as _Lex Salicarum_ provideth punishment for them that flie in the aire
from place to place, and meete at their nightlie assemblies, and brave
bankets, carrieng with them plate, and such stuffe, &c: even as we
should make a lawe to hang him that should take a church in his hand
at _Dover_, and throwe it to _Callice_. And bicause in this case also
popish lawes shall be seene to be as foolish and lewd as any other
whatsoever, and speciallie as tyrannous as that which is most cruell:
you shall heare what trim new lawes the church of _Rome_ hath latelie
devised. These are therefore the words of pope _Innocent_ the eight to
the inquisitors of _Almanie_, and of pope _Julius_ the second, sent
to the inquisitors of _Bergomen_. It is come to our eares, that manie
lewd persons, of both kinds, as well male as female, using the companie
of the divels _Incubus_ and _Succubus_, with incantations, charmes,
conjurations, &c: doo destroie, &c: the births of women with child, the
yoong of all cattell, the corne of the feeld, the grapes of the vines,
the frute of the trees: Item, men, women, and all kind of cattell and
beasts of the feeld: and with their said inchantments, &c: doo utterlie
extinguish, suffocate, and spoile all vineyards, ortchards, medowes,
pastures, grasse, greene corne, and ripe corne, and all other podware:
yea men and women themselves are by their imprecations so afflicted
with externall and inward paines and diseases, that men cannot beeget,
nor women bring foorth anie children, nor yet accomplish the dutie of
wedlocke, denieng the faith which they in baptisme professed, to the
destruction of their owne soules, &c. Our pleasure therefore is, that
all impediments that maie hinder the inquisitors office, be utterlie
removed from among the people, least this blot of heresie proceed to
poison and defile them that be yet innocent. And therefore we doo
ordeine, by vertue of the apostolicall authoritie, that our inquisitors
of high _Almanie_, maie execute the office of inquisition by all
tortures and afflictions, in all places, and upon all persons, what
and wheresoever, as well in everie place and diocesse, as upon anie
person; and that as freelie, as though they were named, expressed, or
cited in this our commission.
♦Punishmēt of impossibilities.♦
♦A wise lawe of pope Innocent and Julie, were it not that they wanted
wit when they made it.♦
The seventh Chapter.
_Poetical authorities commonlie alleaged by witchmongers,
for the proofe of witches miraculous actions, and for
confirmation of their supernaturall power._
Here have I place and oportunitie, to discover the whole art of
witchcraft; even all their charmes, periapts, characters, amulets,
praiers, blessings, curssings, hurtings, helpings, knaveries,
cousenages, &c. But first I will shew what authorities are produced to
defend and mainteine the same, and that in serious sort, by _Bodin_,
_Spinæus_, _Hemingius_, _Vairus_, _Danæus_, _Hyperius_: _M. Mal._ and
the rest.
_Carmina vel cœlo possunt deducere lunam,
Carminibus Circe socios mut avit[*] Ulyssis,
Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis:_
♦_Virg. eclog. 8._♦
♦[*] [_mutavit_]♦
_Inchantments plucke out of the skie,
The moone, though she be plaste on hie:
Dame Circes with hir charmes so fine,
Ulysses mates did turne to swine:
The snake with charmes is burst in twaine,
In medowes, where she dooth remaine._
_Againe out of the same poet they cite further matter._
_Has herbas, atq́; hæc Ponto mihi lecta venena,
Ipsa dedit Mæris: nascuntur plurima Ponto.
His ego sæpè lupam fieri, & se condere sylvis,
Mærim sæpe animas imis exire sepulchris,
Atq́; satas aliò vidi traducere messes._
♦_Virg. eclog. 8._♦
_These herbs did Meris give to me,
And poisons pluckt at Pontus,
For there they growe and multiplie,
And doo not so amongst us.
With these she made hir selfe become,
A wolfe, and hid hir in the wood,
She fetcht up soules out of their toome,
Remooving corne from where it stood._
_Furthermore out of Ovid they alledge these folowing._
_Nocte volant, puerósq; petunt nutricis egentes,
Et vitiant cunis corpora capta suis:
Carpere dicuntur lactentia viscera rostris,
Et plenumpotu[*] sanguine gutur habent:_
♦_Ovid. fast. 6._♦
♦[*] [_plenum potu_]♦
_To children they doo flie by night,
And catch them while their nursses sleepe,
And spoile their little bodies quite,
And home they beare them in their beake._
_Againe out of Virgill in forme following._
_Hinc mihi Massylæ gentis monstrata sacerdos,
Hesperidum templi custos, epulásq; draconi
Quæ dabat, & sacros servabat in arbore ramos,
Spargens humida mella, soporiferúmq; papaver.
Hæc se carminibus promittit solvere mentes,
Quas velit, ast aliis dur as[*] immittere curas,
Sistere aquam fluviis, & vertere sidera retrò,
Nocturnósq; ciet manes, mugire videbis
Sub pedibus terram, & descendere montibus ornos:_
♦_Virg. Aene. 4._♦
♦[*] [duras]♦
_From thence a virgine preest is come,
from out Massyla land,
Sometimes the temple there she kept,
and from hir heavenlie hand
The dragon meate did take: she kept
also the frute divine,
With herbes and liquors sweete that still
to sleepe did men incline.
The minds of men (she saith) from love
with charmes she can unbind,
In whom she list: but others can
she cast to cares unkind.
The running streames doo stand, and from
their course the starres doo wreath,
And soules she conjure can: thou shalt
see sister underneath
The ground with roring gape, and trees
and mountaines turne upright, &c._
♦_Tho. Phaiers translation of the former words of Virg._♦
_Moreover out of Ovid they alledge as followeth._
♦_Ovid. metamor. 7._♦
_Cùm volui ripis ipsis mirantibus amnes
Infontes[*] rediere suos, concússaq́; sisto,_
♦[*] [_In fontes_]♦
_Stantia concutio, cantu freta nubila pello,
Nubiláq; ìnduco, ventos abigóq; vocóq;,
Vipereas rumpo verbis & carmine fauces,
Viváque saxa, sua convulsáque robora terra,
Et sylvas moveo, jubeóque tremescere montes,
Et mugire solum, manésque exire sepulchris,
Téque luna traho, &c:_
_The rivers I can make retire,
Into the fountaines whence they flo,
(Whereat the banks themselves admire)
I can make standing waters go,
With charmes I drive both sea and clowd,
I make it calme and blowe alowd.
The vipers jawes, the rockie stone,
With words and charmes I breake in twaine
The force of earth congeald in one,
I moove and shake both woods and plaine;
I make the soules of men arise,
I pull the moone out of the skies._
_Also out of the same poet._
_Virbáque ter dixit placidos facientia somnos,
Quæ mare turbatum, quæ flumina concita sistant:_
♦_Ovid. de Medea._♦
_And thrise she spake the words that causd
Sweete sleepe and quiet rest,
She staid the raging of the sea,
And mightie flouds supprest._
_Et miserum tenues in jecur urget acus,_
♦_Ovid. de Medea, epistola. 4._♦
_She sticketh also needels fine
In livers, whereby men doo pine._
_Also out of other poets._
♦_3. Amor. Eclog. 6._♦
_Carmine læsa Ceres, sterilem vanescit in herbam,
Deficiunt læsi carmine fontis aquæ,
Illicibus glandes, cantatáque vitibus uva
Decidit, & nullo poma movente fluunt:_
_With charmes the corne is spoiled so,
As that it vades to barren gras,
With charmes the springs are dried lowe,
That none can see where water was,_
_The grapes from vines, the mast from okes,
And beats downe frute with charming strokes._
_Quæ sidera excantata voce Thessala
Lunámque cœlo diripit:_
♦_Horac.[*] epod. 5_♦
♦[*] [_Horat_]♦
_She plucks downe moone and starres from skie,
With chaunting voice of Thessalie._
_Hanc ego de cœlo ducentem sidera vidi,
Fluminis ac rapidi carmine vertit iter,
Hæc cantu findítque solum, manésque sepulchris
Elicit, & tepido devorat ossa rogo:
Cùm lubet hæc tristi depellit lumina cœlo,
Cùm lubet æstivo convocat orbe nives:_
♦_Tibul. de fascinatrice, lib. 1. Eleg. 2._♦
_She plucks each star out of his throne,
And turneth backe the raging waves,
With charmes she makes the earth to cone,
And raiseth soules out of their graves:
She burnes mens bones as with a fire,
And pulleth downe the lights from heaven,
And makes it snowe at hir desire
Even in the midst of summer season._
_Mens hausti nulla sanie polluta veneni,
Incantata perit:_
♦_Lucan. lib. de bello civili. 6._♦
_A man inchanted runneth mad,
That never anie poison had._
_Cessavere vices rerum, dilatáque longa
Hæsit nocte dies, legi non paruit æther,
Torpuit & præceps audito carmine mundus:_
♦_Idem. Ibid._♦
_The course of nature ceased quite,
The aire obeied not his lawe,
The daie delaid by length of night,
Which made both daie and night to yawe;
And all was through that charming geare,
Which causd the world to quake for feare._
_Carmine Thessalidum dura in præcordia fluxit,
Non fatis adductus amor, flammísque severi
Illicitis arsere ignes:_
♦_Idem. Ibid._♦
_With Thessall charmes, and not by fate
Hot love is forced for to flowe,
Even where before hath beene debate,
They cause affection for to growe._
_Gens invisa diis maculandi callida cœli,
Quos genuit terra, mali qui sidera mundi
Juráque fixarum possunt pervertere rerum:
Nam nunc stare polos, & flumina mittere norunt,
Aethera sub terras adigunt, montésque revellunt:_
♦_Idem. Ibid._♦
_These witches hatefull unto God,
And cunning to defile the aire,
Which can disorder with a nod
The course of nature everie where,
Doo cause the wandring starres to staie
And drive the winds beelow the ground,
They send the streames another waie,
And throwe downe hilles where they abound._
——————————————_linguis dixere volucrum,
Consultare fibras, & rumpere vocibus angues,
Solicitare umbras, ipsúmque Acheronta movere,
In noctémque dies, in lucem vertere noctes,
Omnia conando docilis solertia vincit:_
♦_C. Manilius astronom. suæ. lib. 1._♦
_They talked with the toongs of birds,
Consulting with the salt sea coasts,
They burst the snakes with witching words,
Solliciting the spirituall ghosts,
They turne the night into the daie,
And also drive the light awaie:
And what ist that cannot be made
By them that doo applie this trade?_
The eight Chapter.
_Poetrie and poperie compared in inchantments, popish witchmongers
have more advantage herein than protestants._
You see in these verses, the poets (whether in earnest or in jest I
know not) ascribe unto witches & to their charmes, more than is to be
found in humane or diabolicall power. I doubt not but the most part
of the readers hereof will admit them to be fabulous; although the
most learned of mine adversaries (for lacke of scripture) are faine to
produce these poetries for proofes, and for lacke of judgement I am
sure doo thinke, that _Actæons_ transformation was true. And why not?
As well as the metamorphosis or transubstantiation of _Ulysses_ his
companions into swine: which S. _Augustine_, and so manie great clarkes
credit and report.
♦_Ovid Metamorph. lib. 3. fab. 2._♦
♦_Ovid. Metamorph. 14. fab. 5, 6._♦
Neverthelesse, popish writers (I confesse) have advantage herein of
our protestants: for (besides these poeticall proofes) they have
(for advantage) the word and authoritie of the pope himselfe, and
others of that holie crue; whose charmes, conjurations, blessings,
curssings, &c: I meane in part (for a tast) to set downe; giving you
to understand, that poets are not altogither so impudent as papists
herein, neither seeme they so ignorant, prophane, or impious. And
therefore I will shew you how lowd also they lie, and what they on the
other side ascribe to their charmes and conjurations; and togither will
set downe with them all maner of witches charmes, as convenientlie as I
maie.
