Scot's Discovery of vvitchcraft proving the common opinions of witches contracting with divels, spirits, or familiars ... to be but imaginary, erronious conceptions and novelties : wherein also, the lewde unchristian all written and published in anno 1584, by Reginald Scot, Esquire.

About this Item

Title
Scot's Discovery of vvitchcraft proving the common opinions of witches contracting with divels, spirits, or familiars ... to be but imaginary, erronious conceptions and novelties : wherein also, the lewde unchristian all written and published in anno 1584, by Reginald Scot, Esquire.
Author
Scot, Reginald, 1538?-1599.
Publication
[London] :: Printed by R.C. and are to be sold by Giles Calvert ...,
1651.
Rights/Permissions

To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.

Subject terms
Witchcraft -- Early works to 1800.
Demonology -- Early works to 1800.
Occultism -- Early works to 1800.
Cite this Item
"Scot's Discovery of vvitchcraft proving the common opinions of witches contracting with divels, spirits, or familiars ... to be but imaginary, erronious conceptions and novelties : wherein also, the lewde unchristian all written and published in anno 1584, by Reginald Scot, Esquire." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A62395.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 30, 2024.

Pages

CHAP. III.

What effect and offence witches charmes bring, how unapt witches are and how unlikely to work those things which they are thought to do, what would follow if the those things were true which are lald to their charge.

THe words and other the illusions of witches, charmers, and conju∣rors, though they be not such in operation and effect, as they are commonly taken to be: yet they are offensive to the majestie and name of God, obscuring the truth of divinity, and also of philophie. For if God onely give life and being to all creatures, who can put any such ver∣tue

Page 158

or lively feeling into a body of gold, silver, bread, or wax, as is ima∣gined? If either priests, devils, or witches could so do, the divine pow∣er should be checked and outfaced by magicall cunning, and Gods crea∣tures made servile to a witches pleasure. What is not to be brought to passe by these incantations, if that be true which is attributted to witches? and yet they are women that never went to schoole in their lives, nor had any teachers: and therefore without art or learning; poore, and therefore not able to make any provision of metals or stones, &c. where∣by to bring to passe strange matters, by natural magicke; old and stiffe, and therefore not nimble-handed to deceive your eye with legierdemaine; heavy, and commonly lame, and therefore unapt to flie in the aire; or to dance with the fairies; sad, melancholike, sullen, and miserable, and therefore it should be unto them (Invita Minerva) to bancket or dance with Minerva; or yet with Herodias, as the common opinion of all wri∣ters herein is. On the other side, we see they are so malicious and spite∣full, that if they by themselves, or by their devils, could trouble the e∣lements, we should never have fair weather. If they could kill men, children, or cattel, they would spare none; but would destroy and kill whole coun∣tries and housholds. If they could transferre corne (as is affirmed) from their neighbours field into their owne, none of them would be poore, none other should be rich. If they could transforme themselves and o∣thers (as it is most constantly affirmed) oh what a number of apes and owls should there be of us! If Incubus could beget Merlins among us, we should have a jolly many of cold prophets.

Notes

Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.