Historical rarities and curious observations domestick & foreign containing fifty three several remarks ... with thirty seven more several histories, very pleasant and delightful / collected out of approved authors, by William Winstanley ...

Of Spirits or Devils, and that they have had carnal Knowledge of People.

PHilostratus, in his fourth Book de vita Apollonii, relateth of one Menippus Lycius, a young Man 25 years of Age, that going betwixt Cenchreas and Corinth, met a Phantasm in the Habit of a fair Gentlewoman, which taking him by the Hand, carried him home to her House, in the Suburbs of Corinth, and told him she was a Phoenician by Birth, and if he would tarry with her, he should hear her sing and play, and drink such Wine as never any drank, and no man should molest him; but she, being fair and lovely, would live and die with him that was fair and lovely to behold. The young man, a Philosopher, otherwise stay'd and discreet, able to moderate his Passions, though not this of Love, tarried with her a while to his great Content, and at last married her; to whose Wedding, among other Guests, came Apollonius, who, by some proba∣ble Conjectures, found her out to be a Serpent, a La∣mia, and that all her Furniture was like Tantalus's Gold described by Homer, no Substance, but mere Illusions. When she saw her self descried, she wept, and desired Apollonius to be silent, but he would not be moved; and thereupon she, Plate, House, and all that was in it, vanished in an instant. Mul∣ti factum cognovere, quod in media Gracia gestum fit. Many thousands took notice of this Fast, for it was done in the midst of Greece.

Sabine, in his Comment on the tenth of Ovid's Metamorphosis, at the Tale of Orphaeus, telleth us of a Gentleman of Bavaria, that for many Months together bewailed the loss of his dear Wife; at length

the Devil, in her Habit, came and comforted him, and told him, because he was so importunate for her, that she would come and live with him again, on that condition he would be new married, never swear and blaspheme as he used formerly to do; for if he did she should be gone. He vowed it, marri∣ed, and lived with her, she brought him Children, and governed his House, but was still pale and sad, and so continued, till one day falling out with him, he fell a swearing; she vanished thereupon, and was never after seen. This Story (saith he) I have heard from Persons of good Credit, which told him that the Duke of Bavaria did tell it for a certainty to the Duke of Saxony.

Florilegus, an honest Historian of our own Nati∣on, telleth us, that in Anno 1058. a young Gentle∣man of Rome, the same day that he was married, after Dinner, with the Bride and his Friends, went a walking into the Fields, and towards Evening to the Tennis Gourt, to recreate themselves; whilst he played, he put his Ring upon the Finger of the Sta∣tue of Venus, which was there by made in Brass: Af∣ter he had sufficiently played, and now made an end of his Sport, he came to fetch his Ring, but Venus had bowed her Finger in, and he could not get it off; whereupon, loth to make his Company tarry at present, there left it, intending to fetch it the next day, or at some more convenient time, went thence to Supper, and so to Bed. In the night, when he should come to perform those Nuptial Rites, Venus steps between him and his Wife, (unseen or felt of her) and told him that she was his Wife, that he had betrothed himself unto her by that Ring, which he put upon her Finger: she troubled him for some following Nights. He not knowing

how to help himself, made his moan to one Palum∣bus, a learned Magician in those days, who gave him a Letter, and bid him at such a time of the Night, in such a cross-way, at the Towns-end, where old Saturn would pass by with his Associates in Procession, as commonly he did, deliver that Script with his own hands to Saturn himself: the young man, of a bold Spirit, accordingly did it; and when the old Fiend had read it, he called Venus to him, who rode before him, and commanded her to deliver his Ring, which forthwith she did, and so the Gentleman was freed.

Hector Boetius, the Scottish Historian, writes, that in the Year, 1480. it chanced, as a Scottish Ship de∣parted out of the Forth towards Flanders, there rose a wonderful great Tempest of Wind and Weather, so out-ragious, that the Master of the Ship, with other the Mariners, wondered not a little what the matter meant, to see such Weather that time of the Year, for it was about the midst of Summer. At length, when the furious rage of the Winds still increa∣sed, in such wise that all those within the Ship look∣ed for present Death, there was a Woman under∣neath the Hatches, called unto them above, and willed them to throw her into the Sea, that all the residue, by God's Grace might yet be saved; and thereupon told them, how she had been haunted a long time with a Spirit, daily coming unto her, in man's Likeness, and that even as then, he was with her using his filthy Pleasure, after the manner of carnal Copulation. In the Ship there chanced also to be a Priest, who, by the Master's appointment, going down to this Woman, and finding her like a most wretched and desperate Person, lamenting her great Misfortune and miserable Estate, used such

wholsome Admonitions and comfortable Advertise∣ments, willing her to repent and hope for Mercy at the hands of Almighty God, that at length she seeming right penitent for her grievous Offences committed, and fetching sundry Sighs, even from the bottom of her Heart, being witness (as should appear) of the same; there issued forth of the Pump of the Ship, a foul and evil favour'd black Cloud, with a mighty terrible Noise, Flame, Smoak, and Stink, which presently fell into the Sea; and sud∣denly thereupon the Tempest ceased, and the Ship passing in quiet the residue of her Journey, arrived in safety at the place whither she was bound.