♦The authors transition to his purposed scope.♦
The ninth Chapter.
_Popish periapts, amulets and charmes, agnus Dei, a wastcote of
proofe, a charme for the falling evill, a writing brought to
S. Leo from heaven by an angell, the vertues of S. Saviors
epistle, a charme against theeves, a writing found in Christs
wounds, of the crosse, &c._
These vertues under these verses (written by pope _Urbane_ the fift
to the emperour of the _Græcians_) are conteined in a periapt or
tablet, to be continuallie worne about one, called _Agnus Dei_, which
is a little cake, having the picture of a lambe carrieng of a flag on
the one side; and Christs head on the other side, and is hollow: so
as the gospell of S. _John_, written in fine paper, is placed in the
concavitie thereof: and it is thus compounded or made, even as they
themselves report.
_Balsamus & munda cera, cum chrismatis unda
Conficiunt agnum, quod munus do tibi magnum,
Fonte velut natum, per mystica sanctificatum:
Fulgura desursum depellit, & omne malignum,
Peccatum frangit, ut Christi sanguis, & angit,
Prægnans servatur, simul & partus liberatur,
Dona refert dignis, virtutem destruit ignis,
Portatus mundè de fluctibus eripit undæ:_
_Balme, virgine wax, and holie water,
an Agnus Dei make:
A gift than which none can be greater,
I send thee for to take._
_From founteine cleere the same hath issue,
in secret sanctifide:
Gainst lightning it hath soveraigne vertue,
and thunder crackes beside.
Ech hainous sinne it weares and wasteth,
even as Christs precious blood,
And women, whiles their travell lasteth,
it saves, it is so good.
It doth bestow great gifts and graces,
on such as well deserve:
And borne about in noisome places,
from perill doth preserve.
The force of fire, whose heat destroieth,
it breaks and bringeth downe:
And he or she that this enjoieth,
no water shall them drowne._
♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦
♦Looke in the Beehive of the Romish church. Lib. 4. cap. 1. fol. 243.♦
¶ _A charme against shot, or a wastcote of proofe._
Before the comming up of these _Agnus Deis_, a holie garment called
a wastcote for necessitie was much used of our forefathers, as a
holy relike, &c: as given by the pope, or some such archconjuror,
who promised thereby all manner of immunitie to the wearer thereof;
in somuch as he could not be hurt with anie shot or other violence.
And otherwise, that woman that would weare it, should have quicke
deliverance: the composition thereof was in this order following.
On Christmas daie at night, a threed must be sponne of flax, by a
little virgine girle, in the name of the divell: and it must be by
hir woven, and also wrought with the needle. In the brest or forepart
thereof must be made with needle worke two heads; on the head at the
right side must be a hat, and a long beard; the left head must have on
a crowne, and it must be so horrible, that it maie resemble Belzebub,
and on each side of the wastcote must be made a crosse.
♦The maner of making a wastecote of proofe.♦
¶ _Against the falling evill._
Moreover, this insuing is another counterfet charme of theirs, whereby
the falling evill is presentlie remedied.
_Gaspar fert myrrham, thus Melchior, Balthasar aurum,
Hæc tria qui secum portabit nomina regum,
Solvitur à morbo Christi pietate caduco._
_Gasper with his myrh beganne
these presents to unfold,
Then Melchior brought in frankincense,
and Balthasar brought in gold.
Now he that of these holie kings
the names about shall beare,
The falling yll by grace of Christ
shall never need to feare._
This is as true a copie of the holie writing, that was brought downe
from heaven by an angell to S. _Leo_ pope of _Rome_; & he did bid him
take it to king _Charles_, when he went to the battell at _Roncevall_.
And the angell said, that what man or woman beareth this writing about
them with good devotion, and saith everie daie three _Pater nosters_,
three _Aves_, and one _Creede_, shall not that daie be overcome of his
enimies, either bodilie or ghostlie; neither shalbe robbed or slaine of
theeves, pestilence, thunder, or lightening; neither shall be hurt with
fier or water, nor combred with spirits, neither shall have displeasure
of lords or ladies: he shall not be condemned with false witnesse, nor
taken with fairies, or anie maner of axes, nor yet with the falling
evill. Also, if a woman be in travell, laie this writing upō hir
bellie, she shall have easie deliverance, and the child right shape
and christendome, and the mother purification of holy church, and all
through vertue of these holie names of Jesus Christ following:
♦These effects are too good to be true in such a patched peece of
poperie.♦
_✠ Jesus ✠ Christus ✠ Messias ✠ Soter ✠ Emmanuel ✠ Sabbaoth ✠
Adonai ✠ Unigenitus ✠ Majestas ✠ Paracletus ✠ Salvator noster
✠ Agiros iskiros ✠ Agios ✠ Adanatos ✠ Gasper ✠ Melchior ✠ &
Balthasar ✠ Matthæus ✠ Marcus ✠ Lucas ✠ Johannes._
The epistle of S. _Savior_, which pope _Leo_ sent to king _Charles_,
saieng, that whosoever carrieth the same about him, or in what daie so
ever he shall read it, or shall see it, he shall not be killed with
anie iron toole, nor be burned with fier, nor be drowned with water,
neither anie evill man or other creature maie hurt him. The crosse of
Christ is a woonderfull defense ✠ the crosse of Christ be alwaies
with me ✠ the crosse is it which I doo alwaies worship ✠ the crosse
of Christ is true health ✠ the crosse of Christ dooth lose the bands
of death ✠ the crosse of Christ is the truth and the waie ✠ I take my
journie upon the crosse of the Lord ✠ the crosse of Christ beateth
downe everie evill ✠ the crosse of Christ giveth all good things ✠ the
crosse of Christ taketh awaie paines everlasting ✠ the crosse of Christ
save me ✠ O crosse of Christ be upon me, before me, and behind me ✠
bicause the ancient enimie cannot abide the sight of thee ✠ the crosse
of Christ save me, keepe me, governe me, and direct me ✠ Thomas bearing
this note of thy divine majestie ✠ Alpha ✠ Omega ✠ first ✠ and last ✠
middest ✠ and end ✠ beginning ✠ and first begotten ✠ wisedome ✠ vertue
✠.
¶ _A popish periapt or charme, which must never be said, but
carried about one, against theeves._
I doo go, and I doo come unto you with the love of God, with the
humilitie of Christ, with the holines of our blessed ladie, with the
faith of _Abraham_, with the justice of _Isaac_, with the vertue of
_David_, with the might of _Peter_, with the constancie of _Paule_,
with the word of God, with the authoritie of _Gregorie_, with the
praier of _Clement_, with the floud of _Jordan_, _ꝑ ꝑ p c g e
g a q q est p t 1 ka b g l k 2 a x t g t b am[*] g 2 4 2 1 q; p x c
g k q a 9 9 p o q q r_. Oh onelie Father ✠ oh onlie lord ✠ And Jesus ✠
passing through the middest of them ✠ went ✠ In the name of the Father
✠ and of the Sonne ✠ and of the Holie-ghost ✠.
♦[_ꝑ_ = _per_ or _par_]♦
♦[*] [_a m_ 2. ed.]♦
¶ _Another amulet._
_Joseph_ of _Arimathea_ did find this writing upon the wounds of the
side of Jesus Christ, written with Gods finger, when the bodie was
taken away frō the crosse. Whosoever shall carrie this writing about
him, shall not die anie evill death, if he beleeve in Christ, and in
all perplexities he shall soone be delivered, neither let him feare
any danger at all. _Fons ✠ alpha & omega ✠ figa ✠ figalis ✠ Sabbaoth
✠ Emmanuel ✠ Adonai ✠ o ✠ Neray ✠ Elay ✠ Ihe ✠ Rentone ✠ Neger ✠ Sahe
✠ Pangeton ✠ Commen ✠ a ✠ g ✠ l ✠ a ✠ Matthæus ✠ Marcus ✠ Lucas ✠
Johannes ✠ ✠ ✠ titulus triumphalis ✠ Jesus Nasarenus rex Judæorum ✠
ecce dominicæ crucis signum ✠ fugite partes adversæ, vicit leo de tribu
Judæ, radix, David, aleluijah, Kyrie eleeson, Christe eleeson, pater
noster, ave Maria, & ne nos, & veniat super nos salutare tuum: Oremus,
&c._[*]
♦[*] [From _Fons_ is in Rom. from _titulus_ in Ital.]♦
I find in a Primer intituled The houres of our Ladie, after the use of
the church of _Yorke_, printed anno 1516. a charme with this titling
in red letters; To all them that afore this image of pitie devoutlie
shall saie [*]five _Pater nosters_, five _Aves_, and one _Credo_,
pitiouslie beholding these armes of Christs passion, are granted
thirtie two thousand seven hundred fiftie five yeares of pardon. It
is to be thought that this pardon was granted in the time of pope
_Boniface_ the ninth; for _Platina_ saith that the pardons were sold so
cheape, that the apostolicall authoritie grew into contempt.
♦[*] If the party faile in the number, he may go whistle for a pardon.♦
¶ _A papisticall charme._
_Signum sanctæ crucis defendat me à malis præsentibus, præteritis, &
futuris, interioribus & exterioribus_: that is, The signe of the crosse
defend me from evils present, past, and to come, inward and outward.
¶ _A charme found in the canon of the masse._
Also this charme is found in the canon of the masse, _Hæc sacrosancta
commixtio corporis & sanguinis domini nostri Jesu Christi fiat mihi,
omnibúsque sumentibus, salus mentis & corporis, & ad vitam promerendam,
& capessendam, præparatio salutaris_: that is, Let this holie mixture
of the bodie and bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ, be unto me, and unto
all receivers thereof, health of mind and bodie, and to the deserving
and receiving of life an healthfull preparative.
¶ _Other papisticall charmes._
_Aqua benedicta, sit mihi salus & vita:_
_Let holie water be, both health and life to me._
_Adque nomen Martini omnis hæreticus fugiat pallidus,_
_When Martins name is soong or said,
Let heretikes flie as men dismaid._
♦_By Ab. Fleming._♦
But the papists have a harder charme than that; to wit, Fier and fagot,
Fier and fagot.
¶ _A charme of the holie crosse._
_Nulla salus est in domo,
Nisi cruce munit homo
Superliminaria.
Neque sentit gladium,
Nec amisit filium,
Quisquis egit talia._
_No health within the house dooth dwell,
Except a man doo crosse him well,
at everie doore or frame,
He never feeleth the swords point,
Nor of his sonne shall loose a joint,
that dooth performe the same._
_Furthermore as followeth._
_Ista suos fortiores
Semper facit, & victores,
Morbos sanat & languores,
Reprimit dæmonia.
Dat captivis libertatem,
Vitæ confert novitatem,
Ad antiquam dignitatem,
Crux reduxit omnia.
O Crux lignum triumphale,
Mundi vera salus vale,
Inter ligna nullum tale,
Fronde, flore, germine.
Medicina Christiana,
Salva sanos, ægros sana,
Quod non valet vis humana,
Fit in tuo nomine, &c._
♦_Sancta crux æquiparatur salutifero Christo. O blasphæmiam
inenarrabilem!_♦
_It makes hir souldiers excellent,
and crowneth them with victorie,
Restores the lame and impotent,
and healeth everie maladie.
The divels of hell it conquereth,
releaseth from imprisonment,
Newnesse of life it offereth,
it hath all at commandement.
O crosse of wood incomparable,
to all the world most holsome:
No wood is halfe so honourable,
in branch, in bud, or blossome.
O medcine which Christ did ordaine,
the sound save everie hower,
The sicke and sore make whole againe,
by vertue of thy power.
