By Chafe our long-liv'd Fathers earn'd their Food,
Toil ftrung the Nerves, and purify'd the Blood;
But we their Sons, a pamper'd Race of Men,
Are dwindled down to threescore Years and ten.
Better to hunt in Fields for Health unbought,
Than fee the Doctor for a nauseous Draught.
The Wife for Cure on Exercife depend:

God never made his Work for Man to mend.

X

N° 117.

Saturday, July 14.

-Ipfi fibi fomnia fingunt.

TH

Virg.

HERE are fome Opinions in which a Man fhould ftand Neuter, without engaging his Affent to one fide or the other. Such a hovering Faith as this, which refufes to fettle upon any Determination, is absolutely neceffary in a Mind that is careful to avoid Errors and Prepoffeffions. When the Arguments prefs equally on both fides in Matters that are indifferent to us, the fafeft Method is to give up our felves to neither.

IT is with this Temper of Mind that I confider the Subject of Witchcraft. When I hear the Relations that are made from all Parts of the World, not only from Norway and Lapland, from the East and West-Indies, but from every particular Nation in Europe, I cannot forbear thinking that there is fuch an Intercourfe and Commerce with Evil Spirits, as that which we exprefs by the Name of Witchcraft. But when I confider that the ignorant and credulous Parts of the World abound most in these Relations, and that the Perfons among us who are fuppofed to engage in fuch an Infernal Commerce, are People of a weak Underftanding and crazed Imagination, and at the fame time reflect upon the many Impoftures and Delufions of this nature that have been detected in all Ages, I endeavour to fufpend my Belief till I hear more certain Accounts than any which have yet come to my Knowledge. In short, when I confider the Question, whether there are fuch Perfons in the World as

thofe

thofe we call Witches? my Mind is divided between the two oppofite Opinions; or rather (to speak my Thoughts freely)I believe in general that there is, and has been fuch a fuch a thing as Witchcraft; but at the fame time can give no Credit to any particular Inftance of it.

I am engaged in this Speculation, by fome Occurrences that I met with Yesterday, which I fhall give my Reader Can Account of at large. As I was walking with my Friend Sir ROGER by the fide of one of his Woods, an old Woman applied her felf to me for my Charity. Her Drefs and Figure put me in mind of the following Description in Otway.

In a clofe Lane as I purfu'd my Journey

I spy'd a wrinkled Hag, with Age grown double,
Picking dry Sticks, and mumbling to her felf.
Her Eyes with fcalding Rheum were gall'd and red;
Cold Palfy fhook her Head; her Hands feem'd wither'di
And on her crooked Shoulders had she wrapp'd
The tatter'd Remnants of an old ftriped Hanging,
Which ferv'd to keep her Carcass from the Cold:
So there was nothing of a piece about her.
Her lower Weeds were all o'er coarfly patch'd
With diff'rent colour'd Rags, black, red, white, yellow,
And feem'd to speak Variety of Wretchedness.

AS I was mufing on this Description, and comparing it with the Object before me, the Knight told me, that this very old Woman had the Reputation of a Witch all over the Country, that her Lips were obferved to be always in Motion, and that there was not a Switch about her House which her Neighbours did not believe had carried her several hundreds of Miles. If the chanced to ftumble, they always found Sticks or Straws that lay in the Figure of a Crofs before her. If fhe made any Miftake at Church, and cry'd Amen in a wrong Place, they never failed to conclude that he was faying her Prayers backwards. There was not a Maid in the Parish that would take a Pin of her, though fhe fhould offer a Bag of Money with it. She goes by the Name of Moll White, and has made the Country ring with feveral imaginary Exploits which are palmed upon her. If the Dairy-Maid does not make her Butter come fo foon as he would have it, Moll White is at the Bottom of the

Churn.

Churn. If a Horfe fweats in the Stable, Moll White has been upon his Back. If a Hare makes an unexpected Escape from the Hounds, the Huntsman curfes Moll White. Nay, (fays Sir ROGER) I have known the Mafter of the Pack, upon fuch an Occafion, fend one of his Servants to fee if Moll White had been out that Morning.

THIS Account raised my Curiofity fo far, that I begged my Friend Sir ROGER to go with me into her Hovel, which stood in a folitaryCorner under the fide of the Wood. Upon our first entering Sir ROGER winked to me, and pointed at fomething that stood behind the Door, which, upon looking that way, I found to be an old Broomftaff. At the fame time he whispered me in the Ear to take notice of a Tabby Cat that fat in the Chimney-Corner, which, as the Knight told me, lay under as bad a Report as Moll White her felf; for besides that Moll is faid often to accompany her in the fame Shape, the Cat is reported to have fpoken twice or thrice in her Life, and to have played feveral Pranks above the Capacity of an ordinary Cat.

