Witch by definition is a woman supposed to have supernatural power by a compact with the devil or evil spirits. Sometimes called a sorceress, the term was formerly also applied to men. A hag is commonly described as an old ugly ill-tempered woman, or a bewitching or charming young woman with a lamia broom who practices witchcraft...or black magic as plebeians would put it.
The delivery of the modern Western world from the terrible delusion of witchcraft is one of the great triumphs of the type of scientific thought, which began to exercise wide influence in the 17th century. The superstition is very ancient and widespread among the untutored and savage people, and it assumed persistent forms in the cultures of ancient nations. The witch was supposed to be a woman leagued with evil spirits and therefore equipped with the supernatural powers, not only to foretell events, but also to work evil by magical means. However, among primitive folks, the terror inspired by the witch operated to protect her from harm.
In the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, both Catholics and Protestants engaged in a systematic persecution of supposed witches. The literal enforcement of certain ancient laws of the Old Testament intensified the movement. Hundreds of old women, who had incurred the ill will of their neighbors, were executed in Europe, and the practice found an echo in New Zealand. Stimulated by Cotton Mather and other ministers of hi partly, the witchcraft craze reached its climax at Salem in 1692. During the continuance of the craze, numerous persons were tortured, 19 were hanged, and one victim was pressed to death. The growth of rational, liberal thought during the late 17th and 18th century put an effectual check upon the continuance of this cruel delusion.