And that which mans unablenesse,
hath never comprehended,
Grant by thy name of holinesse,
it may be fullie ended, &c._
♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._ Looke in the Beehive of the Romish
church. lib. 4. cap. 3. fol. 251, 252.♦
¶ _A charme taken out of the Primer._
This charme following is taken out of the Primer aforesaid. _Omnipotens
✠ Dominus ✠ Christus ✠ Messias ✠_ with 34. names more, & as many
crosses, & then proceeds in this wise; _Ista nomina me protegant
ab omni adversitate, plaga, & infirmitate corporis & animæ, plenè
liberent, & assistent in auxilium ista nomina regum, Gasper, &c: & 12
apostoli (videlicet) Petrus, &c: & 4 evangelistæ (videlicet) Matthæus,
&c: mihi assistent in omnibus necessitatibus meis, ac me defendant
& liberent ab omnibus periculis & corporis & animæ, & omnibus malis
præteritis, præsentibus, & futuris, &c._
The tenth Chapter.
_How to make holie water, and the vertues therof. S. Rufins
charme, of the wearing and bearing of the name of Jesus, that
the sacrament of confession and the eucharist is of as much
efficacie as other charmes, & magnified by L. Vairus._
If I did well, I should shew you the confection of all their stuffe,
and how they prepare it; but it would be too long. And therefore you
shall onlie have in this place a few notes for the composition of
certeine receipts, which in stead of an Apothecarie if you deliver to
any morrowmasse preest, he will make them as well as the pope himselfe.
Marie now they wax everie parlement deerer and deerer; although
therewithall, they utter many stale drugs of their owne.
If you looke in the popish pontificall, you shall see how they make
their holie water; to wit, in this sort: I conjure thee thou creature
of water, in the name of the father, and of the sonne, & of the
Holie-ghost, that thou drive the divell out of everie corner and hole
of this church, and altar; so as he remaine not within our precincts
that are just and righteous. And water thus used (as _Durandus_ saith)
hath power of his owne nature to drive away divels. If you will learne
to make any more of this popish stuffe, you may go to the verie masse
booke, and find manie good receipts: marrie if you search _Durandus_,
&c; you shall find abundance.
♦_In ecclesiæ dedicatione._♦
♦_In rationali divinorum officiorum._♦
I know that all these charmes, and all these palterie confections
(though they were farre more impious and foolish) will be mainteined
and defended by massemongers, even as the residue will be by
witchmongers: and therefore I will in this place insert a charme,
the authoritie wherof is equall with the rest, desiring to have
their opinions herein. I find in a booke called _Pomœrium sermonum
quadragesimalium_, that S. _Francis_ seeing _Rufinus_ provoked of the
divell to thinke himselfe damned, charged Rufinus to saie this charme,
when he next met with the divell; _Aperi os, & ibi imponam stircus_,
which is as much to saie in English as, Open thy mouth and I will put
in a plumme: a verie ruffinlie charme.
♦_Pom. sermon. 32._♦
_Leonard Vairus writeth, De veris, piis, ac sanctis amuletis fascinum
atq́; omnia veneficia destruentibus_; wherein he speciallie
commendeth the name of Jesus to be worne. But the sacrament of
confession he extolleth above all things, saieng, that whereas Christ
with his power did but throwe divels out of mens bodies, the preest
driveth the divell out of mans soule by confession. For (saith he)
these words of the preest, when he saith, _Ego te absolvo_, are as
effectuall to drive awaie the princes of darknes, through the mightie
power of that saieng, as was the voice of God to drive awaie the
darknes of the world, when at the beginning he said, _Fiat lux_.
He commendeth also, as holesome things to drive awaie divels, the
sacrament of the eucharist, and solitarines, and silence. Finallie he
saith, that if there be added hereunto an _Agnus Dei_, and the same be
worne about ones necke by one void of sinne, nothing is wanting that is
good and holesome for this purpose. But he concludeth, that you must
weare and make dints in your forhead, with crossing your selfe when you
put on your shooes, and at everie other action, &c: and that is also a
present remedie to drive awaie divels, for they cannot abide it.
♦_L. Vairus. lib. de fascin. 3. cap. 10._♦
♦_Idem, ibid._♦
♦_Idem, ibid._♦
The eleventh Chapter.
_Of the noble balme used by Moses, apishlie counterfeited in
the church of Rome._
The noble balme that _Moses_ made, having indeed manie excellent
vertues, besides the pleasant and comfortable savour thereof;
wherewithall _Moses_ in his politike lawes enjoined kings, queenes,
and princes to be annointed in their true and lawfull elections and
coronations, untill the everlasting king had put on man upon him, is
apishlie counterfeited in the Romish church, with diverse terrible
conjurations, three breathings, crossewise, (able to make a quezie
stomach spue) nine mumblings, and three curtsies, saieng thereunto,
_Ave sanctum oleum, ter ave sanctum balsamum_. And so the divell is
thrust out, and the Holie-ghost let into his place. But as for _Moses_
his balme, it is not now to be found either in _Rome_ or elsewhere that
I can learne. And according to this papisticall order, witches, and
other superstitious people follow on, with charmes and conjurations
made in forme; which manie bad physicians also practise, when their
learning faileth, as maie appeare by example in the sequele.
The twelfe Chapter.
_The opinion of Ferrarius touching charmes, periapts,
appensions, amulets, &c. Of Homericall medicines, of constant
opinion, and the effects thereof._
_Argerius Ferrarius_, a physician in these daies of great account,
doth saie, that for somuch as by no diet nor physicke anie disease
can be so taken awaie or extinguished, but that certeine dregs and
relikes will remaine: therefore physicians use physicall alligations,
appensions, periapts, amulets, charmes, characters, &c, which he
supposeth maie doo good; but harme he is sure they can doo none:
urging that it is necessarie and expedient for a physician to leave
nothing undone that may be devised for his patients recoverie; and
that by such meanes manie great cures are done. He citeth a great
number of experiments out of _Alexander Trallianus_, _Aetius_,
_Octavianus_, _Marcellus_, _Philodotus_, _Archigines_, _Philostratus_,
_Plinie_, and _Dioscorides_; and would make men beleeve that _Galen_
(who in truth despised and derided all those vanities) recanted in
his latter daies his former opinion, and all his invectives tending
against these magicall cures: writing also a booke intituled _De
Homerica medicatione_, which no man could ever see, but one _Alexander
Trallianus_, who saith he saw it: and further affirmeth, that it is
an honest mans part to cure the sicke, by hooke or by crooke, or by
anie meanes whatsoever. Yea he saith that _Galen_ (who indeed wrote
and taught that _Incantamenta sunt muliercularum figmenta_, and be
the onlie clokes of bad physicians) affirmeth, that there is vertue
and great force in incantations. As for example (saith _Trallian_)
_Galen_ being now reconciled to this opinion, holdeth and writeth,
that the bones which sticke in ones throte, are avoided and cast
out with the violence of charmes and inchanting words; yea and that
thereby the stone, the chollicke, the falling sicknes, and all fevers,
gowts, fluxes, fistulas, issues of bloud, and finallie whatsoever cure
(even beyond the skill of himselfe or anie other foolish physician)
is cured and perfectlie healed by words of inchantment. Marie M.
_Ferrarius_ (although he allowed and practised this kind of physicke)
yet he protesteth that he thinketh it none otherwise effectuall, than
by the waie of constant opinion: so as he affirmeth that neither the
character, nor the charme, nor the witch, nor the devill accomplish the
cure; as (saith he) the experiment of the toothach will manifestlie
declare, wherein the cure is wrought by the confidence or diffidence
as well of the patient, as of the agent; according to the poets saieng:
♦_Arg. Fer. lib. de medendi methodo. 2. cap. 11._
_De Homerica medicatione._♦
♦This would be examined, to see if Galen be not slandered.♦
_Nos habitat non tartara, sed nec sidera cœli,
Spiritus in nobis qui viget illa facit._
_Not hellish furies dwell in us,
Nor starres with influence heavenlie;
The spirit that lives and rules in us,
Doth every thing ingeniouslie,_
♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦
This (saith he) commeth to the unlearned, through the opinion which
they conceive of the characters and holie words: but the learned that
know the force of the mind and imagination, worke miracles by meanes
thereof; so as the unlearned must have externall helps, to doo that
which the learned can doo with a word onelie. He saith that this is
called _Homerica medicatio_, bicause _Homer_ discovered the bloud of
the word suppressed, and the infections healed by or in mysteries.
The xiii. Chapter.
_Of the effects of amulets, the drift of Argerius Ferrarius in
the commendation of charmes, &c: foure sorts of Homericall
medicines, & the choice thereof; of imagination._
As touching mine opinion of these amulets, characters, and such other
bables, I have sufficientlie uttered it elsewhere: and I will bewraie
the vanitie of these superstitious trifles more largelie hereafter. And
therefore at this time I onelie saie, that those amulets, which are
to be hanged or carried about one, if they consist of hearbs, rootes,
stones, or some other metall, they maie have diverse medicinable
operations; and by the vertue given to them by God in their creation,
maie worke strange effects and cures: and to impute this vertue to
anie other matter is witchcraft. And whereas _A. Ferrarius_ commendeth
certeine amulets, that have no shew of physicall operation; as a naile
taken from a crosse, holie water, and the verie signe of the crosse,
with such like popish stuffe: I thinke he laboureth thereby rather to
draw men to poperie, than to teach or persuade them in the truth of
physicke or philosophie. And I thinke thus the rather, for that he
himselfe seeth the fraud hereof; confessing that where these magicall
physicians applie three seeds of three leaved grasse to a tertian ague,
and foure to a quartane, that the number is not materiall.
But of these Homericall medicines he saith there are foure sorts,
whereof amulets, characters, & charmes are three: howbeit he commendeth
and preferreth the fourth above the rest; and that he saith consisteth
in illusions, which he more properlie calleth stratagems. Of which sort
of conclusions he alledgeth for example, how _Philodotus_ did put a
cap of lead upon ones head, who imagined he was headlesse, whereby the
partie was delivered from his disease or conceipt. Item another cured a
woman that imagined, that a serpent or snake did continuallie gnaw and
teare hir entrailes; and that was done onelie by giving hir a vomit,
and by foisting into the matter vomited a little serpent or snake, like
unto that which she imagined was in hir bellie.
♦Foure sorts of Homericall medicines, and which is the principall.♦
Item, another imagined that he alwaies burned in the fier, under
whose bed a fier was privilie conveied, which being raked out before
his face, his fancie was satisfied, and his heate allaied. Hereunto
perteineth, that the hickot is cured with sudden feare or strange
newes: yea by that meanes agues and manie other strange and extreame
diseases have beene healed. And some that have lien so sicke and sore
of the gowt, that they could not remove a joint, through sudden feare
of fier, or ruine of houses, have forgotten their infirmities and
greefes, and have runne awaie. But in my tract upon melancholie, and
the effects of imagination, and in the discourse of naturall magicke,
you shall see these matters largelie touched.
♦The force of fixed fansie, opinion, or strong conceipt.♦
The xiiii. Chapter.
_Choice of Charmes against the falling evill, the biting of
a mad dog, the stinging of a scorpion, the toothach, for a
woman in travell, for the Kings evill, to get a thorne out
of any member, or a bone out of ones throte, charmes to be
said fasting, or at the gathering of hearbs, for sore eies,
to open locks, against spirits, for the bots in a horsse, and
speciallie for the Duke of Albas horsse, for sowre wines, &c._
There be innumerable charmes of conjurers, bad physicians, lewd
surgians, melancholike witches, and couseners, for all diseases and
greefes; speciallie for such as bad physicians and surgions knowe not
how to cure, and in truth are good stuffe to shadow their ignorance,
whereof I will repeate some.
_For the falling evill._
Take the sicke man by the hand, and whisper these wordes softlie in
his eare, I conjure thee by the sunne and moone, and by the gospell
of this daie delivered by God to _Hubert_, _Giles_, _Cornelius_, and
_John_, that thou rise and fall no more. ❇ Otherwise: Drinke in the
night at a spring water out of a skull of one that hath beene slaine. ❇
Otherwise: Eate a pig killed with a knife that slew a man. ❇ Otherwise
as followeth.
