Men do not seem to have been able to distinguish
between an hypothesis and a proved conclusion; or, rather, the rule of
presumptions was reversed, and men accepted the hypothesis as conclusive
until it was disproved. It was a perfectly rational and sufficient
explanation in those days to refer some extraordinary event to some
given supernatural cause, even though there might be no ostensible link
between the two: now, such a suggestion would be treated by the vast
majority with derision or contempt. On the other hand, the most trivial
occurrences, such as sneezing, the appearance of birds of ill omen, the
crowing of a cock, and events of like unimportance happening at a
particular moment, might, by some unseen concatenation of causes and
effects, exercise an incomprehensible influence upon men, and
consequently had important bearings upon their conduct. It is solemnly
recorded in the Commons' Journals that during the discussion of the
statute against witchcraft passed in the reign of James I., a young
jackdaw flew into the House; which accident was generally regarded as
_malum omen_ to the Bill.[1] Extraordinary bravery on the part of an
adversary was sometimes accounted for by asserting that he was the devil
in the form of a man; as the Volscian soldier does with regard to
Coriolanus. This is no mere dramatist's fancy, but a fixed belief of the
times.
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