The Witchcraft in New England. Calef Robert

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СКАЧАТЬ so that he were eased." Some, however, demurred to this, and affirmed that it was better to die than be cured by a Witch or a Sorcerer.

      Further to illustrate the Subject, I shall have Recourse to Mr. Nathan Drake's Shakespeare, and his Times. That chief of Expounders of the "Immortal Bard," having had occasion to review the Subject of Witchcraft, and having made so clear and valuable an Analysis of it in his Examination of the Witches of Shakespeare, as is nowhere else to be found, I am, as will be the Readers of this Introduction, I apprehend, fortunate in being able to avail myself of the Labors of that eminent Scholar and able Antiquary.

The Play of Macbeth is founded on a Species of Superstition that, during the Life-time of Shakespeare, prevailed in England and Scotland, in a Degree until then unknown. In the 33d Year of Henry VIII, was enacted a Statute which adjudged all Witchcraft and Sorcery to be Felony without the Benefit of Clergy; but at the Commencement of the Reign of Elizabeth, the Evil seems to have been greatly on the Increase, for Bishop Jewel, preaching before the Queen, in 1558, tells her, "It may please your Grace to understand that Witches and Sorcerers within these few last Years are marvelously increased within your Grace's Realm. Your Grace's Subjects pine away, even unto the Death, their Colour fadeth, their Flesh rotteth, their Speech is benumbed, their Senses are bereft, I pray God they may never practice further then upon the Subject."[7] How prevalent the Delusion had become, in the Year 1584, we have the most ample Testimony in the ingenious Work of Reginald Scot, entitled "The Discoverie of Witchcraft," which was written as the sensible and humane Author has informed us, "in behalfe of the Poore, the Aged, and the Simple,"[8] and it reflects singular Discredit on the Age in which it was produced, that a Detection so complete, both with regard to Argument and Fact, should have failed in effecting its Purpose. But the Infatuation had seized all Ranks, with an Influence which rivaled that resulting from an Article of religious Faith, and Scot begins his Work with the Observation, that "the Fables of Witchcraft have taken so fast hold and deepe Root in the Heart of Man, that fewe or none can, now adaies, with Patience indure the Hand and Correction of God. For if any Adversitie, Greefe, Sicknesse, Losse of Children, Corne, Cattell, or Libertie happen unto them; by and by they exclaime uppon Witches;—insomuch as a Clap of Thunder, or a Gale of Wind is no sooner heard, but either they run to ring Bells, or crie out to burne Witches;"[9] and in his second Chapter, he declares, "I have heard to my greefe some of the Minesterie affirme, that they have had in their Parish at one Instant xvij or xviij Witches: meaning such as could work Miracles supernaturallie,"[10] a Declaration which, in a subsequent Part of his Book, he more particularly applies, when he informs us, that xvij or xviij were condemned at once at St. Osees in the County of Essex, being a whole Parish, though of no great Quantitie."[11]

      The Mischief, however, was but in Progress, and received a rapid Acceleration from the Publication of the Dæmonologie of King James, at Edinburgh, in the Year 1597. The Origin of this very curious Treatise was probably laid in the royal Mind, in Consequence of the supposed Detection of a Conspiracy of 200 Witches with Dr. Fian, "Register to the Devil," at their Head, to bewitch and drown His Majesty, on his Return from Denmark, in 1590. James attended the Examination of these poor Wretches with the most eager Curiosity, and the most willing Credulity; and, when Agnis Tompson confessed, that she, with other Witches, to the Number just mentioned, went altogether by Sea, each one in her Riddle, or Sieve, with Flagons of Wine, making merry and drinking by the Way, to the Kirk of North Berwick, in Lothian, where, when they had landed, they took Hands and danced, singing all with one Voice:

      "Commer [Gossip] go ye before, commer goe ye

      Gif ye will not go before, commer let me."

      And "that Geilis Duncane did go before them, playing said Reel on a Jew's Trump." James sent for Duncane, and listened with Delight to his Performance of the Witches' Reel on the Jews-harp!

On Agnis, however, asserting, that the Devil had met them at the Kirk, His Majesty could not avoid expressing some Doubts; when, taking him aside, she "declared unto him the very Words which had passed between him and his Queen on the first Night of their Marriage, with their Answer each to other; whereat the King wondered greatly, and swore by the living God, that he believed all the Devils in Hell could not have discovered the same."[12]

That the Particulars elicited from the Confessions of these unfortunate Beings, which, it is said, "made the King in a wonderful Admiration," formed the Basis of the Dæmonologie, may be therefore readily admitted. It is also to be deplored, that, weak and absurd as this Production now appears to us, its Effect on the Age of its Birth, and a Century afterwards, were extensive and melancholy in the extreme. It contributed, indeed, more than any other Work on the Subject, to rivet the Fetters of Credulity; and scarcely had a twelve month elapsed from its Publication, before its Result was visible in the Destruction in Scotland, of not less than 600 human Beings at once, for this imaginary Crime![13]

The Succession of James to the Throne of Elizabeth served but to propagate the Contagion; for no sooner had he reached this Country, than his Dæmonologie reappeared from an English Press, being printed in London, in 1603, in Quarto, and with a Preface to the Reader, which commences by informing him of the "fearfull abounding at this Time in this Country, of these detestable Slaves of the Devel, the Witches, or Enchanters;"[14] a Declaration which, during the Course of the same Year, was accompanied by a new Statute against Witches, one Clause of which enacts, that, "Any one that shall use, practice, or exercise any Invocation or Conjuration of any evill or wicked Spirit, or consult, covenant with, entertaine or employ, feede or reward, any evill or wicked Spirit, to or for any Intent or Purpose; or take up any dead Man, Woman or Child, out of his, her, or their Grave, or any other Place where the dead Body resteth, or the Skin, Bone, or other Part of any dead Person, to be employed or used in any Manner of Witchcraft, Sorcery, Charme, or Enchantment; or shall use, practice, or exercise any Witchcraft, Enchantment, Charme, or Sorcery, whereby any Person shall be killed, destroyed, wasted, consumed, pined, or lamed, in his or her Body, or any Part thereof, such Offenders, duly and lawfully convicted and attainted, shall suffer Death."

      This Act was not repealed until the Year 1736. (ix Geo. II.)

      We cannot wonder if Measures such as those, which stamped the already existing Superstitions with the renewed Authority of the Law, and with the Influence of regal Argument and Authority, should render a Belief in the Existence of Witchcraft almost universal; Fashion and Interest on the one Hand, and Ignorance and Fear on the other, mutually contributing, by concealing and banishing Doubt, to disseminate Error, and preclude Detection.

      Who those were who, at this Period, had the Misfortune to be branded with the Appellation of Witches; what Deeds were imputed to them, and what was the Nature of their supposed Compact with the Devil, are Questions which will be most satisfactorily answered in the Words of Reginald Scot, whose Book is not only extremely scarce, but highly curious and entertaining; and two or three Chapters from this copious Treasury of Superstition, with a very few Comments from other Sources, will exhaust this Part of the Subject.

      "The Sort of such as are said to be Witches," writes Scot, "are Women which be commonly old, lame, bleare-eied, pale, fowle, and full of Wrinkles; poore, sullen, Superstitious, and Papists; or such as know no Religion; in whose drousie Minds the Divell hath gotten 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; imprinting in their Minds an earnest and constant Imagination thereof. They are leane and deformed, shewing Melancholie in their Faces, to the Horror of СКАЧАТЬ