[516]. “They died alone and unpitied,” says Lecky; “... their very kinsmen shrank from them as tainted and accursed.”—History of Rationalism, p. 149. London, 1865.
[517]. Meetings of a more or less bacchanalian character really took place in Europe through the middle ages, survivals of old rites and nature-worship. See Professor Karl Pearson’s long and learned account of these in The Chances of Death. London, 1897.
[518]. These were often domestic pets or animals about the yard. Even feeding the sparrows on the winter snow would have been dangerous for a suspected person. See kind of evidence sought for by R. Bernard in his Guide to Grand Jurymen, p. 235. London, 1627, etc. The miserable witches, in the agony of sleeplessness and torment, ultimately doing or saying anything that was already expected of them. See, for instance, F. Hutchinson, An Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft, pp. 37, 57. London, 1718.
[519]. On the power of suggestion and imagination, see, for instance, G. le Bon, Revue scientifique, March 26 and April 2, 1910.
[520]. The whole hideous and devilish procedure is given by J. Sprenger and H. Institor in their Malleus Malificarum, about 1485–89. Frankfort ed., 1580.
Paulus Grillandus, De sortilegiis, lib. 4, De questionibus et tortura. Lyons, 1533.
J. Bodin, De la démonomanie des sorciers. Paris, 1580.
R. Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft. London, 1584. B. Nicholson’s edition. London, 1886.
H. Boguet, Discours des sorciers. Lyons, 1608.
[521]. Esquirol gives this as a symptom in some forms of insanity. See E. K. Hunt’s translation of Mental Maladies, p. 245. Philadelphia, 1845.