--Pitcairn, iii. 617.]
[Footnote 2: III. i. 111.]
[Footnote 3: Hutchinson, p. 40.]
53. In Heywood and Brome's "Witch of Edmonton," the devil appears in the
likeness of a black dog, and takes his part in the dialogue, as if his
presence were a matter of quite ordinary occurrence, not in any way
calling for special remark. However gross and absurd this may appear, it
must be remembered that this play is, in its minutest details, merely a
dramatization of the events duly proved in a court of law, to the
satisfaction of twelve Englishmen, in the year 1612.[1] The shape of a
fly, too, was a favourite one with the evil spirits; so much so that the
term "fly" became a common synonym for a familiar.[2] The word
"Beelzebub" was supposed to mean "the king of flies." At the execution
of Urban Grandier, the famous magician of London, in 1634, a large fly
was seen buzzing about the stake, and a priest promptly seizing the
opportunity of improving the occasion for the benefit of the onlookers,
declared that Beelzebub had come in his own proper person to carry off
Grandier's soul to hell. In 1664 occurred the celebrated witch-trials
which took place before Sir Matthew Hale. The accused were charged with
bewitching two children; and part of the evidence against them was that
flies and bees were seen to carry into the victims' mouths the nails and
pins which they afterwards vomited.
Pages:
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72