Chapter V: The Rites (2)

'Il s'habille en Prestre pour dire Messe, laquelle il fait semblant de
celebrer auec mille fourbes & souplesses, aupres d'vn arbre, ou
parfois aupres d'vn rocher, dressant quelque forme d'autel sur des
colones infernales, & sur iceluy sans dire le _Confiteor_, ny
l'_Alleluya_, tournant les feuillets d'vn certain liure qu'il a en
main, il commence a marmoter quelques mots de la Messe, & arriuant a
l'offertoire il s'assiet, & toute l'assemblee le vient adorer le
baisant sous la queue, & allumant des chandelles noires: Puis luy
baisent la main gauche, tremblans auec mille angoisses, & luy offrent
du pain, des [oe]ufs, & de l'argent: & la Royne du Sabbat les recoit,
laquelle est assise a son coste gauche, & en sa main gauche elle tient
vne paix ou platine, dans laquelle est grauee l'effigie de Lucifer,
laquelle on ne baise qu'apres l'auoir premierement baisee a elle. Puis
il se met a prescher, son subiect est communement de la vaine
gloire.... Il finit son sermon, & continue ses autres ceremonies,
leuant vne certaine Hostie laquelle est noire & ronde, auec sa figure
imprimee au dessus: & disant ces paroles, _Cecy est mon corps_, il
leue l'Hostie sur ses cornes: & a cette esleuatio tous ceux de
l'assemblee l'ador[~e]t en disant ces mots, _Aquerra Goity, Aquerra
Beyty, Aquerra Goity, Aquerra Beyty_, qui veut dire, _Cabron arriba,
Cabron abaro_, de mesme en font ils au Calice repetant ces mots,
iusqu'a ce qu'il a vuide tout ce qui est dans iceluy. Puis toute
l'assemblee enuironnant l'autel en forme de croissant ou demy-lune,
prosternez par terre, il leur fait vn autre sermon, puis leur baille a
communier par ordre, donnant a chacun vn petit morceau de l'hostie, &
pour leur donner moyen de l'aualer aisement, il leur donne deux
gorgees de quelque medicine infernale, & certain breuuage de si
mauuais goust & odeur, que l'aualant ils suent, & neantmoins il est si
froid, qu'il leur gele le corps, les nerfs, & les moueelles. Puis il
s'accouple auec elles, & leur commande d'en faire de mesme, si bien
qu'ils commettent mille incestes & autres pechez contre nature. Puis
il les inuite a se mettre a table.'[586]

At Aix in 1610 Magdalene de Demandouls 'said that that accursed Magician Lewes [Gaufredy] did first inuent the saying of Masse at the Sabbaths, and did really consecrate and present the sacrifice to Lucifer.... She also related, that the said Magician did sprinkle the consecrated wine vpon all the company, at which time euery one cryeth, _Sanguis eius super nos & filios nostros_.'[587]

Lord Fountainhall remarks, 'In 1670 we heard that the Devil appeared in the shape of a Minister, in the copper mines of Sweden, and attempted the same villainous apery.'[588] The Scotch witches, like the Swedish, performed the rite after the manner of the Reformed Churches. In 1678--

'the devill had a great meeting of witches in Loudian, where, among
others, was a warlock who formerly had been admitted to the ministrie
in the presbyterian tymes, and when the bishops came in, conformed
with them. But being found flagitious and wicked, was deposed by them,
and now he turnes a preacher under the devill of hellish doctrine; for
the devill at this tyme preaches to his witches really (if I may so
term it) the doctrine of the infernall pitt, viz. blasphemies against
God and his son Christ. Among other things, he told them that they
were more happy in him than they could be in God; him they saw, but
God they could not see; and in mockrie of Christ and his holy
ordinance of the sacrament of his supper, he gives the sacrament to
them, bidding them eat it and to drink it in remembrance of himself.
This villan was assisting to Sathan in this action, and in
preaching.'[589]

Fountainhall in writing of the same convention of witches says that the Devil 'adventured to give them the communion or holy sacrament, the bread was like wafers, the drink was sometimes blood sometimes black moss-water. He preached and most blasphemously mocked them, if they offered to trust in God who left them miserable in the world, and neither he nor his Son Jesus Christ ever appeared to them when they called on them, as he had, who would not cheat them.'[590]

