Aqua benedicta, sit mihi salus & vita:Let holie water be, both health and life to me.By Ab. Fleming.Adque nomen Martini omnis hæreticus fugiat pallidus,When Martins name is soong or said,Let heretikes flie as men dismaid./235.But the papists have a harder charme than that; to wit, Fier and fagot, Fier and fagot./170.¶A charme of the holie crosse.Nulla salus est in domo,Nisi cruce munit homoSuperliminaria.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.Sancta crux æquiparatur salutifero Christo.O blasphæmiam inenarrabilem!Ista suos fortioresSemper 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./236.Englished by Abraham Fleming.Looke in the Beehive of the Romish church. lib. 4. cap. 3. fol. 251, 252.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,/171.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.¶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.237.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,In ecclesiæ dedicatione.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 (asDurandussaith)In rationali divinorum officiorum.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 searchDurandus, &c; you shall find abundance.I know that all these charmes, and all these palterie confections (though/172.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 calledPom. sermon. 32.Pomœrium sermonum quadragesimalium, that S.FrancisseeingRufinus/238.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 isas much to saie in English as, Open thy mouth and I will put in a plumme: a verie ruffinlie charme.Leonard VairusL. Vairus. lib. de fascin. 3. cap. 10.Idem, ibid.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 GodIdem, ibid.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 anAgnus 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.The eleventh Chapter.Of the noble balme used by Moses, apishlie counterfeited in the church of Rome.THE noble balme thatMosesmade, having indeed manie excellent vertues, besides the pleasant and comfortable savour thereof; wherewithallMosesin 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/239.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 forMoseshis balme, it is not now to be found either inRomeor 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.173.The opinion of Ferrarius touching charmes, periapts, appensions, amulets, &c. Of Homericall medicines, of constant opinion, and the effects thereof.ARGERIUS FERRARIUS,Arg. Fer. lib. de medendi methodo. 2. cap. 11.De Homerica medicatione.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 ofAlexander Trallianus,Aetius,Octavianus,Marcellus,Philodotus,Archigines,Philostratus,Plinie, andDioscorides; and would make men beleeve thatGalen(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 intituledDe Homerica medicatione, which no man could ever see, but oneAlexander Trallianus, who saith he saw it:/240.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 thatGalen(who indeed wrote and taught thatIncantamenta sunt muliercularum figmenta, and be the onlie clokes of bad physicians) affirmeth, that there is vertue and great force in incantations.This would be examined, to see if Galen be not slandered.As for example (saithTrallian)Galenbeing 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 diffidenceas well of the patient, as of the agent; according to the poets saieng:Nos habitat non tartara, sed nec sidera cœli,Spiritus in nobis qui viget illa facit.Englished by Abraham Fleming.Not hellish furies dwell in us,Nor starres with influence heavenlie;The spirit that lives and rules in us,Doth every thing ingeniouslie,/174.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 calledHomerica medicatio, bicauseHomerdiscovered the bloud of the word suppressed, and the infections healed by or in mysteries.The xiii. Chapter.241.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 whereasA. Ferrariuscommendeth 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 medicinesFoure sorts of Homericall medicines, and which is the principall.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, howPhilodotusdid 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/242.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.Item,The force of fixed fansie, opinion, or strong conceipt.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/175.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 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 by243.the gospell of this daie delivered by God toHubert,Giles,Cornelius, andJohn, 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.Englished by Abraham Fleming.{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.}¶Against the biting of a mad dog.PUt a silver ring on the finger,J. Bodinus. lib. de dæmon 3. cap. 5.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/176.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. ButDodonæusin 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./¶Against the biting of a scorpion.244.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* That is, You shall not breake or diminish a bone of him.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.¶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;Apollodenieth 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.Blazesdaie; to wit, Call upon God, and remember S.Blaze. This S.Blazecould 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.245.177.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, thesonne 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 hearbegrowing on the groundAll in the mount*Calvarie* Though neither the hearbe nor the witch never came there.first wert thou found,Thou art good for manie a sore,And healest manie a wound,In the name of sweete JesusI take thee from the ground.