Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	mouth_n	speak_v	word_n	6,196	5	4.5092	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54396	The devill of Mascon, or, A true relation of the chiefe things which an unclean spirit did, and said at Mascon in Burgundy in the house of Mr. Francis Pereaud, minister of the Reformed Church in the same towne / published in French lately by himselfe ; and now made English by one that hath a particular knowledge of the truth of this story.; Antidémon de Mascon. English	Perrault, François, 1577-1657.; Du Moulin, Pierre, 1568-1658.	1658 (1658)	Wing P1584; ESTC R40060	21,898	64

he should not faile to bring holy water along with him for that sayd he would send me away packing presently We wondered that the dog of the house who used to be very watchfull and would barke at the least noise yet never barked at the loud speaking and hideous noise of the Demon He said of his owne accord without asking You wonder that the dog barketh not It is because I made the sign of the Crosse upon his head Then being upon a merry pinne he fell a scoffing and jearing and among others things sayd that he was one of those that scaled the walls of Geneva and that the ladder being broken he fell from the wall into the ditch where he had beene neere to have beene eaten by the frogs whose croaking he did perfectly imitate He said that a Jesuite called Father Alexander stood at the foot of the ladder exhorting the Savoyards to goe up boldly assuring them that they should take the city and winne Paradise And that when the thirteene that were got up and taken were led to the gallowes the women of the towne sayd to the hangman Courage Tabasan thou shalt have mony to drink Speaking of Pays de Vaux he said that it was a countrey where they made goodly carbonadoe's of witches and at that he laughed very loud He delighted much in jesting with the mayd of the house calling her Bressande that is a woman of the countrey of Bressia and counterfeited her language One night as she went up to the garret to fetch coales he told her Thou art very bold to passe so neere me and making a noise as if he had clapt his hands together he told her I will put thee in my sack He seemed also to delight much in jeasting with one Michael Repay who came almost every night to us with his father calling him often Michel Mihell He told him once that he would bring him to warre with the Marquesse of St Martin who was raising a troope of horse in Bressia to go to Savoy But Michael Repay answered him smiling should I goe to warres with such a coward as thy selfe since thou professest that thou didst flie from the scalado of Geneva To which the Demon answered And do you think that I would goe and be hanged with my camrades I was not such a foole Continuing to jeast with Michael Repay he put him in mind that the Sunday before going to Church with one Noel Monginot to the village of Vrigny he was saying that the way to catch the Devill was to spread a net for him and then he told him Wilt thou now spread thy net to catch me At the same time he did so lively counterfeit the voyce of Michael Repay's mother that he said laughing to his father Father truly he speakes justilike my mother Another time he told us in a faint and moaning tone that he had a mind to make his will because he must needs goe presently to Chambery where he had a law-suite ready for the triall and that he feared to dye by the way wherefore he had the mayd to goe for a Notary naming Mr Tornus father to that Tornus of whom we spake before Of his family he said many particularities of which as also of all the passages of this Demon acted in his presence the sayd Tornus the sonne a Royall Notary as his father hath left a relation written and signed with his owne hand which I have in my keeping for confirmation of all that is here related And it was to have such an authenticall testimonie that I adrest my selfe to him when this vexation came upon me In that relation he mentioneth the severall legacies which the Demon declared that he would leave to one this to another that One of them to whom he sayd that he would give five hundred pounds answered him that he would have none of his money and wisht that it might perish with him He named another to be his heire generall who also answered that he would not accept the inheritance I free thee of it sayd the Demon for six pence and a piece of bread A while after he counterfeited that he was not the same Spirit that had spoken before but his servant onely That he came from waiting upon his Master who had charged him to keepe his place in his absence while he was in his journey to Chambery And when I rebuked him in such words as God put in my mouth he answered with much seeming lenity and respect I beseech you Sir to pardon me you are mistaken in me you take me for another I never was in this house before I pray Sir what is your name As he was thus speaking one Simeon Meissonier that used to resort often to my house upon that occasion rusht suddenly to the place whence the voyce seemed to come and having searcht it againe and againe as others had done before him and found nothing he returned to the place where we were all bringing with him severall things from the place where the voyce sounded among other things a small bottle At which the Demon fell a laughing and said to him I was told long since that thou wert a foole and I see now that thou art one indeed to believe that I am in that bottle I should be a foole my selfe to get into it for so one might take me with stopping the bottle with his finger One night when Abraham Lullier a goldsmith was comming into the house where he seldome fayled to be at that houre the Demon said Goe open the doore to Lullier who is comming and at the same time Lullier knockt at the doore As soone as he was come in the Demon told him that he desired to learne the goldsmiths trade of him and that for his prentiship he would give him fifty Crownes Then giving him faire words I love thee well said he thou art an honester man then such a man naming another goldsmith a man of Geneva who hath cosened such a Lady of Mascon who was gone to visit some of her kinred at Geneva in the sale of some rings Jewells and plate Upon which when Lullier told him I have no need of thy love I am content with the love of my God Neither will I take such a prentice as thee The Demon answered Since thou wilt not teach me the Goldsmiths trade let Master Philibert teach me to be a Bleacher Then acting againe the part of a servant he complained that he was poore and ill clad that he starved for cold and that his wages were but twelve crownes a yeare He told us that if we would have him to goe away quickly we should give him something and that any thing would please him I told him that he knockt at the wrong doore and that I would not give him the paring of my nailes He answered You have then very little charity Againe he obstinately affirmed that he was not the same that had bin in the house from the beginning

