[81] _Works_, 1641,
reprinted
by the Spenser Society.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
[77] Craik 2. 24. Rushworth, _Collection_ 1. 24.
[78] For a more detailed account of the drainage of the Lincolnshire
fens see Cunningham, pp. 112-119.
[79] Cf. Dekker, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 3. 367.
[80] _Muse's Looking Glass_, _O. Pl. _ 9. 180 (cited by Gifford).
[81] _Works_, 1641, reprinted by the Spenser Society.
[82] _Character Writings_, ed. Morley, p. 350.
[83] See p. xix.
3. _Witchcraft_
Witchcraft in Jonson's time was not an outworn belief, but a living
issue. It is remarkable that the persecutions which followed upon this
terrible delusion were comparatively infrequent during the Middle
Ages, and reached their maximum only in the seventeenth century.
The first English Act against witchcraft after the Norman Conquest was
passed in 1541 (33 Hen. VIII. c. 8). This Act, which was of a general
nature, and directed against various kinds of sorceries, was followed
by another in 1562 (5 Eliz. c. 16).
