FOOTNOTES:

Samuel Pacy, a merchant of Leystoff aforesaid (a man who carried himself with much soberness during the trial, from whom proceeded no words either of passion or malice though his children were so greatly afflicted), sworn and examined, deposeth. That his younger daughter Deborah, upon Thursday the 10th of October last, was suddenly taken with a lameness in her legs, so that she could not stand, neither had she anystrength in her limbs to support her, and so she continued until the 17th day of the same month, which day being fair and sunshiny, the child desired to be carried on the east part of the house to be set upon the bank which looketh upon the sea; and whilst she was sitting there, Amy Duny came to this deponent's house to buy some herrings, but being denied she went away discontented, and presently returned again, and was denied, and likewise the third time and was denied as at first; and at her last going away, she went away grumbling; but what she said was not perfectly understood. But at the very same instant of time, the child was taken with most violent fits, feeling most extreme pains in her stomach, like the pricking of pins, and shrieking out in a most dreadful manner like unto a whelp; and not like unto a sensible creature. And in this extremity the child continued to the great grief of the parents until the 30th of the same month. During this time this deponent sent for one Dr. Feavor, a doctor of physic, to take his advice concerning his child's distemper; the Doctor being come, he saw the child in those fits but could not conjecture, as he then told this deponent, and afterwards affirmed in open court, at this trial, what might be the cause of the child's affliction. And this deponent farther saith, That by reason of the circumstances aforesaid, and in regard Amy Duny is a woman of ill-fame, and commonly reported to be a witch and sorceress, and for that the said child in her fits would cry out of Amy Duny as the cause of her malady, and that she did affright her with apparitions of her person (as the child in the intervals of her fits related) he this deponent did suspect the said Amy Duny for a witch, and charged her with the injury and wrongto his child, and caused her to be set in the stocks on the 28th of the same October: and during the time of her continuance there, one Alice Letteridge and Jane Buxton demanding of her, as they also affirmed in court upon their oaths, what should be the reason of Mr. Pacy's child's distemper? telling her, That she was suspected to be the cause thereof; she replied, 'Mr. Pacy keeps a great stir about his child, but let him stay until he hath done as much by his children, as I have done by mine.' And being further examined, what she had done to her children? She answered, 'That she had been fain to open her child's mouth with a tap to give it victuals.' And the said deponent further deposeth, that within two days after speaking of the said words, being the 30th of October, the eldest daughter Elizabeth, fell into extreme fits, insomuch, that they could not open her mouth to give her breath, to preserve her life, without the help of a tap which they were enforced to use; and the younger child was in the like manner afflicted, so that they used the same also for her relief.And further the said children being grievously afflicted would severally complain in their extremity, and also in the intervals, that Amy Duny (together with one other woman whose person and clothes they described) did thus afflict them, their apparitions appearing before them, to their great terror and affrightment: and sometimes they would cry out, saying, There stands Amy Duny, and there Rose Cullender, the other person troubling them.Their fits were various, sometimes they would be lame on one side of their bodies, sometimes on the other: sometimes a soreness over their whole bodies, so as they could endure none to touch them: at othertimes they would be restored to the perfect use of their limbs, and deprived of their hearing; at other times of their sight, at other times of their speech; sometimes by the space of one day, sometimes for two; and once they were wholly deprived of their speech for eight days together and then restored to their speech again. At other times they would fall into swoonings, and upon the recovery to their speech they would cough extremely, and bring up much phlegm, and with the same crooked pins, and one time a two-penny nail with a very broad head, which pins (amounting to forty or more) together with the two-penny nail, were produced in court, with the affirmation of the said deponent, that he was present when the said nail was vomited up, and also most of the pins. Commonly at the end of every fit they would cast up a pin, and sometimes they would have four or five fits in one day.In this manner the said children continued with this deponent for the space of two months, during which time in their intervals this deponent would cause them to read some chapters in the New Testament.Whereupon this deponent several times observed, that they would read till they came to the name of Lord, or Jesus, or Christ; and then before they could pronounce either of the said words they would suddenly fall into their fits. But when they came to the name of Satan, or devil, they would clap their fingers upon the book, crying out, This bites, but makes me speak right well.At such time as they be recovered out of their fits (occasioned as this deponent conceives upon their naming of Lord, Jesus, or Christ), this deponent hathdemanded of them, what is the cause they cannot pronounce those words: they reply and say, that Amy Duny saith, I must not use that name.And further, the said children after their fits were past, would tell, how that Amy Duny and Rose Cullender would appear before them holding their fists at them, threatening, that if they related either what they saw or heard, that they would torment them ten times more than ever they did before.In their fits they would cry out, There stands Amy Duny or Rose Cullender; and sometimes in one place and sometimes in another running with great violence to the place where they fancied them to stand, striking at them as if they were present; they would appear to them sometimes spinning, and sometimes reeling, or in other postures, deriding or threatening them.

And further the said children being grievously afflicted would severally complain in their extremity, and also in the intervals, that Amy Duny (together with one other woman whose person and clothes they described) did thus afflict them, their apparitions appearing before them, to their great terror and affrightment: and sometimes they would cry out, saying, There stands Amy Duny, and there Rose Cullender, the other person troubling them.

Their fits were various, sometimes they would be lame on one side of their bodies, sometimes on the other: sometimes a soreness over their whole bodies, so as they could endure none to touch them: at othertimes they would be restored to the perfect use of their limbs, and deprived of their hearing; at other times of their sight, at other times of their speech; sometimes by the space of one day, sometimes for two; and once they were wholly deprived of their speech for eight days together and then restored to their speech again. At other times they would fall into swoonings, and upon the recovery to their speech they would cough extremely, and bring up much phlegm, and with the same crooked pins, and one time a two-penny nail with a very broad head, which pins (amounting to forty or more) together with the two-penny nail, were produced in court, with the affirmation of the said deponent, that he was present when the said nail was vomited up, and also most of the pins. Commonly at the end of every fit they would cast up a pin, and sometimes they would have four or five fits in one day.

In this manner the said children continued with this deponent for the space of two months, during which time in their intervals this deponent would cause them to read some chapters in the New Testament.

Whereupon this deponent several times observed, that they would read till they came to the name of Lord, or Jesus, or Christ; and then before they could pronounce either of the said words they would suddenly fall into their fits. But when they came to the name of Satan, or devil, they would clap their fingers upon the book, crying out, This bites, but makes me speak right well.

At such time as they be recovered out of their fits (occasioned as this deponent conceives upon their naming of Lord, Jesus, or Christ), this deponent hathdemanded of them, what is the cause they cannot pronounce those words: they reply and say, that Amy Duny saith, I must not use that name.

