er of an hour, he had effected many other calamities; that
far from repenting of his wickedness, he rejoiced in the power of
his imps.

The excessive destruction and cruelty perpetrated by the
indiscriminate procedure of the Witchfinder-General incited a Mr.
Gaule, vicar of Great Staughton in Huntingdonshire, to urge some
objections to the inhuman character of his method. Gaule, like
John Cotta before him and others of that class, was provoked to
challenge the propriety of the ordinary prosecutions, not so much
from incredulity as from humanity, which revolted at the
extravagance of the judges' cruelty. In 'Select Cases of
Conscience touching Witches and Witchcraft,' the minister of
Great Staughton describes from personal knowledge one of the
ordinary ways of detecting the guilt of the accused. 'Having
taken the suspected witch, she is placed in the middle of a room
upon a stool or table, cross-legged, or in some other uneasy
position, to which, if she submits not, she is then bound with
cords: there is she watched and kept without meat or sleep for
the space of four-and-twenty hours (for they say within that
time they shall see her imps come and suck); a little hole is
likewise made in the door for the imps to come in at, and, lest
they should come in some less discernible shape, they that watch
are taught to be ever and anon sweeping the room, and if they see
any spiders or flies to kill them; and if they cannot kill them,
then they may be sure they are her imps.'

'Swimming' and 'pricking' were the approved modes of discovery.
By the former method the witch was stripped naked, securely bound
(hands and feet being crossed), rolled up in a blanket or cloth,
and carried to the nearest water, upon which she was laid on her
back, with the alternative of floating or sinking. In case of the
former event (the water not seldom refusing to receive the
wretch, because--declares James I.--they had impiously thrown off
the holy water of baptism) she was rescued for the fire or the
gallows; while, in case of sinking to the bottom, she would be
properly and clearly acquitted of the suspected guilt. Hopkins
prided himself most on his ability for detecting special marks.
Causing the suspected woman to be stripped naked, or as far as
the waist (as the case might be), sometimes in public, this
stigmatic professor began to search for the hidden signs with
unsparing scrutiny. Upon finding a mole or wart or any similar
mark, they tri