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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on
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-Title: A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on Witchcraft and the Second Sight
-       With an Original Essay on Witchcraft
-
-Author: Unknown
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on
-Witchcraft and the Second Sight, by Unknown
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on Witchcraft and the Second Sight
-       With an Original Essay on Witchcraft
-
-Author: Unknown
-
-Release Date: January 27, 2013 [EBook #41928]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRACTS ON WITCHCRAFT ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-  A
-
-  Collection
-
-  OF
-
-  _RARE AND CURIOUS TRACTS_
-
-  ON
-
-  WITCHCRAFT
-
-  AND THE
-
-  SECOND SIGHT;
-
-  WITH AN
-
-  _Original Essay on Witchcraft_.
-
-  Edinburgh:
-  PRINTED FOR D. WEBSTER, 35, WEST COLLEGE STREET.
-  1820.
-
-
-
-
- EDINBURGH:
-
- Printed by Thomas Webster.
-
-
-
-
-  CONTENTS.
-
-
-                                                            _Page_
-
-  An Original Essay on Witchcraft,                               5
-
-  News from Scotland,                                           13
-
-  To the Reader,                                                15
-
-  A True Discourse of the Damnable Life of
-  Doctor Fian, and Sundry other Witches,
-  lately taken in Scotland,                                     17
-
-  Another Account of the Foregoing Transactions,
-  from Sir James Melvill's Memoirs,                             36
-
-  Advertisement,                                                40
-
-  Extracts from King James's Daemonologie concerning
-  Sorcery and Witchcraft,                                       42
-
-  Notice to the Reader,                                         68
-
-  Answer of a Letter from a Gentleman in Fife,
-  to a Nobleman, containing an Account of
-  the Barbarous and Illegal Treatment of the
-  Witches in Pittenweem,                                        69
-
-  Another Letter concerning the Witches of Pittenweem,          73
-
-  A Just Reproof to the False Reports contained
-  in the two Foregoing Letters,                                 79
-
-  A Copy of the Indictment and Precept for
-  Summoning the Jury and Witnesses, with
-  the Warrant for the Execution, of the
-  Witches at Borrowstouness,                                    95
-
-  Trial of Isobel Elliot and others,                           104
-
-  Confession of Helen Taylor,                                  107
-
-  Deposition of Manie Haliburton,                              109
-
-  Declaration of John Kincaid, the Pricker,                    111
-
-  Trial of William Coke and Allison Dick,                      113
-
-  Amount of the Kirk's Share of Expense for
-  Burning the said William Coke and Allison
-  Dick,                                                        123
-
-  Town's part on the above occasion,                           124
-
-  Account of the Expense of Burning Margaret
-  Denham,                                                      125
-
-  Minutes and Proceedings of the Kirk-Session
-  of Torryburn, and the Confession of Lillias
-  Adie,                                                        129
-
-  Frazer on the Second Sight,                                  147
-
-  The Publisher to the Reader,                                 150
-
-  Short Advertisement to the Reader,                           157
-
-  A Brief Discourse concerning the Second Sight,
-  commonly so called,                                          159
-
-
-
-
- AN
-
- ORIGINAL ESSAY
-
- ON
-
- WITCHCRAFT.
-
-
- If we wish to form a just estimate of the human character in its
- progress through the various stages of civilization, from ignorance
- and barbarism, to science and refinement, we must search into the
- natural causes that actuate the human mind. The life of man is
- prolonged to a remoter period, but subjected to more casualities, and
- greater vicissitudes of fortune, than most other animals. From these
- causes arises his anxious solicitude about futurity, and an eager
- desire to know his destiny; and thus man becomes the most
- superstitious of all other creatures. In every nation there have been
- multitudes of oracles, augurs, soothsayers, diviners,
- fortune-tellers, witches, sorcerers, &c. whose business has been to
- communicate intelligence respecting futurity, to the rest of mankind.
- If we attend to history, we shall find this theory sufficiently
- confirmed by experience. The most superstitious part of the species
- are soldiers and sailors, who are more exposed to accidents than any
- other class. History is full of the superstitious observances of the
- Roman armies; their regard to omens; the entrails of victims; the
- flight of birds, &c. and there are thousands of brave sailors of the
- present day, who would not sail in the finest ship of the British
- navy, without a horse-shoe were nailed on the main-mast. This passion
- of diving into futurity, naturally produced a number of '_dealers in
- destiny's dark council_,' who soon found it turn out a very lucrative
- profession. From knowing the secrets, it was naturally inferred, that
- they were the favourites of those powers who are supposed to have the
- future happiness of mankind at their disposal. This we apprehend is
- the real source of that power which the priesthood hath ever
- exercised over the human mind. Pleasure and pain are the two great
- principles of human action which has given rise to the good and evil
- principle common to all nations. Those who held communication and
- commerce with the evil principle, are witches, wizzards, sorcerers,
- &c. Although we have various laws and injunctions against witchcraft
- in scripture, yet we are still as much in the dark as ever, as no
- definition is given of it, nor is the particular actions which
- constitute witchcraft enumerated, so as we can say wherein it
- consists. The story of the witch of Endor, is a case that throws more
- light on the subject than any other. But she appears to have acted
- more in the character of one of our second sighted seers, than one of
- our modern witches. According to our notions and ideas of witchcraft
- (as laid down by that _sapient_ monarch James VI.), it is a poor
- ignorant old woman, who, through misery or malice, gives herself to
- the devil, soul and body, and renounces her baptism; for which
- considerations Satan engages to assist her with his power to work a
- number of petty mischiefs on such as she has a spite at; and
- sometimes he advances a little of the '_needful_,' which,
- unfortunately for the poor _old hag_, turns out to be 'naething but
- _sklate stanes_,' and this most unaccountable contract is generally
- sealed by '_carnal copulation_!' And yet, after believing this, we
- call ourselves _rational creatures_, and other animals we term
- _brutes_!! Many people have wondered, how so exalted a personage as
- the devil formerly was in days of yore, should latterly have taken up
- with such low company as our modern witches. He who tempted the very
- fathers of the church in so many various ways; who kept the whole
- priesthood of the Catholic church constantly on the _alert_ with holy
- water, exorcisms, &c. only to keep him in _check_; who often attacked
- Luther and our other reformers, in very ungentlemanly disguises; and
- had even the audacity to insult our covenanted saints, by bellowing
- like a bull, grunting like a pig, or groaning like a dying man. These
- were pranks something worthier of a devil than the tricks played off
- by the witches. Our King James gives the reason, because 'the
- consumation of the world, and our deliverance drawing neere, makes
- Satan so rage the more in his instruments, knowing his kingdom to be
- so neere an end.' James was a little out in his reckoning here, 'the
- consumation of the world' not having taken place as yet, and the
- devil's kingdom turning out to be rather better established than his
- own. So far was it from being near an end, that it was on the
- increase, caused chiefly by the absurd and stupid laws that were
- enacted against it by himself and successors. The devil's kingdom is
- not to be destroyed by acts of parliament and burning of witches;
- these expedients have been tried in vain all over Europe and America,
- without effect; but now, when every person can bewitch with impunity,
- not a witch is to be found; and the devil, though left at large, has
- retreated to the Highlands and islands, where he is seldom seen, even
- by those who have the second sight. The true engines for battering
- the strong holds of Satan, and driving him and his imps into utter
- darkness, are science and philosophy; these are the weapons that have
- compelled him to retrograde movements, after lavishing rivers of holy
- water in vain. Thus the terrific claws of the devil, when seen by the
- distempered eyes of ignorant bigotry, appear to us truly horrible,
- but when viewed through philosophical spectacles, look as harmless as
- the lamb-skin gloves of a fine lady.
-
- These stories, however, convey a strong likeness of the times in
- which they were acted. In our day, it is almost impossible to
- believe, that human beings could give credit to such gross
- absurdities as we have laid before the public in this little work,
- were the evidence not indubitable. Far less, that judges, lawyers,
- and divines, should unite in murdering such numbers of poor ignorant
- helpless creatures, for such mad chimeras, when it is hard to say,
- whether the poor victim, or the insane judges, were under the greater
- delusion. These wonderful tales of the doings of the devil with the
- witches, are taken from their own confessions, and from their
- _delating_ of one another, as it is called. To us it does not appear
- improbable, but that too many of the poor deluded wretches actually
- imagined themselves to be witches. Nor will this appear so very
- surprizing, if we consider the circumstances of the case. At that
- period, any person who doubted of witchcraft, was looked upon as an
- athiest, and worse than mad; the whole country, from one end to the
- other, was continually ringing with tales of witches, devils, and
- fairies, with such other trash. Is it not then most likely, that
- people should dream about them? and is there any thing unnatural in
- supposing, that they should mistake these dreams for realities? as is
- evidently proved in several cases, and then confess, not the actions
- they really did, but the effects of their own disordered imagination.
- Moreover, when confined for this imaginary crime, they were tortured
- in all manner of ways, deprived of sleep, flung into water, and
- _brodit,_ as they called it, being striped naked and searched for the
- devil's mark, in the most indecent manner. These confessions, after
- they were made, were nothing more than the wild ravings of a
- distempered imagination; and such a tissue of inconsistencies, as no
- person of the present day would listen to. An old woman in the Isle
- of Teree (as related by Mr Frazer, page 165), took in her head that
- she was in heaven no less, and had eat and drank there; and so
- firmly had the poor creature imbibed the notion, that it was with
- some difficulty she could be undeceived. A curious account of a
- pretended meeting with the devil, is given by a gentleman of
- Normandy, in the Memoirs of Literature for November 1711.
-
- "The pretended meeting, about which those who believe they have been
- at it, relate so many extravagant things, is only in their
- imagination. I own, that some country people, especially shepherds,
- do now and then rub their skin with some narcotick grease or
- ointments, which cast them into a sound sleep, and fill their
- imagination with a thousand visions. When they are thus asleep, they
- fancy they see every thing that was told them concerning the devil's
- meeting, by their fathers, who were also shepherds, or wizards, if
- you will have me to call them so. Whereupon I will inform you of what
- I have been told by a country friend of mine, who pretended to have a
- mind to go to the devil's meeting with his own shepherd, who had the
- reputation of being a great sorcerer. Having frequently urged that
- shepherd to carry him thither, at last he obtained his desire. He
- went to him in the night at the appointed time. The shepherd
- immediately gave him something to grease himself withal. He took the
- grease as if he had a mind to rub his skin with it; but he desired
- that the shepherd's son, who was to go to the devil's meeting with
- his father, should anoint himself first. Which being done, that
- gentleman told the shepherd, that he should be glad to know what
- would become of the young man. Not long after, the young man fell
- fast asleep, and when he awaked, though he had not stirred from that
- place, he gave an account of every thing he thought he had seen at
- the devil's meeting; and even named several persons whom he pretended
- to have seen there. My friend perceived then, that what is commonly
- said of the devil's meeting was a mere fancy. I have told you this
- story, that you may impart it to your brethren, who being prepossest
- with popular errors about witchcraft, do frequently hang and burn
- poor wretches, whose crime does only consist in the weakness of their
- imagination."
-
- A thousand more instances might be produced to show, that the devil
- hath no meetings any where, but in the perturbed brain of ignorant
- credulity. The history of superstition is however of great use; we
- there see its dangerous influence upon the peace and happiness of
- society--its degrading effects upon the character and manners of
- nations, in morality, literature, jurisprudence, and science.
- Theology seems to have been particularly infected with this
- pestiferous contagion. The clergy were generally in the front rank of
- witch-hunters, and through their influence, the most of them were put
- to death. In places where the minister was inflamed with a _holy
- zeal_ against the devil and his emissaries, such as Pittenweem and
- Torryburn, the parish became a perfect hot-bed for the rearing of
- witches; and so plentiful a crop did it produce, that it appeared
- nothing else could thrive. But in places where the minister had some
- portion of humanity, and a little common sense, the devil very
- rarely set foot on his territories, and witchcraft was not to be
- found. Since the repeal of the statutes against witchcraft, several
- prosecutions have been instituted against witches, who were convicted
- and punished; but it was bewitching silly ignorant people out of
- their money, goods, and common sense, by pretending a knowledge of
- futurity--a power of relieving maladies in man or beast--or procuring
- the affection of some favourite swain to a love-sick maiden. The
- dupes of these impostors do not altogether escape, as they are made
- the laughing stock of their neighbours; and by these means even this
- trade is now nearly annihilated. Happily for our times, the refulgent
- brightness of philosophy and science, hath dispelled these dark
- clouds of benighted superstition, and left us in possession only of
- our natural powers and faculties, which are quite enough.
-
-  EDITOR.
-
-
-
-
-  News from Scotland:
-
-  DECLARING THE
-  DAMNABLE LIFE OF DOCTOR FIAN,
-  A
-  _NOTABLE SORCERER_,
-  WHO WAS
-  _Burned at Edenbrough in Januarie last, 1591_.
-
-  WHICH DOCTOR WAS REGISTER TO THE DEVILL THAT
-  SUNDRIE TIMES PREACHED AT NORTH BARRICKE
-  KIRKE TO A NUMBER OF NOTORIOUS WITCHES.
-  WITH THE
-  TRUE EXAMINATIONS OF THE SAID DOCTOR
-  AND WITCHES, AS THEY UTTERED THEM
-  IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SCOTTISH KING.
-
-  DISCOVERING
-
-  HOW THEY PRETENDED TO BEWITCH AND DROWNE
-  HIS MAJESTIE IN THE SEA COMMING FROM DENMARKE;
-  WITH SUCH OTHER WONDERFULL
-  MATTERS AS THE LIKE HATH NOT BEIN
-  HEARD AT ANIE TIME.
-
-  _Published according to the Scottish Copie._
-
-  PRINTED FOR WILLIAM WRIGHT.
-
-  EDINBURGH:
-  RE-PRINTED FOR D. WEBSTER, 35, WEST COLLEGE STREET.
-
-  1820.
-
-
-
-
- TO THE READER.
-
-
- The manifold untruths which are spred abroad concerning the
- detestable actions and apprehension of those witches whereof this
- historie following truely entreateth, hath caused me to publish the
- same in print, and the rather for that sundrie written coppies are
- lately dispersed thereof, containing that the said witches were first
- discovered by meanes of a poore pedlar travelling to the towne of
- Trenent; and that by a wonderfull manner hee was in a moment conveyed
- at midnight from Scotland to Burdeux in France (being places of no
- small distance), into a merchant's sellar there; and after being sent
- from Burdeux into Scotland by certaine Scottish merchants to the
- King's Majestie, that he discovered those witches, and was the cause
- of their apprehension; with a number of matters miraculous and
- incredible: all which in truth are most false. Nevertheless, to
- satisfie a number of honest mindes, who are desirous to be informed
- of the veritie and truth of their confessions, which for certaintie
- is more stranger than the common reporte runneth, and yet with more
- truth. I have undertaken to publish this short Treatise which
- declareth the true discourse of all that happened, and as well what
- was pretended by those wicked and detestable witches against the
- King's Majestie; as also by what means they wrought the same.
-
- All which examinations (gentle reader) I have here truly published as
- they were taken and uttered in the presence of the King's Majestie,
- praying thee to accept of it for veritie, the same being so true as
- cannot be reproved.
-
-
-
-
-  A
-
-  TRUE DISCOURSE
-
-  OF THE
-
-  APPREHENSION OF SUNDRIE WITCHES LATELY TAKEN
-    IN SCOTLAND; WHEREOF SOME ARE EXECUTED,
-    AND SOME ARE YET IMPRISONED.--WITH A PARTICULAR
-    RECITALL OF THEIR EXAMINATIONS,
-    TAKEN IN THE PRESENCE OF THE KING'S MAJESTIE.
-
-
- God, by his omnipotent power, hath at all times, and daily dooth take
- such care, and is so vigilant for the weale and preservation of his
- owne, that thereby he disappointeth the wicked practices and evil
- intents of all such as by any means whatsoever seeke indirectly to
- conspire any thing contrary to his holy will: Yea, and by the same
- power he hath lately overthrowne and hindered the intentions and
- wicked dealings of a great number of ungodly creatures, no better
- than devils; who suffering themselves to be allured and enticed by
- the Devil whom they served, and unto whom they were privately sworne,
- entered into the detestable art of witchcraft, which they studied and
- practised so long time, that in the ende they had seduced by their
- sorcerie a number of others to be as bad as themselves, dwelling in
- the bounds of Lowthen, which is a principall shire or part of
- Scotland, where the Kinges Majestie useth to make his cheifest
- residence or abode; and to the ende that their detestable wickednesse
- which they prively had pretended against the Kinges Majestie, the
- commonweale of that countrie, with the nobilitie and subjects of the
- same, should come to light. God of his unspeakable goodness did
- reveale and laie it open in verie strange sorte, thereby to make
- known to the world that their actions were contrarie to the lawe of
- God and the naturall affection which we ought generally to beare one
- to another. The manner of the revealing whereof was as followeth.
-
- Within the towne of Trenent, in the kingdome of Scotland, there
- dwelleth one David Seaton, who being deputie bailiffe in the said
- towne, had a maid called Geillies Duncane, who used secretlie to
- absent and lie forth of her maisters house every other night. This
- Geillies Duncane tooke in hand to helpe all such as were troubled or
- grieved with anie kinde of sickness or infirmitie, and in short space
- did performe many matters most miraculous; which things, forasmuche
- as she began to do them upon a sodaine, having never done the like
- before, made her maister and others to be in great admiration, and
- wondered thereat: by meanes whereof the saide David Seaton had his
- maide in great suspition that shee did not those things by naturall
- and lawfull waies, but rather supposed it to be done by some
- extraordinarie and unlawfull meanes.
-
- Whereupon her maister began to grow verie inquisitive, and examined
- her which way and by what meanes shee was able to performe matters of
- so great importance; whereat shee gave him no aunswere: nevertheless,
- her maister to the intent that hee might the better trie and finde
- out the truth of the same, did with the help of others torment her
- with the torture of the pilliwinkes upon her fingers, which is a
- griveous torture, and binding or wrinching her head with a cord or
- roape, which is a most cruel torment also, yet would shee not confess
- anie thing; whereupon they suspecting that shee had beene marked by
- the devill (as commonly witches are,) made diligent search about her,
- and found the enemies mark to be in her fore crag, or fore part of
- her throate; which being found, shee confessed that all her doings
- was done by the wicked allurements and entisements of the devil, and
- that shee did them by witchcraft.
-
- After this her confession, shee was committed to prison, where shee
- continued a season, where immediately shee accused these persons
- following to bee notorious witches, and caused them forthwith to be
- apprehended, one after another, viz. Agnes Sampson, the eldest witche
- of them all, dwelling in Haddington; Agnes Tompson of Edenbrough;
- Doctor Fian, alias John Cuningham, master of the schoole at Saltpans
- in Lowthian, of whose life and strange acts you shall heare more
- largely in the end of this discourse.
-
- These were by the saide Geillies Duncane accused, as also George
- Motts' wife, dwelling in Lowthian; Robert Grierson, skipper; and
- Jannet Blandilands; with the potters wife of Seaton; the smith at the
- Brigge Hallies, with innumerable others in those parts, and dwelling
- in those bounds aforesaid, of whom some are alreadie executed, the
- rest remaine in prison to receive the doome of judgement at the
- Kinges Majesties will and pleasure.
-
- The saide Geillies Duncane also caused Ewphame Mecalrean to bee
- apprehended, who conspired and performed the death of her godfather,
- and who used her art upon a gentleman, being one of the Lordes and
- Justices of the Session, for bearing good-will to her daughter. Shee
- also caused to be apprehended one Barbara Naper, for bewitching to
- death Archbalde lait Earle of Angus, who languished to death by
- witchcraft, and yet the same was not suspected; but that he died of
- so strange a disease as the phisition knewe not how to cure or
- remedie the same. But of all other the said witches, these two last
- before recited, were reputed for as civil honest women as anie that
- dwelled within the cittie of Edenbrough, before they were
- apprehended. Many other besides were taken dwelling in Lieth, who are
- detayned in prison until his Majesties further will and pleasure be
- knowne; of whose wicked dooings you shall particularly heare, which
- was as followeth.
-
- This aforesaide Agnes Sampson, which was the elder witche, was taken
- and brought to Haliriud House before the Kinges Majestie, and sundrie
- other of the nobilitie of Scotland, where shee was straytly examined;
- but all the persuasions which the Kinges Majestie used to her, with
- the rest of his councell, might not provoke or induce her to confess
- any thing, but stoode stiffley in the deniall of all that was layde
- to her charge; whereupon they caused her to be conveyed away unto
- prison, there to receive such torture as hath been lately provided
- for witches in that countrie; and for as muche as by due examination
- of witchcraft and witches in Scotland, it hath lately beene founde
- that the devill dooth generally marke them with a privie marke, by
- reason the witches have confessed themselves, that the devill doth
- licke them with his tong in some privie part of their bodie, before
- he dooth receive them to bee his servants, which marke commonlie is
- given them under the haire in some part of their bodie, whereby it
- may not easily be found out or seene, although they bee searched; and
- generally so long as the marke is not seene to those which search
- them, so long the parties which have the marke will never confess
- anie thing. Therefore by special commandment this Agnes Sampson had
- all her haire shaven off, n each part of her bodie, and her head
- thrawane with a rope according to the custome of that countrie, being
- a payne most grieveous, which they continued almost an hower, during
- which time shee would not confess anie thing untill the divel's marke
- was founde upon her privities, then shee immediately confessed
- whatsoever was demaunded of her, and justifiying those persons
- aforesaide to be notorious witches.
-
- _Item_, the said Agnes Sampson was after brought againe before the
- Kinges Majestie and his councell, and being examined of the meeting
- and detestable dealings of those witches, shee confessed, that upon
- the night of Allhallow Even last, shee was accompanied as well with
- the persons aforesaide, as also with a great many other witches, to
- the number of two hundreth, and that all they together went to sea,
- each one in a riddle or cive, and went into the same very
- substantially, with flaggons of wine, making merrie and drinking by
- the way in the same riddles or cives, to the Kirke of North Barrick
- in Lowthian, and that after they had landed, tooke hands on the lande
- and daunced this reill or short daunce, singing all with one voice,
-
-    _Commer goe ye before, commer goe ye,
-    Gif ye will not goe before, commer let me._
-
- At which time shee confessed, that this Geillies Duncane did goe
- before them playing this reill or daunce, uppon a small trumpe,
- called a Jewes trumpe, untill they entred into the Kirke of North
- Barricke.
-
- These confessions made the Kinge in a wonderfull admiration, and sent
- for the saide Geillie Duncane, who upon the like trumpe did play the
- saide daunce before the Kinges Majestie, who in respect of the
- strangeness of these matters, tooke great delight to be present at
- their examinations.
-
- _Item_, the said Agnes Sampson confessed, that the devill, being then
- at North Barricke Kirke attending their coming, in the habit or
- likeness of a man, and seeing that they tarried over long, hee at
- their coming enjoined them all to a pennance, which was, that they
- should kiss his buttockes, in sign of duty to him; which being put
- over the pulpit bare, every one did as he had enjoined them: and
- having made his ungodly exhortations, wherein he did greatly inveigh
- against the Kinge of Scotland, he received their oathes for their
- good and true service towards him, and departed; which done, they
- returned to sea, and so home again.
-
- At which time the witches demaunded of the devill why he did beare
- such hatred to the Kinge? Who answered, by reason the Kinge is the
- greatest enemie hee hath in the world.[1] All which their confessions
- and depositions are still extant upon record.
-
-   [1] James, who boasted that he was born in 'the purest church on
-   earth,' and whose courtiers called him 'the Childe of God,' was no
-   doubt highly gratified at this declaration of the devil's hatred,
-   'because he was his greatest enemie on earth.' This was such a piece
-   of flattery as suited the meridian of the monarch's intellects. ED.
-
- _Item_, the saide Agnes Sampson confessed before the Kinges Majestie
- sundrie things, which were so miraculous and strange, as that his
- Majestie saide they were all extreme liars; whereat shee answered,
- shee would not wish his Majestie to suppose her words to be false,
- but rather to believe them, in that shee would discover such matters
- unto him as his Majestie should not anie way doubt of.
-
- And thereupon taking his Majestie a little aside, shee declared unto
- him the verie wordes which passed between the Kinges Majestie and his
- Queene at Upslo in Norway the first night of marriage, with the
- answere ech to other; whereat the Kinges Majestie wondered greatly,
- and swore by the living God, that he believed all the devills in hell
- could not have discovered the same, acknowledging her words to be
- most true, and therefore gave the more credit to the rest that is
- before declared.
-
- Touching this Agnes Sampson, shee is the onlie woman who by the
- devill's perswasion should have intended and put in execution the
- Kinges Majesties death in this manner.
-
- Shee confessed that shee tooke a blacke toade, and did hang the same
- up by the heeles three daies, and collected and gathered the venome
- it dropped and fell from it in ane oister shell, and kept the same
- venome close covered, untill shee should obtaine anie part or peece
- of foule linnen cloth that had appertained to the Kinges Majestie, as
- shirt, handkercher, napkin, or anie other thing, which shee practised
- to obtaine by meanes of one John Kers, who being attendant in his
- Majesties chamber, desired him for old acquaintance between them, to
- help her to one or a peece of such a cloth as is aforesaide, which
- thing the saide John Kers denyed to helpe her to, saying he coulde
- not helpe her unto it.
-
- And the saide Agnes Sampson by her depositions since her
- apprehension, saith, that if shee had obtayned anie one peece of
- linnen cloth which the Kinge had worne and fowlede, shee had
- bewitched him to death, and put him to such extraordinarie paines, as
- if he had been lying upon sharp thornes and endes of needles.
-
- Moreover shee confessed, that at the time when his Majestie was in
- Denmarke, shee being accompanied by the parties before speciallie
- named, tooke a cat and christened it, and afterwarde bounde to each
- part of that cat, the cheefest part of a dead man, and several joynts
- of his bodie; and that in the night following, the saide cat was
- convayed into the middest of the sea by all the witches, sayling in
- their riddles or cives, as is aforesaid, and so left the saide cat
- right before the towne of Lieth in Scotland. This doone, there did
- arise such a tempest in the sea, as a greater hath not beene seene;
- which tempest was the cause of the perishing of a boat or vessel
- coming over from the towne of Brunt Islande to the towne of Lieth,
- wherein was sundrie jewelles and rich giftes, which should have been
- presented to the now Queene of Scotland at her Majesties coming to
- Lieth.
-
- Againe it is confessed, that the said christened cat was the cause
- that the Kinges Majesties shippe at his coming forth of Denmarke had
- a contrarie winde to the rest of his shippes then being in his
- companie, which thing was most strange and true as the Kinges
- Majestie acknowlegeth, for when the rest of the shippes had a faire
- and good winde, then was the winde contrarie and altogether against
- his Majestie; and further, the sayde witche declared, that his
- Majestie had never come safely from the sea, if his faith had not
- prevayled above their intentions.[2]
-
-   [2] It no doubt required the penetration of a witch to discover the
-   strength of James's faith, which prevailed against their
-   incantations, and saved him from perishing at sea. Those who
-   conducted the examination of the witches, no doubt knew well enough
-   how to extract this little piece of delicate flattery from the hags,
-   so gratifying to the palate of their master. ED.
-
- Moreover, the saide witches being demaunded how the divell would use
- them when he was in their companie, they confessed, that when the
- divel did recyeve theme for his serventes, and that they had vowed
- themselves unto him, then he woulde carnally use them, albeit to
- their little pleasure, in respect to his colde nature,[3] and would
- doe the like at sundrie other times.
-
-   [3] In the records of the kirk-session of Torryburn, in Fifeshire, so
-   late as 1703, is the confession of one Lillias Eddie, a supposed
-   witch, who immediately after she had been initiated in the infernal
-   mysteries, was taken behind a stook, it (being harvest time), and
-   carressed by the devil. She likewise complains that his embraces were
-   cold and unsatisfactory. The gross indelicacy of such stories are
-   only to be equalled by their absurdity. What a picture does it
-   present to readers of the present day, of the manners of that age,
-   when such topics could be gravely discussed by the King in
-   councill!!
-
- As touching the aforesaide Doctor Fian, alias John Cunningham, the
- examination of his actes since his apprehension, declareth the great
- subteltie of the divell, and therefore maketh thinges to appeare the
- more miraculous; for being apprehended by the accusation of the saide
- Geillies Duncane aforesaide, who confessed he was their register, and
- that there was not one man suffered to come to the divel's readinges
- but onlie hee, the saide Doctor was taken and imprisoned, and used
- with the accustomed paine provided for those offences, inflicted upon
- the rest as is aforesaide.
-
- _First_, by thrawing of his head with a rope, whereat he would
- confess nothing.
-
- _Secondly_, hee was persuaded by faire meanes to confesse his
- follies, but that would prevail as little.
-
- _Lastly_, hee was put to the most severe and cruell paine in the
- worlde, called the bootes, who, after he had received three strokes,
- being inquired if hee would confess his damnable actes and wicked
- life, his toong would not serve him to speake, in respect whereof the
- rest of the witches willed to searche his toong, under which was
- found two pinnes thurst up into the heade; whereupon the witches did
- say, now is the charm stinted, and shewed, that those charmed pinnes
- were the cause he could not confesse any thing: then was he
- immediately released of the bootes, brought before the King, his
- confession was taken, and his own hand willingly set thereunto, which
- contained as followeth:
-
- _First_, that at the generall meetinges of those witches, he was
- always present,--that he was clarke to all those that were in
- subjection to the divel's service, bearing the name of witches,--that
- always hee did take their oathes for their true service to the divel,
- and that he wrote for them such matters as the divel still pleased to
- command him.
-
- _Item_, hee confessed that by his witchcraft hee did bewitch a
- gentleman dwelling neare to the Saltpans, where the said Doctor kept
- schoole, only for being enamoured of a gentlewoman whome he loved
- himself; by meanes of which his sorcery, witchcraft, and divelish
- practices, hee caused the said gentleman that once in xxiiii howers
- he fell into a lunacy and madness, and so continued one whole hower
- together; and for the veritie of the same, he caused the gentleman
- to be brought before the Kinges Majestie, which was upon the xxiiii
- day of December last, and being in his Majesties chamber, suddenly
- hee gave a great scritch, and fell into madness, sometime bending
- himself, and sometime capering so directly up, that his heade did
- touch the seeling of the chamber, to the great admiration of his
- Majestie and others then present; so that all the gentlemen in the
- chamber were not able to hold him, untill they called in more helpe,
- who together bound him hand and foot; and suffering the said
- gentleman to lie still until his furie were past, hee within an hower
- came againe to himselfe, when being demaunded by the Kinges Majestie
- what he saw or did all that while, answered, that he had been in a
- sounde sleepe.
-
- _Item_, the saide Doctor did also confesse, that hee had used meanes
- sundrie times to obtaine his purpose and wicked intent of the same
- gentlewoman, and seeing himselfe disappointed of his intention, hee
- determined by all wayes hee might to obtaine the same, trusting by
- conjuring, witchraft, and sorcerie, to obtaine it in this manner.
-
- It happened this gentlewoman being unmarried, had a brother who went
- to schoole with the saide Doctor, and calling the saide scholler to
- him, demaunded if hee did lie with his sister, who answered he did,
- by meanes whereof he thought to obtain his purpose, and therefore
- secretly promised to teach him without stripes, so he woulde obtaine
- for him three hairs of his sister's privitees, at such time as hee
- should spie best occasion for it; which the youth promised
- faithfully to performe, and vowed speedily to put it in practice,
- taking a piece of conjured paper of his maister to lap them in when
- hee had gotten them; and thereupon the boy practised nightly to
- obtaine his maister's purpose, especially when his sister was asleep.
-
- But God, who knoweth the secret of all harts, and revealeth all
- wicked and ungodly practices, would not suffer the intents of this
- divelish Doctor to come to that purpose which hee supposed it woulde,
- and therefore to declaire that hee was heavily offended with his
- wicked intent, did so work by the gentlewoman's own meanes, that in
- the ende the same was discovered and brought to light; for shee being
- one night asleep, and her brother in bed with her, sodainly cried out
- to her mother, declaring that her brother woulde not suffer her to
- sleepe; whereupon, her mother having a quicke capacitie, did
- vehemently suspect _Doctor Fian's_ intention, by reason shee was a
- witch of herself, and therefore presently arose, and was very
- inquisitive of the boy to understand his intent, and the better to
- know the same, did beat him with sundrie stripes, whereby hee
- discovered the truth unto her.
-
- The mother, therefore, being well practised in witchcraft, did thinke
- it most convenient to meete with the Doctor in his owne arte, and
- thereupon took the paper from the boy wherein hee would have put the
- same haires, and went to a yong heyfer which never had borne calf,
- nor gone unto the bull, and with a paire of sheeres clipped off three
- haires from the udder of the cow, and wrapt them in the same paper,
- which shee again delivered to the boy, then willing him to give the
- same to his saide maister, which hee immediately did.
-
- The schoole maister, so soone as he did recieve them, thinking them
- indeede to be the maids haires, went straight and wrought his arte
- upon them: But the Doctor had no sooner done his intent to them, but
- presently the hayfer cow, whose haires they were indeede, came unto
- the door of the church wherein the schoole maister was, into the
- which the hayfer went, and made towards the schoole maister, leaping
- and dancing upon him, and following him forth of the church, and to
- what place soever he went, to the great admiration of all the
- townsmen of Saltpans, and many others who did behold the same.
-
- The report whereof made all men imagine that hee did worke it by the
- divel, without whome it coulde never have been so sufficiently
- effected; and thereupon the name of the saide Doctor Fian (who was
- but a young man), began to grow common among the people of Scotland,
- that he was secretly nominated for a notable conjurer.
-
- All which, although in the beginning he denied, and woulde not
- confesse, yet having felt the paine of the bootes,[4] (and the charme
- stinted as aforesaide) hee confessed all the aforesaide to be most
- true, without producing any witnesses to justifie the same; and
- thereupon before the Kings Majestie hee subscribed the sayd
- confessione with his owne hande, which for truth remaineth upon
- record in Scotland.
-
-   [4] We have no doubt that the bootes were a most efficacious engine
-   to procure a confession, and the Doctor would most likely have
-   confessed that he had the moon in his pocket by the same means. ED.
-
- After that the depositions and examinations of the sayd Doctor Fian,
- alias Cuningham, was taken, as alreddie is declared, with his own
- hand willingly set thereunto, hee was by the maister of the prison
- commited to ward, and appointed to a chamber by himselfe, where
- foresaking his wicked wayes, acknowledging his most ungodly life,
- shewing that hee had too much followed the allurements and
- enticements of Sathan, and fondly practised his conclusions by
- conjuring, witchcraft, inchantment, sorcerie, and such like, he
- renounced the divel and all his wicked workes, vowed to lead the lyfe
- of a Christian, and seemed newly converted towards God.
-
- The morrow after, upon conference had with him, hee granted that the
- divel had appeared unto him in the night before, appareled all in
- blacke, with a white wande in his hande; and that the divel demanded
- of him if hee woulde continue his faithfull service, according to his
- first oath and promise made to that effect. Whome (as hee then
- saide), hee utterly renounced to his face, and said unto him in this
- manner, avoide, Satan, avoide, for I have listened too much unto
- thee, and by the same thou hast undone me, in respect whereof I
- utterly forsake thee: To whome the divel answered, that once ere thou
- die thou shalt bee mine; and with that (as hee sayd), the divel
- brake the white wande, and immediately vanished forth of his sight.
-
- Thus all the daie this Doctor Fian continued verie solitarie, and
- seemed to have a care of his owne soule, and would call upon God,
- shewing himselfe penitent for his wicked lyfe; nevertheless, the same
- night hee found such meanes that he stole the key of the prison doore
- and chamber in which he was, which in the night he opened and fled
- awaie to the Saltpans, where he was alwayes resident, and first
- apprehended. Of whose sodaine departure when the Kings Majestie had
- intelligence, hee presently caused dilligent inquirie to be made for
- his apprehension; and for the better effecting thereof, hee sent
- public proclamations into all parts of his land to the same effect.
- By meanes of whose hot and harde pursuite he was again taken and
- brought to prison; and then being called before the Kings Highness,
- he was reexamined as well touching his departure, as also touching
- all that had before happened.
-
- But this Doctor, notwithstanding that his owne confession appeareth
- remaining in recorde under his owne hande writting, and the same
- thereunto fixed in the presence of the Kings Majestie and sundrie of
- his councill, yet did he utterly denie the same.
-
- Thereupon the Kings Majestie percieving his stubborne willfullness,
- concieved and imagined that in the time of his absence hee had
- entered into newe conference and league with the _divell_ his
- maister; and that hee had beene again newely marked, for the which
- he was narrowly searched, but it coulde not in anie waie be founde;
- yet for more tryal of him to make him confesse, he was commanded to
- have a most strange torment, which was done in this manner following.
-
- His nails upon all his fingers were riven and pulled off with an
- instrument called in Scottich a Turkas, which in England we call a
- payre of pincers, and under everie nayle there was thrust in thro
- needels over even up to the heads. At all which torments
- notwithstanding the Doctor never shronke anie whit, neither would he
- then confesse it the sooner for all the tortures inflicted upon him.
-
- Then was hee with all convenient speede, by commandment, convaied
- againe to the torment of the bootes, wherein hee continued a long
- time, and did abide so many blows in them, that his legges were
- crusht and beaten together as small as might bee, and the bones and
- flesh so bruised, that the blood and marrow spouted forth in great
- abundance, whereby they were made unserviceable for ever. And
- notwithstanding all these grievous paines and cruel torments hee
- woulde not confesse anie thing, so deeply had the _divel_ entered
- into his hart, that hee utterly denied that which he before avouched,
- and would saie nothing thereunto but this, that what hee had done and
- sayde before, was only done and sayde for fear of paynes which he had
- endured.
-
- Upon great consideration, therefore, taken by the Kings Majestie and
- his councell, as well for the due execution of justice upon such
- detestable malefactors, as also for examples sake, to remayne a
- terrour to all others hereafter that shall attempt to deale in the
- lyke wicked and ungodlye actions, as witchcraft, sorcerie,
- cunjuration, and such lyke, the saide Doctor Fian was soon after
- arraigned, condemned, and adjudged by the law to die, and then to be
- burned according to the lawe of that lande provided in that behalfe.
- Whereupon he was put into a carte, and being first stranguled, hee
- was immediately put into a great fire, being readie provided for that
- purpose, and there burned in the Castile Hill of Edenbrough, on a
- Saterdaie in the ende of Januarie last past, 1591.
-
- The rest of the witches which are not yet executed, remayne in prison
- till farther triall and knowledge of his Majesties pleasure.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
- This strange discourse before recited, may perhaps give some occasion
- of doubt to such as shall happen to reade the same, and thereby
- conjecture that the Kings Majestie would hazzarde himselfe in the
- presence of such notorious witches, least thereby might have ensued
- great danger to his person and the general state of the land, which
- thing in truth might wel have beene feared. But to answer generally
- to such let this suffice; that first it is well known that the King
- is the child and servant of God, and they but the servants to the
- devil; he is the Lord's anointed, and they but vesseles of God's
- wrath; hee is a true Christian, and trusteth in God; they worse than
- infidels, for they only trust in the divel, who daily serve them,
- till hee have brought them to utter destruction. But hereby it
- seemeth that his Highness carried a magnanimous and undaunted mind,
- not feared with their inchantments, but resolute in this, that so
- long as God is with him hee feareth not who is against him; and
- trulie, the whole scope of this Treatise dooth so plainlie laie open
- the wonderfull Providence of the Almightie, that if hee had not been
- defended by his omnipotence and power, his Highness had never
- returned alive in his voiage from Denmarke, so there is no doubt but
- God woulde as well defend him on the land as on the sea, where they
- pretended their damnable practice.
-
- FINIS.
-
-
-
-
- ANOTHER
-
- ACCOUNT
-
- OF THE
-
- FOREGOING TRANSACTIONS,
-
- _Extracted from_ SIR JAMES MELVIL'S _Memoirs_, page 388, octavo
- edition.
-
-
- About this time many witches were taken in Lothian, who deposed
- concerning some design of the Earl of Bothwell's against his
- Majesty's person. Which coming to the said Earl's ears, he entered in
- ward within the Castle of Edinburgh, desiring to be tried, alledging
- that the devil, who was a liar from the beginning, ought not to be
- credited, nor yet the witches, his sworn servants. Especially a
- renowned midwife called Amy Simson affirmed, that she, in company
- with nine other witches, being convened in the night beside
- Prestonpans, the devil their master being present, standing in the
- midst of them, a body of wax, shapen and made by the said Amy Simson,
- wrapped within a linnen cloth, was first delivered to the devil; who,
- after he had pronounced his verdict, delivered the said picture to
- Amy Simson, and she to her next neighbour, and so every one round
- about, saying, _This is King_ James VI. _ordered to be consumed at
- the instance of a nobleman_, Francis Earl Bothwell. Afterward again
- at their meeting by night in the kirk of North Berwick, where the
- devil, clad in a black gown, with a black hat upon his head, preached
- unto a great number of them out of the pulpit, having light candles
- round about him.
-
- The effect of his language was to know what hurt they had done; how
- many they had gained to their opinion since the last meeting; what
- success the melting of the picture had, and such other vain things.
- And because an old silly poor ploughman, called Gray Meilt, chanced
- to say, that nothing ailed the King yet, God be thanked, the devil
- gave him a great blow. Thus divers among them entred in reasoning,
- marvelling that all their devilry could do no harm to the King, as it
- had done to divers others. The devil answered, _il est un homme de
- Dieu_, certainly he is a man of God, and does no wrong wittingly, but
- he is inclined to all Godliness, justice, and vertue, therefore God
- hath preserved him in the midst of many dangers.[5] Now, after that
- the devil had ended his admonitions, he came down out of the pulpit,
- and caused all the company come kiss his arse; which they said was
- cold like ice, his body hard like iron, as they thought who handled
- him, his face was terrible, his nose like the beak of an eagle, great
- burning eyes, his hands and his legs were hoary, with claws upon his
- hands and feet like the griffin;--he spoke with a low voice.
-
-   [5] It was certainly very kind in the devil thus to vouch for James's
-   being 'a man of God, and one who did no wrong wittingly, but was
-   inclined to all Godliness, Justice, and Virtue.' This is a most
-   excellent character. But posterity are inclined to be of Earl
-   Bothwell's opinion, that the devil is a liar, and ought not to be
-   credited. ED.
-
- The tricks and tragedies he played then among so many men and women
- in this country, will hardly get credit by posterity; the history
- whereof, with their whole depositions, was written by Mr James
- Carmichael, minister of Haddington.[6] Among other things, some of
- them did shew, that there was a westland man, called Richard Graham,
- who had a familiar spirit, the which Richard they said could both do
- and tell many things, chiefly against the Earl of Bothwell. Whereupon
- the said Richard Graham was apprehended and brought to Edinburgh;
- and, being examined before his Majesty, I being present, he granted
- that he had a familiar spirit which shewed him sundrie things, but he
- denied that he was a witch, or had any frequentation with them. But
- when it was answered again, how that Amy Simson had declared, that he
- caused the Earl of Bothwell address him to her, he granted that to be
- true, and that the Earl of Bothwell had knowledge of him by Effe
- Machalloun and Barbary Napier, Edinburgh women. Whereupon he was sent
- for by the Earl Bothwell, who required his help to cause the Kings
- Majesty his master to like well of him. And to that effect he gave
- the said Earl some drug or herb, willing him at some convenient time
- to touch therewith his Majesty's face. Which being done by the said
- Earl ineffectually, he dealt again with the said Richard to get his
- Majesty wrecked, as Richard alledged; who said, he could not do such
- things himself, but that a notable midwife, who was a witch, called
- Amy Simson, could bring any such purpose to pass. Thus far the said
- Richard Graham affirmed divers times before the council;
- nevertheless, he was burnt with the said Simson, and many other
- witches. This Richard alledged, that it was certain what is reported
- of the fairies, and that spirits may take a form, and be seen, though
- not felt.
-
-   [6] This probably is the author of the foregoing 'True Discourse.'
-   ED.
-
-
-
-
- ADVERTISEMENT.
-
-
- From the foregoing '_True Discourse_,' it will be seen what an active
- part James took in the examination of Doctor Fian and the other
- witches. From this source he most probably collected those materials
- which he has wrought up into a _Daemonologie_, a work which no doubt
- contributed to obtain for him from the English bishops, the
- appelation of '_the British Solomon_.' In this work he appears to be
- more intimately acquainted with the internal polity of the _Devil's_
- kingdom, than he was with his own. The kingdom of _Sathan_ was then
- in its zenith of power; but, like other states and kingdoms, it has
- sunk into great weakness and debility. The '_horn'd diel_,' who could
- then make the greatest personages shake in their shoes, cannot now
- frighten a child; and the '_roaring lion_,' who used to be going
- about seeking whom he might devour, must surely be a better
- housekeeper than formerly, as he is never seen abroad, even by an old
- woman.
-
- From the _Daemonologie_ we have made copious extracts, that our
- readers may have an idea of the days of '_langsyne_,' when there was
- plenty of _diels_, _witches_, _fairies_, _and water kelpies_, all
- over the country. Those, therefore, who are anxious to know how
- affairs are managed in the '_kingdom of darkness_,' and can rely on
- the word of a king for the truth of it, will be here amply gratified.
-
- So, courteous reader, I bid thee farewell,
-
-  The EDITOR.
-
-
-
-
- EXTRACTS
-
- FROM
-
- KING JAMES'S DAEMONOLOGIE,
-
- CONCERNING
-
- _SORCERY AND WITCHCRAFT_.
-
-
- _The First Entresse and Prentiship of them that give themselves to
- Witchcraft._
-
- The persons that give themselves to witchcraft, are of two sorts,
- rich and of better accompt, poore and of baser degree. These two
- degrees answere to the passions in them, which the divell uses as
- meanes to entice them to his service; for such of them as are in
- great miserie and povertie, he allures to follow him, by promising
- unto them great riches and worldly commoditie. Such as though rich,
- yet burne in a desperate desire of revenge, he allures them by
- promises to get their turne satisfied to their hearts contentment. It
- is to be noted now, that that olde and craftie enemie of ours
- assailes none, though touched with any of these two extremities,
- except he first finde an entresse ready for him, either by the great
- ignorance of the person he deales with, joyned with an evill life, or
- else by their carelessnesse and contempt of God. And finding them in
- an utter despaire, he prepares the way by feeding them craftely in
- their humour, and filling them further and further with despaire,
- while hee finde the time proper to discover himself unto them. At
- which time, either upon their walking solitarie in the fieldes, or
- else lying pausing in their bed, but alwaies without the company of
- any other, hee, either by a voyce, or in likenesse of a man, inquires
- of them what troubles them, and promiseth them a suddaine and
- certaine way of remedie, upon condition, on the other part, that they
- follow his advise, and doe such things as he will require of them.
- Their mindes being prepared beforehand, they easily agree unto that
- demand of his, and syne sets another tryist where they may meete
- againe. At which time, before hee proceede any further with them, hee
- first perswades them to addict themselves to his service, which being
- easily obtained, he then discovers what he is unto them, makes them
- to renounce their God and baptisme directly, and gives them his marke
- upon some secret place of their bodie, which remaines soare unhealed
- while his next meeting with them, and thereafter ever insensible,
- howsoever it be nipped or pricked by any, as is daily prooved, to
- give them a proofe thereby, that as in that doing he could hurt and
- heale them, so all their ill and well doing thereafter must depend
- upon him; and, besides that, the intolerable dolour that they feele
- in that place where he hath marked them, serves to waken them, and
- not to let them rest, while their next meeting againe; fearing lest
- otherwaies they might either forget him, being as new prentises, and
- not well enough founded yet in that fiendly follie; or else
- remembering of that horrible promise they made him at their last
- meeting, they might skunner at the same, and presse to call it backe.
- At their third meetinge, hee makes a shew to be carefull to performe
- his promises, either by teaching them waies how to get themselves
- revenged, if they be of that sort, or else by teaching them lessons
- how by most vile and unlawfull meanes they may obtaine gaine and
- worldly commoditie, if they be of the other sort.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
- _The Witches actions divided into two parts--The actions proper to
-   their own persons--The forme of their Conventions and adoring of
-   their Master._
-
- Their actions may be divided into two parts; the actions of their
- owne persons, and the actions proceeding from them towards any other;
- and this division being well understood, will easily resolve what is
- possible to them to doe. For although all that they confesse is no
- lie upon their part, yet doubtlesly, in my opinion, a part of it is
- not indeede according as they take it to be, for the divell illudes
- the senses of these schollers of his in many things.
-
- To the effect that they may performe such services of their false
- master as he employs them in, the devill, as God's ape, counterfeits
- in his servants this service and forme of adoration that God
- prescribed and made his servants to practise; for as the servants of
- God publikely use to conveene for serving of him, so makes he them in
- great numbers to conveene (though publikely they dare not), for his
- service. As none conveenes to the adoration and worshipping of God,
- except they be marked with his seale, the sacrament of baptisme; so
- none serves Satan, and conveenes to the adoring of him, that are not
- marked with that marke whereof I alreadie spake. As the minister sent
- by God teacheth plainely at the time of their publike conventions,
- how to serve him in spirit and trewth, so that unclean spirit, in his
- owne person, teacheth his disciples at the time of their conveening,
- how to worke all kind of mischiefe, and craves coumpt of all their
- horrible and detestable proceedings passed for advancement of his
- service: Yea, that hee may the more vilely counterfeit and scorne
- God, he oft times makes his slaves to conveene in these very places
- which are destinate and ordained for the conveening of the servants
- of God, (I meane by churches.) But this farre which I have yet said,
- I not onely take it to be trew in their opinions, but even so to be
- indeed; for the forme that he used in counterfeiting God amongst the
- Gentiles, makes me so to think; as God spake by his oracles, spake he
- not so by his? As God had as well bloodie sacrifices, as others
- without blood, had not he the like? As God had churches sanctified to
- his service, with altars, priests, sacrifices, ceremonies, and
- prayers, had he not the like polluted to his service? As God gave
- responses by _Urim_ and _Thummim_, gave he not his responses by the
- intralles of beasts, by the singing of fowles, and by their actions
- in the aire? As God by visions, dreames, and extasies, revealed what
- was to come, and what was his will unto his servants, used hee not
- the like meanes to forewarne his slaves of things to come? Yea, even
- as God loved cleanenesse, hated vice and impuritie, and appointed
- punishments therefore, used he not the like, (though falsly I grant,
- and but in eschewing the lesse inconvenience, to draw them upon a
- greater), yet dissimulated he not, I say, so farre as to appoint his
- priests to keepe their bodies cleane and undefiled, before their
- asking responses of him? And fained he not God, to be a protectour of
- every vertue, and a just revenger of the contrarie? This reason then
- mooves me, that as he is that same divell, and as crafty now as he
- was then, so will he not spare as pertly in these actions that I have
- spoken of concerning the witches' persons; but further, witches oft
- times confesse, not only his conveening in the church with them, but
- his occupying of the pulpit: Yea, their forme of adoration to be the
- kissing of his hinder parts, which, though it seeme ridiculous, yet
- may it likewise be trew, seeing we reade that in Calicute he appeared
- in forme of a goat-bucke, hath publikely that unhonest homage done
- unto him by every one of the people. So ambitious is he, and greedy
- of honour, (which procured his fall) that he will even imitate God in
- that part where it is said, that Moyses could see but the _hinder
- parts of God for the brightnesse of his glory_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
- _What are the wayes possible whereby the Witches may transport
-   themselves to places farre distant?--And what are impossible and
-   meere illusions of Satan?_
-
- PHI.--But by what way say they, or thinke yee it possible, they can
- come to these unlawfull conventions?[7]
-
-   [7] The Daemonologie is written by way of dialogue, in which
-   Philomathes and Epistemon reason the matter.
