Mildred, the "base daughter" of Alice Norrington, being seventeen years of
age, was likewise possessed of the Devil, in much the same way as
Alexander Nyndge had been. She lived as servant with William Spooner of
Westwell, in the county of Kent, and her case attracted great attention.
All the divines of the neighbourhood assembled at Spooner's house on the
13th of October, 1574, to endeavour to cast out the Devil by such means of
prayer and exorcism as they had at their command. Powerfully did they
pray; mightily roared the Devil; "And tho' we did command him many times,
in the Name of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, and in his mighty Power
to speak, yet he would not, until he had gone through all his Delays, as
roaring, crying, striving, and gnashing of teeth, and otherwise, with
mowing and other terrible Countenances, and was so strong in the Maid that
four men could scarce hold her down." This continued for about two hours,
and then he spoke out, but very strangely, crying, "He comes, he comes,"
and "He goes, he goes." When charged to tell the exorcists who had sent
him, he said, "I lay in her way like a Log, and I made her run like Fire;
but I could not hurt her." "And why so?" said we. "Because God kept her,"
said he. When asked when he came to her, he said, "At night, in her bed."
And when charged to tell them his name, he said, "The Devil, the Devil."
But being still more powerfully exhorted, he roared and cried as before,
and spake terrible words: "I will kill her; I will kill her; I will tear
her in pieces; I will kill you all!" Asked again, and conjured so that he
could not escape, he was forced to confess that his name was Satan, and
Little Devil, and Partner, and that old Alice had sent him--old Alice in
Westwell Street, with whom he had lived these twenty years shut up in two
bottles. "Where be they?" said we. "In the back side of her house," said
he. "In what place?" said we. "Under the wall," said he. The other was at
Kennington, in the ground. Then we asked him what old Alice had given him.
He said, "Her will, her will." "What did she bid thee do?" said we. "Kill
her maid," he said, because she did not love her. He then said that he had
been to the vicarage loft in the likeness of two birds, and that old Alice
had sent him and his servant (another devil) to kill those whom she loved
not. "How many hast thou killed for her?" said we. "Three," said he. "Who
are they?" said we. "A man and his child," said he. "What were their
names?" said we. "The child's name was Edward," said he. "What more than
Edward?" said we. "Edward Ager," said he. "What more?" said we. "Richard
Ager," said he. "Where dwelt the man and the child?" said we. "At Dig, at
Dig," said he. This Richard Ager was a gentleman of forty pounds' land by
the year; a very honest man, but would often say he was bewitched, and
languished long ere he died. The Devil--or Mildred for him--said that he
had also killed Wotton's wife, and that he used to fetch old Alice meat
and drink and corn, and that he had been at many houses (named) doing her
wicked will. Then he was adjured so that he could not resist, when he
cried out that he would go, he would go, and so he departed. Then said the
maid, "He is gone. Lord have mercy on me! for he would have killed me!" So
those ministers and neighbours present all kneeled down and thanked God
for Mildred's deliverance; and she kept her countenance, and did not
betray herself. But a short time after, the "bruit of her divinity and
miraculous trances" spreading far and wide, Mr. Thomas Wotton, "a man of
great Worship and Wisdom, and for deciding and ordering of Matters, of
rare and singular Dexterity," got to the true understanding of the case,
when "the Fraud was found, and the cozenage confessed, and she received
condign Punishment." After her trial, and when she knew the worst, she
"showed her Feats, Illusions, and Trances, with the Residue of all her
miraculous Works in the Presence of divers Gentlemen of great Worship and
Credit at Boston-Malherb, in the House of the said Mr. Wotton." "Now
compare this wench with the witch of Endor, and you shall see that both
the cozenages may be done by one art," says Reginald Scot.