The question was not whether the crime
existed; the only object of inquiry respected the justice of its
application. The author, and the illustrious van Swieten, were appointed
to make the investigation. After reading over the depositions, produced
on the trials with the greatest care, and interrogating the culprits
themselves _most vigorously_ by means of a Croatian interpreter, these
great physicians discovered that the _three old_ women were not witches,
and prevailed with the Empress to send them home in safety. It was this
circumstance that induced de Haen to write on magic.
That some judgment may be formed of de Haen's very extraordinary and
curious production written in the latter part of the eighteenth century,
we shall here furnish our readers with an abstract of its principles and
reasoning, to which we shall subjoin some remarks.
By the crime of magic, the author informs us, he means any improper
communication between men and evil spirits, whether it be called
theurgy, soothsaying, necromancy, chiromancy, incantation or witchcraft.
He proposes to prove, in the first place, that such a communication
does actually exist.
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