before the said Piece of Brass came up, he told me he was satisfied of the Truth of the thing, because it was impossible for any Mortal to Counterfeit her miserable Condition. She, sometimes, lying in a dead Fit, with her Tongue swelled out of her Head, and then reviving, she would fall to Vomiting, but nothing came up till about two a Clock in the Afternoon.
‘Nay, so curious was he to Anticipate any Cheat, that he searcht her Mouth himself, gave her the Beer, held her up in his hand, and likewise the Bason into which she Vomited, and continued with her all this time, without eating and drinking, which was about eight hours, that he might be an Eye-Witness of the Truth of it. Nay, further, he found the maid living only with a Brother, and three poor Sisters, all young Persons, and very honest, and the Maid kept at the Charge of the Parish, were sufficient testimonies that they were incapable of making a Cheat of it. The Gentleman I now mentioned, was (as I afterwards learnt) Esquire Player of Castle-Cary.
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‘After the Assizes afore mentioned was ended, and she was turned home, she grew worse than ever, by Vomiting of Nails, pieces of Glass, &c. And, falling, one day, into a Violent Fit, she was swelled to an extraordinary bigness; some Beer being given her, she throws up several Pieces of Bread and Butter, besmeared with a Poysonous matter, which I judged to be white Mercury. This so affrighted the Neighbours, that they would come no more near her, and Compassionating the Deplorableness of her Condition; I, at last, resolved to take her into my own House; where, in some short time, the Vomiting ceased; though, for some space, her Distorting Fits followed her. But, blessed be God, is now, and has been, for a considerable time last past, in very good health, and fit for Service.
‘May Hill,
‘Minister of Beckington in the county of Somerset.
‘April 4, 1691.’
Here is one of those extraordinary confessions, for which, nowadays, no one can account, except upon the supposition that the poor woman was insane:
‘THE CONFESSION OF ALICE HUSON, 28 OF APRIL 1664 TO MR. TIM. WELLSET, VICAR OF BURTON AGNES (IN HER OWN WORDS) AS IT WAS GIVEN IN TO THE JUDGES AT YORK ASSIZES.53
‘Three Years I have had to do with, and for the Devil: He appeared to me like a Black Man on a Horse upon the Moor; He told me I should never want, if I would follow his ways: He bid me give myself to him, and forsake the Lord; and I promised him I would. He did, upon that, give me five Shillings; and another time he gave me seven Shillings: And for six several times he did so; and Thom. Ratle had 20s. of the Mony I had of him. He appeared like a Black Man upon a Black Horse, with Cloven Feet: and then I fell down, and did Worship upon my Knees, because I promised him I would do so. I have hurt Mrs. Faith Corbet by my Evil Spirit: I did, in my Apprehension, ride her: And, when I was Examined by Mr. Wellset, our Minister, the Devil stood by, and gave me my Answer. I was under the Window like a Cat, when Mrs. Corbet said I was; and Doll Bilby had a hand in this tormenting Mrs. Corbet. Doll Bilby said, Let us make an end of her; and I said it was pity to take away her Life, for we had done her overmuch hurt already. The Devil did appear to me and Doll Bilby both together: Doll Bilby had of the Devil on Thursday or Friday, some Mony: I had, about a Fortnight ago, ten shillings of the Devil at Ratle’s door, about Twi-light, or Day-gate: and I gave two Shillings of this Mony for two Pecks of Barly, Pease and Wheat mix’d, to Will. Parkly. He told me, if I would kill Mrs. Alice Corbet, I should never Want: He twitches me at the Heart, as if it were drawn together with Pincers. I have, I confess, a Witch-pap, which is sucked by the Unclean Spirit: This Sucking lasteth from Supper time, till after Cock Crowing. The Devil did bid me deny to Mr. Wellset that he was sent by me. I had a purpose to practice Witchcraft when I begg’d a piece of Cloth and Black-hood. I confess that I did, by this Evil Spirit, kill Dick Warren; which was done by my wicked Heart, and wicked Eyes: If I had not employ’d this wicked Spirit, I had not hurt him. I lent Lancelot Harrison eight Shillings of the ten Shillings the Devil gave me. I did forsake God, because I promised the Devil to serve him.’
