hat they were witches--that they attended the Domdaniel, or
meeting of the fiends--that they could ride through the air on
broom-sticks, feast on infants' flesh, or creep through a key-hole.

The citizens of Lille were astounded at these disclosures. The clergy
hastened to investigate the matter; many of them, to their credit, openly
expressed their opinion that the whole affair was an imposture--not so the
majority; they strenuously insisted that the confessions of the children
were valid, and that it was necessary to make an example by burning them
all for witches. The poor parents, alarmed for their offspring, implored
the examining Capuchins with tears in their eyes to save their young
lives, insisting that they were bewitched, and not bewitching. This
opinion also gained ground in the town. Antoinette Bourignon, who had put
these absurd notions into the heads of the children, was accused of
witchcraft, and examined before the council. The circumstances of the case
seemed so unfavourable towards her that she would not stay for a second
examination. Disguising herself as she best could, she hastened out of
Lille and escaped pursuit. If she had remained four hours longer, she
would have been burned by judicial sentence as a witch and a heretic. It
is to be hoped that, wherever she went, she learned the danger of
tampering with youthful minds, and was never again entrusted with the
management of children.

The Duke of Brunswick and the Elector of Menz were struck with the great
cruelty exercised in the torture of suspected persons, and convinced, at
the same time, that no righteous judge would consider a confession
extorted by pain, and contradictory in itself, as sufficient evidence to
justify the execution of any accused person. It is related of the Duke of
Brunswick that he invited two learned Jesuits to his house, who were known
to entertain strong opinions upon the subject of witchcraft, with a view
of shewing them the cruelty and absurdity of such practices. A woman lay
in the dungeon of the city accused of witchcraft, and the duke, having
given previous instructions to the officiating torturers, went with the
two Jesuits to hear her confession. By a series of artful leading
questions the poor creature, in the extremity of her anguish, was induced
to confess that she had often attended the sabbath of the fiends upon the
Brocken; that she had seen two Jesuits there, who had made themselves
notorious, even among wi