Not long before the hap hereof, there was in like manner a young man dwelling in Gareoth, within a Village there, not passing fourteen miles from Aber∣deen, right fair and comely of Shape, who declared by way of Complaint, unto the Bishop of that Dio∣cese, how there was a Spirit which haunted him in the shape of a Woman, so fair and beautiful a thing, that he never saw the like, the which would come into his Chamber a Nights, and with pleasant En∣ticements allure him to have to do with her, and that by no manner of means he could be rid of her. The Bishop, like a wise Man, advised him to re∣move into some other Country, and to give him∣self to Fasting and Prayer, so to avoid his hands of that wicked Spirit. The Young man following the Bishop's Counsel, within few days was delivered from further Temptation.

About the same time also, there vvas in the Country of Mar a young Gentlewoman of excellent Beauty, and Daughter unto a Noble-man there, refusing sundry wealthy Marriages offered to her by her Father, and other Friends. At length she pro∣ved

with Child; and being rigorously compelled by her Patents to tell who was the Father, she confessed, that a certain young man used nightly to come unto her, and keep her Company, and sometimes in the day also; but how, or from whence he came, or by what means he went away, she was not able to declare. Her Parents not greatly crediting her Words, laid diligent Watch to understand what he was that had defiled their House; and within three days after, upon signification given by one of the Maidens that the Fornicator was at that very Instant with their Daughter, incontinently thereupon, ma∣king fast the doors, they enter the Chamber with a great many of Torches and Lights, vvhere they find in their Daughter's Arms a foul monstrous thing, right horrible to behold. Here a number coming hastily in, to behold this evil favour'd sight; amongst other, there was a Priest of right honest Life, who seeing some of them running their ways for fear, began to recite the beginning of St. John's Gospel; and coming to these Words, Verbum caro factum est, suddenly the wicked Spirit, making a terrible roaring Noise, flevv his vvays, taking the Roof of the Chamber with him, the Hangings and Coverings of the Bed being also burn'd therewith. The Gentlewoman was yet preserved, and within three or four days after, was delivered of such a mishapen thing, as the like before had not been seen; which the Midwives, and Women present at her Labour, to avoid the dishonour of her House, immediately burn'd in a great Fire made in the Chamber for the same intent.

John Major, in the Life of John the Monk, that lived in the days of Theodosius, commends this Monk to have been a Man of singular Continency, and

of a most austere Life: but one Night by chance the Devil came to his Cell, in the habit of a young Market-Wench, that had lost her way, and desired, for God's sake, some Lodging with him. The old man let her in, and after some common Conference of her mishap, she began to inveigle him with las∣civious Talk and Jests, to play with his Beard, to kiss him, and do worse, till at last she overcame him. As he went to address himself to that business, she vanished on a sudden, and the Devils in the Air laughed him to Scorn.

We shall conclude this Discourse with a Story of a later date, how that in a small Village, in one of the Northern Islands, there dwelt an ancient Boor and his Wife, who had but one Child, and that a Daughter, whom they looked upon as the staff of their declining Age; she was just entered into her nineteenth Year, and gave great hopes of proving an excellent Woman, being very saving, industri∣ous, and handsom; which good Qualities, had in∣vited most of the young-men of her Rank through∣out the Country, to take particular notice of her, and list themselves her Servants. But she, like a discreet Maid, still check'd her roving Fancy, and was deaf to all their flattering Courtship, resolving to entertain no Addresses which should not be au∣thorized by her Parents Approbation; and well had it been she had never suffer'd her self to be di∣vorced from that Resolution: for so it chanced, that within a while after, the Devil came in the Likeness of a man, and took up his Lodging within two or three doors of her Father's House, pretending his Business was to look after some Debts he had owing him not far from thence: he was a Person of a proper Stature, meagre Visage, large sparling Eyes,

