Neither Police nor Medical Men much required in Olden
Times--Instruments of Torture--Torture declared
Illegal--Case of John Felton--Berkly Witch--Attempt on
the Life of Edward II.--Master John of
Nottingham--Escape of Coventry Necromancers from
Justice--Ursley Kempe _alias_ Gray--Annis Herd's
Imps--Paying Blackmail to Witches--The Rutland Family
bewitched--Witchcraft of a Mother and her two
Daughters--A Pendle Witch--Strange Narrative--Essex
Witches--Witches of Northamptonshire--Bullet-proof
Witch--Drawing Blood above the Temples--Anne Bodenham
foretelling how a Law-plea would be decided--Strange
Proceedings--Discovering Concealed Poison--Performing
Spirits--Ride to London through the Air--Anne Bodenham
dying Impenitent.
Our forefathers did not so much require a detective police force nor
medical men as we do. If thefts were committed, or persons became
sick, cunning men or uncanny women were sent for. As rule, the
offences or diseases were traced to witches or other missionaries of
Satan. A suspected person received neither justice nor mercy at the
hands of judges and juries. Instruments of torture were applied to
wring out false self-accusations against the unhappy individual under
trial. Thumbkins, or thumb-screws, were tightened on the hands; boots
with wedges were put on the feet; and the flesh was torn with red-hot
pincers. These and other instruments were used to make persons speak;
and again, when one spoke too much, or said what became unpleasant, a
gag secured silence. In addition to the torture inflicted by such
articles as we have enumerated, suspected criminals were not
unfrequently put in the stocks and jugs, whipped at a "cart tail,"
made to stand bare-headed and bare-footed before the public, or
exposed in sackcloth at a church door or the market cross, to be gazed
at, laughed at, and sometimes to be pelted by onlookers, rendered
cruel and superstitious by their rulers and spiritual advisers.
All things have an end. Examinations by torture were declared illegal
in this country in 1628, yet, notwithstanding such a declaration,
examinations under torment were resorted to in 1640. As an instance of
the danger of torturing a criminal, not to speak of its inhumanity, we
notice the case of John Felton, accused of assaulting the Duke of
Buckingham in the year last above mentioned. On the Bishop of London
proposing to put Felton on the rack with the view of obtaining from
him the names of his associates, the criminal replied, "If it must be
so, I know not whom I may accuse in the extremity of pain--Bishop
Laud, or perhaps any lord at this board." But we return to our proper
subject.
An appalling story of an English witch comes down to us from the ninth
century. The Berkly witch was rich and gay, living, to all appearance,
a life of pleasure; but, having sold herself to the devil, a sad day
of reckoning came at last. Before her death she called on the monks
and nuns of a monastery, to whom she confessed that she had entered
into a compact with Satan, who would, after her death, snatch away
body and soul, unless prevented by means she explained. According to
directions, her body was sewed into a stag's skin, and placed in a
stone coffin, strongly secured with an iron chain. If the holy men and
women, she said, could prevent the devil for three days from getting
her, he could not after that time injure either her body or spirit.
Faithfully did the monks and nuns watch over the witch's dead body,
protected as far as iron, stone, and lead could do. On the first two
nights minor demons kept up a loud howling. On the third night the
monastery swarmed with more powerful demons, one of whom proved so
strong and terrible that he shook the sacred edifice to its
foundation. In spite of all the precautions taken, the big fiend burst
into the church, went straight to the witch's coffin, and commanded
her to follow him. With faltering tongue the dead woman said she could
not stir, as she was chained down. A slight twist of his hand broke
the chain into two pieces. Slowly the corpse rose; and the devil
dragged his prey to the door, where stood a horse breathing fire. Away
went horse, devil, and witch down to the infernal abode.
King Edward II. of England and two of his favourites had an attempt
made on their lives by persons who sought the assistance of Master
John of Nottingham, a famous necromancer. John agreed, for a money
consideration, to assist them. He made wax images, representing his
Majesty and the other gentlemen intended for death. The necromancer,
his assistant, and twenty-seven Coventry men were tried for the foul
offence, but escaped punishment, the evidence against them proving
insufficient to warrant a conviction.
Ursley Kempe _alias_ Gray, an English witch, killed many of her near
neighbours. If her own statement could be relied on, she possessed
four imps. Two of them had power to kill, but the other two could do
no more than punish men and beasts with lameness. Other witches in the
neighbourhood where Ursley lived controlled imps that wrought mischief
on all sides, until they became a terror to the country.
Annis Herd had six little spirits like blackbirds, and six resembling
cows, though not larger than rats.