And further, the said children after their fits were past, would tell, how that Amy Duny and Rose Cullender would appear before them holding their fists at them, threatening, that if they related either what they saw or heard, that they would torment them ten times more than ever they did before.

In their fits they would cry out, There stands Amy Duny or Rose Cullender; and sometimes in one place and sometimes in another running with great violence to the place where they fancied them to stand, striking at them as if they were present; they would appear to them sometimes spinning, and sometimes reeling, or in other postures, deriding or threatening them.

Afterwards the witness sent the children to the house of Margaret Arnold, his sister, at Yarmouth, to make trial whether the change of air might do them any good.

Margaret Arnoldgave no credit to what was related to her when the children were committed to her care, 'conceiving that possibly the children might use some deceit in putting pins in their mouths themselves'; she therefore 'took all the pins out of their clothes, and sewed them all instead'; but 'notwithstanding all this care and circumspection of hers,' they raised at least thirty pins in her presence, and had most violent fits. They would cry out intheir fits, against Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, alleging that they saw them.

At some times the children (only) would see things run up and down the house in the appearance of mice; and one of them suddenly snapt one with the tongs, and threw it in the fire, and it screeched out like a rat.

At another time a little thing like a bee

flew into the face of the younger child when she was out of doors, and would have gone into her mouth; the child ran screaming into the house and had a fit, and vomited up a two-penny nail with a broad head, which she said the bee had tried to put in her mouth.

The elder child said she saw a mouse, and crept under the table to look for it, and she found something, the witness did not see what it was, which she threw into the fire, when it flashed like gunpowder. At a time when she was speechless, but otherwise in good health, she appeared to chase something round the house, catch it, put it in her apron, and made as if she threw it in the fire, but the witness saw nothing. The child afterwards being restored to her speech said it was a duck. The younger child said that in her fits Amy Duny tempted her to drown herself, and to cut her throat, or otherwise destroy herself. For these reasons the witness believed that the children were bewitched, though she had not believed it at first.

Edmund Durent, the father of Ann Durent, swore that Rose Cullender came to his house in the previous November to buy some herrings of his wife, but being denied by her, returned in a discontented manner. On the first of December his daughter felt a great pain in her stomach, fell into swooning fits, and on her recovery declared that she had seen the apparition of Rose Cullender, who threatened to torment her. She had also vomited up pins, which were produced in court.

The maid was present in court, but could not speak to declare her knowledge, but fell into the most violent fit when she was brought before Rose Cullender.

Ann Baldwincorroborated the last witness, and added that Jane Bocking was so weak that she could not be brought to the Assizes.

Diana Bocking, the mother of Jane Bocking, swore that her daughter had formerly suffered from fits, but had recovered from them. On the first of February last, however, she had been attacked with fits which lasted till the witnesses came to the Assizes, vomiting pins daily, seven last Sunday. In her fits she would frequently complain of Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, saying that she saw them standing about the bed. At last she was stricken dumb for some days, and said when she recovered that Amy Duny would not suffer her to speak.

Mary Chandler, the mother of Susan Chandler, swore that she had examined the prisoners after they had been examined before Sir Edmund Bacon, on a charge of having bewitched Mr. Pacy's daughters, and that she had found certain monstrous growths on the body of Rose Cullender. She also said that Rose Cullender had appeared to her daughter, who was in service, one morning while she was washing, whereupon she was frightened and came at once and told her mother; and soon afterwards was attacked by fits, vomiting pins, like the others. She was at times dumb, and at times blind, and when she was brought into court, she was attacked anew, although she recovered her speech outside.

This was the sum and substance of the evidence which was given against the prisoners concerning the bewitching of the children before mentioned. At the hearing this evidence there were divers known persons as Mr. Serjeant Keeling,[51]Mr. Serjeant Earl, and Mr. Serjeant Barnard present. Mr. Serjeant Keeling seemed much unsatisfied with it, and thought it not sufficient to convict the prisoners: for admitting that the children were in truth bewitched, yet said he, it can never be applied to the prisoners, upon the imagination only of the parties afflicted; for if that might be allowed no person whatsoever can be in safety, for perhaps they might fancy another person, who might altogether be innocent in such matters.There was alsoDr. Brown[52]of Norwich, a person of great knowledge; who after this evidence given, and upon view of three persons in Court, was desired to give his opinion, what he did conceive of them: and he was clearly of opinion, that the persons werebewitched; and said, That in Denmark there had been lately a great discovery of witches, who used the very same way of afflicting persons, by conveying pins into them, and crooked as these pins were, with needles and nails. And his opinion was, That the devil in such cases did work upon the bodies of men and women, upon a natural foundation (that is), to stir up, and excite such humours super-abounding in their bodies to a great excess, whereby he did in an extraordinary manner afflict them with such distempers as their bodies were most subject to, as particularly appeared in these children; for he conceived, that these swooning fits were natural, and nothing else, but only heightened to a great excess by the subtilty of the devil, co-operating with the malice of these which we term witches, at whose instance he doth these villanies.Besides the particulars above mentioned touching the said persons bewitched, there were many other things objected against them for a further proof and manifestation that the said children were bewitched. As first, during the time of the trial, there were some experiments made with the persons afflicted, by bringing the persons to touch them; and it was observed, that when they were in the midst of their fits to all men's apprehension wholly deprived of all sense and understanding, closing their fists in such manner, as that the strongest man in court could not force them open; yet by the least touch of one of these supposed witches, Rose Cullender by name, they would suddenly shriek out opening their hands, which accident would not happen by the touch of any other person.And lest they might privately see when they weretouched by the said Rose Cullender, they were blinded with their own aprons, and the touching took the same effect as before.There was an ingenious person that objected, there might be a great fallacy in this experiment, and there ought not to be any stress put upon this to convict the parties, for the children might counterfeit this their distemper, and perceiving what was done to them they might in such manner suddenly alter the motion and gesture of their bodies, on purpose to induce persons to believe that they were not natural, but wrought strangely by the touch of the prisoners. Wherefore to avoid this scruple it was privately desired by the Judge, that the Lord Cornwallis, Sir Edmund Bacon, and Mr. Serjeant Keeling, and some other gentlemen there in court, would attend one of the distempered persons in the farther part of the Hall, whilst she was in her fits, and then to send for one of the witches, to try what would then happen, which they did accordingly: and Amy Duny was conveyed from the bar and brought to the maid: they put an apron before her eyes, and then one other person touched her hand, which produced the same effect as the touch of the witch did in the Court. Whereupon the gentlemen returned, openly protesting, that they did believe the whole transaction of this business was a mere imposture. This put the Court and all persons into a stand. But at length Mr. Pacy did declare, That possibly the maid might be deceived by a suspicion that the witch touched her when she did not. For he had observed divers times, that although they could not speak, but were deprived of the use of their tongues and limbs, that their understandings were perfect, for that they had relateddivers things which have been when they were in their fits, after they had recovered out of them. This saying of Mr. Pacy was found to be true afterwards when his daughter was fully recovered (as she afterwards was) as shall in due time be related: For she was asked, whether she did hear and understand anything that was done and acted in the Court, during the time that she lay as one deprived of her understanding? and she said, She did: and by the opinions of some, this experiment (which others would have a fallacy) was rather a confirmation that the parties were really bewitched, than otherwise: for say they, it is not possible that any should counterfeit such distempers, being acquainted with such various circumstances, much less children; and for so long time, and yet undiscovered by their parents and relations: For no man can suppose that they should all conspire together (being out of several families, and as they affirm, no way related one to the other, and scarce of familiar acquaintance) to do an act of this nature whereby no benefit or advantage could redound to any of the parties, but a guilty conscience for perjuring themselves in taking the lives of two poor simple women away, and there appears no malice in the case. For the prisoners themselves did scarce so much as object it. Wherefore, said they, it is very evident that the parties were bewitched, and that when they apprehend or understand by any means, that the persons who have done them this wrong are near, or touch them; then their spirits being more than ordinarily moved with rage and anger at them being present, they do use more violent gestures of their bodies, and extend forth their hands, as desirous to lay hold upon them; which at other times nothaving the same occasion, the instance there falls not out the same.

