcery “the Witches had +a <i>Sacrament</i> that day at an house in the Village, and that +they had <i>Red Bread</i> and <i>Red Drink</i>.” This “Red Bread” +is certainly puzzling. But the whole thing, sufficiently profane +no doubt, necessarily lacks the hideous impiety of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>black mass. A minister, the Rev. George Burroughs, is +pointed to by accumulated evidence as being the Chief of +the Salem witches; “he was Accused by Eight of the +Confessing Witches as being an Head Actor at some of their +Hellish Randezvouses, and one who had the promise of being +a King in Satan’s kingdom”; it was certainly he who +officiated at their ceremonies, for amongst others Richard +Carrier “affirmed to the jury that he saw Mr. George +Burroughs at the witch meeting at the village and saw him +administer the sacrament,” whilst Mary Lacy, senr., and her +daughter Mary “affirmed that Mr. George Burroughs was +at the witch meetings with witch sacraments.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_371" href="#Footnote_371" class="fnanchor">[112]</a></p> + +<p>The abomination of the black mass is performed by some +apostate or renegade priest who has delivered himself over +to the service of evil and is shamefully prominent amongst +the congregation of witches. It should be remarked from +this fact that it is plain the witches are as profoundly convinced +of the doctrines of Transubstantiation, the Totality, +Permanence, and Adorableness of the Eucharistic Christ, and +of the power also of the sacrificing priesthood, as is the most +orthodox Catholic. Indeed, unless such were the case, their +revolt would be empty, void at any rate of its material +malice.</p> + +<p>One of the gravest charges brought against the Templars +and in the trials (1307-1314) established beyond any question +or doubt was that of celebrating a blasphemous mass in +which the words of consecration were omitted. It has, +indeed, been suggested that the liturgy used by the Templars +was not the ordinary Western Rite, but that it was an +Eastern Eucharist. According to Catholic teaching the +Consecration takes place when the words of institution are +recited with intention and appropriate gesture, the actual +change of the entire substances of bread and wine into the +Body and Blood of Christ being effected in virtue of the +words <i>Hoc est enim Corpus meum; Hic est enim Calix +sanguinis mei</i>.... This has been defined by a decree of the +Council of Florence (1439): “Quod ilia uerba diuina Saluatoris +omnem uirtutem transsubstantiationis habent.” (These +divine words of Our Saviour have full power to effect transubstantiation.) +But the Orthodox Church holds that an +Epiklesis is necessary to valid consecration, the actual +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>words of Our Lord being repeated “as a narrative” +[διηγηματικῶς],⁠<a id="FNanchor_372" href="#Footnote_372" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> which would seem logically to imply that +Christ’s words have no part in the form of the Sacrament. +In all Orthodox liturgies the words of Consecration are found +together with the Epiklesis, and there are in existence some few +liturgies, plainly invalid, which omit the words of Consecration +altogether. These are all of them forms which have been +employed by heretical sects; and it may be that the Templars +used one of these. But it is far more probable that the words +were purposely omitted; the Templars were corroded with +Gnostic doctrines, they held the heresies of the Mandæans +or Johannites who were filled with an insane hatred of Christ +in much the same way as witches and demonolaters, they +followed the tenets of the Ophites who venerated the Serpent +and prayed to him for protection against the Creator, they +adored and offered sacrifice before an idol, a Head, which, as +Professor Prutz holds, represented the lower god whom +Gnostic bodies worshipped, that is Satan. At his trial in +Tuscany the knight Bernard of Parma confessed that the +Order firmly believed this idol had the power to save and to +enrich, in fine, flat diabolism. The secret mass of the Templars +may have burlesqued an Eastern liturgy rather than the +Western rite, but none the less it was the essential cult of the +evil principle.</p> + +<p>In 1336 a priest who had been imprisoned by the Comte de +Foix, Gaston III Phébus, on a charge of celebrating a Satanic +mass, was sent to Avignon and examined by Benedict XII +in person. The next year the same pontiff appointed his +trusty Guillaume Lombard to preside at the trial of Pierre +du Chesne, a priest from the diocese of Tarbes, accused of +defiling the Host.</p> + +<p>Gilles de Sillé, a priest of the diocese of S. Malo, and the +Florentine Antonio Francesco Prelati, formerly of the diocese +of Arezzo, were wont to officiate at the black masses of +Tiffauges and Machecoul, the castles of Gilles de Rais, who +was executed in 1440.</p> + +<p>A priest named Benedictus in the sixteenth century caused +great scandal by the discovery of his assistance at secret and +unhallowed rites. Charles IX employed an apostate monk +to celebrate the eucharist of hell before himself and his +intimates, and during the reign of his brother the Bishop of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span>Paris burned in the Place de Grève a friar named Séchelle +who had been found guilty of participating in similar profane +mysteries. In 1597 the Parliament of Paris sentenced Jean +Belon, curé of S. Pierre-des-Lampes in the Bourges diocese, +to be hanged and his body burned for desecration of the +Sacrament and the repeated celebration of abominable ceremonies.⁠<a id="FNanchor_373" href="#Footnote_373" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> +The Parliament of Bordeaux in 1598 condemned +to the stake Pierre Aupetit, curé of Pageas, near Chalus +Limousin. He confessed that for more than twenty years +he had frequented Sabbats, especially those held at Mathe-goutte +and Puy-de-Dôme, where he worshipped the Devil +and performed impious masses in his honour.⁠<a id="FNanchor_374" href="#Footnote_374" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> August 14, +1606, a friar named Denobilibus was put to death at Grenoble +upon a similar conviction. In 1609 the Parliament of +Bordeaux sent Pierre De Lancre and d’Espagnet to Labourd +in the Bayonne district to stamp out the sorcerers who +infested that region. No less than seven priests were arrested +on charges of celebrating Satan’s mass at the Sabbat. Two, +Migalena, an old man of seventy, and Pierre Bocal, aged +twenty-seven, were executed, but the Bishop of Bayonne +interfered, claimed the five for his own tribunal and contrived +that they should escape from prison. Three other priests +who were under restraint were immediately set free, and +wisely quitted the country. A twelvemonth later Aix and +the whole countryside rang with the confessions of Madeleine +de la Palud who “Dit aussi que ce malheureux Loys +magicien ... a controuvé le premier de dire la messe au +sabatt et consacrer Véritablement et présenter le sacrifice à +Lucifer.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_375" href="#Footnote_375" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> It was, of course, mere ignorance on her part to +suppose that “that accursed Magician Lewes did first inuent +the saying of Masse at the Sabbaths,” although Gaufridi may +have told her this to impress her with a sense of his importance +and power among the hierarchies of evil. Certainly in her +evidence the details of the Sabbat worship are exceptionally +detailed and complete.</p> + +<p>They are, however, amply paralleled, if not exceeded, by +the narrative of Madeleine Bavent, a Franciscan sister of the +Third Order, attached to the convent of SS. Louis and +Elizabeth at Louviers. Her confessions, which she wrote at +length by the direction of her confessor, des Marets, an +Oratorian, meticulously describe scenes of the most hideous +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span>blasphemy in which were involved three chaplains, David, +Maturin Picard, the curé of Mesnil-Jourdain, and Thomas +Boullé, sometime his assistant. Amongst other enormities +they had revived the heresy of the Adamites, an early Gnostic +sect, and celebrated the Mass in a state of stark nudity amid +circumstances of the grossest indecency. Upon one Good +Friday Picard and Boullé had compelled her to defile the +crucifix and to break a consecrated Host, throwing the +fragments upon the ground and trampling them. David +and Picard were dead, but Boullé was burned at Rouen, +21 August, 1647.⁠<a id="FNanchor_376" href="#Footnote_376" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p> + +<p>During the reign of Louis XIV a veritable epidemic of +sacrilege seemed to rage throughout Paris.⁠<a id="FNanchor_377" href="#Footnote_377" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> The horrors of +the black mass were said in many houses, especially in that +of La Voisin (Catherine Deshayes) who lived in the rue Beauregard. +The leading spirit of this crew was the infamous +abbé Guibourg, a bastard son—so gossip said—of Henri +de Montmorency. With him were joined Brigallier, almoner +of the Grande Mademoiselle; Bouchot, director of the +convent of La Saussaye; Dulong, a canon of Notre-Dame; +Dulausens, vicar of Saint-Leu; Dubousquet; Seysson; +Dussis; Lempérier; Lépreux; Davot, vicar of Notre-Dame +de Bonne-Nouvelle; Mariette, vicar of Saint-Séverin, +skilled in maledictions; Lemeignan, vicar of Saint-Eustache, +who was convicted of having sacrificed numberless children +to Satan; Toumet; Le Franc; Cotton, vicar of St. Paul, +who had baptized a baby with the chrism of Extreme Unction +and then throttled him upon the altar; Guignard and +Sébault of the diocese of Bourges, who officiated at the black +mass in the cellars of a house at Paris, and confected filthy +charms under conditions of the most fearful impiety.</p> + +<p>In the eighteenth century the black mass persisted. In +1723 the police arrested the abbé Lecollet and the abbé +Bournement for this profanity; and in 1745 the abbé de +Rocheblanche fell under the same suspicion. At the hotel +of Madame de Charolais the vilest scenes of the Sabbat were +continued. A gang of Satanists celebrated their monstrous +orgies at Paris on 22 January, 1793, the night after the murder +of Louis XVI. The abbé Fiard in two of his works, <i>Lettres +sur le diable</i>, 1791, and <i>La France Trompée</i> ... Paris, 8vo, +1803, conclusively shows that eucharistic blasphemies were +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span>yet being perpetrated but in circumstances of almost +impenetrable secrecy. In 1865 a scandal connected with +these abominations came to light, and the Bishop of Sens, in +whose diocese it occurred, was so horrified that he resigned +his office and retired to Fontainebleau, where he died some +eighteen months later, practically of shock. Similar practices +were unmasked at Paris in 1874 and again in 1878, whilst it +is common knowledge that the characters of Joris Karl +Huysmans’ <i>Là-Bas</i> were all persons easy of identification, +and the details are scenes exactly reproduced from contemporary +life.⁠<a id="FNanchor_378" href="#Footnote_378" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> The hideous cult of evil yet endures. +Satanists yet celebrate the black mass in London, Brighton, +Paris, Lyons, Bruges, Berlin, Milan, and alas! in Rome +itself. Both South America and Canada are thus polluted. +In many a town, both great and small, they have their dens +of blasphemy and evil where they congregate unsuspected +to perform these execrable rites. Often they seem to concentrate +their vile energies in the quiet cathedral cities of +England, France, Italy, in vain endeavour to disturb the +ancient homes of peace with the foul brabble of devil-worship +and all ill.</p> + +<p>They have even been brought upon the public stage. One +episode of <i>Un Soir de Folie</i>, the revue (1925-6) at the Folies +Bergère, Paris, was “Le Sabbat et la Herse Infernale,” +where in a Gothic cathedral an actor (Mons. Benglia) +appeared as Satan receiving the adoration of his devotees.</p> + +<p>At the more frequented Sabbats the ritual of Holy Mass +was elaborately burlesqued in almost every detail. An altar +was erected with four supports, sometimes under a sheltering +tree, at others upon a flat rock, or some naturally convenient +place, “auprès d’vn arbre, ou parfois auprès d’vn rocher, +dressant quelque forme d’autel sur des colonés infernales,” +says De Lancre.⁠<a id="FNanchor_379" href="#Footnote_379" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> In more recent times and to-day when +the black mass is celebrated in houses such an altar is often +permanent and therefore the infernal sanctuary can be +builded with a display of the full symbolism of the hideous +cult of evil. The altar was covered with the three linen +cloths the ritual enjoins, and upon it were six black candles +in the midst of which they placed a crucifix inverted, or an +image of the Devil. Sometimes the Devil himself occupied +this central position, standing erect, or seated on some kind +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span>of monstrous throne. In 1598, at a celebrated witch-trial +before the Parliament of Bordeaux with the Vicar-general +of the Bishop of Limoges and a learned councillor Peyrat as +assessors, Antoine Dumons of Saint-Laurent confessed that +he had frequently provided a large number of candles for +the Sabbat, both wax lights to be distributed among those +present and the large black tapers for the altar. These were +lit by Pierre Aupetit, who held a sacristan’s reed, and +apparently officiated as Master of the Ceremonies when he +was not actually himself saying the Mass.⁠<a id="FNanchor_380" href="#Footnote_380" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p> + +<p>In May, 1895, when the legal representatives of the +Borghese family visited the Palazzo Borghese, which had +been rented for some time in separate floors or suites, they +found some difficulty in obtaining admission to certain +apartments on the first floor, the occupant of which seemed +unaware that the lease was about to expire. By virtue of +the terms of the agreement, however, he was obliged to allow +them to inspect the premises to see if any structural repairs +or alterations were necessary, as Prince Scipione Borghese, +who was about to be married, intended immediately to take +up his residence in the ancestral home with his bride. One +door the tenant obstinately refused to unlock, and when +pressed he betrayed the greatest confusion. The agents +finally pointed out that they were within their rights to +employ actual force, and that if access was longer denied they +would not hesitate to do so forthwith. When the keys had +been produced, the cause of the reluctance was soon plain. +The room within was inscribed with the words <i>Templum +Palladicum</i>. The walls were hung all round from ceiling to +floor with heavy curtains of silk damask, scarlet and black, +excluding the light; at the further end there stretched a +large tapestry upon which was woven in more than life-size +a figure of Lucifer, colossal, triumphant, dominating the +whole. Exactly beneath an altar had been built, amply +furnished for the liturgy of hell: candles, vessels, rituals, +missal, nothing was lacking. Cushioned prie-dieus and +luxurious chairs, crimson and gold, were set in order for the +assistants; the chamber being lit by electricity, fantastically +arrayed so as to glare from an enormous human eye. The +visitors soon quitted the accursed spot, the scene of devil-worship +and blasphemy, nor had they any desire more +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span>nearly to examine the appointments of this infernal +chapel.⁠<a id="FNanchor_381" href="#Footnote_381" class="fnanchor">[122]</a></p> + +<p>The missal used at the black mass was obviously a manuscript, +although it is said that in later times these grimoires +of hideous profanity have actually been printed. It is not +infrequently mentioned. Thus De Lancre notes that the +sorcerers of the Basses-Pyrénées (1609) at their worship saw +the officiant “tournant les feuillets d’vn certain liure qu’il +a en main.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_382" href="#Footnote_382" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> Madeleine Bavent in her confession said: +“On lisait la messe dans le livre des blasphèmes, qui servait +de canon et qu’on employait aussi dans les processions.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_383" href="#Footnote_383" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> +The witches’ missal was often bound in human skin, generally +that of an unbaptized babe.⁠<a id="FNanchor_384" href="#Footnote_384" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> Gentien le Clerc, tried at +Orleans, 1614-1615, confessed that “le Diable ... marmote +dans un liure duquel la couuerture est toute veluë comme +d’vne peau de loup, auec des feuillets blancs & rouges, +d’autres noires.”</p> + +<p>The vestments worn by the celebrant are variously +described. On rare occasions he is described as being arrayed +in a bishop’s pontificalia, black in hue, torn, squalid, and fusty. +Boguet reports that a witch stated: “Celuy, qui est commis +à faire l’office, est reuestu d’vne chappe noire sans croix,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_385" href="#Footnote_385" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> +but it seems somewhat strange that merely a plain black +cope should be used, unless the explanation is to be found +in the fact that such a vestment was most easily procurable +and no suspicion of its ultimate employment would be +excited. The abbé Guibourg sometimes wore a cope of white +silk embroidered with fir-cones, which again seems remarkable, +as the symbolism is in no way connected with the +Satanic rites he performed. But this is the evidence of +Marguerite, La Voisin’s daughter, who was not likely to be +mistaken.⁠<a id="FNanchor_386" href="#Footnote_386" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> It is true that the mass was often, perhaps, +partially erotic and not wholly diabolic in the same sense as +the Sabbat masses were, but yet Astaroth, Asmodeus, and +Lucifer were invoked, and it was a liturgy of evil. On other +occasions Guibourg seems to have donned the orthodox +eucharistic chasuble, stole, maniple, girdle, alb, and amice. +In the thirty-seventh article of his confession Gaufridi +acknowledged that the priest who said the Devil’s mass at +the Sabbat wore a violet chasuble.⁠<a id="FNanchor_387" href="#Footnote_387" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> Gentien le Clerc, tried +at Orleans in 1614-1615, was present at a Sabbat mass when +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span>the celebrant “wore a chasuble which was embroidered with +a Cross; but there were only three bars.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_388" href="#Footnote_388" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> Later a +contemporary witness points to the use of vestments embroidered +with infernal insignia, such as a dark red chasuble, +the colour of dried blood, upon which was figured a black +buck goat rampant; a chasuble that bore the inverse Cross, +and similar robes adorned by some needle with the heraldry +of hell.</p> + +<p>In bitter mockery of the <i>Asperges</i> the celebrant sprinkled +the witches with filthy and brackish water, or even with +stale. “The Devil at the same time made water into a hole +dug in the earth, & used it as holy water, wherewith the +celebrant of the mass sprinkled all present, using a black +aspergillum.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_389" href="#Footnote_389" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> Silvain Nevillon, a sorcerer who was tried at +Orleans in 1614-1615, said: “When Tramesabot said Mass, +before he commenced he used to sprinkle all present with +holy water which was nothing else than urine, saying meanwhile +<i>Asperges Diaboli</i>.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_390" href="#Footnote_390" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> According to Gentien le Clerc: +“The holy water is yellow ... & after it has been duly +sprinkled Mass is said.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_391" href="#Footnote_391" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> Madeleine de la Palud declared +that the sorcerers were sprinkled with water, and also with +consecrated wine from the chalice upon which all present cried +aloud: <i>Sanguis eius super nos et super filios nostros.</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_392" href="#Footnote_392" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> (His +blood be upon us and upon our children.)</p> + +<p>This foul travesty of the holiest mysteries began with an +invocation of the Devil, which was followed by a kind of +general confession, only each one made mock acknowledgement +of any good he might have done, and as a penance he +was enjoined to utter some foul blasphemy or to break some +precept of the Church. The president absolved the congregation +by an inverse sign of the Cross made with the left +hand. The rite then proceeded with shameless profanity, +but De Lancre remarks that the <i>Confiteor</i> was never said, +not even in a burlesque form, and <i>Alleluia</i> never pronounced. +After reciting the Offertory the celebrant drew back a little +from the altar and the assembly advancing in file kissed his +left hand. When the Queen of the Sabbat—the witch who +ranked first after the Grand Master, the oldest and most evil +of the witches (“en chasque village,” says De Lancre, +“trouuer vne Royne du Sabbat”)—was present she sat on +the left of the altar and received the offerings, loaves, eggs, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>any meat or country produce, and money, so long as the +coins were not stamped with a cross. In her hand she held +a disc or plate “vne paix ou platine,” engraved with a figure +of the Devil, and this his followers devoutly kissed. In many +places to-day, especially Belgium, during Holy Mass the +pax-brede (<i>instrumentum pacis</i>) is kissed by the congregation +at the Offertory, and universally when Mass is said by a +priest in the presence of a Prelate the pax-brede is kissed +by the officiant and the Prelate after the <i>Agnus Dei</i> and the +first appropriate ante-communion prayer.</p> + +<p>Silvain Nevillon, who was tried at Orleans in 1614-15, +avowed: “The Devil preached a sermon at the Sabbat, but +nobody could hear what he said, for he spoke in a growl.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_393" href="#Footnote_393" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> + +<p>At the Sabbat a sermon is not infrequently delivered, a +farrago of impiety and evil counsel.</p> + +<p>The hosts are then brought to the altar. Boguet describes +them as dark and round, stamped with a hideous design; +Madeleine Bavent saw them as ordinary wafers only coloured +red; in other cases they were black and triangular in shape. +Often they blasphemed the Host, calling it “Iean le blanc,” +just as Protestants called it “Jack-in-the-box.” The chalice +is filled, sometimes with wine, sometimes with a bitter +beverage that burned the tongue like fire. At the <i>Sanctus</i> +a horn sounded harshly thrice, and torches burning with a +sulphurous blue flare “qui est fort puante” were kindled. +There was an elevation, at which the whole gang, now in a +state of hysterical excitement and unnatural exaltation, +burst forth with the most appalling screams and maniac +blasphemies, rivalling each other in filthy adjurations and +crapulous obscenities. The protagonist poured out all the +unbridled venom that diabolic foulness could express, a +stream of scurrility and pollution; hell seemed to have +vomited its reeking gorge on earth. <i>Domine adiuua nos, +domine adiuua nos</i>, they cried to the Demon, and again +<i>Domine adiuua nos semper</i>. Generally all present were compelled +to communicate with the sacrament of the pit, to +swallow morsels soiled with mud and ordures, to drink the +dark brew of damnation. Gaufridi confessed that for <i>Ite +missa est</i> these infernal orgies concluded with the curse: +“Allez-vous-en tous au nom du diable!” Whilst the abbé +Guibourg cried: “<i>Gloria tibi, Lucifero!</i>”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span></p> + +<p>The black mass of the Sabbat varied slightly in form +according to circumstances, and in the modern liturgy of the +Satanists it would appear that a considerable feature is made +of the burning of certain heavy and noxious weeds, the +Devil’s incense. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries +the use of incense is very rare at the Sabbat, although Silvain +Nevillon stated that he had seen at the Sabbat “both holy +water and incense. This latter smelled foul, not fragrant as +incense burned in church.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_394" href="#Footnote_394" class="fnanchor">[135]</a></p> + +<p>The officiant nowadays consecrates a host and the chalice +with the actual sacred words of Holy Mass, but then instead +of kneeling he turns his back upon the altar,⁠<a id="FNanchor_395" href="#Footnote_395" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> and a few +moments later—<i>sit uenia uerbis!</i>—he cuts and stabs the +Host with a knife, throwing it to the ground, treading upon +it, spurning it. A part, at least, of the contents of the chalice +is also spilled in fearful profanation, and not infrequently there +further has been provided a ciborium of consecrated Hosts, +all stolen from churches⁠<a id="FNanchor_396" href="#Footnote_396" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> or conveyed away at Communion +in their mouths by wretches unafraid to provoke the sudden +judgement of an outraged God. These the black priest, for +so the celebrant is called by the Devil worshippers, scatters +over the pavement to be struggled and fought for by his +congregation in their madness to seize and outrage the +Body of Christ.</p> + +<p>Closely connected with the black mass of the Satanists +and a plain survival from the Middle Ages is that grim +superstition of the Gascon peasant, the Mass of S. Sécaire.⁠<a id="FNanchor_397" href="#Footnote_397" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> +Few priests know the awful ritual, and of those who are +learned in such dark lore fewer yet would dare to perform +the monstrous ceremonies and utter the prayer of blasphemy. +No confessor, no bishop, not even the Archbishop of Auch, +may shrive the celebrant; he can only be absolved at Rome +by the Holy Father himself. The mass is said upon a broken +and desecrated altar in some ruined or deserted church where +owls hoot and mope and bats flit through the crumbling +windows, where toads spit their venom upon the sacred stone. +The priest must make his way thither late attended only by +an acolyte of impure and evil life. At the first stroke of +eleven he begins; the liturgy of hell is mumbled backward, +the canon said with a mow and a sneer; he ends just as +midnight tolls. The host is triangular, with three sharp +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span>points and black. No wine is consecrated but foul brackish +water drawn from a well wherein has been cast the body of +an unbaptized babe. The holy sign of the cross is made +with the left foot upon the ground. And the man for whom +that mass is said will slowly pine away, nor doctor’s skill nor +physic will avail him aught, but he will suffer, and dwindle, +and surely drop into the grave.⁠<a id="FNanchor_398" href="#Footnote_398" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> + +<p>Although there is, no doubt, some picturesque exaggeration +here the main details are correct enough. A black, triangular +wafer is not infrequently mentioned in the witch-trials as +having been the sacramental bread of the Sabbat, whilst +Lord Fountainhall⁠<a id="FNanchor_399" href="#Footnote_399" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> in describing the devilish communion +of the Loudian witches says: “the drink was sometimes +blood, sometimes black moss-water,” and many other details +may be closely paralleled.</p> + +<p>When the blasphemous liturgy of the Sabbat was done all +present gave themselves up to the most promiscuous debauchery, +only interrupting their lasciviousness to dance or +to spur themselves on to new enormities by spiced foods +and copious draughts of wine. “You may well suppose,” +writes Boguet, “that every kind of obscenity is practised +there, yea, even those abominations for which Heaven poured +down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah are quite +common in these assemblies.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_400" href="#Footnote_400" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> The erudite Dominican, +Father Sebastian Michaelis, who on the 19 January, 1611, +examined Madeleine de la Palud concerning her participation +in Sabbats, writes⁠<a id="FNanchor_401" href="#Footnote_401" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> that she narrated the most unhallowed +orgies.⁠<a id="FNanchor_402" href="#Footnote_402" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> The imagination reels before such turpitudes! +But Madeleine Bavent (1643) supplied even more execrable +details.⁠<a id="FNanchor_403" href="#Footnote_403" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> Gentien le Clerc at Orleans (1614-1615) acknowledged +similar debauchery.⁠<a id="FNanchor_404" href="#Footnote_404" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> Bodin relates that a large +number of witches whom he tried avowed their presence at the +Sabbat.⁠<a id="FNanchor_405" href="#Footnote_405" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> In 1459 “large numbers of men & women were +burned at Arras, many of whom had mutually accused one +another, & they confessed that at night they had been +conveyed to these hellish dances.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_406" href="#Footnote_406" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> In 1485 Sprenger +executed a large number of sorcerers in the Constance district, +and “almost all without exception confessed that the +Devil had had connexion with them, after he had made them +renounce God and their holy faith.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_407" href="#Footnote_407" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> Many converted +witches likewise confessed these abominations “and let it be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>known that whilst they were witches demons had swived them +lustily. Henry of Cologne in confirmation of this says that +it is very common in Germany.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_408" href="#Footnote_408" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> Throughout the centuries +all erudite authorities have the same monstrous tale +to tell, and it would serve no purpose merely to accumulate +evidence from the demonologists. To-day the meetings of +Satanists invariably end in unspeakable orgies and hideous +debauchery.</p> + +<p>Occasionally animals were sacrificed at the Sabbat to the +Demon. The second charge against Dame Alice Kyteler, +prosecuted in 1324 for sorcery by Richard de Ledrede, Bishop +of Ossory, was “that she was wont to offer sacrifices to +devils of live animals, which she and her company tore limb +from limb and made oblation by scattering them at the +cross-ways to a certain demon who was called Robin, son +of Artes (Robin Artisson), one of hell’s lesser princes.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_409" href="#Footnote_409" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<p>In 1622 Margaret McWilliam “renounced her baptisme, +and he baptised her and she gave him as a gift a hen or +cock.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_410" href="#Footnote_410" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> In the Voodoo rites of to-day a cock is often the +animal which is hacked to pieces before the fetish. Black +puppies were sacrificed to Hecate; Æneas offers four jetty +bullocks to the infernal powers, a coal-black lamb to Night;⁠<a id="FNanchor_411" href="#Footnote_411" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> +at their Sabbat on the Esquiline Canidia and Sagana tear +limb from limb a black sheep, the blood streams into a +trench.⁠<a id="FNanchor_412" href="#Footnote_412" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> Collin de Plancy states that witches sacrifice +black fowls and toads to the Devil.⁠<a id="FNanchor_413" href="#Footnote_413" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> The animal victim +to a power worshipped as divine is a relic of remotest +antiquity.</p> + +<p>The presence of toads at the Sabbat is mentioned in many +witch-trials. They seem to have been associated with +sorcerers owing to the repugnance they generally excite, and +in some districts it is a common superstition that those whom +they regard fixedly will be seized with palpitations, spasms, +convulsions, and swoons: nay, a certain abbé Rousseau +of the eighteenth century, who experimented with toads, +avowed that when one of these animals looked upon him +for some time he fell in a fainting fit whence, if help had not +arrived, he would never have recovered.⁠<a id="FNanchor_414" href="#Footnote_414" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> A number of +writers—Ælian, Dioscorides, Nicander, Ætius, Gesner—believe +that the breath of the toad is poisonous, infecting +the places it may touch. Since such idle stories were credited +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>it is hardly to be surprised at that we find the toad a close +companion of the witch. De Lancre says that demons often +appeared in that shape. Jeannette d’Abadie, a witch of the +Basses-Pyrénées, whom he tried and who confessed at length, +declared that she saw brought to the Sabbat a number of +toads dressed some in black, some in scarlet velvet, with little +bells attached to their coats. In November, 1610, a man +walking through the fields near Bazas, noticed that his dog +had scratched a large hole in a bank and unearthed two pots, +covered with cloth, and closely tied. When opened they were +found to be packed with bran, and in the midst of each was +a large toad wrapped in green tiffany. These doubtless had +been set there by a person who had faith in sympathetic +magic, and was essaying a malefic spell. No doubt toads +were caught and taken to the Sabbat, nor is the reason far +to seek. Owing to their legendary venom they served as a +prime ingredient in poisons and potions, and were also used +for telling fortunes, since witches often divined by their toad +familiars. Juvenal alludes to this when he writes:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“I neither will, nor can Prognosticate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the young gaping Heir, his Father’s Fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor in the Entrails of a Toad have pry’d.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_415" href="#Footnote_415" class="fnanchor">[156]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Upon which passage Thomas Farnabie, the celebrated English +scholar (1575-1647) glosses thus: “He alludes to the office of +the Haruspex who used to inspect entrails & intestines. Pliny +says: The entrails of the toad (<i>Rana rubeta</i>), that is to say the +tongue, tiny bones, gall, heart, have rare virtue for they are +used in many medicines and salves. Haply he means the puddock +or hop-toad, thus demonstrating that these animals are +not poisonous, their entrails being completely inefficacious in +confecting poisons.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_416" href="#Footnote_416" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> In 1610 Juan de Echalar, a sorcerer +of Navarre, confessed at his trial before the Alcantarine +inquisitor Don Alonso Becerra Holguin that he and his coven +collected toads for the Sabbat, and when they presented these +animals to the Devil he blessed them with his left hand, after +which they were killed and cooked in a stewpot with human +bones and pieces of corpses rifled from new-made graves. +From this filthy hotch-potch were brewed poisons and +unguents that the Devil distributed to all present with +directions how to use them. By sprinkling corn with the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span>liquid it was supposed they could blight a standing field, +and also destroy flowers and fruit. A few drops let fall upon +a person’s garments was believed to insure death, and a +smear upon the shed or sty effectually diseased cattle. From +these crude superstitions the fantastic stories of dancing +toads, toads dressed <i>en cavalier</i>, and demon toads at the +Sabbat were easily evolved.</p> + +<p>There is ample and continuous evidence that children, usually +tender babes who were as yet unbaptized, were sacrificed at +the Sabbat. These were often the witches’ own offspring, +and since a witch not unseldom was the midwife or wise-woman +of a village she had exceptional opportunities of +stifling a child at birth as a non-Sabbatial victim to Satan. +“There are no persons who can do more cunning harm to the +Catholic faith than midwives,” says the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i>, +Pars I, q. xi: “<i>Nemo fidei catholicæ amplius nocet quam +obstetrices.</i>” The classic examples of child-sacrifice are those +of Gilles de Rais (1440) and the abbé Guibourg (1680). In +the process against the former one hundred and forty children +are explicitly named: some authorities accept as many as +eight hundred victims. Their blood, brains, and bones were +used to decoct magic philtres. In the days of Guibourg the +sacrifice of a babe at the impious mass was so common that +he generally paid not more than a crown-piece for his victim. +“Il avait acheté un écu l’enfant qui fut sacrifié à cette messe.” +(“The child sacrificed at this mass he had bought for a +crown.”) These abominable ceremonies were frequently performed +at the instance of Madame de Montespan in order +that Louis XIV should always remain faithful to her, should +reject all other mistresses, repudiate his queen, and in fine +raise her to the throne.⁠<a id="FNanchor_417" href="#Footnote_417" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> The most general use was to cut +the throat of the child, whose blood was drained into the +chalice and allowed to fall upon the naked flesh of the +inquirer, who lay stretched along the altar. La Voisin +asserted that a toll of fifteen hundred infants had been thus +murdered. This is not impossible, as a vast number of +persons, including a crowd of ecclesiastics, were implicated. +Many of the greatest names in France had assisted at these +orgies of blasphemy. From first to last no less than two +hundred and forty-six men and women of all ranks and +grades of society were brought to trial, and whilst thirty-six +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span>of humbler station went to the scaffold, one hundred and +forty-seven were imprisoned for longer or shorter terms, not +a few finding it convenient to leave the country, or, at any +rate, to obscure themselves in distant châteaux. But many +of the leaves had been torn out of the archives, and Louis +himself forbade any mention of his favourite’s name in +connexion with these prosecutions. However, she was +disgraced, and it is not surprising that after the death of +Maria Teresa, 31 July, 1683, the king early in the following +year married the pious and conventual Madame de Maintenon.</p> + +<p>Ludovico Maria Sinistrari writes that witches “promise +the Devil sacrifices and offerings at stated times: once a +fortnight, or at least each month, the murder of some child, +or an homicidal act of sorcery,” and again and again in the +trials detailed accusation of the kidnapping and murder of +children are brought against the prisoners. In the same way +as the toad was used for magical drugs so was the fat of the +child. The belief that corpses and parts of corpses constitute +a most powerful cure and a supreme ingredient in elixirs is +universal and of the highest antiquity. The quality of +directly curing diseases and of protection has long been +attributed to a cadaver. Tumours, eruptions, gout, are +dispelled if the afflicted member be stroked with a dead +hand.⁠<a id="FNanchor_418" href="#Footnote_418" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> Toothache is charmed away if the face be touched +with the finger of a dead child.⁠<a id="FNanchor_419" href="#Footnote_419" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> Birthmarks vanish under +the same treatment.⁠<a id="FNanchor_420" href="#Footnote_420" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> Burns, carbuncles, the herpes, and +other skin complaints, fearfully prevalent in the Middle Ages, +could be cured by contact with some part of a corpse. In +Pomerania the “cold corpse hand” is a protection against +fire,⁠<a id="FNanchor_421" href="#Footnote_421" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> and Russian peasants believe that a dead hand +protects from bullet wounds and steel.⁠<a id="FNanchor_422" href="#Footnote_422" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> It was long thought +by the ignorant country folk that the doctors of the hospital +of Graz enjoyed the privilege of being allowed every year +to exploit one human life for curative purposes. Some young +man who repaired thither for toothache or any such slight +ailment is seized, hung up by the feet, and tickled to death! +Skilled chemists boil the body to a paste and utilize this as +well as the fat and the charred bones in their drug store. +The people are persuaded that about Easter a youth annually +disappears in the hospital for these purposes.⁠<a id="FNanchor_423" href="#Footnote_423" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> This +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span>tradition is, perhaps, not unconnected with the Jewish ritual +sacrifices of S. William of Norwich (1144); Harold of Gloucester +(1168); William of Paris (1177); Robert of Bury +S. Edmunds (1181); S. Werner of Oberwesel (1286); +S. Rudolph of Berne (1294); S. Andreas of Rinn (1462); +S. Simon of Trent, a babe of two and a half years old (1473); +Simon Abeles, whose body lies in the Teyn Kirche at Prague, +murdered for Christ’s sake on 21 February, 1694, by Lazarus +and Levi Kurtzhandel; El santo Niño de la Guardia, near +Toledo (1490), and many more.⁠<a id="FNanchor_424" href="#Footnote_424" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p> + +<p>The riots which have so continually during three centuries +broken out in China against Europeans, and particularly +against Catholic asylums for the sick, foundling hospitals, +schools, are almost always fomented by an intellectual party +who begin by issuing fiery appeals to the populace: “Down +with the missionaries! Kill the foreigners! They steal or +buy our children and slaughter them, in order to prepare +magic remedies and medicines out of their eyes, hearts, and +from other portions of their dead bodies.” Baron Hübner +in his <i>Promenade autour du monde</i>, II (Paris, 1873) tells the +story of the massacre at Tientsin, 21 June, 1870, and relates +that it was engineered on these very lines. In 1891 similar +risings against Europeans resident in China were found to +be due to the same cause. Towards the end of 1891 a +charge was brought in Madagascar against the French +that they devoured human hearts and for this purpose +kidnapped and killed native children. Stern legislation was +actually found necessary to check the spread of these +accusations.⁠<a id="FNanchor_425" href="#Footnote_425" class="fnanchor">[166]</a></p> + +<p>In the Navarrese witch-trials of 1610 Juan de Echelar +confessed that a candle had been used made from the arm +of an infant strangled before baptism. The ends of the +fingers had been lit, and burned with a clear flame, a “Hand +of Glory” in fact. At Forfar, in 1661, Helen Guthrie and +four other witches exhumed the body of an unbaptized babe +and made portions into a pie which they ate. They imagined +that by this means no threat nor torture could bring them +to confession of their sorceries. This, of course, is clearly +sympathetic magic. The tongue of the infant had never +spoken articulate words, and so the tongues of the witches +would be unable to articulate.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span></p> + +<p>It is a fact seldom realized, but none the less of the deepest +significance, that almost every detail of the old witch-trials +can be exactly paralleled in Africa to-day. Thus there exists +in Bantu a society called the “Witchcraft Company,” whose +members hold secret meetings at midnight in the depths of +the forest to plot sickness and death against their enemies +by means of incantations and spells. The owl is their sacred +bird, and their signal call an imitation of its hoot. They +profess to leave their corporeal bodies asleep in their huts, +and it is only their spirit-bodies that attend the magic +rendezvous, passing through walls and over the tree-tops +with instant rapidity. At the meeting they have visible, +audible, and tangible communication with spirits. They hold +feasts, at which is eaten the “heart-life” of some human +being, who through this loss of his heart falls sick and, unless +“the heart” be later restored, eventually dies. Earliest +cock-crow is the warning for them to disperse, since they fear +the advent of the morning-star, as, should the sun rise upon +them before they reach their corporeal bodies, all their plans +would not merely fail, but recoil upon themselves, and they +would pine and languish miserably. This hideous Society +was introduced by black slaves to the West Indies, to Jamaica +and Hayti, and also to the Southern States of America as +Voodoo worship. Authentic records are easily procurable +which witness that midnight meetings were held in Hayti +as late as 1888, when human beings, especially kidnapped +children, were killed and eaten at the mysterious and evil +banquets. European government in Africa has largely +suppressed the practice of the black art, but this foul belief +still secretly prevails, and Dr. Norris⁠<a id="FNanchor_426" href="#Footnote_426" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> is of opinion that +were white influence withdrawn it would soon hold sway as +potently as of old.</p> + +<p>A candid consideration will show that for every detail of +the Sabbat, however fantastically presented and exaggerated +in the witch-trials of so many centuries, there is ample +warrant and unimpeachable evidence. There is some hallucination +no doubt; there is lurid imagination, and vanity +which paints the colours thick; but there is a solid stratum +of fact, and very terrible fact throughout.</p> + +<p>And as the dawn broke the unhallowed crew separated in +haste, and hurried each one on his way homewards, pale, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>weary, and haggard after the night of taut hysteria, frenzied +evil, and vilest excess.</p> + +<p>“Le coq s’oyt par fois és sabbats sonna̅t le retraicte aux +Sorciers.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_427" href="#Footnote_427" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> (The cock crows; the Sabbat ends; the +Sorcerers scatter and flee away.)</p> + +<h3 id="NOTES_TO_CHAPTER_IV">NOTES TO CHAPTER IV</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_260" href="#FNanchor_260">[1]</a> Omnia autem honeste et secundum ordinem fiant. I Cor. xiv. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_261" href="#FNanchor_261">[2]</a> Miss Murray, misled no doubt by the multiplicity of material, postulates +two separate and distinct kinds of assemblies: The Sabbat, the General +Meeting of all members of the religion; the Esbat “only for the special and +limited number who carried out the rites and practices of the cult, and +[which] was not for the general public.” <i>The Witch-Cult in Western Europe</i>, +p. 97. Görres had already pointed out that the smaller meetings were often +known as <i>Esbats</i>. The idea of a “general public” at a witches’ meeting +is singular.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_262" href="#FNanchor_262">[3]</a> On a voulu trouver l’etymologie du sabbat, réunion des sorciers, dans +les <i>sabazies</i>; mais la forme ne le permet pas; d’ailleurs comment, au moyen +âge aurait on connu les sabazies? Saint-Croix, <i>Recherches sur les mystères +du paganisme</i>; Maury, <i>Histoire des religions de la Grèce antique</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_263" href="#FNanchor_263">[4]</a> <i>Metamorphoseon</i>, VIII. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_264" href="#FNanchor_264">[5]</a> Miss Murray thinks that Sabbat “is possibly a derivative of <i>s’esbattre</i>, +‘to frolic,’” and adds “a very suitable description of the joyous gaiety of +the meetings”!!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_265" href="#FNanchor_265">[6]</a> Miss Murray mistakenly says (p. 109) that May Eve (30 April) is called +Roodmas or Rood Day. Roodmas or Rood Day is 3 May, the Feast of the +Invention of Holy Cross. An early English calendar (702-706) even gives +7 May as Roodmas. The Invention of Holy Cross is found in the Lectionary +of Silos and the Bobbio Missal. The date was not slightly altered. The +Invention of Holy Cross is among the very early festivals.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_266" href="#FNanchor_266">[7]</a> Especially in the North and North-East. Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and +Baden, knew little of this particular date.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_267" href="#FNanchor_267">[8]</a> In the <i>Rituale</i> we have “Benedictio Rogi, quæ fit a Clero extra Ecclesiam +in Uigilia Natiuitatis S. Joannis Baptistæ.” (Blessing of a pyre, which the +Clergy may give on the Vigil of the Nativity of S. John Baptist, but outside +the Church.) This form is especially approved for the Diocese of Tarbes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_268" href="#FNanchor_268">[9]</a> <i>Relacion de las personas que salieron al auto de la fé que los inquisidores +apostólicos del reino de Navarra y su distrito, celebraron en la ciudad De Logroño, +en 7 y 8 del mes de noviembre de 1610 años</i>, 1611.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_269" href="#FNanchor_269">[10]</a> <i>Discours des Sorciers</i>, XXII. 12. Tertullian’s <i>Diabolus simia Dei</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_270" href="#FNanchor_270">[11]</a> <i>Idem</i>, XX. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_271" href="#FNanchor_271">[12]</a> <i>Tableau</i>, p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_272" href="#FNanchor_272">[13]</a> Les lieux des assemblées des Sorciers sont notables et signalez de quelques +arbres, ou croix. <i>Fleau</i>, p. 181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_273" href="#FNanchor_273">[14]</a> Anthony Horneck; Appendix to Glanvill’s <i>Sadducismus Triumphatus</i>. +London, 1681.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_274" href="#FNanchor_274">[15]</a> Locus in diuersis regionibus est diuersus; plerumque autem comitia +in syluestribus, montanis, uel subterraneis atque ab hominum conuersatione +dissitis locis habentur. <i>Mela.</i> <i>Lib.</i> 3. <i>cap.</i> 44. montem Atlantem nominat; +<i>de Vaulx</i> Magus Stabuleti decollatus, fatebatur 1603, in Hollandia congregationem +frequentissimam fuisse in Ultraiectinæ ditionis aliquo loco. Nobis +ab hoc conuentu notus atq; notatus mons Bructerorum, Melibœus alias +dictus in ducatu Brunsuicensi, uulgo <i>der Blocksberg oder Heweberg</i>, Peucero, +<i>der Brockersberg</i>, & Tilemanno Stellæ, <i>der Vogelsberg</i>, perhibonte <i>Ortelio +in Thesauro Geographico</i>. For the Bructeri see Tacitus, <i>Germania</i>, 33: Velleius +Paterculus, II, 105, i. <i>Bructera natio</i>, Tacitus, <i>Historiæ</i>, IV, 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_275" href="#FNanchor_275">[16]</a> ... le lieu où on le trouue ordinairement s’appelle Lanne de bouc, +& en Basque <i>Aquelarre de verros, prado del Cabrón</i>, & là des Sorciers +le vont adorer trois nuicts durant, celle du Lundy, du Mercredy, & du +Vendredy. De Lancre, <i>Tableau</i>, p. 62.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_276" href="#FNanchor_276">[17]</a> Boguet, <i>Discours des Sorciers</i>, p. 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_277" href="#FNanchor_277">[18]</a> <i>A Pleasant Treatise of Witches</i>, London, 1673.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_278" href="#FNanchor_278">[19]</a> Psalm xc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_279" href="#FNanchor_279">[20]</a> Conuentus, ut plurimum ineuntur uel noctis mediæ silentio, quando +uiget potestas tenebrarum; uel interdiu meridie, quo sunt qui referant illud +Psalmistæ notum de dæmonio meridiano. Noctes frequentiores, quæ feriam +tertiam et sextam præcedunt. Delrio, <i>Disquisitiones Magicæ</i>, Lib. II. xvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_280" href="#FNanchor_280">[21]</a> <i>Discours</i>, XIX. 1. “The Sorcerers assemble at the Sabbat about +midnight.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_281" href="#FNanchor_281">[22]</a> Her indictment consists of fifty-three points.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_282" href="#FNanchor_282">[23]</a> Spottiswoode’s <i>Practicks</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_283" href="#FNanchor_283">[24]</a> Spalding Club, <i>Miscellany</i>, I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_284" href="#FNanchor_284">[25]</a> MS. formerly in the possession of Michael Stewart Nicolson, Esq.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_285" href="#FNanchor_285">[26]</a> ... je me trouvais transporté au lieu où le Sabatt se tenait, y demeurant +quelquefois une, deux, trois, quatre heures pour le plus souvent suivant +les affections.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_286" href="#FNanchor_286">[27]</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ferunt uagantes Dæmonas</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lætas tenebras noctium</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gallo canente exterritos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sparsim timere et credere.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_287" href="#FNanchor_287">[28]</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Nocturna lux uiantibus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A nocte noctem segregans,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Præco diei iam sonat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Iubarque solis euocat.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hoc nauta uires colligit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pontique mitescunt freta:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hoc, ipsa petra Ecclesiæ,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Canente, culpam diluit.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Surgamus ergo strenue:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gallus iacentes excitat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Et somnolentes increpat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gallus negantes arguit.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gallo canente, spes redit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ægris salus refunditur,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mucro latronis conditur,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lapsis fides reuertitur.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The translation in text is by Caswall, 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_288" href="#FNanchor_288">[29]</a> <i>Tableau</i>, p. 154.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_289" href="#FNanchor_289">[30]</a> For London, see Dr. Johnson’s <i>London</i> (1738):</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Prepare for death, if here at night you roam,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sign your will before you sup from home.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>In 1500 Paolo Capello, the Venetian Ambassador, wrote: “Every night +they find in Rome four or five murdered men, Prelates and so forth.” During +the reign of Philip IV (1621-1665) the streets of Madrid, noisome, unpaved, +were only lit on the occasion of festal illuminations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_290" href="#FNanchor_290">[31]</a> 1475-1546.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_291" href="#FNanchor_291">[32]</a> Quando uadunt ad loca propinqua uadunt pedestres mutuo se inuicem +inuitantes. <i>De Strigibus</i>, II.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_292" href="#FNanchor_292">[33]</a> Les Sorciers neâtmoins vont quelquefois de pied au Sabbat, ce qui leur +aduient principalement, lors que le lieu où ils font leur assemblée, n’est pas +guieres eslongé de leur habitation. <i>Discours</i>, c. xvii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_293" href="#FNanchor_293">[34]</a></p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">Enquis en quel lieu se tint le Sabbat le dernier fois qu’il y fut.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Respond que ce fut vers Billeron à un Carroy qui est sur le chemin +tendant aux Aix, Parroisse de Saincte Soulange, Iustice de ceans.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Enquis de quelle façon il y va.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Respond qu’il y va de son pied.</p> + +<p class="right">De Lancre, <i>Tableau</i>, pp. 803-805.</p> + +</blockquote> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_294" href="#FNanchor_294">[35]</a> Aussi vilain & abominable est au Sorcier d’y aller de son pied que +d’y estre transporté de son consentement par le Diable. <i>Tableau</i>, p. 632.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_295" href="#FNanchor_295">[36]</a> Sinclar, <i>Satan’s Invisible World Discovered</i> (Reprint 1875), VII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_296" href="#FNanchor_296">[37]</a> <i>Idem</i>, p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_297" href="#FNanchor_297">[38]</a> <i>Idem</i>, pp. 175, 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_298" href="#FNanchor_298">[39]</a> Illud etiam non omittendum quod quædam sceleratæ mulieres retro +post Satanam conuersæ, dæmonum illusoribus et phantasmatibus seductæ +credunt se et profitentur nocturnis horis cum Diana paganorum dea et +innumera multitudine mulierum equitare super quasdam bestias et multa +terrarum spatia intempestæ noctis silentio pertransire eiusque iussionibus +uelut dominæ obedire, et certis noctibus ad eius seruitium euocari. Minge, +<i>Patres Latini</i>, CXXXII. 352.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_299" href="#FNanchor_299">[40]</a> See Professor A. J. Clark’s note upon “Flying Ointments.” <i>Witch-Cult +in Western Europe</i>, pp. 279-280.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_300" href="#FNanchor_300">[41]</a> Posset dæmon eas transferre sine unguento, et facit aliquando; sed +unguento mauult uti uariis de causis. Aliquando quia timidiores sunt sagæ, +ut audeant; uel quia teneriores sunt ad horribilem illum Satanæ contactum +in corpore assumpto ferendum; horum enim unctione sensum obstupefacit +et miseris persuadet uim unguento inesse maximam. Alias autem id facit +ut sacrosancta a Deo instituta sacramenta inimice adumbret, et per has +quasi cerimonias suis orgiis reuerentiæ et uenerationis aliquid conciliat. +Delrio, <i>Disquitiones magicæ</i>, Liber II, qᵗᵒ xvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_301" href="#FNanchor_301">[42]</a> In antiquity we have the case of Simon Magus, who was levitated in +the presence of Nero and his court.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_302" href="#FNanchor_302">[43]</a> Henri Boguet, the High Justice of the district of Saint-Claude, died in +1616. The first edition (of the last rarity) of his <i>Discours des Sorciers</i> is Lyons, +1602; second edition, Lyons 1608; but there is also a Paris issue, 1603. +Pp. 64 and 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_303" href="#FNanchor_303">[44]</a> Scot, <i>Discoverie of Witchcraft</i> (1584). Book III. p. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_304" href="#FNanchor_304">[45]</a> De Lancre, <i>Tableau</i>, p. 211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_305" href="#FNanchor_305">[46]</a> Thomas Wright, <i>Proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler</i>, Camden +Society. 1843.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_306" href="#FNanchor_306">[47]</a> Cotton Mather, <i>Wonders of the Invisible World</i>, 1693. (Reprint, 1862. +P. 158.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_307" href="#FNanchor_307">[48]</a> <i>Quarterly Journal of Science</i>, January, 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_308" href="#FNanchor_308">[49]</a> J. Godfrey Raupert, <i>Modern Spiritism</i>. 1904. Pp. 34, 35. See also +Sir W. Barrett, <i>On the Threshold of the Unseen</i>, p. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_309" href="#FNanchor_309">[50]</a> Arthur Lillie, <i>Modern Mystics and Modern Magic</i>, 1894, pp. 74, 75.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_310" href="#FNanchor_310">[51]</a> David Lewis, <i>Life of S. John of the Cross</i> (1897), pp. 73-4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_311" href="#FNanchor_311">[52]</a> See the Saint’s own letter (written in 1777) to the Bishop of Foggia. +<i>Lettere di S. Alfonso Maria de’ Liguori</i> (Roma, 1887), II. 456 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_312" href="#FNanchor_312">[53]</a> Philip Coghlan, <span class="allsmcap">C.P.</span> <i>Gemma Galgani</i> + (1923), p. 62. For fuller details +see the larger biography by Padre Germano.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_313" href="#FNanchor_313">[54]</a> <i>Vie du B. Paul de la Croix.</i> (French translation.) I. Book ii. c. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_314" href="#FNanchor_314">[55]</a> <i>La Mystique Divine.</i> Traduit par Sainte-Foi. V. viii. 17. p. 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_315" href="#FNanchor_315">[56]</a> Giovanni Francesco Ponzinibio was a lawyer whose <i>De Lamiis</i> was +published at Venice, 1523-4. It called forth a reply, <i>Apologiæ tres aduersum +Joannem Franciscum Ponzinibium Iurisperitum</i>, Venice, 1525. The edition +of <i>De Lamiis</i> I have used is Venice, 1584, in the <i>Thesaurus Magnorum iuris +consultorum</i>. This reprint was met by Peña’s answer and two treatises by +Bartolomeo Spina, <span class="allsmcap">O.P.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_316" href="#FNanchor_316">[57]</a> Rome, 1584.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_317" href="#FNanchor_317">[58]</a> De modo quo localiter transferentur [sagæ] de loco ad locum.... +Probatur quod possint malefici corporaliter transferri.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_318" href="#FNanchor_318">[59]</a> An isti Sortilegi & Strigimagæ siue Lamiæ uere & corporaliter deferantur +a dæmone uel solum in spiritu? <i>De Sortilegiis</i>, VII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_319" href="#FNanchor_319">[60]</a> Sum modo istius secundæ opinionis quod deferantur in corpore.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_320" href="#FNanchor_320">[61]</a> Doctrina multi eorum qui sequuti sunt Lutherum, & Melanctonem, +tenuerent Sagas ad conuentus accedere animi duntaxat cogitatione, & +diabolica illusione interesse, allegantes quod eorum corpora inuenta sunt +sæpe numero eodem loco iacentia, nec inde mora fuisse, ad hoc illud pertinens +quod est in uita D. Germani, de mulierculis conuiuantibus, vt uidebantur, & +tame̅ dormierant dormientes. Huiusmodi mulierculas sæpe numero decipi +certum est, sed semper ita fieri non probatur.... Altera, quam uerissimam +esse duco, est, nonnunquam uere Sagas transferri a Dæmone de loco ad locum, +hirco, uel alteri animali fantastico vt plurimum eas simul asportanti corporaliter, +& conuentu nefario interesse, & hæc sententia est multo communior +Theologorum, imò & Iurisconsultorum Italiæ, Hispaniæ, & Germaniæ inter +Catholicos; hoc idem tenent alii quam plurimi. Turrecremata super +Grillandum,⁠<a id="FNanchor_A" href="#Footnote_A" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> +Remigius,⁠<a id="FNanchor_B" href="#Footnote_B" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> +Petrus Damianus,⁠<a id="FNanchor_C" href="#Footnote_C" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> +Siluester Abulensis,⁠<a id="FNanchor_D" href="#Footnote_D" class="fnanchor">[D]</a> +Caietanus⁠<a id="FNanchor_E" href="#Footnote_E" class="fnanchor">[E]</a> +Alphonsus a Castro⁠<a id="FNanchor_F" href="#Footnote_F" class="fnanchor">[F]</a> +Sixtus Senensis⁠<a id="FNanchor_G" href="#Footnote_G" class="fnanchor">[G]</a> +Crespetus⁠<a id="FNanchor_H" href="#Footnote_H" class="fnanchor">[H]</a> +Spineus⁠<a id="FNanchor_I" href="#Footnote_I" class="fnanchor">[I]</a> +contra Ponzinibium, Ananias,⁠<a id="FNanchor_J" href="#Footnote_J" class="fnanchor">[J]</a> +& alii quam plurimi, quos breuitatis gratia omitto. <i>Per Fratrem +Franciscum Mariam Guaccium Ord. S. Ambrosii ad Nemus Mediolani compilatum.</i> +Mediolani. Ex Collegii Ambrosiani Typographia. 1626.</p> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_A" href="#FNanchor_A">[A]</a> <i>De hæreticis et sortilegiis.</i> Lugduni. 1536.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_B" href="#FNanchor_B">[B]</a> Nicolas Remy, <i>De la démonolâtrie</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_C" href="#FNanchor_C">[C]</a> Epistolarum, IV. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_D" href="#FNanchor_D">[D]</a> Silvester of Avila.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_E" href="#FNanchor_E">[E]</a> Tommaso de Vio Gaetani, <span class="allsmcap">O.P.</span> 1469-1534.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_F" href="#FNanchor_F">[F]</a> Alfonso de Castro, Friar Minor. (1495-1558). Confessor to Charles V and Philip II of Spain.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_G" href="#FNanchor_G">[G]</a> Sisto da Siéna, <span class="allsmcap">O.P.</span> Bibliotheca Sancta ... (Liber V). Secunda editio. Francofurti. +1575. folio.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_H" href="#FNanchor_H">[H]</a> Père Crespet, Celestine monk. <i>Deux livres de la haine de Satan et des malins esprits contre +l’homme.</i> Paris. 1590.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_I" href="#FNanchor_I">[I]</a> Bartholomeo Spina, <span class="allsmcap">O.P.</span> <i>De lamiis.</i> <i>De strigibus.</i> Both folio. Venice, 1584. <i>Apologiæ +tres aduersus Joannem Franciscum Ponzinibium Jurisperitum.</i> Venice. 1525. Giovanni Francesco +Ponzinibio wrote a <i>Dedamiis</i> of which I have used a late edition. Venice. 1584.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_J" href="#FNanchor_J">[J]</a> Giovanni Lorenzo Anania, <i>De natura dæmonum</i>: libri iiii. Venetiis. 1581. 8vo.</p></div> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_321" href="#FNanchor_321">[62]</a> <i>De Strigibus</i>, II. I have used the reprint, 1669, which is given in the +valuable collection appended to the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> of that date, 4 vols. +4to.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_322" href="#FNanchor_322">[63]</a> Ad quam congregationem seu ludum præfatæ pestiferæ personæ uadunt +corporaliter & uigilantes ac in propriis earū sensibus & quando uadunt ad loca +propinqua uadunt pedestres mutuo se inuicem inuitantes. Si aute̅ habent +congregari in aliquo loco distanti tunc deferuntur a diabolo, & quomodocunque +uadant ad dictum locum siue pedibus suis siue adferantur a diabolo uerū est +quod realiter et ueraciter & no̅ pha̅tastice, neque illusorii abnegant fide̅ +catholicam, adorant diabolum, conculcant crucem, & plura nefandissima +opprobria committunt contra sacratissimum Corpus Christi, ac alia plura +spurcissima perpetrant cum ipso diabolo eis in specie humana apparenti, & +se uiris succubum, mulieribus autem incubum exhibenti.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_323" href="#FNanchor_323">[64]</a> George Gandillon, la nuict d’vn Ieudy Sainct, demeura dans son lict, +comme mort, pour l’espace de trois heures, & puis reuint à soy en sursaut. +Il a depuis esté bruslé en ce lieu auec son père & vne sienne sœur.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_324" href="#FNanchor_324">[65]</a> Chapitre xvi. Comme, & en quelle façon les Sorciers sont portez au +Sabbat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1. <i>Ils y sont portez tantost sur un baston, ou ballet, tantost sur un mouton +ou bouc, & tantost par un homme noir.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>Quelquefois ils se frotte̅t de graisse, & à d’autres non.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">3. <i>Il y en a, lesquels n’estans pas Sorciers, & s’estans frottez, ne delaissent +pas d’estre transportez au Sabbat, & la raison.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">4. <i>L’onguent, & la graisse ne seruent de rien aux Sorciers, pour leur +transport au Sabbat.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">5. <i>Les Sorciers sont quelquefois portez au Sabbat par un vent & tourbillon.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapitre xvii. Les Sorciers vont quelques fois de pied au Sabbat.</p> + +<p>Chapitre xviii. Si les Sorciers vont en ame seulement au Sabbat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1 & 3. <i>L’affirmatiue, & exemples.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>Indices, par lesquels on peut coniecturer, qu’vne certaine femme estoit +au Sabbat en ame seulement.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">4. <i>La negatiue.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">5. <i>Comme s’entend ce que l’on dit d’Erichtho, & d’Apollonius lesquels +resusciterent l’un un soldat, & l’autre une ieune fille.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">6. <i>Les Sorciers ne peuuent resusciter un mort, & exemples.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">7. <i>Non plus que les heretiques & exemples.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">8. <i>Opinion de l’Autheur sur le suiect de ce chapitre.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">9. <i>Satan endort le plus souuent les personnes, & exemples.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapitre xix.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1. <i>Les Sorciers vont enuiron la minuict au Sabbat.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>La raison pourquoy le Sabbat si tient ordinairement de nuict.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">3. <i>Satan se plait aux tenebres, & à la couleur noire, estant au contraire +la blancheur agreable à Dieu.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">4. <i>Les Sorciers dansent doz contre doz au Sabbat, & se masquent pour +la plus part.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">5, 8. <i>Le coq venant à chanter, le Sabbat disparoit aussi tost, & la raison.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">6. <i>La voix du coq funeste à Satan tout ainsi qu’au lyon, & au serpent.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">7. <i>Le Demon, selon quelques uns a crainte d’vne espée nue.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapitre xx. Du iour du Sabbat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1. <i>Le Sabbat se tient à un chacun iour de la semaine, mais principalement +le Ieudy.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>Il se tient encor aux festes les plus solemnelles de l’année.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapitre xxi. Du lieu du Sabbat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1. <i>Le lieu du Sabbat est signalé, selon aucuns, de quelques arbres ou bien +de quelques croix, & l’opinion de l’autheur sur ce suiect.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>Chose remarquable d’vn lieu pretendu pour le Sabbat.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">3. <i>Il faut de l’eau au lieu, où se tient le Sabbat, & pourquoy.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">4. <i>Les Sorciers, à faute d’eau, urinent dans un trou, qu’ils font en terre.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapitre xxii. De ce qui se fait au Sabbat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="hanging">1. <i>Les Sorciers y adorent Satan, estăt en forme d’homme noir, ou de bouc, & +luy offrent des chandelles, & le baisent aux parties honteuses de +derriere.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">2. <i>Ils y dansent, & de leurs danses.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">3. <i>Ils se desbordent en toutes sortes de lubricitez, & comme Satan se fait +Incube & Succube.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">4. <i>Incestes, & paillardises execrebles des Euchites & Gnostiques.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">5. <i>Les Sorciers banquettent au Sabbat, de leurs viandes, & breuuages, & +de la façon qu’ils tiennent à benir la table, & à rendre graces.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">6. <i>Ils ne prennent cependant point de gout aux Viandes, & sortent ordinairement +auec faim du repas.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">7. <i>Le repas paracheué, ils rendent conte de leurs actions à Satan.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">8. <i>Ils renoncent de nouueau à Dieu, au Chresme, &c. Et comme Satan +les sollicite à mal faire.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">9. <i>Ils y font la gresle.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">10. <i>Ils y celebrent messe, & de leurs chappes, & eau benite.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">11. <i>Satan se consume finalement en feu, & se reduit en cendre, de laquelle +les Sorciers prennent tous, & a quel effet.</i></p> + +<p class="hanging">12. <i>Satan Singe de Dieu en tout.</i></p> + +</blockquote> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_325" href="#FNanchor_325">[66]</a> Vouloir donner une description du Sabbat, c’est vouloir decrire ce qui +n’existe point, & n’a jamais subsisté que dans l’imagination creuse & séduite +des Sorciers & Sorcieres: les peintures qu’on nous en fait, sont d’après les +rêveries de ceux & de celles qui s’imaginent d’être transportés à travers +les airs au Sabbat en corps & en ame. <i>Traité sur les Apparitions des Esprits</i>, +par le R. P. Dom Augustin Calmet, Abbé de Sénones. Paris, 1751, I. p. 138.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_326" href="#FNanchor_326">[67]</a> See the woodcut upon the title-page of Middleton & Rowley’s <i>The +World tost at Tennis</i>, 4to, 1620.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_327" href="#FNanchor_327">[68]</a> De Lancre, <i>L’Incrédulité</i>, p. 769.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_328" href="#FNanchor_328">[69]</a> Boguet, <i>Discours des Sorciers</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_329" href="#FNanchor_329">[70]</a> De Lancre, <i>Tableau</i>, p. 217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_330" href="#FNanchor_330">[71]</a> De Lancre, <i>L’Incrédulité</i>, p. 800.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_331" href="#FNanchor_331">[72]</a> Görres, <i>La Mystique Divine</i>, traduit par Charles Sainte-Foi. V. viii. 19. +p. 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_332" href="#FNanchor_332">[73]</a> George Sinclar, <i>Satan’s Invisible World Discovered</i>, Relation XVII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_333" href="#FNanchor_333">[74]</a> <i>La Mystique Divine</i>, 1902 (Nouvelle édition). III. p. 381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_334" href="#FNanchor_334">[75]</a> <i>Tractatus</i>, xxi. c. 11. P. xi. n. 179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_335" href="#FNanchor_335">[76]</a> <i>Disquisitiones Magicæ</i>, Lib. II. qᵗᵒ x.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_336" href="#FNanchor_336">[77]</a> <i>Compendium Maleficarum</i>, p. 78.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_337" href="#FNanchor_337">[78]</a> +“Solent ad conuentum delatæ dæmonem conuentus præsidem in solio +considentem forma terrifica, ut plurimum hirci uel canis, obuerso ad illum +tergo accedentes, adorare ... et deindo, homagii quod est indicium, osculari +eum in podice.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_K" href="#Footnote_K" class="fnanchor">[K]</a> +Guazzo notes: “Ad signum homagii dæmonem podice +osculantur.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_L" href="#Footnote_L" class="fnanchor">[L]</a> And +Ludwig Elich says: “Deinde quod homagii est indicium (honor sit auribus) ab iis ingerenda +sunt oscula Dæmonis podici.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_M" href="#Footnote_M" class="fnanchor">[M]</a></p> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_K" href="#FNanchor_K">[K]</a> <i>Disquisitiones Magicæ</i>, Lib. II. qto xvi.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_L" href="#FNanchor_L">[L]</a> <i>Compendium Maleficarum</i>, I. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="sub-footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_M" href="#FNanchor_M">[M]</a> <i>Dæmonomagia</i>, Quæstis x.</p></div> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_338" href="#FNanchor_338">[79]</a> <i>Mystery of Witchcraft.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_339" href="#FNanchor_339">[80]</a> It may be remembered that, as related elsewhere, there is strong reason +to suppose Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, grandson of James V, was +“the Devil” on this occasion, as he was certainly the Grand Master of the +witches and the convener of the Sabbat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_340" href="#FNanchor_340">[81]</a> <i>Newes from Scotland, declaring the damnable Life of Doctor Fian.</i> London. +W. Wright. [1592].</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_341" href="#FNanchor_341">[82]</a> Dudum ad audientiam nostram peruenit, quod uenerabilis frater noster +G. Conuentrensis et Lichefeldensis episcopus erat in regno Angliæ et alibi +publice defamatur quod diabolo homagium fecerat et eum fuerat osculatus in +tergo eique locutus multotius.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_342" href="#FNanchor_342">[83]</a> Confessa ledit sire Guillaume ... avoir fait hommage audit ennemy +en l’espèce et semblance d’ung mouton en le baisant par le fondement en +signe de révérence et d’hommage. Jean Chartier, <i>Chronique de Charles VII</i> +(ed. Vallet de Viriville). Paris, 1858. III. p. 45. Shadwell, who has introduced +this ceremony into <i>The Lancashire Witches</i>, II, (The Scene Sir <i>Edward’s</i> +Cellar), in his notes refers to “Doctor <i>Edlin</i> ... who was burn’d for a +Witch.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_343" href="#FNanchor_343">[84]</a> <i>Reliquiæ Antiquæ</i>, vol. I. p. 247.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_344" href="#FNanchor_344">[85]</a> Il a veu [le diable] quelque fois en forme d’homme, tenant son cheval +par le frein, & qu’ils le vont adorer tenans vue chandelle de poix noir en +leurs mains, le baisent quelque fois au nombril, quelque fois au cul. De Lancre, +<i>L’Incredulité</i>, p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_345" href="#FNanchor_345">[86]</a> Tum candelis piceis oblatis, vel vmbilico infantili, ad signum homagii +eum in podico osculantur, Liber I. xiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_346" href="#FNanchor_346">[87]</a> <i>Satan’s Invisible World Discovered</i>, Relation III.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_347" href="#FNanchor_347">[88]</a> ... qui apparait là, tantost en forme d’vn grand homme noir, tantost +en forme de bouc, & pour plus grand hommage, ils luy offrent des chandelles, +qui rendent vne flamme de couleur bleüe. <i>Discours des Sorciers</i>, p. 131.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_348" href="#FNanchor_348">[89]</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">εἴθε λύρα καλὴ γενοίμην ἐλεφαντίνη,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">καί με καλοὶ παίδες φέροειν Διονύσιον ες χορόν.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>(Fain would I be a fair lyre of ivory, and fair boys carrying me to Dionysus’ +choir.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_349" href="#FNanchor_349">[90]</a> Sequuntur his choree quas in girum agitant semper tamen ad læuam +progrediendo. <i>Compendium Maleficarum</i>, I. xiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_350" href="#FNanchor_350">[91]</a> Les Sorciers, dansent & font leurs danses en rond doz contre doz.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_351" href="#FNanchor_351">[92]</a> Quelquefois, mais rarement, ils dansent deux à deux, & par fois l’vn +çà & l’autre là, & tousiours en confusion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_352" href="#FNanchor_352">[93]</a> On n’y dançoit que trois sortes de bransles.... La premiere c’est à la +Bohemienne.... La seconde c’est à sauts: ces deux sont en rond. Sir +John Davies in his <i>Orchestra or A Poeme on Dauncing</i>, London, 18mo, 1596, +describes the seven movements of the Cransles (Crawls) as:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Upward</i> and <i>downeward</i>, <i>forth</i> and <i>back againe</i>,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>To this side</i> and <i>to that</i>, and <i>turning round</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_353" href="#FNanchor_353">[94]</a> II. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_354" href="#FNanchor_354">[95]</a> Sinclar, <i>Satan’s Invisible World Discovered</i>, III.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_355" href="#FNanchor_355">[96]</a> <i>Newes from Scotland</i>,(1592).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_356" href="#FNanchor_356">[97]</a> Tota turba colluuiesque pessima fescenninos in honorem dæmonum +cantat obscenissimos. Hæc cantat <i>Harr, harr</i>; illa Diabolo, Diabolo, salta +huc, salta illuc; altera lude hic, lude illic; alia Sabaoth, Sabaoth, &c.; +immo clamoribus, sibilis, ululatibus, propicinis furit ac debacchatur. +<i>Dæmonomagia</i>, Quæstio x.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_357" href="#FNanchor_357">[98]</a> Hi habent mensas appositas & instructas accumbunt & incipiunt +conuiuari de cibis quos Dæmon suppeditat uel iis quos singuli attulere, +<i>Compendium Maleficarum</i>, I. xiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_358" href="#FNanchor_358">[99]</a> Les liures disent que les sorciers mangent au Sabbat de ce que le Diable +leur a appresté: mais bien souue̅t il ne s’y trouue que des viandes qu’ils ont +porté eux mesmes. Parfois il y a plusieurs tables seruies de bons viures & +d’autres fois de tres meschans. “Les Sorciers ... banquettent & se +festoient,” remarks Boguet, “leur banquets estans composez de plusieurs +sortes de viandes, selon les lieux & qualitez des personnes.” <i>Tableau</i>, p. 197. +<i>Discours des Sorciers</i>, p. 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_359" href="#FNanchor_359">[100]</a> Sinclar, <i>Invisible World Discovered</i>, Relation XXIX.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_360" href="#FNanchor_360">[101]</a> Ils banquêtent, dressant trois tables selon les trois diversités des gens +susnommés. Ceux qui ont la charge du pain, ils portent le pain qu’ils font +de blé dérobé aux aires invisiblement en divers lieux. Ils boivent de la +malvoisie, pour eschauffer la chair à la luxure, que les députés portent, la +dérobant des caves où elle se trouve. Ils y mangent ordinairement de la +chair des petits enfants que les députés cuisent à la Synagogue et parfois +les y portent tout vifs, les dérobant à leurs maisons quand ils trouvent +la commodité. Père Sébastien Michaëlis, <span class="allsmcap">O.P.</span> <i>Histoire admirable de la +possession</i>, 1613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_361" href="#FNanchor_361">[102]</a> On y boit aussi du vin, et le plus souvent de l’eau.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_362" href="#FNanchor_362">[103]</a> Conuiuant de cibis a se uel a dæmone allatis, interdum delicatissimis, +et interdum insipidis ex infantibus occisis aut cadaueribus exhumatis, +præcedente tamen benedictione mensæ tali coetu digna. <i>Salamanticenses</i>, +Tr. xxi. c. 11. P. 11. n. 179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_363" href="#FNanchor_363">[104]</a> Uinum eorum præterea instar atri atque insinceri sanguinis in sordido +aliquo scipho epulonibus solitum propinari. Nullam fere copiam rerum illic +deesse afferunt præterqua̅ panis et salis. Addit Dominica Isabella apponi +etiam humanas carnes. <i>Compendium Maleficarum</i>, I. xiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_364" href="#FNanchor_364">[105]</a> <i>De la Démonomanie</i>, III. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_365" href="#FNanchor_365">[106]</a> <i>Dæmonomagio</i>, Quæstio vii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_366" href="#FNanchor_366">[107]</a> Il n’y a jamais sel en ces repas. <i>Discours des Sorciers</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_367" href="#FNanchor_367">[108]</a> On se met à table, où il n’a iamais veu de sel.</p> + +<p>Shadwell draws attention to this detail: <i>The Lancashire Witches</i>, II, the +Sabbat scene; where Mother Demdike says:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">See our Provisions ready here,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To which no Salt must e’er come near!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_368" href="#FNanchor_368">[109]</a> Père Sébastien Michaëlis, <span class="allsmcap">O.P.</span> <i>Histoire admirable</i>, + 1613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_369" href="#FNanchor_369">[110]</a> Isti uero qui expressam professionem fecerunt, reddunt etiam expressum +cultum adorationis dæmoni per solemnia sacrificia, quæ ipsi faciunt diabolo, +imitantes in omnibus diuinum cultum, cum paramentis, luminaribus, et aliis +huiusmodi, ac precibus quibusdam et orationibus quibus instructi sunt, +adeo ipsum adorant et collaudant continue, sicut nos uerum Creatorem +adoramus. <i>De Sortilegiis</i>, Liber II. c. iii. n. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_370" href="#FNanchor_370">[111]</a> <i>The Wonders of the Invisible World</i>. A Hortatory Address, p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_371" href="#FNanchor_371">[112]</a> J. Hutchinson, <i>History of Massachusett’s Bay</i>, II. p. 55. (1828.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_372" href="#FNanchor_372">[113]</a> <i>Euchologion</i> of the Orthodox Church, ed. Venice, 1898, p. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_373" href="#FNanchor_373">[114]</a> Baissac, <i>Les grands jours de la Sorcellerie</i> (1890), p. 391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_374" href="#FNanchor_374">[115]</a> Calmeil, <i>De la folie</i>, I. p. 344.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_375" href="#FNanchor_375">[116]</a> Sébastien Michaëlis, <i>Histoire admirable</i>. 1613. Translated as <i>Admirable +Historie</i>. London, 1613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_376" href="#FNanchor_376">[117]</a> Desmarest, <i>Histoire de Magdelaine Bavent</i>. Paris. 4to. 1652.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_377" href="#FNanchor_377">[118]</a> For full details see François Ravaisson, <i>Archives de la Bastille</i>, Paris, +1873, where the original depositions are given.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_378" href="#FNanchor_378">[119]</a> <i>Là-Bas</i> appeared in the <i>Echo de Paris</i>, 1890-1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_379" href="#FNanchor_379">[120]</a> <i>Tableau</i>, p. 401. For the full account of these ceremonies I have chiefly +relied upon Guazzo; Boguet, <i>Discours</i>, XXII, 10; De Lancre, pp. 86, 122, +126, 129; and Görres, <i>Mystique</i>, V. pp. 224-227. It hardly seems necessary +to give particular citations here for each circumstance.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_380" href="#FNanchor_380">[121]</a> De Lancre, <i>Tableau</i>, IV. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_381" href="#FNanchor_381">[122]</a> <i>Corriere Nazionale di Torino</i>, Maggio. 1895.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_382" href="#FNanchor_382">[123]</a> De Lancre, <i>Tableau</i>, p. 401.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_383" href="#FNanchor_383">[124]</a> Görres, <i>Mystique</i>, V. p. 230.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_384" href="#FNanchor_384">[125]</a> Roland Brévannes, <i>L’Orgie Satanique</i>, IV. Le Sabbat, p. 122.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_385" href="#FNanchor_385">[126]</a> <i>Discours</i>, p. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_386" href="#FNanchor_386">[127]</a> S. Caleb, <i>Messes Noires</i>, p. 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_387" href="#FNanchor_387">[128]</a> <i>Confession faicte par Messire Loys Gaufridi</i>, A Aix. MVCXI.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_388" href="#FNanchor_388">[129]</a> A vne Chasuble qui a vne croix; mais qu’elle n’a que trois barres.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_389" href="#FNanchor_389">[130]</a> Le Diable en mesme temps pisse dans vn trou à terre, & fait de l’eau +beniste de son vrine, de laquelle celuy, qui dit la messe, arrouse tous les +assistants auec vn asperges noir. Boguet, <i>Discours</i>, p. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_390" href="#FNanchor_390">[131]</a> ... lors que Tramesabot disoit la Messe, & qu’auant la commencer li +iettoit de l’eau beniste qui estoit faicte de pissat, & faisoit la reverence de +l’espaule, & disoit <i>Asperges Diaboli</i>. De Lancre, <i>L’Incredulité</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_391" href="#FNanchor_391">[132]</a> L’eau beniste est iaune comme du pissat d’asne, & qu’apres qu’on la +iettée on dit la Messe.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_392" href="#FNanchor_392">[133]</a> Michaëlis <i>Histoire admirable</i>, 1613. Miss Murray, <i>The Witch-Cult</i>, p. 149, +suggests that this sprinkling was “a fertility rite”! An astounding theory. +This blasphemy, of course, alludes to the curse of the Jews, S. Matthew +xxvii. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_393" href="#FNanchor_393">[134]</a> Que le Diable dit le Sermo au Sabbat, mais qu’on n’entend ce qu’il dit, +parce qu’il parle com̅e en gro̅dant. Which suggests the wearing of a mask, +or, at least, a voice purposely disguised.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_394" href="#FNanchor_394">[135]</a> Dit qu’il a veu bailler au Sabbat du pain benist & de l’encens, mais il ne +sentoit bon comme celuy de l’Eglise.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_395" href="#FNanchor_395">[136]</a> So in the Orleans trial Gentil le Clerc confessed that the Devil “tourne +le dos à l’Autel quand il veut leuer l’Hostie & le Calice, qui sont noirs.