The Discoverie of Witchcraft

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Title: The Discoverie of Witchcraft
Author: Scot, Reginald
Language: English
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[Illustration]

THE DISCOVERIE
OF
WITCHCRAFT

BY
REGINALD SCOT, ESQUIRE

BEING A REPRINT OF THE FIRST EDITION
PUBLISHED IN 1584

►Edited◄
_WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, GLOSSARY, AND INTRODUCTION_
BY
BRINSLEY NICHOLSON, M.D.
DEPUTY INSPECTOR GENERAL

[Illustration]

LONDON
ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
————
1886

_This edition of_ SCOT’S DISCOVERIE _consists
of 250 copies only.—E. S._

DR. NICHOLSON’S SUBSCRIBERS.

————

THE ROYAL LIBRARY, WINDSOR CASTLE.
W. ALDIS WRIGHT, LL.D., Cambridge.
FABYAN AMERY, Esq., Ashburton.
J. E. BAILEY, Esq., Stratford, Manchester.
W. W. BAYNES, Esq., London.
ERNEST BLACKER, Esq., Midsomer Norton.
D. BRODIE, Esq., Canterbury.
A. H. BULLEN, Esq., West Hampstead.
Miss BURSILL, London.
J. PATTERSON CASSELLS, M.D., Glasgow.
Prof. CHRYSTAL, Edinburgh.
Sir ANDREW CLARK, Bart., M.D., LL.D., etc., London.
The Lord Chief Justice COLERIDGE, London.
C. W. SHIRLEY DEAKIN, Esq., Allahabad.
K. DEIGHTON, Esq., Agra.
EDW. DENHAM, Esq., New Bedford, U.S.A.
The Right Hon. the EARL OF DERBY, Knowsley Hall.
The DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, Devonshire House.
R. DILL, M.D., Brighton.
Dr. J. MATTHEWS DUNCAN, A.M., F.R.S., etc., London.
Mrs. D. P. EVANS, Clifton, Bristol.
P. F. SPARKE EVANS, Esq., Clifton, Bristol.
Prof. JOHN FERGUSON, Glasgow.
ALEX. FORSYTH, M.D., Greenwich.
FRANCIS F. FOX, J.P., Chipping Sodbury, Bristol.
Prof. T. R. FRASER, M.D., Edinburgh.
H. H. FURNESS, Esq., Philadelphia, U.S.A.
JAMES GAIRDNER, Esq., London.
Prof. W. T. GAIRDNER, M.D., LL.D., Glasgow.
EDM. GOLDSMID, F.S.A. (Scot.), Edinburgh.
The Rev. A. B. GROSART, D.D., LL.D., Blackburn.
C. O. HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS, Esq., F.R.S., etc., Brighton.
HENRY HUCKS GIBBS, Esq., London.
The Rev. W. A. HARRISON, South Lambeth.
W. A. HAMMOND, Esq., New York.
C. M. INGLEBY, Esq., LL.D., Essex.
Sir WM. JENNER, Bart., M.D., F.R.S., etc., London.
W. OSCAR JENNINGS, M.D., Paris.
DAV. A. KING, M.B., London.
F. de M. LEATHES, Esq., London.
LIBRARY, British Museum.
———— Exeter College, Oxford.
———— Harvard Coll., Cambridge, U.S.A.
———— Royal Institution, London.
———— Leeds.
———— McGill University, Montreal.
———— National, of Ireland.
———— Society of Antiquaries, Scotland.
———— St. Andrew’s University, Aberdeen.
———— Free, Sydney.
LOUIS LEISLER, Esq., Frankfort-on-the-Main.
The MARQUIS OF LOTHIAN, Newbattle Abbey.
DOVE MACCOLMAN, M.D., Argyleshire.
Prof. DOUGLAS MACLAGAN, M.D., Edinburgh.
J. D. MARWICK, Esq., LL.D., Glasgow.
Prof. DAVID MASSON, Edinburgh.
JOHN MORISON, Esq., Glasgow.
Prof. H. MORLEY, LL.D., London.
Sir JAS. PAGET, Bart., F.R.S., LL.D., etc., London.
CORNELIUS PAYNE, Esq., Kemp Town, Brighton.
Miss E. PHIPSON, London.
THE EARL OF POWIS, Berkeley Square.
The Right Hon. the EARL OF ROSEBERY, Dalmeney Castle.
JOS. CARNE ROSS, M.D., Penzance.
The Rev. E. E. BAYLEE SALISBURY, B.D., Horncastle.
ALEX. STEWART, M.D., Pendleton, Manchester.
W. G. STONE, Esq., Walditch, Bridport.
LAWSON TAIT, F.R.C.S., Birmingham.
SAMUEL TIMMINS, Esq., F.S.A., Arley, Coventry.
D. HACK TUKE, M.D., LL.D., London.
G. H. WHITE, Esq., Torquay.
WALTER G. WHITTINGHAM, Esq., London.
W. WILSON, Esq., Berwick-on-Tweed.
A. J. YOUNG, Esq., Edinburgh.

DEDICATION.

————

►To the Memory◄
OF
H.R.H. PRINCE LEOPOLD, DUKE OF ALBANY,
UNTIMELY TAKEN FROM US,
THIS WORK OF AN ELIZABETHAN ENGLISHMAN,
AND OF A KINDRED SPIRIT,
WHOSE HONESTY, INTELLIGENCE, AND COMPASSION
FOUGHT AGAINST THE CRUEL SUPERSTITION
AND IGNORANCE OF HIS AGE,
IS,
BY ROYAL PERMISSION AND WITH REGRETFUL ESTEEM,
DEDICATED BY
THE EDITOR.

PREFACE.

————

This reprint is not a facsimile of the edition of 1584, for that was in
black letter, and its page smaller and of quarto size. Being also for
modern readers, and for use, the _i_ of the original has become, where
necessary, the _j_ of the second edition; the _u_ and _v_ have been
altered according to modern usage, that is, generally interchanged;
while the short _s_ replaces the _ſ_. Such modernisations render it
more readable by the historical and philosophical student, by the
man of science, and by the psychological physician, willing to learn
all that may instruct himself and benefit others. Neither would this
reprint have been undertaken, unless the work itself had appeared to
my friend and fellow-student, W. T. Gairdner, M.D., LL.D., Professor
of Medicine in the University of Glasgow,—and led by him—to myself and
others, worthy on the above-mentioned grounds, of being reproduced, and
as being both in matter and style a valuable English classic.

While, however, it is not a facsimile, yet, excepting such variations
as are above noticed, and allowing for the few and trifling errors from
which no copy can expect to be free, not even a photographic one, as
experts in these matters well know, this will, I believe, be found a
correct reprint. Every proof has been thrice, and sometimes oftener,
read over with the original by myself, and these efforts have been
well supplemented by the intelligence and care of its printers. Even
the word-errors of the original, where not in its list of errata, have
been retained, though the true or conjectural readings have been given
in the margin, or in two or three instances in the Notings at the end.
Except also in two instances, where for necessity’s sake alterations
have been introduced within []s, and the original given in the margin,
the old punctuation has been retained, it being, as a rule, very good,
while any slight slips are readily observed, and do not affect the
sense. For such other differences as are due to the black letter, and
for others like these, I would refer the print-studying reader to the
Introduction.

In the biographical portion of this Introduction, besides a supposition
or two of my own, which from his writings seem to me highly probable,
there have been given notices of his pedigree, age, and marriages,
matters hitherto unknown or misstated, and for which I would at once
record my indebtedness to Edmund Ward Oliver, Esq. This gentleman
having taken an interest in investigating these questions, and being a
perfect stranger to me, wrote and offered the results of his inquiries
so soon as he had learnt that I was engaged with this reprint, and has
since most obligingly answered the various questions that I have had
occasion to put to him. A copy of Scot’s Will has been also for the
first time published, and some Notes and a Glossary added. Were I to
have imitated the learned editors of former days, I should have added,
not some, but exhaustive notes on every point, gathered from every
known and unknown source; but I have confined myself to explanation, or
to making a few remarks on the text, giving also the author’s agreement
with, or obligations to Wier, so far as I knew them, and Shakespeare’s
and Middleton’s obligations to himself; my reason for not entering into
greater details being that I am no student of the pseudo-science of
witchcraft, but a student only of what is useful, and true, and good.

It would be unseemly, especially after mentioning Mr. Oliver’s name,
were I to close this without acknowledging the kind assistance of
my well-known friend, James Gairdner, Esq., of the Public Record
Office; of my Shakespearian friends, W. Aldis Wright, LL.D., and P.
A. Daniel, Esq.; of that given me by the Very Reverend Father W. H.
Eyre, lately Superior of Stonyhurst; by Mrs. Amelia Green; as also by
Prof. W. W. Skeat, and Dr. J. A. H. Murray, in my Glossary; though all
were, and personally are, strangers; as are Miss Kath. P. Woolrych,
Oare Vicarage, Kent, and Miss Ayscough, of Brabourne Vicarage; and
especially that given me by my other Shakespearian friends, the Rev.
W. H. Harrison, of St. Anne’s, South Lambeth, and W. G. Stone, Esq.
My best thanks are also due to Mr. J. J. Jervis for the use, for the
printer, of a partially incomplete copy of the first edition; to the
University of Glasgow for the loan, for my own use, for the greater
part of a year, of another copy of this first edition; and for the
use for the same period of a copy of the third edition to my Alma
Mater of Edinburgh, endeared to me by the teachings, remembrances, and
kindnesses of Sir William Hamilton, Allan Thomson, Christison, Traill,
Jamieson, that most sagacious of surgeons and teachers, Syme, and the
ever-to-be-revered physician and man, W. Pulteney Alison.

BR. NICHOLSON.

————————————

ERRATA.

_The pagings, as usual, are those of the first edition._

P. 20, heading, ch. ii, “_inquistors_”, read “_inquisitors_”.
P. 92, l. 5, 6, “Ulyffes” (bis), read “Ulysses”.
P. 169, l. 9, “obsevation”, read “observation”.
P. 192, l. 3, “εσιαν”, read “εστιαν”.
P. 334, l. 2, from end, “three,” read “three;”.
P. 347, l. 6, from end, “left it”, read “left in”.
P. 522, l. 6, from end, “_Silyllæ_”, read “_Sibyllæ_”.

INTRODUCTION.

————

Except that they add the names of some who have opposed his views, or
some such trifling matters, all the writers of biographical notices
of Scot have drawn their information from the account given of him in
Wood’s _Athenæ Oxon._ Nor, indeed, until lately, unless original search
had been made, were other sources available. Hence I, in the first
place, give his words verbatim from the edition of 1691.

“_Reynolde Scot_, a younger Son of Sir _John Scot_ of
_Scots-hall_, near to _Smeeth_ in _Kent_, by his Wife, Daughter
of _Reynolde Pimp_ of Pimps-court Knight, was born in that
County, and at about 17 years of age was sent to _Oxon_,
particularly, as it seems, to _Hart_ hall, where several of
his Country-men and name studied in the latter end of K. _Hen.
8._ and in the Reign of _Ed. 6. &c._ Afterwards he retired to
his native Country without the honour of a degree, and settled
at _Smeeth_, where he found great incouragement in his studies
from his kinsman Sir _Thos. Scot_. About which time taking to
him a Wife, he gave himself up solely to solid reading, to
the perusing of obscure authors that had by the generality of
Scholars been neglected, and at times of leisure to husbandry
and gardening, as it may partly appear from these books
following.

“A perfect platform of a Hop-garden, and necessary instructions
for the making and maintenance thereof, with notes and rules
for reformation of all abuses, &c. _Lond._ 1576. qu. the 2.
edit. as it seems.

“The discovery of Witchcraft; wherein the leud dealing of
Witches, and Witchmongers is notably detected, the knavery of
Conjurers, the impiety of Inchantors, the folly of Southsayers,
&c. With many other things are opened, which have long been
hidden, howbeit very necessary to be known. _Lond._ 1584. qu.
in 16 books.

“Discourse upon Devils and Spirits.—In this, and the former,
both printed together, it plainly appears that the author was
very well versed in many choice books, and that his search into
them was so profound, that nothing slip’d his Pen that might
make for his purpose. Further also in the said _Discovery_ and
_Discourse_, though he holds that Witches are not such that
were in his time and before, commonly executed for Witches; or
that Witches were, or are not; yet they, which were written
for the instruction of all Judges and Justices of that age,
(being the first of that nature that were published in the
Mother tongue,) did for a time make great impressions in the
Magistracy and Clergy, tho afterwards condemned by _James_
King of _Scots_ (the same who succeeded Qu. _Elizabeth_ in the
Monarchy of _England_) in his Preface to _Dæmonology_, printed
under his Name at _Edinburgh_ in 1597. qu. and by several
others since, among whom was _Rich. Bernard_ of _Batcomb_,
in his Epist. Ded. before his _Guide to Grand Jury-men_, &c.
Lond. 1627. in oct. What else our author _Scot_ hath written,
I cannot yet tell, nor anything else of him, only but that he
dyed in _Sept._ or _Oct._ in fifteen hundred ninety and nine,
and was buried among his Ancestors in the Church at _Smeeth_
before-mentioned.

“In the time of the said _Reynold Scot_ and before, have been
conversant among the Muses in _Hart_ hall, the _Sackviles_
of _Sussex_, the _Colepepers_ of _Kent_ and _Sussex_, the
_Sedlies_ of _Kent_, and the _Scots_ before mentioned, with
others of inferiour note of the said Counties.”

_Notes added in Bliss’s Reprint._

“7. The learned author in his _Discovery_ is as vehement
against Popery as against witchcraft, and quite indecent in his
abuse of the saints of the Romish church.”—COLE. [His indecency
being for the most part a narrative of, and obvious reflections
on, their indecency. And this I say understanding the sense in
which he uses the word.]

“8. See a full account of this curious book, as Mr. Oldys calls
it, in his _British Librarian_, p. 213. All the copies of the
first edit. 1584, that could be found were burnt by order of
K. James I. an author on the other side of the question.”—Vid.
_Hist. Dictionary_, sub voce “Scot”.

[“REGINALDUS SCOTUS, _Anglus_, _tractatum de Incantamentis_
scripsit, in quo plerasque traditiones de Magia Melancholiæ, &
morbis variis, aut artibus histrionicis adscribit.”] “Hunc in
Anglia publica auctoritate combustum, sibi autem nunquam fuisse
visum refert Thomasius de crimine magiæ § 3.”—Vide [J. V.]
Vogt., _Cat. Libr. rar._, p. 617 [1713].

“Liber in folio scriptus Anglica lingua a Reginaldo Scoto in
quo plurima occurrunt contra magiæ existentiam argumenta. Est
ille etiam in Belgicam linguam conversus: sed plenior editio
est ultima Anglica.”—_Morhof._, ii, 459.

[Then a short note on the three editions.]

In 1874 there were privately printed, _Memorials of the Scot Family_,
by Jas. Renat Scott, Esq., and from them I extract the following tables:

Rich. Scott==Mary Whetenhall.
|
+---------+-------------+------------+-------------------+-+
| | | | |
Reginald Richard _ancestor of the Edward==May, d. of [2 d.]
author. Scotts of Shrewsbury | John Warren.
and elsewhere._ |
+----------------------------------------+
|
_À quo_ the Scotts of Glemsford Suffolk _and afterwards of
Ohio and Massachusetts in America_.

Reg. Scott, b. 1541,==Alice Cobbe, d. of Th. Cobbe of Cobbes
mar. 11 Oct. 1568, | Place, Aldington, Kent.
died Oct. 1599. |
+---------+-----+
| |
Collyar==Marie. Elizabeth==Sackville Turnor of Tablehurst,
Sussex.

But as the first part of the ancestry given in this book is not
supported by anything beyond possibility and legend, so this latter
portion is incorrect in various particulars. Instead, however, of
taking each inaccuracy item by item, it will be simpler to give a
consecutive account of such facts as to his ancestry, and as to
Reginald Scott himself, as can be proved by documentary evidence or
rendered probable by deductions therefrom.

John Philipot, Rouge Dragon and Somerset Herald, who died in 1645,
set forth the pleasant and picturesque, but slightly supported origin
of the family. I say pleasant, because the Scotts in the times of
Elizabeth, James, and Charles, were a family of large possessions,
wealth, and influence, influence so great that it is said that
Elizabeth refused the request made by Lord Buckhurst, or the Earl of
Leicester, that Sir Thomas Scott should be ennobled, saying that he
had already more influence in Kent than she had. She seems also to
have had from this, or from some other reason, a personal dislike to
them, for in her Progress in 1573, she having passed three days at
his father-in-law’s, Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst Castle, declined
to visit Scotts-hall, saying she wished to proceed to her own house,
though on her way thither she had to pass Sir Thomas’s gates. In his
_Villare Cantianum_, p. 313, Philipot has these words: “_Scotts-hall_,
which is now and hath been for divers Descents the Inheritance of
eminent Gentlemen of that Sirname, whom I dare aver upon probable
Grounds were originally called _Balioll_. _William Balioll_, second
brother to _Alexander de Balioll_, frequently writ his Name _William
de Balioll le Scot_, and it is probable, that upon the Tragedy of
_John_, Earl of _Atholl_, who was made prisoner by _Edward_ the first,
and barbarously executed, in the year 1307. (whilst he endeavoured
more nobly than successfully to defend the gasping Liberty of Scotland
against the Eruption of that Prince;) this Family to decline the Fury
of that Monarch, who was a man of violent passions, altered the name
of _Balioll_ to that of their Extraction and Country, and assumed for
the future the Name of _Scot_. That the Sirname of this Family was
originally _Balioll_, I farther upon these Reasons assert. First, the
ancient Arms of Balioll Colledge in Oxford, which was founded by _John
Balioll_, and dedicated to St. Katharine was a Katherin-Wheele, being
still part of the paternal Coat of this Family. Secondly, _David de
Strabogie_, who was Son and Heir to the unfortunate Earl above-said,
astonished with an Example of so much Terror, altered his name from
_Balioll_ to Strabogie, which was a Signory which accrued to him the
Right of his Wife, who was Daughter and Heir to _John Comin_, Earl of
Badzenoth and Strabogie, and by this Name King _Edward_ the second,
omitting that of _Balioll_ restored _Chilham-castle_ to him for Life,
in the fifteenth year of his reign. Thirdly, the Earls of _Buccleugh_,
and the Barons of Burley in Scotland, who derive themselves originally
from _Balioll_, are known at this instant by no other Sirname, but
Scot, and bear with some inconsiderable Difference, those very Arms
which are at present the paternal Coat of the Family of _Scots-hall_.”

This tradition excluded, we find that Sir William Scot of Braberne, now
Brabourne, in Kent, is the first of whom we have historical mention.
He was knighted in 1336, when the Black Prince was created Duke of
Cornwall, and died in 1350: a brass to his memory, being in Weever’s
time (1631), the first of the memorials of the Scot family in Brabourne
church. According to Philipot, this Sir William was the same with Sir
William Scot, then Chief Justice of England; but if Mr. Foss be right
in stating that this latter died in 1346, the year of the Black Death,
this view cannot be upheld.

Another Sir William, apparently a grandson of the above, acquired
through his mother the manor of Combe in Brabourne, and through his
first wife and her relations—modes of increase in which the family seem
to have been fortunate—that of Orlestone, as well as other places;
and in 1420 he built Scotshall, in the manor of Hall in Smeeth, and
was in 1428 sheriff of the county, and in 1430 knight of the shire in
parliament. He died 1433. Scotshall, from time to time enlarged or
rebuilt, and especially so by Sir Edward Scot, in the reign of Charles
I, became the family seat for twelve generations. Evelyn, under date
August 2, 1663, records his visit to it (soon after the young knight’s
marriage), and calls it “a right noble seate, uniformely built, with
a handsome gallery. It stands in a park well stor’d, the land fat and
good. We were exceedingly feasted by the young knight, and in his
pretty chapell heard an excellent sermon by his chaplaine.” It was
sold, with the remaining possessions of the family, at the close of the
last century, and destroyed in 1808. Some undulations in a field on the
north side of the road from Ashford to Hythe, about half a mile to the
east of Smeeth church, alone mark its site.

The son of this second Sir William, named Sir John, being connected
with the Woodvilles, and therefore with the wife of Edward IV, and
being a staunch Yorkist, and apparently a man of intelligence, was
employed in special embassies to Charles, Duke of Burgundy, especially
in 1467, when he went to treat of the marriage of the king’s sister
with the duke. He had also various other and more substantial favours
conferred upon him from time to time, from 1461 onwards, including that
of Chilham Castle for life, as somewhat oddly, and I think wrongly,
noted in the extract from Philipot. He died in 1485, and probably
intestate, as no will is recorded.

To him succeeded his son, the third Sir William in this account, and
he dying in 1524, was succeeded by his son, a second Sir John. This
last, by his marriage with Anne, daughter of Reginald Pympe, had three
sons, and died on the 7th October 1533. The eldest, William, followed
his father on the 5th June 1536, and leaving no offspring, his next
brother, Sir Reginald, took his place. Of the third brother, Richard,
the father of our Reginald, I shall speak presently. Meanwhile,
returning to the main line, I would say that Sir Reginald, dying on
the 16th October 1554, was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas, the
“cousin” to whom Reginald was much indebted, and one of the four to
whom he dedicated his _Witchcraft_. He was, in his day, a man of note,
intelligence, and action. Finding his estate in debt, he yet kept one
hundred at his table, was most hospitable, and died owing nothing,
though, of course, to provide for the younger of his very numerous
progeny, various portions of his estate were by his will sold after
his death. He was deputy-lieutenant of his county, sheriff of Kent in
1576, knight of the shire for the Parliaments of 13 and 28 Elizabeth,
chief of the Kentish forces at Northbourne Downs, where they were
assembled to repel any landing from the Armada; and it may be added,
as showing his promptness, readiness, and decision, that 4,000 of
these were there, equipped for the field, the day after he received
his orders from the Privy Council. He was one of the Commissioners to
report on the advisability of improving the breed of horses in this
country, and either before or after this, is said to have published a
book on the subject. He was a Commissioner for draining and improving
Romney Marsh, and afterwards Superintendent of the improvements of
Dover harbour. Various letters to and from him in reference to Dover
harbour, as well as to the Kentish forces, are to be found in the
State Calendars. Having been the parent of seventeen children by his
first wife, Emmeline Kempe, a relative by maternal descent, he died
on the 30th December 1594, and Ashford parish offered to pay the
expenses of his funeral if only they were allowed to bury him in their
church. Most of these facts are noted in the following verses, which
I give, chiefly because there are some probabilities that they were
by Reginald. A copy of them seems to have been found among the family
papers, in his handwriting. That he made some of the verse translations
given in his _Witchcraft_ is extremely probable, from the want in these
cases of marginal references to the translator’s name; hence a second
probability. The verses themselves render it likely that they were
one of those memorial elegies then affixed επι ταϕον by affectionate
friends and relatives, and not what we now call an epitaph; and the
third verse clearly shows that they were written at least some little
time after Sir Thomas’s decease, and therefore were not improbably
written to be affixed to the handsome tomb erected over his remains.
Hence a third probability; but beyond the accumulated force of these we
cannot go.

_Epitaph on Sir Thomas Scott, as given in the “Memorials of the Scott
Family”, and also in Pick’s “Collection of Curious Pieces in the
World”, vol. 3._

Here lyes Sir Thomas Scott by name;
Oh happie Kempe that bore him!
Sir Raynold, with four knights of fame,
Lyv’d lyneally before him.

His wieves were Baker, Heyman, Beere;
His love to them unfayned.
He lyved nyne and fiftie yeare,
And seventeen soules he gayned.

His first wief bore them every one;
The world might not have myst her![*]
She was a very paragon
The Lady Buckherst’s syster.

His widow lyves in sober sort,
No matron more discreeter;
She still reteiynes a good report,
And is a great housekeeper.

He (being called to special place)
Did what might best behove him.
The Queen of England gave him grace,
The King of Heav’n did love him.

His men and tenants wail’d the daye,
His Kinne and countrie[†] cryed;
Both young and old in Kent may saye,
Woe worth the day he dyed.

He made his porter shut his gate
To sycophants and briebors,
And ope it wide to great estates,
And also to his neighbours.

His House was rightly termed Hall
Whose bred and beefe was redie;
It was a very hospitall
And refuge for the needie.

From whence he never stept aside,
In winter nor in summer;
In Christmas time he did provide
Good cheer for every comer.

When any service shold be doun,
He lyked not to lyngar;
The rich would ride, the poor wold runn,
If he held up his fingar.

He kept tall men, he rydd great hors,
He did write most finely;
He used fewe words, but cold discours
Both wysely and dyvinely.

His lyving meane,[‡] his charges greate,
His daughters well bestowed;
Although that he were left in debt,
In fine he nothing owed.

But dyed in rich and happie state,
Beloved of man and woman
And (what is yeate much more than that)
He was envied[§] of no man.

In justice he did much excell,
In law he never wrangled:
He loved rellygion wondrous well,
But he was not new-fangled.

Let Romney Marsh and Dover saye;
Ask Norborne camp at leyseur;
If he were woont to make delaye
To doe his countrie pleasure.

But Ashford’s proffer passeth all—
It was both rare and gentle;
They would have pay’d his funerall
T’ have toomb’d him in their temple.

[*] Though a paragon, she lived, he would say, a quiet, retired life,
obedient and loving to her husband.

[†] “Countrie”, seems not unlikely to be used here, as in the
_Discoverie_ not unfrequently, and twice in Wood’s notice just given,
and, as then, for county.

[‡] “Meane”, that is, moderate, midway between the very rich and the
poor.

[§] “Envied”, most probably in its then frequent sense of hated.

Before returning to Richard and Reginald, we may conclude this short
notice of their ancestors by mentioning the very probable circumstance
that the former were, by the female line, descendants of John Gower,
the poet, as explained in the following table:

Sir John Pashell==Elizabeth, d. of Richard Wydeville, sister of Earl
| Rivers, aunt of Edward IV’s wife.
+---------+
|
John Pashell,==1. Ludovic (Lowys), d. of Th. Gower, ob.
ob. _circa_ 1472. | _circa_ 1458.
+-------------+------------+
| |
William, Elizabeth, or Isabel,==Reg. Pympe.
ob. _ante_ 1485, _s.p._ ob. _ante_ 1485. |
+------------------------------------+
|
Anne = Sir John Scot, father of Richard Scot.

The Pashells, or Pashleys, were descended from Sir Edmund de Passelege,
a Baron of the Exchequer, who purchased a manor in Smeeth in 1319; he
died 1327. The family resided at Iden, Sussex; and the house there,
and the manor in Smeeth, devolved on the Scots, Anne Pympe being
her father’s only child. It is true that John Gower, the poet, does
not mention any children in his extant will, but he was probably
seventy-eight when he died; and, what is more to the purpose, his
published will was probably only his testament, the will or declaration
of uses of the land being commonly at that time a separate instrument.
Th. Gower, of Clapham, given above as the father of Lowys, was probably
the son or grandson of John Gower (see Sir Harris Nicolas in _The
Retrosp. Rev._, 2 Ser., ii, 103-17). Also Gower the poet is known to
have had property in Southwark; and Th. Gower, of Clapham, refers in
his will (1458) to his tenement called The Falcon, in Southwark, near
the hospital; and in Manning and Bray’s _Surrey_, iii, 623, there is
noticed a deed of conveyance dated 22nd November 1506, of part of the
site of St. Thomas’s Hospital, in Southwark, made by John Scot, of
Iden, and Anne his wife, daughter and heir of John Pashley, who was
cousin and heir of John Gower. It may be added as curious that Sir
Robert Gower, who is believed to have been uncle to the poet, was
buried in Brabourne church in 1349; his monument, now destroyed, being
noticed in Weever.

On p. 500, Scot speaks of “his kinseman M. Deering”, Edw. Dering the
divine, a writer on theological subjects and chaplain to her Majesty;
but in what way they were kin I have been unable to discover.[*]

[*] My mother being a Dering, a daughter of the Thomas that was drowned
in the West Indies, when trying to reach his vessel H.M.S. _Circe_,
induces me to add, through the courtesy of Sir Edw. C. Dering, that a
portrait of this worthy is still to be seen at Surrenden Dering, and
that a family tradition has it, that preaching before her Majesty,
he had the boldness to tell her, “that she had no more controul over
her passions than an untamed heifer.” He was speedily unfrocked, and
is said to have emigrated to America, where an Edw. Dering is at this
moment the head of that branch, and a large landowner in Maine.

Returning now to Reginald’s father, Richard, the youngest of the three
sons of that Sir John who died in 1533, we find that he married Mary,
daughter of Geo. Whetenall, whose father was sheriff of Kent in 1527,
and whose family had lived for three centuries at Hextall’s Place,
near Maidstone. She survived her husband; and being remarried to Fulke
Onslow, Clerk of the Parliaments, died before him, 8th October 1582,
and was buried, as he afterwards was, in Hatfield church, Herts, where
a brass to their memory is fixed in the north wall of the chancel. Of
Richard himself nothing more is known. He probably died young, and
certainly before December 1554, his death being mentioned in the will
of his brother Sir Reginald, who died on the 16th of that month. In
this will, failing his own issue—a lapse which did not occur—he left
his real estate “unto Rainolde Scotte, son and heire of my brother
Richard Scotte, dec^{d}”, and Rainolde’s issue failing, it was devised
to a more distant branch. Hence, contrary to the table given on page
_xi_, from “The Memorials”, “Rainolde” was either the only son of
Richard, or the only son then living. The same conclusion follows from
the Inquis. post mortem of Lady Wynifred Rainsfoord, taken the 20th
March 1575/6, where Sir Thomas Scot and his brothers are said to be
co-heirs with Reynold of the lands held by her in gavelkind, the sons
having one moiety, and Reynold the other.

This Inquisition also gives Reynold’s then age as thirty-eight or more,
the words “et amplius” being, as was, usually at least, done in these
documents, attached to all the other ages mentioned. Hence he was born
in or before 1538 (not in 1541), and as, according to Wood, he entered
Hart Hall, Oxford, when about seventeen, he entered it _circa_ 1555;
the intention that he should do so having been probably entertained
by Sir Reginald, his uncle, who died 16th December 1554, and his
expenses borne by his cousin, Sir Thomas. I say probably, because we
have seen that, failing his own issue, he was named by Sir Reginald as
the next heir to the estate, and also because we know nothing of the
circumstances in which his widowed mother was left, nor as yet of the
date at which she was re-married to Onslow.

On the 11th of October he married Jane—not, as stated in “The
Memorials”, Alice—Cobbe, the daughter of an old yeoman family long
resident at Cobbe’s Place, in the adjoining parish of Aldington. The
entry in the Registers of Brabourne is—

“M[*] Reignold Scott and Jane Cobbe
were maryed the xi^{th} of October 1658.”

[*] To this upper portion of the “M” is added a character which may
make it “Mr.” or “Married”; but I have not myself yet seen the entry.

The only issue of this marriage, the only issue (that at least
survived) of both his marriages—for the Maria in the table of “The
Memorials” was the daughter of his second wife by her first husband—was
Elizabeth, afterwards married to Sackville Turnor; and the only issue
of that marriage, prior at least to Reynold’s death in 1599, was
Cicely. Elizabeth’s birth must have been in or before 1574, for in the
Inquis. post mortem of Reg. Scot generosus in 1602, she is said to be
“28 et amplius”. The Holy Maid of Kent (mentioned by Scot, p. 26) was
servant to one of her maternal progenitors, probably to her grandfather.

In this year, 1574, was also published the first issue of his brain,
his tractate on _The Hoppe-Garden_, the first work, I believe, in which
not only was the culture of the hop in England advocated, both as
having been successfully tried by him, and as against its importation
from Poppering, in Flanders, where its mode of culture, etc., was
endeavoured to be kept secret; but the whole subject of its growth,
culture, drying, and preservation was gone into in a practical manner,
and further explained by woodcuts. And here it may be worth noting that
in this year Reynold was necessarily absent so far from London that the
publisher inserted this apologetic note: “Forasmuch as M. Scot could
not be present at the printing of this his Booke, whereby I might have
used his advise in the correction of the same, and especiallie of the
Figures and Portratures conteyned therein, whereof he delivered unto me
such notes as I being unskilfull in the matter, could not so thoroughly
conceyve, nor so perfectly expresse as ... the Author, or you ... the
Reader might in all poyntes be satisfied [etc., etc.].” In the second
edition, however, in 1576, it was: “Now newly corrected and augmented,”
the augmentations increasing the book from fifty-three pages, exclusive
of the epilogue, to sixty, and the corrections including one added and
one emended engraving. As a matter of curiosity, and as showing that
neither the publisher nor the author expected a second edition, it
may be added that though only two years had elapsed, some at least of
the wood engravings required to be re-cut in almost exact facsimile.
A third edition was issued in 1578, and from these we can date the
commencement of the hop harvests in Kent.

In 1575 he succeeded to one moiety of such part of Lady Winifred
Rainsford’s estate as was held in gavelkind. Possibly, indeed, we may
place his enjoyment of it earlier, for Lady Rainsford was declared
insane; and to this, by the way, I am not disinclined to attribute
Reynold’s prolonged absence from London in 1572, the attendance of some
one of the family being required, and he, being older than the sons of
Sir Thomas, and of a junior branch, and a man of business, having been
chosen or requested to go. And I think we may place his loss of that
estate between this date and that of 1584, the date of the publication
of the _Witchcraft_. At least, in this _Discoverie_ occur two passages
which, taken together, seem to point to this. In his dedication to
Sir Th. Scot he says: _A_ vi, “My foot being [not, having been] under
your table, my hand in your dish, or rather in your pursse”—and, _A_
viii: “If they will allow men knowledge and give them no leave to
use it, men were much better be without it than have it; ... it is,
as ... to put a candle under a bushell: or as to have a ship, and to
let hir lie alwaies in the docke: which thing how profitable it is, I
can saie somewhat by experience.” Though it may be said that Reynold
was a man of business, and, as appears from his writings, a man of
decision and of unusual intelligence, still circumstances may combine
to bring disaster as a shipowner on such a one, and more especially if
he be new to the business. That he did in some way lose his “moiety”
is shown by the words of his will, for, speaking of his second wife,
he says, “whome yf I had not matched w^{th} all I had not dyed worth
one groate.” Not, improbably, I think, it was to the time of his first
marriage, or to his widowership, or to both, that Wood more especially
refers when he speaks of his giving himself up to solid reading, etc.

When his first wife died and when he re-married is as yet unknown to
us. But this latter could hardly have taken place until the latter
end, at earliest, of 1584, since in that year he, as already quoted,
describes himself as, “having his foot under your [Sir Th. Scot’s]
table”, etc., or in other words, as being a dependant not worth one
groat. Nor do we know more of this second wife beyond these slight
particulars that we gather from Reynold’s will: that her Christian name
was Alice—given in “The Memorials” instead of Jane, to Cobbe, the first
wife—that she was a widow with a daughter by her former husband; and
that she had some land, either in her own right or derived from her
former husband. That she was a widow at the time of her remarriage is
shown by Reynold’s bequest of “six poundes thirteene shillings foure
pence to my daughter in Lawe Marie Collyar for apparell [? mourning]
desiring that her mother’s hand be not anie thinge the shorter towards
her in that respect.” Whether Collyar were this daughter’s maiden name,
and therefore the name of her mother’s first husband, or whether it
were the name of her own husband, is doubtful, though from the words
just quoted I rather incline to this second supposition, and that the
husband was not a man of much means. With regard to what I have said
as to the mother’s possession of property, it has been suggested to me
by one of good judgment, and a solicitor, that Reynold’s expression
as to not dying worth a groat was merely an excuse for leaving the
bulk of his property to his wife; as also that these concluding words
of the will, and the resistance of probate to it made by Elizabeth,
his daughter by his first wife, indicate the existence of family
differences, probably attributable to this second marriage having been
entered into with one of a social rank inferior to his own. I cannot,
however, deduce this latter supposition from anything we know, neither
can I thus interpret the last words of his will, nor believe him guilty
of such a perversion of the truth. Reading his will attentively, I
think we find that Scot, with his usual fine sense of justice, gives
all the lands in “Aldington, Ruckinge, and Sellinge”, which had become
his by his marriage with Alice, “to her and _to her_ [not to his]
heires”, while he only gives his lands in Romney Marsh and his lease
of Brabourne Rectory to her for _her life_, and then the lease at
least, which had come to him “from his Cozen Charles”, to his daughter
Elizabeth. Reading the last words of his will verbatim, I think it
consistent with justice to hold, that though he may have obtained these
lands in Romney Marsh through the use of what had been his wife’s
former property, but was during his marriage his own, he was entitled
to leave them to his wife only for her life, they then proceeding not,
as did the others, to her heirs, but to his. I strongly suspect, also,
that his casual omission of any directions as to whom these Romney
Marsh lands were to go after her death was the real cause of the
probate of the will being resisted by his daughter Elizabeth, so as to
definitely raise this point.

Reserving all notice of his _Witchcraft_ till I speak of it under
its bibliography, I would say that we know little more of his life.
The Rev. Jos. Hunter, in his _Chorus Vatum_, states that he was “a
Collector of subsidies to Q. Elizabeth in 15..., for the county of
Kent.” Urged to inquiry by this, my friend, Jas. Gairdner, Esq., kindly
examined for me the Exchequer documents in the Public Record Offices,
and it appears from them that he was collector of subsidies for the
lathe of Shepway in the years 28 and 29 of Elizabeth (1586–87). It may
be added that, as appears from a previous document, 125/299, in the
same class of papers, that Sir Reynold Scot and other Commissioners for
the collection in the lathe of Shepway, of the first payment of the
subsidy granted by the Parliament, 37 Henry VIII, had appointed a high
Collector. Thus we learn the mode of his appointment; and on looking
through the lists we find that many such were “generosi”, though the
payment was but small. For Scot, forty shillings was deducted from the
incomings; and this not as a percentage, but as salary.

From the same documents we find that he is twice designated “armiger”,
a word agreeing with his 1584 title-page, “by Reginald Scot, Esquire”,
though in the editions of his _Hoppe Garden_ his name alone is given.
This was for myself an important find; but it will suffice here to say
that it confirms Hunter’s supposition that this esquireship was due to
his having been made a justice of the peace, though as to the date it
can only as yet be said that this dignity was probably granted between
1578 and 1584.

In an _Accompt of Sir Th. Heanage, knight, Treasurer at Warr_, in the
Public Record Offices, and printed by J. Renat Scott in the _Arch.
Canti._, vol. xi, p. 388, we find the following entries:

“S^r Thomas Scott knighte Collonel generall of the footemen in
Kent for his Entertainment at xiij^s iiij^d p^r diem for xxij
dayes begonne the xxix^{th} of Julye and endinge the xix of
Auguste the summe of xiiij^{li} xiij^s iiij^d.”

• • • • •

“Reinalde Scotte Trench mayster for his Enterteinment at iiij^s
p^r diem, and due to him for the same tyme iiij^{li} viij^s.”

• • • • •

“S^r Thomas Scott knighte for Thenterteynem^t of lxiij Wachemen
& Garders appointed to watche & warde at Dongenesse for xxij
dayes begonne [etc., as above] at viij the pece p^r diem
xlvi^{li} iiij^s.”

From the Muster-roll taken on the 25th Jan. 1587–8, and now in the
possession of Mr. Oliver, it appears that the county had then furnished
8,201 footmen and 711 horsemen, and that Sir Thomas was captain
of the 309 trained foot raised in the lathe of Shepway, with four
hundreds of the lathe of Scraye and Romney Marsh. Hence his office
as Colonel-General was not given him—indeed, this is shown by the
_Accompt_—until the men had been assembled in camp on the 29th July.
In like manner the Muster-roll gives Sir Jas. Hales as Captain of the
Lances; but in the pay list Th. Scott (a son of Sir Thomas) is Captain
both of the Light Horse and Lances. With regard to “Reinalde”, who,
under the name of Reginald, appears in the Muster-roll as one of the
thirteen captains over 1,499 untrained foot, Mr. J. Renat Scott, in a
note, states that he was a son of Sir Thomas Scott; but though sons of
Sir Thomas were also captains, this assertion is a guess, unsupported
by any known evidence.

He made his will on the 15th September 1599, and died twenty-four days
thereafter, on the 9th October. Some say that he was either taken ill
at Smeeth or died there, probably misinterpreting the words of his
will; some also say that he was buried there; while some think that
he was buried by the side of and close to Sir Thomas Scott’s tomb in
Brabourne church; but all these, like the supposition of Philipot in
his Kent Notes, _Harl. MS._ 3917, fol. 78_a_, that he erected that
tomb, are mere guessings, and as such we leave them.

To the few particulars thus gathered together we are obliged, with the
exception of two small points, one probable, and the other, I think,
certain, to confine ourselves. The first or probable point is, that as
his name appears five times as a witness to family business documents
between 1566 and 1594, his signature appearing in this last year in
Sir Thomas’s will, he must have kept up familiar intercourse with the
latter, and was not improbably, in some measure at least, his man of
business, and possibly his steward. The second point, which also goes
to confirm this first one, as also to confirm the belief that he was
made a justice of the peace, as being a person whose attainments, if
not his position, would render him useful in such a post, is one to
which I was independently led by his writings, and which is, I find,
borne out by almost contemporary testimony.

He who in his _Hoppe Garden_ showed such practical thought and
foresight, and in his _Witchcraft_ such independence of thought, was
not a man, especially when married and a father, to live in dependence
on a cousin. The wording, as well as the tone of his writings, agree
with this. We find in them traces of legal study, a habit of putting
things, as it were, in a forensic form, and noteworthy and not
unfrequent references to legal axioms or dicta, quoted generally in
their original Latin. The Dedication before his _Hoppe Garden_, and
the first before his _Witchcraft_, are to men of high legal rank,
judges, in fact, to whom he acknowledges his obligations. Referring
the reader to these, and to the ambiguous sentence in the latter
commencing “Finally” (sig. _A_ ii), I would also give the words in
the latter, where he says, _A._ v: “But I protest the contrarie, and by
these presents I renounce all protection”; and in the former the legal
phraseology is carried on throughout in—“and be it also knowne to all
men by these presentes that your acceptance hereof shall not be any
wyse prejudiciall unto you, for I delyver it as an Obligation, wherein
I acknowledge my selfe to stande further bounde unto you, without
that, that I meane to receyve your courtesie herein, as a release of
my further duties which I owe,” A. iii. v. And in B. v.: “neither
reproove me because by these presents I give notice thereof.” So also
he would seem to have been an attendant at the assizes; and if we look
to the story, told at page 5, of Marg. Simons, we find that he was not
only present at the trial, but busied himself actively in the matter,
talking to the vicar, the accuser, about it, advertising the poor woman
as to a certain accusation, he “being desirous to heare what she could
saie for hir selfe”, and inquiring into the truth of her explanation by
the relation of divers honest men of that parish. In like manner, his
Will is written “w^{th} myne owne hande” twenty-five days before his
death; and, on inquiring from a lawyer, I find that it is drawn up in
due legal form, and by one who had had a legal training. Lastly, Thomas
Ady, M.A., in _A Candle in the Dark_, 1656, alias, _A Perfect Discovery
of Witches_, 1661, a book, like Scot’s, against the reality of
witchcraft, distinctly tells us, p. 87, that Scot “was a student in the
laws and learned in the _Roman_ Laws”, the latter being exactly what
such a man would be if he had turned towards the law as a profession.
These considerations appear to me conclusive, even though it be added
as an argument _per contra_ that his name has not been found among
the rolls of the Temple, Inner or Middle, or in those of Lincoln’s or
Gray’s Inn.

And in taking leave of this portion of my subject, I cannot but
reiterate the obligations both the reader and the literary world
generally are under to Mr. Edmund Ward Oliver. The suppositions as
to the cause of Scot’s loss of his moiety of the estates of Lady
Winnifred Rainsford—not, it is believed, a large sum—and as to his
law-studentship, based as they are on facts stated by Scot or derived
from his writings, and those of Th. Ady, are my own; while in one
or two instances I have put forth opinions not quite in accord with
that gentleman’s. But nearly all the biographical facts regarding Scot
himself and his marriages, in contradistinction to the supposed facts
hitherto set forth, are due to the intelligent research of Mr. Oliver,
and are not unfrequently stated in his own words.

The following table will bring into one view the pedigree of Reginald
Scot given in the previous pages:

[*] It is noteworthy that, notwithstanding the memorial inscription
to the first Sir William, Reginald, or whoever was the author of
the verses to Sir Thomas, only traces the pedigree to this fourth
knight after Sir Reginald. Either then the first Sir William was then
accounted somewhat mythical, or not being a knight of fame, he was not
recognised as the same with Sir William Scott, the Chief Justice of
England.

————————————

WILL OF RAYNOLD SCOT.

_Extracted from the copy, not the original, in the Principal Registry
of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court
of Justice._

S In the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

In the Name of God Amen. I Raynolde Scott in the Countie of
Kent gent beinge of the Parish of Smeth Doe make and ordaine
and w^{th} myne owne hande doe write this my Last will and
Testament on Saturdaye the fyfteenth of September Anno Dñi
a thousand fyve hundred nyntie nyne and in the fortie one
yeare of the raigne of o^r soveraigne Ladie Queene Elizabeth
Fyrst I bequeath my Sowle to Almightie god and my body to be
buryed as yt shall seeme good to Alice my wiefe whome I make
and ordaine to be myne onely Executrix Item I bequeath to my
sayde wief All my goods and chattells plate housholde stuffe
Juelles and Chaynes with all my leases and goods moveable and
vnmoveable savinge such as I shall by this my Will other Wise
dispose of Item I (for the trust I repose in M^{r.} Edwarde
Hall of Ashforde and of my neighbou^r Raynolde Keale of Smeeth
in countie aforesaide doe make them two the overseers to this
my Last will and gyve to eyther of the_m_ for theire paines and
trouble w^{ch} they ar like to sustaine herebye fyve poundes
Item I bequeath to S^r John Scott my lease of the banke or
pond at Aldinge Item I bequeath to my graund childe Cisley
Turno^r tenne poundes to buy her a little Chaine It_e_m I gyve
to my daughter in Lawe Marie Collyar six poundes thirteene
shillings foure pence to be paide unto her within one quarter
after my decease, to be bestowed in app_ar_ell upon her selfe
as she shall seeme good nether would I have her mothers hand
anie thinge the shorter towardes her in that respect Item I
give to my daughter Turno^r the Covenant that I have of my
Cozen Charles Scott touchinge the renuinge of my lease when his
grace doth renne [_read_ renue] his lease of Braborne Rectorie
provided that my meaninge is, that my said wief shall enioye
the full tearme that I nowe possesse and howsoever yt shalbe
renued my daughter shall have the only renuinge which shalbe in
effecte after the whole tearme w^{ch} I holde now be expired
so as by any meane [intervening] renuinge my saide wief be not
defeated of my true meaninge towardes her Item I do bequeath to
my saied wief and to her heires for ever All my Landes Lyinge
in Aldington and now in thoccupac_i_on of John Pollard and
all my Landes in Ruckinge in thoccupac_i_on of —— Diggons and
all my Landes in Sellenge in the occupac_i_on of —— Coakar All
which Landes lye in the s̶a̶y̶d̶e̶ sayde[*] Countie of Kent
Item I gyve and bequeath to my said wief all my other Landes
in Rumney Marshe or els where in the said countye duringe her
naturall lief[†] Item I doe gyve to my Servante Moyll Smyth the
some of twentie shillinges yearelie duringe his n_atur_all Life
to be paide out of all my Landes halfe yearelie and that for
defaulte of payment yt shalbe Lawfull for him to distraine And
so I ende desyreinge the worlde to iudge the best hereof and of
the consyderac_i_ons for greate is the trouble my poore wief hath
had with me, and small is the comforte she hath receyved at my
handes whome yf I had not matched w^{th} all I had not dyed
worth one groate.—
Ray: Scott.

[*] _Sic_, first at end of line.

[†] _Sic_, to be paide _is interlined above_ this.

By a short notice following the copy of the will, it was proved
on the 22nd November 1599. There is also a document setting forth
that Alicia Scott, relicta, and Elizabetha Turnor, als Scott, filia
naturalis et legitima, had disputed, before certain functionaries named
regarding the will, and that probate was granted as aforesaid on the
22nd November 1599. But as the cause or subject of the dispute is not
mentioned, this, like the short notice, is not given.

————————————

ABSTRACT OF INQUIS. POST MORTEM, 18 ELIZ. P. 1, No. 84.

_Inquisition taken at Maidstone on the death of Lady Wynifred
Rainsfoord, 30 March, 18 Eliz. [1575-6]._

She was seised of the Manors of Nettlested and Hiltes with
appurtenances in E. and W. Peckham, Brenchley, W. Barmling,
Merewood, Marden; also of the Manor of Pympe with appurtenances in
Yaulding, Marden, and Brenchley. Also various other lands, some
of which, called Stockenbury, Motelands, and Souchefields, are in
Brenchley.

She died 17 Oct. last, at Chelmsford in Essex.

Th. Scott, kt., is her next heir, viz., son and heir of Reginalde
Scotte, kt., sonne and heir of Anne Scotte, wife of John Scotte,
kt., daughter and heir of Reginald Pympe, brother of John Pympe,
father of said Lady Winifred.

Thomas Scotte, kt., Charles Scott, Henry Scotte, George Scotte, and
William Scotte [brothers of the first-named Thomas Scotte, kt.],
and Reginald Scotte, are coheirs of the lands held in gavelkind.
One moiety thereof descends to Thomas, Charles, etc. [as named
above], sons and coheirs of Reginalde Scotte, kt., son and heir
of Anne Scotte; and the other moiety to Reginald, son and heir of
Richard Scotte, junior, son of the said Anne.

Thomas miles is 39 et amplius, Charles 34 [etc.], Henry 32 [etc.],
George 30 [etc.], William 22 [etc.], and Reginald 38 years of age
et amplius.

The exact words regarding the co-heirs are: “descendebant et de
jure descendere debent præfato Thomæ Scotte militi, Carolo Scott,
Henrico Scotte, Georgio Scotte et Will’o Scotte, fratribus dicti
Thomæ Scotte militis et Reginaldo Scotte, consanguineo prædicti
Thomæ Scotte militis, ut consanguineis et coheredibus prædictæ
dominæ Winifridæ eo quod prædictæ terræ ... ultimo recitata sunt de
natura de gavelkind.” This disproves the assertion of Mr. J. Renat
Scott in _Arch. Cant._, xi, 388, and repeated in his genealogy of
the Scott family, that the Reginald Scott mentioned in the former
as receiving pay among those appointed in 1587-8 was “a son of Sir
Thomas”.

————————————

ABSTRACT OF INQUIS. P.M., 45 ELIZ., PARS. 1, No. 71.

_Inquisition taken at Maidstone, 2 Dec. [1602], after the death of
Reginald Scot, generosus._

He was seised of a tenement and 20 acres of land called
Graynecourtte, held of Th. Scott, Esq., as of his manor of
Brabourne, a tenement called Essex, and 20 acres of land in two
parcels in Allington [Aldington], held of Edw. Hall, as of his
manor of Pawlson. One parcel of land called Haythorne field,
containing 20 acres in Bonington, held of the Queen in capite, and
a tenement and one parcel of land lying in Barefield, containing
two acres in Brabourne, tenure unknown, and one acre in Brabourne
and 5 acres in Brabourne, and two parcels in Smeeth, and 30 acres
of marsh called Gatesleaf, in Newchurch, held of Martin Barneham,
Esq., as of his manor of Bylsyngton.

He died 9 Oct., 41 Eliz. [1599], at Smeeth.

Elizabeth, wife of Sackville Turner, gent., is his daughter and
next heir, and was 28 years of age and more at his death.

Alice, his widow, has received the rents since his death.

[Elizabeth was the next heir to his own property, but that which
was his own through his wife Alice, he specially devised “to her
and to _her_ heirs”.]

————————————

_The Cause and History of the Work._—That is, what induced Scot to
write it, and why did he set it forth as he did? inquiries which
involve, among other matters, a short notice of the position then and
previously held by witchcraft in England. His _Hoppe-garden_ shows him
to us as a man of intelligence, foresighted and reflective of thought,
and desirous of improving the state of his country and countrymen. It
shows him also as one who could not only seize a thought and commend
it to others, but as one who had perseveringly put his idea into
practice, found it feasible, and then so learnt the processes necessary
for growing the plant, and preparing its catkins and storing them for
use, that a priori one would suppose that he had done what he did not,
namely, visited Holland and learnt the processes on the spot. The same
qualities are seen in his _Witchcraft_, as is also his independence of
thought. No sooner had his suspicions been aroused than he proceeded,
as shown by the work and its references, to investigate the matter
thoroughly and perseveringly. To this also he was encouraged, or rather
led, by yet other two qualities, his straightforwardness or honesty of
purpose, and his compassion, for these taught him that he was engaged
in a righteous work, that of rescuing feeble and ignorant, though it
may be too pretentious and shrewish, old women from false charges and a
violent death, and in a noble work in endeavouring to stem the torrent
of superstition and cruelty which was then beginning to overflow the
land.

Nor was this the result in any way of a mind sceptically inclined.
His book shows that he accepted the opinions of his day, unless he
had been led to inquire into them, and either re-receive them as
facts or discard them. Led doubtless by his academic training, it is
abundantly clear that he had inquired into the grounds of his belief
in the Established Church, and into the additions that had been made
to its faith in the course of illiterate ages by the Popish Church.
He had read Plotina, who taught him that the so-called vicars of
Christ and his vice-gerents on earth were often devils incarnate and
standard-bearers of vice, and that the system which did now and again
produce a St. Francis d’Assis—all reverence to his name—produced
also the congeners of Loyola, and Loyola himself, whose followers,
while assuming to themselves the holy name of Socii Jesu, made that
name famous and infamous, and their tenets execrated throughout the
civilised world. But he accepted with some doubting, having, as he
thought, great authority for it and no means of investigation, the
story of the Remora; and accepted without doubting the beliefs that
the bone of a carp’s head, and none other, staunched blood, the value
of the unicorn’s horn, and the like, and—notwithstanding his disbelief
in astrology—that seed-time and springing were governed by the waxing
and waning of the moon. He also believed that precious stones owed
their origin to the influences of the heavenly bodies; and besides his
credulous beliefs as to certain waters, narrated at the commencement,
he in the next chapter gives the absurdly wonderful virtues of these
stones, some, as he says, believed in by him, “though many things most
false are added”.

How then came he to inquire into and write so strongly against
witchcraft? Before the time of the eighth Henry, sorcerers were dealt
with by the ecclesiastical law, which punished them as heretics.
Moreover, their supposed offences against the person seem, chiefly
at least, to have been taken notice of when they were supposed to
interfere with high or state matters or persons, as in the cases of
Joan of Arc or Dame Eleanor Cobham. But in Henry’s time, probably
through the extension of continental ideas, aided, it may be, by a
desire to restrain the ecclesiastical power, c. 8 of the thirty-third
year of his reign was passed. By this it was enacted, that witches,
etc., who destroyed their neighbours, and made pictures [images] of
them for magical purposes, or for the same purposes made crowns,
swords, and the like, or pulled down crosses, or declared where things
lost or stolen were become, should suffer death and loss of lands and
goods, as felons, and lose the privileges of clergy and sanctuary.
Afterwards, by 1 Edw. I, c. 12, this and other offences first made
felonies in Henry’s time were no longer to be accounted such. Thirdly,
in the fifth year of Elizabeth, Parliament, by its twelfth chapter,
enacted, that whereas many have practised sorceries to the destruction
of people and their goods, those that cause death shall suffer as was
declared by 33 Henry VIII, c. 8, except that their wives and heirs
shall not have their rights affected by such attainder. But that when
a person was only injured, or their goods or cattle destroyed, the
offenders should for the first offence suffer a year’s imprisonment,
and once a quarter be exposed in the pillory in a market town for six
hours, and there confess their offences; and for the second offence
suffer death as felons, with the exceptions before rehearsed. While
any who seek treasure, or would bring about unlawful love, or hurt
anyone in his body or goods, should for a first offence be imprisoned
and suffer as before, and for a second be imprisoned for life and
forfeit his goods and cattle. This, so far as humanity is concerned,
is a distinct advance on Henry’s enactment, though an apparent going
back from that of Edward. Perhaps, as before, it arose from a desire
to remove the offences from the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical
law, which would have burnt them, nor, as evidenced by its little
results, does it seem to have been made through any mania or scare in
the matter. This came on later, when, as we are told by Brian Darcie
in 1582, at what time, under pie-crust promises of favour, he was
endeavouring to get women to confess, and then be hanged,—“there is a
man of great learning and knowledge come over lately into our Queenes
Majestie, which hath advertised her what a companie and numbers of
Witches be within Englande: whereupon I and other of her Justices have
received Commission for the apprehending of as many as are within these
limites.” Alas, this man of great learning and knowledge seems to have
been none other than that otherwise light of the English Church, the
great, good, and pious Bishop Jewel, who, having returned from a forced
residence abroad, was speedily promoted by her Majesty, and in a sermon
preached before her, in 1572, brought in the subject as follows:—

“Heere perhaps some man will replie, that witches, and conjurers often
times chase away one Divell by the meane of another. Possible it is so;
but that is wrought, not by power, but by Collusion of the Divels. For
one Divell, the better to attaine his purpose, will give place, and
make as though he stood in awe of another Divell. And by the way to
touch but a word or two of this matter for that the horrible using of
your poore subjects inforceth thereunto. It may please your Grace to
understand, that this kind of people, I meenes witches and sorcerers,
within these few last yeeres, are marvellously increased within this
your Grace’s realme. These eies have seene most evident and manifest
marks of their wickednesse. Your Grace’s subjects pine away even unto
the death, their collour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is
benummed, their senses are bereft.”

“Wherefore, your poore subjects most humble petition unto your
Highnesse, is, that the lawes touching such malefactours, may be put in
due execution. For the shole of them is great, their doings horrible,
their malice intollerable, the examples most miserable. And I pray God,
they never practise further, then upon the subject. But this only by
the way, these be the scholers of Beelzebub the chief captaine of the
Divels.”

The plantings of the Queen in the commissions of her Justices thus
instigated and encouraged, produced an abundant crop. According to
the Dedications of Scot, Sir Roger Manwood, Lord Chief Baron of the
Exchequer, had had “in these causes such experience”, _A_ ii. v., while
Sir Thomas Scot, as Justice of the Peace, had also had “manie poore
old women convented before him for ... witchcraft”, _A._ vi. Various
booklets also, presently to be spoken of more at large, excited still
more the imaginations of a credulous people, and it had been supposed,
before Scot wrote, as will be seen on p. 473, and in my note on that
page, that the Queen’s person had been aimed at in that way.

It thus appears that though Scot may have been brought up in a
traditional but little-regarded belief in witchcraft, he, when he was
at least thirty-four, was not only unprepared, but startled, to witness
and take part in this new departure from justice and mercy. Witchcraft,
chiefly looked on as useful in discovering things lost, or in bringing
a wished-for sweetheart to return the love of the seeker, or in curing
ailments simple or grievous, became feared, reviled, and sought out:
sought out by Commission of the Queen, sought out by the people as a
great and fearful evil rapidly overspreading the land, and able and
willing, like the Plague and Black Death, to count its victims by
thousands, and from the cottage to the throne itself. He, a man both
intelligent and compassionate, sees poor, old, decrepit creatures eking
out a miserable livelihood by begging an occasional dole from their
better off neighbours; ill-tempered by age and condition, and therefore
abusive when refused such dole, or on slighter causes, sometimes
perhaps through old knowledge or superstition, but probably more often
for the sake of gain, pretending to be wise above what is known; he
sees these accused of selling their souls for the sake of such a
position in the world, he hears them accused sometimes of foul, more
frequently of unlikely, crimes and acts, nay, such as an unprejudiced
common sense must laugh at, while the evidence is nearly always so
faulty that, were the accusation a different one, it would be at once
turned inside out and thrown aside. Unfortunately, too, some of these
old women being more or less mad, and others driven through fear on the
one hand, or through promised favour on the other, confess themselves
capable of doing these things, though any man of sense and observation
could detect their state or motives. Luckily, too, he had had close to
him, and in his wife’s family, the known and talked-of imposture of the
Holy Maid of Kent; and in his own time and close to his own door, the
case of the Pythonist of Westwell, at first carried out triumphantly,
and then, on her own confession and her re-acted acts, branded as an
impostor, like the Holy Maid. The Dutchman, too, at Maidstone, after
being set forth as a worker of miracles and an exorcist, was found to
be a rogue; and “manie other such miracles had beene latelie printed,
whereof diverse had beene bewraied.” He had taken part also—apparently
as one engaged for the defence—in that piece of folly called the trial
of Margaret Simons, and knew the history of Ade Davie, and of her
restoration to sanity without exorcism, hanging, or burning.

Is it not natural that his suspicions, and more than suspicions,
should have been aroused, and that he should have been thus led to
take up the whole subject seriously? One who had given himself up, as
Wood says, to reading and thought as well as to healthy and useful
exercise, must have sought for and obtained books on either side of
the subject, and in especial the known book of Wier; and thoughtful
reading of these, and meditation must have led him to extend his views,
and gather them into a harmonious and consistent whole. Meanwhile,
however, the bloodthirsty superstition daily increased, and there were
published first, the mad book or books of Richard Gallis—spoken of in
pp. 132-3—of the witches at Windsor, now, I believe, unfortunately
lost, where, among other things, he narrates how, at a Sabbath meeting,
he had a hand-to-hand encounter with the devil, and wounded him so
sore that he stank of brimstone; and in 1582, there took place the
wholesale condemnation of the poor old women of St. Osees, thirteen
I believe of whom were hanged. There had been no such condemnation
before in England. It is not unlikely that he himself witnessed their
condemnation—see pp. xxv-vi. So unusual was it, that—as I cannot but
believe on other evidence, as stated in my noting on Macbeth—a ballad
was written on it, which became very commonly known, and was remembered
as late as 1606. This same unusual breadth of punishment also created
so much attention that Justice Brian Darcie thought it worth while to
set forth in print, not the trial, but the depositions taken before
him, and thus inform a too ignorant public that he and he alone was the
primary cause of such a purification.

These facts, and especially this last, aroused, I believe, Scot’s
compassion and indignation, and made both find vent in printed words.
And besides these likelihoods, including that of date, there are two
at first sight seemingly contradictory facts, which made themselves
manifest to me when I first carefully read the book, and before I
had formed any opinion on their causes, and which are on this view
reconciled. These facts are, that while the plan which he has adopted,
and his facts and conclusions, seem to have been deliberately sought
out, thought over, and canvassed, there are evidences throughout of
a feverous haste of composition, such feverous haste as the above
spoken of emotions would excite in a man like Scot, who had witnessed
so horrible and so bloody a perversion of justice. The proof of the
first fact I leave to be observed by the intelligent reader; but while
the second must also be observed by him, it is needful, to the full
exposition of my argument, that I should collect in one view most at
least of the details. This haste is evidenced in some of his corrected
errata, but more in those that he did not correct. Thus we have,
on p. 174, a curious slip, by which Pharaoh becomes a Persian, and
Nebuchadnezzar takes Pharaoh’s place as an Egyptian king, for other
parts of the book prove conclusively that this was an unintentional
lapsus, and one a second time overlooked when the book was re-read
before the title-page and the preliminary leaves were set up. Similar
are his errors as to Haias and Sedaias, for at one time he speaks of
Rabbi Sedaias Haias, repeating it also at the last when he gives his
“forren authors” consulted, and between these speaks of them as two
persons, as they were. More especially would I call attention to his
blunders as to Argerius Ferrerius. He quotes him—yet he is always
Ferr_a_rius—five times in his text, twice in his table of contents, and
once in his “authors used”. So in his translation from him, the “s” of
“verbis” being indistinct in some copies, he read the word as “verbi”,
and thereby translated the sentence into such unmistakable nonsense
that this alone should have shown him his error. So, also, we have the
senseless, because careless, rendering of the sword in hand passage,
p. 257; and with these may be classed his adoption of T. R.’s curious
mistranslations from Wier’s _Pseudomonarchia_, or from another copy of
the _Empto. Salomonis_, for a moment’s consideration would have shown
him their absurdity, and led him to turn to Wier. In p. 19 also, we
find “infants” where, as stated in my note, all the editions of the
_Mal. Malef._ in the British Museum have “infames”; and this, though a
slip of memory, betokens, when taken with the rest, overhaste. These
slips, in an ordinary writer, would lead to another conclusion, but not
in this case, where we have evidence of both ordinary and recondite
knowledge, of conclusions tried by actual experiment, of a quick and
intelligent perception, and of what may be called, in a good sense,
a ready and acute subtlety in refuting or retorting allegations or
objections.

Our author’s indebtedness to Cornelius Agrippa and to Wier has, in a
great measure, been anticipated in what has been said; but a few words
may here be added. Casually coming across their books when he became a
reader of out-of-the-way works, he did not become a follower of theirs,
and then write a book, as the disciples of Pythagoras wrote books to
expound and hand down the doctrines of their master. Wier had written
a book against witchcraft, and a clear and comprehensive book. But
while Scot certainly followed Wier in point of time, and as certainly
was much indebted to him for the perfecting of his book, yet, as I
have said, Scot seems to have taken up his belief against the reality
of witchcraft from what he in his own experience had witnessed; and
my view, that he was then led to read Wier and Cornelius Agrippa, and
the writers on the other side, seems to me confirmed by what we find
as to his indebtedness to Wier. The “Notings on Wier” show that, while
he copied him in some other instances, he borrowed from him mainly
a long list of illustrations, some of which even he may have drawn
independently from the same sources as did Wier.

_Bibliography._—We do not find an entry of Scot’s _Hoppe-garden_ in the
Stationers’ Registers, because the entries about 1574 are wanting. But
why do we not find so large and important a book as the _Witchcraft_
of 1584 so entered, the writer being of a family of no mean repute,
and the head of his house, Sir Th. Scot, being in those days a man
of some mark? The answer, after what has been said, is simple. He
upheld and defended a heresy, the existence and diabolical powers and
practices of witches being believed in and guarded against, by the
Queen, the bishops, and the people. Hence the reply of the Stationers’
Company would most certainly have been—the same as in more trifling
cases—“provided he shall get the bishop of London his alowance to
yt”, words which, under the circumstances, would have been a refusal,
and a refusal which, had any steps been taken against him after its
publication, would have told against him. Hence he resolved to print
it, taking all the blame and responsibility on his own shoulders, no
stationer’s name being connected with it, and the name of the printer
appearing only at the end of the book, without date or place of
address—“Imprinted at London by | _William Brome_.” And here, by the
way, it may be mentioned that though called in catalogues a quarto, its
signatures are in eights. As before stated, both Thomas Ady and Anthony
à Wood tell us that it “did for a time make great impressions on the
Magistracy and Clergy”, and that it did so generally is shown by the
appearance of Webster’s, Ady’s, and other books on the same side, and
those of Gifford, Perkins, and others, on the other, including King
James, who, in 1597, issued his _Dæmonologie_ specially against it.
Whether Elizabeth or the authorities under her took any notice of it is
doubtful, for, as I have said, he was still an Esquire in 1587; and the
last words of his will, “for greate is the trouble my poor wief hath
had with me, and small is the comforte she hath receyved at my hands”,
and his designation of himself as “gent.”, point rather to a voluntary
surrender of his office, through weakness and ill-health, than to a
dismissal.

But zeal for the truth, as he believed it, combined with his fears for
himself, for he believed that he had been the object of witchcraft and
of the machinations of the evil powers more than once, though luckily
in vain, led the royal author on the other side to cause Scot’s book to
be burned by the common hangman; and, as is also said by Cole, not one
copy alone, as significant of its character, and of its being a _liber
prohibitus_ in the eyes of this Protestant Pope, but as many as could
be laid hands upon. While, too, I have as yet found no direct proof
of this latter statement, it is perhaps in some degree confirmatory
of it, that no copies of the book exist in the library of St. Paul’s
Cathedral, nor in that of Lambeth Palace, nor in that of Sion College.
To the same cause is most likely due the exceedingly neat copy of
various chapters, and parts of chapters, contained in the Sloane MS.,
ff. 2189, in the British Museum, its date according to the experts
there being _circa_ 1620. At one time I had suspected that these
extracts had been made with the intent of writing a book either for or
against the truth of witchcraft; but the methodical neatness of all but
the first two or three pages, the manner in which the typographical
form of the book is followed, the consecutive, though broken manner, in
which the extracts follow one another, the absence of any word or any
sign of remark or comment throughout, now cause me to hold that it was
a copy made by or for one who took such portions as he wished from a
book otherwise inaccessible.

Turning back to this burning, I would say also that I have not come
across any English contemporary, or even early statement as to it, much
less as to its date. Perhaps, however, without much fear of error, we
may suppose it to have been done immediately after the Act against
witches, passed in the first year of James’s reign. By it the Act 5
Eliz. was repealed, and any conjuration, etc., of an evil spirit was
made a crime punishable by death as a felon, the culprit losing all
benefit of clergy and sanctuary. The finding of treasure by magical
means, provoking to unlawful love, or destroying of cattle, was for
the first offence to bring with it imprisonment for one year, standing
in the pillory once a quarter for six hours, and confessing his crime,
as in the Act repealed; and for the second offence death as a felon,
though the dowry and the heirship were not attainted. This Act itself
shows how strong were James’s convictions in the matter, as does the
publication in London of his _Dæmonologie_ in the same year, it being
entered on the Stationers’ Registers on the 3rd April 1603. Scot’s book
was therefore against James’s belief, and the esteem in which it was
held against his own powers as a reasoner and author. While, however,
so far as I can find, we owe the knowledge of this burning to a German
source, its extreme likelihood is corroborated by what I have said,
that James’s belief in witchcraft was with him an undoubted Article of
Faith, and by the fact that various books, known and unknown, were at
different times publicly burnt during his reign, though no official
records of these burnings have been preserved.

Cole, as quoted in Bliss’s edition of the _Athen. Oxon._, gives the
account as made by Thomasius de crimine magiæ, a book which I believe
does not exist. There is a Thesis inaugaralis de crimine magiæ
submitted in 1701 by Johan Reiche to the Regia Academia Fredericiana
... præside D. Christiano Thomasio. But Reiche refers to an earlier
writer—“Gisberti Voetii | Theologiæ in Acad. Ultrajectina Professoris
| Selectarum | Disputationum | Theologicarum, | Pars Tertia. | ... |
Ultrajecti, | Ex Officina Johannis à Waesberge, | Anno CIↃ IↃ C LIX, |”
which says, p. 564:

“... _Reginaldus Scot_ nobilis Anglus magiæ crimen aperte negavit, & ex
professo oppugnavit, omnes ejus mirabiles effectus aut ad melancoliam,
aliosve naturales morbos, aut ad artem, industriam, & agilitatem
hominum figmentis & præstigiis suis illudentium, aut ad stolidas
imaginationes, dictorum magorum, aut ad vanas nugas & fictiones
eorundem magorum referens. Ejus _liber_ tit. _Discoverie of Withcraft_
[_sic_] in Anglia combustus est; quem nominatim etiam perstringit
Sereniss. Magnæ Briantniæ [_sic_] _Rex Jacobus in Dæmonologia_, eumque
tangit diffusissimæ eruditionis Theologus _Johannes Raynoldus, in cens.
lib. Apocryph. tom._ 2 _prælect._ 169. In eundem, sed innominatum
calamum strinxit eximius & subacti judicii Theologus, _Guilelm.
Perkinsus in tractatu de Bascanologia_. _Pars libri_ istius _Reginaldi
Scot elenctica_ (nam reliqua in editione Anglicana conjurationes
continebat,) in Belgicum idioma translata est, ante annos aliquot Lugd.
Batav. per Thomam Basson: ex illius libri lectione, seu fonte perenni,
non pauci ab illo tempore docti & indocti in Belgio fluctuare, & de
Magia σκεωτικιζειν ac λιβερτινιζειν (ut Libertinis & Semilibertinis
infesta est patria nostra) quin eo ignorantiæ sæpe prolabi, ut non
iniquè illis applicari potuerit, quod Sereniss. _Rex Jacobus in
Dæmonologiâ_ subdito suo Reginaldo Scot: _esse quasi novos Sadduccæos_:
cum omnes diabolorum operationes & apparitiones suaviter exibilant:
tanquam anicularum, aut superstitionis meticulosæ phantasmata ac
sabellas. Sunt & alii, sed pessimi magiæ patroni, qui ad Deum & divina
charismata seu gratias gratis datas, aut ad angelos bonos, operationes
magicas referunt.”

Dr. W. N. du Rieu, Librarian of the University of Leyden, kindly
informs me, that a translation into Dutch, “omitting some formulæ
of malediction and other matters which would more interest English
readers,” was made and edited by Th. Basson, an English stationer
living at Leyden in 12mo in 1609. It was undertaken at the instigation
of the professors of law and history, and its dedication, dated 10th
January 1609, was to the Curators of the University, and to the
burgomasters of Leyden. A second and corrected edition, published by
his son, G. Basson, was also printed at Leyden in 1637, though the
dedication is dated 8th May 1637, Amsterdam.

Though in various of the notes the passages have been spoken of, yet to
call attention to the matter, and in the hope that others may be more
successful, I would add that I have not discovered the principle on
which he went, nor his authorities, for his Scripture readings. In his
Latin quotations he generally quotes the Vulgate, twice or thrice Beza,
or Beza varied, while at other times he goes by some other translation,
or possibly makes it himself. So his long English quotation, p. 284,
is not taken from Wycliffe’s, Tyndale’s, Cranmer’s, Coverdale’s,
Matthews’, or from the Genevan, Bishops’, or Rheims versions, though
more like the Genevan, while, curiously enough, it precedes the one of
1611 by one or two verbal coincidences. Hence, I believe that he varied
the Genevan version according to his own views and taste, and am the
more inclined to this in that the passage is not in Italics, the then
type and mark of quotations, but in Romans.

Notwithstanding, however, the decree that had gone forth, and,
notwithstanding the strange Sadducean assertion, not argument, set
forth by James, and followed by John Rainolds, D.D., in his work on the
Apocrypha (_tom._ ii, 1032), and by Gisbert Voet, the book’s inherent
excellency, as reported by Ady, and as evidenced by the notices of
it in the various books on either side that afterwards came forth,
and in part, perhaps, through that decree itself, called for its
reproduction; and in 1651 it was issued with a new title-page, though
naturally it was again not entered on the Stationers’ Registers. This
time it was really—as evidenced by the signatures—a quarto. The text
was one and the same with that printed off by Richard Cotes; but
there were three issues, and three slightly different title-pages.
The first bears—LONDON | Printed by _Richard Cotes_. 1651. The second
has—_Printed by_ R. C. _and are to be sold by_ Giles Calvert, _dwelling
at the | Black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of_ Pauls. 1651. And except
for these final words, separated on both title-pages by a line from the
rest, both are word for word, and even to the misprint “superstions”
identical. The explanation, in all probability, if not certainty, being
that my “first” one was the first issue, when the publisher thought
it more prudent to withhold his name; the other, a second issue of
copies still called for, when, finding no ill results, he had become
bolder. The third has below the line spoken of: _London_ | Printed
by E. [not R.] Cotes and are to be sold by Thomas Williams at the |
Bible in _Little Britain_ 1654. In this “SCOTS” is printed without the
apostrophe, “men”, “women”, and “children”, as also “treatise”, have
capital initials; on both occasions it has “Devils”, not “Divels”;
and the last line but one above the dividing line ends “De-” not
“Divels”, and “superstions” is rightly printed “superstitions”. These
variations in the title-page, and the exact conformity of the text as
to the various peculiarities of the letters, words, and sizes of the
punctuation, show that Williams had come into possession of Calvert’s
remainder, or of his set-up type, and had issued these sheets,
prefixing a new title-page of his own, printed by E. Cotes.

There is not the slightest evidence of a copy of the 1584 edition
having been prepared for the press, beyond the new title-page, and on
two occasions the translation of Latin, that Scot had not—as he had
done in similar instances—translated. The Latin-named ingredients on
p. 184 are Englished, and I have thus been enabled to give them in my
notings with the more probability that they are correct. The second
instance is, as stated in my margin, on p. 416. Two or three press
errors are corrected, one of them not a certain emendation, and all
within the competency of an ordinary compositor or reader; but no
others, not even that of “increase” for “incense”, p. 446, while fresh
errors, indicative of a careless “reader”, are made.

What has been thus said as to the character of this second reprint,
goes to prove that it was a publisher’s venture based upon the demand
for the book, and, therefore, for gain, and one which he carried out
spite of its having been burnt, and placed among the “prohibited
books”. In like manner, and for the like purpose, and as before,
without entry in the Stationers’ Registers, there was brought out
the third, and so-called folio edition of 1665, though the sheets
are in sixes. All but the title-page, which, curiously enough, was
again re-written, though still bearing, like the second, the words,
“By Reginald Scot Esquire”; it is a careless reprint of that second,
with all its errors, and new ones superadded. But as a novelty and
inducement to buy, nine chapters, commencing the fifteenth book, and a
second book of the “Discourse on Devils and Spirits”, were added by an
anonymous author. Who this anonymity was, I have uselessly spent some
little time in inquiring, time that might have been better employed,
even had I found him. But it goes to prove that these additions were
merely made for novelty’s sake, and its glamour and gain, in that
the writer was a believer in, and not improbably, from his minute
directions, as well as from his reticence, a practiser of witchcraft,
or of what he thought to be witchcraft. He also, and I give this as one
possible clue, was a strong believer in the perishable Astral spirit
of a man, as well as of Astral spirits in general, and much of his
“Discourse” is taken up with remarks on these.

I may here add, as showing the carelessness with which these second and
third editions were edited, a note of the errata marked in the first
and not corrected in them.

75, 21. “We,” so the second; in the third the (,) is rightly placed
after “years”. A correction that could have been made by the least
intelligent of “readers”.

168, 31. “Earth _read_ firmament.” Not corrected.

247, 29. “Write _add_ it.” Not corrected.

269, 16. “If there be masses _delete_ If.” Retained, but the second
attempts to correct by inserting “no” before “masses”, and the third
follows suit, though it is as nonsensical as before.

463, 16. “Their business _read_ that business.” Not corrected.

Beyond these, the limited edition now printed is the only other known
to me. As stated in the preface, it is a reprint of the first edition,
with some slight alterations in the lettering, but not in the spelling.
Besides the few errata that have been found and recorded, the small
heading on its left hand pages up to p. 24 is “Chap. —”, like that on
the right hand, instead of being “1 or 2 Booke”. So also in
the earlier pages, the marginal references, though correct, are not
printed line for line with the original. The pictorial initial letters
of the first chapter of each book occupy in the original almost a
third of the page. The first word of a chapter has only its first two
letters—including its pictorial letter—in capitals, but the remainder,
as well as the rest of the first line, is in larger type than the
rest. The original being also in black letter was enabled to use both
Romans and Italics as variants, whereas the reprint could only use
Italics. The rule of the original is, however, in general very simple.
“The — Chapter”, the contents of the chapter and proper names are in
Romans; “The — Booke” and quotations in Italics; the translations of
quotations in Romans. Wherever there can be any doubt the type of the
original is marked in the margin, as are occasional uses by the author
of [] to distinguish them from the editor’s use of the same. It may be
added that “The — Chapter”, and the contents of the chapter, have been
transposed. The V like arrangement of the lines at the end of a chapter
have not been followed, but been imitated according to the spirit in
which they were employed; for, after an investigation made for the
purpose, it was found that they do not indicate a division of the text
or matter, but were simply compositors’ devices to fill up a page when
that page either ended a book, or when its blank space did not allow
of the commencement of a new chapter. Similarly, on one page, a (∵)
was added to complete the page. And, in like manner, if there was still
space at the end of a book, an engraving was inserted. I would add
that all the page references that I make are to the pages of the 1584
edition.

I had collected for an appendix various grammatical peculiarities of
the age; but they increased the number of pages, and therefore the
price of the book, without, as seemed to me, sufficient cause, more
especially as the reader can readily consult Dr. Abbot’s _Shakesperian
Grammar_, as well as notices in other books. One point, however, ought
to be attended to. Though an educated and University man, accustomed to
Latin and Greek, he, like all of his time, followed the then frequent
habit of using singular verbs after plural nominatives not immediately
preceding them. A close examination of these, both in Scot and Greene,
another literate and Utriusque Academiæ in Artibus Magister; and one
notable one in Ben Jonson, who elsewhere, so far as I know, avoids this
error; as well as those in Shakespeare and others, have shown me that
they cannot be explained as is sought in Dr. Abbot’s _Shakesperian
Grammar_, § 333, where the form of the verb is held to be a remnant of
the northern early English third person plural in “s”. The instances
alone of the auxiliary verbs so used set this theory aside, and show
that the custom was due to carelessness, habit, the remoteness or after
position of the true nominatives, and to the nearness of another word,
sometimes even to a transposed objective; or of a “that” or “which”
that had the look of a singular, or in the case of a double nominative,
to both words being considered as implying one thought, as indeed they
often did, being merely synonyms. Our Elizabethan ancestors would
have said: “Pity and compassion moves me,” because they held pity
and compassion were one and the same; and the habit of using Saxon
and Latin, or other synonyms, led them to use the same construction
when the meanings were but allied. This seems to me the more likely
explanation: but the reader may prefer this—that our ancestors took the
phrase to be elliptical, and that the verb really employed after both
substantives was to be understood after the first and before the “and”.

_Contemporary Notices of Scot._—Of strictly contemporary notices, I
know of but two. In Nash’s _Four Letters Confuted_, 1593, he asks, ed.
Grosart, ii, 252: “How is the _Supplication_ a diabolicall Discourse,
otherwise than as it intreats of the diverse natures and properties
of Divels and spirits? in that far fetcht sense may the famous
_defensative against supposed Prophecies_, and _the Discoverie of
Witchcraft_ be called notorious Diabolicall discourses, as well as the
_Supplication_, for they also intreate of the illusions and sundrie
operations of spirits.” The second is in Gabriel Harvey’s _Pierce’s
Supererogation_, 1593, ed. Grosart, ii, 291: “Scottes discoovery of
Witchcraft, dismasketh sundry egregious impostures, and in certaine
principall Chapters, & speciall passages, hitteth the nayle on the head
with a witnesse: howsoever I could have wished, [G. H. is nothing if
he be not quasi-critical and emending] he had either dealt somewhat
more curteously with Monsieur Bodine, or cōfuted him somewhat more
effectually.”

Of course, various of the after-writers on witchcraft, whichever
side they took, either spoke of him explicitly, or alluded to him;
Webster, Wagstaffe, Ady, and others, on the same side as Scot, and
Meric Casaubon, Cotta, etc., ending with Glanvil on the other. But
these, the really curious in such matters may be left to search out
for themselves. Only I would like to mention John Deacon’s and John
Walker’s _Dialogicall Discourses of ... Devils_ [etc.], 1601, both
because they, being clergymen, had the boldness—besides adding new
arguments of their own, and though their wording is somewhat less
decided than their own evident belief—out of three explanations of the
case of the Witch of Endor which they set before the reader, to plainly
prefer Scot’s view of her ventriloquism, both naming him in the text,
and giving the reference to his page in their margin; and secondly,
because so far as a hasty look enables one to give an opinion, they
spoke more rationally on magical and other points than one would at
that date expect. They also quote the opinion of Hippocrates on magical
cures, as given by Scot, p. 450, and show that they take it, though
not literally, from him, and not from Hippocrates directly, by giving
a reference to Scot in the margin. Afterwards they published in 1603,
a second large work, _A summarie_[?] _answer to John Darrell_, the
first work having been also suggested by the same impostor, and his
setting forth of himself as a caster out of devils.

I have said on p. _xxii_ that the discovery of Scot’s name in the
Subsidy Rolls for 1586 and 1587 with the affix of “Armiger” was for me
an important find. And now I would explain that it was so, inasmuch
as it set my mind at rest as to the oneness of the Raynold of the
_Hoppe-garden_ with the Reginald Scot Esquire, of the _Witchcraft_.
Aware that Reynold and Reginald were variants of one name, used of
and by the same person, the following facts hindered me for a long
time from accepting the common belief that the Raynold and Reginald
of these two works were one and the same. First, the author of the
_Hoppe-garden_ in each of his signatures to the editions of 1574-6-8,
three in each, appears as Raynold. In the marriage entry, in the
pay-account of the Kent forces, in the Muster-roll, and in the Will,
it is also Raynold. But in 1584, throughout the _Witchcraft_, that is,
four times in all, the name appears as Reginald. Secondly, in the Will
of 1599, in accordance with the want of any title on the title-page
of the _Hoppe-garden_, he describes himself as “gent”, and in the
Inquisitio p. m., though he is called Reginald, the document being in
Latin, he is, as in his Will, “generosus”. But in the title-page of
the _Witchcraft_, he is Reginald Scot Esquire. The finding no evidence
of the separate existence of a Raynold and a Reginald, the frequent
references to the Scriptures in the _Witchcraft_, and the very frequent
references to the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, in the “Address to the
Reader” of the _Hoppe-garden_, the use in both works, as already
quoted, of certain legal phrases, and the occurrence in the prefatory
part of the _Hoppe-garden_ of “with the licour (or rather the lucre)”,
and “condemne the man, or rather the mynde”, a trick of language not
unfrequently repeated in the _Discoverie_, a trick resulting from his
love of irony, shook my doubts. But there were still, the want of any
title after the name in the _Hoppe-garden_, the “gent” of the Will,
and the “generosus” of the Inquisitio, as against the “Esquire” of the
_Discoverie_. First, however, Hunter’s suggestion, that his esquireship
was due to his having been appointed a Justice of the Peace, and then
the discovery of armiger after his name, have removed all reasonable
doubts; and to turn our belief to a positive certainty, it only remains
to discover that he was a Justice of the Peace.

Possibly the reader may now expect some pages on Scot’s style as a
writer, and on his claim—his claim, yet not one made by himself—to be
considered an English classic. But, besides that, I am not “greatly
æsthetic”, and besides having expressed my opinions in more than
one place in this Introduction, I think that any reader, with any
appreciation of style, and of the manner in which an argument ought to
be carried out, can come to but one conclusion. Such belief, I may add,
is strengthened by this, that most writers whom I have consulted are
of this opinion: and I would conclude with three quotations, chiefly
regarding the way in which he carried out his argument. The Rev. Jos.
Hunter, in his MS. _Chorus Vatum_, ch. v, says: “In fact, I had no
notion of the admirable character of this book till I read it this
September 1839. It is one of the few instances in which a bold spirit
opposes himself to the popular belief, and seeks to throw protection
over a class of the defenceless. In my opinion, he ought to stand very
prominent in any catalogue of Persons who have been public benefactors.”

“To answer his argument was wholly impossible, and though the
publication of his book did not put an end to the notion which
continued very prevalent for a century afterwards [though we know from
Ady that it greatly checked the belief for a time], yet it had, I have
no doubt, much to do with the silent and gradual extinction of it.”

So D’Israeli, in his _Amenities of Literature_, has these words: “A
single volume sent forth from the privacy of a retired student, by its
silent influence may mark an epoch in the history of the human mind.”

“Such a volume was _The Discoverie of Witchcraft_, by Reginald Scot,
a singular work, which may justly claim the honour in this country of
opening that glorious career which is dear to humanity and fatal to
imposture.”

Thirdly, Professor W. T. Gairdner, M.D. and LL.D., thus speaks, in his
address on “Insanity: Modern Views as to its Nature and Treatment”,
read before the Glasgow Medico-Chirurgical Society: “But I cannot
leave it [witchcraft] ... without expressing, more strongly than even
Mr. Lecky does, the unqualified admiration and surprise which arise
in the mind on finding that in 1584 ... there was at least one man in
England ... who could scan the whole field of demonology, and all its
terrible results in history, with an eye as clear from superstition,
and a judgment as sound and unwavering in its opposition to abuses, as
that of Mr. Lecky himself. There is only one book, so far as I know, in
any language, written in the sixteenth or even the seventeenth century,
that merits this praise: and it is a book which, notwithstanding its
wide human interest, its great and solid learning, and a charming
English style that makes it most readable, even at the present day,
has never been reprinted for two hundred years, and is therefore
extremely inaccessible to most readers. Reginald Scot’s _Discoverie of
Witchcraft_ ... stands brightly out amid the darkness of its own and
the succeeding age, as a perfectly unique example of sagacity amounting
to genius.” He adds: “Nothing, however, is more evident than that Scot,
however indebted to Wier (and both of them, probably, to Cornelius
Agrippa ...), was far in advance of either in the clearness of his
views and the unwavering steadiness of his leanings to the side of
humanity and justice.”

————————————

NOTE.—_The italic numerals in the side margins denote the
pages of the first, the ordinary numbers those of the second
edition._

The diſcouerie
of witchcraft,
Wherein the lewde dealing of witches
_and witchmongers is notablie detected, the_
knauerie of coniurors, the impietie of inchan-
_tors, the follie of ſoothſaiers, the impudent falſ_-
hood of couſenors, the infidelitie of atheiſts,
_the peſtilent practiſes of Pythoniſts, the_
curioſitie of figurecaſters, the va-
_nitie of dreamers, the begger_-
lie art of Alcu-
myſtrie,

The abhomination of idolatrie, the hor-
_rible art of poiſoning, the vertue and power of_
naturall magike, and all the conueiances
_of Legierdemaine and iuggling are deciphered:_
and many other things opened, which
_haue long lien hidden, howbeit_
verie neceſſarie to
be knowne.

Heerevnto is added a treatiſe vpon the
_nature and ſubſtance of ſpirits and diuels_,
&c: all latelie written
_by Reginald Scot_
Eſquire.

1. Iohn. 4, 1.
_Beleeue not euerie ſpirit, but trie the ſpirits, whether they are
of God; for manie falſe prophets are gone
out into the world, &c._

1584

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|**********************************************************************|
|*+------------------------------------------------------------------+*|
|*| SCOT’S |*|
|*| Diſcovery of VVitchcraft: |*|
|*| |*|
|*| PROVING |*|
|*| The common opinions of Witches con- |*|
|*| tracting with Divels, Spirits, or Familiars; and |*|
|*| their power to kill, torment, and conſume the bodies of |*|
|*| men women, and children, or other creatures by diſeaſes |*|
|*| or otherwiſe; their flying in the Air, &c. To be but imaginary |*|
|*| Erronious conceptions and novelties; |*|
|*| |*|
|*| WHEREIN ALSO, |*|
|*| |*|
|*| The lewde unchriſtian practiſes of Witchmongers, upon aged, |*|
|*| melancholy, ignorant, and ſuperſtious people in extorting con- |*|
|*| feſſions, by inhumane terrors and tortures is notably detected. |*|
|*| |*|
|*| { The knavery and confederacy of Conjurors. |*|
|*| { The impious blaſphemy of Inchanters. |*|
|*| { The impoſture of Soothſayers, and Infidelity of Atheiſts. |*|
|*| { The deluſion of Pythoniſts, Figure-caſters, Aſtrologers, |*|
|*| ALSO { and vanity of Dreamers. |*|
|*| { The fruitleſſe beggerly art of Alchimiſtry. |*|
|*| { The horrible art of Poiſoning and all the tricks and |*|
|*| { conveyances of juggling and Liegerdemain are fully |*|
|*| { deciphered. |*|
|*| |*|
|*| With many other things opened that have long lain hidden: |*|
|*| though very neceſſary to be known for the undeceiving of |*|
|*| Judges, Juſtices, and Juries, and for the preſervation |*|
|*| of poor, aged, deformed, ignorant people; frequently |*|
|*| taken, arraigned, condemned and executed for Witches, |*|
|*| when according to a right underſtanding, and a good |*|
|*| conſcience, Phyſick, Food, and neceſſaries should |*|
|*| be adminiſtred to them. |*|
|*| |*|
|*| Whereunto is added, a treatiſe upon the nature, and ſubſtance |*|
|*| of Spirits and Divels, &c. all written and publiſhed in |*|
|*| _Anno_ 1584. by _Reginald Scot_, Eſquire. |*|
|*| ---------------------------------------------------------------- |*|
|*| _LONDON_, |*|
|*| Printed by _Richard Cotes_. 1651. |*|
|*+------------------------------------------------------------------+*|
|**********************************************************************|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

Size, Fol., 10¼ in. × 6⅛.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|+--------------------------------------------------------------------+|
|| THE ||
|| Diſcovery of Witchcraft: ||
|| ||
|| _PROVING_, ||
|| That the Compacts and Contracts of Witches ||
|| with _Devils_ and all _Infernal Spirits_ or _Familiars_, are but ||
|| Erroneous Novelties and Imaginary Conceptions. ||
|| ||
|| _Alſo diſcovering_, How far their power extendeth, in Killing, ||
|| Tormenting, Conſuming, or Curing the bodies of Men, Women, ||
|| Children, or Animals, by Charms, Philtres, Periapts, Pentacles, ||
|| Curſes, and Conjurations. ||
|| ||
|| _WHEREIN LIKEWISE_ ||
|| The Unchriſtian Practices and Inhumane Dealings of ||
|| _Searchers_ and _Witch-tryers_ upon _Aged_, _Melancholly_ and ||
|| _Superſtitious_ people, in extorting Confeſſions by Terrors ||
|| and Tortures, and in deviſing falſe Marks and Symptoms, are ||
|| notably Detected. ||
|| ||
|| And the Knavery of _Juglers_, _Conjurers_, _Charmers_, ||
|| _Soothſayers_, _Figure⸗Caſters_, _Dreamers_, _Alchymiſts_ and ||
|| _Philterers_; with many other things that have long ||
|| lain hidden, fully Opened and Deciphered. ||
|| ||
|| _ALL WHICH_ ||
|| Are very neceſſary to be known for the undeceiving of _Judges_, ||
|| _Juſtices_, and _Jurors_, before they paſs Sentence upon Poor, ||
|| Miſerable and Ignorant People; who are frequenly Arraigned, ||
|| Condemned, and Executed for _Witches_ and _Wizzards_. ||
|| ||
|| _IN SIXTEEN BOOKS._ ||
|| ------------------------------------------------------------------ ||
|| _By_ REGINALD SCOT _Eſquire_. ||
|| ------------------------------------------------------------------ ||
|| Whereunto is added ||
|| An excellent Diſcourſe of the _Nature_ and _Subſtance_ ||
|| OF ||
|| DEVILS and SPIRITS, ||
|| _IN TWO BOOKS_: ||
|| The _Firſt_ by the aforeſaid _Author_: The _Second_ now ||
|| added in this _Third Edition_, as Succedaneous to the _former_, ||
|| and conducing to the compleating of the _Whole Work_: ||
|| With _Nine Chapters_ at the beginning of the _Fifteenth.[*] Book_ ||
|| of the _D I S C O V E R Y_. ||
|| ------------------------------------------------------------------ ||
|| _LONDON_: ||
|| Printed for _A. Clark_, and are to be ſold by _Dixy Page_ at the ||
|| _Turks-Head_ in _Cornhill_ near the _Royall Exchange_, 1665. ||
|+--------------------------------------------------------------------+|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

[*] [_Sic._]

The Epistle

_To the Honorable, mine especiall good_
Lord, Sir Roger Manwood Knight, Lord
_cheefe Baron of hir Majesties Court_
of the Eschequer.

Insomuch as I know that your Lordship is by nature whollie inclined,
and in purpose earnestly bent to releeve the poore, and that not
onlie with hospitalitie and almes, but by diverse other devises and
waies tending to their comfort, having (as it were) framed and set
your selfe to the helpe and maintenance of their estate; as appeareth
by your charge and travell in that behalfe. Whereas also you have a
speciall care for the supporting of their right, and redressing of
their wrongs, as neither despising their calamitie, nor yet forgetting
their complaint, seeking all meanes for their amendement, and for the
reformation of their disorders, even as a verie father to the poore.
Finallie, for that I am a poore member of that commonwelth, where
your Lordship is a principall person; I thought this my travell, in
the behalfe of the poore, the aged, and the simple, might be verie
fitlie commended unto you: for a weake house requireth a strong staie.
In which respect I give God thanks, that hath raised up unto me so
mightie a freend for them as your Lordship is, who in our lawes have
such knowledge, in government such discretion, in these causes such
experience, and in the commonwealth such authoritie; and neverthelesse
vouchsafe to descend to the consideration of these base and inferior
matters, which minister more care and trouble, than worldlie estimation.

And in somuch as your Lordship knoweth, or rather exerciseth the office
of a judge, whose part it is to heare with courtesie, and to determine
with equitie; it cannot but be apparent unto you, that when punishment
exceedeth the fault, it is rather to be thought vengeance than
correction. In which respect I knowe you spend more time and travell in
the conversion and reformation, than in the subversion & confusion of
offenders, as being well pleased to augment your owne private paines,
to the end you may diminish their publike smart. For in truth, that
commonwealth remaineth in wofull state, where fetters and halters beare
more swaie than mercie and due compassion.

Howbeit, it is naturall to unnaturall people, and peculiar unto
witchmongers, to pursue the poore, to accuse the simple, and to kill
the innocent; supplieng in rigor and malice towards others, that which
they themselves want in proofe and discretion, or the other in offense
or occasion. But as a cruell hart and an honest mind doo seldome meete
and feed togither in a dish; so a discreet and mercifull magistrate,
and a happie commonwealth cannot be separated asunder. How much then
are we bound to God, who hath given us a Queene, that of justice is not
only the very perfect image & paterne; but also of mercie & clemencie
(under God) the meere fountaine & bodie it selfe? In somuch as they
which hunt most after bloud in these daies, have least authoritie to
shed it. Moreover, sith I see that in cases where lenitie might be
noisome, & punishment wholesome to the commonwealth; there no respect
of person can move you, no authoritie can abash you, no feare, no
threts can daunt you in performing the dutie of justice.

In that respect againe I find your Lordship a fit person, to judge and
looke upon this present treatise. Wherein I will bring before you, as
it were to the barre, two sorts of most arrogant and wicked people, the
first challenging to themselves, the second attributing unto others,
that power which onelie apperteineth to God,[a] who onelie is the
Creator of all things,[b] who onelie searcheth the heart and reines,
who onelie[c] knoweth our imaginations and thoughts, who onelie[d]
openeth all secrets, who[e] onelie worketh great wonders, who onelie
hath power[f] to raise up & cast downe; who onelie maketh thunder,
lightning, raine, tempests, and restraineth them at his pleasure; who
onelie[g] sendeth life and death, sicknesse & health, wealth and wo;
who neither giveth nor lendeth his[h] glorie to anie creature.

♦[a] Apoc. 4, 11.♦

♦[b] Rom. 8.
Acts. 5.
Apoc. 2.♦

♦[c] Luke. 16.♦

♦[d] Dan. 2. & 28, & 47.♦

♦[e] Psalm. 72. & 136.
Jer. 5.♦

♦[f] Job, 5. & 36
Sam. 12.
1. Reg. 8.
2. Reg. 3.
Isaie. 5.
Zach. 10. & 14.
Amos. 4. 7.♦

♦[g] Job. 1.♦

♦[h] Isaie. 42, 8.♦

And therefore, that which greeveth me to the bottome of my hart,
is, that these witchmongers cannot be content, to wrest out of Gods
hand his almightie power, and keepe it themselves, or leave it with
a witch: but that, when by drift of argument they are made to laie
downe the bucklers, they yeeld them up to the divell, or at the least
praie aid of him, as though the raines of all mens lives and actions
were committed into his hand; and that he sat at the sterne, to guide
and direct the course of the whole world, imputing unto him power and
abilitie inough to doo as great things, and as strange miracles as ever
Christ did.

But the doctors of this supernaturall doctrine saie somtimes, that
the witch doth all these things by vertue of hir charmes; sometimes
that a spirituall, sometimes that a corporall divell doth accomplish
it; sometimes they saie that the divell doth but make the witch
beleeve she doth that which he himselfe hath wrought; sometimes that
the divell seemeth to doo that by compulsion, which he doth most
willinglie. Finallie, the writers hereupon are so eloquent, and full
of varietie; that sometimes they write that the divell dooth all this
by Gods permission onelie; sometimes by his licence, somtimes by his
appointment: so as (in effect and truth) not the divell, but the high
and mightie king of kings, and Lord of hosts, even God himselfe, should
this waie be made obedient and servile to obeie and performe the will
& commandement of a malicious old witch, and miraculouslie to answere
hir appetite, as well in everie trifling vanitie, as in most horrible
executions; as the revenger of a doting old womans imagined wrongs, to
the destruction of manie innocent children, and as a supporter of hir
passions, to the undoing of manie a poore soule. And I see not, but a
witch may as well inchant, when she will; as a lier may lie when he
list: and so should we possesse nothing, but by a witches licence and
permission.

And now forsooth it is brought to this point, that all divels, which
were woont to be spirituall, may at their pleasure become corporall,
and so shew themselves familiarlie to witches and conjurors, and to
none other, and by them onlie may be made tame, and kept in a box,
&c. So as a malicious old woman may command hir divell to plague hir
neighbor: and he is afflicted in manner and forme as she desireth. But
then commeth another witch, and she biddeth hir divell helpe, and he
healeth the same partie. So as they make it a kingdome divided in it
selfe, and therefore I trust it will not long endure, but will shortlie
be overthrowne, according to the words of our Savior, _Omne regnum in
se divisum desolabitur_, Everie kingdome divided in it selfe shalbe
desolate.

And although some saie that the divell is the witches instrument, to
bring hir purposes and practises to passe: yet others saie that she is
his instrument, to execute his pleasure in anie thing, and therefore
to be executed. But then (me thinks) she should be injuriouslie dealt
withall, and put to death for anothers offense: for actions are not
judged by instrumentall causes; neither dooth the end and purpose
of that which is done, depend upon the meane instrument. Finallie,
if the witch doo it not, why should the witch die for it? But they
saie that witches are persuaded, and thinke, that they doo indeed
those mischeefs; and have a will to performe that which the divell
committeth: and that therefore they are worthie to die. By which reason
everie one should be executed, that wisheth evill to his neighbor,
&c. But if the will should be punished by man, according to the
offense against God, we should be driven by thousands at once to the
slaughterhouse or butcherie. For whosoever loatheth correction shall
die. And who should escape execution, if this lothsomnesse (I saie)
should extend to death by the civill lawes. Also the reward of sinne is
death. Howbeit, everie one that sinneth, is not to be put to death by
the magistrate. But (my Lord) it shalbe proved in my booke, and your
Lordship shall trie it to be true, as well here at home in your native
countrie, as also abrode in your severall circuits, that (besides
them that be _Venificæ_, which are plaine poisoners) there will be
found among our witches onelie two sorts; the one sort being such by
imputation, as so thought of by others (and these are abused, and not
abusors) the other by acceptation, as being willing so to be accompted
(and these be meere cousenors.)

♦Proverb. 5.♦

Calvine treating of these magicians, calleth them cousenors, saieng
that they use their juggling knacks onelie to amase or abuse the
people; or else for fame: but he might rather have said for gaine.
Erastus himselfe, being a principall writer in the behalfe of witches
omnipotencie, is forced to confesse, that these Greeke words, μαγία,
μαγγαγία, φαρμακία, are most commonlie put for illusion, false packing,
cousenage, fraud, knaverie and deceipt: and is further driven to saie,
that in ancient time, the learned were not so blockish, as not to see
that the promises of magicians and inchanters were false, and nothing
else but knaverie, cousenage, and old wives fables; and yet defendeth
he their flieng in the aire, their transferring of corne or grasse from
one feeld to another, &c.

♦_Instit. lib. 5. ca. 8. sect. 6._♦

♦_Item upon Deut. cap. 18._♦

♦_Lib. de lamiis, pag. 5._♦

But as Erastus disagreeth herein with himselfe and his freends: so is
there no agreement among anie of those writers, but onlie in cruelties,
absurdities, and impossibilities. And these (my Lord) that fall into so
manifest contradictions, and into such absurd asseverations, are not
of the inferior sort of writers; neither are they all papists, but men
of such accompt, as whose names give more credit to their cause, than
their writings. In whose behalfe I am sorie, and partlie for reverence
suppresse their fondest errors and fowlest absurdities; dealing
speciallie with them that most contend in crueltie,[a] whose feete are
swift to shed bloud, striving (as [b]Jesus the sonne of Sirach saith)
and hasting (as [c]Salomon the sonne of David saith) to powre out the
bloud of the innocent; whose heat against these poore wretches cannot
be allaied with anie other liquor than bloud. And therfore I feare that
[d]under their wings will be found the bloud of the soules of the
poore, at that daie, when the Lord shall saie; [e]Depart from me ye
bloudthirstie men.

♦[a] Isaie. 59, 7.
Rom. 3, 15.♦

♦[b] Eccl. 27, 5.♦

♦[c] Prov. 1, 16.♦

♦[d] Jer. 2, 34.♦

♦[e] Ps. 139, 15.
Esai. 33, 15.♦

And bicause I know your Lordship will take no counsell against innocent
bloud, but rather suppresse them that seeke to embrue their hands
therein; I have made choise to open their case unto you, and to laie
their miserable calamitie before your feete: following herein the
advise of that learned man Brentius, who saith; _Si quis admonuerit
magistratum, ne in miseras illas mulierculas sæviat, eum ego arbitror
divinitùs excitatum_; that is, If anie admonish the magistrate not
to deale too hardlie with these miserable wretches, that are called
witches, I thinke him a good instrument raised up for this purpose by
God himselfe.

♦_In epistola ad Jo. Wier._♦

But it will perchance be said by witchmongers; to wit, by such as
attribute to witches the power which apperteineth to God onelie, that
I have made choise of your Lordship to be a patrone to this my booke;
bicause I think you favour mine opinions, and by that meanes may the
more freelie publish anie error or conceipt of mine owne, which should
rather be warranted by your Lordships authoritie, than by the word of
God, or by sufficient argument. But I protest the contrarie, and by
these presents I renounce all protection, and despise all freendship
that might serve to helpe towards the suppressing or supplanting of
truth: knowing also that your Lordship is farre from allowing anie
injurie done unto man; much more an enimie to them that go about to
dishonor God, or to embezill the title of his immortall glorie. But
bicause I know you to be perspicuous, and able to see downe into the
depth and bottome of causes, and are not to be carried awaie with the
vaine persuasion or superstition either of man, custome, time, or
multitude, but mooved with the authoritie of truth onlie: I crave your
countenance herein, even so farre foorth, and no further, than the lawe
of God, the lawe of nature, the lawe of this land, and the rule of
reason shall require. Neither doo I treat for these poore people anie
otherwise, but so, as with one hand you may sustaine the good, and with
the other suppresse the evill: wherein you shalbe thought a father to
orphans, an advocate to widowes, a guide to the blind, a staie to the
lame, a comfort & countenance to the honest, a scourge and terror to
the wicked.

Thus farre I have beene bold to use your Lordships patience, being
offended with my selfe, that I could not in brevitie utter such
matter as I have delivered amplie: whereby (I confesse) occasion of
tediousnes might be ministred, were it not that your great gravitie
joined with your singular constancie in reading and judging be means
of the contrarie. And I wish even with all my hart, that I could make
people conceive the substance of my writing, and not to misconstrue
anie part of my meaning. Then doubtles would I persuade my selfe, that
the companie of witchmongers, &c: being once decreased, the number also
of witches, &c: would soone be diminished. But true be the words of the
Poet,[*]

_Haudquaquam poteris sortirier omnia solus,
Námque aliis divi bello pollere dederunt,
Huic saltandi artem, voce huic cytharáque canendi:
Rursum alii inseruit sagax in pectore magnus
Jupiter ingenium, &c._

♦[*] [Homer.]♦

And therefore as doubtfull to prevaile by persuading, though I have
reason and common sense on my side; I rest upon earnest wishing;
namelie, to all people an absolute trust in God the creator, and not
in creatures, which is to make flesh our arme: that God may have his
due honor, which by the undutifulnes of manie is turned into dishonor,
and lesse cause of offense and errour given by common received evill
example. And to your Lordship I wish, as increase of honour, so
continuance of good health, and happie daies.

Your Lordships to be commanded

_Reginald Scot_.

_To the right worshipfull Sir
Thomas Scot Knight, &c._

[Rom. and Ital. of this reversed from original.]

Sir, I see among other malefactors manie poore old women convented
before you for working of miracles, other wise called witchcraft,
and therefore I thought you also a meet person to whom I might
cōmend my booke. And here I have occasion to speake of your sincere
administration of justice, and of your dexteritie, discretion, charge,
and travell emploied in that behalfe, wherof I am oculatus testis.
Howbeit I had rather refer the reader to common fame, and their owne
eies and eares to be satisfied; than to send them to a Stationers
shop, where manie times lies are vendible, and truth contemptible. For
I being of your house, of your name, & of your bloud; my foot being
under your table, my hand in your dish, or rather in your pursse, might
bee thought to flatter you in that, wherein (I knowe) I should rather
offend you than please you. And what need I currie favour with my most
assured friend? And if I should onelie publish those vertues (though
they be manie) which give me speciall occasion to exhibit this my
travell unto you, I should doo as a painter, that describeth the foot
of a notable personage, and leaveth all the best features in his bodie
untouched.

I therefore (at this time) doo onelie desire you to consider of my
report, concerning the evidence that is commonlie brought before you
against them. See first whether the evidence be not frivolous, &
whether the proofs brought against them be not incredible, consisting
of ghesses, presumptions, & impossibilities contrarie to reason,
scripture, and nature. See also what persons complaine upon them,
whether they be not of the basest, the unwisest, & most faithles kind
of people. Also may it please you to waie what accusations and crimes
they laie to their charge, namelie: She was at my house of late, she
would have had a pot of milke, she departed in a chafe bicause she
had it not, she railed, she curssed, she mumbled and whispered, and
finallie she said she would be even with me: and soone after my child,
my cow, my sow, or my pullet died, or was strangelie taken. Naie (if it
please your Worship) I have further proofe: I was with a wise woman,
and she told me I had an ill neighbour, & that she would come to my
house yer it were long, and so did she; and that she had a marke above
hir waste, & so had she: and God forgive me, my stomach hath gone
against hir a great while. Hir mother before hir was counted a witch,
she hath beene beaten and scratched by the face till bloud was drawne
upon hir, bicause she hath beene suspected, & afterwards some of those
persons were said to amend. These are the certeinties that I heare in
their evidences.

Note also how easilie they may be brought to confesse that which
they never did, nor lieth in the power of man to doo: and then see
whether I have cause to write as I doo. Further, if you shall see that
infidelitie, poperie, and manie other manifest heresies be backed and
shouldered, and their professors animated and hartened, by yeelding
to creatures such infinit power as is wrested out of Gods hand, and
attributed to witches: finallie, if you shall perceive that I have
faithfullie and trulie delivered and set downe the condition and
state of the witch, and also of the witchmonger, and have confuted by
reason and lawe, and by the word of God it selfe, all mine adversaries
objections and arguments: then let me have your countenance against
them that maliciouslie oppose themselves against me.

My greatest adversaries are yoong ignorance and old custome. For what
follie soever tract of time hath fostered, it is so superstitiouslie
pursued of some, as though no error could be acquainted with custome.
But if the lawe of nations would joine with such custome, to the
maintenance of ignorance, and to the suppressing of knowledge; the
civilest countrie in the world would soone become barbarous, &c. For
as knowledge and time discovereth errors, so dooth superstition and
ignorance in time breed them. And concerning the opinions of such, as
wish that ignorance should rather be mainteined, than knowledge busilie
searched for, bicause thereby offense may grow: I answer, that we are
commanded by Christ himselfe to search for knowledge: for it is the
kings honour (as Salomon saith) to search out a thing.

♦John. 5.♦

♦Prov. 15, 1.♦

Aristotle said to Alexander, that a mind well furnished was more
beautifull than a bodie richlie araied. What can be more odious to
man, or offensive to God, than ignorance: for through ignorance the
Jewes did put Christ to death. Which ignorance whosoever forsaketh, is
promised life everlasting: and therfore among Christians it should be
abhorred above all other things. For even as when we wrestle in the
darke, we tumble in the mire, &c: so when we see not the truth, we
wallow in errors. A blind man may seeke long in the rishes yer he find
a needle; and as soone is a doubt discussed by ignorance. Finallie,
truth is no sooner found out in ignorance, than a sweet savor in a
dunghill. And if they will allow men knowledge, and give them no leave
to use it, men were much better be without it than have it. For it is,
as to have a tallent, and to hide it under the earth; or to put a
candle under a bushell: or as to have a ship, & to let hir lie alwaies
in the docke: which thing how profitable it is, I can saie somewhat by
experience.

♦Acts. 3.
Proverbs. 9.♦

♦Matth. 25.
Matth. 5.
Luke. 8.♦

But hereof I need saie no more, for everie man seeth that none can
be happie who knoweth not what felicitie meaneth. For what availeth
it to have riches, and not to have the use thereof? Trulie the
heathen herein deserved more commendation than manie christians, for
they spared no paine, no cost, nor travell to atteine to knowledge.
Pythagoras travelled from Thamus to Aegypt, and afterwards into Crete
and Lacedæmonia: and Plato out of Athens into Italie and Aegypt, and
all to find out hidden secrets and knowledge: which when a man hath,
he seemeth to be separated from mortalitie. For pretious stones, and
all other creatures of what value soever, are but counterfeits to
this jewell: they are mortall, corruptible, and inconstant; this is
immortall, pure and certeine. Wherfore if I have searched and found
out any good thing, that ignorance and time hath smothered, the same I
commend unto you: to whom though I owe all that I have, yet am I bold
to make other partakers with you in this poore gift.

_Your loving cousen_,
Reg. Scot.

To the right worshipfull his loving friends,
_Maister Doctor Coldwell Deane of Ro-_
chester, and Maister Doctor Read-
_man Archdeacon of Can-
turburie, &c._

[Rom. and Ital. reversed; the italics of original smaller than
in that to Sir Th. Scot.]

Having found out two such civill Magistrates, as for direction of
judgement, and for ordering matters concerning justice in this common
wealth (in my poore opinion) are verie singular persons, who (I hope)
will accept of my good will, and examine my booke by their experience,
as unto whom the matter therin conteined dooth greatlie apperteine: I
have now againe considered of two other points: namelie, divinitie and
philosophie, whereupon the groundworke of my booke is laid. Wherein
although I know them to be verie sufficientlie informed, yet dooth
not the judgement and censure of those causes so properlie apperteine
to them as unto you, whose fame therein hath gotten preeminence above
all others that I know of your callings: and in that respect I am bold
to joine you with them, being all good neighbours togither in this
commonwelth, and loving friends unto me. I doo not present this unto
you, bicause it is meet for you; but for that you are meet for it
(I meane) to judge upon it, to defend it, and if need be to correct
it; knowing that you have learned of that grave counseller Cato, not
to shame or discountenance any bodie. For if I thought you as readie,
as able, to disgrace me for mine insufficiencie; I should not have
beene hastie (knowing your learning) to have written unto you: but if I
should be abashed to write to you, I should shew my selfe ignorant of
your courtesie.

I knowe mine owne weakenesse, which if it have beene able to mainteine
this argument, the cause is the stronger. Eloquent words may please the
eares, but sufficient matter persuadeth the hart. So as, if I exhibit
wholsome drinke (thought it be small) in a treene[*] dish with a
faithfull hand, I hope it will bee as well accepted, as strong wine
offered in a silver bowle with a flattering heart. And surelie it is a
point of as great liberalitie to receive a small thing thankefullie,
as to give and distribute great and costlie gifts bountifullie: for
there is more supplied with courteous answers than with rich rewards.
The tyrant Dionysius was not so hated for his tyrannie, as for his
churlish and strange behaviour. Among the poore Israelites sacrifices,
God was satisfied with the tenth part of an Ephah of flower, so as it
were fine and good. Christ liked well of the poore widowes mite, Lewis
of France accepted a rape root of clownish Conan, Cyrus vouchsafed to
drinke a cup of cold water out of the hand of poore Sinætes_:_ and so
it may please you to accept this simple booke at my hands, which I
faithfullie exhibit unto you, not knowing your opinions to meet with
mine, but knowing your learning and judgement to be able as well to
correct me where I speake herein unskilfullie, as others when they
speake hereof maliciouslie.

♦[*] [= wooden]♦

Some be such dogs as they will barke at my writings, whether I
mainteine or refute this argument: as Diogenes snarled both at the
Rhodians and at the Lacedæmonians: at the one, bicause they were
brave; at the other, bicause they were not brave. Homer himselfe
could not avoid reprochfull speaches. I am sure that they which never
studied to learne anie good thing, will studie to find faults hereat.
I for my part feare not these wars, nor all the adversaries I have;
were it not for certeine cowards, who (I knowe) will come behind my
backe and bite me.

But now to the matter. My question is not (as manie fondlie suppose)
whether there be witches or naie: but whether they can doo such
miraculous works as are imputed unto them. Good Maister Deane, is
it possible for a man to breake his fast with you at Rochester, and
to dine that day at Durham with Maister Doctor Matthew; or can
your enimie maime you, when the Ocean sea is betwixt you? What reall
communitie is betwixt a spirit and a bodie? May a spirituall bodie
become temporall at his pleasure? Or may a carnall bodie become
invisible? Is it likelie that the lives of all Princes, magistrates,
& subjects, should depend upon the will, or rather upon the wish of a
poore malicious doting old foole; and that power exempted from the
wise, the rich, the learned, the godlie, &c? Finallie, is it possible
for man or woman to do anie of those miracles expressed in my booke,
& so constantlie reported by great clarks? If you saie, no; then
am I satisfied. If you saie that God, absolutelie, or by meanes can
accomplish all those, and manie more, I go with you. But witches may
well saie they can doo these things, howbeit they cannot shew how they
doo them. If I for my part should saie I could doo those things, my
verie adversaries would saie that I lied.

O Maister Archdeacon, is it not pitie, that that which is said to be
doone with the almightie power of the most high God, and by our saviour
his onelie sonne Jesus Christ our Lord, shouldbe referred to a baggage
old womans nod or wish, &c? Good Sir, is it not one manifest kind of
Idolatrie, for them that labor and are laden, to come unto witches to
be refreshed? If witches could helpe whom they are said to have made
sicke, I see no reason, but remedie might as well be required at their
hands, as a pursse demanded of him that hath stolne it. But trulie it
is manifold idolatrie, to aske that of a creature, which none can give
but the Creator. The papist hath some colour of scripture to mainteine
his idoll of bread, but no Jesuiticall distinction can cover the
witchmongers idolatrie in this behalfe. Alas, I am sorie and ashamed
to see how manie die, that being said to be bewitched, onelie seeke
for magicall cures, whom wholsome diet and good medicines would have
recovered. I dare assure you both, that there would be none of these
cousening kind of witches, did not witchmongers mainteine them, followe
them, and beleeve in them and their oracles: whereby indeed all good
learning and honest arts are overthrowne. For these that most advance
their power, and mainteine the skill of these witches, understand no
part thereof: and yet being manie times wise in other matters, are made
fooles by the most fooles in the world.

Me thinks these magicall physicians deale in the commonwelth, much
like as a certeine kind of Cynicall people doo in the church, whose
severe saiengs are accompted among some such oracles, as may not
be doubted of; who in stead of learning and authoritie (which they
make contemptible) doo feed the people with their owne devises and
imaginations, which they prefer before all other divinitie: and
labouring to erect a church according to their owne fansies, wherein
all order is condemned, and onelie their magicall words and curious
directions advanced, they would utterlie overthrowe the true Church.
And even as these inchanting Paracelsians abuse the people, leading
them from the true order of physicke to their charmes: so doo these
other (I saie) dissuade from hearkening to learning and obedience, and
whisper in mens eares to teach them their frierlike traditions. And of
this sect the cheefe author at this time is one Browne, a fugitive,
a meet cover for such a cup: as heretofore the Anabaptists, the
Arrians,[*] and the Franciscane friers.

♦[*] [Arians]♦

Trulie not onlie nature, being the foundation of all perfection; but
also scripture, being the mistresse and director thereof, and of all
christianitie, is beautified with knowledge and learning. For as nature
without discipline dooth naturallie incline unto vanities, and as it
were sucke up errors: so doth the word, or rather the letter of the
scripture, without understanding, not onlie make us devoure errors, but
yeeldeth us up to death & destruction: & therefore Paule saith he was
not a minister of the letter, but of the spirit.

♦Rom. 2, 27.
2. Cor. 3, 6.♦

Thus have I beene bold to deliver unto the world, and to you, those
simple notes, reasons, and arguments, which I have devised or collected
out of other authors: which I hope shall be hurtfull to none, but to my
selfe great comfort, if it may passe with good liking and acceptation.
If it fall out otherwise, I should thinke my paines ill imploied. For
trulie, in mine opinion, whosoever shall performe any thing, or atteine
to anie knowledge; or whosoever should travell throughout all the
nations of the world, or (if it were possible) should peepe into the
heavens, the consolation or admiration thereof were nothing pleasant
unto him, unles he had libertie to impart his knowledge to his friends.
Wherein bicause I have made speciall choise of you, I hope you will
read it, or at the least laie it up in your studie with your other
bookes, among which there is none dedicated to any with more good will.
And so long as you have it, it shall be unto you (upon adventure of my
life) a certeine amulet, periapt, circle, charme, &c: to defend you
from all inchantments.

_Your loving friend_
Reg. Scot.

To the Readers.

To you that are wise & discreete few words may suffice: for such
a one judgeth not at the first sight, nor reprooveth by heresaie;
but patientlie heareth, and thereby increaseth in understanding:
which patience bringeth foorth experience, whereby true judgement is
directed. I shall not need therefore to make anie further sute to you,
but that it would please you to read my booke, without the prejudice
of time, or former conceipt: and having obteined this at your hands, I
submit my selfe unto your censure. But to make a solemne sute to you
that are parciall readers, desiring you to set aside parcialitie, to
take in good part my writing, and with indifferent eies to looke upon
my booke, were labour lost, and time ill imploied. For I should no more
prevaile herein, than if a hundred yeares since I should have intreated
your predecessors to beleeve, that Robin goodfellowe, that great and
ancient bulbegger, had beene but a cousening merchant, and no divell
indeed.

♦Isai. 11.
Prover. 1.♦

If I should go to a papist, and saie; I praie you beleeve my writings,
wherein I will proove all popish charmes, conjurations, exorcismes,
benedictions and cursses, not onelie to be ridiculous, and of none
effect, but also to be impious and contrarie to Gods word: I should as
hardlie therein win favour at their hands, as herein obteine credit at
yours. Neverthelesse, I doubt not, but to use the matter so, that as
well the massemoonger for his part, as the witchmoonger for his, shall
both be ashamed of their professions.

But Robin goodfellowe ceaseth now to be much feared, and poperie is
sufficientlie discovered. Nevertheles, witches charms, and conjurors
cousenages are yet thought effectuall. Yea the Gentiles have espied the
fraud of their cousening oracles, and our cold prophets and inchanters
make us fooles still, to the shame of us all, but speciallie of
papists, who conjure everie thing, and thereby bring to passe nothing.
They saie to their candles; I conjure you to endure for ever: and yet
they last not a pater noster while the longer. They conjure water to be
wholesome both for bodie and soule: but the bodie (we see) is never the
better for it, nor the soule anie whit reformed by it. And therefore
I mervell, that when they see their owne conjurations confuted and
brought to naught, or at the least void of effect, that they (of all
other) will yet give such credit, countenance, and authoritie to the
vaine cousenages of witches and conjurors; as though their charmes and
conjurations could produce more apparent, certeine, and better effects
than their owne.

But my request unto all you that read my booke shall be no more, but
that it would please you to conferre my words with your owne sense and
experience, and also with the word of God. If you find your selves
resolved and satisfied, or rather reformed and qualified in anie one
point or opinion, that heretofore you held contrarie to truth, in a
matter hitherto undecided, and never yet looked into; I praie you take
that for advantage: and suspending your judgement, staie the sentence
of condemnation against me, and consider of the rest, at your further
leasure. If this may not suffice to persuade you, it cannot prevaile
to annoy you: and then, that which is written without offense, may be
overpassed without anie greefe.

And although mine assertion, be somewhat differing from the old
inveterat opinion, which I confesse hath manie graie heares, whereby
mine adversaries have gained more authoritie than reason, towards the
maintenance of their presumptions and old wives fables: yet shall it
fullie agree with Gods glorie, and with his holie word. And albeit
there be hold taken by mine adversaries of certeine few words or
sentences in the scripture that maketh a shew for them: yet when the
whole course thereof maketh against them, and impugneth the same, yea
and also their owne places rightlie understood doo nothing at all
releeve them: I trust their glorious title and argument of antiquitie
will appeare as stale and corrupt as the apothecaries drugs, or grocers
spice, which the longer they be preserved, the woorsse they are. And
till you have perused my booke, ponder this in your mind, to wit, that
_Sagæ_, _Thessalæ_, _Striges_, _Lamiæ_ (which words and none other
being in use do properlie signifie our witches) are not once found
written in the old or new testament; and that Christ himselfe in his
gospell never mentioned the name of a witch. And that neither he, nor
Moses ever spake anie one word of the witches bargaine with the divell,
their hagging, their riding in the aire, their transferring of corne or
grasse from one feeld to another, their hurting of children or cattell
with words or charmes, their bewitching of butter, cheese, ale, &c:
nor yet their transubstantiation; insomuch as the writers hereupon are
not ashamed to say, that it is not absurd to affirme that there were
no witches in Jobs time. The reason is, that if there had beene such
witches then in beeing, Job would have said he had beene bewitched. But
indeed men tooke no heed in those daies to this doctrine of divels;
to wit, to these fables of witchcraft, which Peter saith shall be much
regarded and hearkened unto in the latter daies.

♦_Mal. malef. par. 2. quæ. 2._♦

♦1. Pet. 4. 1.♦

Howbeit, how ancient so ever this barbarous conceipt of witches
omnipotencie is, truth must not be measured by time: for everie old
opinion is not sound. Veritie is not impaired, how long so ever it be
suppressed; but is to be searched out, in how darke a corner so ever it
lie hidden: for it is not like a cup of ale, that may be broched too
rathe. Finallie, time bewraieth old errors, & discovereth new matters
of truth. Danæus himselfe saith, that this question hitherto hath never
beene handled; nor the scriptures concerning this matter have never
beene expounded. To prove the antiquitie of the cause, to confirme
the opinion of the ignorant, to inforce mine adversaries arguments,
to aggravate the punishments, & to accomplish the confusiō of these
old women, is added the vanitie and wickednes of them, which are
called witches, the arrogancie of those which take upon them to worke
wonders, the desire that people have to hearken to such miraculous
matters, unto whome most commonlie an impossibilitie is more credible
than a veritie; the ignorance of naturall causes, the ancient and
universall hate conceived against the name of a witch; their ilfavoured
faces, their spitefull words, their cursses and imprecations, their
charmes made in ryme, and their beggerie; the feare of manie foolish
folke, the opinion of some that are wise, the want of Robin goodfellowe
and the fairies, which were woont to mainteine chat, and the common
peoples talke in this behalfe; the authoritie of the inquisitors,
the learning, cunning, consent, and estimation of writers herein,
the false translations and fond interpretations used, speciallie by
papists; and manie other like causes. All which toies take such hold
upon mens fansies, as whereby they are lead and entised awaie from the
consideration of true respects, to the condemnation of that which they
know not.

♦_Danæus in suo prologo._♦

♦_B._ iii. v.♦

Howbeit, I will (by Gods grace) in this my booke, so apparentlie
decipher and confute these cavils, and all other their objections;
as everie witchmoonger shall be abashed, and all good men thereby
satisfied. In the meane time, I would wish them to know that if neither
the estimation of Gods omnipotencie, nor the tenor of his word, nor the
doubtfulnes or rather the impossibilitie of the case, nor the small
proofes brought against them, nor the rigor executed upon them, nor the
pitie that should be in a christian heart, nor yet their simplicitie,
impotencie, or age may suffice to suppresse the rage or rigor wherewith
they are oppressed; yet the consideration of their sex or kind ought
to moove some mitigatiō of their punishment. For if nature (as Plinie
reporteth) have taught a lion not to deale so roughlie with a woman as
with a man, bicause she is in bodie the weaker vessell, and in hart
more inclined to pitie (which Jeremie in his lamentations seemeth to
confirme) what should a man doo in this case, for whome a woman was
created as an helpe and comfort unto him? In so much as, even in the
lawe of nature, it is a greater offense to slea a woman than a man:
not bicause a man is not the more excellent creature, but bicause a
woman is the weaker vessell. And therefore among all modest and honest
persons it is thought a shame to offer violence or injurie to a woman:
in which respect Virgil saith, _Nullum memorabile nomen fæminea in
pæna est_.

♦Lam. Jer. 3. & 4. cap. verse. 10.
1. Cor 11. 9.
Ibid. vers. 7.
Ge. 2. 22. 18.
_Arist. lib. problem. 2. 9._♦

♦_Vir. Georg._♦

God that knoweth my heart is witnes, and you that read my booke shall
see, that my drift and purpose in this enterprise tendeth onelie to
these respects. First, that the glorie and power of God be not so
abridged and abased, as to be thrust into the hand or lip of a lewd old
woman: whereby the worke of the Creator should be attributed to the
power of a creature. Secondlie, that the religion of the gospell may be
seene to stand without such peevish trumperie. Thirdlie, that lawfull
favour and christian compassion be rather used towards these poore
soules, than rigor and extremitie. Bicause they, which are commonlie
accused of witchcraft, are the least sufficient of all other persons
to speake for themselves; as having the most base and simple education
of all others; the extremitie of their age giving them leave to dote,
their povertie to beg, their wrongs to chide and threaten (as being
void of anie other waie of revenge) their humor melancholicall to be
full of imaginations, from whence cheefelie proceedeth the vanitie of
their confessions; as that they can transforme themselves and others
into apes, owles, asses, dogs, cats, &c: that they can flie in the
aire, kill children with charmes, hinder the comming of butter, &c.

And for so much as the mightie helpe themselves together, and the
poore widowes crie, though it reach to heaven, is scarse heard here
upon earth: I thought good (according to my poore abilitie) to make
intercession, that some part of common rigor, and some points of hastie
judgement may be advised upon. For the world is now at that stay (as
Brentius in a most godlie sermon in these words affirmeth) that even
as when the heathen persecuted the christians, if anie were accused
to beleeve in Christ, the common people cried _Ad leonem_: so now, if
anie woman, be she never so honest, be accused of witchcraft, they crie
_Ad ignem_. What difference is betweene the rash dealing of unskilfull
people, and the grave counsell of more discreet and learned persons,
may appeare by a tale of Danæus his owne telling; wherein he opposeth
the rashnes of a few townesmen, to the counsell of a whole senate,
preferring the follie of the one, before the wisdome of the other.

♦Eccl[us.] 35, 15.♦

At Orleance on Loyre (saith he) there was a manwitch, not only taken
and accused, but also convicted and condemned for witchcraft, who
appealed from thence to the high court of Paris. Which accusation the
senate sawe insufficient, and would not allow, but laughed thereat,
lightlie regarding it; and in the end sent him home (saith he) as
accused of a frivolous matter. And yet for all that, the magistrats of
Orleance were so bold with him, as to hang him up within short time
after, for the same or the verie like offense. In which example is to
be seene the nature, and as it were the disease of this cause: wherein
(I saie) the simpler and undiscreeter sort are alwaies more hastie &
furious in judgements, than men of better reputation and knowledge.
Nevertheles, Eunichius saith, that these three things; to wit, what is
to be thought of witches, what their incantations can doo, and whether
their punishment should extend to death, are to be well considered.
And I would (saith he) they were as well knowne, as they are rashlie
beleeved, both of the learned, and unlearned. And further he saith,
that almost all divines, physicians and lawyers, who should best know
these matters, satisfieng themselves with old custome, have given too
much credit to these fables, and too rash and unjust sentence of death
upon witches. But when a man pondereth (saith he) that in times past,
all that swarved from the church of Rome were judged heretikes; it is
the lesse marvell, though in this matter they be blind and ignorant.

And surelie, if the scripture had beene longer suppressed, more absurd
fables would have sproong up, and beene beleeved. Which credulitie
though it is to be derided with laughter; yet this their crueltie is
to be lamented with teares. For (God knoweth) manie of these poore
wretches had more need to be releeved than chastised; and more meete
were a preacher to admonish them, than a gailor to keepe them; and
a physician more necessarie to helpe them, than an executioner or
tormentor to hang or burne them. For proofe and due triall hereof, I
will requite Danæus his tale of a manwitch (as he termeth him) with
another witch of the same sex or gender.

Cardanus from the mouth of his owne father reporteth, that one Barnard,
a poore servant, being in wit verie simple and rude, but in his service
verie necessarie and diligent (and in that respect deerelie beloved of
his maister) professing the art of witchcraft, could in no wise be
dissuaded from that profession, persuading himselfe that he knew all
things, and could bring anie matter to passe; bicause certeine countrie
people resorted to him for helpe and counsell, as supposing by his owne
talke, that he could doo somewhat. At length he was condemned to be
burned: which torment he seemed more willing to suffer, than to loose
his estimation in that behalfe. But his maister having compassion
upon him, and being himselfe in his princes favor, perceiving his
conceipt to proceed of melancholie, obteined respit of execution for
twentie daies. In which time (saith he) his maister bountifullie fed
him with good fat meat, and with foure egs at a meale, as also with
sweet wine: which diet was best for so grosse and weake a bodie. And
being recovered so in strength, that the humor was suppressed, he was
easilie woone from his absurd and dangerous opinions, and from all his
fond imaginations: and confessing his error and follie, from the which
before no man could remoove him by anie persuasions, having his pardon,
he lived long a good member of the church, whome otherwise the crueltie
of judgement should have cast awaie and destroied.

♦_Lib. 15. cap. 18. de varietatib. rerum._♦

This historie is more credible than Sprengers fables, or Bodins bables,
which reach not so far to the extolling of witches omnipotencie, as to
the derogating of Gods glorie. For if it be true, which they affirme,
that our life and death lieth in the hand of a witch; then is it false,
that God maketh us live or die, or that by him we have our being, our
terme of life appointed, and our daies numbred. But surelie their
charmes can no more reach to the hurting or killing of men or women,
than their imaginations can extend to the stealing and carrieng awaie
of horsses & mares. Neither hath God given remedies to sicknes or
greefes, by words or charmes, but by hearbs and medicines; which he
himselfe hath created upon earth, and given men knowledge of the same;
that he might be glorified, for that therewith he dooth vouchsafe that
the maladies of men and cattell should be cured, &c. And if there be
no affliction nor calamitie, but is brought to passe by him, then let
us defie the divell, renounce all his works, and not so much as once
thinke or dreame upon this supernaturall power of witches; neither let
us prosecute them with such despight, whome our fansie condemneth,
and our reason acquiteth: our evidence against them consisting in
impossibilities, our proofes in unwritten verities, and our whole
proceedings in doubts and difficulties.

♦Amos. 3. 6.
La. Jer. 3. 38.
Isai. 45. 9.
Rom. 9. 20.♦

Now bicause I mislike the extreame crueltie used against some of these
sillie soules (whome a simple advocate having audience and justice
might deliver out of the hands of the inquisitors themselves) it will
be said, that I denie anie punishment at all to be due to anie witch
whatsoever. Naie, bicause I bewraie the follie and impietie of them,
which attribute unto witches the power of God: these witchmoongers
will report, that I denie there are anie witches at all: and yet
behold (saie they) how often is this word [Witch][*] mentioned in the
scriptures? Even as if an idolater should saie in the behalfe of images
and idols, to them which denie their power and godhead, and inveigh
against the reverence doone unto them; How dare you denie the power of
images, seeing their names are so often repeated in the scriptures? But
truelie I denie not that there are witches or images: but I detest the
idolatrous opinions conceived of them; referring that to Gods worke and
ordinance, which they impute to the power and malice of witches; and
attributing that honour to God, which they ascribe to idols. But as
for those that in verie deed are either witches or conjurors, let them
hardlie suffer such punishment as to their fault is agreeable, and as
by the grave judgement of lawe is provided.

♦[*] [] in text.♦

_Places amended by the author, and to be read as followeth. The
first number standeth for the page, the second for the line._

46. 16. except you.
51. 9. one Saddocke.
75. 21. that we of
110. 21. as Elimas.
112. 10. is reproved.
119. 16. one Necus.
126. 12. Magus as.
138. 2. the hart.
144. 25. in hir closet at Endor, or in.
168. 31. the firmament.
187. 16. reallie finished.
192. put out the first line of the page.
247. 29. write it.
257. 32. an image.
269. 16. there be masses.
333. 14. evenlie severed.
363. 26. for bellowes.
366. 27. his leman.
438. 29. exercise the.
450. 1. that it is.
463. 19. [*]that businesse.
471. 19. cōteineth nothing.
472. 11. I did deferre.
491. 6. so difficult.
491. 27. begat another.
503. 9. of all the.
519. 7. the Hevites.
542. 30. their reproch.

[Corrected in this 4th edition. The numbers of the 3rd line in
original, _i.e._, from 438, are smaller.]

♦[*] [16]♦

The forren authors used in this Booke.

Ælianus.
Aetius.
Albertus Crantzius.
Albertus Magnus.
Albumazar.
Alcoranum Franciscanorum.
Alexander Trallianus.
Algerus.
Ambrosius.
Andradias.
Andræas Gartnerus.
Andræas Massius.
Antonius Sabellicus.
Apollonius Tyanæus.
Appianus.
Apuleius.
Archelaus.
Argerius Ferrarius.[*]
Aristoteles.
Arnoldus de villa nova.
Artemidorus.
Athanasius.
Averroës.
Augustinus episcopus Hip.
Augustinus Niphus.
Avicennas.
Aulus Gellius.
Barnardinus de bustis.
Bartholomæus Anglicus.
Berosus Anianus.
Bodinus.
Bordinus.
Brentius.
Calvinus.
Camerarius.
Campanus.
Cardanus pater.
Cardanus filius.
Carolus Gallus.
Cassander.
Cato.
Chrysostome.
Cicero.
Clemens.
Cornelius Agrippa.
Cornelius Nepos.
Cornelius Tacitus.
Cyrillus.
Danæus.
Demetrius.
Democritus.
Didymus.
Diodorus Siculus.
Dionysius Areopagita.
Dioscorides.
Diurius.
Dodonæus.
Durandus.
Empedocles.
Ephesius.
Erasmus Roterodamus.
Erasmus Sarcerius.
Erastus.
Eudoxus.
Eusebius Cæsariensis.
Fernelius.
Franciscus Petrarcha.
Fuchsius.
Galenus.
Garropius.
Gelasius.
Gemma Phrysius.
Georgius Pictorius.
Gofridus.
Goschalcus Boll.
Gratianus.
Gregorius.
Grillandus.
Guido Bonatus.
Gulielmus de sancto Clodoaldo.
Gulielmus Parisiensis.
Hemingius.
Heraclides.
Hermes Trismegistus.
Hieronymus.
Hilarius.
Hippocrates.
Homerus.
Horatius.
Hostiensis.
Hovinus.
Hyperius.
Jacobus de Chusa Carthusianus.
Iamblichus.
Jaso Pratensis.
Innocentius. 8. Papa.
Johannes Anglicus.
Johannes Baptista Neapolitanus.
Johannes Cassianus.
Johannes Montiregius.
Johannes Rivius.
Josephus ben Gorion.
Josias Simlerus.
Isidorus.
Isigonus.
Juba.
Julius Maternus.
Justinus Martyr.
Lactantius.
Lavaterus.
Laurentius Ananias.
Laurentius a villavicentio.
Leo II. Pontifex.
Lex Salicarum.
Lex 12. Tabularum.
Legenda aurea.
Legenda longa Coloniæ.
Leonardus Vairus.
Livius.
Lucanus.
Lucretius.
Ludovicus Cælius.
Lutherus.
Macrobius.
Magna Charta.
Malleus Maleficarum.
Manlius.
Marbacchius.
Marbodeus Gallus.
Marsilius Ficinus.
Martinus de Arles.
Mattheolus.
Melancthonus.
Memphradorus.
Michael Andræas.
Musculus.
Nauclerus.
Nicephorus.
Nicholaus 5. Papa.
Nider.
Olaus Gothus.
Origines.
Ovidius.
Panormitanus.
Paulus Aegineta.
Paulus Marsus.
Persius.
Petrus de Appona.
Petrus Lombardus.
Petrus Martyr.
Peucer.
Philarchus.
Philastrius Brixiensis.
Philodotus.
Philo Judæus.
Pirkmairus.
Platina.
Plato.
Plinius.
Plotinus.
Plutarchus.
Polydorus Virgilius.
Pomœrium sermonum quadragesimalium.
Pompanatius.
Pontificale.
Ponzivibius.
Porphyrius.
Proclus.
Propertius.
Psellus.
Ptolomeus.
Pythagoras.
Quintilianus.
Rabbi Abraham.
Rabbi ben Ezra.
Rabbi David Kimhi.
Rabbi Josuah ben Levi.
Rabbi Isaach Natar.
Rabbi Levi.
Rabbi Moses.
Rabbi Sedaias Haias.
Robertus Carocullus.
Rupertus.
Sabinus.
Sadoletus.
Savanorola.
Scotus.
Seneca.
Septuaginta interpretes.
Serapio.
Socrates.
Solinus.
Speculum exemplorum.
Strabo.
Sulpitius Severus.
Synesius.
Tatianus.
Tertullianus.
Thomas Aquinas.
Themistius.
Theodoretus.
Theodorus Bizantius.
Theophrastus.
Thucidides.
Tibullus.
Tremelius.
Valerius Maximus.
Varro.
Vegetius.
Vincentius.
Virgilius.
Vitellius.
Wierus.
Xanthus historiographus.

♦[*] [Ferre-]♦

¶ _These English._

Barnabe Googe.
Beehive of the Romish church.
Edward Deering.
Geffrey Chaucer.
Giles Alley.
Gnimelf Maharba [Abraham Fleming].
Henrie Haward.
John Bale.
John Fox.
John Malborne.
John Record.
Primer after Yorke use.
Richard Gallis.
Roger Bacon.
Testament printed at Rhemes.
T. E. a nameles author. 467.
Thomas Hilles.
Thomas Lupton.
Thomas Moore Knight.
Thomas Phaer.
T. R. a nameles author. 393.
William Lambard.
W. W. a nameles author. 542.

[These Contents in original end the book as do our Indices.]

The summe of everie chapter conteined
_in the sixteene bookes of this discoverie,_
with the discourse of divels and
_spirits annexed thereunto._

¶ _The first Booke._

An impeachment of witches power in meteors and elementarie bodies,
tending to the rebuke of such as attribute too much unto them. Pag. 1.

The inconvenience growing by mens credulitie herein, with a reproofe of
some churchmen, which are inclined to the common conceived opinion of
witches omnipotencie, and a familiar example thereof. pag. 4.

Who they be that are called witches, with a manifest declaration of the
cause that mooveth men so commonlie to thinke, & witches themselves
to beleeve that they can hurt children, cattell, &c. with words and
imaginations: and of coosening witches. pag. 7.

What miraculous actions are imputed to witches by witchmongers,
papists, and poets. pag. 9.

A confutation of the common conceived opinion of witches and
witchcraft, and how detestable a sinne it is to repaire to them for
counsell or helpe in time of affliction. pag. 11.

A further confutation of witches miraculous and omnipotent power, by
invincible reasons and authorities, with dissuasions from such fond
credulitie. pag. 12.

By what meanes the name of witches becommeth so famous, & how diverslie
people be opinioned concerning them and their actions. pa. 14.

Causes that moove as well witches themselves as others to thinke that
they can worke impossibilities, with answers to certeine objections:
where also their punishment by law is touched. pag. 16.

A conclusion of the first booke, wherein is foreshewed the tyrannicall
crueltie of witchmongers and inquisitors, with a request to the reader
to peruse the same. pag. 17.

¶ _The second Booke._

What testimonies and witnesses are allowed to give evidence against
reputed witches, by the report and allowance of the inquisitors
themselves, & such as are speciall writers herein. Pag. 19.

The order of examination of witches by the inquisitors. pag. 20.

Matters of evidence against witches. pag. 22.

Confessions of witches, whereby they are condemned. pag. 24.

Presumptions, whereby witches are condemned. pag. 25.

Particular interogatories used by the inquisitors against witches. pa.
27.

The inquisitors triall of weeping by conjuration. pag. 29.

Certeine cautions against witches, and of their tortures to procure
confession. pag. 29.

The 15. crimes laid to the charge of witches, by witchmongers;
speciallie by Bodin, in Demonomania. 32.

A refutation of the former surmised crimes patched togither by Bodin,
and the onelie waie to escape the inquisitors hands. pag. 34.

The opinion of Cornelius Agrippa concerning witches, of his pleading
for a poore woman accused of witchcraft, and how he convinced the
inquisitors. pag. 35.

What the feare of death and feeling of torments may force one to doo,
and that it is no marvell though witches condemne themselves by their
owne confessions so tyrannicallie extorted. pag. 37.

¶ _The third Booke._

The witches bargaine with the divell, according to M. Mal. Bodin,
Nider, Daneus, Psellus, Erastus, Hemingius, Cumanus, Aquinas,
Bartholomeus Spineus, &c. Pag. 40.

The order of the witches homage done (as it is written by lewd
inquisitors and peevish witchmoongers) to the divell in person;
of their songs and danses, and namelie of La volta, and of other
ceremonies, also of their excourses. pag. 41.

How witches are summoned to appeere before the divell, of their riding
in the aire, of their accompts, of their conference with the divell, of
his supplies, and their conference, of their farewell and sacrifices:
according to Daneus, Psellus, &c. p. 43.

That there can no real league be made with the divell the first author
of the league, and the weake proofes of the adversaries for the same.
pag. 44.

Of the private league, a notable tale of Bodins concerning a French
ladie, with a confutation. pag. 46.

A disproofe of their assemblies, and of their bargaine pag. 47.

A confutation of the objection concerning witches confessions. pag. 49.

What follie it were for witches to enter into such desperate perill,
and to endure such intolerable tortures for no gaine or commoditie,
and how it comes to passe that witches are overthrowne by their
confessions. 51.

How melancholie abuseth old women, and of the effects thereof by
sundrie examples. pag. 52.

That voluntarie confessions may be untrulie made, to the undooing of
the confessors, and of the strange operation of melancholie, prooved by
a familiar and late example. pag. 55.

The strange and divers effects of melancholie, and how the same
humor abounding in witches, or rather old women, filleth them full
of mervellous imaginations, & that their confessions are not to be
credited. p. 57.

A confutation of witches confessions, especiallie concerning their
league. pag. 59.

A confutation of witches confessions, concerning making of tempests and
raine: of the naturall cause of raine, and that witches or divels have
no power to doo such things. pag. 60.

What would ensue, if witches confessions or witchmōgers opinions were
true, concerning the effects of witchcraft, inchantments, &c. pag. 63.

Examples of forren nations, who in their warres used the assistance of
witches; of eybiting witches in Ireland, of two archers that shot with
familiars. pag. 64.

Authorities condemning the fantasticall confessions of witches, and how
a popish doctor taketh upon him to disproove the same. pag. 65.

Witchmongers reasons, to proove that witches can worke wonders, Bodins
tale of a Friseland preest transported, that imaginations proceeding of
melancholie doo cause illusions. pag. 67.

That the confession of witches is insufficient in civill and common law
to take awaie life. What the sounder divines, and decrees of councels
determine in this case. pag. 68.

Of foure capitall crimes objected against witches, all fullie answered
& confuted as frivolous. pag. 70.

A request to such readers as loath to heare or read filthie & bawdie
matters (which of necessitie are here to be inserted) to passe over
eight chapters. pag. 72.

¶ _The fourth Booke._

Of witchmoongers opinions concerning evill spirits, how they frame
themselves in more excellent sort than God made us. Pag. 73.

Of bawdie Incubus and Succubus, and whether the action of venerie may
be performed betweene witches and divels and when witches first yeelded
to Incubus. pag. 74.

Of the divels visible and invisible dealing with witches in the waie of
lecherie. pag. 76.

That the power of generation is both outwardlie and inwardlie impeached
by witches, and of divers that had their genitals taken from them by
witches, and by the same means againe restored. pag. 77.

Of bishop Sylvanus his leacherie opened & covered againe, how maids
having yellow haire are most combred with Incubus, how maried men are
bewitched to use other mens wives, and to refuse their owne. pag. 79.

How to procure the dissolving of bewitched love, also to enforce a man
(how proper so ever he be) to love an old hag: and of a bawdie tricke
of a priest in Gelderland. pag. 80.

Of divers saincts and holie persons, which were exceeding bawdie and
lecherous, and by certeine miraculous meanes became chast. pag. 81.

Certeine popish and magicall cures, for them that are bewitched in
their privities. p. 82.

A strange cure doone to one that was molested with Incubus. pag. 83.

A confutation of all the former follies touching Incubus, which by
examples and proofes of like stuffe is shewed to be flat knaverie,
wherein the carnall copulation with spirits is overthrowne. pag. 85.

That Incubus is a naturall disease, with remedies for the same, besides
magicall cures herewithall expressed. pag. 86.

The censure of G. Chaucer, upon the knaverie of Incubus. pag. 88.

¶ _The fift Booke._

Of transformations, ridiculous examples brought by the adversaries for
the confirmation of their foolish doctrine. Pag. 89.

Absurd reasons brought by Bodin, & such others, for confirmation of
transformations. pag. 93.

Of a man turned into an asse, and returned againe into a man by one of
Bodins witches: S. Augustines opinion thereof. cap. 94.

A summarie of the former fable, with a refutation thereof, after due
examination of the same. pag. 97.

That the bodie of a man cannot be turned into the bodie of a beast by a
witch, is prooved by strong reasons, scriptures, and authorities.
pag. 99.

The witchmongers objections concerning Nabuchadnez-zar answered, &
their errour concerning Lycanthropia confuted. pag. 101.

A speciall objection answered concerning transportations, with the
consent of diverse writers thereupon. pag. 103.

The witchmongers objection concerning the historie of Job answered.
pag. 105.

What severall sortes of witches are mentioned in the scriptures, & how
the word witch is there applied. pag. 109.

¶ _The sixt Booke._

The exposition of this Hebrue word Chasaph, wherin is answered the
objection conteined in Exodus 22. to wit: Thou shalt not suffer a
witch to live, and of Simon Magus. Acts 8. pag. 111.

The place of Deuteronomie expounded, wherein are recited all kind of
witches; also their opinions confuted, which hold that they can worke
worke[*] such miracles as are imputed unto them. pag. 113.

That women have used poisoning in all ages more than men, & of the
inconvenience of poisoning pag. 116.

Of divers poisoning practises, otherwise called veneficia, committed in
Italie, Genua, Millen, Wittenberge, also how they were discovered and
executed. pag. 119.

A great objection answered concerning this kind of witchcraft called
Veneficium. pag. 120.

In what kind of confections that witchcraft, which is called
Veneficium, consisteth: of love cups, and the same confuted by poets.
pag. 121.

It is prooved by more credible writers, that love cups rather ingender
death through venome, than love by art: and with what toies they
destroie cattell, and procure love. p. 123.

John Bodin triumphing against J. Wier is overtaken with false greeke &
false interpretation thereof. p. 125.

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

¶ _The seventh Booke._

Of the Hebrue woord Ob, what it signifieth where it is found, of
Pythonisses called Ventriloque, who they be, & what their practises
are, experience and examples thereof shewed. Pag. 126.

How the lewd practise of the Pythonist of Westwell came to light, and
by whome she was examined; and that all hir diabolicall speach was
but ventriloquie and plaine cousenage, which is prooved by hir owne
confession. pag. 130.

Bodins stuffe concerning the Pythonist of Endor, with a true storie of
a counterfeit Dutchman. pag. 132.

Of the great oracle of Apollo the Pythonist, and how men of all sorts
have beene deceived, and that even the apostles have mistaken the
nature of spirits, with an unanswerable argument, that spirits can
take no shapes. pag. 133.

Why Apollo was called Pytho wherof those witches were called
Pythonists: Gregorie his letter to the divell. pag. 136.

Apollo, who was called Pytho, compared to the Rood of grace: Gregories
letter to the divell cōfuted. p. 137.

How diverse great clarkes and good authors have beene abused in
this matter of spirits through false reports, and by means of their
credulitie have published lies, which are confuted by Aristotle and
the scriptures. pag. 138.

Of the witch of Endor, and whether she accomplished the raising of
Samuel trulie, or by deceipt: the opinion of some divines hereupon.
p. 139.

That Samuel was not raised indeed, and how Bodin and all papists dote
herin, and that soules cannot be raised by witchcraft. pag. 140.

That neither the divell nor Samuel was raised, but that it was a meere
cousenage, according to the guise of our Pythonists. pag. 142.

The objection of the witchmongers concerning this place fullie
answered, and what circumstances are to be considered for the
understanding of this storie, which is plainelie opened from the
beginning of the 28. chapt. of the 1. Samuel, to the 12. verse.
pag. 143.

The 12. 13. & 14. verses of 1. Sam. 28. expounded: wherein is shewed
that Saule was cousened and abused by the witch, & that Samuel was not
raised, is prooved by the witches owne talke. pag. 146.

The residue of 1. Sam. 28. expounded: wherein is declared how
cunninglie this witch brought Saule resolutelie to beleeve that she
raised Samuel, what words are used to colour the cousenage, & how all
might also be wrought by ventriloquie. p. 148.

Opinions of some learned men, that Samuel was indeed raised, not by the
witches art or power, but by the speciall miracle of God, that there
are no such visions in these our daies, and that our witches cannot
doo the like. pag. 151.

Of vaine apparitions, how people have beene brought to feare bugs,
which is partlie reformed by preaching of the gospel, the true effect
of Christes miracles. pag. 152.

Witches miracles cōpared to Christs, that God is the creator of al
things, of Apollo, and of his names and portraiture. pag. 154.

¶ _The eight Booke._

That miracles are ceased. 156.

That the gift of prophesie is ceased. Pag. 158.

That Oracles are ceased. pag. 160.

A tale written by manie grave authors, and beleeved by manie wise men
of the divels death. An other storie written by papists, and beleeved
of all catholikes, approoving the divels honestie, conscience, and
courtesie. pag. 162.

The judgments of the ancient fathers touching oracles, and their
abolishment, and that they be now transferred from Delphos to Rome.
p. 164.

Where and wherein couseners, witches, and preests were woont to give
oracles, and to worke their feats. pag. 165.

¶ _The ninth Booke._

The Hebrue word Kasam expounded, and how farre a Christian may
conjecture of things to come. Pag. 167.

Proofes by the old and new testament, that certaine observations of the
weather are lawfull. pag. 168.

That certeine observations are indifferent, certeine ridiculous, and
certeine impious, whence that cunning is derived of Apollo, and of
Aruspices. pag. 169.

The predictions of soothsaiers & lewd preests, the prognostications of
astronomers and physicians allowable, divine prophesies holie and
good. pag. 171.

The diversitie of true prophets, of Urim, and of the propheticall use
of the twelve pretious stones conteined therein, of the divine voice
called Eccho. pag. 172.

Of prophesies conditionall: whereof the prophesies in the old testament
dee[*] intreat, and by whom they were published; witchmongers answers
to the objections against witches supernaturall actions. pag. 173.

What were the miracles expressed in the old testament, and what are
they in the new testament: and that we are not now to looke for anie
more miracles. pag. 175.

♦[*] [doe]♦

¶ _The tenth Booke._

The interpretation of the Hebrue word Onen, of the vanitie of dreames,
and divinations thereupon. Pag. 177.

Of divine, naturall, & casuall dreames, with the differing causes and
effects. pag. 178.

The opinion of divers old writers touching dreames, and how they varie
in noting the causes therof. p. 179.

Against interpretors of dreames, of the ordinarie cause of dreames,
Hemingius his opinion of diabolicall dreames, the interpretation of
dreames ceased. pag. 180.

That neither witches, nor anie other, can either by words or herbs,
thrust into the mind of a sleeping man, what cogitations or dreames
they list; and whence magicall dreames come. pag. 181.

How men have beene bewitched, cousened or abused by dreames to dig and
search for monie. pag. 182.

The art & order to be used in digging for monie, revealed by dreames,
how to procure pleasant dreames, of morning and midnight dreames.
p. 183.

Sundrie receipts & ointments, made and used for the transportation of
witches, and other miraculous effects: an instance thereof reported
and credited by some that are learned. pag. 184.

A confutation of the former follies, as well cōcerning ointments,
dreams, &c. as also of the assemblie of witches, and of their
consultations and bankets at sundrie places, and all in dreames.
pag. 185.

That most part of prophesies in the old testament were revealed in
dreams, that we are not now to looke for such revelations, of some
who have drempt of that which hath come to passe, that dreames proove
contrarie, Nebuchadnez zars[*] rule to know a true expositor of
dreames. pag. 187.

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

¶ _The eleventh Booke._

The Hebrue word Nahas expounded, of the art of augurie, who invented
it, how slovenlie a science it is: the multitude of sacrifices and
sacrificers of the heathen, and the causes thereof. Pag. 189.

Of the Jewes sacrifice to Moloch, a discourse thereupon, and of
Purgatorie. pag. 190.

The Cambals[*] crueltie, of popish sacrifices exceeding in tyrannie
the Jewes or Gentiles. pag. 191.

The superstition of the heathen about the element of fier, and how it
grew in such reverence among them, of their corruptions, and that
they had some inkling of the godlie fathers dooings in that behalfe.
pag. 191.

Of the Romane sacrifices, of the estimation they had of augurie, of the
lawe of the twelve tables. pag. 192.

Colleges of augurors, their office, their number, the signification
of augurie, that the practisers of that art were couseners, their
profession, their places of exercise, their apparell, their
superstition. pag. 193.

The times and seasons to exercise augurie, the maner and order thereof,
of the ceremonies thereunto belonging. pag. 195.

Upon what signes and tokens augurors did prognosticate, observations
touching the inward and outward parts of beasts, with notes of beasts
behaviour in the slaughterhouse. pag. 196.

A confutation of augurie, Plato his reverend opinion thereof, of
contrarie events, & false predictions. p. 196.

The cousening art of sortilege or lotarie, practiced especiallie by
Aegyptian vagabonds, of allowed lots, of Pythagoras his lot, &c.
pag. 197.

Of the Cabalisticall art, consisting of traditions and unwritten
verities learned without booke, and of the division thereof. cap. 198.

When, how, and in what sort sacrifices were first ordained, and how
they were prophaned, and how the pope corrupteth the sacraments of
Christ. pag. 200.

Of the objects whereupon the augurors used to prognosticate, with
certeine cautions and notes. pag. 201.

The division of augurie, persons admittable into the colleges of
augurie, of their superstition. pag. 202.

Of the common peoples fond and superstitious collections and
observations. pag. 203.

How old writers varie about the matter, the maner, and the meanes,
whereby things augurificall are mooved. pag. 205.

How ridiculous an art augurie is, how Cato mocked it, Aristotles
reason against it, fond collections of augurors, who allowed, and who
disallowed it. pag. 206.

Fond distinctions of the heathen writers, concerning augurie. pag. 208.

Of naturall and casuall augurie, the one allowed,and the other
disallowed. pag. 208.

A confutation of casual augurie which is meere witchcraft, and upon
what uncerteintie those divinations are grounded. pag. 209.

That figure-casters are witches, the uncerteintie of their art, and of
their contradictions, Cornelius Agrippas sentence against judiciall
astrologie. pag. 210.

The subtiltie of astrologers to mainteine the credit of their art, why
they remaine in credit, certeine impieties conteined in astrologers
assertions. pag. 212.

Who have power to drive awaie divels with their onelie presence, who
shall receive of God whatsoever they aske in praier, who shall obteine
everlasting life by meanes of constellations, as nativitie-casters
affirme. pag. 214.

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

¶ _The twelfe Booke._

The Hebrue word Habar expounded, where also the supposed secret force
of charmes and inchantments is shewed, and the efficacie of words is
diverse waies declared. Pag. 216.

What is forbidden in scriptures concerning witchcraft, of the operation
of words, the superstition of the Cabalists and papists, who createth
substances, to imitate God in some cases is presumption, words of
sanctification. pag. 217.

What effect & offense witches charmes bring, how unapt witches are, and
how unlikelie to worke those things which they are thought to doo,
what would follow if those things were true which are laid to their
charge. pag. 218.

Why God forbad the practise of witchcraft, the absurditie of the law of
the twelve tables, whereupon their estimation in miraculous actions is
grounded, of their woonderous works. pag. 220.

An instance of one arreigned upon the law of the twelve tables, whereby
the said law is prooved ridiculous, of two witches that could doo
woonders. pag. 221.

Lawes provided for the punishment of such witches as worke miracles,
whereof some are mentioned, and of certeine popish lawes published
against them. pag. 222.

Poetical authorities commonlie alledged by witchmongers, for the
proofe of witches miraculous actions, and for confirmation of their
supernaturall power. pag. 223.

Poetrie and poperie compared in inchantments, popish witchmongers have
more advantage herein than protestants. pag. 229.

Popish periapts, amulets & charmes, agnus Dei, a wastcote of proofe, a
charme for the falling evill, a writing brought to S. Leo from heaven
by an angell, the vertues of S. Saviors epistle, a charme against
theeves, a writing found in Christs wounds, of the crosse, &c.
pag. 230.

¶ A charme against shot, or a wastcote of proofe. Against the falling
evill, p. 231. A popish periapt or charme, which must never be said,
but carried about one, against theeves. Another amulet, pag. 233. A
papisticall charme. A charme found in the canon of the masse. Other
papisticall charmes. pag. 234. A charme of the holie crosse. pag. 235.
A charme taken out of the Primer. pag. 236.

How to make holie water, and the vertues thereof, S. Rufins charme,
of the wearing & bearing of the name of Jesus, that the sacrament of
confession & the eucharist is of as much efficacie as other charmes,
and magnified by L. Vairus. pag. 237.

Of the noble balme used by Moses, apishlie counterfeited in the church
of Rome. pag. 238.

The opinion of Ferrarius touching charmes, periapts, appensions,
amulets, &c. Of Homericall medicines, of constant opinion, and the
effects thereof. pag. 239.

Of the effects of amulets, the drift of Argerius Ferrarius in the
commendation of charmes, &c: foure sorts of Homericall medicines, and
the choice thereof; of imagination. pag. 241.

Choice of charmes against the falling evill, the biting of a mad dog,
the stinging of a scorpion, the toothach, for a woman in travell, for
the kings evill, to get a thorne out of any member, or a bone out of
ones throte, charmes to be said fasting, or at the gathering of
hearbs, for sore eies, to open locks, against spirits, for the bots
in a horsse, and speciallie for the Duke of Albas horsse, for sowre
wines, &c. pag. 242.

¶ For the falling evill. pa. 242. Against the biting of a mad dog. pag.
243. Against the biting of a scorpion. Against the toothach. A charme
to release a woman in travell. To heale the Kings or Queenes evill, or
anie other sorenesse in the throte. A charme read in the Romish
church, upon saint Blazes daie, that will fetch a thorne out of anie
place of ones bodie, a bone out of the throte, &c: Lect. 3. pag. 244.
A charme for the headach. A charme to be said ech morning by a witch
fasting, or at least before she go abroad. Another charme that witches
use at the gathering of their medicinable hearbs. An old womans
charme, wherwith she did much good in the countrie, and grew famous
thereby. pag. 245. Another like charme. A charme to open locks. A
charme to drive awaie spirits that haunt anie house. pag. 246. A
prettie charme or conclusion for one possessed. Another for the same
purpose. Another to the same effect. Another charme or witchcraft for
the same. pag. 247. A charme for the bots in a horsse. pag. 248. A
charme against vineger. pa. 249.

The inchanting of serpents & snakes, objections answered concerning the
same; fond reasons whie charmes take effect therein, Mahomets pigeon,
miracles wrought by an Asse at Memphis in Aegypt, popish charmes
against serpents, of miracle-workers, the taming of snakes, Bodins lie
of snakes. pag. 249.

Charmes to carrie water in a sive, to know what is spoken of us behind
our backs, for bleare eies, to make seeds to growe well, of images
made of wax, to be rid of a witch, to hang hir up, notable authorities
against waxen images, a storie bewraieng the knaverie of waxen images.
pag. 256.

¶ A charme teaching how to hurt whom you list with images of wax, &c.
pag. 257.

Sundrie sorts of charmes tending to diverse purposes, and first,
certeine charmes to make taciturnitie in tortures. pag. 259.

¶ Counter charmes against these and all other witchcrafts, in the
saieng also whereof witches are vexed, &c. A charme for the choine
cough. For corporall or spirituall rest. Charmes to find out a theefe.
pag. 260. Another waie to find out a theefe that hath stolne any
thing from you. pag. 261. To put out the theeves eie. Another waie to
find out a theefe. pag. 262. A charme to find out or spoile a theefe.
S. Adelberts cursse or charme against theeves. pag. 263. Another
inchantment. pag. 266.

A charme or experiment to find out a witch. pag. 266.

¶ To spoile a theefe, a witch, or any other enimie, and to be delivered
from the evill. pag. 269. A notable charme or medicine to pull out
an arrowhead, or any such thing that sticketh in the flesh or bones,
and cannot otherwise be had out. Charmes against a quotidian ague.
For all maner of agues intermittant. Periapts, characters, &c: for
agues, and to cure all diseases, and to deliver from all evill. p.
270. More charmes for agues. pag. 271. For a bloudie fluxe, or rather
an issue of bloud. Cures commensed and finished by witchcraft, pa.
273. Another witchcraft or knaverie, practised by the same surgion.
pag. 275. Another experiment for one bewitched. Otherwise. A knacke to
know whether you be bewitched, or no, &c. pag. 276.

That one witchcraft may lawfullie meete with another. pag. 277.

Who are privileged from witches, what bodies are aptest to be
bewitched, or to be witches, why women are rather witches than men,
and what they are. pag. 277.

What miracles witchmongers report to have been done by witches words
&c: contradictions of witchmongers among themselves, how beasts are
cured hereby, of bewitched butter, a charme against witches, & a
counter charme, the effect of charmes and words prooved by L. Vairus
to be woonderfull. pag. 279.

¶ A charme to find hir that bewitched your kine. Another, for all
that have bewitched any kind of cattell. p. 281. A speciall charme to
preserve all cattell from witchcraft. pag. 282.

Lawfull charmes, rather medicinable cures for diseased cattell. The
charme of charmes, and the power thereof. pag. 283.

¶ The charme of charmes. Otherwise. pag. 284.

A confutation of the force and vertue falselie ascribed to charmes
and amulets, by the authorities of ancient writers, both divines and
physicians. pag. 285.

¶ _The xiii. Booke._

The signification of the Hebrue word Hartumim, where it is found
written in the scriptures, and how it is diverslie translated: whereby
the objection of Pharaos magicians is afterward answered in this
booke; also of naturall magicke not evill in it selfe. Pag. 287.

How the philosophers in times past travelled for the knowledge of
naturall magicke, of Salomons knowledge therein, who is to be called
a naturall magician, a distinctiō therof, and why it is condemned for
witchcraft. pag. 288.

What secrets doo lie hidden, and what is taught in naturall magicke,
how Gods glorie is magnified therein, and that it is nothing but the
worke of nature. pag. 290.

What strange things are brought to passe by naturall magicke. pag. 291.

The incredible operation of waters, both standing and running; of wels,
lakes, rivers, and of their woonderfull effects. pag. 292.

The vertues and qualities of sundrie pretious stones, of cousening
Lapidaries, &c. pag. 293.

Whence the pretious stones receive their operations, how curious
Magicians use them, and of their seales. pag. 297.

The sympathie and antipathie of naturall and elementarie bodies
declared by diverse examples of beasts, birds, plants, &c. pag. 301.

The former matter prooved by manie examples of the living and the dead.
pag. 303.

The bewitching venome conteined in the bodie of an harlot, how hir eie,
hir toong, hir beautie and behavior bewitcheth some men: of bones and
hornes yeelding great vertue. pag. 304.

Two notorious woonders and yet not marvelled at. pag. 305.

Of illusions, confederacies, and legierdemaine, and how they may be
well or ill used. pag. 307.

Of private confederacie, and of Brandons pigeon. pag. 308.

Of publike confederacie, and whereof it consisteth. pag. 309.

How men have beene abused with words of equivocation, with sundrie
examples thereof. pag. 309.

How some are abused with naturall magike, and sundrie examples therof
when illusion is added thereunto, of Jacobs pied sheepe, and of a
blacke Moore. pag. 311.

The opinion of witchmongers, that divels can create bodies, & of
Pharaos magicians. pag. 312.

How to produce or make monsters by art magike, and why Pharaos
magicians could not make lice. pa. 313.

That great matters may be wrought by this art, when princes esteeme
and mainteine it: of divers woonderfull experiments, and of strange
conclusions in glasses, of the art perspective, &c. pag. 315.

A comparison betwixt Pharaos magicians and our witches, and how their
cunning consisted in juggling knacks. pag. 317.

That the serpents and frogs were trulie presented, and the water
poisoned indeed by Jannes and Jambres, of false prophets, and of their
miracles, of Balams asse. pag. 318.

The art of juggling discovered, and in what points it dooth
principallie consist. pag. 321.

Of the ball, and the manner of legierdemaine therwith, also notable
feats with one or diverse balles. pag. 322.

¶ To make a little ball swell in your hand till it be verie great.
p. 323. To consume (or rather to conveie) one or manie balles into
nothing. pag. 324. How to rap a wag upon the knuckles. pag. 324.

Of conveiance of monie. pag. 324.

¶ To conveie monie out of one of your hands into the other by
legierdemaine. pag. 325. To convert or transubstantiate monie into
counters, or counters into monie. pag. 325. To put one testor into
one hand, and an other into the other hand, and with words to bring
them togither. pag. 325. To put one testor into a strangers hand, and
another into your owne, and to conveie both into the strangers hand
with words. pag. 326. How to doo the same or the like feat otherwise.
pa. 326. To throwe a peece of monie awaie, and to find it againe where
you list. pag. 326. With words to make a groat or a testor to leape
out of a pot, or to run alongst upon a table. pag. 327. To make a
groat or a testor to sinke through a table, and to vanish out of a
handkercher verie strangelie. pag. 327.

A notable tricke to transforme a counter to a groat. pag. 328.

An excellent feat, to make a two penie peece lie plaine in the palme of
your hand, and to be passed from thence when you list. pag. 329.

¶ To conveie a testor out of ones hand that holdeth it fast. pag. 329.
To throwe a peece of monie into a deepe pond, and to fetch it againe
from whence you list. pag. 330.

To conveie one shilling being in one hand into an other, holding your
armes abroad like a rood. pag. 330. How to rap a wag on the knuckles.
pag. 330.

To transforme anie one small thing into anie other forme by folding of
paper. pag. 331.

Of cards, with good cautions how to avoid cousenage therein: speciall
rules to conveie and handle the cards, and the maner and order how to
accomplish all difficult and strange things wrought by cards.
pag. 331.

¶ How to deliver out foure aces, and to convert them into foure knaves.
pag. 333. How to tell one what card he seeth in the bottome, when the
same card is shuffled into the stocke. pag. 334. An other waie to doo
the same, having your selfe indeed never seene the card. pag. 334. To
tell one without confederacie what card he thinketh. pag. 334.

How to tell what card anie man thinketh, how to conveie the same into
a kernell of a nut or cheristone, &c: and the same againe into ones
pocket: how to make one drawe the same or anie card you list, and all
under one devise. pag. 335.

Of fast or loose, how to knit a hard knot upon a handkercher, and to
undoo the same with words. p. 336.

¶ A notable feat of fast or loose, namelie, to pull three beadstones
from off a cord, while you hold fast the ends thereof, without
remooving of your hand. pag. 337.

Juggling knacks by confederacie, and how to know whether one cast
crosse or pile by the ringing. pag. 338.

¶ To make a shoale of goslings drawe a timber log. pag. 338. To make
a pot or anie such thing standing fast on the cupboord, to fall downe
thense by vertue of words. pag. 338. To[*] one danse naked. pag. 339.
To transforme or alter the colour of ones cap or hat. pag. 339. How to
tell where a stollen horsse is become. pag. 339.

Boxes to alter one graine into another, or to consume the graine or
come to nothing. pag. 340.

¶ How to conveie (with words or charmes) the corne conteined in one
boxe into an other. pag. 340. Of an other boxe to convert wheat into
flower with words, &c. pag. 341. Of diverse petie juggling knacks.
pag. 341.

To burne a thred, and to make it whole againe with the ashes thereof.
pag. 341.

¶ To cut a lace asunder in the middest, and to make it whole againe.
pag. 342. How to pull laces innumerable out of your mouth, of what
colour or length you list, and never anie thing seene to be therein.
pag. 343.

How to make a booke, wherein you shall shew everie leafe therein to be
white, blacke, blew, red, yellow, greene, &c. pag. 343.

Desperate or dangerous juggling knacks, wherin the simple are made to
thinke, that a seelie juggler with words can hurt and helpe, kill and
revive anie creature at his pleasure: and first to kill anie kind of
pullen, and to give it life againe. pag. 346.

¶ To eate a knife, and to fetch it out of anie other place. pag. 346.
To thrust a bodkin into your head without hurt. pag. 347. To thrust a
bodkin through your toong, and a knife through your arme: a pittiful
sight, without hurt or danger. pag. 347. To thrust a peece of lead
into one eie, and to drive it about (with a sticke) betweene the skin
and flesh of the forehead, untill it be brought to the other eie, and
there thrust out. pag. 348. To cut halfe your nose asunder, and to
heale it againe presentlie without anie salve. pag. 348.

To put a ring through your cheeke. pag. 348. To cut off ones head, and
to laie it in a platter, &c: which the juglers call the decollation
of John Baptist. pag. 349. To thrust a dagger or bodkin in your guts
verie strangelie, and to recover immediatlie. pag. 350. To draw a cord
through your nose, mouth or hand, so sensiblie as it is wonderfull to
see. pag. 351.

The conclusion wherein the reader is referred to certeine patterns of
instruments wherewith diverse feats here specified are to be executed.
pag. 351.

♦[*] [make]♦

¶_The xiiii. Booke._

Of the art of Alcumysterie, of their woords of art and devises to
bleare mens eies, and to procure credit to their profession. Pag. 353.

The Alcumysters drift, the Chanons yeomans tale, of alcumystical stones
and waters. pag. 355.

Of a yeoman of the countrie cousened by an Alcumyst. pag. 357.

A certeine king abused by an Alcumyst, and of the kings foole a pretie
jest. pag. 360.

A notable storie written by Erasmus of two Alcumysts, also of longation
and curtation. pag. 361.

The opinion of diverse learned men touching the follie of Alcumystrie.
pag. 368.

That vaine and deceitfull hope is a great cause why men are seduced by
this alluring art, and that there labours therein are bootelesse, &c.
pag. 371.

A continuation of the former matter, with a conclusion of the same.
p. 372.

¶ _The xv. Booke._

The exposition of Iidoni, and where it is found, whereby the whole art
of conjuration is deciphered. Pag. 376.

An inventarie of the names, shapes, powers, governement, and effects
of divels and spirits, of their severall segniorities and degrees: a
strange discourse woorth the reading. p. 377.

The houres wherein principall divels may be bound; to wit, raised and
restrained from dooing of hurt. p. 393.

The forme of adjuring or citing of the spirits aforesaid to arise &
appeare. page. 393.

A confutation of the manifold vanities conteined in the precedent
chapters, speciallie of commanding of divels. pag. 396.

The names of the planets, their characters, togither with the twelve
signes of the zodiake, their dispositions, aspects, and government,
with other observations. pag. 397.

¶ The twelve signes of the zodiake, their characters and denominations,
&c. pag. 397. Their dispositions or inclinations. 397. The disposition
of the planets. pag. 398. The aspects of the planets. 398. How the
daie is divided or distinguished. 398. The division of the daie, and
the planetarie regiment. pag. 399. The division of the night, and the
planetarie regiment. pag. 399.

The characters of the angels of the seven daies, with their names: of
figures, seales and periapts. pag. 400.

An experiment of the dead. pag. 401.

A licence for Sibylia to go and come by at all times. pag. 407.

To know of treasure hidden in the earth. pag. 408.

¶ This is the waie to go invisible by these three sisters of fairies.
408.

An experiment of Citrael, &c: _angeli diei dominici_. pag. 410.

¶ The seven angels of the seven daies, with the praier called _Regina
linguæ_. pag. 410.

How to inclose a spirit in a christall stone. pag. 411.

A figure or type proportionall, shewing what forme must be observed and
kept, in making the figure whereby the former secret of inclosing a
spirit in christall is to be accomplished, &c. pag. 414.

An experiment of Bealphares. pag. 415.

¶ The twoo and twentieth Psalme. pag. 416.

This psalme also following, being the fiftie one psalme, must be said
three times over, &c. pag. 416.

To bind the spirit Bealphares, and to lose him againe. pag. 418.

¶ A licence for the spirit to depart. pag. 419. A type or figure of the
circle for the maister and his fellowes to sit in, shewing how & after
what fashion it should be made. pag. 420.

The making of the holie water. pag. 421.

¶ To the water saie also as followeth. pag. 421. Then take the salt in
thy hand, and saie putting it into the water, making in the maner of a
crosse. pag. 421. Then sprinkle upon anie thing, and saie as
followeth. pag. 422.

To make a spirit to appeare in a christall. pag. 422.

An experiment of the dead. pag. 423.

¶ Now the Pater noster, Ave, and Credo must be said, and then the
praier immediatlie following. p. 425.

A bond to bind him to thee, and to thy N. as followeth. pag. 425.

¶ This bōd as followeth, is to call him into your christall stone, or
glasse, &c. pag. 428. Then being appeared, saie these words following.
pag. 429. A licence to depart. pag. 429.

When to talke with spirits, and to have true answers to find out a
theefe. pag. 430.

¶ To speake with spirits. pag. 430.

A confutation of conjuration, especiallie of the raising, binding and
dismissing of the divell, of going invisible and other lewd practises.
pag. 430.

A comparison betweene popish exorcists and other conjurors, a popish
conjuration published by a great doctor of the Romish church, his
rules and cautions. pag. 433.

A late experiment, or cousening conjuration practised at Orleance by
the Franciscane Friers, how it was detected, and the judgement against
the authors of that comedie. pag. 435.

Who may be conjurors in the Romish church besides priests, a ridiculous
definition of superstition, what words are to be used and not used in
exorcismes, rebaptisme allowed, it is lawfull to conjure any thing,
differences betweene holie water and conjuration. pag. 438.

The seven reasons why some are not rid of the divell with all their
popish conjurations, why there were no cōjurors in the primitive
church, and why the divell is not so soone cast out of the bewitched
as of the possessed. pag. 441.

Other grosse absurdities of witchmongers in this matter of
conjurations. pag. 443.

Certaine conjurations taken out of the pontificall and out of the
missall. pag. 444.

¶ A conjuration written in the masse booke. Fol. 1. pag. 445. Oremus.
pag. 445.

That popish priests leave nothing unconjured, a forme of exorcisme for
incense. pag. 446.

The rules and lawes of popish Exorcists and other conjurors all one,
with a confutation of their whole power, how S. Martine conjured the
divell. pag. 447.

That it is a shame for papists to beleeve other conjurors dooings,
their owne being of so litle force, Hippocrates his opinion herein.
pag. 450.

How conjurors have beguiled witches, what bookes they carie about
to procure credit to their art, wicked assertions against Moses and
Joseph. pag. 451.

All magicall arts confuted by an argument concerning Nero, what
Cornelius Agrippa and Carolus Gallus have left written therof, and
prooved by experience. pag. 452.

Of Salomons conjurations, and of the opinion conceived of his cunning
and practise therein. pag. 454.

Lessons read in all churches, where the pope hath authoritie, on Saint
Margarets daie, translated into English word for word. pag. 455.

A delicate storie of a Lombard, who by saint Margarets example would
needs fight with a reall divell. pag. 457.

The storie of S. Margaret prooved to be both ridiculous and impious in
everie point. pag. 459.

A pleasant miracle wrought by a popish preest. pag. 460.

The former miracle confuted, with a strange storie of S. Lucie.
pag. 461.

Of visions, noises, apparitions, and imagined sounds, and of other
illusions, of wandering soules: with a confutation thereof. pag. 461.

Cardanus opinion of strange noises, how counterfet visions grow to be
credited, of popish appeerances, of pope Boniface. pag. 464.

Of the noise or sound of eccho, of one that narrowlie escaped drowning
thereby &c. pag. 465.

Of Theurgie, with a confutation therof, a letter sent to me concerning
these matters. pag. 466.

¶ The copie of a letter sent unto me R. S. by T. E. Maister of art, and
practiser both of physicke, and also in times past, of certeine vaine
sciences; now condemned to die for the same: wherein he openeth the
truth touching these deceits. pag. 467.

¶ _The xvi. Booke._

A conclusion, in maner of an epilog, repeating manie of the former
absurdities of witchmongers conceipts, confutations thereof, and of
the authoritie of James Sprenger and Henry Institor inquisitors and
compilers of M. Mal. Pa. 470.

By what meanes the common people have beene made beleeve in the
miraculous works of witches, a definition of witchcraft, and a
description thereof. pag. 471.

Reasons to proove that words and characters are but bables, and that
witches cannot doo such things as the multitude supposeth they can,
their greatest woonders prooved trifles, of a yoong gentleman
cousened. pag. 473.

Of one that was so bewitched that he could read no scriptures but
canonicall, of a divell that could speake no Latine, a proofe that
witchcraft is flat cousenage. pag. 476.

Of the divination by the sive & sheeres, and by the booke and key,
Hemingius his opinion thereof confuted, a bable to know what is a
clocke, of certeine jugling knacks, manifold reasons for the
overthrowe of witches and conjurors, and their cousenages, of the
divels transformations, of _Ferrum candens, &c._ pag. 477.

How the divell preached good doctrine in the shape of a preest, how
he was discovered, and that it is a shame (after confutation of the
greater witchcrafts) for anie man to give credit to the lesser points
thereof. pag. 481.

A conclusion against witchcraft, in maner and forme of an Induction.
pag. 483.

Of naturall witchcraft or fascination. pag. 484.

Of inchanting or bewitching eies. pag. 485.

Of naturall witchcraft for love, &c. pag. 487.

• • • • •

A discourse upon divels and spirits, and first of philosophers
opinions, also the maner of their reasoning hereupon, and the same
confuted. Pag. 489.

Mine owne opinion concerning this argument, to the disproofe of some
writers hereupon. pag. 491.

The opinion of Psellus touching spirits, of their severall orders, and
a confutation of his errors therein. pag. 492.

More absurd assertions of Psellus and such others, concerning the
actions and passions of spirits, his definition of them, and of his
experience therein. pag. 495.

The opinion of Fascius Cardanus touching spirits, and of his familiar
divell. pag. 497.

The opinion of Plato concerning spirits, divels and angels, what
sacrifices they like best, what they feare, and of Socrates his
familiar divell. pag. 498.

Platos nine orders of spirits and angels, Dionysius his division
thereof not much differing from the same, all disprooved by learned
divines. pag. 500.

The commensement of divels fondlie gathered out of the 14. of Isaie, of
Lucifer and of his fall, the Cabalists the Thalmudists and Schoolemens
opinions of the creation of angels. pag. 501.

Of the cōtention betweene the Greeke and Latine church touching
the fall of angels, the variance among papists themselves herein, a
conflict betweene Michael and Lucifer. pag. 503.

Where the battell betweene Michael and Lucifer was fought, how long it
continued, and of their power, how fondlie papists and infidels write
of them, and how reverentlie Christians ought to thinke of them.
p. 504.

Whether they became divels which being angels kept not their vocation,
in Jude and Peter; of the fond opinions of the Rabbins touching
spirits and bugs, with a confutation thereof. pag. 506.

That the divels assaults are spirituall and not temporall, and how
grosselie some understand those parts of the scripture. pag. 508.

The equivocation of this word spirit, how diverslie it is taken in the
scriptures, where (by the waie) is taught that the scripture is not
alwaies literallie to be interpreted, nor yet allegoricallie to be
understood. pa. 509.

That it pleased God to manifest the power of his sonne and not of
witches by miracles. pag. 512.

Of the possessed with devils. pag. 513.

That we being not throughlie informed of the nature of divels and
spirits, must satisfie our selves with that which is dilivered us
in the scriptures touching the same, how this word divell is to be
understood both in the singular & plurall number, of the spirit of God
and the spirit of the divell, of tame spirits, of Ahab. pag. 514.

Whether spirits and soules can assume bodies, and of their creation and
substance, wherein writers doo extreamelie contend and varie.
pag. 516.

Certeine popish reasons concerning spirits made of aier, of daie divels
and night divels, and why the divell loveth no salt in his meate.
pag. 517.

That such divels as are mentioned in the scriptures, have in their
names their nature and qualities expressed, with instances thereof.
pag. 518.

Diverse names of the divell, whereby his nature and disposition is
manifested. pag. 520.

That the idols or gods of the Gentiles are divels, their diverse
names, and in what affaires their labours and authorities are
emploied, wherein also the blind superstition of the heathen people is
discovered. pag. 521.

Of the Romans cheefe gods called _Dii selecti_, and of other heathen
gods, their names and offices. pag. 523.

Of diverse gods in diverse countries. pag. 525.

Of popish provinciall gods, a comparison betweene them and heathen
gods, of physicall gods, and of what occupation everie popish god is.
pag. 526.

A comparison betweene the heathen and papists, touching their excuses
for idolatrie. pag. 529.

The conceipt of the heathen and the papists all one in idolatrie, of
the councell of Trent, a notable storie of a hangman arraigned after
he was dead and buried, &c. pag. 530.

A confutation of the fable of the hangman, of manie other feined and
ridiculous tales and apparitions, with a reproofe thereof. pag. 532.

A confutation of Johannes Laurentius, and of manie others, mainteining
these fained and ridiculous tales and apparitions, & what driveth them
awaie; of Moses and Helias appearance in Mount Thabor. pag. 534.

A confutation of assuming of bodies, and of the serpent that seduced
Eve. pag. 536.

The objection concerning the divels assuming of the serpents bodie
answered. pag. 537.

Of the cursse rehearsed Genes. 3. and that place rightlie expounded,
John Calvines opinion of the divell. pag. 539.

Mine owne opinion and resolution of the nature of spirits, and of the
divell, with his properties. pag. 540.

Against fond witchmongers, and their opinions concerning corporall
divels. pag. 542.

A conclusion wherin the Spirit of spirits is described, by the
illumination of which spirit all spirits are to be tried: with a
confutation of the Pneutomachi[*] flatlie denieng the divinitie of
this Spirit. pag. 543.

♦[*] [Pneuma-]♦

_FINIS._

¶ Imprinted at London by
_William Brome_.

❦

[These Contents in original end the book as do our Indices.]

APPENDIX I.

[_Ch. 1 to 9 affixed to the 15th Book in Ed. 1665._]

CHAP. Page.

I. _Of Magical Circles, and the reason of their Institution._ 215

II. _How to raise up the Ghost of one that hath hanged himself._ 217

III. _How to raise up the three Spirits,_ Paymon, Bathin, _and_
Barma; _and what wonderful things may be effected through their
Assistance._ 218

IV. _How to consecrate all manner of Circles, Fumigations, Fires,
Magical Garments, and Utensils._ 220

V. _Treating more practically of the Consecration of Circles, Fires,
Garments and Fumigations._ 221

VI. _How to raise and exorcise all sorts of Spirits belonging to the
Airy Region._ 222

VII. _How to obtain the familiarity of the_ Genius, _or_ Good Angel,
_and cause him to appear._ 223

VIII. _A form of Conjuring_ Luridan _the Familiar, otherwise called_
Belelah. 224

IX. _How to conjure the Spirit_ Balkin _the Master of_ Luridan. 226

APPENDIX II.

[_Second Book of A Discourse on Devils and Spirits._]

BOOK II.

Chap. Page.

I. _Of Spirits in general, what they are, and how to be considered,
also how far the power of Magitians and Witches, is able to operate
in Diabolical Magick._ 39

II. _Of the good and evil_ Dæmons _or_ Genii; _whether they are, what
they are, and how they are manifested; also of their names, powers,
faculties, offices, how they are to be considered._ 42

III. _Of the Astral Spirits of Men departed; what they are, and why
they appear again, and what witchcraft may be wrought by them._ 45

IV. _Of astral spirits, or separate_ dæmons _in all their
distinctions, names, & natures, and places of habitations, & what
may be wrought by their assistance._ 49

V. _Of the Infernal Spirits, or Devils, & damned souls, treating what
their natures, names, & powers are._ 56

VI. _Of the nature, force, & forms of charms, periapts, amulets,
pentacles, conjurations, ceremonies, &c._ 66

VII. _Being the conclusion of the whole, wherein divers ancient
spells, charms, incantations, and exorcisms, are briefly spoken
of._ 68

THE END.

The discoverie of Witchcraft.

¶ _The first Booke._

The first Chapter.

_An impeachment of Witches power in meteors and elementarie
bodies tending to the rebuke of such as attribute too much
unto them._

The fables of Witchcraft have taken so fast hold and deepe root in
the heart of man, that fewe or none can (nowadaies) with patience
indure the hand and correction of God. For if any adversitie, greefe,
sicknesse, losse of children, corne, cattell, or libertie happen vnto
them; by & by they exclaime uppon witches. As though there were no God
in Israel that ordereth all things according to his will; punishing
both just and unjust with greefs, plagues, and afflictions in maner and
forme as he thinketh good: but that certeine old women heere on earth,
called witches, must needs be the contrivers of all mens calamities,
and as though they themselves were innocents, and had deserved no such
punishments. Insomuch as they sticke not to ride and go to such, as
either are injuriouslie tearmed witches, or else are willing so to be
accounted, seeking at their hands comfort and remedie in time of their
tribulation, contrarie to Gods will and commandement in that behalfe,
who bids us resort to him in all our necessities.

♦Job. 5.♦

♦Matth. 11.♦

Such faithlesse people (I saie) are also persuaded, that neither haile
nor snowe, thunder nor lightening, raine nor tempestuous winds come
from the heavens at the commandement of God: but are raised by the
cunning and power of witches and conjurers; insomuch as a clap of
thunder, or a gale of wind is no sooner heard, but either they run to
ring bels, or crie out to burne witches; or else burne consecrated
things, hoping by the smoke thereof, to drive the divell out of the
aire, as though spirits could be fraied awaie with such externall
toies: howbeit, these are right inchantments, as _Brentius_ affirmeth.

♦_In concione._♦

But certeinlie, it is neither a witch, nor divell, but a glorious[a]
God that maketh the thunder. I have read in the scriptures, that
God[b] maketh the blustering tempests and whirlewinds: and I find that
it is[c] the Lord that altogither dealeth with them, and that they[d]
blowe according to his will. But let me see anie of them all[e]
rebuke and still the sea in time of tempest, as Christ did; or raise
the stormie wind, as [f]God did with his word; and I will beleeve in
them. Hath anie witch or conjurer, or anie creature entred into the
[g]treasures of the snowe; or seene the secret places of the haile,
which GOD hath prepared against the daie of trouble, battell, and
warre? I for my part also thinke with Jesus Sirach, that at Gods onelie
commandement the snowe falleth; and that the wind bloweth according to
his will, who onelie maketh all stormes to cease; and[h] who (if we
keepe his ordinances) will send us raine in due season, and make the
land to bring forth hir increase, and the trees of the field to give
their fruit.

♦[a] Psal. 25.♦

♦[b] Psal. 83.♦

♦[c] Eccles. 43.♦

♦[d] Luke. 8.
Matth. 8.♦

♦[e] Mark. 4. 41.
Luke. 8. 14.♦

♦[f] Psal. 170.♦

♦[g] Job. 38, 22.♦

♦Eccles. 43.♦

♦[h] Leviti. 26. verse. 3, 4.♦

But little thinke our witchmongers, that the [i]Lord commandeth the
clouds above, or openeth the doores of heaven, as _David_ affirmeth; or
that the Lord goeth forth in the tempests and stormes, as the Prophet
[k]_Nahum_ reporteth: but rather that witches and conjurers are then
about their businesse.

♦[i] Psal. 78, 23.♦

♦[k] Nahum. 1.♦

The _Martionists_ acknowledged one God the authour of good things, and
another the ordeiner of evill: but these make the divell a whole god,
to create things of nothing, to knowe mens cogitations, and to doo
that which God never did; as, to transubstantiate men into beasts, &c.
Which thing if divels could doo, yet followeth it not, that witches
have such power. But if all the divels in hell were dead, and all the
witches in _England_ burnt or hanged; I warrant you we should not faile
to have raine, haile and tempests, as now we have: according to the
appointment and will of God, and according to the constitution of the
elements, and the course of the planets, wherein God hath set a perfect
and perpetuall order.

I am also well assured, that if all the old women in the world were
witches; and all the priests, conjurers: we should not have a drop of
raine, nor a blast of wind the more or the lesse for them. For [l]the
Lord hath bound the waters in the clouds, and hath set bounds about
the waters, untill the daie and night come to an end: yea it is God
that raiseth the winds and stilleth them: and he saith to the raine and
snowe; Be upon the earth, and it falleth. The [m]wind of the Lord, and
not the wind of witches, shall destroie the treasures of their plesant
vessels, and drie up the fountaines; saith _Oseas_. Let us also learne
and confesse with the Prophet _David_, that we[n] our selves are the
causes of our afflictions; and not exclaime upon witches, when we
should call upon God for mercie.

♦[l] Job. 26, 8.
Job. 37.
Psalme. 135.
Jer. 10 & 15.♦

♦[m] Ose. 13.♦

♦[n] Psa. 39, &c.♦

The Imperiall lawe (saith _Brentius_) condemneth them to death that
trouble and infect the aire: but I affirme (saith he) that it is
neither in the power of witch not divell so to doo, but in God onelie.
Though (besides _Bodin_, and all the popish writers in generall) it
please _Danæus_, _Hyperius_, _Hemingius_, _Erastus_, &c. to conclude
otherwise. The clouds[o] are called the pillers of Gods tents, Gods
chariots, and his pavillions. And if it be so, what witch or divell
can make maisteries therof? S. _Augustine_ saith, _Non est putandum
istis transgressoribus angelis servire hanc rerum visibilium materiem,
sed soli Deo_: We must not thinke that these visible things are at the
commandement of the angels that fell, but are obedient to the onelie
God.

♦_In epist. ad Jo. Wierum._♦

[o] Exod. 13.
Isai. 66.
Ps. 18, 11. 19.

♦_August. 3. de sancta Trinit._♦

Finallie, if witches could accomplish these things; what needed it
seeme so strange to the people, when Christ by miracle [p]commanded
both seas and winds, &c. For it is written; Who is this? for both wind
and sea obeie him.

♦[p] Mar. 4, 41.♦

The second Chapter.

_The inconvenience growing by mens credulitie herein, with a
reproofe of some churchmen, which are inclined to the common
conceived opinion of witches omnipotencie, and a familiar
example thereof._

But the world is now so bewitched and over-run with this fond error,
that even where a man shuld seeke comfort and counsell, there shall hee
be sent (in case of necessitie) from God to the divell; and from the
Physician, to the coosening witch, who will not sticke to take upon
hir, by wordes to heale the lame (which was proper onelie to Christ;
and to them whom he assisted with his divine power) yea, with hir
familiar & charmes she will take upon hir to cure the blind: though
in the [a]tenth of S. _Johns_ Gospell it be written, that the divell
cannot open the eies of the blind. And they attaine such credit as I
have heard (to my greefe) some of the ministerie affirme, that they
have had in their parish at one instant, xvii. or xviii. witches:
meaning such as could worke miracles supernaturallie. Whereby they
manifested as well their infidelitie and ignorance, in conceiving Gods
word; as their negligence and error in instructing their flocks. For
they themselves might understand, and also teach their parishoners,
that [b]God onelie worketh great woonders; and that it is he which
sendeth such punishments to the wicked, and such trials to the elect:
according to the saieng of the Prophet _Haggai_,[c] I smote you with
blasting and mildeaw, and with haile, in all the labours of your hands;
and yet you turned not unto me, saith the Lord. And therefore saith the
same Prophet in another place;[d] You have sowen much, and bring in
little. And both in [e]_Joel_ and [f]_Leviticus_, the like phrases
and proofes are used and made. But more shalbe said of this hereafter.

