OF WITCHES. Devovet absentes, simulachraque cerea fingit, OVID WITCH is derived from the Dutch Witchelen, which signifies whinnying and neighing like a Horse; In a secondary Sense, also to foretell and prophecy; because the Germans, as Tacitus informs us, used to divine and foretell Things to come by the whinnying and neighing of their Horses*. His very Words are hinnitu & fremitu. Perkins defines Witchcraft to be an Art serving for the working of Wonders by the Assistance of the Devil, so far as God will permit.—Delrio defines it to be an art in which, by the Power of a There is a superstitious Custom among some People of nailing Horse Shoes on the Threshold to keep out Witches. To break the Egg-Shell after the Meat is out, is a Relique of Superstition, thus mentioned in Pliny, "huc pertinet Ovorum, ut ex"orbuerit quisque, calices protinus frangi aut eosdem coclearibus 'perforari." Dr. Browne tells us, that the Intent of this was to prevent Witchcraft; for lest Witches should draw or prick their Names therein, and veneficiously mischief their Persons, they broke the Shell, as Dalecampius has observed. Vide Vulg. Errors. Mr. Pennant tells us, in his Tour in Scotland, that the Farmers carefully preserve their Cattle against Witchcraft by placing Boughs. of the Mountain Ash, and Honey Suckle in their Cow-Houses on the 2d of May. They hope to preserve the Milk of their Cows, and their Wives from Miscarriage, by tying red Threads about them; they bleed the supposed Witch to preserve themselves from her Charms. Contract entered into with the Devil, some Wonders are wrought, which pass the common Understanding of Men. Lib. 1. cap. 2. de Mag. disq. Vide Blount. Witchcraft, in modern Estimation, is a Kind of Sorcery, (especially in Women) in which it is ridiculously supposed that an old Woman, by entering into a Contract with the Devil, is enabled in many Instances to change the Course of Nature, to raise Winds, perform Actions that require more than human Strength; and to afflict those that offend her with the sharpest Pains, &c. In those Times of more than Egyptian Darkness*, when * He tells us also, that the last Instance of these frantic Executions for Witchcraft in the North of Scotland, was in June 1727, as that in the South was at Paisly in 1696, where among others a Woman, young and handsome, suffered, and with a reply to her enquiring Friends, worthy a Roman Matron: Being asked why she did not make a better Defence on her Trial, she answered, 66 My Persecutors have destroyed my Honour, and my Life is not now worth the Pains of defending." He goes on: "The last Instance of national Credulity on this Head was the Story of the Witches of Thurso, who tormenting for a long Time an honest Fellow under the usual form of Cats, at last provoked him so, that one Night he put them to flight with his broad Sword, and cut off the Leg of one less nimble than the Rest: On his taking it up, to his Amazement he found it belonged to a Female of his own Species, and next Morning discovered the Owner, an old Hag, with only the companion Leg to this." But these Relations of almost obsolete Superstitions must never be thought a Reflection on this Country, as long as any Memory remains of the tragical End of the Poor People at Tring, who within a few Miles of our Capital itself, in 1751, fell a Sacrifice to the Belief of the Common People in Witches, or of that ridiculous Imposture in the Capital itself, in 1762, of the Cock-lane Ghost, which found credit with all Ranks of People. He farther observes, that at Edinburgh, there is still shewn a deep when Ignorance and Superstition overspread the World, many severe Laws were made against Witches, by which, to the Disgrace of Humanity, great Numbers of innocent Persons, distressed with Poverty and Age, were brought to violent and untimely Ends. The Witch-Act, a Disgrace to the Code of English Laws, was not repealed till the Year 1736!!! Lord Verulam, that Sun of Science that rose upon our Island, and dispelled an hereditary Night of Ignorance and Superstition, gives us the following Reflections on Witches in the 10th Century of his Natural History: They form a fine Contrast to the narrow and bigotted Ideas of the royal Author of the Demonology. "Men may not too rashly believe the Confession of Witches, nor yet the Evidence against them: For the