tal references. It will be recalled that
James's _Daemonologie_ had come out several years before its author
ascended the English throne. With the coming of the Scottish king to
Westminster the work was republished at London. But, while James by
virtue of his position was easily first among those who were writing on
the subject, he by no means occupied the stage alone. Not less than four
other men gained a hearing within the reign and for that reason deserve
consideration. They were Perkins, Cotta, Roberts, and Cooper.

William Perkins's _Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft_ came first
in order, indeed it was written during the last years of Elizabeth's
reign; but it was not published until 1608, six years after the author's
death.[1] William Perkins was a fellow of Christ's College at Cambridge
and an eminent preacher in that university. He holds a high place among
Puritan divines. His sermons may still be found in the libraries of
older clergymen and citations from them are abundant in commentaries. It
was in the course of one of his university sermons that he took up the
matter of witchcraft. In what year this sermon was preached cannot
definitely be said. That he seems to have read Scot,[2] that however he
does not mention King James's book,[3] are data which lead us to guess
that he may have uttered the discourse between 1584 and 1597. His point
of view was strictly theological and his convictions grounded--as might
be expected--upon scriptural texts. Yet it seems not unfair to suppose
that he was an exponent of opinion at Cambridge, where we have already
seen evidences of strong faith in the reality of witchcraft. It seems no
less likely that a perusal of Reginald Scot's _Discoverie_ prompted the
sermon. Witches nowadays, he admitted, have their patrons. His argument
for the existence of witches was so thoroughly biblical that we need not
go over it. He did not, however, hold to all current conceptions of
them. The power of the evil one to transform human beings into other
shapes he utterly repudiated. The scratching of witches[4] and the
testing of them by water he thought of no value.[5] In this respect it
will be seen that he was in advance of his royal contemporary. About
the bodily marks, the significance of which James so emphasized, Perkins
seems to have been less decided. He believed in the death penalty,[6]
but he warned juries to be very careful as to evidence.[7] Evidence
based upon the accusations