ADY, Thomas

Thomas Ady (fl. 17th century) was an English physician and humanist who was the author of two sceptical books on witchcraft and witch-hunting. His first and best known work, A Candle in the Dark: Or, A Treatise Concerning the Nature of Witches & Witchcraft, was used unsuccessfully by George Burroughs, formerly the Puritan minister of the parish, in his defense during the Salem witch trials. Ady's second publication, published in 1661, was a reprint of his first, with a new title, A Perfect Disc…