♦[a] Joh. 10, 21.♦

♦[b] Psal. 72, & 136.
Jeremie, 5.♦

♦[c] Hag. 2, 28.♦

♦[d] Idem. cap. 1, 6.♦

♦[e] Joel. 1.♦

♦[f] Leviti. 26.♦

S. _Paule_ fore-sawe the blindnesse and obstinacie, both of these blind
shepheards, and also of their scabbed sheepe, when he said; [g]They
will not suffer wholsome doctrine, but having their eares itching,
shall get them a heape of teachers after their own lusts; and shall
turne their eares from the truth, and shall be given to fables. And
[h]in the latter time some shall depart from the faith, and shall give
heed to spirits of errors, and doctrines of divels, which speake lies
(as witches and conjurers doo) but cast thou awaie such prophane and
old wives fables. In which sense Basil saith; Who so giveth heed to
inchanters, hearkeneth to a fabulous and frivolous thing. But I will
rehearse an example whereof I my selfe am not onelie _Oculatus testis_,
but have examined the cause, and am to justifie the truth of my report:
not bicause I would disgrace the ministers that are godlie, but to
confirme my former assertion, that this absurd error is growne into the
place, which should be able to expell all such ridiculous follie and
impietie.

♦[g] 2 Tim. 4, 34.♦

♦[h] 1 Tim. 4. 1.♦

At the assises holden at _Rochester_, Anno 1581, one _Margaret
Simons_, the wife of _John Simons_, of _Brenchlie_ in _Kent_, was
araigned for witchcraft, at the instigation and complaint of divers
fond and malicious persons; and speciallie by the meanes of one _John
Ferrall_ vicar of that parish: with whom I talked about that matter,
and found him both fondlie assotted in the cause, and enviouslie bent
towards hir: and (which is worse) as unable to make a good account of
his faith, as shee whom he accused. That which he, for his part, laid
to the poore womans charge, was this.

♦A storie of Margaret Simons, a supposed witch.♦

His sonne (being an ungratious boie, and prentise to one _Robert
Scotchford_ clothier, dwelling in that parish of _Brenchlie_) passed on
a daie by hir house; at whome by chance hir little dog barked. Which
thing the boie taking in evill part, drewe his knife, & pursued him
therewith even to hir doore: whom she rebuked with some such words
as the boie disdained, & yet neverthelesse would not be persuaded
to depart in a long time. At the last he returned to his maisters
house, and within five or sixe daies fell sicke. Then was called to
mind the fraie betwixt the dog and the boie: insomuch as the vicar
(who thought himselfe so privileged, as he little mistrusted that God
would visit his children with sicknes) did so calculate; as he found,
partlie through his owne judgement, and partlie (as he himselfe told
me) by the relation of other witches, that his said sonne was by hir
bewitched. Yea, he also told me, that this his sonne (being as it were
past all cure) received perfect health at the hands of another witch.

He proceeded yet further against hir, affirming, that alwaies in his
parish church, when he desired to read most plainelie, his voice so
failed him, as he could scant be heard at all. Which hee could impute,
he said, to nothing else, but to hir inchantment. When I advertised the
poore woman hereof, as being desirous to heare what she could saie for
hir selfe; she told me, that in verie deed his voice did much faile
him, speciallie when he strained himselfe to speake lowdest. How beit,
she said that at all times his voice was hoarse and lowe: which thing
I perceived to be true. But sir, said she, you shall understand, that
this our vicar is diseased with such a kind of hoarsenesse, as divers
of our neighbors in this parish, not long since, doubted that he had
the French pox; & in that respect utterly refused to communicate with
him: untill such time as (being therunto injoined by M. D. _Lewen_ the
Ordinarie) he had brought frō _London_ a certificat, under the hands
of two physicians, that his hoarsenes proceeded from a disease in the
lungs. Which certificat he published in the church, in the presence of
the whole congregation: and by this meanes hee was cured, or rather
excused of the shame of his disease. And this I knowe to be true by the
relation of divers honest men of that parish. And truelie, if one of
the Jurie had not beene wiser than the other, she had beene condemned
thereupon, and upon other as ridiculous matters as this. For the name
of a witch is so odious, and hir power so feared among the common
people, that if the honestest bodie living chance to be arraigned
therupon, she shall hardlie escape condemnation.

The third Chapter.

_Who they be that are called witches, with a manifest
declaration of the cause that mooveth men so commonlie to
thinke, and witches themselves to beleeve that they can hurt
children, cattell, &c. with words and imaginations: and of
coosening witches._

One sort of such as are said to bee witches, are women which be
commonly old, lame, bleare-eied, pale, fowle, and full of wrinkles;
poore, sullen, superstitious, and papists; or such as knowe no
religion: in whose drousie minds the divell hath goten a fine seat;
so as, what mischeefe, mischance, calamitie, or slaughter is brought
to passe, they are easilie persuaded the same is doone by themselves;
inprinting in their minds an earnest and constant imagination hereof.
They are leane and deformed, shewing melancholie in their faces, to the
horror of all that see them. They are doting, scolds, mad, divelish;
and not much differing from them that are thought to be possessed with
spirits; so firme and stedfast in their opinions, as whosoever shall
onelie have respect to the constancie of their words uttered, would
easilie beleeve they were true indeed.

♦_Cardan. de var. rerum._♦

These miserable wretches are so odious unto all their neighbors, and so
feared, as few dare offend them, or denie them anie thing they aske:
whereby they take upon them; yea, and sometimes thinke, that they can
doo such things as are beyond the abilitie of humane nature. These go
from house to house, and from doore to doore for a pot full of milke,
yest, drinke, pottage, or some such releefe; without the which they
could hardlie live: neither obtaining for their service and paines, nor
by their art, nor yet at the divels hands (with whome they are said to
make a perfect and visible bargaine) either beautie, monie, promotion,
welth, worship, pleasure, honor, knowledge, learning, or anie other
benefit whatsoever.

It falleth out many times, that neither their necessities, nor their
expectation is answered or served, in those places where they beg or
borrowe; but rather their lewdnesse is by their neighbors reprooved.
And further, in tract of time the witch waxeth odious and tedious
to hir neighbors; and they againe are despised and despited of hir:
so as sometimes she cursseth one, and sometimes another; and that
from the maister of the house, his wife, children, cattell, &c. to
the little pig that lieth in the stie. Thus in processe of time they
have all displeased hir, and she hath wished evill lucke unto them
all; perhaps with cursses and imprecations made in forme. Doubtlesse
(at length) some of hir neighbors die, or fall sicke; or some of
their children are visited with diseases that vex them strangelie: as
apoplexies, epilepsies, convulsions, hot fevers, wormes, &c. Which
by ignorant parents are supposed to be the vengeance of witches.
Yea and their opinions and conceits are confirmed and maintained
by unskilfull physicians: according to the common saieng; _Inscitiæ
pallium maleficium & incantatio_, Witchcraft and inchantment is the
cloke of ignorance: whereas indeed evill humors, & not strange words,
witches, or spirits are the causes of such diseases. Also some of their
cattell perish, either by disease or mischance. Then they, upon whom
such adversities fall, weighing the fame that goeth upon this woman
(hir words, displeasure, and cursses meeting so justlie with their
misfortune) doo not onelie conceive, but also are resolved, that all
their mishaps are brought to passe by hir onelie meanes.

The witch on the other side exspecting hir neighbours mischances, and
seeing things sometimes come to passe according to hir wishes, cursses,
and incantations (for _Bodin_ himselfe confesseth, that not above two
in a hundred of their witchings or wishings take effect) being called
before a Justice, by due examination of the circumstances is driven
to see hir imprecations and desires, and hir neighbors harmes and
losses to concurre, and as it were to take effect: and so confesseth
that she (as a goddes) hath brought such things to passe. Wherein, not
onelie she, but the accuser, and also the Justice are fowlie deceived
and abused; as being thorough hir confession and other circumstances
persuaded (to the injurie of Gods glorie) that she hath doone, or can
doo that which is proper onelie to God himselfe.

Another sort of witches there are, which be absolutelie cooseners.
These take upon them, either for glorie, fame, or gaine, to doo anie
thing, which God or the divell can doo: either for foretelling of
things to come, bewraieng of secrets, curing of maladies, or working of
miracles. But of these I will talke more at large heereafter.

♦_Bodin. li. 2. de dæmono: cap. 8._♦

The fourth Chapter.

_What miraculous actions are imputed to witches by witchmongers,
papists, and poets._

Although it be quite against the haire, and contrarie to the divels
will, contrarie to the witches oth, promise, and homage, and contrarie
to all reason, that witches should helpe anie thing that is bewitched;
but rather set forward their maisters businesse: yet we read _In malleo
maleficarum_, of three sorts of witches; and the same is affirmed by
all the writers heereupon, new and old. One sort (they say) can hurt
and not helpe, the second can helpe and not hurt, the third can both
helpe and hurt. And among the hurtfull witches he saith there is one
sort more beastlie than any kind of beasts, saving woolves: for these
usuallie devoure and eate yong children and infants of their owne kind.
These be they (saith he) that raise haile, tempests, and hurtfull
weather; as lightening, thunder, &c. These be they that procure
barrennesse in man, woman, and beast. These can throwe children into
waters, as they walke with their mothers, and not be seene. These can
make horsses kicke, till they cast the riders. These can passe from
place to place in the aire invisible. These can so alter the mind of
judges, that they can have no power to hurt them. These can procure
to themselves and to others, taciturnitie and insensibilitie in their
torments. These can bring trembling to the hands, and strike terror
into the minds of them that apprehend them. These can manifest unto
others, things hidden and lost, and foreshew things to come; and
see them as though they were present. These can alter mens minds to
inordinate love or hate. These can kill whom they list with lightening
and thunder. These can take awaie mans courage, and the power of
generation. These can make a woman miscarrie in childbirth, and
destroie the child in the mothers wombe, without any sensible meanes
either inwardlie or outwardlie applied. These can with their looks kill
either man or beast.

♦_Mal. Malef. par. 2. quæst. 1. cap, 2._♦

All these things are avowed by _James Sprenger_ and _Henrie Institor_
_In malleo maleficarum_, to be true, & confirmed by _Nider_, and the
inquisitor _Cumanus_; and also by _Danæus_, _Hyperius_, _Hemingius_,
and multiplied by _Bodinus_, and frier _Bartholomæus Spineus_. But
bicause I will in no wise abridge the authoritie of their power, you
shall have also the testimonies of manie other grave authors in this
behalfe; as followeth.

[*]And first _Ovid_ affirmeth, that they can raise and suppresse
lightening and thunder, raine and haile, clouds and winds, tempests and
earthquakes. Others doo write, that they can pull downe the moone and
the starres. Some write that with wishing they can send needles into
the livers of their enimies. Some that they can transferre corne in
the blade from one place to another. Some, that they can cure diseases
supernaturallie, flie in the aire, and danse with divels. Some write,
that they can plaie the part of _Succubus_, and contract themselves to
_Incubus_; and so yoong prophets are upon them begotten, &c. Som saie
they can transubstantiate themselves and others, and take the forms and
shapes of asses, woolves, ferrets, cowes, apes, horsses, dogs, &c. Some
say they can keepe divels and spirits in the likenesse of todes and
cats.

♦[*] _Ovid. lib. metamorphoseôn 7._
_Danæus in dialog._
_Psellus in operatione dæm._
_Virg. in Damo_
_Hora. epod. 5._
_Tibul. de fascinat. lib. 1. eleg. 2._
_Ovid epist 4._
_Lex. 12. Tabularum._
_Mal. Malef._
_Lucā. de bello civili. lib. 6._
_Virg. eclog. 8._
_Ovid. de remedio amoris. lib. 1._
_Hyperius._
_Erastus._
_Rich. Gal. in his horrible treatise._
_Hemingius._
_Bar. Spineus._
_Bryan Darcy Confessio Windesor._
_Virgil. Aeneid. 4._
_C. Manlius astrol. lib. 1._♦

They can raise spirits (as others affirme) drie up springs, turne the
course of running waters, inhibit the sunne, and staie both day and
night, changing the one into the other. They can go in and out at awger
holes, & saile in an egge shell, a cockle or muscle shell, through and
under the tempestuous seas. They can go invisible, and deprive men of
their privities, and otherwise of the act and use of venerie. They can
bring soules out of the graves. They can teare snakes in peeces with
words, and with looks kill lambes. But in this case a man may saie,
that _Miranda canunt sed non credenda Poetæ_. They can also bring to
passe, that chearne as long as you list, your butter will not come;
especiallie, if either the maids have eaten up the creame; or the
goodwife have sold the butter before in the market. Whereof I have had
some triall, although there may be true and naturall causes to hinder
the common course thereof: as for example. Put a little sope or sugar
into your chearne of creame, and there will never come anie butter,
chearne as long as you list. But _M. Mal._ saith, that there is not so
little a village, where manie women are not that bewitch, infect, and
kill kine, and drie up the milke: alledging for the strengthening of
that assertion, the saieing of the Apostle, _Nunquid Deo cura est de
bobus?_ Dooth God take anie care of oxen?

♦_Mal. Malef. part. 2. quæst 1. cap. 14._
1. Cor 9, 9.♦

The fift Chapter.

_A confutation of the common conceived opinion of witches and
witchcraft, and how detestable a sinne it is to repaire to
them for counsell or helpe in time of affliction._

But whatsoever is reported or conceived of such maner of witchcrafts,
I dare avow to be false and fabulous (coosinage, dotage, and poisoning
excepted:) neither is there any mention made of these kind of witches
in the Bible. If Christ had knowne them, he would not have pretermitted
to invaie against their presumption, in taking upon them his office:
as, to heale and cure diseases; and to worke such miraculous and
supernaturall things, as whereby he himselfe was speciallie knowne,
beleeved, and published to be God; his actions and cures consisting (in
order and effect) according to the power by our witchmoongers imputed
to witches. Howbeit, if there be any in these daies afflicted in such
strange sort, as Christs cures and patients are described in the new
testament to have beene: we flie from trusting in God to trusting in
witches, who doo not onelie in their coosening art take on them the
office of Christ in this behalfe; but use his verie phrase of speech
to such idolaters, as com to seeke divine assistance at their hands,
saieng; Go thy waies, thy sonne or thy daughter, &c. shall doo well,
and be whole.

♦John. 5: 6.
Mark. 5. 34.♦

It will not suffice to dissuade a witchmonger from his credulitie,
that he seeth the sequele and event to fall out manie times contrarie
to their assertion; but in such case (to his greater condemnation)
he seeketh further to witches of greater fame. If all faile, he will
rather thinke he came an houre too late; than that he went a mile too
far. Trulie I for my part cannot perceive what is to go a whoring after
strange gods, if this be not. He that looketh upon his neighbors wife,
and lusteth after hir, hath committed adulterie. And truelie, he that
in hart and by argument mainteineth the sacrifice of the masse to be
propitiatorie for the quicke and the dead, is an idolater; as also he
that alloweth and commendeth creeping to the crosse, and such like
idolatrous actions, although he bend not his corporall knees.

In like manner I say, he that attributeth to a witch, such divine
power, as dulie and onelie apperteineth unto GOD (which all
witchmongers doo) is in hart a blasphemer, an idolater, and full
of grosse impietie, although he neither go nor send to hir for
assistance.

♦To go to witches, &c. is idolatrie.♦

The sixt Chapter.

_A further confutation of witches miraculous and omnipotent
power, by invincible reasons and authorities, with
dissuasions from such fond credulitie._

If witches could doo anie such miraculous things, as these and other
which are imputed to them, they might doo them againe and againe, at
anie time or place, or at anie mans desire: for the divell is as strong
at one time as at another, as busie by daie as by night, and readie
enough to doo all mischeefe, and careth not whom he abuseth. And in so
much as it is confessed, by the most part of witchmoongers themselves,
that he knoweth not the cogitation of mans heart, he should (me thinks)
sometimes appeere unto honest and credible persons, in such grosse
and corporall forme, as it is said he dooth unto witches: which you
shall never heare to be justified by one sufficient witnesse. For
the divell indeed entreth into the mind, and that waie seeketh mans
confusion.

The art alwaies presupposeth the power; so as, if they saie they can
doo this or that, they must shew how and by what meanes they doo it;
as neither the witches, nor the witchmoongers are able to doo. For
to everie action is required the facultie and abilitie of the agent
or dooer; the aptnes of the patient or subject; and a convenient and
possible application. Now the witches are mortall, and their power
dependeth upon the analogie and consonancie of their minds and bodies;
but with their minds they can but will and understand; and with their
bodies they can doo no more, but as the bounds and ends of terrene
sense will suffer: and therefore their power extendeth not to doo such
miracles, as surmounteth their owne sense, and the understanding of
others which are wiser than they; so as here wanteth the vertue and
power of the efficient. And in reason, there can be no more vertue in
the thing caused, than in the cause, or that which proceedeth of or
from the benefit of the cause. And we see, that ignorant and impotent
women, or witches, are the causes of incantations and charmes; wherein
we shall perceive there is none effect, if we will credit our owne
experience and sense unabused, the rules of philosophie, or the word of
God. For alas! What an unapt instrument is a toothles, old, impotent,
and unweldie woman to flie in the aier? Truelie, the divell little
needs such instruments to bring his purposes to passe.

♦_Aristot. de anima. lib. 2._ Acts. 8.♦

It is strange, that we should suppose, that such persons can worke
such feates: and it is more strange, that we will imagine that to
be possible to be doone by a witch, which to nature and sense is
impossible; speciallie when our neighbours life dependeth upon our
credulitie therein; and when we may see the defect of abilitie, which
alwaies is an impediment both to the act, and also to the presumption
thereof. And bicause there is nothing possible in lawe, that in nature
is impossible; therefore the judge dooth not attend or regard what
the accused man saith; or yet would doo: but what is prooved to have
beene committed, and naturallie falleth in mans power and will to
doo. For the lawe saith, that To will a thing unpossible, is a signe
of a mad man, or of a foole, upon whom no sentence or judgement taketh
hold. Furthermore, what Jurie will condemne, or what Judge will give
sentence or judgement against one for killing a man at _Berwicke_; when
they themselves, and manie other sawe that man at _London_, that verie
daie, wherein the murther was committed; yea though the partie confesse
himself guiltie therein, and twentie witnesses depose the same? But
in this case also I saie the judge is not to weigh their testimonie,
which is weakened by lawe; and the judges authoritie is to supplie the
imperfection of the case, and to mainteine the right and equitie of the
same.

♦Why shuld not the divell be as readie to helpe a theefe reallie as a
witch?♦

♦_L. multum. l. si quis alteri, vel sibi._♦

Seeing therefore that some other things might naturallie be the
occasion and cause of such calamities as witches are supposed to
bring; let not us that professe the Gospell and knowledge of Christ,
be bewitched to beleeve that they doo such things, as are in nature
impossible, and in sense and reason incredible. If they saie it is
doone through the divels helpe, who can work miracles; whie doo not
theeves bring their busines to passe miraculouslie, with whom the
divell is as conversant as with the other? Such mischeefes as are
imputed to witches, happen where no witches are; yea and continue when
witches are hanged and burnt: whie then should we attribute such effect
to that cause, which being taken awaie, happeneth neverthelesse?

♦An objection answered.♦

The seventh Chapter.

_By what meanes the name of witches becommeth so famous, and
how diverslie people be opinioned concerning them and their
actions._

Surelie the naturall power of man or woman cannot be so inlarged, as
to doo anie thing beyond the power and vertue given and ingraffed by
God. But it is the will and mind of man, which is vitiated and depraved
by the divell: neither dooth God permit anie more, than that which
the naturall order appointed by him dooth require. Which naturall
order is nothing else, but the ordinarie power of God, powred into
everie creature, according to his state and condition. But hereof
more shall be said in the title of witches confessions. Howbeit
you shall understand, that few or none are throughlie persuaded,
resolved, or satisfied, that witches can indeed accomplish all these
impossibilities: but some one is bewitched in one point, and some is
coosened in another, untill in fine, all these impossibilities, and
manie mo, are by severall persons affirmed to be true.

♦Miracles are ceased.♦

And this I have also noted, that when anie one is coosened with a
coosening toie of witchcraft, and maketh report thereof accordinglie
verifieng a matter most impossible and false as it were upon his owne
knowledge, as being overtaken with some kind of illusion or other
(which illusions are right inchantments) even the selfe-same man
will deride the like lie proceeding out of another mans mouth, as
a fabulous matter unworthie of credit. It is also to be woondered,
how men (that have seene some part of witches coosenages detected,
and see also therein the impossibilitie of their owne presumptions,
& the follie and falsehood of the witches confessions) will not
suspect, but remaine unsatisfied, or rather obstinatelie defend the
residue of witches supernaturall actions: like as when a juggler hath
discovered the slight and illusion of his principall feats, one would
fondlie continue to thinke, that his other petie juggling knacks of
legierdemaine are done by the helpe of a familiar: and according
to the follie of some papists, who seeing and confessing the popes
absurd religion, in the erection and maintenance of idolatrie and
superstition, speciallie in images, pardons, and relikes of saints,
will yet persevere to thinke, that the rest of his doctrine and
trumperie is holie and good.

♦The opinions of people concerning witchcraft are diverse and
inconstant.♦

Finallie, manie mainteine and crie out for the execution of witches,
that particularlie beleeve never a whit of that which is imputed unto
them; if they be therein privatelie dealt withall, and substantiallie
opposed and tried in argument.

The eight Chapter.

_Causes that moove as well witches themselves as others to
thinke that they can worke impossibilities, with answers to
certeine objections: where also their punishment by lawe is
touched._

_Cardanus_ writeth, that the cause of such credulitie consisteth in
three points; to wit, in the imagination of the melancholike, in the
constancie of them that are corrupt therewith, and in the deceipt of
the Judges; who being inquisitors themselves against heretikes and
witches, did both accuse and condemne them, having for their labour
the spoile of their goods. So as these inquisitors added manie fables
hereunto, least they should seeme to have doone injurie to the poore
wretches, in condemning and executing them for none offense. But
sithens (saith he) the springing up of _Luthers_ sect, these priests
have tended more diligentlie upon the execution of them; bicause
more wealth is to be caught from them: insomuch as now they deale so
looselie with witches (through distrust of gaines) that all is seene to
be malice, follie, or avarice that hath beene practised against them.
And whosoever shall search into this cause, or read the cheefe writers
hereupon, shall find his words true.

♦_Card. de var. rerum. lib. 15. cap. 80._♦

It will be objected, that we here in _England_ are not now directed
by the popes lawes; and so by consequence our witches not troubled or
convented by the inquisitors _Hæreticæ pravitatis_. I answer, that
in times past here in _England_, as in other nations, this order of
discipline hath beene in force and use; although now some part of
old rigor be qualified by two severall statutes made in the fift
of _Elizabeth_, and xxxiii of _Henrie_ the eight. Nevertheles the
estimation of the omnipotencie of their words and charmes seemeth
in those statutes to be somewhat mainteined, as a matter hitherto
generallie received; and not yet so looked into, as that it is
refuted and decided. But how wiselie so ever the Parlement house hath
dealt therin, or how mercifullie soever the prince beholdeth the cause:
if a poore old woman, supposed to be a witch, be by the civill or canon
lawe convented; I doubt, some canon will be found in force, not onelie
to give scope to the tormentor, but also to the hangman, to exercise
their offices upon hir. And most certaine it is, that in what point
soever anie of these extremities, which I shall rehearse unto you, be
mitigated, it is thorough the goodnesse of the Queenes Majestie, and
hir excellent magistrates placed among us. For as touching the opinion
of our writers therein in our age; yea in our owne countrie, you shall
see it doth not onlie agree with forren crueltie, but surmounteth it
farre. If you read a foolish pamphlet dedicated to the lord _Darcy_ by
_W. W_ 1582, you shall see that he affirmeth, that all those tortures
are farre too light, and their rigor too mild; and that in that respect
he impudentlie exclameth against our magistrates, who suffer them to
be but hanged, when murtherers, & such malefactors be so used, which
deserve not the hundreth part of their punishments. But if you will see
more follie and lewdnes comprised in one lewd booke, I commend you to
_Ri. Ga._ a _Windsor_ man; who being a mad man hath written according
to his frantike humor: the reading wherof may satisfie a wise man, how
mad all these witchmoongers dealings be in this behalfe.

♦An objection answered.♦

♦W. W. his booke, printed in Anno Dom. 1582.♦

The ninth Chapter.

_A conclusion of the first booke, wherein is fore-shewed the
tyrannicall crueltie of witchmongers and inquisitors, with a
request to the reader to peruse the same._

And bicause it may appeare unto the world what trecherous and
faithlesse dealing, what extreame and intolerable tyrannie, what
grosse and fond absurdities, what unnaturall & uncivil discourtisie,
what cancred and spitefull malice, what outragious and barbarous
crueltie, what lewd and false packing, what cunning and craftie
intercepting, what bald and peevish interpretations, what abhominable
and divelish inventions, and what flat and plaine knaverie is practised
against these old women; I will set downe the whole order of the
inquisition, to the everlasting, inexcusable, and apparent shame of
all witchmoongers. Neither will I insert anie private or doubtfull
dealings of theirs; or such as they can either denie to be usuall, or
justlie cavill at; but such as are published and renewed in all ages,
since the commensement of poperie, established by lawes, practised by
inquisitors, privileged by princes, commended by doctors, confirmed
by popes, councels, decrees, and canons; and finallie [*]be left of
all witchmoongers; to wit, by such as attribute to old women, and
such like creatures, the power of the Creator. I praie you therefore,
though it be tedious & intolerable (as you would be heard in your
miserable calamities) so heare with compassion, their accusations,
examinations, matters given in evidence, confessions, presumptions,
interrogatories, conjurations, cautions, crimes, tortures and
condemnations, devised and practised usuallie against them.

♦[*] [? beleeved.]♦

¶ _The second Booke._

The first Chapter.

_What testimonies and witnesses are allowed to give evidence
against reputed witches, by the report & allowance of the
inquisitors themselves, and such as are speciall writers
heerein._

Excommunicat persons, partakers of the falt, infants, wicked servants,
and runnawaies are to be admitted to beare witnesse against their dames
in this mater of witchcraft: bicause (saith _Bodin_ the champion of
witchmoongers) none that be honest are able to detect them. Heretikes
also and witches shall be received to accuse, but not to excuse a
witch. And finallie, the testimonie of all infamous persons in this
case is good and allowed. Yea, one lewd person (saith _Bodin_) may
be received to accuse and condemne a thousand suspected witches. And
although by lawe, a capitall enimie may be challenged; yet _James
Sprenger_, and _Henrie Institor_, (from whom _Bodin_, and all the
writers that ever I have read, doo receive their light, authorities and
arguments) saie (upon this point of lawe) that The poore frendlesse
old woman must proove, that hir capitall enimie would have killed hir,
and that hee hath both assalted & wounded hir; otherwise she pleadeth
all in vaine. If the judge aske hir, whether she have anie capitall
enimies; and she rehearse other, and forget hir accuser; or else answer
that he was hir capitall enimie, but now she hopeth he is not so: such
a one is nevertheles admitted for a witnes. And though by lawe, single
witnesses are not admittable; yet if one depose she hath bewitched hir
cow; another, hir sow; and the third, hir butter: these saith (saith
_M. Mal._ and _Bodin_) are no single witnesses; bicause they agree that
she is a witch.

♦_Mal. Malef. quest. 5. pa. 3._
_I. Bod. lib. 4. cap. 2, de dæmon._♦

♦_Arch. in C. alle. accusatus. in §. lz. super. verba._♦

♦_I. Bod. lib. 4. cap. 1. de dæmon._♦

♦_Mal. malef quest. 56. pa. 3, & quæ. 5, part. 3._♦

♦_Ibidem._♦

♦_Que. 7. act 2._♦

♦[Redupl.]♦

The second Chapter.

_The order of examination of witches by the inquistors._

Women suspected to be witches, after their apprehension may not be
suffered to go home, or to other places, to seek suerties: for then
(saith _Bodin_) the people would be woorse willing to accuse them;
for feare least at their returne home, they worke revenge upon them.
In which respect _Bodin_ commendeth much the _Scottish_ custome and
order in this behalfe: where (he saith) a hollowe peece of wood or a
chest is placed in the church, into the which any bodie may freelie
cast a little scroll of paper, wherein may be conteined the name of the
witch, the time, place, and fact, &c. And the same chest being locked
with three severall locks, is opened everie fifteenth daie by three
inquisitors or officers appointed for that purpose; which keepe three
severall kaies. And thus the accuser need not be knowne, nor shamed
with the reproch of slander or malice to his poore neighbour.

♦The Scottish custōe of accusing a witch.♦

Item, there must be great persuasions used to all men, women, and
children, to accuse old women of witchcraft.

Item, there may alwaies be promised impunitie and favour to witches,
that confesse and detect others; and for the contrarie, there may be
threatnings and violence practised and used.

Item, the little children of witches, which will not confesse, must
be attached; who (if they be craftilie handled saith _Bodin_) will
confesse against their owne mothers.

Item, witches must be examined as suddenlie, and as unawares as is
possible: the which will so amaze them, that they will confesse any
thing, supposing the divell hath forsaken them; wheras if they should
first be cōmitted to prison, the divell would temper with them, and
informe them what to doo.

Item, the inquisitor, judge, or examiner, must begin with small matters
first.

Item, they must be examined, whether their parents were witches or no:
for witches (as these Doctors suppose) come by propagation. And _Bodin_
setteth downe this principle in witchcraft, to wit, _Si saga sit mater,
sic etiam est filia_: howbeit the lawe forbiddeth it, _Ob sanguinis
reverentiam_.

♦_I. Bod. lib. de dæmon. 4. cap. 4._
_L. parentes de testibus._♦

Item, the examiner must looke stedfastlie upon their eies: for they
cannot looke directlie upon a mans face (as _Bodin_ affirmeth in one
place, although in another he saith, that they kill and destroie both
men and beasts with their lookes.)

Item, she must be examined of all accusations, presumptions, and
faults, at one instant; least sathan should afterwards dissuade hir
from confession.

Item, a witch may not be put in prison alone, least the divell dissuade
hir from confession, through promises of her indemnitie. For (saith
_Bodin_) some that have beene in the gaole have prooved to flie awaie,
as they were woont to doo when they met with _Diana_ and _Minerva_,
_&c._: and so brake their owne necks against the stone walles.

Item, if anie denie hir owne confession made without torture, she is
neverthelesse by that confession to be condemned, as in anie other
crime.

Item, the judges must seeme to put on a pittifull countenance and to
mone them; saieng, that It was not they, but the divell that committed
the murther, and that he compelled them to doo it; and must make them
beleeve that they thinke them to be innocents.

Item, if they will confesse nothing but upon the racke or torture;
their apparell must be changed, and everie haire in their bodie must be
shaven off with a sharpe razor.

Item, if they have charmes for taciturnitie, so as they feele not the
common tortures, and therefore confesse nothing: then some sharpe
instrument must be thrust betwixt everie naile of their fingers and
toes: which (as _Bodin_ saith) was king _Childeberts_ devise, and is
to this daie of all others the most effectuall. For by meanes of that
extreme paine, they will (saith he) confesse anie thing.

♦K. Childeberts cruell devise.♦

Item, _Paulus Grillandus_, being an old dooer in these matters, wisheth
that when witches sleepe, and feele no paine upon the torture, _Domine
labia mea aperies_ should be said, and so (saith he) both the torments
will be felt, and the truth will be uttered: _Et sic ars deluditur
arte_.

♦_P. Grillandus._♦

Item, _Bodin_ saith, that at the time of examination, there should be a
semblance of great a doo, to the terrifieing of the witch: and that a
number of instruments, gieves, manacles, ropes, halters, fetters, &c.
be prepared, brought foorth, and laid before the examinate: and also
that some be procured to make a most horrible and lamentable crie, in
the place of torture, as though he or she were upon the racke, or in
the tormentors hands: so as the examinate may heare it whiles she is
examined, before she hir selfe be brought into the prison; and perhaps
(saith he) she will by this meanes confesse the matter.

♦A subtill and divelish devise.♦

Item, there must be subborned some craftie spie, that may seeme to be
a prisoner with hir in the like case; who perhaps may in conference
undermine hir, and so bewraie and discover hir.

Item, if she will not yet confesse, she must be told that she is
detected, and accused by other of hir companions; although in truth
there be no such matter: and so perhaps she will confesse, the rather
to be revenged upon hir adversaries and accusers.

The third Chapter.

_Matters of evidence against witches._

If an old woman threaten or touch one being in health, who dieth
shortlie after; or else is infected with the leprosie, apoplexie, or
anie other strange disease: it is (saith _Bodin_) a permanent fact, and
such an evidence, as condemnation or death must insue, without further
proofe; if anie bodie have mistrusted hir, or said before that she was
a witch.

Item, if anie come in, or depart out of the chamber or house, the
doores being shut; it is an apparent and sufficient evidence to a
witches condemnation, without further triall: which thing _Bodin_ never
sawe. If he can shew me that feat, I will subscribe to his follie.
For Christ after his resurrection used the same: not as a ridiculous
toie, that everie witch might accomplish; but as a speciall miracle, to
strengthen the faith of the elect.

Item, if a woman bewitch anie bodies eies, she is to be executed
without further proofe.

Item, if anie inchant or bewitch mens beasts, or corne, or flie in the
aire, or make a dog speake, or cut off anie mans members, and unite
them againe to men or childrens bodies; it is sufficient proofe to
condemnation.

Item, presumptions and conjectures are sufficient proofes against
witches.

Item, if three witnesses doo but saie, Such a woman is a witch; then is
it a cleere case that she is to be executed with death. Which matter
_Bodin_ saith is not onelie certeine by the canon and civill lawes, but
by the opinion of pope _Innocent_, the wisest pope (as he saith) that
ever was.

♦_Bar. Spineus, &, I. Bod. de dæmon. lib. 2. cap. 2._♦

Item, the complaint of anie one man of credit is sufficient to bring a
poore woman to the racke or pullie.

♦_Alexander. L. ubi numerus de testibus._
_I. Bod. de dæmon. lib. 2. cap. 2._♦

Item, a condemned or infamous persons testimonie is good and allowable
in matters of witchcraft.

Item, a witch is not to be delivered, though she endure all the
tortures, and confesse nothing; as all other are in anie criminall
cases.

Item, though in other cases the depositions of manie women at one
instant are disabled, as insufficient in lawe; bicause of the
imbecillitie and frailtie of their nature or sex: yet in this matter,
one woman, though she be a partie, either accuser or accused, and
be also infamous and impudent (for such are _Bodins_ words) yea and
alreadie condemned; she may neverthelesse serve to accuse and condemne
a witch.

Item, a witnesse uncited, and offering himselfe in this case is to be
heard, and in none other.

Item, a capitall enimie (if the enimitie be pretended to growe by
meanes of witchcraft) may object against a witch; and none exception
is to be had or made against him.

Item, although the proofe of perjurie may put backe a witnesse in all
other causes; yet in this, a perjured person is a good and lawfull
witnesse.

♦_Par. in L. post. legatum. 9. his, de iis quibus ut indig._
_Alex. cap. 72. L. 2. &c._♦

Item, the proctors and advocats in this case are compelled to be
witnesses against their clients, as in none other case they are to be
constrained there unto.

Item, none can give evidence against witches, touching their
assemblies, but witches onelie: bicause (as _Bodin_ saith) none other
can doo it. Howbeit, _Ri. Ga._ writeth, that he came to the God speed,
and with his sword and buckler killed the divell; or at the least he
wounded him so sore, that he made him stinke of brimstone.

♦In his foolish pamphlet of the execution of Windsor witches.♦

Item, _Bodin_ saith, that bicause this is an extraordinarie matter;
there must heerein be extraordinarie dealing: and all maner of waies
are to be used, direct and indirect.

The fourth Chapter.

_Confessions of witches, whereby they are condemned._

Some witches confesse (saith _Bodin_) that are desirous to die; not
for glorie, but for despaire: bicause they are tormented in their life
time. But these may not be spared (saith he) although the lawe dooth
excuse them.

♦_I. Bod. lib. 4. cap. 3._♦

♦Is there anie probabilitie that such would continue witches?♦

The best and surest confession is at shrift, to hir ghostlie father.

♦_Idem Ibid._♦

Item, if she confesse manie things that are false, and one thing that
may be true; she is to be taken and executed upon that confession.

♦_Joan. An. ad speculat. tit. de litis contest. part. 2._♦

Item, she is not so guiltie that confesseth a falshood or lie, and
denieth a truth; as she that answereth by circumstance.

Item, an equivocall or doubtfull answer is taken for a confession
against a witch.

♦_L. non alienum eodem._♦

Item, _Bodin_ reporteth, that one confessed that he went out, or rather
up into the aire, and was transported manie miles to the fairies
danse, onelie bicause he would spie unto what place his wife went
to hagging, and how she behaved hir selfe. Whereupon was much a doo
among the inquisitors and lawyers, to discusse whether he should be
executed with his wife or no. But it was concluded that he must die,
bicause he bewraied not his wife: the which he forbare to doo, _Propter
reverentiam honoris & familiæ_.

♦_L. de ætat. 5. nihil eodem. &c._♦

♦_I. Bod. de dæmono. lib. 4. cap. 3._♦

Item, if a woman confesse freelie herein, before question be made; and
yet afterward denie it: she is neverthelesse to be burned.

Item, they affirme that this extremitie is herein used, bicause not
one among a thousand witches is detected. And yet it is affirmed by
_Sprenger_, in _M. Mal._ that there is not so little a parish, but
there are manie witches knowne to be therein.

The fift Chapter.

_Presumptions, whereby witches are condemned._

If anie womans child chance to die at hir hand, so as no bodie knoweth
how; it may not be thought or presumed that the mother killed it,
except she be supposed a witch: and in that case it is otherwise, for
she must upon that presumption be executed; except she can proove the
negative or contrarie.

♦_I. Bod. de dæmono. lib. 4 cap. 4._♦

Item, if the child of a woman that is suspected to be a witch,
be lacking or gone from hir; it is to be presumed, that she hath
sacrificed it to the divell: except she can proove the negative or
contrarie.

Item, though in other persons, certeine points of their confessions may
be thought erronious, and imputed to error: yet (in witches causes) all
oversights, imperfections, and escapes must be adjudged impious and
malicious, and tend to hir confusion and condemnation.

Item, though a theefe be not said in lawe to be infamous in any other
matter than in theft; yet a witch defamed of witchcraft is said to be
defiled with all maner of faults and infamies universallie, though she
were not condemned; but (as I said) defamed with the name of a witch.
For rumors and reports are sufficient (saith _Bodin_) to condemne a
witch.

Item, if any man, woman, or child doo saie, that such a one is a witch;
it is a most vehement suspicion (saith _Bodin_) and sufficient to bring
hir to the racke: though in all other cases it be directlie against
lawe.

♦_I. Bod. de dæmono. lib. 4. cap. 4._♦

Item, in presumptions and suspicions against a witch, the common brute
or voice of the people cannot erre.

♦_L. decurionè de pœnis._
_Panorm. & Felin. in C. veniens. 1. de testib. parsi causa. 15 4._
_Lib. 4. numero. 12. usq; a 18._♦

Item, if a woman, when she is apprehended, crie out, or saie; I am
undoone; Save my life; I will tell you how the matter standeth, &c: she
is thereupon most vehementlie to be suspected and condemned to die.

Item, though a conjurer be not to be condemned for curing the diseased
by vertue of his art: yet must a witch die for the like case.

Item, the behaviour, looks, becks, and countenance of a woman, are
sufficient signes, whereby to presume she is a witch: for alwais they
looke downe to the ground, and dare not looke a man full in the face.

Item, if their parents were thought to be witches, then is it
certeinlie to be presumed that they are so: but it is not so to be
thought of whoores.

Item, it is a vehement presumption if she cannot weepe, at the time
of hir examination: and yet _Bodin_ saith, that a witch may shed three
drops out of hir right eie.

Item, it is not onelie a vehement suspicion, and presumption, but an
evident proofe of a witch, if any man or beast die suddenlie where she
hath beene seene latelie; although hir witching stuffe be not found or
espied.

Item, if any bodie use familiaritie or companie with a witch convicted;
it is a sufficient presumption against that person to be adjudged a
witch.

Item, that evidence that may serve to bring in any other person to
examination, may serve to bring a witch to her condemnation.

♦_L. 5. de adult. §. gl. & Bart. c. venerabilis de electio. &c._♦

Item, herein judgment must be pronounced & executed (as _Bodin_ saith)
without order, and not like to the orderlie proceeding and forme of
judgement in other crimes.

♦_I. Bod. de dæmono. lib. 4. cap. 4._♦

Item, a witch may not be brought to the torture suddenlie, or before
long examination, least she go awaie scotfree: for they feele no
torments, and therefore care not for the same (as _Bodin_ affirmeth.)

Item, little children may be had to the torture at the first dash; but
so may it not be doone with old women: as is aforesaid.

♦_Idem Ibid._♦

Item, if she have anie privie marke under hir arme pokes, under hir
haire, under hir lip, or in hir buttocke, or in hir privities: it is a
presumption sufficient for the judge to proceed and give sentence of
death upon hir.

The onlie pitie they shew to a poore woman in this case, is; that
though she be accused to have slaine anie bodie with her inchantments;
yet if she can bring foorth the partie alive, she shall not be put to
death. Whereat I marvell, in as much as they can bring the divell in
any bodies likenesse and representation.

Item, their lawe saith, that an uncerteine presumption is sufficient,
when a certeine presumption faileth.

♦_Cap. præterea cum glos. extra de test._
_Panormit. in C. vener. col. 2. eodem, &c._♦

The sixt Chapter.

_Particular Interogatories used by the inquisitors against
witches._

I neede not staie to confute such parciall and horrible dealings, being
so apparentlie impious, and full of tyrannie which except I should have
so manifestlie detected, even with their owne writings and assertions,
few or none would have beleeved. But for brevities sake I will passe
over the same; supposing that the citing of such absurdities may stand
for a sufficient confutation thereof. Now therefore I will proceed
to a more particular order and maner of examinations, &c: used by the
inquisitors, and allowed for the most part throughout all nations.

First the witch must be demanded, why she touched such a child, or such
a cow, &c: and afterward the same child or cow fell sicke or lame, &c.

♦_Mal. malef. super, interrog._♦

Item, why hir two kine give more milke than hir neighbors. And the
note before mentioned is heere againe set downe, to be speciallie
observed of all men: to wit; that Though a witch cannot weepe, yet she
may speake with a crieng voice. Which assertion of weeping is false,
and contrarie to the saieng of _Seneca_, _Cato_, and manie others;
which affirme, that A woman weepeth when she meaneth most deceipt: and
therefore saith _M. Mal._ she must be well looked unto, otherwise she
will put spettle privilie upon hir cheeks, and seeme to weepe: which
rule also _Bodin_ saith is infallible. But alas that teares should be
thought sufficient to excuse or condemne in so great a cause, and so
weightie a triall! I am sure that the woorst sort of the children of
Israel wept bitterlie: yea, if there were any witches at all in Israel,
they wept. For it is written, that all the children of Israel wept.
Finallie, if there be any witches in hell, I am sure they weepe: for
there is weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

♦_Seneca in tragœd._♦

♦_Mal. malef. part. 3. quæst 15. act. 10._♦

♦Num. 11, 4.
1. Sam. 11, 4.
2. Sa. 15, 23.
Mat. 8. & 13. & 22. & 24. & 25.
Luke 3. &c.♦

But God knoweth, many an honest matrone cannot sometimes in the
heavines of her heart shed teares; the which oftentimes are more readie
and common with craftie queanes and strumpets, than with sober women.
For we read of two kinds of teares in a womans eie, the one of true
greefe, the other of deceipt. And it is written, that _Dediscere flere
fæminam est mendacium_: which argueth, that they lie which say, that
wicked women cannot weepe. But let these tormentors take heed, that
the teares in this case which runne downe the widowes cheeks, with
their crie spoken of by Jesus Sirach, be not heard above. But lo what
learned, godlie, and lawfull meanes these popish inquisitors have
invented for the triall of true or false teares.

♦_Seneca in tragœd._♦

♦Eccl. 35, 15.♦

The seventh Chapter.

_The inquisitors triall of weeping by conjuration._

I conjure thee by the amorous teares, which Jesus Christ our Saviour
shed upon the crosse for the salvation of the world; and by the most
earnest and burning teares of his mother the most glorious virgine
_Marie_, sprinkled upon his wounds late in the evening; and by all
the teares, which everie saint and elect vessell of God hath powred
out heere in the world, and from whose eies he hath wiped awaie all
teares; that if thou be without fault, thou maist powre downe teares
aboundantlie; and if thou be guiltie, that thou weepe in no wise: In
the name of the father, of the sonne, and of the holie ghost; Amen. And
note (saith he) that the more you conjure, the lesse she weepeth.

♦Triall of teares.♦

♦_Mal. Malef. quæ. 15. pa. 3._♦

The eight Chapter.

_Certaine cautions against witches, and of their tortures to
procure confession._

But to manifest their further follies, I will recite some of their
cautions, which are published by the ancient inquisitors, for
perpetuall lessons to their successors: as followeth.

The first caution is that, which was last rehearsed concerning weeping;
the which (say they) is an infallible note.

Secondlie, the judge must beware she touch no part of him, speciallie
of his bare; and that he alwaies weare about his necke conjured salt,
palme, herbes, and waxe halowed: which (say they) are not onelie
approoved to be good by the witches confessions; but also by the use
of the Romish church, which halloweth them onelie for that purpose.

♦_Ja. Sprenger. H. Institor._♦

Item, she must come to hir arreignement backward, to wit, with hir
taile to the judges face, who must make manie crosses, at the time of
hir approching to the barre. And least we should condemne that for
superstition, they prevent us with a figure, and tell us, that the same
superstition may not seeme superstitious unto us. But this resembleth
the persuasion of a theefe, that dissuadeth his sonne from stealing;
and neverthelesse telleth him that he may picke or cut a pursse, and
rob by the high waie.

♦_Mal. malef. pa. 3, quæ. 15._♦

♦_Prolepsis or Præoccupation._♦

One other caution is, that she must be shaven, so as there remaine not
one haire about hir: for sometimes they keepe secrets for taciturnitie,
and for other purposes also in their haire, in their privities, and
betweene their skinne and their flesh. For which cause I marvell they
flea them not: for one of their witches would not burne, being in the
middest of the flame, as _M. Mal._ reporteth; untill a charme written
in a little scroll was espied to be hidden betweene hir skin and flesh,
and taken awaie. And this is so gravelie and faithfullie set downe by
the inquisitors themselves, that one may beleeve it if he list, though
indeed it be a verie lie. The like lie citeth _Bodin_, of a witch that
could not be strangled by the executioner, doo what he could. But it is
most true, that the inquisitor _Cumanus_ in one yeare did shave one and
fourtie poore women, and burnt them all when he had done.

♦_Mal. malef._♦

♦_John. Bod._♦

♦Anno. 1485 a knave inquisitor.♦

Another caution is, that at the time and place of torture, the hallowed
things aforesaid, with the seaven words spoken on the crosse, be
hanged about the witches necke; and the length of Christ in waxe be
knit about hir bare naked bodie, with relikes of saints, &c. All which
stuffe (saie they) will so worke within and upon them, as when they
are racked and tortured, they can hardlie staie or hold themselves from
confession. In which case I doubt not but that pope, which blasphemed
Christ, and curssed his mother for a pecocke, and curssed God with
great despights for a peece of porke, with lesse compulsion would have
renounced the trinitie, and have worshipped the divell upon his knees.

♦_Q. 16. de tempore & modo interrog._♦

♦Blasphemous pope Julie, of that name the third.♦

Another caution is, that after she hath beene racked, and hath passed
over all tortures devised for that purpose; and after that she hath
beene compelled to drinke holie water, she be conveied againe to
the place of torture: and that in the middest of hir torments, hir
accusations be read unto hir; and that the witnesses (if they will) be
brought face to face unto hir: and finallie, that she be asked, whether
for triall of hir innocencie she will have judgement, _Candentis
ferri_, which is; To carrie a certeine weight of burning iron in hir
bare hand. But that may not (saie they) in anie wise be granted. For
both _M. Mal._ and _Bodin_ also affirme, that manie things may be
promised, but nothing need be performed: for whie, they have authoritie
to promise, but no commission to performe the same.

♦_Mal. malef. par. 3. quæ. 16._♦

Another caution is, that the judge take heed, that when she once
beginneth to confesse, he cut not off hir examination, but continue it
night and daie. For many-times, whiles they go to dinner, she returneth
to hir vomit.

Another caution is, that after the witch hath confessed the annoieing
of men and beasts, she be asked how long she hath had _Incubus_, when
she renounced the faith, and made the reall league, and what that
league is, &c. And this is indeede the cheefe cause of all their
incredible and impossible confessions: for upon the racke, when they
have once begunne to lie, they will saie what the tormentor list.

The last caution is, that if she will not confesse, she be had to some
strong castle or gaole. And after certeine daies, the gaolor must make
hir beleeve he goeth foorth into some farre countrie: and then some
of hir freends must come in to hir, and promise hir, that if she will
confesse to them, they will suffer hir to escape out of prison: which
they may well doo, the keeper being from home. And this waie (saith _M.
Mal._) hath served, when all other meanes have failed.

♦_Mal. malef. par. 3. quæ. 16. act. 11._♦

And in this place it may not be omitted, that above all other times,
they confesse upon fridaies. Now saith _James Sprenger_, and _Henrie
Institor_, we must saie all, to wit: If she confesse nothing, she
should be dismissed by lawe; and yet by order she may in no wise be
bailed, but must be put into close prison, and there be talked withall
by some craftie person (those are the words) and in the meane while
there must be some eves-dropers with pen and inke behind the wall,
to hearken and note what she confesseth: or else some of hir old
companions and acquaintance may come in and talke with hir of old
matters, and so by eves-droppers be also bewraied; so as there shall be
no end of torture before she have confessed what they will.

The Ninth Chapter.

_The fifteene crimes laid to the charge of witches, by
witchmongers; speciallie by Bodin, in Dæmonomania._

They denie God, and all religion. 1

_Answere._[*] Then let them die therefore, or at the least be used
like infidels, or apostataes.

♦[*] [Rom.]♦

They cursse, blaspheme, and provoke God with all despite. 2

_Answere._[*] Then let them have the law expressed in _Levit._ 24. and
_Deut._ 13. & 17.

They give their faith to the divell, and they worship and offer 3
sacrifice unto him.

_Ans._ Let such also be judged by the same lawe.

They doo solemnelie vow and promise all their progenie unto the 4
divell.

_Ans._ This promise proceedeth from an unsound mind, and is not to be
regarded; bicause they cannot performe it, neither will it be prooved
true. Howbeit, if it be done by anie that is sound of mind, let the
cursse of _Jeremie._ 32. 36. light upon them, to wit, the sword, famine
and pestilence.

They sacrifice their owne children to the divell before baptisme, 5
holding them up in the aire unto him, and then thrust a needle into
their braines.

_Ans._ If this be true, I maintaine them not herein: but there is a
lawe to judge them by. Howbeit, it is so contrarie to sense and nature,
that it were follie to beleeve it; either upon _Bodins_ bare word, or
else upon his presumptions; speciallie when so small commoditie and so
great danger and inconvenience insueth to the witches thereby.

They burne their children when they have sacrificed them. 6

_Ans._ Then let them have such punishment, as they that offered their
children unto _Moloch_: _Levit._ 20. But these be meere devises of
witchmoongers and inquisitors, that with extreame tortures have wroong
such confessions from them; or else with false reports have beelied
them; or by flatterie & faire words and promises have woon it at their
hands, at the length.

They sweare to the divell to bring as manie into that societie as 7
they can.

_Ans._ This is false, and so prooved elsewhere.

They sweare by the name of the divell. 8

_Ans._ I never heard anie such oth, neither have we warrant to kill
them that so doo sweare; though indeed it be verie lewd and impious.

They use incestuous adulterie with spirits. 9

_Ans._ This is a stale ridiculous lie, as is prooved apparentlie
hereafter.

They boile infants (after they have murthered them unbaptised) 10
untill their flesh be made potable.

_Ans._ This is untrue, incredible, and impossible.

They eate the flesh and drinke the bloud of men and children openlie. 11

_Ans._ Then are they kin to the _Anthropophagi_ and _Canibals_. But
I beleeve never an honest man in _England_ nor in _France_, will
affirme that he hath seene any of these persons, that are said to be
witches, do so; if they shuld, I beleeve it would poison them.

They kill men with poison. 12

_Ans._ Let them be hanged for their labour.

They kill mens cattell. 13

_Ans._ Then let an action of trespasse be brought against them for so
dooing.

They bewitch mens corne, and bring hunger and barrennes into the 14
countrie; they ride and flie in the aire, bring stormes, make
tempests, &c.

_Ans._ Then will I worship them as gods; for those be not the works
of man, nor yet of witch: as I have elsewhere prooved at large.

They use venerie with a divell called _Incubus_, even when they lie 15
in bed with their husbands, and have children by them, which become
the best witches.

_Ans._ This is the last lie, verie ridiculous, and confuted by me
elsewhere.

The tenth Chapter.

_A refutation of the former surmised crimes patched togither by
Bodin, and the onelie waie to escape the inquisitors hands._

If more ridiculous or abhominable crimes could have beene invented,
these poore women (whose cheefe fault is that they are scolds) should
have beene charged with them.

In this libell you dooe see is conteined all that witches are charged
with; and all that also, which anie witchmoonger surmiseth, or in
malice imputeth unto witches power and practise.

Some of these crimes may not onelie be in the power and will of a
witch, but may be accomplished by naturall meanes: and therefore by
them the matter in question is not decided, to wit; Whether a witch can
worke woonders supernaturallie? For manie a knave and whore dooth more
commonlie put in execution those lewd actions, than such as are called
witches, and are hanged for their labour.

♦The question or matter in controversie: that is to say, the
proposition or theme.♦

Some of these crimes also laid unto witches charge, are by me denied,
and by them cannot be prooved to be true, or committed by any one
witch. Othersome of these crimes likewise are so absurd, supernaturall,
and impossible, that they are derided almost of all men, and as
false, fond, and fabulous reports condemned: insomuch as the very
witchmoongers themselves are ashamed to heare of them.

If part be untrue, why may not the residue be thought false? For all
these things are laid to their charge at one instant, even by the
greatest doctors and patrones of the sect of witchmongers, producing as
manie proofs for witches supernaturall and impossible actions, as for
the other. So as, if one part of their accusation be false, the other
part deserveth no credit. If all be true that is alledged of their
dooings, why should we beleeve in Christ, bicause of his miracles, when
a witch dooth as great wonders as ever he did?

But it will be said by some; As for those absurd and popish writers,
they are not in all their allegations, touching these matters,
to be credited. But I assure you, that even all sorts of writers
heerein (for the most part) the very doctors of the church to the
schoolemen, protestants and papists, learned and unlearned, poets
and historiographers, Jewes, Christians, or Gentiles agree in these
impossible and ridiculous matters. Yea and these writers, out of whome
I gather most absurdities, are of the best credit and authoritie of all
writers in this matter. The reason is, bicause it was never throughlie
looked into; but everie fable credited; and the word (Witch) named so
often in scripture.

♦A generall error.♦

They that have seene further of the inquisitors orders and customes,
saie also; that There is no waie in the world for these poore women to
escape the inquisitors hands, and so consequentlie burning: but to gild
their hands with monie, wherby oftentimes they take pitie upon them,
and deliver them, as sufficientlie purged. For they have authoritie to
exchange the punishment of the bodie with the punishment of the pursse,
applieng the same to the office of their inquisition: whereby they
reape such profit, as a number of these seelie women paie them yeerelie
pensions, to the end they may not be punished againe.

♦The onelie way for witches to avoid the inquisitors hands.♦

The eleventh Chapter.

_The opinion of Cornelius Agrippa concerning witches, of his
pleading for a poore woman accused of witchcraft, and how he
convinced the inquisitors._

_Cornelius Agrippa_ saith, that while he was in _Italie_, manie
inquisitors in the dutchie of _Millen_ troubled divers most honest &
noble matrones, privilie wringing much monie from them, untill their
knaverie was detected. Further he saith, that being an advocate or
councellor in the Commonwelth of _Maestright_ in _Brabant_, he had sore
contention with an inquisitor, who through unjust accusations drew a
poore woman of the countrie into his butcherie, and to an unfit place;
not so much to examine hir, as to torment hir. Whom when _C. Agrippa_
had undertaken to defend, declaring that in the things doone, there
was no proofe, no signe or token that could cause hir to be tormented;
the inquisitor stoutlie denieng it, said; One thing there is, which is
proofe and matter sufficient: for hir mother was in times past burned
for a witch. Now when _Agrippa_ replied, affirming that this article
was impertinent, and ought to be refused by the judge, as being the
deed of another; alledging to the inquisitor, reasons and lawe for
the same: he replied againe that this was true, bicause they used to
sacrifice their children to the divell, as soone as they were borne;
and also bicause they usuallie conceived by spirits transformed into
mans shape, and that thereby witchcraft was naturallie ingraffed into
this child, as a disease that commeth by inheritance.

_C. Agrippa_ replieng against the inquisitors follie & superstitious
blindnesse, said; O thou wicked preest! Is this thy divinitie? Doost
thou use to drawe poore guiltlesse women to the racke by these forged
devises? Doost thou with such sentences judge others to be heretikes,
thou being a more heretike than either _Faustus_ or _Donatus_? Be it
as thou saiest, dooest thou not frustrate the grace of Gods ordinance;
namelie baptisme? Are the words in baptisme spoken in vaine? Or shall
the divell remaine in the child, or it in the power of the divell,
being there and then consecrated to Christ Jesus, in the name of the
father, the sonne, and the holie ghost? And if thou defend their false
opinions, which affirm, that spirits accompanieng with women, can
ingender; yet dotest thou more than anie of them, which never beleeved
that anie of those divels, togither with their stolne seed, doo put
part of that their seed or nature into the creature. But though indeed
we be borne the children of the divell and damnation, yet in baptisme,
through grace in Christ, sathan is cast out, and we are made new
creatures in the Lord, from whome none can be separated by another mans
deed. The inquisitor being hereat offended, threatened the advocate
to proceed against him, as a supporter of heretikes or witches; yet
neverthelesse he ceased not to defend the seelie woman, and through the
power of the lawe he delivered hir from the clawes of the bloodie
moonke, who with hir accusers, were condemned in a great summe of monie
to the charter of the church of _Mentz_, and remained infamous after
that time almost to all men.

♦A bitter invective against a cruell inquisitor.♦

But by the waie you must understand, that this was but a petie
inquisitor, and had not so large a commission as _Cumanus_, _Sprenger_,
and such other had; nor yet as the _Spanish_ inquisitors at this daie
have. For these will admit no advocats now unto the poore soules,
except the tormentor or hangman may be called an advocate. You may read
the summe of this inquisition in few words set out by M. _John Fox_
in the Acts and monuments. For witches and heretikes are among the
inquisitors of like reputation; saving that the extremitie is greater
against witches, bicause through their simplicitie, they may the more
boldlie tyrannize upon them, and triumph over them.

♦John Fox in the acts and monuments.♦

The twelfe Chapter.

_What the feare of death and feeling of torments may force one
to doo, and that it is no marvell though witches condemne
themselves by their owne confessions so tyrannicallie
extorted._

He that readeth the ecclesiasticall histories, or remembreth the
persecutions in Queene _Maries_ time, shall find, that manie good
men have fallen for feare of persecution, and returned unto the Lord
againe. What marvell then, though a poore woman, such a one as is
described else-where, & tormented as is declared in these latter
leaves, be made to confesse such absurd and false impossibilities; when
flesh and bloud is unable to endure such triall? Or how can she in the
middest of such horrible tortures and torments, promise unto hir selfe
constancie; or forbeare to confesse anie thing? Or what availeth it
hir, to persevere in the deniall of such matters, as are laid to her
charge unjustlie; when on the one side there is never anie end of hir
torments; on the other side, if she continue in hir assertion, they
saie she hath charmes for taciturnitie or silence?

_Peter_ the apostle renounced, curssed, and forsware his maister and
our Saviour Jesus Christ, for feare of a wenches manaces; or rather
at a question demanded by hir, wherein he was not so circumvented,
as these poore witches are, which be not examined by girles, but by
cunning inquisitors, who having the spoile of their goods, and bringing
with them into the place of judgement minds to maintaine their bloudie
purpose, spare no maner of allurements, thretenings, nor torments,
untill they have wroong out of them all that, which either maketh to
their owne desire, or serveth to the others destruction.

♦Peters apostacie & renouncing of Christ♦

_Peter_ (I saie) in the presence of his Lord and maister Christ, who
had instructed him in true knowledge manie yeares, being forewarned,
not passing foure or five houres before, and having made a reall
league and a faithfull promise to the contrarie, without anie other
compulsion than (as hath beene said) by a question proposed by a girle,
against his conscience, forsooke, thrise denied, and abandoned his
said maister: and yet he was a man illuminated, and placed in dignitie
aloft, and neerer to Christ by manie degrees, than the witch, whose
fall could not be so great as _Peters_; bicause she never ascended
halfe so manie steps. A pastors declination is much more abhominable
that the going astraie of anie of his sheepe: as an ambassadors
conspiracie is more odious than the falshood of a common person: or
as a capteins treason is more mischeevous than a private soldiers
mutinie. If you saie, _Peter_ repented; I answer that the witch dooth
so likewise sometimes, and I see not in that case, but mercie may be
emploied upon hir. It were a mightie temptation to a seelie old woman,
that a visible divell (being in shape so ugglie, as _Danæus_ and others
saie he is) should assalt hir in maner and forme as is supposed, or
rather avowed; speciallie when there is promise made that none shall
be tempted above their strength. The poore old witch is commonlie
unlearned, unwarned, and unprovided of counsell and freendship, void of
judgement and discretion to moderate hir life and communication, hir
kind and gender more weake and fraile than the masculine, and much more
subject to melancholie; hir bringing up and companie is so base, that
nothing is to be looked for in hir speciallie of these extraordinarie
qualities; hir age also is commonlie such, as maketh her decrepite,
which is a disease that mooveth them to these follies.

♦_Danæus in dialog._♦

♦1 Cor. 10.♦

Finallie, Christ did cleerelie remit _Peter_, though his offense
were committed both against his divine and humane person: yea after-
wards he did put him in trust to feed his sheepe, and shewed great
countenance, freendship and love unto him. And therefore I see not,
but we may shew compassion upon these poore soules; if they shew
themselves sorrowfull for their misconceipts and wicked imaginations.

¶ _The third Booke._

The first Chapter.

_The witches bargaine with the divell, according to M. Mal.
Bodin, Nider, Danæus, Psellus, Erastus, Hemingius, Cumanus,
Aquinas, Bartholomæus Spineus, &c._

That which in this matter of witchcraft hath abused so manie, and
seemeth both so horrible and intollerable, is a plaine bargaine,
that (they saie) is made betwixt the divell and the witch. And manie
of great learning conceive it to be a matter of truth, and in their
writings publish it accordinglie: the which (by Gods grace) shall be
prooved as vaine and false as the rest.

The order of their bargaine or profession is double; the one solemne
and publike; the other secret and private. That which is called solemne
or publike, is where witches come togither at certeine assemblies, at
the times prefixed, and doo not onelie see the divell in visible forme;
but confer and talke familiarlie with him. In which conference the
divell exhorteth them to observe their fidelitie unto him, promising
them long life and prosperitie. Then the witches assembled, commend a
new disciple (whom they call a novice) unto him: and if the divell find
that yoong witch apt and forward in renunciation of christian faith,
in despising anie of the seven sacraments, in treading upon crosses,
in spetting at the time of the elevation, in breaking their fast on
fasting daies, and fasting on sundaies; then the divell giveth foorth
his hand, and the novice joining hand in hand with him, promiseth to
observe and keepe all the divels commandements.

♦The double bargane of witches with the divell.♦

This done, the divell beginneth to be more bold with hir, telling
hir plainlie, that all this will not serve his turne; and therefore
requireth homage at hir hands: yea he also telleth hir, that she must
grant him both hir bodie and soule to be tormented in everlasting
fire: which she yeeldeth unto. Then he chargeth hir, to procure as
manie men, women, and children also, as she can, to enter into this
societie. Then he teacheth them to make ointments of the bowels and
members of children, whereby they ride in the aire, and accomplish all
their desires. So as, if there be anie children unbaptised, or not
garded with the signe of the crosse, or orizons; then the witches may
and doo catch them from their mothers sides in the night, or out of
their cradles, or otherwise kill them with their ceremonies; and after
buriall steale them out of their graves, and seeth them in a caldron,
untill their flesh be made potable. Of the thickest whereof they make
ointments, whereby they ride in the aire; but the thinner potion they
put into flaggons, whereof whosoever drinketh, observing certeine
ceremonies, immediatlie becommeth a maister or rather a mistresse in
that practise and facultie.

♦_Mal. malef. de modo professionis._♦

The second Chapter.

_The order of the witches homage done (as it is written by
lewd inquisitors and peevish witchmoongers) to the divell in
person; of their songs and danses, and namelie of La volta,
and of other ceremonies, also of their excourses._

Sometimes their homage with their oth and bargaine is received for a
certeine terme of yeares; sometimes for ever. Sometimes it consisteth
in the deniall of the whole faith, sometimes in part. The first is,
when the soule is absolutelie yeelded to the divell and hell fier: the
other is, when they have but bargained [not] to observe certeine
ceremonies and statutes of the church; as to conceale faults at shrift,
to fast on sundaies, &c. And this is doone either by oth, protestation
of words, or by obligation in writing, sometimes sealed with wax,
sometimes signed with bloud, sometimes by kissing the divels bare
buttocks; as did a Doctor called _Edlin_, who as (_Bodin_ saith) was
burned for witchcraft.

♦Homage of witches to the divell.♦

You must also understand, that after they have delicatlie banketted
with the divell and the ladie of the fairies; and have eaten up a fat
oxe, and emptied a butt of malmesie, and a binne of bread at some
noble mans house, in the dead of the night, nothing is missed of all
this in the morning. For the ladie _Sibylla_, _Minerva_, or _Diana_
with a golden rod striketh the vessell & the binne, and they are
fullie replenished againe. Yea, she causeth the bullocks bones to be
brought and laid togither upon the hide, and lappeth the foure ends
thereof togither, laieng her golden rod thereon; and then riseth up the
bullocke againe in his former estate and condition: and yet at their
returne home they are like to starve for hunger; as _Spineus_ saith.
And this must be an infallible rule, that everie fortnight, or at the
least everie moneth, each witch must kill one child at the least for
hir part.

♦_Bar. Spineus, cap. 1. in novo Mal. malef._♦

♦_Idem Ibid._♦

And here some of _Monsieur Bodins_ lies may be inserted, who saith that
at these magicall assemblies, the witches never faile to danse; and
in their danse they sing these words; Har har, divell divell, danse
here, danse here, plaie here, plaie here, _Sabbath_, _sabbath_. And
whiles they sing and danse, everie one hath a broome in hir hand, and
holdeth it up aloft. Item he saith, that these night-walking or rather
night-dansing witches, brought out of _Italie_ into _France_, that
danse, which is called _La volta_.

♦_I. Bod. de dæmon. lib. 2, cap. 4._♦

A part of their league is, to scrape off the oile, which is received
in extreame follie (unction I should have said). But if that be so
dangerous, they which socke the corps had neede to take great care,
that they rub not off the oile, which divers other waies may also be
thrust out of the forehead; and then I perceive all the vertue thereof
is gone, and farewell it. But I marvell how they take on to preserve
the water powred on them in baptisme, which I take to be largelie of
as great force as the other; and yet I thinke is commonlie wiped and
washed off, within foure and twentie houres after baptisme: but this
agreeth with the residue of their follie.

♦_Mal. malef._♦

And this is to be noted, that the inquisitors affirme, that during the
whole time of the witches excourse, the divell occupieth the roome and
place of the witch, in so perfect a similitude, as hir husband in his
bed, neither by feeling, speech, nor countenance can discerne hir from
his wife. Yea the wife departeth out of her husbands armes insensiblie,
and leaveth the divell in hir roome visiblie. Wherein their
incredulitie is incredible, who will have a verie bodie in the feined
plaie, and a phantasticall bodie in the true bed: and yet (forsooth)
at the name of Jesus, or at the signe of the crosse, all these bodilie
witches (they saie) vanish awaie.

♦_Grillandus. de sort. 10. vol. tract._♦

The third Chapter.

_How witches are summoned to appeere before the divell, of
their riding in the aire, of their accompts, of their
conference with the divell, of his supplies, and their
conference, of their farewell and sacrifices: according to
Danæus, Psellus, &c._

Hitherto, for the most part, are the verie words conteined in _M.
Mal._ or _Bodin_, or rather in both; or else in the new _M. Mal._
or at the least-wise of some writer or other, that mainteineth the
almightie power of witches. But _Danæus_ saith, the divell oftentimes
in the likenes of a sumner, meeteth them at markets and faires, and
warneth them to appeere in their assemblies, at a certeine houre in
the night, that he may understand whom they have slaine, and how they
have profited. If they be lame, he saith the divell delivereth them
a staffe, to conveie them thither invisiblie through the aire; and
that then they fall a dansing and singing of bawdie songs, wherein he
leadeth the danse himselfe. Which danse, and other conferencies being
ended, he supplieth their wants of powders and roots to intoxicate
withall; and giveth to everie novice a marke, either with his teeth
or with his clawes, and so they kisse the divels bare buttocks, and
depart: not forgetting every daie afterwards to offer to him, dogs,
cats, hens, or bloud of their owne. And all this dooth _Danæus_ report
as a troth, and as it were upon his owne knowledge. And yet else-where
he saieth; In these matters they doo but dreame, and doo not those
things indeed, which they confesse through their distemperature,
growing of their melancholike humor: and therefore (saith he) these
things, which they report of themselves, are but meere illusions.

♦_Danæus in dialog. cap. 4._♦

♦_Ide. Ibidem._♦

♦_Idem. in dialog. cap. 3._♦

_Psellus_ addeth hereunto, that certeine magicall heretikes, to wit;
the _Eutychians_, assemblie themselves everie good fridaie at night;
and putting out the candles, doo commit incestuous adulterie, the
father with the daughter, the sister with the brother, and the sonne
with the mother; and the ninth moneth they returne and are delivered;
and cutting their children in peeces, fill their pots with their bloud;
then burne they the carcases, and mingle the ashes therewith, and so
preserve the same for magicall purposes. _Cardanus_ writeth (though in
mine opinion not verie probablie) that these excourses, dansings,
&c: had their beginning from certeine heretikes called _Dulcini_, who
devised those feasts of _Bacchus_ which are named _Orgia_, whereunto
these kind of people openlie assembled; and beginning with riot, ended
with this follie. Which feasts being prohibited, they nevertheles
hanted them secretlie; and when they could not doo so, then did they it
in cogitation onelie, and even to this daie (saith he) there remaineth
a certeine image or resemblance thereof among our melancholike women.

♦_Card. lib. de var. rerum. 15. cap. 80._♦

The fourth Chapter.

_That there can no reall league be made with the divell the
first author of the league, and the weake proofes of the
adversaries for the same._

If the league be untrue, as are the residue of their confessions, the
witchmongers arguments fall to the ground: for all the writers herein
hold this bargaine for certeine, good, and granted, and as their onelie
maxime. But surelie the indentures, conteining those covenants, are
sealed with butter; and the labels are but bables. What firme bargaine
can be made betwixt a carnall bodie and a spirituall? Let any wise or
honest man tell me, that either hath beene a partie, or a witnesse;
and I will beleeve him. But by what authoritie, proofe, or testimonie;
and upon what ground all this geere standeth, if you read _M. Mal._
you shall find, to the shame of the reporters (who doo so varie in
their tales, and are at such contrarietie:) and to the reproch of the
beleevers of such absurd lies.

♦_Mal. Malef. par. 2. quæ. 7. cap. 2._♦

For the beginning of the credit hereof, resteth upon the confession of
a baggage yoong fellow condemned to be burnt for witchcraft; who said
to the inquisitors, of likelihood to prolong his life, (if at leastwise
the storie be true, which is taken out of _Nider_;) If I wist (quoth
he) that I might obteine pardon, I would discover all that I knowe of
witchcraft. The which condition being accepted, and pardon promised
(partlie in hope thereof, and partlie to be rid of his wife) he said as
followeth.

♦Upon what ground this real league began to growe in credit.♦

The novice or yoong disciple goeth to some church, togither with
the mistresse of that profession, upon a sundaie morning, before
the conjuration of holie water, & there the said novice renounceth
the faith, promiseth obedience in observing, or rather omitting of
ceremonies in meetings, and such other follies; and finallie, that they
doo homage to their yoong maister the divell, as they covenanted.

But this is notable in that storie, that this yoong witch, doubting
that his wives examination would bewraie his knaverie, told the
inquisitor; that in truth his wife was guiltie as well as he, but she
will never, I am sure (quoth he) though she should be burned a thousand
times, confesse any of these circumstances.

And this is in no wise to be forgotten, that notwithstanding his
contrition, his confession, and his accusation of his owne wife
(contrarie to the inquisitors promise and oth) he and his wife were
both burned at a stake, being the first discoverers of this notable
league, whereupon the fable of witchcraft is mainteined; and whereby
such other confessions have beene from the like persons, since that
time, extorted and augmented.

The fift Chapter.

_Of the private league, a notable tale of Bodins concerning a
French ladie, with a confutation._

The maner of their private league is said to be, when the divell
invisible, and sometimes visible, in the middest of the people talketh
with them privatelie; promising, that if they will followe his
counsell, he will supplie all their necessities, and make all their
endevors prosperous: and so beginneth with small matters: whereunto
they consent privilie, and come not into the fairies assemblie.

♦The maner of witches private league with the divell.♦

And in this case (mee thinks) the divell sometimes, in such externall
or corporall shape, should meete with some that would not consent to
his motions (except you will saie he knoweth their cogitations) and
so should be bewraied. They also (except they were idiots) would spie
him, and forsake him for breach of covenants. But these bargaines, and
these assemblies doo all the writers hereupon mainteine: and _Bodin_
confirmeth them with a hundred and odd lies; among the number whereof I
will (for diverse causes) recite one.

There was (saith he) a noble Gentlewoman at _Lions_, that being in bed
with a lover of hirs, suddenlie in the night arose up, and lighted a
candle: which when she had done, she tooke a box of ointment, wherewith
she annointed her bodie; and after a few words spoken, she was carried
awaie. Hir bedfellow seeing the order hereof, lept out of his bed,
tooke the candle in his hand, and sought for the ladie round about the
chamber, and in everie corner thereof. But though he could not find
hir, yet did he find hir box of ointment: and being desirous to know
the vertue thereof, besmeered himselfe therewith, even as he perceived
hir to have done before. And although he were not so superstitious,
as to use anie words to helpe him forward in his busines, yet by the
vertue of that ointment (saith _Bodin_) he was immediatlie conveied
to _Lorreine_, into the assemblie of witches. Which when he sawe, he
was abashed, and said; In the name of God, what make I heere? And upon
those words the whole assemblie vanished awaie, and left him there
alone starke naked; and so was he faine to returne to _Lions_. But he
had so good a conscience (for you may perceive by the first part of the
historie, he was a verie honest man) that he accused his true lover for
a witch, and caused hir to be burned. But as for his adulterie, neither
_M. Mal._ nor _Bodin_ doo once so much as speake in the dispraise
thereof.

♦_J. Bod. lib. 2. de dæmonomania. cap. 4._♦

♦This agreeth not with their interpretation, that saie, this is onlie
done by vertue of the legue; nor yet to them that referre it unto
words: quoth nota.♦

It appeareth throughout all _Bodins_ booke, that he is sore offended
with _Cornelius Agrippa_, and the rather (as I suppose) bicause the
said _C. Agrippa_ recanted that which _Bodin_ mainteineth, who thinketh
he could worke wonders by magicke, and speciallie by his blacke dog. It
should seeme he had prettie skill in the art of divination. For though
he wrote before _Bodin_ manie a yeare, yet uttereth he these words in
his booke _De vanitate scientiarum_: A certeine French protonotarie
(saith he) a lewd fellow and a coosener, hath written a certeine
fable or miracle done at _Lions_, _&c._ What _Bodin_ is, I knowe not,
otherwise than by report; but I am certeine this his tale is a fond
fable: and _Bodin_ saith it was performed at _Lions_; and this man (as
I understand) by profession is a civill lawier.

♦_C. Agrippa. cap. 51._♦

The sixt Chapter.

_A disproofe of their assemblies, and of their bargaine._

That the joining of hands with the divell, the kissing of his bare
buttocks, and his scratching and biting of them, are absurd lies;
everie one having the gift of reason may plainlie perceive: in so much
as it is manifest unto us by the word of God, that a spirit hath no
flesh, bones, nor sinewes, whereof hands, buttocks, claws, teeth, and
lips doo consist. For admit that the constitution of a divels bodie (as
_Tatian_ and other affirme) consisteth in spirituall congelations,
as of fier and aire; yet it cannot be perceived of mortall creatures.
What credible witnesse is there brought at anie time, of this their
corporall, visible, and incredible bargaine; saving the confession
of some person diseased both in bodie and mind, wilfullie made, or
injuriouslie constrained? It is mervell that no penitent witch that
forsaketh hir trade, confesseth not these things without compulsion.
Mee thinketh their covenant made at baptisme with God, before good
witnesses, sanctified with the word, confirmed with his promises, and
established with his sacraments, should be of more force than that
which they make with the divell, which no bodie seeth or knoweth. For
God deceiveth none, with whom he bargaineth; neither dooth he mocke or
disappoint them, although he danse not among them.

♦_Tatianus contra Græcos._♦

Their oth, to procure into their league and fellowship as manie as they
can (whereby everie one witch, as _Bodin_ affirmeth, augmenteth the
number of fiftie) bewraieth greatlie their indirect dealing. Hereof I
have made triall, as also of the residue of their coosening devices;
and have beene with the best, or rather the woorst of them, to see what
might be gathered out of their counsels; and have cunninglie treated
with them thereabouts: and further, have sent certeine old persons to
indent with them, to be admitted into their societie. But as well by
their excuses and delaies, as by other circumstances, I have tried and
found all their trade to be meere coosening.

♦The author speaketh upon due proofe and triall.♦

I praie you what bargaine have they made with the divell, that with
their angrie lookes beewitch lambs, children, &c? Is it not confessed,
that it is naturall, though it be a lie? What bargaine maketh the
soothsaier, which hath his severall kinds of witchcraft and divination
expressed in the scripture? Or is it not granted that they make none?
How chanceth it that we heare not of this bargaine in the scriptures?

The seventh Chapter.

_A confutation of the objection concerning witches confessions._

It is confessed (saie some by the waie of objection) even of these
women themselves, that they doo these and such other horrible things,
as deserveth death, with all extremitie, &c. Whereunto I answer, that
whosoever consideratelie beholdeth their confessions, shall perceive
all to be vaine, idle, false, inconstant, and of no weight; except
their contempt and ignorance in religion: which is rather the fault of
the negligent pastor, than of the simple woman.

First, if their confession be made by compulsion, of force or
authoritie, or by persuasion, and under colour of freendship, it is not
to be regarded; bicause the extremitie of threts and tortures provokes
it; or the qualitie of faire words and allurements constraines it.
If it be voluntarie, manie circumstances must be considered, to wit;
whether she appeach not hir selfe to overthrow hir neighbour, which
manie times happeneth through their cankered and malicious melancholike
humor: then; whether in that same melancholike mood and frentike
humor, she desire not the abridgment of hir owne daies. Which thing
_Aristotle_ saith dooth oftentimes happen unto persons subject to
melancholike passions: and (as _Bodin_ and _Sprenger_ saie) to these
old women called witches, which manie times (as they affirme) refuse to
live; thretning the judges, that if they may not be burned, they will
laie hands upon themselves, and so make them guiltie of their damnation.

♦Confession compulsorie; as by Hispanicall inquisition: Looke _Mal.
malef. & Jo. Bodin._♦

♦Confession persuasorie; as by flatterie: Looke _Bry. Darcie_ against
_Ursu. Kempe._♦

♦_John. Bod._
_Mal. Malef._♦

I my selfe have knowne, that where such a one could not prevaile, to
be accepted as a sufficient witnesse against himselfe, he presentlie
went and threw himselfe into a pond of water, where he was drowned.
But the lawe saith; _Volenti mori non est habenda fides_, that is; His
word is not to be credited that is desirous to die. Also sometimes (as
else-where I have prooved) they confesse that whereof they were never
guiltie; supposing that they did that which they did not, by meanes of
certeine circumstances. And as they sometimes confesse impossibilities,
as that they flie in the aire, transubstantiate themselves, raise
tempests, transfer or remoove corne, &c: so doo they also (I saie)
confesse voluntarilie, that which no man could proove, and that which
no man would ghesse, nor yet beleeve, except he were as mad as they; so
as they bring death wilfullie upon themselves: which argueth an unsound
mind.

♦_L. absent. de poenis._♦

♦_L. 2. cum glos. de iis, qui ante sentent. mortui sunt, sibi necem
consciscentes._♦

If they confesse that, which hath beene indeed committed by them, as
poisoning, or anie other kind of murther, which falleth into the power
of such persons to accomplish; I stand not to defend their cause.
Howbeit, I would wish that even in that case there be not too rash
credit given, nor too hastie proceedings used against them: but that
the causes, properties, and circumstances of everie thing be dulie
considered, and diligentlie examined. For you shall understand, that
as sometimes they confesse they have murthered their neighbours with
a wish, sometimes with a word, sometimes with a looke, &c: so they
confesse, that with the delivering of an apple, or some such thing, to
a woman with child, they have killed the child in the mothers wombe,
when nothing was added thereunto, which naturallie could be noisome or
hurtfull.

♦Absurdities in witches confessions.♦

In like maner they confesse, that with a touch of their bare hand, they
sometimes kill a man being in perfect health and strength of bodie;
when all his garments are betwixt their hand and his flesh.

But if this their confession be examined by divinitie, philosophie,
physicke, lawe or conscience, it will be found false and insufficient.
First, for that the working of miracles is ceased. Secondlie, no reason
can be yeelded for a thing so farre beyond all reason. Thirdlie, no
receipt can be of such efficacie, as when the same is touched with a
bare hand, from whence the veines have passage through the bodie unto
the hart, it should not annoie the poisoner; and yet reteine vertue and
force enough, to pearse through so manie garments and the verie flesh
incurablie, to the place of death in another person. _Cui argumento_
(saith _Bodin_) _nescio quid responderi possit._ Fourthlie, no lawe
will admit such a confession, as yeeldeth unto impossibilities, against
the which there is never any lawe provided; otherwise it would not
serve a mans turne, to plead and proove that he was at _Berwicke_ that
daie, that he is accused to have doone a murther in _Canturburie_; for
it might be said he was conveied to _Berwicke_, and backe againe by
inchantment. Fiftlie, he is not by conscience to be executed, which
hath no sound mind nor perfect judgement. And yet forsooth we read,
that one mother _Stile_ did kill one _Saddocke_ with a touch on the
shoulder, for not keeping promise with hir for an old cloake, to make
hir a safegard; and that she was hanged for hir labour.

♦_J. Bod. de dæmon. lib. 2. cap. 8._♦

♦In a little pamphlet of the acts and hanging of foure witches, in
anno. 1579.♦

The eight Chapter.

_What follie it were for witches to enter into such desperate
perill, and to endure such intollerable tortures for no gaine
or commoditie, and how it comes to passe that witches are
overthrowne by their confessions._

Alas! If they were so subtill, as witchmongers make them to be, they
would espie that it were meere follie for them, not onelie to make a
bargaine with the divell to throw their soules into hell fire, but
their bodies to the tortures of temporall fire and death, for the
accomplishment of nothing that might benefit themselves at all: but
they would at the leastwise indent with the divell, both to inrich
them, and also to enoble them; and finallie to endue them with all
worldlie felicitie and pleasure: which is furthest from them of all
other. Yea, if they were sensible, they would saie to the divell; Whie
should I hearken to you, when you will deceive me? Did you not promise
my neighbour mother _Dutton_ to save and rescue hir; and yet lo she is
hanged? Surelie this would appose the divell verie sore. And it is a
woonder, that none, from the beginning of the world, till this daie,
hath made this and such like objections, whereto the divell could
never make answer. But were it not more madnes for them to serve the
divell, under these conditions; and yet to endure whippings with iron
rods at the divels hands; which (as the witchmongers write) are so set
on, that the print of the lashes remaine upon the witches bodie ever
after, even so long as she hath a daie to live?

♦_John Bod._♦

But these old women being daunted with authoritie, circumvented with
guile, constrained by force, compelled by feare, induced by error,
and deceived by ignorance, doo fall into such rash credulitie, and so
are brought unto these absurd confessions. Whose error of mind and
blindnes of will dependeth upon the disease and infirmitie of nature:
and therefore their actions in that case are the more to be borne
withall; bicause they, being destitute of reason, can have no consent.
For, _Delictum sine consensu non potest committi, neque injuria sine
animo injuriandi_; that is, There can be no sinne without consent,
nor injurie committed without a mind to doo wrong. Yet the lawe saith
further, that A purpose reteined in mind, dooth nothing to the privat
or publike hurt of anie man; and much more that an impossible purpose
is unpunishable. _Sanæ mentis voluntas, voluntas rei possibilis est_; A
sound mind willeth nothing but that which is possible.

♦_L. si per errorem jurisd. omni cum inde._♦

♦_C. sed hoc d. de publ. &c._♦

♦_Bal. in leg. &c._♦

The ninth Chapter.

_How melancholie abuseth old women, and of the effects thereof
by sundrie examples._

If anie man advisedlie marke their words, actions, cogitations, and
gestures, he shall perceive that melancholie abounding in their head,
and occupieng their braine, hath deprived or rather depraved their
judgements, and all their senses: I meane not of coosening witches,
but of poore melancholike women, which are themselves deceived. For
you shall understand, that the force which melancholie hath, and the
effects that it worketh in the bodie of a man, or rather of a woman,
are almost incredible. For as some of these melancholike persons
imagine, they are witches and by witchcraft can worke woonders, and
doo what they list: so doo other, troubled with this disease, imagine
manie strange, incredible, and impossible things. Some, that they are
monarchs and princes, and that all other men are their subjects: some,
that they are brute beasts: some, that they be urinals or earthen pots,
greatlie fearing to be broken: some, that everie one that meeteth them,
will conveie them to the gallowes; and yet in the end hang themselves.
One thought, that _Atlas_, whome the poets feigne to hold up heaven
with his shoulders, would be wearie, and let the skie fall upon him:
another would spend a whole daie upon a stage, imagining that he both
heard and saw interludes, and therewith made himselfe great sport. One
_Theophilus_ a physician, otherwise sound inough of mind (as it is
said) imagined that he heard and sawe musicians continuallie plaieng on
instruments, in a certeine place of his house. One _Bessus_, that had
killed his father, was notablie detected; by imagining that a swallowe
upraided him therewith: so as he himselfe thereby revealed the murther.

But the notablest example heereof is, of one that was in great
perplexitie, imagining that his nose was as big as a house; insomuch
as no freend nor physician could deliver him from this conceipt, nor
yet either ease his greefe, or satisfie his fansie in that behalfe:
till at the last, a physician more expert in this humor than the
rest, used this devise following. First, when he was to come in at
the chamber doore being wide open, he suddenlie staied and withdrew
himselfe; so as he would not in any wise approch neerer than the doore.
The melancholike person musing heereat, asked him the cause why he so
demeaned himselfe? Who answered him in this maner: Sir, your nose is
so great, that I can hardlie enter into your chamber but I shall touch
it, and consequentlie hurt it. Lo (quoth he) this is the man that must
doo me good; the residue of my freends flatter me, and would hide mine
infirmitie from me. Well (said the physician) I will cure you, but you
must be content to indure a little paine in the dressing: which he
promised patientlie to susteine, and conceived certeine hope of his
recoverie. Then entred the physician into the chamber, creeping close
by the walles, seeming to feare the touching and hurting of his nose.
Then did he blindfold him, which being doone, he caught him by the
nose with a paire of pinsors, and threw downe into a tub, which he
had placed before his patient, a great quantitie of bloud, with manie
peeces of bullocks livers, which he had conveied into the chamber,
whilest the others eies were bound up, and then gave him libertie to
see and behold the same. He having doone thus againe twoo or three
times, the melancholike humor was so qualified, that the mans mind
being satisfied, his greefe was eased, and his disease cured.

♦Of one that through melancholie was induced to thinke that he had a
nose as big as a house, &c.♦

_Thrasibulus_, otherwise called _Thrasillus_, being sore oppressed with
this melancholike humor, imagined, that all the ships, which arrived
at port _Pyræus_, were his: insomuch as he would number them, and
command the mariners to lanch, &c: triumphing at their safe returnes,
and moorning for their misfortunes. The _Italian_, whom we called
here in _England_, the Monarch, was possessed with the like spirit or
conceipt. _Danæus_ himselfe reporteth, that he sawe one, that affirmed
constantlie that he was a cocke; and saith that through melancholie,
such were alienated from themselves.

♦_Danæus in dialog. cap. 3._♦

Now, if the fansie of a melancholike person may be occupied in causes
which are both false and impossible; why should an old witch be
thought free from such fantasies, who (as the learned philosophers and
physicians saie) upon the stopping of their monethlie melancholike
flux or issue of bloud, in their age must needs increase therein,
as (through their weaknesse both of bodie and braine) the aptest
persons to meete with such melancholike imaginations: with whome their
imaginations remaine, even when their senses are gone. Which _Bodin_
laboureth to disproove, therein shewing himselfe as good a physician,
as else-where a divine.

♦_J. Baptist. P. N. cap. 2._
_Card. de var. rerum._
_J. Wier. de prestigiis dæmonum, &c._
_Aristotle._♦

♦_John. Bod._♦

But if they may imagine, that they can transforme their owne
bodies, which neverthelesse remaineth in the former shape: how
much more credible is it, that they may falselie suppose they can
hurt and infeeble other mens bodies; or which is lesse, hinder the
comming of butter? &c. But what is it that they will not imagine,
and consequentlie confesse that they can doo; speciallie being so
earnestlie persuaded thereunto, so sorelie tormented, so craftilie
examined, with such promises of favour, as wherby they imagine, that
they shall ever after live in great credit & welth? &c.

If you read the executions doone upon witches, either in times
past in other countries, or latelie in this land; you shall see
such impossibilities confessed, as none, having his right wits, will
beleeve. Among other like false confessions, we read that there was a
witch confessed at the time of hir death or execution, that she had
raised all the tempests, and procured all the frosts and hard weather
that happened in the winter 1565: and that manie grave and wise men
beleeved hir.

♦_Ant. Houin._♦

The tenth Chapter.

_That voluntarie confessions may be untrulie made, to the
undooing of the confessors, and of the strange operation of
melancholie, prooved by a familiar and late example._

But that it may appeere, that even voluntarie confession (in this
case) may be untrulie made, though it tend to the destruction of the
confessor; and that melancholie may moove imaginations to that effect:
I will cite a notable instance concerning this matter, the parties
themselves being yet alive, and dwelling in the parish of _Sellenge_ in
_Kent_, and the matter not long sithence in this sort performed.

One _Ade Davie_, the wife of _Simon Davie_, husbandman, being reputed
a right honest bodie, and being of good parentage, grew suddenlie (as
hir husband informed mee, and as it is well knowne in these parts) to
be somewhat pensive and more sad than in times past. Which thing though
it greeved him, yet he was loth to make it so appeere, as either his
wife might be troubled or discontented therewith, or his neighbours
informed thereof; least ill husbandrie should be laid to his charge
(which in these quarters is much abhorred.) But when she grew from
pensivenes, to some perturbation of mind; so as hir accustomed rest
began in the night season to be withdrawne from hir, through sighing
and secret lamentation; and that, not without teares, hee could not
but demand the cause of hir conceipt and extraordinarie moorning. But
although at that time she covered the same, acknowledging nothing to
be amisse with hir: soone after notwithstanding she fell downe before
him on hir knees, desiring him to forgive hir, for she had greevouslie
offended (as she said) both God & him. Hir poore husband being abashed
at this hir behaviour, comforted hir, as he could; asking hir the
cause of hir trouble & greefe: who told him, that she had, (contrarie
to Gods lawe) & to the offense of all good christians, to the injurie
of him, & speciallie to the losse of hir owne soule, bargained and
given hir soule to the divell, to be delivered unto him within short
space. Whereunto hir husband answered, saieng; Wife, be of good cheere,
this thy bargaine is void and of none effect: for thou hast sold that
which is none of thine to sell; sith it belongeth to Christ, who hath
bought it, and deerelie paid for it, even with his bloud, which he shed
upon the crosse; so as the divell hath no interest in thee. After
this, with like submission, teares, and penitence, she said unto him;
Oh husband, I have yet committed another fault, and doone you more
injurie: for I have bewitched you and your children. Be content (quoth
he) by the grace of God, Jesus Christ shall unwitch us: for none evill
can happen to them that feare God.

♦A Kentish storie of a late accident.♦

♦Note the christian comfort of the husbād to his wife.♦

And (as trulie as the Lord liveth) this was the tenor of his words
unto me, which I knowe is true, as proceeding from unfeigned lips,
and from one that feareth God. Now when the time approched that the
divell should come, and take possession of the woman, according to his
bargaine, he watched and praied earnestlie, and caused his wife to
read psalmes and praiers for mercie at Gods hands: and suddenlie about
midnight, there was a great rumbling beelowe under his chamber windowe,
which amazed them exceedinglie. For they conceived, that the divell was
beelowe, though he had no power to come up, bicause of their fervent
praiers.

He that noteth this womans first and second confession, freelie and
voluntarilie made, how everie thing concurred that might serve to
adde credit thereunto, and yeeld matter for hir condemnation, would
not thinke, but that if _Bodin_ were foreman of hir inquest, he would
crie; Guiltie: & would hasten execution upon hir; who would have said
as much before any judge in the world, if she had beene examined; and
have confessed no lesse, if she had beene arraigned therupon. But God
knoweth, she was innocent of anie these crimes: howbeit she was brought
lowe and pressed downe with the weight of this humor, so as both hir
rest and sleepe were taken awaie from hir; & hir fansies troubled
and disquieted with despaire, and such other cogitations as grew by
occasion thereof. And yet I beleeve, if any mishap had insued to hir
husband, or his children; few witchmongers would have judged otherwise,
but that she had bewitched them. And she (for hir part) so constantlie
persuaded hir selfe to be a witch, that she judged hir selfe worthie of
death; insomuch as being reteined in hir chamber, she sawe not anie one
carrieng a faggot to the fier, but she would saie it was to make a fier
to burne hir for witcherie. But God knoweth she had bewitched none,
neither insued there anie hurt unto anie, by hir imagination, but unto
hir selfe.

♦Confutation.♦

And as for the rumbling, it was by occasion of a sheepe, which was
flawed, and hoong by the wals, so as a dog came and devoured it;
whereby grew the noise which I before mentioned: and she being now
recovered, remaineth a right honest woman, far from such impietie,
and ashamed of hir imaginations, which she perceiveth to have growne
through melancholie.

♦A comicall catastrophe.♦

The eleventh Chapter.

_The strange and divers effects of melancholie, and how the
same humor abounding in witches, or rather old women,
filleth them full of mervellous imaginations, and that their
confessions are not to be credited._

But in truth, this melancholike humor (as the best physicians affirme)
is the cause of all their strange, impossible, and incredible
confessions: which are so fond, that I woonder how anie man can be
abused thereby. Howbeit, these affections, though they appeare in
the mind of man, yet are they bred in the bodie, and proceed from
this humor, which is the verie dregs of bloud, nourishing and feeding
those places, from whence proceed feares, cogitations, superstitions,
fastings, labours, and such like.

♦_H. Card. de var. rerum. cap. 8._
_Jo. Wierus de præst. lib. 6. cap. 8._♦

This maketh sufferance of torments, and (as some saie) foresight of
things to come, and preserveth health, as being cold and drie: it
maketh men subject to leanenesse, and to the quartane ague. They that
are vexed therewith, are destroiers of themselves, stout to suffer
injuries, fearefull to offer violence; except the humor be hot. They
learne strange toongs with small industrie (as _Aristotle_ and others
affirme.)

♦_Aristotle de somnio._♦

♦_H. Card. lib. 8 de var. rer._♦

If our witches phantasies were not corrupted, nor their wils confounded
with this humor, they would not so voluntarilie and readilie confesse
that which calleth their life in question; whereof they could never
otherwise be convicted. _J. Bodin_ with his lawyers physicke reasoneth
contrarilie; as though melancholie were furthest of all from those
old women, whom we call witches: deriding the most famous and noble
physician _John Wier_ for his opinion in that behalfe. But bicause I
am no physician, I will set a physician to him; namelie _Erastus_, who
hath these words, to wit, that These witches, through their corrupt
phantasie abounding with melancholike humors, by reason of their old
age, doo dreame and imagine they hurt those things which they neither
could nor doo hurt; and so thinke they knowe an art, which they neither
have learned nor yet understand.

♦_Jo. Bod. contra Jo. Wierum._♦

But whie should there be more credit given to witches, when they
saie they have made a reall bargaine with the divell, killed a cow,
bewitched butter, infeebled a child, forespoken hir neighbour, &c: than
when she confesseth that she transubstantiateth hir selfe, maketh it
raine or haile, flieth in the aire, goeth invisible, transferreth corne
in the grasse from one field to another? &c. If you thinke that in the
one their confessions be sound, whie should you saie that they are
corrupt in the other; the confession of all these things being made at
one instant, and affirmed with like constancie, or rather audacitie?
But you see the one to be impossible, and therefore you thinke thereby,
that their confessions are vaine and false. The other you thinke may be
doone, and see them confesse it, and therefore you conclude, _A posse
ad esse_; as being persuaded it is so, bicause you thinke it may be so.
But I saie, both with the divines, and philosophers, that that which
is imagined of witchcraft, hath no truth of action; or being besides
their imagination, the which (for the most part) is occupied in false
causes. For whosoever desireth to bring to passe an impossible thing,
hath a vaine, an idle, and a childish persuasion, bred by an unsound
mind: for _Sanæ mentis voluntas, voluntas rei possibilis est_; The will
of a sound mind, is the desire of a possible thing.

♦_August. lib. de Trinit. 3._
_Idem. de civit. Dei._
_Clemens. recogn. 3_
_Iamblichus._
_Jo. Wierus._
_Cardanus._
_Pampia &c._♦

The twelfe Chapter.

_A confutation of witches confessions, especiallie concerning their
league._

But it is objected, that witches confesse they renounce the faith, and
as their confession must be true (or else they would not make it:)
so must their fault be worthie of death, or else they should not be
executed. Whereunto I answer as before; that their confessions are
extorted, or else proceed from an unsound mind. Yea I saie further,
that we our selves, which are sound of mind, and yet seeke anie other
waie of salvation than Christ Jesus, or breake his commandements, or
walke not in his steps with a livelie faith, &c: doo not onlie renounce
the faith, but God himselfe: and therefore they (in confessing that
they forsake God, and imbrace sathan) doo that which we all should
doo. As touching that horrible part of their confession, in the league
which tendeth to the killing of their owne and others children, the
seething of them, and the making of their potion or pottage, and the
effects thereof; their good fridaies meeting, being the daie of their
deliverance, their incests, with their returne at the end of nine
moneths, when commonlie women be neither able to go that journie,
nor to returne, &c; it is so horrible, unnaturall, unlikelie, and
unpossible; that if I should behold such things with mine eies, I
should rather thinke my selfe dreaming, dronken, or some waie deprived
of my senses; than give credit to so horrible and filthie matters.

♦An objection.♦

♦The resolution.♦

How hath the oile or pottage of a sodden child such vertue, as that a
staffe annointed therewith, can carrie folke in the aire? Their potable
liquor, which (they saie) maketh maisters of that facultie, is it
not ridiculous? And is it not, by the opinion of all philosophers,
physicians, and divines, void of such vertue, as is imputed thereunto?

♦A forged miracle.♦

Their not fasting on fridaies, and their fasting on sundaies, their
spetting at the time of elevation, their refusall of holie water,
their despising of superstitious crosses, &c: which are all good
steps to true christianitie, helpe me to confute the residue of their
confessions.

The xiii. Chapter.

_A confutation of witches confessions, concerning making of
tempests and raine: of the naturall cause of raine, and that
witches or divels have no power to doo such things._

And to speake more generallie of all the impossible actions referred
unto them, as also of their false confessions; I saie, that there is
none which acknowledgeth God to be onlie omnipotent, and the onlie
worker of all miracles, nor anie other indued with meane sense, but
will denie that the elements are obedient to witches, and at their
commandement; or that they may at their pleasure send raine, haile,
tempests, thunder, lightening; when she being but an old doting woman,
casteth a flint stone over hir left shoulder, towards the west, or
hurleth a little sea sand up into the element, or wetteth a broome
sprig in water, and sprinkleth the same in the aire; or diggeth a
pit in the earth, and putting water therein, stirreth it about with
hir finger; or boileth hogs bristles, or laieth sticks acrosse upon
a banke, where never a drop of water is; or burieth sage till it be
rotten: all which things are confessed by witches, and affirmed by
writers to be the meanes that witches use to moove extraordinarie
tempests and raine, &c.

♦The waies that witches use to make raine, &c.♦

♦_Nider._
_Mal. Malef._
_J. Bod._
_Frier Barth._
_Heming._
_Danæus, &c._♦

We read in _M. Maleficarum_, that a little girle walking abroad with
hir father in his land, heard him complaine of drought, wishing for
raine, &c. Whie father (quoth the child) I can make it raine or haile,
when and where I list? He asked where she learned it. She said, of
hir mother, who forbad hir to tell anie bodie thereof. He asked hir
how hir mother taught hir? She answered, that hir mother committed
hir to a maister, who would at anie time doo anie thing for hir. Whie
then (said he) make it raine but onlie in my field. And so she went
to the streame, and threw up water in hir maisters name, and made it
raine presentlie. And proceeding further with hir father, she made it
haile in another field, at hir fathers request. Hereupon he accused
his wife, and caused hir to be burned; and then he new christened
his child againe: which circumstance is common among papists and
witchmongers. And howsoever the first part hereof was prooved, there
is no doubt but the latter part was throughlie executed. If they could
indeed bring these things to passe at their pleasure, then might they
also be impediments unto the course of all other naturall things, and
ordinances appointed by God: as, to cause it to hold up, when it should
raine; and to make midnight, of high noone: and by those meanes (I
saie) the divine power should beecome servile to the will of a witch,
so as we could neither eat nor drinke but by their permission.

♦_Mal. Malef. par. 2. quæ. 1. cap. 12._♦

♦He that can lie, can steale; as he that can worke can plaie.♦

Me thinks _Seneca_ might satisfie these credulous or rather idolatrous
people, that runne a whorehunting, either in bodie or phansie, after
these witches, beleeving all that is attributed unto them, to the
derogation of Gods glorie. He saith, that the rude people, and our
ignorant predecessors did beleeve, that raine and showers might be
procured and staied by witches charmes and inchantments: of which kind
of things that there can nothing be wrought, it is so manifest, that
we need not go to anie philosophers schoole, to learne the confutation
thereof.

But _Jeremie_, by the word of God, dooth utterlie confound all that
which may be devised for the maintenance of that foolish opinion,
saieng; Are there any among the gods of the gentiles, that sendeth
raine, or giveth showers from heaven? Art not thou the selfe same
our Lord God? We will trust in thee, for thou dooest and makest all
these things. I may therefore with _Brentius_ boldlie saie, that It is
neither in the power of witches nor divels, to accomplish that matter;
but in God onelie. For when exhalations are drawne and lifted up from
out of the earth, by the power of the sunne, into the middle region
of the aire, the coldnes thereof constreineth and thickeneth those
vapours; which being beecome clouds, are dissolved againe by the heate
of the sunne, wherby raine or haile is ingendred; raine, if by the waie
the drops be not frosen and made haile. These circumstances being
considered with the course of the whole scripture, it can neither be in
the power of witch or divell to procure raine, or faire weather.

♦Jere. 16, 22.♦

♦_Dii gentium dæmonia_, The gods of the gentiles are divels.♦

♦The naturall generation of haile and raine.♦

And whereas the storie of _Job_ in this case is alledged against me
(wherein a witch is not once named) I have particularlie answered
it else-where. And therefore thus much onelie I say heere; that
Even there, where it pleased God (as _Calvine_ saith) to set downe
circumstances for the instruction of our grosse capacities, which
are not able to conceive of spirituall communication, or heavenlie
affaires; the divell desireth God to stretch out his hand, and touch
all that _Job_ hath. And though he seemeth to grant sathans desire, yet
God himselfe sent fire from heaven, &c. Where, it is to be gathered,
that although God said, He is in thine hand: it was the Lords hand
that punished _Job_, and not the hand of the divell, who said not,
Give me leave to plague him; but, Laie thine hand upon him. And when
_Job_ continued faithfull notwithstanding all his afflictions, in his
children, bodie and goods; the divell is said to come againe to God,
and to saie as before, to wit: Now stretch out thine hand, and touch
his bones and his flesh. Which argueth as well that he could not doo
it, as that he himselfe did it not before. And be it here remembred,
that _M. Mal._ and the residue of the witchmongers denie, that there
were any witches in _Jobs_ time. But see more hereof elsewhere.

♦Job 1, 11.♦

♦Ib. verse 16.♦

♦Job 2, 5.♦

♦_Mal. Malef. pa. 1, quæ. 2._♦

The xiiii. Chapter.

_What would ensue, if witches confessions or wi[t]chmongers
opinions were true, concerning the effects of witchcraft,
inchantments, &c._

If it were true that witches confesse, or that all writers write, or
that witchmongers report, or that fooles beleeve, we should never have
butter in the chearne, nor cow in the close, nor corne in the field,
nor faire weather abroad, nor health within doores. Or if that which is
conteined in _M. Mal. Bodin_, &c: or in the pamphlets late set foorth
in English, of witches executions, shuld be true in those things that
witches are said to confesse, what creature could live in securitie? Or
what needed such preparation of warres, or such trouble, or charge in
that behalfe? No prince should be able to reigne or live in the land.
For (as _Danæus_ saith) that one _Martine_ a witch killed the emperour
of _Germanie_ with witchcraft: so would our witches (if they could)
destroie all our magistrates. One old witch might overthrowe an armie
roiall: and then what needed we any guns, or wild fire, or any other
instruments of warre? A witch might supplie all wants, and accomplish a
princes will in this behalfe, even without charge or bloudshed of his
people.

♦But these suppositiōs are false, _Ergo_ the consequencies are not
true.♦

If it be objected, that witches worke by the divell, and christian
princes are not to deale that way; I answer, that few princes
disposed to battell would make conscience therin, speciallie such as
take unjust wars in hand, using other helpes, devises, & engines as
unlawfull and divelish as that; in whose campe there is neither the
rule of religion or christian order observed: insomuch as ravishments,
murthers, blasphemies and thefts are there most commonlie and freelie
committed. So that the divell is more feared, and better served in
their camps, than God almightie.

♦_Mal. Malef._
_J. Bodin._
_Bar. Spineus._♦

But admit that souldiers would be scrupulous herein, the pope hath
authoritie to dispense therewith; as in like case he hath doone,
by the testimonie of his owne authors and friends. Admit also, that
throughout all christendome, warres were justly mainteined, and
religion dulie observed in their camps; yet would the Turke and other
infidels cut our throtes, or at least one anothers throte, with the
helpe of their witches; for they would make no conscience thereof.

The xv. Chapter.

_Examples of forren nations, who in their warres used the
assistance of witches; of eybiting witches in Ireland, of two
archers that shot with familiars._

In the warres between the kings of _Denmarke_ and _Sueveland_, _1563_.
the _Danes_ doo write, that the king of _Sueveland_ caried about with
him in his campe, foure old witches, who with their charms so qualified
the _Danes_, as they were thereby disabled to annoie their enimies:
insomuch as, if they had taken in hand anie enterprise, they were
so infeebled by those witches, as they could performe nothing. And
although this could have no credit at the first, yet in the end, one of
these witches was taken prisoner, and confessed the whole matter; so as
(saith he) the threds, the line, and the characters were found in the
high waie and water plashes.

♦Witches in warres.♦

The _Irishmen_ addict themselves wonderfullie to the credit and
practise hereof; insomuch as they affirme, that not onelie their
children, but their cattell, are (as they call it) eybitten, when they
fall suddenlie sicke, and terme one sort of their witches eybiters;
onelie in that respect: yea and they will not sticke to affirme, that
they can rime either man or beast to death. Also the West _Indians_ and
_Muscovits_ doo the like: and the _Hunnes_ (as _Gregorie Turonensis_
writeth) used the helpe of witches in time of war.

♦Eybiting witches.♦

I find another storie written in _M. Mal._ repeated by _Bodin_; that
one souldier called _Pumher_, dailie through witchcraft killed with
his bowe and arrowes three of the enimies, as they stood peeping over
the walles of a castell besieged: so as in the end he killed them all
quite, saving one. The triall of the archers sinister dealing, and a
proofe thereof expressed, is; for that he never lightly failed when he
shot, and for that he killed them by three a daie; and had shot three
arrowes into a rood. This was he that shot at a pennie on his sonnes
head, and made readie another arrow, to have slaine the duke _Remgrave_
that commanded it. And doubtlesse, bicause of his singular dexteritie
in shooting, he was reputed a witch, as dooing that which others could
not doo, nor thinke to be in the power of man to doo: though indeed no
miracle, no witchcraft, no impossibilitie nor difficultie consisted
therein.

♦Pumher an archer.♦

But this latter storie I can requite with a familiar example. For
at Towne _Malling_ in kent, one of Q. _Maries_ justices, upon the
complaint of many wise men, and a few foolish boies, laid an archer
by the heeles; bicause he shot so neere the white at buts. For he
was informed and persuaded, that the poore man plaied with a flie,
otherwise called a divell or familiar. And bicause he was certified
that the archer aforesaid shot better than the common shooting, which
he before had heard of or seene, he conceived it could not be in Gods
name, but by inchantment: whereby this archer (as he supposed by
abusing the Queenes liege people) gained some one daie two or three
shillings, to the detriment of the commonwealth, and to his owne
inriching. And therefore the archer was severelie punished, to the
great encouragement of archers, and to the wise example of justice;
but speciallie to the overthrowe of witchcraft. And now againe to our
matter.

♦A skilfull archer punished by an unskilfull Justice.♦

The xvi. Chapter.

_Authorities condemning the fantasticall confessions of
witches, and how a popish doctor taketh upon him to disproove
the same._

Certeine generall councels, by their decrees, have condemned the
confessions and erronious credulitie of witches, to be vaine,
fantasticall and fabulous. And even those, which are parcell of their
league, wherupon our witchmongers doo so build, to wit; their night
walkings and meetings with _Herodias_, and the _Pagan_ gods: at which
time they should passe so farre in so little a space on cockhorsse;
their transubstantiation, their eating of children, and their pulling
of them from their mothers sides, their entring into mens houses,
through chinks and little holes, where a flie can scarselie wring out,
and the disquieting of the inhabitants, &c: all which are not onelie
said by a generall councell to be meere fantasticall, and imaginations
in dreames; but so affirmed by the ancient writers. The words of the
councell are these; It may not be omitted, that certeine wicked women
following sathans provocations, being seduced by the illusion of
divels, beleeve and professe, that in the night times ride abroad with
_Diana_, the goddesse of the _Pagans_, or else with _Herodias_, with
an innumerable multitude, upon certeine beasts, and passe over manie
countries and nations, in the silence of the night, and doo whatsoever
those fairies or ladies command, &c. And it followeth even there; Let
all ministers therefore in their severall cures, preach to Gods people,
so as they may knowe all these things to be false, &c. It followeth in
the same councell; Therefore, whosoever beleeveth that any creature
may be either created by them, or else changed into better or worsse,
or be any way transformed into any other kind or likenes of any, but
of the creator himselfe, is assuredlie an infidell, and woorsse than a
_Pagan_.

♦_Concil. Acquirens in decret. 26. quæ. 5. can. episcopi._
_August. de spiritu & anima cap. 8._
_Franc. Ponzivib. tract de lam. numero 49._
_Grillandus de sort. numero. 6._♦

And if this be credible, then all these their bargaines and assemblies,
&c: are incredible, which are onelie ratified by certeine foolish and
extorted confessions; and by a fable of S. _Germane_, who watched the
fairies or witches, being at a reere banket, and through his holinesse
staied them, till he sent to the houses of those neighbours, which
seemed to be there, and found them all in bed; and so tried, that these
were divels in the likenesse of those women. Which if it were as true,
as it is false, it might serve well to confute this their meeting and
night-walking. For if the divels be onlie present in the likenesse of
witches, then is that false, which is attributed to witches in this
behalfe.

♦_In histor. vel vita sancti Germani._♦

But bicause the old hammar of _Sprenger_ and _Institor_, in their old
_Malleo Maleficarum_, was insufficient to knocke downe this councell;
a yoong beetle-head called Frier _Bartholomæus Spineus_ hath made a
new leaden beetle, to beate downe the councell, and to kill these old
women. Wherein he counterfeiting _Aesops_ asse, claweth the pope with
his heeles: affirming upon his credit, that the councell is false and
erronious; bicause the doctrine swarveth from the popish church, and
is not authenticall but apocryphall; saieng (though untrulie) that
that councell was not called by the commandement and pleasure of the
pope, nor ratified by his authoritie, which (saith he) is sufficient
to disanull all councels. For surelie (saith this frier, which at this
instant is a cheefe inquisitor) if the words of this councell were to
be admitted, both I, and all my predecessors had published notorious
lies, and committed manie injurious executions; whereby the popes
themselves also might justlie be detected of error, contrarie to the
catholike beleefe in that behalfe. Marrie he saith, that although the
words and direct sense of this councell be quite contrarie to truth
and his opinion; yet he will make an exposition thereof, that shall
somewhat mitigate the lewdnes of the same; and this he saith is not
onlie allowable to doo, but also meritorious. Marke the mans words, and
judge his meaning.

♦_Novus Mal._
_Mal in quæ. de strigib. cap. 21. 22. 23, &c._♦

♦_Bar. Spineus._
_Mal. Malef. cap. 23. in quæ. de strigib._♦

The xvii. Chapter.

_Witchmongers reasons, to proove that witches can worke
wonders, Bodins tale of a Friseland preest transported, that
imaginations, proceeding of melancholie doo cause illusions._

Old _M. Maleficarum_ also saith, that the councels and doctors were all
deceived heerein, and alledging authoritie therfore, confuteth that
opinion by a notable reason, called _Petitio principii_, or rather,
_Ignotum per ignotius_, in this maner: They can put changlings in the
place of other children; _Ergo_ they can transferre and transforme
themselves and others, &c: according to their confession in that
behalfe. Item he saith, and _Bodin_ justifieth it, that a preest in
_Friseland_ was corporallie transferred into a farre countrie, as
witnessed another preest of _Oberdorf_ his companion, who saw him aloft
in the aire: _Ergo_ saith _M. Mal._ they have all beene deceived
hitherto, to the great impunitie of horrible witches. Wherein he
opposeth his follie against God and his church, against the truth,
and against all possibilitie. But surelie it is almost incredible,
how imagination shall abuse such as are subject unto melancholie; so
as they shall beleeve they see, heare, and doo that, which never was
nor shall be; as is partlie declared, if you read _Galen De locis
affectis_, and may more plainelie appeere also if you read _Aristotle
De somnio_.

♦_Mal. Malef. pa. 1, cap. 3._
_Guli. Parisi._♦

And thereof S. _Augustine_ saith well, that he is too much a foole
and a blockhead, that supposeth those things to be doone indeed, and
corporallie, which are by such persons phantasticallie imagined: which
phantasticall illusions do as well agree and accord (as _Algerus_
saith) with magicall deceipts, as the veritie accompanieth divine
holinesse.

♦_August. de spiritu & anima._♦

♦_Lib. 1. cap. 7. de eucharist._♦

The xviii. Chapter.

_That the confession of witches is insufficient in civill and
common lawe to take awaie life. What the sounder divines, and
decrees of councels determine in this case._

Alas! what creature being sound in state of mind, would (without
compulsion) make such maner of confessions as they do; or would, for
a trifle, or nothing, make a perfect bargaine with the divell for hir
soule, to be yeelded up unto his tortures and everlasting flames, and
that within a verie short time; speciallie being through age most
commonlie unlike to live one whole yeare? The terror of hell fire must
needs be to them diverslie manifested, and much more terrible; bicause
of their weaknesse, nature, and kind, than to any other: as it would
appeere, if a witch were but asked, Whether she would be contented
to be hanged one yeare hence, upon condition hir displesure might be
wreked upon hir enimie presentlie. As for theeves, & such other, they
thinke not to go to hell fire; but are either persuaded there is no
hell, or that their crime deserveth it not, or else that they have time
enough to repent: so as, no doubt, if they were perfectlie resolved
heereof, they would never make such adventures. Neither doo I thinke,
that for any summe of monie, they would make so direct a bargaine to
go to hell fire. Now then I conclude, that confession in this behalf
is insufficient to take awaie the life of any body; or to atteine such
credit, as to be beleeved without further proofe. For as _Augustine_
and _Isidore_, with the rest of the sounder divines saie, that these
prestigious things, which are wrought by witches are fantasticall: so
doo the sounder decrees of councels and canons agree, that in that
case, there is no place for criminall action. And the lawe saith, that
The confession of such persons as are illuded, must needs be erronious,
and therefore is not to be admitted: for, _Confessio debet tenere verum
& possibile_. But these things are opposite both to lawe and nature,
and therfore it followeth not; Bicause these witches confesse so,
_Ergo_ it is so. For the confession differeth from the act, or from the
possibilitie of the act. And whatsoever is contrarie to nature faileth
in his principles, and therefore is naturallie impossible.

♦It is not likelie they would so doo: _Ergo_ a lie.♦

♦_August. de civit. Dei._
_Isidor. lib. (8. cap. 9.)_
_Etymol. 26. quæ. 5. ca. nec mirum._
_Ponzivibius de lamiis, volum. 10._
_L. error, & L. cum post. c. de juris & facti ignor. ac in L. de ætat._
_§. item de interrog. actiō._
_Per glos. Bal. & alios in L. 1. c. de confes. glos. nec. si de confes.
in 6. § ad leg. Aquil L. Neracius. §. fin. Ut per Bald. & August. in
L. I. c. de confess, &c. Extra. de presump. literas. Per Bald. in d.
leg. &c._
_Extra. de test cum literis._
_Mal. Malef. pa. 3 quæst. 5. cap. 11._♦

The lawe also saith, _In criminalibus regulariter non statur soli
confessioni rei_, In criminall cases or touching life, we must not
absolutelie stand to the confession of the accused partie: but in
these matters proofes must be brought more cleare than the light it
selfe. And in this crime no bodie must be condemned upon presumptions.
And where it is objected and urged, that Since God onelie knoweth
the thoughts, therefore there is none other waie of proofe but by
confession: It is answered thus in the lawe, to wit: Their confession
in this case conteineth an outward act, and the same impossible both
in lawe and nature, and also unlikelie to be true; and therefore _Quod
verisimile non est, attendi non debet_. So as, though their confessions
may be worthie of punishment, as whereby they shew a will to commit
such mischeefe, yet not worthie of credit, as that they have such
power. For, _Si factum absit, soláque opinione laborent, é stultorum
genere sunt_; If they confesse a fact performed but in opinion, they
are to be reputed among the number of fooles. Neither may any man be
by lawe condemned for criminall causes, upon presumptions, nor yet by
single witnesses: neither at the accusation of a capitall enimie, who
indeed is not to be admitted to give evidence in this case; though it
please _M. Mal._ and _Bodin_ to affirme the contrarie. But beyond all
equitie, these inquisitors have shifts and devises enow, to plague and
kill these poore soules: for (they say) their fault is greatest of
all others; bicause of their carnall copulation with the divell, and
therefore they are to be punished as heretikes, foure maner of waies:
to wit; with excommunication, deprivation, losse of goods, and also
with death.

♦_Mal. malef. quæst. 14. pa. 1._♦

And indeede they find lawe, and provide meanes thereby to mainteine
this their bloudie humor. For it is written in their popish canons,
that As for these kind of heretikes, how much soever they repent
and returne to the faith, they may not be reteined alive, or kept
in perpetuall prison; but be put to extreame death. Yea, _M. Mal._
writeth, that A witches sinne is the sinne against the Holie-ghost; to
wit, irremissible: yea further, that it is greater than the sinne of
the angels that fell. In which respect I wonder, that _Moses_ delivered
not three tables to the children of Israell; or at the leastwise, that
he exhibited not commandements for it. It is not credible that the
greatest should be included in the lesse, &c.

♦_C. de malef. L. nullus. L nemo. & L. culpa. and affirmed by Mal.
malef._♦

♦_Mal. malef. quæst. 17._♦

But when these witchmongers are convinced in the objection concerning
their confessions; so as thereby their tyrannicall arguments cannot
prevaile, to imbrue the magistrates hands in so much bloud as their
appetite requireth: they fall to accusing them of other crimes,
that the world might thinke they had some colour to mainteine their
malicious furie against them.

The xix. Chapter.

_Of foure capitall crimes objected against witches, all fullie
answered and confuted as frivolous._

1. Idolatrie, confuted.

First therefore they laie to their charge idolatrie. But alas without
all reason: for such are properlie knowne to us to be idolaters, as doo
externall worship to idols or strange gods. The furthest point that
idolatrie can be stretched unto, is, that they, which are culpable
therein, are such as hope for and seeke salvation at the hands of
idols, or of anie other than God; or fix their whole mind and love
upon anie creature, so as the power of God be neglected and contemned
thereby. But witches neither seeke nor beleeve to have salvation
at the hands of divels, but by them they are onlie deceived; the
instruments of their phantasie being corrupted, and so infatuated,
that they suppose, confesse, and saie they can doo that, which is as
farre beyond their power and nature to doo, as to kill a man at _Yorke_
before noone, when they have beene seene at _London_ in that morning,
&c. But if these latter idolaters, whose idolatrie is spirituall, and
committed onelie in mind, should be punished by death; then should
everie covetous man, or other, that setteth his affection anie waie
too much upon an earthlie creature, be executed, and yet perchance the
witch might escape scotfree.

2. Apostasie, confuted.

Secondlie, apostasie is laid to their charge, whereby it is inferred,
that they are worthie to die. But apostasie is, where anie of sound
judgement forsake the gospell, learned and well knowne unto them; and
doo not onelie imbrace impietie and infidelitie; but oppugne and resist
the truth erstwhile by them professed. But alas these poore women go
not about to defend anie impietie, but after good admonition repent.

3. Seducing of the people, confuted.

Thirdlie, they would have them executed for seducing the people. But
God knoweth they have small store of Rhetorike or art to seduce; except
to tell a tale of Robin good-fellow be to deceive and seduce. Neither
may their age or sex admit that opinion or accusation to be just: for
they themselves are poore seduced soules. I for my part (as else-where
I have said) have prooved this point to be false in most apparent sort.

4. Carnall copulation with Incubus, confuted.

Fourthlie, as touching the accusation, which all the writers use
herein against them for their carnall copulation with _Incubus_: the
follie of mens credulitie is as much to be woondered at and derided,
as the others vaine and impossible confessions. For the divell is
a spirit, and hath neither flesh nor bones, which were to be used
in the performance of this action. And since he also lacketh all
instruments, substance, and seed ingendred of bloud; it were follie
to staie overlong in the confutation of that, which is not in the
nature of things. And yet must I saie somewhat heerein, bicause the
opinion hereof is so stronglie and universallie received, and the
fables hereupon so innumerable; wherby _M. Mal. Bodin_, _Hemingius_,
_Hyperius_, _Danæus_, _Erastus_, and others that take upon them to
write heerein, are so abused, or rather seeke to abuse others; as I
woonder at their fond credulitie in this behalfe. For they affirme
undoubtedlie, that the divell plaieth _Succubus_ to the man, and
carrieth from him the seed of generation, which he delivereth as
_Incubus_ to the woman, who manie times that waie is gotten with child;
which will verie naturallie (they saie) become a witch, and such a one
they affirme _Merline_ was.

♦How the divell plaieth Succubus and Incubus.♦

The xx. Chapter.

_A request to such readers as loath to heare or read filthie
and bawdie matters (which of necessitie are heere to be
inserted) to passe over eight chapters._

But in so much as I am driven (for the more manifest bewraieng and
displaieng of this most filthie and horrible error) to staine my paper
with writing thereon certeine of their beastlie and bawdie assertions
and examples, whereby they confirme this their doctrine (being my selfe
both ashamed, and loth once to thinke upon such filthinesse, although
it be to the condemnation thereof) I must intreat you that are the
readers hereof, whose chaste eares cannot well endure to heare of such
abhominable lecheries, as are gathered out of the bookes of those
witchmongers (although doctors of divinitie, and otherwise of great
authoritie and estimation) to turne over a few leaves, wherein (I saie)
I have like a groome thrust their bawdie stuffe (even that which I my
selfe loath) as into a stinking corner: howbeit, none otherwise, I
hope, but that the other parts of my writing shall remaine sweet, and
this also covered as close as may be.

♦A peroration to the readers.♦

¶ _The fourth Booke._

The first Chapter.

_Of witchmongers opinions concerning evill spirits, how they frame
themselves in more excellent sort than God made us._

_James Sprenger_ and _Henrie Institor_, in _M. Mal._ agreing with
_Bodin_, _Barth. Spineus_, _Danæus_, _Erastus_, _Hemingius_, and the
rest, doo make a bawdie discourse; labouring to proove by a foolish
kind of philosophie, that evill spirits cannot onlie take earthlie
forms and shapes of men; but also counterfeit hearing, seeing, &c:
and likewise, that they can eate and devoure meats, and also reteine,
digest, and avoid the same: and finallie, use diverse kinds of
activities, but speciallie excell in the use and art of venerie. For
_M. Mal._ saith, that The eies and eares of the mind are farre more
subtill than bodilie eies or carnall eares. Yea it is there affirmed,
that as they take bodies, and the likenesse of members; so they take
minds and similitudes of their operations. But by the way, I would have
them answer this question. Our minds and soules are spirituall things.
If our corporall eares be stopped, what can they heare or conceive of
anie externall wisedome? And truelie, a man of such a constitution of
bodie, as they imagine of these spirits, which make themselves, &c:
were of farre more excellent substance, &c: than the bodies of them
that God made in paradise; and so the divels workmanship should exceed
the handie worke of God the father and creator of all things.

♦_Mal. malef. par. 2. cap. 4 quæst. 1._♦

♦If his bodilie eies were out, he would see but ilfavoredlie.♦

The second Chapter.

_Of bawdie Incubus and Succubus, and whether the action of
venerie may be performed betweene witches and divels, and
when witches first yeelded to Incubus._

Heretofore (they saie) _Incubus_ was faine to ravish women against
their will, untill Anno. 1400: but now since that time witches consent
willinglie to their desires: in so much as some one witch exerciseth
that trade of lecherie with _Incubus_ twentie or thirtie yeares
togither; as was confessed by fourtie and eight witches burned at
_Ravenspurge_. But what goodlie fellowes _Incubus_ begetteth upon
these witches, is prooved by _Thomas_ of _Aquine_, _Bodin_, _M. Mal.
Hyperius_, _&c._

♦_Nider in fornicario._♦

♦_T. Brabant in lib. de apib._♦

♦_In. sen. dist. 4. art. 4._♦

This is prooved first by the divels cunning, in discerning the
difference of the seed which falleth from men. Secondlie, by his
understanding of the aptnes of the women for the receipt of such seed.
Thirdlie by his knowledge of the constellations, which are freendlie
to such corporall effects. And lastlie, by the excellent complexion of
such as the divell maketh choice of, to beget such notable personages
upon, as are the causes of the greatnesse and excellencie of the child
thus begotten.

♦Gen. 6, 4.♦

And to proove that such bawdie dooings betwixt the divell and witches
is not fained, S. _Augustine_ is alledged, who saith, that All
superstitious arts had their beginning of the pestiferous societie
betwixt the divell and man. Wherein he saith truelie; for that in
paradise, betwixt the divell and man, all wickednes was so contrived,
that man ever since hath studied wicked arts: yea and the divell will
be sure to be at the middle and at both ends of everie mischeefe. But
that the divell ingendreth with a woman, in maner and forme as is
supposed, and naturallie begetteth the wicked, neither is it true, nor
_Augustines_ meaning in this place.

♦_Mal. malef. par. 2. quæ. 1_
_August. de doctrina Christ._♦

Howbeit _M. Mal._ proceedeth, affirming that All witches take their
beginning from such filthie actions, wherein the divell, in likenes
of a prettie wench, lieth prostitute as _Succubus_ to the man, and
reteining his nature and seede, conveieth it unto the witch, to whome
he delivereth it as _Incubus_. Wherein also is refuted the opinion of
them that hold a spirit to be unpalpable. _M. Mal._ saith, There can
be rendred no infallible rule, though a probable distinction may be
set downe, whether _Incubus_ in the act of venerie doo alwaies powre
seed out of his assumed bodie. And this is the distinction; Either she
is old and barren, or yoong and pregnant. If she be barren, then dooth
_Incubus_ use hir without decision of seed; bicause such seed should
serve for no purpose. And the divell avoideth superfluitie as much as
he may; and yet for hir pleasure and condemnation togither, he goeth
to worke with hir. But by the waie, if the divell were so compendious,
what should he need to use such circumstances, even in these verie
actions, as to make these assemblies, conventicles, ceremonies, &c:
when he hath alreadie bought their bodies, and bargained for their
soules? Or what reason had he, to make them kill so manie infants, by
whom he rather loseth than gaineth any thing; bicause they are, so
farre as either he or we knowe, in better case than we of riper yeares
by reason of their innocencie? Well, if she be not past children, then
stealeth he seed awaie (as hath beene said) from some wicked man being
about that lecherous busines, and therewith getteth yoong witches upon
the old.

♦_Mal. malef. quæ. 1. par. 1._♦

And note, that they affirme that this businesse is better accomplished
with seed thus gathered, than that which is shed in dremes, through
superfluitie of humors: bicause that is gathered from the vertue of the
seed generative. And if it be said that the seed will wax cold by the
waie, and so lose his naturall heate, and consequentlie the vertue: _M.
Mal. Danæus_, and the rest doo answere, that the divell can so carrie
it, as no heate shall go from it, &c.

♦_Mal. malef. par. 1. quæ. 1._
_Danæus in dialog. de sortiariis._♦

Furthermore, old witches are sworne to procure as manie yoong virgins
for _Incubus_ as they can, whereby in time they growe to be excellent
bawds: but in this case the preest plaieth _Incubus_. For you shall
find, that confession to a preest, and namelie this word _Benedicite_,
driveth _Incubus_ awaie, when _Ave Maries_, crosses, and all other
charmes faile.

♦_Ja. Sprenger in Mal. male._♦

The third Chapter.

_Of the divels visible & invisible dealing with witches in the waie
of lecherie._

But as touching the divels visible or invisible execution of lecherie,
it is written, that to such witches, as before have made a visible
legue with the preest, (the divell I should saie) there is no
necessitie that _Incubus_ should appeere invisible: marrie to the
standers by hee is for the most part invisible. For proofe hereof
_James Sprenger_ and _Institor_ affirme, that Manie times witches are
seene in the fields, and woods, prostituting themselves uncovered and
naked up to the navill, wagging and mooving their members in everie
part, according to the disposition of one being about that act of
concupiscence, and yet nothing seene of the beholders upon hir; saving
that after such a convenient time as is required about such a peece
of worke, a blacke vapor of the length and bignesse of a man, hath
beene seene as it were to depart from hir, and to ascend from that
place. Neverthelesse, manie times the husband seeth _Incubus_ making
him cuckhold, in the likenesse of a man, and sometimes striketh off
his head with his sword: but bicause the bodie is nothing but aire, it
closeth togither againe: so as, although the goodwife be some times
hurt thereby; yet she maketh him beleeve he is mad or possessed, & that
he dooth he knoweth not what. For she hath more pleasure and delight
(they say) with _Incubus_ that waie, than with anie mortall man:
whereby you may perceive that spirits are palpable.

♦This was doone at Ravenspurge.♦

♦_Mal. Malef._♦

The fourth Chapter.

_That the power of generation is both outwardlie and inwardlie
impeached by witches, and of divers that had their genitals
taken from them by witches, and by the same meanes againe
restored._

They also affirme, that the vertue of generation is impeached by
witches, both inwardlie, and outwardlie: for intrinsecallie they
represse the courage, and they stop the passage of the mans seed, so
as it may not descend to the vessels of generation: also they hurt
extrinsecallie, with images, hearbs, &c. And to proove this true, you
shall heare certeine stories out of _M. Mal._ worthie to be noted.

A yoong priest at _Mespurge_ in the diocesse of _Constance_ was
bewitched, so as he had no power to occupie any other or mo women than
one; and to be delivered out of that thraldom, sought to flie into
another countrie, where he might use that preestlie occupation more
freelie. But all in vaine; for evermore he was brought as far backward
by night, as he went forward in the daie before; sometimes by land,
sometimes in the aire, as though he flew. And if this be not true, I am
sure that _James Sprenger_ dooth lie.

♦_Mal. Malef. cap. 6. quæ. 1 pa. 2._♦

For the further confirmation of our beleefe in _Incubus_, _M. Mal._
citeth a storie of a notable matter executed at _Ravenspurge_, as true
and as cleanlie as the rest. A yoong man lieng with a wench in that
towne (saith he) was faine to leave his instruments of venerie behind
him, by meanes of that prestigious art of witchcraft: so as in that
place nothing could be seene or felt but his plaine bodie. This yoong
man was willed by another witch, to go to hir whom he suspected, and
by faire or fowle meanes to require hir helpe: who soone after meeting
with hir, intreated hir faire, but that was in vaine; and therefore
he caught hir by the throte, and with a towell strangled hir, saieng:
Restore me my toole, or thou shalt die for it: so as she being swolne
and blacke in the face, and through his boisterous handling readie to
die, said; Let me go, and I will helpe thee. And whilest he was loosing
the towell, she put hir hand into his codpeece, and touched the place;
saieng; Now hast thou thy desire: and even at that instant he felt
himselfe restored.

Item, a reverend father, for his life, holinesse, and knowledge
notorious, being a frier of the order and companie of _Spire_,
reported, that a yoong man at shrift made lamentable moane unto him for
the like losse: but his gravitie suffered him not to beleeve lightlie
any such reports, and therefore made the yoong man untrusse his
codpeece point, and sawe the complaint to be true and just. Whereupon
he advised or rather injoined the youth to go to the witch whome he
suspected, and with flattering words to intreat hir, to be so good
unto him, as to restore him his instrument: which by that meanes he
obteined, and soone after returned to shew himselfe thankfull; and
told the holie father of his good successe in that behalfe: but he so
beleeved him, as he would needs be _Oculatus testis_, and made him pull
downe his breeches, and so was satisfied of the troth and certeintie
thereof.

♦_Ja. Sprenger. in Mal. malef. par. 2. quæ. 1._♦

Another yoong man being in that verie taking, went to a witch for the
restitution thereof, who brought him to a tree, where she shewed him
a nest, and bad him clime up and take it. And being in the top of the
tree, he tooke out a mightie great one, and shewed the same to hir,
asking hir if he might not have the same. Naie (quoth she) that is our
parish preests toole, but take anie other which thou wilt. And it is
there affirmed, that some have found 20. and some 30. of them in one
nest, being there preserved with provender, as it were at the racke and
manger, with this note, wherein there is no contradiction (for all must
be true that is written against witches) that If a witch deprive one of
his privities, it is done onlie by prestigious meanes, so as the senses
are but illuded. Marie by the divell it is reallie taken awaie, and in
like sort restored. These are no jestes, for they be written by them
that were and are judges upon the lives and deaths of those persons.

♦_Mal. malef. cap. 7. par. 2. quæst. 1._♦

♦Note.♦

The fift Chapter.

_Of bishop Sylvanus his leacherie opened and covered againe,
how maides having yellow haire are most combred with Incubus,
how maried men are bewitched to use other mens wives, and to
refuse their own._

You shall read in the legend, how in the night time _Incubus_ came
to a ladies bed side, and made hot loove unto hir: whereat she being
offended, cried out so lowd, that companie came and found him under
hir bed in the likenesse of the holie bishop _Sylvanus_, which holie
man was much defamed therebie, untill at the length this infamie was
purged by the confession of a divell made at S. _Jeroms_ toombe. Oh
excellent peece of witchcraft or cousening wrought by _Sylvanus_! Item,
S. _Christine_ would needes take unto hir another maides _Incubus_,
and lie in hir roome: and the storie saith, that she was shrewdlie
accloied. But she was a shrew indeed, that would needes change beds
with hir fellow, that was troubled everie night with _Incubus_, and
deale with him hir selfe. But here the inquisitors note maie not be
forgotten, to wit: that Maides having yellow haire are most molested
with this spirit. Also it is written in the Legend, of S. _Barnard_,
that a pretie wench that had had the use of _Incubus_ his bodie by
the space of six or seven yeares in _Aquitania_ (being beelike wearie
of him for that he waxed old) would needes go to S. _Barnard_ another
while. But _Incubus_ told hir, that if she would so forsake him, being
so long hir true loover, he would be revenged upon hir, &c. But befall
what would, she went to S. _Barnard_, who tooke hir his staffe, and bad
her laie it in the bed besides hir. And indeed the divell fearing the
bedstaffe, or that S. _Barnard_ laie there himselfe, durst not approch
into hir chamber that night: what he did afterwards, I am uncerteine.
Marrie you may find other circumstances hereof, and manie other like
bawdie lies in the golden Legend. But here againe we maie not forget
the inquisitors note, to wit; that manie are so bewitched that they
cannot use their owne wives: but anie other bodies they maie well
enough away withall. Which witchcraft is practised among manie bad
husbands, for whom it were a good excuse to saie they were bewitched.

♦_In vita Hieronym._♦

♦Saincts as holie and chaste as horsses & mares.♦

♦Maides having yellow haire.♦

♦_Mal. Malef. par. 2. quæ. 2. cap. 2._♦

The sixt Chapter.

_How to procure the dissolving of bewitched love, also to
enforce a man (how proper so ever he be) to love an old hag:
and of a bawdie tricke of a priest in Gelderland._

The priests saie, that the best cure for a woman thus molested, next
to confession, is excommunication. But to procure the dissolving of
bewitched and constrained love, the partie bewitched must make a jakes
of the lovers shooe. And to enforce a man, how proper so ever he be,
to love an old hag, she giveth unto him to eate (among other meates)
hir owne doong: and this waie one old witch made three abbats of one
house successivelie to die for hir love as she hir selfe confessed,
by the report of M. _Mal._ In _Gelderland_ a priest persuaded a sicke
woman that she was bewitched; and except he might sing a masse upon
hir bellie, she could not be holpen. Whereunto she consented, and laie
naked on the altar whilest he sang masse, to the satisfieng of his
lust; but not to the [*]release of hir greefe. Other cures I will
speake of in other places more civill. Howbeit, certeine miraculous
cures, both full of bawderie and lies, must either have place here, or
none at all.

♦Of a bawdie priest in Gelderland.♦

♦[*] [? releafe.]♦

The seventh Chapter.

_Of divers saincts and holie persons, which were exceeding
bawdie and lecherous, and by certeine miraculous meanes
became chaste._

_Cassianus_ writeth, that S. _Syren_ being of bodie verie lecherous,
and of mind woonderfull religious, fasted and praied; to the end his
bodie might be reduced miraculouslie to chastitie. At length came an
angell unto him by night, and cut out of his flesh certeine kernels,
which were the sparkes of concupiscence; so as afterwards he never
had anie more motions of the flesh. It is also reported, that the
abbat _Equicius_ being naturallie as unchast as the other, fell to
his beads so devoutlie for recoverie of honestie, that there came an
angell unto him in an apparition, that seemed to geld him; and after
that (forsooth) he was as chaste as though he had had never a stone in
his breech; and before that time being a ruler over monkes, he became
afterwards a governour over nunnes. Even as it is said _Helias_ the
holie monke gathered thirtie virgins into a monasterie, over whom he
ruled and reigned by the space of two yeares, and grew so proud and hot
in the codpeece, that he was faine to forsake his holie house, and flie
to a desert, where he fasted and praied two daies, saieng; Lord quench
my hot lecherous humors, or kill me. Whereupon in the night following,
there came unto him three angels, and demanded of him why he forsooke
his charge: but the holie man was ashamed to tell them. Howbeit they
asked him further, saieng; Wilt thou returne to these damsels, if we
free thee from all concupiscence? Yea (quoth he) with all my heart.
And when they had sworne him solemnelie so to doo, they tooke him
up, & gelded him; and one of them holding his hands, and another his
feete, the third cut out his stones. But the storie saith it was not so
ended, but in a vision. Which I beleeve, because within five daies he
returned to his minions, who pitiouslie moorned for him all this while,
and joyfullie embraced his sweete companie at his returne. The like
storie dooth _Nider_ write of _Thomas_, whome two angels cured of that
lecherous disease; by putting about him a girdle, which they brought
downe with them from heaven.

♦_In coll. patrum._♦

♦_Gregor. lib. 1. dial. 2._♦

♦_In vitis patrum. Heraclides in paradiso._♦

♦_Nider in fornicario._♦

The eight Chapter.

_Certeine popish and magicall cures, for them that are bewitched in
their privities._

For direct cure to such as are bewitched in the privie members, the
first and speciall is confession: then follow in a row, holie water,
and those ceremoniall trumperies, _Ave Maries_, and all maner of
crossings; which are all said to be wholesome, except the witchcraft be
perpetuall, and in that case the wife maie have a divorse of course.

Item, the eating of a haggister or pie helpeth one bewitched in that
member.

♦_Aliter._♦

Item, the smoke of the tooth of a dead man.

♦_Aliter._♦

Item, to annoint a mans bodie over with the gall of a crow.

♦_Aliter._♦

Item, to fill a quill with quicke silver, and laie the same under
the cushine, where such a one sitteth, or else to put it under the
threshold of the doore of the house or chamber where he dwelleth.

Item, to spet into your owne bosome, if you be so bewitched, is verie
good.

♦_Aliter._♦

Item, to pisse through a wedding ring. If you would know who is hurt
in his privities by witchcraft; and who otherwise is therein diseased,
_Hostiensis_ answereth: but so, as I am ashamed to english it: and
therefore have here set downe his experiment in Latine; _Quando virga
nullatenùs movetur, & nunquam potuit cognoscere; hoc est signum
frigiditatis: sed quando movetur & erigitur, perficere autem non
potest, est signum maleficii._

♦_Aliter._♦

But Sir _Th. Moore_ hath such a cure in this matter, as I am ashamed to
write, either in Latine or English: for in filthie bawderie it passeth
all the tales that ever I heard. But that is rather a medicine to
procure generation, than the cure of witchcraft, though it serve both
turnes.

♦S. Thomas Moores, medicinable receipt, &c.♦

Item, when ones instrument of venerie is bewitched, certeine characters
must be written in virgine parchment, celebrated and holied by a popish
priest; and thereon also must the 141. Psalme be written, and bound _Ad
viri fascinati coxam_.

♦_Aliter._♦

Item, one _Katharine Loe_ (having a husband not so readilie disposed
that waie as she wished him to be) made a waxen image to the
likenes of hir husbands bewitched member, and offered it up at S.
_Anthonies_ altar; so as, through the holinesse of the masse it might
be sanctified, to be more couragious, and of better disposition and
abilitie, &c.

♦_Aliter._♦

The ninth Chapter.

_A strange cure doone to one that was molested with Incubus._

Now being wearied with the rehearsall of so manie lecheries most
horrible, and very filthie and fabulous actions and passions of
witches, together with the spirit _Incubus_, I will end with a true
storie taken out of _Jason Pratensis_, which though it be rude, yet is
it not altogither so uncleane as the rest.

♦_Jaso. Pratensis de cerebri morbo, ca. 16._♦

There came (saith he) of late a masse priest unto me, making pitious
moane, and saieng, that if I holpt him not, he should be undoone, and
utterlie overthrowne; so great was his infirmitie: for (saith he) I
was woont to be faire and fat, and of an excellent complexion; and lo
how I looke, being now a verie ghost consisting of skinne and bone,
&c. What is the matter (quoth _Jason_?) I will shew you sir, said
the priest. There commeth unto mee, almost everie night, a certeine
woman, unknowne unto me, and lieth so heavie upon my brest, that I
cannot fetch my breath, neither have anie power to crie, neither doo
my hands serve me to shoove hir awaie, nor my feete to go from hir. I
smiled (quoth _Jason_) and told him that he was vexed with a disease
called _Incubus_, or the mare; and the residue was phantasie and
vaine imagination. Naie (said the priest) it cannot be so: for by our
blessed ladie, I tell you nothing but that with waking I saw with mine
eies, and felt with mine hands. I see hir when she commeth upon me,
and strive to repell hir; but I am so infeebled that I cannot: and
for remedie I have runne about from place to place, but no helpe that
I could get. At length I went to an old frier that was counted an od
fellow; and thought to have had help at his hands, but the divell a
whit had I of him; saving that for remedie he willed me to praie to
God; whome I am sure I wearied with my tedious praiers long before.
Then went I unto an old woman (quoth the priest) who was said to be
a cunning witch: and she willed me, that the next morning, about the
dawning of the daie, I should pisse, and immediatlie should cover the
pispot, or stop it with my right netherstocke, and before night the
witch should come to visit me. And although (quoth he) the respect of
mine orders somewhat terrified me from the execution of hir advise;
yet my necessities diverse waies, and speciallie my paines moved me
to make triall of hir words. And by the masse (quoth the priest) hir
prophesie fell out as sure as a club. For a witch came to my house, and
complained of a greefe in hir bladder, and that she could not pisse.
But I could neither by faire nor fowle meanes obteine at hir hands,
that she would leave molesting me by night; but she keepeth hir old
custome, determining by these filthie meanes to dispatch me. I could
hardlie (saith _Jason_) reclaime him from this mad humor; but by that
time he had beene with me three or foure times, he began to comfort
himselfe, and at last perceiving it, he acknowledged his disease, and
recovered the same.

♦The priest is opinionative in the error of his phantasie.♦

♦The priest recovered.♦

The tenth Chapter.

_A confutation of all the former follies touching Incubus,
which by examples and proofes of like stuffe is shewed to be
flat knaverie, wherein the carnall copulation with spirits is
overthrowne._

Thus are lecheries covered with the cloke of _Incubus_ and witchcraft,
contrarie to nature and veritie: and with these fables is mainteined an
opinion, that men have beene begotten without carnall copulation (as
_Hyperius_ and others write that _Merlin_ was, An. 440.) speciallie to
excuse and mainteine the knaveries and lecheries of idle priests and
bawdie monkes; and to cover the shame of their lovers and concubines.

♦Merlin begotten of Incubus.♦

And alas, when great learned men have beene so abused, with the
imagination of _Incubus_ his carnall societie with women, misconstruing
the scriptures, to wit, the place in _Genesis_ 6. to the seducing of
manie others; it is the lesse woonder, that this error hath passed so
generallie among the common people.

But to use few words herein, I hope you understand that they affirme
and saie, that _Incubus_ is a spirit; and I trust you know that a
spirit hath no flesh nor bones, &c: and that he neither dooth eate nor
drinke. In deede your grandams maides were woont to set a boll of milke
before him and his cousine Robin good-fellow, for grinding of malt or
mustard, and sweeping the house at midnight: and you have also heard
that he would chafe exceedingly, if the maid or good-wife of the house,
having compassion of his nakednes, laid anie clothes for him, beesides
his messe of white bread and milke, which was his standing fee. For in
that case he saith; What have we here? Hemton hamten, here will I never
more tread nor stampen.

But to proceed in this confutation. Where there is no meate eaten,
there can be no seed which thereof is ingendred: although it be
granted, that Robin could both eate and drinke, as being a cousening
idle frier, or some such roge, that wanted nothing either belonging to
lecherie or knaverie, &c. Item, where the genitall members want, there
can be no lust of the flesh: neither dooth nature give anie desire of
generation, where there is no propagation or succession required.

♦_Quia humor spermaticus ex succo alimentari provenit._♦

And as spirits cannot be greeved with hunger, so can they not be
inflamed with lustes. And if men should live ever, what needed
succession or heires? For that is but an ordinance of God, to supplie
the place, the number, the world, the time, and speciallie to
accomplish his will. But the power of generation consisteth not onlie
in members, but chieflie of vitall spirits, and of the hart: which
spirits are never in such a bodie as _Incubus_ hath, being but a bodie
assumed, as they themselves saie. And yet the most part of writers
herein affirme, that it is a palpable and visible bodie; though all be
phansies and fables that are written hereupon.

♦_Ad facultatem generandi tam interna quàm externa organa requiruntur._♦

The eleventh Chapter.

_That Incubus is a naturall disease, with remedies for the same,
besides magicall cures herewithall expressed._

But in truth, this _Incubus_ is a bodilie disease (as hath beene said)
although it extend unto the trouble of the mind: which of some is
called The mare, oppressing manie in their sleepe so sore, as they
are not able to call for helpe, or stir themselves under the burthen
of that heavie humor, which is ingendred of a thicke vapor proceeding
from the cruditie and rawnesse in the stomach: which ascending up into
the head oppresseth the braine, in so much as manie are much infeebled
therebie, as being nightlie haunted therewith. They are most troubled
with this disease, that being subject thereunto, lie right upward: so
as, to turne and lie on the one side, is present remedie. Likewise, if
anie heare the groning of the partie, speake unto him, so as he wake
him, he is presentlie releeved. Howbeit, there are magicall cures for
it, as for example.

♦What Incubus is, & who be most troubled therwith.♦

_S. George, S. George, our ladies knight,
He walkt by daie, so did he by night:
Untill such time as he hir found,
He hir beat and he hir bound,
Untill hir troth she to him plight,
She would not come to hir[*] that night._

♦[*] [? him. MS.]♦

Whereas S. _George_ our ladies knight, was named three times S.
_George_.

Item, hang a stone over the afflicted persons bed, which stone hath
naturallie such a hole in it, as wherein a string may be put through
it, and so be hanged over the diseased or bewitched partie; be it man,
woman, or horsse.

Item, you shall read in _M. Malefic._ that excommunication is verie
notable, and better than any charme for this purpose. There are also
other verses and charmes for this disease devised, which is the common
cloke for the ignorance of bad physicians. But _Leonard Fuchsius_
in his first booke, and 31. chapter, dooth not onelie describe this
disease, and the causes of it; but also setteth downe verie learnedlie
the cure thereof, to the utter confusion of the witchmongers follie
in this behalfe. _Hyperius_ being much bewitched and blinded in this
matter of witchcraft, hoovering about the interpretation of _Genesis
6._ from whence the opinion of _Incubus_ and _Succubus_ is extorted,
_Viderunt filii Dei filias hominum, quòd elegantes essent, acceperunt
sibi in uxores ex omnibus, quas elegerant, &c_: seemeth to mainteine
upon heare-saie, that absurd opinion; and yet in the end is driven to
conclude thus, to wit: Of the evill spirits _Incubus_ and _Succubus_
there can be no firme reason or proofe brought out of scriptures,
using these verie words; _Hæc ut probabilia dicta sunto, quandoquidem
scripturarum præsidio hac in causa destituimur_. As if he should saie,
Take this as spoken probablie; to wit, by humane reason, bicause we are
destitute of scriptures to mainteine the goodnesse of the cause.

♦_M. malefic. par. 2. quæ. 2. cap. 1. col, 2._♦

♦_Leon. Fuchsius de curandi ratione._♦

_Tertullian_ and _Sulpicius Severus_ doo interpret _Filios Dei_ in that
place to be angels, or evill spirits, and to have beene enamored with
the beautie of those wenches; and finallie, begat giants by them.
Which is throughlie confuted by _Chrysostome_, _Hom._ 22. in _Gen_: but
speciallie by the circumstance of the text.

♦_Tertull. in libro de habitu muliebri._♦

♦_Sulp. Sever. in epitome hist. sacr._♦

The twelfe Chapter.

_The censure of G. Chaucer, upon the knaverie of Incubus._

Now will I (after all this long discourse of abhominable cloked
knaveries) here conclude with certeine of _G. Chaucers_ verses, who
as he smelt out the absurdities of poperie, so found he the priests
knaverie in this matter of _Incubus_, and (as the time would suffer
him) he derided their follie and falshood in this wise:

[*]_For now the great charitie and praiers
Of limitors and other holie friers,
That searchen everie land and everie streame
As thicke as motes in the sunne beame,
Blissing halles, kitchens, chambers & bowers,
Cities, borroghes, castels and hie towers,
Thropes, barnes, shepens, and dairies,
This maketh that there beene now no fairies;_

_For there as woont to walken was an elfe,
There walketh now the limitor himselfe,
In undermeales, and in mornings,
And saith his mattens and his holie things
As he goeth in his limitatiowne,
Women may go safelie up and downe,
In everie bush, and under everie tree,
There nis none other [†]Incubus but hee, &c._

♦_Geffr. Chau._ in the beginning of the wife of Baths tale.♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

♦[†] [Text J.]♦

¶ _The fift Booke._

The first Chapter.

_Of transformations, ridiculous examples brought by the adversaries
for the confirmation of their foolish doctrine._

Now that I may with the verie absurdities, conteined in their owne
authors, and even in their principall doctors and last writers,
confound them that mainteine the transubstantiations of witches; I will
shew you certeine proper stuffe, which _Bodin_ (their cheefe champion
of this age) hath gathered out of _M. Mal._ and others, whereby he
laboureth to establish this impossible, incredible, and supernaturall,
or rather unnaturall doctrine of transubstantiation.

♦_J. Bod. lib. 2. de dæmon. cap, 6._♦

First, as touching the divell (_Bodin_ saith) that he dooth most
properlie and commonlie transforme himselfe into a gote, confirming
that opinion by the 33. and 34. of _Esaie_: where there is no one
title[*] sounding to anie such purpose. Howbeit, he sometimes alloweth
the divell the shape of a blacke Moore, and as he saith he used to
appeare to _Mawd Cruse_, _Kate Darey_, and _Jone Harviller_. But I
mervell, whether the divell createth himselfe, when he appeareth in
the likenesse of a man; or whether God createth him, when the divell
wisheth it. As for witches, he saith they speciallie transubstantiate
themselves into wolves, and them whom they bewitch into asses: though
else-where he differ somewhat herein from himselfe. But though he
affirme, that it may be naturallie brought to passe, that a girle shall
become a boie; and that anie female maybe turned into the male: yet he
saith the same hath no affinitie with _Lycanthropia_; wherein he saith
also, that men are wholie transformed, and citeth infinite examples
hereof.

♦J. Bodin abuseth scripture to proove a lie.♦

♦[*] [= tittle.]♦

♦_Pudendis tunc primùm erumpentibus._♦

First, that one _Garner_ in the shape of a woolfe killed a girle of
the age of twelve yeares, and did eat up hir armes and legges, and
carried the rest home to his wife. Item, that _Peter Burget_, and
_Michael Werdon_, having turned themselves with an ointment into
woolves, killed, and finallie did eate up an infinite number of people.
Which lie _Wierus_ dooth sufficientlie confute. But untill you see
and read that, consider whether _Peter_ could eate rawe flesh without
surfetting, speciallie flesh of his owne kind. Item, that there was
an arrowe shot into a woolves thigh, who afterwards being turned into
his former shape of a man, was found in his bed, with the arrowe in
his thigh, which the archer that shot it knew verie well. Item, that
another being _Lycanthropus_ in the forme of a woolfe, had his woolves
feet cut off, and in a moment he became a man without hands or feete.

♦_Jo. Wier. lib. 6. de mag ca. 12._♦

He accuseth also one of the mightiest princes in christendome, even of
late daies, to be one of those kind of witches (so as he could, when
he list, turne himselfe to a woolfe) affirming that he was espied and
oftentimes seene to performe that villanie; bicause he would be counted
the king of all witches. He saith that this transubstantiation is most
common in _Greece_, and through out all _Asia_, as merchant strangers
have reported to him. For _Anno Domini._ 1542, when _Sultan Solimon_
reigned, there was such force and multitude of these kind of woolves in
_Constantinople_, that the emperour drave togither in one flocke 150.
of them, which departed out of the citie in the presence of all the
people.

♦_J. Bodinus mendaciorum [*]heluo._♦

♦[*] [Text _helüo_.]♦

To persuade us the more throughlie heerein, he saith, that in
_Livonia_, yearelie (about the end of December) a certeine knave or
divell warneth all the witches in the countrie to come to a certeine
place: if they faile, the divell commeth and whippeth them with an
iron rod; so as the print of his lashes remaine upon their bodies for
ever. The capteine witch leadeth the waie through a great poole of
water: manie millians of witches swim after. They are no sooner passed
through that water, but they are all transformed into woolves, and flie
upon and devoure both men, women, cattell, &c. After twelve daies they
returne through the same water, and so receive humane shape againe.

♦A warme season to swim in.♦

♦I mervell that they forsake not the divell, who punisheth them so
sore: ywis they get not so much at his hands.♦

Item, that there was one _Bajanus_ a _Jew_, being the sonne of
_Simeon_, which could, when he list, turne himselfe into a woolfe; and
by that meanes could escape the force and danger of a whole armie of
men. Which thing (saith _Bodin_) is woonderfull: but yet (saith he) it
is much more marvelous, that men will not beleeve it. For manie poets
affirme it; yea, and if you looke well into the matter (saith he) you
shall find it easie to doo. Item, he saith, that as naturall woolves
persecute beasts; so doo these magicall woolves devoure men, women,
and children. And yet God saith to the people (I trowe) and not to the
cattell of Israell; If you observe not my commandements, I will send
among you the beasts of the feeld, which shall devoure both you and
your cattell. Item, I will send the teeth of beasts upon you. Where is
_Bodins_ distinction now become? He never saith, I will send witches in
the likenes of wolves, &c: to devoure you or your cattell. Nevertheles,
_Bodin_ saith it is a cleare case: for the matter was disputed upon
before pope _Leo_ the seventh, and by him all these matters were
judged possible: and at that time (saith he) were the transformations
of _Lucian_ and _Apuleius_ made canonicall.

♦Leviti. 16. [26, 22]♦

♦Deut. 32. [v. 24]♦

Furthermore he saith, that through this art they are so cunning that
no man can apprehend them, but when they are a sleepe. Item, he nameth
another witch, that (as _M. Mal._ saith) could not be caught, bicause
he would transforme himselfe into a mouse, and runne into everie little
hole, till at length he was killed comming out of the hole of a jamme
in a windowe: which indeed is as possible, as a camell to go through a
needels eie. Item, he saith, that diverse witches at _Vernon_ turned
themselves into cats, and both committed and received much hurt. But
at _Argentine_ there was a wonderfull matter done, by three witches of
great wealth, who transforming themselves into three cats, assalted a
faggot-maker: who having hurt them all with a faggot sticke, was like
to have beene put to death. But he was miraculouslie delivered, and
they worthilie punished; as the storie saith, from whence _Bodin_ had
it.

♦Stasus a witch could not be apprehended, and why?♦

♦_J. Bodin. Mal. malef._♦

♦_John. Bodin. Mal. malef. Barth. Spin. &c._♦

♦_Mal. malef. part. 3._♦

After a great manie other such beastlie fables, he inveieth against
such physicians, as saie that _Lycanthropia_ is a disease, and not a
transformation. Item, he mainteineth, as sacred and true, all _Homers_
fables of _Circes_ and _Ulyffes_ his companions: inveieng against
_Chrysostome_, who rightlie interpreteth [*]_Ho_mers meaning to be,
that _Ulyffes_ his people were by the harlot _Circes_ made in their
brutish maners to resemble swine.

♦An error about Lycanthropia.♦

♦[*] [Sic.]♦

But least some poets fables might be thought lies (whereby the
witchmongers arguments should quaile) he mainteineth for true the
most part of _Ovids Metamorphôsis_, and the greatest absurdities and
impossibilities in all that booke: marie he thinketh some one tale
therein may be fained. Finallie, he confirmeth all these toies by the
storie of _Nabuchadnez-zar_. And bicause (saith he) _Nabuchadnez-zar_
continued seven yeres in the shape of a beast, therefore may witches
remaine so long in the forme of a beast; having in all the meane
time, the shape, haire, voice, strength, agilitie, swiftnes, food and
excrements of beasts, and yet reserve the minds and soules of women
or men. Howbeit, _S. Augustine_ (whether to confute or confirme that
opinion judge you) saith; _Non est credendum, humanum corpus dæmonum
arte vel potestate in bestialia lineamenta converti posse_: We may
not beleeve that a mans bodie may be altered into the lineaments of a
beast by the divels art or power. Item, _Bodin_ saith, that the reason
whie witches are most commonlie turned into woolves, is; bicause they
usuallie eate children, as woolves eate cattell. Item, that the cause
whie other are truelie turned into asses, is; for that such have beene
desirous to understand the secrets of witches. Whie witches are turned
into cats, he alledgeth no reason, and therefore (to helpe him foorth
with that paraphrase) I saie, that witches are curst queanes, and
manie times scratch one another, or their neighbours by the faces; and
therefore perchance are turned into cats. But I have put twentie of
these witchmongers to silence with this one question; to wit, Whether a
witch that can turne a woman into a cat, &c: can also turne a cat into
a woman?

♦_August. lib. 8 de civit. Dei. cap. 18._
_Idem. lib. de spiritu & anima, cap. 26._♦

♦_Ironia._♦

The second Chapter.

_Absurd reasons brought by Bodin, and such others, for confirmation
of transformations._

These examples and reasons might put us in doubt, that everie asse,
woolfe, or cat that we see, were a man, a woman, or a child. I marvell
that no man useth this distinction in the definition of a man. But to
what end should one dispute against these creations, and recreations;
when _Bodin_ washeth away all our arguments with one word, confessing
that none can create any thing but God; acknowledging also the force
of the canons, and imbracing the opinions of such divines, as write
against him in this behalfe? Yea he dooth now (contrarie to himselfe
elsewhere) affirme, that the divell cannot alter his forme. And lo,
this is his distinction, _Non essentialis forma (id est ratio) sed
figura solùm permutatur_: The essentiall forme (to wit, reason) is not
changed, but the shape or figure. And thereby he prooveth it easie
enough to create men or beasts with life, so as they remaine without
reason. Howbeit, I thinke it is an easier matter, to turne _Bodins_
reason into the reason of an asse, than his bodie into the shape of
a sheepe: which he saith is an easie matter; bicause _Lots_ wife
was turned into a stone by the divell. Whereby he sheweth his grosse
ignorance. As though God that commanded _Lot_ upon paine of death
not to looke backe, who also destroied the citie of _Sodome_ at that
instant, had not also turned hir into a salt stone. And as though all
this while God had beene the divels drudge, to go about this businesse
all the night before, and when a miracle should be wrought, the divell
must be faine to doo it himselfe.

♦_J. Bod. lib. 2. de mag. dæmon. cap. 6._♦

♦Gen. 19, 24. & 26. & 27.♦

Item, he affirmeth, that these kind of transfigurations are more common
with them in the west parts of the world, than with us here in the
east. Howbeit, this note is given withall; that that is ment of the
second persons, and not of the first: to wit, of the bewitched, and
not of the witches. For they can transforme themselves in everie part
of the world, whether it be east, west, north, or south. Marrie he
saith, that spirits and divels vex men most in the north countries,
as _Norway, Finland, &c_: and in the westerne ilands, as in the west
_India_: but among the heathen speciallie, and wheresoever Christ is
not preached. And that is true, though not in so foolish, grosse,
and corporall a sense as _Bodin_ taketh it. One notable instance of
a witches cunning in this behalfe touched by _Bodin_ in the chapter
aforesaid, I thought good in this place to repeat: he taketh it out
of _M. Mal._ which tale was delivered to _Sprenger_ by a knight of
the Rhods, being of the order of S. _Jones_ at _Jerusalem_; and it
followeth thus.

♦_J. Bod. lib. de dæmon. 2. cap. 20._
_M. Mal. pa. 1. quæ. 9._♦

♦_John. Bodin. lib. de dæmon. 2. cap. 1._♦

♦_Mal. malefic. par. 2. quæ. 2. cap. 4._♦

The third Chapter.

_Of a man turned into an asse, and returned againe into a man
by one of Bodins witches: S. Augustines opinion thereof._

It happened in the city of _Salamin_, in the kingdome of _Cyprus_
(wherein is a good haven) that a ship loaden with merchandize staied
there for a short space. In the meane time many of the souldiers and
mariners went to shoare, to provide fresh victuals. Among which number,
a certaine English man, being a sturdie yoong fellowe, went to a womans
house, a little waie out of the citie, and not farre from the sea
side, to see whether she had anie egs to sell. Who perceiving him to
be a lustie yoong fellowe, a stranger, and farre from his countrie (so
as upon the losse of him there would be the lesse misse or inquirie)
she considered with hir selfe how to destroie him; and willed him to
staie there awhile, whilest she went to fetch a few egs for him. But
she tarried long, so as the yoong man called unto hir, desiring hir to
make hast: for he told hir that the tide would be spent, and by that
meanes his ship would be gone, and leave him behind. Howbeit, after
some detracting of time, she brought him a few egs, willing him to
returne to hir, if his ship were gone when he came. The young fellowe
returned towards his ship: but before he went aboord, hee would needs
eate an eg or twaine to satisfie his hunger, and within short space he
became dumb and out of his wits (as he afterwards said.) When he would
have entred into the ship, the mariners beat him backe with a cudgell,
saieng; What a murren lacks the asse? Whither the divell will this
asse? The asse or yoong man (I cannot tell by which name I should terme
him) being many times repelled, and understanding their words that
called him asse, considering that he could speake never a word, and yet
could understand everie bodie; he thought that he was bewitched by the
woman, at whose house he was. And therefore, when by no meanes he could
get into the boate, but was driven to tarrie and see hir departure;
being also beaten from place to place, as an asse: he remembred the
witches words, and the words of his owne fellowes that called him asse,
and returned to the witches house, in whose service hee remained by the
space of three yeares, dooing nothing with his hands all that while,
but carried such burthens as she laied on his backe; having onelie this
comfort, that although he were reputed an asse among strangers and
beasts, yet that both this witch, and all other witches knew him to be
a man.

♦What the divel shuld the witch meane to make chois of the English man?♦

♦A strange metamorphôsis, of bodie, but not of mind.♦

After three yeares were passed over, in a morning betimes he went to
towne before his dame; who upon some occasion (of like to make water)
staied a little behind. In the meane time being neere to a church,
he heard a little saccaring bell ring to the elevation of a morrowe
masse, and not daring to go into the church, least he should have beene
beaten and driven out with cudgels, in great devotion he fell downe in
the churchyard, upon the knees of his hinder legs, and did lift his
forefeet over his head, as the preest doth hold the sacrament at the
elevation. Which prodigious sight when certeine merchants of _Genua_
espied, and with woonder beheld; anon commeth the witch with a cudgell
in hir hand, beating foorth the asse. And bicause (as it hath beene
said) such kinds of witchcrafts are verie usuall in those parts; the
merchants aforesaid made such meanes, as both the asse and the witch
were attached by the judge. And she being examined and set upon the
racke, confessed the whole matter, and promised, that if she might
have libertie to go home, she would restore him to his old shape:
and being dismissed, she did accordinglie. So as notwithstanding they
apprehended hir againe, and burned hir: and the yoong man returned into
his countrie with a joifull and merrie hart.

♦Note the devotion of the asse.♦

Upon the advantage of this storie _M. Mal. Bodin_, and the residue
of the witchmongers triumph; and speciallie bicause S. _Augustine_
subscribeth thereunto; or at the least to the verie like. Which I
must confesse I find too common in his books, insomuch as I judge
them rather to be foisted in by some fond papist or witchmonger,
than so learned a mans dooings. The best is, that he himselfe is no
eiewitnesse to any of those his tales; but speaketh onelie by report;
wherein he uttereth these words: to wit, that It were a point of great
incivilitie, &c: to discredit so manie and so certeine reports. And in
that respect he justifieth the corporall transfigurations of _Ulysses_
his mates, throgh the witchcraft of _Circes_: and that foolish fable
of _Præstantius_ his father, who (he saith) did eate provender and
haie among other horsses, being himselfe turned into an horsse. Yea
he verifieth the starkest lie that ever was invented, of the two
alewives that used to transforme all their ghests into horsses, and
to sell them awaie at markets and faires. And therefore I saie with
_Cardanus_, that how much _Augustin_ saith he hath seen with his eies,
so much I am content to beleeve. Howbeit S. _Augustin_ concludeth
against _Bodin_. For he affirmeth these transubstantiations to be but
fantasticall, and that they are not according to the veritie, but
according to the appearance. And yet I cannot allow of such appearances
made by witches, or yet by divels: for I find no such power given by
God to any creature. And I would wit of S. _Augustine_, where they
became, whom _Bodins_ transformed woolves devoured. But

♦_August lib. 18. de civi. Dei. cap. 17 & 18._♦

♦At the alps in Arcadia.♦

♦_Card. de Var. rerum. lib. 15 cap. 80._♦

♦_August. Lib. 18. de civit. Dei._♦

—————————————————————————————_ô quàm
Credula mens hominis, & erectæ fabulis aures!_

[*]_Good Lord! how light of credit is
the waveriug mind of man!
How unto tales and lies his eares
attentive all they can?_

♦[*] [Rom.]♦

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

Generall councels, and the popes canons, which _Bodin_ so regardeth,
doo condemne and pronounce his opinions in this behalfe to be absurd;
and the residue of the witchmongers, with himselfe in the number, to
be woorsse than infidels. And these are the verie words of the canons,
which else-where I have more largelie repeated; Whosoever beleeveth,
that anie creature can be made or changed into better or woorsse, or
transformed into anie other shape, or into anie other similitude, by
anie other than by God himselfe the creator of all things, without all
doubt is an infidell, and woorsse than a pagan. And therewithall this
reason is rendered, to wit: bicause they attribute that to a creature,
which onelie belongeth to God the creator of all things.

♦_Canon. 26. quæ. 5. episcopi ex con. acquir. &c._♦

The fourth Chapter.

_A summarie of the former fable, with a refutation thereof,
after due examination of the same._

Concerning the veritie or probabilitie of this enterlude, betwixt
_Bodin_, _M. Mal._ the witch, the asse, the masse, the merchants, the
inquisitors, the tormentors, &c: First I woonder at the miracle of
transubstantiation: Secondlie at the impudencie of _Bodin_ and _James
Sprenger_, for affirming so grosse a lie, devised beelike by the knight
of the _Rhodes_, to make a foole of _Sprenger_, and an asse of _Bodin_:
Thirdlie, that the asse had no more wit than to kneele downe and hold
up his forefeete to a peece of starch or flowre, which neither would,
nor could, nor did helpe him: Fourthlie, that the masse could not
reforme that which the witch transformed: Fiftlie, that the merchants,
the inquisitors, and the tormentors, could not either severallie or
jointlie doo it, but referre the matter to the witches courtesie and
good pleasure.

But where was the yoong mans owne shape all these three yeares, wherein
he was made an asse? It is a certeine and a generall rule, that two
substantiall formes cannot be in one subject _Simul & semel_, both
at once: which is confessed by themselves. The forme of the beast
occupied some place in the aire, and so I thinke should the forme of
a man doo also. For to bring the bodie of a man, without feeling, into
such a thin airie nature, as that it can neither be seene nor felt,
it may well be unlikelie, but it is verie impossible: for the aire is
inconstant, and continueth not in one place. So as this airie creature
would soone be carried into another region: as else-where I have
largelie prooved. But indeed our bodies are visible, sensitive, and
passive, and are indued with manie other excellent properties, which
all the divels in hell are not able to alter: neither can one haire of
our head perish, or fall awaie, or be transformed, without the speciall
providence of God almightie.

♦His shape was in the woods: where else should it be?♦

♦_Mal. malef. par. 1. quæ. 2._♦

♦In my discourse of spirits and divels, being the 17 booke of this
volume.♦

But to proceed unto the probabilitie of this storie. What lucke was it,
that this yoong fellow of _England_, landing so latelie in those parts,
and that old woman of _Cyprus_, being both of so base a condition,
should both understand one anothers communication; _England_ and
_Cyprus_ being so manie hundred miles distant, and their languages so
farre differing? I am sure in these daies, wherein trafficke is more
used, and learning in more price; few yong or old mariners in this
realme can either speake or understand the language spoken at _Salamin_
in _Cyprus_, which is a kind of _Greeke_; and as few old women there
can speake our language. But _Bodin_ will saie; You heare, that at
the inquisitors commandement, and through the tormentors correction,
she promised to restore him to his owne shape: and so she did, as
being thereunto compelled. I answer, that as the whole storie is an
impious fable; so this assertion is false, and disagreeable to their
owne doctrine, which mainteineth, that the witch dooth nothing but by
the permission and leave of God. For if she could doo or undoo such a
thing at hir owne pleasure, or at the commandement of the inquisitors,
or for feare of the tormentors, or for love of the partie, or for
remorse of conscience: then is it not either by the extraordinarie
leave, nor yet by the like direction of God; except you will make him
a confederate with old witches. I for my part woonder most, how they
can turne and tosse a mans bodie so, and make it smaller and greater,
to wit, like a mowse, or like an asse, &c: and the man all this while
to feele no paine. And I am not alone in this maze: for _Danæus_ a
special mainteiner of their follies saith, that although _Augustine_
and _Apuleius_ doo write verie crediblie of these matters; yet will he
never beleeve, that witches can change men into other formes; as asses,
apes, woolves, beares, mice, &c.

♦_Dan. in dialog. cap. 3._♦

♦_August. lib. de civit. Dei. cap. 17. 18._♦

The fift Chapter.

_That the bodie of a man cannot be turned into the bodie of a
beast by a witch, is prooved by strong reasons, scriptures,
and authorities._

But was this man an asse all this while? Or was this asse a
man? _Bodin_ saith (his reason onelie reserved) he was trulie
transubstantiated into an asse; so as there must be no part of a man,
but reason remaining in this asse. And yet _Hermes Trismegistus_
thinketh he hath good authoritie and reason to saie; _Aliud corpus
quàm humanum non capere animam humanam; nec fas esse in corpus animæ
ratione carentis animam rationalem corruere_; that is; An humane
soule cannot receive anie other than an humane bodie, nor yet canne
light into a bodie that wanteth reason of mind. But S. _James_ saith;
the bodie without the spirit is dead. And surelie, when the soule is
departed from the bodie, the life of man is dissolved: and therefore
_Paule_ wished to be dissolved, when he would have beene with Christ.
The bodie of man is subject to divers kinds of agues, sicknesses, and
infirmities, whereunto an asses bodie is not inclined: and mans bodie
must be fed with bread, &c: and not with hay. _Bodins_ asseheaded man
must either eate haie, or nothing: as appeareth in the storie. Mans
bodie also is subject unto death, and hath his daies numbred. If this
fellowe had died in the meane time, as his houre might have beene
come, for anie thing the divels, the witch, or _Bodin_ knew; I mervell
then what would have become of this asse, or how the witch could have
restored him to shape, or whether he should have risen at the daie of
judgement in an asses bodie and shape. For _Paule_ saith, that that
verie bodie which is sowne and buried a naturall bodie, is raised a
spirituall bodie. The life of Jesus is made manifest in our mortall
flesh, and not in the flesh of an asse.

♦_Hermes Trismeg in suo Periandro._♦

♦Jam. 2, 26.♦

♦Phili. 1, 23.♦

♦1. Cor. 15. 44.♦

God hath endued everie man and everie thing with his proper nature,
substance, forme, qualities, and gifts, and directeth their waies. As
for the waies of an asse, he taketh no such care: howbeit, they have
also their properties and substance severall to themselves. For there
is one flesh (saith _Paule_) of men, another flesh of beasts, another
of fishes, another of birds. And therefore it is absolutelie against
the ordinance of God (who hath made me a man) that I should flie like a
bird, or swim like a fish, or creepe like a worme, or become an asse in
shape: insomuch as if God would give me leave, I cannot doo it; for it
were contrarie to his owne order and decree, and to the constitution of
anie bodie which he hath made. Yea the spirits themselves have their
lawes and limits prescribed, beyond the which they cannot passe one
haires breadth; otherwise God should be contrarie to himselfe: which is
farre from him. Neither is Gods omnipotencie hereby qualified, but the
divels impotencie manifested, who hath none other power, but that which
God from the beginning hath appointed unto him, consonant to his nature
and substance. He may well be restreined from his power and will, but
beyond the same he cannot passe, as being Gods minister, no further but
in that which he hath from the beginning enabled him to doo: which is,
that he being a spirit, may with Gods leave and ordinance viciat and
corrupt the spirit and will of man: wherein he is verie diligent.

♦1. Cor. 15, 39.♦

♦Psal. 119.♦

What a beastlie assertion is it, that a man, whom GOD hath made
according to his owne similitude and likenes, should be by a witch
turned into a beast? What an impietie is it to affirme, that an asses
bodie is the temple of the Holy-ghost? Or an asse to be the child of
God, and God to be his father; as it is said of man? Which _Paule_ to
the _Corinthians_ so divinelie confuteth, who saith, that Our bodies
are the members of Christ. In the which we are to glorifie God: for
the bodie is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the bodie. Surelie he
meaneth not for an asses bodie, as by this time I hope appeareth: in
such wise as _Bodin_ may go hide him for shame; especiallie when
he shall understand, that even into these our bodies, which God hath
framed after his owne likenesse, he hath also brethed that spirit,
which _Bodin_ saith is now remaining within an asses bodie, which God
hath so subjected in such servilitie under the foote of man; Of whom
God is so mindfull, that he hath made him little lower than angels, yea
than himselfe, and crowned him with glorie and worship, and made him to
have dominion over the workes of his hands, as having put all things
under his feete, all sheepe and oxen, yea woolves, asses, and all other
beasts of the field, the foules of the aire, the fishes of the sea,
&c. _Bodins_ poet, _Ovid_, whose _Metamorphôsis_ make so much for him,
saith to the overthrow of this phantasticall imagination:

_Os homini sublime dedit, cœlúmque videre
Jussit, & erectos ad sydera tollere vultus._

The effect of which verses is this;

[*]_The Lord did set mans face so hie,
That he the heavens might behold,
And looke up to the starrie skie,
To see his woonders manifold._

♦1. Cor. 6, 19 verse. 15, &c verse. 2. verse. 13.

♦Psalm. 8. verses 5, 6, 7, 8.♦

♦[*] [Rom.]♦

Now, if a witch or a divell can so alter the shape of a man, as
contrarilie to make him looke downe to hell, like a beast; Gods works
should not onelie be defaced and disgraced, but his ordinance should be
woonderfullie altered, and thereby confounded.

The sixt Chapter.

_The witchmongers objections, concerning Nabuchadnez-zar
answered, and their errour concerning Lycanthropia confuted._

_Malleus Maleficarum_, _Bodin_, and manie other of them that mainteine
witchcraft, triumph upon the storie of _Nabuchadnez-zar_; as though
_Circes_ had transformed him with hir sorceries into an oxe, as she did
others into swine, &c. I answer, that he was neither in bodie nor shape
transformed at all, according to their grosse imagination; as appeareth
both by the plaine words of the text, and also by the opinions of the
best interpretors thereof: but that he was, for his beastlie government
and conditions, throwne out of his kingdome and banished for a time,
and driven to hide himselfe in the wildernesse, there in exile to lead
his life in beastlie sort, among beasts of the field, and fowles of
the aire (for by the waie I tell you it appeareth by the text, that he
was rather turned into the shape of a fowle than of a beast) untill
he rejecting his beastlie conditions, was upon his repentance and
amendment called home, and restored unto his kingdome. Howbeit, this
(by their confession) was neither divels nor witches dooing; but a
miracle wrought by God, whom alone I acknowledge to be able to bring
to passe such workes at his pleasure. Wherein I would know what our
witchmongers have gained.

♦Their groundworke is as sure as to hold a quick eele by the taile.♦

♦Dan. 4.♦

I am not ignorant that some write, that after the death of
_Nabuchadnez-zar_, his sonne [*]_Eilumorodath_ gave his bodie to the
ravens to be devoured, least afterwards his father should arise from
death, who of a beast became a man againe. But this tale is meeter
to have place in the _Cabalisticall_ art, to wit: among unwritten
verities than here. To conclude, I saie that the transformations,
which these witchmongers doo so rave and rage upon, is (as all the
learned sort of physicians affirme) a disease proceeding partlie from
melancholie, wherebie manie suppose themselves to be woolves, or such
ravening beasts. For _Lycanthropia_ is of the ancient physicians called
_Lupina melancholia_, or _Lupina insania_. _J. Wierus_ declareth verie
learnedlie, the cause, the circumstance, and the cure of this disease.
I have written the more herein; bicause hereby great princes and
potentates, as well as poore women and innocents, have beene defamed
and accounted among the number of witches.

♦_Cor. Agrip. de vanit. scient. cap. 44._♦

♦[*] [tr. of _Euil_]♦

♦_Paul. Aeginet. li. 3. c. 16._
_Aetius. lib. 6. cap. 11._
_J. Wier. de præst. dæm. lib. 4. cap. 23._♦

The seventh Chapter.

_A speciall objection answered concerning transportations, with the
consent of diverse writers thereupon._

For the maintenance of witches transportations, they object the words
of the Gospell, where the divell is said to take up Christ, and to
set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and on a mountaine, &c. Which
if he had doone in maner and forme as they suppose, it followeth not
therefore that witches could doo the like; nor yet that the divell
would doo it for them at their pleasure; for they know not their
thoughts, neither can otherwise communicate with them. But I answer,
that if it were so grosselie to be understood, as they imagine it,
yet should it make nothing to their purpose. For I hope they will not
saie, that Christ had made anie ointments, or entred into anie league
with the divell, and by vertue thereof was transported from out of the
wildernes, unto the top of the temple of Jerusalem; or that the divell
could have maisteries over his bodie, whose soule he could never laie
hold upon; especiallie when he might (with a becke of his finger)
have called unto him, and have had the assistance of manie legions of
angels. Neither (as I thinke) will they presume to make Christ partaker
of the divels purpose and sinne in that behalfe. If they saie; This
was an action wrought by the speciall providence of God, and by his
appointment, that the scripture might be fulfilled: then what gaine
our witchmongers by this place? First, for that they maie not produce
a particular example to prove so generall an argument. And againe, if
it were by Gods speciall providence and appointment; then why should
it not be doone by the hand of God, as it was in the storie of _Job_?
Or if it were Gods speciall purpose and pleasure, that there should be
so extraordinarie a matter brought to passe by the hand of the divell;
could not God have given to the wicked angell extraordinarie power, and
cloathed him with extraordinarie shape; whereby he might be made an
instrument able to accomplish that matter, as he did to his angell that
carried _Abacuck_ to _Daniell_, and to them that he sent to destroie
_Sodome_? But you shall understand, that this was doone in a vision,
and not in veritie of action. So as they have a verie cold pull of this
place, which is the speciall peece of scripture alledged of them for
their transportations.

♦Matth. 4, 8.
Luk. 3, 9.♦

♦Answer to the former objection.♦

♦Matt. 26, 53.♦

♦Job. 1, 11.
Job. 2, 5.♦

Heare therefore what _Calvine_ saith in his commentarie upon that
place, in these words; The question is, whether Christ were carried
aloft indeed, or whether it were but in a vision? Manie affirme verie
obstinatlie, that his bodie was trulie and reallie as they saie taken
up: bicause they thinke it too great an indignitie for Christ to be
made subject to sathans illusions. But this objection is easilie washed
awaie. For it is no absurditie to grant all this to be wrought through
Gods permission, or Christes voluntarie subjection: so long as we yeeld
not to thinke that he suffered these temptations inwardlie, that is to
saie, in mind or soule. And that which is afterwards set downe by the
Evangelist, where the divell shewed him all the kingdoms of the world,
and the glorie of the same, and that to be doone (as it is said in
_Luke_) in the twinkling of an eie, dooth more agree with a vision than
with a reall action. So farre are the verie words of _Calvine_. Which
differ not one syllable nor five words from that which I had written
herein, before I looked for his opinion in the matter. And this I hope
will be sufficient to overthrow the assertions of them that laie the
ground of their transportations and flieng in the aire hereupon.

♦_J. Calvine in harmon. Evang. in Matth. 4. & Luk. 4._♦

He that will saie, that these words; to wit, that Christ was taken up,
&c: can hardlie be applied to a vision, let him turne to the prophesie
of _Ezechiell_, and see the selfe-same words used in a vision: saving
that where Christ is said to be taken up by the divell, _Ezechiell_
is taken up, and lifted up, and carried by the spirit of God, and yet
in a vision. But they have lesse reason that build upon this sandie
rocke, the supernaturall frame of transubstantiation; as almost all
our witching writers doo. For _Sprenger_ & _Institor_ saie, that the
divell in the likenesse of a falcon caught him up. _Danæus_ saith, it
was in the similitude of a man; others saie, of an angell painted with
wings; others, invisiblie: _Ergo_ the divell can take (saie they) what
shape he list. But though some may cavill upon the divels transforming
of himselfe; yet, that either divell or witch can transforme or
transubstantiat others, there is no tittle nor colour in the scriptures
to helpe them. If there were authoritie for it, and that it were past
all peradventure, lo, what an easie matter it is to resubstantiate an
asse into a man. For _Bodin_ saith upon the word of _Apuleius_, that if
the asse eate new roses, anise, or baie leaves out of spring water, it
will presentlie returne him into a man. Which thing _Sprenger_ saith
maie be doone, by washing the asse in faire water: yea he sheweth an
instance, where, by drinking of water an asse was turned into a man.

♦Ezec. 3, 12. and 14.♦

♦_Mal. malef._♦

♦_J. Bod. lib. de dæm. 3. cap. 5._♦

♦_In Mal. mal._♦

The eight Chapter.

_The witchmongers objection concerning the historie of Job
answered._

These witchmongers, for lacke of better arguments, doo manie times
object _Job_ against me; although there be never a word in that storie,
which either maketh for them, or against me: in so much as there is
not the name of a witch mentioned in the whole booke. But (I praie
you) what witchmonger now seeing one so afflicted as _Job_, would not
saie he were bewitched, as _Job_ never saith? [a]For first there came
a messenger unto him, and said; Thy oxen were plowing, and thy asses
were feeding in their places, [b]and the _Sabeans_ came violentlie
and tooke them; yea they have slaine thy servants with the edge of the
sword; but I onelie am escaped to tell thee. [c]And whilest he was
yet speaking, another came, and said; The fier of God is fallen from
the heaven, & hath burnt up thy sheepe and thy servants, and devoured
them; but I onlie am escaped to tell thee. [d]And while he was yet
speaking, another came, and said; The _Chaldæans_ set out their bands,
and fell upon thy camels, and have taken them, and have slaine thy
servants with the edge of the sword; but I onelie am escaped alone
to tell thee. [e]And whilest he was yet speaking, came another, and
said; Thy sonnes and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in
their elder brothers house, [f]and behold there came a great wind
from beyond the wildernesse, and smote the foure corners of the house,
which fell upon thy children, and they are dead; and I onlie am escaped
alone to tell thee. [g]Besides all this, he was smitten with biles,
from the sole of his foote to the crowne of his head. If anie man in
these daies called _Job_ should be by the appointment or hand of God
thus handled, as this _Job_ was; I warrant you that all the old women
in the countrie would be called _Coram nobis_: warrants would be sent
out on everie side, publike and private inquirie made what old women
latelie resorted to _Jobs_ house, or to anie of those places, where
these misfortunes fell. If anie poore old woman had chanced within two
or three moneths to have borrowed a curtsie of [*]seasing, or to have
fetcht from thence a pot of milke, or had she required some almes,
and not obteined it at _Jobs_ hand; there had beene argument enough
to have brought hir to confusion: and to be more certeine to have the
right witch apprehended, figures must have beene cast, the sive and
sheares must have beene set on worke; yea rather than the witch should
escape, a conjuror must have earned a little monie, a circle must have
beene made, and a divell raised to tell the truth: mother _Bungie_
must have been gon unto, and after she had learned hir name, whom _Job_
most suspected, she would have confirmed the suspicion with artificiall
accusations: in the end, some woman or other must have beene hanged for
it. But as _Job_ said; _Dominus dedit_: so said he not; _Diabolus vel
Lamia sed Dominus abstulit_. Which agreeth with the tenor of the text,
where it is written, that the divell at everie of _Jobs_ afflictions
desired God to laie his hand upon him. Insomuch as _Job_ imputed no
part of his calamitie unto divels, witches, nor yet unto conjurors, or
their inchantments; as we have learned now to doo. Neither sinned he,
or did God any wrong, when he laid it to his charge: but we dishonour
God greatlie, when we attribute either the power or proprietie of God
the creator unto a creature.

♦_J. Calvin. in Job. cap. 1. 21._♦

♦[a] Job. 1, 14.♦

♦[b] verse, 15.♦

♦[c] verse, 16.♦

♦[d] verse, 17.♦

♦[e] verse, 18.♦

♦[f] verse, 19.♦

♦[g] Ibid. ca. 2. vers. 7.♦

♦[*] [? searsing]♦

[*]_Calvine_ saith; We derogate much from Gods glorie and
omnipotencie, when we saie he dooth but give sathan leave to doo it:
which is (saith he) to mocke Gods justice; and so fond an assertion,
that if asses could speake, they would speake more wiselie than so. For
a temporall judge saith not to the hangman; I give thee leave to hang
this offender, but commandeth him to doo it. But the mainteiners of
witches omnipotencie, saie; Doo you not see how reallie and palpablie
the divell tempted and plagued _Job_? I answer first, that there is
no corporall or visible divell named nor seene in any part of that
circumstance; secondlie, that it was the hand of God that did it;
thirdlie, that as there is no communitie betweene the person of a
witch, and the person of a divell, so was there not any conference or
practise betwixt them in this case.

♦[*] _J. Calvin. in Job, cap. 2. Sermon. 8._
_Muscul. in loc. comm._
_Idem, ibidem._♦

And as touching the communication betwixt God and the divell, behold
what _Calvine_ saith, writing or rather preaching of purpose upon that
place, wherupon they thinke they have so great advantage; When sathan
is said to appeere before God, it is not doone in some place certeine,
but the scripture speaketh so to applie it selfe to our rudenes.
Certeinlie the divell in this and such like cases is an instrument to
worke Gods will, and not his owne: and therefore it is an ignorant
and an ungodlie saieng (as _Calvine_ judgeth it) to affirme, that God
dooth but permit and suffer the divell. For if sathan were so at his
owne libertie (saith he) we should be overwhelmed at a sudden. And
doubtlesse, if he had power to hurt the bodie, there were no waie
to resist: for he would come invisiblie upon us, and knocke us on
the heads; yea hee would watch the best and dispatch them, whilest
they were about some wicked act. If they saie; God commandeth him,
no bodie impugneth them: but that God should give him leave, I saie
with _Calvine_, that the divell is not in such favour with God, as to
obteine any such request at his hands.

♦_J. Calvine in his sermon upon Job._♦

And wheras by our witchmongers opinions and arguments, the witch
procureth the divell, and the divell asketh leave of God to plague whom
the witch is disposed: there is not (as I have said) any such corporall
communication betweene the divell and a witch, as witchmongers imagine.
Neither is God mooved at all at sathans sute, who hath no such favour
or grace with him, as to obteine any thing at his hands.

♦_J. Calvine in Job. cap. 1. sermon. 5._♦

But _M. Mal._ and his friends denie, that there were any witches in
_Jobs_ time: yea the witchmongers are content to saie, that there were
none found to exercise this art in Christs time, from his birth to his
death, even by the space of thirtie three yeares. If there had beene
anie (saie they) they should have beene there spoken of. As touching
the authoritie of the booke of _Job_, there is no question but that it
is verie canonicall and authentike. Howbeit, manie writers, both of the
Jewes and others, are of opinion, that _Moses_ was the author of this
booke; and that he did set it as a looking glasse before the people: to
the intent the children of _Abraham_ (of whose race he himselfe came)
might knowe, that God shewed favour to others that were not of the same
line, and be ashamed of their wickednesse: seeing an uncircumcised
Painime had so well demeaned himselfe. Upon which argument _Calvine_
(though he had written upon the same) saith, that Forsomuch as it is
uncerteine, whether it were _Res gesta_ or _Exempli gratia_, we must
leave it in suspense. Nevertheles (saith he) let us take that which is
out of all doubt; namelie, that the Holy-ghost hath indited the booke,
to the end that the Jewes should knowe that God hath had a people
alwaies to serve him throughout the world, even of such as were no
Jewes, nor segregated from other nations.

♦_Mal. malef. pa. 1. quæst. 1._
_Idem part. 1. quæst. 4._♦

♦Note what is said touching the booke of Job.♦

Howbeit, I for my part denie not the veritie of the storie; though
indeed I must confesse, that I thinke there was no such corporall
enterlude betweene God, the divell, and _Job_, as they imagine: neither
anie such reall presence and communication as the witchmongers conceive
and mainteine; who are so grosse herein, that they doo not onlie
beleeve, but publish so palpable absurdities concerning such reall
actions betwixt the divell and man, as a wise man would be ashamed to
read, but much more to credit: as that S. _Dunstan_ lead the divell
about the house by the nose with a paire of pinsors or tongs, and made
him rore so lowd, as the place roong thereof, &c: with a thousand the
like fables, without which neither the art of poperie nor of witchcraft
could stand. But you may see more of this matter else-where, where in
few words (which I thought good here to omit, least I should seeme to
use too manie repetitions) I answer effectuallie to their cavils about
this place.

♦_In legenda aurea._♦

The ninth Chapter.

_What severall sorts of witches are mentioned in the
scriptures, and how the word witch is there applied._

But what sorts of witches so ever _M. Mal._ or _Bodin_ saie there are;
_Moses_ spake onlie of foure kinds of impious couseners or witches
(whereof our witchmongers old women which danse with the fairies, &c;
are none.) The first were _Præstigiatores Pharaonis_, which (as all
divines, both Hebrues and others conclude) were but couseners and
jugglers, deceiving the kings eies with illusions and sleights; and
making false things to appeare as true: which nevertheles our witches
cannot doo. The second is _Mecasapha_, which is she that destroieth
with poison. The third are such as use sundrie kinds of divinations,
and hereunto perteine these words, _Kasam_, _Onen_, _Ob_, _Idoni_. The
fourth is _Habar_, to wit: when magicians, or rather such, as would
be reputed cunning therein, mumble certeine secret words, wherin is
thought to be great efficacie.

♦1. Præstigiatores Pharaonis.♦

♦2. Mecasapha.♦

♦3. Kasam.
Onen.
Ob.
Idoni.♦

♦4. Habar.♦

These are all couseners and abusers of the people in their severall
kinds. But bicause they are all termed of our translators by the name
of witches in the Bible: therefore the lies of _M. Mal._ and _Bodin_,
and all our old wives tales are applied unto these names, and easilie
beleeved of the common people, who have never hitherto beene instructed
in the understanding of these words. In which respect, I will (by Gods
grace) shew you (concerning the signification of them) the opinion
of the most learned in our age; speciallie of _Johannes Wierus_; who
though hee himselfe were singularlie learned in the toongs, yet for his
satisfaction and full resolution in the same, he sent for the judgement
of _Andræas Massius_, the most famous _Hebrician_ in the world, and
had it in such sense and order, as I meane to set downe unto you. And
yet I give you this note by the waie, that witchcraft or inchantment
is diverslie taken in the scriptures; somtimes nothing tending to such
end as it is commonlie thought to doo. For in 1 _Samuell_, 15, 23.
it is all one with rebellion. _Jesabell_ for hir idolatrous life is
called a witch. Also in the new testament, even S. _Paule_ saith the
_Galathians_ are bewitched, bicause they were seduced and lead from the
true understanding of the scriptures.

♦[or _Masius_]♦

♦Note.♦

♦1. Sa. 15, 23.♦

♦2. Re. 9, 22.
Gal. 3, 1.♦

Item sometimes it is taken in good part; as the magicians that came
to worship and offer to Christ: and also where _Daniell_ is said to
be an inchanter, yea a principall inchanter: which title being given
him in divers places of that storie, he never seemeth to refuse or
dislike; but rather intreateth for the pardon and qualification of the
rigor towards other inchanters, which were meere couseners indeed: as
appeareth in the second chapter of _Daniell_, where you may see that
the king espied their fetches.

