e, if you shall perceiue that I haue
faithfullie and trulie deliuered and set downe the condition and state
of the witch, and also of the witchmonger, and haue confuted by reason
and lawe, and by the word of God it selfe, all mine aduersaries
obiections and arguments: then let me haue your countenance against
them that maliciouslie oppose themselues against me.

"_My greatest aduersaries are yoong ignorance and old custome._ For
what follie soeuer tract of time hath fostered, it is so
superstitiouslie pursued of some, as though no error could be
acquainted with custome. But if the lawe of nations would ioine with
such custome, to the maintenance of ignorance, and to the suppressing
of knowledge; the ciuilest countrie in the world would soone become
barbarous, &c. For as knowledge and time discouereth errors, so dooth
superstition and ignorance in time breed them."

The passage which I next quote, is a further specimen of the
impressive and even eloquent earnestness with which he pleads his
cause:--

"In the meane time, I would wish them to know that if neither the
estimation of Gods omnipotencie, nor the tenor of his word, nor the
doubtfulnes or rather the impossibilitie of the case, nor the small
proofes brought against them, nor the rigor executed vpon them, nor
the pitie that should be in a christian heart, nor yet their
simplicitie, impotencie, or age may suffice to suppresse the rage or
rigor wherewith they are oppressed; yet the consideration of their sex
or kind ought to mooue some mitigation of their punishment. For if
nature (as Plinie reporteth) haue taught a lion not to deale so
roughlie with a woman as with a man, bicause she is in bodie the
weaker vessell, and in hart more inclined to pitie (which Ieremie in
his lamentations seemeth to confirme) what should a man doo in this
case, for whome a woman was created as an helpe and comfort vnto him?
In so much as, euen in the lawe of nature, it is a greater offense to
slea a woman than a man: not bicause a man is not the more excellent
creature, but bicause a woman is the weaker vessell. And therefore
among all modest and honest persons it is thought a shame to offer
violence or iniurie to a woman: in which respect Virgil saith, _Nullum
memorabile nomen foeminea in poena est_.

"God that knoweth my heart is witnes, and you that read my booke shall
see, that my drift and purpose in this enterprise tendeth onelie to
these respects. First, that the glorie and p