The powers of witches were extensive but at the same time curiously
restricted. When Agnes Simpson was tried in Scotland in 1590 she
confessed that to compass the death of James VI she had hung up a black
toad for nine days and caught the juice which dropped from it. If she
could have obtained a piece of linen which the king had worn she could
have killed him by applying to it some of this venom, which would have
caused him such pain as if he had lain on sharp thorns or needles.
Another means they had of inflicting torture was to make an effigy in
wax or clay of their victim and then to stick pins into it or beat it.
This would cause the person represented the pain which it was desired
to inflict.