ginning of a pamphlet controversy which Darrel and his supporters
were but too willing to take up.[34] Harsnett himself after his first
onslaught did not re-enter the contest. The semi-official character of
his writing rendered it unnecessary to refute the statements of a
convicted man. At any rate, he was soon occupied with another production
of similar aim. In 1602 Bishop Bancroft was busily collecting the
materials, in the form of sworn statements, for the exposure of Catholic
pretenders. He turned the material over to his chaplain. Whether the
several examinations of Roman exorcists and their subjects were the
result of a new interest in exposing exorcism on the part of the powers
which had sent Darrel to prison, or whether they were merely a phase of
increased vigilance against the activity of the Roman priests, we cannot
be sure. The first conclusion does not seem improbable. Be that as it
may, the court of high commission got hold of evidence enough to
justify the privy council in authorizing a full publication of the
testimony.[35] Harsnett was deputed to write the account of the Catholic
exorcists which was brought out in 1603 under the title of _A
Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures_. We have not the historical
materials with which to verify the claims made in the book. On the face
of it the case against the Roman priests looks bad. A mass of
examinations was printed which seem to show that the Jesuit Weston and
his confreres in England had been guilty of a great deal of jugglery and
pretence. The Jesuits, however, were wiser in their generation than the
Puritans and had not made charges of witchcraft. For that reason their
performances may be passed over.

Neither the pretences of the Catholics nor the refutation of them are
very important for our purposes. The exposure of John Darrel was of
significance, because it involved the guilt or innocence of the women he
accused as witches, as well as because the ecclesiastical authorities
took action against him and thereby levelled a blow directly at exorcism
and possession[36] and indirectly at loose charges of witchcraft.
Harsnett's books were the outcome of this affair and the ensuing
exposures of the Catholics, and they were more significant than
anything that had gone before. The Church of England had not committed
itself very definitely on witchcraft, but its spokesman in the attack
upon the Catholic pretenders took no uncertain ground. He was skeptical