Part 38 (1/2)

1616. King's Lynn, Norfolk. Mary Smith hanged. Alexander Roberts, _Treatise of Witchcraft_ (London, 1616); Mackerell, _History and Antiquities of King's Lynn_, 233.

1616. Middles.e.x. Elizabeth Rutter of Finchley, for laming and killing three persons, sentenced to be hanged.

_Middles.e.x County Records_, II, 108, 218.

1616. Middles.e.x. Margaret Wellan of London accused ”upon suspition to be a witch.” Andrew Camfield held in 40 bail to appear against her. _Middles.e.x County Records_, II, 124-125.

1617. Middles.e.x. Agnes Berrye of Enfield sentenced to be hanged. _Ibid._, 116, 219.

1617. Middles.e.x. Anne Branche of Tottenham arraigned on four counts, acquitted. _Ibid._, 219.

1618. Middles.e.x. Bridget Meakins acquitted. _Ibid._, 225.

1619. Lincoln. Margaret and Philippa Flower hanged. Their mother, Joan Flower, died on the way to prison.

_The Wonderful Discoverie of the Witchcrafts of Margaret and Phillip Flower_; J. Nichols, _History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester_ (1795-1815), II, pt. I, 49; _Cal. St. P., Dom., 1619-1623_, 129; _Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, Rutland MSS._, IV, 514.

1619. Leicester. Three women, Anne Baker, Joan Willimot, Ellen Green, accused and confessed. Doubtless executed.

_The Wonderful Discoverie of the Witchcrafts of Margaret and Phillip Flower_.

1619. Middles.e.x. Agnes Miller of Finchley acquitted. _Middles.e.x County Records_, II, 143-144.

1620. London. ”One Peac.o.c.k, sometime a schoolmaster and minister,” for bewitching the king, committed to the Tower and tortured. Williams, _Court and Times of James I_, II, 202; _Cal. St. P., Dom., 1619-1623_, 125.

1620. Leicester. Gilbert Smith, rector of Swithland, accused of witchcraft among other things. _Leicesters.h.i.+re and Rutland Notes and Queries_, I, 247.

1620. Padiham, Lancas.h.i.+re. Witches in prison. _House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths_, pt. II. (Chetham Soc., 1856), 240.

1620. Staffords.h.i.+re. Woman accused on charges of the ”boy of Bilson” acquitted. _The Boy of Bilson_ (London, 1622); Arthur Wilson, _Life and Reign of James I_, 107-112; Webster, _Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft_, 274-275.

1621. Edmonton, Middles.e.x. Elizabeth Sawyer hanged. _The wonderfull discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer_, by Henry Goodcole (1621).

1621. Middles.e.x. Anne Beaver, accused of murder on six counts, acquitted. _Middles.e.x County Records_, II, 72-73. Acquitted again in 1625. _Ibid._, III, 2.

1622. York. Six women indicted for bewitching Edward Fairfax's children. At April a.s.sizes two were released upon bond, two and probably four discharged. At the August a.s.sizes they were again acquitted. Fairfax, _A Discourse of Witchcraft_ (Philobiblon Soc., London, 1858-1859).

1622. Middles.e.x. Margaret Russel, alias ”Countess,” committed to Newgate by Sir Wm. Slingsby on a charge by Lady Jennings of injuring her daughter. Dr. Napier diagnosed the daughter's illness as epilepsy.

Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,674, fol. 134.

1623. Yorks.h.i.+re. Elizabeth Crearey of North Allerton sentenced to be set in the pillory once a quarter. Thirsk Quarter Sessions Records in _North Riding Record Society_ (London, 1885), III, 177, 181.

1624. Bristol. Two witches said to have been executed. John Latimer, _The Annals of Bristol in the Seventeenth Century_ (Bristol, 1900), 91. Latimer quotes from another ”annalist.”

temp. Jac. I? Two women said to have been hanged. Story doubtful. Edward Poeton, _Winnowing of White Witchcraft_ (Brit. Mus., Sloane MSS., 1,954), 41-42.

temp. Jac. I. Norfolk. Joane Harvey accused for scratching ”an olde witche” there, ”Mother Francis nowe deade.” Mother Francis had before been imprisoned at Norwich. Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 28,223, fol. 15.

temp. Jac. I. Warwicks.h.i.+re. Coventry haunted by ”h.e.l.lish sorcerers.”

”The pestilent brood” also in Ches.h.i.+re.

Thomas Cooper, _The Mystery of Witchcraft_ (1617),13, 16.

temp. Jac. I. Norwich. Witches probably accused for illness of a child. Possibly Mother Francis was one of them. Cooper, _ibid._, ”Epistle Dedicatorie.”

1626. Taunton, Somerset. Edmund Bull and Joan Greedie accused. Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,674, fol. 189; Wright, _Narratives of Sorcery and Magic_, II, 139-143.