stitutions, and other matters of importance. Having returned from Boston to New York, he once more left that city for Philadelphia, and from Philadelphia went on to Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Columbia, and Charleston, journeying of course through Maryland, Virginia, and North and South Carolina. From Charleston he went down the coast to Savannah; and then, again turning to the west, made a very extensive tour through Georgia, along the Alabama, and down upon the Mississippi at New Orleans. Proceeding thence up the Mississippi to its confluence, first with the Ohio, and then with the Missouri, it is difficult to say where the expedition might have ended, had not a severe illness which overtook the child made it necessary to get away from these great rivers as fast as possible, and into a more northern latitude. Captain Hall accordingly crossed the Alleghany mountains, and, going through Pennsylvania, arrived a third time at New York, from which he soon afterwards took his final departure for England, and in July 1828, landed at Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, after an absence of fifteen months and five days. During this busy interval, independently of the double voyage across the Atlantic, he had travelled in America eight thousand eight hundred miles, as a married man, and without meeting with the slightest accident.

derable confidence in his judgment, we are also satisfied | tion, the influence of females in society, their political inthat it is his sincere and anxious desire never to allow it to be influenced by preconceived prejudices of any kind. In one or two instances his scrupulousness upon this point has carried him a little too far. For example, he tells us in the present work, that in order to enable him to form his opinions entirely for himself, he has carefully abstained from looking over the pages of a single preceding traveller in North America. This may have been conscientious-but, at the same time, it argues a want of confidence in himself, which, we think, an author ought to be slow to confess. No doubt there would be a freshness and novelty about every thing he saw, which would probably strengthen the impression made by any individual object, and render it more easy to commit to paper a vivid description of it; but might it not be an object which had been described a thousand times before by men of perhaps superior powers, or might there not be doubts and difficulties to clear up, or a new mode of treating the subject, which could never be discovered unless by consulting previous authorities? We regret, both for our own sake and his, that Captain Hall laid down the resolution of reading nothing about North America till his own work concerning it issued from the press. Had it not been for this rule, we should have found his remarks a good deal more condensed in several places, whilst in others we should probably have had the benefit of his opinion on several interesting questions broached by his predecessors, but not yet satisfactorily settled. In short, we think it clear that Captain Hall's plan of proceeding, or rather, of not proceeding, before visiting a foreign country, ought to have no imitators. Another question naturally suggests itself at the outWith what sort of feelings towards the Americans did our traveller enter America? Did he go as an aris-join these passages :— tocrat or a democrat? Was he anxious for a puff from the Quarterly, or was he more ambitious of the praises of "Thus it ever was, in great things as well as in small, on the Westminster Review? In the very first chapter, grave or ludicrous occasions. They were eternally on the deCaptain Hall alludes to this subject at some length; and, fensive, and gave us to understand that they suspected us of a with becoming earnestness, labours to convince his reader design to find fault, at times when nothing on earth was furthat he went into the country determined to judge de- happened, by chance or otherwise, to be stated with respect ther from our thoughts. Whenever any thing favourable liberately and candidly, and to be guided by no rule but to England, there was straightway a fidget till the said cirthat of setting down his own sincere impressions, what- cumstance was counterbalanced by something equally good ever these might be. We feel convinced that Captain Hall or much better in America. To such an extent was this has conscientiously adhered throughout to this determina-jealous fever carried, that I hardly recollect above half a tion; only we suspect that, without being aware of it, he dozen occasions during the whole journey, when England has what we may term a British mode of thinking, which, kind was manifested on the part of the audience; or that a was mentioned, that the slightest interest of an agreeable in several instances, is scarcely calculated to do complete brisk cross fire was not instantly opened on all hands to dejustice to the national peculiarities of the Americans. preciate what had been said; or, which was still more freAs a whole, however, his work is a fair and honourable quent, to build up something finer, or taller, or larger, in one, and as such ought to be appreciated on both sides of America to overmatch it. It always occurred to me, that the Atlantic. As we have already hinted, we think it a they paid themselves and their institutions the very poorest little too long; but this we easily forgive, in considera-description of compliment by this course of proceeding; and tion of the great mass of amusing and valuable matter it it would be quite easy to show why."-Vol. I. pp. Ĭ10-11. contains. Upon many political, agricultural, and commercial questions of moment, Captain Hall speaks to the point, and with great good sense; while, as a mere traveller, or lively and picturesque narrator, it is impossible not to follow him, both with pleasure and profit.

set.

