Devil; Witchcraft -- Great Britain; Witchcraft -- United States
She was also able to raise devils, and had several at her command,
_Beelzebub_, _Tormentor_, _Satan_, and _Lucifer_, and one scene with them
is thus described: ‘And, presently, the back Door of the house flying
open, there came five spirits, as the Maid supposed, in the likeness of
ragged Boys, some bigger than others, and ran about the house, where she
had drawn the Staff, and the Witch threw down upon the ground Crumbs of
Bread, which the Spirits picked up, and leapt over the Pan of Coals
oftentimes, which she set in the middest 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 on the ground,
which the said Spirits picked up, and so, in a short time, the wind was
layd, and the Witch, going forth at her back Door, the Spirits vanished.’
But she also dabbled in poisoning: ‘And in a short time after, Mistress
_Rosewel_ sent her again to the Witch, to know of her when the day should
be, that Mistris _Goddard_ should be poysoned, and delivered her eight
shillings to give the Witch; so the Maid went again to the Witch
accordingly, and gave her the eight shillings, and the Witch replyed she
could not tell her then, but gave the Maid one shilling, and bid her go to
an Apothecary, and buy some white _Arsenick_, and bring it to her to
prevent it, which the Maid did, and carried it to the Witch, who said to
her she would take it and burn it, to prevent the poysoning, but she burnt
it not, as the Maid could see, at all....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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