FOOTNOTES:

'Il avait acheté un écu l'enfant qui fut sacrifié à cette messe qui lui fut présenté par une grande fille et ayant tiré du sang de l'enfant qu'il piqua à la gorge avec un canif, il en versa dans le calice, après quoi l'enfant fut retiré et emporté dans un autre lieu, dont ensuite on lui rapporta le cœur et les entrailles pour en faire une deuxieme [oblation].'[623]

In Scotland it was firmly believed that sacrifices of children took place in all classes of society: 'The justices of the peace were seen familiarly conversing with the foul fiend, to whom one in Dumfries-shire actually offered up his firstborn child immediately after birth, stepping out with it in his arms to the staircase, where the devil stood ready, as it was suspected, to receive the innocent victim.'[624]In the later witch-trials the sacrifice of the child seems to have been made after its burying, as in the case of the Witch of Calder in 1720, who confessed that she had given the Devil 'the body of a dead child of her own to make a roast of'.[625]

It is possible that the killing of children by poison was onemethod of sacrifice when the cult was decadent and victims difficult to obtain. Reginald Scot's words, written in 1584, suggest that this was the case: 'This must be an infallible rule, that euerie fortnight, or at the least euerie moneth, each witch must kill one child at the least for hir part.'[626]Sinistrari d'Ameno, writing about a century later, says the same: 'They promise the Devil sacrifices and offerings at stated times: once a fortnight or at least each month, the murder of some child, or an homicidal act of sorcery.'[627]It is impossible to believe in any great frequency of this sacrifice, but there is considerable foundation in fact for the statement that children were killed, and it accounts as nothing else can for the cold-blooded murders of children of which the witches were sometimes accused. The accusations seem to have been substantiated on several occasions, the method of sacrifice being by poison.[628]

The sacrifice of a child was often performed as a means of procuring certain magical materials or powers, which were obtained by preparing the sacrificed bodies in several ways. Scot says that the flesh of the child was boiled and consumed by the witches for two purposes. Of the thicker part of the concoction 'they make ointments, whereby they ride in the aire; but the thinner potion they put into flaggons, whereof whosoeuer drinketh, obseruing certeine ceremonies, immediatelie becommeth a maister or rather a mistresse in that practise and facultie.'[629]The Paris Coven confessed that they 'distilled' the entrails of the sacrificed child after Guibourg had celebrated the mass for Madame de Montespan, the method being probably the same as that described by Scot. A variant occurs in both France and Scotland, and is interesting as throwing light on the reasons for some of the savage rites of the witches: 'Pour ne confesser iamais le secret de l'escole, on faict au sabbat vne paste de millet noir, auec de la poudre du foye de quelque enfant non baptisé qu'on faict secher, puismeslant cette poudre avec ladicte paste, elle a cette vertu de taciturnité: si bien que qui en mange ne confesse iamais.'[630]At Forfar, in 1661, Helen Guthrie and four others exhumed the body of an unbaptized infant, which was buried in the churchyard near the south-east door of the church, 'and took severall peices therof, as the feet, hands, a pairt of the head, and a pairt of the buttock, and they made a py therof, that they might eat of it, that by this meanes they might never make a confession (as they thought) of their witchcraftis.'[631]Here the idea of sympathetic magic is very clear; by eating the flesh of a child who had never spoken articulate words, the witches' own tongues would be unable to articulate.

4.Sacrifice of the God.—The sacrifice of the witch-god was a decadent custom when the records were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The accounts of the actual rite come from France and Belgium, where a goat was substituted for the human victim. The sacrifice was by fire in both those countries, and there are indications that it was the same in Great Britain. It is uncertain whether the interval of time between the sacrifices was one, seven, or nine years.

Bodin and Boguet, each writing from his own knowledge of the subject, give very similar accounts, Bodin's being the more detailed. In describing a trial which took place in Poictiers in 1574, he says: 'Là se trouuoit vn grand bouc noir, qui parloit comme vne personne aux assistans, & dansoyent à l'entour du bouc: puis vn chacun luy baisoit le derriere, auec vne chandelle ardente: & celà faict, le bouc se consommoit en feu, & de la cẽdre chacun en prenoit pour faire mourir le bœuf [etc.]. Et en fin le Diable leur disoit d'vne voix terrible des mots, Vengez vous ou vous mourrez.'[632]Boguet says that in the Lyons district in 1598 the Devil celebrated mass, and 'apres auoir prins la figure d'vn Bouc, se consume en feu, & reduit en cendre, laquelle les Sorciers recueillent, & cachent pour s'en seruir à l'execution de leurs desseins pernicieux & abominables'.[633]In 1603, a Belgian witch, Claire Goessen, was present at such a sacrifice, and her account is therefore that of an eyewitness. 'Elle s'est laissée transporter à l'assembléenocturne de Lembeke, où, après la danse, elle a, comme tous les assistans, baisé un bouc à l'endroit de sa queue, lequel bouc fut ensuite brûlé et ses cendres distribuées et emportées par les convives.'[634]Jeanne de Belloc in 1609 'a veu le Grand maistre de l'assemblee se ietter dans les flammes au sabbat, se faire brusler iusques à ce qu'il estoit reduit en poudre, & les grandes & insignes sorcieres prendre les dictes poudres pour ensorceler les petits enfants & les mener au sabbat, & en prenoient aussi dans la bouche pour ne reueler iamais'.[635]A French witch in 1652 declared that at the Sabbath 'le diable s'y at mis en feu et en donné des cendres lesquelles tous faisaient voller en l'air pour faire mancquer les fruits de la terre'.[636]At Lille in 1661 the girls in Madame Bourignon's orphanage stated that 'on y adoroit une bête; & qu'on faisoit avec elle des infamies; & puis sur la fin on la brûloit, & chacun en prenoit des cendres, avec lesquelles on faisoit languir ou mourir des personnes, ou autresanimaux'.[637]