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_396" href="#FNanchor_396">[137]</a> Silvain Nevillon, (1614-1615). Dit aussi auoir veu des Sorciers & +Sorcieres qui apportoient des Hosties au Sabbat, lesquelles elles auoient +gardé lors qu’on leur auoit baillé à communier à l’Eglise.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_397" href="#FNanchor_397">[138]</a> Presumably S. Cæsarius of Arles, 470-543, who incidentally was famous +for eradicating the last traces of Pagan superstitions and practices. He +imposed the penalty of excommunication upon all those who consulted +augurs and wore heathen amulets. The Gnostics were especially notorious +for their employment of such periapts, talismans, and charms.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_398" href="#FNanchor_398">[139]</a> J. F. Bladé, <i>Quatorze superstitions populaires de la Gascogne</i>, pp. 16 <i>sqq.</i> +Agen. 1883.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_399" href="#FNanchor_399">[140]</a> <i>Decisions.</i> Edinburgh, 1759.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_400" href="#FNanchor_400">[141]</a> Ie laisse à penser si l’on n’exerce pas là toutes les especes de lubricités +veu encor que les abominations, qui firent foudre & abismer Sodome & +Gomorrhe, y font fort communes. Boguet, <i>Discours</i>, c. xxii. p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_401" href="#FNanchor_401">[142]</a> <i>Histoire admirable</i>, 1613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_402" href="#FNanchor_402">[143]</a> Finalement, ils paillardent ensemble: le dimanche avec les diables +succubes ou incubes; le jeudi, commettent la sodomie; le samedi la +bestialité; les autres jours à la voie naturelle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_403" href="#FNanchor_403">[144]</a> The Louviers process lasted four years, 1643-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_404" href="#FNanchor_404">[145]</a> Après la Messe on dance, puis on couche ensemble, hommes auec hommes, +& auec des femmes. Puis on se met à table.... Dit qu’il a cognu des +hommes & s’est accouplé auec eux; qu’il auoit vne couppe on gondolle par +le moyen de laquelle toutes les femmes le suiuoient pour y boire.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_405" href="#FNanchor_405">[146]</a> Apres la danse finie les diables se couchere̅t auecques elles, & eure̅t +leur co̅pagnie.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_406" href="#FNanchor_406">[147]</a> ... grand nombre d’hommes & femmes furent bruslees en la ville +d’Arras, accusees les vns par les autres, & co̅fesserent qu’elles estoient la +nuict transportees aux danses, & puis qu’ils se couploient auecques les diables, +qu’ils adoroient en figure humaine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_407" href="#FNanchor_407">[148]</a> ... toutes generalement sans exception, confessoient que le diable +auoit copulation charnelle auec elles, apres leur auoir fait renoncer Dieu +& leur religion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_408" href="#FNanchor_408">[149]</a> ... c’est à sçauoir que les diables, ta̅t qu’elles auoient esté Sorcieres, +auoie̅t eu copulation auec elles. Henry de Cologne confirmant ceste opinion +dit, qu’il y a rien plus vulgaire en Alemaigne.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_409" href="#FNanchor_409">[150]</a> ... quod sacrificia dabant dæmonibus in animalibus uiuis, quæ +diuidebant membratim et offerebant distribuendo in inferne quadruuiis +cuidam dæmoni qui se facit appellari Artis Filium ex pauperioribus inferni. +<i>Dame Alice Kyteler</i>, ed. T. Wright. Camden Society. 1843. pp. 1-2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_410" href="#FNanchor_410">[151]</a> <i>Highland Papers</i>, III. p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_411" href="#FNanchor_411">[152]</a> <i>Æneid</i>, VI. 243-251.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_412" href="#FNanchor_412">[153]</a> Horace, <i>Sermonum</i>, I. viii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_413" href="#FNanchor_413">[154]</a> <i>Dictionnaire Infernal</i>, ed. 1863, p. 590.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_414" href="#FNanchor_414">[155]</a> Salgues, <i>Des erreurs et des prejugés</i>, I. p. 423.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_415" href="#FNanchor_415">[156]</a> III. 44-45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_416" href="#FNanchor_416">[157]</a> Alludit ad Haruspicis officium, qui exta & viscera inspiciebat. Plinius +inquit: <i>Ex ranæ rubetæ uisceribus; id est, lingua, ossiculo, licne, corde, +mira fieri posse constat, sunt enin plurimis medicaminibus referta</i>. Forte +intelligit rubetam uel bufonem, indicans se non esse ueneficum, nec rubetarum +extis uti ad uenefica. Cf. also Pliny, <i>Historia Naturalis</i>, XXXII. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_417" href="#FNanchor_417">[158]</a> Ravaisson, <i>Archives de la Bastille</i>, VI. p. 295 <i>et alibi</i>. The interrogatories +of these scandals may be found in volumes IV and V of this work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_418" href="#FNanchor_418">[159]</a> L. Strackerjan, <i>Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg</i> +(1867), I. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_419" href="#FNanchor_419">[160]</a> <i>Königsberger Hartung’sche Zeitung</i>, 1866. No. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_420" href="#FNanchor_420">[161]</a> V. Fossel. <i>Volksmedicin und medicinischer Aberglaube in Steiermark</i>, +Graz, 1886.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_421" href="#FNanchor_421">[162]</a> U. Jahn, <i>Zauber mit Menschenblut und anderen Teilen des menschlichen +Körpers</i>, 1888.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_422" href="#FNanchor_422">[163]</a> A. Löwenstimm, <i>Aberglaube und Strafecht</i>, (<i>Die Volksmedizin</i>), 1897.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_423" href="#FNanchor_423">[164]</a> V. Fossel, <i>Volksmedicin</i>, <i>ut supra</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_424" href="#FNanchor_424">[165]</a> Adrian Kembter, <span class="allsmcap">C.R.P.</span>, writing in 1745 enumerates 52 instances, and +his last is dated 1650. This number might be doubled, and extends until +the present century. H. C. Lee, in an article, <i>El santo nino de la Guardia</i>, has +signally failed to disprove the account. See the series of forty-four articles +in the <i>Osservatore Cattolico</i> March and April, 1892, Nos. 8438-8473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_425" href="#FNanchor_425">[166]</a> <i>Le Temps</i>, Paris, 1 Feb. and 23 March, 1892.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_426" href="#FNanchor_426">[167]</a> <i>Fetichism in West Africa</i>, New York, 1904.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_427" href="#FNanchor_427">[168]</a> De Lancre, <i>Tableau</i>, p. 154.</p></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V<br> +<span class="smcap">The Witch in Holy Writ</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p>In the course of the Holy Scriptures there occur a great +number of words and expressions which are employed in +connexion with witchcraft, divination, and demonology, +and of these more than one authority has made detailed and +particular study. Some terms are of general import, one +might even venture to say vague and not exactly defined, +some are directly specific: of some phrases the signification +is plain and accepted; concerning others, scholars are still +undecided and differ more or less widely amongst themselves. +Yet it is noteworthy that from the very earliest +period the attitude of the inspired writers towards magic and +related practices is almost wholly condemnatory and uncompromisingly +hostile. The vehement and repeated denunciations +launched against the professors of occult sciences and +the initiate in foreign esoteric mysteries do not, moreover, +seem to be based upon any supposition of fraud but rather +upon the “abomination” of the magic in itself, which is +recognized as potent for evil and able to wreak mischief upon +life and limb. It is obvious, for example, that the opponents +of Moses, the sorcerers⁠<a id="FNanchor_428" href="#Footnote_428" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Jannes and Mambres, were masters +of no mean learning and power, since when, in the presence +of Pharaoh, Aaron’s rod became a live serpent, they also and +their mob of disciples “fecerunt per incantationes Ægyptiacas +et arcana quædam similiter,” casting down their rods, which +were changed into a mass of writhing snakes. They were +able also to bring up frogs upon the land, but it was past +their wit to drive them away. We have here, however, a +clear acknowledgement of the reality of magic and its dark +possibilities, whilst at the same time prominence is given to +the fact that when it contests with the miraculous power +divinely bestowed upon Moses it fails hopelessly and completely. +The serpent, which was Aaron’s rod, swallows all +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span>the other serpents. The swarms of mosquitoes and gadflies +which Aaron caused to rise in myriads from the dust the +native warlocks could not produce, nay, they were constrained +to cry “Digitus Dei est hic”; whilst a little later +they were unable to protect even their own bodies from the +pest of blains and swelling sores. None the less a supernatural +power was possessed by Jannes and Mambres as +truly as by Moses, although not to the same extent, and +derived from another, in fact, from an opposite and +antagonistic source.</p> + +<p>Even more striking is the episode of Balaam, who dwelt +at Pethor, a city of Mesopotamia (the Pitru of the cuneiform +texts), and who was summoned thence by Balak, King of +Moab, to lay a withering curse upon the Israelites, encamped +after their victory over the Amorrhites at the very confines +of his territory. The royal messengers come to Balaam +“with the rewards of divination in their hand,” a most +illuminating detail, for it shows that already the practice of +magical arts is rewarded with gifts of great value.⁠<a id="FNanchor_429" href="#Footnote_429" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> In fact +when Balaam refuses, although with reluctance, to accompany +the first embassy, princes of the highest rank are then sent +to him with injunctions to offer him rank and wealth or +whatsoever he may care to ask. “I will promote thee to +very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto +me; come, therefore, and curse this people,” are the king’s +actual words. After great difficulties, for Balaam is, at first, +forbidden to go and only wins his way on condition that he +undertakes to do what he is commanded and to speak no +more than he is inspired to say, the seer commences his +journey and is met by the king at a frontier town, and by +him taken up “unto the high places of Baal,” to the sacred +groves upon the hill-tops, where seven mystic altars are +built, and a bullock and a ram offered upon each. Balaam +then senses the imminent presence of God, and withdraws +swiftly apart to some secret place where “God met” him. +He returns to the scene of sacrifice and forthwith blesses the +Israelites. Balak in consternation and dismay hurries him to +the crest of Pisgah (Phasga), and the same ceremonies are +performed. But again Balaam pours forth benisons upon the +people. A third attempt is made, and this time was chosen +the summit of Peor (Phogor), a peculiarly sacred sanctuary, the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span>centre of the local cult of Baal Peor, whose ancient worship +comprised a ritual of most primitive obscenity.⁠<a id="FNanchor_430" href="#Footnote_430" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Again the +sevenfold sacrifice is offered upon seven altars, and this time +Balaam deliberately resists the divine control, a vain +endeavour, since he passes into trance, and utters words of +ineffable benediction gazing down the dim avenues of +futurity to the glorious vision of the Madonna, Stella +Jacob, and her Son, the Sceptre of Israel. Beating his +clenched hands together in an access of ungovernable fury +the choused and exasperated king incontinently dismisses +his guest.</p> + +<p>It must be remarked that throughout the whole of this +narrative, the details of which are as interesting as they are +significant, there is on the part of the writer a complete +recognition of the claims put forth by Balaam and so amply +acknowledged and appreciated by Balak. Balaam was a +famous sorcerer, and one, moreover, who knew and could +launch the mystic Word of Power with deadly effect. Among +the early Arabs as among the Israelites the magic spell, the +Word of Blessing or the Curse, played a prominent part. In +war, the poet, by cursing the enemy in rhythmic runes, +rendered services not inferior to the heroism of the warrior +himself. So the Jews of Medina used to bring into their +synagogues images of their hated enemy Malik b. al-Aglam; +and at these effigies they hurled maledictions each time they +met. The reality of Balaam’s power is clearly the key-note +of the Biblical account. Else why should his services be +transferred to the cause of Israel? Balak’s greeting to the +seer is no empty compliment but vitally true: “I wot that +he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest +is cursed.” Not impertinent is the bitter denunciation in the +song of Deborah, Judges v. 23, “Curse ye me Meroz, said the +angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; +because they came not to the help of the Lord against the +mighty!” (A.V.) Belief in the potency of the uttered word +has existed at all times and in all places, and yet continues +to exist everywhere to-day.</p> + +<p>Although Balaam prophesied it must be borne in mind +that he was not a prophet in the Scriptural sense of the term; +he was a soothsayer, a wizard; the Vulgate has <i>hariolus</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_431" href="#Footnote_431" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +which is derived from the Sanskrit <i>hira</i>, entrails, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span>equivalent to <i>haruspex</i>. This term originally denoted an +Etruscan diviner who foretold future events by an inspection +of the entrails of sacrificial victims. It was from the +Etruscans that this practice was introduced to the Romans. +It is probable that Balaam employed the seven bullocks and +rams in this way, the technical <i>extispicium</i>, a method of +inquiry and forecasting which seems to have been almost +universal, although the exact manner in which the omens +were read differed among the several peoples and at various +times. It persisted, none the less, until very late, and indeed +it is resorted to, so it has been said, by certain occultists even +at the present day. It is known to have been practised by +Catherine de’ Medici, and it is closely connected with the +dark Voodoo worship of Jamaica and Hayti. S. Thomas, +it is true, has spoken of Balaam as a prophet, but the holy +doctor hastens to add “a prophet of the devil.” The learned +Cornelius à Lapide, glossing upon Numbers xxii and xxiii +writes: “It is clear that Balaam was a prophet, not of God, +but of the Devil.... He was a magician, and he sought +for a conference with his demon to take counsel with him.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_432" href="#Footnote_432" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +He is of opinion that the seven altars were erected in honour +of the Lords of the Seven Planets. Seven is, of course, the +perfect number, the mystic number, even as three; and all +must be done by odd numbers. The woman in Vergil who +tries to call back her estranged lover Daphnis by potent +incantations cries: <i>numero deus impare gaudet</i>. (Heaven +loves unequal numbers.) Eclogue viii. 75 (<i>Pharmaceutria</i>). +S. Augustine, S. Ambrose, and Theodoret consider that +when Balaam on the first occasion withdrew hastily saying +“Peradventure the Lord will come to meet me,” he +expected to meet a demon, his familiar. But “God met +Balaam.” The very precipitation and disorder seem to +point to the design of the sorcerer, for as in the Divine +Liturgy all is done with due dignity, grace, and comeliness, +so in the functions of black magic all is hurried, ugly, and +terrible.</p> + +<p>One of the most striking episodes in the Old Testament +is concerned with necromancy, the appearance of Samuel in +the cave or hut at Endor. Saul, on the eve of a tremendous +battle with the Philistines, is much dismayed and almost +gives away to a complete nervous collapse as he sees the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span>overwhelming forces of the ruthless foe. To add to his panic, +when he consulted the Divine Oracles, no answer was +returned, “neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by +prophets.” And although he had in the earlier years of his +reign shown himself a determined represser of Witchcraft, in +his dire extremity he catches at any straw, and bids his +servants seek out some woman “that hath a familiar spirit,” +and his servants said to him, “Behold there is a woman that +hath a familiar spirit at Endor,” which is a miserable hamlet +on the northern slope of a hill, lying something south of +Mount Tabor.</p> + +<p>The phrase here used, rendered by the Vulgate “pytho” +(Quærite mihi mulierem habentem pythonem) and by the +Authorized Version “familiar spirit,” is in the original <i>’ôbh</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_433" href="#Footnote_433" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +which signifies the departed spirit evoked, and also came to +stand for the person controlling such a spirit and divining by +its aid. The Witch of Endor is described as the possessor of +an <i>’ôbh</i>. The LXX. translates this word by ἐγγαστράμυθος, +which means ventriloquist, either because the real actors +thought that the magician’s alleged communication with the +spirit was a mere deception to impose upon the inquirer +who is tricked by the voice being thrown into the ground +and being of strange quality—a view which mightily commends +itself to Lenormant ⁠<a id="FNanchor_434" href="#Footnote_434" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> and the sceptical Renan⁠<a id="FNanchor_435" href="#Footnote_435" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> + but +which is quite untenable—or rather because of the belief +common in antiquity that ventriloquism was not a natural +faculty but due to the temporary obsession of the medium +by a spirit. In this connexion the prophet Isaias has a +remarkable passage: Quærite a pythonibus, et a diuinis qui +strident in incantationibus suis. (Seek unto them that have +familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter. +<i>A.V.</i>) Many Greek and Latin poets attribute a peculiar and +distinctive sound to the voices of spirits. Homer (<i>Iliad</i>, +XXIII, 101; <i>Odyssey</i>, XXIV, 5, and 9) uses τρίξειν, +which is elsewhere found of the shrill cry or chirping of +partridges, young swallows, locusts, mice, bats,⁠<a id="FNanchor_436" href="#Footnote_436" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and of such +other sounds as the creaking of a door, the sharp crackling +of a thing burned in a fire. Vergil <i>Æneid</i>, III, 39, speaks +of the cry of Polydorus from his grave as <i>gemitus lacrimabilis</i>, +and the clamour of the spirits in Hades is <i>uox exigua</i>. Horace +also in his description of the midnight Esbat on the Esquiline +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span>describes the voice as <i>triste et acutum;</i> (<i>Sermonum</i>, I. viii, +40-1):</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">singula quid memorem, quo pacto alterna loquentes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">umbrae cum Sagana resonarent triste et acutum.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Statius, <i>Thebais</i>, VII, 770, has “stridunt animæ,” upon which +Kaspar von Barth, the famous sixteenth-century German +scholar, annotates “Homericum hoc est qui corporibus +excedentes animas stridere excogitauit.” So in Shakespeare’s +well-known lines, <i>Hamlet</i> I, 1:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent22">the sheeted dead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>When he had been informed of this witch Saul, accordingly, +completely divested himself of the insignia of royalty and in +a close disguise accompanied only by two of his most trusted +followers similarly muffled in cloaks, he painfully made his +way at dead of night to her remote and squalid hovel. He +eagerly requested her to exercise her powers, and to raise +the spirit of the person whom he should name. At first she +refused, since some years before the laws had been stringently +enforced and the penalty of death awaited all sorcerers +and magicians. Not unreasonably she feared that these +mysterious strangers might be laying a trap for her, to +imperil her life. But the concealed king persuaded her, and +bound himself by a mighty oath that she should come to no +harm. Whereupon she consented to evoke the soul of the +prophet Samuel, as he desired. The charm commenced, and +after the vision of various familiars—the woman said: Deos +uidi ascendentes de terra—and S. Gregory of Nyssa explains +these as demons, τὰ φαντάσματα,—Samuel appeared amid +circumstances of great terror and awe, and in the same +moment the identity of her visitant was recognized (we are +not informed how) by the sybil.⁠<a id="FNanchor_437" href="#Footnote_437" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> In a paroxysm of rage +and fear the haggard crone turned to him and shrieked out: +“Why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul.” The +king, however, tremblingly reassured her for her own safety, +and feeling that he was confronted by no earthly figure—he +could not see the phantom, although he sensed a presence from +beyond the grave—he asked: “What form is he of?” And +when the beldame, to whom alone the prophet was visible, +described the spirit: “An old man cometh up, and he is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>covered with a mantle,” Saul at once recognized Samuel, +and fell prostrate upon the ground, whilst the apparition +spake his swiftly coming doom.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="plate6" style="max-width: 28.125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/plate6.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE VI</p> + <p>THE WITCH OF ENDOR.</p> + <p class="caption-r">[<i>face p. 178</i></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Here we have a detailed scene of necromancy proper. +There are, it is true, some remarkable, and perhaps unusual, +features: the witch alone sees the phantom, but Saul instantly +knows who it is from her description; he directly addresses +Samuel, and he hears the prediction of the dead prophet. +The whole narrative undoubtedly bears the impress of +actuality and truth.</p> + +<p>There are several interpretations of these incidents. In +the first place some writers have denied the reality of the +vision, and so it is claimed that the witch deceived Saul by +skilful trickery. This hardly seems possible. It is not likely +that she would have run so grave a risk as the exercise, or +pretended exercise, of magical arts must entail were she a +mere charlatan; an accomplice of remarkably quick wit and +invention would have been necessary to carry out the details +of the plot; it is surely incredible that they should have +ventured upon so uncompromising a denunciation of the +king and have foretold so evil an end to his house. In fact +the whole tenor of the story conflicts with this explanation, +which is not allowed by the Fathers. Theodoret, it is true, +inclines to suppose that some deception was practised, but +he hesitates to maintain an unequivocal opinion in the matter. +In his <i>Quæstiones in I Regum</i> Cap. xxviii he asks πῶς +τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἐγγαστρίμυθον νοητέον;⁠<a id="FNanchor_438" href="#Footnote_438" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and says that some +think that the witch actually evoked Samuel, others believe +the Devil took the likeness of the prophet. The first opinion +he characterizes as impious, the second foolish.</p> + +<p>S. Jerome, whose authority would, of course, be entirely +conclusive, does not perhaps pronounce definitely; but his +comments sufficiently show, I think, that he regarded the +apparition as being really Samuel. In his tractate <i>In +Esaiam</i>, III, vii, he writes: “Most authors think that a clear +sign was given Saul from the earth itself and from the very +depths of Hades when he saw Samuel evoked by incantations +and magic spells.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_439" href="#Footnote_439" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> And again, <i>In Ezechielem</i>, Lib. IV; xiii, +the holy doctor, speaking of witches, has: “they are +inspired by an evil spirit. The Hebrews say that they are +well versed in baleful crafts, necromancy and soothsayings, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span>such as was the hag who seemed to raise up the soul of +Samuel.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_440" href="#Footnote_440" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>Some authors directly attribute this appearance of Samuel +to an evil spirit, who took the form of the prophet in order +to dishearten Saul and tempt him to despair. Thus S. Gregory +of Nyssa in his letter <i>De pythonissa ad Theodosium</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_441" href="#Footnote_441" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> says +that the Devil deceived the witch, who thus in her turn +deceived the king. S. Basil expressly lays down (<i>In Esaiam</i>, +VIII. 218): “They were demons who assumed the appearance +of Samuel.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_442" href="#Footnote_442" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> And he conjectures that, inasmuch as +the denunciation of Saul was strictly true in every detail, +the demons having heard the sentence delivered by God +merely reported it. Among the Latins Tertullian, more than +a century before, had written: “And I believe that evil +spirits can deceive many by their lies; for a lying spirit was +allowed to feign himself to be the shade of Samuel.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_443" href="#Footnote_443" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>The preponderance of opinion, however, is decidedly in +favour of a literal and exact understanding of the event, that +it was, in effect, Samuel who appeared to the guilty monarch +and foretold his end. Origen argues upon these lines, basing +his reasons upon the plain statements of Holy Writ: “But +it is distinctly stated that Saul knew it was Samuel.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_444" href="#Footnote_444" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> And +later he adds: “The Scripture cannot lie. And the words of +Scripture are: And the woman saw Samuel.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_445" href="#Footnote_445" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Elsewhere +when treating of evil spirits he precisely states: “And that +souls have their abiding place I have made known to you +from the evocation by the witch of Samuel, when Saul +requested her to divine.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_446" href="#Footnote_446" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> S. Ambrose also says: “Even +after his death Samuel, as Holy Scripture informs us, prophesied +of what was to come.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_447" href="#Footnote_447" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> We have further the +overwhelming witness of S. Augustine, who in more than one +place discusses the question at some length, and decides that +the phantom evoked by the sibyl was really and truly the +soul of the prophet Samuel. Thus in that important treatise +<i>De Doctrina Christiana</i>, commenced in 397 and finally revised +for issue in 427, he has: “The shade of Samuel, long since +dead, truly foretold what was to come unto King Saul.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_448" href="#Footnote_448" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> +Whilst a passage in the even more famous and weighty +<i>De Cura pro mortuis gerenda</i>, written in 421, asserts: “For +the prophet Samuel, who was dead, revealed the future to +King Saul, who was yet alive.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_449" href="#Footnote_449" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span></p> + +<p>Josephus believed the apparition to have been summoned +by the witch’s necromantic powers, for in his <i>Jewish Antiquities</i>, +VI, xiv, 2, when dealing with the story of Endor, he +chronicles: “[Saul] bade her bring up to him the soul of +Samuel. She, not knowing who Samuel was, called him out +of Hades,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_450" href="#Footnote_450" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> a remarkable testimony.</p> + +<p>Throughout the whole of the Old Testament the sin of +necromancy is condemned in the strongest terms, but the +very reiteration of this ban shows that none the less evocation +of the dead was extensively and continuously practised, +albeit in the most clandestine and secret manner. The +Mosaic law denounces such arts again and again: “Go not +aside after wizards, neither ask any thing of soothsayers, to +be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus +xix. 31); “The soul that shall go aside after magicians and +soothsayers, and shall commit fornication with them, I will +set my face against that soul, and destroy it out of the midst +of its people” (Leviticus xx. 6). Even more explicit in its +details is the following prohibition: “Neither let there be +found among you any one ... that consulteth soothsayers, +or observeth dreams and omens, neither let there be any +wizard, nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic +spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the +dead. For the Lord abhorreth all these things” (Deuteronomy +xviii. 10-12). Hence it is obvious that the essential malice +of the sin lay in the fact that it was <i>lèse-majesté</i> against God, +such as is also the sin of heresy.⁠<a id="FNanchor_451" href="#Footnote_451" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> This is, moreover, clearly +brought out in the fact that the temporal penalty was death. +“A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical or +divining spirit, dying, let them die” (Leviticus xx. 27). And +the famous statute, Exodus xxii. 18, expressly says: +“Wizards thou shalt not suffer to live.” Nevertheless, +necromancy persisted, and on occasion, such as during the +reign of Manasses, thirteenth king of Juda (692-638 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>),⁠<a id="FNanchor_452" href="#Footnote_452" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> +it no longer lurked in dark corners and obscene hiding-holes, +but flaunted its foul abomination unabashed in the courts +of the palace and at noon before the eyes of the superstitious +capital. In the days of this monarch divination was openly +used, omens observed, pythons publicly appointed, whilst +soothsayers multiplied “to do evil before the Lord, and to +provoke Him” (4 Kings [2 Kings] xxi. 6). The ghastly rites +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span>of human sacrifice were revived, and it was common knowledge +that the sovereign himself, upon the slightest and most +indifferent pretexts, resorted to <i>extispicium</i>, the seeking of +omens from the yet palpitating entrails of boys devoted to +this horrid purpose. “Manasses shed also very much innocent +blood, till he filled Jerusalem up to the mouth” (4 Kings +[2 Kings] xxi. 16). We may parallel the foul sorceries of the +Jewish king with the detailed confession of Gilles de Rais, +who at his trial “related how he had stolen away children, +detailed all his foul cajolements, his hellish excitations, his +frenzied murders, his ruthless rapes and ravishments: +obsessed by the morbid vision of his poor pitiful victims, +he described at length their long-drawn agonies or swift +torturings; their piteous cries and the death-rattle in their +throats; he avowed that he had wallowed in their warm +entrails; he confessed that he had torn out their hearts +through large gaping wounds, as a man might pluck ripe +fruit.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_453" href="#Footnote_453" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> The demonolatry of the sixth century before Christ +is the same as that of fourteen hundred years after the birth +of Our Lord.</p> + +<p>As has been previously noticed, Balaam employed bullocks +and rams for <i>extispicium</i>, and nine centuries later, in the +book of Ezechiel (xxi. 21), Esarhaddon is represented as +looking at the liver of an animal offered in sacrifice with a +view to divination. “For the king of Babylon stood in the +highway, at the head of two ways, seeking divination, +shuffling arrows: he inquired of the idols, and consulted +entrails. On his right hand was the divination of Jerusalem, +to set battering rams, to open the mouth in slaughter.” The +mode of sortilege by arrows, belomancy, to which allusion is +here made was extensively practised among the Chaldeans, as +also by the Arabs. Upon this passage S. Jerome comments: +“He shall stand in the highway, and consult the oracle +after the manner of his nation, that he may cast arrows into +a quiver, and mix them together, being written upon or +marked with the names of each people, that he may see whose +arrow will come forth, and which city he ought first to +attack.”</p> + +<p>Among the three hundred and sixty idols which stood +round about the Caaba of Mecca, and which were all destroyed +by Mohammed when he captured the city in the eighth year +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span>of the Hejira, was the statue of a man, made of agate, who +held in one hand seven arrows such as the pagan Arabs +used in divination. This figure, which, it is said, anciently +represented the patriarch Abraham, was regarded with +especial awe and veneration.</p> + +<p>The arrows employed by the early Arabs for magical +practices were more generally only three in number. They +were carefully preserved in the temple of some idol, before +whose shrine they had been consecrated. Upon one of them +was inscribed “My Lord hath commanded me”; upon +another “My Lord hath forbidden me”; and the third was +blank. If the first was drawn the inquirer looked upon it +as a propitious omen promising success in the enterprise; if +the second were drawn he augured failure; if the third, all +three were mixed again and another trial was made. These +divining arrows seem always to have been consulted by the +Arabs before they engaged in any important undertaking, as, +for example, when a man was about to go upon a particular +journey, to marry, to commence some weighty business.</p> + +<p>In certain cases and in many countries rods were used +instead of arrows. Small sticks were marked with occult +signs, thrown into a vessel and drawn out; or, it might be, +cast into the air, the direction they took and the position +in which they fell being carefully noted. This practice is +known as rhabdomancy. The LXX, indeed, Ezechiel xxi. 21, +has ῥαβδομαντεία not βελομαντεία, and rhabdomancy is mentioned +by S. Cyril of Alexandria.</p> + +<p>In the Koran, chapter V, The Table or The Chapter of +Contracts, “divining arrows” are said to be “an abomination +of the work of Satan,” and the injunction is given +“therefore avoid them that ye may prosper.”</p> + +<p>It is noticeable that in the early Biblical narrative one +form of divination is mentioned, if not with approval, at any +rate without overt reproach. Upon the occasion of the second +journey of Jacob’s sons to Egypt to buy corn in the time +of famine, Joseph gave orders that their sacks were to be +filled with food, that each man’s money was to be put in the +mouth of his sack, but that in the sack of Benjamin was also +to be concealed the “cup, the silver cup.” And the next +morning when they had set out homewards and were gone +a little way out of the city they were overtaken by a band +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span>of Joseph’s servants under the conduct of his steward who +arrested their progress and accused them of the theft of the +cup: “Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby +indeed he divineth? Ye have done evil in so doing” (<i>A.V.</i>). +The Vulgate has: “Scyphus quem furati estis, ipse est in +quo bibit dominus meus et in quo augurari solet: pessimam +rem fecistis” (Genesis xliv. 5). And later when they are +brought back in custody and led into the presence of Joseph +he asks them: “Wot ye not that such a man as I can +certainly divine?” Vulgate: “An ignoratis quod non sit +similis mei in augurandi scientia?”</p> + +<p>In the first place it cannot be for a moment supposed that +Joseph’s claim, which here he so publicly and so emphatically +states, to be a diviner of no ordinary powers was a mere +device for the occasion. From the prominence given to the +cup in the story it is clear that his steward regarded it as +a vessel of especial value and import, dight with mysterious +properties.</p> + +<p>This cup was used for that species of divination known as +hydromantia, a practice almost universal in antiquity and +sufficiently common at the present day. The seer, or in some +cases the inquirer, by gazing fixedly into a pool or basin +of still water will see therein reflected as in a mirror a picture +of that which it is sought to know. Strabo, XVI, 2, +39, speaking of the Persians, writes: παρὰδε τοῖς πέρσαις +οἱ Μάγοι καὶ νεκυομάντεις καὶ ἔτι οἱ λεγόμενοι λεκανομάντεις +καὶ ὑδρομάντεις. King Numa, according to one very +ancient tradition, divined by seeing gods in a clear stream. +“For Numa himself, not being instructed by any prophet +or Angel of God, was fain to fall to hydromancy: making +his gods (or rather his devils) to appear in water, and +instruct him in his religious institutions. Which kind of +divination, says Varro, came from Persia and was used by +Numa and afterwards by Pythagoras, wherein they used +blood also and called forth spirits infernal. Necromancy, +the Greeks call it, but necromancy or hydromancy, whether +you like, there it is that the dead seem to speak” (<i>S. Augustine +De Ciuitate Dei</i>. VII. 35).⁠<a id="FNanchor_454" href="#Footnote_454" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>Apuleius in his <i>De Magia</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_455" href="#Footnote_455" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> quoting from Varro, says: +“Trallibus de euentu Mithridatici belli magica percontatione +consultantibus puerum in aqua simulacrum Mercuri contemplantem, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span>quæ futura erant, centum sexaginta uersibus +cecinisse.” In Egypt to-day the Magic Mirror is frequently +consulted. A boy is engaged to gaze into a splash of water, +or it may be ink or some other dark liquid poured into the +palm of the hand, and therein he will assuredly see pictorially +revealed the answers to those questions put to him. When +a theft has been committed the Magic Mirror is invariably +questioned thus. In Scandinavia the country folk, who had +lost anything, would go to a diviner on a Thursday night to +see in a pail of water who it was had robbed them.⁠<a id="FNanchor_456" href="#Footnote_456" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> All +the world over this belief prevails, in Tahiti and among the +Hawaiians, in the Malay Peninsula, in New Guinea, among +the Eskimos.</p> + +<p>Similar forms of divination are those by things dropped +into some liquid, a precious stone or rich amulet is cast into +a cup, and the rings formed on the surface of the contents +were held to predict the future. Again warm wax or molten +lead is poured into a vessel of cold water, and significant +letters of the alphabet may be spelled out or objects discerned +from the shapes this wax or lead assumes; or again, +the empty tea-cup is tilted and from the leaves, their size, +shape, and the manner in which they lie, prognostications +are made. This is common in England, Scotland, Ireland, +Sweden, Lithuania, whilst in Macedonia coffee-dregs are +employed in the same manner.</p> + +<p>But whether the seer be Hebrew patriarch or Roman +king and the divination dignified by some occult name, Ceromancy +(the melting of wax), Lecanomancy (basins of water), +Oinomancy (the lees of wine), or whether it be some old plaid-shawled +grandam by her cottage fire peering at the leaves +of her afternoon tea, the object is the same throughout the +ages, for all systems of divination are merely so many +methods of obscuring the outer vision, in order that the inner +vision may become open.</p> + +<p>As was inevitable hydromantia lent itself to much trickery, +and Hippolytus of Rome, presbyter and antipope (<i>ob.</i> <i>circa</i> +<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 236), in his important polemic against heretics, <i>Philosophumena</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_457" href="#Footnote_457" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> +IV, 35, explains in detail how persons were +elaborately duped by the pseudo-magicians. A room was +prepared, the roof of which was painted blue to resemble +the sky, there was set therein a large vessel full of water +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span>with a glass bottom, immediately under which lay a secret +chamber. The inquirer gazed steadfastly into the water, and +the actors walking in the secret chamber below would seem +as though they were figures appearing in the water itself.</p> + +<p>In view of the severe and general condemnation of magical +practices found throughout Holy Writ it is remarkable that +the Pentateuchal narrative does not censure Joseph’s hydromantic +arts. Indeed, except in the book Genesis, it is seldom +that any forms of presaging or the use of charms are noted +save with stern reprobation. In Isaias iii. 2, however, the +Kōsēm, magician or diviner, is mentioned with singular +respect. “Ecce enim dominator Dominus exercituum +auferet a Jerusalem et a Juda ualidum et fortem omne robur +panis et omne robur aquæ, fortem, et uirum bellatorem, +iudicem, et prophetam, et <i>hariolum</i>, et senem.” Here the +Authorized Version deliberately mistranslates and obscures +the sense: “For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth +take away from Jerusalem and from Judah, the stay and the +staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water, +the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the +prophet, and <i>the prudent</i>, and the ancient.” “The Prudent” +is by no means a rendering of Kōsēm which “hariolus” +perfectly represents.</p> + +<p>In the thirteenth chapter of Genesis we have a most +detailed and striking narrative of sympathetic magic. Jacob, +who is serving Laban, is to receive as a portion of his hire +all the speckled and spotted cattle, all the brown among the +sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. But +the crafty old Syrian prevented his son-in-law by removing +to a distance, a journey of three days, all such herds as had +been specified, “and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. +Thereupon Jacob took rods of green poplar, hazel, and +chestnut, and peeled these rods in alternate stripes of white +and bark, and he put them in the gutters in the watering-troughs +when the flocks came to drink.” The animals duly +copulated, and “the flocks conceived before the rods, and +brought forth cattle, ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.” +Moreover, it was only when the stronger cattle conceived +that Jacob set the rods before their eyes, so that eventually +all the best of the herds fell to his share. The names of the +trees are in themselves significant. The poplar in Roman +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span>folklore was sacred to Hercules,⁠<a id="FNanchor_458" href="#Footnote_458" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> and as it grew on the +banks of the river Acheron in Epirus it was connected with +Acheron, the waters of woe in the underworld, a confused +tradition which is undoubtedly of very early origin. So +Pausanias has: τὴν λευκην ὁ Ἡρακλῆς πεφυκυῖαν παρὰ τὸν +Ἀχέροντα εὔρετο ἐν Θεσπρωτιᾳ ποταμόν· In seventeenth-century +England poplar-leaves were accounted an important +ingredient in hell-broths and charms. The hazel has been +linked with magic from remotest antiquity, and the very +name witch-hazel remains to-day. The chestnut-tree and +its nuts seem to have been associated with some primitive +sexual rites. The connexion is obscure, but beyond doubt +traceable. In that most glorious marriage song, the Epithalamium +of Catullus, as the boys sang their Fescennines of +traditional obscenity nuts were scattered among the crowd.⁠<a id="FNanchor_459" href="#Footnote_459" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> +Petronius (Fragmentum XXXIII, ed. Buecheler, Berolini, +1895) mentions chestnuts as an amatory gift:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">aurea mala mihi, dulcis mea Marcia, mittis</div> + <div class="verse indent2">mittis et hirsutae munera castaneae.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>In Genesis again is recorded a most interesting and +instructive example of the belief in the magic efficacy of +plants. “And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and +found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother +Leah” (xxx. 14 A.V.). Reuben brings his mother mandrakes +(Love Apples), which Rachel desires to have. Whereupon +Leah bargains with Rachel, and the latter for a portion +of the fruit consents that Jacob shall that night return to +the bed of his elder wife, who indeed conceives and in due +time she bare Issachar. Leah ate of the mandrake as a +charm to induce pregnancy, and no disapproval of such use +is expressed.</p> + +<p>A similar theme is treated in Machiavelli’s famous masterpiece +of satirical comedy <i>La Mandragola</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_460" href="#Footnote_460" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> written between +1513 and 1520, and performed by request before Leo X in +the April of the latter year. It had already been acted in +Florence. In this play Callimaco is bent upon securing as +his mistress Lucrezia, the wife of a gullable doctor of laws, +Messer Nicia, whose one wish in life is to get a son. Callimaco +is introduced as a physician to Nicia, to whom he explains +that a potion of mandragora administered to the lady will +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span>remove her sterility, but that it has fatal consequences to +the husband. He must perish unless some other man be +first substituted whose action will absorb the poison, and +leave Lucrezia free to become the mother of a blooming +family. This plot is fully worked out, and by the services +of his supple confederates Callimaco is introduced to +Lucrezia’s bedchamber as the necessary victim, and gains +his desire.</p> + +<p>Mandrakes and mallows were potent in all forms of +enchantment, and about the mandrake in particular has +grown up a whole library of legend, which it would require +much time and space thoroughly to investigate. Western +lore is mainly of somewhat a grim character, but not entirely, +and by the Orientals mandrake is regarded as a powerful +aphrodisiac. So in Canticles VII, 13, we have: Mandragoræ +dederunt odorem. (The mandrakes give a fragrant smell.) +In antiquity mandrakes were used as an anæsthetic. Dioscorides +alludes to the employment of this herb before +patients have to be cut or burned; Pliny refers to its odour +as causing sleep during an operation; Lucian speaks of it +as used before cautery; and both Galen and Isidorus have +passages which mention its dormitive quality. The Shakespearean +allusions have rendered this aspect familiar to all.</p> + +<p>The Arabs and ancient Germans thought that a powerful +spirit inhabited the plant, an idea derived, perhaps, from the +fancied resemblance of the root to the human form. Ducagne +has under Mandragore: “Pomi genus cuius mentio fit, +Gen. xxx. 14. nostris etiam notis sub nomine <i>Mandragores</i>, +quod pectore asseruatum sibi diuitiis acquirendis idoneum +somniabunt.” And Littré quotes the following from an old +chronicle of the thirteenth century: “Li dui compaignon +[un couple d’éléphants] vont contre Orient près du paradis +terreste, tant que la femelle trouve une herbe que on apele +mandragore, si en manjue, et si atize tant son masle qu’il en +manjue avec li, et maintenant eschaufe la volenté de chascun, +et s’entrejoignent à envers et engendrent un filz sanz plus.” +In the <i>Commentaria ad Historiam Caroli VI et VII</i> it is +related that several mandrakes found in the possession of +Frère Richard, a Cordelier, were seized and burned as +savouring of witchcraft.</p> + +<p>It seems certain that the teraphim, which Rachel stole +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span>from her father (Genesis xxxi, 19, and 31-35), and which when +he was in pursuit she concealed by a subtle trick, were used +for purposes of divination. From the relation of the incident +it is obvious that they were regarded of immense value—he +who had conveyed them away was, if found, to die the death—and +invested with a mysterious sanctity. Centuries later, +during the period of drastic reform, King Josias (639-608 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>) +would no longer tolerate them: “Moreover the workers with +familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images [teraphim], +and the idols, and all abominations that were spied in the +land of Judah and in Jerusalem did Josiah put away” +(2 Kings xxiii. 24. A.V.). The Vulgate has: “Sed et +pythones, et hariolos, et figuras idolorum, et immunditias, et +abominationes, quæ fuerant in terra Juda et Jerusalem, +abstulit Josias.” In Ezechiel xxi. 21, Esarhaddon is said to +have divined by teraphim as well as by belomancy; and in +Zacharias (x. 2) the teraphim are stated on occasion to have +deceived their inquirers, “simulacra locuta sunt inutile,” +“the idols have spoken vanity.” Notwithstanding this it is +obvious from Osee (Hosea) iii. 4, that divination by teraphim +was sometimes permitted: “Dies multos sedebunt filii Israel +sine rege, et sine principe, et sine sacrificio, et sine altari, et +sine ephod, et sine teraphim.” “The children of Israel shall +abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and +without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an +ephod, and without teraphim.”</p> + +<p>The learned Cornelius à Lapide glossing on Genesis xxxi +writes: “Idola, <i>teraphim</i> quod significat statuæ humanæ +siue humaneas formas habentes ut patet, I. Reg. xix.” The +allusion is to the deception practised by Michal on Saul’s +messengers, when putting one of the teraphim in bed and +covering it with quilts she pretended it was David who lay +sick. “Secundo,” continues à Lapide, “nomen <i>theraphim</i> +non appropriatum est in eas statuas, quæ opera dæmonorum +deposci debent, ut patet Judicum, xviii, 18,” the reference +being to the history of Micas. Calvin very absurdly says: +“Theraphim sunt imagines quales habent papistæ.”</p> + +<p>Spencer⁠<a id="FNanchor_461" href="#Footnote_461" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> is of opinion that these teraphim were small +images or figures, and the point seems conclusively settled by +S. Jerome, who in his twenty-ninth Epistle, <i>De Ephod et +Teraphim</i>, quotes 1 Kings xix. 15, and uses “figuras siue +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span>figurationes” to translate μορφώματα of Aquila of Pontus. +This writer was the author of a Greek version of the Old +Testament published <i>circa</i> <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 128. About eight years before +he seems to have been expelled from the Christian community, +by whom he was regarded as an adept in magic. The work +of Aquila, who studied in the school of Rabbi Akiba, the +founder of Rabbinical Judaism, is said by S. Jerome to have +attained such exactitude that it was a good dictionary to +furnish the meaning of the obscurer Hebrew words. The +Targum of Jonathan commenting upon Genesis xxxi. 19, +puts forward the singular view that the teraphim, concealed +by Rachel, consisted of a mummified human head.</p> + +<p>In the book Tobias we have a detailed and important +account of exorcism, and one, moreover, which throws considerable +light upon the demonology of the time. Tobias, the son +of Tobias, is sent under the guidance of the unknown Angel, +S. Raphael, to Gabelus in Rages of Media, to obtain the ten +talents of silver left in bond by his father. Tobias, whilst +bathing in the Tigris is attacked by a monstrous fish, of +which he is told by his Angel protector to reserve the heart, +liver, and gall; the first two of these are to prevent the +devil who had slain seven previous husbands of Sara, the +beautiful daughter of Raguel, from attacking him. They +arrive at the house of Raguel, and Tobias seeks the hand +of Sara. She, however, is so beloved by the demon Asmodeus +that seven men who had in turn married her were by him +put to death the night of the nuptials, before consummation. +Tobias, however, by exorcism, by the odour of the burning +liver of the fish, and by the help of S. Raphael, routs +Asmodeus, “Then the Angel Raphael took the Devil, and +bound him in the desert of upper Egypt.” The story which +must be accepted as fact-narrative was originally written +during the Babylonian exile in the early portion of the +seventh century, <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> It plainly shows that demons were +considered to be capable of sexual love, such as was the love +of the sons of God for the daughters of men recorded in +Genesis (vi. 2). One may compare the stories of the Jinns +in Arabian lore. Asmodeus is perhaps to be identified with +the Persian <i>Aëshma daêva</i>, who in the <i>Avesta</i> is next to +Angromainyus, the chief of the evil spirits. The introduction +of Tobias’s dog should be remarked. The dog accompanies +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span>his master on the journey and when they return home “the +dog, which had been with them in the way, ran before, and +coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his +fawning and wagging his tail.” Among the Persians a certain +power over evil spirits was justly assigned to the faithful +dog.</p> + +<p>The New Testament evidence for the reality of magic and +divination is such that cannot be disregarded by any who +accept the Christian revelation.</p> + +<p>In the Gospels we continually meet with possession by +devils; the miracle wrought in the country of the Gerasenes +(Gergesenes) (S. Matthew viii. 28-34), the dumb man possessed +by a devil (S. Matthew ix. 32-34), the healing of the lunatic +boy who was obsessed (S. Matthew xvii. 14-21), the exorcism +of the unclean spirit (S. Mark i. 23-27), the casting out of +devils whom Christ suffered not to speak (S. Mark i. 32-34), +the exorcism in the name of Jesus (S. Mark ix. 38), the demons +who fled our Lord’s presence crying out “Thou art Christ, +the son of God” (S. Luke iv. 41), the healing of those vexed +with unclean spirits (S. Luke vi. 18), and many instances +more.</p> + +<p>Very early in the Apostolic ministry appears one of the +most famous figures in the whole history of Witchcraft, +Simon, who is as Simon Magus, sorcerer and heresiarch. At +the outbreak of that persecution (<i>circa</i> <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 37) of the +Christian community in Jerusalem which began with the +martyrdom of S. Stephen, when Philip the Deacon went down +to Samaria, Simon, a native of Gitta, was living in that +city. By his magic arts and by his mysterious doctrine, in +which he announced himself as “the great power of God,” +he had made a name for himself and gained many adherents. +He listened to Philip’s sermons, was greatly impressed by +them, he saw with wonder the miracles of healing and the +exorcisms of unclean spirits, and like many of his countrymen +was baptized and united with the community of believers in +Christ. But it is obvious that he only took this step in +order to gain, as he hoped, greater magical power and thus +increase his influence. For when the Apostles S. Peter and +S. John came to Samaria to bestow upon those who had been +baptized by Philip the outpouring of the Holy Ghost which +was accompanied by heavenly manifestations Simon offered +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span>them money, saying, “Give me also this power,” which he +obviously regarded as a charm or occult spell. S. Peter +forthwith sharply rebuked the unholy neophyte, who, +alarmed at this denunciation, implored the Apostles to pray +for him.</p> + +<p>Simon is not mentioned again in the New Testament, but +the first Christian writers have much to say concerning him. +S. Justin Martyr, in his first <i>Apologia</i> (<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 153-155) and in +his dialogue <i>Contra Tryphonem</i> (before <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 161), describes +Simon as a warlock who at the instigation of demons claimed +to be a god. During the reign of the Emperor Claudius, Simon +came to Rome, and by his sorceries won many followers +who paid him divine honours. He was accompanied by a +lewd concubine from Tyre, Helena, whom he claimed was +Heavenly Intelligence, set free from bondage by himself +the “great power.”</p> + +<p>In the <i>Pseudo-Clementine Homilies</i> (probably second century) +Simon appears as the chief antagonist of S. Peter, by +whom his devilish practices are exposed and his enchantments +dissolved. The apocryphal <i>Acts of S. Peter</i>, which are of +high antiquity,⁠<a id="FNanchor_462" href="#Footnote_462" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> give in detail the well-known legend of the +death of Simon Magus. By his spells the warlock had almost +won the Emperor Nero to himself, but continually he was +being foiled and thwarted owing to the intercession of the +Apostle. At last when Cæsar demanded one final proof of +the truth of his doctrines, some miracle that might be +performed at midday in the face of all Rome, Simon offered +to take his flight into the heavens—a diabolical parody of +the Ascension—so that men might know his power was full +as mighty as that of Him whom the Christians worshipped as +God.</p> + +<p>A mighty concourse gathered in the Forum: Vestal Virgins, +Senators, Equites, their ladies, and a whole rabble of lesser +folk. In the forefront of a new Imperial box sat the Lord Nero +Claudius Cæsar Augustus Germanicus, on one side his mother, +Agrippina, on the other Octavia his wife. Magic staff in +hand the magician advanced into the midst of the arena: +muttering a spell he bade his staff await his return, and +forthwith it stood upright, alone, upon the pavement. Then +with a deep obeisance to the ruler of the known world Simon +Magus stretched forth his arms, and a moment more with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span>rigid limbs and stern set face he rose from the ground and +began to float high in air toward the Capitol. Like some +monstrous bird he rose, and hovered fluttering in space +awhile. But among the throng stood S. Peter, and just as +the sorcerer had reached the topmost pinnacles of the shrine +of Juno Moneta, now Santa Maria in Aracœli, where brown +Franciscans sing the praises of God, the first Pope of Rome +kneeled down, lifted his right hand and deliberately made a +mighty Sign of the Cross towards the figure who usurped the +privileges of the Incarnate Son of Mary. Who shall say what +hosts of hells fled at that moment? The wizard dropped +swift as heavy lead; the body whirled and turned in the air; +it crashed, broken and breathless, at the foot of the Emperor’s +seat, which was fouled and bespattered with black gouts +of blood. At the same moment with a ringing sound the +staff fell prone on the pavement. The flag upon which +S. Peter kneeled may be seen even until this day in the +Church of Santa Francesca Romana. For, in order to +commemorate the defeat of the warlock, Pope S. Paul I +(757-767) built a church upon the site of his discomfiture, +and in 850 Pope S. Leo IV reconstructed it as Santa Maria +Nova, which gave place to the present fane dedicated in +1612.</p> + +<p>But the fame of Simon Magus as a wizard has been +swallowed up in his ill repute as a heretic; so early do heresy +and magic go hand in hand. He was the first Gnostic, whose +disciples the Simonians, an Antinomian sect of the second +century, indulged the sickest fantasies. Menander, the +successor of Simon, proclaimed himself the Messiah and +asserted that by his baptism immortality was conferred upon +his followers. He also was regarded as a mighty magician, +and the sect which was named after him, the Menandrians, +seems to have lasted for no inconsiderable time.</p> + +<p>In his missionary journeys S. Paul was continually combating +Witchcraft. At Paphos he was opposed by the +sorcerer Elymas; in Philippi a medium, “a certain damsel +possessed with a spirit of divination,” “spiritum pythonem,” +followed him along the streets crying out and naming him +as “a servant of the most high God,” until he exorcized the +spirit; at Ephesus, a hotbed of sorcery and superstition, he +converted many diviners and witches, who cleansed their +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span>souls by the Sacrament of Penance, and burned their conjuring +books, a library of no mean value. It amounted +indeed to fifty thousand drachmas (£2000), and one may +suppose that in addition to manuscripts there were amulets +of silver and gold, richly wrought and jewelled. In Ephesus, +also, had foregathered a large number of vagabond Jews, +exorcists. The chief characteristic of a Jewish exorcism was +the recitation of names believed to be efficacious, principally +names of good angels, which were used either alone, or in +combination with El (God); and, indeed, a blind reliance +upon the sound of mere names had long been a settled +practice with these amateur sorcerers, who considered that +the essence of their charms lay in the use of particular names +declaimed in a particular order, which differed on several +occasions. It was this belief, no doubt, that induced the +seven sons of Sceva, who had witnessed S. Paul’s exorcisms +in the name of Jesus, to try upon their own account the +formula “I conjure thee by Jesus whom Paul preacheth,” +an experiment disastrous to their credit. For in one case the +patient cried out “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who +are ye?” and leaped upon them with infernal strength, +beating and wounding them, so that they fled for safety from +the house, their limbs bruised and their garments torn, to +the great scandal of the neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>For the fact of demoniac possession the authority of +Christ Himself is plainly pledged; whilst Witchcraft is +explicitly ranked by S. Paul with murder, sedition, hatred, +and heresy (Galatians v. 20-21). S. John, also, twice +mentions sorcerers in a hideous catalogue of sinners. There +can be no doubt whatsoever that the reality of Witchcraft +is definitely maintained by the New Testament writers,⁠<a id="FNanchor_463" href="#Footnote_463" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> +and any denial of this implicitly involves a rejection of the +truth of the Christian revelation.</p> + +<p>Among the Jews of a later period, and probably even +to-day, various diseases are said to be induced by demons, +who, it is instructive to notice, haunt marshy places, damp +and decayed houses, latrines, squalid alleys, foul atmospheres +where sickness is bred and ripened.</p> + +<p>Josephus (<i>ob.</i> <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 100) relates that God taught Solomon +how demons were to be expelled, a “science useful and +sanitative to men.” He also gives an account of Eliezar, a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span>celebrated exorcist of the time, whom, in the presence of the +Emperor Vespasian, the historian actually saw casting out +evil spirits. The operator applied to the nose of the possessed +a ring having attached to it a root which Solomon is said +to have prescribed—“Baaras,” a herb of magical properties, +and one dangerous for the uninitiate to handle. As the +devils came forth Eliezar caused them to pass into a basin +filled with water, which was at once poured away. It may +be noticed also that demonology plays an important part +in the Book of Enoch (before 170 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>). Even in the Mishna +there are undoubted traces of magic, and in the Gemara +demonology and sorcery loom very largely. Throughout +the Middle Ages Jewish legend played no insignificant part +in the history of Witchcraft, and, especially in Spain, until +the nineteenth century at least, there were prosecutions, not +so much for the observance of Hebrew ceremonies as is often +suggested and supposed, but for the practice of the dark and +hideous traditions of Hebrew magic. Closely connected with +these ancient sorceries are those ritual murders, of which +a learned Premonstratensian Canon of Wilthin, Adrian +Kembter, writing in 1745, was able to enumerate no less +than two-and-fifty,⁠<a id="FNanchor_464" href="#Footnote_464" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> the latest of these having taken place +in 1650, when at Cadan in Bohemia, Matthias, a lad of four +years old, was killed by certain rabbis with seven wounds. +In many cases the evidence is quite conclusive that the +body, and especially the blood of the victim, was used for +magical purposes. Thus with reference to little S. Hugh +of Lincoln, after various very striking details, the chronicler +has: “Et cum exspirasset puer, deposuerunt corpus de cruce, +et nescitur qua ratione, euiscerarunt corpusculum; dicitur +autem, quod ad magicas artes exercendas.” In 1261 at +Forcheim in Bavaria the blood of a murdered boy was +used to sprinkle certain thresholds and doors. In 1285 at +Munich a witch was convicted of selling Christian children +to the Jews, who carefully preserved the blood in curious +vessels for secret rites. In 1494 at Tyrnau twelve vampires +were executed for having opened the veins of a boy whom +they had snared, and having drunk his warm blood thence +whilst he was yet alive. A deed of peculiar horror was +discovered at Szydlow in 1597 when the victim was put to +death in exquisite tortures, the blood and several members +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span>of the body being partaken of by the murderers. In almost +every case the blood was carefully collected, there can be +no doubt for magical purposes, the underlying idea being the +precept of the Mosaic law: Anima enim omnis carnis in +sanguine est:⁠<a id="FNanchor_465" href="#Footnote_465" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> For the life of all flesh is in the blood thereof.</p> + +<h3 id="NOTES_TO_CHAPTER_V">NOTES TO CHAPTER V</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_428" href="#FNanchor_428">[1]</a> <i>Khartummim.</i> The same word is used to describe the magicians whom +Pharaoh summoned to interpret his dream, <i>Genesis</i> xli. 8, where the Vulgate +has <i>coniectores</i>. <i>Exodus</i> viii. 11, the Vulgate reads: “Uocauit autem Pharao +sapientes et maleficos.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_429" href="#FNanchor_429">[2]</a> It is perhaps worth mentioning that even the most modernistic commentators +assign the history of Balaam to the oldest document of the +Hexateuch, that they call the Jehovistic.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_430" href="#FNanchor_430">[3]</a> In his commentary on the ninth chapter of the prophet Osee (Hosea), +S. Jerome says: “Ingressi [sunt] ad Beel-Phegor, idolum Moabitarum quem +nos PRIAPUM possumus appelare.” And Rufinus on the same prophet has: +“Beel-Phegor figuram Priapi dixerunt tenere.” (They entered in unto +Beel-Phegor, the idol of the Moabites, whom we may identify with PRIAPUS.... +Beel-Phegor is said to have had the same shape as Priapus.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_431" href="#FNanchor_431">[4]</a> Balaam hariolus a Domino mittitur ut decipiat Balac filium Beor. <i>In +Ezechielem</i>, IV. xiv. Migne, <i>Patres Latini</i>, XXV. p. 118. (Baalam, a soothsayer, +is sent by God to deceive Balac, son of Beor.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_432" href="#FNanchor_432">[5]</a> Balaam fuisse prophetam non Dei, sed diaboli constat.... Fuit ipse +magus, et dæmonis alloquium quærebat, eumque consulere.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_433" href="#FNanchor_433">[6]</a> The word is usually found with <i>yidde ’onim</i> (from <i>yada</i>, “to know,”) +and they are generally considered to be identical in meaning. But W. R. +Smith, <i>Journ. Phil.</i>, XIV. 127, makes the following distinction: Yidde ’oni +is a familiar spirit, one known to him who calls it up; the ’ôbh is any spirit +who may be invoked by a spell and forced to answer questions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_434" href="#FNanchor_434">[7]</a> <i>Divination, et la science des présages</i>, Paris, 1875. p. 161 ff.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_435" href="#FNanchor_435">[8]</a> <i>History of the People of Israel</i>, 3 vols., London, 1888-91. I. p. 347.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_436" href="#FNanchor_436">[9]</a> Cf. Ovid, <i>Metamorphoseon</i>, IV, 412-3, of bats:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Conatæque loqui, minimam pro corpore uocem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Emittunt; peraguntque leues stridore querelas.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_437" href="#FNanchor_437">[10]</a> Josephus says that Samuel told the witch it was Saul.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_438" href="#FNanchor_438">[11]</a> Migne, <i>Patres Græci</i>, LXXX. p. 589.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_439" href="#FNanchor_439">[12]</a> Plerique putant Saulem signum accepisse de terra et de profundo inferni +quando Samuelem per incantationes et artes magicas uisus est suscitasse. +Migne, <i>Patres Latini</i>, XXIV. p. 106.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_440" href="#FNanchor_440">[13]</a> ... inspirantur diabolico spiritu. Has autem dicunt Hebræi maleficis +artibus eruditas per necromantias et pythicum spiritum qualis fuit illa quæ +uisa est suscitare animam Samuelis. <i>Idem</i>, XXV. p. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_441" href="#FNanchor_441">[14]</a> Migne, <i>Patres Græci</i>, XLV. pp. 107-14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_442" href="#FNanchor_442">[15]</a> Δαίμονες γαρ ἦσαν οἱ κατασχηματίζουτες ὲαυτοὺς εἰς τὸ τοῦ Σαμουὴλ πρόσωπον. +<i>Idem</i>, XXX. p. 497.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_443" href="#FNanchor_443">[16]</a> Et credo quia [spiritus immundi] mendacio possunt; nec enim pythonico +tunc spiritui minus liciut animam Samuelis effingere. (<i>De Anima</i>, LVII.) +Migne, <i>Patres Latini</i>, II. p. 749.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_444" href="#FNanchor_444">[17]</a> Ἀλλὰ γέγραπται, ὁτὶ ἔγνω Σαουλ ὅτι Σαμουὴλ ἔστι.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_445" href="#FNanchor_445">[18]</a> ἐπεὶ οὐ δύναται ψευδέσθαι ἡ Γραφη. τὰ δε ῥήματα τῆς Γραφῆς ἐστὶν· Καὶ εἶδεν +ἡ γυνὴ τὸν Σαμουήλ. (<i>In librum Regum.</i> Homilia II.) Migne, <i>Patres Græci</i>, +XII. p. 1013.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_446" href="#FNanchor_446">[19]</a> καὶ ὅτι μένουσιν αὶ ψυχαὶ, ἀπέδειξα ὑμῖν ἐκ τοῦ καὶ τὴν Σαμουὴλ ψυχὴν κληθῆναι +ὑπὸ τῆς ἐγγαστριμμύθου, ὡς ἠξίωσιν ὁ Σαουλ. (<i>In I. Regum.</i> XXVIII.) <i>Idem</i>, XII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_447" href="#FNanchor_447">[20]</a> Samuel post mortem, secundum Scripturæ Testimonium futura non +tacuit. <i>I. Regum.</i> XXVIII. 17 <i>et seq.</i> (<i>In Lucam.</i> I. 33.) Migne, <i>Patres +Latini</i>. XV. p. 1547.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_448" href="#FNanchor_448">[21]</a> Imago Samuelis mortui Saul regi uera prænuntiauit. <i>Idem</i>, XXXIV. +p. 52. And <i>De Cura</i>, XL. p. 606.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_449" href="#FNanchor_449">[22]</a> Nam Samuel propheta defunctus uiuo Sauli etiam regi futura prædixit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_450" href="#FNanchor_450">[23]</a> Whiston’s translation. Ed. 1825. Vol. I, p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_451" href="#FNanchor_451">[24]</a> So <i>1 Kings</i> (<i>Samuel</i>) xv. 23: “Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, +to rebel.” Heresy and rebellion are fundamentally the same.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_452" href="#FNanchor_452">[25]</a> Schrader, <i>Die Keilenscheiften und das alte Testament</i>, Giessen, 2nd ed., +1883.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_453" href="#FNanchor_453">[26]</a> ... raconta ses rapts d’enfants, ses hideuses tactiques, ses stimulations +infernales, ses meurtres impétueux, ses implacables viols; obsédé par la +vision des ses victimes, il décrivit leurs agonies ralenties ou hâtées, leurs +appels et leurs râles; il avoua s’être vautré dans les élastiques tiédeurs des +intestins; il confessa qu’il avait arraché des cœurs par des plaies élargies, +ouvertes, telles que des fruits mûrs. <i>Là-Bas</i>, J. K. Huysmans, c. xviii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_454" href="#FNanchor_454">[27]</a> Healey’s translation, 1610.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_455" href="#FNanchor_455">[28]</a> <i>De Magia</i>, XLVII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_456" href="#FNanchor_456">[29]</a> <i>The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia</i>, Sven Nilsson. 3rd edition. +1868. p. 241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_457" href="#FNanchor_457">[30]</a> The original title is κατὰ πασῶν αἱρέσεων ἔλεγχος. A Refutation of all +Heresies. The first book had long been known; books IV-X, which had +been discovered a short time previously, were first published in 1851 (Oxford) +by Miller as the work of Origen, but edited by Duncker and Schneidewin +as by Hippolitus, eight years later, Göttingen, 1859. The first chapters of +the Fourth, and the whole of the Second and Third Books are still missing.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_458" href="#FNanchor_458">[31]</a> Theocritus, II. 121. Κρατὶ δ’ ἔχων λεύκαν Ἡρακλέος ἱερὸν ἔρνος. Vergil. +<i>Eclogue</i> VIII, 61: Populus Alcidæ gratissima. <i>Æneid</i>, VIII, 276: Herculea +bicolor quem populus umbra....</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_459" href="#FNanchor_459">[32]</a> Pliny (<i>Historia Naturalis</i>, XV. 86) says walnuts were thrown, and it +appears from an inscription that this custom prevailed on birthdays as well +as at weddings. But originally, at any rate, chestnuts were also used. In +time the meaning became obscured, and as nuts were used in all kinds of +games they merely became synonymous with playthings.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_460" href="#FNanchor_460">[33]</a> The play is referred to in 1520 as <i>Messer Nicia</i>, and the first edition +printed at Florence <i>circa</i> 1524 has the title <i>The Comedy of Callimaco and +Lucrezia</i>, but the Prologue definitely gives the name <i>La Mandragola</i> (<i>The +Mandrake</i>), and this is used in all later editions. The story has been imitated +by La Fontaine; the play itself (which is still acted in Italy) has been +repeatedly translated, at least six times into French and five times into +German, but as yet no English version has been published.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_461" href="#FNanchor_461">[34]</a> <i>De Legibus Hebræorum ritualibus earumque rationibus</i>, 2 vols., Tubingæ, +1732.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_462" href="#FNanchor_462">[35]</a> Not later than <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 200. They were well known to Commodian, who +wrote about <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_463" href="#FNanchor_463">[36]</a> This is, of course, the view of the Fathers, and even later theological +writers (e.g. Alfred Edersheim, Delitzsch, Rev. Walter Scott) accept this +literal truth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_464" href="#FNanchor_464">[37]</a> In his book <i>Acta pro Ueritate Martyrii corporis, & cultus publici +B. Andreæ Rinnensis</i>, Innsbruck, 1745. Blessed Andrew, a child, was killed +at Rinn in the Tyrol, 12 July, 1462. A systematic investigation would, no +doubt, wellnigh double the number of instances recorded by Kembter, and +there are 15 for the eighteenth, 39 for the nineteenth century. In 1913 +Mendil Beiliss was tried upon the charge of ritually murdering a Russian +lad, Yushinsky.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_465" href="#FNanchor_465">[38]</a> Leviticus xvii. 14.</p></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI<br> +<span class="smcap">Diabolic Possession and Modern Spiritism</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p>The phenomenon of diabolic possession, the mere possibility +of which materialists and modernists in recent years have for +the most part stoutly denied, has, nevertheless, been believed +by all peoples and at all periods of the earth’s history. In +truth he who accepts the spiritual world is bound to realize +all about him the age-long struggle for empery of discarnate +evil ceaselessly contending with a thousand cunning sleights +and a myriad vizardings against the eternal unconquerable +powers of good. Nature herself bears witness to the contest; +disease and death, cruelty and pain, ugliness and sin, are +all evidences of the mighty warfare, and it would be surprising +indeed if some were not wounded in the fray—for we cannot +stand apart, each man, S. Ignatius says, must fight under +one of the two standards—if some even did not fall.</p> + +<p>The ancient Egyptians, whose religion of boundless +antiquity is pre-eminent in the old world for its passionate +earnestness, its purity, and lofty idealism certainly held that +some diseases were due to the action of evil spirits or demons, +who in exceptional circumstances had the power of entering +human bodies and of vexing them in proportion to the +opportunities consciously or unconsciously given to their +malign natures and influences. Moreover, the Egyptians +were regarded as being supremely gifted in the art of curing +the diseases caused by demoniacal possession, and one noteworthy +instance of this was inscribed upon a stele and set up +in the temple of the god Khonsu at Thebes so that all men +might learn his might and his glory.⁠<a id="FNanchor_466" href="#Footnote_466" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> When King Rameses II +was in Mesopotamia the various princes made him many +offerings of gold and gems, and amongst other came the +Prince of Bekhten, who brought his daughter, the fairest +maiden of that land. When the king saw he loved her and +bestowed upon her the title of “Royal spouse, chief lady, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>Rā-neferu” (the beauties of Ra, the Sun-god), and taking +her back to Egypt he married her with great pomp and +hallowed solemnity. In the fifteenth year of the king’s reign +there arrived at his court an ambassador from the Prince +of Bekhten, bearing rich presents and beseeching him “on +behalf of the lady Bent-ent-resht, the younger sister of the +royal spouse Rā-neferu, for, behold, an evil disease hath laid +hold upon her body,” “wherefore,” said the envoy, “I beseech +thy Majesty to send a physician⁠<a id="FNanchor_467" href="#Footnote_467" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> to see her.” Rameses +ordered the books of the “double house of life” to be brought +and the wise men to choose from their number one who +might be sent to Bekhten. They selected the sage Tehuti-em-heb, +who in company with the ambassador forthwith +departed on their journey, and when they had arrived +the Egyptian priest soon found the lady Bent-ent-resht +was possessed of a demon or spirit over which he was +powerless. Wellnigh in despair the Prince of Bekhten sent +again to the king begging him to dispatch even a god to his +help.</p> + +<p>When the ambassador arrived a second time Rameses was +worshipping in the temple of Khonsu Nefer-hetep at Thebes, +and he at once besought that deity to allow his counterpart +Khonsu to go to Bekhten and to deliver the daughter of the +prince of that country from the demon who possessed her. +Khonsu Nefer-hetep granted the request, and a fourfold +measure of magical power was imparted to the statue of the +god which was to go to Bekhten. The god, seated in his boat, +and five other boats with figures of gods in them, accompanied +by a noble attendance of horses and chariots upon the right +and the left, set out for Bekhten, where in due course they +were received with great honour. The god Khonsu was +brought to the place where the princess was, magical ceremonies +were performed, and the demon incontinently +departed. Khonsu remained in Bekhten three years, four +months, and five days, being worshipped with the utmost +veneration. One night, however, the Prince had a dream +in which he saw a hawk of gold issue from the sacred shrine +and wing its way towards Egypt. In the morning the +Egyptian priests interpreted his dream as meaning that the +god now wished to return, and accordingly he was escorted +back in superb state, and with him were sent grateful gifts +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span>and thank offerings innumerable to be laid in the temple of +Khonsu Nefer-hetep at Thebes.</p> + +<p>The Greeks of the earlier civilization were inclined generally +to attribute all sickness to the gods, who again often by this +particular means took almost immediate revenge upon those +who had insulted their images, profaned their sanctuaries, +or derided their worship. Thus Pentheus who resists the +introduction of the mysteries of Dionysus into Thebes is +driven mad by the affronted deity.⁠<a id="FNanchor_468" href="#Footnote_468" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> The madness of Ajax, +and that of the daughters of Proetus,⁠<a id="FNanchor_469" href="#Footnote_469" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> who imagined themselves +changed into cows, shows us that this belief went back +to heroic times. In later days Demaratus and his brother +Alopecos were driven lunatic (παραφρονήσαν) after having +found the statue of Artemis Orthosia, and this was considered +to be the power of the goddess.⁠<a id="FNanchor_470" href="#Footnote_470" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> The frenzy which attacked +Quintus Fulvius was regarded as a punishment, a possession +by evil spirits on account of his sacrilege in having stolen +the marble roof of the temple of Juno Lacinia at Locri.⁠<a id="FNanchor_471" href="#Footnote_471" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>Pythagoras taught that the ailments both of men and +of animals are due to demons who throng the regions of the +air, and this doctrine does no more than state clearly what +had been more or less vaguely believed from the dawn of +human history. Wherefore Homer in the <i>Odyssey</i>, speaking +of a man who is racked by a sore disease, says that a hateful +demon is tormenting him: στυγερὸς δέ οἱ ἔχραε δαίμων, +V, 396. (But a hateful demon griped him fast.) The word +κακοδαιμονία, possession by an evil spirit, in Aristophanes signifies +“raving madness,” and the verb κακοδαιμονάω, to be +tormented by an evil spirit, is used by Xenophon, Demosthenes, +Dinarchus, and Plutarch⁠<a id="FNanchor_472" href="#Footnote_472" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> amongst other authors.</p> + +<p>Many philosophers believed that each man has a protecting +daimon, who in some sense personifies his individuality. It +followed that lunatics and the delirious were afflicted with +madness by these spirits who guided them, and accordingly +the Greek names for those distraught are highly significant: +ἐνεργούμενοι (in later Greek, persons possessed of an evil +spirit), δαιμονιόληπτοι (influenced by devils), θεόληπτοι, +θεόβλαβες (stricken of God), θεόμανες (maddened by the +gods); and so Euripides has λύσσα θεομανής, and again +θεομανης πότμος.⁠<a id="FNanchor_473" href="#Footnote_473" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The very name μανία given by the +Greeks to madness was derived from the root-word <i>man, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span>men</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_474" href="#Footnote_474" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> which occurs in the Latin <i>Manes</i>, and indeed the +Romans thought that a madman was tormented by the +goddess Mania, the mother of the Lares, the hallucinations +of lunatics being taken to be spectres who pursued them.⁠<a id="FNanchor_475" href="#Footnote_475" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +And so a madman was <i>laruarum plenus</i>, <i>laruatus</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_476" href="#Footnote_476" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> one whom +phantoms disturbed; as in Plautus, where the doctor says: +“What kind of a disease is this? Explain. Unfold, old sire, +I say. Art thou crazed (<i>laruatus</i>) or lunatic? Tell me now.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_477" href="#Footnote_477" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>The frantic exaltation which thrilled the Galli, and the +Corybantes when they celebrated the Dionysia, seems to +have been epidemic, and was universally attributed to divine +possession. There are many allusions to the connexion +between the rites of Cybele and Dionysus. Apollodorus⁠<a id="FNanchor_478" href="#Footnote_478" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +says Dionysus was purified from madness by Rhea at the +Phrygian Cybela, and was then initiated into her rites and +took her dress; thence he passed into Thrace with a train +of Bacchanals and Satyrs. Strabo,⁠<a id="FNanchor_479" href="#Footnote_479" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> on the other hand, +thinks the rites were brought from Thrace by colonists from +that country into Phrygia; he even quotes a fragment from +the <i>Edoni</i> of Æschylus⁠<a id="FNanchor_480" href="#Footnote_480" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> as proving the identity of the +cultus of Dionysus and Cybele. So also we have in Euripides, +<i>Bacchæ</i>, 58,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent10">Up, and wake the sweet old sound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The clang that I and mystic Rhea found,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Timbrel of the Mountains.⁠<a id="FNanchor_481" href="#Footnote_481" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>It is interesting to remark that Nicander of Claros,⁠<a id="FNanchor_482" href="#Footnote_482" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> who +was a physician, in his <i>Alexipharmaca</i> (Ἀλεξιφάρμακα), +speaking of a particular form of lunacy, compares the shrieks +uttered by patients with those of a priestess of Rhea, when +on the ninth day she makes all whom she encounters in +the streets tremble at the hideous howl of the Idæan Mother; +κερνοφόρος ζάκορος βωμίστρια Ῥείης is the exact phrase.⁠<a id="FNanchor_483" href="#Footnote_483" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>In the <i>Hippolytus</i> (141 <i>sqq.</i>) the Chorus speaking to +Phædra says:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Is this some spirit, O child of man?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Doth Hecat hold thee perchance, or Pan?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Doth She of the Mountains work her ban,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or the Dread Corybantes bind thee?⁠<a id="FNanchor_484" href="#Footnote_484" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>And in the <i>Medea</i> (1171-2) we have: “She seemed, I wot, +to be one frenzied, inspired with madness by Pan or some +other of the gods.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_485" href="#Footnote_485" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span></p> + +<p>Here τινὸς θεῶν, says Paley, alludes to Dionysus or +Cybele. Madness was sometimes thought to be sent by Pan +for any neglect of his worship, so in the <i>Rhesus</i> Hector +cries (36-7): “Can it be that you are scared by the fear-causing +stroke of Pan of old Kronos’s line?”⁠<a id="FNanchor_486" href="#Footnote_486" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Aretæus, the medical writer, who is especially celebrated +for his accuracy of diagnosis, in his <i>De signis chronicorum +morborum</i>, VI, describes Corybantic frenzy as a mental +malady and says that patients may be soothed and even +cured by the strains of soft music.⁠<a id="FNanchor_487" href="#Footnote_487" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> We have here then the +same remedy as was applied in the case of Saul, whom, we +are told, “an evil spirit from the Lord troubled,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_488" href="#Footnote_488" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> and to +whose court David, the sweet harper, was summoned. This +seems to be the only instance of demoniac possession in the +Old Testament and although the Hebrew word <i>rûah</i> need +not absolutely imply a personal influence, if we may judge +from Josephus⁠<a id="FNanchor_489" href="#Footnote_489" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> the Jews certainly gave the word that +meaning in this very passage.</p> + +<p>It may be well here clearly to explain the difference +between possession and obsession, two technical terms sometimes +confounded. By obsession is meant that the demon +attacks a man’s body from without;⁠<a id="FNanchor_490" href="#Footnote_490" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> by possession is meant +that he assumes control of it from within. Thus S. Jerome +describes the obsessions which beset S. Hilarion: “Many +were his temptations; day and night did the demons change +and renew their snares.... As he lay down how often did +not nude women encircle him? When he was an hungered +how often a plenteous board was spread before him?”⁠<a id="FNanchor_491" href="#Footnote_491" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> +S. Antony the Great, also was similarly attacked: “The +devil did not let to attack him, at night assuming the form +of some maiden and imitating a woman’s gestures to deceive +Antony.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_492" href="#Footnote_492" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> These painful phenomena are not uncommon in +the lives of the Saints. Very many examples might be cited, +but one will suffice, that of S. Margaret of Cortona,⁠<a id="FNanchor_493" href="#Footnote_493" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> the +Franciscan penitent,⁠<a id="FNanchor_494" href="#Footnote_494" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> who was long and terribly tormented: +“Following her to and fro up and down her humble cell as +she wept and prayed [the devil] sang the most filthy songs, +and lewdly incited Christ’s dear handmaid, who with tears +was commending herself to the Lord, to join him in trolling +forth bawdy catches ... but her prayers and tears finally +routed the foul spirit and drove him far away.