Page:Elizabethan People.djvu/436

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336
THE ELIZABETHAN PEOPLE

this society. Then he teacheth them to make ointments of the bowels and members of children, whereby they ride in the air, and accomplish their desires. So as, if there be any children unbaptised, or not guarded with the sign of the cross, or orisons; then the witches may and do catch them from their mothers' sides in the night, or out of their cradles, or otherwise kiil them with their ceremonies; and after burial steal them out of their graves and seethe them in a caldron, until their flesh be made potable. Of the thickest whereof they made ointment, whereby they ride in the air; but the thinner portion they put into flagons, whereof whosoever drinketh, observing certain ceremonies, immediately becometh a master or, rather, a mistress in that practice and faculty.

"Their homage, together with their oath and bargain, is received for a certain term of years, sometimes forever. Sometimes it consisteth of a denial of the whole faith, sometimes in part. And this is done either by oath, protestation of words, or by obligation in writing, sometimes sealed with wax, sometimes signed with blood, sometimes by kissing the devil's bare buttocks."

Though the witches and their familiars possessed many supernatural qualities, their powers in this direction were limited. When the dog in