Right you are. The last execution was in the 18th century.
Mark
At 08:10 AM 6/21/2003 +0100, you wrote:
>my memory ever shaky shakey? remembers that the last trial for witchcraft
>was around 1944!!in england- to silence a woman who foretold navy
>secrets??????cheers patrick someone correct me!!!!!!
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Mark Weiss <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2003 12:05 AM
>Subject: Re: Sir Thomas Browne
>
>
> > The last English trial for witchcraft was in the mid-eighteenth
> > century. Very few of Browne's scientific contemporaries were willing to
> > state with a certainty that witches didn't exist.
> >
> > In Cuba, which has one of the world's highest literacy rates and a
> > first-class scientific establishment the majority of bthe population
> > follows santeria, of which witchcraft is an essential component.
> >
> > But why go far afield? I live in California.
> >
> > And is it stranger to believe that there's a diety, or that the diety
>begot
> > on a mortal adolescent a child given to magic tricks?
> >
> > Mark
> >
> >
> > At 06:48 PM 6/20/2003 -0400, you wrote:
> > >At 10:03 PM 6/20/2003 +0100, you wrote:
> > >
> > >> > Alas I remembered Sir Thomas and his "thing" about witchcraft.
> > >>
> > >>I've been trying desperately to remember the link between Browne and
> > >>witchcraft, Kenneth, but damned if I can call it to mind. Maybe you or
>Mark
> > >>could save my ass here?
> > >
> > >I wish I could quote chapter & verse on this. SOMEwhere in Religio
>Medici,
> > >Browne has a relatively brief passage on his absolute belief in the
> > >presence of witches. It stuck with me only because it struck me as
>totally
> > >anomalous for a man of medicine and science to buy into the
> > >occult. Somewhere I have a copy of Wayne Shumaker's "The Occult Sciences
> > >in the Renaissance": if I can dig it out I might have some luck locating
>a
> > >reference. I have long since lost the Thomas Browne book--it traveled
>with
> > >me from Binghamton and around various residences in New Jersey; probably
>it
> > >was one of my books that got destroyed by mildew from sitting in a garage
> > >because we didn't have proper storage space. I know--I shiver at that
>too.
> > >
> > >>But surely against the born-again credulity, there's the Pseudoxia
> > >>Epidemica? Browne the debunker ...
> > >>
> > >>He wasn't as hyped on witches as Jimmy the Six and One, though.
> > >
> > >Or for that matter the ladies and gentlemen among the Puritans
> > >(Congregationalists?) who brought us the spectacle of Salem, MA. I once
> > >was friendly with a woman who was a direct descendant through her
>father's
> > >side of the family of the Coreys, Giles and Martha: he who was pressed to
> > >death for refusing to plead to the charge, she who died on the
> > >gallows. This woman told me when she showed up at the museum in Salem
>some
> > >years ago, they treated her like visiting royalty.
> > >
> > >I have less than no idea when the strong belief in "spirits" died
> > >out. Though I know a guy whose wife is a Wicca practitioner, so maybe
>it's
> > >not dead yet.
> > >
> > >Ken
> > >
> > >-----------------------------
> > >Kenneth Wolman http://www.kenwolman.com
>http://kenwolman.blogspot.com
> > >Lord, steel us against the expectation of disappointment and our belief
>in
> > >the certainty of heartbreak....
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