hen the belief in witchcraft was entertained by
society in general, as well as by the majority of educated men, it is
not likely that the persons who were generally accused of it were
skeptical on the subject. Their innocence would lie, not in their
disbelief of its power, but in their rejection of the practice. That an
accusation of witchcraft was sometimes made from political, religious,
or personal motives, is true; and numbers of innocent victims were
sacrificed in times of public mania on the subject. The question is,
whether many did not attempt unlawful arts in full belief of their
efficacy; and whether some, a compound of the self-dupe and the
impostor, did not make use of their reputed power to indulge in the
grossest license and to perpetrate abominable crimes.

The great difficulty, however, is the confessions. In many cases, no
doubt, the victims, worn down by terror and torture, said whatever their
examiners seemed to wish them to say; in other cases, their statements
were exaggerated by the reporters. Yet enough remains, after every
deduction, to render witches' confessions a very curious mental problem.
Was it vision, or monomania, or nervous delusion, all influenced by
foregone conclusion? or was it, as the mesmerists seem to hold, an
instance of clairvoyance in a high degree? The case of Gaufridi is of
this puzzling nature. Gaufridi was a French priest of licentious
character, who succeeded by the opportunities which his priestly
influence gave him, or by some pretended supernatural arts. His crimes
were discovered through the confession of one of his victims, a nun whom
he had abused before profession. After a time, she appeared to be
possessed; and, under treatment by a celebrated exorcist, (an inferior
hand having failed,) she, or the demon in possession, among other things
accused Gaufridi. _Her_ revelations may be resolved into an imposture
instigated by revenge, or a pious fraud caused by remorse, or hysterical
fits, with utterance shaped by memory; but what can be said of
Gaufridi's, made with a full knowledge of consequences?

"The priests who conducted this affair seem almost to have lost
sight of Louis Gaufridi, in their anxiety to collect these
important evidences of the true faith. It was not till towards
the close of winter that the reputed wizard was again thought
of. A warrant was then obtained against him, and he was taken
into custody, and confined in the