The collection and use of the ashes by the worshippers point to the fact that we have here a sacrifice of the god of fertility. Originally the sprinkling of the ashes on fields or animals or in running water was a fertility charm; but when Christianity became sufficiently powerful to attempt the suppression of the ancient religion, such practices were represented as evil, and were therefore said to be 'pour faire mancquer les fruits de la terre'.

The animal-substitute for the divine victim is usually the latest form of the sacrifice; the intervening stages were first the volunteer, then the criminal, both of whom were accorded the power and rank of the divine being whom they personated. The period of time during which the substitute acted as the god varied in different places; so also did the interval between the sacrifices. Frazer has pointed out that the human victim, whether the god himself or his human substitute, did not content himself by merely not attempting to escape his destiny, but in many cases actually rushed on his fate, and died by his own hand or by voluntary submission to the sacrificer.

The witch-cult being a survival of an ancient religion, many of the beliefs and rites of these early religions are to be found in it. Of these the principal are: the voluntary substitute, the temporary transference of power to the substitute, and the self-devotion to death. As times changed and the ceremonies could no longer be performed openly, the sacrifices took on other forms. I have already suggested that the child-murders, of which the witches were often convicted, were in many cases probably offerings made to the God. In the same way, when the time came for the God or his substitute to be sacrificed, recourse was had to methods which hid the real meaning of the ceremony; and the sacrifice of the incarnate deity, though taking place in public, was consummated at the hands of the public executioner. This explanation accounts for the fact that the bodies of witches, male or female, were always burnt and the ashes scattered; for the strong prejudice which existed, as late as the eighteenth century, against any other mode of disposing of their bodies; and for some of the otherwise inexplicable occurrences in connexion with the deaths of certain of the victims.

Read in the light of this theory much of the mystery which surrounds the fate of Joan of Arc is explained. She was put to death as a witch, and the conduct of her associates during her military career, as well as the evidence at her trial, bear out the fact that she belonged to the ancient religion, not to the Christian. Nine years after her death in the flames her commander, Gilles de Rais, was tried on the same charge and condemned to the same fate. The sentence was not carried out completely in his case; he was executed by hanging, and the body was snatched from the fire and buried in Christian ground. Like Joan herself, Gilles received a semi-canonization after death, and his shrine was visited by nursing mothers. Two centuries later Major Weir offered himself up and was executed as a witch in Edinburgh, refusing to the end all attempts to convert him to the Christian point of view.

The belief that the witch must be burnt and the ashes scattered was so ingrained in the popular mind that, when the severity of the laws began to relax, remonstrances were made by or to the authorities. In 1649 the Scotch General Assemblyhas a record: 'Concerning the matter of the buriall of the Lady Pittadro, who, being vnder a great scandall of witchcraft, and being incarcerat in the Tolbuith of this burgh during her triall before the Justice, died in prison, The Comission of the Generall Assembly, having considered the report of the Comittee appointed for that purpose, Doe give their advyse to the Presbyterie of Dumfermling to show their dislike of that fact of the buriall of the Lady Pittadro, in respect of the maner and place, and that the said Presbyterie may labour to make the persons who hes buried her sensible of their offence in so doeing; and some of the persons who buried hir, being personallie present, are desired by the Comission to shew themselvis to the Presbyterie sensible of their miscarriage therein.'[638]

At Maidstone in 1652 'Anne Ashby, alias Cobler, Anne Martyn, Mary Browne, Anne Wilson, and Mildred Wright of Cranbrook, and Mary Read, of Lenham, being legally convicted, were according to the Laws of this Nation, adjudged to be hanged, at the common place of Execution. Some there were that wished rather they might be burnt to Ashes; alledging that it was a received opinion among many, that the body of a witch being burnt, her bloud is prevented thereby from becomming hereditary to her Progeny in the same evill.'[639]The witches themselves also held the belief that they ought to die by fire. Anne Foster was tried for witchcraft at Northampton in 1674: 'after Sentence of Death was past upon her, she mightily desired to be Burned; but the Court would give no Ear to that, but that she should be hanged at the Common place of Execution.'[640]

The magic words known to the witches were used only for certain definite purposes, the most important use being to raise the Devil. I have omitted the charms which are founded on Christian prayers and formulas, and quote only those which appear to belong to the witch-cult.

In the section onFamiliarsit will be seen how the witchesdivined by means of animals, which animals were allotted to them by the Chief. In auguries and divinations of this kind in every part of the world a form of words is always used, and the augury is taken by the first animal of the desired species which is seen after the charm is spoken.

