Note 65 — Chapter Five

James believing in their (witches) influence, and Bacon partly sharing in the belief. Macbeth appeared in this year mixed up with Bacon’s inquiries into witchcraft. Ignatius Donnelly.—The Cryptogram. From the accession of James I., witchcraft became the master superstition of the age. The woman accused of witchcraft was practically beyond the pale of the law; the mere fact of accusation was equal to condemnation.