izards and witches had arrived at the place of
rendezvous, the infernal ceremonies began. Satan having
assumed his favourite shape of a large he-goat, with a face
in front and another in his haunches, took his seat upon a
throne; and all present in succession paid their respects to
him and kissed him in his face behind. This done, he
appointed a master of the ceremonies, in company with whom
he made a personal examination of all the witches, to see
whether they had the secret mark about them by which they
were stamped as the devil's own. This mark was always
insensible to pain. Those who had not yet been marked
received the mark from the master of the ceremonies, the
devil at the same time bestowing nick-names upon them. This
done, they all began to sing and dance in the most furious
manner until some one arrived who was anxious to be admitted
into their society. They were then silent for a while until
the new comer had denied his salvation, kissed the devil,
spat upon the Bible, and sworn obedience to him in all
things. They then began dancing again with all their might
and singing.... In the course of an hour or two they
generally became wearied of this violent exercise, and then
they all sat down and recounted their evil deeds since last
meeting. Those who had not been malicious and mischievous
enough towards their fellow-creatures received personal
chastisement from Satan himself, who flogged them with
thorns or scorpions until they were covered with blood and
unable to sit or stand. When this ceremony was concluded,
they were all amused by a dance of toads. Thousands of these
creatures sprang out of the earth, and standing on their
hind-legs, danced while the devil played the bagpipes or the
trumpet. These toads were all endowed with the faculty of
speech, and entreated the witches there to reward them with
the flesh of unbaptized infants for their exertions to give
them pleasure. The witches promised compliance. The devil
bade them remember to keep their word; and then stamping his
foot, caused all the toads to sink into the earth in an
instant. The place being thus cleared, preparations were
made for the banquet, where all manner of disgusting things
were served up and greedily devoured by the demons and
witches, although the latter were sometimes regaled with
choice meats and expensive wines, from golden plates and
crystal gobl