Witches themselves are imaginative, and believe oftentimes they do that which they do not: And People are credulous in that Point, and ready to impute Accidents and natural Operations to Witchcraft-It is worthy the observing, that both in antient and late Times (as in the Thessalian Witches deep and wide Hollow beneath Calton Hill, the Place where those imaginary Criminals, Witches and Sorcerers, were burnt in less enlightened Times. The ingenious Artist Hogarth, in his Medley, represents with great Spirit of Satire, a Witch, sucked by a Cat, and flying on a Broomstick: It being said, as Trusler remarks, that the Familiar with whom a Witch converses, sucks her right Breast, in Shape of a little dun Cat, as smooth as a Mole, which, when it has sucked, the Witch is in a Kind of Trance. Vide Hogarth Moralized, p. 116. : and the Meetings of Witches that have been recorded by so many late Confessions) the great Wonders which they tell, of carrying in the Aire, transforming themselves into other Bodies, &c. are still reported to be wrought, not by Incantation or Ceremonies, but by Ointments and anointing themselves all over.—This may justly move a Man to think that these Fables are the Effects of Imagination; for it is certain that Ointments do all (if they be laid on any Thing thick) by stopping of the Pores, shut in the Vapours, and send them to the Head extremely; and for the particular Ingredients of those magical Ointments, it is like they are opiate and soporiferous: For anointing of the Forehead, Neck, Feet, Back-bone, we know is used for curing dead Sleeps. And if any Man say, that this Effect would be better done by inward Potions; Answer may be made, that the Medicines which go to the Ointments are so strong, that if they were used inwards, they would kill those that use them; and therefore they work potently though outwards." He tells us elsewhere; pro "The Ointment, that Witches use, is reported to be made of the Fat of Children, digged out of their Graves; of the Juices of Smallage*, Wolfe * Olla autem omnium Maleficarum commune solet esse Instru-mentum, quo succos, herbas, vermes et exta decoquant, atque ca venefica dape ignavos ad vota alliciunt, et instar bullientis ollæ, navium & equitum aut Cursorum excitant celeritatem. Olai Magni. Gent. Septent. Hist. Brev. p. 96. See also, for the Witches Pot or Caldron, Macbeth. bane, and Cinque Foil, mingled with the Meal of fine Wheat: But I suppose that the soporiferous Medicines are likest to do it, which are Hen-bane, Hemlock, Mandrake, Moon-shade, Tobacco, Opium, Saffron, Poplar Leaves, &c."-Thus far that great Philosopher*. The Sabbath of Witches is a nocturnal Assembly supposed to be held on Saturday, in which the Devil is said to appear in the Shape of a Goat, about which they make several Dances and magic Ceremonies. In order to prepare themselves for this meeting, they take several soporific Drugs, after which they are fancied to fly up the Chimney, and to be spirited or carried through the Air, riding on a Switch to their Sabbath Assembly. Hence the Idea of Witches on Broomsticks, &c.t A Cat * There had been about the Time of Lord Verulam, no small Stir concerning Witchcraft.—Ben. Jonson, says Dr. Percy, has left us a Witch Song, which contains an Extract from the various Incantations of classic Antiquity. Some learned Wise-Acres had just before busied themselves on this Subject, with our British Solomon, James I. at their Head.-And these had so ransacked all Writers ancient and modern, and so blended and kneaded together the several Superstitions of different Times and Nations, that those of genuine English Growth could no longer be traced out and distinguished. It was a supposed Remedy against Witchcraft to put some of the bewitched Person's Water, with a Quantity of Pins, Needles and Nails, into a Bottle, cork them up, and set them before the Fire, in order to confine the Spirit; but this sometimes did not prove sufficient, as it would often force the Cork out with a loud Noise, like that of a Pistol, and cast the Contents of the Bottle to a considerable Height. Bewitched Persons are said to fall frequently into violent Fits, and vomit Needles, Pins, Stones, Nails, Stubbs, Wool and Straw, See Trusler's Hogarth moralized-Art. Medley. ↑ The Author of the Gentle Shepherd, (a beautiful Pastoral in the Scotch 243 |