-
- EPI.--There is the thing which I esteeme their senses to be deluded
- in, and though they lie not in confessing of it, because they thinke
- it to be trew, yet not to be so in substance or effect; for they say,
- that by divers meanes they may conveene, either to the adoring of
- their master, or to the putting in practise any service of his
- committed unto their charge; one way is naturall, which is naturall
- riding, going, or sailing, at what houre their master comes and
- advertises them; and this way may be easily beleeved; another way is
- somewhat more strange, and yet it is possible to bee trew, which is,
- by being caried by the force of the spirit, which is their conducter,
- either above the earth, or above the sea, swiftly to the place where
- they are to meet; which I am perswaded to bee likewise possible, in
- respect, that as Habakkuk was carried by the angel in that forme to
- the den where Daniel lay, so I thinke the divell will be readie to
- imitate God as well in that as in other things; which is much more
- possible to him to doe, being a spirit, then to a mighty wind, being
- but a naturall meteore to transport from one place to another a
- solide body, as is commonly and daily seene in practise; but in this
- violent forme they cannot be caried but a short bounds, agreeing with
- the space that they may retain their breath, for if it were longer,
- their breath could not remain unextinguished, their body being caried
- in such a violent and forcible manner; as by example, if one fall off
- a small height, his life is but in perill, according to the hard or
- soft lighting; but if one fall from an high and stay rocke, his
- breath will be forcibly banished from the body before he can win to
- the earth, as is oft seene by experience; and in this transporting
- they say themselves, that they are invisible to any other, except
- amongst themselves, which may also be possible in my opinion; for if
- the devill may forme what kinde of impressions he pleases in the
- aire, why may he not farre easilier thicken and obscure so the aire
- that is next about them, by contracting it straite together, that the
- beames of any other man's eyes cannot pierce throw the same to see
- them? But the third way of their comming to their conventions is that
- wherein I thinke them deluded; for some of them say, that being
- transformed in the likenesse of a little beast or foule, they will
- come and pierce through whatsoever house or church, though all
- ordinarie passages be closed, by whatsoever open the aire may enter
- in at; and some say, that their bodies lying still, as in an extasie,
- their spirits will be ravished out of their bodies, and caried to
- such places; and for verifying thereof, will give evident tokens, as
- well by witnesses that have seene their body lying senseless in the
- mean time, as by naming persons with whom they met, and giving tokens
- what purpose was amongst them, whom otherwise they could not have
- known; for this forme of journeying they affirme to use most, when
- they are transported from one countrey to another.
-
- PHI.--But the reasons that moove me to thinke that these are meere
- illusions, are these--first, for them that are transformed in
- likenesse of beasts or foules, can enter through so narrow passages,
- although I may easily beleeve that the divell could by his
- workmanship upon the aire, make them appeare to be in such formes,
- either to themselves, or to others; yet how can he contract a solide
- body within so little room? I think it is directly contrary to
- itselfe; for to be made so little, and yet not diminished; to be so
- straitly drawn together, and yet feele no paine, I thinke it is so
- contrary to the qualitie of a naturall bodie, and so like to the
- little transubstantiate god in the Papists masse, that I can never
- beleeve it. So to have a quantitie, is so proper to a solide body,
- that as all philosophers conclude, it cannot be any more without one,
- then a spirit can have one; for when Peter came out of the prison,
- and the doores all locked, it was not by any contracting of his body
- in so little roome, but by the giving place of the doore, though
- unespied by the gaylors; and yet is there no comparison, when this is
- done, betwixt the power of God and of the divel. As to their forme of
- extasie and spirituall transporting, it is certaine the soules going
- out of the body, is the onely definition of naturall death; and who
- are once dead, God forbid we should thinke that it should lie in the
- power of all the divels in hell to restore them to their life again,
- although he can put his owne spirit in a dead body, for that is the
- office properly belonging to God; and, besides that, the soule once
- parting from the body, cannot wander any longer in the world, but to
- the owne resting place must it goe immediately, abiding the
- conjunction of the body again at the latter day. And what Christ or
- the prophets did miraculously in this case, it can in no Christian
- man's opinion be made common with the divel. As for any tokens that
- they give for proving of this, it is very possible to the divel's
- craft to perswade them to these meanes; for he being a spirit, may he
- not so ravish their thoughts, and dull their senses, that their body
- lying as dead, he may object to their spirits, as it were in a
- dreame, and represent such formes of persons, of places, and other
- circumstances, as he pleases to illude them with? Yea, that he may
- deceive them with the greater efficacie, may he not, at the same
- instant, by fellow angels of his, illude such other persons so in
- that same fashion, with whom hee makes them to beleeve that they
- mette, that all their reports and tokens, though severally examined,
- may every one agree with another? And that whatsoever actions, either
- in hurting men or beasts, or whatsoever other thing that they falsly
- imagine at that time to have done, may by himselfe or his marrowes at
- that same time be done indeed; so as if they would give for a token
- of their being ravished at the death of such a person within so short
- a space thereafter, whom they beleeve to have poisoned or witched at
- that instant, might he not at that same houre have smitten that same
- person, by the permission of God, to the farther deceiving of them,
- and to moove others to beleeve them? And this is surely the likelyest
- way, and most according to reason, which my judgement can finde out
- in this and whatsoever other unnatural points of their confession.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
- _Witches actions towards others--Why there are more Women of that
-   Craft then Men--What things are possible to them to effectuate by the
-   power of their Master--What is the surest remedy of the harmes done
-   by them._
-
- PHI.--FORSOOTH your opinion in this seems to cary most reason with
- it; and since ye have ended then the actions belonging properly to
- their owne persons, say forward now to their actions used towards
- others.
-
- EPI.--In their actions used towards others, three things ought to be
- considered; first, the manner of their consulting thereupon; next,
- their part as instruments; and, last, their master's part, who puts
- the same in execution. As to their consultations thereupon, they use
- them oftest in the churches, where they conveene for adoring; at
- which time their master enquiring at them what they would be at,
- every one of them propones unto him what wicked turne they would have
- done, either for obtaining of riches, or for revenging them upon any
- whom they have malice at; who granting their demaund, as no doubt
- willingly he will, since it is to doe evill, hee teacheth them the
- meanes whereby they may doe the same. As for little trifling turnes
- that women have adoe with, he causeth them to joynt dead corpses, and
- to make powders thereof, mixing such other things thereamongst as he
- gives unto them.
-
- PHI.--But before ye goe further, permit me, I pray you, to interrupt
- you one word, which ye have put me in memorie of by speaking of
- women; What can be the cause that there are twentie women given to
- that craft where there is one man?
-
- EPI.--The reason is easie, for as that sexe is frailer than man is,
- so is it easier to be intrapped in these grosse snares of the divell,
- as was over-well prooved to be trew, by the serpent's deceiving of
- Eve at the beginning, which makes him the homelier with that sexe
- sensine.
-
- PHI.--Returne now where ye left.
-
- EPI.--To some others at these times he teacheth how to make pictures
- of waxe or clay, that by the roasting thereof, the persons that they
- beare the name of may be continually melted or dried away by
- continuall sicknesse. To some he gives such stones or pouders as will
- helpe to cure or cast on diseases; and to some hee teacheth kindes of
- uncouth poysons, which mediciners understand not; not that any of
- these meanes which he teacheth them (except the poysons, which are
- composed of things naturall), can of themselves helpe any thing to
- these turnes that they are employed in, but onely being God's ape, as
- well in that, as in all other things. Even as God by his sacraments,
- which are earthly of themselves, workes a heavenly effect, though no
- waves by any cooperation in them; and as Christ by clay and spettle
- wrought together, _opened the eyes of the blinde man_, suppose there
- was no vertue in that which he outwardly applied, so the divel will
- have his outward meanes to be shewes as it were of his doing, which
- hath no part or cooperation in his turnes with him, how farre that
- ever the ignorants be abused in the contrarie. And as to the effects
- of these two former parts, TO WIT, the consultations and the outward
- meanes, they are so wonderfull, as I dare not alledge any of them
- without joyning a sufficient reason of the possibilitie thereof; for
- leaving all the small trifles among wives, and to speake of the
- principall points of their craft, for the common trifles thereof,
- they can doe without converting well enough by themselves, these
- principall points, I say, are these--they can make men or women to
- love or hate other, which may be very possible to the divel to
- effectuate, seeing he being a subtile spirit, knowes well enough how
- to perswade the corrupted affection of them whom God will permit him
- to deal with,--they can lay the sicknesse of one upon another, which
- likewise is very possible unto him; for since by God's permission he
- laide sicknesse upon Job, why may he not farre easilier lay it upon
- any other? For as an old practitian, hee knowes well enough what
- humour domines most in any of us, and as a spirit he can subtillie
- waken up the same, making it peccant, or to abound, as hee thinkes
- meet, for troubling of us, when God will so permit him. And for the
- taking off of it, no doubt he will be glad to relieve such of present
- paine as he may thinke by these meanes to perswade to be catched in
- his everlasting snares and fetters. They can bewitch and take the
- life of men or women, by roasting of the pictures, as I spake of
- before, which likewise is verie possible to their master to performe;
- for although that instrument of waxe have no vertue in that turne
- doing, yet may he not very well, even by the same measure that his
- conjured slaves melts that waxe at the fire, may he not, I say, at
- these same times, subtily as a spirit, so weaken and scatter the
- spirits of life of the patient, as may make him on the one part, for
- faintnesse, to sweat out the humour of his bodie, and on the other
- part, for the not concurrence of these spirits, which causes his
- digestion, so debilitate his stomacke, that this humour radicall
- continually, sweating out on the one part, and no new good sucke
- being put in the place thereof, for lacke of digestion on the other,
- he at last shall vanish away, even as his picture will doe at the
- fire? And that knavish and cunning workeman, by troubling him onely
- at sometimes, makes a proportion so neere betwixt the working of the
- one and the other, that both shall end as it were at one time. They
- can raise stormes and tempests in the aire, either upon sea or land,
- though not universally, but in such a particular place and prescribed
- bounds, as God will permit them so to trouble. Which likewise is very
- easy to be discerned from any other naturall tempests that are
- meteores, in respect of the sudden and violent raising thereof,
- together with the short induring of the same. And this is likewise
- very possible to their master to doe, hee having such affinitie with
- the aire, as being a spirit, and having such power of the forming and
- mooving thereof; for in the Scripture, that stile of the _prince of
- the aire_, is given unto him. They can make folkes to become
- phrenticque or maniacque, which likewise is very possible to their
- master to doe, since they are but naturall sicknesses, and so he may
- lay on these kindes as well as any others. They can make spirits
- either to follow and trouble persons, or haunt certaine houses, and
- affray oftentimes the inhabitants, as hath been knowne to be done by
- our witches at this time. And likewise, they can make some to bee
- possessed with spirits, and so to become very demoniacques; and this
- last sort is very possible likewise to the divel their master to doe,
- since he may easily send his owne angels to trouble in what forme he
- pleases any whom God will permit him so to use.
-
- PHI.--But will God permit these wicked instruments, by the power of
- the devill their master, to trouble by any of these meanes any that
- beleeve in him?
-
- EPI.--No doubt, for there are three kindes of folkes whom God will
- permit so to be tempted or troubled; the wicked for their horrible
- sinnes, to punish them in the like measure; the godly that are
- sleeping in any great sinnes or infirmities, and weaknesse in faith,
- to waken them up the faster by such an uncouth forme; and even some
- of the best, that their patience may be tried before the world, as
- Job's was. For why may not God use any kinde of extraordinarie
- punishment, when it pleases him, as well as the ordinarie rods of
- sicknesse or other adversities?
-
- PHI.--Who then may be free from these devilish practises?
-
- EPI.--No man ought to presume so farre as to promise any impunitie to
- himselfe; for God hath before all beginnings, preordinated as well
- the particular sorts of plagues, as of benefites, for every man,
- which in the owne time he ordaines them to be visited with; and yet
- ought we not to be the more afraide for that, of any thing that the
- divell and his wicked instruments can doe against us, for we daily
- fight against the divell in a hundreth other wayes; and therefore, as
- a valiant captaine affraies no more being at the combate, nor stayes
- from his purpose for the rummishing shot of a canon, nor the small
- clacke of a pistolet, suppose he be not certaine what may light upon
- him; even so ought we boldly to goe forward in fighting against the
- divell, without any great terrour for these his rarest weapons, nor
- for the ordinary, whereof we have daily the proofe.
-
- PHI.--Is it not lawfull then, by the helpe of some other witch, to
- cure the disease that is casten on by that craft?
-
- EPI.--No wayes lawfull, for it is an axiome of theologie, that we are
- not to doe evil, that good maie come of it.
-
- PHI.--How then may these diseases be lawfully cured?
-
- EPI.--Only by earnest prayer unto God, by amendment of their lives,
- and by sharpe pursuing every one, according to his calling of these
- instruments of Satan, whose punishment to the death will be a
- salutarie sacrifice for the patient. And this is not onely the
- lawfull way, but likewise the most sure; for by the devil's meanes
- _can never the devill be casten out_, as Christ sayth; and when such
- a cure is used, it may well serve for a short time, but at the last
- it will doubtlesly tend to the utter perdition of the patient, both
- in body and soule.
-
-
- _What sort of Folkes are least or most subject to receive harm by
-   Witchcraft--What power they have to harme the Magistrate, and upon
-   what respects they have any power in prison--And to what end may or
-   will the Devill appeare to them therein--Upon what respects the
-   Devill appeares in sundry shapes to sundry of them at any time._
-
- PHI.--But who dare take upon him to punish them, if no man can be
- sure to be free from their unnatural invasions?
-
- EPI.--Wee ought not the more of that restraine from vertue, that the
- way whereby we clime thereunto be straight and perillous; but,
- besides that, as there is no kinde of persons so subject to receive
- harme of them, as these that are of infirme and weake faith, so have
- they so small power over none, as over such as zealously and
- earnestly pursue them.
-
- PHI.--Then they are like the pest which smites these sickarest that
- flies it farthest?
-
- EPI.--It is even so with them, for neither is it able to them to use
- any false cure upon a patient, except the patient first beleeve in
- their power, and so hazard the tinsell of his owne soule, nor yet can
- they have lesse power to hurt any, nor such as contemne most their
- doings, so being it comes of faith, and not of any vaine arrogancie
- in themselves.
-
- PHI.--But what is their power against the Magistrate?
-
- EPI.--Lesse or greater, according as he deales with them; for if hee
- be slothfull towards them, God is very able to make them instruments
- to waken and punish his sloth; but if he be the contrary, hee,
- according to the just law of God, and allowable law of all nations,
- will be diligent in examining and punishing of them, God will not
- permit their master to trouble or hinder so good a worke.
-
- PHI.--But fra they be once in hands and firmance, have they any
- further power in their craft?
-
- EPI.--That is according to the forme of their detention; if they be
- but apprehended and deteined by any private person, upon other
- private respects, their power no doubt, either in escaping, or in
- doing hurt, is no lesse nor ever it was before; but if, on the other
- part, their apprehending and detention be by the lawfull magistrate,
- upon the just respects of their guiltinesse in that craft, their
- power is then no greater than before that ever they medled with their
- master; for where God begins justly to strike by his lawfull
- lieutenants, it is not in the devil's power to defraud or bereave him
- of the office, or effect of his powerful and revenging scepter.
-
- PHI.--But will never their master come to visite them fra they be
- once apprehended and put in firmance?
-
- EPI.--That is according to the estate that these miserable wretches
- are in, for if they be obstinate in still denying, he will not spare,
- when hee findes time to speake with them, either if he finde them in
- any comfort, to fill them more and more with the vaine hope of some
- manner of reliefe, or else if he finde them in a deepe despaire, by
- all meanes to augment the same, and to perswade them by some
- extraordinarie meanes to put themselves downe, which very commonly
- they doe; but if they be penitent and confesse, God will not permit
- him to trouble them any more with his presence and allurements.
-
- PHI.--It is not good using his counsell I see then; but I would
- earnestly know, when he appeares to them in prison, what formes uses
- he then to take?
-
- EPI.--Divers formes, even as hee uses to doe at other times unto
- them; but ordinarily in such a forme as they agree upon among
- themselves; or, if they be but prentises, according to the qualitie
- of their circles or conjurations: yet to these capped creatures he
- appeares as he pleases, and as he findes meetest for their humours;
- for even at their publicke conventions, hee appeares to divers of
- them in divers formes, as we have found by the difference of their
- confessions in that point; for he deluding them with vaine
- impressions in the aire, makes himselfe to seeme more terrible to the
- grosser sort, that they may thereby be mooved to feare and reverence
- him the more, and lesse monstrous and uncouth like againe to the
- craftier sort, lest otherwise they might sturre and skunner at his
- uglinesse.
-
- PHI.--How can he then be felt, as they confesse they have done, if
- his body be but of aire?
-
- EPI.--I heare little of that amongst their confessions, yet may he
- make himselfe palpable, either by assuming any dead bodie, and using
- the ministerie thereof, or else by deluding as well their sense of
- feeling as seeing, which is not impossible to him to doe, since all
- our senses, as wee are so weake, and even by ordinarie sicknesses,
- will be oftentimes deluded.
-
- PHI.--But I would speere one word further yet concerning his
- appearing to them in prison, which is this, may any other that
- chances to be present at that time in the prison see him as well as
- they?
-
- EPI.--Sometimes they will, and sometimes not, as it pleases God.
-
-
- _Of the Tryall and Punishment of Witches--What sort of Accusation
-   ought to be admitted against them--What is the cause of the
-   increasing so farre of their number in this age._
-
- PHI.--Then to make an end of our conference, since I see it drawes
- late, what forme of punishment thinke yee merit these witches?
-
- EPI.--They ought to be put to death according to the law of God, the
- civill and imperial law, and municipall law of all Christian nations.
-
- PHI.--But what kinde of death I pray you?
-
- EPI.--It is commonly used by fire, but that is an indifferent thing
- to be used in every countrey, according to the law or custome
- thereof.
-
- PHI.--But ought no sexe, age, nor ranke, to be exempted?
-
- EPI.--None at all, (being so used by the lawfull magistrate), for it
- is the highest point of idolatry wherein no exception is admitted by
- the law of God.
-
- PHI.--Then barnes may not be spared?
-
- EPI.--Yea, not a haire the lesse of my conclusion, for they are not
- that capable of reason as to practise such things; and for any being
- in company, and not reveiling thereof, their less and ignorant age
- will no doubt excuse them.
-
- PHI.--I see ye condemne them all that are of the counsell of such
- craftes.
-
- EPI.--No doubt the consulters, trusters in, overseers, interteiners,
- or stirrers up of these craftes folkes, are equally guiltie with
- themselves that are the practisers.
-
- PHI.--Whether may the prince then, or supreme magistrate, spare or
- oversee any that are guilty of that craft, upon some great respects
- knowen to him?
-
- EPI.--The prince or magistrate, for further trials cause, may
- continue the punishing of them such a certaine space as he thinkes
- convenient, but in the end to spare the life, and not to strike when
- God bids strike, and so severely punish in so odious a fault and
- treason against God, it is not onely unlawfull, but doubtlesse no
- lesse sinne in that magistrate, nor it was in Saules sparing of Agag;
- and so comparable to the sinne of witchcraft itselfe, as Samuel
- alledged at that time.
-
- PHI.--Surely then, I think since this crime ought to be so severely
- punished, judges ought to beware to condemne any but such as they are
- sure are guiltie, neither should the clattering report of a carling
- serve in so weightie a case.
-
- EPI.--Judges ought indeede to beware whom they condemne, for it is as
- great a crime (as Solomon saith), to condemne the innocent as to let
- the guilty escape free, neither ought the report of any one infamous
- person be admitted for a sufficient proof which can stand of no law.
-
- PHI.--And what may a number of guilty persons confessions worke
- against one that is accused?
-
- EPI.--The assise must serve for interpretour of our law in that
- respect, but in my opinion, since in a matter of treason against the
- prince, barnes or wives, or never so diffamed persons, may of our
- law serve for sufficient witnesses and proofes, I thinke surely that
- by a farre greater reason such witnesses may be sufficient in matters
- of high treason against God; for who but witches can be prooves, and
- so witnesses of the doings of witches?
-
- PHI.--Indeed, I trow they will be loath to put any honest man upon
- their counsell; but what if they accuse folke to have been present at
- their imaginar conventions in the spirit, when their bodies lye
- senseless, as ye have said?
-
- EPI.--I thinke they are not a haire the less guiltie; for the divell
- durst never have borrowed their shadow or similitude to that turne,
- if their consent had not beene at it; and the consent in these turnes
- is death of the lawe.
-
- PHI.--Then Samuel was a witch, for the divell resembled his shape,
- and played his person in giving response to Saul.
-
- EPI.--Samuel was dead as well before that, and so none could slaunder
- him with medling in that unlawful arte; for the cause why, as I take
- it, that God will not permit Satan to use the shapes of similitudes
- of any innocent persons at such unlawfull times is, that God will not
- permit that any innocent persons shall be slandered with that vile
- defection, for then the divell would finde waies anew to calumniate
- the best; and this we have in proofe by them that are carried with
- the _pharie_, who never see the shadowes of any in that court but of
- them that thereafter are tryed to have beene brethren and sisters of
- that craft. And this was likewise prooved by the confession of a
- young lasse troubled with spirits, laid on her by witchcraft; that
- although she saw the shapes of divers men and women troubling her,
- and naming the persons whom these shadowes represent; yet never one
- of them are founde to be innocent, but all clearely tryed to be most
- guiltie, and the most part of them confessing the same. And, besides
- that, I thinke it hath beene seldome heard tell of, that any whom
- persons guiltie of that crime accused, as having knowen them to be
- their marrows by eye-sight, and not by hearesay, but such as were so
- accused of witchcraft, could not be clearely tried upon them, were at
- the least publikely knowen to be of a very evill life and reputation;
- so jealous is God of the fame of them that are innocent in such
- causes. And, besides that, there are two other good helps that may be
- used for their triall; the one is, the finding of their marke, and
- the trying the insensibleness thereof; the other is their fleeting on
- the water, for as in a secret murther, if the dead carkasse be at any
- time thereafter handled by the murtherer, it will gush out of bloud,
- as if the bloud were crying to the heaven for revenge of the
- murtherer, God having appointed that secret supernaturall signe for
- triall of that secret unnatural crime, so it appeares that God hath
- appointed (for a supernatural signe of the monstrous impietie of
- witches), that the water shall refuse to receive them in her bosome
- that have shaken off them the sacred water of baptisme, and wilfully
- refused the benefitie thereof. No, not so much as their eyes are able
- to shed teares (threaten and torture them as ye please), while first
- they repent, (God not permitting them to dissemble their obstinacie
- in so horrible a crime) albeit the women kind especially, be able
- otherwayes to shed teares at every light occasion when they will,
- yea, although it were dissemblingly like the crocodiles.
-
- PHI.--Well, wee have made this conference to last as long as leisure
- would permit; and to conclude then, since I am to take my leave of
- you, I pray God to purge this countrey of these divellish practises,
- for they were never so rife in these parts as they are now.
-
- EPI.--I pray God that so be too; but the causes are over manifest
- that make them to be so rife; for the great wickedness of the people
- on the one hand, procures this horrible defection, whereby God justly
- punisheth sinne by a greater iniquitie; and on the other part, the
- consummation of the world and our deliverance drawing neere, makes
- Satan to rage the more in his instruments, knowing his kingdome to be
- so neere an end.--And so farewell for this time.
-
-
- THE END
-
-
-
-
-  AN
-
-  ANSWER
-
-  OF A
-
-  LETTER
-
-  FROM A
-
-  Gentleman in Fife,
-
-  TO
-
-  A NOBLEMAN,
-
-  CONTAINING A
-
-  BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE BARBAROUS AND ILLEGAL
-    TREATMENT THESE POOR WOMEN ACCUSED OF
-    WITCHCRAFT MET WITH FROM THE BAILLIES OF
-    PITTENWEEM AND OTHERS--WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS
-    THEREON.
-
-  To which is added,
-
-  _An Account of the Horrid and Barbarous Murder,
-    in a Letter from a Gentleman in Fife to his Friend
-    in Edinburgh, February 5th, 1705._
-
-  PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1705.
-
-
-
-
- The two following Tracts give an account of the witches of Pittenweem
- in 1705. The first is a concise relation of facts, in which the
- minister and magistrates are placed in no very favourable point of
- view. The second is an answer to the first, and seems chiefly
- intended to obviate the charges that are preferred against the
- minister and baillies, but in our opinion with no great success, as
- the principal facts are admitted, and the only defence set up is,
- that the women were in reality witches. We have given this author's
- story in his own words, with such of his remarks as bear upon the
- narrative of the other pamphlet, which is all that is necessary at
- the present day.
-
-  EDITOR.
-
-
-
-
- AN
-
- ANSWER
-
- OF
-
- A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN IN FIFE, &c.
-
-
- MY LORD,
-
- I reckon myself very much honoured by your Lordship's letter,
- desiring me to write you an account of that horrible murder committed
- in Pittenweem. I doubt not, but by this time, your Lordship has seen
- the gentleman's letter to his friend thereanent; I refer you to it,
- the author thereof being so well informed, and so ingenous, that I'll
- assure you, there is nothing in it but what is generally talked and
- believed to be true.
-
- All I can contribute to your Lordship's further information, shall be
- by way of a brief narrative of the minister and baillies
- unwarrantable imprisoning, and barbarous treating of the poor women.
-
- I need not write your Lordship a character of Patrick Morton, being
- now sufficiently known for a cheat.
-
- It was upon his accusation allennarly the minister and baillies
- imprisoned these poor women, and set a guard of drunken fellows about
- them, who by pinching and pricking some of them with pins and
- elsions, kept them from sleep for several days and nights together,
- the marks whereof were seen by severals a month thereafter. This
- cruel usage made some of them learn to be so wise as acknowledge
- every question that was asked them; whereby they found the minister
- and baillies well pleased, and themselves better treated.
-
- Notwithstanding of all this, some of the more foolish continued, as
- the minister said, hardened in the devil's service, such as White,
- Jack, Wallace, Patrick, and others; all which, save the first, were
- ordered to the stocks, where they lay for several weeks.
-
- All this while Patrick Morton's melancholly fancy (to give it no
- harsher term), being too much encouraged by severals, and
- particularly by the minister's reading to him the case of
- Barrgarran's daughter, continued roving after a wonderful manner,
- accusing for his tormentors some of the most considerable mens' wives
- in the town, but such as the minister and baillies durst not venture
- to imprison.--By this your Lordship may see, it was only the weakest
- that went to the walls.
-
- My Lord Rothes, accompanied with several gentlemen of good sense and
- reputation, came to Pittenweem, where finding these poor womens'
- confessions no wise satisfying, and Patrick Morton a cheat, informed
- the privy council thereof, who sent an order to send Patrick over to
- them. This turn being given, and Patrick finding that things were not
- likely to go so favourably with him as he before fancied, began to
- draw to his breeches, and in a short time recovered his former
- health, in which he still continues. By this time the baillies began
- to be as earnest in emptying their prisons, as ever they were forward
- in filling them; so after a long and serious deliberation, they set
- them at liberty: but that their last step might be as illegal as
- their first, obliged each of them to pay the town-officer the sum of
- 8 lib. Scots; to pay which, some of them were forced to sell some
- linnen they had reserved for their dead shirts and wynding sheets.
-
- I beg your Lordship's further patience a little to read these few
- following observations: _Obs. 1st_, The baillies and minister sent
- and brought several of these women from places without their
- jurisdiction--one from Anstruther, and another from the country at
- six miles distance.
-
- _Obs. 2d_, What good could the minister propose to Patrick Morton by
- reading to him the book intituled the case of Barrgarran's daughter?
-
- _Obs. 3d_, After so much injustice done to these poor women, the
- baillies and minister obliged them to pay the town-officer eight
- pound Scots, is worthy of your Lordship and the rest of the Lords of
- the privy council's considerations; and it would be the height of
- charity to fall on a method to oblige the minister and baillies to
- refound it seven-fold.
-
- _Obs. 4th_, One Thomas Brown, the only man accused by Patrick Morton,
- and imprisoned by the minister and baillies, after a great deal of
- hunger and hardship, died in prison, so as this poor woman's murder
- was not the first, neither will it be the last, unless by severe
- punishments prevented.
-
- _Obs. 5th_, The baillies in a manner justified these two murthers, by
- not allowing them Christian burial, but burying them like dogs,
- scarce covering them from the ravens.
-
- _Obs. 6th_, You may wonder why all along I should say the minister
- and baillies? The reason is, because during all this narrative he
- exercised more of the civil authority than any of the baillies, and
- so continues to do, as you may see by the following late instance.
-
- The baillies of Pittenweem being conveened before the Lords of Privy
- Council on the 14th or 15th of February, I am informed gave in to
- them a subscribed account of the murther; and to justify themselves,
- assert they had imprisoned several of the murtherers before they left
- Pittenweem. It is very true they did so, but they were not long from
- the town when the minister set them at liberty. This, I think, is
- exercising the office of a civil magistrate: perhaps the minister may
- say he did it by the magistrates' order left behind them; then I
- think the magistrates were mightily in the wrong to give in to the
- Lords of the privy council an account they knew to be false.
-
- My Lord, this is not the tenth part of what may be said upon this
- subject, I hope some other person will be more particular.
-
-  I am,
-  My LORD,
-  Your Lordship's
-  Most humble servant.
-
-
-
-
- AN
-
- ACCOUNT
-
- OF AN
-
- HORRID AND BARBAROUS MURDER,
-
- IN A
-
-
- _Letter from a Gentleman in Fife to his Friend in Edinburgh_.
-
- I doubt not of your being exceedingly surprized with this short and
- just account I give you of a most barbarous murder committed in
- Pittenweem the 30th of January last. One Peter Morton, a blacksmith
- in that town, after a long sickness, pretended that witches were
- tormenting him--that he did see them and know them--and, from time to
- time, as he declared such and such women to be witches, they were by
- order of the magistrates and minister of Pittenweem, apprehended as
- such, to a very considerable number, and put into prison. This man,
- by his odd postures and fits, which seemed to be very surprizing at
- first, wrought himself into such a credit with the people of that
- place, that unless the Earl of Rothes, our sheriff, had discovered
- his villany, and discouraged that practice, God knows how fatal it
- might have proved to many honest families of good credit and
- respect. Sir, however, at first many were deceived, yet now all men
- of sense are ashamed for giving any credit to such a person; but how
- hard it is to root out bad principles once espoused by the rabble,
- and how dangerous a thing it is to be at their mercy, will appear by
- the tragical account I give you of one of these poor women, Janet
- Corphat.
-
- After she was committed prisoner to the tolbooth, upon a suspicion of
- her being a witch, she was well guarded with a number of men, who, by
- pinching her, and pricking her with pins, kept her from sleep many
- days and nights, threatening her with present death, unless she would
- confess herself guilty of witchcraft; which at last she did. This
- report spreading abroad, made people curious to converse with her
- upon the subject, who found themselves exceedingly disappointed. The
- Viscount of Primrose being in Fife occasionally, inclined to satisfy
- his curiosity in this matter, the Earl of Kellie, my Lord Lyon, the
- Laird of Scotstarvat, and the Laird of Randerston, were with his
- Lordship in Pittenweem. Three of the number went to the tolbooth and
- discoursed with her, to whom she said, that all that she had
- confessed, either of herself or her neighbours, were lies, and cried
- out, _God forgive the minister_, and said, that he had beat her one
- day with his staff when she was telling him the truth. They asked her
- how she came to say any thing that was not true; she cryed out,
- _alas, alas, I behoved to say so, to please the minister and
- baillies_; and, in the mean time, she begged for Christ's sake not
- to tell that she had said so, else she would be murdered. Another
- time, when the Laird of Glenagies and Mr Bruce of Kinross, were
- telling her, she needed not deny what they were asking her, for she
- had confessed as much as would infallibly burn her; she cried out,
- _God forbid!_ and to one of the two she said, that from which he
- might rationally conclude, she insinuate she had assurance from the
- minister her life should not be taken.
-
- A little before harvest, Mr Ker of Kippilaw, a writer to the signet,
- being in Pittenweem, Mr Robert Cook, advocate, went with him to
- prison to see this poor woman; Mr Cook, among other questions, asked
- her, if she had not renounced her baptism to the devil; she answered,
- she never renounced her baptism but to the minister. These were her
- words, what she meant by them I know not. The minister having got
- account of this from Mr Cook, he sent for her, and in presence of Mr
- Cook and Mr Ker in the church, he threatened her very severely, and
- commanded the keeper to put her into some prison by herself under the
- steeple, least (as he said) she should pervert those who had
- confessed. The keeper put her into a prison in which was a low
- window, out of which it was obvious that any body could make an
- escape; and, accordingly, she made her escape that night.
-
- Next day when they missed her, they made a very slight search for
- her, and promised ten pound Scots to any body that would bring her
- back. Mr Gordon, minister at Leuchars, hearing she was in his
- parish, eight miles distant from Pittenweem, caused apprehend her,
- and sent her prisoner, under custody of two men, on the 30th of
- January, to Mr Cowper, minister of Pittenweem, without giving any
- notice to the magistrates of the place. When she came to Mr Cowper,
- she asked him if he had any thing to say to her? he answered, No. She
- could get lodging in no house but with one Nicolas Lawson, one of the
- women that had been called witches.--Some say a baillie put her
- there.
-
- The rabble hearing she was in town, went to Mr Cowper, and asked him
- what they should do with her? he told them he was not concerned, they
- might do what they pleased with her. They took encouragement from
- this to fall upon the poor woman, those of the minister's family
- going along with them, as I hear; they fell upon the poor creature
- immediately, and beat her unmercifully, tying her so hard with a
- rope, that she was almost strangled; they dragged her through the
- streets, and alongst the shore, by the heels. A baillie, hearing of a
- rabble near his stair, came out upon them, which made them
- immediately disappear. But the magistrates, though met together, not
- taking care to put her into close custody for her safety, the rabble
- gathered again immediately, and stretched a rope betwixt a ship and
- the shore, to a great height, to which they tied her fast; after
- which they swinged her to and fro, from one side to another, in the
- mean time throwing stones at her from all corners, until they were
- weary; then they loosed her, and with a mighty swing threw her upon
- the hard sands, all about being ready in the mean time to receive
- her with stones and staves, with which they beat her most cruelly.
- Her daughter, in the time of her mother's agony, though she knew of
- it, durst not adventure to appear, lest the rabble had used her after
- the same manner, being in a house, in great concern and terror, out
- of natural affection for her mother, (about which the author was
- misinformed in the first edition.) They laid a heavy door upon her,
- with which they prest her so sore, that she cried out, to let her up
- for Christ's sake, and she would tell the truth. But when they did
- let her up, what she said could not satisfy them, and therefore, they
- again laid on the door, and with a heavy weight of stones on it,
- prest her to death; and to be sure it was so, they called a man with
- a horse and a sledge, and made him drive over her corpse backward and
- forward several times. When they were sure she was killed outright,
- they dragged her miserable carcase to Nicolas Lawson's house, where
- they first found her.
-
- There was a motion made to treat Nicolas Lawson after the same manner
- immediately; but some of them being wearied with three hours sport,
- as they called it, said it would be better to delay her for another
- day's divertisement; and so they all went off.
-
- It is said that Mr Cowper, in a letter to Mr Gordon, gave some rise
- to all this; and Mr Cowper, to vindicate himself, wrote to Mr Gordon,
- whose return says, if he were not going to Edinburgh, he would give
- him a double of his letter. It's strange he sent him not the
- principal. In the postscript, he assures him, he shall conceal it to
- meeting.
-
- 'Tis certain, that Mr Cowper, preaching the Lord's day immediately
- after, in Pittenweem, took no notice of the murder, which at least
- makes him guilty of sinful silence. Neither did Mr Gordon, in his
- letter to Mr Cowper, make any regret for it; and this some construe
- to be a justifying of the horrid wickedness in both.
-
- We are perswaded the government will examine this affair to the
- bottom, and lay little stress upon what the magistrates or minister
- of Pittenweem will say to smooth over the matter, seeing it's very
- well known, that either of them could have quashed the rabble, and
- prevented that murder, if they had appeared zealous against it.
-
- I am sorry I have no better news to tell you, God deliver us from
- those principles that tend to such practices.
-
-  I am,
-  SIR,
-  Your humble servant.
-
-
-
-
- A
-
- JUST REPROOF
-
- TO THE
-
- FALSE REPORTS and UNJUST CALUMNIES,
-
- IN THE
-
- _FOREGOING LETTERS._
-
-
- About the month of March last year, one Beatrix Laing, a woman of
- very bad fame, who had formerly been under process for using charms,
- and refusing to be reconciled to her neighbours, was debarred from
- the Lord's table, came to one Patrick Morton, a blacksmith, desiring
- him to make some nails, which he refused to do, because otherwise
- employed at that time. Upon which she went off muttering some
- threatening expressions. A little after, the said Patrick Morton,
- with another person in company, carrying some fish by the said
- Beatrix Laing's door, they saw a vessel with water placed at the
- door, with a burning coal in it. Upon which he was presently strucken
- with an impression that it was a charm designed against him, and upon
- this a little after he sickened. In this sickness he languished for a
- long time; physicians that saw him, could not understand his
- distemper, yet tried various medicines, till at length his trouble
- increased, and he began to be seized with some unusual fits, which
- made them give over. He forbore all this while any accusation of the
- person whom he all along suspected for his trouble, at least he made
- no mention of it to the minister, who frequently visited him while
- under it. But his trouble still increasing, he at length began to
- drop some apprehensions of the cause of it. Upon which Beatrix Laing
- was called, and by the magistrates, in the said Patrick Morton's
- father's house, examined in presence of a great multitude of people,
- and owned, that she had placed that vessel with water, and the coal
- in it, there; but at that time would give no account of the reason of
- it. Being dismissed by the magistrates, she went home, and that same
- night, when she was challenged by Katharine Marshal, in her own
- house, before Nicolas Lawson, about the lad's trouble, she answered,
- that he might blame his own ill tongue for what had befallen him, and
- that it was an evil spirit that was troubling him; which was in her
- face maintained by the said persons next day, in presence of the
- magistrates. Then the boy began to complain of her tormenting him,
- and fell into grievous fits of trouble upon her entering the house.
- Upon all which she being imprisoned, after some time did acknowledge
- to magistrates and minister, in presence of many witnesses, without
- threat or torture, (of which we shall speak more afterwards) that she
- was displeased with Patrick Morton for his refusing to make some
- nails; that she designed to be avenged upon him for it; and that she
- used that charm of the coal in the water against him; and that she
- renounced her baptism, entered into a compact with the devil some
- twelve years before; condescending upon time, place, and her
- inducements to engage in his service; and that she, with Nicholas
- Lawson, had made a wax picture to torment him, and put pins in it;
- which the said Nicolas likewise confessed afterwards, and so
- justified the boy's account of the rise of his trouble.
-
- After this the boy's trouble daily increased, in which there were
- many strange things; first his belly, for some time, then his breast,
- frequently heaved up to a prodigious height, and instantly went off
- again, by a blowing at the mouth like a bellows; frequently he cried
- out that such persons as he named were pinching him in his arms,
- breast, or some other places of his body, his hands lying all the
- while above the clothes, at a distance from one another, in the view
- of many of the spectators; and when they looked the places of which
- he complained, they saw distinctly the print of nails. Again, he was
- frequently cast into swooning fits, became insensible, which was
- tried by exquisite pinching the more sensible parts of his body, of
- which he complained afterwards when he came out of the fits, though
- he took no notice of them, nor felt them, in the time while he was in
- these fits. The strongest who essayed to lift his head from the
- pillow, were not able to move it, though both his feet and head were
- perfectly free of the bed, which was exactly tried: Yea, sometimes
- while the trunk of his body and his head were thus rigid and could
- not be raised from the pillow, his legs were loose, and any might
- move them as they pleased. Sometimes these fits were not so great as
- at other times, and then, or when he was falling in, or coming out of
- them, several persons lifted him with little difficulty; but when he
- was in the depth of the fit, the strongest that essayed it could not
- raise him up. Again, when any of the women whom he accused touched
- him, and sometimes on their coming into the room he fell into
- grievous fits of trouble, and cried out, that such a person was
- tormenting him, condescending on their names; and this he did very
- frequently, before multitudes of people of different ranks, ready to
- attest the same. And commonly such care was taken to prevent his
- having any notice, either of the womens' entry, or which of them was
- there, that there was no place left for any rational suspicion of
- trick or cheat in the matter. He was carefully hoodwinked with
- several plies of cloth--the women were brought in with the utmost
- secrecy--innocent persons present in the room laid their hands on
- him, but yet he never shewed the least concern, save when the accused
- persons touched him. Several times gentlemen that seemed jealous that
- there was somewhat of an imposture in the case, were allowed and
- invited to make the nicest trial, and found it hold. Several pitiful
- cavils have been used about this, and other instances of the boy's
- trouble, which proceed either from ignorance of the circumstances of
- matter of fact, or gross inadvertency in not observing the several
- variations of the boy's case; which, had they been considered, they
- would have been so far from giving any countenance to the conclusion
- aimed at by these objectors, that they would strongly have enforced a
- conviction of something preter-natural in the case.
-
- The author then proceeds to give an account of Janet Corphat, the
- woman who was murdered. She was a person of very bad fame, who of a
- long time was reputed a witch, frequently used charms, and was wont
- commonly to threaten persons who disobliged her, and such
- consequences sometimes followed, as made her the terror of many, both
- of the town and country, which might be verified by particular
- instances, if it were necessary. She was not at first delated by
- Patrick Morton, though afterwards he complained of her as one of his
- tormentors; but she, with several others, being in company with the
- devil, whereof Isabel Adam was one, in pursuance of a quarrel which
- Beatrix Laing, formerly mentioned, had with one Alexander M'Grigor, a
- fisher in the town, made an attempt to murder the said M'Grigor in
- bed; which was prevented by his awakening and wrestling against them.
- This attempt was acknowledged by Isabel Adam, of whose confession a
- more full account shall be given afterwards, who had been taken up on
- that man's delation, and some other informations against her, and not
- on the lad's. As likewise, the said Janet was accused by Nicolas
- Lawson, another person present at that attempt; and Nicolas accused
- her of being at another meeting in the Loan of Pittenweem; at both
- which meetings they confessed the devil was present.--All which she
- herself afterwards freely confessed.
-
- The manner of this woman's confession was very remarkable.--After she
- had obstinately some while denied, and with a subtility beyond what
- might be expected from one of her education, shifted all questions
- put to her, she, with Isobel Adam aforesaid, being brought to the
- house where the tormented lad lay, and he discovering her at her
- entry into the room, notwithstanding the utmost precaution was used
- to conceal it from him, and he falling into grievous fits of trouble,
- did cry out of her as one of his tormentors; at which she was so
- stunned, that instantly she fell a trembling. The magistrates and
- minister observing her in such a confusion, asked if she was willing
- to commune with them, in reference to the matters whereof she had
- been accused; she declaring herself willing, went with them to
- another place, and when desired to be ingenuous, she again fell a
- trembling, and said she would confess all, but was afraid the devil
- would tear the soul out of her body if she did, and said, if you will
- pray, and cause all good folk pray for me, I will confess, and she
- then desired the minister to pray; and, after prayer, confessed she
- was bodily present at both the meetings aforesaid with the devil and
- the witches, and gave a circumstantiat account of the renounciation
- of her baptism, naming time, place, and inducements which led her to
- it, and the shape the devil appeared to her in.--She likewise told
- the reason of their attempt to murder M'Grigor was, that he did not
- hire a house which belonged to Beatrix Laing.
-
- Again, on a Thursday, after she had been hearing sermon, she desired
- to speak with the minister, and sent one to acquaint him with this
- desire; on which he went to her, and she, before several witnesses,
- renewed her former confession, and condescended on all the persons
- the other confessing witches had accused, as being present at the two
- foresaid meetings; adding withal, that there were others present whom
- she knew not. This confession she renewed before the presbytery, in
- presence of a great many country gentleman, and other spectators; as
- likewise in the face of a numerous congregation on the Lord's day.
-
- It is owned, that when Beatrix Laing and Nicolas Lawson were first
- imprisoned, they were ill used by some of the guard, without the
- knowledge of magistrates or minister, of which the women made
- complaint to the minister, whereof he presently acquainted the
- magistrates, who, with the minister, went to the prison, and
- threatened the guard if they offered the least disturbance to persons
- in custody. And the minister, on the Lord's day thereafter, took
- occasion in sermon to discover the wickedness of that practice, as
- being against the light of nature, Scripture, and the just laws of
- the land. After this, we heard of no more disturbances they met with.
- Now, it was not till after this precaution used to prevent their
- trouble, that Janet Corphat was imprisoned; and, from the time of her
- imprisonment, till the time that she confessed, which was some ten
- or twelve days, she was not in company with the rest, nor with the
- guard, save one or two days, but was alone in a separate prison, and
- nothing to disturb her.
-
- Now, it is remarkable, that neither of these persons who were ill
- used, of which Janet Corphat was none, did ever make any
- acknowledgement to these persons who used them ill, nor till some
- days after they were quite freed of this trouble. And when they did
- confess, it was to magistrates and minister, whom they owned to be
- careful to preserve them from such abuses; nor did magistrates or
- minister ever use any threatening to extort a confession, or any
- other argument, but what the gospel requires to be made use of to
- bring impenitent sinners to a confession of their sins.[8]
-
-   [8] We should like to know what threatenings the gospel requires
-   ministers to make use of to such impenitent sinners as will not
-   confess sins they could not commit. ED.
-
- The author of the letter tells us, 'she was put in a low prison, out
- of which it was obvious that any body could make an escape, and
- accordingly she made her escape that night.' Here are but two
- assertions, and both of them false, for the prison was the second
- story, and her escape was by breaking an old iron grate in the
- window; nor was it that night after that she broke the prison, for it
- was on Friday these gentlemen discoursed her, and on the Lord's day
- at night she broke the prison.[9]
-
-   [9] This just reprover begins very fairly by wilfully perverting his
-   opponent's language, 'a prison with a low window,' he makes 'a low
-   prison.' We very much suspect the minister himself had a hand in this
-   pamphlet.
-
- Here follows the author of the 'Just Reproofs' way of telling the
- story of the barbarous and cruel murder of Janet Corphat. She came to
- town under cloud of night with two men, and went straight to an inn
- where her daughter was serving. After some stay there, the two men
- brought her to the minister's house, who was visiting a sick child of
- one James Cook, a present bailie, where his servant came to him with
- Mr Gordon's letter; and, as soon as he had perused it, he bid his
- servant go tell them, he would have nothing to do with her, but since
- they had brought her to the town, let them take her to the
- magistrates; which answer, two men then present, have attested under
- their hands. On this, the men brought her to Bailie Cook's house,
- where the minister was, and the men meeting him coming down stairs,
- pressed him to take her off their hands, which he refused to do, but
- called the two next magistrates, and advised them instantly to set
- her off safe out of the town. On which the two bailies sent for their
- officer immediately, and the minister went off straight to his own
- house, and saw no appearance of a rabble, nor did hear of it, till
- the rabble had gone a considerable length; and after a little, he
- heard that the woman was got safe out of their hands, and the rabble
- dissipate, and he knew nothing of her death till the next morning.
-
- When the officer came to the magistrates, they, on deliberation among
- themselves, resolved to imprison her till the next morning; and
- accordingly ordered their officer to do it. And as the officer was
- executing the magistrates' orders, the rabble gathered upon them,
- attacked the officer, and took the woman from him, with which, it is
- said, he did not acquaint the magistrates, that they might have taken
- other measures for the woman's safety.
-
- This rabble did not flow from the inclinations of the people of the
- place, which is evident from the peaceable and safe residence two
- confessing witches had for two months time in the place since they
- were set at liberty, but from an unhappy occasional concourse of a
- great many strangers, some Englishmen, some from Orkney, and other
- parts, who were forward in it, and have since taken guilt on them by
- their flight.
-
- As to the assertion with regard to those of Mr Cowper's family going
- along with the rabble, Mr Cowper urged to have his servants examined
- among the first, and they have declared before the magistrates, that
- they stole out in a clandestine way, that their master might not know
- of it, and he indeed knew nothing of it, and they returned very
- quickly and made no stay; nor do any of the witnesses examined
- insinuate any accusation of their having the least accession to any
- injury she met with, nor were they any other way concerned, than by
- looking on a short while with some hundreds of other spectators.
-
- Again, it is said, 'that they first found her at Nicolas Lawson's
- house, and that she was killed out-right when they dragged her there
- again,' is as ill grounded as the rest of our author's assertions;
- for they found her not at Nicolas Lawson's house, and some of the
- persons examined have declared, that after she was brought to that
- door, she arose and put on head cloaths, and called to Nicolas Lawson
- to let her in; which, if she had done, she in all appearance had met
- with no more disturbance; but after this, we hear _that some few of
- the rabble stole up secretly and murdered her_.
-
- The author of the Second Letter accuses the minister of encouraging
- Patrick Morton in carrying on the cheat, by reading to him the case
- of Bargarran's daughter. In answer to which, we shall give a short,
- but candid, account of matter of fact. In the month of May last, the
- minister, with a preacher, and a great many other people, attending
- all night in the room where Patrick Morton lay, and he lying
- meanwhile in a swooning fit, which was then tried by exquisite
- pinching, the minister and probationer falling into some discourse
- about Bargarran's daughter, took out the book, and for their own
- satisfaction, read only two sentences, and stopt. Several weeks
- after, when the minister was again attending in the night time, the
- lad being insensible, the minister, for his own diversion, read the
- preface, and some part of the process, against the witches, but had
- no reason to think he heard any thing, but on the contrary. And it is
- to be observed, when the committee of the privy council did
- accurately examine the boy in reference to this story, he still
- declared he never heard any thing of Bargarran's daughter's case
- read.
-
- What he says of 'their obliging them to pay eight pound Scots to the
- town-officer,' is in many ways false. It is false that they were
- ordered by the magistrates to pay such a sum. It is false that they
- paid all alike. It is also untruth that any of them gave what they
- had provided for their winding sheets. Nicolas Lawson, one of the
- confessing witches, her husband voluntarily gave a small piece of
- unbleached linen to the officer for his fees; and this is all the
- ground for the story of their winding-sheets.
-
- The author of the Just Reproof then proceeds to give an account of
- Mrs White and Isobel Adam. The woman brought from Anstruther was a
- Mrs White, an inhabitant of Pittenweem, who, through fear of being
- apprehended, fled thither to her daughter's house. This woman, whose
- cause is now warmly espoused by some, with no advantage to their
- reputation, and who is now insisting against the magistrates in a
- process for wrongous imprisonment, has been for many years a person
- of very bad fame. Some eighteen years ago, she pursued a woman before
- the session, in Mr Bruce the late Episcopal incumbents time, for
- calling her a witch, and succumbing in the probation. Mr Bruce urged
- her to be reconciled with the woman,--she obstinately refused,--using
- most Unchristian and revengeful expressions, which are to be seen in
- the session-register. Since the revolution, she desired admission to
- the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which was then denied her,
- because she still refused to be reconciled to that woman. Her
- scandalous carriage in refusing to cohabit with her husband to this
- day, who is a sober honest man, is generally known. This woman being
- accused by the boy as one of his tormentors, and delated by two
- confessing witches, and other presumptions of her guilt, the
- magistrates one morning sent their officer to the magistrates of
- Anstruther, desiring them on these grounds to send Mrs White to them,
- and the grounds of her imprisonment were sent in write to her, in her
- daughter Mrs Lindsay's house; and she being brought to Pittenweem,
- the two women which delated her, were confronted with her, in
- presence of the magistrates, a great many gentlemen and ministers,
- where they did accuse her to her face, and charged her particularly
- with being at a meeting in the Loan with the devil and the witches,
- and gave some binding tokens to convince her. By all which it
- appears, how little ground there is to accuse the magistrates for
- invading their neighbours jurisdiction, or load the minister with any
- concernment in the matter.
-
- As to the other instance of one brought to Pittenweem at six miles
- distance, this was the young woman Isobel Adam. About the middle of
- May, one Alexander M'Grigor delated her for an attempt to murder him
- in his own house in the night-time, with several others whom he knew
- not; and there being some surmises of other presumptions of
- witchcraft against her, the minister hearing she was occasionally in
- the town, called for her, and advised her, before her father, if
- innocent, to take proper measures for her own vindication, which she
- undertook to do, and promised to return for that end on
- advertisement, which her father engaged to give. The noise about her
- still increasing, her father was desired, according to promise, to
- call her to the place, which he declined, growing jealous of her
- guilt; on which the minister advertised her, but in case she refused,
- a letter was sent to be delivered to the gentleman on whose ground
- she lived, desiring him to send her. So soon as the advertisement was
- given, she came voluntarily to her father's house in Pittenweem, and
- so there was no occasion for force.
