four old witches, who with their charms so affected the Danes that
they were thereby unable to annoy their enemies. One of the witches,
on being taken prisoner, confessed her guilt.

The West Indians, Muscovites, and Huns sought the help of witches in
time of war.

A band of witches in Italy, in 1536, renewed a plague, then almost
ceased, by besmearing with an ointment and a powder the posts and
doors of men's houses. One of the wicked old hags having been
apprehended and examined, confessed the fact. The like villany was
perpetrated elsewhere about the same time. Weeping and lamentation
were heard in every dwelling for fathers stricken down by death; but,
strange to say, the women escaped injury. Cattle were killed through
wolves' dung being hidden in stalls and among the pasture where they
fed. The stench caused the animals to refrain from eating, and made
them run about as if they were mad.

Witches highly prized, and frequently used in their nefarious art, the
hair growing on the end of a wolf's tail, the brain of a cat, the head
of a lizard, the bone of a green frog from which the flesh had been
eaten by ants. One bone of a frog engendered love, while another bone
caused hatred.

Garments of the dead, candles that had burned before a stiffened
corpse, and needles wherewith dead bodies had been sewn in sheets,
were precious in the eyes of cunning persons.

Witches and magicians had power, by means of charms, to put into the
minds and consciences of men such thoughts as they pleased; and,
moreover, they could induce people to disclose their heart secrets.

Maids hung up a quantity of their hair before the image of St. Urbane,
trusting that by so doing their hair would grow long and yellow.

A holy vest was at times given by the Pope to a faithful son of Mother
Church, to protect him from violence of every description. The manner
of making a charmed waistcoat is thus explained:--On Christmas night,
flax thread was spun by a virgin girl, and afterwards woven by her.
After the garment was sewn by the same little hands which had spun the
thread and woven the cloth, two figures in needlework were wrought on
it to resemble Beelzebub and the Cross. One of these vestments gave
the wearer courage in the hour of danger: witches were unable to harm
him, bullets could not hit him, the sword's edge was turned aside, and
the pointed spear levelled against him proved harmless.

Leo, Pope of Rome, reported that an angel d