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_495" href="#Footnote_495" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span>theologians, however, warn us to be very cautious in dealing +with so difficult a matter, and the supreme authority of +S. Alphonsus Liguori advises us that by far the greater part +of these obsessions are distressing hallucinations, neurasthenia, +imagination, hysteria, in a word, pathological: “It +is advisable always to be very suspicious of such diabolic +attacks, for it cannot be gainsaid that for the most part +they are fancy, or the effect of imagination, or weakness, +especially when women are concerned.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_496" href="#Footnote_496" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Dom Dominic +Schram presses home the same point with equal emphasis: +“Very often what are supposed to be demoniacal obsessions +are nothing else than natural ailments, or morbid imaginings, +or even distractions or actual lunacy. Wherefore it is +necessary to deal with these cases most carefully, until the +peculiar symptoms clearly show that it is actual obsession.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_497" href="#Footnote_497" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>Demoniac possession is frequently presented to us in the +New Testament, and we have the authority of Christ Himself +as to its reality. The infidel argument is to deny the possibility +of possession in any circumstances, either on the +hypothesis that there are no evil spirits in existence, or that +they are powerless to influence the human body in the +manner described. But whatever view Rationalists may +adopt—and they are continually shifting their ground—no +reader of the Scriptural narrative can deny that Christ by +word and deed showed His entire belief in possession by evil +spirits. And if Christ were divine how came He to foster +and encourage a delusion? Why did He not correct it? +Only two answers can be supposed. Either He was ignorant +of a religious truth, or He deliberately gave instructions that +He knew to be false, frequently acting in a way which was +something more than misleading. To a Christian either of +these explanations is, of course, unthinkable. The theory +of accommodation formulated by Winer⁠<a id="FNanchor_498" href="#Footnote_498" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> may be accepted +by Modernists, but will be instantly condemned by all others. +Accommodation is understood as the toleration of harmless +illusions of the day having little or no connexion with religion. +Even if this fine piece of profanity were allowed, which, of +course, must not be the case, the argument could not be +applied here, indeed it seems wholly repugnant even in +regard to a Saint, but entirely impossible in consideration of +the divinity of Christ.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span></p> + +<p>The victims of possession were sometimes deprived of speech +and sight: “Then was offered to him one possessed of a +devil, blind and dumb: and he healed him, so that he spoke +and saw” (S. Matthew xii. 22). Sometimes they had lost +speech alone: “Behold, they brought him a dumb man, +possessed with a devil, and after the devil was cast out the +dumb man spoke” (S. Matthew ix. 32, 33); also “And he +was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb: and when +he had cast out the devil the dumb spoke” (S. Luke xi. 14). +In many cases the mere fact of possession is mentioned +without further details: “they presented to him such as +were possessed by devils, and lunatics ... and he cured +them” (S. Matthew iv. 24); “and when evening was come, +they brought to him many that were possessed with devils, +and he cast out the spirits with his word” (S. Matthew viii. +16); “And, behold a woman of Canaan, who came out of +those coasts, crying out, said to him: Have mercy on me, +O Lord, thou son of David: my daughter is grievously +troubled by a devil ... Then Jesus answering, said to her: +O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: +and her daughter was cured from that hour” (S. Matthew xv. +22-28); “And when it was evening after sunset they brought +to him all that were ill and that were possessed with devils”; +“And he cast out many devils, and he suffered them not to +speak, because they knew him”; “And he was preaching +in their synagogues, and in all Galilee, and casting out +devils” (S. Mark i. 32, 34, 39); “And the unclean spirits, +when they saw him, fell down before him: and they cried, +saying: Thou art the Son of God” (S. Mark iii. 11, 12); +“And devils went out from many, crying out and saying: +Thou art the Son of God” (S. Luke iv. 41); “And they +that were troubled with unclean spirits were cured” (S. Luke +vi. 18); “And in that same hour, he cured many of their +diseases, and hurts, and evil spirits” (S. Luke vii. 21). +The exorcism of the man “who had a devil now a very long +time,” and who dwelt among the tombs in the country of +the Gerasens (Gadarenes) is related by S. Luke (viii. 27-39). +The possessed is tormented by so many unclean spirits that +they proclaim their name as Legion: he is endowed with +supernatural strength so that he breaks asunder bonds +and fetters: the devils recognize Christ as God, and Our +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span>Lord converses with them, asking how they are called. +Immediately the devils have been cast out the man is +clothed, peaceable, reasonable, and quiet, “in his right +mind.”</p> + +<p>At the foot of Mount Tabor a young man is brought by +his father to be healed. The youth is possessed of a dumb +spirit, “who, wheresoever he taketh him dasheth him, and +he foameth, and gnasheth with the teeth, and pineth away.” +When Jesus approached, “immediately the spirit troubled +him; and being thrown down upon the ground, he rolled +about foaming.” The patient had been thus afflicted “from +his infancy, and oftentimes hath he cast him into the fire and +into waters to destroy him.” Our Lord threatened the +spirit, and forthwith expelled it. (S. Mark ix. 14-28.) It +should be noticed that it is the demons who are addressed +on these occasions, not their victims. In the face of this +catena of Biblical evidence and the various circumstances +attending these exorcisms it is impossible to maintain that +the possessed suffered merely from epilepsy, paralysis, acute +mania, or any other such disease. In fact the Evangelists +carefully separate natural maladies from diabolic possession: +“He cast out the spirits with his word: and all that were +sick he healed” (S. Matthew viii. 16); “They brought to +him all that were ill and that were possessed with devils ... +and he healed many that were troubled with divers diseases +and he cast out many devils” (S. Mark i. 32, 34). In the +original Greek the distinction is still more clearly and +unmistakably shown: πάντας τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας καὶ τοὺς +δαιμονιζομένους. Saint Matthew, again, differentiates: +“they presented to him all sick people that were taken +with divers diseases [ποικίλαις νόσοις] and torments +[βασάνοις] and such as were possessed by devils [δαιμονιζομένους] +and lunatics [σεληνιαζομένους] and those who +had the palsy [παραλυτικούς] and he cured them,” iv. 24. +Moreover, Our Lord expressly distinguishes between possession +and natural disease; “Behold I cast out devils and do +cures,” are the Divine Words; ἰδοὺ ἐκβάλλω δαιμόνια καὶ +ἰάσεις ἀποτελῶ (S. Luke xiii. 32).</p> + +<p>That the demoniacs were often afflicted with other diseases +as well is highly probable. The demons may have attacked +those who were already sick, whilst the very fact of obsession +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span>or possession would of itself produce disease as a natural +consequence.</p> + +<p>According to S. Matthew x. 1, Our Lord gave special +powers to the Apostles to exorcize demons: “And having +called his twelve disciples together, he gave them power over +unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of +diseases, and all manner of infirmities.” And S. Peter, when +describing the mission and miracles of Christ, stresses this +very point: “Jesus of Nazareth: how God anointed him +with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about doing +good, and healing all that were possessed by the devil,” +τοὺς καταδυναστευομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου (Acts x. 38). +Our Lord Himself directly appeals to His power over evil +spirits as a proof of His Messiahship: “If I by the finger +of God cast out devils; doubtless the kingdom of God is +come upon you”; εἰ δὲ ἐν δακτύλῳ Θεοῦ ἐκβάλλω τά +δαιμόνια, ἄρα ἔφθασεν ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ (S. Luke +xi. 20).</p> + +<p>Whilst yet on earth Christ empowered the Apostles to +cast out demons in His Name, and in His last solemn charge +He promised that the same delegated power should be +perpetuated: “These signs shall follow them that believe: +in my name they shall cast out devils”; σημεῖα δὲ τοῖς +πιστεύσασι ταῦτα παρακολουθήσει· ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου δαιμόνια +ἐκβαλοῦσι (S. Mark xvi. 17.) But the efficacy of exorcism +was conditional, not absolute as in the case of Our Lord +Himself, for He explained, upon an occasion when the +Apostles seemed to fail, that certain spirits could only be +expelled by prayer and fasting. Moreover, a perfect belief +and complete command are necessary for the exorcizer. τότε +προσέλθοντες οἱ μαθηταὶ τῷ Ἱησοῦ κατ ἰδίαν εἶπον, Διατί ἡμεῖς οὐκ +ἠδυνήθημεν ἐκβαλεῖν αὐτό; ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς λέγει αὐτοῖς, Διὰ τὲν +ὀλιγοπιστίαν ὑμῶν· ... τοῦτο δὲ τὸ γένος οὐκ ἑκπορεύεται εἰ μὴ +ἐν προσευχῇ καὶ νηστείᾳ ... (S. Matthew xvii. 19-21). S. Paul, +and no doubt the other Apostles and Disciples, regularly made +use of this exorcizing power. Thus, at Philippi, where the girl +“having a pythonical spirit ... who brought to her masters +much gain by divining” (παιδίσκην τινὰ ἔχουσαν πεῦνμα +πύθωνα ... ἥτις ἐργασίαν πολλὴν παρεῖχε τοῖς κυρίοις αὐτῆς +μαντευπμένη)⁠<a id="FNanchor_499" href="#Footnote_499" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> met S. Paul and S. Luke and proclaimed them +as servants of the most high God, S. Paul “being grieved, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span>turned, and said to the spirit: I command thee, in the name +of Jesus Christ, to go out from her. And he went out the +same hour” (Acts xvi. 16-18). And at Ephesus, a hot-bed +of magic and necromancy, “God wrought by the hand of +Paul more than common miracles. So that even there were +brought from his body to the sick, handkerchiefs and aprons, +and the diseases departed from them, and the wicked spirits +went out of them” (Acts xix. 11, 12). Those who do not +imagine that the powers Our Lord perpetually bestowed +upon the Apostles and their followers abruptly ceased with +the thirty-first verse of the twenty-eighth chapter of The +Acts of the Apostles, realize that the charisma of exorcism +has continued through the ages, and in truth the Church +has uninterruptedly practised it until the present day.</p> + +<p>The Exorcist is ordained by the Bishop for this office, +ordination to which is the second of the four minor orders +of the Western Church. Pope Cornelius (251-252) mentions +in his letter to Fabius that there were then in the Roman +Church forty-two acolytes, and fifty-two exorcists, readers, +and door-keepers, and the institution of these orders together +with the organization of their functions, seems to have been +the work of the predecessor of Cornelius, Pope Saint Fabian +the Martyr (236-251).</p> + +<p>The rite of the Ordination of Exorcists, “De Ordinatione +Exorcistarum,” is as follows: First, the Book of Exorcisms, +or in its place the Pontifical or Missal must be ready at hand; +<i>Pro Exorcistis ordinandis paretur liber exorcismorum, cuius +loco dari potest Pontificale uel Missale</i> (A Book of Exorcisms +must be prepared for those who are to be ordained Exorcists. +Howbeit in place thereof the Pontifical or the Missal may be +handed to them) runs the rubric. When the Lectors have +been ordained, the Bishop resuming his mitre takes his place +upon his seat or faldstool at the Epistle side of the altar, +and the Missal with the bugia being brought by his acolytes +he proceeds to read the Gradual, or (if it be within the Octave +of Pentecost) the <i>Alleluia</i>. Meantime the Gradual is sung +by the choir. When it is finished, he rises, takes off his +mitre, and turning to the altar intones the third collect. +He next sits again, resumes his mitre, and the third Lection +is read. Two chaplains assist him with bugia and book +whence he reads the Lection. The Archdeacon now summons +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span>the ordinandi, who approach, holding lighted tapers in their +hands, and kneel before the Bishop, who solemnly admonishes +them with the prayer:</p> + +<p>“Dearest children who are about to be ordained to the +office of Exorcists, ye must duly know what ye are about +to undertake. For an Exorcist must cast out devils; and +announce to the people that those that may not be present +at the sacrifice should retire; and at the altar minister +water to the priest. Ye receive also the power of placing +your hand upon energumens, and by the imposition of your +hands and the grace of the Holy Spirit and the words of +exorcism unclean spirits are driven out from the bodies of +those who are obsessed. Be careful therefore that as ye +drive out devils from the bodies of others, so ye banish all uncleanness +and evil from your own bodies lest ye fall beneath +the power of those spirits who by your ministry are conquered +in others. Learn through your office to govern all +imperfections lest the enemy may claim a share in you and +some dominion over you. For truly will ye rightly control +those devils who attack others, when first ye have overcome +their many crafts against yourselves. And this may the +Lord vouchsafe to grant you through His Holy Spirit.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_500" href="#Footnote_500" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> +After which the Bishop hands to each severally the Book +of Exorcisms (or Pontifical or Missal), saying: “Receive +this and commit it to thy memory and have power to place +thy hands upon energumens, whether they be baptized, or +whether they be catechumens.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_501" href="#Footnote_501" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> All kneel, and the Bishop, +wearing his mitre, stands and prays:</p> + +<p>“Dearest brethren, let us humbly pray God the Father +Almighty that He may vouchsafe to bless these his servants +to the office of Exorcists that they may have the power to +command spirits, to cast forth from the bodies of those who +are obsessed demons with every kind of their wickedness +and deceit. Through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ +Our Lord who with Him liveth and reigneth in the unity +of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. <i>R.</i> Amen.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_502" href="#Footnote_502" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> +Then, his mitre having been removed, he turns to the altar +with “Oremus” to which is given the reply “Flectamus +genua” with “Leuate,” and the last prayer is said over +the kneeling exorcists: “Holy Lord, Almighty Father, +Eternal God vouchsafe to bless these thy servants to the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span>office of Exorcists; that by the imposition of our hands and +the words of our mouth they may have power and authority +to govern and restrain all unclean spirits: that they may be +skilful physicians for Thy Church, that they may heal many +and be themselves strengthened with all Heavenly Grace. +Through Our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son who with Thee +liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit one God +world without end. <i>R.</i> Amen.” And then, at a sign from +the Archdeacon, they return to their places.⁠<a id="FNanchor_503" href="#Footnote_503" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>It should be remarked that the Exorcist is specifically +ordained “to cast out demons,” and he receives “power to +place his (your) hands upon the possessed, so that by the +imposition of his (your) hands,⁠<a id="FNanchor_504" href="#Footnote_504" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> the grace of the Holy Ghost, +and the words of exorcism, evil spirits are driven out from +the bodies of the possessed.” The very striking term +<i>spiritualis imperator</i> is strictly applied to him, and God +the Father is earnestly entreated to grant him the grace +“to cast out demons from the bodies of the possessed with +all their many sleights of wickedness.” Nothing could be +plainer, nothing could be more solemn, nothing could be +more pregnant with meaning and intention. The Order and +delegated power of Exorcists cannot be minimized; at least, +so to do is clean contrary to the mind of the Church as +emphatically expressed in her most authoritative rites. In +actual practice the office of Exorcist has almost wholly been +taken over by clerics in major orders, but this, of course, in +no way affects the status and authority of the second of the +four minor orders.</p> + +<p>Every priest, more especially perhaps if he be a parish +priest, is liable to be called upon to perform his duty as +Exorcist. In doing so he must carefully bear in mind and +adhere to the prescriptions of the <i>Rituale Romanum</i>, and he +will do well to have due regard to the laws of provincial or +diocesan synods, which for the most part require that the +Bishop should be consulted and his authorization obtained +before exorcism be essayed.</p> + +<p>The chief points of importance in the detailed instructions +under twenty-one heads prefixed to the rite in the <i>Rituale</i> +may thus be briefly summarized: (1) The priest or exorcist +should be of mature age, humble, of blameless life, courageous, +of experience, and well-attested prudence. It is fitting he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span>should prepare himself for his task by special acts of devotion +and mortification, by fervent prayer and by fasting (S. Matthew +xvii. 20). (2) He must be a man of scholarship and +learning, a systematic student and well versed in the latest +trends and developments of psychological science. (3) Possession +is not lightly to be taken for granted. Each case is +to be carefully examined and great caution to be used in +distinguishing genuine possession from certain forms of +disease. (4) He should admonish the possessed in so far as +the latter is capable, to dispose himself for the exorcism by +prayer, fasting, by confession, and Holy Communion, and +while the rite is in progress he must excite in his heart a most +lively faith in the goodness of God, and perfect resignation +to the divine will. (5) The exorcism should take place in the +Church, or some other sacred place, if convenient, but no +crowd of gazers must be suffered to assemble out of mere +curiosity. There should, however, be a number of witnesses, +grave and devout persons of standing, eminent respectability, +and acknowledged probity, not prone to idle gossip, but +discreet and silent. If on account of sickness or for some +legitimate reason the exorcism takes place in a private house +it is well that members of the family should be present; +especially is this enjoined, as a measure of precaution, if the +subject be a woman. (6) If the patient seems to fall asleep, +or endeavours to hinder the exorcist in any way during the +rite he is to continue, if possible with greater insistence, for +such actions are probably a ruse to trick him. (7) The +exorcist, although humble and having no reliance upon +himself alone, is to speak with command and authority, and +should the patient be convulsed or tremble, let him be more +fervent and more insistent; the prayers and adjurations +are to be recited with great faith, a full and assured consciousness +of power. (8) Let the exorcist remember that he +uses the words of Holy Scripture and Holy Church, not his +own words and phrases. (9) All idle and impertinent +questioning of the demon is to be avoided, nor should the +evil spirit be allowed to speak at length unchecked and +unrebuked. (10) The Blessed Sacrament is not to be brought +near the body of the obsessed during exorcism for fear of +possible irreverence; Relics of the Saints may be employed, +but in this case every care must be most scrupulously +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span>observed that all due veneration be paid to them; the +Crucifix and Holy Water are to be used. (11) If expulsion +of the evil spirit, who will often prove obstinate, is not +secured at once, the rite should be repeated as often as +need be.</p> + +<p>It will be seen that the Church has safeguarded exorcism +with extraordinary precautions, and that everything which +is humanly possible to prevent superstition, indecorum, or +abuse is provided for and recommended. Again and again +the warning is repeated that so solemn, and indeed terrible, +an office must not lightly be undertaken. The actual form +in present use is as follows:⁠<a id="FNanchor_505" href="#Footnote_505" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="center">THE FORM OF EXORCISING THE POSSESSED</p> + +<p class="center">[<span class="smcap">Translated from the “Roman Ritual.”</span>]</p> + +<p><i>The Priest, having confessed, or at least hating sin in his +heart, and having said Mass, if it possibly and conveniently +can be done, and humbly implored the Divine help, vested in +surplice and violet stole, the end of which he shall place round +the neck of the one possessed, and having the possessed person +before him, and bound if there be danger of violence, shall sign +himself, the person, and those standing by, with the sign of the +Cross, and sprinkle them with holy water, and kneeling down, +the others making the responses, shall say the Litany as far as +the prayers.</i></p> + +<p><i>At the end the Antiphon.</i> Remember not, Lord, our +offences, nor the offences of our forefathers, neither take +Thou vengeance of our sins.</p> + +<p>Our Father. <i>Secretly.</i></p> + +<p class="versicle">℣ And lead us not into temptation.</p> + +<p class="response">℟ But deliver us from evil.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Psalm</i> liii.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Deus, in Nomine.</i></p> + +<p><i>The whole shall be said with</i> Glory be to the Father.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. Save Thy servant,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. O my God, that putteth his trust in Thee.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. Be unto him, O Lord, a strong tower,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. From the face of his enemy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span></p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. Let the enemy have no advantage of him,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. Nor the son of wickedness approach to hurt him.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. Send him help, O Lord, from the sanctuary,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And strengthen him out of Sion.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. Lord, hear my prayer,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And let my cry come unto Thee.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. The Lord be with you,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And with thy spirit.</p> + +<p class="center">Let us pray.</p> + +<p>O God, Whose property is ever to have mercy and to +forgive: receive our supplications and prayers, that of Thy +mercy and loving-kindness Thou wilt set free this Thy +servant (or handmaid) who is fast bound by the chain of +his sins.</p> + +<p>O holy Lord, Father Almighty, Eternal God, the Father +of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who hast assigned that tyrant +and apostate to the fires of hell; and hast sent Thine +Only Begotten Son into the world, that He might bruise +him as he roars after his prey: make haste, tarry not, +to deliver this man, created in Thine Own image and +likeness, from ruin, and from the noon-day devil. Send +Thy fear, O Lord, upon the wild beast, which devoureth +Thy vine. Grant Thy servants boldness to fight bravely +against that wicked dragon, lest he despise them that put +their trust in Thee, and say, as once he spake in Pharaoh: +I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. Let Thy +right hand in power compel him to depart from Thy servant +N. (or Thy handmaid N.) ✠, that he dare no longer to hold +him captive, whom Thou hast vouchsafed to make in Thine +image, and hast redeemed in Thy Son; Who liveth and +reigneth with Thee in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, ever +One God, world without end. Amen.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Then he shall command the spirit in this manner.</i></p> + +<p>I command thee, whosoever thou art, thou unclean spirit, +and all thy companions possessing this servant of God, that +by the Mysteries of the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection +and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the sending of +the Holy Ghost, and by the Coming of the same our Lord +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>to judgment, thou tell me thy name, the day, and the hour +of thy going out, by some sign: and, that to me, a minister +of God, although unworthy, thou be wholly obedient in all +things: nor hurt this creature of God, or those that stand +by, or their goods in any way.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Then shall these Gospels, or one or the other, be read over +the possessed.</i></p> + +<p>The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. John i. 1. +<i>As he says these words he shall sign himself and the possessed +on the forehead, mouth, and breast.</i> In the beginning was the +Word ... full of grace and truth.</p> + +<p>The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Mark +xvi. 15. At that time: Jesus spake unto His disciples: +Go ye into all the world ... shall lay hands on the sick, +and they shall recover.</p> + +<p>The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Luke +x. 17. At that time: The seventy returned again with joy +... because your names are written in heaven.</p> + +<p>The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Luke +xi. 14. At that time: Jesus was casting out a devil, and it +was dumb ... wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. Lord, hear my prayer,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And let my cry come unto Thee.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. The Lord be with you,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And with thy Spirit.</p> + +<p class="center">Let us pray.</p> + +<p>Almighty Lord, Word of God the Father, Jesus Christ, +God and Lord of every creature: Who didst give to Thy +Holy Apostles power to tread upon serpents and scorpions: +Who amongst other of Thy wonderful commands didst +vouchsafe to say—Put the devils to flight: by Whose power +Satan fell from heaven like lightning: with supplication +I beseech Thy Holy Name in fear and trembling, that to me +Thy most unworthy servant, granting me pardon of all my +faults, Thou wilt vouchsafe to give constancy of faith and +power, that shielded by the might of Thy holy arm, in trust +and safety I may approach to attack this cruel devil, through +Thee, O Jesus Christ, the Lord our God, Who shalt come to +judge the quick and the dead, and the world by fire. Amen.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span></p> + +<p><i>Then defending himself and the possessed with the sign of +the Cross, putting part of his stole round the neck, and his +right hand upon the head of the possessed, firmly and with great +faith he shall say what follows.</i></p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. Behold the Cross of the Lord, flee ye of the contrary part,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. Lord, hear my prayer,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And let my cry come unto Thee.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. The Lord be with you,</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And with thy spirit.</p> + +<p class="center">Let us pray.</p> + +<p>O God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I call upon +Thy Holy Name, and humbly implore Thy mercy, that Thou +wouldest vouchsafe to grant me help against this, and every +unclean spirit, that vexes this Thy creature. Through the +same Lord Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Exorcism.</span></p> + +<p>I exorcise thee, most foul spirit, every coming in of the +enemy, every apparition, every legion; in the Name of our +Lord Jesus ✠ Christ be rooted out, and be put to flight from +this creature of God ✠. He commands thee, Who has bid +thee be cast down from the highest heaven into the lower +parts of the earth. He commands thee, Who has commanded +the sea, the winds, and the storms. Hear therefore, and fear, +Satan, thou injurer of the faith, thou enemy of the human +race, thou procurer of death, thou destroyer of life, kindler +of vices, seducer of men, betrayer of the nations, inciter of +envy, origin of avarice, cause of discord, stirrer-up of troubles: +why standest thou, and resistest, when thou knowest that +Christ the Lord destroyest thy ways? Fear Him, Who was +sacrificed in Isaac, Who was sold in Joseph, was slain in the +Lamb, was crucified in man, thence was the triumpher over +hell. <i>The following signs of the Cross shall be made upon the +forehead of the possessed.</i> Depart therefore in the Name of +the Father ✠, and of the Son ✠, and of the Holy ✠ Ghost: +give place to the Holy Ghost, by this sign of the holy ✠ Cross +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span>of Jesus Christ our Lord: Who with the Father, and the +same Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth ever one God, world +without end. Amen.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. Lord, hear my prayer.</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And let my cry come unto Thee.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. The Lord be with you.</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And with thy spirit.</p> + +<p class="center">Let us pray.</p> + +<p>O God, the Creator and Protector of the human race, Who +hast formed man in Thine own Image: look upon this Thy +servant N. (<i>or</i> this Thy handmaid N.), who is grievously +vexed with the wiles of an unclean spirit, whom the old +adversary, the ancient enemy of the earth, encompasses with +a horrible dread, and blinds the senses of his human understanding +with stupor, confounds him with terror, and harasses +him with trembling and fear. Drive away, O Lord, the +power of the devil, take away his deceitful snares: let the +impious tempter fly far hence: let Thy servant be defended +by the sign ✠ (<i>on his forehead</i>) of Thy Name, and be safe both +in body, and soul. (<i>The three following crosses shall be made +on the breast of the demoniac.</i>) Do Thou guard his inmost ✠ +soul, Thou rule his inward ✠ parts, Thou strengthen his ✠ +heart. Let the attempts of the opposing power in his soul +vanish away. Grant, O Lord, grace to this invocation of +Thy most Holy Name, that he who up to this present was +causing terror, may flee away affrighted, and depart conquered; +and that this Thy servant, strengthened in heart, +and sincere in mind, may render Thee his due service. +Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Exorcism.</span></p> + +<p>I adjure thee, thou old serpent, by the Judge of the quick +and the dead, by thy Maker, and the Maker of the world: +by Him, Who hath power to put thee into hell, that thou +depart in haste from this servant of God N., who returns to +the bosom of the Church, with thy fear and with the torment +of thy terror. I adjure Thee again ✠ (<i>on his forehead</i>), not +in my infirmity, but by the power of the Holy Ghost, that +thou go out of this servant of God N., whom the Almighty +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span>God hath made in His Own Image. Yield, therefore, not to +me, but to the minister of Christ. For His power presses +upon thee Who subdued thee beneath His Cross. Tremble +at His arm, which, after the groanings of hell were subdued, +led forth the souls into light. Let the body ✠ (<i>on his breast</i>) +of man be a terror to thee, let the image of God ✠ (<i>on his +forehead</i>) be an alarm to thee. Resist not, nor delay to depart +from this person, for it has pleased Christ to dwell in man. +And think not that I am to be despised, since thou knowest +that I too am so great a sinner. God ✠ commands thee. +The majesty of Christ ✠ commands thee. God the Father ✠ +commands thee. God the Son ✠ commands thee. God the +Holy ✠ Ghost commands thee. The Sacrament of the +Cross ✠ commands thee. The faith of the holy Apostles +Peter and Paul, and of all the other Saints ✠, commands thee. +The blood of the Martyrs ✠ commands thee. The stedfastness +(<i>continentia</i>) of the Confessors ✠ commands thee. The +devout intercession of all the Saints ✠ commands thee. The +virtue of the Mysteries of the Christian Faith ✠ commands +thee. Go out, therefore, thou transgressor. Go out, thou +seducer, full of all deceit and wile, thou enemy of virtue, thou +persecutor of innocence. Give place, thou most dire one: +give place, thou most impious one: give place to Christ in +Whom thou hast found nothing of thy works: Who hath +overcome thee, Who hath destroyed thy kingdom, Who hath +led thee captive and bound thee, and hath spoiled thy goods: +Who hath cast thee into outer darkness, where for thee and +thy servants everlasting destruction is prepared. But why, +O fierce one, dost thou withstand? why, rashly bold, dost +thou refuse? thou art the accused of Almighty God, whose +laws thou hast broken. Thou art the accused of Jesus Christ +our Lord, whom thou hast dared to tempt, and presumed to +crucify. Thou art the accused of the human race, to whom +by thy persuasion thou hast given to drink thy poison. +Therefore, I adjure thee, most wicked dragon, in the Name of +the immaculate ✠ Lamb, Who treads upon the lion and adder, +Who tramples under foot the young lion and the dragon, that +thou depart from this man ✠ (<i>let the sign be made upon his +forehead</i>), that thou depart from the Church of God ✠ (<i>let the +sign be made over those who are standing by</i>): tremble, and +flee away at the calling upon the Name of that Lord, of Whom +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span>hell is afraid; to Whom the Virtues, the Powers, and the +Dominions of the heavens are subject; Whom Cherubim and +Seraphim with unwearied voices praise, saying: Holy, Holy, +Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. The Word ✠ made Flesh +commands thee. He Who was born ✠ of the Virgin commands +thee. Jesus ✠ of Nazareth commands thee; Who, +although thou didst despise His disciples, bade thee go +bruised and overthrown out of the man: and in his presence, +having separated thee from him, thou didst not presume to +enter into the herd of swine. Therefore, thus now adjured +in His Name ✠, depart from the man, whom He has formed. +It is hard for thee to wish to resist ✠. It is hard for thee to +kick against the pricks ✠. Because the more slowly goest +thou out, does the greater punishment increase against thee, +for thou despisest not men, but Him, Who is Lord both of +the quick and the dead, Who shall come to judge the quick +and the dead, and the World by fire. ℟. Amen.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. Lord, hear my prayer.</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And let my cry come unto thee.</p> + +<p class="versicle">℣. The Lord be with you.</p> + +<p class="response">℟. And with thy spirit.</p> + +<p class="center">Let us pray.</p> + +<p>O God of heaven, God of earth, God of the Angels, God +of the Archangels, God of the Prophets, God of the Apostles, +God of the Martyrs, God of the Virgins, God, Who hast the +power to give life after death, rest after labour; because +there is none other God beside Thee, nor could be true, but +Thou, the Creator of heaven and earth, Who art the true +King, and of Whose kingdom there shall be no end: humbly +I beseech Thy glorious majesty, that Thou wouldest vouchsafe +to deliver this Thy servant from unclean spirits, through +Christ our Lord. Amen.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Exorcism.</span></p> + +<p>I therefore adjure thee, thou most foul spirit, every +appearance, every inroad of Satan, in the Name of Jesus +Christ ✠ of Nazareth, Who, after His baptism in Jordan, +was led into the wilderness, and overcame thee in thine own +stronghold: that thou cease to assault him whom He hath +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span>formed from the dust of the earth for His own honour and +glory: and that thou in miserable man tremble not at human +weakness, but at the image of Almighty God. Yield, therefore, +to God ✠ Who by His servant Moses drowned thee and +thy malice in Pharaoh and his army in the depths of the sea. +Yield to God ✠ Who put thee to flight when driven out of +King Saul with spiritual song, by his most faithful servant +David. Yield thyself to God ✠ Who condemned thee in the +traitor Judas Iscariot. For He touches thee with Divine ✠ +stripes, when in His sight, trembling and crying out with +thy legions, thou saidst: What have I to do with Thee, +Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Art Thou come hither to +torment us before the time? He presses upon thee with +perpetual flames, Who shall say to the wicked at the end of +time—Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, +prepared for the devil and his angels. For thee, O impious +one, and for thy angels, is the worm that dieth not; for thee +and thy angels is the fire unquenchable prepared: for thou +art the chief of accursed murder, thou the author of incest, +thou the head of sacrileges, thou the master of the worst +actions, thou the teacher of heretics, thou the instigator of all +uncleanness. Therefore go out ✠ thou wicked one, go out ✠, +thou infamous one, go out with all thy deceits; for God hath +willed that man shall be His temple. But why dost thou +delay longer here? Give honour to God the Father ✠ +Almighty, before Whom every knee is bent. Give place to +Jesus Christ ✠ the Lord, Who shed for man His most precious +Blood. Give place to the Holy ✠ Ghost, Who by His blessed +Apostle Peter struck thee to the ground in Simon Magus; +Who condemned thy deceit in Ananias and Sapphira; Who +smote thee in Herod, because he gave not God the glory; +Who by his Apostle Paul smote thee in Elymas the sorcerer +with a mist and darkness, and by the same Apostle by his +word of command bade thee come out of the damsel possessed +with the spirit of divination. Now therefore depart ✠, +depart, thou seducer. The wilderness is thy abode. The +serpent is the place of thy habitation: be humbled, and be +overthrown. There is no time now for delay. For behold +the Lord the Ruler approaches closely upon thee, and His +fire shall glow before Him, and shall go before Him; and +shall burn up His enemies on every side. If thou hast deceived +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span>man, at God thou canst not scoff: One expels thee, from Whose +Sight nothing is hidden. He casts thee out, to Whose power +all things are subject. He shuts thee out, Who hast prepared +for thee and for thine angels everlasting hell; out of Whose +mouth the sharp sword shall go out, when He shall come to +judge the quick and the dead, and the World by fire. Amen.</p> + +<p><i>All the aforesaid things being said and done, so far as there +shall be need, they shall be repeated, until the possessed person +be entirely set free.</i></p> + +<p><i>The following which are noted down will be of great assistance, +said devoutly over the possessed, and also frequently to repeat +the</i> Our Father, Hail Mary, <i>and</i> Creed.</p> + +<p><i>The Canticle.</i> Magnificat.</p> + +<p><i>The Canticle.</i> Benedictus.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>The Creed of S. Athanasius.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Quicunque uult.</i></p> + +<p>Psalm xc. <i>Qui habitat.</i></p> + +<p>Psalm lxvii. <i>Exurgat Deus.</i></p> + +<p>Psalm lxix. <i>Deus in adiutorium.</i></p> + +<p>Psalm liii. <i>Deus, In Nomine Tuo.</i></p> + +<p>Psalm cxvii. <i>Confitemini Domino.</i></p> + +<p>Psalm xxxiv. <i>Iudica, Domine.</i></p> + +<p>Psalm xxx. <i>In Te, Domine, speraui.</i></p> + +<p>Psalm xxi. <i>Deus, Deus meus.</i></p> + +<p>Psalm iii. <i>Domine, quid multiplicasti?</i></p> + +<p>Psalm x. <i>In Domino confido.</i></p> + +<p>Psalm xii. <i>Usquequo, Domine?</i></p> + +<p><i>Each Psalm shall be said with</i> Glory be to the Father, &c.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Prayer after being set free.</i></p> + +<p>We pray Thee, O Almighty God, that the spirit of wickedness +may have no more power over this Thy servant N. +(<i>or</i> Thy handmaid N.), but that he may flee away, and never +come back again: at Thy bidding, O Lord, let there come +into him (<i>or</i> her) the goodness and peace of our Lord Jesus +Christ, by Whom we have been redeemed, and let us fear +no evil, for the Lord is with us, Who liveth and reigneth +with Thee, in the Unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, +world without end. ℟. Amen.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span></p> + +<p>A shorter form of exorcism, which, being general, differs +in aim and use, was published by order of Pope Leo XIII +and may be found in the later editions of the <i>Rituale +Romanum</i>, “Exorcismus in Satanam et Angelos apostalicos.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_506" href="#Footnote_506" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> +After the customary invocation <i>In nomine</i> ... +the rite begins with a prayer to S. Michael, the solemn +adjuration of some length follows with versicles and responses, +a second prayer is next recited, and the whole concludes by +three aspirations from the Litany: “From the deceits and +crafts of the Devil; O Lord, deliver us. That it may please +Thee to rule Thy Church so it shall alway serve Thee in lasting +peace and true liberty; We beseech Thee, hear us. That +Thou wouldst vouchsafe to beat down and subdue all the +enemies of Thy Holy Church; We beseech Thee, hear us.” +<i>And the place is sprinkled with Holy Water</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_507" href="#Footnote_507" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> is the final +rubric.</p> + +<p>The Baptismal Exorcism and exorcisms such as those of +water, salt,⁠<a id="FNanchor_508" href="#Footnote_508" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> and oil, it were perhaps impertinent to treat +of here. It may, however, be noticed that in the ceremony +of the Blessing of the Waters⁠<a id="FNanchor_509" href="#Footnote_509" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> (approved by the Sacred +Congregation of Rites, 6 December, 1890), performed on the +Vigil of the Epiphany, there occurs a solemn “Exorcismus +contra Satanam et Angelos apostalicos,” followed by “Exorcismus +salis” and “Exorcismus aquæ.”</p> + +<p>There are recorded throughout history innumerable +examples of obsession and demoniacal possession, as also of +potent and successful exorcism. It is, of course, quite possible, +and indeed probable, that many of these cases were due to +natural causes, epilepsy, acute hysteria, incipient lunacy, +and the like. But, none the less, when every allowance has +been made for incorrect diagnosis, for ill-informed ascriptions +of rare and obscure forms of both physical and mental +maladies, for credulity, honest mistakes, and exaggerations of +every kind, there will yet remain a very considerable quota +which it seems impossible to account for and explain save +on the score of possession by some evil and hostile intelligence. +But nobody is asked to accept all the instances of diabolic +possession recorded in the history of the Church, nor even +to form any definite opinion upon the historical evidence in +favour of any particular case. That is primarily a matter +for historical and medical science. And, perhaps, even at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span>the present day and among civilized races this phenomenon +is not so rare as is popularly supposed.</p> + +<p>The annals of Bedlam, of many a private madhouse, and +many an asylum could tell strange and hideous histories. +And if we may judge from the accounts furnished by the +pioneers of the Faith in missionary countries the evidences +of diabolical agency there are as clearly defined and unmistakable +as they were in Galilee in the time of Christ.⁠<a id="FNanchor_510" href="#Footnote_510" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>Demoniacal possession is frequently described and alluded +to by the early fathers and apologists in matter-of-fact terms +which leave no shadow of doubt as to their belief in this +regard. Indeed the success of Christian exorcism is often +brought forward as an argument for the acceptance of the +Divinity of the founder of Christianity. It would be an easy, +but a very lengthy process, to make a catena of such passages +from Greek and Latin authors alike.⁠<a id="FNanchor_511" href="#Footnote_511" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> S. Justin Martyr +(<i>ob.</i> <i>circa</i> <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 165) speaks of demons flying from “the touch +and breathing of Christians” (<i>Apologia</i>, II, 6), “as from a +flame that burns them,” adds S. Cyril of Jerusalem (<i>ob.</i> +385-6: <i>Catechesis</i>, XX, 3). Origen (<i>ob.</i> 253-4) mentions the +laying on of hands to cast out devils, whilst S. Ambrose⁠<a id="FNanchor_512" href="#Footnote_512" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> +(<i>ob.</i> 397), S. Ephrem Syrus⁠<a id="FNanchor_513" href="#Footnote_513" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> (<i>ob.</i> 373), and others used this +ceremony when exorcizing. The holy sign of the Cross also +is extolled by many Fathers for its efficacy against all kinds +of diabolic molestation; thus Lactantius writes: “Nunc +satis est, huius signi [Crucis] potentiam, quantum ualeat +exponere. Quanto terrori sit dæmonibus hoc signum, sciet, +qui uiderit, quatenus adiurati per Christum, de corporibus, +quæ obsederint, fugiant,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_514" href="#Footnote_514" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> <i>Diuinarum Institutionum</i>, IV, +xxvii.⁠<a id="FNanchor_515" href="#Footnote_515" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> S. Athanasius (<i>ob.</i> 373), <i>De Incarnatione Uerbi</i>, +XLVII; S. Basil (<i>ob.</i> 379), <i>In Esaiam</i>, XI, 249; S. Cyril of +Jerusalem, <i>Catechesis</i>, XIII; S. Gregory of Nazianzus (<i>ob.</i> +<i>circa</i> 389), <i>Carmen aduersus Iram</i>, 415 <i>sqq.</i>, all have passages +of no little weight to the same effect. S. Cyril, <i>Procatechesis</i>, +IX; and S. Athanasius, <i>Ad Marcellum</i>, XXIII, recommend +that the prayers of exorcism and the adjuration +should as far as possible repeat the exact words of Holy +Scripture.</p> + +<p>In the annals of hagiography we find from the earliest days +until our own time very many instances of possession, very +many cases where a poor afflicted wretch has been released +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span>and relieved by the power and prayer of some Saint or holy +servant of God.⁠<a id="FNanchor_516" href="#Footnote_516" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p>Thus in the life of S. Benedict, that noble, calm, dignified, +prudent, great-souled, and high-minded hero, there are +recorded several occasions upon which he was confronted +by extraordinary manifestations of evil spirits who resisted +the building of his monastery upon the crest of Monte +Cassino, where Satanism had been previously practised. It +is not said that there were any visible appearances, save to +S. Benedict alone,⁠<a id="FNanchor_517" href="#Footnote_517" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> but a succession of untoward accidents, +of abnormal occurrences and constant alarms, plainly showed +that the Saint was contending against superhuman difficulties. +More than once he found it necessary to exorcize certain of +his monks,⁠<a id="FNanchor_518" href="#Footnote_518" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> and so marked was his triumph over these +malignant and destructive influences that he has always +been venerated in the Church as a most potent “effugator +dæmonum,” and is confidently invoked in the hour of +spiritual peril and deadly attack. Great faith also is placed +in the Medal of Saint Benedict. This medal, originally a +cross, is dedicated to the devotion in honour of the Patriarch. +One side bears the figure of the Saint holding a cross in his +right hand, and the Holy Rule in his left. Upon the other +is a cross together with the following letters arranged on and +around it: C.S.P.B., Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti (The Cross +of the holy Father Benedict). C.S.S.M.L., Crux Sacra Sit +Mihi Lux (May the holy Cross be my Light). N.D.S.M.D., +Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux (Let not the Devil be my guide). +U.R.S.: N.S.M.U.: S.M.Q.L.: I.U.B.: Uade Retro Satana: +Nunquam Suade Mihi Uana: Sunt Mala Quæ Libas: Ipse +Uenena Bibas. (Begone, Satan, never suggest things to me, +what thou offerest is evil, drink thou thyself thy poison).⁠<a id="FNanchor_519" href="#Footnote_519" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> +The “Centenary” form of the medal (struck at Monte +Cassino in 1880 to commemorate the 13th centenary of +the birth of S. Benedict in 480) has under the figure the +words: <i>Ex S.M. Cassino MDCCCLXXX</i>. Upon the same +side round the edge runs the inscription: Eius in obitu n̅r̅o +præsentia muniamur (May we be protected by his presence +at the hour of our death), and the word PAX appears above +the cross.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful when the Medal of S. Benedict originated, +but during a trial for Witchcraft at Natternberg, near the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span>abbey of Metten, in Bavaria, during the year 1647, the +accused women testified that they had no power over Metten +which was under the particular protection of the cross. +Upon investigation a number of painted crosses surrounded +by the letters which are now engraved upon Benedictine +medals were found on the walls of the abbey, but their +signification had been wholly forgotten. At length, in an +old manuscript, written in 1415, was discovered a picture +representing S. Benedict holding in one hand a staff which +ended in a cross, and in the other a scroll. On the staff and +scroll were written in full the formulas of which the mysterious +letters were the initials. Medals with the figure of S. Benedict, +a cross, and these letters began now to be struck and rapidly +spread over Europe. The medals were first authoritatively +approved by Benedict XIV in his briefs of 23 December, 1741, +and 12 March, 1742.</p> + +<p>In the case of the possessed boys of Illfurt (Alsace) they +exhibited the utmost horror and dread of a Medal of +S. Benedict.</p> + +<p>These medals are hallowed with a proper rite⁠<a id="FNanchor_520" href="#Footnote_520" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> in which +the adjuration commences: “Exorcizo uos, numismata, per +Deum Patrem ✠ omnipotentem....” “I exorcize ye, +medals, through God the Father ✠ Almighty.... May the +power of the adversary, all the host of the Devil, all evil +attack, every spirit and glamour of Satan, be utterly put to +flight and driven far away by the virtue of these medals....”⁠<a id="FNanchor_521" href="#Footnote_521" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> +The prayer runs: “O Lord Jesus Christ ... by +Thy most Holy Passion I humbly pray and beseech Thee, +that Thou wouldest grant that whosoever devoutly invoketh +Thy Holy Name in this prayer and petition which Thou +Thyself hast taught us, may be delivered from every deceit +of the Devil and from all his wiles, and that Thou wouldest +vouchsafe to bring Thy servant to the harbour of salvation. +Who livest and reignest....”⁠<a id="FNanchor_522" href="#Footnote_522" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>S. Maurus also, the beloved disciple of S. Benedict, was +famous for the cures he wrought in cases of possession.⁠<a id="FNanchor_523" href="#Footnote_523" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> +Visiting France in 543 he became founder and superior of +the abbey of Glanfeuil, Anjou, later known by his name, +St. Maur-sur-Loise.⁠<a id="FNanchor_524" href="#Footnote_524" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> The relics of S. Maurus after various +translations were finally enshrined at St. Germain-des-Prez. +In the eleventh century an arm of the Saint had been with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span>great devotion transferred to Monte Cassino, where by its +touch a demoniac was delivered. This is related by Desiderius,⁠<a id="FNanchor_525" href="#Footnote_525" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> +who was abbot at that time, and afterwards became +Pope, Blessed Victor III (<i>ob.</i> 16 September, 1087). Throughout +the Middle Ages the tomb of S. Maur at St. Germain +was a celebrated place of pilgrimage, and the possessed were +brought here in large numbers to be healed.⁠<a id="FNanchor_526" href="#Footnote_526" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>The Holy Winding Sheet of Besançon, again, was greatly +resorted to for the relief and cure of possession. This +venerable relic, being one of the linen cloths used at the +burial of Christ, was brought to Besançon in 1206 by Otto +de la Roche, and the feast of its arrival (<i>Susceptio</i>) was +ordered to be kept on 11 July. At present it is a double of +the first class in the cathedral, St. Jean, and of the second +class throughout the diocese.</p> + +<p>Novenas made in the church at Bonnet, near Nantes, were +popularly supposed to be of especial efficacy in healing +possession.</p> + +<p>It is, of course, impossible even briefly to catalogue the +most important and striking of the numberless cases of +possession recorded throughout the centuries in every country +and at every era. Of these a great number are, no doubt, +to be attributed to disease; very many to a commixture of +hysteria and semi-conscious, or more frequently unconscious, +fraud; some few to mere chousing; and, if human evidence +is worth anything at all, many actually to diabolic influence.</p> + +<p>There were some curious episodes in England during Queen +Elizabeth’s reign, when a third-rate Puritan minister, John +Darrel, made a considerable stir owing to his attempts +at exorcism. This idea seems to have been suggested +to him by the exorcisms of the famous Jesuit missionary +priest, William Weston, who after having been educated at +Oxford, Paris, and Douai, entered the Society on 5 November, +1575, at Rome. He then worked and taught in Spain, until +he was called to his native mission, actually arriving in +England, 20 September, 1584. In the course of his labours, +which at that dangerous time were carried on in circumstances +of extremest peril, he was required to perform the +rite of exorcism upon several distressed persons, who were +for the most part brought to him at the houses of two zealous +Catholics, Sir George Peckham of Denham, near Uxbridge, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span>and Lord Vaux of Hackney, both of which gentlemen had +suffered in many ways for their faith. With regard to the +patients we can only say that we lack evidence to enable us +to decide whether the cases were genuine, or whether they +were merely sick and ailing folk; but we can confidently +affirm that there is no suspicion of any fraud or cozenage. +Father Weston is acknowledged to have been a man of the +most candid sincerity, intensely spiritual, and of no ordinary +powers. Although the rites, in which several priests joined, +were performed with the utmost secrecy and every precaution +was taken to prevent any report being spread abroad, somebody +gossiped, and in about a year various exaggerated +accounts were being circulated, until the matter came before +the Privy Council. A violent recrudescence of persecution +at once followed, many of the exorcists were seized and +butchered for their priesthood, the rest, including Weston, +were flung into jail, August, 1586. A long period of imprisonment +ensued, and in 1599 Weston was committed to the +Tower, where he suffered such hardships that he wellnigh +lost his sight. Eventually in 1603 he was banished, and +spent the rest of his days at Seville and Valladolid. He was +rector of the latter college at the time of his death, 9 June, +1615.⁠<a id="FNanchor_527" href="#Footnote_527" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> + +<p>It was in 1586, just when the exorcisms of the Jesuit +fathers had unfortunately attracted so widespread attention +and foolish comment, that John Darrel, although a Protestant +and lacking both appropriate ordination and training, +rashly resolved to emulate their achievements. He was +young, not much more than twenty, he was foolhardy and +he was ignorant, three qualities which even in our own time +often win cheap notoriety. It seems that he was first called +in to cure a young girl of seventeen, Katherine Wright, who +lived at Mansfield, Nottingham. Darrel forthwith pronounced +that she was afflicted by an evil spirit, and he prayed over +her from four o’clock in the morning till noon, but entirely +without result. He then declared that the wench had been +bewitched and that the demon, moreover, was sent by one +Margaret Roper, with whom the patient had recently quarrelled. +The girl backed his story, and the accused woman +was at once taken into custody by the constable. When, +however, she appeared before Mr. Fouliamb, a justice of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span>peace, not only was she incontinently discharged, but Darrel +received a smart rebuff and found himself in no small danger +of arrest.</p> + +<p>This mischance sufficiently scared the would-be exorcist, +and for some ten years he disappeared from view, only to +come before the public again at Burton-upon-Trent, where +he was prominent in the sensation and the scandal that +centred round Thomas Darling, a young Derbyshire boy. +This imaginative juvenal was subject to fits—real or feigned—during +which he had visions of green angels and a green +cat. Betimes his conversation became larded with true +Puritan cant, and he loved to discourse with godly ministers. +A credulous physician suggested that the lad was bewitched, +and very soon afterwards it was noticed that the reading +aloud of the Bible, especially certain verses in the first chapter +of S. John’s Gospel, threw him into frantic convulsions. He +also began a long prattling tale about “a little old woman” +who wore “a broad thrimmed hat,” which proved amply +sufficient to cause two women, Elizabeth Wright, and her +daughter, Alse Gooderidge, long vehemently suspected of +sorcery, to be examined before two magistrates, who committed +Alse to jail. Next those concerned summoned a +cunning man, who used various rough methods to induce the +prisoner to confess. After having been harried and even +tortured the wretched creature made some rambling and +incoherent acknowledgements of guilt, which were twisted +into a connected story. By now Darling had been ill for +three months, and so far from improving, was getting +worse.</p> + +<p>At this juncture, exactly the dramatic moment, John Darrel, +full of bluff and bounce, appeared upon the scene, and forthwith +took charge of affairs. According to his own account +his efforts were singularly blessed; that is to say the boy got +better and the sly Puritan claimed all the credit. Alse +Gooderidge was tried at the assizes, convicted by the +jury, and sentenced to death by Lord Chief Justice +Anderson; “She should have been executed but that +her spirit killed her in prison,” says John Denison the +pamphleteer! The whole affair greatly increased Darrel’s +reputation.</p> + +<p>Not long after a much-bruited case of alleged possession +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span>in Lancashire gave him further opportunity to pose in the +limelight. Ann Starchie, aged nine, and John, her brother, +aged ten, were seized with a mysterious disorder; “a +certaine fearefull starting and pulling together of her body” +affected the girl, whilst the boy was “compelled to shout” +on his way to school. Both grew steadily worse until their +father, Nicholas Starchie, consulted Edmund Hartley, a +notorious conjurer of no very fair repute. Hartley seems to +have quieted the children by means of various charms, and +the father paid him something like a retaining fee of forty +shillings a year. This, however, he insisted should be increased, +and when any addition was denied, there were +quarrels, and presently the boy and girl again fell ill. The +famous Dr. Dee was summoned, but he was obviously nonplussed, +and whilst he “sharply reproved and straitly +examined” Hartley, in his quandary could do or say little +more save advise the help of “godlie preachers.” The +situation in that accursed house now began to grow more +serious. Besides the children three young wards of Mr. +Starchie, a servant, and a visitor, were all seized with the +strange disease. “All or most of them joined together in +a strange and supernatural loud whupping that the house +and grounde did sounde therwith again.” Hartley fell under +suspicion, and was haled before a justice of the peace, who +promptly committed him to the assizes. Evidence was given +that he was continually kissing the Starchie children, in fact, +he kept embracing all the possessed, and it was argued that +he had thus communicated an evil spirit to them. He was +accused of having drawn magic circles upon the ground, and +although he stoutly denied the charge, he was convicted of +felony and hanged at Lancaster. John Darrel and his +assistant, George More, minister of a church in Derbyshire, +undertook to exorcize the afflicted, and in a day or two, after +long prayers and great endeavours, they managed to expel +the devils. Here we have folly, imposture, and hysteria all +blended together to make a horrible tale.</p> + +<p>At this time Darrel was officiating as a minister at Nottingham, +where there happened to be living a young apprenticed +musician, a clever and likely lad, William Somers, who some +years before had met Darrel at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where +both had been resident. It appears that the boy had once +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span>met a strange woman, whom he offended in some way, and +suddenly he “did use such strang and idle kinde of gestures +in laughing, dancing, and such like lighte behaviour, that he +was suspected to be madd.” The famous exorcist was sent for +on the 5th of November, 1597, and forthwith recognized the +signs of possession. The lad was suffering for the sins of +Nottingham. Accordingly sermons were delivered and +prayers were read in true ranting fashion, and when Darrel +named one after the other fourteen signs of possession the +patient, who had been most carefully coached, illustrated +each in turn.</p> + +<p>It is possible that Darrel had to some extent mesmeric +control over Somers, whose performance was of a very +remarkable nature at least, for “he tore; he foamed; he +wallowed; his face was drawn awry; his eyes would stare +and his tongue hang out”; together with a thousand other +such apish antics which greatly impressed the bystanders. +Finally the boy lay as if dead for a quarter of an hour, and +then rose up declaring he was well and whole.</p> + +<p>However, obsession followed possession. The demon still +assailed him, and it was not long before Master Somers +accused thirteen women of having contrived his maladies by +their sorcery. Darrel, the witch-finder, had by this time +attained a position of no small importance in the town, being +chosen preacher at S. Mary’s, and he was prepared to back +his pupil to the uttermost. Yet even his influence for some +reason did not serve, and all but two of the women concerned +were released from prison. Next certain unbelieving citizens +had the bad taste to interfere, and to carry off the chief actor +to the house of correction, where he pretty soon confessed +his impostures, in which, as he acknowledged, he had been +carefully instructed by Darrel. The matter now became a +public scandal, and upon the report of the Archdeacon of +Derby the Archbishop of York appointed a commission to +inquire into the facts. Brought before these ministers, not +one of whom could possibly have had any means of forming +a correct judgement, Somers retracted his words, asserted +that he had been induced to slander Darrel, and thereat +fell into such fits, foamings, and contortions that the +ignoramuses were convinced of the reality of his demoniac +possession.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span></p> + +<p>At the Nottingham assizes, however, things went differently. +Summoned to court and encouraged by the Lord +Chief Justice, Sir Edmund Anderson,⁠<a id="FNanchor_528" href="#Footnote_528" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> to tell the truth the +wretched young man made a clean breast of all his tricks. +The case against Alice Freeman, the accused, was dismissed, +and Sir Edmund, shocked at the frauds, wrote a weighty +letter to Whitgift, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Darrel +and More were cited to the Court of High Commission, where +Bancroft, Bishop of London, two of the Lord Chief Justices, +the Master of Requests, and other high officials heard the +case. It is obvious that Bancroft really controlled the +examination from first to last, and that he combined the +rôles of prosecutor and judge. Somers now told the Court +how he had been in constant communication with Darrel, +how they had met secretly when Darrel taught him “to doe +all those trickes which Katherine Wright did” and later +sent him to see and learn of the boy of Burton. In fact +Darrel made him go through a whole series of antics again +and again in his presence, and it was after all these preliminaries +and practice that the lad posed as a possessed +person at Nottingham and was prayed over and exhibited. +The vulpine Puritan was fairly caught. No doubt the Bishop +of London may have been a trifle arbitrary, but after all +he was dealing with a rank impostor. Darrel and More +were deposed from the ministry, and committed to close +prison.</p> + +<p>The whole of this case is reported by Samuel Harsnett, +chaplain to Bancroft, in a book of three hundred and twenty-four +pages, <i>A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John +Darrel, Bacheler of Artes</i>.... London, 1599, and a perfect +rain of pamphlets followed. Both Darrel and More answered +Harsnett, drawing meantime a number of other persons into +the paper fray. We have such works as <i>An Apologie, or +defence of the possession of William Sommers, a young man +of the towne of Nottingham.... By John Darrell, Minister +of Christ Jesus</i> ... a black letter brochure which is undated +but may be safely assigned to 1599; <i>The Triall of Maist. +Dorrel, or A Collection of Defences against Allegations</i> ... +1599;⁠<a id="FNanchor_529" href="#Footnote_529" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> and Darrel’s abusive <i>A Detection of that sinnful, +shamful, lying, and ridiculous discours of Samuel Harshnet</i>, +1600. There are several allusions in contemporary dramatists +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span>to the scandal, and Jonson in <i>The Divell is an Asse</i>, acted in +1616, V, 3, has:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">It is the easiest thing, Sir, to be done.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As plaine as fizzling: roule but wi’ your eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And foame at th’ mouth. A little castle-soape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will do’t, to rub your lips: And then a nutshell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With toe and touchwood in it to spit fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did you ner’e read, Sir, little <i>Darrel’s</i> tricks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With the boy o’ <i>Burton</i>, and the 7 in <i>Lancashire</i>,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sommers at <i>Nottingham</i>? All these do teach it.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And wee’l give out, Sir, that your wife ha’s bewitch’d you.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>It is probable that in his books Harsnett is to a large +extent the mouthpiece of the ideas of Bancroft,⁠<a id="FNanchor_530" href="#Footnote_530" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> whose +opinions must have carried no small weight seeing that in +1604 he became Archbishop of Canterbury. But Harsnett +himself was also a man who could well stand alone, a divine +marked out for the highest preferments. As Master of +Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, Vice-chancellor of that University, +Bishop of Chichester, Bishop of Norwich, and finally +in 1628 Archbishop of York,⁠<a id="FNanchor_531" href="#Footnote_531" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> he was certainly one of the +most prominent men of the day. His views, therefore, are +not only of interest, but may be regarded as an expression +of recognized Anglican authority. Bancroft, who was a +bitter persecutor of Catholics, seems to have turned over a +quantity of material he had collected to Harsnett, who in +1603 published a verjuiced attack upon the priesthood in +particular and upon the supernatural in general under the +title of <i>A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures</i>.⁠<a id="FNanchor_532" href="#Footnote_532" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> This +violent and foolish polemic with its heavy periods of coarse +ill-humour and scornful profanity jars upon the reader like +the harsh screeching of some cankered scold. True, it has +a certain force due to the very vehemence and elaborate +gusto of the wrathful ecclesiastic, the force of Billingsgate +and deafening vituperation bawled by leathern lungs and +raucous tongue. As a sober argument, a reasoned contribution +to controversy and debate, the thing is negligible and +has been wholly forgotten. Nevertheless, historically Harsnett +and Bancroft are important, for it was the latter who drew +up, or at least inspired, carried through Convocation, and +at once enforced the Canons generally known as those of +1604, of which number 72 lays down: “No minister or +ministers shall ... without the license or direction (<i>mandatum</i>) +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span>of the Bishop ... attempt upon any pretence whatsoever +either of possession or obsession, by fasting or prayer, +to cast out any devil or devils, under pain of the imputation +of imposture or cozenage, and deposition from the ministry.”</p> + +<p>This article seems definitely intended to fix the position +of the Church of England.⁠<a id="FNanchor_533" href="#Footnote_533" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> The whole question of exorcism +had, in common with every other point of Christian doctrine, +caused the most acrid disagreement. The Lutherans retained +exorcism in the baptismal rite and were both instant and +persevering in their exorcisms of the possessed. Martin +Luther himself had a most vivid realization of and the firmest +belief in the material antagonism of evil. The black stain +in the castle of Wartburg still marks the room where he +flung his ink-horn at the Devil. The silly body, the blind, +the dumb, the idiot, were, as often as not, afflicted by demons; +the raving maniac was assuredly possessed. Physicians might +explain these evils as natural infirmity, but such physicians +were ignorant men; they did not know the craft and power +of Satan. Many a poor wretch who was generally supposed +to have committed suicide had in truth been seized by the +Fiend and strangled by him. The Devil could beget children; +had not Luther himself come in contact with one of them?⁠<a id="FNanchor_534" href="#Footnote_534" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> +At the close of the sixteenth century, however, an interminable +and desperate struggle took place between the believers +in exorcism and the Swiss and Silesian sectaries who entirely +discarded exorcism,⁠<a id="FNanchor_535" href="#Footnote_535" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> either declaring it to have belonged only +to the earliest years of Christianity or else trying to explain +away the Biblical instances on purely rationalistic grounds. +In England baptismal exorcism was retained in the First +Prayer Book of 1549, but by 1552, owing to the authority +of Martin Bucer, we find it entirely eliminated. Under +Elizabeth the ever-increasing influence of Zurich and Geneva, +to which completest deference was paid, thoroughly discredited +exorcisms of any kind, and this misbelieving attitude +is repeatedly and amply made clear in the sundry “Apologies” +and “Defences” of Jewel and his followers.</p> + +<p>A letter of Archbishop Parker in 1574⁠<a id="FNanchor_536" href="#Footnote_536" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> with reference to +the proven frauds of two idle wenches, Agnes Bridges and +Rachel Pinder,⁠<a id="FNanchor_537" href="#Footnote_537" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> shows that he was thoroughly sceptical as +to the possibility of possession, and his successor, the stout +old Calvinist Whitgift, was certainly of the same mind.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span></p> + +<p>In 1603 five clergymen attempted exorcism in the case of +Mary Glover, the daughter of a merchant in Thames Street, +who was said to be possessed owing to the sorceries of a +certain Elizabeth Jackson. John Swan, “a famous Minister +of the Gospel,” took the lead in this business, which made +considerable noise at the time. The Puritans were not +unnaturally anxious to vindicate their powers over the Devil +and they seem avidly to have grasped at any such opportunity +that offered. Swan did not fail to advertise his supposed +triumph in <i>A True and Breife Report of Mary Glover’s Vexation +and of her deliverance by the meanes of fastinge and prayer</i>, +1603; moreover, after her deliverance he took her home to +be his servant “least Satan should assault her again.” +Old Mother Jackson was indicted, committed by Sir John +Crook, the Recorder of London, and actually sentenced by +Sir Edmund Anderson, the Lord Chief Justice, to be pilloried +four times and be kept a year in prison. Unfortunately for +the would-be exorcists and their pretensions King James, +whose shrewd suspicions were aroused, sent to examine the +girl, a physician, Dr. Edward Jorden, who detected her +imposture, in which, I doubt not, she had been well coached +by the Puritans. Dr. Jorden recounted the circumstance in +his pamphlet <i>A briefe discourse of a disease called the Suffocation +of the Mother, Written uppon occasion which hath beene of late +taken thereby to suspect possession of an evill spirit</i> (London, +1603). The ministers were extremely chagrined, and one +Stephen Bradwell even took up the cudgels in a tart +rejoinder to Jorden, which was singularly futile as his +lucubrations remain unpublished.⁠<a id="FNanchor_538" href="#Footnote_538" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> It is not improbable +that this performance had its share of influence on Bancroft +when he drew up article 72 of the 1604 Canons.</p> + +<p>Francis Hutchinson in his <i>Historical Essay on Witchcraft</i> +(1718)⁠<a id="FNanchor_539" href="#Footnote_539" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> doubts whether any Bishop of the Church of England +ever granted a licence for exorcism to any one of his clergy, +and indeed the case which is given by Dr. F. G. Lee,⁠<a id="FNanchor_540" href="#Footnote_540" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> who +relates how Bishop Seth Ward of Exeter assigned a form +under his own signature and seal in January, 1665, to the +Rev. John Ruddle, vicar of Altarnon, is probably unique. +And even so, this was not strictly speaking an instance of exorcism, +at least there was no deliverance of a person possessed. +Mr. Ruddle records in his MS. Diary that in a lonely field +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span>belonging to the parish of Little Petherick⁠<a id="FNanchor_541" href="#Footnote_541" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> an apparition +was seen by a lad aged about sixteen, the son of a certain +Mr. Bligh. The ghost, which was that of one Dorothy +Durant, who had died eight years before, appeared so +frequently to the boy at this same spot which he was obliged +to pass daily as he went to and from school, that he fell ill +and at last confessed his fears to his family, who treated the +matter with ridicule and scolded him roundly when they +saw that jest and mockery were of no avail. Eventually +Mr. Ruddle was sent for to argue him out of his foolishness. +The vicar, however, was not slow to perceive that young +Bligh was speaking the truth, and he forthwith accompanied +his pupil to the field, where they both unmistakably saw the +phantom just as had been described. After a little while +Mr. Ruddle visited Exeter to interview his diocesan and +obtain the necessary licence for the exorcism. The Bishop, +however, asked: “On what authority do you allege that +I am entrusted with faculty so to do? Our Church, as is +well known, hath abjured certain branches of her ancient +power, on grounds of perversion and abuse.” Mr. Ruddle +quoted the Canons of 1604, and this appears to have satisfied +the prelate, who called in his secretary and assigned a form +“insomuch that the matter was incontinently done.” But +the worthy vicar was not permitted to depart without a +thoroughly characteristic caution: “Let it be secret, Mr. +Ruddle,—weak brethren! weak brethren!” The MS. Diary +gives some details of the manner in which the ghost was laid, +and it is significant to read that the operator described a +circle and a pentacle upon the ground further making use +of a rowan “crutch” or wand. He mentions “a parchment +scroll,” he spoke in Syriac and proceeded to demand as the +books advise; he “went through the proper forms of +dismissal and fulfilled all, as it was set down and written in +my memoranda,” and then “with certain fixed rites I did +dismiss that troubled ghost.” It would be interesting to +know what form and ceremonies the Bishop prescribed. It +does not sound like the details of a Catholic exorcism, but +rather some superstitious and magical ritual. From what is +related the form can hardly have been arranged for the +nonce.</p> + +<p>Although exorcism was not recognized by Protestants +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span>there are instances upon record where an appeal has been +made by English country-folk for the ministrations of a +Catholic priest. In April, 1815, Father Edward Peach of the +Midland District, was implored to visit a young married +woman named White, of King’s Norton, Worcestershire. +She had for two months been afflicted with an extraordinary +kind of illness which doctors could neither name nor cure. +Her sister declared that a young man of bad repute, whose +hand had been rejected, had sworn revenge and had employed +the assistance of a reputed wizard at Dudley to work some +mischief. However that might be, the unhappy girl seemed +to lie at death’s door; she raved of being beset day and night +by spirits who mocked and moped at her, threatening to +carry her away body and soul, and suggesting self-destruction +as the only means to escape them. The clergyman of the +parish visited and prayed with her, but no good resulted +from all his endeavours. It so happened that a nurse who +was called in was a Catholic, and horrified at the hideous +ravings of the patient she procured a bottle of holy water, +with which she sprinkled the room and bed. A few drops +fell upon the sufferer, who uttered the most piercing cries, +and screamed out, “You have scalded me! You have +scalded me!” The paroxysm, however, passed, and she fell +for the first time during many weeks into a sound slumber. +After some slight improvement for eight and forty hours +she was attacked by violent convulsions, and her relatives, +in great alarm, on Tuesday in Rogation Week, 2 May, 1815, +sent a special messenger to beg Father Peach to come over +immediately.</p> + +<p>When the priest appeared the girl was being held down in +bed by two women who were forced to put forth all their +strength, and as soon as she saw him—he was a complete +stranger to her nor could his sacred profession be recognized +by his attire—so terrible were her struggles that her husband +was bound to lend his aid also to master her writhing limbs. +Presently she fell into a state of complete exhaustion, and +Father Peach, dismissing the rest of the company, was able +to talk to her long and seriously. He seems to have been +quite satisfied that it was a genuine case of diabolic possession, +and his evidence, carefully expressed and marshalled with +great moderation, leave no reasonable doubt that this strange +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span>sickness owned no natural origin. In the course of conversation +it appeared that she had never been baptized. A simple +instruction was given and finding her in excellent dispositions +Father Peach at once baptized her. During the administration +of this sacrament she trembled like a leaf, and as the water +fell upon her she winced pitifully, a spasm of agony distorting +her countenance. She afterwards averred that it gave her +as much pain as if boiling water had been poured upon her +bare flesh. Immediately afterwards there followed a truly +remarkable change in her health and spirits; her husband +and sister were overjoyed and thought it no less than a +miracle. The next day Father Peach visited her again and +noticed a rapid improvement. Save for a slight weakness +she seemed perfectly restored, and, says the good father, +writing a twelvemonth later than the event from notes he +had taken at the time, there was no return, nor the least +lingering symptom of her terrible and distressing malady.</p> + +<p>In its issue of 11 October, 1925, <i>The Sunday Express</i>, +under the heading “Evil Spirit Haunts A Girl,” devoted a +prominent column to the record of some extraordinary +happenings. The account commences:</p> + +<p>“Haunted for twelve months and more by a mischievous +spirit—called a Poltergeist—driven almost to a state of +distraction, threatened with a lunatic asylum, and then +cured by the help of a band of spirit Indians, is the extraordinary +experience of the nineteen-year-old Gwynneth +Morley, who lives with her widowed mother at Keighley, +and who was employed in the spinning mills of Messrs. Hay +and Wright.”</p> + +<p>These phenomena were communicated to Sir Arthur Conan +Doyle, who informed Mr. Hewet McKenzie, with the result +that the girl was brought to London for psychic treatment, +Mr. McKenzie being “honorary principal of the British +College of Psychic Science,” an institution which is advertised +as the “Best equipped Centre for the study of Psychic +Science in Britain,” and announces “Lectures on Practical +Healing,” “Public Clairvoyance,” “A Small Exhibition of +notable water colours ... representing Soul development, +or experience of the Soul in ethereal conditions.” “The +College” is, I am given to understand, a well-known centre +for spiritistic séances.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span></p> + +<p>Gwynneth Morley worked in Mr. McKenzie’s family for +three months “as a housemaid, under close observation, and +receiving psychic treatment.</p> + +<p>“Day by day the amazing manifestations of her tormenting +spirit were noted down. In between the new and full moon +the disturbances were worse. Everything in the room in +which Gwynneth happened to be would be thrown about and +smashed. Tables were lifted and overturned, chairs smashed +to pieces, bookcases upset, and heavy settees thrown over.</p> + +<p>“In the kitchen of Holland Park the preparation of meals, +when Gwynneth was about, was a disconcerting affair. +Bowls of water would be spilt and pats of butter thrown on +the floor.</p> + +<p>“On another occasion when Gwynneth was in the kitchen +the housekeeper, who was preparing some grape fruit for +breakfast, found that one half had disappeared and could be +found neither in the kitchen nor in the scullery. She got two +bananas to take its place, and laid them on the table beside +her; immediately the missing grape fruit whizzed past her +ear and fell before her and the bananas vanished. Some ten +minutes later they were found on the scullery table.</p> + +<p>“All this time Gwynneth was being treated by psychic +experts. Every week the girl sat with Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie +and others. It was found that she was easily hypnotised, +and that tables moved towards her in the circle.</p> + +<p>“At other times during the cure the Poltergeist seemed +to accept challenges. One night after a particularly exciting +day, Mrs. Barkel magnetised her head and quietened her, +and Mrs. McKenzie suggested that she should go to bed, +saying ‘Nothing happens when you get into bed.’ Going up +the stairs a small table and a metal vase crashed over, and +a little later a great noise of banging and tearing was heard +in Gwynneth’s room. When Mrs. McKenzie went into the +room it looked as if a tornado had swept over it.</p> + +<p>“After an active spell from June 21 to June 25 the spirit +behaved itself until July 1, when the girl had a kind of fit. +Suddenly she fell off her chair with her hands clenched. They +laid her on a bed, and she fell into another fit. She gripped +her own throat powerfully.</p> + +<p>“Since that evening she has had no further attacks, nor +have there been any disturbances.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span></p> + +<p>The main cause of this apparent cure is said to be the +mediumship of Mrs. Barkel.</p> + +<p>“On many occasions Mrs. Barkel gave Gwynneth excellent +clairvoyance, describing deceased relatives, friends, and +incidents in her past life which the girl acknowledged and +corroborated.</p> + +<p>“One near relative, says Mr. McKenzie, whose life had +been misspent, and who had been a heavy drinker, was +clearly seen. The girl feared and hated this personality, in +life and beyond death, and had herself often seen him clairvoyantly +before the disturbances began at all. Through +Mrs. Barkel’s spirit guide, Mr. McKenzie got into touch with +him, and he promised to carry out any instructions that +might be given for the benefit of the girl.</p> + +<p>“The request was made that he should withdraw altogether +from any contact with her and not return except by request. +‘Professor J.,’ a worker on the other side, became interested. +Mr. McKenzie asked that a band of Indians, who sometimes +profess to be able to help, should take Gwynneth in hand +and protect her from the assaults of disturbing influences.</p> + +<p>“The following day Mrs. Barkel described an Indian who +had come to help, and improvements were noted from about +this date. The ‘professor’ encouraged the treatment by +suggestion, and told Mr. McKenzie that in a few weeks, with +the help of the Indian workers, he would place the medium +in an entirely new psychic condition. Mr. McKenzie says +that the promise was kept.”</p> + +<p>I have quoted this case at some length owing to the +prominence afforded it in a popular and widely read newspaper. +That the facts are substantially true I see no reason +at all to doubt. It is an ordinary instance of obsession, and +will be easily recognized as such by those priests whose duty +has required them to study these distressing phenomena. +That the interpretation put upon some of the occurrences is +utterly false I am very certain. The clairvoyance is merely +playing with fire—I might say, with hell-fire—by those who +cannot understand what they are about, what forces they are +thus blindly evoking. “Professor J.” and “the band of +Indians,” indeed all these “workers on the other side” are +nothing else than evil, or at the least gravely suspect intelligences, +masquerading as spirits of light and goodness. If, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span>indeed, the girl is relieved from obsession one cannot but +suppose some ulterior motive lurks in the background; it +is but part of a scheme organized for purposes of their own +by dark and secret powers ever alert to trick and trap +credulous man. The girl, Gwynneth Morley, should have +been exorcized by a trained and accredited exorcist. These +amateurs neither know nor even faintly realize the harm +they may do, the dangers they encounter. A bold mind, +such as that of Guazzo, might specify their attempts—well-meaning +as they are, no doubt—in terms I do not care to +use.</p> + +<p>At Illfurt, five miles south of Mulhausen in Alsace, is a +monument consisting of a stone column thirty feet high +surmounted with a statue of the Immaculate Conception, +and upon the plinth of the pillar may be read the following +remarkable inscription: <i>In memoriam perpetuam liberationis +duorum possessorum Theobaldi et Josephi Burner, obtentæ per +intercessionem Beatæ Mariæ Uirginis Immaculatæ, Anno +Domini 1869</i>.</p> + +<p>Joseph Burner⁠<a id="FNanchor_542" href="#Footnote_542" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> and Anna Maria, his wife, were poor but +intelligent persons, who were not merely respected but even +looked up to for their probity and industry by their fellow-villagers +of Illfurt. The family consisted of five children, +the eldest son, Thiébaut, being born on 21 August, 1855, +and the second, Joseph, on 29 April, 1857. They were quiet +lads of average ability, who, when eight years old, were sent +in the usual course to the local elementary school. In the +autumn of 1864 both were seized with a mysterious illness +which would not yield to the ordinary remedies. Dr. Levy, +of Altkirch, who was called in to examine the case acknowledged +himself completely baffled, and a number of other +doctors who were afterwards consulted declared themselves +unable to diagnose such extraordinary symptoms. From +25 September, 1865, the two boys displayed most abnormal +phenomena. Whilst lying on their backs they spun suddenly +round like whirling tops with the utmost rapidity. Convulsions +seized them, twisting and distorting every limb with +unparalleled mobility, or again their bodies would for hours +together become absolutely rigid and motionless so that no +joint could be bent, whilst they lay motionless as stocks or +stones. Fearful fits of vomiting often concluded these +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span>attacks. Sometimes they were dumb for days and could +only gibber and mow with blazing eyes and slabbering lips, +sometimes they were deaf so that even a pistol fired close +to their ears had not the slightest effect.