♦Matth. 2, 1.♦

♦Daniel. 4.♦

♦Dan. 2, 8.♦

Sometimes such are called conjurors, as being but roges, and lewd
people, would use the name of Jesus to worke miracles, whereby, though
they being faithlesse could worke nothing; yet is their practise
condemned by the name of conjuration. Sometimes jugglers are called
witches. Sometimes also they are called sorcerers, that impugne
the gospell of Christ, and seduce others with violent persuasions.
Sometimes a murtherer with poison is called a witch. Sometimes they are
so termed by the verie signification of their names; as _Elimas_, which
signifieth a sorcerer. Sometimes bicause they studie curious and vaine
arts. Sometimes it is taken for woonding or greeving of the hart. Yea
the verie word _Magus_, which is Latine for a magician, is translated
a witch; and yet it was hertofore alwaies taken in the good part. And
at this daie it is indifferent to saie in the English toong; She is a
witch; or, She is a wise woman.

♦Actes. 19.♦

♦Gen. 4, 18.
Exod. 7, 13, &c.
Acts 13.
Exod. 22, &c.
Acts. 13.
Acts. 19.
Canticles of Salomon. cap. 4. verse. 9.♦

Sometimes observers of dreames, sometimes soothsaiers, sometimes the
observers of the flieng of foules, of the meeting of todes, the falling
of salt, &c: are called witches. Sometimes he or she is called a witch,
that take upon them either for gaine or glorie, to doo miracles; and
yet can doo nothing. Sometimes they are called witches in common
speech, that are old, lame, curst, or melancholike, as a nickname. But
as for our old women, that are said to hurt children with their eies,
or lambs with their lookes, or that pull downe the moone out of heaven,
or make so foolish a bargaine, or doo such homage to the divell; you
shall not read in the bible of any such witches, or of any such actions
imputed to them.

♦Deut. 18, 2.
Jerem. 27.
Acts. 8.♦

¶ _The sixt Booke._

The first Chapter.

_The exposition of this Hebrue word Chasaph, wherein is
answered the objection conteined in Exodus 22. to wit: Thou
shalt not suffer a witch to live, and of Simon Magus. Acts.
8._

_Chasaph_, being an Hebrue word, is Latined _Veneficium_, and is
in English, poisoning, or witchcraft; if you will so have it. The
Hebrue sentence written in _Exodus_, 22. is by the 70. interpretors
translated thus into Greeke, Φαρμακοῦς οὐκ ἐπιζεώσετε, which in Latine
is, _Veneficos (sive) veneficas non retinebitis in vita_, in English,
You shall not suffer anie poisoners, or (as it is translated) witches
to live. The which sentence _Josephus_ an Hebrue borne, and a man of
great estimation, learning and fame, interpreteth in this wise; Let
none of the children of Israel have any poison that is deadlie, or
prepared to anie hurtfull use. If anie be apprehended with such stuffe,
let him be put to death, and suffer that which he ment to doo to them,
for whom he prepared it. The _Rabbins_ exposition agree heerewithall.
_Lex Cornelia_ differeth not from this sense, to wit, that he must
suffer death, which either maketh, selleth, or hath anie poison, to the
intent to kill anie man. This word is found in these places following:
_Exodus._ 22, 18. _Deut._ 18, 10. 2. _Sam._ 9, 22. _Dan._ 2, 2. _2.
Chr._ 33, 6. _Esay._ 47, 9, 12. _Malach_, 3, 5. _Jerem._ 27, 9. _Mich._
5, 2. _Nah._ 3, 4. _bis_. Howbeit, in all our English translations,
_Chasaph_ is translated, witchcraft.

♦_Joseph. in Judæorum antiquitat._♦

And bicause I will avoid prolixitie and contention both at once, I
will admit that _Veneficæ_ were such witches, as with their poisons
did much hurt among the children of Israell; and I will not denie that
there remaine such untill this daie, bewitching men, and making them
beleeve, that by vertue of words, and certeine ceremonies, they bring
to passe such mischeefes, and intoxications, as they indeed accomplish
by poisons. And this abuse in cousenage of people, together with the
taking of Gods name in vaine, in manie places of the scripture is
reprooved, especiallie by the name of witchcraft, even where no poisons
are. According to the sense which S. _Paule_ useth to the _Galathians_
in these words, where he sheweth plainelie, that the true signification
of witchcraft is cousenage; O ye foolish _Galathians_ (saith he) who
hath bewitched you? to wit, cousened or abused you, making you beleeve
a thing which is neither so nor so. Whereby he meaneth not to aske of
them, who have with charmes, &c: or with poisons deprived them of their
health, life, cattell, or children, &c: but who hath abused or cousened
them, to make them beleeve lies. This phrase is also used by _Job._
15. But that we may be throughlie resolved of the true meaning of this
phrase used by _Paule_, _Gal._ 3. let us examine the description of a
notable witch called _Simon Magus_, made by S. _Luke_; There was (saith
he) in the citie of _Samaria_, a certeine man called _Simon_, which
used witchcraft, and bewitched the people of _Samaria_, saieng that
he himself was some great man. I demand, in what other thing here do
we see anie witchcraft, than that he abused the people, making them
beleeve he could worke miracles, whereas in truth he could doo no such
thing; as manifestlie may appeare in the 13. and 19. verses of the same
chapter: where he wondered at the miracles wrought by the apostles, and
would have purchased with monie the power of the Holy-ghost to worke
wonders.

♦Gal. 3, 1.♦

♦Job. 15, 12.♦

♦Acts. 8, 9.♦

It will be said, the people had reason to beleeve him, bicause it is
written, that he of long time had bewitched them with sorceries. But
let the bewitched _Galathians_ be a warning both to the bewitched
_Samaritans_, and to all other that are cousened or bewitched through
false doctrine, or legierdemaine; least while they attend to such
fables and lies, they be brought into ignorance, and so in time be
led with them awaie from God. And finallie, let us all abandon such
witches and couseners, as with _Simon Magus_ set themselves in the
place of God, boasting that they can doo miracles, expound dreames,
foretell things to come, raise the dead, &c: which are the workes of
the Holy-ghost, who onlie searcheth the heart and reines, and onelie
worketh great wonders, which are now staied and accomplished in Christ,
in whome who so stedfastlie beleeveth shall not need to be by such
meanes resolved or confirmed in his doctrine and gospell. And as for
the unfaithfull, they shall have none other miracle shewed unto them,
but the signe of _Jonas_ the prophet.

♦Acts. 8, 11.♦

♦1. Reg. 8, 39.
Matth. 9. 4. 12. 25. 22.
Acts. 1, 24. & 15, 8.
Rom. 8, 27.
Mark. 2.
Luk. 6, 17. & 11. & 9.
Joh. 1 & 2. & 6. & 13.
Apoc. 2. & 3.
Luk. 11, 29.♦

And therefore I saie, whatsoever they be that with _Simon Magus_
take upon them to worke such wonders, by soothsaieng, sorcerie, or
witchcraft, are but liers, deceivers, and couseners, according to
_Syrachs_ saieng; Sorcerie, witchcraft, soothsaieng, and dreames, are
but vanitie, and the lawe shalbe fulfilled without such lies. God
commanded the people, that they should not regard them that wrought
with spirits, nor soothsaiers: for the estimation that was attributed
unto them, offended God.

♦Eccl. 34, 5.♦

♦Eccl. 34, 8.♦

♦Levi. 19, 31.♦

The second Chapter.

_The place of Deuteronomie expounded, wherin are recited all
kind of witches; also their opinions confuted, which hold
that they can worke such miracles as are imputed unto them._

The greatest and most common objection is, that if there were not
some, which could worke such miraculous or supernaturall feats, by
themselves, or by their divels, it should not have beene said; Let
none be found among you, that maketh his sonne or his daughter to go
through the fier, or that useth witchcraft, or is a regarder of times,
or a marker of the flieng of fowles, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or
that counselleth with spirits, or a soothsaier, or that asketh counsell
of the dead, or (as some translate it) that raiseth the dead. But
as there is no one place in the scripture that saith they can worke
miracles, so it shalbe easie to proove, that these were all couseners,
everie one abusing the people in his severall kind; and are accurssed
of God. Not that they can doo all such things indeed, as there is
expressed; but for that they take upon them to be the mightie power of
God, and to doo that which is the onelie worke of him, seducing the
people, and blaspheming the name of God, who will not give his glorie
to anie creature, being himselfe the king of glorie and omnipotencie.

First I aske, what miracle was wrought by their passing through
the fier? Trulie it cannot be prooved that anie effect followed;
but that the people were bewitched, to suppose their sinnes to be
purged thereby; as the _Spaniards_ thinke of scourging and whipping
themselves. So as Gods power was imputed to that action, and so
forbidden as an idolatrous sorcerie. What woonders worketh the regarder
of times? What other divell dealeth he withall, than with the spirit of
superstition? Doth he not deceive himselfe and others, and therefore is
worthilie condemned for a witch? What spirit useth he, which marketh
the flieng of fowles? Nevertheles, he is here condemned as a practiser
of witchcraft; bicause he couseneth the people, and taketh upon him
to be a prophet; impiouslie referring Gods certeine ordinances to the
flittering fethers and uncerteine waies of a bird. The like effects
produceth sorcerie, charming, consultation with spirits, soothsaieng,
and consulting with the dead: in everie of the which Gods power is
obscured, his glorie defaced, and his commandement infringed.

♦Deut. 18. 10. 11.♦

♦Esay. 42, 8.
Ps. 24. 8. 10.♦

And to proove that these soothsaiers and witches are but lieng mates
and couseners; note these words pronounced by God himselfe, even
in the selfe same place to the children of Israell: Although the
Gentiles suffered themselves to be abused, so as they gave eare to
these sorcerers, &c: he would not suffer them so, but would raise them
a prophet, who should speake the truth. As if he should saie; The
other are but lieng and cousening mates, deceitfull and undermining
merchants, whose abuses I will make knowne to my people. And that
everie one maie be resolved herein, let the last sentence of this
precept be well weighed; to wit, Let none be found among you, that
asketh counsell of (or raiseth the dead.)

♦Deut. 18, 14♦

First you know the soules of the righteous are in the hands of God,
and resting with _Lazarus_ in _Abrahams_ bosome, doo sleepe in Jesus
Christ. And from that sleepe, man shall not be raised, till the heavens
be no more: according to this of _David_: Wilt thou shew woonders among
the dead? Nay, the Lord saith, The living shall not be taught by the
dead, but by the living. As for the unrighteous, they are in hell,
where is no redemption; neither is there anie passage from heaven to
earth, but by God and his angels. As touching the resurrection and
restauration of the bodie, read _John._ 5. and you shall manifestlie
see, that it is the onelie worke of the father, who hath given the
power therof to the sonne, and to none other, &c. _Dominus percutit,
& ipse medetur: Ego occidam, & ego vivefaciam._ And in manie other
places it is written, that God giveth life and beeing to all. Although
_Plato_, with his maister _Socrates_, the cheefe pillers of these
vanities, say, that one _Pamphilus_ was called up out of hel, who
when he cam among the people, told manie incredible tales concerning
infernall actions. But herein I take up the proverbe; _Amicus Plato,
amicus Socrates, sed major amica veritas_.

♦Sap. 3, 1.
Luk. 16, 23.♦

♦Job. 14, 12.
Psal 88, 10.
Deut. 18, 11.
Luk. 16. 29. 31.♦

♦Luk. 16, 22.♦

♦Joh. 5, 21.♦

♦Ose. 6.
Acts. 17. 25. 28.
Tim. 6, 13.♦

So as this last precept, or last part thereof, extending to that which
neither can be done by witch nor divell, maie well expound the other
parts and points therof. For it is not ment hereby, that they can doo
such things indeed; but that they make men beleeve they doo them, and
thereby cousen the people, and take upon them the office of God, and
therewithall also blaspheme his holie name, and take it in vaine; as by
the words of charmes and conjurations doo appeare, which you shall see,
if you looke into these words, _Habar_ and _Idoni_.

In like manner I saie you may see, that by the prohibition of
divinations by augurie, and of soothsaiengs, &c, who are witches, and
can indeed doo nothing but lie and cousen the people, the lawe of God
condemneth them not, for that they can worke miracles, but bicause they
saie they can doo that which perteineth to God, and for cousenage, &c.
Concerning other points of witchcraft conteined therein, and bicause
some cannot otherwise be satisfied, I will alledge under one sentence,
the decretals, the mind of S. _Augustine_, the councell _Aurelian_,
and the determination of _Paris_, to wit: Who so observeth, or giveth
heed unto soothsaiengs, divinations, witchcraft, &c, or doth give
credit to anie such, he renounceth christianitie, and shalbe counted
a pagane, & an enemie to God; yea and he erreth both in faith and
philosophie. And the reason is therewithall expressed in the canon, to
wit; Bicause hereby is attributed to a creature, that which perteineth
to God onelie and alone. So as, under this one sentence (Thou shalt
not suffer a poisoner or a witch to live) is forbidden both murther
and witchcraft; the murther consisting in poison; the witchcraft in
cousenage or blasphemie.

♦_26. quæ. 7. non. obser. fact. 1398. act. 17._
_August. de spirit. & anima. cap. 28._♦

The third Chapter.

_That women have used poisoning in all ages more than men, and of
the inconvenience of poisoning._

As women in all ages have beene counted most apt to conceive
witchcraft, and the divels speciall instruments therin, and the onelie
or cheefe practisers therof: so also it appeareth, that they have been
the first inventers, and the greatest practisers of poisoning, and
more naturallie addicted and given thereunto than men: according to
the saieng of _Quintilian_; _Latrocinium faciliùs in viro, veneficium
in fœmina credam_. From whom _Plinie_ differeth nothing in opinion,
when he saith, _Scientiam fœminarum in veneficiis prævalere_. To be
short, _Augustine_, _Livie_, _Valerius_, _Diodorus_, and manie other
agree, that women were the first inventers and practisers of the art
of poisoning. As for the rest of their cunning, in what estimation it
was had, may appeare by these verses of _Horace_, wherein he doth not
onelie declare the vanitie of witchcraft, but also expoundeth the other
words, wherewithall we are now in hand.

♦_Plin. lib. 25. cap. 2._♦

_Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas,
Nocturnos lemures, portentáq; Thessala rides:_

_These dreames and terrors magicall,
these miracles and witches,
Night-walking sprites, or Thessal bugs,
esteeme them not twoo rushes._

Here _Horace_ (you see) contemneth as ridiculous, all our witches
cunning: marrie herein he comprehendeth not their poisoning art,
which hereby he onelie seemed to thinke hurtfull. _Pythagoras_ and
_Democritus_ give us the names of a great manie magicall hearbs
and stones, whereof now, both the vertue, and the things themselves
also are unknowne: as _Marmaritin_, whereby spirits might be
raised: _Archimedon_, which would make one bewraie in his sleepe,
all the secrets in his heart: _Adincantida_, _Calicia_, _Mevais_,
_Chirocineta_, _&c_: which had all their severall vertues, or rather
poisons. But all these now are worne out of knowledge: marrie in their
steed we have hogs turd and chervill, as the onelie thing whereby our
witches worke miracles.

Trulie this poisoning art called _Veneficium_, of all others is most
abhominable; as whereby murthers maie be committed, where no suspicion
maie be gathered, nor anie resistance can be made; the strong cannot
avoid the weake, the wise cannot prevent the foolish, the godlie
cannot be preserved from the hands of the wicked; children maie hereby
kill their parents, the servant the maister, the wife hir husband, so
privilie, so inevitablie, and so incurablie, that of all other it hath
beene thought the most odious kind of murther; according to the saieng
of _Ovid_:

——————————————————————_non hospes ab hospite tutus,
Non socer à genero, fratrum quóq; gratia rara est:
Imminet exitio vir conjugis, illa mariti,
Lurida terribiles miscent aconita novercæ,
Filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos._

♦_Ovid. metamorph. lib. 1._♦

—————_The travelling ghest opprest }
Dooth stand in danger of his host, }
the host eke of his ghest: }
The father of his sonne in lawe, }
yea rare is seene to rest
Twixt brethren love and amitie,
and kindnesse void of strife;
The husband seekes the goodwifes death,
and his againe the wife.
Ungentle stepdames grizlie poi-
son temper and doo give:
The sonne too soone dooth aske how long
his father is to live._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

The monke that poisoned king _John_, was a right _Veneficus_; to wit,
both a witch and a murtherer: for he killed the king with poison,
and persuaded the people with lies, that he had doone a good and
a meritorious act: and doubtlesse, manie were so bewitched, as they
thought he did verie well therein. _Antonius Sabellicus_ writeth of a
horrible poisoning murther, committed by women at _Rome_, where were
executed (after due conviction) 170. women at one time; besides 20.
women of that consort, who were poisoned with that poison which they
had prepared for others.

♦[Misp. 86]♦

♦_Aeneid. 4. lib 4._♦

The fourth Chapter.

_Of divers poisoning practises, otherwise called veneficia,
committed in Italie, Genua, Millen, Wittenberge, also how they
were discovered and executed._

Another practise, not unlike to that mentioned in the former chapter,
was doone in _Cassalis_ at _Salassia_ in _Italie_, Anno 1536. where
40. _Veneficæ_ or witches being of one confederacie, renewed a
plague which was then almost ceased, besmeering with an ointment and
a pouder, the posts and doores of mens houses; so as thereby whole
families were poisoned: and of that stuffe they had prepared above
40. crocks for that purpose. Herewithall they conveied inheritances
as it pleased them, till at length they killed the brother and onelie
sonne of one _Necus_ (as lightlie none died in the house but the
maisters and their children) which was much noted; and therewithall
that one _Androgina_ haunted the houses, speciallie of them that died:
and she being suspected, apprehended, and examined, confessed the
fact, conspiracie, and circumstance, as hath beene shewed. The like
villanie was afterwards practised at _Genua_, and execution was doone
upon the offenders. At _Millen_ there was another like attempt that
tooke none effect. This art consisteth as well in poisoning of cattell
as of men: and that which is doone by poisons unto cattell, towards
their destruction, is as commonlie attributed to witches charms as
the other. And I doubt not, but some that would be thought cunning in
incantations, and to doo miracles, have experience in this behalf. For
it is written by divers authors, that if wolves doong be hidden in the
mangers, racks, or else in the hedges about the pastures, where cattell
go (through the antipathie of the nature of the woolfe and other
cattell) all the beasts that savour the same doo not onlie forbeare to
eate, but run about as though they were mad, or (as they say) bewitched.

♦Veneficæ in Italie.♦

♦Veneficæ in Genua & Millen.♦

But _Wierus_ telleth a notable storie of a _Veneficus_, or destroier
of cattell, which I thought meete heere to repeat. There was (saith he)
in the dukedome of _Wittingberge_, not farre from _Tubing_, a butcher,
anno 1564. that bargained with the towne for all their hides which
were of sterven cattell, called in these parts _Morts_. He with poison
privilie killed in great numbers, their bullocks, sheepe, swine, &c:
and by his bargaine of the hides and tallowe he grew infinitlie rich.
And at last being suspected, was examined, confessed the matter and
maner thereof, and was put to death with hot tongs, wherewith his flesh
was pulled from his bones. We for our parts would have killed five
poore women, before we would suspect one rich butcher.

♦Of a butcher a right veneficall which [? witch.]♦

The fift Chapter.

_A great objection answered concerning this kind of witchcraft
called Veneficium._

It is objected, that if _Veneficium_ were comprehended under the
title of manslaughter, it had beene a vaine repetition, and a
disordered course undertaken by _Moses_, to set foorth a lawe against
_Veneficas_ severallie. But it might suffice to answer any reasonable
christian, that such was the pleasure of the Holie-ghost, to institute
a particular article herof, as of a thing more odious, wicked and
dangerous, than any other kind of murther. But he that shall read the
lawe of _Moses_, or the testament of Christ himselfe, shall find this
kind of repetition and reiteration of the law most common. For as it is
written _Exod._ 22, 21. Thou shalt not greeve nor afflict a stranger,
for thou wast a stranger in the land of _Aegypt_: so are the same words
found repeated in _Levit._ 19, 33. Polling and shaving of heads and
beards is forbidden in _Deut._ 27. which was before prohibited in 22.
It is written in _Exodus_ the 20. Thou shalt not steale: and it is
repeated in _Leviticus_ 19. and in _Deut._ 5. Murther is generallie
forbidden in _Exod._ 20. and likewise in 22. and repeated in _Num._ 35.
But the aptest example is, that magicke is forbidden in three severall
places, to wit, once in _Levit._ 19. and twise in _Levit._ 20. For the
which a man might as well cavill with the Holie-ghost as for the other.

♦Levit. 19, 33.♦

The sixt Chapter.

_In what kind of confections that witchcraft, which is called
Venificium, consisteth: of love cups, and the same confuted by
poets._

As touching this kind of witchcraft, the principall part thereof
consisteth in certeine confections prepared by lewd people to procure
love; which indeed are meere poisons, bereaving some of the benefit
of the braine, and so of the sense and understanding of the mind. And
from some it taketh awaie life, & that is more common than the other.
These be called _Philtra_, or _Pocula amatoria_, or _Venenosa pocula_,
or _Hippomanes_; which bad and blind physicians rather practise, than
witches or conjurers, &c. But of what value these bables are, towards
the end why they are provided, may appeere by the opinions of poets
themselves, from whence was derived the estimation of that stuffe. And
first you shall heare what _Ovid_ saith, who wrote of the verie art of
love, and that so cunninglie and feelinglie, that he is reputed the
speciall doctor in that science:

_Fallitur Æmonias si quis decurrit ad artes,
Dátq; quod à teneri fronte revellit equi.
Non facient ut vivat amor Medeides herbæ,
Mistáq; cum magicis mersa venena sonis.
Phasias Æsonidem, Circe tenuisset Ulyssem,
Si modò servari carmine posset amor:
Nec data profuerint pallentia philtra puellis,
Philtra nocent animis, vímq; furoris habent._

♦_Ovid. lib. 2. de arte amandi._♦

_Who so dooth run to Hæmon arts,
I dub him for a dolt,
And giveth that which he dooth plucke
from forhead of a colt:
Medeas herbs will not procure
that love shall lasting live,
Nor steeped poison mixed with ma-
gicke charms the same can give.
The witch Medea had full fast
held Jason for hir owne,
So had the grand witch Circe too }
Ulysses, if alone }
With charms mainteind & kept might be }
the love of twaine in one. }
No slibbersawces given to maids,
to make them pale and wan,
Will helpe: such slibbersawces marre }
the minds of maid and man, }
And have in them a furious force }
of phrensie now and than._ }

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

♦Philtra, slibbersawces to procure love.♦

_Viderit Aemoniæ si quis mala pabula terræ,
Et magicas artes posse juvare putat._

♦_Ovid. lib. de remedio amoris, 1._♦

_If any thinke that evill herbs
in Hæmon land which be,
Or witchcraft able is to helpe,
let him make proofe and see._

♦_Ab. Fleming._♦

These verses precedent doo shew, that _Ovid_ knew that those beggerlie
sorceries might rather kill one, or make him starke mad, than doo him
good towards the atteinement of his pleasure or love; and therefore he
giveth this counsell to them that are amorous in such hot maner, that
either they must enjoy their love, or else needs die; saieng:

_Sit procul omne nefas, ut ameris amabilis esto:_

_Farre off be all unlawfull meanes
thou amiable bee,
Loving I meane, that she with love
may quite the love of thee._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

The seventh Chapter.

_It is proved by more credible writers, that love cups rather
ingender death through venome, than love by art: and with what
toies they destroie cattell, and procure love._

But bicause there is no hold nor trust to these poets, who saie and
unsaie, dallieng with these causes; so as indeed the wise may perceive
they have them in derision: let us see what other graver authors speake
hereof. _Eusebius Cæsariensis_ writeth, that the poet _Lucretius_ was
killed with one of those lovers poisoned cups. _Hierome_ reporteth that
one _Livia_ herewith killed hir husband, whome she too much hated;
and _Lucilla_ killed hirs, whome she too much loved. _Calisthenes_
killed _Lucius Lucullus_ the emperor with a love pot, as _Plutarch_ and
_Cornelius Nepos_ saie. _Plinie_ & _Josephus_ report, that _Cæsonia_
killed hir husband _Caligula Amatorio poculo_ with a lovers cup,
which was indeed starke poison. _Aristotle_ saith, that all which is
beleeved touching the efficacie of these matters, is lies and old wives
tales. He that will read more arguments and histories concerning these
poisons, let him looke in _J. Wier De Veneficiis_.

♦_Hieronym. in Ruff._
_Plin. lib. 25. cap. 3._
_Joseph lib. 11. de Judæorum antiquit._
_Aristot. lib. 8. de natura animal. cap. 24._
_Jo. Wier. de venef. cap. 40._♦

The toies, which are said to procure love, and are exhibited in their
poison looving cups, are these: the haire growing in the nethermost
part of a woolves taile, a woolves yard, a little fish called _Remora_,
the braine of a cat, of a newt, or of a lizzard: the bone of a greene
frog, the flesh thereof being consumed with pismers or ants; the left
bone whereof ingendereth (as they saie) love; the bone on the right
side, hate. Also it is said, that a frogs bones, the flesh being eaten
off round about with ants, whereof some will swim, and some will sinke:
those that sinke, being hanged up in a white linnen cloth, ingender
love, but if a man be touched therewith, hate is bred thereby. Another
experiment is thereof, with yoong swalowes, whereof one brood or nest
being taken and buried in a crocke under the ground, till they be
starved up; they that be found open mouthed, serve to engender love;
they whose mouthes are shut, serve to procure hate. Besides these,
manie other follies there be to this purpose proposed to the simple;
as namelie, the garments of the dead, candels that burne before a
dead corps, and needels wherwith dead bodies are sowne or sockt into
their sheetes: and diverse other things, which for the reverence of
the reader, and in respect of the uncleane speach to be used in the
description thereof, I omit; which (if you read _Dioscorides_, or
diverse other learned physicians) you maie see at large. In the meane
while, he that desireth to see more experiments concerning this matter,
let him read _Leonardus Vairus de fascino_, now this present yeare
1583. newlie published; wherein (with an incestuous mouth) he affirmeth
directlie, that Christ and his apostles were _Venefici_; verie fondlie
prosecuting that argument, and with as much popish follie as may be;
labouring to proove it lawfull to charme and inchant vermine, &c.

♦Toies to mocke apes.♦

♦_Dioscorid. de materia medicin._♦

♦_L. Vairus de fascin. lib. 2. cap. 11. prope finem._♦

The eight Chapter.

_John Bodin triumphing against John Wier is overtaken with false
Greeke & false interpretation thereof._

Monsieur _Bodin_ triumpheth over doctor _Wier_ herein, pronouncing a
heavie sentence upon him; bicause he referreth this word to poison.
But he reigneth or rather rideth over him, much more for speaking
false Greeke; affirming that he calleth _Veneficos_ Φαρμακεύσυς, which
is as true as the rest of his reports and fables of witches miracles
conteined in his bookes of divelish devises. For in truth he hath no
such word, but saith they are called Φαρμακεύεις, whereas he should
have said Φαρμακεῖς, the true accent being omitted, and εὔ being
interposed, which should have beene left out. Which is nothing to the
substance of the matter, but must needs be the Printers fault.

♦_J. Bodin._♦

But _Bodin_ reasoneth in this wise, Φαρμακεῖς is sometimes put
for _Magos_ or _Præstigiatores_: _Ergo_ in the translation of the
_Septuaginta_, it is so to be taken. Wherein he manifesteth his bad
Logicke, more than the others ill Greeke. For it is well knowne to the
learned in this toong, that the usuall and proper signification of this
word, with all his derivations and compounds doo signifie _Veneficos_,
Poisoners by medicine. Which when it is most usuall and proper, why
should the translators take it in a signification lesse usuall, and
nothing proper. Thus therefore he reasoneth and concludeth with his
new found Logicke, and old fond Greeke; Sometimes it signifieth so,
though unproperlie, or rather metaphoricallie; _Ergo_ in that place
it is so to be taken, when another fitter word might have beene used.
Which argument being vaine, agreeth well with his other vaine actions.
The _Septuaginta_ had beene verie destitute of words, if no proper word
could have beene found for this purpose. But where they have occasion
to speake of witchcraft in their translations, they use _Magian_,
_Maggagian_, &c: and therfore belike they see some difference betwixt
them and the other, and knew some cause that mooved them to use the
word Φαρμακεία, _Veneficium_.

¶ _The seventh Booke._

The first Chapter.

_Of the Hebrue word Ob, what it signifieth where it is found,
of Pythonisses called Ventriloquæ, who they be, and what their
practises are, experience and examples thereof shewed._

This word _Ob_, is translated _Pytho_, or _Pythonicus spiritus_:
_Deutre._ 18. _Isaie._ 19. 1. _Sam._ 28. 2. _Reg._ 23. &c: somtime,
though unproperlie, _Magus_ as 2. _Sam._ 33. But _Ob_ signifieth most
properlie a bottle, and is used in this place, bicause the _Pythonists_
spake hollowe; as in the bottome of their bellies, whereby they are
aptlie in Latine called _Ventriloqui_: of which sort was _Elizabeth
Barton_, the holie maid of _Kent_, &c. These are such as take upon them
to give oracles, to tell where things lost are become, and finallie to
appeach others of mischeefs, which they themselves most commonlie have
brought to passe: whereby many times they overthrowe the good fame of
honest women, and of such others of their neighbors, with whome they
are displeased. For triall hereof, letting passe a hundred cousenages
that I could recite at this time, I will begin with a true storie
of a wench, practising hir diabolicall witchcraft, and ventriloquie
An. 1574. at _Westwell_ in _Kent_, within six miles where I dwell,
taken and noted by twoo ministers and preachers of Gods word, foure
substantiall yeomen, and three women of good fame & reputation, whose
names are after written.

♦The holie maid of Kent a ventriloqua.♦

_Mildred_, the base daughter of _Alice Norrington_, and now servant to
_William Sponer_ of _Westwell_ in the countie of _Kent_, being of the
age of seventeene yeares, was possessed with sathan in the night and
daie aforesaid. About two of the clocke in the afternoone of the same
day, there came to the same _Sponers_ house _Roger Newman_ minister
of _Westwell_, _John Brainford_ minister of _Kenington_, with others,
whose names are underwritten, who made their praiers unto God, to
assist them in that needfull case; and then commanded sathan in the
name of the eternall God, and of his sonne Jesus Christ, to speake
with such a voice as they might understand, and to declare from whence
he came. But he would not speake, but rored and cried mightilie. And
though we did command him manie times, in the name of God, and of his
sonne Jesus Christ, and in his mightie power to speake; yet he would
not: untill he had gon through all his delaies, as roring, crieng,
striving, and gnashing of teeth; and otherwhile with mowing, and other
terrible countenances, and was so strong in the maid, that foure men
could scarse hold hir downe. And this continued by the space almost
of two houres. So sometimes we charged him earnestlie to speake; and
againe praieng unto GOD that he would assist us, at the last he spake,
but verie strangelie; and that was thus; He comes, he comes: and that
oftentimes he repeated; and He goes, he goes. And then we charged him
to tell us who sent him. And he said; I laie in her waie like a log,
and I made hir runne like fier, but I could not hurt hir. And whie so,
said we? Bicause God kept hir, said he. When camest thou to her, said
we? To night in her bed, said he. Then we charged him as before, to
tell what he was, and who sent him, and what his name was. At the first
he said, The divell, the divell. Then we charged him as before. Then
he rored and cried as before, and spake terrible words; I will kill
hir, I will kill hir; I will teare hir in peeces, I will teare hir in
peeces. We said, Thou shalt not hurt hir. He said, I will kill you all.
We said, Thou shalt hurt none of us all. Then we charged him as before.
Then he said, You will give me no rest. Wee said, Thou shalt have none
here, for thou must have no rest within the servants of God: but tell
us in the name of God what thou art, and who sent thee. Then he said
he would teare hir in peeces. We said, Thou shalt not hurt hir. Then
he said againe he would kill us all. We said againe, Thou shalt hurt
none of us all, for we are the servants of God. And we charged him as
before. And he said againe, Will you give me no rest? We said, Thou
shalt have none here, neither shalt thou rest in hir, for thou hast
no right in hir, sith Jesus Christ hath redeemed hir with his bloud,
and she belongeth to him; and therefore tell us thy name, and who sent
thee? He said his name was sathan. We said, Who sent thee? He said, Old
_Alice_, old _Alice_. Which old _Alice_, said we? Old _Alice_, said he.
Where dwelleth she, said we? In _Westwell_ streete, said he. We said,
How long hast thou beene with hir? These twentie yeares, said he. We
asked him where she did keepe him? In two bottels, said he. Where be
they, said we? In the backside of hir house, said he. In what place,
said we? Under the wall, said he. Where is the other? In _Kenington_.
In what place, said we? In the ground, said he. Then we asked him,
what she did give him. He said, hir will, hir will. What did shee bid
thee doo, said we? He said, Kill hir maid. Wherefore did she bid thee
kill hir, said we? Bicause she did not love hir, said he. We said; How
long is it ago, since she sent thee to hir? More than a yeare, said
he. Where was that, said we? At hir masters, said he. Which masters,
said we? At hir master _Brainfords_ at _Kenington_, said he. How oft
wert thou there, said we? Manie times, said he. Where first, said we?
In the garden, said he: Where the second time? In the hall: Where the
third time? In hir bed: Where the fourth time? In the field: Where the
fift time? In the court: Where the sixt time? In the water, where I
cast hir into the mote: Where the seventh time. In hir bed. We asked
him againe, where else? He said, in _Westwell_. Where there, said we?
In the vicarige, said he. Where there? In the loft. How camest thou to
hir, said we? In the likenesse of two birds, said he. Who sent thee
to that place, said we? Old _Alice_, said he. What other spirits were
with thee there, said we? My servant, said he. What is his name, said
we? He said, little divell. What is thy name, said we? Sathan, said
he. What dooth old _Alice_ call thee, said we? Partener, said he. What
dooth she give thee, said we? Hir will, said he. How manie hast thou
killed for hir, said we? Three, said he. Who are they, said we? A man
and his child, said he. What were their names, said we? The childs
name was _Edward_, said he: what more than _Edward_, said we? _Edward
Ager_, said he. What was the mans name, said we? _Richard_, said he.
What more, said we? _Richard Ager_, said he. Where dwelt the man and
the child, said we? At _Dig_ at _Dig_, said he. This _Richard Ager_ of
_Dig_, was a Gentleman of xl. pounds land by the yeare, a verie honest
man, but would often saie he was bewitched, and languished long before
he died. Whom else hast thou killed for hir, said we? _Woltons_ wife
said he. Where did she dwell? In _Westwell_ said he. What else hast
thou doone for hir said we? What she would have me, said he. What is
that said we? To fetch hir meat, drinke, and corne, said he. Where
hadst thou it, said we? In everie house, said he. Name the houses,
said we? At _Petmans_, at _Farmes_, at _Millens_, at _Fullers_, and
in everie house. After this we commanded sathan in the name of Jesus
Christ to depart from hir, and never to trouble hir anie more, nor anie
man else. Then he said he would go, he would go: but he went not. Then
we commanded him as before with some more words. Then he said, I go,
I go; and so he departed. Then said the maid, He is gone, Lord have
mercie upon me, for he would have killed me. And then we kneeled downe
and gave God thanks with the maiden; praieng that God would keepe hir
from sathans power, and assist hir with his grace. And noting this in
a peece of paper, we departed. Sathans voice did differ much from the
maids voice, and all that he spake, was in his owne name. _Subscribed
thus_:

Witnesses to this, that heard and[*]
_sawe this whole matter, as followeth_:

{ _Roger Newman, vicar } { _John Tailor._ }
{ of Westwell._ } { _Thomas Frenchborns }
{ _John Brainford, vicar } { wife._ }
{ of Kennington._ } { _William Spooner._ }
{ _Thomas Tailor._ } { _John Frenchborne, }
{ _Henrie Tailors wife._ } { and his wife._ }

♦An. Domi. 1574. Octob. 13.♦

♦Confer this storie with the woman of Endor, 1. Sam. 28. and see
whether the same might not be accomplished by this devise.♦

♦[Mispr. 99]♦

♦[*] [Rom.]♦

The second Chapter.

_How the lewd practise of the Pythonist of Westwell came
to light, and by whome she was examined; and that all hir
diabolicall speach was but ventriloquie and plaine cousenage,
which is prooved by hir owne confession._

It is written, that in the latter daies there shalbe shewed strange
illusions, &c: in so much as (if it were possible) the verie elect
shalbe deceived: howbeit, S. _Paule_ saith, they shalbe lieng and
false woonders. Neverthelesse, this sentence, and such like, have
beene often laid in my dish, and are urged by diverse writers, to
approve the miraculous working of witches, whereof I will treat more
largelie in another place. Howbeit, by the waie I must confesse, that
I take that sentence to be spoken of Antichrist, to wit: the pope, who
miraculouslie, contrarie to nature, philosophie, and all divinitie,
being of birth and calling base, in learning grosse; in valure,
beautie, or activitie most commonlie a verie lubber, hath placed
himselfe in the most loftie and delicate seate, putting almost all
christian princes heads, not onelie under his girdle, but under his
foote, &c.

♦Matt. 24, 44.
2. Thes. 2, 9.♦

Surelie, the tragedie of this _Pythonist_ is not inferior to a thousand
stories, which will hardlie be blotted out of the memorie and credit
either of the common people, or else of the learned. How hardlie will
this storie suffer discredit, having testimonie of such authoritie? How
could mother _Alice_ escape condemnation and hanging, being arreigned
upon this evidence; when a poore woman hath beene cast away, upon
a cousening oracle, or rather a false lie, devised by _Feats_ the
juggler, through the malicious instigation of some of hir adversaries?

But how cunninglie soever this last cited certificat be penned, or
what shew soever it carrieth of truth and plaine dealing, there may be
found conteined therein matter enough to detect the cousening knaverie
therof. And yet diverse have been deepelie deceived therewith, and
can hardlie be removed from the credit thereof, and without great
disdaine cannot endure to heare the reproofe thereof. And know you
this by the waie, that heretofore Robin goodfellow, and Hob gobblin
were as terrible, and also as credible to the people, as hags and
witches be now: and in time to come, a witch will be as much derided
and contemned, and as plainlie perceived, as the illusion and knaverie
of Robin goodfellow. And in truth, they that mainteine walking
spirits, with their transformation, &c: have no reason to denie Robin
goodfellow, upon whom there hath gone as manie and as credible tales,
as upon witches; saving that it hath not pleased the translators of the
Bible, to call spirits by the name of Robin goodfellow, as they have
termed divinors, soothsaiers, poisoners, and couseners by the name of
witches.

♦The ventriloqua of Westwell discovered.♦

But to make short worke with the confutation of this bastardlie
queanes enterprise, & cousenage; you shall understand, that upon the
brute of hir divinitie and miraculous transes, she was convented
before M. _Thomas Wotton_ of _Bocton Malherbe_, a man of great
worship and wisedome, and for deciding and ordering of matters in
this commonwealth, of rare and singular dexteritie; through whose
discreet handling of the matter, with the assistance & aid of M.
_George Darrell_ esquire, being also a right good and discreet Justice
of the same limit, the fraud was found, the coosenage confessed,
and she received condigne punishment. Neither was hir confession
woone, according to the forme of the Spanish inquisition; to wit,
through extremitie of tortures, nor yet by guile or flatterie, nor
by presumptions; but through wise and perfect triall of everie
circumstance the illusion was manifestlie disclosed: not so (I say)
as witches are commonlie convinced and condemned; to wit, through
malicious accusations, by ghesses, presumptions, and extorted
confessions, contrarie to sense and possibilitie, and for such actions
as they can shew no triall nor example before the wise, either by
direct or indirect meanes; but after due triall she shewed hir feats,
illusions, and transes, with the residue of all hir miraculous works,
in the presence of divers gentlemen and gentlewomen of great worship
and credit, at _Bocton Malherbe_, in the house of the aforesaid M.
_Wotton_. Now compare this wench with the witch of _Endor_, & you shall
see that both the cousenages may be doone by one art.

♦The Pythonist of west-well convicted by hir owne confession.♦

The third Chapter.

_Bodins stuffe concerning the Pythonist of Endor, with a true
storie of a counterfeit Dutchman._

Upon the like tales dooth _Bodin_ build his doctrine, calling
them _Atheists_ that will not beleeve him, adding to this kind of
witchcraft, the miraculous works of diverse maidens, that would spue
pins, clowts, &c: as one _Agnes Brigs_, and _Rachell Pinder_ of London
did, till the miracles were detected, and they set to open penance.
Others he citeth of that sort, the which were bound by divels with
garters, or some such like stuffe to posts, &c: with knots that could
not be undone, which is an _Aegyptians_ juggling or cousening feat.
And of such foolish lies joined with bawdie tales, his whole booke
consisteth: wherein I warrant you there are no fewer than twoo hundreth
fables, and as manie impossibilities. And as these two wenches, with
the maiden of _Westwell_, were detected of cousenage; so likewise a
Dutchman at _Maidstone_ long after he had accomplished such knaveries,
to the astonishment of a great number of good men, was revealed to be a
cousening knave; although his miracles were imprinted and published at
_London_: anno 1572. with this title before the booke, as followeth.

♦_J. Bodin. lib. de dæmon. 3. cap. 2._♦

==============================================================
¶ A verie wonderfull and strange mi-
_racle of God, shewed upon a Dutchman of the age of_
23. yeares, which was possessed of ten di-
_vels, and was by Gods mightie providence dis-_
possessed of them againe, the 27.
_of Januarie last past, 1572._
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Unto this the Maior of _Maidstone_, with diverse of his brethren
subscribed, chieflie by the persuasion of _Nicasius Vander Schuere_,
the minister of the Dutch church there, _John Stikelbow_, whome (as
it is there said) God made the instrument to cast out the divels,
and foure other credible persons of the Dutch church. The historie
is so strange, & so cunninglie performed, that had not his knaverie
afterwards brought him into suspicion, he should have gone awaie
unsuspected of this fraud. A great manie other such miracles have beene
latelie printed, whereof diverse have beene bewraied: all the residue
doubtles, if triall had beene made, would have beene found like unto
these. But some are more finelie handled than othersome. Some have
more advantage by the simplicitie of the audience, some by the majestie
and countenance of the confederates; as namelie, that cousening of
the holie maid of _Kent_. Some escape utterlie unsuspected, some are
prevented by death; so as that waie their examination is untaken. Some
are weakelie examined: but the most part are so reverenced, as they
which suspect them, are rather called to their answers, than the others.

The fourth Chapter.

_Of the great oracle of Apollo the Pythonist, and how men of
all sorts have been deceived, and that even the apostles have
mistaken the nature of spirits, with an unanswerable argument,
that spirits can take no shapes._

With this kind of witchcraft, _Apollo_ and his oracles abused and
cousened the whole world: which idoll was so famous, that I need not
stand long in the description thereof. The princes and monarchs of
the earth reposed no small confidence therein: the preests, which
lived thereupon, were so cunning, as they also overtooke almost all
the godlie and learned men of that age, partlie with their doubtfull
answers; as that which was made unto _Pyrrhus_, in these words, _Aio
te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse_, and to _Crœsus_ his ambassadours in
these words, _Si Crœsus arma Persis inferat, magnum imperium evertat_;
and otherwise thus, _Crœsus Halin penetrans, magnam subvertet opum
vim_: or thus, _Crœsus perdet Halin, trangressus plurima regna, &c_:
partlie through confederacie, whereby they knew mens errands yer
they came, and partlie by cunning, as promising victorie upon the
sacrificing of some person of such account, as victorie should rather
be neglected, than the murther accomplished. And if it were, yet should
there be such conditions annexed thereunto, as alwaies remained unto
them a starting hole, and matter enough to cavill upon; as that the
partie sacrificed must be a virgin, no bastard, &c. Furthermore, of two
things onelie proposed, and where yea or naie onelie dooth answer the
question, it is an even laie, that an idiot shall conjecture right.
So as, if things fell out contrarie, the fault was alwaies in the
interpretor, and not in the oracle or the prophet. But what mervell,
(I saie) though the multitude and common people have beene abused
herein; since lawiers, philosophers, physicians, astronomers, divines,
generall councels, and princes have with great negligence and ignorance
been deceived and seduced hereby, as swallowing up and devouring an
inveterate opinion, received of their elders, without due examination
of the circumstance?

♦The amphibologies of oracles.♦

♦The subtiltie of oracles.♦

Howbeit, the godlie and learned fathers (as it appeereth) have alwaies
had a speciall care and respect, that they attributed not unto God such
divelish devises; but referred them to him, who indeed is the inventer
and author thereof, though not the personall executioner, in maner
and forme as they supposed: so as the matter of faith was not thereby
by them impeached. But who can assure himselfe not to be deceived in
matters concerning spirits, when the apostles themselves were so far
from knowing them, as even after the resurrection of Christ, having
heard him preach and expound the scriptures, all his life time, they
shewed themselves not onelie ignorant therein, but also to have
misconceived thereof? Did not the apostle _Thomas_ thinke that Christ
himselfe had beene a spirit; until Christ told him plainelie, that a
spirit was no such creature, as had flesh and bones, the which (he
said) _Thomas_ might see to be in him? And for the further certifieng
and satisfieng of his mind, he commended unto him his hands to be
seene, and his sides to be felt. _Thomas_, if the answer be true that
some make hereunto, to wit: that spirits take formes and shapes of
bodies at their pleasure, might have answered Christ, and remaining
unsatisfied might have said; Oh sir, what do you tell me that spirits
have no flesh and bones? Why they can take shapes and formes, and so
perchance have you doone. Which argument all the witchmongers in the
world shall never be able to answere.

♦John. 20, 9.♦

Some of them that mainteine the creation, the transformation, the
transportation, and transubstantiation of witches, object that spirits
are not palpable, though visible, and answer the place by me before
cited: so as the feeling and not the seeing should satisfie _Thomas_.
But he that shall well weigh the text and the circumstances thereof,
shall perceive, that the fault of _Thomas_ his incredulitie was
secondlie bewraied, and condemned, in that he would not trust his owne
eies, nor the view taken by his fellow apostles, who might have beene
thought too credulous in this case, if spirits could take shapes at
their pleasure. Jesus saith to him; Bicause thou hast seene (and not,
bicause thou hast felt) thou beleevest. Item he saith; Blessed are they
that beleeve and see not (and not, they that beleeve and feele not.)
Whereby he noteth that our corporall eies may discerne betwixt a spirit
and a naturall bodie; reprooving him, bicause he so much relied upon
his externall senses, in cases where faith should have prevailed; &
here, in a matter of faith revealed in the word, would not credit the
miracle which was exhibited unto him in most naturall and sensible sort.

♦John. 20, 29.♦

Howbeit, _Erastus_ saith, and so dooth _Hyperius_, _Hemingius_,
_Danæus_, _M. Mal. Bodin_, _&c._ that evill spirits eate, drinke, and
keepe companie with men, and that they can take palpable formes of
bodies, producing examples thereof, to wit: _Spectrum Germanicum seu
Augustanum_, and the angell whose feet _Lot_ washed; as though bicause
God can indue his messengers with bodies at his pleasure, therefore
the divell and everie spirit can doo the like. How the eleven apostles
were in this case deceived, appeareth in _Luke._ 24. and in _Mark._
16. as also in _Matth._ 14. where the apostles and disciples were all
deceived, taking Christ to be a spirit, when he walked on the sea.
And why might they not be deceived herein, as well as in that they
thought Christ had spoken of a temporall kingdome, when he preached of
the kingdome of heaven? Which thing they also much misconceived; as
likewise when he did bid them beware of the leven of the Pharisies,
they understood that he spake of materiall bread.

♦_Erast. fol. 62._♦

♦Luk. 24, 37.
Mark. 16, 14.
Mat. 14, 16.♦

♦Matth. 20.♦

♦Matt. 16, 11.♦

The fift Chapter.

_Why Apollo was called Pytho whereof those witches were called
Pythonists: Gregorie his letter to the divell._

But to returne to our oracle of _Apollo_ at _Delphos_, who was called
_Pytho_, for that _Apollo_ slue a serpent so called, whereof the
_Pythonists_ take their name: I praie you consider well of this tale,
which I will trulie rehearse out of the ecclesiasticall historie,
written by _Eusebius_, wherein you shall see the absurditie of the
opinion, the cousenage of these oraclers, and the deceived mind or
vaine opinion of so great a doctor bewraied and deciphered altogither
as followeth.

♦_Euseb. lib. 7. cap. 25._♦

_Gregorie Neocæsariensis_ in his jornie and waie to passe over the
_Alpes_, came to the temple of _Apollo_: where _Apollos_ priest living
richlie upon the revenues and benefit proceeding from that idoll, did
give great intertainement unto _Gregorie_, and made him good cheare.
But after _Gregorie_ was gone, _Apollo_ waxed dumbe, so as the priests
gaines decaied: for the idoll growing into contempt, the pilgrimage
ceased. The spirit taking compassion upon the priests case, and upon
his greefe of mind in this behalfe, appeared unto him, and told him
flatlie, that his late ghest _Gregorie_ was the cause of all his
miserie. For (saith the divell) he hath banished me, so that I cannot
returne without a speciall licence or pasport from him. It was no need
to bid the priest make hast, for immediatlie he tooke post horsses,
and galloped after _Gregorie_, till at length he overtooke him, and
then expostulated with him for this discourtesie profered in recompense
of his good cheare; and said, that if he would not be so good unto
him, as to write his letter to the divell in his behalfe, he should
be utterlie undone. To be short, his importunitie was such, that he
obtained _Gregorie_ his letter to the divell, who wrote unto him in
maner and forme following, word for word: _Permitto tibi redire in
locum tuum, & agere quæ consuevisti_; which is in English; I am content
thou returne into thy place, and doo as thou wast woont. Immediatlie
upon the receipt of this letter, the idoll spake as before. And here
is to be noted, that as well in this, as in the execution of all
their other oracles and cousenages, the answers were never given _Ex
tempore_, or in that daie wherein the question was demanded, because
forsooth they expected a vision (as they said) to be given the night
following, whereby the cousenage might the more easilie be wrought.

♦Note the cousenage of oracles.♦

The sixt Chapter.

_Apollo, who was called Pytho, compared to the Rood of grace:
Gregories letter to the divell confuted._

What need manie words to confute this fable? For if _Gregorie_ had
beene an honest man, he would never have willinglie permitted, that the
people should have beene further cousened with such a lieng spirit:
or if he had beene halfe so holie as _Eusebius_ maketh him, he would
not have consented or yeelded to so lewd a request of the priest,
nor have written such an impious letter, no not though good might
have come thereof. And therefore as well by the impossibilitie and
follie conteined therein, as of the impietie (whereof I dare excuse
_Gregorie_) you maie perceive it to be a lie. Me thinks they which
still mainteine that the divell made answer in the idoll of _Apollo_,
&c: maie have sufficient persuasion to revoke their erronious opinions:
in that it appeareth in record, that such men as were skilfull in
augurie, did take upon them to give oracles at _Delphos_, in the place
of _Apollo_: of which number _Tisanius_ the sonne of _Antiochus_
was one. But vaine is the answer of idols. Our Rood of grace, with
the helpe of little S. _Rumball_, was not inferior to the idoll of
_Apollo_: for these could not onlie worke externall miracles, but
manifest the internall thoughts of the hart, I beleeve with more
livelie shew, both of humanitie and also of divinitie, than the other.
As if you read M. _Lamberts_ booke of the perambulation of _Kent_,
it shall partlie appeare. But if you talke with them that have beene
beholders thereof, you will be satisfied herein. And yet in the blind
time of poperie, no man might (under paine of damnation) nor without
danger of death, suspect the fraud. Naie, what papists will yet
confesse they were idols, though the wiers that made their eies gogle,
the pins that fastened them to the postes to make them seeme heavie,
were seene and burnt together with the images themselves, the knaverie
of the priests bewraied, and everie circumstance thereof detected and
manifested?

♦Zach. 10.♦

♦_W. Lambert in titulo Boxley._♦

The seventh Chapter.

_How diverse great clarkes and good authors have beene abused
in this matter of spirits through false reports, and by meanes
of their credulitie have published lies, which are confuted by
Aristotle and the scriptures._

_Plutarch_, _Livie_, and _Valerius Maximus_, with manie other grave
authors, being abused with false reports, write that in times past
beasts spake, and that images could have spoken and wept, and did let
fall drops of blood, yea and could walk from place to place: which
they saie was doone by procuration of spirits. But I rather thinke
with _Aristotle_, that it was brought to passe _Hominum & sacerdotum
deceptionibus_, to wit: by the cousening art of craftie knaves and
priests. And therefore let us follow _Esaies_ advise, who saith;
When they shall saie unto you, Enquire of them that have a spirit of
divination, and at the soothsaiers, which whisper and mumble in your
eares to deceive you, &c: enquire at your owne God, &c. And so let us
doo. And here you see they are such as runne into corners, and cousen
the people with lies, &c. For if they could doo as they saie, they
could not aptlie be called liers, neither need they go into corners to
whisper, &c.

♦Esai. 8, 19.♦

The eight Chapter.

_Of the witch of Endor, and whether she accomplished the raising
of Samuel truelie, or by deceipt: the opinion of some divines
hereupon._

The woman of _Endor_ is comprised under this word _Ob_: for she is
called _Pythonissa_. It is written in 2. _Sam. cap._ 28. that she
raised up _Samuel_ from death, and the other words of the text are
stronglie placed, to inforce his verie resurrection. The mind and
opinion of Jesus Syrach evidentlie appeareth to be, that _Samuel_
in person was raised out from his grave, as if you read _Eccl._ 46.
19, 20. you shall plainlie perceive. Howbeit he disputeth not there,
whether the storie be true or false, but onlie citeth certaine verses
of the 1. booke of _Samuel cap._ 18. simplie, according to the letter,
persuading maners and the imitation of our vertuous predecessors, and
repeating the examples of diverse excellent men; namelie of _Samuel_:
even as the text it selfe urgeth the matter, according to the deceived
mind and imagination of _Saule_, and his servants. And therefore in
truth, _Sirach_ spake there according to the opinion of _Saule_, which
so supposed, otherwise it is neither heresie nor treason to saie he was
deceived.

♦2. Sam. 28.♦

He that weigheth well that place, and looketh into it advisedlie,
shall see that _Samuel_ was not raised from the dead; but that
it was an illusion or cousenage practised by the witch. For the
soules of the righteous are in the hands of God: according to that
which _Chrysostome_ saith; Soules are in a certeine place expecting
judgement, and cannot remove from thence. Neither is it Gods will, that
the living should be taught by the dead. Which things are confirmed and
approved by the example of _Lazarus_ and _Dives_: where it appeareth
according to _Deut._ 18. that he will not have the living taught
by the dead, but will have us sticke to his word, wherein his will
and testament is declared. In deed _Lyra_ and _Dionysius_ incline
greatlie to the letter. And _Lyra_ saith, that as when _Balaam_ would
have raised a divell, God interposed himselfe: so did he in this case
bring up _Samuell_, when the witch would have raised hir divell. Which
is a probable interpretation. But yet they dare not stand to that
opinion, least they should impeach S. _Augustines_ credit, who (they
confesse) remained in judgement and opinion (without contradiction of
the church) that _Samuell_ was not raised. For he saith directlie,
that _Samuell_ himselfe was not called up. And indeed, if he were
raised, it was either willinglie, or perforce: if it were willinglie,
his sinne had beene equall with the witches.

♦Sap 3.
Ps. 92. & 97.
_Chrysost. homilia. 21. in Matth._♦

♦Luke. 16.♦

♦_August. lib. quæ. vet. et novi testam. quæst. 27.
Item, part. 2. cap. 26.
Item, quæ. 5. nec mirum ad Simplician. lib. 2. 93 ad Dulcitium. quæ. 6.
Item. lib. 2. de doct. chri._♦

And _Peter Martyr_ (me thinks) saith more to the purpose, in these
words, to wit: This must have beene doone by Gods good will, or
perforce of art magicke: it could not be doone by his good will,
bicause he forbad it; nor by art, bicause witches have no power over
the godlie. Where it is answered by some, that the commandement was
onlie to prohibit the Jewes to aske counsell of the dead, and so
no fault in _Samuell_ to give counsell. We may as well excuse our
neighbours wife, for consenting to our filthie desires, bicause it is
onlie written in the decalog; Thou shalt not desire thy neighbours
wife. But indeed _Samuell_ was directlie forbidden to answer _Saule_
before he died: and therefore it was not likelie that God would appoint
him, when he was dead, to doo it.

♦Deut. 18, Exodus. 20.♦

The ninth Chapter.

_That Samuel was not raised indeed, and how Bodin and all papists
dote herein, and that soules cannot be raised by witchcraft._

Furthermore, it is not likelie that God would answer _Saule_ by dead
_Samuell_, when he would not answer him by living _Samuell_: and most
unlikelie of all, that God would answer him by a divell, that denied
to doo it by a prophet. That he was not brought up perforce, the whole
course of the scripture witnesseth, and prooveth; as also our owne
reason may give us to understand. For what quiet rest could the soules
of the elect enjoy or possesse in _Abrahams_ bosome, if they were to be
plucked from thence at a witches call and commandement? But so should
the divell have power in heaven, where he is unworthie to have anie
place himselfe, and therefore unmeete to command others.

Manie other of the fathers are flatlie against the raising up of
_Samuell_: namelie, _Tertullian_ in his booke _De anima_, _Justine
Martyr In explicatione, quæ._ 25. _Rabanus In epistolis ad Bonas.
Abat, Origen In historia de Bileamo, &c._ Some other dote exceedinglie
herein, as namelie _Bodin_, and all the papists in generall: also
_Rabbi Sedias Haias_, & also all the Hebrues, saving _R. David Kimhi_,
which is the best writer of all the _Rabbins_: though never a good
of them all. But _Bodin_, in maintenance therof, falleth into manie
absurdities, prooving by the small faults that _Saule_ had committed,
that he was an elect: for the greatest matter (saith he) laid unto his
charge, is the reserving of the _Amalekits_ cattell, &c. He was an
elect, &c: confirming his opinion with manie ridiculous fables, & with
this argument, to wit: His fault was too little to deserve damnation;
for _Paule_ would not have the incestuous man punished too sore,
that his soule might be saved. _Justine Martyr_ in another place was
not onlie deceived in the actuall raising up of _Samuels_ soule, but
affirmed that all the soules of the prophets and just men are subject
to the power of witches. And yet were the Heathen much more fond
herein, who (as _Lactantius_ affirmeth) boasted that they could call up
the soules of the dead, and yet did thinke that their soules died with
their bodies. Whereby is to be seene, how alwaies the world hath beene
abused in the matters of witchcraft & conjuration. The Necromancers
affirme, that the spirit of anie man may be called up, or recalled (as
they terme it) before one yeare be past after their departure from the
bodie. Which _C. Agrippa_ in his booke _De occulta philosophia_ saith,
may be doone by certeine naturall forces and bonds. And therefore
corpses in times past were accompanied and watched with lights,
sprinkled with holie water, perfumed with incense, and purged with
praier all the while they were above ground: otherwise the serpent
(as the Maisters of the Hebrues saie) would devoure them, as the food
appointed to him by God: _Gen._ 3. alledging also this place; We shall
not all sleepe, but we shall be changed, bicause manie shall remaine
for perpetuall meate to the serpent: whereupon riseth the contention
betweene him and _Michaell_, concerning the bodie of _Moses_; wherein
scripture is alledged. I confesse that _Augustine_, and the residue
of the doctors, that denie the raising of _Samuell_, conclude, that
the divell was fetcht up in his likenesse: from whose opinions (with
reverence) I hope I may dissent.

♦_J. Bod. lib. de dæm. 2. cap. 3._♦

♦1. Samu. 28.♦

♦1. Cor. 5.♦

♦_J. Martyr in colloquio cum Triphone Judæo._♦

♦_Lact. lib. 7. cap. 13._♦

♦Jud. vers. 9.♦

The tenth Chapter.

_That neither the divell nor Samuell was raised, but that it was
a meere cousenage, according to the guise of our Pythonists._

Againe, if the divell appeared, and not _Samuell_: whie is it said in
_Eccle._ that he slept? for the divell neither sleepeth nor dieth.
But in truth we may gather, that it was neither the divell in person,
nor _Samuell_: but a circumstance is here described, according to the
deceived opinion and imagination of _Saule_. Howbeit _Augustine_ saith,
that both these sides may easilie be defended. But we shall not need
to fetch an exposition so farre off: for indeed (me thinkes) it is
_Longè petita_; nor to descend so lowe as hell, to fetch up a divell to
expound this place. For it is ridiculous (as _Pompanacius_ saith) to
leave manifest things, and such as by naturall reason may be prooved,
to seeke unknowne things, which by no likeliehood can be conceived, nor
tried by anie rule of reason. But in so much as we have libertie by S.
_Augustines_ rule, in such places of scripture as seeme to conteine
either contrarietie or absurditie, to varie from the letter, and to
make a godlie construction agreeable to the word; let us confesse that
_Samuell_ was not raised (for that were repugnant to the word) and see
whether this illusion may not be contrived by the art and cunning of
the woman, without anie of these supernaturall devices: for I could
cite a hundred papisticall and cousening practises, as difficult as
this, and as cleanlie handled. And it is to be surelie thought, if it
had beene a divell, the text would have noted it in some place of the
storie: as it dooth not. But _Bodin_ helpeth me exceedinglie in this
point, wherein he forsaketh (he saith) _Augustine_, _Tertullian_, and
_D. Kimhi_ himselfe, who saie it was the divell that was raised up:
which (saith _Bodin)_ could not be; for that in the same communication
betweene _Saule_ and _Samuell_, the name of _Jehovah_ is five times
repeated, of which name the divell cannot abide the hearing.

♦_Pompanacius lib. de incant. cap. 2._♦

♦_J. Bod. lib. de dæm. 2. cap. 3._♦

The eleventh Chapter.

_The objection of the witchmongers concerning this place fullie
answered, and what circumstances are to be considered for the
understanding of this storie, which is plainelie opened from the
beginning of the 28. chap. of the 1. Samuel, to the 12. verse._

Where such a supernaturall miracle is wrought, no doubt it is a
testimonie of truth; as _Peter Martyr_ affirmeth. And in this case it
should have beene a witnesse of lies: for (saith he) a matter of such
weight cannot be attributed unto the divell, but it is the mightie
power of God that dooth accomplish it. And if it laie in a witches
power to call up a divell, yet it lieth not in a witches power to
worke such miracles: for God will not give his power and glorie to
anie creature. To understand this place, we must diligentlie examine
the circumstance thereof. It was well knowne that _Saule_, before he
resorted to the witch, was in despaire of the mercies and goodnes of
God; partlie for that _Samuell_ told him long before, that he should be
overthrowne, and _David_ should have his place; and partlie bicause God
before had refused to answer him, either by _Samuell_ when he lived, or
by anie other prophet, or by _Urim_ or _Thumim_, &c. And if you desire
to see this matter discussed, turne to the first of _Samuell_, the 28.
chapter, and conferre my words therewith.

♦_P. Martyr in comment. in Sam. 28. verse. 9._♦

♦Isai. 42.
1. Sam. 28.♦

_Saule_ seeing the host of the _Philistines_ come upon him (which thing
could not be unknown to all the people) fainted, bicause he sawe their
strength, and his owne weaknesse, and speciallie that he was forsaken:
so as being now straught of mind, desperate, and a verie foole, he
goeth to certeine of his servants, that sawe in what taking he was,
and asked them for a woman that had a familiar spirit, and they told
him by and by that there dwelt one at _Endor_. By the waie you shall
understand, that both _Saule_ and his servants ment such a one as
could by hir spirit raise up _Samuell_, or any other that was dead and
buried. Wherein you see they were deceived, though it were true, that
she tooke upon hir so to doo. To what use then served hir familiar
spirit, which you conceive she had, bicause _Saules_ servants said so?
Surelie, as they were deceived and abused in part, so doubtlesse were
they in the rest. For to what purpose (I saie) should hir familiar
serve, if not for such intents as they reported, and she undertooke? I
thinke you will grant that _Saules_ men never sawe hir familiar: for I
never heard any yet of credit saie, that he was so much in the witches
favour, as to see hir divell; although indeed we read among the popish
trumperie, that S. _Cicilie_ had an angell to hir familiar, and that
she could shew him to whom she would, and that she might aske and have
what she or hir friend list: as appeareth in the lesson read in the
popish church on saint _Cicilies_ daie. Well, I perceive the woman of
_Endors_ spirit was a counterfeit, and kept belike in hir closet at
_Endor_, or in the bottle, with mother _Alices_ divell at _Westwell_,
and are now bewraied and fled togither to _Limbo patrum_, _&c._ And
though _Saule_ were bewitched and blinded in the matter; yet doubtlesse
a wise man wold have perchance espied her knaverie. Me thinks _Saule_
was brought to this witch, much after the maner that doctor _Burcot_
was brought to _Feats_, who sold maister Doctor a familiar, wherby he
thought to have wrought miracles, or rather to have gained good store
of monie. This fellowe by the name of _Feats_ was a jugler, by the name
of _Hilles_ a witch or conjurer, everie waie a cousener: his qualities
and feats were to me and manie other well knowne and detected. And yet
the opinion conceived of him was most strange and woonderfull; even
with such and in such cases, as it greeveth me to thinke of; speciallie
bicause his knaverie and cousenage reached to the shedding of innocent
bloud. But now forsooth _Saule_ covereth himselfe with a net; and
bicause he would not be knowne, he put on other garments. But to bring
that matter to passe, he must have beene cut shorter by the head and
shoulders, for by so much he was higher than any of the people. And
therfore whatsoever face the craftie quene did set upon it, she knew
him well enough. And for further proofe thereof, you may understand,
that the princes of the Jewes were much conversant with the people. And
it appeereth manifestlie, that _Saule_ dwelt verie neere to _Endor_,
so as she should the rather knowe him; for in the evening he went
from his lodging unto hir house: neither should it seeme that she was
gone to bed when he came. But bicause that may be uncerteine, you may
see in the processe of the text, that in a peece of the night he went
from his house to hirs, and with much adoo intreated her to consent to
his request. She finished hir conjuration, so as both _Saules_ part,
the witches part, and also _Samuels_ part was plaied: and after the
solemnization therof, a calfe was killed, a batch of bread baked, and
a supper made readie and eaten up; and after all this, he went home
the same night: and had need so to doo, for he had some businesse the
next daie. By these and manie other circumstances it may bee gathered,
that she dissembled, in saieng she knew him not, and consequentlie
counterfaited, and made a foole of him in all the rest.

♦1. Sam. 28, 7.♦

♦S. Cicilies familiar.♦

♦D. Burcot. Feats.♦

♦1. Sam. 28, 8♦

♦1. Sa 10, 23.♦

♦Ibidem.♦

It appeereth there, that he, with a couple of his men, went to hir by
night, and said; Conjecture unto me by thy familiar spirit, and bring
me up whom I shall name unto thee. The godlie learned knowe that this
was not in the power of the witch of _Endor_, but in the God of heaven
onelie to accomplish. Howbeit, _Saule_ was bewitched so to suppose:
and yet is he more simple that will be overtaken with the devises of
our old witches, which are produced to resemble hir. And why should we
thinke, that GOD would rather permit the witch to raise _Samuel_, than
that _Dives_ could obteine _Lazarus_ to come out of _Abrahams_ bosome,
upon more likelie and more reasonable conditions? Well now dooth
this strumpet (according to the guise of our cousening witches and
conjurers) make the matter strange unto _Saule_, saieng that he came
to take hir in a snare, &c. But witches seldome make this objection,
saving when they mistrust that he which commeth to them will espie
their jugling: for otherwise, where the witchmonger is simple and easie
to be abused, the witch will be as easie to be intreated, and nothing
dangerous of hir cunning; as you see this witch was soone persuaded
(notwithstanding that objection) bicause she perceived and sawe that
_Saule_ was affraid and out of his wits. And therfore she said unto
him; Whom shall I raise up? As though she could have brought unto him
_Abraham_, _Isaac_, or _Jacob_; who cannot heare us, therefore cannot
rise at our call. For it is written; Looke thou downe from heaven
and behold us, &c: as for _Abraham_ he is ignorant of us, and Israel
knoweth us not.

♦Ibidem.♦

♦1 Sam. 28, 9.♦

♦1. Sa. 28. 12.♦

♦Isa. 63, 15. 16♦

The twelfe Chapter.

_The 12. 13. & 14. verses of 1. Samuel 28. expounded: wherin is
shewed that Saule was cousened and abused by the witch, and that
Samuel was not raised, is prooved by the witches owne talke._

The manner and circumstance of their communication, or of hir
conjuration, is not verbatim set downe and expressed in the text; but
the effect thereof breeflie touched: yet will I shew you the common
order of their conjuration, and speciallie of hirs at this time used.
When _Saule_ had told hir, that he would have _Samuel_ brought up to
him, she departed from his presence into hir closet, where doubtles she
had hir familiar; to wit, some lewd craftie preest, and made _Saule_
stand at the doore like a foole (as it were with his finger in a hole)
to heare the cousening answers, but not to see the cousening handling
thereof, and the couterfetting of the matter. And so goeth she to
worke, using ordinarie words of conjuration, of which there are sundrie
varieties and formes (whereof I shall have occasion to repeat some in
another place) as you see the juglers (which be inferior conjurors)
speake certeine strange words of course to lead awaie the eie from
espieng the maner of their conveiance, whilest they may induce the
mind to conceive and suppose that he dealeth with spirits; saieng,
_Hay, fortune furie, nunq; credo, passe, passe, when come you sirra_.
So belike after many such words spoken, she saith to hir selfe; Lo now
the matter is brought to passe, for I see woonderfull things. So as
_Saule_ hearing these words, longed to knowe all, and asked hir what
she sawe. Whereby you may know that _Saule_ sawe nothing, but stood
without like a mome, whilest she plaied hir part in hir closet: as
may most evidentlie appeere by the 21. verse of this chapter where
it is said; Then the woman came out unto _Saule_. Howbeit, a little
before she cunninglie counterfaited that she sawe _Samuel_, and thereby
knewe it was _Saule_ that was come unto hir. Whereby all the world may
perceive the cousening, and hir dissimulation. For by that which hath
beene before said, it must needs be that she knew him. And (I praie
you) why should she not have suspected aswell him to be _Saule_ before,
when in expresse words he required hir to bring unto him _Samuel_, as
now, when _Samuel_ appeered unto hir?

♦The maner of the witch of Endors cousening of Saule.♦

♦1. Sa. 28, 13.♦

♦1. Sa. 28, 21.♦

Well, to the question before proposed by _Saule_, she answereth and
lieth, that she saw angels or gods ascending up out of the earth. Then
proceedeth she with her inchanting phrases and words of course: so as
thereby _Saule_ gathereth and supposeth that she hath raised a man. For
otherwise his question dependeth not upon any thing before spoken. For
when she hath said; I sawe angels ascending, &c: the next word he saith
is; What fashion is he of? Which (I saie) hangeth not upon hir last
expressed words. And to this she answered not directlie, that it was
_Samuel_; but that it was an old man lapped in a mantell: as though she
knew not him that was the most notorious man in Israell, that had beene
her neighbour by the space of manie yeeres, and upon whom (while he
lived) everie eie was fixed, and whom also she knew within lesse than a
quarter of an houre before, as by whose meanes also she came acquainted
with _Saule_. Read the text and see.

♦1. Sa. 28, 4.♦

♦1. Sa. 28, 12.♦

But she describeth his personage, and the apparell which he did
usuallie weare when he lived: which if they were both buried togither,
were consumed and rotten, or devoured with wormes before that time.
Belike he had a new mantell made him in heaven: and yet they saie
Tailors are skantie there, for that their consciences are so large
here. In this countrie, men give awaie their garments when they die:
if _Samuel_ had so doone, hee could not have borrowed it againe; for
of likliehood it would have beene worne out in that space, except the
donee had beene a better husband than I: for the testator was dead (as
it is supposed) two yeares before.

The xiii. Chapter.

_The residue of 1. Sam. 28. expounded: wherin is declared how
cunninglie this witch brought Saule resolutelie to beleeve that
she raised Samuel, what words are used to colour the cousenage,
and how all might also be wrought by ventriloquie._

Now commeth in _Samuel_ to plaie his part: but I am persuaded it was
performed in the person of the witch hir selfe, or of hir confederate.
He saith to _Saule_; Why has thou disquieted me, to bring me up? As
though without guile or packing it had beene _Samuel_ himselfe. _Saule_
answered that he was in great distresse: for the _Philistines_ made
warre upon him. Whereby the witch, or hir confederate priest might
easilie conjecture that his heart failed, and direct the oracle or
prophesie accordinglie: especiallie understanding by his present talke,
and also by former prophesies and dooings that were past, that God
had forsaken him, and that his people were declining from him. For
when _Jonathan_ (a little before) overthrew the _Philistines_, being
thirtie thousand chariots and six thousand horssemen; _Saule_ could not
assemble above six hundred souldiers.

♦1. Sa. 28, 15.♦

♦Ibidem.♦

♦1. Sam 13, 5.♦

♦1. Sa. 13, 15.♦

Then said _Samuel_ (which some suppose was sathan, and as I thinke
was the witch, with a confederate; for what need so farre fetches,
as to fetch a divell supernaturallie out of hell, when the illusion
may be here by naturall meanes deciphered? And if you note the words
well, you shall perceive the phrase not to come out of a spirituall
mouth of a divell, but from a lieng corporall toong of a cousener,
that careth neither for God nor the divell, frō whence issueth such
advise and communication, as greatlie disagreeth from sathans nature
and purpose. For thus (I saie) the said _Samuel_ speaketh: Wherefore
dooest thou aske me, seeing the Lord is gone from thee, and is thine
enemie? Even the Lord hath doon unto him as he spake by mine hand: for
the Lord will rent thy kingdome out of thine hand, and give it to thy
neighbour _David_, bicause thou obeiedst not the voice of the Lord, &c.
This (I say) is no phrase of a divell, but of a cousener, which knew
before what _Samuel_ had prophesied concerning _Saules_ destruction.
For it is the divels condition, to allure the people unto wickednes,
and not in this sort to admonish, warne, and rebuke them for evill.
And the popish writers confes, that the divell would have beene gone at
the first naming of God. If it bee said, that it was at Gods speciall
commandement and will, that _Samuel_ or the divell should be raised, to
propound this admonition, to the profit of all posteritie: I answer,
that then he would rather have doone it by some of his living prophets,
and that sathan had not beene so fit an instrument for that purpose.
After this falleth the witch (I would saie _Samuel_) into the veine of
prophesieng, and speaketh to _Saule_ on this wise; The Lord will rent
thy kingdome out of thine hand, and give it to thy neighbor _David_,
bicause thou obeiedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his
fierse wrath upon the _Amalekites_: therefore hath the Lord doone this
unto thee this daie. Moreover, the Lord will deliver thee into the
hands of the _Philistines_, and to morrowe shalt thou and thy sonnes be
with me, and the Lord shall give the host of Israel into the hands of
the _Philistines_. What could _Samuel_ have said more?

♦1. Sam. 28. 16. 17.♦

♦1. Sa. 15, 28.♦

♦1. Sa 28, 17.♦

♦18.♦

♦19.♦

Me thinks the divell would have used another order, encouraging _Saule_
rather than rebuking him for his evill. The divell is craftier than to
leave such an admonition to all posterities, as should be prejudiciall
unto his kingdome, and also be void of all impietie. But so divine a
sentence maketh much for the maintenance of the witches credit, and
to the advancement of hir gaines. Howbeit, concerning the veritie of
this prophesie, there be many disputable questions: first, whether
the battell were fought the next daie; secondlie, whether all his
sonnes were killed with him; item, whether they went to heaven or
hell togither, as being with _Samuel_, they must be in heaven, and
being with sathan, they must be in hell. But although everie part of
this prophesie were false, as that all his sonnes were not slaine
(_Ishbosheth_ living and reigning in Israel two yeares after _Saules_
death) and that the battell was not on the morrow, and that wicked
_Saule_, after that he had killed himselfe, was not with good _Samuel_;
yet this witch did give a shrewd gesse to the sequele. Which whether
it were true or false, perteins not to my purpose; and therfore I
will omit it. But as touching the opinion of them that saie it was
the divell, bicause that such things came to passe; I would faine
knowe of them where they learne that divels foreknow things to come.
If they saie he gesseth onelie upon probabilities, the witch may also
doo the like. But here I may not forget the decrees, which conclude,
that _Samuel_ appeered not unto _Saule_; but that the historiographer
set foorth _Saules_ mind and _Samuels_ estate, and certeine things
which were said & seene, omitting whether they were true or false: and
further, that it were a great offense for a man to beleeve the bare
words of the storie. And if this exposition like you not, I can easilie
frame my selfe to the opinion of some of great learning, expounding
this place, and that with great probabilitie, in this sort; to wit,
that this _Pythonist_ being _Ventriloqua_; that is, Speaking as it
were from the bottome of hir bellie, did cast hir selfe into a transe,
and so abused _Saule_, answering to _Saule_ in _Samuels_ name, in hir
counterfeit hollow voice: as the wench of _Westwell_ spake, whose
historie I have rehearsed before at large, in pag. 127 and this is
right _Ventriloquie_.

♦2. Reg. 4.♦

♦_Canon. 26. quæst. cap. 5. nec mirum._♦

♦Right Ventriloquie.♦

The xiiii. Chapter.

_Opinions of some learned men, that Samuel was indeed raised, not
by the witches art or power, but by the speciall miracle of God,
that there are no such visions in these our daies, & that our
witches cannot doo the like._

Aias and _Sadaias_ write, that when the woman sawe the miracle indeed,
and more than she looked for, or was woont to doo; she began to crie
out, that this was a vision indeed, and a true one, not doone by hir
art, but by the power of God. Which exposition is far more probable
than our late writers judgements hereupon, and agreeth with the
exposition of diverse good divines. _Gelasius_ saith, it was the verie
spirit of _Samuel_: and where he suffered himself to be worshipped, it
was but in civill salutation and courtesie; and that God did interpose
_Samuel_, as he did _Elias_ to the messenger of _Ochosias_, when he
sent to _Belzebub_ the god of _Acharon_. And here is to be noted, that
the witchmongers are set up in this point: for the papists saie, that
it cannot be a divell, bicause Jehovah is thrise or five times named
in the storie. Upon this peece of scripture arguments are daielie
devised, to proove and mainteine the miraculous actions of witchcraft,
and the raising of the dead by conjurations. And yet if it were true,
that _Samuel_ himselfe were raised, or the divell in his likenesse;
and that the witch of _Endor_ by hir art and cunning did it, &c: it
maketh rather to the disproofe than to the proofe of our witches, which
can neither do that kind of miracle, or any other, in any such place
or companie, where their jugling and cousenage may be seen and laid
open. And I challenge them all (even upon the adventure of my life)
to shew one peece of a miracle, such as Christ did trulie, or such
as they suppose this witch did diabolicallie, be it not with art nor
confederacie, whereby some colour thereof may be made; neither are
there any such visions in these daies shewed.

♦J. Bodin & L. vairus differ herein.♦

♦A bold, discreet, and faithfull challenge♦

Heretofore God did send his visible angels to men: but now we heare
not of such apparitions, neither are they necessarie. Indeed it
pleased God heretofore, by the hand of _Moses_ and his prophets,
and speciallie by his sonne Christ and his apostles, to worke great
miracles, for the establishing of the faith: but now whatsoever is
necessarie for our salvation, is conteined in the word of God: our
faith is alredie confirmed, and our church established by miracles;
so as now to seeke for them, is a point of infidelitie. Which the
papists (if you note it) are greatlie touched withall, as in their
lieng legends appeareth. But in truth, our miracles are knaveries
most commonlie, and speciallie of priests, whereof I could cite a
thousand. If you read the storie of Bell and the dragon, you shall find
a cousening miracle of some antiquitie. If you will see newer devises,
read _Wierus_, _Cardanus_, _Baleus_, and speciallie _Lavaterns_,[*]
_&c._ There have beene some [†]walking spirits in these parts so
conjured not long since, as afterwards they little delighted to make
anie more apparitions.

♦[*] [_ns_ read _us_.]♦

♦[†] At Canturburie by Rich. Lee esquire, & others, anno. 1573. At Rie
by maister Gaymor & others, anno. 1577.♦

The xv. Chapter.

_Of vaine apparitions, how people have beene brought to feare
bugges, which is partlie reformed by preaching of the gospell,
the true effect of Christes miracles._

But certeinlie, some one knave in a white sheete hath cousened and
abused manie thousands that waie; speciallie when Robin good-fellow
kept such a coile in the countrie. But you shall understand, that
these bugs speciallie are spied and feared of sicke folke, children,
women, and cowards, which through weaknesse of mind and bodie, are
shaken with vaine dreames and continuall feare. The _Scythians_, being
a stout and a warlike nation (as divers writers report) never see
anie vaine sights or spirits. It is a common saieng; A lion feareth
no bugs. But in our childhood our mothers maids have so terrified us
with an ouglie divell having hornes on his head, fier in his mouth, and
a taile in his breech, eies like a bason, fanges like a dog, clawes
like a beare, a skin like a Niger, and a voice roring like a lion,
whereby we start and are afraid when we heare one crie Bough: and they
have so fraied us with bull beggers, spirits, witches, urchens, elves,
hags, fairies, satyrs, pans, faunes, sylens, kit with the cansticke,
tritons, centaurs, dwarfes, giants, imps, calcars, conjurors, nymphes,
changlings, _Incubus_, Robin good-fellowe, the spoorne, the mare,
the man in the oke, the hell waine, the fierdrake, the puckle, Tom
thombe, hob gobblin, Tom tumbler, boneles, and such other bugs, that
we are afraid of our owne shadowes: in so much as some never feare the
divell, but in a darke night; and then a polled sheepe is a perillous
beast, and manie times is taken for our fathers soule, speciallie in
a churchyard, where a right hardie man heretofore scant durst passe
by night, but his haire would stand upright. For right grave writers
report, that spirits most often and speciallie take the shape of women
appearing to monks, &c: and of beasts, dogs, swine, horsses, gotes,
cats, haires; of fowles, as crowes, night owles, and shreeke owles; but
they delight most in the likenes of snakes and dragons. Well, thanks be
to God, this wretched and cowardlie infidelitie, since the preaching
of the gospell, is in part forgotten: and doubtles, the rest of those
illusions will in short time (by Gods grace) be detected and vanish
awaie.

♦_J. Wier. lib. 3 cap. 8._
_Theodor. Bizantius._
_Lavat. de spect. & lemurib._♦

♦_Cardan. de var. rerum Peucer. &c._♦

♦_Lavat. de spect._♦

Divers writers report, that in _Germanie_, since _Luthers_ time,
spirits and divels have not personallie appeared, as in times past
they were woont to doo. This argument is taken in hand of the ancient
fathers, to proove the determination and ceasing of oracles. For in
times past (saith _Athanasius_) divels in vaine shapes did intricate
men with their illusions, hiding themselves in waters, stones, woods,
&c. But now that the word of GOD hath appeared, those sights, spirits,
and mockeries of images are ceased. Truelie, if all such oracles, as
that of _Apollo_, &c (before the comming of Christ) had beene true,
and doone according to the report, which hath beene brought through
divers ages, and from farre countries unto us, without preestlie fraud
or guile, so as the spirits of prophesie, and working of miracles,
had beene inserted into an idoll, as hath beene supposed: yet we
christians may conceive, that Christs cōming was not so fruteles and
prejudiciall in this point unto us, as to take awaie his spirit of
prophesie and divination from out of the mouth of his elect people, and
good prophets, giving no answers of anie thing to come by them, nor by
_Urim_ nor _Thumim_, as he was woont, &c. And yet to leave the divell
in the mouth of a witch, or an idoll to prophesie or worke miracles,
&c: to the hinderance of his glorious gospell, to the discountenance of
his church, and to the furtherance of infidelitie and false religion,
whereas the working of miracles was the onelie, or at least the most
speciall meanes that mooved men to beleeve in Christ: as appeareth in
sundrie places of the gospell, and speciallie in _John_, where it is
written, that a great multitude followed him, bicause they sawe his
miracles which he did, &c. Naie, is it not written, that Jesus was
approoved by God among the Jewes, with miracles, wonders and signes,
&c? And yet, if we conferre the miracles wrought by Christ, and those
that are imputed to witches; witches miracles shall appeare more
common, and nothing inferior unto his.

♦_Car. de var. rerum._
_J. Wier. de præst. dæmon. &c._♦

♦_Athanas. de humanitate verbi._♦

♦The true end of miracles.♦

♦John 2.♦

♦Act. 2. 2 John. 5.♦

The xvi. Chapter.

_Witches miracles compared to Christs, that God is the creator of
all things, of Apollo, and of his names and portraiture._

If this witch of _Endor_ had performed that, which manie conceive
of the matter, it might have beene compared with the raising up of
_Lazarus_. I praie you, is not the converting of water into milke, as
hard a matter as the turning of water into wine? And yet, as you may
read in the gospell, that Christ did the one, as his first miracle; so
may you read in _M. Mal._ and in _Bodin_, that witches can easilie doo
the other: yea, and that which is a great deale more, of water they can
make butter. But to avoid all cavils, and least there should appeare
more matter in Christs miracle, than the others, you shall find in _M.
Mal._ that they can change water into wine: and what is it to attribute
to a creature, the power and worke of the creator, if this be not?
Christ saith, _Opera quæ ego facio nemo potest facere_. Creation of
substance was never granted to man nor angell; _Ergo_ neither to witch
nor divell: for God is the onlie giver of life and being, and by him
all things are made, visible and invisible.

♦An ironicall collation.♦

♦_Mal. malef. par. 2. quæ. 1. cap. 14._♦

♦Acts. 17.
Tim. 6, 13.
Col. 1, 16.♦

♦_Athanas. symbol._♦

Finallie, this woman of _Endor_ is in the scripture called
_Pythonissa_: whereby it may appeare that she was but a verie
cousener. For _Pytho_ himselfe, whereof _Pythonissa_ is derived, was
a counterfet. And the originall storie of _Apollo_, who was called
_Pytho_, bicause he killed a serpent of that name, is but a poeticall
fable. For the poets saie he was the god of musicke, physicke, poetrie,
and shooting. In heaven he is called _Sol_, in earth _Liber pater_,
in hell _Apollo_. He florisheth alwaies with perpetuall youth, and
therefore he is painted without a beard: his picture was kept as an
oracle-giver: and the preests that attended thereon at _Delphos_ were
couseners, and called _Pythonists_ of _Pytho_, as papists of _Papa_;
and afterwards all women that used that trade, were named _Pythonissæ_,
as was this woman of _Endor_. But bicause it concerneth this matter, I
will breefelie note the opinions of divers learned men, and certeine
other proofes, which I find in the scripture touching the ceasing of
miracles, prophesies and oracles.

♦Apollo Pytho uncased.♦

¶ _The eight booke._

The first Chapter.

_That miracles are ceased._

Although in times past, it pleased God, extraordinarilie to shew
miracles amongest his people, for the strengthening of their faith in
the Messias; and againe at his comming to confirme their faith by his
wonderfull dooings, and his speciall graces and gifts bestowed by him
upon the apostles, &c: yet we ordinarilie read in the scriptures, that
it is the Lord that worketh great wonders. Yea _David_ saith, that
among the dead (as in this case of _Samuel_) God himselfe sheweth no
wonders. I find also that God will not give his glorie and power to a
creature. _Nichodemus_ being a Pharisie could saie, that no man could
do such miracles as Christ did, except God were with him, according
to the saieng of the prophet to those gods and idols, which tooke on
them the power of God; Doo either good or ill if you can, &c. So as
the prophet knew and taught thereby, that none but God could worke
miracles. Infinite places for this purpose might be brought out of the
scripture, which for brevitie I omit and overslip.

♦Psal. 136. 4.♦

♦Psal. 72. 18.♦

♦Psal. 88. 10.♦

♦Isai. 42.♦

♦John 3, 2.♦

♦Ibid. 7, 16.♦

♦_In annotat. in Johan. 3._♦

♦Isai. 45.♦

S. _Augustine_, among other reasons, whereby he prooveth the ceasing
of miracles, saith; Now blind flesh dooth not open the eies of the
blind by the miracle of God, but the eies of our hart are opened by
the word of God. Now is not our dead carcase raised any more up by
miracle, but our dead bodies be still in the grave, and our soules are
raised to life by Christ. Now the eares of the deafe are not opened
by miracle, but they which had their eares shut before, have them now
opened to their salvation. The miraculous healing of the sicke, by
annointing, spoken of by S. _James_, is objected by manie, speciallie
by the papists, for the maintenance of their sacrament of extreame
unction: which is apishlie and vainelie used in the Romish church, as
though that miraculous gift had continuance till this daie: wherein
you shall see what _Calvine_ speaketh in his institutions. The grace
of healing (saith he) spoken of by S. _James_, is vanished awaie, as
also the other miracles, which the Lord would have shewed onelie for a
time, that he might make the new preaching of the gospell mervellous
for ever. Why (saith he) doo not these (meaning miraclemongers) appoint
some _Siloah_ to swim in, whereinto at certeine ordinarie recourses
of times sicke folke maie plunge themselves? Why doo they not lie a
long upon the dead, bicause _Paule_ raised up a dead child by that
meanes? Verelie (saith he) _James_ in the miracle to annoint, spake
for that time, whiles the church still enjoied such blessings of God.
Item, he saith, that the Lord is present with his in all ages; and so
often as need is, he helpeth their sicknesses, no lesse than in old
time. But he dooth not so utter his manifest powers, nor distributeth
miracles, as by the hands of the apostles, bicause the gift was but for
a time. _Calvine_ even there concludeth thus; They saie such vertues
or miracles remaine, but experience saith naie. And see how they agree
among themselves. _Danæus_ saith, that neither witch nor divell can
worke miracles. _Giles Alley_ saith directlie, that witches worke
miracles. _Calvine_ saith they are all ceased. All witchmongers saie
they continue. But some affirme, that popish miracles are vanished
and gone awaie: howbeit witches miracles remaine in full force. So as
S. _Loy_ is out of credit for a horsseleach, Maister _T._ and mother
_Bungie_ remaine in estimation for prophets: naie Hobgoblin and Robin
goodfellow are contemned among yoong children, and mother _Alice_ and
mother _Bungie_ are feared among old fooles. The estimation of these
continue, bicause the matter hath not beene called in question: the
credit of the other decaieth, bicause the matter hath beene looked
into. Whereof I saie no more, but that S. _Anthonies_ blisse will helpe
your pig, whensoever mother _Bungie_ dooth hurt it with hir cursse.
And therefore we are warned by the word of God, in anie wise not to
feare their cursses. But let all the witchmongers, and speciallie the
miraclemongers in the world answer me to this supposition; Put case
that a woman of credit, or else a woman-witch should saie unto them,
that she is a true prophet of the Lord, and that he revealeth those
secret mysteries unto hir, whereby she detecteth the lewd acts and
imaginations of the wicked, and that by him she worketh miracles,
and prophesieth, &c: I thinke they must either yeeld, or confesse
that miracles are ceased. But such things (saith _Cardane_) as seeme
miraculous, are cheeflie doone by deceipt, legierdemaine, or
confederacie; or else they maie be doone, and yet seeme unpossible, or
else things are said to be done, and never were nor can be doone.

♦_August. de verbis Dom. secundum Matth. sermone. 18._♦

♦James. 5, 14.♦

♦_J. Calvin. Institut. lib. 4. cap. 19. sect. 18._♦

♦_Idem. ibid. sect. 19._♦

♦Isai. 9. 7.♦

♦Acts. 20, 10.♦

♦_Idem. ibid. nempe J. Calvine._♦

♦Prov. 51.♦

♦_H. Card. de miracul._♦

The second Chapter.

_That the gift of prophesie is ceased._

That witches, nor the woman of _Endor_, nor yet hir familiar or divell
can tell what is to come, may plainelie appeare by the words of the
prophet, who saith; Shew what things are to come, and we will saie you
are gods indeed. According to that which _Salomon_ saith; Who can tell
a man what shall happen him under the sunne? Marrie that can I (saith
the witch of _Endor_ to _Saule_.) But I will rather beleeve _Paule_ and
_Peter_, which saie, that prophesie is the gift of God, and no worldlie
thing. Then a cousening queane, that taketh upon hir to doo all things,
and can doo nothing but beguile men: up steppeth also mother _Bungie_,
and she can tell you where your horsse or your asse is bestowed, or
anie thing that you have lost is become, as _Samuell_ could; and what
you have doone in all your age past, as Christ did to the woman of
_Sichar_ at _Jacobs_ well; yea and what your errand is, before you
speake, as _Elizæus_ did.

♦Isai. 41.♦

♦1 Sam. 28.
Rom. 12.
1. Cor. 12.
1. Pet. 1.♦

♦[_del._ the full stop]♦

♦John. 4.♦

_Peter Martyr_ saith, that onelie God and man knoweth the heart of
man, and therefore, that the divell must be secluded, alledging these
places; _Solus Deus est scrutator cordium_, Onelie God is the searcher
of hearts. And, _Nemo scit quæ sunt hominis, nisi spiritus hominis
qui est in eo_, None knoweth the things of man, but the spirit of man
which is within him. And _Salomon_ saith, _Tu solus nosti cogitationes
hominum_, Thou onelie knowest the thoughts of men. And _Jeremie_ saith
in the person of God, _Ego Deus scrutans corda & renes_, I am God
searching hearts and reines. Also _Matthew_ saith of Christ, _Jesus
autem videns cogitationes eorum_, And Jesus seeing their thoughts, who
in scripture is called the searcher and knower of the thoughts in the
heart: as appeareth in _Acts_, 1. _&_ 15. _Rom._ 8. _Matth._ 9. 12.
_&_ 22. _Marke._ 2. _Luke._ 6, _&_ 7. _&_ 11. _John._ 1. 2. 6. _&_ 13.
_Apoc._ 2. _&_ 3. and in other places infinite.

♦_P. Martyr. loc. com. 9. sect. 17._♦

The same _Peter Martyr_ also saith, that the divell maie suspect, but
not know our thoughts: for if he should know our thoughts, he should
understand our faith; which if he did, he would never assalt us with
one temptation. Indeed we read that _Samuel_ could tell where things
lost were straied, &c: but we see that gift also ceased by the comming
of Christ, according to the saieng of _Paule_; At sundrie times, and in
diverse maners God spake in the old times by our fathers the prophets,
in these last daies he hath spoken unto us by his sonne, &c. And
therefore I saie that gift of prophesie, wherewith God in times past
endued his people, is also ceased, and counterfeits and couseners are
come in their places, according to this saieng of _Peter_: There were
false prophets among the people, even as there shalbe false teachers
among you, &c. And thinke not that so notable a gift should be taken
from the beloved and elect people of God, and committed to mother
_Bungie_, and such like of hir profession.

♦_P. Martyr. in loc. comm._♦

♦Hebr. 1, 8. & 2.♦

♦2. Pet. 2. 1.♦

The words of the prophet _Zacharie_ are plaine, touching the ceasing
both of the good and bad prophet, to wit: I will cause the prophets
and uncleane spirits to depart out of the land, and when anie shall
yet prophesie, his parents shall saie to him; Thou shalt not live,
for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his parents shall
thrust him through when he prophesieth, &c. No, no: the foretelling of
things to come, is the onelie worke of God, who disposeth all things
sweetlie, of whose counsell there hath never yet beene anie man. And to
know our labours, the times and moments God hath placed in his owne
power. Also _Phavorinus_ saith, that if these cold prophets or oraclers
tell thee prosperitie, and deceive thee, thou art made a miser through
vaine expectation: if they tell thee of adversitie, &c: and lie, thou
art made a miser through vaine feare. And therefore I saie, we maie as
well looke to heare prophesies at the tabernacle, in the bush, of the
cherubin, among the clouds, from the angels, within the arke, or out of
the flame, &c: as to expect an oracle of a prophet in these daies.

♦Zach. 13.♦

♦_J. Chrysost. in evang. Johan. hom. 18._
_Pet. Blest. epist. 49._♦

But put the case, that one in our common wealth should step up and saie
he were a prophet (as manie frentike persons doo) who would beleeve
him, or not thinke rather that he were a lewd person? See the statutes
_Elizab._ 5. whether there be not lawes made against them, condemning
their arrogancie and cousenage: see also the canon lawes to the same
effect.

♦_Canon. de. malef. & mathemat._♦

The third Chapter.

_That Oracles are ceased._

Touching oracles, which for the most part were idols of silver, gold,
wood, stones, &c: within whose bodies some saie uncleane spirites hid
themselves, and gave answers: as some others saie, that exhalations
rising out of the ground, inspire their minds, whereby their priests
gave out oracles; so as spirits and winds rose up out of that soile,
and indued those men with the gift of prophesie of things to come,
though in truth they were all devises to cousen the people, and for
the profit of preests, who received the idols answers over night, and
delivered them backe to the idolaters the next morning: you shall
understand, that although it had beene so as it is supposed; yet by
the reasons and proofes before rehearsed, they should now cease: and
whatsoever hath affinitie with such miraculous actions, as witchcraft,
conjuration, &c: is knocked on the head, and nailed on the crosse
with Christ, who hath broken the power of divels, and satisfied Gods
justice, who also hath troden them under his feete, & subdued them,
&c. At whose comming the prophet _Zacharie_ saith, that the Lord will
cut the names of idols out of the land, and they shall be no more
remembered; and he will then cause the prophets and uncleane spirits
to depart out of the land. It is also written; I will cut off thine
inchanters out of thine hand, and thou shalt have no more soothsaiers.
And indeed the gospell of Christ hath so laid open their knaverie, &c:
that since the preaching thereof, their combes are cut, and few that
are wise regard them. And if ever these prophesies came to take effect,
it must be upon the cōming of Christ, whereat you see the divels were
troubled and fainted, when they met him, saieng, or rather exclaming
upon him on this wise; _Fili Dei cur venisti nos cruciare ante tempus?_
O thou sonne of God, whie commest thou to molest us (or confound us)
before our time appointed? Which he indeed prevented, and now remaineth
he our defender and keeper from his clawes. So as now you see here is
no roome left for such ghests.

♦_Thucidid. lib. 2._
_Cicer. de. divin. lib. 2._♦

♦Zach. 13, 2.♦

♦Mich. 5, 12.♦

Howbeit, you shall heare the opinion of others, that have beene as much
deceived as your selves in this matter: and yet are driven to confesse,
that GOD hath constituted his sonne to beat downe the power of divels,
and to satisfie Gods justice, and to heale our wound received by the
fall of _Adam_, according to Gods promise in _Genesis._ 3. The seed
of the woman shall tread downe the serpent, or the divell. _Eusebius_
(in his fift booke _De prædicatione Evangelii_, the title whereof is
this, that the power of divels is taken awaie by the comming of Christ)
saith; All answers made by divels, all soothsaiengs and divinations
of men are gon and vanished awaie. Item he citeth _Porphyrie_ in his
booke against christian religion, wherein these words are rehearsed;
It is no mervell, though the plague be so hot in this citie: for ever
since Jesus hath beene worshipped, we can obteine nothing that good is
at the hands of our gods. And of this defection and ceasing of oracles
writeth _Cicero_ long before, and that to have happened also before
his time. Howbeit, _Chrysostome_ living long since _Cicero_, saith,
that _Apollo_ was forced to grant, that so long as anie relike of a
martyr was held to his nose, he could not make anie answer or oracle.
So as one may perceive, that the heathen were wiser in this behalfe
than manie christians, who in times past were called _Oppugnatores
incantamentorum_, as the English princes are called _Defensores
fidei_. _Plutarch_ calleth _Bœotia_ (as we call bablers) by the name
of manie words, bicause of the multitude of oracles there, which now
(saith he) are like to a spring or fountaine which is dried up. If
anie one remained, I would ride five hundred miles to see it: but in
the whole world there is not one to be seene at this houre; popish
cousenages excepted.

♦Gen. 3.♦

♦_Euseb. lib. 5, cap. 1._♦

♦_Idem. Ibid._♦

♦_Porphyr. in lib. contra christ. relig._♦

♦_Cic. de divin. lib. 2._♦

♦_J. Chrysost. de laud. Paul. hom 4._♦

But _Plutarch_ saith, that the cause of this defection of oracles, was
the divels death, whose life he held to be determinable and mortall,
saieng they died for verie age; and that the divining preests were
blowne up with a whirlewind, and soonke with an earthquake. Others
imputed it to the site or the place of the planets, which when they
passed over them, carried awaie that art with them, and by revolution
may returne, &c. _Eusebius_ also citeth out of him the storie of _Pan_,
which bicause it is to this purpose, I will insert the same; and since
it mentioneth the divels death, you may beleeve it if you list: for
I will not, as being assured that he is reserved alive to punish the
wicked, and such as impute unto those idols the power of almightie God.

♦_Porphyr._ writeth verses in _Apollos_ name, of the death of _Apollo_:
cited by _J. Bod. fol. 6_.♦

The fourth Chapter.

_A tale written by manie grave authors, and beleeved by manie wise
men of the divels death. An other storie written by papists, and
beleeved of all catholikes, approoving the divels honestie,
conscience, and courtesie._

_Plutarch_ saith, that his countriman [*]_Epotherses_ told him, that
as he passed by sea into _Italie_, manie passengers being in his bote,
in an evening, when they were about the ilands _Echinadæ_, the wind
quite ceased: and the ship driving with the tide, was brought at last
to _Paxe_. And whilest some slept, and others quaft, and othersome
were awake (perhaps in as ill case as the rest) after supper suddenlie
a voice was heard calling, _Thamus_; in such sort as everie man
marvelled. This _Thamus_ was a pilot, borne in _Aegypt_, unknowne to
manie that were in the ship. Wherefore being twise called, he answered
nothing; but the third time he answered: and the other with a lowder
voice commanded him, that when he came to _Palodes_, he should tell
them that the great God _Pan_ was departed. Whereat everie one was
astonied (as _Epitherses_ affirmed.) And being in consultation what
were best to doo, _Thamus_ concluded, that if the wind were hie, they
must passe by with silence; but if the weather were calme, he must
utter that which he had heard. But when they came to _Palodes_, and
the wether calme, _Thamus_ looking out toward the land, cried alowd,
that the great god _Pan_ was deceased: and immediatlie there followed
a lamentable noise of a multitude of people, as it were with great
woonder and admiration. And bicause there were manie in the ship, they
said the fame thereof was speedilie brought to _Rome_, and _Thamus_
sent for by _Tiberius_ the Emperour, who gave such credit thereto, that
he diligentlie inquired and asked, who that _Pan_ was. The learned men
about him supposed, that _Pan_ was he who was the sonne of _Mercurie_
and _Penelope_, &c. _Eusebius_ saith, that this chanced in the time of
_Tiberius_ the Emperor, when Christ expelled all divels, &c.

♦[*] [read _Epi_]♦

♦_Thamus_ having little to doo, thought to plaie with his companie,
whom he might easilie overtake with such a jest.♦

_Paulus Marsus_, in his notes upon _Ovids Fasti_, saith, that this
voice was heard out of _Paxe_, that verie night that Christ suffered,
in the yeare of _Tiberius_ the nineteenth. Surelie, this was a merrie
jest devised by _Thamus_, who with some confederate thought to make
sport with the passengers, who were some asleepe, and some droonke, and
some other at plaie, &c: whiles the first voice was used. And at the
second voice, to wit, when he should deliver his message, he being an
old pilot, knew where some noise was usuall, by meanes of some eccho in
the sea, and thought he would (to the astonishment of them) accomplish
his devise, if the wether prooved calme. Whereby may appeare, that he
would in other cases of tempests, &c: rather attend to more serious
busines, than to that ridiculous matter. For whie else should he not
doo his errand in rough wether, as well as in calme? Or what need he
tell the divell thereof, when the divell told it him before, and with
much more expedition could have done the errand himselfe?

♦A detection of Thamus his knaverie.♦

[*]But you shall read in the Legend a fable, an oracle I would saie,
more authentike. For many will say that this was a prophane storie, and
not so canonicall as those which are verefied by the popes authoritie:
and thus it is written. A woman in hir travell sent hir sister to
_Diana_, which was the divell in an idoll (as all those oracles are
said to be) and willed hir to make hir praiers, or rather a request,
to knowe of hir safe deliverie: which thing she did. But the divell
answered; Why praiest thou to me? I cannot helpe thee, but go praie to
_Andrew_ the apostle, and he may helpe thy sister, &c. Lo, this was
not onelie a gentle, but a godlie divell, pittieng the womans case,
who revealing his owne disabilitie, enabled S. _Andrew_ more. I knowe
some protestants will saie, that the divell, to mainteine idolatrie,
&c: referred the maid to S. _Andrew_. But what answer will the papists
make, who thinke it great pietie to praie unto saints, and so by
consequence honest courtesie in the divell, to send hir to S. _Andrew_,
who wold not faile to serve hir turne, &c.

♦[*] _Legend. aur. in vita sancti Andreæ. fol. 39._♦

♦A gentle and a godlie divell.♦

The fift Chapter.

_The judgments of the ancient fathers touching oracles, and their
abolishment, and that they be now transferred from Delphos to Rome._

The opinions of the fathers, that oracles are ceased by the cōming of
Christ, you shall find in these places following, to wit: _Justinus
In dialogis adversus Judæos_, _Athanasius De humanitate verbi_,
_Augustine De civitate Dei_, _Eusebius Lib._ 7. _cap._ 6, Item
_lib._ 5. _cap._ 1. 8. _Rupertus In Joan. lib._ 10. 12. _Plutarch
De abolitione oraculorum_, _Plinie lib._ 30. _natural. historiæ_.
Finallie, _Athanasius_ concludes, that in times past there were oracles
in _Delphos_, _Bœotia_, _Lycia_, and other places: but now since Christ
is preached to all men, this madnesse is ceased. So as you see, that
whatsoever estimation in times past, the ancient fathers conceived
(by heeresaie) of those miraculous matters of idols and oracles, &c:
they themselves refuse now, not onelie to beare witnesse of; but also
affirme, that ever since Christs comming their mouthes have beene
stopped.

♦_Athanas. de human. verbi. fol. 55 & 64_♦

For the ceasing of the knaveries and cousening devises of preests,
I see no authoritie of scripture or ancient father, but rather the
contrarie; to wit, that there shall be strange illusions shewed by
them, even till the end. And truelie, whosoever knoweth and noteth the
order and devises of and in popish pilgrimages, shall see both the
oracles & their conclusions remaining, and as it were transferred from
_Delphos_ to _Rome_, where that adulterous generation continuallie
seeketh a signe, though they have _Moses_ & the prophets, yea even
Christ & his apostles also, &c.

The sixt Chapter.

_Where and wherein couseners, witches, and preests were woont to
give oracles, and to worke their feats._

These cousening oracles, or rather oraclers used (I saie) to exercise
their feats and to doo their miracles most commonly in maids, in
beasts, in images, in dens, in cloisters, in darke holes, in trees,
in churches or churchyards, &c: where preests, moonks, and friers had
laid their plots, and made their confederacies aforehand, to beguile
the world, to gaine monie, and to adde credit to their profession.
This practise began in the okes of _Dodona_, in the which was a wood,
the trees thereof (they saie) could speake. And this was doone by a
knave in a hollowe tree, that seemed sound unto the simple people. This
wood was in _Molossus_ a part of _Greece_, called _Epyrus_, and it was
named _Dodonas_ oracles. There were manie oracles in _Aegypt_; namelie,
of _Hercules_, of _Apollo_, of _Minerva_, of _Diana_, of _Mars_, of
_Jupiter_, and of the oxe _Apys_, who was the sonne of _Jupiter_, but
his image was worshipped in the likenesse of an oxe. _Latona_, who
was the mother of _Apollo_, was an oracle in the citie of _Bute_. The
preests of _Apollo_, who alwaies counterfaited furie and madnesse,
gave oracles in the temple called _Clarius_, within the citie of
_Colophon_ in _Greece_. At _Thebes_ in _Bœotia_ and also in _Læbadia_,
_Trophonius_ was the cheefe oracle. At _Memphis_ a cow, at _Corinth_ an
oxe called _Mineus_, in _Arsinoe_ a crocodile, in _Athens_ a prophet
called _Amphiaraus_, who indeed died at _Thebes_, where they saie the
earth opened, & swallowed him up quicke. At _Delphos_ was the great
temple of _Apollo_, where divels gave oracles by maides (as some saie)
though indeed it was doone by preests. It was built upon _Parnassus_
hill in _Greece_. And the defenders of oracles saie, that even as
rivers oftentimes are diverted to another course; so likewise the
spirit, which inspired the cheefe prophets, may for a time be silent,
and revive againe by revolution.

♦_Strabo Geog. lib 16._♦

♦_J. Wier. li. 1. de præs. dæm. cap. 12._♦

_Demetrius_ saith, that the spirits, which attended on oracles, waxed
wearie of the peoples curiositie and importunitie, and for shame
forsooke the temple. But as [*]one that of late hath written against
prophesies saith; It is no marvell, that when the familiars that speake
in trunks were repelled from their harbour for feare of discoverie,
the blocks almightie lost their senses. For these are all gone now,
and their knaverie is espied; so as they can no longer abuse the world
with such bables. But whereas these great doctors suppose, that the
cause of their dispatch was the comming of Christ; if they meane that
the divell died, so soone as he was borne, or that then he gave over
his occupation: they are deceived. For the popish church hath made a
continuall practise hereof, partlie for their owne private profit,
lucre, and gaine; and partly to be had in estimation of the world,
and in admiration among the simple. But indeed, men that have learned
Christ, and beene conversant in his word, have discovered and shaken
off the vanitie and abhomination heereof. But if those doctors had
lived till this daie, they would have said and written, that oracles
had ceased, or rather beene driven out of _England_ in the time of K.
_Henrie_ the eight, and of Queene _Elizabeth_ his daughter; who have
doone so much in that behalfe, as at this houre they are not onlie all
gone, but forgotten here in this English nation, where they swarmed
as thicke as they did in _Bœotia_, or in any other place in the world.
But the credit they had, depended not upon their desart, but upon the
credulitie of others. Now therefore I will conclude and make an end of
this matter, with the opinion and saieng of the prophet; Vaine is the
answer of idols. For they have eies and see not, eares and heare not,
mouthes and speake not, &c: and let them shew what is to come, and I
will saie they are gods indeed.

♦[*] H. Haw. in his defensative against prophesies.♦

♦In whose daies oracles ceased in England♦

♦Zach. 10.♦

♦Isai. 44.♦

¶ _The ninth Booke._

The first Chapter.

_The Hebrue word Kasam expounded, and how farre a Christian
may conjecture of things to come._

_Kasam_ (as _John Wierus_ upon his owne knowledge affirmeth, and
upon the word of _Andræas Masius_ reporteth) differeth little in
signification from the former word _Ob_: betokening _Vaticinari_,
which is, To prophesie, and is most commonlie taken in evill part;
as in _Deut._ 18. _Jerem._ 27. &c: howbeit, sometime in good part,
as in _Esaie_ 3. verse. 2. To foretell things to come upon probable
conjectures, so as therein we reach no further than becommeth humane
capacitie, is not (in mine opinion) unlawfull, but rather a commendable
manifestation of wisedome and judgment, the good gifts and notable
blessings of GOD, for the which we ought to be thankfull; as also to
yeeld due honour and praise unto him, for the noble order which he
hath appointed in nature: praieng him to lighten our hearts with the
beames of his wisedome, that we may more and more profit in the true
knowledge of the workemanship of his hands. But some are so nise, that
they condemne generallie all sorts of divinations, denieng those things
that in nature have manifest causes, and are so framed, as they forshew
things to come, and in that shew admonish us of things after to insue,
exhibiting signes of unknowne and future matters to be judged upon, by
the order, lawe, and course of nature proposed unto us by God.

♦_J. Wier. lib. de præst. dæmon._♦

♦All divinations are not condemnable.♦

And some on the other side are so bewitched with follie, as they
attribute to creatures that estimation, which rightlie and truelie
apperteineth to God the creator of all things; affirming that the
publike and private destinies of all humane matters, and whatsoever
a man would knowe of things come or gone, is manifested to us in the
heavens: so as by the starres and planets all things might be knowne.
These would also, that nothing should be taken in hand or gone about,
without the favourable aspect of the planets. By which, and other the
like devises they deprave and prophane the ancient and commendable
observations of our forfathers: as did _Colebrasus_, who taught, that
all mans life was governed by the seven planets; and yet a christian,
and condemned for heresie. But let us so farre foorth imbrace and allow
this philosophie and prophesieng, as the word of God giveth us leave,
and commendeth the same unto us.

♦Colebrasus erronious & impious opinion.♦

The second Chapter.

_Proofes by the old and new testament, that certaine observations
of the weather are lawfull._

When God by his word and wisedome had made the heavens, and placed
the starres in the firmament, he said; Let them be for signes, and
for seasons, and for daies, and yeares. When he created the rainebowe
in the clouds, he said it should be for a signe and token unto us.
Which we find true, not onelie of the floud past, but also of shewers
to come. And therefore according to Jesus _Sirachs_ advise, let us
behold it, and praise him that made it. The prophet _David_ saith;
The heavens declare the glorie of God, and the firmament sheweth his
handie worke: daie unto daie uttereth the same, and night unto night
teacheth knowledge. It is also written that by the commandement of the
holie one the starres are placed, and continue in their order, & faile
not in their watch. It should appeare, that Christ himselfe did not
altogither neglect the course & order of the heavens, in that he said;
When you see a cloud rise out of the west, streight waie you saie a
shewer commeth: and so it is. And when you see the southwind blowe;
you saie it will be hot, and so it commeth to passe. Againe, when it
is evening, you saie faire[*] weather, for the skie is red: and in
the morning you saie, to daie shalbe a tempest, for the skie is red
and lowring. Wherein as he noteth that these things doo trulie come to
passe, according to ancient observation, and to the rule astronomicall:
so doth he also by other words following admonish us, that in attending
too much to those obsevations, we neglect not speciallie to follow our
christian vocation.

♦Psalm. 13.
Jerem. 54.
Gen. 1.
Ezech. 1.
Gen. 9.♦

♦Ecclus. 43.
Ps. 19. & 50.♦

♦Ecclus. 43.
Baruch. 3.♦

♦Luk. 12, 24.♦

♦[*] [_Mispr._ saire.]♦

♦Matt. 16. 2, 3.♦

The physician is commended unto us, and allowed in the scriptures: but
so to put trust in him, as to neglect & distrust God, is severelie
forbidden and reproved. Surelie it is most necessarie for us to know
and observe diverse rules astrologicall; otherwise we could not with
oportunitie dispatch our ordinarie affaires. And yet _Lactantius_
condemneth and recounteth it among the number of witchcrafts: from
whose censure _Calvine_ doth not much varie. The poore husbandman
perceiveth that the increase of the moone maketh plants and living
creatures frutefull: so as in the full moone they are in best strength,
decaieng in the wane, and in the conjunction doo utterlie wither and
vade. Which when by observation, use and practise they have once
learned, they distribute their businesse accordinglie; as their times
and seasons to sowe, to plant, to proine, to let their cattell bloud,
to cut, &c.

♦_Lactant. contra astrologos._♦

♦_Peucer. de astrol. pag. 383._♦

The third Chapter.

_That certeine observations are indifferent, certeine ridiculous,
and certeine impious, whence that cunning is derived of Apollo,
and of Aruspices_.

I know not whether to disallow or discommend the curious observation
used by our elders, who conjectured upon nativities: so as, if
_Saturne_ and _Mercurie_ were opposite in anie brute signe, a man then
borne should be dumbe or stammer much; whereas it is dailie seene, that
children naturallie imitate their parents conditions in that behalfe.
Also they have noted, that one borne in the spring of the moone, shalbe
healthie; in that time of the wane, when the moone is utterlie decaied,
the child then borne cannot live; and in the conjunction, it cannot
long continue.

♦The ridiculous art of nativitie-casting.♦

But I am sure the opinion of _Julius Maternus_ is most impious, who
writeth, that he which is borne when _Saturne_ is in _Leone_, shall
live long, and after his death shall go to heaven presentlie. And so is
this of _Albumazar_, who saith, that whosoever praieth to God, when the
moone is in _Capite draconis_, shalbe heard, and obteine his praier.
Furthermore, to plaie the cold prophet, as to recount it good or bad
lucke, when salt or wine falleth on the table, or is shed, &c: or to
prognosticate that ghests approch to your house, upon the chattering of
pies or haggisters, wherof there can be yeelded no probable reason, is
altogither vanitie and superstition: as hereafter shalbe more largelie
shewed. But to make simple people beleeve, that a man or woman can
foretell good or evill fortune, is meere witchcraft or cousenage. For
God is the onlie searcher of the heart, and delivereth not his counsell
to so lewd reprobates. I know diverse writers affirme, that witches
foretell things, as prompted by a reall divell; and that he againe
learneth it out of the prophesies written in the scriptures, and by
other nimble sleights, wherein he passeth anie other creature earthlie;
and that the same divell, or some of his fellowes runnes or flies as
farre as _Rochester_, to mother _Bungie_; or to _Canturburie_ to M.
_T_; or to _Delphos_, to _Apollo_; or to _Aesculapius_, in _Pargamo_;
or to some other idoll or witch, and there by waie of oracle answers
all questions, through his understanding of the prophesies conteined
in the old testament, especiallie in _Daniel_ and _Esaie_: whereby
the divell knew of the translation of the monarchie from _Babylon_
to _Græcia_, &c. But either they have learned this of some oracle
or witch; or else I know not where the divell they find it. Marrie
certeine it is, that herein they shew themselves to be witches and fond
divinors: for they find no such thing written in Gods word.

♦Julius Maternus his most impious opinion.♦

♦_Bodinus.
Danæus.
Erastus.
Hemingius.
Mal. malef.
Thom. Aquinas, &c._♦

Of the idoll called _Apollo_, I have somewhat alreadie spoken in the
former title of _Ob_ or _Pytho_; and some occasion I shall have to
speake thereof hereafter: and therfore at this time it shall suffice
to tell you, that the credit gained thereunto, was by the craft
and cunning of the priests, which tended thereupon; who with their
counterfeit miracles so bewitched the people, as they thought such
vertue to have beene conteined in the bodies of those idols, as
God hath not promised to anie of his angels, or elect people. For
it is said, that if _Apollo_ were in a chafe, he would sweat: if
he had remorse to the afflicted, and could not help them, he would
shed teares, which I beleeve might have beene wiped awaie with that
handkerchiefe, that wiped and dried the Rood of graces face, being in
like perplexities. Even as another sort of witching priests called
_Aruspices_, prophesied victorie to _Alexander_, bicause an eagle
lighted on his head: which eagle might (I beleeve) be cooped or caged
with _Mahomets_ dove, that picked peason out of his eare.

♦Apollos passions.♦

The fourth Chapter.

_The predictions of soothsaiers and lewd priests, the
prognostications of astronomers and physicians allowable, divine
prophesies holie and good._

The cousening tricks of oracling priests and monkes, are and have
beene speciallie most abhominable. The superstitious observations of
sensles augurors and soothsaiers (contrarie to philosophie, and without
authoritie of scripture) are verie ungodlie and ridiculous. Howbeit,
I reject not the prognostications of astronomers, nor the conjectures
or forewarnings of physicians, nor yet the interpretations of
philosophers; although in respect of the divine prophesies conteined in
holie scriptures, they are not to be weighed or regarded. For the end
of these and the other is not onlie farre differing; but whereas these
conteine onlie the word and will of God, with the other are mingled
most horrible lies and cousenages. For though there may be many of them
learned and godlie, yet lurke there in corners of the same profession,
a great number of counterfets and couseners. _J. Bodin_ putteth this
difference betweene divine prophets and inchantors; to wit, the one
saith alwaies true, the others words (proceeding from the divell) are
alwaies false; or for one truth they tell a hundred lies. And then why
maie not everie witch be thought as cunning as _Apollo_? And why not
everie counterfet cousener as good a witch as mother _Bungie_? For it
is ods, but they will hit the truth once in a hundred divinations as
well as the best.

♦What prophesies allowable.♦

♦_J. Bod. lib. de dæm. lib. 1. cap. 4._♦

The fift Chapter.

_The diversitie of true prophets, of Urim, and of the propheticall
use of the twelve precious stones conteined therein, of the divine
voice called Eccho._

It should appeare, that even of holie prophets there were diverse
sorts. For _David_ and _Salomon_, although in their psalmes and
parables are conteined most excellent mysteries, and notable
allegories: yet they were not indued with that degree of prophesie,
that _Elie_ and _Elisha_ were, &c. For as often as it is said, that
God spake to _David_ or _Salomon_, it is meant to be done by the
prophets. For _Nathan_ or _Gad_ were the messengers and prophets to
reveale Gods will to _David_. And _Ahiam_ the _Silonite_ was sent from
God to _Salomon_. Item, the spirit of prophesie, which _Elias_ had,
was doubled upon _Elisha_. Also some prophets prophesied all their
lives, some had but one vision, and some had more, according to Gods
pleasure; yea some prophesied unto the people of such things as came
not to passe, and that was where Gods wrath was pacified by repentance.
But these prophets were alwaies reputed among the people to be wise and
godlie; whereas the heathen prophets were evermore knowne and said to
be mad and foolish: as it is written both of the prophets of _Sibylla_,
and also of _Apollo_; and at this daie also in the _Indies_, &c.

♦Diverse degrees of prophesie.♦

♦2. Reg. 2.♦

But that anie of these extraordinarie gifts remaine at this daie,
_Bodin_, nor anie witchmonger in the world shall never be able to
proove: though he in his booke of divelish madnesse would make men
beleeve it. For these were miraculouslie mainteined by God among the
Jewes, who were instructed by them of all such things as should come to
passe; or else informed by _Urim_: so as the preests by the brightnes
of the twelve pretious stones conteined therein, could prognosticate or
expound anie thing. Which brightnes and vertue ceased (as _Josephus_
reporteth) two hundred yeares before he was borne. So as since that
time, no answers were yelded thereby of Gods will and pleasure.
Nevertheles, the Hebrues write, that there hath beene ever since that
time, a divine voice heard among them, which in Latine is called _Filia
vocis_, in Greeke ἡχὼ, in English The daughter of speech.

♦_J. Bodin._♦

♦_Joseph. de antiquit._♦

♦_Josue filius Levi. lib. Pirkeaboth._♦

The sixt Chapter.

_Of prophesies conditionall: whereof the prophesies in the old
testament doo intreate, and by whom they were published;
witchmongers aunswers to the objections against witches
supernaturall actions._

_Christ_ and his apostles prophesied of the calamities and afflictions,
which shall greeve and disturbe the church of God in this life: also
of the last daie, and of the signes and tokens that shall be shewed
before that daie: and finallie of all things, which are requisite
for us to foreknowe. Howbeit, such is the mercie of God, that all
prophesies, threatnings, plagues, and punishments are annexed to
conditions of repentance: as on the other side, corporall blessings are
tied under the condition of the crosse and castigation. So as by them
the mysteries of our salvation being discovered unto us, we are not to
seeke new signes and miracles; but to attend to the doctrine of the
apostles, who preached Christ exhibited and crucified for our sinnes,
his resurrection, ascension, and thereby the redemption of as manie as
beleeve, &c.

♦Prophesies conditionall.♦

The prophesies in the old testament treat of the continuance, the
governement, and the difference of estates: of the distinction of the
foure monarchies, of their order, decaie, and instauration; of the
changes and ruines of the kingdomes of _Juda_, _Israel_, _Aegypt_,
_Persia_, _Græcia_, &c_: and speciallie of the comming of our Saviour
Jesus Christ; and how he should be borne of a virgine, and where, of
his tribe, passion, resurrection, &c. These prophesies were published
by Gods speciall and peculiar prophets, endued with his particular
and excellent gifts, according to his promise; I will raise them up a
prophet out of the midst of their brethren, I will put my words in his
mouth, &c. Which though it were speciallie spoken of Christ, yet was
it also spoken of those particular prophets, which were placed among
them by God to declare his will; which were also figures of Christ the
prophet himselfe. Now, if prophesie be an extraordinarie gift of God,
and a thing peculiar to himselfe, as without whose speciall assistance
no creature can be a prophet, or shew what is to come; whie should
we beleeve, that those lewd persons can performe by divinations and
miracles that which is not in humane but in divine power to accomplish?

♦The subject of the prophesies of the old testament.♦

Howbeit, when I denie that witches can ride in the aire, and the
miraculous circumstance thereof: by and by it is objected unto me, that
_Enoch_ and _Elie_ were rapt into heaven bodilie; and that _Abacuke_
was carried in the aire, to feed _Daniel_: and so falselie oppose
a divels or a witches power against the vertue of the Holy-ghost.
If I deride the poets opinions, saieng, that witches cannot _Cœlo
deducere lunam_, fetch the moone from heaven, &c: they tell me that at
_Joshuas_ battell the sunne staied, and at the passion of Christ there
was palpable darknes. If I denie their cunning in the exposition of
dreames, advising them to remember _Jeremies_ counsell, not to followe
or credit the expositors of dreames; they hit me in the teeth with
_Daniel_ and _Joseph_: for that the one of them expounded _Pharao_ the
_Persian_ kings, the other _Nabuchadnez-zar_ the _Aegyptian_ kings
dreame. If I saie with _Salomon_, that the dead knowe nothing, and
that the dead knowe us not, neither are remooveable out of _Abrahams_
bosome, &c: they produce the storie of _Samuel_: wherein, I saie,
they set the power of a creature as high as the creator. If I saie,
that these witches cannot transubstantiate themselves, nor others
into beasts, &c. they cite the storie of _Nabuchadnez-zar_; as though
indeed he were made a materiall beast, and that also by witchcraft;
and strengthen that their assertion with the fables of _Circe_ and
_Ulysses_ his companions, &c.

♦2. Reg. 2. 13.♦

♦Eccles. 9, 5.♦

♦1. Sam. 28.♦

The seventh Chapter.

_What were the miracles expressed in the old testament, and what are
they in the new testament: and that we are not now to looke for
anie more miracles._

The miracles expressed in the old testament were manie, but the end
of them all was one, though they were divers and differing in shew:
as where the sacrifices of _Moses_, _Elias_, and _Salomon_, being
abundantlie wet were burnt with fier from heaven, &c. The varietie
of toongs at the building of _Babylon_, _Isaachs_ birth of _Sarah_
being by nature past children, the passage through the red sea,
_Daniels_ foretelling of the foure monarchies, in the fourth whereof
he apparantlie foresheweth the comming of the Lord. All these, and
manie other, which are expressed in the old testament, were mercifull
instructions and notable miracles to strengthen the faith of Gods
people in their Messias. If you had gone to _Delphos_, _Apollo_ would
have made you beleeve with his amphibologicall answers, that he could
have foretold you all these things.

♦Gen. 11, 6.
Gen. 21.
Dan. 11.♦

The miracles wrought by Christ were the raising up of the dead (which
manie would impute to the woman of _Endor_, and also to our witches
and conjurors) the restoring of the lame to lims, the blind to sight,
the dumbe to speach, and finallie the healing of all diseases; which
manie beleeve our witches can doo; yea, and as they themselves will
take it upon them. As for casting out of divels (which was another kind
of miracles usuall with Christ) witches and conjurors are said to be
as good thereat as ever he was: and yet, if you will beleeve Christs
words, it cannot be so. For he saith; Everie kingdome divided against
it selfe, shall be brought to naught, &c. If sathan cast out sathan, he
is divided, &c: and his kingdome shall not endure, &c.

♦A summe of Christs miracles.♦

♦Matt. 12. 25.♦

_Peters_ chaines fell off in prison, so did _Richard Gallisies_ fetters
at _Windsor_: marrie the prison doores opened not to _Richard_, as they
did to _Peter_. _Helias_ by speciall grace obtained raine, our witches
can make it raine, when they list, &c. But sithens Christ did these
miracles, and manie more, and all to confirme his truth, and strengthen
our faith, and finallie for the conversion of the people (as appeareth
in _John._ 6. 7, and 12: in so much as he vehementlie reprooved such,
as upon the sight of them would not beleeve, saieng; Wo be to thee
_Chorazin_, we be to thee _Bethsaida_. If the miracles had beene doone
in _Tyre_ and _Sidon_, which have beene doone in you, they had a great
while ago repented, &c. Let us settle and acquiet our faith in Christ,
and beleeving all his wonderous works, let us reject these old wives
fables, as lieng vanities: whereof you may find in the golden legend,
_M. Mal._ and speciallie in _Bodin_ miraculous stuffe, enough to checke
all the miracles expressed in the old and new testament; which are of
more credit with manie bewitched people, than the true miracles of
Christ himselfe. Insomuch as they stand in more awe of the manacies of
a witch, than of all the threatnings and cursses pronounced by God, and
expressed in his word. And thus much touching the word _Kasam_.

♦Luk. 10, 13.♦

¶ _The tenth Booke._

The first Chapter.

_The interpretation of this Hebrue word Onen, of the vanitie of
dreames, and divinations thereupon._

_Onen_ differeth not much from _Kasam_, but that it is extended to
the interpretation of dreames. And as for dreames, whatsoever credit
is attributed unto them, proceedeth of follie: and they are fooles
that trust in them, for whie they have deceived many. In which respect
the Prophet giveth us good warning, not to followe nor hearken to the
expositors of dreames, for they come through the multitude of busines.
And therefore those witches, that make men beleeve they can prophesie
upon dreames, as knowing the interpretation of them, and either for
monie or glorie abuse men & women therby, are meere couseners, and
worthie of great punishment: as are such witchmongers, as beleeving
them, attribute unto them such divine power as onelie belongeth to God:
as appeereth in _Jeremie_ the Prophet.

♦Ecclus. 24.♦

♦Jerem. 27.
Eccle. 5.♦

♦Jerem. 23. 25. 26. 27. Read the words.♦

The second Chapter.

_Of divine, naturall, and casuall dreames, with their differing
causes and effects._

_Macrobius_ recounteth five differences of images, or rather
imaginations exhibited unto them that sleepe, which for the most part
doo signifie somewhat in admonition. There be also many subdivisions
made hereof, which I thinke needlesse to reherse. In _Jasper Peucer_
they are to be seene, with the causes and occasions of dreames. There
were woont to be delivered from God himselfe or his angels, certeine
dreames and visions unto the prophets and holie fathers: according to
the saieng of _Joel_; I will powre my spirit upon all flesh, your yoong
men shall dreame dreames, and your old men shall see visions. These
kind of dreames (I say) were the admonishments and forewarnings of God
to his people: as that of _Joseph_, to abide with _Marie_ his wife,
after she was conceived by the Holie-ghost, as also to conveie our
Saviour Christ into _Aegypt_, &c: the interpretation whereof are the
peculiar gifts of God, which _Joseph_ the patriarch, and _Daniel_ the
prophet had most speciallie.

♦_Peucer in divinat. ex somniis._♦

♦Joel. 2.♦

♦Matth. 1. 20.♦

♦Matth. 2, 13.♦

♦Gen. 39. & 40. & 41. Dani. 2.♦

As for physicall conjectures upon dreames, the scriptures [*]improove
them not: for by them the physicians manie times doo understand
the state of their patients bodies. For some of them come by meanes
of choler, flegme, melancholie, or bloud; and some by love, surfet,
hunger, thirst, &c. _Gallen_ and _Boetius_ were said to deale with
divels, bicause they told so justlie their patients dreames, or rather
by their dreames their speciall diseases. Howbeit, physicall dreames
are naturall, and the cause of them dwelleth in the nature of man. For
they are the inward actions of the mind in the spirits of the braine,
whilest the bodie is occupied with sleepe: for as touching the mind
it selfe, it never sleepeth. These dreames varie, according to the
difference of humors and vapors. There are also casuall dreames, which
(as _Salomon_ saith) come through the multitude of businesse. For as
a looking glasse sheweth the image or figure thereunto opposite: so in
dreames, the phantasie & imagination informes the understanding of such
things as haunt the outward sense. Whereupon the poet saith:

_Somnia ne cures, nam mens humana quod optat,
Dum vigilat sperans, per somnum cernit id ipsum:_

_Regard no dreames, for why the mind
Of that in sleepe a view dooth take,
Which it dooth wish and hope to find,
At such time as it is awake._

♦Eccles. 5.♦

♦[*] [? reproove]♦

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

The third Chapter.

_The opinion of divers old writers touching dreames, and how
they varie in noting the causes thereof._

_Synesius_, _Themistius_, _Democritus_, and others grounding themselves
upon examples that chance hath sometimes verified, persuade men, that
nothing is dreamed in vaine: affirming that the hevenlie influencies
doo bring foorth divers formes in corporall matters; and of the same
influencies, visions and dreames are printed in the fantasticall
power, which is instrumentall, with a celestiall disposition meete to
bring foorth some effect, especiallie in sleepe, when the mind (being
free from bodilie cares) may more liberallie receive the heavenlie
influencies, wherby many things are knowne to them sleeping in dreames,
which they that wake cannot see. _Plato_ attributeth them to the
formes and ingendred knowledges of the soule; _Avicen_ to the last
intelligence that moveth the moone, through the light that lighteneth
the fantasie in sleepe; _Aristotle_ to the phantasticall sense;
_Averroës_ to the imaginative; _Albert_ to the influence of superior
bodies.

♦A dissonancie in opinions about dreames.♦

The fourth Chapter.

_Against interpreters of dreames, of the ordinarie cause of
dreames, Hemingius his opinion of diabolicall dreames, the
interpretation of dreames ceased._

There are bookes carried about concerning this matter, under the name
of _Abraham_, who (as _Philo In lib. gigantum_ saith) was the first
inventor of the exposition of dreames: and so likewise of _Salomon_
and _Daniel_. But _Cicero In lib. de diviniatione_ confuteth the
vanitie and follie of them that give credit to dreames. And as for the
interpretors of dreames, as they knowe not before the dreame, nor yet
after, any certeintie; yet when any thing afterwards happeneth, then
they applie the dreame to that which hath chanced.

Certeinlie men never lightlie faile to dreame by night, of that which
they meditate by daie: and by daie they see divers and sundrie things,
and conceive them severallie in their minds. Then those mixed conceits
being laid up in the closset of the memorie, strive togither; which,
bicause the phantasie cannot discerne nor discusse, some certeine thing
gathered of manie conceits is bred and contrived in one togither. And
therefore in mine opinion, it is time vainelie emploied, to studie
about the interpretation of dreames. He that list to see the follie and
vanitie thereof, maie read a vaine treatise, set out by _Thomas Hill_
Londoner, 1568.

♦The pleasant art of the interpretation of dreames.♦

Lastlie, there are diabolicall dreames, which _Nicolaus Hemingius_
divideth into three sortes. The first is, when the divell immediatlie
of himselfe (he meaneth corporallie) offereth anie matter of dreame.
Secondlie, when the divell sheweth revelations to them that have made
request unto him therefore. Thirdlie, when magicians by art bring to
passe, that other men dreame what they will. Assuredlie these, and so
all the rest (as they maie be used) are verie magicall and divelish
dreames. For although we maie receive comfort of mind by those, which
are called divine dreames, and health of bodie through physicall
dreames: yet if we take upon us to use the office of God in the
revelation or rather the interpretation of them; or if we attribute
unto them miraculous effects (now when we see the gifts of prophesie,
and of interpretation of dreames, and also the operation of miracles
are ceased, which were speciall and peculiar gifts of God, to confirme
the truth of the word, and to establish his people in the faith of
the Messias, who is now exhibited unto us both in the testament, and
also in the bloud of our Saviour Jesus Christ) we are bewitched, and
both abuse and offend the majestie of God, and also seduce, delude and
cousen all such as by our persuasion, and their owne light beleefe,
give us credit.

♦_N. Hemin. in admonitionib. de superstitionib. magicis vitādis._♦

♦The end & use of prophesie, interpretatiō of dreames, operation of
miracles, &c.♦

The fift Chapter.

_That neither witches, nor anie other, can either by words
or hearbs, thrust into the mind of a sleeping man, what
cogitations or dreames they list; and whence magicall dreames
come._

I grant there maie be hearbs and stones found and knowne to the
physicians, which maie procure dreames; and other hearbs and stones,
&c: to make one bewraie all the secrets of his mind, when his bodie
sleepeth, or at least wise to procure speech in sleepe. But that
witches or magicians have power by words, herbs, or imprecations to
thrust into the mind or conscience of man, what it shall please them,
by vertue of their charmes, hearbs, stones, or familiars, &c: according
to the opinion of _Hemingius_, I denie: though therewithall I confesse,
that the divell both by daie and also by night, travelleth to seduce
man, and to lead him from God; yea and that no waie more than this,
where he placeth himselfe as God in the minds of them that are so
credulous, to attribute unto him, or unto witches, that which is onlie
in the office, nature, and power of God to accomplish.

♦Seeke for such stuffe in my booke of Hartumim.♦

Doth not _Daniel_ the prophet saie, even in this case; It is the Lord
onelie that knoweth such secrets, as in the exposition of dreames is
required? And doth not _Joseph_ repeat those verie words to _Pharaos_
officers, who consulted with him therein? Examples of divine dreames
you maie find a great number in the scripture, such (I meane) as it
pleased God to reveale his pleasure by. Of physicall dreames we maie
both read in authors, and see in our owne experience dailie, or rather
nightly. Such dreams also as are casuall, they are likewise usuall,
and come (as hath beene said) through the multitude of affaires
and businesse. Those which in these daies are called magicall or
diabolicall dreames, maie rather be called melancholicall. For out of
that blacke vapor in sleepe, through dreames, appeareth (as _Aristotle_
saith) some horrible thing; and as it were the image of an ouglie
divell: sometimes also other terrible visions, imaginations, counsels,
and practises. As where we read of a certeine man, that dreamed there
appeared one unto him that required him to throwe himselfe into a deepe
pit, and that he should reape great benefit thereby at Gods hands.
So as the miserable wretch giving credit thereunto, performed the
matter, and killed himselfe. Now I confesse, that the interpretation
or execution of that dreame was indeed diabolicall: but the dreame was
casuall, derived from the heavie and blacke humor of melancholie.

♦Dan. 2.♦

♦Gen. 11, 8.
Gen. 37, & 11.
Isai. 11.
Dan. 2.♦

♦_Aristot. de somnio._♦

The sixt Chapter.

_How men have beene bewitched, cousened or abused by dreames to
dig and search for monie._

How manie have beene bewitched with dreames, and thereby made to
consume themselves with digging and searching for monie, &c: whereof
they, or some other have drempt? I my selfe could manifest, as having
knowne how wise men have beene that waie abused by verie simple
persons, even where no dreame hath beene met withall, but waking
dreames. And this hath beene used heretofore, as one of the finest
cousening feates: in so much as there is a verie formall art thereof
devised, with manie excellent superstitions and ceremonies thereunto
belonging, which I will set downe as breeflie as maie be. Albeit that
here in _England_, this proverbe hath beene current; to wit, Dreames
proove contrarie: according to the answer of the priests boy to his
master, who told his said boy that he drempt he kissed his taile: Yea
maister (saith he) but dreames proove contrarie, you must kisse mine.

♦Such would be imbarked in the ship of fooles.♦

♦An english proverbe.♦

The seventh Chapter.

_The art and order to be used in digging for monie, revealed
by dreames, how to procure pleasant dreames, of morning and
midnight dreames._

There must be made upon a hazell wand three crosses, and certeine
words both blasphemous and impious must be said over it, and hereunto
must be added certeine characters, & barbarous names. And whilest the
treasure is a digging, there must be read the psalmes, _De profundis,
Missa, Misereatur nostri, Requiem, Pater noster, Ave Maria, Et ne nos
inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos à malo, Amen. A porta inferi
credo videre bona, &c. Expectate Dominum Requiem æternam._ And then a
certeine praier. And if the time of digging be neglected, the divell
will carie all the treasure awaie. See other more absolute conjurations
for this purpose, in the word _Iidoni_ following.

♦Note this superstitious dotage.♦

You shall find in _Johannes Baptista Neapolitanus_, diverse receipts
by hearbes and potions, to procure pleasant or fearefull dreames; and
perfumes also to that effect: who affirmeth, that dreames in the dead
of the night are commonlie preposterous and monstrous; and in the
morning when the grosse humors be spent, there happen more pleasant and
certeine dreames, the bloud being more pure than at other times: the
reason whereof is there expressed.

♦_J. Bap. Neap. in natural. mag. lib. 2 cap. 26. fol. 83. & 84._♦

The eight Chapter.

_Sundrie receipts and ointments, made and used for the
transportation of witches, and other miraculous effects:
an instance therof reported and credited by some that are
learned._

It shall not be amisse here in this place to repeate an ointment
greatlie to this purpose, rehearsed by the foresaid _John Bapt. Neap._
wherein although he maie be overtaken and cousened by an old witch,
and made not onelie to beleeve, but also to report a false tale; yet
bicause it greatlie overthroweth the opinion of _M. Mal. Bodin_,
and such other, as write so absolutelie in maintenance of witches
transportations, I will set downe his words in this behalfe. The
receipt is as followeth.

℞. The fat of yoong children, and seeth it with water in a brasen
vessell, reserving the thickest of that which remaineth boiled in the
bottome, which they laie up and keepe, untill occasion serveth to use
it. They put hereunto _Eleoselinum, Aconitum, Frondes populeas_, and
Soote.

Another receipt to the same purpose.

℞. _Sium, acarum vulgare, pentaphyllon_, the bloud of a flitter-mouse,
_solanum somniferum, & oleum_. They stampe all these togither, and
then they rubbe all parts of their bodies exceedinglie, till they
looke red, and be verie hot, so as the pores may be opened, and their
flesh soluble and loose. They joine herewithall either fat, or oile in
steed thereof, that the force of the ointment maie the rather pearse
inwardly, and so be more effectuall. By this means (saith he) in a
moone light night they seeme to be carried in the aire, to feasting,
singing, dansing, kissing, culling, and other acts of venerie, with
such youthes as they love and desire most: for the force (saith he)
of their imagination is so vehement, that almost all that part of the
braine, wherein the memorie consisteth, is full of such conceipts. And
whereas they are naturallie prone to beleeve anie thing; so doo they
receive such impressions and stedfast imaginations into their minds, as
even their spirits are altered thereby; not thinking upon anie thing
else, either by daie or by night. And this helpeth them forward in
their imaginations, that their usuall food is none other commonlie but
beets, rootes, nuts, beanes, peaze, &c.

♦Confections or receipts for the miraculous transportation of witches.♦

Now (saith he) when I considered throughlie hereof, remaining doubtfull
of the matter, there fell into my hands a witch, who of hir owne accord
did promise me to fetch me an errand out of hand from farre countries,
and willed all them, whome I had brought to witnesse the matter, to
depart out of the chamber. And when she had undressed hir selfe, and
froted hir bodie with certeine ointments (which action we beheld
through a chinke or little hole of the doore) she fell downe thorough
the force of those soporiferous or sleepie ointments into a most sound
and heavie sleepe: so as we did breake open the doore, and did beate
hir exceedinglie; but the force of hir sleepe was such, as it tooke
awaie from hir the sense of feeling: and we departed for a time. Now
when hir strength and powers were wearie and decaied, shee awooke of
hir owne accord, and began to speake manie vaine and doting words,
affirming that she had passed over both seas and mountaines; delivering
to us manie untrue and false reports: we earnestlie denied them, she
impudentlie affirmed them. This (saith he) will not so come to passe
with everie one, but onlie with old women that are melancholike, whose
nature is extreame cold, and their evaporation small; and they both
perceive and remember what they see in that case and taking of theirs.

♦_Vetule, quas à strigis similitudine, striges vocant, quæq; noctu
puerulorum sanguinem in cunis cubantium exsorbent._♦

The ninth Chapter.

_A confutation of the former follies, as well concerning
ointments, dreames, &c. as also of the assemblie of witches,
and of their consultations and bankets at sundrie places, and
all in dreames._

But if it be true that S. _Augustine_ saith, and manie other writers,
that witches nightwalkings are but phantasies and dreames: then all the
reportes of their bargaine, transporting, and meetings with _Diana_,
_Minerva_, &c: are but fables; and then do they lie that mainteine
those actions to be doone in deed and veritie, which in truth are doone
no waie. It were marvell on the one side (if those things happened
in dreames, which neverthelesse the witches affirme to be otherwise)
that when those witches awake, they neither consider nor remember that
they were in a dreame. It were marvell that their ointments, by the
opinions having no force at all to that effect, as they confesse which
are inquisitors, should have such operation. It were marvell that their
ointments cannot be found anie where, saving onelie in the inquisitors
bookes. It were marvell, that when a stranger is annointed therewith,
they have sometimes, and yet not alwaies, the like operation as with
witches; which all the inquisitors confesse.

♦_Barthol. Spinæus, q. de strigib. c. 31._♦

But to this last, frier _Bartholomæus_ saith, that the witches
themselves, before they annoint themselves, do heare in the night time
a great noise of minstrels, which flie over them, with the ladie of the
fairies, and then they addresse themselves to their journie. But then
I marvell againe, that no bodie else heareth nor seeth this troope of
minstrels, especiallie riding in a moone light night. It is marvell
that they that thinke this to be but in a dreame, can be persuaded that
all the rest is anie other than dreames. It is marvell that in dreames,
witches of old acquaintance meet so just togither, and conclude upon
murthers, and receive ointments, roots, powders, &c: (as witchmongers
report they doo, and as they make the witches confesse) and yet lie at
home fast asleepe. It is marvell that such preparation is made for them
(as _Sprenger_, _Bartholomew_, and _Bodin_ report) as well in noble
mens houses, as in alehouses; and that they come in dreames, and eate
up their meate: and the alewife speciallie is not wearied with them for
non paiment of their score, or false paiment; to wit, with imaginarie
monie, which they saie is not substantiall, and that they talke not
afterwards about the reckoning, and so discover the matter. And it
is most marvell of all, that the hostesse, &c: dooth not sit among
them, and take part of their good cheere. For so it is, that if any
part of these their meetings and league be true, it is as true and as
certeinlie prooved and confessed, that at some alehouse, or sometime at
some Gentlemans house, there is continuall preparation made monethlie
for this assemblie: as appeereth in S. _Germans_ storie.

♦_Bar. Spin. qu. de strigib. c. 30._♦

♦New matter & worthie to be marvelled at.♦

♦_Legend. aur. in vita S. Germani._♦

The tenth Chapter.

_That most part of prophesies in the old testament were
revealed in dreames, that we are not now to looke for such
revelations, of some who have drempt of that which hath come
to passe, that dreames proove contrarie, Nabuchadnez-zars
rule to knowe a true expositor of dreames._

It is held and mainteined by divers, and gathered out of the 12. of
_Numbers_, that all which was written or spoken by the prophets, among
the children of Israel (_Moses_ excepted) was propounded to them by
dreames. And indeed it is manifest, that manie things, which are
thought by the unlearned to have beene reallie finished, have beene
onlie performed by dreams and visions. As where _Salomon_ required of
God the gift of wisdome: that was (I say) in a dreame; and also where
he received promise of the continuance of the kingdome of Israel in
his line. So was _Esais_ vision in the 6. of his prophesie: as also
that of _Ezechiel_ the 12. Finallie, where _Jeremie_ was commanded to
hide his girdle in the clift of a rocke at the river _Euphrates_ in
_Babylon_; and that after certeine daies, it did there putrifie, it
must needs be in a dreame; for _Jeremie_ was never (or at leastwise not
then) at _Babylon_. We that are christians must not now slumber and
dreame, but watch and praie, and meditate upon our salvation in Christ
both daie and night. And if we expect revelations in our dreames,
now, when Christ is come, we shall deceive our selves: for in him are
fulfilled all dreames and prophesies. Howbeit, _Bodin_ holdeth that
dreames and visions continue till this daie, in as miraculous maner as
ever they did.

♦1. Re. 3, 5. 15.♦

♦1. Reg. 9.♦

♦Isai. 6. Ezech. 12. Jerem. 13.♦

♦_J. Bodin. lib. de dæmon. 1. cap. 5._♦

If you read _Artemidorus_, you shall read manie stories of such as
drempt of things that afterwards cam to passe. But he might have
cited a thousand for one that fell out contrarie: for as for such
dreamers among the Jews themselves, as had not extraordinarie visions
miraculouslie exhibited unto them by God, they were counted couseners,
as may appeere by these words of the prophet _Zacharie_; Surelie the
idols have spoken vanitie, and the soothsaiers have seene a lie,
and the dreamers have told a vaine thing. According to _Salomons_
saieng; In the multitude of dreames and vanities are manie words.
It appeereth in _Jeremie_ 23. that the false prophets, whilest they
illuded the people with lies, counterfetting the true prophets, used
to crie out; Dreames, dreames; We have dreamed a dreame, &c. Finallie,
_Nabuchadnez-zar_ teacheth all men to knowe a true expositor of
dreames; to wit, such a one as hath his revelation from GOD. For he can
(as _Daniel_ did) repeate your dreame before you discover it: which
thing if anie expounder of dreames can doo at this daie, I will beleeve
him.

♦Zach. 10, 2.♦

♦Eccles. 5, 6. Jerem. 23.♦

♦Daniel. 2.♦

¶ _The eleventh booke._

The first Chapter.

_The Hebrue word Nahas expounded, of the art of augurie, who
invented it, how slovenlie a science it is: the multitude of
sacrifices and sacrificers of the heathen, and the causes
therof._

_Nahas_, is To observe the flieng of birds, & comprehendeth all such
other observations, where men do ghesse upon uncerteine toies. It is
found in _Deut._ 18. and in 2. _Chron._ 33. and else-where. Of this
art of augurie _Tyresias_ the king of the _Thebans_ is said to be the
first inventor: but _Tages_ first published the discipline thereof,
being but a little boie; as _Cicero_ reporteth out of the bookes of
the _Hetruscans_ themselves. Some points of this art are more high and
profound than some others, and yet are they more homelie and slovenlie
than the rest; as namelie, the divination upon the entrailes of beasts,
which the Gentiles in their sacrifices speciallie observed. Insomuch
as _Marcus Varro_, seeing the absurditie thereof, said that these gods
were not onlie idle, but verie slovens, that used so to hide their
secrets and counsels in the guts and bowels of beasts.

♦The slovenlie art of augurie.♦

How vainlie, absurdlie, and superstitiouslie the heathen used this
kind of divination in their sacrifices, is manifested by their actions
& ceremonies in that behalfe practised, as well in times past, as at
this houre. The _Aegyptians_ had 666. severall sorts and kinds of
sacrifices; the _Romans_ had almost as manie; the _Græcians_ had not
so few as they; the _Persians_ and the _Medes_ were not behind them;
the _Indies_ and other nations have at this instant their sacrifices
full of varietie, and more full of barbarous impietie. For in sundrie
places, these offer sacrifices to the divell, hoping thereby to moove
him to lenitie: yea, these commonlie sacrifice such of their enimies,
as they have taken in warre: as we read that the Gentiles in ancient
time did offer sacrifice, to appease the wrath and indignation of their
feigned gods.

The second Chapter.

_Of the Jewes sacrifice to Moloch, a discourse thereupon, and
of Purgatorie._

The _Jewes_ used one kind of diabolical sacrifice, never taught them
by _Moses_, namelie, to offer their children to _Moloch_, making their
sonnes and their daughters to runne through the fire; supposing such
grace and efficacie to have beene in that action, as other witches
affirme to be in charmes and words. And therfore among other points
of witchcraft, this is speciallie and namelie forbidden by _Moses_.
We read of no more miracles wrought hereby, than by any other kind of
witchcraft in the old or new testament expressed. It was no ceremonie
appointed by God, no figure of Christ: perhaps it might be a sacrament
or rather a figure of purgatorie, the which place was not remembred by
_Moses_. Neither was there anie sacrifice appointed by the lawe for the
releefe of the Israelites soules that there should be tormented. Which
without all doubt should not have beene omitted, if any such place
of purgatorie had beene then, as the Pope hath latelie devised for
his private and speciall lucre. This sacrificing to _Moloch_ (as some
affirme) was usuall among the Gentiles, from whence the Jewes brought
it into Israel: and there (of likeliehood) the _Eutichists_ learned the
abhomination in that behalfe.

♦2. Re. 23, 10
2. Chr. 33.
Jerem. 7.♦

♦Deut. 18, 10
Levi. 18, 21.
Id. cap. 20. 2.♦

♦An invincible argument against purgatorie.♦

The third Chapter.

_The Canibals crueltie, of popish sacrifices exceeding in
tyrannie the Jewes or Gentiles._

The incivilitie and cruell sacrifices of popish preests do yet exceed
both the Jew and the Gentile: for these take upon them to sacrifice
Christ himselfe. And to make their tyrannie the more apparent, they are
not contented to have killed him once, but dailie and hourelie torment
him with new deaths; yea they are not ashamed to sweare, that with
their carnall hands they teare his humane substance, breaking it into
small gobbets; and with their externall teeth chew his flesh and bones,
contrarie to divine or humane nature; and contrarie to the prophesie,
which saith; There shall not a bone of him be broken. Finallie, in the
end of their sacrifice (as they say) they eate him up rawe, and swallow
downe into their guts everie member and parcell of him: and last
of all, that they conveie him into the place where they bestowe the
residue of all that which they have devoured that daie. And this same
barbarous impietie exceedeth the crueltie of all others: for all the
Gentiles consumed their sacrifices with fier, which they thought to be
holie.

♦Against the papists abhominable and blasphemous sacrifice of the
masse.♦

♦Psal. 34, 20.♦

The fourth Chapter.

_The superstition of the heathen about the element of fier,
and how it grew in such reverence among them, of their
corruptions, and that they had some inkling of the godlie
fathers dooings in that behalfe._

As touching the element of fier, & the superstition therof about those
businesses, you shall understand, that manie superstitious people and
nations have received, reverenced, & reserved fier, as the most holy
thing among their sacrifices: insomuch (I saie) as they have worshipped
it among their gods, calling it _Orimasda_ (to wit) holie fier, and
divine light. The Greekes called it ἑσίαν, the Romans _Vesta_, which
is, The fier of the Lord. Surelie they had heard of the fier that came
downe from heaven, and consumed the oblations of the fathers; and
they understood it to be God himselfe. For there came to the heathen,
the bare names of things, from the doctrine of the godlie fathers and
patriarchs, and those so obscured with fables, and corrupted with
lies, so overwhelmed with superstitions, and disguised with ceremonies,
that it is hard to judge from whence they came. Some cause thereof (I
suppose) was partlie the translations of governements, whereby one
nation learned follie of another; and partlie blind devotion, without
knowledge of Gods word: but speciallie the want of grace, which they
sought not for, according to Gods commandement and will. And that the
Gentiles had some inkling of the godlie fathers dooings, may diverslie
appeare. Doo not the _Muscovits_ and [*]_Indian_ prophets at this
daie, like apes, imitate _Esaie_? Bicause he went naked certeine
yeares, they forsooth counterfet madnes, and drinke potions for that
purpose; thinking that whatsoever they saie in their madnes, will
certeinelie come to passe. But hereof is more largelie discoursed
before in the word _Kasam_.

♦[*] The Gymnosophists of India their apish imitation of Esaie.♦

The fift Chapter.

_Of the Romane sacrifices: of the estimation they had of augurie,
of the lawe of the twelve tables._

The _Romans_, even after they were growne to great civilitie, and
enjoied a most flourishing state and commonwealth, would sometimes
sacrifice themselves, sometimes their children, sometimes their
friends, &c: consuming the same with fier, which they thought holie.
Such estimation (I saie) was attributed to this art of divination upon
the entrails of beasts, &c: at _Rome_, as the cheefe princes themselves
exercised the same; namelie, _Romulus_, _Fabius Maximus_, _&c_: in
so much as there was a decree made there, by the whole senate, that
six of the cheefe magistrats sonnes should from time to time be put
foorth, to learne the mysterie of these arts of augurie and divination,
at _Hetruria_, where the cunning and knowledge thereof most abounded.
When they came home well informed and instructed in this art, their
estimation and dignitie was such, as they were accounted, reputed, and
taken to be the interpreters of the gods, or rather betweene the gods
and them. No high preest, nor anie other great officer was elected, but
these did either absolutelie nominate them, or else did exhibit the
names of two, whereof the senate must choose the one.

In their ancient lawes were written these words: _Prodigia & portenta
ad Hetruscos aruspices (si senatus jusserit) deferunto, Hetruriæq;
principes disciplinam discunto. Quibus divis decreverunt, procuranto,
iisdem fulgura & ostenta pianto, auspicia servanto, auguri parento_:
the effect of which words is this; Let all prodigious and portentous
matters be carried to the soothsaiers of _Hetruria_, at the will
and commandement of the senat; and let the yoong princes be sent to
_Hetruria_, there to learne that discipline, or to be instructed in
that art and knowledge. Let there be alwaies some solicitor, to learne
with what gods they have decreed or determined their matters, and let
sacrifices be made unto them in times of lightening, or at anie strange
or supernaturall shew. Let all such conjecturing tokens be observed;
whatsoever the soothsaier commandeth, let it be religiouslie obeied.

♦The lawe of the twelve tables.♦

The sixt Chapter.

_Colleges of augurors, their office, their number, the
signification of augurie, that the practisers of that art
were couseners, their profession, their places of exercise,
their apparrell, their superstition._

_Romulus_ erected three colleges or centuries of those kinds of
soothsaiers, which onelie (and none other) should have authoritie to
expound the minds and admonishments of the gods. Afterwards that number
was augmented to five, and after that to nine: for they must needs be
od. In the end, they increased so fast, that they were feine to make
a decree for staie from the further proceeding in those erections:
like to our statute of _Mortmaine_. Howbeit, _Silla_ (contrarie to all
orders and constitutions before made) increased that number to foure
and twentie.

♦_Magna charta. Hen. 3. 36. 7 Ed. 1. 15. Ri. 2. 5._♦

And though _Augurium_ be most properlie that divination, which is
gathered by birds; yet bicause this word _Nahas_ comprehendeth all
other kinds of divination, as _Extispicium_, _aruspicium_, &c_: which is
as well the ghessing upon the entrailes of beasts, as divers other
waies: omitting physiognomie and palmestrie, and such like, for the
tediousnes and follie thereof; I will speake a little of such arts,
as were above measure regarded of our elders: neither mind I to
discover the whole circumstance, but to refute the vanitie thereof,
and speciallie of the professors of them, which are and alwaies have
beene cousening arts, and in them conteined both speciall and severall
kinds of witchcrafts. For the maisters of these faculties have ever
taken upon them to occupie the place and name of God; blasphemouslie
ascribing unto themselves his omnipotent power, to foretell, &c:
whereas, in truth, they could or can doo nothing, but make a shew of
that which is not.

One matter, to bewraie their cousening, is; that they could never worke
nor foreshew anie thing to the poore or inferior sort of people: for
portentous shewes (saie they) alwaies concerned great estates. Such
matters as touched the baser sort, were inferior causes; which the
superstition of the people themselves would not neglect to learne.
Howbeit, the professors of this art descended not so lowe, as to
communicate with them: for they were preests (which in all ages and
nations have beene jollie fellowes) whose office was, to tell what
should come to passe, either touching good lucke, or bad fortune; to
expound the minds, admonitions, warnings and threatnings of the gods,
to foreshew calamities, &c: which might be (by their sacrifices and
common contrition) remooved and qualified. And before their entrance
into that action, they had manie observations, which they executed
verie superstitiouslie; pretending that everie bird and beast, &c,
should be sent from the gods as foreshewes of somewhat. And therefore
first they used to choose a cleare daie, and faire wether to doo their
busines in: for the which their place was certeinelie assigned, as well
in _Rome_ as in _Hetruria_, wherein they observed everie quarter of
the element, which waie to looke, and which way to stand, &c. Their
apparell was verie preestlike, of fashion altered from all others,
speciallie at the time of their praiers, wherein they might not omit a
word nor a syllable: in respect whereof one read the service, and all
the residue repeated it after him, in the maner of a procession.

♦A manifest discoverie of augurors cousenage.♦

The seventh Chapter.

_The times and seasons to exercise augurie, the maner and order
thereof, of the ceremonies thereunto belonging._

No lesse regard was there had of the times of their practise in that
ministerie: for they must beginne at midnight, and end at noone, not
travelling therein in the decaie of the day, but in the increase of the
same; neither in the sixt or seventh houre of the daie, nor yet after
the moneth of August; bicause then yoong birds flie about, and are
diseased, and unperfect, mounting their fethers, and flieng out of the
countrie: so as no certeine ghesse is to be made of the gods purposes
by them at those seasons. But in their due times they standing with a
bowed wand in their hand, their face toward the east, &c: in the top
of an high tower, the weather being cleare, watch for birds, noting
from whence they came, and whether they flie, and in what sort they wag
their wings, &c.

♦Note the superstitious ceremonies of augurors.♦

The eight Chapter.

_Upon what signes and tokens augurors did prognosticate,
observations touching the inward and outward parts of beasts,
with notes of beasts behaviour in the slaughterhouse._

These kind of witches, whom we have now in hand, did also prognosticate
good or bad lucke, according to the soundnes or imperfection of the
entrailes of beasts; or according to the superfluities or infirmities
of nature; or according to the abundance of humors unnecessarie,
appearing in the inward parts and bowels of the beasts sacrificed. For
as touching the outward parts, it was alwaies provided and foreseene,
that they should be without blemish. And yet there were manie tokens
and notes to be taken of the externall actions of those beasts, at the
time of sacrifice: as if they would not quietlie be brought to the
place of execution, but must be forceablie hailed; or if they brake
loose; or if by hap, cunning, or strength they withstood the first
blowe; or if after the butchers blowe, they leaped up, rored, stood
fast; or being fallen, kicked, or would not quietlie die, or bled not
well; or if anie ill newes had beene heard, or anie ill sight seene at
the time of slaughter or sacrifice: which were all significations of
ill lucke and unhappie successe. On the other side, if the slaughterman
performed his office well, so as the beast had beene well chosen, not
infected, but whole and sound, and in the end faire killed; all had
beene safe: for then the gods smiled.

♦Observations in the art augurificall.♦

The ninth Chapter.

_A confutation of augurie, Plato his reverend opinion thereof,
of contrarie events, and false predictions._

But what credit is to be attributed to such toies and chances, which
grow not of nature, but are gathered by the superstition of the
interpretors? As for birds, who is so ignorant that conceiveth not,
that one flieth one waie, another another waie, about their privat
necessities? And yet are the other divinations more vaine and foolish.
Howbeit, _Plato_ thinketh a commonwealth cannot stand without this art,
and numbereth it among the liberall sciences. These fellowes promised
_Pompeie_, _Cassius_, and _Cæsar_, that none of them should die before
they were old, and that in their owne houses, and in great honor; and
yet they all died cleane contrarilie. Howbeit doubtles, the heathen in
this point were not so much to be blamed, as the sacrificing papists:
for they were directed hereunto without the knowledge of Gods promises;
neither knew they the end why such ceremonies and sacrifices were
instituted; but onelie understood by an uncerteine and slender report,
that God was woont to send good or ill successe to the children of
Israell, and to the old patriarchs and fathers, upon his acceptance
or disallowance of their sacrifices and oblations. But men in all
ages have beene so desirous to know the effect of their purposes,
the sequele of things to come, and to see the end of their feare and
hope; that a seelie witch, which had learned anie thing in the art of
cousenage, may make a great manie jollie fooles.

♦_Plato in Phædro, in Timeo, in lib. de Republ._♦

♦Wherein the papists are more blame worthie than the heathen.♦

The tenth Chapter.

_The cousening art of sortilege or lotarie, practised especiallie by
Aegyptian vagabonds, of allowed lots, of Pythagoras his lot, &c._

The counterfeit _Aegyptians_, which were indeed cousening vagabonds,
practising the art called _Sortilegium_, had no small credit among the
multitude: howbeit, their divinations were as was their fast and loose,
and as the witches cures and hurtes, & as the soothsaiers answers,
and as the conjurors raisings up of spirits, and as _Apollos_ or the
Rood of graces oracles, and as the jugglers knacks of legierdemaine,
and as the papists exorcismes, and as the witches charmes, and as the
counterfeit visions, and as the couseners knaveries. Hereupon it was
said; _Non inveniatur inter vos menahas_, that is _Sortilegus_, which
were like to these Aegyptian couseners. As for other lots, they were
used, and that lawfullie; as appeareth by _Jonas_ and others that were
holie men, and as may be seene among all commonwelths, for the deciding
of diverse controversies, &c: wherein thy neighbour is not misused, nor
God anie waie offended. But in truth I thinke, bicause of the cousenage
that so easilie may be used herein, God forbad it in the commonwealth
of the Jewes, though in the good use thereof it was allowed in matters
of great weight; as appeareth both in the old and new testament; and
that as well in doubtfull cases and distributions, as in elections
and inheritances, and pacification of variances. I omit to speake
anie thing of the lots comprised in verses, concerning the lucke
ensuing, either of _Virgil_, _Homer_, or anie other, wherein fortune is
gathered by the sudden turning unto them: bicause it is a childish and
ridiculous toie, and like unto childrens plaie at _Primus secundus_, or
the game called The philosophers table: but herein I will referre you
to the bable it selfe, or else to _Bodin_, or to some such sober writer
thereupon; of whome there is no want.

♦Sortilege or lotshare.♦

♦Levit. 16.
Num. 33. & 36.
Josu. 14.
1. Chron. 24 & 26.
Prover. 18.
Jonas. 1.
Acts. 1.♦

There is a lot also called _Pythagoras_ lot, which (some saie)
_Aristotle_ beleeved: and that is, where the characters of letters have
certeine proper numbers; whereby they divine (through the proper names
of men) so as the numbers of each letters being gathered in a summe,
and put togither, give victorie to them whose summe is the greater;
whether the question be of warre, life, matrimonie, victorie, &c: even
as the unequall number of vowels in proper names portendeth lacke of
sight, halting, &c: which the godfathers and godmothers might easilie
prevent, if the case stood so.

♦Of Pythagoras lot.♦

The eleventh Chapter.

_Of the Cabalisticall art, consisting of traditions and unwritten
verities learned without booke, and of the division thereof._

Here is place also for the Cabalisticall art, consisting of unwritten
verities, which the Jewes doo beleeve and brag that God himselfe gave
to _Moses_ in the mount _Sinai_; and afterwards was taught onelie
with livelie voice, by degrees of succession, without writing, untill
the time of _Esdras_: even as the scholers of _Archippus_ did use wit
and memorie in steed of bookes. They divide this in twaine; the one
expoundeth with philosophicall reason the secrets of the lawe and the
bible, wherein (they saie) that _Salomon_ was verie cunning; bicause it
is written in the Hebrew stories, that he disputed from the Cedar of
_Libanus_, even to the Hisop, and also of birds, beasts, &c. The other
is as it were a symbolicall divinitie of the highest contemplation, of
the divine and angelike vertues, of holie names and signes; wherein
the letters, numbers, figures, things and armes, the prickes over the
letters, the lines, the points, and the accents doo all signifie verie
profound things and great secrets. By these arts the Atheists suppose
_Moses_ wrote all his miracles, and that hereby they have power over
angels and divels, as also to doo miracles: yea and that hereby all the
miracles that either anie of the prophets, or Christ himselfe wrought,
were accomplished.

♦The art Cabalisticall divided.♦

But _C. Agrippa_ having searched to the bottome of this art, saith it
is nothing but superstition and follie. Otherwise you maie be sure
Christ would not have hidden it from his church. For this cause the
Jewes were so skilfull in the names of God. But there is none other
name in heaven or earth, in which we might be saved, but Jesus: neither
is that meant by his bare name, but by his vertue and goodnes towards
us. These Cabalists doo further brag, that they are able hereby, not
onelie to find out and know the unspeakeable mysteries of God; but
also the secrets which are above scripture; whereby also they take
upon them to prophesie, and to worke miracles: yea hereby they can
make what they list to be scripture; as _Valeria Proba_ did picke
certeine verses out of _Virgil_ alluding them to Christ. And therefore
these their revolutions are nothing but allegoricall games, which
idle men busied in letters, points, and numbers (which the Hebrew
toong easilie suffereth) devise, to delude and cousen the simple and
ignorant. And this they call Alphabetarie or Arythmanticall divinitie,
which Christ shewed to his apostles onelie, and which _Paule_ saith
he speaketh but among perfect men; and being high mysteries are not
to be committed unto writing, and so made popular. There is no man
that readeth anie thing of this _Cabalisticall_ art, but must needs
think upon the popes cunning practises in this behalfe, who hath
_In scrinio pectoris_, not onelie the exposition of all lawes, both
divine and humane, but also authoritie to adde thereunto, or to drawe
backe therefrom at his pleasure: and this may he lawfullie doo even
with the scriptures, either by addition or substraction, after his
owne pontificall liking. As for example: he hath added the Apocrypha
(whereunto he might as well have joined S. _Augustines_ works, or
the course of the civill lawe, &c:) Againe, he hath diminished from
the decalog or ten commandements, not one or two words, but a whole
precept, namelie the second, which it hath pleased him to dash out with
his pen: and trulie he might as well by the same authoritie have rased
out of the testament S. _Markes_ gospell.

♦_C. Agrippa lib. de vanit. scient._♦

♦The blasphemie of the Cabalists.♦

♦_In concil. Trident._♦

♦[C. of Trent 1550]♦

The twelfe Chapter.

_When, how, and in what sort sacrifices were first ordained,
and how they were prophaned, and how the pope corrupteth the
sacraments of Christ._

At the first God manifested to our father _Adam_, by the prohibition of
the apple, that he would have man live under a lawe, in obedience and
submission; and not to wander like a beast without order or discipline.
And after man had transgressed, and deserved thereby Gods heavie
displeasure; yet his mercie prevailed; and taking compassion upon man,
he promised the Messias, who should be borne of a woman, and breake the
serpents head: declaring by evident testimonies, that his pleasure was
that man should be restored to favour and grace, through Christ: and
binding the minds of men to this promise, and to be fixed upon their
Messias, established figures and ceremonies wherewith to nourish their
faith, and confirmed the same with miracles, prohibiting and excluding
all mans devises in that behalfe. And upon his promise renewed, he
injoined (I say) and erected a new forme of worship, whereby he would
have his promises constantlie beheld, faithfullie beleeved, and
reverentlie regarded. He ordeined six sorts of divine sacrifices; three
propitiatorie, not as meriting remission of sinnes, but as figures of
Christs propitiation: the other three were of thanksgiving. These
sacrifices were full of ceremonies, they were powdered with consecrated
salt, and kindled with fier, which was preserved in the tabernacle of
the Lord: which fier (some thinke) was sent downe from heaven. GOD
himselfe commanded these rites and ceremonies to our forefathers,
_Noah_, _Abraham_, _Isaac_, _Jacob_, &c: promising therein both the
amplification of their families, and also their Messias. But in tract
of time (I saie) wantonnesse, negligence, and contempt, through the
instigation of the divell, abolished this institution of GOD: so as in
the end, God himselfe was forgotten among them, and they became pagans
& heathens, devising their owne waies, untill everie countrie had
devised and erected both new sacrifices, and also new gods particular
unto themselves. Whose example the pope followeth, in prophaning of
Christs sacraments, disguising them with his devises and superstitious
ceremonies; contriving and comprehending therein the follie of all
nations: the which bicause little children doo now perceive and scorne,
I will passe over; and returne to the Gentiles, whome I cannot excuse
of cousenage, superstition, nor yet of vanitie in this behalfe. For if
God suffered false prophets among the children of Israell, being Gods
peculiar people, and hypocrits in the church of Christ; no marvell if
there were such people amongst the heathen, which neither professed nor
knew him.

♦Gen. 2. 17.♦

♦Gen. 3. 6.♦

♦Gen. 3. 15.♦

♦Levit. 12. 3. &c.♦

♦A gird at the pope for his sawcinesse in Gods matters.♦

The xiii. Chapter.

_Of the objects whereupon the augurors used to prognosticate,
with certeine cautions and notes._

The Gentiles, which treat of this matter, repeat an innumerable
multitude of objects, whereupon they prognosticate good or bad lucke.
And a great matter is made of neezing, wherein the number of neezings
& the time therof is greatlie noted; the tingling in the finger, the
elbowe, the toe, the knee, &c: are singular notes also to be observed
in this art; though speciallie heerin are marked the flieng of fowles,
and meeting of beasts; with this generall caution, that the object
or matter whereon men divine, must be sudden and unlooked for: which
regard, children and some old fooles have to the gathering primrose,
true loves, and foure leaved grasse; Item the person unto whome such an
object offereth it selfe unawares; Item the intention of the divinor,
whereby the object which is met, is referred to augurie; Item the
houre in which the object is without foreknowledge upon the sudden met
withall; and so foorth.

_Plinie_ reporteth that griphes flie alwaies to the place of
slaughter, two or three daies before the battell is fought; which was
seene and tried at the battell of _Troie_: and in respect thereof, the
griph was allowed to be the cheefe bird of augurie. But among the
innumerable number of the portentous beasts, fowles, serpents, and
other creatures, the tode is the most excellent object, whose ouglie
deformitie signifieth sweete and amiable fortune: in respect whereof
some superstitious witches preserve todes for their familiars. And some
one of good credit (whome I could name) having convented the witches
themselves, hath starved diverse of their divels, which they kept in
boxes in the likenesse of todes.

♦_Plin. lib. natural. hist. 10. cap. 6._♦

♦_Arist. in auguriis._♦

_Plutarch Chironæus_ saith, that the place and site of the signes that
we receive by augurie, are speciallie to be noted: for if we receive
them on the left side, good lucke; if on the right side, ill lucke
insueth: bicause terrene and mortall things are opposite & contrarie to
divine and heavenlie things; for that which the gods deliver with the
right hand, falleth to our left side; and so contrariwise.

♦Plutarch doteth by his leave, for all his learning.♦

The xiiii. Chapter.

_The division of augurie, persons admittable into the colleges
of augurie, of their superstition._

The latter divinors in these mysteries, have divided their soothsaiengs
into twelve superstitions: as _Augustinus Niphus_ termeth them. The
first is prosperitie; the second, ill lucke, as when one goeth out
of his house, and seeth an unluckie beast lieng on the right side of
his waie; the third is destinie; the fourth is fortune; the fift is
ill hap, as when an infortunate beast feedeth on the right side of
your waie; the sixt is utilitie; the seventh is hurt; the eight is
called a cautell, as when a beast followeth one, and staieth at any
side, not passing beyond him, which is a signe of good lucke; the
ninth is infelicitie, and that is contrarie to the eight, as when the
beast passeth before one; the tenth is perfection; the eleventh is
imperfection; the twelfe is conclusiin.[*] Thus farre he.

♦_Aug. Niphus de auguriis, lib. 1._♦

♦[*] [_read_, —sion]♦

Among the _Romans_ none could be received into the college of augurors
that had a bile, or had beene bitten with a dog, &c: and at the
times of their exercise, even at noone daies, they lighted candels.
From whence the papists conveie unto their church, those points
of infidelitie. Finallie, their observations were so infinite and
ridiculous, that there flew not a sparkle out of the fier, but it
betokened somewhat.

♦Who were not admittable into the college of augurors among the Romans.♦

The xv. Chapter.

_Of the common peoples fond and superstitious collections and
observations._

Amongst us there be manie women, and effeminat men (marie papists
alwaies, as by their superstition may appeere) that make great
divinations upon the shedding of salt, wine, &c: and for the
observation of daies, and houres use as great [*]withcraft as in anie
thing. For if one chance to take a fall from a horsse, either in a
slipperie or stumbling waie, he will note the daie and houre, and count
that time unluckch[†] for a journie. Otherwise, he that receiveth a
mischance, wil consider whether he met not a cat, or a hare, when he
went first out of hfr[‡] doores in the morning; or stumbled not at
the threshhold at his going out; or put not on his shirt the wrong
side outwards; or his left shoo on his right foote, which _Augustus
Cæsar_ reputed for the woorst lucke that might befall. But above all
other nations (as _Martinus de Arles_ witnesseth) the _Spaniards_ are
most superstitious herein; & of _Spaine_, the people of the province
of _Lusitania_ is the most fond. For one will saie; I had a dreame
to night, or a crowe croked upon my house, or an owle flew by me and
screeched (which augurie _Lucius Silla_ tooke of his death) or a cocke
crew contrarie to his houre. Another saith; The moone is at the prime;
another, that the sun rose in a cloud and looked pale, or a starre shot
and shined in the aire, or a strange cat came into the house, or a hen
fell from the top of the house.

♦O vaine follie and foolish vanitie!♦

♦_Martin. de Arles in tract. de superst. contra maleficta._[§]
_Appian. de bello civili._♦

♦[*] [_read_, witch—]♦

♦[†] [_read_, —kie]♦

♦[‡] [_read_, his]♦

♦[§] [read, _—ficia_.]♦

♦Augurificall toies.♦

Many will go to bed againe, if they neeze before their shooes be on
their feet; some will hold fast their left thombe in their right hand
when they hickot; or else will hold their chinne with their right hand
whiles a gospell is soong. It is thought verie ill lucke of some, that
a child, or anie other living creature, should passe betweene two
friends as they walke togither; for they say it portendeth a division
of freendship. Among the papists themselves, if any hunters, as they
were a hunting, chanced to meet a frier or a preest; they thought it
so ill lucke, as they would couple up their hounds, and go home, being
in despaire of any further sport that daie. Marrie if they had used
venerie with a begger, they should win all the monie they plaied for
that daie at dice. The like follie is to be imputed unto them, that
observe (as true or probable) old verses, wherein can be no reasonable
cause of such effects; which are brought to passe onlie by Gods power,
and at his pleasure. Of this sort be these that follow:

_Vincenti festo si sol radiet memor esto,_

_Remember on S. Vincents daie,
If that the sunne his beames displaie._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

_Clara dies Pauli bona tempora denotat anni,_

_If Paule th’apostles daie be cleare,
It dooth foreshew a luckie yeare._

♦_By Ab. Fleming._♦

_Si sol splendescat Maria purificante,
Major erit glacies post festum quàm fuit ante,_

_If Maries purifieng daie,
Be cleare and bright with sunnie raie,
Then frost and cold shalbe much more,
After the feast than was before._

♦_By Ab. Fleming._♦

_Serò rubens cœlum cras indicat esse serenum,
Si manè rubescit, ventus vel pluvia crescit._

_The skie being red at evening,
Foreshewes a faire and cleare morning;
But if the morning riseth red,
Of wind or raine we shalbe sped._

♦_By Ab. Fleming._♦

Some sticke a needle or a buckle into a certeine tree, neere to the
cathedrall church of S. _Christopher_, or of some other saint; hoping
thereby to be delivered that yeare from the headach. Item maids
forsooth hang some of their haire before the image of S. _Urbane_,
bicause they would have the rest of their haire grow long and be
yellow. Item, women with child runne to church, and tie their girdles
or shoo latchets about a bell, and strike upon the same thrise,
thinking that the sound thereof hasteth their good deliverie. But
sithence these things beginne to touch the vanities and superstitions
of incantations, I will referre you thither, where you shall see of
that stuffe abundance; beginning at the word _Habar_.

♦Seeke more hereof in the word Habar.♦

The xvi. Chapter.

_How old writers varie about the matter, the maner and the meanes,
whereby things augurificall are mooved._

_Theophrastus_ and _Themistius_ affirme, that whatsoever happeneth
unto man suddenlie and by chance, commeth from the providence of God.
So as _Themistius_ gathereth, that men in that respect prophesie, when
they speake what commeth in their braine, upon the sudden; though not
knowing or understanding what they saie. And that seeing God hath a
care for us, it agreeth with reason (as _Theophrastus_ saith) that he
shew us by some meane whatsoever shall happen. For with _Pythagoras_ he
concludeth, that all foreshewes and auguries are the voices and words
of God, by the which he foretelleth man the good or evill that shall
beetide.

♦_Averroes. 12. metaphysic._♦

_Trismegistus_ affirmeth, that all augurificall things are mooved by
divels; _Porphyrie_ saith by gods, or rather good angels: according to
the opinion of _Plotinus_ and _Iamblichus_. Some other affirme they are
mooved by the moone wandering through the twelve signes of the Zodiake:
bicause the moone hath dominion in all sudden matters. The _Aegyptian_
astronomers hold, that the moone ordereth not those portentous matters,
but _Stella errans_, a wandering starre, &c.

The xvii. Chapter.

_How ridiculous an art augurie is, how Cato mocked it,
Aristotles reason against it, fond collections of augurors,
who allowed, and who disallowed it._

Verelie all these observations being neither grounded on Gods word,
nor physicall or philosophicall reason, are vanities, superstitions,
lies, and meere witchcraft; as whereby the world hath long time beene,
and is still abused and cousened. It is written; _Non est vestrum
scire tempora & momenta, &c_: It is not for you to knowe the times
and seasons, which the father hath put in his owne power. The most
godlie men and the wisest philosophers have given no credit hereunto.
S. _Augustine_ saith; _Qui his divinationibus credit, sciat se fidem
christianam & baptismum prævaricasse, & paganum Deiq; inimicum esse_.
One told _Cato_, that a rat had carried awaie and eaten his hose, which
the partie said was a woonderfull signe. Naie (said _Cato_) I thinke
not so; but if the hose had eaten the rat, that had beene a wonderfull
token indeed. When _Nonius_ told _Cicero_ that they should have good
successe in battell, bicause seven eagles were taken in _Pompeies_
campe, he answered thus; No doubt it will be even so, if that we chance
to fight with pies. In the like case also he answered _Labienus_, who
prophesied like successe by such divinations, saieng, that through the
hope of such toies, _Pompeie_ lost all his pavillions not long before.

♦The fond art of augurie convinced.♦

♦Acts. 1, 7.♦

What wiseman would thinke, that God would commit his counsell to a
dawe, an owle, a swine, or a tode; or that he would hide his secret
purposes in the doong and bowels of beasts? _Aristotle_ thus reasoneth;
Augurie or divinations are neither the causes nor effects of things
to come; _Ergo_, they doo not thereby foretell things trulie, but by
chance. As if I dreame that my freend will come to my house, and he
commeth indeed: yet neither dreame nor imagination is more the cause of
my freends comming, than the chattering of a pie.

♦_Arist. de somno._♦

When _Hanibal_ overthrew _Marcus Marcellus_, the beast sacrificed
wanted a peece of his hart; therefore forsooth _Marius_, when he
sacrificed at Utica, and the beast lacked his liver, he must needs
have the like successe. These are their collections, and as vaine, as
if they said that the building of _Tenderden_ steeple was the cause of
_Goodwine sands_, or the decaie of _Sandwich_ haven. _S. Augustine_
saith, that these observations are most superstitious. But we read in
the fourth psalme, a sentence which might dissuade anie christian from
this follie and impietie; O ye sonnes of men, how long will you turne
my glorie into shame, loving vanitie, and seeking lies? The like is
read in manie other places of scripture.

♦_August. lib. de doct. chri. 2. cap. 2._♦

♦Psal. 4, 2.♦

Of such as allow this follie, I can commend _Plinie_ best, who saith,
that the operation of these auguries is as we take them. For if we take
them in good part, they are signes of good lucke; if we take them in
ill part, ill lucke followeth; if we neglect them, and wey them not,
they doo neither good nor harme. _Thomas_ of _Aquine_ reasoneth in this
wise; The starres, whose course is certeine, have greater affinitie
and communitie with mans actions, than auguries; and yet our dooings
are neither directed nor proceed from the starres. Which thing also
_Ptolome_ witnesseth, saieng; _Sapiens dominabitur astris_, A wiseman
overruleth the starres.

♦_Plin. lib. natural. hist. 28. cap. 2._♦

♦_Tho Aquin. lib. de sortib._♦

The 18. Chapter.

_Fond distinctions of the heathen writers, concerning augurie._

The heathen made a distinction betweene divine, naturall, and casuall
auguries. Divine auguries were such, as men were made beleeve were
done miraculouslie, as when dogs spake; as at the expulsion of
_Tarquinius_ out of his kingdome; or when trees spake, as before the
death of _Cæsar_; or when horsses spake, as did a horsse, whose name
was _Zanthus_. Manie learned christians confesse, that such things
as may indeed have divine cause, may be called divine auguries; or
rather forewarnings of God, and tokens either of his blessings or
discontentation: as the starre was a token of a safe passage to the
magicians that sought Christ; so was the cockcrowing an augurie to
_Peter_ for his conversion. And manie such other divinations or
auguries (if it be lawfull so to terme them) are in the scriptures to
be found.

♦_C. Epidius._
_Homer. Iliad. 19._♦

The 19. Chapter.

_Of naturall and casuall augurie, the one allowed, and the
other disallowed._

Naturall augurie is a physicall or philosophicall observation; bicause
humane and naturall reason may be yeelded for such events: as if one
heare the cocke crow manie times together, a man may ghesse that
raine will followe shortlie; as by the crieng of rooks, and by their
extraordinarie using of their wings in their flight, bicause through a
naturall instinct, provoked by the impression of the heavenlie bodies,
they are mooved to know the times, according to the disposition of the
weather, as it is necessarie for their natures. And therefore _Jeremie_
saith; _Milvus in cœlo cognovit tempus suum_. The physician may argue
a strength towards in his patient, when he heareth him neeze twise,
which is a naturall cause to judge by, and conjecture upon. But sure
it is meere casuall, and also verie foolish and incredible, that by
two neezings, a man should be sure of good lucke or successe in his
businesse; or by meeting of a tode, a man should escape a danger, or
atchieve an enterprise, &c.

The xx. Chapter.

_A confutation of casuall augurie which is meere witchcraft,
and upon what uncertaintie those divinations are grounded._

What imagination worketh in man or woman, many leaves would not
comprehend; for as the qualities thereof are strange, and almost
incredible, so would the discourse thereof be long and tedious, wherof
I had occasion to speake elsewhere. But the power of our imagination
extendeth not to beasts, nor reacheth to birds, and therefore
perteineth not hereunto. Neither can the chance for the right or left
side be good or bad lucke in it selfe. Why should any occurrent or
augurie be good? Bicause it commeth out of that part of the heavens,
where the good or beneficiall stars are placed? By that reason, all
things should be good and happie that live on that side; but we see the
contrarie experience, and as commonlie as that.

The like absurditie and error is in them that credit those divinations;
bicause the starres, over the ninth house have dominion at the time of
augurie. If it should betoken good lucke, joy or gladnesse, to heare a
noise in the house, when the moone is in _Aries_: and contrariwise,
if it be a signe of ill lucke, sorrowe, or greefe for a beast to come
into the house, the moone being in the same signe: here might be found
a fowle error and contrarietie. And forsomuch as both may happen
at once, the rule must needs be false and ridiculous. And if there
were any certeine rules or notes to be gathered in these divinations;
the abuse therein is such, as the word of God must needs be verefied
therein; to wit, I will destroie the tokens of soothsaiers, and make
them that conjecture, fooles.

♦The vanitie of casuall augurie.♦

♦Isai. 44, 25.♦

The xxi. Chapter.

_That figure-casters are witches, the uncerteintie of their
art, and of their contradictions, Cornelius Agrippas sentence
against judiciall astrologie._

These casters of figures may bee numbred among the cousening witches,
whose practise is above their reach, their purpose to gaine, their
knowledge stolne from poets, their art uncerteine & full of vanitie,
more plainly derided in the scriptures, than any other follie. And
thereupon many other trifling vanities are rooted and grounded; as
physiognomie, palmestrie, interpreting of dreames, monsters, auguries,
&c: the professors whereof confesse this to be the necessarie key to
open the knowledge of all their secrets. For these fellowes erect a
figure of the heavens, by the exposition whereof (togither with the
conjectures of similitudes and signes) they seeke to find out the
meaning of the significators, attributing to them the ends of all
things, contrarie to truth, reason, and divinitie: their rules being so
inconstant, that few writers agree in the verie principles therof. For
the _Rabbins_, the old and new writers, and the verie best philosophers
dissent in the cheefe grounds thereof, differing in the proprietie of
the houses, whereout they wring the foretelling of things to come,
contending even about the number of spheres, being not yet resolved how
to erect the beginnings and endes of the houses: for _Ptolomie_ maketh
them after one sort, _Campanus_ after another, &c.

♦The vaine and trifling trickes of figure-casters.♦

And as _Alpetragus_ thinketh, that there be in the heavens diverse
movings as yet to men unknowne, so doo others affirme (not without
probabilitie) that there maie be starres and bodies, to whome these
movings maie accord, which cannot be seene, either through their
exceeding highnes, or that hitherto are not tried with anie observation
of the art. The true motion of _Mars_ is not yet perceived, neither
is it possible to find out the true entring of the sunne into the
equinoctiall points. It is not denied, that the astronomers themselves
have received their light, and their verie art from poets, without
whose fables the twelve signes and the northerlie and southerlie
figures had never ascended into heaven. And yet (as _C. Agrippa_ saith)
astrologers doo live, cousen men, and game by these fables; whiles the
poets, which are the inventors of them, doo live in beggerie.

♦_Johan. Montiregius in epistola ad Blanchimē:_♦

♦_& Gulielmus de sancto Clodoald._
_Rabbi Levi._
_C. Agrip. in lib. de vanit. scient._
_Archelaus._
_Cassander._
_Eudoxus, &c._♦

The verie skilfullest mathematicians confesse, that it is unpossible to
find out anie certeine thing concerning the knowledge of judgements, as
well for the innumerable causes which worke togither with the heavens,
being all togither, and one with the other to be considered: as also
bicause influencies doo not constraine but incline. For manie ordinarie
and extraordinarie occasions doo interrupt them; as education, custome,
place, honestie, birth, bloud, sicknesse, health, strength, weakenes,
meate, drinke, libertie of mind, learning, &c. And they that have
written the rules of judgement, and agree neerest therein, being of
equall authoritie and learning, publish so contrarie opinions upon
one thing, that it is unpossible for an astrologian to pronounce a
certeintie upon so variable opinions; & otherwise, upon so uncerteine
reports no man is able to judge herein. So as (according to _Ptolomie_)
the foreknowledge of things to come by the starres, dependeth as
well upon the affections of the mind, as upon the observation of the
planets, proceeding rather from chance than art, as whereby they
deceive others, and are deceived themselves also.

The xxii Chapter.

_The subtiltie of astrologers to mainteine the credit of their
art, why they remaine in credit, certeine impieties conteined
in astrologers assertions._

If you marke the cunning ones, you shall see them speake darkelie
of things to come, devising by artificiall subtiltie, doubtfull
prognostications, easilie to be applied to everie thing, time, prince,
and nation: and if anie thing come to passe according to their
divinations, they fortifie their old prognostications with new reasons.
Nevertheles, in the multitude and varietie of starres, yea even in
the verie middest of them, they find out some places in a good aspect,
and some in an ill; and take occasion hereupon to saie what they list,
promising unto some men honor, long life, wealth, victorie, children,
marriage, freends, offices; & finallie everlasting felicitie. But if
with anie they be discontent, they saie the starres be not favourable
to them, and threaten them with hanging, drowning, beggerie, sickenes,
misfortune, &c. And if one of these prognostications fall out right,
then they triumph above measure. If the prognosticators be found to
forge and lie alwaies (without such fortune as the blind man had in
killing the crow) they will excuse the matter, saieng, that _Sapiens
dominatur astris_, wheras (according to _Agrippas_ words) neither the
wiseman ruleth the starres, nor the starres the wiseman, but God ruleth
them both. _Corn. Tacitus_ saith, that they are a people disloiall to
princes, deceiving them that beleeve them. And _Varro_ saith, that the
vanitie of all superstitions floweth out of the bosome of astrologie.
And if our life & fortune depend not on the starres, then it is to be
granted, that the astrologers seeke where nothing is to be found. But
we are so fond, mistrustfull & credulous, that we feare more the fables
of Robin good fellow; astrologers, & witches, & beleeve more the things
that are not, than the things that are. And the more unpossible a thing
is, the more we stand in feare thereof; and the lesse likelie to be
true, the more we beleeve it. And if we were not such, I thinke with
_Cornelius Agrippa_, that these divinors, astrologers, conjurors, and
cousenors would die for hunger.

♦Astrologers prognostications are like the answers of oracles.♦

And our foolish light beleefe, forgetting things past, neglecting
things present, and verie hastie to know things to come, doth so
comfort and mainteine these cousenors; that whereas in other men, for
making one lie, the faith of him that speaketh is so much mistrusted,
that all the residue being true is not regarded. Contrariwise, in these
cousenages among our divinors, one truth spoken by hap giveth such
credit to all their lies, that ever after we beleeve whatsoever they
saie; how incredible, impossible or false soever it be. Sir _Thomas
Moore_ saith, they know not who are in their owne chambers, neither
who maketh themselves cuckoldes that take upon them all this cunning,
knowledge, and great foresight. But to enlarge their credit, or rather
to manifest their impudencie, they saie the gift of prophesie, the
force of religion, the secrets of conscience, the power of divels,
the vertue of miracles, the efficacie of praiers, the state of the
life to come, &c: doth onlie depend upon the starres, and is given and
knowne by them alone. For they saie, that when the signe of _Gemini_
is ascended, and _Saturne_ and _Mercurie_ be joined in _Aquarie_,
in the ninth house of the heavens, there is a prophet borne: and
therefore that Christ had so manie vertues, bicause he had in that
place _Saturne_ and _Gemini_. Yea these Astrologers doo not sticke to
saie, that the starres distribute all sortes of religions: wherein
_Jupiter_ is the especiall patrone, who being joined with _Saturne_,
maketh the religion of the Jewes; with _Mercurie_, of the Christians;
with the Moone, of Anti-christianitie. Yea they affirme that the faith
of everie man maie be knowne to them as well as to God. And that Christ
himselfe did use the election of houres in his miracles; so as the
Jewes could not hurt him whilest he went to _Jerusalem_, and therefore
that [*]the said to his disciples that forbad him to go; Are there not
twelve houres in the daie?

♦S. Thomas Moores frumpe at judiciall astrologers.♦

♦Astrologicall blasphemies.♦

♦[*] [_read_, he.]♦

♦Joh. 11. 8. & 9.♦

The xxiii. Chapter.

_Who have power to drive awaie divels with their onelie
presence, who shall receive of God whatsoever they aske in
praier, who shall obteine everlasting life by meanes of
constellations, as nativitie-casters affirme._

They saie also, that he which hath _Mars_ happilie placed in the ninth
house of the heavens, shall have power to drive awaie divels with
his onelie presence from them that be possessed. And he that shall
praie to God, when he findeth the Moone and _Jupiter_ joined with the
dragons head in the middest of the heavens, shall obteine whatsoever
he asketh: and that _Jupiter_ and _Saturne_ doo give blessednes of
the life to come. But if anie in his nativitie shall have _Saturne_
happilie placed in _Leone_, his soule shall have everlasting life. And
hereunto subscribe _Peter de Appona_, _Roger Bacon_, _Guido Bonatus_,
_Arnold de villa nova_, and the Cardinall of _Alia_. Furthermore, the
providence of God is denied, and the miracles of Christ are diminished,
when these powers of the heavens and their influencies are in such
sort advanced. _Moses_, _Esaie_, _Job_ and _Jeremie_, seeme to dislike
and reject it: and at _Rome_ in times past it was banished, and by
_Justinian_ condemmed under paine of death. Finallie, _Seneca_ derideth
these soothsaieng witches in this sort; Amongst the _Cleones_ (saith
he) there was a custome, that the χαλαζοφύλακες (which were gazers in
the aier, watching when a storme of haile should fall) when they sawe
by anie cloud that the shower was imminent and at hand; the use was
(I saie) bicause of the hurt which it might doo to their vines, &c:
diligentlie to warne the people thereof; who used not to provide clokes
or anie such defense against it, but provided sacrifices; the rich,
cockes and white lambes; the poore would spoile themselves by cutting
their thombes; as though (saith he) that little bloud could ascend up
to the cloudes, and doo anie good there for their releefe in this
matter.

♦The follie of our genethliaks, or nativiti-casters.♦

♦_Senec. lib. de quæst. natural. 4._♦

And here by the waie, I will impart unto you a _Venetian_ superstition,
of great antiquitie, and at this daie (for ought I can read to the
contrarie) in use. It is written, that everie yeere ordinarilie upon
ascension daie, the Duke of _Venice_, accompanied with the States,
goeth with great solemnitie unto the sea, and after certeine ceremonies
ended, casteth thereinto a gold ring of great value and estimation for
a pacificatorie oblation: wherewithall their predecessors supposed
that the wrath of the sea was asswaged. By this action, as a late
writer saith, they doo _Desponsare sibi mare_, that is, espouse the sea
unto themselves, &c.

♦_Hilarius Pirkmair in arte apodemica._♦

♦_Joannes Garropius in Venet. & Hyperb._♦

Let us therefore, according to the prophets advise, aske raine of the
Lord in the houres of the latter time, and he shall send white cloudes,
and give us raine &c: for surelie, the idols (as the same prophet
saith) have spoken vanitie, the soothsaiers have seene a lie, and the
dreamers have told a vaine thing. They comfort in vaine, and therefore
they went awaie like sheepe, &c. If anie sheepebiter or witchmonger
will follow them, they shall go alone for me.

