urine of such as are bewitched, or floating of bodies above the water, or the like, are any trial of a Witch."

Gaule, in his "Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcraft," also, p. 75, mentions "Some marks or tokens of tryall altogether unwarrantable; as proceeding from ignorance, humour, superstition. Such are, 1. The old paganish sign, the Witches long eyes. 2. The tradition of the Witches not weeping. 3. The Witches making ill-favoured faces and mumbling. 4. To burn the thing bewitched, &c. (I am loth to speak out, lest I might teach these in reproving them). 5. The burning of the thatch of the Witches' house, &c. 6. The beating of the horse-shoe, &c. 7. The scalding water, &c. 8. The sticking of knives acrosse, &c. 9. The putting of such and such things under the threshold, and in the bed-straw, &c. 10. The sieve and the sheares, &c. 11. The casting the Witch into the water with thumbes and toes tied across, &c. 12. The tying of knots, &c."

(22) Shakspeare, in "Troilus and Cressida," act ii. sc. 1, says:

"Thou stool for a Witch."

And Dr. Grey's Notes (vol. ii. p. 236)_afford us this comment on the "In one passage: way of trying a Witch, they used to place her upon a chair or a stool, with her legs tied cross, that all the weight of her body might rest upon her seat; and by that means, after some time, the circulation of the blood would be much stopped, and her sitting would be as painful as the wooden horse; and she must continue in this pain twenty-four hours, (h) without either sleep or meat; and it was no wonder that, when they were tired out with such an ungodly trial, they would confess themselves many times guilty to free themselves from such torture." See Dr. Hutchinson's “Historical Essay on Witchcraft," p. 63.

(23) In "A Pleasant Grove of New Fancies," by H. B., 8vo. Lond. 1657, p. 76, we have

"A Charm to bring in the Witch. To house the hag you must do this, Commix with meal a little ****

(b) This was done to get a sight of the imp, who within that space was sure to come and suck her.

Of him bewitch'd'; then forthwith make
A little wafer, or a cake;

And this rarely bak'd will bring
The old hag in: no surer thing."

It occurs also among the following experimental rules whereby to afflict Witches, causing the evil to return back upon them, given by Blagrave in his "Astrological Practice of Physic," 8vo. Lond. 1689: "1. One way is by watching the suspected party when they go into their house; and then presently to take some of her thatch from over the door, or a tile, if the house be tyled: if it be thatch, you must wet and sprinkle it over with the patient's water, and likewise with white salt; then let it burn or smoke through a trivet or the frame of a skillet: you must bury the ashes that way which the suspected Witch liveth. 'Tis best done either at the change, full, or quarters of the moon; or otherwise, when the Witches significator is in square or opposition to the moon. But if the Witches house be tiled, then take a tile from over the door, heat him red hot, put salt into the patient's water, and dash it upon the red-hot tile, until it be consumed, and let it smoak through a trivet or frame of a skillet as aforesaid. 2. Another way is to get two new horse-shoes, heat one of them red-hot, and quench him in the patient's urine; then immediately nail him on the inside of the threshold of the door with three nails, the heel being upwards; then, having the patient's urine, set it over the fire, and set a trivet over it; put into it three horsenails and a little white salt. Then heat the other horse-shoe red hot, and quench him several times in the urine, and so let it boil and waste until all be consumed: do this three times, and let it be near the change, full, or quarters of the moon; or let the moon be in square or opposition unto the Witches significator. 3. Another way is to stop the urine of the patient close up in a bottle, and put into it three nails, pins, or needles, with a little white salt, keeping the urine always warm. If you let it remain long in the bottle, it will endanger the Witches life; for I have found by experience that they will be grievously tormented, making their water with great difficulty, if any at all, and the more if the moon be in Scorpio, in square or opposition to his

significator, when its done. 4. Another way is either at the new, full, or quarters of the moon, but more especially when the moon is in square or opposition to the planet, which doth personate the Witch, to let the patient blood, and while the blood is warm put a little white salt into it, then let it burn and smoak through a trivet. I conceive this way doth more afflict the Witch than any of the other three before mentioned."

