The True Story vs. Myth of Witchcraft. William Godwin
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seen him eat eleven Days of the two Weeks.
‘When they had Proof enough, Mr. Kensy told him he was discover’d, and said his Friends were in Custody, and had confess’d the whole Matter. Upon that he cried passionately and said he would tell the Lord Chief Justice the whole Truth, and asked, If his Mother was safe? But, my Lord not being at his Chamber, he, in about an Hour after, recanted, and said again that he was bewitched.
‘These Things were deposed at large by many and substantial Witnesses; insomuch that the Jury, without going from the Bar, returned him Guilty.
‘Some Months after, my Lord Chief Justice Holt past Sentence upon him, That he should suffer Imprisonment a Year, and stand in the Pillory three Times.’
The last case of witchcraft in England, where a so-called witch was tried and condemned by judge and jury (although she was not executed), was that of Jane Wenham in 1712. I am aware that another and later case is cited in 1716 of one Mrs. Hicks and her daughter, said to have been executed at Huntingdon, for ‘selling their souls to the devil, making their neighbours vomit pins, and raising a storm by which a certain ship was almost lost’; but as no one yet has been able to find any record of this case, I beg leave to doubt its existence.
But Jane Wenham’s was a cause célèbre. She lived at Walkern, a village in Hertfordshire, about four miles from Stevenage. The account of the proceedings at her trial is very long, so that I shall only give two or three of the informations laid against her:
‘Matthew Gilston, of the Parish of Walkerne, says upon Oath, that, on New Years Day last past, he carrying Straw upon a Fork from Mr. Gardiner’s Barn, met Jane Wenham, who asked him for some Straw, which he refused to give her; then she said she would take some, and accordingly took some away from this Informant.
‘And farther, this Informant saith, that on the 29th of Jan. last, when this Informant was threshing in the Barn of his Master, John Chapman, an Old Woman in a Riding-hood, or Cloak, he knows not which, came to the Barn Door, and asked him for a Penyworth of Straw; he told her he could give her none, and she went away, Muttering.
‘And this Informant saith, that after the Woman was gone, he was not able to work, but ran out of the Barn, as far as a place called Munders-Hill, (which is about Three Miles from Walkerne) and asked at a House there for a Penyworth of Straw, and they, refusing to give him any, he went farther, to some Dung-heaps, and took some Straw from thence, and pull’d off his Shirt, and brought it Home in his Shirt; he knows not what mov’d him to this, but says he was forc’d to it, he knows not how.
‘Susan Aylott, the Wife of William Aylott, of the Parish of Walkerne, saith upon Oath, that about 12 Years ago last Christmas, she, this Informant, was sent for to the Wife of Richard Harvey, lying very Ill in a strange Condition; and, as soon as she came thither, Jane Wenham followed her, and she, this Informant, wonder’d that Jane Wenham followed her, since Richard Harvey’s Wife had told her that she, the said Jane Wenham had bewitched her: Then Jane Wenham went under the Window where the sick Woman lay, and said, Why do they let this Creature lye there? Why don’t they take her and hang her out of the way? At which she, this Informant, had some Words with Jane Wenham, saying, Take you, and hang you out of the Way: and then Jane Wenham answer’d, Hold you your Tongue, I don’t meddle with you, and that Night, the sick Woman, aforesaid, died.
‘And this Informant farther saith, That, soon after, Jane Wenham came to this Informant’s House, and look’d upon a Child which was in her Lap, and stroaked it; and said, Susan, you have a curious Child; you and I had some Words, but I hope we are Friends; and asked this Informant to lend her a Glass to carry some Vinegar in from the Shop; then this Informant sent Jane Wenham a Glass, who went away. And this Informant was afraid of her Child, remembering she was thought to have bewitched Richard Harvey’s Wife.
‘This Informant further saith, That on Sunday following, she was at her brother Jeremy Harvey’s House, with her Child, and that her Child was taken in a grievous Condition, stark Distracted, and so died on the Thursday following; and this Informant saith, she thinks Jane Wenham bewitched her Child; and saith also, that Jane Wenham has had the Reputation of a Witch for several Years before.
‘Thomas Adams, Junior, of Walkerne, maketh Oath, that about Three Weeks, or a month before Christmas last, he met Jane Wenham in his Turnip Field, with a few of his Turnips, which she was carrying away; and upon his Threatning her, she threw them down; he, this Informant, told her she might keep them, for she should pay dear for them; then she was very submissive, and begg’d Pardon, saying, she had no Victuals all that day, and had no money to buy any; afterwards, they parted, and he saw her not after; But, on Christmas-Day Morning, One of his best Sheep died without any Signs of Illness found upon the Body after it was open’d, and Nine or Ten Days after, died another Sheep, in an unaccountable Manner; and, shortly after, Two more Sheep died also, some of them having no Marks of Disease upon ’em, but being sound in all their Parts, as his Shepherd informs him. He also saith that his Shepherd tells him that one other Sheep was taken strangely, skipping and standing upon its Head, but in half an Hour was well, and continues so; and another Sheep was likewise Ill, Two or Three Days, but it is now well again: And Jane Wenham having the Common Fame of a Witch, he does believe that if they were bewitch’d, she did bewitch them.’
All these charges convinced the jury that she was indeed a witch, and the judge had no option but to sentence her; but he got her a reprieve, and she was let out of prison, when she was kindly befriended by Colonel Plummer, of Gilston, who gave her a cottage in which she harmlessly lived the remainder of her days.
But although this was the last capital conviction in England, the belief in witchcraft was far from dead; nay, it is still living in some remote districts, but cannot long exist, as education makes its way.
Chapter XXI.
Scotch Witches—Bessie Dunlop—Alesoun Peirson—Dr. John Fian—The Devil a Preacher—Examination of Agnes Sampson—Confession of Issobel Gowdie.
But Scotland was the real home of the witch. Comparatively speaking, the English hardly knew what a witch was, and the reports of trials are so numerous that space prohibits my making more than a selection of them. Witches were important personages—at least, in the sixteenth century—for we read in the trial of Bessie Dunlop, 1576, how many noble ladies consulted her. ‘And demandit,—To quhom sche applyit the powder in drink? Declarit,—That the Lady Johnstoune the elder, send to hir ane servand of the said ladies, &c. ... Interrogat—Quhair sche gaif the gentile woman the drink? Answerit—In hir awin sisteris hous, the young Ladye Blakhallis.... Demandit—Gif ony uther personnes had bene at hir for the lyke caus? Declarit—That the Lady Kilbowye elder, send for hir &c.... Demandit—Quhat personnes thar wer? Answerit—The Ladye Thridpairt in the barronye of Renfrew, send to hir, and sperit at her, Quha was it that had stollin from hir twa hornis of gold, and are croune of the sone, out of hir pyrse?... The Ladye Blaire sundrie times had spokin with hir, about sum claise that was stollin fra hir.’
Again, in the trial of Alesoun Peirson, May 28, 1588: ‘And in speciall, scho said, that he tauld hir that the Bischop of Sanct Androus56 had mony seiknessis, as the trimbling fewer,57 the palp,58 the rippilis,59 and the flexus;60 and baid hir mak ane faw,61 and rub it on his cheikis, his craig, his breist, stommak and sydis.’
A favourite place of