Part 33 (1/2)
It is not worth while to give any critical apprais.e.m.e.nt of these pamphlets. They were all controversial and all dealt with the case of Richard Dugdale. Zachary Taylor had the best of it. The Puritan clergymen who backed up Thomas Jollie in his claims seem gradually to have withdrawn their support.
-- 9.--The Wenham Pamphlets (see ch. XIII).
_An Account of the Tryal, Examination, and Condemnation of Jane Wenham, on an Indictment of Witchcraft, for Bewitching of Matthew Gilston and Anne Thorne of Walcorne, in the County of Hertford.... Before the Right Honourable Mr. Justice Powell, and is ordered for Execution on Sat.u.r.day come Sevennight the 15th._ One page.
_A Full and Impartial Account of the Discovery of Sorcery and Witchcraft, Practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkerne in Hertfords.h.i.+re, upon the bodies of Anne Thorn, Anne Street, &c.... till she ... receiv'd Sentence of Death for the same, March 4, 1711-12_, London, 1712.
Anonymous, but confessedly written by Francis Bragge. 1st ed. in Cornell library and Brit. Mus.; 2d ed. in Brit. Mus.; 3d ed. in Brit. Mus.
(Sloane, 3,943), and Bodleian; 4th ed. in Brit. Mus.; 5th ed. in Harvard library: all published within the year.
_Witchcraft Farther Display'd. Containing (I) An Account of the Witchcraft practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkerne, in Hertfords.h.i.+re, since her Condemnation, upon the bodies of Anne Thorne and Anne Street....
(II) An Answer to the most general Objections against the Being and Power of Witches: With some Remarks upon the Case of Jane Wenham in particular, and on Mr. Justice Powel's procedure therein...._ London, 1712. Introduction signed by ”F. B.” [Francis Bragge], who was the author.
_A Full Confutation of Witchcraft: More particularly of the Depositions against Jane Wenham, Lately Condemned for a Witch; at Hertford. In which the Modern Notions of Witches are overthrown, and the Ill Consequences of such Doctrines are exposed by Arguments; proving that, Witchcraft is Priestcraft.... In a Letter from a Physician in Hertfords.h.i.+re, to his Friend in London._ London, 1712.
_The Impossibility of Witchcraft, Plainly Proving, From Scripture and Reason, That there never was a Witch; and that it is both Irrational and Impious to believe there ever was. In which the Depositions against Jane Wenham, Lately Try'd and Condemn'd for a Witch, at Hertford, are Confuted and Expos'd_, London, 1712. 1st ed. in Brit. Mus.; 2d ed., containing additional material, in the Bodleian. The author of this pamphlet in his preface intimates that its substance had earlier been published by him in the _Protestant Post Boy_.
_The Belief of Witchcraft Vindicated: proving from Scripture, there have been Witches; and from Reason, that there may be Such still. In answer to a late Pamphlet, Int.i.tuled, The Impossibility of Witchcraft ..._, By G. R., A. M., London, 1712.
_The Case of the Hertfords.h.i.+re Witchcraft Consider'd. Being an Examination of a Book ent.i.tl'd, A Full and Impartial Account ..._, London, 1712. Dedicated to Sir John Powell. In the Cornell copy of this booklet a ma.n.u.script note on the t.i.tle-page, in an eighteenth century hand, ascribes it to ”The Rector of Therfield in Hertfords.h.i.+re, or his Curate,” while at the end of the dedication what seems the same hand has signed the names, ”Henry Stebbing or Thomas Sherlock.” But Stebbing was in 1712 still a fellow at Cambridge, and Sherlock, later Bishop of London, was Master of the Temple and Chaplain to Queen Anne. See _Dict.
Nat. Biog._
_A Defense of the Proceedings against Jane Wenham, wherein the Possibility and Reality of Witchcraft are Demonstrated from Scripture.... In Answer to Two Pamphlets, Ent.i.tuled: (I) The Impossibility of Witchcraft, etc. (II) A Full Confutation of Witchcraft_, By Francis Bragge, A. B., ... London, 1712.
_The Impossibility of Witchcraft Further Demonstrated, Both from Scripture and Reason ... with some Cursory Remarks on two trifling Pamphlets in Defence of the existence of Witches_. By the Author of _The Impossibility of Witchcraft_, 1712. In the Bodleian.
_Jane Wenham_. Broadside. The writer of this leaflet claims to have transcribed his account from an account in ”Judge Chancy's own hand”.
Chauncy was the justice of the peace who with Bragge stood behind the prosecution.
It is very hard to straighten out the authors.h.i.+p of these various pamphlets. The Rev. Mr. Bragge wrote several. The Rev. Mr. Gardiner and the Rev. Mr. Strutt, who were active in the case, may have written two of them. The topographer Gough, writing about 1780, declared that the late Dr. Stebbing had as a young man partic.i.p.ated in the controversy.
Francis Hutchinson was an interested spectator, but probably did not contribute to the literature of the subject.
A short secondary account is that of W. B. Gerish, _A Hertfords.h.i.+re Witch; or the Story of Jane Wenham, the ”Wise Woman of Walkern_.”