66

He adds, that sometimes the Witches will rather endure the misery of the above torments than appear, by reason country people ofttimes will fall upon them, and scratch and abuse them shrewdly."

I find the following in "Articles to be enquired of within the Archdeaconry of Yorke, by the Church Wardens and Sworne Men, A.D. 163-" (any year till 1640), 4to. Lond. b. l." Whether there be any man or woman in your parish that useth Witchcraft, Sorcery, churmes, or unlawfull prayer, or invocations in Latine or English, or otherwise, upon any Christian body or beast, or any that resorteth to the same for counsell or helpe."

(24) Matthew Hopkins, one of the most celebrated Witch-finders of his day, is supposed to have been alluded to by Butler, in the following lines of Hudibras, part II. canto iii. 1. 139:

"Has not this present parliament
A leger to the Devil sent,
Fully empower'd to treat about
Finding revolted Witches out;
And has not he, within a year,
Hang'd threescore of 'em in one shire?
Some only for not being drown'd,
And some for sitting above ground
Whole days and nights upon their breeches,
And feeling pain, were hang`d for Witches;

*

Who after prov'd himself a Witch,
And made a rod for his own breech."

The old, the ignorant, and the indigent (says Granger), such as could neither plead their own cause nor hire an advocate, were the miserable victims of this wretch's credulity, spleen, and avarice. He pretended to be a great critic in special marks, which were only moles, scorbutic spots, or warts, which fre

quently grow large and pendulous in old age, but were absurdly supposed to be teats to suckle imps. His ultimate method of proof was by tying together the thumbs and toes of the suspected person, about whose waist was fastened a cord, the ends of which were held on the banks of a river, by two men, in whose power it was to strain or slacken it.

The experiment of swimming was at length tried upon Hopkins himself, in his own way, and he was, upon the event, condemned, and, as it seems, executed, as a Wizard. Hopkins had hanged, in one year, no less than sixty reputed Witches in his own county of Essex. See Granger's "Biographical History," 8vo. Lond. 1775, vol. ii. p. 409. Compare also Dr. Grey's Notes on "Hudibras," vol. ii. pp. 11, 12, 13.

On

In Gardiner's "England's Grievance in Relation to the Coal Trade," p. 107, we have an account that in 1649 and 1650 the magistrates of Newcastle-upon-Tyne sent into Scotland to agree with a Scotchman, who pretended knowledge to find out Witches by pricking them with pins. They agreed to give him twenty shillings a-piece for all he could condemn, and bear his travelling expenses. his arrival the bellman was sent through the town to invite all persons that would bring in any complaint against any woman for a Witch, that she might be sent for and tried by the persons appointed. Thirty women were, on this, brought into the town-hall and stripped, and then openly had pins thrust into their bodies, about twenty-seven of whom he found guilty. His mode was, in the sight of all the people to lay the body of the person suspected naked to the waist, and then he ran a pin into her thigh, and then suddenly let her coats fall, demanding whether she had nothing of his in her body but did not bleed: the woman, through fright and shame, being amazed, replied little; then he put his hand up her coats and pulled out the pin, setting her aside as a guilty person and child of the Devil. By this sort of evidence, one Wizard and fourteen Witches were tried and convicted at the assizes, and afterwards executed. Their names are recorded in the parish register of St. Andrew's. See my "History of Newcastle-upon-Tyne."

Nash, in his " History of Worcestershire," vol. ii. p. 38, tells us that, " 14 May, 1660,

four persons accused of Witchcraft were brought from Kidderminster to Worcester Gaol, one Widow Robinson, and her two daughters, and a man. The eldest daughter was accused of saying that, if they had not been taken, the king should never have come to England; and, though he now doth come, yet he shall not live long, but shall die as ill a death as they; and that they would have made corn like pepper. Many great charges against them, and little proved, they were put to the ducking in the river: they would not sink, but swam aloft. The man had five teats, the woman three, and the eldest daughter one. When they went to search the women none were visible; one advised to lay them on their backs and keep open their mouths, and then they would appear; and so they presently appeared in sight."

