The Mischief, however, was but in Progress, and received a rapid Acceleration from the Publication of the _Dæmonologie_ of King James, at Edinburgh, in the Year 1597. The Origin of this very curious Treatise was probably laid in the royal Mind, in Consequence of the supposed Detection of a Conspiracy of 200 Witches with Dr. Fian, "Register to the Devil," at their Head, to bewitch and drown His Majesty, on his Return from Denmark, in 1590. James attended the Examination of these poor Wretches with the most eager Curiosity, and the most willing Credulity; and, when Agnis Tompson confessed, that she, with other Witches, to the Number just mentioned, went altogether by Sea, each one in her Riddle, or Sieve, with Flagons of Wine, making merry and drinking by the Way, to the Kirk of North Berwick, in Lothian, where, when they had landed, they took Hands and danced, singing all with one Voice: "Commer [Gossip] go ye before, commer goe ye Gif ye will not go before, commer let me." And "that Geilis Duncane did go before them, playing said Reel on a Jew's Trump." James sent for Duncane, and listened with Delight to his Performance of the Witches' Reel on the Jews-harp! On Agnis, however, asserting, that the Devil had met them at the Kirk, His Majesty could not avoid expressing some Doubts; when, taking him aside, she "declared unto him the very Words which had passed between him and his Queen on the first Night of their Marriage, with their Answer each to other; whereat the King wondered greatly, and swore by the living God, that he believed all the Devils in Hell could not have discovered the same."[12] That the Particulars elicited from the Confessions of these unfortunate Beings, which, it is said, "made the King in a wonderful Admiration," formed the Basis of the _Dæmonologie_, may be therefore readily admitted. It is also to be deplored, that, weak and absurd as this Production now appears to us, its Effect on the Age of its Birth, and a Century afterwards, were extensive and melancholy in the extreme. It contributed, indeed, more than any other Work on the Subject, to rivet the Fetters of Credulity; and scarcely had a twelve month elapsed from its Publication, before its Result was visible in the Destruction in Scotland, of not less than 600 human Beings at once, for this imaginary Crime![13]