Agnes Sampson, the leading witch of the North Berwick Coven, 1590, summoned her familiar by calling 'Elva', and then divined by a dog, whom she dismissed by telling him to 'depart by the law he lives on'. She also used the formula, 'Haill, hola!', and 'Hola!' was also the cry when a cat was cast into the sea to raise a storm.[641]A man-witch of Alest, 1593, gave the devil's name as Abiron: 'quand il le vouloit voir il disoit: vien Abiron, sinon ie te quitteray.'[642]Andro Man at Aberdeen, 1597, 'confessis that the Devill, thy maister, is rasit be the speking of the wordBenedicite, and is laid agane be tacking of a dog vnder thy left oxster in thi richt hand, and casting the same in his mouth, and speking the wordMaikpeblis.—He grantit that this wordBenediciterasit the Dewill, andMaikpeblislaid him againe, strikin him on the faice with ane deice with the left hand.'[643]Alexander Hamilton of East Lothian, 1630, when covenanting with the devil, had 'ane battoun of fir in his hand the devill than gave the said Alexr command to tak that battoun quhan evir he had ado with him and therewt to strek thruse upone the ground and to chairge him to ruse up foule theiff'; the divining animals in this case were crows, cats, and dogs.[644]Marie Lamont of Innerkip, 1662, was instructed to call the DevilSerpentwhen she desired to speak with him.[645]

The Somerset witches, 1664, cried outRobinat an appointed place, and the Master then appeared in his proper form as a man: Elizabeth Style and Alice Duke also called himRobinwhen summoning him privately, and Elizabeth Style added, 'O Sathan give me my purpose', before saying what she wished done.[646]The Swedish witches, 1669, called their Chiefwith the cry, 'Antecessor, come and carry us to Blockula'; this they did at an appointed place, and the Devil then appeared as a man.[647]

The words used before starting to a meeting are rarely recorded; only a few remain. The earliest example is from Guernsey in 1563, when Martin Tulouff heard an old witch cry as she bestrode a broomstick, 'Va au nom du diable et luciffer p̱ dessq̱̄ roches et espyñes.' He then lost sight of her, with the inference that she flew through the air, though he acknowledged that he himself was not so successful.[648]The witches of the Basses-Pyrénées, 1609, anointed themselves before starting, and repeated the words 'Emen hetan, emen hetan', which de Lancre translates 'Ici et là, ici et là'. 'Quelquefois plus furieuses elles se batent entre elles mesmes, en disant, Ie suis le Diable, ie n'ay rien qui ne soit à toy, en ton nom Seigneur cette tienne seruante s'oingt, & dois estre quelque iour Diable & maling Esprit comme toy.' When, crossing water they cried, 'Haut la coude, Quillet,' upon which they could cross without getting wet; and when going a long distance they said, 'Pic suber hoeilhe, en ta la lane de bouc bien m'arrecoueille.'[649]Isobel Gowdie, 1662, gives two variants of the magic words used on these occasions: the first, 'Horse and hattock, in the Divellis name' is not unlike the form given by Martin Tulouff; the second is longer, 'Horse and hattock, horse and goe, Horse and pellattis, ho! ho!'[650]The Somerset witches, 1664, when starting to the meeting, said, 'Thout, tout a tout, tout, throughout and about'; and when returning, 'Rentum tormentum'. At parting they cried, 'A Boy! merry meet, merry part.'[651]They also had a long form of words which were used when applying the flying ointment, but these are not recorded.

Other magical words were used at the religious services of the witches in the Basses-Pyrénées (1609). At the elevationof the host the congregation cried, '"Aquerra goity, Aquerra beyty, Aquerra goity, Aquerra beyty," qui veut direCabron arriba, Cabron abaro (sic)'; at the elevation of the chalice at a Christian service they said, 'Corbeau noir, corbeau noir.' There were two forms of words to be used when making the sign of the cross; the first was, 'In nomine Patrica, Aragueaco Petrica, Agora, Agora Valentia, Iouanda, goure gaitz goustia,' translated as 'Au nom de Patrique, Petrique, d'Arragon, à cette heure à cette heure Valence, tout nostre mal est passé'. The second roused de Lancre's horror as peculiarly blasphemous: 'In nomine patrica, Aragueaco Petrica, Gastellaco Ianicot, Equidae ipordian pot,' 'au nom de Patrique, petrique d'Arragon. Iannicot de Castille faictes moy vn baiser au derriere.'[652]The mention of the ancient Basque god Janicot makes this spell unusually interesting. As the dances were also a religious rite the words used then must be recorded here. Bodin gives the formula, 'Har, har, diable, diable, saute icy, saute là, iouë icy, iouë là: Et les autres disoyent sabath sabath.'[653]The worddiableis clearly Bodin's own interpellation for the name of the God, for the Guernsey version, which is currently reported to be used at the present day, runs 'Har, har, Hou, Hou, danse ici', etc.; Hou being the name of an ancient Breton god.[654]Jean Weir (1670) stated that at the instigation of some woman unnamed she put her foot on a cloth on the floor with her hand upon the crown of her head, and repeated thrice, 'All my cross and troubles go to the door with thee.'[655]This seems to have been an admission ceremony, but the words are of the same sentiment as the one recorded by de Lancre, 'tout notre mal est passé.'