-
- When she came, she confessed her converse with the devil at Thomas
- Adamson's house, on the first day of January 1704; she was confronted
- with M'Grigor, and he accused her of the above mentioned attempt on
- him, which she then refused; on which she was imprisoned, and the two
- following days, she did with tears, and more than ordinary concern,
- make a free and large confession.
-
- She said Beatrix Laing aforesaid, a confessing witch, had been
- dealing with her to engage in her service, which she refused; and
- that some time thereafter, this Beatrix came for her, and desired her
- to go along to her house; when she came there, they sat down at the
- fire, and she saw a man in black cloaths, with a hat on his head,
- sitting at the table; and Beatrix said to her, since you will not
- engage with me, here is a gentleman that will see you; whereupon he
- told her, he knew she was discontented with her lot, and if she would
- serve him, he promised she should want for nothing; to which she
- yielded to serve him, and he came forward and kissed her; and she
- said, he was fearsome like, and his eyes sparkled like candles, on
- which she knew he was the devil.
-
- Again, she told, that being employed to spin in Thomas Adamson's
- house in Pittenweem, while she was lying awake in her bed in the
- night time, the devil appearing to her, where she did expressly
- renounce her baptism to the devil, by putting her hand on her head,
- and the other to her feet, the other maid lying in the bed with her
- being at the time asleep, as the maid declared before the session.
- About a fortnight after this, Beatrix Laing came to visit her, and
- asked her, if she had met with the gentleman? She answered she had,
- and also engaged with him, on which Beatrix said, I have then got my
- work wrought, and went away. And she confessed, she came to that
- meeting at M'Grigor's with the devil and several witches, viz.
- Beatrix Laing, Nicolas Lawson, Janet Corphat, Thomas Brown, and
- several others she knew not, designing to murder M'Grigor; but since
- the man awakened and prayed to God for himself, they could not do it.
- She confessed also converse with the devil at other times. All which
- is in her two confessions, signed by the magistrates, and transmitted
- to Edinburgh. Now, we desire to know what the author of this letter
- can quarrel in the magistrates or minister's conduct in this matter.
-
- As for what he says 'about the magistrates and minister refounded the
- imprisoned womens' money seven-fold.' We find this author very
- charitable on other mens' purses, but when the magistrates and
- minister design to bestow their charity, they will choose more
- deserving objects. And the Lords of Her Majesty's privy counsel
- understands themselves better than to take their measures as to what
- is just from the daring prescriptions of this author.
-
- What he says about Thomas Brown is also false, he was accused by the
- lad, and delated by three confessing witches, as being accessory to
- the attempt on M'Grigor. It is false he was starved, for his daughter
- brought him his diets punctually. Our author's fears of more murders
- are altogether groundless, and we appeal to all men of candour,
- whether this author's impudent and unjust accusation against
- magistrates and minister of murdering Thomas Brown, deserves not
- severer punishment than any thing he can charge them with.
-
- He again tells us, "the bailies justified the murder, by denying
- Christian burial." The bailies gave no order thereabout. As for
- Thomas Brown, his son-in-law, with some others, buried him. Our
- author by his next may prove, that Janet Corphat, a woman that had so
- frequently and so solemnly confessed the renounciation of her baptism
- to the devil, deserved Christian burial.
-
-
- THE END.
-
-
-
-
- A
-
- COPY
-
- OF THE
-
-     INDICTMENT OF THE WITCHES AT BORROWSTOUNESS--THE PRECEPT FOR
-       SUMMONING THE JURY AND WITNESSES--WITH THE WARRANT FOR THEIR
-       EXECUTION.
-
-
- _Copy of the Indytment._
-
- Annaple Thomsone, widow in Borrowstownes,
-
- Margaret Pringle, relict of the deceast John Campbell sive-wright
- there, &c.
-
- Yee, and ilk ane of yow ar indytted and accwsed, that where,
- notwithstanding, be the law of God, particularlie sett down in the 20
- chapter of Leviticus, and eighteen chap. of Dewtronomie, and be the
- lawes and actes of parliament of this kingdome, and constant practiq;
- thereof, particularlie be the 73 act, 29 parliament Q. Marie, the
- cryme of witchcraft is declaired to be ane horreid, abominable and
- capitall cryme, punishable with the paines of death and confiscatiown
- of moveables. Never the less it is of veritie, that you have
- comitted, and ar gwyltie of the said cryme of witchcraft, in swa far
- ye have entered in pactiown with the devill, the enemie of your
- salvatiown, and have renownced our Blissed Lord and Savior, and your
- baptizme, and have given your selffes, both soulles and bodies to the
- devil, and have bein severall mettings with the devill, and swndrie
- wyth witches in diverse places; and particularlie, ye the said
- Annaple Thomsone had a metting with the devill the tyme of your
- weidowhood, befoer yow was maried to your last husband, in your
- cwming betwixt Linlithgow and Borrowstownes, where the devil, in the
- lyknes of ane black man, told yow, that you wis ane poore puddled
- bodie, and had ane evill lyiff, and difficultie to win throw the
- world; and promesed, iff yee wald followe him, and go alongst with
- him, yow should never want, bot have ane better lyiff: and, abowt
- fyve wekes therefter, the devill appeired to yow when yow wis goeing
- to the coal-hill abowt sevin a clock in the morning. Having renewed
- his former tentatiown, you did condeschend thereto, and declared
- yowrselff content to follow him, and becwm his servant; wherewpon the
- devill threw yow to the grownd, and had carnal copwlatiown with yow;
- and ye, and each persone of yow, wis at several mettings with the
- devill in the Linkes of Borrowstowness, and in the howss of yow
- Bessie Vickar, and ye did eatt and drink with the devill, and with on
- another, and with witches in hir howss in the night tyme; and the
- devill and the said Wm Craw browght the ale which ye drank, extending
- to abowt sevin gallons, from the howss of Elizabeth Hamilton; and yow
- the said Annaple had ane other metting abowt fyve wekes ago, when you
- wis goeing to the coal-hill of Grange, and he inveitted yow to go
- alongest and drink with him in the Grange-pannes; and yow the said
- Margaret Pringil have bein ane witch thir many yeeres bygane; hath
- renowncid yowr baptisme, and becwm the devill's servant, and promeis
- to follow him; and the devill had carnall copwlatiown with yow, and
- tuik you by the right hand, whereby it was, for eight dayes,
- grevowslie pained; but having it twitched of new againe, it
- imediatlie becam haill: and yow the said Margaret Hamilton has bein
- the devill's servant these eight or nyne yeres bygane; and he appered
- and conversed with yow at the toun-well of Borrowstownes, and several
- tymes in yowr awin howss, and drank severall choppens of ale with
- you, and thereafter had carnall copwlatiown with yow; and the devill
- gave yow ane fyve merk peice of gold, whilk a lyttil efter becam ane
- sklaitt stone; and yow the said Margaret Hamilton, relict of James
- Pollwart, has bein ane witch, and the devil's servant thertie yeres
- since, haith renowncid yowr baptizme as said is, and has had carnall
- copwlatiown with the devill in the lyknes of ane man, bot he removed
- from yow in the lyknes of ane black dowg: and ye, and ilk ane of yow
- wis at ane metting with the devill and wther witches at the Croce of
- Murestaine above Kinneil, upon the threttein of October last, where
- yow all danced, and the devill acted the pyiper, and where yow
- endevored to have distroyed Androw Mitchell, sone to John Mitchell,
- elder in Dean of Kinneill.
-
-
- _Precept_ qra _Witches, and the Witnesses and Assyissers, 1679_.
-
- ---- Cochran of Barbbachlay, Richard Elphinstown of ----, Saindelands
- of Hilderstown, ---- Cornwal of Bonhard, Robert Hamilton of Dechmont,
- baillzie of the regallitie of Borrowstownes, Sir John Harper advocat,
- Mr William Dundas, and Mr John Prestowne advocats, commissioners of
- justiciarie, speciallie constitwte, nominat, and appoynted by the
- lordes off his majestie's most honowrable privie cownsell for the
- tryall and jwdging of the persones after namit; To our lovitts ----
- messengers, macers, and officers of cowrt, owr shirriffs in that
- pairt, conjunctlie and severallie, speciallie constitwte, greitting:
- For sameikillais the ---- day of ----is appoynted by ws for the
- trying and judging off Anabill Thomson widow in Borrowstownes,
- Margaret Pringle relict of the decist John Campbell sive-wright ther,
- Margaret Hamilton relict of the deceist James Pollwart ther, Wm. Craw
- indweller ther, Bessie Viccar relict of the deceist James Pennie
- indweller ther, and Margarett Hamilton relict of the deceist Thomas
- Mitchell, who are apprehendit and imprisoned in the tolbuith of
- Borrowstownes, as suspect gwilty of the abominable cryme of
- witchcraft, by entering into pactiown with the devill, renwncing
- their baptism and comitting of _malificies_: Wherefoir nescessary it
- is, that the saides persons should be summonded to wnderlye the lawe
- for the samen, and that witness and assyssers should be cited against
- them, to the effect, and under the paines efter specifiet. HEREFOIR,
- this precept sein, we chairge you passe, and in owr soveraigne lordes
- name and authority, and owrs, comand and chairge the saides persones
- above compleaned upon, to compeir befoir ws, or any three of us (who
- are by our said commissiown declaired to be a quorum), within the
- said tolbuith of Borrowstownes, the nyneteen day of December nixt, in
- the howr of cawse, ther to wnderlye the lawe, for the crymes above
- specifiet, and that under the paines contained in the new acts of
- parliament: And sicklyik, summon, wairne and chairge ane assyse of
- honest and famous persones, not exceeding the number of fortie-five,
- togither with such witnesses who best know the veritie of the
- persones above compleaned upon ther gwiltynes, to compeir befoir us,
- day and place foirsaid, in the howr of cawse, the persones of[10]
- witness, to bear leall and soothfast witnessing in the premiss, and
- the inqueist to passe upon the assyse each persone, under the paine
- of ane hundreth merks, according to justice, ais ye will answer to us
- therwpon: the whilk to doe commits to you, conjunctlie and severalie,
- our fwll power, be thir our lettres, delyvering them be you dewllie
- execut and indorset againe to the beirer. Given under our hands at
- Borrowstownes, the twentie-nynt day of November, ane thousande six
- hunder and seventie nyne yeirs.
-
-   [10] This word is interlined, and the word inqueist scored out.
-
-  (_Sic Subscribitur_)
-
-  R. HAMILTON,
-  J. CORNWALL,
-  RICH. ELPHENSTONE,
-  W. DUNDAS.
-
-
- _Ane List of the Persones to be warned to passe upon the Assyse for
-   Judging the Witches in Borrowstownes._
-
- _Barronie of Carridin._
-
-  Robert Ballendin elder in Northbank,
-  Alex. Brown in Bonhard,
-  John Irwyne there,
-  James Lamb there,
-  George Storie in Mure-edge,
-  Thomas Knox wiver in Littill Carridin,
-  John Meldrum ther,
-  George Yowng in Murrayes,
-  John Brown oversman ther,
-  George Smyth ther,
-  John Robertsone in Bonhard-panns,
-  John Daviesone ther,
-  John Pooll ther.
-
- _Town of Borrowstownes._
-
-  George Bennet,
-  James Cassilles elder, skipper,
-  Alex. Drysdaill skipper,
-  James Hardie glover,
-  Alex. Randie baxter
-  Richard Carss,
-  James Hamilton elder,
-  James Hwtton baxter,
-  Andrew Hamilton,
-  Thomas Downie,
-  James Mwngill wiver,
-  Rob. Downie.
-
- _Barronie of Kinneill._
-
-  George Gib in Kinneil Carss,
-  Alex. Gib in Inneraven,
-  John Glen ther
-  John Baird ther
-  James Dobbie in Nether Kinneil,
-  Patrick Hardie ther,
-  John Dick in Woodheid,
-  John Wilson in Over Kinneil,
-  James Thomson ther,
-  James Lithgow in Balderstown,
-  John Hardie, maltman in Burrowstown,
-  James Thomson ther.
-
- _Barronie of Pollmont._
-
-  James Burn of Clerkstoun,
-  James Monteth of Myln-hall,
-  Alex. Whyte in Hill,
-  Patrick Ballanden of Parkend,
-  John Mairschell in Whyteside,
-  Andrew Johnstown in Pollmont,
-  David Ballanden in Redding,
-  James Gaff ther,
-  George Mureheid ther,
-  William Rwchat of Ruch-haugh,
-  John Grintown in Gillstown Loanfoote,
-  Henry Taylor in Whyteside,
-  John Purgat of Bruchtown Crag.
-
-
- _Order and Warrand for Burning the Witches of Borrowstownes, Dec. 19,
-   1679._
-
- Forsameikle as Annabil Thomson widdow in Borrowstownes, Margaret
- Pringle relict of the deceast John Campbell ther, Margaret Hamiltown
- relict of the deceast James Pollwart ther, William Craw indweller
- ther, Bessie Wicker relict of the deceast James Pennie ther, and
- Margaret Hamiltown relict of the deceast Thomas Mitchell ther,
- prisoners in the tolbuith of Borrowstownes, are found guiltie be ane
- assyse, of the abominable cryme of witchcraft committed be them, in
- maner mentioned in their dittayes, and are decerned and adjudged be
- us under subscryvers (commissioners of justiciary speciallie
- appoynted to this effect) to be taken to the west end of
- Borrowstownes, the ordinar place of execution ther, upon Tuesday the
- twentie-third day of December current, betwixt two and four a clock
- in the efternoon, and ther to be wirried at a steack till they be
- dead, and there-efter to have their bodies burnt to ashes. These
- therefoir require and command the baylie principal off the regalitie
- of Borrowstownes, and his deputts, to see the said sentance and doom
- put to dew execution in all poynts, as yee will be answerable. Given
- under our hands at Borrowstownes the nynteenth day of December 1679
- yeirs.
-
-  W. DUNDAS,
-  RICH. ELPHINSTONE,
-  WA. SANDILANDS,
-  J. CORNWALL,
-  J. HAMILTON.
-
-
-
-
- TRIAL
-
- OF
-
- ISOBEL ELLIOT, AND NINE OTHER WOMEN.
-
- _Records of Justiciary, September 13, 1678._
-
-
- In 1678, Isobel Elliot and nine other women were tried for witchcraft
- in one day. The articles of indictment against all of them were
- pretty much the same. Those exhibited against Isobel Elliot were as
- follows: That about two years ago she staid at home from the _kirk_
- at the desire of her mistress, who was a witch, when the devil had a
- meeting with the prisoner, her mistress, and two other witches; that
- he kissed the prisoner, baptized her on the face _with an waff of his
- hand like a dewing_, and offered to lie with her, but forbore because
- she was with child; that after she was kirked the devil often met
- her, and had _carnal copulation_ with her. The prisoner and the other
- nine miserable women underwent all the legal forms incident to their
- unhappy situation among that deluded and barbarous people. They had
- been prosecuted by his Majesty's Advocate; they judicially
- acknowledged their guilt, were convicted by the jury, condemned by
- the judges, and burned by the executioner,--_for having had carnal
- copulation with the devil_!!!
-
-
-
-
- THE
-
- CONFESSIONS
-
- OF
-
- HELEN TAYLOR IN EYEMOUTH,
-
- AND
-
- _MENIE HALYBURTON IN DIRLTON_,
-
- ACCUSED OF WITCHCRAFT, 1649.
-
- WITH THE
-
- DECLARATION
-
- OF
-
- JOHN KINCAID, PRICKER.
-
- COPIED FROM THE ORIGINALS.
-
-
-
-
- THE
-
- CONFESSIOUN
-
- OF
-
- HELENE TAILZEAR.
-
-
- JUL 8, 1649.
-
- Being the Sabbath day, Mr Samuel Dowglas, preaching at Eymouth, after
- sermon, Helen Tailzear desyred to speik with the said Mr Samuell, who
- coming to hir, thair being also present Samuel Lauder and George
- Halliday, she confessed these particularis, viz. _first_, at
- Candilmas bygon two yeirs, scho cam into Isobell Brown's hous, quhair
- the divill was sitting in the liknes of a gentill man at the tabill
- drinking with Isobell Brown, who took hir in his armes without any
- moir speiking at that tyme.
-
- _Secondlie_, Scho declairs, that after shee cam to Isobell Brown's
- hous * * * * * whair the divill was in the same likness as befor, and
- layd his hand upon hir head, and sayd, you sall be on of myne so long
- as you live. And that he gave hir two dolleris, and when shoe cam
- home they wer butt twa stanes.
-
- _Thirdlie_, Shee declairs, that shee was at ane meiting with Isobell
- Brown, Alison Cairns, Margaret Dobson, and Beatrix Young, and that
- thai went all along to William Burnettis hous, he lying sick, and
- that coming to the hous, Margaret Dobson was in the liknes of ane
- black hen, and went in at the chimley head, and Beatrix Young in the
- liknes of a litill foall, and that hirself was in the liknes of ane
- litill quhelp; Isobell Brown wes in hir owin liknes, with a long
- tail'd courtshaw upon hir head, and Allison Cairns wes in hir owin
- liknes; and that Isobell Brown desired her to go into William
- Burnettis bot shee refuissed, quhairupon Isobell Brown did stryk her
- * * * * * on the back.
-
- _Fourtlie_, Shee declairs that Marioun Robisson wes ane witch, and
- that shee was William Burnit's death.
-
-  (Signed) MR SAMUEL DOUGLAS, _Minister
-  at Coldinghame_.
-  S. LAUDER.
-  G. HALLIDAY.
-
-
-
-
- THE
-
- DEPOSITION
-
- OF
-
- MENIE HALIBURTOUN.
-
-
-  _At Dirltoun, June, 1649._
-
- Compeirit Menie Halliburton, prissoner within the Castle, suspect of
- the cryme of witchcraft, delaitit guiltie be Agnes Clerkson, lait
- sufferer for the said cryme; as also be Patrik Watsone, spouse to the
- said Menie, who lykewisse sufferit thairfoir, and confessit, that
- auchtein yeir syne, or thairby, hir dochter being seik, scho first
- sent for Patrik Chrystison in Aberledie, to cum and cure hir dochter,
- and he refuising, went hirself for him, who refused to cure hir; and
- within * * * days after came the devill in liknes of a man into hir
- hous, calling himself a physition, and said to her, that he had good
- salves (and namelie oylispek), whairwith he would cure hir dochter;
- and aggreing with him for some of his salves quhilk he gave hir, shee
- gave him two Inglis shillings. He then departed, and promised to come
- agane within eight dayis, whilk accordinglie he did, bot or he went
- away the first tyme, shee gave him milk and breid; and Patrik
- Watsone coming in, he sent for a pynt of ale; bot at his second
- coming he stayit all night, and upon the morne airlie (Patrick being
- furth), in cam the divill and lay doun with hir, scho being yitt in
- bed, and had carnal copulatioun with hir, his nature being cald. He
- desyrit hir to renunce Chryst and hir baptisme, and become his
- servant, quhilk scho did. And sayis, that hir dochter had the wyte of
- all hir wickit wissing, and wissing she had nevir beene borne.
-
- This deposition was renewed in all the particulars by the said Menie,
- in the foresaid place, on Sunday the first of July, 1649, before
- Alexander Levingston of Saltcoatts, James Borthwick chamberlane,
- James Lawder, John Stalker baillie, Wm. Dalzell, and Mr John M'Ghie,
- minister at Dirltoun.
-
- (Signed) J. MAKGHIE.
-          ALEX. LEVINGSTOUN, _witness_.
-          JA. BORTHWICK.
-          JAMES LAUDER.
-          JOHN STALKER.
-          W. DALZELL.
-          WALTER MARSHALL.
-
-
-
-
- THE DECLARATION OF JOHN KINCAID.
-
-
- JUNE, 1649.
-
- The whilk day, in presence of Alex. Levingston of Saltcoattis, James
- Borthwick chalmerlain of Dirltoun, John Stalker baillie thairof,
- James Foirman in Drem, Mr James Achieson in North-Berwick, and
- William Dalzell notar, Patrick Watson in West Fenton, and Menie
- Haliburtoun his spous, bruitted and long suspect of witchcraft, _of
- thair awin frie will uncompellit_, heiring that I John Kincaid under
- subscryvand wes in the toune of Dirltoune, and had some skill and
- dexterity in trying of the divillis marke in the personis of such as
- wer suspect to be witches, came to the broad hall in the Castell of
- Dirltoune, and desyred me the said John Kincaid to use my tryall of
- thame as I had done on utheris, whilk when I had done, I found the
- divillis marke upon the bak syde of the said Patrik Watsone, a
- littill under the point of his left shoulder, and upon the left syde
- of the said Menie Halyburtoun hir neck a littill above her left
- shoulder, whairof thay wer not sensible, neither cam furth thairof
- any bloode after I had tryed the samin as exactlie as ever I did any
- uthers. This I testifie to be of veritie upon my credit and
- conscience. In witnes quhairof, I have subscryvit thir presentis with
- my hand, day and place forsaid, befoir ther witnesses above
- specifiet.
-
-  J. K.
-
-          ALEX. LEVINGSTOUN, _witness_.
-          JA. BORTHWICK, _witness_.
-          JOHN STALKER, _witness_.
-          JAMES FORMAN, _witness_.
-          JA. ACHESONE, _witness_.
-          W. DALZELL, _witness_.
-
-
-
-
- THE TRIAL OF WILLIAM COKE AND ALISON DICK, FOR WITCHCRAFT.
-
- _Extracted from the Minutes of the Kirk-Session of Kirkaldy, A. D.
- 1636._
-
-
-  _September 6th, 1633._
-
- The which day, compeared Alison Dick, challenged upon some speeches
- uttered by her against William Coke, tending to witchcraft,--denied
- the samyne.
-
-     1. Compeared Alexander Savage, Andrew Nicol, and George Tillie,
-     who being admitted and sworn, deponed as follows: The said
-     Alexander Savage, that he heard the said Alison Dick say to her
-     husband William Coke, 'Thou has put down many ships; it had been
-     gude for the people of Kirkaldie, that they had knit a stone
-     about thy neck and drowned thee.'
-
-     2. Andrew Nicol deponed, that he heard the said Alison say to
-     him, 'Thou has gotten the woman's song laid, as thou promised;
-     thou art over-long living; it had been gude for the women of
-     Kirkaldy, that thou had been dead long since. I shall cause all
-     the world wonder upon thee.'
-
-     3. George Tillie deponed, that he heard her say to him, 'It had
-     been gude for the women of Kirkaldy, to put him to death; and
-     that he had died seven years since.'
-
- Also compeared Jean Adamson, Kathrine Spens, Marion Meason, Isobel
- Murison, Alison Kelloch, who being admitted and sworn, deponed as
- follows:
-
-     4. Jean Adamson deponed, that she heard Alison Dick say to her
-     husband William Coke, 'Thief! Thief! what is this that I have
-     been doing? keeping the thretty years from meikle evil doing.
-     Many pretty men has thou putten down both in ships and boats;
-     thou has gotten the woman's song laid now. Let honest men puddle
-     and work as they like, if they please not thee well, they shall
-     not have meikle to the fore when they die.'
-
-     5. Kathrine Spens deponed, that she heard her say to him, 'Common
-     thief, I have hindered thee from many ill turns doing, both to
-     ships and boats.'
-
-     6. Marion Meason deponed, that she heard her say, 'Common thief,
-     mony ill turn have I hindered thee from doing thir thretty
-     years; mony ships and boats has thou put down; and when I would
-     have halden the string to have saved one man, thou wald not.'
-
-     7. Isobel Murison deponed, that she heard her say to him, 'Thief,
-     thief, I have keeped thee from doing many ill turnes. Thou has
-     now laid the woman's song.'
-
-
- _September 24th, 1633._
-
-     8. Compeared Janet Allan, relict of umquhile John Duncan fisher,
-     deponed, that Alison Dick came in upon a certain time to her
-     house, when she was lying in of a bairn, and craved some sour
-     bakes; and she denying to give her any, the said Alison said,
-     your bairns shall beg yet, (as they do.) And her husband being
-     angry at her, reproved her; and she abused him in language; and
-     when he strak her, she said, that she should cause him rue it;
-     and she hoped to see the powarts bigg in his hair; and within
-     half a year he was casten away, and his boat, and perished.
-
-     9. Janet Sauders, daughter-in-law to the said William Coke and
-     Alison Dick, deponed, that William Coke came in to her, and she
-     being weeping, he demanded the cause of it, she answered, it was
-     for her husband. The said William said, What ails thee? Thou wilt
-     get thy gudman again, but ye will get him both naked and bare;
-     and whereas there was no word of him for a long time before, he
-     came home within two days thereafter, naked and bare as he said;
-     the ship wherein he was being casten away.
-
-     4, 10. Jean Adamson deponed, that when her gudman sailed with
-     David Robertson, the said David having sent him home with a ship
-     to come for Scotland, there was a long time that there was no
-     word of that ship; so that David Robertson coming home, and the
-     other ship not come, nor no word from her, he said he would never
-     see her. The said Alison Dick came in to her, (she with her
-     bairns being weeping), and said, What ails ye Jean to weep? She
-     answered, We have all good cause to weep for my husband, whom we
-     will never see more. The said Alison said, hold your tongue, your
-     gudman and all the company are well enough; they are in Norway
-     loading their ship with timber to come home, they will be here
-     shortly. And so it fell out in every point as she said.
-
-     5, 11. Kathrine Spens deponed, that William Coke came in to her,
-     after that his wife had spoken so much evil to him, and said,
-     Kathrine, my wife has spoken meikle ill of me this day, but I
-     said nothing to her again. If I had spoken two words to her the
-     last time she was in the steeple, she would never have gotten out
-     of it.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     Minutes of 24th September, ordains Mr James Miller to ride to
-     Preston for the man that tries the witches. The expence to be
-     paid by the Town and Session.
-
-
- _September 8th,_
-
-     12. Compeared Isobel Hay, spouse to Alexander Law, against Alison
-     Dick, who being sworn, deponed, that she having come in to her
-     house, her husband being newly sailed, she craved some money of
-     her, which she refused, and boasted her. The said Alison said, It
-     shall gang wair geats; and that same voyage, her husband had
-     great loss. And thereafter, the said Alison came in to her house,
-     she being furth, and took her sister by the hand, and since that
-     time, the maiden had never been in her right wits.
-
-     13. William Bervie declared, that Robert Whyt having once
-     stricken William Coke, Alison Dick his wife, came to the said
-     Robert, and said, Wherefore have ye stricken my husband? I shall
-     cause you rue it. The said Robert replying, What sayest thou? I
-     shall give you as much--you witch. She answered, 'Witches take
-     the wit and the grace from you;' and that same night, he was
-     bereft of his wits.
-
-     14. Janet Whyt, daughter to the said Robert, compearing, affirmed
-     the said dittay to be true upon her oath. And added, that she
-     went to the said Alison, and reproved her, laying the wyt of her
-     father's sickness upon her. Let him pay me then, and he will be
-     better; but if he pay me not, he will be worse; for there is none
-     that does me wrong, but I go to my god and complains upon them,
-     and within 24 hours I will get amends of them. The said Janet
-     Whyt declared, that Alison Dick said to her servant, Agnes
-     Fairlie, I have gotten a grip of your gudwife's thigh; I shall
-     get a grip of her leg next; the said Janet having burnt her thigh
-     before with lint: and thereafter she has taken such a pain in her
-     leg, that she can get no remedy for it. Whilk the said Agnes
-     Fairlie deponed upon her great oath to be true.
-
-     15. Alison Dick herself declared, that David Paterson, skipper,
-     having struck William Coke her husband, and drawn him by the
-     feet, and compelled him to bear his gear aboard, the said William
-     cursed the said David, and that voyage he was taken by the
-     Dunkirkers. Also, at another time thereafter, he compelled him to
-     bear his gear aboard, and a captain's who was with him, and when
-     the captain would have paid him, the said David would not suffer
-     him; but he himself gave him what he liked. The said William
-     cursed the said David very vehemently; and at that time he
-     himself perished, his ship, and all his company, except two or
-     three. Also she declared, that when his own son sailed in David
-     Whyt's ship, and gave not his father his bonnallie,[11] the said
-     William said, What? Is he sailed, and given me nothing? The devil
-     be with him; if ever he come home again, he shall come home naked
-     and bare; and so it fell out. For John Whyt, who had that ship
-     freighted to Norway, and another wherein himself was, declared,
-     that they had very foul weather; and the ship wherein the said
-     young William Coke was, perished; and he saved all the men in the
-     ship wherein he was himself. And albeit the storm increased two
-     days before the perishing of the said ship, and six days after,
-     yet the two hours space in which they were saving the men, it was
-     so calm in that part of the sea, that they rowed from one ship to
-     the other with two oars, and the sea was all troublesome about
-     them. And the said William Coke the younger, was the first man
-     that came a shipboard.
-
-       [11] His farewell cup.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     _Paction._--The same day, Alison Dick being demanded by Mr James
-     Simson, minister, when, and how, she fell in covenant with the
-     devil? She answered, her husband mony times urged her, and she
-     yielded only two or three years since. The manner was thus--He
-     gave her, soul and body, quick and quidder full to the devil, and
-     bade her do so. But she in her heart said, God guide me. And then
-     she said to him, I shall do any thing that ye bid me: and so she
-     gave herself to the devil in the foresaid words.--This she
-     confessed about four hours at even, freely, without compulsion,
-     before Mr James Simson, minister, William Tennent, baillie,
-     Robert French, town-clerk, Mr John Malcolme, schoolmaster,
-     William Craig, and me, the said Mr James Miller, writer hereof.
-
-
- _October 15th._
-
-     16. The which day, compeared Christian Ronaldson, against Alison
-     Dick, who, in her presence being sworn, deponed, that she having
-     set an house to the said Alison, and when the gudman came home he
-     was angry, and said, he would not have the devil to dwell above
-     him in the closs; and he went and struck up the door, and put
-     forth the chimney that she put in it. And thereafter, Alison came
-     to the said Christian, and chopped upon her shoulder, and said to
-     her, Christie, your gudman is going to sail, and he has ane stock
-     among his hands, but ere long, his stock shall be as short as
-     mine. And so it fell out, for he was casten away in David Whyt's
-     ship, and saved nothing.
-
-
- _October 22d._
-
-     17. Compeared Merjory Marshall, against Alison Dick, who being
-     sworn, deponed, that Alison having brought her gudman's cloaths
-     once from the Castle-haven,[12] she offered her 12d for her
-     labour, who would not have it; and she said to her, Alison, there
-     is not many of them. She answered, they shall be fewer the next
-     time; and the next voyage he was cast away in David Whyt's ship.
-
-       [12] Probably Ravenscraig Castle, at the east end of Pathhead.
-       ED.
-
-     18. Compeared also Kathrine Wilson, who being sworn, deponed,
-     that she and Janet Whyt being sliding together, Alison Dick came
-     to them, and asked silver from Janet Whyt, who would give her
-     none, but fled her company into the said Kathrine's house, and
-     she followed, and she gave her a piece bread, and Janet Whyt bade
-     her give her a plack also, and she should pay her again. And when
-     she got it, she said, Is this all that she gives me? If she had
-     given me a groat, it would have vantaged her a thousand punds.
-     This is your doing, evil tidings come upon you. And she went down
-     the closs, and pissed at their meal-cellar door; and after that,
-     they had never meal in that cellar, (they being meal makers.) And
-     thereafter they bought a horse at 40 lib., and the horse never
-     carried a load to them but two, but died in the _batts, louping
-     to death_, so that every body said that he was witched.
-
-
- _October 29th._
-
-     19. Euphen Boswell being sworn, deponed, that her gudman being to
-     sail to the East country, loaden with salt, the said Alison Dick
-     having born some of the salt aboard, she came to her and craved
-     money from her, who gave her meat, but would give her no money,
-     saying to her, Alison, my gudman has paid you himself, and
-     therefore, I will give you nothing. She replied, Will ye give me
-     nothing? I hope in God it will be better sharp (cheaper) sold nor
-     it was bought: and so it fell out, for the ship sailed upon the
-     morn, and the day after that, she sank, salt and all, except the
-     men, who were saved by another ship that was near by them.
-
-     20. Thomas Mustard being sworn, deponed, that James Wilson going
-     once to sail, Alison Dick came to him, and desyred silver from
-     him, he would give her none; she abused him with language, and he
-     struck her; she said to him, that that hand should do him little
-     good that voyage; and within two days after, his hand swelled as
-     great as a pint-stoup, so that he could get little or nothing
-     done with it. The next time also when he was to sail, the said
-     Alison went betwixt him and the boat; and he said, Yon same witch
-     thief is going betwixt me and the boat, I must have blood of her;
-     and he went and struck her, and bled her, and she cursed him and
-     banned him; and that same voyage, he being in Caithness, standing
-     upon the shore cleithing a tow, and a boy with him, the sea came
-     and took him away, and he died; and the boy was well enough.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     Desires Mr Robert Douglas[13] to go to the Archbishop with this
-     process, to get his approbation thereto, who takes upon him to do
-     the same.
-
-       [13] Who preached the famous coronation sermon of Charles II. at
-       Scone, January 1st 1651.
-
-     _Minute of November 19th._--5s. given for a load of coals to
-       Alison Dick;--14s. for her entertainment this week bygone, being
-       this day, with her husband William Coke, burnt for witchcraft.
-
-
- _In the minute of 17th December, there is a particular account of the
- Town and Session's extraordinary Debursements for William Coke and
- Alison Dick, Witches._
-
-  _In primis._--To Mr James Miller, when
-                he went to Prestowne for
-                a man to try them, 47s.      £2  7
-
-      _Item._--To the man of Culross,
-               (the executioner) when he
-               went away the first time,
-               12s.                           0 12
-
-      _Item._--For coals for the witches,
-               24s.                           1  4
-
-      _Item._--In purchasing the commission,  9  3
-
-      _Item._--For one to go to Finmouth
-               for the laird to sit upon
-               their assise as judge,         0  6
-
-      _Item._--For harden to be jumps to
-               them,                          3 10
-
-      _Item._--For making of them,            0  8
-
-                                             -----
-    Summa for the kirk's part               £17  1 Scots.
-
-     _The Town's part of Expenses Debursed extraordinarily upon
-     William Coke and Alison Dick._
-
-  _In primis._--For ten loads of coals to
-                burn them, 5 merks,         £3  6  8
-
-       _Item._--For a tar barrel, 14s.       0 14  0
-
-       _Item._--For towes,                   0  6  0
-
-       _Item._--To him that brought the
-                executioner,                 2 18  0
-
-       _Item._--To the executioner for
-                his pains,                   8 14  0
-
-       _Item._--For his expenses here,       0 16  4
-
-       _Item._--For one to go to Finmouth
-                for the laird,               0  6  0
-                                             -------
-       Summa town's part,                  £17  1  0 Scots.
-           Both,                            34 11  0
-
-
-     _The following account is a voucher of a payment made by
-       Alexander Louddon, a factor on the estate of Burncastle, the
-       proprietor being then a minor and infant. It is entered in the
-       factor's books thus:_
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     Mair for Margarit Dunhome the time sche was in prison, and was
-     put to death, 065: 14: 4.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     Count gifin out be Alexander Louddon in Lylstoun, in ye yeir of
-     God 1649 yeiris, for Margrit Dollmoune in Burncastell.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     Item, in ye first, to Wm. Currie and Andrew Gray for the watching
-     of hir ye space of 30 days, inde ilk day, xxx sh inde
-
-  xlv lib Scotts
-
-     Item mair to Jon Kinked; for brodding of her[14]
-
-       [14] See his declaration, page 111.
-
-  vi lib Scotts
-
-     Mair for meat and drink and wyne to him and his man
-
-  iiij lib Scotts
-
-     Mair for cloth to hir
-
-  iij lib Scotts
-
-     Mair for twa tare treis
-
-  xl sh Scotts
-
-     Item mair for twa treis, and ye making of them to the warkmen
-
-  iij lib Scotts
-
-     Item to ye hangman in Hadingtoun, and fetchin of him, thrie
-     dollores for his pens, is
-
-  iiij lib xiiii sh
-
-     Item mair for meit and drink and wyne for his intertinge
-
-  iii lib Scotts
-
-     Item mair fer ane man and twa horss, for ye fetcheing of him, and
-     taking of him hame agane
-
-  xl sh Scotts
-
-     Mair to hir for meit and drink ilk ane day, iiij sh the space of
-     xxx dayes, is
-
-  vi lib Scotts
-
-     Item mair to ye twa officers for yr fie ilk day sex shilline
-     aught pennes, is
-
-  x lib Scotts
-
-     Summa is iiij scoir xii lib xiiij sh
-
-  GHILBERT LAUDER.
-
-  UM. LAUDER BILZAURS.
-
-
-     Takin of this above written soume twentie-seaven pundis Scotis
-     qlk the said umql Margrit Dinham had of her ain.
-
-      92: 14: --
-      27: --: --
-      ----------
-      65: 14: --
-
-
-
-
-  MINUTES
-
-  AND
-
-  PROCEEDINGS OF THE SESSION
-
-  OF
-
-  TORRYBURN, IN FIFESHIRE,
-
-  CONCERNING
-
-  _WITCHCRAFT_.
-
-  WITH THE
-
-  CONFESSION
-
-  OF
-
-  LILLIAS ADIE.
-
-
-  TAKEN FROM THE SESSION RECORDS
-
-
-
-
- MINUTES, &c.
-
-  _Torry, June 30th, 1704._
-
-     SEDERUNT, WM. HUTTON, WM. DALGLISH, WM. REID, JOHN MITCHELL,
-       DAVID CURRY, GEO. TILLOCH, WITH THE MINISTER.
-
-
- The session being called, _pro re nata_, upon a flagrant rumour, that
- Jean Bizet, wife to James Tanochie, had been molested by Satan, and
- had complained of some particular person of the devil's instruments
- in that trouble that she lay under. Whereupon the minister ordered
- the officer to cite the said Jean Bizet, also Lilias Adie and Janet
- Whyte, whom she was said to complain of; and also to cite Mary
- Wilson, who is said to have taken the charm by stroking up her head;
- and also, he ordered the officer to cite Tanochie's daughter, with
- James Tanochie, James Whyte and his wife, Helen Anderson, and Mary
- Nielson, who are said to know something of the circumstances of that
- affair.
-
-     _1mo_, Jean Bizet being called, compeared not, upon which the
-     officer is ordered to cite her to the next.
-
-     _2do_, There being a public report that Janet Whyte should have
-     threatened James Tanochie's family with a mischief, but
-     particularly his wife, before this befell; the said Janet was
-     called, and interrogate, if ever she threatened James Tanochie's
-     wife, she declares, that she never threatened any such thing, nor
-     thought so. Moreover, she said, that James his wife would not say
-     so, otherwise she would lay down her head upon a scaffold. She
-     said, that she was not at her since she took that distemper, and
-     saw her not since, but saw her on the Monday before, and her
-     husband's daughter, and Jean Archibald in Culross; but upon the
-     morrow the woman was troubled. James White being called,
-     declared, that Jean Bizet was in a distemper upon Tuesday the
-     13th day of June, in Helen Anderson's house, betwixt 9 and 10 at
-     night, and seemed drunk.
-
-     _3tio_, That she drank not a gill in that house, but before she
-     came to Helen's house, she was about half an hour in Mary
-     Wilson's.
-
-     _4to_, She seemed to be strangely distempered, and he heard her
-     say, Agnes, beware lest Lilias Adie come upon you and your child.
-
-     _2d_, She said to Mary Nielson, Lilias Adie thinks to use me as
-     she used your sister.
-
-     _3tio_, She complained upon Mary Wilson, but none saw the said
-     Mary; as she went home, she cryed, _now, now, Jenny, I'll be
-     felled now, there three blew doublets_, frequently, and wringing
-     her hands. _Note_--She got a considerable sleep in Helen
-     Anderson's.
-
-     _5to_, As she went home, he had let her go, and she not only
-     went freely, but did run violently, without stumbling in the
-     least, the breadth of Torry Park, and he had difficulty to
-     overtake her, notwithstanding there was both a dyke and furrows
-     in the way.
-
-     _6to_, He declared, that he heard that the next day she was no
-     better.
-
-     _7no_, He declared, that on the Monday before, Janet Whyte said
-     to him, before James Alexander in Drumfin, that she would make
-     Jean Bizet forethink what she had done to her in not paying her
-     two barrels of ale which she sold her, on this purpose she could
-     not get the maltman payed.
-
-     _3tio_, Helen Anderson being called, declared, that Jean Bizet
-     was in her house, out of Mary Wilson's, about 5 or 6 at night the
-     foresaid day, and she seemed to be strangely distempered. _2dly_,
-     Her eyes raised, and could drink none. _3tio_, Ater she had
-     sleeped from 6 to near 9, and when she awaked, she cryed, _by God
-     he is going to take me! by Christ he is going to take me! O Lilly
-     with her blew doublet! O Mary, Mary Wilson!_ repeating _Christ
-     keep me!_ Upon which Helen said to her husband, did you ever see
-     her in this condition? He answered, never in my life, but she is
-     too much taken up with that company, but let me to her, I shall
-     ding the devil out of her. For this she appeals to James Tanochie
-     and his son, She and James Whyte declares both, that they are
-     clear to depone the same.
-
- Agnes Henderson, wife to James Whyte, called, compeared, declared,
- that she was sent for to James Tanochie's wife the day foresaid, who
- was in a great trouble, and never saw her in the like. _2d_, That she
- sleept a while, and when she awoke, she cryed, _O God! O Christ!
- there is Lily coming to take me, and three blew doublets! O Mary
- Wilson keep me, she is coming!_ She adds, that Jean was in Mary
- Wilson's before she came to Helen Anderson's, and she said, that she
- desired her to go home, for Lilly will take you and the child both.
- She heard her say to Mary Wilson, it was not to you that she did
- evil, but to your sister, what aileth her at me, I never did her any
- ill. And as she went home, she seemed raised, but went and spak very
- well, and she went with her, she heard her speak often of Lilly by
- the way, that she was coming to take her. And she adds, that as she
- came first into the Newmiln, that she looked and spoke as heartsomely
- as ever she saw her, and seemed no way disordered; and having carried
- one of James Whyte's children from the Newmiln to James's house. And,
- on the next day, being Wednesday, she went to see how she was, and
- found her complaining of a sore head, and in a sweat, and she seemed
- not right; and she says, she is clear to depone what she has
- declared.
-
- Mary Nielson being called in, said, that when Jean Bizet came to her
- mistress Helen Anderson her house, she was not within, but she was
- within when she awoke out of her sleep. _2d_, She heard her say, _O
- God! O Christ Jesus keep me!_ _3tio_, She heard her say, _O keep me!
- keep me! there she is coming, Lilly Adie with her blew doublet!_
- _4to_, _O Mary Wilson! O Mary Wilson!_ _5to_, She said, as she went
- away out of the house, she did no ill to you, but to your sister. She
- is clear to depone all this.
-
- Jean Bizet being called in, declares, that on the foresaid Tuesday,
- she came to the Newmiln in the forenoon, carrying James Whyte's son
- on her back from the Craigmiln, and James Whyte was with her. _2d_,
- She came first to Helen Anderson her house, and her husband being
- upon business, she went to Helen Tilloch her house. _3tio_, She went
- to Mary Wilson's house, where Lott Nicol, with Isobel Harlay, were
- drinking in the room next to the door, and she went by them to the
- room, where Mary Wilson filled a pint of ale and desired her to drink
- of it. She took a drink, but did not drink beyond a gill of it; and
- Helen Tilloch, and Jean Tilloch, came in and drank the rest, with
- many others. _4to_, She could scarcely have been a quarter of an hour
- there, and that she returned to Helen Anderson her house immediately.
-
- Mary Wilson called, said, when Jean Bizet came to her house, she
- called for a choppin of ale, and stayed until that was drunk, and
- another was filled, and a part of that was drunk. _2d_, There was
- none but Helen Tilloch and Jean Bizet, and herself, at the drinking
- of that ale. _3tio_, Euphan Nicol came in, and she took a drink of
- it. _4to_, She declares, that Jean Tilloch was not within the door
- then. _5to_, Robert Nicol and Catharine Mitchell, and Margaret
- Nicol, sister to Robert Nicol, were drinking at the fire-side. _6to_,
- She declares, that she seemeed no ways disordered with drink, nor any
- other way. _7no_, She went up to her on Thursday afternoon, and she
- found her lying on her bed, and straked her head, and whether she was
- immediately the better of it, or not, she knew not; but she left her
- sitting at the fire-side with her child on her knee.
-
- Jean Bizet says, Jean Tilloch was really there. _2d_, She says it was
- Friday afternoon before she settled.
-
-
- _Torryburn, 29th July, 1704.--After Prayer, Sederunt, Minister and
-   Elders._
-
- Lillias Adie being accused of witchcraft by Jean Neilson, who is
- dreadfully tormented, the said Lillias was incarcerate by Bailie
- Williamson about ten of the night upon the 28th of July.
-
- Lillias being exhorted to declare the truth, and nothing but truth,
- she replied, what I am to say shall be as true as the sun is in the
- firmament.
-
- Being interrogate if she was in compact with the devil, she replied,
- I am in compact with the devil, and have been so since before the
- second burning of the witches in this place. She further declared,
- that the first time she met with the devil was at the Gollet, between
- Torryburn and Newmilne, in the harvest, before the sun set, where he
- trysted to meet her the day after, which tryst she kept, and the
- devil took her to a stook side, and caused her renounce her baptism;
- the ceremony he used was, he put one hand on the crown of her head,
- and the other on the soles of her feet, with her own consent, and
- caused her say all was the devil's betwixt the crown of her head and
- the soles of her feet; and there the devil lay with her carnally; and
- that his skin was cold, and his colour black and pale, he had a hat
- on his head, and his feet was cloven like the feet of a stirk, as she
- observed when he went from her.
-
- The next time she saw him was at a meeting at the Barnrods, to which
- she was summoned by Grissel Anderson in Newmilne, about Martinmas,
- their number was about twenty or thirty, whereof none are now living
- but herself. She adds, it was a moon-light night, and they danced
- some time before the devil came on a ponny, with a hat on his head,
- and they clapt their hands and cryed, _there our Prince, there our
- Prince_, with whom they danced about an hour.
-
- The next time was at a meeting at the back of Patrick Sands his
- house, in Valleyfield, where the devil came with a cap which covered
- his ears and neck;--they had no moonlight. Being interrogate if they
- had any light, she replied, she got light from darkness, and could
- not tell what that light was, but she heard them say it came from
- darkness, and went to darkness, and said, it is not so bright as a
- candle, the low thereof being blue, yet it gave such a light as they
- could discern others faces. There they abode about an hour, and
- danced as formerly; she knew none at the meeting but Elspeth
- Williamson, whom she saw at the close of the meeting coming down by
- the dyke-side; and she said, she was also at another meeting in the
- Haugh of Torry, where they were furnished with the former light, and
- she saw Elspeth Williamson there also.
-
-
- _July 31st, 1704._--_After Prayer, Sederunt, Minister and Elders._
-
- Lillias Adie adhered to her former confession, and added, there were
- many meetings she was not witness to, and was at many of which she
- could give no particular account; and you will get more news after
- this. Being interrogate if she knew any more witches in the place,
- she replied, Agnes Currie is a witch, but she is a bold woman, and
- will flee upon me if I should delate her.
-
- Being interrogate if the devil had a sword, she replied, she believed
- he durst not use a sword; and called him a villain that promised her
- many good things when she engaged with him, but never gave her any
- thing but misery and poverty.
-
- The last meeting ever she was at, was 14 days after the Sacrament, in
- the month of August 1701, upon the minister's glebe where the tent
- stood, their number was 16 or 18, whereof Agnes Currie was one. She
- added, that she made an apology to the meeting, because she could
- not wait upon them all the time, being obliged to go to
- Borrowstouness that morning's tide. She added, that she heard Jean
- Neilson was possessed with a devil, and troubled with a fit of
- distemper, but declared she never wronged her, though the devil may
- do it in her likeness.
-
- Elspeth Williamson being called, came into the prison where the
- session sate, and being interrogate if Lillias Adie had any envy at
- her, she answered, she knew no envy she had at her. Lillias being
- interrogate if Elspeth Williamson was guilty of witchcraft, she
- replied, she is as guilty as I am, and my guilt is as sure as God is
- in heaven.
-
- The next time she saw the devil was about half a year ago, as she
- went to Culross, she saw him at the west end of the coal-fold.
-
- Upon the affair of Janet Whyte, James Alexander being called,
- compeared, and declared that he never heard Janet Whyte threaten Jean
- Bizet in the least.
-
- James White called, declared _ut ante_, but adds, that upon Friday
- was eight days, the 21st of July, he heard a great screeching when he
- was in the Craigmilne upon the bleaching green, beneath the said
- milne, and heard a second screech much greater, and clapping of hands
- and laughing, about twelve of the night, in the green on the other
- side of the burn; and it was observed by the bleachers to be all
- pastered, though there was no cloth at the burn, nor bleachers that
- night. Also, on the second of August 1704, Lillias declared before
- witnesses, that Grissel Anderson invited her to her house on that
- Lammas day, the morning just before the last burning of the witches.
- Grissel desired her to come and speak with a man there; accordingly
- she went in there about day-break, where there was a number of
- witches, some laughing, some standing, others sitting, but she came
- immediately away, being to go to Lammas fair; and several of them
- were taken shortly after, and Grissel Anderson among the rest, who
- was burnt, and some of them taken that very week. She adds, that
- Euphan Stirt warned her to the meeting at the Barnrod; and the said
- Euphan was burnt afterward, though she had been no longer a witch
- than a month before her death. She added, that she knew few of them
- that were at those meetings, especially the young sort, because they
- were masked like gentlewomen; and if Agnes Currie's heart would fall,
- she could tell as much as any, being in the midst of the meeting,
- where she saw her face by the blue low near Patrick Sands.
-
-
- _At Torryburn, August 19th, 1704.--After Prayer, Sederunt, &c.
-   Minister and Elders._
-
- Elspeth Williamson declared, that shortly after the last communion,
- there came a woman to her door, and bade her go east the way, whom
- she followed the length of the church-yard, and leaned upon the dyke,
- and saw a bouroch of women, some with black heads, were sitting
- where the tent stood. The woman that called her, went straight to the
- meeting, and fell down upon her knees, whereat she wondered, and
- hearkened if there was any reading or singing of psalms among them,
- and when she heard none, she thought she was in the wrong place, and
- did not think the woman would have taken her to the devil's meeting.
- She thought the woman was Mary Wilson, but is not certain; and about
- ten at night, some time after, a young lass came to her door, and
- desired her to go westward a little, whom she followed, but knew not
- the lass, she went so fast west the town before her, and was got the
- length of the Gollet or she came to the west end of the town; and
- when she was come west near the Gollet, she saw a meeting of women
- and some men, and she stood at a little distance from them, and saw
- them go through other for the space of near an hour, and removed
- insensibly eastward from her, upon which she stole away.
-
- Lillias Adie confessed, that after she entered into compact with
- Satan, he appeared to her some hundred of times, and that the devil
- himself summoned her to that meeting which was on the glebe, he
- coming into her house like a shadow, and went away like a shadow; and
- added, that she saw Elspeth Williamson and Agnes Currie both there,
- only Agnes was nearer the meeting than Elspeth, who was leaning on
- the church-yard dike with her elbow. She added, that the devil bade
- her attend many meetings that she could not attend, for age and
- sickness; and though he appeared not to her when there was company
- with her, yet he appeared to her like a shadow, so that none could
- see him but herself. At another time, she said, that when she
- renounced her baptism, the devil first spoke the words, and she
- repeated them after him, and that as he went away she did not hear
- his feet on the stubble.
-
-
- _August 20th 1704.--After Prayer, Sederunt, Minister and Elders._
-
- It is to be minded, that Lillias Adie appeared before the
- congregation on the Lord's day, and being called up by the minister
- and asked if she was guilty of witchcraft, she confessed freely that
- she was, and had entered expressly into covenant with Satan, and
- renounced her baptism, the devil putting one hand on the crown of her
- head, and the other under the soles of her feet, and she gave over
- all to the devil that was betwixt his two hands, and she was come
- hither to confess her sins, and to get her renounced baptism back
- again. She also desired all that had power with God to pray for her;
- to this the minister and elders, and whole congregation, were
- witnesses.