There was alsoDr. Brown[52]of Norwich, a person of great knowledge; who after this evidence given, and upon view of three persons in Court, was desired to give his opinion, what he did conceive of them: and he was clearly of opinion, that the persons werebewitched; and said, That in Denmark there had been lately a great discovery of witches, who used the very same way of afflicting persons, by conveying pins into them, and crooked as these pins were, with needles and nails. And his opinion was, That the devil in such cases did work upon the bodies of men and women, upon a natural foundation (that is), to stir up, and excite such humours super-abounding in their bodies to a great excess, whereby he did in an extraordinary manner afflict them with such distempers as their bodies were most subject to, as particularly appeared in these children; for he conceived, that these swooning fits were natural, and nothing else, but only heightened to a great excess by the subtilty of the devil, co-operating with the malice of these which we term witches, at whose instance he doth these villanies.

Besides the particulars above mentioned touching the said persons bewitched, there were many other things objected against them for a further proof and manifestation that the said children were bewitched. As first, during the time of the trial, there were some experiments made with the persons afflicted, by bringing the persons to touch them; and it was observed, that when they were in the midst of their fits to all men's apprehension wholly deprived of all sense and understanding, closing their fists in such manner, as that the strongest man in court could not force them open; yet by the least touch of one of these supposed witches, Rose Cullender by name, they would suddenly shriek out opening their hands, which accident would not happen by the touch of any other person.

And lest they might privately see when they weretouched by the said Rose Cullender, they were blinded with their own aprons, and the touching took the same effect as before.

There was an ingenious person that objected, there might be a great fallacy in this experiment, and there ought not to be any stress put upon this to convict the parties, for the children might counterfeit this their distemper, and perceiving what was done to them they might in such manner suddenly alter the motion and gesture of their bodies, on purpose to induce persons to believe that they were not natural, but wrought strangely by the touch of the prisoners. Wherefore to avoid this scruple it was privately desired by the Judge, that the Lord Cornwallis, Sir Edmund Bacon, and Mr. Serjeant Keeling, and some other gentlemen there in court, would attend one of the distempered persons in the farther part of the Hall, whilst she was in her fits, and then to send for one of the witches, to try what would then happen, which they did accordingly: and Amy Duny was conveyed from the bar and brought to the maid: they put an apron before her eyes, and then one other person touched her hand, which produced the same effect as the touch of the witch did in the Court. Whereupon the gentlemen returned, openly protesting, that they did believe the whole transaction of this business was a mere imposture. This put the Court and all persons into a stand. But at length Mr. Pacy did declare, That possibly the maid might be deceived by a suspicion that the witch touched her when she did not. For he had observed divers times, that although they could not speak, but were deprived of the use of their tongues and limbs, that their understandings were perfect, for that they had relateddivers things which have been when they were in their fits, after they had recovered out of them. This saying of Mr. Pacy was found to be true afterwards when his daughter was fully recovered (as she afterwards was) as shall in due time be related: For she was asked, whether she did hear and understand anything that was done and acted in the Court, during the time that she lay as one deprived of her understanding? and she said, She did: and by the opinions of some, this experiment (which others would have a fallacy) was rather a confirmation that the parties were really bewitched, than otherwise: for say they, it is not possible that any should counterfeit such distempers, being acquainted with such various circumstances, much less children; and for so long time, and yet undiscovered by their parents and relations: For no man can suppose that they should all conspire together (being out of several families, and as they affirm, no way related one to the other, and scarce of familiar acquaintance) to do an act of this nature whereby no benefit or advantage could redound to any of the parties, but a guilty conscience for perjuring themselves in taking the lives of two poor simple women away, and there appears no malice in the case. For the prisoners themselves did scarce so much as object it. Wherefore, said they, it is very evident that the parties were bewitched, and that when they apprehend or understand by any means, that the persons who have done them this wrong are near, or touch them; then their spirits being more than ordinarily moved with rage and anger at them being present, they do use more violent gestures of their bodies, and extend forth their hands, as desirous to lay hold upon them; which at other times nothaving the same occasion, the instance there falls not out the same.

Additional witnesses were afterwards called to prove other acts of witchcraft by the prisoners.

John Soam,'a yeoman, and a sufficient person,' deposed that one harvest he had three carts, and that as they were going into the field to load, one of them wrenched the window of Rose Cullender's house, whereupon she came out in a great rage, and threatened him. Afterwards the two carts that had not touched the house twice made the journey home loaded and back again, safely. But the cart that had touched the house was overturned twice or thrice that day after it was loaded; and as they brought it through the gate out of the field it stuck so fast that they had to cut down the gate-post, 'although they could not perceive that the cart did of either side touch the gate-posts.' And further,

after they had got it through the gate-way, they did with much difficulty get it home into the yard; but for all that they could do, they could not get the cart near unto the place where they should unload the corn, but were fain to unload it at a great distance from the place, and when they began to unload they found a great difficulty therein, it being so hard a labour that they were tired that first came; and when others came to assist them, their noses burst forth a bleeding; so they were fain to desist and leave it until the next morning, and then they unloaded it without any difficulty at all.