¶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.246.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 woontNote the force of constant opinion, or fixed fancy.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:178.The divell pull out both thine eies,And*etish* Spell the word backward, and you shall soone see this slovenlie charme or appension.in the holes likewise.Whereby partlie you may see what constant opinion can doo, according to the saieng ofPlato; 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 calledAethiopidesTheevish charmes.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.¶A charme to drive awaie spirits that haunt anie house.This is called and counted the Paracelsian charme.HAng in everie of the foure corners of your house this sentence written upon virgine parchment;aaPsal. 150.Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum:bbLuk. 16.Mosen habent & prophetas:ccPsa. 64.Exurgat Deus et dissi/pentur inimici ejus.247.¶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* Memorandum that hearing of masse be in no case omitted, quoth Nota.devoutlie, and then followeth recoverie.¶Another for the same purpose.THere must be commended to some poore begger the saieng of fivePater nosters, and fiveAves; 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 awaieour 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,Johannes Anglicus ex Constantino, Gualtero, Bernardo, Gilberto, &c.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 crosseIn diebus quatuor temporum, in ember daies: then let him write it and carrie it aboute his necke, and he shall be cured./¶Another charme or witch-craft for the same.179.THis office or conjuration following was first authorised and printed atRome, and afterwards atAvenion,Anno.1515. And least that the divell should lie hid in some secret part of the/248.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 inBarnardine de bustis;Barnard. de bustis in Rosar. serm. serm. 15.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 theold wives tales, thatSprenger,Institor,Bodine, and others write? Even as much as toOvids 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.¶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 asJob, and as good as S.John/ Baptist,249.when he baptised Christ inJordan,In nomine pa✠tris & fi✠lii & spiritus✠sancti. And then saie threePater nosters, and threeAves, 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 ofRome, 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/180.hoofe, so as it shall not breake, how far so ever he be from the SmithesThe smiths will canne them small thankes for this praier.forge.Item, the Duke ofAlbahis 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.¶A charme against vineager.THat wine wax not eager, write on the vessell,*[* Ps. 33. 9. Vulg.]Gustate & videte, quoniam suavis est Dominus.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 ofDavidin the fiftie eight psalme; and byJeremie, chapter eight, expounding the one prophet byVirgil, the other byOvid. For the words ofDavidPsal. 58.are these; Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, and like a deafe adder, that stoppeth his/250.eare, and heareth not the voice of the charmer, charme he never so cunninglie. The words ofVirgilVirg. eclog. 8.are these,Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis. As he might saie,Davidthou liest; for the cold natured snake is by the charmes of the inchanters broken all to peeces in the field where he lieth. Then commethOvid,Ovid. metamor. 7.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. MarrieJeremieJerem. 8. 17.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.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; nameliePropertiusandHorace, the one merrilie deriding, the other seriouslie impugning their fantasticall poetries, concerning the power and omnipotencie of witches. For whereVirgil,Ovid,&c: write that witches with their charmes fetch downe the moone and starres from heaven, etc.;Propertiusmocketh them in these words following:/181.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 & amnesPosse Circeis ducere carminibus:But you that have the subtill slight,Englished by Abraham Fleming.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,/251.And make hir face more pale and wan,Than mine: which if by magicke artYou doo, then will I soone beleeve,That by your witching charmes you canFrom skies aloft the starres remeeve,And rivers turne from whence they ran.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 whatOvidsaith 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 rivenEnglished by Abraham Fleming.with charmes of witches cunning,Nor waters to their fountaines drivenby force of backward running.As forHoracehis verses I omit them, bicause I have cited them in another place. And concerning this matterCardanusCard. lib. 15. de var. rer. cap. 80.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.But here it will be objected,An objection answered.that bicause it is said (in the places by me alledged) that snakes or vipers cannot be charmed;Ergoother 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/182.their faith or infidelitie is the cause thereof; neither doo I admit the answer of such divines as saie, that he cannot be bewitched:/252.for that he seducedEve; 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.DanæusDan. in dialog. cap. 3.