long Hair, but curling, and exceeding black; he generally went in Boots, (perhaps to conceal his clo∣ven feet) and though his Habit was but ordinary, he appeared very full of Money, which made his Land∣lord very sweet upon him; and the more to oblige him, there happening a Wedding in that Town within few days after his Arrival, his Host would needs carry this his strange Guest with him to it; though it was observed he could by no means be got into the Church where the Nuptial Rites were solemnized; but as soon as they came home to Din∣ner, he was as busie and as merry as the joviallest of them. And here it was that the fatal Acquaint∣ance between him and Margaretta (for so was the Maiden called) unhappily first begun. That time allowing a greater Liberty of Discourse to the youn∣ger sort (amongst whom commonly one Wedding is the begetter of another) furnish'd our black Stran∣ger with the larger opportunity to court this inno∣cent Maid to her destruction. To repeat the parti∣cular Complements he used, we purposely omit, lest we should injure the Devils Eloquence by our Cour∣ser Rhetorick; suffice it to know, his devillish Court∣ship was so charming as to raise an unknown Passi∣on in her Virgin Breast, who so far doated on his Company, as to be sorry when all the Companies breaking up obliged them to part; so that being come home, and after some time got into her Cham∣ber, she makes her unready, but not without a thousand kind Thoughts on this Stranger she had left, whom at last (just as she was going into her Bed) she saw come into the Chamber; you may easily imagine her not a little surprized at so strange an Adventure, knowing all the Doors fast lock'd, and no body up but her self: but he soon superse∣ded

both her Fears and Wonder, by telling her in submissive Language, that he came out of pure love ••o have a little free discourse with her, and that he had an Art to open any Lock without Noise or Dis∣covery. Then beginning to talk amorously, and having wantonized a while, he told her at last in plain Terms, he was resolved to lye with her that Night; Merry Company before, and his Dalliances now, had raised such a spring-Tide in her Veins, that after a few faint formal Denials to gratifie her Modesty, she consents: but, no sooner were they in Bed, but her Ears were courted with the most excellent Musick in the World, which so captiva∣ted the Spirits of this insnared Damsel, that she suffer'd him for many Nights together to enjoy his beastly Pleasures with her, without being taken no∣tice of by any: but no Eye-sight so sharp and pier∣cing as that of Jealousie; some of her former Sweet∣hearts observing her kind Looks in the day-time to this Stranger, and finding themselves wholly out of Favour, conclude he was the man that supplanted them in their Affection, for which they vow Re∣venge; and four of them joyn'd together, arm'd with trusty Back-Swords, way-lay him one Evening in the Fields, who no sooner comes up to them, but these valiant Heroes fell all four upon him at once with their dead-doing Bilboes; but they do but Du∣el a Shadow, though they see him plainly they can∣not reach him, and their mighty Stroaks are lost in insignificant cleaving down the empty Air; on the other side, tho' they behold him only single, yet they feel more than a hundred Flails, belabouring them so severely, till their Backs seem Brawn, and their Heads Jelly, which obliged them to cry out for Quarter, which he very generously (to shew that

he was a Devil of Honour) grants, but withal tells them, they must undergo a further small Penance for their Presumption; saying this, he tyes their Hands behind them, and letting down their Breech∣es, whips them with Rods of Holly and Nettles in∣termix'd, till the Crimson Gore in Streams flow'd down their Posteriors; then having fast pin'd the hinder lap of their Shirts to their Shoulders, with their Hands bound, and Breeches about their Heels, as aforesaid, he dismiss'd them; who rambling all Night they knew not whither, found themselves in the morning hard by the Village, where they me•• two Wenches going a milking, amaz'd and ready to run away seeing them in that ridiculous Posture these, with much Rhetorick, and some Tears, they intreat to loose them, which the hard-hearted Sluts, ready to be-piss themselves with laughing, refusing they are forced to march on into the middle of the Village, and there too they could not get unbound till they had made an ingenious Confession how they came thus pickled.

At another time, a Miller, living in that Village took some occasion to fall out with our Stranger upbraiding him as an idle Fellow, and one that ha∣ving no Employment, was very fit to serve in the Wars: the Stranger replyed little, but told him he should be even with him for his Sawsiness before he slept; accordingly, the Miller and his Family wer•• no sooner got to Bed, but he heard his Mill set going very furiously, whereupon, getting up to se•• what the matter was, he found a whole Cart-load of Office-Marmalade brought to be ground, and thrown into his Hopper and Bynns. At this unex¦pected Sight poor Dusty-Pell began to swear, an•• wish'd a thousand Tun of Devils damn the Autho••

of this Roguery; when lo! on a sudden, as a Punish∣ment for his Prophaneness, as he went to shut down the Mill, he is taken up, and duck'd above forty times over head and Ears in the Stream, and then his Toll-dish, full of the before mentioned Frankin∣cense, clap'd so fast on his Head, that it could not be got off for above two days.

For these, and some other extravagant Pranks that he plaid, he was at last carried before a Justice, in whose Presence he was no sooner come, but there was heard all about the House a hideous Noise, as of hissing of Serpents, whilst he fell into such a loud excessive Laughter, that he made the whole House to shake; which fit of Mirth being over, the Magi∣strate demanded of him what Country-man he was? to which he replyed, that he was an Inhabitant of another World, and only a Sojourner in this: as he spake which words, the Room seemed full for almost half an hour of fiery Flashes, accompanied with a most dreadful Clap of Thunder, in which he vanished away, and was never seen after.