‘Iohn Starchie, the next, was so miserably rent, that aboundance of blod gushed out, both at his nose and mouth. As the day before, so that day, he gnashed fearfully with his teeth; he, also, lay as dead about the like time, soe that some sayd to us, he seemeth to be dead. Then start he up likwise on the suddain, and prayed god in most cherful and comfortable manner. And so did the rest, who also maide sundry tymes greate shewe of vomyting, and nowe and then vomyted indeede, somthing like fleam, thick spettle. These 4, especially 3 of them used much light behauiour and vayn gestures; sundry, also, filthy scurrilous speaches, but whispering them, for the most part, among themselves, so that they were no let to that holy exercise we then had in hand. Somtimes, also, they spake blasphemy, calling the word preached—bible bable; he will neuer haue done prating; prittle prattle.Margaret Hardmanwhylest M.Morewas preaching, used these wordes.I must goe, I must away; I cannot tarrie, whither shall I goe? I am hot, I am too hot, I will not dye; iterating them all: which wordes did greatly incourage us.
When these 6 were deliuered, some desired toknow how they assured themselues thereof, and they answered as followeth.Margaret Byromsaid that she felt it come up from her belly towardes her brest, thence to her throat; when it left her throate it gaue her a sore lug, and all this whyle a darke myst dazeled her eyes. Then she felt it to go out of her mouth, but it left behind it a sore throat and a filthy smel, that a weke after, her meate was unsauary. It went out in the likenes of a crowe’s head, round, (as to her semed) and sate in the corner of the parlor, with darknes about it a whyle. Then went it with such a flash of fyer out of the windowe, that all the Parlor semed on fyer, to her onlye.
‘Iohn Starchiesaid it went from him like a man with a bulch[20]on his backe, very yll fauored, and, presently, he returned to haue re-entered, but he withstood hym strong in faith. The same, in effect, saidMargaret Hardman.Anne Starchiesaid, he went like a foule ugly man, with a white beard, and a great bulch on his brest as big as a man’s head, and straightway returned to have re-entered, but she faithfully resisted. Euen so saidElinor Holland, the white beard excepted.
‘Elizabeth Hardmansaid, it was like an urchin,[21]and went through a very little hole (as she thought) out of the parler, but, out of hand, returned againe in a very foule shape, promising her gold, and whatsoeuer shee would desier, if she would giue him leaue to enter againe, but she yealded not; then he threatened to cast her into a pit, saying, somtime thouwilt go alone. He said also, he would cast her into the fyre, and break her neck, but she, resisting, he departed like an urchine.
‘And thus the first dayes work was happily ended. But behold the slight[22]of the wyly serpent, for when we were all at rest, the sperits sett upon the 5 little children, like so many wolues the seely Lambes. The poore children being newly recouered, and suddenly inuaded, were so frighted, that they clasped fast about their middles those that lay with them, and hid their faces with their bed clothes. M.Dickenswas called down, who comming, saw them resisting, and encouraged them to stand fast, neuer to yeald, but to pray and resist with faith, and shortly they were well, and fell a slepe.
‘The next day we inquired how they were assalted.Margaret Byromsaid it cam to her like an ugly black man with shoulders higher than his head, promysing her enough if she would consent, and that he would lye still; when she utterly denyed him, and prayed against him, he threatened to cast her into a pitt as she went home. But, when she resisted, he cast her to the ground, and departed twise as byg and foule as hee came, with two flashes of fyer, one before and another after him, making a noyse like a great wynd among trees. She was not assaulted at midnight with the 5, but, after supper, before she went to bed.
‘Iohn Starchiesaid he came in the former likenes, making many large proffers, baggs of gould &c. But, when he saw he nothing preuayled with sugredwordes, he used terrible menaces, saying he wold breake his necke &c.Anne Starchiesaid he came in the former likenes.
‘Margaret Hardmansaid he came in the same forme he went out; proffering golde, but she refusing, he threatned to breake her necke, cast her into a pyt and drowne her, and so departed.
‘Elizabeth Hardmansaid he came like a beare with fyer in his mouth, wherwyth she was so terrifyed that she lept quite out of her bed, and rann from him, she wist not whither, but one of the company stayed her. Then he desyred her to open her mouth, as he opened his, shewing her two bagges, one of siluer, an other of gold, promising her 9 times as much: but not preuayling, he ran away as a beare that breakes loose from the stake. When she was layd downe and prayed, he came agayn like an ape, promising her golde &c., at her pleasure. Then he menaced to cast her out of the windowe and into the fyer, if euer she stood neare it, and so departed very foule and with an horrible scryke.
‘Ellinor Hollandsaid he came like a great beare, with open mouth, upon her, and presently turned it selfe into the similytude of a white dove; but she resisted, and it departed.
