[118] Mr. Baines, in his _History of Lancashire_ (vol. iii. p. 760), says that in Wavertree is an ancient well with a rude, unintelligible inscription, of the date of 1414, which is thus _charitably_ rendered by the villagers:-- "He that hath, and won't bestow, The Devil will reckon with him below." Or, "He who here does not bestow, The Devil laughs at him below." [119] "Agmond," in _Notes and Queries_, vol. vi. p. 305. [120] Baines's _History of Lancashire_, vol. iii. p. 497. [121] _Medii Ævi Kalendarium._ WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. In the lore of these subjects no county in England is richer than Lancashire. The subject is a large one, and may even be said to include all the cases of demoniacal possession described in the earlier pages of this volume, since all these alleged possessions were the result of malice and (so-called) witchcraft. Indeed it is not easy to separate these two superstitious beliefs in their practical operation; witchcraft being the supposed cause, and demoniacal possession the imagined effect. The reader will find much, bearing on both branches of the subject, under both titles. WITCHCRAFT IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. The first distinct charge of witchcraft in any way connected with this county, is that of the wife of the good Duke Humphrey, Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, the associate of Roger Bolingbroke, the priest and necromancer, and Margery Jourdain, the witch of Eye. The Duke of Gloucester, uncle and protector to the king, having become obnoxious to the predominant party, they got up in 1441 a strange prosecution. The Duchess of Gloucester, Eleanor, the daughter of Lord Cobham, a lady of haughty carriage and ambitious mind, being attached to the prevailing superstitions of the day, was accused of the crime of witchcraft "for that she, by sorcery and enchantment, intended to destroy the king, to the intent to advance and promote her husband to the crown."[122] It was alleged against her and her associates, Sir Roger Bolingbroke, a priest, and chaplain to the Duke, (who was addicted to astrology,) and Margery Jourdain, the witch of Eye, that they had in their possession a wax figure of the king, which they melted by a magical device before a slow fire, with the intention of wasting away his force and vigour by insensible degrees. The imbecile mind of Henry was sensibly affected by this wicked invention; and the Duchess of Gloucester, on being brought to trial (in St. Stephen's Chapel, before the Archbishop of Canterbury) and found guilty of the design to destroy the king and his ministers by the agency of witchcraft, was sentenced to do public penance in three places within the city of London, and to suffer perpetual imprisonment. Her confederates were condemned to death and executed, Margery Jourdain being burnt to death in Smithfield. The duchess, after enduring the ignominy of her public penance, rendered peculiarly severe by the