The Abbe Guibourg (1679), head of the Paris witches, 'a fait chez la Voisin, revetu d'aube, d'etole et de manipule, une conjuration.'[591] The same Abbe celebrated mass more than once over the body of a woman and with the blood of a child, sacrificed for the occasion, in the chalice (see section on Sacrifice). The woman, who served as the altar for these masses, was always nude, and was the person for whose benefit the ceremony was performed. Marguerite Montvoisin makes this clear:

'Il est vrai aussi qu'une sage-femme qui demeurait au coin de la rue
des Deux-Portes, distilla aussi les entrailles d'un enfant dont la
mere y avait accouche.... Avant la distillation, les entrailles de
l'enfant et l'arriere-faix de la mere avaient ete portes a
Saint-Denis, a Guibourg, par sa mere, la sage-femme et la mere de
l'enfant, sur le ventre de laquelle sa mere, a son retour, lui dit que
Guibourg avait dit la messe.'[592]

Guibourg acknowledged that, besides the one just quoted, he celebrated three masses in this way. At the first he used a conjuration. 'Il dit la deuxieme messe dans une masure sur les remparts de Saint-Denis, sur la meme femme, avec les memes ceremonies.... Dit la troisieme a Paris chez la Voisin sur la meme femme.'[593] The woman mentioned in Guibourg's confession was Madame de Montespan herself. The following conjuration was used at the first mass:

'sur le ventre d'une femme': 'Astaroth, Asmodee, princes d'amitie, je
vous conjure d'accepter le sacrifice que je vous presente de cet
enfant pour les choses que je vous demande, qui sont l'amitie du Roi,
de Mgr le Dauphin me soit continuee et etre honoree des princes et
princesses de la cour, que rien ne me soit denie de tout ce que je
demanderai au Roi, tant pour mes parents que serviteurs.'[594]

A very interesting case is that of the Rev. George Burroughs in New England (1692):

'He was Accused by Eight of the Confessing Witches, as being an Head
Actor at some of their Hellish Randezvouses, and one who had the
promise of being a King in Satan's kingdom, now going to be
Erected.... One _Lacy_ testify'd that she and the prisoner [Martha
Carrier] were once Bodily present at a _Witch-meeting_ in _Salem
Village_; and that she knew the prisoner to be a Witch, and to have
been at a Diabolical sacrament.... Another _Lacy_ testify'd that the
prisoner was at the _Witch-meeting_, in _Salem Village_, where they
had Bread and Wine Administred unto them.... Deliverance Hobbs
affirmed that this [Bridget] _Bishop_ was at a General Meeting of the
Witches, in a Field at _Salem_-Village, and there partook of a
Diabolical Sacrament in Bread and Wine then administred.'[595]

Hutchinson had access to the same records and gives the same evidence, though even more strongly: 'Richard Carrier affirmed to the jury that he saw Mr. George Burroughs at the witch meeting at the village and saw him administer the sacrament. Mary Lacy, sen^r. and her daughter Mary affirmed that Mr. George Burroughs was at the witch meetings with witch sacrements, and that she knows Mr. Burroughs to be of the company of witches.'[596] John Hale has a similar record: 'This D. H. [Deliverance Hobbs] confessed she was at a Witch Meeting at Salem Village.... And the said G. B. preached to them, and such a Woman was their Deacon, and there they had a Sacrament.'[597] Abigail Williams said 'that the Witches had a _Sacrament_ that day at an house in the Village, and that they had _Red Bread_ and _Red Drink_'.[598] With the evidence before him Mather seems justified in saying that the witches had 'their Diabolical Sacraments, imitating the _Baptism_ and the _Supper_ of our Lord'.[599]

8. _Sacrifices_

There are four forms of sacrifice: (1) the blood sacrifice, which was performed by making an offering of the witch's own blood; (2) the sacrifice of an animal; (3) the sacrifice of a human being, usually a child; (4) the sacrifice of the god.