Robert Sherringhamswore that about two years before, as he was passing along the street with his cart and horse, the axle-tree of his cart touched Rose Cullender's house, and broke down some part of it, at which she was very much displeased, threatening him that his horses should suffer for it;

and it so happened that all those horses, being four in number, died within a short time after; since that time he hath had great losses by the sudden dying of his other cattle; so soon as his sows pigged, the pigs would leap and caper, and immediately fall down and die. Also not long after he was taken with a lameness in his limbs that he could neither go nor stand for some days. After all this, he was very much vexed with great number of lice of an extraordinary bigness, and although he many times shifted himself, yet he was not anything the better, but would swarm again with them; so that in the conclusion he was forced to burn all his clothes, being two suits of apparel, and then was clean from them.

Richard Spencer, about the first of September last, heard Amy Duny say that the devil would not let her rest until she was revenged on the wife of one Cornelius Sandeswell.

Ann Sandeswellsays that seven or eight years since,

she having bought a certain number of geese, meeting with Amy Duny, she told her, if she did not fetch her geese home they would all be destroyed; which in a few days after it came to pass.

Afterwards the said Amy became tenant to the witness's husband for a house, and Amy told the witness that if she did not look well to such a chimney in the house it would fall, whereupon the witness told her that it was a new one, and they parted without the witness attaching much importance to the matter;

but in a short time the chimney fell down according as the said Amy had said.

Also the witness once asked her brother, who was a fisherman, to send her a firkin of fish, which he did; and she hearing that the firkin was brought into Lowestofft Road, asked a boatman to bring it ashore with other goods which they had to bring;

and as she was going down to meet the boat-man to receive her fish, she desired the said Amy to go along with her to help her home with it; Amy replied she would go when she had it. And thereupon this deponent went to the shore without her, and demanded of the boat-man the firkin; they told they could not keep it in the boat from falling into the sea, and they thought it was gone to the devil, for they never saw the like before. And being demanded whether any other goods in the boat were likewise lost as well as hers? they answered not any.This was the substance of the whole evidence given against the prisoners at the bar; who being demanded, what they had to say for themselves? they replied, nothing material to anything that was proved against them. Whereupon the judge, in giving his directionto the jury, told them, that he would not repeat the evidence unto them, lest by so doing he should wrong the evidence on the one side or on the other.Only this acquainted them, that they had two things to enquire after. First, Whether or no these children were bewitched? Secondly, Whether the prisoners at the bar were guilty of it?That there were such creatures as witches he made no doubt at all; For first, the scriptures had affirmed so much. Secondly the wisdom of all nations had provided laws against such persons, which is an argument of their confidence of such a crime.And such hath been the judgment of this kingdom, as appears by that act of parliament which hath provided punishments proportionable to the quality of the offence. And desired them, strictly to observe their evidence; and desired the great God of heaven to direct their hearts in this weighty thing they had in hand: For to condemn the innocent, and to let the guilty go free, were both an abomination to the Lord. With this short direction the jury departed from the bar, and within the space of half an hour returned, and brought them in both Guilty upon the several indictments, which were thirteen in number, whereupon they stood indicted.This was upon Thursday in the afternoon, March 13, 1665. The next morning, the three children with their parents came to the Lord Chief-Baron Hales's lodging, who all of them spake perfectly, and were in as good health as ever they were; only Susan Chandler by reason of her very much affliction did look very thin and wan. And their friends were asked at what time they were restored thus to their speech and health? And Mr. Pacy did affirm, Thatwithin less than half an hour after the witches were convicted they were all of them restored, and slept well that night, feeling no pain; only Susan Chandler felt a pain like pricking of pins in her stomach.After, they were all of them brought down to the court, but Ann Durent was so fearful to behold them, that she desired she might not see them. The other two continued in the court, and they affirmed in the face of the country, and before the witches themselves, what before hath been deposed by their friends and relations; the prisoners not much contradicting them. In conclusion, the judge and all the court were fully satisfied with the verdict, and thereupon gave judgment against the witches that they should be hanged.They were much urged to confess, but would not.That morning we departed for Cambridge, but no reprieve was granted; And they were executed on Monday the 17th of March following, but they confessed nothing.

This was the substance of the whole evidence given against the prisoners at the bar; who being demanded, what they had to say for themselves? they replied, nothing material to anything that was proved against them. Whereupon the judge, in giving his directionto the jury, told them, that he would not repeat the evidence unto them, lest by so doing he should wrong the evidence on the one side or on the other.

Only this acquainted them, that they had two things to enquire after. First, Whether or no these children were bewitched? Secondly, Whether the prisoners at the bar were guilty of it?

That there were such creatures as witches he made no doubt at all; For first, the scriptures had affirmed so much. Secondly the wisdom of all nations had provided laws against such persons, which is an argument of their confidence of such a crime.

And such hath been the judgment of this kingdom, as appears by that act of parliament which hath provided punishments proportionable to the quality of the offence. And desired them, strictly to observe their evidence; and desired the great God of heaven to direct their hearts in this weighty thing they had in hand: For to condemn the innocent, and to let the guilty go free, were both an abomination to the Lord. With this short direction the jury departed from the bar, and within the space of half an hour returned, and brought them in both Guilty upon the several indictments, which were thirteen in number, whereupon they stood indicted.

This was upon Thursday in the afternoon, March 13, 1665. The next morning, the three children with their parents came to the Lord Chief-Baron Hales's lodging, who all of them spake perfectly, and were in as good health as ever they were; only Susan Chandler by reason of her very much affliction did look very thin and wan. And their friends were asked at what time they were restored thus to their speech and health? And Mr. Pacy did affirm, Thatwithin less than half an hour after the witches were convicted they were all of them restored, and slept well that night, feeling no pain; only Susan Chandler felt a pain like pricking of pins in her stomach.

After, they were all of them brought down to the court, but Ann Durent was so fearful to behold them, that she desired she might not see them. The other two continued in the court, and they affirmed in the face of the country, and before the witches themselves, what before hath been deposed by their friends and relations; the prisoners not much contradicting them. In conclusion, the judge and all the court were fully satisfied with the verdict, and thereupon gave judgment against the witches that they should be hanged.

They were much urged to confess, but would not.

That morning we departed for Cambridge, but no reprieve was granted; And they were executed on Monday the 17th of March following, but they confessed nothing.

