W I T 



for Stewart remarks, that this obfervation is juft, if by ge- 

 nuine wit we mean wit wholly diverted of every mixture of 

 humour ; and if by laughter we mean that convulfive and 

 noify agitation which is excited by the ludicrous. But 

 there is unquellionably a fmile appropriated to the flafhes 

 of wit ; — a fmile of furprife and wonder : — not altogether 

 unlike the effeft produced on the mind and the countenance 

 by a feat of legerdemain when executed with uncommon 

 excefs. 



Humour, fay our critics, is the genuine wit of comedy. 



Wit, Child. See CaiLB-Wit. 



V/iT-F't/h, in Ichthyology, a name given by the Dutch in 

 the Eafl. Indies to a ii(h common on thofe coalts, and feem- 

 ing to be of the tcenia kind. It is of the fize of our common 

 whiting. Its back is ftraight and even, and its belly pro- 

 minent ; its fnout is pointed fomewhat upwards, and tail 

 forked. It has one fingle fpine or prickle on its back, and 

 has a long belly -fin reaching from the head to near the tail; 

 its whole body is ftriated, and it has two long filaments or 

 beards hanging from its fnout, and is a very fine and delicate 

 fifh. Ray. 



WiT-Fi/h is alfo the name given by the Dutch to an Eaft 

 Indian fi(h, called by Mr. Ray, Allula Indica. 



WITASARI, in Geography, a town of Sweden, in Ta- 

 vaftland ; 70 miles N.N.E. of Jamfio. 



WITCH of Endor, in Biblical Hi/lory, a woman who had 

 a familiar fpirit, and who was employed by Saul to confult 

 the deceafed Samuel concerning the iiTue of his conteft with 

 the Philiftines. See i Sam. xxviii. 



The explication of this part of facred hiftory has greatly 

 perplexed commentators and critics. Some, in deference to 

 the authority of the ancient fathers of the Chriftian church, 

 who afcribed to magicians and necromancers the power of 

 caUing up the fouls of the dead, have given a literal inter- 

 pretation of this hiftory, and fuppofed that Samuel aftually 

 appeared to Saul. But to this opinion it has been juftly 

 objefled, that it is repugnant to the order of the natural 

 world, and to the doftrines of revelation refpeding the ftate 

 of the dead. It cannot be fuppofed confident with a juft 

 reverence of God to believe, that he has fubjefted the fouls 

 of the departed, not excepting thofe of the moft eminent 

 faints and prophets, to be remanded back from their dillindl 

 abodes, by the praftice of the moft execrable rites, and at 

 the call of fome of the vileft mortals, and compelled to re- 

 veal what he has feen fit to conceal. Natural reafon confirms 

 the fuffrage of fcripture, when it brands the whole magic 

 art, to which evocations of the dead, and all necromantic 

 divinations appertain, as founded in impofture. Others, 

 who cannot admit that witches are able to difturb the fouk 

 of good men, much lefs of propliets, are neverthelefs of 

 opinion, that tliefe wretched women can caufe the devil to 

 counterfeit the fouls of the dead ; and that in the cafe before 

 us, an evil fpirit appeared before Saul in the likenefs of 

 Samuel. (See Patrick on I Sam. xxviii. 12.) But this 

 opinion gives an unwarrantable advantage for the fupport of 

 idolatry to thofe impoftures that were praiStifed by heathen 

 forcerers and diviners. Befides, the very apparition of a fpi- 

 ritual and incorporeal being, and tiie gift oi prophecy, are 

 real miracles, and cannot take place but by divine appoint- 

 ment : and laftly, the hiftorian calls the appearance to Saul 

 Samuel, wliich he could not do with truth, if it was no 

 other than the devil, who here appears, not as a tempter, 

 but as a very fevere reprover of impiety and wickednefs. 