1. The _blood-sacrifice_ took place first at the admission of the neophyte. Originally a sacrifice, it was afterwards joined to the other ceremony of signing the contract, the blood serving as the writing fluid; it also seems to be confused in the seventeenth century with the pricking for the Mark, but the earlier evidence is clear. A writer who generalizes on the witchcraft religion and who recognizes the sacrificial nature of the act is Cooper; as he wrote in 1617 his evidence belongs practically to the sixteenth century. He says:

'In further _token_ of their subiection unto Satan in yeelding vp
themselues wholy vnto his deuotion, behold yet _another ceremony_
heere vsually is performed: namely, _to let themselues bloud_ in some
apparant place of the body, yeelding the same to be _sucked by Satan_,
as a _sacrifice_ vnto him, and testifying thereby the full
_subiection_ of their _liues_ and _soules_ to his deuotion.'[600]

The earliest account of the ceremony is at Chelmsford in 1556. Elizabeth Francis 'learned this arte of witchcraft from her grandmother. When shee taughte it her, she counseiled her to geue of her bloudde to Sathan (as she termed it) whyche she delyuered to her in the lykenesse of a whyte spotted Catte. Euery time that he [the cat] did any thynge for her, she sayde that he required a drop of bloude, which she gaue him by prycking herselfe.' Some time after, Elizabeth Francis presented the Satan-cat to Mother Waterhouse, passing on to her the instructions received from Elizabeth's grandmother. Mother Waterhouse 'gaue him for his labour a chicken, which he fyrste required of her and a drop of her blod. And thys she gaue him at all times when he dyd any thynge for her, by pricking her hand or face and puttinge the bloud to hys mouth whyche he sucked.'[601] In 1566 John Walsh, a Dorset witch, confessed that 'at the first time when he had the Spirite, hys sayd maister did cause him to deliuer one drop of his blud, whych bloud the Spirite did take away vpon hys paw'.[602] In Belgium in 1603 Claire Goessen, 'apres avoir donne a boire de son sang a Satan, et avoir bu du sien, a fait avec lui un pacte.[603]

In the case of the Lancashire witch, Margaret Johnson, in 1633, it is difficult to say whether the pricking was for the purpose of marking or for a blood sacrifice; the slight verbal alterations in the two MS. accounts of her confession suggest a confusion between the two ideas; the one appears to refer to the mark, the other (quoted here) to the sacrifice: 'Such witches as have sharp bones given them by the devill to pricke them, have no pappes or dugges whereon theire devil may sucke; but theire devill receiveth bloud from the place, pricked with the bone; and they are more grand witches than any y^t have marks.'[604] In Suffolk in 1645 'one Bush of Barton widdow confessed that the Deuill appeared to her in the shape of a young black man ... and asked her for bloud, which he drew out of her mouth, and it dropped on a paper'.[605] At Auldearne, in 1662, the blood was drawn for baptizing the witch; Isobel Gowdie said, 'The Divell marked me in the showlder, and suked owt my blood at that mark, and spowted it in his hand, and, sprinkling it on my head, said, "I baptise the, Janet, in my awin name."' Janet Breadheid's evidence is practically the same: 'The Divell marked me in the shoulder, and suked out my blood with his mowth at that place; he spowted it in his hand, and sprinkled it on my head. He baptised me thairvith, in his awin nam, Christian.'[606]

2. The _sacrifice of animals_ was general, and the accounts give a certain amount of detail, but the ceremony was not as a rule sufficiently dramatic to be considered worth recording. The actual method of killing the animal is hardly ever given. The rite was usually performed privately by an individual; on rare occasions it was celebrated by a whole Coven, but it does not occur at the Great Assembly, for there the sacrifice was of the God himself. The animals offered were generally a dog, a cat, or a fowl, and it is noteworthy that these were forms in which the Devil often appeared to his worshippers.

The chief authorities all agree as to the fact of animal sacrifices. Cotta compares it with the sacrifices offered by the heathen:

'Some bring their cursed Sorcery vnto their wished end, by sacrificing
vnto the Diuell some liuing creatures, as _Serres_ likewise
witnesseth, from the confession of Witches in _Henry_ the fourth of
_France_ deprehended, among whom, one confessed to haue offered vnto
his Deuill or Spirit a Beetle. This seemeth not improbable, by the
Diabolicall litations (_sic_) and bloudy sacrifices, not onely of
other creatures, but euen of men, wherewith in ancient time the
heathen pleased their gods, which were no other then Diuels.'[607]