♦Zach. 10. 1. verse 2.♦

¶ _The twelfe Booke._

The first Chapter.

_The Hebrue word Habar expounded, where also the supposed
secret force of charmes and inchantments is shewed, and the
efficacie of words is diverse waies declared._

This Hebrue word _Habar_, being in Greeke _Epathin_, and in Latine
_Incantare_, is in English, To inchant, or (if you had rather have it
so) to bewitch. In these inchantments, certeine wordes, verses, or
charmes, &c: are secretlie uttered, wherein there is thought to be
miraculous efficacie. There is great varietie hereof: but whether it be
by charmes, voices, images, characters, stones, plants, metals, herbes,
&c: there must herewithall a speciall forme of words be alwaies used,
either divine, diabolicall, insensible, or papisticall, whereupon all
the vertue of the worke is supposed to depend. This word is speciallie
used in the 58. psalme, which place though it be taken up for mine
adversaries strongest argument against me; yet me thinkes it maketh so
with me, as they can never be able to answer it. For there it plainelie
appeareth, that the adder heareth not the voice of the charmer, charme
he never so cunninglie: contrarie to the poets fabling,

♦Psal. 58.♦

♦Psal. 58. 4. 5.♦

_Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis._

♦_Virgil. in Damone._♦

_The coldish snake in medowes greene,
With charmes is burst in peeces cleene._

♦_By Ab. Fleming._♦

But hereof more shall be said hereafter in due place.

I grant that words sometimes have singular vertue and efficacie,
either in persuasion or disuasion, as also diverse other waies; so as
thereby some are converted from the waie of perdition, to the estate of
salvation: and so contrariwise, according to the saieng of _Solomon_;
Death and life are in the instrument of the toong: but even therein
God worketh all in all, as well in framing the heart of the one, as in
directing the toong of the other: as appeareth in manie places of the
holie scriptures.

♦Prover. 18.
Chron. 30.
Psal. 10.
Psal. 51.
Psal. 139.
Jerem. 32.
Isai. 6.
Isai. 50.
Exod. 7. 8. 9.
Prov. 16.♦

The second Chapter.

_What is forbidden in scriptures concerning witchcraft, of the
operation of words, the superstition of the Cabalists and
papists, who createth substances, to imitate God in some
cases is presumption, words of sanctification._

That which is forbidden in the scriptures touching inchantment or witch
craft, is not the wonderfull working with words. For where words
have had miraculous operation, there hath beene alwaies the speciall
providence, power and grace of God uttered to the strengthening of
the faith of Gods people, and to the furtherance of the gospell: as
when the apostle with a word slue _Ananias_ and _Saphira_. But the
prophanation of Gods name, the seducing, abusing, and cousening of
the people, and mans presumption is hereby prohibited, as whereby
manie take upon them after the recitall of such names, as God in the
scripture seemeth to appropriate to himselfe, to foreshew things to
come, to worke miracles, to detect fellonies, &c: as the Cabalists in
times past tooke upon them, by the ten names of God, and his angels,
expressed in the scriptures, to worke woonders: and as the papists
at this daie by the like names, by crosses, by gospels hanged about
their necks, by masses, by exorcismes, by holie water, and a thousand
consecrated or rather execrated things, promise unto themselves and
others, both health of bodie and soule.

♦Acts. 5.♦

But as herein we are not to imitate the papists, so in such things,
as are the peculiar actions of God, we ought not to take upon us to
counterfet, or resemble him, which with his word created all things.
For we, neither all the conjurors, Cabalists, papists, soothsaiers,
inchanters, witches, nor charmers in the world, neither anie other
humane or yet diabolicall cunning can adde anie such strength to Gods
workmanship, as to make anie thing anew, or else to exchange one thing
into another. New qualities may be added by humane art, but no new
substance can be made or created by man. And seeing that art faileth
herein, doubtles neither the illusions of divels, nor the cunning of
witches, can bring anie such thing truelie to passe. For by the sound
of the words nothing commeth, nothing goeth, otherwise than God in
nature hath ordeined to be doone by ordinarie speech, or else by his
speciall ordinance. Indeed words of sanctification are necessarie
and commendable, according to S. _Paules_ rule; Let your meat be
sanctified with the word of God, and by praier. But sanctification
dooth not here signifie either change of substance of the meate, or
the adding of anie new strength thereunto; but it is sanctified, in
that it is received with thanksgiving and praier; that our bodies may
be refreshed, and our soule thereby made the apter to glorifie God.

♦Jonas. 1.♦

♦Words of sanctification, and wherein they consist.♦

The third Chapter.

_What effect and offense witches charmes bring, how unapt
witches are, and how unlikelie to worke those things which
they are thought to doo, what would followe if those things
were true which are laid to their charge._

The words and other the illusions of witches, charmers, and conjurors,
though they be not such in operation and effect, as they are commonlie
taken to be: yet they are offensive to the majestie and name of God,
obscuring the truth of divinitie, & also of philosophie. For if God
onlie give life & being to all creatures, who can put any such vertue
or livelie feeling into a body of gold, silver, bread, or wax, as is
imagined? If either preests, divels, or witches could so doo, the
divine power shuld be checked & outfaced by magicall cunning, & Gods
creatures made servile to a witches pleasure. What is not to be brought
to passe by these incantations, if that be true which is attributed
to witches? & yet they are women that never went to schoole in their
lives, nor had any teachers: and therefore without art or learning;
poore, and therefore not able to make any provision of metal or stones,
&c: whereby to bring to passe strange matters, by naturall magicke;
old and stiffe, and therefore not nimble handed to deceive your eie
with legierdemaine; heavie, and commonlie lame, and therefore unapt
to flie in the aire, or to danse with the fairies; sad, melancholike,
sullen, and miserable, and therefore it should be unto them (_Invita
Minerva_) to banket or danse with _Minerva_; or yet with _Herodias_, as
the common opinion of all writers heerein is. On the other side, we see
they are so malicious and spitefull, that if they by themselves, or by
their divels, could trouble the elements, we should never have faire
weather. If they could kill men, children, or cattell, they would spare
none; but would destroy and kill whole countries and housholds. If they
could transfer corne (as is affirmed) from their neighbors field into
their owne, none of them would be poore, none other should be rich. If
they could transforme themselves and others (as it is most constantlie
affirmed) oh what a number of apes and owles should there be of us! If
_Incubus_ could beget _Merlins_ among us, we should have a jollie manie
of cold prophets.

♦An ample description of women commonlie called witches.♦

The fourth Chapter.

_Why God forbad the practise of witchcraft, the absurditie of
the lawe of the twelve tables, whereupon their estimation in
miraculous actions is grounded, of their woonderous works._

Though it be apparent, that the Holie-ghost forbiddeth this art,
bicause of the abuse of the name of God, and the cousenage comprehended
therein: yet I confesse, the customes and lawes almost of all nations
doo declare, that all these miraculous works, before by me cited, and
many other things more woonderfull, were attributed to the power of
witches. The which lawes, with the executions and judicials thereupon,
and the witches confessions, have beguiled almost the whole world.
What absurdities concerning witchcraft, are written in the law of
the twelve tables, which was the highest and most ancient law of the
_Romans_? Whereupon the strongest argument of witches omnipotent
power is framed; as that the wisedome of such lawgivers could not be
abused. Whereof (me thinks) might be made a more strong argument on
our side; to wit, If the cheefe and principall lawes of the world be
in this case ridiculous, vaine, false, incredible, yea and contrarie
to Gods lawe; the residue of the lawes and arguments to that effect,
are to be suspected. If that argument should hold, it might proove all
the popish lawes against protestants, & the heathenish princes lawes
against christians, to be good and in force: for it is like they would
not have made them, except they had beene good. Were it not (thinke
you) a strange proclamation, that no man (upon paine of death) should
pull the moone out of heaven? And yet verie many of the most learned
witchmongers make their arguments upon weaker grounds; as namelie in
this forme and maner; We find in poets, that witches wrought such and
such miracles; _Ergo_ they can accomplish and doo this or that wonder.
The words of the lawe are these; _Qui fruges incantasset pœnas dato,
Néve alienam segetem pellexeris excantando, neq́; incantando, Ne
agrum defruganto_: the sense wherof in English is this; Let him be
executed that bewitcheth corne, Transferre not other mens corne into
thy ground by inchantment, Take heede thou inchant not at all neither
make thy neighbors field barren: he that dooth these things shall die,
&c.

♦A common and universall error.♦

♦_J. Bodinus._
_Danæus._
_Hyperius._
_Heming._
_Bar. Spineus_[*]
_Mal. Malef._♦

♦[*] _Spinæus._♦

The fift Chapter.

_An instance of one arreigned upon the lawe of the twelve
tables, whereby the said lawe is proved ridiculous, of two
witches that could doo woonders._

Although among us, we thinke them bewitched that wax suddenlie poore,
and not them that growe hastilie rich; yet at _Rome_ you shall
understand, that (as _Plinie_ reporteth) upon these articles one _C.
Furius Cressus_ was convented before _Spurius Albinus_; for that he
being but a little while free, and delivered from bondage, occupieng
onelie tillage; grew rich on the sudden, as having good crops: so as
it was suspected that he transferred his neighbors corne into his
fields. None intercession, no delaie, none excuse, no deniall would
serve, neither in jest nor derision, nor yet through sober or honest
meanes: but he was assigned a peremptorie daie, to answer for life. And
therefore fearing the sentence of condemnation, which was to be given
there, by the voice and verdict of three men (as we heere are tried by
twelve) made his appearance at the daie assigned, and brought with him
his ploughs and harrowes, spades and shovels, and other instruments of
husbandrie, his oxen, horsses, and working bullocks, his servants, and
also his daughter, which was a sturdie wench and a good huswife, and
also (as _Piso_ reporteth) well trimmed up in apparell, and said to the
whole bench in this wise; Lo heere my lords I make mine appearance,
according to my promise and your pleasures, presenting unto you my
charmes and witchcrafts, which have so inriched me. As for the labour,
sweat, watching, care, and diligence, which I have used in this
behalfe, I cannot shew you them at this time. And by this meanes he
was dismissed by the consent of that court, who otherwise (as it was
thought) should hardly have escaped the sentence of condemnation, and
punishment of death.

♦A notable purgation of C. F. C. convented for a witch.♦

It is constantlie affirmed in _M. Mal._ that _Stafus_ used alwaies to
hide himselfe in a [*]monshoall, and had a disciple called _Hoppo_,
who made _Stadlin_ a maister witch, and could all when they list
invisiblie transferre the third part of their neighbours doong, hay,
corne, &c: into theire owne ground, make haile, tempests, and flouds,
with thunder and lightning; and kill children, cattell, &c: reveale
things hidden, and many other tricks, when and where they list. But
these two shifted not so well with the inquisitors, as the other with
the _Romane_ and heathen judges. Howbeit, _Stafus_ was too hard for
them all: for none of all the lawiers nor inquisitors could bring him
to appeere before them, if it be true that witchmongers write in these
matters.

♦_Mal. malef. par. 2. quæ. 1. cap. 5._♦

♦[*] [moushoall]♦

The sixt Chapter.

_Lawes provided for the punishment of such witches as worke
miracles, whereof some are mentioned, and of certeine popish
lawes published against them._

There are other lawes of other nations made to this incredible effect:
as _Lex Salicarum_ provideth punishment for them that flie in the aire
from place to place, and meete at their nightlie assemblies, and brave
bankets, carrieng with them plate, and such stuffe, &c: even as we
should make a lawe to hang him that should take a church in his hand
at _Dover_, and throwe it to _Callice_. And bicause in this case also
popish lawes shall be seene to be as foolish and lewd as any other
whatsoever, and speciallie as tyrannous as that which is most cruell:
you shall heare what trim new lawes the church of _Rome_ hath latelie
devised. These are therefore the words of pope _Innocent_ the eight to
the inquisitors of _Almanie_, and of pope _Julius_ the second, sent
to the inquisitors of _Bergomen_. It is come to our eares, that manie
lewd persons, of both kinds, as well male as female, using the companie
of the divels _Incubus_ and _Succubus_, with incantations, charmes,
conjurations, &c: doo destroie, &c: the births of women with child, the
yoong of all cattell, the corne of the feeld, the grapes of the vines,
the frute of the trees: Item, men, women, and all kind of cattell and
beasts of the feeld: and with their said inchantments, &c: doo utterlie
extinguish, suffocate, and spoile all vineyards, ortchards, medowes,
pastures, grasse, greene corne, and ripe corne, and all other podware:
yea men and women themselves are by their imprecations so afflicted
with externall and inward paines and diseases, that men cannot beeget,
nor women bring foorth anie children, nor yet accomplish the dutie of
wedlocke, denieng the faith which they in baptisme professed, to the
destruction of their owne soules, &c. Our pleasure therefore is, that
all impediments that maie hinder the inquisitors office, be utterlie
removed from among the people, least this blot of heresie proceed to
poison and defile them that be yet innocent. And therefore we doo
ordeine, by vertue of the apostolicall authoritie, that our inquisitors
of high _Almanie_, maie execute the office of inquisition by all
tortures and afflictions, in all places, and upon all persons, what
and wheresoever, as well in everie place and diocesse, as upon anie
person; and that as freelie, as though they were named, expressed, or
cited in this our commission.

♦Punishmēt of impossibilities.♦

♦A wise lawe of pope Innocent and Julie, were it not that they wanted
wit when they made it.♦

The seventh Chapter.

_Poetical authorities commonlie alleaged by witchmongers,
for the proofe of witches miraculous actions, and for
confirmation of their supernaturall power._

Here have I place and oportunitie, to discover the whole art of
witchcraft; even all their charmes, periapts, characters, amulets,
praiers, blessings, curssings, hurtings, helpings, knaveries,
cousenages, &c. But first I will shew what authorities are produced to
defend and mainteine the same, and that in serious sort, by _Bodin_,
_Spinæus_, _Hemingius_, _Vairus_, _Danæus_, _Hyperius_: _M. Mal._ and
the rest.

_Carmina vel cœlo possunt deducere lunam,
Carminibus Circe socios mut avit[*] Ulyssis,
Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis:_

♦_Virg. eclog. 8._♦

♦[*] [_mutavit_]♦

_Inchantments plucke out of the skie,
The moone, though she be plaste on hie:
Dame Circes with hir charmes so fine,
Ulysses mates did turne to swine:
The snake with charmes is burst in twaine,
In medowes, where she dooth remaine._

_Againe out of the same poet they cite further matter._

_Has herbas, atq́; hæc Ponto mihi lecta venena,
Ipsa dedit Mæris: nascuntur plurima Ponto.
His ego sæpè lupam fieri, & se condere sylvis,
Mærim sæpe animas imis exire sepulchris,
Atq́; satas aliò vidi traducere messes._

♦_Virg. eclog. 8._♦

_These herbs did Meris give to me,
And poisons pluckt at Pontus,
For there they growe and multiplie,
And doo not so amongst us.
With these she made hir selfe become,
A wolfe, and hid hir in the wood,
She fetcht up soules out of their toome,
Remooving corne from where it stood._

_Furthermore out of Ovid they alledge these folowing._

_Nocte volant, puerósq; petunt nutricis egentes,
Et vitiant cunis corpora capta suis:
Carpere dicuntur lactentia viscera rostris,
Et plenumpotu[*] sanguine gutur habent:_

♦_Ovid. fast. 6._♦

♦[*] [_plenum potu_]♦

_To children they doo flie by night,
And catch them while their nursses sleepe,
And spoile their little bodies quite,
And home they beare them in their beake._

_Againe out of Virgill in forme following._

_Hinc mihi Massylæ gentis monstrata sacerdos,
Hesperidum templi custos, epulásq; draconi
Quæ dabat, & sacros servabat in arbore ramos,
Spargens humida mella, soporiferúmq; papaver.
Hæc se carminibus promittit solvere mentes,
Quas velit, ast aliis dur as[*] immittere curas,
Sistere aquam fluviis, & vertere sidera retrò,
Nocturnósq; ciet manes, mugire videbis
Sub pedibus terram, & descendere montibus ornos:_

♦_Virg. Aene. 4._♦

♦[*] [duras]♦

_From thence a virgine preest is come,
from out Massyla land,
Sometimes the temple there she kept,
and from hir heavenlie hand
The dragon meate did take: she kept
also the frute divine,
With herbes and liquors sweete that still
to sleepe did men incline.
The minds of men (she saith) from love
with charmes she can unbind,
In whom she list: but others can
she cast to cares unkind.
The running streames doo stand, and from
their course the starres doo wreath,
And soules she conjure can: thou shalt
see sister underneath
The ground with roring gape, and trees
and mountaines turne upright, &c._

♦_Tho. Phaiers translation of the former words of Virg._♦

_Moreover out of Ovid they alledge as followeth._

♦_Ovid. metamor. 7._♦

_Cùm volui ripis ipsis mirantibus amnes
Infontes[*] rediere suos, concússaq́; sisto,_

♦[*] [_In fontes_]♦

_Stantia concutio, cantu freta nubila pello,
Nubiláq; ìnduco, ventos abigóq; vocóq;,
Vipereas rumpo verbis & carmine fauces,
Viváque saxa, sua convulsáque robora terra,
Et sylvas moveo, jubeóque tremescere montes,
Et mugire solum, manésque exire sepulchris,
Téque luna traho, &c:_

_The rivers I can make retire,
Into the fountaines whence they flo,
(Whereat the banks themselves admire)
I can make standing waters go,
With charmes I drive both sea and clowd,
I make it calme and blowe alowd.
The vipers jawes, the rockie stone,
With words and charmes I breake in twaine
The force of earth congeald in one,
I moove and shake both woods and plaine;
I make the soules of men arise,
I pull the moone out of the skies._

_Also out of the same poet._

_Virbáque ter dixit placidos facientia somnos,
Quæ mare turbatum, quæ flumina concita sistant:_

♦_Ovid. de Medea._♦

_And thrise she spake the words that causd
Sweete sleepe and quiet rest,
She staid the raging of the sea,
And mightie flouds supprest._

_Et miserum tenues in jecur urget acus,_

♦_Ovid. de Medea, epistola. 4._♦

_She sticketh also needels fine
In livers, whereby men doo pine._

_Also out of other poets._

♦_3. Amor. Eclog. 6._♦

_Carmine læsa Ceres, sterilem vanescit in herbam,
Deficiunt læsi carmine fontis aquæ,
Illicibus glandes, cantatáque vitibus uva
Decidit, & nullo poma movente fluunt:_

_With charmes the corne is spoiled so,
As that it vades to barren gras,
With charmes the springs are dried lowe,
That none can see where water was,_
_The grapes from vines, the mast from okes,
And beats downe frute with charming strokes._

_Quæ sidera excantata voce Thessala
Lunámque cœlo diripit:_

♦_Horac.[*] epod. 5_♦

♦[*] [_Horat_]♦

_She plucks downe moone and starres from skie,
With chaunting voice of Thessalie._

_Hanc ego de cœlo ducentem sidera vidi,
Fluminis ac rapidi carmine vertit iter,
Hæc cantu findítque solum, manésque sepulchris
Elicit, & tepido devorat ossa rogo:
Cùm lubet hæc tristi depellit lumina cœlo,
Cùm lubet æstivo convocat orbe nives:_

♦_Tibul. de fascinatrice, lib. 1. Eleg. 2._♦

_She plucks each star out of his throne,
And turneth backe the raging waves,
With charmes she makes the earth to cone,
And raiseth soules out of their graves:
She burnes mens bones as with a fire,
And pulleth downe the lights from heaven,
And makes it snowe at hir desire
Even in the midst of summer season._

_Mens hausti nulla sanie polluta veneni,
Incantata perit:_

♦_Lucan. lib. de bello civili. 6._♦

_A man inchanted runneth mad,
That never anie poison had._

_Cessavere vices rerum, dilatáque longa
Hæsit nocte dies, legi non paruit æther,
Torpuit & præceps audito carmine mundus:_

♦_Idem. Ibid._♦

_The course of nature ceased quite,
The aire obeied not his lawe,
The daie delaid by length of night,
Which made both daie and night to yawe;
And all was through that charming geare,
Which causd the world to quake for feare._

_Carmine Thessalidum dura in præcordia fluxit,
Non fatis adductus amor, flammísque severi
Illicitis arsere ignes:_

♦_Idem. Ibid._♦

_With Thessall charmes, and not by fate
Hot love is forced for to flowe,
Even where before hath beene debate,
They cause affection for to growe._

_Gens invisa diis maculandi callida cœli,
Quos genuit terra, mali qui sidera mundi
Juráque fixarum possunt pervertere rerum:
Nam nunc stare polos, & flumina mittere norunt,
Aethera sub terras adigunt, montésque revellunt:_

♦_Idem. Ibid._♦

_These witches hatefull unto God,
And cunning to defile the aire,
Which can disorder with a nod
The course of nature everie where,
Doo cause the wandring starres to staie
And drive the winds beelow the ground,
They send the streames another waie,
And throwe downe hilles where they abound._

——————————————_linguis dixere volucrum,
Consultare fibras, & rumpere vocibus angues,
Solicitare umbras, ipsúmque Acheronta movere,
In noctémque dies, in lucem vertere noctes,
Omnia conando docilis solertia vincit:_

♦_C. Manilius astronom. suæ. lib. 1._♦

_They talked with the toongs of birds,
Consulting with the salt sea coasts,
They burst the snakes with witching words,
Solliciting the spirituall ghosts,
They turne the night into the daie,
And also drive the light awaie:
And what ist that cannot be made
By them that doo applie this trade?_

The eight Chapter.

_Poetrie and poperie compared in inchantments, popish witchmongers
have more advantage herein than protestants._

You see in these verses, the poets (whether in earnest or in jest I
know not) ascribe unto witches & to their charmes, more than is to be
found in humane or diabolicall power. I doubt not but the most part
of the readers hereof will admit them to be fabulous; although the
most learned of mine adversaries (for lacke of scripture) are faine to
produce these poetries for proofes, and for lacke of judgement I am
sure doo thinke, that _Actæons_ transformation was true. And why not?
As well as the metamorphosis or transubstantiation of _Ulysses_ his
companions into swine: which S. _Augustine_, and so manie great clarkes
credit and report.

♦_Ovid Metamorph. lib. 3. fab. 2._♦

♦_Ovid. Metamorph. 14. fab. 5, 6._♦

Neverthelesse, popish writers (I confesse) have advantage herein of
our protestants: for (besides these poeticall proofes) they have
(for advantage) the word and authoritie of the pope himselfe, and
others of that holie crue; whose charmes, conjurations, blessings,
curssings, &c: I meane in part (for a tast) to set downe; giving you
to understand, that poets are not altogither so impudent as papists
herein, neither seeme they so ignorant, prophane, or impious. And
therefore I will shew you how lowd also they lie, and what they on the
other side ascribe to their charmes and conjurations; and togither will
set downe with them all maner of witches charmes, as convenientlie as I
maie.

♦The authors transition to his purposed scope.♦

The ninth Chapter.

_Popish periapts, amulets and charmes, agnus Dei, a wastcote of
proofe, a charme for the falling evill, a writing brought to
S. Leo from heaven by an angell, the vertues of S. Saviors
epistle, a charme against theeves, a writing found in Christs
wounds, of the crosse, &c._

These vertues under these verses (written by pope _Urbane_ the fift
to the emperour of the _Græcians_) are conteined in a periapt or
tablet, to be continuallie worne about one, called _Agnus Dei_, which
is a little cake, having the picture of a lambe carrieng of a flag on
the one side; and Christs head on the other side, and is hollow: so
as the gospell of S. _John_, written in fine paper, is placed in the
concavitie thereof: and it is thus compounded or made, even as they
themselves report.

_Balsamus & munda cera, cum chrismatis unda
Conficiunt agnum, quod munus do tibi magnum,
Fonte velut natum, per mystica sanctificatum:
Fulgura desursum depellit, & omne malignum,
Peccatum frangit, ut Christi sanguis, & angit,
Prægnans servatur, simul & partus liberatur,
Dona refert dignis, virtutem destruit ignis,
Portatus mundè de fluctibus eripit undæ:_

_Balme, virgine wax, and holie water,
an Agnus Dei make:
A gift than which none can be greater,
I send thee for to take._
_From founteine cleere the same hath issue,
in secret sanctifide:
Gainst lightning it hath soveraigne vertue,
and thunder crackes beside.
Ech hainous sinne it weares and wasteth,
even as Christs precious blood,
And women, whiles their travell lasteth,
it saves, it is so good.
It doth bestow great gifts and graces,
on such as well deserve:
And borne about in noisome places,
from perill doth preserve.
The force of fire, whose heat destroieth,
it breaks and bringeth downe:
And he or she that this enjoieth,
no water shall them drowne._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

♦Looke in the Beehive of the Romish church. Lib. 4. cap. 1. fol. 243.♦

¶ _A charme against shot, or a wastcote of proofe._

Before the comming up of these _Agnus Deis_, a holie garment called
a wastcote for necessitie was much used of our forefathers, as a
holy relike, &c: as given by the pope, or some such archconjuror,
who promised thereby all manner of immunitie to the wearer thereof;
in somuch as he could not be hurt with anie shot or other violence.
And otherwise, that woman that would weare it, should have quicke
deliverance: the composition thereof was in this order following.

On Christmas daie at night, a threed must be sponne of flax, by a
little virgine girle, in the name of the divell: and it must be by
hir woven, and also wrought with the needle. In the brest or forepart
thereof must be made with needle worke two heads; on the head at the
right side must be a hat, and a long beard; the left head must have on
a crowne, and it must be so horrible, that it maie resemble Belzebub,
and on each side of the wastcote must be made a crosse.

♦The maner of making a wastecote of proofe.♦

¶ _Against the falling evill._

Moreover, this insuing is another counterfet charme of theirs, whereby
the falling evill is presentlie remedied.

_Gaspar fert myrrham, thus Melchior, Balthasar aurum,
Hæc tria qui secum portabit nomina regum,
Solvitur à morbo Christi pietate caduco._

_Gasper with his myrh beganne
these presents to unfold,
Then Melchior brought in frankincense,
and Balthasar brought in gold.
Now he that of these holie kings
the names about shall beare,
The falling yll by grace of Christ
shall never need to feare._

This is as true a copie of the holie writing, that was brought downe
from heaven by an angell to S. _Leo_ pope of _Rome_; & he did bid him
take it to king _Charles_, when he went to the battell at _Roncevall_.
And the angell said, that what man or woman beareth this writing about
them with good devotion, and saith everie daie three _Pater nosters_,
three _Aves_, and one _Creede_, shall not that daie be overcome of his
enimies, either bodilie or ghostlie; neither shalbe robbed or slaine of
theeves, pestilence, thunder, or lightening; neither shall be hurt with
fier or water, nor combred with spirits, neither shall have displeasure
of lords or ladies: he shall not be condemned with false witnesse, nor
taken with fairies, or anie maner of axes, nor yet with the falling
evill. Also, if a woman be in travell, laie this writing upō hir
bellie, she shall have easie deliverance, and the child right shape
and christendome, and the mother purification of holy church, and all
through vertue of these holie names of Jesus Christ following:

♦These effects are too good to be true in such a patched peece of
poperie.♦

_✠ Jesus ✠ Christus ✠ Messias ✠ Soter ✠ Emmanuel ✠ Sabbaoth ✠
Adonai ✠ Unigenitus ✠ Majestas ✠ Paracletus ✠ Salvator noster
✠ Agiros iskiros ✠ Agios ✠ Adanatos ✠ Gasper ✠ Melchior ✠ &
Balthasar ✠ Matthæus ✠ Marcus ✠ Lucas ✠ Johannes._

The epistle of S. _Savior_, which pope _Leo_ sent to king _Charles_,
saieng, that whosoever carrieth the same about him, or in what daie so
ever he shall read it, or shall see it, he shall not be killed with
anie iron toole, nor be burned with fier, nor be drowned with water,
neither anie evill man or other creature maie hurt him. The crosse of
Christ is a woonderfull defense ✠ the crosse of Christ be alwaies
with me ✠ the crosse is it which I doo alwaies worship ✠ the crosse
of Christ is true health ✠ the crosse of Christ dooth lose the bands
of death ✠ the crosse of Christ is the truth and the waie ✠ I take my
journie upon the crosse of the Lord ✠ the crosse of Christ beateth
downe everie evill ✠ the crosse of Christ giveth all good things ✠ the
crosse of Christ taketh awaie paines everlasting ✠ the crosse of Christ
save me ✠ O crosse of Christ be upon me, before me, and behind me ✠
bicause the ancient enimie cannot abide the sight of thee ✠ the crosse
of Christ save me, keepe me, governe me, and direct me ✠ Thomas bearing
this note of thy divine majestie ✠ Alpha ✠ Omega ✠ first ✠ and last ✠
middest ✠ and end ✠ beginning ✠ and first begotten ✠ wisedome ✠ vertue
✠.

¶ _A popish periapt or charme, which must never be said, but
carried about one, against theeves._

I doo go, and I doo come unto you with the love of God, with the
humilitie of Christ, with the holines of our blessed ladie, with the
faith of _Abraham_, with the justice of _Isaac_, with the vertue of
_David_, with the might of _Peter_, with the constancie of _Paule_,
with the word of God, with the authoritie of _Gregorie_, with the
praier of _Clement_, with the floud of _Jordan_, _ꝑ ꝑ p c g e
g a q q est p t 1 ka b g l k 2 a x t g t b am[*] g 2 4 2 1 q; p x c
g k q a 9 9 p o q q r_. Oh onelie Father ✠ oh onlie lord ✠ And Jesus ✠
passing through the middest of them ✠ went ✠ In the name of the Father
✠ and of the Sonne ✠ and of the Holie-ghost ✠.

♦[_ꝑ_ = _per_ or _par_]♦

♦[*] [_a m_ 2. ed.]♦

¶ _Another amulet._

_Joseph_ of _Arimathea_ did find this writing upon the wounds of the
side of Jesus Christ, written with Gods finger, when the bodie was
taken away frō the crosse. Whosoever shall carrie this writing about
him, shall not die anie evill death, if he beleeve in Christ, and in
all perplexities he shall soone be delivered, neither let him feare
any danger at all. _Fons ✠ alpha & omega ✠ figa ✠ figalis ✠ Sabbaoth
✠ Emmanuel ✠ Adonai ✠ o ✠ Neray ✠ Elay ✠ Ihe ✠ Rentone ✠ Neger ✠ Sahe
✠ Pangeton ✠ Commen ✠ a ✠ g ✠ l ✠ a ✠ Matthæus ✠ Marcus ✠ Lucas ✠
Johannes ✠ ✠ ✠ titulus triumphalis ✠ Jesus Nasarenus rex Judæorum ✠
ecce dominicæ crucis signum ✠ fugite partes adversæ, vicit leo de tribu
Judæ, radix, David, aleluijah, Kyrie eleeson, Christe eleeson, pater
noster, ave Maria, & ne nos, & veniat super nos salutare tuum: Oremus,
&c._[*]

♦[*] [From _Fons_ is in Rom. from _titulus_ in Ital.]♦

I find in a Primer intituled The houres of our Ladie, after the use of
the church of _Yorke_, printed anno 1516. a charme with this titling
in red letters; To all them that afore this image of pitie devoutlie
shall saie [*]five _Pater nosters_, five _Aves_, and one _Credo_,
pitiouslie beholding these armes of Christs passion, are granted
thirtie two thousand seven hundred fiftie five yeares of pardon. It
is to be thought that this pardon was granted in the time of pope
_Boniface_ the ninth; for _Platina_ saith that the pardons were sold so
cheape, that the apostolicall authoritie grew into contempt.

♦[*] If the party faile in the number, he may go whistle for a pardon.♦

¶ _A papisticall charme._

_Signum sanctæ crucis defendat me à malis præsentibus, præteritis, &
futuris, interioribus & exterioribus_: that is, The signe of the crosse
defend me from evils present, past, and to come, inward and outward.

¶ _A charme found in the canon of the masse._

Also this charme is found in the canon of the masse, _Hæc sacrosancta
commixtio corporis & sanguinis domini nostri Jesu Christi fiat mihi,
omnibúsque sumentibus, salus mentis & corporis, & ad vitam promerendam,
& capessendam, præparatio salutaris_: that is, Let this holie mixture
of the bodie and bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ, be unto me, and unto
all receivers thereof, health of mind and bodie, and to the deserving
and receiving of life an healthfull preparative.

¶ _Other papisticall charmes._

_Aqua benedicta, sit mihi salus & vita:_
_Let holie water be, both health and life to me._
_Adque nomen Martini omnis hæreticus fugiat pallidus,_
_When Martins name is soong or said,
Let heretikes flie as men dismaid._

♦_By Ab. Fleming._♦

But the papists have a harder charme than that; to wit, Fier and fagot,
Fier and fagot.

¶ _A charme of the holie crosse._

_Nulla salus est in domo,
Nisi cruce munit homo
Superliminaria.
Neque sentit gladium,
Nec amisit filium,
Quisquis egit talia._

_No health within the house dooth dwell,
Except a man doo crosse him well,
at everie doore or frame,
He never feeleth the swords point,
Nor of his sonne shall loose a joint,
that dooth performe the same._

_Furthermore as followeth._

_Ista suos fortiores
Semper facit, & victores,
Morbos sanat & languores,
Reprimit dæmonia.
Dat captivis libertatem,
Vitæ confert novitatem,
Ad antiquam dignitatem,
Crux reduxit omnia.
O Crux lignum triumphale,
Mundi vera salus vale,
Inter ligna nullum tale,
Fronde, flore, germine.
Medicina Christiana,
Salva sanos, ægros sana,
Quod non valet vis humana,
Fit in tuo nomine, &c._

♦_Sancta crux æquiparatur salutifero Christo. O blasphæmiam
inenarrabilem!_♦

_It makes hir souldiers excellent,
and crowneth them with victorie,
Restores the lame and impotent,
and healeth everie maladie.
The divels of hell it conquereth,
releaseth from imprisonment,
Newnesse of life it offereth,
it hath all at commandement.
O crosse of wood incomparable,
to all the world most holsome:
No wood is halfe so honourable,
in branch, in bud, or blossome.
O medcine which Christ did ordaine,
the sound save everie hower,
The sicke and sore make whole againe,
by vertue of thy power.
And that which mans unablenesse,
hath never comprehended,
Grant by thy name of holinesse,
it may be fullie ended, &c._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._ Looke in the Beehive of the Romish
church. lib. 4. cap. 3. fol. 251, 252.♦

¶ _A charme taken out of the Primer._

This charme following is taken out of the Primer aforesaid. _Omnipotens
✠ Dominus ✠ Christus ✠ Messias ✠_ with 34. names more, & as many
crosses, & then proceeds in this wise; _Ista nomina me protegant
ab omni adversitate, plaga, & infirmitate corporis & animæ, plenè
liberent, & assistent in auxilium ista nomina regum, Gasper, &c: & 12
apostoli (videlicet) Petrus, &c: & 4 evangelistæ (videlicet) Matthæus,
&c: mihi assistent in omnibus necessitatibus meis, ac me defendant
& liberent ab omnibus periculis & corporis & animæ, & omnibus malis
præteritis, præsentibus, & futuris, &c._

The tenth Chapter.

_How to make holie water, and the vertues therof. S. Rufins
charme, of the wearing and bearing of the name of Jesus, that
the sacrament of confession and the eucharist is of as much
efficacie as other charmes, & magnified by L. Vairus._

If I did well, I should shew you the confection of all their stuffe,
and how they prepare it; but it would be too long. And therefore you
shall onlie have in this place a few notes for the composition of
certeine receipts, which in stead of an Apothecarie if you deliver to
any morrowmasse preest, he will make them as well as the pope himselfe.
Marie now they wax everie parlement deerer and deerer; although
therewithall, they utter many stale drugs of their owne.

If you looke in the popish pontificall, you shall see how they make
their holie water; to wit, in this sort: I conjure thee thou creature
of water, in the name of the father, and of the sonne, & of the
Holie-ghost, that thou drive the divell out of everie corner and hole
of this church, and altar; so as he remaine not within our precincts
that are just and righteous. And water thus used (as _Durandus_ saith)
hath power of his owne nature to drive away divels. If you will learne
to make any more of this popish stuffe, you may go to the verie masse
booke, and find manie good receipts: marrie if you search _Durandus_,
&c; you shall find abundance.

♦_In ecclesiæ dedicatione._♦

♦_In rationali divinorum officiorum._♦

I know that all these charmes, and all these palterie confections
(though they were farre more impious and foolish) will be mainteined
and defended by massemongers, even as the residue will be by
witchmongers: and therefore I will in this place insert a charme,
the authoritie wherof is equall with the rest, desiring to have
their opinions herein. I find in a booke called _Pomœrium sermonum
quadragesimalium_, that S. _Francis_ seeing _Rufinus_ provoked of the
divell to thinke himselfe damned, charged Rufinus to saie this charme,
when he next met with the divell; _Aperi os, & ibi imponam stircus_,
which is as much to saie in English as, Open thy mouth and I will put
in a plumme: a verie ruffinlie charme.

♦_Pom. sermon. 32._♦

_Leonard Vairus writeth, De veris, piis, ac sanctis amuletis fascinum
atq́; omnia veneficia destruentibus_; wherein he speciallie
commendeth the name of Jesus to be worne. But the sacrament of
confession he extolleth above all things, saieng, that whereas Christ
with his power did but throwe divels out of mens bodies, the preest
driveth the divell out of mans soule by confession. For (saith he)
these words of the preest, when he saith, _Ego te absolvo_, are as
effectuall to drive awaie the princes of darknes, through the mightie
power of that saieng, as was the voice of God to drive awaie the
darknes of the world, when at the beginning he said, _Fiat lux_.
He commendeth also, as holesome things to drive awaie divels, the
sacrament of the eucharist, and solitarines, and silence. Finallie he
saith, that if there be added hereunto an _Agnus Dei_, and the same be
worne about ones necke by one void of sinne, nothing is wanting that is
good and holesome for this purpose. But he concludeth, that you must
weare and make dints in your forhead, with crossing your selfe when you
put on your shooes, and at everie other action, &c: and that is also a
present remedie to drive awaie divels, for they cannot abide it.

♦_L. Vairus. lib. de fascin. 3. cap. 10._♦

♦_Idem, ibid._♦

The eleventh Chapter.

_Of the noble balme used by Moses, apishlie counterfeited in
the church of Rome._

The noble balme that _Moses_ made, having indeed manie excellent
vertues, besides the pleasant and comfortable savour thereof;
wherewithall _Moses_ in his politike lawes enjoined kings, queenes,
and princes to be annointed in their true and lawfull elections and
coronations, untill the everlasting king had put on man upon him, is
apishlie counterfeited in the Romish church, with diverse terrible
conjurations, three breathings, crossewise, (able to make a quezie
stomach spue) nine mumblings, and three curtsies, saieng thereunto,
_Ave sanctum oleum, ter ave sanctum balsamum_. And so the divell is
thrust out, and the Holie-ghost let into his place. But as for _Moses_
his balme, it is not now to be found either in _Rome_ or elsewhere that
I can learne. And according to this papisticall order, witches, and
other superstitious people follow on, with charmes and conjurations
made in forme; which manie bad physicians also practise, when their
learning faileth, as maie appeare by example in the sequele.

The twelfe Chapter.

_The opinion of Ferrarius touching charmes, periapts,
appensions, amulets, &c. Of Homericall medicines, of constant
opinion, and the effects thereof._

_Argerius Ferrarius_, a physician in these daies of great account,
doth saie, that for somuch as by no diet nor physicke anie disease
can be so taken awaie or extinguished, but that certeine dregs and
relikes will remaine: therefore physicians use physicall alligations,
appensions, periapts, amulets, charmes, characters, &c, which he
supposeth maie doo good; but harme he is sure they can doo none:
urging that it is necessarie and expedient for a physician to leave
nothing undone that may be devised for his patients recoverie; and
that by such meanes manie great cures are done. He citeth a great
number of experiments out of _Alexander Trallianus_, _Aetius_,
_Octavianus_, _Marcellus_, _Philodotus_, _Archigines_, _Philostratus_,
_Plinie_, and _Dioscorides_; and would make men beleeve that _Galen_
(who in truth despised and derided all those vanities) recanted in
his latter daies his former opinion, and all his invectives tending
against these magicall cures: writing also a booke intituled _De
Homerica medicatione_, which no man could ever see, but one _Alexander
Trallianus_, who saith he saw it: and further affirmeth, that it is
an honest mans part to cure the sicke, by hooke or by crooke, or by
anie meanes whatsoever. Yea he saith that _Galen_ (who indeed wrote
and taught that _Incantamenta sunt muliercularum figmenta_, and be
the onlie clokes of bad physicians) affirmeth, that there is vertue
and great force in incantations. As for example (saith _Trallian_)
_Galen_ being now reconciled to this opinion, holdeth and writeth,
that the bones which sticke in ones throte, are avoided and cast
out with the violence of charmes and inchanting words; yea and that
thereby the stone, the chollicke, the falling sicknes, and all fevers,
gowts, fluxes, fistulas, issues of bloud, and finallie whatsoever cure
(even beyond the skill of himselfe or anie other foolish physician)
is cured and perfectlie healed by words of inchantment. Marie M.
_Ferrarius_ (although he allowed and practised this kind of physicke)
yet he protesteth that he thinketh it none otherwise effectuall, than
by the waie of constant opinion: so as he affirmeth that neither the
character, nor the charme, nor the witch, nor the devill accomplish the
cure; as (saith he) the experiment of the toothach will manifestlie
declare, wherein the cure is wrought by the confidence or diffidence
as well of the patient, as of the agent; according to the poets saieng:

♦_Arg. Fer. lib. de medendi methodo. 2. cap. 11._
_De Homerica medicatione._♦

♦This would be examined, to see if Galen be not slandered.♦

_Nos habitat non tartara, sed nec sidera cœli,
Spiritus in nobis qui viget illa facit._

_Not hellish furies dwell in us,
Nor starres with influence heavenlie;
The spirit that lives and rules in us,
Doth every thing ingeniouslie,_

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

This (saith he) commeth to the unlearned, through the opinion which
they conceive of the characters and holie words: but the learned that
know the force of the mind and imagination, worke miracles by meanes
thereof; so as the unlearned must have externall helps, to doo that
which the learned can doo with a word onelie. He saith that this is
called _Homerica medicatio_, bicause _Homer_ discovered the bloud of
the word suppressed, and the infections healed by or in mysteries.

The xiii. Chapter.

_Of the effects of amulets, the drift of Argerius Ferrarius in
the commendation of charmes, &c: foure sorts of Homericall
medicines, & the choice thereof; of imagination._

As touching mine opinion of these amulets, characters, and such other
bables, I have sufficientlie uttered it elsewhere: and I will bewraie
the vanitie of these superstitious trifles more largelie hereafter. And
therefore at this time I onelie saie, that those amulets, which are
to be hanged or carried about one, if they consist of hearbs, rootes,
stones, or some other metall, they maie have diverse medicinable
operations; and by the vertue given to them by God in their creation,
maie worke strange effects and cures: and to impute this vertue to
anie other matter is witchcraft. And whereas _A. Ferrarius_ commendeth
certeine amulets, that have no shew of physicall operation; as a naile
taken from a crosse, holie water, and the verie signe of the crosse,
with such like popish stuffe: I thinke he laboureth thereby rather to
draw men to poperie, than to teach or persuade them in the truth of
physicke or philosophie. And I thinke thus the rather, for that he
himselfe seeth the fraud hereof; confessing that where these magicall
physicians applie three seeds of three leaved grasse to a tertian ague,
and foure to a quartane, that the number is not materiall.

But of these Homericall medicines he saith there are foure sorts,
whereof amulets, characters, & charmes are three: howbeit he commendeth
and preferreth the fourth above the rest; and that he saith consisteth
in illusions, which he more properlie calleth stratagems. Of which sort
of conclusions he alledgeth for example, how _Philodotus_ did put a
cap of lead upon ones head, who imagined he was headlesse, whereby the
partie was delivered from his disease or conceipt. Item another cured a
woman that imagined, that a serpent or snake did continuallie gnaw and
teare hir entrailes; and that was done onelie by giving hir a vomit,
and by foisting into the matter vomited a little serpent or snake, like
unto that which she imagined was in hir bellie.

♦Foure sorts of Homericall medicines, and which is the principall.♦

Item, another imagined that he alwaies burned in the fier, under
whose bed a fier was privilie conveied, which being raked out before
his face, his fancie was satisfied, and his heate allaied. Hereunto
perteineth, that the hickot is cured with sudden feare or strange
newes: yea by that meanes agues and manie other strange and extreame
diseases have beene healed. And some that have lien so sicke and sore
of the gowt, that they could not remove a joint, through sudden feare
of fier, or ruine of houses, have forgotten their infirmities and
greefes, and have runne awaie. But in my tract upon melancholie, and
the effects of imagination, and in the discourse of naturall magicke,
you shall see these matters largelie touched.

♦The force of fixed fansie, opinion, or strong conceipt.♦

The xiiii. Chapter.

_Choice of Charmes against the falling evill, the biting of
a mad dog, the stinging of a scorpion, the toothach, for a
woman in travell, for the Kings evill, to get a thorne out
of any member, or a bone out of ones throte, charmes to be
said fasting, or at the gathering of hearbs, for sore eies,
to open locks, against spirits, for the bots in a horsse, and
speciallie for the Duke of Albas horsse, for sowre wines, &c._

There be innumerable charmes of conjurers, bad physicians, lewd
surgians, melancholike witches, and couseners, for all diseases and
greefes; speciallie for such as bad physicians and surgions knowe not
how to cure, and in truth are good stuffe to shadow their ignorance,
whereof I will repeate some.

_For the falling evill._

Take the sicke man by the hand, and whisper these wordes softlie in
his eare, I conjure thee by the sunne and moone, and by the gospell
of this daie delivered by God to _Hubert_, _Giles_, _Cornelius_, and
_John_, that thou rise and fall no more. ❇ Otherwise: Drinke in the
night at a spring water out of a skull of one that hath beene slaine. ❇
Otherwise: Eate a pig killed with a knife that slew a man. ❇ Otherwise
as followeth.

_Ananizapta ferit mortem, dum lædere quærit,
Est mala mors capta, dum dicitur Ananizapta,
Ananizapta Dei nunc miserere mei._

{ _Ananizapta smiteth death, }
{ whiles harme intendeth he, }
{ This word Ananizapta say, }
{ and death shall captive be, }
{ Ananizapta ô of God, }
have mercie now on me._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

¶ _Against the biting of a mad dog._

Put a silver ring on the finger, within the which these words are
graven _✠ Habay ✠ habar ✠ hebar ✠_ & saie to the person bitten with a
mad dog, I am thy saviour, loose not thy life: and then pricke him in
the nose thrise, that at each time he bleed. ❈ Otherwise: Take pilles
made of the skull of one that is hanged. ❈ Otherwise: Write upon a
peece of bread, _Irioni, khiriora, esser, khuder, feres_; and let it be
eaten by the partie bitten. ❈ Otherwise: _O rex gloriæ Jesu Christe,
veni cum pace: In nomine patris max, in nomine filii max, in nomine
spiritus sancti prax: Gasper, Melchior, Balthasar ✠ prax ✠ max ✠ Deus I
max ✠_

But in troth this is verie dangerous; insomuch as if it be not
speedilie and cunninglie prevented, either death or frensie insueth,
through infection of the humor left in the wound bitten by a mad dog:
which bicause bad surgions cannot cure, they have therfore used foolish
cousening charmes. But _Dodonæus_ in his herball saith, that the hearbe
Alysson cureth it: which experiment, I doubt not, will proove more true
than all the charms in the world. But where he saith, that the same
hanged at a mans gate or entrie, preserveth him and his cattell from
inchantment, or bewitching, he is overtaken with follie.

♦_J. Bodinus. lib. de dæmon 3. cap. 5._♦

¶ _Against the biting of a scorpion._

Saie to an asse secretlie, and as it were whispering in his eare; I am
bitten with a Scorpion.

¶ _Against the toothach._

Scarifie the gums in the greefe, with the tooth of one that hath beene
slaine. ❇ Otherwise: _Galbes galbat, galdes galdat_. ❇ Otherwise: _A
ab hur hus_, &c. ❇ Otherwise: At saccaring of masse hold your teeth
togither, and say [*]_Os non comminuetis ex eo_. ❇ Otherwise:
_strigiles falcesq; dentatæ, dentium dolorem persanate_; O horssecombs
and sickles that have so many teeth, come heale me now of my toothach.

♦[*] That is, You shall not breake or diminish a bone of him.♦

¶ _A charme to release a woman in travell._

Throwe over the top of the house, where a woman in travell lieth, a
stone, or any other thing that hath killed three living creatures;
namelie, a man, a wild bore, and a she beare.

¶ _To heale the Kings or Queenes evill, or any other sorenesse in the
throte._

Remedies to cure the Kings or Queenes evill, is first to touch the
place with the hand of one that died an untimelie death. ❇ Otherwise:
Let a virgine fasting laie hir hand on the sore, and saie; _Apollo_
denieth that the heate of the plague can increase, where a naked
virgine quencheth it: and spet three times upon it.

¶ _A charme read in the Romish church, upon saint Blazes daie, that
will fetch a thorne out of anie place of ones bodie, a bone out of
the throte, &c: Lect. 3._

For the fetching of a thorne out of any place of ones bodie, or a bone
out of the throte, you shall read a charme in the Romish church upon S.
_Blazes_ daie; to wit, Call upon God, and remember S. _Blaze_. This S.
_Blaze_ could also heale all wild beasts that were sicke or lame, with
laieng on of his hands: as appeareth in the lesson red on his daie,
where you shall see the matter at large.

¶ _A charme for the headach._

Tie a halter about your head, wherewith one hath beene hanged.

¶ _A charme to be said each morning by a witch fasting, or at least
before she go abroad._

The fier bites, the fier bites, the fier bites; Hogs turd over it, hogs
turd over it, hogs turd over it; The father with thee, the sonne with
me, the holie-ghost betweene us both to be: ter. Then spit over one
shoulder, and then over the other, and then three times right forward.

¶ _Another charme that witches use at the gathering of their
medicinable hearbs._

_Haile be thou holie hearbe
growing on the ground
All in the mount [*]Calvarie
first wert thou found,
Thou art good for manie a sore,
And healest manie a wound,
In the name of sweete Jesus
I take thee from the ground._

♦[*] Though neither the hearbe nor the witch never came there.♦

¶ _An old womans charme, wherewith she did much good in the
countrie, and grew famous thereby._

An old woman that healed all diseases of cattell (for the which she
never tooke any reward but a penie and a loafe) being seriouslie
examined by what words she brought these things to passe, confessed
that after she had touched the sicke creature, she alwaies departed
immediatelie; saieng:

_My loafe in my lap,
my penie in my pursse;
Thou are never the better,
and I am never the wursse._

_Another like charme._

♦Note the force of constant opinion, or fixed fancy.♦

A Gentlewoman having sore eies, made hir mone to one, that promised hir
helpe, if she would follow his advise: which was onelie to weare about
hir necke a scroll sealed up, whereinto she might not looke. And she
conceiving hope of cure thereby, received it under the condition, and
left hir weeping and teares, wherewith she was woont to bewaile the
miserable darkenesse, which she doubted to indure: whereby in short
time hir eies were well amended. But alas! she lost soone after that
pretious jewell, and thereby returned to hir woonted weeping, and by
consequence to hir sore eies. Howbeit, hir jewell or scroll being found
againe, was looked into by hir deere friends, and this onelie posie was
conteined therein:

_The divell pull out both thine eies,
And [*]etish in the holes likewise._

♦[*] Spell the word backward, and you shall soone see this slovenlie
charme or appension.♦

Whereby partlie you may see what constant opinion can doo, according to
the saieng of _Plato_; If a mans fansie or mind give him assurance that
a hurtfull thing shall doo him good, it may doo so, &c.

_A charme to open locks._

As the hearbes called _Aethiopides_ will open all locks (if all be true
that inchanters saie) with the help of certeine words: so be there
charmes also and periapts, which without any hearbs can doo as much: as
for example. Take a peece of wax crossed in baptisme, and doo but print
certeine floures therein, and tie them in the hinder skirt of your
shirt; and when you would undoo the locke, blow thrise therin, saieng;
_Arato hoc partiko hoc maratarykin_. I open this doore in thy name that
I am forced to breake, as thou brakest hell gates, _In nomine patris, &
filii, & spiritus sancti, Amen_.

♦Theevish charmes.♦

¶ _A charme to drive awaie spirits that haunt anie house._

Hang in everie of the foure corners of your house this sentence written
upon virgine parchment; _[a]Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum: [b]Mosen
habent & prophetas: [c]Exurgat Deus et dissipentur inimici ejus_.

♦This is called and counted the Paracelsian charme.♦

♦[a] Psal. 150.♦

♦[b] Luk. 16.♦

♦[c] Psa. 64.♦

¶ _A prettie charme or conclusion for one possessed._

The possessed bodie must go upon his or hir knees to the church, how
farre so ever it be off from their lodging; and so must creepe without
going out of the waie, being the common high waie, in that sort, how
fowle and durtie soever the same be; or whatsoever lie in the waie, not
shunning anie thing whatsoever, untill he come to the church, where he
must heare[*] masse devoutlie, and then followeth recoverie.

♦[*] Memorandum that hearing of masse be in no case omitted, quoth
Nota.♦

¶ _Another for the same purpose._

There must be commended to some poore begger the saieng of five _Pater
nosters_, and five _Aves_; the first to be said in the name of the
partie possessed, or bewitched: for that Christ was led into the
garden; secondlie, for that Christ did sweat both water and bloud;
thirdlie, for that Christ was condemned; fourthlie, for that he was
crucified guiltlesse; and fiftlie, for that he suffered to take
awaie our sinnes. Then must the sicke bodie heare masse eight daies
together, standing in the place where the gospell is said, and must
mingle holie water with his meate and his drinke, and holie salt also
must be a portion of the mixture.

¶ _Another to the same effect._

The sicke man must fast three daies, and then he with his parents must
come to church, upon an embering fridaie, and must heare the masse
for that daie appointed, and so likewise the saturdaie and sundaie
following. And the preest must read upon the sicke mans head, that
gospell which is read in September, and in grape harvest, after the
feast of holie crosse _In diebus quatuor temporum_, in ember daies:
then let him write it and carrie it aboute his necke, and he shall be
cured.

♦_Johannes Anglicus ex Constantino, Gualtero, Bernardo, Gilberto, &c._♦

¶ _Another charme or witch-craft for the same._

This office or conjuration following was first authorised and printed
at _Rome_, and afterwards at _Avenion_, _Anno._ 1515. And least that
the divell should lie hid in some secret part of the bodie, everie
part thereof is named; _Obsecro te Jesu Christe, &c_: that is: I
beseech thee O Lord Jesus Christ, that thou pull out of everie member
of this man all infirmities, from his head, from his haire, from his
braine, from his forhead, from his eies, from his nose, from his eares,
from his mouth, from his toong, from his teeth, from his jawes, from
his throte, from his necke, from his backe, from his brest, from his
paps, from his heart, from his stomach, from his sides, from his flesh,
from his bloud, from his bones, from his legs, from his feete, from
his fingers, from the soles of his feete, from his marrowe, from his
sinewes, from his skin, and from everie joint of his members, &c.

Doubtles Jesus Christ could have no starting hole, but was hereby
everie waie prevented and pursued; so as he was forced to doo the cure:
for it appeareth hereby, that it had beene insufficient for him to have
said; Depart out of this man thou uncleane spirit, and that when he so
said he did not performe it. I doo not thinke that there will be found
among all the heathens superstitious fables, or among the witches,
conjurors, couseners, poets, knaves, fooles, &c: that ever wrote, so
impudent and impious a lie or charme as is read in _Barnardine de
bustis_; where, to cure a sicke man, Christs bodie, to wit: a wafer
cake, was outwardlie applied to his side, and entred into his heart,
in the sight of all the standers by. Now, if grave authors report such
lies, what credit in these cases shall we attribute unto the old wives
tales, that _Sprenger_, _Institor_, _Bodine_, and others write? Even as
much as to _Ovids Metamorphosis_, _Aesops fables_, _Moores Utopia_, and
diverse other fansies; which have as much truth in them, as a blind man
hath sight in his eie.

♦_Barnard. de bustis in Rosar. serm. serm. 15._♦

¶ _A charme for the bots in a horsse._

You must both saie and doo thus upon the diseased horsse three daies
together, before the sunne rising: _In nomine pa✠tris & fi✠lii &
spiritus✠sancti; Exorcizo te vermem per Deum pa✠trem, & fi✠lium &
spiritum✠sanctum_: that is, In the name of God the Father, the Sonne,
& the Holy-ghost, I conjure thee O worme by God the Father, the Sonne,
& the Holy-ghost; that thou neither eat nor drinke the flesh bloud or
bones of this horsse; and that thou hereby maist be made as patient
as _Job_, and as good as S. _John Baptist_, when he baptised Christ
in _Jordan_, _In nomine pa✠tris & fi✠lii & spiritus✠sancti_. And then
saie three _Pater nosters_, and three _Aves_, in the right eare of
the horsse, to the glorie of the holie trinitie. _Do✠minus fili✠us
spiri✠tus Mari✠a._

There are also divers bookes imprinted, as it should appeare with
the authoritie of the church of _Rome_, wherein are conteined manie
medicinall praiers, not onelie against all diseases of horsses, but
also for everie impediment and fault in a horsse: in so much as if
a shoo fall off in the middest of his journie, there is a praier to
warrant your horsses hoofe, so as it shall not breake, how far so ever
he be from the Smithes forge.

Item, the Duke of _Alba_ his horsse was consecrated, or canonized, in
the lowe countries, at the solemne masse; wherein the popes bull, and
also his charme was published (which I will hereafter recite) he in the
meane time sitting as Vice-roy with his consecrated standard in his
hand, till masse was done.

♦The smiths will canne them small thankes for this praier.♦

¶ _A charme against vineager._

That wine wax not eager, write on the vessell, [*]_Gustate & videte,
quoniam suavis est Dominus_.

♦[*] [Ps. 33. 9. Vulg.]♦

♦O notable blasphemie.♦

The xv. Chapter.

_The inchanting of serpents and snakes, objections aunswered
concerning the same; fond reasons whie charmes take effect
therin, Mahomets pigeon, miracles wrought by an Asse at
Memphis in Aegypt, popish charmes against serpents, of
miracle workers, the tameing of snakes, Bodins lie of snakes._

Concerning the charming of serpents and snakes, mine adversaries (as I
have said) thinke they have great advantage by the words of _David_ in
the fiftie eight psalme; and by _Jeremie_, chapter eight, expounding
the one prophet by _Virgil_, the other by _Ovid_. For the words of
_David_ are these; Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, and
like a deafe adder, that stoppeth his eare, and heareth not the voice
of the charmer, charme he never so cunninglie. The words of _Virgil_
are these, _Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis_. As he might
saie, _David_ thou liest; for the cold natured snake is by the charmes
of the inchanters broken all to peeces in the field where he lieth.
Then commeth _Ovid_, and he taketh his countriemans part, saieng in the
name and person of a witch; _Vipereas rumpo verbis & carmine fauces_;
that is, I with my words and charmes can breake in sunder the vipers
jawes. Marrie _Jeremie_ on the other side encountereth this poeticall
witch, and he not onelie defendeth, but expoundeth his fellowe prophets
words, and that not in his owne name, but in the name of almightie God;
saieng, I will send serpents and cockatrices among you, which cannot be
charmed.

♦Psal. 58.♦

♦_Virg. eclog. 8._♦

♦_Ovid. metamor. 7._♦

♦Jerem. 8. 17.♦

Now let anie indifferent man (christian or heathen) judge, whether
the words and minds of the prophets doo not directlie oppugne these
poets words (I will not saie minds:) for that I am sure they did
therein but jest and trifle, according to the common fabling of lieng
poets. And certeinlie, I can encounter them two with other two poets;
namelie _Propertius_ and _Horace_, the one merrilie deriding, the other
seriouslie impugning their fantasticall poetries, concerning the power
and omnipotencie of witches. For where _Virgil_, _Ovid_, _&c_: write
that witches with their charmes fetch downe the moone and starres from
heaven, etc.; _Propertius_ mocketh them in these words following:

_At vos deductæ quibus est fallacia Lunæ,
Et labor in magicis sacra piare focis,
En agedum dominæ mentem convertite nostræ,
Et facite illa meo palleat ore magis,_
_Tunc ego crediderim vobis & sidera & amnes
Posse Circeis ducere carminibus:_

_But you that have the subtill slight,
Of fetching downe the moone from skies;
And with inchanting fier bright,
Attempt to purge your sacrifies:
Lo now, go to, turne (if you can)
Our madams mind and sturdie hart,
And make hir face more pale and wan,
Than mine: which if by magicke art
You doo, then will I soone beleeve,
That by your witching charmes you can
From skies aloft the starres remeeve,
And rivers turne from whence they ran._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

And that you may see more certeinlie, that these poets did but jest and
deride the credulous and timerous sort of people, I thought good to
shew you what _Ovid_ saith against himselfe, and such as have written
so incrediblie and ridiculouslie of witches omnipotencie:

_Nec mediæ magicis finduntur cantibus angues,
Nec redit in fontes unda supina suos:_

_Snakes in the middle are not riven
with charmes of witches cunning,
Nor waters to their fountaines driven
by force of backward running._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

As for _Horace_ his verses I omit them, bicause I have cited them in
another place. And concerning this matter _Cardanus_ saith, that at
everie eclipse they were woont to thinke, that witches pulled downe the
sunne and moone from heaven. And doubtles, hence came the opinion of
that matter, which spred so farre, and continued so long in the common
peoples mouthes, that in the end learned men grew to beleeve it, and to
affirme it in writing.

♦_Card. lib. 15. de var. rer. cap. 80._♦

But here it will be objected, that bicause it is said (in the places
by me alledged) that snakes or vipers cannot be charmed; _Ergo_ other
things may: To answer this argument, I would aske the witchmonger
this question, to wit; Whether it be expedient, that to satisfie his
follie, the Holie-ghost must of necessitie make mention of everie
particular thing that he imagineth may be bewitched? I would also aske
of him, what privilege a snake hath more than other creatures, that he
onelie may not, and all other creatures may be bewitched? I hope they
will not saie, that either their faith or infidelitie is the cause
thereof; neither doo I admit the answer of such divines as saie, that
he cannot be bewitched: for that he seduced _Eve_; by meanes whereof
God himselfe curssed him; and thereby he is so privileged, as that no
witches charme can take hold of him. But more shall be said hereof in
the sequele.

♦An objection answered.♦

_Danæus_ saith, that witches charmes take soonest hold upon snakes
and adders; bicause of their conference and familiaritie with the
divell, whereby the rather mankind through them was seduced. Let us
seeke then an answer for this cavill; although in truth it needeth
not: for the phrase of speach is absolute, & importes not a speciall
qualitie proper to the nature of a viper anie more, than when I saie;
A connie cannot flie: you should gather & conclude thereupon, that I
ment that all other beasts could flie. But you shall understand, that
the cause why these vipers can rather withstand the voice & practise of
inchanters and sorcerers, than other creatures, is: for that they being
in bodie and nature venomous, cannot so soone or properlie receive
their destruction by venome, wherby the witches in other creatures
bring their mischeefous practises more easilie to passe, according to
_Virgils_ saieng

♦_Dan. in dialog. cap. 3._♦

_Corrupítque lacus, infecit pabula tabo,_

♦_Virg. geo. 4._♦

_She did infect with poison strong
Both ponds and pastures all along._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

And thereupon the prophet alludeth unto their corrupt and inflexible
nature, with that comparison: and not (as _Tremelius_ is faine to shift
it) with stopping one eare with his taile, and laieng the other close
to the ground; bicause he would not heare the charmers voice. For the
snake hath neither such reason; nor the words such effect: otherwise
the snake must know our thoughts. It is also to be considered, how
untame by nature these vipers (for the most part) are; in so much as
they be not by mans industrie or cunning to be made familiar, or traind
to doo anie thing, whereby admiration maie be procured: as _Bomelio
Feates_ his dog could doo; or _Mahomets_ pigeon, which would resort
unto him, being in the middest of his campe, and picke a pease out
of his eare; in such sort that manie of the people thought that the
Holie-ghost came and told him a tale in his eare: the same pigeon also
brought him a scroll, wherein was written, _Rex esto_, and laid the
same in his necke. And bicause I have spoken of the docilitie of a dog
and a pigeon, though I could cite an infinite number of like tales, I
will be bold to trouble you but with one more.

♦Feates his dog, and Mahomets pigeon.♦

At _Memphis_ in _Aegypt_, among other juggling knacks, which were there
usuallie shewed, there was one that tooke such paines with an asse,
that he had taught him all these qualities following. And for gaine
he caused a stage to be made, and an assemblie of people to meete;
which being done, in the maner of a plaie, he came in with his asse,
and said; The _Sultane_ hath great need of asses to helpe to carrie
stones and other stuffe, towards his great building which he hath in
hand. The asse immediatlie fell downe to the ground, and by all signes
shewed himselfe to be sicke, and at length to give up the ghost: so
as the juggler begged of the assemblie monie towards his losse. And
having gotten all that he could, he said; Now my maisters, you shall
see mine asse is yet alive, and dooth but counterfet; bicause he would
have some monie to buie him provender, knowing that I was poore, and
in some need of releefe. Hereupon he would needs laie a wager, that
his asse was alive, who to everie mans seeming was starke dead. And
when one had laid monie with him thereabout, he commanded the asse
to rise, but he laie still as though he were dead: then did he beate
him with a cudgell, but that would not serve the turne, untill he
addressed this speech to the asse, saieng (as before) in open audience;
The _Sultane_ hath commanded, that all the people shall ride out to
morrow, and see the triumph, and that the faire ladies will then ride
upon the fairest asses, and will give notable provender unto them, and
everie asse shall drinke of the sweete water of _Nilus_: and then lo
the asse did presentlie start up, and advance himselfe exceedinglie.
Lo (quoth his maister) now I have wonne: but in troth the Maior hath
borrowed mine asse, for the use of the old ilfavoured witch his wife:
and thereupon immediatlie he hoong downe his eares, and halted downe
right, as though he had beene starke lame. Then said his maister; I
perceive you love yoong prettie wenches: at which words he looked up,
as it were with joifull cheere. And then his maister did bid him go
choose one that should ride upon him; and he ran to a verie handsome
woman, and touched hir with his head: &c. A snake will never be brought
to such familiaritie, &c. _Bodin_ saith, that this was a man in the
likenesse of an asse: but I maie rather thinke that he is an asse in
the likenesse of a man. Well, to returne to our serpents, I will tell
you a storie concerning the charming of them, and the event of the same.

♦A storie declaring the great docilitie of an asse.♦

♦_J. Bod. lib. de dæm. 2. cap. 6._♦

In the citie of _Salisborogh_ there was an inchanter, that before
all the people tooke upon him to conjure all the serpents and snakes
within one mile compasse into a great pit or dike, and there to kill
them. When all the serpents were gathered togither, as he stood
upon the brinke of the pit, there came at the last a great and a
horrible serpent, which would not be gotten downe with all the force
of his incantations: so as (all the rest being dead) he flew upon the
inchanter, and clasped him in the middest, and drew him downe into
the said dike, and there killed him. You must thinke that this was a
divell in a serpents likenesse, which for the love he bare to the poore
snakes, killed the sorcerer; to teach all other witches to beware of
the like wicked practise. And surelie, if this be not true, there be a
great number of lies conteined in _M. Mal._ and in _J. Bodin_. And if
this be well weighed, and conceived, it beateth downe to the ground all
those witchmongers arguments, that contend to wring witching miracles
out of this place. For they disagree notablie, some denieng and some
affirming that serpents maie be bewitched. Neverthelesse, bicause in
everie point you shall see how poperie agreeth with paganisme, I will
recite certeine charmes against vipers, allowed for the most part in
and by the church of _Rome_: as followeth.

♦_Mal. malef. part 2. qu. 3. cap 9._
_John. Bodin._♦

I conjure thee O serpent in this houre, by the five holie woonds of
our Lord, that thou remove not out of this place, but here staie, as
certeinelie as God was borne of a pure virgine. ❈ Otherwise: I conjure
thee serpent _In nomine patris, & filii, & spiritus sancti_: I command
thee serpent by our ladie S. _Marie_, that thou obeie me, as wax
obeieth the fier, and as fier obeieth water; that thou neither hurt
me, nor anie other christian, as certeinelie as God was borne of an
immaculate virgine, in which respect I take thee up, _In nomine patris
& filii, & spiritus sancti: Ely lash eiter, ely lash eiter, ely lash
eiter_. ❈ Otherwise: O vermine, thou must come as God came unto the
Jewes. ❈ Otherwise: _L. Vairus_ saith, that _Serpens quernis frondibus
contacta_, that a serpent touched with oke leaves dieth, and staieth
even in the beginning of his going, if a feather of the bird _Ibis_ be
cast or throwne upon him: and that a viper smitten or hot with a reed
is astonied, and touched with a beechen branch is presentlie numme and
stiffe.

♦Exorcismes or conjuratiōs against serpents.♦

♦_L. Vair. lib. de fascinat. 1. cap. 4._♦

Here is to be remembred, that manie use to boast that they are of S.
_Paules_ race and kinred, shewing upon their bodies the prints of
serpents: which (as the papists affirme) was incident to all them of S.
_Paules_ stocke. Marie they saie herewithall, that all his kinsfolks
can handle serpents, or anie poison without danger. Others likewise
have (as they brag) a _Katharine_ wheele upon their bodies, and they
saie they are kin to S. _Katharine_, and that they can carrie burning
coles in their bare hands, and dip their said hands in hot skalding
liquor, and also go into hot ovens. Whereof though the last be but a
bare jest, and to be doone by anie that will prove (as a bad fellow
in _London_ had used to doo, making no tariance at all therein:)
yet there is a shew made of the other, as though it were certeine
and undoubted; by annointing the hands with the juice of mallowes,
mercurie, urine, &c: which for a little time are defensatives against
these scalding liquors, and scortching fiers.

♦Usurpers of kinred with blessed Paule and S Katharine.♦

But they that take upon them to worke these mysteries and miracles, doo
indeed (after rehearsall of these and such like words and charmes) take
up even in their bare hands, those snakes and vipers, and sometimes
put them about their necks, without receiving anie hurt thereby, to
the terror and astonishment of the beholders, which naturallie both
feare and abhorre all serpents. But these charmers (upon my word) dare
not trust to their charmes, but use such an inchantment, as everie man
maie lawfullie use, and in the lawfull use thereof maie bring to passe
that they shalbe in securitie, and take no harme, how much soever they
handle them: marie with a woollen rag they pull out their teeth before
hand, as some men saie; but as truth is, they wearie them, and that
is of certeintie. And surelie this is a kind of witchcraft, which I
terme private confederacie. _Bodin_ saith, that all the snakes in one
countrie were by charmes and verses driven into another region: perhaps
he meaneth _Ireland_, where S. _Patrike_ is said to have doone it with
his holinesse, &c.

♦_J. Bodin. lib. de dæm. 1. cap. 3._♦

_James Sprenger_, and _Henrie Institor_ affirme, that serpents and
snakes, and their skins exceed all other creatures for witchcraft:
in so much as witches doo use to burie them under mens threshholds,
either of the house or stalles, whereby barrennes is procured both
to woman and beast: yea and that the verie earth and ashes of them
continue to have force of fascination. In respect whereof they wish all
men now and then to dig awaie the earth under their threshholds, and
to sprinkle holie water in the place, & also to hang boughes (hallowed
on midsummer daie) at the stall doore where the cattell stand: &
produce examples thereupon, of witches lies, or else their owne, which
I omit; bicause I see my booke groweth to be greater than I meant it
should be.

The xvi. Chapter.

_Charmes to carrie water in a sive, to know what is spoken of
us behind our backs, for bleare eies, to make seeds to growe
well, of images made of wax, to be rid of a witch, to hang
hir up, notable authorities against waxen images, a storie
bewraieng the knaverie of waxen images._

_Leonardus Vairus_ saith, that there was a praier extant, whereby
might be carried in a sive, water, or other liquor: I thinke it was
Clam claie; which a crow taught a maid, that was promised a cake of
so great quantitie, as might be kneded of so much floure as she could
wet with the water that she brought in a sive, and by that meanes she
clamd it with claie, & brought in so much water, as whereby she had
a great cake, and so beguiled hir sisters, &c. And this tale I heard
among my grandams maides, whereby I can decipher this witchcraft.
Item, by the tingling of the eare, men heretofore could tell what was
spoken of them. If anie see a scorpion, and saie this word (_Bud_)
he shall not be stoong or bitten therewith. These two Greeke letters
Π and Α written in a paper, and hoong about ones necke, preserve the
partie from bleereiednesse. Cummin or hempseed sowne with curssing and
opprobrious words grow the faster and the better. _Berosus Anianus_
maketh witchcraft of great antiquitie: for he saith, that _Cham_
touching his fathers naked member uttered a charme, wherby his father
became emasculated or deprived of the powers generative.

♦_L. Vairus lib. fascin. 1. ca. 5. Oratio Tuscæ vestalis._♦

♦Of the word (_Bud_) and the Greeke letters Π & Α.♦

¶ _A charme teaching how to hurt whom you list with images of
wax, &c._

Make an image in his name, whom you would hurt or kill, of new virgine
wax; under the right arme poke whereof place a swallowes hart, and the
liver under the left; then hang about the necke thereof a new thred in
a new needle pricked into the member which you would have hurt, with
the rehearsall of certeine words, which for the avoiding of foolish
superstition and credulitie in this behalfe is to be omitted. And if
they were inserted, I dare undertake they would doo no harme, were it
not to make fooles, and catch gudgins. ❈ Otherwise: Sometimes these
images are made of brasse, and then the hand is placed where the foote
should be, and the foote where the hand, and the face downeward. ❈
Otherwise: For a greater mischeefe, the like image is made in the
forme of a man or woman, upon whose head is written the certeine name
of the partie: and on his or hir ribs these words, _Ailif, casyl, zaze,
hit mel meltat_: then the same must be buried. ❇ Otherwise: In the
dominion of _Mars_, two images must be prepared, one of wax, the other
of the earth of a dead man; each image must have in his hand a sword
wherwith a man hath beene slaine, & he that must be slaine may have
his head thrust through with a foine. In both must be written certeine
peculiar characters, and then must they be hid in a certeine place. ❇
Otherwise: To obteine a womans love, an image must be made in the houre
of _Venus_, of virgine wax, in the name of the beloved, wherupon a
character is written, & is warmed at a fier, and in dooing therof the
name of some angell must be mentioned. To be utterlie rid of the witch,
and to hang hir up by the haire, you must prepare an image of the
earth of a dead man to be baptised in another mans name, whereon the
name, with a character, must be written: then must it be perfumed with
a rotten bone, and then these psalmes read backward: _Domine Dominus
noster_, _Dominus illuminatio mea_, _Domine exaudi orationem meam_,
_Deus laudem meam ne tacueris_: and then burie it, first in one place,
and afterwards in another. Howbeit, it is written in the 21 article of
the determination of _Paris_, that to affirme that images of brasse,
lead, gold, of white or red wax, or of any other stuffe (conjured,
baptised, consecrated, or rather execrated through these magicall arts
at certeine days) have woonderfull vertues, or such as are avowed in
their bookes or assertions, is error in faith, naturall philosophie,
and true astronomie: yea it is concluded in the 22 article of that
councell, that it is as great an error to beleeve those things, as to
doo them.

♦The practiser of these charmes must have skill in the planetarie
motions, or else he may go shoo the goose.♦

But concerning these images, it is certeine that they are much feared
among the people, and much used among cousening witches, as partlie
appeereth in this discourse of mine else-where, & as partlie you may
see by the contents of this storie following. Not long sithence,
a yoong maiden (dwelling at new _Romnie_ heere in Kent) being the
daughter of one M. _L. Stuppenie_ (late Jurat of the same towne but
dead before the execution hereof) and afterwards the wife of _Thomas
Eps_, who is at this instant Maior of _Romnie_) was visited with
sicknesse, whose mother and father in lawe being abused with credulitie
concerning witches supernaturall power, repaired to a famous witch
called mother _Baker_, dwelling not far from thence at a place called
_Stonstreet_, who (according to witches cousening custome) asked
whether they mistrusted not some bad neighbour, to whom they answered
that indeed they doubted a woman neere unto them (and yet the same
woman was, of the honester & wiser sort of hir neighbors, reputed a
good creature.) Nevertheles the witch told them that there was great
cause of their suspicion: for the same (said she) is the verie partie
that wrought the maidens destruction, by making a hart of wax, and
pricking the same with pins and needels; affirming also that the same
neighbor of hirs had bestowed the same in some secret corner of the
house. This being beleeved, the house was searched by credible persons,
but nothing could be found. The witch or wise woman being certified
hereof, continued hir assertion, and would needs go to the house where
she hir selfe (as she affirmed) would certeinlie find it. When she came
thither, she used hir cunning (as it chanced) to hir owne confusion,
or at leastwise to hir detection: for heerein she did, as some of the
wiser sort mistrusted that she woulde doo, laieng downe privilie such
an image (as she had before described) in a corner, which by others
had beene most diligentlie searched & looked into, & by that means hir
cousenage was notablie bewraied. And I would wish that all witchmongers
might paie for their lewd repaire to inchantors, and consultation with
witches, and such as have familiar spirits, as some of these did, and
that by the order of the high commissioners, which partlie for respect
of neighborhood, and partlie for other considerations, I leave unspoken
of.

♦A proved storie concerning the premisses.♦

The xvii. Chapter.

_Sundrie sorts of charmes tending to diverse purposes, and first,
certeine charmes to make taciturnitie in tortures._

_Imparibus meritis tria
pendent corpora ramis,
Dismas & Gestas,
in medio est divina potestas,
Dismas damnatur,
Gestas ad astra levatur:_

♦This charm seemeth to allude to Christ crucified betweene the two
theevs.♦

_Three bodies on a bough doo hang,
for merits of inequalitie,
Dismas and Gestas, in the midst
the power of the divinitie.
Dismas is damned, but Gestas lif-
ted up above the starres on hie._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

Also this: _Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum veritatem nunquam dicam
regi._ ❇ Otherwise: As the milke of our ladie was lussious to our Lord
Jesus Christ; so let this torture or rope be pleasant to mine armes
and members. ❇ Otherwise: _Jesus autem transiens per medium illorum
ibat._ ❇ Otherwise: You shall not break a bone of him.

♦Psal. 44.♦

♦Luk. 4.♦

♦John. 19♦

¶ _Counter charmes against these and all other witchcrafts, in the
saieng also whereof witches are vexed, &c._

_Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum, dicam cuncta opera mea regi._ ❇
Otherwise: _Domine labia mea aperies, & os meum annunciabit veritatem._
❇ Otherwise: _Contere brachia iniqui rei, & lingua maligna subvertetur._

♦Psal. 44. Scripture properlie applied.♦

¶ _A charme for the choine cough._

Take three sips of a chalice, when the preest hath said masse, and
swallow it downe with good devotion, &c.

¶ _For corporall or spirituall rest._

_In nomine patris_, up and downe,
_Et filii & spiritus sancti_ upon my crowne,
_Crux Christi_ upon my brest,
Sweete ladie send me eternall rest![*]

♦[*] [Ital. & Rom.]♦

¶ _Charmes to find out a theefe._

The meanes how to find out a theefe, is thus: Turne your face to the
east, and make a crosse upon christall with oile olive, and under the
crosse write these two words [_Saint Helen_].[*] Then a child that
is innocent, and a chast virgine borne in true wedlocke, and not base
begotten, of the age of ten yeares, must take the christall in his
hand, and behind his backe, kneeling on thy knees, thou must devoutlie
and reverentlie saie over this praier thrise: I beseech thee my ladie
S. _Helen_, mother of king _Constantine_, which diddest find the crosse
whereupon Christ died: by that thy holie devotion, and invention of the
crosse, and by the same crosse, and by the joy which thou conceivedst
at the finding thereof and by the love which thou barest to thy sonne
_Constantine_, and by the great goodnes which thou dooest alwaies use,
that thou shew me in this christall, whatsoever I aske or desire to
knowe; Amen. And when the child seeth the angell in the christall,
demand what you will, and the angell will make answer thereunto.
_Memorandum_,[†] that this be doone just at the sunne rising, when
the wether is faire and cleere.

♦O most woonderfull vertue hidden in the letters of S. Helens holie
name!♦

♦[*] [So in text.]♦

♦[†] [Rom.]♦

_Cardanus_ derideth these and such like fables, and setteth downe his
judgement therein accordinglie, in the sixteenth booke _De rerum_
_var._ These conjurors and couseners forsooth will shew you in a
glasse the theefe that hath stolne anie thing from you, and this is
their order. They take a glasse viall full of holie water, and set
it upon a linnen cloth, which hath beene purified, not onelie by
washing, but by sacrifice, &c. On the mouth of the viall or urinall,
two olive leaves must be laid acrosse, with a litle conjuration said
over it, by a child; to wit thus: _Angele bone, angele candide, per
tuam sanctitatem, meámq; virginitatem, ostende mihi furem_: with three
_Pater nosters_, three _Aves_, and betwixt either of them a [*]crosse
made with the naile of the thumbe upon the mouth of the viall; and then
shall be seene angels ascending and descending as it were motes in the
sunne beames. The theefe all this while shall suffer great torments,
and his face shall be seene plainlie, even as plainlie I beleeve as
the man in the moone. For in truth, there are toies artificiallie
conveied into the glasse, which will make the water bubble, and devises
to make images appeare in the bubbles: as also there be artificiall
glasses, which will shew unto you that shall looke thereinto, manie
images of diverse formes, and some so small and curious, as they shall
in favour resemble whom so ever you thinke upon. Looke in _John Bap.
Neap._ for the confection of such glasses. The subtilties hereof are so
detected, and the mysteries of the glasses so common now, and their
cousenage so well knowne, &c: that I need not stand upon the particular
confutation hereof. _Cardanus_ in the place before cited reporteth,
how he tried with children these and diverse circumstances the whole
illusion, and found it to be plaine knaverie and cousenage.

♦_Card. lib. 16. de var. rer. cap. 93._♦

♦[*] For if the crosse be forgotten all is not woorth a pudding.♦

¶ _Another waie to find out a theefe that hath stolne anie
thing from you._

Go to the sea side, and gather as manie pebles as you suspect persons
for that matter; carrie them home, and throwe them into the fier, and
burie them under the threshhold, where the parties are like to come
over. There let them lie three daies, and then before sunne rising
take them awaie. Then set a porrenger full of water in a circle,
wherein must be made crosses everie waie, as manie as can stand in it;
upon the which must be written: Christ overcommeth, Christ reigneth,
Christ commandeth. The porrenger also must be signed with a crosse,
and a forme of conjuration must be pronounced. Then each stone must
be throwne into the water, in the name of the suspected. And when you
put in the stone of him that is guiltie, the stone will make the water
boile, as though glowing iron were put thereinto. Which is a meere
knacke of legier de maine, and to be accomplished diverse waies.

¶ _To put out the theeves eie._

Read the seven [*]psalmes with the Letanie, and then must be said a
horrible praier to Christ, and God the father, with a cursse against
the theefe. Then in the middest of the step of your foote, on the
ground where you stand, make a circle like an eie, and write thereabout
certeine barbarous names, and drive with a coopers hammar, or addes
into the middest thereof a brasen naile consecrated, saieng: _Justus es
Domine, & justa judicia tua_. Then the theefe shall be bewraied by his
crieng out.

♦[*] [penitential]♦

¶ _Another waie to find out a theefe._

Sticke a paire of sheeres in the rind of a sive, and let two persons
set the top of each of their forefingers upon the upper part of the
sheeres, holding it with the sive up from the ground steddilie, and
aske _Peter_ and _Paule_ whether A. B. or C. hath stolne the thing
lost, and at the nomination of the guiltie person, the sive will turne
round. This is a great practise in all countries, and indeed a verie
bable. For with the beating of the pulse some cause of that motion
ariseth, some other cause by slight of the fingers, some other by the
wind gathered in the sive to be staid, &c: at the pleasure of the
holders. Some cause may be the imagination, which upon conceipt at
the naming of the partie altereth the common course of the pulse. As
may well be conceived by a ring held steddilie by a thred betwixt the
finger and the thombe, over or rather in a goblet or glasse; which
within short space will strike against the side therof so manie strokes
as the holder thinketh it a clocke, and then will staie: the which who
so prooveth shall find true.

♦These be meere toies to mocke apes, and have in them no commendable
devise.♦

¶ _A charme to find out or spoile a theefe._

Of this matter, concerning the apprehension of theeves by words, I
will cite one charme, called S. _Adelberts_ cursse, being both for
length of words sufficient to wearie the reader, and for substantiall
stuffe comprehending all that apperteineth unto blasphemous speech or
curssing, allowed in the church of _Rome_, as an excommunication and
inchantment.

¶_Saint Adelberts cursse or charme against theeves._

By the authoritie of the omnipotent Father, the Sonne, and the
Holie-ghost, and by the holie virgine _Marie_ mother of our Lord Jesu
Christ, and the holie angels and archangels, and S. _Michaell_, and S.
_John Baptist_, and in the behalfe of S. _Peter_ the apostle, and the
residue of the apostles, and of S. _Steeven_, and of all the martyrs,
of S. _Sylvester_, and of S. _Adelbert_, and all the confessors, and
S. _Alegand_, and all the holie virgins, and of all the saints in
heaven and earth, unto whom there is given power to bind and loose:
we doo excommunicate, damne, cursse, and bind with the knots and
bands of excommunication, and we doo segregate from the bounds and
lists of our holie mother the church, all those theeves, sacrilegious
persons, ravenous catchers, dooers, counsellers, coadjutors, male or
female, that have committed this theft or mischeefe, or have usurped
any part therof to their owne use. Let their share be with _Dathan_
and _Abiran_, whome the earth swallowed up for their sinnes and pride,
and let them have part with _Judas_ that betraied Christ, Amen: and
with _Pontius Pilat_, and with them that said to the Lord, Depart
from us, we will not understand thy waies; let their children be made
orphanes. Curssed be they in the field, in the grove, in the woods,
in their houses, barnes, chambers, and beds; and curssed be they in
the court, in the waie, in the towne, in the castell, in the water,
in the church, in the churchyard, in the tribunall place, in battell,
in their abode, in the market place, in their talke, in silence, in
eating, in watching, in sleeping, in drinking in feeling, in sitting,
in kneeling, in standing[,] in lieng, in idlenes, in all their worke,
in their bodie and soule, in their five wits, and in everie place.
Curssed be the fruit of their wombs, and curssed be the fruit of their
lands, and curssed be all that they have. Curssed be their heads,
their mouthes, their nostrels, their noses, their lips, their jawes,
their teeth, their eies and eielids, their braines, the roofe of their
mouthes, their toongs, their throtes, their breasts, their harts, their
bellies, their livers, all their bowels, and their stomach.

♦This is not to doo good to our enimies, nor to praie for them that
hurt and hate us; as Christ exhorteth.♦

Curssed be their navels, their spleenes, their bladder. Curssed be
their thighs, their legs, their feete, their toes, their necks, their
shoulders. Curssed be their backs, curssed be their armes, curssed
be their elbowes, curssed be their hands, and their fingers, curssed
be both the nails of their hands and feete; curssed be their ribbes
and their genitals, and their knees, curssed be their flesh, curssed
be their bones, curssed be their bloud, curssed be the skin of their
bodies, curssed be the marrowe in their bones, curssed be they from
the crowne of the head, to the sole of the foote: and whatsoever is
betwixt the same, be it accurssed, that is to saie, their five senses;
to wit, their seeing, their hearing, their smelling, their tasting,
and their feeling. Curssed be they in the holie crosse, in the passion
of Christ, with his five wounds, with the effusion of his bloud, and
by the milke of the virgine _Marie_. I conjure thee _Lucifer_, with
all thy soldiers, by the [*]father, the son, and the Holie-ghost,
with the humanitie and nativitie of Christ, with the vertue of all
saints, that thou rest not day nor night, till thou bringest them to
destruction, either by drowning or hanging, or that they be devoured
by wild beasts, or burnt, or slaine by their enimies, or hated of
all men living. And as our Lord hath given authoritie to _Peter_ the
apostle, and his successors, whose place we occupie, and to us (though
unworthie) that whatsoever we bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven,
and whatsoever we loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven: so we
accordinglie, if they will not amend, doo shut from them the gates of
heaven, and denie unto them christian buriall, so as they shall be
buried in asses leaze. Furthermore, curssed be the ground wherein they
are buried, let them be confounded in the last daie of judgement, let
them have no conversation among christians, nor behouseled[†] at the
houre of death; let them be made as dust before the face of the wind:
and as _Lucifer_ was expelled out of heaven, and _Adam_ and _Eve_ out
of paradise; so let them be expelled from the daie light. Also let them
be joined with those, to whome the Lord saith at the judgement; Go ye
curssed into everlasting fier, which is prepared for the divell and his
angels, where the worme shall not die, nor the fier be quenched. And as
the candle, which is throwne out of my hand here, is put out: so let
their works and their soule be quenched in the stench of hell fier,
except they restore that which they have stolne, by such a daie: and
let everie one saie, Amen. After this must be soong [‡]_In media vita
in morte sumus, &c._

♦[*] Thus they make the holie trinitie to beare a part in their
exorcisme, or else it is no bargaine.♦

♦[†] [be-houseled _text_.]♦

♦Matth. 15.♦

♦[‡] That is, In the midst of life we are in death, &c.♦

This terrible cursse with bell, booke, and candell added thereunto,
must needs worke woonders: howbeit among theeves it is not much
weighed, among wise and true men it is not well liked, to them that
are robbed it bringeth small releefe: the preests stomach may well be
eased, but the goods stolne will never the sooner be restored. Hereby
is bewraied both the malice and follie of popish doctrine, whose
uncharitable impietie is so impudentlie published, and in such order
uttered, as everie sentence (if oportunitie served) might be prooved
both hereticall and diabolicall. But I will answer this cruell cursse
with another cursse farre more mild and civill, performed by as honest
a man (I dare saie) as he that made the other, whereof mention was
latelie made.

So it was, that a certeine sir _John_,[*] with some of his companie,
once went abroad a jetting, and in a moone light evening robbed a
millers weire, and stole all his eeles. The poore miller made his mone
to sir _John_ himselfe, who willed him to be quiet; for he would so
cursse the theefe, and all his confederates, with bell, booke, and
candell, that they should have small joy of their fish. And therefore
the next sundaie, sir _John_ got him to the pulpit, with his surplisse
on his backe, and his stole about his necke, and pronounced these words
following in the audience of the people.

♦[*] [i.e. a priest.]♦

_All you that have stolne the millers eeles,[*]
Laudate Dominum de cœlis,
And all they that have consented thereto,[*]
Benedicamus Domino._

♦[*] [Rom.]♦

♦A cursse for theft.♦

Lo (saith he) there is sauce for your eeles my maisters.

¶ _Another inchantment._

Certeine preests use the hundred and eight psalme as an inchantment
or charme, or at the leastwise saieng, that against whome soever they
pronounce it, they cannot live one whole yeere at the uttermost.

The xviii Chapter.

¶ _A charme or experiment to find out a witch._

_In die dominico sotularia juvenum axungia seu pinguedine porci,
ut moris est, pro restauratione fieri perungunt_: and when she is
once come into the church, the witch can never get out, untill the
[*]seachers for hir give hir expresse leave to depart.

♦[*] [= seekers]♦

But now it is necessarie to shew you how to prevent and cure all
mischeefes wrought by these charmes & witchcrafts, according to the
opinion of _M. Mal._ and others. One principall waie is to naile a
horsse shoo at the inside of the outmost threshhold of your house, and
so you shall be sure no witch shall have power to enter thereinto.
And if you marke it, you shall find that rule observed in manie
countrie houses. ❈ Otherwise: Item the triumphant title to be written
crossewise, in everie corner of the house, thus: _Jesus ✠ Nazarenus ✠
rex ✠ Judæorum ✠_. _Memorandum_[*] you may joine heerewithall, the
name of the virgine _Marie_, or of the foure evangelists, or _Verbum
caro factum est_. ❈ Otherwise: Item in some countries they naile a
woolves head on the doore. ❈ Otherwise: Item they hang _Scilla_ (which
is either a roote, or rather in this place garlike) in the roofe of the
house, for to keepe awaie witches and spirits: and so they doo Alicium
also. ❈ Otherwise: Item perfume made of the gall of a blake dog, and
his bloud besmeered on the posts and walles of the house, driveth out
of the doores both devils and witches. ❈ Otherwise: The house where
_Herba betonica_ is sowne, is free from all mischeefes. ❇ Otherwise: It
is not unknowne that the Romish church allowed and used the smoke of
sulphur, to drive spirits out of their houses; as they did frankincense
and water hallowed. ❈ Otherwise: _Apuleius_ saith, that _Mercurie_ gave
to _Ulysses_, when he came neere to the inchantresse _Circe_, an hearbe
called _Verbascum_, which in English is called Pullein, or _Tapsus
barbatus_, or Longwoort; and that preserved him from the inchantments.
❈ Otherwise: Item _Plinie_ and _Homer_ both doo saie, that the herbe
called Molie is an excellent herbe against inchantments; and saie[,]
all that thereby _Ulysses_ escaped _Circes_ hir sorceries, and
inchantments. ❈ Otherwise also diverse waies they went to worke in this
case, and some used this defensative, some that preservative against
incantations.

♦Preservatives from witchcraft according to M. Mal. L. Vairus & others.♦

♦[*] [Rom.]♦

And heerein you shall see, not onelie how the religion of papists, and
infidels agree; but also how their ceremonies and their opinions are
all one concerning witches and spirits.

_For thus writeth Ovid touching that matter:[*]_

_Térque senem flamma, ter aqua, ter sulphure lustrat:_

♦_Ovid de Medea._♦

_She purifies with fier thrise
old horie headed Aeson,
With water thrise, and sulphur thrise,
as she thought meet in reason._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

_Againe, the same Ovid commeth in as before:[*]_

_Adveniat, quæ lustret anus, lectúmque locúmque,
Deferat & tremula sulphur & ova manu._

_Let some old woman hither come,
and purge both bed and place,
And bring in trembling hand new egs
and sulphur in like case._

♦_By Ab. Fleming._♦

_And Virgil also harpeth upon the like string:[*]_

——————————————————_baccare frontem
Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro:_

♦_Virg. in Bucolicis._♦

_Of berrie bearing baccar bowze [boughs]
a wreath or garland knit,
And round about his head and browze
see decentlie it sit;
That of an evill talking tung
Our future poet be not stung._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

Furthermore, was it not in times of tempests the papists use, [*]or
superstition, to ring their belles against divels; trusting rather to
the tonging of their belles, than to their owne crie unto God with
fasting and praier, assigned by him in all adversities and dangers:
according to the order of the _Thracian_ preests, which would rore and
crie, with all the noise they could make, in those tempests. _Olaus
Gothus_ saith, that his countriemen would shoot in the aire, to assist
their gods, whome they thought to be then togither by the eares with
others, and had consecrated arrowes, called _Sagittæ Joviales_, even
as our papists had. Also in steed of belles, they had great hammers,
called _Mallei Joviales_, to make a noise in time of thunder. In some
countries they runne out of the doores in time of tempest, blessing
themselves with a cheese, whereupon there was a crosse made with a
ropes end upon ascension daie. Also three hailestones to be throwne
into the fier in a tempest, and thereupon to be said three _Pater
nosters_, and three _Aves_, S. _Johns_ gospell, and _in fine fugiat
tempestas_, is a present remedie. Item, to hang an eg laid on ascension
daie in the roofe of the house, preserveth the same from all hurts.
[†]Item, I conjure you haile and wind by the five wounds of Christ,
by the three nailes which pearsed his hands and his feete, and by
the foure evangelists, _Matthew_, _Marke_, _Luke_, and _John_, that
thou come downe dissolved into water. Item, it hath beene a usuall
matter, to carrie out in tempests the sacraments and relikes, &c.
Item, against stormes, and manie dumme creatures, the popish church
useth excommunication as a principall charme. And now to be delivered
from witches themselves, they hang in their entries an hearbe called
pentaphyllon, cinquefole, also an olive branch, also frankincense,
myrrh, valerian, verven, palme, antirchmon, &c: also haythorne,
otherwise white[t]horne gathered on Maie daie: also the smoke of
a lappoints fethers driveth spirits awaie. There be innumerable
popish exorcismes, and conjurations for hearbs and other things, to
be thereby made wholsome both for the bodies and soules of men and
beasts, and also for contagion of weather. _Memorandum_,[‡] that
at the gathering of these magicall herbs, the _Credo_ is necessarie
to be said, as _Vairus_ affirmeth; and also the _Pater noster_, for
that is not superstitious. Also _Sprenger_ saith, that to throw up a
blacke chicken in the aire, will make all tempests to cease: so it be
done with the hand of a witch. If a soule wander in the likenesse of
a man or woman by night, molesting men, with bewailing their torments
in purgatorie, by reason of tithes forgotten, &c: and neither masses
nor conjurations can helpe; the exorcist in his ceremoniall apparell
must go to the toome of that bodie, and spurne thereat, with his foote,
saieng; _Vade ad gehennam_, Get thee packing to hell: and by and by the
soule goeth thither, and there remaineth for ever. ❇ Otherwise: There
be masses of purpose for this matter, to unbewitch the bewitched. ❇
Otherwise: You must spet into the pissepot, where you have made water.
❇ Otherwise: Spet into the shoo of your right foote, before you put it
on: and that _Vairus_ saith is good and holsome to doo, before you go
into anie dangerous place. ❇ Otherwise: That neither hunters nor their
dogs maie be bewitched, they cleave an oken branch, and both they and
their dogs passe over it. ❇ Otherwise: S. _Augustine_ saith, that to
pacifie the god _Liber_, whereby women might have fruite of the seeds
they sowe, and that their gardens and feelds should not be bewitched;
some cheefe grave matrone used to put a crowne upon his genitall
member, and that must be publikelie done.

♦[*] [? of _or_ in.]♦

♦_Olaus Goth. lib. de gentib. Septentriona-lib. 3. cap. 8._♦

♦[†] A witches conjuration to make haile cease and be dissolved.♦

♦[‡] [Rom.]♦

♦_L. Vair. lib. de fascin. 2. cap. 11._♦

♦_Mal. Malef. par. 2. quæ 1. cap. 15._♦

♦Note that you read never of anie spirit that walked by daie, quoth
Nota.♦

♦_Aug. de civit. Dei. lib. 7. cap. 12._♦

_To spoile a theefe, a witch, or anie other enimie, and to be
delivered from the evill._

Upon the Sabboth daie before sunrising, cut a hazell wand, saieng: I
cut thee O bough of this summers growth, in the name of him whome I
meane to beate or maime. Then cover the table, and saie _✠ In nomine
patris ✠ & filii ✠ & spiritus sancti ✠ ter_. And striking thereon saie
as followeth (english it he that can) _Drochs myroch, esenaroth, ✠ betu
✠ baroch ✠ ass ✠ maaroth ✠_: and then saie; Holie trinitie punish him
that hath wrought this mischiefe, & take it away by thy great justice,
_Eson ✠ elion ✠ emaris, ales, age_; and strike the carpet with your
wand.

¶ _A notable charme or medicine to pull out an arrowhead, or
anie such thing that sticketh in the flesh or bones, and cannot
otherwise be had out._

Saie three severall times kneeling; _Oremus, præceptis salutaribus
moniti, Pater noster, ave Maria_. Then make a crosse saieng: The Hebrew
knight strake our Lord Jesu Christ, and I beseech thee, O Lord Jesu
Christ ✠ by the same iron, speare, bloud and water, to pull out this
iron: _In nomine patris ✠ & filii ✠ & spiritus sancti ✠_

♦The Hebrue knight was canonized a saint to wit, S. _Longinus_.♦

¶ _Charmes against a quotidian ague._

Cut an apple in three peeces, and write upon the one; The father is
uncreated: upon the other; The father is incomprehensible: upon the
third; The father is eternall. ❇ Otherwise: Write upon a massecake cut
in three peeces; O ague to be worshipped: on the second; O sicknesse to
be ascribed to health and joies: on the third; _Pax ✠ max ✠ fax ✠_ and
let it be eaten fasting. ❇ Otherwise: Paint upon three like peeces of
a massecake, _Pater pax ✠ Adonai ✠ filius vita ✠ sabbaoth ✠ spiritus
sanctus ✠ Tetragrammaton ✠_ and eate it, as is afore said.

¶ _For all maner of agues intermittant._

Joine two little stickes togither in the middest, being of one length,
and hang it about your necke in the forme of a crosse. ❇ Otherwise:
For this disease the _Turkes_ put within their doublet a ball of wood,
with an other peece of wood, and strike the same, speaking certeine
frivolous words. ❇ Otherwise: Certeine monks hanged scrolles about the
necks of such as were sicke, willing them to saie certeine praiers at
each fit, and at the third fit to hope well: and made them beleeve that
they should thereby receive cure.

♦A crossed appension, with other appensions.♦

_Periapts, characters, &c: for agues, and to cure all diseases,
and to deliver from all evill._

The first chapter of S. _Johns_ gospell in small letters consecrated
at a masse, and hanged about ones necke, is an incomparable amulet or
tablet, which delivereth from all witchcrafts and divelish practises.
But me thinkes, if one should hang a whole testament, or rather a
bible, he might beguile the divell terriblie. For indeed so would S.
_Barnard_ have done, whom the divell told, that he could shew him seven
verses in the psalter, which being dailie repeated, would of themselves
bring anie man to heaven, and preserve him from hell. But when S.
_Barnard_ desired the divell to tell him which they were, he refused,
saieng, he might then thinke him a foole so to prejudice himselfe. Well
(quoth S. _Barnard_) I will doo well enough for that, for I will dailie
saie over the whole psalter. The divell hearing him saie so, told him
which were the verses, least in reading over the whole psalter dailie,
he should merit too much for others. But if the hanging of S. _Johns_
gospell about the necke be so beneficiall; how if one should eate up
the same?

♦For bodie and soule.♦

♦S. Barnard overmatcheth the divell for all his subtiltie.♦

¶ _More charmes for agues._

Take the partie by the hand, and saie; _Aequè facilis sit tibi hæc
febris, atque Mariæ virgini Christi partus_. ❇ Otherwise: Wash with the
partie, and privilie saie this psalme, _Exaltabo te Deus meus, rex,
&c._ ❇ Otherwise: Weare about your necke, a peece of a naile taken
from a crosse, and wrapped in wooll. ❇ Otherwise: Drinke wine, wherein
a sworde hath beene drowned that hath cut off ones head. ❇ Otherwise:
Take three consecrated massecakes, and write upon the first: _Qualis
est pater talis est vita_: on the second; _Qualis est filius, talis est
sanctus_: on the third; _Qualis est spiritus tale est remedium_. Then
give them to the sicke man, enjoining him to eate none other thing that
daie wherein he eateth anie of them, nor yet drinke: and let him saie
fifteene _Pater nosters_, and as manie _Aves_, in the honour and praise
of the Trinitie. ❇ Otherwise: Lead the sicke man on a fridaie before
sunne rising towards the east, and let him hold up his hands towards
the sunne, and saie: This is the daie, wherein the Lord God came to the
crosse. But as the crosse shall never more come to him: so let never
the hot or cold fit of this ague come anie more unto this man, _In
nomine patris ✠ & fi✠lii, & spiritus ✠ sancti ✠_. Then saie seven and
twentie _Pater nosters_, and as manie _Aves_, and use this three daies
togither. ❇ Otherwise:

♦Pretious restorities.[*]♦

♦[*] [? restorati[v]es]♦

_Fécana, cagéti, daphnes, gebáre, gedáco,
Gébali stant, sed non stant phebas, hecas,[*] & hedas._

♦This is too mysticall to be englished quoth Nota.♦

♦[*] [1584, _pheb as, hec as_]♦

♦_Fernelius._♦

Everie one of these words must be written upon a peece of bread, and
be given in order one daie after another to the sicke bodie, and so
must he be cured. This saith _Nicholas Hemingius_ he chanced to read
in the schooles in jest; so as one noting the words, practised the
medicine in earnest; and was not onelie cured himselfe, but also cured
manie others thereby. And therefore he concludeth, that this is a kind
of a miraculous cure, wrought by the illusion of the divell: whereas
in truth, it will fall out most commonlie, that a tertian ague will
not hold anie man longer than so, though no medicine be given, nor
anie words spoken. ❇ Otherwise: This word, _Abra cadabra_ written on
a paper, with a certeine figure joined therewith, and hanged about
ones necke, helpeth the ague. ❇ Otherwise: Let the urine of the sicke
bodie made earlie in the morning, be softlie heated nine daies togither
continuallie, untill all be consumed into vapor. ❇ Otherwise: A crosse
made of two litle twigs joined togither, wherewith when the partie is
touched, he will be whole; speciallie if he weare it about his necke. ❇
Otherwise: Take a like quantitie of water out of three ponds of equall
bignesse, and tast thereof in a new earthen vessell, and drinke of it
when the fit commeth.

In the yeare of our lord 1568, the _Spaniards_ and _Italians_ received
from the pope, this incantation following; whereby they were promised
both remission of sinnes, and good successe in their warres in the lowe
countries. Which whether it be not as prophane and impious, as anie
witches charme, I report me to the indifferent reader. _✠ Crucem pro
nobis subiit ✠ & stans in illa sitiit ✠ Jesus sacratis manibus, clavis
ferreis, pedibus perfossis, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus:_ D_omine libera nos
ab hoc malo, & ab hac peste_: then three _Pater nosters_, and three
_ave Maries_. Also the same yeere their ensignes were by the authoritie
aforesaid conjured with certeine ceremonies, & consecrated against
their enimies. And if you read the histories of these warres, you maie
see what victorie they gained hereby. Item, they baptised their cheefe
standard, and gave it to name S. _Margaret_, who overthrew the divell.
And bicause you shall understand the mysterie hereof, I have the
rather set it downe elsewhere, being indeed worth the reading.

♦Notable follies of the Spaniards & Italians.♦

¶ _For a bloudie flux, or rather an issue of bloud._

Take a cup of cold water, and let fall thereinto three drops of the
same bloud, and betweene each drop saie a _Pater noster_, and an _Ave_,
then drinke to the patient, and saie; Who shall helpe you? The patient
must answer _S. Marie_. Then saie you; _S. Marie_ stop the issue of
bloud. ❈ Otherwise: Write upon the patients forhead with the same
bloud; _Consummatum est_. ❈ Otherwise: Saie to the patient; _Sanguis
mane in te, sicut fecit Christus in se; Sanguis mane in tua vena, sicut
Christus in sua pœna; Sanguis mane fixus, sicut Christus quando fuit
crucifixus: ter_. ❈ Otherwise, as followeth.

♦He must answer by none other, for she perhaps hath the curing thereof
by patent.♦

_In the bloud of Adam death was taken ✠
In the bloud of Christ it was all to shaken ✠
And by the same bloud I doo thee charge,
That thou doo runne no longer at large._ ❈ Otherwise.

Christ was borne at _Bethelem_, and suffered at _Jerusalem_, where his
bloud was troubled. I command thee by the vertue of God, and through
the helpe of all saincts, to staie even as _Jordan_ did, when _John_
baptised Christ Jesus; _In nomine patris ✠ & filii ✠ & spiritus
|sancti_ ✠ ❈ Otherwise: Put thy nameles finger in the wound, and make
therwith three crosses upon the wound, and saie five _Pater nosters_,
five _Aves_, and one _Credo_, in the honour of the five wounds. ❈
Otherwise: Touch that part and saie, _De latere ejus exivit sanguis &
aqua_. ❈ Otherwise: _In nomine patris ✠ & filii ✠ & spiritus sancti ✠
&c. Chimrat, chara, sarite, confirma, consona, Imohalite._ ❈ Otherwise:
_Sepa ✠ sepaga ✠ sepagoga ✠ sta sanguis in nomine patris ✠ podendi ✠ &
filii ✠ podera ✠ & spiritus sancti ✠ pandorica ✠ pax tecum, Amen_.

♦_See J. Wier. cap. 11. conf._♦

¶ _Cures commensed and finished by witchcraft._

There was a jollie fellowe that tooke upon him to be a notable surgion,
in the dutchie of _Mentz_, 1567. to whom there resorted a Gentleman
that had beene vexed with sicknesse, named _Elibert_, having a
kerchiefe on his head, according to the guise of sicke folke. But the
surgion made him pull off his kerchiefe, and willed him to drinke with
him freelie. The sickeman said he durst not; for he was forbidden
by physicke so to doo. Tush (said this cunning man) they know not
your disease: be ruled by me, and take in your drinke lustilie. For
he thought that when he was well tippled, he might the more easilie
beguile him in his bargaine, and make his reward the greater, which
he was to receive in part aforehand. When they had well droonke, he
called the sicke man aside, and told him the greatnes and danger of
his disease, and how that it grew by meanes of witchcraft, and that it
would be universallie spread in his house, and among all his cattell,
if it were not prevented: and impudentlie persuaded the sicke man to
receive cure of him. And after bargaine made, he demanded of the sicke
man, whether he had not anie at home, whom he might assuredlie trust.
The sicke man answered, that he had a daughter and a servant. The
cousener asked how old his daughter was? The patient said, twentie.
Well (said the cousener) that is fit for our turne. Then he made the
mother and father to kneele on their knees to their daughter, and to
desire hir in all things to obey the physician, and that she would
doo in everie thing as he commanded hir; otherwise hir father could
not be restored to his health. In which respect hir parents humblie
besought hir on their knees so to doo. Then he assigned hir to bring
him into his lodging hir fathers haire, and hir mothers, and of all
those which he kept in his house, as well of men and women, as also
of his cattell. When she came therewith unto him, according to the
match made, and hir parents commandement, he lead hir downe into a
lowe parlor, where having made a long speech, he opened a booke
that laie on the boord, and laieth thereon two knives acrosse, with
much circumstance of words. Then conjureth he, and maketh strange
characters, and at length he maketh a circle on the ground, wherein he
causeth hir to sticke one of those conjured knives; and after manie
more strange words, he maketh hir sticke the other knife beside it.
Then fell downe the maid in a swoone for feare; so as he was faine to
frote hir and put a sop into hir mouth, after the receipt whereof she
was sore troubled and amazed. Then he made hir brests to be uncovered,
so as when they were bare, he dallied with them, diverslie and long
together. Then he made hir lie right upward, all uncovered and bare
belowe hir pappes. Wherein the maid being loth to obeie him, resisted,
and in shame forbad that villanie. Then said the knave; Your fathers
destruction is at hand: for except you will be ruled, he and all his
familie shall susteine greater greefe and inconvenience, than is yet
happened unto him. And no remedie, except you will seeke his utter
overthrowe, I must have carnall copulation with you, and therewithall
fell into hir bosome, and overthrew hir and hir virginitie. So did
he the second daie, and attempted the like on the third daie. But he
failed then of his purpose, as the wench confessed afterwards. In the
meane time he ministred so cruell medicines to the sicke man, that
through the torments therof he feared present death, and was faine to
keepe his bed, whereas he walked about before verie well and lustilie.
The patient in his torments calleth unto him for remedie, who being
slacke and negligent in that behalfe, made roome for the daughter to
accompanie hir father, who asked hir what she thought of the cure, and
what hope she had of his recoverie. Who with teares remained silent, as
being oppressed with greefe; till at the last in abundance of sorrowe
she uttered the whole matter to hir father. This dooth _Johannes
Wierus_ report, saieng, that it came unto him by the lamentable
relation of the father himselfe. And this is here at this time for none
other purpose rehearsed, but that men may hereby learne to take heed of
such cousening merchants, and knowe what they be that take upon them
to be so cunning in witchcraft; least they be bewitched: as maister
_Elibert_ and his daughter were.

♦The surgion here most impudentlie setteth his knaverie abroch.♦

♦A pretended conjuration.♦

♦_Ad vada tot vadit urna quòd ipsa cadit._♦

¶ _Another witchcraft or knaverie, practised by the same surgion._

This surgion ministred to a noble man, that laie sicke of an ague,
offering unto him three peeces of a roote to be eaten at three morsels;
saieng to the first: I would Christ had not beene borne; unto the
second: I would he had not suffered; unto the third: I would he had not
risen againe. And then putting them about the sicke mans necke, said;
Be of good cheere. And if he lost them, whosoever tooke them up, should
therewithall take awaie his ague. ❇ Otherwise: Jesus Christ, which was
borne, deliver thee from this infirmitie ✠ Jesus Christ which died ✠
deliver thee from this infirmitie ✠ Jesus Christ which rose againe ✠
deliver thee from this infirmitie. Then dailie must be said five _Pater
nosters_, and five _Aves_.

♦Three morsels, the first charmed with christs birth, the second with
his passion, the third with his resurrection.♦

¶ _Another experiment for one bewitched._

Another such cousening physician persuaded one which had a timpanie,
that it was one old viper, and twoo yoong mainteined in his bellie by
witchcraft. But being watched, so as he could not conveie vipers into
his ordure or excrements, after his purgations: at length he told the
partie, that he should suffer the paines of childbirth, if it were not
prevented; and therefore he must put his hand into his breech, and
rake out those wormes there. But the mother of the sicke partie having
warning hereof, said she could doo that hir selfe. So the cousener was
prevented, and the partie died onelie of a timpanie, and the knave ran
awaie out of the countrie.

♦A cousening physician, and a foolish patient.♦

¶ _Otherwise._

_Monsieur Bodin_ telleth of a witch, who undertaking to cure a woman
bewitched, caused a masse to be soong at midnight in our ladies
chappell. And when she had overlien the sicke partie, and breathed
certeine words upon hir, she was healed. Wherein _Bodin_ saith,
she followed the example of _Elias_ the prophet, who raised the
_Sunamitie_. And this storie must needs be true: for goodman _Hardivin
Blesensis_ his host at the signe of the lion told him the storie.

♦_John. Bodin._♦

♦_Kakozelia._♦

¶ _A knacke to knowe whether you be bewitched, or no, &c._

It is also expedient to learne how to know whether a sicke man be
bewitched or no: this is the practise thereof. You must hold molten
lead over the sicke bodie, and powre it into a porrenger full of water;
and then, if there appeare upon the lead, anie image, you may then
knowe the partie is bewitched.

♦_Mal. malef. pa. 1. quæ. 17._♦

♦_Barth. Spin. in novo Mal. malef._♦

The xix. Chapter.

_That one witchcraft maie lawfullie meete with another._

_Scotus_, _Hostiensis_, _Gofridus_, and all the old canonists agree,
that it is lawfull to take awaie witchcraft by witchcraft, _Et vana
vanis contundere_. And _Scotus_ saith, It were follie to forbeare to
encounter witchcraft by witchcraft; for (saith he) there can be none
inconvenience therein; bicause the overthrower of witchcraft assenteth
not to the works of the divell. And therefore he saith further, that
it is meritorious so to extinguish and overthrow the divels workes. As
though he should saie; It maketh no matter, though S. _Paule_ saie;
_Non facies malum, ut indè veniat bonum_, Thou shalt not doo evill,
that good maie come thereof. _Humbertus_ saith, that witchcraft maie
be taken awaie by that meanes whereby it was brought. But _Gofredus_
inveieth sore against the oppugners thereof. Pope _Nicholas_ the fift
gave indulgence and leave to bishop _Miraties_ (who was so bewitched
in his privities, that he could not use the gift of venerie) to seeke
remedie at witches hands. And this was the clause of his dispensation,
_Ut ex duobus malis fugiatur majus_, that of two evils, the greater
should be avoided. And so a witch, by taking his doublet, cured him,
and killed the other witch: as the storie saith, which is to be seene
in _M. Mal._ and diverse other writers.

♦_Scotus in 4. distinct. 34. de imperio._♦

♦_Dist. 4._♦

♦_Gofred. in summa sua._♦

The xx. Chapter.

_Who are privileged from witches, what bodies are aptest to be
bewitched, or to be witches, why women are rather witches
than men, and what they are._

Now if you will know who and what persons are privileged from witches,
you must understand, that they be even such as cannot be bewitched. In
the number of whome first be the inquisitors, and such as exercise
publike justice upon them. Howbeit,[*] a justice in _Essex_, whome
for diverse respects I have left unnamed, not long since thought he
was bewitched, in the verie instant whiles he examined the witch; so
as his leg was broken therby, &c: which either was false, or else this
rule untrue, or both rather injurious unto Gods providence. Secondlie,
such as observe dulie the rites and ceremonies of holie church, and
worship them with reverence, through the sprinkling of holie water, and
receiving consecrated salt, by the lawfull use of candles hallowed on
Candelmas daie, and greene leaves consecrated on Palme sundaie (which
things they saie the church useth for the qualifieng of the divels
power) are preserved from witchcraft. Thirdlie, some are preserved by
their good angels, which attend and wait upon them.

♦_Mal. malef. par. 2. quæ. 1. cap. 1._♦

♦[*] Whereof looke more in a little booke set foorth in print.♦

But I maie not omit here the reasons, which they bring, to prove
what bodies are the more apt and effectuall to execute the art of
fascination. And that is, first they saie the force of celestiall
bodies, which indifferentlie communicate their vertues unto men,
beasts, trees, stones, &c. But this gift and naturall influence of
fascination maie be increased in man, according to his affections and
perturbations; as thorough anger, feare, love, hate, &c. For by hate
(saith _Vairus_) entereth a fierie inflammation into the eie of man,
which being violentlie sent out by beams and streames, &c: infect and
bewitch those bodies against whome they are opposed. And therefore he
saith (in the favour of women) that that is the cause why women are
oftener found to be witches than men. For (saith he) they have such
an unbrideled force of furie and concupiscence naturallie, that by
no meanes it is possible for them to temper or moderate the same. So
as upon everie trifling occasion, they (like brute beasts) fix their
furious eies upon the partie whom they bewitch. Hereby it commeth to
passe, that whereas women having a mervellous fickle nature, what
greefe so ever happeneth unto them, immediatlie all peaceablenes of
mind departeth; and they are so troubled with evill humors, that out go
their venomous exhalations, ingendred thorough their ilfavoured diet,
and increased by meanes of their pernicious excrements, which they
expell. Women are also (saith he) monethlie filled full of superfluous
humors, and with them the melancholike bloud boileth; whereof spring
vapors, and are carried up, and conveied through the nosethrels and
mouth, &c: to the bewitching of whatsoever it meeteth. For they belch
up a certeine breath, wherewith they bewitch whomsoever they list.
And of all other women, leane, hollow eied, old, beetlebrowed women
(saith he) are the most infectious. Marie he saith, that hot, subtill,
and thin bodies are most subject to be bewitched, if they be moist,
and all they generallie, whose veines, pipes, and passages of their
bodies are open. And finallie he saith, that all beautifull things
whatsoever, are soone subject to be bewitched; as namelie goodlie
yoongmen, faire women, such as are naturallie borne to be rich, goodlie
beasts, faire horsses, ranke corne, beutifull trees, &c. Yea a freend
of his told him, that he saw one with his eie breake a pretious stone
in peeces. And all this he telleth as soberlie, as though it were true.
And if it were true, honest women maie be witches, in despight of all
inquisitors: neither can anie avoid being a witch, except shee locke
hir selfe up in a chamber.

♦_L. Vair. lib. de fascin. 1. c. 12._♦

♦Much like the eiebiting witches, of whom we have elswhere spoken.♦

♦Who are most likelie to bewitch, and to be bewitched.♦

The xxi. Chapter.

_What miracles witchmongers report to have beene done by
witches words, &c: contradictions of witchmongers among
themselves, how beasts are cured herby, of bewitched butter,
a charme against witches, and a counter charme, the effect of
charmes and words proved by L. Vairus to be woonderfull._

If I should go about to recite all charmes, I should take an infinite
worke in hand. For the witching writers hold opinion, that anie thing
almost maie be therby brought to passe; & that whether the words of
the charme be understandable or not, it skilleth not: so the charmer
have a steddie intention to bring his desire about. And then what is
it that cannot be done by words? For _L. Vairus_ saith, that old women
have infeebled and killed children with words, and have made women
with child miscarrie; they have made men pine awaie to death, they
have killed horsses, deprived sheepe of their milke, [*]transformed
men into beasts, flowne in the aire, tamed and staied wild beasts,
driven all noisome cattell and vermine from corne, vines and hearbs,
staied serpents, &c: and all with words. In so much as he saith, that
with certeine words spoken in a bulles eare by a witch, the bull hath
fallen downe to the ground as dead. Yea some by vertue of words have
gone upon a sharpe sword, and walked upon hot glowing coles, without
hurt; with words (saith he) verie heavie weights and burthens have
beene lifted up; and with words wild horsses and wild bulles have
beene tamed, and also mad dogs; with words they have killed wormes,
and other vermine, and staied all maner of bleedings and fluxes: with
words all the diseases in mans bodie are healed, and wounds cured;
arowes are with wonderfull strangenesse and cunning plucked out of
mens bones. Yea (saith he) there be manie that can heale all bitings
of dogs, or stingings of serpents, or anie other poison: and all with
nothing but words spoken. And that which is most strange, he saith,
that they can remedie anie stranger, and him that is absent, with that
verie sword wherewith they are wounded. Yea and that which is beyond
all admiration, if they stroke the sword upwards with their fingers,
the partie shall feele no paine: whereas if they drawe their finger
downewards thereupon, the partie wounded shall feele intollerable
paine. With a number of other cures, done altogither by the vertue and
force of words uttered and spoken.

♦_L. Vair. lib. de fascin. 1. ca. 5._♦

♦[*] According to _Ovids_ saieng of _Proteus_ & _Medea_, which he
indeed alledgeth therefore, _Nunc aqua, nunc ales, modò bos, modò
cervus abibat_.♦

Where, by the waie, I maie not omit this speciall note, given by _M.
Mal._ to wit, that holie water maie not be sprinkled upon bewitched
beasts, but must be powred into their mouthes. And yet he, and also
_Nider_, saie, that It is lawfull to blesse and sanctifie beasts,
as well as men; both by charmes written, and also by holie words
spoken. For (saith _Nider_) if your cow be bewitched, three crosses,
three _Pater nosters_, and three _Aves_ will certeinlie cure hir: and
likewise all other ceremonies ecclesiasticall. And this is a sure
_Maxime_,[*] that they which are delivered from witchcraft by shrift,
are ever after in the night much molested (I beleeve by their ghostlie
fathers.) Also they loose their monie out of their pursses and caskets:
as _M. Mal._ saith he knoweth by experience. Also one generall rule is
given by _M. Mal._ to all butter wives, and dairie maides, that they
neither give nor lend anie butter, milke, or cheese, to anie witches,
which alwaies use to beg therof, when they meane to worke mischeefe
to their kine or whitmeats. Whereas indeed there are in milke three
substances commixted; to wit, butter, cheese, and whaie: if the same
be kept too long, or in an evill place, or be sluttishlie used, so as
it be stale and sower, which happeneth sometimes in winter, but
oftener in summer, when it is set over the fier, the cheese and butter
runneth togither, and congealeth, so as it will rope like birdlime,
that you maie wind it about a sticke, and in short space it will be so
drie, as you maie beate it to powder. Which alteration being strange,
is woondered at, and imputed to witches. And herehence sometimes
proceedeth the cause, why butter commeth not, which when the countrie
people see that it commeth not, then get they out of the suspected
witches house, a little butter, whereof must be made three balles, in
the name of the holie trinitie; and so if they be put into the cherne,
the butter will presentlie come, and the witchcraft will cease; _Sic
ars deluditur arte_. But if you put a little sugar or sope into the
cherne, among the creame, the butter will never come: which is plaine
witchcraft, if it be closelie, cleanlie, and privilie handled. There be
twentie severall waies to make your butter come, which for brevitie I
omit; as to bind your cherne with a rope, to thrust thereinto a red hot
spit, &c: but your best remedie and surest waie is, to looke well to
your dairie maid or wife, that she neither eat up the creame, nor sell
awaie your butter.

♦_Mal. Malef. par. 2. quæ. 2. cap. 7._♦

♦_Nider in præceptorio, præcept. 1. ca. 11._♦

♦_Nider in fornicario._♦

♦_Mal. Malef. part. 2. cap. 8._♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

♦A good devise to starve up poore women.♦

♦_Mal. Malef. part. 2. quæ. 2, cap. 7._♦

¶ _A charme to find hir that bewitched your kine._

Put a paire of breeches upon the cowes head, and beate hir out of the
pasture with a good cudgell upon a fridaie, and she will runne right to
the witches doore, and strike thereat with hir hornes.

♦A ridiculous charme.♦

¶ _Another, for all that have bewitched anie kind of cattell._

When anie of your cattell are killed with witchcraft, hast you to the
place where the carcase lieth, and traile the bowels of the beast
unto your house, and drawe them not in at the doore, but under the
threshhold of the house into the kitchen; and there make a fier, and
set over the same a grediron, and thereupon laie the inwards or bowels;
and as they wax hot, so shall the witches entrailes be molested with
extreame heate and paine. But then must you make fast your doores,
least the witch come and fetch awaie a cole of your fier: for then
ceaseth hir torments. And we have knowne saith _M. Mal._ when the witch
could not come in, that the whole house hath beene so darkened, and the
aire round about the same so troubled, with such horrible noise and
earthquakes; that except the doore had beene opened, we had thought the
house would have fallen on our heads. _Thomas Aquinas_, a principall
treator herein, alloweth conjurations against the changelings, and in
diverse other cases: whereof I will saie more in the word _Iidoni_.

¶ _A speciall charme to preserve all cattell from witchcraft._

At Easter you must take certeine drops, that lie uppermost of the holie
paschall candle, and make a little waxe candle thereof: and upon some
sundaie morning rath, light it, and hold it, so as it maie drop upon
and betweene the hornes and eares of the beast, saieng: _In nomine
patris, & filii, et duplex s s_: and burne the beast a little betweene
the hornes on[*] the eares with the same wax: and that which is left
thereof, sticke it in crossewise about the stable or stall, or upon
the threshold, or over the doore, where the cattell use to go in and
out, and for all that yeare your cattell shall never be bewitched. ❈
Otherwise: _Jacobus de Chusa Carthusianus_ sheweth, how bread, water,
and salt is conjured, and saith, that if either man or beast receive
holie bread and holie water nine daies together, with three _Pater
nosters_, and three _Aves_, in the honour of the trinitie, and of S.
_Hubert_, it preserveth that man or beast from all diseases, and
defendeth them against all assaults of witchcraft, of satan, or of a
mad dog, &c.

♦In anie case observe the festivall time, or else you marre all.♦

♦[*] [or]♦

♦_L. Vair. lib. de fascin. 1. cap. 1._♦

Lo this is their stuffe, mainteined to be at the least effectuall, if
not wholsome, by all papists and witchmongers, and speciallie of the
last and proudest writers. But to proove these things to be effectuall,
God knoweth their reasons are base and absurd. For they write so, as
they take the matter in question as granted, and by that meanes go
awaie therewith. For _L. Vairus_ saith in the beginning of his booke,
that there is no doubt of this supernaturall matter, bicause a number
of writers agree herein, and a number of stories confirme it, and manie
poets handle the same argument, and in the twelve tables there is a
lawe against it, and bicause the consent of the common people is fullie
with it, and bicause immoderate praise is to be approoved a kind of
witchcraft, and bicause old women have such charmes and superstitious
meanes as preserve themselves from it, and bicause they are mocked that
take awaie the credit of such miracles, and bicause _Salomon_ saith;
_Fascinatio malignitatis obscurat bona_, and bicause the apostle saith;
_O insensati Galatæ, quis vos fascinavit?_ And bicause it is written,
_Qui timent te, videbunt me_. And finallie he saith, least you should
seeme to distrust and detract anie thing from the credit of so manie
grave men, from histories, and common opinion of all men: he meaneth in
no wise to proove that there is miraculous working by witchcraft and
fascination; and proceedeth so, according to his promise.

♦Sapi. 4.♦

♦Gali. 3.♦

♦Psal. 119.♦

The xxii. Chapter.

_Lawfull charmes, or rather medicinable cures for diseased
cattell. The charme of charmes, and the power thereof._

But if you desire to learne true and lawfull charmes, to cure diseased
cattell, even such as seeme to have extraordinarie sicknesse, or to be
bewitched, or (as they saie) strangelie taken: looke in _B. Googe_ his
third booke, treating of cattell, and happilie you shall find some good
medicine or cure for them: or if you list to see more ancient stuffe,
read _Vegetius_ his foure bookes thereupon: or, if you be unlearned,
seeke some cunning bullocke leech. If all this will not serve, then
set _Jobs_ patience before your eies. And never thinke that a poore
old woman can alter supernaturallie the notable course, which God hath
appointed among his creatures. If it had beene Gods pleasure to have
permitted such a course, he would no doubt have both given notice in
his word, that he had given such power unto them, and also would have
taught remedies to have prevented them.

♦Direct and lawfull meanes of curing cattell, &c.♦

Furthermore, if you will knowe assured meanes, and infallible charmes,
yeelding indeed undoubted remedies, and preventing all maner of
witchcrafts, and also the assaults of wicked spirits; then despise
first all cousening knaverie of priests, witches, and couseners: and
with true faith read the sixt chapter of S. _Paule_ to the _Ephesians_,
and followe his counsell, which is ministred unto you in the words
following, deserving worthilie to be called by the name insuing:

_The charme of charmes._

_Finallie my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his
might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may stand against
the assaults of the divell. For we wrestle not against flesh and
bloud, but against principalities and powers, & against worldlie
governors the princes of the darkenes of this world, against spirituall
wickednes, which are in the high places. For this cause take unto you
the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evill daie;
and having finished all things, stand fast. Stand therefore, and your
loines girded about with veritie, and having on the brestplate of
righteousnes, &c_: as followeth in that chapter, verses 15. 16. 17. 18.
1 _Thes._ 5. 1 _Pet._ 5, _verse._ 8. _Ephes._ 1. and elsewhere in the
holie scripture.

♦A charme of charmes taken out of the sixt chapter of S. Paule to the
Ephesians.♦

¶ _Otherwise._

If you be unlearned, and want the comfort of freends, repaire to some
learned, godlie, and discreet preacher. If otherwise need require, go
to a learned physician, who by learning and experience knoweth and
can discerne the difference, signes, and causes of such diseases, as
faithlesse men and unskilfull physicians impute to witchcraft.

The xxiii. Chapter.

_A confutation of the force and vertue falselie ascribed to
charmes and amulets, by the authorities of ancient writers,
both divines and physicians._

My meaning is not, that these words, in the bare letter, can doo anie
thing towards your ease or comfort in this behalfe; or that it were
wholesome for your bodie or soule to weare them about your necke: for
then would I wish you to weare the whole Bible, which must needs be
more effectuall than anie one parcell thereof. But I find not that the
apostles, or anie of them in the primitive church, either carried S.
_Johns_ gospell, or anie _Agnus Dei_[*] about them, to the end they
might be preserved from bugges: neither that they looked into the foure
corners of the house, or else in the roofe, or under the threshhold,
to find matter of witchcraft, and so to burne it, to be freed from
the same; according to the popish rules. Neither did they by such and
such verses or praiers made unto saints, at such or such houres, seeke
to obteine grace: neither spake they of anie old women that used such
trades. Neither did Christ at anie time use or command holie water,
or crosses, &c: to be used as terrors against the divell, who was
not affraid to assault himselfe, when he was on earth. And therefore
a verie vaine thing it is to thinke that he feareth these trifles,
or anie externall matter. Let us then cast awaie these prophane and
old wives fables. For (as _Origen_ saith) _Incantationes sunt dæmonū
irrisiones idololatriæ fæx, animarum infatuatio, &c._

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

♦_Mal. Malef. part. 2. qu. 2. cap. 6._♦

♦1. Tim. 4, 7.♦

♦_Origin. lib. 3. in Job._♦

_Chrysostome_ saith; There be some that carrie about their necks a
peece of a gospell. But[*] is it not dailie read (saith he) and
heard of all men? But if they be never the better for it, being put
into their eares, how shall they be saved, by carrieng it about their
necks? And further he saith; Where is the vertue of the gospell? In
the figure of the letter, or in the understanding of the sense? If
in the figure, thou dooest well to weare it about thy necke; but if
in the understanding, then thou shouldest laie it up in thine heart.
_Augustine_ saith; Let the faithfull ministers admonish and tell their
people, that these magicall arts and incantations doo bring no remedie
to the infirmities either of men or cattell, &c.

♦_J. Chrysost. in Matth._♦

♦[*] Marke that here was no latine service.♦

♦_Idem. Ibid._♦

♦_August. 26. quæ. ultim._♦

The heathen philosophers shall at the last daie confound the
infidelitie and barbarous foolishnes of our christian or rather
anti-christian and prophane witchmongers. For as _Aristotle_ saith,
that _Incantamenta sunt muliercularum figmenta_: so dooth _Socrates_
(who was said to be cunning herein) affirme, that _Incantationes sunt
verba animas decipientia humanas_. Others saie; _Inscitæ pallium
sunt carmina, maleficium, & incantatio_. _Galen_ also saith, that
such as impute the falling evill, and such like diseases to divine
matter, and not rather to naturall causes, are witches, conjurers, &c.
_Hippocrates_ calleth them arrogant; and in another place affirming
that in his time there were manie deceivers and couseners, that would
undertake to cure the falling evill, &c: by the power and helpe of
divels, by burieng some lots or inchantments in the ground, or casting
them into the sea, concludeth thus in their credit, that they are all
knaves and couseners: for God is our onlie defender and deliverer. O
notable sentence of a heathen philosopher!

♦_Galen. in lib. de comitiali morbo._♦

♦_Hippocrat. lib. de morbo sacro._♦

¶ _The xiii. booke._

The first Chapter.

_The signification of the Hebrue word Hartumim, where it is
found written in the scriptures, and how it is diverslie
translated: whereby the objection of Pharaos magicians is
afterward answered in this booke; also of naturall magicke
not evill in it selfe._

_Hartumim_ is no naturall Hebrue word, but is borrowed of some other
nation: howbeit, it is used of the Hebrues in these places; to wit,
_Gen._ 4. 1. 8. 24. _Exod._ 7. 13. 24. & 8. 7. 18. & 9. 11. _Dan._
1, 20. & 2. 2. _Hierome_ sometimes translateth it _Conjectores_,
sometimes _Malefici_, sometimes _Arioli_: which we for the most part
translate by this word witches. But the right signification heereof may
be conceived, in that the inchanters of _Pharao_, being magicians of
_Aegypt_, were called _Hartumim_. And yet in _Exodus_ they are named in
some Latine translations _Venefici_. _Rabbi Levi_ saith, it betokeneth
such as doo strange and woonderfull things, naturallie, artificiallie,
and deceitfullie. _Rabbi Isaac Natar_ affirmeth, that such were so
termed, as amongst the Gentiles professed singular wisedome. _Aben
Ezra_ expoundeth it, to signifie such as knowe the secrets of nature,
and the qualitie of stones and hearbs, &c: which is atteined unto by
art, and speciallie by naturall magicke. But we, either for want of
speach, or knowlege, call them all by the name and terme of witches.

♦_Hieronymus. in Gen. 41. 8, & 24. In Exod. 7, 13. In Dan. 1, 20_♦

Certeinlie, God indueth bodies with woonderfull graces, the perfect
knowledge whereof man hath not reached unto: and on the one side,
there is amongst them such mutuall love, societie, and consent; and
on the other side, such naturall discord, and secret enimitie, that
therein manie things are wrought to the astonishment of mans capacitie.
But when deceit and diabolicall words are coupled therewith, then
extendeth it to witchcraft and conjuration; as whereunto those naturall
effects are falselie imputed. So as heere I shall have some occasion
to say somewhat of naturall magicke; bicause under it lieth hidden
the venome of this word _Hartumim_. This art is said by some to be
the profoundnesse, and the verie absolute perfection of naturall
philosophie, and shewing foorth the active part thereof, & through the
aid of naturall vertues, by the convenient applieng of them, works
are published, exceeding all capacitie and admiration; and yet not
so much by art, as by nature. This art of it selfe is not evill; for
it consisteth in searching foorth the nature, causes, and effects of
things. As farre as I can conceive, it hath beene more corrupted and
prophaned by us Christians, than either by Jewes or Gentiles.

♦The authors intention touching the matter hereafter to be discoursed
upon.♦

The second Chapter.

_How the philosophers in times past travelled for the knowledge
of naturall magicke, of Salomons knowledge therein, who is to
be called a naturall magician, a distinction thereof, and why
it is condemned for witchcraft._

Manie philosophers; as namely _Plato_, _Pythagoras_, _Empedocles_,
_Democritus_, &c: travelled over all the world, to find out & learne
the knowlege of this art; & at their returne they preached and taught,
professed and published it. Yea, it should appeere by the magicians
that came to adore Christ, that the knowledge and reputation thereof
was greater, than we conceive or make account of. But of all other,
_Salomon_ was the greatest traveller in this art, as may appeere
throughout the booke of _Ecclesiastes_: and speciallie in the booke of
_Wisedome_, where hee saith[*] God hath given me the true science
of things, so as I knowe how the world was made, and the power of the
elements, the beginning and the end, and the middest of times, how the
times alter, and the change of seasons, the course of the yeare, and
the situation of the starres, the nature of living things, and the
furiousnesse of beasts, the power of the wind, and the imaginations
of men, the diversities of plants, and the vertues of roots, and all
things both secret and knowne, &c. Finallie, he was so cunning in
this art, that he is said to have bene a conjurer or witch, and is
so reputed in the Romish church at this daie. Whereby you may see,
how fooles and papists are inclined to credit false accusations in
matters of witchcraft and conjuration. The lesse knowledge we have in
this art, the more we have it in contempt: in which respect _Plato_
saith trulie to _Dionysius_; They make philosophie a mockerie, that
deliver it to prophane and rude people. Certeinlie, the witchcraft,
conjuration, and inchantment that is imputed to _Salomon_, is gathered
out of these his words following: I applied my mind to knowledge,
and to search and seeke out science, wisedome and understanding, to
knowe the foolishnesse of the ungodlie, and the error of doting
fooles. In this art of naturall magike (without great heed be taken) a
student shall soone be abused. For manie (writing by report, without
experience) mistake their authors, and set downe one thing for another.
Then the conclusions being found false, the experiment groweth into
contempt, and in the end seemeth ridiculous, though never so true.
_Plinie_ and _Albert_ being curious writers heerein, are often
deceived; insomuch as _Plinie_ is called a noble lier, and _Albert_ a
rusticall lier; the one lieng by heeresaie, the other by authoritie.

♦[*] Sap. 7, 17
18.
19.
20.
21.♦

♦_See Iidioni._ [_Iidoni._]♦

♦Eccle. 1. & 1.♦

A magician is indeed that which the Latines call a wise man, as
_Numa Pompilius_ was among the Romans; The Greeks, a philosopher, as
_Socrates_ was among them; the _Aegyptians_ a preest, as _Hermes_ was;
the Cabalists called them prophets. But although these distinguished
this art, accounting the one part thereof infamous, as being too much
given unto wicked, vaine, and impious curiositie, as unto moovings,
numbers, figures, sounds, voices, tunes, lights, affections of the
mind, and words; and the other part commendable, as teaching manie
good and necessarie things, as times and seasons to sowe, plant, till,
cut, &c: and diverse other things, which I will make manifest unto
you heereafter: yet we generallie condemne the whole art, without
distinction, as a part of witchcraft; having learned to hate it, before
we knowe it; affirming all to be witchcraft, which our grosse heads are
not able to conceive, and yet can thinke that an old doting woman seeth
through it, &c. Wherein we consider not how God bestoweth his gifts,
and hath established an order in his works, graffing in them sundrie
vertues to the comfort of his severall creatures; and speciallie to
the use and behoofe of man: neither doo we therein weigh that art is
servant unto nature, and waiteth upon hir as hir handmaiden.

♦A magician described and the art distinguished.♦

The third Chapter.

_What secrets do lie hidden, and what is taught in naturall
magicke, how Gods glorie is magnified therein, and that it is
nothing but the worke of nature._

In this art of naturall magicke, God almightie hath hidden manie secret
mysteries; as wherein a man may learne the properties, qualities,
and knowledge of all nature. For it teacheth to accomplish maters in
such sort and oportunitie, as the common people thinketh the same to
be miraculous; and to be compassed none other waie, but onelie by
witchcraft. And yet in truth, naturall magicke is nothing else, but the
worke of nature. For in tillage, as nature produceth corne and hearbs;
so art, being natures minister, prepareth it. Wherein times and seasons
are greatlie to be respected: for _Annus non arvus producit aristas_.

♦_Read Plinie in natural. hist. Cardan de rerum variet. Albertus de
occulta rerum proprietate._♦

♦_Barthol. Neap. in natural. magia, & many others._♦

But as manie necessarie and sober things are heerein taught: so dooth
it partlie (I saie) consist in such experiments and conclusions as are
but toies, but neverthelesse lie hid in nature, and being unknowne, doo
seeme miraculous, speciallie when they are intermedled and corrupted
with cunning illusion, or legierdemaine, from whence is derived the
estimation of witchcraft. But being learned and knowne, they are
contemned, and appeere ridiculous: for that onelie is woonderfull to
the beholder, whereof he can conceive no cause nor reason, according
to the saieng of _Ephesius_, _Miraculum solvitur unde videtur esse
miraculum_. And therefore a man shall take great paines heerein, and
bestow great cost to learne that which is of no value, and a meere
jugling knacke. Whereupon it is said, that a man may not learne
philosophie to be rich; but must get riches to learne philosophie:
for to sluggards, niggards, & dizzards, the secrets of nature are
never opened. And doubtlesse a man may gather out of this art, that
which being published, shall set foorth the glorie of God, and be
many waies beneficiall to the commonwealth: the first is doone by the
manifestation of his works; the second, by skilfullie applieng them to
our use and service.

♦Naturall magicke hath a double end, which proveth y^e excellencie of
the same.♦

The fourth Chapter.

_What strange things are brought to passe by naturall magicke._

The dailie use and practise of medicine taketh awaie all admiration
of the woonderfull effects of the same. Manie other things of lesse
weight, being more secret and rare, seeme more miraculous. As for
example (if it be true that _J. Bap. Neap._ and many other writers
doo constantlie affirme.) Tie a wild bull to a figtree, and he will
be presentlie tame; or hang an old cocke thereupon, and he will
immediatlie be tender; as also the feathers of an eagle consume all
other feathers, if they be intermedled together. Wherein it may not be
denied, but nature sheweth hir selfe a proper workwoman. But it seemeth
unpossible, that a little fish being but halfe a foot long, called
_Remora_ or _Remiligo_, or of some _Echeneis_, staieth a mightie ship
with all hir loade and tackling, and being also under saile. And yet
it is affirmed by so manie and so grave authors, that I dare not denie
it; speciallie, bicause I see as strange effects of nature otherwise:
as the propertie of the loadstone, which is so beneficiall to the
mariner; and of Rheubarb, which onelie medleth with choler, and purgeth
neither flegme nor melancholie, & is as beneficiall to the physician,
as the other to the mariner.

♦_Pompanatius. lib. de incant. cap. 3._
_J. Wierus de lamiis._
_Jasp. Peucer_
_H. Cardan. &c._♦

The fift Chapter.

_The incredible operation of waters, both standing and running; of
wels, lakes, rivers, and of their woonderfull effects._

The operation of waters, and their sundrie vertues are also incredible,
I meane not of waters compounded and distilled: for it were endlesse
to treate of their forces, speciallie concerning medicines. But we
have heere even in _England_ naturall springs, wels, and waters,
both standing and running, of excellent vertues, even such as except
we had seene, and had experiment of, we would not beleeve to be _In
rerum natura_. And to let the physicall nature of them passe (for the
which we cannot be so thankefull to God, as they are wholsome for our
bodies) is it not miraculous, that wood is by the qualitie of divers
waters heere in _England_ transubstantiated into a stone? The which
vertue is also found to be in a lake besides the citie _Masaca_ in
_Cappadocia_, there is a river called _Scarmandrus_, that maketh yellow
sheepe. Yea, there be manie waters, as in _Pontus_ & _Thessalia_, and
in the land of _Assyrides_, in a river of _Thracia_ (as _Aristotle_
saith) that if a white sheepe being with lambe drinke thereof, the
lambe will be blacke. _Strabo_ writeth of the river called _Crantes_,
in the borders of _Italie_, running towards _Tarentum_, where mens
haire is made white and yellow being washed therein. _Plinie_ dooth
write that of what colour the veines are under the rammes toong, of
the same colour or colours will the lambs be. There is a lake in a
field called _Cornetus_, in the bottome whereof manifestlie appeareth
to the eie, the carcases of snakes, ewts, and other serpents: whereas
if you put in your hand, to pull them out, you shall find nothing
there. There droppeth water out of a rocke in _Arcadia_, the which
neither a silverne nor a brasen boll can conteine, but it leapeth out,
and sprinkleth awaie; and yet will it remaine without motion in the
hoofe of a mule. Such conclusions (I warrant you) were not unknowne to
_Jannes_ and _Jambres_.

♦Of late experience neere Coventrie, &c.♦

♦_Aristot. in lib. de hist. animalium._♦

♦_Plin. de lanicii colore._♦

The sixt Chapter.

_The vertues and qualities of sundrie pretious stones, of cousening
Lapidaries, &c._

The excellent vertues and qualities of stones, found, conceived and
tried by this art, is woonderfull. Howbeit many things most false and
fabulous are added unto their true effects, wherewith I thought good in
part to trie the readers patience and cunning withall. An Aggat (they
saie) hath vertue against the biting of scorpions or serpents. It is
written (but I will not stand to it) that it maketh a man eloquent, and
procureth the favour of princes; yea that the fume thereof dooth turne
awaie tempests. Alectorius is a stone about the bignesse of a beane,
as cleere as the christall, taken out of a cocks bellie which hath
beene gelt or made a capon foure yeares. If it be held in ones mouth,
it asswageth thirst, it maketh the husband to love the wife, and the
bearer invincible: for heereby _Milo_ was said to overcome his enimies.
A crawpocke delivereth from prison. Chelidonius is a stone taken out of
a swallowe, which cureth melancholie: howbeit, some authors saie, it is
the hearbe wherby the swallowes recover the sight of their yoong, even
if their eies be picked out with an instrument. Geranites is taken out
of a crane, and Draconites out of a dragon. But it is to be noted, that
such stones must be taken out of the bellies of the serpents, beasts,
or birds, (wherein they are) whiles they live: otherwise, they vanish
awaie with the life, and so they reteine the vertues of those starres
under which they are. Amethysus maketh a droonken man sober, and
refresheth the wit. The[*] corrall preserveth such as beare it from
fascination or bewitching, and in this respect they are hanged about
childrens necks. But from whence that superstition is derived, and who
invented the lie, I knowe not: but I see how readie the people are to
give credit thereunto, by the multitude of corrals that waie emploied.
I find in good authors, that while it remaineth in the sea, it is an
hearbe; and when it is brought thence, into the aire, it hardeneth, and
becommeth a stone.

♦_Ludovicus Cœlius. Rhodo. lib. antiq. lect. 11. ca. 70._
_Barthol. Anglicus, lib. 16._♦

♦[*] _Avicenna cano. 2. tract. 2. cap. 124._
_Serapio agg. cap. 100._
_Dioscor. lib. 5. cap. 93._♦

Heliotropius stancheth bloud, driveth awaie poisons, preserveth health:
yea, and some write that it provoketh raine, and darkeneth the sunne,
suffering not him that beareth it to be abused. Hyacinthus dooth all
that the other dooth, and also preserveth from lightening. Dinothera
hanged about the necke, collar, or yoke of any creature, tameth it
presentlie. A Topase healeth the lunatike person of his passion of
lunacie. Aitites, if it be shaken, soundeth as if there were a little
stone in the bellie thereof: it is good for the falling sicknesse,
and to prevent untimelie birth. Amethysus aforesaid resisteth
droonkenesse, so as the bearers shall be able to drinke freelie, and
recover themselves soone being droonke as apes: the same maketh a man
wise. Chalcedonius maketh the bearer luckie in lawe, quickeneth the
power of the bodie, and is of force also against the illusions of the
divell, and phantasticall cogitations arising of melancholie. Corneolus
mitigateth the heate of the mind, and qualifieth malice, it stancheth
bloudie fluxes, speciallie of women that are troubled with their
flowers. Heliotropius aforesaid darkeneth the sunne, raiseth shewers,
stancheth bloud, procureth good fame, keepeth the bearer in health, and
suffereth him not to be deceived. If this were true, one of them would
be deerer than a thousand diamonds.

♦_Plin. lib. 37. cap. 10._
_Albert. lib. 2. cap. 7._
_Solin. cap. 32._♦

Hyacinthus delivereth one from the danger of lightening, driveth
awaie poison and pestilent infection, and hath manie other vertues.
Iris helpeth a woman to speedie deliverance, and maketh rainebowes to
appeere. A Saphire preserveth the members, and maketh them livelie, and
helpeth agues and gowts, and suffereth not the bearer to be afraid:
it hath vertue against venome, and staieth bleeding at the nose
being often put thereto. [*]A Smarag is good for the eiesight, and
suffereth not carnall copulation, it maketh one rich and eloquent. A
Topase increaseth riches, healeth the lunatike passion, and stancheth
bloud. Mephis (as _Aaron_ and _Hermes_ report out of _Albertus
Magnus_) being broken into powder, and droonke with water, maketh
insensibilitie of torture. Heereby you may understand, that as God hath
bestowed upon these stones, and such other like bodies, most excellent
and woonderfull virtues; so according to the abundance of humane
superstitions and follies, manie ascribe unto them either more vertues,
or others than they have: other boast that they are able to adde new
qualities unto them. And heerin consisteth a part of witchcraft and
common cousenage used sometimes of the Lapidaries for gaines; sometimes
of others for cousening purposes. Some part of the vanitie heereof I
will heere describe, bicause the place serveth well therefore. And it
is not to be forgotten or omitted, that _Pharos_ magicians were like
enough to be cunning therein.

♦[*] _Rabbi Moses aphorism. partic. 22._
_Isidor. lib. 14. cap. 3._
_Savanorola._♦

Neverthelesse, I will first give you the opinion of one, who professed
himselfe a verie skilfull and well experimented Lapidarie, as appeereth
by a booke of his owne penning, published under this title of
_Dactylotheca_, and (as I thinke) to be had among the bookesellers. And
thus followeth his assertion:

_Evax rex Arabum fertur scripsisse Neroni,
(Qui post Augustum regnavit in orbe secundus)
Quot species lapidis, quæ nomina, quíve colores,
Quæq́; sit his regio, vel quanta potentia cuiq́;,
Ocult as[*] etenim lapidum cognoscere vires,
Quorum causa latens effectus dat manifestos,
Egregium quiddam volumus rarúmque videri.
Scilicet hinc solers medicorum cura juvatur.[†]
Auxilio lapidum morbos expellere docta.
Nec minùs inde dari cunctarum commoda rerum
Autores perhibent, quibus hæc perspecta feruntur.
Nec dubium cuiquam debet falsúmque videri,
Quin sua sit gemmis divinitùs insita virtus:_

♦_Marbodeus Gallus in sua dactylotheca, pag. 5, 6._♦

♦[*] [Ocultas]♦

♦[†] [,]♦

_Evax an old Arabian king
is named to have writ
A treatise, and on Neros Grace
to have bestowed it,
(Who in the world did second reigne
after Augustus time)
Of pretious stones the sundrie sorts,
their names, and in what clime
And countrie they were to be found,
their colours and their hue,
Their privie power and secret force,
the which with knowledge true
To understand, their hidden cause
most plaine effects declare:
And this will we a noble thing
have counted be and rare.
The skilfull care of leeches learnd
is aided in this case, }
And hereby holpen, and are taught }
with aid of stones to chase }
Awaie from men such sicknesses }
as have in them a place. }
No less precise commodities
of althings else therebie
Are ministred and given to men,
if authors doo not lie,
To whome these things are said to bee
most manifestlie knowne._
_It shall no false or doubtfull case
appeare to anie one, }
But that by heavenlie influence }
each pretious pearle and stone, }
Hath in his substance fixed force }
and vertue largelie sowne._ }

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

♦_Vis gemmarum & lapillorum pretiosorum negatur, quia occulta est,
rarissiméque sub sensum cadit._♦

Whereby it is to be concluded, that stones have in them certeine
proper vertues, which are given them of a speciall influence of the
planets, and a due proportion of the elements, their substance being
a verie fine and pure compound, consisting of well tempered matter
wherein is no grosse mixture: as appeareth by plaine proofe of _India_
and _Aethopia_, where the sunne being orient and meridionall, dooth
more effectuallie shew his operation, procuring more pretious stones
there to be ingendred, than in the countries that are occident and
septentrionall. Unto this opinion doo diverse ancients accord; namelie,
_Alexander Peripateticus_, _Hermes_, _Evax_, _Bocchus Zoroastes_,
_Isaac Judæus_, _Zacharias Babylonicus_, and manie more beside.

♦Manie more authors may be named of no lesse antiquitie and learning.♦

The seventh Chapter.

_Whence the pretious stones receive their operations, how curious
Magicians use them, and of their seales._

Curious Magicians affirme, that these stones receive their vertues
altogether of the planets and heavenlie bodies, and have not onelie
the verie operation of the planets, but sometimes the verie images
and impressions of the starres naturallie ingraffed in them, and
otherwise ought alwaies to have graven upon them, the similitudes
of such monsters, beasts, and other devises, as they imagine to be
both internallie in operation, and externallie in view, expressed in
the planets. As for example, upon the Achate are graven serpents or
venomous beasts; and sometimes a man riding on a serpent: which they
know to be _Aesculapius_, which is the celestiall serpent, whereby are
cured (they saie) poisons and stingings of serpents and scorpions.
These grow in the river of _Achates_, where the greatest scorpions
are ingendred, and their noisomnes is thereby qualified, and by the
force of the scorpions the stones vertue is quickened and increased.
Also, if they would induce love for the accomplishment of venerie, they
inscribe and expresse in the stones, amiable embracings and lovelie
countenances and gestures, words and kissings in apt figures. For the
desires of the mind are consonant with the nature of the stones, which
must also be set in rings, and upon foiles of such metals as have
affinitie with those stones, thorough the operation of the planets
whereunto they are addicted, whereby they may gather the greater force
of their working.

♦_Plin. lib. 37. cap. 10._
_Albert. miner. li. 2. ca. 1._
_Solin. cap. 11._
_Diurius in scrin. cap. de complexionibus & complexatis._♦

As for example, They make the images of _Saturne_ in lead, of _Sol_
in gold, of _Luna_ in silver. Marrie there is no small regard to be
had for the certeine and due times to be observed in the graving of
them: for so are they made with more life, and the influences and
configurations of the planets are made thereby the more to abound in
them. As if you will procure love, you must worke in apt, proper, and
freendlie aspects, as in the houre of _Venus_, _&c_: to make debate,
the direct contrarie order is to be taken. If you determine to make
the image of _Venus_, you must expect to be under _Aquarius_ or
_Capricornus_: for _Saturne_, _Taurus_, and _Libra_ must be taken heed
of. Manie other observations there be, as to avoid the infortunate
seate and place of the planets, when you would bring a happie thing to
passe, and speciallie that it be not doone in the end, declination, or
heele (as they terme it) of the course thereof: for then the planet
moorneth and is dull.

♦_Geor. Pictorius. Villang. doct. medici in scholiis super Marbod.
dactyl._♦

Such signes as ascend in the daie, must be taken in the daie; if in
the night they increase, then must you go to worke by night, &c.
For in _Aries_, _Leo_, and _Sagittarie_ is a certeine triplicitie,
wherein the sunne hath dominion by daie, _Jupiter_ by night, and in
the twielight the cold star of _Saturne_. But bicause there shall be
no excuse wanting for the faults espied herein, they saie that the
vertues of all stones decaie through tract of time: so as such things
are not now to be looked for in all respects as are written. Howbeit
_Jannes_ and _Jambres_ were living in that time, and in no inconvenient
place; and therefore not unlike to have that helpe towards the abusing
of _Pharao_. _Cardane_ saith, that although men attribute no small
force unto such seales; as to the seale of the sunne, authorities,
honors, and favors of princes; of _Jupiter_, riches and freends; of
_Venus_, pleasures; of _Mars_, boldnes; of _Mercurie_, diligence;
of _Saturne_, patience and induring of labour; of _Luna_, favour of
people: I am not ignorant (saith he) that stones doo good, and yet I
knowe the seales or figures doo none at all. And when _Cardane_ had
shewed fullie that art, and the follie thereof, and the maner of those
terrible, prodigious, & deceitfull figures of the planets with their
characters, &c.: he saith that those were deceitfull inventions devised
by couseners, and had no vertue indeed nor truth in them. But bicause
we spake somewhat even now of signets and seales, I will shew you what
I read reported by _Vincentius in suo speculo_, where making mention
of the Jasper stone, whose nature and propertie _Marbodeus Gallus_
describeth in the verses following:

♦_H. Card. lib. de subtil. 10._♦

♦_H. Card. lib. de var. rer. 16. cap. 90._♦

_Jaspidis esse decem species septémque feruntur,
Hic & multorum cognoscitur esse colorum,
Et multis nasci perhibetur partibus orbis,
Optimus in viridi translucentíque colore,
Et qui plus soleat virtutis habere probatur,
Castè gestatus febrem fugat, arcet hydropem,
Adpositúsque juvat mulierem parturientem,
Et tutamentum portanti creditur esse.
Nam consecratus gratum facit atque potentem,
Et, sicut perhibent, phantasmata noxia pellit,
Cujus in argento vis fortior esse putatur._

♦_Marbodeus in sua dactylotheca, pag. 41, 52._♦

_Seven kinds and ten of Jasper stones
reported are to be,
Of manie colours this is knowne
which noted is by me,
And said in manie places of
the world for to be seene,
Where it is bred; but yet the best
is thorough shining greene,
And that which prooved is to have
in it more virtue plaste:
For being borne about of such
as are of living chaste,
It drives awaie their ague fits,
the dropsie thirsting drie, }
And put unto a woman weake }
in travell which dooth lie }
It helps, assists, and comforts hir }
in pangs when she dooth crie. }
Againe, it is beleevd to be
A safegard franke and free,
To such as weare and beare the same;
and if it hallowed bee
It makes the parties gratious,
and mightie too that have it,
And noysome fansies (as they write
that ment not to deprave it)
It dooth displace out of the mind:
the force thereof is stronger,
In silver if the same be set,
and will endure the longer.

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

♦Memorandum the authors meaning is, that this stone be set in silver, &
worne on the finger for a ring: as you shall see afterwards.♦

But (as I said) _Vincentius_ making mention of the Jasper stone,
touching which (by the waie of a parenthesis) I have inferred
_Marbodeus_ his verses, he saith that some Jasper stones are found
having in them the livelie image of a naturall man, with a sheeld at
his necke and a speare in his hand, and under his feete a serpent:
which stones so marked and signed, he preferreth before all the
rest, bicause they are antidotaries or remedies notablie resisting
poison. Othersome also are found figured and marked with the forme of
a man bearing on his necke a bundle of hearbs and flowres, with the
estimation and value of them noted, that they have in them a facultie
or power restrictive, and will in an instant or moment of time stanch
bloud. Such a kind of stone (as it is reported) _Galen_ wore on his
finger. Othersome are marked with a crosse, as the same author writeth,
and these be right excellent against inundations or overflowings of
waters. I could hold you long occupied in declarations like unto these,
wherein I laie before you what other men have published and set foorth
to the world, choosing rather to be an academicall discourser, than an
universall determiner: but I am desirous of brevitie.

♦_Vincent. lib. 9. cap. 77._
_Dioscor. lib. 5. cap. 100._
_Aristot. in Lapidario._♦

The eight Chapter.

_The sympathie and antipathie of naturall and elementarie bodies
declared by diverse examples of beasts, birds, plants, &c._

If I should write of the strange effects of Sympathia and Antipathia,
I should take great paines to make you woonder, and yet you would
scarse beleeve me. And if I should publish such conclusions as are
common and knowne, you would not regard them. And yet _Empedocles_
thought all things were wrought hereby. It is almost incredible, that
the grunting or rather the wheeking of a little pig, or the sight of
a simple sheepe should terrifie a mightie elephant: and yet by that
meanes the _Romans_ did put to flight _Pyrhus_ and all his hoast. A
man would hardlie beleeve, that a cocks combe or his crowing should
abash a puissant lion: but the experience herof hath satisfied the
whole world. Who would thinke that a serpent should abandon the shadow
of an ash, &c? But it seemeth not strange, bicause it is common, that
some man otherwise hardie and stout enough, should not dare to abide
or endure the sight of a cat. Or that a draught of drinke should so
overthrow a man, that never a part or member of his bodie should be
able to performe his dutie and office; and should also so corrupt and
alter his senses, understanding, memorie, and judgement, that he should
in everie thing, saving in shape, beecome a verie beast. And herein the
poets experiment of liquor is verified, in these words following:

♦Agreement & disagreement in sufferance.♦

——————————————_sunt qui non corpora tantùm,
Verùm animas etiam valeant mutare liquores:_

_Some waters have so powerfull ben,
As could not onelie bodies change,
But even the verie minds of men,
Their operation is so strange._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

The freendlie societie betwixt a fox and a serpent is almost
incredible: how loving the lizzard is to a man, we maie read, though
we cannot see. Yet some affirme that our newt is not onlie like to
the lizzard in shape, but also in condition. From the which affection
towards a man, a spaniell doth not much differ, whereof I could cite
incredible stories. The amitie betwixt a castrell and a pigeon is much
noted among writers; and speciallie how the castrell defendeth hir
from hir enimie the sparowhawke: whereof they saie the doove is not
ignorant. Besides, the woonderfull operation and vertue of hearbs,
which to repeat were infinite: and therfore I will onlie referre you to
_Mattheolus_ his herball, or to _Dodonæus_. There is among them such
naturall accord and discord, as some prosper much the better for the
others companie, and some wither awaie being planted neere unto the
other. The lillie and the rose rejoise in each others neighborhood. The
flag and the fernebush abhorre each other so much, that the one can
hardlie live besides the other. The cowcumber loveth water, and hateth
oile to the death. And bicause you shall not saie that hearbs have no
vertue, for that in this place I cite none, I am content to discover
two or three small qualities and vertues, which are affirmed to be in
hearbs: marie as simple as they be, _Jannes_ and _Jambres_ might have
done much with them, if they had had them. If you pricke out a yoong
swallowes eies, the old swallow restoreth againe their sight, with the
application (they saie) of a little Celondine. _Xanthus_ the author of
histories reporteth, that a yoong dragon being dead, was revived by
hir dam, with an hearbe called Balim. And _Juba_ saith, that a man in
_Arabia_ being dead was revived by the vertue of another hearbe.

♦Read a litle tract of Erasmus intituled _De amicitia_, where enough is
said touching this point.♦

♦_Xanthus in hist. prima._♦

♦_Jub. lib. 25. cap. 2._♦

The ninth Chapter.

_The former matter prooved by manie examples of the living and
the dead._

And as we see in stones, herbs, &c: strange operation and naturall love
and dissention: so doo we read, that in the bodie of a man, there be
as strange properties and vertues naturall. I have heard by credible
report, and I have read many grave authors constantlie affirme, that
the wound of a man murthered reneweth bleeding; at the presence of a
deere freend, or of a mortall enimie. Diverse also write, that if one
passe by a murthered bodie (though unknowne) he shalbe striken with
feare, and feele in him selfe some alteration by nature. Also that a
woman, above the age of fiftie yeares, being bound hand and foote,
hir clothes being upon hir, and laid downe softlie into the water,
sinketh not in a long time; some saie, not at all. By which experiment
they were woont to trie witches, as well as by _Ferrum candens_: which
was, to hold hot iron in their hands, and by not burning to be tried.
Howbeit, _Plutarch_ saith, that _Pyrhus_ his great toe had in it such
naturall or rather divine vertue, that no fier could burne it.

♦This common experience can justifie.♦

♦_J. Wierus._♦

♦_Plutarch. in vita Pyrhi._♦

And _Albertus_ saith, and manie other also repeat the same storie,
saieng, that there were two such children borne in _Germanie_, as if
that one of them had beene carried by anie house, all the doores right
against one of his sides would flie open: and that vertue which the one
had in the left side, the other brother had in the right side. He saith
further, that manie sawe it, and that it could be referred to nothing,
but to the proprietie of their bodies. _Pompanatius_ writeth that the
kings of _France_ doo cure the disease called now the kings evill, or
queenes evill; which hath beene alwaies thought, and to this daie is
supposed to be a miraculous and a peculiar gift, & a speciall grace
given to the kings and queenes of _England_. Which some referre to the
proprietie of their persons, some to the peculiar gift of God, and some
to the efficacie of words. But if the French king use it no woorsse
than our Princesse doth, God will not be offended thereat: for hir
maiestie onelie useth godlie and divine praier, with some almes, and
referreth the cure to God and to the physician. _Plutarch_ writeth that
there be certeine men called _Psilli_, which with their mouthes heale
the bitings of serpents. And _J. Bap. Neap._ saith, that an olive being
planted by the hand of a virgine, prospereth; which if a harlot doo, it
withereth awaie. Also, if a serpent or viper lie in a hole, it maie
easilie be pulled out with the left hand, wheras with the right hand
it cannot be remooved. Although this experiment, and such like, are
like enough to be false; yet are they not altogether so impious as the
miracles said to be done by characters, charmes, &c. For manie strange
properties remaine in sundrie partes of a living creature, which is
not universallie dispersed, and indifferentlie spred through the whole
bodie: as the eie smelleth not, the nose seeth not, the eare tasteth
not, &c.

♦_Albert. lib. de mor. animal. cap. 3._♦

♦_Pompan. lib. de incant. cap. 4._♦

♦_Plutar. in vita Catonis._♦

♦_J. Bap. Neap. in lib. de natur. magia. 1._♦

The tenth Chapter.

_The bewitching venome conteined in the bodie of an harlot, how
hir eie, hir toong, hir beautie and behavior bewitcheth some
men: of bones and hornes yeelding great vertue._

The vertue conteined within the bodie of an harlot, or rather the
venome proceeding out of the same maie be beheld with great admiration.
For hir eie infecteth, entiseth, and (if I maie so saie) bewitcheth
them manie times, which thinke themselves well armed against such maner
of people. Hir toong, hir gesture, hir behaviour, her beautie, and
other allurements poison and intoxicate the mind: yea, hir companie
induceth impudencie, corrupteth virginitie, confoundeth and consumeth
the bodies, goods, and the verie soules of men. And finallie hir
bodie destroieth and rotteth the verie flesh and bones of mans bodie.
And this is common, that we woonder not at all thereat, naie we have
not the course of the sunne, the moone, or the starres in so great
admiration, as the globe, counterfeting their order: which is in
respect but a bable made by an artificer. So as (I thinke) if Christ
himselfe had continued long in the execution of miracles, and had
left that power permanent and common in the church; they would have
growne into contempt, and not have beene esteemed, according to his
owne saieng: A prophet is not regarded in his owne countrie. I might
recite infinite properties, wherewith God hath indued the bodie of man,
worthie of admiration, and fit for this place. As touching other living
creatures, God hath likewise (for his glorie, and our behoofe) bestowed
most excellent and miraculous gifts and vertues upon their bodies and
members, and that in severall and woonderfull wise. We see that a bone
taken out of a carps head, stancheth bloud, and so doth none other
part besides of that fish. The bone also in a hares foot mitigateth
the crampe, as none other bone nor part else of the hare doth. How
pretious is the bone growing out of the forehead of a unicorne; if the
horne, which we see, growe there, which is doubted: and of how small
accompt are the residue of all his bones? At the excellencie whereof,
as also at the noble and innumerable vertues of herbs we muse not at
all; bicause it hath pleased God to make them common unto us. Which
perchance might in some part assist _Jannes_ and _Jambres_, towards the
hardning of _Pharaos_ heart. But of such secret and strange operations
read _Albert De mineral. cap._ 1. 11. 17. Also _Marsilius Ficinus, cap.
1. lib. 4. Cardan. de rerum varietate. J. Bap. Neap. de magia naturali.
Peucer, Wier, Pompanacius, Fernelius,_ and others.

♦The venom or poison of an harlot.♦

♦Matth. 13.
Marke. 6.
Luke. 4.
John. 4.♦

♦Wonderfull naturall effects in bones of fishes, beasts, &c.♦

The eleventh Chapter.

_Two notorious woonders and yet not marvelled at._

I thought good here to insert two most miraculous matters, of the one I
am _Testis oculatus_, an eie witnesse; of the other I am so crediblie
and certeinelie informed, that I dare and doo beleeve it to be verie
true. When Maister _T. Randolph_ returned out of _Russia_, after
his ambassage dispatched, a gentleman of his traine brought home a
monument of great accompt, in nature and in propertie very wonderfull.
And bicause I am loath to be long in the description of circumstances,
I will first describe the thing it selfe: which was a peece of earth of
a good quantitie, and most excellentlie proportioned in nature, having
these qualities and vertues following. If one had taken a peece of
perfect steele, forked and sharpened at the end, and heated it red hot,
offering therewith to have touched it; it would have fled with great
celeritie: and on the other side, it would have pursued gold, either
in coine or bulloine, with as great violence and speed as it shunned
the other. No bird in the aire durst approch neere it; no beast of the
field but feared it, and naturallie fled from the sight thereof. It
would be here to daie, and to morrowe twentie miles off, and the next
daie after in the verie place it was the first daie, and that without
the helpe of anie other creature.

♦Strange properties in a peece of earth.♦

_Johannes Fernelius_ writeth of a strange stone latelie brought out
of _India_, which hath in it such a marvellous brightnes, puritie,
and shining, that therewith the aire round about is so lightned and
cleared, that one may see to read thereby in the darknes of night. It
will not be conteined in a close roome, but requireth an open and
free place. It would not willinglie rest or staie here belowe on the
earth, but alwaies laboureth to ascend up into the aire. If one presse
it downe with his hand, it resisteth, and striketh verie sharpelie. It
is beautifull to behold, without either spot or blemish, and yet verie
unplesant to taste or feele. If anie part thereof be taken awaie, it
is never a whit diminished, the forme thereof being inconstant, and at
everie moment mutable. These two things last rehearsed are strange, and
so long woondered at, as the mysterie and moralitie thereof remaineth
undiscovered: but when I have disclosed the matter, and told you
that by the lumpe of earth a man is ment, and some of his qualities
described; and that that which was conteined in the farre fetcht stone,
was fier, or rather flame: the doubt is resolved, and the miracle
ended. And yet (I confesse) there is in these two creatures conteined
more miraculous matter, than in all the loadstones and diamonds in
the world. And hereby is to be noted, that even a part of this art,
which is called naturall or witching magicke, consisteth as well in
the deceipt of words, as in the sleight of hand: wherein plaine lieng
is avoided with a figurative speech, in the which, either the words
themselves, or their interpretation have a double or doubtfull meaning,
according to that which hath beene said before in the title[*] _Ob_
or _Pytho_: and shall be more at large hereafter in this treatise
manifested.

♦Strange properties in a stone: the like qualities in other stons: _See
pag._ 193. 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 300.♦

♦[*] Being the 7 booke of this discoverie: _See pag._ 133, 134, 135,
136, 137, 138, 160, &c. Where discourse is made of oracles, &c.♦

The twelfe Chapter.

_Of illusions, confederacies, and legierdemaine, and how they may
be well or ill used._

Manie writers have beene abused as well by untrue reports, as by
illusion, and practises of confederacie and legierdemaine, &c:
sometimes imputing unto words that which resteth in the nature of the
thing; and sometimes to the nature of the thing, that which proceedeth
of fraud and deception of sight. But when these experiments growe to
superstition or impietie, they are either to be forsaken as vaine,
or denied as false. Howbeit, if these things be doone for mirth and
recreation, and not to the hurt of our neighbour, nor to the abusing
or prophaning of Gods name, in mine opinion they are neither impious
nor altogether unlawfull: though herein or hereby a naturall thing be
made to seeme supernaturall. Such are the miracles wrought by jugglers,
consisting in fine and nimble conveiance, called legierdemaine: as when
they seeme to cast awaie, or to deliver to another that which they
reteine still in their owne hands; or conveie otherwise: or seeme to
eate a knife, or some such other thing, when indeed they bestowe the
same secretlie into their bosoms or laps. Another point of juggling is,
when they thrust a knife through the braines and head of a chicken or
pullet, and seeme to cure the same with words: which would live and doo
well, though never a word were spoken. Some of these toies also consist
in arythmeticall devises, partlie in experiments of naturall magike,
and partlie in private as also in publike confederacie.

♦Look hereafter in this booke for divers conceits of juggling set
foorth at large, beginning at pag. 321.♦

The xiii. Chapter.

_Of private confederacie, and of Brandons pigeon._

Private confederacie I meane, when one (by a speciall plot laid by
himselfe, without anie compact made with others) persuadeth the
beholders, that he will suddenlie and in their presence doo some
miraculous feat, which he hath alredie accomplished privilie. As for
example, he will shew you a card, or anie other like thing: and will
saie further unto you; Behold and see what a marke it hath, and then
burneth it; and nevertheles fetcheth another like card so marked out of
some bodies pocket, or out of some corner where he himselfe before had
placed it; to the woonder and astonishment of simple beholders, which
conceive not that kind of illusion, but expect miracles and strange
works.

What woondering and admiration was there at _Brandon_ the juggler, who
painted on a wall the picture of a dove, and seeing a pigeon sitting
on the top of a house, said to the king; Lo now your Grace shall see
what a juggler can doo, if he be his craftes maister; and then pricked
the picture with a knife so hard and so often, and with so effectuall
words, as the pigeon fell downe from the top of the house starke dead.
I need not write anie further circumstance to shew how the matter was
taken, what woondering was thereat, how he was prohibited to use that
feat anie further, least he should emploie it in anie other kind of
murther; as though he, whose picture so ever he had pricked, must needs
have died, and so the life of all men in the hands of a juggler: as
is now supposed to be in the hands and willes of witches. This storie
is, untill the daie of the writing hereof, in fresh remembrance, &
of the most part beleeved as canonicall, as are all the fables of
witches: but when you are taught the feate or sleight (the secrecie
and sorcerie of the matter being bewraied, and discovered) you will
thinke it a mockerie, and a simple illusion. To interpret unto you
the revelation of this mysterie; so it is, that the poore pigeon was
before in the hands of the juggler, into whome he had thrust a dramme
of _Nux vomica_, or some other such poison, which to the nature of the
bird was so extreame a venome, as after the receipt thereof it could
not live above the space of halfe an houre, and being let lose after
the medicine ministred, she alwaies resorted to the top of the next
house: which she will the rather doo, if there be anie pigeons alreadie
sitting there, and (as it is alreadie said) after a short space falleth
downe, either starke dead, or greatlie astonnied. But in the meane
time the juggler useth words of art, partlie to protract the time, and
partlie to gaine credit and admiration of the beholders. If this or the
like feate should be done by an old woman, everie bodie would crie out
for fier and faggot to burne the witch.

♦Example of a ridiculous woonder.♦

♦This I have prooved upon crows and pies.♦

♦This might be done by a confederate, who standing at some window in
a church steeple, or other fit place, and holding the pigeon by the
leg in a string, after a signe given by his fellowe, pulleth downe the
pigeon, and so the woonder is wrought.♦

The xiiii. Chapter.

_Of publike confederacie, and whereof it consisteth._

Publike confederacie is, when there is before hand a compact made
betwixt diverse persons; the one to be principall, the rest to be
assistants in working of miracles, or rather in cousening and abusing
the beholders. As when I tell you in the presence of a multitude what
you have thought or doone, or shall doo or thinke, when you and I
were thereupon agreed before. And if this be cunninglie and closelie
handled, it will induce great admiration to the beholders; speciallie
when they are before amazed and abused by some experiments of naturall
magike, arythmeticall conclusions, or legierdemaine. Such were, for the
most part, the conclusions and devises of _Feates_: wherein doubt you
not, but _Jannes_ and _Jambres_ were expert, active, and readie.

The xv. Chapter.

_How men have beene abused with words of equivocation, with sundrie
examples thereof._

Some have taught, and others have written certeine experiments; in the
expressing whereof they have used such words of equivocation, as wherby
manie have beene overtaken and abused through rash credulitie: so as
sometimes (I saie) they have reported, taught, and written that which
their capacitie tooke hold upon, contrarie to the truth and sincere
meaning of the author. It is a common jest among the water men of the
Thames, to shew the parish church of _Stone_ to the passengers, calling
the same by the name of the lanterne of _Kent_; affirming, and that not
untrulie, that the said church is as light (meaning in weight and not
in brightnes) at midnight, as at noonedaie. Whereupon some credulous
person is made beleeve, and will not sticke to affirme and sweare, that
in the same church is such continuall light, that anie man may see to
read there at all times of the night without a candle.

♦A jest among watermen touching Stone church in Kent as light at
midnight as at middaie.♦

An excellent philosopher, whome (for reverence unto his fame and
learning) I will forbeare to name, was overtaken by his hostesse at
_Dover_; who merrilie told him, that if he could reteine and keepe
in his mouth certeine pibbles (lieng at the shore side) he should
not perbreake untill he came to _Calice_, how rough and tempestuous
so ever the seas were. Which when he had tried, and being not forced
by sicknes to vomit, nor to lose his stones, as by vomiting he
must needs doo, he thought his hostesse had discovered unto him an
excellent secret, nothing doubting of hir amphibologicall speech: and
therefore thought it a worthie note to be recorded among miraculous
and medicinable stones; and inserted it accordinglie into his booke,
among other experiments collected with great industrie, learning,
travell, and judgement. All these toies helpe a subtill cousener to
gaine credit with the multitude. Yea, to further their estimation,
manie will whisper prophesies of their owne invention into the eares
of such as are not of quickest capacitie; as to tell what weather, &c:
shall followe. Which if it fall out true, then boast they and triumph,
as though they had gotten some notable conquest; if not, they denie
the matter, forget it, excuse it, or shift it off; as that they told
another the contrarie in earnest, and spake that but in jest. All these
helps might _Pharaos_ jugglers have, to mainteine their cousenages and
illusions, towards the hardening of _Pharaos_ hart.

♦A slender shift to save the credit of their cunning.♦

Hereunto belong all maner of charmes, periapts, amulets, characters,
and such other superstitions, both popish and prophane: whereby (if
that were true, which either papists, conjurors, or witches undertake
to doo) we might dailie see the verie miracles wrought indeed, which
_Pharaos_ magicians seemed to performe. Howbeit, bicause by all those
devises or cousenages, there cannot be made so much as a nit, so as
_Jannes_ and _Jambres_ could have no helpe that waie, I will speake
thereof in place more convenient.

The xvi. Chapter.

_How some are abused with naturall magike, and sundrie examples
thereof when illusion is added thereunto, of Jacobs pied
sheepe, and of a blacke Moore._

But as these notable and wonderfull experiments and conclusions that
are found out in nature it selfe (through wisedome, learning, and
industrie) doo greatlie oppose and astonnish the capacitie of man:
so (I saie) when deceipt and illusion is annexed thereunto, then is
the wit, the faith, & constancie of man searched and tried. For if we
shall yeeld that to be divine, supernaturall, and miraculous, which we
cannot comprehend; a witch, a papist, a conjuror, a cousener, and a
juggler may make us beleeve they are gods: or else with more impietie
we shall ascribe such power and omnipotencie unto them, or unto the
divell, as onelie and properlie apperteineth to God. As for example.
By confederacie or cousenage (as before I have said) I may seeme to
manifest the secret thoughts of the hart, which (as we learne in
Gods booke) none knoweth or searcheth, but God himselfe alone. And
therfore, whosoever beleeveth that I can doo as I may seeme to doo,
maketh a god of me, and is an idolater. In which respect, whensoever
we heare papist, witch, conjuror, or cousener, take upon him more than
lieth in humane power to performe, we may know & boldlie saie it is a
knacke of knaverie; and no miracle at all. And further we may know,
that when we understand it, it will not be woorth the knowing. And at
the discoverie of these miraculous toies, we shall leave to wonder at
them, and beginne to wonder at our selves, that could be so abused
with bables. Howbeit, such things as God hath laid up secretlie in
nature are to be weighed with great admiration, and to be searched
out with such industrie, as may become a christian man: I meane, so
as neither God, nor our neighbour be offended thereby, which respect
doubtlesse _Jannes_ and _Jambres_ never had. We find in the scriptures
diverse naturall and secret experiments practised; as namelie that of
_Jacob_, for pied sheepe: which are confirmed by prophane authors,
and not onelie verified in lambs and sheepe, but in horsses, pecocks,
connies, &c. We read also of a woman that brought foorth a yoong blacke
Moore, by meanes of an old blacke Moore who was in hir house at the
time of her conception, whome she beheld in phantasie, as is supposed:
howbeit, a gelous husband will not be satisfied with such phantasticall
imaginations. For in truth a blacke Moore never faileth to beget blacke
children, of what colour soever the other be: _Et sic è contra_.

♦The inconvenience of holding opinion, that whatsoever passeth our
capacitie, is divine, supernaturall, &c.♦

♦_J. Bap. Neapol. in natural. mag._♦

The xvii. Chapter.

_The opinion of witchmongers, that divels can create bodies, and of
Pharaos magicians._

It is affirmed by _James Sprenger_ and _Henrie Institor_, in _M. Mal._
who cite _Albert In lib. de animalib._ for their purpose, that divels
and witches also can truelie make living creatures as well as God;
though not at an instant, yet verie suddenlie. Howbeit, all such as
are rightlie informed in Gods word, shall manifestlie perceive and
confesse the contrarie, as hath beene by scriptures alreadie prooved,
and may be confirmed by places infinite. And therefore I saie _Jannes_
and _Jambres_, though sathan and also _Belzebub_ had assisted them,
could never have made the serpent or the frogs of nothing, nor yet
have changed the waters with words. Neverthelesse, all the learned
expositors of that place affirme, that they made a shew of creation,
&c: exhibiting by cunning a resemblance of some of those miracles,
which GOD wrought by the hand of _Moses_. Yea S. _Augustine_ and manie
other hold, that they made by art (and that trulie) the serpents, &c.
But that they may by art approch somewhat neerer to those actions, than
hath beene yet declared, shall and may appeere by these and manie other
conclusions, if they be true.

♦_M. Malef. p. 1. q. 10._♦

♦John. 1, 3. Coloss. 1, 16.♦

The xviii. Chapter.

_How to produce or make monsters by art magike, and why Pharaos
magicians could not make lice._

_Strato_, _Democritus_, _Empedocles_, and of late, _Jo. Bap. Neap._
teach by what meanes monsters may be produced, both from beast and
also from fowle. _Aristotle_ himselfe teacheth to make a chicken have
foure legs, and as manie wings, onlie by a doubled yolked eg: whereby
also a serpent may be made to have manie legs. Or any thing that
produceth egs, may likewise be made double membred, or dismembred: &
the viler creature the sooner brought to monstrous deformitie, which
in more noble creatures is more hardlie brought to passe. There are
also prettie experiments of an eg, to produce anie fowle, without the
naturall helpe of the hen: the which is brought to passe, if the eg be
laid in the powder of the hens doong, dried and mingled with some of
the hens fethers, & stirred everie fourth houre. You may also produce
(as they saie) the most venomous, noisome, and dangerous serpent,
called a cockatrice, by melting a little arsenicke, and the poison of
serpents, or some other strong venome, and drowning an eg therein,
which there must remaine certeine daies; and if the eg be set upright,
the operation will be the better. This may also be doone, if the eg
be laid in doong, which of all other things giveth the most singular
and naturall heate: and as _J. Bap. Neap._ saith is [*]_Mirabilium
rerum parens_; who also writeth, that _Crines fæminæ menstruosæ_ are
turned into serpents within short space: and he further saith, that
basill being beaten, and set out in a moist place, betwixt a couple
of tiles, dooth ingender scorpions. The ashes of a ducke, being put
betweene two dishes, and set in a moist place, dooth ingender a huge
tode: _Quod etiam efficit sanguis menstruosus_. Manie writers conclude,
that there be two maner of todes, the one bred by naturall course and
order of generation, the other growing of themselves, which are called
temporarie, being onlie ingendred of shewers and dust: and (as _J. Bap.
Neap._ saith) they are easie to be made. _Plutarch_ and _Heraclides_
doo saie, that they have seene these to descend in raine, so as they
have lien and cralled on the tops of houses, &c. Also _Aelianus_ dooth
saie, that he sawe frogs and todes, whereof the heads & shoulders were
alive, & became flesh; the hinder parts being but earth, & so cralled
on two feete, the other being not yet fashioned or fullie framed. And
_Macrobius_ reporteth, that in _Aegypt_, mice growe of earth and
shewers; as also frogs, todes, and serpents in other places. They
saie that _Danmatus Hispanus_ could make them when & as manie as he
listed. He is no good angler, that knoweth not how soone the entrales
of a beast, when they are buried, will engender maggots (which in
a civiler terme are called gentles) a good bait for small fishes.
Whosoever knoweth the order of preserving silkewormes, may perceive a
like conclusion: bicause in the winter, that is a dead seed, which in
the summer is a livelie creature. Such and greater experiments might
be knowne to _Jannes_ and _Jambres_, and serve well to their purpose,
especiallie with such excuses, delaies, and cunning, as they could
joine therewithall. But to proceed, and come a little neerer to their
feats, and to shew you a knacke beyond their cunning; I can assure you
that of the fat of a man or a woman, lice are in verie short space
ingendered: and yet I saie, _Pharaos_ magicians could not make them,
with all the cunning they had. Whereby you may perceive, that God
indeed performed the other actions, to indurate _Pharao_, though he
thought his magicians did with no lesse dexteritie than _Moses_ worke
miracles and woonders. But some of the interpretors of that place
excuse their ignorance in that matter, thus; The divell (saie they) can
make no creature under the quantitie of a barlie corne, and lice being
so little cannot therefore be created by them. As though he that can
make the greater, could not make the lesse. A verie grosse absurditie.
And as though that he which hath power over great, had not the like
over small.

♦Naturall conclusiōs.♦

♦To produce anie fowle out of an eg, without the naturall helpe of the
hen.♦

♦[*] The mother of marvels.♦

♦Two kind of todes, naturall & temporall.♦

♦Maggotts ingendred of the inwards of a beast are good for angling.♦

♦_Giles. Alley_: See the poore mans librarie.♦

The xix. Chapter.

_That great matters may be wrought by this art, when princes
esteeme and mainteine it: of divers woonderfull experiments,
and of strange conclusions in glasses, of the art
perspective, &c._

Howbeit, these are but trifles in respect of other experiments to this
effect; speciallie when great princes mainteine & give countenance to
students in those magicall arts, which in these countries and in this
age is rather prohibited than allowed, by reason of the abuse commonlie
coupled therewith; which in truth is it that mooveth admiration and
estimation of miraculous workings. As for example. If I affirme, that
with certeine charmes and popish praiers I can set an horsse or an
asses head upon a mans shoulders, I shall not be beleeved; or if I doo
it, I shall be thought a witch. And yet if _J. Bap. Neap._ experiments
be true, it is no difficult matter to make it seeme so: and the charme
of a witch or papist joined with the experiment, will also make the
woonder seeme to proceed thereof. The words used in such case are
uncerteine, and to be recited at the pleasure of the witch or cousener.
But the conclusion is this: Cut off the head of a horsse or an asse
(before they be dead) otherwise the vertue or strength thereof will be
the lesse effectuall, and make an earthern vessell of fit capacitie to
conteine the same, and let it be filled with the oile and fat therof;
cover it close, and dawbe it over with lome: let it boile over a soft
fier three daies continuallie, that the flesh boiled may run into oile,
so as the bare bones may be seene: beate the haire into powder, and
mingle the same with the oile; and annoint the heads of the standers
by, and they shall seeme to have horsses or asses heads. If beasts
heads be annointed with the like oile made of a mans head, they shall
seeme to have mens faces, as diverse authors soberlie affirme. If a
lampe be annointed heerewith, everie thing shall seeme most monstrous.
It is also written, that if that which is called _Sperma_ in anie beast
be burned, and anie bodies face therewithall annointed, he shall seeme
to have the like face as the beast had. But if you beate arsenicke
verie fine, and boile it with a little sulphur in a covered pot, and
kindle it with a new candle, the standers by will seeme to be hedlesse.
Aqua composita and salt being fiered in the night, and all other
lights extinguished, make the standers by seeme as dead. All these
things might be verie well perceived and knowne, and also practised
by _Jannes_ and _Jambres_. But the woonderous devises, and miraculous
sights and conceipts made and conteined in glasse, doo farre exceed all
other; whereto the art perspective is verie necessarie. For it sheweth
the illusions of them, whose experiments be seene in diverse sorts of
glasses; as in the hallowe, the plaine, the embossed, the columnarie,
the pyramidate or piked, the turbinall, the bounched, the round, the
cornerd, the inversed, the eversed, the massie, the regular, the
irregular, the coloured and cleare glasses: for you may have glasses so
made, as what image or favour soever you print in your imagination, you
shall thinke you see the same therein. Others are so framed, as therein
one may see what others doo in places far distant; others, wherby you
shall see men hanging in the aire; others, whereby you may perceive men
flieng in the aire; others, wherin you may see one comming, & another
going; others, where one image shall seeme to be one hundred, &c. There
be glasses also, wherein one man may see another mans image, and not
his owne; others, to make manie similitudes; others, to make none at
all. Others, contrarie to the use of all glasses, make the right side
turne to the right, and the left side to the left; others, that burne
before and behind; others, that represent not the images received
within them, but cast them farre off in the aire, appearing like aierie
images, and by the collection of sunne beames, with great force setteth
fier (verie farre off) in everie thing that may be burned. There be
cleare glasses, that make great things seeme little, things farre off
to be at hand; and that which is neere, to be far off; such things as
are over us, to seeme under us; and those that are under us, to be
above us. There are some glasses also, that represent things in diverse
colours, & them most gorgeous, speciallie any white thing. Finally,
the thing most worthie of admiration concerning these glasses, is,
that the lesser glass dooth lessen the shape: but how big so ever it
be, it maketh the shape no bigger than it is. And therfore _Augustine_
thinketh some hidden mysterie to be therein. _Vitellius_, and _J. Bap.
Neap._ write largelie hereof. These I have for the most part seene,
and have the receipt how to make them: which, if desire of brevitie
had not forbidden me, I would here have set downe. But I thinke not
but _Pharaos_ magicians had better experience than I for those and
such like devises. And (as _Pompanacius_ saith) it is most true, that
some for these feats have beene accounted saints, some other witches.
And therefore I saie, that the pope maketh rich witches, saints; and
burneth the poore witches.

♦Wonderfull experiments.♦

♦To set an horsses or an asses head on a mans neck and shoulders,

♦Strange things to be doone by perspective glasses.♦

♦Cōcerning these glasses remember that the eiesight is deceived: for
_Non est in speculo res quæ speculatur in eo_.♦

♦Rash opinion can never judge soundlie.♦

The xx. Chapter.

_A comparison betwixt Pharaos magicians and our witches, and how
their cunning consisted in juggling knacks._

Thus you see that it hath pleased GOD to shew unto men that seeke for
knowledge, such cunning in finding out, compounding, and framing of
strange and secret things, as thereby he seemeth to have bestowed upon
man, some part of his divinitie. Howbeit, God (of nothing, with his
word) hath created all things, and dooth at his will, beyond the power
and also the reach of man, accomplish whatsoever he list. And such
miracles in times past he wrought by the hands of his prophets, as
here he did by _Moses_ in the presence of _Pharao_, which _Jannes_ and
_Jambres_ apishlie followed. But to affirme that they by themselves,
or by all the divels in hell, could doo indeed as _Moses_ did by the
power of the Holie-ghost, is woorsse than infidelitie. If anie object
and saie, that our witches can doo such feats with words and charms,
as _Pharaos_ magicians did by their art, I denie it; and all the world
will never be able to shew it. That which they did, was openlie done;
as our witches and conjurors never doo anie thing: so as these cannot
doo as they did. And yet (as _Calvine_ saith of them) they were but
jugglers. Neither could they doo, as manie suppose. For as _Clemens_
saith; These magicians did rather seeme to doo these woonders, than
worke them indeed. And if they made but prestigious shewes of things,
I saie it was more than our witches can doo. For witchcrafts (as
_Erastus_ himselfe confesseth in drift of argument) are but old wives
fables. If the magicians serpent had beene a verie serpent, it must
needs have beene transformed out of the rod. And therein had beene
a double worke of God; to wit, the qualifieng and extinguishment of
one substance, and the creation of another. Which are actions beyond
the divels power, for he can neither make a bodie to be no bodie, nor
yet no bodie to be a bodie; as to make something nothing, and nothing
something; and contrarie things, one: naie, they cannot make one haire
either white or blacke.[*] If _Pharaos_ magicians had made verie
frogs upon a sudden, whie could they not drive them awaie againe? If
they could not hurt the frogs, whie should we thinke that they could
make them? Or that our witches, which cannot doo so much as counterfet
them, can kill cattell and other creatures with words or wishes? And
therefore I saie with _Jamblichus_, _Quæ fascinati imaginamur, præter
imaginamenta nullā habent actionis & essentiæ veritatem_; Such things
as we being bewitched doo imagine, have no truth at all either of
action or essence, beside the bare imagination.

♦An apish imitation in Jannes and Jambres of working woonders.♦

♦_Jo. Calvine, lib. institut. 1. cap. 8._♦

♦_Cle. recog. 3._♦

♦_Erast. in disputat. de lamiis._♦

♦Actions unpossible to divels: _Ergo_ to witches conjurors, &c.♦

♦[*] [Matt. 5, 36]♦

♦_Jamb. de mysteriis._♦

The xxi. Chapter.

_That the serpents and frogs were trulie presented, and the
water poisoned indeed by Jannes and Jambres, of false
prophets, and of their miracles, of Balams asse._

Truelie I thinke there were no inconvenience granted, though I
should admit that the serpent and frogs were truelie presented, and
the water truelie poisoned by _Jannes_ and _Jambres_; not that they
could execute such miracles of themselves, or by their familiars or
divels: but that God, by the hands of those counterfet couseners,
contrarie to their owne expectations, overtooke them, and compelled
them in their ridiculous wickednes to be instruments of his will and
vengeance, upon their maister _Pharao_: so as by their hands God shewed
some miracles, which he himselfe wrought: as appeareth in _Exodus_.
For God did put the spirit of truth into _Baalams_ mouth, who was
hiered to cursse his people. And although he were a corrupt and false
prophet, and went about a mischeevous enterprise; yet God made him an
instrument (against his will) to the confusion of the wicked. Which if
it pleased God to doo here, as a speciall worke, whereby to shew his
omnipotencie, to the confirmation of his peoples faith, in the doctrine
of their Messias delivered unto them by the prophet _Moses_, then was
it miraculous and extraordinarie, and not to be looked for now. And
(as some suppose) there were then a consort or crew of false prophets,
which could also foretell things to come, and worke miracles. I answer,
it was extraordinarie and miraculous, & that it pleased God so to
trie his people; but he worketh not so in these daies: for the working
of miracles is ceased. Likewise in this case it might well stand
with Gods glorie, to use the hands of _Pharaos_ magicians, towards
the hardening of their maisters hart; and to make their illusions
and ridiculous conceipts to become effectuall. For God had promised
and determined to harden the heart of _Pharao_. As for the miracles
which _Moses_ did, they mollified it so, as he alwaies relented upon
the sight of the same. For unto the greatnesse of his miracles were
added such modestie and patience, as might have mooved even a heart
of steele or flint. But _Pharaos_ frowardnes alwaies grew upon the
magicians actions: the like example, or the resemblance whereof, we
find not againe in the scriptures. And though there were such people
in those daies suffered and used by God, for the accomplishment of his
will and secret purpose: yet it followeth not, that now, when Gods
will is wholie revealed unto us in his word, and his sonne exhibited
(for whome, or rather for the manifestation of whose comming all those
things were suffered or wrought) such things and such people should
yet continue. So as I conclude, the cause being taken awaie, the
thing proceeding thence remaineth not. And to assigne our witches and
conjurors their roome, is to mocke and contemne Gods woonderfull works;
and to oppose against them cousenages, juggling knacks, and things
of nought. And therefore, as they must confesse, that none in these
daies can doo as _Moses_ did: so it may be answered, that none in these
daies can doo as _Jannes_ and _Jambres_ did: who, if they had beene
false prophets, as they were jugglers, had yet beene more privileged to
exceed our old women or conjurors, in the accomplishing of miracles,
or in prophesieng, &c. For who may be compared with _Balaam_? Naie,
I dare saie, that _Balaams_ asse wrought a greater miracle, and more
supernaturall, than either the pope or all the conjurors and witches in
the world can doo at this daie.

