^4 



the intrinfic abfurdity of a report, not only does not prevent, but, to 

 all appearance, facilitates its reception and belief among the vulgar. Such 

 for inftance, was the infpiration of Mifs Kitty Cadiere and her extatic 

 intercourfe with the feraphic Pere Gerard. Such the impofture of Eliza- 

 beth Calming, equally ridiculous and criminal ; where an unfortunate 

 woman muft have fallen the viftim* of wicked contrivance and popular 

 deluCon, (though the (lory was replete with abfurdity,") to the eternal 

 reproach of the nation, had fhe not been refcued, by a train of cir- 

 cumftantial evidence almoft miraculous, furnifliing proof of her innocence, 

 fimilar to this tragic farce, (although public credulity was not quite fo 

 long fuftained,) was the affair of the Cock-Lane Ghoji, yet, we find the 

 great moral philofophcr| of the country gravely employed, in an exa- 

 mination of this foolifli confpiracy. The force of blind credulity, in- 

 fpiring fanguinary rage, and nourifhed by wild and gloomy abfurdities, 

 applying themfelves to the grofs and vulgar imaginations of a populace, 

 appears in the clamour and fury, which at different periods, have been 

 excited againft forcerers. In the earlier ages of Chriflianity, during the 

 fway of the Greek emperorors, multitudes periflied under this ridicu- 

 lous but fatal imputation. Hume obferves, refpefting Scotland,! " the 

 " fanaticifm which prevailed, fo full of four and angry principles, had 

 " acquired a new obje<n: of abhorrence, the forcerers. So prevalent 

 *' was the opinion of witchcraft, xhaX great numbers were burned by 

 " fentence of the magiflrates, through all parts of Scotland. In one 

 " village near Berwick, which contained only fourteen houfes, fourteen 

 " perfons were puniftied with fire ; and it became a fcience, every where 

 " much fludied and cultivated, to know a true witch, by proper trials 

 " and fymptoms." The fame blind, abfurd credulity, the fame panic ab- 

 horrence, and dread of witchcraft, engrafted on a fimilar flock of four 

 fanaticifm, raged in America, within the prefent century. Norefpefta- 



bility, 



* See the account of this (Grange trial which occupied an extraordinary Ipace of -time, 

 iiD the coUeflion of State Trials. 



t Hume's Hiftory of England, Vol. 7tli, Page 151. 

 % Dr. Johnfon. 



