{"collection":"Witchcraft & Wicca History","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/archive_org_witchstories02lintgoog/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/archive_org_witchstories02lintgoog","id":"archive_org_witchstories02lintgoog","license":null,"rights_basis":"archive_org_open:pre_1929_us_pd_heuristic:year=1861","source":"archive_org","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/witchstories02lintgoog","summary":"This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project \nto make the world's books discoverable online. It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. 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You can search through the full text of this book on the web \n\n\n\nat |http : //books . google . com/ \n\n\n\n:?4:?44. aoA \n\n\n\n\nHarvard College \nLibrary \n\n\n\n\nSQIBQI \n\n\n\nFROM THE ESTATE OF \n\nARTEMAS WARD \n\nOF NEW YORK \nDECEMBER 11, 1931 \n\n\n\n\nWITCH STOKIES \n\n\n\nCOLLECTED BY \n\n\n\nE. LYNN LINTON, \n\nAUTHOR OP \" AZETH THE BOYCTL^N,\" \" AMYMONE,\" ETC. \n\n\n\n\" Thoa Shalt not suffer a witch to liTe.\"\u2014 Exodus xxii. 18. \n\n\n\nLONDON: \n\nCHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICCADILLY. \n\n1861. \n\n[ The right of Trantlntifm reserved.'] \n\n\n\n^c \n\n\n\nt 1 *\u25a0 \" ~* \n\n\n\n\\ \\ ex M./gL>'-^-\\^v^>'\"v.>C:L . \n\n\n\n\n\u2666 rmt^UM \u00ab^ ^> U**^M *\u00abW \u2022t\u00bb\u00ab\u00ab\u00bb mMfOM) iTMBt. ')> ^' \n\n\n\nPEETACE. \n\n\n\nIn offering the following collection of witch stories to \nthe public, I do not profess to have exhausted the sub- \nject, or to have made so complete a summary ss I might \nhave done, had I been admitted into certain private \nlibraries, which contain, I beUeve, many concealed \nriches. But I had no means of introduction to them, \nand was obliged to be content with such authorities as \nI found in the British Museum, and the other public \nlibraries to which I had access. I do not think that I \nhave left much untold ; but there must be, scattered \nabout England, old MSS. and unique copies of records \nconcerning which I can find only meagre allusions, or \nthe mere names of the victims, without a distinctive fact \nto mark their special history. Should this book come \nto a second edition, any help from the possessors of \nthese hitherto unpublished documents would be a gain \nto the public, and a privilege which I trust may be \nafforded me. \n\nNeither have I attempted to enter into the phi- \nlosophy of the subject It is far too wide and deep to \nbe discussed in a few hasty words; and to sift such \nevidence as is left us \u2014 to determine what was fraud, \nwhat self-deception, what actual disease, and what the \nexaggeration of the narrator \u2014 ^would have swelled my \n\n\n\nhr PREFACE. \n\nbook into a br more important and bnlkj wovk than \nI intended or wished. As a general role, I think we \nmay apply all the four conditions to eyery case reported; \nin what proportion, each reader mnst judge for himselL \nThoHe who believe in direct and personal intercourse be- \ntween the spirit-world and man, will probably accept \nevery account with the unquestioning belief of the six- \nteenth and seventeenth centuries ; those who have &ith \nin the calm and uniform operations of nature, will hold \nchiefly to the doctrine of fraud ; those who have seen \nmuch of disease and that strange condition called '^ mes- \nmeriHra,\" or ** sensitiveness,\" will allow the presence of \nabsolute nervous derangement, mixed up with a vast \namount of conscious deception, which the insane cre- \ndulity and marvellous ignorance of the time rendered \neasy to practise ; and those who have been accustomed \nto sift evidence and examine witnesses, will be utterly \ndiswitisfic^ with the loose statements and wild distortion \nof every instance on record. \n\nR LYNN LINTON. \n\nlAnytmf 1861. \n\n\n\nf \n\n\n\ni \n\n\n\n^t \u00aei%s 0f Srrrtlanir, \n\n\n\nScotland was always foremost in superstition. Her \nwild hills and lonely fells seemed the fit haunting- \nplaces for all mysterious powers ; and long after spirits \nhad fled, and ghosts had been laid in the level plains of \nthe South, they were to be foimd lingering about the \nglens and glades of Scotland. Very little of graceful \nfancy lighted up the gloom of those popular super- \nstitions. Even Elfame, or Faerie, was a place of dread \nand anguish, where the devil ruled heavy-handed and \nHell claimed its yearly tithe, rather than the home of fun \nand beauty and petulant gaiety as with other nations : \nand the beautiful White Ladies, like the German EUe- \nwomen, had more of bale than bliss as their portion to \nscatter among the sons of men. Spirits like the goblin \nGilpin flomer, fuU of malice and unholy cunning, \u2014 like \ngrewsome brownies, at times unutterably terrific, at \ntimes grotesque and rude, but then more satyr-like than \nelfish, \u2014 ^like May Moulachs, lean and hairy-armed, \nwatching over the fortunes of a family, but prophetic \nonly of woe, not of weal, \u2014 like the cruel Kelpie, \nhiding behind the river sedges to rush out on unwary \npassers-by, and strangle them beneath the waters, \u2014 ^like \nthe unsained laidly Elf, who came tempting Christian^ \n\n\n\n* 77CZ IfTZCSn OF ^CCTT-rtTD^ \n\nYufsf^AU^p^ tA iUaah and rriL^ \u2014 w^^nt tiie pf^puLir &x9h \nf4 tlt^. H<^Xtmh jiprnt-iiorid ; xad hk Bcne of tibeni So \nw^ tiiA ^h^ \\f/f^ tw gf^t^eDemy but only \u00a3erceiiefli \nMUt fmrh^.^ ^txfitij to man and refceGiGa to God. Bat \nMd/i^^ i9irj/J darfc^at and muAieat of all wa^ tike belief \nin wif/'ii/Taftt^ irh\u00bb^;fa mfet^uA Hfj^netj far eeatarvts like a \n^^^ pMiuff Hfffm^ to the Terr h^ot of bnmanitT, and \nwhi/'Jf i^fiM fifmhtfre mf^re bitter and destructiTe than \nUffumff ihn ((fffHj ehildren a! oar Nortbem sister. \nHtrMif^c. that tiM? land of the Lord ahooU hare been the \nfatimriiAi camping-groand of Satan, that the hill of \ny/um nhfftM hare had itn rooto in the depths of Tophet ! \nTh43 firtvmhM of the faith were as gloomy as Ihe \nimmmn. The power of the eril eye; the &culty of \nmii'4m(l niffhtt which always saw the hearse plnmes, and \nnovor the l/ridal roses ; the supremacy of the devil in \nthis (i (id-go venied world of ours, and the actual and \nprm'iical covenant into which men and women daily \nnnf/ worn tho chief sigiiH of that fatal power with \nwhich Hatau nudowod Iuh choson ones \u2014 ^those silly, luck- \nIm* i*httpnu\u00bbii wht) bartoitnl away their immortal souls for \nno tnt'MM of pott\u00ab on those who crossed them. \nH\\>n\\t^t in\\o\u00ab, intUnHl^ thoy had no need to chaffer with the \ndi^vil l\\vr suoU fecultios; as iu the matter of the evil \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND* 8 \n\neye ; for Kirk, of Aberfoyle, tells us that \" some are ot \nso venomous a Constitution, by being radiated in Envy \nand Malice, that they pierce and kill (like a Cockatrice) \nwhatever Creature they first set their Eyes on in the \nMorning : so was it with Walter Grahame, some Time \nliving in the Parock wherein now I am, who killed his \nown Cow after commending its Fatness, and shot a Hair \nwith his Eyes, haviag praised its Swiftness (such was the \nInfection of ane Evill Eye) ; albeit this was unusual, yet \nhe saw no Object but what was obvious to other Men as \nwell as to himselfe.\" And a certain woman looking \nover the door of a byre or cowhouse, where a neighbour \nsat milking, shot the calf dead and dried up and sick- \nened the cow, \"by the venomous glance of her evil! \neye,** But perhaps she had got that venom by covenant \nwith the devil ; for this was one of the prescriptive pos- \nsessions of a witch, and ever the first dole from the \nSatanic treasury. When Janet Irving was brought to \ntrial (1616) for imholy dealings with the foul fiend, it \nwas proved\u2014 for was it not sworn to? and that was \nquite sufficient legal proof in all witchcraft cases \u2014 that \nhe had told her \" yf schoe bure ill-will to onie bodie, to \nlook on them with opin eyis, and pray evill for thame \nin his name, and schoe sould get hir hartis desyre;'* \nand in almost every witch trial in Scotland the \" evil \neye \" formed parttof the counts of indictment against the \naccuseds The curse was as efficacious. Did a foul- \nmouthed old dame give a neighbour a handful of words \nmore forcible than courteous, and did terror, or revenge, \ninduce, or simulate, a nervous seizure in consequence, \nthe old dame was at once carried off to the lock-up, and \nbut few chances of escape lay between her and the \nstake beyond. To be skilful in healing, too, was just as \ndangerous as to be powerful in sickening ; and to the \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA^xs \u00ab-^;^ \u00ab. >\u00bb.*-' t-^ Uf^' \"Lj-WSc^' i\" \"Lis- 1\u00bb'T -X \n\n\\4*0*if .\u00bb 4#./C \u2022'i.u^i \u2666 ^\u25ba^.'^/lit 'LiTfUjiir. \u2022 c \"aifr a Hit 7*^*^* \n\n^/ ;;..i,.>x; 1-;-^ 4\u00bb''i i'lii^ti iii*\u00abt 1.1 t4g IfliC roit*- :\u00bb:iiJ*I \n\ni44y; ^,9^ff k^^, fK^ /\u2022vJ ^vvp'y.^*?^; i*rT T^sy ^ \n\n|7^>. ^i^/i>, //^ l^//.#>; (//^ vj/^^y^i^rj^; tyffit hL^tmcdre to us, \n^ t^ft^iKhnhj/ ih*i wljihifiit 44 ^ajjerstitioiiy mud the \n^hfiUff^M f/t t:f*:fjf Uhfftm^ firiiUt when brought into \nf:ohiwt (^t*4 /vJhi$M/M wiiU ii, Wlmi other gifts and \n^fftwt:fi$ ht4ith^/t4 Ui iUh wiU;lM^ will be best gathered \niutUk \\U^i ikUnum \\\\mu^mi\\ytti^\\ fur varied as they are, \niiihhi )H ii> \u00bbiMMif/^\u00ab ihniul o{ liktmatm rtuming through \niUiilii M i i\u00bb|H:r.)Hlly JM iUimi n llkmutim in all of a time \niir i|)\u00bblil<:lf M'M u\\\\^Mi Ihi iupti('i(i \n\n\n\n%.i^ Oi.. .ii,. iuu '.V rivoiv ,\u00a3;*\u00bb\u00abneil in jlD limrs. Bat \n' s.^>c^v \u00bb * ixo. l:*'X>r v-^RMi^t BssHie h^ a lopJ heart if \n^.1. .% >,.\u00bb> \u00bb^**a. .iud pr\u00bb?&cp?d ber kTssliuMl mni chil- \n\n\u25a0 K ..I Nv.wx vui^i'v Hith ht?c &r reAisiiig, mud told her \"it \nAv .\u00bb.vi >\u00bbv' ^o\u00bb>*^ t'oj: her.* \n\ni.'iuv\\ iw liio v(Utvtt Qf the furies; a stout, ooniety \n......I. . \\;:uo !^ Uvr\u00ab ;i^ sbie \u00abas '^ lying in gissane,* and \n\nw V, oi .4 aiiuk. ^iiluch Bessie gaye her. Sitting \n\niv V wl, >lic >tad xhtiJi the child would die, bat that \n\n,v\\^..vi uould rtxvver; for Andio Jak seems to \n\n\\^ a buC ioi ailing bodr, often like to find oat \n\nv v%. H\\ xit rioii tor himself, and Bessie was never \n\nsvv\\ .UVU& him. Then Thorn besm to teach \n\nV 4 V v\u00bb; hcidiug. He gaye her roots to make \n\\ . X u.vl ' vw Jer* fiwr kow or yow (cow or sheep), \n\n.\u00ab v l>airue that was tane away with ane \n\n. vwud ov e]fgri[^t:'' and she cored many \n\n'i .w old lua&'s &iry teaching. She healed \n\n\\ ,u. .vv.io's vlaughter> married to the young Laird \n\nsv\\ '\\\\ ;i^uig her a drink brewed under Thorn's \n\n. ..4 .u N\u00bb \\iioug ul<> boiled with cloves, ginger, \n\n. 'u^ ;v ;uv\u00bb iuid wMtt> sugar, which warmed the \n\n. \\u.\\ \u2022 lull -iud about hir hart, that causit hirto \n\n. .J \\ .;v ua .^>\\av/* i>rxas we would say, to swoon. \n\nv .. V vl Jv^lui JiUlt>> Uidrn, and Wilson's of the \n\nKi ;usiiuuui'5i *iiter*8 cow; but old Lady \n\nxs ^ V^; v\\*vx Ivvoud them both. It had been \n\n,1 K. lius tuul u\\>w Thorn said it would never \n\n\\s . V \u2022' u\\o iu HMonrow was consumed, and \ns . \\ uaiulvsi), ^ wi\u00bb hopeless, and it would \n\n\n\nBESSIB DUNLOP AND THOM REID. 11 \n\nbe worse for her if she asked for fairy help again. \nBessie got fame too as a \" monthly \" of Lyne. A green \nsilk lace, received from Thom's own hand, tacked to \ntheir \"wylie coitts\" and knit about their left arms, \nhelped much in the delivery of women. She lost the \nlace, insinuating that Thom took it away again, but \nkept her fatal character for more medical skill than \nbelonged to an ordinary canny old wife. In the re- \ncovery of stolen goods, too, she was effective, and what \nshe could not find she could at least indicate. Thus, \nshe told the seekers that Hugh Scott's cloak could not \nbe returned, because it had been made into a kirtle, and \nthat James Baird and Henry Jameson would not \nrecover their plough irons, because James Douglas, the \nsheriff's officer, had accepted a bribe of three pounds \nnot to find them. Lady Blair having \" dang and \nwrackit \" her servants on account of certain linen which \nhad been stolen from her, learnt from Bessie, prompted \nby Thom, that, the thief was no other than Margaret \nSymple, her own friend and relation, and that she had \ndang and wrackit innocent persons to no avail. Bessie \nnever allowed that Thom's intercourse with her was \nother than honest and well conducted. Once only he \ntook hold of her apron to drag her away to Elfame with \nhim ; but this was more in the way of persuasion than \nlove making, and she indignantly denied the home \nquestions put to her by the judges with but scant \ndelicacy or feeling for an honest woman's shame. In- \nterrogated, she said that she often saw Thom going \nabout like other men. He would be in the streets of \nEdinburgh, on market days and other, handling goods \nlike any living body, but she never spoke to him unless \nhe spoke first to her : he had forbidden her to do so. \nThe last time she met him before her arrest he told her \n\n\n\n12 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nof the eyil that was to come, but buoyed her up >vitli \nfalse hopes, assuring her that she would be well treated, \nand eventually deared. Poor Bessie DunlopI After \nbeing cruelly tortured, her not very strong brain was \nutterly disorganized, and she confessed whatever they \nchose to tax her with, rambling through her wild \ndreamy narrative with strange facility of imagination, \nand with more coherence and likelihood, than are to be \nfound in those who came after her. Adjudged as \n\" confessit and fylit,\" she was \" convict and brynt \" on \nthe Castle HiQ of Edinburgh \u2014 a mournful commentary \non her elfin friend's brave words and promises. \n\n\n\nALISON PEARSON AND THE FAIRY FOLK.* \n\nOn the 28th of May, 1588, Alesoun Peirsoun, in \nByrehill, was haled before a just judge and sapient \njury on the charge of witchcraft, ajid seven years' \nconsorting with the fairy folk. This Alesoun Peirsoun, \nor, as we should now write it, Alison Pearson, had \na certaiu cousin, one WiUiam Simpson, a clever \ndoctor, who had been educated in Egypt ; taken there \nby a man of Egypt, \" ane gyant,\" who, it is to be \nsupposed, taught him many of the secrets of nature then \nhidden from the vulgar world. During his absence, \nhis father, who was smith to king's majesty, died for \nopening of \" ane preist-bmk and Inking vpoune it :\" \nwhich showed the tendency of the family. When Mr. \nWilliam came back he found Alison afflicted with many \ndiseases, powerless in hand and foot, and otherwise \nevilly holden ; and he cured her, being a skilftd man \nand a kindly, and ever after obtained unlimited influence \n\n\u2666 Pitcaim. \n\n\n\nALISON PEARSON AND THE FAIRY FOLK. 13 \n\nover the brain and imagination of his crazed cousin.. \nHe abused this influence by taking her with him to \nfeiry land, and introducing her to the \" gude wychtis,\" \nwhose company he had affected for many years. In \nespecial was she much linked with the Queen of Elfame, \nwho might have helped her, had she been so minded. \nOne day being sick in Grange Muir, she lay down there \nalone, when a man in green suddenly appeared to her \nand said that if she would be faithful he would do her \ngood. She cried for help, and then charged him in \nGod's name, and by the law he lived on, that if he \ncame in God's name and for the welfare of her soul, he \nwould teU her. He passed away on this, and soon \nafter a lusty man, and many other men and women \ncame to her, and she passed away with them further \nthan she could tell ; but not before she had \" sanit,\" \nor blessed herself and prayed. And then she saw \npiping, and merriness, and good cheer, and puncheons of \nwine with \" tassis,\" or cups to them. But the fairy \nfolk were not kind to Alison. They tormented her \nsorely, and treated her with great harshness, knocking \nher about and beating her so that they took all the \n\" poustie,\" or power out of her side with one of their \nheavy \" straiks/' and left her covered with bruises, \nblue and evil-favoured. She was never free from her \nquestionable associates, who used to come upon her at \nall times and initiate her into their secrets, whether she \nliked it or no. They showed her how they gathered \ntheir herbs before sunrise, and she would watch them \nwith their pans and fires making the \" saws \" or salves \nthat could kill or cure all who used them, according to \nthe witches' will ; and they used to come and sit by her, \nand once took all the \" poustie \" from her for twenty \nweeks. Mr. William was then with them. He was a \n\n\n\n14 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND, \n\nyoung mon^ not six years older than herself, and she \nwould \" feir \" (be afraid) when she saw him. What \nwith fairy teaching, and Mr, William's clinical lectures, \nhalf-crazed Alison soon got a reputation for healing \npowers ; so great, indeed, that the Bishop of St. Andrews, \na wretched hypochondriac, with as many diseases as \nwould fill half the wards of an hospital, applied to her \nfor some of her charms and remedies, which she had \nsense enough to make palateable, and such as should \nsuit episcopal tastes : namely, spiced claret (a quart to \nbe drunk at two draughts), and boiled capon as the \ninternal remedies, with some fairy salve for outward \napplication. 1% scarcely needed a long apprenticeship \nin witchcraft to prescribe claret and capon for a luxu- \nrious prelate who had brought himself into a state of \nchronic dyspepsia by laziness and high living; yet \nthe jury thought the recipe of such profound wisdom \nthat Alison got badly off on its account. \n\nMr. William was very careful of Alison. He used to \ngo before the fairy folk when they set out on the whirl- \nuvdnds to plague her \u2014 '^ for they are ever in the blowing \nsea-wmd,\" said Allie \u2014 and tell her of their coming; \nand he was very urgent that she should not go away \nwith them altogether, since a tithe of them was yearly \ntaken down to hell, and converts had always first \nchance. But many people known to her on earth were \nat Elfame. She said that she recognized Mr. Secretary \nLethington, and the old Knight of Buccleugh, as of the \nparty; which was equivalent to putting them out of \nheaven, and was a grievous libel, as the times went \nNeither Mr. William's care nor fairy \"power could save \npoor Alison. After being \" wirreit (strangled) at ane \nstaik,\" she was \" conuicta et combusta,\" never more to be \ntroubled by epilepsy or the feverish dreams of madness. \n\n\n\n15 \n\n\n\nTHE CBIMES OF LADY FOWLIS.* \n\nNobler names come next npon the records. Ka- \ntherine Roiss, Lady Fowlis, and her stepson, Hector \nMonro, were tried on the 22nd of June, 1590, for \n\" witchcraft, incantation, sorcery, and poisoning.\" Two \npeople were in the lady's way : Margery Campbell the \nyoung lady of Balnagown, wife to George Roiss or \nEoss of Balnagown, Lady Katherine's brother; and \nRobert Munro her stepson, the present baron of Fowlis, \nand brother to the Hector Munro above mentioned. If \nthese two persons were dead, then George Ross could \nmarry the young Lady Fowlis, to the pecuniary ad- \nvantage of himself and the family. Hector's quarrel \nwas on his own account, and was with George Munro of \nObisdale, Lady Katherine's eldest son* The charges \nagainst the Lady Katherine were, the unlawful making \nof two pictures or images of clay, representing the \nyoung lady of Balnagown and Robert Munro, which \npictures two notorious witches. Christian Ross and \nMarioune M*Alester, alias Loskie Loncart, set up in a \nchamber and shot at with elf arrows \u2014 ancient spear or \narrow-heads, found in Scotland and Ireland, and of \ngreat account in all matters of witchcraft. But the \nimages of clay were not broken by the arrow-heads, for \nall that they shot eight times at them, and twelve \ntimes on a subsequent trial, and thus the spell was \ndestroyed for the moment; but Loskie Loncart had \norders to make more, which she did with a will. After \nthis the lady and her two confederates brewed a stoup \nor pailful of poison in the bam at Drumnyne, which \nwas to be sent to Robert Munro. The pail leaked and \n\n\u2666 Pitcaim. \n\n\n\n''' ^r:z inTCHir- of bootlaxd. \n\n^\u2022\u2022\" jx/;^^j rarj wt, ex/^ept a Terr amaH quantity which \nku ijfifvrtuimt^ j4i^e UhjD^g to the lady tagtei \n|iN'i **Ittv #'/>iitjVwal]ie tbaireftir porsonit ^th the \nh^i^mrr h'^mi, auother \u00ab pig- or ji of poison was \nYf^'\\miA\\ i\\m time of double strength\u2014 the brewer \nf InTi'of f hut old wiiiier, I^^Hkie Loncart, who had a hand \nill i^Si^vyi i^vil pie made. Tliig waa sent to the youn^ \nlaird l\u00bby tlio hanrbi of Udy Katherine's foster-mother- \nbut Hhn brokn the \"pig\" by the way, and, like the \n|Mi^^M, fiiHting thn oontonts, paid the penalty of her \nJMirloHily with hnr life. The poison was of such a \nviiMili\u00bbuf imhiro that nor cow nor sheep would touch the \ngruHH wlu^nnm it ft>ll; and stxm the herbage withered \navsH) in ftMuftd lUfMUtmal of that deed of guilt. She \n>MiH \\\\\\\\\\\\\\^ HU\u00bbvosHt\\d in hor attompts on the young Lady \nllOi\\}^j^^\\MU Uor '^dittay*' M\u00ab forth that the poor \n^\\\\\\ X^AxW'^ of hor si>tor-iu-lAwV infernal potions, con- \ntv;sottsl AU iuourablc di:iJiNa,^\\ tht^ j^ain and anguish she \n>\\\\iV.M\\sJ WNoltiuji^ oxon the vn\u00bbvh who administered \n\\\\^^ )VN;v,Nv l\\:^^^r;a^^ Nixe^.v ^^o *so;:nnerit (revolted) \n\nV \\ \\\\ s\u00bbie >;u A\\\\ T\\st n!io $;*i\u00bbi it vss the sairest and \n> \u00bb VI . .' v' N.v'' t t^'4 OsT j^V ?;5i^,\" Bnt she did not \nx' A \\ >^ ,\\ H ^^ \\V ^\\*:v s:'^.>:'C ^\" ^ '^. Ani conquered \n,A\\^ , \u2022^ '\\v s\\; ^\\^*^v'^ ^\\c\\v.v>.nI i^en the fit-ndish \n^} V ^ ' vv- .< :'^ 'i- \\. '^ ::< sS:^ ^' r.'i da by all \n\nV >^ \u00bb'VA- X v^ ^v V*' -' ^* w : > *-'^.i 'if God in \nV. N,-. ,v ^> o \\ ' ^* ^ . * r *.*^ !^rm,.\u00bbtion aiid \nJ V ^ , v\\ \u2022>.- v^N^ N^:\"^ X-:.rcdamited, \n\n\n\n\\ \n\n\n\ni.c Tanons \n\n\n\nivvx. s ^ *\u2022 N ^ -^ *'^ *.:\u00bb*\u2022-- JiiM n-'Tiinocs \n\n\n\nV \n\n\n\n\\ V X ^ >. V >. \u00bb ' > ^-v >v-- . ^.\"\u25a0\u2022: L was a \n\n\n\n''X \n\n\n\ns'^ered in \ns. tou far \n\n\n\nTHE CRIMES OF LADY FOWLlS. 17 \n\nclay images, and elf arrows wherewith to shoot at them, \nand her wickedness at last grew too patent for even her \nexalted rank to overshadow. She was arrested and \narraigned, but the private prosecutor was Hector Munro, \nwho was soon to change his place of advocate for that \nof \" pannel ;\" and the jury was composed of the Fowlis \ndependents. So she was acquitted ; though many of her \ncreatures had previously been couvicted and burnt on \nthe same charges as those now made against her; \nnotably Gristiane Roiss, who, confessing to the clay \nimage and the elf arrows, was quietly burnt for the same. \nHector Munro's trial was of a somewhat diflferent \ncharacter. His stepmother does not seem to have had \nmuch confidence in mere sorcery : she put her faith in \nfacts rather than in incantations, and preferred drugs to \ncharins : but Hector was more superstitious and more \ncowardly too. In 1588, he had communed with three \nnotorious witches for the recovery of his elder brother, \nRobert ; and the witches had \"pollit the hair of Robert \nMunro, and plet the naillis of his fingeris and taes f \nbut Robert had died in spite of these charms, and now \nHector was the chief man of his family. Parings of \nnails, clippings of hair, water wherein enchanted stones \nhad been laid, black Pater-Nosters, banned plaids and \ncloths, were all of as much potency in his mind as the \n\" ratoun poysoun \" so dear to the lady ; and the method \nof his intended murder rested on such means as these. \nThey made a goodly pair between them, and embodied \na fair proportion of the intelligence and morality of the \ntime. After a small piece of preliminary sorcery, un* \ndertaken with his foster-mother, Cristiane NeiU Dayzell, \nand Mariaoune Mlngareach, ^^ one of the most notorious \nand rank witches of the country,\" it was pronounced \nthat Hector, who was sick, would not recover, unless \n\nC \n\n\n\nTIB '\u2022TTl^HES of SCOTLAND. \n\n>in\u00bbL iLtiiX \u2022:( his blood should suffer for him. \nI uua ^* >* none other than George Munro, \nLjftiy Kitherine's eldest son, whose life \nttt'-is. V jT'-'ra loat Hector's might be redeemed. \n\u00bb^\u00ab*'-^v at ?u 3l:&>S die ; not by poison but by sorcery ; \n\u00bbi^>-. ::, ti>t >\u00abt o u> be taiken was to secure his presence \n\u00bbii *. vn c< >Ai!i5\u00bbi^\u00bb ** Sewin poistes\" or messengers \na.. a\\\u00bb iiraLbl irapsitiently send to him ; and when he \n>*att i*: ite^^ H^fv^or amid never a word to him, after his \n>ur*\"' -* ^^ ct< r rsow that you have come,\" in answer to \ntus i5w>^'^x>j\u00aberV UTfesi^peoting \" How's a' wi' ye ?\" but \n^s^ ^ c A f ^V* iKXxr with his left hand in George's right, \n^^'c-v ';^ :I\\i^ \u00a3Ts;t spell in silence, according to the \nit^vo cnsSi .>f his fv^er-mother and the witch. That \n*t ;^-i\\ *3i ^,>ar after midnight, the two women went to \na ^ r^vw x^ 5Tv>ttnd lying between two manors,\" and \n^K^w \u00ab^j\u00bbik^ a c?;ifcT>^ of Hector's length, near to the sea- \niiv^ A V\u00ab^ iii^rhts afta- this \u2014 and it was January, \nx\\> -Sx.vcor. mTJCwd in Uankets, was carried out of \n\"^x^s ^^ici Kvv ar>.l Ukl in this grave; he, his foster- \nMivWc, airvi >l'l:,piur\u00abioh all silent as death, until \nv>\u00bb5s. .%.^^ $^3k^\\l hav\\^ gv^en speech with their master, \n:; >v iv \\xV Viii^'^ ;J^xk >ifxH^ then laid over the laird, and \n%W%0'A V^l^iti^saw^eh s^jit down by him, while Cristiane \nXVx-tt^C*. %t;>, a vvHiiwr K>y in her hand, ran the breadth \nV* toiN'^ r^'^ \\V turtv^m'!?^ iwining back to the grave, to \n%$JL >V %t^^ \"^ %K> w^fcgi her choice.\" M*Ingareach, \n^ live and his brother George \n%tk ^ ii\u20ac lAtt.^ lliis kVf^'iiKmy was repeated thrice, \n^iii tbl^ ^^ \u00abU ivi^&irtK^ silently to the house, Mr. \n||lM%i\u00ab ^sme^mJi m W Hanix'ts as before. The strangest \n\"^ 4tt ^m Ai\u00abi Mr Hector was not killed by the \n\n\n\nBESSIE ROY. 19 \n\nHector Munro was now convinced that everjrthing \npossible had been done, and that his half-brother must \nperforce be his sacrifice. In his gratitude he made \nM'Ingareach keeper of his sheep, and so uplifted her \nthat the common people durst not oppose her for their \nlives. It was the public talk that he favoured her \" gif \nshe had been his own wife ;\" and once he kept her out \nof the way \" at his own charges,\" when she was cited \nto appear before the court to answer to the crime of \nwitchcraft. But in spite of the tremendous evidence \nagainst him, Hector got clear off, as his stepmother \nhad done before him, and we hear no more of the Fowlis \nfoUies and the Fowlis crimes. Nothing bu,t their rank and \nthe fear of the low people saved them. Slighter crimes \nthan theirs, and on more slender evidence, had been \nsufficient cause for condemnation ere now ; and Lady \nKatherine's poisonings, and Hector Munro's incanta- \ntions, would have met with the fate the one at least \ndeserved, save for the power and aid of clanship. \n\n\n\nBESSIE BOY. \n\nThe month after this trial, Bessie Eoy, nurreych (nurse) \nto the Leslies of Balquhain, was \" dilatit \" for sorcery \ngenerally, and specially for being \" a common awa- \ntaker of women's milk.\" She took away poor Bessie \nSteel's, when she came to ask alms, and only restored \nit again when she was afraid of getting into trouble for \nthe fault She was also accused of having, \" by the \nspace of tual yeiris syne or thairby,\" past to the field \nwith other women to pluck Unt, but instead of follow- \ning her lawful occupation, she had made \" ane compas \n(circle) in the eird, and ane hoiU in the middis thairof ;\" \n\n\n\n20 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nout of which hole came, first, a great worm which crept \nover the boundary, then a little worm, which crept over \nit also, and last of all another great worm, \" quhill could \nnocht pas owre the compas, nor cum out of the hoill, \nbut fell doune and deit.\" Which enchantment or sorcery- \nbeing interpreted meant, by the first worm, William \nKing, who should live ; by the second small worm, the \nunborn babe, of which no one yet knew the coming \nlife ; and by the third large worm the gude wyffe her- \nself, who should die as soon as she was delivered. Not- \nwithstanding the gravity and circumstantiality of these \ncharges, Bessie Boy marvellously escaped the allotted \ndoom, and was pronounced innocent. *' Quhairvpoune \nthe said Bessie askit act and instrument\" Two women \ntried the day before, Jonet Grant and Jonet Clark, \nwere less fortunate. Charged with laming men and \nwomen by their devilish arts \u2014 whereof was no attempt \nat proof \u2014 they were convicted and burnt ; as also was \nMeg Dow, in April of the same year, for the *' crewell \nmurdreissing of twa young infant bairns,\" by magic. \n\nAnd now we come to a very singular group of trials, \nopened out by that clumsy, superstitious pedant, whose \nname stands accursed for vice and cruel cowardice and \nil\\o utmost selfishness of fear \u2014 James VI. of Scotland. \nIf at^ything wore wanting to complete one's abhorrence \nof (\\n*B patron and Ealeigh's murderer \u2014 one's con- \nti^iYipt of tiie upholder of the divine right of kings in \nhttt own fiiolf-adoration as Gkni's vicegerent upon earth \u2014 \nit \\vt>uUl be his part in the witch delusion of the six- \nhH^ntli century. Whatever of blood-stained folly be- \nltM\\gtHl mHHnftlly to the Scottish trials of this time \u2014 \nwiul hojtnlrior\u2014 owed its original impulse to him ; and \nr^viivy gro*M\\ of the tortured wretches driven to their \n(vviH\\\\\\ doumi and every tear of the survivors left \n\n\n\nTHE DEVIL'S SECRETARY* 21 \n\nblighted and desolate to drag out their weary days in \nmingled grief and terror, lie on his memory with shame \nand condemnation ineffaceable for all time. \n\n\n\nTHE DEVIL'S SECRETARY.* \n\nOn the 26th of December, 1590, John Fiajx/ aliae \nConingham (spelt Johanne Feane, alias Cwninghame), \nmaster of the school at Saltpans, Lothian, and con* \ntemptuously recorded as ** Secretar and Eegister to the \nDevil,\" was arraigned for witchcraft and high treason. \nThere were twenty counts against him, the least of \nwhich would have been enough to have lighted up a \nwitch-fire on that fatal Castle Hill, for the bravest and \nbest in the land. First, he was accused of entering \ninto a covenant with Satan, who appeared to him in \nwhite, as he lay in bed, musing and thinking ('^ mwsand \nand pansand,\" says the dittay in its quaint language) \nhow he should be revenged on Thomas Trumbill, for \nnot having whitewashed his room, according to agree-* \nment. Alter promising his Satanic majesty allegiance \nand homage, he received his mark, which later was \nfound under his tongue, with two pins therein thrust \nup to their heads. Again, he was found guilty \u2014 \" fylit'^ \nis the old legal term\u2014 of \" feigning himself to be sick \nin the said Thomas Trumbill's chamber, where he was \nstricken in great ecstacies and trances, lying by the \nspace of two or three hours dead, his spirit taken, and \nsuffered himself to be carried and transported to many \nmountains, as he thought through all the world, accord- \ning to his depositions.\" Note, that these depositions \nwere made in the midst of fearful torture, and recanted \n\n\u2666 Pitcaini. \n\n\n\n22 THE WITCHES OF S(X)TLAKD. \n\nthe instant after. Also, he was found gnilly of suffer- \ning himself to be carried to North Berwick church, \nwhere, together with many others, he did homage to \nSatan, as he stood in the pnlpit, making doubtfol \nspeeches, saying, ** Many come to the &ir, and all buy \nnot wares ;\" and desired him ^ not to fear, though he \nwas grim, for he had many servants who should never \nwant, or ail nothing, so long as their hair was on, and \nshould never let one tear fiJl from their eyes so long as \nthey served him ;\" and he gave them lessons, and said, \n*' Spare not to do evil, and to eat and drink and be \nblitiie, taking rest and ease, for he should raise them \nup at the latter day gloriously.\" But the pith of the \nindictment was that he, Fian, and sundry others to be \nspoken of hereafter, entered into a league with Satan \nto wreck the king on his way to Denmark, whither, in \na fit of clumsy gallantry, he had set out to visit his \nfuture queen. While he was sailing to Denmark, Fian \nand a whole crew of witches and wizards met Satan at \nsea, and the master, giving an enchanted cat into Bobert \nGrierson's hand, bade him ^ cast the same into the sea, \nhola,\" which was accordingly done ; and a pretty cap- \nful of wind the consequence. Then, when the king \nwas returning from Denmark, the devil promised to \nraise a mist which should wreck him on English ground. \nTo perform which feat he took something like a foot* \nball \u2014 ^it seemed to Dr. Fian like a wisp \u2014 and cast it \ninto the sea, whereupon arose the great mist which \nnearly drove the cumbrous old pedant on to English \nground, where our strong-fisted queen would have made \nhim pay for his footing in a manner not quite congenial \nto his tastes. But, being a Man of God, none of these \neharms and devilries prevailed against him. A farther \ncount was, that once again he consorted with Satan and \n\n\n\n. THE DEVIL'S SECRETARY. 23 \n\nbis crew, still in North Berwick church, where they \npaced round the church wider shins (wider scheins'?), \nthat is, contrary to the way of the sun. Fian blew into \nthe lock \u2014 ^a favourite trick of his \u2014 ^to open the door, \nand blew in the lights which burned blue, and were \nlike big black candles held in an old man's hand round \nabout the pulpit. Here Satan as a ^' mekill blak man, \nwith ane blak baird stikand out lyke ane gettis (goat's) \nbaird; and ane hie ribbit neise, falland doun scharp \nlyke the beik of ane halk ; with ane lang rumpill (tail) ; \ncled in ane blak tatie goune, and ane ewill favoiit scull \nbonnett on his heid ; haifand ane blak buik in his hand,\" \npreached to them, commanding them to be good servants \nto him, and he would be a good master to them, and \nnever let them want. But he made them all very \nangry by calling Eobert Grierson by his Christian name. \nHe ought to have been called \" Eo' the Comptroller, \nor Bob the Eower.\" This slip of the master's displeased \nthem sorely, and they ran \" hirdie girdie \" in great ex- \ncitement, for it was against all etiquette to be named \nby their earthly names ; indeed, they always received \nnew names when the devil gave them their infernal \nchristening, and they made themselves over to him and \ndenied their holy baptism. It was at this meeting that \nJohn Fian was specially accused of rifling the graves of \nthe dead, and dismembering their bodies for charms. \nAnd many other things did this Secretar and Begister \nto the deviL Once, at the house of David Beaton's \nmother, he breathed into the hand of a woman sitting \nby the fire, and opened a lock at the other end of the \nkitchen. Once he raised up four candles on his horse's \ntwo ears, and a fifth on the staff which a man riding \nwith him carried in his hand. These magic candles \ngave as much light as the sun at noonday, and the man \n\n\n\n24 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nwas 80 terrified that he fell dead on his own threshold. \nHe sent an evil spirit, who tormented a man for twenty \nweeks ; and he was seen to chase a cat, and in the chase \nto be carried so high over a hedge that he could not \ntouch her head. The dittay says he flew through ike \nair \u2014 a not infrequent mode of progression with such \npeople. When asked why he hunted the cat, he said \nthat Satan had need of her, and that he wanted all the \ncats he could lay hands on, to cast into the sea, and \ncause storms and shipwrecks. He was further accused \nof endeavouring to bewitch a young maiden by his \ndevilish cantrips and horrid chtuons ; but, by a wile of \nthe girl's mother, up to men's arts, he practised on a \nheifer's hairs instead of the girl's, and the result was \nthat a luckless young cow went lowing after him every- \nwhere \u2014 even into his school-room \u2014 rubbing herself \nagainst him, and exhibiting all the languish and desire \nof a love-sick young lady, A curious old plate repre-. \nsents John Fian and the heifer in grotesque attitudes ; \nthe heifer with large, drooping, amorous eyes, intensely \nridiculous \u2014 the schoolmaster with his magic wand \ndrawing circles in the sand. These, with divers smaller \ncharges, such as casting horoscopes, and wearing mode\u00ab \nwart's (mole's) feet upon him, amounting in all to \ntwenty counts, formed the sum of the indictment against \nhim. He was put to the torture. First, his head wa^ \n** thrawed with a rope \" for about an hour, but still he \nwould not confess; then they tried fair words and \ncoaxed him, but with no better success ; and then they \nput him to the ^' most severe and cruell pains in the \nworlde,\" namely, the boots, till his legs were com- \npletely crushed, and the blood and marrow spouted out. \nAfter the third stroke he became speechless ; and they, \nsupposing it to be the devil's mark which kept him \n\n\n\nTHE DEVIL'S SECRETARY. 26 \n\nsilenty searched for that mark, that by its discovery the \nspell might be broken. So they found it, as stated \nbefore, under his tongue, with two charmed pins stuck \nup to their heads therein. When they were drawn out\u2014 \nthat is, after some forther torture \u2014 he confessed anything \nwhich it pleased his tormentors to demand of him, \nsaying how, just now, the devil had been to him all in \nblack, but with a white wand in his hand ; and how, on \nhis, Fian's, renouncing him, he had brake his wand, and \ndisappeared. The next day he recanted this confession. \nHe was then somewhat restored to himself, and had \nmastered the weakness of his agony. Whereupon it was \nassumed that the devil had visited him through the \nnight, and had marked him afresh. They searched him \n\u2014 ^pulling off every nail with a turkas, or smith's pincers, \nand then thrusting in needles up to their heads ; but \nfinding nothing more satanic than blood and nerves, \nthey put him to worse tortures, as a revenge. He made \nno other relapse, but remained constant now to the end ; \nbearing his grievous pains with patience and fortitude, \nand dying as a brave man always knows how to die, \nwhatever the occasion. Finding that nothing more \ncould be made of him, they mercifully came to an end. \nHe was strangled and burnt ^^in the Castle Hill of \nEdinbrough, on a Saterdde, in the ende of Januarie last \npast 1591 ;\" ending a may be loose and not over-heroic \nlife in a manner worthy of the most glorious martyr of \nhistory. John Fian, schoolmaster of Saltpans, with no \ngreat idea to support him, and no admiring fiiends to \ncheer him on, bore himself as nobly as any hero of them \nall^ and vindicated the honour of manhood and natural \nstrength in a way that exalts our common human nature \ninto something godlike and divine\u00ab \n\n\n\n26 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLANt). \n\nTHE GRACE WIFE OF KEITH AND HER CUMMERS.* \n\nFion was the first yictim in the grand battue offered \nnow to the royal witchfinder; others were to follow, \nthe manner of whose discovery was singular enough. \nDeputy Bailie David Seaton of Tranent, had a half- \nCrazed servant-girl, one Geillis Duncan, whose conduct \nin suddenly taking \" in hand to helpe all such as were \ntroubled or grieved with anie kinde of sicknes or in- \nfirmitie,\" excited the righteous suspicions of her master. \nTo make sure he tortured her, without trial, judge, or \njury ; first, by the \" pillie-winks \" or thumbscrews, and \nthen by \" thrawing,\" \u2014 ^wrenching, or binding her head \nwith a rope \u2014 an intensely agonizing process, and one \nthat generally comes in as part of the service of justice \ndone to witch and wizard. Not confessing, even under \nthese persuasions, she was \"searched,\" and the mark \nwas found on her throat : whereupon she at once con- \nfessed ; accusing, among others, the defunct John Fian, \nor Cuningham, Agnes Sampson at Haddington, \"the \neldest witch of them all,\" Agnes Tompson of Edinburgh, \nand Euphemia Macalzean, daughter of Lord Cliftonhall, \none of the senators of the College of Justice. Agnes \nSampson's trial came first. She was a grave, matron- \nlike, well-educated woman, \" of a rank and comprehen- \nsion above the vulgar, grave and settled in her answers, \nwhich were to some purpose,\" and altogether a woman \nof mark and character. She was commonly called the \n\" grace wyff\" or \" wise wyff \" of Keith ; and, doubtless, \nher superior reputation brought on her the fateful \nnotice of the half-crazed girl ; also it procured her the \ndoubtful honour of being carried to Holyrood, there to \nbe examined by the king himself. At first she quietly \n\n* Pitcairn. \n\n\n\nTHE GRACE WIPE OP KEITH\u00bb 27 \n\nand firmly denied all that she was charged with, but \nafter having been fastened, to the witches' bridle,* kept \nwithout sleep, her head shaved and thrawn with a rope, \nsearched, and pricked, she, too, confessed whatever \nblasphemous nonsense her accusers chose to charge her \nwith, to the wondrous edification of her kingly inqui- \nsitor. She said that she and two hundred other witches \nwent to sea on AU-Halloween, in riddles or sieves, \nmaking merry and drinking by the way: that they \nlanded at North Berwick church, where, taking hands, \nthey danced around, saying \u2014 \n\n*' Gommer goe ye before I commer goe ye ! \nGif ye will not goe before, commer let me I\" \n\nHere they met the devil, like a mickle black man, aa \nJohn Fian had scdd, and he marked her on the right \nknee ; and this was the time when he made them all so \nangry by calling Bobert Grierson by his right name, \ninstead of Bob the Bower, or Bo' the Comptroller. \n\"When they rifled the graves, as Fian had said, she got \ntwo joints, a winding-sheet, and an enchanted ring for \nlove-charms. She also said that Geillis Duncan, the \ninformer, went before them, playing on the Jew's harp, \nand the dance she played was Gyllatripes ; which so de- \nlighted gracious Majesty, greedy of infernal news, that \nhe sent on the instant to Geillis, to play the same tune \nbefore him ; which she did *^ to his great pleasure and \namazement.\" Furthermore, Agnes Sampson confessed \n\n* An iron instmment ao constructed, that by means of a hoop which \npassed oyer the head, a piece of iron having four prongs or points, was \nibroibly thrust into the mouth, two of these being directed to the \ntongue and palate, the others pointing outwards to each cheek. This \ninfernal machine was secured by a padlock. At the back of the collar \nwas fixed a ring, by which to attach to a staple in the wall of her ceU. \n-^Piteaim*8 \u2022 Scottish Crimindl TrtaU, * \n\n\n\n\u00bb THE WITCHES OF 8C0TLAin>. \n\nUrntf on asknig Satan wh j he hated 'King James, and \nm> greailj wished to destroy^ Um, the fool fiend an* \nawered: ^Because he is the greatest enemj I haye;\" \nadding, that he was ^nn homme de Dieo,\" and that \nSatan had no power against him. A prettjr piece of \nflattery, hat ayailing the poor wise wife nothing as time \nwent on\u00ab Her indictment was Yerj heayy ; fifty-three \ncounts in all; for the most part idating to the cniingof \ndisease hy charm and incantation, and to foreknowledge \nof sickness or death. Thns, she took on herself the \nsickness of Robert Eerse in Dalk^h, then cast it back, \nby mistake, on Alexander Douglas, intending it for a cat \nor a dog : and she pat a powder containing dead men's \nbones under the pillow of Euphemia MacalzeaD, when \nin the pains of childbirih, and so got her safely through. \nAs she went on, and grew more thoroughly weeJcened in \nmind and body, she owned to still more monstrous \nthings. Item, to having a familiar, in shape of a dog \nby name Elva, whom she called to her by ^^Bolkl \nmaster 1\" and conjured away \"by the law he lived on.** \nThis dog or devil once came so near to her that she was \n*'fleyt,'' but she charged him by the law he lived on to \ncome no nearer to her, but to answer her honestly \u2014 \n\" Should old Lady Edmistoune live ?\" \" Her days were \ngane,\" said Elva; \"and where were the daughters?\" \n\" They said they would be there,\" said Agnes. He \nanswered, one of them should be in peril, and that he \nshould have one of them. \"It sould nocht be sa,\" \ncried the wise wife ; so he growled and went back into \nthe well. Another time she brought him forth out of \nthe well to show to Lady Edmistoune's daughters, and \nhe frightened them half to death, and would have de- \nvoured one of them had not Agnes and the rest gotten \na grip of her and drawn her back. She sent a letter to \n\n\n\nTHE GKACE WIFE OF KEITH. 29 \n\njfarian Leuchope, to raise a wind that should prevent \nthe queen from coming ; and she caused a ship, < The \nGrace of God/ to perish \u2014 ^the devil going before, while \nshe and the rest sailed over in a flat boat, entered un- \nseen, ate of the best, and swamped the vessel afterwards. \nFor helping her in this nefarious deed, she gave twenty \nshillings to Grey Meill, \" ane auld, sely, pure plowman,\" \nwho usually kept the door at the witches' conventions, \nand who had attended her in this shipwreck adventure. \nThen, she was one of the foremost and most active in \nthe celebrated storm-raising for the destruction, or at \nleast the damage of the king on his return from Den- \nmiirk; giving some curious particulars in addition to \nwhat we have already had in Eian's indictment ; as, that \nshe and her sister witches baptized the cat by which \nthey raised the storm, by putting it, with various cere- \nmonies, thrice through the chimney crook. \" Fyrst twa \nof thame held ane fingar, in the ane syd of the chimnay \ncruik, and ane vther held ane vther fingar in the vther \n8yd, the twa nebbis of the fingaris meting togidder; \nthan they patt the catt thryis throw the linkis of the \ncruik, and passit it thryis vnder the chimnay ;\" after- \nwards they knit four dead men's joints to the four feet of \nthe cat, and cast it into the sea, ready now to work any \namount of mischief that Satan might command. Then \nshe made a '' picture,\" or clay image, of Mr. John Mos- \ncrop, fether-in-law to Euphemia Macalzean, to destroy \nhim, at the said Euphemia's desire. She was also at all \nthe famous North Berwick meetings, where Dr. Fian \nwas secretary, registrar, and lock-opener; where they \nwere baptized of the fiend, and received formally into \nhis congregation ; where he preached to them as a great \nblack man; and where they rifled graves and meted \noat the dead among them. She also confessed to taking \n\n\n\nBO THE WITCHES OF SOOTLAXD. \n\na black toad, and hanging liiin np by liis heels, collect^ \ning aU his Tenom in an ojster sheU for three days, and \nshe told the king that it was then she wanted his fouled \nlinen, when she would have enchanted him to death\u2014 ^ \nbut she neyer got it She had two Pater Nosters, the \nwhite and the black. The white ran thus : \u2014 \n\n\" White Pater Noster. \nGod was my Foster, \nHe fostered me. \nUnder the Book of Palm Tree. \nSaint Michael was my Dame, \nHe was bom at Bethlehem, \nHe was made of flesh and blood, \nGrod send me my right food : \nMy right food and dyne two \nThat I may to yon Idrk go^ \nTo read upon yon sweet book. \nWhich the mighty God of Heayen shoop. \nOpen, open, Heaven's yaits. \nStick, stick, Hell's yaits. \nAll Saints be the better. \nThat hear the white prayer Pater Noster.\" \n\nThere was no harm in this doggerel, nor yet much \ngood ; little of blessing, if less of banning ; nor was the \nBlack more definite. It was shorter, which ought to \nhave ranked as a merit : \u2014 \n\nBlack Pater Noster. \n\" Four newks in this hoose, for holy angels, \nA post in the midst, that 's Christ Jesus, \nLucas, Marcus, Matthew, Joannes, \nGod be into this house and all that belongs us.\" \n\nTo <^ sain \" or charm her bed she used to say, \u2014 \n\n** Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John \nThe bed be blest that I ly on.\" \n\nAnd when the butter was slow in coming, it was enough \nif she chanted slowly \u2014 \n\n\n\nTHE GRACE WIFE OP KEITH. 31 \n\n\" Gome, butter, come I \nGome, butter, come I \nPeter stands at the gate. \nWaiting for a buttered cake. \nGome, butter, come,\" \n\nsaid with faith and unction, she was sure to have at once \na lucky chum-fiill. \n\nThese queer bits of half-papistical, half-nonsensical \ndoggerel were considered tremendous sins in those days, \nand the use of them was quite sufficient to bring any \none to the scaffold ; as their application would, for a \ncertainty, destroy health, and gear, and life, if it were, \nso willed. And for all these crimes \u2014 storm-raising, cat- \nbaptizing, and the rest \u2014 Agnes Sampson, the grave, \nmatronlike, well-educated grace wife of Keith, was bound \nto a stake, strangled, and burnt on the Castle Hill, with \nno one to seek to save her, and no one to bid her weary \nsoul God-speed ! \n\nBarbara Napier, wife to a burgess of Edinburgh, and \nsister-in-law to the Laird of Carschoggill, was then \nseized \u2014 accused of consorting with Agnes Simpson, \nand consulting with Eichard GTrahame, a notorious \nnecromancer, to whom she gave \" 3 ells of bombezie for \nhis paynes,*' all that she might gain the love and gifts \nof Dame Jeane Lyon, Lady Angus ; also of having pro- \ncured the witch's help to keep the said Dame Jeane \n*'fra wometing quhen she was in bredin of bame.'* \nShe was accused of other and more malicious things ; \nbut acquitted of these : indeed the \" assisa \" which tried \nher was contumacious and humane, and pronounced no \ndoom ; whereon King James wrote a letter demanding \nthat she be strangled, then burnt at the stake, and all \nher goods escheated to himself. But Barbara pleaded \nthat she was with child ; so her execution was delayed \nuntil Bhe was delivered^ when ^^ nobody insisting in the \n\n\n\n32 THE WITGHSS OF SOOTLAKD. \n\npersute of her, she was set at libertia'' The con- \ntmnadoiis majority was tried for ^ wilful error on assize \n\u2014acquitting a witch,*' but got off with more lack than \nusual* \n\nEophemia Macalzean^f or as we should say, Maclean, \nwas even higher game. She was the daughter of Lord \nCliftonhall, and wife of Patrick Moscrop, a man of \nwealth and standing ; a firm, passionate, heroic woman, \nwhom no tortures could weaken into confession, no \nthreats terrify into submission. She fought her way, \ninch by inch, but she was ** convict\" at last, and con- \ndemned to be burnt alive : the severest sentence ever \npronounced against a witch. In general they were \n\"wirreit\" or strangled before being burnt There is \ngood reason to believe that her witchcraft was made \nmerely the pretence, while h^r political predilections, \nher friendship for the Earl of Bothwell, and her Catho- \nlic religion, were the real grounds of the king's enmity \nto her, and the causes of the severity with which she \nwas treated. Her indictment contains the ordinary list \nof witch-crimes, diversified with the additional charge \nof bewitching a certain young Joseph Douglas, whose \nlove she craved and found impossible to obtain, or \nrather, to retain. She was accused of giving him, for \nunlawful purposes, \"ane craig cheinzie (neck chain), \ntwa belt cheinzies, ane ring, ane emiraut,\" and other \njewels ; trying also to prevent his marriage with Marie \nSandilands, and making Agnes Simpson get back the \njewels, when her spells had failed. The young wife \nwhom Douglas married, and the two children she bore \nhim, also came in for part of her alleged maleficent \n\n* Fountainhall says that she was convict and burnt ; but is this not a \nmiatake ? Pitoaira gives the actual trial, and King James's angry letter \nagainst the contumacious assisa, \n\nf Pitoaim. \n\n\n\nTHE GSACE WlFt: OF Jiill'IH, i;.^ \n\n\n\nghe ''did the fattmee to death,'* \u00abid \nliae ndfie with deadly dckness. She wns aliio \n[ of fMring her own childbirth pains, onco on 4 \ndig. flnd mfse on taie ** nsntcHme cat ;\" whereupon the \npoiv h\u00bbate xm fistiactedly out of the houdo, ais well \ni^ey mis^ sad were nev^er seen again. She manapiod \ntin mBTveOoiE peoe of aleight-of-haiid by fretting a \nkirea fltxme fitan Agnes Sampaon, and rolling ^en\u00bb \ncbaotBd mdidis*'\u2014 earth fiom dead men's gravea^tn \nher hsE. Aw^hfir time fihe got her husband's alitrt^ \nad caned it l\u00bb be *\" woamj^\" (folded up) and put \nunder her heiktier, uhereby she sooght to thiow her \nlafaonr poK -ofom Inm, hot without effect ; as is not to \nfaewonUBd at. Hie bewitched John M'Gillie*s wife \nby sndin^ her the Tiaon <^ a naked man, with only \na niite Abbl afcmt him; and Jonett Aitchei\u00bb)u waw \nbin waiii lie deevvs of his shirt ** vpoune lepjrin, and \ntsAt abnu ins kead.\" She was also accused of \u00ab*\u00ab- \ndeBsnBvtDpfBQnherhudMmd; and it was maiuA^t \nlim, iher wmon wns not happy\u2014 he being for tlie uumi \njaii auwr bam hone, and she perhaps thinking of ilM \n\u20acAa^muami pKauaed her, AichibaU Kuthveu ; wluf b \nponB. tnobeD and set aside, had made such a \u2022*lttiid<*r \naid aesndal of her maniage with Patrick Mowrop, \nAntt it WK proved\u2014 or what went for proof iw tJio*^ \ndro-4hBt Agnes SampBon, the wise wife, had wtwlw a \ndsr nnage of John Moacrop, the father-iii-law, who \ndioaki lfaeieup(m haye pined away and dic^d, atu'oixiin^ \nto the law of these enchantment^ but, failiii^j: in tiii\u00ab \nohedience, lired instead, to the grief and coufusion of \nhiB daagirter-in-law. All these crimes, aud others lik^ \nunto them, were quite sufficient legal causes of deatli ; \n\u00abnd James tanld gratify his Biq>erstitioiM &\u00bb\u00bb '^ \npolibcal ammaDtjr at the aame timew ^ iiil*> Eupheiai* \n\n\n\n34 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nMaclean \u2014 the fine, brave, handsome Euphemia \u2014 ^writhed \nin agony at the stake to which she was bound when burned \nalive in the flames: \"brunt in assis quick to the deid,\" \nsays the Record \u2014 the severest sentence ever passed on \na witch. This murder was done on the 25th July, 1591. \n\" The last of Februarie, 1592, Eichard Grahame wes \nbrant at y* Cross of Edinburghe for vitchcrafte and \nsorcery,\" says succinctly Robert Birrel, \" burges of Edin- \nburghe,\" in his \"Diarey containing divers Passages \nof Staite and uthers memorable Accidents, from y* \n1532 zeir of our Redemption, till y* beginning of the \nzeir 1605.\" \" And in 1593, Katherine Muirhead was \nbrunt for vitchcrafte, quha confest sundrie poynts yro\u00a3\" \nRichard Graham was the \" Rychie Graham, ane necro- \nmancer,\" consulted by Barbara Napier ; the same who \ngave the Earl of Bothwell some drug to make the \nking's majesty **lyke weill of him,\" if he could but \ntouch king's majesty on the face therewith; it was \nhe also who raised the devil for Sir Lewis Ballantyne, \nin his own yard in the Canongate, whereby Sir Lewis \nwas so terrified that he took sickness and died. Even \nin the presence of the king himself, Rychie boasted \nthat ^' he had a familiar spirit which showed him many \nthings;\" but which somehow forgot to show him the \nstake and the rope and the faggot, which yet were the \nbold necromancer's end, little as the poor cozening \nwretch merited such an awful doonu \n\n\n\nTHE TWO ALISONS. \n\nJune, 1596, had nearly seen a nobler victim than \nthose usually accorded. John Stuart, Master of Orkney, \nand brother of th\u00ab Earl, \" was dilatit of consulting with \n\n\n\nTHE TWO ALISONS. 35 \n\nmnquhile Margaret Balfour, ane wich, for the destrue- \ntionne of Patrik Erll of Orkney, be poysoning.'* In \nthe dittay she is called \" Alysoun Balfour, ane knawin \nnotorious wicL'* Alisoun, after being kept forty-eight \nhours in the \" caschiclawis \"* \u2014 ^her husband, an old \nman of eighty-one, her son, and her young daughter, all \nbeing in ward beside her, and tortured \u2014 was induced to \nconfess. She could not see the old man with the Lang \nIrons of fifty stone weight laid upon him ; her son in the \nboots, with fifty-seven, strokes ; and her little daughter, \naged seven, with the thumbscrews upon her tender \nhands, and not seek to gain their remission by any \nconfession that could be made. But when the torture \nwas removed from them and her, she recanted in one of \nthe most moving and pathetic speeches on record \u2014 \navailing her little then, poor soul ! for she was burnt on \nthe Castle Hill, December 16th, 1594, and her con- \nfession treasured up to be used as future evidence \nagainst John Stuart. Thomas Palpla, a servant, was \nalso implicated ; but as he had been kept eleven days \nand nights in the caschiclaws (or caspie-claws) ; twice \nin the day for fourteen hours \" callit in the buitis f \nstripped naked and scourged with \"ropes in sic soirt \nthat they left nather fiesch nor hyde vpoun him ;\" and, \nas he recanted so soon as the torture was removed, his \nconfession went for but little. So John, Master of \nOrkney, was let off, when perhaps he had been the only \nguilty one of the three. \n\nIn Octoberf- of the same year (1596), Alesoun Jollie, \n\n\u2666 Dr. Jamieson conjectures the word to signify \" warm hose.\" After \nencircling tbe leg with an iron framework, it was put into a moveable \nfurnace or chauffer, and during the progress of heating the iron, the \nintended questions weie successiyely put. \u2014 Note in Pitcaim*8 * Scottish \nCriminal TriaU,* \n\nt Pitcaim's \u2022 Scottish Criminal Trials.* \n\n\n\n86 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nspoils to Bobert Bae, in Fala\u00bb was ^ dilatit of airt and \n'pdiit \" in the death of Isobell Hepburn, of Fala : and \nthe next month, November, Christian Stewart^ in Nok* \nwaiter, was strangled and bnmt for the slaughter of \nmnquhile Patrick Ruthven, by taking ane black doat \nfrom Isobell Stewart, wherewith to work her fatal charm. \nIt does not appear that she did anything more heinous \nthan borrow a black cloth from Isobell, which might or \nmight not hare been left in Buthven's house ; but sus- \npicion was as good as evidence in those days, and black \nclouts were dangerous things to deal with when women \nhad the reputation of witches. So poor Christian \nStewart was strangled and bmut, and her soul released \nfrom its troubles by a rougher road, and a shorter, \nthan what Nature would have taken if left to herself. \n\" Strange that while all these dismal affairs were going \non at Edinburgh, Shakspeare was beginning to write \nhis plays, and Bacon to prepare his essays. Bamus \nhad by this time shaken the Aristotelian philosophy, \nand Luther had broken the papal tyranny.\"* Truly \nhumanity walks by slow marches, and by painM stum- \nbling through thorny places ! \n\n\n\nTHE TROUBLES OP ABERDEEN.f \n\nAberdeen was not behind her elder sister. One man \nand twenty-three women were burned in one year \nalone for the crime of witchcraft and magic ; and the \nBecords of the Dean of Guild faithfully detail the \nexpenses which the town was put to in the process. \n\n* Chambers' ' Domestic Annals of Scotland.' \n\nt 'Antiquarian Researches ot Aberdeen, by GaWn Turriff; Spalding \nClub Miscellany. Chambers' ' Domestic Annals,' to the end of the \nAberdeen trials. \n\n\n\nTHE TBOUBLES OP ABERDEEN. 37 \n\nOn the 23rd of Febraary, 1597, Thomas Leyis cost \nthem two pounds thirteen shillings and fourpence, for \n\" peattis, tar barrelis, fir, and eoallis, to burn the said \nThomas, and to Jon Justice for his fie in executing \nhim;\" but Jonet Wischart (his mother), and Isobel \nCocker, cost eleven pounds ten shillings for their joint \ncremation ; with ten shillings added to the account for \n\"training of Monteithe (another witch of the same \ngang) through the streits of the town in ane cart, quha \nhangit herself in prison, and eirding (burying) her.\" \nThe dittay against these several persons set forth \nvarious crimes. Janet Wischart, who was an old \nwoman notorious for her evil eye, was convicted, \namongst other things, of having \"in the moneth of \nAprile or thairby, in anno nyntie ane yeiris, being the \nfirst moneth in the raith (the first quarter) at the \ngreiking\" (breaking) of the day, cast her cantrips in \nAlexander Thomson's way, so that one half of the day \nhis body was \" rossin *' (bmmed or roasted) as if in an \noven, with an extreme burning drought, and the other \nhalf melting away with a cold sweat. Upon Andrew \nWebster \u2014 ^who had put a linen towel round her throat, \nhalf choking her, and to whom she said angrily, \"Quhat \nwirreys thow me ? thow salt lie : I sail give breid to my \nbairnis this towmound, and thou sail nocht byd ane \nmoneth with thin, to gif tham breid\" \u2014 she had laid \nsuch sore cantrips, that he died as she predicted : which \nwas a cruel and foul murder in the eyes of the law, \nforbye the sin of witchcraft. But she had other victims \nas well. James Low, a stabler, refused to lend her his \nkiln and bam, so he took a \" dwining \" illness in conse- \nquence, \" melting away like ane burning candle till he \ndied\" His wife and only son died too, and his \"haill \ngeir, surmounting three thousand pounds, are alto- \n\n\n\n'. .T:^i5S C-r SCOTULXD. \n\nX.. .^*L iiar.\"* Beside this eTidence there \n\n>w -^^ u\u00ab ;iv;iili=^ ; for he had often said \n\n. -^ . vm. ^dhC s >e had lent Jonet what she \n\n.^\u00ab\u00bb ^. %v .L>i 3fe^T\u00abr hare suffered loss. She \n\nrcu^ :; iovn a doaen fowls off a roost, \n\nV . . .i^d 1^ rained a woman and her \n\nv.s. .^ :ih:'ai take nine grains or ears of \n\n* .(. 1 :\\*v\u00bbaa tree, and put them in the \n\n^ . . '.at K)ui$e \u2014 &r all tjie mischance that \n\nV >wka^ Uio to thi^ unholy charm ; and once \n\nx^ . V .V I uoie \\%iud in a dead calm, by putting \n\n\u00bb. vvku at two doors, whereby she was \n\n\u00ab . ...V \\v N^)Lue wheat for herself, when all the \n\nv,.v ^jiuaia^ idle for want of wind; and \n\nV. .V >>is. 550 that they gave poison instead of \n\n\\. u\u00bb s*^ tiuit they became furious under the \n\n.^ .'ui Iioi-t^If ; and she sent cats to sit on \n\nV 'u;.i^is;y and give them evil dreams and \n\n..vk :uichermore, she was said to have \n\n^..uvv;i in the Links, and to have di&- \n\n, ..ud body hanging there, for charms; \n\n^ ^ .us. iigo she was proved to have been \n\n.v\\d oi com before sunrising, peeling \n\n,^ iuiv it would be \"ane dear year,\" \n\n. t vidocb^hin^ and it was only when it \n\nV u .0^ W west) that it would be a \n\n.V .*^\u00bb luoud tor the poor ; and once her \n\n. , V aud hor> and another hag, sitting \n\nv\\ lie K>iXi) ^uvmnted on the shoulders \n\nV . f^ .aiumd fi>r her health and well- \n\n.^ ac tovvJU erf Aberdeen the half of \n\nV V im^8^ tor the most effectual man- \n\nM M.'utv^i^\\\\ which was, that she \n\n\n\nTHE TROUBLES OF ABERDEEN. 39 \n\nHer son Thomas Leyis was hot so fortunate as her \nhusband and daughters : ^' qwik gangand devills \" were \nthese ; for they escaped the flames this time, and were \nbanished instead. But Thomas was less lucky. He was \ndilatit of being a Common witch and sorcerer, and the \npartner of all his mother's evil deeds. One of his worst \ncrimes was having danced round the market-cross of \nAberdeen, he and a number of witches and sorcerers \u2014 \nthe devil leading ; \" in the quhilk dans, thow, Thomas, \nwas foremost, and led the ring, and dang the said \nKatherine Mitchell (another of the accused) because \nscho spilUt your dans, and ran nocht so fast about as the \nrest\" Thomas had a lover too, faithless Elspet Eeid, \nand she, turning against him, as has been the manner \nof lovers through all time, gave tremendous evidence \nin his disfavour. She said that he had once offered to \ntake her to Murrayland, and there marry her ; a man \nat the foot of a certain mountain being sure to rise at \nhis bidding, and supply them with all they wanted; \nand when he was confined in the church-house, she \ncame and whispered to him through the window, and \nthe man in charge of Thomas swore that she said she \nhad been meeting with the devil according to his \norders, and that when she sained herself he had \" vaniest \naway with ane rwmleng (rumbling).\" In the morning, \ntoo, before the old mother's conviction, *' ane ewill \nspreit in lyiknes of ane pyit (magpie),\" went and struck \nthe youngest sister in her face, and would have picked \nout her eyes, but that the neighbours to the fore dang \nthe foul thief out of the room ; and again, on the day \nafter conviction, and before execution, the devil came \nagain as ane kae (crow), and would have destroyed the \nyoungest sister entirely had he not been prevented: \nwhich two visitations were somehow hinged on to \n\n\n\n4D . THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAKD. \n\nThomas, and included in the list of crimes for which he \nwas adjudged worthy of death. \n\nHelen Eraser, of the same \" coven,\" was a most dan- \ngerous witch. She had the power to make men transfer \ntheir affections, no matter how good and wholesome the \nwife deserted : \u2014 and she never spared her power. By her \ncharms she caused Andrew Tullideff to leave off loving \nhis lawAil wife and take to Margaret Neilson instead : \nBO that \" he could never be reconceillit with his wife, or \nremove his affection frae the said harlot ;\" and she made \nKobert Merchant fall away from the duty owing to his \nwife, Christian White, and transfer himself and his love \nto a certain widow, Isobel Bruce, for whom he once went \nto sow com, and fell so madly in love that he could never \nquit the house or the widow's side again ; '* whilk thing \nthe country supposed to be brought about by the un- \nlawful travelling of the said Helen ; \" and was further \ntestified hy Bxibert himielf,'* says Chambers significantly. \nHelen Fraser was therefore burnt; and it is to be \nhoped that the men returned to their lawful mates. \n\nIsobel Cockie, who was burnt in company with Thomas \nLee's mother, old Jonet, meddled chiefly with cows and \nbutter. She could forespeak them so that they should \ngive poison instead of milk, and the cream she bad once \noverlooked was never fit for the ^ yiming.\" Her land- \nlord once offended her by mending the roof of her \nhouse while she was from home, and Isobel, who did \nnot choose that her things should be pulled about in \nher absence, and perhaps some of her cantrips disco- \nvered, \" glowrit up at him, and said, * I sail gar thee \nforthink it that thow hast tirrit my hows, I being frae \nhame.' \" Whereupon Alexander Anderson went home \nsick and speechless, and gat no relief until Isobel gave \nhim \" droggis,\" when his speech and health returned \n\n\n\nTHE TROUBLES OF ABERDEEN. 41 \n\nas of old. Isobel had been the dancer immediately \nafter Thomas Lees at the Fish Cross, ** and because the \ndewillplayit not so melodiously and well as thow cravit, \nthow took his instrument out of his mouth, then tuik him \non the chafts (chops) therewith, and play it thyself theiron \nto the haiU company.\" What further evidence could \npossibly be required to prore that Isobel CJockie was a \nwitch, and one that \" might not be suffered to live \" ? \n\nOther trials did Aberdeen entertain that year on this \nfiame wise and Christian count. There was that of \nAndrew Man, a poor old fellow specially patronized by \nthe Queen of Fairy who sixty years ago had come to \nhis mother^s house, where she was delivered of a bairn \njust like an ordinary woman, and no devil or Queen of \nElfin at all. Andrew was then but a boy, but he remem- \nbered it all well, and how he carried water for her, and \nwas promised by her that he should know all things, and \nshould be able to cm^ all sorts of sickness except the \n\"stand deid ;\" and that he should be \"wellentertainit,\" \nbut should seek his meat ere he died, as Thomas Bhymer \nhad done in years long past. Twenty-eight years after \nthis the queen came again, and caused one of his cattle \nto die on a hillock called the Elf-hillock, but promised to \ndo him good afterwards ; and it was then that their guilty \nalbeit poetic and loving intercourse began. Andrew was \ntold in his dittay that he could cure \" the falling sickness, \nthe bairn-bed, and all other sorts of sickness that ever \nfell to man or beast, except the standrdeid, by baptizing \nthem, reabling them in the auld corunschbald,'*' and \nstriking of the gudis on the face, with ane foot in thy \nhand, and by saying their words, * Gif thou wilt live, \nlive; and gif thow wilt die, die,' with sundry other \norisonsy sic as Sanct John and the three silly brethren, \n\"* Apparenlly untranslateable. \n\n\n\n43 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nwhilk thow canst say when thow please, and by giving \nof black wool and salt as a remeid for all diseases, and \nfor causing a man prosper, so that his blude should \nnever be drawn.\" Once, Andrew Man, by putting a \npatient nine times through a hasp of unwatered yam, \nand a cat as many times backwards through the same \nhasp, ciu'ed the patient by killing the cat. This was \nlogical, and quite easy to be understood. Andrew's \ndevil whom he affirmed to be an. angel, and whose \nname was Christsonday, was raised by saying Bene* \ndicite, and laid again by putting a dog under his arm, \nthen casting it into the devil's mouth with the awful \nword \" Maikpeblis 1\" \" The Queen of Elphen has a grip \nof all the craft,\" says the dittay, \" but Christsonday \nis the gudeman, and has all power under Grod; and \nthow kens sundry deid men in their company, and the \nking that died at Flodden, and Thomas Bhymer is \nthere.\" And as the queen had been seen in Andrew's \ncompany in a rather beautiful and poetic manner, the \nwhole affair was settled, and no man's mind was left in \ndoubt of the old creature's guilt. For, Andrew was \ntold, \" Upon Eood-day in harvest, in this present year, \nwhilk fell on a Wednesday, thow saw Christsonday \ncome out of the snaw in the likeness of a staig (yoxmg \nmale horse), and the Queen of Elphen was there, and \nothers with her, riding upon white hackneys.\" \" The \nelves have shapes and claithes like men, and will have \nfair covered tables, and they are but shadows, but are \nstarker (stronger) nor men, and they have playing and \ndancing when they please ; the queen is very pleasant, \nand will be auld and young when she pleases; she \nmakes any king whom she pleases. \u00ab \u2022 The elves \nwill make thee appear to be in a fair chalmer, and yet \nthow wilt find thyself in a moss on the moor. They \n\n\n\nTHE TROUBLES OF ABERDEEN. 43 \n\n\u2022will appear to have candles, and licht, and swords, \nwMlk will be nothing else but dead grass and straes.\" \nSo Andrew's doom was sealed, for all that he denied his \nguilt, and he was eonyicted and burnt like the rest. \n\nMarjory Mutch came to her end because, having a \ndeadly hatred against William Smith, she bewitched \nhis oxen, as they were ploughing, so that they all ran \n** wood '* or mad that instant, broke the plough, and two \nof them plunged up over the hills to Deer, and two ran \nup Ithan side, and could never be taken or apprehended \nagain. She was notorious for bewitching cattle; and \nthat she was a witch, and good for nothing but burning, \na gentleman proved to the satisfaction of all present, \nfor he found a soft spot on her which he pricked \nwithout causing any pain ; a test that ought to have \nbeen eminently satisfactory and conclusive \u2014 but was \nnot ; for she was \" clenged\" \u2014 cleansed, or acquitted. \n\nEllen Gray, convicted of many of the ordinary crimes \nof witchcraft, did away with all chance of mercy for \nherseK when, on being taken, she looked over her \nshoulder, saying, \" Is there no mon following me ? \" \nand Agnes Webster was a witch because in a great \nsnow she took fire out of a \" cauld frosty dyke,\" and \ncarried the same to her house. They were both burnt, \nas they merited. Jonet Leisk cast sickness and disease \non all she knew, and made whole flocks run ** wode \" \nand furious ; geese too ; but she was \" clenged,\" or \ncleared; so was Gilbert Fidlar; but Isobell Eichie, \nMargaret Og, Helen Bogie, and others, were burnt, for \nthe satisfaction of offended justice. \n\nMargaret Clark, too, came to no good end, because \nbeing sent for by the wife of Nicol Boss, when in child- \nbed, she gave her ease by casting her pains upon Andrew \nHarper, who fell into such a fury and madness during \n\n\n\n44 THE WITCHES OF 800TLAHD. \n\nher time of trayail, that he could not be holden, and \nonly recovered when the gentlewoman was delivered. \nAnd what did Violet Leys do, but bewitch William Fin \nlay's ship so that she never made one good voyage \nagain, all because her husband had been discharged \ntherefrom, and Violet the witch was most mightily \nangered? And Isobell Straquhan, too, had she not \npowers banned even in the blessing ? She went one day \nto \" Elspet Murray in Woodheid, she being a widow, \nand asked of her if she had a penny to lend her, and \nthe said Elspet gave her the penny; and the said \nIsobell took the penny and bowit (bent) it, and took a \nclout and a piece of red wax, and sewed the clout with \na thread, the wax and the penny being within the clout, \nand gave it to the said Elspet Murray, commanding her \nto use the said clout to hang about her craig (neck), \nand when she saw the man she loved best, take the \nclout, with the penny and wax, and stroke her &ce with \nit, and she so doing, would attain into the marriage of \nthat man whom she loved.\" She also made Walter \nlionaldson leave off beating his wife, by sewing certain \npieces of paper thick with threads of divers colours, and \nputting them in the barn among the com, since which \ntime Walter left off dinging his poor spouse, and was \n\" subdued entirely to her love.'* So Isobell Straquhan \nmade one of the tale erf twenty-two unfortunate wretches \nwho were executed in Aberdeen that year, for the \nvarious crimes of witchcraft and sorcery. \n\nNo evidence was too meagre for the witch-hunters ; \nno accusation too absurd; no subterfuge or enormity \nsufficiently transparent to show the truth behind. When \nMargaret Aiken, \" the great witch of Balwery,\"* went \n\n\u2666 Patrick Anderson's MS. history of Scotland, quoted by Bobert \nChambers, in his^* Domostio Annals of Scotland.' \n\n\n\nTPE TROUBLES OF ABERDEEN. 45 \n\nabont the country dilating honest women for witches, \n\" by the mark between their eyes,\" it was evident to \nall but the heated and credulous, such as John Gowper, \nthe minister of Glasgow, and others, that she used \nthis as a mere means to save time, she herself having \nbeen tortured into confession, and now seeing no way \nof safety but by complicity and witch-finding. She \ntold of one convention held on a hill in Atholl, where \nthere were twenty-three hundred witches, and the \ndevil among them. \" She said she knew them all well \nenough, and what mark the devil had given severally \nto every one of them. There was many of them tried \nby swimming in the water, by binding of their two \nthumbs and their great toes together, for being thus \ncasten in the water, they floated ay aboon.\" It was \nnot only the malevolent witch that suffered in this \nwild raid made against reason and humanity. The \ndoom dealt out to the witch who slew was equally \nallotted to the witch who saved. Yet the witchologists \nmade a difference between the two. \n\n\" Of witches there be two sorts,\" says Thomas Pick- \nering, in his * Discovrse of the damned Art of Witchcraft,' \nprinted 1610, \" the bad witch and the good witch; for so \nthey are commonly called. The bad witch is he or she \nthat hath consulted in league with the Deuill ; to vse \nhis helpe for the doing of hurte onely, so as to strike \nand annoy the bodies of men, women, children, and \ncattell, with diseases and with death itselfe ; so likewise \nto raise tempests by sea and by land, &c. This is com- \nmonly called the binding witch. \n\n^^ The good witch is he or she that by consent in a \nleague with the Deuill doth vse his helpe for the doing \nof good onely. This cannot hurt, torment, curse, or kill, \nbut onely heale and cure the hurt inflicted vpone men \n\n\n\n46 THB WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nor cattell by badde witches. For as they can doe no \ngood but onely hurt ; so this can doe no hurt but good \nonely. And this is that order which the Deuill bath \nset in his kingdome, appointing to severall persons their \nseverall offices and charges. And the Good Witch is \ncommonly called the Vnbinding Witch.\" \n\nBut the good witch, as Pickering calls her, was no \nbetter off than the bad. Indeed she was held in even \ngreater dread, for the black witch hurt only the body \nand estate, while the white witch hurt the soul when \nshe healed the body ; the healed part never being able \nto say \" God healed me.\" Wherefore it was serered \nfrom the salvation of the rest, and the wholeness of the \nredemption destroyed. In consequence of this belief \nwe find as severe punishments accorded to the blessing \nas to the banning witches ; and no movement of grati- \ntude was dreamt of towards those who had healed the \nmost oppressive diseases, or shown the most humane \nfeeling and kindness, if there was a suspicion that the \npower had been got uncannily, or that the drugs had \nmore virtue than common. \n\n\n\nWHITE WITCHES.