Irish Witchcraft and DemonologySeymour, St. John D. (St. John Drelincourt)
History
Irish Witchcraft and Demonology
Seymour, St. John D. (St. John Drelincourt)
Demonology; Witchcraft -- Ireland
So far, so good. But there are two sides to every question. Years rolled
by, bringing ever nearer and nearer the time at which the account had to
be settled, and at length the fatal day dawned. The Devil arrived to
claim his victim, and found him sitting in his house reading his Bible by
the light of a candle, whereupon he directed him to come along with him.
The Doctor begged that he might not be taken away until the candle, by
which he was reading, was burned out. To this the Devil assented,
whereupon Dr. Colville promptly extinguished the candle, and putting it
between the leaves of the Bible locked it up in the chest where he kept
his gold. The candle was thus deposited in a place of safety where there
was no danger of any person coming across it, and thus of being the
innocent cause of the Doctor's destruction. It is even said that he gave
orders that the candle should be put into his coffin and buried with him.
So, we may presume, Dr. Colville evaded the payment of his debt. Our
readers may perchance wonder why such stories as the above should have
become connected with the reverend gentleman, and an explanation is not
hard to be found. Dr. Colville was a well-known divine, possessed of great
wealth (inherited lawfully, we may presume), and enjoyed considerable
influence in the country-side. At this time Ulster was overrun by
triumphant Presbyterianism, which the Doctor, as a firm upholder of
Episcopacy, opposed with all his might, and thereupon was spoken of with
great acerbity by his opponents. It is not too uncharitable, therefore, to
assume that these stories originated with some member of that body, who
may well have believed that such had actually happened.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account