I conjure you by that which you profess,
(Howe'er you come to know it,) answer me;
Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches--though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up--
Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down--
Though castles topple on their warder's heads--
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
Their heads to their foundations--though the
treasure
Of nature's germins tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken, answer me
To what I ask you. SHAKSPEARE.
In our two preceding papers,[1] we have briefly brought before the
attention of the reader, a few of the most prominent and striking
features connected with the history of the first (as the honourable
house hath it in 1602) "of those detestable slaves of the devil,
witches, sorcerers, enchanters and conjurors." And now we proceed to
offer a few concluding illustrations of the subject.
[1] See vol xi. p. 391--vol. xii. p. 70.
In the early ages, to be possessed of a greater degree of learning and
science than the mass of mankind (at a time when even kings could not
read or write) was to be invested with a more than earthly share of
power; and the philosopher was in consequence subjected in many cases to
a suspicion at once dangerous and dishonourable: to use the language of
Coleridge, the real teachers and discoverers of truth were exposed to
the hazard of fire and faggot; a dungeon being the best shrine that was
vouchsafed to a Roger Bacon or a Galileo!
A few years since, a place was pointed out to the writer, on the borders
of Scotland, which had been even within the "memory of the oldest
inhabitant," used for the "trial" of witches; and a pool of water in an
adjacent stream is still to be seen, where the poor old creatures were
dragged to sink or swim; and our informant added, that a very great
number had perished on that spot. Indeed, in Scotland, a refinement of
cruelty was practised in the persecution of witches; the innocent
relations of a suspected criminal were tortured in her presence, in the
hope of extorting confession from her, in order to put an end to their
sufferings, after similar means had been used without effect on herself.
Even children of seven years of age were sometimes tortured in the
presence of their mothers for this design. In 1751, at Trigg, in
Hertfordshire, two harmless old people above seventy years of age, being
suspected of bewitching a publican, named Butterfield, a vast concourse
of people assembled for the purpose of ducking them, and the poor
wretches were seized, and "stripped naked by the mob, their thumbs tied
to their toes, and then dragged two miles and thrown into a muddy
stream;" the woman expired under the hands of her persecutors, but her
husband, though seriously injured, escaped with his life. One of the
ringleaders of this atrocious outrage, was tried and hung for the
offence.
The delusion respecting witches was greatly increased in the first
instance by a Bull issued by Pope Innocent III. in 1484, to the
inquisitors at Almaine, "exhorting them to discover, and empowering them
to destroy, all such as were guilty of witchcraft." The fraternity of
Witchfinders arose in consequence, and they seem to have been imbued
with the genuine spirit of inquisitors, delighting in hunting out and
dragging to the torture the innocent and harmless. They had the most
unlimited authority granted them, and the whole thunders of the Vatican
were directed to the destruction of witches and wizards. The bloody
scenes which followed, exceed description. In 1435, Cumanus (an
inquisitor) burnt forty-one poor women for witches, in the country of
Burlia, in one year. One inquisitor in Piedmont burnt a hundred in a
very short time; and in 1524, a thousand were burnt in one year in the
diocese of Como, and a hundred annually for a considerable period; on
all of whom the greatest cruelties were practised. The fraternity of
witchfinders soon found their way to this country, under the fostering
protection of the government; and it was of course their interest to
keep up the delusion by every means in their power. We have already
alluded to the cruelties exercised in Great Britain during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, and add an account of one of the cruel
ceremonies used to detect witches:--"Having taken the suspected witch,"
says Gaule, "she is placed in the middle of a room upon a stool or
table, cross-legged, or in some other uneasy posture, to which if she
submits not, she is then bound with cords. There she is watched and kept
without meat or sleep for the space of four-and-twenty hours; for (they
say) that within that time they shall see her imp come and suck. A
little hole is likewise made in the door for the imp to come in at; and
lest it should come in some less discernible shape, they that watch are
taught to be ever and anon sweeping the room, and if they see any
spiders or flies, to kill them. And if they cannot kill them, they may
be sure they are her imps!" Towards the conclusion of the seventeenth
century, the delusion and jugglery of witchcraft was in a great measure
overthrown by the firmness of the English judges; amongst the most
prominent of whom stands Chief Justice Holt. Indeed a statute was
shortly after passed, which made it _wilful murder_, should any of the
objects of persecution lose their lives. The popular belief, however, in
witchcraft still continued, and it was not till the ninth year of George
II., that the statutes against it were repealed. We believe there is
still an Irish statute unrepealed, which inflicts capital punishment on
witches.
All is now of the _past_. The "schoolmaster is abroad," and not only is
the belief in witches, but all the tribe of ghosts and spirits is fast
melting away. The latter have also added in no inconsiderable degree to
the sum of human suffering. The number of the good was small compared to
the evil, and though it was in their power to come in what shape or
guise they chose, "dilated or condensed, bright or obscure," yet it must
be confessed they generally chose to assume "forms forbidden," and their
visitations were much oftener accompanied with "blasts from hell" than
"airs from heaven." It has been justly remarked that "they were potent
agents in the hands of the priest and the tyrant to delude and to
enslave; for this business they were most admirably fitted, and most
faithfully did they perform it." Those inevitable evils which man is
destined to endure in this present state, are enough without the
addition of the almost unmingled bitterness of the infusion, which
superstition would pour into his cup.
_(To be continued.)_
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