r-them-down-Maggy," "Blow-Kale," and such
like. The devil himself was not very particular what name they called him,
so that it was not "Black John." If any witch was unthinking enough to
utter these words, he would rush out upon her and beat and buffet her
unmercifully, or tear her flesh with a wool-card. Other names he did not
care about; and once gave instructions to a noted warlock that whenever he
wanted his aid, he was to strike the ground three times and exclaim, "Rise
up, foul thief!"

[Illustration: SIR G. MACKENZIE.]

Upon this confession many persons were executed. So strong was the popular
feeling, that no one once accused of witchcraft was acquitted; at least
acquittals did not average one in a hundred trials. Witch-finding, or
witch-pricking, became a trade, and a set of mercenary vagabonds roamed
about the country provided with long pins to run into the flesh of
supposed criminals. It was no unusual thing then, nor is it now, that in
aged persons there should be some spot on the body totally devoid of
feeling. It was the object of the witch-pricker to discover this spot, and
the unhappy wight who did not bleed when pricked upon it was doomed to the
death. If not immediately cast into prison, her life was rendered
miserable by the persecution of her neighbours. It is recorded of many
poor women, that the annoyances they endured in this way were so
excessive, that they preferred death. Sir George Mackenzie, the Lord
Advocate, at the time when witch trials were so frequent, and himself a
devout believer in the crime, relates, in his _Criminal Law_, first
published in 1678, some remarkable instances of it. He says, "I went, when
I was a justice-depute, to examine some women who had confessed
judicially; and one of them, who was a silly creature, told me, under
secrecy, that she had not confessed because she was guilty, but being a
poor creature, who wrought for her meat, and being defamed for a witch,
she knew she should starve, for no person thereafter would either give her
meat or lodging, and that all men would beat her and set dogs at her, and
that, therefore, she desired to be out of the world; whereupon she wept
most bitterly, and upon her knees called God to witness to what she said."
Sir George, though not wholly elevated above the prejudices of his age
upon this subject, was clear-sighted enough to see the danger to society
of the undue encouragement given to the witch prosecutions. He was
convinced