-
- It being reported, that Agnes Currie should have delated Bessie
- Callander and Mary Wilson, guilty of witchcraft; Agnes being called,
- compeared and declared, that Robert Currie told her Elspeth
- Williamson told him that Bessie Callander and Mary Wilson, were
- witches.
-
- George Stewart, solemnly sworn, purged of malice and partial counsel,
- aged 27 years, married, deponed, that Agnes Currie said to him, I'll
- tell you, but you must not let any of your folk know of it; he
- replied, I believe in Christ, I hope the devil hath no power over me.
- Ha, ha, said she, the devil hath done wrong to many, and he may wrong
- your friends or goods. Elspeth Williamson told Robert Currie, and
- Robert Currie told me, that Bessie Callander and Mary Wilson, are
- guilty of witchcraft. And this is truth, as he shall answer.--_Causa
- scientia._
-
-  _Sic subscribitur_, G. S.
-
-
- James Paton, solemnly sworn, purged of malice and partial counsel,
- aged between 22 and 23 years, depones, he was not requiring any thing
- of her by way of confession of persons names to which she assented in
- the mean time, but Agnes Currie said to him, there are two witches in
- Newmilne, and one of them is at the Bridgend; upon which I replied,
- you must tell me, for I have a sister there. Agnes replied, her name
- begins with a B, George Marshall replied, is that our Bessie, she
- answered, you are right enough, it's Bessie Callander. As to the
- other person, she would not tell her name at first, but said, she is
- be-east your house, but after owned the person to be Mary Wilson, but
- desired him not to divulge it to your mother or sister, least these
- persons do you ill. This is the truth, as he shall answer.--_Causa
- scientia._
-
-  _Sic subscribitur_, JA. PATON.
-
- George Marshall, sworn, purged, &c. _ut supra_, aged 39 years,
- married, declared, _ut supra_, and added, that she said, ye are
- husbandmen, devulge it not, least your beasts get wrang; and said to
- Alexander Drysdale, you go to sea, you have need to take head; and
- she said, the other lived be-east James Paton's house, but he going
- away, heard not her name. And this is the truth, as he shall answer.
- _Causa scientia._
-
-  _Sic subscribitur_, G. M.
-
-
- Agnes Currie assented to this in session; and that Robert Currie told
- her, that Elspeth Williamson told him these things; and that Mary
- Carmichael in Linlithgow, is a witch.
-
- Robert Currie called, compeared, and declared that Elspeth Williamson
- delated to him Bessie Callander, Mary Wilson, and Mary Carmichael, as
- witches, which the said Elspeth referred to the probation of the
- witch.
-
- The foresaid day, Lillias Adie said to the minister, that the devil
- was angry that she went to church, and said, that she might do as
- well at home. Being interrogate if he was angry like, she said, that
- he never looked pleasant like.--And closed with prayer.
-
-  _August 29th, 1704._
-
-
- Lillias Adie declared, some hours before her death, in audience of
- the minister, precentor, George Pringle, and John Paterson, that what
- she had said of Elspeth Williamson and Agnes Currie, was as true as
- the Gospel; and added, it is as true as the sun shines on that floor,
- and dim as my eyes are, I see that.
-
- It being reported that William Wilson knew something of Agnes Currie
- that was witchcraft, as also Janet Glass, they were called, and the
- said William declared, that about 24 years ago, Helen Johnston having
- overlaid her child the night after it was baptized, and the next day
- he was lamenting the woman's case, Agnes Currie said to him, if I had
- been her cummer, I could have advised her to take heed to her child;
- and also, that the said William was desired some time ago to bring
- some _slyk_[15] to a house that belonged to Agnes, and he answered,
- that his mare was in the yoke all day and could not; Agnes said she
- could not help it, and that same day his mare died in a stank.
-
-   [15] Thin clay or mud.
-
- Janet Glass declared, that she came once into Agnes Currie's house,
- having something to do with Agnes, who in the time was baking bread,
- and broke three several bannocks, lying in three several places, and
- gave it to the said Janet, and she with eating the same fell in a
- fever.
-
-
-     _Torryburn, 3d of September, 1704.--After Prayer, Sederunt,
-       Minister and Elders, except Robert Baxter, John Weir and John
-       Wardlaw._
-
- Agnes Currie being called, compeared, and confronted with Janet
- Glass; Janet declared, that about twelve years ago, she brought her
- cloth to her house, and Agnes was baking bread, and she broke three
- several bannocks that were in three several places, and gave her a
- piece of every bannock, and immediately she took the fever; and she
- adds, that she gave her a little piece of every bannock, and it was
- all one sort of bread. Janet declares that she is ready to swear it;
- also adds, Helen Lawson was so used.
-
- Helen Lawson being called, declared, that a long time ago, Agnes
- Currie broke three several bannocks, and gave her a piece of every
- one, but she would not take the third piece; and adds, that she is
- ready to swear it.
-
- Elspeth Williamson being brought in, and interrogate if she was a
- witch, she answered, that she would not deny that.
-
- N. B.--Lillias Adie was buried within the seamark at Torryburn.[16]
-
-   [16] Her grave is still to be seen at the west end of the town,
-   marked with a large stone.--ED.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
- William Cose being called, compeared, and owned, that on Sabbath
- morning, anno 1704, it being moon-light, he saw Bessie Micklejohn, or
- the devil in her stead, in James Chalmers's bark, then lying in
- Leith, and he doubts not but she saw him; and adds, that she had a
- green plaid about her head, as he offered to depone. The session
- considering that the devil appeared in her likeness, it was no proof
- against her, they judged it not necessary to regard that matter, and
- thought William Cose should not be troubled, it appearing he had not
- spoken it from malice, nor accused her of witchcraft formerly.
-
-  _March 30th, 1709._
-
- Margaret Humble called, declared, that Helen Key said, that when she
- heard Mr Logan[17] speak against the witches, she thought that he was
- daft, and she had up her stool to go out of the kirk: Also declared,
- that Helen Key threatened to strike Mary Neilson.
-
-   [17] The Reverend Allan Logan, the minister, is still famous all over
-   the country for his skill in discovering witches; and used, when
-   administering the Sacrament, to say, "You witch wife get up from the
-   table of the Lord," when some unhappy old woman would have risen,
-   imagining she was pointed at, and it was well if it did not
-   afterwards cost her her life. _Daft_ or not, he was certainly a most
-   wretched fanatic of the worst description.--ED.
-
- Jean Pearson declared, that she heard Helen Key say, that she would
- strike Mary Neilson. The said Helen Key confessed what all the
- witnesses declared.
-
- As to the affair of Helen Key, Mary Neilson called, declared, that
- she heard Helen Key say, that she thought Mr Logan was not wise when
- he was speaking against the witches; and she had one unseemly
- expression that is not decent to be put on the records; and when
- Margaret Humble rebuked her, she answered, it was not Margaret
- Humble's part to speak in Mr Logan's favours, but she would not
- express what Mr. Logan said of Margaret Humble to her.
-
- The session having found her convicted of prophane irreverent
- language against the minister and his doctrine, without any shadow of
- provocation, and of gross lying and prevaricating, both in private
- and before the session, and of threatening to strike a person because
- she had reported her impudent, Godless, and scandalous
- language,--therefore, they appoint her to sit before the congregation
- the next Lord's day, and to be rebuked after the afternoon's sermon.
-
-
- THE END.
-
-
-
-
-  [Greek: DETTEROSKOPIA];
-
-  OR A
-
-  BRIEF DISCOURSE
-
-  CONCERNING THE
-
-  SECOND SIGHT;
-
-  _COMMONLY SO CALLED._
-
-  By the Reverend Mr John Frazer, Deceased,
-    late Minister of Teree and Coll, and Dean
-    of the Isles;
-
-  AND
-
-  _Published by Mr ANDREW SYMSON, with a Short
-  Account of the Author._
-
-  EDINBURGH:
-
-  Printed by Mr ANDREW SYMSON, Anno Domini
-  MDCCVII.
-
-
-
-
-  TO THE
-
-  RIGHT HONOURABLE,
-
-  _Universally Learned, and my very Singular Good
-      Lord GEORGE, Earl of Cromartie, Viscount
-      of Tarbat, Lord Macleod and Castlehaven,
-      &c. Lord Justice General of the Kingdom
-           of Scotland, and one of her
-            Majesty's most Honourable
-                   Privy Council_,
-
- This following Discourse, entituled [Greek: Dateroskopia], &c. written
- by the Reverend Mr John Frazer, late Minister of Teree and Coll, and
- Dean of the Isles, is, with all due respect and reverence, dedicated
- by the printer and publisher hereof, his
-
-  Lordship's most humble
-  And obedient servant in all duty,
-  ANDREW SYMSON.
-
-
-
-
- THE
-
- PUBLISHER TO THE READER.
-
-
- The Reverend author of the ensuing Discourse having married my near
- kinswoman, and being in this city in November 1700, in order to the
- settling of some of his affairs. As we were discoursing of several
- things relating to the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, we
- came to speak of the Second Sight, reported to be so common in these
- parts; he told me, that as to the thing itself, it was most certain
- and undeniable, and that he could give many instances of it; as also,
- that he had written a short Discourse upon that subject. This he
- promised to transmit to me; accordingly, on his return home, after a
- tedious and troublesome voyage, both by sea and land, he sent me that
- Discourse, written with his own hand, desiring me to publish the same
- after some of his friends here had perused it: which being done, I,
- at my own conveniency, put it to the press, but before it was
- finished, I received an account that the author was dead, whereupon I
- forbore the publishing of it, till I should get an account of several
- passages concerning himself and family, designing to prefix the same
- to the Discourse itself, which I conceived would be acceptable to
- his friends, and not displeasing to the reader. And therefore I
- dispatched a letter to one of his nearest relations, and that was
- best acquainted with him, and with the passages of his life, that so
- I might thereby be the better informed. In answer whereunto, I
- received a paper containing several memoirs, from which I have
- collected the following account.
-
- Mr John Frazer, the author of this Discourse, was born in the Isle of
- Mull, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and
- forty-seven.
-
- His father, Mr Ferchard Frazer, was born in the north of Scotland,
- near Stratharig, about the year 1606, and lineally descended of the
- family of my Lord Lovat, but mediately of the family of Tober, one of
- the Lairds of the name of Frazer.
-
- After he had taken his degrees at the University, and applied himself
- to the study of Divinity, he was called by the bishop of the isles
- (there being then few learned men able to preach in the Irish tongue)
- to be minister of the Isles of Teree and Coll, (to which charge the
- deanry of the Isles was annext.) He was the first master of arts that
- preached constantly there as minister of the parish, there being then
- there one Ewen M'Lean, who was appointed to catechise and convene the
- people, there being few or none, as said is, able to serve the cure;
- but being there, he was very diligent in his ministerial function in
- teaching and instructing them, leaving them far better than he found
- them; for at his first coming, there were but three heritable
- gentlemen of the name of M'Lean that could subscribe their own
- names, the time Mr Ferchard Frazer served as minister of the Isles of
- Teree and Coll, which were conjoined in one parish, may be collected
- from his epitaph, written by his son, our author, which is--
-
- Epitaphium Magistri Ferchardi Frazer Decani Insularum; qui obiit 14
- die Februarii Anno Domini 1680. Aetatis 74.
-
-     Pervigil et blandus; mitis, gravis atq. benignus;
-
-     Doctus et Eloquii deterritate fluens:
-
-     Pavicoves Christi pandens mysteria verbi;
-
-     Exemplum vitæ præbuit ipse gregi.
-
-     Luxfuerat populi lustris bis quinq. peractis,
-
-     Sacradocens, sancto munere functus obit.
-
-     Hic requiem tumulo corpus capit, inde regressus
-
-     Spiritus ad Dominum, qui dedit ante, volat.
-
-     Mr Johannes Frazerus, decanus insularum.
-
- His mother's name was Janet M'Lean, daughter to Lauchlan M'Lean of
- Coll, an ancient family of that name and clan. His father, as he was
- careful to instruct others, so he did not neglect his son, our
- author, but having fitted him for the University, he sent him to the
- College of Glasgow, and committed him to the care of Mr William
- Blair, one of the regents there, who advanced him to the degree of
- master of arts, between the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth year of
- his age. From thence he went to the Isle of Mull, and was chaplain to
- Sir Allan M'Lean of Duart. Thereafter, viz. March 4th 1677, he was
- married to Mary Symson, the only surviving daughter of Mr Matthias
- Symson, some time minister of Stirling, who died November 1664. Two
- or three years before his father's death, (being canonically ordained
- presbyter,) he was admitted to his father's charge, in regard his
- father, partly by age, and partly by sickness, was rendered very
- unfit to serve the cure of these two islands, Teree and Coll, as also
- of Icolmkiln, which was also annext to it, and at a greater distance;
- however, such was his care and diligence in the work of the ministry,
- that, by the blessing of God upon his endeavours, he converted to the
- true Protestant faith 24 families in the Isle of Coll, (the laird
- himself being then ring-leader), that were deluded by Father O'Donald
- and others, his father not being able to oversee his flock, by reason
- of his foresaid condition.
-
- His father dying in the year 1680, he served the cure thereafter, by
- constant and diligent preaching, baptizing, marrying, visiting the
- sick, and exercising all other duties incumbent on him; but at
- length, because his principles would not allow all the demands of the
- Synod of Argyle, his charge was declared vacant, and his stipend
- taken from him; notwithstanding whereof, there being no minister sent
- to oversee these islands, he went about the exercise of his ministry
- as formerly, being supplied by the charity and benevolence of his
- parishioners, who had an entire kindness for him; but his stipend, as
- said is, was taken from him and bestowed some other way. And thus he
- continued till about a month before his death, which was on the 25th
- day of August 1702, in which he changed this troublesome life for a
- better, leaving behind him a desolate poor widow, with several
- children, both sons and daughters, as also a sorrowful people, who
- were now wholly deprived of a spiritual pastor, and of such a one as
- was every way qualified for that charge; for he was not only a good
- and learned man, but was master of their language, being born and
- bred up in the Isles, understood their humours, conditions, and
- manners of life, and being a wise and sagacious person, complaisant,
- and of a winning deportment; all which good qualifications he was
- endowed with, as all which were acquainted with him, can sufficiently
- testify.
-
- As for the subject of the following Discourse, (commonly called the
- Second Sight) though I think it might be more fitly called the First
- Sight, (because it for the most part sees things before they are), I
- shall not undertake to defend all the notions that he has of it, and
- whether they will agree with true philosophy, but shall refer that to
- others of a higher reach and deeper understanding than I ever durst
- pretend to; but this I will say in his defence, that, considering the
- place where it was written, even among the remote Isles, _vervecum in
- patria_, where he wanted the converse of learned men, and the benefit
- of books, two necessary qualifications for one that writes on such an
- abstruse subject; I humbly conceive, that the great clerks of this
- age, who have the benefit of books and converse, should not
- superciliously undervalue him that wants them. However, although I
- shall not pretend to maintain all that he writes, as to the causes,
- &c. of this Second Sight, nor do I believe all the stories that I
- have heard concerning it, yet the thing itself, or that there is such
- a thing as is commonly called the Second Sight, I do firmly believe,
- being induced thereto by the relations that I have received from
- persons of known integrity, and such as I suppose are wiser than to
- be imposed upon, and honester than to impose fables instead of
- truths, upon others. Among the relations that I have been told
- concerning this subject, I shall only single out one or two, and then
- I shall conclude.
-
- A noble peer of this nation being one morning in his bed-chamber, and
- attended by several persons, when his servant had put a new coat upon
- his Lord, a gentleman standing by, presently cry'd out, for God's
- sake, my Lord, put off that coat; and being asked the reason, he
- replied, that he saw a whinger or poinard, stick in the breast of it.
- The noble peer esteeming this as a mere fancy, replied, 'this coat is
- honestly come by, and I see no reason why I may not wear it.' The
- gentleman still entreated, and earnestly craved, that it might be put
- off: upon which debate, the noble peer's lady being not far off, came
- in, and being informed of the whole affair, intreated her Lord to
- comply with the gentleman's desire, which he did; mean time one of
- the servants standing by, desired the lady to give it him, and he
- would wear it. She granted his request, who put it on, and ere night
- he was stabbed by a poniard, in that very place which the gentleman
- had pointed to in the morning. This relation I had from a very
- ingenuous and understanding gentleman, who was grand-child to the
- said noble peer.
-
- I shall add another strange story, which I had from a reverend
- minister of the gospel, and my intimate acquaintance. 'Tis thus--In
- the year 1665, Alexander Wood, eldest son to the Laird of Nether
- Benholm, in Angus, having ended his prentiship with a merchant in
- Edinburgh, told Mr James Walker, that (in the year 1662 or 1663), he
- had been employed by his master to go to the Lewis to make up
- herring; and being there, and having a good tack of herring, their
- salt and casks were all made use of, and then they being idle, he
- began to fret that his master had delayed so long to supply them; and
- being one day drinking in a country house, and complaining, he went
- to the door of the house, and there followed him a country man, who
- said to him, If you will give me a small hire, I'll tell you what is
- become of the ship you are looking for; and without more ado, he set
- his foot upon the gentleman's foot, in which time he saw the ship in
- a great storm, ready to perish, and the seamen casting out their
- lading to lighten the ship; but when the country man's foot was off
- his he saw nothing. The ship at that time was about 100 miles from
- them, and about 48 hours thereafter, she came into the same harbour,
- and had been in the same condition he saw her in at that time the
- country man's foot was on his foot. It would be tedious to add any
- more stories that I have had from persons of undoubted veracity; and
- therefore, Reader, I shall only subscribe myself
-
-  Your humble servant in all duty,
-  ANDREW SYMSON.
-
-
-
-
- A
-
- SHORT ADVERTISEMENT
-
- TO THE
-
- READER.
-
-
-  COURTEOUS READER,
-
- You may be surprised to meet with such an abstruse theme (handled in
- specie by few or none), from the pen of a person in my circumstances,
- lying at a great distance from the Universities and centre of the
- kingdom, and consequently may be justly supposed to want that
- ordinary help of books and conference with the learned, that others
- may enjoy.
-
- In the _first_ place, believe that I am so far from affecting vain
- singularity, (a hateful vice in the schools as well as the pulpit),
- that nothing of that kind moved me to treat of the subject of the
- following Discourses. But for my own satisfaction I drew up the
- following heads, and did not resolve at the first to expose them to
- public view, (justly fearing the censure of presumption); but I was,
- by the persuasion of some serious friends, prevailed with to commit
- myself to the favourable judgment of the learned, (who might sooner
- commend my endeavours than censure my failings), rather than suppress
- such a fine subject, which probably might be more fully and largely
- treated of by others after the perusal of this Discourse. Take this
- pamphlet then in the rude dress that I could give; at least it may
- excite thy thoughts, if not to approve of what is here deduced, yet
- to propone of thine own a more satisfying method of explaining this
- remarkable phenomenon, which is the genuine design and wish of,
-
-  SIR,
-  Your humble servant,
-  The AUTHOR.
-
-
-
-
- [Greek: DETTEROSKOPIA];
-
- OR,
-
- A BRIEF DISCOURSE
-
- CONCERNING THE
-
- SECOND SIGHT,
-
- _Commonly so Called_.
-
-
- Many have undertaken to treat of the nature and operation of Spirits;
- as also of the various manners of divination among the Gentiles, (and
- but too much used among Christians,) likewise of the perturbation and
- deception of the fancy, caused by melancholy; and very many speak in
- ordinary discourses of this called the Second Sight, and the
- consequences of it, but none that I know handle it _in titulo_.
-
- That such representations are made to the eyes of men and women, is
- to me out of all doubt, and that effects follow answerable thereto,
- as little questionable. But I have found so many doubt the matter of
- fact; which I take to be the reason that so little has been written
- of it, that I think it necessary to say something briefly, that may
- put the existency of it beyond all scruple. If I should insert all
- the clear instances that I have had of this matter, it would be
- tedious and unnecessary, therefore I will content myself, and I hope
- will satisfy the reader, with four or five instances, as follows.
-
- The first instance is by a servant of my own, who had the trust of my
- barn, and nightly lay in the same. One day he told me he would not
- any longer lie there, because nightly he had seen a dead corps in his
- winding sheets straighted beside him, particularly at the south side
- of the barn. About an half year thereafter, a young man that had
- formerly been my servant, fell dangerously sick, and expecting death,
- would needs be carried near my house; and shortly thereafter he died,
- and was laid up a night before he was buried in the same individual
- barn and place that was foretold; and immediately the servant that
- foretold this came to me and minded me of the prediction, which was
- clearly out of my mind till he spoke of it.
-
- The second instance is after this manner. I was resolved to pay a
- visit to an English gentleman, Sir William Sacheverill, who had a
- commission from the English Court of Admiralty, to give his best
- trial to find out gold or money, or any other thing of note, in one
- of the ships of the Spanish armada, that was blown up in the bay of
- Topper-Mory, in the Sound of Mull. And having condescended upon the
- number of men that were to go with me, one of the number was a
- handsome boy that waited upon my own person; and, about an hour
- before I made sail, a woman, that was also one of my own servants,
- spoke to one of the seamen, and bade him dissuade me to take that boy
- along with me, or if I did, I should not bring him back alive; the
- seaman answered, he had not confidence to tell me such unwarrantable
- trifles. I took my voyage, and sailed the length of Topper-Mory; and
- having stayed two or three nights with that liberal and ingenuous
- gentleman, who himself had collected many observations of the Second
- Sight in the Isle of Man, and compared his notes and mine together, I
- then took leave of him. In the mean time, my boy grew sick of a
- vehement bloody flux,--the winds turn'd cross, that I could neither
- sail nor row,--the boy died with me the eleventh night from his
- decumbiture,--the next morning the wind made fair, and the seaman to
- whom the matter was foretold, related the whole story when he saw it
- verified. I carried the boy's corps aboard with me, and after my
- arrival, and his burial, I called suddenly for the woman, and asked
- at her what warrant she had to foretell the boy's death; she said,
- that she had no other warrant but that she saw, two days before I
- took my voyage, the boy walking with me in the fields, sewed up in
- his winding sheets from top to toe, and that she had never seen this
- in others, but she found that they shortly thereafter died; and
- therefore concluded that he would die too, and that shortly.
-
- The third instance was thus. Duncan Campbell, brother-german to
- Archibald Campbell of Invera, a gentleman of singular piety and
- considerable knowledge, especially in Divinity, told me a strange
- thing of himself. That he was at a time in Kintyre, having then some
- employment there, and one morning walking in the fields, he saw a
- dozen of men carrying a bier, and knew them all but one, and when he
- looked again, all was vanished. The very next day, the same company
- came the same way, carrying a bier, and he going to meet them, found
- that they were but eleven in number, and that himself was the
- twelfth, though he did not notice it before; and it is to be
- observed, that this gentleman never saw any thing of this kind before
- or after, till his dying day. Moreover, that he was of such solid
- judgment and devote conversation, that his report deserves an
- unquestionable credit.
-
- The fourth instance I had, to my great grief, from one John M'Donald,
- a servant of Lauchlan M'Lean of Coll, who was then newly returned
- from Holland, having the charge of a captain. This gentleman came one
- afternoon abroad to his past-time in the fields, and this John
- M'Donald meets him, and saw his clothes shining like the skins of
- fishes, and his periwig all wet, though indeed the day was very fair;
- whereupon he told privately, even then, to one of Coll's gentlemen,
- that he feared he should be drowned. This gentleman was Charles
- M'Lean, who gave me account of it. The event followed about a year
- thereafter, for the Laird of Coll was drowned in the water of Lochy
- in Lochaber. I examined both Charles M'Lean and John M'Donald, and
- found, that the prediction was as he told me; and the said M'Donald
- could produce no other warrant, than that he found such signs
- frequently before to forgo the like events. This man indeed was known
- to have many visions of this kind, but he was none of the strictest
- life.
-
- The fifth instance is strange, and yet of certain truth, and known to
- the whole inhabitants of the Island of Eigg, lying in the latitude of
- 56 degrees 20 minutes; and longitude 14 degrees. There was a tenant
- in this island, a native, that was a follower of the Captain of
- Clanrannold, that lived in a town called Kildonan, the year of God
- eighty-five, who told publicly to the whole inhabitants, upon the
- Lord's day, after divine service, performed by Father O'Rain, then
- priest of that place, that they should all flit out of that Isle, and
- plant themselves some where else; because that people of strange and
- different habits, and arms, were to come to the Isle, and to use all
- acts of hostility, as killing, burning, tirling, and deforcing of
- women; finally, to discharge all that the hands of an enemy could do;
- but what they were, or whence they came, he could not tell. At the
- first there was no regard had to his words; but frequently
- thereafter, he begged of them to notice what he said, otherwise they
- should repent it, when they could not help it; which took such an
- impression upon some of his near acquaintance, as that severals of
- them transported themselves and their families, even then; some to
- the Isle of Cannay, some to the Isle of Rum. Fourteen days before the
- enemy came thither, under the command of one Major Ferguson and
- Captain Pottinger, whilst there was no word of their coming, or any
- fear of them conceived. In the month of June 1689, this man fell
- sick, and Father O'Rain came to see him, in order to give him the
- benefit of absolution and extreme unction, attended with several
- inhabitants of the Isle, who, in the first place, narrowly questioned
- him before his friends, and begged of him to recant his former folly
- and his vain prediction; to whom he answered, that they should find
- very shortly the truth of what he had spoken, and so he died. And
- within 14 or 15 days thereafter, I was eye witness (being then
- prisoner with Captain Pottinger), to the truth of what he did
- foretel; and being before-hand well instructed of all that he said, I
- did admire to see it particularly verified, especially that of the
- different habits and arms, some being clad with red coats, some with
- white coats and grenadier caps, some armed with sword and pike, and
- some with sword and musket. Though I could give many more proofs, as
- unquestionable as these, yet I think what is said, is sufficient to
- prove the being of such a thing as the same in hand; and I cannot but
- wonder, that men of knowledge and experience should be so shy to
- believe that there may be visions of this kind administered by good
- or bad angels; there being nothing more certain, than that good
- angels suggested visions to the prophets of the Lord, before the
- coming of Christ in the flesh, and particularly to the apostle St
- John, after the ascension of our Lord; likewise that evil angels
- presented visions, as well as audible voices, to the 450 false
- prophets of Ahab; the 400 prophets of the Groves, is as little to be
- doubted; it being as easy, if not easier, to work upon the sight, as
- well as upon the hearing. We know but too well, that necromancers and
- magicians themselves, have not only seen the shapes and forms of
- things, but likewise have allowed others to see the same, who had no
- skill of their art. A precedent for which, is the Witch of Endor.
-
- I remember, about 23 years ago, there was an old woman in my parish,
- in the Isle of Teree, whom I heard was accustomed to give responses,
- and likewise averred, that she had died and been in heaven, but
- allowed to come back again. And because she could not come to church,
- I was at the pains to give her a visit, attended with two or three of
- the most intelligent of my parish. I questioned her first whether she
- said she was in heaven; and she freely confessed she was, and that
- she had seen Jesus Christ, but not God the Father, or the Holy Ghost;
- that she was kindly entertained with meat and drink, and that she had
- seen her daughter there, who died about a year before;--that her
- daughter told her, though she was allowed to go there, that she
- behooved to come back and serve out her prentiship on earth, but
- would shortly be called for, and remain there for ever. She could
- very hardly be put out of this opinion, till I enquired more narrowly
- of her children, if she fell at any time in a syncope; which they
- told me she did, and continued for a whole night, so that they
- thought that she was truly dead; and this is the time she alleged she
- was in heaven. The devil took an advantage in the ecstasy to present
- to her fancy a map of heaven, as if it had been a rich earthly
- kingdom, abounding with meat, drink, gold, and silver. By the
- blessing of God, I prevailed with her to be persuaded that this was
- but a vision presented to her fancy by the devil, the father of lies;
- and that she might deprehend the falsehood of it from this one head,
- that she imagined her body was there, as well as her soul, and that
- she did eat and drink, and was warmed, while, as her own children,
- and the neighbours that watched her, did see, and did handle her body
- several times that night, so that it could not be with her in heaven.
- I did further examine her what warrant she had for the responses she
- gave, which were found very often true, even in future contingent
- events. She freely confessed, that her father upon his death-bed,
- taught her a charm, compiled of barbarous words, and some
- unintelligible terms, which had the virtue, when repeated, to
- present, some few hours after the proposition of a question, the
- answer of the same in live images before her eyes, or upon the wall;
- but the images were not tractable, which she found by putting too her
- hand, but could find nothing. I do not think fit to insert the charm,
- knowing that severals might be inclined to make an unwarrantable
- trial of it. This poor woman was got reclaimed, and was taught fully
- the danger and vanity of her practice, and died peaceably about a
- year after, in extreme old age.
-
- I know assuredly, that Janet Douglas, that was first a dumbie, yet
- spoke thereafter, who had given many responses by signs and words,
- and foretold many future events, being examined by Mr Gray, one of
- the ministers of the city of Glasgow, denied any explicitor implicit
- paction, and declared freely, that the answers of the questions
- proponed to her were represented by a vision in lively images,
- representing the persons concerned, and acting the thing, before her
- eyes. This Mr Gray exchanged several discourses in write with Sir
- James Turner, concerning her.
-
- By this time, you may see that this theme deserves the consideration
- of the learned: _First_, to enquire how much of this may come from a
- natural constitution and temperament, when confounded with a flatuous
- or melancholic distemper; and what influence an external agent,
- namely, an angel, good or bad, may have upon the organ of the eye and
- the fancy, and how far the medium between the organ of the eye and an
- object visible, may be disposed for their purpose, namely, the air
- and light; and what connexion may be found betwixt the
- representations made to the eye or fancy, and the future contingent
- events that experience teaches do follow thereupon: as for example, a
- man is seen bleeding, or sewed up in his winding sheets, who is
- shortly to be wounded, or assuredly to die.
-
- As for the first, all the learned physicians of the world know too
- well by experience what great labour they have to cure the deceptions
- of the fancy, especially in hypochondriac diseases; nay, patients
- cannot be persuaded but they see men, women, fowls, and four-footed
- beasts, walking abroad or in their chambers. Seldom it is, that a man
- passes any great and turbulent fever, without the trouble of some
- such representations. It is memorable, that a gentleman, that had
- been a great proficient in physic himself, imagined at length that
- there was a quick frog in his belly; and after he had travelled over
- a good part of Italy, and consulted with the doctors of Padua, yet
- could not be cured, or dissuaded. He came at length to the learned
- physician Platerus, in Bazil, who told him, that a frog by certain
- experience is known not to live above three years, so that his
- distemper continuing longer than three years, could not be caused by
- the frog, that could not live so long. Moreover, that his stomach
- would strangle the frog, and that the frog could not live any
- considerable time out of its own element, the water; so that the
- properest and most specific medicines being made use of, it were a
- shame for him to be so obstinate. At last he was persuaded, and his
- fancy satisfied. This story is no less renowned of what befell
- Andreas Osiander, a man learned in most languages. When he was a
- young man, and being troubled with a quartan ague, a little before
- the fit he could not be persuaded that he was in the house at all,
- but that he was in a wood, and much molested with wild beasts and
- serpents of all kinds; neither could he be prevailed with that this
- was false, till Facius Cardanus was called for to him, who cured him
- for the time, so that he knew his friends that were sitting beside
- him, and the chamber to be his own chamber; but after Facius had left
- him, he was troubled with the same opinion and distemper, even till
- the ague had quiet him. I have myself seen a neighbour of my own, and
- my parishioner too, John M'Phale, that lived to the age of fourscore
- years, a man that was truly very sagacious by nature; and though his
- sight was much decayed, the seat of his judgment was nothing touched;
- and as he grew weaker, merely by old age, without any remarkable
- distemper, I made frequent visits to him. One day as I was coming
- away from him, he told me he had something of consequence to ask at
- me, and desired all to remove except his wife and another gentleman,
- that was a friend of his. This done, Sir, says he, I desire to know
- by what warrant or commission so many of my friends, that are dead
- long ago, are allowed to come and discourse with me, and drink before
- me, and yet are not so civil as give me a tasting of it? I told him,
- that it was only the trouble of his fancy, and his frequent thinking
- of the world to come and his friends that were gone before him; and
- he replied to me very smartly, Sir, says he, I perceive it is the
- work of the fancy, for since I cannot see yourself, (for only by your
- voice I know you) how could I see them? It was strange that he saw
- them the very mean time that others were in the house with him, and
- asked several questions at them, but got no answer. And, for all
- this, the seat of his wit was as entire as ever: moreover, this
- trouble left him a little before he died.
-
- Many such illusions are reported of eremites, caused merely by the
- confusion of the brains, bred by their fasting and unwholesome food,
- which I shall not trouble the reader with.
-
- If you will ask how cometh this to pass, take notice of the following
- method, which I humbly offer to your consideration. Advert, in the
- _first_ place, that visible ideas, or species, are emitted from every
- visible object to the organ of the eye; representing the figure and
- colour of the object, and bearing along with it the proportion of the
- distance, for sure the objects enter not the eye, nor the interjacent
- distant tract of ground; and a third thing different from the eye and
- the object, and the distant ground, must inform the eye. These
- species are conveyed to the brain by the optic nerve, and are laid up
- in the magazine of the memory, otherwise we should not remember the
- object any longer than it is in our presence; and a remembering of
- these objects is nothing else but the fancies reviewing, or more
- properly the soul of man, by the fancy reviewing of these intentional
- species formerly received from the visible object unto the organ of
- the eye, and reconducted unto the seat of the memory. Now, when the
- brain is in a serene temper, these species are in their integrity,
- and keep their rank and file as they were received; but when the
- brain is filled with gross and flatuous vapours, and the spirits and
- humour enraged, these ideas are sometimes multiplied as an army, by
- mist; sometimes magnified, sometimes misplaced, sometimes confounded
- by other species of different objects, perhaps by half and half, so
- that the fancy has two for one, one bigger than two of itself, and
- sometimes the half of one and the half of another, represented in
- one; and this deception is not only incident to the fancy, but even
- to the external senses, particularly the seeing and hearing; for the
- visus, or seeing, is nothing else but the transition of the
- intentional species through the crystalline humour to the retiform
- coat of the eye, and judged by the common sense, and conveyed by the
- optic nerve to the fancy.
-
- Of this we have a clear demonstration from the representation of
- external objects through a crystal in glass, upon any lucid, smooth,
- and solid reflectant, placed before the glass in a dark chamber,
- which is one of the noblest experiments in the whole optics.
-
- Now, if these species formerly received and laid up in the brain,
- will be reversed back from the same to the retiform coat and
- crystalline humour as formerly, these is in effect a lively seeing
- and perception of the object represented by these species, as if, _de
- novo_, the object had been placed before the eye; for the organ of
- the eye had no more of it before, than now it has; just so with the
- hearing, it is nothing else but the receiving of the audible species
- to that part of the ear that is accommodated for hearing, so that
- when the species are retracted from the brain to their proper organs,
- for example, the ear and the eye, hearing and seeing are perfected,
- as if the objects had been present to influence the organs _de novo_.
- And it is not to be thought that this is a singular opinion, for
- Cardanus, an eminent author of great and universal learning and
- experience, maintains this reversion of the species, and attributes
- his own vision of trees, wild beasts, men, cities, and instructed
- battles, musical and martial instruments, from the fourth to the
- seventh year of his age, to the species of the objects he had seen
- formerly, now retracted to the organ of the eye, and cites Averroes,
- an author of greater renown for the same opinion. _See Cardanus de
- subtilitate rerum pagina trecentesima prima._
-
- And it seems truly to be founded upon relevant grounds. I have
- observed a sick person, that complained of great pain and molestation
- in his head, and particularly of piping and sweating in his ears,
- which seems to have been caused by the species of piping and singing
- which he had formerly heard, but were now, through the plethory of
- his head, forced out of the brain to the organ of the ear, through
- the same nerves by which they were received formerly; and why may not
- the same befall the visible species as well as the audible? which
- seems to be confirmed by the optic experiment. Take a sheet of
- painted paper and fix it in your window, looking steadfastly to it
- for a considerable time, for example, some few minutes, then close
- your eyes very strait, and place a sheet of clean paper before your
- eyes, and open your eyes suddenly, you will see the painting almost
- as lively as they were in the painted sheet with the lively colours.
- This compression of the eyes by consent, causes a compression of the
- whole brain, which forces back the visible species of the painted
- sheet to the organ of the eye, through the optic nerve, which will
- presently vanish, if the reflectant did not help to preserve them.
- You may see then how much of these representations may be within
- ourselves, abstracting from any external agent or object without the
- eye, to influence the same.
-
- The second thing that comes under consideration is, the influence and
- operation of external agents, namely, an angel, good or bad. It is
- not to be denied, but good angels may help and dispose all our
- faculties, excite, elevate, and set them upon edge and action;
- likewise, that evil angels may perturb, confound, and hurt, our
- external and internal senses, (when permitted) particularly by
- stirring the spirits, humours, and vapours, which of themselves, when
- so stirred, help to make many shapes and representations, either
- regular or irregular, (as has been formerly observed) and withal,
- they can colorate external objects far beyond any painter, insensibly
- to the beholder, _repente applicando activa passivis_; and that they
- can alter the medium interposed between our senses and the objects,
- by making it grosser or thinner, opaque or lucid, is a thing not to
- be questioned. For a clear proof of this I hope any rational man will
- allow me.
-
- That even the evil angels, who were created in a degree above us,
- must have a more penetrating wit than ours is, and having experienced
- from their creation, to this very day, and can be present to every
- experiment found out, or that is committed to writing by the art of
- man; and withal, being not subject to oblivion as man is, (for they
- have no material faculty to be obliterated), I say any rational man
- will allow me, that they can do as much, and beyond what the art of
- man is able to do; but so it is, that painters can make one object
- more pleasant than another, distorted and worse favoured than
- another,--that any smoke may engross the air,--that a cloud removed
- on or off the face of the sun, give way to the beams of it to
- illuminate the air, or to eclipse its light,--that vapours and
- exhalations, from sea and land, multiply and magnify objects,
- misshapes and distorts them, and makes them of diverse figures, all
- in an instant, which is observable in hot summer days, especially in
- the end of the canicular days, for you may readily see about three or
- four in the afternoon, the same hills (providing they are situated at
- a considerable distance from you) to be of diverse shapes, forms, and
- figures, changing very suddenly from one shape to another, for
- example, from a globe to a pyramid, from a pyramid to a quadrangular
- figure, &c. All which our ordinary multiplying, magnifying, and
- distorting glasses, produce. Moreover, that physicians can administer
- such medicines as may provoke a man to madness and rage, yea, to
- fantastic or hypochondriac fits; so also medicines that move pleasant
- and unpleasant dreams, by exciting the melancholic or sanguine
- humours, raging or peaceable dreams, by moving the choleric or
- phlegmatic humour.
-
- How much more can the prince of the air do, and his retinue, who is
- better seen in the nature of the elements and their compounds; who
- is better seen in the nature of trees, plants, minerals, stones, the
- secret qualities of springs and fountains, rivers and lochs, and the
- influence of celestial bodies, &c. and who is better seen in the
- constitution of every man, his customs and inclinations, and his
- present state and bygone circumstances; I say, in all these, he is
- better seen than any man, and can accommodate them to his purpose
- beyond the greatest virtuoses.
-
- Let us therefore consider, that an evil angel being permitted
- thereunto, can muster in our brain the latent intentional species of
- external absent objects, and can present the same to the fancy in the
- methods best fitting his purpose, and not only so in time of our
- sleep, (for then indeed the fancy sticks with more tenacity to what
- it apprehends), but also when we are not sleeping, he can deduce
- these species by forcing them out of the rooms or cells of the brain,
- to the organ of the eye and ear, and so of necessity a man either
- sitting or going in the high-way, will hear and see such things as
- these species do represent; and seeing that naturally it may be done,
- as would appear from what is above spoken from the strength and force
- of medicines to operate upon the spirits and humours of man to work
- strange things, why may not a good or bad angel excite nature to it?
- or by an immediate impulse force these material qualities to the
- organs of the external senses, as well as they can move their
- vehicles, which are the spirits and humours.
-
- The third thing proposed was, the connexion of these representations
- with the future contingent events that are observed to follow them,
- as for example, a second sighted man sees a winding sheet upon his
- neighbour, or blood running down his face, shoulders, or arms, he
- concludes that he must die, or be wounded in the face, shoulders, or
- arms. If you will ask what warrant he has for this, he will tell, he
- has found by experience, that whenever he saw the like of this, that
- he found death or wounds to follow. _Quaeritur_, then, what connexion
- can this representation have with an effect or contingent event not
- yet existant? For answer to this, God, who knoweth all things, no
- doubt imparteth much of the foreknowledge of things, not only to good
- angels, but also evil angels, for reasons well known to himself,
- particularly that they might give some true signs, and so have way to
- deceive in many things besides; and though the signs foretold should
- surely come to pass, it does not infer that the doctrine of evil
- angels, and their lies that they would suggest to mankind, should be
- credited. This is clear from the 13th of Deuteronomy, 1, 2, and 3,
- verses, If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams,
- and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come
- to pass whereof he spake unto thee, saying, let us go after other
- gods, (which thou has not known), and let us serve them; thou shalt
- not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams,
- for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord
- your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul. And this is
- very just with God when men give themselves over to a reprobate and
- wicked mind, and evil and unwarrantable practices, expressly against
- the Lord's commands; I say it is just with God to let evil angels or
- spirits delude them, and give way to these spirits in order to
- confirm their lies; to appoint signs before hand, which signs, by
- God's appointment, may come to pass, answerable to the prediction. It
- may rationally, and very probably be concluded, that Ahab's false
- prophets, in number 400, have often foretold truth; and this
- purposely by God's appointment, that they might be the better
- believed, and more easily persuade to lay siege to Ramoth Gilead; and
- it is hard to conceive that Ahab should give them so much credit, or
- they themselves so extraordinary confident, if they had not had many
- truths suggested to them, and made proof of the same to Ahab. It is
- not for nought that we are commanded to try the spirits, and that
- rather by their doctrines, than their signs and wonders, or fair and
- smooth pretences. Therefore, suppose these evil angels to know a
- contingent future event, either by a revelation, or natural or moral
- causes, they may, in the method foresaid make the representation of
- them to the eyes or ears; as for example, an angel, good or bad,
- finds that either the lungs, heart, stomach, liver, or brain, are
- under such a consumption, as may against such a time kill a man; or
- that he knows the secret contrivance of a potent party that is
- resolved to wound or kill him, or that it is revealed to him it
- should be so (which may very well be, as has been above noted), he
- can easily represent these before hand, though the event should
- follow but a considerable time thereafter; he has no more to do than
- to reverse the species of these things from a man's brain to the
- organ of the eye.
-
- Here ariseth a question from what has just been said, whether it be
- more probable that good angels make this representation (because men
- having this second sight are found to tell truth, and to be innocent
- in their lives, and free of any paction, either implicit or explicit,
- likewise free of any fraudulent design, and sound enough in the
- necessary articles of their salvation), or that it be done by evil
- angels for the trial of men and women, juggling with their fancy and
- external organs, and so have a patent way to tell lies among some
- truths. For answer to this question, I shall not be ready positively
- to determine these things, but I humbly conceive, that as the
- representations are oft done by evil angels, so likewise it is
- probable that it may be done by good angels. I cannot be so
- uncharitable to several men that I have known to be of considerable
- sense, and pious and good conversation, as to conclude them to be
- given over to be deluded continually by an evil angel: Moreover, I
- conceive that there are many good Christians, if they would advert
- well, that have some secret tokens and signs of notable alterations
- to come, suggested to them before hand; and that these signs, some of
- them are common to them with others, as dreaming, which are often
- observed to be completely fulfilled, and that some of the signs and
- warnings are peculiar to some persons, which fail not to answer to
- the things signified; as for example, I have certainly known a man,
- that when he found an unvoluntary motion in such a member of his
- body, particularly his right hand or right eye, that was sure that
- some matter of joy would shortly come to his hearing; and that if he
- found the same motion in the left eye or hand, it signified
- infallibly grief: And that which is more wonderful, the thing to come
- signified by these signs and warnings keeped an exact proportion with
- the continuance or vehemency of the motion; if the motion continued
- long, so did the joy or the grief; if the motion was snell or
- vehement, so was the matter of grief or joy; and finding that this
- man was both a good man, and of a right penetrating wit, and had art
- enough, it moved me to use freedom with several other good men that
- had knowledge and sense enough to examine circumstances to a hair. I
- found very many to acknowledge the very same thing, yet signified by
- different signs, (which shows they are not _signa naturalia_, but _ex
- instituto_), which puts me in mind of Dr Brown's observation to the
- same purpose, in his inquiry into vulgar errors, where he concludes
- several presentations to be acted in us by our tutelary angels that
- have the charge of us at the time. Mark this, though the signs be
- different in themselves, yet to each particular person, his own sign
- is still significative of the same thing; and why might not this of
- the second sight be counted amongst one of these? I likewise humbly
- conceive, that God might compense the want of many other gifts to
- poor men, by giving them this minor sort of knowledge. But I would
- advise all of them that have the second sight, to examine themselves,
- and to pray earnestly to God that no evil angel should have power to
- abuse their senses, because the devil still strives to imitate what
- God, or his good angels, communicates to his own children. I know
- that the common opinion of some philosophers and divines will be
- objected, and that is, that angels, good or bad, may condense the
- air, figurate and colorate the same, and make it of what figure or
- shape they please, so that this representation is made by external
- objects in effect emitting visible species to the eye; and
- consequently, that it is not the reversion of the species formerly
- received; though, as I have observed before, that good and bad angels
- can alter the medium in a strange way, and can work great alteration
- on the elements and their compounds, I think it very improbable that
- any created power can bring the air to that solidity, and actually
- condense it, colorate, and figurate it, as to represent a man by a
- beast, or Peter by Paul, especially at such a distance as from one
- side of a chamber to the other. The miracles done by the magicians of
- Egypt is their Achillean argument; but in short, I say, that what was
- done by the magicians of Egypt, has neither been a delusion of the
- senses, (as some would have it) much less that the devil could
- produce the creatures _de novo_ of condensed air, and that for the
- following reasons: _First_, thence it would follow that Moses and
- Aaron were deluded as well as the Egyptians; but the last is false,
- therefore the first: _Secondly_, it would follow, that the fashioning
- and framing of Adam's body of clay, was but a mean act of creation in
- comparison of these creatures, if they should be fashioned and framed
- of condense air, which is naturally a fluid element, not so easily
- stigmatized as the earth. I do not deny but the devil can snatch dead
- and quick bodies from one place to another, and that insensibly to
- the beholders, by pressing their optic nerves, as Franciscus Valesius
- has observed in his _Sacra Philosophia_, and I conclude with Abraham
- Couley, (no contemptible author) that the magicians of Egypt were
- after this manner served by the devil, to imitate God's power in the
- hands of Moses and Aaron. Mark, finally, if it were within the sphere
- of angelical power to take bodies of condense air, what needed them
- assume such material and earthly bodies as these angels that came to
- Abraham and Lot assumed? whose bodies could be touched and handled,
- and whose bodies were not found to yield to the touch, as the most
- condensed air must do; and it is very consisting with reason, that
- the angels, good or bad, should rather assume bodies of the element
- of the earth, which is a great deal more easily brought to the figure
- and fashion of a body, than the air. Some curious spirits, perhaps,
- may desire to know whether this second sight be hereditary or
- propagable from father to son; and I think no wonder that some would
- think so, because the sanative gift of the king's evil is lineally
- traduced to the natural heirs of the crown of England; and there is a
- whole family in Spain, that has a sanative gift of some particular
- diseases, which gift is propagated from the father to the son;
- neither is it diminished or augmented by the morality or immorality
- of the persons, as has been observed by that famous philosopher and
- physician, Franciscus Valesius, who lived in that kingdom, and had
- time and opportunity to examine the truth of this affair. In short, I
- answer, that it is not propagable from father to son, neither
- peculiar to any particular family; and as I have observed many honest
- men, free of all scandal that ever I could learn, to have it; so I
- have observed many vicious persons to have it who foretold truth oft
- enough.
-
- Perhaps it may be doubted what should make this second sight more
- frequent here than in the heart of the kingdom; I answer, that it is
- the lack of observation and inquiry that it should not be found there
- as well as here. _Secundo_, that it passes under a great odium and
- disgrace with the most of men, which causes those that see it,
- conceal it. _Thirdly_, I confess that credulity and ignorance give
- occasion to evil spirits to juggle more frequently, than otherwise
- they would have done. But sure it is, that men of little learning and
- education may be recompensed by notable presentations, not so obvious
- to others of greater parts. I remember of a nobleman in Spain, that
- was deaf and dumb from his infancy, and yet was taught by a monk to
- speak, and understand what was spoken to him, only by observing the
- motion of his lips that spoke to him. Sir Kenelm Digby saw him, as he
- tells in his Treatise of Bodies, and the monk that taught him, was a
- cousin of Franciscus Valesius. This was more than ordinary sagacity
- and docility, and it is found, that many dumb persons foretel many
- things before hand, and it is a hard measure to conclude all to be
- from evil spirits. In fine, as I noted before, as questionless Satan
- may, and often does, deceive after this manner, so it is as sure, it
- may be allowed, that good angels may forewarn this way, as well as by
- other signs and tokens, as Dr Brown observes.
-
- It is observed, that those who have the second sight, have this
- representation at any time of the day, but indeed more ordinarily in
- the morning and evening, and with candle light.
-
- The design of these weak conceptions on this sublime theme, is not to
- impose upon any man, freely leaving every man to follow his own
- judgment in things that offend not church or state, but that others
- of greater capacity may be stimulated to prosecute the same in a
- better method, humbly submitting myself to the judgment of my
- betters, to whose hands perhaps this pamphlet may come.
-
-
-
-
- FINIS.
-
-  EDINBURGH,
-
-  Printed by Thomas Webster.
-
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
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- Transcriber's note:
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- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
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- Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been
- retained except in obvious cases of typographical error.
-
- Page 92: "here is a gentleman that will fee you"--The transcriber has
- changed "fee" to "see". fee you
-
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- words left out.
-
- For the eBook version of this book the cover was created by the
- transcriber, and is placed in the public domain.
-
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@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
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-    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
     <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
     <title>
       The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on Witchcraft and the Second Sight, by David Webster.
