ll in all, it most
assuredly is that, and very little else; and, before proceeding to
examine the _residuum_ of truth that probably exists in connection with
this subject, it will be well for us briefly to examine the other and
darker side of this curious relic of mediaeval superstition, and to see
it in its most sombre hues. A belief for which more than nine million
persons were either burned or hanged since it sprang into being; in
whose cause five hundred persons were executed in three months in 1515
in Geneva alone, is not to be put aside as unworthy of a moment's
consideration; but should, on the contrary, be considered as a most
extraordinary and lasting delusion--helping to colour the times in which
it occurred and influence the whole course of a nation's history.

The first trial for sorcery in England was in King John's reign; the
last within the past two hundred years. In England, America, Germany,
France, Italy, Spain, Russia--every country without exception--witches
have lived, flourished, and been burned at the stake. Laws were enacted
against witches, and they were condemned on the most trivial and even
ridiculous evidence imaginable. If an old woman were seen to enter a
house by the front door, and a black cat was seen to leave the house by
the back door, it was deemed sufficient evidence that the old woman was
a witch, without further evidence or investigation--and indeed much of
the evidence was not nearly so good and circumstantial as this! When a
witch was caught, she was questioned and generally tortured; but it was
soon ascertained that torture was a very unfair and unsafe method of
extracting the truth (here as elsewhere), for the reason that a weak
soul, even if innocent, might confess, and a strong and stubborn one
would hold out and contend for her innocence to the last, whether guilty
or not. For these reasons, it was finally given up before the burning
was abolished.

Witches were supposed to be possessed of the most extraordinary powers
for evil; they could bewitch a man, woman or child--even the cows and
flocks--by casting an "evil eye" upon them, by uttering an imprecation,
or in other ways casting a spell upon them. This power was derived
directly from the devil himself, with whom witches were supposed to be
in direct compact; consequently their influence was all for evil. These
deeds were practised daily throughout the year; but every year there was
a grand meeting of the demons and witc