* \n\nThus on November the 12th, 1597, Janet Stewart in the \nCanongate, Christian Levingstone in Leith, Bessie Aiken, \nalso of Leith, and Christian Sadler of Blackhouse, were \nbrought to trial for no worse crimes than healing and \nhelping sundry of their neighbours. Christian Leving- \nstone was ^ fylit and convict \" fw abusing (deceiving) \nThomas Gothray, who went to her complaining that his \ngear went from him, and that he was bewitched ; which \n\u2666 I^itcaim. \n\n\n\nWHITE WITCHES. 47 \n\nshe said was true ; promising to help him, and \" let him \nsee where the witchcraft was laid.\" So she took him \ndown his own stair, and dug a hole with her knife, and \ntook out a little bag of black plaid, wherein were some \ngrains of wheat, worsted threads of many colours, some \nhair, and nails of men's fingers, aCBrming that he was \nbewitched by these means, and bidding his wife catch \nthem in her apron. If this bag had not been found, \nsaid Christian, he would have been wrackit both in \nmind and body ; which was a clear case of ** abusing,\" \nif you will. This \" scho deponit in presens of my Lord \nJustice vpoun the tent day of Julij last past to be of \nveritie.\" She also said that her daughter had been \ntaken away by fairy folk, and that she had learnt all \nher wise-wife knowledge from her, and as a proof of this \nknowledge, she prophesied that Gothray's wife, then \n\" being with barne,\" should bear a man child ; which \nproved to be true, to the sad strengthening of the \naccusations against her. Another time she and Chris- \ntian Sadler were prayed by Eobert Bailie, mason in \nHaddington, to go and cure his wife. Christian Sadler \nrecommended her to take three pints of sweet wort, \nand boil it with a quantity of fresh butter ; which she \ndid, and drank it too, but with no good effects of heal- \ning, as we may suppose. Again, shortly before her \naccusation, she was sent for by Christian Sadler, on \nsome other devil's deed ; and together they made An- \ndrew Pennycuik a cake baked with the blood of a red \ncock; but he could not eat it. Then they took his \nshirt and dipped it in the well at the back of his house, \nand brought it to him and put it on him, dripping as it \nwas, \" quhairthrow he maist haif sownit amang their \nhands,\" giving him to understand that now he would \nbe mended, \" albeit that it was onlie plane abusione, as \n\n\n\n48 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nthe event declarit\" Not finding the cake of red cock's \nblood or the dripping shirt of great efficacy, Andrew \nwent then to Janet Stewart, craving his health at \nher hands \" for God's sake ;\" but we are not told the \nresult. \n\nJanet Stewart was fylit for going to Bessie Inglis in \nthe Kowgate, Bessie being deidlie sick; when Janet \ntook off her '* mutche and sark \" (cap and shift), washed \nthem in south-running water, and put them en her \nagain at midnight, wet as they were, saying three \ntimes, \" In the name of the Father, the Son, and th^ \nHoly Ghost.\" She also \" fyrit,\" or put a hot iron into \nwater, and burnt straw at the four comers of the bed, \nas Michael Clarke, smith, had learnt her; and she \nhealed women of the mysterious child-bed disorder \ncalled wedonymph, by taking a garland of woodbine \nand putting them through it, afterwards cutting it into \nnine pieces, which she threw into the fire. This charm \nshe said she had learnt from Mr. John Damiet, an \nItalian, and a notorious enchanter. And she cured \nsundry persons of the falling-evil by hanging a stone \nabout their necks for five nights, which stone she said \nshe got from Lady Crawford. \n\nV Christian Sadler was \" fylit and convict \" for taking \nin hand to heal the young Laird of Bargany, with a salve \nmade of quicksilver, which she rubbed into the patient^ \nalleging that she learnt it of her father ; but she did \nthe same by \" unlessum \" (unwholesome) means, said \nthe dittay, she having no such knowledge as would \nenable her to cure leprosy, which the most expert men \nin medicine are not able to do. Eobert Hunter, too, \nsince deceased, having a flaw in his face, she under- \ntook to cure with a mixture of quicksilver in a drink. \nShe said the flaw was leprosy, but it was nothing of the \n\n\n\nWHITE WITCHES. 49 \n\nkind ; and \" God knows how the drink was composed,** \nbut the gentleman died twelve hours after, \" as was \nnotourlie confessit of hirself, and can nocht be denyit, \nquhairby scho was giltie of his death be hir craft ; \nministering to him ynlessum things, quhau-of he deit \nsuddenlie.\" So the four women were conricted and \ncondemned, sentenced to be strangled at a stake, then \nburnt, and all their goods forfeit to the crown. Only \nBessie Aiken got off by reason of her pregnancy ; and \nafter having suffered \" lang puneischment be famine \nand imprisonment,\"' was finally banished the kingdom \nfor life. \n\nIn July, 1602, James Keid suffered for the same \nkind of offences \u2014 ^taking three pennies and a piece of \n\" creisch \" (grease) from the bag of his master the devill, \nwhom he met on Bynnie-crags, and learning from him \nthe art of healing by means of silk laces, south-running \nwaters, charms, incantations, and other \" unlessum \" \nmeans. He cured Sarah Borthwick by his sorcery and \ndevilry, bringing her south-running water from the \n** Schriff-breyis-well,\" and casting a certain quantity of \nsalt and wheat about her bed : and he consulted with \ncertain for the destruction of David Libbertoune, baxter \nand burges of Edinburgh, his spouse, their com, and \ngoods, by taking a piece of raw flesh, and making nine \nnicks in it, then putting part under the miU door and \npart under the stable door ; while, to ruin the land, he \nenchanted stones and cast them on the fields. He \ncured John Crystie of a swelling, by putting three silk \nlaces round his leg for ten weeks ; and his deeds be- \ncoming notorious and his character lost, he was ad- \njudged worthy of death, and judicially murdered ac- \ncordingly. \n\nWho was safe, if a half-fed scrofulous woman had \n\nE \n\n\n\n60 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nfancies and the megrims? The first person on whom \nher wild imagination chose to cast the grim shadow of \nwitchcraft was surely doomed, however slight the evi- \ndence, or whatever the manifest quality of the disease. \nThere was poor Patrick Lowrie, fylit July 23, 1605 \u2014 \nwhat had he done ? Why, he and Jonet Hunter, \" ane \nnotorious wich,\" bewitched Bessie Saweris' (Sawyer's) \nher com, and took all her fisnowne (fushion, foison, \npith, strength, flavour) from her ; and then he fell foul \nof certain \"ky,\" so that they gave no milk; and he \nhad cured the horse of Margaret GuflFok, the witch of \nBamewell, twenty years ago ; and struck Janet Lowrie \nblind; and, as a climax, uncannily helped Elizabeth \nCrawford's bairn in Glasgow, which had been strangely \nsick for the last eight or nine years. And the way in \nwhich he helped her was thus. He took a cloth off the \nsaid bairn's face, \" saining \" it, and crossing the face \nwith his hand ; he kept the cloth for eight days, then \ncame back and covered her face again with it ; where- \nupon the child slept without moving for two days, and at \nthe end of that time Patrick Lowrie wakened her, and \nher eye, which \" had been tynt throw disease, was re^ \nstored to her, and in five days she was cured and mended.\" \nHe was also fylit of having met the devil on the com- \nmon waste at Sandhills, in Kyle, when a number of \nmen and women were there ; and for having enter- \ntained him under the form of a woman, one Helen \nM*Brune (this was a succubus) ; also of having received \nfrom him a hair belt, at one end of which was the \nsimilitude of \" four fingeris and ane thumbe, nocht far \ndifferent from the clawis of the devill ;\" which belt \nJonet Hunter had, and it was burnt at her trial ; alsa \nof having dug up dead bodies, to dismember them for \nhis deadly charms ; and also for being ^^ ane cowmone \n\n\n\nTHE MISDEEDS OF ISOBEL GRIEltSON. 51 \n\n.tod notorious sorcerer, warlok, and abuser of the \npeopill, be all vnlawftdl charms and devillische incan- \ntationeSy vset be him this xxiiij yeir begane.\" To which \nterrific array was added the testimony of Mr. David \nMill, who said how, in his own place, he was \" brutit \nand commonlie called Pait ye Witch, and that he gat \nhis father's malison,\" and had been spoken of as sure to \nmake an ill end. So he did, poor fellow ; for the Lord \nAdvocate threatened to prosecute the assize if they \nacquitted him, which insured his effectnal condemna- \ntion, and Pate the Witch was burnt with his fellows. \n\n\n\nTHE MISDEEDS OP ISOBEL GRIERSON.* \n\nTwo years afterwards, on March the 10th, 1607, \nIsobel Grierson, \" spous to John Bull,\" came into court \nwith anything but clean hands. She was accused of \nhaving visited Adam Clarke and his wife \u2014 ^they lying \ndecently in bed, their servant being in the other bed \nbeside them \u2014 not as an honest woman, but in the form \nof a cat, being accompanied by other cats which made \na great and fearful noise. Whereat Adam Clarke, his \nwife, and servant were so aflfrighted they were almost \nmad. At the same time arrived the devU in the shape \nof a black man, and came to the servant girl then stand- \ning on the floor, and drew her up and down the house \nin a fearful manner, first taking the curtche (cap) off \nher head and casting it into the fire, whereby the poor \nwoman had a sickness which lasted six weeks. Isobel \nkilled William Burnet by casting a cutting of plaid in \nat his door, after which the devil, for the space of half \n\n^ Pitoaim and Chambers. \n\n\n\n62 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\na jeax, perpetually appeared to him as a naked cbSld, \nholding an enchanted picture in his hand^ and standing \nbefore the fire ; but sometimes he appeared as Isobel \nherself, who, when William Burnet called to her by \nname, would vanish away. So she haunted and harried \nhim till he pined away and died. She bewitched Mr. \nBrown, of Prestonpans, by throwing an enchanted \n\"tailzie\" (cut or piece) of beef at his door, sending \nthe devil to distress him for half a year, appearing \nto him herself in the form of an infant bairn, and so \nhardly treating him, that Brown died as Burnet had \ndone. Then she bewitched Kobert Peddan, who got \nno good from any remedy, and knew not what ailed \nhim, until he suddenly remembered that he and Isobel \nhad had a quarrel about nine shillings which he owed \nher and would not pay ; so he went to her and paid \nher, asking humbly for his health again ; which came. \nEobert Peddan deposed, too, that, being once at his \nhouse, she wanted her cat, whereupon she opened his \nwindoW; put out her hand, and drew the cat in : at which \ntime was working a brewing of good sound ale, which \naU turned to \" gutter dirt.\" Another time she or her \nspirit went at night to his house and drew Margaret \nDonaldson, his wife, out of her bed, and flung her vio- \nlently against the floor ; whereat the wife was very ill \nand sore troubled, and cried out on her. Isobel, hear- \ning of this, went to the neighbours, and said they were \nto bring her and Margaret together again ; which they \ndid ; and Margaret had her health for nine or ten days. \nBut Meg, not leaving off calling out against her, Isobel \nwent to her, \" and spak to hir mony devillisch and \nhorribill words,\" saying, \" The faggot of hell lycht on \nthe, and heU's cauldron may thow seith in I \" So Meg \nwas sick again after this ; and as a poor beggarwoman \n\n\n\nBAETEBS PATERSON'S CHARM. 53 \n\nooming to the door to ask meat told her she was be- \nwitched, for that she had the right stamp of it, the case \ngrew serious, and Margaret cried out more loudly than \nbefore. Then Isobel went again to her house with a \ncreil on her back, and said passionately, \" Away, theiflf ! \nI sail haif thy hairt for bruitting of me sae falslie ;\" \nwhich so lightened Meg that she took to her bed, and \nIfiobel was arrested, tried, convicted, and burnt. \n\n\n\nBARTIE PATERSON'S CHARM.* \n\nThat same year James Brown was ill. Bartie \n\nPaterson went to him, and gave him drinks and salves \n\nmade of green herbs, and bade him \" sitt doun on his \n\nkneis thre seuerall nychtis, and everie nycht, thryse \n\nnyne tymes, ask his helth at all living wichtis, aboue \n\nand vnder the earth in the name of Jesus.\" He gave \n\nAlexander Clarke a drink of Dow-Loch water \u2014 ^poor \n\nAlexander Clarke was fond of consulting witches \u2014 \n\ncausing him each time he lifted the mug to say, \" I \n\nlift this watter in the name of the Father, Sone, and \n\nHoly Ghaist, to do guid for their helth for quhom it is \n\nliftit.*' And he was able to cast a spell over cattle by \n\nsaying \u2014 \n\n\u2022* I charme th^ for arrow-achot. \nFor dor-^chot, for wondo-schot, \nFor ey-schot, for tung-schot. \nFor leyer-echot, for lung-echot, \nFor hertHSchot, all the maifit, \n\nIn the name of the Father, the Sone, and Haly Ghaist. \nTo wend out of fleisch and bane. \nInto stek and stane. \nIn the name of the Father, the Sone, and Haly Ghaist. Amen.** \n\nSo the law put a stop to his incantations, and he was \n* Fitcairn* \n\n\n\n64 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nstrangled and bnmt\u00bb and all his goods escheit to the \ncrown. But the crown did not get a very fiill haul, for \npoor Bartie was scarce removed from beggary. \n\n\n\nBEIGIS TOD AND HEB COMPEEBS.* \n\nIn 1608, on May the 27th, Beigis Tod in Lang \nNydrie came to her \u00a3Ette. She had long been a fre- \nquenter of Sabbaths, and once was reproved by the \ndevil for being late, when she answered respectfully, \n\" Sir, I could wyn na soner!\" Immediately thereafter \nshe passed to her own house, took a cat, and put it nine \ntimes tltrough the chimney work, and then sped to \nSeaton Thome \" be north the yet,\" where the devil \ncalled Cristiane Tod, her younger sister, and brought \nher out. But Cristiane took a great fright and said, \n\" Lord, what wilt thou do with me ?\" to whom he an- \nswered, \" Tak na feir, for ye sail gang to your sister \nBeigis, to ye rest of hir cumpanie quha are stayand \nvpoun your cuming at the Thome.\" Cristiane Tod, \nJohn GraymeiU, Ersche (Irish), Marion, and Margaret \nDwn, who were of that company that night, had aU \nbeen burnt, so now Beigis had her turn. She fell out \nwith Alexander Fairlie, and made his son vanish away \nby continual sweating and burning at his heart, during \nwhich time Beigis appeared to him nightly in her own \nperson, but during the day in the similitude of a dog, \nand put him almost out of his wits. Alexander went to \nher to be reconciled, and asked her to take the sickness \noff his son, which at first she refused, but afterwards \nconsenting, she went and healed the youth, a short time \nbefore she was arrested \u2014 ^to be burnt Two years after \n\n* Fitcaim. \n\n\n\nBEIGIS TOD AND HEB COMPEEEB. 55 \n\nthis Grissel Gairdner was burnt for casting sickness upon \npeople; and in 1613 Bobert Erskine and his three \nsisters were executed \u2014 ^he was beheaded \u2014 ^for poison- \ning and treasonable murder against his two nephews. \nBut before this^ in 1608, the Earl of Mar brought \nword to the Privy Council that some women taken at \nBroughton or Breichin, accused of witchcraft, and being \nput to \" ane assize and convict albeit they persevered \nconstant in their deniall to the end, yet they wes bumet \nquick after sic ane crewell manor that sum of thame \ndeit in dispair, renunceand and blasphemand, and \nvtheris, half brunt, brak out of the fyre and wes cassin \nquieh into it againe, quhill they war brunt to the deid.\" \nEven this horrible scene does not seem to have had. \nany effect in humanizing men's hearts, or opening their \neyes to the infamy into which their superstition dragged. \nthem ; for stiU the witch trials went on, and the young \nand the old, and the beautiful and the unlovely, and \nthe loved and the loveless, were equally victims, cast \nwithout pity or remorse to their frightful doom. \n\nSixteen hundred and sixteen was a fruitful year \nfor the witch-finders. There was Jonka Dyneis of \nShetland,* who, offended with one Olave, fell out in \nmost vile cursings and blasphemous exclamations, saying \nthat within a few days his bones should be \" raiking '^ \nabout the banks : and as she predicted so did it turn out \n\u2014 Olave perishing by her sorceiy and enchantments.. \nAnd not content with this, she cursed the other son of \nthe poor widowed mother, and in fourteen days he also \ndied, to Jonka's own undoing when the Shetlanders \nwould bear her iniquities no longer. And there was \nKatherine Jonesdochter, also of Shetland, who cruelly \ntransferred her husband's natural infirmities to a \n* DalyeU'B ' Darker Superstitions of Scotland.* \n\n\n\nV? THE VlTCiUS \u2022>F SCOTLAND. \n\n\u25a0\u2666tmnepr: an*! Elj\u00bbn#\u00bbth R\u00abHx\u00bbii )t Orkney; who pidled \nrh#* .\u00bb**rS 'a4l#\u00bbiK savins: \u2022* In Xomine Patna. FtTH, et Sp^i- \ntfi\u00ab '^an^^ti,\" rhn* tTirin^ men's \u00abiiateBip\u00bbB in a de^Iidi \nim4 'mw^iol**me numner: and Aipies deottie^ who \nrH^MflAff to -tT>\u00bbnk won! to 'Jrin^ Tnan Jjetbre paasn^ '* the \nh^vr^fiU of iiir jronnd. .mmI their ^ot \u00abiowiu piaitQig ha \njVit j^twixt th*> mf\u00bbTf*hi5c\" that a i^eituii womam might \nh\u00abr*\u00bb i\u00ab oroo^i r'hiWbirth : who waa aiao coBTicted ^ rf \nw^\u00abhincr ^h^ innPT nnke of h\u00ab- plaid and aprone,'' Ibr \niVOTYi^ W/'Icpd unfi sin i:9ter pnrpoae : \u00a3br what aane Seottidi \nwom^n wonW \\vw\u00bbh her clothes nuue than wa\u00bb ab8i>- \nI life] y ne^pj\u00bb9?ny? and who onuiii cmBe a\u00bb well a\u00bb cmey \nand trnn^ifer <)r well !t8 give the ^^'Imftwa ^le coidd \nh^ftl : and ifarahle Tj^viper who threw a **wall pief* \nfit \u00bb man who i^rpoke ill of her, and made his &ce bleed, \n?(^ th\u00abt hfi w*^nt mail, and could only be recovered by \nh^r l\u00bbyln<;f her handA on himy whereby he received his \n0>iD^^ and his health again : and Ajies TuUock, who \nw^nt fA th4 giiid wyfe ol LangskailL and by toucfaiD^ \nh^r ^ffvf^ her baek her hesdth : and WiHiam. Gnde, who \nHfid pr^wf^r 6ver all inanimate things, and by his toneh \ni>]d gjvf^ them back the virtue they had lost These \naf^ ^irAy a few, yenrj few, of the cases to be found in the \nfmrifAi^ jndic^iarT; records of the year 1616 \u2014 a year no \nffr/f4^ fhitn others and no bett^, where all were bad \naffd hUffftUdeaned alike* \n\ntff tfflH (nm of the mddert stixies of all was to be \nfM/l in fh^ tear<9 of a few sorrowfid relatives^ and in the \nf^tnHnivni tit ih(fm fanatics who rejoiced when the \nm'vmM^(\\ thing pltK^ked oat from them was of more \nH^HHWy mvmr and of a fairer form than usual, and \nihitn nvm ft inf)oter sacrifice for the Lord Of sJl the \nhmtttetiihng histories to be found in the records of \n\n\n\nTHE HTIFUL FATE OP MAEGARET BARCLAY. 67 \n\nwitchcraft^ the history of Margaret Barclay and her \n^^ accomplices \" is saddest, most sorrowful, most heart- \nrending. \n\n\n\nTHE PITIFUL FATE OF MARGARET BARCLAY.* \n\nMargaret was a young, beautiful, high-spirited \nwoman, wife of Archibald Dein, burgess of Irvine, and \nnot on the best of terms with John Dein, her husband's \nbrother. Indeed, she had had him and his wife before \nthe Eirk session for slander, and things had not gone \nquite smoothly with them ever since. When, therefore, * \nthe ship. The Grace of God, in which John Dein was \nsailing, sank in sight of land, drowning him and all his \nmen, the old quarrel was remembered, and Margaret, \ntogether withlsobel Insh and John Stewart, a wandering \n^^ spaeman,\" was accused of having sunk the vessel \nby charms and enchantments. Margaret disdainfully \ndenied the charge &om beginning to end : Isobel said \nshe had never seen the spaeman in her life before ; but \nStewart ^^ clearly and pounktallie confessit \" all the \ncharges brought against him, and also said that the \nwomen had applied to him to be taught his magic arts, \nand that once he had found them both modelling ships \nand figures in clay for the destruction of the men and \nvessel aforesaid And as it was proved that Stewart \nhad spoken of the wreck before he could have known it \nby ordinary means, suspicion of sorcery fell upon him, \nand he was taken : and made his confession. He said \nthat he had visited Margaret to help her to her wiU, \nwhen a black dog, breathing Sxe &om his nostrils, had \nformed part of the conclave ; and Isobel's own child, a \n* Soott's * Pemonology and Witohduft' \n\n\n\n68 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nlittle girl of eight, added to this, a black man as welL \nIsobel, after denying all and sundry of the charges \nbrought against her, under torture admitted their truth* \nIn the night time she found means to escape from her \nprison, bruised and maimed with the torture as she \nwas; but in scrambling over the roof she fell to the \nground, and was so much injured that she died five days \nafterwards. Margaret was then tortured : the spaeman \nhad strangled himself, which was the best thing he \ncould do, only it was a pity he did not do it before ; \nand poor Margaret was the last of the trio. The \ntorture they used, said the Lords Commissioners, was \n\" safe and gentle.\" They put her bare legs into a pair \nof stocks, and laid on them iron bars, augmenting their \nweight one by one, till Margaret, imable to bear the \npain, cried out to be released, promising to confess the \ntruth as they wished to have it But when released she \nonly denied the charges with fresh passion; so they \nhad recourse to the iron bars again. After a time, \npain and weakness overcame her again, and she shrieked \naloud, \" Tak off! tak off! and befoir God I will show \nye the whole form!\" She then confessed \u2014 ^whatever \nthey chose to ask her; but unfortunately, in her \nravings, included one Isobel Crawford, who when ar- \nrested \u2014 as she was on the instant \u2014 attempted no de- \nfence, but, paralyzed and stupefied, admitted every- \nthing with which she was charged. Margaret's trial \nproceeded : sullen and despairing, she assented to the \nmost monstrous counts : she knew there was no hope, \nand she seemed to take a bitter pride in suffering her \ntormentors to befool themselves to the utmost In the \nmidst of her anguish her husband, Alexander Dein, \nentered the court, accompanied by a lawyer. And then \nher despair passed, and she thought she saw a glimmer \n\n\n\nTHE PITIFUL PATE OP MARGABET BARCLAY. 59 \n\nof life and salvation. She asked to be defended. ** All \nthat I have confessed,\" she said, \" was in an agony of \ntorture; and before God all that I have spoken is \nfisdse and untrua But,\" she added pathetically, turning \nto her husband, \" ye have been owre lang in coming 1\" \nHer defence did her no good ; she was condemned, and \nat the stake entreated that no harm might befall Isobel \nCrawford, who was utterly and entirely innocent. To \nwhom did she make this prayer? to hearts turned \nwild and wolfish by superstition; to hearts made \nfiendish by fear ; to men with nothing of humanity save \nits form \u2014 with nothing of religion save its terrors. She \nmight as well have prayed to the fierce winds blowing \nround the court-house, or the rough waves lashing \nthe barren shore! She was taken to the stake, there \nstrangled and burnt : bearing herself bravely to the last. \nPoor, brave, beautiful, young Margaret ! we, at this long \nlapse of time, cannot even read of her fate without tears ; \nit needed all the savageness of superstition to harden \nthe hearts of the living against the actual presence of \nher beauty, her courage, and her despair ! : \n\nIsobel Crawford was now tried ; \" after the assistant \nminister, Mr. David Dickson, had made earnest prayer \nto God for opening her obdurate and closed heart, she \nwas subjected to the torture of the iron bars laid upon \nher bare shins, her feet being in the stocks, as in the \ncase of Margaret Beurclay.\" She endured this torture \n** admirably,\" without any kind of din or exclamation, \nsuffering above thirty stone of iron to be laid on her \nlegs, never shrinking thereat in any sort, but remain- \ning steady and constant. But when they shifted the \niron bars, and removed them to another part of her legs, \nher constancy gave way, as Margaret's had done, and \nshe too broke out into horrible. cries of \"Tak off! tak \n\n\n\n60 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\noff !'* She then confessed \u2014 anything \u2014 everything \u2014 and \nwas sentenced : bnt on the way to her execution she \ndenied all that she had admitted, interrapted the \nminister in his prayer, and refused to pardon the execu^ \ntioner, according to form. Her brain had given way, \nand they fastened to ther stake a bewildered, raving \nmaniac. God rest their weary souls ! \n\n\n\nMARGARET WALLACE AND HER DEAR BURD.* \n\nMargaret Wallace (1622), spous to John Dynning, \nmerchant and citizen of Glasgow, hated Cuthbert Greg. \nShe had sent Gristiane Grahame to him, wanting his \ndog ; but he would not give it, saying, \" I rather ye and \nmy hussie (cummer, gossip) baith was brunt or ye get \nmy dog.\" Margaret, coming to the knowledge of this \nspeech, went to him angrily, and said, **Pfals land- \nloupper loun that thow art, sayis thow that Gristiane \nGrahame and I sail be brunt for witches? I vow to \nGod I sail doe ye ane evill tume.\" So she did, by \nmeans of a cake of bread, casting on him the most \nstrange, unnatural, and unknown disease, such as none \ncould mend or understand. Suspecting that he was \nbewitched, his friends got her to come and undo the \nmischief she had done : so she went into the house, \ntook him by the \"schaikill bane\" (shoulder-blade) with \none hand, and laid the other on his breast, but spoke \nno word, only moved her lips; then passed from \nhim on the instant The next day she went again \nto his house, and took him up out of bed, leading \nhim to the kitchen and three or four times across \nthe floor, though he had been bedridden for fifteen \n\u2666 Pitcaim. \n\n\n\nMARGARET WALLACE AND HER DEAR BURD. 61 \n\ndays, unable to put his foot to the grotuid. And if all \nthat was not done by devilish art and craft, how was it \ndone ? asked the judges and the jury. Another time \nshe went to the house of one Alexander Yallange, where \nshe was taken with a sudden ^'brasch \" of sickness, and \nwas so hardly holden that they thought she would have \n\" ryred \" herself to fits. She cried out piteously for her \n''dear burd,\" and the bystanders thought she meant \nher husband : but it turned out to be the witch Cri&- \ntiane Grahame that she wanted \u2014 ^whom they inmie- \ndiately sent for. Cristiane came at once, and took \nMargaret tenderly in her arms, saying '' no one should \nhurt her dear burd, no one ;*' then carried her down \nstairs into the kitchen, and so home to her own housa \nThe little daughter of the house ran after them; on \nthe threshold^ she was seized with a sudden pain, and \nfalling down cried and screamed most sorely. Her \nmother went to lift her up crossly, but she called out, \n\"Mother, mother, ding me nocht, for there is ane preyne \n(pin) raschet throw my ftite.\" She \"grat\" all the \nnighty and was very ill ; her parents watching by her \nthrough the long hours: but when Margaret wanted \nthe mother to let her be cured by Cristiane's aid, she \nsaid sternly, no, *' scho wad commit her bairne to God, \nand nocht mell with the deviU or ony of his instru- \nmentis.\" However, Margaret Wallace healed the little \none imbidden ; by leaping over some bits of green cloth \nscattered in the midst of the floor, and then taking her \nout of bed and laying her in Cristiane Grahame's lap \n\u2014 ^which double sorcery cured her instantly. Cristiane \nGrahame had been burnt for a witch some time before \nthis trial ; and now Margaret Wallace, in this year of \nour Lord 1622, was doomed to the same fate : bound \nto a stake, strangled, burnt, her ashes cast to the wind. \n\n\n\n62 I'HB WITCHES OF SCOTLAIO). \n\nand all her worldly gear forfeit to king's majesty, be* \ncause she was a tender-hearted, loving woman, with a \nstrong will and large mesmeric power, and did her best \nfor the sick folk about her. \n\n\n\nTHOM EEID AGAIN.* \n\nIsobell Haldane confessed before the Session of \nPerth, May 15, 1623, that she had cured Andro Dun- \ncan's bairn by washing it and its sark in water brought \nfrom the Turret Port, then casting the water into a \nbum; but in the going \"scho skaillit (spilt) swm \nquhilk scho rewis ane eviU rew, becaus that if onye had \ngone ower it they had gottyn the ill.\" She confessed, \ntoo, that about ten years since, she, lying in her bed, \nwas taken forth, whether by God or the devil she knows \nnot, and carried to a hill : the lull-side opened, and she \nwent in and stayed there from Thursday to Sunday \nat eleven o'clock, when an old man with a gray beard \nbrought her forth. The old man with the gray beard, \nwho seems to have been poor Bessie Dunlop's old ac- \nquaintance, told her many things after this visit. He \ntold her that John Roch, who came to the wright's shop \nfor a cradle, need not be so hasty, for his wife would \nnot be lighter for five weeks, and then the bairn should \nnever lie in the cradle, but would die when baptized : as \nit proved, and as John Roch deposed on her trial. Also, \nhe told her that Margaret Buchanan, then in good \nhealth, should prepare herself for death before Fastings \nEven, which was a few days hence ; and Margaret died as \nshe predicted. And Patrick Euthven deposed, that he, \nbeing sick \u2014 bewitched by one Margaret Homscleugh \u2014 \n\n'^ Fitcaim and ChamberQ. \n\n\n\nBESSIE SMTTH, 63 \n\nIsobell came to see him, and stretched herself upon \nhim, her head to his head, her hands on his, and so \nforth, mumbling some words, he knew not what. And \nStephen Kay deposed that three years since he had \ndetected Isobell in a theft, whereon she clapped him on \nthe back, and said, \" Go thy way ; thow sail nocht win \nthyself ane bannok of breid for yeir and ane day ;\" and \n80 it proved. He pined away, heavily diseased, and did \nnot do a stroke of work for just three hundred and \nsixty-six days, of the full four-and-twenty hours' count. \nBut Isobell said that her sole words were, \" He that \ndelyueret me frome the ffairy fifolk sail tak amends on \nthe:\" and that she had never meaned to harm him, \nnor even to answer him ungently. But she confessed \nto various charms ; such as a cake made of small hands- \nfill of meal, gotten from nine several women who had \nbeen married, virgins \u2014 through a hole in which sick \nchildren were to be passed, to their decided cure ; and \nshe confessed to getting water, silently going, and \nsilently returning, from the well of Kuthven, in which \nto bathe John Gow's child ; and to having made a drink \nof focksterrie* leaves for Dan Morris's child, who \" wes \nane scharge\" (changeling or fairy child), which fock- \nsterrie drink she made it swallow ; when it died soon \nafter. So IsobeU Haldane shook hands with life, and \nwent back to Thom Keid and the fairy folk on the hill, \nhelped thither by the hangman. \n\nBESSIE SMITH. \n\nIn the July of this same year Bessie Smith of Les- \nmahago also confessed to sundry unlawful doings. \n\n* Star-grass, queries Pitcaim ; but is it not rather fox-tree \u2014 fox- \nglove? \n\n\n\n64 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nWhen people who ware ill of the heart fevers went to \nher for advice, instead of employing honest drags such \nas every Christian understood and nauseated, she bade \nthem kneel and ask their health ^^for God's sake, for \nSanot Spirit, for Sanct Aikit, for the nine maidens \nthat died in the boor-tree in the Ladywell Bank. This \ncharm to be bnik and beil to me, God grant that sae \nbe.\" This charm, with the \"way burn \" leaf to be eaten \nfor nine moniings, was sufficient to prove Bessie Smith \nof Lesmahago a necromancer; and the presbjrtery of \nLanark did quite righteously, according to its lights, \nwhen they made her come before them and confess her \ncrimes, humbly. Fortunately, they did not bum her. \n\n\n\nTHOMAS GRIEVE'S ENCHANTMENTS (1623>* \n\nThomas Grieve was a notorious enchanter, according \nto the Session, which prided itself on being \"ripely \nadvised.\" He put a woman's sickness on a cow, which \nran mad, and died in consequence ; and he cured Wil- \nliam Kirk's baira by stroking its hair back from its \nface and wrapping it in an enchanted cloth, whereby it \nslept, and woke healed. He cured cattle of \"the \nheastie,\" or any other bovine disease untranslateable, \nby sprinkling the byre with enchanted water ; and he \ncured sick people by putting them through a hank of \nyam, which then he cut up and threw into the fire, where \nit bumed blue. He healed one woman by \"fyring \" \u2014 \nputting a hot iron, which was supposed to bum the \nobsessing witch \u2014 ^into some magic water brought from \nHolywell, Hill-side, and making her drink it ; and he \ncured another woman by burning a poor hen alive, first \n\u2666 Chambers, Dalyell, Pitcaim. \n\n\n\nKATHEBIKE GJLAST ASD HE2 FIOTP. G \n\nmaking her carry it, wben Inlf icaeled, nsder her arm; \nand he took in hand to heal Elipedi. ssier of John \nThomson, of Corachie \u2014 paasiDg ^rith h^r two bro^hei? in \nthe night season from Conehie Um^ris Bmler, enjoin- \ning them not to speak a word all the war, ax^ vhalerer \nthey heard or saw, not to be anjw^ **eSaTed,\" saying \n'^it micht be that thai would heir grit ramUing and ae \nyncouth feirfbH i^aritioDes, btzt nothing sold annoy \nthame.\" Arriyed at the fovd at the ea^t of Bixley he \nwashed her sark ; and dnrii^ the time <}f this wa&hing \nthere was a great noise made by fowls in the hilL beasts \nthat arose and flattered in the water \u2014 \"hti^tes that \nairaisandflichtered''inthewata-; and when he put her \nsark upon her again, Ykpeih m\u20acnded and was healed^ \nAnd of another patient he propounded thiswise opinicHa, \ncome to by the ezaminaticHi of his saik: '^ Allaee, the \nwithcraft a^mintit for ane Tther hes liditit Tpoone \nhim,\" bat it had not yet reached his heart. And farther \nthan all this;, which was bad enough, he made signs and \ncrosses, and mattered anoooth wcvds; and beliered in \nhimself and the devil: so he was strangled and bamt, \nand an end ccnne to of him: for whidi the neighboars \nan were.^ad, eren those he had benefited, and the \nministers were qaite satisfied that they had given ^ry \nto (jod in the holiest manner open to them. \n\n\n\nKATHERINE GRANT AND HEB STOUP \u2022 \n\nKadnmne Grant, in the XoTember of the year 1623, \nsdilatit for that she had gone to Henry Janies' house, \nwith ** a ^Ump in hir hand, with the boddome foremost^ \nand sat down ryght foment the said Henrie, and gantit \n\n* Ildjdl, qiioting flie jndiciaij roooidfi of Oikaey. \n\nF \n\n\n\n66 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nthryce on him : and going forth he foUowit hir ; and \nbeiyan the brigstane, scho lukit over her shoulder, \nand turned up the quhyt of her eye, quhair by her \ndivihie, their fell ane great weght upoun him that he \nwas forcit to set his bak to the wall, and when he came \nin, he thoucht the hous ran about with him, and their- \nefter lay seik ane lang tyme.\" Katherine Grant was \nnot likely to overcome the impression of such testimony \nas this : that she should have gone to any man's house \nand yawned thrice, and added to this devilry the fur- \nther crime of looking over her shoulder, was quite \nenough evidence of guilt for any sane man or woman \nin Orkney. Can we wonder, then, that she was not suf- \nfered to vex the sunlight longer by carrying pails bottom \nupwards, or yawning thrice in the faces of decent folk, \nand that she was taken forth to be strangled, burnt, \nand her ashes cast to the four winds of the merciful \nheaven ? \n\n\n\nTHE MISDEEDS OF MARION RICHART.* \n\n\"Mareoune'* Eichart, alias Langland, dwelt on one \nof the wild Orkney islands, not far from where mad \nElspeth Sandisome kept the whole country in fear \nlest she should do something terrible to herself or to \nothers. Marion was invited to go the house, and try \nher skill at curing her, for she was known to be an \nawful witch, and able to do whatever she had a mind in \nthe way of healing or killing. So she went, and set her- \nself to her charm. She took some \"remedie water\" \u2014 \nwhich she made into \" remedy water,\" by carrying it in \na round bowl to the byre where she cast into it some- \n* Hibbert, quoting the Orkney Records. \n\n\n\nLADY LEE'S PENNY. ' 67 \n\ntiling like \" great salt,\" taken from her purse, spitting \nthrice into the bowl, and blowing in her breath \u2014 and \nwith this magic \" remedie watter forspeking,\" she bade \nElspeth's woman-servant wash her feet and hands, and \nshe would be as well as ever she had been before. \nThis was bad enough ; but worse than this, she came to \nStronsey on a day, asking alms of \"Andro Coupar, \nskipper of ane bark,\" to whom said Andrew rudely^ \n\"Away witch, carling ; devils ane farthing ye will fall I\" \nwhereupon went Marion away \"verie offendit; and \nincontinentlie he going to sea, the bark being vnder \nsaill, he ran wode, and wald half luppen ourboord ; and \nhis sone seing him gat him in his armes, and held him ; \nquhairvpon the sicknes immediatelie left him, and his \nsone ran made ; and Thomas Paiterson, seeing him tak \nhis madnes, and the father to turn weill, ane dog being \nin the bark, took the dog and bladdit him vpon the twa \nschoulderis, and thaireftir flang the said dogg in the \nBea, quhairby those in the bark were saiffed.\" So \nMarion Bichart, alias Langland, learnt the hangman's \nway to the grave in the year of grace 1629 ; and her \ncorpse was burned, when the hangman's rope had done \nits work. \n\n\n\nLADY LEE'S PENNY AND THE WITCHES OF 1629.* \n\n. Isobel Young, spous to George Smith, was burnt, in \n1629, for curing cattle, as well as for the other crimes \nbelonging to a witch. She had sought to borrow Lady \nLee's Penny \u2014 a precious stone or amulet, like to a \npiece of amber, set in a silver penny, which one pf \nthe old Lee family had gotten from a Saracen in the \n\n* PItcaim. Sharpe's Litroduction to Law's ' Memorials.' \n\n\n\n68 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nCrusades \u2014 and which Lee Penny was to help her in her \nincantations, for curing \"the bestiall of the routting evill/' \nwhatever that might have been. But Lady Lee let her \nhave only a flagon of water in which the amulet had \nbeen steeped, which did quite as well, and helped to set \nthe stake as quickly as anything else would have done. \nVarious other mischancy things did Isobel Young. She \nstopped a certain mill, and made it incapable of grind- \ning for eleven days : she forespoke a certain boat, and \nthough all the rest returned to Dunbar full and richly \nladen, this came back empty, whereby the owner was \nmined: she bewitched nailk that it would give no \ncream, and chums, so that no butter would come : she \ntwice crossed the mill water on a wild and stormy night, \nwhen the milne horses could not ride it out, and where \nthere was no bridge of stone or wood ; but Isobel the \nwitch crossed and recrossed those raging waters under \nthe stormy sky, and came out at the end as dry as if \nfrom a kiln. And was not this as unholy as taking off \nher \" curch \" at William Meslet's barn-door, and run- \nning \" thrice about the bam widdershins,\" whereby the \ncattle were caused to fall dead in \" great suddainty ?\" \nThen, as further iniquity, she had dealings with Chris- \ntian Grinton, another witch, who one night came out \nof a hole in the roof in the likeness of a cat ; and she \ncast a sickness from off her husband, and laid it on \nhis brother's son, who, knowing full well that he \nwas bewitched, came to the house, and there saw the \n\" firlott\" \u2014 a certain measure of wheat \u2014 mnning about, \nand the stuff poppling on the floor, which was the \nmanner of the charm. Drawing his sword, this hus- \nband's brother's son ran on the pannel (the accused) to \nkill her, but was witch-disabled, and only struck the \nlintel of the door instead ; so he went home and died. \n\n\n\nLADY LEE'S PENNT. 69 \n\nand Isobel Young was the cause of his death by the \ncantrip wrought in the locomotiYe firlott and the \npoppling grain. Forbye all this, she was seen riding on \n\" ane mare \" \u2014 ^at least her apparition was seen so riding \n\u2014 and by her sorcery and devilish handling the mare \nwas made to cast its foal, and since died. So Isobel \nYoung was of no more value to the world or its in- \nheritors, and died by the cord and the faggot, decently, \nas a convicted witch should. And Margaret Maxwell \nand her daughter Jane were haled before the Lords of \nSecret Council for having procured the death of Edward \nThomson, Jane's husband, \" by the devilish and detes- \ntable practice of witchcraft ;\" and Janet Boyd was tried \nfor \"the foul and detestable crime\" of receiving the \ndevil's mark, besides being otherwise dishonestly inti- \nmate with him; but this was in 1628, and we are now \nin 1629 : and then the Lords of the Privy Council pub- \nlished a thundering edict, forbidding all persons to have \nrecourse to holy words, or to make pilgrimages to \nchapels, and requiring of its Commissioners to make \ndiligent search in all parts for persons guilty of this \nsuperstitious practice, and to have up and put in ward \nall such as were known to be specially devoted thereto. \nThe meaning of the decree was to plague the Catholics, \nand Hibbert quotes part of this \" Commission against \nJesuits, Priests, or Communicants and Papists, going in \npilgrimage.\" But whatever the political significance of \nthe edict, the social efifect was to make the search after \nthe White Witches, or Black, hotter and more bitter \nthan ever. \n\n\n\nTto THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\n\n\nELSPETH CURSETTER AND HER FRIENDS.* \n\nElspeth Cursetter was tried, May 29 (still in 1629), \nfor all sorts of bad actions. She bade one of her \nyictims \" get the bones of ane tequhyt (linnet), and \ncarry thame in your claithes \" ; and she gave herself out \nas knowing evil, and able to do it too, when and to \nwhomsoever she would ; and she sat down before ^the \nhouse of a man who refiised her admittance \u2014 for she \nwas an ill-famed old witch, and every one dreaded her \n\u2014 ^saying, \" HI might they all thrive, and ill may they \nspeed,\" whereby in fourteen days' time the man's horse \nfell just where she had sat, and was killed most lament- \nably. But she cured a neighbour's cow by drawing \na C(^ of water out of the bum that ran before Wil- \nliam Anderson s door, coming back and taking three \nstraws \u2014 one for William Anderson's wife, and one for \nWilliam Coitts' wife, and one for William Bichen's wife \n\u2014 which she threw into the pail with the water, then \nput the same on the cow's back ; by which charm the \nthree straws danced in the water, and the water bubbled \nas if it had been boiling. Then Elspeth took a little \nquantity of this chaimed water, and thrust her arm up \nto the elbow into the cow's throat, and on the instant the \ncow rose up as well as she had ever been ; but WiUiam \nAnderson's ox, which was on the hill, dropped down \ndead. Likewise she worked \\mholy cantrips for a sick \nfriend with a paddock (toad), in the mouth of a pail \nof water, which toad was too large to get down the \nmouth, and when it was cast forth another man sick- \nened and died immediately : and she spake dangerous \nwords to a child, saying, \" Wally fall that quhyt head of \n\n\u2666 DalyeU. \n\n\n\nELSPETH CUBSETTER AND HER FRIENDS. tl \n\nthine, but the pox will tak the away frae thy mother.\" \nAs it proved, for the little white head was laid low a \nshort time after, when the small-pox raged through the \nland. \"Thow can tell eneugh yf thow lyke,\" said the \nmother to her afterwards, \"that could tell that my \nbaime wold die so long befoir the tyme.'' **I can tell \neneugh if I durst,\" replied Elspeth, over proud for her \nsafety. But in spite of all this testimony, Elspeth got \noff with \" arbitrary punishment,\" which did not include \nburning or strangling, so was luckier than her neigh- \nbours. Luckier than poor Jonet Eendall was, who, on \nthe 11th of November (1629), was proved a witch by the \nbleeding of the corpse of the poor wretch whom she \nhad \"enchanted\" to his death. For \"as soon as she \ncame in the corpse having lain a good space, and not \nhaving bled any, immediately bled much blood, as a \nsure token that she was the author of his death.\" And \nhad she not said, too, when a certain man refused her \na Christmas lodging, \" that it wald be weill if the gude \nman of that hous sould make ane other yule banket \" \n(Christmas banquet) ; by which curse had he not died \nin fifteen days after? Wherefore was she a proved \nmurderess as well as witch, and received the doom \nappointed to both alike. Alexander Drummond was a \nwarlock who cured all kinds of horrid diseases, the very \nnames of which are enough to make one ill; and he \nhad a familiar, which had attended him for \" neir this \nfifty yeiris :\" so he was convicted and burnt. \n\nThen came Jonet Forsyth, great in her art. She could \ncast sickness on any one at sea, and cure him again by \na salt-water bath ; she could transfer any disease fix)m \nman to beast, so that when the beast died and was \nopened, nothing could be found where its heart^should \nhave been but \"a blob of water j\" she knew how to \n\n\n\n72 . T5E WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\ncharm and sain all kinds of cattle by taking three \ndrops of a beastie's blood on All HaUow E'en, and \nsprinkling the same in the fire within the innermost \nchamber ; she went at seed time and bewitched a stack \nof barley belonging to Michael Beid, so that for many \nyears he conld never make it into wholesome malt; \nand this she did for the gain of Bobert Beid, changing \nthe \" profit '* of the grain backwards and forwards be- \ntween the two, according as they challenged or dis- \npleased her. All this did Jonet Forsyth of Birsay, to \nthe terror of her neighbours and the ultimate ruin of \nherself, both in soul and body. Then came Catherine \nOswald,* spouse to Bobert Aitcheson, in Niddrie, who \nwas brought to trial for being \" habite and repute \" a \nwitch \u2014 defamed by Elizabeth Toppock herself a witch \nand, as is so often the case, a dear friend of Katie's. Eli- \nzal^th need not have been so eager to get rid of her dear \nfriend and gossip, for she was burnt afterwards for the \nsame crimes as those for which poor Catherine suffered \nthe halter and the stake. It seems that Katie was bad for \nher enemies. She was offended at Adam Fairbaim and \nhis wife, so she made their *' twa kye run mad and \nranunish to died,\" and also made a gentleman's bairn \nthat they had a-fostering run wood (mad) and die. And \nshe fired William Heriofs kUn, full of grain ; and burnt \nall his goodsx before his eyes; and made his wife, in a \n'^frantick humour,\" drown herself; and she cursed John \nClark's ground, so that for four years after \"by hir \nsorceries, naether kaill, lint, hempe, nor any other \ngraiae \" would grow thereon, though doubly \" laboured \nand sowen.\" She bewitched Thomas Scott by telling \nhim that he looked as well as when Bessie Dobie was \nliving, whereby he inmiediately fell so deadly sick that \n* Laiw*B ' Memorials,* (Shaipe's Introduction,) and DaljeU. \n\n\n\nSANDIE AND THE DEVIL. 73 \n\nhe could not proceed further, but was carried on a horse \nto Newbiggin, where he lay until the morrow, when \" a \nwife \" came in and told him he was forespoken. And \nother things as mischieyous \u2014 ^and as true\u2014 did Catherine \nOswald, as the Eecord testifies. She was well defended, \nand might have got off, but that a witness deposed to \nhaying seen Mr. John Aird the minister, and a most \nzealous witch-finder, prick ber in the shoulder witb a \nprin, and that no blood followed thereafter, nor did she \nshrink as with pain or feeling. And as there was no \ngainsaying the eyidence of the witch-mark, Satan and \nMr. John Aird claimed their own. Was Catherine's \nbrand like a \" blew spot, or a little tate, or reid spots, \nlike flea-biting?\" or with ''the flesh sunk in and \nhallow?\" according to the description of such places, \npublished by Mr. John Bell, minister of the gospel in \nGladsmuir. We are seldom told of what precise cha- \nracter the marks were, only that they were found, \nprioked, and tested/ and the witch hung or burnt on \ntheir testimony. \n\n\n\nSANDIE AND THE DEVIL.* \n\nSoon after Catherine Oswald's execution, one of her \nGrew or coyin, who had been with her on the great \nstorm in ^'the borrowing days (in anno 1625), on the \nBiae of the Saltpans,\" a noted warlock, by name Alex- \nander Hunter, or Hamilton, aliai Hatteraick, which last \nname he had gotten from the deyil, was brought to \nexecution on the Castle Hill. It was in 1629 that \nhe was taken. It was proyed that on Kingston hills \nhe had met with the deyil as a black man, or, as Sin- \n\n^ Ohambers, Sinolalr, DalyeU. \n\n\n\n74 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nclair says, as a mediciner; and often afterwards he \nwould meet him riding on a black horse, or he woidd \nappear as a corbie, cat, or dog. When Alexander \nwanted him he would beat the ground with a fir stick \nlustily, crying, \"Eise up, foul thief!\" for the master \ngot but hard names at times from his servants. This \nfir stick, and four shillings sterling, the devil gave to \nhim when the compact was first made between them ;: \nand he confessed, moreover, that when raised in this \nmanner he could only be got rid of by sacrificing to \nhim a cat or dog, or such like, \" quick.\" Also he set \non fire Provost Cockbum's mill of com, by taking three \nstalks from his stacks, and burning them on Garleton \nHills ; and he owned to a deadly hatred against Lady \nOrmiston, because she once refused him \" ane almous,\" \nand called him \"ane custroune carle.\" So, to punish \nher, he and some witches raised the devil in Salton \nWood, where he appeared like a man in gray clothes, \nand gave him the bottom of a blue clew, telling him to \nlay it at the lady's door : \" which he and the women \nhaving done, *the lady and her daughter were soon \nthereafter bereft of their naturall lyfe.' \" But Sinclair's \naccount is the, most graphic. I will give it in his own \nwords : \u2014 \n\n\" Anent Hattaraick, an old Warlock. \n\n\" This man's name was Sandie Hunter, who called \nhimself Sandie Hamilton, and it seems so called \nHattaraik by the devil, and so by others as a Nickname. \nHe was first a Neatherd in East Lothian, to a gentle- \nman there. He wms much given to charming and \ncureing of men and Beasts, by words and spels. His \ncharms sometimes succeeded and sometimes not. On a \nday, herding his kine upon a Hill side in the summer \ntime, the Devil c^me to him in form of a Mediciner, and \n\n\n\nSANDIE AND THE DEVIL. 7S \n\nsaid, * Sandie, you have too long followed my trade, \nand never acknowledged me for your master. You \nmust now take on with me, and I will make you more \nperfect in your calling. Whereupon the man gave up \nhimself to the devil, and received his Mark with this \nnew name. After this he grew very famous throw \nthe countrey for his charming and cureing of diseases in \nmen and beasts, and turned a vagrant fellow like a \nJockie, gaining Meat, Flesh, and Money by his Charms,^ \nsuch was the ignorance of many at that time. \n, ** Whatever House he came to, none durst refuse Hat- \ntaraik an alms, rather for his ill than his good. One \nday he came to the yait of Samuelstown, when some \nFriends after dinner were going to Horse. A young Gen- \ntleman, Brother to the Lady, seeing him, switcht him \nabout the ears, saying, * You Warlok Cairle, what have \nyou to do here? whereupon the Fellow goes away \ngrumbling, and was overheard to say, * You shall dear \nbuy this, ere it be long.' This was Damnum Minatum. \nThe young Gentleman conveyed his Friends a far way \noff, and came home that way again, where he slept. \nAfter supper, taking his horse and crossing Tine-water \nto go home, he rides throw a shadowy piece of a Haugh, \ncommonly called the Allers, and the evening being \nsomewhat dark he met with some Persons there that \nbegat a dreadful consternation in him, which for the \nmost part he would never reveal. This was malum \nsecutum. When he came home, the Servants observed \nterror and fear in his countenance. The next day he \nbecame distracted, and was bound for several days. \nHis sister, the Lady Samuelstoun, hearing of it, was \nheard to say, * Surely that knave Hattaraik is the cause \nof his Trouble. CaU for him in all haste.' When he \nliad come to her, * Sandie,' says she, * what is this \n\n\n\n76 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nyou have done to my brother William?' * I told him/ \nsayB he, * I should make him repent his striking of \nme at the Yait lately/ She gave ^e Bogue fiur words, \nand promising him his Pock Ml of Meal with Beef and \nCheese, persuaded the Fellow to cure him again. He \nundertook the business ; ^ but I must first,' says he, \n^ haye one of his Sarks,' which was soon gotten. What \npranks he plaid with it cannot be known. But within \na short while the gentleman recoyered his health. \nWhen Hatteraik came to receive his wadges, he told \nthe Lady, * Your Brother WiUiam shal quickly goe off \nthe Countrey but shall never return.' She, knowing the \nFellow's prophecies to hold true, caused her Brother to \nmake a Disposition to her of all his patrimony, to the \ndefrauding of his younger brother George. After that \nthis Warlock had abused the Countrey for a long time, \nhe was at last apprehended at Dunbar, and brought \ninto Edinburgh, and burnt upon the Castle Hill.\" But \nnot imtil he had delated several others of hitherto \ngood repute, so that for the next few months the witch- \nfinder's hands were fulL \n\n\n\nTHE MTOWIFE'S DOUBLE SIN. \n\nNotably was arrested about this time, Alie Nisbet, \nmidwife ; and three others. Alie was accused of witch- \ncraft ; and of a softer, but as heinous a crime as witch- \ncraft. This she confessed to ; but the breaking of the \nseventh commandment in Christian Scotland, in the \nyear 1632, was a &r more dangerous thing than we can \nimagine possible in our laser day ; and Alie was on the \nhorns of a dilemma, either of which could land her in \nruin, death, and perdition. She was accused, among \n\n\n\nKATHERINE GRIEVE AND JOHN SINCLAIR. 77 \n\nother things, of haying taken her labour pains from off \na certain woman, using \" charmes and horrible words, \namongs which thir ware some, tJie bones to the fire and \nthe sctttt to the devill ;\" but this AUe denied, strenuously, \nthough she admitted that she might have bathed the \nwoman's legs in warm water, which she had bewitched \nfor good, by putting her fingers into it and running \nthrice roimd the bed, widershins ; but the spoken cheurm \nas given she would have none of. The labour pains, \nhowever, left the woman, and were foully and unnatu- \nrally cast upon another who had no concern therewith, \n80 that she died in four-and-twenty hours from that time, \nand Alie was the murderess by aU the laws of sorcery. \nShe was accused, also, of having poured some enchanted \nwater on a threshold over which a servant girl, against \nwhom she had a spite, must pass, and the servant girl \ndied therefrom. Alie was wirriet and burnt and troubled \nthe world no more. \n\n\n\nKATHERINE GRIEVE AND JOHN SINCLAIR * \n\nEatherine Grieve, too (1683), was brought to judg- \nment and sentenced to be ^' taken to the mercat crose \nand brunt in the cheick, in example of others,\" with \nthe ftiture prospect, that if she haunted suspected \nplaces, or used charms '^ scho sould be brunt in asches \nto the dead without dome or law, and that willinglie, of \nhir owne consent.\" For Katherine's curses had wronged \nboth man and beast, which evil thing she had brought \nto pass by the power of the devil her master. However, \nshe was forced to undo her evil, and by laying on of \nhands cure the sore she had made : so she got off with \n\n* BalyeU^B ' Darker SnperstitioiuL' \n\n\n\n78 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nthis smaller pimishment of branding, and a rebuke* \nAnd there was John Sinclair tried that same year; \na cruel villain to others, if loving to his own. For \nunder silence and cloud of night he took his dis* \ntempered sister, sitting backward on the horse, and \ncarried her from where she lay to the Kirk of Hoy, \nThen a voice came to him, saying \" Seven is too many, \nbut four might do ;\" and in the morning a boat with \nfive men in it struck on the rocks, and four perished, \nbut one was saved; by which fiendish and unholy \nsacrifice John Sinclair's sister was cured. He was \nproved to be their murderer, for when the dead men \nwere found, and he was \" forcit to lay his handis vpoun \nthame, they guishit out with bluid and watter at the \nmouth and noise.\" John Sinclair's thread of life needed \nno more waxing to make it run smoothly and easily. \nThe hangman knew where the knot lay ; and cut it to \nthe perfect satisfaction of all the country. \n\n\n\nBESSIE BATHGATE'S NIPS.* \n\nA year after this Bessie Bathgate, spouse to Alex- \nander Bae, fell into trouble and the hands of the police. \nGeorge Sprot, wobster, had some cloth of Bessie's, \nwhich he kept too long for her thinking. She went and \ntook it violently away, and nipped his child in the \nthigh till it skirled, \" and of which nip it never con- \nvalesced, but dwamed thereof and died by hir sorcerie.\" \nAlso, said Sprot's wife, giving her child an egg that \ncame out of Bessie's house there struck out a lump as \nbig as a goose egg upon the child, which continued on \nher till her death, which was occasioned by nothing \n\n* Pitcaim. Law's \u2022 Memorials.* Chambers. \n\n\n\nBESSIE BATHGATE'S NIPS. 79 \n\nelse than this \" enchanted egg.\" Furthermore she \nthreatened Sprot that \" he should never get his \nSunday's meat to the fore by his work ;\" and he forth- \nwith fell into extreme poverty, by which her words \ncame true. To WiUiam Donaldson she said \u2014 he out- \nrunning her as she chased him to beat him for calling \nher a witch \u2014 \" Weill, sir, the devill be in your feit,\" \nand he fell lame and impotent straightways, and so \ncontinued ever siQce. Other things of the same kind \ndid she, bewitching Margaret Home's cow that it died, \n** and that night it died there was women seen dancing \non the rigging of the byre ;\" also she was seen by \" two \nyoung men at 12 howers at even (when all persons are \nin their beds) standing barelegged and in hir sark \nvalicot, at the back of hir yard, conferring with the \ndevill, who was in gray cloaths;\" which, with other \nofiFences of the same nature, were, we should have \nthought, heavy enough to have lost a world. But \nElizabeth Bathgate, spouse to Alexander Eae, was \nacquitted ; though how the verdict came about no one \ncan possibly understand. \n\nIt was not that any fit of mercy or humanity had \ncome ovter the people. More than twenty poor wretches \nsuffered about this time. Sir George Home of Man- \nderston, being one of the chief of the prosecutors : for \n, Sir George and his wife did not live very lovingly \ntogether, and she was given to witches and warlocks \u2014 \nor they said she was \u2014 ^to see if she could not get rid of \nhim by enchantments and sorceries : so Sir George had \na pleasant mixture of spite and self-defence in his \nonslaught, and the whole country-side was in a stir. \nAbout this time too, John Balfour, of Corhouse, took on \nhimself the oflSce of witch-finder and pricker by thrust- \ning *' preens\" into the marks; but he was not accepted \n\n\n\n80 THE WnCHES OF SOOTLAKB. \n\nquite blindl j, and measures were taken for examining \nhis pretensions to this special branch of knowledga \nIn general tiie pricker was the master of the situation, \nand brought all the rest to his feet \n\n\n\nBESSIE SKEBKTER.* \n\nAll the honest men of the isle knew Bessie Ske- \nbister. She was the shrewdest witch in the whole \ncountry, and it was a usual thing with them when they \nthought their boats in danger to send to her to know \nthe truth ; and, ^' Giff Bessie say it is weill, it is weill*' \nwas a common proverb in the Orkney Islands. She \ndid other things besides foreknowing the &il of storms, \nfor she took James Sandieson when in a strange dis- \ntemper and tormented him greatly. '^ In his sleip, and \noftymes waking,\" says the dittay, \" he was tormented \nwith yow, Bessie, and vther two with yow, quhom he \nknew not, cairying him to the sea, and to the fyre, to \nNorroway, Yetland, and to the south \u2014 ^that ye had \nridden aJl this wayes, with ane brydle in his mouth.\" \nMoreover, Bessie was a \" dreamer of dreams,\" as well \nas a rider of sick men's souls ; so she was strangled and \nburnt. \n\n\n\nTHE TRIAL OF SPIRITS.f \n\nThe trial of Katherine Craigie (1640), had a certain \ndash of poetry and romance in it, not often found in \nthese woeful stories. Friend Bobbie \u2014 ^now friend, now \nfoe \u2014 ^lay a-dying, and Katherine must needs go see him \n\n\u2022 DalyelL f Ohambere. \n\n\n\nTHE TRIAL OF SPIRITS. 81 \n\nwith the rest. The wild waves were beating round that \nragged Orkney Isle, when Katherine went over the \nheather to Bobbie's house. \" What now, Bobbie ! ye \nare going to die I'* she said. . \" I grant that I prayed iU \nfor yow, and now I see that prayer hath taken effect. \nJonet,\" quoth she, turning to the wife, \" if I durst trust \nin yow, I sould knaw quhat lyeth on your guidman and \nholdis him downe. I sould tell whether it wa\u00a3i ane hill \nspirit, ane kirk spirit, or ane water spirit that so troubles \nhim.\" Jonet was too anxious not to promise secrecy or \nhelp, or anything else that Katherine wished ; so the \nnext morning, before daylight, Katherine brought three \nstones to Bobbie's house, and put them into the fire, \nwhere they remained until after sunset. While the night \nwas passing, they were taken from the fire, and put \nunder the threshold of the door, then, in the early \nmorning, thrown, one after the other, into a pail of \nwater, where Jonet heard one of them \"chirle and \nchirme.\" Upon which Katherine said that it was d \nkirk spirit t^iat troubled the guidman Bobbie, and he \nmust be washed with the water in which the stones had \n\"chirled and chirmed.\" This ceremony was repeated \nthrice, and at the third time Katherine herself washed \nBobbie, on whom this unusual cleansing had most \npowerful and beneficial effects. When one thinks of \nthe normal state of filth in which these honest people \nlived, it is not surprising if any form of ablution proved \nof a most supernatural benefit. But Katherine Craigie \ngot into the trouble from which there was no escape ; \nand Mend Bobbie went back to his dirt, persuaded of \nthe Satanic agency of a bath. \n\nQuite as full of poetic feeling was James Knarstoun's \nmanner of charming with stones, when he took one \nstone for the ebb, another for the hill, and the third for \n\nG \n\n\n\n82 THE WrrCHES OF SCOTLAKD. \n\nthe kirkyard, ligtening carefully as to what stone \nshould make the ** bullering \" noise that would betray \nthe tormenting spirit, and enable the magician to send \nhim home again : a process through which Eatherine \nCarey went (1617) when she found that her patient was \ntroubled willi the spirit of the sea, which would not let \nhim bide in peace and quiet. Such touches as these \nredeem the subject from the sad monotony of sorrow \nand death which else pervades it from end to end, \u20actnd \nlift it from the domain of the devil into the brighter and \nlovelier world of the Spirits of Nature. \n\n\n\nSIXTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE. \n\nIn 1643 there was a fierce onslaught against the \npoor persecuted servants of the devil. Thirty women \nsuffered at once in Fife alone ; and the more zealous of \nthe ministers hounded on the people to terrible cruel- \nties. There was one John Brugh,* \"a notorious war^ \nlock in the parachin of Fossoquhy, by the space of 36 \nyearis,\" who was wirreit at a stake and burnt; and \nJanet Barker and Margaret Lauder, \"indwellers and \nservands in Edinburgh,\" who came to confession boldly, \nand showed that they had read the story of Europa to \nsome purpose, though to a great deal of confusion. \nThey accused Janet Cranstoun of seducing them, by \npromising them that if they gave themselves over to \nher and the devil, they should be \" as trimlie clad as \nthe best servands in Edinburgh.\" Coupled with the fact \nthat they had witch-marks, their confession was accepted \nas undeniable, and their fate inevitably sealed. \n* Chambers. \n\n\n\nSIXTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTT-THREE. 83 \n\nAnd there was Marion Gmnlaquoy^* in Birsay, who \nbewitched Dayid Cumlaquoy's com seed^ and made it \nrun ont too soon. She had been verj anxious to know \nwhen David would sow, and when she was told, she \nwent and stood '^ just to his face \" all the time he was \ncasting, and that year his seed failed him, so that \nhe could only sow a third of his land ; though he had \nas much grain as heretofore, and it had never run \nout too soon all the years he had farmed that land. \nAnd she went to Bobert Garstairs' house by sunrise one \nday, bringing milk to his good mother, though not used \nto show such attention ; and as she left she turned her- \nself three several times \" withershins \" about the fire, \nand that year Eobert Garstairs* \"bear (barley) was \nblew and rottin,'' and his oats gave no proper meal, but \nmade all who ate thereof heart-sick, albeit both bear \nand oats were good and fresh when he put them in \nthe yard. And if all this was not proof against Marion \nCumlaquoy, what would the Orkney courts hold as \nproof? As the past, so the present ; and Marion Gum- \nlaquoy must learn in prison and at the stake the evils \nthat honest folk found in her power of \" enchanting \" \ncom and crops. There were many others in this same \nyear, to catalogue whom would become at least weari- \nsome and monotonous : they must be passed by unmen- \ntioned, and left to the silence and oblivion which is the \nprivilege of the unfortunate dead. \n\nBut among the victims was one Agnes Finnie,t a \nbitter-tongued, evil-tempered old hag, who had a curse \nand a threat for every one who offended her; who \nkilled young Fairlie with a tendble disorder, because \nhe called her \" Winnie Annie ;\" and laid so fiightfctl \n\n* DalyeU. \n\nt Ohamben and Law ; Shaipe's Introducticm. \n\n\n\n84 THE WITCHES OF 800TLAKD. \n\na disease on Beatrix Nisbet, for some other trifling \noffence, that she lost the use of her tongae; who \nmade a '^ grit jist \" (great joist) fall down on the leg of \nEuphame Kincaid's daughter, because Euphame called \nher a witch on being called by her a drunkard ; and \nappeared to John Cockbum in the night \u2014 the doors \nand windows being fast closed \u2014 ^terrifying him by her \nhideous old apparition in his sleep, because he had dis- \nagreed with her daughter ; and who did all other wicked \nand uncanny things, like a raving, unprincipled, old hag \nas she was. She even forespoke Alexander Johnstone's \nbairne, so that it was eleren years old before it could \nwalk, and all because she was not made godmother, or \n''had not gotten its name;\" and she made Margaret \nWilliamson sick and blind, by saying most outrageously, \n\"The devill blaw the blindel\" And she was a bad \nmother and evil exemplar to her daughter, bringing her \nup to be as vile as herself, at least in the way of \nquarrelling and fighting with her neighbours, and then \nbacking her with an unfair amount of her own super- \nnatural powers. Thus, one day, Margaret Eobinson, the \ndaughter in question, was using high words with Mawse \nGourlay, spouse of Andrew Wilson, and Mawse, in a \nrage, called her \" ane witche's get,\" which was about \nthe worst thing that could be said in those days between \na couple of scolds. \" Gif I be ane witche's get,\" cried \nMargaret, in extremest fiiry, \" the devill ryve the sauU \nout of ye befoir I come again 1\" After which cruel and \ndevilish imprecation, helped on by Winnie Annie's \nhorrible art used at Margaret's instigation, Andrew \nWilson became ''frenatik\" and stark mad: his eyes \nstarting out of his head in the most terrible and fright- \nful manner as he went about, ever pronouncing these \nwords as his ordinary and continual speech \u2014 ^the per- \n\n\n\nSIXTEEN HUNDBBD AND FOKTY-THREB. 86 \n\npetual raving of his madness \u2014 \" The devill ryve the saull \nout o' mel\" For all which crimes \u2014 though she was \nably defended \u2014 ^though, when her house wds searched, \n\"there was neither picture, toad, nor any such thing \nfound therein, which ever any witch in llie world was \nused to practize,\" \u2014 yet the evidence was held to be too \nstrong, and Winnie Annie Finnic was ordained to be \n\" brunt to the deid,\" and her ashes cast out to the winds \nof heaven. \n\nJanet Brown* was another of those who got into hot \nquarters. She confessed that she had charmed James \nHutton and Janet Scott with these words : \u2014 \n\n\" Our Lord forth did raide, \nHis foal's foot slade ; \nOur Lord down lighted. \nHis foal's foot righted ; \n\nSaying flesh to flesh, blood to blood, and stane to stane, \nIn our Lord his name.*' \n\nShe said this was a charm that had been learnt her \nby a nameless man from Strathmiglo; but Margaret \nrisher,f in Weardie, spoke it somewhat differently. \nShe had for her spell : \u2014 \n\n*' Our Lord to hunting red. \nHis sool-soot sled, \nDown he lighted. \nHis sool-soot righted ; \nBlod to blod, \nShinew to shinew. \nTo the other sent in God's name, \nIn the name of the Father, Sone, and Holy Ghost.\" \n\nEither version was equally efficacious as a cure to the \nsick and a curse to the whole ; and equally det^dly as a \ncrime in those who used it. And there was Margaret \n\n* Hibbert's * Description of the Shetland Islands.' \nt Dalyell. Evidently the same thing with a different reading : \u2014 red, \nxode ; tooUtooU stirrup ; sled, slipped ; Ainew, sinew. \n\n\n\n86 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nToting, \" ane honest young woman of good reputation, \nwithout any scandal or blot,\" who lay miserably in \nprison for ten weeks, without trial or release ; but she \ngot off at last on her husband's becoming her surety. \nAnd Jonet Thomeson, who bewitched Andrew Burwick's \ncom, so that when carried to the mill it leapt up into \nhis wife's face like mites, and as it were \"nipped \" her \nface until it swelled ; and when it was made into \" meat,\" \nneither he nor his wife could abide the smell of it ; and \nwhen they did manage to eat it, it tasted like pins (\" went \nowre lyke prinsis\"), and could not be quenched for \nthirst : and the dogs would not eat of it, and the neigh- \nbours would not buy it ; so poor Andrew Burwick's gear \nwas destroyed, and his means most sorely diminished. \nFor all which deadly sorcery and malice Jonet Thome- \nson, alias Greibok, was made to smart severely. \n\nMarion Peebles* came to an untimely end, not un- \nreasonably, according to the witch-haters. She was \" a \nwicked, deyihsh, fearful, and abominable curser,\" and \nthe world could not be too soon rid of her ; for had she \nnot changed herself into the likeness of an unchristian \nbeast, a mere shapeless monster, a huge and ugly \n\" pellack-quhaill \" (porpoise), and in this form wrecked \nthe boat of Edward Halcro, to whom she and her \nhusband had \" ane deadlie and yeneficial malice ?\" \nHalcro and four other men were in the boat, and public \nsuspicion pointed at once to Marion, and affirmed this \nwreck to be caused by her wicked deed. So when two \nof the dead bodies were brought to land, she and her \nhusband had to undergo the bahr-recht \u2014 the ordeal by \ntouch o^ the dead \u2014 ^to prove themselves innocent or \nguilty. When they came where they lay the \"said \numquhile Edward bled at the coUar-bane or craig-bane ;\" \n* Hibbert, &o. \n\n\n\nSINCLAIR'S STORIES. 87 \n\nthe other in the hand and fingers, ^^ gashing out bluid \nthairat, to the great admiration of the beholders, and \njudgment of the Ahnytie.\" Many and heavy were \nMarion's misdeeds* She cursed Janet Eobioson, and \n\" accordingly showers of pains and fits fell upon the \nvictim.\" She looked upon a cow, and it ** crappit to- \ngidder till no lyfe was leukit for her.\" She took away \nthe profit of Edward Halcro's brewing, and destroyed \nthe milk of Andrew Erasmussons kye for thirteen days. \nIndeed, her character was so well known that when \nSwene, her husband, was working in a peat moss where a \nsickly fellow was one of the gang, his fellows would ask \nhim seriously \" if he could not make his wife go to her \npobe (foster-father) the devil, and bid him loose a knot, \nso that the man might get back his health?\" Once \nshe cast a sickness on a woman, then took it &om her \nand flung it on a calf^ which went mad and died; \nand she crippled a man, theu cured him under com- \npulsion, by putting her fingers first to his leg and then \nto the ground, which she did twice, muttering to hei> \nself; but the report of this getting about, she was angry \nand banned the man once more, yet once more was \nforced to cure him ; \u2014 ^this time by means of a bannock \nprepared with her own hands, whereby she cast his \nmalady on a cow. Poor cowey died of her strange \nsickness, and poor Marion died of a worse disease \u2014 \nthe rope and the faggot : and then the neighbourhood \nslept in peace. \n\nSINCLAIR'S STORIES/ \n\nOn a certain day in a certain month, A.D. 1644, a \nwoman went to the house of another woman in Borrow- \n* Sinclair's * Invisible -World Biscoyered/ \n\n\n\n88 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nstonness. She went early^ and instantly fell to mauling \nand pnlling her, crying, \" Thou traitonr thief, thou \nthought to destroy my son this morning, but it was not \nin thy power !\" And then she pulled her mutch from \noff her head, and mauled and maltreated her anew. \nNow the meaning of the row was, t!:at this woman had \na son out at sea, whom she, so cruelly assaulted, had \nsought to destroy by means of a sudden storm raised \nby magic means this very day. The storm was actually \nraised, and many of the crew suffered ; but the son of \nthe woman at Borrowfftonness was washed overboard by \none wave, and washed on board again by another wave, \nwhich so filled all the mariners with amaze that they \ncame ashore. The dispute between the two women \nbecoming noised abroad, and the thing being as the one \nhad said, it was found that they were both in equal \nfault \u2014 ^that the one had done, and the other known, too \nmuch ; wherefore they were burnt as witches, and the \nworld had the satisfaction of hearing them confess \nbefore they died. \n\nAnother woman, *^ about thirty and two, or three and \nthirty years of age, a most beautiful and comely person \nas was in the country about,\" wife to one Goodaile, a \ncooper, in Carrin, was fyled for a witch and put in \nprison. She was the devil's favourite and dear delight ; \nand at their meetings she was the person whom ^' he did \nmost court and embrace, calling her constantly my dear \nmistress, setting her always at his right hand, to the \ngreat discontent of his old haggs, whom, as they now \nconceived, he slighted;*' but her time came at last, \nBjid the law caught hold of her in place of the devil, \nand gave her a yet more stringent embrace. James \nFleming, a sea-captain, and a man of great personal \ncourage and physical strength, was set to watch her^ \n\n\n\nSINCLAIR'S STORIES. 89 \n\nfor ike magistrates feared lest the devil should at- \ntempt her rescue, since he loved her so well ; and to \nhim she said, that if she got no deliverance bygone \no'clock in the morning, she would lay her breast open \nto him and confess freely. James Fleming, a little \nalarmed at this, and not liking to encounter the devil \nsingle-handed, took down fourteen of his ship's company \nwith him, \" not forgetting the reading of Scripture and \nearnest prayer to God.