of the middle ages. This system seems to be founded on the
opinion that the fallen spirits, having different degrees of
guilt, had different habitations allotted them at their expulsion,
some being confined in hell, _some_ (as Hooker, who delivers
the opinion of our poet's age, expresses it) _dispersed in air,
some on earth, some in water, others in caves, dens, or minerals
under the earth_. Of these, some were more malignant and
mischievous than others. The earthy spirits seem to have been
thought the most depraved, and the aerial the least vitiated.
Thus Prospero observes of Ariel:

--_Thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her_ earthy _and abhorr'd commands._

Over these spirits a power might be obtained by certain rites
performed or charms learned. This power was called _The Black
Art_, or _Knowledge of Enchantment_. The enchanter being (as king
James observes in his _Demonology_) one _who commands the devil,
whereas the witch serves him_. Those who thought best of this
art, the existence of which was, I am afraid, believed very
seriously, held, that certain sounds and characters had a physical
power over spirits, and compelled their agency; others who
condemned the practice, which in reality was surely never
practised, were of opinion, with more reason, that the power of
charms arose _only_ from compact, and was no more than the spirits
voluntary allowed them for the seduction of man. The art was
held by all, though not equally criminal, yet unlawful, and
therefore Causabon, speaking of one who had commerce with
spirits, blames him, though he imagines him _one of the best kind
who dealt with them by way of command_. Thus Prospero repents of