In
matters of faith, astrology has by no means yet given place to astronomy,
nor alchemy become chemistry, which knows what to seek for and how to
find it. In the days of witchcraft all science was still in the condition
of _May-be;_ it is only just bringing itself to find a higher
satisfaction in the imperturbable _Must-be_ of law. We should remember
that what we call _natural_ may have a very different meaning for one
generation from that which it has for another. The boundary between the
"other" world and this ran till very lately, and at some points runs
still, through a vast tract of unexplored border-land of very uncertain
tenure. Even now the territory which Reason holds firmly as Lord Warden
of the marches during daylight, is subject to sudden raids of Imagination
by night. But physical darkness is not the only one that lends
opportunity to such incursions; and in midsummer 1692, when Ebenezer
Bapson, looking out of the fort at Gloucester in broad day, saw shapes of
men, sometimes in blue coats like Indians, sometimes in white waistcoats
like Frenchmen, it seemed _more_ natural to most men that they should be
spectres than men of flesh and blood. Granting the assumed premises, as
nearly every one did, the syllogism was perfect.
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