♦Pharaos magicians were not maisters of their owne actions.♦

♦Exod. 10.♦

♦God useth the wicked as instruments to execute his counsels &
judgments.♦

♦The contrarie effects that the miracles of Moses and the miracles of
the Aegyptian magiciās wroght in the hart of Pharao.♦

To conclude, it is to be avouched (and there be proofes manifest
enough) that our jugglers approch much neerer to resemble _Pharaos_
magicians, than either witches or conjurors, & can make a more
livelie shew of working miracles than anie inchantors can doo: for
these practise to shew that in action, which witches doo in words and
termes. But that you may thinke I have reason for the maintenance of
mine opinion in this behalfe, I will surcease by multitude of words
to amplifie this place, referring you to the tract following of the
art of juggling, where you shall read strange practises and cunning
conveiances; which bicause they cannot so convenientlie be described
by phrase of speech, as that they should presentlie sinke into the
capacitie of you that would be practitioners of the same; I have caused
them to be set foorth in forme and figure, that your understanding
might be somewhat helped by instrumentall demonstrations. And when you
have perused that whole discoverie of juggling, compare the wonders
thereof with the woonders imputed to conjurors and witches, (not
omitting _Pharaos_ sorcerers at anie hand in this comparison) and I
beleeve you will be resolved, that the miracles doone in _Pharaos_
sight by them, and the miracles ascribed unto witches, conjurors, &c:
may be well taken for false miracles, meere delusions, &c: and for such
actions as are commonlie practised by cunning jugglers; be it either by
legierdemaine, confederacie, or otherwise.

♦That the art of juggling is more, or at least no les strange in
working miracles than conjuring, witchcraft, &c.♦

The xxii. Chapter.

_The art of juggling discovered, and in what points it dooth
principallie consist._

Now because such occasion is ministred, and the matter so pertinent
to my purpose, and also the life of witchcraft and cousenage so
manifestlie delivered in the art of juggling; I thought good to
discover it, together with the rest of the other deceiptfull arts;
being sorie that it falleth out to my lot, to laie open the secrets
of this mysterie, to the hinderance of such poore men as live
thereby: whose dooings herein are not onlie tollerable, but greatlie
commendable, so they abuse not the name of God, nor make the people
attribute unto them his power; but alwaies acknowledge wherein the art
consisteth, so as thereby the other unlawfull and impious arts may be
by them the rather detected and bewraied.

♦In what respects juggling is tollerable and also commendable.♦

The true art therefore of juggling consisteth in legierdemaine; to
wit, the nimble conveiance of the hand, which is especiallie performed
three waies. The first and principall consisteth in hiding and
conveieng of balles, the second in the alteration of monie, the third
in the shuffeling of the cards. He that is expert in these may shew
much pleasure, and manie feats, and hath more cunning than all other
witches or magicians. All other parts of this art are taught when they
are discovered: but this part cannot be taught by any description or
instruction, without great exercise and expense of time. And for as
much as I professe rather to discover than teach these mysteries, it
shall suffice to signifie unto you, that the endevor and drift of
jugglers is onelie to abuse mens eies and judgements. Now therefore
my meaning is, in words as plaine as I can, to rip up certeine
proper tricks of that art; whereof some are pleasant and delectable,
other some dreadfull and desperate, and all but meere delusions, or
counterfet actions, as you shall soone see by due observation of everie
knacke by me heereafter deciphered.

♦The three principall points wherein legierdemaine or nimblenes of hand
dooth consist.♦

The xxiii. Chapter.

_Of the ball, and the manner of legierdemaine therewith, also
notable feats with one or diverse balles._

Concerning the ball, the plaies & devises thereof are infinite, in
somuch as if you can by use handle them well, you may shewe therewith
a hundreth feats. But whether you seeme to throw the ball into your
left hand, or into your mouth, or into a pot, or up into the aier, &c:
it is to be kept still in your right hand. If you practise first with
a leaden bullet, you shall the sooner and better doo it with balles of
corke. The first place at your first learning, where you are to bestow
a great ball, is in the palme of your hand, with your ringfinger:
but a small ball is to be placed with your thombe, betwixt your
ringfinger and midlefinger, then are you to practise to doo it betwixt
the other fingers, then betwixt the forefinger and the thombe, with
the forefinger and midlefinger jointlie, and therein is the greatest
and strangest cunning shewed. Lastlie the same small ball is to be
practised in the palme of the hand, and by use you shall not onelie
seeme to put anie one ball from you, and yet reteine it in your hand;
but you shall keepe foure or five as cleanelie and certeinelie as one.
This being atteined unto, you shall worke woonderfull feats: as for
example.

♦Great varietie of plaie with the balles, &c.♦

♦These feats are nimbly, cleanly, & swiftly to be conveied; so as the
eies of the beholders may not discerne or perceive the drift.♦

Laie three or foure balles before you, and as manie small candlesticks,
bolles, saltsellers, or saltseller covers, which is the best. Then
first seeme to put one ball into your left hand, and therwithall seeme
to hold the same fast: then take one of the candlesticks, or anie
other thing (having a hollow foot, & not being too great) and seeme to
put the ball which is thought to be in your left hand, underneath the
same, and so under the other candlesticks seeme to bestow the other
balles: and all this while the beholders will suppose each ball to be
under each candlesticke: this doone, some charme or forme of words
is commonlie used. Then take up one candlesticke with one hand, and
blow, saieng; Lo, you see that is gone: & so likewise looke under ech
candlesticke with like grace and words, & the beholders will woonder
where they are become. But if you, in lifting up the candlesticks with
your right hand, leave all those three or foure balles under one of
them (as by use you may easilie doo, having turned them all downe into
your hand, and holding them fast with your little and ringfingers) and
take the candlesticke with your other fingers, and cast the balles up
into the hollownes thereof (for so they will not roll so soone awaie)
the standers by will be much astonied. But it will seeme woonderfull
strange, if also in shewing how there remaineth nothing under an
other of those candlesticks, taken up with your left hand, you leave
behind you a great ball, or anie other thing, the miracle will be the
greater. For first they thinke you have pulled awaie all the balles
by miracle; then, that you have brought them all togither againe by
like meanes, and they neither thinke nor looke that anie other thing
remaineth behind under anie of them. And therefore, after manie other
feats doone, returne to your candlesticks, remembring where you left
the great ball, and in no wise touch the same; but having an other like
ball about you, seeme to bestow the same in maner and forme aforesaid,
under a candlesticke which standeth furthest frō that where the ball
lieth. And when you shall with [*]words or charmes seeme to conveie
the same ball from under the same candlesticke, and afterward bring it
under the candlesticke which you touched not, it will (I saie) seeme
woonderfull strange.

♦Memorandum that the juggler must set a good grace on the matter: for
that is verie requisite.♦

♦[*] As, Hey, fortuna furie, nunquam credo, passe, passe, when come
you sirra: _See pag._ 147.♦

_To make a little ball swell in your hand till it be verie great._

Take a verie great ball in your left hand, or three indifferent big
balles; and shewing one or three little balles, seeme to put them into
your said left hand, concealing (as you may well doo) the other balles
which were there in before: then use words, and make them seeme to
swell, and open your hand, &c. This plaie is to be varied a hundreth
waies: for as you find them all under one candlesticke, so may you go
to a stander by, and take off his hat or cap, and shew the balles to
be there, by conveieng them thereinto, as you turne the bottome upward.

_To consume (or rather to conveie) one or manie balles into
nothing._

If you take one ball, or more, & seeme to put it into your other hand,
and whilest you use charming words, you conveie them out of your right
hand into your lap; it will seeme strange. For when you open your left
hand immediatlie, the sharpest lookers on will saie it is in your other
hand, which also then you may open; & when they see nothing there, they
are greatlie overtaken.

_How to rap a wag upon the knuckles._

But I will leave to speake anie more of the ball, for herein I might
hold you all daie, and yet shall I not be able to teach you to use
it, nor scarslie to understand what I meane or write concerning it:
but certeinelie manie are persuaded that it is a spirit or a flie,
&c. _Memorandum_,[*] that alwaies the right hand be kept open and
streight, onlie keepe the palme from view. And therefore you may end
with this miracle. ¶ Laie one ball upon your shoulder, an other on your
arme, and the third on the table: which because it is round, and will
not easilie lie upon the point of your knife, you must bid a stander by
laie it thereon, saieng that you meane to throwe all those three balles
into your mouth at once: and holding a knife as a pen in your hand,
when he is laieng it upon the point of your knife, you may easilie with
the haft rap him on the fingers, for the other matter wilbe hard to doo.

♦[*] [Rom.]♦

♦This feate tendeth cheefelie to the mooving of laughter and mirth.♦

The xxiiii. Chapter.

_Of conveiance of monie._

The conveieng of monie is not much inferior to the ball, but much
easier to doo. The principall place to keepe a peece of monie is the
palme of your hand, the best peece to keepe is a testor; but with
exercise all will be alike, except the mony be verie small, and then it
is to be kept betwixt the fingers, almost at the fingers end, whereas
the ball is to be kept beelowe neere to the palme.

♦The monie must not be of too small nor of too large a circumference
for hindering of the conveiance.♦

_To conveie monie out of one of your hands into the other by
legierdemaine._

First you must hold open your right hand, & lay therin a testor, or
some big peece of monie: then laie thereupon the top of your long left
finger, and use words, and upon the sudden slip your right hand from
your finger wherwith you held downe the testor, and bending your hand a
verie little, you shall reteine the testor still therein: and suddenlie
(I saie) drawing your right hand through your left, you shall seeme
to have left the testor there speciallie when you shut in due time
your left hand. Which that it may more plainelie appeare to be trulie
doone, you may take a knife, and seeme to knocke against it, so as it
shall make a great sound: but in stead of knocking the peece in the
left hand (where none is) you shall hold the point of the knife fast
with the left hand, and knocke against the testor held in the other
hand, and it will be thought to hit against the mony in the left hand.
Then use words, and open your hand, and when nothing is seene, it will
be woondered at how the testor was remooved.

♦This is prettie if it be cunninglie handled: for both the eare and the
eie is deceived by this devise.♦

_To convert or transubstantiate monie into counters, or counters
into monie._

Another waie to deceive the lookers on, is to doo as before, with a
testor; and keeping a counter in the palme of the left hand secretlie
to seeme to put the testor thereinto; which being reteined still in the
right hand, when the left hand is opened, the testor will seeme to be
transubstantiated into a counter.

_To put one testor into one hand, and an other into the other hand,
and with words to bring them togither._

He that hath once atteined to the facilitie of reteining one peece of
monie in his right hand, may shew a hundreth pleasant conceipts by that
meanes, and may reserve two or three as well as one. And lo then may
you seeme to put one peece into your left hand, and reteining it still
in your right hand, you may togither therewith take up another like
peece, and so with words seeme to bring both peeces togither.

♦Varietie of trickes may be shewed in juggling with mony.♦

_To put one testor into a strangers hand, and another into
your owne, and to conveie both into the strangers hand with
words._

Also you may take two testors evenlie set togither, and put the same in
stead of one testor, into a strangers hand, and then making as though
you did put one testor into your left hand, with words you shall make
it seeme that you conveie the testor in your hand, into the strangers
hand: for when you open your said left hand, there shall be nothing
seene; and he opening his hand shall find two, where he thought was but
one. By this devise (I saie) a hundreth conceipts may be shewed.

_How to doo the same or the like feate otherwise._

To keepe a testor, &c: betwixt your finger, serveth speciallie for this
and such like purposes. Hold out your hand, and cause one to laie a
testor upon the palme thereof, then shake the same up almost to your
fingers ends, and putting your thombe upon it; you shall easilie, with
a little practise, conveie the edge betwixt the middle and forefinger,
whilest you proffer to put it into your other hand (provided alwaies
that the edge appeere not through the fingers on the backside) which
being doone, take up another testor (which you may cause a stander by
to laie downe) and put them both together, either closelie instead of
one into a strangers hand, or keepe them still in your owne: & (after
words spoken) open your hands, and there being nothing in one, and both
peeces in the other, the beholders will woonder how they came togither.

♦You must take heed that you be close and slie: or else you discredit
the art.♦

_To throwe a peece of monie awaie, and to find it againe where you
list._

You may, with the middle or ringfinger of the right hand, conveie a
testor into the palme of the same hand, & seeming to cast it awaie,
keepe it still: which with confederacie will seeme strange; to wit,
when you find it againe, where another hath bestowed the verie like
peece. But these things without exercise cannot be doone, and therefore
I will proceed to shew things to be brought to passe by monie, with
lesse difficultie; & yet as strange as the rest: which being unknowne
are marvellouslie commended, but being knowne, are derided, & nothing
at all regarded.

♦Use and exercise maketh men readie and practive.♦

_With words to make a groat or a testor to leape out of a pot, or
to run alongst upon a table._

You shall see a juggler take a groat or a testor, and throwe it into
a pot, or laie it in the midst of a table, & with inchanting words
cause the same to leape out of the pot, or run towards him, or from
him ward[*] alongst the table. Which will seeme miraculous, untill
you knowe that it is doone with a long blacke haire of a womans head,
fastened to the brim of a groat, by meanes of a little hole driven
through the same with a Spanish needle. In like sort you may use a
knife, or anie other small thing: but if you would have it go from you,
you must have a confederate, by which meanes all juggling is graced and
amended.

♦This feat is the stranger if it be doone by night; a candle placed
betweene the lookers on & the juggler: for by that means their eiesight
is hindered from discerning the conceit.♦

♦[*] [= himward]♦

_To make a groat or a testor to sinke through a table, and to vanish
out of a handkercher verie strangelie._

A juggler also sometimes will borrow a groat or a testor, &c: and
marke it before you, and seeme to put the same into the middest of
a handkercher, and wind it so, as you may the better see and feele
it. Then will he take you the handkercher, and bid you feele whether
the groat be there or naie; and he will also require you to put the
same under a candlesticke, or some such thing. Then will he send
for a bason, and holding the same under the boord right against the
candlesticke, will use certeine words of inchantments; and in short
space you shall heare the groat fall into the bason. This doone, one
takes off the candlesticke, and the juggler taketh the handkercher by
a tassell, and shaketh it; but the monie is gone: which seemeth as
strange as anie feate whatsoever, but being knowne, the miracle is
turned to a bable. For it is nothing else, but to sowe a groat into the
corner of a handkercher, finelie covered with a peece of linnen, little
bigger than your groat: which corner you must conveie in steed of the
groat delivered to you, into the middle of your handkercher; leaving
the other either in your hand or lap, which afterwards you must seeme
to pull through the boord, letting it fall into a bason, &c.

♦A discoverie of this juggling knacke.♦

_A notable tricke to transforme a counter to a groat._

Take a groat, or some lesse peece of monie, and grind it verie thin at
the one side; and take two counters, and grind them, the one at the
one side, the other on the other side: glew the smooth side of the
groat to the smooth side of one of the counters, joining them so close
together as may be, speciallie at the edges, which may be so filed,
as they shall seeme to be but one peece; to wit, one side a counter,
and the other side a groat. Then take a verie little greene waxe (for
that is softest and therefore best) and laie it so upon the smooth side
of the other counter, as it doo not much discolour the groat: and so
will that counter with the groat cleave togither, as though they were
glewed; and being filed even with the groat and the other counter, it
will seeme so like a perfect entire counter, that though a stranger
handle it, he shall not bewraie it; then having a little touched your
forefinger, and the thombe of your right hand with soft waxe, take
therewith this counterfet counter, and laie it downe openlie upon
the palme of your left hand, in such sort as an auditor laieth downe
his counters, wringing the same hard, so as you may leave the glewed
counter with the groat apparentlie in the palme of your left hand;
and the smooth side of the waxed counter will sticke fast upon your
thombe, by reason of the wax wherwith it is smeered, and so may you
hide it at your pleasure. Provided alwaies, that you laie the waxed
side downeward, and the glewed side upward: then close your hand, and
in or after the closing thereof turne the peece, & so in stead of a
counter (which they suppose to be in your hand) you shall seeme to have
a groat, to the astonishment of the beholders, if it be well handled.

♦The juggler must have none of his trinkets wanting: besides that, it
behooveth him to be mindfull, least he mistake his trickes.♦

The xxv. Chapter.

_An excellent feat, to make a two penie peece lie plaine in the
palme of your hand, and to be passed from thence when you list._

Put a little red wax (not too thin) upon the naile of your longest
finger, then let a stranger put a two penie peece into the palme of
your hand, and shut your fist suddenlie, and conveie the two penie
peece upon the wax, which with use you may so accomplish, as no man
shall perceive it. Then and in the meane time use [*]words of course,
and suddenlie open your hand, holding the tippes of your fingers rather
lower than higher than the palme of your hand, and the beholders will
woonder where it is become. Then shut your hand suddenlie again, & laie
a wager whether it be there or no; and you may either leave it there,
or take it awaie with you at your pleasure. This (if it be will[†]
handled) hath more admiration than any other feat of the hand.
_Memorandum_[‡] this may be best handled, by putting the wax upon the
two penie peece, but then must you laie it in your hand your selfe.

♦[*] As, Ailif, casyl, zaze, hit mel meltat: Saturnus, Jupiter, Mars,
Sol, Venus, Mercurie, Luna: or such like.♦

♦[†] [for well]♦

♦[‡] [Rom.]♦

_To conveie a testor out of ones hand that holdeth it fast._

Sticke a little wax upon your thombe, and take a stander by by the
finger, shewing him the testor, and telling him you will put the same
into his hand: then wring it downe hard with your waxed thombe, and
using many words looke him in the face, & as soone as you perceive him
to looke in your face, or frō your hand, suddenlie take awaie your
thombe, & close his hand, and so will it seeme to him that the testor
remaineth: even as if you wring a testor upon ones forehead, it will
seeme to sticke, when it is taken awaie, especiallie if it be wet. Then
cause him to hold his hand still, and with speed put into another mans
hand (or into your owne) two testors in stead of one, and use words
of course, wherby you shall make not onelie the beholders, but the
holders beleeve, when they open their hands, that by inchantment you
have brought both togither.

_To throwe a peece of monie into a deepe pond, and to fetch it
againe from whence you list._

There be a marvellous number of feats to be doone with monie, but if
you will worke by private confederacie, as to marke a shilling, or anie
other thing, and throwe the same into a river or deepe pond, and having
hid a shilling before with like marks in some other secret place; bid
some go presentlie & fetch it, making them beleeve, that it is the
verie same which you threw into the river: the beholders will marvell
much at it. And of such feats there may be doone a marvellous number;
but manie more by publike confederacie, whereby one may tell another
how much monie he hath in his pursse, and a hundreth like toies, and
all with monie.

♦In these knacks of confederacie Feats had the name, whilest he lived.♦

_To conveie one shilling being in one hand into another,
holding your armes abroad like a rood._

Evermore it is necessarie to mingle some merie toies among your grave
miracles, as in this case of monie, to take a shilling in each hand,
and holding your armes abroad, to laie a wager that you will put them
both into one hand, without bringing them anie whit neerer togither.
The wager being made, hold your armes abroad like a rood, and turning
about with your bodie, laie the shilling out of one of your hands upon
the table, and turning to the other side take it up with the other
hand: and so you shall win your wager.

♦A knacke more merrie than marvellous.♦

_How to rap a wag on the knuckles._

Deliver one peece of monie with the left hand to one, and to a second
person another, and offer him that you would rap on the fingers the
third; for he (though he be ungratious and subtill) seeing the other
receive monie, will not lightlie refuse it: and when he offereth to
take it, you may rap him on the fingers with a knife, or somewhat else
held in the right hand, saieng that you knew by your familiar, that he
ment to have kept it from you.

♦Another to the same purpose read in pag. 324.♦

The xxvi. Chapter.

_To transforme anie one small thing into anie other forme by
folding of paper._

Take a sheete of paper, or a handkercher, and fold or double the same,
so as one side be a little longer than an other: then put a counter
betweene the two sides or leaves of the paper or handkercher, up to
the middle of the top of the fold, holding the same so as it be not
perceived, and laie a groat on the outside thereof, right against the
counter, and fold it downe to the end of the longer side: and when you
unfold it againe, the groat will be where the counter was, and the
counter where the groat was; so as some will suppose that you have
transubstantiated the monie into a counter, and with this manie feats
may be doone.

The like or rather stranger than it may be done, with two papers three
inches square a peece, divided by two folds into three equall parts
at either side, so as each folded paper remaine one inch square: then
glew the backsides of the two papers together as they are folded, &
not as they are open, & so shall both papers seeme to be but one; &
which side soever you open, it shall appeare to be the same, if you
hide handsomelie the bottome, as you may well doo with your middle
finger, so as if you have a groat in the one and a counter in the
other, you (having shewed but one) may by turning the paper seeme to
transubstantiate it. This may be best performed, by putting it under a
candlesticke, or a hat, &c: and with [*]words seeme to doo the feat.

♦[*] Such as you shall find in pag. 323, & 329. in the marginal notes
or some strange terms of your owne devising.♦

The xxvii. Chapter.

_Of cards, with good cautions how to avoid cousenage therein:
speciall rules to conveie and handle the cards, and the maner
and order how to accomplish all difficult and strange things
wrought with cards._

Having now bestowed some waste monie among you, I will set you to
cards; by which kind of witchcraft a great number of people have
juggled awaie not onelie their monie, but also their lands, their
health, their time, and their honestie. I dare not (as I could) shew
the lewd juggling that chetors practise, least it minister some offense
to the well disposed, to the simple hurt and losses, and to the wicked
occasion of evill dooing. But I would wish all gamesters to beware,
not onlie with what cards and dice they plaie, but speciallie with
whome & where they exercise gaming. And to let dice passe (as whereby
a man maie be inevitablie cousened) one that is skilfull to make and
use Bumcards, may undoo a hundreth wealthie men that are given to
gaming: but if he have a confederate present, either of the plaiers
or standers by, the mischiefe cannot be avoided. If you plaie among
strangers, beware of him that seemes simple or drunken; for under their
habit the most speciall couseners are presented, & while you thinke
by their simplicitie and imperfections to beguile them (and therof
perchance are persuaded by their confederats, your verie freends as you
thinke) you your selfe will be most of all overtaken. Beware also of
bettors by, and lookers on, and namelie of them that bet on your side:
for whilest they looke in your game without suspicion, they discover it
by signes to your adversaries, with whome they bet, and yet are their
confederates.

♦Of dice plaie & the like unthriftie games, mark these two olde verses:
_Ludens taxillis bene respice quid sit in illis, Mors tua fors tua res
tua spes tua pendet in illis_: and remember them.♦

But in shewing feats, and juggling with cards, the principall point
consisteth in shuffling them nimblie, and alwaies keeping one certeine
card either in the bottome, or in some knowne place of the stocke,
foure or five cards from it. Hereby you shall seeme to worke woonders;
for it will be easie for you to see or spie one card, which though you
be perceived to doo, it will not be suspected, if you shuffle them
well afterwards. And this note I must give you, that in reserving the
bottome card, you must alwaies (whilest you shuffle) keepe him a little
before or a little behind all the cards lieng underneath him, bestowing
him (I saie) either a little beyond his fellowes before, right over
the forefinger, or else behind the rest, so as the little finger of
the left hand may meete with it: which is the easier, the readier,
and the better waie. In the beginning of your shuffling, shuffle as
thicke as you can; and in the end throw upon the stocke the nether card
(with so manie mo at the least as you would have preserved for anie
purpose) a little before or behind the rest. Provided alwaies, that
your forefinger, if the packe be laied before, or the little finger, if
the packe lie behind, creepe up to meete with the bottome card, and
not lie betwixt the cards: and when you feele it, you may there hold
it, untill you have shuffled over the cards againe, still leaving your
kept card below. Being perfect herein, you may doo almost what you list
with the cards. By this meanes, what packe soever you make, though it
consist of eight, twelve, or twentie cards, you may keepe them still
together unsevered next to the nether card, and yet shuffle them often
to satisfie the curious beholders. As for example, and for brevities
sake, to shew you diverse feats under one.

♦Note.♦

_How to deliver out foure aces, and to convert them into
foure knaves._

Make a packe of these eight cards; to wit, foure knaves and foure aces:
and although all the eight cards must lie immediatlie together, yet
must ech knave and ace be evenlie severed, and the same eight cards
must lie also in the lowest place of the bunch. Then shuffle them so,
as alwaies at the second shuffling, or at least wise at the end of your
shuffling the said packe, and of the packe one ace may lie nethermost,
or so as you may know where he goeth and lieth: and alwaies (I saie)
let your foresaid packe with three or foure cards more lie unseparablie
together immediatlie upon and with that ace. Then using some speech or
other devise, and putting your hands with the cards to the edge of the
table to hide the action, let out privilie a peece of the second card,
which is one of the knaves, holding foorth the stocke in both your
hands, and shewing to the standers by the nether card (which is the ace
or kept card) covering also the head or peece of the knave (which is
the next card) with your foure fingers, draw out the same knave, laieng
it downe on the table: then shuffle againe, keeping your packe whole,
and so have you two aces lieng together in the bottome. And therfore,
to reforme that disordered card, as also for a grace and countenance
to that action, take off the uppermost card of the bunch, and thrust
it into the middest of the cards; and then take awaie the nethermost
card, which is one of your said aces, and bestow him likewise. Then may
you begin as before, shewing an other ace, and in steed thereof, laie
downe an other knave: and so foorth, untill in steed of foure aces you
have laied downe foure knaves. The beholders all this while thinking
that there lie foure aces on the table, are greatlie abused, and will
marvell at the transformation.

♦You must be well advised in the shuffling of the bunch, least you
overshoot your selfe.♦

_How to tell one what card he seeth in the bottome, when the
same card is shuffled into the stocke._

When you have seene a card privilie, or as though you marked it not,
laie the same undermost, and shuffle the cards as before you are
taught, till your card lie againe below in the bottome. Then shew the
same to the beholders, willing them to remember it: then shuffle the
cards, or let anie other shuffle them; for you know the card alreadie,
and therefore may at anie time tell them what card they saw: which[*]
neverthelesse would be done with great circumstance and shew of
difficultie.

♦[*] For that will drawe the action into the greater admiration.♦

_An other waie to doo the same, having your selfe indeed never
seene the card._

If you can see no card, or be suspected to have seene that which you
meane to shew, then let a stander by first shuffle, and afterwards take
you the cards into your hands, and (having shewed and not seene the
bottome card) shuffle againe, and keepe the same card, as before you
are taught; and either make shift then to see it when their suspicion
is past, which maie be done by letting some cards fall, or else laie
downe all the cards in heaps, remembring where you laid your bottome
card. Then spie how manie cards lie in some one heape, and laie the
heape where your bottome card is upon that heape, and all the other
heapes upon the same: and so, if there were five cards in the heape
wheron you laied your card, then the same must be the sixt card, which
now you may throw out, or looke upon without suspicion: and tell them
the card they saw.

_To tell one without confederacie what card he thinketh._

Laie three cards on a table, a little waie distant, and bid a stander
by be true and not waver, but thinke one of them three, and by his eie
you shall assuredlie perceive which he both seeth and thinketh. And you
shall doo the like, if you cast downe a whole paire of cards with the
faces upward, wherof there will be few or none plainlie perceived, and
they also coate cards. But as you cast them downe suddenlie, so must
you take them up presentlie, marking both his eie and the card whereon
he looketh.

♦The eie bewraieth the thought.♦

The xxviii. Chapter.

_How to tell what card anie man thinketh, how to conveie the
same into a kernell of a nut or cheristone, &c: and the same
againe into ones pocket: how to make one drawe the same or
anie card you list, and all under one devise._

Take a nut, or a cheristone, & burne a hole through the side of the
top of the shell, and also through the kernell (if you will) with a
hot bodkin, or boare it with a nall; and with the eie of a needle pull
out some of the kernell, so as the same may be as wide as the hole of
the shell. Then write the number or name of a card in a peece of fine
paper one inch or halfe an inch in length, and halfe so much in bredth,
and roll it up hard: then put it into a nut, or cheristone, and close
the hole with a little red waxe, and rub the same with a litle dust,
and it will not be perceived, if the nut or cheristone be browne or
old. Then let your confederate thinke that card which you have in your
nut, &c: and either conveie the same nut or cheristone into some bodies
pocket, or laie it in some strange place: then make one drawe the same
out of the stocke held in your hand, which by use you may well doo. But
saie not; I will make you perforce draw such a card: but require some
stander by to draw a card, saieng that it skils not what card he draw.
And if your hand serve you to use the cards well, you shall prefer unto
him, and he shall receive (even though he snatch at an other) the verie
card which you kept, and your confederate thought, and is written in
the nut, and hidden in the pocket, &c. You must (while you hold the
stocke in your hands, tossing the cards to and fro) remember alwaies
to keepe your card in your eie, and not to loose the sight thereof.
Which feate, till you be perfect in, you may have the same privilie
marked; and when you perceive his hand readie to draw, put it a little
out towards his hand, nimblie turning over the cards, as though you
numbred them, holding the same more loose and open than the rest, in
no wise suffering him to draw anie other: which if he should doo, you
must let three or foure fall, that you may beginne againe. ¶ This will
seeme most strange, if your said paper be inclosed in a button, and by
confederacie sowed upon the doublet or cote of anie bodie. This tricke
they commonlie end with a nut full of inke, in which case some wag or
unhappie boie is to be required to thinke a card; and having so doone,
let the nut be delivered him to cracke, which he will not refuse to
doo, if he have seene the other feate plaied before.

♦Tricks with cards, &c: which must be doone with confederacie.♦

♦A merrie conceipt, the like whereof you shall find in pag. 324, & 330.♦

The xxix. Chapter.

_Of fast or loose, how to knit a hard knot upon a handkercher, and
to undoo the same with words._

The _Aegyptians_ juggling witchcraft or sortilegie standeth much
in fast or loose, whereof though I have written somwhat generallie
alreadie, yet having such oportunitie I will here shew some of their
particular feats; not treating of their common tricks which is so
tedious, nor of their fortune telling which is so impious; and yet both
of them meere cousenages. ¶ Make one plaine loose knot, with the two
corner ends of a handkercher, and seeming to draw the same verie hard,
hold fast the bodie of the said handkercher (neere to the knot) with
your right hand, pulling the contrarie end with the left hand, which is
the corner of that which you hold. Then close up handsomlie the knot,
which will be yet somewhat loose, and pull the handkercher so with your
right hand, as the left hand end may be neere to the knot: then will it
seeme a true and a firme knot. And to make it appeare more assuredlie
to be so indeed, let a stranger pull at the end which you hold in your
left hand, whilest you hold fast the other in your right hand: and then
holding the knot with your forefinger & thombe, & the nether part of
your handkercher with your other fingers, as you hold a bridle when
you would with one hand slip up the knot and lengthen your reines. This
doone, turne your handkercher over the knot with the left hand, in
dooing whereof you must suddenlie slip out the end or corner, putting
up the knot of your handkercher with your forefinger and thombe, as
you would put up the foresaid knot of your bridle. Then deliver the
same (covered and wrapt in the middest of your handkercher) to one, to
hold fast, and so after some words used, and wagers laied, take the
handkercher and shake it, and it will be loose.

♦Fast and loose with a handkercher.♦

_A notable feate of fast or loose; namelie, to pull three beadstones
from off a cord, while you hold fast the ends thereof, without
remooving of your hand._

Take two little whipcords of two foote long a peece, double them
equallie, so as there may appeare foure ends. Then take three great
beadstones, the hole of one of them beeing bigger than the rest; and
put one beadstone upon the eie or bowt of the one cord, and an other
on the other cord. Then take the stone with the greatest hole, and let
both the bowts be hidden therein: which may be the better doone, if you
put the eie of the one into the eie or bowt of the other. Then pull
the middle bead upon the same, being doubled over his fellow, and so
will the beads seeme to be put over the two cords without partition.
For holding fast in each hand the two ends of the two cords, you may
tosse them as you list, and make it seeme manifest to the beholders,
which may not see how you have doone it, that the beadstons are put
upon the two cords without anie fraud. Then must you seeme to adde
more effectuall binding of those beadstones to the string, and make
one halfe of a knot with one of the ends of each side; which is for
no other purpose, but that when the beadstones be taken awaie, the
cords may be seene in the case which the beholders suppose them to be
in before. For when you have made your halfe knot (which in anie wise
you may not double to make a perfect knot) you must deliver into the
hands of some stander by those two cords; namelie, two ends evenlie set
in one hand, and two in the other, and then with a wager, &c: beginne
to pull off your beadstones, &c: which if you handle nimblie, and in
the end cause him to pull his two ends, the two cords will shew to be
placed plainelie, and the beadstones to have come through the cords.
But these things are so hard and long to be described, that I will
leave them; whereas I could shew great varietie.

♦Fast or lose with whipcords and beades.♦

♦This conveiance must be closelie doone: _Ergo_ it must be no bunglers
worke.♦

The xxx. Chapter.

_Juggling knacks by confederacie, and how to know whether one
cast crosse or pile by the ringing._

Laie a wager with your confederate (who must seeme simple, or
obstinatlie opposed against you) that standing behind a doore, you will
(by the sound or ringing of the monie) tell him whether he cast crosse
or pile: so as when you are gone, and he hath fillipped the monie
before the witnesses who are to be cousened, he must saie; What is it,
if it be crosse; or What ist, if it be pile: or some other such signe,
as you are agreed upon, and so you need not faile to gesse rightlie.
By this meanes (if you have anie invention) you may seeme to doo a
hundreth miracles, and to discover the secrets of a mans thoughts, or
words spoken a far off.

♦What is it? What ist? signes of confederacie.♦

_To make a shoale of goslings drawe a timber log._

TO make a shoale of goslings, or (as they saie) a gaggle of geese to
seeme to drawe a timber log, is doone by that verie meanes that is
used, when a cat dooth drawe a foole through a pond or river: but
handled somewhat further off from the beholders.

_To make a pot or anie such thing standing fast on the cupboord, to
fall downe thense by vertue of words._

Let a cupboord be so placed, as your confederate may hold a blacke
thred without in the court, behind some window of that roome; and at
a certeine lowd word spoken by you, he may pull the same thred, being
woond about the pot, &c. And this was the feate of _Eleazar_, which
_Josephus_ reporteth to be such a miracle.

♦Eleazers feate of cōfederacie.♦

_To make one danse naked._

Make a poore boie confederate with you, so as after charmes, &c:
spoken by you, he uncloth himselfe, and stand naked, seeming (whilest
he undresseth him) to shake, stampe, and crie, still hastening to be
unclothed, till he be starke naked: or if you can procure none to go
so far, let him onelie beginne to stampe and shake, &c: and to uncloth
him, and then you may (for the reverence of the companie) seeme to
release him.

_To transforme or alter the colour of ones cap or hat._

Take a confederates hat, and use certeine [*]words over it, and
deliver it to him againe, and let him seeme to be wroth, and cast it
backe to you againe, affirming that his was a good new blacke hat, but
this is an old blew hat, &c: and then you may seeme to countercharme
it, and redeliver it, to his satisfaction.

♦[*] As, Droch myroch, & senaroth betu baroch assmaaroth, roūsee
farounsee, hey passe passe, &c: or such like strange words.♦

_How to tell where a stollen horsse is become._

By meanes of confederacie, _Steeven Tailor_ and one _Pope_ abused
divers countrie people. For _Steeven Tailor_ would hide awaie his
neighbours horsses, &c: and send them[*] to _Pope_, (whom he before
had told where they were) promising to send the parties unto him, whome
he described and made knowne by divers signes: so as this _Pope_ would
tell them at their first entrance unto the doore. Wherefore they came,
and would saie that their horsses were stollen, but the theefe should
be forced to bring backe the horsses, &c: and leave them within one
mile south and bywest, &c: of his house, even as the plot was laid,
and the packe made before by _Steeven_ and him. This _Pope_ is said of
some to be a witch, of others he is accompted a conjuror; but commonlie
called a wise man, which is all one with a soothsaier or witch.

♦Pope and Tailor cōfederates.♦

♦[*] [? then]♦

The xxxi. Chapter.

_Boxes to alter one graine into another, or to consume the
graine or corne to nothing._

There be divers juggling boxes with false bottoms, wherein manie false
feates are wrought. First they have a box covered or rather footed
alike at each end, the bottome of the one end being no deeper than as
it may conteine one lane of corne or pepper glewed thereupon. Then use
they to put into the hollow end thereof some other kind of graine,
ground or unground; then doo they cover it, and put it under a hat or
candlesticke: and either in putting it therinto, or pulling it thence,
they turne the box, and open the contrarie end, wherein is shewed a
contrarie graine: or else they shew the glewed end first (which end
they suddenlie thrust into a boll or bag of such graine as is glewed
alreadie thereupon) and secondlie the emptie box.

♦Note the maner of this conveiance.♦

_How to conveie (with words or charmes) the corne conteined in
one box into an other._

There is another box fashioned like a bell, wherinto they doo put so
much, and such corne or spice as the foresaid hollow box can conteine.
Then they stop or cover the same with a peece of lether, as broad[*]
as a testor, which being thrust up hard towards the midle part or
waste of the said bell, will sticke fast, & beare up the corne. And
if the edge of the leather be wet, it will hold the better. Then take
they the other box dipped (as is aforesaid) in corne, and set downe
the same upon the table, the emptie end upward, saieng that they will
conveie the graine therein into the other box or bell: which being set
downe somewhat hard upon the table, the leather and the corne therein
will fall downe, so as the said bell being taken up from the table,
you shall see the corne lieng thereon, and the stopple will be hidden
therwith, & covered: & when you uncover the other box, nothing shall
remaine therein. But presentlie the corne must be swept downe with one
hand into the other, or into your lap or hat. Manie feats maie be done
with this box, as to put therein a tode, affirming the same to have
beene so turned from corne, &c: and then manie beholders will suppose
the same to be the jugglers divell, whereby his feats and miracles
are wrought. But in truth, there is more cunning witchcraft used in
transferring of corne after this sort, than is in the transferring of
one mans corne in the grasse into an other mans feeld: which[†] the
lawe of the twelve tables dooth so forceablie condemne: for the one is
a cousening slight, the other is a false lie.

♦[*] [= thick]♦

♦You must take heed that when the corne commeth out it cover & hide the
leather, &c.♦

♦[†] See the 12 booke of this discoverie, in the title _Habar_, cap.
4. pag. 220, 221.♦

_Of an other boxe to convert wheat into flower with words, &c._

There is an other boxe usuall among jugglers, with a bottome in the
middle thereof, made for the like purposes. One other also like a
tun, wherin is shewed great varietie of stuffe, as well of liquors
as spices, and all by means of an other little tun within the same,
wherein and whereon liquors and spices are shewed. But this would aske
too long a time of description.

_Of diverse petie juggling knacks._

There are manie other beggerlie feats able to beguile the simple, as
to make an ote stir by spetting thereon, as though it came to passe by
words. Item to deliver meale, pepper, ginger, or anie powder out of the
mouth after the eating of bread, &c: which is doone by reteining anie
of those things stuffed in a little paper or bladder conveied into your
mouth, and grinding the same with your teeth. ¶ Item, a rish through
a peece of a trencher, having three holes, and at the one side the
rish appearing out in the second, at the other side in the third hole,
by reason of a hollow place made betwixt them both, so as the slight
consisteth in turning the peece of trencher.

♦These are such sleights that even a bungler may doo them: and yet
prettie, &c.♦

The xxxii. Chapter.

_To burne a thred, and to make it whole againe with the ashes
thereof._

It is not one of the woorst feats to burne a thred handsomelie, and
to make it whole againe: the order whereof is this. Take two threds,
or small laces, of one foote in length a peece: roll up one of them
round, which will be then of the quantitie of a pease, bestow the same
betweene your left forefinger and your thombe. Then take the other
thred, and hold it foorth at length, betwixt the forefinger and thombe
of each hand, holding all your fingers deintilie, as yong gentlewomen
are taught to take up a morsell of meate. Then let one cut asunder the
same thred in the middle. When that is doone, put the tops of your
two thombes together, and so shall you with lesse suspicion receive
the peece of thred which you hold in your right hand into your left,
without opening of your left finger and thombe: then holding these two
peeces as you did the same before it was cut, let those two be cut also
asunder in the middest, and they conveied againe as before, untill
they be cut verie short, and then roll all those ends together, and
keepe that ball of short threds before the other in your left hand,
and with a knife thrust out the same into a candle, where you may hold
it untill the said ball of short threds be burnt to ashes. Then pull
backe the knife with your right hand, and leave the ashes with the
other ball betwixt the forefinger and thombe of your left hand, and
with the two thombs & two forefingers together seeme to take paines to
frot and rub the ashes, untill your thred be renewed, and drawe out
that thred at length which you kept all this while betwixt your left
finger and thombe. This is not inferior to anie jugglers feate if it be
well handled, for if you have legierdemaine to bestowe the same ball of
thred, and to change it from place to place betwixt your other fingers
(as may easilie be doone) then will it seeme verie strange.

♦Marke the maner of this conceit and devise.♦

♦That is, neatlie and deintilie.♦

♦A thred cut in manie peeces and burned to ashes made whole againe.♦

_To cut a lace asunder in the middest, and to make it whole
againe._

By a devise not much unlike to this, you may seeme to cut asunder any
lace that hangeth about ones necke, or any point, girdle, or garter,
&c: and with witchcraft or conjuration to make it whole and closed
together againe. For the accomplishment whereof, provide (if you can)
a peece of the lace, &c: which you meane to cut, or at the least a
patterne like the same, one inch and a halfe long, & (keeping it double
privilie in your left hand, betwixt some of your fingers neere to the
tips thereof) take the other lace which you meane to cut, still hanging
about ones necke, and drawe downe your said left hand to the bought
thereof: and putting your owne peece a little before the other (the
end or rather middle whereof you must hide betwixt your forefinger
and thombe) making the eie or bought, which shall be seene, of your
owne patterne, let some stander by cut the same asunder, and it will
be surelie thought that the other lace is cut; which with words and
froting, &c: you shall seeme to renew & make whole againe. This, if it
be well handled, will seeme miraculous.

♦The means discovered.♦

_How to pull laces innumerable out of your mouth, of what colour or
length you list, and never anie thing seene to be therein._

As for pulling laces out of the mouth, it is somewhat a stale jest,
whereby jugglers gaine monie among maides, selling lace by the yard,
putting into their mouths one round bottome as fast as they pull out an
other, and at the just end of everie yard they tie a knot, so as the
same resteth upon their teeth: then cut they off the same, and so the
beholders are double and treble deceived, seeing as much lace as will
be conteined in a hat, and the same of what colour you list to name,
to be drawne by so even yards out of his mouth, and yet the juggler to
talke as though there were nothing at all in his mouth.

♦A common juggling knacke of flat cousenage plaied among the simple,
&c.♦

The xxxiii. Chapter.

_How to make a booke, wherein you shall shew everie leafe therein
to be white, blacke, blew, red, yellow, greene, &c._

There are a thousand jugglings, which I am loth to spend time to
describe, whereof some be common, and some rare, and yet nothing else
but deceipt, cousenage, or confederacie: whereby you may plainelie
see the art to be a kind of witchcraft. I will end therfore with one
devise, which is not common, but was speciallie used by _Clarvis_,
whome though I never saw to exercise the feat, yet am I sure I conceive
aright of that invention. He had (they saie) a booke, whereof he would
make you thinke first, that everie leafe was cleane white paper: then
by vertue of words he would shew you everie leafe to be painted with
birds, then with beasts, then with serpents, then with angels, &c: the
devise thereof is this. ¶ Make a booke seven inches long, and five
inches broad, or according to that proportion: and let there be xlix,
leaves; to wit, seven times seven conteined therin, so as you may cut
upon the edge of each leafe six notches, each notch in depth halfe a
quarter of an inch, and one inch distant. Paint everie foureteenth and
fifteenth page (which is the end of everie sixt leafe, & the beginning
of everie seventh) with like colour, or one kind of picture. Cut off
with a paire of sheares everie notch of the first leafe, leaving onlie
one inch of paper in the uppermost place uncut, which will remaine
almost halfe a quarter of an inch higher than anie part of that leafe.
Leave an other like inch in the second place of the second leafe,
clipping away one inch of paper in the highest place immediatlie above
it, and all the notches below the same, and so orderlie to the third,
fourth, &c: so as there shall rest upon each leafe one onlie inch of
paper above the rest. One high uncut inch of paper must answer to the
first, directlie in everie seventh leafe of the booke: so as when you
have cut the first seven leaves, in such sort as I first described,
you are to begin in the selfe same order at the eight leafe, descending
in such wise in the cutting of seven other leaves, and so againe at the
fifteenth, to xxi, &c: untill you have passed through everie leafe, all
the thicknes of your booke.

♦Juggling a kind of witchcraft.♦

♦The invention of Clarvis.♦

♦This knack is sooner learned by demonstrative means, than taught by
words of instruction.♦

Now you shall understand, that after the first seven leaves, everie
seventh leafe in the booke is to be painted, saving one seven leaves,
which must remaine white. Howbeit you must observe, that at each
Bumleafe or high inch of paper, seven leaves distant, opposite one
directlie and lineallie against the other, through the thicknesse of
the booke, the same page with the page precedent so to be painted with
the like colour or picture; and so must you passe through the booke
with seven severall sorts of colours or pictures: so as, when you shall
rest your thombe upon anie of those Bumleaves, or high inches, and open
the booke, you shall see in each page one colour or picture through out
the booke; in an other rowe, an other colour, &c. To make that matter
more plaine unto you, let this be the description hereof. Hold the
booke with your left hand, and (betwixt your forefinger and thombe of
your right hand) slip over the booke in what place you list, and your
thombe will alwaies rest at the seventh leafe; to wit, at the Bumleafe
or high inch of paper from whence when your booke is streined, it will
fall or slip to the next, &c. Which when you hold fast, & open the
booke, the beholders seeing each leafe to have one colour or picture
with so manie varieties, all passing continuallie & directlie thrugh
the whole booke, will suppose that with words you can discolour the
leaves at your pleasure. But because perhaps you will hardlie conceive
herof by this description, you shall (if you be disposed) see or buie
for a small value the like booke, at the shop of _W. Brome_ in Powles
churchyard, for your further instruction. ¶ There are certeine feats
of activitie, which beautifie this art exceedinglie: howbeit even in
these, some are true, and some are counterfet; to wit, some done by
practise, and some by confederacie. ¶ There are likewise divers feats
arythmeticall & geometricall: for them read _Gemma Phrysius_, and
_Record_, _&c._ which being exercised by jugglers ad credit to their
art. ¶ There are also (besides them which I have set downe in this
title of _Hartumim_) sundrie strange experiments reported by _Plinie_,
_Albert_, _Joh. Bap. Port. Neap._ and _Thomas Lupton_, wherof some are
true, and some false: which being knowne to _Jannes_ and _Jambres_, or
else to our jugglers, their occupation is the more magnified, and they
thereby more reverenced. ¶ Here is place to discover the particular
knaveries of casting of lots, and drawing of cuts (as they terme it)
whereby manie cousenages are wrought: so as I dare not teach the
sundrie devises thereof, least the ungodlie make a practise of it in
the commonwealth, where manie things are decided by those meanes, which
being honestlie meant may be lawfullie used. But I have said alreadie
somewhat hereof in generall, and therefore also the rather have
suppressed the particularities, which (in truth) are meere juggling
knackes: whereof I could discover a great number.

♦This will seeme rare to the beholders.♦

♦Wher such bookes may be gotten.♦

♦See more hereof in the 11. book of this discoverie, in the title
_Nahas_, cap. 10 pag. 197, 198.♦

The xxxiiii. Chapter.

_Desperate or dangerous juggling knacks, wherein the simple are
made to thinke, that a seelie juggler with words can hurt
and helpe, kill and revive anie creature at his pleasure:
and first to kill anie kind of pullen, and to give it life
againe._

Take a hen, a chicke, or a capon, and thrust a nall or a fine sharpe
pointed knife through the midst of the head thereof, the edge towards
the bill, so as it may seeme impossible for hir to scape death: then
use words, and pulling out the knife, laie otes before hir, &c: and
she will eate and live, being nothing at all greeved or hurt with the
wound; bicause the [*]braine lieth so far behind in the head as it is
not touched, though you thrust your knife betweene the combe and it:
and after you have doone this, you may convert your speach and actions
to the greevous wounding and present recovering of your owne selfe.

♦[*] The naturall cause why a hen thrust thorough the head with a
bodkin dooth live notwithstanding.♦

_To eate a knife, and to fetch it out of anie other place._

Take a knife, and conteine the same within your two hands, so as no
part be seene thereof but a little of the point, which you must so
bite at the first, as noise may be made therewith. Then seeme to put a
great part thereof into your mouth, and letting your hand slip downe,
there will appeare to have beene more in your mouth than is possible to
be conteined therein. Then send for drinke, or use some other delaie,
untill you have let the said knife slip into your lap, holding both
your fists close together as before, and then raise them so from the
edge of the table where you sit (for from thence the knife may most
privilie slip downe into your lap) and in steed of biting the knife,
knable a little upon your naile, and then seeme to thrust the knife
into your mouth, opening the hand next unto it, and thrust up the
other, so as it may appeare to the standers by, that you have delivered
your hands therof, and thrust it into your mouth: then call for
drinke, after countenance made of pricking and danger, &c. Lastlie, put
your hand into your lap, and taking that knife in your hand, you may
seeme to bring it out from behind you, or from whence you list. ¶ But
if you have another like knife and a confederate, you may doo twentie
notable woonders hereby: as to send a stander by into some garden or
orchard, describing to him some tree or herbe, under which it sticketh;
or else some strangers sheath or pocket, &c.

♦It must be cleanelie conveied in any case.♦

_To thrust a bodkin into your head without hurt._

Take a bodkin so made, as the haft being hollowe, the blade thereof
may slip thereinto as soone as you hold the point upward: and set the
same to your forehead, and seeme to thrust it into your head, and so
(with a little sponge in your hand) you may wring out bloud or wine,
making the beholders thinke the bloud or the wine (whereof you may
saie you have drunke verie much) runneth out of your forehead. Then,
after countenance of paine and greefe, pull awaie your hand suddenlie,
holding the point downeward; and it will fall so out, as it will seeme
never to have beene thrust into the haft: but immediatlie thrust that
bodkin into your lap or pocket, and pull out an other plaine bodkin
like the same, saving in that conceipt.

♦The maner & meanes of this action.♦

_To thrust a bodkin through your toong, and a knife through your
arme: a pittifull sight, without hurt or danger._

Make a bodkin, the blade therof being sundred in the middle, so as the
one part be not neere to the other almost by three quarters of an inch,
each part being kept a sunder with one small bought or crooked piece
of iron, of the fashion described hereafter in place convenient. Then
thrust your toong betwixt the foresaid space; to wit, into the bought
left it the bodkin blade, thrusting the said bought behind your teeth,
and biting the same: and then shall it seeme to sticke so fast in and
through your toong, as that one can hardlie pull it out. ¶ Also the
verie like may be doone with a knife so made, and put upon your arme:
and the wound will appeare the more terrible, if a little bloud be
powred thereupon.

♦A forme or patterne of this bodkin and knife you shal see
described if you turne over a few leaves forward.♦

_To thrust a peece of lead into one eie, and to drive it about
(with a sticke) betweene the skin and flesh of the forehead,
untill it be brought to the other eie, and there thrust out._

Put a peece of lead into one of the nether lids of your eie, as big as
a tag of a point, but not so long (which you may doo without danger)
and with a little juggling sticke (one end therof being hollow) seeme
to thrust the like peece of lead under the other eie lid; but conveie
the same in deed into the hollownes of the sticke, the stopple or peg
whereof may be privilie kept in your hand untill this feate be doone.
Then seeme to drive the said peece of lead, with the hollow end of the
said sticke, from the same eie: and so with the end of the said sticke,
being brought along upon your forhead to the other eie, you maie thrust
out the peece of lead, which before you had put thereinto; to the
admiration of the beholders. ¶ Some eat the lead, and then shoove it
out at the eie: and some put it into both, but the first is best.

_To cut halfe your nose asunder, and to heale it againe presentlie
without anie salve._

Take a knife having a round hollow gap in the middle, and laie it upon
your nose, and so shall you seeme to have cut your nose halfe asunder.
Provided alwaies, that in all these you have an other like knife
without a gap, to be shewed upon the pulling out of the same, and words
of inchantment to speake, bloud also to beeraie the wound, and nimble
conveiance.

♦This is easilie doone, howbeit being clenlie handled it will deceive
the sight of the beholders.♦

_To put a ring through your cheeke._

There is an other old knacke, which seemeth dangerous to the cheeke.
For the accomplishing whereof you must have two rings, of like colour
and quantitie; the one filed asunder, so as you may thrust it upon your
cheeke; the other must be whole, and conveied upon a sticke, holding
your hand thereupon in the middle of the sticke, delivering each end
of the same sticke to be holden fast by a stander by. Then conveieng
the same cleanlie into your hand, or (for lacke of good conveiance)
into your lap or pocket, pull awaie your hand from the sticke: and in
pulling it awaie, whirle about the ring, and so will it be thought that
you have put thereon the ring which was in your cheeke.

_To cut off ones head, and to laie it in a platter, &c: which the
jugglers call the decollation of John Baptist._

To shew a most notable execution by this art, you must cause a boord,
a cloth, and a platter to be purposelie made, and in each of them
holes fit for a boies necke. The boord must be made of two planks, the
longer and broader the better: there must be left within halfe a yard
of the end of each planke halfe a hole; so as both planks being thrust
togither, there may remaine two holes, like to the holes in a paire of
stocks: there must be made likewise a hole in the tablecloth or carpet.
A platter also must be set directlie over or upon one of them, having
a hole in the midle thereof, of the like quantitie, and also a peece
cut out of the same, so big as his necke, through which his head may be
conveied into the middest of the platter: and then sitting or kneeling
under the boord, let the head onlie remaine upon the boord in the
same. Then (to make the sight more dredfull) put a little brimstone
into a chafing dish of coles, setting it before the head of the boie,
who must gaspe two or three times, so as the smoke enter a little into
his nostrils and mouth (which is not unholsome) and the head presentlie
will appeare starke dead; if the boie set his countenance accordinglie:
and if a little bloud be sprinkled on his face, the sight will be the
stranger.

♦This was doone by one Kingsfield of London, at a Bartholomewtide, An.
1582. in the sight of diverse that came to view this spectacle.♦

This is commonlie practised with a boie instructed for that purpose,
who being familiar and conversant with the companie, may be knowne as
well by his face, as by his apparell. In the other end of the table,
where the like hole is made, an other boie of the bignesse of the
knowne boie must be placed, having upon him his usuall apparell: he
must leane or lie upon the boord, and must put his head under the boord
through the said hole, so as his bodie shall seeme to lie on the one
end of the boord, and his head shall lie in a platter on the other
end. ¶ There are other things which might be performed in this action,
the more to astonish the beholders, which because they offer long
descriptions, I omit: as to put about his necke a little dough kneded
with bullocks bloud, which being cold will appeare like dead flesh; &
being pricked with a sharpe round hollow quill, will bleed, and seeme
verie strange, &c. ¶ Manie rules are to be observed herein, as to have
the table cloth so long and wide as it may almost touch the ground. ¶
Not to suffer the companie to staie too long in the place, &c.

♦Necessarie observations to astonish the beholders.♦

_To thrust a dagger or bodkin into your guts verie strangelie, and
to recover immediatlie._

An other miracle may be shewed touching counterfet executions; namelie,
that with a bodkin or a dagger you shall seeme to kill your selfe, or
at the least make an unrecoverable wound in your bellie: as (in truth)
not long since a juggler caused himself to be killed at a taverne in
cheapside, from whence he presentlie went into Powles churchyard and
died. Which misfortune fell upon him through his owne follie, as being
then drunken, and having forgotten his plate, which he should have
had for his defense. The devise is this. ¶ You must prepare a paste
boord, to be made according to the fashion of your bellie and brest:
the same must by a painter be coloured cunninglie, not onelie like to
your flesh, but with pappes, navill, haire, &c: so as the same (being
handsomelie trussed unto you) may shew to be your naturall bellie. Then
next to your true bellie you may put a linnen cloth, and thereupon
a double plate (which the juggler that killed himselfe forgot, or
wilfullie omitted) over and upon the which you may place the false
bellie. Provided alwaies, that betwixt the plate & the false bellie
you place a gut or bladder of bloud, which bloud must be of a calfe
or of a sheepe; but in no wise of an oxe or a cow, for that will be
too thicke. Then thrust, or cause to be thrust into your brest a round
bodkin, or the point of a dagger, so far as it may pearse through your
gut or bladder: which being pulled out againe, the said bloud will spin
or spirt out a good distance from you, especiallie if you straine your
bodie to swell, and thrust therewith against the plate. You must ever
remember to use (with words, countenance, and gesture) such a grace, as
may give a grace to the action, and moove admiration in the beholders.

♦Of a juggler that failing in the feats of his art lost his life.♦

♦But herein see you be circumspect.♦

_To drawe a cord through your nose, mouth or hand, so sensiblie
as is woonderful to see._

There is an other juggling knacke, which they call the bridle, being
made of two elder sticks, through the hollownes therof is placed a
cord, the same being put on the nose like a paire of tongs or pinsars;
and the cord, which goeth round about the same, being drawne to and
fro, the beholders will thinke the cord to go through your nose verie
dangerouslie. The knots at the end of the cord, which doo staie the
same from being drawne out of the sticke, may not be put out at the
verie top (for that must be stopped up) but halfe an inch beneath each
end: and so I saie, when it is pulled, it will seeme to passe through
the nose; and then may you take a knife, and seeme to cut the cord
asunder, and pull the bridle from your nose.

♦A forme or patterne of this bridle you shall see described if you
turne over a few leaues.♦

_The conclusion, wherin the reader is referred to certeine patterns
of instruments wherewith diverse feats heere specified
are to be executed._

Herein I might wade infinitelie, but I hope it sufficeth, that I have
delivered unto you the principles, and also the principall feats
belonging to this art of juggling; so as any man conceiving throughlie
hereof may not onlie doo all these things, but also may devise other
as strange, & varie everie of these devises into other formes as he
can best conceive. And so long as the power of almightie God is not
transposed to the juggler, nor offense ministred by his uncomlie speach
and behaviour, but the action performed in pastime, to the delight
of the beholders, so as alwaies the juggler confesse in the end that
these are no supernaturall actions, but devises of men, and nimble
conveiances, let all such curious conceipted men as cannot affoord
their neighbors anie comfort or commoditie, but such as pleaseth their
melancholike dispositions say what they list, for this will not onelie
be found among indifferent actions, but such as greatlie advance the
power and glorie of God, discovering their pride and falshood that take
upon them to worke miracles, and to be the mightie power of God, as
_Jannes_ and _Jambres_ and also _Simon Magus_ did.

♦Among what actions juggling is to be counted.♦

If anie man doubt of these things, as whether they be not as strange
to behold as I have reported, or thinke with _Bodin_ that these matters
are performed by familiars or divels; let him go into S. Martins, and
inquire for one _John Cautares_ (a French man by birth, in conversation
an honest man) and he will shew as much and as strange actions as
these, who getteth not his living hereby, but laboureth for the same
with the sweat of his browes, and neverthelesse hath the best hand and
conveiance (I thinke) of anie man that liveth this daie.

♦A matchles fellowe for legierdemaine.♦

Neither doo I speake (as they saie) without booke herein. For if
time, place, and occasion serve, I can shew so much herein, as I am
sure _Bodin_, _Spinæus_, and _Vairus_, would sweare I were a witch,
and had a familiar divell at commandement. But truelie my studie and
travell herein hath onelie beene emploied to the end I might proove
them fooles, and find out the fraud of them that make them fooles,
as whereby they may become wiser, and God may have that which to him
belongeth.

And bicause the maner of these juggling conveiances are not easilie
conceived by discourse of words; I have caused to be set downe diverse
formes of instruments used in this art; which may serve for patternes
to them that would throughlie see the secrets thereof, and make them
for their owne private practises, to trie the event of such devises,
as in this tract of legierdemaine are shewed. Where note, that you
shall find everie instrument that is most necessarilie occupied in the
working of these strange feats, to beare the just and true number of
the page, where the use thereof is in ample words declared.

♦Touching the patternes of diverse juggling instruments.♦

Now will I proceed with another cousening point of witchcraft, apt for
the place, necessarie for the time, and in mine opinion meet to be
discovered, or at the least to be defaced among deceitfull arts. And
bicause manie are abused heereby to their utter undooing, for that it
hath had passage under the protection of learning, wherby they pretend
to accomplish their works, it hath gone freelie without generall
controlment through all ages, nations & people.

_Heere follow patternes of certeine instru[*]ments to be used
in the former juggling knacks._

♦[*] [Hence Rom.]♦

[Illustration:
♦To pull three beadstones from off a cord, while you hold fast the
ends thereof, without remooving of your hand.♦

♦To draw a cord thorough your nose, mouth or hand, which is called the
bridle.♦
]

To be instructed in the right use of the said beadstones, read page
337. and 338. As for the bridle, read page 351.

[These four pages of engravings are unpaged in the first and second
editions. The references are to the first edition pagings.]

_To thrust a bodkin into your head, and through your toong, &c._

[Illustration:
♦The hethermost is the bodkin w^t the bowt: y^e midlemost
is the bodkin with the holow haft: the further most is the plaine
bodkin serving for shew.♦
]

To be instructed and taught in the right use and readie practise of
these bodkins, read pag. 347.

_To thrust a knife through your arme, and to cut halfe your nose
asunder, &c._

[Illustration:
♦The middle most knife is to serve for shew; the other two be the
knives of device.♦
]

To be readie in the use and perfect in the practise of these knives
here portraied, see page 347. and 348.

_To cut off ones head, and to laie it in a platter, which the
jugglers call the decollation of John Baptist._

[Illustration:
♦The forme of y^e planks &c.♦

♦The order of the action, as it is to be shewed.♦
]

What order is to be observed for the practising heereof with great
admiration, read page 349, 350.

¶ _The xiiii. Booke._

The first Chapter.

_Of the art of Alcumystrie, of their woords of art and devises to
bleare mens eies, and to procure credit to their profession._

Here I thought it not impertinent to saie somewhat of the art or rather
the craft of Alcumystrie, otherwise called Multiplication; which
_Chaucer_, of all other men, most livelie deciphereth. In the bowels
herof dooth both witchcraft and conjuration lie hidden, as whereby some
cousen others, and some are cousened themselves. For by this mysterie
(as it is said in the chanons mans prolog)

♦Alcumystrie a craft, not an art.♦

_They take upon them to turne upside downe,
All the earth betwixt Southwarke & Canturburie towne,
And to pave it all of silver and gold, &c.
But ever they lacke of their conclusion,
And to much folke they doo illusion.
For their stuffe slides awaie so fast,
That it makes them beggers at the last,
And by this craft they doo never win,
But make their pursse emptie, and their wits thin._

♦G. Chaucer in the Chanons mans prolog. [See note.]♦

And bicause the practisers heereof would be thought wise, learned,
cunning, and their crafts maisters, they have devised words of art,
sentences and epithets obscure, and confectious[*] so innumerable
(which are also compounded of strange and rare simples) as confound
the capacities of them that are either set on worke heerein, or be
brought to behold or expect their conclusions. For what plaine man
would not beleeve, that they are learned and jollie fellowes, that have
in such readinesse so many mysticall termes of art: as (for a tast)
their subliming, amalgaming, engluting,[†] imbibing, incorporating,
cementing, ritrination, terminations, mollifications, and indurations
of bodies, matters combust and coagulat, ingots, tests, &c. Or who is
able to conceive (by reason of the abrupt confusion, contrarietie,
and multitude of drugs, simples, and confections) the operation and
mysterie of their stuffe and workemanship. For these things and many
more, are of necessitie to be prepared and used in the execution of
this indevor; namelie orpiment, sublimed _Mercurie_, iron squames,
_Mercurie_ crude, groundlie large, bole armoniake, verdegrece, borace,
boles, gall,[‡] arsenicke, sal armoniake, brimstone, salt, paper,
burnt bones, unsliked lime, claie, saltpeter, vitriall, saltartre,
alcalie, sal preparat, claie made with horsse doong, mans haire, oile
of tartre, allum, glasse, woort, yest, argoll, resagor,[§] gleir
of an eie, powders, ashes, doong, pisse, &c. Then have they waters
corosive and lincall, waters of albification, and waters rubifieng,
&c. Also oiles, ablutions, and metals fusible. Also their lamps,
their urinalles, discensories, sublimatories, alembecks, viols,
croslets, cucurbits, stillatories, and their fornace of calcination:
also their soft and subtill fiers, some of wood, some of cole,
composed speciallie of beech, &c. And bicause they will not seeme
to want anie point of cousenage to astonish the simple, or to moove
admiration to their enterprises, they have (as they affirme) foure
spirits to worke withall, whereof the first is, orpiment; the second,
quicksilver; the third, sal armoniake; the fourth, brimstone. Then
have they seven celestiall bodies; namelie, _Sol_, _Luna_, _Mars_,
_Mercurie_, _Saturne_, _Jupiter_, and _Venus_; to whome they applie
seven terrestriall bodies; to wit, gold, silver, iron, quickesilver,
lead, tinne, and copper, attributing unto these the operation of the
other; speciallie if the terrestriall bodies be qualified, tempered,
and wrought in the houre and daie according to the feats[¶] of the
celestiall bodies: with more like vanitie.

♦[*] [confections]♦

♦[†] [enluting]♦

♦The termes of the art alcumystical devised of purpose to bring credit
to cousenage.♦

♦[‡] [boles gall, Chaucer.]♦

♦[§] [Resalgar]♦

♦[¶] [? seats]♦

The second Chapter.

_The Alcumysters drift, the Chanons yeomans tale, of alcumysticall
stones and waters._

Now you must understand that the end and drift of all their worke,
is, to atteine unto the composition of the philosophers stone, called
Alixer, and to the stone called Titanus; and to Magnatia, which is a
water made of the foure elements, which (they saie) the philosophers
are sworne neither to discover, nor to write of. And by these they
mortifie quicke silver, and make it malleable, and to hold touch:
heereby also they convert any other mettall (but speciallie copper)
into gold. This science (forsooth) is the secret of secrets; even as
_Salomons_ conjuration is said among the conjurors to be so likewise.
And thus, when they chance to meete with yong men, or simple people,
they boast and brag, and saie with _Simon Magus_, that they can worke
miracles, and bring mightie things to passe. In which respect _Chaucer_
truelie heereof saith:

♦Acts. 8.♦

_Each man is as wise as Salomon,
When they are togither everichone:
But he that seemes wisest, is most foole in preefe,
And he that is truest, is a verie theefe.
They seeme friendlie to them that knowe nought,
But they are feendlie both in word and thought,
Yet many men ride and seeke their acquaintance,
Not knowing of their false governance._

♦G. Chaucer in the Chanons mans tale. [Prologue.]♦

He also saith, and experience verifieth his assertion, that they looke
ill favouredlie, & are alwaies beggerlie attired: his words are these:

_These fellowes looke ill favouredlie,
And are alwaies tired beggerlie,
So as by smelling and thredbare araie,
These folke are knowne and discerned alwaie.
But so long as they have a sheet to wrap them in by night,
Or a rag to hang about them in the day light,
They will it spend in this craft,
They cannot stint till nothing be laft.
Here one may learne if he have ought,
To multiplie and bring his good to naught.
But if a man aske them privilie,
Whie they are clothed so unthriftilie,
They will round him in the eare and saie,
If they espied were, men would them slaie,
And all bicause of this noble science:
Lo thus these folke beetraien innocence._

♦_Idem, ibid._♦

The tale of the chanons yeoman published by _Chaucer_, dooth make (by
waie of example) a perfect demonstration of the art of Alcumystrie
or multiplication: the effect whereof is this. A chanon being an
Alcumyster or cousenor, espied a covetous preest, whose pursse he knew
to be well lined, whome he assaulted with flatterie and subtill speach,
two principall points belonging to this art. At the length he borrowed
monie of the preest, which is the third part of the art, without the
which the professors can doo no good, nor indure in good estate. Then
he at his daie repaied the monie, which is the most difficult point
in this art, and a rare experiment. Finallie, to requite the preests
courtesie, he promised unto him such instructions, as wherby with
expedition he should become infinitelie rich, and all through this art
of multiplication. And this is the most common point in this science;
for herein they must be skilfull before they can be famous, or atteine
to anie credit. The preest disliked not his proffer; speciallie bicause
it tended to his profit, and embraced his courtesie. Then the chanon
willed him foorthwith to send for three ownces of quicke silver, which
he said he would transubstantiate (by his art) into perfect silver. The
preest thought that a man of his profession could not dissemble, and
therefore with great joy and hope accomplished his request.

♦The points or parts of the art Alcumysticall which may be called the
mystie or smokie science.♦

And now (forsooth) goeth this jollie Alcumyst about his busines and
worke of multiplication, and causeth the preest to make a fier of
coles, in the bottome whereof he placeth a croslet; and pretending
onelie to helpe the preest to laie the coles handsomelie, he foisteth
into the middle ward or lane of coles, a beechen cole, within the which
was conveied an ingot of perfect silver, which (when the cole was
consumed) slipt downe into the croslet, that was (I saie) directlie
under it. The preest perceived not the fraud, but received the ingot
of silver, and was not a little joyfull to see such certeine successe
proceed from his owne handie worke wherein could be no fraud (as he
surelie conceived) and therefore verie willinglie gave the cannon
fortie pounds for the receipt of this experiment, who for that summe
of monie taught him a lesson in Alcumystrie, but he never returned to
heare repetitions, or to see how he profited.

♦The Alcumysts bait to catch a foole.♦

The third Chapter.

_Of a yeoman of the countrie cousened by an Alcumyst._

I could cite manie Alcumysticall cousenages wrought by Doctor _Burcot_,
_Feates_, and such other; but I will passe them over, and onelie
repeate three experiments of that art; the one practised upon an honest
yeoman in the countie of _Kent_, the other upon a mightie prince,
the third upon a covetous preest. And first touching the yeoman, he
was overtaken and used in maner and forme following, by a notable
cousening varlot, who professed Alcumystrie, juggling, witchcraft,
and conjuration: and by meanes of his companions and confederats
discussed the simplicitie and abilitie of the said yeoman, and found
out his estate and humor to be convenient for his purpose; and finallie
came a wooing (as they saie) to his daughter, to whome he made love
cunninglie in words, though his purpose tended to another matter. And
among other illusions and tales, concerning his owne commendation,
for welth, parentage, inheritance, alliance, activitie, learning,
pregnancie, and cunning, he boasted of his knowledge and experience in
Alcumystrie; making the simple man beleeve that he could multiplie,
and of one angell make two or three. Which seemed strange to the poore
man, in so much as he became willing enough to see that conclusion:
whereby the Alcumyster had more hope and comfort to atteine his desire,
than if his daughter had yeelded to have maried him. To be short, he
in the presence of the said yeoman, did include within a little ball
of virgine wax, a couple of angels; and after certeine ceremonies and
conjuring words he seemed to deliver the same unto him: but in truth
(through legierdemaine) he conveied into the yeomans hand another ball
of the same scantling, wherein were inclosed manie more angels than
were in the ball which he thought he had received. Now (forsooth)
the Alcumyster bad him laie up the same ball of wax, and also use
certeine ceremonies (which I thought good heere to omit). And after
certeine daies, houres, and minuts they returned together, according
to the appointment, and found great gaines by the multiplication of
the angels. Insomuch as he, being a plaine man, was heereby persuaded,
that he should not onelie have a rare and notable good sonne in lawe;
but a companion that might helpe to adde unto his welth much treasure,
and to his estate great fortune and felicitie. And to increase this
opinion in him, as also to winne his further favour; but speciallie to
bring his cunning Alcumystrie, or rather his lewd purpose to passe;
he told him that it were follie to multiplie a pound of gold, when as
easilie they might multiplie a millian: and therefore counselled him
to produce all the monie he had, or could borrowe of his neighbours
and freends; and did put him out of doubt, that he would multiplie the
same, and redouble it exceedinglie, even as he sawe by experience how
he delt with the small summe before his face. This yeoman, in hope of
gaines and preferment, &c: consented to this sweete motion, and brought
out and laid before his feete, not the one halfe of his goods, but all
that he had, or could make or borrowe anie maner of waie. Then this
juggling Alcumyster, having obteined his purpose, folded the same in
a ball, in quantitie farre bigger than the other, and conveieng the
same into his bosome or pocket, delivered another ball (as before) of
the like quantitie unto the yeoman, to be reserved and safelie kept in
his chest; whereof (bicause the matter was of importance) either of
them must have a key, and a severall locke, that no interruption might
be made to the ceremonie, nor abuse by either of them, in defrauding
ech other. Now (forsooth) these circumstances and ceremonies being
ended, and the Alcumysters purpose therby performed; he told the yeoman
that (untill a certeine daie and houre limitted to returne) either
of them might emploie themselves about their busines, and necessarie
affaires; the yeoman to the plough, and he to the citie of _London_,
and in the meane time the gold shuld multiplie, &c. But the Alcumyster
(belike) having other matters of more importance came not just at the
houre appointed, nor yet at the daie, nor within the yeare: so as,
although it were somewhat against the yeomans conscience to violate
his promise, or breake the league; yet partlie by the longing he had
to see, and partlie the desire he had to enjoie the fruit of that
excellent experiment, having (for his owne securitie) and the others
satisfaction, some testimonie at the opening thereof, to witnesse his
sincere dealing, he brake up the coffer, and lo he soone espied the
ball of wax, which he himselfe had laid up there with his owne hand.
So as he thought (if the hardest should fall) he should find his
principall: and whie not as good increase hereof now, as of the other
before. But alas! when the wax was broken, and the metall discovered,
the gold was much abased, and beecame perfect lead.

♦Note the cousening conveiance of this alcumystical practitioner.♦

♦A notable foole.♦

♦A cousening devise by running awaie to save the credit of the art.♦

_Now who so list to utter his follie,
Let him come foorth, and learne to multiplie;
And everie man that hath ought in his cofer,
Let him appeare, and waxe a philosopher,
In learning of this elvish nice lore,
All is in vaine, and pardee much more
Is to learne a lewd man this sutteltee,
Fie, speake not thereof it woll not bee:
For he that hath learning, and he that hath none,
Conclude alike in multiplicatione._

♦G. Chaucer in the tale of the chanons yeoman. [Prologue.]♦

The fourth Chapter.

_A certeine king abused by an Alcumyst, and of the kings foole
a pretie jest._

The second example is of another Alcumyst that came to a certeine
king, promising to worke by his art manie great things, as well in
compounding and transubstantiating of mettals, as in executing of other
exploites of no lesse admiration. But before he beganne, he found
the meanes to receive by vertue of the kings warrant, a great summe
of monie in prest, assuring the king and his councell, that he would
shortlie returne, and accomplish his promise, &c. Soone after, the
kings foole, among other jestes, fell into a discourse and discoverie
of fooles, and handled that common place so pleasantlie, that the king
began to take delight therein, & to like his merrie veine. Whereupon
he would needes have the foole deliver unto him a schedull or scroll,
conteining the names of all the most excellent fooles in the land.

♦A king cousened by Alcumystrie.♦

So he caused the kings name to be first set downe, and next him all
the names of the lords of his privie councell. The king seeing him so
sawcie and malepert, ment to have had him punished: but some of his
councell, knowing him to be a fellow pleasantlie conceipted, besought
his majestie rather to demand of him a reason of his libell, &c: than
to proceed in extremitie against him. Then the foole being asked why
he so sawcilie accused the king and his councell of principall follie,
answered; Bicause he sawe one foolish knave beguile them all, and to
cousen them of so great a masse of monie, and finallie to be gone out
of their reach. Why (said one of the councell) he maie returne and
performe his promise, &c. Then (quoth the foole) I can helpe all the
matter easilie. How (said the king) canst thou doo that? Marie sir
(said he) then I will blotte out your name, and put in his, as the
most foole in the world. Manie other practises of the like nature
might be hereunto annexed, for the detection of their knaverie and
deceipts whereupon this art dependeth, whereby the readers maie be more
delighted in reading, than the practisers benefited in simplie using
the same. For it is an art consisting wholie of subtiltie and deceipt,
whereby the ignorant and plaine minded man through his too much
credulitie is circumvented, and the humor of the other slie cousener
satisfied.

♦A wise foole.♦

The fift Chapter.

_A notable storie written by Erasmus of two Alcumysts, also of
longation and curtation._

The third example is reported by _Erasmus_, whose excellent learning
and wit is had to this daie in admiration. He in a certeine dialog
intituled _Alcumystica_ doth finelie bewraie the knaverie of this
craftie art; wherein he proposeth one _Balbine_, a verie wise,
learned, and devout preest, howbeit such a one as was bewitched, and
mad upon the art of Alcumystrie. Which thing another cousening preest
perceived, and dealt with him in maner and forme following.

♦_Eras. in colloq. de arte alcumystica._♦

M. Doctor _Balbine_ (said he) I being a stranger unto you maie seeme
verie saucie to trouble your worship with my bold sute, who alwaies are
busied in great and divine studies. To whome _Balbine_, being a man of
few words, gave a nodde: which was more than he used to everie man.
But the preest knowing his humor, said; I am sure sir, if you knew my
sute, you would pardon mine importunitie. I praie thee good sir _John_
(said _Balbine_) shew me thy mind, and be breefe. That shall I doo sir
(said he) with a good will. You know M. Doctor, through your skill in
philosophie, that everie mans destinie is not alike; and I for my part
am at this point, that I cannot tell whether I maie be counted happie
or infortunate. For when I weigh mine owne case, or rather my state,
in part I seeme fortunate, and in part miserable. But _Balbine_ being
a man of some surlinesse, alwaies willed him to draw his matter to a
more compendious forme: which thing the preest said he would doo, and
could the better performe; bicause _Balbine_ himselfe was so learned
and expert in the verie matter he had to repeat, and thus he began.

♦A flattering & clawing preamble.♦

I have had, even from my childhood, a great felicitie in the art of
Alcumystrie, which is the verie marrow of all philosophie. _Balbine_
at the naming of the word Alcumystrie, inclined and yeelded himselfe
more attentivelie to hearken unto him: marie it was onelie in gesture
of bodie; for he was spare of speech, and yet he bad him proceed
with his tale. Then said the preest, Wretch that I am, it was not my
lucke to light on the best waie: for you M. _Balbine_ know (being so
universallie learned) that in this art there are two waies, the one
called longation, the other curtation; and it was mine ill hap to fall
upon longation. When _Balbine_ asked him the difference of those two
waies; Oh sir said the preest, you might count me impudent, to take
upon me to tell you, that of all other are best learned in this art, to
whome I come, most humblie to beseech you to teach me that luckie waie
of curtation. The cunninger you are, the more easilie you maie teach
it me: and therefore hide not the gift that God hath given you, from
your brother, who maie perish for want of his desire in this behalfe;
and doubtlesse Jesus Christ will inrich you with greater blessings and
endowments.

♦Longation and curtation in Alcumystrie.♦

_Balbine_ being abashed partlie with his importunitie, and partlie with
the strange circumstance, told him that (in truth) he neither knew what
longation or curtation meant; and therefore required him to expound
the nature of those words. Well (quoth the preest) since it is your
pleasure, I will doo it, though I shall thereby take upon me to teach
him that is indeed much cunninger than my selfe. And thus he began: Oh
sir, they that have spent all the daies of their life in this divine
facultie, doo turne one nature and forme into another, two waies, the
one is verie breefe, but somewhat dangerous; the other much longer,
marie verie safe, sure, and commodious. Howbeit, I thinke my selfe
most unhappie that have spent my time and travell in that waie which
utterlie misliketh me, and never could get one to shew me the other
that I so earnestlie desire. And now I come to your worship, whom I
know to be wholie learned and expert herein, hoping that you will (for
charities sake) comfort your brother, whose felicitie and well doing
now resteth onelie in your hands; and therefore I beseech you releeve
me with your counsell.

♦Note how the cousener circumventeth Balbine.♦

By these and such other words when this cousening varlot had avoided
suspicion of guile, and assured _Balbine_ that he was perfect and
cunning in the other waie: _Balbine_ his fingers itched, and his hart
tickled; so as he could hold no longer, but burst out with these words:
Let this curtation go to the divell, whose name I did never so much
as once heare of before, and therefore doo much lesse understand it.
But tell me in good faith, doo you exactlie understand longation? Yea
said the preest, doubt you not hereof: but I have no fansie to that
waie, it is so tedious. Why (quoth _Balbine_) what time is required in
the accomplishment of this worke by waie of longation? Too too much
said the Alcumyster, even almost a whole yeere: but this is the best,
the surest, and the safest waie, though it be for so manie moneths
prolonged, before it yeeld advantage for cost and charges expended
thereabouts. Set your hart at rest (said _Balbine_) it is no matter,
though it were two yeeres, so as you be well assured to bring it then
to passe.

♦Faire words make fooles faine, and large offers blind the wise.♦

Finallie, it was there and then concluded, that presentlie the preest
should go in hand with the worke, and the other should beare the
charge, the gaines to be indifferentlie divided betwixt them both,
and the worke to be doone privilie in _Balbins_ house. And after the
mutuall oth was taken for silence, which is usuall and requisite
alwaies in the beginning of this mysterie; _Balbine_ delivered monie to
the Alcumyster for bellowes, glasses, coles, &c: which should serve for
the erection and furniture of the forge. Which monie the Alcumyster had
no sooner fingered, but he ran merilie to the dice, to the alehouse,
& to the stewes, and who there so lustie as cousening sir _John_: who
indeed this waie made a kind of alcumysticall transformation of monie.
Now _Balbine_ urged him to go about his businesse, but the other told
him, that if the matter were once begun, it were halfe ended: for
therein consisted the greatest difficultie.

Well, at length he began to furnish the fornace, but now forsooth a new
supplie of gold must be made, as the seed and spawne of that which
must be ingendred and grow out of this worke of Alcumystrie. For even
as a fish is not caught without a bait, no more is gold multiplied
without some parcels of gold: and therfore gold must be the foundation
and groundworke of that art, or else all the fat is in the fier. But
all this while _Balbine_ was occupied in calculating, and musing upon
his accompt; casting by arythmetike, how that if one ownce yeelded
fifteene, then how much gaines two thousand ownces might yeeld: for so
much he determined to emploie that waie.

When the Alcumyst had also consumed this monie, shewing great travell
a moneth or twaine, in placing the bellowes, the coles, and such other
stuffe, and no whit of profit proceeding or comming thereof: _Balbine_
demanded how the world went, our Alcumyst was as a man amazed.
Howbeit he said at length; Forsooth even as such matters of importance
commonlie doo go forward, wherunto there is alwaies verie difficult
accesse. There was (saith he) a fault (which I have now found out) in
the choice of the coles, which were of oke, and should have beene of
beech. One hundreth duckets were spent that waie, so as the dising
house and the stewes were partakers of _Balbines_ charges. But after
a new supplie of monie, better coles were provided, and matters more
circumspectlie handled. Howbeit, when the forge had travelled long, and
brought foorth nothing, there was another excuse found out; to wit,
that the glasses were not tempered as they ought to have beene. But the
more monie was disbursed hereabouts, the woorsse willing was _Balbine_
to give over, according to the disers veine, whome frutelesse hope
bringeth into a fooles paradise.

♦Balbine was bewitched with desire of gold, &c.♦

The Alcumyst, to cast a good colour upon his knaverie, tooke on like
a man moonesicke, and protested with great words full of forgerie
and lies, that he never had such lucke before. But having found the
error, he would be sure enough never hereafter to fall into the like
oversight, and that henceforward all should be safe and sure, and
throughlie recompensed in the end with large increase. Hereupon the
workehouse is now the third time repaired, and a new supplie yet once
againe put into the Alcumysts hand; so as the glasses were changed. And
now at length the Alcumyst uttered another point of his art and cunning
to _Balbine_; to wit, that those matters would proceed much better, if
he sent our Ladie a few French crownes in reward: for the art being
holie, the matter cannot prosperously proceed, without the favour of
the saints. Which counsell exceedinglie pleased _Balbine_, who was so
devout and religious, that no daie escaped him but he said our Ladie
mattens.

♦Notable cousenage.♦

Now our Alcumyster having received the offering of monie, goeth on
his holie pilgrimage, even to the next village, & there consumeth
it everie penie, among bawds and knaves. And at his returne, he told
_Balbine_ that he had great hope of good lucke in his businesse; the
holie virgine gave such favourable countenance, and such attentive
eare unto his praiers and vowes. But after this, when there had beene
great travell bestowed, and not a dram of gold yeelded nor levied
from the forge; _Balbine_ began to expostulate and reason somewhat
roundlie with the cousening fellowe; who still said he never had such
filthie lucke in all his life before, and could not devise by what
meanes it came to passe, that things went so overthwartlie. But after
much debating betwixt them upon the matter, at length it came into
_Balbines_ head to aske him if he had not foreslowed to heare masse, or
to saie his houres: which if he had doone, nothing could prosper under
his hand. Without doubt (said the cousener) you have hot the naile on
the head. Wretch that I am! I remember once or twise being at a long
feast, I omitted to saie mine _Ave Marie_ after dinner. So so (said
_Balbine_) no marvell then that a matter of such importance hath had
so evill successe. The Alcumyster promised to doo penance; as to heare
twelve masses for two that he had foreslowed; and for everie _Ave_
overslipped, to render and repeate twelve to our Ladie.

♦The Alcumyster bringeth Balbin into a fooles paradise.♦

Soone after this, when all our Alcumysters monie was spent, & also
his shifts failed how to come by any more, he came home with this
devise, as a man woonderfullie fraied and amazed, pitiouslie crieng
and lamenting his misfortune. Whereat _Balbine_ being astonished,
desired to knowe the cause of his complaint. Oh (said the Alcumyster)
the courtiers have spied our enterprise; so as I for my part looke
for nothing but present imprisonment. Whereat _Balbine_ was abashed,
bicause it was flat fellonie to go about that matter, without speciall
licence. But (quoth the Alcumyster) I feare not to be put to death, I
would it would fall out so: marrie I feare least I shall be shut up in
some castell or towre, and there shall be forced to tug about this
worke and broile in this businesse all the daies of my life.

♦Here the Alcumyster uttereth a notorious point of cousening knaverie.♦

Now the matter being brought to consultation, _Balbine_, bicause he was
cunning in the art of rhetorike, and not altogither ignorant in lawe,
beat his braines in devising how the accusation might be answered, and
the danger avoided. Alas (said the Alcumyster) you trouble your selfe
all in vaine, for you see the crime is not to be denied, it is so
generallie bruted in court: neither can the fact be defended, bicause
of the manifest lawe published against it. To be short, when manie
waies were devised, and divers excuses alledged by _Balbine_, and no
sure ground to stand on for their securitie; at length the Alcumyster
having present want and need of monie, framed his speech in this sort;
Sir said he to _Balbine_, we use slowe counsell, and yet the matter
requireth hast. For I thinke they are comming for me yer this time to
hale me awaie to prison; and I see no remedie but to die valiantlie
in the cause. In good faith (said _Balbine_) I knowe not what to
saie to the matter. No more do I said the Alcumyster, but that I see
these courtiers are hungrie for monie, and so much the readier to be
corrupted & framed to silence. And though it be a hard matter, to give
those rakehels till they be satisfied: yet I see no better counsell
or advise at this time. No more could _Balbine_, who gave him thirtie
ducats of gold to stop their mouthes, who in an honest cause would
rather have given so manie teeth out of his head, than one of those
peeces out of his pouch. This coine had the Alcumyster, who for all his
pretenses & gaie gloses was in no danger, other than for lacke of monie
to leese his leman or concubine, whose acquaintance he would not give
over, nor forbeare hir companie, for all the goods that he was able to
get, were it by never such indirect dealing and unlawfull meanes.

♦Marke how this Alcumyster goeth frō one degree of cousenage to
another.♦

Well, yet now once againe dooth _Balbine_ newlie furnish the forge, a
praier being made before to our Ladie to blesse the enterprise. And all
things being provided and made readie according to the Alcumysters owne
asking, & all necessaries largelie ministred after his owne liking; a
whole yeare being likewise now consumed about this bootlesse businesse,
and nothing brought to passe; there fell out a strange chance, and that
by this meanes insuing, as you shall heare.

Our Alcumyster forsooth used a little extraordinarie lewd cōpanie with
a courtiers wife, whiles he was from home, who suspecting the matter,
came to the doore unlooked for, and called to come in, threatning them
that he would breake open the doores upon them. Some present devise
(you see) was now requisite, and there was none other to be had,
but such as the oportunitie offered; to wit, to leape out at a backe
window: which he did, not without great hazard, and some hurt. But this
was soone blazed abroad, so as it came to _Balbines_ eare, who shewed
in countenance that he had heard heereof, though he said nothing. But
the Alcumyster knew him to be devout, & somewhat superstitious: and
such men are easie to be intreated to forgive, how great soever the
fault be, and devised to open the matter in maner and forme following.

♦The miledest and softest nature is cōmonlie soonest abused.♦

O Lord (saith he before _Balbine_) how infortunatlie goeth our
businesse forward! I marvell what should be the cause. Whereat
_Balbine_, being one otherwise that seemed to have vowed silence, tooke
occasion to speake, saieng; It is not hard to knowe the impediment and
stop heereof: for it is sinne that hindereth this matter; which is
not to be dealt in but with pure hands. Whereat the Alcumyster fell
upon his knees, beating his breast, & lamentablie cried, saieng; Oh
maister _Balbine_, you saie most trulie, it is sinne that hath doone us
all this displeasure; not your sinne sir, but mine owne, good maister
_Balbine_. Neither will I be ashamed to discover my filthinesse unto
you, as unto a most holy and ghostlie father. The infirmitie of the
flesh had overcome me, and the divell had caught me in his snare. Oh
wretch that I am! Of a preest I am become an adulterer. Howbeit, the
monie that erstwhile was sent to our Ladie, was not utterlie lost: for
if she had not beene, I had certeinlie beene slaine. For the good man
of the house brake open the doore, and the windowe was lesse than I
could get out thereat. And in that extremitie of danger it came into
my mind to fall downe prostrate to the virgine; beseeching hir (if our
gift were acceptable in hir sight) that she would, in consideration
thereof, assist me with hir helpe. And to be short, I ran to the
windowe, and found it bigge enough to leape out at. Which thing
_Balbine_ did not onelie beleeve to be true, but in respect therof
forgave him, religiouslie admonishing him to shew himselfe thankfull
to that pitifull and blessed Ladie.

♦_En immensa cavi spirant mendacia folles._♦

Now once againe more is made a new supplie of monie, and mutuall
promise made to handle this divine matter hence forward purelie and
holilie. To be short, after a great number of such parts plaied by the
Alcumyster; one of _Balbins_ acquaintance espied him, that knew him
from his childhood to be but a cousening merchant; and told _Balbine_
what he was, and that he would handle him in the end, even as he had
used manie others: for a knave he ever was, and so he would proove. But
what did _Balbine_, thinke you? Did he complaine of this counterfet,
or cause him to be punished? No, but he gave him monie in his pursse,
and sent him awaie; desiring him, of all courtesie, not to blab abroad
how he had cousened him. And as for the knave Alcumyster, he needed
not care who knew it, or what came of it: for he had nothing in goods
or fame to be lost. And as for his cunning in Alcumystrie, he had as
much as an asse. By this discourse _Erasmus_ would give us to note,
that under the golden name of Alcumystrie there lieth lurking no small
calamitie; wherein there be such severall shifts and sutes of rare
subtilties and deceipts, as that not onelie welthie men are thereby
manie times impoverished, and that with the sweete allurement of this
art, through their owne covetousnesse; as also by the flattering
baits of hoped gaine: but even wise and learned men hereby are
shamefullie overshot, partlie for want of due experience in the wiles
and subtilties of the world, and partlie through the softenesse and
pliablenesse of their good nature, which cousening knaves doo commonlie
abuse to their owne lust and commoditie, and to the others utter
undooing.

♦Balbine is ashamed that he should be overshot and overseene in a case
of flat cousenage.♦

The sixt Chapter.

_The opinion of diverse learned men touching the follie
of Alcumystrie._

_Albert_ in his booke of minerals reporteth, that _Avicenna_ treating
of Alcumystrie, saith; Let the dealers in Alcumystrie understand, that
the verie nature and kind of things cannot be changed, but rather
made by art to resemble the same in shew and likenesse: so that they
are not the verie things indeed, but seeme so to be in appearance: as
castels and towers doo seeme to be built in the clouds, whereas the
representations there shewed, are nothing else but the resemblance
of certeine objects beelow, caused in some bright and cleere cloud,
when the aire is void of thicknes and grossenes. A sufficient proofe
hereof maie be the looking glasse. And we see (saith he) that yellow or
orrenge colour laid upon red, seemeth to be gold. _Francis Petrarch_
treating of the same matter in forme of a dialogue, introduceth a
disciple of his, who fansied the foresaid fond profession and practise,
saieng; I hope for prosperous successe in Alcumystrie. _Petrarch_
answereth him; It is a woonder from whence that hope should spring,
sith the frute thereof did never yet fall to thy lot, nor yet at anie
time chance to anie other; as the report commonlie goeth, that manie
rich men, by this vanitie and madnes have beene brought to beggerie,
whiles they have wearied themselves therewith, weakened their bodies,
and wasted their wealth in trieng the means to make gold ingender gold.
I hope for gold according to the workemans promise, saith the disciple.
He that hath promised thee gold, will runne awaie with thy gold, and
thou never the wiser, saith _Petrarch_. He promiseth mee great good,
saith the disciple. He will first serve his owne turne, and releeve his
private povertie, saith _Petrarch_; for Alcumysters are a beggerlie
kind of people, who though they confesse themselves bare and needie,
yet will they make others rich and welthie: as though others povertie
did more molest and pitie them than their owne. These be the words of
_Petrarch_, a man of great learning and no lesse experience; who as in
his time he sawe the fraudulent fetches of this compassing craft: so
hath there beene no age, since the same hath beene broched, wherein
some few wisemen have not smelt out the evill meaning of these shifting
merchants, and bewraied them to the world.

♦The substances of things are not transmutable.♦

♦_Franc. Petrarch. lib. de remed. utr. fort. 1. cap. 10._♦

An ancient writer of a religious order, who lived above a thousand
yeares since, discovering the diversities of theftes, after along
enumeration, bringeth in Alcumysters, whom he calleth _Falsificantes
metallorum & mineralium_, witches and counterfetters of metals and
minerals; and setteth them as deepe in the degree of theeves, as anie
of the rest, whose injurious dealings are brought to open arreignment.
It is demanded (saith he) why the art of Alcumystrie doth never proove
that in effect, which it pretendeth in precept and promise. The answer
is readie; that if by art gold might be made, then were it behoovefull
to know the maner and proceeding of nature in generation; sith art is
said to imitate and counterfet nature. Againe, it is bicause of the
lamenesse and unperfectnesse of philosophie, speciallie concerning
minerals: no such manner of proceeding being set downe by consent and
agreement of philosophers in writing, touching the true and undoubted
effect of the same. Where upon one supposeth that gold is made of
one kind of stuffe this waie, others of another kind of stuffe that
waie. And therefore it is a chance if anie atteine to the artificiall
applieng of the actives and passives of gold and silver. Moreover,
it is certeine, that quicke silver and sulphur are the materials (as
they terme them) of mettals, and the agent is heate, which directeth:
howbeit it is verie hard to know the due proportion of the mixture of
the materials; which proportion the generation of gold doth require.
And admit that by chance they atteine to such proportion; yet can they
not readilie resume or doo it againe in another worke, bicause of the
hidden diversities of materials, and the uncerteintie of applieng the
actives and passives.

♦_Goschalcus Boll. ordinis S. August. in suo præceptorio, fol. 244.
col. b. c. d. & I._♦

♦No certein ground in the art Alcumysticall.♦

The same ancient author concluding against this vaine art, saith, that
of all christian lawmakers it is forbidden, and in no case tollerable
in anie commonwelth: first bicause it presumeth to forge idols for
covetousnes, which are gold and silver; whereupon saith the apostle,
Covetousenesse is idolworship: secondlie, for that (as _Aristotle_
saith) coine should be skant and rare, that it might be deere; but
the same would waxe vile, and of small estimation, if by the art of
Alcumystrie gold and silver might be multiplied: thirdlie, bicause
(as experience prooveth) wisemen are thereby bewitched, couseners
increased, princes abused, the rich impoverished, the poore beggered,
the multitude made fooles, and yet the craft and craftesmaisters
(oh madnes!) credited. Thus far he. Whereby in few words he
discountenanceth that profession, not by the imaginations of his owne
braine, but by manifold circumstances of manifest proofe. Touching the
which practise I thinke inough hath beene spoken, and more a great
deale than needed; sith so plaine and demonstrable a matter requireth
the lesse travell in confutation.

♦_Idem ibid._♦

♦_Avaritia idolorum cultus._♦

The seventh Chapter.

_That vaine and deceitfull hope is a great cause why men are
seduced by this alluring art, and that there labours therein
are bootelesse, &c._

Hitherto somewhat at large I have detected the knaverie of the art
Alcumysticall, partlie by reasons, and partlie by examples: so that
the thing it selfe maie no lesse appeare to the judiciall eie of
the considerers; than the bones and sinewes of a bodie anatomized,
to the corporall eie of the beholders. Now it shall not be amisse
nor impertinent, to treate somewhat of the nature of that vaine and
frutelesse hope, which induceth and draweth men forward as it were with
chordes, not onelie to the admiration, but also to the approbation of
the same: in such sort that some are compelled rufullie to sing (as one
in old time did, whether in token of good or ill lucke, I doo not now
well remember) _Spes & fortuna valete_; Hope and good hap adieu.

♦Of vaine hope.♦

No mervell then though Alcumystrie allure men so sweetlie, and intangle
them in snares of follie; sith the baits which it useth is the hope of
gold, the hunger wherof is by the poet termed _Sacra_, which some doo
English, Holie; not understanding that it is rather to be interpreted,
[*]Curssed or detestable, by the figure _Acyron_, when a word of
an unproper signification is cast in a clause as it were a cloud:
or by the figure _Antiphrasis_, when a word importeth a contrarie
meaning to that which it commonlie hath. For what reason can there
be, that the hunger of gold should be counted holie, the same having
(as depending upon it) so manie milians of mischeefes and miseries:
as treasons, theftes, adulteries, manslaughters, trucebreakings,
perjuries, cousenages, and a great troope of other enormities, which
were here too long to rehearse. And if the nature of everie action be
determinable by the end thereof, then cannot this hunger be holie, but
rather accurssed, which pulleth after it as it were with iron chaines
such a band of outrages and enormities, as of all their labor, charge,
care and cost, &c: they have nothing else left them in lieu of lucre,
but onlie some few burned brickes of a ruinous fornace, a pecke or two
of ashes, and such light stuffe, which they are forced peradventure in
fine to sell, when beggerie hath arrested and laid his mace on their
shoulders. As for all their gold, it is resolved _In primam materiam_,
or rather _In levem quendam fumulum_, into a light smoke or fumigation
of vapors, than the which nothing is more light, nothing lesse
substantiall, spirits onelie excepted, out of whose nature and number
these are not to be exempted.

♦[*] _J. Cal. in Comment. upon Deut. serm. 127. pa. 781. col. 1.
number. 40._♦

♦A maxime.♦

The eight Chapter.

_A continuation of the former matter, with a conclusion of the
same._

That which I have declared before, by reasons, examples, and
authorities, I will now prosecute and conclude by one other example;
to the end that we, as others in former ages, maie judge of vaine hope
accordinglie, and be no lesse circumspect to avoid the inconveniences
therof, than _Ulysses_ was warie to escape the incantations of _Circes_
that old transforming witch. Which example of mine is drawne from
_Lewes_ the French king, the eleventh of that name, who being on a
time at _Burgundie_, fell acquainted by occasion of hunting with one
_Conon_, a clownish but yet an honest and hartie good fellow. For
princes and great men delight much in such plaine clubhutchens. The
king oftentimes, by meanes of his game, used the countrimans house for
his refreshing; and as noble men sometimes take pleasure in homelie
and course things, so the king did not refuse to eate turnips and
rape rootes in _Conons_ cotage. Shortlie after king _Lewes_ being at
his pallace, void of troubles and disquietnesse, _Conons_ wife wild
him to repaire to the court, to shew himselfe to the king, to put him
in mind of the old intertainement which he had at his house, and to
present him with some of the fairest and choisest rape rootes that she
had in store. _Conon_ seemed loth, alledging that he should but lose
his labour: for princes (saith he) have other matters in hand, than
to intend to thinke of such trifeling courtesies. But _Conons_ wife
overcame him, and persuaded him in the end, choosing a certeine number
of the best and goodliest rape rootes that she had: which when she had
given hir husband to carrie to the court, he set forward on his journie
a good trudging pase. But _Conon_ being tempted by the waie, partlie
with desire of eating, and partlie with the toothsomnes of the meate
which he bare, that by little and little he devoured up all the roots
saving one, which was a verie faire and a goodlie great one indeed.
Now when _Conon_ was come to the court, it was his lucke to stand in
such a place, as the king passing by, and spieng the man, did well
remember him, and commanded that he should be brought in. _Conon_ verie
cheerelie followed his guide hard at the heeles, and no sooner sawe the
king, but bluntlie comming to him, reached out his hand, and presented
the gift to his maiestie. The king received it with more cheerefulnes
than it was offered, and bad one of those that stood next him, to take
it, and laie it up among those things which he esteemed most, & had
in greatest accompt. Then he had _Conon_ to dine with him, and after
dinner gave the countriman great thanks for his rape roote; who made
no bones of the matter, but boldlie made challenge and claime to the
kings promised courtesie. Whereupon the king commanded, that a thousand
crownes should be given him in recompense for his roote.

♦_Erasmus in colloq. cui titulus Convivium fabulosum._♦

♦A hungrie bellie will not be brideled.♦

♦A princelie largesse.♦

The report of this bountifulnes was spred in short space over all the
kings houshold: in so much as one of his courtiers, in hope of the like
or a larger reward gave the king a verie proper ginnet. Whose drift the
king perceiving, and judging that his former liberalitie to the clowne,
provoked the courtier to this covetous attempt, tooke the ginnet verie
thankefullie: and calling some of his noble men about him, began to
consult with them, what mends he might make his servant for his horsse.
Whiles this was a dooing, the courtier conceived passing good hope
of some princelie largesse, calculating and casting his cards in this
maner; If his maiestie rewarded a sillie clowne so bountifullie for a
simple rape roote, what will he doo to a jollie courtier for a gallent
gennet? Whiles the king was debating the matter, and one said this,
another that, and the courtier travelled all the while in vaine hope,
at last saith the king, even upon the sudden; I have now bethought
me what to bestowe upon him: and calling one of his nobles to him,
whispered him in the eare, and willed him to fetch a thing, which he
should find in his chamber wrapped up in silke. The roote is brought
wrapped in silke, which the king with his owne hands gave to the
courtier, using these words therewithall, that he sped well, in so much
as it was his good hap to have for his horsse a jewell that cost him
a thousand crownes. The courtier was a glad man, and at his departing
longed to be looking what it was, and his hart dansed for joy. In due
time therefore he unwrapped the silke (a sort of his fellow courtiers
flocking about him to testifie his good lucke) and having unfolded
it, he found therein a drie and withered rape roote. Which spectacle
though it set the standers about in a lowd laughter, yet it quailed the
courtiers courage, and cast him into a shrewd fit of pensifenes. Thus
was the confidence of this courtier turned to vanitie, who upon hope of
good speed was willing to part from his horsse for had I wist.

♦_Sic ars deluditur arte._♦

This storie dooth teach us into what follie and madnes vaine hope
may drive undiscreete and unexpert men. And therefore no mervell
though Alcumysters dreame and dote after double advantage, faring
like _Aesops_ dog, who greedilie coveting to catch and snatch at the
shadowe of the flesh which he carried in his mouth over the water,
lost both the one and the other: as they doo their increase and their
principall. But to breake off abruptlie from this matter, and to leave
these hypocrits (for whie may they not be so named, who as _Homer_,
speaking in detestation of such rakehelles, saith verie divinelie and
trulie;

♦The morall of the præmisses.♦

_Odi etenim seu claustra Erebi, quicúnque loquuntur
Ore aliud, tacitóque aliud sub pectore claudunt:_

♦_Homer._♦

_I hate even as the gates of hell,
Those that one thing with toong doo tell,
And notwithstanding closelie keepe,
Another thing in hart full deepe)_

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

To leave these hypocrits (I saie) in the dregs of their dishonestie,
I will conclude against them peremptorilie, that they, with the rable
above rehearsed, and the rowt hereafter to be mentioned, are ranke
couseners, and consuming cankers to the common wealth, and therefore to
be rejected and excommunicated from the fellowship of all honest men.
For now their art, which turneth all kind of metals that they can come
by into mist and smoke, is no lesse apparent to the world, than the
cleere sunnie raies at noone sted; in so much that I may saie with the
poet,

_Hos populus ridet, multúmque torosa juventus
Ingeminat tremulos naso crispante cachinnos:_

♦_Aul. Persius, satyr. 3._♦

_All people laugh them now to scorne,
each strong and lustie blood
Redoubleth quavering laughters lowd
with wrinkled nose a good._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

So that, if anie be so addicted unto the vanitie of the art
Alcumysticall (as everie foole will have his fansie) and that (beside
so manie experimented examples of divers, whose wealth hath vanished
like a vapor, whiles they have beene over rash in the practise hereof)
this discourse will not moove to desist from such extreame dotage, I
saie to him or them and that aptlie,

—————————————————_dicítque facítque quod ipse
Non sani esse hominis non sanus juret Orestes:_

♦_Idem, ibid._♦

_He saith and dooth that verie thing,
which mad Orestes might
With oth averre beecame a man
beereft of reason right._

♦_By Ab. Fleming._♦

¶ _The xv. Booke._

The first Chapter.

_The exposition of Iidoni, and where it is found, whereby the whole
art of conjuration is deciphered._

This word _Iidoni_ is derived of _Iada_, which properlie signifieth to
knowe: it is sometimes translated, [*]_Divinus_, which is a divinor
or soothsaier, as in _Deut._ 18. _Levit._ 20: sometimes [*]_Ariolus_,
which is one that also taketh upon him to foretell things to come,
and is found _Levit._ 19. 2. _Kings._ 23. _Esai._ 19. To be short,
the opinion of them that are most skilfull in the toongs, is, that it
comprehendeth all them, which take upon them to knowe all things past
and to come, and to give answers accordinglie. It alwaies followeth
the word [*]_Ob_, and in the scriptures is not named severallie
from it, and differeth little from the same in sense, and doo both
concerne oracles uttered by spirits, possessed people, or couseners.
What will not couseners or witches take upon them to doo? Wherein will
they professe ignorance? Aske them anie question, they will undertake
to resolve you, even of that which none but God knoweth. And to bring
their purposes the better to passe, as also to winne further credit
unto the counterfet art which they professe, they procure confederates,
whereby they worke wonders. And when they have either learning,
eloquence, or nimblenesse of hands to accompanie their confederacie,
or rather knaverie, then (forsooth) they passe the degree of witches,
and intitle themselves to the name of conjurors. And these deale with
no inferiour causes: these fetch divels out of hell, and angels out
of heaven; these raise up what bodies they list, though they were
dead, buried, and rotten long before; and fetch soules out of heaven
or hell with much more expedition than the pope bringeth them out of
purgatorie. These I saie (among the simple, and where they feare no
law nor accusation) take upon them also the raising of tempests, and
earthquakes, and to doo as much as God himselfe can doo. These are no
small fooles, they go not to worke with a baggage tode, or a cat, as
witches doo; but with a kind of majestie, and with authoritie they call
up by name, and have at their commandement seventie and nine principall
and princelie divels, who have under them, as their ministers, a great
multitude of legions of pettie divels; as for example.

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

♦The large signification of the word Iidoni.♦

♦_Vide Philast Brix. episc. hæreseôn catal. de phitonissa._♦

♦_J. Wierus in Pseudomonarchia dæmonum._♦

The second Chapter.

_An inventarie of the names, shapes, powers, governement, and
effects of divels and spirits, of their severall segniories
and degrees: a strange discourse woorth the reading._

Their first and principall king (which is of the power of the east) is
called _Baëll_; who when he is conjured up, appeareth with three heads;
the first, like a tode; the second, like a man; the third, like a cat.
He speaketh with a hoarse voice, he maketh a man go invisible, he hath
under his obedience and rule sixtie and six legions of divels.

♦Salomons notes of conjuration.♦

♦_Baell._♦

The first duke under the power of the east, is named _Agares_, he
commeth up mildlie in the likenes of a faire old man, riding upon a
crocodile, and carrieng a hawke on his fist; hee teacheth presentlie
all maner of toongs, he fetcheth backe all such as runne awaie, and
maketh them runne that stand still; he overthroweth all dignities
supernaturall and temporall, hee maketh earthquakes, and is of the
order of vertues, having under his regiment thirtie one legions.

♦_Agares._♦

_Marbas, [*]alias Barbas_ is a great president, and appeareth in
the forme of a mightie lion; but at the commandement of a conjuror
commeth up in the likenes of a man, and answereth fullie as touching
anie thing which is hidden or secret: he bringeth diseases, and cureth
them, he promoteth wisedome, and the knowledge of mechanicall arts,
or handicrafts; he changeth men into other shapes, and under his
presidencie or gouvernement are thirtie six legions of divels conteined.

♦_Marbas._♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

_Amon_, or _Aamon_, is a great and mightie marques, and commeth abroad
in the likenes of a woolfe, having a serpents taile, spetting out and
breathing flames of fier; when he putteth on the shape of a man, he
sheweth out dogs teeth, and a great head like to a mightie raven; he is
the strongest prince of all other, and understandeth of all things past
and to come, he procureth favor, and reconcileth both freends and foes,
and ruleth fourtie legions of divels.

♦_Amon._♦

_Barbatos_, a great countie or earle, and also a duke, he appeareth
in _Signo sagittarii sylvestris_, with foure kings, which bring
companies and great troopes. He understandeth the singing of birds, the
barking of dogs, the lowings of bullocks, and the voice of all living
creatures. He detecteth treasures hidden by magicians and inchanters,
and is of the order of vertues, which in part beare rule: he knoweth
all things past, and to come, and reconcileth freends and powers; and
governeth thirtie legions of divels by his authoritie.

♦_Barbatos._♦

_Buer_ is a great president, and is seene in this signe; he absolutelie
teacheth philosophie morall and naturall, and also logicke, and the
vertue of herbes: he giveth the best familiars, he can heale all
diseases, speciallie of men, and reigneth over fiftie legions.

♦_Buer._♦

_Gusoin_ is a great duke, and a strong, appearing in the forme of a
_Xenophilus_, he answereth all things, present, past, and to come,
expounding all questions. He reconcileth freendship, and distributeth
honours and dignities, and ruleth over fourtie legions of divels.

♦_Gusoin._♦

_Botis_, otherwise _Otis_, a great president and an earle he commeth
foorth in the shape of an ouglie viper, and if he put on humane shape,
he sheweth great teeth, and two hornes, carrieng a sharpe sword in
his hand: he giveth answers of things present, past, and to come, and
reconcileth friends, and foes, ruling sixtie legions.

♦_Botis._♦

_Bathin_, sometimes called _Mathim_, a great duke and a strong, he
is seene in the shape of a verie strong man, with a serpents taile,
sitting on a pale horsse, understanding the vertues of hearbs and
pretious stones, transferring men suddenlie from countrie to countrie,
and ruleth thirtie legions of divels.

♦_Bathin._♦

_Purson, [*]alias Curson_, a great king, he commeth foorth like a man
with a lions face, carrieng a most cruell viper, and riding on a beare;
and before him go alwaies trumpets, he knoweth things hidden, and can
tell all things present, past, and to come: he bewraieth treasure, he
can take a bodie either humane or aierie; he answereth truelie of all
things earthlie and secret, of the divinitie and creation of the world,
and bringeth foorth the best familiars; and there obeie him two and
twentie legions of divels, partlie of the order of vertues, & partlie
of the order of thrones.

♦_Purson._♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

_Eligor, alias Abigor_, is a great duke, and appeereth as a goodlie
knight, carrieng a lance, an ensigne, and a scepter: he answereth
fullie of things hidden, and of warres, and how souldiers should meete:
he knoweth things to come, and procureth the favour of lords and
knights, governing sixtie legions of divels.

♦_Eligor._♦

_Leraie, alias Oray_, a great marquesse, shewing himselfe in the
likenesse of a galant archer, carrieng a bowe and a quiver, he is
author of all battels, he dooth putrifie all such wounds as are made
with arrowes by archers, _Quos optimos objicit tribus diebus_, and he
hath regiment over thirtie legions.

♦_Leraie._♦

_Valefar, alias Malephar_, is a strong duke, comming foorth in the
shape of a lion, and the head of a theefe, he is verie familiar with
them to whom he maketh himselfe acquainted, till he hath brought them
to the gallowes, and ruleth ten legions.

♦_Valefar._♦

_Morax, [*]alias Foraii_, a great earle and a president, he is
seene like a bull, and if he take unto him a mans face, he maketh men
wonderfull cunning in astronomie, & in all the liberall sciences: he
giveth good familiars and wise, knowing the power & vertue of hearbs
and stones which are pretious, and ruleth thirtie six legions.

♦_Morax._♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

_Ipos, alias Ayporos_, is a great earle and a prince, appeering in
the shape of an angell, and yet indeed more obscure and filthie than a
lion, with a lions head, a gooses feet, and a hares taile: he knoweth
things to come and past, he maketh a man wittie, and bold, and hath
under his jurisdiction thirtie six legions.

♦_Ipos._♦

_Naberius, alias Cerberus_, is a valiant marquesse, shewing himselfe
in the forme of a crowe, when he speaketh with a hoarse voice: he
maketh a man amiable and cunning in all arts, and speciallie in
rhetorike, he procureth the losse of prelacies and dignities: nineteene
legions heare and obeie him.

♦_Naberius._♦

_Glasya Labolas, alias Caacrinolaas_, or _Caassimolar_, is a great
president, who commeth foorth like a dog, and hath wings like a
griffen, he giveth the knowledge of arts, and is the captaine of all
mansleiers: he understandeth things present and to come, he gaineth the
minds and love of freends and foes, he maketh a man go invisible, and
hath the rule of six and thirtie legions.

♦_Glasya Labolas._♦

_Zepar_ is a great duke, appearing as a souldier, inflaming women with
the loove of men, and when he is bidden he changeth their shape, untill
they maie enjoie their beloved, he also maketh them barren, and six and
twentie legions are at his obeie and commandement.

♦_Zepar._♦

_Bileth_ is a great king and a terrible, riding on a pale horsse,
before whome go trumpets, and all kind of melodious musicke. When
he is called up by an exorcist, he appeareth rough and furious, to
deceive him. Then let the exorcist or conjuror take heed to himself,
and to allaie his courage, let him hold a hazell bat in his hand,
wherewithall he must reach out toward the east and south, and make a
triangle without besides the circle; but if he hold not out his hand
unto him, and he bid him come in, and he still refuse the bond or
chaine of spirits; let the conjuror proceed to reading, and by and by
he will submit himselfe, and come in, and doo whatsoever the exorcist
commandeth him, and he shalbe safe. If _Bileth_ the king be more
stubborne, and refuse to enter into the circle at the first call, and
the conjuror shew himselfe fearfull, or if he have not the chaine of
spirits, certeinelie he will never feare nor regard him after. Also,
if the place be unapt for a triangle to be made without the circle,
then set there a boll of wine, and the exorcist shall certeinlie
knowe when he commeth out of his house, with his fellowes, and that the
foresaid _Bileth_ will be his helper, his friend, and obedient unto him
when he commeth foorth. And when he commeth, let the exorcist receive
him courteouslie, and glorifie him in his pride, and therfore he shall
adore him as other kings doo, bicause he saith nothing without other
princes. Also, if he be cited by an exorcist, alwaies a silver ring of
the middle finger of the left hand must be held against the exorcists
face, as they doo for _Amaimon_. And the dominion and power of so great
a prince is not to be pretermitted; for there is none under the power
& dominion of the conjuror, but he that deteineth both men and women
in doting love, till the exorcist hath had his pleasure. He is of the
orders of powers, hoping to returne to the seaventh throne, which is
not altogether credible, and he ruleth eightie five legions.

♦_Bileth._♦

♦_Vide Amaimon._♦

_Sitri, [*]alias Bitru_, is a great prince, appeering with the face
of a leopard, and having wings as a griffen: when he taketh humane
shape, he is verie beautifull, he inflameth a man with a womans love,
and also stirreth up women to love men, being commanded he willinglie
[†]deteineth secrets of women, laughing at them and mocking them, to
make them luxuriouslie naked, and there obeie him sixtie legions.

♦_Sitri_ a bawdie divell.♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

♦[†] [See note.]♦

_Paimon_ is more obedient to _Lucifer_ than other kings are. _Lucifer_
is heere to be understood he that was drowned in the depth of his
knowledge: he would needs be like God, and for his arrogancie was
throwne out into destruction, of whome it is said; Everie pretious
stone is thy covering. _Paimon_ is constrained by divine vertue to
stand before the exorcist; where he putteth on the likenesse of a man:
he sitteth on a beast called a dromedarie, which is a swift runner,
and weareth a glorious crowne, and hath an effeminate countenance.
There goeth before him an host of men with trumpets and well sounding
cymbals, and all musicall instruments. At the first he appeereth with
a great crie and roring, as in _Circulo Salomonis_, and in the art
is declared. And if this _Paimon_ speake sometime that the conjuror
understand him not, let him not therefore be dismaied. But when he hath
delivered him the first obligation, to observe his desire, he must
bid him also answer him distinctlie and plainelie to the questions
he shall aske you, of all philosophie, wisedome, and science, and of
all other secret things. And if you will knowe the disposition of the
world, and what the earth is, or what holdeth it up in the water,
or any other thing, or what is _Abyssus_, or where the wind is, or
from whence it commeth, he will teach you aboundantlie. Consecrations
also as well of sacrifices as otherwise may be reckoned. He giveth
dignities and confirmations; he bindeth them that resist him in his
owne chaines, and subjecteth them to the conjuror; he prepareth good
familiars, and hath the understanding of all arts. Note, that at the
calling up of him, the exorcist must looke towards the northwest,
bicause there is his house. When he is called up, let the exorcist
receive him constantlie without feare, let him aske what questions
or demands he list, and no doubt he shall obteine the same of him.
And the exorcist must beware he forget not the creator, for those
things, which have beene rehearsed before of _Paimon_, some saie he is
of the order of dominations; others saie, of the order of cherubim.
There follow him two hundred legions, partlie of the order of angels,
and partlie of potestates. Note that if _Paimon_ be cited alone by
an offering or sacrifice, two kings followe him; to wit, _Beball_ &
_Abalam_, & other potentates: in his host are twentie five legions,
bicause the spirits subject to them are not alwaies with them, except
they be compelled to appeere by divine vertue.

♦_Paimon._♦

♦Ezech. 88.♦

♦Cautions for the Exorcist or conjuror.♦

Some saie that the king _Beliall_ was created immediatlie after
_Lucifer_, and therefore they thinke that he was father and seducer
of them which fell being of the orders. For he fell first among
the worthier and wiser sort, which went before _Michael_ and other
heavenlie angels, which were lacking. Although _Beliall_ went before
all them that were throwne downe to the earth, yet he went not before
them that tarried in heaven. This _Beliall_ is constrained by divine
vertue, when he taketh sacrifices, gifts, and offerings, that he againe
may give unto the offerers true answers. But he tarrieth not one houre
in the truth, except he be constrained by the divine power, as is
said. He taketh the forme of a beautifull angell, sitting in a firie
chariot; he speaketh faire, he distributeth preferments of senatorship,
and the favour of friends, and excellent familiars: he hath rule over
eightie legions, partlie of the order of vertues, partlie of angels;
he is found in the forme of an exorcist in the bonds of spirits. The
exorcist must consider, that this _Beliall_ doth in everie thing assist
his subjects. If he will not submit himselfe, let the bond of spirits
be read: the spirits chaine is sent for him, wherewith wise _Salomon_
gathered them togither with their legions in a brasen vessell, where
were inclosed among all the legions seventie two kings, of whome the
cheefe was _Bileth_, the second was _Beliall_, the third _Asmoday_,
and above a thousand thousand legions. Without doubt (I must confesse)
I learned this of my maister _Salomon_; but he told me not why he
gathered them together, and shut them up so: but I beleeve it was for
the pride of this _Beliall_. Certeine nigromancers doo saie, that
_Salomon_, being on a certeine daie seduced by the craft of a certeine
woman, inclined himselfe to praie before the same idoll, _Beliall_
by name: which is not credible. And therefore we must rather thinke
(as it is said) that they were gathered together in that great brasen
vessell for pride and arrogancie, and throwne into a deepe lake or
hole in _Babylon_. For wise _Salomon_ did accomplish his workes by the
divine power, which never forsooke him. And therefore we must thinke
he worshipped not the image _Beliall_; for then he could not have
constrained the spirits by divine vertue: for this _Beliall_, with
three kings were in the lake. But the _Babylonians_ woondering at the
matter, supposed that they should find therein a great quantitie of
treasure, and therefore with one consent went downe into the lake, and
uncovered and brake the vessell, out of the which immediatlie flew
the capteine divels, and were delivered to their former and proper
places. But this _Beliall_ entred into a certeine image, and there gave
answer to them that offered and sacrificed unto him: as _Tocz._ in his
sentences reporteth, and the _Babylonians_ did worship and sacrifice
thereunto.

♦The fall of Beliall.♦

♦Salomon gathered al the divels togither in a brasen vessell.♦

♦The Babylonians disappointed of their hope.♦

_Bune_ is a great and a strong Duke, he appeareth as a dragon with
three heads, the third whereof is like to a man; he speaketh with a
divine voice, he maketh the dead to change their place, and divels to
assemble upon the sepulchers of the dead: he greatlie inricheth a man,
and maketh him eloquent and wise, answering trulie to all demands, and
thirtie legions obeie him.

♦_Bune._♦

_Forneus_ is a great marquesse, like unto a monster of the sea, he
maketh men woonderfull in rhetorike, he adorneth a man with a good
name, and the knowledge of toongs, and maketh one beloved as well of
foes as freends: there are under him nine and twentie legions, of the
order partlie of thrones, and partlie of angels.

♦_Forneus._♦

_Ronove_ a marquesse and an earle, he is resembled to a monster, he
bringeth singular understanding in rhetorike, faithfull servants,
knowledge of toongs, favour of freends and foes; and nineteene legions
obeie him.

♦_Ronove._♦

_Berith_ is a great and a terrible duke, and hath three names. Of some
he is called _Beall_; of the Jewes _Berith_; of Nigromancers _Bolfry_:
he commeth foorth as a red souldier, with red clothing, and upon a
horsse of that colour, and a crowne on his head. He answereth trulie of
things present, past, and to come. He is compelled at a certeine houre,
through divine vertue, by a ring of art magicke. He is also a lier, he
turneth all mettals into gold, he adorneth a man with dignities, and
confirmeth them, he speaketh with a cleare and a subtill voice, and six
and twentie legions are under him.

♦_Berith_ a golden divell.♦

_Astaroth_ is a great and a strong duke, comming foorth in the shape
of a fowle angell, sitting upon an infernall dragon, and carrieng on
his right hand a viper: he answereth trulie to matters present, past,
and to come, and also of all secrets. He talketh willinglie of the
creator of spirits, and of their fall, and how they sinned and fell:
he saith he fell not of his owne accord. He maketh a man woonderfull
learned in the liberall sciences, he ruleth fourtie legions. Let everie
exorcist take heed, that he admit him not too neere him, bicause of his
stinking breath. And therefore let the conjuror hold neere to his face
a magicall ring, and that shall defend him.

♦_Astaroth._♦

_Foras, [*]alias Forcas_ is a great president, and is seene in the
forme of a strong man, and in humane shape, he understandeth the vertue
of hearbs and pretious stones: he teacheth fullie logicke, ethicke, and
their parts: he maketh a man invisible, wittie, eloquent, and to live
long; he recovereth things lost, and discovereth treasures, and is lord
over nine and twentie legions.

♦_Foras._♦

_Furfur_ is a great earle, appearing as an hart, with a firie taile, he
lieth in everie thing, except he be brought up within a triangle; being
bidden, he taketh angelicall forme, he speaketh with a hoarse voice,
and willinglie maketh love betweene man and wife; he raiseth thunders
and lightnings, and blasts. Where he is commanded, he answereth well,
both of secret and also of divine things, and hath rule and dominion
over six and twentie legions.

♦_Furfur._♦

_Marchosias_ is a great marquesse, he sheweth himselfe in the shape of
a cruell shee woolfe, with a griphens wings, with a serpents taile,
and spetting I cannot tell what out of his mouth. When he is in a mans
shape, he is an excellent fighter, he answereth all questions trulie,
he is faithfull in all the conjurors businesse, he was of the order
of dominations, under him are thirtie legions: he hopeth after 1200.
yeares to returne to the seventh throne, but he is deceived in that
hope.

♦_Marchosias._♦

_Malphas_ is a great president, he is seene like a crowe, but being
cloathed with humane image, speaketh with a hoarse voice, he buildeth
houses and high towres wonderfullie, and quicklie bringeth artificers
togither, he throweth downe also the enimies edifications, he helpeth
to good familiars, he receiveth sacrifices willinglie, but he deceiveth
all the sacrificers, there obeie him fourtie legions.

♦_Malphas._♦

_Vepar, [*]alias Separ_, a great duke and a strong, he is like a
mermaid, he is the guide of the waters, and of ships laden with armour;
he bringeth to passe (at the commandement of his master) that the sea
shalbe rough and stormie, and shall appeare full of shippes; he killeth
men in three daies, with putrifieng their wounds, and producing maggots
into them; howbeit, they maie be all healed with diligence, he ruleth
nine and twentie legions.

♦_Vepar._♦

_Sabnacke, [*]alias Salmac_, is a great marquesse and a strong, he
commeth foorth as an armed soldier with a lions head, sitting on a
pale horsse, he dooth marvelouslie change mans forme and favor, he
buildeth high towres full of weapons, and also castels and cities;
he inflicteth men thirtie daies with wounds both rotten and full of
maggots, at the exorcists commandement, he provideth good familiars,
and hath dominion over fiftie legions.

♦_Sabnacke._♦

_Sidonay, [*]alias Asmoday_, a great king, strong and mightie, he is
seene with three heads, whereof the first is like a bull, the second
like a man, the third like a ram, he hath a serpents taile, he belcheth
flames out of his mouth, he hath feete like a goose, he sitteth on
an infernall dragon, he carrieth a lance and a flag in his hand, he
goeth before others, which are under the power of _Amaymon_. When the
conjuror exerciseth this office, let him be abroad, let him be warie
and standing on his feete; if his cap be on his head, he will cause all
his dooings to be bewraied, which if he doo not, the exorcist shalbe
deceived by _Amaymon_ in everie thing. But so soone as he seeth him
in the forme aforesaid, he shall call him by his name, saieng; Thou
art _Asmoday_: he will not denie it, and by and by he boweth downe to
the ground; he giveth the ring of vertues, he absolutelie teacheth
geometrie, arythmetike, astronomie, and handicrafts. To all demands he
answereth fullie and trulie, he maketh a man invisible, he sheweth the
places where treasure lieth, and gardeth it, if it be among the legions
of _Amaymon_, he hath under his power seventie two legions.

♦_Sidonay._♦

_Gaap, [*]alias Tap_, a great president and a prince, he appeareth in
a meridionall signe, and when he taketh humane shape he is the guide
of the foure principall kings, as mightie as _Bileth_. There were
certeine necromancers that offered sacrifices and burnt offerings unto
him; and to call him up, they exercised an art, saieng that _Salomon_
the wise made it. Which is false: for it was rather _Cham_, the
sonne of _Noah_, who after the floud began first to invocate wicked
spirits. He invocated _Bileth_, and made an art in his name, and
a booke which is knowne to manie mathematicians. There were burnt
offerings and sacrifices made, and gifts given, and much wickednes
wrought by the exorcists, who mingled therewithall the holie names
of God, the which in that art are everie where expressed. Marie
there is an epistle of those names written by _Salomon_, as also
write _Helias Hierosolymitanus_ and _Helisæus_. It is to be noted,
that if anie exorcist have the art of _Bileth_, and cannot make him
stand before him, nor see him, I may not bewraie how and declare the
meanes to conteine him, bicause it is abhomination, and for that I
have learned nothing from _Salomon_ of his dignitie and office. But
yet I will not hide this; to wit, that he maketh a man woonderfull in
philosophie and all the liberall sciences: he maketh love, hatred,
insensibilitie,[†] invisibilitie, consecration,[‡] and consecration
of those things that are belonging unto the domination of _Amaymon_,
and delivereth familiars out of the possession of other conjurors,
answering truly and perfectly of things present, past, & to come, &
transferreth men most speedilie into other nations, he ruleth sixtie
six legions, & was of the order of potestats.

♦_Gaap._♦

♦Who was the first necromancer.♦

♦[†] [Not in Wier]♦

♦[‡] [Press duplication]♦

_Shax, [*]alias Scox_, is a darke and a great marquesse, like unto
a storke, with a hoarse and subtill voice: he dooth marvellouslie
take awaie the sight, hearing, and understanding of anie man, at the
commandement of the conjuror: he taketh awaie monie out of everie
kings house, and carrieth it backe after 1200. yeares, if he be
commanded,[†] he is a horssestealer, he is thought to be faithfull
in all commandements: and although he promise to be obedient to the
conjuror in all things; yet is he not so, he is a lier, except he
be brought into a triangle, and there he speaketh divinelie, and
telleth of things which are hidden, and not kept of wicked spirits, he
promiseth good familiars, which are accepted if they be not deceivers,
he hath thirtie legions.

♦_Shax._♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

[†] [: in Wier]

_Procell_ is a great and a strong duke, appearing in the shape of
an angell, but speaketh verie darklie of things hidden, he teacheth
geometrie and all the liberall arts, he maketh great noises, and
causeth the waters to rore, where are none, he warmeth waters, and
distempereth bathes at certeine times, as the exorcist appointeth him,
he was of the order of potestats, and hath fourtie eight legions under
his power.

♦_Procell._ [_Pucel_, Wier]♦

_Furcas_ is a knight and commeth foorth in the similitude of a cruell
man, with a long beard and a hoarie head, he sitteth on a pale horsse,
carrieng in his hand a sharpe weapon, he perfectlie teacheth practike
philosophie, rhetorike, logike, astronomie, chiromancie, pyromancie,
and their parts: there obeie him twentie legions.

♦_Furcas._♦

_Murmur_ is a great duke and an earle, appearing in the shape of a
souldier, riding on a griphen, with a dukes crowne on his head; there
go before him two of his ministers, with great trumpets, he teacheth
philosophie absolutelie, he constraineth soules to come before the
exorcist, to answer what he shall aske them, he was of the order
partlie of thrones, and partlie of angels, [†]and ruleth thirtie
legions.

♦_Murmur._♦

♦[†] [and, etc., not in Wier]♦

_Caim_ is a great president, taking the forme of a thrush, but when he
putteth on mans shape, he answereth in burning ashes, carrieng in his
hand a most sharpe swoord, he maketh the best disputers, he giveth men
the understanding of all birds, of the lowing of bullocks, and barking
of dogs, and also of the sound and noise of waters, he answereth best
of things to come, he was of the order of angels, and ruleth thirtie
legions of divels.

♦_Caim._♦

_Raum_, or _Raim_ is a great earle, he is seene as a crowe, but when
he putteth on humane shape, at the commandement of the exorcist,
he stealeth woonderfullie out of the kings house, and carrieth it
whether he is assigned, he destroieth cities, and hath great despite
unto dignities, he knoweth things present, past, and to come, and
reconcileth freends and foes, he was of the order of thrones, and
governeth thirtie legions.

♦_Raum._♦

_Halphas_ is a great earle, and commeth abroad like a storke, with
a hoarse voice, he notablie buildeth up townes full of munition and
weapons, he sendeth men of warre to places appointed, and hath under
him six and twentie legions.

♦_Halphas._♦

_Focalor_ is a great duke comming foorth as a man, with wings like
a griphen, he killeth men, and drowneth them in the waters, and
overturneth ships of warre, commanding and ruling both winds and
seas. And let the conjuror note, that if he bid him hurt no man, he
willinglie consenteth thereto: he hopeth after 1000. yeares to returne
to the seventh throne, but he is deceived, he hath three legions.

♦_Focalor._♦

_Vine_ is a great king and an earle, he showeth himselfe as a lion,
riding on a blacke horsse, and carrieth a viper in his hand, he gladlie
buildeth large towres, he throweth downe stone walles, and maketh
waters rough. At the commandement of the exorcist he answereth of
things hidden, of witches, and of things present, past, and to come.

♦_Vine._♦

_Bifrons_ is seene in the similitude of a monster, when he taketh
the image of a man, he maketh one woonderfull cunning in astrologie,
absolutelie declaring the mansions of the planets, he dooth the like
in geometrie, and other admesurements, he perfectlie understandeth the
strength and vertue of hearbs, pretious stones, and woods, he changeth
dead bodies from place to place, he seemeth to light candles upon the
sepulchres of the dead, and hath under him six and twentie legions.

♦_Bifrons._♦

_Gamigin_ is a great marquesse, and is seene in the forme of a little
horsse, when he taketh humane shape he speaketh with a hoarse voice,
disputing of all liberall sciences; he bringeth also to passe, that
the soules, which are drowned in the sea, or which dwell in purgatorie
(which is called _Cartagra_, that is, affliction of soules) shall take
aierie bodies, and evidentlie appeare and answer to interrogatories at
the conjurors commandement; he tarrieth with the exorcist, untill he
have accomplished his desire, and hath thirtie legions under him.

♦_Gamigin._♦

_Zagan_ is a great king and a president, he commeth abroad like a bull,
with griphens wings, but when he taketh humane shape, he maketh men
wittie, he turneth all mettals into the coine of that dominion, and
turneth water into wine, and wine into water, he also turneth bloud
into wine, & wine into bloud, & a foole into a wise man, he is head of
thirtie and three legions.

♦_Zagan._♦

_Orias_ is a great marquesse, and is seene as a lion riding on a strong
horsse, with a serpents taile, and carrieth in his right hand two great
serpents hissing, he knoweth the mansion of planets, and perfectlie
teacheth the vertues of the starres, he transformeth men, he giveth
dignities, prelacies, and confirmations, and also the favour of freends
and foes, and hath under him thirtie legions.

♦_Orias._♦

_Valac_ is a great president, and commeth abroad with angels wings
like a boie, riding on a twoheaded dragon, he perfectlie answereth of
treasure hidden, and where serpents may be seene, which he delivereth
into the conjurors hands, void of anie force or strength, and hath
dominion over thirtie legions of divels.

♦_Valac._♦

_Gomory_ a strong and a mightie duke, he appeareth like a faire woman,
with a duchesse crownet about hir midle, riding on a camell, he
answereth well and truelie of things present, past, and to come, and
of treasure hid, and where it lieth: he procureth the love of women,
especiallie of maids, and hath six and twentie legions.

♦_Gomory._♦

_Decarabia_ or _Carabia_, he commeth like a ⚹ and knoweth the
force of herbes and pretious stones, and maketh all birds flie before
the exorcist, and to tarrie with him, as though they were tame, and
that they shall drinke and sing, as their maner is, and hath thirtie
legions.

♦_Decarabia._♦

_Amduscias_ a great and a strong duke, he commeth foorth as an
unicorne, when he standeth before his maister in humane shape, being
commanded, he easilie bringeth to passe, that trumpets and all musicall
instruments may be heard and not seene, and also that trees shall bend
and incline, according to the conjurors will, he is excellent among
familiars, and hath nine and twentie legions.

♦_Amduscias._♦

_Andras_ is a great marquesse, and is seene in an angels shape with a
head like a blacke night raven, riding upon a blacke and a verie strong
woolfe, flourishing with a sharpe sword in his hand, he can kill the
maister, the servant, and all assistants, he is author of discords, and
ruleth thirtie legions.

♦_Andras._♦

_Andrealphus_ is a great marquesse, appearing as a pecocke, he raiseth
great noises, and in humane shape perfectlie teacheth geometrie, and
all things belonging to admeasurements, he maketh a man to be a subtill
disputer, and cunning in astronomie, and transformeth a man into the
likenes of a bird, and there are under him thirtie legions.

♦_Andrealphus._♦

_Ose_ is a great president, and commeth foorth like a leopard, and
counterfeting to be a man, he maketh one cunning in the liberall
sciences, he answereth truelie of divine and secret things, he
transformeth a mans shape, and bringeth a man to that madnes, that he
thinketh himselfe to be that which he is not; as that he is a king or
a pope, or that he weareth a crowne on his head, _Durátque id regnum
[†]ad horam_.

♦_Ose._♦

♦[†] [Wier has no _ad_]♦

_Aym_ or _Haborim_ is a great duke and a strong, he commeth foorth with
three heads, the first like a serpent, the second like a man having two
⚹ the third like a cat, he rideth on a viper, carrieng in his hand a
light fier brand, with the flame whereof castels and cities are fiered,
he maketh one wittie everie kind of waie, he answereth truelie of
privie matters, and reigneth over twentie six legions.

♦_Aym._♦

_Orobas_ is a great prince, he commeth foorth like a horsse, but
when he putteth on him a mans idol, he talketh of divine vertue, he
giveth true answers of things present, past, and to come, and of the
divinitie, and of the creation, he deceiveth none, nor suffereth anie
to be tempted, he giveth dignities and prelacies, and the favour of
freends and foes, and hath rule over twentie legions.

♦_Orobas._♦

_Vapula_ is a great duke and a strong, he is seene like a lion with
griphens wings, he maketh a man subtill and wonderfull in handicrafts,
philosophie, and in sciences conteined in bookes, and is ruler over
thirtie six legions.

♦_Vapula._♦

_Cimeries_ is a great marquesse and a strong, ruling in the parts of
_Aphrica_; he teacheth perfectlie grammar, logicke, and rhetorike, he
discovereth treasures and things hidden, he bringeth to passe, that a
man shall seeme with expedition to be turned into a soldier, he rideth
upon a great blacke horsse, and ruleth twentie legions.

♦_Cimeries._♦

_Amy_ is a great president, and appeareth in a flame of fier, but
having taken mans shape, he maketh one marvelous in astrologie, and
in all the liberall sciences, he procureth excellent familiars, he
bewraieth treasures preserved by spirits, he hath the governement of
thirtie six legions, he is partlie of the order of angels, partlie of
potestats, he hopeth after a thousand two hundreth yeares to returne to
the seventh throne: which is not credible.

♦_Amy._♦

_Flauros_ a strong duke, is seene in the forme of a terrible strong
leopard, in humane shape, he sheweth a terrible countenance, and fierie
eies, he answereth trulie and fullie of things present, past, and to
come; if he be in a triangle,[†] he lieth in all things [‡]and
deceiveth in other things, and beguileth in other busines, he gladlie
talketh of the divinitie, and of the creation of the world, and of the
fall; he is constrained by divine vertue, and so are all divels or
spirits, to burne and destroie all the conjurors adversaries. And if he
be commanded, he suffereth the conjuror not to be tempted, and he hath
twentie legions under him.

♦_Flauros._♦

[†] [? transpose ;—,]

[‡] [an erroneous duplication of next clause]

_Balam_ is a great and a terrible king, he commeth foorth with three
heads, the first of a bull, the second of a man, the third of a ram, he
hath a serpents taile, and flaming eies, riding upon a furious beare,
and carrieng a hawke on his fist, he speaketh with a hoarse voice,
answering perfectlie of things present, past, and to come, hee maketh a
man invisible and wise, hee governeth fourtie legions, and was of the
order of dominations.

♦_Balam._♦

_Allocer_ is a strong duke and a great, he commeth foorth like a
soldier, riding on a great horsse, he hath a lions face, verie red,
and with flaming eies, he speaketh with a big voice, he maketh a
man woonderfull in astronomie, and in all the liberall sciences, he
bringeth good familiars, and ruleth thirtie six legions.

♦_Allocer._♦

_Saleos_ is a great earle, he appeareth as a gallant soldier, riding on
a crocodile, and weareth a dukes crowne, peaceable, &c.

♦_Saleos._♦

_Vuall_ is a great duke and a strong, he is seene as a great and
terrible dromedarie, but in humane forme, he soundeth out in a base
voice the _Ægyptian_ toong. This man above all other procureth the
especiall love of women, and knoweth things present, past, and to
come, procuring the love of freends and foes, he was of the order of
potestats, and governeth thirtie seven legions.

♦_Vuall._♦

_Haagenti_ is a great president, appearing like a great bull, having
the wings of a griphen, but when he taketh humane shape, he maketh
a man wise in everie thing, he changeth all mettals into gold, and
changeth wine and water the one into the other, and commandeth as manie
legions as _Zagan_.

♦_Haagenti._♦

_Phœnix_ is a great marquesse, appearing like the bird _Phœnix_, having
a childs voice: but before he standeth still before the conjuror, he
singeth manie sweet notes. Then the exorcist with his companions must
beware he give no eare to the melodie, but must by and by bid him put
on humane shape; then will he speake marvellouslie of all woonderfull
sciences. He is an excellent poet, and obedient, he hopeth to returne
to the seventh throne after a thousand two hundreth yeares, and
governeth twentie legions.

♦_Phœnix._♦

_Stolas_ is a great prince, appearing in the forme of a nightraven,
before the exorcist, he taketh the image and shape of a man, and
teacheth astronomie, absolutelie understanding the vertues of herbes
and pretious stones; there are under him twentie six legions.

♦_Stolas._♦

¶ _Note that a legion is 6 6 6 6. and now by multiplication
count how manie legions doo arise out of
everie particular._

♦This was the work of one T. R. written in faire letters
of red & blacke upō parchment, and made by him, Ann. 1570. to the
maintenance of his living, the edifieng of the poore, and the glorie of
gods holie name: as he himselfe saith.♦

✠ _Secretum secretorum,
The secret of secrets;
Tu operans sis secretus horum,[*]
Thou that workst them, be secret in them._

♦[*] [The Lat: Rom.]♦

The third Chapter.

_The houres wherin principall divels may be bound, to wit, raised
and restrained from dooing of hurt._

_Amaymon_ king of the east, _Gorson_ king of the south, _Zimimar_ king
of the north, _Goap_ king and prince of the west, may be bound from
the third houre, till noone, and from the ninth houre till evening.
Marquesses may be bound from the ninth houre till compline, and from
compline till the end of the daie. Dukes maybe bound from the first
houre till noone; and cleare wether is to be observed. Prelates may be
bound in anie houre of the daie. Knights from daie dawning, till sunne
rising; or from evensong, till the sunne set. A President may not be
bound in anie houre of the daie, except the king, whome he obeieth, be
invocated; nor in the shutting of the evening. Counties or erles may be
bound at anie houre of the daie, so it be in the woods or feelds, where
men resort not.

The fourth Chapter.

_The forme of adjuring or citing of the spirits aforesaid to arise
and appeare._

When you will have anie spirit, you must know his name and office; you
must also fast,[*] and be cleane from all pollusion, three or foure
daies before; so will the spirit be the more obedient unto you. Then
make a circle, and call up the spirit with great intention, and holding
a ring in your hand, rehearse in your owne name, and your companions
(for one must alwaies be with you) this praier following, and so no
spirit shall annoie you, and your purpose shall take effect. [†]And
note how this agreeth with popish charmes and conjurations.

♦[*] [fast _not in Wier_]♦

♦[†] [This not in Wier]♦

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ the ✠ father ✠ and the sonne ✠ and
the Holie-ghost ✠ holie trinitie and unseparable unitie, I call upon
thee, that thou maiest be my salvation and defense, and the protection
of my bodie and soule, and of all my goods[*] through the vertue of thy
holie crosse, and through the vertue of thy passion, I beseech thee
O Lord Jesus Christ, by the merits of thy blessed mother S. _Marie_,
and of all thy saints, that thou give me grace and divine power over
all the wicked spirits, so as which of them soever I doo call by name,
they may come by and by from everie coast, and accomplish my will, that
they neither be hurtfull nor fearefull unto me, but rather obedient
and diligent about me. And through thy vertue streightlie commanding
them, let them fulfill my commandements, Amen. Holie, holie, holie,
Lord God of sabboth, which wilt come to judge the quicke and the dead,
thou which art Α and Ω, first and last, King of kings and Lord of
lords, _Ioth_, _Aglanabrath_, _El_, _Abiel_, _Anathiel_, _Amazim_,
_Sedomel_, _Gayes_, _Heli_, _Messias_, _Tolimi_, _Elias_, _Ischiros_,
_Athanatos_, _Imas_. By these thy holie names, and by all other I doo
call upon thee, and beseech thee O Lord Jesus Christ, by thy nativitie
and baptisme, by thy crosse and passion, by thine ascension, and by
the comming of the Holie-ghost, by the bitternesse of thy soule when
it departed from thy bodie, by thy five wounds, by the bloud and water
which went out of thy bodie, by thy vertue, by the sacrament which
thou gavest thy disciples the daie before thou sufferedst, by the
holie trinitie, and by the inseparable unitie, by blessed _Marie_ thy
mother, by thine angels, archangels, prophets, patriarchs, and by all
thy saints, and by all the sacraments which are made in thine honour,
I doo worship and beseech thee, I blesse and desire thee, to accept
these praiers, conjurations, and words of my mouth, which I will use. I
require thee O Lord Jesus Christ, that thou give me thy vertue & power
over all thine angels (which were throwne downe from heaven to deceive
mankind) to drawe them to me, to tie and bind them, & also to loose
them, to gather them togither before me, & to command them to doo all
that they can, and that by no meanes they contemne my voice, or the
words of my mouth; but that they obeie me and my saiengs, and feare me.
I beseech thee by thine humanitie, mercie and grace, and I require thee
_Adonay_, _Amay_, _Horta_, _Vege_[†] _dora_, _Mitai_, _Hel_, _Suranat_,
_Ysion_, _Ysesy_,[‡] and by all thy holie names, and by all thine holie
he saints and she saints, by all thine angels and archangels, powers,
dominations, and vertues, and by that name that _Salomon_ did bind the
divels, and shut them up, _Elhrach_,[§] _Ebanher_,[¶] _Agle_, _Goth_,
_Ioth_, _Othie_, _Venoch_, _Nabrat_, and by all thine holie names which
are written in this booke, and by the vertue of them all, that thou
enable me to congregate all thy spirits throwne downe from heaven,
that they may give me a true answer of all my demands, and that they
satisfie all my requests, without the hurt of my bodie or soule, or any
thing else that is mine, through our Lord Jesus Christ thy sonne, which
liveth and reigneth with thee in the unitie of the Holie-ghost, one God
world without end.

♦[*] [goods. Through, _Wier_]♦

♦Note what names are attributed unto Christ by the conjuror in this his
exorcising exercise.♦

♦What wonderfull force conjurors doo beleeve cōsisteth in these forged
names of Christ.♦

♦[†] [_Vigedara_, Wier]♦

♦[‡] [_Ysyesy_, Wier]♦

♦[§] [_Elhroch_, Wier]♦

♦[¶] [_eban her_, Wier]♦

Oh father omnipotent, oh wise sonne, oh Holie-ghost, the searcher of
harts, oh you three in persons, one true godhead in substance, which
didst spare _Adam_ and _Eve_ in their sins; and oh thou sonne, which
diedst for their sinnes a most filthie death, susteining it upon the
holie crosse; oh thou most mercifull, when I flie unto thy mercie, and
beseech thee by all the means I can, by these the holie names of thy
sonne; to wit, Α and Ω, and all other his names, grant me thy vertue
and power, that I may be able to cite before me, thy spirits which were
throwne downe from heaven, & that they may speake with me, & dispatch
by & by without delaie, & with a good will, & without the hurt of
my bodie, soule, or goods, &c: as is conteined in the booke called
_Annulus Salomonis_.

Oh great and eternall vertue of the highest, which through disposition,
these being called to judgement, [*]_Vaicheon_, _Stimulamaton_,
_Esphares_, _Tetragrammaton_, _Olioram_, [†]_Cryon_, _Esytion_,
_Existion_, _Eriona_, _Onela_, _Brasim_, _Noym_, _Messias_, _Soter_,
_Emanuel_, _Sabboth_, _Adonay_, I worship thee, I invocate thee, I
[‡]imploie thee with all the strength of my mind, that by thee, my
present praiers, consecrations, and conjurations be hallowed: and
whersoever wicked spirits are called, in the vertue of thy names, they
may come togither from everie coast, and diligentlie fulfill the will
of me the exorcist. [§]_Fiat, fiat, fiat, Amen._

♦[*] [Rom.]♦

♦[†] [_irion_, Wier]♦

♦[‡] [implore, _Wier_]♦

♦[§] [_Ital._]♦

The fift Chapter.

_A confutation of the manifold vanities conteined in the precedent
chapters, speciallie of commanding of divels._

He that can be persuaded that these things are true, or wrought
indeed according to the assertion of couseners, or according to the
supposition of witchmongers & papists, may soone be brought to beleeve
that the moone is made of greene cheese. You see in this which is
called _Salomons_ conjuration, there is a perfect inventarie registred
of the number of divels, of their names, of their offices, of their
personages, of their qualities, of their powers, of their properties,
of their kingdomes, of their governments, of their orders, of their
dispositions, of their subjection, of their submission, and of the
waies to bind or loose them; with a note what wealth, learning,
office, commoditie, pleasure, &c: they can give, and may be forced
to yeeld in spight of their harts, to such (forsooth) as are cunning
in this art: of whome yet was never seene any rich man, or at least
that gained any thing that waie; or any unlearned man, that became
learned by that meanes; or any happie man, that could with the helpe
of this art either deliver himselfe, or his freends, from adversitie,
or adde unto his estate any point of felicitie: yet these men, in all
worldlie happinesse, must needs exceed all others; if such things
could be by them accomplished, according as it is presupposed. For if
they may learne of _Marbas_, all secrets, and to cure all diseases;
and of _Furcas_, wisdome, and to be cunning in all mechanicall arts;
and to change anie mans shape, of _Zepar_: if _Bune_ can make them
rich and eloquent, if _Beroth_ can tell them of all things, present,
past, and to come; if _Asmodaie_ can make them go invisible and shew
them all hidden treasure; if _Salmacke_ will afflict whom they list,
& _Allocer_ can procure them the love of any woman; if _Amy_ can
provide them excellent familiars, if _Caym_ can make them understand
the voice of all birds and beasts, and _Buer_ and _Bifrons_ can make
them live long; and finallie, if _Orias_ could procure unto them
great friends, and reconcile their enimies, & they in the end had all
these at commandement; should they not live in all worldlie honor and
felicitie? whereas contrariwise they lead their lives in all obloquie,
miserie, and beggerie, and in fine come to the gallowes; as though they
had chosen unto themselves the spirit _Valefer_, who they saie bringeth
all them with whom he entreth into familiaritie, to no better end than
the gibet or gallowes. But before I proceed further to the confutation
of this stuffe, I will shew other conjurations, devised more latelie,
and of more authoritie; wherein you shall see how fooles are trained
to beleeve these absurdities, being woone by little and little to such
credulitie. For the author heereof beginneth, as though all the cunning
of conjurors were derived and fetcht from the planetarie motions, and
true course of the stars, celestiall bodies, &c.

♦This is contrarie to the scripture, which saith that everie good gift
commeth from the father of light, &c.♦

♦A breviarie of the inventarie of spirits.♦

♦The authors further purpose in the detection of cōjuring.♦

The vi. Chapter.

_The names of the planets, their characters, togither with the
twelve signes of the zodiake, their dispositions, aspects,
and government, with other observations._

[Illustration:
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Conjunction ☌}{ ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽. the characters of the Planets. |
| Sextile ⚹ }{ _Satur. Iupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercu. Luna._ |
| Quadrat □ }{ |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Trine △}{_Satur. Iupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercu. Luna._ |
| Opposition ☍}{ |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The twelve signes of the zodiake, their characters |
| and denominations, &c. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ♈ ♉ ♊ ♋ ♌ ♍ |
| _Aries_ _Taurus_ _Gemini_ _Cancer_ _Leo_ _Virgo_ |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ♎ ♏ ♐ ♑ ♒ ♓ |
|_Libra_ _Scorpio_ _Sagittarius_ _Capricornus_ _Aquarius_ _Pisces._|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Their dispositions or inclinations. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ♈ ♋ ♉} Good } {♎ ♏ ♑} Evill } { ♒ ♏ ♋} Signes |
| ♓ ♐} signes. } {♒ ♊} signes. } { ♓ ♍} indifferent. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ♈ ♎ ♐ Very good signes. ♑ ♊ ♌ ♉ Very evill signes. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
]

_The disposition of the planets._

[Illustration:
+================================================+
| ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ |
+================================================+
|Planets good, ♃♀. Indifferent; ☉☽☿ Euill ♄ ♂|
+=======+======+=====+======+=======+======+=====+
| ♑ ♄ | ♐ | ♏ | ♌ ☉ | ♉ | ♊ | ♋☽|
| ♒ |♓ ♃ | ♈ ♂ | | ♎ ♀ | ♍ ☿ | |
+==============+=========+=+======+==============+
| |♈|♂ |☉♃| |♉|♀☽| |
| A fierie +--+--+---+ +--+---+ An earthie |
| Triplicitie. |♌|☉| ♃ | |♍|☿ | Triplicitie. |
| +--+--+---+ +--+---+ |
| |♐|♃| ☉ | |♑|♄♂| |
+==============+=========+=+======+==============+
| |♋|☽♃♀ | |♊| ☿ | |
| A waterie +--+--+---+ +--+---+ An aierie |
| Triplicitie. |♏| ♂ | |♎|♀♄♃| Triplicitie. |
| +--+--+---+ +--+---+ |
| |♓|♃☽♀ | |♒|♄ ♃| |
+==============+========+=+========+==============+
]

_The aspects of the planets._

☌Is the best aspect, with good planets, and woorst with evill.
⚹ Is a meane aspect in goodnesse or badnesse.
△ Is verie good in aspect to good planets, & hurteth not in evill.
□ This aspect is of enimitie not full perfect.
☍This aspect is of enimitie most perfect.

♦The five planetarie aspects:
Conjunct.
Sextil.
Trine.
Quartil.
Opposit.♦

_How the daie is divided or distinguished._

A daie naturall is the space of foure and twentie houres, accounting
the night withall, and beginneth at one of the clocke after midnight.

An artificiall daie is that space of time, which is betwixt the rising
and falling of the ☉ &c. All the rest is night, & beginneth at the ☉
rising.

Hereafter followeth a table, showing how the daie and the
night is divided by houres, and reduced to the regiment of the
planets.

_The division of the daie, and the planetarie
regiment._

[Illustration:
+-----+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
| day |lord| 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9|10|11|12|
+-----+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
| day |lord|☉| ♀| ☿|☾|♄|♃| ♂|☉| ♀| ☿|☾|♄|
| day |lord|☾|♄| ♃| ♂|☉| ♀|☿|☾| ♄|♃| ♂|☉|
| day |lord| ♂|☉| ♀| ☿|☾|♄|♃| ♂| ☉| ♀|☿|☾|
| day |lord|☿|☾| ♄|♃| ♂|☉| ♀|☿| ☾|♄|♃| ♂|
| day |lord|♃| ♂| ☉| ♀|☿|☾|♄|♃| ♂| ☉| ♀|☿|
| day |lord|☿| ♀| ☾|♄|♃| ♂|☉| ♀|☿| ☾|♄|♃|
| day |lord|♄|♃| ♂| ☉| ♀|☿|☾|♄| ♃| ♂|☉| ♀|
+-----+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
]

_The division of the night, and the planetarie
regiment._

[Illustration:
+-----+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
|night|lord| 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9|10|11|12|
+-----+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
|night|lord|♃| ♂|☉| ♀| ☿|☾|♄|♃| ♂| ☉| ♀|☿|
|night|lord| ♀|☿|☾|♄| ♃| ♂|☉| ♀|☿| ☾|♄|♃|
|night|lord|♄|♃| ♂|☉| ♀| ☿|☾|♄|♃| ♂| ☉| ♀|
|night|lord|☉| ♀|☿|☾| ♄|♃| ♂|☉| ♀| ☿|☾|♄|
|night|lord|☾|♄|♃| ♂| ☉| ♀|☿|☾|♄| ♃| ♂|☉|
|night|lord| ♂|☉|☿|☾| ♄| ♂|♃|☉| ♀| ☾| ♀|☿|
|night|lord|☿|☾|♄|♃| ♂| ☉| ♀|☿|☾| ♄|♃| ♂|
+-----+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
]

The seventh Chapter.

_The characters of the angels of the seaven daies, with their names:
of figures, seales and periapts._

{ _These figures are called the seales of the earth, without the }
{ which no spirit will appeere, except thou have them with thee._ }
]

♦[1st ed. _ve_]♦

[Illustration:

♦[fo = foe]♦

The eight Chapter.

_An experiment of the dead._

First fast and praie three daies, and absteine thee from all
filthinesse; go to one that is new buried, such a one as killed
himselfe or destroied himselfe wilfullie: or else get thee promise of
one that shalbe hanged, and let him sweare an oth to thee, after his
bodie is dead, that his spirit shall come to thee, and doo thee true
service, at thy commandements, in all daies, houres, and minuts. And
let no persons see thy doings, but thy [*]fellow. And about eleven
a clocke in the night, go to the place where he was buried, and saie
with a bold faith & hartie desire, to have the spirit come that thou
doost call for, thy fellow having a candle in his left hand, and in
his right hand a christall stone, and saie these words following, the
maister having a hazell wand in his right hand, and these names of God
written thereupon, [†]_Tetragrammaton ✠ Adonay ✠ Agla ✠ Craton ✠_
Then strike three strokes on the ground, and saie: Arise _N._ Arise
_N._ Arise _N._ I conjure thee spirit _N._ by the resurrection of our
Lord Jesu Christ, that thou doo obey to my words, and come unto me this
night verelie and trulie, as thou beleevest to be saved at the daie
of judgement. And I will sweare to thee an oth, by the perill of my
soule, that if thou wilt come to me, and appeare to me this night, and
shew me true visions in this christall stone, and fetch me the fairie
_Sibylia_, that I may talke with hir visiblie, and she may come before
me, as the conjuration leadeth: and in so dooing, I will give thee an
almesse deed, and praie for thee _N._ to my Lord God, wherby thou
maiest be restored to thy salvation at the resurrection daie, to be
received as one of the elect of God, to the everlasting glorie, Amen.

♦Conjuring for a dead spirit.♦

♦[*] For the cousenor (the conjuror I should saie) can do nothing to
any purpose without his cōfederate.♦

♦[†] [Rom.]♦

♦Note that numerus ternarius, which is counted mysticall, be observed.♦

♦_Ex inferno nulla redemptio_, saith the scripture: _Ergo_ you lie
quoth Nota.♦

The maister standing at the head of the grave, his fellow having in
his hands the candle and the stone, must begin the conjuration as
followeth, and the spirit will appeare to you in the christall stone,
in a faire forme of a child of twelve yeares of age. And when he is in,
feele the stone, and it will be hot; and feare nothing, for he or shee
will shew manie delusions, to drive you from your worke. Feare God, but
feare him not. This is to constraine him, as followeth.

I conjure thee spirit _N._ by the living God, the true God, and by the
holie God, and by their vertues and powers which have created both thee
and me, and all the world. I conjure thee _N._ by these holie names
of God, [*]_Tetragrammaton ✠ Adonay ✠ Algramay ✠ Saday ✠ Sabaoth ✠
Planaboth ✠ Panthon ✠ Craton ✠ Neupmaton ✠ Deus ✠ Homo ✠ Omnipotens ✠
Sempiturnus ✠ Ysus ✠ Terra ✠ Unigenitus ✠ Salvator ✠ Via ✠ Vita ✠ Manus
✠ Fons ✠ Origo ✠ Filius ✠_ And by their vertues and powers, and by all
their names, by the which God gave power to man, both to speake or
thinke; so by their vertues and powers I conjure thee spirit _N._ that
now immediatlie thou doo appeare in this christall stone, visiblie to
me and to my fellow, without anie tarrieng or deceipt. I conjure thee
_N._ by the excellent name of Jesus Christ A and Ω. the first and the
last. For this holie name of Jesus is above all names: for in this name
of Jesus everie knee dooth bow and obeie, both of heavenlie things,
earthlie things, and infernall. And everie toong doth confesse, that
our Lord Jesus Christ is in the glorie of the father: neither is there
anie other name given to man, whereby he must be saved. Therefore in
the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and by his nativitie, resurrection, and
ascension, and by all that apperteineth unto his passion, and by their
vertues and powers I conjure thee spirit _N._ that thou doo appeare
visiblie in this christall stone to me, and to my fellow, without
anie dissimulation. I conjure thee _N._ by the bloud of the innocent
lambe Jesus Christ, which was shed for us upon the crosse: for all
those that[†] doo beleeve in the vertue of his bloud, shalbe saved.
I conjure thee _N._ by the vertues and powers of all the riall names
and words of the living God of me pronounced, that thou be obedient
unto me and to my words rehearsed. If thou refuse this to doo, I by the
holie trinitie, and their vertues and powers doo condemne thee thou
spirit _N._ into the place where there is no hope of remedie or rest,
but everlasting horror and paine there dwelling, and a place where is
paine upon paine, dailie, horriblie, and lamentablie, thy paine to be
there augmented as the starres in the heaven, and as the gravell or
sand in the sea: except thou spirit _N._ doo appeare to me and to my
fellow visiblie, immediatlie in this christall stone, and in a faire
forme and shape of a child of twelve yeares of age, and that thou alter
not thy shape, I charge thee upon paine of everlasting condemnation. I
conjure thee spirit _N._ by the golden girdle, which girded the loines
of our Lord Jesus Christ: so thou spirit _N._ be thou bound into the
perpetuall paines of hell fier, for thy disobedience and unreverent
regard, that thou hast to the holie names and words, and his precepts.
I conjure thee _N._ by the two edged sword, which _John_ sawe proceed
out of the mouth of the almightie; and so thou spirit _N._ be torne
and[‡] cut in peeces with that sword, and to be condemned into
everlasting paine, where the fier goeth not out, and where the worme
dieth not. I conjure thee _N._ by the heavens, and by the celestiall
citie of _Jerusalem_, and by the earth and the sea, and by all things
conteined in them, and by their vertues & powers. I conjure thee
spirit _N._ by the obedience that thou doost owe unto the principall
prince. And except thou spirit _N._ doo come and appeare in this
christall stone visiblie in my presence, here immediatlie as it is
aforesaid. Let the great cursse of God, the anger of God, the shadowe
and darknesse of death, and of eternall condemnation be upon thee
spirit _N._ for ever and ever; bicause thou hast denied thy faith, thy
health, & salvation. For thy great disobedience, thou art worthie to
be condemned. Therefore let the divine trinitie, thrones, dominions,
principats, potestats, virtutes, cherubim and seraphim, and all the
soules of saints, both of men and women, condemne thee for ever, and
be a witnesse against thee at the daie of judgement, bicause of thy
disobedience. And let all creatures of our Lord Jesus Christ, saie
thereunto; _Fiat, fiat, fiat_: Amen.

♦[*] [Rom.]♦

♦[†] _Dæmones credendo contremiscunt._♦

♦A heavie sentence denounced of the conjuror against the spirit in case
of disobedience, contempt, or negligence.♦

♦[‡] How can that be, when a spirit hath neither flesh, bloud, nor
bones?♦

And when he is appeared in the christall stone, as is said before,
bind him with this bond as followeth; to wit, I conjure thee spirit
_N._ that art appeared to me in this christall stone, to me and to
my fellow; I conjure thee by[*] all the riall words aforesaid, the
which did constraine thee to appeare therein, and their vertues; I
charge thee spirit by them all, that thou shalt not depart out of this
christall stone, untill my will being fulfilled, thou be licenced to
depart. I conjure and bind thee spirit _N._ by that omnipotent God,
which commanded the angell S. _Michael_ to drive _Lucifer_ out of the
heavens with a sword of vengeance, and to fall from joy to paine; and
for dread of such paine as he is in, I charge thee spirit _N._ that
thou shalt not go out of the christall stone; nor yet to alter thy
shape at this time, except I command thee otherwise; but to come unto
me at all places, and in all houres and minuts, when and wheresoever
I shall call thee, by the vertue of our Lord Jesus Christ, or by anie
conjuration of words that is written in this booke, and to shew me
and my freends true visions in this christall stone, of anie thing or
things that we would see, at anie time or times: and also to go and to
fetch me the fairie _Sibylia_, that I may talke with hir in all kind
of talke, as I shall call hir by anie conjuration of words conteined
in this booke. I conjure thee spirit _N._ by the great wisedome and
divinitie of his godhead, my will to fulfill, as is aforesaid: I charge
thee upon paine of condemnation, both in this world, and in the world
to come, _Fiat, fiat, fiat_: Amen.

♦[*] The conjuror imputeth the appearing of a spirit by constraint
unto words quoth Nota.♦

This done, go to a place fast by, and in a faire parlor or chamber,
make a circle with chalke, as hereafter followeth: and make another
circle for the fairie _Sibylia_ to appeare in, foure foote from the
circle thou art in, & make no names therein, nor cast anie holie thing
therein, but make a circle round with chalke; & let the maister and
his fellowe sit downe in the first circle, the maister having the
booke in his hand, his fellow having the christall stone in his right
hand, looking in the stone when the fairie dooth appeare. The maister
also must have upon his brest this figure here written in parchment,
and beginne to worke in the new of the ☽ and in the houre of ♃ the ☉
and the ☽ to be in one of inhabiters signes, as ♋ ♐ ♓. This bond as
followeth, is to cause the spirit in the christall stone, to fetch unto
thee the fairie _Sibylia_. All things fulfilled, beginne this bond as
followeth, and be bold, for doubtles they will come before thee, before
the conjuration be read seven times.

[Illustration:

✠ ✠ ✠
_Sorthie, Sorthia,
Sorthios._
]

I conjure thee spirit _N._ in this christall stone, by God the father,
by God the sonne Jesus Christ, and by God the Holie-ghost, three
persons and one God, and by their vertues. I conjure thee spirit, that
thou doo go in peace, and also to come againe to me quicklie, and to
bring with thee into that circle appointed, _Sibylia_ fairie, that I
may talke with hir in those matters that shall be to hir honour and
glorie; and so I charge thee declare unto hir. I conjure thee spirit
_N._ by the bloud of the innocent lambe, the which redeemed all the
world; by the vertue thereof I charge thee thou spirit in the christall
stone, that thou doo declare unto hir this message. Also I conjure
thee spirit _N._ by all angels and archangels, thrones, dominations,
principats, potestates, virtutes, cherubim and seraphim, and by their
vertues and powers. I conjure the _N._ that thou doo depart with speed,
and also to come againe with speed, and to bring with thee the fairie
_Sibylia_, to appeare in that circle, before I doo read the conjuration
in this booke seven times. Thus I charge thee my will to be fulfilled,
upon paine of everlasting condemnation: _Fiat, fiat, fiat_; Amen.

♦And whie might not he doo it himselfe, as well as madam _Sibylia_.♦

Then the figure aforesaid pinned on thy brest, rehearse the words
therein, and saie, _✠ Sorthie ✠ Sorthia ✠ Sorthios ✠_ then beginne your
conjuration as followeth here, and saie; I conjure thee _Sibylia_,
O gentle virgine of fairies, by the mercie of the Holie-ghost, and
by the dreadfull daie of doome, and by their vertues and powers; I
conjure thee _Sibylia_, O gentle virgine of fairies, and by all the
angels of ♃ and their characters and vertues, and by all the spirits
of ♃ and ♀ and their characters and vertues, and by all the characters
that be in the firmament, and by the king and queene of fairies, and
their vertues, and by the faith and obedience that thou bearest unto
them. I conjure thee _Sibylia_ by the bloud that ranne out of the side
of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified, and by the opening of heaven, and
by the renting of the temple, and by the darkenes of the sunne in
the time of his death, and by the rising up of the dead in the time
of his resurrection, and by the virgine _Marie_ mother of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and by the unspeakable name of God, _Tetragrammaton_. I
conjure thee O _Sibylia_, O blessed and beautifull virgine, by all the
riall words aforesaid; I conjure thee _Sibylia_ by all their vertues to
appeare in that circle before me visible, in the forme and shape of a
beautifull woman in a bright and vesture white, adorned and garnished
most faire, and to appeare to me quicklie without deceipt or tarrieng,
and that thou faile not to fulfill my will & desire effectuallie.
For I will choose thee to be my blessed virgine, & will have common
copulation with thee. Therfore make hast & speed to come unto me, and
to appeare as I said before: to whome be honour and glorie for ever and
ever, Amen.

♦The fairie Sibylia conjured to appeare, &c.♦

The which doone and ended, if shee come not, repeate the conjuration
till they doo come: for doubtles they will come. And when she is
appeared, take your censers, and incense hir with frankincense, then
bind hir with the bond as followeth. ¶ I doo conjure thee _Sibylia_,
by God the Father, God the sonne, and God the Holie-ghost, three
persons and one God, and by the blessed virgine _Marie_ mother of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and by all the whole and holie companie of heaven,
and by the dreadfull daie of doome, and by all angels and archangels,
thrones, dominations, principates, potestates, virtutes, cherubim and
seraphim, and their vertues and powers. I conjure thee, and bind thee
_Sibylia_, that thou shalt not depart out of the circle wherein thou
art appeared, nor yet to alter thy shape, except I give thee licence
to depart. I conjure thee _Sibylia_ by the bloud that ranne out of the
side of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified, and by the vertue hereof I
conjure thee _Sibylia_ to come to me, and to appeare to me at all times
visiblie, as the conjuration of words leadeth, written in this booke.
I conjure thee _Sibylia_, O blessed virgine of fairies, by the opening
of heaven, and by the renting of the temple, and by the darknes of the
sunne at the time of his death, and by the rising of the dead in the
time of his glorious resurrection, and by the unspeakable name of God
✠ _Tetragrammaton_ ✠ and by the king and queene of fairies, & by their
vertues I conjure thee _Sibylia_ to appeare, before the conjuration be
read over foure times, and that visiblie to appeare, as the conjuration
leadeth written in this booke, and to give me good counsell at all
times, and to come by treasures hidden in the earth, and all other
things that is to doo me pleasure, and to fulfill my will, without
anie deceipt or tarrieng; nor yet that thou shalt have anie power of
my bodie or soule, earthlie or ghostlie, nor yet to perish so much of
my bodie as one haire of my head. I conjure thee _Sibylia_ by all the
riall words aforesaid, and by their vertues and powers, I charge and
bind thee by the vertue thereof, to be obedient unto me, and to all
the words aforesaid, and this bond to stand betweene thee and me, upon
paine of everlasting condemnation, _Fiat, fiat, fiat_, Amen.

♦The maner of binding the fairie Sibylia at hir appearing.♦

♦If all this will not fetch hir up the divell is a knave.♦

The ninth Chapter.

_A licence for Sibylia to go and come by at all times._

I conjure thee _Sibylia_, which art come hither before me, by the
commandement of thy Lord and mine, that thou shalt have no powers,
in thy going or comming unto me, imagining anie evill in anie maner
of waies, in the earth or under the earth, of evill dooings, to anie
person or persons. I conjure and command thee _Sibylia_ by all the
riall words and vertues that be written in this booke, that thou
shalt not go to the place from whence thou camest, but shalt remaine
peaceablie invisiblie, and looke thou be readie to come unto me, when
thou art called by anie conjuration of words that be written in this
booke, to come (I saie) at my commandement, and to answer unto me
truelie and duelie of all things, my will quicklie to be fulfilled.
_Vade in pace, in nomine patris, & filii, & spiritus sancti._ And the
holie ✠ crosse ✠ be betweene thee and me, or betweene us and you, and
the lion of _Juda_, the roote of _Jesse_, the kindred of _David_, be
betweene thee & me ✠ Christ commeth ✠ Christ commandeth ✠ Christ giveth
power ✠ Christ defend me ✠ and his innocent bloud ✠ from all perils of
bodie and soule, sleeping or waking: _Fiat, fiat_, Amen.

The tenth Chapter.

_To know of treasure hidden in the earth._

Write in paper these characters following, on the saturdaie, in the
houre of ☽, and laie it where thou thinkest treasure to be: if there be
anie, the paper will burne, else not. And these be the characters.

♦This would be much practised if it were not a cousening knacke.♦

[Illustration]

_This is the waie to go invisible by these three sisters of
fairies._

In the name of the Father, and of the Sonne, and of the Holie-ghost.
First go to a faire parlor or chamber, & an even ground, and in no
loft, and from people nine daies; for it is the better: and let all
thy clothing be cleane and sweete. Then make a candle of virgine waxe,
and light it, and make a faire fier of charcoles, in a faire place,
in the middle of the parlor or chamber. Then take faire cleane water,
that runneth against the east, and set it upon the fier: and [*]yer
thou washest thy selfe, saie these words, going about the fier, three
times, holding the candle in the right hand _✠ Panthon ✠ Craton ✠
Muriton ✠ Bisecognaton ✠ Siston ✠ Diaton ✠ Maton ✠ Tetragrammaton ✠
Agla ✠ Agarion ✠ Tegra ✠ Pentessaron ✠ Tendicata ✠_ Then reherse these
names _✠ Sorthie ✠ Sorthia ✠ Sorthios ✠ Milia ✠ Achilia ✠ Sibylia
✠ in nomine patris, & filii, & spiritus sancti_, Amen. I conjure you
three sisters of fairies, _Milia, Achilia, Sibylia_, by the father, by
the sonne, and by the Holie-ghost, and by their vertues and powers,
and by the most mercifull and living God, that will command his angell
to blowe the trumpe at the daie of judgement; and he shall saie, Come,
come, come to judgement; and by all angels, archangels, thrones,
dominations, principats, potestates, virtutes, cherubim and seraphim,
and by their vertues and powers. I conjure you three sisters, by the
vertue of all the riall words aforesaid: I charge you that you doo
appeare before me visiblie, in forme and shape of faire women, in white
vestures, and to bring with you to me, the ring of invisibilitie,
by the which I may go invisible at mine owne will and pleasure, and
that in all houres and minuts: _in nomine patris, & filii, & spiritus
sancti_, Amen. ❈ Being appeared, saie this bond following.

♦[*] [= ere.]♦

♦The three sisters of the fairies, Milia, Achilia, and Sibylia.♦

O blessed virgins ✠ _Milia_ ✠ _Achilia_ ✠ I conjure you in the name
of the father, in the name of the sonne, and in the name of the
Holie-ghost, and by their vertues I charge you to depart from me in
peace, for a time. And _Sibylia_, I conjure thee, by the vertue of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the vertue of his flesh and pretious
bloud, that he tooke of our blessed ladie the virgine, and by all the
holie companie in heaven: I charge thee _Sibylia_, by all the vertues
aforesaid, that thou be obedient unto me, in the name of God; that
when, and at what time and place I shall call thee by this foresaid
conjuration written in this booke, looke thou be readie to come
unto me, at all houres and minuts, and to bring unto me the ring of
invisibilitie, whereby I may go invisible at my will and pleasure, and
that at all houres and minuts; _Fiat, fiat_, Amen.

♦The ring of invisibilitie.♦

And if they come not the first night, then doo the same the second
night, and so the third night, untill they doo come: for doubtles they
will come, and lie thou in thy bed, in the same parlor or chamber.
And laie thy right hand out of the bed, and looke thou have a faire
silken kercher bound about thy head, and be not afraid, they will doo
thee no harme. For there will come before thee three faire women, and
all in white clothing; and one of them will put [*]a ring upon thy
finger, wherwith thou shalt go invisible. Then with speed bind them
with the bond aforesaid. When thou hast this ring on thy finger, looke
in a glasse, and thou shalt not see thy selfe. And when thou wilt go
invisible, put it on thy finger, the same finger that they did put it
on, and everie new ☽ renew it againe. For after the first time thou
shalt ever have it, and ever beginne this worke in the new of the ☽ and
in the houre of ♃ and the ☽ in ♋ ♐ ♓.

♦[*] Such a ring it was that advanced Giges to the kingdome of Lydia:
_Plato. lib. 2 de justo_.♦

The eleventh Chapter.

_An experiment following, of Citrael, &c: [*]angeli diei
dominici._

♦[*] [These three words _Ital._]♦

¶ _Saie first the praiers of the angels everie daie, for the
space of seaven daies._

O ye glorious angels written in this square, be you my coadjutors &
helpers in all questions and demands, in all my busines, and other
causes, by him which shall come to judge the quicke and the dead, and
the world by fier. _O angeli gloriosi in hac quadra scripti, estote
coadjutores & auxiliatores in omnibus quæstionibus & interrogationibus,
in omnibus negotiis, cæterísque causis, per eum qui venturus est
judicare vivos & mortuos, & mundum per ignem._

¶ _Saie this praier fasting, called [*]Regina linguæ._

♦[*] O queene or governesse of the toong.♦

_✠ Lemaac ✠ solmaac ✠ elmay ✠ gezagra ✠ raamaasin ✠ ezierego ✠ mial ✠
egziephiaz ✠ Josamin ✠ sabach ✠ ha ✠ aem ✠ re ✠ b ✠ e ✠ sepha ✠ sephar
✠ ramar ✠ semoit ✠ lemaio ✠ pheralon ✠ amic ✠ phin ✠ gergoin ✠ letos ✠
Amin ✠ amin ✠._

In the name of the most pitifullest and mercifullest God of Israel
and of paradise, of heaven and of earth, of the seas and of the
infernalles, by thine omnipotent helpe may performe this worke, which
livest and reignest ever one God world without end, Amen.

O most strongest and mightiest God, without beginning or ending, by thy
clemencie and knowledge I desire, that my questions, worke, and labour
may be fullie and trulie accomplished, through thy worthines, good
Lord, which livest and reignest, ever one God, world without end, Amen.

O holie, patient, and mercifull great God, and to be worshipped, the
Lord of all wisedome, cleare and just; I most hartilie desire thy
holines and clemencie, to fulfill, performe and accomplish this my
whole worke, thorough thy worthines, and blessed power: which livest
and reignest, ever one God, _Per omnia sæcula sæculorum_, Amen.

The twelfe Chapter.

_How to enclose a spirit in a christall stone._

This operation following, is to have a spirit inclosed into a christall
stone or berill glasse, or into anie other like instrument, &c. ¶
First thou in the new of the ☽ being clothed with all new, and fresh,
& cleane araie, and shaven, and that day to fast with bread and water,
and being cleane confessed, saie the seaven[*] psalmes, and the
letanie, for the space of two daies, with this praier following.

♦Observations of clenlinesse, abstinence, and devotion.♦

♦[*] [penitential]♦

I desire thee O Lord God, my mercifull and most loving God, the giver
of all graces, the giver of all sciences, grant that I thy welbeloved
_N._ (although unworthie) may knowe thy grace and power, against all
the deceipts and craftines of divels. And grant to me thy power, good
Lord, to constraine them by this art: for thou art the true, and
livelie, and eternall GOD, which livest and reignest ever one GOD
through all worlds, Amen.

Thou must doo this five daies, and the sixt daie have in a redines,
five bright swords: and in some secret place make one circle, with one
of the said swords. And then write this name, _Sitrael_: which doone,
standing in the circle, thrust in thy sword into that name. And write
againe _Malanthon_, with another sword; and _Thamaor_, with another;
and _Falaur_, with another; and _Sitrami_, with another: and doo as
ye did with the first. All this done, turne thee to _Sitrael_, and
kneeling saie thus, having the christall stone in thine hands.

♦An observation touching the use of the five swords.♦

_O Sitrael_, _Malantha_,[*] _Thamaor_, _Falaur_, and _Sitrami_, written
in these circles, appointed to this worke, I doo conjure and I doo
exorcise you, by the father, by the sonne, and by the Holy-ghost, by
him which did cast you out of paradise, and by him which spake the
word and it was done, and by him which shall come to judge the quicke
and the dead, and the world by fier, that all you five infernall
maisters and princes doo come unto me, to accomplish and to fulfill
all my desire and request, which I shall command you. Also I conjure
you divels, and command you, I bid you, and appoint you, by the Lord
Jesus Christ, the sonne of the most highest God, and by the blessed and
glorious virgine _Marie_, and by all the saints, both of men and women
of God, and by all the angels, archangels, patriarches, and prophets,
apostles, evangelists, martyrs, and confessors, virgins, and widowes,
and all the elect of God. Also I conjure you, and everie of you, ye
infernall kings, by heaven, by the starres, by the ☉ and by the ☽ and
by all the planets, by the earth, fier, aier, and water, and by the
terrestriall paradise, and by all things in them conteined, and by your
hell, and by all the divels in it, and dwelling about it, and by your
vertue and power, and by all whatsoever, and with whatsoever it be,
which maie constreine and bind you. Therefore by all these foresaid
vertues and powers, I doo bind you and constreine you into my will and
power; that you being thus bound, may come unto me in great humilitie,
and to appeare in your circles before me visiblie, in faire forme and
shape of mankind kings, and to obeie unto me in all things, whatsoever
I shall desire, and that you may not depart from me without my licence.
And if you doo against my precepts, I will promise unto you that you
shall descend into the profound deepenesse of the sea, except that you
doo obeie unto me, in the part of the living sonne of God, which liveth
and reigneth in the unitie of the Holie-ghost, by all world of worlds,
Amen.

♦[*] [sic]♦

♦A weightie charge of conjuration upon the five K. of the north.♦

♦A penaltie for not appearing, &c.♦

Saie this true conjuration five courses, and then shalt thou see come
out of the northpart five kings, with a marvelous companie: which when
they are come to the circle, they will allight downe off from their
horsses, and will kneele downe before thee, saieng: Maister, command
us what thou wilt, and we will out of hand be obedient unto thee.
Unto whome thou shall saie; See that ye depart not from me, without
my licence; and that which I will command you to doo, let it be done
trulie, surelie, faithfullie and essentiallie. And then they all will
sweare unto thee to doo all thy will. And after they have sworne, saie
the conjuration immediatlie following.

I conjure, charge, and command you, and everie of you, [*]_Sirrael,
[†]Malanthan, Thamaor, Falaur_, and _Sitrami_, you infernall kings,
to put into this christall stone one spirit learned and expert in all
arts and sciences, by the vertue of this name of God _Tetragrammaton_,
and by the crosse of our Lord Jesu Christ, and by the bloud of the
innocent lambe, which redeemed all the world, and by all their vertues
& powers I charge you, ye noble kings, that the said spirit may teach,
shew, and declare unto me, and to my freends, at all houres and
minuts, both night and daie, the truth of all things, both bodilie
and ghostlie, in this world, whatsoever I shall request or desire,
declaring also to me my verie name. And this I command in your part
to doo, and to obeie thereunto, as unto your owne lord and maister.
That done, they will call a certeine spirit, whom they will command to
enter into the centre of the circled or round christall. Then put the
christall betweene the two circles, and thou shalt see the christall
made blacke.

♦[*] [Sitrael.]♦

♦The five spirits of the north: as you shall see in the type expressed
in pag. 414. next folowing.♦

♦[†] [A third variation]♦

Then command them to command the spirit in the christall, not to
depart out of the stone, till thou give him licence, & to fulfill thy
will for ever. That done, thou shalt see them go upon the christall,
both to answer your requests, & to tarrie your licence. That doone, the
spirits will crave licence: and [*]say; Go ye to your place appointed
of almightie God, in the name of the father, &c. And then take up thy
christall, and looke therein, asking what thou wilt, and it will shew
it unto thee. Let all your circles be nine foote everie waie, & made
as followeth. Worke this worke in ♋ ♏ or ♓ in the houre of the ☽ or
♃. And when the spirit is inclosed, if thou feare him, bind him with
some bond, in such sort as is elsewhere expressed alreadie in this our
treatise.

♦[*] [_i.e._ do thou]♦

_A figure or type proportionall, shewing what forme must be observed
and kept, in making the figure whereby the former secret of inclosing a
spirit in christall is to be accomplished, &c._

♦The names written within the five circles doo signifie the five
infernall kings: _See_ pag. 411. 412. 413.♦

[Illustration: [†]]

♦[†] [A 4th variation]♦

The xiii. Chapter.

_An experiment of Bealphares._

[Illustration:

✠ ✠ ✠
_Homo sacarus,
museo lomeas,
cherubozca._
✠
]

♦The conjurors brestplate.♦

This is proved the noblest carrier that ever did serve anie man upon
the earth, & here beginneth the inclosing of the said spirit, & how to
have a true answer of him, without anie craft or harme; and he will
appeare unto thee in the likenesse of a faire man, or faire woman,
the which spirit will come to thee at all times. And if thou wilt
command him to tell thee of hidden treasures that be in anie place,
he will tell it thee: or if thou wilt command him to bring to thee
gold or silver, he will bring it thee: or if thou wilt go from one
countrie to another, he will beare thee without anie harme of bodie
or soule. Therefore [*]he that will doo this worke, shall absteine
from lecherousnes and dronkennesse, and from false swearing, and doo
all the abstinence that he may doo; and namelie three daies before he
go to worke, and in the third daie, when the night is come, and when
the starres doo shine, and the element faire and cleare, he shall bath
himselfe and his fellowes (if he have anie) all together in a quicke
welspring. Then he must be cloathed in cleane white cloathes, and
he must have another privie place, and beare with him inke and pen,
wherewith he shall write this holy name of God almightie in his right
hand ✠ _Agla_ ✠ & in his left hand this name ✠ [Symbols] ✠ And he must
have a drie thong of a lions or of a harts skin, and make thereof a
girdle, and write the holie names of God all about, and in the end ✠ Α
and Ω ✠ And upon his brest he must have this present figure or marke
written in virgine parchment, as it is here shewed. And it must be
sowed upon a peece of new linnen, and so made fast upon thy brest. And
if thou wilt have a fellow to worke with thee, he must be appointed
in the same maner. You must have also a bright knife that was never
occupied, and he must write on the one side of the blade of the knife
✠ _Agla_ ✠ and on the other side of the knifes blade ✠ [Symbols] ✠ And
with the same knife he must make a circle, as hereafter followeth:
the which is called _Salomons_ circle. When that he is made, go into
the circle, and close againe the place, there where thou wentest in,
with the same knife, and saie; _Per crucis hoc signum ✠ fugiat procul
omne malignum; Et per idem signum ✠ salvetur quodque benignum_,[†]
and make suffumigations to thy selfe, and to thy fellowe or fellowes,
with frankincense, mastike, _lignum aloes_: then put it in wine, and
saie with good devotion, in the worship of the high God almightie,
all together, that he may defend you from all evils. And when he that
is maister will close the spirit, he shall saie towards the east, with
meeke and devout devotion, these psalmes and praiers as followeth here
in order.

♦Salomons circle.♦

♦[*] Memorandum with what vices the cousenor (the conjuror I should
saie) must not be polluted: therfore he must be no knave, &c.♦

♦[†] [translated in 2 ed, see note]♦

¶ _The two and twentieth psalme._

O my God my God, looke upon me, whie hast thou forsaken me, and art
so farre from my health, and from the words of my complaint? ¶ And so
foorth to the end of the same psalme, as it is to be founde in the
booke.

♦Memorandum that you must read the 22. and 51. psalms all over: or else
rehearse them by hart: for these are counted necessarie, &c.♦

_This psalme also following, being the fiftie one psalme, must
be said three times over, &c._

Have mercie upon me, O God, after thy great goodnes, according to the
multitude of thy mercies, doo awaie mine offenses. ¶ And so foorth to
the end of the same psalme, concluding it with, Glorie to the Father
and to the Sonne, and to the Holie-ghost, As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen. Then saie this
verse: O Lord leave not my soule with the wicked; nor my life with
the bloudthirstie. Then saie a _Pater noster_ an _Ave Maria_, and a
_Credo_, _& ne nos inducas_. O Lord shew us thy mercie, and we shall be
saved. Lord heare our praier, and let our crie come unto thee. Let us
praie.

O Lord God almightie, as thou warnedst by thine angell, the three kings
of _Cullen_, _Jasper_, _Melchior_, and _Balthasar_, when they came
with worshipfull presents towards _Bethleem_: _Jasper_ brought myrrh;
_Melchior_, incense; _Balthasar_, gold; worshipping the high king
of all the world, Jesus Gods sonne of heaven, the second person in
[*]trinitie, being borne of the holie and cleane virgine S. _Marie_,
queene of heaven, empresse of hell, and ladie of all the world: at
that time the holie angell _Gabriel_ warned and bad the foresaid three
kings, that they should take another waie, for dread of perill, that
_Herod_ the king by his ordinance would have destroied these [†]three
noble kings, that meekelie sought out our Lord and saviour. As wittilie
and truelie as these three kings turned for dread, and tooke another
waie: so wiselie and so truelie, O Lord GOD, of thy mightifull mercie,
blesse us now at this time, for thy blessed passion save us, and keepe
us all together from all evill; and thy holie angell defend us. Let us
praie.

♦[*] [? the]♦

♦[†] Gaspar, Balth[a]sar and Melchior, who followed the starre,
wherin was y^e image of a litle babe bearing a crosse: if _Longa
legēda Coloniæ_ lie not.♦

O Lord, king of all kings, which conteinest the throne of heavens,
and beholdest all deepes, weighest the hilles, and shuttest up with
thy hand the earth; heare us, most meekest GOD, and grant unto us
(being unworthie) according to thy great mercie, to have the veritie
and vertue of knowledge of hidden treasures by this spirit invocated,
through thy helpe O Lord Jesus Christ, to whome be all honour and
glorie, from worlds to worlds everlastinglie, Amen. Then saie these
names _✠ Helie ✠ helyon ✠ esseiere[*] ✠ Deus æternus ✠ eloy ✠
clemens ✠ heloye ✠ Deus sanctus ✠ sabaoth ✠ Deus exercituum ✠ adonay
✠ Deus mirabilis ✠ iao ✠ verax ✠ anepheneton ✠ Deus ineffabilis ✠
sodoy ✠ dominator dominus ✠ ôn fortissimus ✠ Deus ✠ qui_, the which
wouldest be praied unto of sinners: receive (we beseech thee) these
sacrifices of praise, and our meeke praiers, which we unworthie doo
offer unto thy divine majestie. Deliver us, and have mercie upon us,
and prevent with thy holie spirit this worke, and with thy blessed
helpe to followe after; that this our worke begunne of thee, may be
ended by thy mightie power, Amen. Then saie this anon after _✠ Homo ✠
sacarus ✠ museolameas[†] ✠ cherubozca ✠_ being the figure upon thy
brest aforesaid, the girdle about thee, the circle made, blesse the
circle with holie water, and sit downe in the middest, and read this
conjuration as followeth, sitting backe to backe at the first time.

♦[*] [jere. 2nd ed.]♦

♦[†] [Two words, and lomeas in engr.]♦

I exorcise and conjure Bealphares, the practiser and preceptor of
this art, by the maker of heavens and of earth, and by his vertue,
and by his unspeakable name _Tetragrammaton_, and by all the holie
sacraments, and by the holie majestie and deitie of the living God. I
conjure and exorcise thee _Bealphares_ by the vertue of all angels,
archangels, thrones, dominations, principats, potestats, virtutes,
cherubim and seraphim, and by their vertues, and by the most truest and
speciallest name of your maister, that you doo come unto us, in faire
forme of man or womankind, here visiblie, before this circle, and not
terrible by anie manner of waies. This [*]circle being our tuition
and protection, by the mercifull goodnes of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, and that you doo make answer truelie, without craft or deceipt,
unto all my demands and questions, by the vertue and power of our Lord
Jesus Christ, Amen.

♦[*] Which must be environed with a goodlie companie of crosses.♦

The xiiii. Chapter.

_To bind the spirit Bealphares, and to lose him againe._

Now when he is appeared, bind him with these words which followe. ¶ I
conjure thee _Bealphares_, by God the father, by God the sonne, and by
God the Holie-ghost, and by all the holie companie in heaven; and by
their vertues and powers I charge thee _Bealphares_, that thou shalt
not depart out of my sight, nor yet to alter thy bodilie shape, that
thou art appeared in, nor anie power shalt thou have of our bodies or
soules, earthlie or ghostlie, but to be obedient to me, and to the
words of my conjuration, that be written in this booke. I conjure thee
_Bealphares_, by all angels and archangels, thrones, dominations,
principats, potestats, virtutes, cherubim and seraphim, and by their
vertues and powers. I conjure and charge, bind and constreine thee
_Bealphares_, by all the riall words aforesaid, and by their vertues,
that thou be obedient unto me, and to come and appeare visiblie unto
me, and that in [*]all daies, houres, and minuts, whersoever I be,
being called by the vertue of our Lord Jesu Christ, the which words are
written in this booke. Looke readie thou be to appeare unto me, and to
give me good counsell, how to come by treasures hidden in the earth,
or in the water, and how to come to dignitie and knowledge of all
things, that is to saie, of the magike art, and of grammar, dialectike,
rhetorike, arythmetike, musike, geometrie, and of astronomie, and in
all other things my will quicklie to be fulfilled: I charge thee upon
paine of everlasting condemnation, _Fiat, fiat, fiat_, Amen.

♦[*] On sundaies, festival daies, and holie daies, none excepted.♦

When he is thus bound, aske him what thing thou wilt, and he will tell
thee, and give thee all things that thou wilt request of him, without
anie sacrifice dooing to him, and without forsaking thy God, that is,
thy maker. And when the spirit hath fulfilled thy will and intent, give
him licence to depart as followeth.

♦He dares doo no other being so conjured I trowe.♦

_A licence for the spirit to depart._

[*]Go unto the place predestinated and appointed for thee, where thy
Lord GOD hath appointed thee, untill I shall call thee againe. Be thou
readie unto me and to my call, as often as I shall call thee, upon
paine of everlasting damnation. And if thou wilt, thou maiest recite,
two or three times, the last conjuration, untill thou doo come to
this tearme, _In throno_. If he will not depart, and then[†] say _In
throno_, that thou depart from this place, without hurt or damage of
anie bodie, or of anie deed to be doone; that all creatures may knowe,
that our Lord is of all power, most mightiest, and that there is none
other God but he, which is three, and one, living for ever and ever.
And the malediction of God the father omnipotent, the sonne and the
holie ghost, descend upon thee, and dwell alwaies with thee, except
thou doo depart without damage of us, or of any creature, or anie
other evill deed to be doone: & thou to go to the place predestinated.
And by our Lord Jesus Christ I doo else send thee to the great pit
of hell, except (I saie) that thou depart to the place, whereas thy
Lord God hath appointed thee. And see thou be readie to me and to my
call, at all times and places, at mine owne will and pleasure, daie or
night, without damage or hurt of me, or of anie creature; upon paine
of everlasting damnation: _Fiat, fiat, fiat_; Amen, Amen. ¶ The peace
of Jesus Christ bee betweene us and you; in the name of the father,
and of the sonne, and of the Holie-ghost: Amen. _Per crucis hoc ✠
signum_, &c. Saie _In principio erat verbum, & verbum erat apud Deum_;
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and God was
the word: and so forward, as followeth in the first chapter of saint
_Johns_ Gospell, staieng at these words, Full of grace and truth: to
whom be all honour and glorie world without end, Amen.

♦[*] [All this par. in much smaller type.]♦

♦[†] [? thou]♦

[Illustration: AGLA

And on the other side this name [symbols]

♦The fashion or forme of the conjuring knife, with the names theron to
bee graven or written.♦
]

_A type or figure of the circle for the maister and his
fellowes to sit in, shewing how and after what fashion it
should be made._

[Illustration]

This is the circle for the maister to sit in, and his fellowe or
fellowes, at the first calling, sit backe to backe, when he calleth the
spirit; and for the fairies make this circle with chalke on the ground,
as is said before. This spirit _Bealphares_ being once called and
found, shall never have power to hurt thee. Call him in the houre of ♃
or ♀ the ☽ increasing.

The xv. Chapter.