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 toVirgilssaiengCorrupítque lacus, infecit pabula tabo,Virg. geo. 4.She did infect with poison strongEnglished by Abraham Fleming.Both ponds and pastures all along.And thereupon the prophet alludeth unto their corrupt and inflexible nature, with that comparison: and not (asTremeliusis 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: asBomelio FeatesFeates his dog, and Mahomets pigeon.his dog could doo; orMahometspigeon, 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 doci/litie of a dog and a pigeon, though I could cite an infinite number of like t253.ales, I will be bold to trouble you but with one more.AtMemphisinAegypt,A storie declaring the great docilitie of an asse.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; TheSultanehath great need of asses to helpe to carrie stones and other stuffe, towards his great building which he hath in hand. The asse im/mediatlie183.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; TheSultanehath 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 ofNilus: 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.BodinJ. Bod. lib. de dæm. 2. cap. 6.saith, that this was a man in the likenesse of an asse: but I maie/254.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.In the citie ofSalisboroghMal. malef. part 2. qu. 3. cap 9.John. Bodin.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 ahorrible 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 inM. Mal.and inJ. 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 ofRome: as followeth.Exorcismes or conjuratiōs against serpents.I conjure thee O serpent in this houre, by the five holie woonds of our/184.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 serpentIn 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.L. Vair. lib. de fascinat. 1. cap. 4.❈ Otherwise:L. Vairussaith, thatSerpens 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 birdIbisbe cast or throwne upon him: and that/255.a viper smitten or hot with a reed is astonied, and touched with a beechen branch is presentlie numme and stiffe.Usurpers of kinred with blessed Paule and S Katharine.Here is to be remembred, that manie use to boast that they are of S.Paulesrace and kinred, shewing upon their bodies the prints of serpents: which (as the papists affirme) was incident to all them of S.Paulesstocke. Marie they saie herewithall, that all his kinsfolks can handle serpents, or anie poison without danger. Others likewise have (as they brag) aKatharinewheele 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 inLondonhad used to doo, making no tariance at all therein:) yet thereis 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.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.BodinJ. Bodin. lib. de dæm. 1. cap. 3.saith, that all the snakes in one countrie were by charmes and verses driven into another region: perhaps he meanethIreland, where S.Patrikeis said to have doone it with his holinesse, &c.James Sprenger, andHenrie Institoraffirme, 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/256.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/185.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 VAIRUSL. Vairus lib. fascin. 1. ca. 5.Oratio Tuscæ vestalis.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)Of the word (Bud) and the Greeke letters Π & Α.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 Anianusmaketh witchcraft of great antiquitie: for he saith, that/257.Chamtouching his fathers naked member uttered a charme, wherby his father became emasculated or deprived of the powers generative.¶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:186.then the same must be buried.The practiser of these charmes must have skill in the planetarie motions, or else he may go shoo the goose.❈ Otherwise: In the dominion ofMars, 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 ofVenus, 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/258.afterwards in another. Howbeit, it is written in the 21 article of the determination ofParis, 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.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 storieA proved storie concerning the premisses.following. Not long sithence, a yoong maiden (dwelling at newRomnieheere 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 ofThomas Eps, who is at this instant Maior ofRomnie) was visited with sicknesse, whose mother and father in lawe being abused with credulitie concerning witches supernaturall power, repaired to a famous witch called motherBaker, dwelling not far from thence at a place calledStonstreet, 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 hirneighbors, 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 least/wise187.to hir detection: for heerein she did, as some of the wiser sort mistrusted that she woulde doo, laieng downe privilie such an/259.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.The xvii. Chapter.Sundrie sorts of charmes tending to diverse purposes, and first, certeine charmes to make taciturnitie in tortures.
Aqua benedicta, sit mihi salus & vita:Let holie water be, both health and life to me.By Ab. Fleming.Adque nomen Martini omnis hæreticus fugiat pallidus,When Martins name is soong or said,Let heretikes flie as men dismaid./
Aqua benedicta, sit mihi salus & vita:Let holie water be, both health and life to me.By Ab. Fleming.Adque nomen Martini omnis hæreticus fugiat pallidus,When Martins name is soong or said,Let heretikes flie as men dismaid./
Aqua benedicta, sit mihi salus & vita:
Let holie water be, both health and life to me.By Ab. Fleming.
