eenth century, after sixteen years of untold
atrocities against the heretics of Spain.--TRANS.

In Lorraine there seemed to be quite a dreadful plague of wizards and
visionaries. Driven to despair by the constant passing of troops and
brigands, the multitude prayed to the Devil only. They were drawn on
by the wizards. A number of villagers, frightened by a twofold dread
of wizards on the one hand, and judges on the other, longed to leave
their homes and flee elsewhither, if Remy, Judge of Nancy, may be
believed. In the work he dedicated (1596) to the Cardinal of Lorraine,
he owns to having burnt eight hundred witches, in sixteen years. "So
well do I deal out judgements," he says, "that last year sixteen slew
themselves to avoid passing through my hands."

* * * * *

The priests felt humbled. Could they have done better than the laity?
Nay, even the monkish lords of Saint Claude asked for a layman, honest
Boguet, to sit in judgment on their own people, who were much given to
witchcraft. In that sorry Jura, a poor land of firs and scanty
pasturage, the serf in his despair yielded himself to the Devil. They
all worshipped the Black Cat.

Boguet's book had immense weight. This Golden Book, by the petty judge
of Saint Claude, was studied as a handbook by the worshipful members
of Parliament. In truth, Boguet is a thorough lawyer, is even
scrupulous in his own way. He finds fault with the treachery shown in
these prosecutions; will not hear of barristers betraying their
clients, of judges promising pardon only to ensure the death of the
accused. He finds fault with the very doubtful tests to which the
witches were still exposed. "Torture," he says, "is needless: it never
makes them yield." Moreover, he is humane enough to have them
strangled before throwing them to the flames, always except the
werewolves, "whom you must take care to burn alive." He cannot believe
that Satan would make a compact with children: "Satan is too sharp;
knows too well that, under fourteen years, any bargain made with a
minor, is annulled by default of years and due discretion." Then the
children are saved? Not at all; for he contradicts himself, and holds,
moreover, that such a leprosy cannot be purged away without burning
everything, even to the cradles. Had he lived, he would have come to
that. He made the country a desert: never was there a judge who
destroyed people with so fine a conscience.

But it is