@@ -186,46 +186,7 @@ div.fn {
 <link rel="coverpage" href="images/coverpage.jpg"/>
   </head>
 <body>
-
-
-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on
-Witchcraft and the Second Sight, by Unknown
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on Witchcraft and the Second Sight
-       With an Original Essay on Witchcraft
-
-Author: Unknown
-
-Release Date: January 27, 2013 [EBook #41928]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRACTS ON WITCHCRAFT ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41928 ***</div>
 
 <div id="title_page">
 
@@ -4115,7 +4076,7 @@ Dick, Witches.</em></p>
 
 <div class="center">
 <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Coke">
-<tr><td align="left"><em>In primis.</em>&mdash;To Mr James Miller, when he went to Prestowne for a man to try them,</td><td align="right">47s.</td><td align="right">£2 7</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><em>In primis.</em>&mdash;To Mr James Miller, when he went to Prestowne for a man to try them,</td><td align="right">47s.</td><td align="right">£2 7</td></tr>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><em>Item.</em>&mdash;To the man of Culross, (the executioner) when he went away the first time,</span></td><td align="right">12s.</td><td align="right">0 12</td></tr>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><em>Item.</em>&mdash;For coals for the witches,</span></td><td align="right">24s.</td><td align="right">1 4</td></tr>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><em>Item.</em>&mdash;In purchasing the commission,</span></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">9 3</td></tr>
@@ -4123,7 +4084,7 @@ Dick, Witches.</em></p>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><em>Item.</em>&mdash;For harden to be jumps to them,</span></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">3 10</td></tr>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><em>Item.</em>&mdash;For making of them,</span></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">0 8</td></tr>
 <tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Summa for the kirk's part</span></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">£17 1</td><td>Scots.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Summa for the kirk's part</span></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">£17 1</td><td>Scots.</td></tr>
 </table></div>
 <hr class="tb" />
 <p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p>
@@ -4135,7 +4096,7 @@ upon William Coke and Alison Dick.</em></p></blockquote>
 
 <div class="center">
 <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Town">
-<tr><td align="left"><em>In primus</em>&mdash;For ten loads of coals to burn them, 5 merks,</td><td align="right">£3</td><td align="right">6</td><td align="right">8</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><em>In primus</em>&mdash;For ten loads of coals to burn them, 5 merks,</td><td align="right">£3</td><td align="right">6</td><td align="right">8</td></tr>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><em>Item.</em>&mdash;For a tar barrel, 14s.</span></td><td align="right">0</td><td align="right">14</td><td align="right">0</td></tr>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><em>Item.</em>&mdash;For towes,</span></td><td align="right">0</td><td align="right">6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><em>Item.</em>&mdash;To him that brought the executioner,</span></td><td align="right">2</td><td align="right">18</td><td align="right">0</td></tr>
@@ -4143,7 +4104,7 @@ upon William Coke and Alison Dick.</em></p></blockquote>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><em>Item.</em>&mdash;For his expenses here,</span></td><td align="right">0</td><td align="right">16</td><td align="right">4</td></tr>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><em>Item.</em>&mdash;For one to go to Finmouth for the laird,</span></td><td align="right">0</td><td align="right">6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr>
 <tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">&mdash;&mdash;</td><td align="right">&mdash;&mdash;</td><td align="right">&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Summa town's part,</span></td><td align="right">£17</td><td align="right">1</td><td align="right">0</td><td align="left">Scots.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Summa town's part,</span></td><td align="right">£17</td><td align="right">1</td><td align="right">0</td><td align="left">Scots.</td></tr>
 <tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Both,</span></td><td align="right">34</td><td align="right">11</td><td align="right">0</td></tr>
 </table></div>
 
@@ -5030,7 +4991,7 @@ Insularum; qui obiit 14 die Februarii Anno Domini
 
 <p>Pavicoves Christi pandens mysteria verbi;</p>
 
-<p>Exemplum vitæ præbuit ipse gregi.</p>
+<p>Exemplum vitæ præbuit ipse gregi.</p>
 
 <p>Luxfuerat populi lustris bis quinq. peractis,</p>
 
@@ -6210,384 +6171,6 @@ description.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div></div>
 
 </div>
 
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diff --git a/41928.txt b/41928.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 838a498..0000000
--- a/41928.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5025 +0,0 @@
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on
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-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
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-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on Witchcraft and the Second Sight
-       With an Original Essay on Witchcraft
-
-Author: Unknown
-
-Release Date: January 27, 2013 [EBook #41928]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRACTS ON WITCHCRAFT ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-  A
-
-  Collection
-
-  OF
-
-  _RARE AND CURIOUS TRACTS_
-
-  ON
-
-  WITCHCRAFT
-
-  AND THE
-
-  SECOND SIGHT;
-
-  WITH AN
-
-  _Original Essay on Witchcraft_.
-
-  Edinburgh:
-  PRINTED FOR D. WEBSTER, 35, WEST COLLEGE STREET.
-  1820.
-
-
-
-
- EDINBURGH:
-
- Printed by Thomas Webster.
-
-
-
-
-  CONTENTS.
-
-
-                                                            _Page_
-
-  An Original Essay on Witchcraft,                               5
-
-  News from Scotland,                                           13
-
-  To the Reader,                                                15
-
-  A True Discourse of the Damnable Life of
-  Doctor Fian, and Sundry other Witches,
-  lately taken in Scotland,                                     17
-
-  Another Account of the Foregoing Transactions,
-  from Sir James Melvill's Memoirs,                             36
-
-  Advertisement,                                                40
-
-  Extracts from King James's Daemonologie concerning
-  Sorcery and Witchcraft,                                       42
-
-  Notice to the Reader,                                         68
-
-  Answer of a Letter from a Gentleman in Fife,
-  to a Nobleman, containing an Account of
-  the Barbarous and Illegal Treatment of the
-  Witches in Pittenweem,                                        69
-
-  Another Letter concerning the Witches of Pittenweem,          73
-
-  A Just Reproof to the False Reports contained
-  in the two Foregoing Letters,                                 79
-
-  A Copy of the Indictment and Precept for
-  Summoning the Jury and Witnesses, with
-  the Warrant for the Execution, of the
-  Witches at Borrowstouness,                                    95
-
-  Trial of Isobel Elliot and others,                           104
-
-  Confession of Helen Taylor,                                  107
-
-  Deposition of Manie Haliburton,                              109
-
-  Declaration of John Kincaid, the Pricker,                    111
-
-  Trial of William Coke and Allison Dick,                      113
-
-  Amount of the Kirk's Share of Expense for
-  Burning the said William Coke and Allison
-  Dick,                                                        123
-
-  Town's part on the above occasion,                           124
-
-  Account of the Expense of Burning Margaret
-  Denham,                                                      125
-
-  Minutes and Proceedings of the Kirk-Session
-  of Torryburn, and the Confession of Lillias
-  Adie,                                                        129
-
-  Frazer on the Second Sight,                                  147
-
-  The Publisher to the Reader,                                 150
-
-  Short Advertisement to the Reader,                           157
-
-  A Brief Discourse concerning the Second Sight,
-  commonly so called,                                          159
-
-
-
-
- AN
-
- ORIGINAL ESSAY
-
- ON
-
- WITCHCRAFT.
-
-
- If we wish to form a just estimate of the human character in its
- progress through the various stages of civilization, from ignorance
- and barbarism, to science and refinement, we must search into the
- natural causes that actuate the human mind. The life of man is
- prolonged to a remoter period, but subjected to more casualities, and
- greater vicissitudes of fortune, than most other animals. From these
- causes arises his anxious solicitude about futurity, and an eager
- desire to know his destiny; and thus man becomes the most
- superstitious of all other creatures. In every nation there have been
- multitudes of oracles, augurs, soothsayers, diviners,
- fortune-tellers, witches, sorcerers, &c. whose business has been to
- communicate intelligence respecting futurity, to the rest of mankind.
- If we attend to history, we shall find this theory sufficiently
- confirmed by experience. The most superstitious part of the species
- are soldiers and sailors, who are more exposed to accidents than any
- other class. History is full of the superstitious observances of the
- Roman armies; their regard to omens; the entrails of victims; the
- flight of birds, &c. and there are thousands of brave sailors of the
- present day, who would not sail in the finest ship of the British
- navy, without a horse-shoe were nailed on the main-mast. This passion
- of diving into futurity, naturally produced a number of '_dealers in
- destiny's dark council_,' who soon found it turn out a very lucrative
- profession. From knowing the secrets, it was naturally inferred, that
- they were the favourites of those powers who are supposed to have the
- future happiness of mankind at their disposal. This we apprehend is
- the real source of that power which the priesthood hath ever
- exercised over the human mind. Pleasure and pain are the two great
- principles of human action which has given rise to the good and evil
- principle common to all nations. Those who held communication and
- commerce with the evil principle, are witches, wizzards, sorcerers,
- &c. Although we have various laws and injunctions against witchcraft
- in scripture, yet we are still as much in the dark as ever, as no
- definition is given of it, nor is the particular actions which
- constitute witchcraft enumerated, so as we can say wherein it
- consists. The story of the witch of Endor, is a case that throws more
- light on the subject than any other. But she appears to have acted
- more in the character of one of our second sighted seers, than one of
- our modern witches. According to our notions and ideas of witchcraft
- (as laid down by that _sapient_ monarch James VI.), it is a poor
- ignorant old woman, who, through misery or malice, gives herself to
- the devil, soul and body, and renounces her baptism; for which
- considerations Satan engages to assist her with his power to work a
- number of petty mischiefs on such as she has a spite at; and
- sometimes he advances a little of the '_needful_,' which,
- unfortunately for the poor _old hag_, turns out to be 'naething but
- _sklate stanes_,' and this most unaccountable contract is generally
- sealed by '_carnal copulation_!' And yet, after believing this, we
- call ourselves _rational creatures_, and other animals we term
- _brutes_!! Many people have wondered, how so exalted a personage as
- the devil formerly was in days of yore, should latterly have taken up
- with such low company as our modern witches. He who tempted the very
- fathers of the church in so many various ways; who kept the whole
- priesthood of the Catholic church constantly on the _alert_ with holy
- water, exorcisms, &c. only to keep him in _check_; who often attacked
- Luther and our other reformers, in very ungentlemanly disguises; and
- had even the audacity to insult our covenanted saints, by bellowing
- like a bull, grunting like a pig, or groaning like a dying man. These
- were pranks something worthier of a devil than the tricks played off
- by the witches. Our King James gives the reason, because 'the
- consumation of the world, and our deliverance drawing neere, makes
- Satan so rage the more in his instruments, knowing his kingdom to be
- so neere an end.' James was a little out in his reckoning here, 'the
- consumation of the world' not having taken place as yet, and the
- devil's kingdom turning out to be rather better established than his
- own. So far was it from being near an end, that it was on the
- increase, caused chiefly by the absurd and stupid laws that were
- enacted against it by himself and successors. The devil's kingdom is
- not to be destroyed by acts of parliament and burning of witches;
- these expedients have been tried in vain all over Europe and America,
- without effect; but now, when every person can bewitch with impunity,
- not a witch is to be found; and the devil, though left at large, has
- retreated to the Highlands and islands, where he is seldom seen, even
- by those who have the second sight. The true engines for battering
- the strong holds of Satan, and driving him and his imps into utter
- darkness, are science and philosophy; these are the weapons that have
- compelled him to retrograde movements, after lavishing rivers of holy
- water in vain. Thus the terrific claws of the devil, when seen by the
- distempered eyes of ignorant bigotry, appear to us truly horrible,
- but when viewed through philosophical spectacles, look as harmless as
- the lamb-skin gloves of a fine lady.
-
- These stories, however, convey a strong likeness of the times in
- which they were acted. In our day, it is almost impossible to
- believe, that human beings could give credit to such gross
- absurdities as we have laid before the public in this little work,
- were the evidence not indubitable. Far less, that judges, lawyers,
- and divines, should unite in murdering such numbers of poor ignorant
- helpless creatures, for such mad chimeras, when it is hard to say,
- whether the poor victim, or the insane judges, were under the greater
- delusion. These wonderful tales of the doings of the devil with the
- witches, are taken from their own confessions, and from their
- _delating_ of one another, as it is called. To us it does not appear
- improbable, but that too many of the poor deluded wretches actually
- imagined themselves to be witches. Nor will this appear so very
- surprizing, if we consider the circumstances of the case. At that
- period, any person who doubted of witchcraft, was looked upon as an
- athiest, and worse than mad; the whole country, from one end to the
- other, was continually ringing with tales of witches, devils, and
- fairies, with such other trash. Is it not then most likely, that
- people should dream about them? and is there any thing unnatural in
- supposing, that they should mistake these dreams for realities? as is
- evidently proved in several cases, and then confess, not the actions
- they really did, but the effects of their own disordered imagination.
- Moreover, when confined for this imaginary crime, they were tortured
- in all manner of ways, deprived of sleep, flung into water, and
- _brodit,_ as they called it, being striped naked and searched for the
- devil's mark, in the most indecent manner. These confessions, after
- they were made, were nothing more than the wild ravings of a
- distempered imagination; and such a tissue of inconsistencies, as no
- person of the present day would listen to. An old woman in the Isle
- of Teree (as related by Mr Frazer, page 165), took in her head that
- she was in heaven no less, and had eat and drank there; and so
- firmly had the poor creature imbibed the notion, that it was with
- some difficulty she could be undeceived. A curious account of a
- pretended meeting with the devil, is given by a gentleman of
- Normandy, in the Memoirs of Literature for November 1711.
-
- "The pretended meeting, about which those who believe they have been
- at it, relate so many extravagant things, is only in their
- imagination. I own, that some country people, especially shepherds,
- do now and then rub their skin with some narcotick grease or
- ointments, which cast them into a sound sleep, and fill their
- imagination with a thousand visions. When they are thus asleep, they
- fancy they see every thing that was told them concerning the devil's
- meeting, by their fathers, who were also shepherds, or wizards, if
- you will have me to call them so. Whereupon I will inform you of what
- I have been told by a country friend of mine, who pretended to have a
- mind to go to the devil's meeting with his own shepherd, who had the
- reputation of being a great sorcerer. Having frequently urged that
- shepherd to carry him thither, at last he obtained his desire. He
- went to him in the night at the appointed time. The shepherd
- immediately gave him something to grease himself withal. He took the
- grease as if he had a mind to rub his skin with it; but he desired
- that the shepherd's son, who was to go to the devil's meeting with
- his father, should anoint himself first. Which being done, that
- gentleman told the shepherd, that he should be glad to know what
- would become of the young man. Not long after, the young man fell
- fast asleep, and when he awaked, though he had not stirred from that
- place, he gave an account of every thing he thought he had seen at
- the devil's meeting; and even named several persons whom he pretended
- to have seen there. My friend perceived then, that what is commonly
- said of the devil's meeting was a mere fancy. I have told you this
- story, that you may impart it to your brethren, who being prepossest
- with popular errors about witchcraft, do frequently hang and burn
- poor wretches, whose crime does only consist in the weakness of their
- imagination."
-
- A thousand more instances might be produced to show, that the devil
- hath no meetings any where, but in the perturbed brain of ignorant
- credulity. The history of superstition is however of great use; we
- there see its dangerous influence upon the peace and happiness of
- society--its degrading effects upon the character and manners of
- nations, in morality, literature, jurisprudence, and science.
- Theology seems to have been particularly infected with this
- pestiferous contagion. The clergy were generally in the front rank of
- witch-hunters, and through their influence, the most of them were put
- to death. In places where the minister was inflamed with a _holy
- zeal_ against the devil and his emissaries, such as Pittenweem and
- Torryburn, the parish became a perfect hot-bed for the rearing of
- witches; and so plentiful a crop did it produce, that it appeared
- nothing else could thrive. But in places where the minister had some
- portion of humanity, and a little common sense, the devil very
- rarely set foot on his territories, and witchcraft was not to be
- found. Since the repeal of the statutes against witchcraft, several
- prosecutions have been instituted against witches, who were convicted
- and punished; but it was bewitching silly ignorant people out of
- their money, goods, and common sense, by pretending a knowledge of
- futurity--a power of relieving maladies in man or beast--or procuring
- the affection of some favourite swain to a love-sick maiden. The
- dupes of these impostors do not altogether escape, as they are made
- the laughing stock of their neighbours; and by these means even this
- trade is now nearly annihilated. Happily for our times, the refulgent
- brightness of philosophy and science, hath dispelled these dark
- clouds of benighted superstition, and left us in possession only of
- our natural powers and faculties, which are quite enough.
-
-  EDITOR.
-
-
-
-
-  News from Scotland:
-
-  DECLARING THE
-  DAMNABLE LIFE OF DOCTOR FIAN,
-  A
-  _NOTABLE SORCERER_,
-  WHO WAS
-  _Burned at Edenbrough in Januarie last, 1591_.
-
-  WHICH DOCTOR WAS REGISTER TO THE DEVILL THAT
-  SUNDRIE TIMES PREACHED AT NORTH BARRICKE
-  KIRKE TO A NUMBER OF NOTORIOUS WITCHES.
-  WITH THE
-  TRUE EXAMINATIONS OF THE SAID DOCTOR
-  AND WITCHES, AS THEY UTTERED THEM
-  IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SCOTTISH KING.
-
-  DISCOVERING
-
-  HOW THEY PRETENDED TO BEWITCH AND DROWNE
-  HIS MAJESTIE IN THE SEA COMMING FROM DENMARKE;
-  WITH SUCH OTHER WONDERFULL
-  MATTERS AS THE LIKE HATH NOT BEIN
-  HEARD AT ANIE TIME.
-
-  _Published according to the Scottish Copie._
-
-  PRINTED FOR WILLIAM WRIGHT.
-
-  EDINBURGH:
-  RE-PRINTED FOR D. WEBSTER, 35, WEST COLLEGE STREET.
-
-  1820.
-
-
-
-
- TO THE READER.
-
-
- The manifold untruths which are spred abroad concerning the
- detestable actions and apprehension of those witches whereof this
- historie following truely entreateth, hath caused me to publish the
- same in print, and the rather for that sundrie written coppies are
- lately dispersed thereof, containing that the said witches were first
- discovered by meanes of a poore pedlar travelling to the towne of
- Trenent; and that by a wonderfull manner hee was in a moment conveyed
- at midnight from Scotland to Burdeux in France (being places of no
- small distance), into a merchant's sellar there; and after being sent
- from Burdeux into Scotland by certaine Scottish merchants to the
- King's Majestie, that he discovered those witches, and was the cause
- of their apprehension; with a number of matters miraculous and
- incredible: all which in truth are most false. Nevertheless, to
- satisfie a number of honest mindes, who are desirous to be informed
- of the veritie and truth of their confessions, which for certaintie
- is more stranger than the common reporte runneth, and yet with more
- truth. I have undertaken to publish this short Treatise which
- declareth the true discourse of all that happened, and as well what
- was pretended by those wicked and detestable witches against the
- King's Majestie; as also by what means they wrought the same.
-
- All which examinations (gentle reader) I have here truly published as
- they were taken and uttered in the presence of the King's Majestie,
- praying thee to accept of it for veritie, the same being so true as
- cannot be reproved.
-
-
-
-
-  A
-
-  TRUE DISCOURSE
-
-  OF THE
-
-  APPREHENSION OF SUNDRIE WITCHES LATELY TAKEN
-    IN SCOTLAND; WHEREOF SOME ARE EXECUTED,
-    AND SOME ARE YET IMPRISONED.--WITH A PARTICULAR
-    RECITALL OF THEIR EXAMINATIONS,
-    TAKEN IN THE PRESENCE OF THE KING'S MAJESTIE.
-
-
- God, by his omnipotent power, hath at all times, and daily dooth take
- such care, and is so vigilant for the weale and preservation of his
- owne, that thereby he disappointeth the wicked practices and evil
- intents of all such as by any means whatsoever seeke indirectly to
- conspire any thing contrary to his holy will: Yea, and by the same
- power he hath lately overthrowne and hindered the intentions and
- wicked dealings of a great number of ungodly creatures, no better
- than devils; who suffering themselves to be allured and enticed by
- the Devil whom they served, and unto whom they were privately sworne,
- entered into the detestable art of witchcraft, which they studied and
- practised so long time, that in the ende they had seduced by their
- sorcerie a number of others to be as bad as themselves, dwelling in
- the bounds of Lowthen, which is a principall shire or part of
- Scotland, where the Kinges Majestie useth to make his cheifest
- residence or abode; and to the ende that their detestable wickednesse
- which they prively had pretended against the Kinges Majestie, the
- commonweale of that countrie, with the nobilitie and subjects of the
- same, should come to light. God of his unspeakable goodness did
- reveale and laie it open in verie strange sorte, thereby to make
- known to the world that their actions were contrarie to the lawe of
- God and the naturall affection which we ought generally to beare one
- to another. The manner of the revealing whereof was as followeth.
-
- Within the towne of Trenent, in the kingdome of Scotland, there
- dwelleth one David Seaton, who being deputie bailiffe in the said
- towne, had a maid called Geillies Duncane, who used secretlie to
- absent and lie forth of her maisters house every other night. This
- Geillies Duncane tooke in hand to helpe all such as were troubled or
- grieved with anie kinde of sickness or infirmitie, and in short space
- did performe many matters most miraculous; which things, forasmuche
- as she began to do them upon a sodaine, having never done the like
- before, made her maister and others to be in great admiration, and
- wondered thereat: by meanes whereof the saide David Seaton had his
- maide in great suspition that shee did not those things by naturall
- and lawfull waies, but rather supposed it to be done by some
- extraordinarie and unlawfull meanes.
-
- Whereupon her maister began to grow verie inquisitive, and examined
- her which way and by what meanes shee was able to performe matters of
- so great importance; whereat shee gave him no aunswere: nevertheless,
- her maister to the intent that hee might the better trie and finde
- out the truth of the same, did with the help of others torment her
- with the torture of the pilliwinkes upon her fingers, which is a
- griveous torture, and binding or wrinching her head with a cord or
- roape, which is a most cruel torment also, yet would shee not confess
- anie thing; whereupon they suspecting that shee had beene marked by
- the devill (as commonly witches are,) made diligent search about her,
- and found the enemies mark to be in her fore crag, or fore part of
- her throate; which being found, shee confessed that all her doings
- was done by the wicked allurements and entisements of the devil, and
- that shee did them by witchcraft.
-
- After this her confession, shee was committed to prison, where shee
- continued a season, where immediately shee accused these persons
- following to bee notorious witches, and caused them forthwith to be
- apprehended, one after another, viz. Agnes Sampson, the eldest witche
- of them all, dwelling in Haddington; Agnes Tompson of Edenbrough;
- Doctor Fian, alias John Cuningham, master of the schoole at Saltpans
- in Lowthian, of whose life and strange acts you shall heare more
- largely in the end of this discourse.
-
- These were by the saide Geillies Duncane accused, as also George
- Motts' wife, dwelling in Lowthian; Robert Grierson, skipper; and
- Jannet Blandilands; with the potters wife of Seaton; the smith at the
- Brigge Hallies, with innumerable others in those parts, and dwelling
- in those bounds aforesaid, of whom some are alreadie executed, the
- rest remaine in prison to receive the doome of judgement at the
- Kinges Majesties will and pleasure.
-
- The saide Geillies Duncane also caused Ewphame Mecalrean to bee
- apprehended, who conspired and performed the death of her godfather,
- and who used her art upon a gentleman, being one of the Lordes and
- Justices of the Session, for bearing good-will to her daughter. Shee
- also caused to be apprehended one Barbara Naper, for bewitching to
- death Archbalde lait Earle of Angus, who languished to death by
- witchcraft, and yet the same was not suspected; but that he died of
- so strange a disease as the phisition knewe not how to cure or
- remedie the same. But of all other the said witches, these two last
- before recited, were reputed for as civil honest women as anie that
- dwelled within the cittie of Edenbrough, before they were
- apprehended. Many other besides were taken dwelling in Lieth, who are
- detayned in prison until his Majesties further will and pleasure be
- knowne; of whose wicked dooings you shall particularly heare, which
- was as followeth.
-
- This aforesaide Agnes Sampson, which was the elder witche, was taken
- and brought to Haliriud House before the Kinges Majestie, and sundrie
- other of the nobilitie of Scotland, where shee was straytly examined;
- but all the persuasions which the Kinges Majestie used to her, with
- the rest of his councell, might not provoke or induce her to confess
- any thing, but stoode stiffley in the deniall of all that was layde
- to her charge; whereupon they caused her to be conveyed away unto
- prison, there to receive such torture as hath been lately provided
- for witches in that countrie; and for as muche as by due examination
- of witchcraft and witches in Scotland, it hath lately beene founde
- that the devill dooth generally marke them with a privie marke, by
- reason the witches have confessed themselves, that the devill doth
- licke them with his tong in some privie part of their bodie, before
- he dooth receive them to bee his servants, which marke commonlie is
- given them under the haire in some part of their bodie, whereby it
- may not easily be found out or seene, although they bee searched; and
- generally so long as the marke is not seene to those which search
- them, so long the parties which have the marke will never confess
- anie thing. Therefore by special commandment this Agnes Sampson had
- all her haire shaven off, n each part of her bodie, and her head
- thrawane with a rope according to the custome of that countrie, being
- a payne most grieveous, which they continued almost an hower, during
- which time shee would not confess anie thing untill the divel's marke
- was founde upon her privities, then shee immediately confessed
- whatsoever was demaunded of her, and justifiying those persons
- aforesaide to be notorious witches.
-
- _Item_, the said Agnes Sampson was after brought againe before the
- Kinges Majestie and his councell, and being examined of the meeting
- and detestable dealings of those witches, shee confessed, that upon
- the night of Allhallow Even last, shee was accompanied as well with
- the persons aforesaide, as also with a great many other witches, to
- the number of two hundreth, and that all they together went to sea,
- each one in a riddle or cive, and went into the same very
- substantially, with flaggons of wine, making merrie and drinking by
- the way in the same riddles or cives, to the Kirke of North Barrick
- in Lowthian, and that after they had landed, tooke hands on the lande
- and daunced this reill or short daunce, singing all with one voice,
-
-    _Commer goe ye before, commer goe ye,
-    Gif ye will not goe before, commer let me._
-
- At which time shee confessed, that this Geillies Duncane did goe
- before them playing this reill or daunce, uppon a small trumpe,
- called a Jewes trumpe, untill they entred into the Kirke of North
- Barricke.
-
- These confessions made the Kinge in a wonderfull admiration, and sent
- for the saide Geillie Duncane, who upon the like trumpe did play the
- saide daunce before the Kinges Majestie, who in respect of the
- strangeness of these matters, tooke great delight to be present at
- their examinations.
-
- _Item_, the said Agnes Sampson confessed, that the devill, being then
- at North Barricke Kirke attending their coming, in the habit or
- likeness of a man, and seeing that they tarried over long, hee at
- their coming enjoined them all to a pennance, which was, that they
- should kiss his buttockes, in sign of duty to him; which being put
- over the pulpit bare, every one did as he had enjoined them: and
- having made his ungodly exhortations, wherein he did greatly inveigh
- against the Kinge of Scotland, he received their oathes for their
- good and true service towards him, and departed; which done, they
- returned to sea, and so home again.
-
- At which time the witches demaunded of the devill why he did beare
- such hatred to the Kinge? Who answered, by reason the Kinge is the
- greatest enemie hee hath in the world.[1] All which their confessions
- and depositions are still extant upon record.
-
-   [1] James, who boasted that he was born in 'the purest church on
-   earth,' and whose courtiers called him 'the Childe of God,' was no
-   doubt highly gratified at this declaration of the devil's hatred,
-   'because he was his greatest enemie on earth.' This was such a piece
-   of flattery as suited the meridian of the monarch's intellects. ED.
-
- _Item_, the saide Agnes Sampson confessed before the Kinges Majestie
- sundrie things, which were so miraculous and strange, as that his
- Majestie saide they were all extreme liars; whereat shee answered,
- shee would not wish his Majestie to suppose her words to be false,
- but rather to believe them, in that shee would discover such matters
- unto him as his Majestie should not anie way doubt of.
-
- And thereupon taking his Majestie a little aside, shee declared unto
- him the verie wordes which passed between the Kinges Majestie and his
- Queene at Upslo in Norway the first night of marriage, with the
- answere ech to other; whereat the Kinges Majestie wondered greatly,
- and swore by the living God, that he believed all the devills in hell
- could not have discovered the same, acknowledging her words to be
- most true, and therefore gave the more credit to the rest that is
- before declared.
-
- Touching this Agnes Sampson, shee is the onlie woman who by the
- devill's perswasion should have intended and put in execution the
- Kinges Majesties death in this manner.
-
- Shee confessed that shee tooke a blacke toade, and did hang the same
- up by the heeles three daies, and collected and gathered the venome
- it dropped and fell from it in ane oister shell, and kept the same
- venome close covered, untill shee should obtaine anie part or peece
- of foule linnen cloth that had appertained to the Kinges Majestie, as
- shirt, handkercher, napkin, or anie other thing, which shee practised
- to obtaine by meanes of one John Kers, who being attendant in his
- Majesties chamber, desired him for old acquaintance between them, to
- help her to one or a peece of such a cloth as is aforesaide, which
- thing the saide John Kers denyed to helpe her to, saying he coulde
- not helpe her unto it.
-
- And the saide Agnes Sampson by her depositions since her
- apprehension, saith, that if shee had obtayned anie one peece of
- linnen cloth which the Kinge had worne and fowlede, shee had
- bewitched him to death, and put him to such extraordinarie paines, as
- if he had been lying upon sharp thornes and endes of needles.
-
- Moreover shee confessed, that at the time when his Majestie was in
- Denmarke, shee being accompanied by the parties before speciallie
- named, tooke a cat and christened it, and afterwarde bounde to each
- part of that cat, the cheefest part of a dead man, and several joynts
- of his bodie; and that in the night following, the saide cat was
- convayed into the middest of the sea by all the witches, sayling in
- their riddles or cives, as is aforesaid, and so left the saide cat
- right before the towne of Lieth in Scotland. This doone, there did
- arise such a tempest in the sea, as a greater hath not beene seene;
- which tempest was the cause of the perishing of a boat or vessel
- coming over from the towne of Brunt Islande to the towne of Lieth,
- wherein was sundrie jewelles and rich giftes, which should have been
- presented to the now Queene of Scotland at her Majesties coming to
- Lieth.
-
- Againe it is confessed, that the said christened cat was the cause
- that the Kinges Majesties shippe at his coming forth of Denmarke had
- a contrarie winde to the rest of his shippes then being in his
- companie, which thing was most strange and true as the Kinges
- Majestie acknowlegeth, for when the rest of the shippes had a faire
- and good winde, then was the winde contrarie and altogether against
- his Majestie; and further, the sayde witche declared, that his
- Majestie had never come safely from the sea, if his faith had not
- prevayled above their intentions.[2]
-
-   [2] It no doubt required the penetration of a witch to discover the
-   strength of James's faith, which prevailed against their
-   incantations, and saved him from perishing at sea. Those who
-   conducted the examination of the witches, no doubt knew well enough
-   how to extract this little piece of delicate flattery from the hags,
-   so gratifying to the palate of their master. ED.
-
- Moreover, the saide witches being demaunded how the divell would use
- them when he was in their companie, they confessed, that when the
- divel did recyeve theme for his serventes, and that they had vowed
- themselves unto him, then he woulde carnally use them, albeit to
- their little pleasure, in respect to his colde nature,[3] and would
- doe the like at sundrie other times.
-
-   [3] In the records of the kirk-session of Torryburn, in Fifeshire, so
-   late as 1703, is the confession of one Lillias Eddie, a supposed
-   witch, who immediately after she had been initiated in the infernal
-   mysteries, was taken behind a stook, it (being harvest time), and
-   carressed by the devil. She likewise complains that his embraces were
-   cold and unsatisfactory. The gross indelicacy of such stories are
-   only to be equalled by their absurdity. What a picture does it
-   present to readers of the present day, of the manners of that age,
-   when such topics could be gravely discussed by the King in
-   councill!!
-
- As touching the aforesaide Doctor Fian, alias John Cunningham, the
- examination of his actes since his apprehension, declareth the great
- subteltie of the divell, and therefore maketh thinges to appeare the
- more miraculous; for being apprehended by the accusation of the saide
- Geillies Duncane aforesaide, who confessed he was their register, and
- that there was not one man suffered to come to the divel's readinges
- but onlie hee, the saide Doctor was taken and imprisoned, and used
- with the accustomed paine provided for those offences, inflicted upon
- the rest as is aforesaide.
-
- _First_, by thrawing of his head with a rope, whereat he would
- confess nothing.
-
- _Secondly_, hee was persuaded by faire meanes to confesse his
- follies, but that would prevail as little.
-
- _Lastly_, hee was put to the most severe and cruell paine in the
- worlde, called the bootes, who, after he had received three strokes,
- being inquired if hee would confess his damnable actes and wicked
- life, his toong would not serve him to speake, in respect whereof the
- rest of the witches willed to searche his toong, under which was
- found two pinnes thurst up into the heade; whereupon the witches did
- say, now is the charm stinted, and shewed, that those charmed pinnes
- were the cause he could not confesse any thing: then was he
- immediately released of the bootes, brought before the King, his
- confession was taken, and his own hand willingly set thereunto, which
- contained as followeth:
-
- _First_, that at the generall meetinges of those witches, he was
- always present,--that he was clarke to all those that were in
- subjection to the divel's service, bearing the name of witches,--that
- always hee did take their oathes for their true service to the divel,
- and that he wrote for them such matters as the divel still pleased to
- command him.
-
- _Item_, hee confessed that by his witchcraft hee did bewitch a
- gentleman dwelling neare to the Saltpans, where the said Doctor kept
- schoole, only for being enamoured of a gentlewoman whome he loved
- himself; by meanes of which his sorcery, witchcraft, and divelish
- practices, hee caused the said gentleman that once in xxiiii howers
- he fell into a lunacy and madness, and so continued one whole hower
- together; and for the veritie of the same, he caused the gentleman
- to be brought before the Kinges Majestie, which was upon the xxiiii
- day of December last, and being in his Majesties chamber, suddenly
- hee gave a great scritch, and fell into madness, sometime bending
- himself, and sometime capering so directly up, that his heade did
- touch the seeling of the chamber, to the great admiration of his
- Majestie and others then present; so that all the gentlemen in the
- chamber were not able to hold him, untill they called in more helpe,
- who together bound him hand and foot; and suffering the said
- gentleman to lie still until his furie were past, hee within an hower
- came againe to himselfe, when being demaunded by the Kinges Majestie
- what he saw or did all that while, answered, that he had been in a
- sounde sleepe.
-
- _Item_, the saide Doctor did also confesse, that hee had used meanes
- sundrie times to obtaine his purpose and wicked intent of the same
- gentlewoman, and seeing himselfe disappointed of his intention, hee
- determined by all wayes hee might to obtaine the same, trusting by
- conjuring, witchraft, and sorcerie, to obtaine it in this manner.
-
- It happened this gentlewoman being unmarried, had a brother who went
- to schoole with the saide Doctor, and calling the saide scholler to
- him, demaunded if hee did lie with his sister, who answered he did,
- by meanes whereof he thought to obtain his purpose, and therefore
- secretly promised to teach him without stripes, so he woulde obtaine
- for him three hairs of his sister's privitees, at such time as hee
- should spie best occasion for it; which the youth promised
- faithfully to performe, and vowed speedily to put it in practice,
- taking a piece of conjured paper of his maister to lap them in when
- hee had gotten them; and thereupon the boy practised nightly to
- obtaine his maister's purpose, especially when his sister was asleep.
-
- But God, who knoweth the secret of all harts, and revealeth all
- wicked and ungodly practices, would not suffer the intents of this
- divelish Doctor to come to that purpose which hee supposed it woulde,
- and therefore to declaire that hee was heavily offended with his
- wicked intent, did so work by the gentlewoman's own meanes, that in
- the ende the same was discovered and brought to light; for shee being
- one night asleep, and her brother in bed with her, sodainly cried out
- to her mother, declaring that her brother woulde not suffer her to
- sleepe; whereupon, her mother having a quicke capacitie, did
- vehemently suspect _Doctor Fian's_ intention, by reason shee was a
- witch of herself, and therefore presently arose, and was very
- inquisitive of the boy to understand his intent, and the better to
- know the same, did beat him with sundrie stripes, whereby hee
- discovered the truth unto her.
-
- The mother, therefore, being well practised in witchcraft, did thinke
- it most convenient to meete with the Doctor in his owne arte, and
- thereupon took the paper from the boy wherein hee would have put the
- same haires, and went to a yong heyfer which never had borne calf,
- nor gone unto the bull, and with a paire of sheeres clipped off three
- haires from the udder of the cow, and wrapt them in the same paper,
- which shee again delivered to the boy, then willing him to give the
- same to his saide maister, which hee immediately did.
-
- The schoole maister, so soone as he did recieve them, thinking them
- indeede to be the maids haires, went straight and wrought his arte
- upon them: But the Doctor had no sooner done his intent to them, but
- presently the hayfer cow, whose haires they were indeede, came unto
- the door of the church wherein the schoole maister was, into the
- which the hayfer went, and made towards the schoole maister, leaping
- and dancing upon him, and following him forth of the church, and to
- what place soever he went, to the great admiration of all the
- townsmen of Saltpans, and many others who did behold the same.
-
- The report whereof made all men imagine that hee did worke it by the
- divel, without whome it coulde never have been so sufficiently
- effected; and thereupon the name of the saide Doctor Fian (who was
- but a young man), began to grow common among the people of Scotland,
- that he was secretly nominated for a notable conjurer.
-
- All which, although in the beginning he denied, and woulde not
- confesse, yet having felt the paine of the bootes,[4] (and the charme
- stinted as aforesaide) hee confessed all the aforesaide to be most
- true, without producing any witnesses to justifie the same; and
- thereupon before the Kings Majestie hee subscribed the sayd
- confessione with his owne hande, which for truth remaineth upon
- record in Scotland.
-
-   [4] We have no doubt that the bootes were a most efficacious engine
-   to procure a confession, and the Doctor would most likely have
-   confessed that he had the moon in his pocket by the same means. ED.
-
- After that the depositions and examinations of the sayd Doctor Fian,
- alias Cuningham, was taken, as alreddie is declared, with his own
- hand willingly set thereunto, hee was by the maister of the prison
- commited to ward, and appointed to a chamber by himselfe, where
- foresaking his wicked wayes, acknowledging his most ungodly life,
- shewing that hee had too much followed the allurements and
- enticements of Sathan, and fondly practised his conclusions by
- conjuring, witchcraft, inchantment, sorcerie, and such like, he
- renounced the divel and all his wicked workes, vowed to lead the lyfe
- of a Christian, and seemed newly converted towards God.
-
- The morrow after, upon conference had with him, hee granted that the
- divel had appeared unto him in the night before, appareled all in
- blacke, with a white wande in his hande; and that the divel demanded
- of him if hee woulde continue his faithfull service, according to his
- first oath and promise made to that effect. Whome (as hee then
- saide), hee utterly renounced to his face, and said unto him in this
- manner, avoide, Satan, avoide, for I have listened too much unto
- thee, and by the same thou hast undone me, in respect whereof I
- utterly forsake thee: To whome the divel answered, that once ere thou
- die thou shalt bee mine; and with that (as hee sayd), the divel
- brake the white wande, and immediately vanished forth of his sight.
-
- Thus all the daie this Doctor Fian continued verie solitarie, and
- seemed to have a care of his owne soule, and would call upon God,
- shewing himselfe penitent for his wicked lyfe; nevertheless, the same
- night hee found such meanes that he stole the key of the prison doore
- and chamber in which he was, which in the night he opened and fled
- awaie to the Saltpans, where he was alwayes resident, and first
- apprehended. Of whose sodaine departure when the Kings Majestie had
- intelligence, hee presently caused dilligent inquirie to be made for
- his apprehension; and for the better effecting thereof, hee sent
- public proclamations into all parts of his land to the same effect.
- By meanes of whose hot and harde pursuite he was again taken and
- brought to prison; and then being called before the Kings Highness,
- he was reexamined as well touching his departure, as also touching
- all that had before happened.
-
- But this Doctor, notwithstanding that his owne confession appeareth
- remaining in recorde under his owne hande writting, and the same
- thereunto fixed in the presence of the Kings Majestie and sundrie of
- his councill, yet did he utterly denie the same.
-
- Thereupon the Kings Majestie percieving his stubborne willfullness,
- concieved and imagined that in the time of his absence hee had
- entered into newe conference and league with the _divell_ his
- maister; and that hee had beene again newely marked, for the which
- he was narrowly searched, but it coulde not in anie waie be founde;
- yet for more tryal of him to make him confesse, he was commanded to
- have a most strange torment, which was done in this manner following.
-
- His nails upon all his fingers were riven and pulled off with an
- instrument called in Scottich a Turkas, which in England we call a
- payre of pincers, and under everie nayle there was thrust in thro
- needels over even up to the heads. At all which torments
- notwithstanding the Doctor never shronke anie whit, neither would he
- then confesse it the sooner for all the tortures inflicted upon him.
-
- Then was hee with all convenient speede, by commandment, convaied
- againe to the torment of the bootes, wherein hee continued a long
- time, and did abide so many blows in them, that his legges were
- crusht and beaten together as small as might bee, and the bones and
- flesh so bruised, that the blood and marrow spouted forth in great
- abundance, whereby they were made unserviceable for ever. And
- notwithstanding all these grievous paines and cruel torments hee
- woulde not confesse anie thing, so deeply had the _divel_ entered
- into his hart, that hee utterly denied that which he before avouched,
- and would saie nothing thereunto but this, that what hee had done and
- sayde before, was only done and sayde for fear of paynes which he had
- endured.
-
- Upon great consideration, therefore, taken by the Kings Majestie and
- his councell, as well for the due execution of justice upon such
- detestable malefactors, as also for examples sake, to remayne a
- terrour to all others hereafter that shall attempt to deale in the
- lyke wicked and ungodlye actions, as witchcraft, sorcerie,
- cunjuration, and such lyke, the saide Doctor Fian was soon after
- arraigned, condemned, and adjudged by the law to die, and then to be
- burned according to the lawe of that lande provided in that behalfe.
- Whereupon he was put into a carte, and being first stranguled, hee
- was immediately put into a great fire, being readie provided for that
- purpose, and there burned in the Castile Hill of Edenbrough, on a
- Saterdaie in the ende of Januarie last past, 1591.
-
- The rest of the witches which are not yet executed, remayne in prison
- till farther triall and knowledge of his Majesties pleasure.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
- This strange discourse before recited, may perhaps give some occasion
- of doubt to such as shall happen to reade the same, and thereby
- conjecture that the Kings Majestie would hazzarde himselfe in the
- presence of such notorious witches, least thereby might have ensued
- great danger to his person and the general state of the land, which
- thing in truth might wel have beene feared. But to answer generally
- to such let this suffice; that first it is well known that the King
- is the child and servant of God, and they but the servants to the
- devil; he is the Lord's anointed, and they but vesseles of God's
- wrath; hee is a true Christian, and trusteth in God; they worse than
- infidels, for they only trust in the divel, who daily serve them,
- till hee have brought them to utter destruction. But hereby it
- seemeth that his Highness carried a magnanimous and undaunted mind,
- not feared with their inchantments, but resolute in this, that so
- long as God is with him hee feareth not who is against him; and
- trulie, the whole scope of this Treatise dooth so plainlie laie open
- the wonderfull Providence of the Almightie, that if hee had not been
- defended by his omnipotence and power, his Highness had never
- returned alive in his voiage from Denmarke, so there is no doubt but
- God woulde as well defend him on the land as on the sea, where they
- pretended their damnable practice.
-
- FINIS.
-
-
-
-
- ANOTHER
-
- ACCOUNT
-
- OF THE
-
- FOREGOING TRANSACTIONS,
-
- _Extracted from_ SIR JAMES MELVIL'S _Memoirs_, page 388, octavo
- edition.
-
-
- About this time many witches were taken in Lothian, who deposed
- concerning some design of the Earl of Bothwell's against his
- Majesty's person. Which coming to the said Earl's ears, he entered in
- ward within the Castle of Edinburgh, desiring to be tried, alledging
- that the devil, who was a liar from the beginning, ought not to be
- credited, nor yet the witches, his sworn servants. Especially a
- renowned midwife called Amy Simson affirmed, that she, in company
- with nine other witches, being convened in the night beside
- Prestonpans, the devil their master being present, standing in the
- midst of them, a body of wax, shapen and made by the said Amy Simson,
- wrapped within a linnen cloth, was first delivered to the devil; who,
- after he had pronounced his verdict, delivered the said picture to
- Amy Simson, and she to her next neighbour, and so every one round
- about, saying, _This is King_ James VI. _ordered to be consumed at
- the instance of a nobleman_, Francis Earl Bothwell. Afterward again
- at their meeting by night in the kirk of North Berwick, where the
- devil, clad in a black gown, with a black hat upon his head, preached
- unto a great number of them out of the pulpit, having light candles
- round about him.
-
- The effect of his language was to know what hurt they had done; how
- many they had gained to their opinion since the last meeting; what
- success the melting of the picture had, and such other vain things.
- And because an old silly poor ploughman, called Gray Meilt, chanced
- to say, that nothing ailed the King yet, God be thanked, the devil
- gave him a great blow. Thus divers among them entred in reasoning,
- marvelling that all their devilry could do no harm to the King, as it
- had done to divers others. The devil answered, _il est un homme de
- Dieu_, certainly he is a man of God, and does no wrong wittingly, but
- he is inclined to all Godliness, justice, and vertue, therefore God
- hath preserved him in the midst of many dangers.[5] Now, after that
- the devil had ended his admonitions, he came down out of the pulpit,
- and caused all the company come kiss his arse; which they said was
- cold like ice, his body hard like iron, as they thought who handled
- him, his face was terrible, his nose like the beak of an eagle, great
- burning eyes, his hands and his legs were hoary, with claws upon his
- hands and feet like the griffin;--he spoke with a low voice.
-
-   [5] It was certainly very kind in the devil thus to vouch for James's
-   being 'a man of God, and one who did no wrong wittingly, but was
-   inclined to all Godliness, Justice, and Virtue.' This is a most
-   excellent character. But posterity are inclined to be of Earl
-   Bothwell's opinion, that the devil is a liar, and ought not to be
-   credited. ED.
-
- The tricks and tragedies he played then among so many men and women
- in this country, will hardly get credit by posterity; the history
- whereof, with their whole depositions, was written by Mr James
- Carmichael, minister of Haddington.[6] Among other things, some of
- them did shew, that there was a westland man, called Richard Graham,
- who had a familiar spirit, the which Richard they said could both do
- and tell many things, chiefly against the Earl of Bothwell. Whereupon
- the said Richard Graham was apprehended and brought to Edinburgh;
- and, being examined before his Majesty, I being present, he granted
- that he had a familiar spirit which shewed him sundrie things, but he
- denied that he was a witch, or had any frequentation with them. But
- when it was answered again, how that Amy Simson had declared, that he
- caused the Earl of Bothwell address him to her, he granted that to be
- true, and that the Earl of Bothwell had knowledge of him by Effe
- Machalloun and Barbary Napier, Edinburgh women. Whereupon he was sent
- for by the Earl Bothwell, who required his help to cause the Kings
- Majesty his master to like well of him. And to that effect he gave
- the said Earl some drug or herb, willing him at some convenient time
- to touch therewith his Majesty's face. Which being done by the said
- Earl ineffectually, he dealt again with the said Richard to get his
- Majesty wrecked, as Richard alledged; who said, he could not do such
- things himself, but that a notable midwife, who was a witch, called
- Amy Simson, could bring any such purpose to pass. Thus far the said
- Richard Graham affirmed divers times before the council;
- nevertheless, he was burnt with the said Simson, and many other
- witches. This Richard alledged, that it was certain what is reported
- of the fairies, and that spirits may take a form, and be seen, though
- not felt.
-
-   [6] This probably is the author of the foregoing 'True Discourse.'
-   ED.
-
-
-
-
- ADVERTISEMENT.
-
-
- From the foregoing '_True Discourse_,' it will be seen what an active
- part James took in the examination of Doctor Fian and the other
- witches. From this source he most probably collected those materials
- which he has wrought up into a _Daemonologie_, a work which no doubt
- contributed to obtain for him from the English bishops, the
- appelation of '_the British Solomon_.' In this work he appears to be
- more intimately acquainted with the internal polity of the _Devil's_
- kingdom, than he was with his own. The kingdom of _Sathan_ was then
- in its zenith of power; but, like other states and kingdoms, it has
- sunk into great weakness and debility. The '_horn'd diel_,' who could
- then make the greatest personages shake in their shoes, cannot now
- frighten a child; and the '_roaring lion_,' who used to be going
- about seeking whom he might devour, must surely be a better
- housekeeper than formerly, as he is never seen abroad, even by an old
- woman.
-
- From the _Daemonologie_ we have made copious extracts, that our
- readers may have an idea of the days of '_langsyne_,' when there was
- plenty of _diels_, _witches_, _fairies_, _and water kelpies_, all
- over the country. Those, therefore, who are anxious to know how
- affairs are managed in the '_kingdom of darkness_,' and can rely on
- the word of a king for the truth of it, will be here amply gratified.
-
- So, courteous reader, I bid thee farewell,
-
-  The EDITOR.
-
-
-
-
- EXTRACTS
-
- FROM
-
- KING JAMES'S DAEMONOLOGIE,
-
- CONCERNING
-
- _SORCERY AND WITCHCRAFT_.
-
-
- _The First Entresse and Prentiship of them that give themselves to
- Witchcraft._
-
- The persons that give themselves to witchcraft, are of two sorts,
- rich and of better accompt, poore and of baser degree. These two
- degrees answere to the passions in them, which the divell uses as
- meanes to entice them to his service; for such of them as are in
- great miserie and povertie, he allures to follow him, by promising
- unto them great riches and worldly commoditie. Such as though rich,
- yet burne in a desperate desire of revenge, he allures them by
- promises to get their turne satisfied to their hearts contentment. It
- is to be noted now, that that olde and craftie enemie of ours
- assailes none, though touched with any of these two extremities,
- except he first finde an entresse ready for him, either by the great
- ignorance of the person he deales with, joyned with an evill life, or
- else by their carelessnesse and contempt of God. And finding them in
- an utter despaire, he prepares the way by feeding them craftely in
- their humour, and filling them further and further with despaire,
- while hee finde the time proper to discover himself unto them. At
- which time, either upon their walking solitarie in the fieldes, or
- else lying pausing in their bed, but alwaies without the company of
- any other, hee, either by a voyce, or in likenesse of a man, inquires
- of them what troubles them, and promiseth them a suddaine and
- certaine way of remedie, upon condition, on the other part, that they
- follow his advise, and doe such things as he will require of them.
- Their mindes being prepared beforehand, they easily agree unto that
- demand of his, and syne sets another tryist where they may meete
- againe. At which time, before hee proceede any further with them, hee
- first perswades them to addict themselves to his service, which being
- easily obtained, he then discovers what he is unto them, makes them
- to renounce their God and baptisme directly, and gives them his marke
- upon some secret place of their bodie, which remaines soare unhealed
- while his next meeting with them, and thereafter ever insensible,
- howsoever it be nipped or pricked by any, as is daily prooved, to
- give them a proofe thereby, that as in that doing he could hurt and
- heale them, so all their ill and well doing thereafter must depend
- upon him; and, besides that, the intolerable dolour that they feele
- in that place where he hath marked them, serves to waken them, and
- not to let them rest, while their next meeting againe; fearing lest
- otherwaies they might either forget him, being as new prentises, and
- not well enough founded yet in that fiendly follie; or else
- remembering of that horrible promise they made him at their last
- meeting, they might skunner at the same, and presse to call it backe.
- At their third meetinge, hee makes a shew to be carefull to performe
- his promises, either by teaching them waies how to get themselves
- revenged, if they be of that sort, or else by teaching them lessons
- how by most vile and unlawfull meanes they may obtaine gaine and
- worldly commoditie, if they be of the other sort.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
- _The Witches actions divided into two parts--The actions proper to
-   their own persons--The forme of their Conventions and adoring of
-   their Master._
-
- Their actions may be divided into two parts; the actions of their
- owne persons, and the actions proceeding from them towards any other;
- and this division being well understood, will easily resolve what is
- possible to them to doe. For although all that they confesse is no
- lie upon their part, yet doubtlesly, in my opinion, a part of it is
- not indeede according as they take it to be, for the divell illudes
- the senses of these schollers of his in many things.
-
- To the effect that they may performe such services of their false
- master as he employs them in, the devill, as God's ape, counterfeits
- in his servants this service and forme of adoration that God
- prescribed and made his servants to practise; for as the servants of
- God publikely use to conveene for serving of him, so makes he them in
- great numbers to conveene (though publikely they dare not), for his
- service. As none conveenes to the adoration and worshipping of God,
- except they be marked with his seale, the sacrament of baptisme; so
- none serves Satan, and conveenes to the adoring of him, that are not
- marked with that marke whereof I alreadie spake. As the minister sent
- by God teacheth plainely at the time of their publike conventions,
- how to serve him in spirit and trewth, so that unclean spirit, in his
- owne person, teacheth his disciples at the time of their conveening,
- how to worke all kind of mischiefe, and craves coumpt of all their
- horrible and detestable proceedings passed for advancement of his
- service: Yea, that hee may the more vilely counterfeit and scorne
- God, he oft times makes his slaves to conveene in these very places
- which are destinate and ordained for the conveening of the servants
- of God, (I meane by churches.) But this farre which I have yet said,
- I not onely take it to be trew in their opinions, but even so to be
- indeed; for the forme that he used in counterfeiting God amongst the
- Gentiles, makes me so to think; as God spake by his oracles, spake he
- not so by his? As God had as well bloodie sacrifices, as others
- without blood, had not he the like? As God had churches sanctified to
- his service, with altars, priests, sacrifices, ceremonies, and
- prayers, had he not the like polluted to his service? As God gave
- responses by _Urim_ and _Thummim_, gave he not his responses by the
- intralles of beasts, by the singing of fowles, and by their actions
- in the aire? As God by visions, dreames, and extasies, revealed what
- was to come, and what was his will unto his servants, used hee not
- the like meanes to forewarne his slaves of things to come? Yea, even
- as God loved cleanenesse, hated vice and impuritie, and appointed
- punishments therefore, used he not the like, (though falsly I grant,
- and but in eschewing the lesse inconvenience, to draw them upon a
- greater), yet dissimulated he not, I say, so farre as to appoint his
- priests to keepe their bodies cleane and undefiled, before their
- asking responses of him? And fained he not God, to be a protectour of
- every vertue, and a just revenger of the contrarie? This reason then
- mooves me, that as he is that same divell, and as crafty now as he
- was then, so will he not spare as pertly in these actions that I have
- spoken of concerning the witches' persons; but further, witches oft
- times confesse, not only his conveening in the church with them, but
- his occupying of the pulpit: Yea, their forme of adoration to be the
- kissing of his hinder parts, which, though it seeme ridiculous, yet
- may it likewise be trew, seeing we reade that in Calicute he appeared
- in forme of a goat-bucke, hath publikely that unhonest homage done
- unto him by every one of the people. So ambitious is he, and greedy
- of honour, (which procured his fall) that he will even imitate God in
- that part where it is said, that Moyses could see but the _hinder
- parts of God for the brightnesse of his glory_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
- _What are the wayes possible whereby the Witches may transport
-   themselves to places farre distant?--And what are impossible and
-   meere illusions of Satan?_
-
- PHI.--But by what way say they, or thinke yee it possible, they can
- come to these unlawfull conventions?[7]
-
-   [7] The Daemonologie is written by way of dialogue, in which
-   Philomathes and Epistemon reason the matter.
