we find in the narrative of the witches of Fuystone, in the forest of
Knaresborough, who played such pranks in the family of Edward Fairfax,
the translator of Tasso, about the same time. Indeed it was considered
as impious then to doubt their existence as it is now-a-days of their
master and instigator, for is there not a Scriptural precept--"Thou
shalt not suffer a witch to live?" and was there not a witch of Endor
who summoned the spirit of Samuel? Besides, had not many decrepit
half-witted old women, when subjected to torture, confessed that
they had entered into compact with the Devil, bargaining their souls
for length of years and the power of inflicting mischief on their
neighbours? It is quite certain that the evidences of Mother Benton
being one of the sisterhood of Satan were so palpable that had she not
been so useful in Wakefield in her vocation of a "wise woman" she would
have been subjected to the usual ordeal, by way of testing whether she
were a witch or not. This ordeal consisted of stripping the accused,
tying her thumbs to her great toes and throwing her into a pond: if
she floated, it was a proof that she, having rejected the baptismal
water of regeneration, the water rejected her, and she was hauled out
and burnt at the stake as an undoubted witch, but if she sank and were
drowned she was declared innocent; so that, were she guilty or innocent
of the foul crime, the result was pretty much the same, excepting in
the mode of terminating her existence.
At this time one Richard Jackson held a farm called Bunny Hall, under a
Mr. Stringer, of Sharlston, which lay near to Jennet Benton's cottage.
Over one of Jackson's fields was a pathway, really for the use of the
tenant of the farm, but which was used on sufferance by others, Jennet
and her son frequently having occasion to pass along it. Jackson,
however, in consequence of the damage done to his crops by passengers,
disputed the right of the public, and issued a public notice that after
a certain date it would be closed. The people of Wakefield, in reply to
the notice, asserted that it was an ancient footpath that had belonged
to the public time out of mind, and that they intended to continue the
use of it in spite of Jackson's prohibition. Jennet and her son were
the ringleaders of this opposition, and after the closure of the path,
passed over the railings placed across the entrance, and were going
along as they had been wont to do, when they were met by Daniel Craven,
one of Jackson's servants, who told them that they could not be allowed
to cross the field as it was private property. An angry altercation
ensued, in the course of which George Benton took up a piece of flint
and threw it with great force at Craven, "wherewith he cut his overlipp
and broake two teeth out of his chaps," and thus having overcome their
opponent they went onward and out at the other end. An action for
trespass was then laid against George Benton by Farmer Jackson, who
appears to have won his cause, as Benton "submitted to it, and indevors
were used to end the difference, which was composed and satisfaction
given unto the said Craven;" satisfaction of a pecuniary nature, no
doubt.
A few days after the judicial termination of the case, "Jackson _v._
Benton," the farmer was riding home from Wakefield market. He had to
pass Jennet's cottage on his road, and he thought to accost her in
a conciliatory style, as he did not wish to be at variance with his
neighbours, especially with one who had the reputation of being "a wise
woman," whose services he might require in cases of pilfering, sheep
stealing, and the like; in cases of sickness amongst his children,
or a murrain amongst his cattle; or in other cases beyond the ken of
ordinary mortals; hence he considered it politic to remain on good
terms with her, although he had felt it his duty to maintain the action
for trespass.
As he approached the cottage, the old woman was seated outside her
door, watching a cauldron suspended from cross sticks, in which was
simmering a decoction of herbs, to eventuate in a love philtre
probably for some love-sick maiden. By her side was seated her black
cat, who bridled up and spat viciously at the farmer as he came up.
"Ah, mother Benton," said he, reining up, "busy as usual, I see,
preparing something for the benefit of one of your clients."
"It is no business of yours what I am preparing," she replied. "I sent
not for you, nor do I want your conversation or interference in my
concerns. Go your way, or it may be the worse for you."
"Nay, good dame, be not angry, I came not to interfere with your
concerns; I merely stopped on my road home to say 'good even' to
you, and to see if I could be of any service to you, for I desire to
cultivate the good-will of my neighbours."
"And a pretty way you have of doing so by prosecuting them in law
courts for maintaining the rights of themselves and their ancestors for
generations past."
"That I was compelled to do, good Jennet, for the maintenance of my own
rights. It was a necessity forced upon me, but I bear no ill-will to
either you or your son. And see, as a proof thereof, I have brought
you a new kirtle from Wakefield," at the same time drawing from his
saddlebags a flaming scarlet garment of that kind, which he threw into
her lap.
"Farmer Jackson," said she, "come not here with your honied lips and
deceitful expressions of friendship. I want none of your gifts," and
taking up the kirtle, she rent it into a dozen pieces, and thrust them
into the fire under the cauldron.