_The making of the holie water._[*]

_Exorciso[†] te creaturam salis, per Deum vivum ✠ per Deum ✠ verum ✠
per Deum sanctum ✠ per Deum qui te per Elizœum prophetam in aquam mitti
jussit, ut sanaretur sterilitas aquæ, ut efficiaris sal exorcisatus
in salutem credentium; ut sis omnibus te sumentibus sanitas animæ &
corporis, & effugiat atque discedat ab eo loco, qui aspersus fuerit
omnis phantasia & nequitia, vel versutia diabolicæ fraudis, omnisq;
spiritus immundus, adjuratus per eum, qui venturus est judicare vivos &
mortuos, & sæculum per ignem, Amen. Oremus:_

♦_Absque exorcismo sal non sit sanctus._♦

♦[*] [These Rom.]♦

♦[†] [_Lat. in small Ital._]♦

_Immensam clementiam tuam, omnipotens ceterne Deus, humiliter
imploramus, ut hanc creaturam salis, quam in usum generis humani
tribuisti, bene✠dicere & sancti✠ficare tua pietate digneris, ut sit
omnibus sumentibus salus mentis & corporis, ut quicquid ex eo tactum
fuerit, vel respersum, careat omni immundicia, omniq; impugnatione
spiritualis nequitiæ, per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum filium tuum,
qui tecum vivit & regnat in unitate spiritus sancti, Deus per omnia
sæcula sæculorum, Amen._

To the water saie also as followeth.

_Exorciso te creaturam aquæ in nomine ✠ patris ✠ & Jesu Christi filii
ejus Domini nostri, & in virtute spiritus ✠ sancti ✠ ut fias aqua
exorcisata, ad effugandam omnem potestatem inimici, & ipsum inimicum
eradicare & explantare valeas, cum angelis suis apostatis, per virtutem
ejusdem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui venturus est judicare vivos &
mortuos, & sæculum per ignem, Amen. Oremus:_

_Deus, qui ad salutem humani generis maxima quæque sacramenta in
aquarum substantia condidisti, adesto propitius invocationibus nostris,
& elemento huic multimodis purificationibus præparato, virtutem tuæ
bene✠dictionis infunde, ut creatura tua mysteriis tuis serviens, ad
abigendos dæmones, morbosq; pellendos, divinæ gratiæ sumat effectum,
ut quicquid in domibus, vel in locis fidelium hæc unda resperserit,
careat omni immundicia, liberetur à noxa, non illic resideat spiritus
pestilens, non aura corrumpens, discedant omnes insidiæ latentis
inimici, & si quid est, quod aut incolumitati habitantium invidet aut
quieti, aspersione hujus aquæ effugiat, ut salubritas per invocationem
sancti tui nominis expetita ab omnibus sit impugnationibus defensa,
per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum filium tuum, qui tecum vivit &
regnat, in unitate spiritus sancti Deus per omnia sæcula sæculorum,
Amen._

Then take the salt in thy hand, and saie putting it into the
water, making in the maner of a crosse.

_Commixtio salis & aquæ pariter fiat, in nomine patris, & filii, &
spiritus sancti, Amen. Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo, Oremus: ¶
Deus invictæ virtutis author, & insuperabilis imperii rex, ac semper
magnificus triumphator, qui adversæ dominationis vires reprimis, qui
inimici rugientis sævitiam superas, qui hostiles nequitias potens
expugnas; te Domine trementes & supplices deprecamur ac petimus, ut
hanc creaturam salis & aquæ aspicias, benignus illustres, pietatis tuæ
rore sancti fices, ubicunq; fuerit aspersa, per invocationem sancti
tui nominis, omnis infestatio immundi spiritus abjiciatur, terrórq;
venenosi serpentis procul pellatur, & præsentia sancti spiritus nobis
misericordiam tuam poscentibus ubiq; adesse dignetur, per Dominum
nostrum Jesum Christum filium tuum, qui tecum vivit & regnat in unitate
spiritus sancti Deus per omnia sæcula sæculorum, Amen._

♦_Oratio ad Deum ut sali exorcisato vires addat._♦

Then sprinkle upon anie thing, and saie as followeth.

_Asperges me Domine hyssopo, & mundabor, lavabis me, & supra nivem
dealbabor. Miserere mei Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam,
& supra nivem dealbabor. Gloria patri, & filio, & spiritui sancto:
Sicut erat in principio, & nunc, & semper, & in sæcula sæculorum,
Amen. Et supra nivem dealbabor, asperges me, &c. Ostende nobis Domine
misericordiam tuam, & salutare tuum da nobis; exaudi nos Domine sancte,
pater omnipotens, æterne Deus, & mittere dignare sanctum angelum tuum
de cælis, qui custodiat, foveat, visitet, & defendat omnes habitantes
in hoc habitaculo, per Christum Dominum nostrum, Amen, Amen._

♦_Oratio, in qua dicenda, exorcista sese sacri laticis aspergine debes
perrorare._♦

The xvi. Chapter.

_To make a spirit to appeare in a christall._

I doo conjure thee _N._ by the father, and the sonne, and the
Holie-ghost, the which is the beginning and the ending, the first and
the last, and by the latter daie of judgement, that thou _N._ doo
appeare, in this christall stone, or anie other instrument, at my
pleasure, to mee and to my felow, gentlie and beautifullie, in faire
forme of a boy of twelve yeares of age, without hurt or damage of anie
of our bodies or soules; and certeinlie to informe and to shew me,
without anie guile or craft, all that we doo desire or demand of thee
to know, by the vertue of him, which shall come to judge the quicke and
the dead, and the world by fier, Amen.

Also I conjure and exorcise thee _N._ by the sacrament of the altar,
and by the substance therof, by the wisedome of Christ, by the sea,
and by his vertue, by the earth, & by all things that are above the
earth, and by their vertues, by the ☉ and the ☽ by ♄ ♃ ♂ and ♀ and
by their vertues, by the apostles, martyrs, confessors, and the
virgins and widowes, and the chast, and by all saints of men or of
women, and innocents, and by their vertues, by all the angels and
archangels, thrones, dominations, principats, potestats, virtutes,
cherubim, and seraphim, and by their vertues, & by the holie names of
God, _Tetragrammaton, El, Ousion, Agla_, and by all the other holie
names of God, and by their vertues, by the circumcision, passion, and
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the heavines of our ladie the
virgine, and by the joy which she had when she sawe hir sonne rise
from death to life, that thou _N._ doo appeare in this christall stone,
or in anie other instrument, at my pleasure, to me and to my felow,
gentlie, and beautifullie, and visiblie, in faire forme of a child of
twelve yeares of age, without hurt or damage of anie of our bodies or
soules, and trulie to informe and shew unto me & to my felow, without
fraud or guile, all things according to thine oth and promise to me,
whatsoever I shall demand or desire of thee, without anie hinderance or
tarrieng, and this conjuration be read of me three times, upon paine
of eternall condemnation, to the last daie of judgement: _Fiat, fiat,
fiat_, Amen.

♦Marke how consonant this is with poperie, &c.♦

And when he is appeared, bind him with the bond of the dead above
written: then saie as followeth. ¶ I charge thee _N._ by the father, to
shew me true visions in this christall stone, if there be anie treasure
hidden in such a place _N._ & wherin it lieth, and how manie foot from
this peece of earth, east, west, north, or south.

♦For hidden treasure.♦

The xvii. Chapter.

_An experiment of the dead._

First go and get of some person that shalbe put to death, a promise,
and sweare an oth unto him, that if he will come to thee, after his
death, his spirit to be with thee, and to remaine with thee all the
daies of thy life, and will doo thee true service, as it is conteined
in the oth and promise following. Then laie thy hand on thy booke, and
sweare this oth unto him. I _N._ doo sweare and promise to thee _N._ to
give for thee an almesse everie moneth, and also to praie for thee once
in everie weeke, to saie the Lords praier for thee, and so to continue
all the daies of my life, as God me helpe and holie doome, and by the
contents of this booke. Amen.

♦Promises & oths interchangeablie made betweene the conjuror & the
spirit.♦

Then let him make his oth to thee as followeth, and let him saie after
thee, laieng his hand upon the booke. ¶ I _N._ doo sweare this oth to
thee _N._ by God the father omnipotent, by God the son Jesus Christ,
and by his pretious bloud which hath redeemed all the world, by the
which bloud I doo trust to be saved at the generall daie of judgment,
and by the vertues therof, I _N._ doo sweare this oth to thee _N._
that my spirit that is within my bodie now, shall not ascend, nor
descend, nor go to anie place of rest, but shall come to thee _N._ and
be verie well pleased to remaine with thee _N._ all the daies of thy
life, and so to be bound to thee _N._ and to appeare to thee _N._ in
anie christall stone, glasse, or other mirror, and so to take it for my
resting place. And that, so soone as my spirit is departed out of my
bodie, streightwaie to be at your commandements, and that in and at all
daies, nights, houres, and minutes, to be obedient unto thee _N._ being
called of thee by the vertue of our Lord Jesu Christ, & out of hand to
have common talke with thee at all times, and in all houres & minuts,
to open and declare to thee _N._ the truth of all things present, past,
and to come, and how to worke the magike art, and all other noble
sciences, under the throne of God. If I doo not performe this oth and
promise to thee _N._ but doo flie from anie part thereof, then to be
condemned for ever and ever. Amen.

♦Note the penaltie of breaking promise with the spirit.♦

Also I _N._ doo sweare to thee by God the Holie-ghost, and by the great
wisedome that is in the divine Godhead, and by their vertues, and by
all the holie angels, archangels, thrones, dominations, principats,
potestats, virtutes, cherubim and seraphim, and by all their vertues
doo I _N._ sweare, and promise thee to be obedient as is rehearsed.
And heere, for a witnesse, doo I _N._ give thee _N._ my right hand, and
doo plight thee my faith and troth, as God me helpe and holiedoome. And
by the holie contents in this booke doo I _N._ sweare, that my spirit
shall be thy true servant, all the daies of thy life, as is before
rehearsed. And here for a witnesse, that my spirit shall be obedient
to thee _N._ and to those bonds of words that be written in this _N._
before the bonds of words shall be rehearsed thrise; else to be damned
for ever: and thereto saie all faithfull soules and spirits, Amen, Amen.

Then let him sweare this oth [*]three times, and at everie time kisse
the booke, and at everie time make marks to the bond. Then perceiving
the time that he will depart, get awaie the people from you, and get
or take your stone or glasse, or other thing in your hand, and saie
the _Pater noster_, _Ave_, and _Credo_, and this praier as followeth.
And in all the time of his departing, rehearse the bonds of words; and
in the end of everie bond, saie oftentimes; Remember thine oth and
promise. And bind him stronglie to thee, and to thy stone, and suffer
him not to depart, reading thy bond 24 times. And everie daie when you
doo call him by your other bond, bind him stronglie by the first bond:
by the space of 24 daies applie it, & thou shalt be made a man for ever.

♦[*] Three times, in reverence (peradventure) of the Trinitie,
P. F. S S.♦

_Now the Pater noster, Ave, and Credo must be said, and then
the praier immediatlie following._

O God[†] of _Abraham_, God of _Isaac_, God of _Jacob_, God of
_Tobias_; the which diddest deliver the three children from the hot
burning oven, _Sidrac_, _Misac_ and _Abdenago_,[‡] and _Susanna_ from
the false crime, and _Daniel_ from the lions power: even so O Lord
omnipotent, I beseech thee, for thy great mercie sake, to helpe me in
these my works, and to deliver me this spirit of _N._ that he may be
a true subject to me _N._ all the daies of my life, and to remaine
with me, and with this _N._ all the daies of my life. O glorious God,
Father, Sonne, and Holie-ghost, I beseech thee to help me at this time,
and to give me power by thine holie name, merits and vertues, wherby I
may conjure & constreine this spirit of _N._ that he may be obedient
unto me, and may fulfill his oth and promise, at all times, by the
power of all thine holines. This grant O Lord God of hosts, as thou
art righteous and holy, and as thou art the word, and the word God,
the beginning and the end, sitting in the thrones of thine everlasting
kingdoms, & in the divinitie of thine everlasting Godhead, to whom be
all honour and glorie, now and for ever and ever, Amen, Amen.

♦[†] [This par. in smaller type.]♦

♦[‡] [sic]♦

The xviii. Chapter.

_A bond to bind him to thee, and to thy N. as followeth._

I _N._ conjure and constreine the spirit of _N._ by the living God, by
the true God, and by the holie God, and by their vertues and powers
I conjure and constreine the spirit of thee _N._ that thou shalt not
ascend nor descend out of thy bodie, to no place of rest, but onelie
to take thy resting place with [*]_N._ and with this _N._ all the
daies of my life, according to thine oth and promise. I conjure
and constreine the spirit of _N._ by these holie names of God _✠
Tetragrammaton ✠ Adonay ✠ Agla ✠ Saday ✠ Sabaoth ✠ planabothe ✠ panthon
✠ craton ✠ neupmaton ✠ Deus ✠ homo ✠ omnipotens ✠ sempiternus ✠ ysus
✠ terra ✠ unigenitus ✠ salvator ✠ via ✠ vita ✠ manus ✠ fons ✠ origo
✠ filius ✠_ and by their vertues and powers I conjure and constreine
the spirit of _N._ that thou shalt not rest nor remaine in the fier,
nor in the water, in the aier, nor in anie privie place of the earth,
but onelie with me _N._ and with this _N._ all the daies of my life.
I charge the spirit of _N._ upon paine of everlasting condemnation,
remember thine oth and promise. Also I conjure the spirit of _N._ and
constreine thee by the excellent name of Jesus Christ, Α and Ω, the
first and the last; for this holie name of Jesus is above all names,
for [†]unto it all knees doo bow and obey, both of heavenlie things,
earthlie things, and infernalles. Nor is there anie other name given
to man, whereby we have anie salvation, but by the name of Jesus.
Therefore by the name, and in the name of Jesus of _Nazareth_, and by
his nativitie, resurrection and ascension, and by all that apperteineth
to his passion, and by their vertues and powers, I doo conjure and
constreine the spirit of _N._ that thou shalt not take anie resting
place in the ☉ nor in the ☽ nor in ♄ nor in ♃ nor in ♂ nor in ♀ nor
in ☿ nor in anie of the twelve signes, nor in the concavitie of the
clouds, nor in anie other privie place, to rest or staie in, but onelie
with me _N._ or with this _N._ all the daies of my life. If thou be
not obedient unto me, according to thine oth and promise, I _N._ doo
condemne the spirit of _N._ into the pit of hell for ever, Amen.

♦Note the summe of this obligation or bond.♦

♦[*] [_i.e._ me]♦

♦[†] Scripture as well applied of the conjuror, as that of satan in
tempting Christ, Matth. 4, 6.♦

I conjure and constreine the spirit of _N._ by the bloud of the
innocent lambe Jesus Christ, the which was shed upon the crosse, for
all those that doo obeie unto it, and beleeve in it, shall be saved
and by the vertue thereof, and by all the aforesaid riall names and
words of the living God by mee pronounced, I doo conjure and constreine
the spirit of _N._ that thou be obedient unto me, according to thine
oth and promise. If thou doo refuse to doo as is aforesaid, I _N._
by the holie trinitie, and by his vertue and power doo comdemne the
spirit of _N._ into the place whereas there is no hope of remedie, but
everlasting condemnation, and horror, and paine upon paine, dailie,
horriblie, & lamentablie the paines there to be augmented, so thicke
as the stars in the firmament, and as the gravell sand in the sea:
except thou spirit of _N._ obeie me _N._ as is afore rehearsed; else
I _N._ doo condemne the spirit of _N._ into the pit of everlasting
condemnation; _Fiat, fiat_, Amen. Also I conjure thee, and constreine
the spirit of _N._ by all angels, archangels, thrones, dominations,
principats, potestats, virtutes, cherubim & seraphim, & by the foure
evangelists, _Matthew_, _Marke_, _Luke_, and _John_, and by all things
conteined in the old lawe and the new, and by their vertues, and by the
twelve apostles, and by all patriarchs, prophets, martyrs, confessors,
virgins, innocents, and by all the elect and chosen,[*] is, and shall
be, which followeth the lambe of God; and by their vertues and powers
I conjure and constreine the spirit of _N._ stronglie, to have common
talke with me, at all times, and in all daies, nights, houres, and
minuts, and to talke in my mother toong plainelie, that I may heare it,
and understand it, declaring the truth unto me of all things, according
to thine oth and promise; else to be condemned for ever; _Fiat, fiat_,
Amen.

♦Note what sore penalties the spirit is injoined to suffer for
disobedience.♦

♦[*] [? which _or_ that]♦

Also I conjure and constreine the spirit of _N._ by the [†]golden
girdle, which girded the loines of our Lord Jesus Christ, so thou
spirit of _N._ be thou bound, and cast into the pit of everlasting
condemnation, for thy great disobedience and unreverent regard that
thou hast to the holie names and words of God almightie, by me
pronounced: _Fiat_, Amen.

♦[†] There is no mention made in the gospels that Christ was woorth a
golden girdle.♦

Also I conjure, constreine, command, and bind the spirit of _N._ by
the two edged sword, which _John_ saw proceed out of the mouth of God
almightie: except thou be obedient as is aforesaid, the sword cut thee
in peeces, and condemne thee into the pit of everlasting paines, where
the fier goeth not out, and where the worme dieth not; _Fiat, fiat,
fiat_, Amen.

♦Bugs words.♦

Also I conjure and constreine the spirit of _N._ by the throne of
the Godhead, and by all the heavens under him, and by the celestiall
citie new _Jerusalem_, and by the earth, by the sea, and by all things
created and conteined therein, and by their vertues and powers, and by
all the infernalles, and by their vertues and powers, and all things
conteined therein, and by their vertues and powers, I conjure and
constreine the spirit of _N._ that now immediatlie thou be obedient
unto me, at all times hereafter, and to those words of me pronounced,
according to thine oth and promise: [*]else let the great cursse
of God, the anger of God, the shadowe and darknesse of everlasting
condemnation be upon thee thou spirit of _N._ for ever and ever,
bicause thou hast denied thine health, thy faith, and salvation, for
thy great disobedience thou are worthie to be condemned. Therefore
let the divine trinitie, angels, and archangels, thrones, dominations,
principats, potestates, virtutes, cherubim and seraphim, and all the
soules of the saints, that shall stand on the right hand of our Lord
Jesus Christ, at the generall daie of judgement, condemne the spirit
of _N._ for ever and ever, and be a witnesse against thee, bicause of
thy great disobedience, in and against thy promises, _Fiat, fiat_, Amen.

♦[*] Is it possible to be greater than S. Adelberts cursse? _See in
Habar. lib. 12. ca. 17: pag. 263, 264, 265._♦

Being thus bound, he must needs be obedient unto thee, whether he will
or no: proove this. And here followeth a bond to call him to your _N._
and to shew you true visions at all times, as in the houre of ♄ to bind
or inchant anie thing, and in the houre of ♃ for peace and concord,
in the houre of ♂ to marre, to destroie, and to make sicke, in the
houre of the ☉ to bind toongs and other bonds of men, in the houre
of ♀ to increase love, joy, and good will, in the houre of ☿ to put
awaie enimitie or hatred, to know of theft, in the houre of the ☽ for
love, goodwill and concord, ♄ lead ♃ tinne ♂ iron ☉ gold ♀ coppar ☿
quicksilver ☽ silver, &c.

The xix. Chapter.

_This bond as followeth, is to call him into your christall stone,
or glasse, &c._

Also I doo conjure thee spirit _N._ by God the father, by God the
sonne, and by God the holie-ghost, Α and Ω, the first and the last,
and by the latter daie of judgement, of them which shall come to
judge the quicke and the dead, and the world by fier, and by their
vertues and powers I constreine thee spirit _N._ to come to him that
holdeth the christall stone in his hand, & to appeare visiblie, as
hereafter foloweth. Also I conjure thee spirit N. by these holie names
of God _✠ Tetragrammaton ✠ Adonay ✠ El ✠ Ousion ✠ Agla ✠ Jesus ✠ of
Nazareth [cross]_ and by the vertues thereof, and by his nativitie,
death, buriall, resurrection, and ascension, and by all other things
apperteining unto his passion, and by the [*]blessed virgine Marie
mother of our Lord Jesu Christ, and by all the joy which shee had
when shee saw hir sonne rise from death to life, and by the vertues
and powers therof I constreine thee spirit _N._ to come into the
christall stone, & to appeare visiblie, as herafter shalbe declared.
Also I conjure thee _N._ thou spirit, by all angels, archangels,
thrones, dominations, principats, potestats, virtutes, cherubim and
seraphim, and by the ☉ ☽ ♄ ♃ ♂ ♀ ☿, and by the twelve signes, and by
their vertues and powers, and by all things created and confirmed in
the firmament, and by their vertues & powers I constreine thee spirit
_N._ to appeare visiblie in that christall stone, in faire [†]forme
and shape of a white angell, a greene angell, a blacke angell, a man,
a woman, a boie, a maiden virgine, a white grehound, a divell with
great hornes, without anie hurt or danger of our bodies or soules,
and trulie to informe and shew unto us, true visions of all things in
that christall stone, according to thine oth and promise, and that
without anie hinderance or tarrieng, to appeare visiblie, by this
bond of words read over by mee three times, upon paine of everlasting
condemnation; _Fiat, fiat_, Amen.

♦[*] A popish supplement.♦

♦[†] Belike he had the gift to appeare in sundrie shapes, as it is
said of _Proteus in Ovid lib. metamor. 8. fab. 10_: and of _Vertumnus;
lib. metamor. 14. fab. 16._♦

_Then being appeared, saie these words following._

I conjure[*] thee spirit, by God the father, that thou shew true
visions in that christall stone, where there be anie _N._ in such a
place or no, upon paine of everlasting condemnation, _Fiat_, Amen. Also
I conjure thee spirit _N._ by God the sonne Jesus Christ, that thou doo
shew true visions unto us, whether it be gold or silver, or anie other
metals, or whether there were anie or no, upon paine of condemnation,
_Fiat_, Amen. Also I conjure thee spirit _N._ by God the Holie-ghost,
the which dooth sanctifie all faithfull soules and spirits, and by
their vertues and powers I constreine thee spirit _N._ to speake, open,
and to declare, the true waie, how we may come by these treasures
hidden in _N._ and how to have it in our custodie, & who are the
keepers thereof, and how manie there be, and what be their names, and
by whom it was laid there, and to shew me true visions of what sort and
similitude they be, and how long they have kept it, and to knowe in
what daies and houres we shall call such a spirit, _N._ to bring unto
us these treasures, into such a place _N._ upon paine of everlasting
condemnation ✠[.] Also I constreine thee spirit _N._ by all angels,
archangels, thrones, dominations, principats, potestats, virtutes,
cherubim & seraphim, that you doo shew a true vision in this christall
stone, who did conveie or steale away such a _N._ and where it is, &
who hath it, and how farre off, and what is his or hir name, and how
and when to come unto it, upon paine of eternall condemnation, _Fiat_,
Amen. Also I conjure thee spirit _N._ by the ☉ ☽ ♄ ♃ ♂ ♀ ☿ and by all
the characters in the firmament, that thou doo shew unto me a true
vision in this christall stone, where such _N._ and in what state he
is, and how long he hath beene there, and what time he will be in such
a place, what daie and houre: and this and all other things to declare
plainelie, in paine of hell fier; _Fiat_, Amen.

♦[*] [This par. is in small type.]♦

Note that the spirit is tied to obediēce under paine of condemnation
and hell fier.♦

_A licence to depart._

Depart[*] out of the sight of this christall stone in peace for
a time, and readie to appeare therein againe at anie time or times
I shall call thee, by the vertue of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by
the bonds of words which are written in this booke, and to appeere
visiblie, as the words be rehersed. I constreine thee spirit _N._
by the divinitie of the Godhead, to be obedient unto these words
rehearsed, upon paine of everlasting condemnation, both in this world,
and in the world to come; _Fiat, fiat, fiat_, Amen.

♦[*] [This in still smaller.]♦

The xx. Chapter.

_When to talke with spirits, and to have true answers to find out
a theefe._

The daies and houres of ♄ ♂ ☿ and the ☽ is best to doo all crafts of
necromancie, & for to speake with spirits, and for to find theft, and
to have true answer thereof, or of anie other such like. ¶ And in the
daies and houres of ☉ ♃ ♀ is best to doo all experiments of love, and
to purchase grace, and for to be invisible, and to doo anie operation,
whatsoever it be, for anie thing, the ☽ being in a convenient signe. ¶
As when thou laborest for theft, see the moone be in an earthie signe,
as ♉ ♍ ♑, or of the aier, as ♊ ♎ ♒. ¶ And if it be for love, favor or
grace, let the ☽ be in a signe of the fier, as ♈ ♌ ♐, and for hatred,
in a signe of the water, as ♋ ♏ ♓. For anie other experiment, let the
☽ be in ♈. ¶ And if thou findest the ☉ & the ☽ in one signe that is
called in even number, then thou maiest write, consecrate, conjure, and
make readie all maner of things that thou wilt doo, &c.

♦This is condemned for ranke follie by the doctors: as by _Chrysos.
sup. Matth. Gregor. in homil. sup. Epiphan. Domini_; and others.♦

_To speake with spirits._

Call[*] these names, _Orimoth_, _Belimoth_, _Lymocke_, and say thus:
I conjure you up by the names of the angels _Satur_ and _Azimor_,
that you intend to me in this houre, and send unto me a spirit called
_Sagrigrit_, that hee doo fulfill my commandement and desire, and that
also can understand my words for one or two yeares, or as long as I
will, &c.

♦[*] [This par. in the second-sized type.]♦

The xxi. Chapter.

_A confutation of conjuration, especiallie of the raising,
binding and dismissing of the divell, of going invisible, and
other lewd practises._

Thus farre have we waded in shewing at large the vanitie of
necromancers, conjurors, and such as pretend to have reall conference
and consultation with spirits and divels: wherein (I trust) you
see what notorious blasphemie is committed, besides other blind
superstitious ceremonies, a disordered heap, which are so far from
building up the endevors of these blacke art practitioners, that they
doo altogether ruinate & overthrow them, making them in their follies
and falshoods as bare and naked as an anatomie. As for these ridiculous
conjurations, last rehearsed, being of no small reputation among the
ignorant, they are for the most part made by _T. R._ (for so much of
his name he bewraieth) and _John Cokars_, invented and devised for
the augmentation and maintenance of their living, for the edifieng of
the poore, and for the propagating and inlarging of Gods glorie, as in
the beginning of their booke of conjurations they protest; which in
this place, for the further manifestation of their impietie, and of the
witchmongers follie and credulitie, I thought good to insert, whereby
the residue of their proceedings may be judged, or rather detected.
For if we seriouslie behold the matter of conjuration, and the drift
of conjurors, we shall find them, in mine opinion, more faultie than
such as take upon them to be witches, as manifest offenders against
the majestie of God, and his holie lawe, and as apparent violators of
the lawes and quietnesse of this realme: although indeed they bring no
such thing to passe, as is surmised and urged by credulous persons,
couseners, liers, and witchmongers. For these are alwaies learned, and
rather abusers of others, than they themselves by others abused.

♦All the former practises breeflie confuted.♦

♦See the title of the booke, with the authors intent, in a marginall
note, pag. 393. [of this book.]♦

But let us see what appearance of truth or possibilitie is wrapped
within these mysteries, and let us unfold the deceipt. They have made
choice of certeine words, whereby they saie they can worke miracles,
&c. And first of all, that they call divels & soules out of hell
(though we find in the scriptures manifest proofes that all passages
are stopped concerning the egresse out of hell) so as they may go
thither, but they shall never get out, for _Ab inferno nulla est
redemptio_, out of hell there is no redemption. Well, when they have
gotten them up, they shut them in a circle made with chalke, which is
so stronglie beset and invironed with crosses and names, that they
cannot for their lives get out; which is a verie probable matter. Then
can they bind them, and lose them at their pleasures, and make them
that have beene liers from the beginning, to tell the truth: yea, they
can compell them to doo anie thing. And the divels are forced to be
obedient unto them, and yet cannot be brought to due obedience unto God
their creator. This done (I saie) they can worke all maner of miracles
(saving blew miracles) and this is beleeved of manie to be true:

♦Luk. 16. &c.♦

♦An ironicall confutation.♦

_Tam credula mens hominis, & arrectæ fabulis aures,_

_So light of beleefe is the mind of man,
And attentive to tales his eares now and than._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

But if Christ (onelie for a time) left the power of working miracles
among his apostles and disciples for the confirmation of his gospell,
and the faith of his elect: yet I denie altogether, that he left that
power with these knaves, which hide their cousening purposes under
those lewd and foolish words, according to that which _Peter_ saith;
With feined words they make merchandize of you. And therfore the
counsell is good that _Paule_ giveth us, when he biddeth us take heed
that no man deceive us with vaine words. For it is the Lord only that
worketh great woonders, and bringeth mightie things to passe. It is
also written, that Gods word, and not the words of conjurors, or the
charmes of witches, healeth all things, maketh tempests, and stilleth
them.

♦2. Pet. 2. Ephes. 5. Ps. 72, & 78.♦

♦Sap. 16. Ecclus. 43.♦

But put case the divell could be fetched up and fettered, and loosed
againe at their pleasure, &c: I marvell yet, that anie can be so
bewitched, as to be made to beleeve, that by vertue of their words,
anie earthlie creature can be made invisible. We thinke it a lie,
to saie that white is blacke, and blacke white: but it is a more
shamelesse assertion to affirme, that white is not, or blacke is not at
all; and yet more impudencie to hold that a man is a horsse; but most
apparent impudencie to saie, that a man is no man, or to be extenuated
into such a quantitie, as therby he may be invisible, and yet remaine
in life and health, &c: and that in the cleare light of the daie, even
in the presence of them that are not blind. But surelie, he that
cannot make one haire white or blacke, whereof (on the other side) not
one falleth from the head without Gods speciall providence, can never
bring to passe, that the visible creature of God shall become nothing,
or lose the vertue and grace powred therinto by God the creator of all
things.

♦To denie the subsistence or naturall being of a thing materiall and
visible is impudēcie.♦

If they saie that the divell covereth them with a cloud or veile, as
_M. Mal. Bodin_, & manie other doo affirme; yet (me thinkes) we should
either see the cover, or the thing covered. And though perchance they
saie in their harts; Tush, the Lord seeth not, who indeed hath blinded
them, so as seeing, they see not: yet they shall never be able to
persuade the wise, but that both God and man dooth see both them and
their knaverie in this behalfe. I have heard of a foole, who was made
beleeve that he should go invisible, and naked; while he was well
whipped by them, who (as he thought) could not see him. Into which
fooles paradise they saie[*] he was brought, that enterprised to kill
the prince of Orenge.

♦Ezec. 8. & 9.
Isai. 6, & 26 and 30.♦

♦[*] John Jauregui servant to Gasper Anastro both Spaniards. Ann. Dom.
1582. March 18. after dinner upon a sundaie this mischeefe was doone.
Read the whole discourse hereof printed at London for Tho: Chard and
Will: Brome bookesellers.♦

The xxii. Chapter.

_A comparison betweene popish exorcists and other conjurors, a
popish conjuration published by a great doctor of the Romish
church, his rules and cautions._

I see no difference betweene these and popish conjurations; for they
agree in order, words, and matter, differing in no circumstance, but
that the papists doo it without shame openlie, the other doo it in
hugger mugger secretlie. The papists (I saie) have officers in this
behalfe, which are called exorcists or conjurors, and they looke
narrowlie to other cousenors, as having gotten the upper hand over
them. And bicause the papists shall be without excuse in this behalfe,
and that the world may see their cousenage, impietie, and follie to be
as great as the others, I will cite one conjuration (of which sort I
might cite a hundred) published by _Jacobus de Chusa_, a great doctor
of the Romish church, which serveth to find out the cause of noise and
spirituall rumbling in houses, churches, or chappels, and to conjure
walking spirits: which evermore is knaverie and cousenage in the
highest degree. Marke the cousening devise hereof, and conferre the
impietie with the others.

♦_Jac. de Chusæ in lib. de apparitionib. quorundam spirituum._♦

First (forsooth) he saith it is expedient to fast three daies, and
to celebrate a certeine number of masses, and to repeate the seven
psalmes penitentiall: then foure or five preests must be called to the
place where the haunt or noise is, then a candle hallowed on candlemas
daie must be lighted, and in the lighting thereof also must the seven
psalmes be said, and the gospell of S. _John_. Then there must be a
crosse and a censer with frankincense, and therewithall the place must
be censed or perfumed, holie water must be sprinkled, and a holie
stoale must be used, and (after diverse other ceremonies) a praier to
God must be made, in maner and forme following:

♦Observations for the exorcising preest.♦

O Lord Jesus Christ, the knower of all secrets, which alwaies
revealest all hoalsome and profitable things to thy faithfull children,
and which sufferest a spirit to shew himselfe in this place, we beseech
thee for thy bitter passion, &c: vouchsafe to command this spirit, to
reveale and signifie unto us thy servants, without our terror or hurt,
what he is, to thine honour, and to his comfort; _In nomine patris,
&c._ And then proceed in these words: We beseech thee, for Christs
sake, O thou spirit, that if there be anie of us, or among us, whom
thou wouldest answer, name him, or else manifest him by some signe. Is
it frier _P._ or doctor _D._ or doctor _Burc._ or sir _Feats_, or sir
_John_, or sir _Robert_: _Et sic de cæteris circunstantibus_. For it
is well tried (saith the glosse) he will not answer everie one. If the
spirit make anie sound of voice, or knocking, at the naming of anie
one, he is the cousener (the conjuror I would saie) that must have the
charge of this conjuration or examination. And these forsooth must be
the interrogatories, to wit: Whose soule art thou? Wherefore camest
thou? What wouldest thou have? Wantest thou any suffrages, masses, or
almes? How manie masses will serve thy turne, three, six, ten, twentie,
thirtie, &c? By what preest? Must he be religious or secular? Wilt thou
have anie fasts? What? How manie? How great? And by what persons? Among
hospitalles? Lepres? Or beggars? What shall be the signe of thy perfect
deliverance? Wherefore liest thou in purgatorie? And such like. This
must be doone in the night.

♦Memorandum that he must be the veriest knave or foole in all the
companie.♦

If there appeare no signe at this houre, it must be deferred untill
another houre. Holie water must be left in the place. There is no feare
(they saie) that such a spirit will hurt the conjuror: for he can
sinne no more, as being in the meane state betweene good and evill,
and as yet in the state of satisfaction. [*]If the spirit doo hurt,
then it is a damned soule, and not an elect. Everie man may not be
present hereat, speciallie such as be weake of complexion. They appeare
in diverse maners, not alwaies in bodie, or bodilie shape (as it is
read in the life of S. _Martine_, that the divell did) but sometimes
invisible, as onelie by sound, voice, or noise. Thus farre _Jacobus de
Chusa_.

♦These spirits are not so cunning by daie as by night.♦

♦[*] For so they might be bewraied.♦

♦For so the cousenage may be best handled.♦

But bicause you shall see that these be not emptie words, nor
slanders; but that in truth such things are commonlie put in practise
in the Romish church, I will here set downe an instance, latelie and
truelie, though lewdlie performed: and the same in effect as followeth.

The xxiii. Chapter.

_A late experiment, or cousening conjuration practised at
Orleance by the Franciscane Friers, how it was detected, and
the judgement against the authors of that comedie._

In the yeare of our Lord 1534. at _Orleance_ in _France_, the Maiors
wife died, willing and desiring to be buried without anie pompe or
noise, &c. Hir husband, who reverenced the memoriall of hir, did even
as she had willed him. And bicause she was buried in the church of the
[*]_Franciscans_, besides her father and grandfather, and gave them
in reward onelie six crownes, whereas they hoped for a greater preie;
shortlie after it chanced, that as he felled certeine woods and sold
them, they desired him to give them some part thereof freelie without
monie: which he flatlie denied. This they tooke verie greevouslie. And
whereas before they misliked him, now they conceived such displeasure
as they devised this meanes to be revenged; to wit, that his wife was
damned for ever. The cheefe workemen and framers of this tragedie were
_Colimannus_, and _Stephanus Aterbatensis_, both doctors of divinitie;
this _Coliman._ was a great conjuror, & had all his implements in a
readines, which he was woont to use in such busines. And thus they
handled the matter. They place over the arches of the church, a yoong
novice; who about midnight, when they came to mumble their praiers, as
they were woont to do, maketh a great rumbling, and noise. Out of hand
the moonks beganne to conjure and to charme, but he answered nothing.
Then being required to give a signe, whether he were a dumme spirit or
no, he beganne to rumble againe: which thing they tooke as a certeine
signe. Having laid this foundation, they go unto certeine citizens,
cheefe men, and such as favoured them, declaring that a heavie chance
had happened at home in their monasterie; not shewing what the matter
was, but desiring them to come to their mattens at midnight. When these
citizens were come, and that praiers were begunne, the counterfet
spirit beginneth to make a marvellous noise in the top of the church.
And being asked what he meant, and who he was, gave signes that it was
not lawfull for him to speake. Therefore they commanded him to make
answer by tokens and signes to certeine things they would demand of
him. Now was there a hole made in the vawt, through the which he might
heare and understand the voice of the conjuror. And then had he in his
hand a litle boord, which at everie question, he strake, in such sort
as he might easilie be heard beneath. First they asked him, whether he
were one of them that had beene buried in the same place. Afterwards
they reckoning manie by name, which had beene buried there; at the
last also they name the Maiors wife: and there by and by the spirit
gave a signe that he was hir soule. He was further asked, whether he
were damned or no; and if he were, for what cause, for what desert, or
fault; whether for covetousnes, or wanton lust, for pride or want of
charitie; or whether it were for heresie, or for the sect of _Luther_
newlie sproong up: also what he meant by that noise and stirre he kept
there; whether it were to have the bodie now buried in holie ground to
be digged up againe, and laid in some other place. To all which points
he answered by signes, as he was commanded, by the which he affirmed
or denied anie thing, according as he strake the boord twise or thrise
together. And when he had thus given them to understand, that[†] the
verie cause of his damnation was _Luthers_ heresie, and that the bodie
must needs be digged up againe: the moonks requested the citizens,
whose presence they had used or rather abused, that they would beare
witnesse of those things which they had seene with their eies; and that
they would subscribe to such things as were doone a few days before.
The citizens taking good advise on the matter, least they should offend
the Maior, or bring themselves in trouble, refused so to doo. But the
moonks notwithstanding take from thence the sweete bread, which they
called the host and bodie of our Lord, with all the relikes of saintes,
and carrie them to another place, and there saie their masse. The
bishops substitute judge (whome they called Officiall) understanding
that matter, commeth thither, accompanied with certeine honest men, to
the intent he might knowe the whole circumstance more exactlie: and
therefore he commandeth them to make conjuration in his presence; and
also he requireth certeine to be chosen to go up into the top of the
vawt, and there to see whether any ghost appeered or not. _Stephanus
Aterbatensis_ stiffelie denied that to be lawfull, and marvellouslie
persuading the contrarie, affirmed that the spirit in no wise ought to
be troubled. And albeit the Official urged them verie much, that there
might be some conjuring of the spirit; yet could he nothing prevaile.

♦A cousening conjuration.♦

♦[*] Of this order read noble stuffe in a booke printed at
_Frankeford_ under the title of _Alcoran. Franciscanorum_.♦

♦Note how the Franciscans cannot conjure without a confederate.♦

♦O notorius impudencie! with such shamelesse faces to abuse so
worshipfull a companie.♦

♦[†] The confederate spirit was taught that lesson before.♦

♦For so might the confederate be found.♦

Whilest these things were dooing, the Maior, when he had shewed the
other Justices of the citie, what he would have them to doo, tooke
his journie to the king, and opened the whole matter unto him. And
bicause the moonks refused judgement upon plea of their owne lawes and
liberties, the king choosing out certeine of the aldermen of _Paris_,
giveth them absolute and full authoritie to make inquirie of the
matter. The like dooth the Chancelor maister _Anthonius Pratensis_
cardinall and legat for the pope throughout _France_. Therefore, when
they had no exception to alledge, they were conveied unto _Paris_, and
there constrained to make their answer. But yet could nothing be wroong
out of them by confession, whereupon they were put apart into divers
prisons: the novice being kept in the house of maister _Fumanus_, one
of the aldermen, was oftentimes examined, and earnestlie requested to
utter the truth, but would notwithstanding confesse nothing; bicause he
feared that the moonks would afterwards put him to death for staining
their order, and putting it to open shame. But when the judges had made
him sure promise that he should escape punishment, and that he should
never come into their handling, he opened unto them the whole matter as
it was doone: and being brought before his fellowes, avouched the same
to their faces. The moonks, albeit they were convicted, and by these
meanes almost taken tarde[*] with the deed doing; yet did they refuse
the judges, bragging and vaunting themselves on their priviledges, but
all in vaine. For sentence passed upon them, and they were condemned
to be carried backe againe to _Orleance_, and there to be cast in
prison, and so should finallie be brought foorth into the cheefe
church of the citie openlie, and from thence to the place of execution,
where they should make open confession of their trespasses.

♦An obstinate and wilfull persisting in the denieng or not confessing
of a fault committed.♦

♦[*] [= tarred]♦

Surelie this was most common among moonks and friers, who mainteined
their religion, their lust, their liberties, their pompe, their wealth,
their estimation and knaverie by such cousening practises. Now I
will shew you more speciall orders of popish conjurations, that are
so shameleslie admitted into the church of _Rome_, that they are not
onelie suffered, but commanded to be used, not by night secretlie,
but by daie impudentlie. And these forsooth concerne the curing of
bewitched persons, and such as are possessed; to wit, such as have a
divell put into them by witches inchantments. And herewithall I will
set downe certeine rules delivered unto us by such popish doctors, as
are of greatest reputation.

♦A parecuasis or transition of the author to matter further purposed.♦

The xxiiii. Chapter.

_Who may be conjurors in the Romish church besides priests,
a ridiculous definition of superstition, what words are to
be used and not used in exorcismes, rebaptisme allowed, it
is lawfull to conjure any thing, differences betweene holie
water and conjuration._

_Thomas Aquinas_ saith, that anie bodie, though he be of an inferior
or superior order, yea though of none order at all (and as _Gulielmus
Durandus glossator Raimundi_ affirmeth, a woman so she blesse not the
girdle or the garment, but the person of the bewitched) hath power to
exercise the order of an exorcist or conjuror, even as well as any
preest may saie masse in a house unconsecrated. But that is (saith
_M. Mal._) rather through the goodnesse and licence of the pope, than
through the grace of the sacrament. Naie, there are examples set downe,
where some being bewitched were cured (as _M. Mal._ taketh it) without
any conjuration at all. Marrie there were certeine _Pater nosters_,
_Aves_, and _Credos_ said, and crosses made, but they are charmes, they
saie, and no conjurations. For they saie that such charmes are lawfull,
bicause there is no superstition in them, &c.

♦_In 4 dist. 23. sent._♦

And it is woorth my labour, to shew you how papists define
superstition, and how they expound the definition thereof. Superstition
(saie they) is a religion observed beyond measure, a religion practised
with evill and unperfect circumstances. Also, whatsoever usurpeth
the name of religion, through humane tradition, without the popes
authoritie, is superstitious: as to adde or joine anie hymnes to the
masse, to interrupt anie diriges, to to[*] abridge anie part of the
creed in the singing thereof, or to sing when the organs go, and not
when the quier singeth, not to have one to helpe the priest to masse:
and such like, &c.

♦_Et glos. super illo ad coll. 2._♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

These popish exorcists doo manie times forget their owne rules. For
they should not directlie in their conjurations call upon the divell
(as they doo) with intreatie, but with authoritie and commandement.
Neither should they have in their charmes and conjurations anie
unknowne names. Neither should there be (as alwaies there is) anie
falshood conteined in the matter of the charme of conjuration, as (saie
they) old women have in theirs, when they saie; The blessed virgine
passed over _Jordan_, and then S. _Steven_ met hir, and asked hir, &c.
Neither should they have anie other vaine characters, but the crosse
(for those are the words:) and manie other such cautions have they,
which they observe not, for they have made it lawfull elsewhere.

♦_Mendaces debent esse memores, multò magis astuti exorcistæ._♦

But _Thomas_ their cheefe piller prooveth their conjuring and charmes
lawfull by S. _Marke_, who saith; _Signa eos qui crediderunt_; And, _In
nomine meo dæmonia ejicient, &c_: whereby he also prooveth that they
maie conjure serpents. And there he taketh paines to proove, that the
words of God are of as great holinesse as relikes of saints, whereas
(in such respect as they meane) they are both alike, and indeed nothing
woorth. And I can tell them further, that so they maie be carried, as
either of them maie doo a man much harme either in bodie or soule.

♦_Tho. Aquin. super. Marc. ultim._♦

♦Mark, 16, 17♦

But they proove this by _S. Augustine_, saieng; _Non est minus verbum
Dei, quàm corpus Christi_: whereupon they conclude thus; By all mens
opinions it is lawfull to carrie about reverentlie the relikes of
saints; _Ergo_ it is lawfull against evill spirits, to invocate
the name of God everie waie; by the _Pater noster_, the _Ave_, the
nativitie, the passion, the five wounds, the title triumphant, by the
seven words spoken on the crosse, by the nailes, &c: and there maie
be hope reposed in them. Yea, they saie it is lawfull to conjure all
things, bicause the divell maie have power in all things. And first,
alwaies the person or thing, wherein the divell is, must be exorcised,
and then the divell must be conjured. Also they affirme, that it is as
expedient to consecrate and conjure porrage and meate, as water and
salt, or such like things.

♦A trimme consequent♦

♦_Mal. malef. par. 2. quæ. 2._♦

The right order of exorcisme in rebaptisme of a person possessed or
bewitched, requireth that exsufflation and abrenunciation be doone
toward the west. Item, there must be erection of hands, confession,
profession, oration, benediction, imposition of hands, denudation and
unction, with holie oile after baptisme, communion, and induition of
the surplis. But they saie that this needeth not, where the bewitched
is exorcised: but that the bewitched be first confessed, and then to
hold a candle in his hand, and in steed of a surplise to tie about his
bare bodie a holie candle of the length of Christ, or of the crosse
whereupon he died, which for monie maie be had at _Rome_. _Ergo_ (saith
_M. Mal._) this maie be said; I conjure thee _Peter_ or _Barbara_ being
sicke, but regenerate in the holie water of baptisme, by the living
God, by the true God, by the holie God, by the God which redeemed thee
with his pretious bloud, that thou maiest be made a conjured man, that
everie fantasie and wickednesse of diabolicall deceipt doo avoid and
depart from thee, and that everie uncleane spirit be conjured through
him that shall come to judge the quicke and the dead, and the world
by fier, Amen: _Oremus_, &c. And this conjuration, with _Oremus_, and
a praier, must be thrise repeated, and at the end alwaies must be
said; _Ergo maledicte diabole recognosce sententiam tuam, &c._ And
this order must alwaies be followed. And finallie, there must be
diligent search made, in everie corner, and under everie coverlet and
pallet, and under everie threshhold of the doores, for instruments of
witchcraft. And if anie be found, they must streight-waie be throwne
into the fier. Also they must change all their bedding, their clothing,
and their habitation. And if nothing be found, the partie that is to
be exorcised or conjured, must come to the church rath in the morning:
and the holier the daie is, the better, speciallie our Ladie daie.
And the preest, if he be shriven himselfe and in perfect state, shall
doo the better therein. And let him that is exorcised hold a holie
candle in his hand, &c. Alwaies provided, that the holie water be
throwne upon him, and a stoale put about his necke, with _Deus in
adjutorium_, and the Letanie, with invocation of saints. And this order
maie continue thrise a weeke, so as (saie they) through multiplication
of intercessors, or rather intercessions, grace maie be obteined, and
favor procured.

♦Rites, ceremonies, and relikes of exorcisme in rebaptising of the
possessed or bewitched.♦

♦Memorandum that this is for one bewitched.♦

♦Note the proviso.♦

There is also some question in the Romish church, whether the sacrament
of the altar is to be received before or after the exorcisme. Item
in shrift, the confessor must learne whether the partie be not
excommunicate, and so for want of absolution, endure this vexation.
_Thomas_ sheweth the difference betwixt holie water and conjuration,
saieng that holie water driveth the divell awaie from the externall and
outward parts; but conjurations from the internall and inward parts;
and therefore unto the bewitched partie both are to be applied.

♦_Tho. Aquin. supr. dist. 6._♦

The xxv. Chapter.

_The seven reasons why some are not rid of the divell with all
their popish conjurations, why there were no conjurors in the
primitive church, and why the divell is not so soone cast out
of the bewitched as of the possessed._

The reason why some are not remedied for all their conjurations, the
papists say is for seven causes. First, for that the faith of the
standers by is naught; secondlie, for that theirs that present the
partie is no better; thirdlie, bicause of the sinnes of the bewitched;
fourthlie, for the neglecting of meete remedies; fiftlie, for the
reverence of vertues going out into others; sixtlie, for the purgation;
seventhlie, for the merit of the partie bewitched. And lo, the first
foure are proved by _Matthew_ the 7. and _Marke_ the 4. when one
presented his sonne, and the multitude wanted faith, & the father
said, Lord help mine incredulitie or unbeleefe. Wherupon was said, Oh
faithlesse and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? And
where these words are written; And Jesus rebuked him, &c. That is to
saie, saie they, the possessed or bewitched for his sinnes. For by the
neglect of due remedies it appeereth, that there were not with Christ
good and perfect men: for the pillers of the faith; to wit, _Peter_,
_James_, and _John_ were absent. Neither was there fasting and praier,
without the which that kind of divels could not be cast out. For the
fourth point; to wit, the fault of the exorcist in faith maie appeare;
for that afterwards the disciples asked the cause of their impotencie
therin. And Jesus answered, it was for their incredulitie; saieng that
if they had as much faith as a graine of mustard seed, they should
move mountaines, &c. The fift is prooved by _Vitas patrum_, the lives
of the fathers, where it appeereth that S. _Anthonie_ could not doo
that cure, when his scholar _Paule_ could doo it, and did it. For the
proofe of the sixt excuse it is said, that though the fault be taken
awaie therby; yet it followeth not that alwaies the punishment is
released. Last of all it is said, that it is possible that the divell
was not conjured out of the partie before baptisme by the exorcist,
or the midwife hath not baptised him well, but omitted some part of
the sacrament. If any object that there were no exorcists in the
primitive church, it is answered, that the church cannot now erre. And
saint _Gregorie_ would never have instituted it in vaine. And it is
a generall rule, that who or whatsoever is newlie exorcised, must be
rebaptised: as also such as walke or talke in their sleepe; for (saie
they) call them by their names, and presentlie they wake, or fall if
they clime: whereby it is gathered, that they are not trulie named in
baptisme. Item they saie, it is somewhat more difficult to conjure the
divell out of one bewitched, than out of one possessed: bicause in the
bewitched, he is double; in the other single. They have a hundred such
beggerlie, foolish, and frivolous notes in this behalfe.

♦1♦

♦2♦

♦3♦

♦4♦

♦5♦

♦6, 7♦

♦Proper proofes of the former seven reasons.♦

♦Why there were no conjurors in y^e primitive church with other subtill
points.♦

The xxvi. Chapter.

_Other grosse absurdities of witchmongers in this matter of
conjurations._

Surelie I cannot see what difference or distinction the witchmongers
doo put betweene the knowledge and power of God and the divell; but
that they think, if they praie, or rather talke to God, till their
hearts ake, he never heareth them; but that the divell dooth knowe
everie thought and imagination of their minds, and both can and also,
will doo any thing for them. For if anie that meaneth good faith with
the divell read certeine conjurations, he commeth up (they saie) at a
trice. Marrie if another that hath none intent to raise him, read or
pronounce the words, he will not stirre. And yet _J. Bodin_ confesseth,
that he is afraid to read such conjurations, as _John Wierus_ reciteth;
least (belike) the divell would come up, and scratch him with his
fowle long nailes. In which sort I woonder that the divell dealeth
with none other, than witches and conjurors. I for my part have read
a number of their conjurations, but never could see anie divels of
theirs, except it were in a plaie. But the divell (belike) knoweth my
mind; to wit, that I would be loth to come within the compasse of his
clawes. But lo what reason such people have. _Bodin_, _Bartholomeus
Spineus_, _Sprenger_, and _Institor_, &c: doo constantlie affirme,
that witches are to be punished with more extremitie than conjurors;
and sometimes with death, when the other are to be pardoned doing the
same offense: bicause (say they) the witches make a league with the
divell, & so doo not conjurors. Now if conjurors make no league by
their owne confession, and divels indeed know not our cogitations (as
I have sufficientlie prooved) then would I weet of our witchmongers
the reason, (if I read the conjuration and performe the ceremonie) why
the divell will not come at my call? But oh absurd credulitie! Even in
this point manie wise & learned men have beene & are abused: wheras,
if they would make experience, or dulie expend the cause, they might
be soone resolved; specially when the whole art and circumstance is so
contrarie to Gods word, as it must be false, if the other be true. So
as you may understand, that the papists do not onlie by their doctrine,
in bookes & sermons teach & publish conjurations, & the order thereof,
whereby they may induce men to bestowe, or rather cast awaie their
monie upon masses and suffrages for their soules; but they make it also
a parcell of their sacrament of orders (of the which number a conjuror
is one) and insert manie formes of conjurations into their divine
service, and not onelie into their pontificals, but into their masse
bookes; yea into the verie canon of the masse.

♦A conjuror then belike must not be timerous or fearefull.♦

♦Where a witch cureth by incantation, and the conjuror by conjuration.♦

The xxvii. Chapter.

_Certaine conjurations taken out of the pontificall and out of
the missall._

But see yet a little more of popish conjurations, and conferre
them with the other. In the [*]pontificall you shall find this
conjuration, which the other conjurors use as solemnelie as they: I
conjure thee thou creature of water in the name of the fa✠ther, of
the so✠nne, and of the Holie✠ghost, that thou drive awaie the divell
from the bounds of the just, that he remaine not in the darke corners
of this church and altar. ❇ You shall find in the same title, these
words following, to be used at the hallowing of churches. There must a
crosse of ashes be made upon the pavement, from one end of the church
to the other, one handfull broad: and one of the priests must write
on the one side thereof the Greeke alphabet, and on the otherside the
Latin alphabet. _Durandus_ yeeldeth this reason thereof; to wit, It
representeth the union in faith of the Jewes and Gentiles. And yet well
agreeing to himselfe he saith even there, that the crosse reaching from
the one end to the other, signifieth that the people, which were in the
head, shalbe made the taile.

♦[*] _Tit. de ecclesiæ dedicatione._♦

♦_Ibidem, fol. 108._♦

♦_Durand. de ecclesiæ dedicatione lib. 1. fol. 12._♦

¶ _A conjuration written in the masse booke. Fol. 1._

I conjure thee O creature of salt by God, by the God ✠ that liveth,
by the true ✠ God, by the holie ✠ God, which by _Elizæus_ the prophet
commanded, that thou shouldest be throwne into the water, that it
thereby might be made whole and sound, that thou salt [here let the
preest looke upon the salt] maist be conjured for the health of all
beleevers, and that thou be to all that take thee, health both of
bodie and soule; and let all phantasies and wickednesse, or diabolicall
craft or deceipt, depart from the place whereon it is sprinkled; as
also everie uncleane spirit, being conjured by him that judgeth both
the quicke and the dead by fier. _Resp_: Amen. Then followeth a praier
to be said, without _Dominus vobiscum_; but yet with _Oremus_; as
followeth:

♦_In Missali. fol. 1._♦

♦The maner of conjuring salt.♦

¶ _Oremus._

Almightie and everlasting God, we humblie desire thy clemency [here let
the preest looke upon the salt] that thou wouldest vouchsafe, through
thy pietie, to bl✠esse and sanc✠tifie this creature of salt, which
thou hast given for the use of mankind, that it may be to all that
receive it, health of mind and bodie; so as whatsoever shall be touched
thereby, or sprinkled therewith, may be void of all uncleannesse, and
all resistance of spirituall iniquitie, through our Lord, Amen.

♦A praier to be applied to the former exorcisme.♦

What can be made but a conjuration of these words also, which are
written in the canon, or rather in the saccaring of masse? This holie
commixtion of the bodie and bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ, let it
be made to me, and to all the receivers thereof, health of mind and
bodie, and a wholesome preparative for the deserving and receiving of
everlasting life, through our Lord Jesus, Amen.

The xxviii. Chapter.

_That popish priests leave nothing unconjured, a forme of
exorcisme for incense._

Although the papists have manie conjurations, so as neither water,
nor fier, nor bread, nor wine, nor wax, nor tallowe, nor church, nor
churchyard, nor altar, nor altar cloath, nor ashes, nor coles, nor
belles, nor bell ropes, nor copes, nor vestments, nor oile, nor salt,
nor candle, nor candlesticke, nor beds, nor bedstaves, &c; are without
their forme of conjuration: yet I will for brevitie let all passe, and
end here with incense, which they doo conjure in this sort ✠.[*] I
conjure thee most filthy and horrible spirit, and everie vision of
our enimie, &c: that thou go and depart from out of this creature of
frankincense, with all thy deceipt and wickednes, that this creature
may be sanctified, and in the name of our Lord ✠ Jesus ✠ Christ ✠ that
all they that taste, touch, or smell the same, may receive the virtue
and assistance of the Holie-ghost; so as wheresoever this incense or
frankincense shall remaine, that there thou in no wise be so bold as to
approch or once presume or attempt to hurt: but what uncleane spirit
so ever thou be, that thou with all thy craft and subtiltie avoid and
depart, being conjured by the name of God the father almightie, &c. And
that wheresoever the fume or smoke thereof shall come, everie kind and
sort of divels may be driven awaie, and expelled; as they were at the
increase[†] of the liver of fish, which the archangell _Raphaell_
made, &c.

♦[*] [? sort. ✠]♦

♦A conjuration of frankincense set foorth in forme.♦

♦[†] [_read_ incense, _Tobit_, viii. 2, 3.]♦

The xxix. Chapter.

_The rules and lawes of popish Exorcists and other conjurors
all one, with a confutation of their whole power, how S.
Martine conjured the divell_

The papists you see, have their certeine generall rules and lawes, as
to absteine from sinne, and to fast, as also otherwise to be cleane
from all pollusions, &c: and even so likewise have the other conjurors.
Some will saie that papists use divine service, and praiers; even so
doo common conjurors (as you see) even in the same papisticall forme,
no whit swarving from theirs in faith and doctrine, nor yet in ungodlie
and unreasonable kinds of petitions. Me thinks it may be a sufficient
argument, to overthrow the calling up and miraculous works of spirits,
that it is written; God onelie knoweth and searcheth the harts, and
onelie worketh great woonders. The which argument being prosecuted
to the end, can never be answered: insomuch as that divine power is
required in that action.

♦Papists and conjurors cousening compeers.♦

♦1. Sam. 16, 7.
1. Reg. 8, 39.
Jere. 17, 10.
Psal. 44, 21.
Psal. 72, 18.♦

And if it be said, that in this conjuration we speake to the spirits,
and they heare us, & therefore need not know our thoughts and
imaginations: I first aske them whether king _Baell_, or _Amoimon_,
which are spirits reigning in the furthest regions of the east (as they
saie) may heare a conjurors voice, which calleth for them, being in the
extreamest parts of the west, there being such noises interposed, where
perhaps also they may be busie, and set to worke on the like affaires.
Secondlie, whether those spirits be of the same power that God is, who
is everiewhere, filling all places, and able to heare all men at one
instant, &c. Thirdlie, whence commeth the force of such words as raise
the dead, and command divels. If sound doo it, then may it be doone by
a taber and a pipe, or any other instrument that hath no life. If the
voice doo it, then may it be doone by any beasts or birds. If words,
then a parret may doo it. If in mans words onlie, where is the force,
in the first, second, or third syllable? If in syllables, then not in
words. If in imaginations, then the divell knoweth our thoughts. But
all this stuffe is vaine and fabulous.

It is written; All the generations of the earth were healthfull, and
there is no poison of destruction in them. Why then doo they conjure
holsome creatures; as salt, water, &c: where no divels are? God looked
upon all his works, and sawe they were all good. What effect (I praie
you) had the 7. sonnes of _Sceva_; which is the great objection of
witchmongers? They would needs take upon them to conjure divels out
of the possessed. But what brought they to passe? Yet that was in the
time, whilest God suffered miracles commonlie to be wrought. By that
you may see what conjurors can doo.

♦Sap. 1. 14.
Ecclesi. 9.
Gen. 1.♦

♦Act. 19.♦

Where is such a promise to conjurors or witches, as is made in the
Gospell to the faithfull? where it is written; In my name they shall
cast out divels, speake with new toongs: if they shall drinke any
deadlie thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall take awaie serpents,
they shall laie hands on the sicke, and they shall recover. According
to the promise, this grant of miraculous working was performed in the
primitive church, for the confirmation of Christs doctrine, and the
establishing of the Gospell.

♦Mark 16. 17.♦

But as in another place I have prooved, the gift thereof was but for
a time, and is now ceased; neither was it ever made to papist, witch,
or conjuror. They take upon them to call up and cast out divels; and
to undoo with one divell, that which another divell hath doone. If one
divell could cast out another, it were a kingdome divided, and could
not stand. Which argument Christ himselfe maketh: and therfore I maie
the more boldlie saie even with Christ, that they have no such power.
For [*]besides him, there is no saviour, [†]none can deliver out
of his hand. Who but hee can declare, set in order, appoint, and tell
what is to come? He destroieth the tokens of soothsaiers, and maketh
the conjecturers fooles, &c. He declareth things to come, and so cannot
witches.

♦[*] Isai. 43. 11.♦

♦[†] verse. 13.
cap. 44.
verse. 7.
verse. 25.♦

There is no helpe in inchanters and soothsaiers, and other such vaine
sciences. For divels are cast out by the finger of God, which _Matthew_
calleth the spirit of God, which is the mightie power of God, and not
by the vertue of the bare name onelie, being spoken or pronounced: for
then might everie wicked man doo it. And _Simon Magus_ needed not then
to have proffered monie to have bought the power to doo miracles and
woonders: for he could speake and pronounce the name of God, as well as
the apostles. Indeed they maie soone throwe out all the divels that are
in frankincense, and such like creatures, wherein no divels are: but
neither they, nor all their holie water can indeed cure a man possessed
with a divell, either in bodie or mind; as Christ did. Naie, why doo
they not cast out the divell that possesseth their owne soules?

♦Isai. 46. 10.
cap. 47. vers. 12. 13, &c.♦

♦Luke. 11. 20.
Matt. 12. 28.
Acts, 8. 19.♦

Let me heare anie of them all speake with new toongs, let them drinke
but one dramme of a potion which I will prepare for them, let them cure
the sicke by laieng on of hands (though witches take it upon them,
and witchmongers beleeve it) and then I will subscribe unto them. But
if they, which repose such certeintie in the actions of witches and
conjurors, would diligentlie note their deceipt, and how the scope
whereat they shoote is monie (I meane not such witches as are falselie
accused, but such as take upon them to give answers, &c: as mother
_Bungie_ did) they should apparentlie see the cousenage. For they are
abused, as are manie beholders of jugglers, which suppose they doo
miraculouslie, that which is doone by slight and subtiltie.

♦Monie is the marke whereat al witches & conjurors doo aime.♦

But in this matter of witchcrafts and conjurations, if men would rather
trust their owne eies, than old wives tales and lies, I dare undertake
this matter would soone be at a perfect point; as being easier to be
perceived than juggling. But I must needs confesse, that it is no
great marvell, though the simple be abused therein, when such lies
concerning those matters are mainteined by such persons of account,
and thrust into their divine service. As for example: It is written
that S. _Martine_ thrust his fingers into ones mouth that had a divell
within him, and used to bite folke; and then did bid him devoure them
if he could. And bicause the divell could not get out at his mouth,
being stopt with S. _Martins_ fingers, he was faine to run out at his
fundament. O stinking lie!

♦S. Martins cōjuration: _In die sancti Martini. lect. 1._♦

The xxx. Chapter.

_That it is a shame for papists to beleeve other conjurors
dooings, their owne being of so litle force, Hipocrates his
opinion herein._

And still me thinks papists (of all others) which indeed are most
credulous, and doo most mainteine the force of witches charmes, and of
conjurors cousenages, should perceive and judge conjurors dooings to be
void of effect. For when they see their owne stuffe, as holie water,
salt, candles, &c: conjured by their holie bishop and preests; & that
in the words of consecration or conjuration (for so[*] their owne
doctors terme them) they adjure the water, &c: to heale, not onelie
the soules infirmitie, but also everie maladie, hurt, or ach of the
bodie; and doo also command the candles, with the force of all their
authoritie and power, and by the effect of all their holie words, not
to consume: and yet neither soule nor bodie anie thing recover, nor
the candles last one minute the longer: with what face can they defend
the others miraculous workes; as though the witches and conjurors
actions were more effectuall than their owne? _Hippocrates_ being but
a heathen, and not having the perfect knowledge of God, could see
and perceive their cousenage and knaverie well enough, who saith;
They which boast so, that they can remoove or helpe the infections of
diseases, with sacrifices, conjurations, or other magicall instruments
or meanes, are but needie fellowes, wanting living; and therefore
referre their words to the divell: bicause they would seeme to know
somewhat more than the common people. It is marvell that papists doo
affirme, that their holie water, crosses, or bugges words have such
vertue and violence, as to drive awaie divels: so as they dare not
approch to anie place or person besmeered with such stuffe; when as it
appeareth in the gospell, that the divell presumed to assault and tempt
Christ himselfe. For the divell indeed most ernestlie busieth himselfe
to seduce the godlie: as for the wicked, he maketh reckoning and just
accompt of them, as of his owne alreadie. But let us go forward in our
refutation.

♦[*] To wit, _Vincent. dominica in albis: in octa. pasch. sermone. 15.
Durand. de exorcist._♦

The xxxi. Chapter.

_How conjurors have beguiled witches, what bookes they carie
about to procure credit to their art, wicked assertions
against Moses and Joseph._

Thus you see that conjurors are no small fooles. For whereas witches
being poore and needie, go from doore to doore for releefe, have they
never so manie todes or cats at home, or never so much hogs doong and
charvill[*] about them, or never so manie charmes in store: these
conjurors (I saie) have gotten them offices in the church of _Rome_,
wherby they have obteined authoritie & great estimation. And further,
to adde credit to that art, these conjurors carrie about at this daie,
bookes intituled under the names of _Adam_, _Abel_, _Tobie_, & _Enoch_;
which _Enoch_ they repute the most divine fellow in such matters.
They have also among them bookes that they saie _Abraham_, _Aaron_
and _Salomon_ made. Item they have bookes of _Zacharie_, _Paule_,
_Honorius_, _Cyprian_, _Jerome_, _Jeremie_, _Albert_, and _Thomas_:
also of the angels, _Riziel_, _Razael_, and _Raphael_; and these
doubtlesse were such bookes as were said to have beene burnt in the
lesser Asia. And for their further credit they boast, that they must
be and are skilfull and learned in these arts; to wit, _Ars Almadell_,
_ars Notoria_, _ars Bulaphiæ_, _ars Arthephii_, _ars Pomenar_,[†] _ars
Revelationis_, _&c._ Yea, these conjurors in corners sticke not (with
_Justine_) to report and affirme, that _Joseph_, who was a true figure
of Christ that delivered and redeemed us, was learned in these arts,
and thereby prophesied and expounded dreames: and that those arts came
from him to _Moses_, and finallie from _Moses_ to them: which thing
both _Plinie_ and _Tacitus_ affirme of _Moses_. Also _Strabo_ in his
cosmographie maketh the verie like blasphemous report. And likewise
_Apollonius_, _Molon_, _Possidonius_, _Lisimachus_, and _Appian_ terme
_Moses_ both a magician and a conjuror: whom _Eusebius_ confuteth with
manie notable arguments. For _Moses_ differed as much from a magician,
as truth from falshood, and pietie from vanitie: for in truth, he
confounded all magicke, and made the world see, and the cunningest
magicians of the earth confesse, that their owne dooings were but
illusions, and that his miracles were wrought by the finger of God. But
that the poore old witches knowledge reacheth thus farre (as _Danæus_
affirmeth it dooth) is untrue: for their furthest fetches that I can
comprehend, are but to fetch a pot of milke, &c: from their neighbors
house, halfe a mile distant from them.

♦[*] [See p. _117_.]♦

♦A fowle offense to backbite y^e absent, & to beelie the dead.♦

♦Acts. 19.♦

♦[†] [? _Pomonæ_]♦

♦_Just. lib. 16._♦

♦_Plin. lib. 30. cap. 2._♦

♦_Strab. lib. 16._♦

♦_Dan. in dialog. de sortiariis._♦

The xxxii. Chapter.

_All magicall arts confuted by an argument concerning Nero,
what Cornelius Agrippa and Carolus Gallus have left written
thereof, and prooved by experience._

Surelie _Nero_ prooved all these magicall arts to be vaine and fabulous
lies, and nothing but cousenage and knaverie. He was a notable prince,
having gifts of nature enow to have conceived such matters, treasure
enough to have emploied in the search thereof, he made no conscience
therein, he had singular conferences thereabout; he offered, and would
have given halfe his kingdome to have learned those things, which
he heard might be wrought by magicians; he procured all the cunning
magicians in the world to come to _Rome_, he searched for bookes also,
and all other things necessarie for a magician; and never could find
anie thing in it, but cousenage and legierdemaine. At length he met
with one _Tiridates_, the great magician, who having with him all his
companions, and fellowe magicians, witches, conjurors, and couseners,
invited _Nero_ to certeine magicall bankets and exercises. Which when
_Nero_ required to learne, he (to hide his cousenage) answered that he
would not, nor could not teach him, though he would have given him his
kingdome. The matter of his refusall (I saie) was, least _Nero_ should
espie the cousening devises thereof. Which when _Nero_ conceived, and
sawe the same, and all the residue of that art to be vaine, lieng and
ridiculous, having onelie shadowes of truth, and that their arts were
onelie veneficall; he prohibited the same utterlie, and made good and
strong lawes against the use and the practisers thereof: as _Plinie_
and others doo report. It is marvell that anie man can be so much
abused, as to suppose that sathan may be commanded, compelled, or tied
by the power of man: as though the divell would yeeld to man, beyond
nature; that will not yeeld to God his creator, according to the rules
of nature. And in so much as there be (as they confesse) good angels
as well as bad; I would know whie they call up the angels of hell, and
not call downe the angels of heaven. But this they answer (as _Agrippa_
saith.) Good angels (forsooth) doo hardlie appeare, and the other are
readie at hand. Here I may not omit to tell you how _Cor. Agrippa_
bewraieth, detecteth, and defaceth this art of conjuration, who in
his youth travelled into the bottome of all these magicall sciences,
and was not onelie a great conjuror and practiser thereof, but also
wrote cunninglie _De occulta philosophia_. Howbeit, afterwards in his
wiser age, he recanteth his opinions, and lamenteth his follies in
that behalfe, and discovereth the impietie and vanities of magicians,
and inchanters, which boast they can doo miracles: which action is
now ceased (saith he) and assigneth them a place with _Jannes_ and
_Jambres_, affirming that this art teacheth nothing but vaine toies
for a shew. _Carolus Gallus_ also saith; I have tried oftentimes, by
the witches and conjurors themselves, that their arts (especiallie
those which doo consist of charmes, impossibilities, conjurations, and
witchcrafts, whereof they were woont to boast) to be meere foolishnes,
doting lies, and dreames. I for my part can saie as much, but that I
delight not to alledge mine owne proofes and authorities; for that mine
adversaries will saie they are parciall, and not indifferent.

♦Tiridates the great magician biddeth the emperor Nero to a banket, &c.♦

♦Nero made lawes against conjurors and conjurations.♦

♦_C. Agrip. lib. de vanitat. scient._♦

The xxxiii. Chapter.

_Of Salomons conjurations, and of the opinion conceived of his
cunning and practise therein._

It is affirmed by sundrie authors, that _Salomon_ was the first
inventor of those conjurations; and thereof _Josephus_ is the first
reporter, who in his fift booke _De Judæorum antiquitatibus_, cap. 22.
rehearseth soberlie this storie following; which _Polydore Virgil_,
and manie other repeat verbatim, in this wise, and seeme to credit the
fable, whereof there is skant a true word.

_Salomon_ was the greatest philosopher, and did philosophie about all
things, and had the full and perfect knowlege of all their proprieties:
but he had that gift given from above to him, for the profit and
health of mankind: which is effectuall against divels. He made also
inchantments, wherewith diseases are driven awaie; and left diverse
maners of conjurations written, whereunto the divels giving place are
so driven awaie, that they never returne. And this kind of healing is
very common among my countrimen: for I sawe a neighbour of mine, one
_Eleazer_, that in the presence of _Vespasian_ and his sonnes, and the
rest of the souldiers, cured many that were possessed with spirits. The
maner and order of his cure was this. He did put unto the nose of the
possessed a ring, under the seale wherof was inclosed a kind of roote,
whose verture _Salomon_ declared, and the savour thereof drewe the
divell out at his nose; so as downe fell the man, and then _Eleazer_
conjured the divell to depart, & to return no more to him. In the meane
time he made mention of _Salomon_, reciting incantations of _Salomons_
owne making. And then _Eleazer_ being willing to shew the standers by
his cunning, and the wonderfull efficacie of his art, did set not farre
from thence, a pot or basen full of water, & commanded the divell that
went out of the man, that by the overthrowing thereof, he would give
a signe to the beholders, that he had utterlie forsaken and leaft the
man. Which thing being doone, none there doubted how great _Salomons_
knowledge and wisedome was. Wherin a jugling knacke was produced, to
confirme a cogging cast of knaverie or cousenage.

♦_Probatum est_ upon a patient before witnes: _Ergo_ no lie.♦

Another storie of _Salomons_ conjuration I find cited in the sixt
lesson, read in the church of _Rome_ upon S. _Margarets_ daie, far more
ridiculous than this. Also _Peter Lombard_ maister of the sentences,
and _Gratian_ his brother, the compiler of the golden decrees; and
_Durandus_ in his _Rationale divinorum_, doo all soberlie affirme
_Salomons_ cunning in this behalfe; and speciallie this tale; to wit,
that _Salomon_ inclosed certeine thousand divels in a brasen bowle,
and left it in a deepe hole or lake, so as afterwards the _Babylonians_
found it, and supposing there had beene gold or silver therein, brake
it, and out flew all the divels, &c. And that this fable is of credit,
you shall perceive, in that it is thought woorthie to be read in the
Romish church as parcell of their divine service. Looke in the lessons
of S. _Margarets_ daie the virgine, and you shall find these words
verbatim: which I the rather recite, bicause it serveth me for divers
turnes; to wit, for _Salomons_ conjurations, for the tale of the brasen
vessell, and for the popes conjurations, which extended both to faith
and doctrine, and to shew of what credit their religion is, that so
shamefullie is stained with lies and fables.

♦_Lib. 4 dist. 14._
_Decret. aureum. dist. 21_
_Rub. de exorcist._♦

♦_Lect. 5. & 6._♦

The xxxiiii. Chapter.

_Lessons read in all churches, where the pope hath authoritie,
on S. Margarets daie, translated into English word for word._

Holie _Margaret_ required of GOD, that she might have a conflict face
to face with hir secret enimie the divell; and rising from praier, she
sawe a terrible dragon, that would have devoured hir, but she made the
signe of the crosse, and the dragon burst in the middest.

♦_Lect. in die sanctissimæ Marg. vir. 5._♦

Afterwards, she sawe another man sitting like a Niger, having his
hands bound fast to his knees, she taking him by the haire of the head,
threw him to the ground, and set hir foote on his head; and hir praiers
being made, a light shined from heaven into the prison where she was,
and the crosse of Christ was seene in heaven, with a doove sitting
thereon, who said; Blessed art thou O _Margaret_, the gates of paradise
attend thy comming. Then she giving thanks to God, said to the divell,
Declare to me thy name. The divell said; Take awaie thy foote from my
head, that I may be able to speake, and tell thee: which being done,
the divell said, I am _Veltis_, one of them whome _Salomon_ shut in the
brasen vessell, and the _Babylonians_ comming, and supposing there had
beene gold therein, brake the vessell, and then we flew out: ever since
lieng in wait to annoie the just. But seeing I have recited a part of
hir storie, you shall also have the end therof: for at the time of hir
execution this was hir praier following.

♦_Lect. 6._♦

♦Looke in the word Iidoni, pag. 383.♦

Grant therefore O father, that whosoever writeth, readeth, or heareth
my passion, or maketh memoriall of me, may deserve pardon for all his
sinnes: whosoever calleth on me, being at the point of death, deliver
him out of the hands of his adversaries. And I also require, O Lord,
that whosoever shall build a church in the honor of me, or ministreth
unto me anie candles[*] of his just labour, let him obteine
whatsoever he asketh for his health. Deliver all women in travell that
call upon me, from the danger thereof.

♦[*] For the preests profit, I warrant you.♦

Hir praier ended, there were manie great thunderclaps, and a doove
came downe from heaven, saieng; Blessed art thou O _Margaret_ the
spouse of Christ. Such things as thou hast asked, are granted unto
thee; therefore come thou into everlasting rest, &c. Then the hangman
(though she did bid him) refused to cut off hir head: to whome she
said; Except thou doo it, thou canst have no part with me, and then
lo he did it, &c. But sithens I have beene, and must be tedious, I
thought good to refresh my reader with a lamentable storie, depending
upon the matter precedent, reported by manie grave authors, word for
word, in maner and forme following.

♦This is cōmon (they saie) when a witch or conjuror dieth.♦

The xxxv. Chapter.

_A delicate storie of a Lombard, who by S. Margarets example
would needs fight with a reall divell._

There was (after a sermon made, wherein this storie of S. _Margaret_
was recited, for in such stuffe consisted not onelie their service, but
also their sermons in the blind time of poperie:) there was (I saie)
a certeine yoong man, being a _Lombard_, whose simplicitie was such,
as he had no respect unto the commoditie of worldlie things, but did
altogither affect the salvation of his soule, who hearing how great S.
_Margarets_ triumph was, began to consider with himselfe, how full of
slights the divell was. And among other things thus he said; Oh that
God would suffer, that the divell might fight with me hand to hand
in visible forme! I would then surelie in like maner overthrow him,
and would fight with him till I had the victorie. And therefore about
the twelfe houre he went out of the towne, and finding a convenient
place where to praie, secretlie kneeling on his knees, he praied among
other things, that God would suffer the divell to appeare unto him
in visible forme, that according to the example of S. _Margaret_, he
might overcome him in battell. And as he was in the middest of his
praiers, there came into that place a woman with a hooke in hir hand,
to gather certeine hearbs which grew there, who was dumme borne. And
when she came into the place, and saw the yoong man among the hearbs
on his knees, she was afraid, and waxed pale, and going backe, she
rored in such sort, as hir voice could not be understood, and with hir
head and fists made threatning signes unto him. The yoong man seeing
such an ilfavoured fowle queane, that was for age decrepit and full of
wrinkles, with a long bodie, leane of face, pale of colour, with ragged
cloathes, crieng verie lowd, and having a voice not understandable,
threatning him with the hooke which she carried in hir hand, he thought
surelie she had beene no woman, but a divell appearing unto him in the
shape of a woman, and thought God had heard his praiers. For the which
causes he fell upon hir lustilie, and at length threw hir downe to the
ground, saieng; Art thou come thou curssed divell, art thou come? No
no, thou shalt not overthrow me in visible fight, whome thou hast often
overcome in invisible temptation.

♦_Kakozelia._♦

♦Mutuall error by meanes of sudden sight.♦

And as he spake these words, he caught hir by the haire, and drew hir
about, beating hir sometimes with his hands, sometimes with his heeles,
and sometimes with the hooke so long, and wounded hir so sore, that
he left hir a dieng. At the noise whereof manie people came running
unto them, and seeing what was doone, they apprehended the yoong man,
and thrust him into a vile prison. S. _Vincent_ by vertue of his
holines understanding all this matter, caused the bodie that seemed
dead to be brought unto him, and thereupon (according to his maner)
he laid his hand upon hir, who immediatlie revived, and he called one
of his chaplines to heare hir confession. But they that were present
said to the man of God, that it were altogether in vaine so to doo,
for that she had beene from hir nativitie dumbe, and could neither
heare nor understand the priest, neither could in words confesse
hir sinnes. Notwithstanding, S. _Vincent_ bad the priest heare hir
confession, affirming that she should verie distinctlie speake all
things unto him. And therfore, whatsoever the man of God commanded,
the priest did confidentlie accomplish and obeie: and as soone as the
priest approched unto hir, to heare hir confession, she, whome all
_Cathalonia_ knew to be dumbe borne, spake, and confessed hir selfe,
pronouncing everie word as distinctlie, as though she had never beene
dumbe. After hir confession she required the eucharist and extreame
unction to be ministred unto hir, and at length she commended hir selfe
to God; and in the presence of all that came to see that miracle, she
spake as long as she had anie breath in hir bodie. The yoong man that
killed hir being saved from the gallowes by S. _Vincents_ meanes,
and at his intercession, departed home into _Italie_. This storie
last rehearsed is found in _Speculo exemplorum_, and repeated also by
_Robert Carocul_: bishop of _Aquinas_, and manie others, and preached
publikelie in the church of _Rome_.

♦S. Vincent raiseth the dead woman to life.♦

♦S. Vincent maketh the dumbe to speake.♦

♦_Dist. 8. exempl. 17. serm. 59. cap. 20._♦

The xxxvi. Chapter.

_The storie of Saint Margaret prooved to be both ridiculous and
impious in everie point._

First, that the storie of _S. Margaret_ is a fable, may be prooved by
the incredible, impossible, foolish, impious, and blasphemous matters
conteined therein, and by the ridiculous circumstance thereof. Though
it were cruellie doone of hir to beat the divell, when his hands were
bound; yet it was courteouslie doone of hir, to pull awaie hir foot
at his desire. He could not speake so long as she troad on his head,
and yet he said; Tread off, that I may tell you what I am. She sawe
the heavens open, and yet she was in a close prison. But hir sight was
verie cleare, that could see a little dove sitting upon a crosse so
farre off. For heaven is higher than the sunne; and the sunne, when it
is neerest to us, is 3966000. miles from us. And she had a good paire
of eares, that could heare a dove speake so farre off. And she had good
lucke, that S. _Peter_, who (they saie) is porter, or else the pope,
who hath more dooings than _Peter_, had such leisure as to staie the
gates so long for hir. _Salomon_ provided no good place, neither tooke
good order with his brasen bowle. I marvell how they escaped that let
out the divels. It is marvell also they melted it not with their breath
long before: for the divels carrie hell and hell fier about with them
alwaies; in so much as (they saie) they leave ashes evermore where
they stand. Surelie she made in hir praier an unreasonable request.
But the date of hir patent is out: for I beleeve that whosoever at
this daie shall burne a pound of good candle before hir, shall be
never the better, but three pence the worsse. But now we may find
in S. _Margarets_ life, who it is that is Christes wife: whereby we
are so much wiser than we were before. But looke in the life of _S.
Katharine_, in the golden legend, and you shall find that he was also
married to _S. Katharine_, and that our ladie made the marriage, &c. An
excellent authoritie for bigamie. Here I will also cite other of their
notable stories, or miracles of authoritie, and so leave shaming of
them, or rather troubling you the readers thereof. Neither would I have
written these fables, but that they are authentike among the papists,
and that we that are protestants may be satisfied, as well of conjurors
and witches miracles, as of the others: for the one is as grosse as the
other.

♦_Secundùm Bordinum Corrigens. Quæsit. Math. tract. 1. sect. 77._♦

♦_Psellus de operatione dæmonum._♦

The xxxvii. Chapter.

_A pleasant miracle wrought by a popish preest._

What time the _Waldenses_ heresies beganne to spring, certeine wicked
men, being upheld and mainteined by diabolicall vertue, shewed certeine
signes and woonders, wherby they strengthened and confirmed their
heresies, and perverted in faith many faithfull men; for they walked
on the water and were not drowned. But a certeine catholike preest
seeing the same, and knowing that true signes could not be joined with
false doctrine, brought the bodie of our Lord, with the pix, to the
water, where they shewed their power and vertue to the people, and
said in the hearing of all that were present: I conjure thee O divell,
by him, whom I carrie in my hands, that thou exercise not these great
visions and phantasies by these men, to the drowning of this people.
Notwithstanding these words, when they walked still on the water, as
they did before, the preest in a rage threw the bodie of our Lord,
with the pix into the river, and by and by, so soone as the sacrament
touched the element, the phantasie gave place to the veritie; and they
being prooved and made false, did sinke like lead to the bottome, and
were drowned; the pix with the sacrament immediatlie was taken awaie
by an angell. The preest seeing all these things, was verie glad of
the miracle, but for the losse of the sacrament he was verie pensive,
passing awaie the whole night in teares and moorning: in the morning he
found the pix with the sacrament upon the altar.

♦_In speculo exemplorum, dist. 6. ex lib. exemplorum, Cæsariis, exempl.
69._♦

♦Memorandum, it is confessed in poperie that true miracles cannot be
joined with false doctrine: _Ergo_ neither papist, witch, nor conjuror
can worke miracles.♦

The xxxviii. Chapter.

_The former miracle confuted, with a strange storie of saint Lucie._

How glad Sir John was now it were follie for me to saie. How would he
have plagued the divell, that threw his god in the river to be drowned?
But if other had had no more power to destroie the _Waldenses_ with
sword and fier, than this preest had to drowne them with his conjuring
boxe & cousening sacraments, there should have beene many a life
saved. But I may not omit one fable, which is of authoritie, wherein
though there be no conjuration expressed, yet I warrant you there was
cousenage both in the dooing and telling thereof. ☞ You shall read in
the lesson on saint _Lucies_ daie, that she being condemned, could not
be remooved from the place with a teeme of oxen, neither could any fier
burne hir, insomuch as one was faine to cut off hir head with a sword,
and yet she could speake afterwards as long as she list. And this
passeth all other miracles, except it be that which _Bodin_ and _M.
Mal_. recite out of _Nider_, of a witch that could not be burned, till
a scroll was taken awaie from where she hid it, betwixt hir skin and
flesh.

♦_Lect. in die sanctæ Luciæ 7 & 8._♦

The xxxix. Chapter.

_Of visions, noises, apparitions, and imagined sounds, and of
other illusions, of wandering soules: with a confutation
thereof._

Manie thorough melancholie doo imagine, that they see or heare visions,
spirits, ghosts, strange noises, &c: as I have alreadie prooved before,
at large. Manie againe thorough feare proceeding from a cowardlie
nature and complexion, or from an effeminate and fond bringing up,
are timerous and afraid of spirits, and bugs, &c. Some through
imperfection of sight also are afraid of their owne shadowes, and (as
_Aristotle_ saith) see themselves sometimes as it were in a glasse.
And some through weakenesse of bodie have such unperfect imaginations.
Droonken men also sometimes suppose they see trees walke, &c: according
to that which _Salomon_ saith to the droonkards; Thine eies shall see
strange visions, and mervellous appearances.

♦See the storie of Simō Davie and Ade his wife, lib. 3. cap. 10. pag.
55, 56, 57.♦

In all ages moonks and preests have abused and bewitched the world with
counterfet visions; which proceeded through idlenes, and restraint of
marriage, wherby they grew hot and lecherous, and therefore devised
such meanes to compasse and obteine their loves. And the simple people
being then so superstitious, would never seeme to mistrust, that such
holie men would make them cuckholds, but forsooke their beds in that
case, and gave roome to the cleargie. Item, little children have beene
so scared with their mothers maids, that they could never after endure
to be in the darke alone, for feare of bugs. Manie are deceived by
glasses through art perspective. Manie hearkening unto false reports,
conceive and beleeve that which is nothing so. Manie give credit to
that which they read in authors. But how manie stories and bookes are
written of walking spirits and soules of men, contrarie to the word of
God; a reasonable volume cannot conteine. How common an opinion was
it among the papists, that all soules walked on the earth, after they
departed from their bodies? In so much as it was in the time of poperie
a usuall matter, to desire sicke people in their death beds, to appeare
to them after their death, and to reveale their estate. The fathers
and ancient doctors of the church were too credulous herein, &c.
Therefore no mervell, though the common simple sort of men, and least
of all, that women be deceived herein. God in times past did send downe
visible angels and appearances to men; but now he dooth not so. Through
ignorance of late in religion, it was thought, that everie churchyard
swarmed with soules and spirits: but now the word of God being more
free, open, and knowne, those conceipts and illusions are made more
manifest and apparent, &c.

♦Against the counterfet visions of popish preests, & other cousening
devises.♦

The doctors, councels, and popes, which (they saie) cannot erre, have
confirmed the walking, appearing, & raising of soules. But where
find they in the scriptures anie such doctrine? And who certified
them, that those appearances were true? Trulie all they cannot bring
to passe, that the lies which have beene spread abroad herein, should
now beginne to be true, though the pope himselfe subscribe, seale, and
sweare thereunto never so much. Where are the soules that swarmed in
times past? Where are the spirits? Who heareth their noises? Who seeth
their visions? Where are the soules that made such mone for trentals,
whereby to be eased of the paines in purgatorie? Are they all gone
into _Italie_, bicause masses are growne deere here in _England_?
Marke well this illusion, and see how contrarie it is unto the word of
God. Consider how all papists beleeve this illusion to be true, and
how all protestants are driven to saie it is and was popish illusion.
Where be the spirits that wandered to have buriall for their bodies?
For manie of those walking soules went about that busines. Doo you not
thinke, that the papists shew not themselves godlie divines, to preach
and teach the people such doctrine; and to insert into their divine
service such fables as are read in the Romish church, all scripture
giving place thereto for the time? You shall see in the lessons read
there upon S. _Stevens_ daie, that _Gamaliel Nichodemus_ his kinsman,
and _Abdias_ his sonne, with his freend S. _Steven_, appeared to a
certeine preest, called Sir _Lucian_, requesting him to remove their
bodies, and to burie them in some better place (for they had lien
from the time of their death, untill then, being in the reigne of
_Honorius_ the emperor; to wit, foure hundred yeeres buried in the
field of _Gamaliel_, who in that respect said to Sir _Lucian_; _Non
mei solummodo causa solicitus sum, sed potiùs pro illis qui mecum
sunt_; that is, I am not onlie carefull for my selfe, but cheefelie
for those my friends that are with me. Whereby the whole course may be
perceived to be a false practise, and a counterfet vision, or rather
a lewd invention. For in heaven mens soules remaine not in sorow and
care; neither studie they there how to compasse and get a worshipfull
buriall here in earth. If they did, they would not have foreslowed
it so long. Now therefore let us not suffer our selves to be abused
anie longer, either with conjuring preests, or melancholicall witches;
but be thankfull to God that hath delivered us from such blindnes and
error.

♦This doctrine was not onlie preached, but also prooved; note the
particular instāces following.♦

The xl. Chapter.

_Cardanus opinion of strange noises, how counterfet visions grow
to be credited, of popish appeerances, of pope Boniface._

_Cardanus_ speaking of noises, among other things, saith thus; A noise
is heard in your house; it may be a mouse, a cat, or a dog among
dishes; it may be a counterfet or a theefe indeed, or the fault may be
in your eares. I could recite a great number of tales, how men have
even forsaken their houses, bicause of such apparitions and noises: and
all hath beene by meere and ranke knaverie. And wheresoever you shall
heare, that there is in the night season such rumbling and fearefull
noises, be you well assured that it is flat knaverie, performed by some
that seemeth most to complaine, and is least mistrusted. And hereof
there is a verie art, which for some respects I will not discover.
The divell seeketh dailie as well as nightlie whome he may devoure,
and can doo his feats as well by daie as by night, or else he is a
yoong divell, and a verie bungler. But of all other couseners, these
conjurors are in the highest degree, and are most worthie of death
for their blasphemous impietie. But that these popish visions and
conjurations used as well by papists, as by the popes themselves, were
meere cousenages; and that the tales of the popes recited by _Bruno_
and _Platina_, of their magicall devises, were but plaine cousenages
and knaveries, may appeare by the historie of _Bonifacius_ the eight,
who used this kind of inchantment, to get away the popedome from his
predecessor _Cœlestinus_. He counterfetted a voice through a cane reed,
as though it had come from heaven, persuading him to yeeld up his
authoritie of popeship, and to institute therein one _Bonifacius_, a
worthier man: otherwise he threatened him with damnation. And therfore
the foole yeelded it up accordinglie, to the said _Bonifacius_, _An._
1264. of whom it was said; He came in like a fox, lived like a woolfe,
and died like a dog.

♦_H. Card. lib. de var. rer. 15. ca. 92._♦

♦Pope _Cœlestinus_ cousened of his popedome by pope _Boniface_.♦

There be innumerable examples of such visions, which when they are
not detected, go for true stories: and therefore when it is answered
that some are true tales and some are false, untill they be able to
shew foorth before your eies one matter of truth, you may replie upon
them with this distinction; to wit: visions tried are false visions,
undecided and untried are true.

♦Visions distinguished♦

The xli. Chapter.

_Of the noise or sound of eccho, of one that narrowlie escaped
drowning thereby, &c._

Alas! how manie naturall things are there so strange, as to manie seeme
miraculous; and how manie counterfet matters are there, that to the
simple seeme yet more wonderfull? _Cardane_ telleth of one _Comensis_,
who comming late to a rivers side, not knowing where to passe over,
cried out alowd for some bodie to shew him the foord: who hearing an
eccho to answer according to his last word, supposing it to be a man
that answered him and informed him of the waie, he passed through the
river, even there where was a deepe whirlepoole, so as he hardlie
escaped with his life; and told his freends, that the divell had almost
persuaded him to drowne himselfe. And in some places these noises of
eccho are farre more strange than other, speciallie at _Ticinum_ in
_Italie_, in the great hall, where it rendereth sundrie and manifold
noises or voices, which seeme to end so lamentablie, as it were a man
that laie a dieng; so as few can be persuaded that it is the eccho, but
a spirit that answereth.

♦_H. Card. lib. de subtilitat. 18._♦

♦_Idem, ibid._♦

The noise at _Winchester_ was said to be a verie miracle, and much
wondering was there at it, about the yeare 1569. though indeed a meere
naturall noise ingendered of the wind, the concavitie of the place,
and other instrumentall matters helping the sound to seeme strange
to the hearers; speciallie to such as would adde new reports to the
augmentation of the woonder.

♦Of Winchester noise.♦

The xlii. Chapter.

_Of Theurgie, with a confutation thereof, a letter sent to me
concerning these matters._

There is yet another art professed by these cousening conjurors,
which some fond divines affirme to be more honest and lawfull than
necromancie, which is called Theurgie; wherein they worke by good
angels. Howbeit, their ceremonies are altogether papisticall and
superstitious, consisting in cleanlines partlie of the mind, partlie
of the bodie, and partlie of things about and belonging to the bodie;
as in the skinne, in the apparell, in the house, in the vessell and
houshold stuffe, in oblations and sacrifices; the cleanlines whereof,
they saie, dooth dispose men to the contemplation of heavenlie things.
They cite these words of _Esaie_ for their authoritie; to wit: Wash
your selves and be cleane, &c. In so much as I have knowne diverse
superstitious persons of good account, which usuallie washed all
their apparell upon conceits ridiculouslie. For uncleanlinesse (they
say) corrupteth the aire, infecteth man, and chaseth awaie cleane
spirits. Hereunto belongeth the art of _Almadel_, the art of _Paule_,
the art of Revelations, and the art Notarie. But (as _Agrippa_
saith) the more divine these arts seeme to the ignorant, the more
damnable they be. But their false assertions, their presumptions to
worke miracles, their characters, their strange names, their diffuse
phrases, their counterfet holines, their popish ceremonies, their
foolish words mingled with impietie, their barbarous and unlearned
order of construction, their shameles practises, their paltrie stuffe,
their secret dealing, their beggerlie life, their bargaining with
fooles, their cousening of the simple, their scope and drift for monie
dooth bewraie all their art to be counterfet cousenage. And the more
throughlie to satisfie you herein, I thought good in this place to
insert a letter, upon occasion sent unto me, by one which at this
present time lieth as a prisoner condemned for this verie matter in the
kings bench, and reprived by hir majesties mercie, through the good
mediation of a most noble and vertuous personage, whose honorable and
godlie disposition at this time I will forbeare to commend as I ought.
The person truelie that wrote this letter seemeth unto me a good bodie,
well reformed, and penitent, not expecting anie gaines at my hands, but
rather fearing to speake that which he knoweth further in this matter,
least displeasure might ensue and follow.

♦Appendents unto the supposed divine art of Theurgie.♦

_The copie of a letter sent unto me R. S. by T. E.
Maister of art, and practiser both of physicke, and also
in times past, of certeine vaine sciences; now
condemned to die for the same: wherein he
openeth the truth touching these deceits._[*]

♦[*] [Lines 1, 3, 5 Rom. 2, 4 Ital.]♦

_Maister R. Scot,[†] according to your request, I have drawne out
certeine abuses worth the noting, touching the worke you have in hand;
things which I my selfe have seene within these xxvi. yeares, among
those which were counted famous and skilfull in those sciences. And
bicause the whole discourse cannot be set downe, without nominating
certeine persons, of whom some are dead & some living, whose freends
remaine yet of great credit: in respect therof, I knowing that mine
enimies doo alreadie in number exceed my freends; I have considered
with my selfe, that it is better for me to staie my hand, than to
commit that to the world, which may increase my miserie more than
releeve the same. Notwithstanding, bicause I am noted above a great
manie others to have had some dealings in those vaine arts and wicked
practises; I am therefore to signifie unto you, and I speake it in the
presence of God, that among all those famous and noted practisers, that
I have beene conversant withall these xxvi. yeares, I could never see
anie matter of truth to be doone in those wicked sciences, but onelie
meere cousenings and illusions. And they, whome I thought to be most
skilfull therein, sought to see some things at my hands, who had spent
my time a dozen or fourteen years, to my great losse and hinderance,
and could never at anie time see anie one truth, or sparkle of truth
therein. Yet at this present I stand worthilie condemned for the same;
for that, contrarie to my princes lawes, and the lawe of God, and
also to mine owne conscience, I did spend my time in such vaine and
wicked studies and practises: being made and remaining a spectacle
for all others to receive warning by. The Lord grant I may be the
last (I speake it from my hart) and I wish it, not onlie in my native
coūtrie, but also through the whole face of the earth, speciallie
among Christians. For mine owne part I lament my time lost, & have
repented me five yeares past: at which time I sawe a booke, written in
the old Saxon toong, by one Sir John Malborne a divine of Oxenford,
three hundred yeares past; wherein he openeth all the illusions &
inventions of those arts and sciences: a thing most worthie the noting.
I left the booke with the parson of Slangham in Sussex, where if you
send for it in my name, you may have it. You shall thinke your labour
well bestowed, and it shall greatlie further the good enterprise you
have in hand: and there shall you see the whole science throughlie
discussed, and all their illusions and cousenages deciphered at large.
Thus craving pardon at your hands for that I promised you, being
verie fearefull, doubtfull, and loth to set my hand or name under any
thing that may be offensive to the world, or hurtfull to my selfe,
considering my case, except I had the better warrant from my L. of
Leicester, who is my verie good Lord, and by whome next under God (hir
Majestie onelie excepted) I have beene preserved; and therefore loth
to doo any thing that may offend his Lordships eares. And so I leave
your Worship to the Lords keeping, who bring you and all your actions
to good end and purpose, to Gods glorie, and to the profit of all
Christians. From the bench this 8. of March, 1582. Your Worships poore
and desolate friend and servant, T. E._

♦Marke the summe and scope of this letter.♦

♦[†] [This letter in Rom.]♦

♦S. John Malbornes booke detecting the devises of conjuratiō, &c.♦

I sent for this booke of purpose, to the parson of _Slangham_, and
procured his best friends, men of great worship and credit, to deale
with him, that I might borrowe it for a time. But such is his follie
and superstition, that although he confessed he had it; yet he would
not lend it: albeit a friend of mine, being knight of the shire would
have given his word for the restitution of the same safe and sound.

The conclusion therefore shall be this, whatsoever heeretofore hath
gone for currant, touching all these fallible arts, whereof hitherto I
have written in ample sort, be now counted counterfet, and therefore
not to be allowed no not by common sense, much lesse by reason, which
should sift such cloked and pretended practises, turning them out of
their rags and patched clowts, that they may appeere discovered, and
shew themselves in their nakednesse. Which will be the end of everie
secret intent, privie purpose, hidden practise, and close devise, have
they never such shrowds and shelters for the time: and be they with
never so much cautelousnesse and subtill circumspection clouded and
shadowed, yet will they at length be manifestlie detected by the light,
according to that old rimed verse:

♦The author his conclusion.♦

_Quicquid nix celat, solis calor omne revelat:_

_What thing soever snowe dooth hide,
Heat of the sunne dooth make it spide._

♦_Andrœas Gartnerus Mariæmontanus. Eng. by Ab. Fle._♦

And according to the verdict of Christ, the true Nazarite, who never
told untruth, but who is the substance and groundworke of truth it
selfe, saieng; _Nihil est tam occultum quod non sit detegendum_,
Nothing is so secret, but it shall be knowne and revealed.

♦Matt. 10, 26.
Mark 4, 22.
Luke. 8, 17.
[*]And. 12, 2,♦

♦[*] [= and]♦

¶ _The xvi. booke._

The first Chapter.

_A conclusion, in maner of an epilog, repeating manie of the
former absurdities of witchmongers conceipts, confutations
thereof, and of the authoritie of James Sprenger and Henrie
Institor inquisitors and compilers of M. Mal._

Hitherto you have had delivered unto you, that which I have conceived
and gathered of this matter. In the substance and principall parts
wherof I can see no difference among the writers heereupon; of
what countrie, condition, estate, or religion so ever they be; but
I find almost all of them to agree in unconstancie, fables, and
impossibilities; scratching out of _M. Mal._ the substance of all their
arguments: so as their authors being disapproved, they must coine new
stuffe, or go to their grandams maids to learne more old wives tales,
whereof this art of witchcraft is contrived. But you must know that
_James Sprenger_, and _Henrie Institor_, whome I have had occasion
to alledge manie times, were coparteners in the composition of that
profound & learned booke called _Malleus Maleficarum_, & were the
greatest doctors of that art: out of whom I have gathered matter and
absurditie enough, to confound the opinions conceived of witchcraft;
although they were allowed inquisitors and assigned by the pope, with
the authoritie and commendation of all the doctors of the universitie
of _Collen_, &c: to call before them, to imprison, to condemne, and to
execute witches; and finallie to seaze and confiscate their goods.

♦The compilers or makers of the booke called A Mallet to braine
witches.♦

These two doctors, to mainteine their their[*] credit, and to cover
their injuries, have published those same monsterous lies, which have
abused all Christendome, being spread abroad with such authoritie, as
it will be hard to suppresse the credit of their writings, be they
never so ridiculous and false. Which although they mainteine and stirre
up with their owne praises; yet men are so bewitched, as to give credit
unto them. For proofe whereof I remember they write in one place of
their said booke, that by reason of their severe proceedings against
witches, they suffered intollerable assaults, speciallie in the night,
many times finding needdels sticking in their biggens, which were
thither conveied by witches charmes: and through their innocencie and
holinesse (they saie) they were ever miraculouslie preserved from hurt.
Howbeit they affirme that they will not tell all that might make to
the manifestation of their holines: for then should their owne praise
stinke in their owne mouthes. And yet God knoweth their whole booke
conteineth nothing but stinking lies and poperie. Which groundworke and
foundation how weake and wavering it is, how unlike to continue, and
how slenderlie laid, a child may soone discerne and perceive.

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

♦No marvel that they were so opinionative herein, for God gave them
over into strong delusions.♦

The second Chapter.

_By what meanes the common people have beene made beleeve in
the miraculous works of witches, a definition of witchcraft,
and a description thereof._

The common people have beene so assotted and bewitched, with whatsoever
poets have feigned of witchcraft, either in earnest, in jest, or else
in derision; and with whatsoever lowd liers and couseners for their
pleasures heerein have invented, and with whatsoever tales they have
heard from old doting women, or from their mothers maids, and with
whatsoever the grandfoole their ghostlie father, or anie other morrow
masse preest had informed them; and finallie with whatsoever they have
swallowed up through tract of time, or through their owne timerous
nature or ignorant conceipt, concerning these matters of hagges and
witches: as they have so settled their opinion and credit thereupon,
that they thinke it heresie to doubt in anie part of the matter;
speciallie bicause they find this word witchcraft expressed in the
scriptures; which is as to defend praieng to saincts, bicause _Sanctus,
Sanctus, Sanctus_ is written in _Te Deum_.

And now to come to the definition of witchcraft, which hitherto I
did deferre and put off purposelie: that you might perceive the true
nature thereof, by the circumstances, and therefore the rather to allow
of the same, seeing the varietie of other writers. Witchcraft is in
truth a cousening art, wherin the name of God is abused, prophaned and
blasphemed, and his power attributed to a vile creature. In estimation
of the vulgar people, it is a supernaturall worke, contrived betweene
a corporall old woman, and a spirituall divell. The maner thereof
is so secret, mysticall, and strange, that to this daie there hath
never beene any credible witnes therof. It is incomprehensible to the
wise, learned or faithfull; a probable matter to children, fooles,
melancholike persons and papists. The trade is thought to be impious.
The effect and end thereof to be sometimes evill, as when thereby
man or beast, grasse, trees, or corne, &c; is hurt: sometimes good,
as whereby sicke folkes are healed, theeves bewraied, and true men
come to their goods, &c. The matter and instruments, wherewith it is
accomplished, are words, charmes, signes, images, characters, &c: the
which words although any other creature doo pronounce, in maner and
forme as they doo, leaving out no circumstance requisite or usuall for
that action: yet none is said to have the grace or gift to performe
the matter, except she be a witch, and so taken, either by hir owne
consent, or by others imputation.

♦The definition or description of witchcraft.♦

♦The formal cause.♦

♦The finall cause.♦

♦The materiall cause.♦

The third Chapter.

_Reasons to proove that words and characters are but bables,
& that witches cannot doo such things as the multitude
supposeth they can, their greatest woonders prooved trifles,
of a yoong gentleman cousened._

That words, characters, images, and such other trinkets, which are
thought so necessarie instruments for witchcraft (as without the
which no such thing can be accomplished) are but bables, devised by
couseners, to abuse the people withall; I trust I have sufficientlie
prooved. And the same maie be further and more plainelie perceived by
these short and compendious reasons following.

First, in that the _Turkes_ and infidels, in their witchcraft, use both
other words, and other characters than our witches doo, and also such
as are most contrarie. In so much as, if ours be bad, in reason theirs
should be good. If their witches can doo anie thing, ours can doo
nothing. For as our witches are said to renounce Christ, and despise
his sacraments: so doo the other forsake _Mahomet_, and his lawes,
which is one large step to christianitie.

♦A necessarie sequele.♦

It is also to be thought, that all witches are couseners; when mother
_Bungie_, a principall witch, so reputed, tried, and condemned of
all men, and continuing in that exercise and estimation manie yeares
(having cousened & abused the whole realme, in so much as there came to
hir, witchmongers from all the furthest parts of the land, she being
in diverse bookes set out with authoritie, registred and chronicled
by the name of the great witch of _Rochester_, and reputed among all
men for the cheefe ringleader of all other witches) by good proofe
is found to be a meere cousener; confessing in hir death bed freelie,
without compulsion or inforcement, that hir cunning consisted onlie
in deluding and deceiving the people: saving that she had (towards
the maintenance of hir credit in that cousening trade) some sight in
physicke and surgerie, and the assistance of a freend of hirs, called
_Heron_, a professor thereof. And this I know, partlie of mine owne
knowledge, and partlie by the testimonie of hir husband, and others
of credit, to whome (I saie) in hir death bed, and at sundrie other
times she protested these things; and also that she never had indeed
anie materiall spirit or divell (as the voice went) nor yet knew how
to worke anie supernaturall matter, as she in hir life time made men
beleeve she had and could doo.

♦_Probatum est_, by mother Bungies confessiō that al witches are
couseners.♦

The like may be said of one _T._ of _Canturburie_, whose name I will
not litterallie discover, who wonderfullie abused manie in these parts,
making them thinke he could tell where anie thing lost became: with
diverse other such practises, whereby his fame was farre beyond the
others. And yet on his death bed he confessed, that he knew nothing
more than anie other, but by slight and devises, without the assistance
of anie divell or spirit, saving the spirit of cousenage: and this did
he (I saie) protest before manie of great honestie, credit, & wisedome,
who can witnesse the same, and also gave him good commendations for his
godlie and honest end.

Againe, who will mainteine, that common witchcrafts are not cousenages,
when the great and famous witchcrafts, which had stolne credit not
onlie from all the common people, but from men of great wisdome and
authoritie, are discovered to be beggerlie slights of cousening
varlots? Which otherwise might and would have remained a perpetuall
objection against me. Were there not [*] three images of late yeeres
found in a doonghill, to the terror & astonishment of manie thousands?
In so much as great matters were thought to have beene pretended to
be doone by witchcraft. But if the Lord preserve those persons (whose
destruction was doubted to have beene intended therby) from all other
the lewd practises and attempts of their enimies; I feare not, but
they shall easilie withstand these and such like devises, although
they should indeed be practised against them. But no doubt, if such
bables could have brought those matters of mischeefe to passe, by the
hands of traitors, witches, or papists; we should long since have beene
deprived of the most excellent jewell and comfort that we enjoy in this
world. Howbeit, I confesse, that the feare, conceipt, and doubt of
such mischeefous pretenses may breed inconvenience to them that stand
in awe of the same. And I wish, that even for such practises, though
they never can or doo take effect, the practisers be punished with all
extremitie: bicause therein is manifested a traiterous heart to the
Queene, and a presumption against God.

♦[*] J. Bodin in the preface before his booke of _Dæmonomania_
reporteth this by a conjuring preest late Curat of Islington: hee also
sheweth to what end: read the place you that understād Latine.♦

But to returne to the discoverie of the aforesaid knaverie and
witchcraft. So it was that one old cousener, wanting monie, devised or
rather practised (for it is a stale devise) to supplie his want, by
promising a yoong Gentleman, whose humor he thought would that waie be
well served, that for the summe of fourtie pounds, he would not faile
by his cunning in that art of witchcraft, to procure unto him the love
of anie three women whome he would name, and of whome he should make
choise at his pleasure. The yoong Gentleman being abused with his
cunning devises, and too hastilie yeelding to that motion, satisfied
this cunning mans demand of monie. Which, bicause he had it not
presentlie to disbursse, provided it for him at the hands of a freend
of his. Finallie, this cunning man made the three puppets of wax, &c:
leaving nothing undone that appertained to the cousenage, untill he had
buried them, as you have heard. But I omit to tell what a doo was made
herof, and also what reports and lies were bruted; as what white dogs
and blacke dogs there were seene in the night season passing through
the watch, mawgre all their force and preparation against them, &c.
But the yoong Gentleman, who for a litle space remained in hope mixed
with joy and love, now through tract of time hath those his felicities
powdered with doubt and despaire. For in steed of atchieving his love,
he would gladlie have obteined his monie. But bicause he could by no
meanes get either the one or the other (his monie being in hucksters
handling, and his sute in no better forwardnes) he revealed the whole
matter, hoping by that meanes to recover his monie; which he neither
can yet get againe, nor hath paied it where he borrowed. But till
triall was had of his simplicitie or rather follie herein, he received
some trouble himselfe hereabouts, though now dismissed.

♦Note this devise of the waxen images found of late neere London.♦

The fourth Chapter.

_Of one that was so bewitched that he could read no scriptures
but canonicall, of a divel that could speake no Latine, a
proofe that witchcraft is flat cousenage._

Here I may aptlie insert another miracle of importance, that happened
within the compasse of a childes remembrance, which may induce anie
resonable bodie to conceive, that these supernaturall actions are but
fables & cousenages. There was one, whom for some respects I name
not, that was taken blind, deafe, & dumbe; so as no physician could
helpe him. That man (forsooth) though he was (as is said) both blind,
dumbe & deafe, yet could he read anie canonicall scriptures; but as
for apocrypha, he could read none: wherein a Gods name consisted the
miracle. But a leafe of apocrypha being extraordinarilie inserted among
the canonicall scriptures, he read the same as authentike: wherein his
knaverie was bewraied. Another had a divell, that answered men to all
questions, marie hir divell could understand no Latine, and so was she
(and by such meanes all the rest may be) bewraied. Indeed our witching
writers saie, that certeine divels speake onelie the language of that
countrie where they are resiant, as French, or English, &c.

♦A strange miracle, if it were true.♦

♦There the hypocrite was overmatcht for all his dissembled gravitie.♦

Furthermore, in my conceipt, nothing prooveth more apparentlie
that witchcraft is cousenage, and that witches instruments are but
ridiculous bables, and altogither void of effect; than when learned
and godlie divines, in their serious writings, produce experiments
as wrought by witches, and by divels at witches commandements: which
they expound by miracles, although indeed meere trifles. Whereof they
conceive amisse, being overtaken with credulitie.

The fift Chapter.

_Of the divination by the sive and sheeres, and by the booke
and key, Hemingius his opinion thereof confuted, a bable to
know what is a clocke, of certeine jugling knacks, manifold
reasons for the overthrowe of witches and conjurors, and
their cousenages, of the divels transformations, of Ferrum
candens,[*] &c._

♦[*] [Latin in Ital.]♦

To passe over all the fables, which are vouched by the popish doctors,
you shall heare the words of _N. Hemingius_, whose zeale & learning
otherwise I might justlie commend: howbeit I am sorie and ashamed to
see his ignorance and follie in this behalfe. Neither would I have
bewraied it, but that he himselfe, among other absurdities concerning
the maintenance of witches omnipotencie, hath published it to his
great discredit. Popish preests (saith he) as the _Chaldæans_ used
the divination by sive & sheeres[*] for the detection of theft,
doo practise with a psalter and a keie fastned upon the 49. psalme,
to discover a theefe. And when the names of the suspected persons
are orderlie put into the pipe of the keie, at the reading of these
words of the psalme [If thou sawest a theefe thou diddest consent unto
him][†] the booke will wagge, and fall out of the fingers of them
that hold it, and he whose name remaineth in the keie must be the
theefe. Hereupon _Hemingius_ inferreth, that although conjuring preests
and witches bring not this to passe by the absolute words of the
psalme, which tend to a farre other scope; yet sathan dooth nimblie,
with his invisible hand, give such a twitch to the booke, as also in
the other case to the sive and the sheeres, that downe falles the booke
and keie, sive and sheeres, up starts the theefe, and awaie runneth the
divell laughing, &c.

♦_Heming. in lib. de superst. magicis._♦

♦[*] [p. _262_]♦

♦[†] [[] in text]♦

♦The greatest clarkes are not the wisest men.♦

But alas, _Hemingius_ is deceived, as not perceiving the conceipt, or
rather the deceipt hereof. For where he supposeth those actions to be
miraculous, and done by a divell; they are in truth meere bables,
wherein consisteth not so much as legierdemaine. For everie carter
may conceive the slight hereof: bicause the booke and keie, sive
and sheeres, being staied up in that order, by naturall course, of
necessitie must within that space (by meanes of the aire, and the pulse
beating at the fingers end) turne and fall downe. Which experience
being knowne to the witch or conjuror, she or he doo forme and frame
their prophesie accordinglie: as whosoever maketh proofe thereof shall
manifestlie perceive it. By this art, practise, or experience, you
shall knowe what it is a clocke, if you hold betweene your finger and
your thumbe a thred of six or seven inches long, unto the other end
whereof is tied a gold ring, or some such like thing: in such sort as
upon the beating of your pulse, and the mooving of the ring, the same
may strike upon either side of a goblet or glasse. These things are
(I confesse) witchcraft, bicause the effect or event proceedeth not
of that cause which such couseners saie, and others beleeve they doo.
As when they laie a medicine for the ague, &c: to a childs wrists,
they also pronounce certeine words or charmes, by vertue whereof (they
saie) the child is healed: whereas indeed the medicine onelie dooth
the feate. And this is also a sillie jugglers knacke, which wanteth
legierdemaine, whom you shall see to thrust a pinne, or a small knife,
through the head and braine of a chicken or pullet, and with certeine
mysticall words seeme to cure him:[*] whereas, though no such words
were spoken, the chicken would live, and doo well enough; as experience
teacheth and declareth.

♦A naturall reason of the former knacke.♦

♦[*] [p. _346_.]♦

Againe, when such as have mainteined the art and profession of
conjuring, and have written thereupon most cunninglie, have published
recantations, and confessed the deceipts thereof, as _Cornelius
Agrippa_ did, whie should we defend it? Also, when heathen princes,
of great renowne, authoritie, & learning, have searched, with much
industrie and charge, the knowledge & secrecie of conjuration and
witchcraft, & finallie found by experience all to be false and vaine
that is reported of them, as _Nero_, _Julianus apostata_, and
_Valence_ did; whie should we seeke for further triall, to proove
witchcraft and conjuration to be cousenage?

♦_C. Agripp. in lib. de vanit. scient. & in epistola ante librum de
occulta philosophia._♦

♦_Plin. lib. natural. hist. 30. cap. 1._♦

♦_Pet. Mart. in locis communibus._♦

Also, when the miracles imputed unto them, exceed in quantitie,
qualitie and number, all the miracles that Christ wrought here upon
earth, for the establishing of his gospell, for the confirmation of
our faith, and for the advancement of his glorious name; what good
christian will beleeve them to be true? And when Christ himselfe saith;
The works that I doo, no man else can accomplish; whie should we thinke
that a foolish old woman can doo them all, and manie more?

Also, when Christ knew not these witches, nor spake one word of them
in all the time of his being here upon earth, having such necessarie
occasion (if at leastwise they with their familiars could doo as he
did by the spirit of God, as is constantlie affirmed) whie should
we suppose that they can doo as they saie, but rather that they are
deceivers[?[*]] When they are faine to saie, that witches wrought not
in that art, all those thirtie three yeares that Christ lived, and that
there were none in _Jobs_ time, and that the cousening oracles are now
ceased; who seeth not that they are witlesse, and madde fooles that
mainteine it? When all the mischeefes are accomplished by poisons and
naturall meanes, which they affirme to be brought to passe by words,
it manifesteth to the world their cousenage. When all the places of
scripture, which witchmongers allowe for the proofe of such witches,
are prooved to make nothing for their purpose, their own fables & lies
deserve small credit. When one of the cheefe points in controversie;
to wit, execution of witches, is grounded upon a false translation;
namelie, You shall not suffer a witch to live (which is in Latine,[†]
_Veneficam non retinebitis in vita_) where the word in everie mans
eare soundeth to be a poisoner, rather than a worker of miracles, and
so interpreted by the seventie interpretors, _Josephus_, and almost
of all the _Rabbins_, which were _Hebrues_ borne: whie should anie of
their interpretations or allegations be trusted, or well accounted
of? When working of miracles is ceased, and the gift of prophesie
also; so as the godlie, through invocation of the holie spirit, cannot
performe such wonderfull things, as these witches and conjurors by
the invocation of divels and wicked spirits undertake, and are said
to doo; what man that knoweth and honoureth God will be so infatuate
as to beleeve these lies, and so preferre the power of witches and
divels before the godlie endued with Gods holie spirit? When manie
printed bookes are published, even with authoritie, in confirmation
of such miracles wrought by those couseners, for the detection of
witchcraft; and in fine all is not onelie found false, and to have
beene accomplished by cousenage, but that there hath beene therein
a set purpose to defame honest matrones, as to make them be thought
to be witches: whie should we beleeve _Bodin_, _M. Mal. &c_: in their
cousening tales and fables? When they saie that witches can flie in
the aire, and come in at a little coane,[‡] or a hole in a glasse
windowe, and steale awaie sucking children, and hurt their mothers; and
yet when they are brought into prison, they cannot escape out of the
grate, which is farre bigger: who will not condemne such accusations or
confessions to be frivolous, &c? When (if their assertions were true)
concerning the divels usuall taking of shapes, and walking, talking,
conferring, hurting, and all maner of dealing with mortall creatures,
Christs argument to _Thomas_ had beene weake and easilie answered; yea
the one halfe, or all the whole world might be inhabited by divels,
everie poore mans house might be hired over his head by a divell, he
might take the shape and favor of an honest woman, and plaie the witch;
or of an honest man, and plaie the theefe, and so bring them both,
or whome he list to the gallowes: who seeth not the vanitie of such
assertions? For then the divell might in the likenes of an honest man
commit anie criminall offense; as _Lavater_ in his nineteenth chapter
_De spectris_ reporteth of a grave wise magistrate in the territorie
of _Tigurie_, who affirmed, that as he and his servant went through
certeine pastures, he espied in a morning, the divell in likenes of one
whome he knew verie well, wickedlie dealing with a mare. Upon the sight
whereof he immediatlie went to that fellowes house, and certeinlie
learned there, that the same person went not out of his chamber that
daie. And if he had not wiselie boolted out the matter, the good honest
man (saith he) had surelie beene cast into prison, and put on the
racke, &c.

♦[*] [text (.)]♦

♦Note that during all Christs time upon earth, which was 33. yeares,
witches were put to silence, &c.♦

♦[†] [Not in Vulg.]♦

♦[‡] [= crack]
[Cf. p. _91_.]♦

The like storie we read of one _Cunegunda_, wife to _Henrie_ the second
emperor of that name, in whose chamber the divell (in the likenes of a
yoongman, with whome she was suspected to be too familiar in court) was
often seene comming in and out. How beit, she was purged by the triall
_Candentis ferri_, and prooved innocent: for she went upon glowing iron
unhurt, &c. And yet _Salomon_ saith; Maie a man carrie fier in his
bosome, and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man go upon coles,
& his feete not scortched? And thus might the divell get him up into
everie pulpit, and spred heresies, as I doubt not but he dooth in the
mouth of wicked preachers, though not so grosselie as is imagined and
reported by the papists and witchmongers. And because it shall not
be said that I beelie them, I will cite a storie crediblie reported
by their cheefest doctors; namelie _James Sprenger_, and _Henrie
Institor_, who saie as followeth, even word for word.

♦But Christs argument was undoubted: _Ergo, &c._♦

♦I marvell for what purpose the magistrate went to that fellowes house.♦

♦_Albertus Crantzius in lib. 4. metropolis. cap. 4._♦

♦Prov. 6.♦

♦_Mal. malef. par. 2. quæ. 1. cap. 9._♦

The sixt Chapter.

_How the divell preached good doctrine in the shape of a
preest, how he was discovered, and that it is a shame (after
confutation of the greater witchcrafts) for anie man to give
credit to the lesser points thereof._

On a time the divell went up into a pulpit, and there made a verie
catholike sermon: but a holie preest comming to the good speed, by
his holinesse perceived that it was the divell. So he gave good eare
unto him, but could find no fault with his doctrine. And therefore
so soone as the sermon was doone, he called the divell unto him,
demanding the cause of his sincere preaching; who answered: Behold I
speake the truth, knowing that while men be hearers of the word, and
not followers, God is the more offended, and my kingdome the more
inlarged. And this was the strangest devise (I thinke) that ever anie
divell used: for the apostles themselves could have done no more.
Againe, when with all their familiars, their ointments, &c: whereby
they ride invisiblie, nor with all their charmes, they can neither
conveie themselves from the hands of such as laie wait for them; nor
can get out of prison, that otherwise can go in and out at a mouse
hole[*]; nor finallie can save themselves from the gallowes, that can
transubstantiate their own and others bodies into flies or fleas, &c:
who seeth not, that either they lie, or are beelied in their miracles?
When they are said to transfer their neighbors corne into their owne
ground, and yet are perpetuall beggers, and cannot inrich themselves,
either with monie or otherwise: who is so foolish as to remaine longer
in doubt of their supernaturall power? When never any yet from the
beginning of the world till this daie, hath openlie shewed any other
tricke, conceipt, or cunning point of witchcraft, than legierdemaine
or cousenage: who will tarrie any longer for further triall? When both
the common law and also the injunctions doo condemne prophesieng, &
likewise false miracles, and such as beleeve them in these daies: who
will not be afraid to give credit to those knaveries? When heereby they
make the divell to be a god that heareth the praiers, and understandeth
the minds of men: who will not be ashamed, being a christian, to be
so abused by them? When they that doo write most franklie of these
matters, except lieng _Sprenger_ & _Institor_, have never seene any
thing heerin; insomuch as the most credible proofe that _Bodin_
bringeth of his woonderfull tales of witchcraft, is the report of his
host at an alehouse where he baited: who will give further eare unto
these incredible fables? When in all the new testament, we are not
warned of these bodilie appearances of divels, as we are of his other
subtilties, &c: who will be afraid of their bugs? When no such bargaine
is mentioned in the scriptures, why should we beleeve so incredible and
impossible covenants, being the ground of all witchmongers religion,
without the which they have no probabilitie in the rest of their
foolish assertions? When as, if any honest mans conscience be appealed
unto, he must confesse he never saw triall of such witchcraft or
conjuration to take effect, as is now so certeinlie affirmed: what
conscience can condemne poore soules that are accused wrongfullie,
or beleeve them that take upon them impiouslie to doo or worke those
impossible things? When the whole course of the scripture is utterlie
repugnant to these impossible opinions, saving a few sentences, which
neverthelesse rightlie understood, releeve them nothing at all: who
will be seduced by their fond arguments? When as now that men have
spied the knaverie of oracles, & such pelfe, and that there is not one
oracle in the world remaining: who cannot perceive that all the residue
heeretofore of those devises, have beene cousenages, knaveries, and
lies? When the power of God is so impudentlie transferred to a base
creature, what good christian can abide to yeeld unto such miracles
wrought by fooles? When the old women accused of witchcraft, are
utterlie insensible, and unable to saie for themselves; and much lesse
to bring such matters to passe, as they are accused of: who will not
lament to see the extremitie used against them? When the foolisher sort
of people are alwaies most mistrustfull of hurt by witchcraft, and the
simplest and dotingest people mistrusted to doo the hurt: what wise man
will not conceive all to be but follie? When it were an easie matter
for the divell, if he can doo as they affirme, to give them great store
of monie, and make them rich, and dooth it not; being a thing which
would procure him more disciples than any other thing in the world:
the wise must needs condemne the divell of follie, and the witches
of peevishnesse, that take such paines, and give their soules to the
divell to be tormented in hell fier, and their bodies to the hangman to
be trussed on the gallowes, for nichels in a bag.

♦He should rather have asked who gave him orders and licence to preach.♦

♦[*] [pp. _91, 222_.]♦

♦_John. Bodin._♦

♦Yet manie that beare the shew of honest men are verie credulous
heerein.♦

♦Witches are cōmonlie verie beggers.♦

The seventh Chapter.

_A conclusion against witchcraft, in maner and forme of
an Induction._

By this time all kentishmen know (a few fooles excepted) that Robin
goodfellowe is a knave. All wisemen understand that witches miraculous
enterprises, being contrarie to nature, probabilitie and reason,
are void of truth or possibilitie. All protestants perceive, that
popish charmes, conjurations, execrations, and benedictions are not
effectuall, but be toies and devises onelie to keepe the people blind,
and to inrich the cleargie. All christians see, that to confesse
witches can doo as they saie, were to attribute to a creature the
power of the Creator. All children well brought up conceive and spie,
or at the least are taught, that juglers miracles doo consist of
legierdemaine and confederacie. The verie heathen people are driven to
confesse, that there can be no such conference betweene a spirituall
divell and a corporall witch, as is supposed. For no doubt, all the
heathen would then have everie one his familiar divell; for they would
make no conscience to acquaint themselves with a divell that are not
acquainted with God.

♦A generall conclusion against them whō the subject of this book
concerneth♦

I have dealt, and conferred with manie (marrie I must confesse papists
for the most part) that mainteine every point of these absurdities.
And surelie I allow better of their judgements, than of others, unto
whome some part of these cousenages are discovered and seene: and yet
concerning the residue, they remaine as wise as they were before;
speciallie being satisfied in the highest and greatest parts of
conjuring and cousening; to wit, in poperie, and yet will be abused
with beggerlie jugling, and witchcraft.

The eight Chapter.

_Of naturall witchcraft or fascination._

But bicause I am loth to oppose my selfe against all the writers
heerin, or altogither to discredit their stories, or wholie to deface
their reports, touching the effects of fascination or witchcraft; I
will now set downe certeine parts thereof, which although I my selfe
cannot admit, without some doubts, difficulties and exceptions, yet
will I give free libertie to others to beleeve them, if they list; for
that they doo not directlie oppugne my purpose.

Manie great and grave authors write, and manie fond writers also
affirme, that there are certeine families in _Aphrica_ which with their
voices bewitch whatsoever they praise. Insomuch as, if they commend
either plant, corne, infant, horsse, or anie other beasts, the same
presentlie withereth, decaieth and dieth. This mysterie of witchcraft
is not unknowne or neglected of our witchmongers, and superstitious
fooles heere in _Europa_. But to shew you examples neere home heere
in _England_, as though our voice had the like operation: you shall
not heare a butcher or horssecourser cheapen a bullocke or a jade,
but if he buie him not, he saith, God save him; if he doo forget it,
and the horsse or bullocke chance to die, the fault is imputed to the
chapman. Certeinelie the sentence is godlie, if it doo proceed from a
faithfull and a godlie mind: but if it be spoken as a superstitious
charme, by those words and syllables to compound with the fascination
and misadventure of infortunate words, the phrase is wicked and
superstitious, though there were farre greater shew of godlinesse than
appeereth therein.

♦_Isigonus. Memphradorus. Solon, &c. Vairus. J. Bodinus. Mal. malef._♦

The ninth Chapter.

_Of inchanting or bewitching eies._

Manie writers agree with _Virgil_ and _Theocritus_ in the effect of
witching eies, affirming that in _Scythia_, there are women called
_Bithiæ_, having two balles or rather blacks in the apple of their
eies. And as _Didymus_ reporteth, some have in the one eie two such
balles, and in the other the image of a horsse. These (forsooth) with
their angrie lookes doo bewitch and hurt not onelie yoong lambs, but
yoong children. There be other that reteine such venome in their
eies, and send it foorth by beames and streames so violentlie, that
therewith they annoie not onlie them with whom they are conversant
continuallie; but also all other, whose companie they frequent, of what
age, strength, or complexion soever they be: as _Cicero_, _Plutarch_,
_Philarchus_, and manie others give out in their writings.

♦With the like propertie were the old Illyrian people indued: if we
will credit the words of Sabinus grounded upon the report of Aul. Gell.♦

This fascination (saith _John Baptista Porta Neapolitanus_) though it
begin by touching or breathing, is alwaies accomplished and finished
by the eie, as an extermination or expulsion of the spirits through
the eies, approching to the hart of the bewitched, and infecting the
same, &c. Wherby it commeth to passe, that a child, or a yoong man
endued with a cleare, whole, subtill and sweet bloud, yeeldeth the
like spirits, breath, and vapors springing from the purer bloud of the
hart. And the lightest and finest spirits, ascending into the highest
parts of the head, doo fall into the eies, and so are from thence sent
foorth, as being of all other parts of the bodie the most cleare,
and fullest of veines and pores, and with the verie spirit or vapor
proceeding thence, is conveied out as it were by beames and streames
a certeine fierie force; whereof he that beholdeth sore eies shall
have good experience. For the poison and disease in the eie infecteth
the aire next unto it, and the same proceedeth further, carrieng with
it the vapor and infection of the corrupted bloud: with the contagion
whereof, the eies of the beholders are most apt to be infected. By this
same meanes it is thought that the cockatrice depriveth the life, and a
woolfe taketh awaie the voice of such as they suddenlie meete withall
and behold.

♦_J. Bap. Neapol. in lib. de naturali magia._♦

♦This is held of some for truth.♦

Old women, in whome the ordinarie course of nature faileth in the
office of purging their naturall monethlie humors, shew also some
proofe hereof. For (as the said _J.B.P.N._ reporteth, alledging
_Aristotle_ for his author) they leave in a looking glasse a certeine
froth, by meanes of the grosse vapors proceeding out of their eies.
Which commeth so to passe, bicause those vapors or spirits, which so
abundantlie come from their eies, cannot pearse and enter into the
glasse, which is hard, and without pores, and therefore resisteth:
but the beames which are carried in the chariot or conveiance of the
spirits, from the eies of one bodie to another, doo pearse to the
inward parts, and there breed infection, whilest they search and seeke
for their proper region. And as these beames & vapors doo proceed from
the hart of the one, so are they turned into bloud about the hart of
the other: which bloud disagreeing with the nature of the bewitched
partie, infeebleth the rest of his bodie, and maketh him sicke: the
contagion wherof so long continueth, as the distempered bloud hath
force in the members. And bicause the infection is of bloud, the fever
or sicknes will be continuall; whereas if it were of choler, or flegme,
it would be intermittent or alterable.

♦_Non est in speculo res quæ speculatur in eo._♦

The tenth Chapter.

_Of naturall witchcraft for love, &c._

But as there is fascination and witchcraft by malicious and angrie eies
unto displeasure: so are there witching aspects, tending contrariwise
to love, or at the least, to the procuring of good will and liking.
For if the fascination or witchcraft be brought to passe or provoked
by the desire, by the wishing and coveting of anie beautifull shape or
favor, the venome is strained through the eies, though it be from a
far, and the imagination of a beautifull forme resteth in the hart of
the lover, and kindleth the fier wherewith it is afflicted. And bicause
the most delicate, sweete, and tender bloud of the belooved doth there
wander, his countenance is there represented shining in his owne bloud,
and cannot there be quiet; and is so haled from thence, that the bloud
of him that is wounded, reboundeth and slippeth into the wounder,
according to the saieng of _Lucretius_ the poet to the like purpose and
meaning in these verses:

♦Nescio quis oculus teneros mihi fascinat agnos, saith _Virgil_: and
thus Englished by _Abraham Fleming_:

_I wote not I
What witching eie
Doth use to hant
My tender lams
Sucking their dams
And them inchant,_
♦

_Idque petit corpus, mens unde est saucia amore,
Námque omnes plerúnque cadunt in vulnus, & illam
Emicat in partem sanguis, unde icimur ictu;
Et si cominùs est, os tum ruber occupat humor:_

_And to that bodie tis rebounded,
From whence the mind by love is wounded,
For in a maner all and some,
Into that wound of love doo come,
And to that part the bloud doth flee
From whence with stroke we striken bee,
If hard at hand, and neere in place,
Then ruddie colour filles the face._

♦_Englished by Abraham Fleming._♦

Thus much may seeme sufficient touching this matter of naturall
magicke; whereunto though much more may be annexed, yet for the
avoiding of tediousnes, and for speedier passage to that which
remaineth; I will breake off this present treatise. And now somewhat
shall be said concerning divels and spirits in the discourse
following.

_A Discourse upon divels and spirits,
and first of philosophers opinions, also the
maner of their reasoning hereupon;[*]
and the same confuted._

♦[*] [This line Ital.]♦

The first Chapter.

There is no question nor theme (saith _Hierome Cardane_) so difficult
to deale in, nor so noble an argument to dispute upon, as this of
divels and spirits. For that being confessed or doubted of, the
eternitie of the soule is either affirmed or denied. The heathen
philosophers reson hereof amongest themselves in this sort. First,
they that mainteine the perpetuitie of the soule, saie that if the
soule died with the bodie; to what end should men take paines either
to live well or die well, when no reward for vertue nor punishment for
vice insueth after this life, the which otherwise they might spend in
ease and securitie? The other sort saie that vertue and honestie is
to be pursued, _Non spe præmii, sed virtutis amore_, that is, Not for
hope of reward, but for love of vertue. If the soule live ever (saie
the other) the least portion of life is here. And therefore we that
mainteine the perpetuitie of the soule, may be of the better comfort
and courage, to susteine with more constancie the losse of children,
yea and the losse of life it selfe: whereas, if the soule were mortall,
all our hope and felicitie were to be placed in this life, which manie
Atheists (I warrant you) at this daie doo. But both the one and the
other missed the cushion. For, to doo anie thing without Christ, is
to wearie our selves in vaine; sith in him onelie our corruptions are
purged. And therefore the follie of the Gentils, that place _Summum
bonum_ in the felicitie of the bodie, or in the happines or pleasures
of the mind, is not onelie to be derided, but also abhorred. For, both
our bodies and minds are intermedled with most miserable calamities:
and therefore therin cannot consist perfect felicitie. But in the
word of God is exhibited and offered unto us that hope which is most
certeine, absolute, sound & sincere, not to be answered or denied
by the judgement of philosophers themselves. For they that preferre
temperance before all other things as _Summum bonum_, must needs
see it to be but a witnesse of their naturall calamitie, corruption
and wickednes; and that it serveth for nothing, but to restraine the
dissolutenes, which hath place in their minds infected with vices;
which are to be bridled with such corrections: yea and the best of
them all faileth in some point of modestie. Wherefore serveth our
philosophers prudence, but to provide for their owne follie and
miserie; whereby they might else be utterlie overthrowne? And if their
nature were not intangled in errors, they should have no need of such
circumspection. The justice whereof they speake, serveth but to keepe
them from ravine, theft, and violence: and yet none of them all are so
just, but that the verie best and uprightest of them fall into great
infirmities, both dooing and suffering much wrong and injurie. And what
is their fortitude, but to arme them to endure miserie, greefe, danger,
and death it selfe? But what happinesse or goodnesse is to be reposed
in that life, which must be waited upon with such calamities, and
finallie must have the helpe of death to finish it? I saie, if it be so
miserable, why doo they place _Summum bonum_ therein? S. _Paule_ to the
_Romans_ sheweth, that it cannot be that we should atteine to justice,
through the morall and naturall actions and duties of this life:
bicause that never the Jewes nor the Gentiles could expresse so much in
their lives, as the verie lawe of nature or of _Moses_ required. And
therefore he that worketh without Christ, doth as he that reckoneth
without his host.

♦_H. Card. lib. de var. rer. 16. cap. 93._♦

♦The Platonists and Stoiks.♦

♦The Epicureans and Peripatetiks.♦

♦_Summum bonum_ cannot consist in the happines of the bodie or mind.♦

♦Morall tēperance.♦

♦Morall prudence.♦

♦Morall justice.♦

♦Morall fortitude.♦

♦Rom. 2.♦

The second Chapter.

_Mine owne opinion concerning this argument, to the disproofe of
some writers hereupon._

I for my part doo also thinke this argument, about the nature &
substance of divels and spirits, to be so difficult, as I am persuaded
that no one author hath in anie certeine or perfect sort hitherto
written thereof. In which respect I can neither allow the ungodly and
prophane sects and doctrines of the _Sadduces_ & _Peripatetiks_, who
denie that there are any divels or spirits at all; nor the fond &
superstitious treatises of _Plato_, _Proclus_, _Plotinus_, _Porphyrie_;
nor yet the vaine & absurd opinions of _Psellus_, _Nider_, _Sprenger_,
_Cumanus_, _Bodin_, _Michaël_, _Andræas_, _Janus Matthæus_,
_Laurentius Ananias_, _Jamblichus_, _&c_: who with manie others write
so ridiculouslie in these matters, as if they were babes fraied with
bugges; some affirming that the soules of the dead become spirits, the
good to be angels, the bad to be divels; some that spirits or divels
are onelie in this life; some, that they are men; some, that they are
women; some, that divels are of such gender as they list themselves;
some, that they had no beginning, nor shall have ending, as the
_Manicheis_ mainteine; some, that they are mortall & die, as _Plutarch_
affirmeth of _Pan_; some, that they have no bodies at all, but receive
bodies, according to their phantasies & imaginations; some, that their
bodies are given unto them; some, that they make themselves. Some saie
they are wind; some, that they are the breath of living creatures;
some, that one of them begat another; some, that they were created of
the least part of the masse, whereof the earth was made; and some, that
they are substances betweene God and man, and that of them some are
terrestriall, some celestiall, some waterie, some airie, some fierie,
some starrie, and some of each and everie part of the elements, and
that they know our thoughts, and carrie our good works and praiers to
God, and returne his benefits backe unto us, and that they are to be
worshipped: wherein they meete and agree jumpe with the papists; as if
you read the notes upon the second chapter to the _Colossians_, in the
Seminaries testament printed at _Rhemes_, you shall manifestlie see,
though as contrarie to the word of God as blacke to white, as appeareth
in the _Apocalypse_, where the angell expresselie forbad _John_ to
worship him.

♦The question about spirits doubtfull and difficult.♦

♦_Plotinus._ The Greks. _Laur. Ananias._♦

♦The Manicheis.♦

♦_Plutarch._♦

♦_Psellus. Mal. malef._
Avicen, and the Caballists.♦

♦The Thalmudists.♦

♦_Psellus, &c._♦

♦The Platonists.♦

♦The Papists.♦

♦Apoc. 19. 10
Ibid. 22. 8. 9.♦

Againe, some saie that they are meane betwixt terrestriall and
celestiall bodies, communicating part of each nature; and that although
they be eternall, yet that they are mooved with affections: and as
there are birds in the aire, fishes in the water, and wormes in the
earth; so in the fourth element, which is the fier, is the habitation
of spirits and divels. And least we should thinke them idle, they
saie they have charge over men, and governement in all countries and
nations. Some saie that they are onelie imaginations in the mind of
man. _Tertullian_ saith they are birds, and flie faster than anie fowle
of the aire. Some saie that divels are not, but when they are sent; and
therefore are called evill angels. Some thinke that the divell sendeth
his angels abrode, and he himselfe maketh his continuall abode in hell,
his mansion place.

♦The Sadduces.♦

The third Chapter.

_The opinion of Psellus touching spirits, of their severall orders,
and a confutation of his errors therein._

_Psellus_ being of authoritie in the church of _Rome_, and not
impugnable by anie catholike, being also instructed in these
supernaturall or rather diabolicall matters by a monke called _Marcus_,
who had beene familiarlie conversant a long time, as he said, with a
certeine divell, reporteth upon the same divels owne word, which must
needs understand best the state of this question, that the bodies of
angels and divels consist not now of all one element, though perhaps
it were otherwise before the fall of _Lucifer_; and that the bodies
of spirits and divels can feele and be felt, doo hurt and be hurt: in
so much as they lament when they are stricken; and being put to the
fier are burnt, and yet that they themselves burne continuallie, in
such sort as they leave ashes behind them in places where they have
beene; as manifest triall thereof hath beene (if he saie truelie) in
the borders of _Italie_. He also saith upon like credit and assurance,
that divels and spirits doo avoid and shed from out of their bodies,
such seed or nature, as whereby certeine vermine are ingendered; and
that they are nourished with food, as we are, saving that they receive
it not into their mouthes, but sucke it up into their bodies, in such
sort as sponges soke up water. Also he saith they have names, shapes,
and dwelling places, as indeed they have, though not in temporall and
corporall sort.

♦_Psellus de operatione dæmonum, cap. 8._♦

♦Such are spirits walking in white sheetes, &c.♦

♦_Psellus, ibid. cap. 9._♦

♦_Idem. cap. 10._♦

Furthermore, he saith, that there are six principall kind of divels,
which are not onelie corporall, but temporall and worldlie. The first
sort consist of fier, wandering in the region neere to the moone, but
have no power to go into the moone. The second sort consisting of aire,
have their habitation more lowe and neere unto us: these (saith he)
are proud and great boasters, verie wise and deceitfull, and when they
come downe are seene shining with streames of fier at their taile. He
saith that these are commonlie conjured up to make images laugh, and
lamps burne of their owne accord; and that in _Assyria_ they use much
to prophesie in a bason of water. Which kind of incantation is usuall
among our conjurors: but it is here commonlie performed in a pitcher or
pot of water; or else in a violl of glasse filled with water, wherin
they say at the first a litle sound is heard without a voice, which is
a token of the divels comming. Anon the water seemeth to be troubled,
and then there are heard small voices, wherewith they give their
answers, speaking so softlie as no man can well heare them: bicause
(saith _Cardane_) they would not be argued or rebuked of lies. But
this I have else-where more largelie described and confuted. The third
sort of divels _Psellus_ saith are earthlie; the fourth waterie, or of
the sea; the fift under the earth; the sixt sort are _Lucifugi_, that
is, such as delight in darkenes, & are scant indued with sense, and so
dull, as they can scarse be mooved with charmes or conjurations.

♦_Idem ibid. cap. 11._♦

♦Oh hethenish, nay oh papisticall follie!♦

♦The opinions of all papists.♦

♦A cousening knaverie.♦

♦_H. Card. lib. de var. rer. 16. cap. 93._♦

The same man saith, that some divels are woorse than other, but yet
that they all hate God, and are enimies to man. But the woorser moitie
of divels are _Aquei_, _Subterranei_, and _Lucifugi_;[*] that is,
waterie, under the earth, and shunners of light: bicause (saith he)
these hurt not the soules of men, but destroie mens bodies like mad and
ravening beasts, molesting both the inward and outward parts thereof.
_Aquei_ are they that raise tempests, and drowne seafaring men, and
doo all other mischeefes on the water. _Subterranei_ and _Lucifugi_
enter into the bowels of men, and torment them that they possesse with
the phrensie, and the falling evill. They also assault them that are
miners or pioners, which use to worke in deepe and darke holes under
the earth. Such divels as are earthie and aierie, he saith enter by
subtiltie into the minds of men, to deceive them, provoking men to
absurd and unlawfull affections.

♦Divels of diverse natures, and their operations.♦

♦[*] [These three Ital.]♦

But herein his philosophie is verie unprobable, for if the divell be
earthie, he must needs be palpable; if he be palpable, he must needs
kill them into whose bodies he entereth. Item, if he be of earth
created, then must he also be visible and untransformable in that
point: for Gods creation cannot be annihilated by the creature. So as,
though it were granted, that they might adde to their substance matter
and forme, &c: yet is it most certeine, that they cannot diminish or
alter the substance whereof they consist, as not to be (when they list)
spirituall, or to relinquish and leave earth, water, fier, aier, or
this and that element whereof they are created. But howsoever they
imagine of water, aier, or fier, I am sure earth must alwaies be
visible and palpable; yea, and aier must alwaies be invisible, and fier
must be hot, and water must be moist. And of these three latter bodies,
speciallie of water and aier, no forme nor shape can be exhibited to
mortall eies naturallie, or by the power of anie creature.

♦The former opinion confuted.♦

The fourth Chapter.

_More absurd assertions of Psellus and such others, concerning
the actions and passions of spirits, his definition of them,
and of his experience therein._

Moreover, the same author saith, that spirits whisper in our minds,
and yet not speaking so lowd, as our eares may heare them: but in such
sort as our soules speake together when they are dissolved; making
an example by lowd speaking a farre off, and a comparison of soft
whispering neere hand, so as the divell entreth so neere to the mind as
the eare need not heare him; and that everie part of a divell or spirit
seeth, heareth, and speaketh, &c. But herein I will beleeve _Paule_
better than _Psellus_, or his monke, or the moonks divell. For _Paule_
saith; If the whole bodie were an eie, where were hearing? If the whole
bodie were hearing, where were smelling, &c. Whereby you may see what
accord is betwixt Gods word and witchmongers.

♦_Psellus lib. de operat. dæm. cap. 12._♦

♦If this were spoken of the temptations, &c. of satan, it were
tollerable.♦

♦1. Cor. 12.♦

The papists proceed in this matter, and saie, that these spirits use
great knaverie and unspeakeable bawderie in the breech and middle parts
of man and woman, by tickeling, and by other lecherous devises; so that
they fall jumpe in judgement and opinion, though verie erroniouslie,
with the foresaid _Psellus_, of whose doctrine also this is a parcell;
to wit, that these divels hurt not cattell for the hate they beare unto
them, but for love of their naturall and temperate heate and moisture,
being brought up in deepe, drie and cold places: marie they hate the
heate of the sun and the fier, bicause that kind of heate drieth too
fast. They throwe downe stones upon men, but the blowes thereof doo
no harme to them whome they hit; bicause they are not cast with anie
force: for (saith he) the divels have little and small strength, so as
these stones doo nothing but fraie and terrifie men, as scarecrowes doo
birds out of the corne feelds. But when these divels enter into the
pores, than doo they raise woonderfull tumults in the bodie and mind
of man. And if it be a subterrene divell, it dooth writh and bow the
possessed, and speaketh by him, using the spirit of the patient as his
instrument. But he saith, that when _Lucifugus_ possesseth a man, he
maketh him dumbe, and as it were dead: and these be they that are cast
out (saith he) onelie by fasting and praier.

♦_Psellus. ibid. cap. 13._♦

♦If a babe of two yeeres old throwe stones from Powles steeple, they
will doo hurt, &c.♦

♦Howbeit I thinke the spirit of tentation to be that divell; &
therefore Christ biddeth us watch and praie, least we be temted, &c.♦

The same _Psellus_, with his mates _Bodin_ and the penners of _M.
Mal._ and others, doo find fault with the physicians that affirme
such infirmities to be cureable with diet, and not by inchantments;
saieng, that physicians doo onlie attend upon the bodie, & that which
is perceiveable by outward sense; and that as touching this kind of
divine philosophie, they have no skill at all. And to make divels and
spirits seeme yet more corporall and terrene, he saith that certeine
divels are belonging to certeine countries, and speake the languages
of the same countries, and none other; some the _Assyrian_, some the
_Chaldæan_, & some the _Persian_ toong, and that they feele stripes,
and feare hurt, and speciallie the dint of the sword (in which respect
conjurors have swords with them in their circles, to terrifie them) and
that they change shapes, even as suddenlie as men doo change colour
with blushing, feare, anger, and other moods of the mind. He saith yet
further, that there be brute beasts among them, and yet divels, and
subject to anie kind of death; insomuch as they are so foolish, as they
may be compared to flies, fleas, and wormes, who have no respect to any
thing but their food, not regarding or remembring the hole from out of
whence they came last. Marrie divels compounded of earth, cannot often
transforme themselves, but abide in some one shape, such as they best
like, and most delight in; to wit, in the shape of birds or women: and
therefore the Greeks call them _Neidas_, _Nereidas_, and _Dreidas_
in the feminine gender; which _Dreidæ_ inhabited (as some write) the
ilands beside _Scotland_ called _Druidæ_, which by that meanes had
their denomination and name. Other divels that dwell in drier places
transforme themselves into the masculine kind. Finallie _Psellus_
saith they know our thoughts, and can prophesie of things to come. His
definition is, that they are perpetuall minds in a passible bodie.

♦_Psel. in operat. dæm. cap. 14._♦

♦_Idem. cap. 17_♦

♦Beastlike divels.♦

♦But _Psellus_ sawe nothing himselfe.♦

To verefie these toies he saith, that he himselfe sawe in a certeine
night a man brought up by _Aletus Libius_ into a mountaine, and that
he tooke an hearbe, and spat thrise into his mouth, and annointed his
eies with a certeine ointment, so as thereby he sawe great troopes
of divels, and perceived a crowe to flie into his mouth; and since
that houre he could prophesie at all times, saving on good fridaie,
and easter sundaie. If the end of this tale were true, it might not
onelie have satisfied the Greeke church, in keeping the daie of easter,
togither with the church of _Rome_; but might also have made the pope
(that now is) content with our christmas and easter daie, and not to
have gathered the minuts together, and reformed it so, as to shew how
falselie he and his predecessors (whome they saie could not erre) have
observed it hitherto. And trulie this, and the dansing of the sunne on
easter daie morning sufficientlie or rather miraculouslie proveth that
computation, which the pope now beginneth to doubt of, and to call in
question.

♦Probable and likelie stuffe.♦

The fift Chapter.

_The opinion of Fascius Cardanus touching spirits, and of his
familiar divell._

_Fascius Cardanus_ had (as he himselfe and his sonne _Hierome Cardanus_
report) a familiar divell, consisting of the fierie element, who, so
long as he used conjuration, did give true answers to all his demands:
but when he burned up his booke of conjurations, though he resorted
still unto him, yet did he make false answers continuallie. He held him
bound twentie & eight yeares, and loose five yeares. And during the
time that he was bound, he told him that there were manie divels or
spirits. He came not alwaies alone, but sometimes some of his fellowes
with him. He rather agreed with _Psellus_ than with _Plato_: for he
said they were begotten, borne, died, and lived long; but how long,
they told him not: howbeit as he might conjecture by his divels face,
who was 42. yeares old, and yet appeared verie yoong, he thought they
lived two or three hundred yeares; and they said that their soules and
ours also died with their bodies. They had schooles and universities
among them: but he conceived not that anie were so dull headded, as
_Psellus_ maketh them. But they are verie quicke in credit, that
beleeve such fables, which indeed is the groundworke of witchcraft and
conjuration. But these histories are so grosse and palpable, that I
might be thought as wise in going about to confute them, as to answer
the stories of Frier _Rush_, Adam Bell, or the golden Legend.

♦_Fasc. Card. operat. de dæmon._♦

The sixt Chapter.

_The opinion of Plato concerning spirits, divels and angels,
what sacrifices they like best, what they feare, and of
Socrates his familiar divell._

_Plato_ and his followers hold, that good spirits appeare in their
owne likenesse; but that evill spirits appeare and shew themselves in
the forme of other bodies; and that one divell reigneth over the rest,
as a prince dooth in everie perfect commonwelth over men. Item, they
obteine their purposes and desires, onelie by intreatie, of men and
women; bicause in nature they are their inferiors, and use authoritie
over men none otherwise than priests by vertue of their function, and
bicause of religion, wherein (they saie) they execute the office of
God. Sometimes they saie that the fierie spirits or supreme substances
enter into the puritie of the mind, and so obteine their purpose;
sometimes otherwise, to wit, by vertue of holie charmes, and even as a
poore man obteineth for Gods sake anie thing at a princes hand as it
were by importunatnesse.

♦The Platonists opinion.♦

The other sort of divels and defiled soules are so conversant on
earth, as that they doo much hurt unto earthlie bodies, speciallie in
lecherie. Gods and angels (saie they) bicause they want all materiall
and grosse substance, desire most the pure sacrifice of the mind. The
grosser and more terrestriall spirits desire the grosser sacrifices; as
beasts and cattell. They in the middle or meane region delight to have
frankincense, and such meane stuffe offered unto them: and therefore
(saie they) it is necessarie to sacrifice unto them, all maner of
things, so the same be slaine, and die not of their owne accord: for
such they abhorre. Some saie that spirits feare woonderfullie vaine
threats, and thereupon will depart; as if you tell them that you will
cut the heavens in peeces, or reveale their secrets, or complaine of
them to the gods, or saie that you will doo anie impossibilitie, or
such things as they cannot understand; they are so timerous, as they
will presentlie be gone: and that is thought the best waie to be rid of
them. But these be most commonlie of that sort or companie, which are
called _Principatus_, being of all other the most easie to be conjured.

♦What kind of sacrifices each spirit liketh best.♦

They saie _Socrates_ had a familiar divell: which _Plato_ relieth
much upon, using none other argument to proove that there are such
spirits, but bicause _Socrates_ (that would not lie) said so; and
partlie bicause that divell did ever dissuade and prohibit, not onelie
in _Socrates_ his owne cases, but sometimes in his freends behalfe;
who (if they had beene ruled) might through his admonition have saved
their lives. His disciples gathered that his divell was Saturnall, and
a principall fierie divell; and that he, and all such as doo naturallie
know their divels, are onlie such as are called _Dæmonii viri_,
otherwise, Couseners. Item, they saie that fierie spirits urge men to
contemplation, the aierie to busines, the waterie to lust; and among
these there are some that are Martiall, which give fortitude; some are
Joviall, giving wisedome; some Saturniall, alwaies using dissuasion and
dehorting. Item, some are borne with us, and remaine with us all our
life; some are meere strangers, who are nothing else but the soules of
men departed this life, &c.

♦Of Socrates his private divell or familiar spirit.♦

The seventh Chapter.

_Platos nine orders of spirits and angels, Dionysius his
division thereof not much differing from the same, all
disprooved by learned divines._

_Plato_ proposeth or setteth foorth nine severall orders of spirits,
besides the spirits and soules of men. The first spirit is God that
commandeth all the residue; the second are those that are called
_Ideæ_, which give all things to all men; the third are the soules of
heavenlie bodies which are mortall; the fourth are angels; the fift
archangels; the sixt are divels, who are ministers to infernall powers,
as angels are to supernall; the seventh are halfe gods; the eight are
principalities; the ninth are princes. From which division _Dionysius_
dooth not much swarve, saving that he dealeth (as he saith) onelie with
good spirits, whome he likewise divideth into nine parts or offices.
The first he calleth Seraphim, the second Cherubim, the third thrones,
the fourth dominations, the fift vertues, the sixt powers, the seventh
principalities, the eight archangels, the ninth and inferior sort he
calleth angels. Howbeit, some of these (in my thinking) are evill
spirits: or else _Paule_ gave us evill counsell, when he willed us to
fight against principalities, and powers, and all spirituall wickednes.

♦_Dionys. in cælest. hierarch. cap. 9. 10._♦

♦Ephes. 6.♦

But _Dionysius_ in that place goeth further, impropriating to everie
countrie, and almost to everie person of anie accompt, a peculiar
angell; as to _Jewrie_, he assigneth _Michael_; to _Adam_, _Razael_; to
_Abraham_, _Zakiel_; to _Isaach_, _Raphael_; to _Jacob_, _Peliel_; to
_Moses_, _Metraton_, &c. But in these discourses he either folowed his
owne imaginations and conceipts, or else the corruptions of that age.
Nevertheles, I had rather confute him by M. _Calvine_, and my kinseman
M. _Deering_, than by my selfe, or mine owne words. For M. _Calvine_
saith, that _Dionysius_ herein speaketh not as by hearesaie, but as
though he had slipped downe from heaven, and told of things which he
had seene. And yet (saith he) _Paule_ was rapt into the third heaven,
and reporteth no such matters. But if you read M. _Deering_ upon the
first chapter to the _Hebrues_, you shall see this matter notablie
handled; where he saith, that whensoever archangell is mentioned in
the scriptures, it signifieth our saviour Christ, and no creature.
And certeine it is that Christ himselfe was called an angell. The
names also of angels, as _Michael, Gabriel, &c_: are given to them
(saith _Calvine_) according to the capacitie of our weakenesse. But
bicause the decision of this question is neither within the compasse
of mans capacitie, nor yet of his knowledge, I will proceed no further
to discusse the same, but to shew the absurd opinions of papists
and witchmongers on the one side, and the most sober and probable
collections of the contrarie minded on the other side.

♦_Dionys. in cælest. hierarch._♦

♦_J. Calv. lib. instit. 1. c. 14._♦

♦Edw. Deering, in lect. upon the Hebrues reading. 6.♦

♦Mal. 3. 1.♦

The eight Chapter.

_The commensement of divels fondlie gathered out of the 14.
of Isaie, of Lucifer and of his fall, the Cabalists the
Thalmudists and Schoolemens opinions of the creation of
angels._

The witchmoongers, which are most commonlie bastard divines, doo
fondlie gather and falselie conceive the commensement of divels
out of the fourteenth of _Isaie_; where they suppose _Lucifer_ is
cited, as the name of an angell; who on a time being desirous to be
checkemate with God himselfe, would needs (when God was gone a litle
asside) be sitting downe, or rather pirking up in Gods owne principall
and cathedrall chaire; and that therfore God cast him and all his
confederates out of heaven: so as some fell downe from thence to the
bottome of the earth; some having descended but into the midle region,
and the taile of them having not yet passed through the higher region,
staied even then & there, when God said, Ho. But God knoweth there is
no such thing ment nor mentioned in that place. For there is onlie
foreshewed the deposing and deprivation of king _Nabuchadnez-zar_, who
exalting himselfe in pride (as it were above the starres) esteemed his
glorie to surmount all others, as farre as _Lucifer_ the bright morning
starre shineth more gloriouslie than the other common starres, and was
punished by exile, untill such time as he had humbled himselfe; and
therefore metaphoricallie was called _Lucifer_.

♦Isai. 14.♦

But forsooth, bicause these great clarkes would be thought methodicall,
and to have crept out of wisedomes bosome, who rather cralled out of
follies breeches; they take upon them to shew us, first, whereof these
angels that fell from heaven were created; to wit, of the left side of
that massie moold, whereof the world was compounded, the which (saie
they) was _Putredo terræ_, that is, the rottennesse of the earth.
The _Cabalists_, with whome _Avicen_ seemeth to agree, saie that one
of these begat another: others saie, they were made all at once.
The Greekes doo write that angels were created before the world. The
Latinists saie they were made the fourth daie, when the starres were
made. _Laurence Ananias_ saith, they were made the first daie, and
could not be made the fourth daie, bicause it is written; _Quando facta
sunt sidera, laudaverunt me angeli_: so as (saith he) they were made
under the name of the heavens.

♦The opinion of the Thalmudists.♦

♦_Laur. Anan. lib. de natur. dæm. 1._♦

♦_Crœavit[*] cælum & terram._♦

♦[*] [_Creavit_]
[Gen. 1. 1. Vulg.]♦

There is also a great question among the schoolemen, whether more
angels fell downe with _Lucifer_, or remained in heaven with _Michael_.
Manie having a bad opinion of the angels honesties, affirme that the
greater part fell with _Lucifer_: but the better opinion is (saith
_Laurentius Ananias_) that the most part remained. And of them that
thinke so, some saie the tenth part were cast downe, some the ninth;
and some gather upon _S. John_, that the third part were onelie damned;
bicause it is written, that the dragon with his taile plucked downe
with him the third part of the starres.

♦_Lau. Anan. lib. de natur. dæm. 1._♦

The ninth Chapter.

_Of the contention betweene the Greeke and Latine church
touching the fall of angels, the variance among papists
themselves herein, a conflict betweene Michael and Lucifer._

There was also another contention betweene the Greeke church and the
Latine; to wit, of what orders of angels they were that did fall with
_Lucifer_. Our schoolemen saie they were of all the nine orders of
angels in _Lucifers_ conspiracie. But bicause the superior order was
of the more noble constitution and excellent estate, and the inferior
of a lesse worthie nature, the more part of the inferior orders
fell as guiltie and offenders with _Lucifer_. Some saie the divell
himselfe was of the inferior order of angels, and some that he was
of the highest order: bicause it is written, _In cherubim extentus
& protegens posui te in monte sancto Dei_. And these saie further,
that he was called the dragon, bicause of his excellent knowledge.
Finallie, these great doctors conclude, that the divell himselfe was
of the order of seraphim, which is the highest, because it is written,
_Quomodo enim manè oriebaris Lucifer?_[*] They of this sect affirme,
that _Cacodæmones_ were they that rebelled against _Jove_; I meane
they of _Plato_ his sect, himselfe also holding the same opinion. Our
schoolemen differ much in the cause of _Lucifers_ fall. For some said
it was for speaking these words, _Ponam sedem meam in aquilone, &
similis ero altissimo_:[†] others saie, bicause he utterlie refused
felicitie, and thought scorne therof; others saie, bicause he thought
all his strength proceeded from himselfe, and not from God; others
saie that it was, bicause he attempted to doo that by himselfe, and
his owne abilitie, which he should have obteined by the gift of
another; others saie, that his condemnation grew hereupon, for that he
challenged the place of the Messias; others saie, bicause he detracted
the time to adore the majestie of God, as other angels did; others
saie, bicause he utterlie refused it. _Scotus_ and his disciples saie
that it was, bicause he rebelliouslie claimed equall omnipotencie with
God: with whom lightlie the _Thomists_ never agree. Others saie it was
for all these causes together, and manie more: so as hereupon (saith
_Laurentius Ananias_) grew a wonderfull conflict betweene _Michaël_ and
the good angels on the one side, and _Lucifer_ and his freends on the
other: so as, after a long and doubtfull skirmish, _Michaël_ overthrew
_Lucifer_, and turned him and his fellowes out of the doores.

♦_Lau. Anan. lib. de natur. dæm. 1._♦

♦[*] [Isai. 14. 12]♦

♦I will settle my selfe in the north, and will be like the highest.♦

♦[†] [Isai. 14. 13, 14]♦

♦_Laur. Anan. lib. de natur. dæm. 1._♦

The tenth Chapter.

_Where the battell betweene Michael and Lucifer was fought, how
long it continued, and of their power, how fondlie papists
and infidels write of them, and how reverentlie Christians
ought to thinke of them._

Now where this battell was fought, and how long it continued, there
is as great contention among the schoolemen, as was betwixt _Michaël_
and _Lucifer_. The _Thomists_ saie this battell was fought in the
mpereiall[*] heaven, where the abode is of blessed spirits, and the
place of pleasure and felicitie. _Augustine_ and manie others saie,
that the battell was fought in the highest region of the aier; others
saie, in the firmament; others in paradise. The _Thomists_ also saie
it continued but one instant or pricke of time; for they tarried but
two instants in all, even from their creation to their expulsion.
The _Scotists_ saie, that betweene their production and their fall,
there were just foure instants. Nevertheles, the greatest number of
schoolemen affirme, that they continued onelie three instants: bicause
it stood with Gods justice, to give them three warnings; so as at the
third warning _Lucifer_ fell downe like led (for so are the words) to
the bottome of hell; the rest were left in the aire, to tempt man.
The _Sadduces_ were as grosse the other waie: for they said, that by
angels was ment nothing else, but the motion that God dooth inspire in
men, or the tokens of his power. He that readeth _Eusebius_ shall see
manie more absurd opinions and asseverations of angels: as how manie
thousand yeares they serve as angels, before they come to the promotion
of archangels, &c.

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

♦_Instans, viz. punctum temp. nempe individuum Nunc._♦

♦_Euseb. in ecclesi. histor._♦

_Monsieur Bodin_, _M. Mal._ and manie other papists gather upon the
seventh of _Daniel_, that there are just ten millians of angels in
heaven. Manie saie that angels are not by nature, but by office.
Finallie, it were infinite to shew the absurd and curious collections
hereabout. I for my part thinke with _Calvine_, that angels are
creatures of God; though _Moses_ spake nothing of their creation,
who onelie applied himselfe to the capacitie of the common people,
reciting nothing but things seene. And I saie further with him, that
they are heavenlie spirits, whose ministration and service God useth:
and in that respect are called angels. I saie yet againe with him,
that it is verie certeine, that they have no shape at all; for they
are spirits, who never have anie: and finallie, I saie with him, that
the scriptures, for the capacitie of our wit, dooth not in vaine paint
out angels unto us with wings; bicause we should conceive, that they
are readie swiftlie to succour us. And certeinlie all the sounder
divines doo conceive and give out, that both the names and also the
number of angels are set downe in the scripture by the Holie-ghost, in
termes to make us understand the greatnesse and the manner of their
messages; which (I saie) are either expounded by the number of angels,
or signified by their names.

♦_10000000. Johannes Cassianus in confessione theolog. tripart._♦

♦_J. Cal. lib. instit. 1. cap. 14. sect. 8._♦

Furthermore, the schoole doctors affirme, that foure of the superior
orders of angels never take anie forme or shape of bodies, neither are
sent of anie arrand at anie time. As for archangels, they are sent
onelie about great and secret matters; and angels are common hacknies
about evere trifle; and that these can take what shape or bodie they
list: marie they never take the forme of women or children. Item they
saie that angels take most terrible shapes: for _Gabriel_ appeared
to _Marie_, when he saluted hir, _Facie rutilante, veste coruscante,
ingressu mirabili, aspectu terribili, &c_: that is, with a bright
countenance, shining attire, wonderfull gesture, and a dredful vissage,
&c. But of apparitions I have spoken somewhat before, and will saie
more hearafter. It hath beene long, and continueth yet a constant
opinion, not onelie among the papists; but among others also, that
everie man hath assigned him, at the time of his nativitie, a good
angell and a bad. For the which there is no reason in nature, nor
authoritie in scripture. For not one angell, but all the angels are
said to rejoise more of one convert, than of ninetie and nine just.
Neither did one onelie angell conveie _Lazarus_ into _Abrahams_ bosome.
And therefore I conclude with _Calvine_, that he which referreth to one
angell, the care that GOD hath to everie one of us, dooth himselfe
great wrong: as may appeare by so manie fierie chariots shewed by
_Elizæus_ to his servant. But touching this mysterie of angels, let us
reverentlie thinke of them, and not curiouslie search into the nature
of them, considering the vilenes of our condition, in respect of the
glorie of their creation. And as for the foresaid fond imaginations and
fables of _Lucifer_, _&c_: they are such as are not onelie ridiculous,
but also accomptable among those impious curiosities, and vaine
questions, which _Paule_ speaketh of: neither have they anie tittle or
letter in the scripture for the maintenance of their grosse opinions in
this behalfe.

♦_Mich. And. thes. 107. 101._
_Idem thes. 103. 108._♦

♦Luk. 15, 7.♦

♦Luk. 16, 23.♦

♦_J. Cal. lib. instit. 1. cap. 14._♦

♦2. Reg. 16. 17♦

The eleventh Chapter.

_Whether they became divels which being angels kept not
their vocation, in Jude and Peter; of the fond opinions of
the Rabbins touching spirits and bugs, with a confutation
thereof._

We doo read in _Jude_, and find it confirmed in _Peter_, that the
angels kept not their first estate, but left their owne habitation, and
sinned, and (as _Job_ saith) committed follie: and that God therefore
did cast them downe into hell, reserving them in everlasting chaines
under darkenes, unto the judgement of the great daie. But manie divines
saie, that they find not anie where, that God made divels of them, or
that they became the princes of the world, or else of the aire; but
rather prisoners. Howbeit, divers doctors affirme, that this _Lucifer_,
notwithstanding his fall, hath greater power than any of the angels
in heaven: marrie they say that there be certeine other divels of
the inferiour sort of angels, which were then thrust out for smaller
faults, and therefore are tormented with little paines, besides eternal
damnation: and these (saie they) can doo little hurt. They affirme
also, that they onelie use certeine jugling knacks, delighting thereby
to make men laugh, as they travell by the high waies: but other (saie
they) are much more churlish. For proofe heereof they alledge the
eighth of _Matthew_, where he would none otherwise be satisfied but by
exchange, from the annoieng of one man, to the destruction of a whole
heard of swine. The _Rabbines_, and namelie _Rabbi Abraham_, writing
upon the second of Genesis, doo say, that God made the fairies, bugs,
_Incubus_, Robin good fellow, and other familiar or domesticall spirits
& divels on the fridaie: and being prevented with the evening of the
sabboth, finished them not, but left them unperfect; and therefore that
ever since they use to flie the holinesse of the sabboth, seeking
darke holes in mountaines and woods, wherein they hide themselves till
the end of the sabboth, and then come abroad to trouble and molest men.

♦Jud. vers. 6. 2. Pet. 2. 4.♦

♦_Mal. malef. par. 2. quæ 1. cap. 2. 3._♦

♦_Mal. malef. part. 2. cap. 1. quæst. 1._♦

♦_Mich. And. Laur. Anan. Mal. malef. &c._♦

♦_Author. lib. Zeor hammor in Gen. 2._♦

But as these opinions are ridiculous and fondlie collected; so if we
have onelie respect to the bare word, or rather to the letter, where
spirits or divels are spoken of in the scriptures, we shall run into as
dangerous absurdities as these are. For some are so carnallie minded,
that a spirit is no sooner spoken of, but immediatlie they thinke of
a blacke man with cloven feet, a paire of hornes, a taile, clawes,
and eies as broad as a bason, &c. But surelie the divell were not so
wise in his generation, as I take him to be, if he would terrifie men
with such uglie shapes, though he could doo it at his pleasure. For by
that meanes men should have good occasion & oportunitie to flie from
him, & to run to God for succour; as the maner is of all them that are
terrified, though perchance they thought not upon God of long time
before. But in truth we never have so much cause to be afraid of the
divell, as when he flatteringlie insinuateth himselfe into our harts,
to satisfie, please, and serve our humors, entising us to prosecute our
owne appetits and pleasures, without anie of these externall terrors. I
would weete of these men, where they doo find in the scriptures, that
some divels be spirituall, and some corporall; or how these earthie
or waterie divels enter into the mind of man. _Augustine_ saith, and
diverse others affirme, that sathan or the divell while we feed,
allureth us with gluttonie: he thrusteth lust into our generation;
and sloth into our exercise; into our conversation, envie; into our
traffike, avarice; into our correction, wrath; into our government,
pride: he putteth into our harts evill cogitations; into our mouthes,
lies, &c. When we wake, he mooveth us to evill works; when we sleepe,
to evill and filthie dreames; he provoketh the merrie to loosenesse,
and the sad to despaire.

♦The grosse dulnesse of manie at the hearing of a spirit named.♦

♦_Aug. in ser. 4._
_Greg. 29. sup. Job._
_Leo pont. ser. 8. Nativit._♦

The twelfe Chapter.

_That the divels assaults are spirituall and not temporall, and how
grosselie some understand those parts of the scripture._

Upon that, which hitherto hath beene said, you see that the assaults
of sathan are spirituall, and not temporall: in which respect _Paule_
wisheth us not to provide a corselet of Steele to defend us from his
clawes; but biddeth us put on the whole armour of God, that we may be
able to stand against the invasions of the divell. For we wrestle
not against flesh and bloud; but against principalities, powers, and
spirituall wickednesse. And therefore he adviseth us to be sober and
watch: for the divell goeth about like a roring lion, seeking whome he
may devoure. He meaneth not with carnall teeth: for it followeth thus,
Whome resist ye stedfastlie in faith. And againe he saith, That which
is spirituall onelie discerneth spirituall things: for no carnall man
can discerne the things of the spirit. Why then should we thinke that
a divell, which is a spirit, can be knowne, or made tame and familiar
unto a naturall man; or contrarie to nature, can be by a witch made
corporall, being by God ordeined to a spirituall proportion?

♦Ephe. 6, 11, 12.♦

♦2. Tim. 2, 8, 9.♦

♦Idem ibid.♦

♦1. Cor. 2. 14.♦

The cause of this grosse conceipt is, that we hearken more diligentlie
to old wives, and rather give credit to their fables, than to the
word of God; imagining by the tales they tell us, that the divell
is such a bulbegger, as I have before described. For whatsoever is
proposed in scripture to us by parable, or spoken figurativelie or
significativelie, or framed to our grosse capacities, &c: is by them
so considered and expounded, as though the bare letter, or rather
their grosse imaginations thereupon were to be preferred before the
true sense and meaning of the word. For I dare saie, that when these
blockheads read _Jothans_ parable in the ninth of Judges to the men of
_Sichem_; to wit, that the trees went out to annoint a king over them,
saieng to the olive tree, Reigne thou over us: who answered and said,
Should I leave my fatnesse, &c? They imagine that the woodden trees
walked, & spake with a mans voice: or else, that some spirit entred
into the trees, and answered as is imagined they did in the idols and
oracles of _Apollo_, and such like; who indeed have eies, and see not;
eares and heare not; mouthes, and speake not, &c.

♦Judg. 9. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.♦

The xiii. Chapter.

_The equivocation of this word spirit, how diverslie it is
taken in the scriptures, where (by the waie) is taught that
the scripture is not alwaies literallie to be interpreted,
nor yet allegoricallie to be understood._

Such as search with the spirit of wisedome and understanding, shall
find, that spirits, as well good as bad, are in the scriptures
diverslie taken: yea they shall well perceive, that the divell is no
horned beast. For [a]sometimes in the scriptures, spirits and divels
are taken for infirmities of the bodie; [b]sometimes for the vices of
the mind; sometimes also for the gifts of either of them. [c]Sometimes
a man is called a divell, as _Judas_ in the sixt of _John_, and _Peter_
in the xvi. of _Matthew_. [d]Sometimes a spirit is put for the Gospell;
sometimes for the mind or soule of man; sometimes [e]for the will of
man, his mind and counsell; sometimes [f]for teachers and prophets;
sometimes [g]for zeale towards God; sometimes [h]for joie in the
Holie-ghost, &c.

♦[a] Exod. 31, 1♦

♦[b] Acts. 8, 19.
Gal. 3.♦

♦[c] John. 6.
Matth. 16.♦

♦[d] 1. Cor. 3.
Gal. 3.
1. Cor. 2. 2.
Cor. 7.♦

♦[e] Luke 9.
1. Cor. 5.
Philip 1.
1 Thes. 5.♦

♦[f] 1. John. 4.♦

♦[g] 1. Tim. 4.♦

♦[h] Ephes. 5.
Isai. 11, 2.♦

And to interpret unto us the nature and signification of spirits, we
find these words written in the scripture; to wit, The spirit of the
Lord shall rest upon him; The spirit of counsell and strength; The
spirit of wisedome and understanding; The spirit of knowledge and the
feare of the Lord. Againe, I will powre out my spirit upon the house
of _David_, _&c_: The spirit of grace and compassion. Againe, Ye have
not received the spirit of bondage, but the spirit of adoption. And
therefore _Paule_ saith, To one is given, by the spirit, the word of
wisedome; to another, the word of knowledge by the same spirit; to
another, the gift of healing; to another, the gift of faith by the same
spirit; to another, the gift of prophesie; to another, the operation
of great works; to another, the discerning of spirits; to another, the
diversitie of toongs; to another, the interpretation of toongs: and all
these things worketh one and the selfesame spirit. Thus farre the words
of _Paule_. And finallie, _Esaie_ saith, that the Lord mingled among
them the spirit of error. And in another place, The Lord hath covered
you with a spirit of slumber.

♦Zach. 12, 10.♦

♦Rom. 1, 15.
1. Cor. 12, 8, 9, 10.♦

♦1. Co. 12, 11.♦

♦Isai. 19, 14.♦

♦Isaie. 29.♦

As for the spirits of divination spoken of in the scripture, they are
such as was in the woman of _Endor_, the _Philippian_ woman, the wench
of _Westwell_, and the holie maid of _Kent_; who were indued with
spirits or gifts of divination, whereby they could make shift to gaine
monie, and abuse the people by slights and craftie inventions. But
these are possessed of borrowed spirits, as it is written in the booke
of Wisedome; and spirits of meere cousenage and deceipt, as I have
sufficientlie prooved elsewhere. I denie not therefore that there are
spirits and divels, of such substance as it hath pleased GOD to create
them. But in what place soever it be found or read in the scriptures,
a spirit or divell is to be understood spirituallie, and is neither a
corporall nor a visible thing. Where it is written, that God sent an
evill spirit betweene _Abimelech_, and the men of _Sichem_, we are to
understand, that he sent the spirit of hatred, and not a bulbegger.
Also where it is said; If the spirit of gelosie come upon him: it is
as much to saie as; If he be mooved with a gelous mind: and not that a
corporall divell assaulteth him. It is said in the Gospell; There was
a woman, which had a spirit of infirmitie 18. yeeres, who was bowed
togither, &c: whome Christ, by laieng his hand upon hir, delivered of
hir disease. Wherby it is to be seene, that although it be said, that
sathan had bound hir, &c: yet that it was a sicknes or disease of bodie
that troubled hir; for Christs owne words expound it. Neither is there
any word of witchcraft mentioned, which some saie was the cause thereof.

♦1. Sam. 28.
Hest. 16.♦

♦Sap. 15, 15, 19.♦

♦Judg. 9, 23.♦

♦Num. 5, 14.♦

♦Luke. 13, 11.♦

There were seven divels cast out of _Marie Magdalen_. Which is not so
grosselie understood by the learned, as that there were in hir just
seven corporall divels, such as I described before elsewhere; but that
by the number of seven divels, a great multitude, and an uncerteine
number of vices is signified: which figure is usuall in divers places
of the scripture. And this interpretation is more agreeable with Gods
word, than the papisticall paraphrase, which is; that Christ, under
the name of the seven divels, recounteth the seven deadlie sinnes
onelie. Others allow neither of these expositions; bicause they suppose
that the efficacie of Christs miracle should this waie be confounded:
as though it were not as difficult a matter, with a touch to make a
good Christian of a vicious person; as with a word to cure the ague,
or any other disease of a sicke bodie. I thinke not but any of both
these cures may be wrought by meanes, in processe of time, without
miracle; the one by the preacher, the other by the physician. But I
saie that Christs worke in both was apparentlie miraculous: for with
power and authoritie, even with a touch of his finger, and a word of
his mouth, he made the blind to see, the halt to go, the lepers cleane,
the deafe to heare, the dead to rise againe, and the poore to receive
the Gospell, out of whom (I saie) he cast divels, and miraculouslie
conformed them to become good Christians, which before were dissolute
livers; to whome he said, Go your waies and sinne no more.

♦Mark. 16, 9.♦

♦Levit. 26.
Prov. 24.
Luk. 17.♦

♦Matth. 8, 16.♦

♦Luk. 4, 36.
Luk. 7, 21.♦

♦John 8, 11.♦

The xiiii. Chapter.

_That it pleased God to manifest the power of his sonne and not of
witches by miracles._

_Jesus Christ_, to manifest his divine power, rebuked the winds, and
they ceased; and the waves of water, and it was calme: which if neither
our divines nor physicians can doo, much lesse our conjurors, and least
of all our old witches can bring anie such thing to passe. But it
pleased God to manifest the power of Christ Jesus by such miraculous
& extraordinarie meanes, providing and as it were preparing diseases,
that none otherwise could be cured, that his sonnes glorie, and his
peoples faith might the more plainelie appeere; as namelie, leprosie,
lunacie, and blindnesse: as it is apparent in the Gospell, where it
is said, that the man was not stricken with blindnesse for his owne
sinnes, nor for any offense of his ancestors; but that he was made
blind, to the intent the works of God should be shewed upon him by the
hands of Jesus Christ. But witches with their charmes can cure (as
witchmongers affirme) all these diseases mentioned in the scripture,
and manie other more; as the gowt, the toothach, &c: which we find not
that ever Christ cured.

♦Luke. 8, 14.♦

♦Levit. 14, 7, 8.
Luk. 7. 17, 4.♦

♦John. 9.♦

As touching those that are said in the Gospell to be possessed of
spirits, it seemeth in manie places that it is indifferent, or all
one, to saie; He is possessed with a divell; or, He is lunatike
or phrentike: which disease in these daies is said to proceed of
melancholie. But if everie one that now is lunatike, be possessed with
a reall divell; then might it be thought, that divels are to be thrust
out of men by medicines. But who saith in these times with the woman of
_Canaan_; My daughter is vexed with a divell, except it be presupposed,
that she meant hir daughter was troubled with some disease? Indeed we
saie, and saie truelie, to the wicked, The divell is in him: but we
meane not thereby, that a reall divell is gotten into his guts. And if
it were so, I marvell in what shape this reall divell, that possesseth
them, remaineth. Entreth he into the bodie in one shape, and into the
mind in another? If they grant him to be spirituall and invisible, I
agree with them.

♦Mat. 4, 17, &c.♦

Some are of opinion, that the said woman of _Chanaan_ ment indeed that
hir daughter was troubled with some disease; bicause it is written in
sted of that the divell was cast out, that hir daughter was made whole,
even the selfesame houre. According to that which is said in the 12.
of _Matthew_; There was brought unto Christ one possessed of a divell,
which was both blind and dumbe, and he healed him: so as, he that was
blind and dumbe both spake and sawe. But it was the man, and not the
divell, that was healed, and made to speake and see. Whereby (I saie)
it is gathered, that such as were diseased, as well as they that were
lunatike, were said sometimes to be possessed of divels.

♦Matt. 15, 28.♦

♦Matt. 12, 22.♦

The xv. Chapter.

_Of the possessed with divels._

Here I cannot omit to shew, how fondlie diverse writers; and namelie,
_James Sprenger_, and _Henrie Institor_ doo gather and note the cause,
why the divell maketh choise to possesse men at certeine times of the
moone; which is (saie they) in two respects: first, that they may
defame so good a creature as the moone; secondly, bicause the braine
is the moistest part of the bodie. The divell therefore considereth
the aptnesse and conveniencie thereof (the [*]moone having dominion
over all moist things) so as they take advantage therby, the better
to bring their purposes to passe. And further they saie, that divels
being conjured and called up, appeere and come sooner in some certeine
constellations, than in other some: thereby to induce men to thinke,
that there is some godhead in the starres. But when _Saule_ was
releeved with the sound of the harpe, they saie that the departure
of the divell was by meanes of the signe of the crosse imprinted
in _Davids_ veines. Whereby we maie see how absurd the imaginations
and devises of men are, when they speake according to their owne
fansies, without warrant of the word of God. But me thinks it is verie
absurd that _Josephus_ affirmeth; to wit, that the divell should be
thrust out of anie man by vertue of a root. And as vaine it is, that
_Ælianus_ writeth of the magicall herbe _Cynospastus_, otherwise called
_Agla[o]photis_; which is all one with _Salomons_ root named _Baaros_,
as having force to drive out anie divell from a man possessed.

♦_Mal. malef. quæst. 5. pa. 1._♦

♦[*] A maxime in philosophie, as the sunne _in aridis & siccis_.♦

♦_Joseph. de antiquitat. Jud. item de bello Jud. lib. 7. ca. 35._♦

The xvi. Chapter.

_That we being not throughlie informed of the nature of divels
and spirits, must satisfie our selves with that which is
delivered us in the scriptures touching the same, how this
word divell is to be understood both in the singular and
plurall number, of the spirit of God and the spirit of the
divell, of tame spirits, of Ahab._

The nature therfore and substance of divels and spirits, bicause in
the scripture it is not so set down, as we may certeinlie know the
same: we ought to content and frame our selves faithfullie to beleeve
the words and sense there delivered unto us by the high spirit, which
is the Holie-ghost, who is Lord of all spirits; alwaies considering,
that evermore spirits are spoken of in scripture, as of things
spirituall; though for the helpe of our capacities they are there
sometimes more grosselie and corporallie expressed, either in parables
or by metaphors, than indeed they are. As for example (and to omit the
historie of _Job_, which elsewhere I handle) it is written; The Lord
said, Who shall entise _Ahab_, that he maie fall at _Ramoth Gilead_,
_&c_? Then came foorth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said; I
will entise him. And the Lord said, Wherewith? And he said; I will go
and be a lieng spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. Then he said;
Go foorth, thou shalt prevaile, &c.

♦Num. 27, 16.♦

♦1. Reg. 18. verse. 23. verse. 4.♦

This storie is here set foorth in this wise, to beare with our
capacities, and speciallie with the capacitie of that age, that could
not otherwise conceive of spirituall things, than by such corporall
demonstrations. And yet here is to be noted, that one spirit, and not
manie or diverse, did possesse all the false prophets at once. Even as
in another place, manie thousand divels are said to possesse one man:
and yet it is also said even in the selfe same place, that the same man
was possessed onelie with one divell. For it is there said that Christ
met a man, which had a divell, and he commanded the fowle spirit to
come foorth of the man, &c. But _Calvine_ saith; Where sathan or the
divell is named in the singular number, thereby is meant that power of
wickednesse, that standeth against the kingdome of justice. And where
manie divels are named in the scriptures, we are thereby taught, that
we must fight with an infinite multitude of enimies; least despising
the fewnesse of them, we should be more slacke to enter into battell,
and so fall into securitie and idlenes.

♦Luke. 8. 27. 28.♦

♦Mark. 5. 9.♦

♦Luk. 8.♦

♦_J. Cal. lib. instit. lib. 1. cap. 14. sect. 14._♦

On the other side, it is as plainelie set downe in the scripture,
that some are possessed with the spirit of God, as that the other
are endued and bound with the spirit of the divell. Yea sometimes we
read, that one good spirit was put into a great number of persons;
and againe, that diverse spirits rested in and upon one man: and yet
no reall or corporall spirit meant. As for example; The Lord tooke of
the spirit that was upon _Moses_, and put it upon the seventie elders,
and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. Why should not
this be as substantiall and corporall a spirit, as that, wherewith
the maid in the _Acts_ of the apostles was possessed? Also _Elisha_
intreated _Elia_, that when he departed, his spirit might double upon
him. We read also that the spirit of the Lord came upon [a]_Othniel_,
upon [b]_Gedeon_, [c]_Jeptha_, [d]_Samson_, [e]_Balaam_, [f]_Saule_,
[g]_David_, [h]_Ezechiel_, [i]_Zacharie_, [k]_Amasay_: yea it is
written, that _Caleb_ had another spirit than all the Israelits beside:
& in another place it is said, that [l]_Daniel_ had a more excellent
spirit than anie other. So as, though the spirits, as well good as bad,
are said to be given by number and proportion; yet the qualitie and not
the quantitie of them is alwaies thereby ment and presupposed. Howbeit
I must confesse, that Christ had the spirit of God without measure,
as it is written in the evangelist _John_. But where it is said that
spirits can be made tame, and at commandement, I saie to those grosse
conceivers of scripture with _Salomon_, who (as they falslie affirme
was of all others the greatest conjuror) saith thus in expresse words;
No man is lord over a spirit, to reteine a spirit at his pleasure.

♦Num. 11.♦

♦Ibid. vers. 25♦

♦Acts. 16.♦

♦2. Reg. 2.♦

♦Judg. 3. 10.♦

♦[a] Judg. 11. 39.♦

♦[b] Ibid. 14. 6.♦

♦[c] Ibid. 14. 6.♦

♦[d] Num. 24. 2.♦

♦[e] 1. Sam. 16. 13.♦

♦[f] 1. Sam. 18. 14.♦

♦[g] Ezec. 11. 5.♦

♦[h] 2. Chr. 14.♦

♦[i] 1. Ch. 12. 18.♦

♦[k] Numb. 14.♦

♦[l] Dan. 5. 11.♦

♦John. 3, 34.♦

♦Eccles. 8. [8.]♦

[Azariah is omitted in the text, and the margin references are
wrong; they are rightly given opposite]

♦[a] Judg. 3. 10.♦

♦[b] [Judg. 6. 34.]♦

♦[c] Judg. 11. [2]9.♦

♦[d] Ibid 14. 6.♦

♦[e] Num. 24. 2.♦

♦[f] [1. Sam. 11. 3.]♦

♦[g] 1. Sam. 16. 13.
1. Sam. 18. 14.♦

♦[h] Ezec. 11. 5.♦

♦[i] 2. Chr. 14. [15. 1. is Azariah.]♦

♦[k] [Zech. 24. 20.]♦

♦[l] 1. Chr. 12. 18.
Num. 14. [24.]♦

The xvii. Chapter.

_Whether spirits and soules can assume bodies, and of their
creation and substance, wherein writers doo extreamelie
contend and varie._

Some hold opinion, that spirits and soules can assume & take unto them
bodies at their pleasure, of what shape or substance they list: of
which mind all papists, and some protestants are, being more grosse
than another sort, which hold, that such bodies are made to their
hands. Howbeit, these doo varie in the elements, wherewith these
spirituall bodies are composed. For (as I have said) some affirme that
they consist of fier, some thinke of aier, and some of the starres and
other celestiall powers. But if they be celestiall, then (as _Peter
Martyr_ saith) must they follow the circular motion: and if they be
elementarie, then must they follow the motions of those elements, of
which their bodies consist. Of aier they cannot be: for aier is _Corpus
homogenium_; so as everie part of aier is aier, whereof there can be
no distinct members made. For an organicall bodie must have bones,
sinewes, veines, flesh, &c: which cannot be made of aier. Neither (as
_Peter Martyr_ affirmeth) can an aierie bodie receive or have either
shape or figure. But some ascend up into the clouds, where they find
(as they saie) diverse shapes and formes even in the aier. Unto which
objection _P. Martyr_ answereth, saieng, and that trulie, that clouds
are not altogether aier, but have a mixture of other elements mingled
with them.

♦For everie naturall motion is either circular or elemētarie.♦

The xviii. Chapter.

_Certeine popish reasons concerning spirits made of aier, of
daie divels and night divels, and why the divell loveth no salt
in his meate._

Manie affirme (upon a fable cited by _M. Mal._) that spirits are of
aier, bicause they have beene cut (as he saith) in sunder, and closed
presentlie againe; and also bicause they vanish awaie so suddenlie.
But of such apparitions I have alreadie spoken, and am shortlie to
saie more, which are rather seene in the imagination of the weake and
diseased, than in veritie and truth. Which sights and apparitions,
as they have beene common among the unfaithfull; so now, since the
preaching of the gospell they are most rare. And as among faintharted
people; namelie, women, children, and sicke folkes, they usuallie
swarmed: so among strong bodies and good stomachs they never used to
appeare; as elsewhere I have prooved: which argueth that they were
onelie phantasticall and imaginarie. Now saie they that imagine divels
and spirits to be made of aier, that it must needs be that they consist
of that element; bicause otherwise when they vanish suddenlie awaie,
they should leave some earthie substance behind them. If they were of
water, then should they moisten the place where they stand, and must
needs be shed on the floore. If they consisted of fier, then would they
burne anie thing that touched them: and yet (saie they) _Abraham_ and
_Lot_ washed their feete, and were neither scalded nor burnt.

♦Gen. 18, 19.♦

I find it not in the Bible, but in _Bodin_, that there are daie divels,
and night divels. The same fellow saith, that _Deber_ is the name of
that divell, which hurteth by night; and _Cheleb_ is he that hurteth
by daie: howbeit, he confesseth that Sathan can hurt both by daie and
by night; although it be certeine (as he saith) that he can doo more
harme by night than by daie; producing for example, how in a night
he slew the first borne of _Ægypt_. And yet it appeareth plainelie
in the text, that the Lord himselfe did it. Whereby it seemeth, that
_Bodin_ putteth no difference betweene God and the divell. For further
confirmation of this his foolish assertion, that divels are more
valiant by night than by daie, he alledgeth the 104. _Psalme_, wherein
is written, Thou makest darknesse, and it is night, wherein all the
beasts of the forrest creepe foorth, the lions rore, &c: when the sunne
riseth, they retire, &c. So as now he maketh all beasts to be divels,
or divels to be beasts. Oh barbarous blindnes! This _Bodin_ also
saith, that the divell loveth no salt in his meate, for that it is a
signe of eternitie, and used by Gods commandement in all sacrifices;
abusing the scriptures, which he is not ashamed to quote in that
behalfe. But now I will declare how the scripture teacheth our dull
capacities to conceive what maner of thing the divell is, by the verie
names appropriated unto him in the same.

♦_J. Bod. lib. de dæm. 3. ca. 4._♦

♦Exod. 12 29.♦

♦Psa. 104. 20.♦

♦_J. Bod. lib. de dæm. 3. ca. 5._♦

♦Levit. 1.♦

The xix. Chapter.

_That such divels as are mentioned in the scriptures, have in their
names their nature and qualities expressed, with instancies
thereof._

Such divels as are mentioned in the scriptures by name, have in their
names their nature and qualities expressed, being for the most part the
idols of certeine nations idolatrouslie erected, in steed, or rather in
spight of God. For _Beelzebub_, which signifieth the lord of the flies,
bicause he taketh everie simple thing in his web, was an idol or oracle
erected at _Ekron_, to whom _Ahaziah_ sent to know whether he should
recover his disease: as though there had beene no God in Israell.
This divell _Beelzebub_ was among the _Jewes_ reputed the principall
divell. The _Græcians_ called him _Pluto_, the _Latines Sumanus, quasi
summum deorum manium_, the cheefe ghost or spirit of the dead whom they
supposed to walke by night: although they absurdlie beleeved also that
the soule died with the bodie. So as they did put a difference betweene
the ghost of a man and the soule of a man: and so doo our papists;
howbeit, none otherwise, but that the soule is a ghost, when it walketh
on the earth, after the dissolution of the bodie, or appeareth to anie
man, either out of heaven, hell, or purgatorie, and not otherwise.
[a]_Nisroch_ signifieth a delicate tentation, and was worshipped by
_Senacherib_ in _Assyria_. [b]_Tarcat_[c] is in English, fettered, and
was the divell or idoll of the _Hevites_. [d]_Beelphegor_, otherwise
called _Priapus_, the gaping or naked god was worshipped among the
_Moabits_. [e]_Adramelech_, that is, the cloke or power of the king,
was an idoll at _Sepharvais_, which was a citie of the _Assyrians_.
[f]_Chamos_, that is feeling, or departing, was worshipped among the
_Moabits_. [g]_Dagon_, that is, corne or greefe, was the idoll of the
Philistines. [h]_Astarte_, that is, a fold or flocke, is the name of a
shee idoll at _Sydonia_, whom _Salomon_ worshipped: some thinke it was
_Venus_. [i]_Melchom_, that is, a king, was an idoll or divell, which
the sonnes of _Ammon_ worshipped.

