ks is blood. And saith yt theire devills
can cause foule weather and storms, and soe did at theire meetings.
Shee alsoe saith yt when her devill did come to sucke her pappe, hee
usually came to her in ye liknes of a cat, sometymes of one colour and
sometymes of an other. And yt since this trouble befell her, her
spirit hath left her, and shee never sawe him since."

[Footnote 59: The omission here is thus supplied in Baines's
Transcript; but the actual names are scarcely to be recognised, from
the clerical errors of the copy:--

"One Pickerne and his wife both of Wyndwall,
Rawson of Clore and his wife
Duffice wife of Clore by the water side
Cartmell the wife of Clore
And Jane of the hedgend in Maresden."]

On the evidence contained in these examinations several persons were
committed for trial at Lancaster, and seventeen, on being tried at the
ensuing assizes, were found guilty by the jury. The judge before whom
the trial took place was, however, more sagacious and enlightened than
his predecessors, Bromley and Altham. He respited the execution of the
prisoners; and on the case being reported to the king in council, the
Bishop of Chester, Dr. Bridgman, was required to investigate the
circumstances. The inquiry was instituted at Chester, and four of the
convicted witches, namely, Margaret Johnson, Frances Dickonson, Mary
Spencer, and the wife of one of the Hargreaves's, were sent to London,
and examined, first by the king's physicians and surgeons, and
afterwards by Charles the first in person.

"A stranger scene" to quote Dr. Whitaker's concluding paragraph "can
scarcely be conceived; and it is not easy to imagine whether the
untaught manners, rude dialect, and uncouth appearance of these poor
foresters, would more astonish the king; or his dignity of person and
manners, together with the splendid scene with which they were
surrounded, would overwhelm them. The end, however, of the business
was, that strong presumptions appeared of the boy having been suborned
to accuse them falsely, and they were accordingly dismissed. The boy
afterwards confessed that he was suborned."[60]

[Footnote 60: Webster gives the sequel of this curious case of
imposture:--"Four of them, to wit Margaret Johnson, Francis Dicconson,
Mary Spenser, and Hargraves Wife, were sent for up to London, and were
viewed and examined by his Majesties Physicians and Chirurgeons, and
after by his Majesty and the Council, and no cause of guilt appearing