uld be never to speak of them,
and to bury them in silence and oblivion. In any place where for time
immemorial no one has ever been suspected of witchcraft, let them only
hear that a monk is arrived to take cognizance of this crime and
punish it, and directly you will see troops of green-sick girls, and
hypochondriacal men; crowds of children will be brought to him ill
with unknown maladies; and it will not fail to be affirmed that these
things are caused by spells cast over them, and even when and how the
thing happened. It is certainly a wrong way of proceeding, whether in
sermons, or in the works published against witches, to amuse
themselves with giving the history of all these mad-headed people
boast of, of the circumstances in which they have taken a part, and
the way in which they happened. It is in vain then to declaim against
them, for you may be assured that people are not wanting who suffer
themselves to be dazzled by these pretended miracles, who become
smitten with these effects, so extraordinary and so wonderful, and try
by every means to succeed in them by the very method which has just
been taught them, and forget nothing which can place them in the
number of this imaginary society. It is then with reason that the
author says in his book, that punishment even sometimes serves to
render crime more common, and "that there are never more witches than
in those places where they are most persecuted." I am delighted to be
able to finish with this eulogium, in order that it may be the more
clearly seen that if I have herein attacked magic, it is only with
upright intentions.

XVII. The eagerness with which I have written this letter has made me
forget several things which might very well have a place in it. The
greatest difficulty which can be opposed to my argument is that we
sometimes find, even amongst people who possess a certain degree of
knowledge and good sense, some persons who will say to you, "But I
have seen this, or that; such and such things have happened to
myself." Upon which it is proper, first of all, to pay attention to
the wonderful tricks of certain jugglers, who, by practice and
address, succeed in deceiving even the most clear-sighted and sensible
persons. It must next be considered that the most natural effects may
sometimes appear beyond the power of nature, when cleverly presented
in the most favorable point of view. I formerly saw a charlatan who,
having driven a nail or a large pin