_Ananizapta ferit mortem, dum lædere quærit,
Est mala mors capta, dum dicitur Ananizapta,
Ananizapta Dei nunc miserere mei._
{ _Ananizapta smiteth death, }
{ whiles harme intendeth he, }
{ This word Ananizapta say, }
{ and death shall captive be, }
{ Ananizapta ô of God, }
have mercie now on me._
♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦
¶ _Against the biting of a mad dog._
Put a silver ring on the finger, within the which these words are
graven _✠ Habay ✠ habar ✠ hebar ✠_ & saie to the person bitten with a
mad dog, I am thy saviour, loose not thy life: and then pricke him in
the nose thrise, that at each time he bleed. ❈ Otherwise: Take pilles
made of the skull of one that is hanged. ❈ Otherwise: Write upon a
peece of bread, _Irioni, khiriora, esser, khuder, feres_; and let it be
eaten by the partie bitten. ❈ Otherwise: _O rex gloriæ Jesu Christe,
veni cum pace: In nomine patris max, in nomine filii max, in nomine
spiritus sancti prax: Gasper, Melchior, Balthasar ✠ prax ✠ max ✠ Deus I
max ✠_
But in troth this is verie dangerous; insomuch as if it be not
speedilie and cunninglie prevented, either death or frensie insueth,
through infection of the humor left in the wound bitten by a mad dog:
which bicause bad surgions cannot cure, they have therfore used foolish
cousening charmes. But _Dodonæus_ in his herball saith, that the hearbe
Alysson cureth it: which experiment, I doubt not, will proove more true
than all the charms in the world. But where he saith, that the same
hanged at a mans gate or entrie, preserveth him and his cattell from
inchantment, or bewitching, he is overtaken with follie.
♦_J. Bodinus. lib. de dæmon 3. cap. 5._♦
¶ _Against the biting of a scorpion._
Saie to an asse secretlie, and as it were whispering in his eare; I am
bitten with a Scorpion.
¶ _Against the toothach._
Scarifie the gums in the greefe, with the tooth of one that hath beene
slaine. ❇ Otherwise: _Galbes galbat, galdes galdat_. ❇ Otherwise: _A
ab hur hus_, &c. ❇ Otherwise: At saccaring of masse hold your teeth
togither, and say [*]_Os non comminuetis ex eo_. ❇ Otherwise:
_strigiles falcesq; dentatæ, dentium dolorem persanate_; O horssecombs
and sickles that have so many teeth, come heale me now of my toothach.
♦[*] That is, You shall not breake or diminish a bone of him.♦
¶ _A charme to release a woman in travell._
Throwe over the top of the house, where a woman in travell lieth, a
stone, or any other thing that hath killed three living creatures;
namelie, a man, a wild bore, and a she beare.
¶ _To heale the Kings or Queenes evill, or any other sorenesse in the
throte._
Remedies to cure the Kings or Queenes evill, is first to touch the
place with the hand of one that died an untimelie death. ❇ Otherwise:
Let a virgine fasting laie hir hand on the sore, and saie; _Apollo_
denieth that the heate of the plague can increase, where a naked
virgine quencheth it: and spet three times upon it.
¶ _A charme read in the Romish church, upon saint Blazes daie, that
will fetch a thorne out of anie place of ones bodie, a bone out of
the throte, &c: Lect. 3._
For the fetching of a thorne out of any place of ones bodie, or a bone
out of the throte, you shall read a charme in the Romish church upon S.
_Blazes_ daie; to wit, Call upon God, and remember S. _Blaze_. This S.
_Blaze_ could also heale all wild beasts that were sicke or lame, with
laieng on of his hands: as appeareth in the lesson red on his daie,
where you shall see the matter at large.
¶ _A charme for the headach._
Tie a halter about your head, wherewith one hath beene hanged.
¶ _A charme to be said each morning by a witch fasting, or at least
before she go abroad._
The fier bites, the fier bites, the fier bites; Hogs turd over it, hogs
turd over it, hogs turd over it; The father with thee, the sonne with
me, the holie-ghost betweene us both to be: ter. Then spit over one
shoulder, and then over the other, and then three times right forward.
¶ _Another charme that witches use at the gathering of their
medicinable hearbs._
_Haile be thou holie hearbe
growing on the ground
All in the mount [*]Calvarie
first wert thou found,
Thou art good for manie a sore,
And healest manie a wound,
In the name of sweete Jesus
I take thee from the ground._
♦[*] Though neither the hearbe nor the witch never came there.♦
¶ _An old womans charme, wherewith she did much good in the
countrie, and grew famous thereby._
An old woman that healed all diseases of cattell (for the which she
never tooke any reward but a penie and a loafe) being seriouslie
examined by what words she brought these things to passe, confessed
that after she had touched the sicke creature, she alwaies departed
immediatelie; saieng:
_My loafe in my lap,
my penie in my pursse;
Thou are never the better,
and I am never the wursse._
_Another like charme._
♦Note the force of constant opinion, or fixed fancy.♦
A Gentlewoman having sore eies, made hir mone to one, that promised hir
helpe, if she would follow his advise: which was onelie to weare about
hir necke a scroll sealed up, whereinto she might not looke. And she
conceiving hope of cure thereby, received it under the condition, and
left hir weeping and teares, wherewith she was woont to bewaile the
miserable darkenesse, which she doubted to indure: whereby in short
time hir eies were well amended. But alas! she lost soone after that
pretious jewell, and thereby returned to hir woonted weeping, and by
consequence to hir sore eies. Howbeit, hir jewell or scroll being found
againe, was looked into by hir deere friends, and this onelie posie was
conteined therein:
_The divell pull out both thine eies,
And [*]etish in the holes likewise._
♦[*] Spell the word backward, and you shall soone see this slovenlie
charme or appension.♦
Whereby partlie you may see what constant opinion can doo, according to
the saieng of _Plato_; If a mans fansie or mind give him assurance that
a hurtfull thing shall doo him good, it may doo so, &c.
_A charme to open locks._
As the hearbes called _Aethiopides_ will open all locks (if all be true
that inchanters saie) with the help of certeine words: so be there
charmes also and periapts, which without any hearbs can doo as much: as
for example. Take a peece of wax crossed in baptisme, and doo but print
certeine floures therein, and tie them in the hinder skirt of your
shirt; and when you would undoo the locke, blow thrise therin, saieng;
_Arato hoc partiko hoc maratarykin_. I open this doore in thy name that
I am forced to breake, as thou brakest hell gates, _In nomine patris, &
filii, & spiritus sancti, Amen_.
♦Theevish charmes.♦
¶ _A charme to drive awaie spirits that haunt anie house._
Hang in everie of the foure corners of your house this sentence written
upon virgine parchment; _[a]Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum: [b]Mosen
habent & prophetas: [c]Exurgat Deus et dissipentur inimici ejus_.
♦This is called and counted the Paracelsian charme.♦
♦[a] Psal. 150.♦
♦[b] Luk. 16.♦
♦[c] Psa. 64.♦
¶ _A prettie charme or conclusion for one possessed._
The possessed bodie must go upon his or hir knees to the church, how
farre so ever it be off from their lodging; and so must creepe without
going out of the waie, being the common high waie, in that sort, how
fowle and durtie soever the same be; or whatsoever lie in the waie, not
shunning anie thing whatsoever, untill he come to the church, where he
must heare[*] masse devoutlie, and then followeth recoverie.
♦[*] Memorandum that hearing of masse be in no case omitted, quoth
Nota.♦
¶ _Another for the same purpose._
There must be commended to some poore begger the saieng of five _Pater
nosters_, and five _Aves_; the first to be said in the name of the
partie possessed, or bewitched: for that Christ was led into the
garden; secondlie, for that Christ did sweat both water and bloud;
thirdlie, for that Christ was condemned; fourthlie, for that he was
crucified guiltlesse; and fiftlie, for that he suffered to take
awaie our sinnes. Then must the sicke bodie heare masse eight daies
together, standing in the place where the gospell is said, and must
mingle holie water with his meate and his drinke, and holie salt also
must be a portion of the mixture.
¶ _Another to the same effect._
The sicke man must fast three daies, and then he with his parents must
come to church, upon an embering fridaie, and must heare the masse
for that daie appointed, and so likewise the saturdaie and sundaie
following. And the preest must read upon the sicke mans head, that
gospell which is read in September, and in grape harvest, after the
feast of holie crosse _In diebus quatuor temporum_, in ember daies:
then let him write it and carrie it aboute his necke, and he shall be
cured.
♦_Johannes Anglicus ex Constantino, Gualtero, Bernardo, Gilberto, &c._♦
¶ _Another charme or witch-craft for the same._
This office or conjuration following was first authorised and printed
at _Rome_, and afterwards at _Avenion_, _Anno._ 1515. And least that
the divell should lie hid in some secret part of the bodie, everie
part thereof is named; _Obsecro te Jesu Christe, &c_: that is: I
beseech thee O Lord Jesus Christ, that thou pull out of everie member
of this man all infirmities, from his head, from his haire, from his
braine, from his forhead, from his eies, from his nose, from his eares,
from his mouth, from his toong, from his teeth, from his jawes, from
his throte, from his necke, from his backe, from his brest, from his
paps, from his heart, from his stomach, from his sides, from his flesh,
from his bloud, from his bones, from his legs, from his feete, from
his fingers, from the soles of his feete, from his marrowe, from his
sinewes, from his skin, and from everie joint of his members, &c.
Doubtles Jesus Christ could have no starting hole, but was hereby
everie waie prevented and pursued; so as he was forced to doo the cure:
for it appeareth hereby, that it had beene insufficient for him to have
said; Depart out of this man thou uncleane spirit, and that when he so
said he did not performe it. I doo not thinke that there will be found
among all the heathens superstitious fables, or among the witches,
conjurors, couseners, poets, knaves, fooles, &c: that ever wrote, so
impudent and impious a lie or charme as is read in _Barnardine de
bustis_; where, to cure a sicke man, Christs bodie, to wit: a wafer
cake, was outwardlie applied to his side, and entred into his heart,
in the sight of all the standers by. Now, if grave authors report such
lies, what credit in these cases shall we attribute unto the old wives
tales, that _Sprenger_, _Institor_, _Bodine_, and others write? Even as
much as to _Ovids Metamorphosis_, _Aesops fables_, _Moores Utopia_, and
diverse other fansies; which have as much truth in them, as a blind man
hath sight in his eie.
♦_Barnard. de bustis in Rosar. serm. serm. 15._♦
¶ _A charme for the bots in a horsse._
You must both saie and doo thus upon the diseased horsse three daies
together, before the sunne rising: _In nomine pa✠tris & fi✠lii &
spiritus✠sancti; Exorcizo te vermem per Deum pa✠trem, & fi✠lium &
spiritum✠sanctum_: that is, In the name of God the Father, the Sonne,
& the Holy-ghost, I conjure thee O worme by God the Father, the Sonne,
& the Holy-ghost; that thou neither eat nor drinke the flesh bloud or
bones of this horsse; and that thou hereby maist be made as patient
as _Job_, and as good as S. _John Baptist_, when he baptised Christ
in _Jordan_, _In nomine pa✠tris & fi✠lii & spiritus✠sancti_. And then
saie three _Pater nosters_, and three _Aves_, in the right eare of
the horsse, to the glorie of the holie trinitie. _Do✠minus fili✠us
spiri✠tus Mari✠a._
There are also divers bookes imprinted, as it should appeare with
the authoritie of the church of _Rome_, wherein are conteined manie
medicinall praiers, not onelie against all diseases of horsses, but
also for everie impediment and fault in a horsse: in so much as if
a shoo fall off in the middest of his journie, there is a praier to
warrant your horsses hoofe, so as it shall not breake, how far so ever
he be from the Smithes forge.