\" Sure enough the foul fiend \ncame : for on a sudden at midnight a tremendous hur- \nricane arose, which unroofed the house where they all \nwere, and threatened to bring the whole place about \ntheir ears, and a voice was heard calling to her by a \nstrange name to come away : ^ at which time she made \nthree several loups upward, increasing gradually till her \nfeet were as high as his breast\" But though James \nFleming^s hair was standing widershins on his head, \nand though his heart failed him for dread and fear, \nand he \"beteached\" himself to God \"with great \namazement,\" yet his musdes continued as serviceable \nas ever, and at last got the .better even of the Prince of \nDarkness. He held this beautiful and comely person \nin his powerful arms, and kept her there, through all \nher struggles to get free; and at last succeeded in \nthrowing her down upon the ground, where for some \ntime she grovelled and foamed like one in the falling \nsickness, and then sank into a deep sleep. When she \nawaked she complained bitterly of the devil, saying how \nthat he had promised to release her and carry her over \nto Ireland, touching at Paisley by the way, where she \nhad a sister living ; but now she saw through all his \ntreachery and perfidiousness, and understood how she \nhad been made his dupe. She was burnt in all peni- \ntence and good conduct, as was also another woman \n\n\n\n90 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nabout the same time, who, patting np her arm to swear \nthat she was not a witch, had it suddenly withered and \nstiffened so that she could not bring it hajck again ; nor \nwas she able to do so, until a minister who was there, \nhad intreated God in her behalf; for the mioister^ \nwere always men of mighty power on such occasions, \nand either made or marred at their pleasure. If they \nchose to accept a case as possession, they prayed and \nexorcised; but if it seemed good to them to call it \nwitchcraft, then the poor wretch's life was doomed, and \nno man might hope to save. It was very seldom they \ncared so much for humanity as to choose the more \nmerciful of the two absurdities. Sometimes, though, \nthe devil was as good as his word, and made at least an \nattempt, if a clumsy one, to release his servants : as when \nhe took Helen Eliot from the steeple of Culross where \nshe was confined, and carried her in his arms through \nthe air. He might have landed her in safety somewhere \n\u2014 ^who knows? \u2014 had she not cried out, \"0 God ! whither \nare you taking me ?\" At which words he let her fall \n^^ at the distance from the steeple of about the breadth \nof the street of Edinburgh, whereby she broke her \nlegs and otherwise seriously injured herself.\" Many \nthousand people flocked to see the dimple which her \nheels had made, and over which no grass would grow \nagain. So at last they built a stone dyke round it, and \nkept the impression safe. \n\nIn 1649 Lady Pittathrow was delated of witchcraft. \nShe was put in prison waiting for her trial ; but one \nmorning she was found dead, having strangled herself, \nor been strangled by the devil \u2014 ^the world might deter- \nmine which according to its pleasure. Shortly after, \nBessie Grahame was apprehended for a few drunken \nwords said against John Bankings wife, who had since \n\n\n\nSINjDLAIR'S STORIES. 91 \n\ndied. During a confinement of thirteen weeks she was \nvisited by the minister, who found her obdurate in con- \nfession, and was much inclined to find her innocent of \ncrime. But Alexander Bogue, a pricker, came to \nexamine her, and discovered the mark, into which he \nthrust a pin, which neither pained nor drew blood. \nStill she was held to be innocent, until one day Mr. \nJames Fergusson, the minister, heard her talking to \nthe devil as soon as she was alone. He knew it was the \ndevil, for his voice was hollow and ghoustie, and the \nservant, Alexander Sympson, was like to have fallen \nback for fear. Still Bessie would never confess any- \nthing beyond general unworthiness and the usual tale \nof vague misdeeds, owning, indeed, to a special horror \nof him, the minister, and how she was not *^ let to love \nhim,\" as indeed was no special miracle ; and' then she \nfell to railing at him bitterly, which was less a miracle \nthan all else* So she was burnt, dying obdurate and \nunconfessed ; and thus another murder reeked up to \nheaven, crying aloud for vengeance, because John \nBankin's Mrife died suddenly, and an intemperate old \nwoman swore in her cups and had a habit of speaking \nto herself. \n\nAgnes Gourlay was accused of charming milk. She \ntold Anna Simpson to throw a small quantity of the \nmilk into the ** grupe \" or sewer of the byre, saying, \n** God betak us to ! May be they are undlfer the earth \nthat have as much need of it as they that are above \nthe earth ! \" After which bread and salt were to be \nput into the cows' ears, and milk would come. Agnes \ngot off by penance and confession : which was more than \nJanet Gouts did, or Archibald Watt, alias \" Sole the \nPaitlet;\" though eleven other poor creatures delated \nescaped their doom, partly because the burgh of \n\n\n\n92 THE WITCHES OP SCXXTLAND. \n\nLanark disliked having so many mouths to feed in \nprison pending their trial. \n\nAt Lauder, in 1649, Hob Grieve was accused of \nwitchcraft Twenty years agone his wife, who had \nbeen burnt for a witch, told Hob that he might get \nrich if he would follow her counsel and go along with \nher. So he went with her to a haugh on Gallow-water, \nto meet, as she said, a gentleman there ; but he saw \nonly a large mastiff dog, ^' which amazed him.\" At \nlast came the devil as a black man, telling him that if \nhe would take suit and service with him he should be \nmade ricL He was to be officer at the meetings, and \nhold the door at the sabbaths. Hob consented, and for \neighteen years held that office ; but it does not seem \nthat the foul fiend kept his part of the condition, for \nHob had enough to do to find salt for his porridge. He \nwas always poor, and remained poor to the end, with \n^ all the kicks and none of the hal^ence ; and for his \neighteen years of servitude got only suspicion and ill- \nwill, without fat or fry to comfort Mm. When taken, \nhe \" delated \" many, who, for the most part, confessed. \nAfter he had filled the prison, so that it could hold no \nmore, he accused another still, a woman of Lauder. The \nmagistrate kept the secret, wishing to wait until some \nof the accused were \" emptied out,\" having nowhere to \nput her ; but the devil, always at mischief, went to her \nin the nighlf time, and told her what Hob Grieve had \nsaid. Next day she arose and came to the prison, \nrailing at Hob, calling him warlock and slave to the \ndevil, and what not She was told to go home, but she \nsat down on the Tolbooth stairs, and said she would \nnever stir until she and that slave of Satan had \nbeen confronted. The bailie himself came to her, and \ntold her to go home ; but that was too mild a proceed- \n\n\n\nSINCLAIK'S STOBIES. 93 \n\ning. \" No,\" she cried, \" I must be set face to face with \nthat rascal who has delated me, an honest woman, for \na witch.\" She was set face to face with him, and she \nfeU down on her bare knees, and cursed him. Says \nshe, \" Thou common thief, how dare thou for thy soul \nsay that ever before this time thou saw me or I saw \nthee, or ever was in thy company, either alone or with \nothers?\" Hob listened to her railings patiently, tiU \ncommanded by the bailie to speak, when says he, \n\" How came she then to know that I had called her a \nwitch ? Surely none but the devil, thy old master and \nmine, has told thee so much.\" \" The devil and thou \nperish together, for he is not my master though he be \nthine. I defy the devil and all his works ! \" said the \nwoman. Then Hob reminded her of the many times and \nplaces where they had met while in the same service ; \nwhereat she cried, \" Now I perceive that the devil is a \nlyar and a murderer from the beginning, for this night \nhe came to me, and told me to come and abuse thee ; \nand never come away till I was confronted with thee, \nand he assured me that thou would deny all and say, \nthou false tongue, thou lyest !\" She then confessed aU \nwith which she was charged, and was executed. \u2022 Hob \nwas a very penitent sinner : being now a mere lunatic, \nhe was easy to manage, and exceeding confidential in \nhis confessions. He said that once in Musselburgh \nwater the devil had tried to drown him when he had a \nheavy creil on his back ; and even since he had been \nin prison he had come to cast him into the fire. But \nthough there was a very crowd \" fylit \" by this poor \nmaniac, he was innocent of the death of a certain \nwoman who was hanged a short time after. The \nmagistrates, glutted to satiety with victims, wanted to \nsave her ; but she would accept no chance offered to \n\n\n\n94 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nher. She had been fyled as a witch, she said, and as \na witch she would die. And had not the devil once, \nwhen she was a young lassie, kissed her, and given her \na new name ? Beason enough why she should die, if \neven nothing worse lay behind. At last the day of her \nexecution came, and she was taken out to be burnt \nwith the rest. On her way to the scaffold she made \nthis lamentable speech : \u2014 \" Now all you that see me \nthis day, know that I am now to die a witch by my \nown confession; and I free all men, especially the \nministers and magistrates, of the guilt of my blood. I \ntake it wholly on myselfl My blood be upon my own \nhead; and as I must make answer to the God of \nheaven presently, I declare I am as free of witchcraft \nas any child ; but being delated by a malicious woman, \nand put in prison under the name of a witch, disowned \nby my husband and friends, and seeing no ground of \nhope of my coming out of prison or ever coming in \ncredit again, through a temptation of the devil, I made \nup that confession on purpose to destroy my own life, \nbeing weary of it, and choosing rather to die than to \nlive.\" How many poor wretches had been like this \nunhappy creature \u2014 disowned by husband and friends, \nseeing no ground of hope of ever coming in credit \nagain, and therefore in despair choosing rather to die \nthan to live ! In this special case even the magistrates, \nusually so passionately determined that all the accused \nshould be found guilty and suffer death, even they \nseem to have sought her release, and to have refused \nthe evidence of her confession as long as they could ; \nbut the times were not suflSciently enlightened for \nthem to refuse it altogether; and so she gained the \nfiery goal whither her anguish and despair impelled her. \n\n\n\n95 \n\n\n\nMANIE HALIBURTON.* \n\n\n\nIn 1649, John Kinnaird, the witch-finder, made de- \nposition that he had \" pricked \" Patrik Watson, of \nWest Fenton, and Manie Haliburton, his spouse, and \nthat he had found the devil's mark on Patrik's back \na little under the point of his left shoulder, and o& \nManie's neck a little above her left shoulder ; of which \nmarks they were not sensible (had no feeling in them), \nneither came there any blood when pricked. So Manie, \nseeing that the scent was hot and the game up, made \nconfession, and saved further trouble. She said that \neighteen years ago, the devil had come to her in like- \nness of a man, calling himself a physician, saying that \nhe had good salves, and specially oylispek (oil of spike \nor spikenard), wherewith he would cure her daughter, \nthen sick. So she bought some of his salves, and gave \nhim two English shillings for her bargain, forbye bread \nand milk and a pint of ale. In eight days' time he \ncame again, and stayed all night ; and the next morn, \ning, Patrik being \" forth \" and Manie yet in bed, she \nbecame more intimately acquainted with the devil than \nan honest woman should. We do not read that Manie \nwas tortured, and, considering that it was not an un- \nusual thing to keep suspected witches twenty-eight \ndays and nights on bread and water, they being stripped \nstark naked, with only a haircloth over them, and laid \non a cold stone, or to put them into hair-shirts steeped \nin vinegar, so that the skin might be pulled from off \nthem, we feel that poor Manie got off pretty well \nwith only cremation as the result of her mad con* \nfessions. \n\n* Pitcaini. \n\n\n\n96 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nBut one of the most extraordinary things of all was \nthat wonderful bit of bnaTory and credulity called \n\n\n\nTHE DEVIL OF GLENLUCE,* \n\nwhen Master Tom Campbell set the whole country in \na flame, and brought no end of notice and sympathy \nupon his house and family. In 1654 one Gilbert \nCampbell was a weaver in Glenluce, a small village \nnot {ai from Newton Stewart. Tom, his eldest son, \nand the most important personage in the drama, was \na student at Glasgow College ; and there was a certain \nold blaspheming beggar, called Andrew Agnew \u2014 \nafterwards hanged at Dumfries for his atheism, having \nsaid, in the hearing of credible witnesses, that \" there \nwas no God but salt, meal, and water\" \u2014 ^who every now \nand then came to Glenluce to ask alms. One day old \nAndrew visited the Campbells as usual, but got nothing ; \nat which he cursed and swore roundly, and forthwith \nsent a devil to haunt the house, for it was soon after \nthis refusal that the stirs began, and the connection \nwas too apparent to be denied. For what could they \nbe but the malice of the devil sent by old Andrew in \nrevenge ? Young Tom Campbell was the worst beset \nof all, the demon perpetually whistling and rioting \nabout him, and playing him all sorts of diabolical \nand malevolent tricks. Once, too, Jennet, the young \ndaughter, going to the well, heard a whistling behind \nher like that produced by \"the small slender glass \nwhistles of children,\" and a voice like the damsel's, \nsaying, ^^ I'll cast thee, Jennet^ into the well ! Til cast \nthee. Jennet, into the well ! \" About the middle of \n\n* Sinclair. \n\n\n\nTHE DEVIL OF GLENLUCE. 97 \n\nNovember, when the days were dark and the nights \nlong, things got very bad. The foul fiend threw stones \nin at the doors and windows, and down the chimney \nhead ; cut the warp and threads of Campbell's loom ; \nslit the family coats and bonnets and hose and shoon \ninto ribbons ; pulled off the bed-clothes from the sleep- \ning children, and left them cold and naked, besides ad- \nministering sounding slaps on those parts of their little \nround rosy persons usually held sacred to the sacrifices \nof the rod ; opened chests and tnmks, and strewed the \ncontents over the floor ; knocked everything about, and \nill-treated bairn and brother ; and, in fact, persecuted \nthe whole family in the most merciless manner. The \nweaver sent his children away, thinking their lives but \nbarely safe, and in their absevice there were no assaults \nwhatever \u2014 b. thing to be specially noted. But on the \nminister's representing to him that he had done a \ngrievous sin in thus withdrawing them from God's \npunishments, they were brought back again in con- \ntrition. Only Tom was left behind, and nothing en- \nsued until Tom appeared ; but unlucky Tom brought \nback the devil with him, and then there was no more \npeace to be had. \n\nOn the Sunday following Master Tom's return, the \nhouse was set on fire \u2014 the devil's doing: but the \nneighbours put the flames out again before much \ndamage had ensued. Monday was spent in prayer; \nbut on Tuesday the place was again set on fire, to be \nagain saved by the neighbours' help. The weaver, in \nmuch trouble, went to the minister, and besought him \nto take .back that unlucky Tom, whom the devil so \ncruelly followed and molested ; which request he, after \na time, \" condescended to,\" though assuring the weaver \nthat he would find himself deceived if he thought that \n\n\n\n93 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nthe devil would quit with the boy. And so it proved ; \nfor Tom, having now indoctrinated some of his juniors \nwith the same amount of mechanics and legerdemain \nas he himself possessed, managed that they should be \nstill sore troubled \u2014 the demon cutting their clothes, \nthrowing peats down the chimney, pulling off turf \nand \" feal \" from the roof and walls, stealing their \ncoats, pricking their poor bodies with pius, and raising \nsuch a clamour that there was no peace or rest to \nbe had. \n\nThe case was becoming serious. Glenluce objected \nto be made the head-quarters of the devil; and the \nministers convened a solemn meeting for fast and humi- \nliation ; the upshot of which was that weaver Campbell \nwas led to take back his unlucky Tom, with the devil \nor without him. For this was the point at issue in the \nbeginning ; the motive of which is not hard to be dis- \ncovered. Whereupon Tom returned ; but as he crossed \nthe threshold he heard a voice \" forbidding him to \nenter that house, or any other place where his father s \ncalling was exercised.\" Was Tom, the Glasgow stu- \ndent, afraid of being made a weaver, consent or none \ndemanded ? In spite of the warning voice he valiantly \nentered, and his persecutions began at onca Of course \nthey did. They were tremendous, unheard of, bar- \nbarous; in jGsict, so bad that he was forced to return \nonce more for a time to the minister's house ; but his \nimitator or disciple left behind carried on business in \nhis absence. On Monday, the 12th day of February, \nthe demon began to speak to the family, who, nothing \nafraid, answered quite cheerily : so they and the devil \nhad long confidential chats together, to the great im- \nprovement of mind and morals. The ministers, hearing \nof this, convened again, and met at weaver Campbeirs, \n\n\n\nTHE DEVIL OF QLENLUCE. 99 \n\nto see what they could do. As soon as they entered, \nSatan began : ^ Quum literatum is good Latin/' quoth \nhe. These were the first words of the Latin rudiments, \nas taught in the grammar-school. Tom's classical know- \nledge was coming into play. \n\nAfter a while he cried out, \" A dog ! a dog ! \" The \nminister, thinking he was alluded to, answered, \" He \nthought it no evil to be reviled of him ;\" to which Satan \nreplied civiUy, \" It was not you, sir, I spoke to : I meant \nthe dog there ;\" for there was a dog standing behiud \n)>acks. They then went to prayer, during which time \nTom\u2014 or the devil \u2014 ^remained reverently silent; his \neducation being not yet carried out to the point of \nscoffing. Immediately after prayer was ended, a \ncounterfeit voice cried out, \" Would you know the \nwitches of Glenluce ? I wiU tell of them,\" naming four \nor five persons of indifferent repute, but one of whom \nwas dead. The weaver told the devil this, thinking tx) \nhave caught him tripping ; but the foul fiend answered \npromptly, \" It is true she is dead long ago, but her \nspirit is living with us in the world.\" \n\nThe minister replied, saying,- \" Though it was not con- \nvenient to speak to such an excommunicated and inter- \ncommuned person, * the Lord rebuke thee, Satan, and \nput thee to silence. We are not to receive information \nfrom thee, whatsoever fame any person goes under. \nThou art seeking but to seduce this family, for Satan's \nkingdom is not divided against itself.'\" After which \nlittle sparring there was prayer again ; so Tom did not \ntake much by this move. \n\nAll the wliile the young Glasgow student was very \nhardly holden, so that there was more prayer on his \nspecial behalf. The devil then said, on their rising, \n'^ Give me a spade and a shovel, and depart from the \n\n\n\n100 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nhouse for seven days, and I will make a grave and lie \ndown in it, and shall trouble you no more.*' \n\nThe good man Campbell answered, \" Not so much as \na straw shall be given thee, through God's assistance, \neven though that would do it. God shall remove thee \nin due time.\" Satan cried out, impudently, \"I shall \nnot remove for you. I have my commission from \nChrist to tarry and vex this family.\" Says the minister, \ncoming to the weaver's assistance, \"A permission thou \nhast, indeed ; but God will stop it in due time.\" Says \nthe demon, respectfully, \"I have, sir, a commission \nwhich perhaps will last longer than yours.'* And the \nminister died in the December of that year, says Sin- \nclair. Furthermore, the demon said he had given Tom \nhis commission to keep. Interrogated, that young \ngentleman replied in an off-hand way, that \"he had \nhad something put into his pocket, but it did not tarry.\" \nThey then began to search about for the foul fiend, and \none gentleman said, \" We think this voice speaks out of \nthe children.\" The foul fiend, very angry at this \u2014 or \nMaster Tom frightened \u2014 cries out, \" You lie ! God shall \njudge you for your lying ; and I and my father will \ncome and fetch you to hell with warlock thieves.\" So \nthe devil discharged (forbade) the gentleman to speak \nanything, saying, \"Let him that hath a commission \nspeak (meaning the minister), for he is the servant of \nGod.\" The minister then had a little religious contro- \nversy with the devil, who answered at last, simply, \" I \nknew not these scriptures till my father taught me \nthem.\" Nothing of all this disturbing the easy faith of \nthe audience, they, through the minister, whom alone \nhe would obey, conjured him to tell them who he was ; \nwhereupon he said that he was an evil spirit come from \nthe bottomless pit of hell, to vex this house, and that \n\n\n\nTHE DEVIL OP GLENLUCE 101 \n\nSatan was his father. And then there appeared a naked \nhand, and an arm from the elbow downward, beating on \nthe floor till the house did shake again, and a loud and \nfearftd crying, \" Come up, father ! come up, father ! I \nwill send my father among ye ! See 1 there he is \nbehind your backs 1\" \n\nSays the minister, \" I saw, indeed, a hand and an \narm, when the stroke was given and heard.\" \n\nSays the devil, \" Saw ye that ? It was not my hand, \nit was my father's; my hand is more black in the \nloof.\" \n\n'* Oh !\" said Gilbert Campbell, in an ecstacy, \" that I \nmight see thee as well as I hear thee !\" \n\n\" Would ye see me ?\" says the foul thief. \" Put out \nthe candle, and I shall come but* the house among you \nlike fire-balls ; I shall let ye see me indeed.\" \n\nAlexander Bailie of Dunraget said to the minister, \n\"Let us go ben,t and see if there is any hand to be \nseen.\" But the demon exclaimed, \" No ! let him (the \nminister) come ben alone : he is a good honest man : his \nsingle word may be believed.\" He then abused Mr. \nEobert Hay, a very honest gentleman, very ill with his \ntongue, calling him witch and warlock: and a little \nwhile after, cried out, \"A witch! a witch! there's a \nwitch sitting upon the ruist! take her away.\" He \nmeant that there was a hen sitting on one of the \nrafters. They then went to prayer again, and, when \nended, the devil cried out, \"If the good man's son's \nprayers at the College of Glasgow did not prevail with \nGrod, my father and I had wrought a mischief here ere \nnow.\" Ah, Master Tom,' did you then know so much of \nprayer and the inclining of the counsels of God ? \n\nAlexander Bailie said, \" Well, I see you acknowledge \n* To the outer room. f To the inner room. \n\n\n\n100 \n\n\n\na.nD. \n\n\n\nhoiis<' [\\ \ndown ii' ' \nTlic '.- \na strau \u25a0 \neven tl\" \nin (liH* ' \nnot r<'\" \nChri.st t \nconn* II\"' \nhast, ii\"' \nthe <1.\". \nwhirl 1 \u00bb\u25a0 \nminis!' \nchiir. I \nhis ('(\"' \ngentlcn-/ \nhad stti: \nThey i \none !:<'\u25a0\u25a0 \nthe el \nMaster \njiul-v \nconic ; \nthe .1. ^ \nanytli- \nspeak \nGod/' \nvers\\ ^ \nknt'\\\\ \nthem/' \nthe ;. \nhe ^^ \nwild \nthe ! \n\n\n\n.^ i.iui, tuid therefore \n. . ^e f vent to him.** \n.^ .la evident Fpite \n\n-.\\ 70a speak of \n\u2022 r :he gentleman \n\n.1 with l\u00bboad Kps) ; \n\n...iier^s which shall \n\nL .Vexander Bailie \n: PC iDg round his \n\n' itf o^ol thief had \n\n_. '* Tom was to be \n\n.ui-4er, and Hu^ a \n\n. ^ .'ummg to Jennet, \n\n^ -Jeanet Campbell, \n\n. ciiybelt?\" \n\n^a thou do with my \n\nUS.CU my loose bones \n\n..(iuic ** busking her \n\n> Alls)* m young girls \n\naiug out her hams,\" \n\n;uietly, \"No, ifGk)d \n\n..-. i* work again. The \n\n.V. vHvnd^ was breaking \n\n. ..'any ^ould have a \n\nMn?i;selWyllie! give \n\n.iive arotten nothing \n\nte\u00bb and gentlemen met for \n\n, \u2022\u00ab Liru it is to be presumed that \n\nyu\u00b1^ :'jr everything was quiet ; but \n\n-^\u00a3ui again, and Tom and the rest \n\n^>ert Campbell made an appeal \n\n. -^ewviers* a committee of whom ap- \n\n. . I * -i humiliation in February, 1656, \n\n. ::ie weaver's house from this afflic- \n\n^^-^v.e whereof from April to August, \n\n'..icciiy quiet, and the family lived \n\n... l>ut after tb*s the mischief broke \n\n.. LVnhaps Tom had come home from \n\n\u25a0 wiior had renewed his talk of settling. \n\nN ,.vvn tmde: whatever the cause, the \n\n.., lie devil had come back to Glenluce. \n\n.;ood-wife was standing by the fire, \n\n.^e lur the children, the demon came \n\nat-c-plate,*' on which was the oat- \n\n.w.ui, aud spilt all the meal. ** Let \n\n...vue i^ain/* says Grissel WyUie, \n\nsouo riving back to her. \" It is \n\n, :ic luoal too she miglit have got \n\nV v.;v.u he is intreated,\" says Sin- \n\n. . \\k\\e been rather beyond even \n\n^civlvmain. Things after this \n\nvii ^<^i\u00bb daily thrashed with \n\nV uc lu th^^ family underwent \n^ . ^u.ul\u00bb ^ -a climax, on the \n\n\n\n. THE DEVIL OP GLENLUCE. 105 \n\neighteenth of September, the demon said he would \nbum the house down, and did, in fact, set it on fire.. \nBut it was put out again, before much damage was \ndone. \n\nAfter a time \u2014 probably by Tom*s going away, or \nbecoming afraid of being found out \u2014 the devil was \nquieted and laid for ever ; and Master Tom employed \nhis intellect and energies in other ways than terrifying \nhis father's family to death, and making stirs which \nwent by the name of demoniac. \n\nThis account is taken almost verbatim from an article \nof mine in \"All the Year Bound;\" and if a larger \nspace has been given to this than to many other stories, \nit is because there was more colouring, and more dis- \ntinctness in the drawing, than in anything else that I \nhave read. Though scarcely belonging to a book on \nwitches, there is yet a hook and eye, if a very slender \none, in the fact that the old beggar, Andrew Agnew, \nwas hanged ; and we may be sure that it was not only \nhis atheism, but also his naughty tricks with Satan, and \nhis connection with the devil of Glenluce, that helped \nto fit the hangman's rope round his neck. There are \nmany other stories of haunted houses, notably, Mr. \nMonpesson's at Tedworth caused by the Demon \nDrummer, and the Woodstock Devil who harried the \nParliamentary Commissioners to within an inch of their \nlives, and others to the full as interesting ; but there is \nno hook and eye with them \u2014 nothing by which they can \nbe hung on to the sad string of witches, or witchcraft \nmurders. Baxter has two or three such stories; and \nthe curious in such matters will find a large amount of \ninteresting matter in the various works referred to at \nthe foot of the pages ; matter which could not be in- \ntroduced here, because of its not belonging strictly to \n\n\n\n106 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nthe subject in hand. I do not think that any candid \nor unprejudiced person will fail in seeing the dark \nshadow of fraud and deceit flung over every such \naccount remaining. The importance of which, to me, is \nthe evident and distinct likeness between these stories \nand the marvels going on now in modem society. \n\n\n\nJONET WATSON AND THE DEVIL IN GREEN. \n\nSteadily went on these appalling judicial crimes. In \nFebruary, 1658, two women and a man were in the \nTolbooth at Edinburgh, imprisoned on the charge of \nwitchcraft. One of the women died in prison, the other, \nJonet Anderson,* confessed that before her mairiage, \nwhich had been only three months ago, she had given \nherself up body and soul to the devil, and that when she \nwas married she had seen him standing by the pulpit. \nShe was kept only so long as was necessary to prove her \nnot pregnant, and then was executed, fully repentant. \nIn August four women, \" ane of them a maiden,\" were \nburnt on the Castle Hill in ghastly company ; and soon \nafter five more from Dunbar ; and then again nine \nfrom Tranent, all confessing. These seemed to have \nstayed the appetite of the magistrates for a time, as we \ncome across no more until 1661, when a painful collec- \ntion of lies, slanders, and confessions again harrow up \nevery feeling, and outrage every reasoning faculty, \nJonet Watson was one of the first to make her con- \nShe said that in April last, bypast or thereby, \n: \u00abt the burial of Lady Dalhousie, a rix dollar \n' ZEwea to Jean Bughane, to be divided among a cer- \nof poor folk, whereof she was one. But \n* Chambera. \n\n\n\nJONET WATSON ANP THE DEVIL IN GREEN. 107 \n\nJean ran away with the money, so poor Jonet got none \nof it : whereat being very grieved and angry, when she \ncame to her own house she wished to be revenged on \nJean, and at the wish aj^eared the devil in the likeness \nof a pretty boy in green clothes, and asked: \"what \nailed her, and what revenge would she have?\" He \nthen gave her his mark and left her under the form of \na black dog, and for three days after she had a gnat \nconstantly with her, and one morning when she was \nchanging her linen it sat down upon her shoulder, \nwhere she had one of her marks. Also about the time \nof last Baal-fyre night (the beginning of May) she was \nat a meeting in Newton- dein, where was the devil \ndressed in green clothes, with a black hat on his head. \nAnd here she denied Christ, and took upon herself to be \nhis servant, he laying his hand on her head, and receiv- \ning from her \" all that was under his hand,\" when he \ngave her the name of \" weill-dancing Jonet,\" and she \nand a few more danced like Tam o' Shanter's hags, and \nprobably tired the devil out. \n\nBeatrice Leslie * was a witch too, and Agnes, wife of \nWilliam Young, gave her some wholesome advice and \nKbnest reproof on the matter, whereby Beatrice was \noffended, and gave her a terrible look ; and that very \nnight William Young awakened out of his sleep all in \nterror and dismay, crying out that Beatrice, with a \nnumber of cats, was devouring him. Beatrice had a cat \nwhich two coal-heaving damsels killed by letting some \ncoals fall on it, afterwards adding to their offence by \nthrowing away her coal-basket. So Beatrice cursed \nthem, and told them \"they should see an ill sight \nbefore eight days were past :\" as it fell out, for accord- \ning to her threatening they were both killed in the \n* Ghambeis, \n\n\n\nI >f TEL Ai -4S> :y ^-;'i ^ AX ^_ \n\n^liurrin. ZAi.mA ai: ihh^ -iiK- ^iek ixn: 4Zii miven she was \n:r.iuni ^i i^fi^ laii \"^.anai lie \u2022?i?cj\u00abs. *ii* one bled at \nzhtt 3\u00ab:ise uii ihtf^ iidit^ *\u00a3 nhn- efcr. tL^s proTing her \nXTLiZ o^yjUii >ib* c^i-esiLlirT *x irciiLL Also die helped \nJtJi*Xiiaiiiar WZjjjii\"* wi^* ci ^tSLLii-Cie*!. l^ cantiipB and \nmiif.xV :iirri:zti!;\u00ab : ieiirkhi^ a hare' knife b^tvixt the bed \nami eh^ stEft-^, \u2022^rinkLbg^ aah abxzt the bed, and 8a3niig9 \n^ L\u00ab>ri^ Lrt nerer aoe worse wiztit wak^i thee, nor hes \nLiifi tiie\u00ab=- drjwne,\" with other Tillanies^ imwhlaw, or bahr-recht, which, in 1661, \nwhen all this took place, was such a useful agent of the \n\n\u2022 Pitcaim and Sinclair. \n\n\n\nTHE LANTHORNE AND THE BAHll-RECHT. 109 \n\npolice, and helped so poweifully to the discovery of \nmurder ? The bailies and ministers heard the rumours \na\u00a3fecting her, and commanded her to be brought into \nthe house to touch the corpse, as the rest had done. \n\" She came trembling all the way to the house, but she \nrefused to come nigh the corpse, or to touch it, saying \nthat *she never touched a dead corpse in her life.'\" \nThe neighbours did not allow of her plea, and dragged \nher to the murdered man, that she might touch it softly. \nShe went forward to do so. \" But before shoe did it, \nthe Sone being shyning in at the howse, shoe exprest \nherselfe thus, humbly desyring that, * as the Lord made \nthe Sone to shine and give light into that howse, that \nalso he would give light to discovering of that murder !* \nAnd with these words shoe tuitching the wound of the \ndead man verie softlie, it being whyte and cleane, with- \nout any spot of blood or the lyke, yet immediately, \nwhile her fingers was upon it, the blood rushed owt of \nit, to the greate admiratioune of all the behoulders, who \ntooke it for discoverie of the murder according to her \nown prayers.\" Another chaise, no less grave than that \nof murder, was, that William Bichardson, having felled \none of her hens with a stone, she frowned on him threat- \neningly, and said he should never throw another stone. \nAnd he never did ; for immediately he, fell into ane \n'^ franicie \" and madness, took to his bed, and died in a \nfew days, all the time of his sickness crying out against \nCristiane Wilson, who, he said, was tormenting him in \nthe likeness of a grey cat. After his death his nephew \nteased the witch by calling her \"The Lanthorne,\" \nwhich every one knew to be her devil-name ; but Oris- \ntiane threatened him, and said that \"if he did not hold \nhis peace she would make him die by the same death as \nhis uncie,\" which was proof sufficient of the truth of the \n\n\n\nno THE WITCHES OF SC0TLA2!ID. \n\ngrey cat and her guilty sorcery. This was the same \nCristiane Wilson who, when she was being carried oflf \nto Nidrie, there to be confronted with another witch, \nwas suddenly lifted off the pillion by a ftirious blast of \nwind, which she got the devil to raise in the hope of \nher rescue. But though she was blown into the stream, \nshe swam lightly as a witch should and as only a witch \ncould, and her jailers fished her out again, to secure her \nbetter for the future. As the sky was cloudless when \nthe blast arose, and as no storm followed after, there was \nno possibility of doubting the Satanic origin of that \nmighty puff of wind. Besides, did not Jennot Cock, \nanother confessing witch, say to John Stevin, when he \ntold her that Cristiane was to be carried to Nidrie to- \nmorrow, \" Will not yow think it a sport, if the deivill \nraise a whirrell of wind, and tak her away irom among \nyow by the gette (way) to-morrow?\" This and that \ntogether made the thing certain ; and the fall of the \npoor wretcdi was included in the dittay as one of the \ncounts against her, proving her witchcraft. \n\nWitch-finding now increased rapidly in Scotland. \nNo fewer than fourteen special commissions were issued \nfor the sole purpose of trying witches for the sederunt \nof November the 7th, 1661 ; and on the 23rd of January, \n1662, fourteeA more were made out. It was the popu- \nlar amusement of the day, and no one or two men then \nliving could have turned the tide in favour of these \npoor persecuted creatures. Even Sir George Mackenzie, \nthat \" noble wit of Scotland,\" failed to make any rea- \nsonable impression on the besotted public, though his \npleadings and writings got him into immense disfavour \nwith the religious part of the community, and caused \nhim to be ranked as an atheist and Sadducee, and \nclassed with the Filates and Judases of history. Though \n\n\n\nTHE PAPISTS AND CALVIN'ISTS. Ill \n\nit had been the Bull of Pope Innocent \"VllL in 1484, \nwhich had first stirred up the zeal of the godly against \nwitchcraft, and written that terrible text, \" Thou shalt \nnot suffer a witch to live,\" in still more terrible charac- \nters of blood and suffering, yet Calvinistic Scotland \nsoon outstripped even the superstitious Papacy in \nher frantic piety, and poured out a sea of innocent \nblood which will stain her pages with an ineffaceable \nstain, for ever and for ever. Yet she was nearly a \nhundred years behind Home in her zeal, for it was not \ntill June, 1563, that she made the subject matter for \nlegislation at all, and then the Estates* enacted \"that \n* nae person take upon hand to use any manner of \nwitchcrafts, sorcery, or necromancy, nor give them- \nselves furth to have ony sic craft or knowledge thereof \ntherethrough abusing the people;' also, that *nae \nperson seek ony help, response, or consultation, at ony \nsic users or abusers of witchcrafts . . . under pain of \ndeath.' This is the statute under which all the subse- \nquent witch, trials took place.\" But bad as it was \nunder the Presbyterians and the Elders, it is true that \nunder the Eestoration the witch persecutions in Scot- \nland were even more excessive than during the reign of \nthe Covenanters, and that the return of Charles IT. \nbrought satis&ction and pleasure to the younger women \nonly of his dominions, but nothing save. torture to the \nold, the poor, and the despised. Eay says that about a \nhundred and twenty witches suffered in the year 1661 , the \nyear after the Eestoration had brought joy and gladness \nto all loyal hearts ; so that it mattered little whether \nPuritan or Cavalier, Presbyterian or Episcopalian, had \nthe upper hand. Superstition was the greatest lord of \n\n* Ghflmbera* ' Domefltie AonalB.* \n\n\n\nX12 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nall, and a slavish adherence to a few words fettei-ed \nmen down hopelessly to ignorance and wickedness. \n\nAt this time (1661) John Kincaid and John Dick \nwere the most notorious prickers ; and they let no one \nescape whom they had the chance of hurting. One \nJohn Hay, an old man of sixty, and of untarnished \nreputation, fell into Dick's hands, accused of sorcery \nby \" a distracted woman,\" whose words were not worth \nthe wind that wafted them. But Dick shaved him, and \npricked him, and tortured him in all allowable ways, \nthen sent him off to Edinburgh, two hundred miles \naway, to be locked up in the Tolbooth, pending further \nproceedings. The case against him was too slight for \neven those times to entertain, and he was liberated on \nhis own petition, and a few testimonials: but John \nDick was not reproved, nor was his zeal thought \nextreme or passionate. \n\n\n\nMISCELLANEOUS. \n\nMargaret Bryson* quarrelled with her husband about \nthe selling of a cow ; she went to the house- door, \"and \nthere did imprecate that God or the devil might take \nher from her husband ;\" which naturally ended in the \ndevil's appearing and forcing her into the covenant \nwith him that had its final expression at the stake. \n\nMargaret Hutchison was a witch, too. She laid on \nHenry Balfour the pains of a child-bed woman, and \ncaused such a universal swelling of his body that he \ndied thereof ; and she threatened John Boost for caUing \nher a witch, and threw a piece of raw flesh against his \n\n\u2666 Law \u2014 Sharp's Introdnctioii. \n\n\n\nMISCELLANEOUS. ili \n\nhouse^ which the very dogs and cats would not eat ; \nand she sent a plague of cats to John Bell's house, and \ntormented him and his wife by appearing at their \nhearth-side at night, combing her hair: so Margaret \nHutchison was no better than she should be, and the \nworld was well rid of her. \n\nIsabel Eamsey for her part was convicted of .teking \nsixpence from the devil, and entering into a long chat \nwith him upon sundry local matters ; and, indeed, she \nherself confessed that he gave her a dollar, which \nturned into a sklaitt stane : for nothing that the devil \ndid for these witches ever turned to good, so that one is \nmore surprised at their stupidity than offended by their \nguilt \n\nJennet Cock* had an iU name, past all forbearance \nor overlooking. She was never easy unless she was \nafter some evil, and the world must positively be quit \nof her. She bewitched William Scott's bonny bay \nhorse, worth pounds and pounds of money, and made \nhim mad ; and she told a brute who beat her that he \nshould live to be hanged, which not very unlikely pre- \ndiction was fulfilled ; and she kept company with the \ndevil on terms that no honest woman should endure ; \nand she and Jean Dickson, another witch, cured a \nneighbour's cHild by cutting off a dog's head, with \nwhich they played some devilish cantrip that healed \nthe bairn ; and she it was who made that speech con- \ncerning Christiane Wilson and the gaff of wind ; so \nJennet Cock was adjudged dangerous to be at large, \nand was put into prison, there to await her trial. And \nshe was tried, but, strange to say, acquitted of the \ncharges brought against her; she was not let loose \nthough, but kept still in durance till a fresh case could \n\n\u2666 DalyeU. \n\nI \n\n\n\n114 THE WITCHES OP SOOTLAIfD. \n\nbe completed against her. Jennet Cock was rather \nnotorious for her eyil eye and power of overlooking, \nand in her dittay is thus charged : \u2014 \" There being an \noutcast betwixt yow and Jeane Forrest^ because schoe \nhad called yow a witch, yow came to the said Jeane, \nher landlord's house, where she was with some nygh- \nboures, desyreing to make aggriement betwixt yow. \nYe malitiouslie and bitterlie gimeing and gnashing \nyour teeth, and beating your hands upon your knies, \nsaid, ' them that called me a witch I them that \ncalled me a witch !' And at that tyme, the said Jeane \nForrest, her chylde being in good health, on the mome \nthe chylde, by your sorceries and witchcraft dyed ; and \nthe mother, at the chylde's departour, called out with a \nloud voyce upone her nighbours, saying, ' Alace ! that \never I had adoe with that witch Janet Cock, for shoe \nhas been at my bed syd all this night standing, and I \ncould not get red of her : and behold the fruit of it \u2014 \nmy chylde is dead !* \" This deposition was made Sep- \ntember 10, 1661, and surely Jennet Cock never escaped \nthe consequences of such a cantrip as this I \n\nMarion Grinlaw* and Jean Howison, \" the survivors \nof ten women and a man who had been imprisoned at \nMusselburgh,\" petitioned the Council for their release. \n\"Some of the rest died of cold and hunger. They \nthemselves had lain in durance fort;/ weeks, and were \nnow in a state of extreme misery, although nothing \ncould be brought against them, Margaret Carvie and \nBarbara Horniman, of Falkland, had in like manner \nbeen imprisoned at the instance of the magistrates and \nparish minister, had lain six weeks in jail, subjected to \na great deal of torture by one who takes upon him the \ntrial of witches by pricking; and so great was their \n\n* Chambeis. \n\n\n\n0L0WT8 AND THE SERPENT. 115 \n\nsufferings that life was become a burden to them, not* \nwithstanding that they declared their innocence, and \nnothing to the contrary had been shown. The Council \nordered all these women to be liberated :\" which was a \nmarvellous outstep of humanity, and one for which \nits previous acts could hardly have prepared' us. The \nnext year it seems to have had a small side-blow of \nrationality. It had become sensible of the vile in- \nhumanity of John Kincaid, and threw the wretch into \nprison, then issued a proclamation repudiating the \nseizure of suspected persons, which had been made \nillegally, unauthorizedly, and out of only envy and \ncovetousness. Nevertheless, it took care to issue \ntwelve fresh commissions for trying witches, imme- \ndiately after; being chiefly anxious to keep all the \nbusiness in its own hands, and shut the door against any \noutside free lances. John Kincaid lay for nine weeks in \njail, then was liberated only on condition that he would \nprick no more without warrant. He sent up a whining \npetition, setting forth that he was an old man, and if \nconfined longer might be brought to mortal sickness ; \nso to avert this terrible catastrophe, the old sinner had \nhis liberty given to him again : he ought to have had \ninstead the doom of the murderer for blood-money ! \n\n\n\nCLOWTS AND THE SERPENT.* \n\nIn the parish of Innerkip, on March 4, 1662, Marie \nLament, a \"young Woman of the adge of Eighteen \nYeares,\" offered herself for voluntary confession. She \nsaid that five years ago Eattrein Scot taught her to \ntake kyes' milk. She told her to go out in misty \n\n\u2666 Law's * MemorialB ' \u2014 Sharp's Introdnctory Notice. \n\n\n\n116 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND, \n\nmornings with a hair rope (harrie tedder), which she \nwas to draw over the mouth of a mug, saying, \" In \nGod's name, God send us milk, God sent it, and mickle \nof it.\" By which means she and Kattrein got much of \ntheir neighbours' milk which they made into butter \nand cheese. Also she said, that two years and a half \nsince, the devil came to them at Kattrein Scot's house, \nwhere many of them were present, and gave them all \nwine to drink and wheat bread to eat, and they danced \nand were very merry, the devil shaking hands with \nthem, and she delivering herself over to him in bap- \ntism. And at her baptism she was given the name \nof \"Qowts,\" and bid to call the devil \"Serpent\" \nFurther, \"Shee confessed that at that sam tym the \ndevil nipit her upon the right syd, qlk was very painful \nfor a tym, but yairefter he strailsit it with his hand, and \nhealed it ; this she confesses to be his mark.\" At a \ncertain meeting which she spoke of, when she and the \nrest went . to raise storms to hinder the Killing fishery, \nthe devil came to them in the likeness of a brown dog, \nbut she and Kattrein were as cats, and in this form they \nran into Allan Orr's house and took a bite of a herring \nlying in a barrel. They then put it back again, and \nAllan Orr's wife, afterwards finishing the herring, took \nheavy disease, and died. The reason of this malicious \nact was, that Allan Orr had put Margaret Holm (one of \nthe cats) out of her house, and this was the manner in \nvi'hich she chose to be revenged \u2014 \" threitening in wrath, \nthat he and his wife sould not be long together.\" \nMany other things did she confess : one of which was \nhow the devil once \" convoyed her home in the dawing ; \nand when shee was com near the house wherein she was \na servant, her master saw a waflf of him as he went away \nfrom her.\" Another time she and some other witches \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF AULDEARNE. IH \n\nmet at the back gate of Ardgowand, where his Cloutie- \nfihip appeared in the likeness of a black man with cloven \nfeet^ directing them to take white sand and cast it \nabout the gates of Ardgowand, and about the minister's \nhouse; and while they were about the business he \nturned them into the likeness of cats, by shaking his \nhands above them. And at another time they went to \ncast the longston into the sea, to cause storms and ship- \nwrecks, and the devil kissed them as they went away, \napparently better pleased than ordinarily with his \nClowts and Kats. All these things did poor Marie \nLament, aged eighteen, confess to the minister and \nLaird of Innerkip ; and they, not knowing the virtue of \npurgatives and port wine, nor understanding the value \nof rest and silence, took the poor young soul at her \nword, and found her guilty of all the crimes and follies \nwith which a diseased body, and a mind overset and \ncharged, had prompted her to accuse herself. \nAnd now we come to \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF AULDEARNE :* \n\nand Isobell Gowdie's marvellous confessions: stiU in \nA.D. 1662. Isobell was neither pricked nor tortured be- \nfore she entered on her siagular history of circumstantial \nlies. She was probably a mere lunatic, whose ravings \nran in the popular groove, and who was not so much \ndeceiving, as self-deceived by insanity. The assize \nwhich tried her was composed of highly respectable \npeople, and she seems to have been only encouraged to \nrave, not forced to lie. She began by stating that one \nday, fifteen years ago, as she was going between '^ the \n\n\u2666 Pitcaim. \n\n\n\n118 THE WrrCHEB OF SCOTLAND/ \n\ntowns ^ or {krmsteads of Dromdewin and the Heads, \nshe met the devil, who spoke to her and inyited her to \nmeet him that night at the parish church of Anldeame. \nShe promised that she would, and accordingly she went, \nand he baptized her by the name of '* Janet,\" and \naccepted her service. Margaret Brodie held her while \nshe denied her Christian baptism ; and then the devil \nmarked her on the shoulder, sucking out the blood \nwhich he '^ spouted\" into his hand, then sprinkled it \non her head, saying, \" I baptize thee, Janet, in my own \nname !\" But first he had put one hand on the crown of \nher head, and the other on the soles of her feet, while \nshe made over to him all that lay betwixt, giving her- \nseli' body and soul into his keeping. He was ia the \nBeader's desk while all this took place, appearing as a \n^^ mickle, black, hairy man '^ reading out of a black \nbook; so IsobeU was henceforth Janet in the witch \nworld, and was one of the most devoted of her covin ; \nfor they were divided into covins or bands, she said, \nand placed under the leadership of proper officers. \nJohn Young was the officer of her covin, and the num- \nber composing it was thirteen. She and others of her \nband took Breadley's com from off his land. They took \nan unchristened child which they had raised out of \nits grave, parings of their nails, ears of all sorts of \ngrain, and cole-wort leaves, all chopped very fine .and \nsmall, and mixed up well together; and this charm \nthey buried on his land, whereby they got all the \nstrength of his com and goods to themselves, and \nparted them among the covin. Another time they \nyoked a plough of paddocks (toads). The devil held it, \nand John Young drove it : it was drawn by toads in- \nstead of oxen, the traces were of quicken^ (dog-grass), \nthe coulter was a riglen's horn (ram's horn), so was the \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OP AULDEARNE. IIH \n\nflock ; and they went two several times about the field, \nall the covin following and praying to the devil to give \nthem the fruit of that land, and that only thistles and \nbriars might grow on it for the master's use. So Breadley \nhad trouble enough to work his land, and when it was \nworked he got no good out of it, but only weeds and \nthorns, while the covin made their bread of his labour. \n\nWhen asked how she and her sister witches managed \nto leave their husbands o' nights, she said that, when \nit was their Sabbath nights, they used to put besoms or \nthree-legged stools in bed beside their husbands; so \nthat if these deluded men should wake before their \nreturn, they might believe they had their wives safe as \ntisual. The besoms and three-legged stools took the \nright form of the women, and prevented a too early \ndiscovery. To go to these Sabbaths they put a straw \nbetween their feet, crying \" Horse and Hattock in the \nDevil's name !\" and then they would fly away, just as \nstraws in the wind. Any kind of straw would do, and \nthey who saw them floating about in the whirlwind, and \ndid not sanctify themselves, could be shot dead at the \nwitches' pleasure, and their bodies remained with them \nas horses, and small as straws. \n\nThese night meetings always ended with a supper; \nthe Maiden of the Covin being placed next to the devil, \nas he was partial to young, plump, blooming witches, \nand did not care much for the \" rigwoodie hags,\" save \nto beat and belabour them. And after they had gotten \ntheir meat they would say as a grace \u2014 \n\n'* We eat this meat in the deyil's name, \nWith sorrow and sich (sighs) and mickle shame ; \nWe shaU destroy both house and hald ; \nBoth sheep and nolt intil the fauld, \nLittle good shall come to the fore, \nOf aU the rest of the litfle store.\" \n\n\n\n120 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nAnd when sapper was done, each witch would look \nsteadily upon their \"grisly\" president and say, bowing \nlow, \" We thank thee, our Lord, for this !\" But it was \nnot much to thank him for in general ; for the old adage \nseems to have been pretty nearly kept to, and the \ncooks, at least, not to speak of the meat, to be of the \nvery lowest description. The poor witches never got \nmore from the devil than what they might have had at \nhome ; which was one more added to the many proofs \nthat the mind cannot travel beyond its own sphere of \nknowledge, and that even hallucinations are bounded \nby experience, and clairvoyance by the past actual \nvision. \n\nThen Isobell went to the Downie Hills, to see the \ngude wichtis who had wrought Bessie Dunlop and \nAlesoun Peirsoun such sad mishap. The hill side \nopened and she went in. Here she got meat more \nthan she could eat, which was a rare thing for her to do \nin those days, and seemed to her one of the most \nnoticeable things of the visit. The Queen of Faerie \nwas bravely clothed in white linen, and white and brown \nclothes, but she was nothing like the glorious creature \nwho bewitched Thomas of Ercildoun with her winsom \nlooks and golden hair ; and the king was a braw man, \nwell favoured and broad faced ; just an ordinary man \nand woman of the better classes, buxom, brave, and \ncomely, as Isobell Gowdie and her like would natu- \nrally take to be the ultimate perfection of humanity. \nBut it was not all sunshine and delight even in the \nhill of Faerie, for there were \" elf bullis roi\u00a5ting and \nskoylling \" up and down, which frightened poor Isobell, \nas well as her auditory : for here she was interrupted \nand bidden on another track. She then went on to \nsay that when they took away any cow's milk they \n\n\n\nTBE WITCHES OP AULDEARira!. 12t \n\ndid 80 by twining and platting a rope the wrong way \nand in the devil's name, drawing the tether in \nbetween the cow's hinder feet, and out between her \nfore feet. The only way to get back the milk was to \ncut the rope. When they took away the strength of \nany one's ale in favour of themselves or others, they \nused to take a little quantity out of each barrel, in the \ndevil's name (they never forgot this formula), and then \nput it into the ale they wished to strengthen ; and no \none had power to keep their ale from them, save those \nwho had well sanctified the brewing. Also she and \nothers made a clay picture of a little child, which was \nto represent all the male children of the Laird of Parkis. \nJohn Taylor brought home the clay in his \" plaid \nnewk\" (comer), his wife brake it very small like \nmeal, and sifted it, and poured water in among it in the \ndevil's name, and worked it about like rye porridge \n(\" vrought it werie sore, lyk rye-bowt\") and made it \ninto a picture of the Laird of Parkis'-- son. \" It haid \nall the pairtis and merkis of a child, such as heid, eyes, \nnose, handis, foot, mowth, and little lippes. It wanted \nno mark of a child ; and the handis of it folded down \nby its sydes.\" This precious image, which was like a \nlump of dough or a skinned sucking pig, was put to the \nfire till it shrivelled and became red as a coal ; they put \nit to the fire every other day, and by the wicked power \nenclosed in this charm all the male children of the Laird \nof Parkis would suffer, unless it were broken up. She \nand the rest went in and out their neighbours' houses, \nsometimes as jackdaws, sometimes as hares, cats, &c., \nand ate and drank of the best ; and they took away the. \nvirtue of all things left ^' unsained ;\" and each had their \nown powers. \" Bot,\" said Isobell, sorrowfully, \" now I \nhaw no pow^ at alL\" In another confession she told \n\n\n\n122 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nall about her Covin. There were thirteen in each, and \nevery person had a nickname, and a spirit to wait on \nher. She could not remember the names of all, but \nshe gave what she could. Swein clothed in grass green \nwaited on Margaret Wilson, called Pickle-nearest-the- \nwind: Eorie in yellow waited on Bessie Wilson, or \nThrow-the-com-yard : the Bearing Lion in seagreen \nwaited on Isobell Nichol, or Bessie Eule : Mak Hector, \na young-like devil, clothed in grass green, was appro- \npriated by Jean Martin, daughter to Margaret Wilson \n(Pickle-nearest-the-wind), the Maiden of the Covin and \ncalled Over-the-Dyke-with-it ; this name given to her \nbecause the devil always takes the maiden in his hand \nnext him, and when he would leap they both cry out, \n^ Over the dyke with it !\" Eobert the Eule in sad dun, \na commander of the spirits, waited on Margaret Brodie, \nThief-of-hell-wait-upon-herself : he waited also on Bessie \nWilson, otherwise Throw-the-com-yard: Isobell's own \nspirit was the Bed Biever, and he was ever clothed in \nblack : the eighth spirit was Bobert the Jakes, aged, \nand clothed in dun, \" ane glaiked gowked spirit,\" and \nhe waited on Bessie Hay, otherwise Able-and-Stout : the \nninth was Laing, serving Elspet Nishie, re-named Bessie \nBauld ; the tenth was Thomas, a faerie : \u2014 but there \nIsobelFs questioners stopped her, afraid to hear aught of \nthe \" guide wychtis,\" who might be then among them, \ninjuring those who offended them to death. So no more \ninformation was given of the spirits of the Covin. She \nthen told them that to raise a wind they took a rag of \ncloth which they wetted, then knocked on a stone with \n^ beetle (a flat piece of wood) saying thrice \u2014 \n\n'* I knok this ragg wpon this stane, \nTo raise the wind in the DiveUe's name ; \nIt sail not lye, vntU I please againe I\" \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF AULDEARNE. 124 \n\nWhen the wind was to be laid, they dried the rag, \nand said thrice \u2014 \n\n\" We lay the wind in the diyellis name. \nIt Ball not rise quhill we lyk to raise it again t*' \n\nAnd if the wind would not cease the instant after they \nsaid this, they called to their spirit : \" Thieffe ! thieflfe ! \nconjure the wind and caws it to lye I\" As for elf-arrow \nheads, the devil shapes them with his own hand, and \nthen delivers them to elf boys who sharpen and trim \nthem with a thing like a packing-needle: and when \nIsobell was in elf-land she saw the boys sharpening and \ntrimming them. Those who trimmed them, she said, \nare little ones, hollow and hump-backed, and speak \ngruffly like. When the devil gave the arrows to the \nwitches he used to say \u2014 \n\n'* Shoot these in my name, \nAnd they saU not goe heaU hame.\" \n\nAnd when the witches shoot them, which they do by \n\" spanging \" them from their thumb nails, they say \u2014 \n\n\" I shoot yon man in the deyillis name, \nHe sail nott win heaU hame ! \nAnd this salbe alswa trw, \nThair saU not be an bitt of him on liew/'* \n\nIsobell had great talent for rhymes. She told the \ncourt how, when the witches wanted to transform them- \nselves into the shape of hare or cat, they said thrice \nover \u2014 always thrice \u2014 \n\n\"I saU goe intill ane haire. \nWith sorrow, and sych, and mickle caixe ; \nAnd I saU goe in the divellis name. \nAy whill I com hom againe.\" \n\nOnce Isobell said this rhyme, when Patrik Papley's \n\u2666 On life : alire. \n\n\n\n124 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nservants were going to labour. They had their dogs \nwith them, and the dogs hunted her \u2014 she in the form \nof a hare. Very hard pressed, and weary, she had just \ntime to run to her own house, get behind the chest, and \nrepeat \u2014 \n\n*' Hair, hair, God send th^ caire, \nI am in a hairis likeness now, \nBat I sail be a woman ewin now ; \nHair, hair, Qod send th^ caire 1\" \n\nElse the dogs would have worried her, and posterity \nhave lost her confessions. Many other doggrels did \nIsobell teach her judges ; but they were all of the same \ncharacter as those already given: scanty rhymes in \nthe devil's name, when they were not actual para- \nphrases of the mass book. Some were for healing and \nsome for striking ; some in the name of God and all \nthe saints, others in the devil's name, boldly and \nnakedly used ; but both equally damnable in the eyes \nof the judges, and equally worthy of death. The elf- \narrows spoken of before were of great use. The devil \ngave them to his covin and they shot men and women \ndead, right and left. Sometimes they missed, as* when \nIsobell shot at the Laird of Park as he was crossing \nthe bum, and missed, for which Bessie Hay gave her a \ngreat cuflf : also Margaret Brodie, when she shot at Mr. \nHarie Forbes, the minister at Auldeame, he being by \nthe standing stanes ; whereupon she asked if she should \nshoot again, but the devil answered, \" Not ! for we wold \nnocht get his lyf at that tym.\" Finding the elf-arrows \nuseless against Mr. Harie Forbes, they tried charms and \nincantations once when he was sick. They made a bag, \ninto which they put the flesh, entrails, and gall of a \ntoad, a hare's liver, barley grains, nail pairings, and bits \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF AULDEAENE. 125 \n\nof rag,\" steeping all in water, while Satan stood over \nthem, saying \u2014 and they repeating after him \u2014 \n\n*' He is lying in his bed, and he is seik and sair. \nLet him lye in till that bedd monthes two and dayes thiie mair 1 \nHe sail lye in till his bed, he salbe seik and sair, \nHe sail lye in till his bedd, monthes two and dayes thrie mair !\" \n\nWhen they said these words they were all on their \nknees with their hair about their shoulders and eyes, \nholding up their hands to the devil, beseeching him to \ndestroy Mr. Harry ; and then it was decided to go into \nhis chamber and swing the bag over him. Bessie Hay \u2014 \nAble-and-Stout \u2014 ^undertook this office, and she went to \nhis room, being intimate with him, the bag in her hands \nand her mind set on siaying him by its means; but \nthere were some worthy persons with him at the time, \n80 Bessie did no harm, only swung a few drops on him \nwhich did not kill him. They had a hard taskmaster in \nthe devil \u2014 ^Black Johnnie, as they used to call hiTY> \namong themselves. But he used to overhear them, \nand would suddenly appear in the midst of them, \nsaying, \" I ken weill anewgh what ye wer saying of \nme/' and then would beat and buflfet them sore. He \nwas always beating them, specially if they were absent \nfrom any of the meetings, or if they forgot anything he \nhad told them to do. Alexander Elder was being con- \ntinually thrashed. He was very soft and could never \ndefend himself in the least, but would cry and scream \nwhen the devil scourged him. The women had more \npluck. Margaret Wilson \u2014 Pickle-nearest-the-wind \u2014 \nwould defend herself finely, throwing up her hands to \nkeep the strokes from her ; and Bessie Wilson \u2014 Throw- \nthe-com-yard \u2014 ** would speak crusty with her tongue \nand would be belling against him soundly.\" He used \nto beat them all up and down with scourges and sharp \n\n\n\n12e THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\ncordfiy they like naked ' ghosts' csrying, \"Pityl pity I \nmercy 1 mercy, our Lord I\" But he would have neither \npity nor mercy, but would grin at them like a dog, and \nas if he would swaUow them' up. He would give them \nmost beautiful money, at least to look at ; but in four- \nand-twenty hours it would be all gone, or changed to \nmere dirt and rubbish. The devil wore sometimes boots \nand sometimes shoes, but ever his feet were cloven, \nand ever his colour black. This, with some small \nvariations, was the sum of what Isobell Gowdie confessed \nin her four depositions taken between the 13th of April \nand 27th of May in the year of grace 1662. \n\nJanet Braidhead, spous to John Taylor, followed \nnext Her first confession, made on the 14th of April, \nset forth how that she had known nothing of witch- \ncraft until her husband and his mother, Elspeth Nishie, \nhad taught her ; her first lesson from them being \nthe making of some \" drugs \" which were to charm \naway the fruit and com, and kill the cattle, of one \nJohn Hay in the Mure. After that, she was taken to \nthe kirk at Auldeame, where her husband presented \nher for the devil's baptism and marking, which were \ndone in the usual manner. She also gave evidence of \nthe clay picture which was to destroy all the male \nchildren of the Laird of Park ; and she gave a long \nlist of the frequenters of the Sabbaths, including some \nof the most respectable inhabitants of the place ; and \nin many other things she confia*med Isobell Gowdie's \ndepositions, specially in all regarding the devil and \nthe unequivocal nature of their connection with him, \nwhich was put into plain and unmistakable language \nenough. \n\nWe are not told the ultimate fate of Isobell Gowdie \nand Janet Braidhead, but they had confessed enough \n\n\n\nTHE SECRET SINS OF MAJOR WEIR. 127 \n\nto bum half Scotland, and it is not likely that they \nescaped the doom assigned to their order. \n\n\n\nTHE SECRET SINS OF MAJOR WEIR.* \n\nOn the 4th of April, 1670, one Major Thomas Weir, \nan old man of seventy, expiated his crimes on the \nGaUowlie of Edinburgh. A bad man, surely ; a cant- \ning, loose-lived hypocrite, who made his puritanism \nthe cloak for his secret crimes, serving sin with his \nbody in daily and most detestable service, while his \nlips spoke only of zeal to God and the soul's devoutest \nexercise. Still, it was a terrible fate for nothing more \nheinous than an unclean life ; a purification by fire in \ntruth, but not for the sanctification of souls. Perhaps he \nwould have got ofi\" altogether, had he not been charged \nwith witchcraft. Incest and the foulest vices were bad \nenough, but witchcraft was worse. Yet no intelligible \ncharge of sorcery was brought against this man save \nthe fact that he got the love of all manner of women, \npoor and old though he was ; and the testimony of a \nfrightened woman who gave a rambling account of \nshapes, and lights, and women, all gathered down in \nStinking-close, near to where the major lived; aU of \nwhich were, of course, phantoms, spectres, or devils, \nconjured up by his magical and devilish ar^s. This, \nand the frantic saying of his poor old sister, when \nshe heard of his death, that if they had burnt his staff \nthey had destroyed his power, formed about the sum \nof the witchcraft evidence against him. He was ar- \nrested on his own confession. Unable to bear the \nweight of his secret vices, he gave himself up to the \n\n* Chamben. Sinclair. Yarioiu tracts. \n\n\n\n128 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nauthorities, who at first were disposed to think him \nmad, but who afterwards, reporting him sane and col- \nlected enough, set him on his triaL After he had once \nspoken he would say no more, would make no defence \nand no further confession : he would not pray, he would \nnot appeal to God. Like a beast he had lived, like a \nbeast he would die, and \" since he was going to the \ndevil,\" he said, \" he did not wish to anger him.\" He \nwould have no paltering with an outraged God by the \nway ; so the fire and the faggot came as the culmina- \ntion of a life which in its mildest phase was infamous, \nbut which belonged to no lawful tribunal of man to \npunish. \n\nIf he died sullenly and in mute and dumb despair, \nhis sister's anguish found wild and desperate expression. \nShe told her judges all about her horrible life with him, \nand how he had been long given up to sorcery and \nmagic, as well as to things not now to be mentioned ; \nand how his power lay in that staflf of his which had \nbeen burnt along with him. That thomwood staff, \nwith its crooked head and carved figures like satyrs \nrunning through, seems to have heavily burdened the \npoor creature's mind, for she told her judges that when \nshe wished to plague her brother she would hide it, \nand give it back to him only when he threatened to \nreveal her nameless infamy if she did not restore it. \nOn the morning of her execution she said that she \nwould expiate the most shameful life that had ever \nbeen lived by dying the most shameful death ; but no \none knew exactly what she meant. When she came to \nthe place of execution \u2014 she was mercifully hung \u2014 she \nbegan to talk wildly of the Broken Covenant, and \nexhort the people back to their old faith, and then she \nattempted to throw off all her clothes that she might \n\n\n\nTHE SECRET SINS OF MAJOR WEIR. 129 \n\ndie ** naked and ashamed.\" This was the lowest depth \nof degradation of which her crazed old brain could \nconceive, and was what she meant in the morning when \nalluding to the manner of her death. The executioner \nhad to struggle mightily with her before he was able to \noyermaster her, she smiting him on the cheek the while ; \nbut at last he flung her \" open-faced\" on the ground, and \nHirew some linen cloths over her ; but \" her hands not \nbeing tyed when she was throwen over, she laboured to \nrecover hirselfe, and put in her head betwixt two of \nthcf steps of the leather, and keiped that powster for a \ntyme, till she was put from itt.\" It is curious to mark \nthe little bit of sanity in all this mournful lunacy, \nwhen the familiar things of life were spoken of. She \nhad always been a great spinner, and the fame now \nwent abroad that the devil had helped her in this. \nAsked if it was not so, she at the first denied disdain- \nfully ; use only and industry, she said, had made her \n80 deft at her work, and the devil had done nothing for \nher ; but afterwards she maundered off into some non- \nsense about her yam, and how her distaff was often \nfound full when she had left it empty ; and how. the \nweaver could never weave the thread spun from this \nyam, which, of course, was \" devil's dust \" of the true \nkind. She was mad enough, the wretched being, and \ncould not fail to trip if stones were laid in her path. \nBut her first instincts respecting her every-day occu- \npation were right, and are singularly illustrative of \nsome of the phenomena of madness, and of how inti- \nmately with one's life is interwoven common sense, \neven in the fibres of a diseased brain. She said further \nthat she was persuaded \" her mother was a witch, for \nthe secretest thing that either I myself or any of the \nfamily could do, when once a mark appeared upon her \n\nK \n\n\n\n\n\n130 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nbrow, she could tell it them, though done at a great \ndistance! Being demanded* what sort of a mark it \nwas, she answered, ^ I have some such like mark myself \nwhen I please, on my forehead.' Whereupon she of- \nfered to uncover her head for visible satisfaction ; the \nminister refusing to behold it, and forbidding any dis*- \ncovery, was earnestly requested by some spectators to \nallow the freedom: he yielded. She put back her \nhead-dress, and, seeming to frown, there was an exact \nhorse-shoe, shaped for nails, in her wrinkles \u2014 ^terrible \nenough, I assure you, to the stoutest beholder.\" Her \nfurther confessions were curious, involving, as they did, \na visit from a taU woman who had one child at her back \nand one or two at her feet; and who came to her, \nwanting her to speak to the Queen of Fairy, and to \nstrike and do battle with the said queen on her behalf. \nThe next day came \" ane little woman,\" with a piece of \na tree, or the root of some herb, and she told her that \nso long as she kept the same she should do well, and \nshould attain all she might desire. So she spun at her \nyam, and found more yam on the \" pirn \" than she \nthought to find ; which frightened her. This took place \nwhen she *' keeped a school at Dalkeith, and teached \nchildering.\" She also rambled on about a fiery chariot \nin which she and her brother had paid visits, and of his \nmy stenuus visitors and his thomwood staff; and when \nnotliiiig more was to be got out of her she was hung, \nand the world was all the cleaner for the loss of \nso mwAi foDy and wickedness from out the general \n\n\n\n131 \n\n\n\nTHE DUMB GIKL OF POLLOK.* \n\nOn the 14th of October, Sir George Maxwell, of \nPollok, and his household were much agitated and \ndisturbed. He had been taken suddenly and danger- \nously ill, with pains which read like the pains of \npleurisy; and though he got partially well, had still \nsome awkward symptoms remaining. A young deaf \nand dumb girl, of unknown origin, signified that ^^ there \nis a woman whose son has broke his fruit yeard that did \nprick him in the side.\" This was found to mean that \nJennet Mathie, relict of John Stewart, under-miller in \nSchaw Mill, had formed a wax picture with pins in its \nside, which \"Dumby\" said was to be found in her house \nin a hole behind the fire, and which she further offered \nto bring to them at Pollok, provided certain two of the \nmen servants might accompany her to protect her. The \nyoung daughters of Sir George did not believe the story, \nbut the two servants, Laurence Pollok and Andrew Mar- \ntine, professed themselves converts, and insisted on seeing \nthe thing to an end. So they went to Jennet's house, \nand into the kitchen, all standing on the floor near the \nfire ; \" when little Dumby comes quickly by, slips her \nhand into a hole behind the fire, and puts into Andrew \nMartine's hand, beneath his cloak, a wax picture with \ntwo pins in it,\" that in the right side very long, and \nthat in the left shorter : which corresponded with the \nseverity of the laird's pains. The picture was brought \nto Sir George ; so was Jennet Mathie, who was appre- \nhended on the spot and whom Sir George then sent \nto prison. When questioned, she denied all knowledge \nof the picture or the pins, and said it was the work of \n\n* Ohamben. Dickie. Tracts. \n\n\n\n132 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nthe dumb girl ; but on its being shown that her sou \nHugh had once robbed Sir George's orchard \u2014 ^which was \nwhat Dumby meant by \" broke his fruit yeard \" \u2014 and \nthat Sir George, when told that he was no longer in \nPoUokland, but had gone to Damlie, had said, \" I hope \nmy fingers may be long enough to reach him in Dam- \nlie\" \u2014 these circumstances were held quite suflScient \nevidence that the Stewart family would do the laird all \nthe mischief they could. The prosecution wanted no \nstronger proof, and the affair went on. \n\nJennet was obstinate, and would confess nothing; \nupon which they searched her and found the devil's \nmark. After this, Sir George got better for a short \nspace, but soon the pains returned, and then the dumb \ngirl said that John Stewart, Jennet's eldest son, had \nmade another clay image, four days since, and that it \nwas now in his house beneath the bolster among the bed \nstraw. So she and the servants went there again, and \nsure enough they found it ; but as it was only lately \nmade, it was soft and broke in their hands. John said \nsimply he did not know who had put it there ; but he \nand his young sister Annabel were apprehended: and \nthe next day Annabel confessed. \n\nShe said, that on the 4th of January last past, while the \nday picture was being formed, a black gentleman had \ncome into her mother's house, accompanied by Bessie \nWeir, Marjorie Craig, Margaret Jackson, and her own \nbrother John. When confronted with John she wavered, \nbut John was no nearer release for that. He was searched, \nand many marks were found on him ; and when found the \nspell of silence was broken, and he confessed his paction \nwith the devil as openly as his sister, giving up as their \naccomplices the same women as those she had named. \nOf these, Margaret Jackson, aged fourscore or so, was the \n\n\n\nTHE DUMB GIKL OF POLLOK. 133 \n\nonly one to confess ; but as she had many witdi marks \nshe could not hope for mercy, so might as well make a \ndean breast of it at once. On the 17th of January a \nportion of clay was found under Jennet Mathie's bolster, \nin her prison at Paisley. This time it was a woman's \nportrait, for Sir George had recovered by now, and the \nwitches were against the whole family equally. On the \n27ih Annabel made a fuller deposition. She said that \nlast harvest the devil, as a black man, had come to her \nmother's house, and required her, the deponent, to give \nherself to him ; promising that she should want for \nnothing good if she did. She, being enticed by her \nmother and Bessie Weir, did as was desired \u2014 ^putting one \nhand on the crown of her head, and another on the soles \nof her feet, and giving over to liim all that lay between ; \nwhereupon her mother promised her a new coat, and the \ndevil made her oflScer at their several meetings. He \ngave her, too, such a nip on the arm that she was sore \nfor half an hour after, and gave her a new name \u2014 \nAnnippy, or an Ape according to Law. Her mother's \ndevil-name was Lands-lady; Bessie Weir was called \nSopha ; Marjorie Craig was Bigeru ; Margaret Jackson \nLocas ; John Stewart, Jonas ; and they were all present \nat the making of the clay image which was to doom Sir \nGeorge to death. They made it of clay, then bound it \non a spit and turned it before the fire, \" Sopha \" crying \n\"Sir George Maxwell! Sir George Maxwell!\" which \nwas repeated by them alL Another time, she said, \nthere was a meeting, when the devil was dressed in \n\" black cloathes and a blew band, and white hand cuffs, \nwith hoggers on his feet, and that his feet were cloven.\" \nThe black man stuck the pins into the picture, and his \nname was EjoaU, or J. JewelL For the devil delighted \nin giving himself various names, as when he caused hinir \n\n\n\n184 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nself to be called Peter Drysdale, by Catherine Sancb \nand Laurie Moir, and Peter Saleway by others. \n\nJohn now followed suit. He confessed to his own \nbaptism ; to the hoggers on the black man's legs, who \nhad no shoes, and spoke in a voice hollow and ghonsty ; \nto the making the clay image ; and to his new name of \nJonaa On the 15th of Febrnary, 1677, John Stewart, \nAnnabel Stewart, and Margaret Jackson all adhered to \nthese depositions, but Jennet and Bessie and Margerie \ndenied them. Jennet's feet were fixed in stocks, so that \nflhe might not do yiolence to her own life : and one day \nher gaoler declared that he had found her bolster, which \nthe night before was laid at least six yards from the \nstocks, now placed beneath her; the stocks being so \nheayy that two of the strongest men in the country \ncould hardly have carried them six yards. He asked \nher \" how she had win to the bolster,\" and she answered \nthat she had crept along the floor of the room, dragging \nthe stocks with her. Before the court she said that she \nhad got one foot out of the hole, and had drawn the \nstocks with her, '^ a thing altogether impossible.