New-York tribune., 1909-05-02

Mr. Hueffer has made an entertaining book, |
though he advances claim to having more
than CLEANED along the surface of his subject !
The philosophic student may seek elsewhere for
more exhaustive dealings with that rich sub
ject; the general reader who would fain acquire
4 convenient knowledge Of many things viii
find here a sufficiently careful well as lively
account Of witches past and present Present
indeed-fcr our author shows that belief in black
magic and in such ''kitte cattle" as the prac-
tsers thereof is not yet eliminated from the
civilized world. Nay he even urges a whimsi-
cal plea for the revival of Witchcraft on the
ground that superstition has played notable
part in making humanity contented with its
lot" and that "the world would be dull, miser-
able intolerable, did believe only what our
lInfeeling stepmother Science would have US be-
Iieve" His irony is and then a little
forced but on that need not dwell 1t leads
US To chapter in which he loses himself in 4
picturesque description of witches meeting
Oh a mountain peak in the Cevennes, and of the
celebration OF tie Black Mass. The glastliness
therein is that Of the Satanic revel in the
.-Dannation Of Faust"
The witch, as We know, exists in all lands
Mr.. Hueffer traces her back 10 the primitive
housewife, who, by force Of her domestic re
spensibiIities, learns TO brew potons for the
cure of ailing bodies, and out Of that wisdom ac-
gufres more for the direction Of groping minds
4 comes 10 the thoughtful herb gatherer and be
seeches her to reason with the delinquent rain
demon" OF call down from the clouds herself
Teviving shower:
She knows very well that she cannot make rain
rohably she & has : Pldg ma ,.,sr 5 fS IS are
tie gifts thus easy to be earned The man be
Ieves in her-almost she begins 70 beieye IN her
sef Perhaps she tries TO persuade herself tnat shs
ny eS ~ natural signs The probability that rain
may shortly be expected If It should notIWeu
she must impose conditions and any failure must
Ire set down 10 their noE-InInenfi if IneLe .t Is a
grown baby who is 50 ready 10 be gulied- she ae-
,epts the trust commands the rain demon 10 let
down his showers Her reading Of the signs IS
lion is assured-untI belief in the supernatural
SHAH be more. Her daughter and her grand,
The storm asIls e thar there
= 100 y--1e in the form Of their mothers words
become an incantation. From the frst cialIIl
seress and thence to the ''horrid old witch" Of
fairy legend. is but matter Of regular evolution
Il is as interesting a conjecture as any that
NAV be drawn out Of the past Of witchcraft
A. the author comes down through the cen
turies he strikes firm ground in history until by
100, every trace Of benehcence is removed from
the witch. who then becomes, in the opinion Of
men a servant Of the Evil One In the fifteenth
century witchcraft was officially identified with
heresy. The Inquisition undertook to abolish it
The Protestants after the Reformation. Joined
il effort, and there were torture ana Oedll-
l.v fire OF drowning, prepared for such old
women as happened TO have enemies or neigh
l,ars upon whom unexplained ills descended
The author cites the Of Edward Fairfax,
1ba learned translator in the seventeenth cen
ttI-v Of the works of Tasso- Master FairfaXs
children fell i'll of disorder whose symptoms he
c-0r7ld nor find noted in his medical library.
las for the two old women upon whom the
Imagination Of this learned gentleman imnedI-
sta1v fixed itself The persecution Of witches
.,r-vy with what il fed on, for one poor woman
after another subjected TO excruciatng tortures,
...a1fessed" whatever the tOrmentors called for
ready TO go TO the stake If only she might be
released from the rack It is pointed out that
the ordinary legal conventions were not ob-
served At these trials. Contrary TO the usual
rrpceaure witness might be borne against them
lv excomrnunicated persons, conVicts infants
dishonest servants and runaways. Presumption
and conjecture were accepted as evidence; an
rquivocaI OF doubtful answer was regarded as
confession and rU1nor or common report was
sufficient TO insure a conviction"
A particularly effective chapter Is that In
wfsicf the author deals with the later persecn-
tions in England. The trials were conducted