by certain allusions in _Twelfth Night_ to Harsnett's
attempts to pour ridicule on Puritan exorcism.[46] It would be hard to
say how much there is in this suggestion. About Ben Jonson we can speak
more certainly. It is clearly evident that he sneered at Darrel's
pretended possessions. In the third scene of the fifth act of _The Devil
is an Ass_ he makes Mere-craft say:

It is the easiest thing, Sir, to be done.
As plaine as fizzling: roule but wi' your eyes,
And foame at th' mouth. A little castle-soape
Will do 't, to rub your lips: And then a nutshell,
With toe and touchwood in it to spit fire,
Did you ner'e read, Sir, little _Darrel's_ tricks,
With the boy o' _Burton_, and the 7 in _Lancashire_,
Sommers at _Nottingham_? All these do teach it.
And wee'l give out, Sir, that your wife ha's bewitch'd you.

This is proof enough, not only that Jonson was in sympathy with the
Anglican assailants of Puritan exorcism, but that he expected to find
others of like opinion among those who listened to his play. And it was
not unreasonable that he should expect this. It is clear enough that the
powers of the Anglican church were behind Harsnett and that their
influence gave his views weight. We have already observed that there
were some evidences in the last part of Elizabeth's reign of a reaction
against witch superstition. Harsnett's book, while directed primarily
against exorcism, is nevertheless another proof of that reaction.

[1] Sir George Peckham of Denham near Uxbridge and Lord Vaux of Hackney
were two of the most prominent Catholics who opened their homes for
these performances. See Samuel Harsnett, _Declaration of Egregious
Popish Impostures_ (London, 1603), 7, 8.

[2] For a discussion of the Catholic exorcists see T. G. Law, "Devil
Hunting in Elizabethan England," in the _Nineteenth Century_ for March,
1894. Peckham's other activities in behalf of his church are discussed
by Dr. R. B. Merriman in "Some Notes on the Treatment of English
Catholics in the Reign of Elizabeth," in the _Am. Hist. Rev._, April,
1908. Dr. Merriman errs, however, in supposing that John Darrel
cooperated with Weston and the Catholic exorcists; _ibid._, note 51.
Darrel was a Puritan and had nothing to do with the Catholic
performances.

[3] It is quite possible to suppose, however, that its course would have
been run in much the same way at a later time.

[4] For Harsnett's account of Katherine Wright s