Ady does not answer.

A hundred years of witchcraft history had not brought to light a man who
was willing to deny in a printed work the existence of witches.
Doubtless such denial might often have been heard in the closet, but it
was never proclaimed on the housetop. Scot had not been so bold--though
one imagines that if he had been quietly questioned in a corner he might
have denied the thing _in toto_--and those who had followed in his steps
never ventured beyond him.

The controversy, indeed, was waged in most of its aspects along the
lines laid down by the first aggressor. Gifford, Cotta, and Ady had
brought in a few new arguments to be used in attacking superstition, but
in general the assailants looked to Scot. On the other side, only
Perkins and More had contributed anything worth while to the defence
that had been built up. Yet, the reader will notice that there had been
progress. The centre of struggle had shifted to a point within the outer
walls. The water ordeal and the evidence of marks were given up by most,
if not all. The struggle now was over the transportation of witches
through the air and the battle was going badly for the defenders.

We turn now to the incidental indications of the shifting of opinion. In
one sense this sort of evidence means more than the formal literature.
Yet its fragmentary character at best precludes putting any great stress
upon it.

If one were to include all the references to witchcraft in the drama of
the period, this discussion might widen out into a long chapter. Over
the passages in the playwrights we must pass with haste; but certain
points must be noted. Shakespeare, in _Macbeth_, which scholars have
usually placed at about 1606, used a great body of witch lore. He used
it, too, with apparent good faith, though to conclude therefrom that he
believed in it himself would be a most dangerous step.[51] Thomas
Middleton, whose _Witch_ probably was written somewhat later, and who is
thought to have drawn on Shakespeare for some of his witch material,
gives absolutely no indication in that play that he did not credit those
tales of witch performances of which he availed himself. The same may be
said of Dekker and of those who collaborated with him in writing _The
Witch of Edmonton_.[52]

We may go further and say that in none of these three plays is there any
hint that there were disbelievers. But when we come to Ben Jonson we
have a different story. His various plays