There were also certain magical effects supposed to be brought about by the use of certain words. Martin Tulouff (1563) claimed that he could bewitch cows so that they gave blood instead of milk, by saying 'Butyrum de armento', but he admitted that he also used powders to accomplish hispurpose.[656]Isobel Gowdie (1662) described how the witches laid a broom or a stool in their beds to represent themselves during their absence at a meeting. By the time that this record was made the witches evidently believed that the object took on the exact appearance of the woman, having forgotten its original meaning as a signal to show where she had gone. The words used on these occasions show no belief in the change of appearance of the object:

'I lay down this besom [or stool] in the Devil's name,Let it not stir till I come again.'

Her statements regarding the change of witches into animals I have examined in the section on Familiars (p. 234). The words used to effect these changes are given in full. When a witch wished to take on the form of a hare she said:

'I sall goe intill ane haire,With sorrow, and sych, and meikle caire;And I sall goe in the Divellis nam,Ay quhill I com hom againe.'

To change into a cat or a crow the last two lines were retained unaltered, but the first two were respectively,

'I sall goe intill ane catt,With sorrow, and sych, and a blak shot'

or'I sall goe intill a craw,With sorrow, and sych, and a blak thraw.'

To return into human form the witch said:

'Haire, haire, God send thee caire.I am in an haire's liknes just now,Bot I sal be in a womanis liknes ewin now.'

From a cat or a crow, the words were 'Cat, cat, God send thee a blak shott' or 'Craw, craw, God send thee a blak thraw', with the last two lines as before. When the witch in animal form entered the house of another witch, she would say, 'I conjure thee, Goe with me'; on which the second witch would turn into the same kind of animal as the first. If, however, they met in the open, the formula was slightly different, 'Divell speid the, Goe thow with me,' the result being the same.[657]

The Somerset trials record the words used for cursing anything. These were simply 'A Pox take it', the curse being supposed to take effect at once. If the curse were pronounced over an image of a person the words were 'A Pox on thee, I'le spite thee'.[658]

Alexander Elder's grace over meat is probably a corrupt form of some ancient rite:

'We eat this meat in the Divellis nam,With sorrow, and sych, and meikle shame;We sall destroy hows and hald;Both sheip and noat in till the fald.Litle good sall come to the foreOf all the rest of the litle store.'[659]

The 'conjuring of cats' was a distinct feature, and is clearly derived from an early form of sacrifice. The details are recorded only in Scotland, and it is possible that Scotland is the only country in which it occurred, though the sanctity of the cat in other places suggests that the omission in the records is accidental.

In the dittay against John Fian, 1590, he was 'fylit, for the chaissing of ane catt in Tranent; in the quhilk chaise, he was careit heich aboue the ground, with gryt swyftnes, and as lychtlie as the catt hir selff, ower ane heicher dyke, nor he was able to lay his hand to the heid off:—And being inquyrit, to quhat effect he chaissit the samin? Ansuerit, that in ane conversatioune haldin at Brumhoillis, Sathan commandit all that were present, to tak cattis; lyke as he, for obedience to Sathan, chaissit the said catt, purpoiselie to be cassin in the sea, to raise windis for distructioune of schippis and boitis.'[660]Agnes Sampson of the same Coven as Fian confessed 'that at the time when his Majestie was in Denmark, shee being accompanied by the parties before speciallie named, tooke a cat and christened it, and afterwards bounde to each part of that cat, the cheefest parte of a dead man, and severall joyntis of his bodie: And that in the night following, the saide cat was convayed into the middest of the sea by all the witches, sayling in their riddles or cives, as is aforesaid, and so left thesaid cat right before the towne of Leith in Scotland. This doone, there did arise such a tempest in the sea, as a greater hath not bene seene.'[661]The legal record of this event is more detailed and less dramatic; the sieves are never mentioned, the witches merely walking to the Pier-head in an ordinary and commonplace manner. The Coven at Prestonpans sent a letter to the Leith Coven that—

'they sould mak the storm vniuersall thro the sea. And within aucht dayes eftir the said Bill [letter] wes delyuerit, the said Agnes Sampsoune, Jonett Campbell, Johnne Fean, Gelie Duncan, and Meg Dyn baptesit ane catt in the wobstaris hous, in maner following: Fyrst, twa of thame held ane fingar, in the ane syd of the chimnay cruik, and ane vther held ane vther fingar in the vther syd, the twa nebbis of the fingars meting togidder; than thay patt the catt thryis throw the linkis of the cruik, and passit itt thryis vnder the chimnay. Thaireftir, att Begie Toddis hous, thay knitt to the foure feit of the catt, foure jountis of men; quhilk being done, the sayd Jonet fechit it to Leith; and about mydnycht, sche and the twa Linkhop, and twa wyfeis callit Stobbeis, came to the Pier-heid, and saying thir words, 'See that thair be na desait amangis ws'; and thay caist the catt in the see, sa far as thay mycht, quhilk swam owre and cam agane; and thay that wer in the Panis, caist in ane vthir catt in the see att xj houris. Eftir quhilk, be thair sorcerie and inchantment, the boit perischit betuix Leith and Kinghorne; quhilk thing the Deuill did, and went befoir, with ane stalf in his hand.'[662]

Beigis Todd was concerned in another 'conjuring of cats', this time at Seaton.