Adque nomen Martini omnis hæreticus fugiat pallidus,
When Martins name is soong or said,
Let heretikes flie as men dismaid./
235.But the papists have a harder charme than that; to wit, Fier and fagot, Fier and fagot./
Nulla salus est in domo,Nisi cruce munit homoSuperliminaria.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.
Nulla salus est in domo,Nisi cruce munit homoSuperliminaria.Neque sentit gladium,Nec amisit filium,Quisquis egit talia.
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.
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.
Sancta crux æquiparatur salutifero Christo.O blasphæmiam inenarrabilem!Ista suos fortioresSemper 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./236.Englished by Abraham Fleming.Looke in the Beehive of the Romish church. lib. 4. cap. 3. fol. 251, 252.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,/171.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.
Sancta crux æquiparatur salutifero Christo.O blasphæmiam inenarrabilem!Ista suos fortioresSemper 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!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./
236.Englished by Abraham Fleming.Looke in the Beehive of the Romish church. lib. 4. cap. 3. fol. 251, 252.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,/171.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.
236.Englished by Abraham Fleming.Looke in the Beehive of the Romish church. lib. 4. cap. 3. fol. 251, 252.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,/
171.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.
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./
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,In ecclesiæ dedicatione.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 (asDurandussaith)In rationali divinorum officiorum.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 searchDurandus, &c; you shall find abundance.
I know that all these charmes, and all these palterie confections (though/172.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 calledPom. sermon. 32.Pomœrium sermonum quadragesimalium, that S.FrancisseeingRufinus/238.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 isas much to saie in English as, Open thy mouth and I will put in a plumme: a verie ruffinlie charme.
Leonard VairusL. Vairus. lib. de fascin. 3. cap. 10.Idem, ibid.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 GodIdem, ibid.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 anAgnus 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.
Of the noble balme used by Moses, apishlie counterfeited in the church of Rome.
THE noble balme thatMosesmade, having indeed manie excellent vertues, besides the pleasant and comfortable savour thereof; wherewithallMosesin 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/239.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 forMoseshis balme, it is not now to be found either inRomeor 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 opinion of Ferrarius touching charmes, periapts, appensions, amulets, &c. Of Homericall medicines, of constant opinion, and the effects thereof.
ARGERIUS FERRARIUS,Arg. Fer. lib. de medendi methodo. 2. cap. 11.De Homerica medicatione.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 ofAlexander Trallianus,Aetius,Octavianus,Marcellus,Philodotus,Archigines,Philostratus,Plinie, andDioscorides; and would make men beleeve thatGalen(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 intituledDe Homerica medicatione, which no man could ever see, but oneAlexander Trallianus, who saith he saw it:/240.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 thatGalen(who indeed wrote and taught thatIncantamenta sunt muliercularum figmenta, and be the onlie clokes of bad physicians) affirmeth, that there is vertue and great force in incantations.This would be examined, to see if Galen be not slandered.As for example (saithTrallian)Galenbeing 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 diffidenceas well of the patient, as of the agent; according to the poets saieng:
Nos habitat non tartara, sed nec sidera cœli,Spiritus in nobis qui viget illa facit.Englished by Abraham Fleming.Not hellish furies dwell in us,Nor starres with influence heavenlie;The spirit that lives and rules in us,Doth every thing ingeniouslie,/
Nos habitat non tartara, sed nec sidera cœli,Spiritus in nobis qui viget illa facit.
Nos habitat non tartara, sed nec sidera cœli,
Spiritus in nobis qui viget illa facit.
Englished by Abraham Fleming.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.Not hellish furies dwell in us,
Nor starres with influence heavenlie;
The spirit that lives and rules in us,
Doth every thing ingeniouslie,/
174.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 calledHomerica medicatio, bicauseHomerdiscovered the bloud of the word suppressed, and the infections healed by or in mysteries.
