We cannot wonder if Measures such as those, which stamped the already
existing Superstitions with the renewed Authority of the Law, and
with the Influence of regal Argument and Authority, should render a
Belief in the Existence of Witchcraft almost universal; Fashion and
Interest on the one Hand, and Ignorance and Fear on the other, mutually
contributing, by concealing and banishing Doubt, to disseminate Error,
and preclude Detection.
Who those were who, at this Period, had the Misfortune to be branded
with the Appellation of Witches; what Deeds were imputed to them, and
what was the Nature of their supposed Compact with the Devil, are
Questions which will be most satisfactorily answered in the Words of
Reginald Scot, whose Book is not only extremely scarce, but highly
curious and entertaining; and two or three Chapters from this copious
Treasury of Superstition, with a very few Comments from other Sources,
will exhaust this Part of the Subject.
"The Sort of such as are said to be Witches," writes Scot, "are Women
which be commonly old, lame, bleare-eied, pale, fowle, and full of
Wrinkles; poore, sullen, Superstitious, and Papists; or such as know no
Religion; in whose drousie Minds the Divell hath gotten a fine Seat;
so as, what Mischeefe, Mischance, Calamitie, or Slaughter is brought
to passe, they are easilie persuaded the same is doone by themselves;
imprinting in their Minds an earnest and constant Imagination thereof.
They are leane and deformed, shewing Melancholie in their Faces, to the
Horror of all that see them. They are doting, Scolds, mad, develish,
and not much differing from them that are thought to be possessed with
Spirits; so firme and stedfast in their Opinions, as whosoever shall
onelie have respect to the Constancie of their Words uttered, would
easilie beleeve they were true indeed.
"These miserable Wretches are so odious unto all their Neighbors, and
so feared, as few dare offend them, or denie them anie Thing they
aske: whereby they take upon them; yea, and some Times thinke, that
they can doo such Things as are beyond the Abilitie of humane Nature.
These go from House to House, and from Doore to Doore for a Pot full
of Milke, Yest, Drinke, Pottage, or some such Reelefe; without the
which they could hardlie live: neither obtaining for their Service and
Paines, nor by their Art, nor yet at the Divels Hands (with whome they
are said to make a perfect and visible Bargaine) either Beautie, Monie,
Promotion, Welth, Worship, Pleasure, Honor, Knowledge, Learning, or any
other Benefit whatsoever.
"It falleth out many Times, that neither their Necessities, nor their
Expectation is answered or served, in those Places where they beg or
borrowe; but ratheir Kindness is by their Neighbors reproved. And
further, in Tract of Time the Witch weareth odious and tedious to her
Neighbors; and they againe are despised and despited of hir; so as
sometimes she curseth one, and sometimes another; and that from the
Maister of the House, his Wife, Children, Cattell, &c. to the little
Pig that lieth in the Stie. Thus in Processe of Time they have all
displeased hir, and she hath wished evil Luck unto them all; perhaps
with Curses and Imprecations made in Forme. Doubtless (at Length)
some of hir Neighbors die, or falle sicke; or some of their Children
are visited with Diseases that ver them strangelie: as Apoplexies,
Epilepsies, Convulsions, hot Fevers, Wormes, &c. Which by ignorant
Parents are supposed to be the Vengeance of Witches. Yea and their
Opinions and Conceits are confirmed and maintained by unskilfull
Physicians: according to the common Saieng; _Inscitiæ Pallium
Maleficium et Incantatio_, Witchcraft and Inchantment is the Cloke of
Ignorance: whereas indeed evill Humors, and not strange Words, Witches,
or Spirits are the Causes of such Diseases. Also some of their Cattell
perish, either by Disease or Mischance. Then they, upon whom such
Adversities fall, weighing the Fame that goeth upon this Woman (hir
Words, Displeasure, and Curses meeting so justly with their Misfortune)
doo not onlie conceive, but are resolved, that all their Mishaps are
brought to passe by hir onelie Means.
