Discovery of Witches Part 24

_Saw._ Work on his corn and cattle then.

_Dog._ I shall.

The WITCH OF EDMONTON shall see his fall.

_Ford's Plays_, edit. 1839, p. 190.

B 3 _a_. "_Alizon Device._"] Device is merely the common name Davies spelled as p.r.o.nounced in the neighbourhood of Pendle.

B 3 _b_. "_Is to make a picture of clay._"]

_Hecate._ What death is't you desire for Almachildes?

_d.u.c.h.ess._ A sudden and a subtle.

_Hecate._ Then I've fitted you.

Here be the gifts of both; sudden and subtle: His picture made in wax and gently molten By a blue fire kindled with dead men's eyes Will waste him by degrees.

_d.u.c.h.ess._ In what time, prithee?

_Hecate._ Perhaps in a moon's progress.

_Middleton's Witch_, edit. 1778, p. 100.

None of the offices in the Witches rubric had higher cla.s.sical warrant than this method, a favourite one, it appears, of Mother Demdike, but in which Anne Redfern had the greatest skill of any of these Pendle witches, of victimizing by moulding and afterwards p.r.i.c.king or burning figures of clay representing the individual whose life was aimed at.

Horace, Lib. i. Sat. 8, mentions both waxen and woollen images--

Lanea et effigies erat altera cerea, &c.

And it appears from Tacitus, that the death of Germanicus was supposed to have been sought by similar practices. By such a Simulachrum, or image, the person was supposed to be devoted to the infernal deities.

According to the Platonists, the effect produced arose from the operation of the sympathy and synergy of the Spiritus Munda.n.u.s, (which Plotinus calls [Greek: ton megan goeta] [Transcriber's Note: typo "t"

for "ton" in original Greek], the grand magician,) such as they resolve the effect of the weaponsalve and other magnetic cures into. The following is the Note in Brand on this part of witchcraft:--

King James, in his "Daemonology," book ii., chap. 5, tells us, that "the Devil teacheth how to make pictures of wax or clay, that, by roasting thereof, the persons that they bear the name of may be continually melted or dried away by continual sickness."

See Servius on the 8th Eclogue of Virgil; Theocritus, Idyll, ii., 22; Hudibras, part II., canto ii., l. 351.

Ovid says:

"Devovet absentes, simulachraque cerea figit Et miserum tenues in jecur urget acus."

_Heroid._ Ep. vi., l. 91.

See also "Grafton's Chronicle," p. 587, where it is laid to the charge (among others) of Roger Bolinbrook, a cunning necromancer, and Margery Jordane, the cunning Witch of Eye, that they, at the request of Eleanor, d.u.c.h.ess of Gloucester, had devised an image of wax, representing the king, (Henry the Sixth,) which by their sorcery a little and a little consumed; intending thereby in conclusion to waste and destroy the king's person. Shakspeare mentions this, Henry VI., P. II., act i., sc. 4.

It appears, from Strype's "Annals of the Reformation,", vol.

i., p. 8, under anno 1558, that Bishop Jewel, preaching before the queen, said, "It may please your grace to understand that witches and sorcerers within these few last years are marvellously increased within your grace's realm.

Your grace's subjects pine away, even unto the death; their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is benumbed, their senses are bereft. I pray G.o.d they never practise _further than upon the subject_." "This," Strype adds, "I make no doubt was the occasion of bringing in a bill, the next parliament, for making enchantments and witchcraft felony." One of the bishop's strong expressions is, "_These eyes have seen_ most evident and manifest marks of their wickedness."

It appears from the same work, vol. iv., p. 6, sub anno 1589, that "one Mrs. Dier had practised conjuration against the queen, to work some mischief to her majesty; for which she was brought into question: and accordingly her words and doings were sent to Popham, the queen's attorney, and Egerton, her solicitor, by Walsingham, the secretary, and Sir Thomas Heneage, her vice-chamberlain, for their judgment, whose opinion was that Mrs. Dier was not within the compa.s.s of the statute touching witchcraft, for that she did no act, and spake certain lewd speeches tending to that purpose, but neither set figure nor made pictures." _Ibid._, vol. ii., p. 545, sub anno 1578, Strype says: "Whether it were the effect of magic, or proceeded from some natural cause, but the queen was in some part of this year under excessive anguish _by pains of her teeth_, insomuch that she took no rest for divers nights, and endured very great torment night and day."

Andrews, in his "Continuation of Henry's History of Great Britain," 4to, p. 93, tells us, speaking of Ferdinand, Earl of Derby, who in the reign of Queen Elizabeth died by poison, "The credulity of the age attributed his death to witchcraft. The disease was odd, and operated as a perpetual emetic; and a _waxen image, with hair like that of the unfortunate earl_, found in his chamber, reduced every suspicion to certainty."

"The wife of Marshal d'Ancre was apprehended, imprisoned, and beheaded for a witch, upon a surmise that she had inchanted the queen to dote upon her husband; and they say the young king's picture was found in her closet, in virgin wax, with one leg melted away. When asked by her judges what spells she had made use of to gain so powerful an ascendancy over the queen, she replied, 'that ascendancy only which strong minds ever gain over weak ones.'" Seward's "Anecdotes of some Distinguished Persons," &c., vol. ii., p. 215.

