"More swift than lightning can I flye
About this aery welkin soone;
And, in a minute's space, descrye
Each thing that's done below the moone."
--BEN JONSON.
"When I consider whether there are such persons as _witches_, my
mind is divided: I believe, in general, that there is such a thing
as witchcraft, but can give no credit to any particular instance of
it."--ADDISON.
The term witchcraft, says the historian of Whalley, is now "transferred
to a gentler species of fascination, which my fair countrywomen still
continue to exert in full force, without any apprehension of the county
magistrates, or even of the king in council."
Far different was the application in days of old. The common parish
witch is thus described by a contemporary writer, as an old woman "with
a wrinkled face, a furred brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint
eye, a squeaking voice, or a scolding tongue; having a rugged coat on
her back, a skull-cap on her head, a spindle in her hand, and a dog or
cat by her side." Such was the witch of real life when this superstition
was so prevalent in our own neighbourhood, and even throughout England.
From the beginning of the reign of James the First to the concluding
part of the reign of James the Second, it may be considered as having
attained the zenith of its popularity. "Witchcraft and kingcraft both
came in with the Stuarts and went out with them." It was as if his
_infernal_ majesty had taken a lesson from his _sacred_ majesty, and
issued a book of sports for his loyal subjects. "The Revolution put to
rights the faith of the country as well as its constitution." "The laws
were more liberally interpreted and rationally administered. The trade
of witch-finding ceased to be reputable or profitable;" and that silly
compilation, the "Demonology" of James, which, with the severe laws
enacted against witchcraft by Henry the Eighth and Elizabeth, had
conjured up more witches and familiars than they could quell, was
consigned to the book-worm and the dust. It is said in the Arabian
tales, that Solomon sent out of his kingdom all the demons that he could
lay his hands on, packed them up in a brazen vessel, and cast them into
the sea. But James, "our English Solomon," "imported by his book all
that were flying about Europe, to plague the country, which was
sufficiently plagued already in such a sovereign." This sapient ruler,
who, it is said, "taught divinity like a king, and made laws like a
priest," in the first year of his reign made it felony to suckle imps,
&c. This statute, which was repealed March 24th, 1736, describes
offences declared felonious, thus:--
"One that shall use, practise, or exercise any invocation or conjuration
of any evil or wicked spirit, or consult, covenant with, entertain or
employ, feed or reward, any evil or wicked spirit, to or for any intent
or purpose; or take up any dead man, woman, or child, out of his, her,
or their grave, or any other place where the dead body resteth; or the
skin, bone, or other part of any dead person, to be employed or used in
any manner of witchcraft, sorcery, charm, or enchantment; or shall
practise or exercise any witchcraft, &c., whereby any person shall be
killed, destroyed, wasted, consumed, pined, or lamed in his or her body,
or any part thereof: such offenders, duly and lawfully convicted and
attainted, shall suffer death."
As might be expected, witchcraft so increased in consequence of these
denunciations, that, "in the course of fifty years following the passing
of this act, besides a great number of single indictments and
executions, fifteen were brought to trial at Lancaster in 1612, and
twelve condemned; in 1622, six were tried at York; 1634, seventeen
condemned at Lancaster; 1644, sixteen were executed at Yarmouth; 1645,
fifteen condemned at Chelmsford, and hanged; in the same and following
year, about forty at Bury in Suffolk; twenty more in the county, and
many in Huntingdon; and (according to the estimate of Ady) some
thousands were burned in Scotland."
Popular hatred rendered the existence of a reputed witch so miserable,
that persons bearing that stigma often courted death in despair,
confessing to crimes which they had never committed, for the purpose of
ridding themselves of persecution.
"One of the latest convictions was that of Amy Duny and Rose Cullender,
before Sir Matthew Hale at Bury, in 1664. They were executed, and died
maintaining their innocence." Their execution was a foul blot upon his
name, as it is scarcely to be doubted but that they were the victims of
imposture. It was clearly ascertained by experiments in the judge's
presence, that the children who pretended to be bewitched, when their
eyes were covered, played off their fits and contortions at the touch of
some other person, mistaking it for that of the accused, yet "he charged
the jury without summing up the evidence, dwelling only upon the
certainty of the fact that there were witches, for which he appealed to
the Scriptures, and, as he said, to 'the wisdom of all nations;' and the
jury having convicted, the next morning left them for execution."
But we proceed with a few explanatory notices respecting that portion of
the history of this superstition, which will be found interwoven with
the traditionary matter in our text.
