a kind of sorcery, especially in women, in which it is ridiculously supposed that an old woman, by entering into a contract with the devil, is enabled, in many instances, to change the course of nature; to raise winds; perform actions that require more than human strength; and to afflict those who offend them with the sharpest pains, &c. In the times of ignorance and superstition, many severe laws were made against witches, by which great numbers of innocent persons, distressed with poverty and age, were brought to a violent death; but these are now happily repealed. See Law, Tit. xxiii. 8.