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 whereasA. Ferrariuscommendeth 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 medicinesFoure sorts of Homericall medicines, and which is the principall.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, howPhilodotusdid 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/242.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.
Item,The force of fixed fansie, opinion, or strong conceipt.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/175.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.
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.
TAke the sicke man by the hand, and whisper these wordes softlie in his eare, I conjure thee by the sunne and moone,and by243.the gospell of this daie delivered by God toHubert,Giles,Cornelius, andJohn, 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 ferit mortem, dum lædere quærit,Est mala mors capta, dum dicitur Ananizapta,Ananizapta Dei nunc miserere mei.
Ananizapta ferit mortem, dum lædere quærit,Est mala mors capta, dum dicitur Ananizapta,Ananizapta Dei nunc miserere mei.
Ananizapta ferit mortem, dum lædere quærit,Est mala mors capta, dum dicitur Ananizapta,Ananizapta Dei nunc miserere mei.
Ananizapta ferit mortem, dum lædere quærit,Est mala mors capta, dum dicitur Ananizapta,Ananizapta Dei nunc miserere mei.
Ananizapta ferit mortem, dum lædere quærit,
Est mala mors capta, dum dicitur Ananizapta,
Ananizapta Dei nunc miserere mei.
Englished by Abraham Fleming.{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.}
{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.}
{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.}
{
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.
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.
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.
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.
}
PUt a silver ring on the finger,J. Bodinus. lib. de dæmon 3. cap. 5.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/176.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. ButDodonæusin 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./
SAie to an asse secretlie, and as it were whispering in his eare; I am bitten with a Scorpion.
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* That is, You shall not breake or diminish a bone of him.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.
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.
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;Apollodenieth that the heate of the plague can increase, where a naked virgine quencheth it: and spet three times upon it.
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.Blazesdaie; to wit, Call upon God, and remember S.Blaze. This S.Blazecould 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.//
TIe a halter about your head, wherewith one hath beene hanged.
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, thesonne 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.
Haile be thou holie hearbegrowing on the groundAll in the mount*Calvarie* Though neither the hearbe nor the witch never came there.first wert thou found,Thou art good for manie a sore,And healest manie a wound,In the name of sweete JesusI take thee from the ground.
Haile be thou holie hearbegrowing on the groundAll in the mount*Calvarie* Though neither the hearbe nor the witch never came there.first wert thou found,Thou art good for manie a sore,And healest manie a wound,In the name of sweete JesusI take thee from the ground.
Haile be thou holie hearbe
growing on the ground
All in the mount*Calvarie* Though neither the hearbe nor the witch never came there.
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.
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./
My loafe in my lap,my penie in my pursse;Thou are never the better,and I am never the wursse./
My loafe in my lap,
my penie in my pursse;
Thou are never the better,
and I am never the wursse./
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 woontNote the force of constant opinion, or fixed fancy.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:
178.The divell pull out both thine eies,And*etish* Spell the word backward, and you shall soone see this slovenlie charme or appension.in the holes likewise.
178.The divell pull out both thine eies,And*etish* Spell the word backward, and you shall soone see this slovenlie charme or appension.in the holes likewise.
178.The divell pull out both thine eies,
And*etish* Spell the word backward, and you shall soone see this slovenlie charme or appension.in the holes likewise.
Whereby partlie you may see what constant opinion can doo, according to the saieng ofPlato; If a mans fansie or mind give him assurance that a hurtfull thing shall doo him good, it may doo so, &c.
AS the hearbes calledAethiopidesTheevish charmes.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.
HAng in everie of the foure corners of your house this sentence written upon virgine parchment;aaPsal. 150.Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum:bbLuk. 16.Mosen habent & prophetas:ccPsa. 64.Exurgat Deus et dissi/pentur inimici ejus.247.
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* Memorandum that hearing of masse be in no case omitted, quoth Nota.devoutlie, and then followeth recoverie.
THere must be commended to some poore begger the saieng of fivePater nosters, and fiveAves; 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 awaieour 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.