-
- EPI.--There is the thing which I esteeme their senses to be deluded
- in, and though they lie not in confessing of it, because they thinke
- it to be trew, yet not to be so in substance or effect; for they say,
- that by divers meanes they may conveene, either to the adoring of
- their master, or to the putting in practise any service of his
- committed unto their charge; one way is naturall, which is naturall
- riding, going, or sailing, at what houre their master comes and
- advertises them; and this way may be easily beleeved; another way is
- somewhat more strange, and yet it is possible to bee trew, which is,
- by being caried by the force of the spirit, which is their conducter,
- either above the earth, or above the sea, swiftly to the place where
- they are to meet; which I am perswaded to bee likewise possible, in
- respect, that as Habakkuk was carried by the angel in that forme to
- the den where Daniel lay, so I thinke the divell will be readie to
- imitate God as well in that as in other things; which is much more
- possible to him to doe, being a spirit, then to a mighty wind, being
- but a naturall meteore to transport from one place to another a
- solide body, as is commonly and daily seene in practise; but in this
- violent forme they cannot be caried but a short bounds, agreeing with
- the space that they may retain their breath, for if it were longer,
- their breath could not remain unextinguished, their body being caried
- in such a violent and forcible manner; as by example, if one fall off
- a small height, his life is but in perill, according to the hard or
- soft lighting; but if one fall from an high and stay rocke, his
- breath will be forcibly banished from the body before he can win to
- the earth, as is oft seene by experience; and in this transporting
- they say themselves, that they are invisible to any other, except
- amongst themselves, which may also be possible in my opinion; for if
- the devill may forme what kinde of impressions he pleases in the
- aire, why may he not farre easilier thicken and obscure so the aire
- that is next about them, by contracting it straite together, that the
- beames of any other man's eyes cannot pierce throw the same to see
- them? But the third way of their comming to their conventions is that
- wherein I thinke them deluded; for some of them say, that being
- transformed in the likenesse of a little beast or foule, they will
- come and pierce through whatsoever house or church, though all
- ordinarie passages be closed, by whatsoever open the aire may enter
- in at; and some say, that their bodies lying still, as in an extasie,
- their spirits will be ravished out of their bodies, and caried to
- such places; and for verifying thereof, will give evident tokens, as
- well by witnesses that have seene their body lying senseless in the
- mean time, as by naming persons with whom they met, and giving tokens
- what purpose was amongst them, whom otherwise they could not have
- known; for this forme of journeying they affirme to use most, when
- they are transported from one countrey to another.
-
- PHI.--But the reasons that moove me to thinke that these are meere
- illusions, are these--first, for them that are transformed in
- likenesse of beasts or foules, can enter through so narrow passages,
- although I may easily beleeve that the divell could by his
- workmanship upon the aire, make them appeare to be in such formes,
- either to themselves, or to others; yet how can he contract a solide
- body within so little room? I think it is directly contrary to
- itselfe; for to be made so little, and yet not diminished; to be so
- straitly drawn together, and yet feele no paine, I thinke it is so
- contrary to the qualitie of a naturall bodie, and so like to the
- little transubstantiate god in the Papists masse, that I can never
- beleeve it. So to have a quantitie, is so proper to a solide body,
- that as all philosophers conclude, it cannot be any more without one,
- then a spirit can have one; for when Peter came out of the prison,
- and the doores all locked, it was not by any contracting of his body
- in so little roome, but by the giving place of the doore, though
- unespied by the gaylors; and yet is there no comparison, when this is
- done, betwixt the power of God and of the divel. As to their forme of
- extasie and spirituall transporting, it is certaine the soules going
- out of the body, is the onely definition of naturall death; and who
- are once dead, God forbid we should thinke that it should lie in the
- power of all the divels in hell to restore them to their life again,
- although he can put his owne spirit in a dead body, for that is the
- office properly belonging to God; and, besides that, the soule once
- parting from the body, cannot wander any longer in the world, but to
- the owne resting place must it goe immediately, abiding the
- conjunction of the body again at the latter day. And what Christ or
- the prophets did miraculously in this case, it can in no Christian
- man's opinion be made common with the divel. As for any tokens that
- they give for proving of this, it is very possible to the divel's
- craft to perswade them to these meanes; for he being a spirit, may he
- not so ravish their thoughts, and dull their senses, that their body
- lying as dead, he may object to their spirits, as it were in a
- dreame, and represent such formes of persons, of places, and other
- circumstances, as he pleases to illude them with? Yea, that he may
- deceive them with the greater efficacie, may he not, at the same
- instant, by fellow angels of his, illude such other persons so in
- that same fashion, with whom hee makes them to beleeve that they
- mette, that all their reports and tokens, though severally examined,
- may every one agree with another? And that whatsoever actions, either
- in hurting men or beasts, or whatsoever other thing that they falsly
- imagine at that time to have done, may by himselfe or his marrowes at
- that same time be done indeed; so as if they would give for a token
- of their being ravished at the death of such a person within so short
- a space thereafter, whom they beleeve to have poisoned or witched at
- that instant, might he not at that same houre have smitten that same
- person, by the permission of God, to the farther deceiving of them,
- and to moove others to beleeve them? And this is surely the likelyest
- way, and most according to reason, which my judgement can finde out
- in this and whatsoever other unnatural points of their confession.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
- _Witches actions towards others--Why there are more Women of that
-   Craft then Men--What things are possible to them to effectuate by the
-   power of their Master--What is the surest remedy of the harmes done
-   by them._
-
- PHI.--FORSOOTH your opinion in this seems to cary most reason with
- it; and since ye have ended then the actions belonging properly to
- their owne persons, say forward now to their actions used towards
- others.
-
- EPI.--In their actions used towards others, three things ought to be
- considered; first, the manner of their consulting thereupon; next,
- their part as instruments; and, last, their master's part, who puts
- the same in execution. As to their consultations thereupon, they use
- them oftest in the churches, where they conveene for adoring; at
- which time their master enquiring at them what they would be at,
- every one of them propones unto him what wicked turne they would have
- done, either for obtaining of riches, or for revenging them upon any
- whom they have malice at; who granting their demaund, as no doubt
- willingly he will, since it is to doe evill, hee teacheth them the
- meanes whereby they may doe the same. As for little trifling turnes
- that women have adoe with, he causeth them to joynt dead corpses, and
- to make powders thereof, mixing such other things thereamongst as he
- gives unto them.
-
- PHI.--But before ye goe further, permit me, I pray you, to interrupt
- you one word, which ye have put me in memorie of by speaking of
- women; What can be the cause that there are twentie women given to
- that craft where there is one man?
-
- EPI.--The reason is easie, for as that sexe is frailer than man is,
- so is it easier to be intrapped in these grosse snares of the divell,
- as was over-well prooved to be trew, by the serpent's deceiving of
- Eve at the beginning, which makes him the homelier with that sexe
- sensine.
-
- PHI.--Returne now where ye left.
-
- EPI.--To some others at these times he teacheth how to make pictures
- of waxe or clay, that by the roasting thereof, the persons that they
- beare the name of may be continually melted or dried away by
- continuall sicknesse. To some he gives such stones or pouders as will
- helpe to cure or cast on diseases; and to some hee teacheth kindes of
- uncouth poysons, which mediciners understand not; not that any of
- these meanes which he teacheth them (except the poysons, which are
- composed of things naturall), can of themselves helpe any thing to
- these turnes that they are employed in, but onely being God's ape, as
- well in that, as in all other things. Even as God by his sacraments,
- which are earthly of themselves, workes a heavenly effect, though no
- waves by any cooperation in them; and as Christ by clay and spettle
- wrought together, _opened the eyes of the blinde man_, suppose there
- was no vertue in that which he outwardly applied, so the divel will
- have his outward meanes to be shewes as it were of his doing, which
- hath no part or cooperation in his turnes with him, how farre that
- ever the ignorants be abused in the contrarie. And as to the effects
- of these two former parts, TO WIT, the consultations and the outward
- meanes, they are so wonderfull, as I dare not alledge any of them
- without joyning a sufficient reason of the possibilitie thereof; for
- leaving all the small trifles among wives, and to speake of the
- principall points of their craft, for the common trifles thereof,
- they can doe without converting well enough by themselves, these
- principall points, I say, are these--they can make men or women to
- love or hate other, which may be very possible to the divel to
- effectuate, seeing he being a subtile spirit, knowes well enough how
- to perswade the corrupted affection of them whom God will permit him
- to deal with,--they can lay the sicknesse of one upon another, which
- likewise is very possible unto him; for since by God's permission he
- laide sicknesse upon Job, why may he not farre easilier lay it upon
- any other? For as an old practitian, hee knowes well enough what
- humour domines most in any of us, and as a spirit he can subtillie
- waken up the same, making it peccant, or to abound, as hee thinkes
- meet, for troubling of us, when God will so permit him. And for the
- taking off of it, no doubt he will be glad to relieve such of present
- paine as he may thinke by these meanes to perswade to be catched in
- his everlasting snares and fetters. They can bewitch and take the
- life of men or women, by roasting of the pictures, as I spake of
- before, which likewise is verie possible to their master to performe;
- for although that instrument of waxe have no vertue in that turne
- doing, yet may he not very well, even by the same measure that his
- conjured slaves melts that waxe at the fire, may he not, I say, at
- these same times, subtily as a spirit, so weaken and scatter the
- spirits of life of the patient, as may make him on the one part, for
- faintnesse, to sweat out the humour of his bodie, and on the other
- part, for the not concurrence of these spirits, which causes his
- digestion, so debilitate his stomacke, that this humour radicall
- continually, sweating out on the one part, and no new good sucke
- being put in the place thereof, for lacke of digestion on the other,
- he at last shall vanish away, even as his picture will doe at the
- fire? And that knavish and cunning workeman, by troubling him onely
- at sometimes, makes a proportion so neere betwixt the working of the
- one and the other, that both shall end as it were at one time. They
- can raise stormes and tempests in the aire, either upon sea or land,
- though not universally, but in such a particular place and prescribed
- bounds, as God will permit them so to trouble. Which likewise is very
- easy to be discerned from any other naturall tempests that are
- meteores, in respect of the sudden and violent raising thereof,
- together with the short induring of the same. And this is likewise
- very possible to their master to doe, hee having such affinitie with
- the aire, as being a spirit, and having such power of the forming and
- mooving thereof; for in the Scripture, that stile of the _prince of
- the aire_, is given unto him. They can make folkes to become
- phrenticque or maniacque, which likewise is very possible to their
- master to doe, since they are but naturall sicknesses, and so he may
- lay on these kindes as well as any others. They can make spirits
- either to follow and trouble persons, or haunt certaine houses, and
- affray oftentimes the inhabitants, as hath been knowne to be done by
- our witches at this time. And likewise, they can make some to bee
- possessed with spirits, and so to become very demoniacques; and this
- last sort is very possible likewise to the divel their master to doe,
- since he may easily send his owne angels to trouble in what forme he
- pleases any whom God will permit him so to use.
-
- PHI.--But will God permit these wicked instruments, by the power of
- the devill their master, to trouble by any of these meanes any that
- beleeve in him?
-
- EPI.--No doubt, for there are three kindes of folkes whom God will
- permit so to be tempted or troubled; the wicked for their horrible
- sinnes, to punish them in the like measure; the godly that are
- sleeping in any great sinnes or infirmities, and weaknesse in faith,
- to waken them up the faster by such an uncouth forme; and even some
- of the best, that their patience may be tried before the world, as
- Job's was. For why may not God use any kinde of extraordinarie
- punishment, when it pleases him, as well as the ordinarie rods of
- sicknesse or other adversities?
-
- PHI.--Who then may be free from these devilish practises?
-
- EPI.--No man ought to presume so farre as to promise any impunitie to
- himselfe; for God hath before all beginnings, preordinated as well
- the particular sorts of plagues, as of benefites, for every man,
- which in the owne time he ordaines them to be visited with; and yet
- ought we not to be the more afraide for that, of any thing that the
- divell and his wicked instruments can doe against us, for we daily
- fight against the divell in a hundreth other wayes; and therefore, as
- a valiant captaine affraies no more being at the combate, nor stayes
- from his purpose for the rummishing shot of a canon, nor the small
- clacke of a pistolet, suppose he be not certaine what may light upon
- him; even so ought we boldly to goe forward in fighting against the
- divell, without any great terrour for these his rarest weapons, nor
- for the ordinary, whereof we have daily the proofe.
-
- PHI.--Is it not lawfull then, by the helpe of some other witch, to
- cure the disease that is casten on by that craft?
-
- EPI.--No wayes lawfull, for it is an axiome of theologie, that we are
- not to doe evil, that good maie come of it.
-
- PHI.--How then may these diseases be lawfully cured?
-
- EPI.--Only by earnest prayer unto God, by amendment of their lives,
- and by sharpe pursuing every one, according to his calling of these
- instruments of Satan, whose punishment to the death will be a
- salutarie sacrifice for the patient. And this is not onely the
- lawfull way, but likewise the most sure; for by the devil's meanes
- _can never the devill be casten out_, as Christ sayth; and when such
- a cure is used, it may well serve for a short time, but at the last
- it will doubtlesly tend to the utter perdition of the patient, both
- in body and soule.
-
-
- _What sort of Folkes are least or most subject to receive harm by
-   Witchcraft--What power they have to harme the Magistrate, and upon
-   what respects they have any power in prison--And to what end may or
-   will the Devill appeare to them therein--Upon what respects the
-   Devill appeares in sundry shapes to sundry of them at any time._
-
- PHI.--But who dare take upon him to punish them, if no man can be
- sure to be free from their unnatural invasions?
-
- EPI.--Wee ought not the more of that restraine from vertue, that the
- way whereby we clime thereunto be straight and perillous; but,
- besides that, as there is no kinde of persons so subject to receive
- harme of them, as these that are of infirme and weake faith, so have
- they so small power over none, as over such as zealously and
- earnestly pursue them.
-
- PHI.--Then they are like the pest which smites these sickarest that
- flies it farthest?
-
- EPI.--It is even so with them, for neither is it able to them to use
- any false cure upon a patient, except the patient first beleeve in
- their power, and so hazard the tinsell of his owne soule, nor yet can
- they have lesse power to hurt any, nor such as contemne most their
- doings, so being it comes of faith, and not of any vaine arrogancie
- in themselves.
-
- PHI.--But what is their power against the Magistrate?
-
- EPI.--Lesse or greater, according as he deales with them; for if hee
- be slothfull towards them, God is very able to make them instruments
- to waken and punish his sloth; but if he be the contrary, hee,
- according to the just law of God, and allowable law of all nations,
- will be diligent in examining and punishing of them, God will not
- permit their master to trouble or hinder so good a worke.
-
- PHI.--But fra they be once in hands and firmance, have they any
- further power in their craft?
-
- EPI.--That is according to the forme of their detention; if they be
- but apprehended and deteined by any private person, upon other
- private respects, their power no doubt, either in escaping, or in
- doing hurt, is no lesse nor ever it was before; but if, on the other
- part, their apprehending and detention be by the lawfull magistrate,
- upon the just respects of their guiltinesse in that craft, their
- power is then no greater than before that ever they medled with their
- master; for where God begins justly to strike by his lawfull
- lieutenants, it is not in the devil's power to defraud or bereave him
- of the office, or effect of his powerful and revenging scepter.
-
- PHI.--But will never their master come to visite them fra they be
- once apprehended and put in firmance?
-
- EPI.--That is according to the estate that these miserable wretches
- are in, for if they be obstinate in still denying, he will not spare,
- when hee findes time to speake with them, either if he finde them in
- any comfort, to fill them more and more with the vaine hope of some
- manner of reliefe, or else if he finde them in a deepe despaire, by
- all meanes to augment the same, and to perswade them by some
- extraordinarie meanes to put themselves downe, which very commonly
- they doe; but if they be penitent and confesse, God will not permit
- him to trouble them any more with his presence and allurements.
-
- PHI.--It is not good using his counsell I see then; but I would
- earnestly know, when he appeares to them in prison, what formes uses
- he then to take?
-
- EPI.--Divers formes, even as hee uses to doe at other times unto
- them; but ordinarily in such a forme as they agree upon among
- themselves; or, if they be but prentises, according to the qualitie
- of their circles or conjurations: yet to these capped creatures he
- appeares as he pleases, and as he findes meetest for their humours;
- for even at their publicke conventions, hee appeares to divers of
- them in divers formes, as we have found by the difference of their
- confessions in that point; for he deluding them with vaine
- impressions in the aire, makes himselfe to seeme more terrible to the
- grosser sort, that they may thereby be mooved to feare and reverence
- him the more, and lesse monstrous and uncouth like againe to the
- craftier sort, lest otherwise they might sturre and skunner at his
- uglinesse.
-
- PHI.--How can he then be felt, as they confesse they have done, if
- his body be but of aire?
-
- EPI.--I heare little of that amongst their confessions, yet may he
- make himselfe palpable, either by assuming any dead bodie, and using
- the ministerie thereof, or else by deluding as well their sense of
- feeling as seeing, which is not impossible to him to doe, since all
- our senses, as wee are so weake, and even by ordinarie sicknesses,
- will be oftentimes deluded.
-
- PHI.--But I would speere one word further yet concerning his
- appearing to them in prison, which is this, may any other that
- chances to be present at that time in the prison see him as well as
- they?
-
- EPI.--Sometimes they will, and sometimes not, as it pleases God.
-
-
- _Of the Tryall and Punishment of Witches--What sort of Accusation
-   ought to be admitted against them--What is the cause of the
-   increasing so farre of their number in this age._
-
- PHI.--Then to make an end of our conference, since I see it drawes
- late, what forme of punishment thinke yee merit these witches?
-
- EPI.--They ought to be put to death according to the law of God, the
- civill and imperial law, and municipall law of all Christian nations.
-
- PHI.--But what kinde of death I pray you?
-
- EPI.--It is commonly used by fire, but that is an indifferent thing
- to be used in every countrey, according to the law or custome
- thereof.
-
- PHI.--But ought no sexe, age, nor ranke, to be exempted?
-
- EPI.--None at all, (being so used by the lawfull magistrate), for it
- is the highest point of idolatry wherein no exception is admitted by
- the law of God.
-
- PHI.--Then barnes may not be spared?
-
- EPI.--Yea, not a haire the lesse of my conclusion, for they are not
- that capable of reason as to practise such things; and for any being
- in company, and not reveiling thereof, their less and ignorant age
- will no doubt excuse them.
-
- PHI.--I see ye condemne them all that are of the counsell of such
- craftes.
-
- EPI.--No doubt the consulters, trusters in, overseers, interteiners,
- or stirrers up of these craftes folkes, are equally guiltie with
- themselves that are the practisers.
-
- PHI.--Whether may the prince then, or supreme magistrate, spare or
- oversee any that are guilty of that craft, upon some great respects
- knowen to him?
-
- EPI.--The prince or magistrate, for further trials cause, may
- continue the punishing of them such a certaine space as he thinkes
- convenient, but in the end to spare the life, and not to strike when
- God bids strike, and so severely punish in so odious a fault and
- treason against God, it is not onely unlawfull, but doubtlesse no
- lesse sinne in that magistrate, nor it was in Saules sparing of Agag;
- and so comparable to the sinne of witchcraft itselfe, as Samuel
- alledged at that time.
-
- PHI.--Surely then, I think since this crime ought to be so severely
- punished, judges ought to beware to condemne any but such as they are
- sure are guiltie, neither should the clattering report of a carling
- serve in so weightie a case.
-
- EPI.--Judges ought indeede to beware whom they condemne, for it is as
- great a crime (as Solomon saith), to condemne the innocent as to let
- the guilty escape free, neither ought the report of any one infamous
- person be admitted for a sufficient proof which can stand of no law.
-
- PHI.--And what may a number of guilty persons confessions worke
- against one that is accused?
-
- EPI.--The assise must serve for interpretour of our law in that
- respect, but in my opinion, since in a matter of treason against the
- prince, barnes or wives, or never so diffamed persons, may of our
- law serve for sufficient witnesses and proofes, I thinke surely that
- by a farre greater reason such witnesses may be sufficient in matters
- of high treason against God; for who but witches can be prooves, and
- so witnesses of the doings of witches?
-
- PHI.--Indeed, I trow they will be loath to put any honest man upon
- their counsell; but what if they accuse folke to have been present at
- their imaginar conventions in the spirit, when their bodies lye
- senseless, as ye have said?
-
- EPI.--I thinke they are not a haire the less guiltie; for the divell
- durst never have borrowed their shadow or similitude to that turne,
- if their consent had not beene at it; and the consent in these turnes
- is death of the lawe.
-
- PHI.--Then Samuel was a witch, for the divell resembled his shape,
- and played his person in giving response to Saul.
-
- EPI.--Samuel was dead as well before that, and so none could slaunder
- him with medling in that unlawful arte; for the cause why, as I take
- it, that God will not permit Satan to use the shapes of similitudes
- of any innocent persons at such unlawfull times is, that God will not
- permit that any innocent persons shall be slandered with that vile
- defection, for then the divell would finde waies anew to calumniate
- the best; and this we have in proofe by them that are carried with
- the _pharie_, who never see the shadowes of any in that court but of
- them that thereafter are tryed to have beene brethren and sisters of
- that craft. And this was likewise prooved by the confession of a
- young lasse troubled with spirits, laid on her by witchcraft; that
- although she saw the shapes of divers men and women troubling her,
- and naming the persons whom these shadowes represent; yet never one
- of them are founde to be innocent, but all clearely tryed to be most
- guiltie, and the most part of them confessing the same. And, besides
- that, I thinke it hath beene seldome heard tell of, that any whom
- persons guiltie of that crime accused, as having knowen them to be
- their marrows by eye-sight, and not by hearesay, but such as were so
- accused of witchcraft, could not be clearely tried upon them, were at
- the least publikely knowen to be of a very evill life and reputation;
- so jealous is God of the fame of them that are innocent in such
- causes. And, besides that, there are two other good helps that may be
- used for their triall; the one is, the finding of their marke, and
- the trying the insensibleness thereof; the other is their fleeting on
- the water, for as in a secret murther, if the dead carkasse be at any
- time thereafter handled by the murtherer, it will gush out of bloud,
- as if the bloud were crying to the heaven for revenge of the
- murtherer, God having appointed that secret supernaturall signe for
- triall of that secret unnatural crime, so it appeares that God hath
- appointed (for a supernatural signe of the monstrous impietie of
- witches), that the water shall refuse to receive them in her bosome
- that have shaken off them the sacred water of baptisme, and wilfully
- refused the benefitie thereof. No, not so much as their eyes are able
- to shed teares (threaten and torture them as ye please), while first
- they repent, (God not permitting them to dissemble their obstinacie
- in so horrible a crime) albeit the women kind especially, be able
- otherwayes to shed teares at every light occasion when they will,
- yea, although it were dissemblingly like the crocodiles.
-
- PHI.--Well, wee have made this conference to last as long as leisure
- would permit; and to conclude then, since I am to take my leave of
- you, I pray God to purge this countrey of these divellish practises,
- for they were never so rife in these parts as they are now.
-
- EPI.--I pray God that so be too; but the causes are over manifest
- that make them to be so rife; for the great wickedness of the people
- on the one hand, procures this horrible defection, whereby God justly
- punisheth sinne by a greater iniquitie; and on the other part, the
- consummation of the world and our deliverance drawing neere, makes
- Satan to rage the more in his instruments, knowing his kingdome to be
- so neere an end.--And so farewell for this time.
-
-
- THE END
-
-
-
-
-  AN
-
-  ANSWER
-
-  OF A
-
-  LETTER
-
-  FROM A
-
-  Gentleman in Fife,
-
-  TO
-
-  A NOBLEMAN,
-
-  CONTAINING A
-
-  BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE BARBAROUS AND ILLEGAL
-    TREATMENT THESE POOR WOMEN ACCUSED OF
-    WITCHCRAFT MET WITH FROM THE BAILLIES OF
-    PITTENWEEM AND OTHERS--WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS
-    THEREON.
-
-  To which is added,
-
-  _An Account of the Horrid and Barbarous Murder,
-    in a Letter from a Gentleman in Fife to his Friend
-    in Edinburgh, February 5th, 1705._
-
-  PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1705.
-
-
-
-
- The two following Tracts give an account of the witches of Pittenweem
- in 1705. The first is a concise relation of facts, in which the
- minister and magistrates are placed in no very favourable point of
- view. The second is an answer to the first, and seems chiefly
- intended to obviate the charges that are preferred against the
- minister and baillies, but in our opinion with no great success, as
- the principal facts are admitted, and the only defence set up is,
- that the women were in reality witches. We have given this author's
- story in his own words, with such of his remarks as bear upon the
- narrative of the other pamphlet, which is all that is necessary at
- the present day.
-
-  EDITOR.
-
-
-
-
- AN
-
- ANSWER
-
- OF
-
- A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN IN FIFE, &c.
-
-
- MY LORD,
-
- I reckon myself very much honoured by your Lordship's letter,
- desiring me to write you an account of that horrible murder committed
- in Pittenweem. I doubt not, but by this time, your Lordship has seen
- the gentleman's letter to his friend thereanent; I refer you to it,
- the author thereof being so well informed, and so ingenous, that I'll
- assure you, there is nothing in it but what is generally talked and
- believed to be true.
-
- All I can contribute to your Lordship's further information, shall be
- by way of a brief narrative of the minister and baillies
- unwarrantable imprisoning, and barbarous treating of the poor women.
-
- I need not write your Lordship a character of Patrick Morton, being
- now sufficiently known for a cheat.
-
- It was upon his accusation allennarly the minister and baillies
- imprisoned these poor women, and set a guard of drunken fellows about
- them, who by pinching and pricking some of them with pins and
- elsions, kept them from sleep for several days and nights together,
- the marks whereof were seen by severals a month thereafter. This
- cruel usage made some of them learn to be so wise as acknowledge
- every question that was asked them; whereby they found the minister
- and baillies well pleased, and themselves better treated.
-
- Notwithstanding of all this, some of the more foolish continued, as
- the minister said, hardened in the devil's service, such as White,
- Jack, Wallace, Patrick, and others; all which, save the first, were
- ordered to the stocks, where they lay for several weeks.
-
- All this while Patrick Morton's melancholly fancy (to give it no
- harsher term), being too much encouraged by severals, and
- particularly by the minister's reading to him the case of
- Barrgarran's daughter, continued roving after a wonderful manner,
- accusing for his tormentors some of the most considerable mens' wives
- in the town, but such as the minister and baillies durst not venture
- to imprison.--By this your Lordship may see, it was only the weakest
- that went to the walls.
-
- My Lord Rothes, accompanied with several gentlemen of good sense and
- reputation, came to Pittenweem, where finding these poor womens'
- confessions no wise satisfying, and Patrick Morton a cheat, informed
- the privy council thereof, who sent an order to send Patrick over to
- them. This turn being given, and Patrick finding that things were not
- likely to go so favourably with him as he before fancied, began to
- draw to his breeches, and in a short time recovered his former
- health, in which he still continues. By this time the baillies began
- to be as earnest in emptying their prisons, as ever they were forward
- in filling them; so after a long and serious deliberation, they set
- them at liberty: but that their last step might be as illegal as
- their first, obliged each of them to pay the town-officer the sum of
- 8 lib. Scots; to pay which, some of them were forced to sell some
- linnen they had reserved for their dead shirts and wynding sheets.
-
- I beg your Lordship's further patience a little to read these few
- following observations: _Obs. 1st_, The baillies and minister sent
- and brought several of these women from places without their
- jurisdiction--one from Anstruther, and another from the country at
- six miles distance.
-
- _Obs. 2d_, What good could the minister propose to Patrick Morton by
- reading to him the book intituled the case of Barrgarran's daughter?
-
- _Obs. 3d_, After so much injustice done to these poor women, the
- baillies and minister obliged them to pay the town-officer eight
- pound Scots, is worthy of your Lordship and the rest of the Lords of
- the privy council's considerations; and it would be the height of
- charity to fall on a method to oblige the minister and baillies to
- refound it seven-fold.
-
- _Obs. 4th_, One Thomas Brown, the only man accused by Patrick Morton,
- and imprisoned by the minister and baillies, after a great deal of
- hunger and hardship, died in prison, so as this poor woman's murder
- was not the first, neither will it be the last, unless by severe
- punishments prevented.
-
- _Obs. 5th_, The baillies in a manner justified these two murthers, by
- not allowing them Christian burial, but burying them like dogs,
- scarce covering them from the ravens.
-
- _Obs. 6th_, You may wonder why all along I should say the minister
- and baillies? The reason is, because during all this narrative he
- exercised more of the civil authority than any of the baillies, and
- so continues to do, as you may see by the following late instance.
-
- The baillies of Pittenweem being conveened before the Lords of Privy
- Council on the 14th or 15th of February, I am informed gave in to
- them a subscribed account of the murther; and to justify themselves,
- assert they had imprisoned several of the murtherers before they left
- Pittenweem. It is very true they did so, but they were not long from
- the town when the minister set them at liberty. This, I think, is
- exercising the office of a civil magistrate: perhaps the minister may
- say he did it by the magistrates' order left behind them; then I
- think the magistrates were mightily in the wrong to give in to the
- Lords of the privy council an account they knew to be false.
-
- My Lord, this is not the tenth part of what may be said upon this
- subject, I hope some other person will be more particular.
-
-  I am,
-  My LORD,
-  Your Lordship's
-  Most humble servant.
-
-
-
-
- AN
-
- ACCOUNT
-
- OF AN
-
- HORRID AND BARBAROUS MURDER,
-
- IN A
-
-
- _Letter from a Gentleman in Fife to his Friend in Edinburgh_.
-
- I doubt not of your being exceedingly surprized with this short and
- just account I give you of a most barbarous murder committed in
- Pittenweem the 30th of January last. One Peter Morton, a blacksmith
- in that town, after a long sickness, pretended that witches were
- tormenting him--that he did see them and know them--and, from time to
- time, as he declared such and such women to be witches, they were by
- order of the magistrates and minister of Pittenweem, apprehended as
- such, to a very considerable number, and put into prison. This man,
- by his odd postures and fits, which seemed to be very surprizing at
- first, wrought himself into such a credit with the people of that
- place, that unless the Earl of Rothes, our sheriff, had discovered
- his villany, and discouraged that practice, God knows how fatal it
- might have proved to many honest families of good credit and
- respect. Sir, however, at first many were deceived, yet now all men
- of sense are ashamed for giving any credit to such a person; but how
- hard it is to root out bad principles once espoused by the rabble,
- and how dangerous a thing it is to be at their mercy, will appear by
- the tragical account I give you of one of these poor women, Janet
- Corphat.
-
- After she was committed prisoner to the tolbooth, upon a suspicion of
- her being a witch, she was well guarded with a number of men, who, by
- pinching her, and pricking her with pins, kept her from sleep many
- days and nights, threatening her with present death, unless she would
- confess herself guilty of witchcraft; which at last she did. This
- report spreading abroad, made people curious to converse with her
- upon the subject, who found themselves exceedingly disappointed. The
- Viscount of Primrose being in Fife occasionally, inclined to satisfy
- his curiosity in this matter, the Earl of Kellie, my Lord Lyon, the
- Laird of Scotstarvat, and the Laird of Randerston, were with his
- Lordship in Pittenweem. Three of the number went to the tolbooth and
- discoursed with her, to whom she said, that all that she had
- confessed, either of herself or her neighbours, were lies, and cried
- out, _God forgive the minister_, and said, that he had beat her one
- day with his staff when she was telling him the truth. They asked her
- how she came to say any thing that was not true; she cryed out,
- _alas, alas, I behoved to say so, to please the minister and
- baillies_; and, in the mean time, she begged for Christ's sake not
- to tell that she had said so, else she would be murdered. Another
- time, when the Laird of Glenagies and Mr Bruce of Kinross, were
- telling her, she needed not deny what they were asking her, for she
- had confessed as much as would infallibly burn her; she cried out,
- _God forbid!_ and to one of the two she said, that from which he
- might rationally conclude, she insinuate she had assurance from the
- minister her life should not be taken.
-
- A little before harvest, Mr Ker of Kippilaw, a writer to the signet,
- being in Pittenweem, Mr Robert Cook, advocate, went with him to
- prison to see this poor woman; Mr Cook, among other questions, asked
- her, if she had not renounced her baptism to the devil; she answered,
- she never renounced her baptism but to the minister. These were her
- words, what she meant by them I know not. The minister having got
- account of this from Mr Cook, he sent for her, and in presence of Mr
- Cook and Mr Ker in the church, he threatened her very severely, and
- commanded the keeper to put her into some prison by herself under the
- steeple, least (as he said) she should pervert those who had
- confessed. The keeper put her into a prison in which was a low
- window, out of which it was obvious that any body could make an
- escape; and, accordingly, she made her escape that night.
-
- Next day when they missed her, they made a very slight search for
- her, and promised ten pound Scots to any body that would bring her
- back. Mr Gordon, minister at Leuchars, hearing she was in his
- parish, eight miles distant from Pittenweem, caused apprehend her,
- and sent her prisoner, under custody of two men, on the 30th of
- January, to Mr Cowper, minister of Pittenweem, without giving any
- notice to the magistrates of the place. When she came to Mr Cowper,
- she asked him if he had any thing to say to her? he answered, No. She
- could get lodging in no house but with one Nicolas Lawson, one of the
- women that had been called witches.--Some say a baillie put her
- there.
-
- The rabble hearing she was in town, went to Mr Cowper, and asked him
- what they should do with her? he told them he was not concerned, they
- might do what they pleased with her. They took encouragement from
- this to fall upon the poor woman, those of the minister's family
- going along with them, as I hear; they fell upon the poor creature
- immediately, and beat her unmercifully, tying her so hard with a
- rope, that she was almost strangled; they dragged her through the
- streets, and alongst the shore, by the heels. A baillie, hearing of a
- rabble near his stair, came out upon them, which made them
- immediately disappear. But the magistrates, though met together, not
- taking care to put her into close custody for her safety, the rabble
- gathered again immediately, and stretched a rope betwixt a ship and
- the shore, to a great height, to which they tied her fast; after
- which they swinged her to and fro, from one side to another, in the
- mean time throwing stones at her from all corners, until they were
- weary; then they loosed her, and with a mighty swing threw her upon
- the hard sands, all about being ready in the mean time to receive
- her with stones and staves, with which they beat her most cruelly.
- Her daughter, in the time of her mother's agony, though she knew of
- it, durst not adventure to appear, lest the rabble had used her after
- the same manner, being in a house, in great concern and terror, out
- of natural affection for her mother, (about which the author was
- misinformed in the first edition.) They laid a heavy door upon her,
- with which they prest her so sore, that she cried out, to let her up
- for Christ's sake, and she would tell the truth. But when they did
- let her up, what she said could not satisfy them, and therefore, they
- again laid on the door, and with a heavy weight of stones on it,
- prest her to death; and to be sure it was so, they called a man with
- a horse and a sledge, and made him drive over her corpse backward and
- forward several times. When they were sure she was killed outright,
- they dragged her miserable carcase to Nicolas Lawson's house, where
- they first found her.
-
- There was a motion made to treat Nicolas Lawson after the same manner
- immediately; but some of them being wearied with three hours sport,
- as they called it, said it would be better to delay her for another
- day's divertisement; and so they all went off.
-
- It is said that Mr Cowper, in a letter to Mr Gordon, gave some rise
- to all this; and Mr Cowper, to vindicate himself, wrote to Mr Gordon,
- whose return says, if he were not going to Edinburgh, he would give
- him a double of his letter. It's strange he sent him not the
- principal. In the postscript, he assures him, he shall conceal it to
- meeting.
-
- 'Tis certain, that Mr Cowper, preaching the Lord's day immediately
- after, in Pittenweem, took no notice of the murder, which at least
- makes him guilty of sinful silence. Neither did Mr Gordon, in his
- letter to Mr Cowper, make any regret for it; and this some construe
- to be a justifying of the horrid wickedness in both.
-
- We are perswaded the government will examine this affair to the
- bottom, and lay little stress upon what the magistrates or minister
- of Pittenweem will say to smooth over the matter, seeing it's very
- well known, that either of them could have quashed the rabble, and
- prevented that murder, if they had appeared zealous against it.
-
- I am sorry I have no better news to tell you, God deliver us from
- those principles that tend to such practices.
-
-  I am,
-  SIR,
-  Your humble servant.
-
-
-
-
- A
-
- JUST REPROOF
-
- TO THE
-
- FALSE REPORTS and UNJUST CALUMNIES,
-
- IN THE
-
- _FOREGOING LETTERS._
-
-
- About the month of March last year, one Beatrix Laing, a woman of
- very bad fame, who had formerly been under process for using charms,
- and refusing to be reconciled to her neighbours, was debarred from
- the Lord's table, came to one Patrick Morton, a blacksmith, desiring
- him to make some nails, which he refused to do, because otherwise
- employed at that time. Upon which she went off muttering some
- threatening expressions. A little after, the said Patrick Morton,
- with another person in company, carrying some fish by the said
- Beatrix Laing's door, they saw a vessel with water placed at the
- door, with a burning coal in it. Upon which he was presently strucken
- with an impression that it was a charm designed against him, and upon
- this a little after he sickened. In this sickness he languished for a
- long time; physicians that saw him, could not understand his
- distemper, yet tried various medicines, till at length his trouble
- increased, and he began to be seized with some unusual fits, which
- made them give over. He forbore all this while any accusation of the
- person whom he all along suspected for his trouble, at least he made
- no mention of it to the minister, who frequently visited him while
- under it. But his trouble still increasing, he at length began to
- drop some apprehensions of the cause of it. Upon which Beatrix Laing
- was called, and by the magistrates, in the said Patrick Morton's
- father's house, examined in presence of a great multitude of people,
- and owned, that she had placed that vessel with water, and the coal
- in it, there; but at that time would give no account of the reason of
- it. Being dismissed by the magistrates, she went home, and that same
- night, when she was challenged by Katharine Marshal, in her own
- house, before Nicolas Lawson, about the lad's trouble, she answered,
- that he might blame his own ill tongue for what had befallen him, and
- that it was an evil spirit that was troubling him; which was in her
- face maintained by the said persons next day, in presence of the
- magistrates. Then the boy began to complain of her tormenting him,
- and fell into grievous fits of trouble upon her entering the house.
- Upon all which she being imprisoned, after some time did acknowledge
- to magistrates and minister, in presence of many witnesses, without
- threat or torture, (of which we shall speak more afterwards) that she
- was displeased with Patrick Morton for his refusing to make some
- nails; that she designed to be avenged upon him for it; and that she
- used that charm of the coal in the water against him; and that she
- renounced her baptism, entered into a compact with the devil some
- twelve years before; condescending upon time, place, and her
- inducements to engage in his service; and that she, with Nicholas
- Lawson, had made a wax picture to torment him, and put pins in it;
- which the said Nicolas likewise confessed afterwards, and so
- justified the boy's account of the rise of his trouble.
-
- After this the boy's trouble daily increased, in which there were
- many strange things; first his belly, for some time, then his breast,
- frequently heaved up to a prodigious height, and instantly went off
- again, by a blowing at the mouth like a bellows; frequently he cried
- out that such persons as he named were pinching him in his arms,
- breast, or some other places of his body, his hands lying all the
- while above the clothes, at a distance from one another, in the view
- of many of the spectators; and when they looked the places of which
- he complained, they saw distinctly the print of nails. Again, he was
- frequently cast into swooning fits, became insensible, which was
- tried by exquisite pinching the more sensible parts of his body, of
- which he complained afterwards when he came out of the fits, though
- he took no notice of them, nor felt them, in the time while he was in
- these fits. The strongest who essayed to lift his head from the
- pillow, were not able to move it, though both his feet and head were
- perfectly free of the bed, which was exactly tried: Yea, sometimes
- while the trunk of his body and his head were thus rigid and could
- not be raised from the pillow, his legs were loose, and any might
- move them as they pleased. Sometimes these fits were not so great as
- at other times, and then, or when he was falling in, or coming out of
- them, several persons lifted him with little difficulty; but when he
- was in the depth of the fit, the strongest that essayed it could not
- raise him up. Again, when any of the women whom he accused touched
- him, and sometimes on their coming into the room he fell into
- grievous fits of trouble, and cried out, that such a person was
- tormenting him, condescending on their names; and this he did very
- frequently, before multitudes of people of different ranks, ready to
- attest the same. And commonly such care was taken to prevent his
- having any notice, either of the womens' entry, or which of them was
- there, that there was no place left for any rational suspicion of
- trick or cheat in the matter. He was carefully hoodwinked with
- several plies of cloth--the women were brought in with the utmost
- secrecy--innocent persons present in the room laid their hands on
- him, but yet he never shewed the least concern, save when the accused
- persons touched him. Several times gentlemen that seemed jealous that
- there was somewhat of an imposture in the case, were allowed and
- invited to make the nicest trial, and found it hold. Several pitiful
- cavils have been used about this, and other instances of the boy's
- trouble, which proceed either from ignorance of the circumstances of
- matter of fact, or gross inadvertency in not observing the several
- variations of the boy's case; which, had they been considered, they
- would have been so far from giving any countenance to the conclusion
- aimed at by these objectors, that they would strongly have enforced a
- conviction of something preter-natural in the case.
-
- The author then proceeds to give an account of Janet Corphat, the
- woman who was murdered. She was a person of very bad fame, who of a
- long time was reputed a witch, frequently used charms, and was wont
- commonly to threaten persons who disobliged her, and such
- consequences sometimes followed, as made her the terror of many, both
- of the town and country, which might be verified by particular
- instances, if it were necessary. She was not at first delated by
- Patrick Morton, though afterwards he complained of her as one of his
- tormentors; but she, with several others, being in company with the
- devil, whereof Isabel Adam was one, in pursuance of a quarrel which
- Beatrix Laing, formerly mentioned, had with one Alexander M'Grigor, a
- fisher in the town, made an attempt to murder the said M'Grigor in
- bed; which was prevented by his awakening and wrestling against them.
- This attempt was acknowledged by Isabel Adam, of whose confession a
- more full account shall be given afterwards, who had been taken up on
- that man's delation, and some other informations against her, and not
- on the lad's. As likewise, the said Janet was accused by Nicolas
- Lawson, another person present at that attempt; and Nicolas accused
- her of being at another meeting in the Loan of Pittenweem; at both
- which meetings they confessed the devil was present.--All which she
- herself afterwards freely confessed.
-
- The manner of this woman's confession was very remarkable.--After she
- had obstinately some while denied, and with a subtility beyond what
- might be expected from one of her education, shifted all questions
- put to her, she, with Isobel Adam aforesaid, being brought to the
- house where the tormented lad lay, and he discovering her at her
- entry into the room, notwithstanding the utmost precaution was used
- to conceal it from him, and he falling into grievous fits of trouble,
- did cry out of her as one of his tormentors; at which she was so
- stunned, that instantly she fell a trembling. The magistrates and
- minister observing her in such a confusion, asked if she was willing
- to commune with them, in reference to the matters whereof she had
- been accused; she declaring herself willing, went with them to
- another place, and when desired to be ingenuous, she again fell a
- trembling, and said she would confess all, but was afraid the devil
- would tear the soul out of her body if she did, and said, if you will
- pray, and cause all good folk pray for me, I will confess, and she
- then desired the minister to pray; and, after prayer, confessed she
- was bodily present at both the meetings aforesaid with the devil and
- the witches, and gave a circumstantiat account of the renounciation
- of her baptism, naming time, place, and inducements which led her to
- it, and the shape the devil appeared to her in.--She likewise told
- the reason of their attempt to murder M'Grigor was, that he did not
- hire a house which belonged to Beatrix Laing.
-
- Again, on a Thursday, after she had been hearing sermon, she desired
- to speak with the minister, and sent one to acquaint him with this
- desire; on which he went to her, and she, before several witnesses,
- renewed her former confession, and condescended on all the persons
- the other confessing witches had accused, as being present at the two
- foresaid meetings; adding withal, that there were others present whom
- she knew not. This confession she renewed before the presbytery, in
- presence of a great many country gentleman, and other spectators; as
- likewise in the face of a numerous congregation on the Lord's day.
-
- It is owned, that when Beatrix Laing and Nicolas Lawson were first
- imprisoned, they were ill used by some of the guard, without the
- knowledge of magistrates or minister, of which the women made
- complaint to the minister, whereof he presently acquainted the
- magistrates, who, with the minister, went to the prison, and
- threatened the guard if they offered the least disturbance to persons
- in custody. And the minister, on the Lord's day thereafter, took
- occasion in sermon to discover the wickedness of that practice, as
- being against the light of nature, Scripture, and the just laws of
- the land. After this, we heard of no more disturbances they met with.
- Now, it was not till after this precaution used to prevent their
- trouble, that Janet Corphat was imprisoned; and, from the time of her
- imprisonment, till the time that she confessed, which was some ten
- or twelve days, she was not in company with the rest, nor with the
- guard, save one or two days, but was alone in a separate prison, and
- nothing to disturb her.
-
- Now, it is remarkable, that neither of these persons who were ill
- used, of which Janet Corphat was none, did ever make any
- acknowledgement to these persons who used them ill, nor till some
- days after they were quite freed of this trouble. And when they did
- confess, it was to magistrates and minister, whom they owned to be
- careful to preserve them from such abuses; nor did magistrates or
- minister ever use any threatening to extort a confession, or any
- other argument, but what the gospel requires to be made use of to
- bring impenitent sinners to a confession of their sins.[8]
-
-   [8] We should like to know what threatenings the gospel requires
-   ministers to make use of to such impenitent sinners as will not
-   confess sins they could not commit. ED.
-
- The author of the letter tells us, 'she was put in a low prison, out
- of which it was obvious that any body could make an escape, and
- accordingly she made her escape that night.' Here are but two
- assertions, and both of them false, for the prison was the second
- story, and her escape was by breaking an old iron grate in the
- window; nor was it that night after that she broke the prison, for it
- was on Friday these gentlemen discoursed her, and on the Lord's day
- at night she broke the prison.[9]
-
-   [9] This just reprover begins very fairly by wilfully perverting his
-   opponent's language, 'a prison with a low window,' he makes 'a low
-   prison.' We very much suspect the minister himself had a hand in this
-   pamphlet.
-
- Here follows the author of the 'Just Reproofs' way of telling the
- story of the barbarous and cruel murder of Janet Corphat. She came to
- town under cloud of night with two men, and went straight to an inn
- where her daughter was serving. After some stay there, the two men
- brought her to the minister's house, who was visiting a sick child of
- one James Cook, a present bailie, where his servant came to him with
- Mr Gordon's letter; and, as soon as he had perused it, he bid his
- servant go tell them, he would have nothing to do with her, but since
- they had brought her to the town, let them take her to the
- magistrates; which answer, two men then present, have attested under
- their hands. On this, the men brought her to Bailie Cook's house,
- where the minister was, and the men meeting him coming down stairs,
- pressed him to take her off their hands, which he refused to do, but
- called the two next magistrates, and advised them instantly to set
- her off safe out of the town. On which the two bailies sent for their
- officer immediately, and the minister went off straight to his own
- house, and saw no appearance of a rabble, nor did hear of it, till
- the rabble had gone a considerable length; and after a little, he
- heard that the woman was got safe out of their hands, and the rabble
- dissipate, and he knew nothing of her death till the next morning.
-
- When the officer came to the magistrates, they, on deliberation among
- themselves, resolved to imprison her till the next morning; and
- accordingly ordered their officer to do it. And as the officer was
- executing the magistrates' orders, the rabble gathered upon them,
- attacked the officer, and took the woman from him, with which, it is
- said, he did not acquaint the magistrates, that they might have taken
- other measures for the woman's safety.
-
- This rabble did not flow from the inclinations of the people of the
- place, which is evident from the peaceable and safe residence two
- confessing witches had for two months time in the place since they
- were set at liberty, but from an unhappy occasional concourse of a
- great many strangers, some Englishmen, some from Orkney, and other
- parts, who were forward in it, and have since taken guilt on them by
- their flight.
-
- As to the assertion with regard to those of Mr Cowper's family going
- along with the rabble, Mr Cowper urged to have his servants examined
- among the first, and they have declared before the magistrates, that
- they stole out in a clandestine way, that their master might not know
- of it, and he indeed knew nothing of it, and they returned very
- quickly and made no stay; nor do any of the witnesses examined
- insinuate any accusation of their having the least accession to any
- injury she met with, nor were they any other way concerned, than by
- looking on a short while with some hundreds of other spectators.
-
- Again, it is said, 'that they first found her at Nicolas Lawson's
- house, and that she was killed out-right when they dragged her there
- again,' is as ill grounded as the rest of our author's assertions;
- for they found her not at Nicolas Lawson's house, and some of the
- persons examined have declared, that after she was brought to that
- door, she arose and put on head cloaths, and called to Nicolas Lawson
- to let her in; which, if she had done, she in all appearance had met
- with no more disturbance; but after this, we hear _that some few of
- the rabble stole up secretly and murdered her_.
-
- The author of the Second Letter accuses the minister of encouraging
- Patrick Morton in carrying on the cheat, by reading to him the case
- of Bargarran's daughter. In answer to which, we shall give a short,
- but candid, account of matter of fact. In the month of May last, the
- minister, with a preacher, and a great many other people, attending
- all night in the room where Patrick Morton lay, and he lying
- meanwhile in a swooning fit, which was then tried by exquisite
- pinching, the minister and probationer falling into some discourse
- about Bargarran's daughter, took out the book, and for their own
- satisfaction, read only two sentences, and stopt. Several weeks
- after, when the minister was again attending in the night time, the
- lad being insensible, the minister, for his own diversion, read the
- preface, and some part of the process, against the witches, but had
- no reason to think he heard any thing, but on the contrary. And it is
- to be observed, when the committee of the privy council did
- accurately examine the boy in reference to this story, he still
- declared he never heard any thing of Bargarran's daughter's case
- read.
-
- What he says of 'their obliging them to pay eight pound Scots to the
- town-officer,' is in many ways false. It is false that they were
- ordered by the magistrates to pay such a sum. It is false that they
- paid all alike. It is also untruth that any of them gave what they
- had provided for their winding sheets. Nicolas Lawson, one of the
- confessing witches, her husband voluntarily gave a small piece of
- unbleached linen to the officer for his fees; and this is all the
- ground for the story of their winding-sheets.
