Discovery of Witches: The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of LancasterPotts, Thomas, active 1612-1618
History
Discovery of Witches: The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster
Potts, Thomas, active 1612-1618
Preston, Jennet, -1612; Witchcraft -- England -- Lancashire
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, Duchess 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 God 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 compass 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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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