They had the most
unlimited authority granted them, and the whole thunders of the Vatican
were directed to the destruction of witches and wizards. The bloody
scenes which followed, exceed description. In 1435, Cumanus (an
inquisitor) burnt forty-one poor women for witches, in the country of
Burlia, in one year. One inquisitor in Piedmont burnt a hundred in a
very short time; and in 1524, a thousand were burnt in one year in the
diocese of Como, and a hundred annually for a considerable period; on
all of whom the greatest cruelties were practised. The fraternity of
witchfinders soon found their way to this country, under the fostering
protection of the government; and it was of course their interest to
keep up the delusion by every means in their power. We have already
alluded to the cruelties exercised in Great Britain during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, and add an account of one of the cruel
ceremonies used to detect witches:--"Having taken the suspected witch,"
says Gaule, "she is placed in the middle of a room upon a stool or
table, cross-legged, or in some other uneasy posture, to which if she
submits not, she is then bound with cords. There she is watched and kept
without meat or sleep for the space of four-and-twenty hours; for (they
say) that within that time they shall see her imp come and suck.
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