"The Witch on the other Side expecting hir Neighbors Mischances, and
seeing Things sometimes come to passe according to hir Wishes, Curses,
and Incantations (for Bodin himself confesseth, that not above two in a
hundred of their Witchings or Wishings take effect) being called before
a Justice, by due Examination of the Circumstances is driven to see
hir Imprecations and Desires, and hir Neighbors Harmes and Losses to
concurre, and as it were to take effect: and so confesseth that she (as
a Goddes) hath brought such Things to passe. Wherein, not onelie she,
but the Accuser, and also the Justice are fowlie deceived and abused;
as being thorough hir Confession and other Circumstances persuaded (to
the Injury of Gods Glorie) that she hath doone, or can doo that which
is proper onelie to God himselfe.
"Another Sort of Witches there are, which be absolutelie Cooseners:
These take upon them, either for Glorie, Fame, or Gaine, to doo any
Thing, which God or the Divell can doo: either for fortelling Things
to come, bewraieng of Secrets, curing of Maladies, or working of
Miracles."[15]
To this Chapter from Scot, which we have given entire, may be added
the admirable Description of the Abode of a Witch from the Pen of
Spenser, who as Warton hath observed, copied from living Objects, and
had probably been struck with seeing such a Cottage, in which a Witch
was supposed to live:
"There is a gloomy hollow Glen she found
A little Cottage built of Sticks and Reeds
In homely wise, and walled with Sods around;
In which a Witch did dwell, in loathly Weedes.
And wilful Want, all carelesse of her Needes
So choosing solitarie to abide
Far from all Neighbours, that her divilish Deeds
And hellish Arts from People she might hide,
And hurt far off unknowne whomever she enviede."[16]
This very striking Picture forever fixed the Character of the
Habitation allotted to a Witch; thus in a singularly curious Tract,
entitled, "Round about our Coal-Fire," published about the Close of
the seventeenth Century, and which details, in a pleasing Manner, the
Tradition of the olden Time, as a Source of Christmas Amusement, it
is said that "a Witch must be a hagged old Woman, living in a little
rotten Cottage, under a Hill, by a Wood-side, and must be frequently
spinning at the Door: she must have a black Cat, two or three
Broom-sticks, an Imp or two, and two or three diabolical Teats to
suckle her Imps."
Of the wonderful Feats which the various Kinds of Witches were supposed
capable of performing, Scott has favored us with the following succinct
Enumeration. There are three Sorts of Witches he tells us, "one Sort
can hurt and not helpe, the second can helpe and not hurt, the third
can both helpe and hurt. Among the hurtfull Witches there is one Sort
more beastlie than any Kind of Beasts, saving Wolves: for these usually
devour and eate young Children and Infants of their owne Kind. These be
they that raise Haile, Tempests, and hurtfull Weather; as Lightning,
Thunder, &c. These be they that procure Barrennesse in Man, Woman and
Beast. These can throwe Children in Waters, as they walk with their
Mothers, and not be seene. These can make Horses kicke, till they cast
their Riders. These can pass from Place to Place in the Aire invisible.
These can so alter the Mind of Judges, that they can have no Power to
hurt them. These can procure to themselves and to others, Taciturnitie
and Insensibilitie in their Torments. These can bring trembling to the
Hands, and strike Terror into the Minds of them that apprehend them.
These can manifest unto others, Things hidden and lost, and foreshow
Things to come; and see them as though they were present. These can
alter Men's Minds to inordinate Love or Hate. These can kill whom they
list with Lightning and Thunder. These can take away Man's Courage.
These can make a Woman miscarrie in Childbirth, and destroie the Child
in the Mother's Wombe, without any sensible Means either inwardlie or
outwardlie applied. These can with their Looks kill either Man or Beast.
"Others doo write, that they can pull downe the Moone and the
Starres. Some write that with wishing they can send Needles into the
Livers of their Enemies. Some that they can transferre Corne in the
Blade from one Place to another. Some, that they can cure Diseases
supernaturallie, flie in the Aire, and danse with Divels. Some write,
that they can play the Part of _Succubus_, and contract themselves to
_Incubus_. Some saie they can transubstantiate themselves and others,
and take the Forms and Shapes of Asses, Woolves, Ferrets, Cowes, Asses,
Horses, Hogs, &c. Some say they can keepe Divels and Spirits in the
Likenesse of Todes and Cats.
