d their reward at last: set to music, and to be
sung to the tune of Dorothea." The sufferings of the witches at the stake
are explained in it with great minuteness, the poet waxing extremely witty
when he describes the horrible contortions of pain upon their
countenances, and the shrieks that rent the air when any one of more than
common guilt was burned alive. A trick resorted to in order to force one
witch to confess, is told in this doggrel as an excellent joke. As she
obstinately refused to own that she was in league with the powers of evil,
the commissioners suggested that the hangman should dress himself in a
bear's skin, with the horns, tail, and all the et-ceteras, and in this
form penetrate into her dungeon. The woman, in the darkness of her cell,
could not detect the imposture, aided as it was by her own superstitious
fears. She thought she was actually in the presence of the prince of hell;
and when she was told to keep up her courage, and that she should be
relieved from the power of her enemies, she fell on her knees before the
supposed devil, and swore to dedicate herself hereafter, body and soul, to
his service. Germany is, perhaps, the only country in Europe where the
delusion was so great as to have made such detestable verses as these the
favourites of the people:

"Man shickt ein Henkersknecht
Zu ihr in Gefaengniss n'unter,
Den man hat kleidet recht,
Mit einer Baernhaute,
Als wenns der Teufel waer;
Als ihm die Drut anschaute
Meints ihr Buhl kam daher.

Sie sprach zu ihm behende,
Wie laesst du mich so lang
In der Obrigkeit Haende?
Hilf mir aus ihren Zwang,
Wie du mir hast verheissen,
Ich bin ja eben dein,
Thu mich aus der Angst entreissen
O liebster Buhle mein!"[36]

[36] They sent a hangman's assistant down to her in her prison;
they clothed him properly in a bear's skin, as if he were the
devil. Him, when the witch saw, she thought he was her
familiar. She said to him quickly, "Why hast thou left me so
long in the magistrate's hands? Help me out of their power,
as thou hast promised, and I will be thine alone. Help me
from this anguish, O thou dearest devil [or lover] mine!"

This rare poet adds, that in making such an appeal to the hangman, the
witch never imagined the roast that was to be made of her, and puts in, by
way of parenthesis, "was not that fine fu