a turne in the street Really whither he went forth or staid we had a wonderfull silence during our prayer But no sooner was the prayer done but he began againe as before and urged and sollicited us to speake with him And so continued speaking and provoking us to speake till the 25 of November when he spake these last words Ha ha je ne parleray plus that is Alas alas I shall speake no more From that very time he gave over and spake no more I might adde many other discourses of this Demon but I confesse that I purposely omit them because they offend either Religion or the State or the good name of some great persons and honorable families or because they are foule and dishonest as proceeding from an uncleane Spirit So much as wee have related is sufficient to shew how strange and admirable was this speaking of the Devill As his words were strange and admirable so were his actions for besides those which I have related done in my absence he did many more of the same kind as tossing about very often a great roll of cloath of fifty ells which a friend had left at my house to be sent to Lyons by water Once he snacht a brasse candlestick out of the maids hand leaving the candle lighted in her hand He would very often take that mayd 's coates and hang them over the bed posts setting over them a rough hat such as the countriwemen of Bresse use to weare for she was of that countrey Sometimes he would hang at those poasts a great starching plate with coards so tyed and with so many knots that it was impossible to untie them and yet himselfe would suddenly untie them in a moment Once I found my bootes so intangled within a winding blades that they could not be taken off And many times he hath so twisted radishes together that the like could not be done unlesse it had bin studied with a very long patience and leisure One afternoone a friend of mine one Mr Connain a Physitian of Mascon bestowed a visit upon me As I was relating unto him these strange passages we went together to the chamber where the Demon was most resident There we found the featherbed blankets sheets and boulster layd all upon the floore I called the mayd to make the bed which she did in our presence but presently we being walking in the same roome saw the bed undone and tumbled downe on the floore as it was before In the roome over that where I had my study I found severall times part of my books laid on the floore and my houre-glasse unbroken and no other harme As I was once sitting in my study the Demon made a noise as it had beene a great voly of shot in the roome above Sometimes he would be the groome of my stable rubbing my horse and platting the haire of his tayle and maine but he was an unruly groome for once I found that he had saddled my horse with the crupper before and the pommel behind He was a good while in the house before we could perceive that he resorted to my bedchamber But one night after all were retired that were come to heare him my selfe and my family being all a bed the dores and the windowes of the house being well shut he came in and began to whistle softly and by intervalles as if he had bin afraid to awake us he knockt as if it had bin with his finger upon a trunk neere my bed as he did many times since He would throw our shooes about the roome those of the maid especially who feeling him once taking one of her shoes laid hold presently on the other and sayd smiling This thou shalt not have Under the table in the same roome he did once imitate the noise of hempdressers that beate the hempe foure together such as we had in our neighbourhood and keeping the same equall measure He made us heare for a long time a harmonie not unpleasant of two little bells tyed tohether which he had taken among some rusty irons in my house When I heard them first and knew by their sound that they were mine I went to the place where I had layd them but did not find them Neither did the Demon use these bells in my house onely but he carried them about to many places both of the towne and countrey Upon a Lords day morning as I was going to officiate at Vrigny with some elders of my Church we heard the sound of those bells very neere our eares Mr Lullier one of our company affirmed unto me that he had heard those bells many times at his house Many others have heard them very neere but could never see them Neither did that Demon play his tricks onely at my house Mr Lullier hath told me of many of his actions in his house and both shop As the taking and hiding of his jewels or tooles and then putting them againe where they were before While Mr Lullier was telling me of this he layd a golden ring which he had then in hand upon the table with the toole that he held it with but presently he found them missing and in vaine sought them halfe an houre wherefore he betooke himselfe to other worke but then he and I saw both the ring and the toole fall we knew not from whence upon the table againe One night that Lullier had not set up with us as he used to doe two that came from my house very late stayd by Lulliers shop to give him an account of the Demons actions and words that night While they were talking the Demon smote three times very hard upon a shed of boards that was over the shop The next night after Lullier and Repay comming from my house met a woman alone at the corner of the streete in a countrey habit spinning by Moone-shine But when they came neere to know what she was she vanished from their sight Leaving now such actions as the Demon did out of my house as things of which I cannot speake with the like certainty as those which I have seene heard my selfe I will but adde his last actions at my house and indeed the most troublesome of all as they say that the Devill is alwaies more violent in the end then in the beginning and is then most fierce when he must be gone He threw stones about my house continually the tenne or twelve last daies from morning to evening and in great quantity some of them of two or three pounds weight One of those last daies Mr Tornus comming to my house about noone would know whether the Devill was there still and whistled in severall tones and each time the Devill whistled to him againe in the same tone Then the Demon threw a stone at him which being fallen at his feete without any harme to him he tooke it up and marked it with a coale and flung it into the backside of the house which is neere the towne

