New-York tribune., 1897-01-03

habit OF vanishing wnen purSueo' -.
Of this sort were thought OF with awe oy 'ne
sober minded men Of the sixteenth century
They listened with bated breath while m'se'
able old woman. perhaps under torture 'o'-
how she was attended by devil In the shape OF
n dog or a cat or a mouse. q horse, pigeon
ball OF fire, a lion or q mole: how she kept ner
familiar sp,rit in q leather or a wicker bottle
and how persons were possessed OF deVhs '"a'
came to them as bears, apes and toads.
To the Roupdheads nothing was more certain
than that Prince Rupert was attended py
devil in the shape OF a white poodle. Creditihs
M they did the devil with power barely snort Vi
infinite. II Is strange that they thought MN
willing to humate himself in so many prute
forms. but after all Goethe never hit popuia'
superstitioh more accurately than when ne
transformed Mephistopheles for moment INTO
black dog. This book tells Of witches whose
demoniac servants were like little raggeu po's'
The witches themselves. with all power III '"e''
command were half starved and subject to per-
petual Insult and annoyance even pelore '"e
,ow seized them. The book reads like a satire
upon supernaturasm, and yet II Is In the mann
n mere transcript vf eases that are OF record.
When Il reports the trial Of an old scott'sh
woman who supposed that she got her knowi-
edge of future events by consulting the sp'ri'
OF a soldier who had been killed In battie' -
seems to link itself with something mooer',
When a witch tells Of her visit to elfand anu
n, "spanpine" elf-arrows at her victims with her
fingers instead OF a bow, when IL descr'pc'
devils disembodied by means Of silver bullets
when II talks of devils clad all In grass green
or Of little black figures no longer than ones
orm honnine about. It Is plain that this sombre
and deadly witchcraft of the Puritan period 49,
Of
mythology msdirected and misunderstood, IL
ia rather curious in connection with this. to op-
serve that when the devil is on parade at d
witches sabbath, and often at other times, ne is
as Char1isso described him, dressed IN sooer
black. "a handsome man with black dog, III
the words Of one witness who must have hao an
eve for beauty One fond creature VINO yleiueu
to his temptations saw him In blue cio'hes d
variation that suggests inquiries scientihc anu
otherwise too numerous to mention.
That the devil, like Silas Wegg, sometimes
dropped into poetry Is learned from the "eS."
Romanorum." Mr.. Ashton has reproduceo ia
fac-simile from a Chaldaic grammar OF 'he STA
tfenth century a specimen-the only one ne ue-
c,ares in existence-of the devils handwriting.
Those who have seen both say that this remarh-
able manuscript bears a striking resemblance 10
the cipher devised by Aaron Burr Tor the secret
correspondence relating to his soutnwester" eo"
spiracy, but perhaps this is due to the fact tnat
the devil wrote an excessively square nano'
Nearly all the angles Of his penmansnip are
right angles, in strange contrast to the ahsies
he is said to makewh engrossed In any pus'-
ness but that Of writing. But 1t must De re-
membered also that Burr was a man OF learning
Mr. Ashton reports on hearsay that the "rit'"s
is partly Amharic a language OF Ethiopia wnch
claims to have originated In the Garden OF Eden'
The story goes that certain Italian WIZARD
Ludovico Spaletano. adjured Satan to write
clear and legible answer to an important ques-
tion. With truly legal subtlety Satan wrote
every letter with the accuracy OF copperpiate,
but from that day to this not soul mas peen
able to decipher word Of his answer Can IL
be what he really said to Eve when he per-
suaded her to eat that fatal apple?
Another noteworthy feature OF this volume Is Is
the transcript OF suit at law In which the deviI
figured as goods sold but not delivered me
case occurred in the eleventh year or Edwaru
III-that is. in 1897. Robert de Roderham com
planned that he had bought the devil OF John de
ithow for three pence farthing. giving one
farthing to bind the bargain; but though ne hao
formally demanded his purchased properly az
the time specified in the agreement ne never
received IT, The Court held that sucn bargain
should not subsist between Christians. adJournea
the case to the Internal regions and fned potn
parties a sum which Mr.. Ashton neglects 10
mention.