Blagrave, in his "Astrological Practice of Physick," p. 89, observes that "the way which the witches usually take for to afflict man or beast in this kind is, as I conceive, done by image or model, made in the likeness of that man or beast they intend to work mischief upon, and by the subtlety of the devil made at such hours and times when it shall work most powerfully upon them, by thorn, pin, or needle, p.r.i.c.ked into that limb or member of the body afflicted."

This is farther ill.u.s.trated by a pa.s.sage in one of Daniel's Sonnets:

"The slie inchanter, when to work his will And secret wrong on some forspoken wight, Frames waxe, in forme to represent aright The poore unwitting wretch he meanes to kill, And p.r.i.c.kes the image, framed by magick's skill, Whereby to vex the partie day and night."

_Son. 10; from Poems and Sonnets annexed to "Astrophil and Stella_," 4to, 1591.

Again, in "Diaria, or the Excellent Conceitful Sonnets of H.C.," (Henry Constable,) 1594:

"Witches, which some murther do intend, Doe make a picture, and doe shoote at it; And in that part where they the picture hit, The parties self doth languish to his end."

_Decad. II., Son. ii._

Coles, in his "Art of Simpling," &c., p. 66, says that witches "take likewise the roots of mandrake, according to some, or, as I rather suppose, the _roots of briony_, which simple folke take for the true mandrake, and make thereof an ugly image, by which they represent the person on whom they intend to exercise their witchcraft." He tells us, _ibid._, p. 26, "Some plants have roots with a number of threads, like beards, as mandrakes, whereof witches and impostors make an ugly image, giving it the form of the face at the top of the root, and leave those strings to make a broad beard down to the feet."--_Brand's Antiquities_, vol. iii.

p. 9.

Ben Johnson has not forgotten this superst.i.tion in his learned and fanciful _Masque of Queens_, in which so much of the lore of witchcraft is embodied. There are few finer things in English poetry than his 3rd Charm:--

The owl is abroad, the bat, and the toad, And so is the cat-a-mountain, The ant and the mole sit both in a hole, And the frog peeps out o' the fountain; The dogs they do bay, and the timbrels play, The spindle is now a turning; The moon it is red, and the stars are fled, But all the sky is a burning: The ditch is made, and our nails the spade, _With pictures full, of wax and of wool; Their livers I stick, with needles quick;_ There lacks but the blood, to make up the flood.

Quickly, dame, then bring your part in, Spur, spur upon little Martin, Merrily, merrily, make him sail, A worm in his mouth, and a thorn in his tail, Fire above, and fire below, With a whip in your hand, to make him go.

_Ben Johnson's Works, by Gifford_, vol. vii. p. 121.

Meric Casaubon, who is always an amusing writer, and whose works, notwithstanding his appet.i.te for the wonderful, do not merit the total oblivion into which they have fallen, is very angry with Jerome Cardan, an author not generally given to scepticism, for the hesitation he displays on the subject of these waxen images:--

I know some who question not the power of devils or witches; yet in this particular are not satisfied how such a thing can be. For there is no relation or sympathy in nature, (saith one, who hath written not many years ago,) between a man and his effigies, that upon the p.r.i.c.king of the one the other should grow sick. It is upon another occasion that he speaks it; but his exception reacheth this example equally.

A wonder to me he should so argue, who in many things hath very well confuted the incredulity of others, though in some things too credulous himself. If we must believe nothing but what we can reduce to natural, or, to speak more properly, (for I myself believe the devil doth very little, but by nature, though to us unknown,) manifest causes, he doth overthrow his own grounds, and leaves us but very little of magical operations to believe. But of all men, Cardan had least reason to except against this kind of magick as ridiculous or incredible, who himself is so full of incredible stories in that kind, upon his own credit alone, that they had need to be of very easie belief that believe him, especially when they know (whereof more afterwards) what manner of man he was. But I dare say, that from Plato's time, who, among other appurtenances of magic, doth mention these, [Greek: kerina mimemata] [Transcriber's Note: typo "mimkmata" for "mimemata" in original Greek] that is, as Ovid doth call them, _Simulachra cerea_, or as Horace, _cereas imagines_, (who also in another place more particularly describes them,) there is not any particular rite belonging to that art more fully attested by histories of all ages than this is. Besides, who doth not know that it is the devil's fas.h.i.+on (we shall meet with it afterwards again) to amuse his servants and va.s.sals with many rites and ceremonies, which have certainly no ground in nature, no relation or sympathy to the thing, as for other reasons, so to make them believe, they have a great hand in the production of such and such effects; when, G.o.d knows, many times all that they do, though taught and instructed by him, is nothing at all to the purpose, and he, in very deed, is the only agent, by means which he doth give them no account of. Bodinus, in his preface to his "Daemonology," relateth, that three waxen images, whereof one of Queen Elizabeth's, of glorious memory, and two other, _Reginae proximorum_, of two courtiers, of greatest authority under the queen, were found in the house of a priest at Islington, a magician, or so reputed, to take away their lives. This he doth repeat again in his second book, chap. 8, but more particularly that it was in the year of the Lord 1578, and that Legatus Angliae and many Frenchmen did divulge it so; but withal, in both places he doth add, that the business was then under trial, and not yet perfectly known. I do not trust my memory: I know my age and my infirmities. Cambden, I am sure, I have read; and read again; but neither in him, nor in Bishop Carleton's "Thankful Remembrancer," do I remember any such thing. Others may, perchance. Yet, in the year 1576, I read in both of some pictures, representing some that would have kill'd that glorious queen with a motto, _Quorsum haec, alio properantibus!_ which pictures were made by some of the conspiracy for their incouragement; but intercepted, and showed, they say, to the queen. Did the time agree, it is possible these pictures might be the ground of those mistaken, if mistaken, waxen images, which I desire to be taught by others who can give a better account.--_Casaubon's (M.) Treatise, proving Spirits, Witches, and Supernatural Operations_, 1672. 12mo., p. 92.

