INTRODUCTION. Since the subject of Demonology and Witchcraft has been treated of by no less a person than the late Sir Walter Scott, it may appear superfluous, if not presumptuous, for another writer to enter upon a field which has already been traversed by so great an authority. But we do so, because we believe that the matter which we shall adduce will be entirely new. We have not the work of Sir Walter Scott by to refer to; but, as the materials from which we propose to draw the substance of the following pages, are to be found in an exceedingly rare and scarce old German work, of the year A 1747, which fell by mere chance into our hands, we have reason to believe that the present generation is either wholly, or very nearly so, unacquainted with it. Whether, however, there are, or not, any parts of it, which the mere English reader may have met with before, we have a further object in view, and that is, to endeavour to impress upon these times a sense of the debt of gratitude due unto the Reformation for having dispersed the clouds of error and superstition which so long darkened the human intellect. We shall perceive in the author, Dr. Jacob Bräuner, from whom we draw our illustrations, the newly imparted light of Revelation struggling against the Romish superstitions, which still lingered in the world, even after the grosser parts of that ritual had fallen before the word of God. We shall see him half doubting whether the instances of Satanic influence, which he brings forward, may not after all have something solid to rest upon, whilst at other times he inclines to the belief that the individuals who have been the subject of them, are under the power of strong mental delusions; exhibiting a mind not wholly set free from those prejudices, which, in the preceding ages, had taken such deep hold of the church. Dr. Bräuner was a student at Erfürt, A.D. 1672, and was therefore probably born about A.D. 1654, or about a century and a quarter after Luther had declared war to extermination against the papacy by the burning of the Pope's bull. At this epoch the belief of extensive Satanic agency was still rife in the church; neither is this to be wondered at when we consider the slowness with which the human mind discards any propositions or theories which have the sanction of considerable antiquity. Unhappily in the present day, we have gone to the other extreme. Not content with rejecting the absurdities of personal and visible communications with the Father of Lies, the mass of mankind have repudiated the idea of the Tempter's access, in any way, to the human mind and heart; nay, his very existence is all but questioned; and, if admitted into our consideration at all, he is looked upon much in the same light as the effigy of Guy Fawkes, whose place he appears to have now taken. The next step that has been taken is to question the doctrine of a special or over-ruling Providence-the succeeding one, which yet remains to be taken, is the denial of the existence of God himself; which we may yet live to see exemplified in the torrent of infidelity and rationalism now commencing to flood the world; and finally, as the human mind must have something extrinsic to rest upon, it will again come to "my Lord God, the Pope," as the only hope of salvation. In the first instance, he, the Pope, took advantage of the universal ignorance and darkness to steal into the world; in the last, he will come riding into it on the shoulders of rampant infidelity, which will make way for him in the manner indicated. These times, we fully believe, are nearer than is generally anticipated, witness Oxford, witness Roman Catholic Chapels springing up in all parts of enlightened, Protestant, England-and witness the various conversions, so called, to that faith, trumpeted forth in every newspaper of the day. Incredible, therefore, as it may appear, we may yet see a repetition of the absurdities recorded in the following pages; and, therefore, the exhibition of the delusions into which the human mind, left to itself, is prone to fall, will not be without its use. If an eminent French writer, (Pinel on insanity,) is to be believed, it is still a tradition in the Church of Rome that Saint Denys, the tutelar saint of France, after having been beheaded July 28th, A.D. 704, walked several miles, carrying his head in his hands, and |