‘Thus we have heard of the dispossession of 6. and what thinges fell out therein, as also presently after the same. It resteth that we conuert our speach toIane Ashton, the 7. Sathan, upon the aforesaid day, towardes euening, put her to extreame payne, and continued the same longe very near 2houres after their deliuerance, intising her to say he was gon, and to make shew of welfare, promising that he would not molest her at all. She, to be at ease, consented, and pretended, in wordes, to be as well as the rest; but we thought otherwise, as the signes of dispossession were wanting. After she had herein yelded to the diuell (which she concealed untill after her deliuerance) she was as free from any vexation by him, as the rest, notwithstanding that we prayed, or shee prayed: whereas before for 3 houres togither, her fyt beinge ended, the shortest prayer that might be, being used, she wold be in an other most greuous to beholde.
‘All night shee was very well, the next morning also, untill we 3, (who were to be the leaders that day, also, in that holy action we had in hand, having shut our doore,) had cast doune our selues before the throne of grace, to craue the direction and assistance of god’s spirit, in the worke we were to enter upon. This (I say) we had no soner don, but, behold, the chamber wher we were, yea, the whol house did ring of her againe, whereby we were not a little comforted, and incouraged, to enter the second tym into the field, for thereby we were assured that we were not deceiued, and that satan was certainly in her. After we cam downe into the parlor, whither many more resorted that day, than the other, to the number of about 50, we being all exercised as the day aforesaid. This morning she was sore tormented. She often seemed to vomyt up all, and it got up only a litle fleame; and when she hanged down her head to vomyt, often the sperit would fall toshake her, as an angri mastife, a litle cur dogge, so that, after her delivery, she was very hoarce and weake. About one of the clocke, she being very extreamly tormented, fel a weping, that teares trickled downe, and after, lay as dead: a litle space reuerting, she said, he is gon, and gaue thanks for her deliuerance. It went out like a great breath, ugly like a toad, round like a ball, and within an houer after, it returned like a foule big blacke man, but she resisted, and it departed. When we saw clearly that she was dispossessed, we asked her why she dissembled the other night? She told us that the said euening it was com up from her belly to her brest, thence to her throat, wher it held her as at her first taking, thence to her head. Then, she said, it desired her to tell us that he was gon, and promised her not to moue or hurt her, and that she should lack nothing. Why, said we, would you harken to the deuill? Because, (said she) I was very sore, and he promysed me ease, but he hath deceaued me. Quoth M.Dickens, beleue the deuil againe, beware of lying, he teacheth to lye, and you are taught for lying.
‘This day and 2 or 3 following, the uncleane spirits returned euer and anone in visible formes upon all 7, throwing some of them violently downe before us all, depriuing others for a litle space of the use of som member of their bodies, as arme or legg; seking also both by goodly promises, of siluer, gold, veluit, (which they thought verily, they saw,) and such like, and fearful threats, their consents to re-enter; without which, it would seem satan cannotre-enter, though he can first enter. But from giving such consent, and yealding unto satan, therein god, in mercy, keept 6 of them: who, since that tyme, (praysed be God therfore) were neuer more nor lesse, they nor any of them molested by satan until this day. Neyther the 7Iane Ashtonuntill a good space after, when she, leauing M.Starchie’shouse, went and dwelt in a place of ignorance and among papists, and became popish herselfe, as I have heard. For which opertunitie and advantage, the deuill watching; and noe doubt compasing, he then recouered her, and now dwelleth there: whose last estat withKatherine WrightsandWill. Somers, shall be worse than their first.’
The learned (!) divine, John Darrell, then follows on with the case of Will Somers, which is too long and prosy for reproduction.
James I. on Possession—The Vexation of Alexander Nyndge—‘Wonderful News from Buckinghamshire’—Sale of a Devil.
James I. on Possession—The Vexation of Alexander Nyndge—‘Wonderful News from Buckinghamshire’—Sale of a Devil.
In King James I.’s ‘Demonologie,’ Philomathes asks Epistemon two questions. ‘The first is, whereby shall these possessed folks be discerned fra them that are troubled with a naturall Phrensie, or Magic? The next is, how can it be, that they can be remedied by the Papists Church, whom we, counting as hereticks, it should appeare that one Diuell should not cast out another, for then wouldhis kingdome be diuided in itselfe, as Christ said?’
Epistemon answers: ‘As to your first question, there are diuers symptomes, whereby that heauie trouble may be discerned from a naturall sicknesse, and specially three, omitting the diuers vaine signes that the Papists attributes unto it: such as the raging at holy water, their fleeing a backe from the Crosse, their not abiding the hearing of God named, and innumerable such like vaine things that were alike fashious and feckles to recite. But to come to these three symptomes then, whereof I spake; I account the one of them to be the incredible strength of the possessed creature, which will farre exceed the strength of sixe of the wightest and wodest of any other men that are not so troubled. The next is theboldning up so far of the patients breast and bellie, with such an unnaturall sturring and vehement agitation within them: and such an ironie hardnesse of his sinewes so stiflely bended out, that it were not possible to pricke out, as it were, the skinne of any other person so far.... The last is the speaking of sundrie languages, which the patient is knowen by them that were acquaint with him, neuer to have learned, and that with an uncouth and hollow voice: and all the time of his speaking, a greater motion being in his breast than in his mouth.... It is easie, then, to be understood, that the casting out of Diuelles is by the virtue of fasting and praier, and in calling of the name of God, suppose many imperfections be in the person that is the instrument, as Christ himselfe teacheth us, of the power that false Prophets shall have to cast out Divels. It is no wonder, then, these respects of this action being considered, that it may be possible to thePapistes, though erring in sundry pointes of Religion, to accomplish this, if they use the right forme prescribed by Christ herein.’