They can raise Spirits (as others affirme), drie up Springs, turn the
Course of running Waters, inhibit the same, and staie both Day and
Night, changing the one into the other. They can go in and out at
Awger Holes, and saile in an Egge Shell, a Cockle or Muscle Shell,
through and under the tempestuous Seas. They can bring Soules out of
the Graves. They can teare Snakes in Pieces. They can also bring to
pass, that Churne as long as you list, your Butter will not come;
_especially, if either the Maids have eaten up the Cream; or the
Good-wife have sold the Butter before in the Market_."[17]
The only material Accession which the royal James has made to this
curious Catalogue of the Deeds of Witchcraft, consists in informing us,
that these aged and decrepid Slaves of Satan, "make Picture of Waxe
and Clay, that by the roasting thereof, the Persons that they bear
the Name of, may be continually melted or dried away by continuall
Sicknesse;"[18] and his Mode of explaining how the Devil performs this
Marvel, is a notable Instance both of his Ingenuity and his Eloquence.
This Deed, he says, "is verie possible to their Master to performe;
for although that Instrument of Waxe have no Vertue in that Turne
doing, yet may he not very well, even by the same Measure, that his
conjured Slaves melt that Waxe at the Fire, may be not, I say, at these
same Times, subtily, as a Spirit, so weaken and scatter the Spirits of
Life of the Patient, as may make him on the one Part, for Faintnesse,
to sweat out the Humour of his Bodie, and on the other Part, for
the not Concurrence of these Spirits, which causes his Digestion,
so debilitate his stomache that this Humour radicall continually,
sweating out on the one Part, and no newe good sucke being put in the
Place thereof, for Lacke of Digestion on the other, he at last shall
vanish away, even as his Picture will doe at the Fire? And that knavish
and cunning Workman, by troubling him onely at sometimes, makes a
Proportion, so neere betwixt the working of the one and the other, that
both shall end as it were at one Time."[19]
It remains to notice the Nature of the Compact or Bargain, which
Witches were believed to enter into with their Seducer, and the Species
of Homage which they were compelled to pay him; and here again we must
have Recourse to Scot, not only as the most compressed, but as the most
authentic Detailer of this strange Credulity of his Times. "The Order
of their Bargaine or profession," says he, "is double; the one solemne
and publike; the other secret and private. That which is called solemne
or publike, is where Witches come together at certaine Assemblies, at
the Times prefixed, and doo not onelie see the Divell in visible Forme;
but confer and talke familiarlie with him. In which Conference the
Divell exhorteth them to observe their Fidelitie unto him, promising
them long Life and Prosperitie. Then the Witches assembled, commanded
a new Disciple (whom they call a Novice) unto him: and if the Divell
find that young Witch apt and forward in the Renunciation of christian
Faith, in despising anie of the seven Sacraments, in treading upon
Crosses, in spetting at the Time of the Elevation, in breaking their
Fast on fasting Daies, and fasting on Sundaies: then the Devill
giveth foorth his Hand, and the Novice joining Hand in Hand with him,
promiseth to observe and keepe all the Divels Commandments.
"This doone, the Divell beginneth to be more bold with hir, telling
her plainlie, that all this will not serve his Turne: and therefore
requireth Homage at hir Hands: yea he also telleth hir, that she must
grant him both hir Bodie and Soule to be tormented in everlasting Fire;
which she yeeldeth unto. Then he chargeth hir to procure as manie Men,
Women and Children also, as she can, to enter into this Societie.
