was beheaded for witchcraft, in so
far as she had enchanted the queen, and made an image of the young
king in virgin wax, and melted away one of its legs that he might
become a cripple. Old Belgrave, in his _Astrological Practice of
Physic_, observes: "Under adverse planets, and by Satan's subtlety,
witches injured man and beast by making images or models of them, and
pricking the likenesses with thorns, pins, or needles."

Childebert's device for detecting witches who dealt in charms, was to
torture them by putting sharp instruments betwixt every nail of their
fingers and toes. Judges, before whom witches were tried, were
cautioned not to allow them to come near their persons nor the seat of
judgment. That they might be all the more secure from witchcraft,
judges kept suspended from their necks conjured salt, palm, holy
herbs, and wax hallowed by the Church. To compel witches to confess
their guilt, officers of justice were wont to write the seven words
spoken on the cross, and cause these, with relics of saints, to be
hung round the culprits' necks. When these charms were thus applied,
it was impossible for witches to refrain from confessing their guilt,
if at the same time they were sufficiently racked and tortured.

An incredible story is told of a gentlewoman in Lyons, who possessed a
pot of ointment of such rare virtue, that the application of it to
one's body proved sufficient to transport the individual, in an
instant, through the air to distant towns and countries. The lady
being one evening in a room with her lover, anointing herself with
part of the ointment, and repeating words in an under tone, was in the
twinkling of an eye carried away through the air. Her companion,
though astonished and somewhat alarmed, did as he had observed his
fair friend do, and _presto_ he was conveyed away many miles to an
assembly of witches. Afraid at what he beheld, he uttered a holy
ejaculation. In an instant the assembly vanished, leaving him alone.
He returned on foot to Lyons, and brought an accusation of witchcraft
against his lover. The charge being proven, the woman, with her
ointment, was consigned to the flames.

Witches and warlocks, learned in the art of transubstantiation, could
by means of witch ointment turn themselves into wolves. Peter Burget
and Michael Worden, having by means of such ointment turned themselves
into wolves, killed and ate a large number of people. One night, when
the men-wolves were out on