l and command you that upon Fryday next being
the fourth day of this instant month of June between the hours of Eight
and twelve in the aforenoon of the same day you safely conduct the sd
Bridgett Bishop als Olliver from their Majties Goale in Salem aforesd to
the place of execution and there cause her to be hanged by the neck
until she be dead and of your doings herein make returne to the Clerk of
the sd Court and precept And hereof you are not to faile at your peril
And this shall be sufficient warrant Given under my hand & seal at Boston
the Eighth of June in the ffourth year of the reigne of our Sovereigne
Lords William & Mary now King & Queen over England Annoque Dm 1692
Wm. Stoughton

[Footnote A: Original in office of Clerk of the Courts at Salem,
Massachusetts. Said to be the only one extant in American archives.]
[Footnote B: Some of the words in the warrant are illegible.]

June 16 1692

According to the within written precept I have taken the Bodye of the
within named Bridgett Bishop out of their Majties Goale in Salem &
Safely Conueighd her to the place provided for her Execution & Caused ye
sd Bridgett to be hanged by the neck till Shee was dead all which was
according to the time within Required & So I make returne by me
George Corwin
Sheriff

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
Perkins' definition--Burr's "Servants of Satan"--The monkish idea--The
ancientness of witchcraft--Its universality--Its regulation--What it
was--Its oldest record--The Babylonian Stele--Its discovery--King
Hammurabi's Code, 2250 B.C.--Its character and importance--Hebraic
resemblances--Its witchcraft law--The test of guilt--The water test.

CHAPTER II
Opinions of Blackstone and Lecky--Witchcraft nomenclature--Its earlier
and later phases--Common superstitions--Monna Sidonia's invocation--
Leland's Sea Song--Witchcraft's diverse literature--Its untold history--
The modern Satanic idea--Exploitation by the Inquisitors--The chief
authorities--The witch belief--Its recognition in drama and romance--The
Weird Sisters--Other characters.

CHAPTER III
Fundamentals--The scriptural citations--Old and New
Testament--Josephus--Ancient and modern witchcraft--The distinction--The
arch enemy Satan--Action of the Church--The later definition--The New
England indictments--Satan's recognition--Persecutions in Italy, Germany
and France--Slow spread to England--Statute of Henry VIII--Cranmer's
injunction--Jewell's sermon--Statute James I--His Demono