Lives of the necromancers; or, An account of ... persons ... who have claimed ... or to whom has been imputed ... the exercise of magical power or, An account of ... persons ... who have claimed ... or to whom has been imputed ... the exercise of magical power By William Godwin

Lives of the necromancers; or, An account of ... persons ... who have claimed ... or to whom has been imputed ... the exercise of magical power or, An account of ... persons ... who have claimed ... or to whom has been imputed ... the exercise of magical power By William Godwin: "meteors in the sky of commanding storms and tempests of arresting the motion of the heavenly bodies of producing miraculous cures upon the bodies of our fellow men or afflicting them with disease and death of calling up the deceased from the silence of the grave and compelling them to disclose the secrets of the world unknown But what is most deplorable we are not contented to endeavour to secure the aid of God and good angels but we also aspire to enter into alliance with devils and beings destined for their rebellion to suffer eternally the pains of hell As they are supposed to be of a character perverted and depraved we of course apply to them principally for purposes of wantonness or of malice and revenge And in the instances which have occurred only a few centuries back the most common idea has been of a compact entered into by an unprincipled and impious human being with PREFACE IX"