is a product of 'Demonologistical Winter-Tales, and Witchcraftical Legendaries' (Chapter XXX), a demonologist 'would needs prove by Tale upon Tale' (XXXI). Impatient, scornful, accusatory by turns, Ady's last book shows no diminishing of his anger. Influences Thomas Ady's works are directly influenced by Reginald Scot and his Discoverie of Witchcraft. He called Scot 'the Chief and First Anti-demonologist, of this Nation at least' (in his The Doctrine of Devils). They are also influenced by works such as Hocus Pocus Junior on juggling and stage magic. Works of the period sometimes used specific examples of illusionist tricks to reveal superstition. Ady's works resemble other works on freedom of conscience written at that time, particularly Roger Williams's well-known The Bloudy Tenant of Persecution for the Cause of Conscience, written in 1644. Like Ady, Williams makes extensive use of scripture to show why religious persecution is wrong. Influenced Ady's Candle in the Dark contains the first record of the nursery rhyme Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John. His book also is one of the earliest references to the origin of the word hocus pocus as a Latin-like phrase used by a conjurer to distract his audience from his sleight of hand, which also relates to where the word hoax comes from. See the articles Hocus Pocus (magic) and hoax on Wikipedia for more information, as well as the etymologies for hoax and hocus pocus. An extract from his book, A Candle in the Dark: Or, A Treatise Concerning the Nature of Witches & Witchcraft, was used by George Burroughs, formerly the minister in the parish, in his own defense during the Salem witch trials. Cotton Mather comments in hostile fashion in his Wonders of the Invisible World: 'he gave in a paper, to the Jury; wherein, altho' he had many times before, granted, not only that there are Witches, but also that the present sufferings of the Countrey are the Effect of horrible Witchcrafts, yet he now goes to, evince it, That there neither are, nor ever were, Witches that having made a compact with the Divel, Can send a Divel to Torment other people at a distance. This paper was transcribed out of Ady; which the Court presently knew, as soon as they heard it. But he said, he had taken none of it out of any Book; for which his evasion afterwards was, that a Gentleman gave him the discourse, in a