he tells them they shall be princes ruling in the aire, or shall be but turned into impes at worst.  Then he preaches to them to be mindful of their covenant, and not to fail to revenge themselves upon their enemies, Then, he commends to them (for this purpose) an imp, or familiar in the shape of a cat, &c.  After this they shake hands, embrace in arms, dance, feast, and banquet, according as the devill hath provided in imitation of the supper.  Nay, ofttimes he marries them ere they part, either to himselfe, or to their familiar, or to one another, and that by the Book of Common Prayer, as a pretender to witch-finding told me, in the presence of many.”  After this they part, and a general meeting is held thrice a year, on some holy day; they are “conveyed to it as swift as the winds from the remotest parts of the earth, where they that have done the most execrable mischiefe, and can brag of it, make most merry with the devill;” while the “indiligent” are jeered and derided by the devil and the others.  Non-attendance was severely punished by the culprits being beaten on the soles of the feet, whipped with iron rods, “pinched and sucked by their familiars till their heart’s blood come—­till they repent them of their sloth, &c.”

Many regulations were, however, to be observed after the above initiatory ceremony, which we have given at length in consequence of its singularity.  There existed a community or commonwealth, of “fallen angels” or spirits, with the various titles of kings, dukes, &c., prelates and knights, of which the head was Baal, “who, when he was conjured up, appeared with three heads, one like a man, one like a toad, and one like a cat.”  The title of king conferred no extra power; indeed, Agares, “the first duke, came in the likeness of a faire old man, riding upon a crocodile, and carrying a hawk on his fist”—­Marbas, who appeared in the form of a “mightie lion”—­Amon, “a great and mightie marques, who came abroad in the likeness of a wolf, having a serpent’s taile, and breathing out and spitting flames of fire,” and was one of the “best and kindest of devills,” with sixty-five more of these master-spirits, enumerated in Scot, “appeared to be entirely and exclusively appropriated to the service of witches,” were alike possessed of nearly similar power, and had many hundreds of legions of devils (each legion 6,666 in number) at their command.

There were stated times for each rank of devils to be called on, for they aught not to be invoked “rashly or at all seasons;” and the following extracts from Reginald Scot are fully explanatory of the formalities to be observed on these occasions:—­