THe sicke man must fast three daies,Johannes Anglicus ex Constantino, Gualtero, Bernardo, Gilberto, &c.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 crosseIn diebus quatuor temporum, in ember daies: then let him write it and carrie it aboute his necke, and he shall be cured./
THis office or conjuration following was first authorised and printed atRome, and afterwards atAvenion,Anno.1515. And least that the divell should lie hid in some secret part of the/248.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 inBarnardine de bustis;Barnard. de bustis in Rosar. serm. serm. 15.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 theold wives tales, thatSprenger,Institor,Bodine, and others write? Even as much as toOvids 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.
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 asJob, and as good as S.John/ Baptist,249.when he baptised Christ inJordan,In nomine pa✠tris & fi✠lii & spiritus✠sancti. And then saie threePater nosters, and threeAves, 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 ofRome, 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/180.hoofe, so as it shall not breake, how far so ever he be from the SmithesThe smiths will canne them small thankes for this praier.forge.
Item, the Duke ofAlbahis 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.
THat wine wax not eager, write on the vessell,*[* Ps. 33. 9. Vulg.]Gustate & videte, quoniam suavis est Dominus.O notable blasphemie.
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 ofDavidin the fiftie eight psalme; and byJeremie, chapter eight, expounding the one prophet byVirgil, the other byOvid. For the words ofDavidPsal. 58.are these; Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, and like a deafe adder, that stoppeth his/250.eare, and heareth not the voice of the charmer, charme he never so cunninglie. The words ofVirgilVirg. eclog. 8.are these,Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis. As he might saie,Davidthou liest; for the cold natured snake is by the charmes of the inchanters broken all to peeces in the field where he lieth. Then commethOvid,Ovid. metamor. 7.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. MarrieJeremieJerem. 8. 17.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.
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; nameliePropertiusandHorace, the one merrilie deriding, the other seriouslie impugning their fantasticall poetries, concerning the power and omnipotencie of witches. For whereVirgil,Ovid,&c: write that witches with their charmes fetch downe the moone and starres from heaven, etc.;Propertiusmocketh them in these words following:/
181.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 & amnesPosse Circeis ducere carminibus:But you that have the subtill slight,Englished by Abraham Fleming.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,/251.And make hir face more pale and wan,Than mine: which if by magicke artYou doo, then will I soone beleeve,That by your witching charmes you canFrom skies aloft the starres remeeve,And rivers turne from whence they ran.
181.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 & amnesPosse Circeis ducere carminibus:
181.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,Englished by Abraham Fleming.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,/251.And make hir face more pale and wan,Than mine: which if by magicke artYou doo, then will I soone beleeve,That by your witching charmes you canFrom skies aloft the starres remeeve,And rivers turne from whence they ran.
But you that have the subtill slight,Englished by Abraham Fleming.
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,/
251.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.
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 whatOvidsaith 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 rivenEnglished by Abraham Fleming.with charmes of witches cunning,Nor waters to their fountaines drivenby force of backward running.
Nec mediæ magicis finduntur cantibus angues,Nec redit in fontes unda supina suos:
Nec mediæ magicis finduntur cantibus angues,
Nec redit in fontes unda supina suos:
Snakes in the middle are not rivenEnglished by Abraham Fleming.with charmes of witches cunning,Nor waters to their fountaines drivenby force of backward running.
Snakes in the middle are not rivenEnglished by Abraham Fleming.
with charmes of witches cunning,
Nor waters to their fountaines driven
by force of backward running.
As forHoracehis verses I omit them, bicause I have cited them in another place. And concerning this matterCardanusCard. lib. 15. de var. rer. cap. 80.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.
But here it will be objected,An objection answered.that bicause it is said (in the places by me alledged) that snakes or vipers cannot be charmed;Ergoother 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/182.their faith or infidelitie is the cause thereof; neither doo I admit the answer of such divines as saie, that he cannot be bewitched:/252.for that he seducedEve; 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.