A number of persons, inhabitants of Pendle Forest, were apprehended in
the year 1633, upon the evidence of Edmund Robinson, a boy about eleven
years old, who deposed before two of his Majesty's justices at Padiham,
that on All-Saints'-day he was getting "bulloes," when he saw two
greyhounds--a black one and a brown one--come running over the field
towards him. When they came nigh they fawned on him, and he supposed
they belonged to some of the neighbours. He expected presently that some
one would follow; but seeing no one, he took them by a string which they
had tied to their collars, and thought he would hunt with them.
Presently a hare sprang up near to him, and he cried "Loo, loo," but the
dogs would not run. Whereupon he grew angry, and tied them to a bush for
the purpose of chastising them, but instead of the black greyhound he
now beheld a woman, the wife of one Dickisson, a neighbour; the other
was transformed into a little boy. At this sight he was much afraid, and
would have fled; but the woman stayed him and offered him a piece of
silver like a shilling if he would hold his peace. But he refused the
bribe; whereupon she pulled out a bridle and threw it over the little
boy's head, who was her familiar, and immediately he became a white
horse. The witch then took the deponent before her, and away they
galloped to a place called Malkin Tower, by the Hoarstones at Pendle. He
there beheld many persons appear in like fashion; and a great feast was
prepared, which he saw, and was invited to partake, but he refused.
Spying an opportunity, he stole away, and ran towards home. But some of
the company pursued him until he came to a narrow place called "the
Boggard-hole," where he met two horsemen; seeing which, his tormentors
left off following him. He further said, that on a certain day he saw a
neighbour's wife, of the name of Loynd, sitting upon a cross piece of
wood within the chimney of his father's dwelling-house. He called to
her, saying, "Come down, thou Loynd wife," and immediately she went up
out of sight. Likewise upon the evening of All-Saints before-named, his
father sent him to seal up the kine, when, coming through a certain
field, he met a boy who began to quarrel with him, and they fought until
his face and ears were bloody. Looking down, he saw the boy had cloven
feet, and away he ran. It was now nearly dark; but he descried at a
distance a light like a lantern. Thinking this was carried by some of
his friends, he made all haste towards it, and saw a woman standing on a
bridge, whom he knew to be Loynd's wife; turning from her he again met
with the boy, who gave him a heavy blow on the back, after which he
escaped. On being asked the names of the women he saw at the feast, he
mentioned seventeen persons, all of whom were committed to Lancaster for
trial. They were found guilty, and sentenced to be executed. The judge,
however, respited them, and reported the case to the king in council.
The celebrated John Webster, author of _The Discovery of Pretended
Witchcraft_, afterwards took this young witch-finder in hand. He says:--
"This said boy was brought into the church at Kildwick (in Craven), a
large parish church, where I, being curate there, was preaching in the
afternoon, and was set upon a stall to look about him, which moved some
little disturbance in the congregation for a while. After prayers, I,
inquiring what the matter was, the people told me it was the boy that
discovered witches; upon which I went to the house where he was to stay
all night, where I found him, and two very unlikely persons that did
conduct him, and manage the business.
"I desired to have some discourse with the boy in private; but that they
utterly refused. Then, in the presence of a great many people, I took
the boy near me, and said, 'Good boy, tell me truly and in earnest,
didst thou see and hear such strange things of the meeting of witches as
is reported by many that thou didst relate?'--But the two men, not
giving the boy leave to answer, did pluck him from me, and said he had
been examined by two _able_ justices of the peace, _and they did never
ask him such a question_. To whom I replied, the persons accused had the
more wrong. As the laws of England, and the opinions of mankind then
stood, a mad dog in the midst of a congregation would not have been more
dangerous than this wicked and mischievous boy, who, looking around him,
could, according to his own caprice, put any one or more of the people
in peril of tortures or of death."
Four of the accused only were sent to London, and examined by the king
in person. In the end they were set at liberty, but not from the
sagacity of the examiners,--the boy Robinson having confessed that he
was suborned to give false evidence against them. One of these poor
creatures, strange to say, had confessed the crime with which she was
charged. In the Bodl. Lib. Dods. MSS. v.61, p.47, is the confession
itself, wherein she gives a circumstantial and minute account of the
transactions which took place between her and a familiar whom she calls
Mamilian, describing the meetings, feasts, and all the usual routine of
witchery and possession.--(See Whitaker's _Whalley_.)
* * * * *