Item, the Duke of _Alba_ his horsse was consecrated, or canonized, in
the lowe countries, at the solemne masse; wherein the popes bull, and
also his charme was published (which I will hereafter recite) he in the
meane time sitting as Vice-roy with his consecrated standard in his
hand, till masse was done.
♦The smiths will canne them small thankes for this praier.♦
¶ _A charme against vineager._
That wine wax not eager, write on the vessell, [*]_Gustate & videte,
quoniam suavis est Dominus_.
♦[*] [Ps. 33. 9. Vulg.]♦
♦O notable blasphemie.♦
The xv. Chapter.
_The inchanting of serpents and snakes, objections aunswered
concerning the same; fond reasons whie charmes take effect
therin, Mahomets pigeon, miracles wrought by an Asse at
Memphis in Aegypt, popish charmes against serpents, of
miracle workers, the tameing of snakes, Bodins lie of snakes._
Concerning the charming of serpents and snakes, mine adversaries (as I
have said) thinke they have great advantage by the words of _David_ in
the fiftie eight psalme; and by _Jeremie_, chapter eight, expounding
the one prophet by _Virgil_, the other by _Ovid_. For the words of
_David_ are these; Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, and
like a deafe adder, that stoppeth his eare, and heareth not the voice
of the charmer, charme he never so cunninglie. The words of _Virgil_
are these, _Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis_. As he might
saie, _David_ thou liest; for the cold natured snake is by the charmes
of the inchanters broken all to peeces in the field where he lieth.
Then commeth _Ovid_, and he taketh his countriemans part, saieng in the
name and person of a witch; _Vipereas rumpo verbis & carmine fauces_;
that is, I with my words and charmes can breake in sunder the vipers
jawes. Marrie _Jeremie_ on the other side encountereth this poeticall
witch, and he not onelie defendeth, but expoundeth his fellowe prophets
words, and that not in his owne name, but in the name of almightie God;
saieng, I will send serpents and cockatrices among you, which cannot be
charmed.
♦Psal. 58.♦
♦_Virg. eclog. 8._♦
♦_Ovid. metamor. 7._♦
♦Jerem. 8. 17.♦
Now let anie indifferent man (christian or heathen) judge, whether
the words and minds of the prophets doo not directlie oppugne these
poets words (I will not saie minds:) for that I am sure they did
therein but jest and trifle, according to the common fabling of lieng
poets. And certeinlie, I can encounter them two with other two poets;
namelie _Propertius_ and _Horace_, the one merrilie deriding, the other
seriouslie impugning their fantasticall poetries, concerning the power
and omnipotencie of witches. For where _Virgil_, _Ovid_, _&c_: write
that witches with their charmes fetch downe the moone and starres from
heaven, etc.; _Propertius_ mocketh them in these words following:
_At vos deductæ quibus est fallacia Lunæ,
Et labor in magicis sacra piare focis,
En agedum dominæ mentem convertite nostræ,
Et facite illa meo palleat ore magis,_
_Tunc ego crediderim vobis & sidera & amnes
Posse Circeis ducere carminibus:_
_But you that have the subtill slight,
Of fetching downe the moone from skies;
And with inchanting fier bright,
Attempt to purge your sacrifies:
Lo now, go to, turne (if you can)
Our madams mind and sturdie hart,
And make hir face more pale and wan,
Than mine: which if by magicke art
You doo, then will I soone beleeve,
That by your witching charmes you can
From skies aloft the starres remeeve,
And rivers turne from whence they ran._
♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦
And that you may see more certeinlie, that these poets did but jest and
deride the credulous and timerous sort of people, I thought good to
shew you what _Ovid_ saith against himselfe, and such as have written
so incrediblie and ridiculouslie of witches omnipotencie:
_Nec mediæ magicis finduntur cantibus angues,
Nec redit in fontes unda supina suos:_
_Snakes in the middle are not riven
with charmes of witches cunning,
Nor waters to their fountaines driven
by force of backward running._
♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦
As for _Horace_ his verses I omit them, bicause I have cited them in
another place. And concerning this matter _Cardanus_ saith, that at
everie eclipse they were woont to thinke, that witches pulled downe the
sunne and moone from heaven. And doubtles, hence came the opinion of
that matter, which spred so farre, and continued so long in the common
peoples mouthes, that in the end learned men grew to beleeve it, and to
affirme it in writing.
♦_Card. lib. 15. de var. rer. cap. 80._♦
But here it will be objected, that bicause it is said (in the places
by me alledged) that snakes or vipers cannot be charmed; _Ergo_ other
things may: To answer this argument, I would aske the witchmonger
this question, to wit; Whether it be expedient, that to satisfie his
follie, the Holie-ghost must of necessitie make mention of everie
particular thing that he imagineth may be bewitched? I would also aske
of him, what privilege a snake hath more than other creatures, that he
onelie may not, and all other creatures may be bewitched? I hope they
will not saie, that either their faith or infidelitie is the cause
thereof; neither doo I admit the answer of such divines as saie, that
he cannot be bewitched: for that he seduced _Eve_; by meanes whereof
God himselfe curssed him; and thereby he is so privileged, as that no
witches charme can take hold of him. But more shall be said hereof in
the sequele.
♦An objection answered.♦
_Danæus_ saith, that witches charmes take soonest hold upon snakes
and adders; bicause of their conference and familiaritie with the
divell, whereby the rather mankind through them was seduced. Let us
seeke then an answer for this cavill; although in truth it needeth
not: for the phrase of speach is absolute, & importes not a speciall
qualitie proper to the nature of a viper anie more, than when I saie;
A connie cannot flie: you should gather & conclude thereupon, that I
ment that all other beasts could flie. But you shall understand, that
the cause why these vipers can rather withstand the voice & practise of
inchanters and sorcerers, than other creatures, is: for that they being
in bodie and nature venomous, cannot so soone or properlie receive
their destruction by venome, wherby the witches in other creatures
bring their mischeefous practises more easilie to passe, according to
_Virgils_ saieng
♦_Dan. in dialog. cap. 3._♦
_Corrupítque lacus, infecit pabula tabo,_
♦_Virg. geo. 4._♦
_She did infect with poison strong
Both ponds and pastures all along._
♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦
And thereupon the prophet alludeth unto their corrupt and inflexible
nature, with that comparison: and not (as _Tremelius_ is faine to shift
it) with stopping one eare with his taile, and laieng the other close
to the ground; bicause he would not heare the charmers voice. For the
snake hath neither such reason; nor the words such effect: otherwise
the snake must know our thoughts. It is also to be considered, how
untame by nature these vipers (for the most part) are; in so much as
they be not by mans industrie or cunning to be made familiar, or traind
to doo anie thing, whereby admiration maie be procured: as _Bomelio
Feates_ his dog could doo; or _Mahomets_ pigeon, which would resort
unto him, being in the middest of his campe, and picke a pease out
of his eare; in such sort that manie of the people thought that the
Holie-ghost came and told him a tale in his eare: the same pigeon also
brought him a scroll, wherein was written, _Rex esto_, and laid the
same in his necke. And bicause I have spoken of the docilitie of a dog
and a pigeon, though I could cite an infinite number of like tales, I
will be bold to trouble you but with one more.
♦Feates his dog, and Mahomets pigeon.♦
At _Memphis_ in _Aegypt_, among other juggling knacks, which were there
usuallie shewed, there was one that tooke such paines with an asse,
that he had taught him all these qualities following. And for gaine
he caused a stage to be made, and an assemblie of people to meete;
which being done, in the maner of a plaie, he came in with his asse,
and said; The _Sultane_ hath great need of asses to helpe to carrie
stones and other stuffe, towards his great building which he hath in
hand. The asse immediatlie fell downe to the ground, and by all signes
shewed himselfe to be sicke, and at length to give up the ghost: so
as the juggler begged of the assemblie monie towards his losse. And
having gotten all that he could, he said; Now my maisters, you shall
see mine asse is yet alive, and dooth but counterfet; bicause he would
have some monie to buie him provender, knowing that I was poore, and
in some need of releefe. Hereupon he would needs laie a wager, that
his asse was alive, who to everie mans seeming was starke dead. And
when one had laid monie with him thereabout, he commanded the asse
to rise, but he laie still as though he were dead: then did he beate
him with a cudgell, but that would not serve the turne, untill he
addressed this speech to the asse, saieng (as before) in open audience;
The _Sultane_ hath commanded, that all the people shall ride out to
morrow, and see the triumph, and that the faire ladies will then ride
upon the fairest asses, and will give notable provender unto them, and
everie asse shall drinke of the sweete water of _Nilus_: and then lo
the asse did presentlie start up, and advance himselfe exceedinglie.
Lo (quoth his maister) now I have wonne: but in troth the Maior hath
borrowed mine asse, for the use of the old ilfavoured witch his wife:
and thereupon immediatlie he hoong downe his eares, and halted downe
right, as though he had beene starke lame. Then said his maister; I
perceive you love yoong prettie wenches: at which words he looked up,
as it were with joifull cheere. And then his maister did bid him go
choose one that should ride upon him; and he ran to a verie handsome
woman, and touched hir with his head: &c. A snake will never be brought
to such familiaritie, &c. _Bodin_ saith, that this was a man in the
likenesse of an asse: but I maie rather thinke that he is an asse in
the likenesse of a man. Well, to returne to our serpents, I will tell
you a storie concerning the charming of them, and the event of the same.
♦A storie declaring the great docilitie of an asse.♦
♦_J. Bod. lib. de dæm. 2. cap. 6._♦
In the citie of _Salisborogh_ there was an inchanter, that before
all the people tooke upon him to conjure all the serpents and snakes
within one mile compasse into a great pit or dike, and there to kill
them. When all the serpents were gathered togither, as he stood
upon the brinke of the pit, there came at the last a great and a
horrible serpent, which would not be gotten downe with all the force
of his incantations: so as (all the rest being dead) he flew upon the
inchanter, and clasped him in the middest, and drew him downe into
the said dike, and there killed him. You must thinke that this was a
divell in a serpents likenesse, which for the love he bare to the poore
snakes, killed the sorcerer; to teach all other witches to beware of
the like wicked practise. And surelie, if this be not true, there be a
great number of lies conteined in _M. Mal._ and in _J. Bodin_. And if
this be well weighed, and conceived, it beateth downe to the ground all
those witchmongers arguments, that contend to wring witching miracles
out of this place. For they disagree notablie, some denieng and some
affirming that serpents maie be bewitched. Neverthelesse, bicause in
everie point you shall see how poperie agreeth with paganisme, I will
recite certeine charmes against vipers, allowed for the most part in
and by the church of _Rome_: as followeth.
♦_Mal. malef. part 2. qu. 3. cap 9._
_John. Bodin._♦
I conjure thee O serpent in this houre, by the five holie woonds of
our Lord, that thou remove not out of this place, but here staie, as
certeinelie as God was borne of a pure virgine. ❈ Otherwise: I conjure
thee serpent _In nomine patris, & filii, & spiritus sancti_: I command
thee serpent by our ladie S. _Marie_, that thou obeie me, as wax
obeieth the fier, and as fier obeieth water; that thou neither hurt
me, nor anie other christian, as certeinelie as God was borne of an
immaculate virgine, in which respect I take thee up, _In nomine patris
& filii, & spiritus sancti: Ely lash eiter, ely lash eiter, ely lash
eiter_. ❈ Otherwise: O vermine, thou must come as God came unto the
Jewes. ❈ Otherwise: _L. Vairus_ saith, that _Serpens quernis frondibus
contacta_, that a serpent touched with oke leaves dieth, and staieth
even in the beginning of his going, if a feather of the bird _Ibis_ be
cast or throwne upon him: and that a viper smitten or hot with a reed
is astonied, and touched with a beechen branch is presentlie numme and
stiffe.