In the Brit. Mus., Sloane MSS., 3,943, there is a continuation of the pamphlet discussion, based chiefly, however, upon Glanvill and other writers.
-- 10.--Criticism of the Northampton and Huntingdon Pamphlets of 1705 and 1716 (see ch. XIII, note 10).
_An Account of The Tryals, Examination and Condemnation of Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips (Two notorious Witches) on Wednesday the 7th of March 1705, for Bewitching a Woman, and two children.... With an Account of their strange Confessions._ This is signed, at the end, ”Ralph Davis, March 8, 1705.” It was followed very shortly by a completer account, written after the execution, and ent.i.tled:
_The Northamptons.h.i.+re Witches, Being a true and faithful account of the Births, Educations, Lives, and Conversations of Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips (The two notorious Witches) That were Executed at Northampton on Sat.u.r.day, March the 17th, 1705 ... with their full Confession to the Minister, and last Dying Speeches at the place of Execution, the like never before heard of.... Communicated in a Letter last Post, from Mr.
Ralph Davis of Northampton, to Mr. William Simons, Merchantt in London_, London, 1705.
With these two pamphlets we wish to compare another, which was apparently published in 1716 and was ent.i.tled: _The Whole Trial and Examination of Mrs. Mary Hicks and her Daughter Elizabeth, But of Nine Years of Age, who were Condemn'd the last a.s.sizes held at Huntingdon for Witchcraft, and there Executed on Sat.u.r.day, the 28th of July 1716 ... the like never heard before; their Behaviour with several Divines who came to converse with 'em whilst under their sentence of Death; and last Dying Speeches and Confession at the place of execution_, London, 1716. There is a copy in the Bodleian Library.
The two Northamptons.h.i.+re pamphlets and the Huntingdons.h.i.+re pamphlet have been set by themselves because they appear to have been written by one hand. Moreover, it looks very much as if they were downright fabrications foisted upon the public by a man who had already in 1700 made to order an unhistorical pamphlet. To show this, it will be necessary to review briefly the facts about the Worcester pamphlet described above, -- 4. What seems to be the second edition of a pamphlet ent.i.tled _The full Tryalls, Examinations and Condemnations of Four Notorious Witches, At the a.s.sizes held at Worcester on Tuseday the 4th of March_, was published at London with the date 1700. It purports to tell the story of one of the cases that came up during Matthew Hopkins's career in 1645-1647. It has been universally accepted--even by Thomas Wright, Ashton, W. H. D. Adams, and Inderwick. An examination shows, however, that it was made over from the Chelmsford pamphlet of 1645. The author shows little ingenuity, for he steals not only the confessions of four witches at that trial, but their names as well. Rebecca West, Margaret Landis, Susan c.o.c.k, and Rose Hallybread had all been hanged at Chelmsford and could hardly have been rehanged at Worcester. Practically all that the writer of the Worcester pamphlet did was to touch over the confessions and add thrilling details about their executions.
Now, it looks very much as if the same writer had composed the Northamptons.h.i.+re pamphlets of 1705 and the Huntingdons.h.i.+re pamphlets of 1716. The verbal resemblances are nothing less than remarkable. The Worcester pamphlet, in its t.i.tle, tells of ”their Confessions and Last Dying Speeches at the place of execution.” The second of the two Northamptons.h.i.+re pamphlets (the first was issued before the execution) speaks of ”their full Confession to the Minister, and last Dying Speeches at the place of Execution.” The Huntingdons.h.i.+re pamphlet closes the t.i.tle with ”last Dying Speeches and Confession at the place of Execution.” The Worcester pamphlet uses the phrase ”with other amazing Particulars”; the Northamptons.h.i.+re pamphlet the phrase ”the particulars of their amazing Pranks.” The Huntingdon pamphlet has in this case no similar phrase but the Huntingdon and Northamptons.h.i.+re pamphlets have another phrase in common. The Northamptons.h.i.+re pamphlet says: ”the like never before heard of”; the Huntingdon pamphlet says: ”the like never heard before.”
These resemblances are in the t.i.tles. The Northampton and the fabricated Worcester pamphlets show other similarities in their accounts. The Northampton women were so ”hardened in their Wickedness that they Publickly boasted that their Master (meaning the Devil) would not suffer them to be Executed but they found him a Lyer.” The Worcester writer speaks of the ”Devil who told them to the Last that he would secure them from Publick Punishment, but now too late they found him a Lyer as he was from the beginning of the World.” In concluding their narratives the Northamptons.h.i.+re and Worcesters.h.i.+re pamphleteers show an interesting similarity of treatment. The Northampton witches made a ”howling and lamentable noise” on receiving their sentences, the Worcester women made a ”yelling and howling at their executions.”
These resemblances may be fairly characterized as striking. If it be asked whether the phrases quoted are not conventional in witch pamphlets, the answer must be in the negative. So far as the writer knows, these phrases occur in no other of the fifty or more witch pamphlets. The word ”notorious,” which occurs in the t.i.tles of the Worcester and Northampton pamphlets, is a common one and would signify nothing. The other phrases mentioned are characteristic and distinctive.