A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718Notestein, Wallace
History
A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718
Notestein, Wallace
Witchcraft -- England -- History
_A strange and true Relation of a Young Woman possest with the Devill.
By name Joyce Dovey dwelling at Bewdley neer Worcester ... as it was
certified in a Letter from Mr. James Dalton unto Mr. Tho. Groome,
Ironmonger over against Sepulchres Church in London.... Also a Letter
from Cambridge, wherein is related the late conference between the Devil
(in the shape of a Mr. of Arts) and one Ashbourner, a Scholler of S.
Johns Colledge ... who was afterwards carried away by him and never
heard of since onely his Gown found in the River_, London, 1647. In the
first narrative a woman after hearing a sermon fell into fits. The
second narrative was probably based upon a combination of facts and
rumor.
_The Full Tryals, Examination and Condemnation of Four Notorious
Witches, At the Assizes held in Worcester on Tuseday the 4th of March
... As also Their Confessions and last Dying Speeches at the place of
Execution, with other Amazing Particulars ..._, London, printed by "I.
W.," no date. Another edition of this pamphlet (in the Bodleian) bears
the date 1700 and was printed for "J. M." in Fleet street. This is a
most interesting example of a made-to-order witch pamphlet. The preface
makes one suspect its character: "the following narrative coming to my
hand." The accused were Rebecca West, Margaret Landis, Susan Cook, and
Rose Hallybread. Now, all these women were tried at Chelmsford in 1645,
and their examinations and confessions printed in _A true and exact
Relation_. The wording has been changed a little, several things have
been added, but the facts are similar; see _A true and exact
Relation_,10, 11, 13-15, 27. When the author of the Worcester pamphlet
came to narrate the execution he wandered away from his text and
invented some new particulars. The women were "burnt at the stak." They
made a "yelling and howling." Two of them were very "stubborn and
refractory." _Cf._ below, § 10.
_The Devill seen at St. Albans, Being a true Relation How the Devill was
seen there in a Cellar, in the likenesse of a Ram; and how a Butcher
came and cut his throat, and sold some of it, and dressed the rest for
himselfe, inviting many to supper_ ..., 1648. A clever lampoon.
§ 5.--Commonwealth and Protectorate (see ch. IX).
_The Divels Delusions or A faithfull relation of John Palmer and
Elizabeth Knott two notorious Witches lately condemned at the Sessions
of Oyer and Terminer in St. Albans ..._, 1649. The narrative purports to
be taken from a letter sent from St. Alban's. It deals with the
practices of two good witches who were finally discovered to be black
witches. The tale has no outside confirmation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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