Possibly the reader may now expect some pages on Scot’s style as a writer, and on his claim—his claim, yet not one made by himself—to be considered an English classic. But, besides that, I am not “greatly æsthetic”, and besides having expressed my opinions in more than one place in this Introduction, I think that any reader, with any appreciation of style, and of the manner in which an argument ought to be carried out, can come to but one conclusion. Such belief, I may add, is strengthened by this, that most writers whom I have consulted are of this opinion: and I would conclude with three quotations, chiefly regarding the way in which he carried out his argument. The Rev. Jos. Hunter, in his MS. Chorus Vatum, ch. v, says: “In fact, I had no notion of the admirable character of this book till I read it this September 1839. It is one of the few instances in which a bold spirit opposes himself to the popular belief, and seeks to throw protection over a class of the defenceless. In my opinion, he ought to stand very prominent in any catalogue of Persons who have been public benefactors.”
“To answer his argument was wholly impossible, and though the publication of his book did not put an end to the notion which continued very prevalent for a century afterwards [though we know from Ady that it greatly checked the belief for a time], yet it had, I have no doubt, much to do with the silent and gradual extinction of it.”
So D’Israeli, in his Amenities of Literature, has these words: “A single volume sent forth from the privacy of a retired student, by its silent influence may mark an epoch in the history of the human mind.”
“Such a volume was The Discoverie of Witchcraft, by Reginald Scot, a singular work, which may justly claim the honour in this country of opening that glorious career which is dear to humanity and fatal to imposture.”
Thirdly, Professor W. T. Gairdner, M.D. and LL.D., thus speaks, in his address on “Insanity: Modern Views as to its Nature and Treatment”, read before the Glasgow Medico-Chirurgical Society: “But I cannot leave it [witchcraft] ... without expressing, more strongly than even Mr. Lecky does, the unqualified admiration and surprise which arise in the mind on finding that in 1584 ... there was at least one man in England ... who could scan the whole field of demonology, and all its terrible results in history, with an eye as clear from superstition, and a judgment as sound and unwavering in its opposition to abuses, as that of Mr. Lecky himself. There is only one book, so far as I know, in any language, written in the sixteenth or even the seventeenth century, that merits this praise: and it is a book which, notwithstanding its wide human interest, its great and solid learning, and a charming English style that makes it most readable, even at the present day, has never been reprinted for two hundred years, and is therefore extremely inaccessible to most readers. Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft ... stands brightly out amid the darkness of its own and the succeeding age, as a perfectly unique example of sagacity amounting to genius.” He adds: “Nothing, however, is more evident than that Scot, however indebted to Wier (and both of them, probably, to Cornelius Agrippa ...), was far in advance of either in the clearness of his views and the unwavering steadiness of his leanings to the side of humanity and justice.”
Note.—The italic numerals in the side margins
denote the pages of the first, the ordinary numbers
those of the second edition.
The diſcouerie
of witchcraft,
Wherein the lewde dealing of witches
and witchmongers is notablie detected, the
knauerie of coniurors, the impietie of inchan-
tors, the follie of ſoothſaiers, the impudent falſ-
hood of couſenors, the infidelitie of atheiſts,
the peſtilent practiſes of Pythoniſts, the