\" Then \nJohn and Annabel exhorted their mother to confess, re* \nminding her of all the meetings which she had had with \nthe devil in her own house, and that \" a summer's day \nwould not be sufficient to relate what passages had been \nbetween the devil and her.\" But Jennet Mathie was a \nstem, brave, high-hearted Scotch woman, and would not \nseal her sorrow with a he. \" Nothing could prevail with \nher obdured and hardened heart,\" so she and all, save \nyoung Annabel, were burnt ; and when she was bound \nto the stake, the spectators saw after a while a black, \npitchy ball foam out of her mouth, which, after the fire \nwas kindled, grew to the size of a walnut, and flew out \ninto sparks like squibs. This was the devil leaving l^er. \n\n\n\nTHE DUMB GIBL OF POLLOK 136 \n\nAs for Bessie Weir, or Sopfaa, the devil left her wben \nshe was exeented, in the form of a raven ; for so he \nowned and dishonoured his chosen ones. \n\n^* The diunbe girl. Jennet Douglas, now speaks well, \nand knows Latine, which she never learned, and dis* \ncovers things past I\" says Sinclair. But she still fol- \nlowed her old trade. She had mesmeric visions, and \nwas evidently a \"sensitive ;\" and some of the people be^ \nlieved in her, as inspired and divine, and some came, \nperhaps mockingly, to test her. But they generally got \nthe worst ofiP, and were glad to leave her alone again. \nOne woman came and asked her '^ ' how she came to the \nknowledge of so many things,' but the young wench \nshifted her, by asking the woman's name. She told her \nname. Sap the other, * Are there any other in Glasgow \nof that name ?* * No I' sayes the woman. * Then,' said the \ngirle, * you are a witch !' Says the other, * Then are you \na devil V The girl answers * The devil doth not reveal \nwitches ; but I know you to be one, and I know your \npractices too.* On which the poor woman ran away in \ngreat confusion ;\" as, indeed, she might \u2014 such an accu- \nsation as this being quite sufficient to sign her death- \nwarrant. To another woman who came to see and \nquestion her, she said the same thing ; taking her \narm, and showing the landlord a secret mark which she \ntold him the woman had got from the deviL ** The poor \nwoman much ashamed ran home, and a little while after \nshe came out and told her neighbours that what Jennet \nDouglas had said of her was true, and earnestly en- \ntreated that they might show so much to the magis- \ntrates, that she might be apprehended, otherwise the \ndevil says she will make me kill myself.\" The neigh- \nbours were wise enough to think her mad, as she was> \nand took her home ; but the next day she was found \n\n\n\n136 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\ndrowned in the Clyde ; fear and despair had killed h^ \nbefore the stake-wood had had time to root and ripen. \nThe dumb girl herself was afterwards carried before the \ngreat council at Edinburgh, imprisoned, scourged \nthrough the town, and then banished to '^ some forraigne \nPlantation/' whence she reappears no more to vex her \ngeneration. God forgive her! She has passed long \nyears ago to her account, and may her guilty soul be \nsaved, and all its burning blood-stains cleansed and \nassoilzedl \n\n\n\nLIZZIE MUDIE AND HER VICTIMS.* \n\nThe year after Sir George Maxwell's affair there was \nanother case at Haddington which gave full employment \nto the authorities. Margaret Kirkwood, a woman of \nsome means, hanged herseK one Sunday morning during \nchurch time. Her servant, Lizzie Mudie, who was at \nkirk like a good Christian, suddenly called out, to the \ngreat disturbance of the congregation. She began re- \npeating all the numbers \u2014 one, two, three, fom*, &c. \u2014 till \nshe came to fifty-nine ; then she stopped and cried, \" The \nturn is done !\" When it was afterwards found that Mar- \ngaret Kirkwood had hung herself just about that \nmoment^ and that her age was fifty-nine, Lizzie Mudie \nwas taken up and searched. She was found a witch by \nher marks, and soon after confessed, delating five women \nand one man as her accomplices. But the five women \nand the one man were obstinate, and would not say that \nthey were guilty, though they were pricked and searched \nand marks found on them. Lord Fountainhall was \npresent at the searching of the man, and he gives an \n\n* Law's ' Memorials.* \n\n\n\nBEAVE OLD KATHEBINE LIDDELL. 137 \n\naoconnt of it: ^'I did see the man's body searched and \npricked in two sundry places^ one at the ribs and the \nother at his shoulder. He seemed to find no pain, but \nno blood followed. The marks were blewish, very small, \nand had no protuberancy above the skin. The pricker \nsaid there were three sorts of witphes' marks : the horn \nmark, it was very hard ; the breiflf mark, it was very \nlittle ; and the feeling mark, in which they had sense \nand pain.\" \" I remained very dissatisfied with this way \nof trial,** says my Lord farther on, \" as most fallacious ; \nand the fellow could give me no account of the prin- \nciples of his art, but seemed to be a drunken, foolish \nrogue.\" One of Lizzie Mudie's five victims was an old \nwoman of eighty, named Marion Phinn, who had always \nborne a good character, \" never being stained with the \nleast ignominy, \u00a3Btr less with the abominable crime of \nwitchcraft.\" But though she petitioned the council to \nfree her on her own caution, she was kept hand-fast and \nfoot-bound in gaol, being far too dangerous in the help- \nlessness and feebleness of her eighty years to be let out \nwith the chance of bewitching mankind to deatk This \nshe could do, and work all other miracles; but she \ncould not help herself to sunlight and Uberty. \n\n\n\nBRAVE OLD KATHERINE LIDDELL.* \n\nLi 1678 two old women of Prestonpans were burnt \nThey made a voluntary confession, and accused a few \nmore of their craft These in their turn accusing others, \nin a very short time seventeen unhappy creatures were \ncollected together, all charged with the sin of witchcraft, \ninteroommuning with the devil, voluntary transformation \n\n* Ohamben. \n\n\n\n138 . THE WITCHES OP 800TLANP\u00ab \n\ninto ratenSy cats, crows, &c., with all the oth^ stock \npieces of the hallucination. The judges seemed inclined \nto faTOur them, and Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik, when \ndesired to sit on the commission appointed to try the \nseven given up by the parish of Loanhead, declined, \n*' alleging drily that ^e did not feel himself warlock \n(that is, conjuror) enough to be judge upon such an in- . \nquisition.\" These poor creatures had deep sleeps, during \nwhich no pinching would awake them ; but though the \njudges saw them when in these sleeps, and heard their \nconfessions as to where they had been and what they \nhad been doing during the time, they were regarded as \ndiabolical trances, and dealt with accordingly. Nine of \nthe East Lothian women were burnt, and the *' seven of \nLoanhead were reserved for future jwocedure \" Among \nthe accused was one Katherine Liddell, a Btrong-minded\u00bb \nstout-hearted, old widow, who feared no man, spoke \nher mind freely, and had a . body with nerves like \ncart ropes and muscles of iron. The bailie of Preston* \npans, John Butherford, had caused her to be seized in \nthe late panic, and, though there was nothing against \nher, he had her pricked in various parts of her body \" to \nthe great effusion of her blood, and whereby her skin is \nraised and her body highly swelled, and she is in danger \nof life.\" A drummer, two salt-makers, and others, \nassisted him in this torture ; for John Kincaid had found \nzealous followers: and any man with a peculiar tem- \nperament, and a heart hardened by superstition against \nsuffering, might take on himself the office of pricker to \nhis own soul's satisfaction, and the torture and murder \nof his fellow-creatures. Katherine Liddell, besides being \nactively tortured, was kept without sleep for six days \nand nights, but the stout old woman would confess \nnothing. On the contrary, she presented a petition to the \n\n\n\nBRAVE OLD KATHERINE LIDDELL. 189 \n\nCouncil* charging John Butherford and the rest with \n^'defamationy false imprisonment, and open and manifest \noppression/' and demanded vengeance and restitution in \nloud and yigox;ous terms. The Council, imaccustomed to \nthis sort of thing, and used only to victims as tame as \nthey were considered powerful, soon released her, drop* \nping her like hot iron, and condemnmg Butherford and \nhis associates as too hasty and ill-advised : then, some- \nwhat further redeemed themselves by an imusual act of \njustice and common sense, in sentencing David Cowan, \n\"pricker\" \u2014 ^the one who had been the most active of \nher tormentors \u2014 ^to be confined during pleasure in the \nTolbooth. \n\nKatherine Liddell did not do much good to her \nafflicted sisterhood, though she hd-d helped herself: for \nthat same year, in August,* \"the devil had a great \nmeeting of witches in Loudian, where, among others, \nwas a warlock who formerly had been admitted to the \nministrie in the Presbyterian tymes, and when the \nbishops came in conformed with them.\" This warlock \nminister was Mr. Gideon Penman, minister of Crighton, \nand a man of notoriously loose life ; but whether he \ncarried his defiance of good so far as to dance with the \nhags at the Sabbath, and \" beat up those that were \nslow,\" and preach damnable doctrines and blasphemous \ntravesties of the Christian faith in the devil's services, \nor whether he was only an immoral man \u2014 ^better out of \nthe ministry than in it \u2014 remains for each reader's \nprivate judgment to determine. Ten of the accused \nstoutly ajfiSrmed that Mr. Gideon Penman was their \ndevil's parson ; but \u00a7\u00ab he as stoutly denied it, he was \nliberated on his own security, while nine out of the ten \nwere condemned to be strangled and burnt, which was \n* Law's 'Hemoriald.* \n\n\n\n140 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\ndone accordingly. They gave some curious details, as, \nthat, when they renounced their baptism and gave them- \nselves over to Satan by laying one hand on their head \nand the other on their feet he kissed them, and that he \nwas cold to the touch, and his breath like a damp air ; \nthat he scourged them oft, and was a most '^ wicked and \nbarbarous master ;\" and that when he administered the \nsacrament to them the bread was like wafers, and the \ndrink like blood or black moss-water : that he trans- \nformed them to the likeness of bees, and crows, and \nravens, when they flew about from place to place as he \nordered. \n\nTHE DEVIL IN HIS CUPS.* \n\nOn December 19, 1679, the parish of Borrowstonness \nwas again in an uproar concerning the evil doings of \nwitches and wizards, the chief of whom was Annaple \nThomson, once a widow, but now a wife. She was \ncharged with having one day met the devil on her way \nbetween Linlithgow and Borrowstonness, when he \"in \nthe lyknes of ane black man told yow that yow wis ane \npoore puddled bodie, and had ane evill lyiff, and diflSi* \nciiltie to win throw the warld ; and promised that iff ye \nwald followe him, and go alongst with him, yow should \nnever want, but have ane better lyiff; and abowt fyve \nwekes therafter, the Devill appeired to yow, when yow \nwis goeing to the coal-hiU, about sevin o'clock in the \nmorning. Having renewed bis former tentatiowne yow \ndid condescend thereto, and declared yowrselff con- \ntent to follow him, and becwm his servant ;\" \u2014 which was \nbad of Annaple Thomson, and sure to bring her to \nineffectual grief. Then some others, men and women \n\n* Scots* Magaadae. \n\n\n\nTHE DEVIL IN HIS CUPS. 141 \n\nboth, were farther informed of their misdeeds. They \nwere told that \"ye, and each person of yow, wis at \nseveral mettings with the Devill in the linkes of Bor- \nrowstownes, and in the howse of yow, Bessie Vickar, \nand ye did eatt and drinke with the Devill, and with on \nanother, and with witches in hir howss in the nycht \ntyme ; and the Devill and the said WiUiam Craw \nbrowght the ale which ye drank, extending to about \nsevin gallons, from the howss of Elisabeth Hamilton.\" \nSo did the rest. Margaret Pringle, whose right wrist \nthe devil had grievously pained, \"but having it twitched \nof new againe, it immediatelie becam haill ;\" Margaret \nHamilton, with whom the devil had at sundry times \n\" drank several choppens of ale with yow,\" when they \nmet at the town-well at Borrowstonness and talked \ntogether like two old gossips ; also, another Margaret \nHamilton, relict of James Pullwart, with whom the \ndevil conversed in the likeness of a black man, but \nafterwards removed from her as a dog \u2014 they all com- \nmitted abominable sins with the devil, and entertained \nhim familiarly like any other cummer. And were they \nnot all at the meeting with the \"Devill and other \nwitches at the croce of Murestaine,\" above Kinneil, \nnpon \"the threttin of October last, where yow all \ndanced, and the Devill acted the pyiper, and where \nyow endevored to have destroyed Andrew Mitchell, \nsone to John Mitchell, elder in Dean of Kinneil?\" \nThe case was considered clear enough for all rational \nmen in Borrowstonness; so Annabel Thomson, Mar- \ngaret Pringle, the two Margaret Hamiltons, William \nCraw, and Bessie Vickar, were \" found gmltie be ane \nassyse of the abominable cryme of Witchcraft,\" and \nwere ordered to be taken to the west end of Borrow- \nstonness, \" the ordinar place of execution,\" betwixt two \n\n\n\n142 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nand four in the afternoon, and ** there be wnried at a \nsteack till thej be dead, and thereafter to haTe tiieur \nbodies bomt to ashes.\" \n\n\n\nTHE GHOST OP THE BLACK-BROWED MAID.* \n\nIf bodies were safe after death, characters were not. \nIsabel Heriot was maid of all work to the minister at \nPreston. '' She was of a low Stature, small and slender \nof Body, of a Black Complexion. Her Head stood some- \nwhat awry upon her Neck. She was of a droU and \njeering Humour, and would have spoken to Persons of \nHonour with great Confidence.\" After some short time \nof service, her master the minister began to dislike her, \nbecause she was not eager in her religious duties ; so \nhe discharged her : and in 1680 she died \u2014 ^and \" about \nthe time of her death her face became extreamly \nblack.*' Two or three nights after her burial, one \nIsabel Murray saw her, in her white grave-clothes, \nwalk from the chapel to the minister s louping-on stone \n(horse-block). Here she halted, leaning her elbow on \nthe stone, then went in at the back gate, and so towards \nthe stable. A few nights after this stones were flung at \nthe minister's house, over the roof, and in at the doors \nand windows; but they fell softly for the most part, \nand did no especial damage. Yet one night, just as the \nminister was coming ia at the hall door, a great stone \nwas flung after him, which hit the door very smartly \nand marked it Isabel Murray was also hit with stones, \nand the serving^man who looked to the horses was \ngripped at the h^el by something which made him cry \nout lustily. So it went on. Stones and clods^ and lighted \n\n\u2022 Sinelair's * I&yiaible Woiid.* \n\n\n\nTHE GHOST OF THE BLACK-^BKOWBD MAID. 143 \n\neoalsy and even an old horse-comb long since lost^ were \nperpetually flying about, and only by severe prayer was \nthe minister able to lay the devil who molested them. \n\nSoon Isabel Murray reappeared with a \u00a3resh set of \ncircumstances concerning the ghost of her namesake \nIsabel Heriot, the maid of all work. She said that as \nshe was coming &om church between sermons, to visit \nher house and kailyard for fear some vagrant cows \nmight have got over the dyke \u2014 ^which were very likely \nof the true Madarty type\u2014 on going down her own \nyard, which was next to the minister's, she saw again \nthe apparition of Isabel Heriot, as she was when laid in \nher coffin. \" Never was an egg liker to another than \nthis Apparition was like to her, as to her Face, her \nStature, her Motion, her Tongue, and Behaviour; her \nface was black Uke the mouten soot, the very colour \nwhich her face had when she died.\" The ghost was \nwalking under the fruit-trees, and over the beds where \nthe seeds had been sown, bending her body downwards, \nas if she had been seekiag somewhat off the ground, \nand saying, '^ A stane ! a stane !\" Her lap was fuU of \nstones ; as some people supposed the stones she cast in \nthe night-time ; and these stones she threw down, as if \nto harbour them, at a bush-root in the garden. Isobel \nMurray, nothing daunted, goes up to her. \n\n\u2022* Wow r* says she, \" what's thou doing here, Isabel \nHeriot? I charge thee by the law thou lives on to tell me.\" \n\nSays the ghost, \" I am come again because I wronged \nmy master when I was his servant. For it was I \nthat stealed his Shekel (this was a Jewish shekel \nof gold which, with some other things, had been stolen \nfrom him several years before), which I hid under the \nHearthstone in the Kitching, and then when I flited \ntookit into the Cannongate, and did offer to sell it to a \n\n\n\n144 THE WrrOHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nFrench Woman who lodged where I served, who askt \nwhere I got it. I told her I found it between Leith \nand Edinburgh.\" Then she went on to make further \nconfession. Having fyled herself for a thief she went \non to show how she had been also a witcL \"One \nnight,\" says the ghost, \" I was riding home late from \nthe Town, and near the Head of Fanside Brae, the \nHorse stumbled^ and I said, The Devil raise thee ; \nwhereupon the Foul Thief appeared presently to me, \nand threatened me, if I would not grant to destroy my \nMaster the Minister, he would throw me into a deep \nhole (which I suppose is yet remaining) ; or if I could \nnot get power over my master, I should strive to destroy \nthe Shoolmaster.\" \n\n\" It was very remarkable,\" says George Sinclair, as a \nkind of commentary, \" that one of the minister's servant- \nwomen had given to the schoolmaster's servant-voman \nsome Linnings ta make clean, among which there was a \nCross cloth of strong Linning, which could never be \nfound, though diligent search was made for it, till one \nmorning the Master awakening found it bound round \nabout his Night Cap, which bred admiration both to ! \n\nhimself and his Wife. No more skaith was the Devil \nor the Witches able to do him. What way this was \ndone, or for what end it cannot be well known : but it | \n\nis somewhat probable that they designed to strangle j \n\nand destroy him in the night time, which is their usual \ntime in working and doing of mischief. This happened \nabout the time (I suppose) that the Devil had charged \nIsabel Heriot to destroy this honest man. Yet witjhin \ntwo days a young child of his, of a year old, fell sick, \\ \n\nwhich was quickly pulled away by death, none knowing \nthe cause or nature of the disease.\" \n\nIsabel Murray went on to say, that farthermore the \n\n\n\nTHE SUCCUBUS. 145 \n\nghost confessed to her, that she, Isabel fleriot, when in \nlife, had met the devil a second tiine at Elflston Mill, \nnear to Ormiston : and she told what foulness the devil \ndid to her. Also, one night as she was coming home \nfrom Haddington Market with some horse-com, she met \nthe devil at Knock-hills, and he bade her destroy Thomas \nAnderson, who was riding with her. When she refused \nhe threw all the horse-com off the horse. \" This Thomas \nAnderson was a Christian man,\" and when Murray told \nher tale \" well remembered that Isabel had got up the \nnext morning timeously,\" and brought home her oats \nwhich had lain in the road all the night. She said too \nthat she had cheated her master whenever she went to \nthe market to buy oats, charging him more than they \ncost \u2014 not an unusual practice with servants at market \nanywhere; and she told Isabel Murray that the stone \ncast at her was not for herself but for her goodman, \nwho had once flung her, the ghost, into the jawhole, \nand abused her. At this point Murray said she began \nto be frightened, and ran home in all haste. So Isabel \nHeriot's character was settled for ever, and her neigh- \nbours only thought the judgment came too late. \n\nTHE SUCCUBUS.* \n\nWilliam Barton, a loose-lived man of notoriously \nstrong passions, was apprehended for witchcraft His \nconfession included tixe not very frequent Scottish \nelement of a Succubus \u2014 a demon under the form \nof a beautiful woman who beguiled him, and to whom \nhe made himself over for love and gold. She bap- \ntized him under the name of John Baptist, gave him \nher mark, and fifteen pounds Scots in good gold as \n\n\u2666 Sinclaur. \n\n\n\n\u00a5 \n\n\n\nT53: WrrCHES W SCOTLAND. \n\nELiie^ : flfei thffli dier pizted. ' When he had \n\nr ^r jzr A irn^ '\u00ab:i7 aie called him back and gave \n\n-L^n 4 :2:i.rs *\u00bb.\u2022 ?^iiii n, the Ferry, desiring him to \n\ni.*~- -r :rrc*r:i -^ Jisti' ^a5\u00bb and mibroken. At this \n\n^ -LI n _^ \u2022ii-r-'-iLa riie poor wretch was weary, \n\ni-^- -55^*v rtin- -- ^ X iLeep : which, for a wonderful \n\n-iT- r \u2022 1 jiziaiLj-. :nir .^irss granted. Suddenly ho \n\nv.1^ ..^-\u00bb. *: .1 i L-uL iWLrii. The mapstrates asked \n\n\u2022 it^^.*-t \u2014 unf ni^ sfcji ihiit dnring his sleep the \n\n.:-.- ::iu. '*:rtf v um. ^arr ihT^gry at his confession, and \n\n: \u2014 ^ ..a .f\u00bbi*- uL witfni he awoke, \"for he should \n\n- .> V ^TTunu ' ^fiHT lii? he became \" obdured,\" \n\n\u00ab* \u2022% ^. ; :vwr -*intj>aB Ktviiing again; the devil \n\n-r.>si:;^.::i^ i:a aui lu TiiaL iiftiocid take his life. And \n\nt- : \u00bb. t i iit^ I'ui. iiuL liXiMi zhe stake was set up and \n\n^r !** u.^t -^miui. Hf nuy i^^woed, \"he cared not \n\n* -^ .^w \"i\\ * siiu. iif.. *i i^ial not die this day.\" \n\n\u2022 \u00ab -^* w L :<: I iM :b2Ui w^s to kill him? Upon \n^ > .- .v.. \u2022tLT-UfcC ,twn*\u00bb ii(x> the prison, but fell \n\n>v,^ .X* ^1 4 :t?^irm>\u00a3 :o ^e executioner's wife if \n>^t M.U..L \u2022.\u2022j^.it^LAL i*rr lasMDuTs oflBces, and strangle \non **\u00bb.r ia*4. ^:s.L>\u00ab >-acr? lew^sboint; which she \n^*\u00bb-<\u00bb*. V ^v. '-c aJ. itetf sOi* W5B in great pain and \n^--^ ^ \u2022.\u00bb\u00bb. ' c ^^^ i5*i2vis^ iaa erring, \"Dool for this \n.^^t ^ *t. KtJ^c JU\u00a3>i: lufrew^ Martin r When the \n%\u00bb^^ V -v >:\u00abML>v liort^ 4 nmnnoL w;fe$ to pot him to death, \nV \u2022: . V > \"Mfi^^ ,^' ^tyta^. ^r^ ^^* ^\u00ae devil \nft\u00bb^^ o^v*i*-w : ju i\u00bbi '^le^ 111? nan ever trust his \n\n\n\n1 vu^\u00ab*< \"^'^ ^^^0^ :iii|rraiNiiai with him. On her \n\n>v'\u00bbi^ >;sx Av%;iA^*i Jidb^ $i\u00bbr Imi BteTer known her hus- \n\nj ^,(^^ %: s % %\u00ab*\u00bb>vviv W goL his that he had never \n\n>i*s^%a Kc V > 4 %t^^ te inaently the mask fell \n\n\n\nTHE ISLAND WITCHES. 147 \n\noff, and she confessed. She said that malice against \none of her neighbours had driven her to give herself \nover to the devil, that he had baptized her by the name* \nof Margaratus, and taken her to be very near to him ; \na great deal too near for even a virtuous woman's \nthoughts. When asked if she had found pleasure in \nhis society, she answered, \" Never much.\" But one \nnight, going to a witches' dance upon Pentland Hills, he \nwent before them all in the likeness of a rough tanny \ndog, playing on a pair of pipes. The spring he played, \nsaid she, was \"The silly bit chicken, gar cast it a pickle, \nand it will grow mickle;\" and coming down the hill \nthey had the best sport of all : the devil carried the \ncandle and his tail went, \" ey wig wag, wig wag !'* \nSiaigaratus was burnt with her husband. \n\n\n\nTHE ISLAND WITCHES. \n\nThe Orkney and Shetland islanders were rich in \nwitchcraft superstitions. They had all the Norwegian \nbeliefs in fullest, ripest quality, and held to every- \nthing that had been handed down to them firom \nHarald Harfagre and his followers. Kelpies and trows, \nand brownies and trolls, which somehow or other \nwent out with taxation and agriculture, peopled every \nstream and every meadow, and witches were as many \nas there were men who loved nature, or women who had \na faculty for healing and the instinct of making petg. \nSomewhere about the middle of the seventeenth \ncentury a woman was adjudged a witch because she \nwas seen going from Hilswick to Brecon with a couple \nof familiars in the form of black crows or corbies, \nwhich hopped on each side of her, all the way. Which \n\n\n\n148 THE WITCHES OF SdOTLAKD. \n\nthing, not being in the honest nature of these fowls to \ndo, she was strangled and burnt. But most frequently \n*the imp took the form of a cat or dog ; sometimes of a \nrespectable human being; as was the case about seventy \nyears ago, when it was notorious that the devil, as a \ngood braw countryman, helped a warlock's wife to \n^elve while her husband was engaged at the Haaf. \nAccording to the same authority too,* not longer ago \nthan this time, when the devil dug like any navvy, a \nwoman of the parish of Dunrossness was known to have \na deadly enmity against a boat's crew that had set off \nfirom the Haaf. The day was cloudless, but the woman \nwas a witch, and storms were as easy for her to raise as \nto blow a kiss from the hand. She took a wooden \nbasin, called a etxp, and set it afloat in a tub of water ; \nthen, as if to disarm suspicion, went about her house- \nhold work, chanting softly to herself an old Norse ditty. \nAfter she had sung a verse or two she sent her little \nchild to look at' the tub, and see whether the cap was \nwhummilled (turned upside down) or no. The child \nsaid the water was stirring but the bowl was afloat. \nThe woman went on singing a little louder ; and pre- \nsently sent the child again to see how matters stood. \nThis time the child said there was a strange swell in \nthe water, but the cap still floated. The woman then \nsang more loud and fierce; and again she sent. The \nchild came back saying the waters were strangely \ntroubled, and the cap was whummilled. Then she \ncried out, \" The turn is done!\" and left off singing. \nOn the same day came word that a fishing yawl had \nbeen lost in the Roust, and all on board drowned. The \nsame story is told of some women in the island of \nFetlar, who, when a boat's crew had perished in tlie \n* Hibbert*s ' Shetland Islands.* \n\n\n\nTHE ISLAIJD WITCHES. 149 \n\nBay of Funzie, were found sitting round a well, mutter* \ning mysterious words over a wooden bowl supematurally \nagitated. The whole thing, as Hibbert says, forcibly \nreminds one of the old Korse superstition of the Quern \nSong. \n\nIt was no unusual thing for men and women of \notherwise peaceable and cleanly life to tamper with the \nelements in those dim and distant days. Even seventy \nyears ago a man named John Sutherland of Papa Stour \nwas in the habit of getting a fair wind for weather-bound \nvessels: and the KnoU of Kibister, in the island of \nBressay, now called Luggie's Knowe,* testifies by its \nname to the skill and sorf owful fate of a well-known \nwizard of the seventeenth century. There on that \nsteep hill used Luggie to live, and in the stormiest \nweather managed somehow always to have his bit of \nfresh fish : angling with the most perfect success, even \nwhen the boats could not come into the bay. When \nout at sea Luggie had nothing to do but cast out his \nlines to have as plentiful a dinner as he could desire. \n\" He would out of Neptune's lowest kitchen, bring cle- \nverly up fish weU-boiled and roasted;\" but strange \nand mischancy as the art was, his companions got \naccustomed to it, \" and would by a natural courage \nmake a merry meal thereof, not doubting who was \ncook.*' But Luggie's cleverness proved fatal to him. \nMen were not even adept fishers in those days without \ndanger, and jealousy and fear helped to swell the \nreputation of his natural skill into supernatural power : \nso he was tried for a sorcerer, and burnt at a stake at \nScalloway. We need hardly wonder at the fate of \npoor Luggie, considering the times. If it were possible \nto hang two women on the 26th of January, 1681 \u2014 \n* Hibbezi and Ipinclair. \n\n\n\n150 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nactually to hang them in the sight of Grod and this \nloying pitiM human world, ^' for calling kings and \nbishops perjured bloody men,\"* we need not wonder to \nwhat lengths superstition in any of its other forms was \ncarried. We have made a stride since then, with seven- \nleagued boots winged at the heels. \n\nA family of bright young sonsf lived on one of the \nShetland islands. A certain Norwegian lady had reason \nto think herself slighted by one of them, and she swore \nshe would have her revenge. The sons were about to \ncross a voe or ferry ; but one was to take his shelty, \nwhile the rest were to go by the boat. Mysteriously \nthe shelty was found to have been loosed from its \ntether, and was gone ; so all the heirs male of the \nrace were under the necessity of going by the boat \nacross the voe. It was the close of day\u2014 a mild windless \nevening : not a ripple was on the water, not a cloud in \nthe sky ; and no one on either bank heard a cry or saw \nthe waters stir. But the youths never returned home. \nWhen they were searched for the next day they could \nnowhere be found : only the boat drifting to the shore, \nunharmed and unsteered. When the deed was done \nthe shelty was brought back to its tether as mysteriously \nas it had been taken away. \n\nTrials and executions still went on; some at \nDumfries, and some at Coldingham X where Margaret \nPolwart was publicly rebuked for using charms' and \nincantations to recover her sick cluld whom \" that thief \nChristian Happer had wronged.\" But as a neighbour \ntold her very wisely, \" They that chant cannot charm, \nor they that lay on cannot take off the disease, or they \nthat do wrong to any one, cannot recover them,\" so \nwhat was the good of all her notorious cantrips with \n* Fcnintainhall. f Hibbert X Chambers, \n\n\n\nTHE RENFREWSHIRE WITCHES. 151 \n\nJean Haxt and Alison Nisbet\u2014 -the last of such evil \nfame that she had lately been scratched for a witch \u2014 \nthat is, had blood drawn above her breath ? Margaret \nPolwart might be thankfiil that she got off with only a \nrebuke for using charms in place of drugs, and consort- \ning with witches to undo witches' work. In 1696, Janet \nWiddrow and Isobel Cochrane were brought to trial, \nbut not burnt for the present ; but two poor creatures, \nM'Eorie and M*Quicken, did not escape: nor some \nothers, of no special dramatic interest. \n\nAnd now we come to that marvellous piece of disease \nand imposture combined, the notorious case of \" Bar- \ngarran's Daughter.\" \n\nTHE RENFREWSHIRE WITCHES.* \n\nChristian Shaw, Bargarran's daughter, was a little \ngirl of about eleven years of age, ** of a lively character \nand well inclined.\" On the 17th of August, 1696, she \nsaw the woman servant, Katherine Campbell, steal a \ndrink of milk from the can, whereupon she threatened \nto tell her mother ; but Campbell, \" being a young \nwoman of a proud and revengeful temper, and much \naddicted to cursing and swearing upon any light occa- \nsion,\" turned against her vehemently, wishing \" that \nthe Devil might harle her soul through hell,\" and \ncursing her with violent imprecations. Five days after \ntliis, Agnes Naismith, an old woman of bad fame, came \ninto the courtyard, and asked Christian how old she \nwas, and how she did, inquiring also after the health of \nother membejrs of the family. Christian gave her a \npert answer, and there the matter ended ; but the next \n\n* Wat8on*8 Tract, printed 1698. Ohambers, Dickie, and Yarioiui \nother sources. \n\n\n\n152 THE WITCHES OF SCXXTLAND. \n\nnight the young girl was taken with fits, and the first \nact of the long and mournful tragedy began. In her \ntits she cried oat agaiost Eatherine Campbell and \nAgnes Naismith, saying they were cutting her side and \notherwise tormenting her ; then she struggled as with \nan unseen enemy, and her body was, now bowed stiff \nand rigid, resting in. an arch on her head and her heels \nalone, and now shaken with such a strange motion of \nrising and &Uing, as it had been a pair of bellows ; her \ntongue was drawn into her throat, and even the great \nDr. Brisbane of Glasgow himself was puzzled by what \nname to call her passion, for she began to vomit strange \nthings, which she said the witches, her tormentors, forced \nupon her \u2014 such as crooked pins, small fowl bones, sticks \nof candle fir, filthy hay, gravel stones, lumps of candle- \ngrease, and egg-shells. And still she cried out against \nKatherine Campbell and Agnes Naismith; holding \nlong conversations with the former, whom she affirmed \nto be sitting close by when she was perhaps many \nmiles away, and arguing with her out of the Bible : \nexhorting h&r to repent of her sins with more miction \nthan lexical clearness of reasoning. Agnes Naismith \nshe took somewhat into favour again ; for the poor old \nwoman, having been brought by the parents into the \nchamber where she lay, and having prayed for her a \nlittle simple prayer Very heartily, the afflicted damsel \ncondescended to exempt her fix)m further persecution for \nthe moment, saying that she was now her defender and \ndid protect her from the fury of the rest For the crafty \nchild had seen too well how her first venture had sped \nnot to venture on a broader cast One^day being in \nhex fits she made a grip with her hands as if to catch \nsomething, then exclaimed that J. P. was then tormenting \nher, and that she had got a grip of his jerkin which was, \n\n\n\nTHE KENPREWSHIEB WITCHES. 153 \n\n^'duddie\" (tattered) at the elbows; and immediately \nher mother and aunt heard the tearing of cloth, and \nthe girl showed them in her hands two pieces of red \ncloth newly torn, where nev^ a bit of red cloth had \nbeen before. Then she went off into a swoon or \n\"swerf,\" and lay as if dead a considerable time. These \nfits continued with more or less severity far into the \nwinter of the next year, and with ever new victims \nciaiqaed by her as her tormentors. Now it was Eliza* \nboth Anderson ; now James and Thomas Lindsay \u2014 ^the \nlatter a young lad of eleven, *< the gley 'd or squint* \neyed elf,\" as she called him ; now \" the scabbed-faced \nlass/' who came to the door to ask alms ; and now the \nweary old Highland body, begging for a night's lodging ; \nthen Alexander Anderson, father of Elizabeth; and \nJean Fulton, the grandmother ; and then Margaret Lang \n\u2014 ^Pincht Margaret as she was called \u2014 \" a Name given \nher by the Devil, from a Pincht Cross cloath, ordinarily \nworn on her Brow ;\" and her daughter, Martha Semple, \nOf the twenty-one people accused by this wicked girl, \nMargaret Lang and her daughter were the most re* \nmarkable \u2014 ^the one for her courage, her fine character \nand powerful mind, the other for her youth, her beauty, \nand child-like innocence of nature. When she heard \nthat she was accused, Margaret \u2014 who had been advised \nto get out of the way for a time, but who had answered \ndisdainiully, '' Let them quake that dread and fear that \nneed, but I will not gang \"-r-went up straight to Bar- \ngarran house, and passing into the chamber where \nChristian lay, put her arms round her and spoke to her. \nsoothingly, saying, '^ The Lord bless thee and ding the \ndevil frae thee !\" She then asked her pointedly if she \nhad ever seen her among her tormentors ? \u2014 ^to which the \ngirl said. '^No, but she had seen her daughter Martha.\" \n\n\n\n134 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\n^Vlterwiirds she letracted this admission and said that \nMargaret had really afflicted her, but that she was under \na spell \\\u00a5hen a^ked and conld not confess. Martha could \nnot take things so gently. \" She was as well-Favoured \nand Gentill a Lass as you'l look on, and about 17 or 18 \nyears of Age,** says an old authority in an anonymous \nletter written to a couple of initials. Poor Martha ! her \nyouth and beauty and passionate distress moved even \nthe bigoted wretches who condemned her; but their \ncompassion led to nothing pitiful or merciful, and \nthe poor\u00bb bright, beautiful girl passed into the awful \ndoom of the rest Then the authorities ^' questioned \" \nthe witches; they were pricked, according to custom \nand the national law ; and *^ There was not any of them, \nsave Margaret Fulton, but marks were found on them, \nwhich were altogether insensible. That a Needle of \n3 Inches length was frequently put in without their \nknowledge, nor would any Blood come from these \nplaces.\" Elizabeth Anderson, a girl of seventeen, a \nbeggar, James Lindsay, of fourteen, and gley'd Thomas, \nhis brother, not yet twelve \u2014 who for a halfpenny \nwould turn himself widershins and stop a plough at \na word \u2014 \u00bb were found willing and able to confess. \nElizabeth Anderson was especially determined that \nthings should not be lost for the want of finding. She \nsaid that about twenty days ago her father had told \nher to go with him to Bargarran's yard, somewhere \nalx)ut noon, where they met a black man with a bonnet \nou his head, and a band round his neck, whom her \nfather and Agnes Naismith, then present, told her \nwas the devil : that certain people, named, were also in \ntheir company ; that their discourse was all of Christian \nShaw, then lying sick, \" whose Life they all promised \nto take away by the stopping of her Breath ;\" that they \n\n\n\nTHE RENFREWSHIRE WITCHES. 165 \n\nall danced in the yard ; that her father \" Discharged \nher to tell anything she saw, or she would be Tom \nin Pieces: and that she was more Aflfraied of the \nforsaid persons than she was of the Devil.\" This con- \nfession was made on the 5th of February, 1697. A few \ndays later her imagination was more Kvely. About \nseven years ago, she said, as she was playing round the \ndoor of her grandmother, Jean Fulton's, house, she saw \n\" ane black grim man \" go into the house to her \ngrandmother, where he abode for a while talking. Jean \nbade her take the gentleman by the hand, and he would \ngive her *^ ane Bony Black, new Coat ; which accordingly \nshe did.\" But his hand was cold and she was afeard : \nand then he vanished away. The same thing happened \nonce again, when the black gentleman and her grand- \nmother fell Srtalking together by \" rounding in other's \nears,\" but the girl understood not what they said. This \ntime she would not touch his hand for all his promises \nof bran new clothes ; so \" the gentleman went away in a \nflight,\" and she saw him no more for long after. The \nnext time was when her father \" desired her to go with \nhim through the Country and seek their Meat ; to which \nshe replyed she need not seek her Meat, seeing she might \nhave Work :\" but her father prevailed, and took her to \na moor where above twenty people were assembled; \nwhose names she gives in a formidable muster. Now \nthe devil tempted her anew with meat and clothes, but \nshe would not consent; so he and her father stepped aside \nand conferred together. Their meeting this day was \nfor the destruction of a certain minister's child, which \nthey were to effect by means of a wax picture and pins. \nAnother time it was for the destruction of another \nminister s child by the same means, and she heard \nMargaret Eodger say, \" Stay a little, till I stop ane \n\n\n\n.:lHB\u00bb OF SCOTLAND. \n\n.-k . . .t :\" wbjch accordingly she did. \n\n.vr i\u00ab**.>k her on his back over the \n\n.. \u00ab. .a a I: li^zut, saying Mount and Fly. \n\n.. Li. a ortfw when they drowned Brig- \n\n.. :^ ..^ K^iit* and when they strangled a \n\n.v^ . ^iter whieh they all danced with \n\n. . . .ac\u00abL Coat\u00bb ane Blew Bonnet, ane \n\n\u2022 .V , .uvt^ the pipes for them, and gave \n\n^v .1 an unchristened bairn's liver to \n\n\u2022 >^v>aid never confess if apprehended. \n\n.i.^kaxjox^ toc^fonl to be repeated. \n\n;^\u00ab lebruary 18th, James Lindsay, the \n\n>Kj . ruiixersy confessed. Jean Fulton was \n\n> i- iiAK cind he said that one day, when \n\n.. -ae took his little round hat and plack \n\nM'ljuv; loath to part with the same, he ran \n\n...^ .or them: which she revising, he called \n\nXV ilea, and ran away. Whereupon she \n\nliiL Eight days after this, as he waa \n\nu^ii the country near Inchannan where \n\niiL I her again ; and this time she had with \n\nack grim man with black deaths, ane \n\n. i\u00bbIew Band,\" who offered bis hand, which \n\n...il which he found* cold as it gript him \n\n. ./ liiiemau asked if he would serve him \n\nack coat and a black hat, and several \n\n. . >:uck he replied \u2666^ Yes, FU doV He \n\n. me meetings, and saw all the people \n\nuugs^ that Elizabeth had spoken of; \n\nt^ Montgomerie's bairn with a sea \n\nV. >V*iOck at night, while the servant \n\n^ >) the cradle. Young Thomas the \n\nVH\u00bb 'uufeasiiig to just the same things, \n\nV ivic *' uttcrissened bairn,\" which all \n\n\n\nTHE BENFBEWSHIRE WITCHES. 157 \n\neat save Elizabeth and their two selveB : a slip-by \nthat accounted for their confessioDS^ And now justice \nhad a good handful to begin with, so the work of accu- \nsation went briskly forward. Bargarran's daughter \nstill continued bringing Out crooked pins and stones \nand all sorts of unmentionable filth from her mouth, \nand still went on quarrelling with the devij whom she \ncalled an old sow, and holding conversations with the \napparitions of her tormentors, still mixed up fraud \nwith epilepsy, and lies and craft and wicked guile with \nhysteria, till the witch-fires were fairly lighted, and \nseven of the poor wretches \" done to death.\" Among \nwhom brave Margaret and her beautiful child held the \nmost prominent place. Never for a moment did Mar- \ngaret Lang lose her courage or self-possession. Seeing \na farmer whom she knew, among the crowd assembled \nround the gallows, she called out to him bitterly, \" that \nhe would now thrive like a green bay-tree, for there \nwould be no innocent blood shed that day ;\" but what \nshe meant for irony the people took for confession. \nWhen she was burned, the answer of a spectator to one \nwho asked if the execution was over, showed what \nfeeling they had about her : \" There's ane o' the \nwitches in hell, an' the rest 'ill shune follow ! \" said he \ncontentedly. Another man, whose stick was taken to \npush back the legs of the poor wretches as they were \nthrust out of the flames, when it was returned to him,, \nflung it into the flames, saying, V I'U tak nae stick \nhame wi' me to my hous that has touched a witch.\" \nWhen all was over and the sacrifice was complete, \nBargarran's daughter declared herself satisfied and \ncured ; no more \" bumbees \" came to pinch her \u2014 no \nmore charms of balls of hair or waxen eggs were laid \nbeneath her bed \u2014 ^no more apparitioxis thronged to vex \n\n\n\n.\u00a3 VITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\n. . I*;, s^e nts or toasmgSy foamings or strange \n\n^^ -^ - : ' Id : the deTil left off tempting her \n\n\u2022 ....^^ .1 a tine gentleman for a husland ; the \n\n. > \u2022 . .irvr allured her by phantom aprons filled \n\n. i.;.v ai diiuonds ; the Lord '^helped the poor daft \n\n., \u00bb> ?lrs. 31. had prayed, though she was scarce \n\n\u00bb' .' i't'iiig, and the world was oppressed with \n\n> :io uiore. But the blood of the murdered \n.\u00ab V _.L .i\\ ivd on the ground, and cried aloud to \nv\u00bb. a '\u00bbr \\euii:eanee against the murderers. The \ni.-v . i uirgarrau's daughter has been always accepted \nN .e uIous^ mendacious; the only thing surprising \nI lu' whole matter was that there was not one man \nN.,..u'ioia ovkUuoss of judgment, or quickness of per- \nV ^ , V u 'o SCO through the imposture and set his grip \nI t V u t [h^s^hL Dickie and Mitchell, who a few \n> N 'viv V >t>iit\\l the house where all this took place, \n\u2022w ' t xiic v\u00bbr hole in the wooden partition between \n. *\\v vv ui :iud the room next it; a slit, evidently \n\\ ^ . i^^^ \\>\u00bb i^^ ^^^ * natural defect in the wood, \n\u25a0 . . uwl uiut when the bed was made up (the bed \n.\\ .\\;. \\ w; <.>ak yet stands or stood there) it could \nV .\\ a l>\\ any one in the room. This little \n. . . lo ^pcuk volumes, and to help materially \n.sMusiuug the questions of fraud and con- \niw icius^te sequel is the only consoling fei^ \n\n\n\nMISCELLANEOUS, 159 \n\nture in the case. From being the most notorious \nimpostor and the most cruel, false, and deadly per- \nsecutor of her time, Bargarran's daughter, as Mrs. \nMiller, became one of the best and most famous spin- \nners of fine and delicate thread. She caused certain \nmachinery to be brought from Holland, and wrought at \nher spinning wheel with all the intelligence and zeal \nthat, earlier, had been so miserably employed to the \nruin and destruction of her fellow-creatures. It is to be \nhoped that the coolness and reflection of maturity gave \nher grace to repent of the sins of her girlhood, and \nthat after-penitence wiped out the terrible stains of \nyouthful lying and murder. \n\n\n\nMISCELLANEOUS. \n\nThat same year also Sir John Maxwell, of PoUok, \nand some other gentlemen, were commissioned to try \ntwo poor women, Mary Millar and Elspeth M*Ewen, \nand if guilty adjudge them to death ; which they were \nfound to be, and adjudged accordingly; and a few \nmonths after, Margaret Laird \u2014 still in Renfrewshire \u2014 \nwas reputed to have been \" under ane extraordinary \nand most lamentable trouble, falling into strange and \nhorrible fits, judged by all who have seen her to be \npreternatural, arising from the devil and his instru- \nments.\" The suspected witches who were accused of \ntroubling her, were seized and put upon their trial. \nSo was Mary Morrison, spouse of Francis Duncan ; but \nher husband petitioned so earnestly for her release for \nsake of her \" numerous poor family \" starving in \nneglect at home, and there being no kind of proof \nagaix^ her, she was at length released and set at \n\n\n\nIflO THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nliberty. ** The Loid-Adyocate soon after reported to \nthe Privy Cooncil a letter he had received from the \nSheriff of Benfrewshire, stating that ^ the persons im- \nprisoned in that connty as witches are in a starving \ncondition, and that those who informed against them \nare passing from them\u00bb and the sheriff says he vfill send \nthem in prisoners to Edinbm^h Tolbooth, unless they \nbe qniekly tried' His lordship was recommended to \nask the sheriff to sopport the prisoners till November \nnext, when they would probably be tried, and the \ncharges would be disbursed by the treasury. A distinct \nallowance of a groat a day was ordered on the 12th of \nJanuary, 1699> for each of the Renfrewshire witches.\"* \nIn July of the same year, Eo8s-\u00abhire contributed a \nfamous quota. Twelve luckless creatures were reported \nat once as being guilty of the \" diabolical crimes and \ncharms of witohcrait,** and by the 2nd of January, 1700, \ntwo of them had confessed, and were sentenced to such \narbitrary pxmishment as the committee might think \nproper, '* This is the first appearance of an inclination \nin tiie central authorities to take mild views of witch- \ncrafty*' says Chambers ; but we have not seen the last \nof capital pimishments, for on the 20th oi November, \n1702, Margaret Myles was hanged at Edinburgh. That \nshe was a witch was proved not only by her own con- \nfession, but by her inability to say the Lord's Prayer, \neven when the minister, Mr. George Andrews, tried to \nteaoh her. When he desired her to pray \" her heart \nwas so obdured that she answered she could not ; for, \nas she confessed, she was in covenant with the devil, \nwho had made her renounce her baptism.\" He then \nwished her to say the Lord's Prayer after him, and she \nbegan, but she would say nothing but ^^ Our Father \n<> ChambeiB. \n\n\n\nTHE STIEK'S FOOT. 161 \n\nwhich wart in heaven,\" and could not by any means be \ngot to say the right word. He then reproached her> \nsaying, '* How could she bid him pray for her, since she \ncould not pray for herself?\" and, singing two verses of \nthe 51st Psahn, he made her show a little penitence. \nThen he essayed her again, trying to make her repeat \nafter him, \" I renounce the devil,\" but she would only \nsay, \" I unce the devil;\" \"for by no means would she \nsay distinctly that she renounced the devil, and a&ered \nunto her baptism, but that she unced the devil, and \nhered unto her baptism. The only sign of repentance \nshe gave was after the nt^pkin had covered her face, for \nthen she said, ^ Lord, take me out of the devil's hands, \nand put me in GodV \" \n\nThe next year, \" The Eigwoodie Witch,\" lean \nMarion Lillie of Spott, was had before the Kirk \nSession to account for her dealings in the village. She \nwas a passionate-tongued old dame, who had handled \nroughly one of her neighbours while in the condition \nthat looked forward to Mrs. Gamp and the caudle-cup ; \n80 roughly, indeed, that Mrs. Gamp and the caudle-cup \nwere forestalled, and the poor woman was brought to \nan unpleasant pass ; so the Kigwoodie witch got some- \nthing not so pleasant as a month's nursing, and was put \nout of the way of handling pregnant women roughly for \nthe future. \n\n\n\nTHE STIRK'S FOOT.* \n\nJean Neilson lived in Torrybum, a village in the \nwest of Fife, and she and Lillias Adie, a woman of more \nthan equivocal reputation, were not on the best o\u00a3 \n\n* Chambers. \n\n\n\n162 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND, \n\nterms. Jean Neilson was but a poor sickly body, full \nof fancies and uncatalogned aibnents ; and because she \nhad no scientific name to give them, she gave Lillias \nthe credit of having created them by her magic. She \nswore that she was bewitched, and that old Lillias was \nthe bewitcher. Upon which the ministers and elders of \nthe kirk in Torrybum met in solemn conclave on the \n29th of July, and called Lillias before them to give an \naccount of her bad practices. Lillias had no mind that \nthey should lose their trouble. She confessed herself a \nwitch without fiirther ado ; said how that she had met \nthe devil by the side of a \" stock \" in the harvest field, \nwhere she had renounced her baptism and accepted \nhim on the instant as her lord and lover ; how he had \nembraced her, when she found his skin cold, and saw \nhis feet cloven like a '^ stirk's.\" Since then she had \njoined in dances with him and others whom she \nnamed ; for LiUias, like all the rest, seemed to think \nthere was safety in a multitude, and delated several \nof the parish, to bear her company in her uncom- \nfortable position; and she told how, at the back of \nPatrick Sands' house in Vellyfield, they were lighted \nby a mysterious light, just sufficient to let them see \neach olher s faces, and to show the devil with a cap \ncovering his ears and neck. The minister and elders \nhad now rich game in view, and they held meeting \nafter meeting to examine those whom Lillias accused, \nand feed their ears with all the wild and monstrous tales \nthey chose to pour into them. But what became of them \neventually no one now knows : only of a surety Lillias \nAdie was burned \" within the sea mark,\" and Jean Neil- \nson might now bear her imcatalogued ailments in peace. \nThe minister of Torryburn at that time was one AUen \nLogan \u2014 ^the Reverend Allen Logan \u2014 ^notorious for his \n\n\n\nTHE HORRIBLE MURDER OF JANET CORNFOOT. 16a \n\nskill in detecting witches, and his zeal in hunting them \ndown. When administering the oomtnunion he would \nflash his eye through the congregation and say harshly, \nas by knowledge, \" You witch-wife, get up from the \ntable of the Lord,\" casting a ball for the conscience- \nstricken to kick at ; when, ten to one, some poor old \ntrembling wretch would totter up, and so go mumbling \nthrough the doors, \" thus exposing herself to the hazard \nof a regular accusation afterwards.\" He was always \n\"dinging\" i^ainst withcraft; and one day a woman \ncalled Helen Kay took up her stool and went out of \nthe church. She said she thought he was \" daft \" \" to \nbe always dinging against witches thae' gait ;\" but the \nelders thought diflferently, and Helen Kay was con- \nTicted of profanity, and ordained to sit before the con- \ngregation and be openly rebuked. \n\n\n\nTHE HORRIBLE MURDER OF JANET CORNFOOT.* \n\nWhile Lillias Adie was being burned in the west of \nFife, Beatrix Laing, at Httenweem in the east, was put \nto sore trouble. Patrick Morton, a youth of sixteen \n** free from any known vice,\" sent up a petition to the \nPrivy Council (June 13, 1704), stating, fiiat being em- \nployed by his father to make some nails for a ship lying \noS Pittenweem, Beatrix Laing, spouse to William \nBrown, tailor, and late treasurer of the burgh, came and \ndemanded some nails. He \" modestly \" refused her, \nsaying that he was engaged in another job, and could \nnot therefore work for her ; whereupon she went away, \n** threatening to be revenged, which did somewhat \nfrighten him, because he knew she was under a bad \n\n* Chambers ; Sinclair ; and an anonymous tract. \n\n\n\n164 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\nfame and reputed for a witch.\" The next day, on \npassing Beatrix's door, \" he observed a timber vessel \nwith some water and fire coal in it at the door, which \nmade him apprehend that it was a charm laid for him, \nand the effect of her threatening ; and inmiediately he \nwas seized with such a weakness in his limbs that he \ncould hardly stand or walk.\" For many weeks this \nstrange kind of lingering disease and discomfort went \non, he \" still growing worse, having no appetite, and \nhis body strangely emaciated,\" all because of Beatrix \nhaving \" slockened \" fire coals in a vessel as a malevo- \nlent charm for him ; till about May the disease ripened,, \nand the symptoms of hysteria and epilepsy presented \nthemselves. He swelled prodigiously; his breathing \nwas like the blowing of a pair of bellows ; his body was \nrigid and inflexible; his tongue was drawn into his \nmouth ; and he cried out vehemently against Beatrix \nLaing and others \u2014 ^for these accusations never came \nalone ; professing to know his tormentors by their touch \nif brought to him, although his eyes were blinded, and \nthe bystanders held their peace. In short, he played \nthe same antics here in the east as Bargarran's daugh- \nter had played in the west. Beatrix and the rest were \nflung into prison, and every effort was made to induce \nthem to confess. Beatrix was pricked, and kept with- \nout sleep for five days and nights ; but she held out \nmanfully. She would not consent to accept the modest \nyouth's interpretation of his illness, and denied strongly \nall hand in it, and all trafficking with witch charms or \nunholy arts. At last she was conquered. Sleepless- \nness and torture did their appointed work, and she \nmade a rambling statement of baptismal renunciation, \nand the like, delating Janet Comfort and others, which \nconfession she recanted as soon as she had got a little \n\n\n\nTHE HORRDBLE MURDER OF JANET CORNFOOT. 165 \n\nstrength; and specially that part where she had spoken \nof her fine packs of wool which she had sold so well \nat the market, coming home afterwards on a big black \nhorse, which she gave into her husband's hands. Her \nhusband, she had said, was embarrasised with this big \nblack horse, and asked what he should do with it? to \nwhich she had answered, ^' Cast his bridle on his neck \nand you wiU be quit of him.\" So the horse flew off \noverhead with a great noise, and Beatrix Laing's \nstartled husband for the first time understood its real \ncharacter. \n\nIn revenge at her obduracy the ma^trates \" put \nher in the stocks, and then carried her to the Thieves' \nJEole, and from that transported her to a dark dungeon, \nwhere she was allowed no manner of light, or human \n^converse ; and in this condition she lay for five \nmonths.\" All this while the magistrates of the burgh \nwere pressing on the Privy Council the absolute need of \ntrying her ; but the Earl of Balcarres and Lord Anstru* \nther, two members of the council connected with the \ndistrict, interposed their influence, and got the poor \ncreature set at liberty ; \u2014 \" brought her off as a \ndreamer,\" says the anonymous pamphlet angrily. But \nshe was forced to turn her face from Pittenweem, and \n\" wandered about in strange places, in the extremity \nof hunger and cold, though she had a competency at \nhome, but dared not come near her own house,\" for fear \nof the fury and rage of the people: dying at last \n\" undesired \" in her bed at St. Andrews. \n\nBeatrix was wandering about in strange places, safe \nif sorrowful, but Alexander Macgregor clinched her \nmuttered charge against Janet Comfoot by accusing \nher of perpetually haunting him \u2014 she and two other \nwitches, and his Cloutieship along wilh them. They \n\n\n\n166 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\ntonnented him chiefly in the night time, while he \nwas sleeping in his bed. Janet, nnder torture con- \nfessed ; but retracted immediately after, saying that the \nminister himseK had beaten her with his staff to make \nher speak out : and there being considerable doubt of \nher gmlt in the minds of the gentry of the district, \neven of the chastising minister himself, she was allowed \nto escape, by connivance. But another minister of the \nneighbourhood, with more zeal than humanity and \nmore grace than knowledge, stopped her in her flight, \nand sent her back to Pittenweem. There the mob got \nhold of her. They had been fearfuUy excited by Beatrix \nLaing's acquittal and Janet's escape, and they were not \ndisposed to let this unexpected glut to their vengeance \ngo. They seized poor Janet Comfoot, tied her up hard \nin a rope, beat her unmercifully, then dragged her by \nthe heels through the streets and along the shore. \n\" The appearance of a bailie for a brief space dispersed \nthe crowd, but only to show how easily the authorities \nmight have protected their victim if they had chosen.** \nResuming their horrible work, the rabble tied Janet to \na rope stretching between a vessel in the harbour and \nthe shore, swinging her to and fro, and amusing them- \nselves by pelting her with stones. Tiring at length of \nthis sport, they let her down with a sharp fall upon the \nhmch, beat her again unmercifully, and finally covering \nher with a door, pressed her to death (Jan. 30, 1705). \nJanet's daughter was in the town, and knew what \n,.,-r4 taking place down by that blood-stained shore, but \nmIm^ dared not interfere ; and during all the time this \n|*(it*?ou\u00ab murder was going on \u2014 lasting for nearly three \nUmU'H \u2014 neither magistrate nor minister came forward \nfa I protect or interpose. Are verily and in truth \" the \nlHiWiiv\u00bb that be ordained of Grod,\" or has not the devil \n\n\n\n\\ \n\n\n\nTHE SPELL OF THE SLAP. 167 \n\nsometinies somellimg to do with tke laying on of \nhands? \u2014 ^so much of the devil, at least, as is represented \nby ignorance, inhumanity, superstition, and cowardice, \nalways conspicuous qualities of the more zealous of \nevery denomination. \n\nAbout this time,* Thomas Brown, another of the ac- \ncused, died of \" hunger arid hardship \" in prison ; and \nat the close of the year, two Inverness men, George \nand Lachlan Eattray, were executed, being found \n\" guilty of the horrid crimes of mischievous charms, \nby witchcraft and maleflce, sorcery or necromancy.\" \nAnd many witches were also burnt on the top of \nSpott Loan. \n\nTHE SPELL OF THE SLAP.f \n\nIn 1708, William Stensgar, of Southside, in Orkney, \nhad rheumatism. He sent to an old beggar-woman, \ncalled Catherine Taylor \u2014 a cripple herself, but none the \nless qualified to heal others by her magic arts. She \ncame to him about an hour before sunrise and took the \ncase in hand, bidding him follow her till they came to \na certain kind of gate or stile, called a slap or grind ; \nWilliam's wife accompanying them with a stoup of \nwater. At this slap Catherine touched his knee, saying, \n\" As I was going by the way I met the Lord Jesus \nChrist in the likeness of another man ; he asked me \nwhat tidings I had to tell ? I said I had no tidings to \ntell, but I am full of pain, and can neither gang nor \nstand. Thou shalt go to the holy kirk, and thou shalt \ngang round about, and then sit down upon thy knees, \nand say thy prayers to the Lord, and then thou shalt \nbe as heal as the hour when Christ was bom.\" After \n\n* Chambers. f Hibbert \n\n\n\n168 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nthis precious chaiin^ which the old cripple said had \nbeen taught her when a child, she repeated the 23rd \nPsalm ; and then the evil spirit which had caused the \nrheumatism was assumed to be '' tolled out ^ into the \nstoup of water ; at all events William Stensgar would \nhave no more of it. Then the water was emptied out \nover the slap or gate so that the next person passing by \nthe stile might get it instead of William. One man \nwho had watched this devilry from the beginning, evaded \nthe foul fiend by pushing his way through the hedge \nhigher up ; but another unfortunate wretch, not so lucky \nor not so early a riser, coming blundering over the stile \nas usual, got laid hold of by the fiend which William \nStensgar had shaken off, and was holden by it hardly. \n\n\n\nTHE PLAGUE OF CATS.* \n\nTear by year witches became scarcer, none of any \nspecial note presenting themselves till we come to the \ncase of Margaret Nin-Gilbert, of Caithness, which hap- \npened in the year 1718; the same year as that in \nwhich the minister of Eedcastle lost his life by witch- \ncraft, and Mr. M'Gill's house at Kinross (he was minister \nthere) was so egregiously troubled by a spirit which \nnipped the sheets and stuck pins into eggs and meat, \nand dipt away the laps of a gentlewoman's hood and \na servant maid's gown tail, and flung stones down the \nchimney, which \"wambled a space\" on the floor, and \nthen took a flight out of the window, and threw the \nminister's bible into the fire, and spoilt the baking, \nand played all sorts of mad pranks to disquiet the family \nand defy God. If such things as these could be done \n\n* Law's ! Memorials ;' and Chamben. \n\n\n\n, THE PLAGUE OF CATa 169 \n\nin the light of the snn, why, should not Margaret Nin- \nGilbert have Bupematural power ? Nin-Gilbert had a \nfriend, one Margaret Olson, a woman of it is said \nwicked behaviour, whom Mr. Frazer put out of her house, \ntaking as his tenant instead one William Montgomerie. \nUpon this Margaret Olson went to her friend Nin-Gil- \nbert, the notorious witch, and besought her to harm \nMr. Frazer ; but Mr. Frazer being a gentleman of rank \nand fortune was defended from the witches, and Nin- \nGilbert- confessed she had no power or inclination to hurt \nhim. However, one night as he was crossing a bridge, \nthey attempted him, but succeeded not; and he, on \nbeing questioned, said he perfectly remembered '* his \nhorse making a great adoe at that place, but that by \nthe Lord's goodness he escaped.\" Also he had a great \nsickness at the time these women were taken, but he \nhad common sense enough to refuse to ascribe it to \nthem. Finding that they could not prevail against \nMr. Frazer, they turned their attention to Mont- \ngomerie, \" mason^ in Bumside of Scrabster,\" who was \nalso under the ban for having accepted the tenancy \nof which Margaret Olson had been dispossessed. \nSuddenly his house became so infested with cats \nthat it was no longer safe for his family to remain \nthere. He himself was away, but his wife sent to \nhim five times, threatening that if he did not return \nhome to protect them, she would flit to Thurso; \nand his servant left them suddenly, and in mid term, \nbecause five of these cats came one night to the fireside \nwhere she was alone, and began speaking among them- \nselves with human and intelligible voices. So William \nMontgomerie, mason at Scrabster, returned home to do \nbattle with the enemy. The cats, came in their old way \nand in their old numbers ; and William prepared his \n\n\n\n170 THE WITCHES OP SCOTLAND. \n\nbest. On Friday night, the 28th of November, one \nof the cats got into a chest with a hole in it, and when \nshe put her head out of the hole, WilKam made a lunge \nat her with his sword, which *' cutt hir,\" but for aU that \nhe could not hold her. He then opened the chest, and \nhis servant, William Geddes, stuck his dirk into her \nhind quarters and pinned her to the chest. After \nwhich, Montgomerie beat her with his sword and casi \nher out for dead ; but the next morning she was gone J \nso there was no doubt as to her true character. Four \nor five nights after this, his servant, being in bed, \n\" cryed out that Some of these catts had come in on \nhim.\" Montgomerie ran to his aid, wrapt his plaid \nabout the cat and thrust his dirk through her body, \nthen smashed her head with the back of an axe, and \ncast her out like the first. The next morning she too \nwas gone, and there was proof positive for another case. \nSo as none of these cats belonged to the neighbourhood, \nand there were eight of them assembled together in one \nnight, \" this looking like witchcraft, it being threatened \nthat none should thrive in my said house,\" William \nMontgomerie made petition to the Sherrif-Deput of \nCaithness, to visit \"some person of bad fame,\" who \nwas reported to have fallen sick immediately on this \nencounter, and search out if she had any wounds on her \nbody or not. \"This representation seeming all the \ntime to be very incredulous and fabulous, the sheriff \nhad no manner of regard yrto.\" But when, on the 12th \nof February, Margaret Nin-Gilbert was seen by one of \nher neighbours \" to drop at her own door one of her \nleggs from the midle, and she, being under bad fame for \nwitchcraft, the legg, black and putrified, was brought \nbefore the Sheriff-depute \" (not the sheriff himself, the \nEarl of Caithness, who might have had a little more \n\n\n\n\\ \n\n\n\nTHE PLAGUE OF CATS. 171 \n\ncommon sense) \u2014 ^then tbe said Sheriff-depute ordered \nNin-Gilbert to be seized and examined. Margaret \nmade short work of it. Being interrogated the \n8th of February, 1719, she confessed that she was \nunder compact with the deyil, whom she had met in the \nlikeness of a black man as she was trayelling some \nlong time byegone in ane eyening ; confessed also that \nhe sometimes appeared to her as a great black horse, \nand other times as if riding on a black horse, and some- \ntimes as a black cloud, and sometimes as a black hen. \nC!onfessed also that she was at WiUiam Montgomerie's \nhouse that eyening, when he attacked her as a cat, and \nthat he broke her leg with the dirk or axe, which since \nhad fallen off from the rest of her body : also, that \nMargaret Olson was there with her, who, being \nstronger than she did cast her on the dirk when her \nleg was broken. She then delated four other women, \none of whom, Helen Andrew, had been so crushed and \nmaimed by Montgomerie, ''that she dyed that same \nnight of her wounds or few days yrafter:\" and another, \nM'Huistan, ''cast herself a few days afterwards &om \nthe rocks of Borrowstoun into the sea, since which \ntime she was never seen ; while a third, Jannet Pyper, \nshe identified as having a red petticoat on her. Asked \nhow they managed not to be discovered said, the devil \nraised a fog or mist to conceal them.\" When her con- \nfession was ended, her accomplices were apprehended ; \nbut she herself died in prison in a fortnight's time. Mar- \ngaret Olson was then examined. She was \" tryed in the \nshoulders \" (for witches' marks), \" where tiiere were \nseveral small spots, some read, some blewish ; after a \nneedle was driven in with great force almost to the eye \nshe felt it not. Mr. Innes, Mr. Oswald, minister, and \nseveral honest women, and Bailzie Forbes, were wit- \n\n\n\nl72 THE WITCHES OP SOOTLAM). \n\nnesses to this. And further, that while the needle was \nin her shoulder, as aforesaid, she said, ^ Am not I ana \nhonest woman now T \" So this instance of human wicked- \nness and folly ended by the usual method of the cord \nand the stake. \n\n\n\nTHE YOUNG HONOURABLE'S DECEITS. \n\nJanuary, 1720, saw distress and confusion at Calder \nin Mid Lothian. Lord Torphichen's third son, the Ho- \nnourable Patrick Sandilands, was bewitched, and the \nwhole country was in excitement. If the devil could \ntouch a Lord's son, who was safe? There was no \ndoubt of the fact, let who would deny it. Lord Tor- \nphichen's son though he was, the Honourable Patrick \nSandilands was worse holden than the meanest hind on \nthe estate. He was buffeted about the room; flung \ndown in trances, from which no horsewhippings \u2014 and \nit is to be hoped he had plenty of them, and well laid \non \u2014 could revive him ; he pronounced prophecies ; was \nlifted up in the air ; taken off long journeys between the \nspace of two flashes of light ; had the gift of clair- \nvoyance ; and put out all the candles by his very pre- \nsence \u2014 his powers depending, as such powers generally \ndo, on darkness and confusion for their perfect develop- \nment. Lord Torphichen soon left off the use of the horse- \nwhip, and he and all the family came to the conclusion \nthat the Honourable Patrick was bewitched. So they \ngot hold of the witch, a brutish, ignorant, half-witted \nwoman living in the village of Calder, and put her in \nprison, waiting her confession. As for that, it was not \ndiflBcult to get at. Yes, she was a witch ; had been a \nwitch for many years ; had once given the devil her own \ndead child to make a roast of; had made an image of \n\n\n\nTHE LAST OF THE WITCHES; 173: \n\nthe young laird ; and had three associates, two women \nand a man. Mad William Mitchell, the Tinklarian \nDoctor,* as he was called, went on foot in ill weather \nwithout food from the West Bow to Lord Torphichen's \nhonse at CtJder, to see what he could do towards discover-r \ning the devil in the witches. This was on the 14th of \nJanuary \u2014 ^ihe day of the solemn fast, which was all the \nhelp that the awakening reason of the times would \nallow the Honourable Patrick Sandilands. True, the witch \nand her confederates were in prison, but there was no \ngaUows planted, and no fire set : only the ministers, and \nelders, and saints, and people, conyened in solemn and \nsacred prayer, to beseech God to drive out the devil \nfrom a lying, mischievous, hysterical lad. But crazy \nWilliam Mitchell took very little by this move. Lord \nTorphichen not favouring his pretensions to special and \nprivate illumination. The sermon was preached in the \nCalder Kirk by the Eev. Mr. John Wilkie, minister of \nTJphall, the sorcerers being present, and was found \nso powerful that the devil was fairly exorcised, and \nthe boy soon after wholly recovered. In time he went \nto sea, rose to the command of an East Indiaman, but \nperished in a storm, leaving a meritorious name singu- \nlarly stained with boyish sins. \" It brings us strangely . \nnear to this wild-looking affair,\" says Chambers, \" that \nthe present Lord Torphichen (1860) is only nephew to the \nwitch-boy of Calder.\" \n\nTHE LAST OF THE WITCHES. \n\nAnd now we draw near to the close of this fatal super- \nstition. In 1726, Woodrow notes \"some pretty odd \n\n* A ciBZjT old lUmmn&tus, who had a ** caU/* and wrote the \nTinkler's Testament. \n\n\n\n174 THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND. \n\naccomits of witches,\" had from a couple of Eossnahire \nmen, but fails to give us very accurate details, save \nonly that one of them at her death ^^ confessed that they \nhad, by sorcery, taken away the sight of one of the eyes \nof an Episcopal minister, who lost the sight of his eye \nupon a sudden, and could give no reason for it.\" And \nearly in the year of 1727* the last witch-fire was kindled \nwith which the air of bonnie Scotland was polluted. \nTwo poor Highland women, a mother and daughter, \nwere brought before Captain David Eoss of Littledean, \ndeputy-sheriff of Sutherland, charged with witchcraft \nand consorting with the deviL The mother was accused \nof having used her daughter as her ''horse and hattock,\" \ncausing her to be shod by the devil, so that she was ever \nafter lame in both hands and feet ; and the fact being \nsatisfactorily proved, and Captain David Eoss being well \nassured of tiie same, the poor old woman was put into a \ntar-barrel and burned at Dornoch in the bright month \nof June. \" And it is said that after being brought out \nto execution, the weather proving very severe, she sat \ncomposedly warming herself by the fire prepared to \nconsume her, while the other instruments of death were \ngetting ready.\" The daughter escaped: afterwards \nshe married and had a son who was as lame as herself; \nand lame in the same manner too ; though it does not \nseem that he was ever shod by the devil and witch- \nridden. \"And this son,\" says Sir Walter Scott, in \n1830, \"was living so lately as to receive the charity \nuf the present Marchioness of Stafford, Countess of \nSutherland in her own right\" \n\nThis, then, is the last execution for witchcraft in \nScotland ; and in June, 1736, the Acts Anentis Witch- \ncraft were formally repealed. Henceforth, to the dread \n* Scott Dickie. Chambers, &c. \n\n\n\nTHE LAST OF THE WITCHES. 175 \n\nof the timid, and the anger of the pious, the English \nParliament distinctly opposed the express letter of the \nLaw of God, \" Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live ;\" \nand declared the text upon which so much critical \nabsurdity had been talked, and in support of which so \nmuch innocent blood had been shed, vain, superstitious, \nimpossible, and contrary to that human reason which is \nthe highest law of God hitherto revealed unto men. \nBut if Parliament could stay executions it could not \nremove beliefs, nor give rationality in place of folly. \nNot more than sixty years ago an old woman named \nElizabeth M*Whirter* was *' scratched\" by one Eagles- \nham, in the parish of Golmonel, Ayrshire, because his \nson had fallen sick, and the neighbours said he was \nbewitched. Poor old Bessie M*Whirter was forced over \nthe hills to the young man's house, a distance of three \nmiles, and there made to kneel by his bedside and \nrepeat the Lord's Prayer. When she had finished, the \nyouth's father took a rusty nail and scratched the poor \nold creature's brow in the form of a cross ; scratched it \nso effectually that it was many weeks in healing, and \nthe scar remained to the last day of her hfe. If Elizar \nbeth M'Whirter had lived a generation earlier, she \nmight have run a race with death and a tar barrel, and \nbeen defeated at the end, like the poor old wretch at \nDornoch. \n\nBut stni the old faith lingers in those beautiful vales, \nand hides in the fastnesses of the mountain glens ; still \nbrownies haunt the ruined places, and witches send \nforth blight and bale at their will ; still the elfin people \nride on the whirlwind and dance in the moonlight ; and \nthe hill and the flood and the brae and the streamlet \nhave their attendant spirits vehich vie with the church- \n* Dickie's * Philosophy of Magio/ \n\n\n\nI7B THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAmr. \n\nyard ghost in impotent malevolence to men. And the \ngift of second sight, though dying oat because of these \nd^enerate times of utilitarianism and power-loom \nweaving, is yet to be found where the old blood runs \nthickest, and the old ideas are least disturbed ; and still \nthe whole nation clings with spasmodic force to its \ngloomy creed of the Predestined and the Electa and \nholds by the early faith from whose narrow bounds \nothers have emerged into a brighter and a wider path. \nNo more witch*fires are now lighted on the Castle Hill; \nno more grave and reverend divines give themselves up, \nlike Mr. John Aird, to discovering the devil's mark \nstamped visibly on human flesh ; yet the heart of the \npeople has not abandoned its ancient Grod, and though \nthe altars may be dressed with Ihe flowers of another \nseason, and tiie name upon the plinth be carved in other \ncharacters, yet is the indwelling idol the same. The \nGod which Cajvinistic Scotland yet warships is the same \nGod as that to which the witches and wizards of old \nwere sacrificed ; he is the God of Superstition, the Gk)d \nof Condemnation, in whose temple Nature has no place, \nand Humanity no rights. \n\n\n\n177 \n\n\n\n^t Wi%s 0f (gnglanJr. \n\n\n\n\"Every old woman witb a wrinkled face, a furr'd \nbrow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a \nsqueaking voice, or a scolding tongue, having a ragged \ncoate on her back, a skull-cap on her head, a spindle in \nher hand, and a Dog or Cat by her side, is hot only \nsuspected but pronounced for a witch,\" says John \nGaule ;* while Eeginald Scott puts forth as his experi- \nence : \u2014 \" One sort of such as are said to be witches, \nare women which be commonly old, lame, blear-eyed, \npale, fowle, and full of wrinckles ; poor, suUen, super- \nstitious, and Papists ; or such as know no religion ; in \nwhose drousie minds the devill hath gotten a fine \nseat; so as, what mischief, mischance, calamity or \nslaughter is brought to passe, they are easily per- \nswaded the same is done by themselves ; imprinting in \ntheir minds an earnest and constant imagination thereof. \nThey are leane and deformed, showing melancholy in \ntheir &ces, to the horror of all that see them. They \nare doting, scolds, mad, devilish ; and not much differ- \ning &om them that are thought to be possessed with \nspirits, so firm and steadfast in their opinions, as whoso- \never shall only have respect to the constancy of their \nwords uttered, would easily believe they were true \n^ * Select Cafies of Conscience.' f ' I^iBCoyerie of Witchcraft.' \n\nN \n\n\n\n178 THE WITCHB8 OP ENGLAND. \n\nindeed.