A Mirror for Witches [antikvár]

A MIRROR FOR WITCHES CHAPTER I Certain Examples to Show Doll Bilhy not alone among Women in her 'preferencefor Evil. The Cases of Ry, Goose, Leda, Danae, etc., cited. It has long been known that, on occasions, devils in the shape of humanity or in their own shapes (that is, with horns, hoofs, and tails) may fancy mortal women. By dark arts, sly promises of power, flattery, etc., they may prevail even upon Christian women, always to the destruction of these women's souls and often to that of their bodies. For in Northumberland, Meslie Ry was burned in 1616 because she had taken a fiend to love. A few years later, Christie Goose, a single woman upwards of forty years, suddenly flew lunatic — and that upon the Lord's Day. Then she did confess that each night and every night the Devil, wickedly assuming the shape of Mr. Oates, God's minister at Crumplehorn, Oxon., came to her through her window. This fact amazed Crumplehorn, for Goose was of all 3