'Eftir thay had drukkin togidder a certane space, thay, in thair devillische maner, tuik ane katt, and drew the samyn nyne tymes throw the said Beigis cruik; and thaireftir come with all thair speed to Seaton-thorne, be-north the ʒet.... And thay thaireftir past altogidder, with the Devill, to the irne ʒet [iron gate] of Seatoun, quhair of new thay tuik ane cat, and drew the samyn nyne tymes throw the said Irne-ʒett: And immediatlie thaireftir, came to the barne, foiranent George Feudaris dur, quhair thai christened the said catt, and callit hirMargaret: And thaireftir come all bak agane to the Deane-fute, quhair first thai convenit, and cuist the kat to the Devill.'[663]

FOOTNOTES:[465]Danaeus, ch. iv.[466]Boguet, pp. 131-9.[467]Pleasant Treatise, pp. 5-7.[468]Lea, iii, p. 501.[469]Remigius, pt. i, pp. 89, 91.[470]Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 137, 139, 163, 164.[471]W. G. Stewart, p. 175.[472]Danaeus, ch. ii.[473]Cooper, p. 90.[474]Rymer, i, p. 956.[475]Chartier, iii, p. 45.[476]From a trial in the Guernsey Greffe.[477]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 123.[478]Bodin, p. 187.[479]Melville, p. 396;see alsoPitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 210-12, 239, 246.[480]F. Hutchinson, p. 43.[481]Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 121, 125.[482]Boguet, p. 411.[483]Cannaert, p. 46.[484]Id., p. 50.[485]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 131.[486]Michaelis,Historie, pp. 334-5.[487]Pitcairn, iii, p. 613.[488]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 68, 126, 128.[489]Id. ib., p. 148.[490]Spalding Club Misc., i, p. 171.[491]Boguet, p. 131.[492]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 72, 131.[493]Doughty,Travels in Arabia Deserta, i, 89.[494]Moret,Mystères Égyptiens, pp. 247 seq.[495]Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 97-8. Spelling modernized.[496]Ib., i, p. 144. Spelling modernized.[497]Ib., p. 149.[498]Ib., p. 153. Spelling modernized.[499]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 123.[500]F. Hutchinson,Historical Essay, p. 43.[501]Compare the account of the Forfar witch-dance. Kinloch, p. 120.[502]Boguet, pp. 131-2.[503]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 210.[504]Compare the dittay against Bessie Thom, who danced round the Fish Cross of Aberdeen with other witches 'in the lyknes of kattis and haris'.Spalding Club Misc., i, 167.[505]Boguet, p. 127.[506]Horneck, pt. ii, p. 316.[507]More, p. 232.[508]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 245-6. Spelling modernized.[509]Id., iii, p. 606. Spelling modernized.[510]Fountainhall, i, p. 14.[511]Sinclair, p. 163.[512]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 210.[513]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 212.[514]Surtees Soc., xl, pp. 195, 197.[515]Danaeus, ch. iv.[516]De Lancre, op. cit., p. 211.[517]Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 165, 167. Spelling modernized. The account of the Arab witches should be compared with this. 'In the time of Ibn Munkidh the witches rode about naked on a stick between the graves of the cemetery of Shaizar.' Wellhausen, p. 159.[518]Pleasant Treatise of Witches, p. 6.[519]Reg. Scot, Bk. iii, p. 42. La volta is said to be the origin of the waltz.[520]Lea, iii, p. 501.[521]Remigius, p. 82.[522]E. Monseur, p. 102.[523]Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 141.[524]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 239, 246.[525]Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 114-15. Spelling modernized.[526]Id., i, p. 149. Spelling modernized.[527]Spottiswoode Miscellany, ii, p. 68.[528]Kinloch, p. 129. Spelling modernized.[529]Sinclair, p. 163.[530]Burns Begg, pp. 234, 235.[531]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 127.[532]Id. ib., p. 150.[533]Id. ib., p. 211.[534]Danaeus, ch. iv.[535]Sinclair, p. 219.[536]Kinloch, p. 120.[537]Sharpe, p. 131.[538]Boguet, p. 132.[539]Michaelis,Hist., p. 336.[540]Van Elven, v (1891), p. 215.[541]Pleasant Treatise of Witches, p. 5.[542]Potts, G 3, I 3, P 3.[543]Examination of Joan Williford, p. 6.[544]Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 139-40.[545]Id., p. 138.[546]Id., p. 149.[547]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 163.[548]Spottiswoode Misc., ii, p. 67.[549]Kinloch, p. 121.[550]Id., p. 124.[551]Id., p. 126.[552]Id., p. 127.[553]Id., p. 133. Dated = caressed.[554]Burns Begg, p. 227.[555]Id., p. 238.[556]Sharpe, p. 131.[557]The complete grace is given on p. 167. It will be seen that it is a corrupt version of some ancient form of words.[558]Pitcairn, iii, pp. 612, 613. Spelling modernized.[559]Scots Magazine, 1814, p. 200. Spelling modernized.[560]Burr, p. 418.