\" Dr. Harsnet, in his \" Declaration of Popish \nImpostures,\" gives the subject a masterly touch of \ncommon sense and satire : \u2014 ^' These things,\" saith he, \n'' are raked together out of old doating Heathen His- \ntriographers, Wizzardizing Augurs, Lnposturizing \nSoothsayers, Dreaming Poets, Chimerical Conceiters, \nand Coiners of Fables, &c. Out of these is shap'd the \ntrue Idea of a Witchy an old weather-beaten Crone, \nhaving her Chin and Knees meeting for Age, walking \nhke a Bow leaning on a Staff, HoUow-Ey'd, Untooth'd, \nFurrow'd on her Face, having her Lips trembling with \nthe Palsy, going mumbling in the Streets : One that \nhath forgotten her Pater Noster, and yet hath a shrewd \nTongue to call a Drab a Drab. If ^e hath leam'd of \nan old Wife in a Chimney End Pax, Max, Fax, for a \nSpell ; or can say Sir John Grantham's Curse for the \nMiller's Eels, All ye that have stolen the Miller's JBels, \nlaudato Dominum de Coelis: And all they that have \nconsented thereto, Benedicamus Domino: Why then \nbeware, look about you, my Neighbours. If any of you \nhave a Sheep sick of the Giddies, or a Stag of the \nMumps, or a Horse of the Staggers, or a Knavish Boy \nof the School, or an idle Girl of the Wheel, or a young \nDrab of the SuUens, and hath not Fat enough for her \nPorrage, or Butter enough for her Bread, and she hath \na little Help of the Epilepsy or Cramp, to teach her to \nroll her Eyes, wry her Mouth, gnash her Teeth, startle \nwith her Body, hold her Arms and Hands stiff, &c. \nAnd then with an old Mother Nobs hath by Chance \ncall'd her Idle young Housewife, or bid the Devil \nscratch her ; then no doubt but Mother Nobs is the \nWitch, and the young Girl is Owl-blasted, &c.\" Then \nhe goes on to say, with more force and right judgment \nthan one could have expected from one of bis genera- \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. 179 \n\ntion : \u2014 \" They that have their BraiBs baited, and their \nFancies distempered with the Imaginations, and Appre- \nhensions of Witches, Conjurers, and Fairies, and all \nthat Lymphatical Chimeera, I find to be marshall'd in \none of these five Banks: Children, Fools, Women, \nCowards, sick or black melancholick discompos'd Wits.\" \nThese then are the sentiments of three somewhat \nwise and sane men, who lived in a time of universal \nmadness, and gave their minds to the task of stemming \nthe raging torrent For the whole world was overrun \nwith witches. From every town came crowds of these \nlost and damned souls; from every hovel peered out \nthe cursing witch, or cried aloud for help the stricken \nvictims. These poor and old and wretched beings, \nupon whose heads lighted the wrath of a world, and \nagainst whom every idle lad had a curse and a stone to \nfling at his will, were held capable of all but omnipo- \ntence. They could destroy the babe in the womb and \nmake the \"mother of many children childless among \nwomen ;\" they could kill with a look and disable with \na curse; bring storms or sunshine as they listed; by \ntheir \" witch-ropes,\" artfully woven, draw to themselves \nall the profit of their neighbours' bams and breweries ; \nyet ever remained poor and miserable, glad to beg a \nmouthful of meat, or a can of sour milk from the hands \nof those whom they could ruin by half a dozen mut- \ntered words ; they could take on themselves what shapes \nthey would, and transport themselves whither they \nwould : no bolt or bar kept them out, no distance by \nland or sea was too great for them to accomplish ; a \nstraw \u2014 a broomstick \u2014 ^the serviceable imp ever at hand \n\u2014 ^was enough for them ; and with a pot of magic oint- \nment, and a charm of spoken gibberish, they might \nvisit the king on his throne, or the lady in her bower, \n\n\n\n180 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nto do what ill was in their hearts against them, or to \ngather to themselves what gain and store they would. \nYet with all this power the superstitious world of the \ntime saw nothing doubtful or illogical in the fact of \ntheir exceeding poverty, and never stayed to think that \nif they could transport themselves through the air to \nany distance they chose, they would be but slippery \nholding in prison, and not very likely to remain there \nfor the pleasure of being tortured and burnt at the end. \nBut neither reason nor logic had anything to do with \nthe matter. The whole thing rested on fear, and that \npractical atheism of fear, which denies the power of \nGod and the wholesome beauty of Nature, to exalt in \ntheir stead the supremacy of the Devil. This belief in \nthe Devil's material presence and power over men was \nthe dark chain that bound them all. Even the boldest \nopponent of the Witchcraft Delusion dared not fling it \noff ; not the bravest man or freest thinker could shake \nhis mind clear of this terrible trammel, this bugbear, \nthis mere phantasm of human fear and ignorance, this \nghastly lie and morbid delusion, or abandon the slavish \nworship of Satan for the glad freedom of God and \nNature. It was much when such men as Scot>* \nand Giffardjt and Gaule of Staughton,J Sir Eobert \nFilmer,\u00a7 Ady,|| Wagstaffe,^ Webster,** Hutchinson,tt \nand half a dozen more shining lights could bring them- \n\n\u2666 \u2022 Discoverie of Witchcraft,' 1584. \n\nt * Dialogue concerning Witches/ 1603. \n\nX * Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcraft/ 1646. \n\n\u00a7 ' Advertisement to the Jurymen of England,' 1653. \n\nII \u2022 A Candle in the Dark/ 1656. \n\nIT * Question of Witchcraft debated,* 1669. '* Wagstaffe was a little \ncrooked man, of a despicable presence. He was laughed at by tiiie \nboys of Oxford because they said he himself looked like a wizard.\" \n\n\u2022\u2666 'Displaying of Witchcraft,' 1677. \n\ntt ' Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft,' 1720. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. 181 \n\nselves to deny the supernatural power of a few half- \ncrazed old beggar-women, and plead for humanity and \nmercy towards them, instead of cruelty and condemnar \ntion; but not one dare take the wider step beyond, \nand deny the existence of that phantom fiend, belief in \nwhom wrought all this misery and despair. Even the \nvery best of the time gave in to this delusion, and dis- \ncussed gravely the properties and proportions of what \nwe know now were mere lies. \n\n**We find the illustrious author of the * Novum \nOrganum' sacrificing to courtly suppleness his philo- \nsophic truth, and gravely prescribing the ingredients \nfor a witch's ointment ; \u2014 Selden maintaining that crimes \nof the imagination may be punished with death ; \u2014 ^The \ndetector of Vulgar Errors, and the most humane of \nphysicians giving the casting vote to the vacillating \nbigotry of Sir Matthew Hale ; \u2014 Hobbes, ever sceptical, \npenetrating, and sagacious, yet here paralyzed and \nshrinking from the subject, as if afraid to touch it ; \u2014 The \nadventurous explorer, who sounded the depths and \nchannels of the * Intellectual System' along aU the \n* wide- watered' shores of antiquity, running after witches \nto hear them recite the Common Prayer and the Greed, \nas a rational test of guUt or innocence ; \u2014 The gentle \nspirit of Dr. Henry More, girding on the armour of per- \nsecution, and rousing itself &om a Platonic reverie on \nthe Divine Life to assume the hood and cloak of a \nfamiliar of the Inquisition ; \u2014 and the patient and in- \nquiring Boyle, putting aside for a while his searches for \nthe grand Magisterium, and listening, as if spell-bound, \nwith gratified attention to stories of witches at Oxford \nand devils at Mascon.\"* In the Church and amongst the \n\n* Introduction to Potts^s * Difloovery of Witches,* edited by James \nOroflsley, Esq. Ohetham Society. 1815. \n\n\n\n182 THE WITCHES OT BNaLAND. \n\nmore notoriously ** religions \" men of the time it was: \nworsa In Archbishop Cranmer's * Articles of Yiata^ \ntion' (1549) is this clause: \u2014 ''You shall enquire \nwhether you know of any that use Charms, Sorcery, \nEnchantments, Soothsaying, or any like Craft invented \nby the Deyil;\" and Bishop Jewel, preaching before \nQueen Elizabeth (1558), informed her how that ** witches \nand sorcerers within these last few years are mar- \nvellously increased in your Grace's realm. Tour Grace's \nsubjects pine away even unto their death, their colour \nfeuleth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is benumbed, \ntheir senses are bereft ; I pray Grod they never practise \nftirther than upon the subject . . . These eyes \nhave seen most evident and manifest marks of their \nwickednesa\" At the next Parliament the new Bill, \nagainst the detestable sin of witchcraft was passed, and \nStrype says, partly on account of the Lord Bishop's \nearnest objurgation. Dalton's* * Country Justice ' (1655 ) \nshows to what a pass, a century later, witchcraft bad. \ncome in credulous England. Truly Scot was right \n\n* Conjuration or invocation of any evil spirit waa felony without \nbenefit of clergy ; so also to consult, covenant with, entertain, feed, or \nreward any evil spiril^ or to take up any dead body for charms or \ntpells ; to use or practise witchcrafts, enchantment, charm, or sorcery, \nso that any one was lamed, killed, or pined, was felony without benefit \nof clergy, to be followed up by burning. Then * The Country Justice ' \ngoes on to give the legal signs of a witch, and those on which a magis- \ntrate might safely act, as legal \" discoveries.\" 8he was to be found \nand proved by insensible marks ; by teats ; by imps in various shapes, \nsuch as toads, mice, flies, spiders, cats, dogs, &c. ; by pictures of ?rax \nor clay ; by tlie accusations of the afflicted ; by her apparition seen by \nthe afflicted as coming to torment them ; by her own sudden or fre- \nquent inquiries at the house of the sick ; by common report ; by the \naoousations of the dying ; and the bleeding of the corpse at her touch ; \nby the testimony of children ; by the afflicted vomiting pins, needles, \nitraw, &c. ; in short, by all the foolery, gravely formularized, to be \nft)und in the lies and deceptions hereafter related. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCH OF BBBKELEY. 18\u00ab \n\nwhen he said that his greatest adyersaries were '^ yottng \nignomnce and old customs.\" Theyhaye always been \nthe greatest adyersaries of all truth* Of late^ thank \nGrod^ the march of humanity has been steadily, if slowly^ \ntowards the daylight ; but at present you and I, my \nreader, haye to do with the most debashig superstition \nthat eyer afflicted history, in the matter of those poor \nwretched seryants of ^e deyil \u2014 ^those witches and \nwizards, who somehow managed to lose on all sides \u2014 ^to \nsuffer in time and be ruined for eternity, and to get \noi^y ill'wiU and ill-usage from man and fiend alike. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCH OF BEBKBLEY. \n\nOne of our earliest English witches^ so early indeed \nthat she becomes mythical and misty and out of all \npossible proportion, was the celebrated Witch of \nBerkeley,* who got the reward of her sins in the middle \nof the ninth century, leaying b^iind her a tremendous \nlesson, by which, howeyer, after generations did not \nmuch profit. The witch had been rich and the witch \nhad been gay, but the moment of reckoning had to \ncome in the morning ; the feast had been noble and \nwell enjoyed, but the terrible account had to be paid \nwhen all was oyer; and the poor witch found her \nruddy-cheeked apple, now that the rind was off and \neaten, filled with nothing but dust and ashes \u2014 ^which \nshe must digest as best she may. As the moment of \nher death approached, she called for the monks and the \nnuns of the neighbouring monasteries, and sent for her \n\n* ThomM Wright's *Kftnaiive of Sorcery ftad Magic' Soutbey's \nBftUad. \n\n\n\n184 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nchildren to hear her coiifession ; and then she told \nthem of the compact she had made, and how the Devil \nwas to come for her body as well as her soul. \" But,\" \nsaid she, ^^sew me in the hide of a i|tag, then place me \nin a stone coffin, and fasten in the covering lead and - \niron. Upon this place another stone, and chain the \nwhole down with heavy chains of iron. Let fifty \npsalms be sung each night, and fifty masses be said \nby day, to break the power of the demons. K you \ncan thus keep my body for three nights safe, on the \nfourth day you may bury it \u2014 ^the Devil will have sought \nand not found\" The monks and the nuns did as they \nwere desired ; and, on the first night, though the \ndemons kept up a loud howling and wailing outside the \nchurch, the priests conquered, and the old witch slept \nundisturbed. On the second night the demons were \nmore fierce and clamorous, and the monks and the \nnuns told their beads faster and faster ; but the fiends \nwere getting more powerful as time went on, and at last \nbroke open the gates of the monastery, in spite of prayer \nand bolt and bar ; and two chains of the co\u00a3^ burst \nasunder, but the middle one held firm. On the third \nnight the fiends raged sore and wild \u00ab The monastery \nwas shaken to its foundations, and the monks and the \nnuns almost forgot their paters and their aves in the \nuproar that drowned their voices and quailed their \nhearts; but they still went on, until, with an awful \ncrash, and a yell from all the smaller demons about, a \nDevil, larger and more terrible than any that had come \nyet^ stalked into the church and up to the foot of \nthe altar, where the old woman and her coffin lay. \nHere he stopped, and bade the witch rise and follow \nhim. Kteously she answered that she could not \u2014 she \nwas kept down by the chain in the middle : but the \n\n\n\nEAELT HISTORIC TRIALS. 186 \n\nDevil soon settled that difficulty ; for he put his foot \nto the coffin, and broke the iron chain like a bit of \nburnt thread. Then off flew the covering of lead and \niron, and there lay the witch, pale and horrible to see. \nSlowly she uprose, blue, dead, stark, as she was ; and \nthen the Devil took her by the hand, and led her to the \ndoor where stood a gigantic black horse, whose back \nwas all studded with iron spikes, and whose nostrils, \nbreathing fire, told of his infernal manger below. The \nDevil vaulted into the saddle, flung the witch on before \nhim, and off and away they rode \u2014 the yells of the \nclamouring demons, and the shrieks of the tortured \nsoul, sounding for hours, far and wide, in the ears of the \nmonks and the nuns. So here too, in this legend, as in \nall the rest, the Devil is greater than Grod, and prayer \nand penitence inefficacious to redeem iniquity. \n\n\n\nEARLY mSTORIC TRIALS. \n\nComing out from these purely legendary times, we \nfind ourselves on the more solid ground of an actual \nlegal record \u2014 the *Abbreviatio Placitorum;'* which \ninforms us that in the tenth year of King John's reign, \n\"Agnes, the wife of Odo the merchant, accused Gideon \nof sorcery (de sorceria), and she was acquitted by the \njudgment of the (hot) iron.\" This is the earliest \nhistoric trial to be found in any legal document in Eng- \nland. Nothing more appears until 1324, when two Co- \nventry men,t specially appointed out of twenty-seven im- \nplicated, undertook the slaying of the King, Edward 11., \n\n* ThomaB Wright's ' Narxative of Sorceiy and Ifagio,* and * Trial \nof Dame AUce Kyteler.' \nt Idem. \n\n\n\n186 THE WrrCHBS OP ENGLAND. \n\nthe two Dispeiwets hk favourites, the Prior of Co- \nYentry, his caterer and his steward, because they had \nopjM'essed the town^ and dealt unrighteously with its \ninhabitants. These two men went to a famous necro^ \nmancer then living in Coventry, called Master John of \nNottingham, whom, with his servant Bobert Marshall \nof Leicester, they engaged to perform the work required. \nBat Bobert Marshall proved faithless, and betrayed his \nmaster to the authorities ; telling them how they had \nreceived a sum of money for the work in hand, with \nwhich sum of money they had bought seven pounds of \nwax and two yards of canvas, to make seven images--^ \nsix for the six already enumerated, the seventh for one \nBichard de Lowe, who had done no one any barm, but \non whom they wished to try the effect of the spell, as a \nmodem anatomist would try his experiments on cats, or \ndogs, or labbits. He told them how he and Master \nJohn of Nottingham had been to a ruined house under \nShorteley Park, about half a league from Coventry, \nwhere they remained at work from the Monday after \nthe Feast of Saint Nicholas to the Saturday after the \nFeast of Ascension, making these images of wax and \ncanvas by which they were to bewitch their noble \nenemies to deatL And first, to try the potency of the \ncharm, Master John took a long leaden pin, and stmck \nit two inches deep into the forehead of the image repre- \nsenting Bichard de Lowe, upon which Bichard was \nfound writhing and in great pain, screaming \" harrow!\" \nand having no knowledge of any man; and so he \nlanguished for some days. Then Master John drew \nout the leaden pin from the brow, and struck it into the \nheart of the image, when immediately Bichard de Lowe \ndied, as any number of witnesses could testify. The \nnecromancer and his man, and the twenty-seven \n\n\n\nBABLY HISTORIC TRIALS. 187 \n\nCorentrj men implicated in this bit of sorcery, vrete \nIded at common law, and acquitted f<\u00bb* want of \neyidence. \n\nThat same year, too, occurred one of the most pic- \nturesque trials for witchcraft known : the trial of Dame \nAlice Ky teler, which Mr. Wright, with so much industry \nand learning, has exhumed irom the dusty old records \nwhere it was buried, and set out into the light of present \nknowledge and apprehension. But Dame Alice was an \nIrishwoman, and so does not xightly come into a book \non English witches ; else it would be a pleasant, if sad, \nlabour to tell how she was arrested on the charge of \nholding nightly conferences with her spirit or familiar, \nArtisson, who was sometimes a cat, and sometimes a \nblack sha^y dog, and sometimes a black man with \ntwo tall black companions, each carrying an iron rod \nin his hand \u2014 ^to which fiendish Proteus she had sacrificed, \nin the highway, nine red cocks, and nine peacocks' eyes ; \nand also for having, between complines and tvrilight, \nraked all the filth of Kilkenny streets to the doors of her \nson-in-law William Outlawe, murmuring to herseK \u2014 \n\n\" To the house of Wiliiam, my aonne. \nHie aU the -wealth of Eilkeimie towne.\" \n\nOf how, too, she blasphemously travestied the holy \nsaciament, having a wafer with the Devil's name stamped \non it instead of Christ's ; and how she had a pipe of \nointment wherewith she greased a staff '* upon which \nshe ambolled and gallopped thorough thicke and thin, \nwhen and what manner she listed.\" But it does not \nbelong to my present subject : nor to tell how one of \nher accomplices, poor weak Petronilla de Meath, was \nburnt at Kilkenny, not having strength or courage to \nresist the monstrous confession forced upon her; but \nhow the other, Basil, escaped, according to the natural \n\n\n\n188 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nlaw by which the strongest always come off the best. \nPerhaps the fact that Dame Alice took refuge in \nEngland may give her a slight claim to a place in \nthese pages ; but the question is doubtful, so we must \nlet her go\u2014 as also her son-in-law, William Outlawe, \nwhose strict imprisonment of nine weeks led to no bad \nresult, and, let us hope, cooled his blood, which was a \ntrifle too near to boiling point \n\nThen we stumble over the threshold of the chamber \nwhere Friars Bacon and Bungay are sleeping, while \nstupid Miles is watching the Brazen Head whose brief \nsolemn words were spoken in vain ; going forward just a \nfew paces until we come to the death-beds of Bungay and \nVandermast, and Friar Bacon's clever cheating of the \nDevil at last But we are still on the outskirts of \nlegendary land, and must go on to the middle of the \nfourteenth century before we get a firm hold. About \nthis time the subject of witchcraft occupied much of \nthe attention and thought of the Church, but the \npriests had not yet quite closed their fingers round it ; \nfor in 1371 a man was arrested for sorcery, and \n\" brought before the justices of the King's Bench, by \nwhom he was acquitted for want of evidence, which \nshows that it was still looked upon merely as an offence \nagainst common law.\" * It was only/when it became the \nsuperstition which some men are pleased to call \" reli- \ngion\" that it got stained with its deepest dyes. Early in \n1406 Henry IV. gave instructions to the Bishop of \nNorwich to search for the sorcerers, witches, and necro- \nmancers reported to be rather rife in that respectable \ndiocese, and if he could not convert them from the evil \nof their ways, he was to bring them to speedy punish- \n\n* * Introduction to the Narrative of the Proceedings against Dame \nAlice Kyteler.* By Thomas Wright. 1843. \n\n\n\nEARLY HISTORIC TRIALS. 189 \n\nment; and in 1432 the Privy Council ordered to be \nseized and examined a Franciscan friar of Worcester, \nby name Thomas Northfield ; another friar, John Ash- \nwell ; John Virley \" a clerk ;\" and Margery Jourde- \nmaine \u2014 ^the same Margery generally called the Witch \nof Eye, who, nine years later, was burnt at Smithfield \nfor her complicity in the treasonable practices of Dame \nEleanor of Gloucester. In 1441 Dame Eleanor herself \nwas arrested, and \" put in holt, for she was suspecte \nof treason ;\" and with her the Witch of Eye, who was \nburnt ; and Roger, a clerk \" longing to her,\" who was \nplaced on a high scaffold against St. Paul's Cross on the \nSunday, and there \" arraied like as he should never \nthrive in his gamementys;\" while heaped up round \nabout were all his instruments taken with him, to \nbe showed among the people, and create a proper fear \nand horror in their mind. The end of poor Roger the \nderk was, that he was dragged from the Tower to \nTyburn, there hanged, beheaded, and quartered; his \nhead set on London Bridge, and his four quarters \nsent \u2014 one to Hereford, and one to Oxenford, another to \nYork, and the fourth to Cambrigge. As for Dame \nEleanor, that proud, dark, unscrupulous heroine of \nromance, every one knows the story of her disgrace \nand shame ; how she came from London to Westminster, \nand walked through the streets of the city barefooted \nand bareheaded, carrying the waxen taper of two \npounds' weight, and doing penance before all the crowd \nof citizens assembled to see her \" on her foot and \nhoodies ;\" and how she offered up her taper on the high \naltar of \" Poules ;\" and when all was done, was sent to \nChester prison, \" there to byde while she lyveth.\" \n\nAfter her, in 1478, comes \" the high and noble prin- \ncesse Jaquet,\" Duchess of Sedford, charged with having, \n\n\n\n190 THE WrrCHBS OP ENGLAND. \n\nby the aid of \" an image of lede, made lyke a man of \nanns, conteyning the length of a mannes fynger, and \nbroken in ihe myddes, and made fast- with a wyre,\"* \nturned the lore of King Edward lY. from one Dame \nElianor Butteler daughter of the old Earl of ShrewB- \nbnry, to whom he was affianced, unto her own child, \nElizabeth Grey, sometime wife to Sir John Grey, \nknight ; and in 1483 poor Jane Shore was bound to do \npenance, walking bareheaded and barefooted, clad only \nin her kirtle, carrying a wax taper, and acknowledging \nher sins, because Bichard of Glpucester had a withered \narm, and wanted to put a few enemies out of the way \nof that arm and its desires. He employed the same \naccusation against many of those enemies, but so pa- \ntently for political motives and without even the sem- \nblance of reason, that these attainders can scarcely be \nset down in any manner to the charge of witchcraft. \nThen in 1484 came the bull of Innocent Vlll., which \ngave authority to the inquisitors to \" convict, imprison, \nand punish \" the unfortunate servants of the Devil, who \nthus found themselves a mark for every one's shaft. \n\nIn Henry the Eighth's time treasure-seeking was the \nmost fashionable phase of necromancy. There was \nNeville of Wolsey's household, who consulted Wood \u2014 \ngentleman, magician, and treasure-seeker extraordinary \n\u2014 ^but only for a charm or magic ring which should bring \nhim into favour with his prince, saying that his master \nthe Cardinal had such an one, and he would fain parti- \ncipate ; and he did at last get Wood to make him one \nthat would bring him the love of women. Wood could \nfind treasures wherever hidden, and was sure of the \nphilosopher's stone ; nay, he would \" chebard \" (jeopard) \nhis life but that he could make gold as he listed, and \noffered to remain in prison till he had accomplidied it, \n\n\n\nBABLY HISTORIC TRIALS. 191 \n\n*^ twelve months on silyer and twelve and a half on \ngold.\" In this same reign, too, was arrested William \nStapleton for sorcery. William* was a monk of St. \nBenet in the Holm, Norfolk, and William loved not \nhis monkish life; so he got ont, seeking money to \nbny his dispensation. And not having the money at \nhand himself, nor knowing how to get it, he took to \ntreasure-seeking as the easiest manner open to him \nof making a fortune. But his conjurations and his \nmagic staff only led him to some Boman remains, and \nnothing more ; so he borrowed of a friend instead, then \nsettled in Norfolk, and turned to treasure-seeking again, \nuselessly ; got into intrigues that did him no good ; and \nhad three spirits, Andrea Malchus, Inchubus, and \nOberion \u2014 the last a dumb devil who would not speak, \nbeing in the service of my Lord Cardinal \n\nIn 1521 the Duke of Buckingham died on the scaf- \nfold, led into some imprudent actions by the predictions \nof his \u00a3Guniliar magician, one friar Hopkins ; and Hop- \nkins, to make amends, died broken-hearted shortly \nafter. And there was the Maid of Kent (1534), Elizar \nboth Barton, who had trances and gave revelations, and \nwas on intimate terms with Mary Magdalen and the \nVirgin, and who was probably a ^^ sensitive \" made use \nof by the Catholics to try and frighten the King from \nhis marriage with the \" gospel eyes ;\" but poor Eliza- \nbeth Barton came to a sad pass with her revelations \nand trances ; and Mary Magdalen, who had given her \na letter written in heaven and all of gold, torgot to \nforewarn or shield her from her cruel and shameful enJ \nat Tyburn that cloudy fitful day of April, with the \ngallows standing out against the flecked sky, and the \npoor raving nun, half-enthusiast half-impostor, praying \n* Wright* s \u2022 Kariatire of Soiceiy and Magifi.' 1851. \n\n\n\n192 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAOT). \n\nbareheaded at its foot \u2014 she and her accomplicies \nwaiting for the moment to die. \n\nIn 1541 we find a nobler name on the scaflfold \u2014 \nLord Hnngerford \u2014 *^ beheaded for proenring certain \npersons to conspire that they might know how long \nHenry VIIL would live ;\" and that same year an Act \nwas passed against feilse prophecies, and another against \nconjurations, witchcraft, and sorcery, making it felony \nwithout benefit of clergy. But six years later Ed- \nward YI. abrogated that statute ; not for any tender- \nness to witches, but because with it was bound up a pro* \nhibition against pulling down crosses. In 1549 Ket's \nrebellion was troublesome ; its vigour due partly to the \nold prophecy repeated through the plains of Norfolk \u2014 \n\n*' Hob, Die, and Hie, with Olubs and clouted Shoon, \nShaU fiU np Daffin-dale with slaughtered Bodies soon.*' \n\nAnd then we come to nothing more until 1559, when \nElizabeth \" renewed the same article of inquiry for \nsorcerers,\" but punishing the first conviction only with \nthe pillory. The following year eight men were taken \nup for conjurations and sorcery, and tried at West- \nminster, where they had to purge themselves by con- \nfession, penitence, and a repudiating oath. In 1562 \nthe Earl and Countess of Lennox, Anthony Pool, \nAnthony Fortescue, and some others, were condemned \nfor treason and meddling with sorcerers ; though, \nindeed, Elizabeth herself was not free from either \nthe superstition or its practice; for did she not pa- \ntronize Dr. Dee and his \" skryer \" John Kelly, with \nhis ranting about Madimi in her gown of \" changeable \nsey,\" and all the other spirits who came in and out. of \nthe \" show-stone,\" and talked just the same kind of \nrubbish as spirits talk now in modem circles? But \nthe poor \" figure-flinger, with his iia pictures,\" was a \n\n\n\nEABLT HISTORIC TRIALS. 193 \n\nsorcerffl- not to be protected, bo got tried and con- \ndemned \u2014 ^poor figure-flinger I \n\nIn 1562, the year of Lady Lennox's business, a new \nAct against witchcraft was passed; and in 1589 one \nMrs. Deir practised conjuration against the Queen, for \nwhich she was tried, but acquitted for want of evidence ; \nbut the Queen had excessive anguish in her teeth that \nyear, by night and by day. When Ferdinand Earl of \nDerby died, about this time, of perpetual and unceasing \nsickness, a waxen image was found in his chamber \nstaffed witii hair the exact colour of his ; which suffi- \nciently accounted for his illness and the mysterious man- \nner of his death, though a Sadducee and sceptic migl^t \nhave whispered of poison, or a physician have spoken \nof cholera; from which disease indeed, by the minute \nsymptoms so carefully detailed, the poor earl's death \nseems to have been \u2014 if not from poison, which might \nhave produced the same effects. Still, the accusation of \nsorcery was so convenient \u2014 such a cloak for viler sins ! \nThe latter half of Elizabeth's reign was disgraced by \nmany witch persecutions, for the subject was beginning \nto attract painful notice now ; and, though it was not \ntill James I. had set the smouldering fragments aU \na-blaze that the worst of the evils were done, still enough \nwas doing now for the philosopher to deplore and the \nhumanitarian to lament. In 1575 many were hanged \nat Barking ; in 1579 three were executed at Chelms- \nford, four at Abingdon, and two at Cambridge. In \n1582 thirteen at St. Osith's, the evidence against one \nbeing that she had been heard to talk to something \nwhen alone in her house ; while of the other, a woman \nswore that she looked through her window one day, \nwhen she was out, and there *^ espied a spirite to looke \nout of a potcharde from under a clothe, the nose thereof \n\no \n\n\n\nIM THE WrrLUBI OF TSGLASD, \n\nbeinrd ; in 1597 several \nat LNrrbr and Sca)\u00a33ni ; ao that bj degrees the thing \ncame ti> be a nocorioas matter of soda! life ; and the \npoijT az}d the aged and the disliked bred in fear and \npenL dail T iDcreftsnz- At thk time, too, possessions \nwere manj and :7hcii\u00abts walked abroad without let or \nhiodrance. Siehard Lee saw one at Canterbury \n(157o ), and Master Gaym*iffe and odiers saw another \nat Eye two years after. ** Bat,\"' says B^inald Scot, \n^ certainely some one knare in a white sheet hath \ncogened and abased many tbo^^ands that way, spe- \ncially when Robin Gocdrellow kept such a coile in the \nCountry. For yon shall understand that these bugs \nqiecially are spied and feared erf* sicke folke, children, \nwomen, and coward^ which, through weaknesse of \nminde and body, are shaken with Tain dreames and \ncontinnaU lear. The Scythians, being a stout and a \nwarlike nation, as dirers writers report, neyer see any \nTaine sights, or qpirits. It is a common saying, a JLion \nfeareth no bug& But in our childhood our mothers' \nmaids haTe so terrified us with an ugly devil haying \nhomes cm his head, fire in hn mouth, and a taile at his \nback, eyes like a bason, fanges like a dog, clawes like \na beare, a skinne like a liiger, and a voice roring like \na Lion, whereby we start and are afraid when we hear \none cry Bough; they have so firaied us with bull- \nbeggars, spirits, urchens, elves, hags, fairies, satyrs, \npans, fauns, sylens (syrens ?), kit with the cansticke, \ntritons, centaures, dwarfes, giants, imps, calcats, con- \njurors, nymphes, changelings, incubus, Bobin Good- \n\n\n\nTHE AFFLICTIONS OF ALEXANDER NYNDGE. 195 \n\nfellow, the spoorn, the mare, the man in the oke, the \nhell-waine, the firedrake, the puckle, Tom thombe, \nhob-gobbin, Tom tumbler, boneles, and such other \nbugs, that we are afraid of our own shadowes ; inso- \nmuch as some never fear the devil, but in a dark \nnight ; and then a polled sheep is a perillous beast, and \nmany times is taken for our father's soul, specially in a \nchurchyard, where a right hardy man heretofore scant \ndurst ^asse by night, but his haire would stand upright. \nFor right grave writers report, that spirits most often \nand specially take the shape of women, appearing to \nmonks, &c., and of beasts, dogs, swine, horses, goats, \ncats, haires, of fowles, as crowes, night owles and \nshreek owles ; but they delight most in the likenesse \nof snakes and dragons.'^ All of which \" wretched and \ncowardly infidelity\" was rampant in England when \ngood Queen Bess ruled the land \u2014 ^rampant doubly, so \nthat there was no holding in of this furious madness \nafter James L had got his foot in the stirrup, and was \nriding a race neck and neck with the DeviL But I \nmust turn back a few years, and tell of \n\n\n\nTHE AFFLICTIONS OF ALEXANDER NYNDGE, \n\na precious babe of grace snatched from destruction. \nThey are to be found in 'A Booke declaring the fear- \nfull vexation of one Alexander Nyndge, Beynge moste \nHorriblye tormented wyth an euyll spirit, ike xx. daie \nof Januarie. In the yere of our Lorde 1573, at Lyer- \ningswell in Suffolke ;' and this book sets forth the \ndetails of the various fits which Alexander Nyndge in- \ndulged in, for the purpose, as it seems, of enabling his \nbrother Edward to prove his power of exorcism. His \n\n\n\n196 THE WITCHES OF ENQLAKD. \n\nfini fit b^;aiL one eTening at ser^ii \u2014 ^his father, mother, \nfaiotheray and the residue of the household being present ; \nUi dieft and body Bwelled, his eyes stared wildly as if \nstarting from their sockets, his back bent inward : the \nlioiisehold was disturbed and sore affiighted, but brother \nEdward had courage enough to say that it was an eyil \nspirit, and undertook to exorcise it So he charged the \nfoul fiend to come out of him, and the countenance of \nhis brother became more sad and fearful than it was \nbefore. Edward was not dismayed but returned to the \nconflict full of confidence, not giving in eyen when \nAlexander and the deyil had a wrestle together; or \nrather when tiie devil within him seemed as if he would \nhare torn him to pieces, so great was his rage and \nmalice. After some time of tins kind of work, Edward \ngot the devil to confess to one or two little matters. In \nthe first place his name was Aubon, and he came last \nirom Ireland ; he had come for Alexander's soul, \nwhich his brother was not disposed to give up ; and by \na strange slip of the tongue he called Christ hia Re- \ndeemer : but Edward rebuked him, as became a learned \nM. A., reminding him that He was Alexander's Bedeemer \nin truth, but not his, the foul fiend'& Even this \npalpable blunder did not enlighten the Nyndge house- \nhold as to whose was really the ^hoUow ghostly\" voice \nproceeding out of Alexander's diest At last, wheu \nEdward had tired him veiy much, and powerfully \nshaken him, he said, gruffly, ''Bawe wawe, bawe \nwawe r and Alexander was transfoimed, ''much like a \npiotore in a play,** while a tmiUe itMnng voice sounded \n** Heltsownd.*' Thai tiiey cpatied the windows to allow \nthe foul spirit to escape; and im two minutes Alexander \nk^nped up joyfully, erring, ** He is gone ! he is gone I\" \nAfWr this be had a second, and thai a third, attack ; \n\n\n\nADE DAVIE'S MOURNINa 197 \n\nbut his brother, praying in his right ear, comforted him \nand finally cured him, for he was never after tormented. \nLuckily he had not fixed upc\u00bbi any unhappy old woman \nas the cause of bis disorder, so it passed for a case \nof simple \"possession,\" which prayer and supplication \nhad OYercome. \n\n\n\nADE DAVIE'S MOURNING.* \n\nAde Dayie, wife .of Simon Davie husbandman, had a \nwiser man for her husband, simple and unlearned as he \nwas, than had many a wretched creature for her judge. \nAde suddenly became sad and pensive as she never had \nbeen in times past Her husband did his best to cheer \nher, but Ade still continued sorrowful; when, at last \nher burden grew heavier than she could bear, falling \ndown at Simon's feet she besought him to forgive her, \nfor that she had grievously offended both God and him. \n\" Her poor husband being abadied at this her behaviour, \ncomforted her as he could ; asking her the cause of her \ntrouble and greefe ; who told him that she had, con- \ntrary to God's law, and to the offence of all good Chris- \ntaans, to the injury of him, and specially to the losse of \nher own soul, bargained and given her soul to the devill, \nto be delivered unto him within short space. Where- \nxmto her husband answered, saying, ' Wife, be of good \ncheer, this thy bargain is vdd and of none effect ; for \nthou hast sold that which is none of thine to sell : sith it \nbelongeth to Christ, who hath bought it, and dearly \npaid for it, even with his blood, which he shed upon the \ncrosse ; so as the devil hath no interest in thee.' After \nthis, with like submission, teares, and penitence, she \n* Beginald Scot \n\n\n\nli\u00bb THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nsttkl onto him, 'Oh, husband, I have yet committed \n.uiotaer hxdt, and done you more injmy ; for I have \ncivwitcaed yoa and four children.' ' Be content/ quoth \nhe, * by tiie grace of God, Jesus Christ can unwitch us ; \nfor none evill can happen to them that fear Grod.' \" \n\nThii\u00bb fresh and pure idyl comes to us with a sweet and \nwholesome sarour, in the midst of the foul quagmires of \nsuperstition where it stands ; and that poor husbandman's . \nsimple &ith in God's goodness and his wife's virtue is \nmore touching than many a grand heroic deed which \nhas the suffirages of all history to 0oat it through the \nUte of the world. Simon Davie was an unlettered man, \nbut he was strong-hearted and believing, and, thinking \nthat earnest prayer might comfort his wife, when the \ntime approached for the Devil to come and close his \nbargain^ knelt down by her and prayed, she joining \nwith him fervently. Then they heard a low rumbling \nuuise below which made the windows shake, and which \nwnviuced the poor wife that it was the Devil trying to \ntake possession of her soul, but barred out from the \nchaml>er by the fervent prayers aforesaid. In the \nluoruiog it was foimd that the noise came from a dog \nVihioh had devoured a sheep that was newly flayed and \nhuug (gainst the waU ; and in due time, Ade Davie \nrt>tK>Yo^'ii^* her reason \u2014 ^for she was crazed, and took \nvv^ay Are to be the fire lighted to bum her for witch- \nvu aft \u2014came to the knowledge that she had never sold \nh<4' Mv^ul to the Devil at all, and had never bewitched \nt^vubauil or children, but had always been a faithful \nwitV HuU foxxd mother->^fi9icted with a light brain and \nu^4\\vuii Uui^iuation. \n\n\n\n199 \n\n\n\nTHE POSSESSION OP MILDRED NORRINGTON.* \n\nMildred, the \" base daughter \" of Alice Norrington, \nbeing seventeen years of age, was likewise possessed \nof the Devil, in much the same way as Alexander \nNyndge had been. She lived as servant with William \nSpooner of WestweU, in the county of Kent, and her \ncase attracted great attention. All the divines of the \nneighbourhood assembled at Spooner's house on the \n13th of October, 1574, to endeavour to cast out the \nDevil by such means of prayer and exorcism as they \nhad at their command. Powerfully did they pray; \nmightily roared the Devil ; *' And tho' we did com- \nmand him many times, in the Name of God, and of his \nSon Jesus Christ, and in his mighty Power to- speak, \nyet he would not, until he had gone through all his \n.Delays, as roaring, crying, striving, and gnashing of \nt^eth, and otherwise, with mowing and other terrible \nCountenances, and was so strong in the Maid that four \nmen could scarce hold her down.\" This continued for \nabout two hours, and then he spoke out, but very \nstrangely, crying, \"He comes, he comes,\" and \"He \ngoes, he goes.\" When charged to tell the exorcists \nwho had sent him, he said, \" I lay in her way like a Log, \nand I made her run like Fire ; but I could not hurt her.\" \n\"And why so?\" said we. \"Because God kept her,\" \nsaid, he. When asked when he came to her, he said, \n\"At night, in her bed.'' And when charged to tell \nthem his name, he said, \" The Devil, the Devil.\" But \nbeing still more powerfully exhorted, he roared and \ncried as before, and spake terrible words : \" I will kill \nher; I will kill her ; I will tear her in pieces ; I will \n\nReginald Scot. Dr. Hutchinson. \n\n\n\n20) THX WTT'IBES OF E5*iI-L5D\u00bb \n\nkill T^n aZ r Afkcd \u2022^r-'- axid iwnJDzcd ao tbfll ks \nCGiiji m^ \u00ab9ea(\u00ab. ibt w9a 5:%d to c\u00ab\u00bbfe\u00bb tlMil his \nname wiM Su<&3^ aci! Lirtl*^ I^tlL juui Partner, and \nftmt oil Alit.i* kMi \u00abi*ct iiak\u2014 Cful Albce ir WeatweQ \nScre^rC wizh wii:ia he kid Hri^d xbeat tweatjjeam dost \nTO ia tw\u00bb b: \nstinacy she died^ with a courage and constancy worthy \na better cause. The daughter was of a contrary mind. \nShe avowed her misdeeds, and asked for pardon and \ngrace, was penitent, and faithful, and earnest in prayer. \nAll of which the Deyil took, as may be imagined, very \nheinously ; and showed his displeasure by sending, in \nthe midst of a dead calm, so sudden and violent a blast (^ \nwind, that the mother's body was driven sharply against \nthe ladder, and was like to have overtiu^ed it, while the \ngallows shook with such force that the men standing \nround were fain to hold the posts, for fear of all being \nflung to the ground. It was somewhat before this, that \nat Town Mailing, in Kent, one of Queen Mary's Justices, \n^' on the complaint of many wise men, and a few foolish \nboyes, laid an archer by the heels because he shot so \nnear the white at buts. For he was informed and per- \nswaded that the poor man played with a fly, otherwise \ncalled a devill or familiar. And because he was certified \nthat the archer aforesaid shot better than the common \nshooting, which he before had heard of or seen, he con- \nceived it could not be in Gkni's name, but by inchant- \nment, whereby the archer (as he supposed, by abusing \nthe Queen's liege people) gained some one day two or \nthree shillings, to the detriment of the commonwealth, \nand to his owne inriching. And therefore the archer \nwas severely punished, to the great encouragement of \narchers, and to the wise example of justice, but specially \nto the overthrow of witchcraft\" Which quaint little \nanecdote of Scot's is worth a whole handful of jewels \nmore richly set. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF 8. OSEES. 206 \n\nWe are coming now to one of the most ciirious of the \nolder trials, that of \u2014 \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF S. OSEES, \n\nheld before Brian Darcey. It is contained in a rare . \nand beautiful little black-letter book,* and is spoken of \nby Scot in his * Discovery' without much sparing of \nridicule. It opens thus : \" If there hath bin at any time \n(Bight Honorable) any meanes used to appease the \nwrath of God^ to obtaine his blessings to terrifie secreete \noffenders by open transgressors punishmente\u00bb to with- \ndraw honest natures from the corruption of euill com- \npany, to diminish the great multitude of wicked \npeople, to increase the small number of rirtuous per- \nsons, and to reforme all the detestable abuses which the \nperuerse witte and will of man doth dayly devise, this \ndoubtlesse is no lesse necessarye than the best, that \nSorcerers, Wizzardes, or rather Dizzardes, Witches, Wise \nwomen (for so they will be named), are rygorously pimished. \nRygorously? sayd I; why it is too milde and gentle \na tearme for such a mercilesse generation: I should \nrather have sayd most cruelly ezecueted ; for that no \npunishment can be thought vpon, be it in neuer so \nhigh a degree of torment, which may be deemed suffi- \ncient for such a deuilishe and damnable practise.\" \n\n* * A trae and iust Becorde of the Information, Examination, and \nGonfeaadon of aU the Witches, taken at B. Osees in the conntie of \nEnex ; whereof some were executed, and other some entreated accord- \ning to the determination of lawe. Wherein aU men may see what a \npestilent people Witches are, and how ynworthy to lyve in a Christian \nCommonwealth. Written orderly, as the cases were tryed by euidence \nby W. W. Imprinted in London at the three Cranes, in the Tinetree, \nby Thomas Dawson. 1582.' \n\n\n\n206 THE WrrCHBS OP ENGLAND. \n\nThese were the sentiments of W. W., as propounded \nto his patron ''the right honourable and his singalar \ngood lorde, the Lord Darcey,\" to whom he inscribes his \nlittle book. For Brian Darcy, evidently a relation, had \nlately put in practice the views and opinions of a worthy \ncitizen and zealous Christian touching witches, at the \ngreat holocaust oflTered up at \" S. Osees \" (St Osyth), \nin the 23rd year of Queen Elizabeth's reign (1582) : \nand witch hatred therefore ran in the blood. \n\nThe first complainant in this process was Grace Thur- \nlowe, wife of John Thurlowe, who came to make her \nmoan about the evil practices of her neighbour, Ursley \nKempe, alias Grey. About twelve months since, said \nGrace, her son Davy was strangely taken and greatly \ntormented. Ursley came, like the rest of the neighbours, \nto see him ; but, unlike the rest, she thrice took the child \nby the hand, saying each time, \" A good childe, howe are \nthou loden :\" going out of the house and returning between \neach phrase, which was evidently a charm, and no holy \nway of pitying a sick child. After this she said to Grace, \n\" I warrant thee, I, thy childe shall doe well enough ;\" \nand sure it was so, for that night the child slept well, \nand after another such cantrip visit from Ursula, mended \nentirely. This was not much to complain to the magis- \ntrates about, but Grace had another and more grievous \ncount. After this evident cure of her son she was \ndelivered of a woman child, and, ungratefully enough, \nasked not Ursley to be her nurse ; whereat sprang up a \nquarrel, and the child in consequence fell out of the \ncradle and brake its neck ; not because it was clumsily \nlaid, or carelessly rocked, but because Ursley was a \nwitch and had a grievance against Grace. And to this \nmischance, when she heard of it, all that the old dame \nsaid, was, '' It maketh no matter ; for she might have \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OP S. OSEES/ 207 \n\nsaffered me to have the keeping and nnrsing of it.\" \nThen a trouble and a ''fratch\" ensued, and Ursley \nthreatened Grace with lameness, whereat Grace an* \nswered, \" Take heed, Ursley, thou hast a naughtie \nname ;\" but in spite of her warning the old witch did her \nwork, so that Grace was taken with such lameness that \nshe had to go upon her hands and knees. And thus \nit continued; whenever she began to amend her child \nfell ill, and when her child was weU she was cast down \nlame and helpless. \n\nThen Annis Letherdall had her word. Annis and \nUrsley had a little matter of commerce between them, \nbut Annis failed the suspected woman, \" knowing her \nto be a naughtie beast.\" So Ursley in revenge bewitched \nAnnis's child, and that so severely that Mother Eat- \nch'ffe, a skilful woman, doubted if she could do it any \ngood; yet for aU that she ministered unto it kindly. \nAnd, as a proof that it was Ursley, and only Ursley, who \nhad so harmed the babe, and that its sad state came in \nno wise from bad food, bad nursing, and filthy habits, the \nlittle creature of only one year old, when it was carried \npast her house, cried \" wo, wo,\" and pointed with its \nfinger windowwards. What evidence could be stronger ? \nSo then, to clinch the matter and strike fairly home, \nthe magistrate examined Thomas Rabbet, Ursley's '* base \nson,\" a child of barely eight years of age, and got his \nversion of the mother's life. The little fellow's tes- \ntimony went chiefly on the imps at home. His mother \nhad four, he said \u2014 TyflBn, like a white lamb ; Titty, a \nlittle grey cat ; Pygine, a black toad ; and Jacke, a black \ncat ; and she fed them, at times with wholesome milk \nand bread, and at times they sucked blood from her \nbody. He further said that his mother had bewitched \nJohnson and his wife to death, and that she had given \n\n\n\n208 THE WITCHBS OF ENGLAND. \n\nher imps to Godmother Newman, who put them into an \nearthen pot which she hid imder her apron, and so \ncarried them away. One Lanrenoe then said that she \nhad bewitched his wife, so that when ^^ she lay a drawing \nhome, and continued so a day and a night, all the partes \nof her body were colde like a dead creatures, and yet at \nher mouth did appeare her breath to goe and come.\" \nThus she lingered, said her husband, until Ursley came \nin unbidden, turned down the bed-clothes, and took her \nby the arm, when immediately she gasped and died. \nUrsley at first would confess nothing beyond haying had, \nten or eleven years ago, a lameness in her bones, for \nthe cure of which she went to Cook's wife of Wesley, \nwho told her that she was bewitched, and taught her a \ncharm by which she might unwitch herself and cure her \nbones; which charm quite answered its purpose, and had \nnever failed her with her neighbours ; all else she denied. \nBut upon Brian Darcy * \" promising to the saide \nUrsley that if she would deale plainely and confesse the \ntruth that she should have fauour, so by giving her faire \nspeeche she confessed as followeth.\" ^^ Bursting out \nwith weeping \" and falling on her knees, she said, yes, \nshe had the four imps her son had told of, and that two \nof them, Titty and Jack, were \" hees,\" whose oflSce \nwas to punish and kill unto death ; and two, Tiffin and \nPiggin, were '^ shees,\" who punished with lameness \nand bodily harm only, and destroyed goods and cattie. \nAnd she confessed that she had killed all the folk \ncharged against her; her brother-in-law's wife, and \nGrace Thurlowe's cradled child, making it to fall out of \nits cradle and break its neck solely by her enchant- \nments ; and that she had bewitched that littie babe of \n\n* This was his manner of dealing with fhe accused, and its falsehood, \niniquity, and injustice need no comment. \n\n\n\n/THE WITCHES OF S. OSEES. ;209 \n\nAdiub Letheirdall's, and Laurence's wife, and, in fact, that \nshe had done all the mischief with which she was charged. \nThen, not liking to be alone, she said that Mother \nBennet had two imps; the one a black dog, called \nSuckin, the other red like a lion, Lyerd: and that \nHunt's wife had a spirit too, for one evening she peeped \nin at her window when she was from home, and saw it \nlook out firom a potcharde &om under a bundle of \ncloth, and that it had a brown nose like a ferret. And \nshe told other lies of her neighbours, saying that her \nspirit Tiffin informed her of all these things; and \nBrian Darcy sat there, gloating over these maniacal \ntevelations. But in spite of his soffc words and fair \npromises, Ursley Kempe was condemned, and executed \nwhen her turn came. \n\nJoan Pechey, widow, was then brought forward ; and \nAles Hunt, herself an accused witch, deposed against her \nthat she was angry because, at a distribution of bread \nmade by the said Brian Darcy, she had gotten a loaf \nwhich was too hard baked for her; whereat in a pet \nshe said it might have been given to some one younger, \nand not to her, with no teeth to eat through the crust. \nAnd then Ales watched her home, and saw her go in \nalone to her own house where no human soul was; \nbut there she heard her say, as to some one, \" Yea, are \nyou so sawsie ; are yee so bolde ; you were not best to \nbee so bolde with mee : For if you will not bee ruled, you \nshall have Symonds sawse ; yea, saide the saide Joan, \nI perceive if I doe give you an inch you will take an \nelL\" All of which talk Ales Hunt found was to no \nChristian creature, but to her foul and wieked imps. \nThe which testimony her sister, Margerie Sammon, con- \nfirmed, saying that old Joan was as clever as their own \nmother (a noted witch, one Mother Barnes), or any one \n\n\n\n'210 THE WITCHES OP ENGLANf). \n\nelse in S. Osees skilled in sorcery and magic. Another \nexaminate then came forward with a story of a be- \nwitched cow unbewitched by a fire lighted around it : \nwhich, however, does not apparently touch any of the \naccused. And then the accuser, Ales Hunt, was made \nto take the place of the accused, and listen to the \ncatalogue of her own sins. The chief witness against \nher was her little daughter-in-law (step-child ?) Febey, of \nthe age of eight or thereabouts, who deposed to her \nhaving two little things like horses, the one white the \nother black, which she kept by her bedside in a little \nlow earthem pot with wool, colour white and black, \nand which she fed with milk out of a black \" trening\" \ndisk When the Commissioners went to search the \nplace they found indeed the board which Phoebe said \nwas Used to cover them, and she pointed out the trening \ndish whence they were fed ; but the little things like \nhorses were gone; when Phoebe said they had been \nsent to Hayward of Frowicke. After a time Alice \nHunt was brought to confess not only to two, but four, \nimps ; two like colts, black and white, called Jack and \nBobbin ; and two like toads, Tom and Robbyn. Mother \nBarnes, her mother, gave them to her, she said, \nwhen she died; and she gave her sister, Margerie \nSammon, two also. When Margerie was confronted \nwith Alice and heard what she had deposed, she got \nvery angry and denied the whole tale, saying : \" I \ndefie thee, though thou art my sister,\" saying that she \nhad never any imps given to her on her mother's \ndeath-bed, or at any other time. But Alice took her \naside and iwhispered something in her ear ; after which \nMargerie, \" with great submission \" and many tears, \nconfessed that she had in truth these two imps, given \nto her by her mother as her sister had said, and that \n\n\n\n/ THE WITCHES OF S. OSEES*. 211 \n\nshe had carried them away that same eyening in a \nwicker basket filled with black and white wool Her \nmother had said that if she did not like to keep them \nold Joan Pechey would be glad of them ; but she did \nnot part with them just then ; and that she was to feed \nihem on bread and milk, otherwise they would suck her \nblood. Their names were Tom and Bobbin, and last \nevening she took them away \u2014 ^being perhaps afraid to \nkeep them longer, now that the scent was warm \u2014 \nand went into Bead's ground, where she bade them \n\" go.\" Immediately they skipped out of the wicker \nbasket toward a barred gate going into Howe Lane, \nto Mother Peachey's house, whereat she, Margerie, said, \n\" All evill goe with you, and the Lorde in heaven \nblesse mee from yee.\" \n\nAll of which Mother Peachy, who seems to have been \nan upright, high-spirited old dame, stoutly denied. \nShe was threescore year and upwards, she said, and \nhad lived forty years in S. Osees in honour and good \nrepute. She knew Mother Barnes, yet knew her for no \nwitch, nor overheard her to be so accompted, or to have \nskill in any witchery ; nor was she at her death-bed ; \nnor knew she of her imps. For her own part she \ndenied that she had any \" puppettes, spyrites, or \nmaumettes ;\" or hfwi had any spirits conveyed to her by \nMargery Sammon, or since Mother Barnes's death. She \ndenied all that Ales Hunt had said, as, \" Yea, art thou \nso bolde,\" &c., she denied that she had had any hand in \nJohnson's death, as she had been accused of, but when \nhe died said only he was a very honest 4nan : she al^ \ndenied some very shocking passages with her son, which ' \nhe, however, had been brought to confess ; and when \nquestioned more closely concerning her imps, said that \nshe had only a kitten and a dog at home. When \n\n\n\n212 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nasked of what colour were they? she answered tartly^ \n\" Te may goe and see.*' \n\nAles Newman was also condemned and executed; \nbeing obstinate to the last; denyingthe four countswith \nwhich she was charged, yiz. her imps, the slaughter of \nher own husband, of John Johnson, and of his wifa But \nWilliam Hoke deposed that on his death-bed her hus- \nband had been perpetually crying out against her, \nsaying, \" Dost thou not see \u2014 dost thou not see ?\" mean- \ning the imp with which she tormented him, and which \nhe strove vainly to beat away. Seeing her obstinacy, \nBrian Darcy told her that he would sever her and her \nspirits asunder; to which she answered quickly, \n\" Nay,\" sayth shoe, \" that shal ye not, for I will carry \nthem with mee.\" Then seeing that they took note of \nher words, she added, '^ if I have any.\" The admission \nwas enough, and she was hanged. \n\nElizabeth Bennet denied that she had had any hand \nin the bewitching to death Johnson or his wife, saying \nthat the aforesaid Ales had done it all. But William \nBonner had his stone ready for her on the other side, \naccusing her of bewitching his wife, for \" shee, being \nsickely and sore troubled, the said Elizabeth vsed \nspeeches unto her, saying, a goode woman howe art \nthou loden, and then clasped her in her armes and \nkissed her. TMierevpon presently after her vpper \nLippe swelled and was very bigge, and her eyes much \nsimked into her head, and shee hath lain sithence in a \nvery strange case.\" Yet these two women were familiar \nfriends, and \" did accompanie much together ;\" which \nshows that friendship was as dangerous as enmity in \nthose mad times when the swelling of a lip, or the \nfamiliarity of a house pet, could bring the best of a dis- \ntrict to the gallows. And then Ursley Kemp's testimony \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF S. OSBBS. 213 \n\n\"was remembered against Elizabeth, and the mysteries of \nSnckin and liard sought to be fathomed. Elizabeth at \nthe Srst was obdurate and would confess to nothing \nbeyond that she had certainly a pot, but no wool therein, \nand no imps to lay on it ; but at last she too was per\u00ab \nsoaded by Brian Darcy's fine false words ; so falling on \nher knees, ^* distilling tears,\" she made her public moan. \nWilliam Byet and she dwelt as neighbours together, \nshe said, living as neighbours should, well and easily ; \nbut latterly they had fallen out, because William called \nher \" old Trot\" and \" old witch,\" and \"did ban and \ncurse her and her cattle.\" So she replied with calling \nhim \" knave,\" saying, \" Wind it vp Byet, for it will \nlight vpon yourself.\" And Byet's beast died forthwith. \nThen Byet's wife beat her swine with great \" gybels,\" \nand made them sick; and once she ran a pitchfork \nthrough the side of one so that it was dead, and when \nthe butcher who bought it came to dress and cut it \nup, it proved '^ a messel,\" so she had no money for it, \nfor the butcher would not keep it and she was forced to \ntake it back again. So far was only the ordinary quar- \nrelling of ill-tempered country folk, and nothing vfery \ndamaging to confess to; but now Brian Darcy's fair \nwords drew from her all about her imp Suckin, a he \nand like a black dog, and Lierd, a she and like a hare \nor a lion, and red. Suckin hctd first come to her a long \ntime ago, as she was returning home from the miU; \nhe held her by the coats, she being amazed, but \nvanished when she prayed. Again, when nigh hand \nat home, he tu^ed at her coats as before, yet vanished \nwhen she prayed. The next day he came with Lierd, \nand asked ^ why she was so snappish yesterday ?\" and \nthus they were for ever troubling and visiting her, till \nat last she yielded to their solicitations^ and set them to . \n\n\n\n214 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAOT); \n\nthe work she was accused o\u00a3 This was the second \ninstance in which Brian Darcy found that old Ursley \nand her imp Tiffin had spoken the truth. \n\nAles Manfielde bewitched John Sayer's cart, keeping \nit standing stock stall for above an hour, because she \nwas offended that he would not let his thatcher cover \nin an oven for her ; and she lamed all Joan Chester's \ncattle, because Joan refused her some curds. So \nAles Manfielde was condemned and executed ; but not \nbefore she made her confession. She said that Margctret \nGreueU (Greville), twelve years since, gave her four \nimps \u2014 Robin, Jack, William, and Puppet or Mamet : \nthey were like black cats, two shes and two hes, and \nwere put into a box with some wool, and placed on a \nshelf by her bed. But Margaret denied it all, even \nwhen Ales was confronted with her ; denied too that \nqueer tale of how she had bewitched John Carter's two \nbrewings, so that half a seame had to go to the swill \ntub, all because he would not give her Godesgood. The \nbrewing was only unbewitched -when John's son, a tall \nlusty man of thirty-six, managed to stick his arrow in \nthe brewing-vat. He had shot twice before, but missed, \nthough he was a good shot and stood close to the vat \u2014 \nwhich was evident sorcery, somehow. Margaret denied \nalso that she had bewitched Nicholas Strickland's wife so \nthat she could make no butter, because Nicholas, who \nwas a butcher, refused her a neck of mutton. But in \nspite of all her denials, she, the hale woman of fifty- \nfour, was condemned to remain in prison, heaven knows \nfor how long ; escaprog the gallows by a greater miracle \nthan any recorded of herself. \n\nElizabeth Ewstace, a year younger than Margaret \nGreville, was told that she had bewitched Eobert \nSanneuer, drawing his mouth aU awry so that it could \n\n\n\n.THE WITCHES OF S. OSEES. 215: \n\nbe got into its place again only with a sharp blow ; \nand that she had killed his brother Crosse, three years \nago, and bewitched his wife when with child and quite \nlusty and weU, so that she had a most strange sickness, \nand the child died soon after its birth ; that she made \nhis cows give blood instead of milk; and caused his \nhogs ^' to skip and leap about the yarde in a straunge \nsorte,\" because of the small bickerings to which S. Osees \nseemed specially subject. And she hurt all Felice \nOkey's geese, and in particular her favourite goose, \nbecause she, Felice, had turned hers out of her yard ; \nall of which Elizabeth Eustace denied to the face of \nAlice Mansfield and her other accusers. And as, on \nbeing searched, she was found to have no \" bigges\" or \nwitch marks, she was mercifully kept in prison \u2014 for the \ntime\u00bb And Annis Glascocke, wife of John the sawyer, \ngot into the trouble that had its end only in the hang- \nman's cord, because Mychel the shoemaker charged \nhep with being a \" naughtie woman,\" and because \nUrsley Kemp, informed by TifiSn, accused her of sundry \nthings about as true as all the rest of the story. Being \nfound weU supplied with witch marks, her denial was \nnot allowed to go for much; whereupon she abused \nUrsley, and said she had bewitched her and made her \nlike to herself, she, Annis Glascocke, aU the time igno- \nrant and innocent of her devilish arts. \n\nThen came the sad story of Henry CeUes (Selles) and \nhis wife Cysley. They were said to have killed Eichard \nRoss's horses, because Richard had refused Cicely a \nbushel of malt which she had come for, bringing a poke \nto put it in. And to make the accusation stronger, little \nHenry their son, only nine years old, aflSrmed that at \nCandlemas last past about midnight there came to \nhis brother John a spirit, which took him by the left \n\n\n\n216 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nleg and also by the little toe, and which was like his \nlittle sister, only that it was black At which his brother \ncried out, \" * Father, fether, come helpe me ; there is \na black thing that hath me by the legge as big as my \nsister ;' whereat his father saide to his mother, * Why \n\nthou ^ cannot you keepe your imps from my \n\nchildren?' Whereat she presently called it away \nfrom her sonne, saying, * Come away, come away.' At \nwhich speeche it did depart.\" He ftuliher said tiiat his \nmother fed her imps daily with milk out of a black \ndish; that their names were Hercules, Sotheons, or \nJacke which was black and a he, and Mercuric, white \nand a she ; that their eyes were Kke goose eyes ; and \nthat they lay on some wool under a stack of broom \nat the old crab-tree root And also that his mother \nhad sent Hercules to Eoss for revenge ; at which his \nfather, when he heard of it, said, \", She was a trim fooL\" \nAs she very likely was; but for other things than \nsending imps to her neighbours. John, a little fellow \nof six and three-quarters, confirmed his brother's depo- \nsition, adding to it that \" the imps had eyes as big as \nhimself,\" and that his mother fed them with thin milk \nout of a spoon. He gave the names of other people \nwhom his mother had bewitched, and he showed his \nscarred leg, and the nail of the little toe still imper- \nfect. And Joan Smith deposed that one day, as she \nwas making ready to go to church, holding her babe \nin her arms, her mother, one Eedworth's wife, and \nCicely were all at her door, ready to draw the latch as \nshe came out, ** whereat the grandmother to the childe \ntooke it by the hand, and shoke it, saying, * A mother \npugs, art thou coming to church?' and Eedworth's \nwife, looking on, it, said, * Here is a iolie and likely \nchilde \u2014 God blesse it.' After which speeches, Selles his \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES QF S. OSEES. 217 \n\nwife saide, ^shee hath neuer the more chfldren for that, \nbut a little babe to play withall for a time.' And she \nsaith within a short time after her said childe sick- \nened and died. ' But,' she saith \" \u2014 ^her womanly heart \ncarrying it over her superstition \u2014 \" * that her con- \nscience will riot serve her to charge the said Cysley \nor her husband to be the causers of any suche matter, \nbut prayeth God to forgive if they haue dealt in any \nsuch sorte.' \" Then Thomas Death accused Cicely SeUes \nand one Barker's wife of bewitching George Battell's \nwife and his own daughter Mary, who. got such good \nof the witches by a wise man's ministering that she saw \nher tormentor standing in bodily shape before her; \nand Ales Baxter was pricked to the heart by a white \nimp like a cat which then vanished into the bushes \nclose by, and so badly holden that she could neither \ngo nor stand nor speak, and did not know her own \nmaster when he came by, but was forced to be taken \nhome in a chair by two men. All of which Henry \nBelles and his wife CScely denied ; specially the story \nof the imp and the children, who, if there were imps at \nall in the matter, were the only imps afloat But \ndenial did them no good, for Cicely had witch marks, \n80 was condemned, and the two little lying varlets made \nthemselves orphans and homeless. \n\nA very crowd of witnesses came to testify against \nAnnis Herd. Of some she had bewitched the cream, \nof others the milk ; of some the cows or pigs or wives ; \nbut all this was mere floating accusation until the \nCommissioners gof, hold of her little \" base \" daughter \nof seven, who gave them plenty of information. Asked \nif her mother had imps, she said ** Tes ;\" in one box \nshe had six ^* auices,\" or blackbirds, and in another box \nsix like cows as big as rats, with short horns, lying in \n\n\n\n218 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND: \n\nthe boxes on white or black wool. And she said that \nher mother gave her one of the cow imps, a black and \nwhite one, called Crowe ; and to her little brother one, \nred and white, called Donne; and that she fed the \navices or bltwkbirds with wheat and barley and oats \nand bread and cheese ; giving to the cows wheat straw, \nbean straw, oat straw, or hay, with water or beer \nto drink. When her brother sees these blackbird imps \ncome a \"tuitting and tetling\" about him, added the \nb'ttle base daughter, he takes and puts them in the \nboxes. Some of them sucked on her mother's hands, \nand some on her brother's legs, and when they showed \nher the marks she pointed them out one by one, saying, \n\" Here sucked aves and here blackbird.\" She was \nsharp enough though to shield herself, young as she \nwas ; for when asked why one of her hands had the \nsame kind of mark, she said it was burnt. Anis Herd \nwas kept in prison, but not hanged just then, for she \ncould not, luckily for her, be got to confess to anything \nvery damaging. She said that she was certainly angry \nwith the churl Cartwright for taking away a bough \nwhich she had laid over a flow in the highway, but she \nhad not bewitched him or his ; and that she had, truly, \nkept Lane's wife's dish fourteen days or more, as Lane's \nwife had said, and that Lane's wife had sent for the \ntwopence which she, Anis, owed her, and that she had \ngrumbled with her \u2014 also with this neighbour and that \nneighbour, according to the habits of S. Osees \u2014 ^but that \nshe had bewitched none of them. And she denied the \navices and the blackbirds and aU %nd sundry of the \nstories of Crow or Dun; which, indeed, with some \nothers spoken of by the children, seem to have been, \nif eodsting at all, toys or treasures kept hoarded from \nthem, to which they added these magical and absurd \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF S. OSEES. \n\n\n\n219' \n\n\n\nconditions as their imaginationa taught them or their \nexaminers prompted. \n\nJoan Bobinson, another S. Osees witch, was to blame \nfor various acts of sorcery and witchcraft \u2014 hurting one \nwoman's brood goose, and another's litter of pigs, \ndrowning cows, laming ambling mares, and the rest of \nthe witch's playful practices ; all of which she, too, denied \nstrenuously, but nevertheless formed one of the thirteen \nvictims whom the offended justice of the times found \nnecessary to condemn and execute. So this sad trial \ncame to an end, and Brian Darcy covered his name with \ninfamy so long as W. W. has a black letter copy extant. \n\nThe following singular table is drawn up at the end \nof the book : \u2014 \n\n*' The names of xni Witches and those that have been bewitched by \nthem. \n\n\"The Names of those persons that have beene bewitched and thereof \nhane dyed, and by whome, and of them that haue receyved bodyly \nhanne, &c. As appeareth vpon simdrye Enformations, Examinations, \nand Confessions taken by the worshipfull Bryan Darcey, Esqnixe ; and \nby him certified at large vnto the Queene's Maiestie's Justices of Assise \nof the Gountie of Essex, the zxix of Marche, 1582. \n\n\n\nS. Osythes. The Witches. | v._:i._h_^ (Kempes wife, \n\n1. Ursley Kempe, ^^/^^^ ThoHowes Childe \nalias Gray .J (and Strettons wife. \n\nand Uj-sje^ I bewitched (Letherdalles childe, \n\nKemDe | to death (and Strettons wife. \n\n\n\nConfessed by \nUrsley and \n\nElizabeth, \n\n\n\niThe said Ales] \nand Ursley > \nKempe . J \n\n\n\nbewitched \n\n\n\n> Elizabeth \nBennet , \n\n\n\nElizabeth \nBennet . \n\n\n\n{Strattons Childe, 'k whereof tHey \nGrace Thorlowe, f did languish. \n\n\n\nI William Byet, and Joan his \nwife, and iii of his beasts. \nThe wife of William Willes, and \nWilliam Wittingalle. \n\n) (William Bonners Wife, John \n\nbewitched < Butler, Fortunes Childe j \nI whereof they did languish. \n\n\n\n290 \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF EKGIAKR \n\n\n\n/ bewitcbol (-^ \n\n\n\nwml im Wife, \n\n\n\ntkeatteO./ \n\n\n\nUtOe Cfap- \n\ntoo. \n\n\n\nThprpe. \nOm&medhf] \n\nfid\u00ab> ^^'iiC off into their customary state; it waa \n\n\u00abr ^tiue to disappoint my Lady; \"and were so \n\n\u2022 . .^*. I'^rmented that it moved the good Lady's \n\nu-. ^ ua l^ty, so that she conld not forbear TeaiB, \n\nu;s^u \u00abjid Mother Samnel to be sent for, who \n\n^v i iruy to come, becanse her Hnsband was \n\n\u2022a.;. :.\u25ba >ir Henry CromwelL\" As soon as she came \n\nV ui<.lrea were so much worse that the Lady, \n\n...>\u00bb.u*i l>eyond herself, and exceedingly angry \n\n.\u00ab\u00ab. L<\u00bbcaer Suuael would not confess to her crim^ \n\nV .\u00abku .M\u00bbid oi her a^ die was struggling to get free of \n\u2022 u .Uiiid2> aud slip out of the room, pulled off her \n\nV I V licr, aud out off a lock of her hair, which she gave \ni>auiy to 3Irs* Throckmorton together with the old \nb.uos luiiriace; bidding her bum them. The old \n\nM i aitiii turning against the Lady, said, half sorrowfully, \n\n\u2022 Mauam, why do you use me thus? I never did you \n\ni\\ harm as yet :** words to be remembered and \n\n. 1 V uMU't d up against her, when the hour came. That \n\nN< i\\ tii^tit Lady Cromwell had bad dreams concerning \n\nMpuur iSamuel and her cat, which she said came to \n\n-un.\u00bb ul the flesh from her-^\u2014 and awakened, crying \n\n..^-lulv aud much distressed. From that time she \n\n... iia^ imd continued very hardly holden till her \n\n\\^\u00bb,, uiv, which was one year and a quarter after \n\nV N ..Ml to Warbois* So Mother Samuel's wordii \n\n. V Kui to have been witch's threats, and the \n\n. V uuuy was convinced that Lady Cromwell \n\n.rvv o\\ her magic arts, and bewitched. As she \n\n. v\u00ab t auy, with nervous fear and superstition and \n\nV \\i vt'tu:, in the winter of 1591, Mr. Henry \n^^. L vouug student at Cambridge, tried to make. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OP WARBOIS. 231 \n\nDame Samuel coiifeas, but she would not suffer him or \nhis companions to speak, and when they desired her to \nspeak sofUier, answered : '^ She was bom in a Mill, \nbegot in a Kiln^ and must have her Will, and could \nspeak no softlier.\" Then Mr. Henry began to question \nher on her faith, but got only tart answers ; so, losing \npatience, he said that if she did not repent and confess \nto haying worked that wickedness on the children, he \nhoped one day to see her bum at the stake, and that he \nwould bring wood and faggots and the children should \nblow the coals. To which old Dame Samuel replied \nthat she ^* would rather see him doused over head in^ \nthe pond ;\" and so went away home, to be beaten for \ngossiping and staying late, by that terrible old Turk of \nheuL \n\nAnd now the children would be well only when the \ndame was with them ; so the parents sought to engage \nher to lire with them, but the old Turk would not give \nhis consent^ and beat her severely with a cudgel on the \nslightest pretext. The whole thing angered him, and \nhis dame could not do right let her do what she would* \nHowever, he was prevailed on to spare her for eight or \nnine days, during which time the lying little girls \nprofeased themselves cured of all their haunting spirits \n\u2014 dun chickens, naked babes, and the like ^ to the old \nwoman's extreme consternation and passionate assurances \nof innocenca Then the children turned against Agnes \nSamuel, the daughter, declaring that she had bewitched \nthem equally with the mother : whereupon the father^ \nMr. Throckmorton, went to bring her to the house ; \nwhen she hid herself in an attic or loft, barricading \nherself in by sacks of wool piled up on the trap- \ndoor. She was forced to come down at last, and her \nfear was made the chief evidence against her. The \n\n\n\n282 THE WrrCHES OP ENGLAND, \n\nbour had come round for her on Time's cmel dial, and \nshe could not escape the inevitable decree that had \ngone fortL All this while the old mother was forcibly- \ndetained at Mr. Throckmorton's house; the children \npretending that they could be well only in her presence, \nand absolutely refusing to let her go, though she was \nsick and fearful and weary, and cried to get home \nagain to her daughter and husband. That uncompro- \nmising oaken cudgel of his was less terrible than the \nawfdl suspicion under which she was living here ; and the \nharassing uncertainty of her life \u2014 ^never knowing what \nnew lie the children might frame against her, nor how \nmuch nearer they might bring her to the gallows by \nsame wicked fancy or delusion \u2014 was infinitely worse than \nall the 6aths and iU-usage of home, of whidi she knew \nat least the extent and end. She seems to have been \na gentle-spirited old creature in spite of her crusty \ntongue ; and at the beck of every one who chose to \nknock her about and require from her service and sub- \nmission. When Mr. Throckmorton had teased and \nthreatened and exhorted her, till she was completely \n\" dazed and mazed \" with all she heard \u2014 and when the \nchildren had acted their fits with such power and accu- \nracy that they simulated nature to the life, and had \nimpressed even her with all the wicked things which \ntheir Spirits told them of her and of her daughter \u2014 ^her \nmind, enfeebled by suffering and terror, gave way, and \nshe was deluded into a confession of sin and penitence ; \nafter which she obtained leave to go home. As her \nhusband gave her but a harsh welcome, angry with \nher 'for her weakness in confessing, she recanted as \nof course ; when Mr. Throckmorton, getting hold \nof her by an open window beneath which his fiiends \nwere stationed, bullied and deluded her once more \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF WARBOIS. 