WITCHCBAFT. 603 WITENAGEMOT. sliipi'i's lield liylitud candles and spat on tlie jjiiHind; a banijUL't was attcadi/d willi sacrilice ul I'liildivn and canniljalisni, and llic whole nicct- inf; I'uni'liidi'd willi an oryy. Jleicin lies an im- j)uitant .suuice ol modern yatanisni ((J. v.). The uilelies, who at all times might call on the aid of their .Satanic master, were sujipospd to have the power of transformation (especially into eats and hares), and could torment persons whoni they wislied to injure by thrusting invisi- ble needles into their llesh. All tliis account of (he gatherings and potency of sorcerers depended on world-old superstitions, now reinforced, for- nuilalcd. and judicially attested. Accusations were uiulti)died liy nuilieicnis intentions, and in many cases a. charge of witchcraft was oidy a method of getting rid of an enemy or of coiiliscating the properly of the rich. During two centuries the destruction was terrible; one judge of Nancy is said to have put to death 800 culprits in six years ; at Toulouse 400 perished in a single exe- cution; in the city of Treves alone 7000 perished. The whole number of victims has been estimated at .300.000. In Great Britain a peculiarly bad record belongs to Scotland. In England the law enacted in lllO.'i against those "'making invocation or conjuration of any evil and wicked spirit, or taking up any dead person with view to employ- ing in sorcery, or practicing witchcraft," re- mained on the statute book for a century. Ex- aminations were conducted in the spirit of pure superstition; one way of ascertaining guilt was by forcing the witch to swim, it being believed tiuit the devotee of Satan would be lighter than water. Certain bodily marks, insensible to pain, were supposed to indicate guilt, and were sought by pricking with a needle. At all times there were incredulous persons, but their disbelief was generality held to be synonymous with atheism ; this was the attitude of Luther, and of Jolin Wesley as late as 17G8. In America prosecutions for witchcraft during the seventeenth century occurred in Massachu- setts, Connecticut, Virginia, and elsewhere, but the only extensive panic was that which prevailed at Salem, Mass., in 1(102, near the end of the delusion, being especially nourished by the ex- travagant opinions of Cotton jMather. The ac- cusations were only an echo of those credited through Europe, but the colony soon became ashamed of its credulity. In England the last trial for w-itchcraft was that of Jane Wenham in 1712, who was not put to death; in Scotland an execution took place in 1722, and the witch- craft statute was repealed in 1735. xmong the people belief in witches everywhere continued, and has hardly become extinct even yet. Consult: (^riisse, Bihlioiheca Uagica (Leipzig, 1843) ; Schindler, Aherglauhe des Mittclaltcrs (Breslau, 1858) ; Lecky. TJisfory of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of liotinnnJism in Europe ( Xew York, 1 8(10 ) ; RoskoiT. flcneli iclite dcs Tciifels (Leipzig. 18(}!l) ; Ni]ipold, i»ic ijcyciiiriirtiye Wie- dcrljrhbung dcs Ucxcnylaubens (Berlin, 1875) ; Soldan, Geschichte drr nc.rriiprozeDse (2d ed. by Hcppe, Stuttgart. 1880) ; Mejer, Die Periode der Hexenprozesse (Hanover. 1882) ; Adams, Tl'i7c/i, Warloclc. mid Mnyicirni (London. ISS!)) : Llingin, Kcliyion und Eexenproxss (Leipzig, 1888) ; Sneli, Tlexenprozesse mid Geisteastonnig (Mu- nich. 18011 ; Henne am Bhyn. Der Teufel- und Bexenylauhc (Leipzig, 1802) ; Steinhausen, Vol. XX.— 39. (JiK'llcn und HI adieu zur UeHchichle der Uexen- l.nj::cs,sc ( V'eimar, 1808); Hansen, Zaubcricalm, Inquiaitiun und ilexcnprozcss im Mittelalter (Alunicli, 1000) ; id., Quellcn. und Untersuehun- gen zur (Jescliickle des. Ilexeniiahnu und der UexenKcrfolyung im Mittelalter (Bonn, 1001); (Jarinet, Uistoire de la, magie en Frunee (I'aris, 1818) ; Baissac, Les grands jours de la sorceU Icrie (ib., 1890); Bchcltema, (} eschiedenis der Ueksenprocessen (Haarlem, 1828) ; Scott, Let- ters on Demonology and Witeheraft (new ed., London, 1884); Wright, Narratives of Sorcery and Magic (ib., 1851); Sharpe, Historical Ac- count of the Belief in Witchcraft in Scotland (ib., 1884); Ashton, The Ueail in lirilain and America (ib., 1806) ; Upham, History of the Salem Delusion (new ed., Boston, 18(17). See HusioNOLOfiY; Maoic; Satanism. WITCH-HAZEL {UamamcHs Virgininna) . A North American shrub of the natural order Ham- amelidacciE. It sometimes attains a height of 20 or 30 feet. The clustered, yellow, showy flowers appear in very late autumn; the fruits ripen the following year. The English name is derived from the supposed virtues of a forked twig as a divining rod. The name is usually spelled as abox-e, though some insist on the form 'wych- hazel.' A fluid extract made froin the leaves niTCH-HAZKL. is used as a tonic, sedative, and astringent. The bark, which is similarly employed, contains tan- nin, resin, and a volatile oil, is bitter and astringent, and has a sweetish pungent taste. Its re|mtation is probably S.xaggerated, as sevei'al investigators have failed to find any active physi- ological properties in it. WITCH OF ATIiAS, The. A poem written in Italy in the winter of 1810-20, by Percy Bysshe Shelley, and published in London in 1824. WITCH OF ED'MONTON, The. A play by Rowley, Dekker. and Ford, acted in 1623 and printed in 1058. It was founded on the story of Elizabeth Sawyer, who was himted down by peasants and hanged as a witch. WITCH OF ENDOR. See Endob. WITENAGEMOT, wlt'e-na-ge-mot' (AS., as- sembly of counselors) . The supreme council of the English nation in Anglo-Saxon times. Each of the separate kingdoms in the so-called heptarchy (q.v.)