In our quotations from this work, it is impossible for us to enter upon any of the graver subjects it discusses. We must content ourselves with seriously recommending these to the best attention of our readers; and, in the meantime, present a few miscellaneous extracts, which may be taken as fair specimens of the general tone of the book, and which cannot fail to be considered both amusing and interesting. Without farther preface we sub

AMERICAN JEALOUSY.

NAMES OF PLACES IN AMERICA.

"It has been the fashion of travellers in America, I am told-for I have read no travels in that country-to ridicule the practice of giving to unknown and inconsiderable villages, the names of places long hallowed by classical recollections. I was disposed, however, at one time to think, that there was nothing absurd in the matter. I did not deny that, on first looking at the map, and more particularly, on hearing stage-drivers and stage-passengers talking of Troy, Ithaca, and Rome, and still more, when I heard them speaking of the towns of Cicero, Homer, or Manlius, often by a good hearty laugh. an involuntary smile found its way to the lips, followed The oddity and incongruity of the thing were much heightened by the admixture of such modern appellations as Truxton, Sullivan, and Tompkins, jumbled up with the Indian names of Onondaga, Oneida, and Chitteningo.

Captain Hall, along with his wife and infant daughter, (both of whom accompanied him in all his subsequent peregrinations, encountering every inconvenience with an indomitable spirit worthy of their name,) sailed for New York in April 1827. He proceeded up the Hudson, made a short trip to Massachusetts, and then turning westward, travelled along the Grand Erie Canal to Niagara. Thence he visited Lake Erie, and then proceeded through Canada, along Lake Ontario, and down the St Lawrence, to Montreal and Quebec. In September, he recrossed the Canadian frontier, and proceeded by Lake "A little longer personal acquaintance with the subject, however, led me to a different conclusion. All these unChamplain, Saratoga, and Albany, to Boston. Here he remained some time, visiting all the public institutions in courteous, and at first irrepressible, feelings of ridicule, were, I hoped, quite eradicated; and I tried to fancy that and about the town, and devoting his attention exclusive- there was something very interesting, almost amiable, in ly to American affairs such as their religion, their ma- any circumstances, no matter how trivial, which contribunufactories, their naval resources, their system of educa- | teď to show, even indirectly, that these descendants of ours

were still willing to keep up the old and generous recollections of their youth; and although they had broken the cords of national union, that they were still disposed to bind themselves to us, by the ties of classical sentiment at least. For these reasons, then, I was inclined to approve, in theory, of the taste which had appropriated the ancient names alluded to. I had also a sort of hope, that the mere use of the words would insensibly blend with their present Occupations, and so keep alive some traces of the old spirit, described to me as fast melting away.

their modern namesakes.

which pleases them best; but, on the other hand, I hope it will be granted, that both the one and the other, contradistinguished as they are so much from what is seen elsewhere, are perfectly fair points of remark for a foreigner.* Vol. I. pp. 156-7.

PECULIARITIES OF AN AMERICAN VILLAGE.

