Page:A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More.djvu/146

104 ''very high wind, which made the house shake, and presently the back-door of the house flying open, there came five Spirits, as the Maid supposed, in the likenesse of ragged Boyes some bigger then others, and ran about the house, where she had drawn the staff; and the Witch threw down upon the ground crums of breads which the Spirits picked up, and leapt over the Pan of coals oftentimes, which she set in the midst of the Circle, and a Dog and a Cat of the Witches danced with them: and after some time the Witch looked again in her book, and threw some great white seeds upon the ground, which the said Spirits picked up; and so in short time the wind was laid, and the Witch going forth at her back-door the Spirits vanished. After which the Witch told the Maid, that Mr. Mason should demand fifteen hundred pound, and one hundred and fifty pound per annum, of Mr. Goddard, and if he denied it she should prosecute the Law against him, and be gone from his Father, and then he should gain it: with which message the Maid returned and acquainted Mr.'' Mason.

3, But it may be it will be objected, That these were some poor ragged Boyes that complotted there with Anne Bodenham to get money upon pretence of Conjuring and foretelling future events, whenas it was indeed nothing else but a cheat within the power of an ordinary knavish wit. But the loudness of the wind, and the forcible shaking of the house upon those Magical Words and Ceremonies, may easily answer, or rather quite blow away, such frivolous Evasions.

4. But if the Objector will yet persist in his opinion, let him reade the circumstances of the second Conjuration of this Witches. For the same Maid being sent again to her from the same party, to enquire in what part of the house the Poison was that should be given her Mistris, Hereupon she took her stick of before, and making therewith a Circle, the wind rose forthwith: then taking a beesome, she swept over the Circle, and made another; and looking in her book and glass as formerly, and using some words softly to her self, she flood in the Circle and said, Belzebub, Tormentor, Lucifer and Satan'' appear. There appeared first a Spirit in the shape of a little Boy, as she conceived, which then turned into another shape something like a Snake, and then into the shape of a shagged Dog with great eyes, which went about in the Circle; and in the Circle she set an earthen Pan of Coals, wherein she threw something which burned and stank, and then the Spirit vanished. After which the Witch took her book and glass again, and shewed the Maid in the glast M$ris$ Sarah Goddard's Chamber, the colour of the Curtains, and the bed turned up the wrong way, and under that part of the bed where the Bolster lay she shewed the poison in a white paper. The Maid afterward returned home, and acquainted M$ris$ Rosewell with what the Witch had shewed her in a glass, that the poison lay under M$ris$ Sarah's Bed, and also spoke to her that they might goe together and take it away.''

The transformation of a Boy into a Snake, and of that Snake into a shagged Dog with staring eyes, is a feat far above all humane art or wit whatsoever.

5, Nor can it be imagined that Melancholy had so disturbed the mind of the Maid, that she told her own dreams or fancies for external sensible transactions. For she was imployed by others in a reall Negotiation Rh