CENTURY X. 1.41 



will do good ; it may help his imagination ; but the 

 belief in a man is far the more active. But howso 

 ever, all authority must be out of a man s self, turned 

 (as was said) either upon an art, or upon a man ; and 

 where authority is from one man to another, there the 

 second must be ignorant, and not learned, or full of 

 thoughts ; and such are (for the most part) all witches 

 and superstitious persons ; whose beliefs, tied to their 

 teachers and traditions, are no whit controlled either 

 by reason or experience ; and upon the same reason, 

 in magic, they use (for the most part) boys and young 

 people ; whose spirits easiliest take belief and imagi 

 nation. 



Now to fortify imagination, there be three ways : 

 the authority whence the belief is derived ; means 

 to quicken and corroborate the imagination ; and 

 means to repeat it and refresh it. 



948. For the authority, we have already spoken. 

 As for the second, namely the means to quicken and 

 corroborate the imagination ; we see what hath been 

 used in magic (if there be in those practices any thing 

 that is purely natural) ; as vestments ; characters ; 

 words ; seals ; some parts of plants, or living creat 

 ures ; stones ; choice of the hour ; gestures and mo 

 tions ; also incenses and odours ; choice of society, 

 which increaseth imagination ; diets and preparations 

 for some time before. And for words, there have been 

 ever used either barbarous words, of no sense, lest they 

 should disturb the imagination ; or words of similitude, 

 that may second and feed the imagination : and this 

 was ever as well in heathen charms as in charms of 



