ot so certain, one of his letters saying
he should return by sea. By this, however, may be understood his return
to the court at Edinburgh, having had leave of absence to visit his
friends in London.

THE LANCASHIRE WITCHES.

"More swift than lightning can I flye
About this aery welkin soone;
And, in a minute's space, descrye
Each thing that's done below the moone."

--BEN JONSON.

"When I consider whether there are such persons as _witches_, my
mind is divided: I believe, in general, that there is such a thing
as witchcraft, but can give no credit to any particular instance of
it."--ADDISON.

The term witchcraft, says the historian of Whalley, is now "transferred
to a gentler species of fascination, which my fair countrywomen still
continue to exert in full force, without any apprehension of the county
magistrates, or even of the king in council."

Far different was the application in days of old. The common parish
witch is thus described by a contemporary writer, as an old woman "with
a wrinkled face, a furred brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint
eye, a squeaking voice, or a scolding tongue; having a rugged coat on
her back, a skull-cap on her head, a spindle in her hand, and a dog or
cat by her side." Such was the witch of real life when this superstition
was so prevalent in our own neighbourhood, and even throughout England.
From the beginning of the reign of James the First to the concluding
part of the reign of James the Second, it may be considered as having
attained the zenith of its popularity. "Witchcraft and kingcraft both
came in with the Stuarts and went out with them." It was as if his
_infernal_ majesty had taken a lesson from his _sacred_ majesty, and
issued a book of sports for his loyal subjects. "The Revolution put to
rights the faith of the country as well as its constitution." "The laws
were more liberally interpreted and rationally administered. The trade
of witch-finding ceased to be reputable or profitable;" and that silly
compilation, the "Demonology" of James, which, with the severe laws
enacted against witchcraft by Henry the Eighth and Elizabeth, had
conjured up more witches and familiars than they could quell, was
consigned to the book-worm and the dust. It is said in the Arabian
tales, that Solomon sent out of his kingdom all the demons that he could
lay his hands on, packed them up in a brazen vessel, and cast them into
the se