♦Exorcismes or conjuratiōs against serpents.♦
♦_L. Vair. lib. de fascinat. 1. cap. 4._♦
Here is to be remembred, that manie use to boast that they are of S.
_Paules_ race and kinred, shewing upon their bodies the prints of
serpents: which (as the papists affirme) was incident to all them of S.
_Paules_ stocke. Marie they saie herewithall, that all his kinsfolks
can handle serpents, or anie poison without danger. Others likewise
have (as they brag) a _Katharine_ wheele upon their bodies, and they
saie they are kin to S. _Katharine_, and that they can carrie burning
coles in their bare hands, and dip their said hands in hot skalding
liquor, and also go into hot ovens. Whereof though the last be but a
bare jest, and to be doone by anie that will prove (as a bad fellow
in _London_ had used to doo, making no tariance at all therein:)
yet there is a shew made of the other, as though it were certeine
and undoubted; by annointing the hands with the juice of mallowes,
mercurie, urine, &c: which for a little time are defensatives against
these scalding liquors, and scortching fiers.
♦Usurpers of kinred with blessed Paule and S Katharine.♦
But they that take upon them to worke these mysteries and miracles, doo
indeed (after rehearsall of these and such like words and charmes) take
up even in their bare hands, those snakes and vipers, and sometimes
put them about their necks, without receiving anie hurt thereby, to
the terror and astonishment of the beholders, which naturallie both
feare and abhorre all serpents. But these charmers (upon my word) dare
not trust to their charmes, but use such an inchantment, as everie man
maie lawfullie use, and in the lawfull use thereof maie bring to passe
that they shalbe in securitie, and take no harme, how much soever they
handle them: marie with a woollen rag they pull out their teeth before
hand, as some men saie; but as truth is, they wearie them, and that
is of certeintie. And surelie this is a kind of witchcraft, which I
terme private confederacie. _Bodin_ saith, that all the snakes in one
countrie were by charmes and verses driven into another region: perhaps
he meaneth _Ireland_, where S. _Patrike_ is said to have doone it with
his holinesse, &c.
♦_J. Bodin. lib. de dæm. 1. cap. 3._♦
_James Sprenger_, and _Henrie Institor_ affirme, that serpents and
snakes, and their skins exceed all other creatures for witchcraft:
in so much as witches doo use to burie them under mens threshholds,
either of the house or stalles, whereby barrennes is procured both
to woman and beast: yea and that the verie earth and ashes of them
continue to have force of fascination. In respect whereof they wish all
men now and then to dig awaie the earth under their threshholds, and
to sprinkle holie water in the place, & also to hang boughes (hallowed
on midsummer daie) at the stall doore where the cattell stand: &
produce examples thereupon, of witches lies, or else their owne, which
I omit; bicause I see my booke groweth to be greater than I meant it
should be.
The xvi. Chapter.
_Charmes to carrie water in a sive, to know what is spoken of
us behind our backs, for bleare eies, to make seeds to growe
well, of images made of wax, to be rid of a witch, to hang
hir up, notable authorities against waxen images, a storie
bewraieng the knaverie of waxen images._
_Leonardus Vairus_ saith, that there was a praier extant, whereby
might be carried in a sive, water, or other liquor: I thinke it was
Clam claie; which a crow taught a maid, that was promised a cake of
so great quantitie, as might be kneded of so much floure as she could
wet with the water that she brought in a sive, and by that meanes she
clamd it with claie, & brought in so much water, as whereby she had
a great cake, and so beguiled hir sisters, &c. And this tale I heard
among my grandams maides, whereby I can decipher this witchcraft.
Item, by the tingling of the eare, men heretofore could tell what was
spoken of them. If anie see a scorpion, and saie this word (_Bud_)
he shall not be stoong or bitten therewith. These two Greeke letters
Π and Α written in a paper, and hoong about ones necke, preserve the
partie from bleereiednesse. Cummin or hempseed sowne with curssing and
opprobrious words grow the faster and the better. _Berosus Anianus_
maketh witchcraft of great antiquitie: for he saith, that _Cham_
touching his fathers naked member uttered a charme, wherby his father
became emasculated or deprived of the powers generative.
♦_L. Vairus lib. fascin. 1. ca. 5. Oratio Tuscæ vestalis._♦
♦Of the word (_Bud_) and the Greeke letters Π & Α.♦
¶ _A charme teaching how to hurt whom you list with images of
wax, &c._
Make an image in his name, whom you would hurt or kill, of new virgine
wax; under the right arme poke whereof place a swallowes hart, and the
liver under the left; then hang about the necke thereof a new thred in
a new needle pricked into the member which you would have hurt, with
the rehearsall of certeine words, which for the avoiding of foolish
superstition and credulitie in this behalfe is to be omitted. And if
they were inserted, I dare undertake they would doo no harme, were it
not to make fooles, and catch gudgins. ❈ Otherwise: Sometimes these
images are made of brasse, and then the hand is placed where the foote
should be, and the foote where the hand, and the face downeward. ❈
Otherwise: For a greater mischeefe, the like image is made in the
forme of a man or woman, upon whose head is written the certeine name
of the partie: and on his or hir ribs these words, _Ailif, casyl, zaze,
hit mel meltat_: then the same must be buried. ❇ Otherwise: In the
dominion of _Mars_, two images must be prepared, one of wax, the other
of the earth of a dead man; each image must have in his hand a sword
wherwith a man hath beene slaine, & he that must be slaine may have
his head thrust through with a foine. In both must be written certeine
peculiar characters, and then must they be hid in a certeine place. ❇
Otherwise: To obteine a womans love, an image must be made in the houre
of _Venus_, of virgine wax, in the name of the beloved, wherupon a
character is written, & is warmed at a fier, and in dooing therof the
name of some angell must be mentioned. To be utterlie rid of the witch,
and to hang hir up by the haire, you must prepare an image of the
earth of a dead man to be baptised in another mans name, whereon the
name, with a character, must be written: then must it be perfumed with
a rotten bone, and then these psalmes read backward: _Domine Dominus
noster_, _Dominus illuminatio mea_, _Domine exaudi orationem meam_,
_Deus laudem meam ne tacueris_: and then burie it, first in one place,
and afterwards in another. Howbeit, it is written in the 21 article of
the determination of _Paris_, that to affirme that images of brasse,
lead, gold, of white or red wax, or of any other stuffe (conjured,
baptised, consecrated, or rather execrated through these magicall arts
at certeine days) have woonderfull vertues, or such as are avowed in
their bookes or assertions, is error in faith, naturall philosophie,
and true astronomie: yea it is concluded in the 22 article of that
councell, that it is as great an error to beleeve those things, as to
doo them.
♦The practiser of these charmes must have skill in the planetarie
motions, or else he may go shoo the goose.♦
But concerning these images, it is certeine that they are much feared
among the people, and much used among cousening witches, as partlie
appeereth in this discourse of mine else-where, & as partlie you may
see by the contents of this storie following. Not long sithence,
a yoong maiden (dwelling at new _Romnie_ heere in Kent) being the
daughter of one M. _L. Stuppenie_ (late Jurat of the same towne but
dead before the execution hereof) and afterwards the wife of _Thomas
Eps_, who is at this instant Maior of _Romnie_) was visited with
sicknesse, whose mother and father in lawe being abused with credulitie
concerning witches supernaturall power, repaired to a famous witch
called mother _Baker_, dwelling not far from thence at a place called
_Stonstreet_, who (according to witches cousening custome) asked
whether they mistrusted not some bad neighbour, to whom they answered
that indeed they doubted a woman neere unto them (and yet the same
woman was, of the honester & wiser sort of hir neighbors, reputed a
good creature.) Nevertheles the witch told them that there was great
cause of their suspicion: for the same (said she) is the verie partie
that wrought the maidens destruction, by making a hart of wax, and
pricking the same with pins and needels; affirming also that the same
neighbor of hirs had bestowed the same in some secret corner of the
house. This being beleeved, the house was searched by credible persons,
but nothing could be found. The witch or wise woman being certified
hereof, continued hir assertion, and would needs go to the house where
she hir selfe (as she affirmed) would certeinlie find it. When she came
thither, she used hir cunning (as it chanced) to hir owne confusion,
or at leastwise to hir detection: for heerein she did, as some of the
wiser sort mistrusted that she woulde doo, laieng downe privilie such
an image (as she had before described) in a corner, which by others
had beene most diligentlie searched & looked into, & by that means hir
cousenage was notablie bewraied. And I would wish that all witchmongers
might paie for their lewd repaire to inchantors, and consultation with
witches, and such as have familiar spirits, as some of these did, and
that by the order of the high commissioners, which partlie for respect
of neighborhood, and partlie for other considerations, I leave unspoken
of.
♦A proved storie concerning the premisses.♦
The xvii. Chapter.
_Sundrie sorts of charmes tending to diverse purposes, and first,
certeine charmes to make taciturnitie in tortures._
_Imparibus meritis tria
pendent corpora ramis,
Dismas & Gestas,
in medio est divina potestas,
Dismas damnatur,
Gestas ad astra levatur:_
♦This charm seemeth to allude to Christ crucified betweene the two
theevs.♦
_Three bodies on a bough doo hang,
for merits of inequalitie,
Dismas and Gestas, in the midst
the power of the divinitie.
Dismas is damned, but Gestas lif-
ted up above the starres on hie._
♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦
Also this: _Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum veritatem nunquam dicam
regi._ ❇ Otherwise: As the milke of our ladie was lussious to our Lord
Jesus Christ; so let this torture or rope be pleasant to mine armes
and members. ❇ Otherwise: _Jesus autem transiens per medium illorum
ibat._ ❇ Otherwise: You shall not break a bone of him.
♦Psal. 44.♦
♦Luk. 4.♦
♦John. 19♦
¶ _Counter charmes against these and all other witchcrafts, in the
saieng also whereof witches are vexed, &c._
_Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum, dicam cuncta opera mea regi._ ❇
Otherwise: _Domine labia mea aperies, & os meum annunciabit veritatem._
❇ Otherwise: _Contere brachia iniqui rei, & lingua maligna subvertetur._
♦Psal. 44. Scripture properlie applied.♦
¶ _A charme for the choine cough._
Take three sips of a chalice, when the preest hath said masse, and
swallow it downe with good devotion, &c.
¶ _For corporall or spirituall rest._
_In nomine patris_, up and downe,
_Et filii & spiritus sancti_ upon my crowne,
_Crux Christi_ upon my brest,
Sweete ladie send me eternall rest![*]
♦[*] [Ital. & Rom.]♦
¶ _Charmes to find out a theefe._
The meanes how to find out a theefe, is thus: Turne your face to the
east, and make a crosse upon christall with oile olive, and under the
crosse write these two words [_Saint Helen_].[*] Then a child that
is innocent, and a chast virgine borne in true wedlocke, and not base
begotten, of the age of ten yeares, must take the christall in his
hand, and behind his backe, kneeling on thy knees, thou must devoutlie
and reverentlie saie over this praier thrise: I beseech thee my ladie
S. _Helen_, mother of king _Constantine_, which diddest find the crosse
whereupon Christ died: by that thy holie devotion, and invention of the
crosse, and by the same crosse, and by the joy which thou conceivedst
at the finding thereof and by the love which thou barest to thy sonne
_Constantine_, and by the great goodnes which thou dooest alwaies use,
that thou shew me in this christall, whatsoever I aske or desire to
knowe; Amen. And when the child seeth the angell in the christall,
demand what you will, and the angell will make answer thereunto.
_Memorandum_,[†] that this be doone just at the sunne rising, when
the wether is faire and cleere.
