of Reason and Humanity, is Gabriel Naude. He was
born at Paris in 1600; he practised as a physician of great
reputation, and was librarian successively to Cardinals Richelieu
and Mazarin, and to Queen Christina of Sweden. His book 'Apologie
pour les Grands Hommes accuses de Magie,' published in Paris in
1625, was received with great indignation by the Church. Some
others, both on the Continent and in England, at intervals by
their protests served to prove that a few sparks of reason, hard
to be discovered in the thick darkness of superstition, remained
unextinguished; but they availed not to stem the torrent of
increasing violence and volume.

A more copious list can be given of the champions of orthodoxy
and demonolatry; of whom it is sufficient to enumerate the more
notorious names--Sprenger, Nider, Bodin, Del Rio, James VI.,
Glanvil, who compiled or composed elaborate treatises on the
subject; besides whom a cloud of witnesses expressly or
incidentally proclaimed the undoubted genuineness of all the
acts, phenomena, and circumstances of the diabolic worship;
loudly and fiercely denouncing the 'damnable infidelity' of the
dissenters--a proof in itself of their own complicity. Jean
Bodin, a French lawyer, and author of the esteemed treatise 'De
la Republique,' was one of the greatest authorities on the
orthodox side. His publication 'De la Demonomanie des Sorciers'
appeared in Paris in the year 1580: an undertaking prompted by
his having witnessed some of the daily occurring trials. Instead
of being convinced of their folly, he was or affected to be,
certain of their truth, setting himself gravely to the task of
publishing to the world his own observations and convictions.

One of the most surprising facts in the whole history of
witchcraft is the insensibility or indifference of even men of
science, and therefore observation, to the obvious origin of the
greatest part of the confessions elicited; confession of such a
kind as could be the product only of torture, madness, or some
other equally obvious cause. Bodin himself, however, sufficiently
explains the fact and exposes the secret. 'The trial of this
offence,' he enunciates, 'must not be conducted like other
crimes. Whoever adheres to the ordinary course of justice
perverts the spirit of the law both divine and human. He who is
accused of sorcery should _never_ be acquitted unless the malice
of the prosecutor be clearer than the sun; for it is so difficult
to