A far more acute case of possession is the following:
‘A TRVE AND FEAREFULL VEXATION OF ONEALEXANDER NYNDGE: BEING MOST HORRIBLY TORMENTED WITH THE DEUILL, FROM THE 20 DAY OFIANUARYTO THE 23 OFIULY. ATLYERINGSWELLINSUFFOCKE: WITH HIS PRAYER AFTER HIS DELIUERANCE.
‘Written by his owne brotherEdwn Nyndge, Master of Arts, with the names of the Witnesses that were at his vexation. London, 1615.
‘... You shall understand therefore that the first fit, and vexation wherewith thisAlexander Nyndgewas so fearefully perplexed, began about seaven of the clocke at night. His father, mother, and brethren, with the residue of the household being at that time in presence. And it was in this manner. His chest and body fell a swelling, his eies a staring, and his backe bending inwards to his belly, which did strike the beholders into a strange wonder, and admiration at the first, yet, one of his brothers, then also present, namedEdward Nyndge, a Master of Arts, being boulder than others were of the company, certainly perswading himselfe that it was some euill spirit that so molested him, gaue him comfortable words of mercy from the holy Scriptures, and also charged the spirit by the death and passion of Jesus Christ, that it should declare the cause of the torment. At which, the countenance of the sameAlexanderturned more strange, and full of amazement and feare than it was before, and so returned to his former state againe.
‘ThisAlexander Nyndgehaving his speech then at liberty, said unto the sameEdward, Brother, he is marvellous afraid of you, therefore I pray you, stand by me.
‘With which words the sameEdwardwas the more bold, and said toAlexander.If thou dost earnestly repent thee of thy sins, and pray to God for the forgivenesse of the same (my life for thine) the Diuell cannot hurt thee. No, rather than he should, I will goe to hell with thee.Then the Spirit, (for a small time) racked the saidAlexanderin a far more cruell manner, for he did use such strange and idle kindsof gestures in laughing, dancing, and such like light behavioure, that he was suspected to be mad: sundry times he refused all kinds of meat, for a long space together, insomuch as he seemed to pine away. Sometimes he shaked as if he had had an ague. There was heard, also, a strange noise or flapping from within his body. Hee would gather himselfe on a rounde heape under his bed cloathes, and, being so gathered, he would bounse up a good height from the bed, and beat his head and other parts of his body against the ground and bedstead, in such earnest manner, that the beholders did feare that he would thereby haue spoiled himselfe, if they had not, by strong hand, restrained him, and yet thereby he receiued no hurt at all.
‘In most of his fits he did swell in his body, and, in some of them, did so greatly exceed therein, as he seemed to be twice so big as his naturall body. He was often seene to haue a certaine swelling or variable lumpe, to a great bignesse, swiftly running up and downe betweene the flesh and the skin.
‘Then would they carry the sameAlexanderdowne the Chamber, willing him to call upon God for grace, and earnestly to repent him, and to put his trust only in Christ Jesus. And, setting him in a chaire, desired his Father to send for all his neighbours, to helpe to pray for him. And, on a suddaine, he would be strangely handled, for, (sitting in a chaire when the fit came) he would be cast headlong upon the ground, or fall downe, drawing then his lips away, gnashing with his teeth, wallowing and foming, and the Spirit would uexe him monstrously,and transforme his body, and alter the same by many violences. Then the saidEdward, his brother, with oneThomas Wakefield, would lay hands onAlexander, and set him in the Chaire againe, and there hold him. All that were in the house praying earnestly.
‘And the saidEdwardcharging the Spirit with these words,Thou fowle Fiend, I coniure thee, in the name of Iesus our Sauiour, the Sonne of Almighty God, that thou speake unto us.
‘Whereat the Spirit transformed him very ugly against his Chest, swelling upwards to his throat, plucking his belly iust to his backe, and so ceased for a time.