"On the 26th of June 1827, we strolled through the village of Rochester, under the guidance of a most obliging and intelligent friend, a native of this part of the country. "By the same train of friendly reasoning, I was led to Every thing in this bustling place appeared to be in motion. imagine it possible, that the adoption of such names as Au- The very streets seemed to be starting up of their own acburn,-loveliest village of the plain,'-Port Byron, and cord, ready-made, and looking as fresh and new as if they had been turned out of the workmen's hands but an hour the innumerable Londons, Dublins, Edinburghs, and so before or that a great boxful of new houses had been sent on, were indicative of a latent or lingering kindliness towards the old country. The notion, that it was degrading by steam from New York, and tumbled out on the halfto the venerable Roman names, to fix them upon these clear land. The canal banks were, in some places, still mushroom towns in the wilderness, I combated, I flattered unturfed; the lime seemed hardly dry in the masonry of myself, somewhat adroitly, on the principle that, so far the aqueduct, in the bridges, and in the numberless great from the memory of Ithaca or Syracuse, or any such place, saw-mills and manufactories. In many of these buildings being degraded by the appropriation, the honour rather lay the people were at work below stairs, while at top the carwith the ancients, who, it is the fashion to take for grant-penters were busy nailing on the planks of the roof. ed, enjoyed a less amount of freedom and intelligence than of others, within five yards' distance, were only beginning. "Some dwellings were half painted, while the foundations "Let us,' I said one day to a friend who was impugn- I cannot say how many churches, court-houses, jails, and ing these doctrines, let us take Syracuse for example, hotels I counted all in motion, creeping upwards. Several which, in the year 1820, consisted of one house. one mill, streets were nearly finished, but had not, as yet, received and one tavern: now, in 1827, it holds fifteen hundred in- their names; and many others were in the reverse predicahabitants, has two large churches, innumerable wealthy ment, being named but not commenced,-their local babishops filled with goods, brought there by water-carriage tation being merely signified by lines of stakes. Here anp from every corner of the globe; two large and splendid there we saw great warehouses, without window sashes, hotels; many dozens of grocery-stores, or whisky shops; but half filled with goods, and furnished with hoisting. several busy printing-presses, from one of which issues a cranes, ready to fish up the huge pyramids of flour barrels, In the centre of the weekly newspaper; a daily post from the east, the south, bales, and boxes, lying in the streets. and the west; has a broad canal running through its bo- town, the spire of a Presbyterian church rose to a great som;-in short, it is a great and free city. Where is this height; and on each side of the supporting tower was to be to be matched,' I exclaimed, in ancient Italy or Greece?' seen the dial-plate of a clock, of which the machinery, in the "It grieves me much, however, to have the ungracious hurry-skurry, had been left at New York. I need not say task forced upon me of entirely demolishing my own plau- that these half-finished, whole-finished, and embryo streets, sible handiwork. But truth renders it necessary to declare, were crowded with people, carts, stages, cattle, pigs, far bethat, after a long acquaintance with all these matters, I dis-yond the reach of numbers; and, as all these were lifting covered that I was all in the wrong, and that there was not a word of sense in what I had uttered with so much studied candour. What is the most provoking proof that this fine doctrine of profitable associations was practically absurd, is the fact, that even I myself, though comparatively so little acquainted with the classical-sounding places in question, have, alas! seen and heard enough of them to have nearly all my classical recollections swept away by the contact. Now, therefore, whenever I meet with the name of a Roman city, or an author, or a general, instead of having my thoughts carried back, as heretofore, to the regions of antiquity, I am transported forthwith, in imagination, to the post-road on my way to Lake Erie; and my joints and bones turn sore at the bare recollection of joltings, and other nameless vulgar annoyances, by day and by night, which, I much fear, will outlive all the little classical knowledge of my juvenile days."-Vol. I. pp. 131-4.

DRESS OF THE AMERICANS.

"The ladies in America obtain their fashions direct from Paris. I speak now of the great cities on the sea-coast, where the communication with Europe is easy and frequent. In the back settlements, people are obliged to catch what opportunities come in their way; and, accordingly, many applications were made to us for a sight of our wardrobe, which, it may be supposed, was none of the largest. The child's clothes excited most interest, however, and patterns were asked for on many occasions.

"While touching on this subject, I hope I may be permitted to say a few words, without giving offence_certainly without meaning to give any-respecting the attire of the male part of the population, who, I have reason to think, do not, generally speaking, consider dress an object deserving of nearly so much attention as it undoubtedly ought to receive. It seems to me that dress is a branch, and -not an unimportant branch, of manners-a science they all profess themselves anxious to study. The men, probably without their being aware of it, have, somehow or other, acquired a habit of negligence, in this respect, quite obvious to the eye of a stranger. From the hat, which is never brushed, to the shoe, which is seldom polished, all parts of their dress are often left pretty much to take care of themselves. Nothing seems to fit, or to be made with any precision. It is very true, they are quite at liberty to adopt that form of dress, as well as that form of government,

up their voices together, in keeping with the clatter of hammers, the ringing of axes, and the creaking of machinery, there was a fine concert, I assure you!

