d with the Devil, That if he should be safely protected during the
space of 14 years aforesaid, while such time as it expired, that then he
was to take away both body and soul as his own right and interest.'[263] At
Lille in 1661 Madame Bourignon's girls indicate the renewal of the
contract: 'The Devil gives them a Mark, which Marks they renew as often as
those Persons have any desire to quit him. The Devil reproves them then
more severely and obligeth them to new Promises, making them also new Marks
for assurance or pledge, that those Persons should continue faithful to
him.'[264] In Somerset in 1664 Elizabeth Style said that the Devil
'promised her Mony, and that she should live gallantly, and have the
pleasure of the World for Twelve years, if she would with her Blood sign
his Paper, which was to give her Soul to him'.[265] At Groton in New
England in 1671, according to Elizabeth Knap, 'the terme of time agreed
upon with him was for 7 yeers; one yeere shee was to be faithfull in his
service, and then ye other six hee would serve her, and make her a
witch'.[266] At Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1673 Ann Armstrong 'deposeth that Ann
Drydon had a lease for fifty yeares of the divill, whereof ten ar expired.
Ann Forster had a lease of her life for 47 yeares, whereof seaven are yet
to come. Lucy Thompson had a lease of two and forty, whereof two are yet to
come, and, her lease being near out, they would have perswaded this
informer to have taken a lease of three score yeares or upwards.'[267] In
New England some of the 'afflicted' said of Goodwife C. that 'she had
Covenanted with the _Devil_ for ten Years, six of them were gone, and four
more to come'.[268] In modern France the belief in the contract for a term
of years is recorded, but nothing is said of the renewal of the contract or
of the fate of the witch who refuses such a contract. In the department of
Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse the full method of entering on such a contract is
known: 'Si vous voulez venir au bois avec moi, vous verrez un homme venir a
vous. C'est le chef. Il vous demandera si vous voulez vous engager dans la
societe. Si vous acceptez, le terme d'engagement est de _sept_ ans et vous
gagnerez une _plaquette_ par jour.'[269] Among the Walloons the neophyte
takes with him a black hen, which the Devil buys, and then ratifies the
contract, 'le pacte est fait pour une duree de sept ans.'[270]

5. _The Baptism_

Records of the baptism of candidates are rare, the rite