"Listen to me one moment," commenced Jackson, but the old beldame,
rising up into a majestic attitude, interrupted him with, "I will
listen no more to your hypocritical palaver. You have done me a
grievous wrong in citing my son before your law courts, it is an
unpardonable offence, and soon shall you know what it is to incur
the wrath of Jennet Benton, the wise woman of Wakefield. Within a
twelvemonth and a day, Farmer Jackson, shall you find at what cost
you set the myrmidons of the law upon me and my belongings, and from
that time to your life's end shall you rue that day's work. It is I,
the wise woman of Wakefield, who say it, and see if I am not a true
soothsayer, and merit the appellation I bear. That is all I have
got to say," and she passed into her cottage, whilst the farmer rode
homeward, not without a foreboding of impending evil.
We have many narratives on record of houses that have been the scenes
of remarkable disturbances and strange apparitions, of furniture
moved from place to place without apparent agency, of domestic
utensils thrown about by no perceptible impelling power, and of noises
attributable to no human cause, problems that in many cases have never
been solved, but which have usually been ascribed to some mischievous
goblin, or to the ghost of some unhappy person who has come by death
unfairly and by foul means.
Farmer Jackson's house and homestead from this time, for the period
of a year and a day, became haunted in this fashion, but here there
could be no doubt as to the cause. It was the spell cast over it by
the machinations of the witch, Jennet Benton, and it was in fact not a
haunted but a bewitched house.
As Jackson rode home he thought of the curse laid upon him by the
witch, but being a strong-minded man he did not entertain the current
superstition as to the superhuman diabolic power said to be possessed
by such persons, and he felt little or no apprehension on that score;
yet he inclined so far to the popular belief as to fear that by some
means she might cast incantations over his cattle and crops, so as to
cause the former to sicken and die, and the latter to wither and come
to naught.
On reaching his home he stabled his horse, and going indoors he
accosted his wife with some cursory remark, but she made no reply, and
he thought to himself, "She is sullen to-night--in one of her tantrums;
what's the matter, I wonder." He then sat down to supper, with his
children about him, and a couple of maid-servants employed in some
domestic duty, when his wife inquired, "Why are you all so silent; are
you all dumb; have you got anything to tell me about the doings at
the market, husband, goodman?" "What on earth do you mean?" inquired
Jackson; "I spoke to you when I came in, and there has been noise
enough among the children since then to waken the Seven Sleepers."
Mrs. Jackson still stood staring, with a vacant countenance, and said,
after a pause, "Why don't you reply? It seems as if one were in the
charnel-house of the church, surrounded by the dead." It then occurred
to Jackson that his wife must have suddenly become stone deaf, and
by means of signs and such writing as the family had at command, he
ascertained that such was the fact; but he dreamt not that it was the
beginning of the witch's spell.
A night or two after, one of the children was stricken by an epileptic
fit, throwing itself about with great violence and twisting its body
with strange contortions, with convulsive writhings, and requiring to
be held down by three or four persons to prevent its doing itself an
injury.
One morning the swineherd of the farm came into the room where Jackson
was sitting at breakfast, and with a scared countenance told him that
a herd of swine that had been shut up in a barn the previous night
"had broake thorrow two barn dores," and had fled no one knew whither.
A search was immediately instituted, but it was not until after two
or three days that a portion of the herd was found at a considerable
distance from the farm, the remainder being lost altogether.
On another occasion Jackson himself, "although helthfull of body, was
suddenly taken without any probable reason to be given or naturall
cause appearing, being sometimes in such extremity that he conceived
himselfe drawne in pieces at the hart, backe, and shoulders." During
the first fit he heard the sound of music and dancing, as if in the
room where he lay. He partially recovered the following day, but at
twelve o'clock the next night he had another fit, and during its
continuance he heard a loud ringing of bells, accompanied by sounds
of singing and dancing. He inquired of his wife, who appears by this
time to have recovered her sense of hearing, what the bell-ringing and
singing meant; but she replied that she heard nothing of it, as also
did his man. "He asked them againe and againe if they heard it not.
At last he and his wife and servant heard it (what?) give three hevie
groones. At that instant doggs did howle and yell at the windows as
though they would heve puld them in pieces."
Jackson now became fully convinced that he was enduring all these
trials and sufferings from the curse of the witch Jennet, and he
expressed this opinion to his friends who came to condole with him.
They, with neighbourly feeling, proposed to put the question to the
test by submitting the old woman to the usual ordeal of the horse
pond; but he would not hear of this, not even yet, with such probable
evidence, believing that Satan could be authorised to endow old women
with such mischievous powers. By the counsel of his friends, however,
he sanctioned the sending a deputation to Jennet to investigate the
matter. The deputation went to her cottage and told her their errand,
but she only laughed at them. "It is true," said she, "that I called
down the wrath of Heaven upon him and his belongings for his cruel
persecution of a helpless widow and her orphan son; and if God has
listened to my supplication, and sent calamity upon him, it is intended
as a warning to him that, for the future, he may be more merciful to
the poor and unprotected. If he chooses to blame any one, he must
attribute his punishment to a much higher power than a feeble mortal
such as I am."