"But it struck us that the interest of the town, for it seems idle to call it a village, was subordinate to that of the suburbs. A few years ago the whole of that part of the country was covered with a dark, silent forest; and even as it was, we could not proceed a mile in any direction, except that of the high-road, without coming full butt against the woods of time immemorial. When land is cleared for the purposes of cultivation, the stumps are left standing for many years, from its being easier, as well as more profitable in other respects, to plough round them, than to waste time and labour in rooting them out or burning them, or blowing them up with gunpowder. But when a forest is levelled, with a view to building a town in its place, a different system must of course be adopted. The trees must then be removed, sooner or later, according to the means of the proprietor, or the necessities of the case. Thus, one man possessed of capital, will clear his lot of the wood, and erect houses, or even streets, across it; while, on his neighbour's land, the trees may be still growing. And it actually occurred to us several times within the immediate limits of the inhabited town itself-in streets, too, where shops were opened, and all sorts of business actually going on, that we had to drive first on one side, and then on the other, to avoid the stumps of an oak, or a hemlock, or a pine-tree, staring us full in the face.

"On driving a little beyond the streets, toward the woods, we came to a space about an acre in size, roughly enclosed, on the summit of a gentle swell in the ground. "What can this place be for?'

6

"Oh,' said my companion, that is the graveyard.'
"Grave-yard-what is that?' said I; for I was quite

adrift.

"Why, surely,' said he, you know what a grave-yard is? It is a burying-ground. All the inhabitants of the place are buried there, whatever be their persuasion. We don't use churchyards in America.'

"After we had gone about a mile from town, the forest thickened, we lost sight of every trace of a human dwelling, or of human interference with nature in any shape. We stood considering what we should do next, when the loud crash of a falling tree met our ears. Our friendly guide was showing off the curiosities of the place, and was

from which we could cull more entertainment for our readers, we shall, in all probability, return to it next week.

Trials and other Proceedings in matters Criminal, before the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland; selected from the Records of that Court, and from Original Manuscripts preserved in the General Register-House, Edinburgh. By Robert Pitcairn, W. S., &c. &c. Part IL Edinburgh. William Tait. 1829.

quite glad, he said, to have this opportunity of exhibiting the very first step in the process of town-making. After a zig-zag scramble amongst trees, which had been allowed to grow up and decay century after century, we came to a spot where three or four men were employed in clearing out a street, as they declared, though any thing more unlike a street could not well be conceived. Nevertheless, the ground in question certainly formed part of the plan of the town. It had been chalked out by the surveyor's stakes, and some speculators having taken up the lots for immediate building, of course found it necessary to open a street through the woods, to afford a line of communication with the rest of the village. As fast as the trees were cut down, they were stripped of their branches and drawn off by oxen, sawn WE reviewed the First Part of this work, which apinto planks, or otherwise fashioned to the purposes of build-peared about a month ago, in a very decent, dull, and buing, without one moment's delay. There was little or no siness-like manner. exaggeration, therefore, in supposing with our friend, that the same fir which might be waving about in full life and vigour in the morning, should be cut down, dragged into daylight, squared, framed, and, before night, be hoisted up to make a beam or rafter to some tavern, or factory, or store, at the corner of a street, which, twenty-four hours before, had existed only on paper, and yet which might be completed from end to end within a week afterwards."Vol. I. pp. 160-4.

THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

"On the 29th of June, 1827, we went from Lockport to the Falls of Niagara, which infinitely exceeded our anticipations. I think it right to begin with this explicit statement, because I do not remember in any instance in America, or in England, when the subject was broached, that the first question has not been, ‘Did the Falls answer your expectations? The best answer on this subject I remember to have heard of, was made by a gentleman who had just been at Niagara, and on his return was appealed to by a party he met on the way going to the Falls, who naturally asked him if he thought they would be disappointed, 'Why, no,' said he: Not unless you expect to witness the sea coming down from the moon!"

