[104] The following ravings of epilepsy, or of whatever was
the disorder of the girl, are part of the evidence of Dr.
Donington, clergyman in the town, and were narrated and
could be received as grave evidence in a court of justice.
They will serve as a specimen of the rest. The girl and the
spirit known as _Catch_ are engaged in the little by-play.
'After supper, as soon as her parents were risen, she fell
into the same fit again as before, and then became
senseless, and in a little time, opening her mouth, she
said, "Will this hold for ever? I hope it will be better one
day. From whence come you now, Catch, limping? I hope you
have met with your match." Catch answered that Smack and he
had been fighting, and that Smack had broken his leg. Said
she, "That Smack is a shrewd fellow; methinks I would I
could see him. Pluck came last night with his head broke,
and now you have broken your leg. I hope he will break both
your necks before he hath done with you." Catch answered
that he would be even with him before he had done. Then,
said she, "Put forth your other leg, and let me see if I can
break that," having a stick in her hand. The spirit told her
she could not hit him. "Can I not hit you?" said she; "let
me try." Then the spirit put forth his leg, and she lifted
up the stick easily, and suddenly struck the ground.... So
she seemed divers times to strike at the spirit; but he
leaped over the stick, as she said, like a Jackanapes. So
after many such tricks the spirit went away, and she came
out of her fit, continuing all that night and the next day
very sick and full of pain in her legs.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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