There are some Opinions in which a Man should stand Neuter, without
engaging his Assent to one side or the other. Such a hovering Faith as
this, which refuses to settle upon any Determination, is absolutely
necessary in a Mind that is careful to avoid Errors and
Prepossessions. When the Arguments press equally on both sides in
Matters that are indifferent to us, the safest Method is to give up
ourselves to neither.
It is with this Temper of Mind that I consider the Subject of
Witchcraft. When I hear the Relations that are made from all Parts of
the World, not only from _Norway_ and _Lapland_, from the _East_ and
_West Indies_, but from every particular Nation in _Europe_, I cannot
forbear thinking that there is such an Intercourse and Commerce with
Evil Spirits, as that which we express by the Name of Witchcraft. But
when I consider that the ignorant and credulous Parts of the World
abound most in these Relations, and that the Persons among us who are
supposed to engage in such an Infernal Commerce are People of a weak
Understanding and crazed Imagination, and at the same time reflect
upon the many Impostures and Delusions of this Nature that have been
detected in all Ages, I endeavour to suspend my Belief till I hear
more certain Accounts than any which have yet come to my Knowledge. In
short, when I consider the Question, Whether there are such Persons in
the World as those we call Witches? my Mind is divided between the two
opposite Opinions; or rather (to speak my Thoughts freely) I believe
in general that there is, and has been such a thing as Witchcraft; but
at the same time can give no Credit to any Particular Instance of it.
I am engaged in this Speculation, by some Occurrences that I met with
Yesterday, which I shall give my Reader an Account of at large. As I
was walking with my Friend Sir ROGER by the side of one of his Woods,
an old Woman applied her self to me for my Charity. Her Dress and
Figure put me in mind of the following Description in _Otway_.
_In a close Lane as I pursu'd my Journey,
I spy'd a wrinkled_ Hag, _with Age grown double,
Picking dry Sticks, and mumbling to her self.
Her Eyes with scalding Rheum were gall'd and red;
Cold Palsy shook her Head: her Hands seem'd wither'd;
And on her crooked Shoulders had she wrapp'd
The tatter'd Remnants of an old striped Hanging,
Which serv'd to keep her Carcass from the Cold:
So there was nothing of a-piece about her.
Her lower Weeds were all o'er coarsely patch'd
With diff'rent-colour'd Rags, black, red, while, yellow,
And seem'd to speak Variety of Wretchedness._
As I was musing on this Description, and comparing it with the Object
before me, the Knight told me, that this very old Woman had the
Reputation of a Witch all over the Country, that her Lips were
observed to be always in Motion, and that there was not a Switch about
her House which her Neighbours did not believe had carried her several
hundreds of Miles. If she chanced to stumble, they always found Sticks
or Straws that lay in the Figure of a Cross before her. If she made
any Mistake at Church, and cryed _Amen_ in a wrong Place, they never
failed to conclude that she was saying her Prayers backwards. There
was not a Maid in the Parish that would take a Pin of her, though she
should offer a Bag of Money with it. She goes by the name of _Moll
White_, and has made the Country ring with several imaginary Exploits
which are palmed upon her. If the Dairy Maid does not make her Butter
come so soon as she would have it, _Moll White_ is at the bottom of
the Churn. If a Horse sweats in the Stable, _Moll White_ has been upon
his Back. If a Hare makes an unexpected Escape from the Hounds, the
Huntsman curses _Moll White_. Nay, (says Sir Roger) I have known the
Master of the Pack, upon such an Occasion, send one of his Servants to
see if _Moll White_ had been out that Morning.
This Account raised my Curiosity so far, that I begged my Friend Sir
Roger to go with me into her Hovel, which stood in a solitary Corner
under the side of the Wood. Upon our first entring Sir Roger winked to
me, and pointed at something that stood behind the Door, which upon
looking that way I found to be an old Broomstaff. At the same time he
whispered me in the Ear to take notice of a Tabby Cat that sat in the
Chimney-Corner, which, as the old Knight told me, lay under as bad a
Report as _Moll White_ her self; for besides that _Moll_ is said often
to accompany her in the same Shape, the Cat is reported to have spoken
twice or thrice in her Life, and to have played several Pranks above
the Capacity of an ordinary Cat.
I was secretly concerned to see Human Nature in so much Wretchedness
and Disgrace, but at the same time could not forbear smiling to hear
Sir Roger, who is a little puzzled about the old Woman, advising her
as a Justice of the Peace to avoid all Communication with the Devil,
and never to hurt any of her Neighbours' Cattle. We concluded our
Visit with a Bounty, which was very acceptable.
In our Return home Sir Roger told me, that old _Moll_ had been often
brought before him for making Children spit Pins, and giving Maids the
Night-Mare; and that the Country People would be tossing her into a
Pond and trying Experiments with her every Day, if it was not for him
and his Chaplain.
I have since found, upon Enquiry, that Sir Roger was several times
staggered with the Reports that had been brought him concerning this
old Woman, and would frequently have bound her over to the County
Sessions, had not his Chaplain with much ado perswaded him to the
contrary.
I have been the more particular in this Account, because I hear there
is scarce a Village in _England_ that has not a _Moll White_ in it.
When an old Woman begins to doat, and grow chargeable to a Parish, she
is generally turned into a Witch, and fills the whole Country with
extravagant Fancies, imaginary Distempers, and terrifying Dreams. In
the meantime the poor Wretch that is the innocent Occasion of so many
Evils begins to be frighted at her self, and sometimes confesses
secret Commerce and Familiarities that her Imagination forms in a
delirious old Age. This frequently cuts off Charity from the greatest
Objects of Compassion, and inspires People with a Malevolence towards
those poor decrepid Parts of our Species, in whom Human Nature is
defaced by Infirmity and Dotage.
_Addison._