"The first glimpse we got of the great Fall was at the distance of about three miles below it, from the right, or eastern bank of the river. Without attempting to describe it, I may say, that I felt quite sure no subsequent examination, whether near or remote, could ever remove, or even materially weaken, the impression left by this first view. From the time we discovered the stream, and especially after coming within hearing of the cataract, our expectations were, of course, wound up to the highest pitch. Most people, I suppose, in the course of their lives, must, on some occasion or other, have found themselves on the eve of a momentous occurrence; and, by recalling what they experienced at that time, will, perhaps, understand better what was felt, than I can venture to describe it. I remember myself experiencing something akin to it at St Helena, when waiting in Napoleon's outer room, under the consciousness that the tread which I heard was from the foot of the man, who, a short while before, had roved at will over so great a portion of the world; but whose range was now confined to a few chambers; and that I was separated from this astonishing person only by a door which was just about to open-so it was with Niagara. I knew that, at the next turn of the road, I should behold the most splendid sight on earth,-the outlet to those mighty reservoirs, which contain, it is said, one-half of the fresh water on the surface of our planet."-Vol. I. p. 177-81.

ROADS IN CANADA.

"Illustrations, it is well known, generally mystify the subject instead of clearing it up; so I shall not compare this evening's drive to trotting up or down a pair of stairs, for, in that case, there would be some kind of regularity in the developement of the bumps; but with us there was no warning-no pause; and when we least expected a jolt, down we went smack! dash! crash! forging, like a ship in a head-sea, right into a hole half-a-yard deep. At other

times, when an ominous break in the road seemed to indicate the coming mischief, and we clung, grinning like grim death, to the railing at the sides of the waggon, expecting a concussion, which, in the next instant, was to dislocate half the joints in our bodies, down we sank into a bed of mud, as softly as if the bottom and sides had been padded with cotton for our express accommodation."-Vol. I. p. 268.

We have no room for more quotations to-day, but as we do not think any work has been recently published

which are to follow, after a similar fashion.
We shall probably review the Parts
But, with
regard to the Part now before us, we mean to allow our-
selves a little liberty. To this resolution we are moved
by a twofold reason. In the first place, though the por-
tion of the records of our criminal court, at which Mr
Pitcairn is now arrived, are more full and more regular-
ly kept than at an earlier period, they are still too meagre
to allow of our speaking with certainty of the forms and
principles of law recognised at the time of which they
this Second Part is allotted to a laborious and unexpect-
are a monument; and, besides, no inconsiderable space in
edly successful attempt to fill up, aliunde, a gap of four
years in the Books of Adjournal. Although full, therefore,
of valuable hints, it does not throw any broad or decided-
ly new light upon our legal antiquities; and we conse-
quently decline launching at present on so wide an ocean.
Add to this, that the contents of the present number of
this publication are such as irresistibly incline us to pick
out and lay before our readers, in the pure spirit of gos-
sip, some of the marvellous tales with which it abounds.
With all deference, therefore, we offer our friends the
most full and authentic narrative of the state of the infer-
nal kingdom during the reign of James VI. that has yet
been given to the public.

