The delusion respecting witches was greatly increased in the first instance by a Bull issued by Pope Innocent III. in 1484, to the inquisitors at Almaine, “exhorting them to discover, and empowering them to destroy, all such as were guilty of witchcraft.”  The fraternity of Witchfinders arose in consequence, and they seem to have been imbued with the genuine spirit of inquisitors, delighting in hunting out and dragging to the torture the innocent and harmless.  They had the most unlimited authority granted them, and the whole thunders of the Vatican were directed to the destruction of witches and wizards.  The bloody scenes which followed, exceed description.  In 1435, Cumanus (an inquisitor) burnt forty-one poor women for witches, in the country of Burlia, in one year.  One inquisitor in Piedmont burnt a hundred in a very short time; and in 1524, a thousand were burnt in one year in the diocese of Como, and a hundred annually for a considerable period; on all of whom the greatest cruelties were practised.  The fraternity of witchfinders soon found their way to this country, under the fostering protection of the government; and it was of course their interest to keep up the delusion by every means in their power.  We have already alluded to the cruelties exercised in Great Britain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and add an account of one of the cruel ceremonies used to detect witches:—­“Having taken the suspected witch,” says Gaule, “she is placed in the middle of a room upon a stool or table, cross-legged, or in some other uneasy posture, to which if she submits not, she is then bound with cords.  There she is watched and kept without meat or sleep for the space of four-and-twenty hours; for (they say) that within that time they shall see her imp come and suck.  A little hole is likewise made in the door for the imp to come in at; and lest it should come in some less discernible shape, they that watch are taught to be ever and anon sweeping the room, and if they see any spiders or flies, to kill them.  And if they cannot kill them, they may be sure they are her imps!” Towards the conclusion of the seventeenth century, the delusion and jugglery of witchcraft was in a great measure overthrown by the firmness of the English judges; amongst the most prominent of whom stands Chief Justice Holt.  Indeed a statute was shortly after passed, which made it wilful murder, should any of the objects of persecution lose their lives.  The popular belief, however, in witchcraft still continued, and it was not till the ninth year of George II., that the statutes against it were repealed.  We believe there is still an Irish statute unrepealed, which inflicts capital punishment on witches.