The number of sacrifices in the year is exaggerated by the writers on the subject, but the witches themselves are often quite definite in their information when it happens to be recorded. It appears from their statements that the rite was performed only on certain occasions, either to obtain help or as a thank-offering. Danaeus, speaking of the newly admitted witch, says, 'Then this vngracious and new servant of satan, euery day afterward offreth something of his goods to his patrone, some his dogge, some his hen, and some his cat.'[608] Scot, who always improves on his original, states that the witches depart after the Sabbath, 'not forgetting euery daie afterwards to offer to him, dogs, cats, hens, or bloud of their owne.'[609]

The earliest witch-trial in the British Isles shows animal sacrifice. In 1324 in Ireland Lady Alice Kyteler 'was charged to haue nightlie conference with a spirit called Robin Artisson, to whom she sacrificed in the high waie .ix. red cocks'.[610] In 1566 at Chelmsford Mother Waterhouse 'gaue him [i.e. the Satan-cat] for his labour a chicken, which he fyrste required of her, and a drop of her blod.... Another tyme she rewarded hym as before, wyth a chicken and a droppe of her bloud, which chicken he eate vp cleane as he didde al the rest, and she cold fynde remaining neyther bones nor fethers.'[611] Joan Waterhouse, daughter of Mother Waterhouse, a girl of eighteen, said that the Deuil came in the likeness of a great dog, 'then asked hee her what she wolde geue hym, and she saide a red kocke.'[612] John Walsh of Dorset, in 1566, confessed that 'when he would call him [the Spirit], hee sayth hee must geue hym some lyuing thing, as a Chicken, a Cat, or a Dog. And further he sayth he must geue hym twoo lyuing thynges once a yeare.'[613] In Lorraine in 1589 Beatrix Baonensis said, 'Etliche geben junge Huener, oder wohl alte Huener, wie Desideria Pari iensis, und Cathelonia Vincentia gethan hatten: Etliche schneiden ihre Haar ab und lieffern dieselbe dahin, etliche geben Spaeher, etliche Voegel oder sonst nicht viel besonders, als da sein moechte gemuentzt Geld aus Rindern Ledder, und wenn sie dergleichen nichts haben, so verschafft es ihnen ihr Geist, auff dass sie staffirt seyn.'[614] In Aberdeen in 1597 Andro Man gave evidence that 'the Devill thy maister, whom thow termis Christsunday ... is rasit be the speking of the word _Benedicite_, 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 word _Maikpeblis_.'[615] At Lang Niddry in 1608 the whole Coven performed a rite, beginning at the 'irne zet of Seatoun', where they christened a cat by the name of Margaret, 'and thaireftir come all bak agane to the Deane-fute, quhair first thai convenit, and cuist the kat to the Devill.'[616] In 1630 Alexander Hamilton had consultations with the Devil near Edinburgh, 'and afoir the devill his away passing the said Alexr was in use to cast to him ather ane kat or ane laif or ane dog or any uther sic beast he come be.'[617] In Bute in 1622 Margaret NcWilliam 'renounced her baptisme and he baptised her and she gave him as a gift a hen or cock'.[618] In modern France the sacrifice of a fowl to the Devil still holds good: 'Celui qui veut devenir sorcier doit aller a un _quatre chemins_ avec une _poule noire_, ou bien encore au _cimetiere_, sur une _tombe_ et toujours a _minuit_. Il vient alors quelqu'un qui demande: "Que venez vous faire ici?" "J'ai une poule a vendre," repond-on. Ce quelqu'un [est] le Mechant.'[619]

It is possible that the custom of burying a live animal to cure disease among farm animals, as well as the charm of casting a live cat into the sea to raise a storm, are forms of the animal sacrifice.

3. _Child Sacrifice._--The child-victim was usually a young infant, either a witch's child or unbaptized; in other words, it did not belong to the Christian community. This last is an important point, and was the reason why unbaptized children were considered to be in greater danger from witches than the baptized. 'If there be anie children vnbaptised, or not garded with the signe of the crosse, or orizons; then the witches may or doo catch them from their mothers sides in the night, or out of their cradles, or otherwise kill them with their ceremonies.'[620] The same author quotes from the French authorities the crimes laid to the charge of witches, among which are the following: 'They sacrifice their owne children to the diuell before baptisme, holding them vp in the aire vnto him, and then thrust a needle into their braines'; and 'they burne their children when they haue sacrificed them'.[621] Boguet says, 'Les Matrones, & sages femmes sont accoustume d'offrir a Satan les petits enfans qu'elles recoiuent, & puis les faire mourir auant qu'ils soient baptizez, par le moy[~e] d'vne grosse espingle qu'elles leur enfoncent dans le cerueau.'[622] Boguet's words imply that this was done at every birth at which a witch officiated; but it is impossible that this should be the case; the sacrifice was probably made for some special purpose, for which a new-born child was the appropriate victim.