During all this time Jackson's house was rendered almost uninhabitable
by noises and apparitions, so that the servants fled from it
panic-stricken, and others could not be found to take their places.
The commencement of the disturbances was some six months after the
utterance of the curse. The family were seated at supper when a
tremendous crash was heard in the next room, as if some heavy metal
vessel had been flung violently on the floor. Supposing it to be
something that had fallen from a shelf or a hook in the ceiling, they
went into the room, but found nothing to account for the noise. At
other times it would seem as if all the doors of the house were being
slammed to, or the windows shaken as by a storm of wind, although there
was not the slightest agitation in the atmosphere. Then would occur
shrieks as of persons in distress, groans as of sufferers in agonies of
pain, and bursts of demoniac laughter, with a flapping of huge bat-like
wings. "Apparitions like blacke dogges and catts were also scene,"
which darted out from under the furniture and usually passed out up the
chimney, it being immaterial whether or not a fire was blazing in the
grate. Along with all these disturbances in the house and unaccountable
illnesses of the various members of the household, the horses and
cattle of the farm were subjected to similar inflictions, much to the
detriment of Jackson's material prosperity. Week after week news came
in of the death of horses, cows, and sheep: and in his deposition at
York, Jackson said that "since the time the said Jennet and George
Benton threatened him he hath lost eighteen horses and meares, and he
conceives he hath had all this loss by the use of some witchcraft or
sorcerie by the said Jennet and George Benton."
For a twelvemonth and a day these disturbances, sufferings, and losses
continued, rendering Jackson almost bankrupt, and then they all at once
ceased.
Being fully convinced that these troubles had been caused by the
diabolical incantations of the witch Jennet, he brought a charge
against her and her son, at York, of practising witchcraft against
him, and they were tried at the assizes on the 7th June, 1656. The
depositions of the trial are printed in a volume published by the
Surtees Society in 1861, entitled "Depositions from the Castle of York
relating to offences committed in the northern counties during the
seventeenth century. Edited by J. Raine."
_ELEGANTLY BOUND IN CLOTH GILT, DEMY 8vo., 6s._
YORKSHIRE FAMILY ROMANCE.
By FREDERICK ROSS, F.R.H.S.
AUTHOR OF "THE RUINED ABBEYS OF ENGLAND," "CELEBRITIES OF YORKSHIRE
WOLDS," "BIOGRAPHIA EBORACENSIS," "THE PROGRESS OF CIVILISATION," ETC.
Amongst Yorkshire Authors Mr. FREDERICK ROSS occupies a leading place.
For over sixty years he has been a close student of the history of
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CONTENTS:
The Synod of Streoneshalh.
The Doomed Heir of Osmotherley.
St. Eadwine, the Royal Martyr.
The Viceroy Siward.
Phases in the Life of a Political Martyr.
The Murderer's Bride.
The Earldom of Wiltes.
Blackfaced Clifford.
The Shepherd Lord.
The Felons of Ilkley.
The Ingilby Boar's Head.
The Eland Tragedy.
The Plumpton Marriage.
The Topcliffe Insurrection.
Burning of Cottingham Castle.
The Alum Workers.
The Maiden of Marblehead.
Rise of the House of Phipps.
The Traitor Governor of Hull.
IMPORTANT NOTICE.--The Edition is limited to 500 copies, and the
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HULL: WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., THE HULL PRESS.
London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, & Co., Ltd.
_Elegantly bound in cloth gilt, demy 8vo., price 6s._
Old Church Lore.
By WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.,
_Author of "Curiosities of the Church," "Old-Time Punishments,"
"Historic Romance," etc._
CONTENTS.
The Right of Sanctuary--The Romance of Trial--A Fight between the
Mayor of Hull and the Archbishop of York--Chapels on Bridges--Charter
Horns--The Old English Sunday--The Easter Sepulchre--St. Paul's
Cross--Cheapside Cross--The Biddenden Maids Charity--Plagues and
Pestilences--A King Curing an Abbot of Indigestion--The Services
and Customs of Royal Oak Day--Marrying in a White Sheet--Marrying
under the Gallows--Kissing the Bride--Hot Ale at Weddings--Marrying
Children--The Passing Bell--Concerning Coffins--The Curfew
Bell--Curious Symbols of the Saints--Acrobats on Steeples--A
carefully-prepared Index.
ILLUSTRATED.
PRESS OPINIONS.
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HULL: WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., THE HULL PRESS.
London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, & Co., Ltd.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's
original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact.