Among the _characters_, of which the seventeenth century writers were so fond, the projector is a favorite figure. John Taylor,[81] the water-poet, furnishes us with a cartoon entitled ‘The complaint of M. Tenterhooke the _Projector_ and Sir _T_homas Dodger the Patentee’. In the rimes beneath the picture the distinction between the projector, who ‘had the Art to cheat the Common-weale’, and the patentee, who was possessed of ‘tricks and slights to pass the seale’, is brought out with especial distinctness. Samuel Butler’s character[82] of the projector is of less importance, since it was not published until 1759. The real importance of Jonson’s satire lies in the fact that it appeared in the midst of the most active discussion on the subject of monopolies. Drummond says that he was ‘accused upon’ the play, and that the King ‘desired him to conceal it’.[83] Whether the subject which gave offense was the one which we have been considering or that of witchcraft, it is, however, impossible to determine. [73] Letters to John Kempe, 1331, Rymer’s _Foedera_; Hulme, _Law Quarterly Rev._, vol. 12. [74] Cunningham, _Eng. Industry_, Part I, p. 75. [75] D’Ewes, _Complete Journal of the Houses of Lords and Commons_, p. 646. [76] Cunningham, p. 21. [77] Craik 2. 24. Rushworth, _Collection_ 1. 24. [78] For a more detailed account of the drainage of the Lincolnshire fens see Cunningham, pp. 112-119. [79] Cf. Dekker, _Non-dram. Wks._ 3. 367. [80] _Muse’s Looking Glass_, _O. Pl._ 9. 180 (cited by Gifford). [81] _Works_, 1641, reprinted by the Spenser Society. [82] _Character Writings_, ed. Morley, p. 350. [83] See p. xix. 3. _Witchcraft_ Witchcraft in Jonson’s time was not an outworn belief, but a living issue. It is remarkable that the persecutions which followed upon this terrible delusion were comparatively infrequent during the Middle Ages, and reached their maximum only in the seventeenth century. The first English Act against witchcraft after the Norman Conquest was passed in 1541 (33 Hen. VIII. c. 8). This Act, which was of a general nature, and directed against various kinds of sorceries, was followed by another in 1562 (5 Eliz. c. 16). At the accession of James I. in 1603 was passed 1 Jac. I. c. 12, which continued law for more than a century.