♦2. Reg. 13.♦

♦Matth. 10. & 12.
Mark. 3.
Luk. 11.♦

♦[a] 2. Reg. 19.♦

♦[b] 2. Reg. 17.♦

♦[c] [Tartac]♦

♦[d] Ose. 9, 11. [10]
Num. 25.
Deut. 3. &. 4
Josu. 22.♦

♦[e] 2. Reg. 17.♦

♦[f] Numb. 21.
1. Reg. 11.
2. Reg. 23.♦

♦[g] Judg. 16.
1. Macc. 10.♦

♦[h] 1. Reg. 11.
2. Reg. 23.♦

♦[i] 2. Reg. 23.
1. Chro. 20.
Jerem. 49.♦

♦_Joseph. lib. de antiquit. Judæor. 6. cap. 14._♦

♦1. Sam. 7.
2. Reg. 23.♦

♦Psal. 96. [Vulg. vers.]♦

Sometimes also we find in the scriptures, that divels and spirits take
their names of wicked men, or of the houses or stats of abhominable
persons: as _Astaroth_, which (as _Josephus_ saith) was the idoll of
the _Philistines_, whome the _Jewes_ tooke from them at _Salomons_
commandement, and was also worshipped of _Salomon_. Which though
it signifie riches, flocks, &c: yet it was once a citie belonging
to _Og_ the king of _Basan_, where they saie the giants dwelt. In
these respects _Astaroth_ is one of the speciall divels named in
_Salomons_ conjuration, and greatlie emploied by the conjurors. I have
sufficientlie prooved in these quotations, that these idols are _Dii
gentium_, the gods of the Gentiles: and then the prophet _David_ may
satisfie you, that they are divels, who saith _Dii gentium dæmonia
sunt_, The gods of the Gentiles are divels. What a divell was the rood
of grace to be thought, but such a one as before is mentioned and
described, who tooke his name of his courteous and gratious behaviour
towards his worshippers, or rather those that offered unto him? The
idolatrous knaverie wherof being now bewraied, it is among the godlie
reputed a divell rather than a god: and so are diverse others of the
same stampe.

The xx. Chapter.

_Diverse names of the divell, whereby his nature and disposition
is manifested._

It hath also pleased GOD to informe our weake capacities, as it were
by similitudes and examples, or rather by comparisons, to understand
what manner of thing the divell is, by the verie names appropriated
and attributed unto him in the scriptures: wherein sometimes he is
called by one name, sometimes by another, by metaphors according to
his conditions. [a]_Elephas_ is called in _Job_, _Behemoth_, which
is, _Bruta_; whereby the greatnes and brutishnes of the divell is
figured. _Leviathan_ is not much different from _Elephas_; whereby
the divels great subtiltie and power is shewed unto us. [b]_Mammon_
is the covetous desire of monie, wherewith the divell overcommeth
the reprobate. [c]_Dæmon_ signifieth one that is cunning or craftie.
_Cacodæmon_ is perverslie knowing. All those which in ancient
times were worshipped as gods, were so called. [d]_Diabolus_ is
_Calumniator_, an accuser, or a slanderer. Sathan is _Adversarius_, an
adversarie, that troubleth and molesteth. [e]_Abaddon_ a destroier.
[f]_Legio_, bicause they are manie. [g]Prince of the aire. [h]Prince of
the world. [i]A king of the sonnes of pride. [k]A roring lion. [l]An
homicide or manslear, a lier, and the father of lies. The [m]author of
sinne. [n]A spirit. Yea somtimes he is called the spirit of the Lord,
as the executioner and minister of his displeasure, &c. Sometimes,
the [o]spirit of fornication, &c. And manie other like epithets or
additions are given him for his name. He is also called [p]the angell
of the Lord. [q]The cruell angell. The [r]angell of sathan. The
[s]angell of hell. The [t]great dragon, for his pride and force. The
[u]red dragon for his blouddines. A [x]serpent. An [y]owle, a [z]kite,
a satyre, a crowe, a pellicane, a hedghog, a griph, a storke, &c.

[x should reach to Isai. 27. and y Mark Isai. 13. 34.]

♦[a] Job. 40.
Job. 3.
Isai. 27.♦

♦[b] Matth. 6.
Matt. 4. &c.
Marc. 16.♦

♦[c] Jam. 2.♦

♦[d] Matth. 4.
John. 8.
Apoc. 12.♦

♦[e] Apoc. 9.♦

♦[f] Marc. 5.
Luke. 8.♦

♦[g] Eph. 2.♦

♦[h] John. 8. 12. 14. 16.♦

♦[i] Job. 41.♦

♦[k] 1. Pet. 5.♦

♦[l] John. 8.♦

♦[m] 1. John. 3.♦

♦[n] Acts. 16.v

♦[o] Ose. 4.♦

♦[p] Psal. 34.
1. Chr. 21.♦

♦[q] Prov. 17.♦

♦[r] 2. Cor. 12.♦

♦[s] Apoc. 9.♦

♦[t] Apoc. 12.♦

♦[u] Job. 41.♦

♦[x] Gen. 3.♦

♦[y] Apoc. 12.♦

♦[z] Isai. 27.
Isai. 13. 34.♦

The xxi. Chapter.

_That the idols or gods of the Gentiles are divels, their
diverse names, and in what affaires their labours and
authorities are emploied, wherein also the blind superstition
of the heathen people is discovered._

And for so much as the idols of the gentiles are called divels, and
are among the unlearned confounded and intermedled with the divels
that are named in the scriptures; I thought it convenient here to give
you a note of them, to whome the Gentiles gave names, according to the
offices unto them assigned. _Penates_ are the domesticall gods, or
rather divels that were said to make men live quietlie within doores.
But some thinke these rather to be such, as the Gentiles thought to
be set over kingdomes: and that _Lares_ are such as trouble private
houses, and are set to oversee crosse waies and cities. _Larvæ_ are
said to be spirits that walke onelie by night. _Genii_ are the two
angels, which they supposed were appointed to wait upon each man.
_Manes_ are the spirits which oppose themselves against men in the
waie. _Dæmones_ were feigned gods by poets, as _Jupiter_, _Juno_, &c.
_Virunculi terrei_ are such as was Robin good fellowe, that would
supplie the office of servants, speciallie of maids; as to make a
fier in the morning, sweepe the house, grind mustard and malt, drawe
water, &c: these also rumble in houses, drawe latches, go up and downe
staiers, &c. _Dii geniales_ are the gods that everie man did sacrifice
unto at the daie of their birth. _Tetrici_ be they that make folke
afraid, and have such ouglie shape, which manie of our divines doo
call _Subterranei_. _Cobali_ are they that followe men, and delight
to make them laugh, with tumbling, juggling, and such like toies.
_Virunculi_ are dwarfes about three handfulles long, and doo no hurt;
but seeme to dig in mineralles, and to be verie busie, and yet doo
nothing. _Guteli_ or _Trulli_ are spirits (they saie) in the likenes
of women, shewing great kindnesse to all men: & hereof it is that we
call light women, truls. _Dæmones montani_ are such as worke in the
mineralles, and further the worke of the labourers woonderfullie, who
are nothing afraid of them. _Hudgin_ is a verie familiar divell, which
will doo no bodie hurt, except he receive injurie: but he cannot abide
that, nor yet be mocked: he talketh with men freendlie, sometimes
visiblie, and sometimes invisiblie. There go as manie tales upon this
_Hudgin_, in some parts of _Germanie_, as there did in _England_
of Robin good fellowe. But this _Hudgin_ was so called, bicause he
alwaies ware a cap or a hood[†]; and therefore I thinke it was Robin
hood. Frier _Rush_ was for all the world such another fellow as this
_Hudgin_, and brought up even in the same schoole; to wit, in a
kitchen: in so much as the selfe-same tale is written of the one as of
the other, concerning the skullian, which is said to have beene slaine,
&c: for the reading whereof I referre you to Frier _Rush_ his storie,
or else to _John Wierus De præstigiis dæmonum_.

♦Psalm. 96.♦

♦Juno and Minerva.♦

♦Cousening gods or knaves.♦

♦_Terra, aqua, aer, ignis, sol, & Luna._♦

♦[*]Hudgin of Germanie, and Rush of England.♦

♦[*] [Hutgin, _Wier_.]♦

♦_J. Wier. lib. de præst. dæm. 1. cap. 23._♦

♦[†] [See note.]♦

♦Bawdie preests in Ginnie.♦

♦Looke in the word (_Ob_) lib. 7. cap. 3. pag. 132, 133.♦

There were also _Familiares dæmones_, which we call familiars: such
as _Socrates_ and _Cæsar_ were said to have; and such as _Feats_ sold
to doctor _Burcot_. _Quintus Sertorius_ had _Diana_ hir selfe for his
familiar; and _Numa Pompilius_ had _Aegeria_: but neither the one nor
the other of all these could be preserved by their familiars from being
destroied with untimelie death. _Simon Samareus_ boasted, that he had
gotten by conjuration, the soule of a little child that was slaine, to
be his familiar, and that he told him all things that were to come,
&c. I marvell what privilege soules have, which are departed from the
bodie, to know things to come more than the soules within mans bodie.
There were spirits, which they called _Albæ mulieres_, and _Albæ
Silyllæ_, which were verie familiar, and did much harme (they saie)
to women with child, and to sucking children. _Deumus_ as a divell is
worshipped among the _Indians_ in _Calecute_, who (as they thinke) hath
power given him of God to judge the earth, &c: his image is horriblie
pictured in a most ouglie shape. _Thevet_ saith, that a divell in
_America_, called _Agnan_, beareth swaie in that countrie. In _Ginnie_
one _Grigrie_ is accounted the great divell, and keepeth the woods:
these have preests called _Charoibes_, which prophesie, after they have
lien by the space of one houre prostrate upon a wench of twelve yeares
old, and all that while (saie they) he calleth upon a divell called
_Hovioulsira_, and then commeth foorth and uttereth his prophesie. For
the true successe whereof the people praie all the while that he lieth
groveling like a lecherous knave. There are a thousand other names,
which they saie are attributed unto divels; and such as they take to
themselves are more ridiculous than the names that are given by others,
which have more leasure to devise them. In litle bookes conteining the
cousening possessed, at _Maidstone_, where such a woonder was wrought,
as also in other places, you may see a number of counterfeit divels
names, and other trish trash.

The xxii. Chapter.

_Of the Romanes cheefe gods called Dii selecti, and of other
heathen gods, their names and offices._

There were among the _Romans_ twentie idolatrous gods, which were
called _Dii selecti sive electi_, chosen gods; whereof twelve were
male, and eight female, whose names doo thus followe: _Janus_,
_Saturnus_, _Jupiter_, _Genius_, _Mercurius_, _Apollo_, _Mars_,
_Vulcanus_, _Neptunus_, _Sol_, _Orcus_ and [*]_Vibar_, which were
all hee gods: _Tellus_, _Ceres_, _Juno_, _Minerva_, _Luna_, _Diana_,
_Venus_, and _Vesta_, were all she gods. No man might appropriate anie
of these unto himselfe, but they were left common and indifferent to
all men dwelling in one realme, province, or notable citie. These
heathen gentiles had also their gods, which served for sundrie
purposes; as to raise thunder, they had _Statores_, _Tonantes_,
_Feretrii_, and _Jupiter Elicius_. They had _Cantius_, to whome they
praied for wise children, who was more apt for this purpose than
_Minerva_ that issued out of _Jupiters_ owne braine. _Lucina_ was to
send them that were with child safe deliverie, and in that respect was
called the mother of childwives. _Opis_ was called the mother of the
babe new borne, whose image women with child hanged upon their girdles
before their bellies, and bare it so by the space of nine moneths; and
the midwife alwaies touched the child therewith, before she or anie
other laied hand thereon.

♦[*] [_Liber_]♦

♦A good god and goddesse for women.♦

If the child were well borne, they sacrificed therunto, although the
mother miscaried: but if the child were in any part unperfect, or dead,
&c: they used to beate the image into powder, or to burne or drowne it.
_Vagianus_ was he that kept their children from crieng, and therefore
they did alwaies hang his picture about babes necks: for they thought
much crieng in youth portended ill fortune in age. _Cuninus_, otherwise
_Cunius_, was he that preserved (as they thought) their children from
misfortune in the cradell. _Ruminus_ was to keepe their dugs from
corruption. _Volumnus_ and his wife _Volumna_ were gods, the one for
yoong men, the other for maids that desired marriage: for such as
praied devoutlie unto them, should soone be married. _Agrestis_ was the
god of the fields, and to him they praied for fertilitie. _Bellus_ was
the god of warre & warriers, and so also was _Victoria_, to whome the
greatest temple in _Rome_ was built. _Honorius_ was he that had charge
about inkeepers, that they should well intreat pilgrimes. _Berecynthia_
was the mother of all the gods. _Aesculanus_ was to discover their
mines of gold and silver, and to him they praied for good successe
in that behalfe. _Aesculapius_ was to cure the sicke, whose father
was _Apollo_, and served to keepe weeds out of the corne. _Segacia_
was to make seeds to growe. _Flora_ preserved the vines from frosts
and blasts. _Sylvanus_ was to preserve them that walked in gardens.
_Bacchus_ was for droonkards, _Pavor_ for cowherds; _Meretrix_ for
whores, to whose honour there was a temple built in _Rome_, in the
middest of fortie and foure streets, which were all inhabited with
common harlots. Finallie _Colatina, [*]alias Clotina_, was goddesse
of the stoole, the jakes, and the privie, to whome as to everie of the
rest, there was a peculiar temple edified: besides that notable temple
called _Pantheon_, wherein all the gods were placed togither; so as
everie man and woman, according to their follies and devotions, might
go thither and worship what gods they list.

♦The names of certeine heathenish gods, and their peculiar offices.♦

♦[*] [_alias_ Ital.]♦

♦A verie homelie charge.♦

The xxiii. Chapter.

_Of diverse gods in diverse countries._

The _Aegyptians_ were yet more foolish in this behalfe than the
_Romans_ (I meane the heathenish _Romans_ that then were, and not
the popish _Romans_ that now are, for no nation approcheth neere
to these in anie kind of idolatrie.) The _Aegyptians_ worshipped
_Anubis_ in the likenesse of a dog, bicause he loved dogs and hunting.
Yea they worshipped all living creatures, as namelie of beasts, a
bullocke, a dog, & a cat; of flieng fowles, Ibis (which is a bird
with a long bill, naturallie devouring up venemous things and noisome
serpents) and a sparrowhawke; of fishes they had two gods; to wit,
_Lepidotus piscis_, and _Oxyrinchus_. The _Saitans_ and _Thebans_
had to their god a sheepe. In the citie _Lycopolis_ they worshipped
a woolfe; in _Herinopolis_, the _Cynocephalus_; the _Leopolitans_,
a lion; in _Lætopolis_, a fish in _Nilus_ called _Latus_. In the
citie _Cynopolis_ they worshipped _Anubis_. At _Babylon_, besides
_Memphis_, they made an onion their god; the _Thebans_ an eagle; the
_Mændeseans_, a goate; the _Persians_, a fier called _Orimasda_;
the _Arabians_, _Bacchus_, _Venus_, and _Diasaren_; the _Bœotians_,
_Amphiaraus_; the _Aphricans_, _Mopsus_; the _Scithians_, _Minerva_;
the _Naucratits_, _Serapis_, which is a serpent; _Astartes_ (being as
_Cicero_ writeth the fourth _Venus_, who was she, as others affirme,
whom _Salomon_ worshipped at his concubines request) was the goddesse
of the _Assyrians_. At _Noricum_, being a part of _Bavaria_, they
worship _Tibilenus_; the _Moores_ worship _Juba_; the _Macedonians_,
_Gabirus_; the _Pœnians_, _Uranius_; at _Samos Juno_ was their god;
at _Paphos_, _Venus_; at _Lemnos_, _Vulcane_; at _Naxos_, _Liberus_;
at _Lampsacke_, _Priapus_ with the great genitals, who was set up
at _Hellespont_ to be adored. In the ile _Diomedea_, _Diomedes_; at
_Delphos_, _Apollo_; at _Ephesus_, _Diana_ was worshipped. And bicause
they would plaie small game rather than sit out, they had _Acharus
Cyrenaicus_, to keepe them from flies and flieblowes; _Hercules
Canopius_, to keepe them from fleas; _Apollo Parnopeius_, to keepe
their cheefes from being mouseaten. The _Greeks_ were the first, that I
can learne to have assigned to the gods their principall kingdomes and
offices: as _Jupiter_ to rule in heaven, _Pluto_ in hell, _Neptune_ in
the sea, &c. To these they joined, as assistants, divers commissioners;
as to _Jupiter_, _Saturne_, _Mars_, _Venus_, _Mercurie_, and _Minerva_:
to _Neptune_, _Nereus_, _&c. Tutilina_ was onelie a mediatrix to
_Jupiter_, not to destroie corne with thunder or tempests, before whom
they usuallie lighted candels in the temple, to appease the same,
according to the popish custome in these daies. But I may not repeate
them all by name, for the gods of the gentiles were by good record, as
_Varro_ and others report, to the number of 30. thousand, and upward.
Whereby the reasonable reader may judge their superstitious blindnesse.

♦Beasts, birds, vermine, fishes, herbs and other trumperie worshipped
as gods.♦

♦Imperiall gods and their assistants.♦

♦The number of gods among the gentiles♦

The xxiiii. Chapter.

_Of popish provinciall gods, a comparison betweene them and
heathen gods, of physicall gods, and of what occupation
everie popish god is._

Now if I thought I could make an end in anie reasonable time, I would
begin with our antichristian gods, otherwise called popish idols, which
are as ranke divels as _Dii gentium_ spoken of in the psalmes: or as
_Dii montium_ set foorth & rehearsed in the first booke of the kings;
or as _Dii terrarum_ or _Dii populorum_ mentioned in the second of
the Chronicles 32. & in the first of the Chronicles 16. or as _Dii
terræ_ in Judges 3. or as _Dii filiorum Seir_ in the second of the
Chronicles 25. or as _Dii alieni_, which are so often mentioned in the
scriptures.

♦1. Reg. 20.
2. Chr. 32.
1. Chr. 16.
Judg. 3.
2. Chr. 33.
2. Reg. 23,
&c.♦

Surelie, there were in the popish church more of these in number, more
in common, more private, more publike, more for lewd purposes, and
more for no purpose, than among all the heathen, either heretofore, or
at this present time: for I dare undertake, that for everie heathen
idoll I might produce twentie out of the popish church. For there
were proper idols of everie nation: as S. _George_ on horssebacke for
_England_ (excepting whome there is said to be no more horssemen in
heaven save onelie saint _Martine_) S. _Andrew_ for _Burgundie_ and
_Scotland_, S. _Michael_ for _France_, S. _James_ for _Spaine_, S.
_Patrike_ for _Ireland_, S. _Davie_ for _Wales_, S. _Peter_ for _Rome_,
and some part of _Italie_. Had not everie citie in all the popes
dominions his severall patrone? As _Paule_ for _London_, _Denis_ for
_Paris_, _Ambrose_ for _Millen_, _Loven_ for _Gaunt_, _Romball_ for
_Mackline_, S. _Marks_ lion for _Venice_, the three magician kings for
_Cullen_,[*] and so of other. Yea, had they not for everie small
towne, and everie village and parish,[†] (the names wherof I am not
at leisure to repeat) a severall idoll? As S. _Sepulchre_, for one; S.
_Bride_, for another; S. All halowes, All saints, and our Ladie for all
at once: which I thought meeter to rehearse, than a bedroll[‡] of
such a number as are in that predicament. Had they not hee idols and
shee idols, some for men, some for women, some for beasts, and some
for fowles, &c? Doo you not thinke that S. _Martine_ might be opposed
to _Bacchus_? If S. _Martine_ be too weake we have S. _Urbane_, S.
_Clement_, and manie other to assist him. Was _Venus_ and _Meretrix_
an advocate for whoores among the Gentiles? Behold, there were in the
Romish church to encounter with them, S. _Aphra_, S. _Aphrodite_, and
S. _Maudline_. But insomuch as long _Meg_ was as verie a whoore as the
best of them, she had wrong that she was not also canonized, and put
in as good credit as they: for she was a gentlewoman borne; whereunto
the pope hath great respect in canonizing of his saints. For (as I
have said) he canonizeth the rich for saints, and burneth the poore
for witches. But I doubt not, _Magdalen_, and manie other godlie women
are verie saints in heaven, and should have beene so, though the pope
had never canonized them: but he dooth them wrong, to make them the
patronesses of harlots and strong strumpets.

♦Popish gods of nations.♦

♦Parish gods or popish idols♦

♦[*] [= Cologne]♦

♦[†] [. in text]♦

♦[‡] [= bead—]♦

Was there such a traitor among all the heathen idols, as S. _Thomas
Becket_? Or such a whoore as S. _Bridget_? I warrant you S. _Hugh_ was
as good a huntesman as _Anubis_. Was _Vulcane_ the protector of the
heathen smithes? Yea forsooth, and S. _Euloge_ was patrone for ours.
Our painters had _Luke_, our weavers had _Steven_, our millers had
_Arnold_, our tailors had _Goodman_, our sowters had _Crispine_, our
potters had S. _Gore_ with a divell on his shoulder and a pot in his
hand. Was there a better horseleech among the gods of the Gentiles
than S. _Loy_? Or a better sowgelder than S. _Anthonie_? Or a better
toothdrawer than S. _Apolline_? I beleeve that _Apollo Parnopeius_ was
no better a ratcatcher than S. _Gertrude_, who hath the popes patent
and commendation therefore. The _Thebans_ had not a better shepherd
than S. _Wendeline_, nor a better gissard to keepe their geese than
_Gallus_. But for physicke and surgerie, our idols exceeded them all.
For S. _John_, and S. _Valentine_ excelled at the falling evill, S.
_Roch_ was good at the plague, S. _Petronill_ at the ague. As for S.
_Margaret_, she passed _Lucina_ for a midwife, and yet was but a maid:
in which respect S. _Marpurge_ is joined with hir in commission.

♦See the golden Legend for the life of S. Bridget.♦

♦He saints & shee saincts of the old stamp with their peculiar vertues
touching the curing of diseases.♦

For mad men, and such as are possessed with divels, S. _Romane_ was
excellent, & frier _Ruffine_ was also pretilie skilfull in that art.
For botches and biles, _Cosmus_ and _Damian_; S. _Clare_ for the eies,
S. _Apolline_ for teeth, S. _Job_ for the [*]pox. And for sore brests
S. _Agatha_ was as good as _Ruminus_. Whosoever served _Servatius_
well, should be sure to loose nothing: if _Servatius_ failed in his
office, S. _Vinden_ could supplie the matter with his cunning; for
he could cause all things that were lost to be restored againe. But
here laie a strawe for a while, and I will shew you the names of some,
which exceed these verie far, and might have beene canonized for
archsaints; all the other saints or idols being in comparison of them
but bunglers, and bench-whistlers. And with your leave, when all other
saints had given over the matter, and the saints utterlie forsaken of
their servitors, they repaired to these that I shall name unto you,
with the good consent of the pope, who is the fautor, or rather the
patrone of all the saints, divels, and idols living or dead, and of all
the gods save one. And whereas none other saint could cure above one
disease, in so much as it was idolatrie, follie I should have said,
to go to _Job_ for anie other maladie than the pox; nothing commeth
amisse to these. For they are good at anie thing, and never a-whit
nice of their cunning: yea greater matters are said to be in one of
their powers, than is in all the other saints. And these are they: S.
mother _Bungie_, S. mother _Paine_, S. _Feats_, S. mother _Still_, S.
mother _Dutton_, S. _Kytrell_, S. _Ursula Kempe_, S. mother _Newman_,
S. doctor _Heron_, S. _Rosimund_ a good old father, & diverse more that
deserve to be registred in the popes kalendar, or rather the divels
rubrike.

♦[*] For the Frēch pox or the cōmon kind of pox, or both? This would
be knowne.♦

♦New saints.♦

The xxv. Chapter.

_A comparison betweene the heathen and papists, touching their
excuses for idolatrie._

And bicause I know, that the papists will saie, that their idols are
saints, and no such divels as the gods of the Gentiles were: you may
tell them, that not onelie their saints, but the verie images of
them were called _Divi_. Which though it signifie gods, and so by
consequence idols or feends: yet put but an (_ll_) thereunto, and it is
_Divill_ in English. But they will saie also that I doo them wrong to
gibe at them; bicause they were holie men and holie women. I grant some
of them were so, and further from allowance of the popish idolatrie
emploied upon them, than greeved with the derision used against that
abuse. Yea even as silver and gold are made idols unto them that love
them too well, and seeke too much for them: so are these holie men and
women made idols by them that worship them, and attribute unto them
such honor, as to God onelie apperteineth.

♦_Divos vocant Grammatici eos qui ex hominibus dii facti sunt._♦

The heathen gods were for the most part good men, and profitable
members to the commonwealth wherein they lived, and deserved fame, &c:
in which respect they made gods of them when they were dead; as they
made divels of such emperors and philosophers as they hated, or as had
deserved ill among them. And is it not even so, and woorsse, in the
commonwealth and church of poperie? Dooth not the pope excommunicate,
cursse, and condemne for heretikes, and drive to the bottomlesse pit
of hell, proclaming to be verie divels, all those that either write,
speake or thinke contrarie to his idolatrous doctrine? _Cicero_, when
he derided the heathen gods, and inveied against them that yeelded
such servile honor unto them, knew the persons, unto whom such abuse
was committed, had well deserved as civill citizens; and that good fame
was due unto them, and not divine estimation. Yea the infidels that
honored those gods, as hoping to receive benefits for their devotion
emploied that waie, knew and conceived that the statues and images,
before whome with such reverence they powred foorth their praiers,
were stockes and stones, and onelie pictures of those persons whome
they resembled: yea they also knew, that the parties themselves were
creatures, and could not doo so much as the papists and witchmongers
thinke the Roode of grace, or mother _Bungie_ could doo. And yet the
papists can see the abuse of the Gentils, and may not heare of their
owne idolatrie more grosse and damnable than the others.

♦_Cic. de natur. deorum._♦

♦The papists see a moth in the eie of others, but no beame in their
owne.♦

The xxvi. Chapter.

_The conceipt of the heathen and the papists all one in
idolatrie, of the councell of Trent, a notable storie of a
hangman arraigned after he was dead and buried, &c._

But papists perchance will denie, that they attribute so much to these
idols as I report; or that they thinke it so meritorious to praie
to the images of saints as is supposed, affirming that they worship
God, and the saints themselves, under the formes of images. Which was
also the conceipt of the heathen, and their excuse in this behalfe;
whose eiesight and insight herein reached as farre as the papisticall
distinctions published by popes and their councels. Neither doo anie of
them admit so grosse idolatrie, as the councell of _Trent_ hath doone,
who alloweth that worship to the Rood that is due to Jesus Christ
himselfe, and so likewise of other images of saints. I thought it not
impertinent therfore in this place to insert an example taken out of
the Rosarie of our Ladie, in which booke doo remaine (besides this)
ninetie and eight examples to this effect: which are of such authoritie
in the church of _Rome_, that all scripture must give place unto
them. And these are either read there as their speciall homilies, or
preached by their cheefe doctors. And this is the sermon for this daie
verbatim translated out of the said Rosarie, a booke much esteemed and
reverenced among papists.

♦The idolatrous councell of Trent.♦

A certeine hangman passing by the image of our Ladie, saluted hir,
commending himselfe to hir protection. Afterwards, while he praied
before hir, he was called awaie to hang an offendor: but his enimies
intercepted him, and slew him by the waie. And lo a certeine holie
preest, which nightlie walked about everie church in the citie, rose
up that night, and was going to his ladie, I should saie to our ladie
church. And in the churchyard he saw a great manie dead men, and
some of them he knew, of whome he asked what the matter was, &c. Who
answered, that the hangman was slaine, and the divell challenged his
soule, the which our ladie said was hirs: and the judge was even at
hand comming thither to heare the cause, & therefore (said they) we
are now come togither. The preest thought he would be at the hearing
hereof, and hid himselfe behind a tree; and anon he saw the judiciall
seat readie prepared and furnished, where the judge, to wit Jesus
Christ, sate, who tooke up his mother unto him. Soone after the divels
brought in the hangman pinnioned, and prooved by good evidence, that
his soule belonged to them. On the other side, our ladie pleaded for
the hangman, prooving that he, at the houre of death, commended his
soule to hir. The judge hearing the matter so well debated on either
side, but willing to obeie (for these are his words) his mothers
desire, and loath to doo the divels anie wrong, gave sentence, that
the hangmans soule should returne to his bodie, untill he had made
sufficient satisfaction; ordeining that the pope should set foorth a
publike forme of praier for the hangmans soule. It was demanded, who
should doo the arrand to the popes holines? Marie quoth our ladie, that
shall yonder preest that lurketh behind the tree. The preest being
called foorth, and injoined to make relation hereof, and to desire the
pope to take the paines to doo according to this decree, asked by what
token he should be directed. Then was delivered unto him a rose of such
beautie, as when the pope saw it, he knew his message was true. And so,
if they doo not well, I praie God we may.

♦_Exempl. 4._♦

♦But our ladie spied him well enough: as you shal read.♦

♦The preests arse made buttons.♦

The xxvii. Chapter.

_A confutation of the fable of the hangman, of manie other feined
and ridiculous tales and apparitions, with a reproofe thereof._

By the tale above mentioned you see what it is to worship the image
of our ladie. For though we kneele to God himselfe, and make never so
humble petitions unto him, without faith and repentance, it shall doo
us no pleasure at all. Yet this hangman had great freendship shewed him
for one point of courtesie used to our ladie, having not one dramme
of faith, repentance, nor yet of honestie in him. Neverthelesse, so
credulous is the nature of man, as to beleeve this and such like
fables: yea, to discredit such stuffe, is thought among the papists
flat heresie. And though we that are protestants will not beleeve these
toies, being so apparentlie popish: yet we credit and report other
appearances, and assuming of bodies by soules and spirits; though they
be as prophane, absurd, and impious as the other. We are sure the holie
maide of _Kents_ vision was a verie cousenage: but we can credit,
imprint, and publish for a true possession or historie, the knaverie
used by a cousening varlot at _Maidstone_;[*] and manie other such as
that was. We thinke soules and spirits may come out of heaven or hell,
and assume bodies, beleeving manie absurd tales told by the schoolemen
and Romish doctors to that effect: but we discredit all the stories
that they, and as grave men as they are, tell us upon their knowledge
and credit, of soules condemned to purgatorie, wandering for succour
and release by trentals and masses said by a popish preest, &c: and yet
they in probabilitie are equall, and in number farre exceed the other.

♦Our B. ladies favor.♦

♦[*] [p. _132_.]♦

♦_Greg. 4. dialog. cap. 51.
Alexand lib. 5. cap. 23. & lib. 2. cap. 9. &c._♦

♦_Greg. lib. 4. dialog. ca. 40. idem cap. 55_, and in other places
elsewhere innumerable.♦

We thinke that to be a lie, which is written, or rather fathered upon
_Luther_; to wit, that he knew the divell, and was verie conversant
with him, and had eaten manie bushels of salt and made jollie good
cheere with him; and that he was confuted in a disputation with a
reall divell about the abolishing of private masse. Neither doo we
beleeve this report, that the divell in the likenes of a tall man,
was present at a sermon openlie made by _Carolostadius_; and from
this sermon went to his house, and told his sonne that he would fetch
him awaie after a daie or twaine: as the papists saie he did in deed,
although they lie in everie point thereof most maliciouslie. But we can
beleeve _Platina_ and others, when they tell us of the appearances of
pope _Benedict_ the eight, and also the ninth; how the one rode upon a
blacke horsse in the wildernesse, requiring a bishop (as I remember)
whome he met, that he would distribute certeine monie for him, which he
had purloined of that which was given in almes to the poore, &c: and
how the other was seene a hundred yeares after the divell had killed
him in a wood, of an heremite, in a beares skinne, and an asses head on
his shoulders, &c: himselfe saieng that he appeared in such sort as he
lived. And diverse such stuffe rehearseth _Platina_.

♦_Micha. And. thes. 151._♦

♦_Alex. ab Alexand. lib. 4. genealog. dierum. cap. 19._
_Plutarch. oratione ad Apollonium._
_Item. Basiliens. in epist._
_Platina de vitis pontificum._
_Nauclerus. 2 generat. 35._♦

Now bicause S. _Ambrose_ writeth, that S. _Anne_ appeared to
_Constance_ the daughter of _Constantine_, and to hir parents watching
at hir sepulchre: and bicause _Eusebius_ and _Nicephorus_ saie,
that the _Pontamian_ virgine, _Origins_ disciple, appeared to S.
_Basil_, and put a crowne upon his head, in token of the glorie of
his martyrdome, which should shortlie followe: and bicause _Hierome_
writeth of _Paules_ appearance; and _Theodoret_, of S. _John_ the
_Baptist_; and _Athanasius_, of _Ammons_, _&c_: manie doo beleeve the
same stories and miraculous appearances to be true. But few protestants
will give credit unto such shamefull fables, or anie like them, when
they find them written in the Legendarie, Festivall, Rosaries of our
Ladie, or anie other such popish authors. Whereby I gather, that if the
protestant beleeve some few lies, the papists beleeve a great number.
This I write, to shew the imperfection of man, how attentive our eares
are to hearken to tales. And though herein consist no great point
of faith or infidelitie; yet let us that professe the gospell take
warning of papists, not to be carried awaie with everie vaine blast of
doctrine: but let us cast awaie these prophane and old wives fables.
And although this matter have passed so long with generall credit and
authoritie: yet manie [*]grave authors have condemned long since all
those vaine visions and apparitions, except such as have beene shewed
by God, his sonne, and his angels. _Athanasius_ saith, that soules
once loosed from their bodies, have no more societie with mortall men.
_Augustine_ saith, that if soules could walke and visit their freends,
&c: or admonish them in sleepe, or otherwise, his mother that followed
him by land and by sea would shew hir selfe to him, and reveale hir
knowledge, or give him warning, &c. But most true it is that is written
in the gospell; We have _Moses_ and the prophets, who are to be
hearkened unto, and not the dead.

♦_Ambr. ser. 90 de passione Agn._♦

♦_Euseb. lib. eccles. hist. 5._♦

♦_Niceph. lib. 5 cap. 7._♦

♦_Hieronym. in vita Pau._♦

♦_Theodor. lib. hist. 5. ca. 24._♦

♦_Athan. in vita Antho._♦

♦[*] _Melancth. in Calendar. Manlii. 23. April._♦

♦_Marbach. lib. de miracul. adversus Ins._♦

♦_Johannes Rivius de veter. superstit._♦

♦_Athan. lib. 99. quæ. 11._♦

♦_August. de cura pro mortu. ca. 13._♦

♦Luk. 16.♦

The xxviii. Chapter.

_A confutation of Johannes Laurentius, and of manie others,
mainteining these fained and ridiculous tales and
apparitions, and what driveth them awaie: of Moses and Helias
appearance in mount Thabor._

Furthermore, to prosecute this matter in more words; if I saie that
these apparitions of soules are but knaveries and cousenages; they
object that _Moses_ and _Helias_ appeared in mount _Thabor_, and talked
with Christ, in the presence of the principall apostles: yea, and that
God appeared in the bush, &c. As though spirits and soules could doo
whatsoever it pleaseth the Lord to doo, or appoint to be doone for his
owne glorie, or for the manifestation of his sonne miraculouslie. And
therefore I thought good to give you a taste of the witchmongers absurd
opinions in this behalfe.

♦Matth 17. Luke. 9.♦

♦_Johan. Laur. lib. de natur. dæmon._♦

And first you shall understand, that they hold, that all the soules in
heaven may come downe and appeare to us when they list, and assume anie
bodie saving their owne: otherwise (saie they) such soules should not
be perfectlie happie. They saie that you may know the good soules from
the bad verie easilie. For a damned soule hath a verie heavie and sowre
looke; but a saints soule hath a cheerefull and a merrie countenance:
these also are white and shining, the other cole blacke. And these
damned soules also maie come up out of hell at their pleasure; although
_Abraham_ made _Dives_ beleeve the contrarie. They affirme that damned
soules walke oftenest: next unto them the soules of purgatorie; and
most seldome the soules of saints. Also they saie that in the old lawe
soules did appeare seldome; and after doomes daie they shall never
be seene more: in the time of grace they shall be most frequent. The
walking of these soules (saith _Michael Andr._) is a most excellent
argument for the proofe of purgatorie: for (saith he) those soules have
testified that which the popes have affirmed in that behalfe; to wit,
that there is not onelie such a place of punishment, but that they are
released from thence by masses, and such other satisfactorie works;
whereby the goodnes of the masse is also ratified and confirmed.

♦_Mich. Andr. thes. 222, &c_♦

♦_Idem thes. 235. &. 136._♦

♦_Idem thes. 226._♦

♦_Th. Aq. 1. pa. quæ. 89. ar. 8._♦

♦_Gregor. in dial. 4._♦

♦_Mich. And. thes. 313. 316. 317._♦

These heavenlie or purgatorie soules (saie they) appeare most commonlie
to them that are borne upon ember daies, and they also walke most
usuallie on those ember daies: bicause we are in best state at that
time to praie for the one, and to keepe companie with the other.
Also they saie, that soules appeare oftenest by night; bicause men
may then be at best leasure, and most quiet. Also they never appeare
to the whole multitude, seldome to a few, and most commonlie to one
alone: for so one may tell a lie without controlment. Also they are
oftenest seene by them that are readie to die: as _Trasilla_ sawe pope
_Fœlix_; _Ursine_, _Peter_ and _Paule_; _Galla Romana_, _S. Peter_;
and as _Musa_ the maid sawe our Ladie: which are the most certeine
appearances, credited and allowed in the church of _Rome_: also they
may be seene of some, and of some other in that presence not seene
at all; as _Ursine_ sawe _Peter_ and _Paule_, and yet manie at that
instant being present could not see anie such sight, but thought it
a lie: as I doo. _Michael Andræas_ confesseth, that papists see more
visions than protestants: he saith also, that a good soule can take
none other shape than of a man; marie a damned soule may and dooth
take the shape of a blacke moore, or of a beast, or of a serpent, or
speciallie of an heretike. The christian signes that drive awaie these
evill soules, are the crosse, the name of Jesus, and the relikes of
saints: in the number whereof are holiwater, holie bread, _Agnus Dei_,
_&c._ For _Andrew_ saith, that notwithstanding _Julianus_ was an
_Apostata_, and a betraier of christian religion: yet at an extremitie,
with the onelie signe of the crosse, he drave awaie from him manie
such evill spirits; whereby also (he saith) the greatest diseases and
sicknesses are cured, and the sorest dangers avoided.

♦_Idem thes. 346._♦

♦_Leo. serm. de jejuniis 10. mens._♦

♦_Gelas. in epistola ad episc._♦

♦_Mich. Andr. thes. 345._♦

♦_Greg. dial. 4. cap. 1. 12. 14._♦

♦_Mich. And. thes. 347._♦

♦_Greg. dial. 4. cap. 11._♦

♦_Mich. And. thes. 347._♦

♦_Mich. And. thes. 341._♦

♦_Ide. thes. 388._♦

♦_Ide. thes. 411._♦

♦_Mal. malef. J. Bod. &c._♦

♦_Mich. And. these. 412._♦

♦Idem. thes. 414.♦

The xxix. Chapter.

_A confutation of assuming of bodies, and of the serpent that
seduced Eve._

They that contend so earnestlie for the divels assuming of bodies
and visible shapes, doo thinke they have a great advantage by the
words uttered in the third of _Genesis_, where they saie, the divell
entered into a serpent or snake: and that by the cursse it appeareth,
that the whole displeasure of God lighted upon the poore snake onlie.
How those words are to be considered may appeare, in that it is of
purpose so spoken, as our weake capacities may thereby best conceive
the substance, tenor, and true meaning of the word, which is there set
downe in the manner of a tragedie, in such humane and sensible forme,
as woonderfullie informeth our understanding; though it seeme contrarie
to the spirituall course of spirits and divels, and also to the nature
and divinitie of God himselfe; who is infinite, and whome no man ever
sawe with corporall eies, and lived. And doubtles, if the serpent there
had not beene taken absolutelie, nor metaphoricallie for the divell,
the Holie-ghost would have informed us thereof in some part of that
storie. But to affirme it sometimes to be a divell, and sometimes a
snake; whereas there is no such distinction to be found or seene in the
text, is an invention and a fetch (me thinks) beyond the compasse of
all divinitie. Certeinlie the serpent was he that seduced _Eve_: now
whether it were the divell, or a snake; let anie wise man (or rather
let the word of God) judge. Doubtles the scripture in manie places
expoundeth it to be the divell. And I have (I am sure) one wiseman on
my side for the interpretation hereof, namelie _Salomon_; who saith,
Through envie[*] of the divell came death into the world: referring
that to the divell, which _Moses_ in the letter did to the serpent. But
a better expositor hereof needeth not, than the text it selfe, even in
the same place, where it is written; I will put enmitie betweene thee
and the woman, and betweene thy seed and hir seed: he shall breake
thy head, and thou shalt bruse his heele. What christian knoweth not,
that in these words the mysterie of our redemption is comprised and
promised? Wherein is not meant (as manie suppose) that the common seed
of woman shall tread upon a snakes head, and so breake it in peeces,
&c: but that speciall seed, which is Christ, should be borne of a
woman, to the utter overthrow of sathan, and to the redemption of
mankind, whose heele or flesh in his members the divell should bruse
and assault, with continuall attempts, and carnall provocations, &c.

♦Gen 3, 14, 15.♦

♦Gen. 3, 1.
1. Cor. 11. 3.♦

♦Sap. 2, 24.♦

♦[*] [= hatred]♦

The xxx. Chapter.

_The objection concerning the divels assuming of the serpents
bodie answered._

This word Serpent in holie scripture is taken for the divell: The
serpent was more subtill than all the beasts of the feeld. It likewise
signifieth such as be evill speakers, such as have slandering toongs,
also heretiks, &c: They have sharpned their toongs like serpents. It
dooth likewise betoken the death and sacrifice of Christ: As _Moses_
lifted up the serpent in the wildernesse, so must the sonne of man be
lifted up upon the crosse. Moreover, it is taken for wicked men: O yee
serpents and generation of vipers. Thereby also is signified as well
wise as a subtile man: and in that sense did Christ himselfe use it;
saieng, Be ye wise as serpents, &c. So that by this breefe collection
you see, that the word serpent, as it is equivocall, so likewise it
is sometimes taken in the good and sometimes in the evill part. But
where it is said, that the serpent was father of lies, author of death,
and the worker of deceipt: me thinks it is a ridiculous opinion to
hold, that thereby a snake is meant; which must be, if the letter be
preferred before the allegorie. Trulie _Calvines_ opinion is to be
liked and reverenced, and his example to be embraced and followed, in
that he offereth to subscribe to them that hold, that the Holie-ghost
in that place did of purpose use obscure figures, that the cleare
light thereof might be deferred, till Christs comming. He saith also
with like commendation (speaking hereof, and writing upon this place)
that _Moses_ doth accommodate and fitten for the understanding of
the common people, in a rude and grosse stile, those things which he
there delivereth; forbearing once to rehearse the name of sathan. And
further he saith, that this order may not be thought of _Moses_ his
owne devise; but to be taught him by the spirit of God: for such was
(saith he) in those daies the childish age of the church, which was
unable to receive higher or profounder doctrine. Finallie, he saith
even hereupon, that the Lord hath supplied, with the secret light of
his spirit, whatsoever wanted in plainenes and clearenes of externall
words.

♦Gen. 3, 1.♦

♦Psal. 139, 4.♦

♦Num. 8. & 9.
John. 3, 14.♦

♦Matt. 23, 33.♦

♦Matt. 10, 16.♦

♦_J. Cal. in Genes. cap. 3. 1._♦

♦_Idem ibid._♦

If it be said, according to experience, that certeine other beasts are
farre more subtill than the serpent: they answer, that it is not absurd
to confesse, that the same gift was taken awaie from him, by God,
bicause he brought destruction to mankind. Which is more (me thinkes)
than need be granted in that behalfe. For Christ saith not; Be yee wise
as serpents were before their transgression: but, Be wise as serpents
are. I would learne what impietie, absurditie, or offense it is to
hold, that _Moses_, under the person of the poisoning serpent or snake,
describeth the divell that poisoned _Eve_ with his deceiptfull words,
and venomous assault. Whence commeth it else, that the divell is called
so often, The viper, The serpent, &c: and that his children are called
the generation of vipers; but upon this first description of the divell
made by _Moses_? For I thinke none so grosse, as to suppose, that the
wicked are the children of snakes, according to the letter: no more
than we are to thinke and gather, that God keepeth a booke of life,
written with penne and inke upon paper; as citizens record their free
men.

♦Matt. 10, 16.♦

♦Isai. 30, 6.
Matth 3. 12. 13.
Luk. 3, &c.
Gen. 3.♦

The xxxi. Chapter.

_Of the cursse rehearsed Gen. 3. and that place rightlie expounded,
John Calvines opinion of the divell._

The cursse rehearsed by God in that place, whereby witchmongers labour
so busilie to proove that the divell entered into the bodie of a snake,
and by consequence can take the bodie of anie other creature at his
pleasure, &c: reacheth (I thinke) further into the divels matters,
than we can comprehend, or is needfull for us to know, that understand
not the waies of the divels creeping, and is farre unlikelie to extend
to plague the generation of snakes: as though they had beene made
with legs before that time, and through this cursse were deprived
of that benefit. And yet, if the divell should have entred into the
snake, in maner and forme as they suppose; I cannot see in what degree
of sinne the poore snake should be so guiltie, as that God, who is
the most righteous judge, might be offended with him. But although
I abhorre that lewd interpretation of the familie of love, and such
other heretikes, as would reduce the whole Bible into allegories:
yet (me thinkes) the creeping there is rather metaphoricallie or
significativelie spoken, than literallie; even by that figure, which
is there prosecuted to the end. Wherein the divell is resembled to
an odious creature, who as he creepeth upon us to annoie our bodies;
so doth the divell there creepe into the conscience of _Eve_, to
abuse and deceive hir: whose seed nevertheles shall tread downe and
dissolve his power and malice. And through him, all good christians (as
_Calvine_ saith) obteine power to doo the like. For we may not imagine
such a materiall tragedie, as there is described, for the ease of our
feeble and weake capacities.

♦Familie of love.♦

♦_J. Cal. lib. instit. 1. cap. 14. sect. 18._♦

For whensoever we find in the scriptures, that the divell is called
god, the prince of the world, a strong armed man, to whome is given
the power of the aier, a roring lion, a serpent, &c: the Holie-ghost
mooved us thereby, to beware of the most subtill, strong and mightie
enimie, and to make preparation, and arme our selves with faith
against so terrible an adversarie. And this is the opinion and counsell
of _Calvine_, that we seeing our owne weakenes, & his force manifested
in such termes, may beware of the divell, and may flie to God for
spirituall aid and comfort. And as for his corporall assaults, or his
attempts upon our bodies, his nightwalkings, his visible appearings,
his dansing with witches, &c: we are neither warned in the scriptures
of them, nor willed by God or his prophets to flie them; neither is
there anie mention made of them in the scriptures. And therefore
thinke I those witchmongers and absurd writers to be as grosse on the
one side, as the _Sadduces_ are impious and fond on the other; which
saie, that spirits and divels are onlie motions and affections, and
that angels are but tokens of Gods power. I for my part confesse with
_Augustine_, that these matters are above my reach and capacitie: and
yet so farre as Gods word teacheth me, I will not sticke to saie,
that they are living creatures, ordeined to serve the Lord in their
vocation. And although they abode not in their first estate, yet that
they are the Lords ministers, and executioners of his wrath, to trie
and tempt in this world, and to punish the reprobate in hell fier in
the world to come.

♦_J. Cal. li. inst. 1. cap. 14. sect. 13._♦

♦_Aug. de cura pro mort. &c._♦

The xxxii. Chapter.

_Mine owne opinion and resolution of the nature of spirits, and of
the divell, with his properties._

But to use few words in a long matter, and plaine termes in a doubtfull
case, this is mine opinion concerning this present argument. First,
that divels are spirits, and no bodies. For (as _Peter Martyr_ saith)
spirits and bodies are by antithesis opposed one to another: so as a
bodie is no spirit, nor a spirit a bodie. And that the divell, whether
he be manie or one (for by the waie you shall understand, that he is
so spoken of in the scriptures, as though there were [a]but one, and
sometimes as though [b]one were manie legions, the sense whereof I have
alreadie declared according to _Calvins_ opinion, he is a creature
made by God, and that for vengeance, as it is [c]written in _Eccl._
39. _verse._ 28: and of himselfe naught, though emploied by God to
necessarie and good purposes. For in places, where it is written,
that [d]all the creatures of God are good; and againe, when God, in
the creation of the world, [e]sawe all that he had made was good: the
divell is not comprehended within those words of commendation. For it
is written that he was a [f]murtherer from the beginning, and abode not
in the truth, bicause there is no truth in him; but when he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his owne, as being a lier, and the father of
lies, and (as _John_ saith) a sinner from the beginning. Neither was
his creation (so farre as I can find) in that weeke that God made man,
and those other creatures mentioned in _Genesis_ the first; and yet
God created him purposelie to destroie. I take his substance to be
such as no man can by learning define, nor by wisedome search out. _M.
Deering_ saith, that _Paule_ himselfe, reckoning up principalities,
powers, &c: addeth, Everie name that is named in this world, or in the
world to come. A cleere sentence (saith he) of _Paules_ modestie, in
confessing a holie ignorance of the state of angels: which name is also
given to divels in other places of the scripture. His essence also and
his forme is so proper and peculiar (in mine opinion) unto himselfe,
as he himselfe cannot alter it, but must needs be content therewith,
as with that which God hath ordeined for him, and assigned unto him,
as peculiarlie as he hath given to us our substance without power to
alter the same at our pleasures. For we find not that a spirit can
make a bodie, more than a bodie can make a spirit: the spirit of God
excepted, which is omnipotent. Nevertheles, I learne that their nature
is prone to all mischeefe: for as the verie signification of an enimie
and an accuser is wrapped up in _Sathan_ and _Diabolus_; so dooth
Christ himselfe declare him to be in the thirteenth of _Matthew_. And
therefore he brooketh well his name: for he lieth dailie in wait, not
onelie to corrupt, but also to destroie mankind; being (I saie) the
verie tormentor appointed by God to afflict the wicked in this world
with wicked temptations, and in the world to come with hell fier. But
I may not here forget how _M. Mal._ and the residue of that crew doo
expound this word _Diabolus_: for _Dia_ (saie they) is _Duo_, and
_Bolus_ is _Morsellus_; whereby they gather that the divell eateth up a
man both bodie and soule at two morselles. Whereas in truth the wicked
may be said to eate up and swallowe downe the divell, rather than the
divell to eate up them; though it may well be said by a figure, that
the divell like a roring lion seeketh whome he may devoure: which
is ment of the soule and spirituall devouring, as verie novices in
religion may judge.

♦[a] 1. Sam. 22.
Luk. 8.
John. 8.
Eph. 6.
2. Tim. 2.
1. Pet. 5.♦

♦[b] Coloss. 1, verse. 16.
1. Cor. 10.
Matth. 8, & 10.
Luke. 4.♦

♦[c] Sap. 1.
Apocal. 4.♦

♦[d] 1. Tim. 4, 4♦

♦[e] Gen. 1.♦

♦[f] Gen. 8. 44.♦

♦_P. Mart. in loc. com. 9. sect. 14._♦

♦1. Joh. 3. 8.
Isai. 54. 16.♦

♦Edw. Deering, in his read. upon the Hebr. 1. reading the 6.♦

♦Eph. 6, 12.
Col. 2, 16.
Matth. 25.♦

♦1. Pet. 5.♦

♦Idem ibid.♦

♦Matt. 25. 41.♦

♦_Mal. malef. par. 1. quæ. 5._♦

♦The etymon of the word _Diabolus_.♦

The xxxiii. Chapter.

_Against fond witchmongers, and their opinions concerning
corporall divels._

Now, how _Brian Darcies_ he spirits and shee spirits, Tittie and
Tiffin, Suckin and Pidgin, Liard and Robin, &c: his white spirits and
blacke spirits, graie spirits and red spirits, divell tode and divell
lambe, divels cat and divels dam, agree herewithall, or can stand
consonant with the word of GOD, or true philosophie, let heaven and
earth judge. In the meane time, let anie man with good consideration
peruse that booke published by _W. W._ and it shall suffice to satisfie
him in all that may be required touching the vanities of the witches
examinations, confessions, and executions: where, though the tale
be told onlie of the accusers part, without anie other answer of
theirs than their adversarie setteth downe; mine assertion will be
sufficientlie prooved true. And bicause it seemeth to be performed
with some kind of authoritie, I will saie no more for the confutation
thereof, but referre you to the booke it selfe; whereto if nothing be
added that may make to their reproch, I dare warrant nothing is left
out that may serve to their condemnation. See whether the witnesses
be not single of what credit, sex and age they are; namelie lewd,
miserable, and envious poore people; most of them which speake to anie
purpose being old women, & children of the age of 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. or 9.
yeares.

♦The booke of W. W. published, &c.♦

And note how and what the witches confesse, and see of what weight and
importance the causes are; whether their confessions be not woonne
through hope of favour, and extorted by flatterie or threats, without
proofe. But in so much as there were not past seventeene or eighteene
condemned at once at S. _Osees_ in the countie of _Essex_, being a
whole parish (though of no great quantitie) I will saie the lesse:
trusting that by this time there remaine not manie in that parish. If
anie be yet behind, I doubt not, but _Brian Darcie_ will find them out;
who, if he lacke aid, _Richard Gallis_ of _Windesor_ were meete to be
associated with him; which _Gallis_ hath set foorth another booke to
that effect, of certeine witches of _Windsore_ executed at _Abington_.
But with what impudencie and dishonestie he hath finished it, with what
lies and forgeries he hath furnished it, what follie and frensie he
hath uttered in it; I am ashamed to report: and therefore being but a
two pennie booke, I had rather desire you to buie it, and so to peruse
it, than to fill my booke with such beastlie stuffe.

♦At S. Osees 17. or 18. witches cōdemned at once.♦

The xxxiiii. Chapter.

_A conclusion wherein the Spirit of spirits is described, by
the illumination of which spirit all spirits are to be tried:
with a confutation of the Pneumatomachi flatlie denieng the
divinitie of this Spirit._

Touching the manifold signification of this word [Spirit][*] I
have elsewhere in this breefe discourse told you my mind: which is a
word nothing differing in Hebrue from breath or wind. For all these
words following; to wit, _Spiritus, Ventus, Flatus, Halitus_, are
indifferentlie used by the Holie-ghost, and called by this Hebrue word
רוח in the sacred scripture. For further proofe whereof I cite unto you
the words of _Isaie_; For his spirit (or breath) is as a river that
overfloweth up to the necke, &c: in which place the prophet describeth
the comming of God in heate and indignation unto judgement, &c. I cite
also unto you the words of _Zacharie_; These are the foure spirits of
the heaven, &c. Likewise in _Genesis_; And the spirit of GOD mooved
upon the waters. Moreover, I cite unto you the words of Christ; The
spirit (or wind) bloweth where it listeth. Unto which said places
infinite more might be added out of holie writ, tending all to this
purpose; namelie, to give us this for a note, that all the saiengs
above cited, with manie more that I could alledge, where mention is
made of spirit, the Hebrue text useth no word but one; to wit, רוח
which signifieth (as I said) _Spiritum, ventum, flatum, halitum_; which
may be Englished, Spirit, wind, blast, breath.

♦[*] [[] in text.]♦

♦Isai. 30, 28.♦

♦Zach. 6, 5.♦

♦Gen. 1, 2.♦

♦Joh. 3, 8.♦

But before I enter upon the verie point of my purpose, it shall not
be amisse, to make you acquainted with the collection of a certeine
Schoole divine, who distinguisheth and divideth this word [Spirit][A]
into six significations; saieng that it is sometimes taken for the
aier, sometimes for the wind, sometimes for the bodies of the
blessed, sometimes for the soules of the blessed, sometimes for the
power imaginative or the mind of man; and sometimes for God. Againe
he saith, that of spirits there are two sorts, some created and some
uncreated.

♦_Eras. Sarcer. in dictio. Scholast. doctr. lit. S._♦

A spirit uncreated (saith he) is God himselfe, and it is essentiallie
taken, and agreeth unto the three persons notionallie, to the Father,
the Sonne, and the Holie-ghost personallie. A spirit created is a
creature, and that is likewise of two sorts; to wit, bodilie, and
bodilesse. A bodilie spirit is also of two sorts: for some kind of
spirit is so named of spiritualnes, as it is distinguished from
bodilinesse: otherwise it is called _Spiritus á spirando, id est, á
flando_, of breathing or blowing, as the wind dooth.

A bodilesse spirit is one waie so named of spiritualnes, and then it
is taken for a spirituall substance; and is of two sorts: some make a
full and complet kind, and is called complet or perfect, as a spirit
angelicall: some doo not make a full and perfect kind, and is called
incomplet or unperfect, as the soule. There is also the spirit vitall,
which is a certeine subtill or verie fine substance necessarilie
disposing and tending unto life. There be moreover spirits naturall,
which are a kind of subtill and verie fine substances, disposing and
tending unto equall complexions of bodies. Againe there be spirits
animall, which are certeine subtill and verie fine substances disposing
and tempering the bodie, that it might be animated of the forme, that
is, that it might be perfected of the reasonable soule. Thus farre
he. In whose division you see a philosophicall kind of proceeding,
though not altogether to be condemned, yet in everie point not to be
approoved.

Now to the spirit of spirits, I meane the principall and holie spirit
of God, which one defineth or rather describeth to be the third person
in trinitie issuing from the father and the sonne, no more the charitie
dilection and love of the father and the sonne, than the father is the
charitie dilection and love of the sonne and Holie-ghost. An other
treating upon the same argument, proceedeth in this reverent manner:
The holie spirit is the vertue or power of God, quickening, nourishing,
fostering and perfecting all things: by whose onlie breathing it
commeth to passe that we both know and love GOD, and become at the
length like unto him: which spirit is the pledge and earnest pennie of
grace, and beareth witnesse unto our heart, whiles wee crie _Abba_,
Father. This spirit is called the spirit of GOD, the spirit of Christ,
and the spirit of him which raised up Jesus from the dead.

♦_Erasm. Sar. in lib. loc. & lit. prædictis._♦

♦_Laurent. à Villavicentio in phrasib. s. script. lit. S. pag. 176._♦

♦Rom. 8, 15.
2. Cor. 6, 5.♦

Jesus Christ, for that he received not the spirit by measure, but in
fulnesse, doth call it his spirit; saieng: When the comforter shall
come, whome I will send, even the holie spirit, he shall testifie of
me. This spirit hath diverse metaphoricall names attributed thereunto
in the holie scriptures. It is called by the name of water, bicause
it washeth, comforteth, moisteneth, softeneth, and maketh fruitefull
with all godlinesse and vertues the minds of men, which otherwise would
be uncleane, comfortlesse, hard, drie, and barren of all goodnesse:
wherupon the prophet _Isaie_ saith; I will powre water upon the
thirstie, and floods upon the drie ground, &c. Wherewith-all the words
of Christ doo agree; Hee that beleeveth in me, as saith the scripture,
out of his bellie shall flowe rivers of waters of life. And else where;
Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never be
more a thirst. Other places likewise there be, wherein the holie spirit
is signified by the name of water and flood: as in the 13. of _Isaie_,
the 29. of _Ezech._ the 146. _Psalme_, _&c._ The same spirit by reason
of the force and vehemencie thereof is termed fier. For it doth purifie
and cleanse the whole man from top to toe, it doth burne out the soile
and drosse of sinnes, and setteth him all in a flaming and hot burning
zeale to preferre and further God’s glorie. Which plainelie appeared in
the apostles, who when they had received the spirit, they spake fierie
words, yea such words as were uncontrollable, in so much as in none
more than in them this saieng of the prophet _Jeremie_ was verified,
_Nunquid non verba mea sunt quasi ignis?_ Are not my words even as it
were fier? This was declared and shewed by those fierie toongs, which
were seene upon the apostles after they had received the holie spirit.

♦John. 15, 26.♦

♦Isai. 44.♦

♦John. 7, 38.♦

♦John. 4, 14.♦

♦Jer. 23, 29.♦

Moreover, this spirit is called annointing, or ointment, bicause that
as in old time preests and kings were by annointing deputed to their
office and charge, and so were made fit and serviceable for the same:
even so the elect are not so much declared as renewed and made apt by
the training up of the holie spirit, both to live well and also to
glorifie God. Whereupon dependeth the saieng of _John_; And yee have
no need that anie should teach you, but as the same ointment doth
teach you. It is also called in scripture, The oile of gladnesse and
rejoising, whereof it is said in the booke of _Psalmes_; God even thy
God hath annointed thee with the oile of joy & gladnes, &c. And by
this goodlie and comfortable name of oile in the scriptures is the
mercie of God oftentimes expressed, because the nature of that doth
agree with the propertie and qualitie of this. For as oile doth flote
and swim above all other liquors, so the mercie of God doth surpasse
and overreach all his works, and the same doth most of all disclose it
selfe to miserable man.

♦1. Joh. 2, 20.♦

♦Psal. 44.♦

♦_Cyrill. in evang. Joh. lib. 3. cap. 14._♦

It is likewise called the finger of God, that is, the might and power
of God: by the vertue whereof the apostles did cast out divels; to
wit, even by the finger of God. It is called the spirit of truth,
because it maketh men true and faithfull in their vocation: and for
that it is the touchstone to trie all counterfet devises of mans
braine, and all vaine sciences, prophane practises, deceitfull arts,
and circumventing inventions; such as be in generall all sorts of
witchcrafts and inchantments, within whose number are comprehended all
those wherewith I have had some dealing in this my discoverie; to wit,
charmes or incantations, divinations, augurie, judiciall astrologie,
nativitie casting, alcumystrie, conjuration, lotshare, poperie which is
meere paltrie, with diverse other: not one wherof no nor all together
are able to stand to the triall and examination, which this spirit of
truth shall and will take of those false and evill spirits. Naie, they
shalbe found, when they are laid into the balance, to be lighter than
vanitie: verie drosse, when they once come to be tried by the fervent
heate of this spirit; and like chaffe, when this spirit bloweth upon
them, driven awaie with a violent whirlewind: such is the perfection,
integritie, and effectuall operation of this spirit, whose working as
it is manifold, so it is marvellous, and therefore may and is called
the spirit of spirits.

♦Exod. 8.♦

This spirit withdrawing it selfe from the harts of men, for that it
will not inhabit and dwell where sinne hath dominion, giveth place unto
the spirit of error and blindnesse, to the spirit of servitude and
compunction, which biteth, gnaweth, and whetteth their harts with a
deadlie hate of the gospell; in so much as it greeveth their minds and
irketh their eares either to heare or understand the truth; of which
disease properlie the phariseis of old were, and the papists even now
are sicke. Yea, the want of this good spirit is the cause that manie
fall into the spirit of perversenes and frowardnes, into the spirit of
giddinesse, lieng, drowzines, and dulnesse: according as the prophet
_Isaie_ saith; For the Lord hath covered you with a spirit of slumber,
and hath shut up your eies: and againe else-where, _Dominus miscuit in
medio, &c_: The Lord hath mingled among them the spirit of giddinesse,
and hath made _Aegypt_ to erre, as a dronken man erreth in his vomit:
as it is said by _Paule_; And their foolish hart was blinded, and God
gave them over unto their owne harts lusts. Which punishment _Moses_
threateneth unto the Jews; The Lord shall smite thee with madnesse,
with blindnesse and amazednesse of mind, and thou shalt grope at high
noone as a blind man useth to grope, &c.

♦The holie spirit can abide nothing that is carnall, and uncleane.♦

♦Isai. 29, 10.♦

♦Isai. 19, 14.♦

♦Ro. 1, 21, 23.♦

♦Deuter. 28, 28, 29.♦

In summe, this word [Spirit] dooth signifie a secret force and power,
wherewith our minds are mooved and directed; if unto holie things,
then is it the motion of the holie spirit, of the spirit of Christ and
of God: if unto evill things, then is it the suggestion of the wicked
spirit, of the divell, and of satan. Whereupon I inferre, by the waie
of a question, with what spirit we are to suppose such to be mooved, as
either practise anie of the vanities treated upon in this booke, or
through credulitie addict themselves thereunto as unto divine oracles,
or the voice of angels breakeing through the clouds? We cannot impute
this motion unto the good spirit; for then they should be able to
discerne betweene the nature of spirits, and not swarve in judgement:
it followeth therefore, that the spirit of blindnes and error dooth
seduce them; so that it is no mervell if in the alienation of their
minds they take falsehood for truth, shadowes for substances, fansies
for verities, &c: for it is likelie that the good spirit of God hath
forsaken them, or at leastwise absented it selfe from them: else would
they detest these divelish devises of men, which consist of nothing but
delusions and vaine practises, whereof (I suppose) this my booke to be
a sufficient discoverie.

♦A question.♦

♦An answer.♦

♦A great likelihood no doubt.♦

It will be said that I ought not to judge, for he that judgeth shalbe
judged. Whereto I answer, that judgement is to be understood of
three kind of actions in their proper nature; whereof the first are
secret, and the judgement of them shall apperteine to God, who in time
will disclose what so ever is done in covert, and that by his just
judgement. The second are mixed actions, taking part of hidden and part
of open, so that by reason of their uncerteintie and doubtfulnes they
are discussable and to be tried; these after due examination are to
have their competent judgement, and are incident to the magistrate. The
third are manifest and evident, and such as doo no lesse apparentlie
shew themselves than an inflammation of bloud in the bodie: and of
these actions everie private man giveth judgement, bicause they be
of such certeintie, as that of them a man may as well conclude, as
to gather, that bicause the sunne is risen in the east, _Ergo_[*] it
is morning: he is come about and is full south, _Ergo_[*] it is high
noone; he is declining and closing up in the west, _Ergo_[*] it is
evening. So that the objection is answered.

♦Judgement distinguished.♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

Howbeit, letting this passe, and spirituallie to speake of this spirit,
which whiles manie have wanted, it hath come to passe that they have
prooved altogether carnall; & not savouring heavenlie divinitie have
tumbled into worsse than philosophicall barbarisme: & these be such
as of writers are called _Pneumatomachi_, a sect so injurious to the
holie spirit of God, that contemning the sentence of Christ, wherein
he foretelleth that the sinne against the holie spirit is never to be
pardoned, neither in this world nor in the world to come, they doo not
onelie denie him to be God, but also pull from him all being, and with
the _Sadduces_ mainteine there is none such; but that under and by the
name of holie spirit is ment a certeine divine force, wherewith our
minds are mooved, and the grace and favour of God whereby we are his
beloved. Against these shamelesse enimies of the holie spirit, I will
not use materiall weapons, but syllogisticall charmes. And first I will
set downe some of their paralogysmes or false arguments; and upon the
necke of them inferre fit confutations grounded upon sound reason and
certeine truth.

♦_Josias Simlerus li. 4. ca. 5. adversus veteres & novos
Antitrinitarios, &c._♦

Their first argument is knit up in this manner. The holie spirit is no
where expresselie called God in the scriptures; _Ergo_ he is not God,
or at leastwise he is not to be called God. The antecedent of this
argument is false; bicause the holie spirit hath the title or name
of God in the fift of the _Acts_. Againe, the consequent is false.
For although he were not expresselie called God, yet should it not
therupon be concluded that he is not verie God; bicause unto him are
attributed all the properties of God, which unto this doo equallie
belong. And as we denie not that the father is the true light, although
it be not directlie written of the father, but of the sonne; He was
the true light giving light to everie man that cōmeth into this world:
so likewise it is not to be denied, that the spirit is God, although
the scripture dooth not expresselie and simplie note it; sithence it
ascribeth equall things thereunto; as the properties of God, the works
of God, the service due to GOD, and that it dooth interchangeablie take
the names of Spirit and of God oftentimes. They therefore that see
these things attributed unto the holie spirit, and yet will not suffer
him to be called by the name of God; doo as it were refuse to grant
unto _Eve_ the name of _Homo_,[*] whome notwithstanding they confesse
to be a creature reasonable and mortall.

♦1. Objectiō. The scripture dooth never call the holie spirit God.♦

♦The first answer. A refutation of the antecedent, &c.♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

The second reason is this. _Hilarie_ in all his twelve bookes of
the Trinitie dooth no where write that the holie spirit is to be
worshipped; he never giveth therunto the name of God, neither dares he
otherwise pronounce thereof, than that it is the spirit of God. Besides
this, there are usuall praiers of the church commonlie called the
Collects, whereof some are made to the father, some to the sonne, but
none to the holie spirit; and yet in them all mention is made of the
three persons. [*]Hereunto I answer, that although _Hilarie_ dooth
not openlie call the holie spirit, God: yet doth he constantly denie
it to be a creature. Now if any aske me why _Hilarie_ was so coie &
nice to name the holie spirit, God, whom he denieth to be a creature,
when as notwithstanding betweene God and a creature there is no meane:
I will in good sooth saie what I thinke. I suppose that _Hilarie_,
for himselfe, thought well of the godhead of the holie spirit: but
this opinion was thrust and forced upon him of the _Pneumatomachi_,
who at that time rightlie deeming of the sonne did erwhiles joine
themselves to those that were sound of judgement. There is also in the
ecclesiasticall historie a little booke which they gave _Liberius_
a bishop of _Rome_, whereinto they foisted the _Nicene_ creed. And
that _Hilarie_ was a freend of the _Pneumatomachi_, it is perceived
in his booke _De synodis_, where he writeth in this maner; _Nihil
autem mirum vobis videri debet, fratres charissimi, &c_: It ought to
seeme no wonder unto you deere brethren, &c. As for the objection of
the praiers of the church called the collects, that in them the holie
spirit is not called upon by name: we oppose and set against them the
songs of the church, wherein the said spirit is called upon. But the
collects are more ancient than the songs, hymnes, and anthems. I will
not now contend about ancientnesse, neither will I compare songs and
collects togither; but I say thus much onelie, to wit, that in the most
ancient times of the church the holie spirit hath beene openlie called
upon in the congregation. Now if I be charged to give an instance,
let this serve. In the collect upon trinitie sundaie it is thus said:
Almightie and everlasting God, which hast given unto us thy servants
grace by the confession of a truth to acknowledge the glorie of the
eternall trinitie, and in the power of the divine Majestie to worship
the unitie: we beseech thee that thorough the stedfastnesse of this
faith, we may evermore be defended from all adversitie, which livest
and reignest one God world without end. Now bicause that in this
collect, where the trinitie is expresselie called upon, the names of
persons are not expressed; but almightie and everlasting God invocated,
who abideth in trinitie and unitie; it doth easilie appeare elsewhere
also that the persons being not named, under the name of almightie and
everlasting God, not onelie the father[†] to be understood, but God
which abideth in trinitie and unitie, that is the father, the sonne,
and the Holie-ghost.

♦2. Objectiō. _Hilarie_ doth not call the spirit God, neither is he so
named in the common collects.♦

♦[*] The 2. answer.♦

♦_Hilarius lib. 12. de Triade_♦

♦The place is long, and therefore I had rather referre the reader unto
the booke than heere to insert so many lines.♦

♦_Collecta in die domin. sanctæ Trinit._♦

♦[†] [? is]♦

A third objection of theirs is this. The sonne of GOD oftentimes
praieng in the gospels, speaketh unto the father, promiseth the
holie spirit, and dooth also admonish the apostles to praie unto the
heavenlie father, but yet in the name of the sonne. Besides that, he
prescribeth them this forme of praier: Our father which art in heaven.
_Ergo_[*] the father onlie is to be called upon, and consequentlie
the father onelie is that one and verie true God, of whome it is
written; Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him onelie shalt thou
serve.

♦3. Objectiō. The spirit is not to be praied unto but the father onlie.♦

♦[*] [_Ital._]♦

[*]Whereto I answer first by denieng the consequent; The sonne
praied to the father onelie, _Ergo_[B] the father onlie is of us also
to be praied unto. For the sonne of GOD is distinguished of us both
in person and in office: he as a mediator maketh intercession for us
to the father: and although the sonne and the holie spirit doo both
togither receive and take us into favour with God; yet is he said to
intreat the father for us; bicause the father is the fountaine of all
counsels & divine works. Furthermore, touching the forme of praieng
prescribed of Christ, it is not necessarie that the fathers name shuld
personallie be there taken, sith there is no distinction of persons
made: but by the name of father indefinitelie we understand God or the
essence of God, the father, the son, and the Holie-ghost. For this name
hath not alwaies a respect unto the generation of the sonne of God;
but God is called the father of the faithfull, bicause of his gratious
and free adopting of them, the foundation whereof is the sonne of God,
in whom we be adopted: but yet so adopted, that not the father onelie
receiveth us into his favour; but with him also the sonne and the holy
spirit dooth the same. Therefore when we in the beginning of praier doo
advertise our selves of Gods goodnesse towards us; we doo not cast an
eie to the father alone, but also to the sonne, who gave us the spirit
of adoption; and to the holie spirit, in whom we crie _Abba_, Father.
And if so be that invocation and praier were restreined to the father
alone, then had the saints doone amisse, in calling upon, invocating,
and praieng to the sonne of God, and with the sonne the holy spirit,
in baptisme, according to the forme by Christ himselfe assigned and
delivered.

♦[*] 3. Answer. The consequent is denied.♦

Another objection is out of the fourth of _Amos_, in this maner. For lo
it is I that make the thunder, and create the spirit, and shew unto
men their Christ, making the light and the clouds, and mounting above
the hie places of the earth, the Lord God of hosts is his name. Now
bicause it is read in that place, Shewing unto men their Christ; the
_Pneumatomachi_ contended that these words are to be understood of the
holie spirit.

♦[Am. 4, 13.]♦

♦4. Objectiō. Amos saith that the spirit was created.♦

[*]But _Ambrose_ in his booke _De spiritu sancto, lib. 2. cap.
7._ doth rightlie answer, that by spirit in this place is ment the
wind: for if the prophets purpose and will had beene to speake of
the holie spirit, he would not have begunne with thunder, nor have
ended with light and clouds. Howbeit, the same father saith; If anie
suppose that these words are to be drawne unto the interpretation of
the holie spirit, bicause the prophet saith, Shewing unto men their
Christ; he ought also to draw these words unto the mysterie of the
Lords incarnation: and he expoundeth thunder to be the words of the
Lord, and spirit to be the reasonable and perfect soule. But the
former interpretation is certeine and convenient with the words of the
prophet, by whom there is no mention made of Christ; but the power of
God is set foorth in his works. Behold (saith the prophet) he that
formeth the mountaines, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man
what is his thought, which maketh the morning darknesse, and walketh
upon the hie places of the earth, the Lord God of hosts is his name. In
this sort _Santes_ a right skilfull man in the Hebrew toong translateth
this place of the prophet. But admit this place were written of the
holie spirit, & were not appliable either to the wind or to the
Lords incarnation: yet doth it not follow that the holie spirit is a
creature; bicause this word of Creating doth not alwaies signifie a
making of something out of nothing; as _Eusebius_ in expounding these
words (The Lord created me in the beginning of his waies) writeth thus.
The prophet in the person of God, saieng; Behold I am he that made
the thunder, and created the spirit, and shewed unto men their Christ:
this word Created is not so to be taken, as that it is to be concluded
thereby, that the same was not before. For God hath not so created the
spirit, sithence by the same he hath shewed & declared his Christ unto
all men. Neither was it a thing of late beginning under the sonne:
but it was before all beginning, and was then sent, when the apostles
were gathered togither, when a sound like thunder came from heaven,
as it had beene the comming of a mightie wind: this word Created being
used for sent downe, for appointed, ordeined, &c: and the word thunder
signifieng in another kind of maner the preaching of the gospels. The
like saieng is that of the _Psalmist_, A cleane hart create in me O
God: wherein he praied not as one having no hart, but as one that had
such a hart as needed purifieng, as needed perfecting: & this phrase
also of the scripture, That he might create two in one new man; that
is, that he might joine, couple, or gather together, &c.

♦[*] 4. Answer. Spirit in this place signifieth wind.♦

♦To create is not him to be made that was not.♦

♦_Euseb. Cæsariens. li. 3. adversus Marcellum._♦

Furthermore, the _Pneumatomachi_ by these testimonies insuing endevor
to proove the holie spirit to be a creature. Out of _John_ the 1. chap.
By this word were all things made, and without it nothing was made. Out
of 1. _Cor._ 8. Wee have one God the father, even he from whome are all
things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whome are all
things, and we by him. Out of the 1. _Coloss._ By him were all things
made, things in heaven, and things in earth, visible and invisible, &c.
Now if al things were made by the sonne, it followeth that by him the
holie spirit was also made.

♦5. Objectiō. All things were made by the son, _Ergo_ the
spirit was also made by him.♦

[*]Whereto I answer, that when all things are said to be made by
the sonne, that same universall proposition is restrained by _John_
himselfe to a certeine kind of things: Without him (saith the
evangelist) was nothing made that was made. Therefore it is first to be
shewed that the holie spirit was made, and then will we conclude out of
_John_, that if he were made, he was made of the sonne. The scripture
doth no where saie that the holie spirit was made of the father or of
the sonne, but to proceed, to come, and to be sent from them both. Now
if these universall propositions are to suffer no restraint, it shall
follow that the father was made of the sonne: than the which what is
more absurd and wicked?

♦[*] 5. Answer. Universall propositiōs or speeches are to be
restrained.♦

Againe, they object out of _Matth._ 11. None knoweth the sonne but the
father, and none the father but the sonne; to wit, of and by himselfe:
for otherwise both the angels, & to whomsoever else it shall please the
sonne to reveale the father, these doo know both the father and the
sonne. Now if so be the spirit be not equall with the father and the
sonne in knowledge, he is not onelie unequall and lesser than they, but
also no God: for ignorance is not incident unto God.

♦6. Objectiō.♦

♦The spirit knoweth not the father & the sonne.♦

[*]Whereto I answer, that where in holie scripture we doo meete with
universall propositions negative or exclusive, they are not to be
expounded of one person, so as the rest are excluded; but creatures or
false gods are to be excluded, and whatsoever else is without or beside
the essence and being of God. Reasons to proove and confirme this
interpretation, I could bring verie manie, whereof I will adde some
for example. In the seaventh of _John_ it is said; When Christ shall
come, none shall knowe from whence he is: notwithstanding which words
the Jewes thought that neither God nor his angels should be ignorant
from whence Christ should be. In the fourth to the _Galathians_; A
mans covenant or testament confirmed with authoritie no bodie dooth
abrogate, or adde anie thing thereunto. No just man dooth so; but
tyrants and truce-breakers care not for covenants. In _John_ eight;
Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the middest. And yet
it is not to be supposed that a multitude of people was not present,
and the disciples of Christ likewise; but the word _Solus_, alone, is
referred to the woman’s accusers, who withdrew themselves awaie everie
one, and departed. In the sixt of _Marke_; When it was evening, the
ship was in the middest of the sea, and he alone upon land: he was
not alone upon land or shore, for the same was not utterlie void of
dwellers: but he had not anie of his disciples with him, nor anie bodie
to carrie him a shipboord unto his disciples. Manie phrases or formes
of speeches like unto these are to be found in the sacred scriptures,
and in authors both Greeke and Latine, whereby we understand, that
neither universall negative nor exclusive particles are strictlie to
be urged, but to be explaned in such sort as the matter in hand will
beare. When as therefore the sonne alone is said to know the father,
and it is demanded whether the holie spirit is debarred from knowing
the father; out of other places of scriptures judgment is to be given
in this case. In some places the holie spirit is counted and reckoned
with the father and the sonne jointlie: wherefore he is not to be
separated. Else-where also it is attributed to the holie spirit that he
alone dooth know the things which be of God, and searcheth the deepe
secrets of God: wherefore from him the knowing of God is not to be
excluded.

♦[*] 6. Answer. How exclusive propositions or speeches are to be
interpreted.♦

They doo yet further object, that it is not convenient or fit for God
after the manner of suters to humble and cast downe himselfe: but the
holie spirit dooth so, praieng and intreating for us with unspeakeable
grones: _Rom._ 8. _Ergo_ the holie spirit is not God.

♦7. Objectiō. The spirit praieth for us.♦

[*]Whereto I answer that the holie spirit dooth praie and intreat, in
so much as he provoketh us to praie, and maketh us to grone and sigh.
Oftentimes also in the scriptures is that action or deed attributed
unto God, which we being stirred up and mooved by him doo bring to
passe. So it is said of God unto _Abraham_; Now I know that thou
fearest God: and yet before he would have sacrificed _Isaach_, God
knew the verie heart of _Abraham_: and therefore this word _Cognovi_,
I know, is as much as _Cognoscere feci_, I have made or caused to
know. And that the spirit to praie and intreat, is the same that, to
make to praie and intreat, the apostle teacheth even there, writing
that we have received the spirit of adoption, in whome we crie _Abba_
Father. Where it is manifest that it is we which crie, the Holie-ghost
provoking and forcing us thereunto.

♦[*] 7. Answer. The spirit dooth provoke us to praie.♦

Howbeit they go further, and frame this reason. Whosoever is sent,
the same is inferior and lesser than he of whome he is sent, and
furthermore he is of a comprehensible substance, bicause he passeth by
locall motion from place to place: but the holie spirit is sent of the
father and the sonne, _John._ 14, 15, & 16. It is powred foorth and
shed upon men, _Acts._ 10. _Ergo_ the holie spirit is lesser than the
Father and the Sonne, and of a comprehensible nature, and consequentlie
not verie God.

♦8. Objectiō. The spirit is sent from the father and the son.♦

[*]Whereto I answer first, that he which is sent is not alwaies
lesser than he that sendeth: to proove which position anie meane wit
may inferre manie instances. Furthermore, touching the sending of the
holie spirit, we are here to imagine no changing or shifting of place.
For if the spirit when he goeth foorth from the father and is sent,
changeth his place, then must the father also be in a place, that
he may leave it and go to another. And as for the incomprehensible
nature of the spirit, he cannot leaving his place passe unto another.
Therefore the sending of the spirit is the eternall and unvariable will
of God, to doo something by the holie spirit; and the revealing and
executing of this will by the operation and working of the spirit. The
spirit was sent to the apostles; which spirit was present with them,
sith it is present everie-where: but then according to the will of God
the father hee shewed himselfe present and powerfull.

♦[*] 8. Answer. How the spirit is sent.♦

Some man may saie; If sending be a revealing and laieng open of
presence and power, then may the father be said to be sent, bicause he
himselfe is also revealed. I answer, that when the spirit is said to be
sent, not onlie the revealing, but the order also of his revealing is
declared; bicause the will of the father and of the sonne, of whom he
is sent, going before, not in time, but in order of persons, the spirit
dooth reveale himselfe, the father, and also the sonne. The father
revealeth himselfe by others, the sonne and the holie spirit, so that
his will goeth before. Therefore sending is the common worke of all the
three persons; howbeit, for order of dooing, it is distinguished by
diverse names. The father will reveale himselfe unto men with the sonne
and the spirit, and be powerfull in them, and therefore is said to
send. The sonne and the spirit doo assent unto the will of the father,
and will that to be doone by themselves, which God will to be doone
by them; these are said to be sent. And bicause the will of the sonne
dooth go before the spirit in order of persons, he is also said to send
the spirit.

Yet for all this they allege, that if the spirit had perfection, then
would he speake of himselfe, and not stand in need alwaies of anothers
admonishment: but he speaketh not of himselfe, but speaketh what he
heareth, as Christ expresselie testifieth _John._ 16. _Ergo_ he is
unperfect, and whatsoever he hath it is by partaking, and consequentlie
he is not God.

♦9. Objectiō. The spirit speaketh not of himselfe.♦

[*]Whereto I answer, that this argument is stale: for it was objected
by heretikes long ago against them that held the true opinion, as
_Cyrill_ saith; who answereth, that by the words of Christ is rather
to be gathered, that the son and the spirit are of the same substance.
For, the spirit is named the mind of Christ. 1. _Cor._ 2: and therefore
he speaketh not of his owne proper will, or against his will in whom
and from whom he is; but hath all his will and working naturallie
proceeding from the substance as it were of him.

♦[*] The 9. answer.♦

♦_Cyrill. lib. 13. thesaur. cap. 3._♦

Lastlie they argue thus: Everie thing is either unbegotten or unborne,
or begotten and created; the spirit is not unbegotten, for then he
were the father; & so there should be two without beginning: neither is
he begotten, for then he is begotten of the father, and so there shall
be two sonnes, both brothers; or hee is begotten of the sonne, and
then shall he be Gods nephue, than the which what can be imagined more
absurd? _Ergo_ he is created.

♦10. Objection.♦

[*]Wherto I answer, that the division or distribution is unperfect:
for that member is omitted which is noted of the verie best divine that
ever was, even Jesus Christ our saviour; namelie, to have proceeded,
or proceeding: That same holie spirit (saith he) which proceedeth from
the father. Which place _Nazanzen_ dooth thus interpret. The spirit,
bicause he proceedeth from thence, is not a creature: and bicause he
is not begotten, he is not the son; but bicause he is the meane of
begotten and unbegotten, he shall be God, &c.

♦[*] 10. Ans. The spirit proceedeth♦

And thus having avoided all these cavils of the [*]_Pneumatomachi_,
a sect of heretikes too too injurious to the holie spirit, insomuch
as they seeke what they can, to rob and pull from him the right of
his divinitie; I will all Christians to take heed of their pestilent
opinions, the poison whereof though to them that be resolved in the
truth it can doo little hurt, yet to such as stand upon a wavering
point it can doo no great good. Having thus far waded against them,
and overthrowne their opinions; I must needs exhort all to whom the
reading hereof shall come, that first they consider with themselves
what a reverend mysterie all that hitherto hath beene said in this
chapter concerneth; namelie, the spirit of sanctification, and that
they so ponder places to and fro, as that they reserve unto the holie
spirit the glorious title of divinitie, which by nature is to him
appropriate: esteeming of these _Pneumatomachi_ or _Theomachi_, as of
swine, delighting more in the durtie draffe of their devises, than in
the faire fountaine water of Gods word: yea, condemning them of grosser
ignorance than the old philosophers, who though they savoured little of
heavenlie theologie, yet some illumination they had of the holie and
divine spirit, marrie it was somewhat mistie, darke, lame and limping;
neverthelesse, what it was, and how much or little soever it was, they
gave thereunto a due reverence, in that they acknowledged and intituled
it _Animam mundi_, The soule or life of the world, and (as _Nazanzen_
witnesseth) τὸν τοῦ παντος νοῦν, The mind of the universall, and the
outward breath, or the breath that commeth from without. _Porphyrie_
expounding the opinion of _Plato_, who was not utterlie blind in this
mysterie, saith that the divine substance doth proceed and extend
to three subsistencies and beings: and that God is chieflie and
principallie good, next him the second creator, and the third to be
the soule of the world: for he holdeth that the divinitie doth extend
even to this soule. As for _Hermes Trismegistus_, he saith that all
things have need of this spirit: for according to his worthinesse he
supporteth all, he quickeneth and susteineth all, and he is derived
from the holie fountaine, giving breath and life unto all, and evermore
remaineth continuall, plentifull, and unemptied.

♦[*] Such were the Arrians, Tritheits,[†] Samosatenians, &c.♦

♦[†] [Tritheists]♦

♦_Sus magis in cœno gaudet quàm fonte sereno._♦

♦The hethenish philosophers acknowledged the holie spirit.♦

♦_Cyrill. lib. 1. contra Julianum._♦

And here by the waie I give you a note woorth reading and considering;
namelie, how all nations in a manner, by a kind of heavenlie influence,
agree in writing and speaking the name of God with no more than foure
letters. As for example, the _Ægyptians_ doo call him _Theut_, the
_Persians_ call him _Syre_, the _Jewes_ expresse his unspeakable name
as well as they can by the word _Adonai_ consisting of foure vowels;
the _Arabians_ call him _Alla_, the _Mahometists_ call him _Abdi_,
the _Greekes_ call him _Theos_, the _Latines_ call him _Deus_, _&c._
This, although it be not so proper to our present purpose, yet (because
we are in hand with the holie spirits deitie) is not altogether
impertinent. But why GOD would have his name as it were universallie
bounded within the number of foure letters, I can give sundrie
reasons, which require too long a discourse of words by digression:
and therefore I will conceale them for this time. These opinions of
philosophers I have willinglie remembred, that it might appeare, that
the doctrine concerning the holie spirit is verie ancient; which they
having taken either out of _Moses_ writings, or out of the works
of the old fathers, published and set foorth in bookes, though not
wholie, fullie, and perfectlie understood and knowne: and also that
our _Pneumatomachi_ may see themselves to be more doltish in divine
matters than the heathen, who will not acknowledge that essentiall
and working power of the divinitie wherby all things are quickened:
which the heathen did after a sort see; after a sort (I saie) bicause
they separated the soule of the world (which they also call the
begotten mind) from the most sovereigne and unbegotten God, and
imagined certeine differences of degrees, and (as _Cyrill_ saith) did
Arrianize[*] in the trinitie.

♦_Marsilius Ficinus in arg. in Cratyl. Plat._♦

♦[*] [Arianize]♦

So then I conclude against these _Pneumatomachi_, that in so much
as they imitate the old giants, who piling up _Pelion_ upon _Ossa_,
and them both upon _Olympus_, attempted by scaling the heavens to
pull _Jupiter_ out of his throne of estate, & to spoile him of his
principalitie, and were notwithstanding their strength, whereby they
were able to carrie huge hilles on their shoulders, overwhelmed
with those mountaines, and squized under the weight of them even
to the death: so these _Pneumatomachi_, being enimies both to the
holie spirit, and no freends to the holie church (for then would
they confesse the trinitie in unitie, and the unitie in trinitie,
and consequentlie also the deitie of the holie spirit) deserve to be
consumed with the fier of his mouth, the heate whereof by no meanes can
be slaked, quenched, or avoided. For there is nothing more unnaturall,
nothing more monstrous, than against the person of the deitie (I meane
the spirit of sanctification) to oppose mans power, mans wit, mans
policie, &c: which was well signified by that poeticall fiction of the
giants, who were termed _Anguipedes_, Snakefooted: which as _Joachimus
Camerarius_ expoundeth of wicked counsellors, to whose filthie
persuasion tyrants doo trust as unto their feete; and _James Sadolet_
interpreteth of philosophers, who trusting overmuch unto their owne
wits, become so bold in challenging praise for their wisedome, that in
fine all turneth to follie and confusion: so I expound of heretickes
and schismatikes, who either by corrupt doctrine, or by mainteining
precise opinions, or by open violence, &c: assaie to overthrow the
true religion, to breake the unitie of the church, to denie _Cæsar_
his homage, and GOD his dutie, &c: and therefore let _Jovis fulmen_,
wherewith they were slaine, assure these that there is _Divina ultio_
due to all such, as dare in the ficklenes of their fansies arreare
themselves against the holie spirit; of whom sith they are ashamed here
upon earth (otherwise they would confidentlie and boldlie confesse
him both with mouth and pen) he will be ashamed of them in heaven,
where they are like to be so farre from having anie societie with the
saints, that their portion shalbe even in full and shaken measure with
miscreants and infidels. And therefore let us, if we will discerne
and trie the spirits whether they be of God or no, seeke for the
illumination of this inlightning spirit, which as it bringeth light
with it to discover all spirits, so it giveth such a fierie heat, as
that no false spirit can abide by it for feare of burning. Howbeit
the holie spirit must be in us, otherwise this prerogative of trieng
spirits will not fall to our lot.

♦_Ovid. lib. metamorph. 1 fab. 5. de gigantib. cœlum obsident._♦

♦_Jacob. Sadol. in lib. de laud. philosoph. inscript. Phædrus._♦

But here some will peradventure move a demand, and doo aske how
the holie spirit is in us, considering that _Infiniti ad finitum
nulla est proportio, neque loci angustia quod immensum est potest
circumscribi_: of that which is infinite, to that which is finite
there is no proportion; neither can that which is unmeasurable be
limited or bounded within anie precinct of place, &c. I answer, that
the most excellent father for Christes sake sendeth him unto us,
according as Christ promised us in the person of his apostles; The
comforter (saith he) which is the holie spirit, whome my father will
send in my name. And as for proportion of that which is infinite to
that which is finite, &c: I will in no case have it thought, that the
holie spirit is in us, as a bodie placed in a place terminablie; but to
attribute thereunto, as dulie belongeth to the deitie, an ubiquitie, or
universall presence; not corporallie and palpablie; but effectuallie,
mightilie, mysticallie, divinelie, &c. Yea, and this I may boldlie
adde, that Christ Jesus sendeth him unto us from the father: neither
is he given us for anie other end, but to inrich us abundantlie with
all good gifts and excellent graces; and (among the rest) with the
discerning of spirits aright, that we be not deceived. And here an end.

♦_Peter Mart. in loc. com. part. 2. cap. 18. sect. 33. pag. 628._♦

♦John. 14, 26.♦

♦John. 16, 14. & 14, 16.♦

_FINIS._

[APPENDIX I.]

[The nine chapters forming the beginning of the fifteenth Book in the
third edition, 1665, are numbered Ch. I, etc., and Scot’s Ch. I made
Ch. X, and so onward]

_BOOK XV._

CHAP. I.

_Of Magical Circles, and the reason of their Institution._

Magitians, and the more learned sort of Conjurers, make use of
Circles in various manners, and to various intentions. First, when
convenience serves not, as to time or place that a real Circle should
be delineated, they frame an imaginary Circle, by means of Incantations
and Consecrations, without either Knife, Pensil, or Compasses,
circumscribing nine foot of ground round about them, which they pretend
to sanctifie with words and Ceremonies, spattering their Holy Water
all about so far as the said Limit extendeth; and with a form of
Consecration following, do alter the property of the ground, that from
common (as they say) it becomes sanctifi’d, and made fit for Magicall
uses.

♦Imaginary Circles.♦

_How to consecrate an imaginary Circle._

Let the Exorcist, being cloathed with a black Garment, reaching to his
knee, and under that a white Robe of fine Linnen that falls unto his
ankles, fix himself in the midst of that place where he intends to
perform his Conjurations: And throwing his old Shooes about ten yards
from the place, let him put on his consecrated shooes of russet Leather
with a Cross cut on the top of each shooe. Then with his Magical Wand,
which must be a new hazel-stick, about two yards of length, he must
stretch forth his arm to all the four Windes thrice, turning himself
round at every Winde, and saying all that while with fervency:

♦The form of Consecration.♦

_I who am the servant of the Highest, do by the vertue of his Holy
Name_ Immanuel, _sanctifie unto my self the circumference of nine foot
round about me_, ✠✠✠. _from the East_, ►Glaurah◄; _from the West_,
►Garron◄; _from the North_, ►Cabon◄; _from the South_, ►Berith◄; _which
ground I take for my proper defence from all malignant spirits, that
they may have no power over my soul or body, nor come beyond these
Limitations, but answer truely being summoned, without daring to
transgress their bounds_: ►Worrh.[*] worrah. harcot. Gambalon.◄ ✠✠✠.

♦[*] [? _Mispr. for_ Worrah.]♦

Which Ceremonies being performed, the place so sanctified is equivalent
to any real Circle whatsoever. And in the composition of any Circle for
Magical feats, the fittest time is the brightest Moon-light, or when
storms of lightning, winde, or thunder, are raging through the air;
because at such times the infernal Spirits are nearer unto the earth,
and can more easily hear the Invocations of the Exorcist.

♦The time for Conjurations.♦

As for the places of Magical Circles, they are to be chosen
melancholly, dolefull, dark and lonely; either in Woods or Deserts,
or in a place where three wayes meet, or amongst ruines of Castles,
Abbies, Monasteries, _&c._ or upon the Sea-shore when the Moon shines
clear, or else in some large Parlour hung with black, and the floor
covered with the same, with doors and windowes closely shut, and
Waxen Candles lighted. But if the Conjuration be for the Ghost of one
deceased, the fittest places to that purpose are places of the slain,
Woods where any have killed themselves, Church-yards, Burying-Vaults,
_&c._ As also for all sorts of Spirits, the places of their abode
ought to be chosen, when they are called; as Pits, Caves, and hollow
places, for Subterranean Spirits: The tops of Turrets, for Aerial
Spirits: Ships and Rocks of the Sea, for Spirits of the Water: Woods
and Mountains for Faries, Nymphs, and Satyres; following the like order
with all the rest.

♦The places for Circles.♦

And as the places where, so the manner how the Circles are to be drawn,
ought to be perfectly known. First, for Infernal Spirits, let a Circle
nine foot over be made with black, and within the same another Circle
half a foot distant, leaving half a foot of both these Circles open
for the Magitian and his assistant to enter in: And betwixt these
Circles round about, write all the holy Names of God, with Crosses and
Triangles at every Name; making also a larger triangle at one side of
the Circle without on this manner with the names of the Trinity at the
seven corners, _viz._ ►Yehowah,[*] Ruah Kedesh, Immanuel◄, written in
the little circles.

♦The form of a Circle.♦

♦[*] [sic]♦

[Illustration]

The reason that Magitians give for Circles and their Institution, is,
That so much ground being blessed and consecrated by holy Words, hath
a secret force to expel all evil Spirits from the bounds thereof; and
being sprinkled with holy water, which hath been blessed by the Master,
the ground is purified from all uncleanness; besides the holy Names of
God written all about, whose force is very powerful; so that no wicked
Spirit hath the ability to break through into the Circle after the
Master and Scholler are entered, and have closed up the gap, by reason
of the antipathy they possesse to these Mystical Names. And the reason
of the Triangle is, that if the Spirit be not easily brought to speak
the truth, they may by the Exorcist be conjured to enter the same,
where by vertue of the names of the Sacred Trinity, they can speak
nothing but what is true and right.

♦The reason of Circles.♦

But if Astral Spirits as Faries, Nymphs, and Ghosts of men, be called
upon, the Circle must be made with Chalk, without any Triangles; in
the place whereof the Magical Character of that Element to which they
belong, must be described at the end of every Name.

{ Air, Water, Fire. [Symbol] [Symbol] [Symbol]
As {
for { Woods, Caves, [Symbol] [Symbol] [Symbol]
Spirits { Mountains.
of {
the { Mines, Desolate [Symbol] [Symbol]
{ Buildings.

CHAP. II.

_How to raise up the Ghost of one that hath hanged himself._

This experiment must be put in practice while the Carcass hangs; and
therefore the Exorcist must seek out for the straightest hazel wand
that he can find, to the top whereof he must binde the head of an Owl,
with a bundle of _St. John’s Wort_, or _Milliès Perforatum_: this done,
he must be informed of some miserable creature that hath strangled
himself in some Wood or Desart place (which they seldom miss to do)
and while the Carcass hangs, the Magitian must betake himself to the
aforesaid place, at 12 a clock at night, and begin his Conjurations in
this following manner.

First, stretch forth the consecrated Wand towards the four corners of
the World, saying, _By the mysteries of the deep, by the flames of_
►Banal◄, _by the power of the_ East, _and the silence of the night,
by the holy rites of_ ►Hecate◄, _I conjure and exorcize thee thou
distressed Spirit, to present thy self here, and reveal unto me the
cause of thy Calamity, why thou didst offer violence to thy own liege
life, where thou art now in beeing, and where thou wilt hereafter be_.

♦The ceremonies of Necromancy.♦

Then gently smiting the Carcase nine times with the rod, say, _I
conjure thee thou spirit of this_ N. _deceased, to answer my demands
that I am to propound unto thee, as thou ever hopest for the rest of
the holy ones, and the ease of all thy misery; by the blood of Jesu
which he shed for thy soul, I conjure and bind thee to utter unto me
what I shall ask thee_.

Then cutting down the Carcass from the tree, lay his head towards the
East, and in the space that this following Conjuration is repeating,
set a Chafing-dish of fire at his right hand, into which powre a
little Wine, some Mastick, and Gum Aromatick, and lastly a viol full
of the sweetest Oyl, having also a pair of Bellows, and some unkindled
Charcole to make the fire burn bright at the instant of the Carcass’s
rising. The Conjuration is this:

♦The Conjuration.♦

_I conjure thee thou spirit of_ N. _that thou do immediately enter into
thy antient body again, and answer to my demands, by the virtue of the
holy resurrection, and by the posture of the body of the Saviour of
the world, I charge thee, I conjure thee, I command thee on pain of
the torments and wandring of thrice seven years, which I by the power
of sacred Magick rites, have power to inflict upon thee; by thy sighs
and groans, I conjure thee to utter thy voice; so help thee God and the
prayers of the holy Church. Amen._

Which Conjuration being thrice repeated while the fire is burning with
Mastick and Gum Aromatick, the body will begin to rise, and at last
will stand upright before the Exorcist, answering with a faint and
hollow voice, the questions proposed unto it. Why it strangled it self;
where its dwelling is; what its food and life is; how long it will be
ere it enter into rest, and by what means the Magitian may assist it
to come to rest: Also, of the treasures of this world, where they are
hid: Moreover, it can answer very punctually of the places where Ghosts
reside, and how to communicate with them; teaching the nature of Astral
Spirits and hellish beings, so far as its capacity reacheth.

♦The answers of the Spirit.♦

All which when the Ghost hath fully answered, the Magitian ought out
of commiseration and reverence to the deceased, to use what means can
possibly be used for the procuring rest unto the Spirit. To which
effect he must dig a grave, and filling the same half full of quick
Lime, and a little Salt and common Sulphur, put the Carcass naked into
the same; which experiment, next to the burning of the body into ashes,
is of great force to quiet and end the disturbance of the Astral Spirit.

♦How to lay the Spirit.♦

But if the Ghost with whom the Exorcist consulteth, be of one that dyed
the common death, and obtain’d the ceremonies of burial, the body must
be dig’d out of the ground at 12 a clock at night; and the Magician
must have a companion with him, who beareth a torch in his left hand,
and smiting the Corps thrice with the consecrated rod, the Exorcist
must turn himself to all the four winds, saying:

_By the virtue of the holy resurrection, and the torments of the
damned, I conjure and exorcize thee spirit of_ N. _deceased, to answer
my liege demands, being obedient unto these sacred ceremonies on pain
of everlasting torment and distress_: Then let him say, ►Berald,
Beroald, Balbin gab gabor agaba◄; _Arise, arise, I charge and command
thee_.

♦Another form.♦

After which Ceremonies, let him ask what he desireth and he shall be
answered.

But as a faithful caution to the practicer of this Art, I shall
conclude with this, That if the Magician, by the Constellation and
Position of the Stars at his nativity, be in the predicament of those
that follow Magical Arts, it will be very dangerous to try this
experiment for fear of suddain death ensuing, which the Ghosts of men
deceased, can easily effect upon those whose nativities lead them to
Conjuration: And which suddain and violent death, the Stars do alwayes
promise to such as they mark with the _Stigma_ of Magicians.

♦A Caution for the Exorcist.♦

CHAP. III.

_How to raise up the three Spirits_, Paymon, Bathin, _and_
Barma: _And what wonderful things may be effected through
their assistance._

The Spirit _Paymon_ is of the power of the Air, the sixteenth in the
ranck of Thrones, subordinate to _Corban_ and _Marbas_.

♦Their order.♦

_Bathin_ is of a deeper reach in the source of the fire, the second
after _Lucifers_ familiar, and hath not his fellow for agility and
affableness, in the whole Infernal Hierarchy.

_Barma_ is a mighty Potentate of the order of _Seraphims_, whom 20
Legions of Infernal Spirits do obey; his property is to metamorphose
the Magician or whom he pleaseth, and transport into foreign Countreys.

These three Spirits, though of various ranks and orders, are all of one
power, ability and nature, and the form of raising them all is one.
Therefore the Magician that desireth to consult with either of these
Spirits, must appoint a night in the waxing of the Moon, wherein the
Planet _Mercury_ reigns, at 11 a clock at night; not joyning to himself
any companion, because this particular action will admit of none;
and for the space of four dayes before the appointed night, he ought
every morning to shave his beard, and shift himself with clean linnen,
providing beforehand the two Seals of the Earth, drawn exactly upon
parchment, having also his consecrated Girdle ready of a black Cats
skin with the hair on, and these names written on the inner side of the
Girdle: ►Ya, Ya◄ ✠ ►Aie, Aaie◄ ✠ ►Elibra◄ ✠ ►Elohim◄ ✠ ►Saday◄ ✠ ►Yah
Adonay◄ ✠ _tuo robore_ ✠ _Cinctus sum_ ✠.

♦The Utensils to be used.♦

Upon his Shooes must be written ►Tetragrammaton◄, with crosses
round about, and his garment must be a Priestly Robe of black, with a
Friers hood, and a Bible in his hand.

When all these things are prepared, and the Exorcist hath lived
chastly, and retired until the appointed time: Let him have ready
a fair Parlour or Cellar, with every chink and window closed; then
lighting seven Candles, and drawing a double Circle with his own
blood, which he must have ready before hand: let him divide the Circle
into seven parts, and write these seven names at the seven divisions,
setting at every Name a Candle lighted in a brazen Candlestick in the
space betwixt the Circles: The names are these, ►Cados◄ ✠ ►Escherie◄ △
►Anick◄ ✠ ►Sabbac◄ [Symbol] ►Sagun◄ ✠ ✠ ►Aba◄ ✠ ►Abalidoth◄ [Symbol]

♦The Circle.♦

When the Candles are lighted, let the Magician being in the midst of
the Circle, and supporting himself with two drawn Swords, say with a
low and submissive voyce; _I do by the vertue of these seven holy Names
which are the Lamps of the living God, Consecrate unto my use this
inclosed Circle, and exterminate out of, it[*] all evill Spirits, and
their power; that beyond the limit of their circumference they enter
not on pain of torments to be doubled_, ►Yah, Agion, Helior, Heligah◄,
_Amen_.

♦The Consecration.♦

♦[*] [_transp._ it,]♦

When this Consecration is ended, Let him sprinkle the Circle with
consecrated Water, and with a Chafing-dish of Charcole, perfume it with
Frankincense and Cinamon, laying the Swords a cross the Circle, and
standing over them; then whilest the fumigation burneth, let him begin
to call these three Spirits in this following manner:

_I Conjure and Exorcize you the three Gentle and Noble Spirits of the
power of the North, by the great and dreadful name of_ ►Peolphan◄ _your
King, and by the silence of the night, and by the holy rites of Magick,
and by the number of the Infernal Legions, I adjure and invocate you;
That without delay ye present your selves here before the Northern
quarter of this Circle, all of you, or any one of you, and answer my
demands by the force of the words contained in this Book._ This must be
thrice repeated, and at the third repetition, the three Spirits will
either all appear, or one by lot, if the other be already somewhere
else imployed; at their appearance they will send before them three
fleet Hounds opening after a Hare, who will run round the Circle for
the space of half a quarter of an hour; after that more hounds will
come in, and after all, a little ugly _Æthiop_, who will take the Hare
from their ravenous mouths, and together with the Hounds vanish; at
last the Magician shall hear the winding of a Hunts-mans horn, and a
Herald on Horseback shall come galloping with three Hunters behind
upon black Horses, who will compass the Circle seven times, and at the
seventh time will make a stand at the Northern quarter, dismissing
the Herald that came up before them, and turning their Horses towards
the Magician, will stand all a brest before him, saying; ►Gil pragma
burthon machatan dennah◄; to which the Magician must boldly answer;
►Beral, Beroald, Corath, Kermiel◄; _By the sacred rites of Magick ye
are welcome ye three famous Hunters of the North, and my command is,
that by the power of these Ceremonies ye be obedient and faithful unto
my summons, unto which I conjure you by the holy Names of God_, ►Yah,
Gian, Soter, Yah, Jehovah, Immanuel, Tetragrammaton, Yah, Adonay,
Sabtay, Seraphin◄; _Binding and obliging you to answer plainly,
faithfully and truly, by all these holy names, and by the awful name of
your mighty King_ ►Peolphon◄.[*]

♦The Conjuration.♦

♦The Appearanees. [_sic_]♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

Which when the Magician hath said, the middle Hunter named ►Paymon◄,
will answer, ►Gil pragma burthon machatan dennah◄, _We are the three
mighty Hunters of the North, in the Kingdom of_ Fiacim, _and are come
hither by the sound of thy Conjurations, to which we swear by him that
liveth to yield obedience, if_ Judas _that betrayed him be not named_.

♦The Condition.♦

Then shall the Magician swear, _By him that liveth, and by all that is
contained in this holy Book, I swear unto you this night, and by the
mysteries of this action, I swear unto you this night, and by the bonds
of darkness I swear unto you this night, That_ Judas _the Traitor shall
not be named, and that blood shall not be offered unto you, but that
truce and equal terms shall be observed betwixt us_. Which being said,
the Spirits will bow down their heads to the Horses crests, and then
alighting down will call their Herald to withdraw their Horses; which
done, The Magician may begin to bargain with all, or any one of them,
as a familiar invisibly to attend him, or to answer all difficulties
that he propoundeth: Then may he begin to ask them of the frame of
the World, and the Kingdoms therein contained, which are unknown
unto Geographers: He may also be informed of all Physical processes
and operations; also how to go invisible and fly through the airy
Region: They can likewise give unto him the powerful Girdle of Victory,
teaching him how to compose and consecrate the same, which hath the
force, being tyed about him, to make him conquer Armies, and all men
whatsoever. Besides, there is not any King or Emperour throughout the
world; but if he desires it, they will engage to bring him the most
pretious of their Jewels and Riches in twenty four hours; discovering
also unto him the way of finding hidden treasures and the richest mines.

♦The Magicians Oath.♦

♦The girdle of Victory.♦

And after the Conjurer hath fulfilled his desires, he shall dismiss the
aforesaid Spirits in this following form.

♦The form of discharge.♦

_I charge you ye three officious Spirits to depart unto the place
whence ye were called, without injury to either man or Beast, leaving
the tender Corn untouched, and the seed unbruised; I dismiss you, and
licence you to go back untill I call you, and to be alwayes ready at my
desire, especially thou nimble_ ►Bathin◄, _whom I have chosen to attend
me, that thou be alwayes ready when I ring a little Bell to present thy
self without any Magical Ceremonies performed; and so depart ye from
hence, and peace be betwixt you and us, In the Name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. Amen._

When the Magician hath repeated this last form of dismission, he will
hear immediately a horn winding, after which the Herald with the jet
black Horses, and the three Spirits will mount upon them, compassing
the Circle seven times, with the Herald winding his horn before them,
and at every Candle they will bow towards the Horses crest, till coming
towards the Northern quarter, they will with great obeysance seem to
march away out through the solid wall as through a City gate.

CHAP. IV.

_How to Consecrate all manner of Circles, Fumigations, Fire,
Magical Garments, and Utensills._

Consecrations are related either to the person or the thing
consecrated. The person is the Magitian himself, whose consecration
consisteth in Abstinence, Temperance, and holy Garments. The things
consecrated are the Oyl, the Fire, the Water. The Fumigations
consisting of oriental Gums and Spices; the magical Sword, Pensils,
Pens and Compasses, the measuring Rule and waxen Tapers, the
Pentacles, Periapts, Lamins, and Sigils, Vests, Caps, and Priestly
Garments; these are the materials to be consecrated.

♦What things are to be consecrated.♦

The sacred Pentacles are as signs and charms for the binding of Evil
Dæmons, consisting of Characters and Names of the Superior order of the
good Spirits opposite unto those evil ones whom the Magitian is about
to Invocate: And of sacred Pictures, Images, and Mathematical Figures
adapted to the names and natures of separated Substances whither good
or evil. Now the form of Consecrating such Magical Pentacles is to
name the vertue of the holy Names and Figures, their Antiquity and
Institution with the intention of the Consecration purifying the
Pentacle by consecrated fire, and waving the same over the flames
thereof.

♦Pentacles.♦

When the Exorcist would consecrate Places or Utensils, Fire or Water
for magical uses, he must repeat the Consecration or Dedication of
_Solomon_ the King at the building of the Temple, the Vision of
_Moses_ at the Bush, and the Spirit of the Lord on the tops of the
Mulberry-trees, repeating also the sacrifice of it self being kindled;
the Fire upon _Sodom_, and the Water of Eternal Life: Wherein the
Magitian must still remember to speak of the seven golden Candlesticks,
and _Ezekiels_ Wheels, closing the Consecration with the deep and
mysterious Names of God and holy Dæmons.

♦Utensils.♦

When particular Instruments are to be sanctified, the Magitian must
sprinkle the same with consecrated Water, and fumigate them with
fumigations, anoint them with consecrated Oyl: And lastly, Seal them
with holy Characters; after all which is performed, an Oration or
Prayer must follow, relating the particulars of the Consecration with
Petitions to that Power in whose Name and Authority the Ceremony is
performed.

♦Instruments.♦

And in like manner shalt thou consecrate and sanctifie every Utensil
whatsoever, by Sprinklings, Fumigations, Unctions, Seals, and
Benedictions, commemorating and reiterating the sanctifyings in the
holy Scripture, of the Tables of the Law delivered to _Moses_; of the
two Testaments in the New Covenant, of the holy Prophets in their
Mothers wombs, and of _Aholiah_, and _Aholibah_, whom the Spirit of God
inspired to frame all sorts of curious workmanship for the Tabernacle.
This is the sum of Consecrationn.[*]

♦How to consecrate.♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

CHAP. V.

_Treating more practically of the Consecration of Circles,
Fires, Garments, and Fumigations._

In the Construction of Magical Circles, the hour, day, or night, and
season of the year, and the Constellation are to be considered; as
also what sort of Spirits are to be called; and to what Region, Air,
or Climate they belong: Therefore this method is to be followed for
the more orderly and certain proceeding therein. First, a Circle nine
foot over must be drawn, within which another Circle three inches from
the outermost must be also made, in the Center whereof the name of the
hour, the Angel of the hour, the Seal of the Angel, the Angel of the
day predominant, wherein the work is undertaken. Note, these attributes
are to be inscribed betwixt the Circles round about with _Alpha_ at the
beginning, and _Omega_ at the close.

♦Circles how to be made.♦

When the Circle is composed, it must be sprinkled with holy Water,
while the Magician saith, _Wash me O Lord, and I shall be whiter
then Snow_: And as for the Fumigations over them, this Benediction
must be said; _O God of_ Abraham, Isaac, _and_ Jacob, _bless these
thy subservient creatures, that they may multiply the force of their
excellent odors, to hinder evil spirits and phantasms from entring the
Circle, through our Lord. Amen._

♦Fumigations.♦

_An Exorcism for the fire._

The Exorcist ought to have an earthen Censer, wherein to preserve
the fire for magical uses, and the expiations and fumigations, whose
consecration is on this manner.

♦Fire.♦

_By him that created Heaven and Earth, and is the God and Lord of all,
I exorcize and sanctifie thee thou creature of Fire, that immediately
thou banish every phantasm from thee, so that thou prove not hurtful
in any kind: Which I beseech thee O Lord to confirm by sanctifying
and making pure this creature of fire, that it may be blessed and
consecrate to the honour of thy holy Name. Amen._

_At the putting on the Garments,_

Let the Magician say, _By the figurative mystery of this holy Stole
or Vestment, I will cloath me with the armour of Salvation in the
strength of the highest._ ►Ancor, Amacor, Amides, Theodonias, Anitor.◄
_That my desired end may be effected through thy strength_ ►Adonai◄,
_to whom the praise and glory will for ever belong._

♦Garments.♦

Which Ceremonies being finished, the Exorcist shall proceed to the
practical part of Invocation and Conjuration of all degrees of Spirits,
having every utensil and appendix in readiness for the performance, and
proceeding according to the method in these following Chapters.

♦Practice.♦

CHAP. VI.

_How to raise and exorcize all sorts of Spirits belonging to the
Airy Region._

The Garment which the Exorcist is cloathed withall at the performance
of this action, ought according to the opinions of the chiefest
Magicians, to be a Priestly Robe, which if it can no where be procured,
may be a neat and cleanly linnen Vest, with the holy Pentacle fastned
thereunto upon Parchment made of a Kids skin, over which an Invocation
must be said, and then the Pentacle must be sprinkled with holy Water.
At the putting on the Magical Garment, this Prayer must be repeated:
_By thy holy power_ ►Adonai Sabaoth◄, _And by the power and merit of
thine Angels and Archangels, and by the vertue of holy Church, which
thou hast sanctified, do I cloath me with this consecrated Garment,
that what I am to practice may take effect through thy Name who art for
ever and ever._

♦What sort of Garments must be used.♦

Now as for the time of operation, and the manner thereof, The
Instructions before set down, are sufficient to direct the Exorcist;
only the Acter and his Scholar must be mindful in the way, as they go
towards the place of Conjuration, to reiterate the sacred forms of
Consecrations, Prayers, and Invocations, the one bearing an Earthen
Vessel with consecrated fire, and the other the Magical Sword, the Book
and Garments, till approaching nigh the place where the Circle is to be
drawn, they must then proceed to compose it after the aforesaid manner.
And at last Exorcize the Spirits on this following manner:

♦The manner of Conjuring.♦

_Seeing God hath given us the power to bruise the Serpents head, and
command the Prince of Darkness, much more to bear rule over every
airy Spirit: Therefore by his strong and mighty Name_ ►Jehovah◄
_do I conjure you_, (naming the Spirits), _and by his secret
commands delivered to_ Moses _on the Mount, and by his holy Name_
►Tetragrammaton◄, _and by all his wonderful Names and Attributes_,
►Sadai, Ollon, Emillah, Athanatos, Paracletos◄, &c. _That ye do here
immediately appear before this Circle, in humane form, and not terrible
or of monstrous shape, on pain of eternal misery that abides you,
unless you speedily fulfil my commands_, ►Bathar, Baltar, Archim,
Anakim, Nakun◄. _Amen._

♦The form.♦

When the Exorcist hath finished this Conjuration, he and his companion
shall continue constantly turning themselves to the East, West, North
and South, saying, with their Caps in their hands, ►Gerson, Anek,
Nephaton, Basannah, Cabon◄; and within a little space they will behold
various apparitions upon the ground, and in the air, with various
habits, shapes, and instruments; after that, he shall perceive a troop
of armed men with threatning carriage appear before the Circle, who
after they are conjured to leave off their phantasms, will at last
present themselves before the Exorcist in humane form.

♦The Apparitions.♦

Then the Master must be mindful to take the consecrated Sword, and the
cup of Wine into his hands; the Wine he shall pour into the fire, and
the Sword he shall brandish in his right arm, being girded about with
a Scarlet Ribbon; after this the Magician shall say, ►Gahire, Gephna,
Anepheraton◄; then the Spirits will begin to bow unto the Exorcist,
saying, _We are ready to fulfil thy pleasure_.

So that when the Magician hath brought the Spirits to this length, he
may ask what ever he desireth, and they will answer him, provided the
questions belong to that order whereof they are.

Now the properties wherein they excel, are these; They can give the
gift of Invisibility, and the fore-knowledge of the change of weather;
they can teach the Exorcist how to excite Storms and Tempests, and
how to calm them again; they can bring news in an hours space of the
success of any Battle, Seidge, or Navy, how farr off soever; they
can also teach the language of Birds, and how to fly through the air
invisibly.

♦What these Spirits can do.♦

’Twas through the assistance of these airy Spirits, that
_Chanchiancungi_, the _Tartarian_ Emperour did give the _Chinois_ such
a desperate rout near the year 1646. for it is reported, that he had
constantly in his presence two Magicians, named _Ran_ and _Sionam_, who
perceived every motion of the _China_’s Army, and had intelligence by
these Spirits of the Emperours private Counsels and Consultations.

♦An example of their power.♦

And it is credibly reported by Magicians, that wonderful things may
be with facility effected through the assistance of these aforesaid
Spirits, so that the Exorcist must be very affable unto them, and
gently dismiss them (when he is satisfied) in this following manner;

_Seeing ye have willingly answered all our Interrogations and desires,
we give you leave and licence, In the Name of the Father, Son, and
Holy-Ghost, to depart unto your place, and be ever ready to attend our
call; Depart, I say, in peace, and peace be confirmed betwixt us and
you. Amen._ ✠ ✠ ✠.

♦How to dismiss them.♦

After all these Ceremonies are finished, the Spirits will begin to
depart, making obeysance as they go; and then the Master must demolish
the Circle, and taking up all the Utensils repeat the _Pater Noster_ as
they are going away from the place of Conjuration.

CHAP. VII.

_How to obtain the familiarity of the_ Genius _or_ Good Angel, _and
cause him to appear._

According to the former Instructions in conjuring Spirits, we must
proceed to consult with the _Familiars_ or _Genii_; first, after the
manner prescribed by Magicians, the Exorcist must inform himself of
the _name_ of his good _Genius_, which he may find in the Rules of
_Travius_ and _Philermus_; as also, what _Character_ and _Pentacle_, or
_Lamin_, belongs to every _Genius_. After this is done, Let him compose
an earnest Prayer unto the said _Genius_, which he must repeat thrice
every morning for seven dayes before the Invocation.

♦How to consult with _Familiars_ or _Genii_.♦

The Magician must also perfectly be informed to what Hierarchy or
Order the _Genius_ belongs, and how he is dignified in respect of his
Superiours and Inferiours; for this form of Conjuration belongs not to
the Infernal or Astral Kingdom, but to the Celestial Hierarchy; and
therefore great gravity and sanctity is herein required, besides the
due observation of all the other injunctions, until the time approach
wherein he puts the Conjuration in execution.

When the day is come wherein the Magician would invocate his proper
_Genius_, he must enter into a private closet, having a little Table
and Silk Carpet, and two Waxen Candles lighted; as also a Chrystal
Stone shaped triangularly about the quantity of an Apple, which Stone
must be fixed upon a frame in the center of the Table: And then
proceeding with great devotion to Invocation, he must thrice repeat
the former Prayer, concluding the same with _Pater Noster, &c._ and a
_Missale de Spiritu Sancto_.

Then he must begin to Consecrate the Candles, Carpet, Table and
Chrystal; sprinkling the same with his own blood, and saying, _I
do by the power of the holy Names_ ►Aglaon, Eloi, Eloi, Sabbathon,
Anepheraton, Jah, Agian, Jah, Jehovah, Immanuel, Archon Archonton,
Sadai, Sadai, Jeovaschah◄, &c. _sanctifie and consecrate these holy
utensils to the performance of this holy work, In the Name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Amen_.

♦The form of Consecration.♦

Which done, the Exorcist must say this following Prayer with his face
towards the East, and kneeling with his back to the consecrated Table.

♦The Prayer.♦

_O thou blessed_ ►Phanael◄ _my Angel Guardian, vouchsafe to descend
with thy holy Influence and presence into this spotless Chrystal, that
I may behold thy glory and enjoy thy society O thou who art higher
then the fourth Heaven, and know’st the secrets of_ ►Elanel◄. _Thou
that ridest upon the wings of the wind, and art mighty and potent in
thy celestial and super-lunary motion, do thou descend and be present
I pray thee, and desire thee, if ever I have merited thy society, or
if my actions and intentions be pure and sanctified before thee, bring
thy external presence hither, and converse with thy submissive Pupil,
by the tears of Saints and Songs of Angels, In the Name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, who are one God for ever and ever._

This Prayer being first repeated towards the East, must be afterwards
said towards all the four winds thrice. And next the 70. Psalm repeated
out of a Bible that hath been consecrated in like manner as the rest of
the utensils; which ceremonies being seriously performed; the Magician
must arise from his knees, and sit before the Crystal bare-headed with
the consecrated Bible in his hand, and the Waxen Candles newly lighted,
waiting patiently and internally for the coming and appearance of the
_Genius_.

Now about a quarter of an hour before the Spirit come. There will
appear great variety of apparitions and sights within the glass; as
first a beaten road or tract, and travelers, men and women marching
silently along; next there will Rivers, Wells, Mountains and Seas
appear: after that a Shepherd upon a pleasant hill feeding a goodly
flock of Sheep, and the Sun shining brightly at his going down; and
lastly, innumerable shews of Birds and Beasts, Monsters and strange
appearances, noises, glances, and affrightments, which shews will all
at last vanish at the appearance of the _Genius_.

♦Signs of the appearance♦

And then the _Genius_ will present it self amidst the Crystal, in the
very same apparel and similitude that the person himself is in, giving
instructions unto the Exorcist how to lead his life and rectifie his
doings.

♦The Appearance♦

But especially (which is the proper work of every _Genius_) he will
touch his heart and open his senses and understanding, so that by this
means, he may attain to the knowledge of every Art and Science, which
before the opening of his Intellect was lockt and kept secret from him.

After which, the _Genius_ will be familiar in the Stone at the Prayer
of the Magician.

CHAP. VIII.

_A form of Conjuring_ ►Luridan◄ _the Familiar, otherwise called_
►Belelah◄.

►Luridan◄ is a Familiar Domestick Spirit of the _North_, who is
now become servant to ►Balkin◄, Lord and King of the _Northern_
Mountains, he calls himself the _Astral Genius_ of _Pomonia_, an Island
amongst the _Orcades_ beyond _Scotland_. But he is not particularly
resident there; for in the dayes of _Solomon_ and _David_, he was in
_Jerusalem_, or _Salem_, being then under the name of ►Belilah◄; after
that he came over with _Julius Cæsar_, and remained some hundred of
years in _Cambria_, or _Wales_, instructing their Prophetical Poets in
_British_ Rhimes, being then surnamed _Urthin-Wadd Elgin_, from thence
he betook himself unto this Island, _Anno_ 1500. and continued there
for 50 years, after which he resigned his Dominion to _Balkin_, and
hath continued ever since an attendant unto this Prince.

♦The nature of ►Luridan◄.♦

He is a Spirit of the Air in the order of ►Glauron◄, and is said to
procreate as mortals do; He is often sent by his Master upon errands to
_Lapland_, _Finland_, and _Strik-finia_; as also to the most _Northern_
parts of _Russia_, bordering on the _Northern_ frozen Ocean: His office
(being called by Magicians) is to demolish strong holds of Enemies,
destroying every night what they build the day before; to extinguish
fires, and make their Gunshot that it hath no power to be enkindled;
for his nature is to be at enmity with fire: and under his Master with
many Legions he wageth continual warrs with the fiery Spirits that
inhabit the Mountain _Hecla_ in _Ise-land_, where they endeavour to
extinguish these fiery flames, and the inhabiting Spirits defend the
flames from his Master and his Legions.

♦His Office♦

In this contest they do often totally extirpate and destroy one
another, killing and crushing when they meet in mighty and violent
Troops in the Air upon the Sea; and at such a time many of the fiery
Spirits are destroyed, when the Enemy hath brought them off the
Mountain to fight upon the water; on the contrary, when the battle is
on the Mountain it self, the Spirits of the Air are often worsted, and
then great mournings and doleful noises are heard both in _Iseland_ and
_Russia_, and _Norway_ for many days after.

♦The Warrs of Spirits.♦

But to proceed to the form of conjuring this aforesaid Spirit, the
Magician must draw a Circle in a Moonshine night in some solitary
Valley; the Circle must be 18 foot over, and another Circle a foot
distance within the same, being both drawn with chalk, and the
Exorcist being girded about with two Snakes skins tyed together, and
having many Snakes skins tyed to his cap, and hanging down before and
behinde, must also with Chalk draw the form of a fiery Mountain at
one side of the Circle on this manner; And round about the Mountain
these following names must be wrote, ►Glauron, Opotok, Balkin, Opotok,
Urthin, Opotok, Swaknar, Nalah, Opotok◄, ✠ ✠ ✠. After the Mountain is
drawn, he must consecrate the same in these following words, ►Ofron,
Anepheraton, Baron Barathron, Nah halge tour hecla◄, _In the Name of
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Amen_. ✠ ✠ ✠. After the Magician hath
consecrated the Mountain, he must write betwixt the circles these
following words; ►Urthin◄ ✠ ►Malc hii◄ ✠ ✠ ►Kiddal Katttron◄[*] ✠
►Agla◄ ✠ ►Glaura◄ ✠ ►Bashemo◄ ✠ ►Phowah◄ ✠ ►Elohim◄ ✠ ►Immannel◄[†] ✠
_Amen_. △ ✠ △ ✠ △ ✠. Which done, he must begin to Invocate the Spirit
on this following manner.

♦The form of the Circle and Ceremonies.♦

♦The Consecration of the Mountain.♦

♦[*] [? Kattron]♦

♦[†] [Immanuel]♦

[Illustration]

_O ye Powers of the East_, ►Athanaton◄; _of the West_, ►Orgon◄; _of
the South_, ►Boralim◄; _of the North_, ►Glauron◄; _I charge and
command you by the dreadful Names here mentioned, and the Consecration
of this terrible Mountain, to present your selves one of every sort
before this Circle by the power of_ ►Immanuel◄, _and his holy Name_.
After this hath with fervency been thrice repeated, the Exorcist
will hear great noises of Swords and fighting, Horses neighing, and
Trumpets sounding, and at last there will appear four little Dwarfs or
Pigmies naked before the Circle, their speech will be antient _Irish_;
which afterwards being confined to a Triangle, they will interpret;
the substance thereof will be from whence they came last, and what
wonderful things they can do; Then the Magician must ask them, if they
know one ►Luridan◄ a familiar; they will answer ►Hamah ni trulloh
Balkin◄, he is Secretary or servant unto ►Balkin◄, and after the
Exorcist hath charged them to bring the said ►Luridan◄ unto him, they
will immediately bring him like a little Dwarf with a crooked nose,
and present him before the Magician in the triangle; then the Magician
shall bind and tye him with the bond of obligation, and with his own
blood, without any contract of conditions to be performed, that he
will attend him constantly at his thrice repeating ►Luridan, Luridan,
Luridan◄, And be ever ready to go whether he will, to the _Turks_, or
to the uttermost parts of the Earth, which he can do in an hour, and
destroy all their Magazines.

♦The Conjuration.♦

♦The Apparitions.♦

♦►Luridan.◄♦

After the Magician hath so bound him, he shall receive from the Spirit
a scrole written in this manner;

♦The Compact.♦

[Illustration]

which is the Indenture to serve him for a year and a day; and then the
Magician shall dismiss him for that time in the form of dismission.

CHAP. IX.

_How to Conjure the Spirit_ ►Balkin◄ _the Master of_ ►Luridan◄.

As in the former Chapter, the Exorcist is instructed to draw the
form of the Mountain _Hecla_ within the circle, so in this form of
Conjuration he must do the same, adding these names to be written round
the Mountain _Mathiel_; ►Rahuniel, Seraphiel, Hyniel, Rayel, Fraciel◄.
These are the names of _Olympick Angels_, governing the _North_, and
ruling over every airy Spirit that belongs unto the _Northern_ Climate;
so that the authority of these names must be used in the calling up of
this Spirit, because he is a great Lord, and very lofty, neither will
he appear without strong and powerful Invocations.

♦The names of Olympick Angels.♦

Therefore the Magician must make upon Virgin Parchment the two Seals
of the Earth, and provide unto himself a Girdle made of a Bears skin
with a rough side next his body, and these names wrote round about in
the outerside, ✠ ►Alpha◄ ✠ ►Coronzon, Yah, Taniah, Adonay◄ ✠ ►Soncas◄
✠ ►Damael◄ ✠ ►Angeli fortes◄ ✠ ►pur pur◄ ✠ ►Elibra, Elohim◄ ✠ ►Omega◄
✠ ►per flammam ignis◄ ✠ ►per vitam Coronzon◄ ✠ _Amen_. ✠. Also he must
provide a black Priestly Robe to reach to his ankles, and a new Sword
with ►Agla◄ on the one side, and ►On◄ upon the other; having likewise
been very continent and chast for three days before the execution of
his design: and when the appointed night approacheth, he must take with
him an earthen pan with fire therein, and a little Viol with some of
his own blood, as also some of the Gum or Rozin that comes from the
Firr-tree.

And coming to the appointed place in some solitary Valley, the circle
must be drawn with chalk, as the former, one circle within another,
and these powerful names in the circumference, ►Otheos on Panthon◄ ✠
►Breschit, Hashamaim, Waharetz Wahayah◄ ✠ ►Tohu◄ ✠ ►va Bohu◄ ⚝ ✠ ✠ ✠ ⚝
►magnus es tu ben Elohim qui super alas ventorum equitaris◄ ✠.

This Circumscription is accounted amongst Magicians of all the most
powerful and prevalent.

After this the Circle, Mountain, Fire, Turpentine, Girdle, Garments,
Sword and Blood must be consecrated according to the foregoing forms of
Consecration, adding also this to the end of the consecration.

_Mighty art thou O_ ►Adonay, Elohim, Ya, Ya, Aie, Aie, Acimoy◄, _who
hast created the light of the day, and the darkness of the night,
unto whom every knee bows in Heaven and on Earth, who hast created
the_ ►Tohu◄ _and the_ ►Bohu◄, _that is stupor or numbness in a thing
to be admired, and mighty are thy magnificient Angels_ ►Damael◄
_and_ ►Guael◄, _whose influence can make the winds to bow, and every
airy Spirit stoop; Let thy right hand sanctifie these consecrated
utensils, exterminating every noxious thing from their bodies, and the
circumference of this Circle. Amen._ ►Calerna, Shalom, Shalom, Agla on
Sassur, Tafrac, Angeli fortes.◄ _In Nomine Patris, Filii, & Spiritus
Sancti. Amen, Amen, Amen._ After that, he shall sweep the circle gently
with a Foxes tayl, and sprinkle the same round with his blood, dipping
also the Sword, or anointing it with the same, and brandishing the
same in his right hand, he shall begin to conjure the Spirit on this
following manner:

_I Exorcize and Conjure thee thou great and powerful_ ►Balkin◄, _Lord
of_ ►Glauron◄, _Lord of_ ►Luridan◄, _and of fifteen hundred Legions,
Lord of the Northern Mountains, and of every Beast that dwells
thereon by the holy and wonderful Names of the Almighty_ ►Jehovah,
Athanato◄[*] ✠ ►Aionos◄ ✠ ►Dominus sempiternus◄ ✠ ►Aletheios◄ ✠
►Saday◄ ✠ ►Jehovah◄, ►Kedesh, El gabor◄ ✠ ►Deus fortissimus◄ ✠
►Anapheraton, Amorule, Ameron◄ ✠ ✠ ✠ ►Panthon◄ ✠ ►Craton◄ ✠ ►Muridon◄
✠ ►Jah, Jehovah, Elohim pentasseron◄ ✠ ✠ ►trinus et unus◄ ✠ ✠ ✠ ⚝
_I Exorcize and Conjure, I Invocate and Command thee thou aforesaid
Spirit, by the powers of Angels and Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim,
by the mighty Prince_ ►Coronzon◄, _by the blood of_ Abel, _by the
righteousness of_ Seth, _and the Prayers of_ Noah, _by the voyces of
Thunder and dreadful day of Judgment; by all these powerful and royal
words abovesaid, that without delay or malitious intent, thou do come
before me here at the circumference of this consecrated Circle, to
answer my proposals and desires without any manner of terrible form
either of thy self, or attendants; but only obediently, fairly, and
with good intent, to present thy self before me, this Circle being my
defence, through his power who is Almighty, and hath sanctified the
same, In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen._

♦[*] [Athanatos]♦

After the Magician hath thrice repeated this Conjuration, Let him
immediately set the fire before him, and put the Rozin thereon to
fumigate at the appearance of the conjured Spirits, and at the instant
of their appearance he shall hold the Censer of fire in his left hand,
and the Sword in his right, still turning round as the Spirits do.

For in a little space after the Invocation is repeated, he shall hear
the noise of Thunders, and perceive before him in the Valley a mighty
storm of Lightning and Rain; after a while the same will cease, and
an innumerable company of Dwarfs or Pigmies will appear mounted upon
Chamelions to march towards the Circle surrounding the same.

Next comes ►Balkin◄ with his Attendants; he will appear like the god
_Bacchus_ upon a little Goat, and the rest that follow will march after
him afoot.

Assoon as they come near the Circle, they will breath out of their
mouths a mist, or fog, which will even obscure the light of the Moon,
and darken the Magician, that he cannot behold them nor himself; yet
let him not be discomfited, or afraid, for that fog will be quickly
over; and the Spirits will run round the Circle after ►Balkin◄ their
Lord, who rides upon a Goat; they will continue to surround the Circle,
till the Magician begin the form of obligation or binding their Leader
or King in this form, with the Sword in his right hand, the Fire and
Rozin burning before him.

_I conjure and bind thee_ ►Balkin◄, _who art appeared before me,
by the Father, by the Son, and by the Holy Ghost, by all the holy
Consecrations I have made, by the powerful Names of Heaven, and of
Earth, and of Hell, that I have used and uttered in calling upon
thee, by the Seals which thou here beholdest, and the Sword which
I present[*] unto thee, by this sanctified Girdle, and all the
sanctified and potent things aforesaid, That here thou remain
peaceably, and of thy present shape before the Northern quarter of
this Circle, without injury to me in body, soul, or fortune; but on
the contrary, to answer faithfully unto my demands, and not hence to
remove, till I have licenced thee to depart, In the Name of the Father,
Son, and holy Spirit. Amen._

♦[*] [show, not give]♦

When he is thus obliged, he will alight from his Goat, and cause his
Attendants to remove further into the Valley, then will he stand
peaceably before the Circle to answer the Magician.

After this the Magician shall begin to demand into his own possession
a Familiar to build or pull down any Castle or strong hold in a night;
and that this Familiar bring with him the Girdle of Conquest, or
Victory, that the Magician being girded with the same may overcome all
enemies whatsoever,

And further, the Spirit is able to inform him of all questions
concerning Thunder and Lightning, the Motions of the Heavens, the
Comets and Apparitions in the air, Pestilence and Famine, noxious and
malevolent blasts, as also of the Inhabitants of the _Northern_ Pole,
and the wonders undiscovered throughout the world.

Likewise if the Exorcist inquire concerning the habitations of starry
Spirits, he will readily answer him, describing their orders, food,
life, and pasttime truly and exactly.

After the Magician hath satisfied himself with inquiries, and curious
questions unto the Spirit, there will come from amongst the company a
little Spirit of a span long, like a little _Ethiop_, which the great
King ►Balkin◄ will deliver unto the Exorcist to continue as a Familiar
with him as long as his life shall last. This familiar the possessor
may name at[*] it pleaseth him.

♦[*] [as]♦

The three last, who had this Spirit into possession, were three
_Northern_ Magicians, the first _Honduros_ a _Norwegian_, who called it
►Philenar◄, and commanded it at his pleasure with a little Bell.

After him _Benno_ his eldest Son injoy’d the same under the same name.

And _Swarkzar_ a _Polonian_ Priest was the last who enjoy’d it under
the Name of ►Muncula◄; all which names were imposed upon it, according
to the pleasure of the Masters; and therefore the naming of this
familiar is left to the discretion of the Exorcist.

Now when the Master hath taken this familiar into his custody and
service, the Spirit ►Balkin◄ will desire to depart, being wearied if
the action continue longer then an hour. Therefore the Magician must be
careful to dismiss him in this following form:

_Because thou hast diligently answered my demands, and been ready to
come at my first call, I do here licence thee to depart unto thy proper
place, without injury or danger to man or Beast; depart, I say, and_
_be ever ready at my call, being duly exorcized and conjured by sacred
Rites of Magick; I charge thee to withdraw with quiet and peace; and
peace be continued betwixt me and thee, In the Name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. Amen._

Then the Spirits company will begin to march about their Prince, and
in a formal Troop will march along the Valley, whilest the Magician
repeateth _Pater Noster, &c._ until the Spirits be quite out of sight
and vanished.

This is a compleat form of conjuring the aforesaid Spirit, according to
the Rules of _Vaganostus_ the _Norwegian_.

[APPENDIX II.]

[This second Book of “A Discourse concerning Devils and Spirits”, like
the Chapters in Appendix I, were added to the third edition, 1665, by
some one unknown.]

_BOOK II._

CHAP. I.

_Of Spirits in General; What they are and how to be considered:
Also how farr the Power of Magitians and Witches is able to
operate in Diabolical Magick._

1. Because the Author in his foregoing Treatise, upon the _Nature
of Spirits and Devils_, hath only touched the subject thereof
superficially, omitting the more material part; and with a brief and
cursory Tractat, hath concluded to speak the least of this subject
which indeed requires most amply to be illustrated; therefore I thought
fit to adjoyn this subsequent discourse; as succedaneous to the
fore-going, and conducing to the compleating of the whole work.

♦The reason of this Addition.♦

2. The Nature of Spirits is variously to be considered, according
to the source to which each _Caterva_ doth belong: for as some are
altogether of a divine and celestial nature; not subject to the
abominable Inchantments and Conjurations of vitious mankind; so
others are the grand Instigators, stirring up mans heart to attempt
the enquiry after the darkest, and most mysterious part of Magick, or
Witchcraft: neither is this their suggestion without its secret end:
that is, that by the private insinuation, and as it were incorporating
themselves into the affection, or desire of the Witch, or Magician;
they may totally convert him into their own nature: reducing him at
last by constant practice, to such obdurateness and hardness of heart,
that he becometh one with them, and delighted with their association,
being altogether dead to any motions in himself that may be called good.

♦The nature of Spirits.♦

3. And if we may credit example, which is the surest proof; the very
imaginations, and affection of a Magician, doth create an evil Essence
or Devil; which was not before in being: for, as the Astral Spirits are
believed by many to Germinate and procreate one another, so likewise
are the infernal Spirits capable of multiplication in their power and
essence, according to their Orders, Ranks and Thrones; by means of the
strong imagination in a Witch, or malevolous person, earnestly desiring
their assistance.

♦The original of evil essences.♦

4. Not that the Spirits or Devils so begotten do any whit add or
contribute to the number in general; for as they are capable of
increasing into distinct and separated substances, so are they likewise
again contracted, and as it were annihilated; when the force of that
Imagination is gone, which was the cause of their production: The
nature of a spirit, whither heavenly or hellish, being to dilate, or
contract themselves into as narrow compass, as they please; so that in
a moment they can be as big in circumference as an hundred worlds, and
on a sodain reduce themselves to the compass of an atome.

♦Their Germination.♦

5. Neither are they somuch limited as Tradition would have them; for
they are not at all shut up in any separated place: but can remove
millions of miles in the twinkling of an eye, yet are they still where
they were at first: for, out of their own element, or quality, they can
never come: go whither they will, they are in darkness: and the cause
is within them, not without them: as one whose mind is troubled here in
_England_, can remove his Carcase from the place where it was before;
but should he go to the utmost bounds of the Earth, he cannot leave his
perplexed and tormented minde behind him.

♦Their Habitation.♦

6. As for the shapes and various likenesses of Devils, It is generally
believed, that according to their various capacities in wickedness,
so their shapes are answerable after a Magical manner: resembling
spiritually some horrid and ugly monsters, as their conspiracies
against the power of God, were high and monstrous, when they fell from
Heaven: for the condition of some of them is nothing but continual
horrour and despair; others triumph in firie might and pomp, attempting
to pluck God from out of his Throne; but the quality of Heaven is shut
from them, that they can never find it, which doth greatly add to their
torment and misery.

♦Their shapes.♦

7. But that they are materially vexed and scorched in flames of fire,
is inferiour to any to give credit to, who is throughly verst in their
nature and existence: for their substance is spiritual; yea their
power is greater, then to be detain’d or tormented with any thing
without them: doubtless their misery is sufficiently great, but not
through outward flames; for their Bodies are able to pierce through
Wood and Iron, Stone, and all Terrestrial things: Neither is all the
fire, or fewel of this World able to torment them; for in a moment
they can pierce it through and through. But the infinite source of
their misery is in themselves, and is continually before them, so that
they can never enjoy any rest, being absent from the presence of God:
which torment is greater to them, then all the tortures of this world
combin’d together.

♦Their place of pleasure or torment.♦

8. The wicked souls that are departed this life, are also capable
of appearing again, and answering the Conjurations of Witches, and
Magicians, for a time: according to _Nagar_ the _Indian_, and the
_Pythagoreans_. And it cannot be easily conceived, that their torment
is much different from the rest of the Devils: for the Scripture saith:
_every one is rewarded according to their works_. And, _that which a
man sows, that he shall reap_. Now as the damned Spirits, when they
lived on earth, did heap up vanity, and load their souls with iniquity,
as a treasure to carry with them into that Kingdom, which sin doth
naturally lead into: so when they are there, the same abominations
which here they committed, do they ruminate and feed upon; and the
greater they have been, the greater is the torment, that ariseth before
them every moment.

♦The cause of their torment.♦

9. And although these Infernal Spirits, are open Enemies to the very
means which God hath appointed for mans salvation; yet such is the
degenerate and corrupted mind of mankind, that there is in the same
an itching after them for converse and familiarity, to procure their
assistance, in any thing that their vain imagination suggesteth them
with: to effect which, they inform themselves in every Tradition of
Conjuration and Exorcism; as also in the names, natures and powers of
Devils in general, and are ever restless, till their souls be totally
devoted to that accursed and detestable nature, which is at enmity with
God and goodness.

♦How Magicians deal with them.♦

10. Now to proceed in the description of these Infernal Spirits and
separated _Dæmons_, or _Astral Beings_, as also of those in the
Angelical Kingdom; they that pertain to the Kingdom of Heaven, are
either Angels which are divided into their degrees and orders; or else
the righteous souls departed, who are entred into rest: And it cannot
be, but that the life of Angels and Souls departed, is the same in
Heaven, as also the food that nourisheth them, and the fruits that
spring before them: Nor is it possible for any, how expert so ever in
Magical Arts, to compel either of them, of what degree soever they
be, to present themselves, or appear before them: Although many have
written large Discourses and Forms of Convocation, to compel the Angels
unto communication with them by Magical Rites and Ceremonies.

♦The Orders of heavenly Beings.♦

11. It may indeed be believed, that seeing there are infinite numbers
of Angels, they are also imployed for the glory of God, and protection
of mankind, (but not subject to Conjurations:) And that they accompany
many righteous men Invisibly, and protect Cities and Countries
from Plagues, War, and infestings of wicked Spirits, against which
Principalities and Powers of Darkness, it is their place to contend and
war, to the confusion of the Kingdom of Darkness.

♦That they are not subject to conjurations.♦

12. But such Spirits as belong to this outward World, and are of the
Elemental quality, subject to a beginning and ending, and to degrees
of continuance; These may be solicited by Conjurations, and can also
inform Magicians in all the secrets of Nature; yet so darkly, (because
they want the outward organ); that it is hardly possible for any that
hath fellowship with them, to learn any manual operation perfectly and
distinctly from them.

♦What Spirits may be conjured.♦

13. Many have insisted upon the Natures of these Astral Spirits: some
alledging, _That they are part of the faln Angels, and consequently
subject to the torments of Hell at the last Judgment_: Others, _That
they are the departed souls of men and women, confined to these outward
Elements until the Consummation_: Lastly, others, As _Del rio_, _Nagar_
the _Indian_ Magician, and the _Platonists_ affirm, _That their nature
is middle between Heaven and Hell; and that they reign in a third
Kingdom from both, having no other judgment or doom to expect for ever_.

♦The nature of the Astral Spirits.♦

14. But to speak more nearly unto their natures, they are of the source
of the Stars, and have their degrees of continuance, where of[*]
some live hundreds, some thousands of years: Their food is the _Gas_
of the Water, and the _Blas_ of the Air: And in their Aspects, or
countenances, they differ as to vigour and cheerfulness: They occupy
various places of this world; as Woods, Mountains, Waters, Air, fiery
Flames, Clouds, Starrs, Mines, and hid Treasures: as also antient
Buildings, and places of the slain. Some again are familiar in Houses,
and do frequently converse with, and appear unto mortals.

♦Their degrees.♦

♦[*] [whereof]♦

15. They are capable of hunger, grief, passion, and vexation: they have
not any thing in them that should bring them unto God: being meerly
composed of the most spiritual part of the Elemeuts[*]: And when
they are worn out, they return into their proper essence or primary
quality again; as Ice when it is resolved into Water: They meet in
mighty Troops, and wage warr one with another: They do also procreate
one another; and have power sometimes to make great commotions in the
Air, and in the Clowds, and also to cloath themselves with visible
bodies, out of the four Elements, appearing in Companies upon Hills
and Mountains, and do often deceive and delude the observers of
Apparitions, who take such for portents of great alterations, which are
nothing but the sports and pastime of these frolick Spirits: as Armies
in the Air, Troops marching on the Land, noises and slaughter, Tempest
and Lightning, _&c._

♦Their actions and affections♦

♦[*] [n _reversed_]♦

16. These Astral Spirits are variously to be considered; some are
beings separate and absolute, that are not constitute to any work or
service: Others are subservient to the Angels that have dominion over
the Influences of the Stars: Others are the Astral Spirits of men
departed, which (if the party deceased was disturbed and troubled at
his decease,) do for many years, continue in the source of this world;
amongst these airy Spirits, to the great disquietness of the soul of
the person, to whom they belong: Besides the causes are various that
such Spirits rest not; 1. When by Witchcraft they are inchanted, and
bound to wander so many years; as thrice or fourtimes seven, before
they can be resolved into nothing. 2. When the person hath been
murthered; so that the Spirit can never be at rest, till the crime be
discovered. 3. When desires and lusts, after Wife, or Children, House,
Lands, or Money, is very strong at their departure; it is a certain
truth, that this same spirit belonging to the Starrs will be hanckering
after these things, and drawn back by the strong desires and fixation
of the Imagination, which is left behind it: Nor can it ever be at
rest, till the thing be accomplished, for which it is disturbed. 4.
When Treasure hath been hid, or any secret thing hath been committed
by the party; there is a magical cause of something attracting the
starry spirit back again, to the manifestation of that thing. Upon all
which, the following Chapters do insist more largely and particularly.

♦The distinct orders of starry Spirits.♦

CHAP. II.

_Of the Good and Evil_ Dæmons _or_ Genii: _Whither they are;
what they are, and how they are manifested; also of their
names, powers, faculties, offices; how they are to be
considered._

1. According to the disposition of the mind, or soul, there is a good
or evil _Dæmon_ that accompanies the party visibly, or invisibly;
and these are of such rancks and orders, and names, as the capacity
of the persons soul is, to whom they belong: Their Office is said to
be, fore-warning the person of eminent danger, sometimes by inward
instinct, sometimes by dreams in the night, and sometimes by appearing
outwardly. The _Dæmon_ or _Genius_ changeth its nature and power,
as the person changeth his: and if from good, the party degenerate
to iniquity; then by degrees the good Angel leaves him, and an evil
_Dæmon_ doth naturally succeed: for each thing draws after that which
is like it self.

♦The office of _Dæmons_ or _Genii_.♦

2. Magicians mention three several wayes of enjoying the society of
the _Bonus Genius_; first by intellectual association, when secret and
mental instigations do arise in their hearts, to do this or that, and
to forbear the other: as in the Manuscript of _Nagar_ the _Indian_,
his own testimony of himself is to this effect: _My blessed Guardian_
►Damilkar◄, _hath now so sweetly communicated himself unto me; That by
all the manifestations, whereby a holy_ Dæmon _can attend and converse
with mankind, he appeareth unto me: first in the intellectual way, he
is ever present, and every moment prompts me, what to act, what to
forbear from acting: Ah had he not rushed up through the powers of
my soul, and suddenly warned me in my Travel to_ Quiansi _in_ China,
_through the airy Region, to turn nimbly to the right hand, at an
instant, a mighty Troop of Devils, whose Leader was_ ►Grachnoek◄,
_coming through that tract of air, had crusht me into a thousand
peices_: This is the first degree of its appearing.

♦Three ways of enjoying their society.♦

♦The first way.♦

3. Then he proceedeth in the language of _Sina_, describing the second
way of its manifestation: _And when the deepest sleep hath overpoured
me, I am never without him; sometimes my_ ►Damilkar◄ _stands before
me like a glorious Virgin, administring to me a Cup of the drink of
the Gods, which my Intellectual man exhausteth: sometimes he brings
cælestial Companies, and danceth round about me; and when after the
weariness of the Senses, through contemplation I fell into gentle sleep
on the holy Mountain of Convocation, which is called_ Adan, _he shewed
me the motion of the Heavens, the nature of all things, and the power
of every evil_ Dæmon.

♦The second way.♦

4. Thirdly, he continueth to describe the External appearance of the
_Genius_, to this effect: Damilkar◄ _appears before me at my desire;
for my desires are as his desires: When I slept a long space in my
private dwelling, he appeared outwardly, and watering me with the dew
of the fourth Heaven, I awakned, when he had thrise said_ ►Nankin
Nagar◄; _so the time being come, we mounted through the Air, unto the
holy Mountain of Convocation._

♦The third way of their appearance.♦

5. In this Example the three degrees of the Apparition of the _Bonus
Genius_, or _Good Dæmon_ are excellently deciphered, which is also
the same in the appearance of the _bad Genius:_ and according to the
deepest Magicians, there be _seven good Angels_, who do most frequently
become particular Guardians, of all others, each to their respective
capacities; and also _seven evil Dæmons_, that are most frequent in
association with depraved persons, as Guardians to them.

♦Their number.♦

6. These are the seven _good Angels_, or _Dæmons_.

►Jubanladace◄ a mighty Prince in the Dominion of Thrones, he cometh
unto such as follow national affairs, and are carryed forth unto warr
and conquest; he beareth alwayes a flaming Sword, and is girded about,
having a helmet upon his head, and appearing still before the party
in the Air: he must be sollicited and invocated with Chastity, Vows,
Fumes, and Prayers: and this is his[*] Character to be worn as a
Lamin.

♦The seven good Angels.♦

♦[*] [his is _text_]♦

[Illustration]

►Yah-li-Yah◄ one of the Powers, accompanying such as are Virgins, and
devoted to Religion, and a Hermits life: he teacheth all the names and
powers of Angels, and gives holy Charms against the assaults of _Evil
Dæmons_: he must be addrest unto by Prayer, resignation, and fasting,
with a celestial Song out of the Canto’s of _Nagar_: this is his
Character.

[Illustration]

►Nal-gab◄ appearing to those that are devoted to the knowledge of
Magick; teaching them how to exercise Infernal Witchcraft without
danger, and in despight to the Devils: he must be sought by hours,
minutes, constellations, privacy and blood, _&c._ He hath a bow bent in
his hand, and a Crown of Gold upon his head: this is his Character.

[Illustration]

►Maynom◄ one of the Powers who hath the ability of subservient
administration; that is, at one time to be present with many; he
resembleth a Ew with Lamb, typifying his nature in that appearance.

►Gaonim◄ an Angel, causing his Pupil to go invisible, and transporting
him at his pleasure in a moment, to the outmost parts of the earth.

►Halanu◄ the Instructer in Manual operations, by whom _Bezaliah_,
and _Aholibah_ were divinely inspired for the structre[*] of the
Tabernacle.

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

►Rama-umi◄ who is the Instructer in Cabalistical Magick, and reveals
the secrets of numbers, the names of Angels, and the virtue of _Boim_.

7. These are the seven _bad Angels_ or _Dæmons_.

As the power and capacity of the _good_, proceeds from the strength of
God, in the quality of heaven; so is the force of the _evil Genii_, in
the hellish quality correspondent: for it is to be noted, that these
_evil Angels_ did before their fall, enjoy the same places and degrees
that now the _good_ or _holy Angels_ do: so that as their power is
to instruct men in Government, Abstinence, Philosophy, Magick, and
Mechanick Arts, for a good intent, and for the glory of God: The power
of the _evil_ ones is the very same to inform and instigate unto the
same attainments, as farr as they may be instrumental for the Devil, or
the Kingdom of Darkness therein.

♦The nature of both.♦

8. Their names are 1. ►Panalcarp◄, like a Crocodile with two heads.
2. ►Baratron◄ appearing like a Conjurer in a Priestly habit. 3.
►Sondennah◄ like a Hunts-man. 4. ►Greizmodal◄ accompanying his Pupil
like a Spaniel-Dog. 5. ►Ballisargon◄ the grand Inticer to theeving
and robbery, till he hath brought his followers to destruction. 6.
►Morvorgran◄ who can put on various likenesses, especially appearing
as a Serving-man. 7. ►Barman◄ who most commonly possesseth the soul of
those that are joyned unto him.

♦The seven evil _Genii_, and the manner of their appearances.♦

9. These are the names of the 7 _good_ and _evil Dæmons_; according to
the antient writing, on the Magical Art: who do also to many particular
Cities and Countries, ascribe certain good and evil Angels; the one
whereof protects and defends, the other inflicts Pestilence and Famin
upon them: Like unto which is the story recorded by _Sigbertus_ in
_Chronicis_: _That in the 11^{th} year of the reign of_ Constans, _a
good Angel and a bad were seen by the whole City of_ Constantinople,
_nightly to fly about the City; and as often as by the command of the
good Angel, the other smote any house with a dart in his hand, such was
the number that dyed in that house, according to the stroaks given._

♦An example.♦

10. And indeed it is to be feared, that whosoever have ever pretended,
or do at present alledge, that they enjoy familiarity with a familiar
Spirit; I say its greatly to be suspected, that all such familiars
belong to the Kingdom of Darkness; for such are too too officious,
and ready to attend the depraved desires of mortal men; whereas
if communication with Angels, or good and holy Guardians be at all
attainable, yet such is the difficulty of the attainment, that the
examples thereof, if true, are exceeding rare: But in general, the
writings of Magicians and Naturallists do plentifully abound with
examples of this nature; whether good or evil, is yet to be determined.
I have been told of a certain Country-man, in these dayes, who was
continually pestered with the company of a woman, discerned by none
but by himself: If he was upon Horse-back, she would be behind him: if
at dinner, she sate at his elbow; if lying on his bed, there she was
also present; And if at any time he had taken a journey, or gone about
some unprofitable business, at such a time she accompanyed him not;
and seldom escaped he some mischief when she was absent: But at last,
for all her dutiful pretences, as she accompanyed him, riding through
a deep and swift running River, she tumbled him into the deepest part,
and lay upon him till she had strangled or drowned him.

♦The uncertainty of communicating with Angels.♦

11. Amongst the _Jews_ this kind of Idolatry was frequent, to consult
with and associate themselves unto familiar Spirits, whom they
compelled to do them domestick service, dressing their Camels, lifting
their burthens, and doing their messages: for the attaining their
service they had many blasphemous Forms, and superstitious Ceremonies
and Sacrifices; making the holy Names of God subservient to their
accursed practices: one whose name was ►Baal-Ben-ammin◄, was adjudged
by the Law of _Moses_ to be burnt for the like practices; being
condemned in the time of one _Judah_ a high Priest in the Captivity
for killing an Infant, and with its blood performing Sacrifice to
►Baalzebub◄, with various ceremonies intermixed; by which means his
God had bequeathed unto him a certain Lacky from the Infernal Troop
to attend and serve him for his whole life time: this is to be found
in _Zoar_’s Coment upon _Berosus_, and _Belus_, who affirms, _That at
his tryal he endeavoured to prove, that the same was the good Angel or
Genius given unto him by the mercy of God_.

♦Familiars in the time of the _Jews_.♦

12. Both the _Hebrew Cabalists_ and _Heathen Magicians_, as also those
addicted to Magick in Christianity, have all of them laid down certain
forms of attaining the company of a good, or evil Angel, by number
and astrological Observations, fitted to the rules of Conjuration and
Invocations: And many of the superstitious _Rabbi_’s have affirmed,
_That they were able by such practices, to cause the ghost of_ Adam,
Eve, _or any of the holy Patriarchs to appear unto them_: which was
surely the delusion of Satan to harden their hearts. But in the
Addition to the 15^{th} Book of the _Discovery_ this Subject is more
practically handled; where many forms of obtaining the Society of the
_Bonus_, or _Malus Genius_, are plainly decyphered: so far as with
safety and convenience they could be described.

♦Several men have wrote and methodized the Art of Conjuration.♦

CHAP. III.

_Of the Astral Spirits of men departed: What they are: And why
they appear again: And what Witchcraft may be wrought by
them._

1. As the Astral Spirits separate, which belong not to any deceased
person, do for many years survive, or continue; so if the party
deceased hath departed in discontent, and melancholy, it is often known
that they return again, and causing terrour to families and houses, do
wait for opportunity to disburthen themselves, that at length they may
come into their desired rest.

♦The spirits of men return again.♦

2. The opinion of many is, _That the Devill in their likenesse is all
that appears_: But the more Learned have sufficiently demonstrated,
through Example, and Experience; _That the apparition is really proper
to the person deceased_. Nor can it easily be denyd, That to every
man, and woman, while they live the natural Life, there belongs a
_Syderial_, or _starry Spirit_; which takes its original wholly from
the Elemental property: And according to the weaker, or stronger
capacity of the party, it hath the longer, or shorter continuance,
after the bodyes decease.

♦All men have starry Spirits.♦

3. Such persons as are secretly murthered, and such as secretly murthur
themselves, do most frequently appear again, and wander near the place
where their Carcase is, till the radical moisture be totally consumed:
according to the opinion of _Paracelsus_, after the consumption
whereof, they can re-appear no longer, but are resolv’d into their
first being, or _Astrum_, after a certain term of months, or years,
according to the vigour, or force of that first attraction which was
the only cause of their returning.

♦What sort of persons most frequently re-appear.♦

4. The manner and seasons of their appearing are various: Sometimes
before the person, unto whom they do belong, depart this life, they do
by external presentations forewarn him, near the time, that the day of
death approacheth. As it is reported of _Codrus Laænus_, to whom an
empty, meager Ghost appeared at midnight, signifying unto him, _how sad
and lachrymable a Tragedy was shortly to attend him_; and also adding,
_that he would visit him in the Execution thereof_: which proved not
contrary to the words of the apparition; for at the very instant, when
his Treacherous Wife had stab’d him at the heart, on a suddain he
beheld the same, with preparations for his interment, whilst he yet
survived, after the fatall wound was given.

♦The manner and time of their appearance.♦

5. Sometimes the starry spirit of a person appears to his beloved
Companion, many hundred of miles asunder, who was ignorant of the death
of the party: And it hath often been heard, that when none of the
kindred or family of the said party deceased, have ever been disturbed
by it, or in the least been sensible of its appearing; yet to some of
its most intimate acquaintance, it discovers it self, and importunes
them to perform some ceremony, or other, that it may be returned into
rest; or else discovers some treasure, which was hid by the party
whilest alive, or else some murther which it had commited: But the most
frequent cause of their returning, is when the party hath himself been
privately murthered.

♦The reason thereof.♦

6. For such is the poysonous malice, and bloudy spirit of the
murtherers, that it sufficeth them not to have privately bereaved
them of their Lives; but also by certain earnest Wishes, Curses, and
Conjurations, they do afterwards adjure them, that for such a term
of years, they shall never have power to appear again: Which wishes,
being earnestly given forth, from the hellish root in the murtherer,
do exceedingly torment the murthered parties spirit, taking deep
impression thereon; so that it is alwayes in continual sorrow, and
anguish, till the term of years be expired, and till the murther
be made manifest to the world: after which discovery, it returns
to perfect rest; This is well known to those that are exercised in
Witchcraft, and cruell Murthers, though not common to those that
murther but once.

♦The power of Magitians over them.♦

7. There be many Ancient families, in _Europe_, to whom the Ghost of
their first Progenitor, or Ancestor appears immediately before the
departure of some Heir, or chief in the same family: which assertion
is confirmed by _Cardan_, in an Example of “an Antient family, in the
Dukedome of _Parma_, called the _Tortells_, to whom there belongs an
ancient Castle, with a spatious Hall; near the Chimney of the said
Hall an old decrepit Woman, for these hundreds of years, is wonted to
appear, when any of the Family is about to dye: And it is reported
amongst them that the same is the Ghost of one belonging to the same
name, and family, who for her Riches, was murthered by some of her
Nephews, and thrown into a pit.

♦Example.♦

8. Many such apparitions do for many years continue to be seen in one
particular place; ever watching for opportunity, to discover some
murther, or Treasure hid: And the cause of the difficulty of the said
discovery, consists in the nature of their substance; for could they
make use of the organ of the Tongue, they might quickly discover it:
or if they had the outward benefit of Hands, they might produce the
said Treasure, or Carcase murthered, but this they are seldome able to
accomplish; being destitute of the outward Organs, and mediation of
Hands to hold withall, or Tongue to vent their grievances: And that
this is true, the manner of their appearance doth confirm it: For all
that they are able to effect, if they have been murthered, is commonly
to appear near the very place, where their body lies, and to seem as
if they sunk down, or vanished in the same; or else to appear in the
posture of a murthered person, with mangled, and bloudy wounds, and
hair disshevel’d: But it is rarely known, that any such apparitions
have plainly spoken, or uttered by words, the time of their murther,
with the cause, the persons name, or place; unless the murther, by
circumstances hath been more then ordinary, horrid, and execrable: then
the remembrance of the same doth sometimes enable the apparition to
frame a voice, by the assistance of the Air, and discover the fact.

♦The cause of the difficulty and paucity of appearances.♦

9. But to speake in general concerning apparitions, why they are so
seldome seen; and why such spirits as appear, can not without mans
assistance accomplish their design; It may easily be apprehended, that
all Spirits, or spiritual Substances, and Devills, have their life,
breath, and motion in another source, or Element then this external
world; And as any creature, whom the Element of Water hath nourished,
and bred, can live but short while upon the Land; So its with them,
when they come out of their proper habitations: which is the cause
of the rarity of apparition; it being as difficult for any spirit to
manifest it self in this outward principle, of the four Elements, as
for a man to continue with his head under water: yea it is rather pain,
then pleasure for any spirit, whether good, or bad, to come into this
outward world.

♦More particularly of the same.♦

10. Great is the villany of Necromancers, and wicked Magicians, in
dealing with the spirits of men departed; whom they invocate, with
certain forms, and conjurations, digging up their Carkasses again,
or by the help of Sacrifices, and Oblations to the infernal Gods;
compelling the Ghost to present it self before them: how this was
performed in antient times, by Hags, and Witches, is notably described
in the _Æthiopian_ History of _Heliodorus_, in the practice “of an
antient woman, who coming into the Camp, in the dead of night; where
amongst many slaughtered bodies, the body of her Son was also slain;
whose carkase she laid before her, digging a hole, and making a fire on
each side, with the body in the midst; Then taking an earthen pot from
a three footed stool, she poured honey out of it, into the pit; then
out of another pot, she poured milk; and likewise out of the third:
Lastly, she cast a Lump of hardned dough, in the form of a man into the
pit: the Image was Crowned with Lawrell: then she threw in some of the
Shrub called _Bdellium_: This done, with a sword she ran frantickly up
and down, cutting herself; and with a Lawrell branch sprinkled of her
blood into the fire: at length whispering at her Sons ear, she caused
him to arise, and questioning him of the fortune of his Brother, what
was become of him, he answered dubiously speaking prosperity to two
persons that secretly beheld her, and telling her, That suddain death
for her impiety attended her, which came to passe ere she left the
place; after all these predictions, the Carcase ceased to answer any
more: and tumbled groveling on the ground again.

♦The nefarious practices of _Necromancers_ in an example.♦

11. And although by most men, as also by the Author in his foregoing
Discovery, it is constantly believed, that the Witch of _Endor_ raised
not _Samuel_, nor the Ghost of _Samuel_, as not beleeving that there is
an _Astral Spirit_ or Ghost belonging unto every Man; yet it is very
probable, that by her conjurations she caused his _Sydereal Spirit_ to
appear: which is possible to be effected: and hath been often done: as
_Weaver_ in his _Funeral Monuments_ records of _Edward Kelly_, “who
in the Park of _Walton Ledale_ in the County _Lancaster_, with one
_Paul Waring_, Invocated a Devil, and afterwards digg’d up the Corps
of a poor man, that had been buried that very day, in a place near the
same, called _Law Church-yard_: whom he compelled by Incantations, and
Conjurations to speak, and utter prophetical words, concerning the
master of one of his Assistants.

♦Example.♦

12. According to the state and condition wherein a person dyes, so is
it with their _Astral Spirit_: for if they died in perfect peace, and
had come through the valley of true Repentance; being dead to this
Life before it left them; then their _starry Spirit_ doth enter into
rest, in its proper source, or quality at the instant of their Decease:
nor is it possible for all the Conjurations in Hell, to cause them to
return, or appear again.

♦The state of the Starry Spirit.♦

13. But some might object, That _Samuel was an Holy Prophet, and
attaind unto a perfect Life_; which is thus to be answered, that before
Christ came into the world, none of the most Holy Prophets of God,
did ever attain to that degree of blessednesse, that the Christians
after Christ possessed: for in the time of the Law, a covering, or
vail was spread over the faces of all people: and something there was
that letted, or hindred their souls from any plain and perfect vision,
and fruition of God; otherwise then through types, and shaddows, which
partition wall, the end of Christs Incarnation was to break down.

♦Why the Ghost of _Samuel_ appeared.♦

14. In the writings of _Plato_, there be many strange Relations of the
apparitions of Souls, of their torments, and purgations, of the cause
of their returning, what their nature is, what their substance and
property is, and what their food, and nourishment is: but he mistakes
the _Soul_ for the _Astral Spirit_: for the Soul in its returning
and apparition is farr different; if a Holy Soul appear, it is to
persons like it self, and that in sleep, warning them of dangers, and
discovering heavenly secrets unto them: And if a Damned Soul appear,
it is likewise to such as are of a nature like it self: whom it
instigates, asleep, teaching them notorious Villanies in Dreams; and
provoking them to every wicked cogitation.

♦The opinions of _Plato_.♦

15. The sect of _Pythagoras_ have strange and antick opinions,
concerning Souls, and Ghosts, or starry Spirits: whom they alledge
to be frequently converted into _Gods_, or _Dæmons_, or _Demi-Gods_,
and _Heroes_: (as the _Platonicks_ do,) And that there is a continual
traduction, and transmigration of Souls, from one to another, till
they attain to be deify’d at last; and then that they do frequently
appear, to those that be like themselves; instructing, and forewarning
them: It was also the belief of many wise, and antient Philosophers,
that the _Oracles_ were from such _Dæmons_, as had been the Ghosts, or
Souls of wise and excellent men: as _Apollo’s Oracle_, and the _Oracle_
of _Pallas_, or _Minerva_: which opinions have much of reason and
probability.

♦Of _Pythagoras_.♦

16. It is also the opinion of some, that the particular Spirits of
famous men do after the death of the body, take up some particular
habitations, near such places Cities, Towns, or Countries, as they most
do affect, as Tutelaries, and Guardians unto them; Which is reported
by _Vopiscus_, of _Apollonius Thyaneus_; That when his City _Thyana_
was taken by _Aurelianus_ the Emperour: and when he was in his Tent,
pondering furiously how to destroy the same; the Ghost of _Apollonius_
appeared unto him saying, Aurelianus, _if thou desirest to be a
Conquerour, suppose not to slay these my Citizens_: Aurelianus, _if
thou wilt be a Ruler, shed no innocent blood_: Aurelianus, _be meek,
and gentle, if thou wouldst be a Conquerour_.

♦Of other Philosophers.♦

17. I have heard many wonderful Relations from Lunaticks or such as are
almost natural fools, who have asserted, _That being for many daies
together conversant amongst Faeries in Woods, Mountains, and Caverns
of the Earth, they have feasted with them, and been magnificently
Entertaind with variety of dainties, where they have seen several of
their Neighbours or Familiar acquaintance in the habit they were wont
to weare, notwithstanding they were known to have been dead some years
before_.

♦The Raptures of Lunaticks.♦

18. And many Learned Authors have also insisted upon this particular,
alledging, _That when such as the Faeryes have brought into their
Society do feast and junket with them, though they have a real and
perfect knowledge of their neighbours and acquaintance amongst the
rest, yet their Language they are not able to understand, neither
do these Acquaintance of theirs acknowledge or take notice of them
at all, but do either sit (both they and all the rest) in a profound
and tedious silence, or else discourse in a most stupendious kinde of
Gibberish, not intelligible to strangers_.

♦Their Entertainments.♦

19. But more particularly to illustrate this conjecture, I could name
the person who hath lately appeared thrice since his Decease, at
least some Ghostly being or other, that calls it self by the name of
such a person who was dead above an hundred years agoe, and in his
life time accounted as a Prophet or Prædicter by the assistance of
Sublunary Spirits. And now at his appearance did also give out strange
Prædictions concerning Famine, and Plenty, Warrs, and Bloodshed, and
the end of this world.

♦A strange example.♦

20. By the affirmation of the person that had Communication with him,
the last of his Appearances was on this following manner; _I had been_,
said he, _to sell a Horse at the next Market Town, but not attaining
my price, as I returned home by the way I met this man aforesaid who
began to be familiar with me, asking what news, and how affairs moved
throughout the Country_; I answered as I thought fit; withall I told
him of my Horse whom he began to cheapen, and proceeded with me so far,
that the price was agreed upon; so he turned back with me and told me,
_that if I would go along with him, I should receive my Money_; on our
way we went, I upon my Horse and he on another milk white beast; after
much discourse I askt him where he dwelt, and what his name was; he
told me, _That his dwelling was about a mile off, at a place called
Farran_; of which place I had never heard though I knew all the Country
round about; he also told me, _That he himself was that person of the
Family of_ Learmonts _so much spoken off for a Prophet_; At which I
began to be somewhat fearful, perceiving us in a road which I had never
been in before, which increased my fear and admiration more. Well on we
went till he brought me under ground I know not how into the presence
of a beautiful woman that payd me the moneys without a word speaking;
he conducted me out again through a large and long entry, where I saw
above 600 men in Armour layd prostrate on the ground as if asleep: at
last I found my self in the open field by the help of Moon-light in
that very place where first I met him, and made shift to get home by
three in the morning, but the money I received was just double of what
I esteemed it, and what the woman payd me, of which at this instant I
have several pieces to show consisting of nine pences, thirteen pence
halfpennies, _&c._

21. The variety of Examples throughout the writings of Learned men may
serve as stronge inducements to confirm this particular of _Astral
Spirits_, or _Ghosts_ that belong unto Mortal men, returning after
death untill the cause of their returning be taken away. In Ancient
times before the name of Christianity, there was nothing more frequent
than millions of Apparitions in fields where battails had been fought,
seeming to fight as they had done at first, which the Ancient Heathens
believed to proceed from the want of Burying. And from this arose the
Poetical Romance of the _wandring of Ghosts besides the River Styx for
an hundred years_. And the custome of Solemn Interment amongst them.

♦Apparitions before Christianity, were frequent.♦

22. But with more probability, The Custome of the Funeral Piles used
by the _Romans_, and the Urns to reduce their Corpses into Ashes, was
instituted at first to prevent the torment of the Deceased, least
his Ghost should wander, or return, which doubtlesse from a natural
cause may have the same effect, that the reducing of the carcase into
Ashes suddainly after its decease may prevent the return of the Astral
Spirit; for if it be true what is affirmed by _Paracelsus_, that _the
starry Spirit can continue no longer then the radical moisture in the
body_; it will naturally follow that its appearance is at an end when
the body is burnt, seeing that the moisture is totally exterminate and
consumed thereby. And in some sense the Ceremony may be said to be
Laudable and Judicious, having so beneficial a consequence.

♦Why Funeral Piles were instituted.♦

23. As there is some semblance of a natural cause in the custome of the
Antient urns, so likewise may the Interment of slaughtered bodies by
the like cause prevent the like Appearances; for many are the examples
that I have read of such as appeared to their surviving kindred and
acquaintance, after they had been slaughtered in the Warrs, beseeching
them to perform unto their bodies the Sacred Funeral Rites that their
Ghosts might return into Rest, for which many have consulted with the
Oracles to be informed whether the deceased deserved Burial, because
they held it unlawful to bury Murtherers, Incestuous and Sacriligious,
persons, which Nature her self doth also seem to hold if this following
Relation be not false: which was, “That some Learned men returning from
_Persia_ where they had been to see the King _Cosroes_, by the way
interr’d a dead Carcase which they found unburied: And in the following
night the Ghost of an Ancient Matron, as if it had been the Spirit of
the World or Madam Nature her self, appeard unto them, saying, _Why
Interr ye that nefarious Carcase? let the Doggs devoure it; The Earth
who is the Mother of us all admitts not of that man that depraves his
Mother_: So returning they found the Carcase yet unburied.

♦What the want of Burial causeth.♦

24. To confirm the verity of _Astral Spirits_ proper, and their
returning, I shall conclude this Chapter with the Example of the
famous _Aristeus_ the Poet who “in the Isle _Marmora_ dyed suddainly,
at which instant a certain Philosopher of _Athens_ arriving there,
affirmed, _That he had lately been in Company and discourst with him_.
In the mean time going to Bury him they found him yet alive, but never
after that had he any constant residence amongst Mortals. Seven years
after that he was seen at _Proconnesus_ his native Town, and remaind a
while composing several Poems and Verses called _Arimaspei_, and then
vanished. In _Metapontis_ he was seen 300 years after that, charging
that _Apollo_’s Altar should be erected by the name of _Aristeus
Proconnesius_. The like stories are reported of _Apollonius_, and
_Pythagoras_, whom their followers would have to be _Ubiquitaryes_,
affirming, _That at one instant of time they were seen in several
places thousands of miles in distance_. And though in [*]_Iamblichus_
who hath wrote the Life of _Pythagoras_, in _Philostratus_ that wrote
the Life of _Apollonius Tyanus_, there be many fabulous things reported
as to the _Astral Spirits_ separation, and return unto the body; Yet
I have sufficiently here endeavoured to separate the true from the
more Poetical part in this particular Subject of the _starry Spirits_
belonging to every individual man and woman, and their returning after
the body falls away.

♦The conclusion of this Chapter with an example.♦

♦[*] [sic]♦

CHAP. IV.

_Of Astral Spirits or separate Dæmons in all their
distinctions, names, and natures, and places of Habitation,
and what may be wrought by their Assistance._

1. Having in the foregoing Chapter sufficiently illustrated the nature
of the _Astral Spirits_ proper, that belong to every individual; The
subject of this present Chapter shall be of _Astral Spirits separate_;
which are not constitute to any peculiar work or service, but do
only, according to their nature and temper, haunt such places in the
sublunary world as are most correspendent[*] to their natures, and
existence.

♦Astral Spirits common.♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

2. According to the Judgment of Magicians, the Seven Planets have seven
starry Spirits peculiar to themselves, whose natures are answerable
to that peculiar Planet under which they are constitute. And they are
said to be substitute under the seven Cælestial Angels that govern the
influences of the superiour Spheres, being equal in their name and
continuance with that planet whose Spirit they are, that is, till the
Consummation of all things visible.

♦The Spirits of the Planets.♦

3. And in that houre, month, day or year, wherein their Planet hath
the most dominion, then is their efficacy most prevalent, and their
operation the most powerful upon inferiour bodies, whether to the
destruction or prosperity of that animal vegitative or mineral subject
to their Influences, according to the dignification of the Planet at
that instant Dominion; for if ill affected, their nature is to blast
with Mildew, Lightning, and Thunder any Vegetative proper to their
Planet; To deprive any Animal of sight or the motion of the nerves
under their Dominion; And lastly, bring Plagues, Pestilence, and
Famine, Storms, and Tempests, or on the Contrary to bring sweet and
excellent Influences upon Animals, or Vegetatives under their Planetary
Regiment, if well and honourably dignified.

♦The Power of the Planets.♦

4. Innumerable are the Spirits that inhabit the Aiery Region,
germinating amongst themselvs as Magicians affirm, and begetting one
another after a Mystical manner. It is their property to be instant in
storms and boistrous weather, which is said to be joy and delight unto
them; And in such a season they may with most facility be calld upon,
and make their appearance, which they do accordingly to their age,
and youthfulness, seeming young or old at their appearance answerable
to their years. Besides they march in mighty Troops through the Aiery
Region, waging warr amongst themselves, and destroying one anothers
beings or Existences, after which they are reduced to the primary
source or nature of the Starrs. This is likewise to be observed that
according to the Language, Vigour, Life, and Habit of that Region
wherein they live, such is their Habit, Language, and Ability, one
_Caterva_ or Company being ignorant of their Neighbours, or Enemies
Language, so that they have need of the Assistance of such Spirits as
dwell _in omnibus Elementis_, to be their Interpreters.

♦Spirits of the Air.♦

5. And doubtless from hence arise the various deceptions that[*]
men are incident unto in their judgments of Apparitions, perswading
themselves that they are portents and foretokens of Warr and Famine,
when such numerous Spirits are beheld Fighting or Marching either in
the Air, Earth, or Water: whereas it is nothing else but the bare
effect of the Natures and Tempers of such Aerial beings to fight and
randevouse immediately after sun-set, or else later in the Summer
evenings, which is their principal time of such Conventions. And
though it must be confest that such Spirits may be, and are the Devils
Instruments as appertaining to the Kingdom whereof he is Ruler; Yet
considered in themselves, their Nature is wholly harmless, as to ought
that may be called _innate Evill_, having nothing in them that is
eternal as the Soul of Man: and consequently nothing in them that is
able to make them capable of enjoying Heaven, or induring the torments
of Hell.

♦Their Actions.♦

♦[*] [thut _text_]♦

6. And it is believed by some, that according to the motion of the
spheres, there are certain companies of Aerial Spirits good and
bad that follow them in their motions round the earth, the good
distilling influences that are good, and the bad, such influences as
are destructive to every thing that is under their Dominion. It is
also believed that by the assistance of Devils, and damned Spirits,
such Aerial Spirits are given for Familiars to some Magicians
add[*] Witches with whom they are said to have actual copulation,
and the enjoyment of every dainty meat through their assistance,
being able thereby to go invisible, to fly through the air, and steal
Treasures and Jewels from the Coffers of Princes, as also carouse in
Wine-sellers, and Pantries of those that are most amply provided with
the choisest Daynties.

♦Spirits appropriate to the Spheres.♦

♦[*] [_read_, and]♦

7. Subordinate unto these of the Air are the Terrestrial Spirits, which
are of several degrees according to the places which they occupy,
as Woods, Mountains, Caves, Fens, Mines, Ruins, Desolate places,
and Antient Buildings, calld by the Antient Heathens after various
names, as _Nymphs, Satyrs, Lamii,[*] Dryades, Sylvanes, Cobali, &c._
And more particularly the _Faeries_, who do principally inhabit the
Mountains, and Caverns of the Earth, whose nature is to make strange
Apparitions on the Earth in Meddows, or on Mountains being like Men,
and Women, Souldiers, Kings, and Ladyes Children, and Horse-men
cloathed in green, to which purpose they do in the night steal hempen
stalks from the fields where they grow, to Convert them into Horses as
the Story goes. Besides, it is credibly affirmed and beleev’d by many,
That such as are real Changlings, or Lunaticks, have been brought by
such Spirits and Hobgoblins, the true Child being taken away by them in
the place whereof such are left, being commonly half out of their wits,
and given to many Antick practices, and extravagant fancies, which
passions do indeed proceed from the powerful influence of the Planet in
their nativity, and not from such foolish conjectures.

♦Terrestial Spirits.♦

♦[*] [read, _Lamiæ_]♦

8. Such jocund and facetious Spirits are sayd to sport themselvs in the
night by tumbling and fooling with Servants and Shepherds in Country
houses, pinching them black and blew, and leaving Bread, Butter, and
Cheese sometimes with them, which if they refuse to eat, some mischief
shall undoubtedly befall them by the means of these Faeries. And many
such have been taken away by the sayd Spirits, for a fortnight, or a
month together, being carryed with them in Chariots through the Air,
over Hills, and Dales, Rocks and Precipices, till at last they have
been found lying in some Meddow or Mountain bereaved of their sences,
and commonly of one of their Members to boot.

♦Faeries.♦

9. Certainly the _Lares_ and _Penates_, or houshold Gods of the antient
Heathens were no other than such like Spirits who for several years
would keep their residence in one house till upon some displeasure
offered, or offences done by any of the sayd Family, they departed and
were never afterwards heard of. There are plenty of such examples to
be found in _Olaus Magnus_, and _Hector Boethus_[*] in his History
of _Scotland_, relating wonderful passages of _Robin-goodfellows_, and
such as have been familiar amongst mankind.

♦Lares, and Domestick Spirits.♦

♦[*] [_read_, Boethius]♦

10. ►Luridan◄ a familiar of this kinde did for many years inhabit
the Island _Pomonia_, the largest of the _Orcades_ in _Scotland_,
suplying the place of Man-servant and Maid-servant with wonderful
diligence to these Families whom he did haunt, sweeping their rooms,
and washing their dishes and making their fires before any were up in
the morning. This ►Luridan◄ affirmed, That he was the _genius Astral_,
of that Island that his place or residence in the dayes of _Solomon_
and _David_was at _Jerusalem_; That then he was called by the _Jewes_
►Belelah◄, and after that he remaind Long in the Dominion of _Wales_,
instructing their Bards in _Brittish_ Poesy and Prophesies being called
►Urthin, Wadd, Elgin◄: And now said he, I have removed hither, and alas
my continuance is but short, for in 70 years I must resigne my place to
►Balkin◄ Lord of the _Northern_ mountains.

♦_Luridan_ a famaliar Spirit.♦

11. Many wonderful and incredible things did he also relate of this
►Balkin◄, whom he called the Lord of the _Northern_ Mountains,
affirming that he was shaped like a Satyr and fed upon the Air, having
Wife and Children to the number of 12 thousand which were the brood of
the _Northern_ Faeries inhabiting _Southerland_ and _Catenes_ with the
adjacent Islands; And that these were the Companies of Spirits that
hold continual wars with the Fiery Spirits in the Mountain _Heckla_
that vomits fire in _Islandia_. That their speech was antient Irish,
and their dwelling the Caverns of the Rocks, and Mountains, which
relation is recorded in the Antiquities of _Pomonia_.

♦_Balkin_ a Familiar.♦

12. I have read another wonderful relation in a book _de Annulis
Antiquorum_, Concerning a young man from whom the power of _Venus_ was
taken away so that he could not Company with his new marryed Wife.
The Story is briefly thus; “Being busy at play or exercise with some
of his Companions on his marriage day, he put his wedding Ring on the
finger of the Statue of _Venus_ that stood besides the place least
it should be lost; when he had done, returning to take his Ring, the
finger was bended inward, so that he could by no means pluck off the
Ring to his great amazement, at which instant he forsooke the place,
and in the night the Image of _Venus_ appeared unto him, saying, Thou
hast espoused me, and shalt not meddle with any other: in the morning
returning, the Ring was gone, and the finger made straight again, which
troubled him mightily, so that he consulted with a Magician, who wrote
a Letter to some Principal Spirit in that Dominion to which _Venus_
belong’d, bidding the party stand watching at such a place at such an
houre till he saw many troops of Spirits pass by him, and describing
one in a Chariot, of stern and terrible Countenance, to whom he bad
him deliver the Letter; All which he performed, and after the person
in the Chariot had read the contents thereof, he broke out into this
expression, great God, how long shall we be subject to the insolencies
of this accursed Rascal, naming the Magitian: But withal calling to
a most beauteous Woman from amongst the Company, he charged her to
deliver back the Ring which at length she did with much aversness, and
after that he injoyd his Marriage rites without impediment”.

♦A strange example.♦

13. Besides the innumerable Troops of Terrestrial Spirits called
_Faeryes_ there are also _Nymphs_ of the Woods, Mountains, Groves,
and Fountains, as ►Eagle◄,[*] ►Arethusa◄, ►Io◄, ►Menippa◄, ►Irene◄,
&c. who are sayd to be altogether of the fæminine kinde, sporting
and dancing, and feasting amongst the trees in Woods, and bathing in
clean and limpid Fountains; such have been seen by many, and are often
alluded to, by the _Roman_ and _Greek_ Poets. There is also a relation
of a _German_ Prince, “who being exceeding thirsty and weary with
hunting and hawking, lost his Company in the Woods, on a suddain beheld
an opening at a little hillock amongst the trees, and a most beautiful
Maiden offering a Golden Horn full of Liquor, which he received and
drunk, and after rid quite away with the sayd Horn, not regarding the
Virgins tears, who lamented after him; tis sayd that having spilt some
of the sayd Liquor, it fetcht the hair from off his Horses skin, and
the horn is yet to be seen in _Germany_, which I have been told by one
that hath seen and handled it, affirming, _That the Gold for purity
cannot be parallel’d_”.

♦Spirits of Woods, and Mountains.♦

♦[*] [read, _Aegle_]♦

14. Another sort are the ►Incubi◄, and ►Succubi◄, of whom it is
reported, that the Hunns have the original, being begotten betwixt
these ►Incubi◄, and certain Magical women whom _Philimer_ the King
of the _Goths_ banished into the deserts, whence arose that savage
and untamed Nation, whose speech seemed rather the mute attempts of
brute Beasts, than any articulate sound and well distinguished words.
To these _Incubi_ are attributed the diseases of the blood called
the _Nighthag_, which certainly have a natural cause, although at
the instant of time when the party is oppressed, it is probable that
certain malevolent Spirits may mix themselvs therein and terrifie the
soul and minde of the afflicted party.

♦_Incubi_, and _Succubi_.♦

15. And amongst such Spirits as are resident amongst mortals, there
is a very froward kinde, who take delight to pull down what man hath
builded, who have been seen at the building of strong and mighty
Castles to come in the night and tumble all to the ground that
the workmen had reared the day before; of this sort were ►Horon◄,
►Stilkon◄, ►Glaura◄, and ►Kibbolla◄, four pestiferous, and turbulent
Animals that for many years infested the first founders of the
Emperours _Seraglio_: Till one of the holy Musselmans did by certain
Charms, and Exorcisms constrain and bind them, to tell their names, and
the cause of their disturbing, which they declared, and were by him
confined to destroy the mines of Copper in _Hungaria_.

♦A froward kinde of Spirit.♦

16. There is also a Relation extant in the life of _Paul_ the Hermit of
a Satyr appearing to him in the Woods, and discoursing with him that
it was a mortal Creature as he, and served the same God, dehorting the
people to worship them for demi-Gods, as they had been accustomed to;
Like unto this is the Story of the Death of the great God _Pan_; That a
Mariner sailing by the Island of _Cicilia_, was called by his name from
the shore, and by a certain voice was bid to tell the Inhabitants of
the next Island, that the great God _Pan_ was dead, which he obeyed,
and though in the next Island there were no Inhabitants, yet when he
approached he proclaimed, towards the shoar that _Pan_ was deceased,
immediately after which Proclamation he could sensibly hear most
doleful and lachrymable Cryes, and noyses, as of those that lamented
his departure.

♦Example.♦

17. ►Ianthe◄, is sayd by Magitians, to be a water Spirit, who is ever
present when any are drownd in the water, being delighted much in the
destruction of mankinde, that it may enjoy the Company of their Astral
Spirits after their decease; for according to the four Complexions or
Constitutions of the body of Man, The Astral Spirit associates it self
with separated substances; The Phlegmatick, to the watry Spirits: The
Sanguine, to those of the Aire; The Cholerick, to the Fire; and the
Melancholy, to the Terrestrial Spirits. But this is only to be supposed
of such persons as dyed in discontent, and restlesness.

♦_Janthe_ a Spirit of the water.♦

18. Of another sort are such _Aquatick Animals_ as in former times have
conversed, and procreated with mankinde bearing divers Children; And at
length snatching all away into the watry Element again, whereof there
are variety of Examples in _Cardanus_ and _Bodin_. Of this sort was the
Familiar of _Paulus_ a Mendicant Frier, called by him ►Florimella◄, and
entertaind as his Bed-fellow for forty years, though unknown and unseen
to any but himself, till upon some unhandsome carriage of the Fryer,
his Companion accompanying him over the _Danube_, leapt into the River
and was never after seen.

♦Watry Spirits that procreate.♦

19. Innumerable are the reports and accidents incident unto such as
frequent the seas, as fisher-men and sailers who discourse of noises,
flashes, shadows, ecchoes, and other visible appearances nightly seen,
and heard, upon the surface of the water. And as the disposition of the
Heavens is according to the constellations, and climates, so are these
spectres appropriate to particular parts, and coasts, from the North to
the Southern Pole. But more especially, abounding in the North, about
_Norweigh Isleland_, _Green Land_, and _Nova Zembla_.

♦Apparitions on the water.♦

20. Neither are the Storyes of the Greek, and Latine Poets all together
to be sleighted in this particular; for many verities are interwoven
with their fictions, they speak of vocal Forrests, as _Dodona_,
of _Talkative_ Rivers, as _Scamander_, of sensitive Fountains as
_Arethusa_, _Menippa_, and _Æagle_; Which more credible Historians
have partly confirmed in the Relation of _Dodona_, asserting that
the trees do seem to speak by reason of the various Apparitions, and
Phantasms, that attend the Forrest. And also in the Story of the
River _Scamander_, which is sayd at this day to afford plenty of
spectres, and prophetical Spirits, that have nightly conversation
with the _Turkish_ Sailers coming by that way with Gallyes into the
_Mediterranean_.

♦Prophetical rivers, and vocal fountains.♦

21. The like is reported of a Castle in _Norweigh_ standing over a Lake
wherein a Satyr appeareth sounding a Trumpet before the death of any
Souldier, or Governour belonging to the same, tis sayd to be the Ghost
of some murdered Captain that hath become so Fatal, and Ominous to his
Successors. But with more probability may be called a Spectre proper to
the place according to the Constellation.

♦Example.♦

22. And it hath been the conjecture of eminent speculators that from
the Loins of such arise the numerous brood of _Elves_, _Faeryes_,
_Lycanthropi_; And _Pigmyes_, sometimes visible, sometimes invisible in
_Green-Land_ and the adjacent rocks where they have no concomitants,
but bears and scurvy-grass to mix, and make merry withal, except they
pass from thence to the _Northern_ parts of _America_, where they shall
find their off-spring adored for Gods, and Goddesses, by the ignorant
Inhabitants about new _Albion_, and as far _South_ as _Mexico_, as is
amply related in the discourses of _Drake_, _Cortes_ and _Purchas_
concerning the conquest and discovery of these Territoryes.

♦Spirits in _Green-Land_♦

23. By Apparitions upon the water many have been tempted to leap into
the Sea in pursuit thereof till they were drowned, of which spectres
there is a sort called by _Psellus_, _Ordales_, who do appear like
Ducks or other Water fouls, till they by fluttering upon the water, do
entice their followers to pursue them so farr that many perish in the
attempt, which doth greatly delight these faithless Spirits who (as
we have said before) do long to accompany their Astral Spirits after
their decease. An Example of this kinde I my self knew, besides the
numerous relations I have had from the mouths of others, which confirm
the opinions of the antient Magicians concerning these water Spirits,
that of all the rest they are the most deceitful, and dangerous, like
the flattering Seas, and swift gliding Torrents, that when they have
wonn any thing, to admire, and sound them, do carry them violently into
the abysse of their own Element.

♦Destroying Spirits.♦

24. But we will leave the waters and insist a little on the nature of
_Igneous_ or _Fiery Spirits_ that inhabit the Mountains in _Hecla_,
_Ætna_, _Propo Champ_, and _Poconzi_; Where the Courts, and Castles of
these puissant Champions are kept. The opinion of some is, _That they
are not Astral, but Infernal Spirits, and Damned Souls, that for a term
of years are confined to these burning Mountains for their Iniquities_:
Which opinion although it be granted, yet we may assert, That for the
most part the apparitions, sounds, noices, clangors, and clamors, that
are heard about the Mountain _Hecla_ in _Island_ and other places,
are the effects of separated Starry beings, who are neither capable
of good nor evill, but are of a middle vegetative nature, and at the
dissolution of the _Media Natura_ shall be again reduced into their
primary Æther.

♦Fiery Spirits.♦

♦What these Spirits are.♦

25. And from natural Causes, it may be easily demonstrated, That there
is great Correspondence betwixt such substances, and the Element of
fire, by reason of the Internal Flagrat and Central Life proceeding
from the Quintessence or[*] one only Element which upholds them,
in Motion, Life, and Nourishment. As every natural, and supernatural
being is upheld, and maintain’d out of the self-same root from whence
it had its original, or rise; So the Angels feed upon the _Celestial
Manna_, The Devils of the fruits of Hell, which is natural to their
appetite, as trash for swine; the Astral beings; of the source of the
stars, the Beasts, Birds, or Reptiles of the fruits of the Eatth,[†]
and the gas of the Air, the fishes of the blass of the Water; But more
particularly, every thing is nourished by its Mother, as Infants at the
Breast, either by exhausting or fomentation.

♦Why they delight in the fiery element.♦

♦[*] [? of]♦

♦[†] [_sic_]♦

26. Such Spirits are very officious in the burnings of Towns, or
Cole-pits, delighting much to dance and exult amidst the flames, and
become Incendiaries worse then the material Cause of the Combustion,
often tempting men in drukeness,[*] to burn their own Houses, and
causing Servants carelesly to sleep, that such unlucky accidents
may happen. As the Story of _Kzarwilwui_ a Town in _Poland_ doth
confirm, which was reduced to ashes by three of these pestilentious
Animals, called ►Saggos◄, ►Broundal◄, and ►Baldwin◄, who after many
open Threatnings for six months together, that they would destroy the
City, and Citizens, did on a dark and stormy night, set all on fire
on a suddain in twenty or thirty several places, which irrecoverably
destroyed the Inhabitants.

