The Mysteries of All Nations: Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together with Strange Customs, Fables, and TalesGrant, James (Archaeologist)
History
The Mysteries of All Nations: Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together with Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales
Grant, James (Archaeologist)
Occultism; Superstition; Trials (Witchcraft)
"Sotter, sotter, my wee pan,
To the spirit gin ye can;
When the scum turns blue,
And the blood bells through,
There's something aneath that will change the man."
The crone continued her orgies, one time blowing her fire, again
stirring the liquid in the caldron, and then making it run from the
end of a stick that she might note its gelidity. All her operations
were being gone through to call up certain familiar spirits whose
presence she desired.
In another apartment sat Michael Scott. He wore a turban of crimson
velvet, ornamented with mystic figures in gold, and on the front of it
was a dazzling star. His eyes were bright and piercing, resembling
those of a serpent. He was stout-made, and had a strong bushy beard,
turning grey. On beholding Charlie Scott (he alone entered the
wizard's _sanctum sanctorum_), the wizard stamped three times on the
floor, and in a moment Prim, Prig, and Pricker stood beside him.
"Work, master, work--what work now?" demanded they. "Take that burly
housebreaker, bind him, and put him to the test," were the
instructions they received. When the elves were about to seize
Charlie, he drew his sword, and thrust out right and left, but his
blade did nothing more than whistle through vacancy. In an instant he
was thrown down and bound with cords. The master and his familiars
then had a conversation in Latin (the language best understood by
Satan and his emissaries) concerning the prisoner's baptism. They
stripped him, and were about to begin a painful operation, when
Charlie, bound though he was, succeeded in crossing himself and
pronouncing a sacred name. That instant the pages started back
trembling, and their weapons fell from their hands. Another of the
company was thrown down and bound by the imps; but when they attempted
to seize the friar, they could not so much as touch his frock. The
fair Delany stood trembling behind the pious father; and on the fiends
feeling their want of power over him, they rushed at the young virgin.
But the moment they touched her garments, they retired in dismay. The
friar, remembering that the maid had the blessed Gospel concealed in
her bosom, concluded that in that precious book she found protection.
As to his own personal safety he had no fear, as he possessed a charm,
proof against Satan himself. "He drew his cross from below his
frock--that cross which had been consecrated at the shrine of Saint
Peter, bathed in holy water, and blessed with many blessings from the
mouths of ancient martyrs--had done wondrous miracles in the hands of
saints of former days--and lifting that reverently on high, he
pronounced the words from holy writ, against which no demon or false
spirit's power could prevail. In one moment the three imps fled
yelling from the apartment." At the same time the countenance of the
enchanter fell, and his whole body quaked. The friar then unloosed
those that were bound.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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