-
- The author of the Just Reproof then proceeds to give an account of
- Mrs White and Isobel Adam. The woman brought from Anstruther was a
- Mrs White, an inhabitant of Pittenweem, who, through fear of being
- apprehended, fled thither to her daughter's house. This woman, whose
- cause is now warmly espoused by some, with no advantage to their
- reputation, and who is now insisting against the magistrates in a
- process for wrongous imprisonment, has been for many years a person
- of very bad fame. Some eighteen years ago, she pursued a woman before
- the session, in Mr Bruce the late Episcopal incumbents time, for
- calling her a witch, and succumbing in the probation. Mr Bruce urged
- her to be reconciled with the woman,--she obstinately refused,--using
- most Unchristian and revengeful expressions, which are to be seen in
- the session-register. Since the revolution, she desired admission to
- the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which was then denied her,
- because she still refused to be reconciled to that woman. Her
- scandalous carriage in refusing to cohabit with her husband to this
- day, who is a sober honest man, is generally known. This woman being
- accused by the boy as one of his tormentors, and delated by two
- confessing witches, and other presumptions of her guilt, the
- magistrates one morning sent their officer to the magistrates of
- Anstruther, desiring them on these grounds to send Mrs White to them,
- and the grounds of her imprisonment were sent in write to her, in her
- daughter Mrs Lindsay's house; and she being brought to Pittenweem,
- the two women which delated her, were confronted with her, in
- presence of the magistrates, a great many gentlemen and ministers,
- where they did accuse her to her face, and charged her particularly
- with being at a meeting in the Loan with the devil and the witches,
- and gave some binding tokens to convince her. By all which it
- appears, how little ground there is to accuse the magistrates for
- invading their neighbours jurisdiction, or load the minister with any
- concernment in the matter.
-
- As to the other instance of one brought to Pittenweem at six miles
- distance, this was the young woman Isobel Adam. About the middle of
- May, one Alexander M'Grigor delated her for an attempt to murder him
- in his own house in the night-time, with several others whom he knew
- not; and there being some surmises of other presumptions of
- witchcraft against her, the minister hearing she was occasionally in
- the town, called for her, and advised her, before her father, if
- innocent, to take proper measures for her own vindication, which she
- undertook to do, and promised to return for that end on
- advertisement, which her father engaged to give. The noise about her
- still increasing, her father was desired, according to promise, to
- call her to the place, which he declined, growing jealous of her
- guilt; on which the minister advertised her, but in case she refused,
- a letter was sent to be delivered to the gentleman on whose ground
- she lived, desiring him to send her. So soon as the advertisement was
- given, she came voluntarily to her father's house in Pittenweem, and
- so there was no occasion for force.
-
- When she came, she confessed her converse with the devil at Thomas
- Adamson's house, on the first day of January 1704; she was confronted
- with M'Grigor, and he accused her of the above mentioned attempt on
- him, which she then refused; on which she was imprisoned, and the two
- following days, she did with tears, and more than ordinary concern,
- make a free and large confession.
-
- She said Beatrix Laing aforesaid, a confessing witch, had been
- dealing with her to engage in her service, which she refused; and
- that some time thereafter, this Beatrix came for her, and desired her
- to go along to her house; when she came there, they sat down at the
- fire, and she saw a man in black cloaths, with a hat on his head,
- sitting at the table; and Beatrix said to her, since you will not
- engage with me, here is a gentleman that will see you; whereupon he
- told her, he knew she was discontented with her lot, and if she would
- serve him, he promised she should want for nothing; to which she
- yielded to serve him, and he came forward and kissed her; and she
- said, he was fearsome like, and his eyes sparkled like candles, on
- which she knew he was the devil.
-
- Again, she told, that being employed to spin in Thomas Adamson's
- house in Pittenweem, while she was lying awake in her bed in the
- night time, the devil appearing to her, where she did expressly
- renounce her baptism to the devil, by putting her hand on her head,
- and the other to her feet, the other maid lying in the bed with her
- being at the time asleep, as the maid declared before the session.
- About a fortnight after this, Beatrix Laing came to visit her, and
- asked her, if she had met with the gentleman? She answered she had,
- and also engaged with him, on which Beatrix said, I have then got my
- work wrought, and went away. And she confessed, she came to that
- meeting at M'Grigor's with the devil and several witches, viz.
- Beatrix Laing, Nicolas Lawson, Janet Corphat, Thomas Brown, and
- several others she knew not, designing to murder M'Grigor; but since
- the man awakened and prayed to God for himself, they could not do it.
- She confessed also converse with the devil at other times. All which
- is in her two confessions, signed by the magistrates, and transmitted
- to Edinburgh. Now, we desire to know what the author of this letter
- can quarrel in the magistrates or minister's conduct in this matter.
-
- As for what he says 'about the magistrates and minister refounded the
- imprisoned womens' money seven-fold.' We find this author very
- charitable on other mens' purses, but when the magistrates and
- minister design to bestow their charity, they will choose more
- deserving objects. And the Lords of Her Majesty's privy counsel
- understands themselves better than to take their measures as to what
- is just from the daring prescriptions of this author.
-
- What he says about Thomas Brown is also false, he was accused by the
- lad, and delated by three confessing witches, as being accessory to
- the attempt on M'Grigor. It is false he was starved, for his daughter
- brought him his diets punctually. Our author's fears of more murders
- are altogether groundless, and we appeal to all men of candour,
- whether this author's impudent and unjust accusation against
- magistrates and minister of murdering Thomas Brown, deserves not
- severer punishment than any thing he can charge them with.
-
- He again tells us, "the bailies justified the murder, by denying
- Christian burial." The bailies gave no order thereabout. As for
- Thomas Brown, his son-in-law, with some others, buried him. Our
- author by his next may prove, that Janet Corphat, a woman that had so
- frequently and so solemnly confessed the renounciation of her baptism
- to the devil, deserved Christian burial.
-
-
- THE END.
-
-
-
-
- A
-
- COPY
-
- OF THE
-
-     INDICTMENT OF THE WITCHES AT BORROWSTOUNESS--THE PRECEPT FOR
-       SUMMONING THE JURY AND WITNESSES--WITH THE WARRANT FOR THEIR
-       EXECUTION.
-
-
- _Copy of the Indytment._
-
- Annaple Thomsone, widow in Borrowstownes,
-
- Margaret Pringle, relict of the deceast John Campbell sive-wright
- there, &c.
-
- Yee, and ilk ane of yow ar indytted and accwsed, that where,
- notwithstanding, be the law of God, particularlie sett down in the 20
- chapter of Leviticus, and eighteen chap. of Dewtronomie, and be the
- lawes and actes of parliament of this kingdome, and constant practiq;
- thereof, particularlie be the 73 act, 29 parliament Q. Marie, the
- cryme of witchcraft is declaired to be ane horreid, abominable and
- capitall cryme, punishable with the paines of death and confiscatiown
- of moveables. Never the less it is of veritie, that you have
- comitted, and ar gwyltie of the said cryme of witchcraft, in swa far
- ye have entered in pactiown with the devill, the enemie of your
- salvatiown, and have renownced our Blissed Lord and Savior, and your
- baptizme, and have given your selffes, both soulles and bodies to the
- devil, and have bein severall mettings with the devill, and swndrie
- wyth witches in diverse places; and particularlie, ye the said
- Annaple Thomsone had a metting with the devill the tyme of your
- weidowhood, befoer yow was maried to your last husband, in your
- cwming betwixt Linlithgow and Borrowstownes, where the devil, in the
- lyknes of ane black man, told yow, that you wis ane poore puddled
- bodie, and had ane evill lyiff, and difficultie to win throw the
- world; and promesed, iff yee wald followe him, and go alongst with
- him, yow should never want, bot have ane better lyiff: and, abowt
- fyve wekes therefter, the devill appeired to yow when yow wis goeing
- to the coal-hill abowt sevin a clock in the morning. Having renewed
- his former tentatiown, you did condeschend thereto, and declared
- yowrselff content to follow him, and becwm his servant; wherewpon the
- devill threw yow to the grownd, and had carnal copwlatiown with yow;
- and ye, and each persone of yow, wis at several mettings with the
- devill in the Linkes of Borrowstowness, and in the howss of yow
- Bessie Vickar, and ye did eatt and drink with the devill, and with on
- another, and with witches in hir howss in the night tyme; and the
- devill and the said Wm Craw browght the ale which ye drank, extending
- to abowt sevin gallons, from the howss of Elizabeth Hamilton; and yow
- the said Annaple had ane other metting abowt fyve wekes ago, when you
- wis goeing to the coal-hill of Grange, and he inveitted yow to go
- alongest and drink with him in the Grange-pannes; and yow the said
- Margaret Pringil have bein ane witch thir many yeeres bygane; hath
- renowncid yowr baptisme, and becwm the devill's servant, and promeis
- to follow him; and the devill had carnall copwlatiown with yow, and
- tuik you by the right hand, whereby it was, for eight dayes,
- grevowslie pained; but having it twitched of new againe, it
- imediatlie becam haill: and yow the said Margaret Hamilton has bein
- the devill's servant these eight or nyne yeres bygane; and he appered
- and conversed with yow at the toun-well of Borrowstownes, and several
- tymes in yowr awin howss, and drank severall choppens of ale with
- you, and thereafter had carnall copwlatiown with yow; and the devill
- gave yow ane fyve merk peice of gold, whilk a lyttil efter becam ane
- sklaitt stone; and yow the said Margaret Hamilton, relict of James
- Pollwart, has bein ane witch, and the devil's servant thertie yeres
- since, haith renowncid yowr baptizme as said is, and has had carnall
- copwlatiown with the devill in the lyknes of ane man, bot he removed
- from yow in the lyknes of ane black dowg: and ye, and ilk ane of yow
- wis at ane metting with the devill and wther witches at the Croce of
- Murestaine above Kinneil, upon the threttein of October last, where
- yow all danced, and the devill acted the pyiper, and where yow
- endevored to have distroyed Androw Mitchell, sone to John Mitchell,
- elder in Dean of Kinneill.
-
-
- _Precept_ qra _Witches, and the Witnesses and Assyissers, 1679_.
-
- ---- Cochran of Barbbachlay, Richard Elphinstown of ----, Saindelands
- of Hilderstown, ---- Cornwal of Bonhard, Robert Hamilton of Dechmont,
- baillzie of the regallitie of Borrowstownes, Sir John Harper advocat,
- Mr William Dundas, and Mr John Prestowne advocats, commissioners of
- justiciarie, speciallie constitwte, nominat, and appoynted by the
- lordes off his majestie's most honowrable privie cownsell for the
- tryall and jwdging of the persones after namit; To our lovitts ----
- messengers, macers, and officers of cowrt, owr shirriffs in that
- pairt, conjunctlie and severallie, speciallie constitwte, greitting:
- For sameikillais the ---- day of ----is appoynted by ws for the
- trying and judging off Anabill Thomson widow in Borrowstownes,
- Margaret Pringle relict of the decist John Campbell sive-wright ther,
- Margaret Hamilton relict of the deceist James Pollwart ther, Wm. Craw
- indweller ther, Bessie Viccar relict of the deceist James Pennie
- indweller ther, and Margarett Hamilton relict of the deceist Thomas
- Mitchell, who are apprehendit and imprisoned in the tolbuith of
- Borrowstownes, as suspect gwilty of the abominable cryme of
- witchcraft, by entering into pactiown with the devill, renwncing
- their baptism and comitting of _malificies_: Wherefoir nescessary it
- is, that the saides persons should be summonded to wnderlye the lawe
- for the samen, and that witness and assyssers should be cited against
- them, to the effect, and under the paines efter specifiet. HEREFOIR,
- this precept sein, we chairge you passe, and in owr soveraigne lordes
- name and authority, and owrs, comand and chairge the saides persones
- above compleaned upon, to compeir befoir ws, or any three of us (who
- are by our said commissiown declaired to be a quorum), within the
- said tolbuith of Borrowstownes, the nyneteen day of December nixt, in
- the howr of cawse, ther to wnderlye the lawe, for the crymes above
- specifiet, and that under the paines contained in the new acts of
- parliament: And sicklyik, summon, wairne and chairge ane assyse of
- honest and famous persones, not exceeding the number of fortie-five,
- togither with such witnesses who best know the veritie of the
- persones above compleaned upon ther gwiltynes, to compeir befoir us,
- day and place foirsaid, in the howr of cawse, the persones of[10]
- witness, to bear leall and soothfast witnessing in the premiss, and
- the inqueist to passe upon the assyse each persone, under the paine
- of ane hundreth merks, according to justice, ais ye will answer to us
- therwpon: the whilk to doe commits to you, conjunctlie and severalie,
- our fwll power, be thir our lettres, delyvering them be you dewllie
- execut and indorset againe to the beirer. Given under our hands at
- Borrowstownes, the twentie-nynt day of November, ane thousande six
- hunder and seventie nyne yeirs.
-
-   [10] This word is interlined, and the word inqueist scored out.
-
-  (_Sic Subscribitur_)
-
-  R. HAMILTON,
-  J. CORNWALL,
-  RICH. ELPHENSTONE,
-  W. DUNDAS.
-
-
- _Ane List of the Persones to be warned to passe upon the Assyse for
-   Judging the Witches in Borrowstownes._
-
- _Barronie of Carridin._
-
-  Robert Ballendin elder in Northbank,
-  Alex. Brown in Bonhard,
-  John Irwyne there,
-  James Lamb there,
-  George Storie in Mure-edge,
-  Thomas Knox wiver in Littill Carridin,
-  John Meldrum ther,
-  George Yowng in Murrayes,
-  John Brown oversman ther,
-  George Smyth ther,
-  John Robertsone in Bonhard-panns,
-  John Daviesone ther,
-  John Pooll ther.
-
- _Town of Borrowstownes._
-
-  George Bennet,
-  James Cassilles elder, skipper,
-  Alex. Drysdaill skipper,
-  James Hardie glover,
-  Alex. Randie baxter
-  Richard Carss,
-  James Hamilton elder,
-  James Hwtton baxter,
-  Andrew Hamilton,
-  Thomas Downie,
-  James Mwngill wiver,
-  Rob. Downie.
-
- _Barronie of Kinneill._
-
-  George Gib in Kinneil Carss,
-  Alex. Gib in Inneraven,
-  John Glen ther
-  John Baird ther
-  James Dobbie in Nether Kinneil,
-  Patrick Hardie ther,
-  John Dick in Woodheid,
-  John Wilson in Over Kinneil,
-  James Thomson ther,
-  James Lithgow in Balderstown,
-  John Hardie, maltman in Burrowstown,
-  James Thomson ther.
-
- _Barronie of Pollmont._
-
-  James Burn of Clerkstoun,
-  James Monteth of Myln-hall,
-  Alex. Whyte in Hill,
-  Patrick Ballanden of Parkend,
-  John Mairschell in Whyteside,
-  Andrew Johnstown in Pollmont,
-  David Ballanden in Redding,
-  James Gaff ther,
-  George Mureheid ther,
-  William Rwchat of Ruch-haugh,
-  John Grintown in Gillstown Loanfoote,
-  Henry Taylor in Whyteside,
-  John Purgat of Bruchtown Crag.
-
-
- _Order and Warrand for Burning the Witches of Borrowstownes, Dec. 19,
-   1679._
-
- Forsameikle as Annabil Thomson widdow in Borrowstownes, Margaret
- Pringle relict of the deceast John Campbell ther, Margaret Hamiltown
- relict of the deceast James Pollwart ther, William Craw indweller
- ther, Bessie Wicker relict of the deceast James Pennie ther, and
- Margaret Hamiltown relict of the deceast Thomas Mitchell ther,
- prisoners in the tolbuith of Borrowstownes, are found guiltie be ane
- assyse, of the abominable cryme of witchcraft committed be them, in
- maner mentioned in their dittayes, and are decerned and adjudged be
- us under subscryvers (commissioners of justiciary speciallie
- appoynted to this effect) to be taken to the west end of
- Borrowstownes, the ordinar place of execution ther, upon Tuesday the
- twentie-third day of December current, betwixt two and four a clock
- in the efternoon, and ther to be wirried at a steack till they be
- dead, and there-efter to have their bodies burnt to ashes. These
- therefoir require and command the baylie principal off the regalitie
- of Borrowstownes, and his deputts, to see the said sentance and doom
- put to dew execution in all poynts, as yee will be answerable. Given
- under our hands at Borrowstownes the nynteenth day of December 1679
- yeirs.
-
-  W. DUNDAS,
-  RICH. ELPHINSTONE,
-  WA. SANDILANDS,
-  J. CORNWALL,
-  J. HAMILTON.
-
-
-
-
- TRIAL
-
- OF
-
- ISOBEL ELLIOT, AND NINE OTHER WOMEN.
-
- _Records of Justiciary, September 13, 1678._
-
-
- In 1678, Isobel Elliot and nine other women were tried for witchcraft
- in one day. The articles of indictment against all of them were
- pretty much the same. Those exhibited against Isobel Elliot were as
- follows: That about two years ago she staid at home from the _kirk_
- at the desire of her mistress, who was a witch, when the devil had a
- meeting with the prisoner, her mistress, and two other witches; that
- he kissed the prisoner, baptized her on the face _with an waff of his
- hand like a dewing_, and offered to lie with her, but forbore because
- she was with child; that after she was kirked the devil often met
- her, and had _carnal copulation_ with her. The prisoner and the other
- nine miserable women underwent all the legal forms incident to their
- unhappy situation among that deluded and barbarous people. They had
- been prosecuted by his Majesty's Advocate; they judicially
- acknowledged their guilt, were convicted by the jury, condemned by
- the judges, and burned by the executioner,--_for having had carnal
- copulation with the devil_!!!
-
-
-
-
- THE
-
- CONFESSIONS
-
- OF
-
- HELEN TAYLOR IN EYEMOUTH,
-
- AND
-
- _MENIE HALYBURTON IN DIRLTON_,
-
- ACCUSED OF WITCHCRAFT, 1649.
-
- WITH THE
-
- DECLARATION
-
- OF
-
- JOHN KINCAID, PRICKER.
-
- COPIED FROM THE ORIGINALS.
-
-
-
-
- THE
-
- CONFESSIOUN
-
- OF
-
- HELENE TAILZEAR.
-
-
- JUL 8, 1649.
-
- Being the Sabbath day, Mr Samuel Dowglas, preaching at Eymouth, after
- sermon, Helen Tailzear desyred to speik with the said Mr Samuell, who
- coming to hir, thair being also present Samuel Lauder and George
- Halliday, she confessed these particularis, viz. _first_, at
- Candilmas bygon two yeirs, scho cam into Isobell Brown's hous, quhair
- the divill was sitting in the liknes of a gentill man at the tabill
- drinking with Isobell Brown, who took hir in his armes without any
- moir speiking at that tyme.
-
- _Secondlie_, Scho declairs, that after shee cam to Isobell Brown's
- hous * * * * * whair the divill was in the same likness as befor, and
- layd his hand upon hir head, and sayd, you sall be on of myne so long
- as you live. And that he gave hir two dolleris, and when shoe cam
- home they wer butt twa stanes.
-
- _Thirdlie_, Shee declairs, that shee was at ane meiting with Isobell
- Brown, Alison Cairns, Margaret Dobson, and Beatrix Young, and that
- thai went all along to William Burnettis hous, he lying sick, and
- that coming to the hous, Margaret Dobson was in the liknes of ane
- black hen, and went in at the chimley head, and Beatrix Young in the
- liknes of a litill foall, and that hirself was in the liknes of ane
- litill quhelp; Isobell Brown wes in hir owin liknes, with a long
- tail'd courtshaw upon hir head, and Allison Cairns wes in hir owin
- liknes; and that Isobell Brown desired her to go into William
- Burnettis bot shee refuissed, quhairupon Isobell Brown did stryk her
- * * * * * on the back.
-
- _Fourtlie_, Shee declairs that Marioun Robisson wes ane witch, and
- that shee was William Burnit's death.
-
-  (Signed) MR SAMUEL DOUGLAS, _Minister
-  at Coldinghame_.
-  S. LAUDER.
-  G. HALLIDAY.
-
-
-
-
- THE
-
- DEPOSITION
-
- OF
-
- MENIE HALIBURTOUN.
-
-
-  _At Dirltoun, June, 1649._
-
- Compeirit Menie Halliburton, prissoner within the Castle, suspect of
- the cryme of witchcraft, delaitit guiltie be Agnes Clerkson, lait
- sufferer for the said cryme; as also be Patrik Watsone, spouse to the
- said Menie, who lykewisse sufferit thairfoir, and confessit, that
- auchtein yeir syne, or thairby, hir dochter being seik, scho first
- sent for Patrik Chrystison in Aberledie, to cum and cure hir dochter,
- and he refuising, went hirself for him, who refused to cure hir; and
- within * * * days after came the devill in liknes of a man into hir
- hous, calling himself a physition, and said to her, that he had good
- salves (and namelie oylispek), whairwith he would cure hir dochter;
- and aggreing with him for some of his salves quhilk he gave hir, shee
- gave him two Inglis shillings. He then departed, and promised to come
- agane within eight dayis, whilk accordinglie he did, bot or he went
- away the first tyme, shee gave him milk and breid; and Patrik
- Watsone coming in, he sent for a pynt of ale; bot at his second
- coming he stayit all night, and upon the morne airlie (Patrick being
- furth), in cam the divill and lay doun with hir, scho being yitt in
- bed, and had carnal copulatioun with hir, his nature being cald. He
- desyrit hir to renunce Chryst and hir baptisme, and become his
- servant, quhilk scho did. And sayis, that hir dochter had the wyte of
- all hir wickit wissing, and wissing she had nevir beene borne.
-
- This deposition was renewed in all the particulars by the said Menie,
- in the foresaid place, on Sunday the first of July, 1649, before
- Alexander Levingston of Saltcoatts, James Borthwick chamberlane,
- James Lawder, John Stalker baillie, Wm. Dalzell, and Mr John M'Ghie,
- minister at Dirltoun.
-
- (Signed) J. MAKGHIE.
-          ALEX. LEVINGSTOUN, _witness_.
-          JA. BORTHWICK.
-          JAMES LAUDER.
-          JOHN STALKER.
-          W. DALZELL.
-          WALTER MARSHALL.
-
-
-
-
- THE DECLARATION OF JOHN KINCAID.
-
-
- JUNE, 1649.
-
- The whilk day, in presence of Alex. Levingston of Saltcoattis, James
- Borthwick chalmerlain of Dirltoun, John Stalker baillie thairof,
- James Foirman in Drem, Mr James Achieson in North-Berwick, and
- William Dalzell notar, Patrick Watson in West Fenton, and Menie
- Haliburtoun his spous, bruitted and long suspect of witchcraft, _of
- thair awin frie will uncompellit_, heiring that I John Kincaid under
- subscryvand wes in the toune of Dirltoune, and had some skill and
- dexterity in trying of the divillis marke in the personis of such as
- wer suspect to be witches, came to the broad hall in the Castell of
- Dirltoune, and desyred me the said John Kincaid to use my tryall of
- thame as I had done on utheris, whilk when I had done, I found the
- divillis marke upon the bak syde of the said Patrik Watsone, a
- littill under the point of his left shoulder, and upon the left syde
- of the said Menie Halyburtoun hir neck a littill above her left
- shoulder, whairof thay wer not sensible, neither cam furth thairof
- any bloode after I had tryed the samin as exactlie as ever I did any
- uthers. This I testifie to be of veritie upon my credit and
- conscience. In witnes quhairof, I have subscryvit thir presentis with
- my hand, day and place forsaid, befoir ther witnesses above
- specifiet.
-
-  J. K.
-
-          ALEX. LEVINGSTOUN, _witness_.
-          JA. BORTHWICK, _witness_.
-          JOHN STALKER, _witness_.
-          JAMES FORMAN, _witness_.
-          JA. ACHESONE, _witness_.
-          W. DALZELL, _witness_.
-
-
-
-
- THE TRIAL OF WILLIAM COKE AND ALISON DICK, FOR WITCHCRAFT.
-
- _Extracted from the Minutes of the Kirk-Session of Kirkaldy, A. D.
- 1636._
-
-
-  _September 6th, 1633._
-
- The which day, compeared Alison Dick, challenged upon some speeches
- uttered by her against William Coke, tending to witchcraft,--denied
- the samyne.
-
-     1. Compeared Alexander Savage, Andrew Nicol, and George Tillie,
-     who being admitted and sworn, deponed as follows: The said
-     Alexander Savage, that he heard the said Alison Dick say to her
-     husband William Coke, 'Thou has put down many ships; it had been
-     gude for the people of Kirkaldie, that they had knit a stone
-     about thy neck and drowned thee.'
-
-     2. Andrew Nicol deponed, that he heard the said Alison say to
-     him, 'Thou has gotten the woman's song laid, as thou promised;
-     thou art over-long living; it had been gude for the women of
-     Kirkaldy, that thou had been dead long since. I shall cause all
-     the world wonder upon thee.'
-
-     3. George Tillie deponed, that he heard her say to him, 'It had
-     been gude for the women of Kirkaldy, to put him to death; and
-     that he had died seven years since.'
-
- Also compeared Jean Adamson, Kathrine Spens, Marion Meason, Isobel
- Murison, Alison Kelloch, who being admitted and sworn, deponed as
- follows:
-
-     4. Jean Adamson deponed, that she heard Alison Dick say to her
-     husband William Coke, 'Thief! Thief! what is this that I have
-     been doing? keeping the thretty years from meikle evil doing.
-     Many pretty men has thou putten down both in ships and boats;
-     thou has gotten the woman's song laid now. Let honest men puddle
-     and work as they like, if they please not thee well, they shall
-     not have meikle to the fore when they die.'
-
-     5. Kathrine Spens deponed, that she heard her say to him, 'Common
-     thief, I have hindered thee from many ill turns doing, both to
-     ships and boats.'
-
-     6. Marion Meason deponed, that she heard her say, 'Common thief,
-     mony ill turn have I hindered thee from doing thir thretty
-     years; mony ships and boats has thou put down; and when I would
-     have halden the string to have saved one man, thou wald not.'
-
-     7. Isobel Murison deponed, that she heard her say to him, 'Thief,
-     thief, I have keeped thee from doing many ill turnes. Thou has
-     now laid the woman's song.'
-
-
- _September 24th, 1633._
-
-     8. Compeared Janet Allan, relict of umquhile John Duncan fisher,
-     deponed, that Alison Dick came in upon a certain time to her
-     house, when she was lying in of a bairn, and craved some sour
-     bakes; and she denying to give her any, the said Alison said,
-     your bairns shall beg yet, (as they do.) And her husband being
-     angry at her, reproved her; and she abused him in language; and
-     when he strak her, she said, that she should cause him rue it;
-     and she hoped to see the powarts bigg in his hair; and within
-     half a year he was casten away, and his boat, and perished.
-
-     9. Janet Sauders, daughter-in-law to the said William Coke and
-     Alison Dick, deponed, that William Coke came in to her, and she
-     being weeping, he demanded the cause of it, she answered, it was
-     for her husband. The said William said, What ails thee? Thou wilt
-     get thy gudman again, but ye will get him both naked and bare;
-     and whereas there was no word of him for a long time before, he
-     came home within two days thereafter, naked and bare as he said;
-     the ship wherein he was being casten away.
-
-     4, 10. Jean Adamson deponed, that when her gudman sailed with
-     David Robertson, the said David having sent him home with a ship
-     to come for Scotland, there was a long time that there was no
-     word of that ship; so that David Robertson coming home, and the
-     other ship not come, nor no word from her, he said he would never
-     see her. The said Alison Dick came in to her, (she with her
-     bairns being weeping), and said, What ails ye Jean to weep? She
-     answered, We have all good cause to weep for my husband, whom we
-     will never see more. The said Alison said, hold your tongue, your
-     gudman and all the company are well enough; they are in Norway
-     loading their ship with timber to come home, they will be here
-     shortly. And so it fell out in every point as she said.
-
-     5, 11. Kathrine Spens deponed, that William Coke came in to her,
-     after that his wife had spoken so much evil to him, and said,
-     Kathrine, my wife has spoken meikle ill of me this day, but I
-     said nothing to her again. If I had spoken two words to her the
-     last time she was in the steeple, she would never have gotten out
-     of it.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     Minutes of 24th September, ordains Mr James Miller to ride to
-     Preston for the man that tries the witches. The expence to be
-     paid by the Town and Session.
-
-
- _September 8th,_
-
-     12. Compeared Isobel Hay, spouse to Alexander Law, against Alison
-     Dick, who being sworn, deponed, that she having come in to her
-     house, her husband being newly sailed, she craved some money of
-     her, which she refused, and boasted her. The said Alison said, It
-     shall gang wair geats; and that same voyage, her husband had
-     great loss. And thereafter, the said Alison came in to her house,
-     she being furth, and took her sister by the hand, and since that
-     time, the maiden had never been in her right wits.
-
-     13. William Bervie declared, that Robert Whyt having once
-     stricken William Coke, Alison Dick his wife, came to the said
-     Robert, and said, Wherefore have ye stricken my husband? I shall
-     cause you rue it. The said Robert replying, What sayest thou? I
-     shall give you as much--you witch. She answered, 'Witches take
-     the wit and the grace from you;' and that same night, he was
-     bereft of his wits.
-
-     14. Janet Whyt, daughter to the said Robert, compearing, affirmed
-     the said dittay to be true upon her oath. And added, that she
-     went to the said Alison, and reproved her, laying the wyt of her
-     father's sickness upon her. Let him pay me then, and he will be
-     better; but if he pay me not, he will be worse; for there is none
-     that does me wrong, but I go to my god and complains upon them,
-     and within 24 hours I will get amends of them. The said Janet
-     Whyt declared, that Alison Dick said to her servant, Agnes
-     Fairlie, I have gotten a grip of your gudwife's thigh; I shall
-     get a grip of her leg next; the said Janet having burnt her thigh
-     before with lint: and thereafter she has taken such a pain in her
-     leg, that she can get no remedy for it. Whilk the said Agnes
-     Fairlie deponed upon her great oath to be true.
-
-     15. Alison Dick herself declared, that David Paterson, skipper,
-     having struck William Coke her husband, and drawn him by the
-     feet, and compelled him to bear his gear aboard, the said William
-     cursed the said David, and that voyage he was taken by the
-     Dunkirkers. Also, at another time thereafter, he compelled him to
-     bear his gear aboard, and a captain's who was with him, and when
-     the captain would have paid him, the said David would not suffer
-     him; but he himself gave him what he liked. The said William
-     cursed the said David very vehemently; and at that time he
-     himself perished, his ship, and all his company, except two or
-     three. Also she declared, that when his own son sailed in David
-     Whyt's ship, and gave not his father his bonnallie,[11] the said
-     William said, What? Is he sailed, and given me nothing? The devil
-     be with him; if ever he come home again, he shall come home naked
-     and bare; and so it fell out. For John Whyt, who had that ship
-     freighted to Norway, and another wherein himself was, declared,
-     that they had very foul weather; and the ship wherein the said
-     young William Coke was, perished; and he saved all the men in the
-     ship wherein he was himself. And albeit the storm increased two
-     days before the perishing of the said ship, and six days after,
-     yet the two hours space in which they were saving the men, it was
-     so calm in that part of the sea, that they rowed from one ship to
-     the other with two oars, and the sea was all troublesome about
-     them. And the said William Coke the younger, was the first man
-     that came a shipboard.
-
-       [11] His farewell cup.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     _Paction._--The same day, Alison Dick being demanded by Mr James
-     Simson, minister, when, and how, she fell in covenant with the
-     devil? She answered, her husband mony times urged her, and she
-     yielded only two or three years since. The manner was thus--He
-     gave her, soul and body, quick and quidder full to the devil, and
-     bade her do so. But she in her heart said, God guide me. And then
-     she said to him, I shall do any thing that ye bid me: and so she
-     gave herself to the devil in the foresaid words.--This she
-     confessed about four hours at even, freely, without compulsion,
-     before Mr James Simson, minister, William Tennent, baillie,
-     Robert French, town-clerk, Mr John Malcolme, schoolmaster,
-     William Craig, and me, the said Mr James Miller, writer hereof.
-
-
- _October 15th._
-
-     16. The which day, compeared Christian Ronaldson, against Alison
-     Dick, who, in her presence being sworn, deponed, that she having
-     set an house to the said Alison, and when the gudman came home he
-     was angry, and said, he would not have the devil to dwell above
-     him in the closs; and he went and struck up the door, and put
-     forth the chimney that she put in it. And thereafter, Alison came
-     to the said Christian, and chopped upon her shoulder, and said to
-     her, Christie, your gudman is going to sail, and he has ane stock
-     among his hands, but ere long, his stock shall be as short as
-     mine. And so it fell out, for he was casten away in David Whyt's
-     ship, and saved nothing.
-
-
- _October 22d._
-
-     17. Compeared Merjory Marshall, against Alison Dick, who being
-     sworn, deponed, that Alison having brought her gudman's cloaths
-     once from the Castle-haven,[12] she offered her 12d for her
-     labour, who would not have it; and she said to her, Alison, there
-     is not many of them. She answered, they shall be fewer the next
-     time; and the next voyage he was cast away in David Whyt's ship.
-
-       [12] Probably Ravenscraig Castle, at the east end of Pathhead.
-       ED.
-
-     18. Compeared also Kathrine Wilson, who being sworn, deponed,
-     that she and Janet Whyt being sliding together, Alison Dick came
-     to them, and asked silver from Janet Whyt, who would give her
-     none, but fled her company into the said Kathrine's house, and
-     she followed, and she gave her a piece bread, and Janet Whyt bade
-     her give her a plack also, and she should pay her again. And when
-     she got it, she said, Is this all that she gives me? If she had
-     given me a groat, it would have vantaged her a thousand punds.
-     This is your doing, evil tidings come upon you. And she went down
-     the closs, and pissed at their meal-cellar door; and after that,
-     they had never meal in that cellar, (they being meal makers.) And
-     thereafter they bought a horse at 40 lib., and the horse never
-     carried a load to them but two, but died in the _batts, louping
-     to death_, so that every body said that he was witched.
-
-
- _October 29th._
-
-     19. Euphen Boswell being sworn, deponed, that her gudman being to
-     sail to the East country, loaden with salt, the said Alison Dick
-     having born some of the salt aboard, she came to her and craved
-     money from her, who gave her meat, but would give her no money,
-     saying to her, Alison, my gudman has paid you himself, and
-     therefore, I will give you nothing. She replied, Will ye give me
-     nothing? I hope in God it will be better sharp (cheaper) sold nor
-     it was bought: and so it fell out, for the ship sailed upon the
-     morn, and the day after that, she sank, salt and all, except the
-     men, who were saved by another ship that was near by them.
-
-     20. Thomas Mustard being sworn, deponed, that James Wilson going
-     once to sail, Alison Dick came to him, and desyred silver from
-     him, he would give her none; she abused him with language, and he
-     struck her; she said to him, that that hand should do him little
-     good that voyage; and within two days after, his hand swelled as
-     great as a pint-stoup, so that he could get little or nothing
-     done with it. The next time also when he was to sail, the said
-     Alison went betwixt him and the boat; and he said, Yon same witch
-     thief is going betwixt me and the boat, I must have blood of her;
-     and he went and struck her, and bled her, and she cursed him and
-     banned him; and that same voyage, he being in Caithness, standing
-     upon the shore cleithing a tow, and a boy with him, the sea came
-     and took him away, and he died; and the boy was well enough.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     Desires Mr Robert Douglas[13] to go to the Archbishop with this
-     process, to get his approbation thereto, who takes upon him to do
-     the same.
-
-       [13] Who preached the famous coronation sermon of Charles II. at
-       Scone, January 1st 1651.
-
-     _Minute of November 19th._--5s. given for a load of coals to
-       Alison Dick;--14s. for her entertainment this week bygone, being
-       this day, with her husband William Coke, burnt for witchcraft.
-
-
- _In the minute of 17th December, there is a particular account of the
- Town and Session's extraordinary Debursements for William Coke and
- Alison Dick, Witches._
-
-  _In primis._--To Mr James Miller, when
-                he went to Prestowne for
-                a man to try them, 47s.      L2  7
-
-      _Item._--To the man of Culross,
-               (the executioner) when he
-               went away the first time,
-               12s.                           0 12
-
-      _Item._--For coals for the witches,
-               24s.                           1  4
-
-      _Item._--In purchasing the commission,  9  3
-
-      _Item._--For one to go to Finmouth
-               for the laird to sit upon
-               their assise as judge,         0  6
-
-      _Item._--For harden to be jumps to
-               them,                          3 10
-
-      _Item._--For making of them,            0  8
-
-                                             -----
-    Summa for the kirk's part               L17  1 Scots.
-
-     _The Town's part of Expenses Debursed extraordinarily upon
-     William Coke and Alison Dick._
-
-  _In primis._--For ten loads of coals to
-                burn them, 5 merks,         L3  6  8
-
-       _Item._--For a tar barrel, 14s.       0 14  0
-
-       _Item._--For towes,                   0  6  0
-
-       _Item._--To him that brought the
-                executioner,                 2 18  0
-
-       _Item._--To the executioner for
-                his pains,                   8 14  0
-
-       _Item._--For his expenses here,       0 16  4
-
-       _Item._--For one to go to Finmouth
-                for the laird,               0  6  0
-                                             -------
-       Summa town's part,                  L17  1  0 Scots.
-           Both,                            34 11  0
-
-
-     _The following account is a voucher of a payment made by
-       Alexander Louddon, a factor on the estate of Burncastle, the
-       proprietor being then a minor and infant. It is entered in the
-       factor's books thus:_
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     Mair for Margarit Dunhome the time sche was in prison, and was
-     put to death, 065: 14: 4.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     Count gifin out be Alexander Louddon in Lylstoun, in ye yeir of
-     God 1649 yeiris, for Margrit Dollmoune in Burncastell.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-     Item, in ye first, to Wm. Currie and Andrew Gray for the watching
-     of hir ye space of 30 days, inde ilk day, xxx sh inde
-
-  xlv lib Scotts
-
-     Item mair to Jon Kinked; for brodding of her[14]
-
-       [14] See his declaration, page 111.
-
-  vi lib Scotts
-
-     Mair for meat and drink and wyne to him and his man
-
-  iiij lib Scotts
-
-     Mair for cloth to hir
-
-  iij lib Scotts
-
-     Mair for twa tare treis
-
-  xl sh Scotts
-
-     Item mair for twa treis, and ye making of them to the warkmen
-
-  iij lib Scotts
-
-     Item to ye hangman in Hadingtoun, and fetchin of him, thrie
-     dollores for his pens, is
-
-  iiij lib xiiii sh
-
-     Item mair for meit and drink and wyne for his intertinge
-
-  iii lib Scotts
-
-     Item mair fer ane man and twa horss, for ye fetcheing of him, and
-     taking of him hame agane
-
-  xl sh Scotts
-
-     Mair to hir for meit and drink ilk ane day, iiij sh the space of
-     xxx dayes, is
-
-  vi lib Scotts
-
-     Item mair to ye twa officers for yr fie ilk day sex shilline
-     aught pennes, is
-
-  x lib Scotts
-
-     Summa is iiij scoir xii lib xiiij sh
-
-  GHILBERT LAUDER.
-
-  UM. LAUDER BILZAURS.
-
-
-     Takin of this above written soume twentie-seaven pundis Scotis
-     qlk the said umql Margrit Dinham had of her ain.
-
-      92: 14: --
-      27: --: --
-      ----------
-      65: 14: --
-
-
-
-
-  MINUTES
-
-  AND
-
-  PROCEEDINGS OF THE SESSION
-
-  OF
-
-  TORRYBURN, IN FIFESHIRE,
-
-  CONCERNING
-
-  _WITCHCRAFT_.
-
-  WITH THE
-
-  CONFESSION
-
-  OF
-
-  LILLIAS ADIE.
-
-
-  TAKEN FROM THE SESSION RECORDS
-
-
-
-
- MINUTES, &c.
-
-  _Torry, June 30th, 1704._
-
-     SEDERUNT, WM. HUTTON, WM. DALGLISH, WM. REID, JOHN MITCHELL,
-       DAVID CURRY, GEO. TILLOCH, WITH THE MINISTER.
-
-
- The session being called, _pro re nata_, upon a flagrant rumour, that
- Jean Bizet, wife to James Tanochie, had been molested by Satan, and
- had complained of some particular person of the devil's instruments
- in that trouble that she lay under. Whereupon the minister ordered
- the officer to cite the said Jean Bizet, also Lilias Adie and Janet
- Whyte, whom she was said to complain of; and also to cite Mary
- Wilson, who is said to have taken the charm by stroking up her head;
- and also, he ordered the officer to cite Tanochie's daughter, with
- James Tanochie, James Whyte and his wife, Helen Anderson, and Mary
- Nielson, who are said to know something of the circumstances of that
- affair.
-
-     _1mo_, Jean Bizet being called, compeared not, upon which the
-     officer is ordered to cite her to the next.
-
-     _2do_, There being a public report that Janet Whyte should have
-     threatened James Tanochie's family with a mischief, but
-     particularly his wife, before this befell; the said Janet was
-     called, and interrogate, if ever she threatened James Tanochie's
-     wife, she declares, that she never threatened any such thing, nor
-     thought so. Moreover, she said, that James his wife would not say
-     so, otherwise she would lay down her head upon a scaffold. She
-     said, that she was not at her since she took that distemper, and
-     saw her not since, but saw her on the Monday before, and her
-     husband's daughter, and Jean Archibald in Culross; but upon the
-     morrow the woman was troubled. James White being called,
-     declared, that Jean Bizet was in a distemper upon Tuesday the
-     13th day of June, in Helen Anderson's house, betwixt 9 and 10 at
-     night, and seemed drunk.
-
-     _3tio_, That she drank not a gill in that house, but before she
-     came to Helen's house, she was about half an hour in Mary
-     Wilson's.
-
-     _4to_, She seemed to be strangely distempered, and he heard her
-     say, Agnes, beware lest Lilias Adie come upon you and your child.
-
-     _2d_, She said to Mary Nielson, Lilias Adie thinks to use me as
-     she used your sister.
-
-     _3tio_, She complained upon Mary Wilson, but none saw the said
-     Mary; as she went home, she cryed, _now, now, Jenny, I'll be
-     felled now, there three blew doublets_, frequently, and wringing
-     her hands. _Note_--She got a considerable sleep in Helen
-     Anderson's.
-
-     _5to_, As she went home, he had let her go, and she not only
-     went freely, but did run violently, without stumbling in the
-     least, the breadth of Torry Park, and he had difficulty to
-     overtake her, notwithstanding there was both a dyke and furrows
-     in the way.
-
-     _6to_, He declared, that he heard that the next day she was no
-     better.
-
-     _7no_, He declared, that on the Monday before, Janet Whyte said
-     to him, before James Alexander in Drumfin, that she would make
-     Jean Bizet forethink what she had done to her in not paying her
-     two barrels of ale which she sold her, on this purpose she could
-     not get the maltman payed.
-
-     _3tio_, Helen Anderson being called, declared, that Jean Bizet
-     was in her house, out of Mary Wilson's, about 5 or 6 at night the
-     foresaid day, and she seemed to be strangely distempered. _2dly_,
-     Her eyes raised, and could drink none. _3tio_, Ater she had
-     sleeped from 6 to near 9, and when she awaked, she cryed, _by God
-     he is going to take me! by Christ he is going to take me! O Lilly
-     with her blew doublet! O Mary, Mary Wilson!_ repeating _Christ
-     keep me!_ Upon which Helen said to her husband, did you ever see
-     her in this condition? He answered, never in my life, but she is
-     too much taken up with that company, but let me to her, I shall
-     ding the devil out of her. For this she appeals to James Tanochie
-     and his son, She and James Whyte declares both, that they are
-     clear to depone the same.
-
- Agnes Henderson, wife to James Whyte, called, compeared, declared,
- that she was sent for to James Tanochie's wife the day foresaid, who
- was in a great trouble, and never saw her in the like. _2d_, That she
- sleept a while, and when she awoke, she cryed, _O God! O Christ!
- there is Lily coming to take me, and three blew doublets! O Mary
- Wilson keep me, she is coming!_ She adds, that Jean was in Mary
- Wilson's before she came to Helen Anderson's, and she said, that she
- desired her to go home, for Lilly will take you and the child both.
- She heard her say to Mary Wilson, it was not to you that she did
- evil, but to your sister, what aileth her at me, I never did her any
- ill. And as she went home, she seemed raised, but went and spak very
- well, and she went with her, she heard her speak often of Lilly by
- the way, that she was coming to take her. And she adds, that as she
- came first into the Newmiln, that she looked and spoke as heartsomely
- as ever she saw her, and seemed no way disordered; and having carried
- one of James Whyte's children from the Newmiln to James's house. And,
- on the next day, being Wednesday, she went to see how she was, and
- found her complaining of a sore head, and in a sweat, and she seemed
- not right; and she says, she is clear to depone what she has
- declared.
-
- Mary Nielson being called in, said, that when Jean Bizet came to her
- mistress Helen Anderson her house, she was not within, but she was
- within when she awoke out of her sleep. _2d_, She heard her say, _O
- God! O Christ Jesus keep me!_ _3tio_, She heard her say, _O keep me!
- keep me! there she is coming, Lilly Adie with her blew doublet!_
- _4to_, _O Mary Wilson! O Mary Wilson!_ _5to_, She said, as she went
- away out of the house, she did no ill to you, but to your sister. She
- is clear to depone all this.
-
- Jean Bizet being called in, declares, that on the foresaid Tuesday,
- she came to the Newmiln in the forenoon, carrying James Whyte's son
- on her back from the Craigmiln, and James Whyte was with her. _2d_,
- She came first to Helen Anderson her house, and her husband being
- upon business, she went to Helen Tilloch her house. _3tio_, She went
- to Mary Wilson's house, where Lott Nicol, with Isobel Harlay, were
- drinking in the room next to the door, and she went by them to the
- room, where Mary Wilson filled a pint of ale and desired her to drink
- of it. She took a drink, but did not drink beyond a gill of it; and
- Helen Tilloch, and Jean Tilloch, came in and drank the rest, with
- many others. _4to_, She could scarcely have been a quarter of an hour
- there, and that she returned to Helen Anderson her house immediately.
-
- Mary Wilson called, said, when Jean Bizet came to her house, she
- called for a choppin of ale, and stayed until that was drunk, and
- another was filled, and a part of that was drunk. _2d_, There was
- none but Helen Tilloch and Jean Bizet, and herself, at the drinking
- of that ale. _3tio_, Euphan Nicol came in, and she took a drink of
- it. _4to_, She declares, that Jean Tilloch was not within the door
- then. _5to_, Robert Nicol and Catharine Mitchell, and Margaret
- Nicol, sister to Robert Nicol, were drinking at the fire-side. _6to_,
- She declares, that she seemeed no ways disordered with drink, nor any
- other way. _7no_, She went up to her on Thursday afternoon, and she
- found her lying on her bed, and straked her head, and whether she was
- immediately the better of it, or not, she knew not; but she left her
- sitting at the fire-side with her child on her knee.
-
- Jean Bizet says, Jean Tilloch was really there. _2d_, She says it was
- Friday afternoon before she settled.
-
-
- _Torryburn, 29th July, 1704.--After Prayer, Sederunt, Minister and
-   Elders._
-
- Lillias Adie being accused of witchcraft by Jean Neilson, who is
- dreadfully tormented, the said Lillias was incarcerate by Bailie
- Williamson about ten of the night upon the 28th of July.
-
- Lillias being exhorted to declare the truth, and nothing but truth,
- she replied, what I am to say shall be as true as the sun is in the
- firmament.
-
- Being interrogate if she was in compact with the devil, she replied,
- I am in compact with the devil, and have been so since before the
- second burning of the witches in this place. She further declared,
- that the first time she met with the devil was at the Gollet, between
- Torryburn and Newmilne, in the harvest, before the sun set, where he
- trysted to meet her the day after, which tryst she kept, and the
- devil took her to a stook side, and caused her renounce her baptism;
- the ceremony he used was, he put one hand on the crown of her head,
- and the other on the soles of her feet, with her own consent, and
- caused her say all was the devil's betwixt the crown of her head and
- the soles of her feet; and there the devil lay with her carnally; and
- that his skin was cold, and his colour black and pale, he had a hat
- on his head, and his feet was cloven like the feet of a stirk, as she
- observed when he went from her.
-
- The next time she saw him was at a meeting at the Barnrods, to which
- she was summoned by Grissel Anderson in Newmilne, about Martinmas,
- their number was about twenty or thirty, whereof none are now living
- but herself. She adds, it was a moon-light night, and they danced
- some time before the devil came on a ponny, with a hat on his head,
- and they clapt their hands and cryed, _there our Prince, there our
- Prince_, with whom they danced about an hour.
-
- The next time was at a meeting at the back of Patrick Sands his
- house, in Valleyfield, where the devil came with a cap which covered
- his ears and neck;--they had no moonlight. Being interrogate if they
- had any light, she replied, she got light from darkness, and could
- not tell what that light was, but she heard them say it came from
- darkness, and went to darkness, and said, it is not so bright as a
- candle, the low thereof being blue, yet it gave such a light as they
- could discern others faces. There they abode about an hour, and
- danced as formerly; she knew none at the meeting but Elspeth
- Williamson, whom she saw at the close of the meeting coming down by
- the dyke-side; and she said, she was also at another meeting in the
- Haugh of Torry, where they were furnished with the former light, and
- she saw Elspeth Williamson there also.
-
-
- _July 31st, 1704._--_After Prayer, Sederunt, Minister and Elders._
-
- Lillias Adie adhered to her former confession, and added, there were
- many meetings she was not witness to, and was at many of which she
- could give no particular account; and you will get more news after
- this. Being interrogate if she knew any more witches in the place,
- she replied, Agnes Currie is a witch, but she is a bold woman, and
- will flee upon me if I should delate her.
-
- Being interrogate if the devil had a sword, she replied, she believed
- he durst not use a sword; and called him a villain that promised her
- many good things when she engaged with him, but never gave her any
- thing but misery and poverty.
-
- The last meeting ever she was at, was 14 days after the Sacrament, in
- the month of August 1701, upon the minister's glebe where the tent
- stood, their number was 16 or 18, whereof Agnes Currie was one. She
- added, that she made an apology to the meeting, because she could
- not wait upon them all the time, being obliged to go to
- Borrowstouness that morning's tide. She added, that she heard Jean
- Neilson was possessed with a devil, and troubled with a fit of
- distemper, but declared she never wronged her, though the devil may
- do it in her likeness.
-
- Elspeth Williamson being called, came into the prison where the
- session sate, and being interrogate if Lillias Adie had any envy at
- her, she answered, she knew no envy she had at her. Lillias being
- interrogate if Elspeth Williamson was guilty of witchcraft, she
- replied, she is as guilty as I am, and my guilt is as sure as God is
- in heaven.
-
- The next time she saw the devil was about half a year ago, as she
- went to Culross, she saw him at the west end of the coal-fold.
-
- Upon the affair of Janet Whyte, James Alexander being called,
- compeared, and declared that he never heard Janet Whyte threaten Jean
- Bizet in the least.
-
- James White called, declared _ut ante_, but adds, that upon Friday
- was eight days, the 21st of July, he heard a great screeching when he
- was in the Craigmilne upon the bleaching green, beneath the said
- milne, and heard a second screech much greater, and clapping of hands
- and laughing, about twelve of the night, in the green on the other
- side of the burn; and it was observed by the bleachers to be all
- pastered, though there was no cloth at the burn, nor bleachers that
- night. Also, on the second of August 1704, Lillias declared before
- witnesses, that Grissel Anderson invited her to her house on that
- Lammas day, the morning just before the last burning of the witches.
- Grissel desired her to come and speak with a man there; accordingly
- she went in there about day-break, where there was a number of
- witches, some laughing, some standing, others sitting, but she came
- immediately away, being to go to Lammas fair; and several of them
- were taken shortly after, and Grissel Anderson among the rest, who
- was burnt, and some of them taken that very week. She adds, that
- Euphan Stirt warned her to the meeting at the Barnrod; and the said
- Euphan was burnt afterward, though she had been no longer a witch
- than a month before her death. She added, that she knew few of them
- that were at those meetings, especially the young sort, because they
- were masked like gentlewomen; and if Agnes Currie's heart would fall,
- she could tell as much as any, being in the midst of the meeting,
- where she saw her face by the blue low near Patrick Sands.
-
-
- _At Torryburn, August 19th, 1704.--After Prayer, Sederunt, &c.
-   Minister and Elders._
-
- Elspeth Williamson declared, that shortly after the last communion,
- there came a woman to her door, and bade her go east the way, whom
- she followed the length of the church-yard, and leaned upon the dyke,
- and saw a bouroch of women, some with black heads, were sitting
- where the tent stood. The woman that called her, went straight to the
- meeting, and fell down upon her knees, whereat she wondered, and
- hearkened if there was any reading or singing of psalms among them,
- and when she heard none, she thought she was in the wrong place, and
- did not think the woman would have taken her to the devil's meeting.