The most detailed account of such sacrifices is given in the trial of the Paris witches (1679-81), whom Madame de Montespan consulted. The whole ceremony was performed to the end that the love of Louis XIV should return to Madame de Montespan, at that time his discarded mistress; it seems to be a kind of fertility rite, hence its use on this occasion. The Abbe Guibourg was the sacrificing priest, and from this and other indications he appears to have been the Chief or Grand-master who, before a less educated tribunal, would have been called the Devil. Both he and the girl Montvoisin were practically agreed as to the rite; though from the girl's words it would appear that the child was already dead, while Guibourg's evidence implies that it was alive. Both witnesses gave their evidence soberly and gravely and without torture. Montvoisin, who was eighteen years old, stated that she had presented 'a la messe de Madame de Montespan, par l'ordre de sa mere, un enfant paraissant ne avant terme, le mit dans un bassin, Guibourg l'egorgea, versa dans le calice, et consacra le sang avec hostie'. Guibourg's evidence shows that the sacrifice was so far from being uncommon that the assistants were well used to the work, and did all that was required with the utmost celerity:

'Il avait achete un ecu l'enfant qui fut sacrifie a cette messe qui
lui fut presente par une grande fille et ayant tire du sang de
l'enfant qu'il piqua a la gorge avec un canif, il en versa dans le
calice, apres quoi l'enfant fut retire et emporte dans un autre lieu,
dont ensuite on lui rapporta le c[oe]ur 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 one method 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 baptise qu'on faict secher, puis meslant cette poudre avec ladicte paste, elle a cette vertu de taciturnite: 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: 'La se trouuoit vn grand bouc noir, qui parloit comme vne personne aux assistans, & dansoyent a l'entour du bouc: puis vn chacun luy baisoit le derriere, auec vne chandelle ardente: & cela faict, le bouc se consommoit en feu, & de la c[~e]dre chacun en prenoit pour faire mourir le b[oe]uf [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 a 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 laissee transporter a l'assemblee nocturne de Lembeke, ou, apres la danse, elle a, comme tous les assistans, baise un bouc a l'endroit de sa queue, lequel bouc fut ensuite brule et ses cendres distribuees et emportees 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 a 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 donne 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 bete; & qu'on faisoit avec elle des infamies; & puis sur la fin on la bruloit, & chacun en prenoit des cendres, avec lesquelles on faisoit languir ou mourir des personnes, ou autres animaux'.[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 Assembly has 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]

9. _Magic Words_

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 on _Familiars_ it will be seen how the witches divined 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 word _Benedicite_, 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 word _Maikpeblis_.--He grantit that this word _Benedicite_ rasit the Dewill, and _Maikpeblis_ laid 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 Devil _Serpent_ when she desired to speak with him.[645]

The Somerset witches, 1664, cried out _Robin_ at an appointed place, and the Master then appeared in his proper form as a man: Elizabeth Style and Alice Duke also called him _Robin_ when 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 Chief with 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 [p=] dess[~q=] roches et espynes.' 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-Pyrenees, 1609, anointed themselves before starting, and repeated the words 'Emen hetan, emen hetan', which de Lancre translates 'Ici et la, ici et la'. 'Quelquefois plus furieuses elles se batent entre elles mesmes, en disant, Ie suis le Diable, ie n'ay rien qui ne soit a 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-Pyrenees (1609). At the elevation of the host the congregation cried, '"Aquerra goity, Aquerra beyty, Aquerra goity, Aquerra beyty," qui veut dire _Cabron 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, a cette heure a cette heure Valence, tout nostre mal est passe'. 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 la, ioue icy, ioue la: Et les autres disoyent sabath sabath.'[653] The word _diable_ is 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 passe.'

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 his purpose.[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 fore
Of 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 the said 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 [3]et.... And thay thaireftir past
altogidder, with the Devill, to the irne [3]et [iron gate] of Seatoun,
quhair of new thay tuik ane cat, and drew the samyn nyne tymes throw
the said Irne-[3]ett: And immediatlie thaireftir, came to the barne,
foiranent George Feudaris dur, quhair thai christened the said catt,
and callit hir _Margaret_: And thaireftir come all bak agane to the
Deane-fute, quhair first thai convenit, and cuist the kat to the
Devill.'[663]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 465: Danaeus, ch. iv.]