It is generally understood that the belief in witchcraft
increased with the progress of the reformed doctrines.
We are inclined to think this a mistake. The belief was
as prevalent before, but the laxness and remissness of the
wealthy and indolent Catholic priesthood was the cause
that less was said of it. The reformed clergy merely re-
tained on this point the superstition of their predecessors,
but they set themselves with more noise and more ener-
gy to overthrow what they conceived to be the kingdom
of Satan. The warfare was carried on sharply; under
James, more regular and systematic tactics were adopt-
ed, and by his vigorous generalship the hellish host was
driven to great straits. It is well known, that in his
riper years, he penned, with his own royal hand, a
most masterly treatise against the practice of witchcraft.
But it is, perhaps, not so well known, that this trea-
tise contains merely the matured experience of his youth-
ful campaigns. The matter stands thus. In 1589,
Anne of Denmark was intercepted in her way to this
country by a tempest, which obliged her to put back. In
a fit of impatient gallantry James took shipping for Den-
Return-
mark, where he was married to the Princess.
ing with his bride to Scotland in May 1590, he too expe-
rienced some buffeting from severe gales. Now, these
gales happening during the winter, and early in spring,
a time at which such phenomena are of rare occurrence
in our latitudes, it was evident to the dullest apprehen-
sion, that they must be caused by some infernal agency
at work to thwart the will of the growing Solomon.
James, whose disposition, by nature and education, had
more of the pedagogue than the king, and who was withal
a little timid, where his own person was concerned, was
easily induced to take strong measures against those da-
ring enchanters who had waged war with majesty itself.
Early in 1591, many suspected persons were appre-
hendit and put to divers sortes of trialls." In June, of
the same year, his majesty gave a proof of his determina-

66

tion that no witch should escape through ill-judged lenity in the assize, by causing the majority of a jury who had thoughtlessly acquitted one, to be "dilatit of errour" in his own royal presence. On the twenty-sixth of October, he granted a commission to several of his counsellors for the more effectual enquiry after, and discovery of, witchcraft. Owing to these energetic measures many hidden crimes were brought to light, and many delinquents punished.

the most severe death the court could adjudge, being burnt
without having been previously strangled.
She appears
to have believed in her own supernatural powers, and to
have gloried in them to the last.
He

Johnne Feane is another remarkable individual.
is reported to have been schoolmaster at Tranent, and
was a person of no small consequence, being "Register
and Secretar to the Devil." It was his office to lead the
ring in the preparatory incantation of dancing "widder-
schinnes about." Also, on entering the church where
their meetings were held, he "blew up the duris, and
blew in the lychtis, quhilkis were lyke mekle blak can-
dillis, stiking round about the pulpett." He sat next to
the Devil, on his left hand. He had the power, while
lying in his bed, to be "tane in the spreit, and to be
careit and transportit to many montanes, as thocht threw
all the warld." He could go in the body "souch and
athairt the eird," and skim over the sea in a riddle. He
could open "ane lok be his sorcerie, be blawing in ane wo-
man's hand, himselff sittand at the fireside.” “Being cum-
and furth of Patrik Umphrais sonis house in the mylne,
under nycht, fra his supper, and passand to Tranent on
horsbak and ane man with him, he, be his devilisch craft,
rasit up foure candillis upoune the horssis luggis, and ane
uther candill upoune the staff which the man had in his
hand; and gaif sie lycht as gif itt had bene day lycht;
lyk as the saidis candillis returnit with the said man quhill
his hamecuming; and causit him fall deid at his entre
within the hous.'

It cannot be denied that, owing to the means of discovering witches not having been at that time brought to the last degree of precision and certainty, there is great reason to fear that many innocent suffered along with the guilty. Thus, in the case of Alesoun Balfour, condemned in virtue of her own confession, the unfortunate woman declared, when led to the stake," That the tyme of hir first depositioun sche wes tortoured diverse and severall tymes in the Caschielawis, and sindrie tymis takin out of thame deid, and out of all remembrance eithir of guid or ewill; as likewyis hir guidman being in the stokis, hir sone tortourit in the Buitis, and hir dochtir put in the Pilliewinkis, quhairwith sche and thay wer swa vexit and tormentit, that pairtlie to eschew ane gretar torment and pwnieschement, and upoun promeis of hir lyffe and guid deid, falslie and aganis hir saul and conscience, sche maid yat confessioun, and na utherwyis." The unhappy woman suffered, adhering to this declaration to the last. The production of a copy of it, notorially attested, was afterwards held by an assize sufficient for clearing the Master of Orkney of an accusation that he had consulted with witches. We have met with nothing in history" more affecting than this death declaration of poor Aleson; it is the wailing of outraged nature suffering from the absurdity and brutality of man.

.

