A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718 Part 16

[52] _The Lawes against Witches and Conjuration ..._ (London, 1645), 4.

J. O. Jones, in his account of Hopkins, _loc. cit._, says that "many were hanged or burned in Ipswich." I believe that no authority can be cited for this statement.

[53] The first is in, _A True Relation of the Araignment of eighteene Witches_, 5. We of course do not know that the sentence was carried out.

[54] The master of a s.h.i.+p had been "sutor" for her grandchild; _The Lawes against Witches_, 8. She was a "professour of Religion, a constant hearer of the Word for these many years."

[55] _Ibid._

[56] _I. e., The Lawes against Witches_ (London, 1645). See below, appendix A, -- 4.

[57] N. F. Hele, _Notes or Jottings about Aldeburgh_ (Ipswich, 1890), 43-44.

[58] This was doubtless the fee to the executioner. Mr. Richard Browne and Mr. Newgate, who were either the justices of the peace or the local magistrates, received 4 apiece for their services in trying the witches.

[59] A. G. Hollingsworth, _History of Stowmarket_ (Ipswich, 1844), 170.

[60] For a list of these towns, see below, appendix C, under 1645, Suffolk.

[61] Stearne, 45, two instances.

[62] _Ibid._, 37, 39, 45.

[63] Thomas Ady, _A Candle in the Dark_, 135.

[64] Stearne, 39.

[65] His whole confession reads like the utterance of a tortured man.

[66] He had previously been found with a rope around his neck. This was of course attributed to witchcraft. Stearne, 35.

[67] _Ibid._, 11.

[68] John Wynnick and Joane Wallis made effective confessions. The first, when in the heat of pa.s.sion at the loss of a purse, had signed his soul away (Stearne, 20-21; see also the pamphlet, the dedication of which is signed by John Davenport, ent.i.tled, _The Witches of Huntingdon, their Examinations and Confessions ..._ London, 1646, 3). The latter maintained a troop of imps, among whom Blackeman, Grissell, and Greedigut figured most prominently. The half-witted creature could not recall the names on the repet.i.tion of her confessions, but this failing does not seem to have awakened any doubt of her guilt. Stearne could not avoid noticing that some of those who suffered were very religious. One woman, who had kept an imp for twenty-one years, "did resort to church and had a desire to be rid of her unhappy burden."

[69] _I. e._, witches.

[70] This letter is printed by Gaule at the opening of his _Select Cases of Conscience Touching Witches and Witchcrafts_.

[71] Stearne, 11; _cf._ below, appendix C, 1646 (pp. 405-406).

[72] That it was done by the justices of the peace is a probable conclusion from Stearne's language. See his account of Joane Wallis, p.

13, also his account of John Wynnick, pp. 20-21. That the examinations were in March and April (see John Davenport's account, _The Witches of Huntingdon_) and the executions in May is a fact confirmatory of this; see Stearne, 11. But it is more to the point that John Davenport dedicates his pamphlet to the justices of the peace for the county of Huntingdon, and says: "You were present, and Judges at the Tryall and Conviction of them."

[73] The swimming ordeal was perhaps unofficial; see Stearne, 19.

Another case was that of Elizabeth Chandler, who was "duckt"; _Witches of Huntingdon_, 8.

[74] Tilbrooke-bushes, Stearne, 11; Risden, _ibid._, 31.

[75] This may be inferred from Stearne's words: "but afterward I heard that she made a very large confession," _ibid._, 31.

[76] Thomas Wright, John Ashton, J. O. Jones, and the other writers who have dealt with Hopkins, speak of the Worcester trials, in 1647, in which four women are said to have been hanged. Their statements are all based upon a pamphlet, _The Full Tryals, Examination, and Condemnation of Four Notorious Witches at the a.s.sizes held at Worcester on Tuseday the 4th of March.... Printed for I. W._ What seems to have been the first edition of this brochure bears no date. In 1700 another edition was printed for "J. M." in Fleet Street. Some writer on witchcraft gained the notion that this pamphlet belonged in the year 1647 and dealt with events in that year. Wright, John Ashton, and W. H. Davenport Adams (_Witch, Warlock, and Magician_, London, 1889), all accept this date. An examination of the pamphlet shows that it was cleverly put together from the _True and Exact Relation_ of 1645. The four accused bear the names of four of those accused at Chelmsford, and make, with a few differences, the same confessions. See below, appendix A, -- 4, for a further discussion of this pamphlet. It is strange that so careful a student as Thomas Wright should have been deceived by this pamphlet, especially since he noticed that the confessions were "imitations" of those in Ess.e.x.

[77] A. Gibbons, ed., _Ely Episcopal Records_ (Lincoln, 1891), 112-113.

[78] Stearne, 37.

[79] That there were a.s.sizes is proved by the statement that "Moore's wife" confessed before the "Judge, Bench, and Country," _ibid._, 21-22, as well as by the reference in the _Ely Episcopal Records_, 113, to the "a.s.sizes."

[80] Stearne, 17, 21-22.

[81] For a clear statement of this point of view, see _ibid._, 40-50.

[82] Stearne, 46-47.

[83] _Ibid._, 50.

[84] _Ibid._, 17.

[85] _Ibid._, 13.

[86] _Ibid._, 14.

[87] Hopkins, 5. But Hopkins was not telling the exact truth here. When he was at Aldeburgh in September (8th) the accused were watched day and night. See chamberlain's accounts, in N. F. Hele, _Notes or Jottings about Aldeburgh_, 43.

[88] Hopkins, 7.

[89] Hopkins, 9.

[90] Stearne, 18. Hopkins did not attempt to deny the use of the ordeal.

He supported himself by quoting James; see Hopkins, 6.

[91] Stearne, 18. He means, of course, Serjeant G.o.dbolt.

[92] See Stearne, in his preface to the reader, also p. 61; and see also the complete t.i.tle of Hopkins's book as given in appendix A (p. 362).

[93] A similar case was that of Anne Binkes, to whom Stearne refers on p. 54. He says she confessed to him her guilt. "Was this woman fitting to live?... I am sure she was living not long since, and acquitted upon her trial."

[94] Not until after Stearne was already busy elsewhere. Stearne, 58.

[95] It would seem, too, that Stearne was sued for recovery of sums paid him. "Many rather fall upon me for what hath been received; but I hope such suits will be disannulled." Stearne, 60.

[96] Hopkins, 11.

[97] _County Folk Lore, Suffolk_ (Folk Lore Soc.) 176, quoting from J.

T. Varden in the _East Anglian Handbook_ for 1885, p. 89.

[98] James Howell, _Familiar Letters_, II, 551. Howell, of course, may easily have counted convictions as executions. Moreover, it was a time when rumors were flying about, and Howell would not have taken the pains to sift them. Yet his agreement with Stearne in numbers is remarkable.

Somewhat earlier, (the letter is dated February 3, 1646/7) Howell had written that "in Ess.e.x and Suffolk there were above two hundred indicted within these two years and above the one half executed" (_ibid._, 506).