DanæusDan. in dialog. cap. 3.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 toVirgilssaieng
Corrupítque lacus, infecit pabula tabo,Virg. geo. 4.She did infect with poison strongEnglished by Abraham Fleming.Both ponds and pastures all along.
Corrupítque lacus, infecit pabula tabo,Virg. geo. 4.
Corrupítque lacus, infecit pabula tabo,Virg. geo. 4.
She did infect with poison strongEnglished by Abraham Fleming.Both ponds and pastures all along.
She did infect with poison strongEnglished by Abraham Fleming.
Both ponds and pastures all along.
And thereupon the prophet alludeth unto their corrupt and inflexible nature, with that comparison: and not (asTremeliusis 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: asBomelio FeatesFeates his dog, and Mahomets pigeon.his dog could doo; orMahometspigeon, 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 doci/litie of a dog and a pigeon, though I could cite an infinite number of like t253.ales, I will be bold to trouble you but with one more.
AtMemphisinAegypt,A storie declaring the great docilitie of an asse.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; TheSultanehath great need of asses to helpe to carrie stones and other stuffe, towards his great building which he hath in hand. The asse im/mediatlie183.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; TheSultanehath 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 ofNilus: 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.BodinJ. Bod. lib. de dæm. 2. cap. 6.saith, that this was a man in the likenesse of an asse: but I maie/254.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.
In the citie ofSalisboroghMal. malef. part 2. qu. 3. cap 9.John. Bodin.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 ahorrible 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 inM. Mal.and inJ. 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 ofRome: as followeth.
Exorcismes or conjuratiōs against serpents.I conjure thee O serpent in this houre, by the five holie woonds of our/184.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 serpentIn 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.L. Vair. lib. de fascinat. 1. cap. 4.❈ Otherwise:L. Vairussaith, thatSerpens 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 birdIbisbe cast or throwne upon him: and that/255.a viper smitten or hot with a reed is astonied, and touched with a beechen branch is presentlie numme and stiffe.
Usurpers of kinred with blessed Paule and S Katharine.Here is to be remembred, that manie use to boast that they are of S.Paulesrace and kinred, shewing upon their bodies the prints of serpents: which (as the papists affirme) was incident to all them of S.Paulesstocke. Marie they saie herewithall, that all his kinsfolks can handle serpents, or anie poison without danger. Others likewise have (as they brag) aKatharinewheele 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 inLondonhad used to doo, making no tariance at all therein:) yet thereis 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.
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.BodinJ. Bodin. lib. de dæm. 1. cap. 3.saith, that all the snakes in one countrie were by charmes and verses driven into another region: perhaps he meanethIreland, where S.Patrikeis said to have doone it with his holinesse, &c.
James Sprenger, andHenrie Institoraffirme, 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/256.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/185.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.
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 VAIRUSL. Vairus lib. fascin. 1. ca. 5.Oratio Tuscæ vestalis.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)Of the word (Bud) and the Greeke letters Π & Α.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 Anianusmaketh witchcraft of great antiquitie: for he saith, that/257.Chamtouching his fathers naked member uttered a charme, wherby his father became emasculated or deprived of the powers generative.
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:186.then the same must be buried.The practiser of these charmes must have skill in the planetarie motions, or else he may go shoo the goose.❈ Otherwise: In the dominion ofMars, 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 ofVenus, 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/258.afterwards in another. Howbeit, it is written in the 21 article of the determination ofParis, 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.
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 storieA proved storie concerning the premisses.following. Not long sithence, a yoong maiden (dwelling at newRomnieheere 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 ofThomas Eps, who is at this instant Maior ofRomnie) was visited with sicknesse, whose mother and father in lawe being abused with credulitie concerning witches supernaturall power, repaired to a famous witch called motherBaker, dwelling not far from thence at a place calledStonstreet, 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 hirneighbors, 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 least/wise187.to hir detection: for heerein she did, as some of the wiser sort mistrusted that she woulde doo, laieng downe privilie such an/259.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.
Sundrie sorts of charmes tending to diverse purposes, and first, certeine charmes to make taciturnitie in tortures.