But most incredible of all were the doings of an Irish witch, one Florence Newton of Youghal, who was tried at the Cork Assizes, 1661. One extract, showing her power, must suffice:54
‘John Pyne being likewise sworn and examin’d, said, That about January last, Mary Longdon, being his Servant, was much troubl’d with little Stones that were thrown at her, wherever she went, and that he hath seen them come, as if they were thrown at her, others, as if they dropp’d on her; and that he hath seen very great quantities of them, and that they would, after they had hit her, fall on the Ground, and then vanish, so that none of them could be found. And farther, That the Maid once caught one of them, and he himself another; and one of them, with a Hole in it, she ty’d to her Purse, but it vanish’d in a little time, but the Knot of the Leather that ty’d it, remain’d unalter’d. That, after the Stones had thus haunted her, she fell into most grievous Fits, wherein she was so violently distracted, that four Men would have very much to do to hold her; and that, in the greatest of her Extremities, she would cry out of Gammer Newton for hunting and tormenting of her. That sometimes the Maid would be reading in a Bible, and on the sudden he hath seen the Bible struck out of her Hand into the Middle of the Room, and she, immediately, was cast into a violent Fit. That, in the Fits he hath seen two Bibles, laid on her Breasts, and in the Twinkling of an Eye, they would be cast between the two Beds the Maid lay upon; sometimes thrown into the middle of the Room; and that Nicholas Pyne held the Bible in the Maid’s Hand so fast, that it being suddenly snatch’d away, two of the Leaves were torn. That in many other Fits, the Maid was remov’d strangely, in the Twinkling of an Eye, out of the Bed, sometimes into the Bottom of a Chest with Linnen, and the Linnen not at all disorder’d; sometimes betwixt the two Beds she lay on; sometimes under a Parcell of Wooll, sometimes betwixt his Bed and the Mat of it in another Room; and, once, she was laid on a small Deal Board which lay on the top of an House between two solar55 Beams, where he was forc’d to rear up Ladders to have her fetch’d down. That, in her Fits she hath often vomited up Wooll, Pins, Horse nails, Stubs, Straw, Needles and Moss, with a kind of white Foam or Spittle, and hath had several Pins stuck into her Arms and Hands, that, sometimes, a Man must pull three or four times before he could pull one of them out, and some have stuck between the Flesh and the Skin, where they might be perfectly seen, but not taken out, nor any Place seen where they were put in.’
The confessions of Temperance Lloyd (or Floyd), Mary Trembles, and Susannah Edwards, who were executed at Exeter, August 25, 1682, are curious, as showing how it is possible for three persons to have similar hallucinations.
‘Temperance Lloyd saith, That about the 30th day of September last past, she met with the Devil in the shape or likeness of a black Man, about the middle of the Afternoon of that day, in a certain Street or Lane in the Town of Biddiford aforesaid, called Higher Gunstone Lane: And then and there he did tempt and sollicite her to go with him to the house of the said Thomas Eastchurch to torment the Body of the said Grace Thomas; which this Examinant, at first, did refuse to do: But, afterwards, by the temptation and perswasion of the Devil in the likeness of a Black Man, as aforesaid, she did go to the house of the said Thomas Eastchurch, and that she went up the stairs after the said black Man; and confesseth that both of them went up into the Chamber where she the said Grace Thomas was, and that there they found one Anne Wakely, the wife of William Wakely of Biddiford, rubbing and stroaking one of the Arms of the said Grace Thomas.
‘And the said Examinant doth further confess that she did then and there pinch with the Nails of her Fingers, the said Grace Thomas in the Shoulders, Arms, Thighs and Legs; and that, afterwards, they came down from the said Grace Thomas her Chamber, into the
