hir Husband was that he came not she answered there was a young bairne at home and that they could not both come.'[817] Capital punishment was reserved for traitors, actual and potential. It must have been brought into use only after the cult had fallen upon evil days, and then only when the Chief himself was in danger. Beating to death, hanging, and poison were the usual means of execution. The earliest instance occurred in 1450, when the Church had begun to use its power systematically against the witches. 'The Inquisitor of Como, Bartolomeo de Homate, the podestà Lorenzo da Carorezzo, and the notary Giovanni da Fossato, either out of curiosity or because they doubted the witches whom they were trying, went to a place of assembly at Mendrisio and witnessed the scene from a hiding-place. The presiding demon pretended not to know their presence, and in due course dismissed the assembly, but suddenly recalled his followers and set them on the officials, who were so beaten that they died within fifteen days.'[818] Alesoun Peirson (1588) was burnt as a witch, having gained her knowledge from the fairies, who threatened that 'gif scho wald speik and tell of thame and thair doingis, thay sould martir hir'.[819] The Lorraine witches (1589) took an oath of silence, 'welchen Eyd sie so hoch und heilig halten, dass wenn sie Eydbrüchig werden, so darfür halten, also ob sie ewig darumb musten verdampt und gestrafft seyn.'[820] Alice Gooderidge, the Derbyshire witch (1597), was tried for witchcraft, 'she should haue bin executed, but that her spirit killed her in the prison.'[821] Jeannette d'Abadie (1609) was more fortunate than most in that she was not killed, 'elle a esté battue au sabbat reellement & corporellemẽt par deux sorcieres qu'elle nomme, par ce qu'elle auoit reuelé les mysteres du sabbat.'[822] John Stewart, the 'juglour' of Irvine (1618)—