o give both body and soul to
the devill, to deny and defy God the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost; but especially the blessed Virgin, convitiating her with one
infamous nickname or other; to abhor the word and sacraments, but
especially to spit at the saying of masse; to spurn at the crosse, and
tread saints' images under feet; and as much as possibly they may, to
profane all saints' reliques, holy water, consecrated salt, wax, &c.; to
be sure to fast on Sundays, and eat flesh on Fridays; not to confess
their sins, whatsoever they do, especially to a priest; to separate from
the Catholic church, and despise his vicar's primacy; to attend the
devill's nocturnal conventicles, sabbaths, and sacrifices; to take him
for their god, worship, invoke, and obey him; to devote their children
to him, and to labour all that they may to bring others into the same
confederacy. Then the devill, for his part, promises to be always
present with them, to serve them at their beck; that they shall have
their wills upon any body; that they shall have what riches, honours,
and pleasures they can imagine; and if any be so wary as to think of
their future being, he tells them they shall be princes ruling in the
aire, or shall be but turned into impes at worst. Then he preaches to
them to be mindful of their covenant, and not to fail to revenge
themselves upon their enemies, Then, he commends to them (for this
purpose) an imp, or familiar in the shape of a cat, &c. After this they
shake hands, embrace in arms, dance, feast, and banquet, according as
the devill hath provided in imitation of the supper. Nay, ofttimes he
marries them ere they part, either to himselfe, or to their familiar, or
to one another, and that by the Book of Common Prayer, as a pretender to
witch-finding told me, in the presence of many." After this they part,
and a general meeting is held thrice a year, on some holy day; they are
"conveyed to it as swift as the winds from the remotest parts of the
earth, where they that have done the most execrable mischiefe, and can
brag of it, make most merry with the devill;" while the "indiligent" are
jeered and derided by the devil and the others. Non-attendance was
severely punished by the culprits being beaten on the soles of the feet,
whipped with iron rods, "pinched and sucked by their familiars till
their heart's blood come--till they repent them of their sloth, &c."

Many regulations were, however, to be observed after the abo