[593] One of the most curious instances of this may be seen in the destruction of the old notions respecting witchcraft. This important revolution in our opinions was effected, so far as the educated classes are concerned, between the Restoration and the Revolution; that is to say, in 1660, the majority of educated men still believed in witchcraft; while in 1688, the majority disbelieved it. In 1665, the old orthodox view was stated by Chief-Baron Hale, who, on a trial of two women for witchcraft, said to the jury: ‘That there are such creatures as witches, I make no doubt at all; for, first, the Scriptures have affirmed so much; secondly, the wisdom of all nations hath provided laws against such persons, which is an argument of their confidence of such a crime.’ Campbell's Lives of the Chief Justices, vol. i. pp. 565, 566. This reasoning was irresistible, and the witches were hung; but the change in public opinion began to affect even the judges, and after this melancholy exhibition of the Chief-Baron, such scenes became gradually rarer; though Lord Campbell is mistaken in supposing (p. 563) that this was ‘the last capital conviction in England for the crime of bewitching.’ So far from this, three persons were executed at Exeter for witchcraft in 1682. See Hutchinson's Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft, 1720, pp. 56, 57. Hutchinson says: ‘I suppose these are the last three that have been hanged in England.’ If, however, one may rely upon a statement made by Dr. Parr, two witches were hung at Northampton in 1705; and in ‘1712, five other witches suffered the same fate at the same place.’ Parr's Works, vol. iv. p. 182, 8vo, 1828. This is the more shameful, because, as I shall hereafter prove, from the literature of that time, a disbelief in the existence of witches had become almost universal among educated men; though the old superstition was still defended on the judgment-seat and in the pulpit. As to the opinions of the clergy, compare Cudworth's Intellect. Syst. vol. iii. pp. 345, 348; Vernon Correspond. vol. ii. pp. 302, 303; Burt's Letters from the North of Scotland, vol. i. pp. 220, 221; Wesley's Journals, pp. 602, 713. Wesley, who had more influence than all the bishops put together, says: ‘It is true, likewise, that the English in general, and, indeed, most of the men of learning in Europe, have given up all accounts of witches and apparitions as mere old wives' fables. I am sorry for it…. The giving up witchcraft is, in effect, giving up the Bible…. But I cannot give up, to all the Deists in Great Britain, the existence of witchcraft, till I give up the credit of all history, sacred and profane.’
However, all was in vain. Every year diminished the old belief; and in 1736, a generation before Wesley had recorded these opinions, the laws against witchcraft were repealed, and another vestige of superstition effaced from the English statute-book. See Barrington on the Statutes, p. 407; Note in Burton's Diary, vol. i. p. 26; Harris's Life of Hardwicke, vol. i. p. 307.
To this it may be interesting to add, that in Spain a witch was burned so late as 1781. Ticknor's Hist. of Spanish Literature, vol. iii. p. 238.
[594] The first edition was published in 1646. Works of Sir Thomas Browne, vol. ii. p. 163.
[595] See the notes in Mr. Wilkin's edition of Browne's Works, Lond. 1836, vol. ii. pp. 284, 360, 361.
[596] The precise date is unknown; but Mr. Wilkin supposes that it was written ‘between the years 1633 and 1635.’ Preface to Religio Medici, in Browne's Works, vol. ii. p. 4.
[597] Ibid. vol. ii. p. 58.
[598] Ibid. vol. ii. p. 47.
[599] Or, as he calls it, ‘chiromancy.’ Religio Medici, in Browne's Works, vol. ii. p. 89.
[600] ‘For my part, I have ever believed, and do now know, that there are witches. They that doubt of these, do not only deny them, but spirits; and are obliquely, and upon consequence, a sort, not of infidels, but atheists.’ Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 43, 44.