[561]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 197.[562]Id. ib., p. 148.[563]Michaelis,Historie, pp. 335-6.[564]Boguet, pp. 135-9.[565]Cannaert, p. 45.[566]Horneck, pp. 321-2, 327.[567]Bodin,Fléau, p. 187.[568]Melville, p. 395.[569]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 246. The ploughman, Gray Meal, who took a large part in the ceremonies, was an old man.[570]Id., i, pt. ii, p. 210.[571]F. Hutchinson,Hist. Essay, p. 42.[572]Spalding Club Misc., i, p. 172.[573]Boguet, p. 131.[574]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 68, 401.[575]Id.,L'Incredulité, p. 805.[576]Davenport, p. 2.[577]Van Elven,La Tradition, v (1891), p. 215.[578]Sinclair, p. 163. The account given by Barton's wife of the position of the candle on the Devil's person is paralleled by the peculiarly coarse description of the Light-bearers at the witch-sabbaths at Münster. Humborg, p. 120.[579]Kinloch, p. 120.[580]Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 139.[581]Chambers, iii, p. 298.[582]Stewart, p. 175.[583]Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 294.[584]Holinshed,Ireland, p. 58.[585]Boguet, p. 141.[586]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 401-2.[587]Michaelis,Hist., p. 337. The use of this phrase suggests that the sprinkling was a fertility rite.[588]Fountainhall, i, pp. 14, 15.[589]Law, p. 145.[590]Fountainhall, i, p. 14.[591]Ravaisson, 1679-81, p. 336.[592]Id., p. 333.[593]Id., p. 335.[594]Ravaisson, p. 335.[595]Cotton Mather, pp. 120, 131, 158.[596]J. Hutchinson,Hist. of Massachusetts Bay, ii, p. 55.[597]Burr, p. 417.[598]Increase Mather, p. 210.[599]Cotton Mather, p. 81.[600]Cooper, p. 91.[601]Chelmsford Witches, pp. 24, 26, 29, 30. Philobiblon Society, viii.[602]Examination of John Walsh.[603]Cannaert, p. 48.[604]Whitaker, p. 216.[605]Stearne, p. 29.[606]Pitcairn, iii, pp. 603, 617.[607]Cotta, p. 114.[608]Danaeus, ch. iv.[609]R. Scot, Bk. III, p. 44.[610]Holinshed,Ireland, p. 58.[611]Philobiblon Society, viii,Chelmsford Witches, pp. 29, 30.[612]Id. ib., viii, p. 34.[613]Examination of John Walsh.[614]Remigius, pt. i, p. 54.[615]Spalding Club Misc., i, p. 120; Burton, i, p. 252.[616]Pitcairn, ii, pp. 542-3.[617]From an unpublished trial in the Justiciary Court at Edinburgh. The meaning of the wordlaifis not clear. The Oxford dictionary giveslop-eared, the Scotch dictionary givesloaf. By analogy with the other accounts one would expect here a word meaning a hen.[618]Highland Papers, iii, p. 18.[619]Lemoine, vi, p. 109.[620]Reg. Scot, Bk. III, p. 41.[621]Id., Bk. II, p. 32.[622]Boguet, p. 205.[623]Ravaisson, p. 334, 335.[624]Sharpe, p. 147.[625]Chambers, iii, p. 450.[626]Scot, Bk. III, p. 42.[627]Sinistrari de Ameno, p. 27.[628]See, amongst others, the account of Mary Johnson (Essex, 1645), who was accused of poisoning two children; the symptoms suggest belladonna. Howell, iv, 844, 846.[629]Scot, Bk. III, p. 41.[630]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 128.[631]Kinloch, p. 121.[632]Bodin,Fléau, pp. 187-8.[633]Boguet, p. 141.[634]Cannaert, p. 50.[635]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 133.[636]La Tradition, 1891, v, p. 215. Neither name nor place are given.[637]Bourignon,Parole, p. 87.[638]Scot. Hist. Soc., xxv, p. 348.See alsoRoss,Aberdour and Inchcolme, p. 339.[639]Prod. and Trag. History, p. 7.[640]Tryall of Ann Foster, p. 8.[641]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 211, 235, 238.[642]De Lancre,L'Incredulité, p. 772.[643]Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 120, 124.[644]From the record of the trial in the Justiciary Court of Edinburgh.[645]Sharpe, p. 132.[646]Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 137, 164.[647]Horneck, pt. ii, p. 316.[648]From the record of the trial in the Guernsey Greffe.[649]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 123, 400.[650]Pitcairn, iii, pp. 604, 608.[651]Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 139, 141. I have pointed out that the cry of 'A Boy' is possibly the Christian recorder's method of expressing the Bacchic shout 'Evoe'. SeeJour. Man. Or. Soc., 1916-17, p. 65.[652]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 401, 461, 462, 464.[653]Bodin, p. 190.[654]The names of the smaller islands are often compounded with the name of this deity, e.g. Li-hou, Brecq-hou, &c.[655]Law, p. 27 note.[656]From a trial in the Guernsey Greffe.[657]Pitcairn, iii, pp. 607-8, 611.[658]Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 137, 139, 148, 149.[659]Pitcairn, iii, p. 612. Sych = sighing, lamentation.[660]Id., i, pt. ii, p. 212.[661]Newes from Scotland, see Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 218.[662]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 237.[663]Id., ii, p. 542.