wall and the river of Saone but the Demon threw it up to him againe and that it was the same stone he knew it by the marke of the coale Tornus taking up that stone found it very hot and said he believed it had beene in hell since he had handled it first Finally after all these words and actions the Demon went away the 22 day of December And the next day a very great viper was seene going out of my house and was taken with long pincers by some naylours our neighbours who carried it all over the towne crying Here is the Devill that came out of the Ministers house and finally left it at one William Clarke's house Apothecary where it was found to be a true and naturall viper a serpent rare in that countrey All the time that the Demon haunted my house God permitted him not to doe us any harme neither in our persons nor in our goods Those bells which he did so tosse and carry about he hanged at a naile over the chimney of the roome where he was most conversant the day that he left the house He had not so much power given him as to teare one lease of my bookes or to breake one glasse or to put out the candle which we kept lighted all the night long Wherefore I bow my knees and will as long as I live unto my gracious God to give him thanks for that great mercy This is the plaine and true relation of that Demons words and actions And Marcelin a Capuchin that preacht at the same time at Mascon hath truly related many of these passages in a booke of his printed at Grenable against Mr Bouterove saying that he had the story from diverse persons especially from Mr Fovillard Lievtenant Generall in the Balliage of Mascon who upon the generall rumour of that strange accident sent his brother in law Mr Francis Gucrin and Mr Guichard an Advocate to my house to desire me to come to him as I did to tell him the whole matter Yet by Marcellins leave it is not true that which he and other prejudicate and passionate men doe inferre out of it to disgrace my person and my profession namely that I had communication with evill Spirits For God beares witnesse to my conscience that I never had communication with those horrible creatures and know no more of them then what it hath pleased his divine wisdome to let me know by his word by this domestique experience and that my chiefe curiosity was to improve the little talent which God hath given me to instruct my selfe and others in the true and solid science of eternall salvation which is to know him the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent And truly Marcellin and others that have spoken and written of this history to my disadvantage herein contradict both Mr Fovillard Lievtenant Generall of Mascon and the Lord Gaspard Divet then Bishop of Mascon who upon the common report of these passages sent for Mr Tornus to know the truth of them And for more certainty sent his owne Secretary Mr Chamber to learne the particulars of them from mine owne mouth to whom I related all without concealing or disguising any thing These two Gentlemen Tornus and Chamber have told me since that the Bishop had heard that story with great admiration and had made some records of the same If any now enquire of me what may the cause be of this admirable accident as there is nothing more ordinary or more naturall to every man then to enquire of the causes especially of things extraordinary I will answere that considering the circumstances of time and place and persons which I had then to doe with many causes seeme to have concurred for it First whereas there are times in which Devils are in a manner unchained and have more liberty to doe their feats and other times when they are tyed short and restrained from acting as we learne in the twentieth chapter of the Revelation Truly one may with good reason say that when the Demon made himselfe so bold in my house it was a time when the Devill was as it were let loose for then the world was full of stories of the extraordinary pranks of those wicked Spirits This may be justified by the booke written by Mr de l' Anere one of the Kings Counsellours joined in Commission with Mr D' Espagnet President at Tolosa to Judge the witches of the country of Labour otherwise the Countrey of the Basques neere the Pyrenean mountaines the title of the booke is A representation of the inconstancy of Demons and wicked Spirits where such strange and horrible things are represented as will make the readers haire to stand To which joine the horrible story of Lewis Gauffredi a Priest of Marseilles one of the greatest instruments of the Devill that ever Hell brought forth who had beene burnt a little before by the order of the Court of Parliament of Aix in Province At the same time a Demon appeared at Lyons in the shape of a fine Gentlewoman to the Lieutenant of the Knight of the watch named la Jacquiere and to two others of his companions which three had carnall knowledge of that Demon and thereby came to a most tragicall and fearefull end Which story is printed among many other tragicall stories of our time At the same time which was in the year 1612 the like story to that of Lyons was publisht how in Paris the first of January of that yeare a person of quality had cohabitation with a Demon which to him appeared a beautifull Lady but the next morning that Lady being visited by Justices and Physitians was found to be the body of a woman that had beene hanged a few dayes before About the same time the prisons of Mascon were filled with a great number of men and women young and old of the village of Chasselas and other townes neere it all indicted of witchcraft who being condemned at Mascon appealed to the Court of the Parliament of Paris and were conducted to Paris by a massinger and some guards In the way a coach met them and in it a man that looked like a Judge who staid and asked the massinger what prisoners he led whence they came and whether they went The massinger having satisfied him the man if one may call him so eying these prisoners sayd to one of them calling him by his name Ho now art thou one of them Feare nothing for neither thou nor any of thy company shall suffer And his words proved true For soone after they were all released At the same time a girle of Mascon about 13 or 14 yeares of age daughter to one of the chiefe citizens of the towne lying with the mayd of the house perceived that she absented her selfe many times in the night and once asked her whence she came the maid answered that she came from a place where there was good company gallant dansing and all kinds