made
into hash, and by way of second course, the bodies of wizards
disentombed. Toads dance, and talk and complain lovingly of their
mistresses, getting them scolded by the Devil. The latter politely
escorts the witches home, lighting them with the arm of a child who
died unchristened, &c.

Among our Basques witchcraft put on a less fantastic guise. It seems
that at this time the Sabbath was only a grand feast to which all, the
nobles included, went for purposes of amusement. In the foremost line
would be seen persons in veils and masks, by some supposed to be
princes. "Once on a time," says Lancre, "none but idiots of the Landes
appeared there: now people of quality are seen to go." To entertain
these local grandees, Satan sometimes created a _Bishop of the
Sabbath_. Such was the title he gave the young lord Lancinena, with
whom the Devil in person was good enough to open the ball.

So well supported, the witches held their sway, wielding over the land
an amazing terrorism of the fancy. Numbers regarded themselves as
victims, and became in fact seriously ill. Many were stricken with
epilepsy, and barked like dogs. In one small town of Acqs were counted
as many as forty of these barkers. The Witch had so fearful a hold
upon them, that one lady being called as witness, began barking with
uncontrollable fury as the Witch, unawares to herself, drew near.

Those to whom was ascribed so terrible a power lorded it everywhere.
No one would dare shut his door against them. One magistrate, the
criminal assessor of Bayonne, allowed the Sabbath to be held in his
own house. Urtubi, Lord of Saint Pe, was forced to hold the festival
in his castle. But his head was shaken to that degree, that he
imagined a witch was sucking his blood. Emboldened, however, by his
fear, he, with another gentleman, repaired to Bordeaux, and persuaded
the Parliament to obtain from the King the commissioning of two of its
members, Espagnet and Lancre, to try the wizards in the Basque
country. This commission, absolute and without appeal, worked with
unheard-of vigour; in four months, from May to August, 1609, condemned
sixty or eighty witches, and examined five hundred more, who, though
equally marked with the sign of the Devil, figured in the proceedings
as witnesses only.

* * * * *

It was no safe matter for two men and a few soldiers to carry on these
trials amongst a violent, hot-headed people, a multitude of wild