708 
DEMONOLOGY. 
treated largely of this fort of fafeination.—Convulfive 
di (cafes were fuppofed to be preternatural, when 1'uch 
umfcles were affected as produced unufual contortions 
of a terrifying appearance. The cafe of the Norfolk 
boy, in the late Dr. Wall’s Medical Elfays, has all thofe 
Ivmptoms which a demonologift would require, to eda- 
blifh it as an indance of fafeination; and we learn that 
his parents fufpected fuch an influence. The only thing 
deficient in this (lory, for the purpofe of demonology, is, 
that the boy did not fpeak Greek or Latin; that is, he 
wanted juft fo much of being an iinpoflor. In the ninth 
volume, of the Medical Commentaries, publifhed in 1786, 
are three cafes of convulfions, in which the appearances 
w ere fo extraordinary, that the country people fuppofed 
the patients were bewitched.—Demonologids build much 
on the JpeBral fight, that is, on the apparition of the witch 
to a patient, during the fit: this circumftance procured 
the condemnation of mod of the perfons accufed in New 
England. It is well known, that feveral diforders are 
attended with very terrible fpetlral appearances'; parti¬ 
cularly the qphialtes, or night-mare, the delirium ol fe¬ 
vers, and Come varieties of melancholy and madnefs. It 
is equally certain, from the trials which have been pub¬ 
lifhed of thofe unhappy fufferers in America, that leve- 
ral of thofe who thought themfelves bew itched, had no 
other complaint than the night-mare, during the acceflion 
of which, the image of fome unfortunate neighbour was 
prefented to them, who paid for the fumes of another’s 
indigeftipn with life. Demonologifls have been much 
puzzled to account for the fpedtral light; for it was long 
; quell ion among them, whether the devil could tranfport 
a witch, bodily , into a houfe when the doors were Unit. 
Dr. More believed that the ajlral fpirit only was carried 
about; the American demonologifls fuppofed that the de¬ 
vil produced this appearance himfelf, by operating on the 
patient’s imagination; even Dr. Hutchinfon was inclined 
to Wierus’s opinion refpefting demoniacal interference.— 
When any natural adlion was fuddenly impeded, the pa¬ 
tient was fuffidently apt to fuppofe himfelf bewitched, 
efpecially if his incapacity was of a difgraceful nature. 
This power, imputed to lorcerers, was termed the liga¬ 
ture ; and, according to Wierus and Delrio, who treat of 
it fully, was not confined to the human body, but ex¬ 
tended to inanimate objects ; thus, according to Wierus, 
a fleet might be bound fad in port, notwithflanding fa¬ 
vourable winds, and all the efforts of the mariners ; he 
adds, that an army may be rendered i inactive and ufelefs, 
by the ligature ; events equally furprifing have happened 
in our times', without provoking anyi fufpicion of witch¬ 
craft.—The appearance of the dura and varia matcries, al¬ 
ready fpoken of, was always reckoned* de'cifive, where 
other appearances had given fufpicion of a preternatural 
difeafe. When we read of rats, black fcaly frogs, black 
flannel, &c. vomited by patients, it is impoflible to avoid 
recollecting Dr. Smollet’s dory of the three black crows; 
yet Wierus afferts, that he has taken pieces of flannel 
out of a patient’s mouth, immediately after infpecting it 
diligently, to fatisfy himfelf that nothing was concealed 
there. He is obliged to confefs, that the fubdance ex¬ 
tracted had never been in the domach, becaufe it was 
Jcarcely wet; and if we fay, in purfuing his theory, that a 
confederate, and not a demon , introduced the materics into 
the mouth, all the oblcurity of the quedion vanifhes. 
II. In tracing fufpicions of magic, it cannot be too 
often repeated, that knowledge and addrefs exceeding 
the common dandard, were frequently their foie founda¬ 
tion. Mod of the popes were reckoned magicians, ac¬ 
cording to Wierus, who adds a particular relating to 
Gregory VII. which deferves fome attention : that pon¬ 
tiff' was held in great veneration, becaufe when lie pulled 
off' his gloves, fiery ('parks iffued from them ; quando vo- 
lebat, (Wierus quotes front Benno,) tnanicas dij'cuticbat 
Juas, unde ignis in fcintillarum modum diflUUi This is a 
curious anticipation of Canton’s difeovery !—The figns 
pointed out by demonologifls are futile and inwu Utlive. 
