In conclusion, we have not considered it necessary to append a bibliography. The books that have been consulted and which have contained no information relative to Ireland are, unfortunately, all too numerous, while those that have proved of use are fully referred to in the text or footnotes of the present volume. We should like however to acknowledge our indebtedness to such general works on the subject as Sir Walter Scott's _Demonology and Witchcraft_, C. K. Sharpe's _History of Witchcraft in Scotland_, John Ashton's _The Devil in Britain and America_, and Professor Wallace Notestein's _History of Witchcraft in England, 1558-1718_ (Washington, 1911); the last three contain most useful bibliographical notices. Much valuable information with respect to the traditional versions of certain incidents which occurred in Ulster has been gleaned from Classon Porter's pamphlet, _Witches, Warlocks, and Ghosts_ (reprinted from _The Northern Whig_ of 1885). For a good bird's-eye view of witchcraft on the Continent from the earliest times we can recommend J. Français' _L'église et la Sorcellerie_ (Paris: Nourry, 1910). CHAPTER II A.D. 1324 DAME ALICE KYTELER, THE SORCERESS OF KILKENNY The history of the proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler and her confederates on account of their dealings in unhallowed arts is to be found in a MS. in the British Museum, and has been edited amongst the publications of the Camden Society by Thomas Wright, who considers it to be a contemporary narrative. Good modern accounts of it are given in the same learned antiquary's "Narratives of Witchcraft and Sorcery" in _Transactions of the Ossory Archæological Society_, vol. i., and in the Rev. Dr. Carrigan's _History of the Diocese of Ossory_, vol. i. Dame Alice Kyteler (such apparently being her maiden name), the _facile princeps_ of Irish witches, was a member of a good Anglo-Norman family that had been settled in the city of Kilkenny for many years. The coffin-shaped tombstone of one of her ancestors, Jose de Keteller, who died in 128--, is preserved at S. Mary's church; the inscription is in Norman-French and the lettering is Lombardic. The lady in question must have been far removed from the popular conception of a witch as an old woman of striking ugliness, or else her powers of attraction were very remarkable, for she had succeeded in leading four husbands to the altar. She had been married, first, to William Outlawe of Kilkenny, banker; secondly, to Adam le Blund of Callan; thirdly, to Richard de Valle--all of whom she was supposed to have got rid of by poison; and fourthly, to Sir John le Poer, whom it was said she deprived of his natural senses by philtres and incantations.