‘The partie tormented, being somewhat restored, uttered these words,Sirs, He will speake with me, I pray you let him not speak with mee. Whereupon all that were present did pray earnestly, at which the Spirit began to vexe him very grieuously, and swelled sore in his Chest, and, in a base sounding, and hollow voyce, uttered these words,I will, I will, I will. Then replyed the saidEdward, and said,Thou shalt not, and I charge thee in the Name of Jesus Christ that thou speak unto us, and not unto him. Then the Spirit, in a hollow voyce said,Why didst thou tell them?Then the saidEdwarddid charge the Spirit, (as aforesaid) to tell them the cause of his comming, and why he did torment his brother? To the which the Spirit answered,I come for his Soule. Then the saidEdwardsaid unto the Spirit,Wee have a warrant in the Holy Scriptures, that such as doe earnestly repent them of their sins, and turnunto God, with the only hope of Saluation, through the merits of Iesus Christ, thou mayest not have them, for Christ is his Redeemer. The Spirit uttered (in a base, hollow sounding voyce) these words,Christ, that was my Redeemer. ThenEdwardsaid,Christ that is his Redeemer, not thy Redeemer but my brotherAlexander,his Redeemer.
‘Then the Spirit said in his hollow voyce,I will haue his Soule and body too, and so began to torment and racke the sameAlexander, and disfigure him more horribly than before, forcing him to such strange and fearefull skriking, as cannot bee uttered by man’s power, and was of such strength, as, sometimes, foure or fiue men, though they had much aduantage against him by binding him to a chaire, yet could they not rule him. And in shewing that strength, he was not perceiued to pant or blow, no more than he had not strained his strength, nor strugled at all. Sometimes he would cry extreamly, so as teares would come from him in great aboundance. Presently, afterwards, hee would laugh aloude and shrill, his mouth being shut close. And sometimes, he was heaued up from the ground by force inuisible, the saidEdward Nyndge,Thomas Nyndge,Thomas Wakefield,Thomas Goldsmith,William MilesandWilliam Nyndge, Iuniorhanging upon the saidAlexander, unto the middest of the house, and the saidEdwardputting his mouth unto the eare of the said disfigured body of his brotherAlexander, said,Brother, continue in your faith, and if you goe to hell, wee will goe with you. Then the force did somewhat faile, and the hangers on drewhim to the Chaire againe. Then one of his younger brothers, namedWilliam Nyndgesaid,Wee will Keepe him from thee, thou foule Spirit, in despite of thy Nose.
‘Whereat the transformed body looked very terribly against the saidWilliam, and turned his most ugly looks unto his brotherEdward, standing on the other side, uttering these hollowe sounding words,Will you, Sir, will you, Sir. To which the saidEdwardanswered;Not I, Sir, but the merits of Iesus Christ will, we earnestly pray, keepe him from thee. Then all that were present, to the number of 20 persons, and more, fell downe and said the Lord’s Prayer, with other sentences, every one seuerally, and one of the Company uttered worde ioyningGodand the blessed virginMarytogether, whereat there came a voyce much likeAlexander’svoyce, saying twice,There bee other good Prayers. Whereunto the saidEdwardmade answere, and said,Thou lyest, for there is no other Name under Heauen whereby wee may challenge Saluation but the onely name of Christ Iesus. And then the Spirit roares with a fearefull voice, and stretched out his necke long to the Fyre; and then the saideEdwarddesiredPeter Bencham, Curate of the Towne, to coniure and charge him in the Name ofIesusthe Sonne of the Almightie, that the Spirit should declare unto them from whence hee came? And what was his Name? To which the Spirit made answere in this mumbling manner,I would come out, I would come out. ThenEdwardcharged him (as before) that he should declare his name.And the Spirit saidAubon, Aubon. They charged him then (as is aforesaid) to make knowne unto them whence hee came; and the Spirit made answere in a hollow uoyce;From Ireland, From Ireland. Then they laide the fourth Chapter of Saint Matthew against him, where Christ said,It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue. Which sentence, as it was pronounced, the hollow voyce sounded.My Master, My Master, I am his Disciple, I am his Disciple.Then they answered,Thy Master we graunt he is, but thou lyest, thou art none of his Disciple. Thou art onely an instrument and scourge to punish the wicked, so farre as pleaseth him.And then they layd unto him the eight Chapter of S. Luke, whereas Christ himselfe did cast out Deuils. And the Spirit answered hollowly,Baw-wawe, baw-wawe. And within a little space after, the body of the saideAlexanderbeing as monstrously transformed as it was before, much like the picture of the Deuill in a play, with an horrible roaring voyce, soundingHellhound, was most horribly tormented. And they that were present, fell to prayer, desiring God earnestly to take away the foule Spirit from him. The saidEdwardthen desired to haue the window opened, forI trust in God, (said hee)the fowle Spirit is wearie of our company. The windowes being opened accordingly, within two Minuts after, the tormented body returned to the true shape againe, the saidAlexanderleaping up, and holding up his hands, and sayingHee is gone, hee is gone, Lord, I thanke thee. Whereat all the people thatwere there present, fell downe on their knees with due reuerence, and yeelded unto God exceeding praise and thanksgiving. This fit ended about eleven of the clocke the same night, and so they went to Supper with great ioy and gladnesse.’