[Footnote 466: Boguet, pp. 131-9.]

[Footnote 467: _Pleasant Treatise_, pp. 5-7.]

[Footnote 468: Lea, iii, p. 501.]

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

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

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

[Footnote 472: Danaeus, ch. ii.]

[Footnote 473: Cooper, p. 90.]

[Footnote 474: Rymer, i, p. 956.]

[Footnote 475: Chartier, iii, p. 45.]

[Footnote 476: From a trial in the Guernsey Greffe.]

[Footnote 477: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 123.]

[Footnote 478: Bodin, p. 187.]

[Footnote 479: Melville, p. 396; _see also_ Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 210-12, 239, 246.]

[Footnote 480: F. Hutchinson, p. 43.]

[Footnote 481: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, pp. 121, 125.]

[Footnote 482: Boguet, p. 411.]

[Footnote 483: Cannaert, p. 46.]

[Footnote 484: Id., p. 50.]

[Footnote 485: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 131.]

[Footnote 486: Michaelis, _Historie_, pp. 334-5.]

[Footnote 487: Pitcairn, iii, p. 613.]

[Footnote 488: De Lancre, _Tableau_, pp. 68, 126, 128.]

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

[Footnote 490: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, p. 171.]

[Footnote 491: Boguet, p. 131.]

[Footnote 492: De Lancre, _Tableau_, pp. 72, 131.]

[Footnote 493: Doughty, _Travels in Arabia Deserta_, i, 89.]

[Footnote 494: Moret, _Mysteres Egyptiens_, pp. 247 seq.]

[Footnote 495: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, pp. 97-8. Spelling modernized.]

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

[Footnote 497: Ib., p. 149.]

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

[Footnote 499: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 123.]

[Footnote 500: F. Hutchinson, _Historical Essay_, p. 43.]

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

[Footnote 502: Boguet, pp. 131-2.]

[Footnote 503: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 210.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 505: Boguet, p. 127.]

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

[Footnote 507: More, p. 232.]

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

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

[Footnote 510: Fountainhall, i, p. 14.]

[Footnote 511: Sinclair, p. 163.]

[Footnote 512: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 210.]

[Footnote 513: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 212.]

[Footnote 514: _Surtees Soc._, xl, pp. 195, 197.]

[Footnote 515: Danaeus, ch. iv.]

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

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 518: _Pleasant Treatise of Witches_, p. 6.]

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

[Footnote 520: Lea, iii, p. 501.]

[Footnote 521: Remigius, p. 82.]

[Footnote 522: E. Monseur, p. 102.]

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

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

[Footnote 525: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, pp. 114-15. Spelling modernized.]

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

[Footnote 527: _Spottiswoode Miscellany_, ii, p. 68.]

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

[Footnote 529: Sinclair, p. 163.]

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

[Footnote 531: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 127.]

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

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

[Footnote 534: Danaeus, ch. iv.]

[Footnote 535: Sinclair, p. 219.]

[Footnote 536: Kinloch, p. 120.]

[Footnote 537: Sharpe, p. 131.]

[Footnote 538: Boguet, p. 132.]

[Footnote 539: Michaelis, _Hist._, p. 336.]

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

[Footnote 541: _Pleasant Treatise of Witches_, p. 5.]

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

[Footnote 543: _Examination of Joan Williford_, p. 6.]

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

[Footnote 545: Id., p. 138.]

[Footnote 546: Id., p. 149.]

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

[Footnote 548: _Spottiswoode Misc._, ii, p. 67.]

[Footnote 549: Kinloch, p. 121.]

[Footnote 550: Id., p. 124.]

[Footnote 551: Id., p. 126.]

[Footnote 552: Id., p. 127.]

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

[Footnote 554: Burns Begg, p. 227.]

[Footnote 555: Id., p. 238.]

[Footnote 556: Sharpe, p. 131.]

[Footnote 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.]

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

[Footnote 559: _Scots Magazine_, 1814, p. 200. Spelling modernized.]

[Footnote 560: Burr, p. 418.]