The Doctor adds that "it is not many years since a poor woman, who happened to be very ugly, was almost drowned in the neighbourhood of Worcester, upon a supposition of Witchcraft; and had not Mr. Lygon, a gentleman of singular humanity and in fluence, interfered in her behalf, she would certainly have been drowned, upon a presumption that a Witch could not sink."

It appears from a "Relation" printed by Matthews, in Long Acre, London, that in the year 1716 Mrs. Hicks, and her daughter aged nine years, were hanged in Huntingdon for Witchcraft, for selling their souls to the Devil, tormenting and destroying their neighbours, by making them vomit pins, raising a storm, so that a ship was almost lost, by pulling off her stockings, and making a lather of soap.

(25) By the 33 Hen. VIII. c. viii. the law adjudged all Witchcraft and Sorcery to be felony without benefit of clergy.

(26) By statute 1 Jac. I. c. xii. it was ordered that all persons invoking any evil spirit, or consulting, covenanting with, entertaining, employing, feeding, or rewarding any evil spirit; or taking up dead bodies from their graves to be used in any Witchcraft, Sorcery, charm, or enchantment, or killing or otherwise hurting any person by such infernal arts, should be guilty of felony without benefit of clergy, and suffer death. (1) And if any

(i) March 11th, 1618. Margaret and Philip

VOL. III.

person should attempt by Sorcery to discover hidden treasure, or to restore stolen goods, or to provoke unlawful love, or to hurt any man or beast, though the same were not effected, he or she should suffer imprisonment and pillory for the first offence, and death for the second.

Flower, daughters of Joane Flower, were executed at Lincoln for the supposed crime of bewitching Henry Lord Rosse, eldest son of Francis Manners Earl of Rutland, and causing his death; also, for most barbarously torturing by a strange sickness Francis, second son of the said Earl, and Lady Katherine, his daughter; and also, for preventing, by their diabolical arts, the said Earl and his Countess from having any more children. They were tried at the Lent Assizes before Sir Henry Hobart, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and Sir Edward Bromley, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, and cast by the evidence of their own confessions. To effect the death of Lord Henry "there was a glove of the said Lord Henry buried in the ground, and, as that glove did rot and waste, so did the liver of the said Lord rot and waste." The spirit employed on the occasion, called Rutterkin, appears not to have had the same power over the lives of Lord Francis and Lady Katherine. Margaret Flower confessed that she had "two familiar spirits sucking on her, the one white, the other black-spotted. The white sucked under her left breast, the black-spotted" &c. When she first entertained them, she promised them her soul, and they covenanted to do all things which she commanded them.

From a very curious printed tract of that

time, entitled "A wonderful Discovery of Witchcraft," 23 pages, 8vo., in the library of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., K.B., P.R.S.

In "The Diary of Robert Birrel," preserved in "Fragments of Scottish History," 4to. Edinb. 1708, are inserted some curious memorials of persons suffering death for Witchcraft in Scotland.

"1591, 25 of Junii, Euphane M'Kalzen ves brunt for Vitchcrafte."

"1529. The last of Februarii, Richard Grahame wes brunt at ye Crosse of Edinburghe, for Vitchcrafte and Sorcery."

"1593. The 19 of May, Katherine Muirhead brunt for Vitchcrafte, quha confest sundrie poynts yr. of."

"1603. The 21 of Julii, James Reid brunt for consulting and useing with Sathan and Witches, and quha wes notably knawin to be ane counsellor with Witches."

"1605. July 24th day, Henrie Lowrie brunt on the Castell Hill, for Witchcrafte done and committed be him in Kyle, in the parochin."

The following is from the "Gent. Mag." for 1775, vol. xlv. p. 601: "Nov. 15. Nine old women were burnt at Kalisk in Poland, charged with having bewitched and rendered unfruitful the lands belonging to a gentleman in that palatinate."

