ch conference was thus
convicted of a capital offence and sentenced accordingly. This accounts for
the fact, commented on by all students of witch-trials, that a witch was
often condemned even though she had invariably used her skill for good and
not for evil; for healing the sick, not for casting sickness. If it were
proved that she had obtained her knowledge from the 'Devil' she had broken
the law and must die.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, 1894, p. 160. The italics are
in the original.]

[Footnote 2: See James Crossley's Introduction to Potts's _Discoverie of
Witchcraft_, Chetham Society, pp. v-xii.]

I. CONTINUITY OF THE RELIGION

Of the ancient religion of pre-Christian Britain there are few written
records, but it is contrary to all experience that a cult should die out
and leave no trace immediately on the introduction of a new religion. The
so-called conversion of Britain meant the conversion of the rulers only;
the mass of the people continued to follow their ancient customs and
beliefs with a veneer of Christian rites. The centuries brought a deepening
of Christianity which, introduced from above, gradually penetrated
downwards through one class after another. During this process the laws
against the practice of certain heathen rites became more strict as
Christianity grew in power, the Church tried her strength against 'witches'
in high places and was victorious, and in the fifteenth century open war
was declared against the last remains of heathenism in the famous Bull of
Innocent VIII.

This heathenism was practised only in certain places and among certain
classes of the community. In other places the ancient ritual was either
adopted into, or tolerated by, the Church; and the Maypole dances and other
rustic festivities remained as survivals of the rites of the early cult.

Whether the religion which survived as the witch cult was the same as the
religion of the Druids, or whether it belonged to a still earlier stratum,
is not clear. Though the descriptions of classical authors are rather too
vague and scanty to settle such a point, sufficient remains to show that a
fertility cult did once exist in these islands, akin to similar cults in
the ancient world. Such rites would not be suppressed by the tribes who
entered Great Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans; a continuance of
the cult may therefore be expected among the people whom the Christian
missionaries