⁠<a id="FNanchor_543" href="#Footnote_543" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> Often they became +fantastically excited, gesticulating wildly and shouting +incessantly. Their voices were, however, not their normal +tones nor even those of children at all, but the strong, harsh, +hoarse articulation of rough and savage men. For hours +together they would blaspheme in the foulest terms, cursing +and swearing, and bawling out such hideous obscenities that +the neighbours took to flight in sheer terror at the horrible +scenes, whilst the distracted parents knew not whence to +turn for help or comfort. Not only did the sufferers use the +filthy vocabulary of the lowest slums, but they likewise spoke +with perfect correctness and answered fluently in different +languages, in French, Latin, English, and even in most +varied dialects of Spanish and Italian, which could by no +possible means have been known to them in their normal +state. Nor could they at any time have heard conversation +in these languages and subconsciously assimilated it. A +famous case is on record where a servant girl of mean education +fell ill and during a delirium began to mutter and babble +in a language which was recognized as Syriac. This was +considered to be accounted for when it was discovered that +formerly she had been in service in a house where there was +lodging a theological student, who upon the eve of his +examinations used to walk up and down stairs and pace his +room saying aloud to himself Syriac roots and vocables, +which she thus often overheard and which in this way +registered themselves in her brain. But there could not be +any such explanation in the case of Thiébaut and Joseph +Burner, since they did not merely reel out disconnected words +and phrases in any one or two tongues, but conversed easily +and sensibly in a large variety of languages and even in +dialects. This has always been considered one of the genuine +signs of diabolic possession, as is stated in the third article +of <i>De Exorcizandis Obsessis a Dæmonio</i>: “3. In primis, +ne facile credat, aliquem a dæmonio obsessum esse, sed nota +habeat ea signa, quibus obsessus dignoscitur ab iis, qui uel +atra bile, uel morbo aliquo laborant. Signa autem obsidentis +dæmonis sunt: ignota lingua loqui pluribus uerbis, uel +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span>loquentem intelligere; distantia et occulta patefacere; uires +super ætatis seu conditionis naturam ostendere; et id genus +alia, quæ cum plurima concurrunt, maiora sunt indicia.” +Moreover, both Thiébaut and Joseph Burner repeatedly and +in exactest detail described events which were happening +at a distance, and upon investigation their accounts were +afterwards found to be precisely true in every particular. +Their strength was also abnormal, and often in their +paroxysms and convulsions it needed the utmost exertions +of three powerful men severally to hold these lads who were +but nine and seven years old.</p> + +<p>It was noticed at the very beginning of these maladies +that the patients were thrown into the most violent fits and +every symptom of disease and disorder exacerbated by the +presence of any sacramental such as holy water, or medals, +rosaries, and other objects which had been blessed according +to the ritual. They seemed particularly enraged by the +blessed Medal of S. Benedict and pictures of Our Lady of +Perpetual Succour. On one occasion Monsieur Ignace Spies, +the <i>Maire</i> of Selestat, a man of exceptional devotion and piety, +held before their eyes a Relic of S. Gerard Majella,⁠<a id="FNanchor_544" href="#Footnote_544" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> the +Redemptorist thaumaturge, when their shrieks and yells +were truly terrific, finally dying away in inhuman whines and +groans of despair. It so happened that a Corpus Christi procession +passed the house, opposite which an Altar of Repose +had been erected. The children, who were in bed, knew +nothing of this and seemed to lie in a deep stupor. However, +as the Blessed Sacrament approached their behaviour is said +to have been indescribable. They poured forth torrents of +filth and profanity, distorting their limbs into a thousand +unnatural postures, their eyes almost starting from their +heads, a crisis which was succeeded by a sudden horrible +composure, whilst they crept away into the furthest corners +of the room moaning, panting, and retching as if in mortal +agony. Above all, pictures and Medals of Our Lady and the +invocation of Her Most Holy Name filled the possessed with +terror and rage. At any mention of “the Great Lady,” as +they termed Her, they would curse and howl in so monstrous +a way that all who had heard them shook and sweated with +fear.</p> + +<p>The abbé Charles Brey, parish priest of Illfurt, quickly +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span>made up his mind as to the diabolic nature of the phenomena. +It was an undoubted case of possession, since in no other +way could what was taking place be explained. Accordingly +he sent to his diocesan, Monsignor Andreas Räss (1842-87) a +full account of such extraordinary and fearful events. The +Bishop, however, was far from satisfied that these things +could not be accounted for naturally. In fact it was only +after three or four years’ delay that at the instance of the +Dean of Altkirch he decided to order a special ecclesiastical +investigation. He finally appointed for this task three acute +theologians, Monsignor Stumpf,⁠<a id="FNanchor_545" href="#Footnote_545" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> Superior of his Grand +Seminary at Strasburg; Monsignor Freyburger, Vicar-General +of the diocese; and Monsieur Sester, rector of Mulhausen. +These priests, then, presented themselves unexpectedly at +the Burner’s house on Tuesday morning, 13 April, 1869, at +10 o’clock. It was found that Joseph Burner had already +concealed himself, and it was only after a prolonged search +he could with difficulty be dragged from under his bed where +he had taken refuge. Thiébaut feigned to be unconscious +of the presence of strangers. The inquiry lasted for more +than two hours, and it was not until past noon that the +investigators left the house. Meanwhile they had witnessed +the most hideous scenes, and their minds were quite made +up as to the reality of the possession. They shortly presented +their report to the Bishop, who then, and not until then, +allowed himself to be convinced of the facts.</p> + +<p>Even so, the prudent prelate ordered fresh precautions to +be taken. At the beginning of September, 1869, Thiébaut +was conveyed in the company of his unhappy mother, to the +orphanage of S. Charles at Schiltigheim, where he was to be +lodged whilst the case was investigated <i>de nouo</i> by Monsignor +Rapp, Monsignor Stumpf, and Father Eicher, S.J., Superior +of the Jesuit house at Strasburg. At the same time Father +Hausser, the chaplain of S. Charles, and Father Schrantzer, +a well-known scholar and psychologist, were to keep the boy +systematically but secretly under the closest observation.</p> + +<p>It was decided to proceed to exorcism, and a priest of great +reverence and experience, Father Souquat, was commissioned +by the Bishop to perform the solemn rite. At two o’clock +on Sunday, 3 October, Thiébaut was forcibly brought into +the chapel of S. Charles, which hitherto he had always +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span>sedulously avoided, and when compelled to enter he uttered +without intermission such hoarse yells that it was necessary +to remove him for fear of scandal and alarming the other +inmates. The lad, however, was now held fast by the abbés +Schrantzer and Hausser, assisted by Charles André, the +gardener of the establishment, a stalwart and muscular +Hercules. The sufferer stood upon a carpet spread just before +the communion rails, his face turned towards the tabernacle. +He struggled and writhed in the grasp of those who were +restraining him; his face was scarlet; his eyes closed; +whilst from his swollen and champing lips there flowed +down a stream of thick yellowish froth which fell in great +viscous gouts to the floor. The Litanies began, and at the +words “Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis” a hideous yell burst +from his throat. The exorcizer unmoved continued the +prayers and gospels of the Ritual. Meanwhile the possessed +blasphemed and defied their utmost efforts. It was resolved +to recommence upon the following day. Thiébaut, accordingly, +was confined in a strait jacket and strapped down in +a red arm-chair, around which stood the three guards as +before. The evil spirit roared and howled in a deep bass +voice, raising a terrific din; the boy’s limbs strained and +contorted but the bonds held tight; his face was livid; his +mouth flecked with the foam of slobbering saliva. In a firm +voice the priest adjured the demon; he held the crucifix +before his eyes, and finally a statue of Our Lady with the +words: “Unclean spirit, disappear before the face of the +Immaculate Conception! She commands! Thou must obey! +Thou must depart!” The assistants upon their knees +fervently recited the <i>Memorare</i>, when the air was rent by +a yell of hideous agony, the boy’s limbs were convulsed in +one sharp convulsion, and suddenly he lay still wrapped in +a deep slumber. At the end of about an hour he awoke +gently and gazed about him with wondering eyes. “Where +am I?” he asked. “Do you not know me?” questioned +the abbé Schrantzer. “No, father, I do not,” was the reply. +In a few days Thiébaut was able to return home, worn and +weak but bright and happy. Of all that happened during +those fateful years he had not the smallest recollection. He +returned to school, and was in every respect a normal healthy +boy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span></p> + +<p>Joseph, who had grown steadily worse, was meantime +secluded from his brother, pending the preparations for his +exorcism. On 27 October he was taken very early in the +morning to the cemetery chapel near Illfurt. Only the +parents, Mons. Ignace Spies, Professor Lachemann, and +some half a dozen more witnesses were present, as the affair +was conducted in the utmost privacy. At six o’clock the +abbé Charles Brey said Mass, after which he exorcized the +unhappy victim. During three successive hours they renewed +prayers and adjurations, until at last some present began to +feel discouraged. But the glowing faith of the priest sustained +them, and at length with a loud groan that sounded like a +deep roar the boy, who had been struggling and screeching +in paroxysms of frantic fury all the while, fell back into a +deep swoon and lay motionless. After no long pause he sat +up, opened his eyes as awaking from sleep, and was overcome +with amazement to find himself in a church with strange +people around him.</p> + +<p>Neither Thiébaut nor Joseph ever experienced any recurrence +of this strange malady. The former died when he was +only sixteen years old on 3 April, 1871. The latter, who +obtained a situation at Zillisheim, died there in 1882 at the +age of twenty-five.</p> + +<p>An even more recent case of possession, which has been +authoritatively studied in minutest detail and at first hand, +presents many of the same features.⁠<a id="FNanchor_546" href="#Footnote_546" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> Hélène-Joséphine +Poirier, the daughter of an artisan family—her father was +a mason—was born on 5 November, 1834, at Coullons, a +small village some ten miles from Gien in the district of the +Loire. Whilst still young she was apprenticed to Mlle Justine +Beston, a working dressmaker, and soon became skilful with +her needle and a remarkable embroideress. Already she had +attracted attention by her sincere and modest piety, and +was thought highly of by the parish priest, M. Preslier, a +man of unusual discernment and the soundest common +sense. On the night of 25 March, 1850, she was suddenly +awakened by a series of sharp raps, which soon became +violent blows, as if struck upon the walls of the small attic +where she slept. In terror she rushed into her parents’ room +next door, and they returned with her to search. Nothing +at all could be discovered, and she was persuaded to go +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span>back to bed. Although they could actually see no cause for +alarm her parents had heard the extraordinary noises. +“From this date,” says M. Preslier, “the life of Hélène in +the midst of such terrible physical and moral suffering that +she might well have given utterance to the complaints of +holy Job.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_547" href="#Footnote_547" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p>These manifestations to Hélène Poirier may not unfittingly +be compared with the famous “Rochester knockings,” the +phenomenon of the rappings at Hydesville in 1848 at the +house of the Fox family, which by many writers is considered +to be the beginning of that world-wide movement known as +Spiritism or Spiritualism in its modern manifestations and +recrudescence.⁠<a id="FNanchor_548" href="#Footnote_548" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p> + +<p>Some months after this event Hélène suddenly fell rigid +to the ground as if she had been thrown down by some strong +hands. She was able to get up immediately but only to +fall again. It was thought she was epileptic or at any rate +seized with some unusual attack, some fit or convulsion. +But after a careful observation of her case Dr. Azéma, the +local practitioner, shrewdly remarked: “Nobody here but +the Priest can cure you.” From this time disorders of spirit +and physical maladies increased with unprecedented rapidity +and violence. “Her physical and mental sufferings, which +began on 25 March, 1850, continued until her death on +8 January, 1914, that is to say during a period of sixty-four +years. But those of diabolic origin ceased towards the end +of 1897. So the diabolic attacks actually lasted for some +seven-and-forty years, and for six years of this time she was +possessed.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_549" href="#Footnote_549" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> It was in January, 1863, it first became +undeniably evident that her sufferings, her spasms, and +painful trances had a supernatural origin. The abbé Bougaud, +Archdeacon of Orleans, having interviewed her, advised that +she should be brought to the Bishop, Monsignor Dupanloup, +and made arrangements for her to stay at a Visitation convent +in the suburbs, promising that a commission of theologians +and doctors should examine her case. On Thursday, 28 +October, 1865, Hélène accordingly commenced a retreat at +the convent, where she was kindly received. M. Bougaud +saw her for about two minutes, and she was handed an +official order which would allow her access to the Bishop +without waiting for a summons from his lordship or any +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span>other undue delay. But there was some misunderstanding, +for on the Friday a doctor of high repute called at the convent, +as he had been requested, interrogated and examined her +for some three-quarters of an hour and then roundly informed +the Mother Superior that she was mad, stark mad, and had +better be sent home at once. He seems to have impressed +the Bishop with his report, for Monsignor Dupanloup sent a +messenger to direct the nuns to dismiss her forthwith, and +accordingly she was perforce taken back to Coullons after a +fruitless journey of bitter disappointments and discouragement. +Many persons now began to regard her with suspicion, +but in the following year, 1866, the Bishop, whilst visiting +Coullons for an April confirmation, granted her an interview +which caused him very considerably to modify his first +opinion, and M. Bougaud, who saw her in September, declared +himself convinced of the supernatural origin of the symptoms +she displayed.</p> + +<p>The most terrible obsessions now attacked her, and more +than once she was driven to the verge of suicide and despair. +“From 25 March, 1850, until March, 1868, Hélène was <i>only +obsessed</i>. This obsession <i>lasted 18 years</i>. At the end of this +time she was <i>both obsessed and possessed</i> for 13 months. From +this double agony of obsession and possession she was +completely delivered by the exorcisms, which the Bishop had +sanctioned, at Orleans, on 19 April, 1869. Four months’ +peace followed, until with heroic generosity she voluntarily +submitted to new inflictions.</p> + +<p>“At the end of August, 1869, she accepted from the hands +of Our Lord the agony of a new obsession and possession in +order to obtain the conversion of the famous general Ducrot. +When he was converted, she was delivered from her torments +at Lourdes on 3 September, 1875, the cure being effected by +the prayers of 15,000 pilgrims who had assembled there. +<i>The obsession and possession in their new form</i> had lasted five +years. During the forty years which passed before her death, +she was never again subject to possession, but she was +continually obsessed, the attacks now being of short duration, +now long and severe. The sufferings of every kind which she +endured as well she offered with the intention of the triumph +and good estate of God’s priests. Why she was originally +thus persecuted by the Devil for nineteen years, and with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span>what intention she offered those torments from which she +was delivered by the exorcisms directed by the Bishop, must +always remain a secret.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_550" href="#Footnote_550" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> On Tuesday, 13 August, 1867, a +supernormal impulse came over her to write a paper full of +the most hideous blasphemies against Our Lord and His +Blessed Mother, and, what is indeed significant, to draw blood +from her arm and to sign therewith a deed giving herself +over body and soul to Satan. This she happily resisted after +a terrible struggle. Upon the following 28 August reliable +witnesses saw her levitated from the ground on two distinct +occasions. With this phenomenon we may compare the +levitation of mediums at spiritistic séances. Sir William +Crookes in <i>The Quarterly Journal of Science</i>, January, 1874, +states that “There are at least a hundred recorded instances +of Mr. Home’s rising from the ground.” Of the same medium +he writes: “On three separate occasions have seen him +raised completely from the floor of the room.”</p> + +<p>In March, 1868, it became evident that the poor sufferer +was actually possessed. Fierce convulsive fits seized her; +she suddenly fell with a maniacal fury and a deep hoarse +voice uttered the most astounding blasphemies; if the Holy +Names of Jesus and Mary were spoken in her presence she +gnashed her teeth and literally foamed at the mouth; she +was unable to hear the words <i>Et caro Uerbum factum est</i> +without an access of insane rage which spent itself in wild +gestures and an incoherent howling. She was interrogated +in Latin, and answered the questions volubly and easily in +the same tongue. The case attracted considerable attention, +and was reported by the Comte de Maumigny to Padre +Picivillo, the editor of the <i>Civiltá Cattolica</i>, who gave an +account thereof to the Holy Father. The saintly Pius IX⁠<a id="FNanchor_551" href="#Footnote_551" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> +showed himself full of sympathy, and even sent through the +Comte de Maumigny a message of most salutary advice +recommending great caution and the avoidance of all kinds +of curiosity or advertisement.</p> + +<p>In February, 1869, when interrogated by several priests +Hélène gave most extraordinary details concerning bands +of Satanists. “In order to gain admission it is necessary to +bring one or more consecrated Hosts, and to deliver these to +the Devil, who in a materialized form visibly presides over +the assembly. The neophyte is obliged to profane the Sacred +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span>Species in a most horrible manner, to worship the Devil with +humblest adoration, and to perform with him and the other +persons present the most bestial acts of unbridled obscenity, +the foulest copulations. Three towns, Paris, Rome, and +Tours, are the headquarters of the Satanic bands.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_552" href="#Footnote_552" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> She +also spoke of a gang of devil-worshippers at Toulouse. It +is obvious that a mere peasant woman could have no natural +knowledge of these abominations, the details concerning +which were unhappily only too true.</p> + +<p>In the following April Hélène was taken to Orleans to be +examined and solemnly exorcized. The interrogatories were +conducted by Monsieur Desbrosses, a consultor in theology +for the diocese, Monsieur Bougaud, and Monsieur Mallet, +Superior of the Grand Seminary. They witnessed the most +terrible crisis; the sufferer was tortured by fierce cramps +and spasms; she howled like a wild beast; but they persisted +patiently. Mons. Mallet questioned her on difficult and +obscure points in theology and philosophy using now Latin, +now Greek. She replied fluently in both tongues, answering +his queries concisely, clearly, and to the point, incontestable +proof that she was influenced by some supernormal power. +Two or three days later the Bishop was present at a similar +examination, and forthwith commissioned his own director, +Monsieur Roy, a professor at the Seminary, to undertake the +exorcisms. With him were associated Monsieur Mallet, the +parish priest of Coullons, and Monsieur Gaduel, Vicar-General +of the diocese. Two nuns and Mlle Preslier held the patient. +It was found necessary to repeat the rite five times upon +successive days. On the last occasion the cries of the unhappy +Hélène were fearful to hear. She writhed and foamed in +paroxysms of rage; she blasphemed and cursed God, calling +loudly upon the fiends of hell; she broke free from all +restraint, hurling chairs and furniture in every direction with +the strength of five men; it was with the utmost difficulty +she could be seized and restrained before some serious +mischief was done; at last with an unearthly yell, twice +repeated, her limbs relaxed, and after a short period of +insensibility she seemed to awake, calm and composed, as if +from a restful slumber. The possession had lasted thirteen +months from March, 1868, to April, 1869.</p> + +<p>Into the details of her second possession from 23 August, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span>1869, until 3 September, 1874, it is hardly necessary to enter +at any length. Monsieur Preslier noted: “The second crisis +of possession was infinitely more terrible than the first; +1st, owing to the length; the first lasted thirteen months, +the second five years. 2nd, the first was relieved with a +number of heavenly consolations, but very little solace was +obtained during the second. 3rd, there was much bodily suffering +in the first, in the second there were far keener mental +sufferings and more exquisite pain.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_553" href="#Footnote_553" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> She was finally and +completely delivered at Lourdes on Thursday, 3 September, +1874. It is not to be supposed that she passed the remaining +forty years of her life without occasional manifestations of +extraordinary phenomena. After much sickness, cheerfully +and smilingly borne, she made a good end in her eightieth +year, on 8 January, 1914, and is buried in the little village +cemetery of her native place.</p> + +<p>We have here the case of a woman who was mediumistic +and clairvoyant to an almost unexampled degree, and it is +very certain that if these would-be fortune-tellers and mages +who so freely advertise their powers in many spiritistic +journals to-day truly realized to what terrible dangers and +very real psychic perils the use and even the mere possession +of such faculties expose them, they would, so far from +trafficking in the presumption of abnormal gifts, regard them +with caution and indeed shrink from any occult practice at +all, lest haply they become the prey of controls and influences +so cunning, so potent for evil, as to merge them body and +soul in untold miseries and shadows darker even than the +bitterness of death.</p> + +<p>The modern Spiritistic movement, so strongly supported +by recent scientific utterances, is increasingly affecting all +classes and conditions of society, and is beginning in every +direction to undermine and actually to usurp the religious +belief and convictions of thousands of earnest and seriously +inclined but not very accurately informed or well-instructed +persons. The basis of the movement is the claim that the +spirits of the dead are continually seeking to communicate +and, indeed, communicating with us through the agency of +sensitives, so that it is possible to get into touch and to +converse with our dear ones who have passed from this life. +It is hardly necessary to emphasize the almost infinite +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span>consolation and comfort such a doctrine holds for the bereaved, +how eagerly and with what yearning mourners will embrace +such teaching, and how perseveringly and with what tender +agonies of an hungered love they will devote themselves to +the practices they imagine will place them in closest connexion +and communion with those whom they have lost +awhile, but whose voices they ever long to hear, whose faces +they long to see once again. It is a matter of common +knowledge that during and since the Great War Spiritism +has increased tenfold; many who were wont to laugh at it, +who refused to listen to its claims and scorned it as futile +nonsense, are now among its most enthusiastic devotees. +In truth there must be few of us who cannot appreciate the +irresistible influence such beliefs will have upon the mind. +Spiritism is seemingly full of joy, and hope, and promise, +and happiness. It will wipe all tears of sorrow from poor +human eyes; it is balm to the wounded heart; divine solace +and sympathy; the barriers of death are broken down; +mortality is robbed of its terrors.</p> + +<p>Were it true, could we summon to our side the spirits of +those whom we have so fondly cherished and converse with +them of things holy and eternal, could we learn wisdom from +their fuller knowledge, could we be assured in their own sweet +accents of their fadeless love, could we now and again be +comforted with a sight of their well-known faces, the touch +of their hands upon ours, were it God’s will that this should +be so, then assuredly Spiritism is a most blessed and sacred +thing, consolation to the afflicted, succour to the distressed, +a shining light upon earth’s dark ways, a very ready help to +us all. But if on the other hand there is reason and grave +reason to suppose that the spirits, with whom it is possible +under certain exceptional conditions and by certain remarkable +devices to establish a contact, although often claiming +to be departed friends or relatives and supporting their +contention (we acknowledge) with no little plausibility, are +again and again found to be masquerading intelligences, in +some cases undoubtedly actors of excellence who play their +part for a time with consummate skill, but who have never +at any séance whatsoever anywhere been able conclusively +to demonstrate their identity, if in fact these manifesting +intelligences are deceivers, imposing for purposes of their own +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span>a fraudulent impersonation upon those who with breaking +hearts are so eagerly longing to communicate with son or +husband fallen in battle, it may be, or on some lone shore, if +they are proven liars, if their messages are trivial, ambiguous, +cryptic, incapable of verification, shifty, ignorant, nay worse, +blasphemous and hideously obscene, then are we justified—and +we are in point of fact fully and completely justified—in +concluding that the spirits are not those of the departed, +but evil intelligences who never have been and never will +be incarnate, unclean spirits, demons, and then assuredly +Spiritism is most foul, most loathly, most dangerous, and +most damnable.</p> + +<p>The mediums, who of their own will freely open the door +to these spirits, who invite them to enter, stand in the most +deadly peril. A Spiritist of many years’ experience who saw +not too late the hazard and abandoned that creed, writes as +follows: “Spirit communion soon absorbs all the time, +faculties, hopes, fears, and desires of its devotees, and herein +lies one of the greatest dangers of spiritualism. Infatuated +by communication with the unseen inhabitants of the hidden +world, the medium loses his or her interest in the things +pertaining to everyday life and interest. A soft and pleasing +atmosphere appears to surround them. The realities of flesh +and blood are lost in ideal dreaming and there is no incentive +to break away from a state of existence so agreeable, no +matter how monstrous are the delusions practised by the +spirits. Their consciences are so callous as if seared with a +hot iron, sin has to them lost its wickedness, and they are +willing dupes to unseen beings who delight to control their +every faculty. Very seldom has a full-fledged spiritualist +been able to comprehend the necessity and blessedness of the +religion of Jesus Christ, and to withdraw from the morbid +conditions into which he has fallen....</p> + +<p>“For about three months I was in the power of spirits, +having a dual existence, and greatly tormented by their +contradictory and unsatisfactory operations.... They tormented +me to a very severe extent, and I desired to be freed +from them. I lost much of my confidence in them, and their +blasphemy and uncleanness shocked me. But they were my +constant companions. I could not get rid of them. They +tempted me to suicide and murder, and to other sins. I was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span>fearfully beset and bewildered and deluded. There was no +human help for me. They led me into some extravagances +of action, and to believe, in a measure, a few of their delusions, +often combining religion and devilry in a most surprising +manner.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_554" href="#Footnote_554" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate7" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/plate7.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE VII</p> + <p>S. JAMES VISITS THE WARLOCK’S DEN.<br>Breughel</p> + <p class="caption-r">[<i>face p. 250</i></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>In my own experience, I myself, not once, but over and +over again, have seen all these symptoms unmistakably +marked in those whose sole interest and aim in life seemed +to be a constant attendance at séances. I have watched, in +spite of every effort unable to check and dissuade, the fearfully +rapid development of such characteristics in persons +who have begun to dabble with Spiritism, at first no doubt +in moods of levity and wanton curiosity, but soon with +hectic anxiety and the most morbid absorption. Some +fifteen years ago in a well-known English provincial town a +circle was formed by a number of friends to experiment with +table-turning, psychometry, the planchette, ouija-boards, +crystal-gazing, and the like. They were, perhaps, a little +tired of the usual round of social engagements, dances, +concerts, bridge, the theatre, dinner parties, and all those +mildly pleasurable businesses which go to make up life, or +at least a great portion of life, for so many. They wanted +some new excitement, something a little out of the ordinary. +A lady, just returned home from a prolonged visit to London, +had (it seems) been taken to some Spiritistic meeting, and +she was full of the wonders both witnessed and heard there. +The sense of the eerie, the unknown, lent a spice of adventure +too. The earlier meetings were informal, first at one house, +now at another. They began by being infrequent, almost +casual, at fairly long intervals. Next a certain evening each +week was fixed for these gatherings, which soon were fully +attended by all concerned. No member would willingly miss +a single reunion. Before long they met twice, three times, +every evening in the week. Professional mediums were +engaged who travelled down from London and other great +cities, some at no small distance, to give strange exhibitions +of their powers. I myself met two of these experts, a man +and a woman, both of whose names I have since seen advertised +in Spiritistic journals of a very recent date, and I am +bound to say that I was most unfavourably impressed in each +instance. Not that I for a moment think they were fraudulent, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span>nor do I suspect any vulgar trickery or pose; they were +undoubtedly honest, thoroughly convinced and sincere, which +makes the matter ten times worse. And so from being mere +idle triflers at a new game, incredulous and a little mocking, +the whole company became besotted by their practices, +fanatics whose thoughts were always and ever centred and +concentrated upon their communion with spirits, who talked +of nothing else, who seemed only to live for those evenings +when they might meet and enter—as it were—another world. +Argument, pleading, reproof, authority, official admonishment, +all proved useless; one could only stand by and see +the terrible thing doing its deadly work. The symptoms were +exactly as above described. In two cases, men, the moral +fibre was for a while apparently destroyed altogether; in +another case, a woman, there was obsession, and persons who +either knew nothing of, or had no sort of belief in, Spiritism, +whispered of eccentricities, of outbursts of uncontrolled +passion and ravings, which pointed to a disordered mind, to +an asylum. All sank into a state of apathy; former interests +vanished; the amenities of social intercourse were neglected +and forgotten; old friendships allowed to drop for no reason +whatsoever; a complete change of character for the worse, +a terrible deterioration took place; the physical health +suffered; their faces became white and drawn, the eyes dull +and glazed, save when Spiritism was discussed, and then they +lit with hot unholy fires; one heard covert gossip that +hinted of crude debauch, of blasphemous speeches, of licence +and degradation. Fortunately by a series of providential +events the circle was broken up; outside circumstances +compelled the principals to fall away, and what was +doubtless a more potent factor than any, one or two were +suddenly brought to realize the deadly peril and the folly +of their proceedings. It proved a hard struggle indeed to rid +themselves of the controls to which they had so blindly and +so utterly submitted; their wills were weakened, their health +impaired; more than once they slid back again into the old +danger zone, more than once they were on the verge of +giving up the contest in despair. But under direction and +availing themselves of those means of grace the Church so +bounteously proffers they persevered, and were at length +made clean.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span></p> + +<p>There must be many who have had similar experiences, +who know intimately, even if they have not actually had to +rescue and to guide, those who have been meshed and trapped +by Spiritism and are endeavouring to escape. They will +appreciate how difficult is the task, they will realize how +pernicious, how potent, how evil, such toils may be. Nobody +who has had to deal with sensitives, with poor dupes who are +eager to abandon their practices, can think lightly of +Spiritism.</p> + +<p>That Spiritism opens the door to demoniac possession, so +often classed as lunacy, is generally acknowledged by all save +the prejudiced and superstitious. As far back as 1877 +Dr. L. S. Forbes Winslow wrote in <i>Spiritualistic Madness</i>: +“Ten thousand unfortunate people are at the present time +confined in lunatic asylums on account of having tampered +with the supernatural.” And quoting an American journal +he goes on to say: “Not a week passes in which we do not +hear that some of these unfortunates destroy themselves by +suicide, or are removed to a lunatic asylum. The mediums +often manifest signs of an abnormal condition of their mental +faculties, and among certain of them are found unequivocal +indications of a true demoniacal possession. The evil spreads +rapidly, and it will produce in a few years frightful results.... +Two French authors of spiritualistic works, who wrote +<i>Le Monde Spirituel</i> and <i>Sauvons le genre humain</i>, died insane +in an asylum; these two men were distinguished in their +respective professions; one as a highly scientific man, the +other as an advocate well learned in the Law. These +individuals placed themselves in communication with spirits +by means of tables. I could quote many such instances +where men of the highest ability have, so to speak, neglected +all and followed the doctrines of Spiritualism only to end +their days in the lunatic asylum.”</p> + +<p>Some half a dozen years ago an inquiry was undertaken +and there was circulated an interrogatory or <i>enquête</i> which +invited opinions upon (1) “the situation as regards the +renewed interest in psychic phenomena”; (2) whether this +“psychic renewal” denoted a “passing from a logical and +scientific (deductive) to a spiritual and mystic (inductive) +conception of life,” or “a reconciliation between the two, +that is between science and faith”;⁠<a id="FNanchor_555" href="#Footnote_555" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> (3) “the most powerful +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span>argument for, or against, human survival”; (4) “the best +means of organizing this (psychic) movement in the highest +interest, philosophical, religious and scientific, of the nation, +especially as a factor of durable peace.” Five-and-fifty of +the answers were collected and published under the title +<i>Spiritualism: Its Present-Day Meaning</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_556" href="#Footnote_556" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> a book which +certainly makes most interesting and illuminating if extremely +varied reading. Being a symposium, all schools of thought +are represented, and I would venture to add that among the +contributions are some outpourings which evince no thought +at all, a fact which is of itself not without considerable +significance. We have the unflinching logic and sound +common-sense of Father Bernard Vaughan, whose verdict is +reiterated by the Rev. James Adderley and the Rev. J. A. V. +Magee; the concise, outspoken, pertinent and telling comments +of General Booth; the vague hopelessly inadequate +flotsam of Dr. Percy Dearmer,⁠<a id="FNanchor_557" href="#Footnote_557" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> vapid stuff which makes +a theologian writhe; the sweet sugary sentimentalism of +Miss Evelyn Underhill, so anæmic, so obviously popular, and +so ingenuously miscalled mysticism; the dull worthless dross +of Mr. McCabe’s superstitious materialism; the feverish +panicky special pleading of the convinced Spiritists. Here, +too, we have much that directly bears out our present +contention, the medical evidence of such names as Sir Bryan +Donkin; Dr. W. H. Stoddart, who treats of “The Danger +to Mental Sanity”; with Dr. Bernard Hollander on “The +Peril of Spirits”; and Dr. A. T. Schofield on “The Spiritist +Epidemic.” Thus Dr. Stoddart writes: “In some cases the +spiritualistic hallucinations so dominate the whole mental +life that the condition amounts to insanity; and I can +confirm Sir Bryan Donkin’s statement that spiritualistic +inquiries tend to induce insanity.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_558" href="#Footnote_558" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> Dr. Hollander is even +more emphatic: “The practice is a dangerous one. Persons +become intoxicated with spirits of that nature as others do +with spirits of another kind. And similarly, as not all persons +who take alcohol get drunk, so not all spiritualists show the +effects of their indulgences.... But that is no proof against +the harmful nature of these practices, and, as a mental +specialist, I confess I have seen victims of both, and that the +one addicted to material spirits is the easier to treat.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_559" href="#Footnote_559" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> +Spiritism, Dr. Schofield points out, “has been known to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span>Christians for 2000 years. Any benefit derived therefrom is +more than neutralized by the very doubtful surroundings and +character of the supposed revelation (I say ‘supposed’ +because it has been known so long). If, however, it must be +coupled with the dangers, horrors, and frauds that so often +in modern Spiritism accompany the knowledge of the unseen, +we are almost as well without it, at any rate from such a +source.... There can be no doubt the epidemic will +eventually subside, but before it does, the vast mischief of +a spiritual tidal wave of very doubtful origin will be most +disastrously done, and thousands of unstable souls will be +wrecked in spirit, if not in mind and body as well.... To +class it as a religion is an insult to the faith of Christ.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_560" href="#Footnote_560" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> + +<p>Sir William Barrett utters a word of grave import: “All +excitable and unbalanced minds need to be warned away +from a subject that may cause, and in many cases has caused, +serious mental derangement.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_561" href="#Footnote_561" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> “Spiritualism,” says Father +Bernard Vaughan, “only too often means loss of health, loss +of morals and loss of faith. Consult not Sir Oliver Lodge or +Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Mr. Vale Owen, but your family +medical adviser, and he will tell you to keep away from the +séance-room as you would from an opium den. In fact, the +drug habit is not more fatal than the practice of Spiritualism +in very many cases. Read the warning note sounded by +Dr. Charles Mercier, or by Dr. G. H. Robertson or by Colonel +R. H. Elliot, and be satisfied that yielding to Spiritualism is +qualifying for an asylum. You may not get there but you +deserve to be an inmate.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_562" href="#Footnote_562" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> The following letter written by +Miss Mary G. Cardwell, M.B., Ch.B., from the Oldham Union +Infirmary, speaks for itself: “One day recently I admitted +a woman of thirty-five years to the hospital of which I have +the honour to be resident medical officer. She was sent in +as incapable of looking after herself or her family. She told +me that she was a medium, having been introduced into +Spiritualism by a man, also a medium, who said he could +thereby help her over some family worries. As a direct +result of this, she has neglected her children, so that the +public authorities have removed them from her care, her +home is ruined, and she herself is a mental and moral wreck. +She had paid the other medium for his services by the +sacrifice of her virtue.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_563" href="#Footnote_563" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> And this is no isolated, no +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span>exceptional, instance. I have myself known precisely similar +cases.</p> + +<p>Occasionally some particularly shocking incident will find +its way into the public Press and we have records such as +the following, which was headed “Family of Eleven Mad. +Burning Mania after Séance. Child to be Sacrificed.</p> + +<p>“The story of an entire family of eleven persons, in the +village of Krucktenhofen, Bavaria, going out of their minds +after a spiritualistic séance is sent by the Exchange Paris +correspondent, quoting the <i>Berliner Tageblatt</i>.</p> + +<p>“Renouncing the goods of this world, the father, mother, +three sons, two elder daughters, and subsequently the remaining +four younger members of the family, joined in burning +their furniture and bedding.</p> + +<p>“Finally, the three-months-old child of one of the daughters +was about to be burnt when neighbours interfered. The +whole family is now in an asylum.” (<i>Daily Mirror</i>, 19 May, +1921.)</p> + +<p>“Camouflage it as you will, Spiritualism with its kindred +superstitions, such as necromancy and occultism, is a +recrudescence of the old, old practices cultivated in the days +of long ago.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_564" href="#Footnote_564" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> In other words this “New Religion” is but +the Old Witchcraft. There is, I venture to assert, not a single +phenomenon of modern Spiritism which cannot be paralleled +in the records of the witch trials and examinations; not a +single doctrine which was not believed and propagated by +the damnable Gnostic heresies of long ago.</p> + +<p>Some of the definitions of Spiritism given by spiritists +themselves are sufficiently startling. They frankly tell us +that “Spiritualism is the science or art of communion with +spirits.... It does not follow that because a communication +comes from ‘the unseen,’ it is therefore from God, as a +revelation. It may be from the latest dead lounger, as an +amusement,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_565" href="#Footnote_565" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> or, I would add, from a demon as a snare. +There is something inexpressibly ugly and revolting about +this cold-blooded necromancy defined in set categorical +terms.</p> + +<p>Modern Spiritism is usually considered to have had its +origin in America. In the year 1848 there lived at Hydesville, +Wayne, New York State, a family of the Methodist +persuasion named Fox; a father, mother, and two daughters, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span>Margaretta and Katie, aged fifteen and twelve respectively. +During the month of March all the household began to +declare that they were kept awake at night by the most +extraordinary noises, loud knockings on the wall, and footsteps. +The children amused themselves by trying to imitate +the noises; they tapped on the wainscot, and to their great +surprise answering taps came back, so that they found they +could get into communication with the unknown agency. +They would ask a question and invite it to respond with +one sharp rap for “no” and three for “yes,” and thus it +continually replied. They further held actual conversations +in this way by repeating the alphabet and establishing a +regular code. Mrs. Fox then began to make inquiries concerning +the former occupants of the house, and soon discovered that +a pedlar named Charles Rayn was said to have been murdered +in the very bedroom where her two girls were sleeping, and that +his body had been buried in the cellar. Public curiosity was +aroused, and it was now generally believed that it was the +spirit of the unfortunate victim who haunted the farm-house, +endeavouring to convey some message to those whom he had +left. Actually no body was found in the cellar, and the +alleged murderer whose name was given, appeared at +Hydesville and “threw very hot water on the story.” Later +when the family moved to Rochester—it is said they were +practically driven out of Hydesville by the Methodist minister +there—the rappings followed them, and the whole town was +speedily on the tiptoe of excitement. It was then given out +that the noises were communications from the spirits of those +recently dead, and that the Fox girls, who apparently +attracted them, were gifted with some special faculty which +rendered intercourse of this kind possible. People soon began +to flock round them asking their assistance in getting messages +from their departed relatives and friends; the two girls held +regular séances, and netted a fair sum of money. It was not +long before other persons discovered that they also possessed +this extraordinary faculty of attracting spirit manifestations, +and of getting into communication with the other world at +will. But the Fox sisters were first in the field, and to them +came a continuous stream of persons with well-filled pockets +from all parts of America. There was also opposition, which +sometimes took a very violent form. As early as November, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span>1850, an attack was made upon Margaretta Fox, who was +staying at West Troy in the house of a Mr. Bouton. A rough +mob surrounded the premises, stones were thrown at the +windows, and shots fired, whilst both men and women uttered +threats and imprecations against the “unholy witch-woman +within.” At one of the séances Dr. Kane, a famous Arctic +explorer was present, and he was so fascinated by the beauty +of Margaretta Fox that he never rested until he had taken +her away from her sordid and harmful surroundings, had her +educated at Philadelphia, and finally, much to the annoyance +of his relations, who loathed any connexion with the Fox +family, made her his wife.</p> + +<p>Dr. Kane died soon after his marriage, but in the book +published by his widow there are several references to his +abhorrence of Spiritism. “Do avoid spirits,” he urges, +“I cannot bear to think of you as engaged in a course of +wickedness and deception.” For ten years Mrs. Kane did +indeed abandon it; in fact in August, 1858, she was baptized +as a Catholic at New York; but then,⁠<a id="FNanchor_566" href="#Footnote_566" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> owing perhaps +to the pinch of poverty, she again took up work as a medium, +and was received back with acclamations by the whole +Spiritistic community. From that moment dates her steady +deterioration, both physical and moral.</p> + +<p>Kate Fox, Mrs. Jencken as she had become, the wife of a +London barrister, was the mother of a baby whom popular +talk credited with mediumistic powers of the most extraordinary +kind. The whole Spiritistic following prophesied a +brilliant future for the poor child, of whom, however, there +is nothing recorded save that he was sadly neglected by his +miserable mother, who died of chronic alcoholism in June, +1892. Mrs. Kane survived her sister for nine months, a +pitiable and hopeless wreck, craving only for drink. The last +few weeks of her life were spent in a derelict tenement house. +“This wreck of womanhood has been a guest in palaces and +courts. The powers of mind now imbecile were the wonder +and the study of scientific men in America, Europe, and +Australia.... The lips that utter little else now than +profanity, once promulgated the doctrine of a new religion.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_567" href="#Footnote_567" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> +It would, indeed, be difficult to conceive anything more +sordid and more miserable than this sad and shocking story +of utter degradation. The collapse and moral corruption +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span>of the first apostles of modern Spiritism should surely prove +a timely warning and a danger signal not to be mistaken.⁠<a id="FNanchor_568" href="#Footnote_568" class="fnanchor">[103]</a></p> + +<p>In the earliest days of Spiritism the subject was investigated +by men like Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison, +Robert Hare, professor of chemistry in the University of +Pennsylvania, and John Worth Edmonds, a judge of the +Supreme Court of New York State. Conspicuous among the +spiritists we find Andrew Jackson Davis, whose work <i>The +Principles of Nature</i> (1847), dictated by him in trance, +contained theories of the universe closely resembling those +of the Swedenborgians. From America the movement +filtered through to Europe, and when in 1852 two mediums, +Mrs. Haydon and Mrs. Roberts, came to London, not merely +popular interest but the careful attention of the leading +scientists of the day was attracted. Robert Owen, the +Socialist, frankly accepted the Spiritistic explanation of the +various phenomena, while Professor De Morgan, the mathematician, +in his account of a sitting with Mrs. Haydon +declared himself convinced that “somebody or some spirit +was reading his thoughts.” In the spring of 1855 Daniel +Dunglas Home (Hume)—Home was the son of the eleventh +Lord Home and a chambermaid at the Queen’s Hotel, +Southampton, but was brought up in America—who was +then a young man of twenty-two, crossed to England from +America. In 1856 Home was received into the Church at +Rome by Father John Etheridge, S.J., and he then gave a +promise to refrain from all exercise of his mediumistic powers, +but in less than a year he had broken his pledge and was +living as before. This famous medium is almost the only +one who, as even Podmore admits, was never clearly convicted +of fraud. Sir David Brewster, the scientist, and Dr. +J. J. Garth Wilkinson, a scholar of unblemished integrity and +one of the leading homœopathic physicians, both avowed +that they were incapable of explaining the phenomena they +had witnessed by any natural means. It was in 1855 that +the first English periodical dealing exclusively with the +subject, <i>The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph</i>, was published +at Keighley, in Yorkshire. In 1864 the Davenport +brothers visited England, and in 1876 Henry Slade. Amongst +English mediums the Rev. William Stainton Moses became +prominent in 1872,⁠<a id="FNanchor_569" href="#Footnote_569" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> and about the same year Miss Florence +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span>Cook, so well known for the materializations of “Katie King,” +which were scrupulously investigated by the late Sir William +Crookes. In 1873 and in 1874, however, the trickery of two +mediums, Mrs. Bassett and Miss Showers, was definitely +exposed.⁠<a id="FNanchor_570" href="#Footnote_570" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> In 1876 and 1877 the sensitive “Dr.” Monck +was at the height of his reputation, and both Dr. Alfred +Russel Wallace, F.R.S., and the late Archdeacon Colley state +that in various séances with him they witnessed on several +occasions phenomena, including materialization, under rigid +test conditions which admitted of no dispute as to their +genuineness. It is true that in 1876 Monck had been in +trouble and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment under +the Vagrant Act. About the same time William Eglinton, +who figures in Florence Marryat’s work <i>There is No Death</i>, +appeared on the scenes and for a while loomed largely in the +public eye. He became famous for his slate-writing performances +as well as his materializations. He was, however, +exposed by Archdeacon Colley, who during the discussion +which had centred round a medium named Williams, detected +in fraudulent practices during séances in Holland, wrote to +<i>The Medium and Daybreak</i> to say: “It unfortunately fell +to me to take muslin and false beard from Eglinton’s portmanteau.... +Some few days before this I had on two +several occasions cut pieces from the drapery worn by, and +clipped hair from the beard of, the other figure representing +Abdullah. I have the pieces so cut off beard and muslin +still. But note that when I took these things into my +possession I and a medical gentleman (25 years a Spiritualist +and well known to the old members of the Movement) found +the pieces of muslin cut fit exactly into certain corresponding +portions of the drapery thus taken.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_571" href="#Footnote_571" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<p>The medium Slade, who was famous for slate-writing, was +upon one occasion suddenly seized as he was about to put +the slate under the table. His hands were held fast, and +when the slate was snatched from him it was seen to be +already covered with characters. Anna Rothe, who died in +1901, a medium well known for her apports of flowers, +suffered a term of imprisonment in Germany on a charge of +fraud. When Baily, the Australian sensitive, visited Italy +he refused to sit under the strict conditions which were +arranged in answer to a challenge of his powers. Charles +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span>Eldred of Clowne, an adept at materialization, employed a +chair skilfully made with a double seat, and in this recess +were discovered the whole paraphernalia he employed in his +performances.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Williams, an American medium, who for a long while +was a centre of spiritistic attention at Paris, used to materialize +a venerable doctor with a flowing beard who was sometimes +accompanied by a young girl dressed in white. At +one circle Mons. Paul Leymaric gave a prearranged signal. +He and a friend each laid hold of one of the apparitions; a +third spectator seized Mrs. Williams’ assistant; and a fourth +turned on the lights. Mons. Leymaric was seen to be struggling +with the medium, who had donned a grey wig and a +long property beard; the young girl was a mask from which +were draped folds of fine white muslin and which she manipulated +with her left hand. Miller, a Californian medium, +was more than suspected of producing spirits from gauze +and nun’s veiling.⁠<a id="FNanchor_572" href="#Footnote_572" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> From one of the mediums of Mons. +de Rochas, Valentine, there emanated mysterious lights, which +moved quickly hither and thither during the séances. Colonel +de Rochas, when this manifestation was once at its height, +suddenly switched on a powerful electric torch and Valentine +was seen to have slipped off his socks and to be waving in +the air his feet, which were covered with some preparation +of phosphorus.⁠<a id="FNanchor_573" href="#Footnote_573" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> As early as June, 1875, a photographer +named Buguet was convicted of selling faked photographs +of spirits by which he netted a very pretty sum.⁠<a id="FNanchor_574" href="#Footnote_574" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> + +<p>It is notorious that in Spiritistic séances and circles +charlatanry and swindling of every kind are rife; that again +and again mediums have been convicted of fraud; that not +infrequently all kinds of properties, stuffed gloves, gauzes, +yards of diaphanous muslin, invisible wires, hooks, beards, +wigs, have been discovered; that the use of luminous paint +is very effective and far from uncommon; that a sliding +trap or panel may on occasion prove of inestimable service; +that we must allow for self-deception, delusions, suggestion, +hypnotism even; but when all has been said, when we +candidly acknowledge the imposture, the adroit legerdemain, +the conjurer’s clever tricks, the significant <i>mise en scène</i>, the +verbal wit and quibbling, the deliberate and subtle cozenage +contrived by shrewd minds and the full play of dramatic +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span>instinct and energy, nevertheless there yet remain numbers +of instances when it has been repeatedly proven that acute +and trained observers have witnessed phenomena which +could not by any possibility whatsoever have been fraudulently +produced; that clear-headed, cold-hearted, suspicious, +hard men of science with every sense keenly alert at that +very moment have conversed with, inspected, nay, actually +handled, materialized forms and figures no personation could +have devised and manifested.</p> + +<p>The proceedings against Monck plainly showed that he +had at any rate a firm belief in his own psychic powers, and +although Eglinton was detected in a trick upon more than +one occasion there is irrefutable evidence to prove that in +other instances when he assisted at séances any normal +mode of production of the phenomena seen there was quite +impossible. A large number of Miller’s manifestations also +were genuine.⁠<a id="FNanchor_575" href="#Footnote_575" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> The same may be said of very many +mediums. This means, in fine, that although the manifestations +of almost any medium may in some cases have been +artificially contrived, such phenomena are not on any account +to be adjudged <i>always</i> fraudulent, and even if the charge +of imposture could be brought home far more conclusively +than has so far been possible as regards the majority of +sensitives, yet it were a false inference indeed to deduce therefrom +that all phenomena are equally fraudulent and devised. +It is only the recklessly illogical mind and the loose thinker +who will in the face of absolutely conclusive proof of genuine +manifestations continue to maintain that a certain quota +of quackery can invalidate the whole. Writers of the temper +of Messrs. Edward Clodd, Joseph McCabe, J. M. Robertson +must, of course, be expected to condemn Spiritism without +knowing the facts or weighing the evidence as an obvious +absurdity which calls for no serious refutation. But this, +I think, matters little. The superstitious dogmatism of +the materialist is gravely discredited nowadays. True, +the sort of book he produces is widely circulated and +very successful within certain limits. We should expect +tenth-rate ideas which could only emanate from a lack +of understanding, a total want of imagination, and +no training in metaphysics or philosophy, to have a +direct appeal to the immature intelligences, the uneducated +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span>vulgar and the blatant yet presumptuous ignorance, +which alone are eager for this kind of outmoded +fare.</p> + +<p>In France Spiritism was first proclaimed by a pamphlet +of Guillard <i>Table qui danse et Table qui répond</i>. The way had +been long paved owing to the interest which was generally +taken in the doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg. Balzac had +published in 1835 his esoteric hybrid <i>Séraphita</i> (<i>Séraphitus</i>), +a fanciful yet interesting work, in which there are many pages +of theosophic philosophy. Perhaps he meant these seriously, +but it is impossible to take them as other than flights of +romance. In 1848 Cohognet more immediately heralded +Guillard by publishing at Paris the first volume of his <i>Arcanes +de la vie future devoilées</i>, which actually contains what +purport to be communications from the dead. In 1853 +séances were being held at Bourges, Strasburg, and Paris, +and a regular furore ensued. Nothing was talked of but the +wonders of Spiritism, which, however, soon met an opponent, +Count Agénor de Gasparin, a Swiss Protestant, who carefully +investigated table-turning with a circle of his friends and +came to the conclusion that the phenomena originated in +some physical force of the human body. It must be admitted +that his <i>Des Tables Tournantes</i> (Paris, 1854) is unconvincing +and to some extent superficial, but more perhaps could hardly +be expected from a pioneer in so tortuous an investigation. +The Baron de Guldenstubbe, on the contrary, declared his +firm belief in the reality of these phenomena and spirit +intervention in general. His work <i>La Réalité des Esprits</i> +(Paris, 1857) eloquently argued for his convictions, whilst +<i>Le Livre des Esprits</i> (Paris, 1853) by M. Rivail or Rival, +better known under his pseudonym Allan Kardec, became a +world-wide textbook to the whole subject. In these early +days the most distinguished men were wont to meet in the +rue des Martyrs at Paris for séances. Tiedmen Marthèse, +governor of Java; the academician Saint-René-Taillandier; +Sardou, with his son; Flammarion; all were constant +visitors. The notorious Home was, it is said, expelled from +France after a séance at the Tuileries, during which he had +touched the arm of the Empress with his naked foot, pretending +that it was a caress from the tiny hands of a little child +who was about fully to materialize. No one, I think, could +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span>be surprised to know that the famous Joris Karl Huysmans, +an epicure in the byways of the occult, made many experiments +in Spiritism, and séances were frequently held at +No. 11 rue de Sèvres where he lived. Extraordinary manifestations +took place, and upon one occasion at least the +circle effected a materialization of General Boulanger, or an +apparition of the General appeared to them.</p> + +<p>At the present time Spiritism is as widely spread in France +as in England, if indeed not far more widely. Thus <i>La +Science de l’Ame</i> is a new bi-monthly journal issued under +the auspices of <i>La Revue Spirite</i>. It has articles on Magnetism +and Radio-activity, the analysis of the soul, and vital +radiations. In the number of <i>La Revue Spirite</i>, which +commences the year 1925, Mons. Camille Flammarion prints +a signed letter from Heliopolis, which describes a first +experience of a séance, where the death of the writer’s father +was predicted in six months and took place ten days after +the allotted time. Elsewhere in the issue are particulars of +the International Congress of Spiritism which was to be held +at Paris in September, 1925, and would be open to all Federations, +Societies, and Groups everywhere. An immense concourse +was expected. The President is Mr. George F. Berry, +a well-known name in English Spiritistic circles, and the +compliment of honorary membership is paid to Léon Denis,⁠<a id="FNanchor_576" href="#Footnote_576" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> +Gabriel Delanne, Sir William Barrett, and Ernest Bozzano.</p> + +<p>A glance at the pages of any Spiritistic journal in England +will show almost endless activities in every direction. In one +issue of the weekly <i>Light</i> (Saturday, 21 February, 1925) we +have amongst other announcements nine “Sunday’s Society +Meetings” in various districts of London, with addresses on +Wednesdays and Thursdays. The following seems sufficiently +startling and a close enough imitation: “<i>St. Luke’s Church +of the Spiritual Evangel of Jesus the Christ, Queen’s-road, +Forest Hill, S.E.</i>—Minister: Rev. J. W. Potter. February +22nd, 6.30, Service, Holy Communion and Address. Healing +Service, Wed., Feb. 25th, 7 p.m.” In the next column +are details of “Rev. G. Vale Owen’s Lecture Tour.” The +“London Spiritualist Alliance, Ltd.” has a list of meetings. +There are discussion classes and demonstrations of clairvoyance, +psychometry, and Mystic Pictures. Among “Books +that will Help you” we find <i>Talks with the Dead</i>, <i>Report on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span>Spiritualism</i>, <i>The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ</i>—(is +this used at St. Luke’s Church of the Spiritual Evangel?)—<i>Spirit +Identity, Spiritualism</i>, and many more of similar +import. There is a “British College of Psychic Science” +where Mr. Horace Leaf, a medium of some repute, lectures +on “The Psychology and Practice of Mediumship,” Mrs. +Barker demonstrates Trance Mediumship, and Mrs. Travers +Smith the Ouija-Board and Automatic Writing. There is a +“London Spiritual Mission” and a “Wimbledon Spiritualist +Mission.” At Brighton “St. John’s Brotherhood Church” +provides “The Spiritual Evangel of Jesus the Christ,” +“Minister, Brother John.” And all this is scarcely a tithe +of the various announcements and advertisements.</p> + +<p>However grotesque, and indeed often puerile in its bombast +and grandiloquence, such a mass of heterogeneous notices +may seem we must remember that these people are in deadly +earnest, and I doubt not but their meetings and assemblies +are well attended by enthusiastic devotees. In a report of +an address by the Rev. G. Vale Owen at the “Spiritualist +Community Services in the County Hall” on Sunday evening, +15 February, 1925, I read “all seats were filled long before +the advertised hour for starting. The doors were closed and +many for a time were denied admission. A little later they +were allowed to enter and take up positions along the edges +of the dais and other odd places about the hall.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_577" href="#Footnote_577" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> This, +of course, was possibly some exceptional occasion, but +there is no indication that such was the case. Mr. Vale Owen +may be a very eloquent speaker and able to hold his audience +spell-bound with the magic of his words. It must assuredly +be his manner and not his matter, for his so-called revelations +of the life beyond the grave, written under control and +presumed to be directly derived from spirit agency, which +appeared in <i>The Weekly Dispatch</i> are vapid, inept, idle, and +insipid to the last degree. Such banal ramblings would +provoke a smile, were it not for the pity that any person can +be so self-deluded, and can apparently induce others to give +credit to his silliness.</p> + +<p>There have been large numbers of mediums in recent +years who owing to one cause or another attracted considerable +attention from time to time, and there are many well-known +contemporary sensitives widely practising to-day. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span>Mrs. Verrall and Mrs. Holland, who were believed to have +obtained spirit messages from the late F. W. H. Myers, +occupied the serious attention of the Society of Psychical +Research⁠<a id="FNanchor_578" href="#Footnote_578" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> for a considerable period; Mrs. Piper is an +automatic writer of no little repute; Mr. Vout Peters +specializes in psychometry and clairvoyance; Mr. Vearncombe +and Mrs. Deane have recently enjoyed their full share +of notoriety;⁠<a id="FNanchor_579" href="#Footnote_579" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> the Rev. Josie K. Stewart (Mrs. Y.), a lady +hailing from the United States, has a gift for the production +of “writing and drawings on cards held in her hand”; +Mrs. Elizabeth A. Tomson, in spite of being detected of fraud +at a Spiritistic “Church” in Brooklyn, still has devoted +followers; Franek Kluski, Stella C., and Ada Besinnet, are +in the forefront of American mediums; whilst the famous +Goligher circle at Belfast was carefully and patiently investigated +for no less than three months by Dr. Fournier d’Albe, +who has published the result of his experiences.⁠<a id="FNanchor_580" href="#Footnote_580" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> The very +cream of these occult manifestations is materialization, the +most complex problem of all, which has been described as +“the exercise of the power of using of the matter of the +medium’s and the sitters’ bodies in the formation of physical +structures on a principle totally unknown to ordinary life, +although probably present there.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_581" href="#Footnote_581" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> Recently (1922) Erto, +the Italian medium, appears to have been the subject of +careful experiments at the French Metaphysical Institute +during a period of several months, those who assisted being +pledged to silence until a decision had been reached. The +particular phenomena produced by or in his presence were +chiefly characterized by the radiation of an extraordinary +light about his person. At the end of 1922 two papers +appeared in <i>La Revue Métapsychique</i> on the part of Dr. +Sanguinetti and Dr. William Mackenzie of Genoa indicating +their assurance (1) that every scientific precaution had been +taken, and (2) that the phenomena were genuine. However, +the experiments seem to have continued and later there +appeared in <i>Le Matin</i> an enthusiastic contribution by +Dr. Stephen Chauvet, which caused Dr. Gustave Geley, +Director of the Metaphysical Institute, to come forward in +confirmation of the testimony. It is only fair to add that immediately +afterwards Dr. Geley to a certain extent retracted +his statement, as he suggested that the psychic lights could be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span>produced with <i>ferro-cerium</i>, and it was thought that traces +of this substance could be found on Erto’s clothes. The +medium protested his innocence of any deception, and offers +himself for further experiments. A writer in <i>Psychica</i> is +inclined to believe that the phenomena were genuine, but +that later some fraud may have been practised owing to +waning power. This is possibly the case, for that the radiations +were at first supernormal cannot, I think, be gainsaid +in view of the high testimony adduced. For this phenomenon +Mr. Cecil Hush and Mr. Craddock have sat repeatedly; of +the extraordinary manifestations of the late Eusapia Palladino +there can be no reasonable doubt at all; the materializations +of Mlle “Eva Carrère,”⁠<a id="FNanchor_582" href="#Footnote_582" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> although on several occasions not +altogether successful, are at other times supported by the +strongest evidence; Nino Pecoraro, who is described as “a +remarkably muscular young Neapolitan,” is famous for “ectoplasmic +effects”; and Stanislava P., Willy S., the Countess +Castelvicz, and very many more psychics possess these +supernormal powers, although, as we might expect, they have +to be used with the utmost caution and often prove very +exhausting to the subject. After all, it must be remembered +that probably under certain conditions materialization cannot +take place, whilst under favourable conditions it can be +completely effected. For an exhaustive and authoritative +discussion of the whole matter the Baron Von Schrenck-Notzing’s +<i>Phenomena of Materialization</i> (Kegan Paul, 1923), +should be consulted. The 225 photographic reproductions +are of the utmost importance, whilst the investigations were +carried on under conditions of such pitiless severity to +eliminate any hypothesis of fraud that the mediums cannot +but have been subjected to the intensest physical and moral +strain.</p> + +<p>Among recent psychic phenomena very general attention +has been attracted by what is known as “The Oscar Wilde +Script,” which was widely discussed in 1923-24. Briefly, this +purports to be a number of communications which were +delivered by the spirit of the late Oscar Wilde at the rate +of 1020 words in an hour by means of automatic writing +through the mediumship of Mrs. Travers Smith (Mrs. Hester +M. Dowden)⁠<a id="FNanchor_583" href="#Footnote_583" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> and a certain Mr. V. True, there were +published in <i>The Sunday Express</i> pages which had a superficial +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span>resemblance to the more flashy characteristics of Wilde’s +flamboyant style, but it seemed as if the wit and point had +vanished, leaving only a somewhat heavy and imitative +prose; one had a sense of damp fireworks, and personally +I do not for a moment accept this script as being inspired +or dictated by Wilde. I hasten to add that I do not suggest +there was any conscious fraud or trickery on the part of those +concerned; it is quite probable that these psychic messages +were conveyed by some intelligence of no very high standing, +and the result in fine is not of any value. It is said that a +three act play is being or has been communicated through +the ouija-board from what purports to be Wilde. This I have +not read, and therefore I am not in a position to pronounce +upon it.</p> + +<p>Spiritism is upheld by many distinguished names. Sir +Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., has battled on its behalf, as also have +Sir William Barrett, F.R.S., and Sir William Crookes, F.R.S., +Professors Charles Richet, Janet, Bernheim, Lombroso, and +Flammarion lend it the weight of their authority, whilst +Sir Conan Doyle has poured forth his benedictions upon +occultism of every kind.⁠<a id="FNanchor_584" href="#Footnote_584" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> He has even presided over the +opening of a most attractive bookshop in Victoria Street, +Westminster, where Spiritistic publications are sold.</p> + +<p>How then are we to regard this mighty movement at +which it were folly to sneer, which it is impossible to ignore? +The Catholic Church does neither. But none the less she +condemns it utterly and entirely. Not because she disbelieves +in it, but because she believes in it so thoroughly, +because she knows what is the real nature of the moving +forces, however skilfully they may disguise themselves, +however quick and subtle their shifts and turns, the intelligences +which inform and direct the whole. It is a painful +subject since (I reiterate) many good people, no doubt many +thoughtful seekers after truth, have been fascinated and +swept along by Spiritism. They are as yet conscious of neither +physical nor moral harm, and, it may be, they have been +playing with the fire for years. Nay more, Spiritism has been +a sweet solace to many in most poignant hours of bitter +sorrow and loss; wherefore it is hallowed in their eyes by +tenderest memories. They are woefully deceived. Hard +as it may seem, we must get down to the bed-rock of fact. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span>Spiritism has been specifically condemned on no less than +four occasions by the Holy Office,⁠<a id="FNanchor_585" href="#Footnote_585" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> whose decree, 30 March, +1898, utterly forbids all Spiritistic practices although intercourse +with demons be strictly excluded, and communication +sought with good spirits only. Modern Spiritism is merely +Witchcraft revived. The Second Plenary Council of Baltimore +(1866), whilst making ample allowance for prestidigitation +and trickery of every kind, warns the faithful against lending +any support whatsoever to Spiritism and forbids them to +attend séances even out of idle curiosity, for some, at least, +of the manifestations must necessarily be ascribed to Satanic +intervention since in no other manner can they be understood +or explained.</p> + +<h3 id="NOTES_TO_CHAPTER_VI">NOTES TO CHAPTER VI</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_466" href="#FNanchor_466">[1]</a> E. de Rougé, <i>Étude sur une stèle Égyptienne</i>, Paris, 1858: E. A. W. +Budge, <i>Egyptian Magic</i>, VII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_467" href="#FNanchor_467">[2]</a> <i>Rekh Khet</i>, “knower of things.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_468" href="#FNanchor_468">[3]</a> Euripides, <i>Bacchæ</i>: passim; Ovid, <i>Metamorphoses</i>, III. 513, <i>sqq.</i>; +Apollodorus, III. v. 2.; Hyginus, <i>Fabulæ</i>, 184; Nonnus, <i>Dionysiaca (Bassarica)</i>, +XIV, 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_469" href="#FNanchor_469">[4]</a> Sophocles, <i>Ajax</i>; Pindar, <i>Nemea</i>, VII, 25; Ovid, <i>Metamorphoses</i>, XIII, +1-398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_470" href="#FNanchor_470">[5]</a> Pausanias, III, xvi, 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_471" href="#FNanchor_471">[6]</a> Valerius Maximus, I, 11, 5. Lacinium was a promontory on the east +coast of Bruttium, a few miles south of Croton, and forming the western +boundary of the Tarentine gulf. The remains of the temple of Juno Lacinia +are still extant, and have given the modern name to the promontory, <i>Capo +delle Colonne</i> or <i>Capo di Nao</i> (ναός).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_472" href="#FNanchor_472">[7]</a> Xenophon, <i>Memorabilia</i>, II. i. 5; Demosthenes, XCIII, 24; Dinarchus, +CI, 41; Plutarch, <i>Lucullus</i>, IV.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_473" href="#FNanchor_473">[8]</a> Euripides, <i>Orestes</i>, l. 854, and l. 79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_474" href="#FNanchor_474">[9]</a> Cf. μάντις.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_475" href="#FNanchor_475">[10]</a> Cf. Vergil <i>Æneid</i>, IV. 471-3:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">Agamemnonius scænis agitatus Orestes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">armatam facibus matrem et serpentibus atris</div> + <div class="verse indent0">cum fugit, ultricesque sedent in limine Diræ.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">(Or as the Atridan matricide</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Runs frenzied o’er the scene,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What time with snakes and torches plied</div> + <div class="verse indent2">He flees the murdered queen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While at the threshold of the gate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sister-fiends expectant wait.)</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_476" href="#FNanchor_476">[11]</a> Plautus, <i>Amphitruo</i>, II. 2. 145. Nam hæc quidem edepol lauarum +plenast.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_477" href="#FNanchor_477">[12]</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Quid esset illi morbi, dixeras? Narra, senex.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Num laruatus, aut cerritus? fac sciam.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><i>Menæchmei.</i> V. I, 2. Apuleuis has <i>laruans</i> = a madman: “hunc [pulcherrimam +Mercurii imaginem] denique qui laruam putat, ipse est laruans.” +(<i>Laruatus</i> is a poorer reading in this passage.) <i>Cerritus</i>, a rare word, is +contracted from <i>cerebritus</i> (<i>cerebrum</i>), and not connected with Ceres, as was +formerly suggested. Cf. Horace, <i>Sermonum</i>, II, iii. 278.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_478" href="#FNanchor_478">[13]</a> <i>Bibl.</i> III, v, 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_479" href="#FNanchor_479">[14]</a> 471, <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_480" href="#FNanchor_480">[15]</a> 56, Nauck.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_481" href="#FNanchor_481">[16]</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">τἀπιχώρἰ ἐν πόλει φρυγῶν τύμπανα,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ῥέας τε μητρὸς ἐμά θ’ εὑρήματα.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_482" href="#FNanchor_482">[17]</a> <i>Circa</i> 185-135 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_483" href="#FNanchor_483">[18]</a> Professor Leuba, <i>The Psychology of Religious Mysticism</i> Kegan Paul, +London, 1925, p. 11 <i>sqq.</i> has some very important references to the worship +of Dionysus.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_484" href="#FNanchor_484">[19]</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">σὺ γὰρ ἔνθεος, ὦ κούρα,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">εἴτ’ ἐκ Πανὸς εἴθ’ Ἑκάτας</div> + <div class="verse indent0">ἢ σεμνῶν Κορυβάντων</div> + <div class="verse indent0">φοιτᾷς, ἢ ματρὸς ὀρείας.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_485" href="#FNanchor_485">[20]</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent24">δόξασά που</div> + <div class="verse indent0">ἢ Πανὸς ὀργὰς ἢ τινὸς θεῶν μολεῖν.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_486" href="#FNanchor_486">[21]</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">ἀλλ’ ἦ Κρονίου Πανὸς τρομερᾷ</div> + <div class="verse indent0">μάστιγι φοβεῖ;</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_487" href="#FNanchor_487">[22]</a> Pythagoras prescribes music for mental disorders, Eunapius <i>Uita +philosophurum</i>, 67; and Cælius Aurelianus by his references shows that this +was a common remedy in such cases, <i>De Morbis Chronicis (Tardarum +Passionum)</i> VI. Origen, <i>Aduersus Celsum</i>, III, x, and Martianus Capella +<i>De Nuptiis Philologiæ et Mercurii</i> IX, 925, have similar allusions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_488" href="#FNanchor_488">[23]</a> 1 Kings xvi. 14 (A.V. 1 Samuel xvi. 14): “Exagitabat eum [Saul] +spiritus nequam a Domino.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_489" href="#FNanchor_489">[24]</a> <i>Antiquitates Iud.</i>, VI, viii, 2; ii, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_490" href="#FNanchor_490">[25]</a> <i>La Mystique Divine</i>, Ribet, II, ix, 4, it is true, speaks of “l’obsession +intérieure,” but he makes the above distinction, and further says: “L’obsession +purement intérieure ne diffère des tentations ordinaires que par la +véhémence et la durée.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_491" href="#FNanchor_491">[26]</a> Multæ sunt tentationes eius, et die noctuque uariæ dæmonum insidiæ.... +Quoties illi nudæ mulieres cubanti, quoties esurienti largissimæ apparuere +dapes? <i>Uita S. Hilarionis.</i> VII. Migne. vol. XXIII. col. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_492" href="#FNanchor_492">[27]</a> Sustinebat miser diabolus uel mulieris formam noctu induere, feminæque +gestus imitari, Antonium ut deciperet. S. Athanasius, <i>Uita S. Antonii</i>, V. +Migne. vol. XXVI. col. 847.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_493" href="#FNanchor_493">[28]</a> Feast (duplex maius apud Minores), 22 February.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_494" href="#FNanchor_494">[29]</a> It may perhaps not be amiss to point out that S. Margaret before her +conversion was by no means the woman of scandalous life so many biographers +have painted her.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_495" href="#FNanchor_495">[30]</a> Sectando per cellam orantis et flentis, cantauit [diabolus] turpissimas +cantationes, et Christi famulam lacrymantem et se Domino commendantem +procaciter inuocabat ad cantum ...; tentantem precibus et lacrymis +repulit ac eiecit. Bollandists, 22 February. Vol. VI.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_496" href="#FNanchor_496">[31]</a> Ceterum consilium est semper de talibus inuasionibus suspicionem +habere, non enim negandum maiorem earum partem esse aut fictiones, aut +imaginationes, aut infirmitates, præsertim in mulieribus. <i>Praxis confessariorum</i>, +n. 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_497" href="#FNanchor_497">[32]</a> Sæpissime, quæ putantur dæmonis obsessiones, non sunt nisi morbi +naturales, aut Naturales imaginationes, uel etiam inchoata aut perfecta +amentia. Quare caute omnino procedendum, usquedum per specialissima +signa de obsessione constet. <i>Theologia mystica</i>, I. n. 228.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_498" href="#FNanchor_498">[33]</a> <i>Biblisches Realworterbuch</i>, Leipsig, 1833.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_499" href="#FNanchor_499">[34]</a> This word is found nowhere else in the New Testament, and wherever +it is used in the LXX, it is invariably of the sayings of lying prophets, or +those who practised arts forbidden by the Jewish Law. Thus of the witch +of Endor (1 Kings (1 Samuel) xxviii. 8) μάντευσαι δή μοι ἐν τῷ ἐγγαστριομύθῳ, +and (Ezechiel xiii. 6) βλέπουτες ψευδῆ, μαντευόμενοι μάταια.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_500" href="#FNanchor_500">[35]</a> Ordinandi, filii charissimi, in officium Exorcistarum, debitis noscere +quid suscipitis. Exorcistam etenim oportet abiicere dæmones; et dicere +populo, ut, qui non communicat, det locum; et aquam in ministerio fundere. +Accipitis itaque potestatem imponendi manum super energumenos, et per +impositionem manuum uestrarum, gratia spiritus sancti, et uerbis exorcismi +pelluntur spiritus immundi a corporibus obsessis. Studete igitur, ut, sicut +a corporibus aliorum dæmones expellitis, ita a mentibus, et corporibus +uestris omnem immunditiam, et nequitiam eiiciatis; ne illis succumbatis, +quos ab aliis, uestro ministerio, effugatis. Discite per officium uestrum +uitiis imperare; ne in moribus uestris aliquid sui iuris inimicus ualeat +uindicare. Tunc etenim recte in aliis dæmonibus imperabitis, cum prius in +uobis eorum multimodam nequitiam superatis. Quod nobis Dominus agere +concédât per Spiritum suum sanctum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_501" href="#FNanchor_501">[36]</a> Accipite, et commendate memoriæ, et habete potestatem imponendi +manus super energumenos, siue baptizatos, siue catechumenos.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_502" href="#FNanchor_502">[37]</a> Deum Patrem omnipotentem, fratres charissimi, supplices deprecamur, +ut hos famulos suos bene ✠ dicere dignetur in officium Exorcistarum; ut +sint spirituales imperatores, ad abiiciendos dæmones de corporibus obsessis, +cum omni nequitia eorum multiformi. Per unigenitum Filium suum Dominum +nostrum Iesum Christum, qui cum eo uiuit et regnat in unitate Spiritus +sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. <i>R.</i> Amen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_503" href="#FNanchor_503">[38]</a> Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus, bene ✠ dicere dignare +hos famulos tuos in officium Exorcistarum; ut per impositionem manuum, +et oris officium, potestatem, et imperium habeant spiritus immundos coercendi: +ut probabiles sint medici Ecclesiæ tuæ, gratia curationum uirtuteque +cœlesti confirmati. Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium tuum, +qui tecum uiuit, et regnat in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula +sæculorum. <i>R.</i> Amen. <i>Post hæc, suggerente Archidiacono, redeunt ad loca sua.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_504" href="#FNanchor_504">[39]</a> Sulpitius Severus (d. 420-5) in his <i>Dialogues</i>, III (II), 6; (Migne, <i>Patres +Latini</i>, XX, 215) tells us that S. Martin of Tours was wont to cast out demons by +prayer alone without the imposition of hands or the use of the formulæ recommended +to the clergy. Similar instances occur in the lives of the Saints.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_505" href="#FNanchor_505">[40]</a> Translated from the <i>Rituale Romanum</i>. There are several forms extant, +some authorized, but more, perhaps, unauthorized. There is an authorized +form in the Greek <i>Euchologion</i>. It commences with the Trisagion, and +Psalms, <i>Domine exaudi</i> (cxlii.), <i>Dominus regit me</i> (xxii.), <i>Dominus illuminatio +mea</i> (xxvi.), <i>Esurgat Deus</i> (lxvii.), <i>Miserere</i> (lvi.), <i>Domine ne +in furore</i> (vi.), <i>Domine exaudi orationem</i> (ci.). Then follows the Consolatory +Canon, with a long Hymn addressed to Our Lord, Our Lady, and All Saints. +Next the priest anoints the patient, saying a prayer over him, and so the +office closes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_506" href="#FNanchor_506">[41]</a> It is also given in the <i>Horæ Diurnæ O.P.</i>, Rome, 1903, where an indulgence +of 300 days is attached, plenary once a month.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_507" href="#FNanchor_507">[42]</a> Ab insidiis diaboli, libera nos Domine; Ut Ecclesiam tuam secura tibi +facias libertate seruire, te rogamus, audi nos; Ut inimicos sanctæ Ecclesiæ +humiliare digneris, te rogamus, audi nos. <i>Et aspergatur locus aqua benedicta.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_508" href="#FNanchor_508">[43]</a> Holy water, the commonest of the sacramentals, is a mixture of exorcised +salt and exorcised water.