Sir Walter Scott wrote Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft for Murray's Family Library (a series of books on diverse topics to be published in cheap five shilling volumes) at the request of his son-in-law, J.G. Lockhart. The books does indeed take the form of letters covering areas of demonology and witchcraft from biblical times to current day. Scott's approach to the subject is one of skepticism and rational thought -- superstitions and beliefs are often the cause of a lack of understanding of strange cultures and religions. He ends the book with an fervent hope for his countrymen that ". . . the sense of humanity is too universally spread to permit them to think of tormenting wretches till they confess what is impossible, and then burning them for their pains."