ADVERTISEMENTS

In this context, "Advertisements" refers to a formal notice or preface to the reader.

It is not that I am unaware that repetitions are so troublesome that they can hardly be forgiven in a serious writer, and that there is nothing which so disgusts the Reader: But at times they are so necessary, that it is impossible to avoid them. For it may happen, that he into whose hands this second Volume of the Witchesoriginal: "Sorciers" shall fall, not having had the curiosity to see the first, will lose the connection, the order, and the subject, and will not know the occasions which moved me to bring this one to light.

It is therefore very appropriate to make known once more, to those who will take the trouble to read these discourses; that the late King Henry the GreatKing Henry IV of France (reigned 1589–1610)., having decreed a commission against the Witches at the request of the Nobility and the SyndicA legal representative or magistrate of a community. of the territory of Labourdoriginal: "pays de Labour," a Basque province in France known for intense witch trials in 1609., it was placed in the hands of Lord d'Espaignet, Counselor to the King in his Council of State and President in the Parliament of Bordeaux, and to me, who have had the honor of having served the King there for the space of thirty-four years. The commission was granted to us in full Sovereignty, and verified in the said Parliament. Having expired, the said Lord President went to serve the King in the Chamber of Nérac: So much so that not having the leisure to give an account to the King, and to My Lord the Chancellor, of all that had happened there (of which he would have acquitted himself much better than I), he left me this chore, which gave me the occasion to set hand to pen to prepare my first Volume. That volume contains all the most famous proceedings of the Witches whom we either condemned to death, or banished, or referred back to the said Parliament: and this second Volume contains the reasons for it, and uncovers as much as can be done, how the Devil and his underlings the Witches can perform so many evils and maleficesActs of harmful magic or sorcery. which are found in Sorceryoriginal: "Sortilege.".