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_509" href="#FNanchor_509">[44]</a> Of Eastern origin. It should be remembered that the Baptism of Christ +in Jordan is commemorated on the Epiphany. In the present Breviary +office in Nocturn I the first response for the day, the Octave, and the Sunday +within the Octave deal with the Baptism, as does the second response. The +antiphon to the Benedictus and the Magnificat antiphon at Second Vespers +also make mention of the same mystery. In Rome the Latin rite of the +Blessing of the Waters is pontificated by a Cardinal at S. Andrea della Valle +on 5 January, about 3.30 p.m., at the church of the Stimmate of S. Francesco +at 9.30 a.m. on the Feast itself. On the Vigil the Oriental rite is performed +at the Greek church of S. Atanasio, beginning about 3.30 a.m.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_510" href="#FNanchor_510">[45]</a> See Wilson, <i>Western Africa</i>; and the article “Possession diabolique” +by Waffelaert in the <i>Dictionnaire apologétique de la foi catholique</i>, Paris, 1889. +The opinion of the Cistercian Dom Robert de la Trappe (Dr. Pierre-Jean-Corneille +Debreyne), who, whilst acknowledging that the demoniac possessions +as detailed in the New Testament are <i>de fide</i>, supposes that all other cases +are to be attributed to fraud or disease, must be severely censured as regrettably +rash and even culpable. <i>Essai sur la théologie morale</i>, IV. p. 356.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_511" href="#FNanchor_511">[46]</a> S. Justin. Martyr, <i>Apologia</i>, VI; <i>Dialogues</i>, XXX, LXXXV: Minutius +Felix, <i>Octavius</i>, XXVII; Origen, <i>Contra Celsum</i>, I, 25; VII, 4, 67: Tertullian, +<i>Apologia</i>, XXII, XXIII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_512" href="#FNanchor_512">[47]</a> Paulinus, <i>Uita Ambrosii</i>, 28, 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_513" href="#FNanchor_513">[48]</a> S. Gregory of Nyssa, <i>De Uita Ephraem</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_514" href="#FNanchor_514">[49]</a> Upon this passage Servatius Galle (1627-1709), a Dutch minister at +Haarlem, in his edition of Lactantius, 1660, writes the most absurd note +I have ever met with in any commentator.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_515" href="#FNanchor_515">[50]</a> Published between 304-313. De Labriolle, <i>Histoire de la Littérature +Latine Chrétienne</i>, p. 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_516" href="#FNanchor_516">[51]</a> A very full and scholarly monograph upon this subject may be recommended: +<i>La Réalité des Apparitions Démoniaques</i>, by Dom Bernard-Marie +Maréchaux, Olivetan, <span class="allsmcap">O.S.B.</span>, Paris, Téqui, 1899.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_517" href="#FNanchor_517">[52]</a> It is true that on one occasion S. Maurus, who was with S. Benedict, +beheld an apparition, and S. Benedict once enabled a monk to see a similar +vision.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_518" href="#FNanchor_518">[53]</a> One of Sodoma’s exquisite frescoes at Monte Oliveto (Siena) depicts +an exorcism by S. Benedict.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_519" href="#FNanchor_519">[54]</a> The letters have been thus translated by Dom Benedict McLaughlin +of Ampleforth:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Holy Cross be thou my light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Put the evil one to flight.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behind me Satan speedily,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whisper not vain things to me.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You can give but evil, then</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Keep it for yourself. Amen.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_520" href="#FNanchor_520">[55]</a> All English Benedictine priests hold the special faculty to use this +(bestowed 23 February, 1915), and it has also been granted to many others, +religious and seculars.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_521" href="#FNanchor_521">[56]</a> Omnis virtus aduersarii, omnis exercitus diaboli, et omnis incursus, +omnis phantasma Satanæ, eradicate et effugare ab his numismatibus....</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_522" href="#FNanchor_522">[57]</a> Domine Iesu Christe ... per hanc tuam sanctissimam passionem +humiliter exoro; ut omnes diabolicas insidias et fraudes expellas ab eo, qui +nomen sanctum tuum, his litteris ac characteribus a te designatis, deuote +inuocauerit, et eum ad salutis portum perducere digneris. Qui uiuis et +régnas....</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_523" href="#FNanchor_523">[58]</a> The <i>Rituale Romanum</i> has “Benedictio Infirmorum cum Ligno SS. +Crucis, D.N.J.C. <i>seu</i> Signum S. Mauri Abbatis.” This is a blessing of the +sick with a Relic of the Holy Cross and the invocation of S. Benedict and +S. Maurus.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_524" href="#FNanchor_524">[59]</a> The <i>Uita S. Mauri</i> (Mabillon, <i>Acta S.S. O. S.B.</i>, I, 274) is ascribed to +a companion, the monk Faustus of Monte Cassino. Père Delehaye, in his +unfortunate and temerarious work <i>Légendes Hagiographiques</i> (translation. +London, 1907), indecorously attacks this and treats S. Maurus with scant +respect. A worthy defence was made by Adlhoch, <i>Stud. u. Mittheil.</i>, 1903, 3; +1906, 185. According to Peter the Deacon he also wrote a <i>Cantus ad B. +Maurum</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_525" href="#FNanchor_525">[60]</a> Blessed Victor III. <i>Dialogues</i>, I, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_526" href="#FNanchor_526">[61]</a> Abbé Lebeuf. <i>Histoire du diocèse de Paris</i>, V. 129 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_527" href="#FNanchor_527">[62]</a> Portraits of him are preserved at Rome and Valladolid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_528" href="#FNanchor_528">[63]</a> A hearty believer in witchcraft. He had sent at least one witch to the +gallows, and another to prison.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_529" href="#FNanchor_529">[64]</a> Apparently the work of Darrel himself, but in the Huth catalogue +(V, 1643) ascribed to James Bamford.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_530" href="#FNanchor_530">[65]</a> Darrel in his <i>Detection of that sinnful, shamful, lying, and ridiculous +discours of Samuel Harshnet</i>, 1600, writes: “There is no doubt but that +S.H. stand for Samuell Harsnet, chapline to the Bishop of London, but +whither he alone, or his lord and hee, have discovered this counterfeyting +and cosonage there is the question. Some think the booke to be the Bishop’s +owne doing: and many thinke it to be the joynt work of them both.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_531" href="#FNanchor_531">[66]</a> On 10 November, 1629, he was sworn of the Privy Council.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_532" href="#FNanchor_532">[67]</a> Whence Shakespeare derived the names of various evil spirits whom +Edgar mentions in <i>King Lear</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_533" href="#FNanchor_533">[68]</a> I do not conceive that at the present time many, if any, Bishops of the +Church of England would license exorcism. Certainly the more scientifically +minded and modernistic Lords Spiritual of the Anglican bench have rid +themselves of such an idle superstition. How they would explain Our Blessed +Lord’s words and actions I do not pretend to know, but I suppose that +according to their wider knowledge Christ—<i>sit uenia uerbis</i>—was mistaken +in this as in other particulars.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_534" href="#FNanchor_534">[69]</a> <i>Colloquia Mensalia</i>, passim.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_535" href="#FNanchor_535">[70]</a> It is difficult to see how the teachings of such a Protestant leader as +Gaspar von Schwenckfeld (1489-90—1561) are anything save tantamount +to mere personal morality and a vague individual pietism. A critical edition +of his numerous works is in course of publication under the editorship of +Hartranft, Schlutter, and Johnson: <i>Corpus Schwenckfeldianorum</i>, I, Leipzig, +1907.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_536" href="#FNanchor_536">[71]</a> Parker’s <i>Correspondence</i>, Parker Society, Cambridge, 1856, pp. 465-6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_537" href="#FNanchor_537">[72]</a> By vomiting pins and straws they had made many believe that they +were bewitched, but the tricks were soon found out and they were compelled +to public penance at S. Paul’s. There is a black letter pamphlet <i>The discloysing +of a late counterfeyted possession by the devyl in two maydens within the Citie +of London</i> [1574], which describes this case. See also Holinshed, <i>Chronicles</i> +(ed. London, 1808), IV, 325, and Stow <i>Annales</i>, London, 1631, p. 678. But +the fact that there are malingerers does not mean there are none sick.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_538" href="#FNanchor_538">[73]</a> <i>Marie Glover’s late woefull case.... A defence of the truthe against +D. J. his scandalous Impugnations</i>, British Museum, Sloane MSS., 831. +Sinclar, <i>Satan’s Invisible World Discovered</i>, Edinburgh, 1685, Relation XII +quotes an account of Mary Glover from Lewis Hughes’ <i>Certaine Grievances</i> +(1641-2); and hence Burton, <i>The Kingdom of Darkness</i>, and Hutchinson, +<i>Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft</i>, both assign a wrong date (1642) to +the occurrence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_539" href="#FNanchor_539">[74]</a> Enlarged edition, 1720.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_540" href="#FNanchor_540">[75]</a> <i>The Other World</i>, London, 1875, I, pp. 59-69. The incident is narrated +by Fortescue Hitchins, <i>The History of Cornwall</i>, Helston, 1824, II, pp. 548-51; +and also in fuller detail by the Rev. R. S. Hawker, <i>Footprints of Former Men +in Far Cornwall</i>, London, 1870, who quotes from Ruddle’s MS. Diary.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_541" href="#FNanchor_541">[76]</a> Six miles north of S. Columb and three miles due south from Padstow.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_542" href="#FNanchor_542">[77]</a> A full and documented account of these strange happenings may be +found in <i>Lucifer, or the True Story of the Famous Diabolic Possession in Alsace</i>, +London, 1922, with the Imprimatur of the Bishop of Brentwood. Compiled +from original documents by the abbé Paul Sutter and translated by the +Rev. Theophilus Borer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_543" href="#FNanchor_543">[78]</a> Jesus ... comminatus est spiritui immundo, dicens illi: Surde et +mute spiritus, Ego præcipio tibi, exi ab eo: et amplius ne introcas in eum. +<i>Euan. sec. Marcum.</i> IX. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_544" href="#FNanchor_544">[79]</a> 1726-1755. This great Saint was then Venerable; he was beatified by +Leo XIII, 29 January, 1893, and canonized by Pius X, 11 December, 1903. +His feast is kept on 16 October.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_545" href="#FNanchor_545">[80]</a> Peter Paul Stumpf succeeded Andreas Räss as Bishop of Strasburg, +1887-1890.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_546" href="#FNanchor_546">[81]</a> <i>Une Possédée Contemporaine</i> (1834-1914). <i>Hélène Poirier de Coullons</i> +(<i>Loiret</i>). Paris, Téqui, 1924. An ample study, profusely documented, of +517 pages, edited by M. le Chanoine Champault of the diocese of Orleans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_547" href="#FNanchor_547">[82]</a> A partir de cette époque, la vie d’Hélène s’écoulera au milieu de souffrances +physiques et morales si grandes, que dans sa bouche les plaintes de +Job ne seraient point déplacées.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_548" href="#FNanchor_548">[83]</a> Mr. G. R. S. Mead, however, in this connexion not impertinently recalls +the “controlling” of members of the Shaker communities by what purported +to be spirits of North American Indians. This was prior to 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_549" href="#FNanchor_549">[84]</a> Ses souffrances physiques et morales, commencées le 25 mars, 1850, se +poursuivirent jusqu’à sa mort, 8 janvier, 1914, soit pendant soixante-quatre ans. +Toutefois les vexations diaboliques cessèrent vers la fin de 1897. Ces vexations +durèrent donc près de quarante-sept années, dont six de possession.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_550" href="#FNanchor_550">[85]</a> Du 25 mars, 1850, au courant de mars, 1868, Hélène <i>fut seulement obsédée. +Cette obsession dura donc 18 années</i>. Au bout de ce temps et pendant 13 <i>mois</i> +elle fut <i>obsédée et possédée tout ensemble</i>.</p> + +<p>De I’obsession et de la possession elle fut complètement délivrée par les +exorcismes officiels, à Orléans, le 19 avril, 1869.</p> + +<p>Suivirent quatre mois de tranquillité, jusqu’au recommencement volontaire +et généreux de ses peines.</p> + +<p>A la fin d’août, 1869, elle accepta de la main de Notre Seigneur les tourments +d’une nouvelle obsession et possession afin d’obtenir la conversion du célèbre +général Ducrot. La conversion obtenue, elle fut délivrée à Lourdes le +3 septembre, 1875, par les prières des 15,000 pèlerins qui s’y trouvaient réunis. +<i>Obsession et possession renouvelées</i> avaient duré cinq ans.</p> + +<p>Plus jamais, pendant les quarante ans qu’elle avait encore à vivre, elle +ne fut possédée; mais elle continua à être obsédée tantôt plus, tantôt moins. +Les souffrances de toutes sortes, qu’elle endura alors, eurent pour but d’obtenir +le salut et le triomphe du clergé.</p> + +<p>Quant aux raisons et au but des premières persécutions diaboliques qu’elle +subit pendant dix-neuf ans et dont elle fut délivrée par les exorcismes officiels, +ils sont restés inconnus. <i>Une Possédée Contemporaine</i> (1834-1914), pp. 171-2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_551" href="#FNanchor_551">[86]</a> A fragment of the soutane of this most holy Pontiff was taken to Hélène +and during one of her fits placed upon her forehead. At the contact she +cried out: “Le Pape est un saint, oui un grand saint.” (The Pope is a Saint, +truly a great Saint!)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_552" href="#FNanchor_552">[87]</a> Pour y être admis, il faut apporter une ou plusiers hosties consacrées, +les remettre au démon qui, sous forme corporelle ou visible, préside l’assemblée. +Il faut les profaner d’une manière horrible, adorer le démon lui-même et +commettre avec lui et les autres sociétaires les actes d’impudicité les plus +révoltants. Trois villes: Paris, Rome, et Tours sont les sièges de cette +société infernale.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_553" href="#FNanchor_553">[88]</a> La seconde possession fut plus terrible que la première. 1ᵉ: Par la durée; +la première fut de treize mois, la seconde de cinq ans. 2ᵉ: La première fut +adoucie par de nombreuses consolations surnaturelles; la seconde très peu. +3ᵉ: Les dévices abondèrent dans la première; dans la seconde les avanies +morales l’emportèrent de beaucoup sur les avanies physiques. <i>Une Possédée +Contemporaine</i> (1834-1914), p. 405.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_554" href="#FNanchor_554">[89]</a> <i>Spirit Possession</i>, Henry M. Hugunin, published in Sycamore, Ill., +U.S.A.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_555" href="#FNanchor_555">[90]</a> One should note the implication that science and faith are opposed. +Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell pointedly comments: “This question seems inept. +To me the terms are not in antithesis, i.e. logical <i>v.</i> spiritual.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_556" href="#FNanchor_556">[91]</a> Edited by Huntly Carter. Fisher Unwin, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_557" href="#FNanchor_557">[92]</a> Whose contribution, <i>From Non-Religion to Religion</i>, opens with the +following ineptitude: “I think that the renewal of Spiritualism is mainly +due to a real increase in our knowledge of psychical facts.” This phrase +could only have been written by one wholly ignorant of mystical theology, +and, it would seem, of historical Christianity.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_558" href="#FNanchor_558">[93]</a> <i>Spiritualism, Its Present-Day Meaning</i>, p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_559" href="#FNanchor_559">[94]</a> <i>Idem</i>, p. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_560" href="#FNanchor_560">[95]</a> <i>Idem</i>, pp. 270-1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_561" href="#FNanchor_561">[96]</a> <i>Idem</i>, p. 245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_562" href="#FNanchor_562">[97]</a> <i>Idem</i>, p. 206.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_563" href="#FNanchor_563">[98]</a> <i>Idem</i>, pp. 206-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_564" href="#FNanchor_564">[99]</a> <i>Idem</i>, p. 205. The words are those of Father Bernard Vaughan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_565" href="#FNanchor_565">[100]</a> “Seventeen Elementary Facts concerning Spiritualism.” <i>Light</i>, 21 +February, 1925. Here we also have the frank avowal: “Modern Spiritualism +is only a revival of phenomena and experiences that were well known in +ancient times.” It should be remarked that similar phenomena, believed to +be a genuine case of haunting, occurred at the house of Mr. Samuel Wesley, +at Epworth, Lincolnshire, in 1716, and attracted universal attention. It is +said that the knockings at the house of Parsons, Cock Lane, West Smithfield, +in 1760, were proved to be fraud, but I do not know that the case has ever +been candidly studied.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_566" href="#FNanchor_566">[101]</a> She took part in a séance on 25 October, 1860, but this seems to have +been exceptional.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_567" href="#FNanchor_567">[102]</a> <i>Washington Daily Star</i>, 7 March, 1893, quoted in <i>The Medium and the +Daybreak</i>, 7 April, 1893.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_568" href="#FNanchor_568">[103]</a> In the “educational” primers prepared by certain spiritists for use by +children the story of the Fox Sisters is told in glowing colours to a point, +but the history of their downfall is suppressed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_569" href="#FNanchor_569">[104]</a> He died at Bedford, 5 September, 1892. His control was the spirit +Imperator, who claimed to be the prophet Malachias. For a very full biography +see Arthur Lillie’s <i>Modern Mystics and Modern Magic</i>. London. +1894.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_570" href="#FNanchor_570">[105]</a> For Mrs. Bassett see <i>The Medium</i>, 11 April and 18 April, 1873, pp. 174 +and 182; for Miss Showers, <i>The Medium</i>, 8 May and 22 May, pp. 294 and +326.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_571" href="#FNanchor_571">[106]</a> <i>Medium and Daybreak</i>, 15 November, 1878, p. 730.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_572" href="#FNanchor_572">[107]</a> <i>L’Eclair</i>, 6 April, 1909.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_573" href="#FNanchor_573">[108]</a> Dr. Grasset, <i>L’Occultisme</i>, pp. 56, <i>sqq.</i>; p. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_574" href="#FNanchor_574">[109]</a> <i>Procès des Spirites</i>, 8vo. Paris. 1875.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_575" href="#FNanchor_575">[110]</a> <i>La Revue Spirite</i> and <i>L’Echo du Mentalisme</i>, Nov., 1908.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_576" href="#FNanchor_576">[111]</a> Who apparently believes that Spiritism is authorized by the Scriptures, +and that many of the prophets, nay, even Our Divine Lord Himself, were +but mediums.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_577" href="#FNanchor_577">[112]</a> <i>Light.</i> Saturday, 21 February, 1925, p. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_578" href="#FNanchor_578">[113]</a> Organized in 1882 for the scientific examination of “debatable phenomena.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_579" href="#FNanchor_579">[114]</a> See the Report presented 11 May, 1922, and published by The Magic +Circle, Anderton’s Hotel, Fleet Street.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_580" href="#FNanchor_580">[115]</a> <i>The Goligher Circle, May to August, 1921.</i> Experiences of E. E. Fournier +d’Albe, <span class="allsmcap">D.SC.</span> London, Watkins, 1922.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_581" href="#FNanchor_581">[116]</a> <i>The Classification of Psychic Phenomena</i>, by W. Loftus Hare. <i>The +Occult Review</i>, July, 1924, p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_582" href="#FNanchor_582">[117]</a> Her real name appears to be Marthe Béraud. Professor Richet is +satisfied that in his experiments with this medium at the Villa Carmen (Algiers) +in 1905 genuine materialization was effected.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_583" href="#FNanchor_583">[118]</a> Who, as noted above, specializes in the Ouija-Board and Automatic +Writing.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_584" href="#FNanchor_584">[119]</a> He has written such works as <i>The New Revelation</i>, and compiled <i>The +Spiritualists’ Reader</i>, “A Collection of Spirit Messages from many sources, +specially prepared for Short Readings.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_585" href="#FNanchor_585">[120]</a> In all of whose documents the distinction is clearly drawn between +legitimate scientific investigation and superstitious abuses.</p></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII<br> +<span class="smcap">The Witch in Dramatic Literature</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p>The English theatre, in common with every other form +of the world’s drama, had a religious, or even more exactly +a liturgical, origin. At the Norman Conquest as the +English monasteries began to be filled with cultured French +scholars there is evidence that Latin dialogues, the legends +of saints and martyrs, something after the fashion of +Hrotsvitha’s comedies, which we do not imagine to have been +a unique phenomenon, found their way here also, and from +recitation to the representation of these was an easy and +indeed inevitable step. For it is almost impossible to +declaim without appropriate action. From the very heart +of the liturgy itself arose the Mystery Play.</p> + +<p>The method of performing these early English guild plays +has been frequently and exactly described, and I would only +draw attention to one feature of the movable scaffold which +passed from station to station, that is the dark cavern at +the side of the last of the three sedes, Hell-mouth. No pains +were spared to make this as horrible and realistic as might +be. Demons with hideous heads issued from it, whilst ever and +anon lurid flames burst forth and dismal cries were heard. +Thus the Digby S. Mary Magdalen play has the stage-direction: +“a stage, and Helle ondyrneth that stage.” At +Coventry the Cappers had a “hell-mouth” for the Harrowing +of Hell, and the Weavers another for Doomsday. This was +provided with fire, a windlass, and a barrel for the earthquake. +In the stage-directions to Jordan’s Cornish Creation +of the World Lucifer descends to hell “apareled fowle wᵗʰ +fyre about hem” and the place is filled with “every degre of +devylls of lether and spirytis on cordis.” Among the +“establies” required for the Rouen play of 1474 was “Enfer +fait en maniere d’une grande gueulle se cloant et ouvrant +quant besoing en est.” The last stage-direction of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span><i>Sponsus</i>, a liturgical play from Limoges,—assigned by M. M. +W. Cloetta and G. Paris to the earlier half of the twelfth +century—which deals with the Wise and Foolish Virgins runs +as follows: “<i>Modo accipiant eas [fatuas uirgines] dæmones et +præcipitentur in infernum</i>.”</p> + +<p>The Devil himself is one of the most prominent characters +in the Mystery, the villain of the piece. So the York cycle +commences with <i>The Creation and the Fall of Lucifer</i>. Whilst +the Angels are singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” before the +throne of God, Satan appears exulting in his pride to be cast +down speedily into hell whence he howls his complaint +beginning “Owte, owte! harrowe!” There is a curious +incident in the episode of the Dream of Pilate’s wife. Whilst +she sleeps Satan whispers in her ear the vision which moves +her to try to stay the condemnation of Jesus whereby +mankind is to be redeemed. The last play of the York cycle +is the <i>Day of Judgement</i>.</p> + +<p>In like manner the Towneley cycle opens with <i>The Creation</i>, +and presently we have the stage-direction <i>hic deus recedit +à suo solio & lucifer sedebit in eodem solio</i>. The scene soon +shifts to hell when we hear the demons reproaching Lucifer +for his pride. After the creation of Adam and Eve follows +Lucifer’s lament. In the long episode of <i>Doomsday</i> a number +of demons appear and are kept inordinately busy.</p> + +<p>The Devil was represented as black, with goat’s horns, +ass’s ears, cloven hoofs, and an immense phallus. He is, in +fact, the Satyr of the old Dionysiac processions, a nature-spirit, +the essence of joyous freedom and unrestrained delight, +shameless if you will, for the old Greek knew not shame. +He is the figure who danced light-heartedly across the +Aristophanaic stage, stark nude in broad midday,⁠<a id="FNanchor_586" href="#Footnote_586" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> animally +physical, exuberant, ecstatic, crying aloud the primitive +refrain, Φαλῆς, ἑταῖρε Βακχίου, ξύγκωμε, νυκτεροπλάνητε, μοιχε, +παιδεραστά, (Phales, boon mate of Bacchus, joyous comrade +in the dance, wanton wanderer o’ nights, fornicating Phales), +in a word he was Paganism incarnate, and Paganism was +the Christian’s deadliest foe; so they took him, the Bacchic +reveller, they smutted him from horn to hoof, and he +remained the Christian’s deadliest foe, the Devil.⁠<a id="FNanchor_587" href="#Footnote_587" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>It was long before the phallic demon was banished the +stage, for strange as it may seem, positive evidence exists +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span>that he was known there as late as Shakespeare’s day. +In 1620 was published in London by Edward Wright <i>A +Courtly Masque: The Deuice called, The World tost at Tennis</i>. +“As it hath beene diuers times Presented to the Contentment +of many Noble and Worthy Spectators: By the Prince his +Seruants.” It was “Inuented and set downe by Tho: +Middleton, Gent, and William Rowley, Gent.” The title-page +presents a rough engraving of the various characters in this +masque, doubtless from a sketch made at the actual performance. +Outside the main group stands a hideous black +figure “The Diuele,” who made his appearance towards the +end to take part in the last dance, furnished with horns, +hoofs, talons, tail, and a monstrous phallus. It may be +remarked that these horns are prominent on the goat-like +head (a clear satyr) of the Devil in <i>Doctor Faustus</i> as depicted +on the title-page of the Marlovian quarto. A phallus, to +which reference is made in the text, was also worn by the +character dressed up as the monkey (<i>Bavian</i>) in the May-dance +scene in Shakespeare & Fletcher’s <i>The Two Noble +Kinsman</i>, Act III, 5, 1613. It is worth remembering that +troops of phallic demons formed a standing characteristic +of the old German carnival comedy. Moreover, several of the +grotesque types of the Commedia dell’ arte in the second +decade of the seventeenth century were traditionally equipped +in like manner.⁠<a id="FNanchor_588" href="#Footnote_588" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> That the Devil was so represented in the +English theatre is important. It gives us the popular idea +of the Prince of Evil, and incidentally throws a side-light +upon much of the grotesque and obscene evidence in the +contemporary witch-trials.</p> + +<p>In Skelton’s lost <i>Nigramansir</i> one of the stage directions +is stated to have been “Enter Balsebub with a beard,” no +doubt the black vizard with an immense goatish beard +familiar to the old religious drama. Presumably the chief +use of the Necromancer, who gives his name to this play, +was indeed but to speak the Prologue which summons +the Devil who buffets and kicks him for his pains. +However, we only know the play from Warton, who +describes it as having been shown him by William Collins, +the poet, at Chichester, about 1759. He says: “It is the +Nigramansir, a morall <i>Enterlude</i> and a pithie, written by +Maister Skelton laureate, and plaid before the King and other +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span>estatys at Woodstoke on Palme Sunday. It was printed by +Wynkyn de Worde in a thin quarto, in the year 1504. It +must have been presented before Henry VII, at the royal +manor or palace at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, now destroyed. +The characters are a Necromancer or conjurer, the devil, a +notary public, Simony, and Philargyria or Avarice. It is +partly a satire on some abuses in the Church.... The story, +or plot, is the trial of Simony and Avarice.” Beyond what +Warton tells us nothing further is known of the play. Ritson, +<i>Bibliographia Poetica</i>, 106, declared: “it is utterly incredible +that the <i>Nigramansir</i> ... ever existed.” It has been shown, +too, that Warton as a literary historian is not infrequently +suspect, and E. G. Duff, <i>Hand Lists of English Printers</i>, can +trace no extant copy of this “morall <i>Enterlude</i>.”</p> + +<p>In the English moralities the Devil plays an important +part, and, as in their French originals or analogues, he is +consistently hampering and opposing the moral purpose or +lesson which the action of these compositions is designed to +enforce. In the later English plays also which evolved with +added regularity from these interludes the Devil is always a +popular character. He is generally attended by the Vice, +who although in some sort a serving-man or jester in the +fiend’s employ, devotes his time to twitting, teazing, tormenting, +and thwarting his master for the edification, not unmixed +with fun, of the audience. In <i>The Castell of Perseverance</i> +Lucifer appears shouting in good old fashion “Out herowe +I rore,” just as he was wont to announce himself in the +Mysteries, and he is wearing his “devil’s array” over the +habit of a “prowde galaunt.” Wever’s <i>Lusty Juventus</i> has +unmistakable traces of the slime of the evil days of Edward VI, +in whose reign it was written, and when the Devil calls +Hipocrisy to his aid we are prepared for a flood of empty +but bitter abuse which embodies the sour Puritan hatred +against the Catholic Church, and towards the end, under the +misnomer God’s Merciful Promises, we are not surprised to +meet a tiresome old gentleman who cantingly expounds the +doctrine of Justification by Faith.</p> + +<p>In the interlude to which Collier has assigned the name +<i>Mankind</i> Mischief summons to her aid the fiend Titivillus, +who had appeared in the <i>Judicium</i> of the Towneley Mysteries. +Once the Devil’s registrar and tollsman, he is best known as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span>“Master Lollard.” According to a silly old superstition +Titivillus was an imp whose business it was to pick up +the words any priest might drop and omit whilst saying +Mass.</p> + +<p>When we pass to the beginnings of the regular drama we +find an extremely interesting play that introduces, if not +magic, at least fortune-telling, John Lyly’s “Pleasant Conceited +Comedie” <i>Mother Bombie</i>, acted by the children of +Paul’s and first printed in 1594. Although the plot is of the +utmost complexity and artificiality it does not seem to be +derived, as are most of Lyly’s stories, from any classical or +pseudo-classical source, whilst the cunning old woman of +Rochester, who supplies the title, has in fact little to say or +do, except that her intervention helps to bring about the +unravelling of a perfect maze and criss-cross of incidents. +When Selena addresses the beldame with “They say, you +are a witch,” Mother Bombie quickly retorts “They lie, +I am a cunning woman,” a passage not without significance.</p> + +<p>Upon a very different level from Lyly’s play stands +Marlowe’s magnificent drama <i>The Tragical History of Dr. +Faustus</i>. The legend of a man who sells his soul to the Devil +for infinite knowledge and absolute power seems to have +crystallized about the sixth century, when the story of +<i>Theophilus</i> was supposed to have been related in Greek by +his pupil Eutychianus. Of course, every warlock had bartered +his soul to Satan, and throughout the whole of the Middle +Ages judicial records, the courts of the Inquisition, to say +nothing of popular knowledge, could have told of a thousand +such. But this particular legend seems to have captured the +imagination of both Western and Eastern Christendom; it is +met with in a variety of forms; it was introduced into the +collections of Jacopo à Voragine; it found its way into the +minstrel repertory through Rutebeuf, a French <i>trouvère</i> of the +thirteenth century; it reappeared in early English narrative +and in Low-German drama. Icelandic variants of the story +have been traced. It was made the subject of a poem by +William Forrest, priest and poet, in 1572; and it also formed +the material for two seventeenth-century Jesuit “comedies.”</p> + +<p>That the original Faust was a real personage,⁠<a id="FNanchor_589" href="#Footnote_589" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> a wandering +conjurer and medical quack, who was well known in the +south-west of the German Empire, as well as in Thuringia, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span>Saxony, and the adjoining countries somewhere between +the years 1510-1540, does not now admit of any serious +doubt. Philip Begardi, a physician of Worms, author +of an <i>Index Sanitatis</i> (1539), mentions this charlatan, +many of whose dupes he personally knew. He says that +Faust was at one time frequently seen, although of later +years nothing had been heard of him. It has indeed been +suggested the whole legend originated in the strange history +of Pope S. Clement I and his father Faustus, or Faustinianus, +as related in the <i>Recognitions</i>, which were immensely popular +throughout the Middle Ages. But Melanchthon knew a +Johannes Faustus born at Knütlingen, in Wurtemberg, not far +from his own home, who studied magic at Cracow, and afterwards +“roamed about and talked of secret things.” There was +a doctor Faustus in the early part of the sixteenth century, a +friend of Paracelsus and Cornelius Agrippa, a scholar who won +an infamous reputation for the practice of necromancy. In +1513 Conrad Mutt, the Humanist, came across a vagabond +magician at Erfurt named Georgius Faustus Hermitheus +of Heidelberg. Trithemius in 1506, met a Faustus junior +whose boast it was that if all the works of Plato and Aristotle +were burned he could restore them from memory. It seems +probable that it was to the Dr. Faustus, the companion of +Paracelsus and Cornelius⁠<a id="FNanchor_590" href="#Footnote_590" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Agrippa, that the legend became +finally and definitely attached. The first literary version of +the story was the <i>Volksbuch</i>, which was published by Johann +Spies in 1587, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, who tells us that +he obtained the manuscript “from a good friend at Spier,” +and it soon afterwards appeared in England as <i>The History +of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Dr. John Faustus</i>, +a chap-book to which Marlowe mainly adhered for the +incidents in his play. The tragedy was carried across to +Germany by the English actors who visited that country in +the last years of the sixteenth and the earlier part of the +seventeenth century, and thus, while it was itself derived +from a German source, it greatly influenced, if it did not +actually give rise to, the treatment of the same theme by +the German popular drama and puppet-play. These were +seldom printed, and usually for the most part extemporized, +keeping all the while more or less closely to +the theme. Scheible in his <i>Kloster</i> (1847), Volume V, gives +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span>the excellent Ulm piece, and there are marionette versions +edited by W. Hamm (1850; English translation by T. C. H. +Hedderwick, 1887), O. Schade (1856), K. Engel (1874), +Bielschowsky (1882), and Kralik and Winter (1885).</p> + +<p>Lessing projected two presentations of the story, and +Klinger worked the subject into a romance, <i>Fausts Leben, +Thaten, und Höllenfahrt</i> (1791; translated into English by +George Barrow in 1826). A bombast tragedy was published +by Klingemann in 1815, whilst Lenau issued his epico-dramatic +<i>Faust</i> in 1836. Heine’s ballet <i>Der Doctor Faust, ein +Tanzpoem</i> appeared in 1851. The libretto for Spohr’s opera +(1814) was written by Bernard.</p> + +<p>Goethe’s masterpiece, planned as early as 1774, was given +to the world in 1808, but the second part was delayed until +1831.</p> + +<p>General evidence points to 1588 as the date of the +first production of Marlowe’s <i>Doctor Faustus</i>, for it seems +certain that the ballad of the <i>Life and Death of Doctor +Faustus the great Conjurer</i>, entered in the Stationers’ Register, +February, 1589, did not precede but was suggested by the +drama. The first extant quarto is 1604, but already it had +been subjected to more than one revision. Upon the stage +<i>Doctor Faustus</i> long remained popular, and in England, at +least, however fragmentary Marlowe’s tragedy may be it +has never been supplemented by any other literary handling +of its theme. Old Prynne in his <i>Histriomastix</i> (1633) retails +an absurd story to the effect that the Devil <i>in propria persona</i> +“appeared on the stage at the <i>Belsavage</i> Playhouse in Queen +<i>Elizabeth’s</i> days” whilst the tragedy was being performed, +“the truth of which I have heard from many now alive who +well remember it.” It was revived after the Restoration, and +on Monday, 26 May, 1662, Pepys and his wife witnessed the +production at the Red Bull, “but so wretchedly and poorly +done that we were sick of it.” It was being performed at the +Theatre Royal in the autumn of 1675, but no details are +recorded. In 1685-6 at Dorset Garden appeared William +Mountfort’s <i>The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Made into +a Farce, with the Humours of Harlequin and Scaramouch</i>, a +queer mixture of Marlowe’s scenes with the Italian <i>commedia +dell’ arte</i>. Harlequin was acted by nimble Thomas Jevon, +the first English harlequin, and Scaramouch by Antony Leigh, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span>the most whimsical of comedians. At the end of the third +act after Faustus has been carried away by Lucifer and +Mephistopheles, his body is discovered torn in pieces. Then +“Faustus <i>Limbs come together. A Dance and Song</i>.” This +farce was continually revived with great applause, and during +the whole of the eighteenth century Faust was the central +figure of pantomime after pantomime. Nearly forty dramatic +versions of the Faust legend might be enumerated. Many +are wildly romantic and were especially beloved of the minor +theatres: such are <i>Faustus</i> by G. Soane and D. Terry, +produced at Drury Lane 16 May, 1825, with “O” Smith +as Mephistopheles; H. P. Grattan’s <i>Faust, or The Demon +of the Drachenfels</i> performed at Sadlers Wells, 5 September, +1842, with Henry Marston, Mephistopheles, T. Lyon, Faust, +“the Magician of Wittenberg,” Caroline Rankley, +Marguerite; T. W. Robertson’s <i>Faust and Marguerite</i>, +played at the Princess’s Theatre in April, 1854: some are +operatic; the ever-popular <i>Faust</i> of Gounod, with libretto by +Barbier and Carré, first seen at the Théâtre Lyrique, +Paris, in 1859; and Hector Berlioz’ <i>The Damnation +of Faust</i>, which, adapted to the English stage by T. H. +Friend, was performed at the Court, Liverpool, 3 February, +1894; many more are burlesques, descendants of the +eighteenth-century farces, amongst which may be remembered +F. C. Burnard’s <i>Faust and Marguerite</i>, S. James, 9 July, 1864; +C. H. Hazlewood’s <i>Faust: or Marguerite’s Mangle</i>, Britannia +Theatre, 25 March, 1867; Byron’s <i>Little Doctor Faust</i> (1877); +<i>Faust in Three Flashes</i> (1884); <i>Faust in Forty Minutes</i> (1885); +and the most famous of all the travesties <i>Faust Up to Date</i>, +produced at the Gaiety, 30 October, 1888, with E. J. Lonnen +as Mephistopheles and Florence St. John as Marguerite. In +France the <i>Faust</i>—après Goethe—of Theaulou and Gondelier +first seen at the Nouveautés, 27 October, 1827, had a great +success, and in the following year no less than three pens, +Antony Béraud, Charles Nodier, and Merle, combined to +produce a <i>Faust</i> in three acts, the music of which is by +Louis Alexandre Piccini, the grandson of Gluck’s famous +rival. In 1858 Adolphe Dennery gave the Parisian stage +<i>Faust</i>, a “drame fantastique” in five acts and sixteen +tableaux, a drama of the Grattan school, effective enough +in a lurid Sadlers Wells way, which is, at any rate, a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span>vein greater dramatists have exploited with profit and +applause.</p> + +<p>Of more recent English dramas which have the Faust legend +as their theme the most striking is undoubtedly the adaptation +by W. G. Wills from the first part of Goethe’s tragedy, +which was produced at the Lyceum 19 December, 1885, +with H. H. Conway as Faust; George Alexander, Valentine; +Mrs. Stirling, Martha; Miss Ellen Terry, Margaret; and +Henry Irving, Mephistopheles. Not merely in view of the +masterpieces of Marlowe and Goethe, but even by the side +of theatrical versions of the legend from far lesser men the +play itself was naught, a superb pantomime, a thing helped +out by a witches’ kitchen, by a bacchanalia of demons, by +chromo-lithographic effects, by the mechanist and the brushes +of Telbin and Hawes Craven, but it was informed throughout +and raised to heights of greatness, nay, even to awe and +terror, by the genius of Irving as the red-plumed Mephistopheles, +that sardonic, weary, restless figure, horribly unreal +yet mockingly alert and alive, who dominated the whole.</p> + +<p>To attempt a comparison between Marlowe and Goethe +were not a little absurd, and it is superfluous to expatiate +upon the supreme merits of either masterpiece. In Goethe’s +mighty and complex work the story is in truth refined away +beneath a wealth of immortal philosophy. Marlowe adheres +quite simply to the chap-book incidents, and yet in all profane +literature I scarcely know words of more shuddering dread +and complete agony than Faust’s last great speech:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah, Faustus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now hast thou but one bare hour to live.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And then thou must be damned perpetually!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The scene becomes intolerable. It is almost too painful to +be read, too overcharged with hopeless darkness and despair.</p> + +<p>As it is in some sense at least akin to the Faust story it +may not be impertinent briefly to mention here an early +Dutch secular drama, which has been called “one of the +gems of Dutch mediæval literature,” <i>A Marvellous History +of Mary of Nimmegen, who for more than seven years lived +and had ado with the Devil</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_591" href="#Footnote_591" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> printed by William Vorsterman +of Antwerp about 1520. It is only necessary to call attention +to a few features of the legend. Mary, the niece of the old +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span>priest Sir Gysbucht, one night meets the Devil in the shape +of <i>Moonen with the single eye</i>. He undertakes to teach her +all the secrets of necromancy if she will but refrain from +crossing herself and change her name to Lena of Gretchen. +But Mary, who has had a devotion to our Lady, insists upon +retaining at least the M in her new nomenclature, and so +becomes Emmekin. “Thus Emma and Moonen lived at +Antwerp at the sign of the Golden Tree in the market, where +daily of his contrivings were many murders and slayings +together with every sort of wickedness.” Emma then resolves +to visit her uncle, and insists upon Moonen accompanying +her to Nimmegen. It is a high holiday and she sees by chance +the mystery of <i>Maskeroon</i> on a pageant-waggon in a public +square. Our Lady is pleading before the throne of God for +mankind, and Emma is filled with strange remorse to hear +such blessed words. Moonen carries her off, but she falls +and is found in a swoon by the old priest, her uncle. No +priest of Nimmegen dared shrive her, not even the Bishop +of Cologne, and so she journeyed to Rome, where the Holy +Father heard her confession and bade her wear in penitence +three strong bands of iron fastened upon neck and arms. +Thus she returned to Maestricht to the cloister of the +Converted Sinners, and there her sorrow was so prevailing +and her humility so unfeigned that an Angel in token of +Divine forgiveness removed the irons as she slept.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And go ye to Maestricht, an ye be able</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in the Converted Sinners shall ye see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The grave of Emma, and there all three</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rings be hung above her grave.⁠<a id="FNanchor_592" href="#Footnote_592" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Magic and fairy-land loom large in the plays of Robert +Greene, whose place in English literature rests at least as +much upon his prose-tracts as on his dramas. It seems to +me fairly obvious that <i>The Honourable History of Friar Bacon +and Friar Bungay</i>, which almost certainly dates from 1589, +although the first quarto is 1594, was composed owing to the +success of Marlowe’s <i>Doctor Faustus</i>. Greene was not the +man to lose an opportunity of exploiting fashion, and with +his solid British bent I have no doubt he considered an old +English tale of an Oxford magician would be just as effective +as imported legends from Frankfort and Wittenberg. To +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span>say that the later play is on an entirely different level is not +to deny it interest and considerable charm. But in spite +of Bacon’s avowal</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou know’st that I have divèd into hell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sought the darkest palaces of fiends;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That with my magic spells great Belcephon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath left his lodge and kneeled at my cell,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">his sorceries are in lighter vein than those of Faustus; +moreover neither his arts nor the magic of Friar Bungay +form the essential theme of the play, which also sketches the +love of Edward, Prince of Wales (afterwards Edward I) for +Margaret, “the fair Maid of Fressingfield.” It is true Bacon +conjures up spirits enough, and we are shown his study at +Brasenose with the episode of the Brazen Head. It may be +noted that Miles, Bacon’s servant, is exactly the Vice of the +Moralities, and at the end he rides off farcically enough on +the Devil’s back, whilst Bacon announces his intention of +spending the remainder of his years in becoming penitence +for his necromancy and magic.</p> + +<p>In Greene’s <i>Orlando Furioso</i>, 4to, 1594, which is based on +Ariosto, canto XXIII, we meet Melissa, an enchantress: and +in <i>Alphonsus, King of Arragon</i>, 4to, 1599, which is directly +imitative of <i>Tamburlaine</i>, a sibyl with the classical name +Medea, conjures up Calehas “in a white surplice and +cardinal’s mitre,” and here we also have a Brazen Head +through which Mahomet speaks. A far more interesting +play is <i>A Looking Glasse for London and England</i>, 4to, 1594, +an elaborated Mystery upon the history of the prophet Jonah +and the repentance of Nineveh. Among the characters are +a Good Angel, an Evil Angel, and “one clad in Devil’s +attire,” who is soundly drubbed by Adam the buffoon. In +1598 was published, “As it hath bene sundrie times publikely +plaide,” <i>The Scottish Historic of Iames the fourth, slaine at +Flodden. Entermixed with a pleasant Comedie, presented by +Oboram, King of Fayeries.</i> But the fairies only appear in a +species of prose prologue, and in brief interludes between +the acts.</p> + +<p>George Peele’s charming piece of folk-lore <i>The Old Wives’ +Tale</i> introduces among its quaint commixture of episodes +the warlock Sacripant, son of a famous witch Meroe,⁠<a id="FNanchor_593" href="#Footnote_593" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span>has stolen away and keeps under a spell the princess Delia. +His power depends upon a light placed in a magic glass +which can only be broken under certain conditions. Eventually +Sacripant is overcome by the aid of a friendly ghost, +Jack, the glass broken, the light extinguished, and the lady +restored to her lover and friends.</p> + +<p>Other magicians who appear in various dramas of the days +of Elizabeth and her immediate successors are Brian Sansfoy +in the primitive <i>Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes</i>, 4to, 1599; +the Magician in <i>The Wars of Cyrus</i>; Friar Bacon, Friar +Bungay, and Jaques Vandermast in Greene’s <i>Friar Bacon +and Friar Bungay</i>, Merlin and Proximus in the pseudo-Shakespearean +<i>The Birth of Merlin</i>, where the Devil also +figures; Ormandini and Argalio in <i>The Seven Champions of +Christendom</i>, where we likewise have Calib, a witch, her +incubus Tarpax, and Suckabus their clownish son; Comus +in Milton’s masque; Mago the conjurer with his three +familiars Eo, Meo, and Areo in Cokain’s <i>Trappolin Creduto +Principe, Trappolin suppos’d a Prince</i>, 4to, 1656, excellent +light fare, which Nahum Tate turned into <i>A Duke and No +Duke</i> and produced at Drury Lane in November, 1684, and +which in one form or another, sometimes “a comic melodramatic +burletta,” sometimes a ballad opera, sometimes a +farce, was popular until the early decades of the nineteenth +century.</p> + +<p>Seeing that actors are “the abstracts and brief chronicles +of the time,” it is not surprising to find that Witchcraft has +a very important part in the theatre of Shakespeare. Setting +aside such a purely fairy fantasy as <i>A Midsummer-Night’s +Dream</i>, such figures as the “threadbare juggler” Pinch in +<i>The Comedy of Errors</i>, such scenes as the hobgoblin mask +beneath Herne’s haunted oak, such references as that to +Mother Prat, the old woman of Brainford, who worked +“by charms, by spells, by the figure,” or the vile abuse by +Richard, Duke of Gloucester, of “Edward’s wife, that +monstrous witch, Consorted with that harlot strumpet +Shore,” we have one historical drama <i>King Henry VI</i>, +Part II, in which an incantation scene plays no small part; +we have one romantic comedy <i>The Tempest</i>, one tragedy +<i>Macbeth</i>, the very motives and development of which are +due to magic and supernatural charms. It must perhaps be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span>remarked that <i>King Henry VI</i>, Part I, is defiled by the +obscene caricature of S. Joan of Arc, surely the most foul +and abominable irreverence that shames English literature. +It is too loathsome for words, and I would only point out +the enumeration in one scene where various familiars are +introduced of the most revolting details of contemporary +witch-trials, but to think of such horrors in connexion with +S. Joan revolts and sickens the imagination.</p> + +<p>In <i>King Henry VI</i> (Part II) the Duchess of Gloucester +employs John Hume and John Southwell, two priests; +Bolingbroke, a conjurer; and Margery Jourdemain, a witch, +to raise a spirit who shall reveal the several destinies of the +King, and the Dukes of Suffolk and Somerset. The scene +is written with extraordinary power and has not a little of +awe and terror. Just as the demon is dismissed ’mid thunder +and lightning the Duke of York with his guards rush in and +arrest the sorcerers. Later the two priests and Bolingbroke +are condemned to the gallows, the witch in Smithfield is +“burn’d to ashes,” whilst the Duchess of Gloucester after +three days’ public penance is banished for life to the Isle +of Man.</p> + +<p>The incidents as employed by Shakespeare are fairly +correct. It is certain that the Duchess of Gloucester, an +ambitious and licentious woman, called to her counsels +Margery Jourdemain, commonly known as the Witch of Eye, +Roger Bolingbroke an astrologer, Thomas Southwell, Canon +of S. Stephen’s, a priest named Sir John Hume or Hun, and +a certain William Wodham. These persons frequently met +in secret, and it was discovered that they had fashioned +according to the usual mode a wax image of the King which +they melted before a slow fire. Bolingbroke confessed, and +Hume also turned informer; and in 1441 Bolingbroke was +placed on a high scaffold before Paul’s Cross together with a +chair curiously carved and painted, found at his lodging, +which was supposed to be an instrument of necromancy, and +in the presence of Cardinal Beaufort of Winchester, Henry +Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, and an imposing +array of bishops, he was compelled to make abjuration +of his wicked arts. The Duchess of Gloucester, being refused +sanctuary at Westminster, was arrested and confined +in Leeds Castle, near Maidstone. She was brought to trial +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span>with her accomplices in October, when sentence was passed +upon her as has been related above. Margery Jourdemain +perished at the stake as a witch and relapsed heretic; Thomas +Southwell died in prison; and Bolingbroke was hanged at +Tyburn, 18 November.</p> + +<p>In <i>The Tempest</i> Prospero is a philosopher rather than a +wizard, and Ariel is a fairy not a familiar. The magic of +Prospero is of the intellect, and throughout, Shakespeare is +careful to insist upon a certain detachment from human +passions and ambitions. His love for Miranda, indeed, is +exquisitely portrayed, and once—at the base ingratitude of +Caliban—his anger flashes forth, but none the less, albeit +superintending the fortunes of those over whom he watches +tenderly, and utterly abhorring the thought of revenge, he +seems to stand apart like Providence divinely guiding the +events to the desired issue of reconciliation and forgiveness. +Even so, the situation was delicate to place before an Elizabethan +audience, and how nobly and with what art does Shakespeare +touch upon Prospero’s “rough magic”! In Sycorax +we recognize the typical witch, wholly evil, vile, malignant, +terrible for mischief, the consort and mistress of devils.</p> + +<p>There are few scenes which have so caught the world’s +fancy as the wild overture to <i>Macbeth</i>. In storm and wilderness +we are suddenly brought face to face with three +mysterious phantasms that ride on the wind and mingle with +the mist in thunder, lightning, and in rain. They are not +agents of evil, they are evil; nameless, spectral, wholly +horrible. And then, after the briefest of intervals, they +reappear to relate such exploits as killing swine and begging +chestnuts from a sailor’s wife, to brag of having secured such +talismans as the thumb of a drowned pilot, businesses proper +to Mother Demdike or Anne Bishop of Wincanton, Somerset. +Can this change have been intentional? I think not, and +its very violence and quickness are jarring to a degree. The +meeting with Hecate, who is angry, and scolds them “beldames +as you are, Saucy and overbold” does not mend +matters, and in spite of the horror when the apparitions are +evoked, the ingredients of the cauldron, however noisome +and hideous, are too material for “A deed without a name.” +There is a weakness here, and it says much for the genius +of the tragedy that this weakness is not obtrusively felt. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span>Nevertheless it was upon this that the actors seized when for +theatrical effect the incantation scenes had to be “written +up” by the interpolation of fresh matter. Davenant also +in his frankly operatic version of <i>Macbeth</i>, produced at Dorset +Garden in February, 1672-3 elaborated the witch scenes to +an incredible extent, although by ample conveyance from +Middleton’s <i>The Witch</i> together with songs and dances he +was merely following theatrical tradition.⁠<a id="FNanchor_594" href="#Footnote_594" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>There seems no reasonable doubt that <i>The Witch</i> is a later +play than <i>Macbeth</i>, but it is only fair to say that the +date of <i>The Witch</i> is unknown—it was first printed in 1778 +from a manuscript now in the Bodleian—and the date of +<i>Macbeth</i> (earlier than 1610, probably 1606) is not demonstrably +certain. <i>The Witch</i> is a good but not a distinguished +play. Owing to the incantation scenes and its connexion +with <i>Macbeth</i> it has acquired an accidental interest, and an +enduring reputation. The witches themselves, Hecate and +her crew, stand midway between the mystic Norns of the +first scene in <i>Macbeth</i>, and the miserable hag of Dekker in +<i>The Witch of Edmonton</i>; they are just a little below the +Witches in <i>Macbeth</i> as they appear after the opening lines. +There is a ghastly fantasy in their revels which is not lessened +by the material grossness of Firestone the clown, Hecate’s +son. They raise “jars, jealousies, strifes, and heart-burning +disagreements, like a thick scurf o’er life,” and although +their figures are often grotesque their power for evil is not +to be despised. Much of their jargon, their charms and +gaucheries complete, are taken word for word from Reginald +Scott’s <i>Discoverie of Witchcraft</i>, London, 1584.</p> + +<p>The village witch, as she appeared to her contemporaries, +a filthy old doting crone, hunch-backed, ignorant, malevolent, +hateful to God and man, is shown with photographic detail +in <i>The Witch of Edmonton; A known True Story</i> by Rowley, +Dekker, and Ford, produced at the Cockpit in Drury Lane +during the autumn or winter of 1621. It seems to have been +very popular at the time, and not only was it applauded in +the public theatre, but it was presented before King James +at Court. It did not, however, find its way into print until +as late as 1658.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="plate8" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/plate8.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE VIII</p> + <p>THE WITCH OF EDMONTON.<br>The First Quarto</p> + <p class="caption-r">[<i>face p. 290</i></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The trial and execution (19 April, 1621) of Elizabeth +Sawyer attracted a considerable amount of attention. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span>Remarkable numbers of ballads and doggerel songs were +made upon the event, detailing her enchantments, how she +had blighted standing corn, how a ferret and an owl constantly +attended her, and of many demons and familiars who +companied with her in the prison. Not only were these +ditties trolled out the day of the execution but many were +published as broadsides, and sold widely. Accordingly the +Newgate Ordinary hastened to pen <i>The Wonderfull Discoverie +of Elizabeth Sawyer, a Witch, Late of Edmonton, Her Conviction, +and Condemnation, and Death, Together with the +Relation of the Divels Accesse to Her, and Their Conference +Together</i>, “Written by Henry Goodcole, Minister of the Word +of God, and her Continual Visiter in the Gaole of Newgate,” +Published by Authority, 4to, 1621. This tractate is in the +form of a dialogue, question and answer, between Goodcole +and the prisoner, who makes ample confession of her crimes.</p> + +<p>In some ways <i>The Witch of Edmonton</i> is the most interesting +and valuable of the witch dramas, because here we have +the hag stripped of the least vestige of glamour and romance +presented to us in the starkest realism. We see her dwelling +apart in a wretched hovel, “shunned and hated like a sickness,” +miserably poor, buckl’d and bent together, dragging +her palsied limbs wearily through the fields, as she clutches +her dirty rags round her withered frame. And if she but +dare to gather a few dried sticks in a corner she is driven +from the spot with hard words and blows. What wonder +her mouth is full of cursing and revenge?</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent18">’Tis all one</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be a witch as to be counted one.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Then appears the Black Dog and seals a contract with her +blood. She blights the corn and sends a murrain on the cattle +of her persecutors; here a horse has the glanders, there a sow +casts her farrow; the maid churns butter nine hours and it will +not come; above all a farmer’s wife, whom she hates, goes mad +and dies in frantic agony; mischief and evil run riot through +the town. But presently her familiar deserts her, she falls +into the hands of human justice, and after due trial is dragged +to Tyburn shrieking and crying out in hideous despair. It is +a sordid and a terrible, but one cannot doubt, a true picture.</p> + +<p>It is obvious that in this drama⁠<a id="FNanchor_595" href="#Footnote_595" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Frank Thorney, a most +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span>subtle and minute study of weakness and degeneracy, is +wholly Ford’s. Frank Thorney may be closely paralleled +with Giovanni in <i>’Tis Pity She’s a Whore</i>. Winnifride, too, +has all the sentimental charm of Ford’s heroines, Annabella +and Penthea.</p> + +<p>Carter is unmistakably the creation of Dekker. Simon +Eyre and Orlando Friscobaldo are the same hearty, bluff, +hospitable, essentially honest old fellows. To Dekker also +I would assign Mother Sawyer herself.</p> + +<p>Rowley’s hand is especially discernible in the scenes where +Cuddy Banks and the clowns make their appearance.</p> + +<p>It may be mentioned that Elizabeth Sawyer figures in +Caulfield’s <i>Portraits, Memoirs, and Characters of Remarkable +Persons</i>, 1794; and she is also referred to in Robinson’s +<i>History and Antiquities of the Parish of Edmonton</i> with a +woodcut “from a rare print in the collection of W. Beckford, +esq.”</p> + +<p>A second drama which was also actually founded upon +a contemporary trial is Heywood and Brome’s <i>The Late +Lancashire Witches</i>, “A Well Received Comedy” produced +at the Globe in 1634.⁠<a id="FNanchor_596" href="#Footnote_596" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> In the previous year, 1633, +a number of trials for Witchcraft had drawn the attention +of all England to Pendle Forest. A boy, by name Edmund +Robinson, eleven years of age, who dwelt here with his father, +a poor wood-cutter, told a long and detailed story which led +to numerous arrests throughout the district. Upon All Saints’ +Day when gathering “bulloes” in a field he saw two greyhounds, +one black, the other brown, each wearing a collar +of gold. They fawned upon him, and immediately a hare +rose quite near at hand. But the dogs refused to course, +whereupon he beat them with a little switch, and the black +greyhound started up in the shape of an old woman whom +he recognized as Mother Dickenson, a notorious witch, and +the other as a little boy whom he did not know. The beldame +offered him money, either to buy his silence or as the price +of his soul, but he refused. Whereupon taking something +like a Bridle “that gingled” from her pocket she threw it +over the little boy’s head and he became a white horse. +Seizing young Robinson in her arms they mounted and +were conveyed with the utmost speed to a large house where +had assembled some sixty other persons. A bright fire was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span>burning on the hearth with roast meat before it. He was +invited to partake of “Flesh and Bread upon a Trencher +and Drink in a Glass,” which he tasted, but at once rejected. +He was next led into an adjoining barn where seven old +women were pulling at seven halters that hung from the roof. +As they tugged large pieces of meat, butter in lumps, loaves +of bread, black puddings, milk, and all manner of rustic +dainties fell down into large basins which were placed under +the ropes. When the seven hags were tired their places +were taken by seven others. But as they were engaged at +their extraordinary task their faces seemed so fiendish and +their glances were so evil that Robinson took to his heels. +He was instantly pursued, and he saw that the foremost of +his enemies was a certain Mother Lloynd. But luckily for +himself two horsemen, travellers, came up, whereupon the +witches vanished. A little later when he was sent in the +evening to fetch home two kine, a boy met him in the dusk +and fought him, bruising him badly. Looking down he saw +that his opponent had a cloven foot, whereupon he ran away, +only to meet Mother Lloynd with a lantern in her hand. She +drove him back and he was again mauled by the cloven-footed +boy.⁠<a id="FNanchor_597" href="#Footnote_597" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>Such was the story told to the justices and corroborated +by Robinson’s father. A reign of terror ensued. Mother +Dickenson and Mother Lloynd were at once thrown into jail, +and in the next few days more than eighteen persons were +arrested. The informer and his father netted a good sum by +going round from church to church to point out in the +congregations persons whom he recognized as having been +in the house and barn to which he was led. A little quiet +blackmail of the wealthier county families, threats to disclose +the presence of various individuals at the witches’ feast, +brought in several hundreds of pounds.</p> + +<p>The trial took place at Lancaster Assizes and seventeen +of the accused were incontinently found guilty. But the +judge, completely dissatisfied with so fantastic a story, +obtained a reprieve. Four of the prisoners were sent up to +London, where they were examined by the Court physicians. +King Charles himself also questioned one of these poor +wretches and, discerning that the whole history was a fraud, +forthwith pardoned all who had been involved. Meantime +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span>Dr. John Bridgeman, the Bishop of Chester, had also been +holding a special inquiry into the case. Young Robinson +was lodged separately, being allowed to hold no communication +with his relatives, and when closely interrogated he +gave way and confessed that the scare from beginning to +end had been manœuvred by his father, who carefully coached +him in his lies. In spite of this fiasco the talk did not die +down immediately, and there were many who continued to +maintain that Mother Dickenson was indeed a witch, however +false the evidence on this occasion might be. It must be +remembered, moreover, that twenty-two years before, in +the very same district, a coven of thirteen witches, of whom +the chief was Elizabeth Demdike, had been brought to +justice, “at the Assizes and Generall Gaole-Delivery, holden +at Lancaster, before Sir Edward Bromley and Sir James +Eltham.” Old Demdike herself—she was blind and over +eighty years of age—died in prison, but ten of the accused +were executed, and the trial, which lasted two days, occasioned +a tremendous stir.</p> + +<p>It seems not at all improbable that Heywood had written +a topical play in 1612 dealing with this first sensational +prosecution, and that when practically the same events +repeated themselves in the same place less than a quarter +of a century after he and the ever-ready Brome fashioned +anew the old scenes. In the character of the honourable +country-gentleman Master Generous, whose wife is discovered +to be guilty of Witchcraft, there is something truly noble, +and his tender forgiveness of her crime when she repents is +touched with the loving pathos that informs <i>A Woman Kilde +with Kindnesse</i>, whilst his agony at her subsequent relapse +is very real, although Heywood has wisely refrained from +any attempt to show a broken heart save by a few quite +simple but poignant words. The play as a whole is a faithful +picture of country life, homely enough, yet not without a +certain winsome beauty. The comic episodes are sufficiently +broad in their humour; we have a household turned topsy-turvy +by enchantment, a wedding-breakfast bewitched: the +kitchen invaded by snakes, bats, frogs, beetles, and hornets, +whilst to cap all the unfortunate bridegroom is rendered +impotent. In Act II we have the incident of a Boy with a +switch (young Edmund Robinson) and the two greyhounds. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span>Gammer Dickison carries him off against his will “to a brave +feast,” where we see the witches pulling ropes for food:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Pul for the poultry, foule and fish,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For emptie shall not be a dish.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In Act V the Boy tells Doughty the story of his encounter +with the Devil: “He came to thee like a boy, thou sayest, +about thine owne bisnesse?” they ask him, and the whole +scene meticulously follows the detailed evidence given before +the judge at Lancaster. Of the witches, Goody Dickison, +Mal Spencer, Mother Hargrave, Granny Johnson, Meg, Mawd, +are actual individuals who were accused by Robinson; Mrs. +Generous alone is the poet’s fiction. When Robin, the blunt +serving-man, refuses to saddle the grey gelding she shakes +a bridle over his head and using him as a horse makes him +carry her to the satanical assembly. There is a mill, which +is haunted by spirits in the shape of cats, and here a soldier +undertakes to watch. For two nights he is undisturbed, but +on the third “<i>Enter</i> Mrs. Generous, Mal, <i>all the</i> Witches and +<i>their Spirits</i> (<i>at severall dores</i>).” “<i>The</i> Spirits <i>come about him +with a dreadfull noise</i>,” but he beats them thence with his +sword, lopping off a tabby’s paw in the hurly-burly. In the +morning a hand is found, white and shapely, with jewels on +the fingers. These Generous recognizes as being his wife’s +rings, and Mrs. Generous, who is in bed ill, is found to have +one hand cut off at the wrist. This seals her fate. All the +witches are dragged in and in spite of their charms and +bug-words are identified by several witnesses including the +boy who “saw them all in the barne together, and many +more, at their feast and witchery.”</p> + +<p>The play was evidently produced just after the Lancaster +Assizes, whilst four of the accused were in the Fleet prison, +London, for further examination, and the King’s pardon had +not as yet been pronounced. This is evident from the +Epilogue, which commences:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Now while the witches must expect their due,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By lawfull justice, we appeale to you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For favourable censure; what their crime</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May bring upon ’em ripens yet of time</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has not reveal’d. Perhaps great mercy may,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">After just condemnation, give them day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of longer life.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span></p> + +<p>It will be convenient to consider in this connexion a drama +largely founded upon Heywood and Brome, and produced +nearly half a century later at the Duke’s House, Dorset +Garden, Shadwell’s <i>The Lancashire Witches and Teague o +Divelly, the Irish Priest</i>, which was first seen in the autumn +of 1681 (probably in September). The idea of using magic in +a play was obviously suggested to Shadwell by his idolized +Ben Jonson’s <i>Masque of Queens</i>, performed at Whitehall, +2 February, 1609. In close imitation of his model Shadwell +has further appended copious notes to Acts one, two, three, +and five, giving his references for the details of his enchantments. +In the Preface (4to, 1682) he naïvely confesses: +“For the magical part I had no hopes of equalling <i>Shakespear</i> +in fancy, who created his witchcraft for the most part out +of his own imagination (in which faculty no man ever +excell’d him), and therefore I resolved to take mine from +authority. And to that end there is not one action in the +Play, nay, scarce a word concerning it, but is borrowed from +some antient, or modern witchmonger. Which you will find +in the notes, wherein I have presented you a great part of +the doctrine of witchcraft, believe it who will.” And he has +indeed copious citations from Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Propertius, +Juvenal, Tibullus, Seneca, Tacitus, Lucan, Petronius, +Pliny, Apuleius, Aristotle, Theocritus, Lucian, Theophrastus; +S. Augustine, S. Thomas Aquinas; Baptista Porta; Ben +Jonson (<i>The Sad Shepherd</i>); from the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> of +James Sprenger, O.P., and Henry Institor (Heinrich Kramer), +written <i>circa</i> 1485-89, from Jean Bodin’s (1520-96) <i>La +Demonomanie des Sorciers</i>, 1580; the <i>Dæmonolatria</i>, 1595, +of Nicolas Remy; <i>Disquisitionum Magicarum libri six</i> of +Martin Delrio, S.J. (1551-1608); <i>Historia Rerum Scoticarum</i>, +Paris, 1527, of Hector Boece (1465-1536); <i>Formicarius</i>, +5 vols., Douai, 1602, of John Nider, O.P. (1380-1438); <i>De +Præstigiis Dæmonum</i>, 1563, by the celebrated John Weyer, +physician to the Duke of Cleves; <i>De Gentibus Septentrionalibus</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_598" href="#Footnote_598" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +Rome, 1555, by Olaus Magnus, the famous Archbishop +of Upsala; <i>Discoverie of Witchcraft</i>, 1584, by Reginald +Scot; <i>Dæmonomagia</i>, by Philip Ludwig Elich, 1607; <i>De +Strigimagis</i>, by Sylvester Mazzolini, O.P. (1460-1523), Master +of the Sacred Palace and champion of the Holy See against +the heresiarch Luther; <i>Compendium Maleficarum</i> (Milan, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span>1608), by Francesco Maria Guazzo of the Congregation of +S. Ambrose; <i>Disputatio de Magis</i> (Frankfort, 1584), by +Johan Georg Godelmann; <i>Tractatus de Strigiis et Lamiis</i> +of Bartolommeo Spina, O.P.; the <i>Decretum</i> (about 1020) of +Burchard, Bishop of Worms; the <i>De Sortilegiis</i> (Lyons, 1533) +of Paolo Grilland; the <i>De Occulta Philosophia</i> (Antwerp, +1531) of Cornelius Agrippa; the <i>Apologie pour tous les Grands +Hommes qui ont este faussement supconnez de Magie</i> (1625) of +Gabriel Naudé, librarian to Cardinal Mazarin; <i>De Subtilitate</i> +(libri XXI, Nuremberg, 1550) of Girolamo Cardano, the +famous physician and astrologer; <i>De magna et occulta +Philosophia</i> of Paracelsus; <i>IIII Livres des Spectres</i> (Angers, +1586) by Pierre le Loyer, Sieur de Brosse, of which Shadwell +used the English version (1605) <i>A treatise of Specters</i> ... +translated by Z. Jones.</p> + +<p>It will be seen that no less than forty-one authors, authorities +on magic, are quoted by Shadwell in these notes, whilst +not infrequently the same author is cited again and again, +and extracts of some length, not merely general references, +are given.</p> + +<p>But for all this parade of learning, perchance because of +all this parade of learning, Shadwell’s witch scenes are +intolerably clumsy, they are gross without being terrible. +Shadwell was a clever dramatist, he was able to draw a +character, especially a crank, with quite remarkable vigour, +and his scenes are a triumph of photographic realism. True, +he could not discriminate and select; he threw his world +<i>en masse</i> higgledy piggledy on to the stage, and as even in +the reign of the Merry Monarch there were a few tedious folk +about, so now and again—but not very often—one chances +upon heavy passages in Shadwell’s robust comedies. On the +other hand <i>The Sullen Lovers</i>, <i>Epsom Wells</i>, <i>The Virtuoso, +Bury Fair</i>, <i>The Squire of Alsatia</i>, <i>The Volunteers</i>, in fact all +his native plays, are full of bustle and fun, albeit a trifle +riotous and rude as the custom was. Dryden, who very well +knew what he was about, for purposes of his own cleverly +dubbed Shadwell dull. And dull he has been dubbed ever +since by those who have not read him. But Shadwell had +not a spark of poetry in his whole fat composition. And so +his witches become farcical, yet farcical in a grimy unpleasant +way, for we are spared none of the loathsome details of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span>Sabbat, and should anyone object, why, there is the authority +of Remy or Guazzo, the precise passage from Prierias or +Burchard to support the author. Indeed we feel that these +witches are very real in spite of their materialism. They +present a clear picture of one side of the diabolic cult, however +crude and crass.</p> + +<p>Even so, these incantation scenes are not, I venture to +think, the worst thing in the play. The obscene caricature +of the Catholic priest, Teague o Divelly, is frankly disgusting +beyond words. He is represented as ignorant, idle, lecherous, +a liar, a coward, a buffoon, too simiously cunning to be a +fool, too basely mean to be a villain. It is a filthy piece of +work, malignant and harmful prepense.⁠<a id="FNanchor_599" href="#Footnote_599" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>But Shadwell showed scant respect for the Protestants +too, since Smerk, Sir Edward Hartfort’s chaplain, is described +as “foolish, knavish, popish, arrogant, insolent; yet for his +interest, slavish.”</p> + +<p>It is hardly a matter for surprise that after the play had been +in the actors’ hands about a fortnight complaints from such +high quarters were lodged with Charles Killigrew, the Master +of the Revels, that he promptly sent for the script, which at +first he seems to have passed carelessly enough, and would +only allow the rehearsals to proceed on condition that a +quantity of scurrilous matter was expunged. Even so the +dialogue is sufficiently offensive and profane. There was something +like a riot in the theatre at the first performance, and the +play was as heartily hissed as it deserved. Yet it managed +to make a stand: those were the days of the Third Exclusion +Bill and rank disloyalty, but the tide was on the turn, +a rebel Parliament had been dissolved on the 28th March, +on the 31st of August Stephen College, a perjured fanatic +doubly dyed in treason and every conceivable rascality, had +met his just reward on the gallows, whilst the atrocious +Shaftesbury himself was to be smartly laid by the heels in +the November following. That part of the dialogue which +was not allowed to be spoken on the stage Shadwell has +printed in italic letter,⁠<a id="FNanchor_600" href="#Footnote_600" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> and so we plainly see that the censor +was amply justified in his demands. The political satire is +of the muddiest; the railing against the Church is lewd +and rancorous.</p> + +<p>Such success as <i>The Lancashire Witches</i> had in the theatre—and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span>it was not infrequently revived—was wholly due to the +mechanist and the scenic effects, the “flyings” of the +witches, and the music, this last so prominent a feature that +Downes does not hesitate to call it “a kind of Opera.”</p> + +<p>In Shadwell’s Sabbat scenes the Devil himself appears, +once in the form of a Buck Goat and once in human shape, +whilst his satellites adore him with disgusting ceremonies. +The witches are Mother Demdike, Mother Dickenson, Mother +Hargrave, Mal Spencer, Madge, and others unnamed.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth Demdike and Jennet Hargreaves belonged to +the first Lancashire witch-trials, the prosecutions of 1612; +Frances Dickenson and Mal Spencer were involved in the +Robinson disclosures of 1633; so it is obvious that Shadwell +has intermingled the two incidents. In his play we have a +coursing scene where the hare suddenly changes to Mother +Demdike; the witches raise a storm and carouse in Sir +Edward’s cellar something after the fashion of Madge Gray, +Goody Price, and Goody Jones in <i>The Ingoldsby Legends</i>; +Mal Spencer bridles Clod, a country yokel, and rides him to +a witches’ festival, where Madge is admitted to the infernal +sisterhood; the witches in the guise of cats beset a number +of persons with horrible scratchings and miauling, Tom +Shacklehead strikes off a grimalkin’s paw and Mother +Hargreave’s hand is found to be missing: “the cutting off +the hand is an old story,” says Shadwell in his notes. It +will be seen that the later dramatist took many of his +incidents from Heywood and Brome, although it is only fair +to add that he has also largely drawn from original sources.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the Restoration was published a play dealing +with one of the most famous of English sibyls, <i>The Life of +Mother Shipton</i>. “A New Comedy. As it was Acted Nineteen +dayes together with great Applause.... Written by +T[homas] T[homson].” Among the Dramatis Personæ appear +Pluto, the King of Hell, with Proserpina, his Queen; +Radamon, A chief Spirit; Four other Devils. The scene is +“The City of York, or Naseborough Grove in Yorkshire.” +It is a rough piece of work, largely patched together from +Middleton’s <i>A Chaste Maid in Cheapside</i> and Massinger’s +<i>The City Madam</i>, whilst the episodes in which Mother Shipton +is concerned would seem to be founded on one of the many +old chap-books that relate her marvellous adventures and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span>prophetic skill. Agatha Shipton (her name is usually given +as Ursula) is complaining of her hard lot when she encounters +Radamon, a demon who holds high rank in the court of Dis. +He arranges to meet her later, and returns to his own place +to boast of his success. He reappears to her dressed as a +wealthy nobleman; he marries her; and for a while she +is seen in great affluence and state. At the commencement +of Act III she finds herself in her poor cottage again. As +she laments Radamon enters, he informs her who he really +is, and bestows upon her magical powers. Her fame spreads +far and wide, and as popular story tells, the abbot of Beverley +in disguise visits her to make trial of her art. She at once +recognizes him, and foretells to his great chagrin the suppression +of the monasteries with other events. In the end +Mother Shipton outwits and discomforts the devils who +attempt to seize her, she is vouchsafed a heavenly vision, +and turns to penitence and prayer. The whole thing is a +crude enough commixture, of more curiosity than value.</p> + +<p>There are some well-written episodes in Nevil Payne’s +powerful tragedy <i>The Fatal Jealousie</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_601" href="#Footnote_601" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> produced at Dorset +Garden early in August, 1672. Among the characters we +have Witch, Aunt of Jasper, the villain of the piece. Jasper, +who is servant to Antonio, applies to his aunt to help him +in his malignant schemes. At first he believes she is a +genuine sorceress, but she disabuses him and frankly +acknowledges:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent20">I can raise no Devils,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet I Confederate with Rogues and Taylors,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Things that can shape themselves like Elves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Goblins——</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Her imps <i>Ranter</i> and <i>Swash</i>, <i>Dive</i>, +<i>Fop</i>, <i>Snap</i>, <i>Gilt</i>, and <i>Picklock</i>, +are slim lads in masquing habits, trained to trickery. +None the less they manage an incantation scene to deceive +Antonio and persuade him that his wife, Caelia, is false. An +“Antick Dance of Devils” which follows is interrupted by the +forcible entry of the Watch. The Aunt shows Jasper a secret +hiding-place, whereupon he murders her and conceals the body +in the hole. He pretends that she was in truth a witch and +has vanished by magic. The Captain of the Watch, however, +had detected her charlatanry long before, and presently a +demon’s vizor and a domino are found on the premises. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span>Later a little boy, who is caught in his devil’s attire, confesses +the impostures, and trembling adds that in one of their +secret chambers they have discovered their mistress’s corpse +stabbed to death. Finally Jasper is unmasked, and only +escapes condign punishment by his dagger. The character +of the Witch is not unlike that of Heywood’s <i>Wise Woman +of Hogsdon</i>, although in <i>The Fatal Jealousie</i> the events take +a tragic and bloody turn. Smith acted Antonio; Mrs. +Shadwell, Caelia; Mrs. Norris, the Witch; and Sandford was +famous in the rôle of Jasper.</p> + +<p>There are incantation scenes in Dryden’s tragedies, but +these hardly come within our survey, as the magicians are +treated romantically, one might even say decoratively, and +certainly here no touch of realism is sought or intended. We +have the famous episode in <i>The Indian-Queen</i> (produced at +the Theatre Royal in January, 1663-4), when Zempoalla +seeks Ismeron the prophet who raises the God of Dreams to +prophesy her destiny;⁠<a id="FNanchor_602" href="#Footnote_602" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> in the fourth act of <i>Tyrannick Love</i> +(Theatre Royal, June, 1669), the scene is an Indian cave, +where at the instigation of Placidius the magician Nigrinus +raises a vision of the sleeping S. Catharine, various astral +spirits appear only to fly before the descent of Amariel, the +Saint’s Guardian-Angel; in <i>Œdipus</i>, by Dryden and Lee +(Dorset Garden, December, 1678), Teresias plays a considerable +part, and Act III is mainly concerned with a necromantic +spell that raises the ghost of Laius in the depths of a hallowed +grove. In <i>The Duke of Guise</i>, moreover (Theatre Royal, +December, 1682), there is something of real horror in the +figures of Malicorne and his familiar Melanax, and the scene⁠<a id="FNanchor_603" href="#Footnote_603" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> +when the miserable wizard, whose bond is forfeit, is carried +shrieking to endless bale, cannot be read without a shudder +even after the last moments of Marlowe’s <i>Faustus</i>. Act IV +of Lee’s <i>Sophonisba</i> (Theatre Royal, April, 1675) commences +with the temple of Bellona, whose priestesses are shown at +their dread rites. Cumana is inspired by the divinity, she +raves in fury of obsession, there is a dance of spirits, and +various visions are evoked.</p> + +<p>In Otway’s curious rehandling of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> which +he Latinized as <i>The History and Fall of Caius Marius</i> +produced at Dorset Garden in the autumn of 1679, the Syrian +witch Martha only appears for a moment to prophesy good +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span>fortune to Marius and to introduce a dance of spirits by the +waving of her wand.</p> + +<p>Charles Davenant’s operatic <i>Circe</i> (Dorset Garden, March, +1676-7) is an amazing distortion of mythological story. +There are songs without number, a dance of magicians, +storms, dreams, an apparition of Pluto in a Chariot drawn +by Black Horses, but all these are very much of the stage, +stagey, born of candle-light and violins, hardly to be endured +in cold print. Ragusa, the Sorceress in Tate’s <i>Brutus of Alba: +or the Enchanted Lovers</i> (Dorset Garden, May, 1678) is a far +more formidable figure. Tate has managed his magic not +without skill, and the conclusion of Act III, an incantation, +was deservedly praised by Lamb. Curiously enough the plot +of <i>Brutus of Alba</i> is the story of Dido and Æneas, Vergil’s +names being altered “rather than be guilty of a breach of +Modesty,” Tate says. But Tate supplied Henry Purcell with +the libretto for his opera <i>Dido and Æneas</i>, wherein also +witches appear. It must not be forgotten that <i>Macbeth</i> was +immensely popular throughout the whole of the Restoration +period, when, as has been noted above, the witch scenes were +elaborated and presented with every resource of scenery, +mechanism, dance, song, and meretricious ornament. Revival +followed revival, each more decorative than the last, and the +theatre was unceasingly thronged. Duffett undertook to +burlesque this fashion, which he did in an extraordinary +Epilogue to his skit <i>The Empress of Morocco</i>, produced at +the Theatre Royal in the spring of 1674, but for all his +japeries <i>Macbeth</i> never waned in public favour.</p> + +<p>Spirits in abundance appear in the Earl of Orrery’s +unpublished tragedy <i>Zoroastres</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_604" href="#Footnote_604" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> the principal character +being described as “King of Persia, the first Magician.” +He is attended by “several spirits in black with ghastly +vizards,” and at the end furies and demons arise shaking +dark torches at the monarch whom they pull down to hell, +the sky raining fire upon them. It was almost certainly never +acted, and is the wildest type of transpontine melodrama.</p> + +<p>Edward Ravenscroft’s “recantation play” <i>Dame Dobson, +or, The Cunning Woman</i> (produced at Dorset Garden in the +early autumn of 1683) is an English version of <i>La Devineresse; +ou les faux Enchantements</i> (sometimes known as <i>Madame +Jobin</i>), a capital comedy by Thomas Corneille and Jean +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span>Donneau de Vise. This French original had been produced +in 1679, and both the stage-craft and the adroit way in which +the various tricks and conjurations are managed must be +allowed to be consummately clever. An English comedy +on a similar theme is <i>The Wise Woman of Hogsdon</i>, the +intricacies of which are a triumph of technique. <i>La Devineresse</i> +was published in 1680 with a frontispiece picturing +a grimalkin, a hand of glory, noxious weeds, two blazing +torches and other objects beloved of necromancy. There +are, moreover, eight folding plates which embellish the little +book, and these have no small interest as they depict scenes +in the comedy. But <i>Dame Dobson</i> cannot be accounted a +play of witchcraft; it is no more than an amusing study of +dextrous charlatanry. The protagonist herself⁠<a id="FNanchor_605" href="#Footnote_605" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> is of that +immortal sisterhood graced by Heywood’s sibyl, of whom +it is said “She is a cunning woman, neither hath she her +name for nothing, who out of her ignorance can fool so many +that think themselves wise.