To whom I replied, the persons accused had the
more wrong. As the laws of England, and the opinions of mankind then
stood, a mad dog in the midst of a congregation would not have been more
dangerous than this wicked and mischievous boy, who, looking around him,
could, according to his own caprice, put any one or more of the people
in peril of tortures or of death."
Four of the accused only were sent to London, and examined by the king
in person. In the end they were set at liberty, but not from the
sagacity of the examiners,--the boy Robinson having confessed that he
was suborned to give false evidence against them. One of these poor
creatures, strange to say, had confessed the crime with which she was
charged. In the Bodl. Lib. Dods. MSS. v.61, p.47, is the confession
itself, wherein she gives a circumstantial and minute account of the
transactions which took place between her and a familiar whom she calls
Mamilian, describing the meetings, feasts, and all the usual routine of
witchery and possession.--(See Whitaker's _Whalley_.)
* * * * *
PART FIRST.
The mill went merrily round, and Giles the miller sang and whistled from
morning to noon, and from noon till evening, save when the mulcting-dish
was about to be embowelled in the best sack; a business too serious for
such levity, requiring careful and deliberate thought.
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