by turns. We have the most remarkable trials for
witchcraft in these countries, as well as cases in which supernatural
agency was only an incidental part,--as that of the Earl and Countess of
Somerset, for the murder of Overbury.

By way of showing that Mr. Wright is by no means an indifferent
story-teller, we may refer to the following legend:

"The demons whom the sorcerer served seem rarely to have given
any assistance to their victims when the latter fell into the
hands of the judicial authorities; but if they escaped
punishment by the agency of the law, they were only reserved
for a more terrible end. We have already seen the fate of the
woman of Berkeley. A writer of the thirteenth century has
preserved a story of a man who, by his compact with the Evil
One, had collected together great riches. One day, while he was
absent in the fields, a stranger of suspicious appearance came
to his house and asked for him. His wife replied that he was
not at home. The stranger said, 'Tell him when he returns, that
to-night he must pay me my debt.' The wife replied that she was
not aware that he owed any thing to him. 'Tell, him,' said the
stranger, with a ferocious look, 'that I will have my debt
to-night.' The husband returned, and when informed of what had
taken place, merely remarked that the demand was just. He then
ordered his bed to be made that night in an outhouse, where he
had never slept before, and he shut himself in it with a
lighted candle. The family were astonished, and could not
resist the impulse to gratify their curiosity by looking
through the holes in the door. They beheld the same stranger,
who had entered without opening the door, seated beside his
victim, and they appeared to be counting large sums of money.
Soon they began to quarrel about their accounts, and were
proceeding from threats to blows, when the servants, who were
looking through the door, burst it open, that they might help
their master. The light was instantly extinguished; and when
another was brought, no traces could be found of either of the
disputants, nor were they ever afterwards heard of. The
suspicious-looking stranger was the demon himself, who had
carried away his victim."

FOOTNOTES:

[I] Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, from the most Authentic Sources. By
Thomas Wright,