Witch, Warlock, and Magician
Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland
Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge Series

The journalist and author W. H. Davenport Adams (1828?91) established a reputation for himself as a popular science writer, translator and lexicographer. He also wrote several children's books. In this 1889 work, Adams gives a general introduction to alchemy in Europe and traces the development of magic and alchemy in England from the fourteenth century onwards. Initially the disciplines were persecuted by the Church and met with 'the prejudice of the vulgar', languishing throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In Book 1 Adams portrays the English 'magicians' Roger Bacon, whom he considers to have been ahead of his contemporaries; John Dee and William Lilly, astrologists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, respectively; and the English Rosicrucians. Book 2 is a historical account of witchcraft in England and Scotland, from the middle ages to the witch trials of the seventeenth century, and includes a chapter on witchcraft in literature.

Preface; Introduction: progress of alchemy in Europe; Book I. The English Magicians: 1. Roger Bacon: the true and the legendary; 2. The story of Dr. John Dee; 3. Dr. Dee's diary; 4. Magic and imposture: a couple of knaves; 5. The last of the English magicians: William Lilly; 6. English Rosicrucians; Book II. Witches and Witchcraft: 1. Early history of witchcraft in England; 2. Witchcraft in England in the seventeenth century; 3. The decline of witchcraft in England; 4. The witches of Scotland; 5. The literature of witchcraft.