The True Story vs. Myth of Witchcraft. William Godwin
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and his Wife were absent, that the said Examinant did pinch and prick the said Grace Thomas (with the aid and help of the black Man) in her Belly, Stomach and Breast; and that they continued so tormenting of her, about the Space of two or three hours, with an intent to have killed her.’
She also confessed to have tortured several others to death.
Mary Trembles said that about three years since Susannah Edwards persuaded her to become a witch, and that the Devil appeared to her in the shape of a lion.
‘Susannah Edwards being brought before us, and accused for practising of Witchcraft upon the Body of Grace Barnes, the wife of John Barnes of Biddiford, Yeoman, was demanded by us how long since she had Discourse or Familiarity with the Devil; saith, That about two years ago she did meet with a Gentleman in a Field called the Parsonage Close in the Town of Biddiford, and that his Apparel was all of black. Upon which she did hope to have a Piece of Money of him. Whereupon, the Gentleman drawing near unto this Examinant, she did make a Curchy, or Courtesie unto him, as she did use to do to Gentlemen.
‘Being demanded what and who the Gentleman she spake of, was, the said Examinant answered and said, that it was the Devil.
‘And confessed, that the Devil did ask of her whether she was a Poor woman? unto whom she answered that she was a Poor woman; and that, thereupon, the Devil, in the shape of the Gentleman, did say unto her, that if this Examinant would grant him one request, that she should neither want for Meat, Drink, nor Clothes: Whereupon this Examinant did say unto the said Gentleman, In the Name of God, what is it I shall have? Upon which the said Gentleman vanished clear away from her.
‘And further confesseth, That, afterwards, there was something in the shape of a little Boy, which she thinks to be the Devil, came into her house, and did lie with her, and that he did suck at her breast. And confesseth that she did afterwards meet him in a place call’d Stambridge-lane in this Parish of Biddiford, leading towards Abbotisham, (which is the next Parish on the west of Biddiford aforesaid), where he did suck blood out of her breast.
‘And further confesseth, That on Sunday, which was the 16th day of July instant, she, this Examinant, together with Mary Trembles, did go unto the house of John Barnes, and that nobody did see them: and that they were in the same room where Grace, the wife of the said John Barnes was, and that there they did prick and pinch the said Grace with their fingers, and put her to great pain and torment, insomuch that the said Grace Barnes was nearly dead.
‘And confesseth that this present day, she did prick and torment the said Grace again, (intimating with her Fingers how she did it). And also confesseth that the Devil did intice her to make an end of the said Grace; and that he told her he would come again to her once more before she should go out of Town. And confesseth that she can go into any place invisible, and yet her Body shall be lying in her Bed. And further confesseth that the Devil hath appeared unto her in the shape of a Lyon, as she supposed.
‘Being demanded whether she had done any bodily hurt unto any other person besides the said Grace Barnes, saith and Confesseth, that she did prick and torment one Dorcas Coleman, the wife of John Coleman of Biddiford Mariner. And saith that the said Mary Trembles was a Servant unto her, in like manner as she was a Servant unto the Devil.’
Chapter XX.
Elizabeth Horner—Pardons for Witchcraft—A Witch taken in London—Sarah Mordike—An Impostor convicted—Case of Jane Wenham—The Last Witch hanged in England.
Hutchinson gives an account of a very curious case of witchcraft in 1696:
‘Elizabeth Horner was tried before the Lord Chief Justice Holt at Exeter. Three Children of William Bovet were thought to have been bewitched by her, whereof one was dead. It was deposed that another had her Legs twisted, and yet from her Hands and Knees, she would spring five Foot high. The children vomited Pins, and were bitten (if the Depositions were true) and pricked, and pinched, the Marks appearing. The Children said Bess Horner’s Head would come off from her Body, and go into their Bellies. The Mother of the Children deposed, that one of them walked up a smooth plaistered Wall, till her Feet were nine Foot high, her Head standing off from it. This, she said, she did five or six times, and laughed and said, Bess Horner held her up. This poor Woman had something like a Nipple on her Shoulder, which the Children said was sucked by a Toad. Many other odd things were deposed, but the Jury brought her in Not Guilty and no Inconvenience hath followed from her Acquittal.’
She was lucky, not only inasmuch as the belief in witchcraft was on the wane, as also to have been tried by so enlightened a judge as Sir John Holt, of whom the story is told (of which, however, I can find no authentication) that a witch was once brought before him, and a charm, written on parchment, was adduced against her. This charm, which consisted of a line or two of Greek verse, Sir John recognised as having been written by himself in his student days at Oxford to cure a poor woman’s daughter of the ague.
But although the majority of so-called witches were executed after trial and sentence, all were not, for we find in the Calendars of State Papers several instances of pardons:
1597. 30 Ap. Pardon for Elizabeth Melton, late of Collingham, co. York, condemned for witchcraft.
1597. 3 May. Pardon to Alice Brerely of Castleton, co. Lanc., spinster, condemned for killing Jas. Kirshaw and Rob. Scolefield by witchcraft.
1604. 16 Ap. Grant to Christian, wife of Thomas Weech, co. Norfolk, of pardon for witchcraft.
She was one of the extremely fortunate, for she was again accused of this crime.
1610. 3 Ap. Grant to Christian Weech of pardon for the murder of Mary Freeston by witchcraft.
1608. 15 Feb. Grant to Simon Reade of pardon for conjuration and invocation of unclean spirits.
1611. 7 May. Grant of pardon to Wm. Bate, indicted twenty years since, for practising invocation of spirits for finding treasure, the evidence being found weak, etc.
With the beginning of the eighteenth century, the belief in witchcraft was dying out rapidly, and very few are the cases narrated. I give the following from a broadsheet; but to my mind it has not the true ring of former cases, and I doubt its authenticity; still, I give it as amongst the few reported cases in this century.
‘A FULL AND TRUE RELATION OF THE DISCOVERING, APPREHENDING, AND TAKING OF A NOTORIOUS WITCH, WHO WAS CARRIED BEFORE JUSTICE BATEMAN IN WELL-CLOSE, ON SUNDAY JULY THE 23RD, TOGETHER WITH HER EXAMINATION AND COMMITMENT TO BRIDEWELL, CLERKENWELL.’
‘Sarah Griffith who Lived in a Garret in Rosemary lane, was a long time suspected for a bad Woman, but nothing could be prov’d against her, that the Law might take hold of her: Tho’ some of the Neighbors Children would be strangely affected with unknown Distempers, as Vomiting of Pins, there Bodies turn’d into strang Postures, and such like; many were frighted with strange Apperitions of Cats, which, of a sudden, would vanish away; these, and such like, made those who lived in the Neighbourhood, both suspicious and fearful of her: Till, at last, the Devil (who always betrays those that deal with him) thus brought the Truth to Light. One, Mr. John —— at the Sugarloaf, had a good jolly fellow for his Apprentice: This Old Jade came into his shop to buy a quartern of Sope. The Young fellow happened to Laugh; and the Scales not hanging right, cryed out he thought that they were be-Witched; The Old Woman hearing him say so, fell into a great Passion, judging he said so to ridicule her, ran out of the Shop, and threatened revenge. In the Night was heard a lumbring noise in the Shop, and the Man, coming down to see, found a strang confusion; every thing turn’d topsy turvy; all the goods out of order. But, what was worse, the next day, the poor fellow was troubled with a strange Disease, but [by] the good prayers of some Neighboring Divines, the power of the Devil was restrain’d.
‘Two or