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xxxii
spells and charms, although we read that this was done by Oddo, the great pirate and sea-rover, in Denmark, and by the Huns who by their magic arts defeated Sigisbert, King of Soissons, in the time of Chilperic, not to mention Haakon, Prince of Norway, who fought his enemies with storms of hail. But I mean that they could raise an army equal to that of Xerxes, although that was of eighteen hundred thousand men. Bodin.For if it be true that Trois-eschelles, one of the best informed of their sect, declared in the time of Charles IX that there were in France alone three hundred thousand or, as some read, thirty thousand witches, as what figure can we estimate the number of those which could be found in all the different countries of the world? And must we not believe that since that time they have increased by more than half? For my part I have no doubt of it: for if we but look around among our own neighbours, we shall find them all