Witchcraft -- England; Witchcraft -- Great Britain; Witchcraft -- Scotland
That some one else was soon found; for there was Will Somers, a lad living
with Mr. Brakenbury at Ashby-de-la-Zouch during the time of Mr. Darrel's
ministry there, who was now at Nottingham, and one of the most
accomplished demoniacs of the day. Nothing would satisfy Will but that Mr.
Darrel should be sent for to cast the devil out of him. He had known of
his prowess with Katherine Wright, and the Starkies, and the Boy of
Burton, and why should he not glorify God and the Puritans as well in
Nottingham as in Lancashire? Accordingly, that gentleman was sent for on
the 5th of November, 1597, and the farce began. Before Mr. Darrel even saw
the lad he said he was possessed, and he said the same thing to
himself--counterfeiting or illness being of course put out of court; and
he described to the bystanders in what shape the devil would appear when
driven out of the lad--for he would make himself visible to them if they
had but faith and courage and patience to see the end, and if they would
not be terrified when the boy "scriehed or cryed aloude in a strange and
supernaturall manner; sometimes roaring fearfullye lyke a beare, and
crying like a swyne." The shapes, then, in which he would go were
these--"a Mouse, a Man with a Hunch-back higher than his Head, an ugly Man
with a white Beard, a Crow's Head round, a great Breath, ugly like a Toad,
an Urchin, &c." And he told them, also in the lad's hearing, of what other
possessed persons had done: how they had cast themselves into fire or
water, gnashed with their teeth, writhed with their necks, and drawn their
mouths awry, foaming. Then he said that Will Somers was afflicted for the
sins of Nottingham, and God had made even the devil a preacher to deter
them from them; whereat Will acted by signs all the sins of Nottingham,
and Mr. Darrel explained them to the people as he went on. With such a
master as this, it was no difficult matter for the pupil to succeed. Two
sermons were preached on his behalf. During Mr. Aldred's he lay still,
excepting a little struggle now and then: this was to show that Mr. Aldred
was not powerful as a Man of God. But when Mr. Darrel began, he roused
himself up, and on his describing the fourteen signs of Possession one
after the other, acted them all to the life as he told them off. "He tore;
he foamed; he wallowed; his Face was drawn awry; his Eyes would stare and
his Tongue hang out; he had a Swelling would seem to run from his Forehead
down by his Ear and Throat, and through his Belly and Thighs, to the Calf
of his Legs; he would speak with his Mouth scarce moving; and when they
looked his Tongue would seem drawn down his Throat; he would try to cast
himself into the Fire and Water; he would seem heavy that they could not
lift him, and his Joints stiff that they could not bend them." And when
Mr. Darrel further exhorted them all to stand firm, and they would see the
glory of God in the dispossession, he cried and rended and laid as if
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account