In Scotland this practice was in high favour with witches, both in ancient and modern times. The lamentable story of poor King Duff, as related by Hector Boethius, a story which has blanched the cheek and spoiled the rest of many a youthful reader, is too well known to need extracting. Even so late as 1676, Sir George Maxwell, of Pollock, (See Scott's _Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft_, p. 323,) apparently a man of melancholy and valetudinarian habits, believed himself bewitched to death by six witches, one man and five women, who were leagued for the purpose of tormenting a clay image in his likeness.

Five of the accused were executed, and the sixth only escaped on account of extreme youth.

Isabel Gowdie, the famous Scotch witch before referred to, in her confessions gives a very particular account of the mode in which these images were manufactured. It is curious, and worth quoting:--

_Johne Taylor_ and _Janet Breadhead_, his wyff, in Bellnakeith, _Bessie Wilsone_, in Aulderne, and _Margret Wilsone_, spows to _Donald Callam_ in Aulderne, and I, maid an pictur of clay, to distroy _the Laird of Parkis_ meall[62] children. _Johne Taylor_ browght hom the clay, in his plaid newk;[63] his wyff brak it verie small, lyk meall,[64] and sifted it with a siew,[65] and powred in water among it, in _the Divellis_ nam, and vrought it werie sore, lyk rye-bowt;[66] and maid of it a pictur of _the Lairdis_ sones. It haid all the pairtis and merkis of a child, such as heid, eyes, nose, handis, foot, mowth, and little lippes. It wanted no mark of a child; and the handis of it folded down by its sydes. It was lyk a pow,[67] or a flain gryce.[68] We laid the face of it to the fyre, till it strakned;[69] and a cleir fyre round abowt it, till it ves read lyk a cole.[70] After that, we wold rest it now and then; each other day[71] ther wold be an piece of it weill rosten. _The Laird of Parkis_ heall maill children by it ar to suffer, if it be not gotten and brokin, als weill as thes that ar borne and dead alreadie. It ves still putt in and taken out of the fyre, in _the Divellis_ name. It wes hung wp wpon an knag. It is yet in _Johne Taylor's_ hows, and it hes a cradle of clay abowt it. Onlie _Johne Taylor_ and his wyff, _Janet Breadhead_, _Bessie_ and _Margret Wilsones_ in Aulderne, and _Margret Brodie_, thair, and I, were onlie at the making of it. All the mult.i.tud of our number of WITCHES, of all the COEVENS, kent[72] all of it, at owr nixt meitting after it was maid.

The wordis which we spak, quhan we maid the pictur, for distroyeing of _the Laird of Parkis_ meall-children, wer thus:

'IN THE DIVELLIS nam, we powr in this water among this mowld (meall,)[73]

For lang duyning and ill heall; We putt it into the fyre, That it mey be brunt both stik and stowre.

It salbe brunt, with owr will, As any stikle[74] wpon a kill.'

THE DIVELL taught ws the wordis; and quhan ve haid learned them, we all fell downe wpon owr bare kneyis, and owr hair abowt owr eyes, and owr handis lifted wp, looking steadfast wpon THE DIVELL, still saying the wordis thryse ower, till it wes maid. And then, in THE DIVELLIS nam, we did put it in, in the midst of the fyre. Efter it had skrukned[75] a little before the fyre, and quhan it ves read lyk a coale, we took it owt in THE DIVELLIS nam. Till it be broken, it will be the deathe of all the meall children that _the Laird of Park_ will ewer get. Cast it ower an Kirk, it will not brak quhill[76] it be broken with an aix, or som such lyk thing, be a man's handis. If it be not broken, it will last an hundreth yeir. It hes ane cradle about it of clay, to preserue it from skaith;[77] and it wes rosten each vther day, at the fyr; som tymes on pairt of it, som tymes an vther pairt of it; it vold be a litle wat with water, and then rosten. The bairn vold be brunt and rosten, ewin as it ves by ws.--_Pitcairne's Criminal Trials_, Vol. iii. pp. 605 and 612.

[Footnote 62: Male.]

[Footnote 63: In the nook, or corner, of his plaid.]