as put to the horrible torture of the _pilliewinkis_. She laid
bare all the secrets of the sisterhood before she had suffered an hour,
and confessed that Gellie Duncan, Dr. Fian, Marian Lincup, Euphemia
Macalzean, herself, and upwards of two hundred witches and warlocks, used
to assemble at midnight in the kirk of North Berwick, where they met the
devil; that they had plotted there to attempt the king's life; that they
were incited to this by the old fiend himself, who had asserted with a
thundering oath that James was the greatest enemy he ever had, and that
there would be no peace for the devil's children upon earth until he were
got rid of; that the devil upon these occasions always liked to have a
little music, and that Gellie Duncan used to play a reel before him on a
trump or Jew's harp, to which all the witches danced.

James was highly flattered at the idea that the devil should have said
that he was the greatest enemy he ever had. He sent for Gellie Duncan to
the palace, and made her play before him the same reel which she had
played at the witches' dance in the kirk.

[Illustration: TORTURE OF THE BOOTS.]

Dr. Fian, or rather Cunningham, a petty schoolmaster of Tranent, was put
to the torture among the rest. He was a man who had led an infamous life,
was a compounder of and dealer in poisons, and a pretender to magic.
Though not guilty of the preposterous crimes laid to his charge, there is
no doubt that he was a sorcerer in will, though not in deed, and that he
deserved all the misery he endured. When put on the rack, he would confess
nothing, and held out so long unmoved, that the severe torture of the
_boots_ was resolved upon. He endured this till exhausted nature could
bear no longer, when insensibility kindly stepped in to his aid. When it
was seen that he was utterly powerless, and that his tongue cleaved to the
roof of his mouth, he was released. Restoratives were administered; and
during the first faint gleam of returning consciousness, he was prevailed
upon to sign, ere he well knew what he was about, a full confession, in
strict accordance with those of Gellie Duncan and Agnes Sampson. He was
then remanded to his prison, from which, after two days, he managed, some
how or other, to escape. He was soon recaptured, and brought before the
Court of Justiciary, James himself being present. Fian now denied all the
circumstances of the written confession which he had signed; whereupon the
king, enraged at