233 \n\ninto maJdng a confession which they might hear ; and \non the strength of which he carried off both dame \nand daughter, to be examined by the Bishop of \nLinoobi. \n\nThe Bishop found her easy. Tes, she had an imp ; a \ndun chicken which sucked on her chin, and which she \nhad sent to torment the Throckmorton girls. The dun \nchicken and the rest of the spirits were now at the \nbottom of her stomach, and made her so full and heavy \nthat she could not lace her coat, nor was the horse on \nwhich she rode able to carry her all the way : she had \nthree spirits, all like dun chickens \u2014 ^Pluck, Catch, and \nWhite, which had been given her by an \"upright man,\" \nextremely hard, of the name of Langland, of no par- \nticular dwelliDg and now gone beyond seas ; and she \nhad sent all three to the children and had plagued \nthem sorely. This she said at various times, at each \nclause conjuring the devil and her spirits to inform \nher of the facts required by the Bight Eeverend Father \nin God. After her examination she and her daughter \nwere committed to gaol; but Mr. Throckmorton got \nAgnes out on bail that he might take her home to the \nchildren, and see what they would say of her. This \nseemed to him the best way to complete the evidences \nof guiltiness agcdnst her, which at present were very \nslight and worthless. So the net closed tighter and \ntighter round this hapless fanuly, and soon the deep \nblack waves, rolling onward, dashed over their devoted \nheads. \n\nWhen they heard that Agnes was brought back to \nWarbois, the children fell into their fits again, each \nsaying, '^I am glad, I am glad; none so glad as I.\" \nThey knew the cruel sport preparing for them, and were \nin no hurry to abandon the pleasant excitement of their \n\n\n\n234 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nPossession, during which they were made so many centres \nof public interest, petted and commiserated and looked \nat and talked about and made of more consequence than \nthe finest lady in the land. When the game was ovw \nthey must sink down into the humdrum liyes of good \nlittle girls in a country town, of no possible interest to \nliving being outside llieir own house door. Surely an \nevent to be deferred to the latest moment possible 1 \nFor the first three or four days after Agnes' arrival \nthey condescended to be well, but, being by that time \ntired of their new companion, they fell back into their \nformer state, and cried out against her more bitterly \nthan they had ever done against her mother. She was \nmore helpless, too, than the mother, and more entirely \nin their power ; so that the sport was greater, and the \nfear of opposition or detection less. Specially did Mis- \ntress Joan, the eldest girl, torment her ; who, being at \nthis time seventeen, had other ideas of spirits than dun \nchickens, mice, or frogs, which were all very well in \nthe days of her infancy but quite uninteresting to her \nnow. The manner in which she introduced her Spirits \nwas singular. One day, just after her nose had bled, \nand she had said '^ it would be a good thing to throw \nher handkerchief into the fire, and bum the young \nwitch,\" she suddenly looked about her smiling^ and \nsaid, \"What is this in God's Name that comes tum- \nbling to me ? It tumbles like a Foolrbal, it looks like \na puppit-player, and appears much like its Dame's old \nthrumb Cap. * What is your Name, I pray you ?* said \nshe. The Thing answered, his Name was Blew. To \nwhich she answered, *Mr. Blew you are welcome, I \nnever saw you before ; I thought my Nose bled not for \nnothing, what News have you brought ? What,' says \nshe, * dost thou say I shall be worse handled than ever \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF WARBOIS. 235 \n\nI was? Ha! what dost thou say? that I shall now \nhaye my Fits, when I shall both hear and see and know \nevery Body? that's a new Trick indeed. I think never \nany of my Sisters were so used, but I care not for you : \ndo your worst, and when you have done, you will make \nan end.' \" Then she cried out that Agnes Samuel had \ntoo mueh liberty, and must be more strictly looked to ; \nfor that Mr. Blew had told her she should have no peace \ntill she and the old dame were hanged. \n\nMrs. Joan had opened a most prolific and amusing \nvein. Her imagination stopped at nothing, and she \nshowed herself no mean hand at romance. She was \nvery consecutive too, and kept up the likeness well. \nIn the evening Mr. Blew appeared again, chiefly for the \npurpose of telling her that young Nan Samuel was his \nDame, and to ask when the Spirit Smack, of whom he \nwas jealous, had been with her. Mrs. Joan said she \nknew of no Smack. \"You do,\" says the Thing, \" and \nit is he that tells' you all these things, but I wiU curse \nhim for it\" \" Do your worst to me or him, I care not \nfor you,\" says she. \" Farewel,\" says the Thing. \" Do \nyou bid me farewel ?\" says she ; \" farewel, and be \nhanged ; and come again when you are sent for.\" So \nthen she came out of her fit. The next day a strange \ngentleman coming, Mrs. Elizabeth passed off into one of \nher wild states, and Mr. Throckmorton, \" to show the \ngentleman a wonder,\" sent for yoimg Agnes, and made \nher say after him, \" I charge thee, thou Devil, as I love \nthee, and have Authority over thee, and am a Witch, \nand guilty of this matter, that thou suffer this Child to \nbe well at this present.\" Upon which Mrs. Elizabeth \nwiped her eyes, and was perfectly well ; and the \nwretched young girl was by so many steps nearer to \nher doom. The next day was a grand field-day for \n\n\n\n236 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nMrs. JoaiL Her spirits were in admirable disorder. \nMr. Smack came ftom fightrog with Pluck about her, \nfor they were both in love with her, and had fought \nwith great cowl staves last night in old dame's back \nyard, and Smack had broken Pluck's head, for which \nMrs. Joan was not at all thankful, but, when he looked \nfor a little loving word of gratitude, answered, scorn- \nfully, that she wished Pluck had broke his neck also, \nand so bid him go and be hanged for she would have \nnought to do with him. Presently in came Mr. Pluck, \nhanging down his broken head and looking very sheep- \nish, but jealous and angry with Smack who seemed to \nhave the best chance of them all with the young lady. \nAnother day it was Catch who came in limping, with a \nbroken leg got from the redoubtable Smack ; but when \nMrs. Joan tried to break his other leg with a stick she \nhad in her hand \u2014 ^for she was a very scornful young \nlady to them \u2014 she could not ; fot* ever as she struck at \nhim he leaped over the stick, \"just like a Jack-cm- \napes,\" as she said. Mi:. Slew's turn came next. He \nappeared before her at supper with his arm in a sling : \nSmack had broken it. So Smack broke Pluck's head, \nCatch*s leg, and Slew's arm, and then came himself to \ntell her that he would beat them all again, with the \nhelp of his cousin another Smack, and one Hardname, \nwhose \"Name standeth upon eight Letters, and every \nLetter standeth for a Word, but what his Name is \notherwise we know not\" Then Smack and she con- \nversed about the propriety of \"scratching\" Agnes \nSamuel ; and it was agreed between them that she \nshould not scratch her then, because her feice would be \nhealed by the Assizes, but just before that time when \naU the world might see the marks. \nAnd now began a scene of painful brutality. When- \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OP WARBOIS: 257 \n\nJBver tte children fell intp their fits, they would only \nconsent to be got out of them by Agnes' repeating a \nform of conjiu^tion, in which she acknowledged her- \nself to be a witch and guilty of their disease, command- \ning the devil, whom she had sent into them, to leave \nthem. Then they came round, and were well until \nstrangers called, when they invariably went off into their \nfits \u2014 which we can quite well understand \u2014 or until they \ngot tired of the monotony of health. The most terrible \nthreats were held out against Nan Samuel ; and each \nchild talked to its particular spirit with passion and \nfury of scratching her. It came at last : the little \ndiabolical tempers which rose higher and higher with \neach fresh indulgence, getting weary of only fits and \nmuttered communications with spirits and the thirst \nfor blood grew into a frenzy. One of the younger \nchildren, Mrs. Mary, one day fell into a \" very trouble- \nsome Fit,\" which held her half an hour, and at the last, \ngrowing better, she said, \" Is it true ? Do you say this \nis the day I must scratch the young Witch ? I am glad \nof it ; I will pay her home both for myself and Sisters.\" \nThe young Pickering men who were standing by, \nhearing this, sent for Agnes to come into the room ; \nwhen she came in the child cried out, \" Art thou come, \nthou young Witch, who hath done all this mischief?*' \nAt which Agnes seemed surprised, this being the first \ntime Mrs. Mary had abused her. Then one of the com- \npany told her to take Mary in her arms, and carry her \ndown stairs ; but she had no sooner got hold of her than \nthe child fell to scratching her head and face with eager \nfierceness; the poor girl standing still and holding down \nher head, not defending herself but only crying out \npitifully, while the child scratched on her face a broad \nand bleeding wound. When she was out of breath and \n\n\n\n238 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nthus forced to leave off, she cried and said '' she was \nsorry for her cruelty, but the Thing made her do it, so \nthat she could not help herself.\" Another day it was \nanother of them who fell upon the maid, she not defend- \ning herself or resenting, but \u2022* crying out sadly, desiring \nthe Lord to pitty her.\" Then they abused her, saying, \n** Thy Mother is a Witch, thy Father is a Witch, and \nthou art a Witch, and the worst of all ;\" and then they \nclamoured for the father, the old Turk, and would have \nhim in to scratch him toa Just at that moment old \nSamuel chanced to come in to see his daughter \u2014 for he \nknew what kind of treatment she had to undergo \u2014 ^when \na great hubbub arose. The children cried out against \nhim, and \u2014 ^wretched young hypocrites ! \u2014 exhorted him \nin the godliest terms to confess and repent; called \nhim witch and naughty man and all the rest of the \ninjuries then current; while he retorted fiercely and \nrudely, and told one of the little baggages she lied \u2014 ^as \nshe did. But Mr. Throckmorton got angry, and would \nnot let 'him go till he had pronounced the same conju- \nration as that by which his poor daughter was forced to \n\" fyle \" herself ; and when he had said the words, the \nchild came out of her fit\u00bb and acted amazement and \nshame to the life. So it went on : the children having \ntheir fits, being visited by their spirits, of whom there \nwere nine now afloat \u2014 three Smacks, Pluck, Blew, \nCatch, White, Callicot, and Hardname \u2014 and every day \nor so scratching poor Nan till her face and back and \nhands were one mass of scars and wounds. And then \nthe Assize time came, and the three Samuels \u2014 ^father, \nmother, and daughter \u2014 ^were put upon their trial for \nbewitching Lady Cromwell to death, and tormenting \nMrs. Joan Throckmorton and her sisters. There could \nbe no mistake about it now, for not only had they all \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF WAKBOIS. 239 \n\nthree convicted themselves by their own confessions in \nthe conjuration which they had been obliged to repeat, \nbut even before the judge, Mrs. Jane played ofif the \nlike trick, falling into a terrible fit which only old \nSamuel could get her out of by repeating the charm. \nAt first he was obstinate and sturdily refused to say the \nwords ; but on the judge telling him that he should be \nbrought in guilty if he did not, he consented, and had \nno sooner said \u2014 \" As I am a witch, and did consent to \nthe death of the Lady Cromwell, so I charge thee. \nDevil, to suffer Mrs. Jane to come out of her Fit at this \npresent\" \u2014 than Mrs. Jane wiped her eyes, looked round \nher, and said, \" Lord father where am I ?\" pretend- \ning to be quite amazed at her position. No hand is \nwanting when there is stoning to be done. Now that \nthe Samuels were fairly convicted of witchcraft in \none instance, witnesses came forward to prove them \nguilty of the like in others. It was remembered how \ncertain persons had died who had offended the old dame ; \nhow others had lost their cows and whole farm stock \nin consequence of giving her rough language; how, \neven since she had been in gaol, she had bewitched to \nhis death one of the turnkeys who had chained her to a \nbedpost^ and had cruelly afflicted the gaoler's own son, \nso that he could not be recovered but by \" scratching \" \nher ; with the further proof that when the grand jury \nreturned a true biU, \"billa vera,\" against them, old \nfather Samuel burst out passionately to her with, \" A \nplague of God light on thee, for thou art she that has \nbrought us all to this, and we may thank thee for it.\" \nSo the judge, \" after good divine counsel given to them, \nproceeded to Judgment, which was to death.\" But the \npoor old woman set up a plea of being with child, though \nshe was necu: fourscore years of age ; at which all the \n\n\n\n240 THE WITCHES OP BNGLAIID. \n\noonrt laughed^ and she herself most of aU* thinking it \nmight save her. Some one standing near to Agnes \ncounselled her to try the like plea; but the brave \nyoung girl, who had something of her father's spirit in \nher, indignantly refused. \" No,\" said Agnes, with the \ngallows straight before her, and this desperate plea per- \nhaps able to save her \u2014 \" no ; it shall never be said that \n\nI was both Witch and .\" She died with the sam& \n\nhaughty courage maintained to the last: but old \nmother Samuel maundered through a vast number of \nconfessions \u2014 implicated her husband \u2014 confessed to her \nspirits \u2014 but with one affecting touch of nature, through \nall her drivel and imbecility steadily refused to crimi- \nnate her daughter. No, her Nan was no witch; she \nwas clear and pure before God and towards man ; and \nneither force nor cajolery could make her forswear that \nbit of loving truth. \n\nWhen those three helpless wretches were fairly dead, \nthe children, upon whose young souls lay the inefface- \nable stain of Murder, and whose first steps in life had \nbeen through innocent blood, gave up the game and \npronounced themselves cured : so we hear no more of \ntheir fits or their spirits, or Mrs. Joan's ghostly lovers \nfighting with cowl staves and breaking each other's \nheads out of jealousy and revenge : and the last record \nof the Gajsfd is, that Sir Henry Cromwell left an annual \nsum of forty shillings to provide for a yearly sermon \nagainst witchcraft, to be preached at Huntingdon by a \nB.D. or D.D. member of Queen's College, Cambridge. \nHow terrible to think that three himian lives were \nsacrificed for such wild and wilful nonsense, and that \nsane and thoughtful and noble-minded people of this \npresent day walk on the way towards the same faith ! \nBetter by far the most chill and desolate scepticism. \n\n\n\nTHE MAN OF HOPE AND THE DEVIL. ^1 \n\nwhich at least will light no Smithfield fires for any \nforms of creed or monstrous imaginings of superstition, \nthan beliefs which can only be expressed and main- \ntained by blood, and the culmination of which is in \nthe suffering and destruction of all dissentients. \n\nTHE MAN OF HOPE AND THE DEVIL .\u2666 \n\nA young lawyer, a Mr. Darrel, had a call to the \nministry. He was made aware of this by the extra- \nordinary sluggishness that came upon him when he \nturned to open a law book ; so, as preaching puritanical \nsermons extempore was less toilsome and cost less \nstudy than learning the intricacies of the Codex Angli- \ncanus, he became converted to extreme doctrines, and \nwas principally regarded as a Man of Hope, skilful in \ncasting out devils and marvellously apt at discovering \nwitchcraft. His first essay at this work was in 1587 \nwith Katherine Green, a young girl of seventeen, who \nhad some hysterical affection which caused her to swell \nto an enormous size and led her to fancies and delu- \nsions, as, that she saw shapes and apparitions, and a \nyoung child without feet or legs looking at her from out \na welL She also had fits, which she afterwards confessed \nwere simulated in order to make her father-in-law, who \nwas generally exceedingly severe with her, more kind \nand pliable : but Mr. Darrel said they were the fits of \npossession, and, as a proof, cast eight devils out of her ; \nspecially one sturdy devil, called Middlecub, which had \nbeen sent into her by Margaret Roper. Mr. Darrel \n\n* Hutchinson^s ' Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft.' Boolton's \n' History of Magic* Harsent's ' Discovery of the Fravdvlent Practises \nof J. Darrel.' ' A Tme Relation of the Strange and Grevovs Vexation \nby the Devil of 7 Persons in Lancashire, and William Somers of Not- \ntingham.* ByJohnDorreL 1600. \n\nB \n\n\n\n242 tHE WlTOHfiS OP ESTOLAND. \n\nat once seized Margaret Eo^, accositog he!r of this \nMiddlecnb imp, and sending her off to llie magistante, \nMr. Fonliamb ; and in the meanwhile Katherine gaflered \nherself to be repossessed, having been impmdent enough \nto talk with the devil in the likeness of a handsome \nyoung man who met her in the lanes, where he entertained \nher with propositions of marriage, and gave her some \nbread to eat Mr. Fouliamb happened to be a man of \nsense, and discharged Margaret Boper, at the same time \nthreatening to send Darrel to prison in her stead if he \ntook on himself to calumniate honest folk without cause. \nThis rebuff cooled the young lawyer parson's ardour a \nlittle ; but in 1594 the Starkies of Lancashire announced \nthemselves possessed, and Mr. Darrel must needs go \ndown to vex the foul fiend that had gotten them. For \nhe was so holy a man that the devils hated him \nmightily, being sorely vexed in his presence, and eying \nout, \" Now he is gone ; now he is gone ; now blacke \ncoate is gone,\" as soon as he quitted them, wearied \nwith his wrestling. The story of the Starkies was \nthis : \u2014 \n\nAnne, aged nine, and John, of ten, were taken with \n\" dumpish heavie countenances,\" and fearful startings \nof their bodies, loud shouting fits, and convulsions. The \nfather went to Hartley, a known conjuror, who came to \ntheir aid with popish charms and certain herbs ; and so \nstilled them for a year and a half. Btit when he \n*' fained as thought he would haue gone into another \ncountrey,\" the children fell ill again, and Mr. Starkie \nthought it best to secure the perpetual services of the \nconjuror by a fee of forty shillings yearly. But Hartley \nwanted more, and thereupon began a quarrel which \nended in the Possession of ttie children, of three scholars \nliving at the Starkies, of ^Margaret Byron, and lastly of \n\n\n\nTHE MAN OP HOPE AND THE DEVIL. 243 \n\nHartley himself. Now Hartley bad a devily and wiiom- \nBoeyer he Idssed he inoculated with this devil and \nbreathed it into them. And as he was always kisnng \nsome one\u2014 John for lo^e often, t^e little wenches in jest, \nto Margaret Hardman ^^ promising a thraue of kisses/' \n\" wrestling with Johan Smyth, a maid, to kiss her \"'\u2014 \nhe had given the devil in ridi proportion all through \ntixe Starkies' house, and only Mr. Barrel eould exorcise \nhim. The possessed leaped a)bout like goats, and crawled \non all fours like beasts, and barked like dogs, and had \ncommunications from a white dove, and saw homed \ndevils under *the beds, and had visions of \\Ag black dogs , \nwith monstrous tails and bound with chains, and huge \nblack cats and big mice that knocked them down at a \nblow, and left them speechless, cold, and dead. And \nthen they took to \" slossinge up their meat like greedy \ndogges or hogges,\" and they made the same noises as a \nbroken-winded horse ; and they howled and shrieked ; \nand one of them, Jane Ashton the servant aged thirty, \nfell foul of Edmund Hartley for all his kisses and pro- \nmises of marriage ; and they \" yelled and whupped ;\" \nand there was in very troth the devil to pay in that \nhorrible house when Mr. More and Mr. Barrel went to \nexorcise the fiends and restore the possessed to their \nsenses. After some days of prayer, and of fighting \nwith the devil who would cry out when Mr. Barrel \nwas preaching, \" Bible bable, he will never have done \nprating, prittle prattle ;\" and \" I must goe, I must \naway ; I cannot tarrie ; whither shall I goe ? I am hot, \nI am too hot, I wiU not dye ! \" and such like, six of \nthem were delivered, and visibly and bodily dispossessed. \nWith one, Mary Byron, the devil came up from her \nstomach to her breast, then to her throat, when it gave \nher '' a sore lug,\" whilst a mist dazzled her eyes. \n\n\n\n244 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nThen she felt it go out of her mouth, leaving behind \nit a sore throat and a filthy smell, and it was in the \nlikeness of a crow's head, and it sat in a comer of \nthe parlour in the dark ; but suddenly flashing out all \na fire it flew out of the window, and the whole place \nwas in a blaze, according to her imagination. John \nStarkie lost his in the shape of a man with a hump- \nback and very ill-favoured, who, when he had gone \nout wished much to re-enter, but Master John with- \nstood him, and had the best of it He was like a \" foule \nugly man with a white beard and a ' bulch ' on his \nback.\" The same tale had little Ellin Holland and \nAnne Starkie to tell, all save the white beard. Elinor \nHardman lost hers as an urchin, but presently return- \ning through a little hole in the parlour, he offered her \ngold and silver in any quantity if she would let him \nenter again, and when she resisted he threatened to \ncast her into the fire and the pit, and to break her neck ; \nall of which threats being unheeded by the little maid \nof ten, he left her again in his old form of \" urchin.\" \nThe next day, and the next, all these devils came again, \nseeking to repossess the children. They came in va- \nrious forms \u2014 as a black raven ; a black boy, with his \nhead bigger than his body ; a black rough dog with a \nfirebrand in his mouth ; five white doves ; a brave \nfallow like a wooer ; two little whelps that played on \nthe table, and ran into a dish of butter ; an ape ; a \nbear with fire in his mouth ; a haystack \u2014 all, haystack \nar, v\\. II i^s the rest, promising them bags of gold and \ntllvti' if tliey might come into them again, but threaten- \ning (n \\tnm\\i their necks and their backs, and throw \ntlti^iu U\\Ui the pit and the fire, and out of the window, \nif iltutitid But Messrs. More and Darrel were instant in \n^iHivuc, mid successfully withstood them. The children \n\n\n\n\\ \n\n\n\nTHE MAN OF HOPE AND THE DEVIL. 245 \n\nwere pronounced finally dispossessed: all save Jane \nAshton, who went away to a popish family and became \npopish herself ; wherefore the devil recovered her, says \nMr. Darrel, and her last state was worse than her first. \nAs for Edmund Hartley, he was hanged at Lancaster, \nchiefly through Mr. Darrel's exertions. \n\nIn 1596 Mr. Darrel had more work. Thomas Dar- \nling, \" the Boy of Burton,\" had offended old Alice \nGoodridge; so Alice possessed him, and Mr. Darrel \nwas sent for the undoing. His chief weapon in this \ncase was a ranting tract called \" The Enemie of Secu- \nritie,\" which the devil could not abide any how, and \nduring the reading of which he would cry out \u2014 ^through \nthe earthly medium of the Boy of Burton \u2014 \" Badul- \nphus, Belzebub can doe no good, his head is stricken \noff with a word.\" \u2014 \" We cannot prevaile (against the \nchurch and Mr. Darrel), for they will not be holpen by \nwitches. Brother Eadulphus, we cannot prevaile ; let \nus go to our mistress and torment her ; I have had a \ndraught of her blood to-day.\" \" Againe \u2014 * There is a \nwoman earnest at prayer, get her away.' * Nay,* quoth \nJohn Alsop (a man that was present), with a loude voice, \n* we cannot spare her.* Thus the Boy graced Mistress \nWightman, his aunt. And againe, * Brother Glassop \n(another devil), we cannot prevaile, his faith is soe \nstrong. And they fast and pray, and a preacher prayeth \nas fiast as they.' \" And \" I bayted my hooke often, and \nat last I catcht him. Heere I was before, and heere I \nam againe, and heere I must stay, though it be but for \na short tyme. I leade them to drink, carouse, and \nquaffe. I make them to sweare. I have leave given \nmee to doe what I will for a time. What is wightier \nthanaEingeinhisownelande? A King I am, in whome \nI raigne, heere I am King for a time.\" With much \n\n\n\n\n246 THE WITCHES OF EXGLAND. \n\nmore of the same kind. In the mean time old Alice \nGk)odiidge, who had wrought all this mischief, died in \nprison, while her deyilish spirit or imp, Minnie, whom \nshe had sent into the boy, racketed and rioted in his \nsonl and body, and Mr. Darrel wrestled against him \nwith prayer and \" the Enemie of Secnritie.\" He finally \nprerailed, and after Thomas Darling had been pos- \nsessed and dispossessed and repossessed again, delivered \nhim from Badulphus and Minnie and Glassop and \nBeelzebub, and so had leisure to turn to some one else \nwhen needed. \n\nThat some one else was soon found; for there was \nWill Somers, a lad living with Mr. Brakenbury at \nAdiby-de-la-Zouch during the time of Mr. Darrel's \nministry there, who was now at Nottingham, and one \nof the most accomplished demoniacs of the day. No- \nthing would satisfy Will but that Mr. Darrel should be \nsent for to cast the devil out of him. He had known \nof his prowess with Eatherine Wright, and the Starkies, \nand the Boy of Burton, and why should he not glorify \nGUxi and the Puritans as well in Nottingham as in \nLancashire? Accordingly, that gentleman was sent \nfor on the 5th of November, 1597, and the farce began. \nBefore Mr. Darrel even saw the lad he said he was \npossessed, and he said the same thing to himself \u2014 \ncounterfeiting or illness being of course put out of couil ; \nand he described to the bystanders in what shape the \ndevil would appear when driven out of the lad \u2014 ^for he \nwould make himself visible to them if they had but \nfaith and courage and patience to see the end, and if \nthey would not be terrified when the boy \" scriehed \nor eryed aloude in a strange and supematurall manner ; \neoiiietimes roaring fearfiillye lyke a beare, and trying \nlike a swyne.\" The shapes, then, in which he would \n\n\n\nTHE MAN OF HOPE AND THE DEVIL. 247 \n\ngo were th o a o. ^^ a Moose, a Man with a ^unoh-baclv \nhigher than, his Hea4> ^tol ugly Man with a white Beard, \nSk Crow's Hea4 round, a great Breath, uglj like a Tostd,. \nan Urohhn, &e,\" And he told theipa, also in the tad's \nhearing, of what other possease^ pepons had done : \nhow they had cast thein^elye^ into fire or water, \ngnashed with their teeth, writhed with their necks, \nimd drawn their n^outh^ awry, foaming. Then he said \nthat Will Sp^iers was afficted for the sins of Notting- \nham, and God had ^lade eyen the deyil a preacher to \ndeter the^n from, them ; wher^t Will acte4 by signs \nc^l the 9im pf Nottinghcgoi, $^id Mr. Darrel expired \nthem to the pepple 6^8 he went on. With suc|i ^ master \nas thii^ it was no difficult mittter for th^ pupil to auc-r \nC6ed\u00ab Two sermons were preached on his behalf. \nDuring Mr, Aldred's he lay still, ej^cepting a little \nstruggle now and then: this was to show that Mr, \n^dred was not powerful as a i^au of God. But when \nMr, Darrel b^gftu, he reused hipase}f i|p, a;nd on his \ndesoribiag the fourteen signs of Possession one after \nthe other, acted them all to th^ life as he told thepa \noff. ^' He tore ; he foamed ; he waUpwed ; his Face was \ndrawn awry ; his Eyes would st$^:e and bis Tongue haug \nout; he had a Swelling would seem to run from his \nForehead dowri by his \u00a3ar and Throat, and through \nhis BeUy and Thighs, to the Calf of his Legs ; he would \nspeak with his Mouth scarce moving ; ^ud when they \nlooked his Tongue would seem drawn down his Throat ; \nhe would try to cast himself into the Fire and Water ; he \nwould seem heavy that they could not lift him, and his \nJoints stiff that they could not bend them.\" And when \nMr, Darrel farther e:diQrted them all to stand firm, and \nthey would see the glory of God in the dispossession, he \ncried and rended and laid as if dead, just in the order \n\n\n\n248 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nwhich the preacher desired Then he rose up cured and \nexorcised ; but Mr. Darrel told him he might be pos- \nsessed again, and he must be very careful and watchfoL \nOf course he was possessed again. He had been too great \na gainer by the first trial not to venture on a second. \nIf he had been bought off his apprenticeship, had \nlarge presents of clothes, and kept in idleness at his \n&ther-in-law's, for a first trial, what might not fall from \nthe skies on this second occasion ? So Will began to \ntalk wildly of a black dog that haunted him, offering \nhim gold and ginger, and of the devil who came with \nsix more shapes to torment him \u2014 ^namely, as a cock, a \ncrane, a snake, an angel, a toad, a newt, a set of viols, \nand dancers, and that he stood before him ^^ with a foure- \nforked cappe on his heade;\" sometimes, too, making \nnoises and motions like whelps or \" kitlings.\" Fourteen \npersons were thrown into prison, accused of bewitching \nMaster Will, of whom the most celebrated was Millicent \nHorslie, whom no human skill could have saved had \nnot the impostor betrayed himself in time. For Will \nSomers had a revelation concerning her, which must be \ntold in the words of his \" confession, \" as reported by \nHarsnet : \u2014 *^ Maister Darrel told my father-in-law and \nothers in my hearing, that he, the said Maister Barrel, \nMaister Aldred,.and some others, were going to carrie \nMiUicent Horsley (that present morning) to the said \nMaister Perkins, to be examined. Whereupon, I gessing \nby the time of Maister Darrel's departure, and by the \ndistance of the way, and of the likelihood that she \nwoulde deny herselfe to bee a witche, said to those that \nwere, present by mee in one of my fittes, about eleven \nof the clocke, that Millicent Horsley was in examining, \nand that she denyed herselfe to be a witch.\" This co- \nincidence was too striking an instance of supernatural \n\n\n\nTHE MAN OP HOPE AND THE DEVIL. 249 \n\npower to be overlooked. Mr. Darrel worked on it as \none of the most marvellous proo& of the boy's unde- \nniable possession, and Millicent Horsley lay in gaol, \ntogether with thirteen others, to satisfy the craft of one \nand the credulity of the other, and to prove the whole \nage sick, diseased, and enfeebled by superstition. \n\nWfll's sister, Mary Cowper, seeing how pleasant and \nprofitable a thing it W8ts to be bewitched, followed in \nher brother's steps, and cried out on Alice Freeman, a \npoor old creature who thought to escape by saying she \nwas with child. The plea was not a very safe one, for \nMr. Darrel told her if she was, it was by the devil, and \nshe had better have held her tongue. But by this \ntime the parish authorities got frightened, and inter- \nfered; sending Will oflf to the workhouse, where he \nstill continued his fits and antics, until a rough fellow \nthere, one John Shepheard, told him that if he \" did \nnot leave and rise up he would set such a pair of Knip- \nknaps upon him as should make him rue it\" \u2014 ^when \nhe gathered himself up and confessed his imposture. \nMr. Darrel would have none of this recantation. He \nsaid he was more possessed than ever, and that it was \nthe devil within him that made him to lie. So WiQ \nwrote the following letter, as a kind of quietus to his \nzealous friend : \u2014 \n\n\" Mr. Darrel, my hearty Commendations unto you. \nThis is to desire you that you would let me be at quiet : \nFor whereas you said that I was Possessed, I was not ; \nand for those Tricks that I did before you came, was \nthrough Folks Speeches that came to me : And those \nthat I did since, was through your Speeches, and others. \nFor as you said I could not hear, I did hear all Things \nthat were done in the House^ and all Things that I did \nwere coimterfeit ; And I pray you to let it pass ; for \n\n\n\n250 T9B WITCHES QF ENGI\u00abANI). \n\nthe viore yon meddle in it, the more dkeiedit it will \nbe for joa : Aad I {Hray Qoi, as4 7 turned ont to \nbe nothing but a spurrier's dog crouching in the back- \nground of the darkening chamber. So, when care- \nfully sifted, wonld the evidence of all suchflike marvels \nprove to be merest chaff scattered on the ground; \n\n\n\nGIFFABiyS ANECDOTES. ^1 \n\nand yet, a eentuiry after, Mr. Richard Boulton is foimd \nrepeating the story of Will Sonaers' possession as if it \nhad never been disproved; and there are some even \nnow living who would cite it as a case of proved \nspiritualism. Mr. Darrel was degraded from the mi* \nnistry, and committed to close prison: rather harsh \nmeasures simply because he had more faith and a Uttle \nleaa discretion than his neighbours. \n\n\n\nGIFFARD'S ANECDOTES.* \n\nGeorge Giffard, \"minister of God's word in Mai- \ndon,\" put forth a little book in 1603, containing a \nnumber of witch stories and anecdotes, without names, \ndates, or places, yet written in a manner and style \nevidently proving their reliability, and all seeming to \nhave come within his own personal knowledge as be- \nlieved in by others. One, whom he knew, tmder the \nassumed name of one of his characters was constantly \ntroubled by a hare, which his conscience accused him \nwas a witch \"she stared at him so ;\" and sometimes an \nugly weasel would run through his yard ; and sometimes \na foul big cat sit upon his bam, for which he had no \nmanner of liking; and an old woman of the place, \nwhom he had been as careful to please as if she had \nbeen his mother, stiU frowned upon him to his exceeding \ndiscomfort ; and a hog which overnight had eaten his \nmeat with his fellows, quite hearty and well, in the \nmorning was stark dead ; and five or six hens died too, \nin a manner no one could understand, save by the \npower of witchcraft. And once another of his friends \n\n* ' A Dialogue ooncerning Witches and Witohcrafti.' 1603. \n\n\n\n252 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nwent to a cmming man who lived twenty miles off, \ncomplaimng of his fiEinn-yard losses: so the cunning \nman took a glass, and bidding him look in it, showed \nhim a certain suspected witch therein, telling him that \nshe had three or four imps, \" some call them puckrels,\" \none of which was like a gray cat, another like a weasel, \na third like a mouse. There was also another cunning \nperson \u2014 a woman \u2014 to whom a father took a child that \nhad long been lame and pained. The woman told the \nman he had an ill neighbour, and that the child was \nforespoken. \" Marie, if he wbuld go home and bring \nher some of the clothes which the child lay in all \nnight, she would tell him certainely.\" The father went \nhome and did as he was bid, when the wise woman \ninformed him that the girl was bewitched, counselled \nhim what to do, and the ^^ girle is well at this day, and \na pretie quicke girle,\" says George Giffard, with a \nsneer at his neighbour's easy faith. Another had his wife \nmuch troubled ; so he, too, went off to a wise woman, \nwho told him that his wife was haunted by a fairy. As \na counter-charm she was bidden to wear a part of St \nJohn's Gospel ever about her, against which the fairies \ncould not stand, so fled. Another good wife could not \nmake her butter come: it was bewitched, and for a \nwhole week obstinately disregarded the laws of butter \nnature: wherefore they heated a spit, red hot, and \nthrust it into the cream \u2014 and it came at once. The \nnext morning the good wife met the suspected witch \u2014 \n*^ the old filth,\" she calls her with more emphasis than \neuphony. \" Lord, how sowerly she looked upon me, \nand mumbled as she went ! Ah, quoth she, you have \nan honest man to your husband. I hear how he doth \nuse me !\" The wife longed to scratch the witch, her \nstomach rose so against her, but she was a&aid she \n\n\n\nGIFFARB'S ANECDOTES. 253 \n\nwould prove the stronger, for she was \" a lustie old \nquean/' and let her pass unmolested. \n\nIn a certain Village a wealthy man was suddenly \nreduced to comparative poverty by extraordinary losses \nin his farm ; he himself fell ill, and his child of seven \nyears of age sickened and died. He sent to the same \nwise woman at E. H., who told him that he was be- \nwitched, and moreover, that there were three witches \nand one wizard in the town where he lived. The fore- \nspoken farmer caused the one whom he most suspected \nto be seized and examined, who at last confessed, after \nmaking \" much ado,\" and taking up the time of the \nworshipM justice to no good. She said that she had \nthree imps, a cat Lightfoot, a toad Lunch, a weasel \nMakeshift. Lightfoot had been given to her sixteen \nyears ago, by one Mother Barlie of W. in return \nfor an oven cake ; the toad and the weasel came of their \nown accord and offered their services gratuitously. \nThe cat killed kine, the weasel killed horses, and \nthe toad plagued men ; so the poor old creature was \nsent to the county gaol, where she died before the \nassizes. Another woman, old Mother W. of Great T., \nhad an imp like a weasel. \" She was offended highly \nwith one H. M. ; home she went, and called forth \nher spirit, which lay in a pot of woole under her bed : \nshe willed him to go plague the man: he inquired \nwhat she would give him, and he would kiU H. M. \nShe said she would give him a cocke, which she did, \nand he went, and the man fell sicke with a greate paine \nin his belly, languished and died; the witch was \narraigned, condemned, and hanged, and did confesse \nall this.\" \n\nSeven miles hence, at W. B., a man in good health \nsuddenly fell sick, pined for half a year, and then died. \n\n\n\n254 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAiND. \n\nHis wife, suspecting evil doings, went to a ciim\u00bbi|g \nwoman, who showed her in a glass the likeness of the \nwitch who had destroyed him, wearing an old red cap \nwith comers, snch as women were used to wear. The \nold red-capped woman was taken, tried, soon brought \n\u2022to confess to the bewitching of the man, and executed. \nBut before she died she told them all, how that (sdie \nhad a spirit in the likeness of a yellow dun cat, which \ncame to her one night as she sat by the fire nursing \nangry thoughts against a neighbour with whom she \nhad fallen out. She was frightened, she said, but the \n<2at bid her not be a&aid, for it had served an old dame, \nthat was now dead, for five years down in Kent, and \nwould serve her now, an she would. The woman took \nthe cat at its word, and by it killed many a cow and \nhog of those who angered her : at last she sent it to \nthis man, and the cat killed him. She was hanged, \nand the yellow dun imp was never more seen. \n\nMr. Giflkrd knew a church which had been robbed \nof its communion service : a wise, man told the church- \nwardens what to do and the thief would surely ride \nin all haste to confess. As it proved. Another case \nwas that of a child taken piteously ilL Under the \ncunning man's advice the father burnt its clothes, and \nwhile they were burning, the witch came running in, \ngrievously pained. The child was well within two days. \nA butcher had a son, John, terribly afflicted with sores. \nSalves and plasters would not' heal him ; but when a \ncunning man showed him in a glass the form of the \nwitch who had laid this harmful thing upon him, and \nthey had cut off some of the boy's hair and burnt ife \nthe old woman came to the house in all speed, crying, \n*' John, John, scratch me !\" So John scratched her till \nthe blood oame, and his sores all healed of themselves. \n\n\n\nOIPrARiyS ANECDOTES. 265 \n\nwithout salve \nand her eyes got quite well ; but one day, prompted by \nEve's sin^ she opened ibe packet, and found a piece of \npaper on which Was written, in the \u20acrerman tongue, \n\" The devil plucke out thine eyes and fill their holes \nwith dirt.\" Terrified at the unholy nature of her cure, \nthe woman flung the charm awa,y, and her eyes imme- \ndiately became bleared and watery as before.* A \nwoman suspected of witchcraft was taken in hand by \na gentleman, who undertook to induce her to con- \nfess. She was very stiff about the matter, and denied \nall dealings with the devil in any way. Suddenly, at \nsome distance from thetn, appeared a weasel or a \nlobster, looking straight at them. \" Look !\" said the \ngentleman, \" yonder same is thy spirit !\" \" Oh, \nmaster,\" said she, \" that is a vermine. There be many \nof them everywhere.\" But as they went towards it, \nthe weasel or lobster vanished clean out of sight. \n\" Surely,'^ said the gentleman, \" it is thy spirit\" But \nstill she denied, \" and with that her mouth was drawn \nall awrie.\" When a little further pressed she allowed \nall, and the gentleman, being no justice, sent her home, \nexhorting her to go to a magistrate and ease her soul \nby confession. As she got home she was met by \nanother witch who came violently enraged against \nher. \" Ah, thou beast ! what hast thou done ? thou hast \nbewrayed us aU !\" she said. \" What remedy now ?\" \nsaid fiiie. \" What remedy ?\" saith the other, \" send \nthy spirit and touch him.\" At that moment the gen- \ntleman felt, fis it were, a flash of fire about him ; but he \n* This is an old story, found in aU boohs on witchcraft. \n\n\n\n256 THE WrrCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nlifted his hat and prayed, and the spirit came back \nand said it could do him no hurt, because he had faith. \nSo then they sent it against his child, and the child \nwas taken ill with great pain and died. The witehes \nconfessed and were hanged. Another witch had her \nspirit hidden in the boll of a tree ; and there she held \nlong conversations with this ghastly Ariel, he answering \nin a hollow ghoustie voice, as might be expected. \nWhen any offended her, she would go to the tree \nand release her imp to do them harm. She had killed \nmany hogs, horses, and the like by this spirit ; but at \nlast justice got hold of her with its mailed hand and \nkilled her. Another friend of Giffard's, also under the \ndisguise of one of his characters, was twice on a jury, \nwhen certain old women were charged with harming \ntheir neighbours' goods and lives. There was no proof \nin either case, and the old women protested their inno- \ncence passionately; but the jury brought them in \nguilty, which was perfectly logical and right according \nto their notions of the law of that God who suffers the \ndevil to torment the sons of men, and to delude old women \ninto the possession of unholy powers. What, indeed, \ncould be done with them when, by a look or a word, they \ncould afflict even unto death the most beautiful of \nGod's creatures, and send the devil to inhabit the \npurest of souls ? The mischief lay in the fundamental \ncreed, not so much in the application of it, terrible and \nbloody as it was ; and it is against this creed, that I \nwould most earnestly insist. It must be remembered, \ntoo, that Grffard writes ironically, and brings together \nall these cases as evidence of the foolishness and wicked- \nness of the faitL \n\n\n\n267 \n\n\n\nTHE POSSESSED MAID OF THAMES STREET,* \n\nIn 1603, Mary Glover, a merchant's daughter in \nThames Street, gave herself out as bewitched, and said \nthat Mother Jackson had done it. A little glimmering of \nreason made the physician Dr. Boncraft tell the Lord \nChief Justice Anderson that Mother Jackson was wrong- \nfully accused, and the girl was counterfeiting. So the Lord \nCJhief Justice caused the Eecorder of London, Sir John \nCrook, have her to him in his chambers in the Temple. \nThe maid went with her mother and some neighbours, \nand in an hour's time came Mother Jackson, disguised , \nlike a country market woman, with a muffler hiding \nher face, an old hat, and a short cloak bespattered with \nmire. As soon as she entered the maid fell backward \non the floor ; \" her Eyes drawn into her Head, her \nTongue toward her Throat, her Mouth drawn up to her \nEar, her Bodie became stiff and senseless. Her Lips being \nshut closs a plain and audible Voice came out from her \nNostrils saying ' Hang her, hang her.' \" The Eecorder, \nwilling to try her, called for a candle at which to light \na sheet of paper, then held the burning paper to her \nhand till a bUster came, rising and breaking and the \nwater running down on the floor. But still the maid lay \nas if dead, with the Voice coming out of her Nostrils, \nsaying, \" Hang her, hang her.\" Not satisfied with the \ntrial of burning, the Eecorder got a long pin, which he \nmade hot and thrust up her nostrils to see if she would \n\" neese,\" wink, bend her brows, or stir her head ; but \nstill she lay as before, stiff,, senseless, and as one dead. \nThe minister, one Lewis Hughes, who teUs this story \nwhich Sinclair quotes, told the Eecorder that he had \n\n\u2666 George Sinclair's \u2022 Satan's Invisible World Displayed.' \n\nS \n\n\n\n258 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\noften prayed with the maid, and that when he con- \ncluded with the Lord's Prayer and came to \" but \ndeliver us from all evil,\" the maid would be tost and \nshaken as a mastiff might shake a cur. Then the \nEecorder bade the witch say the Lord's Prayer, but she \ncould not say it : she kept on all right until the clause \n\" deliver us from evil,\" and this she skipped over ; \nneither would she confess that Jesus Christ was our \nLord in the Articles of the Christian Faith. When \nMary was in her fits, if the witch but so much as laid \nher hand upon her she was tost and shaken fearfully. \nThis the Becorder wished to verify: so he bade first \n. one, then another, of the neighbours come forward and \ntouch her ; which they did ; but she never stirred tfll \nMother Jackson touched her, when she was shaken as \nbefore. Then the Recorder said, \" Lord, have mercy \nupon the woman !\" for he was now fiilly convinced ; and \nsent poor old Mother Jackson off to Newgate. As soon \nas she was sent off the maid came to herself, the voice \nceased out of her nostrils, and she went home with her \nmother. Three weeks or more after the witch was \ncondemned, the maid had the same fits, strange and \nfearful to behold, and the Recorder told the minister, \nand all the ministers of London, ** that we might be \nashamed to see a Child of Gk)d in the Claws of the Devil \nwithout any hope of deliverance but by such means as \nGod had appointed\u2014 Fasting and Prayer.\" Then five \nministers, all good Christians and sound believers, \nassembled and prayed from morning to candle-light, \nwhen Mary suddenly started out of her chair \u2014 ^they \ncrying \"Jesus help, Jesus savel\" \u2014 and came up to \nLewis Hughes, in a state of wildness and dismay. \nAs he stood behind her holding her by the arms, \nshe lifted both herself and him off the ground, foam- \n\n\n\nTHE POSSESSED MAID OP THAMES STREET. 259 \n\ning at the mouth and struggling thus all over the \nchamber ; and then her strength gave way, and she fell \nas if dead, her head hanging down and her limbs, which \nhad been so stiff and frozen, now supple and limber. \nIn a short time her eyes came back into their place \nand her tongue came out of her throat, and she looked \nround and said cheerfully, \" Oh ! he is come, he is \ncome ! The Comforter is come 1 the Comforter is come ! \nI am delivered, I am delivered !\" Her father hearing \nthese words wept and said, \" These were her grand- \nfather's words when he was at the stake, the fire crack- \nling about him,\" for he died a martyr to the Eeformed \nFaith in Queen Mary's time. Then she prayed and* \nthanked God till her voice was weak, and so the com- \npany separated, and Mary went home. Afterwards \nshe was put with Lewis Hughes for a year, lest Satan \nshould assault her again, and Mr. John Swan wrote the \nmost canting and nauseating book on her '^ case \" that \never fenatic penned or the duped and the gulled be- \nlieved. But poor old Mother Jackson was dead : and \nthose who mourned for her, motuned in secret and \nsilence and shame. \n\nThere was another case of possession, this same \nyear \u2014 Thomas Harrison, the Boy of Norwich \u2014 chiefly \nremarkable for having procured such attention from \nthe ecclesiastical authorities that seven persons were \nformally licensed to have private prayers and fasting \nfor his deliverance. But the bishop and commissioners \nwho had seen his fits thought him an impostor, so his \ncase died out for want of public support* \n\nAnd now we have the master of kingcraft on the \nthrone, with his mania against witches, his private vices, \nand public follies, treacherous, cruel, narrow-minded, \n\n* HatchinBon*8 'Essay on Witchcraft.' \n\n\n\n260 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAOT). \n\nand cowardly beyond anything that has ever disgraced \nthe English throne before or since. And one of the first \ntrials for witchcraft during his reign was that disgraceful \naffair in which Somerset and his wife. Foreman, Sir \nThomas Overbury, and Mrs. Turner were all mixed up \ntogether. \n\n\n\nSWEET FATHER FOREMAN. \n\nThat Carr and Lady Essex should have an intrigue \ntogether was not so bad, but that Mrs. Turner should \nhave recourse to charms and conjurations, \" to inchant \nthe Viscount's affection towards her,\" that \" much time \nshould be spent, many words of witchcraft, great cost \nin making pictures of wax, crosses of silver, and little \nbabies for that use,\" that specially, there should be \namong the images of wax, one \" very sujnptuously ap- \nparrelled in silke and sattin, as alsoe another sitting \nin forme of a naked woman spreading and laying forth \nher haires in a glass,\" was terrible misdoing against \nboth God and the king. The murder of Sir Thomas \nOverbury was venial ; the intrigue between his favourite \nand another man's wife was venial too ; his own vices \nwere mere kindly fiea-bites on his dignity ; but charms \nand conjurations, and my Lady Essex calling that old \nwizard Foreman her \" sweet father \"\u2014this was more \nthan the British Solomon could well digest. So when \nhe had got tired of Carr and wanted to be rid of him, he \nsuddenly remembered sweet Father Foreman, disciple of \nDr. Dee, and Mrs. Turner, inventor of yellow starch for \nruffs and falling bands, and not only smote Somerset \nstraight in the face for his own share, but sent a side shaft \nafter him, through his \" creatures.\" Well for himself \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 261 \n\nwas it that sweet Father Foreman was dead and buried \ndeep ; so there only remained Mrs. Turner and one or \ntwo inferior agents in the matter \u2014 just enough to keep \nthe people amused, and satisfy the royal lust for witch \nblood. Somerset came to the block on another count, \nabout as false as the rest ; and Mrs. Turner swung from \nthe gibbet in her yellow ruff on every plea but the right \none, and for any sin but those of her real and actual life. \nAfter her deati was found her black scarf fuU of white \ncrosses : and the mould in which Father Foreman had cast \nhis leaden images of women ; and written charms spread \nout on fair white parchment ; and, worst of all, a List of \naU the ladies who had gone to consult the sorcerer as to \nhow they might gain the love of other lords than their \nown ; which list the Lord Chief Justice would not read \nout in court because, said the gossips, his own wife's name \nwas the first that caught his eye. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OP NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.* \n\n\" Of poor parentage, and poor education,\" old Agnes \nBrowne had but a sorry life of it in the little town of \nGilsborough where she lived. She had one daughter, \nJoan Vaughan, or Vamham, \"a maide, or at least \nunmarried,\" says the old black-letter book maliciously ; \n*' as gratious as the mother, and both of them as farre \nfrom grace as Heaven from hell ;\" which Joan was \" so \n\n\u2022 ' The Witches of Northamptonshire. \n\nAgnes Browne, 1 Arthur BiU, ) ^j^^jj^gg^ \n\nloane Vaughan, ) HeUen lenkinson, ! \nMary Barber. \nWho were all executed at Northampton the 22 of Inly last, 1612. \n\n'London. Printed by Tho. Purfoot for Arthur Johnson. 1612.' \nA rare and valuable little black-letter tract. \n\n\n\n262 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nwell brought up vnder her mother's elbow, that she \nhangd with her for company ynder her mother's nosa\" \nIt seems that one day, Joan, being in the company of a \ncertain Mistress Belcher, '' a yirtuons and godly Gentle- \nwoman of the same towne of Gilsborough, whether of \npurpose to giue occasion of anger to the saide Mistris \nBelcher, or but to continue her yilde and ordinary cus- \ntome of behauiour, committed something either in \nspeech or gesture so vnfitting, and vnseeming the \nnature of womanhood \" that Mistress Belcher's patience \ncould bear with her no longer. She got up, beat Joan \nVaughan, and \"forced her to avoid the company.\" \nJoan went away muttering that she would be revenged ; \nto which replied Mrs. Belcher stoutly, that she feared \nneither her nor her mother, and bade her do her worst \nThen Jo'an went home to her mother, and both together \ndevised such a punishment that Mrs. Belcher was griped \nand gnawed of her body, her mouth drawn all awry, \nand in such powerful fits that she could scarce be held, \ncrying out incessantly in her fits, \" Here comes Joane \nVaughan, away with Joane Vaughan !\" till all the world \nknew that she was bewitched, and that old Agnes \nBrowne and her daughter had caused the trouble. \nMistress Belcher's brother, one Master Avery, hearing \nof his sister's sickness and extremity, came to see her ; \nand when he saw her, was moved to such anguish and \nindignation that he must needs go to the house of the \nwitches to hale them to his sister, that she might draw \ntheir blood. But though he twice essayed, he was \ntwice arrested by some miraculous agency, spell-bound, \nand unable to move hand or foot; he could not, by \nany possibility, advance beyond a certain spot, whereby \nthe witches were safe for this time at least, \" the devil, \nwho was standing sentinel,\" being stronger than he\u00bb \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 263 \n\nWherefore sorrowfully he turned back, and went home \nto his own place. But these \"imps of the devil\" \nhad longer arms than he, and in a very short time he \nwas as grievously tormented as his sister, his torments \nenduring until the witches were arrested and taken to \nNorthampton gaol. When there, nothing would satisfy \nMistress Belcher and her brother Master Avery but that \nthey should goto the prison and \"scratch\" the witfches; \nwhich they did, and both recovered of their pains mar- \nvellously on the instant. \"Howbeit they were no \nsooner out of sight, but they fell againe into their old \ntraunces, and were more violently tormented than before ; \nfor when Mischiefe is once a foote, she grows in short \ntime so headstrong, that she is hardly curbed.\" Mistress \nBelcher and Master Avery returning home from North- \nampton in a coach, after their godly exercise of drawing \nblood from these two wretched women, saw suddenly \na man and woman riding both upon a black horse. At \nwhich Master Avery cried out that either they or their \nhorses should presently miscarry ; and he had no sooner \nspoken than both their horses fell down dead. Where- \nfore, for all these crimes, as well as for bewitching a \nyoung child to death, Agnes Browne and her daughter \nJoan were adjudged guilty, and hanged on that 22nd \nof July, protesting their innocence to the last. And \nthen it came out that about a fortnight before her \napprehension Agnes Browne, Eatherine Gkurdiner, and \nJoan Lucas, \"all birds of a winge,\" had been seen \nriding on a sow's back to a place called Bavenstrop, to \nsee one Mother Bhoades, an old witch that dwelt there. \nBut before they got there old Mother Bhoades had died, \n\" and in her last cast cried out that there were three of \nher old friends comming to see her, but they came too \nlate. Howbeit she would meet with them in another \n\n\n\n264 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nplace within a month after. And thns much concerning \nAgnes Browne and her daughter Joane Vaughan,\" says \nthe old black-letter book contemptuously. \n\nThe Qon of witches, Arthur Bill could not control his \nappointed feite. Suspected by the authorities, but with- \nout proof, he and his father and mother were, swum for \ntrial, tied cross bound and flung into the water, where \nthey floated and did not sink. Arthur was accused of \nbewitching to her death one Martha Aspine, as also of \nhaving bewitched sundry cattle ; and as the parents had \na bad name, it was thought best to try them all. After \nthis trial of the water, Arthur was afraid, says the black- \nletter book, lest his father should relent and betray him \nand them all ; whereupon he sent for his. mother, and \nboth together bewitched a round ball into his father's \nthroat, so that he could not speak a word. When the \nball was got out, the father proved the principal witness \nagainst them. The poor mother, who seems to have \nbeen a loving, sensitive, downcast woman, fainted many \ntimes during this terrible period ; \" Many times com- \nplaining to her spirit^\" says the bitter, uncharitable, \nanonymous author, \" that the power of the Law would \nbee stronger than the power of her art, and that shea \nsaw no other likelihood but that shee should be hanged \nas her Sonne was like to bee : To whom her spirit \nanswered, giuing this sorry comfort, that shee should \nnot bee hanged, but to preuent that shee should cut her \nowne throatt. Shee, hearing this sentence and holding \nit definitive, in great agony and horror of minde and \nconscience fell a rauing, crying out that the irreuocable \nJudgement of her death was giuen, and that shee was \ndamned perpetually; cursing and banning the time \nwherein shee was borne, and the houre wherein shee \nwas conceiued.\" A short time after ^' shee made good \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OP NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 265 \n\nthe Demi's worde, and to preuent the lustiee of the Law, \nand to saue the hangman a labour, cnt her owne \nthroate.\" The poor boy was in great misery when he \nheard of his mother's death, and knew now that what \ndespair had done for her, the tyranny of superstition \nwould do for him ; yet \" he stood out stiffly for his inno- \ncence,\" and when found guilty, broke out into grievous \ncries, saying that he had now found the Law to have a \npower above Justice, for that it had condemned an Lino- \ncent. At the gallows he said the same thing, refusing \nto confess to Martha Aspine's murder, and \" thus with a \ndissembling Tongue, and a corrupted conscience, hee \nended his course in this world, with little hope or \nrespect (as it seemed) of the world to come.\" What \nbecame of his three familiars, Grissil, Ball, and Jack, \nwe are not informed, neither of what forms or func- \ntions they were, nor of what colours or dimensions. \n\nGrievously did Mistress Moulsho ofifend Ellen Jen- \nkinson, when she caused her to be searched for witch- \nmarks, which of course were found ; for Helen's character \nwas notorious, and there is no smoke without a little \nfire. So Helen, in revenge, played Mistress Moulsho a \ntrick that brought herself to the gallows. For \" at that \ntime Mistris Moulsho had a Bucke of clothes to be \nwasht out. The next morning, the Mayd, when shee \ncame to hang them forth to dry, spyed the Cloathes, but \nespecially Mistris Moulsho's Smocke, to bee all be- \nspotted with the pictures of Toades, Snakes,' and other \nougly Creatures, which making her agast, she went \npresently and told her mistris, who, looking on them, \nsmild, saying nothing else but this: 'Here are fine \nHobgoblins indeede.' And being a Gentlewoman of a \nstout courage, went immediately to the house of the \nsayd Hellen lenkinson, and with an angry countenance \n\n\n\n266 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\ntold her of this matter, threatening her that if her Linnen \nwere not shortly cleered from those foule spots shee \nwould scratch out both her eyes ; and so not staying for \nany answere, went home and found her linnen as white \nas it was at first\" Helen was soon after arraigned for \nthe death of a child, by witchcraft, but this story of \nMrs. Moulsho's clothes all bespotted with the figures of \ntoads and snakes stood in the stead of any more rational \nevidence. When found guilty, the poor creature cried \nout, \" Woe is me, I now cast away T* And when at the \nplace of execution, she \" made no other Confession but \nthis. That shee was guiltlesse, and neuer shewed signe \nof Contrition for what was past, nor any sorrow at all, \nmore than did accompany the feare of death. Thus \nended this Woman her miserable life, after shee had \nlived many yeares poore, wretched, scorned, and for- \nsaken of the world.\" \n\nOf Mary Barber, the last of Hhe sad crew hanged at \nNorthampton on those bloody assizes, the author gives \nno special account, but plenly of abuse, mixed up with \nthe strangely cruel and immoral morality of the day. \nHe says that \"as shee was of meane Parents, so \nwas she monstrous and hideous both in her life and \nactions. Her education and barbarous Nature neuer \npromising to the world anything but what was rude, \nviolent, and without any hope of proportion more than \nonly in the square of uitiousnesse. For out of the \noblyuion and blindnesse of her seduced senses, she gaue \nway to all the passionate and earthly faculties of the \nflesh, and followed all the Fantazmas Vanities and \nChimeras of her polluted and vnreasonable delights, \nforsaking the Society of Grace, and growing enamored \nvpon all the euill that Malice or Frenzy could minister \nto her vicious desires and intendments.\" She was put- \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 267 \n\nin prison on the charge of bewitching a man to death, \nbut \"the prison (which makes men bee fellowes and \nchambermates with theeves and mnrtherers) the \ncommon guests of such dispised Innes, and should \ncause the Imprisoned Party (like a Christian Arithme- \ntician) to number and cast yp the amount of his own \nLife, neuer put her in minde of the hatefull transgres- \nsions shee had committed, and to consider the filth and \nleprosie of her soule, and intreate heaven's mercy for \nthe release thereof. Prison put her not in minde of her \ngraue, nor the grates and lockes put her in remem- \nbrance of hell, which depriued her of the ioy of liberty, \nwhich shee saw others possesse. The iangling of irons \ndid not put her in minde of the chaines wherewith \nshee should be bound in etemall torments, vnlesse \nheayen's mercy vnloosed them, nor of the howling \nterrors and gnashing of teeth which in hel euery soule \nshall receiue for the particular o\u00a3fences committed in \nthis life, without vnfained and hearty contrition. Shee \nneuer remembered or thought shee must die, or trem- \nbled for feare of what should come to her after death. \nBut 83 her use was alwaies knowne to be deuilish, so her \ndeath was at last found to be desperate. For shee (and \nthe rest before named) being brought firom the common \ngaole of Northampton to Northampton Castle, where \nthe Assizes are vsuaUy held, were seuerally arraigned \nand indited for the offences they had formerly com- \nmitted, but to the inditement they pleaded not guilty. \nFuttiog therefore their causes to the triall of the \nCountrey, they were found guilty, and deserved death by \nthe verdit of a credible lury returned. So without any \nconfession or contrition, like birds of a feather they all \nheld and hangd together for company at Abington \ngallowes hard by Northampton the two and twintieth \n\n\n\n268 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nday of luly last past ; Leauing behinde them in prison \nmany others tainted with the same corruption, who \nwithout much mercy and repentance are likely to follow \nthem in the same tract of Preoedencie.\" \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OP LANCASHIRE * \n\nIn Pendle Forest, a wild tract of land on the borders \nof Yorkshire, lived an old woman about the age of \nfourscore, who had been a witch for fifty years, and had \nbrought up her own children, and instructed her grand- \nchildren, to be witches. \" She was a generall agent for \nthe Deuill in all these partes ;\" her name was Elizabeth \nSouthernes, usually called Mother Demdike ; the date \nof her arraignment 1612. She was the first tried of this \ncelebrated \" coven,\" twenty of whom stood before Sir \nJames Altham and Sir Edward Bromley, charged with \nall the crimes lying in sorcery, magic, and witchcraft. \nOld Mother Demdike died in prison before her trial, \nbut on her being taken before the magistrate who con- \nvicted them all, Eoger Nowell, Esq., she made such a \nconfession as effectually insured her due share of exe- \ncration, and hedged in the consciences of all who had \nassailed her from any possible pangs of seK-reproach or \ndoubt \n\nAbout fifty years ago, she said, she was returning \nhome from begging, when, near a stone pit in the \nPendle Forest, she met a spirit or devil in the shape of \na boy, with one haK of his coat brown and the other \nhalf black, who said to her, if she would give him her \n\n\u2666 * The Wonderful Discoverie of Witches in the County of Lancaster.* \nBy Thomas Potts. 1613. Thomas Wright* s \u2022 Narrative of Sorcery \nand Magic' 1851. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF LANCASHIRE. 269 \n\nsoul, she should have all that she might desire. After a \nlittle further talk, during which he told her that his \nname was Tibb, he vanished away, and she saw him no \nmore for this time. For five or six years Mother Dem- \ndike never asked any kind of help or harm of Tibb, \nwho always came to her at \" daylight gate \" (twilight) ; \nbut one Sabbath morning, she having her little child on \nher knee, and being in a light slumber, Tibb came to \nher in the likeness of a brown dog, and forced himself \non her knee, trying to get blood from under her left \narm. Mother Demdike awoke sore troubled and \namazed, and strove to say, \" Jesus, save my child,\" but \ncould not, neither could she say, \" Jesus, save myself.\" \nIn a short time the brown dog vanished away, and she \nwas '^ almost starke madde for the space of eight \nweekes.\" She and Tibb had never done much harm, \nshe said ; not even to Bichard Baldwin, for all that he \nhad put them off his land, and taken her daughter's \nday's work at his mill without fee or reward, and when \nshe, led by her grandchild Alison (for she was quite \nblind), went to ask for pay, gave them only hard words \nand insolence for their pains, saying, \" he would bum \nthe one, and hang the other,\" and bidding them begone \nfor a couple of witches \u2014 and worse. She confessed \nthough, after a little pressing, that at that moment Tibb \ncalled out to her, \" Bevenge thee of him !\" to whom she \nanswered, \"Bevenge thou either of him or his I\" on \nwhich he vanished away, and she saw him no more^ \nShe would not say what was the vengeance done, or if \nany. But if she was silent, and not prone to confes- \nsion, there were others, and those of her own blood, \nnot so reticent Elizabeth Device her daughter, and \nAlison and James and Jennet Device, her grandchil- \ndren, testified against. her and each other in a wonderful \n\n\n\n270 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\ntnanner, and filled np all the blanks in the most masterly \nand graphic style. \n\nAlison said that her grandmother had seduced her \nto the service of the devil, by giving her a great black \ndog as her imp or spirit, with which dog she had lamed \none John Law, a petit chapman or pedlar, as he was \ngoing through Colnefield with his pack at his back. \nAlison wanted to buy pins of him, but John Law re- \nfused to loose his pack or sell them to her ; so Alison \nin a rage called for her black dog, to see if revenge \ncould not do what fair words had failed in. When \nthe black dog came he said, \" What wouldst thou have \nme to do with yonder man ? \" To whom she answered, \n\" What canst thou do at him ?\" and the dog answered \nagain, \" I can lame him.\" \" Lame him,*' says Alison \nDevice ; and before the pedlar went forty yards he fell \nlame. When questioned, he, on his side, said, that as \nhe was going through Colnefield he met a big black \ndog with very fearful fiery eyes, great teeth, and a \nterrible countenance, which looked at him steadily \nthen passed away ; and immediately after he was be- \nwitched into lameness and deformity. And this took \nplace after having met Alison Device and refused \nto sell her any pins. Then Alison fell to weeping and \npraying, beseeching God and that worshipful company \nto pardon her sins. She said further that her grand- \nmother had bewitched John Nutter's cow to death, and \nJElichard Baldwin's woman-child on account of the \nquarrel before reported, saying that she would pray \nfor Baldwin himseK, \" both still and loud,\" and that \nshe was always after some matter of devilry and en- \nchantment, if not for the bad of others then for the \ngood of herseK. For once, Alison got a piggin full of \nblue milk by begging, and when she came to look into \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OP LANCASHIRE. 271 \n\nit, she foimd a quarter of a pound of butter there, \nwhich was not there before, and which she verily \nbelieved old Mother Demdike had procured by her \nenchantments. Then Alison turned against the rival \nHecate, Anne Whittle, alias Chattox, between whom \nand her family raged a deadly feud with Mother \nDemdike and her family ; accusing her of having be- \nwitched her father, John D.evice, to death, because he \nhad neglected to pay her the yearly tax of an aghen \ndole (eight pounds) of meal, which he had covenanted \nto give her on consideration that she would not harm \nhim. For they had been robbed, these poor people, of \na quarter of a peck of cut oatmeal and linens worth \nsome twenty shillings, and they had found a coif and \nband belonging to them on Anne Whittle's daughter ; \nso John Device was afraid that old Chattox would do \nthem some grievous injury by her sorceries if they \ncried out about it, therefore made that covenant for \nthe aghen dole of meal, the non-payment of which \nfor one year set Chattox free from her side of the \nbargain and cost John's life. She said, too, that \nChattox had bewitched sundry persons and cattle, \nkilh'ng John Nutter's cow because he, John Nutter, had \nkicked over her canfull of milk, misliking her devilish \nway of placing two sticks across it ; and slaying Anne \nNutter because she laughed and mocked at her ; slaying \nJohn Morris' child, too, by a picture of day \u2014 ^with other \nmisdeeds to be hereafter verified and substanti^rted. \nSo Alison Device was hanged, weeping bitterly, and \nvery penitent. \n\nJames Device, her brother, testified to meeting a \nbrown do^ coming from his grandmother's about a \nmonth ago, and to hearing a noise as of a number of \nchildren shrieking and crying, ^ near daylight gate.\" \n\n\n\n272 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nAnother time he heard a foul yelling as of a multitade \nof cats, and soon after this there came into his bed a \nthing like a cat or a hare, and coloured black, which \nlay heavily on him for about an hour. He said that \nhis sister Alison had bewitched Bullock's child, and \nthat old Mother Chattox had dug up three skulls, and \ntaken out eight teeth, four of which she kept for her- \nself and gave four to Mother Demdike; and that \nDemdike had made a picture of clay of Anne Nutter, \nand had burned itj by which the said Anne had been \nbewitched to death. Also she had bewitched to death \none Mitton, because he would not give her a penny ; \nwith other iniquities of the same sort He said that \nhis mother, Elizabeth Device, had a spirit like a brown \ndog called Ball, and that they all met at Malking \nTower ; all the witches of Pendle \u2014 ^and they were not \na few \u2014 agoing out in their own shapes, and finding foals \nof different colours ready for their riding when they \ngot out : Jennet Preston was the last : when they all \nvanished. He then confessed, for his own part, that his \ngrandmother Demdike told him not to eat the com- \nmunion bread one day when he went to church, but to \ngive it to the first thing he met on the road on his way \nhomewards. He did not obey her, but ate the bread \nas a good Christian should ; and on the way he met \nwith a thing like a hare which asked him for the \nbread ; but he said he had not got it ; whereupon the \nhare got very angry and threatened to tear him in \npieces, but James \" sained \" himself, and the devil \nvanished. This, repeated in various forms, was about \nthe pith of what James Device confessed, his confes- \nsion not including any remarkable betrayal of himself, \nor admission of any practical and positive eviL His \nyoung sister Jennet, a little lassie of nine, supplied the \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF LANCASHIRE. 273 \n\ndefidendes. She had eyidently been suborned, says \nWright, and gave evidence enough to have hanged half \nLancashire. She said that James had sold himself to \nthe devil, and that his spirit was a black dog caUed \nDandy, by whom he had bewitched many people to \ndeath ; and she confirmed what he had said of Jennet \nPreston's spirit, which was a white foal with a black \nspot in its forehead. And then she said that she had \nseen the witches' meetings, but had taken no part in \nthem ; and that on Good Friday they had all dined off a \nroasted wether which James had stolen &om Christian \nSwyers ; and that John Bulcocke turned the spit She \nsaid that her mother Elizabeth had taught her two \nprayers, the one to get drink and the other to cure \nthe bewitched. The one to get drink was a very short \none, simply \u2014 \" Crucifixus, hoc signum vitam etemam, \nAmen ;\" but this would briug good drink into the house \nin a very strange manner. The other, the prayer to \ncure the bewitched, was longer : \u2014 \n\n** Vpon Good Friday, I wiU &8t while I may, \nYntiU I heare them kneU, \nOur Lord's owne BeU, \nLord in his messe \nWith his twelve Apostles good, \nWhat hath he in his hand ? \nIdgh in* Leath f wand : \nWhat hath he in his other hand ? \nHeauen's doore key. \nOpen, open, Heanen doore keyes, \nSteok, stock, heU doore. \nLet Crizmn { child \nGo to it Mother mild. \n\n\n\n* ** Ligh in,*' perhaps lykinge, lusty, or craske. \n\nt \"Leath,\" flexible. \n\nX The chrism was the white cloth placed over the brow of a newly- \nbaptized child in the Roman Catholic serrice. When children died \nwithin the month. they were caUed chrisoms. \n\nT \n\n\n\n274 THE WITCHES OP ENaLAND. \n\nWhat is yonder that OMto a light 80 fiirrandly?* \n\nMine owne deare Sone that*8 naiVd to the Tree, \n\nHe iB nail'd sore by the heart and hand. \n\nAnd holy hame Panne.t \n\nWell it that man \n\nThat Fzyday spell can. \n\nHis Ghilde to leame \n\nA GrosBe of Blewe, and another of Red, \n\nAs good Lord was to tlie Boode. \n\nGkibiiel laid him downe to sleepe \n\nVpon the gronnde % of boly weepe ; \n\nGk)od Lord came walking by, \n\nSleep'st thon, wak'st thoo, Gabriel ? \n\n-No, Lord, I am sted with stick and stake. \n\nThat I can neither sleepe nor wake : \n\nBise yp, Gabriel, and god with me, \n\nThe stick nor the stake shall nener deere \u00a7 thee, \n\nSweete Jesns oar Lorde. Amen/* \n\nOn such conclusiye testimony as this, and for such \nfearfdl crimes, James Device was condemned for ^' as \ndangerous and malicious a witch as eyer lived in these \nparts of Lancashire, of his time, and q>otted with as \nmuch Innocent bloud as euer any witch of his yeares/' \nPoor lad! \n\n\" O Barbarous and inhumane Monster, beyond ex- \nample; so farre from sensible vnderstanding of thy \nowne miserie as to bring thy owne naturall children into \nmischiefe and bondage, and thyselfe to be a^ witnesse \nvpone the gallowes, to see thy owne childr^, by thy \ndeuillish instructions, hatcht vp in villanie and witch- \ncraft, to suffer with thee, euen in the beginning of their \ntime, a shameMl and untimely Death ! \" These are \nthe words which Thomas Potts addresses to Elizabeth \nDevice, widow of John the bewitched, daughter to old \n\n* \" Fanandly,\" Mr, handsome. \n\nt \" Hame panne,'* ham case, omnimn. \n\nt Gethsemane. \u00a7 ** Deera,\" haut. