s troubled exceedingly with
witches, he appointed a commission of clergy and laymen to trace the
rumour to its source, with full powers to punish the guilty. On the 12th
of August 1669, the commissioners arrived in the bewitched village, to the
great joy of the credulous inhabitants. On the following day the whole
population, amounting to three thousand persons, assembled in the church.
A sermon was preached, "declaring the miserable case of those people that
suffered themselves to be deluded by the devil," and fervent prayer was
offered up that God would remove the scourge from among them.

[Illustration: LOUIS XIV.]

The whole assembly then adjourned to the rector's house, filling all the
street before it, when the king's commission was read, charging every
person who knew any thing of the witchery, to come forward and declare the
truth. A passion of tears seized upon the multitude; men, women, and
children began to weep and sob, and all promised to divulge what they had
heard or knew. In this frame of mind they were dismissed to their homes.
On the following day they were again called together, when the depositions
of several persons were taken publicly before them all. The result was
that seventy persons, including fifteen children, were taken into custody.
Numbers also were arrested in the neighbouring district of Elfdale. Being
put to the torture, they all confessed their guilt. They said they used to
go to a gravel-pit, that lay hard by the cross-way, where they put a vest
upon their heads, and danced "round and round and round about." They then
went to the cross-way, and called three times upon the devil; the first
time in a low still voice; the second, somewhat louder; and the third,
very loudly, with these words, "Antecessor, come, and carry us to
Blockula!" This invocation never failed to bring him to their view. He
generally appeared as a little old man, in a grey coat, with red and blue
stockings, with exceedingly long garters. He had besides a very
high-crowned hat, with bands of many-coloured linen enfolded about it, and
a long red beard that hung down to his middle.

The first question he put to them was, whether they would serve him soul
and body? On their answering in the affirmative, he told them to make
ready for the journey to Blockula. It was necessary to procure, in the
first place, "some scrapings of altars and filings of church clocks."
Antecessor then gave them a horn with some salve in it, wh