Many learned men have, therefore, maintained, that it 

 was neither Samuel, nor an evil fpirit, who here appeared 

 to Saul ; but that the whole was the work of human im- 

 pofture. In fupport of this opinion it may be pleaded, that 



\V I T 



the woman to whom Saul applied to call up Samuel was 

 merely a ventriloquift, pofTeffing an art very ferviceable to 

 thofe who counterfeited the anfwers of the dead. This opU 

 nion, hpwever, hke the foregoing one, contradids the fa- 

 cred hiftorian, who not only reprefents the Pythonefs as 

 affirming, but himfelf affirms, that ftie faw Samuel, and 

 that Samuel fpoke to Saul : nor has he dropt the leaft hint 

 that it was not the real Samuel of whom he was fpeaking. 



Others have fuppofed, that the appearance of Samuel to 

 Saul was a divine miracle : though whether the miracle 

 confifted in raifing Samuel, or in prefenting an image or re- 

 prefentation of him before Saul, it is not neceflary to de- 

 termine. Accordingly, the apparition muft be afcribed, 

 not to the power of inchantment, but to the immediate ap- 

 pointment of God, as a rebuke and punifliment to Saul. 

 This opinion is maintained by Dr. Waterland, in his Ser- 

 mons, vol. ii. p. 267, and defended by Dr. Delany in his 

 Life of David ; but combated by Dr. Chandler, with ob- 

 jeftions which, as far as they aff'eft the fcripture hiftory of 

 the matter, are anfwered or obviated by Mr. Farmer, in his 

 Diflertation on Miracles, p. 486, &c. 



"WlTCH-Hazle, in Botany. See Hazle. 



Witch IJland, in Geography, one of the fmaller Virgin 

 iflands ; 6 miles E. of St. John. 



WITCHCRAFT, the crime of forcery, efpecially in 

 women. 



Many think there maybe fome foundation for what we 

 call fafcination and witchcraft. We have innumerable in- 

 ftances and hiftories to this purpofe ; which it would not 

 be fair to fet afide, merely becaufe they are not reconcileable 

 to our philofophy : but, as it happens, there feems to be 

 fomething in philofophy to countenance fome of them. 



Indeed, the ridiculous ftories that are generally told, and 

 the many impoftures and delufions that have been difcovered, 

 in all ages, are fufficient to demolifti all faith in fuch a du- 

 bious crime ; if the contrary evidence were not alfo ex- 

 tremely ftrong. Wherefore, (fays judge Blackftone,) it 

 feems to be the moft eligible way to conclude, with an in- 

 genious writer of our own (Speft. N° 1 17.^ that in gene- 

 ral there has been fuch a thing as witchcraft, though one 

 cannot give credit to any particular modern inftance of it. 

 Some readers will, however, probably diftent from this in- 

 ference of Mr. Addifon, and the opinion of the learned 

 judge, and incline to confider witchcraft in general as 

 a fpecies of impofture. See Magician, and Miracle. 



What the writers in favour of the opinion advance, as 

 their reafons, is as follows : 



All hving things, they fay, emit effluvia, both by the 

 breath and the pores of the fliin. All bodies, therefore, 

 within the fphere of their perfpiratory or expiratory efflu- 

 via, will be aft'efted by them ; and that, in this or another 

 manner, according to the quahty of the effluvia ; and in 

 this or that degree, according to the difpofition of the 

 emittent and recipient parts. 



This, indeed, is inconteftible ; nor need we produce iu- 

 ftances of animals exhahng fweet or ftinking fmells ; or of 

 infectious difeafes conveyed by effluvia, &c. in confirmation 

 of it. 



Now, of all parts of an animal body, the eye, we know, 

 is the quickeft. It moves with the greateft celerity, and in 

 all the variety of diredions. Again, its coat and humours 

 are permeable as any other part of the body (witnefs the 

 rays of light it fo copioudy receives. ) The eye, therefore, 

 no doubt, emits its effluvia like the other parts. The fine 

 humours of the eye muft be contiuually exhaling. The 

 lieat of the pervading rays will rarefy and attenuate them : 

 and that, with the fubtile juice or fpirit of the neighbour- 



4 B 2 iiig 



