One of the earliest Lexicographers, or Expounders of English Words, was Edward Phillips, the Nephew of John Milton. It is said that Phillips made up his Work from Milton's Preparation in the same Line. However that might be, it is quite clear that many of his Definitions have that Clearness and Precision for which Milton is so remarkable. Phillips's third (and I believe his last) Edition of "The New World of Words" was printed in 1671. In that we find Witchcraft thus defined: "A certain evill Art, whereby with the Assistance of the Devil, or evill Spirits, some Wonders may be wrought, which exceed the common Apprehension of Men: It cometh from the Dutch Word _Wiechelen_, that is, to divine, or guesse; it is called in Latin Veneficium, in Greek _Pharmaceia_, i.e. the Art of making Poisons." In 1706, John Kersey published the sixth Edition of Philips's Work, greatly augmented; though the Definition of _Witchcraft_ is cut down to a few Words, thus: "The Black Art, whereby with the Assistance of the Devil, or evil Spirits, some Wonders may be wrought, which exceed the common Apprehensions of Men." Phillips does not define a _Witch_, but he says a "Wizard is a Witch, a cunning Man, one that telleth where things are that were lost. Some think it comes from the Saxon Word _Witega_, i.e. a Prophet." Kersey defines a Witch, an old Hag, or Woman that deals with Familiar Spirits; and a Wizard "a Sorceror, or Inchanter; a Cunning Man," &c., as before. In 1674, Thomas Blount published the fourth Edition of his "Glossographia, or Dictionary of hard Words." He says, "Witch is derived from the Dutch _Witchelen_, or _Wiichelen_, which properly signifies whinnyng and neighing like a Horse; also to foretell or prophecy; and _Wiichelen_, signifies a Soothsayer; for that the Germans (from whom our Ancestors the Saxons usually descended) did principally (as Tacitus tells us) divine and foretel Things to come by the whinnying and neighing of their Horses; _Hinitus_ and _Trenitus_ are his Words." Witchcraft is not defined by Blount himself; while under the Article _Witch_, he extracts from Master William Perkins: "Witchcraft is an Art serving for the working of Wonders by the Assistance of the Devil, so far as God will permit." To make the Definition of Witchcraft still more plain, Mr. Blount extracts thus from an old Author named _Delrio_,[1] who defines Witchcraft to be "An Art, which by the Power of a Contract, entred into with the Devil, some Wonders are wrought, which pass the common Understanding of Men." As we approach a later Age, Lexicographers are pretty careful in their Definitions of Witchcraft. Bailey, in his folio Dictionary of 1730, says it is "the Art of bewitching, enchanting, divining, &c." Johnson, though a Believer in Witchcraft, shirks the Definition of it thus: "The Practice of Witches. _Bacon_. Power, more than natural. _Sidney_."