♦O most woonderfull vertue hidden in the letters of S. Helens holie
name!♦
♦[*] [So in text.]♦
♦[†] [Rom.]♦
_Cardanus_ derideth these and such like fables, and setteth downe his
judgement therein accordinglie, in the sixteenth booke _De rerum_
_var._ These conjurors and couseners forsooth will shew you in a
glasse the theefe that hath stolne anie thing from you, and this is
their order. They take a glasse viall full of holie water, and set
it upon a linnen cloth, which hath beene purified, not onelie by
washing, but by sacrifice, &c. On the mouth of the viall or urinall,
two olive leaves must be laid acrosse, with a litle conjuration said
over it, by a child; to wit thus: _Angele bone, angele candide, per
tuam sanctitatem, meámq; virginitatem, ostende mihi furem_: with three
_Pater nosters_, three _Aves_, and betwixt either of them a [*]crosse
made with the naile of the thumbe upon the mouth of the viall; and then
shall be seene angels ascending and descending as it were motes in the
sunne beames. The theefe all this while shall suffer great torments,
and his face shall be seene plainlie, even as plainlie I beleeve as
the man in the moone. For in truth, there are toies artificiallie
conveied into the glasse, which will make the water bubble, and devises
to make images appeare in the bubbles: as also there be artificiall
glasses, which will shew unto you that shall looke thereinto, manie
images of diverse formes, and some so small and curious, as they shall
in favour resemble whom so ever you thinke upon. Looke in _John Bap.
Neap._ for the confection of such glasses. The subtilties hereof are so
detected, and the mysteries of the glasses so common now, and their
cousenage so well knowne, &c: that I need not stand upon the particular
confutation hereof. _Cardanus_ in the place before cited reporteth,
how he tried with children these and diverse circumstances the whole
illusion, and found it to be plaine knaverie and cousenage.
♦_Card. lib. 16. de var. rer. cap. 93._♦
♦[*] For if the crosse be forgotten all is not woorth a pudding.♦
¶ _Another waie to find out a theefe that hath stolne anie
thing from you._
Go to the sea side, and gather as manie pebles as you suspect persons
for that matter; carrie them home, and throwe them into the fier, and
burie them under the threshhold, where the parties are like to come
over. There let them lie three daies, and then before sunne rising
take them awaie. Then set a porrenger full of water in a circle,
wherein must be made crosses everie waie, as manie as can stand in it;
upon the which must be written: Christ overcommeth, Christ reigneth,
Christ commandeth. The porrenger also must be signed with a crosse,
and a forme of conjuration must be pronounced. Then each stone must
be throwne into the water, in the name of the suspected. And when you
put in the stone of him that is guiltie, the stone will make the water
boile, as though glowing iron were put thereinto. Which is a meere
knacke of legier de maine, and to be accomplished diverse waies.
¶ _To put out the theeves eie._
Read the seven [*]psalmes with the Letanie, and then must be said a
horrible praier to Christ, and God the father, with a cursse against
the theefe. Then in the middest of the step of your foote, on the
ground where you stand, make a circle like an eie, and write thereabout
certeine barbarous names, and drive with a coopers hammar, or addes
into the middest thereof a brasen naile consecrated, saieng: _Justus es
Domine, & justa judicia tua_. Then the theefe shall be bewraied by his
crieng out.
♦[*] [penitential]♦
¶ _Another waie to find out a theefe._
Sticke a paire of sheeres in the rind of a sive, and let two persons
set the top of each of their forefingers upon the upper part of the
sheeres, holding it with the sive up from the ground steddilie, and
aske _Peter_ and _Paule_ whether A. B. or C. hath stolne the thing
lost, and at the nomination of the guiltie person, the sive will turne
round. This is a great practise in all countries, and indeed a verie
bable. For with the beating of the pulse some cause of that motion
ariseth, some other cause by slight of the fingers, some other by the
wind gathered in the sive to be staid, &c: at the pleasure of the
holders. Some cause may be the imagination, which upon conceipt at
the naming of the partie altereth the common course of the pulse. As
may well be conceived by a ring held steddilie by a thred betwixt the
finger and the thombe, over or rather in a goblet or glasse; which
within short space will strike against the side therof so manie strokes
as the holder thinketh it a clocke, and then will staie: the which who
so prooveth shall find true.
♦These be meere toies to mocke apes, and have in them no commendable
devise.♦
¶ _A charme to find out or spoile a theefe._
Of this matter, concerning the apprehension of theeves by words, I
will cite one charme, called S. _Adelberts_ cursse, being both for
length of words sufficient to wearie the reader, and for substantiall
stuffe comprehending all that apperteineth unto blasphemous speech or
curssing, allowed in the church of _Rome_, as an excommunication and
inchantment.
¶_Saint Adelberts cursse or charme against theeves._
By the authoritie of the omnipotent Father, the Sonne, and the
Holie-ghost, and by the holie virgine _Marie_ mother of our Lord Jesu
Christ, and the holie angels and archangels, and S. _Michaell_, and S.
_John Baptist_, and in the behalfe of S. _Peter_ the apostle, and the
residue of the apostles, and of S. _Steeven_, and of all the martyrs,
of S. _Sylvester_, and of S. _Adelbert_, and all the confessors, and
S. _Alegand_, and all the holie virgins, and of all the saints in
heaven and earth, unto whom there is given power to bind and loose:
we doo excommunicate, damne, cursse, and bind with the knots and
bands of excommunication, and we doo segregate from the bounds and
lists of our holie mother the church, all those theeves, sacrilegious
persons, ravenous catchers, dooers, counsellers, coadjutors, male or
female, that have committed this theft or mischeefe, or have usurped
any part therof to their owne use. Let their share be with _Dathan_
and _Abiran_, whome the earth swallowed up for their sinnes and pride,
and let them have part with _Judas_ that betraied Christ, Amen: and
with _Pontius Pilat_, and with them that said to the Lord, Depart
from us, we will not understand thy waies; let their children be made
orphanes. Curssed be they in the field, in the grove, in the woods,
in their houses, barnes, chambers, and beds; and curssed be they in
the court, in the waie, in the towne, in the castell, in the water,
in the church, in the churchyard, in the tribunall place, in battell,
in their abode, in the market place, in their talke, in silence, in
eating, in watching, in sleeping, in drinking in feeling, in sitting,
in kneeling, in standing[,] in lieng, in idlenes, in all their worke,
in their bodie and soule, in their five wits, and in everie place.
Curssed be the fruit of their wombs, and curssed be the fruit of their
lands, and curssed be all that they have. Curssed be their heads,
their mouthes, their nostrels, their noses, their lips, their jawes,
their teeth, their eies and eielids, their braines, the roofe of their
mouthes, their toongs, their throtes, their breasts, their harts, their
bellies, their livers, all their bowels, and their stomach.
♦This is not to doo good to our enimies, nor to praie for them that
hurt and hate us; as Christ exhorteth.♦
Curssed be their navels, their spleenes, their bladder. Curssed be
their thighs, their legs, their feete, their toes, their necks, their
shoulders. Curssed be their backs, curssed be their armes, curssed
be their elbowes, curssed be their hands, and their fingers, curssed
be both the nails of their hands and feete; curssed be their ribbes
and their genitals, and their knees, curssed be their flesh, curssed
be their bones, curssed be their bloud, curssed be the skin of their
bodies, curssed be the marrowe in their bones, curssed be they from
the crowne of the head, to the sole of the foote: and whatsoever is
betwixt the same, be it accurssed, that is to saie, their five senses;
to wit, their seeing, their hearing, their smelling, their tasting,
and their feeling. Curssed be they in the holie crosse, in the passion
of Christ, with his five wounds, with the effusion of his bloud, and
by the milke of the virgine _Marie_. I conjure thee _Lucifer_, with
all thy soldiers, by the [*]father, the son, and the Holie-ghost,
with the humanitie and nativitie of Christ, with the vertue of all
saints, that thou rest not day nor night, till thou bringest them to
destruction, either by drowning or hanging, or that they be devoured
by wild beasts, or burnt, or slaine by their enimies, or hated of
all men living. And as our Lord hath given authoritie to _Peter_ the
apostle, and his successors, whose place we occupie, and to us (though
unworthie) that whatsoever we bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven,
and whatsoever we loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven: so we
accordinglie, if they will not amend, doo shut from them the gates of
heaven, and denie unto them christian buriall, so as they shall be
buried in asses leaze. Furthermore, curssed be the ground wherein they
are buried, let them be confounded in the last daie of judgement, let
them have no conversation among christians, nor behouseled[†] at the
houre of death; let them be made as dust before the face of the wind:
and as _Lucifer_ was expelled out of heaven, and _Adam_ and _Eve_ out
of paradise; so let them be expelled from the daie light. Also let them
be joined with those, to whome the Lord saith at the judgement; Go ye
curssed into everlasting fier, which is prepared for the divell and his
angels, where the worme shall not die, nor the fier be quenched. And as
the candle, which is throwne out of my hand here, is put out: so let
their works and their soule be quenched in the stench of hell fier,
except they restore that which they have stolne, by such a daie: and
let everie one saie, Amen. After this must be soong [‡]_In media vita
in morte sumus, &c._
♦[*] Thus they make the holie trinitie to beare a part in their
exorcisme, or else it is no bargaine.♦
♦[†] [be-houseled _text_.]♦
♦Matth. 15.♦
♦[‡] That is, In the midst of life we are in death, &c.♦
This terrible cursse with bell, booke, and candell added thereunto,
must needs worke woonders: howbeit among theeves it is not much
weighed, among wise and true men it is not well liked, to them that
are robbed it bringeth small releefe: the preests stomach may well be
eased, but the goods stolne will never the sooner be restored. Hereby
is bewraied both the malice and follie of popish doctrine, whose
uncharitable impietie is so impudentlie published, and in such order
uttered, as everie sentence (if oportunitie served) might be prooved
both hereticall and diabolicall. But I will answer this cruell cursse
with another cursse farre more mild and civill, performed by as honest
a man (I dare saie) as he that made the other, whereof mention was
latelie made.
So it was, that a certeine sir _John_,[*] with some of his companie,
once went abroad a jetting, and in a moone light evening robbed a
millers weire, and stole all his eeles. The poore miller made his mone
to sir _John_ himselfe, who willed him to be quiet; for he would so
cursse the theefe, and all his confederates, with bell, booke, and
candell, that they should have small joy of their fish. And therefore
the next sundaie, sir _John_ got him to the pulpit, with his surplisse
on his backe, and his stole about his necke, and pronounced these words
following in the audience of the people.
♦[*] [i.e. a priest.]♦
_All you that have stolne the millers eeles,[*]
Laudate Dominum de cœlis,
And all they that have consented thereto,[*]
Benedicamus Domino._
♦[*] [Rom.]♦
♦A cursse for theft.♦
Lo (saith he) there is sauce for your eeles my maisters.
¶ _Another inchantment._
Certeine preests use the hundred and eight psalme as an inchantment
or charme, or at the leastwise saieng, that against whome soever they
pronounce it, they cannot live one whole yeere at the uttermost.
The xviii Chapter.
¶ _A charme or experiment to find out a witch._
_In die dominico sotularia juvenum axungia seu pinguedine porci,
ut moris est, pro restauratione fieri perungunt_: and when she is
once come into the church, the witch can never get out, untill the
[*]seachers for hir give hir expresse leave to depart.
♦[*] [= seekers]♦
But now it is necessarie to shew you how to prevent and cure all
mischeefes wrought by these charmes & witchcrafts, according to the
opinion of _M. Mal._ and others. One principall waie is to naile a
horsse shoo at the inside of the outmost threshhold of your house, and
so you shall be sure no witch shall have power to enter thereinto.