Then he teacheth them to make Ointments of the Bowels and Members of
Children, whereby they ride in the Aire, and accomplish all their
Desires. So as if there be anie Children unbaptized, or not garded by
the Signe of the Crosse, or Orisons; then the Witches may and do catche
them from their Mother's Sides in the Night, or out of their Cradles,
or otherwise kill them with their Ceremonies; and after Buriall steale
them out of their Graves, and seeth them in a Caldron, until their
Flesh be made potable. Of the thickest whereof they make Ointments,
whereby they ride in the Aire; but the thinner Potion they put into
Flaggons, whereof whosoever drinketh, observing certain Ceremonies,
immediatelie becometh a Maister or rather a Mistresse in that Practice
and Facultie.
"Their Homage with their Oth and Bargaine is received for a certeine
Terme of Yeares; sometimes forever. Sometimes it consisteth in the
Deniall of the whole Faith, sometimes in Part. And this is doone either
by Oth, Protestation of Words, or by Obligation in writing, sometimes
sealed with Wax, sometimes signed with Blood, sometimes by kissing the
Divel's bare Buttocks.
"You must also understand, that after they have delicatelie banketted
with the Divell and the Ladie of the Fairies; and have eaten up a fat
Oxe, and emptied a Butt of Malmesie, and a Binne of Bread at some noble
Man's House, in the Dead of the Night, nothing is missed of all this
in the Morning. For the Ladie _Sibylla_, _Minerva_, or _Diana_, with
a golden Rod striketh the Vessel and the Binne, and they are fully
replenished againe." After mentioning that the Bullock is restored in
the same magical Manner, he states it as an "infallible Rule, that
everie Fortnight, or at least everie Month, each Witch must kill one
Child at the least for hir Part." He also relates from Bodin, that
"at these magicall Assemblies, the Witches never faile to dance, and
whiles they sing and danse, everie one hath a broome in hir Hand, and
holdeth it up aloft."[20]
To these Circumstances attending the Meetings of this unhallowed
Sisterhood, King James adds, that Satan, in Order that "hee may the
more vively counterfeit and scorne God, oft Times makes his Slaves to
conveene in those very Places, which are destinate and ordained for
the conveening of the Servants of God (I meane by Churches):--further,
Witches oft times confesse, not only his conveening in the Church
with them, but his occupying of the Pulpit."[21] For this Piece of
Information James seems to have been indebted to the Confessions of
Agnis Tompson; but he also relates, that the Devil, as soon as he
has induced his Votaries to renounce their God and Baptism, "gives
them his Marke upon some secret Place of their Bodie, which remaines
soare unhealed, whilest his next Meeting with them, and thereafter
ever insensible, however it be nipped or pricked by any;" a Seal of
Destinction which, he tells us at the Close of his Treatise, is of
great Use in detecting them on their Trial, as "the finding of their
Marke, and the trying the Insensiblenes thereof," was considered as
a positive Proof of their Craft. His Majesty, however, proceeds to
mention another Mode of ascertaining their Guilt, terminating the
Paragraph in a Manner not very flattering to his female Subjects,
or very expressive of his own Gallantry. "The other is," he tells
us, "their fleeting on the Water: for as in a secret Murther, if the
dead Carkase bee at any Time thereafter handled by the Murtherer, it
will gush out of Blood, as if the Blood were crying to the Heaven
for Revenge of the Murtherer, God having appointed that secret
supernaturall Signe, for Triall of that secret unnaturall Crime, so
it appears that God hath appointed (for a supernaturall Signe of
the monstrous Impietie of Witches) that the Water shall refuse to
receive them in her Bosome, that have shaken off them the sacred
Water of Baptisme, and wilfully refused the Benefite thereof: No, not
so much as their Eyes are able to shed Teares (threaten and torture
them as you please) while first they repent (God not permitting them
to dissemble their Obstinacie in so horrible a Crime) albeit the
Women-kind especially, be able otherwayes to shed Teares at every light
Occasion when they will, yea, although it were dissembling like the
Crocodiles."[22]
Such are the chief Features of this gross Superstition, as detailed by
the Writers of the Period in which it most prevailed in this Country.