[Footnote 561: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 197.]

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

[Footnote 563: Michaelis, _Historie_, pp. 335-6.]

[Footnote 564: Boguet, pp. 135-9.]

[Footnote 565: Cannaert, p. 45.]

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

[Footnote 567: Bodin, _Fleau_, p. 187.]

[Footnote 568: Melville, p. 395.]

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

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

[Footnote 571: F. Hutchinson, _Hist. Essay_, p. 42.]

[Footnote 572: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, p. 172.]

[Footnote 573: Boguet, p. 131.]

[Footnote 574: De Lancre, _Tableau_, pp. 68, 401.]

[Footnote 575: Id., _L'Incredulite_, p. 805.]

[Footnote 576: Davenport, p. 2.]

[Footnote 577: Van Elven, _La Tradition_, v (1891), p. 215.]

[Footnote 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 Muenster. Humborg, p. 120.]

[Footnote 579: Kinloch, p. 120.]

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

[Footnote 581: Chambers, iii, p. 298.]

[Footnote 582: Stewart, p. 175.]

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

[Footnote 584: Holinshed, _Ireland_, p. 58.]

[Footnote 585: Boguet, p. 141.]

[Footnote 586: De Lancre, _Tableau_, pp. 401-2.]

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

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

[Footnote 589: Law, p. 145.]

[Footnote 590: Fountainhall, i, p. 14.]

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

[Footnote 592: Id., p. 333.]

[Footnote 593: Id., p. 335.]

[Footnote 594: Ravaisson, p. 335.]

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

[Footnote 596: J. Hutchinson, _Hist. of Massachusetts Bay_, ii, p. 55.]

[Footnote 597: Burr, p. 417.]

[Footnote 598: Increase Mather, p. 210.]

[Footnote 599: Cotton Mather, p. 81.]

[Footnote 600: Cooper, p. 91.]

[Footnote 601: _Chelmsford Witches_, pp. 24, 26, 29, 30. Philobiblon Society, viii.]

[Footnote 602: _Examination of John Walsh._]

[Footnote 603: Cannaert, p. 48.]

[Footnote 604: Whitaker, p. 216.]

[Footnote 605: Stearne, p. 29.]

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

[Footnote 607: Cotta, p. 114.]

[Footnote 608: Danaeus, ch. iv.]

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

[Footnote 610: Holinshed, _Ireland_, p. 58.]

[Footnote 611: Philobiblon Society, viii, _Chelmsford Witches_, pp. 29, 30.]

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

[Footnote 613: _Examination of John Walsh._]

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

[Footnote 615: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, p. 120; Burton, i, p. 252.]

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

[Footnote 617: From an unpublished trial in the Justiciary Court at Edinburgh. The meaning of the word _laif_ is not clear. The Oxford dictionary gives _lop-eared_, the Scotch dictionary gives _loaf_. By analogy with the other accounts one would expect here a word meaning a hen.]

[Footnote 618: _Highland Papers_, iii, p. 18.]

[Footnote 619: Lemoine, vi, p. 109.]

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

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

[Footnote 622: Boguet, p. 205.]

[Footnote 623: Ravaisson, p. 334, 335.]

[Footnote 624: Sharpe, p. 147.]

[Footnote 625: Chambers, iii, p. 450.]

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

[Footnote 627: Sinistrari de Ameno, p. 27.]

[Footnote 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.]

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

[Footnote 630: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 128.]

[Footnote 631: Kinloch, p. 121.]

[Footnote 632: Bodin, _Fleau_, pp. 187-8.]

[Footnote 633: Boguet, p. 141.]

[Footnote 634: Cannaert, p. 50.]

[Footnote 635: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 133.]

[Footnote 636: _La Tradition_, 1891, v, p. 215. Neither name nor place are given.]

[Footnote 637: Bourignon, _Parole_, p. 87.]

[Footnote 638: _Scot. Hist. Soc._, xxv, p. 348. _See also_ Ross, _Aberdour and Inchcolme_, p. 339.]

[Footnote 639: _Prod. and Trag. History_, p. 7.]

[Footnote 640: _Tryall of Ann Foster_, p. 8.]

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

[Footnote 642: De Lancre, _L'Incredulite_, p. 772.]

[Footnote 643: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, pp. 120, 124.]

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

[Footnote 645: Sharpe, p. 132.]

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

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

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