likeness of an black dog'.[1] The Highland witches in the eighteenth century saw the devil as a dog; he was 'a large black ugly tyke', to whom the witches made obeisance; the dog acknowledged the homage 'by bowing, grinning, and clapping his paws'.[2] In the case of the dog-disguise, there is again a similarity with Lapp beliefs and customs, the appearance of the Devil as a dog being not uncommon in Lapland.[3]
4. Goat.—An interesting point as regards this form of disguise is that it does not occur in Great Britain, nor have I found it so far in Belgium. It prevailed chiefly in France, from which all my examples are taken. At Poictiers in 1574 'trois Sorciers & vne Sorciere declarent qu'ils estoyent trois fois l'an, à l'assemblée generale, où plusieurs Sorciers se trouuoyent prés d'vne croix d'vn carrefour, qui seruoit d'enseigne. Et là se trouuoit vn grand bouc noir, qui parloit comme vne personne aux assistans, & dansoyent à l'entour du bouc.'[4] At Avignon in 1581 'when hee comes to be adored, he appeareth not in a humane forme, but as the Witches themselues haue deposed, as soone as they are agreed of the time that he is to mount vpon the altar (which is some rock or great stone in the fields) there to bee worshipped by them, hee instantly turneth himselfe into the forme of a great black Goate, although in all other occasions hee vseth to appeare in the shape of a man.[5] In Lorraine in 1589 the Devil 'sich in einen zottelichten Bock verwandelt hat, und viel stärker reucht und übeler stinckt als immer ein Bock im Anfang des Frühlings thun mag'.[6] In Puy de Dôme in 1594 Jane Bosdeau's lover took her to a meeting, and 'there appeared a great Black Goat with a Candle between his Horns'.[7] In 1598 'Satan apres auoir prins la figure d'vn Bouc, se consume en feu'.[8] In the Basses-Pyrénées in 1609:
'le Diable estoit en forme de bouc, ayant vne queue, & audessoubs vn visage d'homme noir, & n'a parole par ce visage
- ↑ Scots Magazine, 1814, p. 201. Spelling modernized
- ↑ Stewart, p. 175. The whole account is marred by the would-be comic style adopted by the author.
- ↑ Pinkerton, i, p. 473.
- ↑ Bodin, p. 187.
- ↑ Michaelis, Discourse, p. 148.
- ↑ Remigius, pt. i, p. 90.
- ↑ F. Hutchinson, Historical Essay, p. 42.
- ↑ Boguet, p. 141.