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Behn, in her amusing comedy <i>The Luckey Chance; +or, An Alderman’s Bargain</i>, produced at Drury Lane in the +late winter of 1686, 4to, 1687, has made some play with +pretended magic in the capital scenes where Gayman +(Betterton) is secretly brought by the prentice Bredwel +(Bowman), disguised as a devil, to the house of Lady Fulbank +(Mrs. Barry). Here he is received by Pert, the maid, who +is dressed as an old witch, and conducted to his inamorata’s +embraces. But the whole episode is somewhat farcically +treated, and it is, of course, an elaborate masquerade for +the sake of an intrigue.⁠<a id="FNanchor_606" href="#Footnote_606" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Shadwell in 1681 took Witchcraft seriously, and notwithstanding +the half-hearted disclaimer in his address “To the +Reader” that prefaces <i>The Lancashire Witches</i> I think he +was sensible enough to recognize the truth which lies at the +core of the matter in spite of the grotesqueness of the +formulæ and spells doting hags and warlocks are wont to +employ. Witchcraft was still a capital offence when some +fifteen years later Congreve lightly laughed it out of court. +Foresight (<i>Love for Love</i>), “an illiterate old Fellow, peevish +and positive, superstitious, and pretending to understand +Astrology, Palmistry, Phisiognomy, Omens, Dreams, etc.,” is +in close confabulation with his young daughter’s Nurse, when +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span>Angelica his niece trips in to ask the loan of his coach, her +own being out of order. He says no, and presses her to +remain at home, muttering to himself some old doggerel +which bodes no good to the house if all the womenfolk are +gadding abroad. The lady fleers him, twits him with jealousy +of his young wife: “Uncle, I’m afraid you are not Lord of +the Ascendant, ha! ha! ha!” He is obstinate in his +refusal; and she retorts: “I can make Oath of your +unlawful Midnight Practices; you and the Old Nurse there.... +I saw you together, through the Key-hole of the Closet, +one Night, like <i>Saul</i> and the Witch of <i>Endor</i>, turning the +Sieve and Sheers, and pricking your Thumbs to write poor +innocent Servants’ Names in Blood about a little Nutmeg-Grater, +which she had forgot in the Caudle-Cup.” “Hussy, +Cockatrice,” storms the old fellow beside himself with rage. +Angelica mocks him even more bitterly, accuses him and the +Nurse of nourishing a familiar, “a young Devil in the shape +of a Tabby-Cat,” and with a few last thrusts she departs, +trilling with merriment, in a sedan-chair.</p> + +<p>To return for a brief space to an earlier generation when +it would have hardly been possible, or at least highly inadvisable, +to treat Witchcraft in this blithesome mood, of +two plays that would almost certainly have been of great +interest in this connexion we have only the names, <i>The Witch +of Islington</i>, acted in 1597, and <i>The Witch Traveller</i>, licensed +in 1623.</p> + +<p>In addition to <i>The Masque of Queens</i>, which as has already +been noted, served to some extent for a model to Shadwell +when inditing his encyclopædic notes on magic, Ben Jonson +in that sweet pastoral <i>The Sad Shepherd</i> introduces a Scotch +witch, Maudlin. The character is drawn with vigorous +strokes; realism mingles with romance.</p> + +<p>During the quarrel scene which opens <i>The Alchemist</i> Face +threatens Subtle:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent28">I’ll bring thee, rogue, within</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The statute of sorcerie, <i>tricesimo tertio</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Harry the Eight.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Dapper the gull asks Subtle for a familiar, as Face explains +(I, 2):</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why, he do’s aske one but for cups, and horses,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A rifling flye: none o’ your great familiars.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span></p> + +<p>And later in order to trick him thoroughly Dol Common +appears as the “Queene of Faerie.” The Queen of Elphin +or Elfhame, who is particularly mentioned in the Scotch +witch-trials, seems to be identical with the French Reine du +Sabbat. In 1670 Jean Weir confessed: “That when she +keeped a school at Dalkeith, and teached childering, ane tall +woman came to the declarant’s hous when the childering +were there; and that she had, as appeared to her, ane chyld +upon her back, and one or two at her foot; and that the +said woman disyred that the declarant should imploy her to +spick for her to the Queen of Farie, and strik and battle in +her behalf with the said Queen, (which was her own words).”⁠<a id="FNanchor_607" href="#Footnote_607" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>Beaumont and Fletcher afford us but few instances of +witchcraft in the many dramas that conveniently go under +their names. We have, it is true, a she-devil, Lucifera, in +<i>The Prophetess</i>, but the incident is little better than clowning. +Delphia herself is a severely classical pythoness far +removed from the Sawyers, Demdikes, and Dickensons +Sulpitia, in <i>The Custom of the County</i> dons a conjurer’s robe +and at Hippolita’s bidding blasts Zenocia almost to death +by her spells, but yet she is more bawd than witch. Peter +Vecchio in <i>The Chances</i>, “a reputed wizard,” is as sharp +and cozening a practitioner as Forobosco, the mountebank, +a petty pilferer, who is exposed and sent to the galleys at +the end of <i>The Fair Maid of the Inn</i>; or Shirley’s Doctor +Sharkino⁠<a id="FNanchor_608" href="#Footnote_608" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> whom silly serving-men consult about the loss +of silver spoons and napkins; or Tomkis’s Albumazar; nay, +Jonson’s Subtle himself.⁠<a id="FNanchor_609" href="#Footnote_609" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>In Marston’s <i>Sophonisba</i> (4to, 1606) appears Erictho, +borrowed from Lucan. The Friar in Chapman’s <i>Bassy +d’Ambois</i> (4to, 1607) puts on a magician’s habit, and after a +sonorous Latin invocation raises the spirits Behemoth and +Cartophylax in the presence of Bussy and Tamyra.</p> + +<p>A far more interesting drama than these is Shirley’s +<i>S. Patrick for Ireland</i>, acted in Dublin, 1639-40, which has +as its theme the conversion of Ireland by S. Patrick and the +opposition of the Druids under their leader Archimagus. +The character of S. Patrick moves throughout with a quiet +spiritual dignity that has true beauty, and the magicians in +their baffled potency for evil are only less effective. This +drama is a work of stirling merit, to which I would unhesitatingly +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span>assign a very high place in Shirley’s theatre. We are +shown the various attempts upon S. Patrick’s life: poison +is administered in a cup of wine, the Saint drinks and +remains unharmed; Milcho, a great officer, whose servant +S. Patrick once was, locks him and his friends in a house and +fires it. The Christians pass out unscathed through the +flames which devour the incendiary. In the last scene whilst +S. Patrick sleeps Archimagus summons a vast number of +hideous serpents to devour him, but the Apostle of Ireland +wakes, and expels for ever all venomous reptiles from his +isle, whereon the earth gapes and swallows the warlock alive. +Particularly impressive is the arrival of S. Patrick, when as +the King and his two sons, his druids and nobles, are gathered +in anxious consultation at the gates of their temple, they +see passing in solemn procession through the woods a fair +company with gleaming crosses, silken banners, bright tapers +and incense, what time the sweet music of a hymn strikes +upon the ear:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Post maris sæui fremitus Iernæ</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Nauitas cœlo tremulas beante)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Uidimus gratum iubar enatantes</div> + <div class="verse indent16">Littus inaurans.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>(Now that we have crossed the fierce waves of ocean to +Ireland’s coast, and Heaven has blessed its poor fearful +wanderers, wending our way along with joy do we see a +sunbeam of light gilding these shores.)</p> + +<p>As Marlowe’s <i>Dr. Faustus</i> has already been treated in this +connexion it may not be altogether impertinent very briefly +to consider some three or four other Elizabethan plays in +which the Devil appears among the Dramatis Personæ, even +if he act no very prominent part. These for the most part +fluctuate between the semi-serious and merest buffoonery. +Thus the prologue of <i>The Merry Devil of Edmonton</i> (4to, +1608), in which the enchanter Peter Fabell tricks the demon +who has come to demand the fulfilment of his contract, is +at the opening managed with due decorum, but it soon +adopts a lighter, and even trivial, vein. William Rowley’s +<i>The Birth of Merlin, or The Childe hath found his Father</i> (not +printed until 1662) is a curious medley of farce and romance, +informed with a certain awkward vigour and not wholly +destitute of poetry. Dekker’s <i>If it be not good, the Divel is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span>in it</i> (4to, 1612), which may be traced to the old prose <i>History +of Friar Rush</i>, depicts the exploits of three lesser fiends who +are dispatched to spread their master’s kingdom in Naples. +It is an unequal play, the satire of which falls very flat, +since it is obvious that the poet was not sincere in his +extravagant theme.⁠<a id="FNanchor_610" href="#Footnote_610" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>Ben Jonson’s <i>The Devil is an Ass</i>, acted in 1616, is wholly +comic. Pug, “the less devil,” who visits the earth, and +engages himself as servant to a Norfolk squire, Fabian +Fitzdottrel, is hopelessly outwitted on every occasion by the +cunning of mere mortals. Eventually he finds himself lodged +in Newgate, and in imminent danger of the gallows were he +not rescued by the Vice, Iniquity, by whom he is carried +off rejoicing to the nether regions. His fate may be compared +with that of Roderigo in Wilson’s excellent comedy <i>Belphegor: +or, The Marriage of the Devil</i> (produced at Dorset Garden in +the summer of 1690), who with his two attendant devils +flies back to his native hell to escape the woes of earth.</p> + +<p>In <i>The Devil’s Charter</i>, however, by Barnaby Barnes (1607), +we have what is undoubtedly a perfectly serious tragedy, +which if not exactly modelled upon, at least owes many hints +to Marlowe’s <i>Faustus</i>. It is flamboyant melodrama and +wildly unhistorical throughout, a very tophet of infernal +horror. The chief character is a loathsome caricature of +Pope Alexander VI,⁠<a id="FNanchor_611" href="#Footnote_611" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> and, as we might expect, all the lies +and libels of Renaissance satirists and Protestant pamphleteers +are heaped together to portray an impossible +monster of lust and crime. The filthiest scandals of Burchard, +Sanudo, Giustiniani, Filippo Nerli, Guicciardini, Paolo Giovio, +Sannazzaro and the Neapolitans, have been employed with +one might almost say a scrupulous conscientiousness. The +black art, in particular, occupies a very prominent place in +these lurid scenes. Alexander has signed a bond with a +demon Astaroth, and it is to this contract that all his success +is ascribed. In Act IV there is a long incantation when the +Pope puts on his magical robes, takes his rod and pentacle, +and standing within the circle he has traced conjures in +strange terms, commencing a Latin exorcism which tails off +into mere gibberish. Various devils appear, and he is shown +a vision of Gandia’s murder by Cæsar,⁠<a id="FNanchor_612" href="#Footnote_612" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> with other atrocities. +At the climax of the piece we have the banquet with Cardinal +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[308]</span>Adrian of Corneto, and whilst the guests talk “The Devill +commeth and changeth the Popes bottles.” The Borgias +are poisoned, and in a far too protracted “Scena Ultima” +Alexander discourses and disputes frantically with the demons +who appear to mock and torment him. There is the old +device of an ambiguous contract; presently a “Devil like +a Poast” enters winding a horn to summon the unhappy +wretch, who raves and shrieks out meaningless ejaculations +as he is dragged away amid thunder and lightning. This +sort of thing pandered to the most brutalized appetites of +the groundlings, and <i>The Devil’s Charter</i> may be summed up +as a disgusting burlesque not without its quota of vile stuff +that is so repulsive as to be physically sickening.</p> + +<p>Upon a careful consideration of those seventeenth-century +plays which have Witchcraft as their main theme, and leaving +on one side, for our purpose, the essentially romantic treatment +of the subject, however realistic some details of the +picture may be, it is, I think, beyond dispute that <i>The Witch +of Edmonton</i> in the figure of Mother Sawyer offers us the +best contemporary illustration of the Elizabethan witch. +The drama itself is one of no ordinary merit and power, +whilst the understanding and restraint which set the play +apart from its fellows also raises it to the level of genuine +tragedy. It should be noticed that we see a witch, so to +speak, in the process of making. Mother Sawyer is in truth +the victim of the prejudices of the village hinds and ignorant +yokels. When she first appears it is merely as a poor old +crone driven to desperation by her brutal neighbours; the +farmers declare she is a witch, and at length persecution +makes her one. She is malignant and evil enough once the +compact with the demon has been confirmed; she longs +from the first to be revenged upon her enemies and mutters +to herself “by what art May the thing called Familiar be +purchased?” But, in one sense, she is urged and hounded +to her destiny, and the authors, although never doubting her +compact with the powers of darkness, her vile and poisonous +life, show a detached but very real sympathy for her. It is +this touch of humanity, the pathos and pity of the poor old +hag, repulsive, wicked, and baleful as she may be, which +must place <i>The Witch of Edmonton</i> in my opinion among the +greatest and most moving of all Elizabethan plays.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[309]</span></p> + +<p>It is no pleasant task to turn now to the theatre of the +eighteenth century in this connexion. The witch became +degraded; she was comic, burlesqued, buffooned; a mere +property for a Christmas pantomime: <i>Harlequin Mother +Bunch</i>, <i>Mother Goose</i>, <i>Harlequin Dame Trot</i>, Charles Dibdin’s +<i>The Lancashire Witches, or The Distresses of Harlequin</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_613" href="#Footnote_613" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> +whose tinsel, music, and mummery drew all the macaronis +and cyprians in London to the Circus during the winter +of 1782-3.</p> + +<p>Some subtle premonition of the great success of Harrison +Ainsworth’s powerful story <i>The Lancashire Witches</i>—for this +and the macabre <i>Rookwood</i> are probably the best of the work +of a talented writer now unduly depreciated and decried—seems +to have suggested to the prolific Edward Fitzball his +“Legendary Drama in Three Acts,” <i>The Lancashire Witches, +A Romance of Pendle Forest</i>, produced at the Adelphi Theatre, +3 January, 1848. It was quick work, for it was only a month +before, 3 December, 1847, that Ainsworth, writing to his +friend Crossley of Manchester, states that he has accepted +the liberal offer of the <i>Sunday Times</i>—£1000 and the copyright +to revert to the author on the completion of the work—that +his new romance <i>The Lancashire Witches</i> should make +its appearance as a serial in the paper. He had already +sketched out the plan, and he must have given Fitzball an +idea of this, or at least have allowed the dramatist the use +of some few rough notes, for although the play and the novel +have little, one might say nothing essential, in common, +the chief character in the theatre, Bess of the Woods, “140 +years old, formerly Abbess of S. Magdalen’s, doomed for her +crimes to an unearthly age,” is none other than the anchoress +Isolde de Heton.⁠<a id="FNanchor_614" href="#Footnote_614" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> The fourth scene of the second act +presents the ruins of Whalley Abbey by moonlight. During +an incantation the picture gradually changes; the broken +arches form themselves into perfect masonry; the ivy +disappears from the windows to show the ruby and gold of +coloured glass; the decaying altar glitters with piled plate +and the gleam of myriad tapers. A choir of nuns rises from +the grave to dance with spectral gallants. Among the +votaries are Nutter, Demdike, and Chattox “Three Weird +Sisters, doomed for their frailties to become Witches.” But +they utter no word, and have no part save this in the action. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span>This scene must have proved extraordinarily effective upon +the stage. It owes much to the haunted convent in Meyerbeer’s +<i>Robert le Diable</i>, produced at the Académie Royale in +November, 1831, and given in a piratical form both at Drury +Lane and Covent Garden within a few weeks. Nor is it +comparable to its original. In Fitzball’s melodrama O. Smith +appeared as Gipsy Dalian, a new character; and Miss Faucit +(Mrs. Bland) as Bess of the Woods. The play, for what it is, +a luridly theatrical and Surrey-side sensation, has merit; +but to speak of it in the same breath as Middleton or even +as Barnes would be absurd.</p> + +<p>Shelley’s genius has with wondrous beauty translated for +us scenes from Calderon’s <i>El Magico Prodigioso</i>, one of the +loveliest songs of the Spanish nightingale. On another plane, +admittedly, but yet, I think, far from lacking a simple +comeliness of its own and surely not without most poignant +pathos, is Longfellow’s New England Tragedy <i>Giles Corey +of the Salem Farms</i>.⁠<a id="FNanchor_615" href="#Footnote_615" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The honest sincerity of Cotton Mather, +the bluff irascible heartiness of Corey himself, the inopportune +scepticism of his wife—which to many would seem sound +common sense—the hysteria of Mary Walcot, the villainy +of John Gloyd, all these are sketched with extraordinary +power, a few quiet telling touches which make each character, +individual, alert, alive.</p> + +<p>In the French theatre we have an early fourteenth-century +<i>Miracle de Nostre Dame de Robert le Dyable</i>, and in 1505 was +acted <i>Le mystère du Chevalier qui donna sa femme au Diable</i>, +à dix personnages. As one might well expect during the +long classical period of the drama Witchcraft could have +found no place in the scenes of the French dramatists. It +would have been altogether too wild, too monstrous a fantasy. +And so it is not until the 24 floréal, An XIII (11 June, 1805) +that a play which interweaves sorcery as its theme is seen +at the Théâtre français, when <i>Les Templiers</i> of Raynouard +was given there. A few years later <i>Le Vampire</i>, a thrilling +melodrama by Charles Nodier and Carmouche, produced on +13 August, 1820, was to draw all idle Paris to the Porte-Saint-Martin. +In 1821 two facile writers quick to gauge the +public appetite, Frédéric Dupetit-Mèré and Victor Ducagne, +found some favour with <i>La Sorcière, ou l’Orphelin écossais</i>. +Alexandre Dumas, and one of his many ghosts Auguste +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span>Maquet, collaborated (if one may use the term) in a grandiose +five-act drama <i>Urbain Grandier</i>, 1850. <i>La Sorcière Canidie</i>, +a one-act play by Aurélien Vivie, produced at Bordeaux in +1888 is of little account. <i>La Reine de l’Esprit</i> (1891) of +Maurice Pottecher is founded to some extent on the <i>Comte +de Gabalis</i>, whilst the same author’s three-act <i>Chacun cherche +son Trésor</i>, “histoire des sorciers” (1899) was not a little +helped by the music of Lucien Michelet. There are many +excuses for passing over with a mere mention <i>Les Noces de +Sathan</i> (1892), a “drama ésoterique,” by Jules Bois, and +<i>Les Basques ou la Sorcière d’Espelette</i>, a lyric drama in three +acts by Loquin and Mégret de Belligny, produced at +Bordeaux in 1892, has an interest which is almost purely +local. Alphonse Tavan’s <i>Les Mases</i> (sorciers), a legendary +drama of five acts of alternating prose and verse seen in 1897 +was helped out by every theatrical resource, a ballet, chorus, +mechanical effects, and confident advertisement. Serge +Basset’s <i>Vers le Sabbat</i> “évocation de sorcellerie en un acte” +which appeared in the same year need not be seriously +considered. Nor does an elaborate episode “Le Sabbat et +la Herse Infernale,” wherein Mons. Benglia appeared as +Satan, that was seen in the Folies Bergère revue, <i>Un Soir +de Folie</i>, 1925-6, call for more than the briefest passing +mention.</p> + +<p>In more recent days Victor Sardou’s <i>La Sorcière</i> is a +violent, but effective, melodrama. Produced at the Théâtre +Sarah-Bernhardt, 15 December, 1903, with De Max as +Cardinal Ximenes and Sarah Bernhardt as the moresque +Zoraya, it obtained a not undeserved success. The locale +of the tragedy is Toledo, anno domini 1506; Act IV, the +Inquisition scene; and Act V, the square before the Cathedral +with the grim pyre ready for the torch, were—owing to the +genius of a great actress—truly harrowing. Of course it is +very flamboyant, very unbalanced, very unhistorical, but +in its gaudy theatrical way—all the old tricks are there—<i>La +Sorcière</i> had an exciting thrill for those who were content +to be unsophisticated awhile.</p> + +<p>John Masefield’s adaptation from the Norwegian of Wiers-Jennsen, +<i>The Witch</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_616" href="#Footnote_616" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> a drama in four acts, is a very different +thing. Here we have psychology comparable to that of +Dekker and Ford. Nor will the performances of Miss Janet +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span>Achurch as Merete Beyer and Miss Lillah McCarthy as Anne +Pedersdotter easily be forgotten. As a picture of the horror +of Witchcraft in cold Scandinavia, the gloom and depression +of formidable fanaticism engendered by Lutheran dogma +and discipline with the shadow of destiny lowering implacably +over all, this is probably the finest piece of work dealing in +domestic fashion with the warlock and the sorceress that +has been seen on the English stage since the reign of wise +King James three hundred years ago.</p> + +<h3 id="NOTES_TO_CHAPTER_VII">NOTES TO CHAPTER VII</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_586" href="#FNanchor_586">[1]</a> The <i>Floralia</i>, the most wanton of Roman festivals, commenced on the +fourth day before the Kalends of May, and during these celebrations the +spectators insisted that the <i>mimæ</i> should play naked, “agebantur [<i>Floralia</i>] +a meretricibus ueste exutis omni cum uerborum licentia, motuumque +obscænitate,” says the old commentator on Martial I, 1. “Lasciui Floralia +laeta theatri” Ausonius names them, <i>De Feriis Romanis</i>, 25. Lactantius, <i>De +Institutionibus Diuinis</i>, I, 20, writes: “Celebrantur ergo illi ludi cum omni +lasciuia, conuenientes memoriæ meretricis. Nam praeter uerborum licentiam, +quibus obscænitas omnis effunditur; exuuntur etiam uestibus populo +flagitante meretrices; quæ tunc mimorum funguntur officio; et in conspectu +populi usque ad satietatem impudicorum luminum cum pudendis motibus +detinentur.” Both S. Augustine and Arnobius reprehend the lewdness of +these naked dances. At Sens during the Feast of Fools, when every licence +prevailed, men were led in procession <i>nudi</i>. Warton (<i>History of English +Poetry</i>, by T. Warton, edited by W. C. Hazlitt, 4 vols., 1871), II, 223, states +that in the Mystery Plays “Adam and Eve are both exhibited on the stage +naked, and conversing about their nakedness; this very pertinently introduces +the next scene, in which they have coverings of fig-leaves.” In a stage-direction +of the Chester Plays we find: “Statim nudi sunt.... Tunc Adam +et Eua cooperiant genitalia sua cum foliis.” Chambers, <i>The Mediæval Stage</i>, +II, 143, doubts whether the players were actually nude, and suggests a suit +of white leather. Warton, however, is probably right.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_587" href="#FNanchor_587">[2]</a> Phales was an early deity, very similar to Priapus, and closely associated +with the Bacchic mysteries. For the refrain see <i>The Acharnians</i>, 263-265.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_588" href="#FNanchor_588">[3]</a> See Callot’s series of character-etchings, <i>I Balli di Sfessanio</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_589" href="#FNanchor_589">[4]</a> Not to be confused with the printer Fust, as was at one time frequently +supposed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_590" href="#FNanchor_590">[5]</a> In Marlowe’s play Faust welcomes “German Valdes and Cornelius.” +Who Valdes is has not been satisfactorily explained. The suggestion of +Dr. Havelock Ellis that Paracelsus seems intended is no doubt correct.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_591" href="#FNanchor_591">[6]</a> Translated from the Middle Dutch by Harry Morgan Ayres, with an +Introduction by Adriaan J. Barnouw. <i>The Dutch Library</i>, The Hague: +Martinus Nijhoff. 1924.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_592" href="#FNanchor_592">[7]</a> The International Theatre Society gave a private subscription performance +of <i>Mary of Nimmegen</i> at Maskelyne’s Theatre on Sunday, 22 +February, 1925. But such a play, presenting crowded scenes of burgher +life, the streets, the market-place, to be effective demands a large stage and +costly production.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_593" href="#FNanchor_593">[8]</a> Meroe is the hag “saga et diuina” in Apuleius, <i>Metamorphoseon</i>, I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_594" href="#FNanchor_594">[9]</a> <i>Macbeth</i> was tinkered at almost from the first. Upon the revival of the +play immediately after the Restoration the witch scenes were given great +theatrical prominence. 7 January, 1667, Pepys declared himself highly +delighted with the “divertissement, though it be a deep tragedy.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_595" href="#FNanchor_595">[10]</a> <i>The Witch of Edmonton</i> was revived under my direction for two performances +at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 24 and 26 April, 1921. +Sybil Thorndike played the Witch, Russell Thorndike, the Familiar; Ion +Swinley, Frank Thorney; Edith Evans, Ann Ratcliffe; and Frank Cochrane, +Cuddy Banks.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[313]</span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_596" href="#FNanchor_596">[11]</a> 4to 1634: <i>Stationers’ Register</i>, 28 October.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_597" href="#FNanchor_597">[12]</a> In a famous Scotch trial for witchcraft, 1661, Jonet Watson of Dalkeith +confessed “that the Deivill apeired vnto her in the liknes of ane prettie boy, +in grein clothes.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_598" href="#FNanchor_598">[13]</a> Liber III. <i>De Magis et Maleficis Finnorum.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_599" href="#FNanchor_599">[14]</a> Tegue o’ Divelly was acted by Antony Leigh, the most famous comedian +of his day, and an intimate friend of Shadwell.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_600" href="#FNanchor_600">[15]</a> Curiously enough Halliwell in <i>The Poetry of Witchcraft</i>, a private reprint +of Heywood and Shadwell’s plays, 80 copies only, 1853, has not reproduced +the italic letter but gives all the dialogue in roman to the great detriment +of this edition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_601" href="#FNanchor_601">[16]</a> Licensed for printing 2 November, 1672, and published quarto with +date 1673.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_602" href="#FNanchor_602">[17]</a> At a later revival Ismeron’s recitative “Ye twice ten hundred Deities” +was set by Purcell.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_603" href="#FNanchor_603">[18]</a> Dryden’s. He wrote the first scene of the first act, the whole of the +fourth act, rather more than one-half of act five, and Lee is responsible for +the rest of the tragedy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_604" href="#FNanchor_604">[19]</a> For a full analysis and critical examination of <i>Zoroastres</i> see my article +in the <i>Modern Language Review</i>, XII, Jan., 1917.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_605" href="#FNanchor_605">[20]</a> The title-rôle Dame Dobson was played by Mrs. Corey, a mistress of +broad comedy, who was much admired for her humour by Samuel Pepys.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_606" href="#FNanchor_606">[21]</a> Mrs. Behn owes a hint to Shirley’s <i>The Lady of Pleasure</i>, licensed by +Sir Henry Herbert, 15 October, 1635; 4to. 1637. It must be confessed that +she has managed her scenes with more wit and spirit than the older dramatist, +whose charming verse is perhaps too seriously poetical for the actual situation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_607" href="#FNanchor_607">[22]</a> George Sinclar, <i>Satan’s Invisible World Discovered</i>, 1685. Reprint, +Edinburgh, 1871. Supplement, I, p. xii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_608" href="#FNanchor_608">[23]</a> <i>The Maid’s Revenge</i>, acted 1626, printed 1639.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_609" href="#FNanchor_609">[24]</a> Compare Mopus in Wilson’s <i>The Cheats</i> (acted in 1662); Stargaze in +<i>The City Madam</i>; Rusee, Norbrett, and their accomplices in <i>Rollo</i>; Iacchelino +in Ariosto’s <i>Il Negromante</i>; and a score beside.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_610" href="#FNanchor_610">[25]</a> Sir Adolphus Ward, <i>English Dramatic Literature</i>, 1899, II, 465, says that +Langbaine wrongly supposed the source of this play to be “Machiavelli’s +celebrated <i>Novella</i> on the marriage of Belphegor.” But this is hardly correct. +Langbaine wrote: “The beginning of his Play seems to be writ in imitation +of <i>Matchiavel’s</i> Novel of <i>Belphegor</i>: where <i>Pluto</i> summons the Devils to +Councel.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_611" href="#FNanchor_611">[26]</a> For a fitting account of Alexander VI see <i>Le Pape Alexandre VI et les +Borgia</i>, Paris, 1870, by Père Ollivier, <span class="allsmcap">O.P.</span>; also Leonetti <i>Papa Alessandro VI +secondo documenti e carteggi del tempo</i>, 3 vols., Bologna, 1880. <i>Chronicles of +the House of Borgia</i>, by Frederick, Baron Corvo, 1901, may be studied with +profit. Monsignor de Roo’s <i>Material for a History of Pope Alexander VI</i>, +5 vols., Bruges, 1924, is of the greatest value, and completely authoritative.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_612" href="#FNanchor_612">[27]</a> The murderer of the Duke of Gandia is unknown to history, if not to +historians.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_613" href="#FNanchor_613">[28]</a> The songs only are printed, 8vo, 1783.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_614" href="#FNanchor_614">[29]</a> Fosbrooke, <i>British Monachism</i>, says that in the reign of Henry VI one +Isolde de Heton petitioned the King to let her be admitted as an anchoress +in the Abbey of Whalley. But afterwards she left the enclosure and broke +her vows, whereupon the King dissolved the hermitage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_615" href="#FNanchor_615">[30]</a> The incidents are historically correct. See Cotton Mather’s <i>Wonders +of the Invisible World</i>. Corey refusing to plead was pressed to death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_616" href="#FNanchor_616">[31]</a> Originally produced 10 October, 1910, at the Royalty, Glasgow: in +London, 31 January, 1911, at the Court. Revived at the Court, 29 October, +1913, when it ran for a month, and was afterwards included in the subsequent +three weeks’ repertory season.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[314]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[315]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="BIBLIOGRAPHY">BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> + +</div> + +<p>This Bibliography does not aim at anything beyond presenting +a brief and convenient hand-list of some of the more +important books upon Witchcraft. It does not even purport +to give all those monographs to which reference is made in +the body of this study. A large number of books I have +thought it superfluous to include. Thus I have omitted +general works of reference such as the <i>Encyclopædia +Britannica</i>, Du Cange’s <i>Glossarium ad scriptores mediæ et +infimæ latinitatis</i>, Dugdale’s <i>Monasticon</i>; daily companions +such as the Missal, the Breviary, the Bible; Homer, Vergil, +Horace, Ovid, Petronius, Lucan; Shakespeare, Marlowe, +Ford, Dryden, Burton’s <i>Anatomy of Melancholy</i>, and English +classics; those histories which are on every library shelf, +Gibbon, Lingard, Ranke; and such histories as the <i>Cambridge +Modern History</i>.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, I have of purpose included various +books which may not seem at first sight to have much +connexion with Witchcraft, although they are, as a matter +of fact, by no means impertinent. In order to appreciate +this vast subject in all its bearings, even the desultory or +amateur investigator should at least be fairly grounded in +theology, philosophy, and psychology. The student must be +a capable theologian.</p> + +<p>I have devoted some particular attention to the works +of the demonologists, now almost universally neglected, but +a close study of which is essential to the understanding of +occultism and the appreciation of the grave dangers that +may lurk there.</p> + +<p>I am only too conscious of the plentiful lacunæ in this +Bibliography. However, to attempt anything like a complete +catalogue—if, indeed, it were possible to essay so +illimitable a task—would involve the listing of very many +thousands of books, and would itself require no inconsiderable +a tale of volumes.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[316]</span></p> + +<p>I need hardly point out that side by side with works of +the highest importance it has been found necessary to +include a few of no great value, which yet have their use to +illustrate some one point or special phase.</p> + +<h3>GENERAL</h3> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Caillet, Albert L.</span> <i>Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou +occultes, science des Mages, hermétique, astrologie, Kabbale, Francmaçonnerie, +médecine ancienne, mesmérisme, sorcellerie, singularités, etc.</i> +3 vols. Paris, 1913.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Græsse, Johan Georg Theodor.</span> <i>Bibliotheca magica et pneumatica.</i> Leipzig, +1843. (In spite of obvious defects a very valuable bibliography.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Yve-Plessis, R.</span> <i>Bibliographie française de la sorcellerie.</i> Paris, 1900. (An +immense and exhaustive work on French books.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aaron the Greek</span> [Simon Blocquel]. <i>La Magie rouge.</i> Paris, 1821.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Abner, Theodore.</span> <i>Les apparitions du Diable.</i> Brussels, 1879.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Acontius.</span> <i>Stratagemata Satanæ.</i> Libri VIII. Basle, 1565.</p> + +<p><i>Acta Sanctorum.</i> Par les Bollandistes. Antwerp, Tongerloo, Brussels, 1644 +<i>sqq.</i> Reprinted, Paris, 1863 <i>sqq.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adhémar de Chabannes.</span> <i>Chronicle</i>: in <i>Monumenta Germaniæ historica</i>. +Ed. G. A. Pertz, etc. Vol. IV.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Agobard, S.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Migne, <i>Patrologia latina</i>. Vol. CIV.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius.</span> <i>La philosophie occulte de Henr. Corn. +Agrippa ... traduite du latin</i> [par A. Levasseur]. 2 vols. Hague, +1727.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Œuvres magiques ... mises en français par Pierre d’Aban.</i> Rome, 1744. +(Of the last rarity. There are other editions, Liège, 1788; Rome, 1800; +Rome, 1744 (<i>circa</i> 1830); but all these are extremely scarce.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alanus</span> (Alain de Lille). <i>Aduersus hæreticos et Waldenses.</i> Ed. J. Masson. +Paris, 1612.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alanus, Henricus.</span> <i>Ciceronis de Divinatione et de Fato.</i> 1839.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Albert, Le Petit.</span> <i>Alberti Parui Lucii libellus de mirabilibus Naturæ arcanis.</i> +(This treatise which tells how to confect philtres, make talismans, use +the hand of glory, discover treasures, etc., has been very frequently +translated into French, generally under the running title <i>Les secrets +merveilleux de la magie naturelle et cabalistique</i>....)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bl. Albertus Magnus, O.P.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Ed. Father Peter Jammy, O.P. +21 vols. Lyons, 1651, etc.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>De alchimia.</i> (This treatise is said to be doubtful.)</p> + +<p class="book"><i>De secretis mulierum.</i> (This work is certainly not from the pen of the +great Dominican doctor, to whom, however, it was universally ascribed. +There are a vast number of editions, and translations, especially into +French. <i>Les secretz des femmes et homes ... stampato in Torino par +Pietro Ranot</i>, <span class="allsmcap">N.D.</span> <i>circa</i> 1540. <i>Les secrets admirables du grand Albert.</i> +Paris, 1895.)</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Commentaria.</i> Lib. IV, dist. 34. <i>An maleficii impedimento aliquis potest +impediri a potentia cocundi.</i> (<i>Nœud de l’aiguillette.</i>)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alexander III, Pope.</span> <i>Epistolæ</i> apud <i>Regesta R. R. Pontificum</i>. Nos. 10, +584-14, 424. Ed. Jaffé. And Löwenfeld’s <i>Epistolæ Pontif. Rom. ineditæ</i>. +Leipzig, 1885.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alexis.</span> <i>Secreti del reverendo Donno Alessio Piemontese.</i> Venice, 1555. +(Attributed by Girolamo Muzio to the alchemist Girolamo Ruscelli.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Allard, Paul.</span> <i>Histoire des persécutions.</i> 5 vols. Paris, 1892.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Julien l’Apostat.</i> 3 vols. Paris, 1900.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alphonsus Liguori, S.</span> <i>Theologia Moralis.</i> 9 vols. Malines, 1828. Also +ed. P. Gaudé, C. SS. R. Rome, 1905.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[317]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alvaro, Pelayo.</span> <i>De Planctu Ecclesiæ.</i> Venice, 1560.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ambroise da Vignate</span> (<i>c.</i> 1408). <i>Tractatus de Hæreticis.</i> Rome, 1581.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ambrose, S.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Ed. Paolo Angelo Ballerini. 6 vols. Folio. +Milan, 1875.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Anania, Giovanni Lorenzo.</span> <i>De Natura Dæmonum.</i> Apud Vol. II. <i>Malleus +Maleficarum.</i> 1669.</p> + +<p><i>Anonymi Gesta Francorum et Aliorum Hierosolymitanorum.</i> Oxford.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antonelli, G. Prof.</span> <i>Lo spiritismo.</i> <i>Fede e Scienza</i>, II. 11, 12. Rome.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antoninus, O. P. S.</span> <i>Confessionale.</i> Florence, 1496.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antonio A Spiritu Sancto, O.D.C.</span> <i>Directorium Mysticum.</i> Paris, 1904.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aremi (Le Sage).</span> <i>Secrets de vieux Druide.</i> Lille, 1840.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aretini, Angelo.</span> <i>Tractatus de maleficiis.</i> 1521.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aries, Martin.</span> <i>De superstitionibus maleficorum.</i> Rome, 1559.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ariminensis, Augustinus.</span> <i>Additiones in Angeli Aretini Tractatum de +maleficiis.</i> Milan, 1514.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Arnauld de Villeneuve.</span> <i>De Maleficiis.</i> Lyons, 1509.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Arnould, Arthur.</span> <i>Histoire de l’Inquisition.</i> Paris, 1869.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aroux.</span> <i>Mystères de la Chevalerie et de l’amour platonique.</i> 1857-8.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Arpe (Petr. Frid.).</span> <i>De Prodigiosis Naturæ et Artis Operibus Talismanes et +Amuleta.</i> Hamburg, 1717.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Athanasius, S.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Migne, <i>Pat. Græci</i>. Vols. XXIII-XXVIII.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Atwood, M. A.</span> <i>A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Augustine, S.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Migne, <i>Pat. Lat.</i> Vols. XXXIX-XLVII.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>De Ciuitate Dei.</i> Ed. J. E. C. Welldon, D.D., Dean of Durham. 2 +vols. 1924. (The introduction and appendices must be used with +caution.)</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Confessiones.</i> Ed. P. Knöll. <i>Corpus Scriptorum Eccl. Latinorum</i> (Vienna.) +XXXIII.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">d’Autun, Jacques.</span> <i>L’Incredulité savante.</i> Lyons, 1674.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">d’Avallon, André, et Condis.</span> <i>Dictionnaire de droit canonique.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Azpilceuta, Martin.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> 3 vols. Lyons, 1589.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Baco, R.</span> <i>De secretis operibus magiæ.</i> Paris, 1542.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bacon, Roger.</span> <i>Epistola de secretis operibus.</i> Hamburg, 1608; 1618. +(The same work as <i>De mirabili potestate artis et naturæ et de nullitate +magiæ</i>. Paris, 1542; Oxford, 1604; London, 1859.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Baissac, Jules.</span> <i>Les grands jours de la sorcellerie.</i> Paris, 1890.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ballerini, Antonio, S.J.</span> <i>Opus theologicum morale.</i> 7 vols. Prati, 1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bang.</span> <i>Norske Hexeformularer.</i> Christiania, 1902.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Baronius, Cesare Ven.</span> <i>Annales ecclesiastici.</i> 38 vols. Lucca, 1738-59.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Barrett.</span> <i>Magus or Celestial Intelligencer; Being a complete system of Occult +Philosophy, etc.</i> 1801.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil, S.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Paris, 1839.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basin, Bernardus.</span> <i>De artibus magicis.</i> 1482; and Paris, 1506.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Becanus, Martin, S.J.</span> <i>Opuscula Theologica sive Controversiæ Fidei inter +Catholicos et Hæreticos hujus temporis.</i> Duaci, 1634.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Beer, M.</span> <i>Social Struggles in the Middle Ages.</i> London, 1924.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bekker, Balthasar.</span> <i>De Betoverde Wereld.</i> 4 vols. Amsterdam, 1691-93.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Benedict XIII.</span> <i>Vita del Sommo Pontefice Benedetto XIII.</i> Venezia, 1737.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Benedict XIV, Pope.</span> <i>De Beatificatione et Canonizatione.</i> 9 vols. Rome, +1787.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Benoist, J., O.P.</span> <i>Histoire des Albigeoises et des Vaudois.</i> Paris, 1691.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bernard, S.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Migne, <i>Pat. Lat.</i> CLXXXII-CLXXXV.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bernard of Como, O.P.</span> <i>Lucerna inquisitorum hæreticæ prauitatis ... et +eiusdem Tractatus de Strigibus....</i> Milan, 1566; Rome, 1584.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bernard of Luxemburg, O.P.</span> <i>Catalogus hæreticorum omnium.</i> Erfurt, +1522.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bertagna, J. B.</span> <i>De casuum reseruatione in Sacramento Pœnitentiæ.</i> Turin, +1868.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Berthier, O.P.</span> <i>L’Étude de la Somme Théologique de S. Thomas d’Aquin.</i> +Paris, 1905. (Appendix III. <i>Spiritisme et hypnotisme d’après S. +Thomas.</i>)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Besterman, Theodore.</span> <i>Crystal-Gazing.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[318]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Biel, Gabriel.</span> <i>Supplementum in 28 distinctiones ultimas 4ti magistri sententiarum.</i> (1486.) Basle, 1520.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Binsfeld, Peter.</span> <i>De Confessionibus Maleficorum.</i> Treves, 1589.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bodin, Jean.</span> <i>De la démonomanie des sorciers.</i> Paris, 1580.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Le fleav des demons et sorciers.</i> Nyort, 1616.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boguet, Henry.</span> <i>Discours des Sorciers.</i> 3rd ed. Lyons, 1590.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boissardus, Jan. Jac.</span> <i>De Diuinatione et Magicis Prasetigiis.</i> Oppenheimii, 1615.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bonaventura, S.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> 10 vols. Quaracchi, 1882-1902.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brand, J.</span> <i>Observations on Popular Antiquities.</i> 2 vols. 1813.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brett, G. S.</span> <i>A History of Psychology.</i> Vol. I, Ancient and Patristic; +Vol. II, Mediæval and Early Modern; Vol. III, Modern Psychology.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brognoli, O.F.M.</span> <i>Alexicacon, hoc est de maleficiis.</i> Venice, 1714.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brunus, Conradus.</span> <i>De hæreticis et schismaticis.</i> Rome, 1584.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Budge, Sir E. A. Wallis.</span> <i>Tutankhamen: Amenism, Atenism, and Egyptian Monotheism, +with Hieroglyphic Texts of Hymns to Amen and Aten.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><i>Egyptian Magic.</i> Third Impression. London, <span class="allsmcap">N.D.</span> [1923].</p> + +<p><i>Bullarium Papæ Benedicti XIV.</i> Rome, 1746.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Burchard, Wormaciensis.</span> <i>Decretum.</i> Migne, <i>Pat. Lat.</i> Vol. CLX.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Burkitt, F. G.</span> <i>The Religion of the Manichees.</i> Cambridge, 1925.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Butler, Alban.</span> <i>Lives of the Saints.</i> 1756-9; 2 vols. Dublin, 1833.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bzovius, A.</span> <i>Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ.</i> Apud Zilettum, <i>q.u.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cæsalpinus, Andreas.</span> <i>Dæmonum inuestigatio.</i> Florence, 1580.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Caietanus, Thomas.</span> <i>De Maleficiis.</i> 1500.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Calmet, Augustin Dom, O.S.B.</span> <i>Traité sur les Apparitions des Esprits, +et sur les Vampires.</i> 2 vols. Paris, 1751.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cappello, S.J., Felix M.</span> <i>De Censuris.</i> Rome, 1919.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Carena.</span> <i>Tractatus de officio Sanctæ Inquisitionis.</i> Lyons, 1669.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cassinis, Samuel de.</span> <i>Question de la strie.</i> 1505.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cauz, C. F. de.</span> <i>De Cultibus Magicis.</i> 1771.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Charley, T.</span> <i>News from the Invisible World.</i> Wakefield, n.s. (<i>circa</i> 1850).</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chrysostom, S. John.</span> <i>Opera omnia Græce.</i> Edidit H. Savile. 8 vols. Etonæ, 1612.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Churchward, Albert.</span> <i>The Arcana of Freemasonry.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cirvelius, Petrus.</span> <i>De magica superstitione.</i> 1521.</p> + +<p><i>Clementis Alexandrini Opera.</i> 2 vols. Venice, 1757.</p> + +<p><i>Collectanea Chemica.</i> (Select Treatises on Alchemy and Hermetic Medicine.) 1893.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Collin de Plancy, J. A. S.</span> <i>Dictionnaire Infernal.</i> Editio princeps. 2 vols. +Paris, 1818. (I have used the sixth, and last, edition, one vol. Paris, +H. Plon. 4to, 1863. The six editions differ widely from one another. +This famous work is valuable, but often uncritical and even erroneous.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Collius, Francis.</span> <i>De Animabus Paganorum.</i> Milan, 1622.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Conconier.</span> <i>L’âme humaine.</i> Paris, 1890.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>L’hypnotisme franc.</i> Paris, 1898.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Condrochius, Baptista.</span> <i>De morbis ueneficis ac ueneficiis.</i> Libri IV. Venice, 1595.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Councell, R. W.</span> <i>Apologia Alchymiæ.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Crespet, Père Celestine.</span> <i>La haine de Sathan contre l’homme.</i> Paris, 1590.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Crowe, Catherine.</span> <i>The Night Side of Nature.</i> 2 vols. 1848. (A standard +work; very frequently reprinted.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cuthbert, O.S.F.C., Father.</span> <i>God and the Supernatural.</i> London, 1920.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Daneau, Lambert.</span> <i>Les Sorciers.</i> 1574. There is an English tr. <i>A Dialogue +of Witches</i>, 1575. [London?]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Daynes, Gilvbert W.</span> <i>The Untrodden Paths of Masonic Research.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">De Lancre, Pierre.</span> <i>Tableau de l’inconstance des mavvais anges et démons.</i> +Paris, 1612.</p> + +<p><i>L’incredvlité et mescréance dv sortilège.</i> Paris, 1622.</p> + +<p><i>Du Sortilège.</i> 1627. (This is the rarest of De Lancre’s books, and very little known.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delassus, Jules.</span> <i>Les Incubes et les Succubes.</i> Paris, 1897.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[319]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delehaye, H., S.J.</span> <i>Légendes Hagiographiques.</i> Brussels, 1906. Trans. by +Mrs. V. M. Crawford as <i>The Legends of the Saints</i>. (<i>The Westminster +Library.</i>)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delrio, Martin Anton, S.J.</span> <i>Disquisitionum Magicarum Libri Sex.</i> Louvain, +1599.</p> + +<p><i>Devil, History of the, Ancient and Modern, with a Description of the Devil’s +Dwellings.</i> Durham, 1822.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Diana, R. P. D. Antoninus.</span> <i>Resolutiones morales.</i> Lyons, 1633.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Didron, M.</span> <i>Iconographie chrétienne. Histoire de Dieu.</i> Paris, 1843. Eng. +tr. 2 vols, by E. J. Millington. London, 1851. Bohn’s Library.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dobbins, F. S.</span> <i>False Gods, or the Idol Worship of the World.</i> Boston, <i>circa</i> +1870.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dorat, S.J., Joseph.</span> <i>Psychologia.</i> Vol. VI of <i>Summa Philosophiæ Christianæ</i>. +8 vols. Rome.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Drago, Luigi Vincenzo.</span> <i>Il materialismo e il dogma.</i> <i>Fede e Scienza.</i> IV, 40 +Rome.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dulaure, J. A.</span> <i>Des Cultes qui ont précédé et amené l’idolâtrie.</i> 1805.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Des Divinités Génératrices.</i> Paris, 1805.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Du Prel, Carl.</span> Tr. C. C. Massey. <i>The Philosophy of Mysticism.</i> 2 vols. +London, 1889.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Elich, Philip Ludwig.</span> <i>Dæmonomagia, siue de dæmonis cacurgia.</i> Frankfort, +1607.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ennemoser, Joseph.</span> <i>The History of Magic.</i> 2 vols. London, 1854.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Erastus, Thomas.</span> <i>De lamiis seu strigibus.</i> Basle, 1577.</p> + +<p><i>Errores Gazariorum seu illorum qui scobam uel baculum equitare probantur.</i> +1450.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Evenius, Sigismund.</span> <i>Dissertatio physica de magia.</i> 1512.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ewick, John.</span> <i>De sagorum quos uulgo ueneficos appellant natura.</i> Bremen, +1584.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Eymeric, O.P., Nicholas.</span> <i>Directorium Inquisitorum.</i> Rome, 1585; Venice, +1607.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ferreres, S.J., I. B.</span> <i>Theologia Moralis.</i> 11th ed. Rome, 1921.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Franzelin, S.J.</span>, <span class="smcap">Cardinal I.B.</span> <i>De Deo Uno.</i> Rome.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frazer, Sir James.</span> <i>Folk-Lore in the Old Testament.</i> London, 1923.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fredericq, Dr. Paul.</span> <i>Corpus documentorum Inquisitionis hæreticæ +prauitatis neerlandicæ.</i> 5 vols. Ghent, 1889 <i>sqq</i>.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Geschiednes der Inquisitie de Neerlanden tot aen hare herinrichting onder +Keizer Karel V</i> (1025-1520). Ghent, 1892 <i>sqq.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Freud, Sigismund.</span> <i>Totem and Taboo. Resemblances between the Psychic +Lives of Savages and Neurotics.</i> London, 1919.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gaffarellus, Jac.</span> <i>Curiositates Inauditæ.</i> Hamburg, 1706.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gams, Pius Bonifacius, O.S.B.</span> <i>Die Kirchengeschichte von Spanien.</i> 5 vols. +Regensburg, 1862.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Garrigon-Legrange, O.P., Reginald.</span> <i>De Reuelatione.</i> 2nd ed. 1921.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gaya, Louis de.</span> <i>Cérémonies nuptiales de toutes les nations.</i> Paris, 1680.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gebhart, Emile.</span> <i>L’Italie mystique.</i> Paris, 1893.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Geiler, Johann.</span> <i>Die Emeis. Dies ist das Buch von der Omeissen.</i> 1516.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gemelli, O.F.M., Agostino.</span> <i>Psicologia e Biologia.</i> Rome, 1920.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Non Moechaberis.</i> Milan, 1923.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gerbert.</span> <i>Epistolæ.</i> Migne. <i>Pat. Lat.</i> Vol. CXXXIX.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Geruasius of Tilbury.</span> <i>Otia imperialia.</i> Written <i>circa</i> 1214.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Giessler, J. C. L.</span> <i>Ecclesiastical History.</i> Eng. tr. 1853.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gilly, William Stephen.</span> <i>Narrative of Researches among the Vaudois.</i> +London, 1824.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Giustinianus, Bernardus.</span> <i>Historia Generale della Monarchia Spagnuola +Antica, e Moderna.</i> Venezia, 1674.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Godelmann, Johan Georg.</span> <i>Disputatio de Magis</i>. Frankfort, 1584. +<i>Tractatus de Magis.</i> 1591.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Godwin, William.</span> <i>Lives of the Necromancers.</i> London, 1834.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Görres, Johann Joseph.</span> <i>Die christliche Mystik.</i> 4 vols. 1836-42. French +translation: <i>La Mystique Divine, Naturelle, et Diabolique</i>.... 5 vols. +Paris, 1861.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[320]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gougenot des Mousseaux, Henri Roger.</span></p> + +<p class="book"><i>Dieu et les Dieux.</i> Paris, 1854.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Mœurs et pratiques des Démons.</i> Paris, 1854.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>La magie au dix-neuvième siècle.</i> Paris, 1860.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Les médiateurs et les moyens de la magie.</i> Paris, 1863.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Les hauts phénomènes de la magie.</i> Paris, 1864.</p> + +<p class="book">(Vampires; the Incubus and the Succubus.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Goujet, Abbé.</span> <i>Histoire des inquisitions.</i> 2 vols. Cologne, 1759.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gregorovius, Ferdinand.</span> <i>Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittlealter.</i> 7 vols. +5th ed. Stuttgard and Berlin, 1903 <i>sqq.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gregory VII, Pope S.</span> <i>Epistolarum libri</i> apud Mansi <i>Sacrorum conciliorum +nona ... collectio</i>. Florence, 1759. Also <i>S. Gregorii VII epistolæ et +diplomata</i>. Ed. Horoy. Paris, 1877.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gregory XV, Pope.</span> <i>Gesta Pontificum Romanorum.</i> Venice, 1688. IV, 522-36.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gregory the Great, Pope S.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Ed. J. B. Gallicoli. 17 vols. +Venice, 1765-76. Reprinted by Migne. <i>Pat. Lat.</i> LXXV-LXXIX.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gregory of Nazianzus, S.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Paris, 1609-11. Migne. <i>Pat. +Gr.</i> 4 vols. XXXV-XXXVIII.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gregory of Tours, S.</span> <i>Scriptores Rerum Merouinginarum apud monumenta +Germaniæ historica.</i> I, Pt. I, pp. 1-30. 1884-5.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Grillandus, Paulus.</span> <i>De sortilegiis.</i> Lyons, 1533.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Guaita, Stanislas de.</span> <i>Essais de sciences maudites.</i> Paris and Brussels, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Guazzo, Francesco Maria, Ambrosian.</span> <i>Compendium Maleficarum.</i> Milan, +1608. (One of the most valuable of the earlier writers.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gui, Bernard.</span> <i>Practica Inquisitionis hæreticæ prauitatis.</i> Ed. Mgr. C. +Douais. Paris, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gury, S.J., I. P.</span> <i>Theologia moralis.</i> 15th ed. Rome, 1907. Cum supplemento, +Acta et Decreta nouissima. 2 vols. Rome, 1915.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hales, Alexander of.</span> <i>Summa uniuersæ theologiæ.</i> Cologne, 1622.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hansen, J.</span> <i>Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwahns.</i> +Bonn, 1901.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hartmann, Franz.</span> <i>The Life of Phillippus Theophrastus Bombast, of Hohenheim, +known by the name of Paracelsus, and the Substance of his Teachings. +Magic, White and Black.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Haskins, Charles Homer.</span> <i>Studies in the History of Mediæval Science.</i> +London, 1924.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hauber, E. D.</span> <i>Bibliotheca magica et scripta magica.</i> 1738-45.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hauréau, B.</span> <i>Histoire de la Philosophie Scolastique.</i> Paris, 1880.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Heckethorn, Charles William.</span> <i>Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries.</i> +2 vols. London, 1897.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hedelin, François.</span> <i>Des Satyres, Brutes, Monstres et Demons.</i> Paris, 1627. +Reprinted, Liseux, 1888.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Heiner, Frederich.</span> <i>De Processu Criminali Ecclesiastico.</i> Rome, 1920.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Heisterbach, Cæsarius.</span> <i>Dialogus Miraculorum.</i> <i>Circa</i> 1225. Reprints, +1861, 1901.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Herrmann.</span> <i>Institutiones Theologiæ Dogmaticæ.</i> 2 vols. Rome, 1914.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hetzenauer, O.M.C., Michael.</span> <i>Commentarius in librum Genesis.</i> Rome, +1910.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hildebert, S.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Paris, 1708.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hincmar.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Migne, <i>Pat. Lat.</i> Vols. CXXV, CXXVI.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hochstraten, Jacob von.</span> <i>Quam grauiter peccent quærentes auxilium a +maleficiis.</i> 1510.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hoffmann, Fridolin.</span> <i>Geschichte des Inquisition.</i> 2 vols. Bonn, 1878.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Holmes, Edmond.</span> <i>The Albigensian or Catharist Heresy.</i> London, 1925.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(A truly amazing defence of the Albigensians. The author has completely +misunderstood their heresies.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap">Howey, M. Oldfield.</span> <i>The Horse in Magic and Myth.</i> London, 1923.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hueber.</span> <i>Menologium S. Francisci.</i> Munich, 1608.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hugon, R. P.</span> <i>De Deo Uno et Trino.</i> 2 vols. Rome.</p> + +<p><i>Inquisition.</i> <i>Orden que Comunmente se Guarda en el Santo Oficio de la Inquisition.</i> +Valencia, 1736. (Contains all the forms and procedure of the +Holy Office.)</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[321]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ives, George.</span> <i>A History of Penal Methods.</i> 1914. Chapter II: “The +Witch Trials.” (The whole volume is valuable.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jacolliot, Louis.</span> <i>Occult Science in India and among the Ancients.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jacquerius, Nicolas.</span> <i>Flagellum Dæmonum Fascinariorum.</i> 1458.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jaderosa, Federico.</span> <i>Theologia Moralis.</i> Rome, 1922.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jauer, Nicolaus von.</span> <i>Tractatus de superstitionibus.</i> 1405.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jennings, Hargrave.</span> <i>The Rosicrucians: their Rites and Mysteries.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jordanus de Bergamo.</span> <i>Quæstio de strigis.</i> 1476. MS. 3446. Bibliothèque +nationale, Paris.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kelly, Edward.</span> <i>The Alchemical Writings of Edward Kelly.</i> Trans. from the +Hamburg Edition of 1676. 1893.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Khunrath, H.</span> <i>Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ Æternæ Solius Veræ, Christiano-Kabalisticum, +Diuino-Magicum, nec non Physico-Chymicum, Tertriunum, +Catholicon.</i> Hanover, 1609.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Krakewitz von, Albert Joachim.</span> <i>De theologia dæmonum.</i> Wittenberg, +1715.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Krone.</span> <i>Fra Dolcino und die Patarerer.</i> Leipzig, 1844.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Laurent-Nagour.</span> <i>Occultismus und Liebe</i>, 1903.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lavater, Loys.</span> <i>De spectris, lemuribus, etc.</i> Geneva, 1570.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lea, Henry Charles.</span> <i>History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages.</i> New +York, 1887; London, 1888; and 3 vols., 1906.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Superstition and Force.</i> Philadelphia, 1866. 3rd ed., 1878; 4th ed., 1892.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Studies in Church History.</i> Philadelphia, 1869.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>History of the Inquisition in Spain.</i> 4 vols. London, 1906-7.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies.</i> New York, 1908.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(The works of Henry Charles Lea, lengthy and laborious as they are, +must be used with the utmost caution and need continually to be +corrected. They are insecure, and bitterly biased, since even when facts +are not widely distorted a wrong interpretation is inevitably placed upon +them. Their value and merit can but be regarded as fundamentally +shaken. The following criticism will be found useful: Paul Maria +Baumgarten: <i>Die Werke von Henry Charles Lea und verwandte Bücher</i>, +1908. Eng. tr.: <i>H. C. Lea’s Historical Writings: A critical inquiry into +their method and merit</i>. 1909.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lee, Frederick George, D.D.</span> <i>The Other World.</i> 2 vols. London, 1875.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>More Glimpses of the World Unseen.</i> 1878.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Glimpses in the Twilight.</i> 1885.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Sights and Shadows.</i> 1894.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(Scholarly and valuable works.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lehmann.</span> <i>Aberglaube.</i> 2nd ed. 1908.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lehmkuhl, S.J., Aug.</span> <i>Casus conscientiæ.</i> 2 vols. Rome, 1913.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Le Loyer, Pierre.</span> <i>Discours et histoires des spectres.</i> Paris, 1605.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lévi, Eliphas (Alphonse Louis Constant).</span> <i>The History of Magic.</i> Trans. +by Arthur Edward Waite. 1922.</p> + +<p><i>The Paradoxes of the Highest Science.</i> (Footnotes by a Master of the +Wisdom.)</p> + +<p><i>Transcendental Magic.</i> (Translated, annotated, and introduced by Arthur +Edward Waite.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leyser, August.</span> <i>De crimine magiæ.</i> Wittenberg, 1737.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Licosthenes, Conrad.</span> <i>De prodigiis et ostentis.</i> 1557.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Locati, Umberto.</span> <i>Opus iudiciale inquisitorum.</i> Rome, 1572.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lombard, Peter.</span> <i>Quatuor Libri Sententiarium.</i> Printed 1472. Paris, 1892. +(Best edition is that found in the Commentary of S. Bonaventura. +<i>Opera S. Bonauenturæ.</i> Quaracchi, 1885, I-IV.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lomeier, J.</span> <i>Epimenides sive De Ueterum Gentilium Lustrationibus Syntagma.</i> +Zutphen, 1700.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lottini, O.P., Giovanni.</span> <i>Compendium Philosophiæ Scholasticæ.</i> 3 vols. +Rome, 1912.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Luanco, J. Ramón de.</span> <i>Ramón Lull considerado come Alquimista.</i> Barcelona, +1870.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lull, Bl. Ramón.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> 10 vols. Mainz, 1721-42.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[322]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mackay, Charles.</span> <i>Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions.</i> 2 vols. +London, 1852. (Must be used with caution, very frequently reprinted.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Madden, R. R.</span> <i>Phantasmata.</i> 2 vols. 1857.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Maier, M.</span> <i>Themis Aurea</i> (on the Rosicrucians). Frankfurt, 1618.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mamor, Pietro.</span> <i>Flagellum maleficorum.</i> <i>Circa</i> 1462.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mangetus.</span> <i>Bibliotheca Chemico Curiosa.</i> 1702.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Maréchaux, O.S.B., Bernard-Marie.</span> <i>La Réalité des Apparitions Angéliques.</i> +Paris, 1901.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Marchese.</span> <i>Diario Domenicano.</i> Naples, 1668-81.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martindale, C. C., S.J.</span> <i>Antichrist.</i> C.T.S. (Do. 83).</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Theosophy.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mauritius, E.</span> <i>De denunciatione sagarum.</i> Tubingen, 1664.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mayer, J. B.</span> <i>Ancient Philosophy.</i> Cambridge, 1895.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mayo, Herbert.</span> <i>On the Truths contained in Popular Superstitions.</i> Edinburgh, +1851.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mazzara.</span> <i>Leggendario francescano.</i> Venice, 1721.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mazzella, Hor.</span> <i>Prælectiones Scholastico-Dogmaticæ.</i> 4 vols. Rome.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mazzolini (Mozolini, Prierias), O.P., Sylvester.</span> <i>De strigimagorum libri +III.</i> Rome, 1521.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mechlinia, Johannes de.</span> <i>Utrum perfecta dei opera possint impediri dæmonis +malicia.</i> <i>Circa</i> 1450.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Memmingius, Nicolas.</span> <i>Admonitio de superstitionibus magicis uitandis.</i> <i>s.l.</i> +1575.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Menant, Joachim.</span> <i>Les Yezidiz. Episodes de l’histoire des adorateurs du +Diable.</i> Paris, 1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mengo, Girolamo, Capuchin.</span> <i>Flagellum Dæmonum.</i> Bologna, 1578.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Euersio dæmonum e corporibus oppressis.</i> Bologna, 1588.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Fustis dæmonum.</i> Bologna, 1589.</p> + +<p><i>Menologium Cisterciense.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mercer, Rev. J. E.</span> <i>Alchemy: its Science and Romance.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meric, Mgr.</span> <i>L’Autre vie.</i> 13 ed. Paris, 1919.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>L’Imagination et les Prodigues.</i> Paris, 1918.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Revue de Monde Invisible.</i> Edited by Mgr. Meric. 1909—in continuation.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Michelet, Jules.</span> <i>La sorcière.</i> Paris, 1862. (This original edition is of the +last rarity. Reprinted 1862.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mirandola, G. P. P. della.</span> <i>Strix siue de ludificatione dæmonum.</i> 1523.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Molitor, Ulrich.</span> <i>De lamiis et phitonicis mulieribus, teutonice unholden uel +hexen.</i> 1489.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Moreau, Paul.</span> <i>Des Aberrations du Sens Génésique.</i> 4th ed. 1887.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mosheim, J. J. von.</span> <i>Institutes of Ecclesiasticæ History.</i> Eng. tr. 2nd ed. +1850.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Murner, O.M., Thomas.</span> <i>De phitonico contractu.</i> 1499.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Murray, Margaret Alice.</span> <i>The Witch-Cult in Western Europe.</i> Oxford, +1921.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Naudé, Gabriel.</span> <i>Apologie pour tous les grands hommes qui ont esté faussement +soupconnez de magie.</i> Paris, 1625.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Neale, Rev. John Mason.</span> <i>The Unseen World.</i> 1847.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nevius, Rev. John L.</span> <i>Demon Possession and Allied Themes.</i> New York, +1893.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nider, Johan, O.P.</span> <i>Formicarius.</i> 5 vols. Douai, 1602.</p> + +<p><i>Occult Review, The.</i> (In continuation.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Papus</span> (pseud, of Gérard Encausse). <i>Absolute Key to Occult Science: The +Tarot of the Bohemians.</i> Trans. by A. P. Morton. 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paracelsus</span> (Aureolus Philippus, i.e. Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim). +<i>Philosophy Reformed and Improved.</i> Made English by H. Pinnell. +2 vols. 1657.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paramo, Ludovico À.</span> <i>De origine et progressu officii Sanctæ Inquisitionis.</i> +Madrid, 1598.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pasch, G.</span> <i>De operationibus Dæmonum duo problemata curiosa utrum possint +generare et utrum homines in bestias transformari.</i> 1684.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">—— Patricius, Fr.</span> <i>Magia Philosophica.</i> Hamburg, 1593.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[323]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Peebles, J. M.</span> <i>The Demonism of the Ages.</i> Battle Creek, Mich., 1904.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Peña, Francesco.</span> <i>Inquirendorum hæreticorum lucerna.</i> Rome, 1572.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Perry, W. J.</span> <i>The Origin of Magic and Religion.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Peucer, Caspar.</span> <i>Commentarius De Præcipuis Generibus Diuinationum.</i> +Witenberga, 1560.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pignataro, F. S. J.</span> <i>De Disciplina Pœnitentiali.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pons, Vincent.</span> <i>De potentia Dæmonum.</i> Aquis Sextiis, 1613.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ponzinibio, Francesco.</span> <i>De lamiis.</i> Apud <i>Thesaurus iurisconsultorum</i>. +Venice, 1584.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Prummer, O.P., Dominic.</span> <i>Manuale Theologiæ Moralis secundum principia +S. Thomæ Aquinatis.</i> 3 vols. Rome, 1915.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pryce, F. N.</span> <i>The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity of R. C., commonly +of the Rosie Cross.</i> London, 1652.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Quétif-Echard.</span> <i>Scriptores Ordinis Prædicatorum.</i> 2 vols. Paris, 1719.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ramus, S.J., Le Père Marie.</span> <i>La Dévotion à Sainte Anne.</i> Lyons, 1888.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Redgrove, H. Stanley.</span> <i>Alchemy, Ancient and Modern.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Regino, Abbot of Prüm.</span> <i>Libri duo de synodalibus causis.</i> Migne. <i>Pat. Lat.</i> +Vol. CXXXII.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Remy, Nicolas</span> (Remigius). <i>Dæmonolatriæ libri tres.</i> Lyons, 1595.</p> + +<p><i>Repertorium penitile de prauitate hæreticorum.</i> 1494.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Réville, A.</span> <i>The Devil.</i> London, 1871.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ribadeneira, S.J., Pedro.</span> <i>Uita Ignatii.</i> Naples, 1572.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ribet, M. J.</span> <i>La Mystique Divine.</i> 4 vols. Paris, 1895.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ricardus, Angentnus.</span> <i>De præstigiis et incantationibus dæmonum.</i> Basle, +1568.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Richalmus, B.</span> (Reichhelm). <i>Liber de Insidiis Dæmonum.</i> <i>Circa</i> 1270.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Römer, Wilhelm.</span> <i>Die Hexenbulle des Papster Innocenz VIII.</i> Schaffhausen, +1889.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roskoff, Gustav.</span> <i>Geschichte des Teufels.</i> 2 vols. Leipzig, 1859.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Royas, à J.</span> <i>De Hæreticis.</i> Apud Zilettum, <i>q.u.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sabetti, Aloysius, S.J.</span> <i>Compendium Theologiæ Moralis.</i> Ed. Uicesima +Quinta. Recog. a Timotheo Barrett, S.J. 1916. (Tractatus VI. 2. <i>De +Uitiis Religioni Oppositis.</i> 3. <i>De Diuinatione.</i> 4. <i>De Magia et maleficio.</i>)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Saint-Hebin, Alexandre.</span> <i>Du culte de Satan.</i> Paris, 1867.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sbaralea.</span> <i>Bullarium Franciscanum.</i> 5 vols. Rome, 1759 sqq.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scheltema, Jacobus.</span> <i>Geschiedenis der Heksenprocessen, eene bijdrage tot +den roem des vaderlands.</i> Haarlem, 1828.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scherartz, Sigismund.</span> <i>Libellus de spectris.</i> Wittenberg, 1620.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schmidt.</span> <i>Histoire et Doctrine de la secte des Cathares ou Albigeois.</i> Paris, +1849.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schram, Dominic, O.S.B.</span> <i>Institutiones Theologiæ Mysticæ.</i> 2 vols. Ausburg, +1774. (A most valuable work.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schwab, J. B.</span> <i>Jean Gerson.</i> Würzburg, 1858.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scotus, Duns.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> 12 vols. Ed. Wadding. Lyons, 1639. +Reprint, 26 vols. (Vives) Paris, 1891-95.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Simancas.</span> <i>De Catholicis Institutionibus.</i> Apud Zilettum, <i>q.u.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sinistrari, O.M., Ludovico Maria.</span> <i>Opera omnia.</i> Rome. 3 vols. 1753-4.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>De Dæmonialitate.</i> First published by Liseux. Paris, 1875. Eng. tr. +<i>Demonality, or Incubi and Succubi.</i> Paris, 1879.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Socinus, Marianus.</span> <i>De sortilegiis.</i> <i>Circa</i> 1465.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sole, Jacobus.</span> <i>De Delictis et Pœnis.</i> Rome, 1920.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Spee, S.J., Frederick.</span> <i>Cautio criminalis.</i> 1631. Cologne, 1632.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Spence, Lewis.</span> <i>An Encyclopedia of Occultism: a Compendium of Information +on the Occult Sciences, Occult Personalities, Psychic Sciences, Magic, +Demonology, Spiritism, and Mysticism.</i> London, 1920.</p> + +<p><i>Spicilegium dæmonolatriæ.</i> <i>Circa</i> 1330.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Spina, Bartolomeo, O.P.</span> <i>Tractatus de Strigibus et Lamiis.</i> Venice, 1523.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sprenger, O.P., James</span> and <span class="smcap">Kramer</span> (Institor), <span class="smcap">Heinrich</span>. (<i>Editio princeps</i>) +<i>Malleus Maleficarum</i>. Nuremburg, 1494 and 1496. Cologne, 1489 and +1494. Frankfort, 1582. Cologne, 1511 and 1520. Lyons, 1595 and (a +fuller edition) 1620. (There are several other issues.) Of this authoritative +work I have used the Lyons edition.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[324]</span></p> + +<p><i>Sumptibus Claudii Bovrgeat.</i> 4 vols. 1669, which contains the following +valuable collections:—</p> + +<p>Vol. I.</p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Nider, O.P., John.</span> <i>Formicarius de maleficiis.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Sprenger</span> and <span class="smcap">Kramer</span>. <i>Malleus Maleficarum.</i></p> + +<p>Vol. II.</p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Anania, Giovanni Lorenzo.</span> <i>De Natura Dæmonum.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Basin, Bernard.</span> <i>De Artibus magicis.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Bernard of Como, O.P.</span> <i>De Strigibus.</i> (With the annotations of Francesco +Peña.)</p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Castro, O.M., Alfonso À.</span> <i>De impia Sortilegarum hæresi.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">De Vignate, Ambrose.</span> <i>Quæstio de Lamiis.</i> (With a commentary by Peña.)</p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Gerson, John.</span> <i>De Probatione Spirituum. De erroribus circa artem magicam +reprobatis.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Grilland, Paul.</span> <i>De Sortilegiis.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Leone, Giovanni Francesco.</span> <i>De Sortilegiis.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Molitor, Ulrich.</span> <i>De Pythonicis mulieribus.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Murner, O.M., Thomas.</span> <i>De Pythonico Contractu.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Simancas, Iago.</span> <i>De Lamiis.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Spina, O.P., Bartolomeo.</span> <i>De Strigibus.</i></p> + +<p class="book2"><i>In Ponzinibium de Lamiis Apolegia.</i></p> + +<p>Vol. III</p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Gorichen, Heinrich de.</span> <i>De superstitioris quibusdam casibus.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Mamor, Pietro.</span> <i>Flagellum maleficorum.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Mengo, Girolamo, Capuchin.</span> <i>Flagellum Dæmonum.</i></p> + +<p class="book2"><i>Fustis Dæmonum.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><span class="smcap">Stampa, Pietro Antonio.</span> <i>Fuga Satanæ.</i></p> + +<p>Vol. IV.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Ars exorcistica tribus partibus.</i></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(It is hardly possible to overestimate the value of this collection.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stead, W. T.</span> <i>Real Ghost Stories.</i> Reprinted from “The Review of Reviews,” +1891-2. London, 1897.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Steiner, Rudolf.</span> <i>Les Mystères antiques et le Mystère chrétien.</i> Paris, 1920.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stengesius, G.</span> <i>De Monstris et Monstrosis.</i> 1647 (?).</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stridtheckh, Christian.</span> <i>De Sagis, siue Fœminis, commercium cum Malo +Spiritu habentibus.</i> Leipzig, 1691.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sutter, Paul Abbé.</span> <i>Lucifer.</i> Tr. by the Rev. Theophilus Borer. London, +1922.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tagereau, Vincent.</span> <i>Discours sur l’impuissance de l’homme et de la femme.</i> +Paris, 1612.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Taillepied, Frère Noel.</span> <i>Psichologie, ou traité de l’apparition des Esprits.</i> +Paris, 1588; and many other eds.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tarrega, Raimundus.</span> <i>De inuocatione dæmonum.</i> <i>Circa</i> 1370.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tartarotti, Girolamo.</span> <i>Del Congresso Notturno delle Lammie.</i> Rovereto, +1749.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Taxil, Jean.</span> <i>Traicté de l’Epilepsie.</i> Lyons, 1602. C. XVII (pp. 150-162) +treats of demoniacs, sorcerers, and possession.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Theatinus, Johann Bapista.</span> <i>Aduersus artem magicam et striges.</i> <i>Circa</i> +1510.</p> + +<p><i>Theatrum Diabolorum.</i> 1587.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">S. Thomas Aquinas.</span> <i>Opera omnia iussu edita Leonis XIII., P.M.</i> The +Leonine edition.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thummius, Theodore.</span> <i>De Sagarum impictate.</i> Tubingen, 2nd ed., 1666.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tinctor, Johannes.</span> <i>Sermo de secta Uaudensium.</i> 1460.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tomasetti.</span> Ed. <i>Bullarium ... Romanorum Pontificum.</i> 22 vols. Turin, +1857, etc.; and Naples, 1867-85.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Triez, Robert du.</span> <i>Les ruses, finesses, et impostures des Esprits malins.</i> +Cambrai, 1563.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Trithemius, Johannes.</span> <i>Liber Octo quæstionum.</i> 1508.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Antipalus Maleficiorum.</i> 1508.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tuberville, A. S.</span> <i>Mediæval Heresy and the Inquisition.</i> London, 1920.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ugolini, Zanchino.</span> <i>De Hæreticis.</i> Apud Zilettum, <i>q.u.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[325]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ulrichs, K. H.</span> <i>Incubus, Urningsliebe, und Blutgier.</i> Leipzig, 1869.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ulysse, Robert.</span> <i>Les signes d’infamie au Moyen Age.</i> Paris, 1891.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Urstisius.</span> <i>Germanicæ historiæ scriptores.</i> Frankfort, 1585.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vair, Leonard.</span> <i>Trois livres des charmes, sorceleges, ov enchantments.... +Faits en latin par Leonard Vair et mis en Francois par Iulian Bavdon, +Angeuin.</i> Paris, 1583.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">De Valle de Moura.</span> <i>De incantationibus.</i> 1620.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Valois, N.</span> <i>La France et le Grand Schisme d’Orient.</i> Paris, 1896-1902</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vaughan, Thomas</span> (Eugenius Philalethes). <i>Magical Writings of Thomas +Vaughan.</i> Edited by Arthur Edward Waite. 1888.</p> + +<p><i>Veritable Dragon Rouge ou il est traite de l’Art de commander les esprits infernaux +aeriens et terrestres, faire apparaitre les morts ... plus La Poule +Noire.</i> Sur l’Edition de 1521 [<i>circa</i> 1900].</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Verpoorten, G. P.</span> <i>De Dæmonum existentia.</i> 1779.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vicecomes, Girolamo.</span> <i>Lamiarum siue striarum opusculum.</i> 1460, printed +1490.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Villalpando, Francisco Torreblanca.</span> <i>Dæmonologia sive de Magia +Naturali, Dæmoniaca, licitia, et illicita.</i> Mainz, 1603.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vincentius, Joannes.</span> <i>Liber aduersus magicas artes et eos qui dicunt eisdem +nullam inesse efficaciam.</i> <i>Circa</i> 1475.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vinetus, Joannes.</span> <i>Tractatus contra dæmonum inuocatores.</i> <i>Circa</i> 1450. +Printed 1480.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vivet, O.P., John.</span> <i>Tractatus contra dæmonum inuocatores.</i> (<i>Sine l. et d.</i>) +Black letter.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Waite, Arthur Edward.</span> <i>Book of Black Magic, and of Pacts, including the +Rites and Mysteries of Goëtic Theurgy, Sorcery, and Infernal Necromancy.</i> +1898.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Mysteries of Magic.</i> A Digest of the Writings of Eliphas Lévi. 1886.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>The Occult Sciences.</i> 1891.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>The Real History of the Rosicrucians.</i> 1887</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Studies in Mysticism.</i> 1906.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wake, C. S.</span> <i>Serpent Worship.</i> 1888.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ward, J. S. M.</span> <i>Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Weyer, Johan</span> (Wierus). <i>De præstigiis dæmonum et incantationibus et +uenificiis.</i> Basle, 1563. <i>De Lamiis</i> and <i>Pseudo-monarchia Dæmonum</i> are +appended to the ed. of 1577.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wright, Dudley.</span> <i>Druidism.</i> London, 1924.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><i>Masonic Legend and Tradition.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><i>Vampires and Vampirism.</i> 2nd ed. London, 1925.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wright, Thomas.</span> <i>Narratives of Sorcery and Magic.</i> 2 vols. 1851.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wulf, M. de.</span> <i>History of Mediæval Philosophy.</i> Eng. tr. 1909.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wünschelburg, Johannes.</span> <i>Tractatus de superstitionibus.</i> <i>Circa</i> 1440.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zancherius, Ugolini.</span> <i>Tractatus de hæreticis.</i> Mantua, 1567. Rome, 1579.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zilettus.</span> <i>Tractatus Uniuersi iuris.</i> Venice, 1633.</p> + +</div> + +<h3>SCRIPTURAL AND ORIENTAL</h3> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Baudissen, Grafen Wolf Wilhelm.</span> <i>Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte.</i> +2 vols. Leipzig, 1876 and 1878.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bochartus, Sam.</span> <i>Hierozoicon.</i> Ed. Tert. Lugd. et Traj., 1682.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bousset, W.</span> <i>The Antichrist Legend.</i> Trans, by A. H. Keane. London, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brecher.</span> <i>Das transcendentale Magie und magische Heilarten im Talmud.</i> +Wien, 1850.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brinton, D. G.</span> <i>Religions of Primitive Peoples.</i> London and New York, 1897.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Charles, R. H.</span> <i>The Book of Enoch.</i> Oxford, 1893.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Constans.