[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
of them went to Alexander Hieche's and brought aqua vitae from thence, and thus made themselfes mirrie;
and the divill made much of them all, but especiallie of Mary Rynd, and he kist them all except the said
Helen herselfe, whose hand onlie he kist; and shee and Jonet Stout satt opposite one to another at the table.'[1]
Of the meeting at Muryknowes there are several accounts. The first is by little Jonet Howat, Helen Guthrie's
young daughter: 'At this meiting there wer about twenty persones present with the divill, and they daunced
togither and eat togither, having bieff, bread, and ale, and shoe did eat and drink with them hir self, bot hir
bellie was not filled, and shoe filled the drink to the rest of the company.'[2] Elspet Alexander confirms this
statement, 'The divill. and the witches did drinke together having flesh, bread, and aile';[3] and so also does
the Jonet Stout who sat opposite to Helen Guthrie at the table, 'The divill and the said witches did eat and
drinke, having flesh, bread, and aile upon ane table, and Joanet Huit was caper and filled the drinke'.[1] On
one occasion they tried to wreck the Bridge of Cortaquhie; 'when we had done, Elspet [Bruce] gaive the
divell ane goose in hir own house, and he dated hir mor than them all, because shee was ane prettie
wornan.'[5] The Kinross-shire witches obtained their food from the Devil, and this is one of the few
instances of complaints is to the quality of it. 'Sathan gave you [Robert Wilson] both meat and drink sundry
times, but it never did you any good';[6] and Janet Brugh 'confessed that ye got rough bread and sour drink
from Sathan at the Bents of Balruddrie'.[7] According to Marie Lamont, 'the devill. came to Kattrein Scott's
house, in the midst of the night. He gave them wyn to drink, and wheat bread to eat, and they warr all very
mirrie.'[8] Isobel Gowdie's confession gives a wealth of detail as usual:
'We would go to several houses in the night time. We
[1. Kinloch, p. 121.
2. Id., p. 124.
3. Id., p. 126.
4. Id., p. 127.
5. The Feast 88
The Witch Cult in Western Europe
5. Id., p. 133. Dated = caressed.
6. Burns Begg, p. 227.
7. Id., p. 238.
8 Sharpe, p. 131.]
were at Candlemas last in Grangehill, where we got meat and drink enough. The Devil sat at the head of the
table, and all the Coven about. That night he desired Alexander Elder in Earlseat to say the grace before meat,
which he did; and is this:[1] "We eat this meat in the Devil's name " [etc.]. And then we began to eat. And
when we had ended eating, we looked steadfastly to the Devil, and bowing ourselves to him, we said to the
Devil, We thank thee, our Lord, for this. We killed an ox, in Burgie, about the dawing of the day, and we
brought the ox with us home to Aulderne, and did eat all amongst us in an house in Aulderne, and feasted on
it.'[2]
At Borrowstowness the witches went to different houses for their feasts, which seem to have been supplied
partly by the hostess, partly by the Devil and the guests.
'Ye and each person of you was at several meetings with the devil in the links of Borrowstowness, and in the
house of you Bessie Vickar, and ye did eat and drink with the devil, and with one another, and with witches
in her house in the night time; and the devil and the said William Craw brought the ale which ye drank,
extending to about seven gallons, from the house of Elizabeth Hamilton.'[3]
In 1692 Goodwife Foster of Salem gave a rather charming description of the picnic feast with the Coven from
Andover:
'I enquired what she did for Victuals' [at the meeting]; 'She answered that she carried Bread and Cheese in her
pocket, and that she and the Andover Company came to the Village before the Meeting began, and sat down
together under a tree, and eat their food, and that she drank water out of a Brook to quench her thirst.'[4]
The Continental evidence varies very little from the British. Except in a few details, the main facts are
practically the same. De Lancre summarizes the evidence which he himself collected, and contrasts it with
what other authorities said on the subject:
'Les liures disent que les sorciers mangent au Sabbat de ce que le Diable leur a appresté: mais bien souue{n}t
il ne s'y
[1. The complete grace is given on p. 167. It will be seen that it is a corrupt version of some ancient form of
words.
2. Pitcairn, iii, pp. 612, 613. Spelling modernized.
3. Scots Magazine, 1814, p. 200. Spelling modernized.
4. Burr, p. 418.]
trouue que des viandes qu'ils ont porté eux mesmes. Parfois il y a plusieurs tables seruies de bons viures, &
d'autres fois de tres meschans: & à table on se sied selon sa qualité, ayant chacun son Demon assis auprés, &
parfois vis à vis. Ils benissent leur table inuoquant Beelzebub, & le tenant pour celui qui leur faict ce bien.'[1]
5. The Feast 89
The Witch Cult in Western Europe
The young man-witch, Isaac de Queyran, told de Lancre that the witches sat at a table with the Black Man at
the end, and had bread and meat which was spread on a cloth.[2] The evidence at the trial of Louis Gaufredy
at Aix in 1610 gives other details, though the eating of children's flesh is probably an exaggeration:
'They prouide a banquet, setting three tables according to the three diuersities of the people above named.
They that haue the charge of bread, doe bring in bread made of corne. The drink which they haue is Malmsey.
The meate they ordinarily eate is the flesh of young children, which they cooke and make ready in the
Synagogue, sometimes bringing them thither aliue by stealing them from those houses where they haue
opportunity to come. They haue no vse of kniues at table for feare least they should be laid a crosse. They
haue also no salt.'[3]
Boguet also collected a considerable amount of information from the witches who fell into his hands:
'Les Sorciers, apres s'estre veautrez parmi les plaisirs immondes de la chair, banquettent & se festoient: leurs
banquets estans composez de plusieurs sortes de viandes, selon les lieux, & qualitez des personnes. Par deçà
la table estoit couuerte de beurre, de fromage, & de chair. Clauda Ianguillaume, Iaquema Paget, & quelques
autres adioustoient qu'iI y auoit vne grande chaudiere sur le feu, dans laquelle chacun alloit prendre de la
chair. On y boit aussi du vin, & le plus souuent de 1'eau. . . . Antoine Tornier a confessé qu'elle en auoit beu
[le vin] dans vn goubelet de bois; les autrés parloient seulement d'eau. Mais il n'y a iamais sel en ces repas . . .
Les Sorciers auant que de prendre leur repas benissent la table, mais auec des parolles remplies de
blasphemes, faisans Beelzebub autheur & conseruateur de toutes choses . . . Ils accordent tous, qu'il n'y a
point de gout aux viandes qu'ils mangent au Sabbat, & que la chair n'est autre chair que de cheual. Et
adioustent en outre, que lors qu'ils sortent de
[1. De Lancre, Tableau, p. 197.
2. Id. ib., p. 148.
3. Michaelis, Historie, pp. 335-6.]
table, ils sont aussi affamez que quand ils entrent. Antide Colas racontoit particulierement que les viandes
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]