THE DEVIL IN BRITAIN AND AMERICA

FACSIMILE OF THE ONLY KNOWN SPECIMEN OF THE DEVIL’S WRITING.

THE DEVIL IN BRITAIN
AND AMERICA

BY
JOHN ASHTON
AUTHOR OF
‘SOCIAL ENGLAND UNDER THE REGENCY,’ ‘SOCIAL LIFE IN THE REIGN
OF QUEEN ANNE,’ ‘VARIA,’ ETC.

WITH FORTY-SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS

WARD AND DOWNEY
Limited
12 YORK BUILDINGS, ADELPHI W.C.
1896.
[All rights reserved.]

[Pg v]

PREFACE

To my thinking, all modern English books on the Devil and his works areunsatisfactory. They all run in the same groove, give the same cases ofwitchcraft, and, moreover, not one of them is illustrated. I haveendeavoured to remedy this by localizing my facts, and by reproducing allthe engravings I could find suitable to my purpose.

I have also tried to give a succinct account of demonology and witchcraftin England and America, by adducing authorities not usually given, and bya painstaking research into old cases, carefully taking everything fromoriginal sources, and bringing to light very many cases never beforerepublished.

For the benefit of students, I have given—as an Appendix—a list of thebooks consulted in the preparation of this work, which, however, thestudent must remember is not an exhaustive bibliography on the subject,but only applies to this book, whose raison d’être is its localization.

The frontispiece is supposed to be the only specimen of Satanic caligraphyin existence, and is[Pg vi] taken from the ‘Introductio in Chaldaicam Linguam,’etc., by Albonesi (Pavia, 1532). The author says that by the conjurationof Ludovico Spoletano the Devil was called up, and adjured to write alegible and clear answer to a question asked him. Some invisible powertook the pen, which seemed suspended in the air, and rapidly wrote what isfacsimiled. The writing was given to Albonesi (who, however, confessesthat no one can decipher it), and his chief printer reproduced it veryaccurately. I am told by experts that in some of the characters may befound a trace of Amharic, a language spoken in its purity in the provinceof Amhara (Ethiopia), and which, according to a legend, was the primevallanguage spoken in Eden.

JOHN ASHTON.

[Pg vii]

CONTENTS