'Tis the religion of a Christian!' said Miss

Caustic.

Ꮓ

N° 41. SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 1785.

Pandere res alta nocte et caligine mersas.

VIRG.

SIR,

To the AUTHOR of the LOUNGER.

THOUGH the present age is undoubtedly possessed of a great deal of knowledge and science of which former periods could not boast, yet it must, on the other hand, be allowed, that we are apt to plume ourselves upon our acquirements fully as much as we are entitled to. We pretend a superiority over ancient times, not only on account of the discoveries we have made, but of the prejudices we have overcome, and smile with a contemptuous self-importance on the easy faith of our ancestors.

Of this latter sort is the credit which almost every modern takes for a total disbelief of spirits, apparitions, and witches. Not a school-boy now-a-days who does not laugh at the existence of witchcraft and sorcery; and, if he has ever heard of the statutebook, he silences every argument, by the quotation of the act of parliament which repealed the ancient laws by which those crimes were punishable, and thus expressed the sense of the legislature that no such crimes existed.

Yet it is certain, that many of the wisest and best-informed among our forefathers had a firm be

lief in the existence of witchcraft and sorcery, and one of the most learned of our Monarchs actually wrote a treatise on the subject. To this some of the less assuming of our modern sceptics answer, that though, at the time of passing the old laws now repealed, and of writing that royal and learned treatise above-mentioned, such a diabolical art and mystery might really and truly prevail; yet now, in the eighteenth century, it is no longer practised, and that witchcraft, conjuration, and sorcery, are entirely abolished and unknown.

I, for my part, have more reverence for the penetration of our forefathers, than to suppose they could have been deceived as to what happened in their own time; and further, I am not ashamed to confess my belief that even yet there exists such an art as that of witchcraft; nor do I despair of bringing over my readers to this opinion, if they will listen with candour to the proofs I propose in this paper to bring in support of it.

I conceive the fairest way of doing this to be, to cite, from the best authority among the old writers, the appearances they particularly remarked, and the facts they specifically set forth, of the practice of this unchristian and diabolical art in their time; and then to appeal to the experience and observation of every unprejudiced person, whether such appearances and facts are not at this day frequently and commonly seen and known. If this be allowed, it may, I think, fairly be presumed, that the same causes produce the same effects, that these extraordinary phænomena are now, as formerly, the effect of unnatural means, to wit, of witchcraft, sorcery, or conjuration.

The treatise of King James I should certainly chuse as the highest authority on this subject, were it not from its dialogistic form, rather diffuse, and not easily compressible into the short limits of your

paper. I shall therefore extract, from another writer, a contemporary of that wise and learned monarch, a more brief account of the different sorts of witchcraft, which, however, is chiefly taken from, and in most particulars entirely agrees with the dialogues of the king on that subject.

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I think it good,' says that writer, in this place to set down the divers sorts and classes of those unlawful and accursed dealers in witchcraft, conjuration, enchantment, and sorcery, on whom the late wise and wholesome law (anno secundo, vulgo primo, Jacob. cap. 12.) doth specially attach.

1. There are who, moulding images of persons on whom they mean to practise, and making up the same to something of human similitude, with wax, paint, hair, and other materials, do stick into the same, scissars, long pins, and other piercing weapons, and at the last laying the same before a strong fire, as the wax of the image melteth away, so doth the flesh of the poor wight whom it representeth (which was at first tortured and torn as with the wounding of such sharp instruments as aforesaid) burn and consume with strange pains and pinings.

2. Others there be, exceeding rife in Lapland, Finland, and other wild parts of the world, who at their nightly meetings, by incantations and uncouth form of words, calling the arch fiend to their aid, and being sometimes armed with charms and amulets of strange shape and divers colours, these withered and devilish hags do raise storms, tempests, and angry appearances of the sky, to the wreck of many goodly ships, and rich merchandise.

3. A third kind is of those who being more stirred with the greed of lucre, than pricked on (as the two last mentioned sorts) with anger and revenge, do, by compact with the devil, procure to themselves much wealth in gold, silver, and precious

stones, which they find in chests, caskets, and other places, into which no man could put the same by any natural means. But herein oft-times is manifest the notable deceit of the great father of lies, that the said gold and other precious things shall, in a short space, be turned again into stones, dross, or other unvalued substances, whereof Satan (as may be conjectured) did first by his power and art make and fashion the same.

4. There is likewise to be noted a power which such wizards and sorcerers do possess, of transport. ing themselves invisibly, so that no man knoweth whence they came, nor whither they go, and of entering houses, though the same be barred against them in all manner of usual passage and access, disquieting and affraying the inhabitants thereof; though generally (as our Royal Master well observeth in his most learned Dialogue on Demonologie, book iii. chap. 1.), when those wizards or spirits (for their kind and species seemeth not well determined) haunt certain houses that are dwelt in, it is a sure token of grosse ignorance, or of some grosse and slanderous sinnes amongst the inhabitants thereof.'

Now, to bring examples of the various kinds of witchcraft similar to the above, which still continue to be practised in modern times. Is not Miss to whose health I have drank so many bumpers, plainly a witch of the first class? Does she not make up an image like a human one, with wax (otherwise pomatum) and paint (as is sometimes alledged), hair, and other materials, stick into the same scissars, long pins, and other piercing weapons, and which causeth those on whom she intends to practise, to burn and consume with strange pains and pinings? I must further observe here, that my author, on this part of his subject, differs from his Royal Master on the

question, Whether it is lawful, by the help of another witch, to cure the disease that is casten on by the craft of the first?' which question the king had answered in the negative; but this later writer argues for the lawfulness of that mode of cure. Our modern bewitched accordingly seem almost universally to agree in the latter opinion.

The nightly meetings of the older species of witch, mentioned by the above author in the second place, have surely come within the knowledge of most of my readers. In the inner room of some very great ladies houses, on what is called (by a phrase probably borrowed from this very act of witchcraft) a rout-night, are not certain magical sounds and incantations used? Is not the arch fiend frequently called on by name? Are there not, on a table, sometimes in a little caldron, amulets to be seen of strange shapes and divers colours? Are there not storms raised, and angry appearances? Undoubtedly all those circumstances are known to exist. That, however, no innocent person may suffer from my accusation, and that the Lord of any such great Lady may not, like the good Duke of Gloucester of old, suffer for the witchcraft of his wife, I must in justice add, that the husbands of these ladies are in general no conjurors.

Of the third kind of those unlawful dealers with the devil, there is no want of examples among us. Do we not see men every day, who, by compact with the devil (for we know not of any natural means by which they could accomplish it), procure to themselves much wealth, gold, silver, and precious stones? Is not Mr. - who was a few years ago worth nothing, but who now keeps his chariot, entertains people of the first fashion, gives the most sumptuous entertainments, and drinks the highest priced wines; in short, vies in expence with men of the greatest