- She thought the woman was Mary Wilson, but is not certain; and about
- ten at night, some time after, a young lass came to her door, and
- desired her to go westward a little, whom she followed, but knew not
- the lass, she went so fast west the town before her, and was got the
- length of the Gollet or she came to the west end of the town; and
- when she was come west near the Gollet, she saw a meeting of women
- and some men, and she stood at a little distance from them, and saw
- them go through other for the space of near an hour, and removed
- insensibly eastward from her, upon which she stole away.
-
- Lillias Adie confessed, that after she entered into compact with
- Satan, he appeared to her some hundred of times, and that the devil
- himself summoned her to that meeting which was on the glebe, he
- coming into her house like a shadow, and went away like a shadow; and
- added, that she saw Elspeth Williamson and Agnes Currie both there,
- only Agnes was nearer the meeting than Elspeth, who was leaning on
- the church-yard dike with her elbow. She added, that the devil bade
- her attend many meetings that she could not attend, for age and
- sickness; and though he appeared not to her when there was company
- with her, yet he appeared to her like a shadow, so that none could
- see him but herself. At another time, she said, that when she
- renounced her baptism, the devil first spoke the words, and she
- repeated them after him, and that as he went away she did not hear
- his feet on the stubble.
-
-
- _August 20th 1704.--After Prayer, Sederunt, Minister and Elders._
-
- It is to be minded, that Lillias Adie appeared before the
- congregation on the Lord's day, and being called up by the minister
- and asked if she was guilty of witchcraft, she confessed freely that
- she was, and had entered expressly into covenant with Satan, and
- renounced her baptism, the devil putting one hand on the crown of her
- head, and the other under the soles of her feet, and she gave over
- all to the devil that was betwixt his two hands, and she was come
- hither to confess her sins, and to get her renounced baptism back
- again. She also desired all that had power with God to pray for her;
- to this the minister and elders, and whole congregation, were
- witnesses.
-
- It being reported, that Agnes Currie should have delated Bessie
- Callander and Mary Wilson, guilty of witchcraft; Agnes being called,
- compeared and declared, that Robert Currie told her Elspeth
- Williamson told him that Bessie Callander and Mary Wilson, were
- witches.
-
- George Stewart, solemnly sworn, purged of malice and partial counsel,
- aged 27 years, married, deponed, that Agnes Currie said to him, I'll
- tell you, but you must not let any of your folk know of it; he
- replied, I believe in Christ, I hope the devil hath no power over me.
- Ha, ha, said she, the devil hath done wrong to many, and he may wrong
- your friends or goods. Elspeth Williamson told Robert Currie, and
- Robert Currie told me, that Bessie Callander and Mary Wilson, are
- guilty of witchcraft. And this is truth, as he shall answer.--_Causa
- scientia._
-
-  _Sic subscribitur_, G. S.
-
-
- James Paton, solemnly sworn, purged of malice and partial counsel,
- aged between 22 and 23 years, depones, he was not requiring any thing
- of her by way of confession of persons names to which she assented in
- the mean time, but Agnes Currie said to him, there are two witches in
- Newmilne, and one of them is at the Bridgend; upon which I replied,
- you must tell me, for I have a sister there. Agnes replied, her name
- begins with a B, George Marshall replied, is that our Bessie, she
- answered, you are right enough, it's Bessie Callander. As to the
- other person, she would not tell her name at first, but said, she is
- be-east your house, but after owned the person to be Mary Wilson, but
- desired him not to divulge it to your mother or sister, least these
- persons do you ill. This is the truth, as he shall answer.--_Causa
- scientia._
-
-  _Sic subscribitur_, JA. PATON.
-
- George Marshall, sworn, purged, &c. _ut supra_, aged 39 years,
- married, declared, _ut supra_, and added, that she said, ye are
- husbandmen, devulge it not, least your beasts get wrang; and said to
- Alexander Drysdale, you go to sea, you have need to take head; and
- she said, the other lived be-east James Paton's house, but he going
- away, heard not her name. And this is the truth, as he shall answer.
- _Causa scientia._
-
-  _Sic subscribitur_, G. M.
-
-
- Agnes Currie assented to this in session; and that Robert Currie told
- her, that Elspeth Williamson told him these things; and that Mary
- Carmichael in Linlithgow, is a witch.
-
- Robert Currie called, compeared, and declared that Elspeth Williamson
- delated to him Bessie Callander, Mary Wilson, and Mary Carmichael, as
- witches, which the said Elspeth referred to the probation of the
- witch.
-
- The foresaid day, Lillias Adie said to the minister, that the devil
- was angry that she went to church, and said, that she might do as
- well at home. Being interrogate if he was angry like, she said, that
- he never looked pleasant like.--And closed with prayer.
-
-  _August 29th, 1704._
-
-
- Lillias Adie declared, some hours before her death, in audience of
- the minister, precentor, George Pringle, and John Paterson, that what
- she had said of Elspeth Williamson and Agnes Currie, was as true as
- the Gospel; and added, it is as true as the sun shines on that floor,
- and dim as my eyes are, I see that.
-
- It being reported that William Wilson knew something of Agnes Currie
- that was witchcraft, as also Janet Glass, they were called, and the
- said William declared, that about 24 years ago, Helen Johnston having
- overlaid her child the night after it was baptized, and the next day
- he was lamenting the woman's case, Agnes Currie said to him, if I had
- been her cummer, I could have advised her to take heed to her child;
- and also, that the said William was desired some time ago to bring
- some _slyk_[15] to a house that belonged to Agnes, and he answered,
- that his mare was in the yoke all day and could not; Agnes said she
- could not help it, and that same day his mare died in a stank.
-
-   [15] Thin clay or mud.
-
- Janet Glass declared, that she came once into Agnes Currie's house,
- having something to do with Agnes, who in the time was baking bread,
- and broke three several bannocks, lying in three several places, and
- gave it to the said Janet, and she with eating the same fell in a
- fever.
-
-
-     _Torryburn, 3d of September, 1704.--After Prayer, Sederunt,
-       Minister and Elders, except Robert Baxter, John Weir and John
-       Wardlaw._
-
- Agnes Currie being called, compeared, and confronted with Janet
- Glass; Janet declared, that about twelve years ago, she brought her
- cloth to her house, and Agnes was baking bread, and she broke three
- several bannocks that were in three several places, and gave her a
- piece of every bannock, and immediately she took the fever; and she
- adds, that she gave her a little piece of every bannock, and it was
- all one sort of bread. Janet declares that she is ready to swear it;
- also adds, Helen Lawson was so used.
-
- Helen Lawson being called, declared, that a long time ago, Agnes
- Currie broke three several bannocks, and gave her a piece of every
- one, but she would not take the third piece; and adds, that she is
- ready to swear it.
-
- Elspeth Williamson being brought in, and interrogate if she was a
- witch, she answered, that she would not deny that.
-
- N. B.--Lillias Adie was buried within the seamark at Torryburn.[16]
-
-   [16] Her grave is still to be seen at the west end of the town,
-   marked with a large stone.--ED.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
- William Cose being called, compeared, and owned, that on Sabbath
- morning, anno 1704, it being moon-light, he saw Bessie Micklejohn, or
- the devil in her stead, in James Chalmers's bark, then lying in
- Leith, and he doubts not but she saw him; and adds, that she had a
- green plaid about her head, as he offered to depone. The session
- considering that the devil appeared in her likeness, it was no proof
- against her, they judged it not necessary to regard that matter, and
- thought William Cose should not be troubled, it appearing he had not
- spoken it from malice, nor accused her of witchcraft formerly.
-
-  _March 30th, 1709._
-
- Margaret Humble called, declared, that Helen Key said, that when she
- heard Mr Logan[17] speak against the witches, she thought that he was
- daft, and she had up her stool to go out of the kirk: Also declared,
- that Helen Key threatened to strike Mary Neilson.
-
-   [17] The Reverend Allan Logan, the minister, is still famous all over
-   the country for his skill in discovering witches; and used, when
-   administering the Sacrament, to say, "You witch wife get up from the
-   table of the Lord," when some unhappy old woman would have risen,
-   imagining she was pointed at, and it was well if it did not
-   afterwards cost her her life. _Daft_ or not, he was certainly a most
-   wretched fanatic of the worst description.--ED.
-
- Jean Pearson declared, that she heard Helen Key say, that she would
- strike Mary Neilson. The said Helen Key confessed what all the
- witnesses declared.
-
- As to the affair of Helen Key, Mary Neilson called, declared, that
- she heard Helen Key say, that she thought Mr Logan was not wise when
- he was speaking against the witches; and she had one unseemly
- expression that is not decent to be put on the records; and when
- Margaret Humble rebuked her, she answered, it was not Margaret
- Humble's part to speak in Mr Logan's favours, but she would not
- express what Mr. Logan said of Margaret Humble to her.
-
- The session having found her convicted of prophane irreverent
- language against the minister and his doctrine, without any shadow of
- provocation, and of gross lying and prevaricating, both in private
- and before the session, and of threatening to strike a person because
- she had reported her impudent, Godless, and scandalous
- language,--therefore, they appoint her to sit before the congregation
- the next Lord's day, and to be rebuked after the afternoon's sermon.
-
-
- THE END.
-
-
-
-
-  [Greek: DETTEROSKOPIA];
-
-  OR A
-
-  BRIEF DISCOURSE
-
-  CONCERNING THE
-
-  SECOND SIGHT;
-
-  _COMMONLY SO CALLED._
-
-  By the Reverend Mr John Frazer, Deceased,
-    late Minister of Teree and Coll, and Dean
-    of the Isles;
-
-  AND
-
-  _Published by Mr ANDREW SYMSON, with a Short
-  Account of the Author._
-
-  EDINBURGH:
-
-  Printed by Mr ANDREW SYMSON, Anno Domini
-  MDCCVII.
-
-
-
-
-  TO THE
-
-  RIGHT HONOURABLE,
-
-  _Universally Learned, and my very Singular Good
-      Lord GEORGE, Earl of Cromartie, Viscount
-      of Tarbat, Lord Macleod and Castlehaven,
-      &c. Lord Justice General of the Kingdom
-           of Scotland, and one of her
-            Majesty's most Honourable
-                   Privy Council_,
-
- This following Discourse, entituled [Greek: Dateroskopia], &c. written
- by the Reverend Mr John Frazer, late Minister of Teree and Coll, and
- Dean of the Isles, is, with all due respect and reverence, dedicated
- by the printer and publisher hereof, his
-
-  Lordship's most humble
-  And obedient servant in all duty,
-  ANDREW SYMSON.
-
-
-
-
- THE
-
- PUBLISHER TO THE READER.
-
-
- The Reverend author of the ensuing Discourse having married my near
- kinswoman, and being in this city in November 1700, in order to the
- settling of some of his affairs. As we were discoursing of several
- things relating to the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, we
- came to speak of the Second Sight, reported to be so common in these
- parts; he told me, that as to the thing itself, it was most certain
- and undeniable, and that he could give many instances of it; as also,
- that he had written a short Discourse upon that subject. This he
- promised to transmit to me; accordingly, on his return home, after a
- tedious and troublesome voyage, both by sea and land, he sent me that
- Discourse, written with his own hand, desiring me to publish the same
- after some of his friends here had perused it: which being done, I,
- at my own conveniency, put it to the press, but before it was
- finished, I received an account that the author was dead, whereupon I
- forbore the publishing of it, till I should get an account of several
- passages concerning himself and family, designing to prefix the same
- to the Discourse itself, which I conceived would be acceptable to
- his friends, and not displeasing to the reader. And therefore I
- dispatched a letter to one of his nearest relations, and that was
- best acquainted with him, and with the passages of his life, that so
- I might thereby be the better informed. In answer whereunto, I
- received a paper containing several memoirs, from which I have
- collected the following account.
-
- Mr John Frazer, the author of this Discourse, was born in the Isle of
- Mull, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and
- forty-seven.
-
- His father, Mr Ferchard Frazer, was born in the north of Scotland,
- near Stratharig, about the year 1606, and lineally descended of the
- family of my Lord Lovat, but mediately of the family of Tober, one of
- the Lairds of the name of Frazer.
-
- After he had taken his degrees at the University, and applied himself
- to the study of Divinity, he was called by the bishop of the isles
- (there being then few learned men able to preach in the Irish tongue)
- to be minister of the Isles of Teree and Coll, (to which charge the
- deanry of the Isles was annext.) He was the first master of arts that
- preached constantly there as minister of the parish, there being then
- there one Ewen M'Lean, who was appointed to catechise and convene the
- people, there being few or none, as said is, able to serve the cure;
- but being there, he was very diligent in his ministerial function in
- teaching and instructing them, leaving them far better than he found
- them; for at his first coming, there were but three heritable
- gentlemen of the name of M'Lean that could subscribe their own
- names, the time Mr Ferchard Frazer served as minister of the Isles of
- Teree and Coll, which were conjoined in one parish, may be collected
- from his epitaph, written by his son, our author, which is--
-
- Epitaphium Magistri Ferchardi Frazer Decani Insularum; qui obiit 14
- die Februarii Anno Domini 1680. Aetatis 74.
-
-     Pervigil et blandus; mitis, gravis atq. benignus;
-
-     Doctus et Eloquii deterritate fluens:
-
-     Pavicoves Christi pandens mysteria verbi;
-
-     Exemplum vitae praebuit ipse gregi.
-
-     Luxfuerat populi lustris bis quinq. peractis,
-
-     Sacradocens, sancto munere functus obit.
-
-     Hic requiem tumulo corpus capit, inde regressus
-
-     Spiritus ad Dominum, qui dedit ante, volat.
-
-     Mr Johannes Frazerus, decanus insularum.
-
- His mother's name was Janet M'Lean, daughter to Lauchlan M'Lean of
- Coll, an ancient family of that name and clan. His father, as he was
- careful to instruct others, so he did not neglect his son, our
- author, but having fitted him for the University, he sent him to the
- College of Glasgow, and committed him to the care of Mr William
- Blair, one of the regents there, who advanced him to the degree of
- master of arts, between the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth year of
- his age. From thence he went to the Isle of Mull, and was chaplain to
- Sir Allan M'Lean of Duart. Thereafter, viz. March 4th 1677, he was
- married to Mary Symson, the only surviving daughter of Mr Matthias
- Symson, some time minister of Stirling, who died November 1664. Two
- or three years before his father's death, (being canonically ordained
- presbyter,) he was admitted to his father's charge, in regard his
- father, partly by age, and partly by sickness, was rendered very
- unfit to serve the cure of these two islands, Teree and Coll, as also
- of Icolmkiln, which was also annext to it, and at a greater distance;
- however, such was his care and diligence in the work of the ministry,
- that, by the blessing of God upon his endeavours, he converted to the
- true Protestant faith 24 families in the Isle of Coll, (the laird
- himself being then ring-leader), that were deluded by Father O'Donald
- and others, his father not being able to oversee his flock, by reason
- of his foresaid condition.
-
- His father dying in the year 1680, he served the cure thereafter, by
- constant and diligent preaching, baptizing, marrying, visiting the
- sick, and exercising all other duties incumbent on him; but at
- length, because his principles would not allow all the demands of the
- Synod of Argyle, his charge was declared vacant, and his stipend
- taken from him; notwithstanding whereof, there being no minister sent
- to oversee these islands, he went about the exercise of his ministry
- as formerly, being supplied by the charity and benevolence of his
- parishioners, who had an entire kindness for him; but his stipend, as
- said is, was taken from him and bestowed some other way. And thus he
- continued till about a month before his death, which was on the 25th
- day of August 1702, in which he changed this troublesome life for a
- better, leaving behind him a desolate poor widow, with several
- children, both sons and daughters, as also a sorrowful people, who
- were now wholly deprived of a spiritual pastor, and of such a one as
- was every way qualified for that charge; for he was not only a good
- and learned man, but was master of their language, being born and
- bred up in the Isles, understood their humours, conditions, and
- manners of life, and being a wise and sagacious person, complaisant,
- and of a winning deportment; all which good qualifications he was
- endowed with, as all which were acquainted with him, can sufficiently
- testify.
-
- As for the subject of the following Discourse, (commonly called the
- Second Sight) though I think it might be more fitly called the First
- Sight, (because it for the most part sees things before they are), I
- shall not undertake to defend all the notions that he has of it, and
- whether they will agree with true philosophy, but shall refer that to
- others of a higher reach and deeper understanding than I ever durst
- pretend to; but this I will say in his defence, that, considering the
- place where it was written, even among the remote Isles, _vervecum in
- patria_, where he wanted the converse of learned men, and the benefit
- of books, two necessary qualifications for one that writes on such an
- abstruse subject; I humbly conceive, that the great clerks of this
- age, who have the benefit of books and converse, should not
- superciliously undervalue him that wants them. However, although I
- shall not pretend to maintain all that he writes, as to the causes,
- &c. of this Second Sight, nor do I believe all the stories that I
- have heard concerning it, yet the thing itself, or that there is such
- a thing as is commonly called the Second Sight, I do firmly believe,
- being induced thereto by the relations that I have received from
- persons of known integrity, and such as I suppose are wiser than to
- be imposed upon, and honester than to impose fables instead of
- truths, upon others. Among the relations that I have been told
- concerning this subject, I shall only single out one or two, and then
- I shall conclude.
-
- A noble peer of this nation being one morning in his bed-chamber, and
- attended by several persons, when his servant had put a new coat upon
- his Lord, a gentleman standing by, presently cry'd out, for God's
- sake, my Lord, put off that coat; and being asked the reason, he
- replied, that he saw a whinger or poinard, stick in the breast of it.
- The noble peer esteeming this as a mere fancy, replied, 'this coat is
- honestly come by, and I see no reason why I may not wear it.' The
- gentleman still entreated, and earnestly craved, that it might be put
- off: upon which debate, the noble peer's lady being not far off, came
- in, and being informed of the whole affair, intreated her Lord to
- comply with the gentleman's desire, which he did; mean time one of
- the servants standing by, desired the lady to give it him, and he
- would wear it. She granted his request, who put it on, and ere night
- he was stabbed by a poniard, in that very place which the gentleman
- had pointed to in the morning. This relation I had from a very
- ingenuous and understanding gentleman, who was grand-child to the
- said noble peer.
-
- I shall add another strange story, which I had from a reverend
- minister of the gospel, and my intimate acquaintance. 'Tis thus--In
- the year 1665, Alexander Wood, eldest son to the Laird of Nether
- Benholm, in Angus, having ended his prentiship with a merchant in
- Edinburgh, told Mr James Walker, that (in the year 1662 or 1663), he
- had been employed by his master to go to the Lewis to make up
- herring; and being there, and having a good tack of herring, their
- salt and casks were all made use of, and then they being idle, he
- began to fret that his master had delayed so long to supply them; and
- being one day drinking in a country house, and complaining, he went
- to the door of the house, and there followed him a country man, who
- said to him, If you will give me a small hire, I'll tell you what is
- become of the ship you are looking for; and without more ado, he set
- his foot upon the gentleman's foot, in which time he saw the ship in
- a great storm, ready to perish, and the seamen casting out their
- lading to lighten the ship; but when the country man's foot was off
- his he saw nothing. The ship at that time was about 100 miles from
- them, and about 48 hours thereafter, she came into the same harbour,
- and had been in the same condition he saw her in at that time the
- country man's foot was on his foot. It would be tedious to add any
- more stories that I have had from persons of undoubted veracity; and
- therefore, Reader, I shall only subscribe myself
-
-  Your humble servant in all duty,
-  ANDREW SYMSON.
-
-
-
-
- A
-
- SHORT ADVERTISEMENT
-
- TO THE
-
- READER.
-
-
-  COURTEOUS READER,
-
- You may be surprised to meet with such an abstruse theme (handled in
- specie by few or none), from the pen of a person in my circumstances,
- lying at a great distance from the Universities and centre of the
- kingdom, and consequently may be justly supposed to want that
- ordinary help of books and conference with the learned, that others
- may enjoy.
-
- In the _first_ place, believe that I am so far from affecting vain
- singularity, (a hateful vice in the schools as well as the pulpit),
- that nothing of that kind moved me to treat of the subject of the
- following Discourses. But for my own satisfaction I drew up the
- following heads, and did not resolve at the first to expose them to
- public view, (justly fearing the censure of presumption); but I was,
- by the persuasion of some serious friends, prevailed with to commit
- myself to the favourable judgment of the learned, (who might sooner
- commend my endeavours than censure my failings), rather than suppress
- such a fine subject, which probably might be more fully and largely
- treated of by others after the perusal of this Discourse. Take this
- pamphlet then in the rude dress that I could give; at least it may
- excite thy thoughts, if not to approve of what is here deduced, yet
- to propone of thine own a more satisfying method of explaining this
- remarkable phenomenon, which is the genuine design and wish of,
-
-  SIR,
-  Your humble servant,
-  The AUTHOR.
-
-
-
-
- [Greek: DETTEROSKOPIA];
-
- OR,
-
- A BRIEF DISCOURSE
-
- CONCERNING THE
-
- SECOND SIGHT,
-
- _Commonly so Called_.
-
-
- Many have undertaken to treat of the nature and operation of Spirits;
- as also of the various manners of divination among the Gentiles, (and
- but too much used among Christians,) likewise of the perturbation and
- deception of the fancy, caused by melancholy; and very many speak in
- ordinary discourses of this called the Second Sight, and the
- consequences of it, but none that I know handle it _in titulo_.
-
- That such representations are made to the eyes of men and women, is
- to me out of all doubt, and that effects follow answerable thereto,
- as little questionable. But I have found so many doubt the matter of
- fact; which I take to be the reason that so little has been written
- of it, that I think it necessary to say something briefly, that may
- put the existency of it beyond all scruple. If I should insert all
- the clear instances that I have had of this matter, it would be
- tedious and unnecessary, therefore I will content myself, and I hope
- will satisfy the reader, with four or five instances, as follows.
-
- The first instance is by a servant of my own, who had the trust of my
- barn, and nightly lay in the same. One day he told me he would not
- any longer lie there, because nightly he had seen a dead corps in his
- winding sheets straighted beside him, particularly at the south side
- of the barn. About an half year thereafter, a young man that had
- formerly been my servant, fell dangerously sick, and expecting death,
- would needs be carried near my house; and shortly thereafter he died,
- and was laid up a night before he was buried in the same individual
- barn and place that was foretold; and immediately the servant that
- foretold this came to me and minded me of the prediction, which was
- clearly out of my mind till he spoke of it.
-
- The second instance is after this manner. I was resolved to pay a
- visit to an English gentleman, Sir William Sacheverill, who had a
- commission from the English Court of Admiralty, to give his best
- trial to find out gold or money, or any other thing of note, in one
- of the ships of the Spanish armada, that was blown up in the bay of
- Topper-Mory, in the Sound of Mull. And having condescended upon the
- number of men that were to go with me, one of the number was a
- handsome boy that waited upon my own person; and, about an hour
- before I made sail, a woman, that was also one of my own servants,
- spoke to one of the seamen, and bade him dissuade me to take that boy
- along with me, or if I did, I should not bring him back alive; the
- seaman answered, he had not confidence to tell me such unwarrantable
- trifles. I took my voyage, and sailed the length of Topper-Mory; and
- having stayed two or three nights with that liberal and ingenuous
- gentleman, who himself had collected many observations of the Second
- Sight in the Isle of Man, and compared his notes and mine together, I
- then took leave of him. In the mean time, my boy grew sick of a
- vehement bloody flux,--the winds turn'd cross, that I could neither
- sail nor row,--the boy died with me the eleventh night from his
- decumbiture,--the next morning the wind made fair, and the seaman to
- whom the matter was foretold, related the whole story when he saw it
- verified. I carried the boy's corps aboard with me, and after my
- arrival, and his burial, I called suddenly for the woman, and asked
- at her what warrant she had to foretell the boy's death; she said,
- that she had no other warrant but that she saw, two days before I
- took my voyage, the boy walking with me in the fields, sewed up in
- his winding sheets from top to toe, and that she had never seen this
- in others, but she found that they shortly thereafter died; and
- therefore concluded that he would die too, and that shortly.
-
- The third instance was thus. Duncan Campbell, brother-german to
- Archibald Campbell of Invera, a gentleman of singular piety and
- considerable knowledge, especially in Divinity, told me a strange
- thing of himself. That he was at a time in Kintyre, having then some
- employment there, and one morning walking in the fields, he saw a
- dozen of men carrying a bier, and knew them all but one, and when he
- looked again, all was vanished. The very next day, the same company
- came the same way, carrying a bier, and he going to meet them, found
- that they were but eleven in number, and that himself was the
- twelfth, though he did not notice it before; and it is to be
- observed, that this gentleman never saw any thing of this kind before
- or after, till his dying day. Moreover, that he was of such solid
- judgment and devote conversation, that his report deserves an
- unquestionable credit.
-
- The fourth instance I had, to my great grief, from one John M'Donald,
- a servant of Lauchlan M'Lean of Coll, who was then newly returned
- from Holland, having the charge of a captain. This gentleman came one
- afternoon abroad to his past-time in the fields, and this John
- M'Donald meets him, and saw his clothes shining like the skins of
- fishes, and his periwig all wet, though indeed the day was very fair;
- whereupon he told privately, even then, to one of Coll's gentlemen,
- that he feared he should be drowned. This gentleman was Charles
- M'Lean, who gave me account of it. The event followed about a year
- thereafter, for the Laird of Coll was drowned in the water of Lochy
- in Lochaber. I examined both Charles M'Lean and John M'Donald, and
- found, that the prediction was as he told me; and the said M'Donald
- could produce no other warrant, than that he found such signs
- frequently before to forgo the like events. This man indeed was known
- to have many visions of this kind, but he was none of the strictest
- life.
-
- The fifth instance is strange, and yet of certain truth, and known to
- the whole inhabitants of the Island of Eigg, lying in the latitude of
- 56 degrees 20 minutes; and longitude 14 degrees. There was a tenant
- in this island, a native, that was a follower of the Captain of
- Clanrannold, that lived in a town called Kildonan, the year of God
- eighty-five, who told publicly to the whole inhabitants, upon the
- Lord's day, after divine service, performed by Father O'Rain, then
- priest of that place, that they should all flit out of that Isle, and
- plant themselves some where else; because that people of strange and
- different habits, and arms, were to come to the Isle, and to use all
- acts of hostility, as killing, burning, tirling, and deforcing of
- women; finally, to discharge all that the hands of an enemy could do;
- but what they were, or whence they came, he could not tell. At the
- first there was no regard had to his words; but frequently
- thereafter, he begged of them to notice what he said, otherwise they
- should repent it, when they could not help it; which took such an
- impression upon some of his near acquaintance, as that severals of
- them transported themselves and their families, even then; some to
- the Isle of Cannay, some to the Isle of Rum. Fourteen days before the
- enemy came thither, under the command of one Major Ferguson and
- Captain Pottinger, whilst there was no word of their coming, or any
- fear of them conceived. In the month of June 1689, this man fell
- sick, and Father O'Rain came to see him, in order to give him the
- benefit of absolution and extreme unction, attended with several
- inhabitants of the Isle, who, in the first place, narrowly questioned
- him before his friends, and begged of him to recant his former folly
- and his vain prediction; to whom he answered, that they should find
- very shortly the truth of what he had spoken, and so he died. And
- within 14 or 15 days thereafter, I was eye witness (being then
- prisoner with Captain Pottinger), to the truth of what he did
- foretel; and being before-hand well instructed of all that he said, I
- did admire to see it particularly verified, especially that of the
- different habits and arms, some being clad with red coats, some with
- white coats and grenadier caps, some armed with sword and pike, and
- some with sword and musket. Though I could give many more proofs, as
- unquestionable as these, yet I think what is said, is sufficient to
- prove the being of such a thing as the same in hand; and I cannot but
- wonder, that men of knowledge and experience should be so shy to
- believe that there may be visions of this kind administered by good
- or bad angels; there being nothing more certain, than that good
- angels suggested visions to the prophets of the Lord, before the
- coming of Christ in the flesh, and particularly to the apostle St
- John, after the ascension of our Lord; likewise that evil angels
- presented visions, as well as audible voices, to the 450 false
- prophets of Ahab; the 400 prophets of the Groves, is as little to be
- doubted; it being as easy, if not easier, to work upon the sight, as
- well as upon the hearing. We know but too well, that necromancers and
- magicians themselves, have not only seen the shapes and forms of
- things, but likewise have allowed others to see the same, who had no
- skill of their art. A precedent for which, is the Witch of Endor.
-
- I remember, about 23 years ago, there was an old woman in my parish,
- in the Isle of Teree, whom I heard was accustomed to give responses,
- and likewise averred, that she had died and been in heaven, but
- allowed to come back again. And because she could not come to church,
- I was at the pains to give her a visit, attended with two or three of
- the most intelligent of my parish. I questioned her first whether she
- said she was in heaven; and she freely confessed she was, and that
- she had seen Jesus Christ, but not God the Father, or the Holy Ghost;
- that she was kindly entertained with meat and drink, and that she had
- seen her daughter there, who died about a year before;--that her
- daughter told her, though she was allowed to go there, that she
- behooved to come back and serve out her prentiship on earth, but
- would shortly be called for, and remain there for ever. She could
- very hardly be put out of this opinion, till I enquired more narrowly
- of her children, if she fell at any time in a syncope; which they
- told me she did, and continued for a whole night, so that they
- thought that she was truly dead; and this is the time she alleged she
- was in heaven. The devil took an advantage in the ecstasy to present
- to her fancy a map of heaven, as if it had been a rich earthly
- kingdom, abounding with meat, drink, gold, and silver. By the
- blessing of God, I prevailed with her to be persuaded that this was
- but a vision presented to her fancy by the devil, the father of lies;
- and that she might deprehend the falsehood of it from this one head,
- that she imagined her body was there, as well as her soul, and that
- she did eat and drink, and was warmed, while, as her own children,
- and the neighbours that watched her, did see, and did handle her body
- several times that night, so that it could not be with her in heaven.
- I did further examine her what warrant she had for the responses she
- gave, which were found very often true, even in future contingent
- events. She freely confessed, that her father upon his death-bed,
- taught her a charm, compiled of barbarous words, and some
- unintelligible terms, which had the virtue, when repeated, to
- present, some few hours after the proposition of a question, the
- answer of the same in live images before her eyes, or upon the wall;
- but the images were not tractable, which she found by putting too her
- hand, but could find nothing. I do not think fit to insert the charm,
- knowing that severals might be inclined to make an unwarrantable
- trial of it. This poor woman was got reclaimed, and was taught fully
- the danger and vanity of her practice, and died peaceably about a
- year after, in extreme old age.
-
- I know assuredly, that Janet Douglas, that was first a dumbie, yet
- spoke thereafter, who had given many responses by signs and words,
- and foretold many future events, being examined by Mr Gray, one of
- the ministers of the city of Glasgow, denied any explicitor implicit
- paction, and declared freely, that the answers of the questions
- proponed to her were represented by a vision in lively images,
- representing the persons concerned, and acting the thing, before her
- eyes. This Mr Gray exchanged several discourses in write with Sir
- James Turner, concerning her.
-
- By this time, you may see that this theme deserves the consideration
- of the learned: _First_, to enquire how much of this may come from a
- natural constitution and temperament, when confounded with a flatuous
- or melancholic distemper; and what influence an external agent,
- namely, an angel, good or bad, may have upon the organ of the eye and
- the fancy, and how far the medium between the organ of the eye and an
- object visible, may be disposed for their purpose, namely, the air
- and light; and what connexion may be found betwixt the
- representations made to the eye or fancy, and the future contingent
- events that experience teaches do follow thereupon: as for example, a
- man is seen bleeding, or sewed up in his winding sheets, who is
- shortly to be wounded, or assuredly to die.
-
- As for the first, all the learned physicians of the world know too
- well by experience what great labour they have to cure the deceptions
- of the fancy, especially in hypochondriac diseases; nay, patients
- cannot be persuaded but they see men, women, fowls, and four-footed
- beasts, walking abroad or in their chambers. Seldom it is, that a man
- passes any great and turbulent fever, without the trouble of some
- such representations. It is memorable, that a gentleman, that had
- been a great proficient in physic himself, imagined at length that
- there was a quick frog in his belly; and after he had travelled over
- a good part of Italy, and consulted with the doctors of Padua, yet
- could not be cured, or dissuaded. He came at length to the learned
- physician Platerus, in Bazil, who told him, that a frog by certain
- experience is known not to live above three years, so that his
- distemper continuing longer than three years, could not be caused by
- the frog, that could not live so long. Moreover, that his stomach
- would strangle the frog, and that the frog could not live any
- considerable time out of its own element, the water; so that the
- properest and most specific medicines being made use of, it were a
- shame for him to be so obstinate. At last he was persuaded, and his
- fancy satisfied. This story is no less renowned of what befell
- Andreas Osiander, a man learned in most languages. When he was a
- young man, and being troubled with a quartan ague, a little before
- the fit he could not be persuaded that he was in the house at all,
- but that he was in a wood, and much molested with wild beasts and
- serpents of all kinds; neither could he be prevailed with that this
- was false, till Facius Cardanus was called for to him, who cured him
- for the time, so that he knew his friends that were sitting beside
- him, and the chamber to be his own chamber; but after Facius had left
- him, he was troubled with the same opinion and distemper, even till
- the ague had quiet him. I have myself seen a neighbour of my own, and
- my parishioner too, John M'Phale, that lived to the age of fourscore
- years, a man that was truly very sagacious by nature; and though his
- sight was much decayed, the seat of his judgment was nothing touched;
- and as he grew weaker, merely by old age, without any remarkable
- distemper, I made frequent visits to him. One day as I was coming
- away from him, he told me he had something of consequence to ask at
- me, and desired all to remove except his wife and another gentleman,
- that was a friend of his. This done, Sir, says he, I desire to know
- by what warrant or commission so many of my friends, that are dead
- long ago, are allowed to come and discourse with me, and drink before
- me, and yet are not so civil as give me a tasting of it? I told him,
- that it was only the trouble of his fancy, and his frequent thinking
- of the world to come and his friends that were gone before him; and
- he replied to me very smartly, Sir, says he, I perceive it is the
- work of the fancy, for since I cannot see yourself, (for only by your
- voice I know you) how could I see them? It was strange that he saw
- them the very mean time that others were in the house with him, and
- asked several questions at them, but got no answer. And, for all
- this, the seat of his wit was as entire as ever: moreover, this
- trouble left him a little before he died.
-
- Many such illusions are reported of eremites, caused merely by the
- confusion of the brains, bred by their fasting and unwholesome food,
- which I shall not trouble the reader with.
-
- If you will ask how cometh this to pass, take notice of the following
- method, which I humbly offer to your consideration. Advert, in the
- _first_ place, that visible ideas, or species, are emitted from every
- visible object to the organ of the eye; representing the figure and
- colour of the object, and bearing along with it the proportion of the
- distance, for sure the objects enter not the eye, nor the interjacent
- distant tract of ground; and a third thing different from the eye and
- the object, and the distant ground, must inform the eye. These
- species are conveyed to the brain by the optic nerve, and are laid up
- in the magazine of the memory, otherwise we should not remember the
- object any longer than it is in our presence; and a remembering of
- these objects is nothing else but the fancies reviewing, or more
- properly the soul of man, by the fancy reviewing of these intentional
- species formerly received from the visible object unto the organ of
- the eye, and reconducted unto the seat of the memory. Now, when the
- brain is in a serene temper, these species are in their integrity,
- and keep their rank and file as they were received; but when the
- brain is filled with gross and flatuous vapours, and the spirits and
- humour enraged, these ideas are sometimes multiplied as an army, by
- mist; sometimes magnified, sometimes misplaced, sometimes confounded
- by other species of different objects, perhaps by half and half, so
- that the fancy has two for one, one bigger than two of itself, and
- sometimes the half of one and the half of another, represented in
- one; and this deception is not only incident to the fancy, but even
- to the external senses, particularly the seeing and hearing; for the
- visus, or seeing, is nothing else but the transition of the
- intentional species through the crystalline humour to the retiform
- coat of the eye, and judged by the common sense, and conveyed by the
- optic nerve to the fancy.
-
- Of this we have a clear demonstration from the representation of
- external objects through a crystal in glass, upon any lucid, smooth,
- and solid reflectant, placed before the glass in a dark chamber,
- which is one of the noblest experiments in the whole optics.
-
- Now, if these species formerly received and laid up in the brain,
- will be reversed back from the same to the retiform coat and
- crystalline humour as formerly, these is in effect a lively seeing
- and perception of the object represented by these species, as if, _de
- novo_, the object had been placed before the eye; for the organ of
- the eye had no more of it before, than now it has; just so with the
- hearing, it is nothing else but the receiving of the audible species
- to that part of the ear that is accommodated for hearing, so that
- when the species are retracted from the brain to their proper organs,
- for example, the ear and the eye, hearing and seeing are perfected,
- as if the objects had been present to influence the organs _de novo_.
- And it is not to be thought that this is a singular opinion, for
- Cardanus, an eminent author of great and universal learning and
- experience, maintains this reversion of the species, and attributes
- his own vision of trees, wild beasts, men, cities, and instructed
- battles, musical and martial instruments, from the fourth to the
- seventh year of his age, to the species of the objects he had seen
- formerly, now retracted to the organ of the eye, and cites Averroes,
- an author of greater renown for the same opinion. _See Cardanus de
- subtilitate rerum pagina trecentesima prima._
-
- And it seems truly to be founded upon relevant grounds. I have
- observed a sick person, that complained of great pain and molestation
- in his head, and particularly of piping and sweating in his ears,
- which seems to have been caused by the species of piping and singing
- which he had formerly heard, but were now, through the plethory of
- his head, forced out of the brain to the organ of the ear, through
- the same nerves by which they were received formerly; and why may not
- the same befall the visible species as well as the audible? which
- seems to be confirmed by the optic experiment. Take a sheet of
- painted paper and fix it in your window, looking steadfastly to it
- for a considerable time, for example, some few minutes, then close
- your eyes very strait, and place a sheet of clean paper before your
- eyes, and open your eyes suddenly, you will see the painting almost
- as lively as they were in the painted sheet with the lively colours.
- This compression of the eyes by consent, causes a compression of the
- whole brain, which forces back the visible species of the painted
- sheet to the organ of the eye, through the optic nerve, which will
- presently vanish, if the reflectant did not help to preserve them.
- You may see then how much of these representations may be within
- ourselves, abstracting from any external agent or object without the
- eye, to influence the same.
-
- The second thing that comes under consideration is, the influence and
- operation of external agents, namely, an angel, good or bad. It is
- not to be denied, but good angels may help and dispose all our
- faculties, excite, elevate, and set them upon edge and action;
- likewise, that evil angels may perturb, confound, and hurt, our
- external and internal senses, (when permitted) particularly by
- stirring the spirits, humours, and vapours, which of themselves, when
- so stirred, help to make many shapes and representations, either
- regular or irregular, (as has been formerly observed) and withal,
- they can colorate external objects far beyond any painter, insensibly
- to the beholder, _repente applicando activa passivis_; and that they
- can alter the medium interposed between our senses and the objects,
- by making it grosser or thinner, opaque or lucid, is a thing not to
- be questioned. For a clear proof of this I hope any rational man will
- allow me.
-
- That even the evil angels, who were created in a degree above us,
- must have a more penetrating wit than ours is, and having experienced
- from their creation, to this very day, and can be present to every
- experiment found out, or that is committed to writing by the art of
- man; and withal, being not subject to oblivion as man is, (for they
- have no material faculty to be obliterated), I say any rational man
- will allow me, that they can do as much, and beyond what the art of
- man is able to do; but so it is, that painters can make one object
- more pleasant than another, distorted and worse favoured than
- another,--that any smoke may engross the air,--that a cloud removed
- on or off the face of the sun, give way to the beams of it to
- illuminate the air, or to eclipse its light,--that vapours and
- exhalations, from sea and land, multiply and magnify objects,
- misshapes and distorts them, and makes them of diverse figures, all
- in an instant, which is observable in hot summer days, especially in
- the end of the canicular days, for you may readily see about three or
- four in the afternoon, the same hills (providing they are situated at
- a considerable distance from you) to be of diverse shapes, forms, and
- figures, changing very suddenly from one shape to another, for
- example, from a globe to a pyramid, from a pyramid to a quadrangular
- figure, &c. All which our ordinary multiplying, magnifying, and
- distorting glasses, produce. Moreover, that physicians can administer
- such medicines as may provoke a man to madness and rage, yea, to
- fantastic or hypochondriac fits; so also medicines that move pleasant
- and unpleasant dreams, by exciting the melancholic or sanguine
- humours, raging or peaceable dreams, by moving the choleric or
- phlegmatic humour.
-
- How much more can the prince of the air do, and his retinue, who is
- better seen in the nature of the elements and their compounds; who
- is better seen in the nature of trees, plants, minerals, stones, the
- secret qualities of springs and fountains, rivers and lochs, and the
- influence of celestial bodies, &c. and who is better seen in the
- constitution of every man, his customs and inclinations, and his
- present state and bygone circumstances; I say, in all these, he is
- better seen than any man, and can accommodate them to his purpose
- beyond the greatest virtuoses.
-
- Let us therefore consider, that an evil angel being permitted
- thereunto, can muster in our brain the latent intentional species of
- external absent objects, and can present the same to the fancy in the
- methods best fitting his purpose, and not only so in time of our
- sleep, (for then indeed the fancy sticks with more tenacity to what
- it apprehends), but also when we are not sleeping, he can deduce
- these species by forcing them out of the rooms or cells of the brain,
- to the organ of the eye and ear, and so of necessity a man either
- sitting or going in the high-way, will hear and see such things as
- these species do represent; and seeing that naturally it may be done,
- as would appear from what is above spoken from the strength and force
- of medicines to operate upon the spirits and humours of man to work
- strange things, why may not a good or bad angel excite nature to it?
- or by an immediate impulse force these material qualities to the
- organs of the external senses, as well as they can move their
- vehicles, which are the spirits and humours.
-
- The third thing proposed was, the connexion of these representations
- with the future contingent events that are observed to follow them,
- as for example, a second sighted man sees a winding sheet upon his
- neighbour, or blood running down his face, shoulders, or arms, he
- concludes that he must die, or be wounded in the face, shoulders, or
- arms. If you will ask what warrant he has for this, he will tell, he
- has found by experience, that whenever he saw the like of this, that
- he found death or wounds to follow. _Quaeritur_, then, what connexion
- can this representation have with an effect or contingent event not
- yet existant? For answer to this, God, who knoweth all things, no
- doubt imparteth much of the foreknowledge of things, not only to good
- angels, but also evil angels, for reasons well known to himself,
- particularly that they might give some true signs, and so have way to
- deceive in many things besides; and though the signs foretold should
- surely come to pass, it does not infer that the doctrine of evil
- angels, and their lies that they would suggest to mankind, should be
- credited. This is clear from the 13th of Deuteronomy, 1, 2, and 3,
- verses, If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams,
- and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come
- to pass whereof he spake unto thee, saying, let us go after other
- gods, (which thou has not known), and let us serve them; thou shalt
- not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams,
- for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord
- your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul. And this is
- very just with God when men give themselves over to a reprobate and
- wicked mind, and evil and unwarrantable practices, expressly against
- the Lord's commands; I say it is just with God to let evil angels or
- spirits delude them, and give way to these spirits in order to
- confirm their lies; to appoint signs before hand, which signs, by
- God's appointment, may come to pass, answerable to the prediction. It
- may rationally, and very probably be concluded, that Ahab's false
- prophets, in number 400, have often foretold truth; and this
- purposely by God's appointment, that they might be the better
- believed, and more easily persuade to lay siege to Ramoth Gilead; and
- it is hard to conceive that Ahab should give them so much credit, or
- they themselves so extraordinary confident, if they had not had many
- truths suggested to them, and made proof of the same to Ahab. It is
- not for nought that we are commanded to try the spirits, and that
- rather by their doctrines, than their signs and wonders, or fair and
- smooth pretences. Therefore, suppose these evil angels to know a
- contingent future event, either by a revelation, or natural or moral
- causes, they may, in the method foresaid make the representation of
- them to the eyes or ears; as for example, an angel, good or bad,
- finds that either the lungs, heart, stomach, liver, or brain, are
- under such a consumption, as may against such a time kill a man; or
- that he knows the secret contrivance of a potent party that is
- resolved to wound or kill him, or that it is revealed to him it
- should be so (which may very well be, as has been above noted), he
- can easily represent these before hand, though the event should
- follow but a considerable time thereafter; he has no more to do than
- to reverse the species of these things from a man's brain to the
- organ of the eye.
-
- Here ariseth a question from what has just been said, whether it be
- more probable that good angels make this representation (because men
- having this second sight are found to tell truth, and to be innocent
- in their lives, and free of any paction, either implicit or explicit,
- likewise free of any fraudulent design, and sound enough in the
- necessary articles of their salvation), or that it be done by evil
- angels for the trial of men and women, juggling with their fancy and
- external organs, and so have a patent way to tell lies among some
- truths. For answer to this question, I shall not be ready positively
- to determine these things, but I humbly conceive, that as the
- representations are oft done by evil angels, so likewise it is
- probable that it may be done by good angels. I cannot be so
- uncharitable to several men that I have known to be of considerable
- sense, and pious and good conversation, as to conclude them to be
- given over to be deluded continually by an evil angel: Moreover, I
- conceive that there are many good Christians, if they would advert
- well, that have some secret tokens and signs of notable alterations
- to come, suggested to them before hand; and that these signs, some of
- them are common to them with others, as dreaming, which are often
- observed to be completely fulfilled, and that some of the signs and
- warnings are peculiar to some persons, which fail not to answer to
- the things signified; as for example, I have certainly known a man,
- that when he found an unvoluntary motion in such a member of his
- body, particularly his right hand or right eye, that was sure that
- some matter of joy would shortly come to his hearing; and that if he
- found the same motion in the left eye or hand, it signified
- infallibly grief: And that which is more wonderful, the thing to come
- signified by these signs and warnings keeped an exact proportion with
- the continuance or vehemency of the motion; if the motion continued
- long, so did the joy or the grief; if the motion was snell or
- vehement, so was the matter of grief or joy; and finding that this
- man was both a good man, and of a right penetrating wit, and had art
- enough, it moved me to use freedom with several other good men that
- had knowledge and sense enough to examine circumstances to a hair. I
- found very many to acknowledge the very same thing, yet signified by
- different signs, (which shows they are not _signa naturalia_, but _ex
- instituto_), which puts me in mind of Dr Brown's observation to the
- same purpose, in his inquiry into vulgar errors, where he concludes
- several presentations to be acted in us by our tutelary angels that
- have the charge of us at the time. Mark this, though the signs be
- different in themselves, yet to each particular person, his own sign
- is still significative of the same thing; and why might not this of
- the second sight be counted amongst one of these? I likewise humbly
- conceive, that God might compense the want of many other gifts to
- poor men, by giving them this minor sort of knowledge. But I would
- advise all of them that have the second sight, to examine themselves,
- and to pray earnestly to God that no evil angel should have power to
- abuse their senses, because the devil still strives to imitate what
- God, or his good angels, communicates to his own children. I know
- that the common opinion of some philosophers and divines will be
- objected, and that is, that angels, good or bad, may condense the
- air, figurate and colorate the same, and make it of what figure or
- shape they please, so that this representation is made by external
- objects in effect emitting visible species to the eye; and
- consequently, that it is not the reversion of the species formerly
- received; though, as I have observed before, that good and bad angels
- can alter the medium in a strange way, and can work great alteration
- on the elements and their compounds, I think it very improbable that
- any created power can bring the air to that solidity, and actually
- condense it, colorate, and figurate it, as to represent a man by a
- beast, or Peter by Paul, especially at such a distance as from one
- side of a chamber to the other. The miracles done by the magicians of
- Egypt is their Achillean argument; but in short, I say, that what was
- done by the magicians of Egypt, has neither been a delusion of the
- senses, (as some would have it) much less that the devil could
- produce the creatures _de novo_ of condensed air, and that for the
- following reasons: _First_, thence it would follow that Moses and
- Aaron were deluded as well as the Egyptians; but the last is false,
- therefore the first: _Secondly_, it would follow, that the fashioning
- and framing of Adam's body of clay, was but a mean act of creation in
- comparison of these creatures, if they should be fashioned and framed
- of condense air, which is naturally a fluid element, not so easily
- stigmatized as the earth. I do not deny but the devil can snatch dead
- and quick bodies from one place to another, and that insensibly to
- the beholders, by pressing their optic nerves, as Franciscus Valesius
- has observed in his _Sacra Philosophia_, and I conclude with Abraham
- Couley, (no contemptible author) that the magicians of Egypt were
- after this manner served by the devil, to imitate God's power in the
- hands of Moses and Aaron. Mark, finally, if it were within the sphere
- of angelical power to take bodies of condense air, what needed them
- assume such material and earthly bodies as these angels that came to
- Abraham and Lot assumed? whose bodies could be touched and handled,
- and whose bodies were not found to yield to the touch, as the most
- condensed air must do; and it is very consisting with reason, that
- the angels, good or bad, should rather assume bodies of the element
- of the earth, which is a great deal more easily brought to the figure
- and fashion of a body, than the air. Some curious spirits, perhaps,
- may desire to know whether this second sight be hereditary or
- propagable from father to son; and I think no wonder that some would
- think so, because the sanative gift of the king's evil is lineally
- traduced to the natural heirs of the crown of England; and there is a
- whole family in Spain, that has a sanative gift of some particular
- diseases, which gift is propagated from the father to the son;
- neither is it diminished or augmented by the morality or immorality
- of the persons, as has been observed by that famous philosopher and
- physician, Franciscus Valesius, who lived in that kingdom, and had
- time and opportunity to examine the truth of this affair. In short, I
- answer, that it is not propagable from father to son, neither
- peculiar to any particular family; and as I have observed many honest
- men, free of all scandal that ever I could learn, to have it; so I
- have observed many vicious persons to have it who foretold truth oft
- enough.
-
- Perhaps it may be doubted what should make this second sight more
- frequent here than in the heart of the kingdom; I answer, that it is
- the lack of observation and inquiry that it should not be found there
- as well as here. _Secundo_, that it passes under a great odium and
- disgrace with the most of men, which causes those that see it,
- conceal it. _Thirdly_, I confess that credulity and ignorance give
- occasion to evil spirits to juggle more frequently, than otherwise
- they would have done. But sure it is, that men of little learning and
- education may be recompensed by notable presentations, not so obvious
- to others of greater parts. I remember of a nobleman in Spain, that
- was deaf and dumb from his infancy, and yet was taught by a monk to
- speak, and understand what was spoken to him, only by observing the
- motion of his lips that spoke to him. Sir Kenelm Digby saw him, as he
- tells in his Treatise of Bodies, and the monk that taught him, was a
- cousin of Franciscus Valesius. This was more than ordinary sagacity
- and docility, and it is found, that many dumb persons foretel many
- things before hand, and it is a hard measure to conclude all to be
- from evil spirits. In fine, as I noted before, as questionless Satan
- may, and often does, deceive after this manner, so it is as sure, it
- may be allowed, that good angels may forewarn this way, as well as by
- other signs and tokens, as Dr Brown observes.
-
- It is observed, that those who have the second sight, have this
- representation at any time of the day, but indeed more ordinarily in
- the morning and evening, and with candle light.
-
- The design of these weak conceptions on this sublime theme, is not to
- impose upon any man, freely leaving every man to follow his own
- judgment in things that offend not church or state, but that others
- of greater capacity may be stimulated to prosecute the same in a
- better method, humbly submitting myself to the judgment of my
- betters, to whose hands perhaps this pamphlet may come.
-
-
-
-
- FINIS.
-
-  EDINBURGH,
-
-  Printed by Thomas Webster.
-
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
- Transcriber's note:
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- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
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- Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
-
- Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been
- retained except in obvious cases of typographical error.
-
- Page 92: "here is a gentleman that will fee you"--The transcriber has
- changed "fee" to "see". fee you
-
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- words left out.
-
- For the eBook version of this book the cover was created by the
- transcriber, and is placed in the public domain.
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