Another kind of punishment, to extort a confession, was what was called “Waking” the witch. An iron bridle or hoop was placed cross-wise of her face with four prongs, penetrating the mouth. The hoop was fastened to the wall at the back of the head, so that the prisoner could not lie down. She was kept in this position sometimes for several days, attendants constantly prodding her, to keep her awake.[29] In 1664 the venerable Sir Mathew Hale, condemned Amy Duny and Rose Cullender, to be burned at the stake in St. Edmondsbury, upon the most flimsy kind of proof, offered to establish this imaginary crime.[30] When these two old women went to a shop to purchase herring, their ugliness caused them to be insulted, and they resented it. The daughter of the owner of the store was afflicted with epilepsy and the women were charged with having bewitched her. She was blind-folded and when they touched her, her imagination and nervousness was such that she was thrown into a fit and this was received as proof positive of her bewitchment and the fact that she also was thrown into a fit, when similarly blind-folded, when others than the accused persons touched her, was held incompetent as evidence in their favor. Upon the evidence of Samuel Pacey, the girl’s father, Margaret Arnold, her aunt, and Thomas Brown, as an expert witness upon Witchcraft, the learned Sir Mathew Hale charged the jury to ascertain from the evidence, first, whether or not the persons charged were actually bewitched and if so, whether or not the prisoners had actually bewitched her. He personally told the jury that he had no doubt of the fact that witches existed, first because the Scriptures affirmed it and, secondly, because the laws of the country recognized it. The jury promptly returned a verdict of guilty and the girl and her father called the next morning to see Sir Mathew Hale and advised him that the complete recovery of the girl followed within a half hour after the verdict of conviction against the prisoners.[31] Eleven cases of witchcraft were tried before Chief-Justice Holt, between 1694 and 1701, but sentiment was changing toward this offense, by this time and this rugged and astute lawyer made such an appeal to the jury, in each case, that all the defendants were acquitted.[32] Jane Wenham, known as the “Witch of Walkerne,” was tried and convicted before Lord Chief-Justice Powell, in 1711, upon the most fanciful and ridiculous kind of evidence, but she was pardoned, before her execution.[33] In 1716, however, a woman and her daughter only nine years old, were tried and convicted of sorcery, at Huntingdon, because they had washed their stockings and made a lather of soap and raised a storm and for this terrible offense they were both hanged.[34] But this was the last judicial execution for witchcraft in England, although many prisoners were charged with the crime, between this date and the year 1736, when the statute of James I. was repealed.[35]