FOOTNOTES:[49]Witchcraft, always an ecclesiastical offence, was first made a statutory crime by 33 Hen.viii.(1541), which Hutchinson suggests was intended as 'a hank upon the reformers,' by reason of the part which mentioned the pulling down of crosses. This act was repealed on the accession of Edwardvi., but was revived by 5 Eliz. c. 16 in a slightly different form. Hutchinson mentions five convictions under this statute between 1560 and 1597. A new act was passed in 1603, the first year of the reign of Jamesi.Under it seventeen persons were condemned to death in Lancashire in 1634 on the evidence of one witness, who afterwards admitted his imposture. Their lives were saved by the judge who tried the case. In the eastern counties about fifty persons were executed in 1644 and 1645. Various other cases were tried throughout the seventeenth century, of which a list is given by Hutchinson, and the last conviction took place in 1712, at Hertford, but the prisoner was pardoned. The act of James was repealed in 1736, when it was enacted that no more prosecutions for witchcraft should take place, but that pretending to exercise witchcraft, and so forth, should be offences punishable on the same scale as other acts of petty cheating. Further information on the subject may be found in Hutchinson'sEssay on Witchcraft; and an account of the very curious outburst of prosecutions for witchcraft in New England about the time of this trial, and, it is said, partly in consequence of it, may be found in Howell'sState Trials, vol vi. pp. 647-686. In those parts of the British Empire where there is a large population of negroes, it has been found necessary to make stringent laws against witchcraft, which are regarded by the persons most affected by them as something much more than a protection against mere cheats.[50]Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676) was the grandson of a Gloucestershire weaver. He was educated as a Puritan and entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1626. He here suddenly dropped his Puritan habits, and would have become a soldier in the Low Countries, but that, having to consult the learned Glanville as to legal proceedings taken against him which endangered his patrimony, he was persuaded to become a law student. He again resumed a quiet method of life, and owing to the slovenliness of his dress narrowly escaped being shipped to the West Indies by a press-gang. He was called in 1637, and already enjoying a considerable reputation at once acquired a lucrative practice. He devilled for Noy, but according to Campbell refused to follow him when he joined the Court party. He kept clear of politics at the beginning of the Long Parliament, though courted by both sides. He is said to have taken part in Strafford's defence; he certainly defended Laud. He took the Covenant in 1644, and sat in the Westminster Assembly of Divines. He procured honourable terms for the garrison of Oxford on the capture of that town. He took the engagement to be true to the Commonwealth in 1649, and continued to practise, often appearing for the defence in State prosecutions; particularly for the Duke of Hamilton after the battle of Worcester. He took a prominent part in the Commission appointed to reform the laws, which abolished feudal tenures and caused all legal proceedings to be conducted in English. He became a Justice of the Common Pleas in 1654, when he was occasionally brought into opposition to the government. At last he refused to try criminal causes; particularly that of Colonel Penruddock (seepost, p. 59). He supported Cromwell against the sectaries. He was summoned to act as assessor to Cromwell's House of Lords; but refused to act as a judge under Richard Cromwell, though he sat in his Parliament. He sat for Gloucestershire in the Convention Parliament, and took an active part in the Restoration. He sat at the trial of the Regicides, though not at Vane's. On Bridgman becoming Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas in 1660, Hale succeeded him as Chief-Baron, his appointment being due, it is said, to Clarendon's scheme for having the Comprehension Bill, which he had drafted, defeated. He became Lord Chief-Justice in 1671, in succession to Kelyng. He has the reputation of being one of the greatest judges in English history. He settled satisfactorily all claims arising out of the rebuilding of London after the great fire; he found himself unable to help Bunyan, whom he considered to have been unjustly imprisoned, thereby, according to Campbell, being entitled to some of the credit attaching to the production ofThe Pilgrim's Progress. On the failure of his health he retired from the bench in 1676. It may be of interest to quote Campbell's opinion of his conduct of the present trial. 'I wish to God,' says that author, 'I could as successfully' (as he has done in Bunyan's case) 'defend the conduct of Sir Matthew Hale in a case to which I most reluctantly refer, but which I dare not, like Bishop Burnet, pass over unnoticed—I mean the famous trial before him, at Bury St. Edmunds, for witchcraft. I fostered a hope that I should have been able, by strict inquiry, to contradict, or mitigate, the hallucination under which he is generally supposed to have then laboured, and which has clouded his fame—even in some degree impairing the usefulness of that bright example of Christian piety which he has left for the edification of mankind. But I am much concerned to say, that a careful perusal of the proceedings and of the evidence shows that upon this occasion he was not only under the influence of the most vulgar credulity, but that he violated the plainest rules of justice, and that he really was the murderer of two innocent women.... Had the miserable wretches, indicted for witchcraft before Sir Matthew Hale, pleaded guilty, or specifically confessed the acts of supernatural agency imputed to them, or if there had been witnesses who had given evidence, however improbable it might be, to substantiate the offence, I should hardly have regarded the Judge with less reverence because he pronounced sentence of death upon the unhappy victims of superstition, and sent them to the stake, or the gibbet. But they resolutely persisted in asserting their innocence, and there was not only no evidence against them which ought to have weighed in the mind of any reasonable man who believed in witchcraft, but during the trial the imposture practised by the prosecutors was detected and exposed.' 'Hale's motives were most laudable; but he furnishes a memorable instance of the mischiefs originating from superstition. He was afraid of an acquittal or of a pardon, lest countenance should be given to a disbelief in witchcraft, which he considered tantamount to a disbelief in Christianity. The following Sunday he wrote a "Meditation concerning the mercy of God in preserving us from the malice and power of Evil Angels," in which he refers, with extreme complacency, to the trial over which he had presided at Bury St. Edmunds.'[51]Seeante, p.127.[52]Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) was the well-known author ofReligio Medici, published in 1642;Vulgar Errors, published in 1646; and numerous other mystic, pseudo-scientific and philosophical works. Mr. Leslie Stephen (Hours in a Library, vol. ii. p. 11) writes of him: 'Obviously we shall find in Sir Thomas Browne no inexorably severe guide to truth; he will not too sternly reject the amusing because it happens to be slightly improbable, or doubt an authority because he sometimes sanctions a mass of absurd fables.' So he more or less believed in the griffin, the phœnix, and the dragon: he knew that the elephant had no joints, and was caught by cutting down the tree against which he leant in sleep; that the pelican pierced its breast for the good of its young; that storks refused to live except in republics or free states; and that men were struck dumb, literally dumb, by the sight of a wolf: he discusses what would have happened had Adam eaten the apple of the Tree of Life before that of the Tree of Knowledge; he discovers error in every recorded speech but one delivered before the Flood; he admits that the phœnix is mentioned in holy writers, and alluded to in Job and the Psalms, but nevertheless adduces eight reasons for not believing in his existence, of which one is that no one has seen one, another that in the Scriptures the word translated phœnix also means a palm-tree, another that he could neither enter the ark in a pair, nor increase and multiply. At the same time, he probably possessed a considerable knowledge of physical science, and holds a high, though peculiar, position in English literature. Evidently he was not a suitable witness in the present case, and his appearance as recorded above is far the most unamiable thing known of him; but it is possible that his neighbours did not take him more seriously as a trustworthy authority than do his modern critics.

