ad swallowed, and to
render of no effect the charmed cocks' combs and rams' kidneys
partaken of by her.

John Kinnaird, a witch-finder, some hundreds of years past, brought
many witches to justice in his time. In 1649 he pricked Patrick
Watson, of West Fenton, and Minie Haliburton his wife, and found the
devil's mark on the husband's back, and the same evil one's impress on
the wife's neck. Though the operator thrust his sharp instrument deep
into the spots, no pain was felt, nor did blood flow. These results
proved that the accused husband and wife were in league with Satan;
and Minie, seeing it was useless to deny her guilt, admitted the
crime.

Under judicial examination, witches have confessed to having met the
devil at his Sabbaths, the meetings always taking place near a cross
road, upon a dreary moor, or beside a lake or stagnant pool, on
Wednesday and Friday nights. At the meetings children were presented,
so they said, to Satan. At these gatherings sorcerers were supplied
with exquisite meat and drink, served in vessels of gold and silver;
and at other times with cooked toads, unbaptised children, and the
flesh of malefactors cut down from gibbets. Toads, having the rank of
witches' familiars, appeared at the meetings, dressed in gay attire,
and wearing small silver bells round their necks, or attached to their
feet. At cock-crow Satan disappeared under the earth, and the witches
flew through the air to their respective homes. That witches could
transform themselves into hares, wolves, and other animals, nearly all
the accused women readily admitted.

In the year 1728 a witch-finder discovered that a stout tall woman,
suspected of sorcery, did not weigh more than four ounces. This was
enough to make out a case against her; and not only against her, but
against several confederates, and they were all burned in terms of
law.

On account of a petition presented by the inhabitants of Newcastle to
the authorities, in the year 1649, concerning the evil consequences
of witchcraft, the magistrates sent two of their officers to Scotland
to secure the services of a celebrated witch-finder, famous for
detecting witches by means of pricking them with sharp instruments.
The cunning man agreed to go with them to Newcastle to try such
suspected persons as might be brought to him, at the rate of twenty
shillings for every woman found guilty. When the officers brought the
witch-finder to town, the magistrates sent their b