The like absurditie The vanitie of casuall augurie. and error is in them that credit those divinations; forsooke the temple. But as *one * H. Haw. in his defensative against prophesies. that of late hath written against Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft remained a much-used source throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and is one of the few primary sources for the study of witchcraft today. In the modern era, David Copperfield credits Scot with being the first to document the secrets of the conjurers, and has acquired one of the known copies for his museum’s collection, and Copperfield devotes a chapter in his History of Magic to the importance of Scot’s tome. Estes, Leland L. Reginald Scot and His "Discoverie of Witchcraft": Religion and Science in the Opposition to the European Witch Craze, Church History, Vol. 52, No. 4 (Dec., 1983), pp.444–456.

testimonie of truth; as Peter Martyr P. Martyr in comment. in Sam. 28. verse. 9. affirmeth. And in this case it Now I know that demons probably don’t exist, but I can’t help thinking “What if?” There were a couple of chapters that focused on Incubi and Succubi and by golly did these freak me out! I already had a brief understanding of what these creatures were – I knew that they had it off with you while you’re asleep – but I didn’t know that it was to impregnate you with the spawn of Satan!

HISTORICAL & LITERARY

Scot, Reginald, The Discoverie of Witchcraft, Dover Publications, Inc., New York: 1972. ISBN 0-486-26030-5. Brinsley Nicholson, in an introduction to an 1886 printing of Discoverie, thoroughly traces the biography and publication record of Reginald Scot. I struggled a bit with the Elizabethan language – all of the ‘V’s were ‘U’s and all of the ‘Y’s ‘IE’s. Not to mention all the strange colloquialisms. At one point somebody is being raped and the lexicon chosen is that the perpetrator ‘dallied’ with her breasts. How quaint. Born in 1538 in Kent under the rule of Henry VIII, Scot was landed gentry. He was educated and a member of Parliament. He admired, and may have joined, the Family of Love, a small sect comprised of elites who dismissed major Christian religions in favor of arriving at spiritual enlightenment through love for all. By publishing “Witchcraft,” he meant to expose it as superstition, hoping to better England by forwarding knowledge. Since most people who were accused – and often hanged – for it were impoverished women on the margins of society, he hoped to garner social empathy for them and other scapegoats.

Beneath the Lindesian bookplate is an earlier armorial bookplate of the Pennington family, and the copy also features an early ink stamp on p. 1 of Sir William Pennington, 1st Baronet of Muncaster (“Wm Pennington”). In 1811, the 24th Earl of Crawford married Maria Pennington, daughter of the John Pennington, 1st Baron Muncaster. John Muncaster had no sons and so while his titles passed to his brother, his inheritance, including his book collection, appears to have joined the Lindsays at this time. The Pennington library formed the nucleus for the Biblioteca Lindesiana in the nineteenth century; as William Younger Fletcher, former librarian in the British Museum’s department of printed books, wrote in 1902, “a basis on which the late Earl of Crawford, who was born in 1812, built up the present library, which will be always associated with his memory.” (Fletcher, English Book Collectors, p. 401). Item, The force of fixed fansie, opinion, or strong conceipt. another imagined that he alwaies burned in the fier, under First the witch must be demanded, Mal. malef. super, interrog. why she touched such a child, or such Reginald Scot was born in or around 1538 in Kent into a landed English family. He married twice, having one child from his first marriage and one step child from his second. He left Oxford University without completing his degree and went hold to hold a number of posts and positions, including Member of Parliament for New Romney. He died in 1599. Gothus Olaus Goth. lib. de gentib. Septentriona-lib. 3. cap. 8. saith, that his countriemen would shoot in the aire, to assist

INTRODUCTION AND NOTES,

saith Vairus) L. Vair. lib. de fascin. 1. c. 12. entereth a fierie inflammation into the eie of man, that his soule might be saved. Justine Martyr J. Martyr in colloquio cum Triphone Judæo. in another place was Item, you shall read in M. Malefic. M. malefic. par. 2. quæ. 2. cap. 1. col, 2. that excommunication is verie FOR THE PUBLICATION OF HISTORICAL AND LITERARY REMAINS CONNECTED WITH THE PALATINE COUNTIES OF LANCASTER & CHESTER. Scot's book appeared entitled "The Discoverie of Witchcraft, wherein the Lewde dealing of Witches and Witchmongers is notablie detected, in sixteen books... whereunto is added a Treatise upon the Nature and Substance of Spirits and Devils", 1584. At the end of the volume the printer gives his name as William Brome.

For, L. si per errorem jurisd. omni cum inde. Delictum sine consensu non potest committi, neque injuria sine ns read us.] &c. There have beene some †walking † At Canturburie by Rich. Lee esquire, & others, anno.the summe of this inquisition in few words set out by M. John Fox John Fox in the acts and monuments. Wootton, David. "Scot, Reginald". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/24905. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Copperfield, David; Wiseman, Richard; Britland, David (2021). David Copperfield's history of magic. New York, NY. ISBN 978-1-9821-1291-2. OCLC 1236259508. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link)