</span> <i>Relation sur une epidemie d’hystero-demonopathie.</i> Paris, 1863.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cornill, Carl Heinrich.</span> <i>The Culture of Ancient Israel.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Crook, W.</span> <i>Folklore of Northern India.</i> 2 vols. 2nd ed. London, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Davies, T. Witton.</span> <i>Magic, Divination and Demonology.</i> London, 1898.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(This work should be used with reserve.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[326]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dennys, B. N.</span> <i>The Folklore of China.</i> London, 1876.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Edersheim, Alfred.</span> <i>Life and Times of the Messiah.</i> London, 1888.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ginsberg.</span> <i>The Kabbalah.</i> London, 1865. Reprinted, 1925.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Granger, F.</span> <i>The Worship of the Romans.</i> London, 1895.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Grant, James.</span> <i>The Mysteries of all Nations.</i> Leith, 1880.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hillebrandt.</span> <i>Ritualliteratur. Vedische Opfer und Zauber.</i> Strasburg, 1897.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hughes, T. P.</span> <i>Dictionary of Islam.</i> London, 1885.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hummelaur de, S. J.</span> <i>Commentarius in libros Samuel.</i> (<i>I et II Regum.</i>) +Rome.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">King, J.</span> <i>Babylonian Magic and Sorcery.</i> London, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kohut, A.</span> <i>Jüdische Angel. und Dämonologie.</i> Leipzig, 1866.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenormant, F.</span> <i>Chaldean Magic.</i> London, 1877.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Divination, et la science des presages.</i> Paris, 1875.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lesêtre.</span> <i>Dictionnaire de la Bible.</i> (Sub uoce <i>Demoniaques</i>.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martigny.</span> <i>Dictionnaire des antiquités chrétiennes</i> (p. 312). Paris, 1877.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Maspero.</span> <i>Histoire ancienne des peuples de l’Orient.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meiners, Prof.</span> <i>Geschichte aller Religionen.</i> 2 vols. 1806.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Michaelis, J. D.</span> <i>Commentaries on the Laws of Moses.</i> From the German. +4 vols. London, 1814.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pauvert.</span> <i>La vie de N. S. Jésus-Christ.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Perrone, S.J., Giovanni.</span> <i>De Deo creatore.</i> Pt. I, c. v, prop. 1, 11.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pick, Bernhard.</span> <i>The Cabala.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schenkel, D.</span> <i>Bibel-Lexicon.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schrader.</span> <i>Die Keilinschriften u. d. alte Testament.</i> 2nd ed. Geissen, 1883.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Smit, J.</span> <i>De Demoniacis in Historia Evangelica Dissertatio Exegetico Apologetica.</i> +Romæ, 1913.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Spencer.</span> <i>De Legibus Hebræorum ritualibus earumque rationibus.</i> Ed. C. M. +Pfaff. 2 vols. Tubingæ, 1732.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stehelin, J. P.</span> <i>Traditions of the Jews.</i> 2 vols. London, 1743.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Straene, A. W.</span> <i>A Translation of the Treatise Chagigah, from the Babylonian +Talmud.</i> Cambridge, 1891.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tertullian.</span> <i>Apologia.</i> Migne, <i>Pat. Lat. I</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tiele, C. P.</span> <i>Geschichte der Religion im Alterthum.</i> Vol. I. Gotha, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vigouroux.</span> <i>Les livres saints et la critique rationaliste.</i> Paris, 1891.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Torreblanca.</span> <i>De Magia.</i> Ed. novissima. Lugduni, 1678.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Waffelaert.</span> <i>Dictionnaire apologétique de la foi catholique.</i> Paris, 1889. +(Sub uoce Possession diabolique.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Weber, Terd. von.</span> <i>Jüdische Theologie.</i> 2te verbesserte Auflage. Leipzig, +1897.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wiedemann, Alfred.</span> <i>Religion of the Ancient Egyptians.</i> London, 1897.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zimmern.</span> <i>Die Beschwörungstafeln Surpu.</i> Leipzig, 1896.</p> + +</div> + +<h3>ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND</h3> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><i>Abbotsford Club Miscellany.</i> Vol. I. Edinburgh, 1837.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ady, Thomas.</span> <i>A Candle in the Dark.</i> London, 1656.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Arnot, Hugo.</span> <i>Criminal Trials.</i> Edinburgh, 1785.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ashton, John.</span> <i>The Devil in Britain and America.</i> London, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Baxter, Richard.</span> <i>Certainty of the World of Spirits.</i> London, 1691.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Beaumont, John.</span> <i>Historical Treatise of Spirits.</i> London, 1705.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bede, Ven.</span> <i>Ecclesiastical History</i> (ed. Giles). London, 1843.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bernard, Richard.</span> <i>Guide to Grand-Iury men.</i> London, 1627.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Black, G. F.</span> <i>Scottish Antiquary</i>, Vol. IX. Edinburgh, 1895.</p> + +<p><i>Blackwood’s Magazine</i>, Vol. I. Edinburgh, 1817.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boulton, R.</span> <i>Compleat History of Magick, Sorcery and Witchcraft.</i> 2 vols. +London, 1715.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bovett, R.</span> <i>Pandæmonium.</i> London, 1658.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brand, John.</span> <i>History and Antiquities of ... Newcastle.</i> London, 1789.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bromhall, Thomas.</span> <i>Treatise of Spectres.</i> London, 1658.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Burns, Begg.</span> <i>Proceedings of Soc. of Antiquaries of Scotland.</i> New Series. +Vol. X. Edinburgh.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Burton, John Hill.</span> <i>Criminal Trials.</i> London, 1852.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[327]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Butler, Samuel.</span> <i>Hudibras.</i> (Ed. Zachary Grey.) 2 vols. Cambridge, 1744.</p> + +<p><i>Calendar of State Papers. Domestic.</i> 1584. London, 1865.</p> + +<p><i>Camden Society. Lady Alice Kyteler.</i> London, 1843.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cooper, Thomas.</span> <i>Mystery of Witchcraft.</i> London, 1617.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Pleasant Treatise of Witches.</i> London, 1673.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cotta, John.</span> <i>Infallible, true and assured Witch.</i> London, 1625.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Trial of Witchcraft.</i> London, 1616.</p> + +<p><i>County Folklore</i>, III. London, 1901.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dalyell, John Grahame.</span> <i>Darker Superstitions of Scotland.</i> Edinburgh, +1834.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Davenport, John.</span> <i>Witches of Huntingdon.</i> London, 1646.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Davies, J. Ceredig.</span> <i>Welsh Folklore.</i> Aberystwith, 1911.</p> + +<p><i>Denham Tracts.</i> London, 1895.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Drage, W.</span> <i>A Physical Nosonomy ... with Daimonomagia.</i> 1665.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fairfax, Edward.</span> <i>Demonologia</i> (ed. W. Grainge). Harrogate, 1882.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Forbes, William.</span> <i>Institutes of the Law of Scotland.</i> Edinburgh, 1722-30.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Foster.</span> <i>Tryall of Ann Foster.</i> Northampton, 1881.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fountainhall, Lord.</span> <i>Decisions.</i> Edinburgh, 1759.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fuller, Thomas.</span> <i>Church History of Britain.</i> London, 1655. And edition +of J. S. Brewer. Oxford, 1845.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gardiner, Ralph.</span> <i>England’s Grievance Discovered.</i> London, 1655.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gaule, John.</span> <i>Select cases of Conscience.</i> London, 1646.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gerish, William Blyth.</span> <i>Relation of Mary Hall of Gadsden.</i> 1912.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>The Divel’s Delusions.</i> Bishops Stortford, 1914.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>The Severall Practices of Johane Harrison.</i> 1909.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gibbons, A.</span> <i>Ely Episcopal Records.</i> Lincoln, 1891.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Giffard, George.</span> <i>Discourse of the subtill Practices of Devilles.</i> London, 1587.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Dialogue concerning Witches</i>, <i>Percy Society</i>, VIII. London, 1843.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gilbert, William.</span> <i>Witchcraft in Essex.</i> London, 1909.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Glanvill, Joseph.</span> <i>Sadducismus Triumphatus.</i> London, 1681.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Goldsmid, E.</span> <i>Confessions of Witches under Torture.</i> Edinburgh, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hale, John.</span> <i>A Modest Enquiry</i> (ed. Burr). New York, 1914.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hale, Sir Matthew.</span> <i>Collection of Modern Relations.</i> London, 1693.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hector, William.</span> <i>Judicial Records of Renfrewshire.</i> Paisley, 1876.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hele, N. F.</span> <i>Notes of Jottings about Aldeburgh.</i> Ipswich, 1890.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hibbert, Samuel.</span> <i>Description of the Shetland Isles.</i> Edinburgh, 1822.</p> + +<p><i>Highland Papers. Vol. III. Witchcraft in Bute.</i> Edinburgh, 1920.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Holland, Henry.</span> <i>A treatise against Witchcraft.</i> Cambridge, 1590.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hollingsworth, A. G.</span> <i>History of Stowmarket.</i> Ipswich, 1844.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Horneck, Anthony.</span> <i>Appendix to Glanvill’s Sadducismus Triumphatus.</i> +London, 1681.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hornes, N.</span> <i>Dæmonologie and Theologie.</i> London, 1650.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Howell, James.</span> <i>Familiar Letters.</i> (Ed. Joseph Jacobs.) London, 1890-2</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Howell, Thomas Bayly.</span> <i>State Trials.</i> London, 1816.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hunt, William.</span> <i>History of the English Church.</i> London, 1901.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hutchinson, Bishop Francis.</span> <i>Historical Essay.</i> London, 1718.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Inch.</span> <i>Trial of Isabel Inch.</i> Ardrossan, <i>circa</i> 1855.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">James, I.</span> <i>Demonologie.</i> Edinburgh, 1597.</p> + +<p><i>Journal of Anatomy.</i> Vols. XIII and XXV. London, 1879, 1891.</p> + +<p><i>Justiciary Court of Edinburgh, Records of Proceedings.</i> Edinburgh, 1905.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kinloch, George Ritchie.</span> <i>Reliquiæ Antiquæ Scoticæ.</i> Edinburgh, 1848.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Knapp and Baldwin.</span> <i>Newgate Calendar.</i> London, 1825.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lamont, John.</span> <i>Diary, Maitland Club.</i> Edinburgh, 1830.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Law, Robert.</span> <i>Memorialls.</i> (Ed. Sharpe.) Edinburgh, 1818.</p> + +<p><i>Lawes against Witches and Conivration. Published by Authority.</i> London, +1745.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lynn Linton, Mrs.</span> <i>Witch Stories.</i> London, 1861 and 1883. (A diligent +but uncritical work.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mackenzie, Sir G.</span> <i>Laws and Customs of Scotland.</i> Edinburgh, 1699.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Maitland, S. R.</span> <i>Puritan Thaumaturgy.</i></p> + +<p><i>Maitland Club Miscellany.</i> Vol. II. Glasgow, 1840.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mason, J.</span> <i>Anatomie of Sorcery.</i> 1612.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[328]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Melville, Sir Charles.</span> <i>Memoirs.</i> <i>Bannatyne Club.</i> Edinburgh.</p> + +<p><i>Moore Rental.</i> <i>Chetham Society.</i> Vol. XII. Manchester, 1847.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">More, Henry.</span> <i>Antidote against Atheism.</i> London, 1655.</p> + +<p><i>Narrative of the Sufferings of a young Girle.</i> Edinburgh, 1698.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nicholls, John.</span> <i>History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester.</i> London, +1795-1815.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nicoll, John.</span> <i>Diary.</i> <i>Bannatyne Club.</i> Edinburgh, 1836.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Notestein, Wallace.</span> <i>History of Witchcraft in England.</i> Washington, 1911.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Osborne, Francis.</span> <i>Traditional Memoirs of the Reigns of Q. Elizabeth and +King James I.</i> London, 1658.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Miscellany of Sundry Essays.</i> London, 1659.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Owen, H.</span> and <span class="smcap">Blakeway, J. B.</span> <i>History of Shrewsbury.</i> London, 1825.</p> + +<p><i>Percy Society</i>, <i>Giffard’s Dialogues of Witches</i>. London, 1843.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Perkins, William.</span> <i>Discourse of the damned Art of Witchcraft.</i> Cambridge, +1608.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Peterson.</span> <i>Tryall of Mrs. Joan Peterson.</i> <i>Thomason Tracts.</i> London, 1652.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Petto, Samuel.</span> <i>A faithful Narrative.</i> London, 1693.</p> + +<p><i>Philobiblion Society.</i> <i>Examination of certain Witches.</i> London, 1863-4.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pike, L. O.</span> <i>History of Crime in England.</i> London, 1873.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pitcairn, Robert.</span> <i>Criminal Trials.</i> Edinburgh, 1833.</p> + +<p><i>Pittenweem, A true and full Relation of the Witches of.</i> Edinburgh, 1704.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pollock</span> and <span class="smcap">Maitland</span>. <i>History of English Law.</i> 2nd ed. Cambridge, 1898.</p> + +<p><i>Prodigious and Tragicall History.</i> London, 1652.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Quibell, James Edward.</span> <i>Hierakonpolis.</i> II. London, 1902.</p> + +<p><i>Register of the Privy Council of Scotland.</i> Edinburgh, 1881.</p> + +<p><i>Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum.</i> Edinburgh, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roberts, Alexander.</span> <i>Treatise of Witchcraft.</i> London, 1616.</p> + +<p><i>Sadducismus Debellatus.</i> London, 1698.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sandys, George.</span> <i>Relation of a Journey.</i> London, 1632.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Saunders, W. H. B.</span> <i>Legends and Traditions of Huntingdonshire.</i> 1888.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scot, Reginald.</span> <i>Discoverie of Witchcraft.</i> London, 1584.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scott, Sir Walter.</span> <i>Demonology and Witchcraft.</i></p> + +<p><i>Scottish History Society.</i> Vol. XXV. Edinburgh, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Seymour, S. John D.</span> <i>Irish Witchcraft and Demonology.</i> Dublin, 1913.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sharpe, Charles K.</span> <i>Historical Account of Witchcraft in Scotland.</i> London, +1884.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Shaw.</span> <i>Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips.</i> Northampton, 1866.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sinclar, George.</span> <i>The Hydrostaticks.</i> Edinburgh, 1672.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Satan’s Invisible World Discovered.</i> Edinburgh, 1871.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Smith, Charlotte Fell.</span> <i>John Dee (1527-1608).</i> London, 1909.</p> + +<p><i>Spalding Club Miscellany.</i> Aberdeen, 1841.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Spottiswode, John.</span> <i>History of the Church of Scotland.</i> Edinburgh, 1847-50.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stephen, Sir J. F.</span> <i>History of the Criminal Law in England.</i> London, 1883.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stevenson, J.</span> <i>Chronicon de Lanercost.</i> <i>Maitland Club.</i> Glasgow, 1839.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stewart, William Grant.</span> <i>Popular Superstitions of the Highlands.</i> Edinburgh, +1823.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Strype, John.</span> <i>Annals of the Reformation.</i> London, 1709-31. Oxford, 1824.</p> + +<p><i>Surtees Society.</i> Vol. XL. Durham, 1861.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Taylor, John.</span> <i>Tracts relating to Northamptonshire.</i> Northampton, 1866.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thorpe, Benjamin.</span> <i>Monumenta Ecclesiastica.</i> London, 1840.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vetter, Theodor.</span> <i>Relations between England and Zurich during the +Reformation.</i> London, 1904.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vickars, K. H.</span> <i>Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.</i> London, 1907.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wagstaffe, John.</span> <i>Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft.</i> London, 1671.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Walsh.</span> <i>Examination of John Walsh.</i> London, 1566.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Whitaker, T. D.</span> <i>History of Whalley.</i> London, 1818.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wilkins, David.</span> <i>Concilia Magnæ Britanniæ.</i> London, 1737.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wilson, Arthur.</span> <i>Life and Reign of James I.</i> London, 1653.</p> + +<p><i>Witchcraft, Collection of rare and curious tracts on.</i> Edinburgh, 1891.</p> + +<p><i>Witchcraft, Collections of rare and curious Tracts relating to.</i> London, 1838.</p> + +<p><i>Witchcraft Detected.</i> 1826.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zimmerman, G.</span> <i>De Mutata Saxonum veterum religione.</i> 1839.</p> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[329]</span></p> + +<h3>ENGLAND: THE PAMPHLET LITERATURE</h3> + +<p class="center">(Arranged in chronological order)</p> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><i>The Examination and confession of certaine Wytches at Chensforde in the Countie +of Essex before the Quenes maiesties Judges, the XXVI daye of July Anno +1566.</i></p> + +<p><i>A Rehearsall both straung and true of hainous and horrible actes committed by +Elizabeth Stile, alias Rockingham, Mother Dutten, Mother Devell, Mother +Margaret. Fower notorious Witches apprehended at Winsore in the Countie +of Barks, and at Abington arraigned, condemned and executed on the 28 +daye of Februarie last anno 1579.</i></p> + +<p><i>A Detection of damnable driftes, practised by three Witches arraigned at Chelmsforde +in Essex ... whiche were executed in Aprill 1579.</i> 1579.</p> + +<p><i>The apprehension and confession of three notorious Witches arraigned and by +Justice condemnede in the Countye of Essex the 5 day of Julye last past.</i> +1589.</p> + +<p><i>A True and just Recorde of the Information, Examination and Confessions of +all the Witches taken at St. Oses in the countie of Essex: wherefore some +were executed, and other some entreated accordingly to the determination +of Lawe.... Written orderly, as the cases were tryed by evidence, by W. W.</i> +1582.</p> + +<p><i>The most strange and admirable discoverie of the three Witches of Warboys, +arraigned, convicted and executed at the last assizes at Huntingdon.</i> London, +1593.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(This was one of the most famous cases of English Witchcraft. A +whole literature grew up in connexion therewith. In <i>Notes and Queries</i>, +Twelfth Series, I, 1916, p. 283 and p. 304, will be found: “The Witches +of Warboys: Bibliographical Note,” where twenty-eight entries are +made.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>The most wonderfull and true storie of a certaine Witch named Alse Gooderidge +of Stapenhill, who was arraigned and convicted at Darbie.... As also a +true Report of the strange Torments of Thomas Darling, a boy of thirteen +years of age, that was possessed by the Devill, with his horrible Fittes and +terrible apparitions by him uttered at Burton upon Trent, in the county of +Stafford, and of his marvellous deliverance.</i> London, 1597. [By John +Denison.]</p> + +<p><i>The Arraignment and Execution of 3 detestable Witches, John Newell, Joane +his wife, and Hellen Calles; two executed at Barnett, and one at Braynford, +1 Dec. 1595.</i></p> + +<p><i>The severall Facts of Witchcrafte approved on Margaret Haskett of Stanmore, +1585.</i> Black letter.</p> + +<p><i>An Account of Margaret Hacket, a notorious Witch, who consumed a young Man +to Death, rotted his Bowells and back bone asunder, who was executed at +Tiborn, 19 Feb. 1585.</i> London, 1585.</p> + +<p><i>The Examination and Confession of a notorious Witch named Mother Arnold, +alias Whitecote, alias Glastonbury, at the Assise of Burntwood in July, 1574: +who was hanged for Witchcraft at Barking.</i> 1575.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(The four preceding pamphlets although referred to by Lowndes and +other bibliographers apparently have not been traced.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>A true report of three Straunge Witches, lately found at Newnham Regis.</i></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(Not traced. Hazlitt, <i>Handbook</i>, p. 231.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>A short treatise declaringe the detestable wickednesse of magicall sciences, as +Necromancie, Coniuration of Spirites, Curiouse Astrologie and such +lyke.... Made by Francis Coxe.</i> [London, 1561.] Black letter.</p> + +<p><i>The Examination of John Walsh, before Master Thomas Williams, Commissary +to the Reverend father in God, William, bishop of Excester, upon certayne +Interrogatories touchyng Wytch-crafte and Sorcerye, in the presence of +divers gentlemen and others, the XX of August, 1566.</i> 1566. Black letter.</p> + +<p><i>The discloysing of a late counterfeyted possession by the devyl in two maydens +within the Citie of London.</i> [1574.] Black letter.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[330]</span></p> + +<p><i>The Wonderfull Worke of God shewed upon a Chylde, whose name is William +Withers, being in the Towne of Walsam ... Suffolk, who, being Eleven +Yeeres of age, laye in a Traunce the Space of tenne Days ... and hath +continued the Space of Three Weeks.</i> London, 1581.</p> + +<p><i>A Most Wicked worke of a Wretched Witch (the like whereof none can record +these manie yeares in England) wrought on the Person of one Richard Burt, +servant to Maister Edling of Woodhall in the Parrish of Pinner in the +Countie of Myddlesex, a myle beyond Harrow. Latelie committed in March +last, An. 1592 and newly recognized acording to the truth. By G. B. maister +of Artes.</i> [London, 1593.]</p> + +<p><i>A defensative against the poyson of supposed prophecies, not hitherto confuted +by the penne of any man; which being eyther uppon the warrant and +authority of old paynted bookes, expositions of dreames, oracles, revelations, +invocations of damned spirits ... have been causes of great disorder in +the commonwealth and chiefly among the simple and unlearned people.</i> +<i>Circa</i> 1581-3.</p> + +<p><i>The scratchinge of the wytches.</i> 1579.</p> + +<p><i>A warnynge to wytches.</i> 1585.</p> + +<p><i>A lamentable songe of Three Wytches of Warbos, and executed at Huntingdon.</i> +1593.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(The three preceding are ballads. See Hazlitt, <i>Bibliographical +Collections and Notes</i>, 2nd Series. London, 1882.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>A poosye in forme of a visyon, agaynste wytche Crafte, and Sosyrye.</i></p> + +<p><i>A Breife Narration of the possession, dispossession, and repossession of William +Sommers.... Together with certaine depositions taken at Nottingham.</i> +1598.</p> + +<p><i>An Apologie, or defence of the possession of William Sommers, a yong man of +the towne of Nottingham.... By John Darrell, Minister of Christ Jesus.</i> +[1599?] Black letter.</p> + +<p><i>The Triall of Maist. Dorrel, or A Collection of Defences against Allegations....</i> +1599.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(Apparently written by Darrel himself; but the Huth catalogue +(V. 1643) ascribes it to James Bamford.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>A brief Apologie proving the possession of William Sommers. Written by John +Dorrel, a faithful Minister of the Gospell, but published without his +knowledge....</i> 1599.</p> + +<p><i>A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel, Bacheler of Artes....</i> +London, 1599. (By Samuel Harsnett.)</p> + +<p><i>A True Narration of the strange and grevous Vexation by the Devil of seven +persons in Lancashire....</i> 1600. Written by Darrel.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(Reprinted in 1641, and again in the <i>Somers Tracts</i>, III.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>A True Discourse concerning the certaine possession and dispossession of 7 +persons in one familie in Lancashire, which also may serve as part of an +Answere to a fayned and false Discoverie.... By George More, Minister +and Preacher of the Worde of God....</i> 1600.</p> + +<p><i>A Detection of that sinnful, shamful, lying, and ridiculous discours of Samuel +Harshnet.</i> 1600. (By Darrel in answer to Harsnett.)</p> + +<p><i>A Summarie Answere to al the Material Points in any of Master Darel his +bookes, More especiallie to that one Booke of his, intituled, the Doctrine +of the Possession and Dispossession of Demoniaks out of the word of God. +By John Deacon [and] John Walker, Preachers.</i> London, 1601.</p> + +<p><i>A Survey of Certaine Dialogical Discourses, written by John Deacon and John +Walker.... By John Darrell, minister of the gospel....</i> 1602.</p> + +<p><i>The Replie of John Darrell, to the Answer of John Deacon, and John Walker +concerning the doctrine of the Possession and Dispossession of Demoniakes....</i> +1602.</p> + +<p><i>A True and Breife Report of Mary Glover’s Vexation, and of her deliverance +by the meanes of fastinge and prayer.... By John Swan, student in +Divinitie....</i> 1603.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Elizabeth Jackson was indicted on the charge of having bewitched +Mary Glover, but Dr. Edward Jorden, who examined the girl declared +her an hysterical impostor in his pamphlet.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[331]</span></p> + +<p><i>A briefe discourse of a disease called the Suffocation of the Mother, Written uppon +occasion which hath beene of late taken thereby, to suspect possession of an +evill spirit....</i> London, 1603.</p> + +<p><i>A history of the case of Catherine Wright.</i></p> + +<p><i>The strange Newes out of Sommersetshire, Anno 1584, tearmed, a dreadfull +discourse of the dispossessing of one Maggaret Cooper at Ditchet, from a +devill in the likenes of a headlesse beare. Discovery of the Fraudulent +Practices of John Darrel.</i> 1584.</p> + +<p><i>The Most Cruell and Bloody Murther committed by an Inn-keepers Wife called +Annis Dell, and her Sonne George Dell, Foure Years since.... With +the severall Witch-crafts and most damnable practices of one Iohane Harrison +and her Daughter, upon several persons men and women at Royston, who +were all executed at Hartford the 4 of August last past 1606.</i> London, 1606.</p> + +<p><i>The Witches of Northamptonshire.</i></p> + +<ul> +<li><i>Agnes Browne</i></li> +<li><i>Arthur Bill</i></li> +<li><i>Joane Vaughan</i></li> +<li><i>Hellen Jenkenson</i></li> +<li><i>Mary Barber</i></li> +<li><i>Witches</i></li> +</ul> + +<p><i>Who were all executed at Northampton the 22 of July last. 1612.</i> 1612.</p> + +<p><i>The severall notorious and lewd Cosenages of Iohn West and Alice West, falsely +called the King and Queene of Fayries ... convicted.... 1613.</i> London, +1613.</p> + +<p><i>The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the countie of Lancaster. With the +Arraignment and Triall of Nineteene notorious Witches, at the Assizes +and Gaole deliverie, holden at the Castle of Lancaster, upon Munday, the +seventeenth of August last, 1612. Before Sir James Altham, and Sir +Edward Bromley.</i> London, 1613.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(Reprinted by the Chetham Society, edited James Crossley. 1845. +One of the most famous of the witch-trials.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>Witches Apprehended, Examined and Executed, for notable villanies by them +committed both by Land and Water. With a strange and most true trial how +to know whether a woman be a Witch or not.</i> London, 1613.</p> + +<p><i>A Booke of the Wytches Lately condemned and executed at Bedford, 1612-1613.</i></p> + +<p><i>A Treatise of Witchcraft.... With a true Narration of the Witchcrafts which +Mary Smith, wife of Henry Smith, Glover, did practise ... and lastly, +of her death and execution.... By Alexander Roberts, B.D. and Preacher +of Gods Word at Kings-Linne in Norffolke.</i> London, 1616.</p> + +<p><i>The Wonderful Discoverie of the Witchcrafts of Margaret and Phillip Flower, +daughters of Joan Flower neere Bever Castle: executed at Lincolne, +March 11, 1618. Who were specially arraigned and condemned ... for +confessing themselves actors in the destruction of Henry, Lord Rosse, with +their damnable practises against others the Children of the Right Honourable +Francis Earle of Rutland. Together with the severall Examinations and +Confessions of Anne Baker, Joan Willimot, and Ellen Greene, Witches of +Leicestershire.</i> London, 1619.</p> + +<p><i>Strange and wonderfull Witchcrafts, discovering the damnable Practises of seven +Witches against the Lives of certain noble Personages and others of this +Kingdom; with an approved Triall how to find out either Witch or any +Apprentise to Witchcraft.</i> 1621. Another edition in 1635.</p> + +<p><i>The Wonderfull discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer ... late of Edmonton, her +conviction, condemnation and Death.... Written by Henry Goodcole, +Minister of the word of God, and her continuall Visiter in the Gaole of +Newgate....</i> 1621.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(Reprinted in Vol. I (lxxxi-cvii) of Bullen’s recension of the Dyce-Gifford +Ford. 3 vols. London, 1895.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>The Boy of Bilson: or A True Discovery of the Late Notorious Impostures of +Certaine Romish Priests in their pretended Exorcisme, or expulsion of the +Divell out of a young Boy, named William Perry....</i> London, 1622.</p> + +<p><i>A Discourse of Witchcraft As it was acted in the Family of Mr. Edward Fairfax +of Fuystone in the County of York, in the year 1621.</i> Edited by R. +Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton) for Vol. V of <i>Miscellanies of the +Philobiblon Soc.</i> London, 1858-1859. (The editor says the original MS. +is still in existence.)</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[332]</span></p> + +<p><i>A Most certain, strange and true Discovery of a Witch, Being overtaken by some +of the Parliament Forces, as she was standing on a small Planck-board and +sayling on it over the River of Newbury, Together with the strange and true +manner of her death.</i> 1643.</p> + +<p><i>A Confirmation and Discovery of Witch-craft ... together with the Confessions +of many of those executed since May, 1645.... By John Stearne.</i></p> + +<p><i>The Examination, Confession, Triall, and Execution of Joane Williford, Joan +Cariden and Jane Hott: who were executed at Faversham, in Kent ... +all attested under the hand of Robert Greenstreet, Maior of Faversham.</i></p> + +<p><i>A true and exact Relation of the severall Informations, Examinations, and Confessions +of the late Witches arraigned ... and condemned at the late Sessions, +holden at Chelmsford before the Right Honorable Robert, Earle of Warwicke, +and severall of his Majesties Justices of Peace, the 29 of July, 1645.</i></p> + +<p><i>A True Relation of the Arraignment of eighteene Witches at St. Edmundsbury, +27th August, 1645.... As Also a List of the names of those that were +executed.</i></p> + +<p><i>Strange and fearfull newes from Plaisto in the parish of Westham neere Bow +foure miles from London.</i> London, 1645.</p> + +<p><i>The Lawes against Witches and Conjuration, and Some brief Notes and +Observations for the Discovery of Witches. Being very Usefull for these +Times wherein the Devil reignes and prevailes.... Also The Confession +of Mother Lakeland, who was arraigned and condemned for a Witch at +Ipswich in Suffolke.... By Authority.</i> London, 1645.</p> + +<p><i>Signes and Wonders from Heaven.... Likewise a new discovery of Witches +in Stepney Parish. And how 20. Witches more were executed in Suffolk +this last Assize. Also how the Divell came to Sofforn to a Farmer’s house +in the habit of a Gentlewoman on horse backe.</i> London [1645].</p> + +<p><i>Relation of a boy who was entertained by the Devil to be Servant to him ... +about Credition in the West, and how the Devil carried him up in the aire, +and showed him the torments of Hell, and some of the Cavaliers there, etc., +with a coppie of a Letter from Maior Generall Massie, concerning these +strange and Wonderfull things, with a certaine box of Reliques and Crucifixes +found in Tiverton Church.</i> 1645.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(A ridiculous, but not uninteresting, publication.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>The Witches of Huntingdon, their Examinations and Confessions....</i> London, +1646.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(The Dedication is signed by John Davenport.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>The Discovery of Witches: in answer to severall Queries, lately Delivered to the +Judges of Assize for the County of Norfolk. And now published by Matthew +Hopkins, Witchfinder. For the Benefit of the Whole Kingdome....</i> +London, 1647.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(The most famous of the “Hopkins series.”)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>A strange and true Relation of a Young Woman possest with the Devill. By name +Joyce Dovey dwelling at Bewdley neer Worcester.... Also a Letter from +Cambridge, wherein is related the late conference between the Devil (in the +shape of a Mr. of Arts) and one Ashbourner, a Scholler of S. Johns Colledge +... who was afterwards carried away by him and never heard of since onely +his Gown found in the River.</i> London, 1647.</p> + +<p><i>The Full Tryals, Examination and Condemnation of Four Notorious Witches, +At the Assizes held in Worcester on Tuseday the 4th of March.... As +also Their Confessions and last Dying Speeches at the place of Execution, +with other Amazing Particulars....</i> London, no date.</p> + +<p><i>The Divels Delusions or A faithfull relation of John Palmer and Elizabeth Knot +two notorious Witches lately condemned at the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer +in St. Albans.</i> 1649.</p> + +<p><i>Wonderfull News from the North, Or a True Relation of the Sad and Grievous +Torments Inflicted upon the Bodies of three Children of Mr. George Muschamp, +late of the County of Northumberland, by Witchcraft.... As also +the prosecution of the sayd Witches, as by Oaths, and their own Confessions +will appear and by the Indictment found by the Jury against one of them, +at the Sessions of the Peace held at Alnwick, the 24 day of April, 1650.</i> +London, 1650.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[333]</span></p> + +<p><i>The strange Witch at Greenwich haunting a Wench, 1650.</i></p> + +<p><i>A Strange Witch at Greenwich, 1650.</i></p> + +<p><i>The Witch of Wapping, or an Exact and Perfect Relation of the Life and Devilish +Practises of Joan Peterson, who dwelt in Spruce Island, near Wapping; +Who was condemned for practising Witchcraft, and sentenced to be Hanged +at Tyburn, on Munday the 11th of April, 1652.</i> London, 1652.</p> + +<p><i>A Declaration in Answer to several lying Pamphlets concerning the Witch of +Wapping, ... shewing the Bloudy Plot and wicked Conspiracy of one +Abraham Vandenhemde, Thomas Crompton, Thomas Collet, and others.</i> +London, 1652.</p> + +<p><i>The Tryall and Examinations of Mrs. Joan Peterson before the Honourable +Bench at the Sessions house in the Old Bayley yesterday.</i> [1652.]</p> + +<p><i>Doctor Lamb’s Darling, or Strange and terrible News from Salisbury; Being +A true, exact, and perfect Relation of the great and wonderful Contract and +Engagement made between the Devil, and Mistris Anne Bodenham; with +the manner how she could transform herself into the shape of a Mastive Dog, +a black Lyon, a white Bear, a Woolf, a Bull, and a Cat.... The Tryal, +Examinations, and Confession ... before the Lord Chief Baron Wild.... +By James [Edmond?] Bower, Cleric.</i> London, 1653.</p> + +<p><i>Doctor Lamb Revived, or, Witchcraft condemn’d in Anne Bodenham ... who +was Arraigned and Executed the Lent Assizes last at Salisbury, before the +Right Honourable the Lord Chief Baron Wild, Judge of the Assize.... +By Edmund Bower, an eye and ear Witness of her Examination and +Confession.</i> London, 1653. (Bower’s second and more detailed account.)</p> + +<p><i>A Prodigious and Tragicall History of the Arraignment, Tryall, Confession, +and Condemnation of six Witches at Maidstone, in Kent, at the Assizes +there held in July, Fryday 30, this present year, 1652. Before the Right +Honorable, Peter Warburton.... Collected from the Observations of +E. G. Gent, a learned person, present at their Convictions and Condemnation.</i> +London, 1652.</p> + +<p><i>The most true and wonderfull Narration of two women bewitched in Yorkshire: +Who comming to the Assizes at York to give Evidence against the Witch +after a most horrible noise to the terror and amazement of all the beholders, +did vomit forth before the Judges, Pins, wool.... Also a most true Relation +of a young Maid ... who ... did ... vomit forth wadds of straw, +with pins a crosse in them, iron Nails, Needles, ... as it is attested under +the hand of that most famous Phisition Doctor Henry Heers....</i> 1658.</p> + +<p><i>A more Exact Relation of the most lamentable and horrid Contract with Lydia +Rogers, living in Pump-Alley in Wapping, made with the Divel.... +Together with the great pains and prayers of many eminent Divines....</i> +1658.</p> + +<p><i>The Snare of the Devill Discovered: Or, A True and perfect Relation of the sad +and deplorable Condition of Lydia the Wife of John Rogers House Carpenter, +living in Greenbank in Pumpe alley in Wappin.... Also her Examination +by Mr. Johnson the Minister of Wappin, and her Confession. As also in +what a sad Condition she continues....</i> London, 1658.</p> + +<p><i>Strange and Terrible Newes from Cambridge, being A true Relation of the +Quakers bewitching of Mary Philips ... into the shape of a Bay Mare, +riding her from Dinton towards the University. With the manner how she +became visible again ... in her own Likeness and Shape, with her sides +all rent and torn, as if they had been spur-galled, ... and the Names of +the Quakers brought to tryal on Friday last at the Assizes held at Cambridge....</i> +London, 1659.</p> + +<p><i>The Power of Witchcraft, Being a most strange but true Relation of the most +miraculous and wonderful deliverance of one Mr. William Harrison of +Cambden in the County of Gloucester, Steward to the Lady Nowel....</i> +London, 1662.</p> + +<p><i>A True and Perfect Account of the Examination, Confession, Tryal, Condemnation +and Execution of Joan Perry and her two Sons ... for the supposed +murder of William Harrison, Gent....</i> London, 1676.</p> + +<p><i>A Tryal of Witches at the assizes held at Bury St. Edmonds for the County of +Suffolk; on the tenth day of March, 1664.</i> London, 1682; and 1716.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[334]</span></p> + +<p><i>The Lord’s Arm Stratched Out in an Answer of Prayer or a True Relation o; +the Wonderful Deliverance of James Barrow, the Son of John Barrow of +Olaves Southwark, London, 1664.</i> (A Baptist tract.)</p> + +<p><i>The wonder of Suffolke, being a true relation of one that reports he made a league +with the Devil for three years, to do mischief, and now breaks open houses, +robs people daily ... and can neither be shot nor taken, but leaps over +walls fifteen feet high, runs five or six miles in a quarter of an hour, and +sometimes vanishes in the midst of multitudes that go to take him. Faithfully +written in a letter from a solemn person, dated not long since, to a friend +in Ship-Yard near Temple-bar, and ready to be attested by hundreds....</i> +London, 1677.</p> + +<p><i>Daimonomageia: a small Treatise of Sicknesses and Diseases from Witchcraft +and Supernatural Causes.... Being useful to others besides Physicians, +in that it confutes Atheistical, Sadducistical, and Sceptical Principles and +Imaginations....</i> London, 1665.</p> + +<p><i>Hartford-shire Wonder. Or, Strange News from Ware, Being an Exact and +true Relation of one Jane Stretton ... who hath been visited in a +strange kind of manner by extraordinary and unusual fits....</i> London, +1669.</p> + +<p><i>A Magicall Vision, Or a Perfect Discovery of the Fallacies of Witchcraft, As it +was lately represented in a pleasant sweet Dream to a Holysweet Sister, a +faithful and pretious Assertor of the Family of the Stand-Hups, for preservation +of the Saints from being tainted with the heresies of the Congregation +of the Doe-Littles.</i> London, 1673. (Hazlitt, <i>Bibliographical Collections</i>, +fourth series, <i>s. u.</i> Witchcraft.)</p> + +<p><i>A Full and True Relation of The Tryal, Condemnation, and Execution of Ann +Foster ... at the place of Execution at Northampton. With the Manner +how she by her Malice and Witchcraft set all the Barns and Corn on Fire +... and bewitched a whole Flock of Sheep....</i> London, 1674.</p> + +<p><i>Strange News from Arpington near Bexby in Kent: Being a True Narrative +of a yong Maid who was Possest with several Devils....</i> London, 1679.</p> + +<p><i>Strange and Wonderful News from Yowell in Surry; Giving a True and +Just Account of One Elizabeth Burgess, Who was most strangely Bewitched +and Tortured at a sad rate.</i> London, 1681.</p> + +<p><i>An Account of the Tryal and Examination of Joan Buts, for being a Common +Witch and Inchantress, before the Right Honourable Sir Francis Pemberton, +Lord Chief Justice, at the Assizes....</i> 1682. Single leaf.</p> + +<p><i>The Tryal, Condemnation, and Execution of Three Witches, viz., Temperance +Floyd, Mary Floyd, and Susanna Edwards. Who were Arraigned at +Exeter on the 18th of August, 1682.</i> London, 1682.</p> + +<p><i>A True and Impartial Relation of the Informations against Three Witches, viz., +Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles, and Susanna Edwards, who were ... +Convicted at the Assizes holden ... at ... Exon, Aug. 14, 1682. With +their several Confessions ... as also Their ... Behaviour, at the ... +Execution on the Twenty fifth of the said Month.</i> London, 1682.</p> + +<p><i>Witchcraft discovered and punished Or the Tryals and Condemnation of three +Notorious Witches, who were Tryed the last Assizes, holden at the Castle +of Exeter ... where they received sentence of Death, for bewitching severall +Persons, destroying Ships at Sea, and Cattel by Land. To the Tune of +Doctor Faustus; or Fortune my Foe.</i></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(A ballad. Roxburghe Collection. Broadside.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>The Life and Conversation of Temperance Floyd, Mary Lloyd and Susanna +Edwards ...; Lately Condemned at Exeter Assizes; together with a +full Account of their first Agreement with the Devil: With the manner how +they prosecuted their devilish Sorceries....</i> London, 1687.</p> + +<p><i>A Full and True Account of the Proceedings at the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer +... which began at the Sessions House in the Old Bayley on Thursday, +June 1st, and Ended on Fryday, June 2nd, 1682. Wherein is Contained +the Tryall of Jane Kent for Witchcraft.</i></p> + +<p><i>Strange and Dreadful News from the Town of Deptford in the County of Kent, +Being a Full, True, and Sad Relation of one Anne Arthur.</i> 1684-5. +One leaf, folio.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[335]</span></p> + +<p><i>Strange newes from Shadwell, being a ... relation of the death of Alice Fowler, +who had for many years been accounted a witch.</i> London, 1685.</p> + +<p><i>A True Account of a Strange and Wonderful Relation of one John Tonken, of +Pensans in Cornwall, said to be Bewitched by some Women: two of which +on Suspition are committed to Prison.</i> London, 1686.</p> + +<p><i>News from Panier Alley; or a True Relation of Some Pranks the Devil hath +lately play’d with a Plaster Pot there.</i> London, 1687.</p> + +<p><i>A faithful narrative of the ... fits which ... Thomas Spatchet ... was +under by witchcraft....</i> 1693.</p> + +<p><i>The Second Part of the Boy of Bilson, Or a True and Particular Relation of +the Imposter Susanna Fowles, wife of John Fowles of Hammersmith in the +Co. of Midd., who pretended herself to be possessed.</i> London, 1698.</p> + +<p><i>A Full and True Account Both of the Life: And also the Manner and Method +of carrying on the Delusions, Blasphemies, and Notorious Cheats of Susan +Fowls, as the same was Contrived, Plotted, Invented, and Managed by +wicked Popish Priests and other Papists.</i></p> + +<p><i>The trial of Susannah Fowles, of Hammersmith, for blaspheming Jesus Christ, +and cursing the Lord’s Prayer....</i> London, 1698.</p> + +<p><i>The Case of Witchcraft at Coggeshall, Essex, in the year 1699. Being the Narrative +of the Rev. J. Boys, Minister of the Parish.</i> Printed from his manuscript +in the possession of the publisher (A. Russell Smith). London, +1901.</p> + +<p><i>A True and Impartial Account of the Dark and Hellish Power of Witchcraft, +Lately Exercised on the Body of the Reverend Mr. Wood, Minister of +Bodmyn. In a Letter from a Gentleman there, to his Friend in Exon, in +Confirmation thereof.</i> Exeter, 1700.</p> + +<p><i>A Full and True Account of the Apprehending and Taking of Mrs. Sarah +Moordike, Who is accused for a Witch, Being taken near Pauls’ Wharf ... +for having Bewitched one Richard Hetheway.... With her Examination +before the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas Lane, Sir Oven Buckingham, and +Dr. Hambleton in Bowe-lane.</i> 1701.</p> + +<p><i>A short Account of the Trial held at Surry Assizes, in the Borough of Southwark; +on an Information against Richard Hathway ... for Riot and Assault.</i> +London, 1702.</p> + +<p><i>The Tryall of Richard Hathaway, upon an Information For being a Cheat and +Imposter. For endeavouring to take away the Life of Sarah Morduck, For +being a Witch at Surry Assizes....</i> London, 1702.</p> + +<p><i>A Full and True Account of the Discovery, Apprehending, and taking of a +Notorious Witch, who was carried before Justice Bateman in Well-Close +on Sunday, July the 23. Together with her Examination and Commitment +to Bridewel, Clerkenwell.</i> London, 1704.</p> + +<p><i>An Account of the Tryals, Examination, and Condemnation of Elinor Shaw +and Mary Phillips....</i> 1705.</p> + +<p><i>The Northamptonshire Witches....</i> 1705.</p> + +<p><i>The Devil Turned Casuist, or the Cheats of Rome Laid open in the Exorcism +of a Despairing Devil at the House of Thomas Bennington in Oriel.... +By Zachary Taylor, M.A., Chaplain to the Right reverend Father in +God, Nicholas, Lord Bishop of Chester, and Rector of Wigan.</i> London, +1696.</p> + +<p><i>The Surey Demoniack, Or an Account of Satan’s Strange and Dreadful Actings, +In and about the Body of Richard Dugdale of Surey, near Whalley in +Lancashire. And How he was Dispossest by Gods blessing on the Fastings +and Prayers of divers Ministers and People.</i> London, 1697.</p> + +<p><i>The Surey Imposter, being an answer to a late Fanatical Pamphlet, entituled +The Surey Demoniack.</i> By Zachary Taylor. London, 1697.</p> + +<p><i>A Vindication of the Surey Demoniack as no Imposter: Or, A Reply to a +certain Pamphlet publish’d by Mr. Zach. Taylor, called The Surey Imposter....</i> +By T. J., London, 1698.</p> + +<p><i>Popery, Supersitition, Ignorance and Knavery very unjustly by a letter in the +general pretended; but as far as was charg’d very fully proved upon the +Dissenters that were concerned in the Surey Imposture.</i> 1698. Written by +Zachary Taylor.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[336]</span></p> + +<p><i>The Lancashire Levite Rebuked, or a Vindication of the Dissenters from Popery, +Superstition, Ignorance, and Knavery, unjustly Charged on them by +Mr. Zachary Taylor....</i> London, 1698.</p> + +<p><i>The Lancashire Levite Rebuked, or a Farther Vindication.</i> 1698.</p> + +<p><i>Popery, Superstition, Ignorance, and Knavery, Confess’d and fully Proved +on the Surey Dissenters, from a Second Letter of an Apostate Friend, to +Zach. Taylor. To which is added a Refutation of T. Jollie’s Vindication....</i> +London, 1699. Written by Zachary Taylor.</p> + +<p><i>A Refutation of Mr. T. Jolly’s Vindication of the Devil in Dugdale; Or, The +Surey Demoniack.</i> London, 1699.</p> + +<p><i>The Portsmouth Ghost, or A Full and true Account of a Strange, wonderful, and +dreadful Appearing of the Ghost of Madam Johnson, a beautiful young +Lady of Portsmouth, Shewing, 1. Her falling in Love with Mr. John Hunt, +a Captain in one of the Regiments sent to Spain. 2. Of his promising her +Marriage, and leaving her big With Child. 3. Of her selling herself to the +Devil to be revenged on the Captain. 4. Of her ripping open her own Belly, +and the Devil’s flying away with her Body, and leaving the Child in the room.... +7. Of her Carrying [the Captain] away in the night in a flame of fire.</i> +Printed and sold by Cluer Dicey and Co. in Aldermary Church Yard, +Bow Lane. <i>Circa</i> 1704.</p> + +<p><i>A Looking Glass for Swearers, Drunkards, Blasphemers, Sabbath Breakers, +Rash Wishers, and Murderers. Being a True Relation of one Elizabeth +Hale, in Scotch Yard in White Cross Street; who having sold herself to the +Devil to be reveng’d on her Neighbours, did on Sunday last, in a wicked +manner, put a quantity of Poyson into a Pot where a Piece of Beef was a +boyling for several Poor Women and Children, Two of which dropt down +dead, and Twelve more are dangerously Ill; the Truth of which will be +Attested by several in the Neighbourhood. Her Examination upon the +Crowners Inquest and her Commitment to Newgate.</i> Printed by W. Wise +and M. Holt in Fleet Street, 1708.</p> + +<p><i>The Witch of the Woodlands; Or, The Cobler’s New Translation.</i> Printed and +Sold in Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane, London. No date, but +about 1710. This pamphlet merely relates an old legend, but is interesting +as reproducing with appropriate woodcuts intimate details of the +mediæval Sabbat.</p> + +<p><i>An Account of the Tryal, Examination, and Condemnation of Jane Wenham, +on an Indictment of Witchcraft, for Bewitching of Matthew Gilston and +Anne Thorne of Walcorne, in the County of Hertford....</i></p> + +<p><i>A Full and Impartial Account of the Discovery of Sorcery and Witchcraft, +Practis’d by Jane Wenham of Walkerne in Hertfordshire, upon the bodies +of Anne Thorn, Anne Street, &c. ... till she ... receiv’d Sentence of +Death for the same, March 4, 1711-12.</i> London, 1712.</p> + +<p><i>Witchcraft Farther Display’d. Containing (I) An Account of the Witchcraft +practis’d by Jane Wenham of Walkerne, in Hertfordshire, since her +Condemnation, upon the bodies of Anne Thorne and Anne Street.... +(II) An Answer to the most general Objections against the Being and +Power of Witches: With some Remarks upon the Case of Jane Wenham in +particular, and on Mr. Justice Powel’s procedure therein....</i> London, +1712.</p> + +<p><i>A Full Confutation of Witchcraft: More particularly of the Depositions against +Jane Wenham, Lately Condemned for a Witch; at Hertford. In which +the Modern Notions of Witches are overthrown, and the Ill Consequences +of such Doctrines are exposed by Arguments; proving that, Witchcraft is +Priestcraft.... In a Letter from a Physician in Hertfordshire, to his +Friend in London.</i> London, 1712.</p> + +<p><i>The Impossibility of Witchcraft, Plainly Proving, From Scripture and Reason, +That there never was a Witch; and that it is both Irrational and Impious +to believe there ever was. In which the Depositions against Jane Wenham, +Lately Try’d and Condemned for a Witch, at Hertford, are Confuted and +Expos’d.</i> London, 1712.</p> + +<p><i>The Belief of Witchcraft Vindicated; proving from Scripture, there have been +Witches; and from Reason, that there may be Such still. In answer to a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[337]</span>late Pamphlet, Intituled, The Impossibility of Witchcraft....</i> By G. R., +A.M. London, 1712.</p> + +<p><i>The Case of the Hertfordshire Witchcraft Consider’d. Being an Examination +of a book entitl’d, A Full and Impartial Account....</i> London, 1712.</p> + +<p><i>A Defense of the Proceedings against Jane Wenham, wherein the Possibility +and Reality of Witchcraft are Demonstrated from Scripture.... In +Answer to Two Pamphlets Entituled: (I) The Impossibility of Witchcraft, +etc. (II) A Full Confutation of Witchcraft.</i> By Francis Bragge, A.B., +London, 1712.</p> + +<p><i>The Impossibility of Witchcraft Further Demonstrated, Both from Scripture and +Reason ... with some Cursory Remarks on two trifling Pamphlets in +Defense of the existence of Witches.</i> 1712.</p> + +<p><i>An Account of The Tryals, Examination and Condemnation of Elinor Shaw +and Mary Phillips (Two notorious Witches) on Wednesday the 7th of +March, 1705, for Bewitching a Woman, and two children.... With an +Account of their strange Confessions.</i> This is signed at the end, “Ralph +Davis, March 8, 1705.” It was followed very shortly by a completer +account, written after the execution, and entitled:</p> + +<p><i>The Northamptonshire Witches, Being a true and faithful account of the Births, +Educations, Lives, and Conversations of Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips +(The two notorious Witches) That were Executed at Northampton on +Saturday, March the 11th, 1705 ... with their full Confession to the +Minister, and last Dying Speeches at the place of Execution, the like never +before heard of.... Communicated in a Letter last Post, from Mr. Ralph +Davis of Northampton, to Mr. William Simons, Merchantt in London.</i> +London, 1705.</p> + +<p><i>The Whole Trial and Examination of Mrs. Mary Hicks and her Daughter +Elizabeth, But of Nine Years of Age, who were Condemn’d the last Assizes +held at Huntingdon for Witchcraft, and there Executed on Saturday, the +28th of July, 1716 ... the like never heard before; their Behaviour with +several Divines who came to converse with ’em whilst under their sentence +of Death; and last Dying Speeches and Confession at the place of execution.</i> +London, 1716. There is a copy in the Bodleian Library.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(These last three pamphlets are almost certainly spurious.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>A Terrible and seasonable Warning to young Men. Being a very particular +and True Relation of one Abraham Joiner a young Man about 17 or 18 +Years of Age, living in Shakesby’s Walks in Shadwell, being a Ballast Man +by Profession, who on Saturday Night last pick’d up a leud Woman, and +spent what Money he had about him in Treating her, saying afterwards if +she wou’d have any more he must go to the Devil for it, and slipping out of +her Company, he went to the Cock and Lyon in King Street, the Devil +appear’d to him, and gave him a Pistole, ... appointing to meet him the +next Night at the World’s End at Stepney; Also how his Brother perswaded +him to throw the Money away, which he did; but was suddenly Taken in a +very strange manner; so that they were fain to send for the Reverend Mr. +Constable and other Ministers to pray with him, he appearing now to be very +Penitent....</i> Printed for J. Dulton, near Fleet Street. <i>Circa</i> 1718.</p> + +<p><i>A Timely Warning to Rash and Disobedient Children Being a strange and +wonderful Relation of a young Gentleman in the Parish of Stepheny in the +Suburbs of London, that sold himself to the Devil for 12 years to have the +Power of being revenged on his Father and Mother, and how his Time being +expired, he lay in a sad and deplorable Condition to the Amazement of all +Spectators.</i> Edinburgh: Printed Anno 1721.</p> + +<p><i>The Kentish Miracle, Or, a Seasonable Warning to all Sinners Shewn in The +Wonderful Relation of one Mary Moore, whose Husband died some time +ago, and left her with two Children, who was reduced to great Want.... +How the Devil appeared to her, and the many great Offers he made to her to +deny Christ, and enter into his Service; and how she confounded Satan by +powerful Arguments ... with an Account how an Angel appeared to her +and relieved her....</i> Edinburgh: Printed in the Year 1741.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(This is probably a reprint. The style of the pamphlet seems some +thirty or forty years earlier.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[338]</span></p> + +<p><i>Trial of Thomas Colley, to which is annexed some Further Particulars of the +Affair from the Mouth of John Osborne.</i> 1751. (The trial took place at +Hertford Assizes, 30 July, 1751.)</p> + +<p><i>Remarkable Confession and Last Dying Words of Thomas Colley.</i> 1751.</p> + +</div> + +<h3>FRANCE</h3> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Barthéty, H.</span> <i>La sorcellerie en Béarn et dans le pays basque.</i> Pau, 1879.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bernou, J.</span> <i>La chasse aux sorcières dans le Labourd</i> (1609). Agen, 1897.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Beugnot, A.</span> <i>Histoire de la destruction du Paganisme en occident.</i> 2 vols. +Paris, 1835.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bois, Jules.</span> <i>Le Satanisme et la magie. Les Petites Religions de Paris.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bonnemère, Eugène.</span> <i>Histoire des Camisardes des Cévennes.</i> Paris, 1869.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bouchard, H. E.</span> <i>Annette Taudet, ou les sorciers du Poitou au XIXme siècle.</i> +Paris, 1867.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bourignon, Antoinette.</span> <i>La Parole de Dieu.</i> Amsterdam, 1683.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>La vie extérieure.</i> Amsterdam, 1683.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bournon, Jacques.</span> <i>Chroniques de la Lorraine.</i> Nancy, 1838.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brévannes, Roland.</span> <i>L’Orgie Satanique.</i> Paris, 1904.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bricaud, Joanny.</span> <i>J. K. Huysmans et le Satanisme.</i> Paris, 1912.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Huysmans, occultiste et magicien.</i> Paris, 1913.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Un disciple de Cl. de Saint-Martin.</i> Paris, 1911.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Eléments d’Astrologie.</i> Paris, 1911.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Premiers Elements d’Occultisme.</i> Paris, 1912.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cannaert, J. B.</span> <i>Olim: procès des sorcières en Belgique sous Philippe II.</i> +Ghent, 1847.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Caufeynon et Jaf, Drs.</span> <i>Les Messes Noires.</i> Paris, 1905. (A valuable +work.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cauzons, Theodore de.</span> <i>La Magie et la Sorcellerie en France.</i> 4 vols. +Paris, 1900, etc. (A very important study.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chabloz, Fritz.</span> <i>Les sorcières neuchatéloises.</i> Neuchatel, 1868.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Christian, Paul</span> (Paul Pitois). <i>Histoire de la Magie.</i> Paris, 1870.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Closmadeuc, Dr. G. de.</span> <i>Les sorciers de Lorient.</i> Vannes, 1885.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Debay, Dr. A.</span> <i>Histoire des sciences occultes.</i> Paris, 1860.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">De la Martinière.</span> <i>Voyage des Pais Septentrionaux.</i> Paris, 1682.</p> + +<p><i>Discours sur la mort et condamnation de Charles de Franchillon Baron de +Chenevieres, exécuté ... pour Crime de Sortilège et de Magie.</i> Paris, +1626.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Drazor, H. R.</span> <i>Histoire tragique de trois magiciens qvi ont accvsé à la mort +Mazarin en Italie.</i> Paris, 1649.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Elven, Henry von.</span> <i>La Tradition.</i> Vol. V. Paris, 1891.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Figuier, Louis.</span> <i>Histoire du merveilleux dans les temps modernes.</i> 4 vols. +Paris, 1860-1.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier de.</span> <i>Histoire des oracles.</i> Paris, 1687. +(Often reprinted.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fournier, Alban.</span> <i>Epidémie de Sorcellerie en Lorraine.</i> Nancy, 1891.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Garinet, Jules.</span> <i>Histoire de la magie en France.</i> Paris, 1818.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Garsault, F. Alexandre.</span> <i>Faits des causes célèbres et intéressantes.</i> Amsterdam +and Paris, 1757.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Haron, Alfred.</span> <i>La Tradition.</i> Vol. VI. Paris, 1892.</p> + +<p><i>Histoire prodigieuse et espouvantable de plus de deux cens 50 sorciers et sorcières +emmenez pour leur estre fait et parfait leur procès au parlement de Tholoze.</i> +Paris, 1649.</p> + +<p><i>Histoire véritable des crimes horribles commis à Boulogne par deux moynes, deux +gentils-hommes, et deux damoiselles, sur le S. Sacrement de l’Autel, qu’ils +out fait consumer à une Cheure et à un Oye, et sur trois enfants, qu’ils ont +fait distiler sur la lambique.</i> Paris, 1651.</p> + +<p><i>Histoire véritable de l’exécrable Docteur Vanini, autrement nommé Luciolo.</i> +Paris, 1619.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jaf, Le Dr.</span> <i>Physonomie du vice.</i> Paris, <i>circa</i> 1903.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>L’Amour secret.</i> Paris, <i>circa</i> 1904.</p> + +<p><i>Journal d’un bourgeois de Paris.</i> Panthéon Litteraire. Paris, 1838.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[339]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ladame, Dr.</span> <i>Procès criminel de la dernière sorcière brulée à Genève, le 6 avril, +1652.</i> Paris, 1888.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lavanchy, L’Abbé J. M.</span> <i>Sabbats ou synagogues sur les bords du lac d’Annecy.</i> +Annecy, 1885.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lecanu, L’Abbe.</span> <i>Histoire de Satan.</i> 1861.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lecocq, Ad.</span> <i>Les sorciers de la Beauce.</i> Chartres, 1861.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lemoine, Jules.</span> <i>La Tradition.</i> Vol. VI. Paris, 1892.</p> + +<p><i>Les Enfers Lubriques.</i> Paris, <i>circa</i> 1900.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Les Gouvelles, Le Vicomte Hippolyte.</span> <i>Apparitions d’une âme du Purgatoire +en Bretagne.</i> 4th ed. Paris, 1919. (An apparition which visited +Jeanne Audouis [Sœur Marie des Sept Douleurs]).</p> + +<p><i>Les sorceleries de Henry de Valois, et les oblations qu’il faisoit au Diable dans +le bois de Vincennes.</i> 15 pp. Paris, 1589.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(This attack on Henry III has been reprinted several times; as by +Cimber and Darignon <i>Archives curieuses de l’Histoire de France</i>. Vol. +XII, and L’Estoile, <i>Journal de Henri III.</i>)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lillie, Arthur.</span> <i>The Worship of Satan in Modern France.</i> 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Louïse, Th.</span> <i>De la sorcellerie et de la justice criminelle à Valenciennes.</i> +Valenciennes, 1861.</p> + +<p><i>Magie.</i> 2 vols. Paris, <i>circa</i> 1904.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Matter, Jacques.</span> <i>Histoire critique du gnosticisme.</i> 3 vols. Paris, 1828.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Maury, Alfred.</span> <i>Histoire des religions de la Grèce antique.</i> 3 vols. Paris, +1857-9.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>La Magie et l’Astrologie.</i> Paris, 1860. (Often reprinted.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Monnoyer, Jules.</span> <i>La sorcellerie en Hainault ... avec analyse de procès +pour sortilèges (1568-1683).</i> Mons, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Monseur, Eugène.</span> <i>Le folklore Wallon.</i> Brussels, 1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roué, Paul.</span> <i>Causes sales.</i> Paris, 1902.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Salverte, A. J. E. B. de.</span> <i>Essai sur la Magie.</i> Brussels, 1817.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schuré, Edouard.</span> <i>Les grandes légendes de France.</i> 19th ed. Paris, 1922.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Simonet, L’Abbe.</span> <i>Realité de la Magie.</i> Paris, 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thuis, L’Abbé Jean-Baptiste.</span> <i>Traite des superstitions qui regardent les +Sacraments.</i> 3 vols. Paris, 1703. Reprinted 4 vols., 1741; and 4 vols., +1777.</p> + +<p><i>Tradition, La.</i> Vol. V contains Van Elvan’s <i>Les Procès de sorcellerie au +moyen âge</i>. Paris, 1891. Vol. VI contains Harou’s <i>Sorciers et sorcières</i>. +Paris, 1892, also Lemoine’s <i>Sorcellerie contemporaine</i>. Paris, 1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Un Badaud</span> (Paul Marrin). <i>Coup d’œil sur la Magie as XIXme siècle.</i> Paris, +1891.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Coup d’œil sur les thaumaturges et les médiums du XIXme siècle.</i> Paris, 1891.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Waite, Arthur Edward.</span> <i>Devil-Worship in France.</i> London, 1896.</p> + +</div> + +<h3>FRANCE: SPECIAL CASES</h3> + +<h4><i>Madeleine Bavent</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Yvelin, Dr.</span> <i>Examen de la possession des religieuses de Louviers.</i> Paris, 1643.</p> + +<p><i>Responce à l’Examen de la possession des religieuses de Louviers</i>, n.d.</p> + +<p><i>Récit véritable de ce qui s’est fait et passé à Louviers, touchant les religieuses +possédées</i>, n.d.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Le Gauffre.</span> <i>Exorcismes de plusieurs religieuses de la ville de Louuiers en +présence de Monsieur le Penitencier d’Evreux et de Monsieur Le Gauffre.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Le Breton, Jean.</span> <i>La défense de la vérité touchant la possession des religieuses +de Lovviers.</i> Evreux, 1643.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delangle.</span> <i>Procès-verbal de Monsieur le Penitencier d’Evreux.</i> Paris, 1643.</p> + +<p><i>Trois questions touchant l’accident arrivé aux religieuses de Louviers</i>, n.d.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Desmarets, Père.</span> <i>Histoire de Magdelaine Bavent, religieuse du monastère +de Saint-Louis de Louviers avec sa confession générale et testamentaire, ou +elle déclare les abominations, impietez et sacrilèges qu’elle a pratiqué et veu +pratiquer, tant dans ledit monastère qu’au Sabbat.</i> Paris, 1652.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Humier.</span> <i>Discours théologique sur l’histoire de Magdelaine Bavent.</i> Nyort, +1659.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">[340]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Morin, Louis René.</span> <i>Histoire de Louviers.</i> Rouen, 1822.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dibon.</span> <i>Essai historique sur Louviers.</i> Rouen, 1836.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Du Bois, L.</span> <i>Recherches archéologiques ... sur la Normandie.</i> Paris, 1843.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pierart, Z.</span> <i>La magnétisme, le somnambulisme et le spiritualisme dans +l’histoire. Affaire curieuse des possédées de Louviers.</i> Paris, 1858.</p> + +</div> + +<h4><i>Marie Benoist, La Bucaille</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><i>Arrest donné par la chambre ordonée par le Roy au temps des vacations contre +Marie Benoist.</i> Rouen, 1699.</p> + +<p><i>Le tableau prétendu de la pénitence ou le caractère de la dévotion de sœur Marie +Bucaille, accusé d’être sorcière.</i> Rouen, 1699.</p> + +<p><i>Almanach historique, ecclésiastique et politique du Diocèse de Coutances pour +l’année 1774.</i></p> + +</div> + +<h4><i>La Cadière and Père Girard</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><i>Justification de demoiselle Catherine Cadière.</i> 1731.</p> + +<p><i>Factum pour Marie Catherine Cadière contre le Père J.-B. Girard, jésuite, où ce +religieux est accusé de l’avoir portée par un abominable Quietisme aux plus +criminels excès de l’impudicité.</i> Hague, 1731.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Louis, Bishop of Toulon.</span> <i>Mémoires des faits qui se sont passés sous les yeux +de M. l’Evêque de Toulon, lors de l’origine de l’affaire du P. Girard, jésuite, +et de la Cadière.</i> Toulon, 1731.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chaudon.</span> <i>Réponse a l’écrit qui a pour titre “Mémoires des faits, etc.”</i> Aix, +1731.</p> + +<p><i>Les véritables sentiments de Mademoiselle Cadière ... écrits de sa propre +main.</i> Aix, 1731.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boyer d’Aiguilles.</span> <i>Conclusions de M. le procureur général du roi ... au +sujet de procès d’entre le P. Girard....</i> n.d.</p> + +<p><i>Sentence de monsieur l’official de l’évêché de Toulon, qui renvoie le P. Girard +absous des accusations....</i> n.d.</p> + +</div> + +<h4><i>Leonora Galigai</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><i>La Juste pvnition de Lycaon, Florentin, Marquis d’Ancre.</i> Paris, 1617.</p> + +<p><i>Arrest de la Cour de Parlement contre le marechal d’Ancre et sa femmé, prononce +et exécuté à Paris le 8 juillet, 1617.</i></p> + +<p><i>Harangve de la marquise d’Ancre, estant sur l’echaffaut.</i> 1617.</p> + +<p><i>Bref récit de ce qui s’est passé pour l’exécution ... de la marquise d’Anchre.</i> +Paris, 1617.</p> + +<p><i>Discours sur le mort de Eléonor Galligay, femme de Conchine, marquis d’Ancre.</i> +Paris, 1617.</p> + +<p><i>La Médée de la France, dépeinte en personne de la Marguerite d’Ancre.</i> Paris, +1617.</p> + +</div> + +<h4><i>Louis Gaufridi and Madeleine de la Palud</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><i>Arrest de la Covr de Parlement de Provence, portant condamnation contre +Messire Louis Gaufridi ... convaincu de Magie et autres crimes abominables....</i> +Aix, 1611.</p> + +<p><i>Confession faicte par Messire Lovys Gaufridi, prestre en l’église Accoules de +Marseille, prince de magiciens depuis Constantinople jusques à Paris....</i> +Aix, 1611.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fontaine, Jacques.</span> <i>Discovrs des marqves des sorciers ... sur le subiect di +procez de ... Louys Gauffridy.</i> Paris, 1611.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Michaëlis, Père.</span> <i>Histoire admirable de la possession et conversion d’une +pénitente séduite par un magicien....</i> Paris, 1612.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dooms.</span> <i>Actes des exorcismes faits à la Sainte-Baume ... sur Louis Copeau, +Magdeleine de la Palud et Louis Gauffridy.</i> Douai, 1613.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rosset, François de.</span> <i>Les histoires tragiqves de nostre temps.</i> Paris, 1614.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenormant de Chiremont, J.</span> <i>Histoire véritable, mémorable de ce qvi c’est +passé sovs l’exorcisme de trois filles possédées ès pais de Flandre ... ou +il est avssi traité de la police du Sabbat.</i> Paris, 1623.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gineste, Raoul.</span> <i>Louis Gaufridi et Magdeleine de la Palud.</i> Paris, 1904. +(A modern study which must be used with reserve.)</p> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">[341]</span></p> + +<h4><i>Urbain Grandier</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><i>Interrogatoire de maistre Urbain Grandier, prêtre, curé de Saint Pierre-du-Marché +de Loudun, avec les confrontations des religieuses possédées contre +ledict Grandier.</i> Paris, 1634.</p> + +<p><i>Arrest et condamnation de mort contre Maistre Vrbain Grandier ... atteint +et convaincu du crime de magie.</i> Paris, 1634.</p> + +<p><i>Relation veritable de ce qui s’est passé à la mort du curé de Loudun, bruslé tout +vif le vendredi 18 aoust 1634.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tranquille, Père.</span> <i>Véritable relation des justes procédures observées au faict +de la possession des Ursulines de Loudun.</i> Paris, 1634.</p> + +<p><i>La démonomanie de Lodun, qui montre la véritable possession des religieuses +urselines et autres séculières.</i> La Flèche, 1634.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Duncan, Marc.</span> <i>Discours de la possession des religieuses Ursulines de Loudun.</i> +1634.</p> + +<p><i>Récit véritable de ce qui s’est passé à Loudun contre Maistre Urbain Grandier.</i> +Paris, 1634.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">La Foucauldière, M. de.</span> <i>Les effets miraculeux de l’église romain sur les +estranges et affroyables action des démons.</i> Paris, 1635.</p> + +<p><i>Relation de la sortie du démon Balam du corps de la mère prieure des ursulines +de Loudun.</i> Paris, 1635.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Surin, Père.</span> <i>Lettre écrite à Monseigneur l’Evêque de Poictiers par un des +Pères Jésuites qui exorcisèrent à Loudun.</i> Paris, 1635.</p> + +<p><i>La gloire de St. Joseph, victorieux des principaux démons de la possession des +Ursulines de Loudun.</i> Le Mans, 1636.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Luché, Père Mathieu de.</span> <i>Les interrogatoires et exorcismes nouvellement +faites à un démon sur le sujet de la possession des filles urcellines de Loudun.</i> +Paris, 1637.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sainte-Catherine.</span> <i>Le grand pécheur converty, représenté dans les deux estats +de la vie de M. de Queriolet.</i> Lyons, 1690.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aubin.</span> <i>Histoire des diables de Loudun.</i> Amsterdam, 1693.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">La Ménardaye, M. de.</span> <i>Examen et discussion critique de l’histoire des diables +de Loudun.</i> Paris, 1747.</p> + +<p><i>Histoire abrégée de la possession des Ursulines de Loudun.</i> Paris, 1828.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dumas, Alexandre.</span> <i>Crimes célèbres.</i> 6 vols. Paris, 1839-41. (A highly +romantic treatment. This survey must be used with caution.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sauzé, Charles.</span> <i>Etude médico-historique sur les possédées de Loudun.</i> Paris, +1840.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leriche, L’Abbé.</span> <i>Etudes sur les possessions en général et sur celle de Loudun +en particulier.</i> Paris, 1859.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Legué, Dr. G.</span> <i>Documents pour servir à l’histoire médicale des possédées de +Loudun.</i> Paris, 1874.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Urbain Grandier et les possédées de Loudun.</i> Paris, 1880.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jean de Poitiers.</span> <i>Les diables de Loudun.</i> Paris, 1878.</p> + +</div> + +<h4><i>S. Joan of Arc</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenglet-Dufresnoy, L’Abbé N.</span> <i>Histoire de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Paris, 1753-4.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Guilbert.</span> <i>Eloge historique de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Rouen, 1803.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Buchon, J. A.</span> <i>Chronique et procès de la Pucelle d’Orléans.</i> Paris, 1817.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Le Brun des Charmettes.</span> <i>Histoire de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Paris, 1817.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Quatremère-Roissy, J. A.</span> <i>Quelques pièces curieuses sur le mariage prétendu +de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Paris, 1830.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Quicherat, Jules.</span> <i>Aperçus nouveaux sur l’histoire de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Paris, 1841.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Relation inédite sur Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Orléans, 1879.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Beauregard, B. de.</span> <i>Histoire de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Paris, 1847.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Michelet, Jules.</span> <i>Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Paris, 1853.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Briere de Boismont, Dr. A.</span> <i>De l’hallucination historique, ou étude ... sur +les voix et les révélations de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Paris, 1861.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vallet de Viriville.</span> <i>Procès de condamnation de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Paris, 1867.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">O’Reilly, E.</span> <i>Les Deux Procès de condamnation ... de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> +Paris, 1869.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">[342]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robillard de Beaurepaire.</span> <i>Recherches sur le procès de condamnation de +Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Rouen, 1869.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chevalier, A.</span> <i>Jeanne d’Arc. Bio-Bibliographie.</i> Montbeliard, 1878.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Luce, Siméon.</span> <i>Jeanne d’Arc à Domremy.</i> Paris, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Léo Taxil, G. J. P.</span> and <span class="smcap">Fesch, Paul</span>. <i>Le Martyr de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Paris, +1890.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Beaurepaire, Charles de.</span> <i>Notes sur les juges et les assesseurs du procès +de condamnation de Jeanne d’Arc.</i> Rouen, 1890.</p> + +</div> + +<h4><i>La Voisin and her Confederates</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dufey de l’Yonne.</span> <i>La Bastille, mémoires pour servir à l’histoire secrète....</i> +Paris, 1833.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Clément, Pierre.</span> <i>La police de Paris sous Louis XIV.</i> Paris, 1866.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ravaisson, François.</span> <i>Archives de la Bastille.</i> 17 vols. Paris, 1866-74.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Montifaud, M. de.</span> <i>Racine et la Voisin.</i> Paris, 1878.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Loiseleur, Jules.</span> <i>La Saint-Barthélemy, l’affaire des poisons et Mme de +Montespan.</i> Paris, 1882.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jourdy, G.</span> <i>La Citadelle de Besançon ... ou épilogue de l’Affaire des poisons.</i> +1888.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Legué, Dr. G.</span> <i>Medécins et empoisonneurs au XVIIme siècle.</i> Paris, 1890.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nass, Dr. L.</span> <i>Les empoisonnements sous Louis XIV.</i> Paris, 1898.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Funck-Brentano, F.</span> <i>Le drame des poisons.</i> Paris, 1899.</p> + +</div> + +<h4><i>Palladism</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bataille</span> (Dr. Hacks). <i>Le diable au XIXme siècle ou les mystères du Spiritisme.</i> +Paris, 1893.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margiotta, D.</span> <i>Le Palladisme. Culte de Satan.</i> Grenoble, 1895.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vaughan, Miss Diana.</span> (i.e. <span class="smcap">Léo Taxil</span>.) <i>Le Palladium régénéré et libre. Lien +des groupes lucifériens independants.</i> Paris, 1895.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Mémoires d’une ex-palladiste.</i> Paris, 1896.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>La Restauration du Paganisme. Transition décrétée par le Sanctum Regnum, +pour préparer l’etablissement du culte public de Lucifer.</i> Paris, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Surlabrèche, E.</span> <i>La confusion de Satan.</i> Paris, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Papus.</span> <i>Catholicisme, satanisme et occultisme.</i> Paris, 1897.</p> + +</div> + +<h4><i>Gilles de Rais</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meuret, F. C.</span> <i>Annales de Nantes.</i> Nantes, <i>circa</i> 1840.</p> + +<p><i>Petite histoire nantaise ... du Barbe-Bleue nantais, ou du Maréchal de Retz.</i> +Nantes, 1841.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stendhal, H. Beyle.</span> <i>Mémoires d’un touriste.</i> Paris, 1854.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gueraud, Armand.</span> <i>Notice sur Gilles de Rais.</i> Rennes, 1855.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Marchegay.</span> <i>Récit authentique de l’exécution de Gilles de Rays.</i> Nantes, s.d.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lacroix, Paul.</span> <i>Crimes étranges. Le maréchal de Rays.</i> Brussels, 1855.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bossard, L’Abbé E.</span> <i>Gilles de Rais ... dit Barbe-Bleue.</i> Paris, 1885.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Huysmans, J. K.</span> <i>La Magie en Poitou. Gilles de Rais.</i> 1899.</p> + +</div> + +<h4><i>The Templars</i></h4> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Messie, Pierre</span> (Pedro Mexia). <i>Les diverses leçons de Pierre Messie.</i> Paris, +1556.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dupuy, Pierre.</span> <i>Traité concernant l’histoire de France.</i> Paris, 1654.</p> + +<p><i>Histoire de l’abolition de l’ordre des Templiers.</i> Paris, 1779.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nicolaï, Frederic.</span> <i>Essai sur les accusations intentées aux Templiers et sur +le secret de cet ordre.</i> Amsterdam, 1783.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Grouvelle, P.</span> <i>Mémoires historiques sur les Templiers.</i> Paris, 1805.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Raynouard, F. J. M.</span> <i>Monumens historiques relatifs à la condamnation des +Chevaliers du Temple.</i> Paris, 1813.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rey, E.</span> <i>Etude sur les Templiers.</i> Arcis-sur-Aube, 1891.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hamner, Joseph de.</span> <i>Mémoires sur deux coffrets gnostiques du Moyen-Age +du cabinet de M. le duc de Blacas.</i> Paris, 1832.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Barginet, F. A.</span> <i>Discours sur l’histoire civile et religieuse de l’ordre du Temple.</i> +Paris, 1833.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">[343]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Maillard de Chambure, C. H.</span> <i>Régles et statuts secrets des Templiers.</i> Paris, +1841.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Havemann.</span> <i>Geschichte des Ausgangs des Tempelherrenordens.</i> Stuttgart, +1846.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mignard, T. J. A. P.</span> <i>Monographie du coffret de M. le duc de Blacas.</i> Paris, +1852.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Daunant, de.</span> <i>Le procès des Templiers.</i> Nimes, 1863.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Loiseleur, Jules.</span> <i>La doctrine secrète des Templiers.</i> Paris, 1872.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gaidoz, H.</span> <i>Note sur un statuette en bronze représentant un homme assis les +jambes croisées.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Prutz, Hans Dr.</span> <i>Geheimlehre und Geheimstatuten des Tempelherren-Ordens.</i> +Berlin, 1879.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Entwicklung und Untergang des Tempelherrenordens.</i> Berlin, 1888.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jacquot, F.</span> <i>Défense des Templiers.</i> Paris, 1882.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Curzon, Henri de.</span> <i>La Règle du Temple.</i> Paris, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schottmuller.</span> <i>Der Untergang des Tempelordens.</i> 2 vols. Berlin, 1887.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lavocat.</span> <i>Procès des frères et de l’ordre du Temple.</i> Paris, 1888.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Naef, F.</span> <i>Recherches sur les opinions religieuses des Templiers.</i> Nimes, +1890.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gmelin.</span> <i>Schuld oder Unschuld des Templerordens.</i> Stuttgart, 1893.</p> + +</div> + +<h3>ITALY</h3> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><i>Archivio storico italiano.</i> 4 serie. Florence, 1842-85.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boffito.</span> <i>Gli eretici in Piemonte.</i> 1897.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bonni, F.</span> <i>L’Inquisizione e i Calabro-Valdesi.</i> Milan, 1864.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Borelli.</span> <i>Editti antichi e nuovi.</i> Turin, 1681.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Borgia, Stefano.</span> <i>Memorie istoriche della pontificia cittá di Benevento.</i> Rome, +1769.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cantù, Cesare.</span> <i>Gli Eretici d’Italia.</i> 3 vols. Turin, 1865-7.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Storia della Diocesi di Como.</i> 2 vols. Como, 1829-31.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cappelletti.</span> <i>Le Chiese d’Italia.</i> Venice, 1844.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Carutti.</span> <i>Storia della citta di Pinerolo.</i> Pinerolo, 1893.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Castro, G. de.</span> <i>Il Mondo Segreto.</i> 9 vols. Milan, 1864.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Arnaldo da Brescia.</i> Leghorn, 1875.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cattani, Fra.</span> <i>Discorso sopra la Superstizione dell’ Arte Magica.</i> Florence, +1567.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cigogna, Strozzi.</span> <i>Pelagii de gli incanti.</i> Vicenza, 1605</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corio, B.</span> <i>L’Istoria di Milano.</i> Padua, 1646.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dandalo, C. T.</span> <i>La Signora di Monza.</i> Milan, 1855.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">De Blasio, Prof. Abele.</span> <i>La Mala Vita a Napoli.</i> Naples, 1905.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dejob.</span> <i>De l’influence du concile de Trente.</i> Paris, 1884.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Folengo, Girolamo.</span> <i>Opus Macaronicum.</i> 2 vols. Mantua, 1771.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Galvani.</span> <i>Osservazioni sulla Poesia de’ Trovatori.</i> Modena, 1839.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Giannone, P.</span> <i>Istoria civile del Regno di Napoli.</i> 7 vols. Naples, 1770.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gori.</span> <i>Storia di Chiusi.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Grimaldo, Constantini.</span> <i>Dissertatione in cui si investiga quali sian le +operazioni che dependono della magia.</i> Rome, 1751.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Guicciardini, Francesco.</span> <i>Delle istorie d’Italia.</i> 8 vols. Florence, 1818. +Also ed. Resini. 5 vols. Turin, 1874.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lami.</span> <i>Lezioni d’antichitá toscane.</i> 2 vols. Florence, 1766.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leland, C. G.</span> <i>Etruscan Remains.</i> London, 1892.</p> + +<p><i>Lettera dal Inquisitore da Barzalone allo Inquisitore de Novara</i>, n.d.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mastriani, F.</span> <i>I Vermi.</i> 2 vols. Naples, 1877.</p> + +<p><i>Misteri dell’ Inquisizione.</i> Paris, 1847. (A catchpenny.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Monnier, M.</span> <i>La Camorra.</i> Paris, 1863.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Muratori, L. A.</span> <i>Rerum italicarum scriptores.</i> 28 vols. Milan, 1723 <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><i>Continuatio opera Jo. Mar. Tartini.</i> 2 vols. Florence, 1748-80.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Antiquitates italicæ medii aevi.</i> 6 vols. Milan, 1738.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Annali d’Italia.</i> 5 vols. Milan, 1838.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mutinelli.</span> <i>Storia Arcana d’Italia.