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OF LANCASHIRE. 275 \n\nDemdikethe \"rankest hag ibat ever troubled daylight/' \nand mother of Alison and James the confessing witches ; \nmother, also, of young Jennet of nine, their accuser \nand hers, by whose testimony she was mainly con- \ndemned. Elizabeth was chained with having bewitched \nsundry people to death, by means and aid of her q>irit, \nthe brown dog Ball, spoken of by James ; also she had \ngone to the Sabbath held at Malking Tower, where \nthey had assembled to consult how they could get old \nMother Demdike, their leader, out of prison, by killing \nher gaoler and blowing up the castle, and where they \nhad beef and bacon and roasted mutton \u2014 the mutton that \nsame wether of Christopher Swyers' of Barley, which \nJames had stolen and killed; with other things as \ndamnable and insignificant. So Elizabeth Device, ^* this \nodious witch, who was branded with a preposterous \nmarke in Nature even from her Birth, which was her \nleft Eye standing lower than the other, the one looking \ndown the other looking up,\" was condemned to die \nbecause she was poor and ugly, and had a little lying \njade for a daughter, who made up fine stories for the \ngentlefolks. \n\nAnne Whittle, alias Ghattox, was next in influence, \npower, and age to Mother Demdike, and she begau her \nconfession by saying that old Demdike had originally \nseduced her by giving her the devil in the shape and \nproportion of a man, who got her, body and soul, and \nsucked on her left ribs, and was called Fancie. After- \nwards she had another spirit like a spotted bitch, \ncalled Tibbe, who gave them all to eat and to drink, \nand said they should have gold and silver as much as \nihey wanted. But they never got the gold and silver \nat all, and what they ate and drank did not satisfy \nthemu '' This Anne Whittle, alias Chattox, was a very \n\n\n\n276 THE WrrCHBS OP ENGLAND. \n\nold withered, spent, decrepid creature, her Sight ahnost \ngone; A dangerous \u2022 Witch of very long continuance; \nalways opposite to old Demdike; For whom the one \nfetuonred tibe other hated deadly : and how they curse \nand accuse one an other in their Examinations may ap-\u00bb \npear. In her Witchcraft always more ready to doe \nmischiefe to men's goods than themselves ; Her lippes \never chattering and talking ; but no man knew what. \nShe lived in the Forrest of Pendle amongst this wicked \nCompany of dangerous Witches. Yet in her Examina-* \ntion and Confession she dealt always very plainely and \ntruely ; for vpon a speciall occasion, being oftentimes \nexamined in open Court, she was neuer found to vary, \nbut alwayes to agree in one and the selfe same thing. \nI place her in order next to that wicked Firebrand of \nmischiefe, old Demdike, because from these two spnmg \nall the rest in order ; and even the Children and Friendes \nof these two notorious Witches.\" \n\nNothing special or very graphic was elicited about \nold Chattox. She had certainly bewitched to death \nsundry of the neighbourhood, lately deceased ; but then, \nthey all did that ; and her devil, Fancie, came to her \nin various shapes \u2014 sometimes like a bear, gaping as \nthough he would worry her, which was not a pleasant \nmanner of fulfilling his contract \u2014 ^but generally as a \nman, in whom she took great delight. She confessed \nto a charm for blessing forespoken drink ; which she \nhad chanted for John Moore's wife, she said, whose beer \nhad been spoilt by Mother Demdike or some of her \ncrew : \u2014 \n\n*' Three Biters hast thoa bitten, \nThe Hart, iU Eye, ill Tonge ; \nThree Bitter shall be thy boote. \nFather, Sonne, and Holy Ghost \na Gk)d*s Name \n\n\n\nTHE WITCHES OP LANCASHIRE. 277 \n\nFine Paternosters, fine Ames, \n\nand a Creede, \nPor worship of fine woundes \n\nof our Lord.\" \n\nOf course there was no help or hope for old Chattox \nif she said sach wicked things as these. The righteous \njustice of England must be satisfied, and Anne Whittle \nwas hung \u2014 one of the twelve who sorrowed the sunlight \nin Lancaster on that bloody assize. \n\nHer daughter, Ann Eedfeame, was then taken, ac- \ncused of making pictures of clay and other maleficent \narts; and she, too, was hanged; and then well-bom, \nwell-bred, but unfortunate Alice Nutter \u2014 a gentle- \nwoman of fortune living at Bough Lee, whose relatives \nwere anxious for her death that they might come into \nsome property, out of which she kept them while living, \nand between whom and Mr. Justice Nowell there was a \nlong-standing grudge on the question of a boundary- \nline between their several properties \u2014 ^Alice \u2666Nutter, \nwhom one would have thought far removed from any \nsuch possibility, was accused by young Jennet of com- \nplicity and companionship, and put upon her trial \nwith but a faint chance of escape behind her. For \nElizabeth Device swore that she had joined with her \nand old Demdike in bewitching the man Mitton, be- \ncause of that twopence so fatally refused ; and young \nJennet swore that she was one of the party who went \non many-coloured foals to the great witch meeting at \nMalking Tower ; and so poor Alice Nutter, of Eough \nLee, the well-bom, well-bred gentlewoman, was hanged \nwith the rest of that ragged crew ; and her relations \nstood in her place, quite satisfied with their dexterity. \n\nThen there was Katherine Hewitt, alias Mouldheels, \naccused by James Device, who seemed to think that if \n\n\n\n\n278 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nhe had to be hanged for nothing he would be hanged in \nbrave company, and, by sharing with as many as could \nbe found, lessen the obloquy he could not escape ; and \nJohn Bulcocke, who turned the spit, and Jane his mother, \nfor the same crimes and on the same testimony ; for the \nadded crime, too, of helping in the bewitching of Master \nLeslie, about which nefarious deed other hands were \nalso busy ; and Margaret Pearson, delated by Chattox \nas entertaining a man spirit cloven-footed, with whom \nshe went by a loophole into Dodson's stable, and sat \nall night, on his mare until it died. She was also \naccused by Jennet Booth, who went into her house \nand begged some milk for her child ; Margaret good- \nnaturedly gave her some, and boiled it in a pan, but \naU her reward was, that Jennet accused her of witch- \ncraft, for there was, said she, a toad, or something very \nlike a toad, at the bottom of the pan when the milk \nwas boiled, which Margaret took up with a pair of \ntongs aad carried out of the house. Of course the toad \nwas an imp, and Jennet Booth was quite right to repay \nan act of neighbourly generosity by accusation and \nslander. Margaret got off with standing in the pillory \nin open market, at four market towns on four market \ndays, bearing a paper on her head setting forth her \noffence written in great letters, about which there could \nbe no mistake; after which she was to confess, and \nafterwards be taken to prison, where she was to lie for \na year, and then be only released when good and re- \nsjionedble sureties would come forward to answer for \nher good behaviour. \n\nAnd there was Isabel Eoby, who bewitched Peter \nCboddock for jilting her, and in the spirit pinched and \nbuffeted Jane Williams, so that she fell sick with \nthe impression of a thumb and four fingers on her' \n\n\n\nGRACE SOWBRBUTS AND THE PRIESTS. 279 \n\nthigh ; and Jennet Preston, she who had the white foal \nspirit, and who was afterwards hung at T(\u00bbrk for the \nmurder of Majster Thomas Lister\u2014 for Master Thomas \nin his last illness had been for ever crying out that. \nJennet Preston was lying on him, and when she waa \nbrought to see the body it gushed out fresh Uood on \nher, which settled all doubts^ if haply there had be^a \nany. So the famous trial of the Pendle Witches came \nto an end ; and of the twenty who were accused twelve \nwere hanged while the rest escaped only for the present, \nmany of them meeting with ^eir doom a few years \nafterwards. \n\n\n\nGRACE SOWERBUTS AND THE PRIESTS.* \n\nAt the same time and place, namely, ^^ at the Assizes \nand GroneraU Gaole-deEvery, holden at Lancaster, before \nSir Edward Bromley,\" old Jennet Bierly, Ellen Bierly \nher daughter-in-law, and Jane Southworth, were accused \nby Grace Sowerbuts of bewitching her, so that her \n\" bodie wasted and was consumed.\" Grcw^ was foui^ \nteen years old \u2014 a very ripe time for bewitchment and \npossession \u2014 and her evidence ran that for some years \npast she had been fearfully tormented by these women, \nfor that \" they did violently draw her by the Haire of \nthe Head, and layd her on the toppe of a Hay-mowe ;\" \nand that Jennet Bierly appeared to her, first under her \nown shape and form, then as a black dog, and that as \nshe was going over a style \" she picked* her off,\" but \ndid not hurt her much, for soon she was enabled to \nrouse herself up, and go on her way without any great \ndamage. But often the women came to her as black \n\n\u2666 PoUb's \u2022 DiacoTery.' \"Webster's * Displajing.' \n\n\n\n280 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\ndogs, tempting her to cast herself into the water, or \ndragging her into the hay-loft where they coyered her \nwith hay on her head and with straw on her body, they, \nthe black dogs, lying on the top of the straw till they \ntook away all sense and feeling and she knew not \nwhere she was ; and oft they ^' carried her where they \nmet black things like men that danced with them and \ndid abuse their bodies, and they brought her to one \nThomas Walsham's House in the Night, and there they \nkilled his Child, by putting a Nail into the Navil, and \nafter took it forth of the Orave, and did boil it, and \neat some of it, and made Oyl of the bones ; and such \nlike horrid Uqs,\" says honest Webster, indignantly. \nBut fortunately for the three accused, Grace Sowerbuts \nwas a popish pet, and suspected of decided papistical \nleanings ; and- it was said that she was put up to all \nthis by one Thomson, a popish priest, whose real name \nwas Southworth, and who was a relation of old Sir \nJohn Southworth the great popish lord of the district ; \nto whom also Jane, one of the accused, was a near \nrelative, but a hated enemy, as is often the case \u2014 Sir \nJohn having been known to ride miles round to avoid \npassing by her house. Jane Southworth was a Protestant \nand a convert, therefore likely to receive the protection \nof public opinion in those parts ; likely, too, to be \ndoubly hated by her relative, first for herself, and \nsecondly for her apostacy. So Grace Sowerbuts, an \nexcitable young maid with but a slender regard to \ntruth, was hit upon as the person best fitted to carry \nconfusion into tiie enemy's camp, and it was resolved \nto prove her bewitched by the devilish arts of the two \nBierlys and the popish recusant But Sir Edward \nBromley, who cared nothing for the protestations of the \nFendle witches, and hung every one of them with \n\n\n\nGRACE SOWERBUTS AND THE PRIESTS. 281 \n\nthe most placid belief that he was doing a just and \nrighteous work, gave a very diflferent countenance to \nthese Samesbury witches, all of whom would have been \nstrung up like dogs had not the taint of papistry rested \non Grace and her supporters. Leading her quietly to \na denial of all she had asserted, Sir Edward got her \nto confess that she was an impostor, and that eyery \narticle of her accusation was a lie and a fallacy from \nbeginning to end. She had neyer known nor seen any \ndevils ; she had never been cast upon the henroof nor \nupon the hay-mow, but when she was found there she \nhad gone of her own accord, and had covered herself \nwith hay and straw to better prove the witches' despite \nagainst her ; she knew nothing of any child done to \ndeath by nails in its body ; and all timt she had said \nabout the bones, and the oil, and the tender flesh \nroasted at the fire, was as false as the rest. She had \nnever been possessed, but had flung herself into these \nfits by her own will and independent power ; and what \nshe did in them was a mere trick, which she could \nshow their worships if they L'ked. In short, Grace \nSowerbuts wa^ forced to play the losing game in as \nmasterly a manner as might be, and to own herself a \ncheat and an impostor while yet there was time for \npardon. So the three Samesbury witches got oflf with \na stem exhortation from the judge, who scarcely \nseemed to relish the release of even Protestant witches \ndelated by papistical accusers. \n\n\n\n\n282 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\n\n\nMARY AND HER CATS.* \n\nMary Smith of Lynn, wife of Henry Smithy glover, \nwas enyious of her neighbours for their greater skill in \nTuaking cheese : in the midst of her discontents, and \nwhile her mind, by its passion and evil thoughts, was in. \na fit condition for the devil to enter therein, Satan came \nto her as a black man, provoking her in a '^ lowe mm> \nmuring and hissing Voyce,\" to forsake God and follow \nhim ; to which she \" condescended \" in express terms. \nThe devil then constantly appeared to her \u2014 sometimes \nas a mist ; sometimes as a ball of fire, with dispersed \nspangles of black ; but chiefly as a black man ; and some- \ntimes as a horned man, in which shape he came to her \nwhen in prison. Mary was a good hand at banning. She \ncursed John Orkton, and wished his fingers might rot \noff, and they did so ; she cursed Elizabeth Hancock, \nwhom she accused of stealing her hen, wishing that the \nbones might stick in her throat, calling her a ^'prowde \nlinny, prowde flurts, and shaking the hand bade her go \nin, for she should repent it ;\" and incontinently Eliza^ \nbeth Hancock was taken with a pinching at the heart, \nand sudden weakness of all her body, and fainting fits, \nand racking pains, and madness, and raving, so that she \ntcxce the hair off her head as she tossed about distracted. \nHer father went to a wise man, who showed him Mary \nSmith's &Lce in a glads, and bade him make a cake \naceordiag to certain directions, which then he was to \nlay, half on Bessie's head and half on her back, and \nwhich would infallibly cure her, as she was not ill but be- \nwitched. The father did so, and the daughter mended. \n\n\u2022 A * Treatise of Witchcraft' By Alexander Roberts. B.D., and \n' \\}iex of Gk)d's word at King's linne in Norfolk. 1616. \n\n\n\nMABY AND HEB CATS. 28S \n\nSoon after this she mairied one James Soot, who, having \na mortal hatred against Mary Smith, killed her cat\u00bb \nand threatened that if his wife had any such fits as she \nhad before they married, he would hang Mary Smith \nwithoutmercy. At this Mary clapped her hands, and \nCTied \" They had killed her cat I\" and the next day \nElizabeth had the old nipping round her heart So \nJames went to Mary and said he would most certainly \ntake her before the magistrates, if she did not amend \nher ways and heal his wife at once. Fortunately for \nMary the woman got better, and the evil day was staved \noff for a time. To Cecily Balye, the maid-servant next \ndoor, she sent her cat to sit upon her breast when she \nslept, in revenge at the maid's sweeping a Uttle dust \nawry ; and Cicely gave awfdl evidence how, through \nthe thin partition which divided them, she used to see \nMary Smith adoring her imp in a submissive manner \u2014 \ndown on her knees, using strange gestures and uttering \nmany murmuring and broken speeches ; and if she had \nListened, and looked more attentively, she might have \nseen and heard more : ^' but she was with the present \nspectacle so afi&ighted, that she hurried away in much \nfeare and distemper.'* \n\n^ The fourth endammaged by this Hagge,\" says \nBoberts, was one Edmund Newton. He was a cheese- \nmonger, like herself, and she thought he got the best \nof the trade; so she, or her imp in her likeness, came \nto him as he was lying in bed, and ^* whisked about his \nhice a wet death of very loathsome savour; after \nwhich he did see one clothed in russet, with a little \nbush beard, who told him he was sent to looke vpon his \nsore legge, and would heale it\" When Newton rose \nto take a fairer look, he saw that the russet man with a \nlittle bush beard had cloven feet^ so refused his offer of \n\n\n\niiiiimrlj wTfidiTig her \n\n. ciswled about \n\n.<\u00ab\u00bbh \"\"Tgi^n -\u00ab\u00bb . ^amo\u00bb jjfiMilM 11 cl with \n\n^ir{\u00ab* ^ \u2022^'\u20aci9BB:i ide \u2022 ou i ^ 1 Aso maker) did \n\n-znrr ^ivii zim no ^fwek. nvs grieyously \nr^u - - .. nmnir^-wLEd hstp^ Rchmmii Newton's \n\u25a0^ - \u2022 iBfi -* ^' racu ^*r: * vpr^;i4iiHE he stroye to \n? u^ jLiAM Jaii aasoemt aoui he had no \nm\u00ab-t \"-\u25a0 ' r. n : \u2022\u00bb\u00ab -. 1 r MBj ''lue* -J^TTT 9D mnch as a \n-\u2022\" '*'-*-^ - we \"ssscrt lAiTP- )\u00a3m&. At another \n\"^^^ \" - ^'\"\u2022^ \u2022 *ii.\u00abr-^'ic '\"wi. \u2022 i^'PT uiH iwi \u2014 lAe chamber \n\" \u25a0\u2014\u25a0 ^ ^ \u2022 ' iim . t zi^ . vEO^ m Tig - Biflnd, and did \n\n* \u2022 . . -t ,-, .^ jytn: ^tuf t&aa the law \n^ -^'\u25a0\u2022^ -u U.V- ^\u00abiut ^wft' jacniH&i before the \n\n^^\"\u2022\u2022^=^' \"^ - ur*\u00abt\u00bbr \u2022 :ir \u2022 isais^ j\u00a3 ^v^otehcraft \u2014 by \n\n\u2022 - -^^stAst -r*! \u2666\u00bb ar\u00abji' ->qptf- jpflitT by judge \n\n*-*^'^ uoii-**. ^ tr 'rMeifi-iiL^ai^wwdead, as \n**\u2022--\u2022 ^ -ult^ .*JM. s:r*\u00abaianiL Thk murder \n\n\n\n** x^^ ^\u00abM. \\ t^\u00abi9a\u00ab^ : c. 3aaijod. tial diown much \n*y M\u00bb\u00bbi^ ritfoi FiiwBE;. and her two \n\"^'.^ :\u00ab >i4ii. IkMaoKHi; Juwa and Philip \nv^-^ \u00ab .tt^ iBifeCtt' ^^^^^ ooniifeHatily as char- \n^U(bi3SPB>% ^\u00abi^ \"itfr^iR. ami tdh^ eMiUe itself^ \n-'M^ \u00ab>wu \\t ito >jii&ttv^ ^iHHttii and the wash- \n*^.tva AisM-Tt\u00ab^' iMft f^titttit^ a great &YOurite \n^^ . \u00bb\u00ab\u00ab.''. ^iiii xiaftM. Mr nuadk. Their good \n\n\n\n\n*^HMw^ ^ ^jMHriK ^ \u00ab A n^ tir L Btanea, dwelling in \n\n\n\n\n\n\nBUTTEBKIN. 285 \n\nfortune raised them up a host of enemies, as is always \nthe case ; and backbiters went with tales to the Lord \nand Lady, saying, ** First, that loane Flower the \nMother was a monstrous malicious woman, full of \noathes, curses, and imprecations, irreligious, and, for \nany thing they saw by her, a plaine Atheist ; besides of \nlate days her very countenance was estranged, her eyes \nwere fiery and hollow, her speech fell and enuious, her \ndemeanour strange and exoticke, and her conuersation \nsequestered ; so that the whole course of her life gaue \ngreat suspition that Ae was a notorious witch, yea \nsome of her neighbours dared to affirme that she dealt \nwith familiar Spirits, and terrified them all with curses \nand threatening of reuenge, if there were neuer so little \ncause of displeasure and ynkindnesse. Concerning \nMargaret, that she often resorted from the Castle to her \nMother, bringing such Provision as they thought was \nvnbefitting for a seruant to purloyne, and coming at \nsuch unseasonable houres, that they could not but \nconiecture some mischeife between them, and that \ntheir extraordinary ryot and expences tended both to \nrob the Lady, and to maintaine certaine deboist and \nbase company which frequented this loane Flower's \nhouse the motiier, ajid especially her youngest Daughter. \nConcerning Philip that she was lewdly transported \nwith the loue of one Th. Simpson, who presumed to say, \nthat she had bewitched him : for he had no power to \nleaue, and was as he supposed maruellously altered both \nin minde and body, since her acquainted company : \nthese complaints began many yeares before either their \nconuiction or publique apprehension : Notwithstanding \nsuch was the honour of this Earle and his Lady ; such \nwas the cunning of this monstrous woman in her obser- \nuation ^towards them; such was the subtilty of the \n\n\n\n\n286 THE WITCHES OP BNGLAOT). \n\nDinell to bring his purposes to passe; such was the \npleasure of Grod to make tryall of his semants; and \nsach was the effect of a damnable womans wit and \nmalitious ennj, that all things were carried away in the \nsmooth Channell of liking and good entertainment on \neoery side, untill the Earle by degrees conoeiued some \nmislike against ; and so peraduenture estranged himself \nfrom that familiarity and accustomed conferences he was \nwont to haue with her ; untill one Peate offered her \nsome wrong ; against whom she complained, but found \nthat my Lord did affect her clamours and malicious \ninformation, yntillone Mr. Yauasor abandoned her com- \npany, as either suspicious of her lewd life, or distasted \nwith his oun misliking of such base and poore Creatures, \nwhom nobody loued but the Earle's household ; vntiU \nthe Countesse misconceiuing of her daughter Margaret \nand discovering some vndecencies both in her life and \nneglect of her businesse, discharged her from lying any \nmore in the Castle, yet gave her 40\u00ab., a bolster, and a \nmattresse of wooU ; commanding her to go home vntill \nthe slacknesse of her repayring to the Castle, as she \nwas wont, did tume her loue and liking toward this \nhonourable Ecurle and his family into hate and rancor ; \nwherevpon despighted to bee so neglected, and ezpro- \nbated by her neighbours for her Daughters casting out of \ndoores, and other conceiued displeasures, she grew past \nall shame and womanhood, and many times cursed them \ntill liiat were the cause of this discontentment, and \naiH'le her so loathsome to her former familiar Mends \naiul beneficial acquaintance.\" \n\n'riiings being oome to this pass, it was not di\u00a3$cult to \npi^iHiKuie the Earl and his Countess that, when their \nul J(^t son Henry, Lord Boss, sickened very strangely, \nain! ufter a whUe died, \u2014 ^when their second son Francis \n\n\n\nEUTTERKIN. 287 \n\nwas also tortured by a strange sickness \u2014 and the Lady \nKatherine their dai^hter was in danger of her life \n** through extreame maladies and vnusuall fits \" \u2014 it was \nall done by Joan Flower's witchcraft, and that the \nquickest way out of their troubles was to arrest the \nwidow and her two daughters and see what could be \ndone with them, both by their own confessions and the \nneighbours' relations. They were arrested accordingly, \nand carried before the magistrates where witnesses \nwere not awanting. The first evidence given was that \nof Philip Flower, sister to Margaret, and daughter of \npoor old Joan. On the 4th of February she confessed \nthat her mother and sister \" maliced \" the Earl of Eut- \nland, his countess, and their children, because they \nwere put out of the Castle ; wherefore her sister Mar- \ngaret, by desire of her mother, got Lord Henry's right- \nhand glove which she found on the rushes in the \nnursery, and delivered it to Joan, who presently rubbed \nit on the back of her spirit Butterkin, bidding him \n** height and goe and doe some hurt to Henry Lord \nBosse,\" then put it into boiling water, pricking it \nmany times with a knife, and burying it in the yard \nwith a wish that Lord Henry might never thrive. \nWhereupon he fell sick and shortly after died. She \nalso said that she often saw the spirit Butterkin \nleap on her sister Margaret's shoulder and suck her \nneck, and that her mother had often cursed the earl \nand his lady, and boiled feathers and blood together, \n\"vsing many Deuillish speeches and strange gestures.\" \nOn the 22nd of the same month Margaret was examined, \nand she also gave no trouble. She confessed that truly \nshe had got Lord Henry's glove, and that her mother \nhad done with it in all particulars of stroking Butter- \nkin's back, and putting it into boiling water, and prick- \n\n\n\n:\u00bb THE TITCSBa 0^ \u00a3X ~wn a- :iiree years ago she had found a \n_- .-ff. I zt: I-Ljra JraDcs . wiiieh her mother nibbed on \n-L^iTT^rcn Hir ac iCii janie hmi go iq>ward, and which, \nT .1^ Tf^r^ani i\u00bb jmi jurr^^iesy cansed a grieyous \n.^tr?\u00ab> ^ :irts -a \"iitr littie noblenaa. And she got a \niv^^ 1. l^mMLT^ T.trnHmtt^i haniikerdier, which her \n:3itii^r -^us ^:i/ .K'T wac^c^ *^and then taking it out \n-^^ \u25a0 ^4. 5 -a iam^rsm, bidttrng him * flye and go ;' \nir.tr^ux\u00bba ium-rsm whimfd and erred * Mew,' \"and \n=.\u00ab; m^usi^ ^mu It* jaii oo power orer Lady Eatherine \nV .\u2022iTt itr. A :tw iays later both saetas were examined \nsfcTwr^ \u00abti\u00bb:a J^iilip -'\u2666JoifcaBeii diat she had a spirit which \n>\u00abJL Sk*i sr^ n \"iitf iniL of a white rat, and which she \n^Mi^ 'rar?^i*at*i IT rot* ?pai!e q\u00a3 two or three years, on \n\u00ab\u2022 .\u00ab^.r.u iiaic r si^'OLii ^^ansfr Thomas Simpson to loye \n.\u2022:<- *i^* 3bir^?w>t Alluwuti that she had two spirits, \n'i\u00ab^ \u00abiu:w lit* >ttiifr biia^-^poCled^ to whom she had \n^\u00ab^t -t ^4\" ^vu\u00bb ~ut\u00abT ^'^v>HiiinTring to do all that she com- \n\u00abaiuut\u00ab\u00ab ut^qL. ritHi :siii^ rambled oS into a wild state- \ns' -u fi unv /iLiit\u00ab iurciietaof Januaiylast, she, being \nu --mvin j:>a/i* jyar ifvi appeired to her at eleven or \nnt-w. J H^ rw 4C liiric : cijj cue stood at her bed's foot, \n.\u00abuvc lau. 4t iuanL atf^ ok^ aa ape, and spake unto her ; \n>ci %;Mr >a^ .vuLii iiiC v^ n?m!emb\u00bb; at which she was \n- ittkc^ iittC itf w^ald HOC ^peak plainer and let her \nA .1 cT^uoiL iii> mMom^. She said that the other three \nf - jiitti^ciai^ Ixizie Kofcin* and Spirit, \"but she\u00a9 \n^ t.r :ttii(Cr%tfi^ :a!i\u00bbi ifcor suspected herselfe till then.'* \nX^ :\\i^ft y^^ v^Mtt 3tti died on her way to gaol ^' with a \nkricfs^^ ^3:.i:mr\u00abttBx^ of so\u00abl and body,\" and so an end \n\u00abii .v(tt!^ V ^^ iier. Bm if there was nothing more to \n^ ^ \u00abMft wf lli^ FWwer tiunily, their neighbours were \n\n\n\nBUTTEEKIK* '^d \n\nhoi backward to help them with a bad word, wheii \nhandy. Anne Baker, evidently mad, Joan Willimot, \nand Ellen Greene, were brought to say their say in the \nfistce of the conntry and before the county justices. Joan \nWillimott gave evidence that Joan Flower had often- \ntimes complained to her of the unfriendly conduct of \nmy Lord of Butland, in turning her daughter out of \nthe house, adding that though she could not have her \nwill of my Lord himself, she had spied his son and \nstricken 1dm to the heart \u2014 stricken him with a whit6 \nspirit, which yet could be cured if she so willed. Joan \nWillimott then \"fyled \" herself for a witch, saying that \nshe had a spirit called Pretty, given to her by her master, \nWilliam Berry of Langholme, in Butlandshire, whom \nshe had served three years. When he gave it to her, \nhe bade her open her mouth and he would blow into \nher a Fairy which should do her good ; and she did so ; \nimd he blew into her mouth, and presently after there \ncame out of her mouth a spirit which stood upon the \nground in the shape and form of a woman, an^ asked of \nher her soul \u2014 which Joan granted \u2014 ^being willed thereto \nby her master. She did not own to having ever hurt \nanyone, but said instead that she had helped divers who \nhad been stricken and forespoken, and that the use she \nmade of her spirit was to know how those did whom she \nhad undertaken to mend. She said, too, that her spirit \ncame to her last night, in the form of a woman mum- \nbling something, but she could not understand what ; \nand that she was not asleep, but was as waking as at \nthis present On another occasion she fyled two of her \nneighbours, saying how Cooke's wife had said that John \nPatchet might have had his child alive, if he had asked \nfor it, insinuating that Cooke's wife had forespoken the \nsaid child, and that Patchet's wife had an evil thing \n\nu \n\n\n\n90 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND, \n\nwidiin her, and she knew it by her girdle. Also that \nGamaliel Crveete, of Waltham, had a spirit like a white \nmoose put into him in his swearing, and that those on \nwhom he looked with intent to hurt were hurt; and \nthat he had a mark on his left arm, which had been \ncut away ; and that her own spirit had told her all this. \nAnd that she, and Joan, and Margaret Flower, had met \nin BlackboRow hill, the week before Joan's apprehen- \n81011 ; and that she had seen in Joan's house two spirits, \nthe one like a rat, and the other like an owl, and that \none of them had sucked under her left ear \u2014 as she \nthought; and that Joan Flower said her spirits had \ninfixmed her she should be neither burnt nor hanged. \n\nOn this same day Ellen Green gave in her aocount, \naayiBg that some six years since Joan WiUimott had \ncome to her in the wolds, persuading her to forsake \n> God and betake her to the devil, and she would give \nker two qfibits: which this Examinate consented unta \nWhete\u00abqpoii Joan called two spirits, one in the likeness \nof a ^kittan,\" the other of a '^moldiwarp,\" the first of \nwUch was called ^posse,\" and the second '^hiffe hiffe ;\" \nand they l^ufi on her shoulder, cmd sucked her. And \nthat die sent the kittin to a baker in the town who had \noffettded her> bat whose name she had forgotten, and \nhade it bewitdi him to death ; and the moldiwarp she \nd^^$palched to Ann Dawse, for the same purpose and the \ncwttd u\u00a3&iieew And of other deaths by the like means \ndid ElWft C^een accuse herself; adding that Joan \nWmidftott s spirit was in the form of a white dog, and \ntibat ^ had seen it suck her in Barley harvest last. \n\nAttd thdn came mad Ann Baker, who started with \n^ajStmaif]^ hec aiidknce that there are four colours of \nTJiitH^tt hUok\u00bb yellow, green, and blue, and that black \n\n-Jtw^ de\u00abitlv and that she saw the blue planet strike \n\n\n\nRUTTERKIK. 291 \n\nWilliam Fairbaim's son, but when William Fairbaim \ndid beat her and break her head, his said son Thomas \ndid mend. Tet she sent not the blue planet. She said \nthat she saw a hand appear to her, and a voice in the \nair say, \" Anne Baker, save thyself, for to-morrow thou \nand thy maister must be slain ;\" and that the next day, \nas she and her master were together in a cart, suddenly \nshe saw a flash of fire, but when she said her prayers \nthe fire went away, and then a crow came and pecked \nher clothes ; whereat she said her prayers again, and \nbade the crow go to whom it was sent, \" and the Crow \nwent vnto her Maister and did beat him to death, and \nflhee with her pi;ayer8 recouered him to life : but he \nwas sick a fortnight after and saith that if shee had not \nhad more knowledge than her Maister, both he and \nshee and all the Cattell had beene slaine.\" The rest of \nher confessions turned upon the histories of the various \ndeaths and bewitchments with which she was charged, \nand most of which she denied ; saying, that she had \nmerely lain Ann Stannidge's child on her skirt, but had \ndone it no harm, and that when the mother had burnt \nthe little one's hair and nail parings, and she, Ann \nBaker, had gone in to the house in great pain and \nsuflfering, she knew nothing whatever of this burning, \nbut that she was sick and knew not whither she went. \nOf the Rutland case all she knew was, that when she \ncame back from Northamptonshire, whither she had \ngone three years ago, two good wives had told her that \nmy young Lord Henry was dead, and that there was a \nglove of the said Lord buried underground, and that \n\"as his glove did rot and wast, so did the liver of the \nyoung Lord rot and wast ;\" and that her spirit was a \ngood spirit and in the shape of a white dog. The tract \ndoes not inform us what was done with these three \n\n\n\n\n2E THE imCHES OF EXGLAXD. \n\n^iTra!iied ^vQ^ieiL The twa Fkywera were hanged, the \n^ud iij.niitT haxiur: dSed s& I have said: bat whether \nliir urmiitih' de-iiih of a aekly hd was revenged by \nTft-rv- Ttm yyanT ljiv*;\u00abd than this remains unknown. The \n0*1^7': -aaigrrac^rtg erf sarages, the witches of Afidca, and \ninsr im^i liiziiji -Medicine-men,** are not so very far \nrraii.'vr*i fr^m our own fore&thers that we should quite \nipi.c^ ibr likrTtegs between them and the recent past \n\n\n\nTHE BOY OF BILSTON * \n\nTiif w\u00abr benneirn Papists and Protestants still went \n\u2022^su uj\u00a3 iiir ibTx:<:nie weapon with each was the old \n*afe .\u00a3 r.^6t?5ea:iL. axkd its le^t \u2014 exorcism. The patient \n:xL 'ziK 7c*ssiaLi case was William Perry, a youth of \nTV -.> t. i^oirraZy cillrd the Boy of Bilston, whom Joan \nC%.i >:<\u00ab'>.i>fc i:r the better showing forth the glory \n\u00ab\u00a3 .^ .lu: \"\"tiiu 15 had been better for him if he had \n^^\u2022r-,\\I irc.'^ At which words the boy felt something \n,c*vk Lvit x^ hi? h^?art, and when he came home feU \nUM^ ^-^ .c lie 33x>>l demoniae kind. The parents seeing \n^ t\\tr^mi:Y w^nt cap and knee to some Catholics in \nyM tK'\u00bb^'''X>areoo\u00abt and they, after long solicitation, \nl^ijcv^u tk> tbie exotdsing. They poured holy water \nijyJ Ifculj *<^il itt goodly quantity upon him, and left \n^i^ff^ac^ K^i WcJl to be iKed in their absence. The devil \n\n* Wk^g^ and Hutchinson. \n\n\n\n. THE BOY OF BILSTON. ' 693 \n\nWM sore afflicted by the holy water and the holy oil, \nend made the boy cast up pins, and wool, and knotted \nthread, and rosemary leaves, and walnut leaves, and \nfeathers, and \"thrums/* For there were three devils \ninside him, he said, and they had uncommon power. \nOn Corpus Christi day he brought up eleven pins, and \na knitting needle folded in divers folds ; all after ex- \ntreme fits and heavings ; and then the spirit told him \nnot to listen to the exorcising priest \u2014 which was a great \ncompliment from the devil \u2014 and that the witch had said \nshe would make an end of him. When told to pray for \nthe witch, the boy and the devils were furious ; but after- \nwards calmed down on the exorciser getting extra power ; \nand then the boy prayed his prayer and grew better. \nThen he demanded that everything about him should \nbe blessed, and that all his family should be Catholics ; \nbut when any Puritans came in, he said the devil \nassaulted him in the shape of a black bird. So it was \na vastly pretty little case of witness and conversion, and \nthe Catholics made the most of it. Joan must now be \narrested ; for the fits continued, and the young gentle- \nman was not to be pacified with anything short of the \nwitch's blood. When brought into his presence the boy \nhad extreme fits, crying out : \" * Now she comes, now my \nTormentor comes!' writhing and tearing and twisting \nhimself into such Shapes as bred at once Amazement \nand Pity in the Spectators:\" so the old woman was \nsent to Stafford gaol, but, because this was a Popish \nmatter, acquitted without long delay. Then the Bishop \nof Coventry and Lichfield, desirous of testing the matter, \nand unwilling that the Catholics should take any glory \nto themselves for their holy oils and their anointings \nwhich were said to have calmed the most \" sounding \nfits,\" took William Perry home to the Castle, and there \n\n\n\n294 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nhad him watched: and watched so well that certaixi \ndirty tricks not to be spoken of here were found ont, and \nthe physiological part of the ^* miracle \" set at rest. But \nbefore this the Bishop tried the devils with Greek. For \nthey could not abide the first verse of the first chapt^ \nof St John, and always feU on the boy with fury when \nit was read ; so, said the Bishop, whose wits sectarian \nhatred had sharpened \u2014 one bigotry driving out another \n\u2014 \" Boy, it is either thou or the Devil that abhorrest \nthose Words of the Gospel : and if it be the Devil (he \nbeing so ancient a Scholar, as of almost six Thousand \nYears' standing) knows, and understands all Languages; \nso that he cannot but know when I recite the same \nsentence out of the Greek Text : But if it be thyself \nthen art thou an execrable Wretch, who plays the \nDevil's part; wherefore look to thyself for now thou art \nto be put to Trial, and mark diligently, whether it be \nthat same Scripture which shall be read.\" Then was \nread the twelfth verse of the first chapter, at which \nWilliam, supposing it to be the abhorred first, feU into \nhis customary fits ; but when, immediately after, the first \nyerse was read, he, supposing it was another, was not \nmoved at alL By which means this part of the fraud \nwas discovered also ; and when, moving his eyes and \nstaring about him wildly, he declared that he saw mice \nrunning round the bed, no one gave any credit to his \nwords. When the whole thing was blown to the winds, \nand the Greek test had failed, and the dirty tricks had \nbeen found out, the boy made a pretended confession, \nwhich was evidently no more true than anything else \nhad been. He said that one day as he was coming \nhome, an old man called Thomas, with gray hair and a \ncradle of glasses on his shoulders, met him, and after \nasking him if he went to school and how he liked it, told \n\n\n\nMR FAIRFAX'S FOLLY. 295 \n\nUm that he could teadi him a few tricks which should \nprevent his goiug to school any more, and would instead \nlead aU people to pity and lament him, holding him to be \nbewitched. But it was shrewdly suspected that the old \nman Thomas, with his gray hair and cradle of glass, was \nbut a pleasant phantasy of the imagination ; and that \nthe real secret had lain with the Catholic priests, who, \nfinding the boy apt and handy, thought they could \nmake good capital out of him for their Church, and put \nhim forth as a witness for its divine power and holy \noffice, seeing that it could dispossess the demoniac and \ndrive away evil spirits. Fortunately they reckoned \nwithout their host \u2014 ^the host of \" reformed \" bigotry and \nhatred : for we need not congratulate ourselves on any \nclearsightedness or common sense in the matter. Had \nthe Boy of Bilston been a sound Protestant, he would \nhave been held as indubitably Possessed by the Devil, \nand some poor wretch would have been found as a con- \nvenient sacrifice to the stupidity of that deviL \n\n\n\nMR. FAIRFAX'S FOLLY. \n\nThe next year saw Mr. Fairfax of Knaresborough \u2014 \nEdward Fairfax, the scholar, the gentleman, the classic, \nour best translator of Tasso, graceful, learned, elegcmt \nEdward Fairfax \u2014 ^pursuing with incredible zeal six of \nhis neighbours for supposed witchcraft on his children. \nThe children had fits and were afflicted with imps, so \nEdward Fairfax thought his paternal duty consisted in \ngetting the lives of six supposed witches, the hanging \nof whom would infallibly cure his children, and drive \naway the evil spirits possessing them. But fortunately \nfor the accused the judge had more sense than Mr. \n\n\n\n\n296 THE WITCHES OF ENGIiAKD. \n\nFairfax ; and, though the women were sent back agcun \nfor another assize, suffered them to escape with only the \nterror of death twice repeated. It is strange to find \nourselves face to face with such stupid bigotry as this in \na man so estimable and so refined as Fairfax. \n\n\n\nTHE COUNTESS.* \n\nLady Jennings and her young daughter Elizabeth, of \nthirteen, lived at Thistlewood in the year 1622. One \nday an old woman, coming no one knew whence, \nperhaps from the bowels of the earth, appeared suddenly \nbefore the girl, demanding a pin. The child was fright- \nened, and had fits soon after \u2014 fits of the usual hysteric \ncharacter, but quite sufficiently severe to alarm Lady \nJennings. A doctor was sent for ; but also, as weU as \nthe doctor, came a clever shrewd woman called Mar- \ngaret Eussill, or \" Countess,\" a bit of a doctress in her \nway, perhaps a bit of a white witch too, who thought she \ncould do the afflicted child some good, and had beside a \nlove of putting her fingers into everybody's pie. At \nthe end of one of her fits the child began to cry out \nwildly, then mentioned Margaret and three others as \nthe persons who had bewitched her. And then she \nwent on, incoherently, \" These have bewitched all my . \nmother's children \u2014 east, west, north, and south all \ntlif'He lie \u2014 all these are witches. Set up a great sprig of \nrusornary in the middle of the house \u2014 ^I have sent this \nchild to speak, to show aU these witches \u2014 Put Countess \nill prison, this child will be well \u2014 ^If she had been long \nii|ir<>, all together had been alive \u2014 ^Them she bewitched \nwith a cat-stick \u2014 Till then I shall . be in great pain \u2014 \n\u2666 Wright, quoting Lord Londesborough's MS8. \n\n\n\nTHE COUNTESS. 297 \n\nTill then, by fits, I shall be in great extremity \u2014 ^They \ndied in great misery/' No mother's heart could resist \nthe appeal contained in these wild words; poor Countess \nwas arrested, and taken before Mr. Slingsby, a magis- \ntrate. When. there she said, though heaven knows \nwhat prompted her to tell such falsehoods, '* Yesterday \nshe went to Mrs. Dromondbye in Black-and-White \nCourt, in the Old Baylye ; and told her that the Lady \nJennings had a daughter strangely sicke, whereuppon \nthe said Dromondbye wished her to goe to inquire at \nClerkenwell for a minister's wiflfe that cold helpe people \nthat were sicke, but she must not aske for a witch or a \n-cunning woman, but for one that is a phisition woman ; \nand then this examinate found her and a woman sitting \nwith her and told her in what case the child was, and \nshee said shee wold come this day, but shee ought her \nnoe service, and said shee had bin there before and left \nreceiptes there, but the child did not take them. And \nshe said further that there was two children that her \nLady Jennins had by this husband, that were be- \nwitched and dead, for there was controversie betweene \ntwo bowses, and that as long as they dwelt there, they \ncold not prosper, and that there shold be noe blessing in \nthat bowse by this man.\" When asked what was this \n** diflference,\" she answered, \"Between the house of \nGod and the house of the world :\" but when told that \nthis was no answer, and that she must explain herself \nmore clearly, she said that \" she meant the apothecary \nHiggins and my Lady Jennings.'* \" And shee further \nconfessed that above a moneth agoe she went to Mrs. \nSaxey in Gunpouder Alley, who was forespoken herself, \nand that had a boke that cold helpe all those that were \nforespoken, and that shee wold come and shewe her the \nbooke and help her under God. And further said to \n\n\n\n29g THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nthis examinate, that none but a seminary priest cold \ncure her.** So here again we have the constantly re- \ncurring element of sectarianism^ without which^ indeed^ \nwe should be at a loss how to understand much that \nmeets us. *^ Countess \" was committed ta Newgate, and \nthe bewitched child cried out more and more against \nher, making new revelations with each fit^ when the \npitiful farce was brought to a close by the minister's \nwife, Mrs. Goodcole, who, when confronted with Coun- \ntess, denied point blank the more important parts of her \nevidence. And then all this evil \u2014 ^this much ado about \nnothing \u2014 ^was found to have arisen from a private \nquarrel ; and when Dr. Napier was sent for, he un- \nbewitched the possessed child with some very simple \nremedies, and the great balloon burst and fell to the \nground in hopeless collapse. \n\n\n\nTHE TWO VOICES.* \n\nOn the 13th of August, 1626, Edward Bull and Joan \nGreedie were indicted at Taunton for bewitching Edward \nDinhanL Dinham was a capital ventriloquist, and could \nspeak in two diiSerent voices beside his own, as well as \ncounterfeit fits and play the possessed to the life. One \nof his two feigned voices was pleasant and shrill, and \nbelonged to a good spirit ; the other was deadly and \nhollow, and belonged to an evil spirit. And when he \nspoke his lips did not move, and he lay as if in a \ntrance, and both he and the voices said that he was \nbewitched, and aU the people believed them. And the \ngood voice asked who had bewitched him, to which the \nbad replied, *' A woman in greene cloathes and a blacke \n\n\u2022 Wright. \n\n\n\nTHE TWO VOICES. 299- \n\nhait with long poll, and a man in gray srite, with \nblewe stockiligs.** When asked where she was now, the \nbad spirit answered, \" At her own house,\" while he was \nat a tavern in \" Yeohnll,\" Ireland. Then after some \npressing the bad spirit said that the name of one was \n\" Johan,\" of the other \" Edward ;\" and after more \npressing still, confessed to the surnames, '^ Greedie and \nBulL\" So in consequence of this reliable report mes- \nsengers were sent off to find old Joan, and when found \narrest her. Then the good spirit, who played the part \nof a benevolent Pry, asked how these two became \nwitches, to which the bad answered, \"By descent\" \n**But how by descent?\" says the good spirit, anxious \nnot to leave a lock unfastened or a problem unsolved. \n\" From the grandmother to the mother, and from the \nmother to the children,\" says the bad. \"But howe \nwere they soe?\" says Goody. \"They were bound to \nus and we to them,\" answered the bad, with more words \nthan explanation. \n\nGood Spirit \u2014 \" Lett me see the bond.\" \n\nBad Spirit\u2014\" Thou shalt not\" \n\nGood Spirit \u2014 \"Lett me see it> and if I like it I will \nseale it alsoe.\" \n\nBad Spirit \u2014 \" Thou shalt, if thou wilt not reveale the \ncontentes thereofl\" \n\nGood Spirit\u2014\" I will not\" \n\nAt this point it was pretended that a spectral bond \nwas passed from the bad to the good ghost ; and then \nbroke out the \"sweet and shrill voice\" of the ven- \ntriloquist with \" Alas ! oh, pittifall, pittifuU, pittifull ! \nWhat I eight scales ? bloody scales I four dead and four \nalive ; o^ miserable !\" Then came in the man's \nnatural voice, addressing the spirit: \"Come, come, \nprithee tell me why did they bewitch me ?\" Bad Spirit \n\n\n\n\n300 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\n\u2014 \" Because thou didst call Johan Greedie witche.\" \nMan \u2014 \"Why, is shee not a witche?\" Bad Spirit \u2014 \n\" Yes, but thou shouldst not have said so,\" which was \na fine bit of worldly policy in the bad ghost Good \nSpirit\u2014 \"But why did Bull bewitche him?\" Bad\u2014 \n\" Because Greedie was not strong enough.\" \n\nOn this evidence further messengers were sent off for \nEdward Bull, but whether to Yeohull or not I cannot \nsay. They were disappointed for the moment, for BuU \nhad run away ; and then, in a future interview, and to \nfill up the time until braver sport should be provided, the \nbad and the good spirits had a wrestle for Dinham's \nsoul, which, judging from what evidence we have had \nleft us, was not worth the struggle, and would be no \ngreat gain to either party. In the struggle the good \nspirit speaks Latin. \" Laudes, laudes, laudes,\" says he, \nbeing well educated and not ashamed. But the bad \nwas, as befitted his nature, churlish and ill-taught, and \ndid not understand his opponent's talk, but translated it \ninto \"ladies,\" which made a laugh among them alL \nThen they struggled for the Prayer Book; but here \nagain the bad was discomfited, and the man kept the \ntalisman ; after which the good spirit made \" the sweet- \nest musicke that ever was heard.\" When they set out \nto catch Bull again, they found him in bed; and \nnow, when both the Possessors were safe, Dinham was \nfreed and his voices dumb for ever. Perhaps he had \n(^iiutrht cold. I do not know the fate of these poor \nwn t(*hes, but I should not think it doubtful. \n\nIn 1627 Mr. Eothnell exorcised an evil spirit out of \n(tilt' John Fox ; but notwithstanding this John con- \niiiHitHl dumb for three years after; which was rather an \ntniinrtunate comment on the exorcism, but not at all \nHla ly to open the eyes of any one willing to be blind. \n\n\n\n301 \n\nTHE SECOND CURSE OF PENDLE.* \n\nWe have seen wha.t Lancashire was in sixteen hun- \ndred and twelve : it was not much better twenty-one \nyears later ; for in 1633 we find that Pendle Forest was \nstill of bad repute, and that traditions of old Demdike \nand her rival Mother Chattox yet floated round the \nMalTrin Tower, and hid, spectre-like, in the rough and \ndesert places of the barren waste. Who ever knew of \nevil example waiting for its followers? What Mothers \nDemdike and Chattox had done in their day, their \nchildren and grandchildren were ready to do after them. \nThe world wiU never lose its old women, \"toothless, \nblear-eyed, foul-tongued, malicious,\" for whom love died \nout and sin came in long years ago ; and Edmund \nEobinson, son of Ned of Eoughs, was one of those \nspecially appointed by Providence to bring such evil- \ndoers to their reward. \n\nEdmund, then about eleven years of age (how many \nof these sad stories come from children and young crea- \ntures !), lived with his father in Pendle Forest ; lived \npoorly enough, but not without some kind of romance \nand interest ; for on the 10th day of February, 1 633, \nhe made the following deposition : \u2014 \n\n\"Who upon oath informeth, being examined con- \ncerning the great meeting of the Witches of Pendle, \nsaith that upon All Saints' Day last past, he, this In- \nformer, being with one Henry Parker, a near-door \nneighbour to him in Wheatley-lane, desired the said \nParker to give him leave to gatlier some Bulloes, which \nhe did. In gathering whereof he saw two Grayhounds, \nviz., a black and a brown one, come running over the \nnext field towards him, he verily thinking the one of \nthem to be Mr. Nutter's, and the other to be Mr. Eobin- \n* Webster. Wright. Harleian MSS. \n\n\n\n802 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nson's, the said Gentlemen then having such like. And \nsaith, the said Grayhounds came to hhn, and fawned on \nhim, they haying about their necks either of them a \nCollar, unto each of which was tied a String; which \nCollars (as this Informer affirmeth) did shine like Gold. \nAnd he thinking that some either of Mr. Nutters or \nMr. Bobinsons Family should have followed them ; yet \nseeing no body to follow them, he took. the same Gray- \nhounds, thinking to course with them. And presently \na Hare did rise very near before him. At the sight \nwhereof he cried Loo, Loo, Loo : but the Doggs would \nnot run. Whereupon he being very angry took them, \nand with the strings that were about their Collars, tied \nthem to a little bush at the next hedge, and with a \nswitch that he had in his hand he beat them. And in \nstead of the black Grayhound, one . Dickensons Wife \nstood up, a Neighbour, whom this Informer knoweth. \nAnd in stead of the brown one a little Boy, whom this \nInformer knoweth not At which sight this Informer, \nbeing afraid, endeavoured to run away; but being \nstayed by the Woman, (viz.) by Dickensons Wife, she \nput her hand into her pocket, and pulled forth a piece \nof Silver much like to a fair shilling, and offered to give \nhim it to hold his tongue and not to tell ; which he \nrefused, saying, Nay, titiou art a Witch. Whereupon \nshe put her hand into her pocket again, and pulled out \na thing like unto a Bridle that gingled, which she put \non the little Boyes head ; which said Boy stood up in \nthe likeness of a white Horse, and in the brown Gray- \nhounds stead. Then immediately Dickensons wife \ntook this Informer before her upon the said Horse and \ncarried him to a new house called Hoarstones, being \nabout a quarter of a mile off. Whither when they were \ncome, there were divers persons about the door, and he \n\n\n\nTHE SECOND CUBSE OF PENDLB, 808 \n\nsaw divers others riding on Horses of several colours \ntowards the said House, who tied their Horses to a \nhedge near to the said House. Which persons went \ninto the said House, to the number of three score or \nthereabouts, as this Informer tbinketh, where they had \na fire, and meat roasting in the said House, whereof a \nyoung Woman (whom this Informer knoweth not) gave \nhim Flesh and Bread upon a Trencher, and Drink in a \nGlass, which after the first taste he refused, and would \nhave no more, but said it was nought \n\n\" And presently after, seeing divers of the said com- \npany going into a Bam near adjoining, he followed \nafter them, and there he sSw six of them kneeling, and \npulling all six of them sis several ropes, which were \nfestened or tied to the top of the Bam. Presently after \nwhich pulling, there came into this Informers sight \nflesh smoakin^ butter in lumps, and milk as it were \nsyleing (straining) irom the said ropes. All which fell \ninto basons which were placed under the said ropes. \nAnd after that these six had done, there came other \nsix which did so likewise. And during all the time of \ntheir several pulling, they made such ugly faces as \nscared this Informer, so that he was glad to run out and \nsteal homewards ; who immediately finding they wanted \none that was in their company, some of them ran after \nhim near to a place in a Highway called Boggard-hole, \nwhere he, this Informer, met two Horsemen. At the \nsight whereof the said persons left following of him. \nBut the foremost of those persons that followed him he \nknew to be one Loinds Wife ; which said Wife, together \nwith one Dickensons Wife, and one Jennet Davies, he \nhath seen since at several times in a Croft or Close \nadjoining to his Fathers house, which put him in great \nfear. And farther this Informer saith, upon Thursday \n\n\n\nK4 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND* \n\nafter New Years Day last past he saw the said Loinds \nWife sitting upon a cross piece of wood being within the \nChimney of his Fathers dwelling-house; and he, \ncalling to her, said, Come down, thou Loynds Wife. \nAnd immediately the said Loynds Wife went up out of \nhis sight. And further, this Informer saith, that after \nhe was come from the company aforesaid to his Fathers \nhouse, being towards evening, his Father bad him go \nand fetch home two kine to seal (tie up). And in the \nway, in a field called the Filers, he chanced to hap \nupon a Boy, who began to quarrel with him, and they \nfought together, till the Informer had his ears and face \nmade up very bloody by figHting, and looking down he \nsaw the Boy had a cloven foot. At which sight, he \nbeing greatly affrighted, came away from him to seek \nthe kine. And in the way he saw a light like to a \nLanthom, towards which he made haste, supposing it to \nbe carried by some of Mr. Eobinson's people ; but when \nhe came to the place he only found a Woman standing \non a Bridge, whom, when he saw, he knew her to be \nLoinds Wife, and knowing her he turned back again ; \nand immediately he met the aforesaid Boy, from whom \nhe offered to run, which Boy gave him a blow on the \nback that made him to cry. And fiui;her this Informer \nsaith, that when he was in the Barn, he saw three \nWomen take six Pictures from off the beam, in which \nPictures were many Thorns or such like things sticked \nin them, and that Loynds Wife took one of the Pictures \ndown, but the other two Women that took down the rest \nhe knoweth not. And being further asked what per&ons \n'were at the aforesaid meeting, he nominated these \npersons following.\" Here follows a list of names of no \ninterest to the modem reader. At the end of this \nReposition is one from the Father. \n\n\n\nTHE SECOND CUESE OP PENDIiE. 305 \n\n\u2022 \"Edmund Bobinson of Pendle, Father of the afore-* \nsaid Edmuud Eobinson, Mason, informeth, \n\n\" That upon All Saints-day last he sent his Son the \naforesaid Informer, to fetch home two kine to seal, and \nsaith that his Son, staying longer than he thought he \nshould have done, he went to seek him, and in seeking of, \nhim heard him cry pitifully, and found him so affiighted \nand distracted that he neither knew his Father nor did \nknow where he was, and so continued very near a \nquarter of an hour before he came to himself. And \nhe told this Informer his Father all the particular pas- \nsages that are before declared in the said Bobinson his \nSon's Information. \n\n(Signed) ** Eichabd Shuttleworth. \n\" John Starkey,\" \n\n\n\nWho would dare to doubt such testimony as this?>. \nHere was another child of God grievously mishandled ; \nand what might not be done to the servants of the \ndevil who had so evilly intreated him ? And was not \nEdmund Bobinson evidently raised up and directed by \nGod to be the scourge of all witches, and the great \ndiscoverer of their naughty pranks ? So the lad was \nelevated to the post of witch-finder, and was taken about \nfrom church to church \u2014 accusing any who might strike \nhis fancy or his fears, and sending them off to prison at \nthe impulse of his childish will. Among other places, \nhe was brought to the parish church of Kildwick, where \nWebster was then curate. It was during the afternoon \nservice, and the lad was put upon a stall to look the \nbetter about him, and discern the witches more clearly. \nAfter service Webster went to him and found him with \n\" two very unlikely persons that did conduct him and \n\n\n\n306 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nmanage the business:** the curate of Kildwick would \nhave drawn him aside, but the men would not suffer this. \nThen said Webster, \" * Good boy, tell me truly and in \nearnest, didst thou hear and see such strange things of \nthe meeting of witches as is reported by many that thou \ndost relate, or did some person teach thee to say such \nthings of thyself?' But the two men, not giving the \nboy leave to answer, did pluck him from me, and said \nhe had been examined by two able Justices of the Peace, \nand they did never ask him such a question ; to whom \nI replied, 'The persons accused had therefore the \nmore wrong.' \" So Webster got nothing by this, and \nthe boy was not damaged nor his credit shaken. Very \nmany persons were arrested on this young imp's accu- \nsations, beside those seventeen whom he had seen \n\"syleing\" butter and bacon from witch-ropes in the \nmagic barn. And among the rest Jennet Device, (was \nshe our old acquaintance of perjured memory?) who \nwas charged with killing Isabelle, the wife of William \nNutter ; and Mary Spencer, who was in imminent danger \nfor having \" caused a pale or ceUocke to come to her, \nfull of water, fourteen yards up a hiU from a well ;\" and \nMargaret Johnson, accused of killing Henry Heape, \nand wasting and impairing the body of Jennet Shackle- \nton \u2014 but there was no proof against her, save certain \nwitch marks, which, however, were indisputable, and on \nthe finding of which she was soon brought to confess. \nShe said that, seven or eight years since, she was in a \nmighty rage against life and the world in general, when \nthere appeared to her the devil like a man, dressed all \nin black tied about with silk points, who offered her aU \nshe might wish or want in return for her soul ; telling \nher that she might kill man or beast as she should \ndesire^ and take her revenge when she would ; and that \n\n\n\nTHE SECOND CURSE OF PENDLE. 307 \n\nif she did but call \" Mamillion\" when she wanted him, \nhe would come on the instant and do as he was bid. \nSo ** after a sollicitacion or two, she contracted and con- \ndicioned with the said deviU or spiritt for her soul,\" and \nhenceforth became one of the most notorious of the \nLancashire witches. She confessed that she was at the \ngreat witch-meeting held at Harestones, in Pendle, on \nAll Saints'-day last past, and again at another the \nSunday after; and that all the witches rode there on \nhorses, and went to consult on the killing of men and \nbeasts ; and that \" there was one deyill or spiritt that \nwas more greate and grand deyill than the rest, and yf \nanie witch desired to have such an one, they might \nhave such an one to kUl or hurt anie body/' She said, \ntoo, which was a new idea on her part, that the sharp- \nboned witches were more powerful and malignant than \nthose with \" biggs \" only ; and then she wandered off, \nand accused certain of her neighbours, of whom one, \n\"Kckhamer's wife, was the most greate, grand, and \nauncyent witcL\" Then she told her audience that if \nany witch desired to be carried to any place, a cat, or a \ndog, or a rod would convey them away ; but not their \nbodies, only their souls in the likeness of their bodies. \nThe judge was not quite satisfied with either Edmund \nEobinson's depositions or Margaret's confessions, and \nfor all that the jury brought in a verdict of guilty, \nmanaged to get a reprieve, and to send up some of the \naccused to London. He managed also to interest the \nking, Charles L, who had not his father's craze on the \nsubject; and Charles ordered the bishop to make a \nspecial examination of the case, and send in his report. \nBy this time, too, Edmund and his father were sepa- \nrated, and the boy fully examined; when at last he \nconfessed to the entire worthlessness and fraud of all he \n\n\n\n308i . THE WITCHES OF ENGLANP, \n\nhad said He had been robbing an orchard of bullees \n(plums) more than a mile off the bam at the day and \nhour named ; and, counselled by his father, had made \nup those wicked lies to screen himself. And then, find- \ning the game profitable-\u2014 -for in a short time they made \nso good a thing by it that the father bought a couple of \ncows \u2014 he flew further a-field, and attacked every one \nwithin reach. Fortunately for his victims, the judge \nwas a man of sense and independent judgment ; so the \njudiciary records of England are stained with one crime \nthe less, and the neighbours lost the excitement of an \nexecution. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCH ON A PLANK.* \n\n\" Many are in a belief that this silly sex of women \ncan by no means attaine to that so vile and damned a \npractise of Sorcery and Witchcraft, in regard of their \nilliteratenesse and want of learning, which many men \nhave by great learning done ;\" nevertheless the Earl of \nEssex and his army, marching through Newberry, saw a \nfeat done by a woman which not the most learned man \nof them all could have accomplished by natural means* \nTwo soldiers were loitering behind the main body, \ngathering nuts, blackberries, and the like, when one \nclimbed up a tree for sport, and the other followed him, \njesting. From their vantage place, looking on the \nriver, they there espied a \" tall, lean, slender woman \n\n\u2666 \u2022 A most Certain Strange and true Discovery of a witcK being \ntaken by some Parliamentary Forces as she was standing on a smaU \nplanck-board and sayling on it over the River of Newberry. 1643/ \nEvidently a political matter, and perhaps with no substratum of \ntruth in the story at all. \n\n\n\n\\ \n\n\n\nX \n\n\n\nX \n\n\n\n. THE WITCH ON A PLANK. 309 \n\ntreading of the water with her feet with as much ease \nand firmnesse as if one should walk or trample on the \nearth.\" The soldier called to his companion, and he to \nthe rest; and soon they all\u2014 -captains, privates, and \ncommanders alike \u2014 ^saw this marvellous lean woman, \nwho now they perceived was standing on a thin plank, \n\"which she pushed this way and that at her pleasure, \nmaking it a pastime to her, little perceiving who was on \nher tracks.\" Then she crossed the river, and the army \nafter her ; but there they lost her for a time, and when \nthey found her all were too cowardly to seize her. At \nlast one dare-devil went up and boldly caught her, \ndemanding what she was. The poor wretch was dumb \u2014 \nperhaps with terror \u2014 and spoke nothing ; so they dragged \nher before the commanders, \"to whom, though she was \nmightily urged, she did reply as little.\" As they could \nbethink themselves of nothing better to do with her, \nthey set her upright against a mud bank or wall, \nand two of the soldiers, at their captain's command, \nmade ready and fired. \"But with a deriding and loud \nlaughter at them, she caught their bullets in her hands \nand chew'd them, which was a stronger testimony than \nher treading water that she was the same that their \nimagination thought her for to be.\" Then one of the \nmen set his carbine against her breast and fired ; but \nthe bullet rebounded like a ball, and narrowly missed \nthe face of tihe shooter, which \" so enraged the Gentler' \nman, that one drew out his sword and manftdly run at \nher with all the force his strength had power to make, \nbut it prevailed no more than did the shot, the woman \nthough still speechlesse, yet in a most contemptible way \nof Scorn still laughing at them, which did the more \nexhaust their furie against her^life; yet one amongst \nihe rest had heard that piercing or drawing bloud firom \n\n\n\nX \n\n\n\n310 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAOT). \n\nforth the veines that croese the temples of the head, it \nwould prevail against the strongest sorcery, and quell \nthe force of Witchcraft, which was allowed for Triall : the \nwoman, hearing this, knew then the DeviU had left her, \nAnd her power was gone ; wherefore she began alowd to \ncry and roare, tearing her haire, and making pitious \nmoan, which in these words expressed were : And is it \ncome to passe that I must dye indeed? Why then his \nExcellency the Earle of Essex shall be fortunate and \nwin the field. After which no more words could be got \nfrom her; wherewith they immediately discharged a \nFistoU underneath her eare, at which she straight sunk \ndown and dyed, leaving her legacy of a detested carcasse \nto the wormes, her soul we ought not to iudge of, though \nthe euills of her wicked life and death can scape no \ncensure. Finis. This Book is not Printed according to \norder.\" \n\n\n\nTHE WITCH-FINDING OF HOPKINS. \n\n' And now the reign of Matthew Hopkins, of Manning- \nton, gent, begins \u2014 ^that most infamous follower of an \ninfamous trade \u2014 the witch-finder general of England. \nIt was Hopkins who first reduced the practice of witch- \nfinding to a science, and Established rules as precise as \nany to be made for mathematics or logic. His method \nof proceeding was to \" walk \" a suspected witch between \ntwo inquisitors, who kept her from food and sleep, and \n^esftantly walking, for four-and-twenty hours ; or if she \nd not be thus walked she was cross-bound \u2014 her \nt toe fastened to her left thumb, and her left toe to \night thumb \u2014 care'being taken to draw the cords as \nly as possible, and to keep her as uneasily, and in \n\n\n\nTHE WITCH-FINDING OP HOPKINS, :311 \n\nthis state she was placed on a high stool or chair, kept \nwithout food or sleep for the prescribed four-and-twenty \nhours, and vigilantly watched. And Hopkins recom- \nmended that a hole be made in the door, through which \nher imps were sure to come to be fed, and that her \nwatchers be careful to kill everything they saw \u2014 ^fly, \nspider, lice, mouse, what not ; for none knew when and \nunder what form her familiars might appear ; and if by \nany chance they missed or could not kill them, then \nthey might be sure that they were imps, and so another \nproof be indisputably established. If neither of these \nways would do, then, still cross-bound, she was to be \n\" swuul\" If she sank, she was drowned ;' if she floated \n\u2014 \u00abnd by putting her carefiilly on the water she gene- \nrally would float \u2014 then she was a witch, and to be taken \nout and hung. For water, being the sacred element used \nin baptism, thus manifestly refused to hold such an \naccursed thing as a witch within its bosom; so that, \nwhen she swam, it was a proof that this '^ sacred element \" \nrejected her for the more potent keeping of the fire. \nThis was the explanation which, it seemed to King \nJames the First, was a rational and religious manner of \naccounting for a certain physical fact. \n\nThis, then, was the wise and liberal manner in which \nan impossible sin was discovered, and judgment executed, \nin those fatal years when Matthew Hopkins ruled the \nmind of England; yet years wherein Harvey was \npatiently at work on his grand physiological discovery, \nand when WaUis, and Wilkins, and Boyle were found- \ning the Koyal Society of liberal art and free discussion. \nIt was only a piece of poetical justice that in the fiiture \nhe should be '^ swum \" cross-bound in his own manner, \n.and found to float according to the hydrostatics of \nwitches. The shame and fear of this trial hastened the \n\n\n\n\n312 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nconsiimption to which he was hereditarily predisposed ; \nand after this stringent test we hear no more of this yile \nimpostor and impudent deceiver, this canting hypocrite, \nwho cloaked his cruelty and covetousness under the \ngarb of religion, and professed to be serving God and \ndelivering man fix)m the power of the devil when he \nwas pandering to the worst passions of the time, and \nsacrificing to his own corrupt heart. The blood money, \nfor which he sent so many hapless wretches to the gallows \n(he charged twenty shillings a town for his labours), \nthough not an exceeding bribe, as he himself boasts^ \nwas money pleasantly earned and pleasantly spent; for \nwhat man would object to travel through a beautifiil \ncountry, surrounded by friends, and carrying influeace \nand importance wherever he went, and have all his \nexpenses paid into the bargain? \n\nIn 1664* we find bim at Yarmouth, accusing sixteen \nwomen in a batch, among whom was an old woman \n'easily got to confess. She said she used to work for \nMr. Moulton, a stocking merchant and alderman of the \ntown ; but one day, going for work, she found him from \nhome, and his man refused to let her have any till his \nreturn, which would not be for a fortnight She, being \nexasperated against the man, applied to the maid to let \nher have some knitting to do, but the maid gave her \nthe like answer : upon which she went home sorely dis^ \ncontented with both. In the middle of the night some \none knocked at the door : on her rising to open it she \nmm a tidl black man, who told her that she should have \nas m^ich work from him as she would, if she would write \nher name in his book. He then scratched her hand \nwith ii penknife, and filled the pen with her blood\u2014 \nguiditig her hand while she made her mark. This done\u00bb \n* A collection of Modem Belations. 1693. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCH-FINDING OF HOPKINS. 813 \n\nlie asked what he could do for her: but wheo she \ndesired to have her revenge on Mr. Moulton's man, he \ntold her he had no power over him, because he went \nconstantly to church to hear Whitfield and Brinsley, and \nsaid his prayers morning and evening. The same of \nthe maid ; but there was a young child in the house \nmore easy to be dealt with, for whom he would make \nan image of wax which then they must bury in the \nchurchyard, and as the waxen image wasted and con- \nsumed, so would the child ; which was done, and the \nchild thrown into a languishing condition in conse- \nquence; so bad, indeed, that they all thought it was \ndying. But as soon as the witch confessed, the little one \nlifted up its head and laughed, and from that instant \nbegan to recover* The waxen image was found where \nshe said she and the devil had buried it, and thus the \nwhole of the charm was destroyed, and . the child was \nsaved ; but the poor old crazy woman with her black- \nbird imp, and her fifteen compeers with their whole \nmenagerie of imps, were hung at Yarmouth, amid the \nrejoicings of the multitude. \n\nAt Edmonsbury, that same year, another witch had \na little black smooth imp dog, which she sent to play \nwith the only child of some people she hated. At \nfirst the child refused to play with its questionable \ncompanion, but soon got used to its daily appearance, \nand lost all fear. So the dog-imp, watchmg its oppor- \ntunity, got the boy one day to the water, when it \ndragged him underneath and tirowned him. The witch \nwas hanged : could they do less in such a dear case as \nthis? \n\nAnother woman was hanged at Oxford for a story as wild \nas any to be found in Grimm or Mother Bunch. There \nwere two sisters, left orphans but well provided for. \n\n\n\n3U THE UTTCHES OF ENGLAKB. \n\n\n\nThe eiiiesc jume w li at prodigal, maiiied a man as bad \nur wrjise dian. ln^r^rffy who spent her money and after- \nwain^ 'it^asted hsr^ lemving her with one child and in \ntsmvine ptTvertT. The Toimgery being yery serious and \nE^iiipjQBi. waited fibrtwo or three years before she settled \nht^abid dieii marriei a good, honesty sober \u00a3Gurmer, with \nwinsL jOft* lired well and ptosperously ; her gear in- \neraun^ Teady; and henelf the happy mother of a \npretcy emliL Her sister was moved to envy to see all \nmis pn^pecEty and contentment^ and in her passion \nm^B a eumpttct with the deyi!, by which she became a \nwik*SL &r tile purpose of killing her sister's child as the \n^reatast t^i^pite she eoold do them. For this purpose \nsiu used ui aMxmt a bedslafl^ which, by the uttering of \ncecQiaL ma^BLiil wordsy canied her to her sister's room; \nbut ;sifce ounld meirer harm the child, because it was so \nw^tl protectied by the ptayos of its parents. Her own \nsttiis;ticer> ft IittL\u00bb cae of about seyen, watched her \nttucaer in btir antus with the bedstaff, and firom watch- \ning tuuk u> imilaiting' \u2014 goii^ through the air one night \naitt.'r it2< Jamie^ and in like fashion. However, it chanced \ntiufi $Qi^ w)a\u00bb left behind in her nnde's house ; so pre- \n;MttCiY ^iii\u00bb fell ^^rpng, her powers being apparently \nlimited ^ ^9Jtt^ not including the magic words that \nttwttred t&^ i^^tonL Her undo and aunt, hearing a \nv'hjjid cnr whi\u00bbi\u00bb Berer a child should be, took a candle \njttid dbtvvvfed th\u00bb whole matter. Next day the child \nw^ takent befon^ the magistrate, to whom it told its \nItiti^ Mel tk^ mother was apprehended. On the trial \n^tw^ bttW vHr^ijUw^ of seven years old waa admitted as \ntW chief e^iivlettce ^tgainst her mother ; and after they \nWmI vmmI^ th^ poor woman mad among them, she con- \nli^^^H.^ Aikd w^ hanged quite quietly. These were only \nl^iM ^mI U*^ th\u00bb himdreda whom that miserable man, \n\n\n\nTHE MANNINGTREE WITCHES. 815 \n\nMatdiew Hopkins, gent, contrived to send to the gallows. \nBeaumont, in his Treatise on Spirits, mentions that \n\" thirty-six were arraigned at the same time before Judge \nGoniers, An. 1645, and fourteen of them hanged, and an \nhundred more detained in several prisons in Suffolk and \nEssex.\" But the most celebrated and the saddest of all \nthe trials in which Hopkins played a part was that of \n\n\n\nTHE MANNINGTREE WITCHES, \n\nheld before Sir Matthew Hale in 1645 \u2014 ^Hopkins's great \nwitch-year. \n\nIn a very scarce tract called * A true and exact \nrelation of the severall Informations, Examinations, and \nConfessions of the Late Witches Arraigned and Ex- \necuted in the county of Essex, Published by Authoritie, \nand Printed by M. S. for Henry Overton and Benj. \nAllen, and are to be sold at their shops in Popes- \nhead-alley, 1645,' is an account of these Manningtree \nwitches. One John Eivet's wife, living in Manningtree, \nwas taken sick and lame and with violent fits, and John \nswore before Sir Harbottel Grimston, one of the justices \nof the peace, that a cunning woman \u2014 wife of one Hovye \nat Hadleigh \u2014 told him that his wife was cursed by two \nwomen, near neighbours ; of whom one was Elizabeth \nClarke, alias Bedingfield. Elizabeth's mother, and \nothers of her kinsfolk, had been hanged for witchcraft in \nthe bygone years : so it ran in the blood, and it was not \nto be wondered at if it broke out afresh now. Sir Har^ \nbottel Grimston and Sir Thomas Bowes, the two Justices \nbefore whom this deposition was taken, then admitted \nthe evidence of Matthew Hopkins of Manningtree, gen- \ntleman and witch-finder, who deposed to having watched \n\n\n\n\\ \n\n\n\n316 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nElizabeth Clarke last night, being the 24th of March, \n1645, when he and one Master Sterne, who watched with \nhim, saw some strange things which he would presently \ntell their worships of. Elizabeth told this deponent \nand his companion that if they would stay and do her \nDO harm, she would call one of her imps, and play with \nit in her lap; which at first they refused, but afterwards \nccMisenting, there appeared to them '' an Impe Uke to \na Dog, which was white, with some sandy spots, and \nseemed to be very fat and plump, with very short \nl^gg^s, who forthwith vanished away.\" This was \nJarmara. Then came Vinegar Tom, in the shape of a \ngreyhound with very long legs ; and then for a moment \nonly came one for Master Sterne, a black imp which \nvanished instantly; then one like a polecat, only \nbigger.