Therewithal did I hasten home and prepare my
instruments, and cast my figures for the onset
of the next day. Took out my ring of brass,
and put it on the index-finger of my right hand,
with the scutum Davidis traced thereon.

"January 12, 1665. Rode into the gateway at
Botathen, armed at all points, but not with
Saul's armour, and ready. There is danger
from the demons, but so there is in the surrounding
air every day. At early morning, then, and
alone, for so the usage ordains, I betook me
towards the field. It was void, and I had
thereby due time to prepare. First, I paced
and measured out my circle on the grass. Then
did I mark my pentacle in the very midst, and
at the intersection of the five angles I did set
up and fix my crutch of raun (rowan). Lastly,
I took my station south, at the true line of the
meridian, and stood facing due north. I waited
and watched for a long time. At last there was
a kind of trouble in the air, a soft and rippling
sound, and all at once the shape appeared, and
came on towards me gradually. I opened my
parchment-scroll, and read aloud the command.
She paused, and seemed to waver and doubt;
stood still; then I rehearsed the sentence
again, sounding out every syllable like a chant.
She drew near my ring, but halted at first
outside, on the brink. I sounded again, and
now at the third time I gave the signal in Syriac
—the speech which is used, they say, where such
ones dwell and converse in thoughts that glide.

"She was at last obedient, and swam into the
midst of the circle, and there stood still,
suddenly. I saw, moreover, that she drew back
her pointing hand. All this while I do confess
that my knees shook under me, and the drops
of sweat ran down my flesh like rain. But now,
although face to face with the spirit, my heart
grew calm, and my mind was composed. I
knew that the pentacle would govern her, and
the ring must bind, until I gave the word.
Then I called to mind the rule laid down of old,
that no angel or fiend, no spirit, good or evil,
will ever speak until they have been first spoken
to. N.B. This is the great law of prayer.
God himself will not yield reply until man hath
made vocal entreaty, once and again. So I went
on to demand, as the books advise; and the
phantom made answer, willingly. Questioned
wherefore not at rest? Unquiet, because of a
certain sin. Asked what, and by whom?
Revealed it; but it is sub sigillo, and therefore,
nefas dictu: more anon. Inquired, what sign
she could give that she was a true spirit, and
not a false fiend? Stated, before next yule-tide
a fearful pestilence would lay waste the land,
aud myriads of souls would be loosened from
their flesh, until, as she piteously said, "our
valleys will be full." Asked again, why she so
terrified the lad? Replied: 'It is the law: we
must seek a youth or a maiden of clean life, and
under age, to receive messages and admonitions.'

We conversed with many more words, but it is
not lawful for me to set them down. Pen and
ink would degrade and defile the thoughts she
uttered, and which my mind received that day.
I broke the ring, and she passed, but to return
once more next day. At even song, a long
discourse with that ancient transgressor, Mr. B.
Great horror and remorse; entire atonement
and penance; whatsoever I enjoin; full
acknowledgment before pardon.

"January 13, 1665. At sunrise I was again in
the field. She came in at once, and, as it
seemed, with freedom. Inquired if she knew
my thoughts, aud what I was going to relate?
Answered, 'Nay, we only know what we
perceive and hear; we cannot see the heart.'
Then I rehearsed the penitent words of the man
she had come up to denounce, aud the satisfaction
he would perform. Then said she, 'Peace
in our midst.' I went through the proper
forms of dismissal, and fulfilled all as it was set
down and written in my memoranda; and then,
with certain fixed rites, I did dismiss that
troubled ghost, until she peacefully withdrew,
gliding towards the west. Neither did she ever
afterward appear; but was allayed until she shall
come in her second flesh to the Valley of
Armageddon on the last day."

These quaint and curious details from the
"diurnal" of a simple-hearted clergyman of the
seventeenth century appear to betoken his
personal persuasion of the truth of what he saw
and said, although the statements are strongly
tinged with what some may term the superstition,
and others the excessive belief, of those
times. It is a singular fact, however, that the
canon which authorises exorcism under
episcopal license, is still a part of the ecclesiastical
law of the Anglican Church, although it might
have a singular effect on the nerves of certain
of our bishops if their clergy were to resort
to them for the faculty which Parson Rudall
obtained. The general facts stated in his
diary are to this day matters of belief in that
neighbourhood; and it has been always
accounted a strong proof of the veracity of the
Parson and the Ghost, that the plague, fatal to
so many thousands, did break out in London
at the close of that very year. We may well
excuse a triumphant entry, on a subsequent
page of the "diurnal," with the date of July
10, 1665: "How sorely must the infidels and
heretics of this generation be dismayed when
they know that this black death, which is now
swallowing its thousands in the streets of the
great city, was foretold six months agone,
under the exorcisms of a country minister, by a
visible and suppliant ghost! And what pleasures
and improvements do such deny themselves
who scorn and avoid all opportunity of
intercourse with souls separate, and the spirits,
glad and sorrowful, which inhabit the unseen
world!