</i> 4 vols. Venice, 1858.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Muzi.</span> <i>Memorie ecclesiastiche e civili di Cittá di Castello.</i> Rome, 1842-7.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">[344]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Niceforo, A. e Sighele.</span> <i>La Mala Vita a Roma.</i> Rome, 1899.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>L’Italia barbara.</i> Rome, 1898.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Novellis.</span> <i>Biografia Saviglianese.</i> Turin, 1840.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ogniben, Andrea.</span> <i>I Guglielmiti del secolo XIII.</i> Perugia, 1847.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pecci, Giovanni Antonio.</span> <i>Storia del vescovado della cittá di Siena.</i> Lucca, +1748.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pellet, M.</span> <i>Naples contemporaine.</i> Paris, 1894.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Perini, O.</span> <i>Storia delle Societá Segrete.</i> 2 vols. Milan, 1863.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rossetti, Gabriele.</span> <i>Disquisitions on the Antipapal Spirit ... its Secret +Influence....</i> 2 vols. 1834. (Translated by Miss C. Ward.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Segni, Giovanni Battista.</span> <i>Del vero cristiano contra l’arte planetaria.</i> +Ferrara, 1592.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Silvagni, D.</span> <i>La Corte e la Societá Romana nei XVIII e XIX secoli.</i> 2nd +ed. 3 vols. Florence, 1882-5.</p> + +<p><i>Successo di Giustitia fatta nella cittá di Munich di sei scelerati strigoni.</i> Genoa, +1641.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tocco.</span> <i>L’Eresia nel medio Evo.</i> Florence, 1884.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Torricello.</span> <i>Dialogo di Otto Lupano, nel qual si ragiona delle statute e +miracoli de demoni e spiriti.</i> Milan, 1540.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Turletti.</span> <i>Storia di Savigliano.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ughelli.</span> <i>Italia sacra.</i> 10 vols. Venice, 1721.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vayra, P.</span> <i>Le Streghe nel Canarese (Curiositá di Storia Subalpina).</i> 1874.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vizzini, A.</span> <i>La Mafia.</i> Rome, 1880.</p> + +</div> + +<h3>NORTH AMERICA</h3> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><i>A True though Sad Relation of Six Sea-men</i> (<i>Belonging to the</i> Margaret <i>of</i> +Boston) <i>Who Sold Themselves to the</i> Devil <i>And were Invisibly Carry’d +away</i>. A pamphlet of 8 pages. N.D. <i>Circa</i> 1698.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bancroft.</span> <i>History of the United States.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Burr, George Lincoln.</span> <i>Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases.</i> New York, +1914.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>The Witchcraft Persecutions.</i> Univ. of Pennsylvania Translations and +Reprints. Vol. III. No. 4. Philadelphia, 1903.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Calef, Robert.</span> <i>The Wonders of the Invisible World.</i> Boston, 1700.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Drake, Samuel G.</span> <i>Annals of Witchcraft.</i> 1869.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Green, Samuel Abbott.</span> <i>Groton in the Witchcraft Times.</i> Cambridge, Mass., +1883.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hutchinson, John.</span> <i>History of the Province of Massachuset’s Bay.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kittredge, G. L.</span> <i>Notes on Witchcraft.</i> American Antiquarian Soc. Proceedings. +N.S. xviii. 1906-7.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mather, Cotton.</span> <i>The Wonders of the Invisible World.</i> Boston, 1693.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mather, Increase.</span> <i>Remarkable Providences.</i> Boston, 1683-4.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Neal, D.</span> <i>History of New England.</i> London, 1747.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nevins, W. S.</span> <i>Witchcraft in Salem Village.</i> Boston, 1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Poole, W. F.</span> <i>Salem Witchcraft.</i> Boston, 1869.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Taylor, John.</span> <i>The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut.</i> New York, +n.d.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Upham, Clement Wentworth.</span> <i>History of Salem Witchcraft.</i> 2 vols.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Upham, Caroline E.</span> <i>Salem Witchcraft in Outline.</i> Illustrated. 3rd ed. +Salem, Mass., 1891.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(This is mainly a compendium of C. W. Upham’s larger work.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap">Winsor, J.</span> <i>The Literature of Witchcraft in New England.</i> 1896. (Reprinted +from Proc. Am. Antiq. Soc., 1895.)</p> + +</div> + +<h3>GERMANY</h3> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Buchinger.</span> <i>Julius Echter von Melpresbrunn.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dieckhoff.</span> <i>Die Waldenser im Mittelalter.</i> Gottingen, 1851.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dieffenbach, Johann.</span> <i>Der Hexenwahn vor und nach der Glaubensspaltung +in Deutschland.</i> Mainz, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">[345]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Duhr.</span> <i>Stellung des Jesuiten in den deutschen Hexenprozessen.</i> Freiburg, +1900.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Duringsfeld.</span> <i>Das festliche Jahr.</i> Leipzig.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Flügel, G.</span> <i>Mani, seine Lehre und seine Schriften.</i> Leipzig, 1862.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gaar, G. S. J.</span> <i>Christliche Anred nächst dem Scheiterhaufen, worauff der +Leichnam Mariæ Renatæ, einer durchs Schwert hingerichtetin Zauberin, +den 21ten Jun. An. 1749, ausser der Stadt Würzburg, verbrennet worden, +an ein Zahlreich versammeltes Volk gethan....</i> (Contemporary and +important.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Glaubrecht, Otto.</span> <i>Die Schreckensjahre von Lindheim.</i> Stuttgart, 1886.</p> + +<p><i>Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hansen, Joseph.</span> <i>Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwahns +und der Hexenverfolgung im Mittelalter.</i> Bonn, 1901. (A valuable +and important study.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Helbing.</span> <i>Die Tortur, Geschichte der Folter, etc.</i> 2 vols. Berlin, 1902.</p> + +<p><i>Historia tragica adolescentis prænobilis Ernesti ab Ernberg.</i> (Written by his +confessor, a Jesuit father. Collect. Gropp. Vol. II, pp. 287, <i>sqq.</i>)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Horst, Georg Conrad.</span> <i>Dæmonomagie, oder Geschichte des Glaubens an +Zauberei und dæmonische Wunder.</i> Frankfort. 2 vols. 1818.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Horst, Victor.</span> <i>Zauberbibliothek.</i> 6 vols.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kessler.</span> <i>Mâni Forschungen über die manichäissche Religion.</i> 2 vols. +Berlin, 1889, <i>sqq.</i></p> + +<p><i>Kleiner Beitrag zur Geschichte des Hexenwesens im 16 Jahrhundert.</i> Trier, +1830.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kopp.</span> <i>Die Hexenprozesse und ihre Gegner in Tyrol.</i> Innsbruck, 1874.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Krone.</span> <i>Fra Dolcino und die Patarerer.</i> Leipzig, 1844.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lehmann.</span> <i>Aberglaube und Zauberei.</i> Stuttgart, 1908.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leitschuh, Friedrich Dr.</span> <i>Beitræge zur Geschichte des Hexenwesens in +Franken.</i> Bamberg, 1883.</p> + +<p><i>Der letzte Hexenprocess in Deutschland.</i> Pirna, 1849.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Loschart, Oswald, C.R.P.</span> <i>Die wahrhafte und umständliche Nachricht von +dem Zufalle, so das jungfräuliche Kloster Unterzell Nächst Würzburg +betroffen, verfasset im Jahr 1749.</i> 1749.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meyer, Ludwig.</span> <i>Die Periode der Hexenprocesse.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Müller, Karl.</span> <i>Die Waldenser und ihre einzelnen Gruppen bis zum Anfang +des 14 Iahrhunderts.</i> Gotha, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ochsenbein.</span> <i>Aus dem Schweizer Volksleben des XV Iahrhunderts.</i> 1881.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paulus.</span> <i>Hexenwahn und Hexenprozess in 16 Jahrh.</i> Freiburg, 1910.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rapp, Ludwig.</span> <i>Die Hexenprozesse und ihre Gegner aus Tyrol.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Reinsburg, O. F. von.</span> <i>Bavaria Landes und Volkskunde des Königreichs +Bayern.</i> Munich, 1860-66.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rietzler.</span> <i>Hexenprozesse in Bayern.</i> Stuttgart, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scherr, J.</span> <i>Hammerschläge und Historien.</i> Vol. II. sub <i>Die letzte Reichshexe</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schindler.</span> <i>Der Aberglaube des Mittelalters.</i> Breslau, 1858.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schreiber.</span> <i>Die Hexenprozesse im Breisgau.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schumacher, H. A.</span> <i>Die Stedinger, Beitrag zur Geschichte der Wesenmarschen.</i> +Bremen, 1865.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Silberstein, August.</span> <i>Denksäulen im Gebeite der Cultur und Literatur.</i> +Vienna, 1879.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Soldan-Heppe.</span> <i>Geschichte der Hexenprozesse.</i> 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1880.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>(Soldan’s famous work “neu gearbitet von Dr. Heinrich Heppe.”)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap">Steck, Rudolff.</span> <i>Die Akten des Jetzerprozesses nebst dem Defensorium.</i> +Basel, 1904.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Steiner.</span> <i>Geschichte der Stads Dieburg.</i> Darmstadt, 1829.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Trummer, C.</span> <i>Vorträge über Tortur, Hexenverfolgungen, Vehmgerichte, etc.</i>, in +<i>Der Hamburgischen Rechtsgeschichte</i>. Vol. I.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Volk, Fr.</span> <i>Hexen in der Landvogtei Ortenau und Reichstadt Offenburg.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Witzschel, August.</span> <i>Sitten, Sagen, und Gevräuche aus Thuringen.</i> Vienna, +1878.</p> + +<p><i>Wunderbarliche Geheimnussen der Zauberey.</i> 4to. 1630.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zingerle, Ignaz, Dr.</span> <i>Barbara Pachlerin, die Sarnthaler Hexe.</i> Innsbruck, +1858.</p> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">[346]</span></p> + +<h3>SPIRITISM</h3> + +<div class="bibliography"> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Adepte, Un.</span>” <i>Katie King, Histoire de ses Apparitions.</i> Paris, 1879.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ballou, Adin.</span> <i>Spirit Manifestations.</i> Boston, 1852; Liverpool, 1853.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Benson, Very Rev. Mgr. Hugh.</span> <i>Spiritualism.</i> C.T.S. No. 36.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Blackmore, S.J., Simon Augustine.</span> <i>Spiritism, Facts and Frauds.</i> London, +1925. (The best concise study of the subject. The work is fairly and +authoritatively written, and the conclusions are eminently sane.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Browson.</span> <i>The Spirit-Rapper.</i> Boston, 1854. In Vol. IX of Works. Detroit, +1884.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Butt, G. Baseden.</span> <i>Modern Psychism.</i> London, 1925.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Capron, E. W.</span> <i>Modern Spiritualism.</i> New York, 1855.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Carrington, Hereward.</span> <i>Physical Phenomena.</i> 1920.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism.</i> Boston, 1902.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Carter, Huntly.</span> <i>Spiritualism, Its Present-Day Meaning. A Symposium.</i> +London, 1920.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Coates, James.</span> <i>Seeing the Invisible: practical studies in Psychometry</i>, etc.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Crawford, W. J.</span> <i>Experiments in Psychical Science.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><i>The Reality of Psychic Phenomena.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><i>Some practical Hints for those investigating ... Spiritualism.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delanne, G.</span> and <span class="smcap">G. Bourniquet</span>. <i>Ecoutons les Morts.</i> Paris, 1923.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dunraven, Earl of.</span> <i>Experiences in Spiritualism with D. D. Home.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Durville.</span> <i>Le Fântome des Vivants.</i> Paris, 1909.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fournier d’Albe, E. E.</span> <i>The Goligher Circle, May to August, 1921.</i> London, +1922.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gasparin, Count Agenor de.</span> <i>Des tables tournantes.</i> Paris, 1854.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gurney, Myers</span>, and <span class="smcap">Podmore</span>. <i>Phantasms of the Living.</i> 2 vols. London, +1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gutherlet.</span> <i>Der Kampf und die Seele.</i> 2nd ed. Mainz, 1903.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jung, J. H.</span> <i>Theorie der Geisterkunde.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lansloto, O.S.B., D. I.</span> <i>Spiritism Unveiled.</i> St. Louis, 1913. (An excellent +and most valuable work.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lepicier, O.S.M., Alexis.</span> <i>The Unseen World.</i> London, 1906.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lillie, Arthur.</span> <i>Modern Mystics and Modern Magic.</i> London, 1894.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lodge, Sir Oliver.</span> <i>Raymond, or Life after Death.</i> London, 1916</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pailloux, C. S.</span> <i>Le Magnetisme, le Spiritisme, et la possession.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Raupert, J. Godfrey.</span> <i>Spiritistic Phenomena; their interpretation.</i></p> + +<p class="book"><i>New Black Magic.</i> 1924.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Modern Spiritism.</i> London, 1907.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sargent, Epes.</span> <i>Planchette or the Despair of Science.</i> Boston, 1869.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schrenck-Notzing, Baron von.</span> <i>Phenomena of Materialization.</i> Trans. +by E. E. Fournier d’Albe. London, 1923.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Semenoff, Marc.</span> <i>Introduction à la vie secrète.</i> Paris, 1925.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Spicer, Henry.</span> <i>Sights and Sounds; the Mystery of the Day.</i> London, 1853.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Surbled.</span> <i>Spiritualism et spiritisme.</i> Paris, 1898.</p> + +<p class="book"><i>Spirites et mediums.</i> Paris, 1901.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thurston, S.J., Herbert F.</span> <i>The Problems of Materialization.</i> <i>The Month</i>, +Oct., 1922. (And a number of valuable articles which have been published +of recent years in <i>The Month</i>.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Trethewy, A. W.</span> <i>The Controls of Stainton Moses.</i> London, 1925.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wallace, A. R.</span> <i>Miracles and Modern Spiritualism.</i> London, 1897.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">[347]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2> + +</div> + +<ul> + +<li class="ifrst">Abraham, Statue of, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Accommodation theory, false, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Ad Abolendam</i>, Bull of Lucius III, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ælian, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Æneas sacrifices to Night, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ætius, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">African witchcraft, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Agrippa, Cornelius, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Akiba, Rabbi, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Albertus Magnus, Blessed, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Albigenses, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Alchemist, The</i>, <a href="#Page_304">304-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aldonistæ, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alduin, Count, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alexander III, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alexander IV, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Alphonsus, King of Arragon</i> (Greene), <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alphonsus Liguori, S., <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68-9</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J., <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ambrose, S., <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anania, Lorenzo, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Andreas, S., of Rinn, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anne Catherine Emmerich, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Antony, S. (the Great), <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Apollodorus, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Apuleius, Lucius, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aquila of Pontus, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aquinas, S. Thomas, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, + <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arab witches, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aretæus, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ariberto, Archbishop of Milan, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aristophanes, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aristotle, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arnauld Amaury, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arnobius, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arrows, Divination with, <a href="#Page_182">182-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Asceticus</i>, heretical treatise, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Asmodeus, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Asperges, mock, at witches’ mass, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Athanasius, S., <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Augustine of Hippo, S., <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aupetit, Pierre, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Azor, S.J., Juan, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Bacon, Lord, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bagnolenses, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Balaam, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <i>sqq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Balac, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <i>sqq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Baltimore, Second Council of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Balzac, Honoré de, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bancroft, Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, <a href="#Page_229">229-30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Baptism at the Sabbat, <a href="#Page_84">84-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Barbagli, Domenica (ecstatic), <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Barrett, Sir William, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Basil, S., <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Basque Sabbats, <a href="#Page_112">112-13</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Basques, Les</i>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bavent, Madeleine, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Becquet, Isabel, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Beghards, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bekhten, The Prince of, <a href="#Page_198">198-200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Belon, Jean, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Belphegor</i>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Benedict XII, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Benedict XIV, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Benedict, S., <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222-23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Benedict, S., Medal of, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Benedictus (a sorcerer), <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bernard of Como, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Berry, Mr. George F., <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Besançon, The Holy Winding Sheet of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Besinnet, Ada, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Billuart, O.P., Charles René, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Binsfeld, Bishop Pierre, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Birth of Merlin, The</i>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bishop, Bridget, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Black book or roll of witches, <a href="#Page_85">85-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blackstone’s <i>Commentaries</i>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blessing of the Waters (Epiphany), <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blocksburg, The, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blockula, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blood used to seal compacts, <a href="#Page_67">67-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bocal, Pierre, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bodin, Jean, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bogomiles, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Boguet, Henri, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130-3</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, + <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bois, Jules, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bonacina, Martino, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bonaventura, S., <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Boulanger, General, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Boullé, Thomas, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">[348]</span>Bourignon, Antoinette, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bournement, Abbé, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bouvier, Jean-Baptist, Bishop of Le Mans, <a href="#Page_92">92-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Boyle, Robert, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brey, Abbé Charles, <a href="#Page_240">240-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bricaud, Joanny, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brignoli, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Broomstick, The Witches’, <a href="#Page_121">121-4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Browne, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Brutus of Alba</i>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bulls dealing with sorcery, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Burchard of Worms, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Burner, Thiébaut and Joseph, The Possession of, <a href="#Page_238">238-43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Burroughs, George, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Busembaum, S.J., Hermann, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buskitt, Dr. F. G., <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Bussy d’Ambois</i>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">C., Stella, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cæsarius, S., of Arles, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cainites, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Caius Marius</i>, <a href="#Page_301">301-2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caligula, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Calmet, Augustin Dom, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Camisards, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Candles, black, used at Sabbat, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Canidia, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carino, the Manichee, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carpocrates, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carrère, Mlle Eva, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carrier, Martha, a Salem witch, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Castell of Perseverance, The</i>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Castelvicz, Countess, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Castro, Alfonso de, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cathari, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Catherine de Medici, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Catherine de Ricci, S., <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Catherine of Siena, S., <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Charles IX of France, causes black mass to be performed, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Charles de Sezze, Bl., <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Charolais, Madame de, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chesne, Pierre du, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cincture of S. Monica, <a href="#Page_82">82-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Clement XI, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Clement of Alexandria, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cockcrow, Sabbat ends at, <a href="#Page_117">117-18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Colette, S., <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">College, Stephen, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Colley, Archdeacon, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Collin de Plancy, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coman, Widow, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Concorrezenses, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Consolamentum, Manichæan rite, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Contract of witches with the Devil, <a href="#Page_65">65-70</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cook, Florence, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cord of S. Francis, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cornelius, Pope, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cornelius à Lapide, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Covens, number of members in, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">organization of, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cox, Julian, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Craddock, Mr., <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Craisson, Mgr., <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crespet, Père, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crookes, F.R.S., Sir William, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cross, Recovery of the True, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cullender, Rose, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Custom of the Country, The</i>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cybele, The rites of, <a href="#Page_201">201-2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cyprian of Antioch, S., <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cyril, S., of Jerusalem, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cyril, S., of Alexandria, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">D’Abadie, Jeannette, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Dame Dobson</i>, <a href="#Page_302">302-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dance, at the Sabbat, <a href="#Page_139">139-43</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Religious, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">at Seville (Los Seises), <a href="#Page_140">140-1</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Danæus, Lambert, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Darling, Thomas, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Darrel, John, <a href="#Page_224">224-30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Davenport brothers, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">David, Abbé, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Davies, Sir John, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Deane, Mrs., <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Deborah (Debbora), Song of, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dee, Dr. John, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Lancre, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, + <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Delrio, S.J., Martin Anton, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Demaratus, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Demdike, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Demosthenes, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Denobilibus, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>De Rebus Uenereis ...</i>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Devil, a man, Grand Master of the Sabbat, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">theological teaching concerning, <a href="#Page_51">51-4</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">in animal disguise at the Sabbat, <a href="#Page_134">134-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Devil’s Charter, The</i>, <a href="#Page_307">307-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Devil is an Ass, The</i>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dianic cult, imaginary, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Dido and Æneas</i>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dinarchus, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Diocletian, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dionysus, The rites of, <a href="#Page_201">201-2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dioscorides, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Divine, men who have claimed to be, <a href="#Page_55">55-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Divining Cup of Joseph, The, <a href="#Page_183">183-4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Domitian, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dryden, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dualistic religion, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ducrot, General, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">[349]</span><i>Duke and No Duke</i>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Duke of Guise, The</i>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Duny, Amy, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dupanloup, Mgr., Bishop of Orleans, <a href="#Page_244">244-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">D’Urfey, Tom, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Echalar, Juan de (sorcerer), <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Edeline, Guillaume, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Edmonds, John Worth, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Egbo sorcerers, <a href="#Page_136">136-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eglinton, William, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Egyptian, belief in possession, <a href="#Page_198">198-200</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">magicians and Moses, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eicher, S.J., Father, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elbel, O.F.M., Benjamin, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eldred, Charles, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eleusinian Mysteries, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elich, Philip Ludwig, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eliezar, <a href="#Page_194">194-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elipandus of Toledo, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elymas the sorcerer, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Empress of Morocco, The</i> (Duffett), <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Endor, The Witch of, <a href="#Page_176">176-84</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ephrem Syrus, S., Doctor Ecclesiæ, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ermanno of Parma, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Erto (medium), <a href="#Page_266">266-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Etheridge, S.J., Father John, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Euchites, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eugenius IV, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Euripides, <a href="#Page_201">201-2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Evagrius Scholasticus, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Executions, Last European, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Exorcism, The rite of, <a href="#Page_209">209-19</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">A shorter, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Baptismal, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Exorcists, Anglican canon concerning, <a href="#Page_230">230-3</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Attempted by Puritan ministers, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Minor Order of, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Ordination of, <a href="#Page_207">207-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eznih of Kolb, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Fabre des Essarts, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Fair Maid of the Inn, The</i>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> + +<li class="indx">False Christs, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Familiars, animal, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Farnabie, Thomas, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fascinum, <a href="#Page_98">98-101</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Fatal Jealousie, The</i>, <a href="#Page_300">300-1</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Faust</i> (Goethe), <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Faust Legend, Dramatic versions of the, <a href="#Page_280">280-4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Feasting at the Sabbat, <a href="#Page_144">144-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Felix of Urgel, heretic, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fian, Doctor, and his confederates, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, + <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fiard, Abbé, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Filliucci, S.J., Vincenzo, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fox family (mediums), <a href="#Page_256">256-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay</i>, <a href="#Page_285">285-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Francis, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Francis of Assisi, S., <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Francis Xavier, S., <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fugairon, Dr., of Lyons, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst"><i>Gallicinium</i>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Garrison, William Lloyd, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gasparin, Agénor de, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gaufridi, Louis, <a href="#Page_72">72-3</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84-5</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, + <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gazariens, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gemma Galgani, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gerard Majella, S., <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gerson, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gesner, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gil, of Santarem, Blessed, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Giles Corey</i>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gilles de Rais, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, + <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Glanvill, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Glossarium Eroticum</i>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gnostic, The first, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gnostic Church of Lyons, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gnostics, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Goats, The” (secret society), <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Godelmann, Johann, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Görres, Johann Joseph, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gothescalch of Fulda, heretic, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gottardo of Marsi, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grandier, Urbain, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Greek heroes, The cult and relics of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Greeley, Horace, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gregory VII, S., <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gregory IX, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gregory XIII, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gregory XV, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gregory, S., of Nyssa, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gregory of Nanzianzus, S., <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grilland, Paul, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, + <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grimoires, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guardia, El santo Nino de la, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guazzo, Francesco Maria, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81-9</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guibourg, Abbé, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> +<li class="isub1">(and his confederates), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guldenstubbe, Baron de, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guthrie, Helen, a Forfar witch, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Hare, Robert, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Harold of Gloucester, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Harsnett, Samuel, <a href="#Page_229">229-30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hartley, Edmund, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Haydon, Mrs. (medium), <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Heliogabalus, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Henry II of England, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Heraclius, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Herod Agrippa I, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Herodas, <a href="#Page_98">98-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hilarion, S., <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hinemar, Archbishop of Rheims, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">[350]</span>Hippolytus, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Holland, Mrs. (medium), <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Holt, Lord Chief Justice, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Home, Daniel D. (medium), <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Homer, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hopkins, Matthew, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Horace, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Horner, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hosts, as used at witches’ mass, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156-7</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Stolen from churches, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hugh of Lincoln, S., <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Humiliati, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hush, Mr. Cecil, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hutchinson, Bishop Francis, <a href="#Page_101">101-2</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Huysmans, J. K., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hydesville, Home of Fox family, <a href="#Page_256">256-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hydromantia, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst"><i>If It Be Not Good, The Divel is in it</i>, <a href="#Page_306">306-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ignatius Loyola, S., <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Illfurt, Case of possession at, <a href="#Page_238">238-43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Incense, noxious weeds burned for, in witches’ rites, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Incubi, <a href="#Page_89">89-103</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Indian-Queen, The</i>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Innocent III, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Innocent IV, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Innocent VIII, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Institutiones Theologiæ Mysticæ</i> (Schram), <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ireland, Witchcraft in, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isidore of Seville, S., <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst"><i>James the Fourth</i> (Greene), <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Janicot, Basque deity, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jerome, S., <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jetzer, Brother, a Jacobin of Berne, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Joan, S., of Arc, false theories concerning, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Johannites, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">John XXII, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx">John Chrysostom, S., <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li class="indx">John George II, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">John of the Cross, S., <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jonson, Ben, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Joseph of Cupertino, S., <a href="#Page_126">126-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Josephins, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jovio Paolo, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Judas Iscariot, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Juno Lacinia, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Justin Martyr, S., <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Juvenal, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Kembter, C.P.R., Adrian, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Khlysti, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Khonsu, god of Thebes, <a href="#Page_198">198-200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Khosroes (Khusran) II of Persia, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kincaid, John, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>King Henry VI</i> (Part II), <a href="#Page_287">287-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kluski, Franek, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kōsēm (magician), <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kyteler, Dame Alice, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Laban and Jacob, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Là-Bas</i> (Huysmans), <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lactantius, <a href="#Page_99">99-100</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lancashire Witches, The</i> (Ainsworth), <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lancashire Witches, The</i> (Dibdin), <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lancashire Witches, The</i> (Fitzball), <a href="#Page_309">309-10</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lancashire Witches, The</i> (Shadwell), <a href="#Page_296">296-9</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Langton, Walter, Bishop of Coventry, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Laruatus</i> (= crazed), <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Late Lancashire Witches, The</i>, <a href="#Page_292">292-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leaf, Mr. Horace, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lecollet, Abbé, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lemmi, Adriano, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leo IV, Pope, S., <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leo XIII, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Levitation, <a href="#Page_124">124-7</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Liber Pœnitentialis</i> of S. Theodore, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Life of Mother Shipton, The</i>, <a href="#Page_299">299-300</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lodge, Sir Oliver, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Louis XIV, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Love for Love</i>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303-4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lucan, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Luciferians, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lucius III, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Luckey Chance, The</i>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lunacy, Induced by Spiritism, <a href="#Page_253">253-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lusty Juventus</i>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Luther, Martin, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst"><i>Macbeth</i>, <a href="#Page_289">289-90</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Machiavelli Niccolo, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Magdalena de la Cruz, <a href="#Page_69">69-70</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Magico Prodigioso, El</i>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maiolo, Simon, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Malleus_Maleficarum"><i>Malleus Maleficarum</i>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, + <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manasses, King of Juda, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mandæans, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Mandragola, La</i>, <a href="#Page_187">187-8</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mandrakes, <a href="#Page_187">187-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mani, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mania, Roman goddess, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manichees, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Mankind</i>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manlius, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Margaret of Cortona, S., <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maria Maddalena de Pazzi, S., <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marion, Elie, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">[351]</span>Mark, The Devil’s, <a href="#Page_70">70-5</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Martin, S., of Tours, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Mary of Nimmegen</i>, <a href="#Page_284">284-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Masks worn at the Sabbat, <a href="#Page_136">136-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Queens</i>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mass, mock, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mass of S. Sécaire, <a href="#Page_156">156-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mass, Witches’, origin of, <a href="#Page_42">42-3</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">liturgy of, <a href="#Page_145">145-57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maternus, Julius Firmicus, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mather, Cotton, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maurus, O.S.B., S., <a href="#Page_223">223-4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">May-fires, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mazzolini, O.P., Sylvester, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Medal of S. Benedict, <a href="#Page_222">222-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Melancthon, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Menander (heretic), <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Merry Devil of Edmonton, The</i>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Messalians, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Michaelis, Sebastian Ven., <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Middleton, Thomas, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Midsummer bonfires, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Midsummer-Night’s Dream</i>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Miller (medium), <a href="#Page_261">261-2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Missal, Devil’s, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Montanus, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Montespan, Madame de, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">More, George, <a href="#Page_227">227-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moses, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moses, William Stanton, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Mother Bombie</i>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mousseaux, Gougenot des, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Munnings, Mother, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Murray, Miss M. A., <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mystery Plays, <a href="#Page_276">276-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Mystique Divine, La</i> (Ribet), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Naasseni, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Name given to witches, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Naudé, Gabriel, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Neo-Gnostic Church, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Neri, S. Philip, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nevillon, Silvain, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Newes from Scotland</i>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nicander, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nicephorus Calixtus, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nicetas, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nicniven, “a notabill sorceres,” <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nider, O.P., John, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Nigramansir</i>, <a href="#Page_278">278-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nipple, Supernumerary, <a href="#Page_75">75-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Norbert, S., <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">North-Berwick Kirk, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Numa, Second King of Rome, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Odour of Sanctity, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Œdipus</i> (Dryden and Lee), <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ointment, Flying, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Old Wives’ Tales, The</i> (Peele), <a href="#Page_286">286-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ophites, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Origen, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Orlando Furioso</i> (Greene), <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orthodox Eucharist, <a href="#Page_147">147-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Osculum infame</i>, <a href="#Page_137">137-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ovid, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Owen, Rev. G. Vale, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264-5</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">P., Stanislava, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Palladian Temple (<i>Templum Palladicum</i>), discovered in Rome, <a href="#Page_152">152-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Palladino Eusapia, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Palmer, John, a wizard, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Palud, Madeleine de la, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paolo de Caspan, O.P., Fra, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pasagians, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Patarini, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paterson, a pricker, <a href="#Page_74">74-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paul, S., <a href="#Page_193">193-4</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paul I., Pope S., <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paul of the Cross, S., <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pauliciani, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pauper, Marcelline, <a href="#Page_145">145-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pausanias, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pauvres de Lyon, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pax, burlesqued by witches, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peach, Father Edward, <a href="#Page_234">234-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peckham, Sir George, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pecoraro, Nino, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pelagius I, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peña, Francesco, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pentheus, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peratæ, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peter Damian, S., <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peter, S., <a href="#Page_191">191-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peter of Verona, S., <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peter Parenzo, S., <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peters, Mr. Vout, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Petronius Arbiter, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Phædra, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Philip I of France, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Philip Neri, S., <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Philip the Deacon, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Philippi, a medium healed at, <a href="#Page_206">206-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Picard, Maturin, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pike, Albert, of Charleston, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Piper, Mrs., <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pius IX, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Plautus, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pliny, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Plutarch, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Poirier, Possession of Hélène-Josephine, <a href="#Page_243">243-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ponzinibio, Giovanni Francesco, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Porta, Baptista, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Possession of devils in the Gospels, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prelati, Antonio Francesco, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prickers of witches, Official, <a href="#Page_74">74-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Priscillian of Avila, heretic, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Propertius, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">[352]</span>Prosecution of witches by the Cæsars, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Protestant exorcism, <a href="#Page_232">232-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prudentius, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prynne, William, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Psychic Science, British College of, <a href="#Page_235">235-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pythagoras, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Quintus Fulvius, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Raimond Rocco, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rameses II, <a href="#Page_198">198-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Raphael, S., <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Read, Mary, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Red Book of Appin, <a href="#Page_86">86-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Regino of Prüm, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Reid, Thom, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Relics, The cultus of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Religion of the Manichees, The</i>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Remy, Nicolas, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Richet, Professor Charles, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Robert I of France, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Robert le Diable</i>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Robert of Bury S. Edmunds, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Robinson, Anne, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rocheblanche, Abbé de, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rosary, The Holy, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rothe, Anne, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rousseau, Abbé, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rowley, William, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rudolph, S., of Berne, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">S., Willy (medium), <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sabazius, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sabbat, Dances at the, <a href="#Page_139">139-43</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Derivation of name, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Feasting at, <a href="#Page_143">143-5</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Liturgy of, <a href="#Page_145">145-7</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Methods of travelling to the, <a href="#Page_118">118-33</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Music at the, <a href="#Page_142">142-3</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">When held, <a href="#Page_111">111-6</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Where held, <a href="#Page_113">113-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sacrament, Diabolical, of Salem witches, <a href="#Page_146">146-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sacrifice, of animals, <a href="#Page_158">158-60</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">of children, <a href="#Page_88">88-9</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">of the God, hypothetical, <a href="#Page_33">33-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>S. Patrick for Ireland</i>, <a href="#Page_305">305-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Salmanticenses, <a href="#Page_91">91-2</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Samuel, Ghost of, <a href="#Page_178">178-81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Saturday, why no Sabbat held on, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Saul, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sawyer, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_58">58-9</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290-2</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scapular, Carmelite, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sceva, The seven sons of, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Schott, S.J., Gaspar, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Schram, O.S.B., Dominic, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Schrenck-Notzing, Baron von, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scot, Reginald, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Secret Commonwealth, The</i> (Robert Hink), <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Seneca, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sethians, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Seven Champions of Christendom, The</i>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Seville Cathedral, Ritual dance at, <a href="#Page_140">140-1</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shadwell, Mrs., <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shadwell, Thomas, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shrill voice of ghosts, <a href="#Page_177">177-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sillé, Gilles de, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Silvester of Abula, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Simon Abeles, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Simon Magus, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Simon, S., of Trent, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sinistrari, Ludovico Maria, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes</i>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sisto da Siena, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Slade (a medium), <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Soir de Folie, Un</i> (revue), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Somers, William, <a href="#Page_227">227-30</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Sophonisba</i> (Lee), <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Sophonisba</i> (Marston), <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Sorcière Canidie, La</i>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Sorcière, La</i> (Dupetit-Mèré and Ducagne), <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Sorcière, La</i> (Sardou), <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Soulis, Lord William, of Hermitage, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Speronistæ, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spina, Bartolomeo de, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spiritism, Condemned by the Catholic Church, <a href="#Page_268">268-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spiritism, Some present-day activities of, <a href="#Page_264">264-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spiritistic churches and assemblies, <a href="#Page_264">264-5</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spiritualism, its present-day meaning, <a href="#Page_254">254-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sprenger, James, vide <a href="#Malleus_Maleficarum"><i>Malleus Maleficarum</i></a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stapleton, Thomas, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Starchie, Nicholas, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Statius, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stearne, John, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stewart, Francis, Earl of Bothwell, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stewart, Mrs. Josie K., <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Strabo, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stridtheckh, Christian, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stumpf, Peter-Paul, Bishop of Strasburg, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Suarez, S.J., Francesco, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Summis desiderantes</i>, Bull of Innocent VIII, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Symons, Arthur, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Tacitus, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tamburini, S.J., Thomas, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tanchelin and his anarchy, <a href="#Page_36">36-40</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Targum of Jonathan, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tartarins, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tartary, Wizards in, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">[353]</span>Tea-leaves used in divination, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Tempest, The</i>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Templars, The, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Templiers, Les</i>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Teraphim, <a href="#Page_189">189-90</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Teresa, S., <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tertullian, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Theodore, S., of Canterbury, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Theodoret, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Theodosius II, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thurston, S.J., Father, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thyraus, S.J., Hermann, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tibullus, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Titivillus, <a href="#Page_279">279-80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Toads, associated with Sabbat, <a href="#Page_158">158-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tobias, <a href="#Page_190">190-1</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tomson, Mrs. Elizabeth A., <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Trappolin Creduto Principe</i>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Travers-Smith, Mrs., <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Trial of Witchcraft, The</i> (John Bell), <a href="#Page_70">70-1</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tuileries, Séance at, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Turrecremata (Torquemada), Juan de, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Two Noble Kinsmen, The</i>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Tyrannick Love</i>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">V., Mr., <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valentine (medium), <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valentinian I, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valentinian II, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valentinian III, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valentinians, heretical sect, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valentinus, heretic, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Vampire, Le</i>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vaudois, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vaughan, S.J., Bernard, <a href="#Page_254">254-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vearncombe, Mr., <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vergil, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Veronica Giuliani, S., <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Verrall, Mrs., <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vestments worn at witches’ mass, <a href="#Page_153">153-4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Victor III Bl. (Desiderius), <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vio Gaetani, Tommaso de, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Visigoth code, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Voisin, Catherine la, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Voisin, Marguerite la, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Voodooism, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Walburga, S., <a href="#Page_111">111-2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Waldenses, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Walpurgis-Nacht, Die, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ward, Seth, Bishop of Exeter, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Wars of Cyrus, The</i>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Weir, Major Thomas, <a href="#Page_34">34-6</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wenham, Jane, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Werner, S., of Oberwesel, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Weston, S.J., William, <a href="#Page_224">224-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Weyer, John, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wilde, Oscar, Alleged script by, <a href="#Page_267">267-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">William of Paris, boy martyr, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">William, S., of Norwich, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Williams, Mrs. (medium), <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Willibrod, S., Ritual at shrine of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Winer, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Wise Woman of Hogsdon</i>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Witch, The</i> (Middleton), <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Witch, The</i> (Wiers-Jennsen), <a href="#Page_311">311-2</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Witch of Edmonton, The</i> (Ford and Dekker), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290-2</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Witch of Islington, The</i>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Witch Traveller, The</i>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Witchcraft forbidden in the Bible, <a href="#Page_181">181-2</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>World tost at Tennis, The</i>, Masque, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wright, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_75">75-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wright, Katherine, <a href="#Page_225">225-6</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst"><i>Zoroastres</i>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> +</ul> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">[354]</span></p> + +<p class="center larger">THE HISTORY OF<br> +CIVILIZATION</p> + +<p class="center">A COMPLETE HISTORY OF MANKIND FROM<br> +PREHISTORIC TIMES TO THE PRESENT<br> +DAY IN UPWARDS OF 200 VOLUMES<br> +DESIGNED TO FORM A COMPLETE<br> +LIBRARY OF SOCIAL EVOLUTION</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Editor</i>: C. K. OGDEN, of Magdalene College, Cambridge</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Consulting American Editor</i>: Professor HARRY ELMER BARNES.</p> + +</div> + +<table> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">A. PRE-HISTORY AND ANTIQUITY</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">I <span class="smcap">Introduction and Pre-History</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Social Organization</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>W. H. R. Rivers</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Earth Before History</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>E. Perrier</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Prehistoric Man</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>J. de Morgan</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Dawn of European Civilization</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>V. Gordon Childe</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">A Linguistic Introduction to History</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>J. Vendryes</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">A Geographical Introduction to History</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>L. Febvre</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Race and History</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>E. Pittard</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Aryans</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>V. Gordon Childe</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">From Tribe to Empire</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>A. Moret</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Woman’s Place in Simple Societies</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>J. L. Myers</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Cycles in History</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>J. L. Myers</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Diffusion of Culture</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>G. Elliot Smith</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Migration of Symbols</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>D. A. Mackenzie</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">II <span class="smcap">The Early Empires</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Nile and Egyptian Civilization</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>A. Moret</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Colour Symbolism of Ancient Egypt</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>D. A. Mackenzie</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Mesopotamian Civilization</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>L. Delaporte</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Ægean Civilization</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>G. Glotz</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">III <span class="smcap">Greece</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Formation of the Greek People</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>A. Jardé</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Ancient Greece at Work</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>G. Glotz</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Religious Thought of Greece</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>C. Sourdille</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Art of Greece</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>W. Deonna</i> and <i>A. de Ridder</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Greek Thought and the Scientific Spirit</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>L. Robin</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Greek City and its Institutions</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>G. Glotz</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Macedonian Imperialism</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>P. Jouguet</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">IV <span class="smcap">Rome</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Ancient Italy</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>L. Homo</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Roman Spirit in Religion, Thought, and Art</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>A. Grenier</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Roman Political Institutions</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>L. Homo</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Rome the Law-Giver</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>J. Declareuil</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Ancient Economic Organization</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>J. Toutain</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Roman Empire</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>V. Chapot</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Ancient Rome at Work</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>P. Louis</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Celts</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>H. Hubert</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">V <span class="smcap">Beyond the Roman Empire</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Germany and the Roman Empire</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>H. Hubert</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Persia</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>C. Huart</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Ancient China and Central Asia</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>M. Granet</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*A Thousand Years of the Tartars</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>E. H. Parker</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">India</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>(Ed.) S. Lévi</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Heroic Age of India</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>N. K. Sidhanta</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Caste and Race in India</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>G. S. Ghurye</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Life of Buddha as Legend and History</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>E. H. Thomas</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">B. CHRISTIANITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">I <span class="smcap">The Origins of Christianity</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Israel and Judaism</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>A. Lods</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Jesus and the Birth of Christianity</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>C. Guignebert</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Formation of the Church</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>C. Guignebert</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Advance of Christianity</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>C. Guignebert</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*History and Literature of Christianity</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>P. de Labriolle</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">II <span class="smcap">The Break-up of the Empire</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Dissolution of the Western Empire</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>F. Lot</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Eastern Empire</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>C. Diehl</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Charlemagne</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>L. Halphen</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Collapse of the Carlovingian Empire</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>F. Lot</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Origins of the Slavs</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>(Ed.) P. Boyer</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Popular Life in the East Roman Empire</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>N. Baynes</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Northern Invaders</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>B. S. Phillpotts</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">III <span class="smcap">Religious Imperialism</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Islam and Mahomet</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>E. Doutté</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Advance of Islam</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>L. Barrau-Dihigo</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Christendom and the Crusades</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>P. Alphandéry</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Organization of the Church</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>R. Genestal</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">IV <span class="smcap">The Art of the Middle Ages</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Art of the Middle Ages</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>P. Lorquet</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Papacy and the Arts</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>E. Strong</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">V <span class="smcap">Reconstitution of Monarchic Power</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Foundation of Modern Monarchies</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>C. Petit-Dutaillis</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Growth of Public Administration</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>E. Meynial</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Organization of Law</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>E. Meynial</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">VI <span class="smcap">Social and Economic Evolution</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Development of Rural and Town Life</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>G. Bourgin</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Maritime Trade and the Merchant Gilds</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>P. Boissonnade</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Life and Work in Medieval Europe</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>P. Boissonnade</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Life of Women in Medieval Times</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Eileen Power</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Travel and Travellers of the Middle Ages</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>(Ed.) A. P. Newton</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">VII <span class="smcap">Intellectual Evolution</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Education in the Middle Ages</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>G. Huisman</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Philosophy in the Middle Ages</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>E. Bréhier</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Science in the Middle Ages</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Abel Rey</i> and <i>P. Boutroux</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">VIII <span class="smcap">From the Middle Ages to Modern Times</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Nations of Western and Central Europe</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>P. Lorquet</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">Russians, Byzantines, and Mongols</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>(Ed.) P. Boyer</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="ast">The Birth of the Book</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>G. Renaudet</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Grandeur and Decline of Spain</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>C. Hughes Hartmann</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Influence of Scandinavia on England</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>M. E. Seaton</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Philosophy of Capitalism</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>T. E. Gregory</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Prelude to the Machine Age</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>D. Russell</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*Life and Work in Modern Europe</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>G. Renard</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>A special group of volumes will be devoted to</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">(1) <span class="smcap">Subject Histories</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The History of Medicine</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>C. G. Cumston</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The History of Money</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>T. E. Gregory</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The History of Costume</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>M. Hiler</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The History of Witchcraft</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>M. Summers</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The History of Taste</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>J. Isaac</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The History of Oriental Literature</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>E. Powys Mathers</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The History of Music</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Cecil Gray</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">(2) <span class="smcap">Historical Ethnology</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Ethnology of India</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>T. C. Hodson</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Peoples of Asia</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>L. H. Dudley Buxton</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The Threshold of the Pacific</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>C. E. Fox</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*The South American Indians</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Rafael Karsten</i></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="center">* An asterisk denotes that the volume does <i>not</i> +form part of the French collection, <i>L’Evolution de l’Humanité</i>.</p> + +<p><i>In the Sections devoted to MODERN HISTORY +the majority of titles will be announced later. Many volumes are, however, +in active preparation, and of these the first to be published will be</i></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>*The Restoration Stage</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>M. Summers</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*London Life in the Eighteenth Century</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>M. Dorothy George</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*China and Europe in the Eighteenth Century</td> + <td class="tdr"><i>A. Reichwein</i></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The <i>New York Times</i> calls this series “An adventure in letters and learning +whose range is so audacious as to challenge the imagination to conceive it in its +full implication.... A new type of vision on the whole perspective of +historical science.”</p> + +<p>The <i>Chicago Evening Post</i>: “The scope is to be comprehensive and the +performance so far has been brilliant. Mr. Knopf will have done the public an +invaluable service by thus putting at its disposal an authoritative history of the +world, entirely in English, each field covered by a man who has mastered it.... +The History of Civilization ought to prove a force not only in the spread +of knowledge, but in the propagation of international good-will.”</p> + +<p>James T. Shotwell writes: “The History of Civilization, edited by Mr. Ogden +of Magdalene College, Cambridge, marks a new stage in the History of History. +Hitherto we have had co-operative surveys of sections of European History, but +they have all suffered from limitations of space. The various contributors have +been obliged by the editors to put into a chapter material which ordinarily would +call for a whole volume. This great History leaves the author a real freedom +to cover his subject adequately, and once this is granted, the chief editorial +problem is to secure the outstanding authority in the particular subject. The +list of authors in this series could hardly be bettered. Each writer can bring a +distinct contribution apart from the data with which he deals; each great phase +of human evolution is presented here in a masterful survey and fits well into the +general synthesis.</p> + +<p>“Turning from the special volumes to the work as a whole, one finds a conception +of history which corresponds to the demands of those interested in the +social and intellectual development of Europe, while alongside of it the political +story still furnishes the traditional framework. It is a living picture of a vast +movement, splendidly conceived and sure to be adequately executed.”</p> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77145 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77145-h/images/cover.jpg b/77145-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..84d399e --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/77145-h/images/doggo.jpg b/77145-h/images/doggo.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7470e60 --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/images/doggo.jpg diff --git a/77145-h/images/plate1.jpg b/77145-h/images/plate1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..35504ee --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/images/plate1.jpg diff --git a/77145-h/images/plate2.jpg b/77145-h/images/plate2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a41274 --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/images/plate2.jpg diff --git a/77145-h/images/plate3.jpg b/77145-h/images/plate3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dceff5c --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/images/plate3.jpg diff --git a/77145-h/images/plate4.jpg b/77145-h/images/plate4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6305b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/images/plate4.jpg diff --git a/77145-h/images/plate5.jpg b/77145-h/images/plate5.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c1a39f --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/images/plate5.jpg diff --git a/77145-h/images/plate6.jpg b/77145-h/images/plate6.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..96de4ef --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/images/plate6.jpg diff --git a/77145-h/images/plate7.jpg b/77145-h/images/plate7.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e7f5cc --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/images/plate7.jpg diff --git a/77145-h/images/plate8.jpg b/77145-h/images/plate8.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..04eb5b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/77145-h/images/plate8.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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