he story of the hangings at Leicester in 1616 has to be put
together from various sources. Our principal authority, however, is in
two letters written by Robert Heyrick of Leicester to his brother
William in 1616, which are to be found in John Nichols, _History and
Antiquities of the County of Leicester_ (London, 1795-1815), II, pt. ii,
471, and in the _Annual Register_ for 1800. See also William Kelly,
_Royal Progresses to Leicester_ (Leicester, 1884), 367-369. Probably
this is the case referred to by Francis Osborne, where the boy was sent
to the Archbishop of Canterbury for further examination. Osborne, who
wrote a good deal later than the events, apparently confused the story
of the Leicester witches with that of the Boy of Bilston--their origins
were similar--and produced a strange account; see his _Miscellany of
Sundry Essays, Paradoxes and Problematicall Discourses_ (London,
1658-1659), 6-9.

[36] For the disgrace of the judges see _Cal. St. P., Dom., 1611-1618_,
398.

[37] Webster knew Bishop Morton, and also his secretary, Baddeley, who
had been notary in the case and had written an account of it. See John
Webster, _The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft_ (London, 1677), 275.

[38] The Catholics declared that the Puritans tried "syllabub" upon him.
This was perhaps a sarcastic reference to their attempts to cure him by
medicine.

[39] Then of Lichfield.

[40] Baddeley, who was Bishop Morton's secretary and who prepared the
narrative of the affair for the printer, says that the woman was freed
by the inquest; Ryc. Baddeley, _The Boy of Bilson ..._ (London, 1622),
61. Arthur Wilson, who tells us that he heard the story "from the
Bishop's own mouth almost thirty years before it was inserted here,"
says that the woman was found guilty and condemned to die; Arthur
Wilson, _Life and Reign of James I_ (London, 1653), 107. It is evident
that Baddeley's story is the more trustworthy. It is of course possible,
although not probable, that there were two trials, and that Baddeley
ignored the second one, the outcome of which would have been less
creditable to the bishop.

[41] Webster, _Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft_, 275.

[42] See Fairfax, _A Discourse of Witchcraft_ (Philobiblon Soc.): "and
those whose impostures our wise King so lately laid open." See also an
interesting letter from James himself in J. O. Halliwell, _Letters of
the Kings of England_ (London, 1846), II, 124-125.

[43] Fuller, _Church History