He seems to have had two or three fits afterwards, but they were of a very mild type, and the last we hear of the afflicted Alexander is: ‘After this, they took the saidAlexander, and all of them ioyfully accompany him to his brotherThomas Nyndge, his house, where, after his comming thither, hee was not knowne to be perplexed with the like terrible vexations.’
One more example of this branch of the devil’s work in Britain must suffice. We find it in
‘WONDERFUL NEWS FROM BUCKINGHAMSHIRE,
or a perfect Relation how a Young Maid hath been for Twelve Years and upwards possest with the Devil, and continues so to this very day in a Lamentable Condition. London, 1677.
or a perfect Relation how a Young Maid hath been for Twelve Years and upwards possest with the Devil, and continues so to this very day in a Lamentable Condition. London, 1677.
‘This unhappy Maid, whose strange Afflictions this sheet undertakes to give a true and impartial account of, lives atGreat Gadsdonin the County of Bucks. She is descended of honest Parents of good repute, and by them carefully educated in the Principles of Christianity; nor was there a young maid of more lovely innocent Beauty, sweet Carriage, or virtuous Disposition; or one that might have expected fairer preferment in Marriage than she: So that as there is no room for the Censures of the uncharitable, so neither, any placefor the Surmises of the incredulous, it being impossible she or any of her Relations could imagine any advantage to themselves by counterfeiting or pretending a Possession; which on the Contrary brings them onely trouble, loss, vexation, and inconveniences, and that for a dozen years together. The beginning of her affliction was thus.
‘In the year 1664, there happened to be some difference between this maid’s Father and a certain woman who had an evil name, but whether Causelessly or not, I shall not here determine, nor assert any dubious opinions of any kind; onely relate the principal Circumstances that have occurred, being matter of Fact, to which, as well myself, as scores of other people, were Eye and Ear-witnesses; and so leave every one to judge as they shall see cause, touching the Maid’s being Possest or not, and the evil Instruments that are suspected to have been accessory thereunto, when they have duely weighed the whole Discourse. This is certain, soon after the before mentioned Difference, this maid being then about Sixteen or Seventeen years of age, was taken with strange Fits, and something would rise in her throat like two great bunches, about the bigness of an Egg; and a strange voice was frequently heard within her, speakingBlasphemous words, not fit here to be repeated: And if the Hearers and Bystanders did reply to such voice, by asking any Questions that pleased him, he would answer and discourse with them; and that with a voice as different from hers as any two voices, I verily believe, in the world; she having a cleer,smooth, pleasant voice, and that being very rough, guttural, and coming, as it were from theAbdomen, or hollow of her belly, but yet intelligible: and, though I am not ignorant of a certain sort of Jugglers of old, called in LatineVentriloqui, yet as no such Art nor designe could be imagined in this innocent creature, so the things he declared (impossible, many times, for her to know) wipes off all suspitions of that kind: So that those about her generally concluded she was really and exactly possessed with the Devil, and took occasion to ask him,How he came there?to which the Evil Spirit or voice answered,Here are two of us, andthat they were sent thither by two women. The voice further said,That they were sent first to the Maid’s Father; but when they came, they found him at Prayer, and returned to those two women, and told them, they could have no permission to enter into him; whereupon they sent them to his Daughter, and that such a night, as she sat by the fire, they entred into her. Now, the Family did remember that that very night, she had, as she declared, a sudden pain that seized her, and, ever since, had continued in a bad condition, and, after a little time, the Swellings and Voice happen’d as aforesaid.
‘By which the whole Neighbourhood and Country round about, were so alarmed at the strangeness of it, that multitudes of people went to See her, and returned full of wonder and amazement, at what they had seen and heard: The report whereof coming to my ears, I did not at first believe it,but hearing it still confirmed, did, at last, go to see her myself, resolving to make my observations as warily and curiously as I could. There were, I believe, at that time, Forty or Fifty Spectators present, and in strict observation two or three hours. I was, for my own part, fully satisfied that it was a Possession, it being, as I conceive utterly impossible that those things should be acted by her or any other person living, either by the force of Nature or power of the most afflicting Distemper.