* Elizabeth now told them that she had five \nimps of her own, and two of Beldam West's, and that \nthey sucked turn and turn about : now she was sucked \nby Beldam West's and now Beldam West by hers. She \nfurther said that Satan, whom she knew very much too \nwell as *^ a proper Grentleman with a laced band, having \n\n* Matthew 8 own account of them in a little tract called * Certaine \nQueries Answered, which have been and are likely to be objected \ni^piiudt Matthew Hopkins, in his way of finding out witches,' was \nidi^htly different\u2014 1. Holt, like a white kitling. \u2014 2. Jarmara, a &t \nM^^nio) without any legs at all, which she said she kept f&t, for he \njiui k^-vl pHxi Wood ftrom her body. \u2014 3. Vinegar Tom, a long-legged \nItftiylitiuud with an head like an ox, a long tail and broad eyes, who, \nytiwu tiiijjkkina spoke to, and bade him go to the place provided for \nUiui ibiul Ills angels, transformed himself into the shape of a child of \nl^kUit> )i^^t:t without a head, and gave half a dozen turns about the \nhmm^ imA vanished at the door.-\u2014 4. Sack-and-sugar, like a black \nmUtiU : mA A\u00ab Newea, like a polecat Also he said that no mortal \n^\\kU[ iu\\mi \u00bbuoh names as Elemauzer, Pyewacket, Peck in the \nt^itmu^ I hlt>\u00bbtJl UrtHxligut, &o., which, however, one of our great word- \niUMilltrx. i ^\\\\m\\^ Uiokens, would find no difficulty in doing, and which \n\n-\u25a0Mlitly UibV9 no very infernal sound in them. \n\n\n\nTHE MANNINGTREE WITCHES; 317 \n\nthe whole proportion of a Man,\" would never let her \nhare any peace till she slew the hogs of Mr. Edwards \nof Manningtree, and Mr. Taylor's horse. When she \nhad slain them Satan let her be quiet Then of his. \nown accord, Mr. Hopkins said that going from Mr. Ed- \nwards's house to his own, that night at nine or ten, he \nsaw the greyhound which he had with him jump as if \nafter a hare ; and coming up hurriedly, there was a \nwhite thing like a \" kitlyn,\" and his greyhound stand- \ning aloof from it ; but by-and-by the white kitlyn came \ndancing round and about the greyhound, \" and by all; \nlikelihood bit off a piece of the flesh of the shoulder of \nthe greyhound; for the greyhound came shrieking and \ncrying to this Informant, with a piece of fleshe tome \nfrom her shoulder.\" To crown all, coming into his \nown yard, Mr. Hopkins saw a thing like a black cat,, \nonly three times as big, sitting on the strawberry-bed \nglaring at him ; but when he went towards it, it leaped \nover the pale, ran right through the yard \u2014 ^his greyhound \nafter it \u2014 then flung open a gate which was \" underset \nwith a paire of Tumbrell strings,\" and so vanished, \nleaving the greyhound in a state of extreme terror. \nWhich, if there was any truth at aU in these deposi- \ntions, and they were not merely arbitrary lies, would \nmake one suspect that Master Matthew Hopkins had \nbeen drinking, and knew a few of the phenomena of \ndelirium tremens. \n\nJohn Sterne, Matthew's slavey or attendant, then \ngave information. Watching with Matthew Hopkins, \nhe asked Elizabeth Clarke if she were never afraid of \nher imps? to whom she made this notable answer, \n\" What, doe you thinke I am afraid of my children ?\" \nHis tale of imps was rather different to his patron's : \nthey had consulted hurriedly, or John's memory was \n\n\n\nr \n\n\n\n318 THE WITCHES OF ENCftiAND. \n\nbad. The white imp was Honlt; Jarmara had red \nspots ; Vinegar Tom was like a \" dnmbe Dogge ;\" and \nSack-and-Sugar was a hard-working imp, which would \ntear Master John Sterne when it came. And it was \nwell that Master Sterne was so quick, else this imp \nwould have \" soon skipped upon his face, and perchance \nhad got into his throate, and then there would have \nbeen a feast of toades in this Informant's belly.\" Eli- \nzabeth had one imp, she said, for which she would \nfight up to her knees in blood before she would lose it ; \nand when asked what the devil was like as a man, said \nhe was a \" proper man,\" a deal \" properer \" than \nMatthew Hopkins. \n\nOther witnesses affirmed that if Elizabeth smacked \nwith her mouth then a white cat-like imp, would come, \nand that they saw five more imps, named as above. \nAnd furthermore that she confessed that old Beldam, \nmeaning Ann West \u2014 ^which was a very disrespectful \nway of speaking of her gossip \u2014 had kiUed Eobert Oakes' \nwife and a clothier's child of Dedham, both of whom \nhad died about a week since ; and also that '' the said \nold Beldam Weste had the wife of one William Cole of \nMannintree in handling, who deid not long since of a \npining and languishing disease,\" and that she had \nraised the wind which sunk the hoy in which was Tom \nTurner's brother thirty months agone. She also said \ntliat Beldam West had taught her all she knew; for \nthat one day as she was pitying her for her lameness \u2014 she \nImit hut one leg \u2014 and for her poverty, she told her how \niflir? nii^^ht get imps and be rich, for that the imps would \nJuJp ]wr to a husband who would keep her ever after, so \nt liat nh- need not be put to such miserable shifts as gather- \ning Biivkn for a living. Elizabeth Clarke then accused \nSisth Gooding of being one of the tribe : and Eobert \n\n\n\nTHE MANNINGTREE WITCHES. 819 \n\nTaylor came forward to give corroborative evidence \nagainst her. He said that nine weeks since, Elizabeth \nGrooding came to his shop for half a pound of cheese, on \ntrust ; that he denied it to her ; whereupon she went \naway, \"muttermg and mumbling\" to herself, and soon \ncame back with the money. That very night his horse, \nwhich was in the stable, sound and in good condition, \nfell lame and in four days' time died of a strange dis- \nease, and Elizabeth Gooding was the cause thereof. \nElizabeth Grooding '' is a lewd woman, and to this In- \nformant's knowledge, hath kept company with the said \nElizabeth Clarke, Anne Leech, and Anne West, which \nAnne West hath been suspected for a Witch many \nyears since, and suffered imprisonment for the same.\" \nElizabeth Gooding contented herself with saying quietly \nthat she was not guilty of any one particular charged \nupon her in the examination of the said Bobert Taylor. \nNevertheless she was executed at Chelmsford. \n\nSichard Edwards said that twelve months since he \nwas driving his cows near to the house of Anne licech, \nwidow, when they both fell down and died in two days ; \nthe next day his white cow fell down within a rod of \nthe same place, and died in a week after. In August \nlast his child was out at nurse at goodwife Wyles', who \nlived near Elizabeth Gooding and Elizabeth Clarke; \nwhich said chUd was taken very sick, with rolling of \nthe eyes, strange fits, extending of the limbs, and in \ntwo days it died : and Elizabeth Gooding and Anne \nLeech were the cause of its death. \n\nAnd now poor old Anne Leech was brought on the \nscene, to \" confess,\" as so many wretched victims did. \nShe said that she and Elizabeth Clarke and Elizabeth \nGooding sent their imps to kill Mr. Edwards's black \ncow, and his white cow ; she sent a grey imp, Elizabeth \n\n\n\n1 \n\nf \n\n\n\n820 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND, \n\nClarke a black one, and Gk>oding a white ; also thsLt \nthirty years since she sent her grey imp to kill Mr. \nBragge's two horses, because he had called her a \nnaughty woman \u2014 and that the imps did their work \nwithout fear of failure. When these imps were abroad, \nshe said, and after mischief, she had her health, but when, \nthey were unemployed and for ever hanging about her, \nshe was sick. They often spoke to her in a hollow \nvoice which she easily understood, and told her that she \nshould never feel hell's torments : which it is very sure \nthe poor old maniac never did. She aid Gooding \nkilled Mr. Edwards's child too ; she with her white imp> \nand Elizabeth with her black one. She had her white \nimp about thirty years since, and a grey and a black as \nwell, from \" one Anne, the wife of Eobert Pearce of \nStoak in Suffolk, being her brother.\" Three years since \nshe sent her grey imp to Idll Elizabeth Kirk; and \nElizabeth languished for about a year after and then \ndied; the cause of her, Anne Leech's, malice being \nthat she had asked of Elizabeth a coif, which she \nrefused. The grey imp killed the daughter of Widow \nEawlyns, because Widow Eawlyns had put her out of \nher farm; and she knew that Gooding had sent her \nimp to vex and torment Mary Taylor, because Mary \nrefused lier some beregood; but when she wanted to \nwarn herj the devil would not let her. Lastly, she \nsaid, that about eight weeks ago she had met West and \nGooding: at Elizabeth Clarke's house ^' where there \nwas a Look read wherein she thinks there was no \n\nSo all these wretched creatures were hanged at \n\nChelniatbrd, and the informants plumed themselves \n\n\"^\u25a0^Uy on their evidence. But before their execution, \n\ndollen Clark, wife of Thomas Clark, and daughter \n\n\n\n[ \n\n\n\nTHE MANNINGTRBE WITCHES. 321 \n\nof Anne Leech, was \" fyled.\" On the 4th of April, \n1645, Bichard Glascock gave information that he had \nheard a falling out between Hellen, and Mary wife of \nEdward Parsley, and that he \" heard the said Hellen \nto say as the said Hellen passed by this Informant's \ndoor in the street, that Mary the daughter of the said \nEdward and Mary Parsley should rue for all, whereupon \npresently the said Mary, the daughter, fell sick and \ndied within six weeks after.\" When Helen was \narrested she made her confession glibly. She said \nthat about six weeks since the devil came to her house \nin the likeness of a white dog by name Elimanzer, and \nthat she fed him with milk porridge ; that he spoke to \nher audibly, bidding her deny Christ and she should \nnever want ; which she did : but she did not kill Mary \nParsley nevertheless. She was executed at Manning- \ntree all the same as if she had spoken sober truth. \n\nOn the 23rd of the same month Prudence Hart came \nto the magistrates with an accusation. About eight \nweeks since, she said, being at church very well and \nhealthful \u2014 some twenty weeks gone with child \u2014 she \nwas suddenly taken mth pains, and miscarried before \nshe could be got home : and about two months siace, \nbeing in bed, something fell upon her right side, but \nbeing dark she could not tell of what shape it was : \nbut presently she was taken lame on that side, and \nwith extraordinary pains and burning, and she believed \nthat Anne West and Eebecca West, the daughter, were \nthe cause of her pains. John Edes also swelled the count \nof accusations. He said that Eebecca had confessed to \nhim that seven years since her mother iucited her \nto intercourse with the devil, who had since appeared \nto her at divers times and in various shapes, but chiefly \nas a proper young man, desiring of her such things as \n\nT \n\n\n\n^rrraEB :r esgland. \n\n\n\n1 \n\n\n\n\u00abp -wmc *D \u2022ieabe of women ; pro- \nrr ^as i ^-r iprraiii jieid to his wishes she \n:&.-\u00bb TTZic rOr -vTiiiiiL sBil especially ebould be \nc .MX- -^as^Mir^. iok ^QAt then Befoecca had \n\u25a0- ^ir -t-tfn * Tarr\"j> \u00bb& of Lawfcsd, who, not \nr. ':^ ^i^z:-^ ^ATis: iod. hisd. At which Bebecca \n\u2022\u2022m-^^-j-a fcee conid do as Goi\" \nac-b\u00abt.-^a aid, wUle she lired at \n\u2022 ^- ^**- *rr a.-^'rr t.ine vanw^ to ho* and said, \" the \n'\"^^ - rn ^afc- 7ti.\u00bbfi?a to*.'* meaniDg one GeOTge \n\u2022^twx. >^ ^1.. S2if -4a..r*i'9^ iiast GieoBge's \u00a3i;&er said his \n*- \"wjf \u2022'\u2022\u2022IV. .T*\u00bb. Xi vfAdxz iU whick Anne replied, \"Be \n: n: A.**\u00bbr'.du-r t; in* 3i*ra^'* ^(lien Bebecca was \n>w. ^^ s :.\u00bb ^:^ .1 liatriu 7: SBt^vcf to these charges, \n\u00abi*^ <-.'.:-rt^^^ ififtC r\u00ab\u00abiiAiZfti0\u00bbhdil said, adding a few \n: \u2022 \u2022:. * - -:u>\\ ^iwTtL-uiOss ni^'h. seared the execution of \n\u00bb. r r-r ^ i-? ^.COT* ^^aIl'tox^: Iwt in Spite of her \n\u2022*^ \u25a0\u2022\u25a0*: 7\u00ab*\u00bbA. 4 -OS' irC5%fit^ ^aiHi^ foomd guilty by the \n/^\u00ab^ u^. \u00ab\u00ab\u00bb- ^\u00abi.um\u00abi: XX Iiif anddeathu Matthew \nr \u00ab^is- ^jr^:\"v a t*\"*^ izttsiti*^ iC cv^toor OTer the canyas, \n-i. M^ '.K -c:*;^ ixs^ IcMiKtt had told him she was \nY\u00abr\u00ab-* ^ \"u\u2014 \u2022< n lur mnsisr: and that when she \nrr. .\u25ba, viT ^u^r ^jvuitf* a Claike's house, the \n^ 1. I*: r ^n.ifrf?^ JM AMne\u00ab now in the shape \n\n. ^ \u2022. ^ :\u00bb;*i: \u2022\u00ab \"^^y i\u00b1::Tri&. tbjen of two dogs \u2014 and \nrrw :^^ t;>4 uu Moutr^ 1^ Eoabeth Clarke, skip- \n\u2022\u00ab*.^ .V- . ** ^s^^ i>fr^ \u00abiii insm^ ker^ and then to all the \n>*\u00ab^ >^>\u00abN..;;^ *wt-i AW ^c :3iffli. saxe Bebecca. Afker- \n^o*%riv %i^\u00ab >*4\u00bba .-ittiw \u00bb ^ B\u00bbn, he gave her kisses \nais^^-rt *^^ 1*^ wi\u00bb ^ Ktajciaiitfy as the \"kittyns \n\nSsRQft.^ S^itfi^*^ 4t>\u00abi Itirr Grcenliefe liyed together. \n\nyi^^ ^,j^i 4 ,ttiu;:r>*^ f* iur^ii^aor feorteen years old ; and \n\nt *^K ^N8\u00abit ^g^cr*,^* t\u00abing awake, heard Mary's \n\n\n\nTHE MANNINGTREE WITCHES. 323 \n\nchild cry out, \" Oh mother, now it comes, it comes ! \nOh helpe, mother, it hurts me, it hurts me ! \" So Susan \nsaid, \" Goodwife Greenliefe, Goodwife Greenliefe, if \nyour childe be asleep awaken it, for if anybody comes \nby and heare it make such moans (you having an ill \nname already), they will say you are suckling your \nLnpes upon it.\" To which Mary replied that this was \njust what she was doing, and that \u2022she would \" fee \" \nwith them (meaning her Imps), that one night they \nshould suck her daughter, and one night Susan Spar- \nrow's ; which fell out as she said. For the very next \nnight Susan's child cried out in the same manner as \nMary's had done, and clasped her mother round the \nneck, much aflTrighted and shrieking pitifully. She \ncomplained of being pinched and nipped on her thigh ; \nand in the morning there was a black and blue spot as \nbroad and long as her hand. Susan Sparrow also said \nthat the house where they lived was haunted by a \nleveret, which came and sat before the door; and \nknowing that Anthony Sharlock had a capital courser, \nshe went and asked him to banish it for her. Whether \nthe dog killed it or not she did not know ; all that she \ndid know was, that Goodman Merrill's dog coursed it \nbut a short time before, but the leveret never stirred, \nand \" just when the dog came at it he skipped over it, \nand turned about and stood still, and looked on it, \nand shortly after that dog languished and dyed. But \nwhether this was an Impe in the shape of a Leveret, or \nhad any relation to the said Mary, this Informant \nknows not, but does confesse shee wondered very \nmuch to see a Leveret, wilde by nature, to come so fre- \nquently and sit openly before the dore in such a \nfamiliar way.\" Mary was searched, and found marked \nwith witch marks, but contented herself with quietly \n\n\n\n824 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\ndenying all knowledge of familiars, witchcraft, ** bigges/' \nand the like. \n\nMary Johnson was accused of having a familiar, in \nshape like a rat \" without tayl or eares,\" which she \nused to carry about in her pocket, and set to rock the \ncradle. She kissed Elizabeth Otley's child, and gave \nit an apple, and the child sickened and died of fits ; \nand Elizabeth herself had extraordinary pains, which \nleft her when she had scuffled mth Mary Johnson and \ngotten her blood. And she killed Annabell Durant's \nchild by commending it as a pretty thing, stroking its \nface, and giving it a piece of bread and butter ; and \nAnnabell knew that she had been the death of the \nchild, because, \" setting up of broome in the outhouse \nafter the little one had been taken, she saw the perfect \nrepresentation of a shape just like Mary Johnson, and \nwas struck with such a lamenesse in her Arms that she \nwas not able to bow her arms, and so continued speech- \nless all that day and night following. Mary came also \nas the noise of a Hornet, to the room where Annabell's \nhusband lay sick, for he cried out, * It comes, it comes ! \nNow Goodwife Johnson's Impe is come ! Now she hath \nmy life !' \" And immediately a great part of the wall \nfell down. So was not Mary Johnson an undoubted \nwitch with all this testimony against her ? \n\nAnne Cooper was executed at Manningtree because \nshe had three black imps, by name Wynow, Jeso, and \nPanu; because she gave her daughter Sarah a grey \nimp like a kite, and called Tomboy, telling her there \nwaa a cat for her to play with ; because she cursed a \ncolt and it broke its neck directly after ; and because \njhe sent one of her imps to kill little Mary Rous \u2014 ^which \nit did. Elizabeth Hare was condemned, but afterwards \nreprieved, for giving two imps to Mary Smith, The \n\n\n\nTHE MANNIKGTREE WITCHES. 325 \n\npoor old woman \" praying to God with her hands up- \nward, that if she was guilty of any such thing, He would \nshow some example on her, presently after she shaked \nand quivered, and fell to the ground backward, and \ntumbled up and down the ground, and hath continued \nsick ever since.\" \n\nOld Mai^aret Moone had twelve imps, but her in- \nformants could only remember the names of \" Jesus, \nJockey, Sandy, Mrs. Elizabeth, and CoUyn.\" Her \nimps killed cows and babes ; spoiled brewings ; broke \nhorses' necks ; bewitched \" aples \" so that the eaters \nthereof died; sent Eawbodd*s wife such a plague of \nKce that they might have been swept off her clothes \nwith a stick ; and did other maleficent things, proper \nto imps and witches. When searched she was found \nto have \" bigges \" where the imps sucked ; and con- \nfessed the same, saying that \" if she might have some \nbread and beere she would call her said Impes ; which \nbeing given unto her, she put the bread into the beere \nand set it against a hole in the wall, and made a circle \nround about the pot, and then cried. Come Christ, come \nChrist, come Mounsier, come Mounsier.\" No imps ap- \npearing, she said her daughters had carried them off in a \nwhite bag, and demanded that the isaid daughters might \nbe \" searched,\" \" for they were naught.\" They were \nsearched, and were found witch-marked. Margaret \ndenied all the charges against herself, but was con- \ndemned nevertheless ; and only escaped the executioner's \nhands by dying on her way to the gallows. \n\nJudith Moone helped her mother a step gallowsward \nby a rambling, pointless confession about some wood, \nand how her mother threatened her, and how something \nseemed to come about her legs that night ; but when \nshe searched she found nothing ; so Judith Moone pro- \n\n\n\n2S THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\n\n\nhtJokv ued beeaoK At did not know how to distiDguigh \ns iiiise ^&xmsiaML dmn. a true one. \n\nEliaujtfdi Hurrey. widow, Sarah Hating, wife, Marian \nHt--kt?^ wiiiuw. w^?e * searched :\" the first two were \njittCKc^L ^iie IuBt not,, bnt yet was the worst witch of \ni\u00abJL l r ^e !i2ui matie Elizabeth Harvey as bad as her- \n2*rii >ir 'jrtniiinir hear three things the bigness of mouses, \nT\u00bbuiea iie satii were ** fwetty things,'' and to be made \n:ce ^C A^ jur Sarah Hating, she had sent Francis \nS:Lvk < wiiV* a aiake* which the said wife espied lying on \nA sat \\l\\ ;uid 3trT-we to kill with a spade, bnt the snake \nwllB^ ri>o nui:k fiar her and yanished away; so Francis \n:?fe.\u00bbv'i*> wife wai* tak^i ack, and within one week died. \n,V lauiricvjr was t^en ill immediately after her mother, \nuw >i^i^ ;iifiu died\u00bb and then another child; all be- \n-\u2022^^^ Y-^ancJij Stock hdd impressed Sarah Hating's hus- \n\\miu A\u00bbr :4 :5Uiiiier. and Sarah Hating was angered. \n^.u^ifcU V-\u00ab\u00bbvkiet wau told on by her own sister, Sarah \n'^^-tviu ^bu ^saisi that die had given her three imps, \n\u2022* l.at:t \u00bbttiuw F^ctynaanu and Dainty.\" They were all \n^\u2022x^vniv-^i^ Suah aad Manan denying their gmlt, bnt \n> Viiuvui Hicvvy sticking to her tale of the three \nnivHisi^^ >%ujx'a Margin had brought her, and which \n\nv\\v*5i^ Ivvil'ybcvad bewitched Bobert Turner's servant \n\n>\u00ab/ uiao biv^ vn^>w^ Uke a cock, barked like a dog> \n\n;i#vaitv>l W>fvtrt,l the ordinary course of nature, and, \n\nj^ii^^ Cktt\u00ab ^ yv\u00abal^ tiSfOgsLrled with such strength that \n\n1^^ y# H^ mt0m tfMoM ikH liold him. Says Bose, fifteen \n\n^^tkMb v^MT^ \u00ab^\\ lT\\H\u00bb\u00abl^ife Hagtree brought an imp \n\n^ We h^'vm mhkh she nourished on oatmeal, and \n\n\u00ab\u00ab^l)\u00abiJl ^x'VtililMit ^ tlk^ manner of witches, for the \n\nM^*it ^ y^i**^ ^'Mtot a half \u2014 when she lost it ; then Joyce \n\n^^l^ ii Tf ^'\" *'*f^* her aiK^her^ as a small grey bird, which \n\n\n\n\nTHE MANNINGTREE WITCHES. 327 \n\nshe earned to Thomas ToaMey's house in St. Osyth, \nputting it into a cranny of the door, so that his son \nshould die, as he did \u2014 crying out all the time that \nBose Hallybread had killed him. She then accused \nSusan Cocks and Margaret Landish, and died in prison, \ncheating thd hangman. \n\nOld Joyce Boanes now took up the tale. She had \ntwo imps like mouses she said, and they killed the \nlambs at the farm-house called Cocket-wick, and one of \nthese imps called \"Bug \" she took to Eose Hallybread, \nthat they might torment Turner's servant. Wherefore \nher imp made him bark like a dog ; Eose Hallybread's \n\"inforced him to siog sundry tunes in his great ex- \ntremity of paines ;\" Susan Cock's compelled him to crow \nlike a cock ; and Margaret Landish's made him groan. \nPoor old Joyce Boanes was hanged in return for her \ndrivelling ravings. \n\nSo was Susan Cock ; who confirmed aU that had gone \nbefore, adding only that the night her mother died she \ngave her two imps, one like a mouse \"Susan,\" the \nother yellow, and like a cat \" Besse,\" with which she did \nsundry acts of spite and damage. Wherefore Susan was \nput out of the way of further harm. Margaret Landish \nknew not much about the matter, but was executed never- \ntheless, for having bewitched Thomas Hart's child \u2014 in- \ncited thereto by the girl's pointing at her and crying \n\" There goes Pegg the witch !\" upon which Peg turned \nback and clapped her hands in a threatening manner, \nsaying \" she should smart for it,\" and that very night \nthe child fell sick in a raving manner, and died within \nthree weeks after ; often in its fits crying out that '^Pegg \nthe witch was by the bedside making strange mouths at \nher.\" \n\nBebecca Jones owned to knowing the devil as a \n\n\n\n\na3B THE WITCHES OF EXGLASTD. \n\nhtftdBTjone jocmg nuui, wlio prkked her wiist and made \nLer bi\u00bb in Bcnl azftd bodj. This was about four or fire \nacd tr^^iity rean ago, when Ihring with John Bishop as \nLkserrazit. About three months mice too, going to St \nOmh to aell her master's butter, she met a man in a \nnez^eii s^iit and with sodi great eyes that she was afraid \no{ him, and he gare her three tilings like ** mouleSy\" \nbaring four feet apiece bat no tails, and black, which \nhe told her to nurse careftdlj and feed on milk. Their \nnames were Margaret, Anie, and Snsan, and they killed \neows and sheep and hogs, and rerenged her on her \nenemies. So Rebecca was hanged as befitted. \n\nJcdian Cooper, widow, had three imps, two like \nmouses and one like a frog ; their names were \" Frick- \neare, Bobyn, and Frog,\" and they killed men and \nbeasts. Wh^^fore she too was hanged like the rest \n\nAnne Cate had four, given her by her mother twenty \nyears agoi, ^ James, Prickeare, Bobyn, and Sparrow:\" \nthe first three like mouses, and the fourth like a spar- \nrow ; and they did evil and mischief and killed all \nwhom she would. She was hanged too. \n\nAt the end of the tract is a very curious bit of evi- \ndence, given by an honest man of Manningtree, one \nGoff, a glover, concerning old Anne West, then on her \ntrial. He said that one moonlight morning, about four \no'clock, as he was passing Anne West's house, the door \nbeine: open, he looked in and saw three or four little \ntluLi;^^ like black rabbits which came skipping towards \nliiiiL He struck at them, but missed ; when, by better luck, \nu^ ituight one in his hand and tried to wring its head \n4^11*; Imt \"as he wrung and stretched the neck of it, it \n(^tiiui^ out betweene his hands like a lock of wooU,\" so he \nwvut to drown it at a spring not far off. But still as he \n^iiul ho could not hinder himseK fit)m \u00a3Edling down, so \n\n\n\nTHE MANNINGTREE WITCHES. 329 \n\nthat at last he was obliged to 'creep on his hands and \nknees, till he came to the water, when he held the imp \nfor a long space nndemeath, till he conceived it was \ndrowned, bnt> 'letting goe his hand, it sprang out \nof the water up into the aire, and so vanished away.\" \nComing back to Anne West's, he found her standing \nat her door in terrible undress, and to his complaint of \nwhy did she send her imps to molest him? she answered \n*^ that they were not sent out to trouble him, but as \nScouts upon another designa\" \n\nBut one of the most painful murders of the Hopkins \nSession was that of old Mr. Lewis,* the ^ Beading Parson \" \nof Franlingham ; a fine old man of good character, but \ngenerally regarded as a Malignant, because he preferred \nto read Queen Elizabeth's Homilies instead of com- \nposing nasal discourses of his own, of the kind so dear \nto the Puritan party: wherefore the authorities and \nMatthew Hopkins \u2014 ^who was a devout Puritan \u2014 had \ntheir eyes upon him, and were not disposed to be lenient. \nHe was swum in Hopkins's manner, cross-bound ; set on \na table cross-legged ; kept several nights without sleep, \nand twenty-four hoiurs without food; run backwards \nand forwards in the room, two men holding him, until \nhe was out of breath; ** pricked\" and searched for \nmarks; after all which barbarity it is not surprising \nto find that the poor old Beading Parson of eighty-five \n^' confessed.\" Yes, he had made a compact with the \ndevil and sealed it with his blood ; and he had two imps \nthat sucked him, one of which, the yellow dun imp, was \nalways urging him to do some mischief, but the other \nwas more amiabla Accordingly, to please the yellow \ndun he had one day sent it to sink an Ipswich ship, \nwhich he spied out in the offing: a commission which \n* Baxter, Hatohinaoii, Ac \n\n\n\n830 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nthe imp executed with zeal and precision before the \neyes of a whole beach foil of spectators. This Ipswich \nship was one of many that rode safely enough in llie \ncalm sea, but the imp troubled the waters immediately \nabout her, and down she went like a stone, as all present \ncould testify. Asked if he had not grieved to make so \nmany \u2014 ^they were fourteen \u2014 ^widows in a few moments \nhe said \"No, he was glad to have pleased his imp.\" \nThis confession and various witch \" bigges \" found on \nhim were held proofs conclusive ; and Mr. Lewis was \ncondemned to be hanged; his eighty years, and his \ngown, protecting him nowise. As soon as he was a \nlittle refreshed he denied all the ravings he had been \ninduced to utter, read the burial service for himseK with \ncheerfulness and courage, and met his death calmly and \ncomposedly; perhaps not sorry to resign into God's \nkeeping a life which Matthew Hopkins and the Puritans \nwere rendering intolerable. \n\nA Penitent Woman* of the same time confessed that \nwhen her mother lay sick a thing like a mole ran into \nbed to her. She, the Penitent Woman, started, but her \nmother told her not to fear, but to take the mole and \nkeep it, saying, \" Keep this in a pot by the fire, and thou \nshalt never want\" The daughter did as she was bid, \nand made the mole comfortable in its pot. And after \nshe had done this, a seemingly poor boy came in and \nasked leave to warm himself by the fire. When he \nwent away she found some money under the stool \nwhereon he had sat. This happened many times, and \nso her mother's promise and her imp brought the poor \npenitent romancer Barmecidal good luck. It could \nnot have been much, for Hopkins, or at least his friend \nand comrade John Sterne, says in the es \n* Baxter. \n\n\n\n\nTHE MANNINGTREE WITCHES. 331 \n\nJoan Euccalver, of Powstead, Suffolk, that \" six shillings \nwas the largest amount he had ever known given by an \nimp to its dame.\" \n\nThat all this seemed right and rational in the eyes \nof sane men is one of the most marvellous things con- \nnected with the delusion : that well-educated English- \nmen should send such a wretch as Matthew Hopkins \nwith legal authorisation to prick witches, associating \nwith him Mr. Calamy \"to see that there was no \nfraud :\" that they should arraign miserable old women \nby scores, and hang them by dozens : and that Baxter \nshould gravely argue for the validity of ghosts and \nspectres on the plea that '^ various Creatures must have \na various Situation, Beception, and Operation : the \nFishes must not dwell in our cities nor be acquainted \nwith our affairs\" \u2014 strikes me chiefly with amazement \nat the marvellous imbecility of superstition. It is well \nfor the leaders of sects to bid us cast down our reason \nbefore blind fidth ; for, assuredly, our reason, which is \nthe greatest gift of God, pleads loudly against the \nfollies of belief and the vital absurdities into which \nreligionists fall when unchecked by common sense. It \nwas only the \"Atheists\" and \"Sadducees,\" as they \nwere called, who at last managed to put a stop to this \nhideous delusion : all the pious believers upheld the \nholy need of searching for witches, and of not suffering \nthem to live wherever they might be found. All sects \nand denominations of Christians joined in this, and \nfound a meeting-place of brotherly love and concord \nbeneath the witches' gallows. And though one's soul \nrevolts most at the so-called \"Eeformed Party,\" be- \ncause of the greater tmctuousness of their piety, and \nmighty professions, yet they were all equally \n^4^ with the other ; all equally steeped to the lips \n\n\n\n3tt THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nin iDBBiiest auper ai i l i oiL The temper of the times has \nao &r changed now that men and women are no longer \nhmig beeanae tliey hare mesmeric powara, or because \nhysterical and epileptic patients nttor wild rayings : bat \nthe thing remains the same ; there is the same amount \nof superstition still afloat, if somewhat altered in its \ndirection ; and modem Spiritualism, which has come to \nsupersede WitchcEaft, ia\u00bb ^dien it is troe at all and not \nmere l^erdemain, as little understood and as fisdsely \ncatalogoed as was eyer Hbe art of magic and sorcery. \n\n\n\nTHE HUNTINGDON IMPS. \n\nIn another very scarce tract by ** J. D.** (John Dayen- \nport) ^ present at the tnat,\" we come to a strange and \nmournful group of judicial murders that took place in \nHuntingdon, 1646. First, there was Elizabeth Weed, \nof Great Catworth, who ccmfessed that twenty-one years \nag!0\u00ab as she was saying her prayers, three spirits came \nsuddenly to her, one of which was like a man or youth, \nand the other two like puppies^ of which one was white \nand the other black. The yoimg man asked her if she \nwould renounce Grod and Christ : to which she assented, \nher Mth being weak; and then the deyil promised \nthat she should do all the mischief she would, if she \nwould covenant to give him her soul at the end of \ntwenty-one years. She assented to this too ; and sealed \nthe bargain with her blood. He drew the blood \u00a3rom \nunder her left arm, and '^ a great lump of flesh did rise \nthere\u00bb and has increased ever since;\" and the deyil \nscribbled with her blood, and the covenant was signed \nand sealed. The name of her white imp^ like a puppy, \nwas ** lilly*'* of the black '' PrisdUe ;\" and the office of \n\n\n\nTHE HUNTINGDON IMPS, S33 \n\nthe white was to hurt man, woman, and child, but of the \nblack to hurt cattle. The man spirit's function was \nthat of her husband, in which relation she lived with \nhim to her great satisfaction. Lilly killed Mr. Henry \nBedell's child, and Priscille sundry cattle ; but she had \nnot had much good of the bargain, for the twenty-one \nyears were to be out next Low Simday, when her soul \nwould be required of her and the devil would take her \naway ; and she desired to be rid of the burden of her \nlife before then. The judges acquiesced in her desire : \nwhich a little good food and careful watching would \nhave proved to them was but the phantasy of disease ; \nand the hangman had her body, though no devil took \nher soul, and her sufferings and her sins vexed the \nuniverse no more. \n\nJohn Winnick's confession is one of the most graphic \nand extraordinary of any in the tract. I give it word \nfor word as I found it. \n\n\"The examination of John Winnick, of Molseworth \nin the said County, Labourer, taken upon the 11th day \nof Aprill, 1(>46, before Eobert Bernard, Esquire, one of \nHis Majesties Justices of the Peace for this County. \nHee saith, that about 29 yeares since, the 29th yeare \nending about Midsommer last past, he being a Batchel- \nlour, lived at Thropston with one Buteman, who then \nkept the Inne at tiie George, and withall kept Hus- \nbandry : this Examinate being a servant to him in his \nHusbandry, did then loose a purse with la. in it, for \nwhich he suspected one in the Family. He saith that \non a Friday being in the bame, making hay-bottles for \nhis horses about noon, swearing, cursing, raging, and \nwishing to himselfe that some wise body (or Wizzard) \nwould helpe him to his purse and money again : there \nappeared unto him a Spirit, blacke and shaggy, and \nhaving pawes like a Beare, but in bulk not fully so bi^ \n\n\n\n834 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAOT). \n\nas a Coney. The Spirit asked him what he ailed to be \nso sorrowfoll, this Ezaminate answered that he had lost \na purse and money, and knew not how to come by it \nagain. The Spirit replied, if you will forsake God and \nChrist and fall down and worship me for your God, I will \nhelp you to your purse and money again. This Exami- \nnate said he would, and thereupon fell down upon his \nknees and held up his hands. Then the Spirit said, to- \nmorrow about this time of the day, you shall find your \npurse upon the floor where you are now making bottles, \nI will send it to you, and will also come my selfe. \nWhereupon this Examinate told the Spirit he would \nmeete him there, and receire it, and worship him. \nWhereupon at the time prefixed, this Examinate went \nunto the place, and found his purse upon the fioore, and \ntooke it up, and looking afterwards into it, he found \nthere all the money that was formerly lost : but before \nhe had looked into it, the same Spirit appears unto him \nand said, there is your purse and your money in it : and \nthen this Examinate fell downe upon his knees and said, \nMy Lord and God I thanke you. The said Spirit at \nthBki time brought with him two other Spirits for shape, \nbignesse, and colour, the one like a white Cat, the \nother like a grey Coney; and while this Examinate \nwas upon his knees, the Beare Spirit spake to him, say- \ning, you must worship these two Spirits as you worship \nme, and take them for your Gods also: then this \nExaminate directed his bodie towards them, and called \nthem his Lords and Gods. Then the Beare Spirit told \nhim that when he dyed he must have his soule, where- \nunto this Examinate yielded. Hee told him then also \nthat they must suck of his body, to which this \nExaminate also yielded ; but they did not sucke at \nthat time. The Beare Spirit promised him that he \nshould never want victuals. The Cat Spirit that it \n\n\n\nTHE HUNTINGDON IMPS. 335 \n\nwould hurt Cattel when he would desire it. And the \nConey-like Spirit that it would hurt men when he \ndesired. The Bear Spirit told him that it must have \nsome of his blood wherewith to seale the Covenant, \nwhereunto this Examinate yielded, and then the beare \nSpirit leapt upon his shoulder, and prickt him on the \nhead, and from thence tooke blood; and after thus \ndoing, the said three spirits ranisht away. The next \nday about noone, the said Spirits came to him while hee \nwas in the field, and told him they were come to suck \nof his body, to which he yielded, and they suckt his \nbody at the places where the marks are found, and from \nthat time to this, they haye come constantly to him once \nevery 24 hours, sometimes by day, and most commonly \nby night. And being demanded what mischiefe he \ncaused any of the said spirits to do, he answered never \nany, onely hee sent his beare Spirit to provoke the \nmaid-servant of Mr. Say of Molmesworth, to steale \nvictualls for him out of her Master's house, which she \ndid, and this Examinate received the same. \nThe marke of \nJohn Winnicke \n\nBob. Bernard. \n\nHe was hanged, 1646. \n\nEight years before this \u2014 ^namely, in 1638 \u2014 Frances \nMoore had a black puppy imp of Margaret Simson \nof Great Catworth, which she caUed Pretty, and whose \noffice was to harm cattle. Then Goodwife Weed gave \nher a thing like a white cat, called Tissy, saying, if \nshe would deny God and affirm the same by her blood, \nto whomsoever she sent this cat, and cursed, would die. \nBo she cursed William Foster, who, sixteen years ago \nwould have hanged two of her children because they \noffered to take a piece of bread ; and he died : but she \n\n\n\n336 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\ncould not remember what the cat imp did to him. Poor \nold creature! such naive little bits of truth and \nscientific direction come out in the midst of all the wild- \nness and raying of the ^^ examined I\" \u2014 such little quiet \nbits of unconscious common sense, to redeem the whole \naccount fix)m the mere maunderings of lunacy I Frances \nMoore did not remember what her imp did to William \nFoster, yet she went on to say that she got tired of \nhaying them about her, and killed them both a year \nsince ; but they haunted her still, and when she was \napprehended crept up her clothes and tortured her so \nthat she could not speak. \n\nElizabeth Chandler, widow, had something that came \nto her in a *' puffing and roaring manner,\" and that now \nhurt her sorely. She denied that she eyer spoiled \nGoodwife Darnell's furmety, but Goodwife Darnell, by \ncausing her to be ducked, die did heartily desire to be \nreyenged on. She had been troubled with these roaring \nthings for a quarter of a year, and had two imps \nbesides, one called \" Beelzebub,\" and the other \" Trul- \nlibub.\" This she denied when asked, while sane and \nawake, saying that \" Beelzebub was a logg of wood \nand Trullibub a stick.\" But the neighbours testified \nagainst her, so her denial went for naught \n\nEllen Shepheard had four iron-grey rat imps that \nsucked her ; and Anne Desborough had two \u2014 mouses \u2014 \nTib and Jone, one brown and the other white. She had \nbeen told to forsake God and Christ, and that she would \nthen haye her will on men and cattle ; as she did, and \ngot her mouse imps in consequence. \n\nJane Wallis saw a man in black clothes, about six \nweeks since, as she was making her bed. She bid him \nciyilly good morning, and asked him his name. He \ntold her it was '^ Blackeman,\" and, in turn, asked her if \n\n\n\nTHE HUNTINGDON IMPS. 337 \n\nshe was poor. Yes, she said \" she was.\" Then he \nwould send her two imps said he, Grissel and Greedi- \ngut, that should do anything for her she would. At this \nmoment, Jane, looking up, saw he had ugly feet, and \nwas fearful ; still more fearful when he became at one \nmoment bigger and at another less, and then suddenly \nvanished Grissel and Greedigut came in the shape \nof \" dogges, with great brisles of hogges hair upon their \nbacks.\" They said they came from Blackeman to do \nwhatever she might command : and sometimes aU three \nof them \u2014 the two dogs and the man \u2014 brought her two \nor three shillings at a time ; and once they robbed a \nman and pulled him from his horse. \n\nOn September 25, 1645,* Joan WaUiford confessed \nbefore the major and other jurates, \" that the diveU, \nabout seven yeares agoe did appeare to her in the shape \nof a little dog, and bid her to forsake God and leane to \nhim ; who repKed, that she was loath to forsake him.\" \nStill, she wished to be revenged on Thomas Letherland \nand Mary Woodrufe, now his wife ; and as \" Bunne,\" \nthe devil, promised she should not lack, and did actually \nsend her money, she knew not whence \u2014 sometimes a \nshilling and sometimes eightpence, \" never more \" \u2014 \ndevil-worship did not seem such a bad trade after all. \nShe further said that her retainer, Bunne, once carried \nThomas Gardler out of a window ; and that twenty yearsi \nago she promised her soul to the devil, and that he \nwrote the covenant between them in her blood, pro-- \nmising to be her servant for that space of time, which \ntime was now almost expired; that Jane Hot, Eliza- \nbeth Harris, and Joan ArgoU, were her fellows; that \nElizabeth Harris curst the boat of one John Woodcott, \n\" and so it came to passe ;\" that Goodwife ArgoU, \n\n\u2022 Tract. ^ \n\nZ \n\n\n\n838 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\ncurst Mr. Major and John Mannington, and so it came \nto pass in these cases too ; and that Bunne had come \nto her twice since in prison, and sucked her \" in the \nforme of a muce.\" So poor Joan Walliford was \nhanged, and at the place of execution exhorted all \ngood people to take warning by her, and not to suffer \nthemselves to be deceived by the divell, neither for \nlove of money, malice, or anything else, as she had \ndone, but to sticke fast to God ; for if she had not first \nforsaken God, God would not have forsaken her. \n\nJoan Cariden, Widow, said that about three quarters \nof a year since, \" as she was in the bed about twelve or \none of the docke in the night, there lay a * rugged \nsoft thing ' upon her bosome which was very soft, and \nshe thrust it off with her hand; and she saith that \nwhen she had thrust it away she thought God forsooke \nher, and she could never pray so well since as she \ncould before ; and further saith that shee verily thinks \nit was alive.\" On a second examination she said that \nthe divell came to her in the shape of a \" blacky rugged \nDog in the night time, and crept into the bed to her, \nand spake to her in a mumbling tongue.\" Two days \nafter nshe made further revelations of how \" within \nthese- two daies,\" she had gone to Goodwife Pantery's \nhouse, where were other good wives, and where ike \ndivell sat at the upper end of the table. \n\nJane Hot said that a thing like a \" hedg-hog \" had \nusually visited her for these twenty years. It sucked \nher in her sleep, and pained her, so that she awoke : \nand lay on her breast, when she would strike it off. It \nwas as soft as a cat. On coming into the gaol she was \nvery urgent on the others to confess, but stood out sturdily \nfor her own innocence ; saying, \" that she would lay \ntw^enty shillings that if she was swum she would sink.\" \n\n\n\nTHE HOmXGDOX DIPS. 3Sd \n\nShe was swum and die floated ; whereat a gendemaii \nasked her ^ how it 'was possil:\u00bble that she coald be so \nimpadent as not to confesse heiselfe?\" to whom she \nanswered, \" That the DiveD went with her all the way, \nand told her that she should sroke ; but when she waais \nin the Water he sat upon a Crosse beame. and laughed \nat her.\" ^ That three were executed an Munday to^,** \nsays the tract in emj^tic italics. \n\nIt now came to the turn of Elizabeth Harris^ She \nsaid that nineteen years ago the devil came to her in \nthe form of a mnse (mon^) and told her she should be \nrevenged. And she was revenged on all who offended \nher; on Groodman Chilman, who said she had stolen a \npigge, and who therefore she wished might die \u2014 ^and her \nLnpe destroyed him ; on Groodman Woodcot, in whose \nHigh (hoy?) her son had been drowned, when ** she \nwished that Grod might be her revenger, which was her \nwatchword to the Divell \" \u2014 and the hoy was cast away, as \nshe conceived, in consequence of her wish. And did not \nJoan Williford's imp tell her that \" though the Boate \nwent chearfully oute it should not come so chearfiilly \nhome ?\" She said fuHher that sundry good wives, named, \nhad ^ in tongues ;\" and that she had made a covenant \nwith the devil, written in the blood which she had \nscratched with her nails from out her breast \n\nAlexander Sussums of MeUbrd, Sussex, said he had \nthings which drew his marks, and that he could not \nhelp being a witch, for all his kindred were naught \n\u2014 his mother and aunt hanged, his grandmother burnt, \nand ten others questioned and hanged. At Faver- \nsham about this time, three witches were hanged, \none of whom had an impnlog, Bun ; and on the 9th of \nSeptember* Jane Lakeland was burnt at Ipswich for \n\n\u2666 \u2022 The Laws against Witches.' Published by Authority, 1615. \n\n\n\n340 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAKD. \n\nhaying bewitched to death her husband, and Mrs. Jen^* \nnings' maid, who once refused her a needle and dunned \nher for a shilling. Jane Lakeland had contracted with \nthe devil twenty years ago. He came to her when \nbetween sleeping and waking, speaking to her in a \nhollow voice, and offering her her will if she would \ncovenant with him. To which she, assenting, he then \nstroke his claw into her hand and with her blood wrote \nout the covenaat. She had bewitched men and women \nand cows and com, and sunk ships, and played all the \ndevilries of her art, but remained ever unsuspected, \nholding the character of a pious woman, and going \nregularly to church and sacrament She had three \nimps \u2014 two Kttle dogs and a mole \u2014 and Hopkins burnt \nher as the best way of settling the question of her sanity \nor disease. \n\nIt would have been well for all these poor people if \ntheir respective judges \u2014 Sir Matthew Hale included \u2014 \nhad had only as much liberality and common sense as \nMr. Gaule, the minister of Stoughton in Huntingdon- \nshire ; for though Gaule was no wise minded to give \nup his belief either in the devil or*in witches, he utterly \nrepudiated Matthew Hopkins and his tribe and his ways, \nand condemned his whole manner of proceeding, from \nfirst to last. He preached against him, and when he \nheard a rumour of his visiting Stoughton he strongly \nopposed him, whereupon Matthew wrote this insolent \nletter, which Mr. Gaule printed as a kind of preface \nto his book of \" Select Cases,\" put out soon after. \n\n\" My Service to your Worship presented. I have \nthis Day received a letter, &c., to come to a Town \ncalled Great Stoughton, to search for evil disposed \nPersons, called Witches (though I heare your Minister \nis farre against us through Ignorance:) I intend to \n\n\n\nTHE HUNTINGDON IMPS. 341 \n\ncome the sooner to heare his singular Judgement in the \nBehalfe of such Parties ; I have known a Minister in \nSuffolk preach as much against this Discovery in a \nPulpit, and forced to recant it, (by the Committee) in \nthe same place. I much marvaile such evil Members \nshould have any (much more any of the Clergy) who \nshould dayly preach Terrour to convince such Offenders, \nstand up to take their Parts, against such as are Com- \nplainants for the King and Sufferers themselves, with \ntheir Families and Estates. I intend to give your Towne \na visite suddenly. I am to come to Eimbolton this \nWeek, and it shall be tenne to one, but I will come to \nyour Town first, but I would certainly know afore, \nwhether your Town affords many Sticklers for such \nCattell, or willing to give and afford as good Welcome \nand Entertainment, as other where I have beene, else I \nshall wave your Shire, (not as yet beginning in any \nPart of it myself) and betake me to such Places, where \nI doe, and may persist without Controle, but with \nThanks and Kecompense. So I humbly take my leave \nand rest, Your Servant to be Commanded, \n\n\" Matthew Hopkins.\" \n\nI have not been able to find what was the result of \nthis letter, but I do not suppose that Hopkins, who was \na great coward like aU tyrants, cared to brave even the \nsmall danger of one minister's opposition, not knowing \nhow many \" sticklers for such cattle \" might be at his \nback. In his Apology, or \" Certaine Queries An- \nswered, which have been and are likely to be objected \nagainst Matthew Hopkins, in his way of finding out \nWitches,\" he says that \"he never went to any towne or \nplace, but they rode, writ, or sent often for him, and \nwere (for ought he knew) glad of him ;\" and if this was \n\n\n\n342 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\ntrue, Mr. Graule moet likely was rid of him at Great \nStou^liton^ and one rood of English land left undefiled. \nBesides, his hands were full elsewhere; for when we \nthink that at Bury St. Edmunds eighteen persons were \nhanged on one day alone, and a hundred and twenty more \nleft lying in prison, aU through his instrumentality, \nwe must imagine that he had enough to do in places \nwhere he was caressed and desired, not to forbear \ntroubling those where he was abhorred and might run \nsome danger. \n\n\n\nMK. CLARK'S EXAMPLES. \n\nA few other men, too, were about as sane as Mr. Gaule \non this maddest of all mad subjects. Mr. Clark, a \nminister \u2014 and the ministers were generally the worst \u2014 \nhad a marvellous allowance of common sense, remem- \nbering the times. A certain parishioner of his cried out \nthat she was grievously beset by a neighbour who came \nin the spirit, that is, as an apparition, to teaze and tor- \nment her. Mr. Clark, the minister, knew the accused \nwoman, and believed in her innocency ; but it happened \none day, by one of those curious coincidences which, by- \nthe-bye, are so often exaggerated into far more signi- \nficance than they deserve, that the suspected woman \nwhile milking her cow was struck by it on the forehead, \nand natm-ally fell a-bleeding. At that moment, or said \nto be at that moment, her \" spectre \" appeared to the \nafflicted person, and she, pointing out the place where \nit stood, desired some of those who were with her to \nstrike at it They did so, and she said they fetched \nblood. Hereupon a posse of them went to the supposed \nwitch, and found her with her forehead bleeding, just \n\n\n\n\\ \n\n\n\nMB. CLARK'S EXAMPLES. 343 \n\nas the afflicted had said. There was no question now \nof doubt, and they rushed off to Mr. Clark to tell them \nwhat they had seen, and demand that she be put to the \nproof. Mr. Clark went to the woman and asked what \nhad made her forehead bleed ? She told him, a blow from \nher cow's horn ; \" whereby he was satisfy'd that it was a \nDesign of Satan to render an innocent person suspected.\" \nAnother instance of the same kind of thing happened \nat Cambridge. A man believed that a certain widow \nsent her imps, as cats, to bewitch and torment him. \nOne night as he lay in bed one of these imps came \nwithin reach, and he struck it on the back : when it \nvanished away, as was to be expected. The next day \nthe man sent to inquire of his old enemy, and found \nthat she had a sore back ; at which he rejoiced exceed- \ningly, having now in his hands the clew which would \nguide him to revenge and her to justice and the \nscaffold. But Mr. Day, her surgeon, stopped his triumph \nbefore it was ripe, and cut the clew before it had spun \nout ; telling him that the sore back was nothing but a \nboil, which had gathered, headed, and healed, like any \nother boil, and that it could have had no connexion \nwhatever with the blow which he had so valiantly \ngiven the cat-imp when in bed. So this bit of cruelty \nwas put a stop to, and the poor old creature, with a boil \non her back, slept her laist sleep unhastened by the \nhangman. Another wretched being who had been kept \nwithout sleep or food for twenty-four hours, pricked, \ntried^ and tortured into a state of temporary imbecility, \nat last confessed to her imp Nan ; but a gentleman in \nthe neighbourhood, very indignant at the folly and \nbarbarity of the whole tihing, rescued the poor victim, \nand made her eat some meat and go to sleep. \nWhen she woke up she said she knew nothing of what \n\n\n\n\n344 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nshe had confessed, but that she had a pullet which she \nsometimes called Nan, and which of a surety was no \nimp, but an honest little hen that had to lay good eggs \nsome day, and be eaten at table when her work was \ndone. \n\n\n\nTHE NEWCASTLE PRICKERS. \n\nHopkins was not the only one of his trade in England, \nfor Ralph Gardner, in his \" England's Grievance Dis- \ncovered** (1655), speaks of two prickers, Thomas Shovel \nand Cuthbert Nicholson, who, in 1649 and 1650, were \nsent by the Newcastle magistrates into Scotland, there to \nconfer with a very able man in that line, and bring him \nback to Newcastle. They were to have twenty shillings, \nbut the Scotchman three pounds, per head of aU they \ncould convict, and a free passage there and back. When \nthese DVTetches gpt to any town \u2014 ^for they tried all the \nchief market towns of the district \u2014 the crier used to go \nToimd with his bell, desiring \" all people that would bring \nii\\ any complaint against any woman for a witch, they \nshould be sent for and tryed by the person appointed.\" \nAs mai\\y as thirty women were brought at once into the \nNewcastle town-hall, stript, pricked, and twenty-seven \ns%>t tkudo as guilty. This said witch-finder told Lieut- \n(\\>Iouol Hobson that \"he knew women, whether they \nwoiv >Yitches or no, by their looks ; and when the saM \n|Hn>*vui was searching of a personable and good-like \nvwuuuu, the said Colonel replyed and said. Surely this \n\\v\\\u00bbu\\uu is none, and need not be tried ; but the Scotch- \nu\\HU Hiud she was, for all the Town said she was, and \nthoit^foiH^ ho winild try her: and presently, in sight of \nM tho |HH>iJt\\ laid her body naked to the Waste, with \nlu^r i^Kmth8 inor her head, by which Fright and Shame \n\n\n\n1 \n\n\n\nTHE NEWCASTLE PRICKERS^ S48 \n\nall her blond contracted into one part of her body, and \nthen he ran a Pin into her Thigh, and then anddenly let \nher Coats fall, and then demanded whether she had \nnothing of his in her body, but did not bleed, but she, \nbeing amazed, replied little, and then he put his hand \nup her coats and pulled out the pin and set her aside \nas a guilty person and child of the Devil, and feU to try \nothers, whom he made guilty. Lieut.-Colonel Hobson, \nperceiving the alteration of the foresaid woman by her \nblood settling in her right parts, caused that woman to \nbe brought again, and her cloaths pulled up to her \nThigh, and required the Scot to run the pin in the same \nplace, and then it gushed out of blood, and the said Scot \ncleared her, and said she was not a child of the Devil.\" \nIf this Scotch witch-finder had not been stopped he \nwould have found half the women in the north country \nwitches ; at last Henry Ogle got hold of him, and \" re- \nquired Bond of him to answer the Sessions ;\" but he got \naway to Scotland, and so escaped for the time. Fifteen \nwomen lay in prison, charged by him, and were executed \n\u2014 all protesting their innocence ; and \"one of them, by \nname Margaret Brown, beseeched God that some re- \nmarkable sign might be seen at the time of their execu- \ntion, to evidence their innocency ; and as soon as ever \nshe was turned off the Ladder her blood gushed out \nupon the people to the admiration of the beholders.\" \nWhich touching little history we must relegate to the \nrealms of fable and delusion, like others just as sad and \nsupernatural. This precious wretch (was it John Kin- \ncaid 7) was hung in Scotland, when the magistrates and \npeople had got tired of him and his cruelty, and at \" the \ngaUows he confessed that he had been the death of two \nhundred and twenty men and women in England and \nScotland, simply, for the sake of the twenty shillings \n\n\n\n9\u00bb THE WITCHES OF EXGLAXB. \n\na Lt^ttl cu:\u00ab:)d-ffi':iKT.* Tnilyitwastiiiie fiir brareBaljih \n*nipint?r to write hk bcdd and floorcfaing ''England's \n^ Trbevujii*ie> Dfist^DTered,\" when such moDstroas crimes as \ntaerse :n:At be done without er^i the ooloor of a moQ- \n\nLi **STkfess Local Becofds\" mention is made of a \n\u00abftsu:a2$ little entiy in the paridi books of Grateshead, \niu?ttr Xewwistle: \"Paid as M* Watson's when the \nJastaL>?s caQ to examine witches, 3^4^ ; for a grane for a \nwicoiu ^^; Ibr trying the witches^ \u00a31. 5.\" This was \nin 1*54:^. in whidi year Jean Martin, \"the myller's wyfe \nof Ouittim,* was executed for a witch, and the antho- \nrtJtM^ of Bewick sent for the witch-finder to come and \ntry wit^'bes there, promising that no Tiolence should \nbe d\u00ab:ce hisi by the townspeople. In the parish roister \nvc Hjjx iLi^ the date of Jnly 28, 1582, the office of \n)ti\u00a3>t^r C!iuia\u00ab.vlIor against Allison Lawe, of Hart, was \nbtvu^ac into i^uisition. Alhson was \"a notoorious \n^'rwrvr dOil enchanter,\" bat was polled np in the midst \noc^ bxT c^vu otfeer, and sentenced to a milder pmiishment \ntluut ^e wuttid have had a centmy later. Notorious \n^tCvHX ;fta\u00bbl enchanter as she was, aU she had to suffer \n>ii;)^ v.>(.va (voance iHiee in the market-place at Durham, \n^ ua \u00ab tij^per on her head setting forth her offences, once \nUit Hviurt cattrcK and once in Norton church ; but what \n%iA^ the ;i^w^tfd to Janet Bainbridge and Jannet Allinson, \nv\u00bb^' ^vkcv>iv ^\"^ tl>r asking counseU of witches^ and resort- \niib^ K* AHb>ott Lawe for the cure of the sicke,\" we are \n%^m tv>lvt Ttie wuiiiness which possessed all men's minds \niu ll^ ue\\l ^vutury had not then begun to rage : the \n^igtiu ^K ji^lii^ of their milk; so he watched; and sure \neiij:*^^ a - black four-footed Creature like a Pole-Cat\" \n\u00abar>e aiid beat away the pigs and sucked the sow ; but \nthe &rmer got a pitchfork and ran it into the thigh of \nthe pole-cat, which straggled so mightily that, though it \nwas nailed to the ground, it got away and made off. \nWhen he asked some neighbours, standing near, what \nthey had seen, they said they had only seen a wench go \nby, with blood falling from her as she went. They \ncaught the wench and searched her, and, sure enough, \nfound her wounded as the man said he had wounded \nthe thing sucking his sow. She was apprehended, \ntried, and hanged, because she made herself into a \n(Toature like a black pole-cat, and went and sucked the \n\n\n\nTHE DEVIL'S DELUSION. 349 \n\nfarmers' sows. \" These two Eelations, I received from \na Person of Quality, of good Ability and of unquestion- \nable Credit, who was present at both the Tryals, and \nwrote them in his Presence, and afterwards read them \nto him ; and he assured me they were very true in all \nthe Particulars, as they were given in Evidence,\" says \nthe author of the \"Collection of Modem Eelations\" \ncomplacently. \n\nTHE DEVIL'S DELUSION.* \n\nThat same year, in the month of July, a man and \nwoman, John Palmer and Elizabeth Knott, were hanged \nat St, Albans for curing folks of disease without the \nleave and Kcense of the authorities, and by the aid of \nthe devil. John made some curious revelations. He \nsaid, first of all, that Marsh of Dunstable was the head \nof the whole college of witches, and that he could do \nmore than all the rest. Then he went on to say that \nhe, John Palmer, had held a blood covenant with the \ndevil for sixty years, and that he bore his brand ; also \nthat he had two imps, \" George,\" a dog, and \" JezabeU,\" \na woman, who did what he would. He had seduced to \nhimself and his arts Elizabeth Knott, his kinswoman ; \nand both together they made a clay picture of good- \nwife Pearls of Norton, which they put under some \nembers, and as the picture consumed away, so did \ngoodwife Pearls \u2014 miserably and fatally. This was out \nof revenge for hanging a lock on his door because \nhe did not pay his rent Then he sent \"George\" \nto kill Cleaver's horses; and Elizabeth killed John \nLaman's cow by sending her imp, which was a cat. \nThe cat had promised that she should have all she \n* * The DeTil's Delusion.* 1649. \n\n\n\ni\u00abu:n-L ia''> lu \u00abni*'^ : tnrr y^ar HSmJiedi Knott did not \nb ..* liiiT I'li* Ji2iL ir-imih^E tf- r:^ thsm a haher and \n\"I**\" pul.^^ a* 'iut -tniL iif ^dtir rpren^rer ndiicli would \nL-v^ i-^a lilt inl-j inri zl Tiiif -wiicJe relatioiL She \n\u00a3LlL-Ll-4maa t^ \u00bb*;^\u00a5^.im^ \u00abjlL^\u00bb^!!seihip she 1^ been teazed \ni.r Hi mt^ dut i. Vim,, :ir nniar V' is wife. When she \nTTbr tsrinu. iitr \u00bb:{\u00a3 iuL} euK\" t^ to her and sncked \nr>.iL i*^ \"rttifcicr \u00ab: fiii*- adi. poor imTing creatnre: \ni\u00bbir \u25bci*t!L ihtt VMS \u2022uier on :if liie vvter she nerer saw \nX 3u i\"t-. r uboHT aiko ^tieasied that once he lay as a \nz iui II \"iit vtT :iit\u00abi j.r je-are in woe and torment. Then is \nliT-ra \"Utr Jis: .f kZ iL-r f te^r-t'le bederilled and bewitched \n'i^ iij^itr TV-. Ter!\u00bb:*:s.ai*dtbea-?ooant is signed^ \"Yours, \nXii^iizni.c.' lf254>iaiinon would have done better if \nie .-.iLji li^T-t \u2022:!all\u00abcd himisplf Philalethes. \n\n\n\nTHE WITCH OF WAPPING, \n\nLi ApriL 1632, Joan Peterson, the witch of Wapping, \n^ haiiz^ at Tyburn ia just retribution of her sins. \nJc\u00abn had long had an ugly name in that mean house of \nhers on the small island near Shadwell ; for she was \nknown to heal the sick in a manner more suggestive \nthan satisfactory, and she had a black beast that used to \nsuck her : which every one knew was the art and func- \ntion of an imp* That this was true of her who could \ndoubt, for a man said he had seen it, and it took even \nlt>8S direct testimony than this to prove a woman a \nwiti^h. Let the sceptical read the \" Country Justice \" \nto \u00bboo what subtle threads were strong enough for a \n\n\n\nTHE WITCH OP WAPPING. iol \n\nwitcli-lialter I One evening a neighbour woman was \nwatching by the cradle of a child who was strangely \ndistempered. In jumped a black cat, coming no one \nknew whence, and stopped her cradling. This woman, \nand another watching with her, flung the fire-fork at \nthe cat, when it vanished as quickly as it had come. \nIn an hour's time it came again from the other side : \none of the women raised her foot and kicked it ; and \nimmediately her foot and leg swelled, and were very \nsore and painfuL Then, terrified, they called the mas- \nter of the house, told him that they could not watch in a \nplace so beset with evil spirits, and left him and the child \nto get on as they could. On their way home they lighted \non a baker, who told them that he had just met a big \nblack cat which had affrighted him so that his hair \nStood aU on end ; and when the women told their tale, \nhe said \" on his conscience he thought it was Mother \nPeterson, for he had met her going towards the island \na little while before.\" When on his oath, under exami- \nnation, this valiant baker declared that he had never \nbeen afraid of any cat before in his life; and to a \nfurther question answered,, \"No, he had never seen \nsuch a cat before, and he hoped in God he should \nnever see the like again.\" But what connection old \nJoan Peterson was assumed to have with this mysterious \nblack cat remains a mystery to this day : it was none \nto the judge and jury, who condemned her to be hanged \nwith safe and tranquil minds. \n\n\n\n36^ THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\n\n\nTHE GEOLOGICAL BEWITCHMENT.* \n\nIn April, 1652, Mary EllinSy aged nine years, daugh- \nter of Edward EUins, of Evesham in the county of \nWorcester, was playing in the fields with some neigh- \nbours' children. They were gathering cowslips in a \npretty innocent way, in which it would have been well \nif they had been contented to remain ; but on passing \nby a ditch they saw crouching therein one Catherine \nHuxley, an old woman of no very good repute, gene- \nrally supposed to be a witch of the worst kind, and quick \nat casting an evil eye when offended. The children \nseeing her, took up stones to throw at her, calling her \n\"witch\" and other opprobrious names; whereat old \nCatherine cursed them, and especially Mary EUins, who \nmade herself conspicuous as the chief tormentor. Her \ncurses had the desired effect. Mary went home, be- \nwitched, and who but Catherine had done it? For \never from that day she had strange and troublesome \npassages with stones, so that it seemed as if the child \nhad fed upon stones, and nothing but stones, of all \nkinds of geological formation. Scores of people went \nto see them : they were handled, and looked at, and \nreasoned about, and discussed, and yet so many as \never might come away, more still remained behind, \nand the supply was never failing. When Mary's \nextraordinary power of elaborating flint and granite \nand boulder and pebble in her young body had become \ntroublesome and expensive, and the parents wanted to \nget rid of the whole concern, they undertook the pro- \nsecution of old Catherine, and cm thh evidence alone, that \nshe had cursed their daughter, and that their daughter had \n\u00bb Baxter. \n\n\n\nTHE BUBlfING BEWITOHMENt. 35B \n\nmuse then had eoatraordinary discharges of stones, the \nold woman was condemned and executed \u2014 ^hung np as \na public show at Worcester in the bonny summer \nmonths of 1652. As soon as she was hanged Mary had \ninstant and complete relief; and hid no more pebbles \nin her pockets to delude good, credulous, prayerful Mr. \nBaxter into the profound belief that she was be- \nwitched. \n\nTHE BURNING BEWITCHMENT.* \n\nBrighiling of Sussex, too, where now we have our \nsea-side London, was under a cloud, with the devil iji \nactual human form possessing the place and haunting \ngood folk out of their proper wits ; for Joseph Crutten- \nden's house was bewitched, and they were sore holden \nhow to restore the spirit of grace withia it, and exorcise \nthe spirit of evil. Joseph Cruttenden had a young \nservant girl, to whom one day came an old woman, \nunknown, saying to her that sad calamities were coming \non her master's femily by-and-bye, but that she was not \nto speak of them to any one ; for he and his dame \nshould be haunted, and their house fired and bewitched. \nShe was to be particularly careful not to give warn- \ning of this to any, for if she did, the devil would tear her \nin pieces. The girl kept her own counsel; of course \nshe did ; there woidd have been no sport else : and that \nvery night the troubles began. As Joseph and his wife \nlay in bed, dirt and dust and rubbish of all kinds were \nthrown at them, so that there was no way of escaping \nthe handfuls of filth flung fast and furiously, and aU the \ndoors and windows shook as with a storm, though the \nair was still outside. On another night the house was \n\u2666 Baxter's \u2022 Certainty of the World of SpiritB.' \n\n2 A \n\n\n\n354 THE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nset on fire in many places at once, flashing out like \ngunpowder ; and as fast as one comer was extinguished \nanother began ; for they had no sooner trodden out the \nashes and gone to another part, than they flamed up \nafresh, and they had all their work to do over again. \nSome said that a thing like a black bull was seen \ntumbling about in the flames ; but Mr. Baxter halts at \nthis, and declines to endorse it. At another time the \nfurniture was all flung about, and a wooden \" tut \" came \nflying through the air, and a horseshoe struck the man \non the breast, and there was no peace night or day for \nthe black bull, the fire, and all the other things beset- \nting. And then the man confessed that he had been a \nthief long time agone, whereby Satan had this extra- \nordinary power over him ; and the girl, despising the \nthreat of the devil's tearing her to pieces, confessed to \nher mistress what the old woman had said. So the \ncountry was searched for an old woman answering the \nmaid's description, and a poor old wretch was pitched \nupon as being most like. She was sent for and ex- \namined \u2014 watched for twenty-four hours; but nothing \nseems to have come of it this time. The girl \" thought\" \nshe was \" like \" the same woman as had spoken to her, \nyet declined to swear positively. But the old woman \nhad a bad name. She had been suspected as a witch \nbefore, ^* and been had to Maidstone to clear herself,\" \nwhich it peems she had done, for she got off, and had \nbeen living near Brightling ever since. She had a \nnarrow escape now, for the country people were much \nexcited against her, and naturally did not wish the pre- \nsence, of one who could haunt their houses with fire and \ndiii:^ and a big black bull tumbling about at his wilL \nHad the maid had one grain less of conscience, this \n-^leaa wretch would have closed her earthly career a \n\n\n\nTHE STRINGY MEAT. 355 \n\nfew years too soon ; as it was she got off, and \" lived \nmiserably about Burwast ever since.\" It was a small \nsign of grace in that young jade that she woidd not \nswear away the life of an innocent woman to conceal \nher own childish tricks. It was not often that the \naccusing witnesses showed even this scant mercy to \ntheir victims, for the excitement of the game seemed \nto be in the largest amount of cruelty that could be \nperpetrated within the rules.j \n\n\n\nTHE STRINGY MEAT.* \n\n\" Kent, the first Christian, last conquered, and one of \nthe most flourishing and fruitful Provinces of England, \nis the Scene, and the beautiful Town of Maidstone, the \nStage, whereon this Tragicall Story was publicly acted \nat Maidstone Assizes, last past.\" \n\nIn this Christian province and most beautiful country, \nAnne Ashby, Anne Martyn, Mary Browne, Mildred \nWright, and Ajme Wilson, aU of Cranbrooke, and \nMary Eeade, of Lenham, were brought before Sir Peter \nWarburton, charged with \"the Execrable and Diabolicall \ncrime of Witchcraft.\" Anne Ashby, *' who was the \nchiefe Actresse, and who had the greatest part in this \nTragedy,\" and Anne Martyn were \"confessing^' witches ; \nbut their confessions did not amount to much, compared \n\n* * A Prodigious and Tragicall History of the Arraignment, Tryall, \nConfession, and Condemnation of six Witches at Maidstone, in Kent, \nat the Assizes held there in July, Fryday 30, this present year 1652. \nBefore the Bight Honourable Peter Warburton, one of the Justices of \nthe Common Pleas. CoUected from the Obserrations of E. G. Gent, a \nlearned Person, present at their Conviction and Condemnation, and \ndigested by H. F. Gent.* London : Printed for Bichard Harper in \nSmithfield, 1652. \n\n\n\n366 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\nwith the more highly spiced accouutfi of other witches* \nThat they had both known the devil as a man, and in' \ndishonesty and sin\u00ab was of course one of the chief items \nof their confession, as it was of most witches ; but Anne \nAshby further informed the Bench that the devil had \ngiven them each a piece of flesh, which, whensoever \nthey should touch, would give them their desires ; and \nthat this piece of flesh was hid somewhere among the \ngrass. As was proved : for upon search it was found. \nOf a sinewy substance and scorched was this redoubtable \ntalisman, for it was both seen and felt by this Observator, \nE. G., and reserved for public view at the sign of the \nSwan in Maidstone. Anne Ashby had an imp too, \ncalled ^ Bug,\" which sometimes came out of her mouth \nlike a mouse, and was of so malicious and venificall a \nnature that a certain groom belonging to Colonel Hum- \nfrey's regiment* for sport, said, \"Come Bug into my \nmouth,\" and the said groom was dead in a fortnight after : \n\" as it is reported,\" adds E. G. with saving grace. Anne \nwas hysterical, poor soul : and ^' in view of this Observa- \ntion,, fell into an extasie before the Bench, and swell'd j \ninto a monstrous and vast bigness, screeching and crying i \nout dolefuUy.\" When she recovered they asked her if \n* she had been possessed by the devil at that time, to \nwhich she made answer \" that she did not know that, \nbut that her Spirit Bug had come out of her mouth \nlike a mouse.\" After they were \" cast \" and judgment i \nhad been pronounced against them she and Anne \nMartyn pleaded that they were with child : but, being \npressed on this point, they confessed that it was by no \nman of honest flesh and blood, but by the devil, their \ncustomary spouse. The plea was not suffered to stand. \nFor prooif against the rest, all that is recorded by E. G. \nis, that when pricked neither Mary Browne, nor Anne \n\n\n\nTHE LOST WIFE. 357 \n\nWflson, nor yet Mildred Wright felt pain, or lost blood ; \nand that Mary Bead had a visible teat under her tongue \nwhich she did show to this Obseryator as well as to \nmany others. But they were all hanged, at the common \nplace of execution; though some there were who wished \nthat they might be burnt instead, for burning had such \nvirtue, that it prevented the blood of a witch \" becom- \nming hereditary to her Progeny in the same evill, \nwhich by hanging is not\" The hangers, however^ \ncarried the day, and the blood of the progeny was left to \ntake its chance of hereditary eviL It was supposed that \nthese six witches, to whom were added five other per* \nsons, had bewitched nine children, one man, and one \nwoman, lost five hundred pounds' worth of cattle, and \nwrecked much com at sea. \n\n\n\nTHE LOST WIPE.* \n\nThat same month and year saw a strange matter of \nwitchcraft at Warwick. \" In Warwick Town one Mrs. \nKatherine Atkins, a Mercer's Wife, standing at her Door \non Saturday night, the 21 July 1652. A certain \nunknown Woman came to her and sayd, Mistris, pray \ngive me two-pence, she answered, two-pences are not so \nplentifull, and that she would give her no Mony. Pray \nAlistress, sayd she, then give me that Pin, so she took \nthe Pin off her sleeve and gave her, for which she was \nvery thankfull, and was going away. Mistress Atkins \nseeing her so thankfull for a Pin^ called her again, and \ntold her if she would stay, she woidd fetch some victuals \n\n* A true Belation of one Mrs. Atkins, a Mercer's Wife in Warwick, \nwho was strangely carried away from ber honse in Jnly last^ and hath \nnot since been heaird ot \n\n\n\n358 I'HE WITCHES OP ENGLAND. \n\nfor her, or give her some thread, or something out of \nthe shop. She answered, she would have nothmg else, \nand bid a pox of her victuals, and swore (by God) say- \ning. You shall be an hundred miles off within tfads \nweek, when you shall want two-pence as much as I, and \nso she went grumbling Away. \n\n\" Hereupon the sayd Mistress Atkins was much \ntroubled in mind, and did advise with some Friends what \nwere best to be done in such a case, but receiving no re- \nsolution from any one what to do, she attended the Event \nwhat might befall within such a time, and upon the 29 \nof July she exprest to a kinsman, Mr. Nicholas Bikar, \nthat she was much troubled about the forsayd businesse, \nbut hoped the time was so much expired, that it would \ncome to nothing. \n\n\" But the sayd Thursday night, betwixt the hours of \n8 and 9, She, going into the Shop, and returning thence \nin the Entry adjoyning to the sayd Shop, she was im- \nmediately gone, by what means and whither we do not \nknow, nor can we hear of upon enquiry made to this \npresent. \n\n\" The desire of her Husband and Friends is of all the \nInhabitants of this Nation, That if they hear of any \nsuch Party in such a lost condition as is before ex- \npressed. That there may be speedy Notice given thereof \nto her Husband in Warwick, and that aU convenient \nProvisions, both of Horse and Mony may be made for \nthe conveying of her to the place aforesayd, and such \nas shall take pains, or be at expences herein shall be \nsufficiently recompenced for the same, with many \nthanks. \n\n\" It's likewise desired that Ministers in London, and \nelsewhere, when the notice of these presents shall come, \nwould be pleased to present her sad condition to Grod in \n\n\n\nDR. LAMB AND HIS DARLINGf. 359^ \n\ntheir severall Congregations. The truth hereof we \ntestifie, whose names are subscribed. \n\nIEichard Vennour \nHen. Butler, Ministers of Warwick. \nJoseph Fisher, Minister. \n\n\n\nDR. LAMB AND HIS DARLING.* \n\nDr. Lamb, Buckingham's domestic physician in times \npast, and his maid Anne Bodenham, both met with a \ntragical fate, though not in the same year, for Dr. Lamb \nwas brutally murdered for a conjuror and wizard by a \nmob in 1640, while Anne Bodenham was not executed \nuntil 1653. That Lamb was a terrible necromancer is \ntestified by Eichard Baxter, in his * World of Spirits,' a \nbook \" written for the conviction of Sadducees and \nInfidels,\" but which now would convince none but the \nweak or half crazed of anything beyond Eichard \nBaxter's own exceeding credulity and want of critical \nfaculty. His story of Dr. Lamb's necromancy is so \ncurious, it had better be given verbatim, for to translate \nwould be to ruin it. \n\n\" Dr. Lamb, who was killed by the Mob for a Conjuror \nabout 1640, met one Morning Sir Miles Sands and Mr. \nBarbor in the Street, and invited them to go and drink \ntheir Mornings Draught at his House : Discoursing about \nhis Art, he told them that if they would hold their \nTongues, and their Hands from medling with any thing, \nhe would shew them some Sport. So falling to his \nPractice in the middle of the Eoom springs up a Tree ; \nsone after appeared three little Fellows, with Axes on \n\n* Dr. George Here's 'Antidote to Atheifim/ Dr. Lamb's ' Darling.' \nBy James Bower. 1653* \n\n\n\n360 THE WITCHES OF ENGLAND. \n\ntheir Shotdders, and Baskets in their Hands, who \npresently fell to work, cut down the Tree, and carried \nall away. But Mr. Barbor observing one Chip to fall \non his Velvet Coat, he slips it into his Pocket, That \nNight when he and his Family were in Bed, and asleep, \nall the Doors and Windows in the House opened and \nclattered, so as to awaken and affi-ight them all. His \nWife said, Hiubani, y