the old women were spared, and prosecutions for mere
witchcraft, unconnected with other offences, were discontinued
throughout France. In 1680 an act was passed for the punishment, not of
witches, but of pretenders to witchcraft, fortune-tellers,
divineresses, and poisoners.

Thus the light broke in upon Germany, France, England, and Scotland
about the same time, gradually growing clearer and clearer till the
middle of the eighteenth century, when witchcraft was finally reckoned
amongst exploded doctrines, and the belief in it confined to the
uttermost vulgar. Twice, however, did the madness burst forth again as
furious, while it lasted, as ever it had been. The first time in
Sweden, in 1669, and the second in Germany, so late as 1749. Both these
instances merit particular mention. The first is one of the most
extraordinary upon record, and for atrocity and absurdity is
unsurpassed in the annals of any nation.

It having been reported to the King of Sweden that the little village
of Mohra, in the province of Dalecarlia, was troubled exceedingly with
witches, he appointed a commission of clergy and laymen to trace the
rumour to its source, with full powers to punish the guilty. On the
12th of August 1669, the commissioners arrived in the bewitched
village, to the great joy of the credulous inhabitants. On the
following day the whole population, amounting to three thousand
persons, assembled in the church. A sermon was preached, "declaring the
miserable case of those people that suffered themselves to be deluded
by the devil," and fervent prayer was offered up that God would remove
the scourge from among them.

The whole assembly then adjourned to the rector's house, filling all
the street before it, when the King's commission was read, charging
every person who knew anything of the witchery, to come forward and
declare the truth. A passion of tears seized upon the multitude; men,
women, and children began to weep and sob, and all promised to divulge
what they had heard or knew. In this frame of mind they were dismissed
to their homes. On the following day they were again called together,
when the depositions of several persons were taken publicly before them
all. The result was that seventy persons, including fifteen children,
were taken into custody. Numbers also were arrested in the neighbouring
district of Elfdale. Being put to the torture, they all confessed their
guilt. They said they used to go to a gravel-pit