‘Her Father, being of the same opinion, and willing to use all lawful means for his only Child’s recovery, having read that passage of our Saviour’s—That kinde comes not out but by Prayer and Fasting; he resolves to use that means, and to that purpose, desired some Ministers to keep a day with him on that occasion. Having sent for them, the Devil told him,He expected five men to come, but there should only four come. This the Girl could not know of herself; yet so it happened: for one, by an unexpected accident, was prevented from coming. Thesefourdesired the assistance of several Godly Ministers and Christians in the Neighbourhood, who accordingly, met, and kept several days in Fasting and Prayer; and, according to the best judgment that could be made, one of the evil Spirits then departed, as was supposed from some accidents I shall relate by and by. I, myself, was present several of these days; First she had two great bunches rose up in her throat, and then a voice followed, uttering abominable Blasphemies; upon which, a godly Minister present,and since deceased, being stirred up with great Zeal and Indignation, going to Prayer, did earnestly beg of God, that he would plague and torment Satan for such of his Blasphemies; upon which the Spirit made a most dreadful crying, and bemoaning his condition, and said,I will do so no more: To which the Minister replied,Satan, that shall not serve thy turn: and, continuing his Prayer to God as before, the Devil again cried and roared most hideously, to the great amazement of all the people present; and, from that time, it was observed that there was but one bunch rose up in her throat, from whence it was conjectured that one of the Spirits was departed. However, one continued his possession still, and, after they had done Prayer, and were about to refresh themselves, he shewed strange tricks before them, tossing her up and down, and when she was going, took away the use of her legs, on a sudden. When she sate in a great Wicker chair, he would cause the Chair to fall down backwards, almost to the ground, and then lift it up again. One of the company bid her read in the Bible; the Devil said aloud,She shall not read: It was answered,She shall read, Satan, for all thee, and read thy Condemnation too. Whereupon, he plaid more tricks by tossing her about, and drawing her face to one side, as if it had been placed to look over her shoulder, and drawn in a very deformed manner; but, at last she read part of the 20 Chapter of theRevelations, though not without much opposition.
‘When she got upon the Horse to go home,it was a great while before she was able to get upon him, and was flung sometimes backwards, other whiles turn’d with her face to the horse’s tail, and handled very sadly; yet, ’tis observed, that he hath not much power to hurt her: for she often declares, that, being now accustomed to his tricks, and consequently not so much affrighted, the temptations he injects into her minde, are far worse than all the mischiefs he does her body.
‘At another time I was with them, when in the time of Prayer, he barked like a Dog, bellowed like a Bull, and roar’d after a wonderful frightful manner, and, on a sudden, would fling her up a great height, yet without hurte; whereupon, she, being placed in a low Chair, a man sate upon the Table side, endeavouring to hold down her head, and myself and another stood on each side, pressing down her shoulders; and though it could not be imagined so weakly a creature could naturally have half the strength of any one of us, yet she was tossed up, do what we could, and, at length, the Spirit in a desperate rage cries out,If I come out, I will kill you all. I will throw down the house, and kill you all.I answered,Satan, come out and try. He continued raging till they concluded Prayer, and then was pretty quiet.
‘There have since hapned many things considerable; I was once in her company at a house, where I was wholly unacquainted, and for aught I know, so was she; the people of the house gave us drink, and I drinking to her, she rising to make a Curtsey, he took away the use of her legs, and said,she should not drink. But when he found we were resolved to force the Cup of Beer on her, he said,There is a Well in the yard, go and drown thyself; when none of us that were strangers, knew there was such a Well.
‘He will often talk to some of the Family, or those that come to see her, and many times utter blasphemous filthy words to their great trouble: sometimes tell strange Stories to move laughter; sometimes be sullen and not speak a great while together; sometimes, he jumps her up and down, and draws her Body into a multitude of strange postures, too tedious here to be related.’
The pamphlet winds up with some pious and moral reflections, of no interest to the reader.
There is no doubt but that people verily believed that the Devil lived among them in a material shape, and we have throughout England divers of his punchbowls, dykes, quoits, and even the prehistoric flint arrow-heads were known as ‘Devil’s arrows.’ But a most singular instance of this belief is to be found in Blount’s ‘Law Dictionary’ (ed. 1717), under the wordConventio, an agreement or covenant. It is Latin, and is an extract from the Court Rolls of the Manor of Hatfield, near the isle of Axholme, in Yorkshire. It is also mentioned in the ‘Antiquarian Repertory,’ vol. ii., p. 395. The following is a translation:
‘At a court held at Hatfield on the Wednesday next after the Festival—In the 11th Year of Edward III. (1337).
‘Robert de Roderham appeared against John de Ithow, for that he had not kept the agreement made between them, and therefore complains that on a certain day and year, at Thorne, there was an agreement between the aforesaid Robert and John, whereby the said John sold to the said Robert, the Devil, bound in a certain bond, for three pence farthing, and thereupon, the said Robert delivered to the said John, one farthing, as earnest money, by which the property of the said Devil rested in the person of the said Robert, to have livery of the said Devil, on the fourth day next following: at which day the said Robert came to the forenamed John, and asked delivery of the said Devil according to the agreement between them made. But the said John refused to deliver the said Devil, nor has he yet done it, etc., to the great damage of the said Robert to the amount of 60 shillings, and he has therefore brought his suit, etc.
‘The said John came, etc., and did not deny the said agreement; and because it appeared to the Court that such a suit ought not to subsist among Christians, the aforesaid parties are therefore adjourned to the infernal regions, there to hear their judgment, and both parties were amerced, etc., by William De Scargell, Seneschal.’
The Witch of Endor—The ‘Mulier Malefica’ of Berkeley—Northern Witches.
The Witch of Endor—The ‘Mulier Malefica’ of Berkeley—Northern Witches.
