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Not being able longer to deny the terrible effects of the malady,

which had now reached the family of the physician Settala, and

was spreading its ravages in many noble families, those medical

men who had been incredulous were still unwilling to acknowledge

its true cause, which would have been a tacit condemnation of

themselves; they therefore imagined one entirely conformable to

the prejudices of the time. It was at that period a prevailing

opinion in all Europe, that enchanters existed, diabolical

operators, who at this time conspired to spread the plague, by

the aid of venomous poisons and witchcraft. Similar things had

been affirmed and believed in other epidemics; particularly at

Milan, in that of the preceding century. Moreover, towards the

end of the preceding year, a despatch had arrived from King

Philip IV.