About the beginning of the seventeenth century a grievous affliction
befell the Earl and Countess of Rutland's family. Their eldest son
died; their second son was seized with severe sickness; and their
daughter, Lady Catherine, suffered from a severe malady. Witchcraft
lay at the root of the whole matter. Johan Flower, a widow, and her
two daughters, Philip and Margaret, were the suspected witches. They
were brought before a magistrate. Philip stated that the evils
referred to had been brought on the Earl's family by her mother and
sister, because the latter, a servant at the castle, had been
dismissed. Margaret, by desire of her mother, stole the eldest son's
right-hand glove and carried it home. The mother, who had an imp or
evil spirit like a cat, rubbed the glove on the cat's back, ordering
it to go and kill Lord Henry (the eldest son); and it set off to
perform the devilish work assigned it. That the deed might be the more
quickly performed, Johan put the glove into boiling water, pricked it
with pins, and buried it. Lord Henry died.
A glove of Lord Francis (the second son) was operated on in a similar
manner; but, his life not being desired, he sickened only. Lady
Catherine's malady was caused by a process similar to that which
killed one of her brothers and brought her other brother nigh death's
door. Philip admitted she had an imp like a white rat, which made
Thomas Simpson love her. Margaret had two spirits, to whom she had
sold herself, soul and body. Johan's spirits told her she would
neither be burned nor hanged--a prediction verified; for she died
from some unknown cause on the way to prison. The two daughters
suffered the extreme penalty of the law.
Edmund Robinson, a boy about eleven years of age, living at Pendle in
1632, told his friends remarkable stories about witches. One day two
greyhounds with golden collars came to him, and, because they would
not chase a hare that happened to pass, he tied the dogs to a bush,
and began to beat them. While the work of castigation proceeded, one
of the hounds became like the wife of a man named Dickenson, living in
the neighbourhood, and the other hound turned into the shape of a
little boy. The woman beseeched Robinson not to tell she was a witch.
Little Edmund imprudently said he would not keep the secret, whereupon
she transformed the boy that had appeared as a greyhound into a white
horse. Dickenson's wife took Edmund, and mounted the horse with him.
Before they had ridden more than a quarter of a mile they came to a
new house, where threescore persons were assembled at a splendid
entertainment. Ample supplies came down by six visitors pulling as
many ropes. By this operation smoking-hot joints, lumps of butter, and
milk in abundance fell into basins placed under the ropes. Little
Edmund ran away, but before he reached his father's house a boy with
cloven feet attacked him most unmercifully, cutting his face and ears.
What the result would have been none can tell, had not two horsemen
come forward and rescued Edmund from the evil spirit. The case being
reported to Charles I., he instructed one of his bishops to make
special inquiry into the matter. The bishop did not credit the boy's
statement, so the king ordered the liberation of several women
identified by the boy as having been concerned in the witch
proceedings at the new house.
At one time a band of Essex witches, numbering not less than thirteen,
killed people, cattle, and horses, caused sickness, destroyed milk,
beer, and batches of bread by their wicked arts, and sent their imps
to burn dwelling houses, barns, and corn.
The witches of Northamptonshire were famous in their day and
generation. Agnes Brown and Johan Vaughan were grievously implicated.
They, out of revenge against Mrs. Belcher for insulting Johan, Agnes
Brown's daughter, griped and gnawed the lady's body, and put her mouth
awry. Mrs. Belcher's brother, Alexander, went to the witches' house to
draw their blood, and thereby counteract their enchantments. He
repeatedly struck at them, but some unseen power warded off the blows.
He returned home without performing the task he undertook, and without
doing his sister any good. Naturally enough, Agnes Brown and Johan
were offended at the attempted outrage; and they, by their witchcraft,
laid the young man on a bed of sickness. The witches were apprehended
and lodged in Northampton gaol. Hither did Mrs. Belcher and her
brother proceed, to draw blood of the witches. They succeeded in
performing the operation, which we presume was done by cutting them
above the mouth; for if the blood is not spilled "above the breath" in
a case of this kind, the sanguinary deed is of no avail. The afflicted
man and woman found relief for a short space of time. Scarcely,
however, had they left the prison than their pains returned with
double torment. That was not all. As they drove along in a coach, a
man and woman, riding on a black horse, suddenly appeared. The sight
was taken as an omen of mischief; and so it happened; for the horses
of Mrs. Belcher and her brother fell down dead on the road.
Once upon a time, when the Earl of Essex and his army were marching
through Newbury, they saw a woman crossing a river on a narrow plank,
and otherwise conducting herself, so as to make them conclude she was
a witch. The soldiers caught her, and, by desire of their captain,
two of them shot at her. With loud laughter and derision, she caught
the bullets in her hands and threw them back. One daring fellow went
close to the woman and discharged his carbine at her breast, but the
bullet rebounded without taking effect. Another soldier tried to cut
her down with his sword, but his arm lost its power. All efforts to
kill her proved abortive, until blood was drawn from above the witch's
temples, and then she fell by a pistol shot under her ear.