Of all the extraordinary popular delusions that have existed, the wave of belief in witchcraft which flowed over this land in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is one of the most remarkable. The belief that some people have the power of exercising supernatural control over their fellow-creatures is not confined to any land, and dates from remote antiquity. But it is with the witches of Britain, and those of the Britons who emigrated from their country, that it is my province to deal.
The earliest English pictorial representation of a witch that I know of is in the Harleian MSS., 1776 (94, b), where the witch of Endor is represented as showing the ghost of Samuel to Saul. But she was a Pythoness, and did not at all come up to our idea of a witch. Nor can we exactly class in the same category the ‘Mulier Malefica’ of Berkeley, whois supposed to have been exhumed by the Devil about A.D. 852. She has been immortalized by William of Malmesbury, who says he had the story from an eye-witness, by Matthew of Westminster, by Schedel in the Nuremberg Chronicle, from whom this illustration is taken, and a short account of her is given by Olaus Magnus in his ‘Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus’ (lib. iii., c. 21), when he treats of the punishment of witches. Berkeley, however, in his hands becomes Bethelia. Southey also wrote about her.
THE OLD WOMAN OF BERKELEY.
A BALLAD, SHEWING HOW AN OLD WOMAN RODE DOUBLE, AND WHO RODE BEFORE HER.
William of Malmesbury thus gives the story: ‘(A.D. 1065) There resided at Berkeley, a woman addicted to Witchcraft, as it afterwards appeared, and skilled in ancient augury: she was excessively gluttonous, perfectly lascivious, and setting no bounds to her debaucheries, as she was not old, though fast declining in life. On a certain day, as she was regaling, a jackdaw, which was a very great favourite, chattered a little more loudly than usual. On hearing which, the woman’s knife fell from her hand, her countenance grew pale, and, deeply groaning, “This day,” said she, “my plough has completed its last furrow; to-day, I shall hear of, and suffer, some dreadful calamity.”
‘While yet speaking, the messenger of her misfortunes arrived: and, being asked why he approached with so distressed an air, “I bring news,” said he, “of the death of your son, and of the wholefamily, by a sudden accident.” At this intelligence the woman, sorely afflicted, immediately took to her bed, and, perceiving the disorder rapidly approaching her vitals, she summoned her surviving children, a monk and a nun, by hasty letters; and, when they arrived, with faltering voice, addressed them thus: “Formerly, my children, I constantly administered to my wretched circumstances by demoniacal arts: I have been the sink of every vice, the teacher of every allurement: yet, while practising these crimes, I was accustomed to soothe my hapless soul with the hope of your piety. Despairing of myself, I rested my expectations on you: I advanced you as my defenders against evil spirits, my safeguards against my strongest foes. Now, since I have approached the end of my life, and shall have those eager to punish, who lured me to sin, I entreat you, by your mother’s breast, if you have any regard, any affection, at least to endeavour to alleviate my torments; and, although you cannot revoke the sentence already passed upon my soul, yet you may, perhaps, rescue my body by these means.
‘“Sew up my Corpse in the skin of a stag; lay it on its back in a stone Coffin; fasten down the lid with lead and iron; on this lay a stone, bound round with three iron chains of enormous weight; let there be psalms sung for fifty nights, and masses said for an equal number of days, to allay the ferocious attacks of my adversaries. If I lie thus secure for three nights; on the fourth day, bury your mother in the ground; although, I fear, lest the earth, which has been so often burdened withmy crimes, should refuse to receive and cherish me in her bosom.”
‘They did their utmost to comply with her injunctions: but, alas! vain were pious tears, vows, or entreaties; so great was the woman’s guilt, so great the devil’s violence. For, on the two first nights, while the choir of priests was singing psalms around the body, the devils, one by one, with the utmost ease bursting open the door of the Church, though closed with an immense bolt, broke asunder the two outer chains: the middle one, being more laboriously wrought, remained entire. On the third night, about cock-crow, the whole monastery seemed to be overthrown from its very foundation, by the clamour of the approaching enemy.
‘One devil, more terrible in appearance than the rest, and of loftier stature, broke the gates to shivers by the violence of his attack. The priests grew motionless with fear, their hair stood on end, and they became speechless. He proceeded, as it appeared, with haughty steps, towards the Coffin; and, calling on the woman by name, commanded her to rise. She, replying that she could not, on account of the chains: “You shall be loosed,” said he, “and to your cost;” and, directly, he broke the chain, which had mocked the ferocity of the others, with as little exertion as though it had been made of flax. He also beat down the cover of the Coffin with his foot; and, taking her by the hand, before them all, he dragged her out of the church.
‘At the doors appeared a black horse, proudly neighing, with iron hooks projecting over his wholeback; on which the wretched creature was placed, and, immediately, with the whole party vanished from the eyes of the beholders: her pitiable cries for assistance being heard for nearly the space of four miles.’