And if you marke it, you shall find that rule observed in manie
countrie houses. ❈ Otherwise: Item the triumphant title to be written
crossewise, in everie corner of the house, thus: _Jesus ✠ Nazarenus ✠
rex ✠ Judæorum ✠_. _Memorandum_[*] you may joine heerewithall, the
name of the virgine _Marie_, or of the foure evangelists, or _Verbum
caro factum est_. ❈ Otherwise: Item in some countries they naile a
woolves head on the doore. ❈ Otherwise: Item they hang _Scilla_ (which
is either a roote, or rather in this place garlike) in the roofe of the
house, for to keepe awaie witches and spirits: and so they doo Alicium
also. ❈ Otherwise: Item perfume made of the gall of a blake dog, and
his bloud besmeered on the posts and walles of the house, driveth out
of the doores both devils and witches. ❈ Otherwise: The house where
_Herba betonica_ is sowne, is free from all mischeefes. ❇ Otherwise: It
is not unknowne that the Romish church allowed and used the smoke of
sulphur, to drive spirits out of their houses; as they did frankincense
and water hallowed. ❈ Otherwise: _Apuleius_ saith, that _Mercurie_ gave
to _Ulysses_, when he came neere to the inchantresse _Circe_, an hearbe
called _Verbascum_, which in English is called Pullein, or _Tapsus
barbatus_, or Longwoort; and that preserved him from the inchantments.
❈ Otherwise: Item _Plinie_ and _Homer_ both doo saie, that the herbe
called Molie is an excellent herbe against inchantments; and saie[,]
all that thereby _Ulysses_ escaped _Circes_ hir sorceries, and
inchantments. ❈ Otherwise also diverse waies they went to worke in this
case, and some used this defensative, some that preservative against
incantations.
♦Preservatives from witchcraft according to M. Mal. L. Vairus & others.♦
♦[*] [Rom.]♦
And heerein you shall see, not onelie how the religion of papists, and
infidels agree; but also how their ceremonies and their opinions are
all one concerning witches and spirits.
_For thus writeth Ovid touching that matter:[*]_
_Térque senem flamma, ter aqua, ter sulphure lustrat:_
♦_Ovid de Medea._♦
_She purifies with fier thrise
old horie headed Aeson,
With water thrise, and sulphur thrise,
as she thought meet in reason._
♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦
_Againe, the same Ovid commeth in as before:[*]_
_Adveniat, quæ lustret anus, lectúmque locúmque,
Deferat & tremula sulphur & ova manu._
_Let some old woman hither come,
and purge both bed and place,
And bring in trembling hand new egs
and sulphur in like case._
♦_By Ab. Fleming._♦
_And Virgil also harpeth upon the like string:[*]_
——————————————————_baccare frontem
Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro:_
♦_Virg. in Bucolicis._♦
_Of berrie bearing baccar bowze [boughs]
a wreath or garland knit,
And round about his head and browze
see decentlie it sit;
That of an evill talking tung
Our future poet be not stung._
♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦
♦[*] [_Ital._]♦
Furthermore, was it not in times of tempests the papists use, [*]or
superstition, to ring their belles against divels; trusting rather to
the tonging of their belles, than to their owne crie unto God with
fasting and praier, assigned by him in all adversities and dangers:
according to the order of the _Thracian_ preests, which would rore and
crie, with all the noise they could make, in those tempests. _Olaus
Gothus_ saith, that his countriemen would shoot in the aire, to assist
their gods, whome they thought to be then togither by the eares with
others, and had consecrated arrowes, called _Sagittæ Joviales_, even
as our papists had. Also in steed of belles, they had great hammers,
called _Mallei Joviales_, to make a noise in time of thunder. In some
countries they runne out of the doores in time of tempest, blessing
themselves with a cheese, whereupon there was a crosse made with a
ropes end upon ascension daie. Also three hailestones to be throwne
into the fier in a tempest, and thereupon to be said three _Pater
nosters_, and three _Aves_, S. _Johns_ gospell, and _in fine fugiat
tempestas_, is a present remedie. Item, to hang an eg laid on ascension
daie in the roofe of the house, preserveth the same from all hurts.
[†]Item, I conjure you haile and wind by the five wounds of Christ,
by the three nailes which pearsed his hands and his feete, and by
the foure evangelists, _Matthew_, _Marke_, _Luke_, and _John_, that
thou come downe dissolved into water. Item, it hath beene a usuall
matter, to carrie out in tempests the sacraments and relikes, &c.
Item, against stormes, and manie dumme creatures, the popish church
useth excommunication as a principall charme. And now to be delivered
from witches themselves, they hang in their entries an hearbe called
pentaphyllon, cinquefole, also an olive branch, also frankincense,
myrrh, valerian, verven, palme, antirchmon, &c: also haythorne,
otherwise white[t]horne gathered on Maie daie: also the smoke of
a lappoints fethers driveth spirits awaie. There be innumerable
popish exorcismes, and conjurations for hearbs and other things, to
be thereby made wholsome both for the bodies and soules of men and
beasts, and also for contagion of weather. _Memorandum_,[‡] that
at the gathering of these magicall herbs, the _Credo_ is necessarie
to be said, as _Vairus_ affirmeth; and also the _Pater noster_, for
that is not superstitious. Also _Sprenger_ saith, that to throw up a
blacke chicken in the aire, will make all tempests to cease: so it be
done with the hand of a witch. If a soule wander in the likenesse of
a man or woman by night, molesting men, with bewailing their torments
in purgatorie, by reason of tithes forgotten, &c: and neither masses
nor conjurations can helpe; the exorcist in his ceremoniall apparell
must go to the toome of that bodie, and spurne thereat, with his foote,
saieng; _Vade ad gehennam_, Get thee packing to hell: and by and by the
soule goeth thither, and there remaineth for ever. ❇ Otherwise: There
be masses of purpose for this matter, to unbewitch the bewitched. ❇
Otherwise: You must spet into the pissepot, where you have made water.
❇ Otherwise: Spet into the shoo of your right foote, before you put it
on: and that _Vairus_ saith is good and holsome to doo, before you go
into anie dangerous place. ❇ Otherwise: That neither hunters nor their
dogs maie be bewitched, they cleave an oken branch, and both they and
their dogs passe over it. ❇ Otherwise: S. _Augustine_ saith, that to
pacifie the god _Liber_, whereby women might have fruite of the seeds
they sowe, and that their gardens and feelds should not be bewitched;
some cheefe grave matrone used to put a crowne upon his genitall
member, and that must be publikelie done.
♦[*] [? of _or_ in.]♦
♦_Olaus Goth. lib. de gentib. Septentriona-lib. 3. cap. 8._♦
♦[†] A witches conjuration to make haile cease and be dissolved.♦
♦[‡] [Rom.]♦
♦_L. Vair. lib. de fascin. 2. cap. 11._♦
♦_Mal. Malef. par. 2. quæ 1. cap. 15._♦
♦Note that you read never of anie spirit that walked by daie, quoth
Nota.♦
♦_Aug. de civit. Dei. lib. 7. cap. 12._♦
_To spoile a theefe, a witch, or anie other enimie, and to be
delivered from the evill._
Upon the Sabboth daie before sunrising, cut a hazell wand, saieng: I
cut thee O bough of this summers growth, in the name of him whome I
meane to beate or maime. Then cover the table, and saie _✠ In nomine
patris ✠ & filii ✠ & spiritus sancti ✠ ter_. And striking thereon saie
as followeth (english it he that can) _Drochs myroch, esenaroth, ✠ betu
✠ baroch ✠ ass ✠ maaroth ✠_: and then saie; Holie trinitie punish him
that hath wrought this mischiefe, & take it away by thy great justice,
_Eson ✠ elion ✠ emaris, ales, age_; and strike the carpet with your
wand.
¶ _A notable charme or medicine to pull out an arrowhead, or
anie such thing that sticketh in the flesh or bones, and cannot
otherwise be had out._
Saie three severall times kneeling; _Oremus, præceptis salutaribus
moniti, Pater noster, ave Maria_. Then make a crosse saieng: The Hebrew
knight strake our Lord Jesu Christ, and I beseech thee, O Lord Jesu
Christ ✠ by the same iron, speare, bloud and water, to pull out this
iron: _In nomine patris ✠ & filii ✠ & spiritus sancti ✠_
♦The Hebrue knight was canonized a saint to wit, S. _Longinus_.♦
¶ _Charmes against a quotidian ague._
Cut an apple in three peeces, and write upon the one; The father is
uncreated: upon the other; The father is incomprehensible: upon the
third; The father is eternall. ❇ Otherwise: Write upon a massecake cut
in three peeces; O ague to be worshipped: on the second; O sicknesse to
be ascribed to health and joies: on the third; _Pax ✠ max ✠ fax ✠_ and
let it be eaten fasting. ❇ Otherwise: Paint upon three like peeces of
a massecake, _Pater pax ✠ Adonai ✠ filius vita ✠ sabbaoth ✠ spiritus
sanctus ✠ Tetragrammaton ✠_ and eate it, as is afore said.
¶ _For all maner of agues intermittant._
Joine two little stickes togither in the middest, being of one length,
and hang it about your necke in the forme of a crosse. ❇ Otherwise:
For this disease the _Turkes_ put within their doublet a ball of wood,
with an other peece of wood, and strike the same, speaking certeine
frivolous words. ❇ Otherwise: Certeine monks hanged scrolles about the
necks of such as were sicke, willing them to saie certeine praiers at
each fit, and at the third fit to hope well: and made them beleeve that
they should thereby receive cure.
♦A crossed appension, with other appensions.♦
_Periapts, characters, &c: for agues, and to cure all diseases,
and to deliver from all evill._
The first chapter of S. _Johns_ gospell in small letters consecrated
at a masse, and hanged about ones necke, is an incomparable amulet or
tablet, which delivereth from all witchcrafts and divelish practises.
But me thinkes, if one should hang a whole testament, or rather a
bible, he might beguile the divell terriblie. For indeed so would S.
_Barnard_ have done, whom the divell told, that he could shew him seven
verses in the psalter, which being dailie repeated, would of themselves
bring anie man to heaven, and preserve him from hell. But when S.
_Barnard_ desired the divell to tell him which they were, he refused,
saieng, he might then thinke him a foole so to prejudice himselfe. Well
(quoth S. _Barnard_) I will doo well enough for that, for I will dailie
saie over the whole psalter. The divell hearing him saie so, told him
which were the verses, least in reading over the whole psalter dailie,
he should merit too much for others. But if the hanging of S. _Johns_
gospell about the necke be so beneficiall; how if one should eate up
the same?
♦For bodie and soule.♦
♦S. Barnard overmatcheth the divell for all his subtiltie.♦
¶ _More charmes for agues._
Take the partie by the hand, and saie; _Aequè facilis sit tibi hæc
febris, atque Mariæ virgini Christi partus_. ❇ Otherwise: Wash with the
partie, and privilie saie this psalme, _Exaltabo te Deus meus, rex,
&c._ ❇ Otherwise: Weare about your necke, a peece of a naile taken
from a crosse, and wrapped in wooll. ❇ Otherwise: Drinke wine, wherein
a sworde hath beene drowned that hath cut off ones head. ❇ Otherwise:
Take three consecrated massecakes, and write upon the first: _Qualis
est pater talis est vita_: on the second; _Qualis est filius, talis est
sanctus_: on the third; _Qualis est spiritus tale est remedium_. Then
give them to the sicke man, enjoining him to eate none other thing that
daie wherein he eateth anie of them, nor yet drinke: and let him saie
fifteene _Pater nosters_, and as manie _Aves_, in the honour and praise
of the Trinitie. ❇ Otherwise: Lead the sicke man on a fridaie before
sunne rising towards the east, and let him hold up his hands towards
the sunne, and saie: This is the daie, wherein the Lord God came to the
crosse. But as the crosse shall never more come to him: so let never
the hot or cold fit of this ague come anie more unto this man, _In
nomine patris ✠ & fi✠lii, & spiritus ✠ sancti ✠_. Then saie seven and
twentie _Pater nosters_, and as manie _Aves_, and use this three daies
togither. ❇ Otherwise:
♦Pretious restorities.[*]♦
♦[*] [? restorati[v]es]♦
_Fécana, cagéti, daphnes, gebáre, gedáco,
Gébali stant, sed non stant phebas, hecas,[*] & hedas._