C

(27) See Blackstone's "Commentaries," vol. iv. p. 61: by Statute 9 Geo. II. c. v. it was enacted that no prosecution should in future be carried on against any person for conjuration, Witchcraft, Sorcery, or enchantment. Howevever, the misdemeanor of persons pretending to use Witchcraft, tell fortunes, or discover stolen goods by skill in the occult sciences, is still deservedly punished with a year's imprisonment, and till recently by standing four times in the pillory.

Thus the Witch Act, a disgrace to the Code of English Laws, was not repealed till 1736. In the "Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. v. 8vo. Edinb. 1793, p. 240, parish of Old Kilpatrick, in the county of Dumbarton, we read: "The history of the Bargarran Witches, in the neighbouring parish of Erskine, is well known to the curious. That this parish in the dark ages partook of the same frenzy, and that innocent persons were sacrificed at the shrine of cruelty, bigotry, and superstition, cannot be concealed. As late as the end of the last century a woman was burnt for Witchcraft at Sandyford, near the village, and the bones of the unfortunate victim were lately found at the place."

Ibid. p. 454, parish of Spott, county of East Lothian, "Parochial Records." "1698: The Session, after a long examination of witnesses, refer the case of Marion Lillie, for imprecations and supposed Witchcraft, to the Presbytery, who refer her for trial to the civil magistrate. Said Marion generally called the Rigwoody Witch. Oct. 1705: Many Witches burnt on the top of Spott loan."

Ibid. vol. vii. p. 280, parish of East Monk land, county of Lanark : "Upon a rising ground there is still to be seen an upright granite stone, where, it is said, in former times they burnt those imaginary criminals called. Witches."

Ibid. vol. viii. p. 177, parish of Newburgh, county of Fife: "Tradition continues to preserve the memory of the spot in the lands belonging to the town of Newburgh, on which more than one unfortunate victim fell a sacrifice to the superstition of former times, intent on punishing the crime of Witchcraft. The humane provisions of the legislature, joined to the superior knowledge which has, of late

years, pervaded all ranks of men in society, bid fair to prevent the return of a frenzy which actuated our forefathers universally, and with fatal violence." The following is extracted from the Parish Records: "Newburgh, Sept. 18, 1653. The minister gave in against Kath'rine Key severall poynts that had come to his hearing, which he desyred might be put to tryell. 1. That, being refused milk, the kow gave nothing but red blood; and being sent for to sie the kow, she clapped (stroked) the kow, and said the kow will be weill, and thereafter the kow becam weill. 2. (A similar charge.) 3. That the minister and his wife, having ane purpose to take ane child of theirs from the said Kathrine, which she had in nursing, the child would suck none woman's breast, being only one quarter old; but, being brought again to the said Kathrine, presently sucked her breast. 4. That thereafter the chyld was spayned (weaned) she came to sie the child and wold have the bairne (child) in her arms, and thereafter the bairne murned and gratt (weeped sore) in the night, and almost the day tyme; also, that nothing could stay her untill she died. Nevertheless, before her coming to see her and her embracing of her, took as weill with the spaining and rested as weill as any bairne could doe. 5. That she is of ane evill brutte and fame, and so was her mother before her." The event is not recorded.

Ibid. vol. ix. p. 74, parish of Erskine, is a reference to Arnot's "Collection of Criminal Trials " for an account of the Bargarran Witches.

Ibid. vol. xii. p. 197, parish of Kirriemuir, county of Forfar: "A circular pond, commonly called the Witch-pool, was lately converted into a reservoir for the mills on the Gairie; a much better use than, if we may judge from the name, the superstition of our ancestors led them to apply it."