I was fecretly concerned to fee human Nature in fo much Wretchedness and Difgrace, but at the fame time could not forbear fmiling to hear Sir ROGER, who is a little puzzled about the old Woman, advising her as a Juftice of Peace to avoid all Communication with the Devil, and never to hurt any of her Neighbours Cattle. We concluded our Vifit with a Bounty, which was very acceptable.

IN our Return home Sir ROGER told me that old Moll had been often brought before him for making Children fpit Pins, and giving Maids the Night-Mare; and that the Country People would be toffing her into a Pond and trying Experiments with her every Day, if it was not for him and his Chaplain.

I have fince found, upon Enquiry, that Sir ROGER was feveral times ftagger'd with the Reports that had been brought him concerning this old Woman, and would frequently have bound her over to the County Seffions, had not his Chaplain with much ado perfuaded him to the contrary.

I have been the more particular in this Account,because I hear there is fcarce a Village in England that has not a Moll White in it. When an old Woman begins to doat, and grow chargeable to a Parifh, fhe is generally turned into

a Witch, and fills the whole Country with extravagant Fanceies, imaginary Diftempers, and terrifying Dreams. In the mean time, the poor Wretch that is the innocent Occafion of fo many Evils begins to be frighted at herfelf, and fometimes confeffes fecret Commerces and Familiarities that her Imagination forms in a delirious old Age. This frequently cuts off Charity from the greatest Objects of Compaffion, and infpires People with a Malevolence towards thofe poor decrepid Parts of our Species in whom Human Nature is defaced by Infirmity and Dotage. L

HIS agreeable Seat is furrounded with fo many plea

Tfing Walks, which are ftruck out of a Wood, in the

midft of which the Houfe ftands, that one can hardly ever be weary of rambling from one Labyrinth of Delight to another. To one ufed to live in a City the Charms of the Country are fo exquifite, that the Mind is loft in a certain Tranfport which raifes us above ordinary Life, and yet is not ftrong enough to be inconfiftent with Tranquility. This State of Mind was I in, ravished with the Murmur of Waters, the Whisper of Breezes, the Singing of Birds; and whether I looked up to the Heavens, down on the Earth, or turned to the Profpects around me, Atill ftruck with new Senfe of Pleasure; when I found by the Voice of my Friend who walked by me, that we had infenfibly ftroled into the Grove facred to the Widow. This Woman, fays he, is of all others the most unintelligible; fhe either defigns to marry, or she does not. What is the most perplexing of all, is, that he does not either fay to her Levers the has any Refolution against that Condition of Life in general, or that the banishes them; but confcious of her own Merit, the permits their Addreffes, without Fear of any ill Confequence, or want of Refpect, from their Rage or Defpair. She has that in her Afpect, against which it is

im poffi

impoffible to offend. AMan whofe Thoughts are conftantly bent upon fo agreeable an Object, must be excused if the ordinary Occurrences in Converfation are below his Attention. I call her indeed Perverfe, but, alas! why do I call her fo? Because her fuperior Merit is fuch, that I cannot approach her without Awe, that my Heart is checked by too much Efteem: I am angry that her Charins are not more acceffible, that I am more inclined to worship than falute her: How often have I wished her unhappy, that I might have an Opportunity of ferving her? and how of ten troubled in that very Imagination, at giving her the Pain of being obliged? Well, I have led a miferable Life in fecret upon her Account; but fancy fhe would have condefcended to have fome Regard for me, if it had not been for that watchful Animal her Confident.

O Fall Perfons under the Sun (continued he, calling me by my Name) be fure to fet a Mark upon Confidents: They are of all People the most impertinent. What is moft pleasant to obferve in them, is, that they affume to themfelves the Merit of the Perfons whom they have in their Cuftody. Oreftilla is a great Fortune, and in wonderful Danger of Surprizes, therefore full of Sufpicions of the least indifferent thing, particularly careful of new Acquaintance, and of growing too familiar with the old. Themifta, her Favourite Woman, is every whit as careful of whom the fpeaks to, and what fhe fays. Let the Ward be a Beauty, her Confident fhall treat you with an Air of Distance; let her be a Fortune, and the affumes the fufpicious Behaviour of her Friend and Patronefs. Thus it is that very many of our unmarried Women of Diftintion, are to all Intents and Purposes married, except the Confideration of different Sexes. They are directly under the Conduct of their Whisperer; and think they are in a State of Freedom, while they can prate with one of thefe Attendants of all Men in general, and still avoid the Man they most like. You do not fee one Heiress in a hundred whofe Fate does not turn upon this Circumftance of chufing a Confident. Thus it is that the Lady is addreffed to, prefented, and flattered, only by Proxy, in her Woman. In my Cafe, how is it poffible that Sir ROGER was proceeding in his Harangue, when we heard the Voice of one fpeaking very importunately, and

repeating