But to return to our subject. The victims of the ages of superstition were not always so innocent as this poor woman. The guilt of some of them is of a nature that renders sympathy with their sufferings, dreadful as they were, almost impossible. This is the most painful thing in the history of witchcraft, that, while we acknowledge the absurdity of the sentence, we can rarely feel for the sufferer. Both the judge and the accused believed in the power of spells, and, not unfrequently, the condemned person met with little worse treatment than his unnatural indulgence of pride, malice, covetousness, and licentious pleasure deserved.

Agnes Sampsoune is said by Spotswood to have been not of the base and ignorant sort of witches, but matron-like, grave and settled in her answers, which were all to some purpose." She seems to have been a professed curer of sickness, by means of spells and incantations. Her prayer for her patients, which is entered on the dittay, is a doggrel version of the creed. The conjuration used by her for the recovery of the sick is in the name of God and Jesus. The "Ave Maria" was likewise used by her for similar purposes. The following is rather a curious way of curing a sick person :-" Item, the said Agnes is fylit and convict of cureing umquhile Robert Kerse in Dalkeyth, wha wes havelie tormented with witchcraft and diseis, laid on him be ane Westland warlack when he wes in Dumfreis; quhilk seiknes sche tuik upoun hir selff, and kepit the samyn with grit groining and torment quhill the morne, on quhilk tyme thair wes The crime of witchcraft was not confined to the lower ane grit dyn hard in the hous; quhilk seiknes she caist orders. We find, in Mr Pitcairn's pages, no less than off hir selff in the cloise, to the effect ane catt or dog three instances in which the parties accused are of high mycht haif gottin the samyn." A similar cantrip was . rank. Catherine Lady Fowlis, (p. 191,) to whose case played by Agnes in behalf of Eufame Makcalzane, who we alluded on a former occasion, seems to have been a is accused of" consulting and seiking help at Anny woman not only of high birth, but strong mind. Ambi- Sampsoune, ane notorious witch, for relief of hir payne tious views, and a natural tinge of the age's superstition, in the tyme of the birth of hir twa sonnes ; led her at first to seek supernatural aid. But she seems quhilk being praktesit be hir, as she had ressavit the soon to have penetrated the hollow mummery of the samin frae the said Annie, and informatioun of the use crones to whom she applied, and to have moved onward thairof; hir seiknes wes cassin off hir unnaturallie, in the to her purpose with a clear eye and reckless heart. She birth of hir first sone upoun ane dog; quhilk ranne allowed them to proceed with their incantations, but re- away, and wes never sene agane and in the birth of hir lied solely on their skill in preparing poisons. Her step- last sone the same prakteis foirsaid wes usit, and hir nason, Mr Hector Monro, (p. 201,) was of a different char-turall and kindlie payne unnaturallie cassin off hir upoun acter. His mind appears to have been as sickly as his body. He was accused of trafficking with witches to procure health. The extent of his guilt was selfishly taking steps, which his foster-mother had persuaded him would save his life, at the expense of his brothers. Both of these precious kinsfolk were acquitted. Eufame Makcalzane, (p. 247,) their equal in rank, was a character differing from both. She was the daughter of Lord Cliftonhall, a senator of the College of Justice, eminent in literature, and distinguished both as a lawyer and a statesman. With the exception of her alleged share in the treasonable conspiracy against the king and queen, she seems to have dabbled in the black art solely for the purpose of facilitating her enjoyment of licentious pleasures, and ensuring her vengeance on such as stood in her way. She suffered

the

the wantoune catt in the hous; quhilk lykwyis wes never sene thaireftir." She was one of the party which convened at the "Brume-hoillis; quhair, with Robert Greirson, their admeralt and maister-man, thay past oure the sea in riddillis to ane schip, quhair thay enterit with the Deivill thair maister thairin; quhan aftir thay had eittin and drukkin, thay caist owir ane black dog, that skippit under the schip, thay having thair maister the Deivill thairin, quha drownit the schip be tumbling."

These are the most prominent characters among the respectable adherents of the enemy. It is not worth while taking up the reader's time with the subalterns; but it may be as well to take a glimpse at their master, and the nature of his sway over them.

He is described on one occasion as "ane mekill blak