[49]Witchcraft, always an ecclesiastical offence, was first made a statutory crime by 33 Hen.viii.(1541), which Hutchinson suggests was intended as 'a hank upon the reformers,' by reason of the part which mentioned the pulling down of crosses. This act was repealed on the accession of Edwardvi., but was revived by 5 Eliz. c. 16 in a slightly different form. Hutchinson mentions five convictions under this statute between 1560 and 1597. A new act was passed in 1603, the first year of the reign of Jamesi.Under it seventeen persons were condemned to death in Lancashire in 1634 on the evidence of one witness, who afterwards admitted his imposture. Their lives were saved by the judge who tried the case. In the eastern counties about fifty persons were executed in 1644 and 1645. Various other cases were tried throughout the seventeenth century, of which a list is given by Hutchinson, and the last conviction took place in 1712, at Hertford, but the prisoner was pardoned. The act of James was repealed in 1736, when it was enacted that no more prosecutions for witchcraft should take place, but that pretending to exercise witchcraft, and so forth, should be offences punishable on the same scale as other acts of petty cheating. Further information on the subject may be found in Hutchinson'sEssay on Witchcraft; and an account of the very curious outburst of prosecutions for witchcraft in New England about the time of this trial, and, it is said, partly in consequence of it, may be found in Howell'sState Trials, vol vi. pp. 647-686. In those parts of the British Empire where there is a large population of negroes, it has been found necessary to make stringent laws against witchcraft, which are regarded by the persons most affected by them as something much more than a protection against mere cheats.

[50]Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676) was the grandson of a Gloucestershire weaver. He was educated as a Puritan and entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1626. He here suddenly dropped his Puritan habits, and would have become a soldier in the Low Countries, but that, having to consult the learned Glanville as to legal proceedings taken against him which endangered his patrimony, he was persuaded to become a law student. He again resumed a quiet method of life, and owing to the slovenliness of his dress narrowly escaped being shipped to the West Indies by a press-gang. He was called in 1637, and already enjoying a considerable reputation at once acquired a lucrative practice. He devilled for Noy, but according to Campbell refused to follow him when he joined the Court party. He kept clear of politics at the beginning of the Long Parliament, though courted by both sides. He is said to have taken part in Strafford's defence; he certainly defended Laud. He took the Covenant in 1644, and sat in the Westminster Assembly of Divines. He procured honourable terms for the garrison of Oxford on the capture of that town. He took the engagement to be true to the Commonwealth in 1649, and continued to practise, often appearing for the defence in State prosecutions; particularly for the Duke of Hamilton after the battle of Worcester. He took a prominent part in the Commission appointed to reform the laws, which abolished feudal tenures and caused all legal proceedings to be conducted in English. He became a Justice of the Common Pleas in 1654, when he was occasionally brought into opposition to the government. At last he refused to try criminal causes; particularly that of Colonel Penruddock (seepost, p. 59). He supported Cromwell against the sectaries. He was summoned to act as assessor to Cromwell's House of Lords; but refused to act as a judge under Richard Cromwell, though he sat in his Parliament. He sat for Gloucestershire in the Convention Parliament, and took an active part in the Restoration. He sat at the trial of the Regicides, though not at Vane's. On Bridgman becoming Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas in 1660, Hale succeeded him as Chief-Baron, his appointment being due, it is said, to Clarendon's scheme for having the Comprehension Bill, which he had drafted, defeated. He became Lord Chief-Justice in 1671, in succession to Kelyng. He has the reputation of being one of the greatest judges in English history. He settled satisfactorily all claims arising out of the rebuilding of London after the great fire; he found himself unable to help Bunyan, whom he considered to have been unjustly imprisoned, thereby, according to Campbell, being entitled to some of the credit attaching to the production ofThe Pilgrim's Progress. On the failure of his health he retired from the bench in 1676. It may be of interest to quote Campbell's opinion of his conduct of the present trial. 'I wish to God,' says that author, 'I could as successfully' (as he has done in Bunyan's case) 'defend the conduct of Sir Matthew Hale in a case to which I most reluctantly refer, but which I dare not, like Bishop Burnet, pass over unnoticed—I mean the famous trial before him, at Bury St. Edmunds, for witchcraft. I fostered a hope that I should have been able, by strict inquiry, to contradict, or mitigate, the hallucination under which he is generally supposed to have then laboured, and which has clouded his fame—even in some degree impairing the usefulness of that bright example of Christian piety which he has left for the edification of mankind. But I am much concerned to say, that a careful perusal of the proceedings and of the evidence shows that upon this occasion he was not only under the influence of the most vulgar credulity, but that he violated the plainest rules of justice, and that he really was the murderer of two innocent women.... Had the miserable wretches, indicted for witchcraft before Sir Matthew Hale, pleaded guilty, or specifically confessed the acts of supernatural agency imputed to them, or if there had been witnesses who had given evidence, however improbable it might be, to substantiate the offence, I should hardly have regarded the Judge with less reverence because he pronounced sentence of death upon the unhappy victims of superstition, and sent them to the stake, or the gibbet. But they resolutely persisted in asserting their innocence, and there was not only no evidence against them which ought to have weighed in the mind of any reasonable man who believed in witchcraft, but during the trial the imposture practised by the prosecutors was detected and exposed.' 'Hale's motives were most laudable; but he furnishes a memorable instance of the mischiefs originating from superstition. He was afraid of an acquittal or of a pardon, lest countenance should be given to a disbelief in witchcraft, which he considered tantamount to a disbelief in Christianity. The following Sunday he wrote a "Meditation concerning the mercy of God in preserving us from the malice and power of Evil Angels," in which he refers, with extreme complacency, to the trial over which he had presided at Bury St. Edmunds.'

[51]Seeante, p.127.

[52]Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) was the well-known author ofReligio Medici, published in 1642;Vulgar Errors, published in 1646; and numerous other mystic, pseudo-scientific and philosophical works. Mr. Leslie Stephen (Hours in a Library, vol. ii. p. 11) writes of him: 'Obviously we shall find in Sir Thomas Browne no inexorably severe guide to truth; he will not too sternly reject the amusing because it happens to be slightly improbable, or doubt an authority because he sometimes sanctions a mass of absurd fables.' So he more or less believed in the griffin, the phœnix, and the dragon: he knew that the elephant had no joints, and was caught by cutting down the tree against which he leant in sleep; that the pelican pierced its breast for the good of its young; that storks refused to live except in republics or free states; and that men were struck dumb, literally dumb, by the sight of a wolf: he discusses what would have happened had Adam eaten the apple of the Tree of Life before that of the Tree of Knowledge; he discovers error in every recorded speech but one delivered before the Flood; he admits that the phœnix is mentioned in holy writers, and alluded to in Job and the Psalms, but nevertheless adduces eight reasons for not believing in his existence, of which one is that no one has seen one, another that in the Scriptures the word translated phœnix also means a palm-tree, another that he could neither enter the ark in a pair, nor increase and multiply. At the same time, he probably possessed a considerable knowledge of physical science, and holds a high, though peculiar, position in English literature. Evidently he was not a suitable witness in the present case, and his appearance as recorded above is far the most unamiable thing known of him; but it is possible that his neighbours did not take him more seriously as a trustworthy authority than do his modern critics.

