persons only too numerous in the annals of
witchcraft, who have acknowledged the crime
imputed to them, solely from disgust, terror,
and despair. It was declared that she
had bewitched Marie de Medicis, and the
public belief was confirmed when it was
announced that she had in her possession three
volumes inscribed with magical characters,
five rouleaux of velvet, for the subjugation of
the minds of the great people of the court
(how the velvet was to act is not stated), a
number of amulets to be worn round the
neck, and a letter written by her to a
well-known sorceress, named Isabella. At
Leonora's trial it was proved that her husband and
herself had constructed waxen figures to charm
away life; had consulted divers magicians;
and that she had caused herself to be exorcised
by one Matthieu de Montancy, a noted
sorcerer. These things Leonora Galigaii
confessed to, and she was beheaded in Paris, in
sixteen hundred and seventeen, and her body
was afterwards burnt; her husband, Concini,
fell a victim to the fury of the populace. One
admission, however, was made by Leonora
during her trial, which did not quite agree
with the farrago of lies which, in weariness of
heart, she consented to utter. When asked
by the president Constin, by what charm she
had contrived to fascinate the queen, she
proudly replied, " By that charm which
strong minds exercise over weak ones." Like
Othello, " that only was the witchcraft she
did use." To return, however, to those who
were not like Leonora Galigaii, political
victims, her case having been cited to show
that, when all other accusations failed, the
charge of sorcery was sure to hit the mark,
here is a more special confession, purely
on necromantic grounds. It is that of one
Abel de la Rue, a young man who, says
Bodin, the narrator, was visited by the devil,
who came down the chimney, making as
much noise as if it had thundered (as if it
had not!). Satan invited the neophyte to
attend the party which he gave that evening.
Abel consented, and "Master Parsley"
rubbed him under the arm-pits, and on the
palms of the hands with a very stinking
ointment, and he was forthwith carried away
as it were, by the wind, preceded by a flaming
torch, to a place were about sixty persons
were assembled, all dressed in black robes,
who, on his arrival, immediately began to
sweep the ground with besoms (their late
nags), and suddenly a large black and most
inoderous goat made his appearance bleating
loudly. A ring was then formed, each
person facing outwards (a course always adopted
that they might not see each other, and
afterwards turn delators), and after half an hour's
dancing, they all fell on their knees and
adored the goat as he passed them in review.
After this there fell a shower of grain, which
smelt like a mixture of sulphur and very
stinking carrion (de la charogne fort puante),
which, being ground into powder, was
distributed for malefic purposes amongst the
assembled warlocks.

These reunions, to give them a polite
designation, were always held in some desolate
place, where cross roads met upon a dreary
moor or beside some lonely lake or stagnant
pool, such localities being fittest for the
manufacture of hailstorms and driving tempests.
No grass grew upon the circle that was
formed by the sorcerers' feet, and the soil,
say the demonologists, was ever after
accursed. The ordinary nights of convocation
were Wednesday and Friday, and an inward
monitor invariably indicated the hour of
meeting. A broomstick, as we all know, was
the ordinary mode of conveyance,—a narrow
perch, it must be owned, for a flight, miles
high, through the air; but sometimes imps,
in the disguise of goats and other animals,
offered their services. The last was the
Italian fashion. In France the broomsticks
had the preference, probably because they
were more plentiful than goats. On
anointing themselves, preparatory to mounting for
their ride, the sorceresses repeated several
times the word: " Emen-hétan, emen-hétan,"
which, on the authority of Delancre, signifies
in diabolic language, " Here and there! here
and there." After uttering this formula, the
ladies flew up their chimneys.

Some of these details are universally known;
but such as are of rarer practice may be
described from the accounts furnished by
Delancre, Leloyer, and others who had an inexhaustible
source to draw from—to wit, imagination.
These worthies tell us, then, that witches often
took to the Sabbath, for various purposes, the
children they were in the habit of carrying
off. If a sorceress made a promise to
present to the Devil at the next Sabbath the son
or the daughter of some neighbour, and had
not been able to fulfil it, she was obliged to
offer a child of her own, if she had one. Such
children as were agreeable to the Evil One,
were admitted amongst his subjects after
the following manner. Master Leonard, the
great negro, the president of the Sabbath,
and the smaller demon, Master Jean
Mullin, his lieutenant, appointed sponsors in
the first instance; then a vicarious
renunciation of Christianity took place, and
the novice was marked in the left eye
by one of Leonard's horns. This mark
was not effaced until the novice was thought
worthy of higher distinction, such as the
impression of a toad's foot, the claw of a cat, or
the pad of a hare. During their noviciate
the children were employed beside the lake,
in watching over a flock of toads, with a
white stick for a crook; and when they
had passed a satisfactory examination they
received the second mark, which
conferred the brevet rank of sorcerer, and were
admitted to the festivities of the Sabbath.
It was their custom on their initiation to
say, " I have drunk from the tabourin, have
eaten of the cyinbale, and I am now a