meetings were generally held for a similar purpose with the foregoing;
and it appears from the confession before us, that they were conveyed
to them by supernatural means--by that simplest, though despised engine
of loco--(or to coin a a word) aero-motion--a broomstick. They were
obliged to anoint themselves on these occasions "with an oyl the spirit
brought them;" and they were soon transported to the place of
appointment, using these words in their transit, _"Thout, tout, a tout
tout, throughout and about!"_ and on their return they say "Rentum,
tormentum!" Such is the information conveyed in the confession of
Elizabeth Styles, before these "grave and orthodox divines!"

They were also gifted by the "gentleman in black" with various other
wonderful powers and attributes. They could transform themselves into
the likeness of any animal in the creation, and therefore the better
execute their schemes of devilry; but, it appears, that they always
wanted that essential part--the tail; and there was a trial gravely
reported by a Lancashire jury, that a soldier having been set to watch
a mill from the depredations of some cats, skilfully whipped off the
leg of the largest, which lo! the next morning, was changed into the
arm of an old witch (who had long been suspected) in the neighbourhood!
This useful faculty of transformation also extended, in some measure,
to the persons of others; for Dr. Bulwer gives the following _easy
recipe_ for "setting a horse or ass' head" on a man's neck and
shoulders:[3]--"Cut off the head of a horse or an ass _(before they be
dead, otherwise the virtue or strength thereof will be less
effectual,)_ and take an earthen vessel of a fit capacity to contain
the same. Let it be filled with the oyl or fat thereof; cover it
close, and daub it over with loam. Let it boil over a soft fire for
three dayes, that the flesh boiled may run into oyl, so as the bones
may be seen. Beat the hair into powder, and mingle the same with the
oyl, and _anoint the heads of the standers by, and they shall seem to
have horses or asses' heads!_ If beasts' heads be anointed with the
like oyl made of a man's head, (we suppose cut off while the said man
was 'alive!') they shall seem to have men's faces, as divers authors
soberly affirm!"

[Footnote 3: Shakspeare must have derived from this hint, the similar
transformation in "The Midsummer Night's Dream."]

After dwelling on the dark and malignant qualities of witches, it