or natural objects,' defired to be seen, in a magical lens. Meric Cafaubon Meric Cafaubon publifhed Dee's Conferences with Spirits, in a large folio, accompanied with a Preface. Some curious particulars respecting this man, of Evans, and Forman, who was employed in Somerfet's affair, may be found in Lilly's Life; or in the Antiquarian Repertory, where they have been lately republished.

Martin relates that a fpecies of divination had been practifed in fome of the western islands, within his memory, which does not appear to have prevailed in the reft of Europe; at leaft I find no notice of it among the demonologifts. The perfons defirous of an oracle went into a folitary place, carrying with them an ox, which they killed on the fpot. A fire was then made, under a rock, or near a tree, the animal was flayed, and the boldeft of the company was wrapped up in the hide, tied fast, and left alone during the whole night, to expect an answer to the demand made by his friends, from invifible beings whom he heard about him. Martin adds that he had this relation from a perfon who himself had paffed a night in the hide, and who affured him that he heard fuch dreadful things during that night, that no temptations fhould ever induce him to expofe himfelf again in the same situation (F). It is remarkable that this fort of oracle fhould be fo little known

to demonologists, fince we meet with nearly the fame thing in the Eneid, when Latinus confults the oracle of Faunus:

huc dona facerdos

Cum tulit, et cæfarum ovium fub nocte filenti
Pellibus incubuit ftratis, fomnofque petivit ;
Multa modis fimulacra videt volitantia miris,
Et varias audit voces, fruiturque Deorum
Colloquio, atque imis Acheronta affatur Avernis.

Lib. VII. 86.

The inhabitants of the western ifles used to divine, alfo, by roafting a cat.

The original opinion of Magic feems to have been formed merely from the fuperior knowledge or dexterity of individuals. The fullest proof of this may be found in Naudé's Apology for great Men accufed of Magic; where he makes it apparent, that, at particular times, fuperior abilities always drew this imputation on their poffeffor. And all the writers on this fubject allow, that natural magic, which is their first divifion, implies no more than an acquaintance with the leaft obvious facts of natural philofophy*. Excellence in a particular profeffion fometimes conftituted. a magician; thus, in the last century, Dr. Bartolo was feized by the inquifition at Rome, on a charge of necromancy, because he unexpectedly cured a nobleman of the gout. It is

*See Agrippa, Cicogna, Morhoff, &c. &c.

probable, that for a long time, magicians were fuppofed to operate only by natural means, the powers of which could not be eftimated in times of general ignorance. The repetition of verfes, or the preparation of herbs, were the firft magical acts: Cicero imputes the origin of the word Saga to the ideas I have been defcribing. Sagire enim fentire acuté eft; ex quo fage anus, quia multa fcire volunt, & fagaces dicti canes. But by degrees, religious opinions were interwoven with magic, and at length Plato's hypothefis of aërial demons furnished a fyftem from which magical arts were explained with fufficient plaufibility. Quanquam Platoni credam, fays Apuleius, inter Deos & bomines, natura et loco medias quafdam divorum poteftates interfitas, eafque divinationes cunetas & magorum miracula gubernaret. After the establishment of christianity thefe operations were afcribed to diabolical influence, exerted by compact with the magician. The differences of this opinion will be explained presently.

Magic is ufually divided into natural and divine, lawful‡, and unlawful ||. Necromancy confifted in employing members of dead bodies as charms or remedies: according to this definition, it was necromantic in all the colleges of Europe to infert the human skull as a remedy in their difpenfatories. But a complete table of

* De Divinat. lib. II,
† Apologia Prima.

Or ceremonial.

|| Or demoniacal.

D 3

its

its divifions, with the operations which they feverally include, may be feen in Paracelfus's Philofophia Sagax, where its branches appear very numerous. Of all thefe, however, the division of witchcraft, including poffeffions, has excited most attention, and has indeed been most interefting, as a theological, legal and medical queftion. It is chiefly with refpect to the laft that I mean to confider it.

I fhall not meddle with the controversy of Jannes and Jambres, the magicians of Pharaoh, nor inquire whether the witch of Endor had a clofet*, neither is it neceffary to collect the claffical authorities for witchcraft: all this has been fully done†, and every thing, credible and incredible, relating to the civil and religious hiftory of the fubject may be found in Wierus, Delrio, and in a very extraordinary book, entitled the Imaginations of Mr. Ouffle, which, with the moft childish arrangement, and great poverty of invention, exhibits the completeft collection of demonological facts to be found in any one. work.

That in early ftates of fociety, diseases were fuppofed to be inflicted by fupernatural powers, is an acknowledged fact, and follows naturally from the general principle, of men's anxiety to furmount their ignorance of the relations of cause

*See Scott and Webfter.

+ Wier. de Lamiis.

and

and effect. The difpofition, which, in one age, made Efculapius a god, in another, made Dr. Bartolo a necromancer; among the Egyptians the offices of prieft and phyfician were originally joined; among the Jews, the priest cured the leprous; among the Greeks, fpafmodic difeafes, and particularly epilepfy, were imputed to the anger of the gods, and managed by diviners. The first part of Hippocrates's Treatife De Morbo Sacro is written against this fuperftition, and contains a curious account of the diagnofis formed by the medical diviners. Siquidem namque (agri) capram imitentur, & balatum edant, dextramque in partem convellantur, deorum matrem in caufa effe afferunt. Si vero acutiorem & vehementiorem vocem edat ager, equo fimile effe dicunt, & ad Neptunum caufam referunt. Quod fi ftercoris aliquid emittat (quod nonnullis morbo preffis contingit) Hecates Enodie appellatio adhibetur. Sin autem tenuius & crebrius dejiciat, velut aves, Apollo Nomius. Si verò fpumam ex Ore demittat, & pedibus calcitret, Mars author eft. He adds that befides the employment of ceremonies, they forbad their patients to wear a black veftment, becaufe black denoted death, or to fleep on a goat-fkin, or to place either hand, or foot, upon the other. According to these rules, fays he, a Libyan would never be cured of this diftemper, for in Libya goat-fkins are univerfally worn and flept in.