Alice Lisle was the daughter and heiress of Sir White Bechenshaw of Moyles Court, Ellingham, Hants, the scene of the principal facts referred to in this trial. The house is still standing. In 1630 she became the second wife of John Lisle; he was called to the bar, and became a bencher of the Middle Temple. He sat in the Long Parliament for Winchester, was one of the managers of Charles I.'s trial, and is said to have drawn up the form of the sentence. He became President of the High Court of Justice in 1654, sat in the Parliament of that year, and was appointed one of the Commissioners of the Exchequer. He appears to have been a consistent follower of Cromwell, and became a member of his House of Lords in 1657. He left England on the Restoration and fled to Lausanne, where he was murdered by an Irish Royalist in 1664. He sentenced John Penruddock, the father of the Colonel Penruddock of this trial, to death in 1655 for his participation in an unsuccessful rising against the Commonwealth in Wiltshire.

Alice Lisle, commonly called Lady Lisle, was tried for high treason at Winchester on 27th August 1685, before Lord Chief-Justice Jeffreys,[53]during his notorious 'Bloody Assize.' The charge against her was that knowing one George Hicks, a popular dissenting minister, to have been in Monmouth's army at Sedgemoor she entertained and concealed him in her house at Moyles Court. To convict her it was necessary to prove that Hicks had been in Monmouth's army, that she knew it, and that she entertained and concealed him. The prosecution was conducted by Pollexfen,[54]Mundy, and Corriton, as far at least as it was not conducted by Jeffreys. Lady Lisle, according to the custom of the time, was not allowed counsel, though no doubt she had opportunities for receiving legal advice during the course of the trial. Hicks was afterwards tried, and hanged at Glastonbury.[55]

The first three witnesses were Pope, Fitzherbert, and Taylor, who were visited by Hicks and Monmouth's chaplain, apparently for more or less charitable purposes, when they were prisoners to Monmouth's Army in Sir Thomas Bridge's stables at Keynsham. Two of them also spoke to having seen him actually in Monmouth's Army.

James Dunnewas then sworn.

Pollexfen—If your lordship please to observe, the times will fall out to be very material in this case: the battle at Kings-Edgemore was the sixth of July; three or four days afterwards was the taking of Monmouth, and my lord Grey at Ringwood; upon the 26th of July, ten or twelve days after the taking of Monmouth, was this message sent by Dunne to Mrs. Lisle: so we call Dunne to prove what message he carried upon the 26th, and what answer was returned; he will tell you that Tuesday was the time appointed for them to come, in the night, and all the othercircumstances. But withal, I must acquaint your lordship, that this fellow, Dunne, is a very unwilling witness; and therefore with submission to your lordship, we do humbly desire your lordship would please to examine him a little the more strictly.Lord Chief-Justice—You say well: Hark you, friend, I would take notice of something to you, by the way, and you would do well to mind what I say to you. According as the counsel that are here for the King seem to insinuate, you were employed as a messenger between these persons, one whereof has already been proved a notorious rebel, and the other is the prisoner at the bar, and your errand was to procure a reception at her house for him.Dunne—My lord, I did so.Lord Chief-Justice—Very well. Now mark what I say to you, friend: I would not by any means in the world endeavour to fright you into anything, or any ways tempt you to tell an untruth, but provoke you to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth, that is the business we come about here. Know, friend, there is no religion that any man can pretend to, can give a countenance to lying, or can dispense with telling the truth: Thou hast a precious immortal soul, and there is nothing in the world equal to it in value: There is no relation to thy mistress, if she be so; no relation to thy friend; nay, to thy father or thy child; nay, not all the temporal relations in the world can be equal to thy precious immortal soul. Consider that the Great God of Heaven and Earth, before whose tribunal thou, and we, and all persons are to stand at the last day, will call thee to an account for the rescinding his truth, and take vengeance of thee for every falshood thou tellest. I charge thee therefore,as thou wilt answer it to the Great God, the judge of all the earth, that thou do not dare to waver one tittle from the truth, upon any account or pretence whatsoever: For though it were to save thy life, yet the value of thy precious and immortal soul is much greater, than that thou shouldst forfeit it for the saving of any the most precious outward blessing thou dost enjoy; for that God of Heaven may justly strike thee into eternal flames, and make thee drop into the bottomless lake of fire and brimstone, if thou offer to deviate the least from the truth, and nothing but the truth. According to the command of that oath that thou hast taken, tell us who employed you, when you were employed, and where? Who caused you to go on this message, and what the message was? For I tell thee God is not to be mocked, and thou canst not deceive him, though thou mayst us. But I assure you if I catch you prevaricating in any the least tittle (and perhaps I know more than you think I do; no, none of your saints can save your soul, nor shall they save your body neither) I will be sure to punish every variation from the truth that you are guilty of.Now come and tell us, how you came to be employed upon such a message, what your errand was, and what was the issue and result of it?

Lord Chief-Justice—You say well: Hark you, friend, I would take notice of something to you, by the way, and you would do well to mind what I say to you. According as the counsel that are here for the King seem to insinuate, you were employed as a messenger between these persons, one whereof has already been proved a notorious rebel, and the other is the prisoner at the bar, and your errand was to procure a reception at her house for him.

Dunne—My lord, I did so.

Lord Chief-Justice—Very well. Now mark what I say to you, friend: I would not by any means in the world endeavour to fright you into anything, or any ways tempt you to tell an untruth, but provoke you to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth, that is the business we come about here. Know, friend, there is no religion that any man can pretend to, can give a countenance to lying, or can dispense with telling the truth: Thou hast a precious immortal soul, and there is nothing in the world equal to it in value: There is no relation to thy mistress, if she be so; no relation to thy friend; nay, to thy father or thy child; nay, not all the temporal relations in the world can be equal to thy precious immortal soul. Consider that the Great God of Heaven and Earth, before whose tribunal thou, and we, and all persons are to stand at the last day, will call thee to an account for the rescinding his truth, and take vengeance of thee for every falshood thou tellest. I charge thee therefore,as thou wilt answer it to the Great God, the judge of all the earth, that thou do not dare to waver one tittle from the truth, upon any account or pretence whatsoever: For though it were to save thy life, yet the value of thy precious and immortal soul is much greater, than that thou shouldst forfeit it for the saving of any the most precious outward blessing thou dost enjoy; for that God of Heaven may justly strike thee into eternal flames, and make thee drop into the bottomless lake of fire and brimstone, if thou offer to deviate the least from the truth, and nothing but the truth. According to the command of that oath that thou hast taken, tell us who employed you, when you were employed, and where? Who caused you to go on this message, and what the message was? For I tell thee God is not to be mocked, and thou canst not deceive him, though thou mayst us. But I assure you if I catch you prevaricating in any the least tittle (and perhaps I know more than you think I do; no, none of your saints can save your soul, nor shall they save your body neither) I will be sure to punish every variation from the truth that you are guilty of.