_Scot_ has taken infinite Pains in collecting, from every Writer on
the Subject, the _minutiæ_ of Witchcraft, and his Book is expanded
to a thick Quarto, in Consequence of his commenting at large on the
Particulars which he had given in his initiatory Chapters, for the
Purpose of their complete Refutation and Exposure; a Work of great
Labor, and which shows, at every Step, how deeply this Credulity had
been impressed on the Subjects of Elizabeth. _James_, on the other
Hand, though a Man of considerable Erudition, and, in some respects, of
shrewd, good Sense, wrote in Defence of this Folly, and, unfortunately
for Truth and Humanity, the Doctrine of the Monarch was preferred to
that of the Sage.
Fortunately the Time has arrived when the Belief of a King, or that of
any other titled Personage, has very little Effect in fastening upon
the World at large any peculiar Opinions he may have formed upon any
Subject not within the Province of Reason.
Spiritualists and the Disciples of Mesmer have made the Discovery that
Witchcraft is fully explained by one or the other of the Mysteries
taught by them. How much Truth there may be in the Assertion I cannot
undertake to determine. But from a very limited Acquaintance with
Mysteries in general, my Opinion is that the Application of Mesmerism
for the Explanation of Witchcraft, would partake very much of the
Nature of applying one Absurdity to the Explanation of another.
For the "thousand and one" Examples of Witchcraft practiced by accused
Persons in New England, an almost exact Parallel may be found in Cases
which had previously occurred in Old England. And, in Proportion to the
Number of Inhabitants in the respective Countries, there were as many
in New as in Old England who raised their Voices against Prosecutions
for the supposed Crime. Hence it is very obvious that mental Darkness
was as dense in Old as in New England, at the Time of the Delusions of
which we are speaking.
Superstition was then bounded only by the Limits of what was termed
Civilization. The Light of Science for the last two hundred Years
has considerably relieved Mankind from that deadly Incubus, and it
is gratifying to believe that the March of Mind is onward and that a
future of pure Light is before the World of Humanity. Like dark Spots
on a Planet, some Superstitions seem almost as unaccountable, and their
Removal appears about as difficult, so long have we been accustomed to
tolerate them.
As late as 1668 it was asserted by an eminent English Writer, a Member
of the Royal Society,[23] that "_Atheism_ is begun in _Saducism_. And
those that dare not bluntly say, _There_ is NO GOD, content themselves,
(for a fair _Step_, and _Introduction_) to deny there are SPIRITS, or
WITCHES. Which Sort of _Infidels_, though they are not ordinary among
the _meer vulgar_, yet are they numerous in a little higher Rank of
_Understandings_. And those that know anything of the World, know, that
most of the looser _Gentry_, and the small Pretenders to _Philosophy_
and _Wit_, are generally Deriders of the _Belief_ of _Witches_, and
_Apparitions_."
Hence there were but two Horns to the Dilemma in which every one found
himself--he must believe in Witchcraft and all the other degrading
Attendants on that Belief, or he must be viewed and scorned as an
Atheist, and as an Unbeliever in everything that was good!
It was difficult for People to distinguish between Miracles and
Witchcraft, especially when the most learned Men,[24] in Order to make
the Miracle of the Ascent of the Saviour appear reasonable, argued
that "He went as far towards Heaven as he could on Foot, even to the
Top of Mount Olivet." And when Elijah was to fast forty Days, "that
there might be no Waste of miraculous Power, God would have him eat
a double Meal before entering upon the Term of fasting!" With such
wretched Absurdities were the Minds of People of that Time enslaved.
The Superstitions of the Greeks and Romans were not greater. And
although there is a steady Progress in intellectual Improvement, and a
Time is believed to be approaching when the World will be as free from
the Cheats and Impostures of the present Day, as some of the present
Day are of those of previous Ages; yet it is in a Measure discouraging,
when we see the Thousands ensnared by such transparent Jugglery as
that which has peopled the Salt Lake Regions, and drawn other Thousands
in our Midst to witness Feats that never did nor never will happen,
except in the deluded Brains of those who desire to be thus deluded.
[Decoration]