Devil; Witchcraft -- Great Britain; Witchcraft -- United States
Of the English _Sabbat_ we shall hear enough when we come to the various
cases of witchcraft. Scot quotes Bodin, the great French exponent of
witchcraft, ‘who saith, at these magical assemblies the witches never fail
to danse, and in their danse they sing these words: _Har, har, diuell,
diuell, danse here, danse here, plaie here, plaie here, Sabbath, Sabbath_.
And whiles they sing and danse, euerie one hath a broome in hir hand, and
holdeth it up aloft. Item he saith that these night-walking, or rather,
night-dansing witches, brought out of _Italie_ into _France_ that danse
which is called _La Volta_.’
He also says that, according to Danæus, if the witches ‘be lame, the
diuell deliuereth them a staffe, to conueie them thither inuisiblie
through the aire; and that then they fall a dansing and singing of foule
songs, wherein he leadeth the danse himselfe; which danse, and other
conferences being ended, he supplieth their wants of powders and roots to
intoxicate withall; and giueth to euerie nouice a marke, either with his
teeth, or with his clawes, and so they kisse the diuell’s bare buttocks,
and depart; not forgetting euery daie afterwards to offer to him, dogs,
cats, hens, or bloud of their owne.’
[Illustration]
In ‘A Pleasant Treatise of Witches,’ London, 1673, we have the following
account of the _Sabbat_: ‘They [witches] are likewise reported to have
each of them a Spirit or Imp attending on, and assigned to them, which
never leave those to whom they are subject, but assist and render them all
the service they command. These give the witches notice to be ready on all
solemn appointments and meetings, which are ordinarily on _Tuesday_ or
_Wednesday_ night, and then they strive to separate themselves from the
company of all other creatures, not to be seen by any; and, night being
come, they strip themselves naked, and anoint themselves with their
Oyntments. Then they are carryed out of the house, either by the Window,
Door, or Chimney, mounted on their Imps in the form of a Goat, Sheep, or
Dragon, till they arrive at their meeting-place, whither all the other
Wizards and Witches, each one upon his Imp, are also brought. Thus brought
to the designed place, which is sometimes many hundred miles from their
dwellings, they find a great number of others arrived there by the same
means; who, before _Lucifer_ takes his place on his Throne, as King, do
make their accustomed homage, adoring and proclaiming him their Lord, and
rendring him all Honour.
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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