Anne Bodenham, an English witch, told fortunes, kept imps, and held
intercourse with the devil. She could raise storms, and kill and cure
at pleasure. There was a law-plea between Richard Goddard and Mr.
Mason, his son-in-law. Anne Styles went to inquire at Anne Bodenham
how the law-suit would be decided. Bodenham made a circle on the floor
with her staff, and then placed a book, a green glass, and a pan of
coals, within the circle. Suddenly a high wind rose, which made the
house shake; and five puny devils resembling ragged boys entered the
circle, followed by Bodenham's dog and cat. Boys, dog, and cat danced
round the pan of coals. After deep thought, the woman took up her book
and read part of it, then she threw white seeds to the spirits, which
they picked up. Dancing commenced again, and again the woman Bodenham
read her book. At last she went out at the back door, followed by her
sprites; and the wind, which kept blowing a furious blast all the
time, ceased. Alone the witch returned, and told the messenger how the
law-suit would terminate.
At another time Anne Styles went, by order of Mrs. Goddard, to learn
from Bodenham where a quantity of poison, concealed by the lady's two
step-daughters, could be found. The witch went through all the
ceremonies formerly performed, and the sprites acted their parts. One
of the boys, however, on this occasion turned into a snake, and
afterwards into a dog. Herbs that caused a noisome smell were burned,
the book was again consulted, and a glass produced, in which Styles
saw Mrs. Goddard's bed-chamber, and the poison concealed below a
pillow. To punish the young ladies for their diabolical intention,
Anne Bodenham sent Mrs. Goddard powdered leaves and the parings of her
finger nails, to operate injuriously on their stomachs and brains. The
witch offered to carry Anne Styles through the air to London--an offer
that was not accepted. Bodenham often changed herself into the form of
a black cat of enormous size. The witch had a tame toad that she
constantly kept in a small bag, suspended from her neck. She could say
the Creed backwards as well as forwards. She was condemned to death,
and died impenitent, refusing to listen to psalm-singing or prayers.
Glasgow, like other towns, did not lack witches and warlocks, nor did
it permit its burning faggots to be extinguished. The fury against
such members of society may be judged of when it is known that
repentance stools, pillars, and jugs were made, and whips prepared for
ordinary church offenders--when it is known that scolding women were
stuck up in jugs and branks in the most public places of Glasgow--when
it is known that holy men and women were burned alive there for
adhering to the principles of the Reformation--when it is known that
men and women were imprisoned and whipped every day during the
kirk-session's pleasure, for offences now considered venial--when it
is known that, for a breach of the seventh commandment, some were
carted through the streets, whipped, and thereafter banished from the
town; that others, for a violation of the said commandment, were fined
and ordained to stand at the cross with "fast bands of iron about
their craigs, and papers on their foreheads, bareheaded, and without
cloaks or plaids;" and that others again, for similar offences, were
carted through the town, and lowered by means of a pulley from the
Glasgow Bridge and ducked in the Clyde.
In 1649 the session requested all who knew any acts of witchcraft or
sorcery against witches and warlocks in Glasgow to intimate the same
to the ministers and magistrates, that the offenders might be
proceeded against with rigour. As a proof that "the work goes bonnily
on" (as Mr. David Dickson, professor of divinity, said on seeing Sir
Walter Rollock, Sir Philip Nisbet, and Ogilvie of Inverquharty led to
execution in 1645), we mention that, so frequent were the prosecutions
against witches and warlocks in Glasgow, that the magistrates, in
1698, considered it expedient to bargain with the jailor for the keep
of witches and warlocks imprisoned in the tolbooth by order of the
Lords Commissioners of Justiciary.
Paisley would appear to have been a western centre for witches. In
fact, if tradition and written history can be relied on, Renfrew, with
Paisley for its capital, suffered more from witchcraft than almost any
other county in Scotland. Mr. D. Semple informs us that, so recently
as 1697, six poor creatures were convicted of this crime before the
regality of Paisley, and were "worrit" and burned to death on the
Gallows Green. So audacious were those in league with Satan, that they
assailed men in high position as well as those in low degree. John
P---- and others were indicted in 1692 for slandering, calumniating,
reproaching, and taking away the good name of John Adams, late bailie
of Paisley, and others; and for drinking the devil's health. Being
found guilty, they were ordered "to go to the stair-foot of Bailie
Adams, and confess they scandalised; and if not, to be taken to the
mercatt cross of Paisley, with a paper on their breast, bearing these
words in great letters: 'We stand here for scandalising,' etc. They
all obeyed but Janet Fife, on whom the sentence was executed." Mr.
Hector, sheriff-clerk of Renfrewshire, from whose work on the peculiar
trials of his county we are quoting, remarks, "If this wholesome
treatment was more carried out, we would have fewer long tongues."