Ibid. vol. xiv. p. 372, parish of Mid-Calder, county of Edinburgh: Witches formerly burnt there. The method taken by persons employed to keep those who were suspected of Witchcraft awake, when guarded, was, "to pierce their flesh with pins, needles, awls, or other sharp-pointed instruments. To rescue them from that oppression which sleep imposed on their almost exhausted nature, they

sometimes used irons heated to a state of redness. The reference for this is also to Arnot's "Trials."

Ibid. vol. xviii. p. 57, parish of Kirkaldy, county of Fife, it is said: "A man and his wife were burnt here in 1633, for the supposed crime of Witchcraft. At that time the belief of Witchcraft prevailed, and trials and execu tions on account of it were frequent, in all the kingdoms of Europe. It was in 1634 that the famous Urban Grandier was, at the instigation of Cardinal Richelieu, whom he had satirized, tried, and condemned to the stake, for exercising the black art on some nuns of Loudun, who were supposed to be possessed. And it was much about the same time that the wife of the Marechal d'Ancre (see p. 9) was burnt for a Witch, at the Place de Greve, at Paris." In the Appendix, ibid. p. 653, are the particulars of the Kirkaldy Witches. The following items of execution expenses are equally shocking and curious:

Ibid. vol. xx. p. 194, parishes of Dyke and Moy, county of Elgin and Forres; it is said, "Where the (parish) boundary crosses the heath called the Hardmoor, there lies somewhere a solitary spot of classic ground, unheeded here, but much renowned in Drury for the Thane of Glammis's interview with the wayward or weird Sisters in Macbeth."

Ibid. p. 242, parish of Collace, county of Perth; Dunsinnan Castle: "In Macheth's time Witchcraft was very prevalent in Scotland, and two of the most famous Witches in the kingdom lived on each hand of Macbeth, one at Collace, the other not far from Dunsinnan House, at a place called the Cape. Macbeth applied to them for advice, and by their counsel built a lofty castle upon the top of an adjoining hill, since called Dunsinnan. The moor where the Witches met, which is in the parish of St. Martin's, is yet pointed out

by the country people, and there is a stone still preserved which is called the Witches' Stone."

For an "Account of the Witches of Pittanweam, in the county of Fife, about the beginning of the last Century," see the "Edinb. Magazine" for Oct. 1817, pp. 199–206.

Mr. Pennant, in his "Tour in Scotland," tells us, p. 145, that the last instance of the frantic executions for Witchcraft, of which so much has been already said, in the North of Scotland, was in June, 1727, (k) "as that in the South was at Paisley in 1696, where, among others, a woman, young and handsome, suffered, and with a reply to her inquiring friends worthy a Roman matron, being asked why she did not make a better defence on her trial, answered, 'My persecutors have destroyed my honor, and my life is not now worth the pains of defending.' The last instance of national credulity on this head was the story of the Witches of Thurso, who, tormenting for a long time an honest fellow under the usual form of cats, at last provoked him so, that one night he put them to flight with his broad sword, and cut off the leg of one less nimble than the rest on his taking it up, to his amazement he found it belonged to a female of his own species, and next morning discovered the owner, an old hag, with only the companion leg to this.

"But these relations of almost obsolete superstitions must never be thought a reflection

(k) In the "Statistical Account of Scotland," parish of Loth, co. Sutherland, vol. vi. p. 321, it is stated that the unhappy woman here alluded to was burnt at Dornoch, and that "the common people entertain strong prejudices against her relations to this day."

From the same work, however, vol. xv. 8vo. Edinb. 1795, p. 311, it should seem that the persecution of supposed Witches is not yet entirely laid aside in the Orkneys. The minister of South Ronaldsay and Burray, two of those islands, says: "The existence of fairies and Witches is seriously believed by some, who, in order to protect themselves from their attacks, draw imaginary circles, and place knives in the walls of houses. The worst consequence of this superstitious belief is, that, when a person loses a horse or cow, it sometimes happens that a poor woman in the neighbourhood is blamed, and knocked in some part of the head, above the breath, until the blood appears. But in these parishes there are many decent, honest, and sensible people who laugh at such absurdities, and treat them with deserved contempt.'