prevent, examination. It is rather because the idea of absurdity is
so strongly attached to such narratives, that it is difficult even to
consider them with gravity. Yet at one time no such improbability
was felt, and hundreds of persons have been burnt simply on the two
grounds I have mentioned.

"When so complete a change takes place in public opinion, it may be
ascribed to one or other of two causes. It may be the result of a
controversy which has conclusively settled the question, establishing
to the satisfaction of all parties a clear preponderance of argument
or fact in favor of one opinion, and making that opinion a truism
which is accepted by all enlightened men, even though they have not
themselves examined the evidence on which it rests. Thus, if any one
in a company of ordinarily educated persons were to deny the motion
of the earth, or the circulation of the blood, his statement would be
received with derision, though it is probable that some of his
audience would be unable to demonstrate the first truth, and that
very few of them could give sufficient reasons for the second. They
may not themselves be able to defend their position; but they are
aware that, at certain known periods of history, controversies on
those subjects took place, and that known writers then brought
forward some definite arguments or experiments, which were ultimately
accepted by the whole learned world as rigid and conclusive
demonstrations. It is possible, also, for as complete a change to be
effected by what is called the spirit of the age. The general
intellectual tendencies pervading the literature of a century
profoundly modify the character of the public mind. They form a new
tone and habit of thought. They alter the measure of probability.
They create new attractions and new antipathies, and they eventually
cause as absolute a rejection of certain old opinions as could be
produced by the most cogent and definite arguments."

Mr. Lecky proceeds to some questionable views concerning the evidences of
witchcraft, which seem to be irreconcilable even with his own remarks
later on; but they lead him to the statement, thoroughly made out by his
historical survey, that "movement was mainly silent, unargumentative, and
insensible; that men came gradually to disbelieve in witchcraft, because
they came gradually to