l treatment which would give a
narrative history of the more significant trials along with some account
of the progress of opinion. This plan has been adhered to somewhat
strictly, sometimes not without regret upon the part of the writer. It
is his hope later in a series of articles to deal with some of the more
general phases of the subject, with such topics as the use of torture,
the part of the physicians, the contagious nature of the witch alarms,
the relation of Puritanism to persecution, the supposed influence of the
Royal Society, the general causes for the gradual decline of the belief,
and other like questions. It will be seen in the course of the narrative
that some of these matters have been touched upon.

This study of witchcraft has been limited to a period of about one
hundred and sixty years in English history. The year 1558 has been
chosen as the starting point because almost immediately after the
accession of Elizabeth there began the movement for a new law, a
movement which resulted in the statute of 1563. With that statute the
history of the persecution of witches gathers importance. The year 1718
has been selected as a concluding date because that year was marked by
the publication of Francis Hutchinson's notable attack upon the belief.
Hutchinson levelled a final and deadly blow at the dying superstition.
Few men of intelligence dared after that avow any belief in the reality
of witchcraft; it is probable that very few even secretly cherished such
a belief. A complete history would of course include a full account both
of the witch trials from Anglo-Saxon times to Elizabeth's accession and
of the various witch-swimming incidents of the eighteenth century. The
latter it has not seemed worth while here to consider. The former would
involve an examination of all English sources from the earliest times
and would mean a study of isolated and unrelated trials occurring at
long intervals (at least, we have record only of such) and chiefly in
church courts. The writer has not undertaken to treat this earlier
period; he must confess to but small knowledge of it. In the few pages
which he has given to it he has attempted nothing more than to sketch
from the most obvious sources an outline of what is currently known as
to English witches and witchcraft prior to the days of Elizabeth. It is
to be hoped that some student of medieval society will at some time make
a thorough investigation of the history of witchcr