Now come and tell us, how you came to be employed upon such a message, what your errand was, and what was the issue and result of it?

Dunne then proceeds to depose that a man came to his house to desire him to go with a message to Lady Lisle; he came on a Friday, after the battle; he was a short black man, and promised a good reward. On Saturday Dunne went to Moyles Court, and Lady Lisle agreed to receive Hicks on Tuesday evening. He waspressed as to whether she asked if he knew Hicks—

Lord Chief-Justice—Why dost thou think that she would entertain any one she had no knowledge of merely upon thy message? Mr. Dunne! Mr. Dunne! have a care, it may be more is known of this matter than you think for.[56]Dunne—My Lord, I tell you the truth.Lord Chief-Justice—Ay, to be sure you do, do not let me take you prevaricating!Dunne—My Lord, I speak nothing but the truth.Lord Chief-Justice—Well, I only bid you have a care, truth never wants a subterfuge, it always loves to appear naked, it needs no enamel, nor any covering; but lying and snivelling, and canting, and Hicksing, always appear in masquerade. Come, go on with your evidence.

Dunne—My Lord, I tell you the truth.

Lord Chief-Justice—Ay, to be sure you do, do not let me take you prevaricating!

Dunne—My Lord, I speak nothing but the truth.

Lord Chief-Justice—Well, I only bid you have a care, truth never wants a subterfuge, it always loves to appear naked, it needs no enamel, nor any covering; but lying and snivelling, and canting, and Hicksing, always appear in masquerade. Come, go on with your evidence.

Dunne then proceeds—he went home, arriving on Sunday, and gave his message to the man he first saw, and on Tuesday morning he, and a 'full fat black man,' and a 'thin black man,' came to his house at seven in the morning. Starting with two of them whom he had not seen before, but identified as Hicks and Nelthorp, at eleven, he took them by way of Deverel, Chilmark and Sutton to Salisbury Plain, where one Barter met them to guide them on, by Chalk, Rochesborne and Fordingbridge. This way he alleged, apparently falsely, was a shorter way than he had taken on Saturday. Near Barton, however, they lost their way, and Dunne was sent down to the village to a man to tell him that one Hicks desired to speak to him. Who the man was, he hesitated to say.

Dunne—His name, my Lord, I cannot rightly tell for the present.Lord Chief-Justice—Prithee recollect thyself: indeed thou canst tell us if thou wilt.Dunne—My Lord, I can go to the house again if I were at liberty.Lord Chief-Justice—I believe it, and so could I; but really neither you nor I can be spared at present; therefore prithee do us the kindness now to tell us his name.Dunne—My Lord, I think his name was Fane.Lord Chief-Justice—Thou sayest right, his name was Fane truly, thou seest I know something of the matter.[57]

Dunne—His name, my Lord, I cannot rightly tell for the present.

Lord Chief-Justice—Prithee recollect thyself: indeed thou canst tell us if thou wilt.

Dunne—My Lord, I can go to the house again if I were at liberty.

Lord Chief-Justice—I believe it, and so could I; but really neither you nor I can be spared at present; therefore prithee do us the kindness now to tell us his name.

Dunne—My Lord, I think his name was Fane.

Lord Chief-Justice—Thou sayest right, his name was Fane truly, thou seest I know something of the matter.[57]

Dunne brought Fane to Hicks, who asked him the way to Mrs. Lisle's.

Lord Chief-Justice—Now tell us what kind of man that was, that desired this of Mr. Fane?Dunne—My Lord, it was the full fat black man.Lord Chief-Justice—Now we have got him out, now we know which was Hicks, now go on.

Lord Chief-Justice—Now tell us what kind of man that was, that desired this of Mr. Fane?

Dunne—My Lord, it was the full fat black man.

Lord Chief-Justice—Now we have got him out, now we know which was Hicks, now go on.

On arriving at Mrs. Lisle's, Hicks and Nelthorp entered first in the dark; Dunne did not seethem again till they were taken. Dunne was received by a young girl he did not know. He had 'a bit of cake and cheese from my own house, and that I eat': he did not see Mrs. Lisle.

So far, Jeffreys had been conducting an examination-in-chief, or what served the same purpose. Now the cross-examination begins—Dunne was forced to take the word of the first man who came to him that he would be paid. He was a baker, and would not bake on Sundays.

Lord Chief-Justice—Alack-a-day! thou art precise in that, but thou canst travel on Sundays to lead rogues into lurking holes ... but I assure thee thy bread is very light weight, it will scarce pass the balance here.

He left his horse in the stable, the other two left theirs outside the gate. He knew there were fugitives about the country; he did not ask the little man with the black beard who Hicks was. Hicks told him he was in debt. Did not the man who first came tell him Hicks was in debt and wanted to be concealed? He did. How came Dunne to be so impudent then as to tell such a lie?

Dunne—I beg your pardon, my Lord.Lord Chief-Justice—You beg my pardon! That is not because you told me a lye, but because I found you in a lye. Come Sirrah, tell me the truth.

Dunne—I beg your pardon, my Lord.

Lord Chief-Justice—You beg my pardon! That is not because you told me a lye, but because I found you in a lye. Come Sirrah, tell me the truth.

Where did Dunne sleep? in a chamber towhich the girl showed him, he saw no one else; he put up his horse himself and fed him on hay which was in the rack; the stable-door was latched; he pulled up the latch. He knew his way to the stable, because he had been there before—even though it was dark. Carpenter the bailiff gave his horse hay and brought a light to the stable after he had gone there. Besides Carpenter and the girl he saw no one. He did not drink in the house; he had last drunk at Barton.

Lord Chief-Justice—Now prithee tell me truly, where came Carpenter unto you? I must know the truth of that; I would not terrify thee to make thee say anything but the truth, but assure thyself I never met with a lying, sneaking, canting fellow, but I always treasured up vengeance for him; and therefore look to it, that thou dost not prevaricate with me, for be sure thou wilt come by the worst of it in the end.Dunne—My Lord, I will tell the truth as near as I can.

Dunne—My Lord, I will tell the truth as near as I can.

Carpenter met him in the court when he was with Hicks and Nelthorp; no one else was there; Carpenter opened the stable-door.

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