[465]Danaeus, ch. iv.

[466]Boguet, pp. 131-9.

[467]Pleasant Treatise, pp. 5-7.

[468]Lea, iii, p. 501.

[469]Remigius, pt. i, pp. 89, 91.

[470]Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 137, 139, 163, 164.

[471]W. G. Stewart, p. 175.

[472]Danaeus, ch. ii.

[473]Cooper, p. 90.

[474]Rymer, i, p. 956.

[475]Chartier, iii, p. 45.

[476]From a trial in the Guernsey Greffe.

[477]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 123.

[478]Bodin, p. 187.

[479]Melville, p. 396;see alsoPitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 210-12, 239, 246.

[480]F. Hutchinson, p. 43.

[481]Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 121, 125.

[482]Boguet, p. 411.

[483]Cannaert, p. 46.

[484]Id., p. 50.

[485]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 131.

[486]Michaelis,Historie, pp. 334-5.

[487]Pitcairn, iii, p. 613.

[488]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 68, 126, 128.

[489]Id. ib., p. 148.

[490]Spalding Club Misc., i, p. 171.

[491]Boguet, p. 131.

[492]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 72, 131.

[493]Doughty,Travels in Arabia Deserta, i, 89.

[494]Moret,Mystères Égyptiens, pp. 247 seq.

[495]Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 97-8. Spelling modernized.

[496]Ib., i, p. 144. Spelling modernized.

[497]Ib., p. 149.

[498]Ib., p. 153. Spelling modernized.

[499]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 123.

[500]F. Hutchinson,Historical Essay, p. 43.

[501]Compare the account of the Forfar witch-dance. Kinloch, p. 120.

[502]Boguet, pp. 131-2.

[503]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 210.

[504]Compare the dittay against Bessie Thom, who danced round the Fish Cross of Aberdeen with other witches 'in the lyknes of kattis and haris'.Spalding Club Misc., i, 167.

[505]Boguet, p. 127.

[506]Horneck, pt. ii, p. 316.

[507]More, p. 232.

[508]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 245-6. Spelling modernized.

[509]Id., iii, p. 606. Spelling modernized.

[510]Fountainhall, i, p. 14.

[511]Sinclair, p. 163.

[512]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 210.

[513]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 212.

[514]Surtees Soc., xl, pp. 195, 197.

[515]Danaeus, ch. iv.

[516]De Lancre, op. cit., p. 211.

[517]Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 165, 167. Spelling modernized. The account of the Arab witches should be compared with this. 'In the time of Ibn Munkidh the witches rode about naked on a stick between the graves of the cemetery of Shaizar.' Wellhausen, p. 159.

[518]Pleasant Treatise of Witches, p. 6.

[519]Reg. Scot, Bk. iii, p. 42. La volta is said to be the origin of the waltz.

[520]Lea, iii, p. 501.

[521]Remigius, p. 82.

[522]E. Monseur, p. 102.

[523]Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 141.

[524]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 239, 246.

[525]Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 114-15. Spelling modernized.

[526]Id., i, p. 149. Spelling modernized.

[527]Spottiswoode Miscellany, ii, p. 68.

[528]Kinloch, p. 129. Spelling modernized.

[529]Sinclair, p. 163.

[530]Burns Begg, pp. 234, 235.

[531]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 127.

[532]Id. ib., p. 150.

[533]Id. ib., p. 211.

[534]Danaeus, ch. iv.

[535]Sinclair, p. 219.

[536]Kinloch, p. 120.

[537]Sharpe, p. 131.

[538]Boguet, p. 132.

[539]Michaelis,Hist., p. 336.

[540]Van Elven, v (1891), p. 215.

[541]Pleasant Treatise of Witches, p. 5.

[542]Potts, G 3, I 3, P 3.

[543]Examination of Joan Williford, p. 6.

[544]Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 139-40.

[545]Id., p. 138.

[546]Id., p. 149.

[547]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 163.

[548]Spottiswoode Misc., ii, p. 67.

[549]Kinloch, p. 121.

[550]Id., p. 124.

[551]Id., p. 126.

[552]Id., p. 127.

[553]Id., p. 133. Dated = caressed.

[554]Burns Begg, p. 227.

[555]Id., p. 238.

[556]Sharpe, p. 131.

[557]The complete grace is given on p. 167. It will be seen that it is a corrupt version of some ancient form of words.

[558]Pitcairn, iii, pp. 612, 613. Spelling modernized.

[559]Scots Magazine, 1814, p. 200. Spelling modernized.

[560]Burr, p. 418.

[561]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 197.

[562]Id. ib., p. 148.

[563]Michaelis,Historie, pp. 335-6.

[564]Boguet, pp. 135-9.

[565]Cannaert, p. 45.

[566]Horneck, pp. 321-2, 327.

[567]Bodin,Fléau, p. 187.

[568]Melville, p. 395.

[569]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 246. The ploughman, Gray Meal, who took a large part in the ceremonies, was an old man.

[570]Id., i, pt. ii, p. 210.

