ASTROLOGY. 677 
on vvliomsocver tbev thought proper; and to punish their enemies in 
a variety of ways. 
The belief that certain persons were endowed with supernatural 
power, and that they were assisted by invisible spirits, is very ancient. 
The sages of the Romans seem rather to have been sorcerers than 
witches; indeed, the idea of a witch, as above described, could not 
have been prevalent till after the propagation of Christianity, as the 
heathens had no knowledge of the evil spirit, styled by Christians the 
devil. Witchcraft was universally believed in Europe till the sixteenth 
century, and even maintained its ground with tolerable firmness till 
the middle of the seventeenth. Vast nunTbers of reputed witches 
were convicted, and condemned to be burnt, every year. The methods 
of discovering them were various. One was, to weigh the supposed 
criminal against the church bible, which, if she was guilty, would pre- 
ponderate ; another, by making her attempt to say the Lord’s prayer — 
this no witch was able to repeat entirely, but would omit some part 
or sentence thereof. It is remarkable, that all witches did not hesitate 
at the same place ; some leaving out one part, and some another. 
Teats, through which the imps sucked, were indubitable marks of a 
witch ; these were always rawg and also insensible, and, if squeezed, 
sometimes yielded a drop of blood. A witch could not weep more 
than three tears, and that only out of the left eye. This want of 
tears w'as, by the witch -finders, and even by some judges, considered 
as a very substantial proof of guilt. Swimming a w'itch, was another 
kind of popular ordeal generally practised ; for this she was stripped 
naked, and cross bound, the right timmb to the left toe, and the left 
thumb to the right toe. Thus prepared, she was thrown into a pond 
or river, in which, if guilty, she could not sink ; for having, by her 
compact with the devil, renounced the benefit of the water of baptism, 
that element, in its return, renounced her, and refused to receive her 
into its bosom. Sir Robert Filmer mentions two others, by fire : the 
first, by burning the thatch of the house of the suspected witch ; the 
other, burning any animal supposed to be bewitched by her, as a hog 
or ox : these, it w'as held, would force a witch to confess. The 
trial by a stool, was another method used for the discovery of witches. 
It was thus managed. Having taken the suspected witch, she was 
placed in the middle of a room upon a stool or table, cross-legged, 
or in some uneasy posture, to which if she submitted not, she w'as 
then bound with cords ; there she was watched, and kept without 
meat or sleep for the space of twenty-four hours, for they said, within 
that time they should see her imp come and suck. A little hole was 
likewise made in the door, for imps to come in at ; and lest it should 
come in some less discernible shape, they that watched w'ere taught 
to be ever and anon sw'eeping the room, and, if they saw' any spiders 
or flies, to kill them ; if they could not kill them, then they might be 
sure they were imps. If witches, under any examination or torture, 
would not confess, all their apparel was changed, and every hair of their 
body shaven ofl' with a sharp razor, lest they should secrete magical 
charms to prevent their confessing. Witches were most apt to con- 
fess on Fridays. By such trials as these, and by the accusation of 
children, old women, and fools, were thousands of unhappy women 