♦Spirits that burn Cities.♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

27. As for the nourishment of fiery Spirits, it is radical heat, and
the influence of the Aery Region; their sport and pastime consisteth
for the most part in tumbling, and fooling one with another when the
flames are most impetuous, and violent in the Mountains: And it is
likewise credited by some that their office is to cruciate and punish
some Evil Livers, retaining, and tormenting their Souls, or Astral
Spirits for many years after the Bodies decease, which is too empty
a notion to be hearkened unto by any that are well informed of their
natures.

♦Their food and pastime.♦

28. Neither is it to be wondered at that they are so much delighted
with the fiery quality in regard of their affinity and appropriation
with infernal spirits, whose state and being is altogether damnable and
deplorable; for although they have not the ability of attaining either
the Heavenly or Infernal quality, by reason that they are utterly voyd
of the innermost Center, and may be rather called bruits, then rational
Animals, yet because they belong to the outermost [*]principle, such
is their innate Affinity, and Unity with the dark World, or infernal
Kingdome that they do often become the Devils Agents to propagate his
works upon the face of the Earth.

♦Why they delight in the fiery quality.♦

♦[*] Fire]♦

29. By the Instigations of infernal Spirits they are often sent to
terrifie men with nocturnal visions, in the likeness of monstrous
Beasts or Ghosts of their deceased Friends. They are moreover often
abetted to tempt and provoke melancholy people to execute themselves;
besides innumerable wayes they have of executing the pleasures of
[*]iniquous Spirits through malicious Instigations, and secret
Stratagems projected by them to the destruction of mortal men,
especially when the work to be effected by the Devil is too too hard
for his subtle and spiritual nature to bring to pass, because the
same belongs to the Astral source or outward principle to which these
dubious Spirits do properly belong; then are they frequently sollicited
to mediate in such treacherous actions, as the hellish Spirits have
conspired against the Lives of mortal men.

♦Astral Spirits ministers to the devill.♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

30. More particularly, These Spirits that belong to the fiery Element,
are most officious in this kinde of service, being naturally such as
the Antecedent matter hath sufficiently demonstrated; but according to
the ranks and Categoryes to which they belong, some of them are more
inveterate, and malicious in their undertakings then the rest. But
every kinde of Astral Spirit is obsequious to the Kingdome of darkness,
that the devilish Spirits can effect little or nothing without their
assistance in this external principle of the Starrs and Elements upon
the bodies or possessions of Mankind; because their bodies are too
crude and rough for the conveyance of their influence, either in
Dreams, Raptures, Philtres, Charms, or Constellations, as the following
Chapter of the nature of Infernal beings shall make plain, wherein the
nature and capacity of every damned Spirit is decyphered according to
the truth of the antient Philosophy.

♦Why the devil requires their help.♦

31. Leave we now the Spirits of the fire, to illustrate the natures of
subterranean Beings, whose Orders, Species, and Degrees, are various;
for they consist in these distinctions, _viz._ Spirits of men deceased,
Souls of men deceased, separated Spirits Astral, separate Spirits
semi-Infernal, Spirits appropriate to the Constellations where any of
the seven metals, _viz. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Luna, Venus,
Mercury_, are found in the bowels of the Earth; and as farr as the
natures of Minerals are distinct one from the other, so much distant
are these Subterranean Spirits in Nature and Faculty in respect of
their places, shapes, names, and qualities.

♦Subterranean Spirits.♦

32. But they are not all confined unto the metallick Kingdome; for
there are also Spirits of the Mountains, Vallies, Caves, Deeps,
Hiata’s, or Chasma’s of the Earth, hidden Treasures, Tombs, Vaults,
and Sepultures of the Dead. To the last belong the Astral Spirits of
deceased Mortals, that delight to hover over the antient Carcases to
which they belong’d, seeking still to be dissolved, and diligently
enquiring the Cause of their retention; such are resident in silent
Caves, and solitary Vaults, where the deceased lie till the Humidum
Radicale be exciccate, and totally dryd up, after which their tricks
are no more manifest, but are utterly extinguished, and annihilated.

♦Spirits of the Mountains, Caves, and Tombs.♦

33. To the next, belong such Spirits as are Protectors of hidden
Treasures, from a natural Cause, from whence they do exceedingly envy
mans benefit, and accomodation in the discovery thereof, ever haunting
such places where money is conceal’d, and retaining malevolent and
poysonous Influences, to blast the Lives and Limbs of those that dare
to attempt the discovery thereof: _Peters_ of _Devonshire_ with his
confederates, who by Conjuration attempted to dig for such defended
Treasures, was crumbled into Atomes, as it were, being reduced to Ashes
with his Companions in the twinkling of an eye.

♦Spirits of hidden Treasures.♦

34. And upon this particular, we have plenty of Examples of the
destruction of such as by Magical experiments have discovered hidden
Treasures; which instances do rather seem to prove, That such as haunt
these places do more nearly belong to the Infernal, then to the Astral
Hierarchy, in regard that they are so infesting and inveterate to
Mortal men, that the Grand Intention of the Prince of darkness may be
accomplished in their designs.

♦The nature of such Spirits.♦

35. But of all the rest such as haunt Mines and mettle men, are the
most pernicious, and frequent from the same Cause with the former.
The nature of such is very violent; they do often slay whole Companies
of Labourers, they do sometimes send inundations that destroy both
the Mines, and Miners, they bring noxious and malignant vapours to
stifle the laborious workmen; briefly, their whole delight and faculty
consists in tormenting, killing, and crushing men that seek such
Treasures, that mankind may never partake thereof to relieve their
Cares, and worldly necessities.

♦Spirits that infest Mines and Miners.♦

36. Such was _Anæbergius_ a most virulent Animal that did utterly
confound the undertakings of those that laboured in the richest Silver
mine in _Germany_, called _Corona Rosacea_. He would often shew himself
in the likeness of a he-goat with Golden horns, pushing down the
workmen with great violence, sometimes like a Horse breathing flames,
and pestilence at his Nostrils. At other times he represented a Monk in
all his _Pontificalibus_, flouting at their Labour, and imitating their
Actions with scorn and dedignation, till by his daily and continued
molestation he gave them no further ability of perseverance.

♦An Example of a turbulent Spirit.♦

37. Thus, I have hinted the various distinctions, and sub-distinctions
of Astral Spirits proper or common, illustrating their natures
according to the opinions of the Learned; from thence I proceed to say
what the Infernal Hierarchy is, and whereof it doth consist in this
fifth Chapter following.

♦Conclusion.♦

CHAP. V.

_Of the Infernal Spirits, or Devils, and damned Souls treating,
what their Natures, Names, and Powers are_, &c.

1. Leaving the Astral Kingdome, I will now proceed to describe the
natures, and distinctions of Infernal Spirits or Devils, and damned
Souls, who are to be considered according to their ranks, and orders,
exactly correspondent to the Quires, and Hierarchies of the Angels,
or Celestial beings, wherein I will insist upon their names, shapes,
places, times, orders, powers, and capacities, proceeding gradually
from a general narration, to a particular Anatomy of every sort of
Spirit in its proper place and order.

♦What this Chapter treats of.♦

2. As for the Locality or Circumscription of the Kingdome of darkness,
it is farr otherwise to be considered then the vulgar account it,
who esteem the hellish habitation, a distinct Chasma or Gulph in a
certain place, above, under, or in the Center of the Earth, where
innumerable Devils, and wicked Souls inhabit, who are perpetually
scorched, and tormented with material flames of fire. This is the
opinion which naturally all men are addicted and prone unto. But if we
will rightly consider the Kingdome of Heaven and Hell, in respect of
one another, we must look upon the similitude of light and darkness
in this outward world, who are not circumscribed, nor separate as to
Locality from one another; for when the sun arises, the darkness of the
night disappeareth, not that it removes it self to some other place or
Country, but the brightness of the light overpowereth it, and swallows
it up, so that though it disappeareth, yet it is as really there as the
light is.

♦The place of hell or the habitation of devils.♦

3. This is also to be considered in[*] the description of the
Habitations of good, or evill beings, that they are really in one
another, yet not comprehended of one another, neither indeed can they
be, for the evil Spirits if they should remove ten thousand miles,
yet are they in the same quality and source, never able to finde out
or discover where the Kingdome of Heaven is to be found, though it be
really through, and through with the dark Kingdome, but in another
quality which makes them strangers to one another.

♦Illustrated by a similitude.♦

♦[*] [_text_ iu]♦

4. A similitude hereof we have in the faculties of the humane Life,
as to the indowments of the Soul considered in the just, and in the
wicked; for to be good, pure, and holy, is really present as a quality
in _potentia_ with the depraved soul, although at that instant the
Soul be cloathed with Abominations, so that the eye which should behold
God or Goodness is put out. Yet if the soul would but come out of it
self, and enter into another source or principle, in the center it
might come to see the Kingdome of Heaven within it self, according to
the Scripture, and _Moses_,[*] _The word is nigh thee, in thy heart,
and in thy Mouth_.

♦The differerence [_sic_] betwixt heaven and hell.♦

♦[*] [Deut. 30, 19.]♦

5. True it is that the Devils and damned Souls cannot sometimes
manifest themselvs in this Astral World, because the nature of some of
them is more near unto the external quality then of others, so that
although properly the very innermost and outermost darkness be their
proximate abode, yet they do frequently flourish, live, move, and
germinate in the Aery Region, being some of them finite and determinate
Creatures.

♦How the Devils can come into this World.♦

6. But according to their fiery nature, it is very difficult for them
to appear in this outward world, because there is a whole principle
or gulph betwixt them, to wit, they are shut up in another quality
or existence, so that they can with greater difficulty finde out the
being of this World, or come with their presence into the same, then we
can remove into the Kingdome of Heaven, or Hell with our intellectual
man; for if it were otherwise, and that the Divels had power to appear
unto Mortals as they list, how many Towns, Cities, _&c._ should be
destroyed, and burnt to the ground, how many Infants should be kild
by their malicious power! yea few or none might then escape in Lives,
or Possessions, and sound minds, whereas now all these enjoyments are
free amongst mortals, which proves, that it is exceeding hard for evill
Spirits to appear in the third principle of this world, as for a man to
live under water, and fishes on the Land. Yet must we grant, that when
the imaginations, and earnest desires of some particular Wizards, and
envious Creatures have stirr’d up the center of Hell within themselvs,
that then the Devil hath sometimes access to this world in their
desires, and continues here to vex, and torment so long as the strength
of that desire remains which was the first attractive Cause.

♦The great difficulty of their appearance.♦

7. For the very cause of the paucity of appearances in these dayes, is
the fulness of time, and the brightness of Christianity, dispelling
such mists, as the sun doth cause the clouds to vanish, not by any
violence or compulsion, but from a natural cause; even so the Kingdome
of Light as it grows over mans soul, in power and dominion, doth
naturally close up the Center of darkness, and scatter the influences
of the Devil so that his tricks lye in the dust, and his will at length
becomes wholly passive as to man.

♦The cause of few appearances now.♦

8. In the time of the Law, when the wrath and jealousie of the Father,
had the dominion in the Kingdom of Nature, all Infernal Spirits had
more easie access unto mankind then now they have; for before the
Incarnation of Christ, the anger of God had more dominion over the
soul of Man, and was more near in nature unto the same; so that the
Devils could with more facility spring up in the element of Wrath, to
manifest themselves in this outward principle, because the very Basis
and Foundation of Hell beneath, is built and composed of the Wrath of
God, which is the channel to convey the Devil into this sublunary World.

♦The Devils power in the time of the Law.♦

9. But when Christ began to be manifest unto the World, the
multiplicity of Appearances, and possessed with Devils, began
insensibly to decay and vanish. And if any should object, _That betwixt
the space of his Incarnation and his Suffering, such accidents were
rather more frequent than in the times before_: To this I answer, That
the Devil knowing well that his time was but short; and also knowing,
that till the great Sacrifice was offered up, he had leave to range and
rove abroad the Kingdom of this World; therefore he imployed all his
forces and endeavours to torment those miserable souls and captives to
whom Christ came to Preach Deliverance.

♦His power under Christ in the flesh.♦

10. But after the Partition wall was broken down, and the vail of
_Moses_, and of the anger of God from off the soul in the death of
Christ, there was a sensible and visible decay of the Devils prancks
amongst mortals, and that little remnant of Lunaticks and Possessed,
which continued after Christ, did the Apostles relieve and set at
liberty, through the influence and virtue of the promise of the Son of
God (to wit) _the Holy Ghost_, or _the Comforter_, which could not come
until he went away: And on the day of _Pentecost_, whilst they waited
in humility for the fulfilling of his promise, the very effect of
Christs birth and sufferings did first manifest it self, when the Holy
Ghost sprung up amongst them, to the destruction of Sin and Satan.

♦Under Christianity.♦

11. And so long as the purity of Christianity continued in the
Primitive Church, there were very few that the Devil could personally
or actually lay hold of in the Astral Man, for the space of two
hundred years after the death of Christ, until that from Meekness and
Abstinence, the Christians began to exalt themselves in Loftiness and
Worldly Honours; then the Devil began to exalt his head amongst the
Lip-Christians, bewitching them into every Lust; and captivating their
inward and outward faculties at his pleasure. As all along in Popery is
clearly seen.

♦Under Apostacies.♦

12. Yet notwithstanding, the coming of Christ hath prevented the Devils
force in general. Such Nations as have never embraced the Christian
Faith, are still deluded and bewitched by him; because the center hath
never been actually awakened in any of them, so that the Devils power
prevails over them mightily, to seduce them to worship things visible,
and not the true God: For where the most darkness is in Religion
and Worship, or in natural understanding, there his power is most
predominant; As in _Tartary_, _China_, and the _East-Indies_; also in
_Lapland_, _Finland_, and the _Northern Islands_.

♦Under Idolatry.♦

13. In the _West-Indies_ or _America_, his access is very facil and
freequent to the Inhabitants, so that by custom and continuance they
were at the first discovery thereof, become so much substitute and
obsequious to his power, that though they knew him to be a power of
Darkness, yet they adored him lest he should destroy them and their
Children. And unto such a height were they come at the Landing of
_Cortes_, _Drake_, and _Vandernort_, that they could familiarly convert
themselves into Wolves, Bears, and other furious Beasts; in which
Metamorphosis their _Enthusiasms_ and _Divinations_ were suggested, and
such were held in greatest esteem.

♦How power in new-discovered Lands.♦

14. Till upon the Invasion of the _Spaniards_, the greater evil drove
out the less, and the cruel Murthers of that Antichristian tradition,
did both depopulate the Islands and most of the Continent; and also by
accident, though not through any good intention, extirpate the race
of such as addicted themselves to this infamous sort of Divination. In
which devastation, and bloody inquisition, their Idols were discovered
with their Oracles and Inchantments, far different from the _European_
Conjurers, and any of their Ceremonies.

♦His power in _America_.♦

15. But that which is the most remarkable in the Infernal proceedings,
is this, That there is not any Nation under the Sun, but the Devil hath
introduced himself amongst them through their Ceremonies and Worship,
though quite opposite to one another: For in the Kingdom of _China_,
by the sacrifice of _Blood_ and _Panaak_, he is Conjured and Exorcized
through the repetitions of several Superstitious Invocations to the
Sun and Moon. In _Tartary_ the Magicians go quite another way to work,
with Offerings to the Ocean, to the Mountains, and the Rivers, fuming
Incense, and divers sorts of Feathers; by which means the Devils are
compelled to appear. So that we see how this _Proteus_ can dispose
himself in the divers Kingdoms of this World; being called by other
names in _Tartary_, _China_, the _East_ and _West-Indies_, &c. then
amongst the _European_ Conjurers. Likewise the _Greeks_ and _Romans_
could Invocate Spirits by Prayers unto the Moon, and divers Sacrifices
of Milk, Honey, Vervine, and Blood. And those that are addicted to
Conjurations in Christianity, have attained to a more lofty and ample
manner of Incantation and Conjuring with Magical Garments, Fire,
Candles, Circles, Astrological Observations, Invocations, and holy
Names of God, according to the _Kaballa_ of the _Jews_.

♦The variety of Conjurations according to the Countries.♦

16. So that every distinct Nation hath conformed its Conjuration unto
the Ceremonies of that Religion which it professeth: And it is to be
observed, That from a natural cause every Nation hath its Conjurations
and Names of Devils, from the Constellation under which the Countrey
lyeth, and from the Air or Wind to which such particular Dominations
do belong; so that no effect would follow, if one Countrey should
traditionally inure themselves to the Forms and Exorcisms that are
used by another Nation. And therefore is it that so many attempts are
offered in vain amongst professed Christians to raise Spirits, because
they have little or nothing from their own Constellation, but make
use of what they have borrowed from the _Greeks_ and _Romans_, or the
ancient Imbecillity of the _Ægyptians_ Priests; I mean, their simple
forms of Invocation.

♦Why few are able to raise Spirits.♦

17. But because we are rather upon the discovery of the Infernal
Kingdom, as it hath no dependence upon the doings of mortal Men;
therefore we will proceed to discover what the Antients have said
concerning it: So the next which we fall upon after the description of
their Habitations, and the manner of their Appearances, is their Names
and Appellations diversly considered. First, from the Creation of the
World to the coming of Christ, they retained the _Hebrew_ names, as
►Belial, Baal, Baalzebub, Lelah, Ador, Abaddon◄, &c. according to the
_seculum_ under which they were Invocated; assuming names according to
the present occasion about which they were imployed.

♦The Names of Devils in the Time of the Law.♦

18. Under the Constellation of _China_, they are Invocated by the
Names ►Kan, Sinoam, Nantam, Bal, Baltal, Sheall◄, the six Governours
or Presidents: ►Chancangian◄, the chief of the Devils: ►Po, Paym,
Nalkin, Nebo◄, the Devils of the four Winds: ►Lean, Lan, Pan, Adal◄,
the Devils of the four Elements. And according to the nature of their
language or words which do all consist of no more then one syllable,
so are the Devils named. Yea, as it is conjectured by many learned
Magicians, this language of the _Chinenses_ is more Magical and adapted
to Conjurations, then all the _Oriental Tongues_, because of the
consonancy and copiousness thereof, together with the numerous and
various Characters used by them.

♦Their Names in _China_.♦

19. In the _East-Indies_, and in _Tartary_, the Names are the same
with those of _China_, though the Ceremonies differ. In _Persia_,
_Arabia_, _Natolia_, _Ægypt_, _Æthiopia_, the Names are the same with
the _Jewish Rabbins_. But the _Greeks_ and _Romans_ have different from
the rest, according to their Language and Superstitions. The _Turks_,
_Muscovites_, _Russians_, _Lapponians_, and _Norwegians_, make use of
the _Sclavonian_ tongue in all their Conjurations. The _West-Indians_
have very strange and antick Names and Ceremonies of their own, nothing
depending on the Traditions and Practices of the old World; for, as
is related before, the Devil is sufficiently capable of introducing
himself through the Religious Superstitions of any Nation whomsoever,
according to the Constellations, although strangers to the Rites and
Ceremonies of others.

♦In the _East-Indies_.
_Tartaria._
_Greece._
_Italy._
_West Indies._♦

20. But though their Names be conformable to the Language and Climate
of that Nation where they are raised or called; yet have they divers
Names, suppose twenty or thirty to one Devil, according to the several
ministrations they have had from the Creation to this day, leaving a
several name behinde them at each of their appearances upon the earth;
for, according to the testimony of the Devil himself, if credit may be
given to Devils, they, as they are abstractively considered in their
own Kingdom, have no imposed Names of distinction, but are forced
to assume them when they rise up in the external principle of this
World: although in some measure it must be granted, that there be some
principal Kings and Dukes in the Infernal Hierarchy, that have Names
establish’d upon them which cannot be transferr’d or altered.

♦The nature of their Names.♦

21. As for the Names that are recorded in this precedent _Discovery_
_of Witchcraft_ by _Reginald Scot_ Esq; being a Catalogue of Devils in
their Rancks and Hierarchies, they are supposed to be fictitious and
totally imaginary, being taken out of _Bodin_ or _Wyerus_, which they
recorded from the mouth of Tradition, and obscure Manuscrips:[*] And
indeed were there any certainty in this List of Devils, it were to be
preferred as the most ample and exact delineation that is extant. But
it is the rather to be suspected, because of the little coherence it
hath with the former received Names of Devils eitheir in _Europe_,
_Asia_, _Africa_, or _America_.

♦The names of [_sic_] Devils in _Scot_.♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

22. But if we would speak of Damned Souls and their Names or
Appellations, they are farr otherwise to be considered then the Devils;
for such as their imposed Names were here on earth, such is the Name
they have in the Kingdom of Darkness, after a Magical manner, according
to the language of nature in the first principle of Darkness; as the
Saints in heaven retain their Names in a Cœlestial manner: And also, as
the Astral Spirit of a Man deceased, retains its antient Name according
to the Astral source in the principle of the one only Element.

♦The names of Damned souls.♦

23. For as the language of Nature is found in the second Principle,
it is likewise manifest in the dark Worlds property, according to the
first Principle of Wrath; as also the monstrous shapes of Devils and
Damned Souls is correspondent to the Magical postures of their Souls
whilst they were alive; of which I shall speak more largely when their
Shapes are to be described. According unto which, as also according to
the rest of their attributes, _viz._ their _Rancks, Numbers, Times,
Powers, Places_, &c. their Names are fitted and conformed according to
the uniformity of name and thing in the principles of the eternal and
external nature.

♦Whence the names of Devils are.♦

24. And as all other Nations have their various Appellations for
Devils and Damned Souls, like their natural tone or language; so we
can mention one Kingdom more admirable then the rest, _viz._ the
Kingdom of _Fiacim_ at the _Northern Pole_, where all the Counsellors
are Magicians; and the Names which they use in Invocations, are
Mathematically disposed in a wonderful harmony and efficacy, to the
performance of Magical operations. So much of the Places and Names
of Infernal Beings; the next to be considered is their Shapes and
Likenesses.

♦The names of Devils in the Kingdom of _Fiacim_.♦

25. The Shapes of Devils are answerable to the cause of their Fall, and
the Dominions to which they belong. Those that belong to the Supreme
Hierarchy, when they are called by Magicians, do at first appear in the
form of fierce and terrible Lyons, vomiting fire, and roaring hideously
about the Circle; from thence they convert themselves into Serpents,
Monkies, and other Animals, till the Magician do repeat the form
of Constriction or Confinement to a Trine or Triangle, as before is
mentioned in the Fifteenth Book of the _Discovery_.

♦The Shapes of Devils.♦

26. After the Conjuration is repeated, they forsake these bestial
shapes, and [*]indow the humane form at first like troops of Armed
Men; till at last by frequent repetitions of other Ceremonies, they
appear as naked Men of gentle countenance and behaviour. Yet is the
Magician to take care that they deceive him not by insinuations; for
their fraudulency is unspeakable in their appearance and dealings with
Mankind; because we may be assured they appear not willingly, but are
by forceable Conjurations compelled: so that they will ever minde their
own ends in medling with man; that is, to deprave his minde, or subvert
the Lives and Estates of others through his means and assistance.

♦As they appear to Magicians in the highest rank.♦

♦[*] [= indue]♦

27. The rest of the Infernal Dominions have various appearances. The
two next Orders affect to represent the beautiful colours of Birds, and
Beasts, as Leopards, Tygers, Pecocks, _&c._ But by Conjurations they
may be likewise reduced to a Manlike form, wherein they will readily
answer every demand within the compass of their capacity, answerable to
the Order unto which they belong: Yet many of them appear in Monstrous
forms, and can hardly be conjured to desert them. Though the Exorcist
Charm them never so wisely, they will shew him a pair of Crocodiles
jaws, or a Lyons paw, with other dreadful menaces, enough to terrifie
any Novice from such Damnable Injunctions as the practice of Magick.

♦In the lower orders.♦

28. But more especially, the opinion of the antients is, That according
to the division of the clean and unclean Beasts in the Law given unto
_Moses_, the Shapes of Devils are disposed in the Infernal Kingdom: So
that the most perverse and potent amongst the Devils represent the most
ugly and mischievous amongst the Beasts, according to this following
division; _viz._ such Devils as ►Astaroth, Lucifer, Bardon, Pownok◄,
who incline men and instigate them to pride and presumptuousness, have
the shapes of Horses, Lyons, Tygars, Wolves. Such as instigate to Lust
and Covetousness have the forms of Hogs, Serpents, and other filthy
reptiles or envious Beasts, as Dogs, Cats, Vultures, Snakes, _&c._
Such as incline to Murther, have the shapes of every Bird and Beast
of prey. Such as Answer Questions humane in Philosophy, or Religion,
have more tolerable shapes, almost manly, but with crooked Noses, like
Mermaids, or Satyres. And of all the rest it is to be observed, that as
not one single Lust or Vice hath dominion without mixture in the evil
Spirits, so they are not of a distinct shape lik one single Beast, but
compounded into Monsters, with Serpents-tails, four eyes, many feet and
horns, _&c._

♦That the Devils are answerable to the unclean Beasts.♦

29. And as in general, these are the shapes of Devils, so the
particular shapes of Damned Souls are to be considered in the same
manner with the rest, only with this difference, that they are more
addicted to metamorphose themselves and vary their appearances. Though,
for the most part, the Damned Souls retain the humane shape after a
Magical manner, so that the greatest part of that numberless number are
in their antient shapes, especially when they appear in sleep to their
surviving acquaintance. Their aspects are very dismal and melancholy
like the Ghosts of the Astral source.

♦The shapes of Damned Souls.♦

30. Now to speak of the Times and Seasons of their Appearance. The
better sort of Magicians to square their times with Astrological hours,
especially of _Saturn_, _Luna_, and _Venus_, in the Moons increase,
and the middle of the night, or twelve a clock at noon: In which hours
they do likewise compose their Garments, Caps, Candlesticks, Figures,
Lamins, Pentacles, and Circles for Conjuration. As for the Times in
respect of their Infernal Courses, the fittest are when they spring up
in the Wrath, or when they sink in the Dispair, which is a mystery to
the learned Conjurers of _Europe_.

♦Their times and seasons.♦

31. In respect of this exterior World, they can most easily appear
in solitary places, when the Sun is down; for they are naturally at
enmity with the Sun, because it stands as a type of the Mediator, or
Heart and Centre which they lost utterly in their fall, and now are
destitute of, like a wheel without an axletree. And indeed, the want
of this is the chief cause of all their torment, and of the rising of
the gnawing Worm, when they consider of their irrevocable sentence, and
irrecoverable loss.

♦Their places of appearance.♦

32. In storms of Hail, or Snow, Wind, Tempest, and Lightning, is
accounted amongst Magicians, a time for Conjuring at an easie rate. And
they say, That such Ceremonies will prove very effectual, if a Conjurer
begin his Exorcisms in the hour and day of _Luna_, in the middest of a
furious storm of Lightning, Rain, and Thunder, in a low Vault or Celler
that is close and retired. Also when the Wind blows high, without Rain,
they say, the Devils are more near the Kingdom of this World, and may
with great facility be sollicited or raised at such a season, because
they delight in all extremities of weather, being themselves the first
cause of the disorder of the properties in the Kingdom of Nature.

♦When Tempests reign.♦

33. But in some Countries they can more easily appear then in
others, according to the Constellations, for they delight much in
the extremities of the two Poles toward _Lapland_, _Nova Zembla_,
_Greenland_, _Tartary_; and in the _South_ towards the Islands
scattered about the confines of _Terra Incognita_. They are likewise
easily Invocated on the shoar amongst lofty Rocks and Precipices, or in
Deserts and Wildernesses far from Towns or Inhabitants. And it is said,
they do much respect the motion of the Seas in their appearance unto
such as solicite them in places _Maritime_ or _Plagiary_.

♦According to the situation of Regions.♦

34. As for their Rancks or Orders, there is some difficulty in the
true discovery thereof, by reason that we know not certainly of what
Orders they were that _Fell_. The opinion of most men is, _That of
every Order many fell_. But those that better know the nature of the
Heavenly Hierarchies, have sufficiently proved, _That of any Ranck or
Order none can fall unless all do follow_. Therefore with more reason
may it be judged, That before the Devils fell, the Hierarchy of Heaven
did consist of three Rancks or Orders; to wit, the Order of ►Uriel◄, of
►Michael◄, of ►Lucifer◄: That of ►Lucifer◄ is totally in _Hell_: The
other which is under ►Michael◄, is the dominion of _Heaven_: The last
which is ►Uriels◄, are more in the dominion of this third principle
of the _Stars_, having the _Planets_ in their dominion, with the
influences thereof.

♦Their Ranks and Orders.♦

35. So that the foregoing Catalogue, transcribed by the Author of this
_Discovery_, is utterly feigned and fictitious, because it makes these
many sorts of Devils to have Dominion over several Legions in several
distinctions of _Seraphims_, _Powers_, _Thrones_, _Dominations_,
_Cherubims_, &c. Whereas the whole Kingdom of Hell consists but of one
only Hierarchy, which is that of ►Lucifer◄ and his _Legions_, reduced
by their exorbitances into that Lacrymable posture wherein they now are
and shall be for ever. Which Doctrine seriously weigh’d will prove the
attempts of Conjurers and Magicians to be utterly vain, and their forms
of Invocation vanity and falshood.

♦In three distinctions.♦

36. Their number may be thought upon more narrowly, if we consider that
they consist of one Hierarchy and no more; yet must we confess that the
limit is not to be put thereunto, because their nature is to Germinate
and Multiply as they please, contracting and dilating themselves
according to the force of their imaginative powers and faculties.
But although this be granted, yet there is a setled number of Devils
that varyeth not. Though of Damned Souls the number is numberless and
unfathomable; yet as to their extent of room or place, it is never the
more because of their multitude, they being able to truss a thousand
Legions into the carcass of a man. As for the opinions of Authors, they
are various; it is believed by some, _That the Starrs are answerable to
their number_; others speak of _the Sands upon the Seashore_: however
it be, this is certain, _They are even innumerable in respect of humane
Capacities_.

♦Their numbers.♦

37. Their Natures are now to be considered as they belong to the
hellish source or quality. In themselves they rest not, neither are
they capable of the length or shortness of time, nor of the alternate
courses of day and night. The wickedness which they committed in
this life, are their continual torment, which do Magically gnaw and
corrode them, rising and boyling up perpetually within them, all the
refrigeration which they have, is by intercourse when the height of
Wickedness begins to stirr them in blasphemies against God, and towring
up above heaven and goodness, in their adulterated Imaginations, which
is unto them as sport and pastime with one another, and lasteth such
a space as with us makes up forty minutes. Neither doth this any whit
advantage them, but rather adds to their torment; for pain discontinued
is the greater: neither would vexation be vexation, if it had no
respite or forbearance; That the contrary might be also manifest,
_Nam contraria juxta se posita majus elucescunt_. Yet is their
torment exceedingly different, so that the torment of one, in respect
of another, is but a Dream or Phansie; I mean, amongst the Damned
Souls, and not the Devils, for the pain and sorrow of the Devils is
greater then the greatest of the lost Souls, by many thousand degrees,
according to the course of nature and reason; for that which falls
highest, suffers most, and _optima corrupta fiunt pessima_.

♦Their natures and properties.♦

♦Their torments♦

38. But wonderful and manifold are the torments which all in general
of the Infernal troops, do suffer according to the various lusts they
reigned in whilst they lived upon the earth. The cruel Murtherers
that died in the boyling source of blood and envy, their torment is
the greatest, they are continually Murthering in their imaginations,
and seeking, like dreaming men, to do what the want of the Organ will
not suffer them; for according to the saying of the wisest upon this
Subject, this is the torment and misery of all the Damned, _That they
are continually wishing and woulding; and in wouldings they generate
Ideas and representations, which are the species of their continual
aggravations and deceiving phansies_.

♦The Variety thereof.♦

39. Those that were buryed in Lust and Gluttony, Drunkenness and
Lasciviousness, are also in miserable torments, yet much inferiour to
the first; they are continually imagining their former pleasures in the
_Magia_ as in a dream, which when they wake, torments them cruelly;
they are often hanging, stabbing, and mangling themselves for love,
and perpetually sinking down in sorrow and despair, if they were such
as died in love, or in the height of their Astral affections, leaving
behind them a heap of desires and lusts, which are the only cause of
all their torment. And we may well compare the passions of Melancholy
persons, or such as in Deserts, Woods, and Mountains, pine away for
love of Women, unto their torments; which indeed being the trouble of
the mind, are absolutely the greatest and heaviest that the source or
property of this World affordeth, I mean, the perturbations of the
minde in general.

♦The Nature thereof.♦

40. Such souls in whom the boyling source of Anger and Rage, hath
had a dwelling or receptacle, if they depart unmortified, do also
enter into a most dreadful kind of torment, which continually ariseth
as a biting Worm and hungry fire to double and accumulate the excess
of despair upon them, if they have much domineered therein whilst
they lived in this World. Also these that reigned in Pride and Envy,
are ever seeking to pluck God from his Throne, and towring up in
their Imaginations, as men that dream, still seeking for the Kingdom
of heaven, to insult and boast therein; but the quality thereof is
utterly occult and estranged from them; so that they can never finde,
taste, hear, nor see it, though it be through and through with their
own peculiar principle. This adds perpetually to their misery, and
ariseth at times with horrible pangs and gnawings, like the irksome and
vexatious pains and aches subject to Mans body, which cease a while and
then begin to shoot and ake by intercourse, as the Gowt, Tooth-ach,
Head-ach, Convulsion, Gripings, and the Stone.

♦Their torment in the source of Anger.♦

41. Thus their torments are in brief described, but indeed the capacity
of Man is not able to reach the description of their cruel miseries,
and continual pangs which they contracted upon themselves; for every
faculty is sufficiently plagued. The Sence of Hearing is disturb’d
with harsh and rugged sounds, which are as an antipathy to that Organ;
as rough and scraping sounds externally offend the ears, and set the
teeth on edge, by affecting the tender fibres of the same. Their Sight
is likewise cruelly offended and affrighted with monstrous appearances
and Ideas represented continually to their imaginations. And there is
not any loathsome taste in the Kingdome of this World, either Animal,
Vegetative, or Mineral, which they are at any time void of, being
continually pestered and suffocated with filthy fumes and smoaks of
hellish fruits, as of Sulphurean stinks, and abominations.

♦In all the five Senses.♦

42. Neither are the other Sences of the Touch and Smell behind in
participation of the like Torments, which their own iniquities do
perpetually excite and create unto them; besides, they are ever
vexing one another; and if any be in the same misery with whom they
had acquaintance here on [*]eath, the very Magical knowledge,
and perceivance, or remembrance thereof, doth beyond utterance or
conception, most miserably afflict and macerate their Souls and all
their Sences.

♦By their acquaintance on earth.♦

♦[*] [_read_, earth]♦

43. For the nature of their habitation is such, that their torment
is exceedingly aggravated thereby, because the extremity of the four
Elements is there converted into a whole Principle of wrath and
vexation. The excess of cold and heat, drought and moisture, are
continually raging amongst them by intercourse. Neither is there any
light or lustre to be seen within their Courts, but that which comes
from their fiery Eyes, as a deadly glance or glimmering, being sudden
fiery flashes and sparkling, as the enkindling of Gunpowder, or _Aurum
fulminans_ for a similitude.

♦The Nature of Hell.♦

44. And as every kinde of Being feeds upon somewhat of its own nature,
property, and element, whither it be Plant, Animal, or Metalline kinde;
so the Devils are neither destitute of meat, drink, nor cloathing,
according to their own Kingdom and quality, having fruits springing
and growing before them of hellish, sour and poysonous natures, which
are real and palpable unto them, and not imaginary or typical, though
to us magical and invisible; neither is this to be wondered at, if we
consider the nature of Man’s Soul, _In Media Natura_; for if it feed
not upon the internal[*] and substantial Word, which is the very
Bread of Life it self, it must of necessity ruminate on something else,
_viz._ the fruits of Iniquity, which it takes in and drinketh up as
the Oxe drinks water, so that to the soul the sin becomes palpable,
glutting, and satiating; yea, so substantial unto the Soul, as Dirt or
Ink upon fair white Linnen is to our external Eyes; neither can the
Soul be freed from these spots till the water above the Firmament wash
them away.

♦The food of Devils.♦

♦[*] [? eternal]♦

45. Also in respect of the Astral source they are not destitute of
food, when they bring themselves into the same; for the gas of the air
and bias of the water is their nourishment, while they stay here, as
is before alledged: These influences of the air and water they take
into their _Limbus_, and convert into their own poysonous natures; as
of sweet and wholsome herbs the filthy Toads and other venemous Beasts
do make their poyson, converting them into a nature like themselves.
And on the contrary, the poysonous herbs are converted into good and
wholesome nourishment by other cleanly Beasts.

♦Their food in the Astral source.♦

46. And as the Infernal Troops are considered in respect of the
four Elements, they have a distinct and peculiar tone or language,
which they exercise and speak one amongst one another, as mortals
do. But they have utterly lost the dignity of their sounds according
to the eternal nature. And are likewise totally corrupted in their
pronouncing, or Dialect, since they fell from their first cælestial
glory; so that their speech is harsh, doleful, and terrible, like the
fruits they feed upon, and the life they dwell in. Which depravation
is very apparent in the Kingdom of this World in the divided Languages
of every Region, according to the Constellation under which they are
situated: The true and magical Language of nature being hid from all
the Countreys of the earth.

♦Their Speech.♦

47. But when they appear in the outward Elements, they do many times
express themselves in _Irish_, _Welch_, _Latine_; or _Russian_, which
are the Languages most affected by them to answer unto Conjurations,
or Compacts. So that if any Magician, who is ignorant of these
aforesaid Languages do at any time Raise or Exorcise such Spirits,
he must be mindful to confine them to his mother tongue; least their
gibberish prove altogether unintelligible; for as every thing appears
in what it most affecteth, or is addicted to; even so the Spirits have
their distinct affections, passions, and postures, both in word, habit,
shape, and gesture; so that the Magician must be wary in Exorcizing
with them, that he confine them to a different place, posture, shape,
and language, to answer their intentions without impediment.

♦What Language they affect.♦

48. For they are very variable and unconstant in their dealings with
mankind, nor will they stand to any thing that hath not bound them by
the obligations of Words, Characters, and Imprecations, except the
skill of the Exorcist be such, that he is able to confine them into a
Magical Triad, which hath the certain force of obliging or compelling
them to utter truth, and nothing false in all their Answers, or
Informations. But with such miserable men and women as they have made
Covenants and Indentures for body, soul, and works; with such I say,
they keep no faith, nor are they lyable to their commands; but on the
contrary, have them hampered and subjected to their will and power,
till they have terminated their lives in their destruction.

♦Their unconstancy.♦

49. Yet have not any of the most potent Princes in the Hellish Power,
the least ability to destroy the least of the sons of men, without
the consent of the mind and senses of the Soul; for until the will of
the Soul be opened unto him, his threatnings, sleights and stratagems
are without any power or force, as the nerves of a dead man. Although
naturally every evil Spirit boasteth, as if all the world were at its
command, and every Soul were subject to its authority and beck, with
the Goods or Possessions of the external World.

♦Their Power.♦

50. When any evil Spirit is raised up by Conjurations, without
League, or Compact; these Spirits so raised, are exceeding fraudulent
and deceitful, as stubborn servants that do their Masters will by
constraint, and not by any natural act of obedience unto his Commands.
But with such as they have compacted, they are frequent and officious,
imploying them as Agents for the destruction of others and their
substance: and being marryed unto such, they are even become one with
them, being incorporated into them, so that they are nothing different
from incarnate Devils, save that the spark of divine Light, which was
the gift of God unto repentance, is not totally eradicated until the
body fall away.

♦When they are called up.♦

51. From such as Covenant with these unconstant Spirits, do they
daily obtain Fumigations, Odours, and Offerings, or Sacrifices of
Blood, Fire, Wine, Ointments, Incense, Fruits, Excrements, Herbs,
Gums, Minerals, and other Ingredients, by which from a Magical cause,
they have more influence and authority over the bewitched party to
insinuate into their affection, peircing even through their bones and
marrow, till they have so habituated them to their service, that the
same becomes their daily bread and sole delight in accomplishing every
villany and abomination which the malicious and subtle instigation of
Satan leads them to.

♦Fumigations made unto them.♦

52. Thus have I Essayed to illustrate the Natures of Infernal Beings,
which notwithstanding is a Subject so intricate and copious in it
self, that great difficulty accompanies the Explication thereof; by
reason of the variety of their natures in the source of darkness,
wherein they live, move, eat, breath, and inhabit, having qualities,
actions, and passions innumerable, to us men-kinde utterly unknown and
incomprehensible: So that to attempt an ample demonstration of this
present Subject, would require deeper speculation then the matter doth
deserve, in regard that there be so many _Protei_ and Changlings in
that gloomy Kingdom, who do never stay or continue in the same nature,
property, and form for an hour together; but may be compared to the
swiftness of the Windes, or the likeness and form of swift running
Waters, that pass away as a thought; and are no more remembered. So
it is with the Spirits of Darkness, whose life is a meer anguish and
inconstancy from one sorrow to another unto all Eternity.

♦The Conclusion.♦

CHAP. VI.

_Treating of the Nature, Force and Forms of Charms, Periapts,
Amulets, Pentacles, Conjurations, Ceremonies_, &c.

1. Before Appearances are made, after forms of Conjuration are
repeated, the Infernal Spirits make various and wonderful shews,
noises, and attempts as fore-runners to their appearance: At the first
attempts of novices in Conjuration, they are accompanyed with noises,
tremblings, flashes, howlings, and most dreadful shriekes, till after
further progress and experience therein they approach nearer unto this
Elemental nature, till by degrees they can manifestly be apparent unto
their Exorcist.

♦Shews before Spirits appear.♦

2. When _Chiancungi_, and his sister _Napala_, did first attempt to
call up Spirits, they begun with the Spirit ►Bokim◄, in the twentieth
degree: they hung a vault under ground with black both on the top and
bottom, lining it therewith; and having drawn the Circle of the Order
of Thrones, with the seven Planets, and their Magical Characters in the
Center, they proceeded to the Ceremonies of Conjuration after they had
frequently repeated the forms of calling, and nothing as yet appeared;
they were grown so desperate therein, that forsaking the Circle, and
every defensive Character or Ceremony, they at last betook themselves
to the most accursed and detestable branch of Magick, which consists of
Compacts, or Confederacy; and having by a solemn League summoned the
aforesaid Spirit ►Bokim◄, they obtain’d 155. years from the Spirit,
Covenanting therewith for body, soul, and works.

♦A Relation of a Magician.♦

3. In which damned life they continued exercising strange wonders in
every Countrey. By the help of this Magician the _Tartars_ did destroy
above 100 sail of Ships belonging unto _China_; many losses did he
bring upon that Kingdom in their Children, Fruits, Corn, Silk, and
Navigation; he could frequently transport himself through the Air, and
carry in one hand a thousand pound weight, to the astonishment of all
that knew him. He had many publick contests with Magicians of other
Countries, being tryals of skill in Magical Art, wherein he was said to
excel all that ever went before him.

♦His Actions.♦

4. Such another was _Lewis Gaufridi_ a _French_ Priest, who had
compacted with the Devil, and served him 14 years in these detestable
works, sacrificing Infants unto him, worshipping him in a filthy shape,
and tempting others to their Magical society or nocturnal Conventions;
in which, as it is reported, they did ever feast and junket with
varieties and dainties, which though they did seem delectable, were yet
notwithstanding gustless and unsavoury.

♦Another Magician.♦

5. Leaving these relations, something shall be said of _Charms_ and
_Spells_, as they are divided in this following manner; first, such
Amulets as being engraven and molded in the fashion of Money, or Coyn,
do serve to provoke any one desired unto love and familiarity, being
hung about the neck in certain Planetary hours. Secondly, Spells or
Charms in Parchment with Magical Characters, as Periapts to Cure
diseases; to make one valiant, memorative, and constant. Thirdly,
Corselets, which are an ancient _Danish_ Charm of Neck-laces, composed
of Thunderstones ingraven with Magical Letters, to resist all noxious
influences, and the danger of Lightning.

♦What Charms are.♦

6. _Pentacles_ are a fourth sort of appendix, which Conjurers,
Charmers, and Magicians use, being made with five corners, according to
the five Senses, and the operation thereof inscribed upon the corners;
the matter whereof they are composed, is fine Linnen doubled, and done
with Cere-cloth between. This figure the Magician holds in his hand,
lifting it up from the skirt of his Garment to which it is annexed,
when Spirits that are raised are stubborn and rebellious, refusing to
be conformable unto the Ceremonies and Rites of Magick.

♦Pentacles.♦

7. Also by the holding forth of _Pentacles_, with these words,
►Glauron, Amor, Amorula, Beor, Beorka, Beroald, Anepheraton◄,
repeated at the instant. The evil Spirits that possess the bodies of
bewitched people are cruelly tortured and amazed, being by the frequent
repetition thereof forced at last to depart by the assistance of the
Exorcism of the sixth Cannon for the order of Seraphims.

♦Their force.♦

8. When Magicians exercise Conjuration by Moon-light in the Mountains
or Valleys, they have another sort of Charm by way of Telesms, which
they bury within a hundred paces of the place where the Circle is
composed towards the _East_, _West_, _North_, and _South_; For such
spells have the secret power to hinder any living creature for coming
near them, till their Exercize be done, except the Infernal Spirit,
whose presence they do so ardently desire.

♦Telesms.♦

9. Such _Spells_ as are made in some Edible matter, with _Characters
upon them_, are given for _Agues_, _Head-ach_, _Epilepsie_, _Mother_,
&c. Especially being powerful in operation, when the party is ignorant
of the Charm taken in; many such I know have taken wonderful effect.
But as for _Philtres_, _Potions_, and _Love-cups_, they proceed rather
from a natural cause; whether their effects be to afflict with Diseases
to Poyson, or to provoke unto Love of a Party whom they disdain:
Neither are such to be numbered amongst Charms; because their effect is
meerly natural, from a natural cause.

♦For Diseases.♦

10. But to insist further upon the nature of Conjuration, Magicians do
much exercise their time in _Fumigations_ unto those Spirits whom they
are about to provoke; their fumes being distributed according to the
nature of the Spirit under any of the seven Planets, which the antient
Conjurers were very punctual in observing, though in these days it be
much forgot, as superfluous, or rather dangerous to insert amongst the
Ceremonies of Conjuration. A division of Fumigations according to the
Influence of the Planets, and Orders of Spirits, we will here set down
in this manner.

♦Fumigations.♦

11. _Fumigations_ for _Saturn_ are made of Frankincense Trees,
Pepperwort Rooots,[*] Storax, and Galbanum; by these the Spirits
►Marbas◄, ►Corban◄, ►Stilkon◄, ►Idos◄, &c. And all of the first order
in the astringency are appeased and provoked, when the _fumes_ are put
upon a _Tripod_ in the hour of _Saturn_ according to the Planetary
division. These _Fumigations_ make these Spirits appear like old men,
with promiss beards, and meager looks; like Serpents, Cats, Wolves,
Badgers, Panthers; like old Men in Armour; like Trumpeters in many
ranks and divisions.

♦For _Saturn_.♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

12. For Spirits under _Jupiter_, they take Lignum Aloes, Ashen-Keys,
Benjamin, Storax, Peacocks-feathers, and _Lapis Lazuli_, mixing the
same with the blood of a Stork, a Swallow, or a Hart; the brains being
also added. The _fumes_ are kindled in _Jupiters_ hour, and in a place
appropriate to his nature. And by this sacrifice the Spirits of the
next order are called up, like glorious Kings with many attendants, and
mighty pomp; with Heralds before them, and Ensign-bearers, Trumpeters,
Guards, and all sorts of musical Instruments.

♦_Jupiter._♦

13. They make _Fumigations_ unto such Spirits of the order of Powers,
as are under _Mars_, in the Planetary division with Aromatick Gum,
Bdellium, Euphorbium, Load-stone, Hellebore white and black, and
an addition of Sulphur to make them into an Amalgama, with Man’s
blood, and the blood of a black Cat; which mixtures are said to be
exceeding magical: so that without any other addition, they say, this
_fumigation_ is able of it self to make such Spirits to appear before
the Exorcist; at their appearance they come with weapons brandishing,
and shining Armour, being terrible in their looks; yet of power
inferiour to the Spirits of _Saturn_, though they can likewise shew
themselves as Lions, Wolves, Tygers, Bears, and all other cruel or
ravenous Beasts.

♦_Mars._♦

14. They do likewise unto the Spirits under _Sol_, being of the order
of Thrones, _Suffumigate_ Saffron, Musk, Laurel, Cinnamon, Ambergriece,
Cloves, Myrrhe, and Frankincense, Musk, and the Balsamick Tree mixed
up together with the brain of an Eagle, and the blood of a white Cock,
being made up like Pills, or little Balls, and put upon the _Tripod_;
their appearances are Castles, Gardens, Mountains, Rivers, Fisher-men,
Hunters, Reapers, Dogs, Sheep, Oxen, and other domestick Beasts.

♦_Sol._♦

15. Under _Venus_ are the Spirits of the sixth order in the Powers;
their appearances are very stately, like the nature of the Planet; like
Courtiers, Ladies, Princes, Queens, Infants, Children, and fragrant
smells. The _fumigations_ appropriate unto them are Roses, Coral,
_Lignum Aloes_, and _Sperma Ceti_ made up with Sparrows, brains and
blood of Pidgeons to be fumigated with a Song.

♦_Venus._♦

16. _Mercury_ sendeth Horsemen, Fishers, Labourers, Priests, Students,
Servants, _&c._ Also, Foxes, Serpents, Dogs, Hares, Hyena’s, Hydra’s,
and other Monstrous Animals; unto him they _fumigate_ Frankincense,
Mastick, Cinkfoyl, incorporated with the brain of a Fox, and the blood
of a Mag-Pye.

♦_Mercury._♦

17. Spirits under _Luna_ are like Ghosts and shadows, very gastly
to behold; though in humane shape sometimes male, sometimes female.
_Fumigations_ are offered unto them of Frogs dryed, white Poppy-seed,
Bulls Eyes, Camphire, and Frankincense, incorporated with Gooses blood,
and the menstruous blood of Women.

♦_Luna._♦

18. These are the divisions of _fumigations_, neither can it be denyed,
but that in many Ceremonies of this kind, there is great inherent
virtue according to the Doctrines of Sympathy and Antipathy, whereby
every thing is drawn by its like in the Idea, whither by words or
actions, according to the saying, _In verbis, herbis & lapidibus latet
virtus_, so that the Ceremonies and Charms, with other circumstances
used by Magicians, are doubtless prevalent to the accomplishment of
that work which they undertake; to wit, _The calling up and Exorcizing
of Infernal Spirits by Conjurations_.

♦Why such Ceremonies are of force.♦

CHAP. VII.

_Being the Conclusion of the Whole; wherin divers antient Spells,
Charms, Incantations and Exorcisms are briefly spoken of._

1. Besides what the Author hath set down, there be many other _Spells_
and _Charms_, which Tradition hath left unto Posterity, being many of
them effectual for the thing intended by them, as in the precedent
Chapter is set down, wherein the _Orders_ of _Fumigations_ are
described. Besides there are _Magical Characters_ attributed to the
Planets, whereof _Telesms_, _Periapts_, _Amulets_, and _Philters_,
are composed by _buryings_, _writings_, _bindings_, _engravings_,
_alligations_, &c. to effect various purposes in Astrological hours.
To conquer Enemies, cure diseases, overturn Cities, stop Inundations,
render bodies Invulnerable, and the like; which are all effected by
medium’s of this kind, with the assistance of Imagination.

♦Charms.♦

2. Yet are there many natural Compositions, which have very stupendious
effects of themselves, without assistance of Superstition; for the
commixtion of things is of two-fold force or vertue: First, When the
Celestial vertues are duly disposed in any natural body; so that in
one thing are couched various Influences of superiour Powers. The
second is, from Artificial mixtures and Compositions of natural things
amongst themselves, in a certain proportion to agree with the Heavens
under certain Constellations. This proceeds from the correspondence of
natural things amongst themselves, whereby things are effected even
unto admiration, as _Agrippa_ declares, _Cap._ 35. _lib._ 1.

♦Natural Operations.♦

3. And as unto every Planet certain _fumigations_ are ascribed; so
unto such Spirits as are under them, certain _Places_ are adopted for
the Ceromonies[*] of Conjuration, which Magicians chose when they
set upon their works of Darkness. Unto _Saturn_ are ascribed dark
melancholy _Places_, Vaults, Tombes, Monasteries, empty Houses, Dens,
Caves, Pits. Unto _Jupiter_, Theaters, Schools, Musick houses, Judgment
seats. To _Mars_, Fields where Battels have been fought, Bakehouses,
Glass-houses, Shambles, Places,[†] of Execution. To _Sol_, Palaces,
Mountains, Meddows, Sunshine, Groves, and upper Rooms. To _Venus_,
Fountains, Meadows, Gardens, and the Sea-shore. Unto _Mercury_, all
publick places belonging unto Cities. To _Luna_, Wildernesses, Woods,
Rocks, Forrests, Ships, High-wayes, _&c._

♦Places ascribed to the seven Planets.♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

♦[†] [_sic_]♦

4. In like manner are _Spells_ and _Charms_ adapted to the thing which
they must effect, according to the matter, form and place of their
composition; as for the _procuring of Love_, they bury Rings, Ribbons,
Seals, Pictures, Looking-Glasses, _&c._ in Stews, Baths, Beds, that in
such places they may contract some Venereal faculty: When they gather
Herbs or other Ingredients; they chuse the hour and place, when such
Planets have Dominion as are over these Herbs, which they collect,
ever remembring to turn their faces to the East, or _South_, when
_Saturnine_, _Martial_ or _Jovial_ Herbs are gathered, because their
Principal houses are Southern signs; for _Venereal_, _Mercurial_, or
_Lunary_ herbs, they must look towards the _West_ or _North_, because
their houses are chiefly Northern signs. Yet in any _Solar_ or _Lunar_
operations the body of the Sun and Moon must be respected in the
operation.

♦Spells.♦

5. Colours are also much regarded amongst Magicians, according to
the Planet, as black, leaden, brown, unto _Saturn_; saphire, vernal,
green, purple, golden, unto _Jupiter_; red, burning, violet, bloody,
and iron colours unto _Mars_; golden, saffron, scarlet, _&c._ unto
the _Sun_; white, fair, green, ruddy, pleasant mixed colours unto
_Venus_, _Murcury_, and _Luna_. In like manner they ascribe colours
unto the twelve Houses, and according to the Planets have also certain
compositions for fire that produce wonderful operations; as Lamps of
Serpents skins will make Serpents to appear. Oyl that hath stood under
Grapes, being lighted, presenteth the Chamber full of Grapes. Centaury
and the Lapwings blood makes people seem like Gyants, and in the open
air will make the Stars seem to move up and down in the Elements. The
fat of a Hare lighted in a Lamp, will cause Women to be exceeding merry
and facetious. And Candles composed of things that are _Saturnine_,
raise terrours and melancholy in the party that lights them, and in
those that are lighted by them.

♦Secret Conclusions.♦

6. Such wonderful effects have natural things being fitted unto their
Hours and Constellations, as also when they are used to prove such
effects as the nature of the things doth produce of it self, though
in a weaker degree. To raise _Tempests_ Magicians burn the Liver of a
Camælion on the house top. To cause _strange sights_ they hang the
Gall of a Ox over their Beds; to bring _Apparitions_ and _Spirits_,
they make a strange fume of a Mans Gall, and the Eyes of a black
Cat; _Which_, _Agrippa_ saith, _he hath often made experience of_.
There is also a strange Magical Candle described amongst _Chymical_
Authors, which being lighted, foretells the death of the party to whom
it belongs. The manner thereof is thus; _They take a good quantity
of the venal blood luke-warm as it came out of the vein, which being
Chymically prepared with Spirit of Wine and other Ingredients, is at
last made up into a Candle, which being once kindled, never goes out
till the death of the party whose blood it is composed of; for when he
is sick, or in danger, it burns dim and troubled; and when he is dead,
it is quite extinguished_; of which Composition a Learned man hath
wrote an intire Tractate, _De Biolychnio_, or, _The Lamp of Life_.

♦The Candle of life.♦

7. But to proceed to the nature of _Characters_, _Sigils_, and other
_Ceremonies_, we find that not only such as pretend to command over all
sorts of Spirits; but also they that do make Compacts, and have sold
themselves unto him, do make use of such; which instance is sufficient
to prove what a wise man hath asserted, that although Evil Spirits
have so blinded Mens Eyes, as to make them believe they are defended
by such Ceremonies, and that these Characters are as Munitions against
the Devils malignancy; Yet these very _Characters_, _Sigils_, _Lamins_,
&c., are _Compacts_ themselves, which the Devils did at first cunningly
disguise with strange Repetitions in uncouth Language.

♦That Characters are compacts.♦

8. So that we have grounds to believe, that none is able absolutely
without _Compact_ to call up any _Spirit_. But that whosoever hath
pretended to be famous in the Art of Magick or Conjuration, hath (to
himself unknown) _compacted_ with and _worshipped the Devil_, under
strange _Repetitions_ and mystical _Characters_, which to him seemed to
have effects quite contrary to what they really had.

9. Neither is this to be admired, that without the Knowledge or Consent
of the Magician, a _Contract_ is made with _Evil Spirits_; when we
consider the magical strength of _Words_ and _Characters_, which of
themselves can cure Diseases, pull down, infect, save, destroy, charm
and inchant without the Parties assistance, either in knowledge of the
Cause, or in belief of the Consequence or Effect.

♦The force of Words and Characters.♦

10. But on the contrary, I could instance a multitude of Examples of
such as have spent much time in _Conjurations_ to no purpose, still
attempting by Exorcisms and Defensive Prayers to conjure a Spirit,
or cause Personal Appearances, with severe Imprecations and powerful
Charges, and yet notwithstanding have never attain’d their purpose, nor
at any time heard, or seen any Beeing, which may be called _Spectre_,
or _Apparition_.

♦The vanity of Conjuration.♦

11. Which is nothing wonderful, if we minde the _sympathy_ of things
in Nature, how each desires its _like_, and hunteth after it as the
Loadstone draws Iron; the male coveteth the female; the evil after the
evil, and the good after the good; which is seen in wicked Men and
their Association, in Birds and Beasts of prey; while on the contrary,
the Lamb delights not in the Lyon, nor the Sheep in the society of the
Wolf; neither doth the nature which is totally depraved and estranged
from God, care to be forced or drawn compulsively by another contrary
nature, _viz._ innocent, just, and harmless.

♦By Similitude.♦

12. Neither doth it consist with natural reason, That _Evil Spirits_
should affect the society of those that are their Enemies, who make use
of the dreadful and holy Names of God in Conjurations to call them up;
whereas they are rather antidotes against Apparations,[*] as may be
seen in various Examples of holy Men, who by Prayers and Exorcisms have
banished _Evil Spirits_ in all Ages, which is also further evident, in
that the very form of _Dispossessing_ and _Exorcising_ is made up of
divers Prayers and Defensive Blessings against the obnoxious influences
of _Infernal Spirits_.

♦Exorcising, or casting out.♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

13. Therefore though I would be far from describing an undenyable
course of Conjuring Spirits, or of causing Apparitions: Yet this I must
assert conclusively from what is before alledged, That if any thing
would be called or wrought upon, it must be with something which is of
its own nature, as a bait to catch or tempt it; for in catching Birds,
Beasts, or Fishes, such esculents as are properly for these Animals,
are made use of to allure them, neither can mankinde command them by
any threats to come into his custody.

♦Like desires its like.♦

14. How much less is mankind able to compel the _Infernal Spirits_, the
very least of which Kingdom, is able, if let loose, to exterminate a
thousand lives, and utterly over-turn poor mortals and their doings,
as various by-past accidents can evince: But whosoever hath compacted
with them for body, soul, and works, such they are at unity with, and
unto such they appear for the advancement of their Kingdom in the
destruction of others; for they are grafted into them and incorporated
into their very heart and soul, which unavoidably becomes their wages
when the body falls away.

♦Nothing is compelled by contraries.♦

15. Yet many wayes there be by _Images_, _Telesms_, and _Amulets_,
which have little or no dependance upon Conjuration, or the strength
thereof, being rather effectual from sympathetical Causes, as many
natural conclusions prove. And _Paracelsus_ speaks of a way by the
Image of any Bird or Beast to destroy that Animal, though at a
distance; so by hair, fat, blood, excrements, excrescences, _&c._ of
any Animal or Vegetable, the ruin or cure of that thing may be effected.

16. Which is seen in the Armary Unguent, and the Sympathetical
Powder. In the instance of divers Histories, of such as used Waxen
Images, composed in divers postures, and under certain Constellations,
whereby several have been tormented and macerated even unto death; and
according to the punishment or torment which the Magician intends to
afflict, accordingly do they dispose the hour of the Composition, and
the posture or semblance of the Image.

17. For if a malitious minded Witch intends to consume and pine away
the Life or Estate of any miserable Man or Woman, she makes his Image
of Wax in such an ominous aspect as may conduce to her design, making
several magical Characters upon the sides of the head, describing
the Character of the hour or Planetary time upon the breast of the
Image; the name of the party on his forehead; the intended effect to
be wrought upon him upon his back. When they cause aches, pains, and
violent pangs in the sinews and the flesh, they stick thorns and pins
in divers places of their arms, breasts, and legs. When they cast them
into Feavers and Consumptions, they spend an hour in every day to
warm and turn the Image before a doleful and lingring fire, composed
of divers exotick Gums, and magical Ingredients of sweet Odours, and
strange Roots of shrubs, efficient for their purpose.

♦Of Images of Wax, and what is wrought by them.♦

18. Wonderful are the various postures and pranks which Magicians play
with Images; neither will I mention the most perfect and prevalent part
of the practice of Images, and the powerful operations thereof, least
the evil minded should work abominations therewith upon the Persons or
Possessions of their neighbours.

♦Further concerning Images.♦

19. According to the nature of what they would effect they frame
their Images; if by Images they would provoke two parties to love,
or be enamoured on one another, they frame their Images naked, with
Astrological Observations and Imbraces of those that are Venereal; to
provoke unto enmity they place malignant Characters and Aspects, and
the Images in a fighting posture.

♦Of Images provoking Love.♦

20. If their intentions be for good, all their Characters are engraven
upon the foreparts of the body. But if they would afflict the party
with Consumption, or with death, they thrust Needles through the
hearts, and engrave their Characters upon their Posteriors, or upon
their shoulders, using all their Conjurations retrograde, and repeating
every Charm opposite to the former.

21. Thousands of strange and uncouth Charms might be here described,
according to the exact form wherein Tradition hath left them; But I
have only insisted upon the description of the natures in General; And
as by _Images_ and _Telesms_, the _Europeans_ have effected admirable
things: so the _Tartars_ have a wonderful ways[*] of producing the
like effects, by _Botles_, _Sheep-skins_, _Rods_, _Basins_, _Letters_,
or _Missives_, unto certain Spirits, and many otherwayes unheard of in
_Europe_.

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

♦Forms of Charms in _Tartary_.♦

22. As for the _Tying of the Point_, which is a strong impediment in
Conjugal Rites, to restrain the acts of secresie betwixt two marryed
persons; This knot or ligament is become so notorious both in the
practice and effect throughout _France_, _Italy_, and _Spain_, as also
in all the _Eastern_ Countries, that the Laws of several Nations have
prohibited the performance thereof; neither is it fit to be openly
described in this place.

♦The tying of the Point.♦

23. Other stratagems they have by _turning the Sive_ with a pair
of Sizzers by _voices uttered_ out of _skins_, which is in common
amongst the _Turks_ by _Letters_ wrote unto certain Spirits, which by
due appointments will have their answers returned. By the _Turning_
of the _Cord_ with several names wrapped round the same, which with
certain repetitions will of it self be tyed into several strange knots
which unty themselves again. Besides the many wayes by _Lots_, in
extractings[*] Scrolls, consulting with the Staff and the empty Pot,
with others tedious to be enumerated.

♦Charming by the Sive.♦

♦By Bottles, Skins, Letters, Cords, Lots.♦

♦[*] [_sic_]♦

24. The _Art of Transplantation_ is also reckoned amongst _Charms_ with
the vulgar. And indeed one member thereof, _viz._ the Transferring of
Diseases is really Magical, and much in practice amongst Witches; for
by certain baits given to any domestick Beasts they remove Feavers,
Agues, and Consumptions from Martial men, or from one to another by
burying certain Images in their neighbours ground they bring all evil
fortune to the owner of the ground, yet though they add strange Words
and Conjurations in the practice, the effects thereof are more from
Nature then Conjuration.

♦Transplantation, Ceremonious.[†]♦

♦[†] [Ceremonies]♦

25. For, by the same Cause, those that are profound, can destroy
diseases, take off Warts, and other Excrescences, kill, cure, purge and
poyson at a distance from the party, by their hair, fatt, blood, nails,
excrements, _&c._ or by any root, or carnuous substance, rubbed upon
their hands, breasts or leggs, by burying which, they free them from
Diseases, which experiments take effect according to the _Mediums_ and
their Consumption under ground.

♦And meerly natural.♦

26. And as by natural reason every Magical Charm or Receipt had its
first institution; In like manner have Magicians disposed the Matter
and Manner together with the times of their Utensils and Instruments,
according to the Principles of Nature: As the Hour wherein they compose
their Garments, must either be in the hour of _Luna_, or else of
_Saturn_, in the Moons increase.

♦Magical Instruments:♦

27. Their _Garments_ they compose of White Linnen, black Cloth, black
Cat-skins, Wolves, Bears, or Swines skins. The Linnen because of its
abstracted Quality for Magick delights not to have any Utensils that
are put to common uses. The skins of the aforesaid Animals are by
reason of the _Saturnine_ and _Magical qualities_ in the particles of
these beasts: Their sowing thred is of silk, Cats-guts, mans Nerves,
Asses hairs, Thongs of skins from Men, Cats, Bats, Owls, Moles, and all
which are enjoyn’d from the like Magical cause.

♦Their matter,♦

28. Their Needles are made of Hedge-hog prickles, or bones of any of
the abovesaid Animals: Their _Writing-pens_ are of Owls or Ravens,
their _Ink_ of Mans blood: Their _Oyntments_ Mans fat, Blood, Usnea,
Hoggs-grease, Oyl of Whales. Their _Characters_ are ancient _Hebrew_ or
_Samaritan_: Their _Speech_ is _Hebrew_ or _Latine_. Their _Paper_ must
be of the Membranes of Infants, which they call _Virgin-parchment_, or
of the skins of Cats, or Kids. Besides, they compose their _Fires_ of
sweet Wood, Oyl or Rosin: And their _Candles_ of the Fatt or Marrow
of Men or Children: Their _Vessels_ are Earthen, their _Candlesticks_
with three feet, of dead mens bones: Their _Swords_ are steel, without
guards, the poynts being reversed. These are their Materials, which
they do particularly choose from the Magical qualities whereof they are
composed.

♦Substance,♦

29. Neither are the peculiar shapes without a natural cause. Their
_Caps_ are Oval, or like Pyramids with Lappets on each side, and
furr within: Their _Gowns_ reach to the ground, being furr’d with
white Fox-skins, under which they have a Linnen Garment reaching to
their Knee. Their _Girdles_ are three inches broad, and have many
Caballistical Names, with Crosses, Trines and Circles inscribed
thereon. Their _Knives_ are Dagger-fashion: and the _Circles_ by which
they defend themselves are commonly nine foot in breadth, but the
_Eastern_ Magicians give but seven. And these are the matter and manner
of their Preparations, which I thought fit here to insist upon, because
of their affinity with the _Instruments_ of _Charms_, for both which a
natural cause is constantly pretended.

♦And Form.♦

30. Thus I have briefly spoken of the Nature of every Spirit _good_
or _evil_, so farr as _safety_ or _convenience_ would permit; adding
also this last Discourse of _Charms_ and _Conjurations_, in their
_speculative part_, forbearing to describe the _Forms themselves_,
because many of them are not only _facil_, but also of _mighty power_
when they are seasonably applyed: So that to describe distinctly, by
what means Magicians _kill_, _cure_, or _conquer_, were to strengthen
the hands of the Envious against their Neighbours Lives and Fortunes.
And therefore the Readers must rest contented with what is here related
of the _Nature_ of _Astral_ or _Infernal Spirits_.

♦The Conclusion.♦

_FINIS._

SHAKESPEARE NOTINGS.

————

P. 99. Bodin’s “asseheaded man”. N. Drake, in his _Shakespeare and his
Times_, vol. ii, p. 351, suggested that Bottom’s “translation” was
derived from p. 315 in Scot, where a receipt for such transformations
is given. This may in part have been in Shakespeare’s memory, as may
the commonly received belief that magicians could do such things.
He may, too, have remembered another tale, told at p. 533, of Pope
Benedict IX having been condemned after death to walk the earth (I
presume at night, after his purgatorial day) in a bear’s skin, with
an ass’s head _in such sort as he lived_. But I incline to think that
these after-statements only caused him to remember the more this first,
full, and remarkable M. Mal-Bodin-Cyprus tale; and more especially this
passage, for in iv, i, 30, Bottom declares—“Methinks I have a great
desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay hath no fellow.” So
acute and ready an observer may have the more remembered the epithet
“asseheaded” because, as most readers must observe, Scot uses this
word, though the sailor in the tale is an ass from his snout and ears
down to the end of his tail and the tips of his hoofs.

P. 542. His “white spirits”. Because in the 1623 folio _Macbeth_ we
have in iv, 1, _Musicke and a Song. Blacke Spirits, &c._, and because
in Middleton’s _Witch_ the words are given at length, it has been
held that Middleton was either Shakespeare’s coadjutor, or his after
interpolator, that these lines were his, and were first used in his
_Witch_. But, according to most of Malone’s arguments—for one certainly
is not sound—the _Witch_ was some years later than _Macbeth_, as is
also likely from Middleton’s age. And that it was later is in especial
shown by a hitherto unnoticed passage in ii, 1:

“Some knights’ wives in town
Will have great hope upon his reformation,” etc.

For it is clear that this must have been written when the price and
quality of knighthood had much come down, and its commonness increased
beyond what it was in 1605. Secondly, it is an assumption, and a most
unlikely one, that the _Macbeth_ MS. intimation of the song was due to
the players’ knowledge of it through the _Witch_. It presupposes that
the supernumeraries who played the witches’ parts were the same in
both plays. Also that the writers of the MS. knew that these would be
the same, and would certainly remember the words: for a playhouse copy
is either for the use of the prompter, or a text whence the players’
parts can be extracted. Moreover, the _Witch_ had been, as the author
himself tells us, “an ignorantly ill-fated labour”, in other words, a
failure.

But in reference to the supposed right of Middleton to these lines, we
now find, in 1584, when Middleton was a boy, that the first of the two
lines—or, if one chooses, the first two of the four, the words being in
each half phrase inverted, possibly to vary the too great sing-song of
the sentence—was copied by Scot as part of a known series of rhyming
lines. Shakespeare, who wrote later, has the “Black spirits”, etc.;
Middleton, in his _Witch_, where we find passages taken verbatim and
almost verbatim from Scot, has these and the other rhymes given by Scot
very slightly altered in i, 2, and the “Black spirits”, etc., with
“Mingle, mingle”, and some of the other rhymes in v, 2. Hence they are
neither Shakespeare’s nor Middleton’s. Whose then are they? Scot gives
them as from W. W.’s booklet on the Witches at St. Osees, Essex. But
certainly the lines, nor any of them, are not in that booklet. These
things, however, are there. Ursula Kempe’s little boy deposes, and she
herself, on promise from the Justice, Brian Darcie, Esq., of favour
being shown her—which promise, by the way, both in her case and that of
others, was carried out by their being hanged—that she had two he- and
two she-spirits, the shes being Tyffen, in the shape of a white lamb,
and Pigine, black like a toad; the hes, Tittie, like a little grey cat,
and Jacke, black like a cat. Nor are these merely thus mentioned by
each, but the old woman specifies their doings through three or four
of the earlier pages (A 3, v—A 8). Mother Bennet’s spirits were two,
Suckin, like a black dog, and Lyerd, redde like a Lyon (B 3, etc., B
7). Besides these, but less prominently brought forward, were these.
Mother Hunt had two little things like horses, one white and one black,
kept in a pot amongst black and white wool (A 5, v and 6). Ales Hunt
had also two spirits, one white and one black, like little colts, and
named Jacke and Robbin (C 3). Marg. Sammon had a Tom and a Robyn, but
these were like toads. H. Sellys, aged nine, deposes that his mother
had two imps, one Herculus sothe hons [_sic_] or Jacke, black, and a
he, who, in the night, and in the likeness of his sister, pulled his
younger brother’s leg and otherwise hurt him so that he cried out; the
second, Mercurie, a she and white (D v). Ales Baxter says that the
cow while being milked was viciously unruly, and that something like
a white cat struck at her heart, so that she became so weak that she
could not stand, and being found leaning against a style, was carried
home in a chair (D 4, v). Ales Mansfield had given her by Margaret
Grevell (elsewhere Gravell)—for these imps seem to have been given away
without will of their own, like brute beasts, and being hungry were
fed on milk, beer, bread, oats, hay, straw, and especially a sup of
blood sucked from the body—two he- and two she-spirits, named Robin,
Jack, William, and Puppet, alias Mamet, like black cats (D 6). Mother
Eustace also had three imps, like white, gray, and black cats. Annis
Dowsing, aged seven, base daughter of Annis Herd, tells B. Darcie that
her mother had six Avices or Blackbirds, black speckled with white or
all black. Also six imps like cows, but “as big as rattes”, one of
which, black and white, and named Crowe, had been given to her, while
Donne [? Dun], another, was red and white (G. 4. v). I have, perhaps,
overlengthened this tale through wishing to show that these imps,
besides being hungry, generally took a white or black, and sometimes a
red or grey, colour, and because these notings from this unique book
and authentic record might be otherwise acceptable. So much do the
names and the notice of the colours of the imps strike a reader, that
Bishop Hutchinson, in his Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft, 1718,
says, p. 29, “An account of them was written by Brian Darcie, with the
Names and Colours of their spirits.” But here an end after the remarks.
First, that the chief witnesses, and leaders up to these confessions,
were their own children of from 6¾ to 9 years of age. Secondly, that
these confessions were, as plainly as possible, first made by some and
then followed by others through promises of favour, promises lyingly
carried out to condemnation and death. Thirdly, that, as shown by such
instances as “[she] desired to speake alone with me, the said Bryan
Darcey, whereupon I went into my garden”, etc., and by the frequent
use of “before mee”—the initials W. W. were either fictitious, or not
improbably those of his clerk, and that the real author was Brian
Darcie, Esq., Justice of the Peace, who desired to gain favour from
his kinsman, Lord Darcie, to whom the book was dedicated, or possibly,
through him and it, the notice of her Majesty, as a clever, zealous,
and trustworthy seeker-out of these old-new things.

It need hardly be added that ballading was then a profession, and that
its professors seized upon anything of interest,—an atrocious murder,
the last words of the murderer (spoken or not), unusual floods or
storms, the effects of lightning, the cruise of an adventurous vessel,
shipwrecks, the story of a strange fish “in forme of a woman from the
wast upward”, that appeared “forty thousand fathom above water [or
otherwise], and sang as followeth”. How then should the condemnation of
some sixteen old women for horrible crimes escape being “balletted”?
It was new, rare, came home to all, and was in more senses than one
deadly. The very rhymes in Scot prove it, for they could not be Scot’s
own words, and they have the very rhythm, or rather lilt, of a ballad.
On looking calmly, therefore, at the evidence, I am convinced that
neither Shakespeare nor Middleton could have been the one who tacked
together these rhymes between 1582 and 1584, but that Shakespeare did
here, as he sometimes did, and notably in Ophelia’s madness, quote such
lines as “Black spirits and white”, etc., because the words suited his
scene of devilish enchantment, and gave it reality; while Middleton, in
a Magical Tragi-Comedy, gave, with very slight variation, the whole of
the words quoted by Scot.

I trust my reader will not merely excuse it when it regards Shakespeare
and _Macbeth_, if I go a little out of my present road and add the
few words following. As it has been held that Middleton wrote “Black
spirits”, etc., so it has been supposed that the lines on the “Touching
for the Evil” were interpolated by Middleton or some other, because
negative evidence seemed to show that James did not take upon himself
this custom till a date much later than 1605. Lately, however, Prof.
S. R. Gardiner has discovered that James “touched” and was almost
compelled to “touch” as early as 1603. Its efficacy had been believed
in, and was set forth in books; so that the very assumption of this
prerogative proved its efficacy, and thus proved his rightful heirship
to the English crown,—a proof, I suspect, not lost sight of by the
astute counsellors who counselled its adoption, nor by James himself.
And I think that he must be blind who cannot see how this, added to the
other evidence set forth in the play, and to the true, though somewhat,
and of purpose, indirectly exposed intent of _Macbeth_, proved both
James’s heirship and set forth the certain overthrow of all such
devilishly contrived plots,—such as, to name but three, the attempt at
the Carse of Gowrie; the plot in which Raleigh was, or was supposed
to be, concerned; and lastly, the gunpowder plot—as would alter the
predestinate decree of Heaven, that James I and VI should be King of
Great Britain. Unless, too, I am much mistaken, the fears of James were
the direct or indirect instigators of Shakespeare’s play, and the cause
of that autograph letter to the poet, for which no shadow of a reason
can otherwise be assigned.

For convenience’ sake I here include some notings illustrative of
either Shakespeare’s indebtedness to Scot, or of those beliefs and
forms of expression which led both to write as they did.

P. 10. “They can pull down the moon.” This belief, derived from classic
times, is authority for Prospero’s “A witch ... so strong That could
control the moon” (v, i). So also ii, 1, 174.

——— “Corne in the blade.” There is frequent reference to this in Scot,
as here and at pp. _A_ iiii, _v_, 49, 58, 63, 219, 221, 482, and
elsewhere. But as Staunton saw, this is the nearest to _Macbeth’s_
“though bladed corn be lodged” (iv, 1). Also, though this happens more
or less in several of the instances, yet especially here, the context
agrees with the thoughts and context-words of _Macbeth_.

P. 33. “Anthropophagi and Canibals.” Associated synonymes probably
suggested to both by the same heading in p. 1100 of Seb. Münster’s
_Cosmography_ (Basil, 1550).

P. 42. “Never faile to danse.” An authority for the dancing of
_Macbeth’s_ witches, and a probable authority for the dancing of the
latter with broomsticks headed with brooms in their hands.

P. 54. The “Monarcho” of _L. L. Lost_ appears from this to have been a
madman.

P. 64. “Rime either man or beast to death.” An extension of the
Shakespearean and general belief that they rhymed (Irish) rats to
death. _As You Like It_, iii, 2.

P. 77. “No power to occupy.” Proof that this last word was used in the
sense of to use or be busied with, from which general use it came to be
employed as common slang for a disreputable and vile using.

P. 170. “Chattering of pies and haggisters.” A haggister is the Kentish
term for a pie, or magpie. The passage explains why Duncan (i, 5) is
not welcomed by these, but by the ill-omened raven that is hoarse with
croaking his approach. W. Perkins on _Witchcraft_, works, ed. 1613,
says: “When a raven stands on a high place and looks a particular way
and cries, a corse comes thence soon.”

P. 187. “A thousand for one that fell out contrary.” We would more
correctly write—“A thousand that fell out contrary for one that fell
out rightly or correctly.” But this and others are examples of what we
would call a more than loose way of expressing oneself, though then
it was allowable, for Scot was an educated and intelligent man, who
wrote well. “Each putter out of five for one”, _Tempest_, iii, 2, is
an almost exactly similar instance. The putting out of five for one is
considered as one action, and is—_pace_ Dyce—the receiving, as Malone
says, at the rate of five for one, the putter out being he who puts out
in the hope of receiving five for one.

P. 212. “The blind man ... in killing the crow.” Green’s _Defence of
Cony-Catching_, p. 70, ed. Grosart, gives this proverbial saying—“as
blinde men shoote the crowe”. _Hamlet_, 4to., 1603, has the variant—“as
the blinde man catcheth the hare”.

“A green silk curtain.” These words, also in Middleton’s _Witch_, i,
2, illustrate the custom which led Sir Toby (_Tw. N._, i, 4) to say,
“Wherefore have these gifts a curtain before ’em? Are they like to
take dust like Mistress Moll’s picture?” And these last words, by the
way, prove that this same Moll had, for her own purposes, the portrait
exposed in some painter’s shop, or painters’ shops, or rather free
fronts, without a curtain.

P. 269. “If a soule wander ... by night.” Proof that the wandering of
Hamlet’s father’s ghost was strictly in accordance with traditional
folk-lore. So, p. 462, we have, “How common an opinion ... reveale
their estate”; and p. 535, “They affirme ... soules of saints”.

P. 347. “Bodkin.” The text and margin show that this was used for a
small dagger, and the woodcut on the next page that it was sometimes at
least a rod-like and pointed weapon. Being thus shaped it was small,
more easily carried at the waist, and less readily broken either by a
bone or by an adversary’s stroke.

P. 382. “_Beliall._” This goes to show that he was “the other devil”
whose name had escaped Macbeth’s porter. Its being less common in men’s
and preachers’ mouths would account for his non-remembrance.

P. 416. “_Lignum aloes._” Against any argument drawn from the italic
use of _Hews_ in Son. 20, and its not being italicised in its first
use in the same line, nor anywhere else in Shakespeare, the fact that
_Alloes_ appears in _The Lover’s Complaint_, as well as do other words
in the Sonnets, has been brought forward. But without entering in
detail into the question, I would note that three substantives, all
names of vegetables, are here mentioned, and that this alone is placed
in italics. So, in the Appendix II, 1665, pp. 67-8, we have a number of
aromatics named, but this only, and only on its second occurrence, is
with _Sperma Ceti_ placed in italics—the reason, I presume, being, that
as a medicine, a more strange and less-known name to the commonalty,
and a Latin one, it was treated as a quoted proper name.

P. 497. “He burned his booke.” A precedent, as was Acts ix, 19, for
Prospero’s “I’ll drown my book”, when he left his island.

P. 498. “Bicause they want.” One example, among many, from Elizabethan
and present authors, and from provincial use, where want = “be”, or
“are without”. This in part explains _Macbeth_, iii, 6, where Lennox
exclaims, “Who cannot want the thought?” The true difficulty lies in
the use of the negative “cannot”. But while a more correct style would
have “can”, the more colloquial and hasty use of the former was, I
think, permissible, just as was the use of the double negative where it
was not meant to be, as it usually was, emphatic. Moreover, it gives
here a double or ambiguous sense, such as, I think, Lennox wanted to
express.

P. 504. “One instant or pricke of time.” Illustrates somewhat
differently than I think is usually explained, “the prick of noon”. _R.
and Jul._, and other places.

P. 516. “Diverse shapes and forms.” Shakespeare follows this ruling
when he makes Ariel and his co-spirits assume different shapes, though
some modern critics find fault because he being on some occasions
invisible, these changes are, in their opinion, unnecessary. But
the appearance of these spirits, sometimes as invisible, sometimes
as visible, sometimes in spirit form, sometimes as Juno or Ceres,
sometimes as harpies, is not only in accordance with the then beliefs
as to airy spirits, but to me, and to those who have seen their
representatives, it is more pleasant to see them in forms appropriate
to their office, besides bringing their spiritual existence and power
more vividly before us. Critics here, as well as elsewhere, too often
insist on considering Shakespeare as the author of books to be read,
and not of plays to be acted and seen.

P. 518. “This devil Beelzebub.” So seems to have thought _Macbeth’s_
porter.

P. 520. “The cruell angel.” Here in Prov. 17 [11] we have one of the
principles on which _Macbeth_ was planned and executed.

P. 533. “Soules appeare oftenest by night;... never to the whole
multitude, also may be seene of some[,] and of some other in that
presence not seene at all.” Here is proof of the folk-lore correctness
of the ghost appearing only when Marcellus and Bernardo were alone
on watch, and of his being afterwards invisible to the Queen in her
own chamber, though visible to Hamlet while there in obedience to her
summons.

Appendix II, p. 46, par. 8. “_But it is rarely known._” Though this
is after Shakespeare’s time, the belief, in all probability, was in
existence in his day, and shows how the writer of the first and unknown
_Hamlet_ followed in _Hamlet’s_ ghost the beliefs of his day.

“_Feature._” An example of its being used for the make of a man,
and not merely of the features of his countenance, to which it is
now appropriated; but till I can find—and as yet I have found none,
though I have looked out for it—an example of feature used for things
inanimate, I cannot accept the interpretation of song or sonnet in
Touchstone’s _As You Like It_, iii, 3, 3. Feature here, as any shape
or proportions, is perfectly intelligible. Did it refer to verse we
should expect “features”. From no man, as Touchstone is depicted by
Shakespeare, could we less expect verse-making, and all his reference
to it in this passage may readily have arisen from his reference to his
new situation as like that of the _honest_ poet Ovid among the Goths.
Had he been poetical and given her verses, he could not have explained
to Aubrey that he, being a poet, only feigned to love her.

P. 198. “_Primus secundus._” This goes far to show—proves, I think—that
the Clown’s “Primo, secundo, tertio is a good play” (_Tw. N._, v, 1),
a passage on which no commentator known to me has touched, thinking it
a merely jocular remark, is, in fact, taken from a well-known “play”
or game. What the game was is unknown to me, but children still use
various numerals, provincial or otherwise, mingled with rhyme, to
settle anything, as, for instance, who shall hide in the game of hide
and seek.

P. 471. “Biggins.” Shows, as does 2 _Hy. IV_, iv, 5, 27, that, if not
nightcaps, they meant, among other significations, caps worn at night
and in bed, and that “homely” was not a generic epithet.

Introd. Rainolde Scot’s Will “bank or pond”. I note this because it
may possibly help to some future interpretation of Iris’s words in the
_Tempest_, iv, 1, 64, “The banks with pioned ... brims.”

MIDDLETON’S “WITCH”.

————

P. 117. “_Marmaritin_”, etc. In i, 2, he copies these names, altering
only their order for the sake of the verse, and probably for the same
reason omitting “Mevais”.

“I could give thee
Chirocinata, adincantida,
Archimedon, marmaritin, calicia,
Which I could sort to villainous barren ends.”

P. 124. “Needles wherwith dead bodies are sowne or sockt into their
sheetes.” [Noted amidst charms procuring love and hate.] In i, 2,
following the marmaritin passage, we find—

“More I could instance
As, the same needles _thrust into their pillows_
That sews and socks up dead men in their sheets.”

This is the more noteworthy, as to sock a corpse seems to have been a
Kentish phrase. “A privy gristle”, etc., as given by Middleton, was, I
presume, one of the other things which, “for reverence of the reader”,
Scot omits, though whence the former got it I know not.

——— Among other “toies which procure love” are, “a little fish called
Remora”. In the same scene of the _Witch_, we find—

“_Hæc._ Thou com’st for a love charm now
* * * * * *
I’ll give thee a remora, shall bewitch her straight.
* * * * * *
... a small fish.”

——— Scot also gives “the bone of a greene frog, the flesh thereof being
consumed with pismers or ants”. And Middleton’s Hecate adds—

“The bones of a green frog too, wondrous precious,
The flesh consum’d by pismires.”

——— “The haire growing on the nethermost part of a woolves taile ... the
braine of a cat.” In ii, 2, Almachildes, speaking of love charms, says:
“The whorsom old hellcat would have given me the brain of a cat ... and
a little bone in the hithermost part of a wolf’s tail.” In the words
“bone” and “hithermost” he may have erred in memory, or there may in
the latter word have been a copyist’s error.

P. 153. Hecate, i, 2, enumerates “Urchins, Elves, Hags, [fairies]
Satyrs, Pans, Fauns, Sylvans, Kitt-with-the-candlestick, Tritons,
Centaurs, Dwarfs [giants], Imps [...], the Spoo[r]n, the Mare, the
Man-i-the-oak, the Hellwaine, the Fire-drake, the Puckle!” [...].
These, except the omissions marked by ... and by [ ], are exactly those
mentioned by Scot, and in the same order.

P. 184. Scot, from J. B. Porta. Neap., gives a receipt to be used by
witches when they would transport themselves through the air. “℞ The
fat of yoong children and seethe it [etc., etc.].... They put there,
into Eleoselinum, Aconitum, Frondes populeas and Soote.... Another
receipt.... ℞, Sium, acarum vulgare, pentaphyllon, the bloud of a
flittermouse, solanum somniferum, & oleum.”

In i, 2, we have these bits almost verbatim—

“_Hec._ There take this unbaptised brat,
Boil it well; preserve the fat:
You know ’tis precious to transfer
Our ’nointed flesh into the air
In moonlight nights,
* * * * *
I thrust in eleoselinum lately,
Aconitum, frondes populeas and soot—
* * * * *
Then sium, acorum vulgare too,
Pentaphyllon, the blood of a flitter-mouse
Solanum somni_ficum_ et oleum.”

——— “By this means (saith he) in a moonlight night [see fifth line of i,
2, just quoted] they seeme to be carried through the air, to feasting,
singing, dansing, kissing, colling, and other acts of venerie, with
such youthes as they love and desire most.” In i, 2, just after the
previous lines, are these—

“When hundred leagues in the air, we feast and sing,
Dance, kiss, and coll, use everything:
What young man can we wish to pleasure us,
But we enjoy him in an incubus.”

P. 186. “frier Bartholomæus” [Spinæus] saith that ... “the witches
before they annoint themselves do heare in the night time a great noise
[= band or troop] of minstrels, which flie over them, with the ladie
of the fairies, and ... to their journie.” In iii, 1, Firestone says
... “Hark, hark, mother, they are over the steeple already, flying over
your head with a noise of musicians.”

P. 222. “It is constantlie affirmed in _M. Mal._ that _Stafus_ ...
had a disciple called _Hoppo_, who made Stadlin a maister witch, and
could all when they list, invisiblie transferre the third part of their
neighbors doong, hay, corne, &c: into their own ground, make haile,
tempests, and flouds, with thunder and lightning.” Bodin also, bk. ii,
c. 6; but he makes Hoppo and Stadlin co-disciples of Stafus and master
witches. Compare i, 2, _ad init._ for Hoppo and Stadlin, while further
on comes—

“Stadlin’s within:
She raises all your sudden ruinous storms
That shipwreck barks, and tear up growing oaks.
* * * * *
I’ll call forth Hoppo, and her incantation
Can straight destroy the young of all his cattle;
Blast vineyards, orchards, meadows; or in one night
Transport his dung, hay, corn, by reeks, whole stacks,
Into thine own ground.”

P. 244. “_A ab hur hus._” A charm against the toothache. Hence it is
most probable, especially if the ! of “Puckle!” be in the original,
that Hecate, after reaching that name, is interrupted by a sudden spasm
of toothache, which she would exorcise by this “_A ab hur hus_”. The
sudden pause, the contortions of her haggard visage, and the grotesque
movements of the 117-year-old hag would greatly add to the comedy of
the scene.

P. 542. When this mortal witch Hecate—not the Queen of Hell and of
Witchdom, as was the Hecate of antiquity and of Shakespeare, and
others in the middle ages, for, says one of the after writers given
in the later editions of M. Mal., “Hecate artem magicam doceret”—uses
in i, 2, the very rhymes spoken of under this page in the Shakespeare
writings, some [ands] and [&c., his] being omitted, and “devil-lambe”
being changed to “devil-ram”. In v, 2, she again mentions “Titty and
Tiffin, Leaid and Robin”, and this time “Pucky”, for the rhyme’s sake.
Hellwin and Prickle are—as shown by her other mention of them (see
note, p. 153), as well as her mention of them elsewhere—mere copyists’
or printers’ errors for Hellwain and Puckle.

• • • • •

P. 222. One would here add the quotation from Ovid’s _Metam._ made
by Hecate, the first line running in Scott, Middleton, Corn. Agrippa
(_Occult Phil._, l. 1, c. 72), and in Bodin, Dæmono, l. 2, c. 2: “Cum
volui ... ipsis mirantibus” instead of “Quorum ope cum ... mirantibus”;
but that from the accidental dropping of the line “Vivaque saxa”, etc.,
in Bodin, and its omission also in Middleton, it would seem, as Dyce
remarks, that Middleton took it from Bodin. In concluding, I would
state that most, but not all, of these references are taken from Dyce’s
_Middleton_.

EXTRACTS FROM WIER.

————

Besides those noted by Scot in the margins, I have gathered the
following from Wier, though very possibly some may have been
overlooked. By far the greater number occur in the 12th Book of Scot;
that is, they consist chiefly of various charms and illustrative tales.

I would not be understood, however, as thinking that Scot in all these
cases copied from Wier, any more than I would assert that some later
Astronomer Royal has quoted from Herschel, without mentioning him, the
fact “that the earth revolves around the sun”. The reference in both
to the _Homerica medicatio_ from Ferrerius (in Scot, Ferrarius) is a
notable one in point, and two other instances will be found in Notes
on the Text. I quite agree, also, with Prof. W. T. Gairdner when he
says, _Insanity_, p. 61: “Nothing, however, is more evident than that
Scot, however indebted to Wier (and both of them probably to Cornelius
Agrippa...), was far in advance of either in the clearness of his views
and the unwavering steadiness of his leanings to the side of humanity
and justice.”

N.B.—“&c.” for the words following in the page has been omitted, as
unnecessary.

P. 7. The reader may compare the first, and the first part of par. 2
of ch. 3 with Wier, _De Lamiis_, c. 5, “Quocirca eam”, etc., and judge
whether the remembrance of this latter did not suggest Scot’s words.

P. 53. “One _Bessus_.” From Plutarch. Also given by Wier; but I have
lost the reference.

P. 111. “_Chasaph._” Scot seems to have remembered Wier ii, 1, § 2, but
not to have copied him. Wier gives Exod. 22, 18. οὐ περιβιὠσατε; Scot,
οὔκ ἐπιζεώσετε, a variant I know not whence obtained, not being in the
Oxford 1821 ed. of the Sept.

P. 123. “_Eusebius_ ... poison.” Wier iii, 38, § 2 and 4. Both call
Lucilia Lucilla. Scot omits § 3 regarding Alphonso of Arragon.

P. 126. “This word _Ob_ ... _Ventriloqui_.” Wier ii, 1, § 12.

P. 177. “Onen ... to the interpretation of dreames.” Wier ii, 1, § 8,
“aliquando observara somnia.”

P. 183. “The art ... in digging for monie [... omit]. There must ...
treasure awaie.” Wier v, 11, § 1. Scot adds “bona” after “videre”.

P. 184. “℞ The fat ... impudentlie affirmed them” [close of ch.]. Wier
iii, 17, § 2, 3. But from the first and last words of Scot’s chapter,
he, as well as Wier, took these things from J. B. Porta, though he may
have been led by Wier to consult Porta.

P. 230. “_Balsamus._” Scot’s words at the beginning of the chapter
were suggested by Wier v, 9, § 4, though he has added some descriptive
particulars; then these words are given by both, Wier adding that three
Agnus Dei’s were sent by Pope Urban.

P. 231. “_A wastcote of proofe._” Wier v, 8, § 2. Scot’s “little
virgine girl” is a “junioribus notæ castitatis puelles”, his “hat” is
“galea”.

——— “_Gaspar._” These verses, with a longer proem, are in Wier v, 8 §
1.

P. 240. “_Homerica medicatio._” Wier v, 19, § 1. See note in its place.
Wier quotes at length from Ferrarius, § 2, 3, and 4, gives his name
rightly, and rightly reads in the present passage _verbis_, and not as
Scot, _verbi_.

——— “_Nos habitat._” Wier v, 19, § 3, from Ferrarius.

P. 242. “For the falling evil ... no more.” Wier v, 8, § 2; but he
finishes the charm with “In nomine [etc.]. Amen.”

P. 243. “_Ananizapta_”, v, 9, § 6. Wier gives _Ananisapta_, has “quæ”
instead of “dum”, l. 1, and adds “contra febres a quodam nebulone ...
offerantur”.

——— “Write upon a piece of bread” [for the bite of a mad dog]. This
Scot gives from v, 8, § 6. But Wier has “... Khiriori essera ... fede”.
Afterwards, “Vel hoc scriptum in papiro, aut pane, homini sive cani
in os inseritur”. In the _O rex_, etc., there are crosses after each
person of the Trinity, and a “prax” after Gaspar, while “I max” is
“ymax”.

P. 244. “Against the toothache.” “_Galbes, etc.... persanate._” These
two charms, omitting the intervening one, are in Wier v, 8, § 6, adding
to the _persanate_ one, “hoc scriptum appenditur”. The second, “At
saccaring”, etc., is given v, 4, § 2.

——— “Let a virgine”, v, 8, § 3. Wier preceding this with the words,
“Ita antiquitas credebat, verbascum cum sua radice tusum, vino
aspersum, folioque involutum, & in cinere calefactum, strumisque
impositum, eas abigere, si hoc fecisset virgo jejuna jejuno, & manu
tangens supino dixisset.”

P. 246. “A gentlewoman”, v, 18, § 1. But the charm is a versification,
probably by Scot himself, of a German prose sentence, and it was given
and the story told “a viro Ecclesiastico, non infimi nominis Theologo”.
Scot evidently thought that this description of the perpetrator of so
indecorous a jest might better be omitted, even though he were a German.

——— “_To open locks_.... Take a peece ... _Amen_”, v, 11, § 2; but
“hinder” is anteriore. The essential part of the words just marked as
omitted is in v, 11, § 3.

——— “_A charme to drive ... house._” This and the marginal note are in
v, 14, § 4. But Wier places “vel” between each of the Bible sentences,
therefore Scot’s “this sentence” should have been “any of these
sentences”.

P. 247. “_Another for the same_”, v, 14, § 2, beginning “Item”. Scot
has shortened his “fiftlie”, and omitted that the beggar must pray with
all attention. Also in his haste he omits that the conjuror gave doses
of rhubarb and other herbs twice daily.

P. 247. “The sicke man”, v, 23, § 6. Wier gives the words of the
“gospell” that is to be carried about his neck—“Hoc genus dæmonii non
ejicitur, nisi jejunio & oratione”—taken, though apparently by memory
only, from Matt. 17, 20, Vulg. The names in Scot’s margin are in Wier,
Gualterio, Bernhardo.

Pp. 247-8. “This office or conjuration.” The paragraph is from v, 22, §
6, with a slight condensation of the first words.

P. 248. “_A charme for the bots_”, v, 4, § 8. Scot only omitting the
“sanctus” before “Job”.

P. 249. “There are also”, v, 4, § 7. Wier commences—“Vidi, haud ita
pridem apud magnæ authoritatis virum nobilem, librum conscriptum
execrabilem, flammis dignissimum, plenum exorcismis, frequenti crucis
consignatione, & ex sancta Scriptura formulis in nomine Patris [etc.]
finitis, contra equorum non modo morbos quoslibet,” etc. But he has not
“as it ... Rome.”

——— “Item, the Duke of Alba”, v, 4, § 5. “Equo item Vice-regis in
sacello suum fuisse locum ubi celebraretur Missa. Continebat & dux
exercitus vexillum in manu, quamdiu sollennibus ritibus idipsum
uti campanæ solent, baptizaretur. Ornabat & hunc actum effigies D.
Virginis Mariæ cum filiolo in eodem volans, & duæ complicatæ manus ad
stipulantium morem.”

——— “That wine”, v, 4, § 9. Scot omitting after eager, “eo anno”.

P. 252. “_Mahomets_ pigeon”, i, 19, § 3, 4. Scot omitting all notice of
the apostate confederate Sergius, of the trained bull, and of the words
before rex esto, viz., “Quicunque tauro jugum imponat”.

P. 253, “At Memphis in Aegypt”, i, 19, § 1, faithfully yet freely.

P. 254. “I conjure thee O serpent ... unto the Jewes”, v, 4, § 10.
But Wier has no “otherwise”, nor any signs of the whole being two
conjurations. After Jewes he has, “te vermem a me discedere oportet,
velut a Judæis discessit Deus noster”. His magical words are “Eli
lass eiter, ... eitter, ... eitter”. Scot’s second “I conjure” is
“exorciso”, and for fear of error, Wier’s “Divam Mariam” becomes “S.
Mary”.

P. 257. “A charme ... with images of wax ... afterwards in another.” P.
258, l. 1, is in Wier v, 11, § 6, 7, 8, except that “And if they were
inserted”, etc., is Scot’s. The charm words in Wier are “Alif cafiel
zaza ...” adding “leviatan leutatace”. Scot also gives a sentence which
perplexed me till I turned to Wier, “& ferrum, quo homo necatus fuit,
traditur alteri imagini, [of wax] ut alterius necandi simulachri caput
transigat”. Also, after “angell must be mentioned”, Wier adds, “Non
absimile monstrum fingitur, ut quis tibi in omnibus obsequatur”.

P. 259. “_Imparibus_ ... breake a bone of him”, v, 12, § 1. I doubt,
however, Scot’s dividing “_Jesus autem_” [etc.] from “You shall not”
[etc.] by the last “otherwise”, for Wier does not, and in § 3 tells of
one who silently submitted to all tortures, and on whom was found—“sub
scruffiam inter crines quandam parvam schedulam”, containing “✠ Jesus
autem transiens ✠ per mediam illorum ✠ os non comminueris ex eo ✠”.

P. 260. “_Charmes to ... theefe_”, to end of second paragraph, except
from “even as plainlie” to “confutation hereof”, will be found in v, 5,
§ 1, 2. But there are some additions in Wier (it may be from Cardan)
which I leave to the student reader to look up.

P. 261. “_Another waie ... theefe_”, v, 5, § 6. Wier adds, “ex
sacrifici libro clam a me subtracta”. Scot’s “sea side” is “fluentem
aquam”, the “forme of conjuration” is “per Christi passionem, mortem, &
resurrectionem (quam propter impie curiosus celo)”.

P. 262. “_To put out the theeves eie_”, v, 5, § 7. “A coopers hammar,
or addes”, is “malleo cypressimo”.

P. 263. “_Saint Adelberts cursse_” to “_in morte sumus_”, Wier, v, 6,
§ 1. Scot, evidently by accident, omits after _made orphanes_: “sint
maledicti in civitate”, and by a press or other error the “_& odio
habeantur_”, etc., becomes “or hated of all men living”, a change
slightly injuring the sense. I know not whether it be due to the more
frequent repetition of _maledicti_ in the Latin, but this curse reads
to me more horrible in the original than when translated. I would also
note that here, as sometimes elsewhere, Wier speaks more, and more
strongly, against some of these things than does Scot.

P. 266. “They naile a wolves head”, v, 20, § 3.

P. 267. “_Terque_”, given in Wier, v, 21, § 1.

——— “_Adveniat_”, v, 21, § 6.

——— “_Baccare_”, v, 21, § 4.

P. 269. “_To spoile a theefe_”, v, 5, § 8. But the strange words are in
Wier, “Droch, myrroch esenaroth”, and in the next set of unintelligible
words “_Eson ✠_” is “✠ eson” and “_age_” is “ege”. He also explains
more clearly, I think, that all these conjuring terms are to be thrice
repeated.

P. 270. “Say three severall times”, v, 4, § 6, the final Amen and some
✠s being omitted.

——— “_Charmes against a quotidian_”, v, 8, § 7. With these
differences, the three pieces, “the jejunus”, should “easdem tribus
diebus edat”. Instead of Scot’s “Otherwises” we have “Si minus
successerit, in pane missali scribitur: O febrem omni laude colendam:
in altero, ... in tertio ... Si nec hic modus juverit, denuo in pane
dicto toties pingatur: ... quem diebus, ut supra, mane absumat.” Whence
it would seem that three massecakes were in each instance to be used,
and not one divided into three, a thought probably suggested by the
three pieces of apple.

——— “_For ... agues intermittent._” The whole paragraph is in v, 8, §
7.

P. 271. “_S. Barnard_”, Wier i, 16, § 6.

——— “Take three consecrated ... Trinitie”, v, 4, § 2, “Recipe tres
panes Missales”, etc.

P. 272. “In the yeere.” This paragraph is, with a little freeness of
translation and a slight addition, both in the unimportant parts, from
v, 4, § 5.

P. 273. “Take a cup of cold water.” This paragraph is from v, 4, § 3.
Scot’s English verses are thus in Wier: “✠ In sanguine Adæ orta est
mors: ✠ in sanguine Christi redempta est mors: ✠ in eodem sanguine
Christi præcipio tibi ✠ ô sanguis, ut fluxum tuum cohibeas”. Wier
then goes to “Aliud: De latere ejus” [etc.], and continues: “Item
(Otherwise) ex quacunque corporis parte profluentum sanguinem cohibere
nituntur his verbis: Christus natus est in Bethlehem” [etc.]; and then,
without any Aliud, Item, or other sign that it is not a continuation
of the same charm, “Tene innominatum digitum in vulnere, & fac cum eo”
[etc.]; Scot’s “five wounds” being “sanctorum quinque vulnerum”.

P. 273. “There was a jollie fellowe” to “This dooth Joh: Wierus”, etc.,
is from v, 15, § 1. Wier begins, “Ad insignis malitiæ chirurgum”, but
Scot’s “jollie” seems to have been taken from his drinking habits,
which in Wier are spoken of in a more pronounced manner.

P. 275. “This surgion”, v, 15, § 2. But Scot’s “ague” is in Wier
“febrem”, and it is added that not long afterwards the patient died,
in his (Wier’s) opinion of an empyema. I marvel that Scot omitted this
last.

P. 276. “Otherwise: Jesus Christ”, v, 15, § 3. Scot omits the ✠ after
the first Christ.

——— “Another such cousening”, v, 15, § 4.

P. 282. “At Easter”, v, 40, § 4. Note, in the margin I have placed [?
or] for the “on” of text. The “?” is unnecessary, for in Wier it is
“infra cornua vel aures”.

——— “Otherwise _Jacobus_”, v, 40, § 3.

P. 294. “The corral”, v, 21, § 5. But Scot refers to Avicenna, though
Wier does not; nor do the names of the precious stones spoken of,
nor the remarks upon them, coincide with those in Wier at the above
reference.

P. 303. “Also that a woman”, Wier vi, 9, § 1, gives this, but his words
differ so much, that it can only be that both happened to notice this
common superstition.

P. 421. “_Exorciso te creaturam aquæ ... apostatis_”, v, 21, § 16,
giving “apostaticis”. But Scot’s giving the whole form, both of this
and of the exorcism of salt, and his italics, show that he took it
from, I suppose, the _Missale_ or other R. C. book of devotions, though
Wier may have given the idea.

P. 433. “_Jacobus de Chusa_”, i, 13, § 1, to middle of 6. Scot’s first
paragraph is different; in the rest he sometimes amplifies, sometimes
condenses, sometimes omits Wier’s words, and Wier says that he gives J.
de Chusa’s _verba fideliter_. The first prayer at its close is in Scot
shortened.

P. 445. “I conjure thee.” This, like the “... creaturam salis”, 421,
is given in Latin by Wier, v, 21, § 27, down to “adjuratus”. Both the
Latin and English in Scot are the same, except a slight difference
after “judicare”, arising from Scot, in this second instance, giving
the sense rather than the _verba ipsissima_.

P. 507. “_Rabbi Abraham_ ... collected.” Translated from i, 6, § 7.

P. 518. “For _Beelzebub ... manium_”, i, 5, § 3.

519. Nisroch (5); Tartac [not Tarcat] (4); Beelphegor (1); Adramalech
(2); Chamos (6); Dagon (8); Astarte (7); Melchom (7); are in Wier i,
5, § 3, with other gods, and in the order here marked. The wording
after each is also Wier’s, as is the error “Ozee 9, 11” for 9, 10. Both
also make the same mistake as to the duality of Astarte and Astaroth,
because in 1 Kings ii, 5, she is called Astarthe in the Vulg., whence
Wier took his names, and Scot followed him, and not his English Bible.
Both mention that the word means “riches, &c.”, and that it was a city
of Og; though both, curiously enough, here forget the observation they
had made elsewhere as to other cities, that it was dedicated to, and
therefore called after, the deity. Scot omits also Wier’s supposition
that both Beelzebub and Beelphegor were Priapus.

P. 520. This chapter, from the “heading” to the end, is derived from
i, 21, § 1, to § 25, but is much abbreviated; some titles also are
omitted; but except for a slight change in the positions of both
_Diabolus_, and his last names, “owle”, etc., Scot follows the order of
Wier.

P. 521. “_Lares_ ... cities”, i, 6, § 6, except that Wier has “cuam
agere” for both “trouble”—an odd word here—and “set to oversee”.

——— “_Virunculi terrei_ ... drawe water.” Follows generally, though
not quite literally, i, 22, § 5.

——— “_Dii geniales_ ... birth”, i, 6, § 6, shortened.

P. 522. “_Tetrici_ ... _Subterranei_; _Cobali_; _Guteli_ or _Trulli_
(the etymology being Scot’s); _Virunculi_ [_montani_, Wier]; _Dæmones
montani_.” These being in the same order, are adopted from Wier i, 22,
§ 8-11, but much shortened. “_Hudgin_” immediately follows as “Hutkin”,
§ 12.

——— “_Hudgin_ ... ware a cap”, i, 22, § 12. Here it is said—“pileo caput
opertus unde & vulgo Pileatum eum appellabant rurales, hoc est, ein
Hedeckin, lingua Saxonica.”

——— “_Familiares Dæmones_ ... Simon Samareus ... to come”, etc.—but of
course omitting _Feats_ and _Dr. Burcot_—are from i, 22, § 7. Also
“Albæ mulieres and Albæ Sibyllæ”, though shortened. The “did much
harm” is from Wier. “_Deumus_, _Agnan_, _Grigii_, _Charoibes_” and
“_Hovioulsira_” follow in order, § 23-26. See note on _Deumus_.

P. 523. “Raise thunder ... _Elicius_”, i, 6, § 6, but in the
enumeration of the “_Dii selecti_” Wier and Ennius are not followed,
but Varro.

P. 525. “As namelie of beasts ... _Latus_”, is, I believe, from Strabo
originally, but by Scot was taken, I think, from Wier i, 6, § 2.

P. 533. “Pope Benedict the eight and ninth”, i, 16, § 3 and 4. But
Scot’s “seen a hundred years after”, whereas Wier only has “postea”,
seems to show that the former had referred to Platina.

II.

SCOT ON THE NAMES, ETC., OF DEVILS FROM WIER, BUT PROBABLY THROUGH
T. R., MENTIONED P. _393_.

P. 377, l. 13. “Seventie and nine.” The list given by Scot is 68 +
1 accidentally omitted + Beelzebub not mentioned + the 4 kings of
the N., S., E. and West = 74. Wier himself gives no total, but the
discrepancy in Scot may perhaps have arisen from his copying 79 from T.
R., from whom, as an intermediary, and not directly from Wier, or from
some other, I think, from facts presently to be mentioned, it will be
rendered probable that he copied.

P. 378. “_Marbas._” After this name Scot omits from Wier’s
list—“Purflas, alibi invenitur Busas, magnus Princeps & Dux est,
cujus mansio circa turrim Babylonis, & videtur in eo flamma foris,
caput autem assimilatur magno nycto-coraci. Autor est et promotor
discordiarum, bellorum, rixarum et mendaciorum. Omnibus in locis non
intromittatur. Ad quæsita respondet abunde. Sub sunt huic legiones
vingenti sex, partim ex ordine Throni, partim Angelorum.” The edition
of Wier that I have used, I may here remark, is chiefly that of 1660,
but where any doubt arose, that of 1583. But from whence did Wier
obtain these things? Under _Belial_ (I give Scot’s English) he says:
“Without doubt (I must confesse) I learned this of my master Salomon;
but he told me not why he gathered them together, and shut them up
so. But I beleeve it was for the pride of this _Beliall_.” Secondly,
under _Gaap_, he says: “I may not bewraie how and declare the meanes
to conteine him, bicause it is abhomination [nefandam], and for that
I have learned nothing from Salomon of his dignitie and office”. And
Wier has in his margin “Scelerati necromantici verba sunt”. Thirdly,
Wier, in his address before his Pseudomonarchia, says: “hanc ... ex
Acharonticorum Vasallorum archivo subtractam”; and at the close of
this address: “Inscribitur vero a maleferiato hoc hominum genere
Officium spirituum, vel, Liber officiorum spirituum, seu Liber dictus
Empto.[rium] Salomonis, de principibus & regibus dæmoniorum, qui cogi
possunt divina vertute & humana. At mihi nuncupabitur Pseudomonarchia
Dæmonum.”

Pp. 377-93. Scot, in these second, third, and fourth chapters, follows
Wier, but for these reasons did not, I think, directly translate him:

1. As stated under _Marbas_, p. 378, _Purflas_ is omitted.

2. Three sentences are retained in their original Latin, as though the
translator could not understand them. (_a_) Under _Barbatos_, “... in
signo sagittarii sylvestris”, he probably knowing Sagittarius, but not
sure as to what sign or who sagittarius sylvestris might be. (_b_)
Under _Leraie_, “... quos optimos objicit tribus diebus”. Wier here
places “optimos” as the third word, but the sense to me and my friends
is an unsolved puzzle. (_c_) Under _Oze_, “... Duratque id regnum
ad horam” (but Wier omits the “ad”), “And this sovereignty lasts an
hour [and no longer], differing in this from ordinary monomania.” 3.
Under _Bileth_ Scot and Wier say, “... as for _Amaimon_”, and Scot
in the margin has “Vide Amaimon”; yet neither mentions him under a
heading, nor more than by name, as “Amaymon king of the East”, in chap.
iv. 4. Under _Murmur_, Scot ends with “and ruleth thirtie legions”,
but Wier omits this, as do both in the cases of _Oze_, _Vine_, and
_Saleos_. 5. There are differences and slips of translation which Scot
could not, I think, have made. (_a_) Scot invariably, in the rest of
his works, speaks of “the order of virtutes”, but in this chapter,
where it is used five times under _Agares_, _Barbatos_, _Purson_,
and _Belial_, and ch. iv, p. 395, it is “vertues”. (_b_) _Barbatos_
is said to come “with foure kings, which bring companies and great
troopes”. But Wier has “cum quatuor regibus tubas ferentibus”. From
this it is clear that the translator read “tubas” as “tribus”. (_c_)
“Ugly viper” is the translation of “viperæ species deterrima”. (_d_)
“He giveth answers of things present, past, and to come”, is in
Wier “Dat perfecte responsa vera de ... futuris & abstrusis”; Scot
omitting both “perfecte” and “abstrusis”. See under _Botis_ for both
(_c_) and (_d_). (_e_) “_Bune_ Muta loquitur voce”, rendered in Scot,
“he speaketh with a divine voice”. The translator apparently looked
out for “mutus” in a dictionary, such as Th. Cooper’s, where in Old
English he found “dumme”, and read it—as I at first sight did, and with
great astonishment, though I confess my thoughts were running on the
puzzle—“divine”. (_f_) Under _Bileth_, “... before whome go trumpets
and all kind of melodious musicke”, Scot has, “or if he have not the
chaine of spirits [the book called _Vinculum Spirituum_], certeinelie
he will never feare nor regard him after”, but Wier has, “... sciet
haud dubie exorcista, malignos spiritus postea eum non verituros, et
semper viliorem habituros”. (_g_) “Sitri ... willinglie deteineth
secrets of women”, is in Wier, “secreta libenter detegit fæminarum”.
Here there are in the English two gross blunders, as is evident on
reading the rest of the Latin text. “Ludificansque”, also, is not
“mocking”, but “toying with them”, “ut se luxuriose nudent”. (_h_)
Under _Paimon_, Wier’s “in Empto.[rium] Salomonis” is “in _Circulo
Salomonis_”. “Aquilonem” is “North-west”, though Th. Cooper and
Holyokes Rider, and, I believe, all dictionaries, only give it and its
adjectives as North, North-east, and Northern. “Accedant”, also, is
translated “may be reckoned”, to the complete extinction of the sense.
(_i_) _Belial_ is, “eorum qui ex Ordine [Potestatum] ceciderunt”,
and is translated, “of them which fell being of the orders”. (_j_)
“He is found in the forme of an exorcist in the bonds of spirits”,
is, in more ways than one, a strange and most ambiguous rendering,
altogether unlike Scot, of “Forma exorcistæ [the form of exorcising
that is to be used] invenitur in [the book] _Vinculo Spirituum_”.
(_k_) “Si autem se submittere noluerit Vinculum Spirituum legatur, quo
sapientissimus Salomon”, etc., becomes “If ... let the bond of spirits
be read, the spirits chaine [apparently an unintentional doubling of
the previous words], is sent for him wherewith wise Salomon”, etc. I
might add that twice in the course of this chapter “sapientissimus
S.” becomes “wise S.”, in “vase vitreo” “in a brazen vessel”, and “in
puteum grandem” “into a deep lake or hole”, and twice afterwards “lake”
only. (_l_) Under _Furfur_, “fulgura, coruscationes & tonitrua” is
translated “thunders and lightnings, and blasts”. (_m_) In _Malphas_,
“artifices maximos” is “artificers”. (_n_) Under _Vepar_, “Contra
inimicos exorcistæ per dies tres ... homines inficit” becomes, without
qualification, “he killeth men in three days”. (_o_) Under _Sydonay_,
“Cum hujus officia exercet exorcista”, instead of “When the exorcist
would make use of the offices [the incantations for] of this [spirit]”,
or “When the exorcist would make use of the forms of invocation proper
to this spirit”, it is translated, “When the conjurer exerciseth this
office”. The next words, “fit [? sit] fortis”, become “let him be
abroad”, “foris” having been read instead of “fortis”. “If his cap be
on his head”, Wier has “si coopertus”, “if he be overwhelmed” [with
fear, etc.], the translator possibly wishing to express this by “if
his cap be so far on his head” [through fear as to cover his eyes],
then, etc. Besides this, there is an ambiguity in Wier which is fully
followed in the translator. In Wier we have: “si vero coopertus fuerit,
ut in omnibus detegatur, efficiet: Quod si non fecerit exorcista,
ab Amaymone in cunctis decipietur:” I can only suppose from the
punctuation that the “Quod si non”, etc., was intended to refer to his
not being “fortis”, and (as in Scot) “warie and standing on his feete”.
(_p_) Under _Gaap_, Scot says, “if anie exorcist ... nor see him”;
Wier has the same, but follows it up with “nisi per artem”. On the
other hand, Wier has no equivalent for “insensibility”. (_r_) _Shax_:
“... there he speaketh divinely” is “loquitur de divinis rebus”, an
error Scot could not have made, and which is not made elsewhere in
this chapter. (_s_) _Procell_: “... in the shape of an angell, but
speaketh darkly of things hidden”, is in Wier, “in specie angelica, sed
obscura valde: loquitur de occultis”. (_t_) _Raum_: “... he stealeth
wonderfully out of the kings house”; Wier, “mire ex regis domi _vel
alia_ suffuratur”. (_v_) In _Vine_, “lapideos domos” is translated
“stone walles”. (_w_) _Flauros_: Wier says, “vere respondet. Si fuerit
in triangulo mentitur in cunctis.” Scot follows the same punctuation,
but had he translated it, he, as a man of intelligence, must have seen
that the (.) before “Si” should have been struck out and placed after
“triangulo”, or a “non” inserted after “Si”, for this triangle was
made specially for the exorcist’s safety and the spirit’s obedience
and truthful speaking (see under _Bileth_, _Furfur_ and _Shax_). It
must, however, be confessed to be a mark of haste in Scot to have
admitted such mistakes, even though he only copied, the more so as he
must have known the _Pseudomonarchia_. “And deceiveth in other things,
and beguileth in other business”, is a duplicate translation of “et
fallit in aliis negotiis”. The omission of “twentie” (viginti) before
“legions” may be a press error, but the “de divinitate”, translated
“of divinity”, must be, I think, a translator’s error, for it really
means “of the Divinity” (see “Purson”). (_x_) Under _Buer_, Wier has
“conspicitur in signo*”; under _Decarabia_, “venit simili*”; under
_Aym_, “altero [capiti, simili] homini duos * habenti.” Clearly the
book or MS. used by Wier was in these places illegible, or more likely
the copier had been unable to fill in the wanting word or words, and
indicated this by a *. But Scot’s authority did not understand it
on its first occurrence under _Buer_, and, not mentioning any sign,
translates it, “is seene in this sign;”! (_y_) The names of the fiends
differ also sometimes in spelling; omitting such instances as “i”
for “y”, “c” for “k”, etc., I give Wier first, followed by Scot’s
form. “Bathym”, alibi “Marthim”—“Bathin”, “Mathin”; “Pursan”—“Purson”;
“Loray”—“Leraie”, this latter being wrong, because his alias is
“Oray”. Wier, by the way, also shows that “Leraie” was not pronounced
“Leraje”, as given in the second edition of Scot. “Ipes”, alias
“Ayperos”—“Ipos”, “Ayporos”; “Naberus”—“Naberius”, probably the wrong
form; “Roneve”—“Ronove”; “Forres”—“Foras”; “Marchocias”—“Marchosias”;
“Chax”—“Shax”; “Pucel”—“Procell”; “Zagam”—“Zagan”; “Volac”—“Valac”;
“Androalphus”—“Andrealphus”; “Oze”—“Ose”; “Zaleos”—“Saleos”; “Wal,
1660”, is “Vual (as Scot), 1583”. It will be noticed that “e” is five
times used for “o”, a MS. copyist’s error.

I think I had some other proofs in a MS. sheet since lost; but these
are now overmany to prove that Scot had access to some other copy than
Wier’s _Pseudomonarchia_, and made use of it, and that his translator
was not very conversant with Latin. Wier, it may be added, puts
“Secretum ... horum” in one line, and without a capital to the “Tu”,
and gives no explanation of the words in any way, and Scot confirms our
conclusion from these facts by the marginal, “This was | the work of |
one T. R.” | etc., and the words “written [&c.] vpō parchment” seem to
show that this 1570 translation was in MS. (See also General Notings,
p. 418.)

P. 379. “_Eligor._” I do not understand the double titles here and
elsewhere given, nor why “miles” should here be translated “a knight”,
while under _Zepar_, _Furcas_, _Murmur_, and _Allocer_ it is “soldier”.
In chapter iii, p. 393, is given the time when knights (“Milites”,
Wier) may be bound, but nothing, of course, is said of “soldiers”.

P. 383. “Tocz.”, like a contraction, but Wier has “Tocz” without any
stop.

P. 384. “_Astaroth._” Scot, merely copying, is not responsible for her
being a male. At p. 519 and p. 525, he writing, calls Astarte a “she
idoll”.

P. 389. “_Valac_ ... with angels wings like a boie”, cannot, I think,
be Scot’s translation of “uti puer alis angeli”.

——— “_Gomory._” Wier says “ducali corona”, but the rest is the same; and
it must be remembered that a fiend (as in Incubus and Succubus) could
be of either sex.

P. 390. “_Aym_ ... a light firebrand.” Here (as elsewhere in Scot) we
find, as was then often done, the past of verbs ending in t or d elided
the ed, or, rather, coalesced them. Wier has “ingentem facem ardentem”.

P. 391. “_Flauros_ ... if he be commanded.” Wier adds “virtute numinis”.

P. 392. “_Note that a legion._” Wier simply has “Legio 6666”. The rest
is, in all probability, Scot’s own.

P. 393. “Ch. 3” is “§ 69” of Wier.

——— “Ch. 4” is “Citatio Prædictorum Spirituum”, and though not marked as
a new chapter, is one having § 1, § 2, etc.

——— These are the variations between Wier and Scot in this chapter 4,
or Citatio, Wier being in Latin, Scot in English. (_a_) “For one
[companion] must always be with you”; “si præsto fuerit”. (_b_) 394,
“effect”; Wier adds, “imo tuæ animæ perditione”. (_c_) “And note”,
etc., is Scot’s own. (_d_) The ✠ before “holie trinitie” is in Scot
only. (_e_) Scot omits ✠ after “holie crosse”. (_f_) Wier’s “anathi
Enathiel” is in Scot “Anathiel”. (_g_) The “Heli, Messias”, after
“Gayes” in Scot, are in Wier at the end of the list. (_h_) Scot’s
“Tolimi” is Wier’s “Tolima”. (_i_) [Second list of names.] Scot’s
“Horta” is Wier’s “hortan”; his “Vege dora”, “vigedora”, Wier’s
letters, in 1583, being several of them so separated that they could
easily be read as two words; Scot’s “Ysesy” is “ysyesy”. (_j_) [Third
list.] Scot’s “Elhrac” is Wier’s “Elhroc”; “Ebanher”, “eban her”.
(_k_) P. 666, Scot’s “Cryon” is “irion”; “Sabboth” is, as before,
more rightly “sabaoth”. And I may add that while every word in Scot
is capitalised except “dora”, really the sequel of “Vige”, only “Deus
Sabaoth”, “Α” and “Ω”, “Rex”, “Joth”, “Aglanabrath”, “El” “Enathiel”,
“Amazim”, “Elias”, and “Messias” of the first list, none of the second
list, “Elhroch” the first of the third list, and none of the fourth
list are capitalised.

P. 395. “As is conteined in the booke called”, etc. This ambiguous
sentence is better explained by Wier’s “Continua ut in libro * Annuli
Salomonis continetur”, that is, continue the “etc.” as etc. It may be
added that the *, the mark of an omission, is omitted in the English.

——— Scot (_i.e._, his authority) wholly omits Wier’s final § 5: “Hæc
blasphema & execranda hujus mundi fæx & sentina pœnam in magos
prophanos bene constitutam, pro scelerato mentis ausu jure meretur.”
Scot, I think, would be unlikely not to translate this, or be incited
by it to write something similar, but it would be wholly against the
purport of T. R. Some of the differences entered into, both just
above and previously, seem to favour the belief that two independent
copies of the _Empto. Salomonis_ were used, but very many merely show
carelessness, and possibly no great amount of Latin. The giving of the
name “✠ Secretum secretorum”, etc., at the same place, viz., just at
the end of the enumeration, etc., of the principal devils, might seem
to favour a copying from Wier; but we must remember that the _Empto.
Salomonis_ from which these leaves are copied may itself, and possibly
by way of proving its genuineness, have copied these details from an
earlier, or supposedly earlier, “Secretum secretorum”.

————————————

ADDITIONS TO PART I, P. 558.

Wier, i, 7, § 10. “Similiter ex parte postica & uteri collo novit
implicatos crines, arenæ copiam, clavos ferreos, ligna, vitra
confracta, stupam, lapides, ossa, et similia præstigiis movere,
offuscata interim oculorum acie: insecta auribus furtive immittere, quæ
postea vel prodeant, vel evolent.” See also iv, c. 7, § 1-4. Cf. Scot,
p. 132. In all probability a mere coincidence of thought.

Wier, iv, c. 11, § 8. “In lacte tres sunt substantiæ commixtæ, nimirum
butyrum, caseus & serum.” Cf. Scot, p. 281, copied verbatim.

GENERAL NOTINGS ON SCOT’S TEXT.

_For words not given here see Glossary._

——————

P. 2. “Ring bells.” Still done in Switzerland, and, I think, elsewhere.

P. 10. “As _Merlin_.” Cf. p. 72.

P. 14. “That cause ... taken away.” The mediæval Latin saying, “ablata
causa tollitur effectus”. Repeated p. 319.

P. 17. “W. W. 1582.” [In his preface.] A proof that witches were not
then burnt in England; but it shows how the question of witchcraft was
then exercising the people that Ade Davie, the wife of a husbandman,
pp. 55–7, thought that she was to be burnt. W. W. says also that Mr.
Justice Darcie, persuading Eliz. Bennett to confess, said: “As thou
wilt have favour confesse the truth. For so it is, there is a man
of great learning and knowledge come over lately into our Queenes
Majestie, which hath advertised her what a companie and numbers of
Witches be within Englande: whereupon I and other of her Justices have
received Commission for the apprehending of as many as are within these
limites, and they which doe confesse the truth of their doeings, they
shall have much favour: but the other they shall be burnt and hanged”
(B. 6). She and others that confessed had the favour of being hanged
like the rest; possibly they had the additional favour of being hanged
first. The first notice that I have yet come across of burning is that
of Mother Lakeman at Ipswich, 1645. W. W., in his Dedication, speaks
of these witches as “rygorously punished. Rygorously, sayd I? Why it
is too milde and gentle a tearme for such a mercilesse generation. I
should rather have sayd most cruelly [? civilly] executed: for that
no punishment can be thought upon, be it never so high a degree of
tormēt, which may be deemed sufficient for such a divelishe & dānable
practise”; and again, “the magistrates of forren landes ... burning
them with fire, whome the common lawe of Englande (with more mercie
then is to be wished) strangleth with a rope.” The burning was, I
presume, inflicted under the ecclesiastical law, De hæret. comburendo.

But burning was not at first universally adopted (a proof that it was
not imposed by the common law), for at the Assizes at Maidstone, 1652,
they were hanged, but “Some ... wished rather they might be burnt to
Ashes: alledging that it was a received opinion amongst many [for in
some cases it was held as proof against a witch that her mother had
been burnt for the same crime] that the body of a witch being burnt,
her blood is prevented thereby from becomming hereditary to the Progeny
in the same evill, which by hanging is not.”

P. 19. “Excommunicat persons.” Evidence of Scot’s haste, and of his
trusting to his memory. Wishing to find the Latin for “runnawaie”, I
looked into M. M. and found: “Nota quod excommunicati, item participes
& socii criminis, item infames, et criminosi nec servi contra dominos
admittentur ad agendum, & testificandum in causa fidei quacunque.” It
will be observed that he remembered “infames” as “infants”, and, as
there might have been a misprint in his copy, I have consulted all—not
a short list—in the British Museum. Possibly he was influenced by W.
W.’s book, which had taken a strong hold on him, if it were not one of
the causes of his writing, for there, children from 6¾ to 9 years
(infants in law) were taken as witnesses against their mothers, while
one woman’s proof was that her infant in arms pointed to the house!

P. 24. “To the God speed.” This, by the context, might be taken as
meaning that he came to a fortunate issue. But it was, and is, in
use as given to a person setting forth on a journey, etc. Hence,
here, and especially at p. 481, it seems to mean that he came at
the commencement, when one receives or gives this salutation. As is
recorded in an instance at Windsor, “R. S. probably gave the God speed
at the assembly, and God’s name so frayed the witches that they fled,
and so frayed the devil that he was conquered in a hand-to-hand fight.”

——— “At shrift.” This was laid down by Roman Catholic priests, though
it was, and is, a rule with them that no confessor can reveal a
confession, even before a court of law!

P. 41. “But bargained to.” The sense requires “[not] to observe”.
Probably a slip of the printer, possibly through the “but”, and the
concurrence of two t’s.

P. 42. “_La volta._” A fact strangely overlooked (as is David’s
dancing) by the damners of dancing.

——— “Socke the corps.” The same in p. 124 explains that this is sewing
the body in its winding-sheet or sheets. The phrase is Kentish.

P. 45. “Young maister”, _i.e._, their new master, they having just come
under the devil’s sway.

P. 48. “Of fiftie.” In Scot, as in others, we find uses of “of”
which are to us strange. Here is a clearer example than usual of its
synonymity with our “by”. Cf. also p. 76, and Auth. Ver., 1 Cor. xv,
5-8.

P. 50. “The veines have passage.” For as little, others—as Paracelsus,
by R. Browning, etc.—have been credited—to the discomfiture of
Harvey—with the knowledge of the circulation of the blood. Even
Shakespeare is so credited by some whose knowledge will assert
positively that the moon is _not_ made of green cheese.

P. 60. “Their not fasting on fridaies.” Scot’s Protestantism here
went beyond the ordained Protestantism of his age, as did that of B.
Jonson’s Cob.

P. 78. “Clime up and take it.” Not the nest, but his own belongings.
A good example of the pronoun not referring to its grammatical
antecedent, but to the antecedent which was most in the mind of the
narrator.

P. 80. “Away withall” = “Companion with” here, in other places “agree
with”. An expression that sounds odd to us, but then used practically
and metaphorically, from the idea of companionship on a journey, when
companionship was almost or altogether necessary.

P. 84. “The [night]mare.” Most, I suppose—among them I myself—have
known that these occur at times to a person in a deep sleep. My
fourth nightmare, a horrible, troubled, and inconsequent dream, so
far as I can remember, occurred some two years ago; three, at only a
month or two’s interval between each, occurred years ago, when in a
snake country. Then one appeared to be on and in my primitive bed, or
wriggling about my wattle and daub bedroom, the only room I had. I
thought myself wide-awake, bed, bedroom, and furniture being plainly
visible, and my thoughts and conclusions were as coherent, and myself
as self-possessed as at any moment of my life, until a sense of
unreality came upon me, and by two or more vigorous efforts of both
mind and body I awoke myself. My experience, and that recorded p. 84,
will explain various ghostly stories—I do not say all—wherein the
sufferer asserts positively, and believes, that he was wide-awake.

——— “As sure as a club.” The derivation and meaning—as sure as is a
tangible club that can or will strike you—is obvious; but I have heard
it at the card-table, as though derived from the sureness of the cards
thus named. An example of a false application arising from the apparent
sameness of the words, and possibly in the first instance from a
jocular use of the phrase.

P. 85. “Hampton.” Folk-lore worth recording. I conjecture, but only
conjecture, that this word was suggested by the hempen or flaxen
garments laid for his use, its sequent “hamten” being coined to rhyme
with “stampen”.

P. 87. “To her that night.” I have placed “him” in the margin, my own
conjecture and the reading of the British Museum MS. of parts of Scot.
But in Fletcher’s _M. Thomas_, iv, 6, we have the same spell, with some
slight variations, and ending—

“She would not stir from him [St. George] that night”,

which more agrees with Shakespeare’s quotation in _Lear_, iii, 4—St.
Withold

“Bid her alight
And her [the nightmare’s] troth plight.”

——— “_Viderunt_”, etc. Altered, apparently, from Vulgate, which has
“Videntes ... essent pulchræ”, etc.

——— “_Filios Dei._” Scot here alters “_Filii_” to the objective,
because it follows “doo interpret”. He does the same elsewhere, whether
it be English verb or preposition that precedes. Thus, 422, we have
“_Vitas Patrum_”, because it follows “prooved”; 458, “in _Speculo
exemplorum_”; and 381, “in _Circulo Salomonis_; 544, “Spiritum”,
because the words follow “signifieth”. We find one instance of the same
in Nash’s _Summers Last Will and Test._

P. 90. “He accuseth.” Bodin, ii, 6.

P. 91. “A faggot maker.” Bodin, ii, 6.

P. 94. “In the western ilands”, as in the “still vexed Bermoothes”.

P. 95. “Saccaring bell” = a sacring bell, the bell rung at the
elevation of the host, when all true, _i.e._, Roman Catholic,
worshippers fall on their knees.

——— “A morrowe masse”—a morning mass. All masses, except, I think, on
Christmas Day and Good Friday, and except in certain churches, where
the older usage was by prescription allowed, being in Scot’s time, and
now, celebrated before noon. This rule was made by the Pope in 1550-58.

P. 99. “(His reason onelie reserved).” Not Bodin’s reason, but that of
the sailor.

P. 104. “_Abacuck._” _Bel and the Dragon_, 36, 37.

——— “One syllable nor five words.” A curiously sounding phrase; but he
seems to have used “syllable” as we do, figuratively, meaning, “in the
same sense”, while the five words are, “not even differing five words
in the form of expression”.

P. 107. “Witch is disposed”, [to plague] being understood.

P. 110. “Make so foolish a bargaine or doo such homage to the devill.”
We would more exactly say “bargaine [with] or”.

P. 111. “Exod. 22” [18]. Did Scot quote from memory? The Sept., φ ου
ποιησετε [var.] περιβιωσετε Ox. ed., nor have I found Scot’s verb as a
recognised variant.

P. 113. “Eccl.” is twice in the margin put for “Ecclus.”, the
Apocryphal Book. In p. 145, by, I suppose, a printer’s error, “Eccle.”
is put for “Ecclus.” Elsewhere, Scot rightly gives “Ecclus.”

P. 115. “Osee 6” [1, 2]. Vulg. has “2. Quia ipse cepit, et sanabit
nos; percutiet, et curabit nos. 3. Vivificabit nos post duos dies.”
The “ego”, etc., is only found in Deut. xxxii, 39, where the Vulg. has
“vivere faciam”.

——— “If you looke into [what I have written concerning] _Habar_”, etc.

P. 119. “Besmearing with an ointment.” Such beliefs then current
justify more than is now supposed the beliefs of Elizabeth and her
counsellors, and the execution of her would-be murderer.

——— “Wolves doong.” A bit of folk-lore, which has, I think, sufficient
_vraisemblance_ as to be worthy of trial, the more so as it is said to
this day that a young dog shows fear at the smell of a dried piece of
wolf’s skin.

P. 126. “_Eliz. Barton._” See Froude’s _Hist._, v, 1. She was of
Aldington, Kent, and a servant of the father or grandfather of Jane
Cobbe, Reg. Scot’s first wife.

P. 127. “In his mightie power.” Either the “in” of the line above
brought about its insertion here, or, more likely, it was used as it is
“in his name”, though in such a case as this we should say “through” or
“by”.

P. 132. “1572.” This booklet is not known, I believe; nor is it in the
Stat. Regs.

P. 142. “Eccle” [Ecclus, 49, 16, 17].

P. 145. “Covered himself with a net.” An excellent example that this
phrase meant disguising himself, or trying to conceal himself. It may
seem odd, that “with a net” should mean this, because one naturally
thinks of a single fold; but a fisherman conceals his head and body in
folds of netting.

P. 146. “Finger in a hole.” I presume it is meant that Saul shut
himself out of all means of knowing what really went on, as much as if
he had closed up a hole in a shut door or window-shutter, through which
alone he could see—or have light thrown upon—the subject.

P. 147. “She saith to herself” [but intentionally loud enough for Saul
to hear].

P. 150. “Right ventriloquie.” This excellent investigation of the Bible
story might be read with advantage by those who even now hold that
Samuel really appeared by God’s allowance or command. Such a belief
involves three impossibilities. First, that God having repeatedly
declined to answer Saul by lawful means, now by an afterthought changed
His mind. Secondly, that He who from the time of Moses had so condemned
witchcraft, that Saul had put it down as far as he could, and that with
blood, now favoured the action of a witch, and that in so notorious a
case that it could not but be, as it was, known to all Israel. Thirdly,
that the Deity must have put a lying spirit into the mouth of a true
and God-blessed prophet, since the prophecy did not come true in more
than one important point.

P. 151. “_Aias_ and _Sadaias_.” Here he rightly distinguishes the two;
but in 141, and in his list of authors consulted, he gives “Rabbi
Sedaias Haias”. “Haias Hai”, or “Haja”, was a celebrated Babylonian
Rabbi, born 969 A.D.; died 1038. Sedaias or Saadja flourished
_circa_ 900-40.

P. 155. “Called Pythonissa.” Not by that exact word, either in Sept.,
or Vulg., or Greek N.T. Vulg., 1 Sam. xxviii, 7, has “mulier pythonem
habens”; and in Acts xvi, 16, the Greek, the Vulg., and Beza have
similar wordings.

——— “Liber pater.” “Liber” is “Bacchus” in Scot himself; but
Porphyrius—whom Th. Cooper and Calepine follow—says of “Liber pater”:
“Eundem Solem apud superos: Liberum patrem in terris: Apollinem apud
inferos.”

P. 158. “Then a cousening queane” = Than [believe that], etc. I
note: 1. That the (.) before “Then” should probably be a (,), though
occasionally we have (;) where only (,) is required. 2. That as in this
book we rarely have “then” for “than”, I conjecture that this mode of
spelling was not at the time universal, but only commencing.

P. 159. “_Nemo scit._” Slightly altered from the question. 1 Cor. ii,
11, and not the Vulgate words, but apparently more those of Beza.

——— “_Tu solus_” [2 Chron. vi, 30]. Vulg. reads, “tu _enim_ solus
nosti _corda filiorum_ hominem”; it has also “corda”, where David
speaks to Solomon similarly, 1 Chron. xxviii, 9; but “universas mentium
cogitationes” follows it.

——— “_Ego Deus_” [Jer. xvii, 10]. He omits “_probans_” before
“_renes_” in Vulg.

P. 162. “Epotherses.” Rightly, in 163, “Epitherses”.

P. 166. “By revolution.” I presume by revolution of the planets
(and stars, as was then thought), until they came into a certain
“constellation”, _i.e._, position as regards one another. This I gather
from a previous page.

——— [Margin] “Zach. 10.” We have here a further example of the loose
references, common in those days, to the Bible made by both Roman
Catholics and Protestants. The first clause is in sense is given Zach.
10 [, 2], and somewhat, Isai. 44 [9, 10]; but the remainder from Ps.
cxxxv, 16, 17; though “months”, etc., is placed third instead of first,
while “let them shew” is, I take it, a variant of Isai. xli, 23.

P. 168. “Firmament.” His error in writing “earth” shows his haste, and
explains in part the wording of his Scripture quotations. Cf. pp. 19,
174. But see also note, p. 503.

P. 169. “The increase of the moon.” This, his doubtful doubt as to the
Remora, his belief that the bone in a carp’s head staunched blood, show
that Scot was not naturally sceptical in matters of knowledge, but that
he only gave up the beliefs of his day after investigation.

P. 171. “_Mahomets_ dove.” He would express his belief, as Wier does
more openly, that it (as the eagle) was taught to do its feats.

P. 173. “ηχὼ”. In those days the Η, now confined to the capitals, was
used, as here in the original, for the small letter η.

P. 174. “Pharaoh the Persian kings.” Other references to the Pharaohs
in this book show that these curious transpositions were due to haste
of composition and of revisal both of his MS. and of the printed copy.

P. 176. “Manacies.” Not having met with this form, I presume that it is
a press error for “menacies”. It is so changed in the second edition.

P. 180. “Faile to dreame by night.” Scot’s general statement may be
true, but must in some instances be modified. From my youth, for
many—say at least twenty—years, I tried to remember my dreams for this
very purpose, and could remember them for a short while very well; but
never could I find that what I had thought on during the day, or the
days before, gave even a suggestion to my dreams. Thrice, however,
of late years, I have been able to trace my dream to something I had
casually thought of, though not meditated on. This edition of Scot, as
well as the question of witchcraft, has occupied both my mind and time
since November, and it is now October, yet not a single dream has had
reference to anything connected with these subjects. Similarly, family
matters have both busied me and worried me for some months, and yet
these matters have never intruded themselves, not even when my dreams,
and at one time a near approach to nightmare, showed that my digestion
was out of order. From my own instance, I should rather say that dreams
most frequently seem to be natural reliefs to the thoughts that I had
indulged in, or that might have beset me, in my waking hours.

P. 182. “Of physicall dreames.” I suppose he means dreams from physical
causes.

P. 182. “_Melancholicall._” Proceeding from “black bile”, which, in the
opinions of that day, produced melancholy, that form of madness called
melancholia. I would add that “melancholy” is often used in Scot for
mad melancholia, and for the supposed humour melancholy or black bile,
and that, unless this is borne in mind, some of his sentences will be
misunderstood.

P. 183. “De Profundis.” Ps. cxxix; Vulg. cxxx; Prayer Book. All that
follow are given consecutively, I think, in the _Rit. Rom. Officium
Defunctorum_.

——— “Pleasant and certain dreams.” Formerly an at least English
notion, as expressed by the servant-lover of Bombastes:

“And morning dreams, they say, come true.”

P. 184. “Eleoselinum.” Translated in the second edition as “mountain
parsley.”

——— “Sium” in the second edition is “yellow water-cress”.

——— “Acarum vulgare”, “common acorus”—our “Asarum Europ.”

P. 185. “An errand ... from farre countries.” A similar tale is told—in
some English work against witchcraft after Scot—of an Italian judge who
thus tried a supposed witch.

P. 187. “A thousand for one that.” Here the “that” does not, as with
us, refer to the “one” but to the “thousand” = “he might have cited
a thousand that fell out contrarie” for one that fell out truly. A
thousand for one, though four words seem, as it were, to have been
considered one thought. See Shakespearean noting under this page.

P. 190. “To offer ... to Moloch.” Curious that Scot, knowing that fire
was accounted holy, should not have seen that this idolatrous rite was
in its essence a purifying, and possibly an expiatory, one.

P. 198. “_Menehas_” (example, Deut. xix, 10). Hebr. מנחש. Here he does
not quite agree with Wier, i, § 9.

——— “Philosophers table.” Cf. Strutt, _s. n._ The philosopher’s game,
played on a “table” or board.

——— “Sober writer.” Of course, ironical.

——— “Of each letters.” Either misprint for letter, or rather, perhaps,
a loose way of saying “of each [set of] letters”, or “of the letters of
each person’s name or names”.

——— “Unequal number of vowels.” A bit of folk-lore as yet, I think,
unnoticed.

P. 200. “Added the Apocrypha.” Council of Trent, 1550, made them of
equal authority with those which the Church of England defines as
“Canonical Scriptures”.

P. 202. “True loves.” Garden pansies, viola tricolor, L. (Britten and
H.), four-leaved grass, occasional variations of the three-leaved
grass, trefoil.

——— “To our left side.” So far an explanation why horse-shoes, salt,
etc., are thrown against ill-luck over the left shoulder.

P. 205. “_Sero rubens._” P. 169, Scot quotes this in English as
a lawful divining from natural causes, in fact, as a weatherwise
observation.

P. 206. “_Stella errans._” I presume he means a planet, partly because
a comet was then thought a portent, differing in origin and nature from
a star, partly because Cicero uses the plural in the sense of planets.

——— “_Non est._” Not from Vulg. or Beza; probably his own rendering.

P. 209. “Milvus” [Jer. viii, 7]. Sentence as in Vulg., while the Geneva
version, like our Authorised version, has storke.

P. 210. “Significators”, _i.e._, of the planets which have meanings
according to their positions and co-positions or “constellations”.

P. 212. “Sapiens.” A sop of flattery for their client.

P. 213. “Maketh themselves cuckoldes.” = Who by their negligence and
ignorance cause themselves to be made cuckolds, while pretending to
know every other person’s future.

P. 225. “Phaers Virgil” [B. 4, _ad fin._]. Scot, however, has printed
each line as two.

P. 230. “Balme”, etc. Note that each longer line has an extra syllable
at the end.

P. 232. “This is as true a copy.” Apparently a press error for “This
is a true copy”, as given in the second edition, the printer having,
inadvertently, almost reduplicated the “is”.

P. 233. “✠ Thomas.” His and our “N.” (or sometimes “John”, etc.),
anyone who may be the invoker.

——— “A popish periapt.” The distances between these letters are
somewhat variable, the “ka” and “am” are near enough to be syllables.
But I have not misspent my time in a search for the true original.

P. 234. “Whistle for a pardon.” An expression still used for other
things than pardon. Possibly founded on an ironical reference to the
nautical idea, that when you whistle for a wind you get it, and more of
it than you want. I have been spoken to for whistling on board ship.
More probably, however, because whistling denoting want of care and
thought, as in bench-whistler, one might as well expect a pardon or the
thing wished for, after merely whistling for it, as expect larks to
drop into one’s mouth.

P. 238. “Plumme.” I know not whether Scot meant to translate
“_Stircus_” literally, but it would be curious to know whether this
signification was formerly given to “plum”. It could well bear it.

P. 240. “Constant opinion” = firm belief or firm faith.

——— “_Homerica Medicatio._” The physician was “Ferrerius”, alias
“Auger”, or “Oger Ferrier”—not “Ferrarius”, as given throughout the
text, in his list of authors, and in his contents—born at Toulouse,
1513, physician in ordinary to Catherine de Medicis, and afterwards
returned to his birthplace, where he died in 1588. B. 2, ch. ii, of his
_Vera medendi modus_ is headed “De Homerica Medicatione”. And here I
would at once say, that for the discovery of “Ferr_e_rius” and of the
following passages, and of the cause of Scot’s curious blunder, the
reader and myself are indebted to my ever-ready Shakespearean friend,
the Rev. W. A. Harrison. “When,” says Ferrier, “patients will not
yield to ordinary treatment, one must have recourse to another kind,”
which he describes generally in the margin as “Amuleta”. And first he
speaks of “appensiones et physicæ alligationes”, then of “Caracteras &
Carmina”. These, he says, Galen (and Trallianus) at first ridiculed,
but that Trallian had seen (I believe in his mind’s eye) a tractate
of Galen’s in which, as the heading of a chapter, or somewhere else,
were the words “Homericam medicationem; _quod Homerus suppressum verbis
sanguinem, et mysteriis sanatos effectus prodiderit_.” The italicised
passage is that nonsense-sentence of Scot’s at the end of the chapter.
It could only have arisen from Scot’s haste, but was also due to the
fact that, as in the British Museum copy of the Lyons edition, 1574,
the “s” of “verbis” is so faint as to give the not careful reader
the form “verbi”. But Ferrier, like Scot, attributed such cures to
imagination or a “fixed fansie”, or “constant opinion”; on which also
I would refer to Sir H. Holland’s book on the _Effect of Imagination
in Disease_. Thus he continues: “Deprehendi itaque curationis hujus
eventum non a caracteribus non ex carmina permanare. Sed tanta est
vis animi nostri, ut si quid honesti sibi persuaserit, atque in ea
persuasione firmiter perseveravit, idipsum quod concepit agat, &
potenter operetur.... Si neque fidentem, neque diffidentem nihilominus
vis animi agentis operabatur. Id in dentium doloribus ... aperte videre
licet. Nam præcantator ita movet non reluctantis ægroti animum, ut
dolor ... sensim extinguatur.... At si forte æger diffidet, aut plane
ridiculum existimet remedium ... præcantante vis nulla erit.... Non
sunt ergo carmina, non sunt caracteres quo talia possunt, sed vis animi
confidentis, & cum patiente concordis.” Wier v, 19, §1-4, gives the
Ferrerius quotation, as well as his name, rightly. The staunching of
blood by words refers to the cure in the _Odyssey_.

P. 242. “Through sudden feare.” Similar cases are known to physicians
at the present day, whether through fear or some other sudden emotion.
A Protestant medical man can well believe _some_ of the tales of
diseased pilgrims cured at, say, the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes,
though no more believing in such miracles than do Roman Catholics when
Protestant anointers anoint and sometimes cure through the same cause.

P. 243. “Hearbe Alysson.” So called because it cured hydrophobia
(Pliny). Phil. Holland says, “Some take it to be _Asperula_, the
wood-rose”; Holyokes Rider gives “rubia minor, cannabis agrestis”.

P. 244. “Scarifie.” Might be done with a gum lancet; but the magical
tooth might have the advantage in some instances of affecting the
thoughts, and through them the body, as noted, p. 240.

——— “_Os non._” This, preceded by “✠ Jesus autem transiens ✠ per
medium illorum ibat ✠”, with a ✠ after “eo”, was, according to Paulus
Grillandus, who twice witnessed it, a charm producing taciturnity
and insensibility under torture! Something, either this or something
else, being repeated by the prisoner in an inaudible voice, a scroll
containing these words and signs was found “in capite sub scruffia
scilicet inter crines” (Wier v, 12, § 3).

P. 244. “Throwe.” He might have added, “when you have got it”, before
which time she would have been released, if not one way yet by another.

P. 245. “Tye.” Is like the “scarifie”; as one generally uses a
handkerchief.

P. 248. “That thou hereby ... patient as Job.” This is to me one of the
oddest examples I have seen of the confusion of two or more pronouns
as to their subject; for though the “thou” a line above clearly refers
to the worm, this one cannot refer to anything but to the horse; for
after exorcising the worm in the name of the Trinity, he surely would
not exhort it to be as “patient as Job” and as “good as St. John”,
particularly as the exorcism was made that the worm might be expelled
and die.

P. 251. “Remeeve.” An excellent example of the devices had recourse to
by Elizabethan versifiers to obtain a rhyme.

P. 257. “Certeine name.” I presume this caution is inserted lest one
hurt Tom instead of Harry.

——— “Each image must have in his hand.” For the true reading cf.
“Extracts from Wier”. Scot must, I think, have trusted too much to his
memory.

——— “Domine Dominus”, etc. Pss. 8. 27. 102. 109. Prayer Book numbering.

P. 264. “Bladder.” Clearly a press error for bladders.

——— “Ribbes and genitals.” Conjoined, apparently, from a remembrance of
the procreation of Eve, Genesis ii, 21, 22.

P. 265. “Sir _John_ ... pulpit.” As the story was told of “as honest
a man ... whereof mention was lately made”, he was of the Church of
England; see under p. 461 for “Sir”. And since, I have found that
Bishop Hutchinson in his Dedication calls him Sir John Grantham.
Seemingly we thus have evidence of the dress in the pulpit; but one
unwilling to be convinced might retort that the very mention of his
sacerdotal dress is proof that he went into the pulpit exceptionally
attired, and not to preach, but to perform a quasi-sacerdotal office.

P. 266. “Hundred and eight.” Here, from the “sayers of the charm”, the
authority is, in all probability, the Vulg. Its 108 is our 109, Scot
not having in this instance changed the numbering.

——— “Seachers.” Probably “Sea[r]chers”, as given in the second edition,
but it may have been a form of seekers, since seche = seek.

——— “Horsse shoo.” This superstition probably had its origin from
Stonehenge times and before, since the inner stones there, apparently
the more sacred portion, and, so far as one can now judge, the
corresponding part at Avebury, each form a horse-shoe. Sir H. James
first, I believe, noticed the true shape at Stonehenge, and I
afterwards independently observed it, both there and then at Avebury,
and connected it with this horse-shoe superstition in _The Antiquary_,
vol. ii, Oct. 1880.

——— “_Alicium._” Have not as yet found this.

P. 267. “Herbe betonica.” “Stachys betonica”, Plin., b. 25, c. 8.

——— “Pullein”, etc. “Verbascum”; “Thapsus”, L., “bullock’s lungwort”
(Kent). Tusser, like Scot, calls it “Longwort”, a variant of “Lungwort”.

P. 268. “Baccar.” “Nardum rusticum”, or, according to Sprengel,
“Valeriana Celtica”, L.; others “foxglove”, or “asarabacca”.

——— “Browze”. Gives us the meaning of Bowze = boughs, it being so spelt
to accord, as was the custom, not only in rhyme but in spelling.

——— “Vervain.” “Verbena officinalis”, L. (and other verbenas?), used,
according to Park, “against poison, venom of beasts, and bewitched
drinks”.

——— “Palma.” Willows in England were used as the palm on Palm Sunday;
sometimes the yew; but here I incline to think he means Palma Christi,
a flat-hand rooted orchis.

——— “Antirchmon.” I suspect a misprint for “antirrhinum”, calf’s snout,
snap-dragon, A—. Linn. Pliny, b. 25, c. 8, says it is much esteemed by
enchanters.

——— “Lappoint.” Minshen gives “Lapouin”, as the French for lapwing, but
I have been unable to find this word. Wier v, 21 § 6, says, as Scot,
“Dicuntur & pennæ upupæ suffitæ, phantasmata fugare”, and the upupa,
then as now, was taken to be the lapwing, though Th. Cooper says,
“Wherefore [from his crest as described] it cannot be our lapwing ...
it is rather ... an Houpe” [hoopoe], which it is likely from the names,
both being onomatopeiatic. The daughter of the vicar of Oare, near
Faversham, Kent, Miss K. P. Woolrych, says that an old man, when young,
heard lappoint as the common name for the still-abounding lapwing.

P. 269. “Cleave an oken branch.” One is tempted to think this bit of
folk-lore is a reminiscence of Druidical times.

P. 271. “Ps. _Exaltabo_” Ps. 245, Pr. B. vers.

P. 273. “Nameles finger.” Wier, “innominatum”. From this last, which
is not so much nameless as “unhappy”, etc., I think the middle finger
is meant, “digitus impudicus”, “famosus”, “infamis”, under which
latter epithet, cf. Persius, Sat. ii, for the reason. At 325 he calls
the middle finger the long, and at 326 the middle, at 329 the longest
finger.

P. 275. “Made room.” Gave occasion or opportunity.

P. 284. “_Finallie._” This is in italics, the mark of a quotation, but
it is not from the Rhemish Test. of 1582, given as one of the books he
consulted, nor have I yet found from what Protestant version he took it.

P. 289. “Eccle. 1. & 1.” Probably a press error for 1 & 13, the words
being a remembrance of the sense of verses 13 and 17. It is not Ecclus.

P. 294. “The corral.” Can we see in this the origin of the almost
universal coral for children when teething?

——— “Dinothera.” Cannot find it.

——— “Aitites.” Properly “Aetites”, a stone said to be found in the
eagle’s nest. Plin., b. 7, c. 3.

P. 294. “Droonke as apes.” An expression readily understood by those
who have watched the purposeless doings of apes and their throwing
themselves about.

——— “Amethysus.” This occurs twice, but I know it not as a variant of
amethystus. “Corneolus.” Various descriptions are given of this by
Pliny, Bartholome, Th. Cooper, Minshen, and Holyokes Rider, but I
presume (as given by Bailey) it is our cornelian.

P. 295. “Smarag.” The emerald. “Mephis.” Unknown to me.

P. 296. “Whereby ... concluded.” It is improbable that this is, as
elsewhere, concealed irony. Much more probably Scot was not free from a
belief in the influences of the stars on the formation of these stones,
just as he believed in the influence of the moon in the sowing of
seeds, though he did not believe in astrology.

P. 300. “Academicall discourses.” He refers to the disputations held by
students and candidates at the colleges, as these, of course, naturally
set forth the opinions of others.

P. 301. “Serpent abandon.” Is this fabulous folk-lore or not?

P. 302. “Celondine, Chelidonius”, cf. p. 293. It appears from
Dioscorides and Pliny, 25, 8, that the Chel. majus, L., is that spoken
of.

P. 303. “Reneweth bleeding.” This variant, that it does so either at
“the presence of a deare friend or mortall enimie”, and not merely at
that of the murderer, is worthy of note.

P. 304. “Our Princess doth.” This, vouched for by one such as Scot,
shows the real piety and wisdom of Elizabeth as against the scandals of
the then times and the beliefs of after times.

P. 312. “Black children.” I put this down either to looseness of
writing or to that want of discrimination (or colour blindness) which
led Elizabethans to speak of things as black, etc., which approached
that colour. “As black as a toad.”

P. 314. “Two manner of todes.” An example of the universal belief that
all insects, and some eels, serpents, and toads, were not begotten,
but produced by the action of the sun on inanimate matters, in fact by
spontaneous generation. Even the generation of man was held to require
the co-operation of the sun.

——— “Of the fat of a man ... lice.” He means, I presume, of fat beneath
the skin of a living person, a belief apparently confirmed by the
death of persons from lice; for Bartholome, Batman’s alias Trevisa’s
translation, says, l. 18, c. 88: “Lice and nits gender in the head or
in the skinne”; and just before, they are engendered “of right corrupt
air & vapoures that sweate out betweene the skinne and the flesh by
pores.”

P. 316. “Aqua composita.” Not in Ovid’s sense, but, I presume = spirits
of wine or rectified wine, etc., though I have not come across the term
elsewhere. I may add that Aqua was used = Succus.

P. 319. “The cause being taken away.” See note, p. 14.

P. 333. “Nether card.” Scot evidently did not know “the pass”; possibly
his age did not.

P. 338. “Gaggle of geese.” The then correct term for a flock of geese.
Cf. _The Boke of St. Albans_, at the end of “Hawking”.

P. 339. “Send them to Pope.” Unable to refer “them” to the “horses” or
to the “neighbors”, I am forced to believe it an error for “then”.

——— “Unto the doore.” This (.) should be (,) the “W” marking, as usual,
the beginning of (the purport of) his speech.

P. 342. “You meane to cut.” He would say, “which you would make believe
to cut”.

P. 367. “Extraordinary.” Beyond the number of his ordinary lemans.

P. 374. “Had I wist.” A proverbial saying, at one time much in fashion
= had I known. Used here for an uncertainty which turned out an ill
certainty.

P. 386. “Goeth before.” Takes precedency of.

——— “Be abroad.” Cf. “Extracts from Wier II.”

——— “If his cap be on his head.” Cf. “Extracts from Wier II.”

P. 390. “_Duratque._” When Dr. Fian was examined, James VI being
present, he, after the two torturings of the rope, and boots,
confessed, among other things, that he had bewitched a gentleman—a
rival lover—and “caused the sade Gentleman that once in xxiiii howers
he fell into a lunacie and madnes and so continued one hower together”.
The gentleman was brought before the king, and went violently mad for
an hour, leaping so high that he touched the ceiling with his head, and
behaving so violently that the gentlemen present had to get assistance
and bind him hand and foot. Fian became penitent, and renounced the
devil; next day said the devil had appeared and would again have
persuaded him, but he resisted him. However, he, Fian, obtained the key
of his prison door and fled. Re-captured, he denied all his confession,
saying that he had only made it through fear of torture. Then “His
nailes upon all his fingers were riven and pulled out with ... a payre
of pincers, and under everie naile there was thrust in two needels over
even up to the heads. [Here, I presume, there is a hysteron proteron.]
Then was he ... convaied again to the torment of the bootes wherein
he continued a long time, and did abide, so many blowes in them, that
his legges were crusht and beaten together as small as might bee, and
the bones and flesh so brused, that the bloud and _marrow_ spouted
forth in great abundance, wherby they were made unserviceable for
ever,” he still declaring that what he had said before “was onely done
and said for feare of paynes which he had endured”. He was strangled,
and his body burnt, according to law, towards the end of Jan. 1591.
The italicising is mine. Can anyone read this without a shudder, and
without feelings of indignation that will express themselves?

The gentleman who went mad for an hour, and then said he had been in a
sound sleep, doubtless acted a part to confirm the tale of his friend.
This is confirmed by the fact that, violently as he behaved, he seems
to have hurt no one, not even himself.

P. 406. “Common copulation.” Used as “friendly conjunction” or working
together, in opposition to “carnal copulation”, a phrase he employs
when necessary.

——— “To whome be honour.” Is there an omission here of (as seems
most likely) “In the name”, etc., or are we to look back as far as
“Tetragrammaton”, etc., for antecedents? a course in which I cannot
myself believe.

P. 413. “My verie name.” Cf. App. II, p. 60, § 22, though I know not
that this phrase is there explained, we may conjecture from it that we
have, while alive, spiritual “names after a Magical manner”, whatever
that may mean.

P. 414. “ffalaur” (Diagram). If one were really wanted, a most
excellent example—whether we look to Scot’s other uses of this word, or
to the names of the other three spirits in the diagram—that “ff” was
merely “F”.

P. 416. “Ps. xxii and li.” Prayer Book numbers and version.

P. 418. “Are written in this booke.” It is clear, therefore, that Scot
took this experiment of Bealphares, and in all probability from ch. 8
inclusive to this one, from some conjuring book, not improbably T. R.’s.

P. 419. “_In throno._” Neither this nor its English equivalent is
to be found in any of these conjurations. In p. 417 we have, “which
conteinest the throne of heaven”; but unless the true translation be
“which are conteined in the throne of the heavens”, this cannot be “in
throno”. On the whole, I think that it refers to some conjuration not
copied by Scot, thus strengthening the supposition set forth under
Extracts from Wier II, and p. 418.

——— “Then say _In throno_.” I feel by no means content with the change
of “then” to “thou”. “And” may be an = “if”, but I do not remember an
instance of Scot’s use of “and” in this sense. Or this “and” may be an
accidental insertion by the printer, when after “_throno_” we might
understand [adding] “that thou depart”, etc.; and this, I suspect, is
the sense intended, whatever the emendation may be.

P. 421. “Ch. xv.” The making of the holy water is the Latin form
of that Englished from the Missal at p. 445. Hence, I presume, the
blessing of the salt is from the same.

P. 423. “In such a place N.” There being no (,) N. seems here to be
used for any place, as it has been used for any man or spirit. So
“this N.”, p. 424, refers to a bond or document. In pp. 425-6, where
“N.” occurs four times, it can, so far as I can see, mean nothing else
but the place, the crystal or other matter, in which the spirit is to
appear. In p. 428, we have also “to your N.”, explained just afterwards
as “into your christall stone, glasse”, etc. And in p. 429, “anie N.” =
gold, silver, etc. “N.” was therefore a general indefinite, not used,
as now, for a man only; still, its most likely etymon seems to be the
initial of “Nomen”.

——— “On thy booke.” In 424 we have “by the holie contents in this
booke”, and “kisse the booke”. From these, and from the statements in
the additions to the third edition that the conjuror is to consecrate
and take a Bible with him, I presume, that one is here meant to be used.

P. 425. “Other bond.” That, I presume, which follows on this page.

P. 425. “Made a man for ever.” I note this 1584 use of the phrase.

P. 426. “I constreine the spirit of N.” The after text might induce
one to suppose that “the” = thee, but the phrase is repeated seventeen
times in this chapter, and “thee spirit of N.” not once, though we have
“the spirit of thee N.” once, and “thou spirits of N.” thrice. Our
Elizabethan ancestors were apt thus to mingle up the second and third
persons.

P. 428. “Proove this.” Try it; put it to the proof.

P. 431. “(Blew miracles).” A friend suggests “trew”; but though this is
probably the sense, yet I hesitate to change the word. W. B., in _Notes
and Queries_, fully explains this as “_blaues wunder_”, an “amazing
or wonderful wonder”, the adjective being intensative, as is perhaps
“blue” in the phrase, “once in a blue moon,” _i.e._, never.

P. 434. “Doctor Burc.” The Burcot cozened into buying a familiar from
Feats, p. 522.

——— “He strake.” Spirit-rapping, therefore, is older than this century,
though the manner was different.

P. 436. “Matins at midnight.” The Franciscans solemnise matins directly
midnight is passed.

P. 437. “Officiall.” The French name. Cf. Cotgrave and Du Cange.

P. 439. “To to abridge.” A printer’s repetition; one being at the end
of a line, the second at the beginning of the next.

P. 441. “_Deus in adjutorium._” Ps. lxx. Prayer Book.

——— “Excommunicate.” 479. “Infatuate.” The form originated _circa_
1400, from “infatuatus”, etc., before the verbs existed, and are not
examples of “ed” eliding or coalescing when the verb ends in “d” or
“t”. This last, however, is found in Scot, and in a work at least ten
years older.

P. 442. “Vitas.” See note 87. 458. Ditto.

P. 444. “Except in a plaie.” Probably, therefore, had witnessed
Moralities, etc.

P. 446. “Increase.” Error for “incense”. _Tobit_ viii, 5. (W. A.
Harrison.) Vulg. has no word for this in viii, 2; “Fumus”, in vi, 8.
Genevan version, “perfume”. Whether “incense” be Scot’s own word, or
the rendering of some English version, I know not.

P. 459. “Sunne ... is 3966000.” The nearest to this computation that I
can find is that of Archimedes, who made the sun’s distance 1,160 times
the earth’s semi-diameter, that is, 3,985,760 miles. Scot, however,
must have taken some later computation, as he speaks of the sun’s
“neerest” distance.

——— Note, a pound of good candles, such as were offered in church, cost
threepence.

P. 461. “Sir John” = the aforesaid priest. Cf. 265, 361, and “Sir
Lucian”, 463; also 468, the translation of “Dominus”.

P. 466. “Kings bench.” Note, still so called in 1583.

P. 467. “Most noble and vertuous personage.” Probably Leicester. Cf.
close of letter.

P. 468. “Sir John Malborne,” 1384. Hence an Englishman, and not a
German, was in all probability the first to raise his voice against the
cozenages of mediæval witchcraft.

P. 471. “Collen.” Cologne.

P. 474. “Three images.” As pointed to by the text, it appears from
Bodin that, “Un Prestre Sorcier curé d’Istincton [Islington] demi
lieuë pres de Londres, a esté trouvé saisis 1578 de trois images de
cire conjurées, pour faire mourir la Reyne d’Angleterre, & deux autres
proches de sa personne.”

P. 476. “Wherein a Gods name.” = Wherein in God’s name. No oath, but he
means to explain that the miracle consisted in his being able to read
the canonical scriptures written in God’s name, or inspired by Him, but
not the fabulous Apocrypha.

——— “The good speed.” See note, p. 24.

GLOSSARY.

——————

_The numbers refer to the pages of the first edition, and refer to an
occurrence of the word, but not necessarily to the only occurrence of
it. Should the inquirer fail to find any word, he should consult the
Notings._

_Abhominable._ He always uses the “h” as did Holofernes, Gab.
Harvey, etc., from the false derivation “ab homine”.

_Abrenunciation_, 440. A word used probably, as Richardson
suggests, as a stronger form of renunciation. It was used as a
technical for the renunciation of the devil and all his works in
the baptisms of the Roman Catholic Church.

_Accloied_, 79. As cloyed = encumbered, satiated.

_Achate_, 297. The more Latinate form of agate (achates).

_Acyron_, 371. Greek unauthorised.

_Addicted_, 298. Joined or attached to.

_A doo_, 475. The “a” = at in this and like words was then
frequently printed apart, or according to them—a part.

_Ægyptians_, 197. Gypsies.

_Alligations_, 239. Spells, or the like, bound to one’s arm, etc.

_Anatomie_, 430. A skeleton.

_Apparentlie_, 511. Clearly, evidently.

_Appensions_, 239. Spells, or the like, hung about one.

_Applicable_, 582. Able to be applied.

_Appointed_, 415. Dressed in order, or conformably, as we still use
the word appointments.

_Appose_, 51. Our pose.

_Aqua composita_, 316. See note.

_Assotted_, 5. Adsotted; our besotted.

_Astonnied_, 309. Astonished in the original sense, _i.e._,
astounded, or so lying in a swoon, that she lay as dead.

_Avoid_, 240, 493. To void or empty, either “make void” or “void
from”. This use is as early at least as Trevisa, or _circa_ 1397.

_Axes_, 232. The French _Accès_. Hence in Sussex and the North =
agues. But I am told that in Kent it bears the secondary sense of
aches.

_Bables_, 166. Toys, trifling childish things.

_Baggage tode_, 377. A foul tode. The epithet is now only used of
an ill-conditioned woman of low degree.

_Bat_, 380. A staff.

_Bedstaffe_, 79. The Johnson-Nares explanation is, I believe,
wrong. With Miss Emma Phipson, I rather take it to be a staff to
summon attendance, a substitute for the modern bell still used by
invalids and others. Cf. _Ev. M. in his Humour_, i, 4. It has been
also suggested that it is the staff used to beat up the bed, etc.

_Become._ Used as then in 126, 158, 323, 329, as equivalent to
“gone to”. Cf. 3 _Henry VI_, ii, 1, 9, 10. And in a law of Henry
VIII (ann. 33, ch. 8) are the words “where things lost or stolen
should be become”, when it speaks of the acts of magicians,
fortune-tellers, etc.

_Beetle-head_, 66. = Our hammer-headed fellow, a beetle being such
a hammer or rammer as paviors now use and so call.

_Bench whistlers_, 528. Idle, sottish fellows, who spend their time
on ale-benches rather than seek occupation, and whistling from want
of thought or occupation. A then-known phrase.

_Bewraieth_, 69, and frequent. Betray. Also, though a different
word and not in Scot, to befoul. In 328 the verb is used thus: “the
thing shall be so well and perfectly done, that a stranger, though
he handle it, shall not bewraie it” [_i.e._, discover the fraud
either to himself or others].

_Biggin_, 471. Fr. _béguin_. Cf. Cotgrave. Properly, according
to Minsheu, a child’s [close] covering for the head or cap. Also
generally a close or skull cap; here, as in Sh., 2 _Henry IV_, iv,
4, used for a night-cap.

_Bile_, 203. A boil.

_Blisse_, 157, _ad fin._ Being opposed to “cursse” seems = blessing.

_Boolted_, 480. A miller’s, etc. technical for sifted.

_Bowt_, 337, 347. This (or bout) and bight are still nautical for
the bending, or loop, of a rope. Scot uses it for the loop, or
bending, of any thing.

_Bowze_, 268. Boughs.

_Bucklers, laie down the_, _A_ iii. Submit, own themselves
defeated. The origin of this and similar phrases is unknown. From
the words “Clypeus salvus in Cic.” and “Clypeum abjicere”, it may
be from the usages of classic times,—or it may be mediæval.

_Bugges_, 288. Frightful and unnatural appearances, as in bugbears,
a now equivalent word.

_Bulbeggers_, _B_ 2. Terrifying goblins. I see no difficulty in the
derivation from _Bul_, a bull, or bull’s face, it being terrifying
enough, especially when, enraged or mad, it is directly opposed to
you; and a bulbegger is an over-bold beggar, etc.

_Bum card._ I believe a card slightly longer or wider than the
rest, so that the trickster, etc., may distinguish it.

_Bum leaf._ A leaf similarly distinguished.

_By and by_, 460. Immediately. Elsewhere he thus translates Wier’s
“mox” and “statim”.

_Carter_, 478. Used, as in “carter’s logic”, for a dull-witted
ignoramus, much in the sense in which we depreciatingly use
costermonger. Carter’s logic is not the logic of physical
persuasion, but the ergo of the first gravedigger in _Hamlet_.

_Castrell_, 302. Kestrel, Tinunculus. The hovering hawk, a wild
kind not tamable, that frightens other hawks (possibly by its loud,
ringing voice), and whose effigy was placed near doves, etc., to
deter other hawks. Hence, probably, arose the fable spoken of in
the text.

_Cautelousness_, 469. Artful caution.

_Censure_, _A_ viii. Sentence, or judgment.

_Chapman_, 485. Generally the seller, but also, as here, the buyer;
he that chaps or cheapens.

_Choine cough_, 211. Chin-cough, the hooping-cough.

_Choler_, 205. One of the supposed four humours. The compound
humour generated in the liver was divided into two parts, one going
to the blood, the other to the gall, as this choler or bile. It
differed from melancholy, or black bile, for the reservoir of this
was the spleen. Cf. _Batman on Barth._, iv, 10, and v, 39.

_Circumstance_, 24. Elsewhere, as 75, used for round-about or
superfluous means. Here it has a greater ill-meaning—a round-about
statement that would evade declaring the truth.

_Clam_, 208. To stick on; various dialects.

_Claweth_, 67. Scratcheth (where he itcheth), pleaseth, and
therefore flattereth. Cf. the proverb, “Claw me, claw thee”, or “K.
me, K. thee”, a polite abbreviation, which, I think, betokens the
odious origin of the phrase.

_Clubhutchins_, 372. Old Kentish, now, I believe, almost obsolete,
for a plain, rough countryman.

_Coate card_, 335. Our court card.

_Cold prophet_, _B_ ii. v. 170. One whose prophecies are far from
the mark, just as children at play are hot or cold, when near or
far from the thing sought. Others say that cold, as in Chaucer =
col.

_Commend_, 134. Commit to, in the sense of giving, entrusting, or
setting forth for his examination. Latinate.

_Complexion_, 461. The four complexions or dispositions were
supposed to be due to the excess of (1) blood, (2) phlegm, (3)
choler, (4) melancholy. Here it is used more generally for
disposition.

_Compline_, 393. Part of the Romish even-song (Cotgrave), which,
said just after sunset, completes the offices of the day.

_Conceipts_, 326. Merry or strange tricks.

_Cone_, 227. I found, I forget where, “to cone findere”, hence
marginal note.

_Confirmed_, 429. Apparently “made firm”; placed or stationed
together, each in his fixed place.

_Constellation._ Is sometimes used in old books, seemingly as
denoting the co-ordination or coposition of the heavenly bodies
(as regards one another) at any particular time. It was from these
constellations that nativities were calculated.

_Constreineth._ In its primary or literal sense of drawn together.

_Contagion of weather_, 269. For = against.

_Convenient (with)._ Coming together with, agreeing with.

_Convented_, 16. Brought together with (_i.e._, before) the judge,
or other.

_Convinced_, 70, 131. Overcome.

_Corrupt_, 16. Corrupted; the “ed” being assimilated by, or made to
coalesce with, the “t”. Cf. note, p. 441.

_Countrie_, _A_ iiii. Used, as occasionally then, for county.

_Cousen_, _A_ vii. v. Used then as a term implying relationship of
any kind, or simply between royal personages as a term of courtesy
and friendliness.

_Credit_, 498. Belief; we should say crediting, etc.

_Croslet_, 357. A crucible.

_Crosse of a coin_, 388. The reverse bore a cross. Now called the
tail in “heads or tails”.

_Curious_, 333. As frequently in those days, “curiosus”, full of
care, careful; those who would inquire carefully or curiously into
the matter.

_Cushion, missed the_, 490. Nares says it evidently alludes to
archery: an unsupported guess, and not, I think, a probable one.
More likely the reference is to some game, such as a variant of
stool ball, or possibly to the cushion dance. Or it may simply mean
missed his seat.

_Dangerous of_, 146. Fearful of [showing], or, as some say it is in
Chaucer, shy.

_Detected_, 27. Uncovered.

_Determination_, 153. Termination, or ending.

_Detracting_, 94. Drawing out, spinning out.

_Dilection._ A choosing, preferring, loving.

_Diriges_, 439. Dirges; a word derived from the Latin _dirige_.

_Disagreeable to_, 98. Disagreeing with, differing from.

_Dish, laid in my_, 130. For me to chew upon.

_Dismembred_, 313. There being no talk of the members of an animal
being taken away, I take it that he means diversely membered from
what it was naturally, as was the serpent with “manie legs”.

_Dizzards_, 291. Evidently fool or blockhead. That it was a name
for the vice or fool of a play is by no means a proof of its prater
or diseur origin, for he was not so much a prater as a funny lout
who bore himself apishly, and “moved his body as him list”. Rather
cognate to dizzy.

_Donee_, 148. Noted as an early use of the word.

_Doubt in_, 482; _doubted_, 6. Two excellent examples of the then
frequent use of these words for fear and feared.

_Duplex s. s._, 282. Should have been duplicis, but the writer
probably thought that this would be liable to a misrendering.
S[piritus] S[ancti] is of course meant.

_Eager_, 249. Sour; French, _aigre_, as in vinegar.

_Earnest pennie_, 542. The small sum given as part payment in
earnest that, or as assurance that, the bargain had been made.

_Embossed_, 316. [Spoken of glasses in “perspective” devices.]
Convex (?).

_Enabled_, 164. Made able, strengthened.

_Eversed_, 316. [As under _Embossed_.] Possibly concave (?).

_Exchange_, 218. To change or transform.

_Excourse_, 43. Lat. _excursus_, outgoing.

_Expend_, 444. Hang, or rather weigh out.

_Experiment_, 82. Trial, or mode of proof; the verb is similarly
used.

_Exsufflation_, 440. In Roman Catholic baptism the devil is
rejected by exsufflando (blowing him away) and by abrenunciation
(the renouncing) of him and his works.

_Extermination_, 485. A driving out beyond the boundary or terminus.

_Eybitten_, 64. “Master Scot in his _Discovery_ telleth us,
That our English people in Ireland, whose posterity were lately
barbarously cut off, were much given to this Idolatry in the
Queen’s time, insomuch that there being a Disease amongst their
Cattel that grew blind, being a common Disease in that Country,
they did commonly execute people for it, calling them eye biting
witches” (_A Candle in the Dark_, by Th. Ady, M.A., 1656, p. 104).
Scot did not tell him this, but the explanation prevents erroneous
guesses.

_Fautor_, 528. (Lat.) Favourer, supporter.

_Fetches_, 110. Devices, ruses, trickeries.

_Fitten_, 538. Make fit.

_Flawed_, 57. Flayed.

_Foine_, 257. A rapier, or, more generally, the thrust (or parry)
made by a rapier. But see note on passage.

_Fond_, 204. Foolish, as commonly then.

_Footed_, 340. A rather awkward way of describing a box with two
covers (opposite one another) and double-bottomed.

_Foreslowed_, 365. Slowed overmuch, _i.e._, omitted at times. So
we have other words in fore—foregrown, etc. _Forespoken_, has been
said to be a compound of our fore, meaning bespeak or predict
(Rich.). But it is not to predict, but to do. Hence, I rather take
it as equal to speak over-much against, _i.e._, bewitch.

_Frote_ (A. N.). To rub.

_Gissard_, 528. A goose-herd.

_Graffing_, 290. A form, an older form, of “grafting”, and so the
verb graff.

_Griphes_, 202. Vultures here, though in some authors it is the
griffin or dragon.

_Gudgins_, 257. Gudgeons. This fish is a bait, and is easily
caught. From this latter circumstance it is here, as frequently,
and as in Shakespeare, used for a fool.

_Hagging, went to_, 25. I suppose went to perform her part or duty
as a witch. From hag-ridden, hag-tracks, and hag-worn, hag seems to
have been used as a synonyme for wicked or witch.

_Haggister_, 82. Kentish for the magpie.

_Hailed_, 196. Haled, hauled.

_Hair, against the_, 9. Contrary to the inclination, a phrase which
might readily be drawn as to other animals, but which, I think,
arose from dressing a horse.

_Hair, hang her up by the_, 257. Seems from the word “utterly” to
have been used metaphorically for make away with. Perhaps because
Absalom was, and is popularly supposed to have so died; or possibly
from this it was a civiller synonyme for being hung.

_Hallowe_, 316. Hollow.

_Handle_, 368. Used in one instance for to go about, or carry on,
in a good sense; in the second, as to make a passive instrument of,
as the monkey when he used the cat’s paw for the hot chestnuts.

_Heeles, by the_, 65. Arrested and confined him, because offenders
were often put for safety into the stocks.

_Hickot_, 242. Hiccough.

_Ho_, 501. Our “woa”.

_Honestie_, 81. Chastity. Frequently used of mental as well as
bodily chastity. We still speak in this sense of an “honest woman”.

_Hot_, 255. Preterite of hit. An old, and also frequent, Kentish
form of the past in many verbs.

_Houseled, be_, 265. Receive the Eucharist.

_Hugger mugger_, 433. An early example, explained by “secretlie”;
but it also means, I think, as a consequence of the secrecy, in a
hurried, tumbling, indecorous fashion.

_Hundreth_, 338. A then common variant for hundred.

_Idol_, 390. Ειδωλον, similitude.

_Illuded_, 69. Cozened, deceived.

_Impugnable_, 492. Not able to be imposed. This ——able form not in
our dictionaries.

_Incestuous_, 124. In Latinate sense, full of pollution.

_Indifferent_ (freq.). Impartial.

_Infirnalles_, 426. Used as _s._

_Insensible_, 216. Without sense or meaning.

_Intend_, 430. Attend.

_Intermedled_, 490. Intermingled.

_Intricate_, Entangle.

_Inversed_, 316. Qy., inverted or turned upside down. But several
of these terms I cannot explain.

_Irremissable_, 70. Not able to be sent away, remitted or forgiven.

_Jamme_ (of a window), 91. The jamb, supporter, or side-post of,
here, a window.

_Jetting, a_, 265. Jet, to fling, strut, etc., from the Fr.
_jeter_, and though I have not found a similar phrase, it seems
here used in the sense of having a fling, or a spree.

_John, Sir_, 265. Cf. note.

_Jollie_, 197, 273. We find its use in Scot, explaining, as it
were, how the French _joli_, pretty, became our jolly, as in the
phrase, “a pretty fellow”. Sometimes, as in the last phrase, it
seems to have a somewhat lowering sense. In 273 he seems called
jollie because he drank.

_Jumpe with_, 492. Equally or exactly with.

_Jurat_, 258. One sworn to administer justice, a magistrate or
sheriff.

_Knable_, 346. To nibble.

_Lane_, 340, 357. From the latter reference I gather that it =
layer.

_Lapidaries_, 295. Early use.

_Learne a lewd man_, 359. Chaucer, to teach.

_Leaze_ (asses), 264. Sense pretty evident, but I know not the
word. Qy., same as lees, or leese, losings or leavings.

_Lewd_, _Lewdness_, 19, 358, 359, (Chaucer) 8, etc. Sometimes
ignorant; sometimes in a similar sense as lay, opposed to clerkly
or learned; sometimes wicked or nefarious. Lewdness, in 8, seems to
equal uselessness, or doing nothing for their living.

_Limitors_, 88. Chaucer, Begging friars, because their limits were
appointed.

_Loose_, _lose_. These spellings are used interchangeably in this
work, but, I think, are spelled the more frequently as they now
are. Cf. _Than_ and _Then_. _Naught_ and _Nought_.

_Martinists._ Those who followed Martin Mar-Prelate.

_Masse cake_, 270. As shown by Wier, the Roman Catholic wafer used
in the celebration of the mass.

_Meane stuff_, 499. Not mean in our sense, but middle or midway, as
explained in the line before. Sacrifices of frankincense are a mean
between sacrifices of the mind and those of cattell. So mean sense,
60, is used for ordinary or middling sense.

_Meere_, _A_ ii. v. Unmixed, therefore pure.

_Melancholie._ See note, p. 182.

_Mends_, 373. Our ’mends, or amends, or rather requital.

_Merchant_, B ii, 368. Dealer or go-between, without reference to
commodities or goods.

_Miser_, 160 (bis). Latinate, a wretched one.

_Moralitie_, 308. The underlying meaning, as in the Moralities.

_Morrowmasse_, 232. See note.

_Nall, a_, 335. An awl.

_Nameles finger_, 273. See note.

_Namelie._ By name, and therefore especially.

_Naught_ and _Nought_. Either is spelled as itself or as the other.

_Neezing_, 201. Sneezing.

_Nephue_, 557. This use of nephew as grandson was then the rule,
just as was the French _neveu_, and the Latin _nepos_. Cf. Minsheu,
Cotgrave, Baret, etc. Grand-child is used by Cotgrave, but hardly
appears to have been in use. Sh. uses grandam, etc., tolerably
frequently, but grand-child only once, in _Coriolanus_, and
grandson, etc., never.

_Netherstocke_, 84. Stocking.

_Obeie_, _s._, 380.

_Obscure_, 380. “Leone obscurior & turpis”, Wier; _i.e._, he
appears _specie angelica_, but not white, but darker than a lion,
and filthy.

_Occupy_, 77; _——ied_, 415. See note.

_Onely_, 114. A good example of the position then commonly given to
the word in a sentence. He does not mean that this is the only work
of God, but the work of God only.

_Orient_, 297. This word was then oddly used. An orient pearl was
so called by the Romans because it was large, and large pearls
generally came from the East. So here, easterly seems to be used as
an equivalent for hot. The eastern regions being in his astronomy
nearer the sun’s rising, they were hotter,—a false explanation of a
true fact.

_Orizons_, 41. Orisons.

_Other._ Frequently here, as contemporarily, used for others.

_Overtaken_, 324. Here, surprised. But in another passage it is
deceived.

_Pack_, 339. Agreement, and though not a mere variant of it, pact.

_Paire of cards_, 335. Our pack. So a pair-royal is composed of
three aces, kings, etc.

_Palme_, 268. See note.

_Passible_, 496. Passable, able to pass away, temporary.

_Peevishness_, 483. Foolishness. Greene seems sometimes to use the
adjective for perverse or rascally, _Planetomachia_, 40, 22—95, 18,
etc., ed. Grosart.

_Perbreake_, 310, or _Parbreak_. Vomit.

_Perceived_, 131. Seen through, truly understood.

_Periapts_, 230. Cf. text. Περιαπτω, I bind, wrap around, attach to.

_Perish_, 407. Causal sense, make to perish.

_Perspective_, 315, etc. Not our perspective, but the arrangement
of glasses and mirrors so as to show other things than you expect
to see, etc.

_Perspicuous_, _A_ v. Perspicacious.

_Philosophie, did_, 454. See note.

_Pile_, 385. Pile and crosse = our heads and tails.

_Pioners._ Diggers. The word is now confined to military diggers.

_Pitie_, 369. Verb used in causal sense.

_Plashes, water_, 64. Pools, puddles.

_Plumme_, 238. Was this word then used in this way? Scot was not
too squeamish. Cf. “etish”, p. 246, etc.

_Podware_, 223. Agricultural produce producing pods.

_Points_, 341. Tags or tying laces.

_Pollusions_, 447. Pollutions.

_Practive_, 326, marg. Able to practise readily, practised.

_Pregnancy_, 358. Ability to conceive or understand.

_Pregnant_, 75. Able to become pregnant.

_Prelacies_, 390. Wier’s _prælaturæ_ seems to have been used by him
generally, but Du Cange makes it specific as the office of a dean,
and Holyokes Rider as that of an archdeacon.

_Present_, 238. Immediate.

_Prest, in_, 360. In readiness, therefore in loan, in advance.

_Pretended_, 474. Latinate, set forth. Under 20 this is its main
meaning, but the sentence shows how it came to mean our pretend.

_Prevent_, 417. Latinate, come or go before. Its lapse into our
sense is well shown in 30.

_Progeny_, 32. Offspring. Noted because Shakespeare and others
sometimes used it as progenitors.

_Proposeth_, 361. Setteth forth.

_Proprieties_, 210, 303. Properties. So _Trevisa on Barthol._ 1379
(t. page, I think).

_Prove_, 255. _Proved_, 21. Try, attempt.

_Purchase_, 430. Obtain. The same usage (found in other authors)
shows that the thieves’ cant ridiculed in Shakespeare was but an
appropriation of this.

_Question be made_, 25. Torture applied.

_Quezie_, 239. Squeamish, apt to vomit.

_Quick_, 415. Live, springing, running.

_Rank_, 279. Thick, full, abundantly fertile.

_Rath_, 441, Early.

_Reall_, sometimes = _Royal_.

_Recount_, 170. Qy., to say (or esteem), in reference to the
spelling, etc.; or is it equal to account?

_Recreations_, 93. Re-creations, creations over again.

_Reere banquet_, 66 = a rere-supper, or eating and drinking after
supper.

_Regiment_, 378. Rule, as often then.

_Remorse_, 171. Pity, as often then.

_Remove_, 242. Used as our move, the joint being looked on as
passive, and different from the moving power.

_Resiant_, 476. Fr. _reseant_, resident, Cotgrave, who gives also
the Engl. resiant.

_Resistance_, 445. Not resistance of or from, but resistance [to
God] proceeding from, or belonging to, spirituall iniquitie.

_Rest_, 344. Remain, but here unusually used.

_Rish_, 341. Rush.

_Roome, made_, 275. Made way, _i.e._, gave opportunity.

_Saccaring_, etc., 95. Sacring, consecrating. The sacring bell is
the bell rung at the time of consecrating and elevating the host.

_Safeguard_, 51. A skirt or outside petticoat worn when riding.

_Scantling_, 358. Dimension. Nautical; is properly dimensions of
timber when reduced to its proper size, but sometimes the piece so
reduced.

_Scot free_, 71. Primarily, free from charge; secondarily, from
punishment.

_Seelie_, 35. Harmless, thence simple.

_Severall_, 527. Separate.

_Shepens_, 88. Stalls for cows. Some say also for sheep.

_Shouldered_, _A_ vi. v. Here, supported, as when one shoulders
another for that purpose.

_Shrewdly_, 79. Maliciously or keenly.

_Sinewes_, 47, 241. Probably from the want of knowledge of anatomy,
this was used both for our sinews, but more generally, I think,
for nerves. We find it, certainly in this, and, I think, in both
senses, in Batman, or rather _Trevisa upon Barth._, and for nerves
in medical writers, as in Boord, and in the translation of Vigo. In
248, where “marrow” precedes, it is most probably = nerves. Wier in
the same passage has “a nervis”.

_Sir John_, 265, etc. See note.

_Sithens_, 458. Since.

_Skils not, it_, 335. It matters not.

_So._ Frequently used where we use as.

_Sock a corpse_, 42, 124. To sew a corpse in its winding sheet.
Kentish.

_Sort_, 374. Set, or company.

_Spie him_, 46. Spy him out.

_Spoil a witch_, 269. Injure a witch.

_Square_, 410. Used for an unequal-sided parallelogram ▯.

_Sterne_, _A_ iii. Used, as not unfrequently then, for helm.

_Sterven._ Punished by any means, though not intentionally killed.
_Starved up_, 124, is used for starved to death.

_Straught_, 144. Our distraught.

_Strumpet_, 145. Used as a term of reproach without reference to
its sexual sense. So he uses incestuous.

_Success_, 196, 197, 272. Event or sequel, whether bad or good.
Hence we still speak of “good success”.

_Suffocate_, 223. Qy., to choke with weeds.

_Suffrages_, 434, 444. Du Cange (8). Prayers by which the help of
God is implored.

_Temper with them_, 20. May be variant or error for tamper; may
perhaps be our temper them, work them up fittingly, etc.

_Temporall_, _B_ v. Carnally or materially bodied.

_Tester_, or _Testor_, 340. Sixpence.

_Testifie_, 374. Not to testifie to, but to make themselves
witnesses of.

_Than_, _then_. See note, p. 158.

_Therefore_, 528. On that account, or for that thing.

_Thomas_, 233. Anyone, as John, or N. or M.

_Thropes_, 88. Thorps or villages.

_Travel_, _A_ ii. Travel and travail were both so spelled.

_Treene_, _A_ vi. Tree-en, wooden.

_Trench master._ He—says G. Markham, _Soldier’s Grammar_, p.
128—“hath command over all the pyoners ... and by his [the master
general of the ordnance] directions seeth all manner of trenches
cast up, whether it be for guard and inclosing of the campe, or for
other particular annoyance to the enemye, or for the building of
sconces or other defence or offence, as directions shall be given.”
Grose, _Mil. Antiq._, i, 223-4, who adds, “This officer seems
sometimes to have been stiled Devisour of the fortifications to be
made.”

_Tried_, 66, 211, 453. Proved, as gold is tried by touchstone, etc.

_Trish trash_, 523. A reduplicate, and therefore emphatic, form.

_Tuition_, 415. Defence. Lat. _tuere_.

_Turbinall_, 316. Qy., top-shaped, from Lat. _turbo_.

_Undermeales_, 88. Intermediate meals after dinner, and thence, as
here = in the afternoon.

_Unproper_, 371.

_Untame_, 252.

_Vade_, 169. Used contemporarily as fade, but generally as a
strengthened or more emphatic form, as shown here by “utterly
wither”.

_Valure_, 130. Valour.

_Virtutes._ Virtues, _i.e._, the order of angels so called. Pl. of
Lat. _virtus_.

_Void_ = Avoid, and so Trevisa, 1397.

_Wag_, 324. Probably used in an ill sense, as a chatterer who makes
himself conspicuous by his interference.

_Wax_, 249. To increase and thence to grow, and to grow or become,
whether the growth be increase or not.

_Wealth_, _A_ iii. Weal.

_Wheeking_, 301. An onomatopæic word.

_Where_, 429. Whether.

_Whereas_, 419. Whereat, at which.

_Whitmeats_, 281. Milk-whitepots, custards, cheese-cakes, butter,
cheese (Bailey). In fact, any thing or any dish made of milk.
_Lactucaria_ (Th. Cooper, Holyokes Rider).

_Wist, had I_, 374. See note.

_Witch._ Used by Scot and others for both wizards and witches,
though the former word was known in English in 1582 (_Witches at
St. Osees_, by W. W.). So used till at least 1670.

_Witchmonger._ (_a_) Those who dealt with witches, as with wise
women. (_b_) Those who sought them out for punishment.

_Wreath_, 225. Translation of Lat. _vertere_, to wrest or twist
violently.

_Wrote_, 199. Wrought.

_Xenophilus_, 378. Wier’s Zenophilus. A friend suggests same as
φιλοξενος, a friend to strangers, hospitable. The difficulty is,
what is such a one’s outwardly distinctive form?

_Yaw_, 228. To go, or stray, out of their course. Now nautical only.

_Yer_, _A_ vii. Ere.

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Transcriber’s Notes:

- Blank pages have been removed.
- Redundant title page has been removed.
- A few obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
- Otherwise spelling and hyphenation variations remain unchanged.
- In the replications of earlier title pages at the beginning, use
of the long s ‘ſ’ and ‘VV’ for W are retained.
- Listed “ERRATA” left uncorrected, as done by the editor.
- Footnotes: After the first 10, they appear as sidenotes, as in the
book. Some have multiple references.
- “The Epistle” chapter heading inserted to match page headings of
that section.
- The V like arrangement of the lines at the end of some chapters has
not been followed, as it was unreliable and unsightly with variable
viewer widths, and according to the editor in the preface: “they do
not indicate a division of the text or matter, but were simply
compositors’ devices to fill up a page...”.
- The Unicode flower symbol ‘❈’ is identical to that used in the
original, but is rotated 45°.

Text version only:
- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
- Text enclosed by equals is in bold (=bold=).
- Text enclosed by ‘►◄’ is in blackletter font (►blackletter◄).
- Text enclosed by ‘♦’ is a sidenote.
- Text marked as ‘s̶a̶y̶d̶e̶’ is struck through.
- Purely decorative illustrations have been removed.
- Sidenote references to page numbers in earlier editions have been
removed.

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