[571]F. Hutchinson,Hist. Essay, p. 42.

[572]Spalding Club Misc., i, p. 172.

[573]Boguet, p. 131.

[574]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 68, 401.

[575]Id.,L'Incredulité, p. 805.

[576]Davenport, p. 2.

[577]Van Elven,La Tradition, v (1891), p. 215.

[578]Sinclair, p. 163. The account given by Barton's wife of the position of the candle on the Devil's person is paralleled by the peculiarly coarse description of the Light-bearers at the witch-sabbaths at Münster. Humborg, p. 120.

[579]Kinloch, p. 120.

[580]Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 139.

[581]Chambers, iii, p. 298.

[582]Stewart, p. 175.

[583]Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 294.

[584]Holinshed,Ireland, p. 58.

[585]Boguet, p. 141.

[586]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 401-2.

[587]Michaelis,Hist., p. 337. The use of this phrase suggests that the sprinkling was a fertility rite.

[588]Fountainhall, i, pp. 14, 15.

[589]Law, p. 145.

[590]Fountainhall, i, p. 14.

[591]Ravaisson, 1679-81, p. 336.

[592]Id., p. 333.

[593]Id., p. 335.

[594]Ravaisson, p. 335.

[595]Cotton Mather, pp. 120, 131, 158.

[596]J. Hutchinson,Hist. of Massachusetts Bay, ii, p. 55.

[597]Burr, p. 417.

[598]Increase Mather, p. 210.

[599]Cotton Mather, p. 81.

[600]Cooper, p. 91.

[601]Chelmsford Witches, pp. 24, 26, 29, 30. Philobiblon Society, viii.

[602]Examination of John Walsh.

[603]Cannaert, p. 48.

[604]Whitaker, p. 216.

[605]Stearne, p. 29.

[606]Pitcairn, iii, pp. 603, 617.

[607]Cotta, p. 114.

[608]Danaeus, ch. iv.

[609]R. Scot, Bk. III, p. 44.

[610]Holinshed,Ireland, p. 58.

[611]Philobiblon Society, viii,Chelmsford Witches, pp. 29, 30.

[612]Id. ib., viii, p. 34.

[613]Examination of John Walsh.

[614]Remigius, pt. i, p. 54.

[615]Spalding Club Misc., i, p. 120; Burton, i, p. 252.

[616]Pitcairn, ii, pp. 542-3.

[617]From an unpublished trial in the Justiciary Court at Edinburgh. The meaning of the wordlaifis not clear. The Oxford dictionary giveslop-eared, the Scotch dictionary givesloaf. By analogy with the other accounts one would expect here a word meaning a hen.

[618]Highland Papers, iii, p. 18.

[619]Lemoine, vi, p. 109.

[620]Reg. Scot, Bk. III, p. 41.

[621]Id., Bk. II, p. 32.

[622]Boguet, p. 205.

[623]Ravaisson, p. 334, 335.

[624]Sharpe, p. 147.

[625]Chambers, iii, p. 450.

[626]Scot, Bk. III, p. 42.

[627]Sinistrari de Ameno, p. 27.

[628]See, amongst others, the account of Mary Johnson (Essex, 1645), who was accused of poisoning two children; the symptoms suggest belladonna. Howell, iv, 844, 846.

[629]Scot, Bk. III, p. 41.

[630]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 128.

[631]Kinloch, p. 121.

[632]Bodin,Fléau, pp. 187-8.

[633]Boguet, p. 141.

[634]Cannaert, p. 50.

[635]De Lancre,Tableau, p. 133.

[636]La Tradition, 1891, v, p. 215. Neither name nor place are given.

[637]Bourignon,Parole, p. 87.

[638]Scot. Hist. Soc., xxv, p. 348.See alsoRoss,Aberdour and Inchcolme, p. 339.

[639]Prod. and Trag. History, p. 7.

[640]Tryall of Ann Foster, p. 8.

[641]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 211, 235, 238.

[642]De Lancre,L'Incredulité, p. 772.

[643]Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 120, 124.

[644]From the record of the trial in the Justiciary Court of Edinburgh.

[645]Sharpe, p. 132.

[646]Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 137, 164.

[647]Horneck, pt. ii, p. 316.

[648]From the record of the trial in the Guernsey Greffe.

[649]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 123, 400.

[650]Pitcairn, iii, pp. 604, 608.

[651]Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 139, 141. I have pointed out that the cry of 'A Boy' is possibly the Christian recorder's method of expressing the Bacchic shout 'Evoe'. SeeJour. Man. Or. Soc., 1916-17, p. 65.

[652]De Lancre,Tableau, pp. 401, 461, 462, 464.

[653]Bodin, p. 190.

[654]The names of the smaller islands are often compounded with the name of this deity, e.g. Li-hou, Brecq-hou, &c.

[655]Law, p. 27 note.

[656]From a trial in the Guernsey Greffe.

[657]Pitcairn, iii, pp. 607-8, 611.

[658]Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 137, 139, 148, 149.

[659]Pitcairn, iii, p. 612. Sych = sighing, lamentation.

[660]Id., i, pt. ii, p. 212.

[661]Newes from Scotland, see Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 218.

[662]Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 237.

[663]Id., ii, p. 542.

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