One of them is drawn from the fufpeTed witch enquir¬ 
ing anxioufly about the health of the patient. Ridiculous 
as this may appear, it is to be found among the direc¬ 
tions for examining witches, in Dalton’s Country Judice. 
The mark, fuppoled to be fet by the devil on thefe un¬ 
happy creatures, was one of the mod certain figns, and 
indudrioufly fought for ; but Dalton acknowledges that 
this mark may drongly refemble a flea-bite. Another 
fign confided in by the fame writer, is the appearance of 
the witch’s familiar, that is, the imp devoted to her, in 
confequence of the demoniacal compadt. Now Glanville, 
fin his collections, affords feveral examples of the fami¬ 
liar appearing in the fltape of a fly ; and Hutchinfon af¬ 
ferts, that the witch-finders concluded either a fpider, 
beetle, or fly, to be the familiar, if the animal was found 
in the fame room with the witch, and could not be killed 
by the aflidants. — Bodinus acknowledges, that dired't 
proof is not always to be exp'edted, in cafes of witch¬ 
craft ; in which he is followed by Dalton. So zealous 
was the former, that he thought”it judifiable to profe- 
cute witches on the (lighted fufpicions, or common re¬ 
port : he owned that where nothing could be proved, 
their lives mud not be touched ; but punifliment to a 
certain degree he thought neceffary. The gentle inflic¬ 
tions of this pious judge, who comprehends fifteen feve¬ 
ral crimes under magic, were public whipping, and con¬ 
demnation to the galleys. Thus, it is evident, the cri¬ 
minal Lad little to hope, even from the deficiency of 
proof, and the boaded authority of thofe public trials 
vanifhes on a clofe examination. But demonologids 
think the fads completely edablidied by the concurrent 
tedimony of witneffes, and by the confeffions of witches, 
obtained without the application of torture. The wit¬ 
neffes mud be divided into two clafl'es ; thofe who were 
themfelves deceived, and thofe who deceived others. Of 
the fird, bedde the examples in the New-England affair, 
fome curious indances may be found in the dory of the 
Nottingham boy ; thus, one of the witneffes depofed, 
“ That he had feen the boy turn his face direftly back¬ 
ward, not moving his body ; and that his eyes were as 
large as bead’s eyes ; and that his tongue would be thruft 
out of his mouth to the bignefs of a calf’s tongue.” But 
mark how all thefe wonderful circumftances difappear, 
on his crofs examination: “ My meaning was, (fays he-,) 
that he turned his face a good way toward his flioulder, 
and that his eyes were fomewhat goggling; and by reafon 
that it was candle-light when I faw his tongue thrud out, 
and by reafon of my conceit of the drangenefs of Somers’s 
troubles, it feetned fomewhat bigger than, if he had been 
well, I (hould have thought it to have been.” At the 
fame time, the commiflioners, who examined the nature 
of the boy’s fits, were all terrified by feeing a black dog 
in the room, belonging to a/purrier, which they took 
for the devil. In 1633, feventeen perfons were con¬ 
demned at Lancader aflizes, on the evidence of a boy, 
who afterwards confelfed himfelf to be an impodor ; 
Webder fays he heard this confefTton from the boy’s own 
mouth. This l'econd clafs of witneffes got money from 
the well-difpofed, and therefore are of no credit. The 
Robinfons, who accufed feventeen at Lancader, went 
from parilh to paridi, and received contributions. 
Demonologids, indeed, profefs- themfelves willing to 
give up all indances where any deception can be pointed 
out, and confine themfelves to thofe which are not cir- 
cumftantially difproved ; they exult particularly in the 
dory of Mompeffon, which is publiflied at great length 
in the Saducifmus Triumphatus. It is true that no impofi- 
stion was ever difeovered in that affair; but it is a drong 
prefumption againd the demoniacal nature of the difturb- 
ances, that when the king fent fome gentlemen to en¬ 
quire into them, every thing was quiet during their reii- 
dence in the houfe. Glanville excufes this, by faying, 
that the noifes fometimes ceafed for weeks together, 
but, confcious of the weaknefs of this apology, lie adds, 
that probably the devil did not think it for his inhered, 
to 
