WITCHCRAFT, &C.
MACB. How now, you secret, black, and mid-night hags? What is't you do?
WITCHES. A deed without a name.
MACB.
I conjure you by that which you profess,
(Howe'er you come to know it,) answer me;
Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches--though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up--
Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down--
Though castles topple on their warder's heads--
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
Their heads to their foundations--though the
treasure
Of nature's germins tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken, answer me
To what I ask you. SHAKSPEARE.
In our two preceding papers,[1] we have briefly brought before the
attention of the reader, a few of the most prominent and striking
features connected with the history of the first (as the honourable
house hath it in 1602) "of those detestable slaves of the devil,
witches, sorcerers, enchanters and conjurors." And now we proceed to
offer a few concluding illustrations of the subject.
[1] See vol xi. p. 391--vol. xii. p. 70.
In the early ages, to be possessed of a greater degree of learning and
science than the mass of mankind (at a time when even kings could not
read or write) was to be invested with a more than earthly share of
power; and the philosopher was in consequence subjected in many cases to
a suspicion at once dangerous and dishonourable: to use the language of
Coleridge, the real teachers and discoverers of truth were exposed to
the hazard of fire and faggot; a dungeon being the best shrine that was
vouchsafed to a Roger Bacon or a Galileo!
A few years since, a place was pointed out to the writer, on the borders
of Scotland, which had been even within the "memory of the oldest
inhabitant," used for the "trial" of witches; and a pool of water in an
adjacent stream is still to be seen, where the poor old creatures were
dragged to sink or swim; and our informant added, that a very great
number had perished on that spot.
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