The Northern witches came nearer to our modern ones, and seem, if we can believe Olaus Magnus, to have been very powerful.[23]
‘OF WOMAN WITCHES.
‘I shall shew you by a few Examples, how cunning some Women were formerly amongst theNorthernpeople inMagical Art.Hugbert, Daughter toVagnostusthe Giant, was wont to change her stature at pleasure; sometimes she was very great; sometimes less; sometimes exceeding small; sometimes wither’d faced; sometimes beautiful: sometimes she was as tall as the sky; sometimes so short as a Pygmy; and she was supposed to be able to pull down the Heavens, to lift up the Earth; to harden Fountains, to melt Mountains; to lift ships into the Ayr; to pull down the Gods; to extinguish the Stars, and to make Hell a light place.
‘WhenHadingusthe King was at Supper, another Woman of the same Art, who carried pipes, was seen to lift up her head above the ground before the fire; and stretching out her bosome, she seemed to ask in what part of the World so new green Reeds grew; the King, that desired to know the matter, was carryed by her under ground, wrapt in his own Cloak: and, having shewn unto him the Monsters of the Infernal Regions, she restored him back to the Earth again.
‘Cvaca, a Woman ofNorway, that desired to know the future fortune of her SonRollerus, provided Water-grewel, and into this, she dropt the venemous moysture of three Land-Snakes, that were hung up above by a small Twig. ButEricus, son in law toCvacatook to himself the Dish that was provided for her sonRollerus, and he, being refreshed with this happy meat, by the internal operation of it, arrived to the highest pitch of man’s wisdome. For the force of this meat bred in him the Knowledge of all Sciences beyond belief; so that he could understand the meaning of the cryes of Birds and Wild Beasts. Besides, he was so eloquent and curious in his speech, that whatsoever he pleased to discourse of, he would constantly illustrate it with pleasant Proverbs. By his counsel KingFrothoovercame the Army of the mightyHuns, that was assisted by 170 Kings. And, at length,Gestilblindus, King of theGoths, made thisEricusheir to himself, and to the Kingdome ofSweden; and that about the time of Christ’s Nativity.
‘But KingFrotho, being lunged at by a Witchthat turned into an Oxe, was slain by her upon a certain Sea-coast.Guthrunasuddenly blinded the forces of KingLarmericus, and made them fight one against another. An earthen pot useth to be the common Instrument of Witches, wherein they boyl their Myces, Herbs, Worms, and Entrals, and by that Witchery meat, they allure idle persons to them, and make ships, horses, and horsemen, to be as swift as a boyling pot.’
‘OF THE CONJURERS AND WITCHES IN FINLAND.
‘Also, I shall show very briefly what force Conjurers and Witches have in constraining the elements, enchanted by them or others, that they may exceed or fall short of their Natural Order: premising this, that the extream land of theNorth FinlandandLapland, was so taught Witchcraft formerly in the Heathenish times, as if they had learned this Cursed Art fromZoroastesthePersian; though other inhabitants by the Sea Coasts are reported to be bewitched with the same madness; and in this, and other such-like mischief, they commonlyagree. TheFinlanders[24]were wont formerly, amongst their other Errors of Gentil issue, to sell Winds to Merchants that were stopt on their Coasts by contrary weather; and, when they had their price, they knit three Magical Knots, not like to the Laws ofCassius, bound up with a Thong, and they gave them unto the Merchants; observing that rule, that when they unloosed the first, they should have a good gale of wind; when the second, a stronger wind; but, when they untied the third, they should have such cruel Tempests, that they should not be able to look out of the Forecastle, to avoid the Rocks, nor move a foot to pull down the Sails, nor stand at the helm to govern the ship: and they made an unhappy trial of the truth of it, who denied that there was any such power in those knots.’[25]
OF THE MAGICAL INSTRUMENTS OF BOTHNIA.
‘They that desire to know the state of their Frends or Foes, at a very great distance from them,five hundred be it, or a thousand miles off, they enquire of aLaplanderorFinlander, who is skilled in this matter, giving him a gift (namely, some Linnen Garment, or Girdle;) Whereupon he goes into his Conclave, content with one companion, or his wife, and he beats upon a frog of brass, or Serpent, with a hammer upon an anvil, so many strokes as are prescribed; and, by mumbling of charms he turns it up and down; and, presently falling, he is ravished into an extasie, and he lies a short time, as if he were dead. In the meanwhile he is safely guarded by his fore said Companion, lest any Living Creature, Gnat or Fly, or other Animal might touch him; for by the power of his Charms, his spirit, by the misleading of Devils, brings from far some token (namely, a Ring or a Knife), for a testimony of his Embassie or Commission fulfilled. And, presently, rising up, he declares the same signs to him that hired him, with the rest of the Circumstances.’
This illustration is from ‘The History of Witches and Wizards’ (1700 ?), and shows a Northern witch raising a storm by means of a pump, whilst a Laplander in hiskayackrides in safety.