Part 29 (1/2)

[9] See Baxter's _Works_ (London, 1827-1830), XX, 255-271.

[10] See _ibid._, XXI, 87.

[11] W. Orme in his _Life of Richard Baxter_ (London, 1830), I, 435, says that the Baxter MSS. contain several letters from Glanvill to Baxter.

[12] _See Memoirs of Richard Baxter_ by Dr. Bates (in _Biographical Collections, or Lives and Characters from the Works of the Reverend Mr.

Baxter and Dr. Bates_, 1760), II, 51, 73.

[13] _Ibid._, 26; see also Baxter's _Dying Thoughts_, in _Works_, XVIII, 284, where he refers to the Demon of Mascon, a story for which Boyle, as we have seen, had stood sponsor in England.

[14] Ch. VII, sect. iv, in _Works_, XXII, 327.

[15] _Certainty of the World of Spirits_ (London, 1691), preface.

[16] Two other collectors of witch stories deserve perhaps a note here, for each prefaced his collection with a discussion of witchcraft. The London publisher Nathaniel Crouch, who wrote much for his own press under the pseudonym of ”R. B.” (later expanded to ”Richard Burton”), published as early as 1688 (not 1706, as says the _Dict. Nat. Biog._) _The Kingdom of Darkness: or The History of Daemons, Specters, Witches, ... Containing near Fourscore memorable Relations, ... Together with a Preface obviating the common Objections and Allegations of the Sadduces [sic] and Atheists of the Age, ... with Pictures._ Edward Stephens, first lawyer, then clergyman, but always a pamphleteer, brought out in 1693 _A Collection of Modern Relations concerning Witches and Witchcraft_, to which was prefaced Sir Matthew Hale's _Meditations concerning the Mercy of G.o.d in preserving us from the Malice and Power of Evil Angels_ and a dissertation of his own on _Questions concerning Witchcraft_.

[17] _An Historical, Physiological, and Theological Treatise of Spirits, Apparitions, Witchcraft and other Magical Practices_ (London, 1705).

Dedicated to ”John, Earl of Carbury.”

[18] See for example, _ibid._, 63, 70, 71, 75, 130-135, 165, 204, 289, 306.

[19] Balthazar Bekker's _De Betoverde Weereld_ (Leeuwarden and Amsterdam, 1691-1693), was a most telling attack upon the reality of witchcraft, and, through various translations, was read all over Europe.

The first part was translated and published in London in 1695 as _The World Bewitched_, and was republished in 1700 as _The World Turn'd upside down_.

[20] _Essay upon Reason and the Nature of Spirits_, 195.

[21] G. P. R. James, ed., _Letters Ill.u.s.trative of the Reign of William III, ... addressed to the Duke of Shrewsbury, by James Vernon, Esq._ (London, 1841), II, 302-303.

[22] _Spectator_, no. 117.

[23] _Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports_, XIV, 3, p. 132.

[24] H. C. Foxcroft, ed., _Life and Letters of Sir George Savile, Marquis of Halifax_ (London, 1898), II, 493.

[25] G. P. R. James, ed., _op. cit._, II, 300. Shrewsbury's opinion may be inferred from Vernon's reply to him.

[26] See the _Tatler_, no. 21, May 28, 1709.

APPENDICES.

A.--PAMPHLET LITERATURE.

-- 1.--Witchcraft under Elizabeth (see ch. II).

A large part of the evidence for the trials of Elizabeth's reign is derived from the pamphlets issued soon after the trials. These pamphlets furnish a peculiar species of historical material, and it is a species so common throughout the history of English witchcraft that it deserves a brief examination in pa.s.sing. The pamphlets were written of course by credulous people who easily accepted what was told them and whose own powers of observation were untrained. To get at the facts behind their marvellous accounts demands the greatest care and discrimination. Not only must the miraculous be ruled out, but the prejudices of the observer must be taken into account. Did the pamphleteer himself hear and see what he recorded, or was his account at second hand? Did he write soon after the events, when they were fresh in his memory? Does his narrative seem to be that of a painstaking, careful man or otherwise? These are questions to be answered. In many instances, however, the pamphlets were not narrative in form, but were merely abstracts of the court proceedings and testimony. In this case, too, care must be taken in using them, for the testimony damaging to the accused was likely to be accented, while the evidence on the other side, if not suppressed, was not emphasized. In general, however, these records of depositions are sources whose residuum of fact it is not difficult to discover. Both in this and in the narrative material the most valuable points may be gleaned from the incidental references and statements. The writer has made much use of this incidental matter. The position of the witch in her community, the real ground of the feeling against her upon the part of her neighbors, the way in which the alarm spread, the processes used to elicit confession--inferences of this sort may, the writer believes, be often made with a good deal of confidence. We have taken for granted that the pamphlets possess a substratum of truth. This may not always be the case. The pamphleteer was writing to sell. A fict.i.tious narrative of witchcraft or of a witch trial was almost as likely to sell as a true narrative. More than once in the history of witch literature absolutely imaginary stories were foisted upon the public. It is necessary to be constantly on guard against this type of pamphlet. Fortunately nine-tenths of the witch accounts are corroborated from other sources. The absence of such corroboration does not mean that an account should be barred out, but that it should be subjected to the methods of historical criticism, and that it should be used cautiously even if it pa.s.s that test. Happily for us, the plan of making a witch story to order does not seem to have occurred to the Elizabethan pamphleteers. So far as we know, all the pamphlets of that time rest upon actual events. We shall take them up briefly in order.

The first was _The examination and confession of certaine Wytches at Chensforde in the Countie of Ess.e.x before the Quenes maiesties Judges, the XXVI daye of July Anno 1566_. The only original copy of this pamphlet is in the Lambeth Palace library at London and its binding bears the initials of R. B. [Richard Bancroft]. The versified introduction is signed by John Phillips, who presumably was the author.

The pamphlet--a black letter one--was issued, in three parts, from the press of William Powell at London, two of them on August 13, the third on August 23, 1566. It has since been reprinted by H. Beigel for the Philobiblon Society, London, 1864-1865. It gives abstracts of the confessions and an account of the court interrogatories. There is every reason to believe that it is in the main an accurate account of what happened at the Chelmsford trials in 1566. Justice Southcote, Dr. Cole, Master Foscue, and Attorney-General Gerard are all names we can identify. Moreover, the one execution narrated is confirmed by the pamphlet dealing with the trials at Chelmsford in 1579.