rts against such as are Complainants for the King, and
sufferers themselves with their Families and Estates. I intend to
give your Towne a Visite suddenly, I am to come to Kimbolton this
weeke, and it shall bee tenne to one but I will come to your Town
first, but I would certainely know afore whether your Town affords
many Sticklers for such Cattell, or willing to give and afford us
good welcome and entertainment, as other where I have beene, else I
shall wave your Shire (not as yet beginning in any part of it my
selfe) And betake me to such places where I doe and may persist
without controle, but with thankes and recompence."[70]

This stirred the fighting spirit of the vicar of Great Staughton, and he
answered the witchfinder in a little book which he published shortly
after, and which he dedicated to Colonel Walton of the House of Commons.
We shall have occasion in another chapter to note its point of view.

In spite of opposition, Hopkins's work in Huntingdonshire prospered. The
justices of the peace were occupied with examinations during March and
April. Perhaps as many as twenty were accused.[71] At least half that
number were examined. Several were executed--we do not know the exact
number--almost certainly at the instance of the justices of the
peace.[72] It is pleasant to know that one was acquitted, even if it was
after she had been twice searched and once put through the swimming
ordeal.[73]

From Huntingdonshire it is likely that Hopkins and Stearne made their
next excursion into Bedfordshire. We know very little about their
success here. In two villages it would seem that they were able to track
their prey.[74] But they left to others the search which they had
begun.[75]

The witchfinder had been active for a little over a year. But during the
last months of that time his discoveries had not been so notable. Was
there a falling off in interest? Or was he meeting with increased
opposition among the people? Or did the assize courts, which resumed
their proceedings in the summer of 1646, frown upon him? It is hard to
answer the question without more evidence. But at any rate it is clear
that during the summer and autumn of 1646 he was not actively engaged in
his profession. It is quite possible, indeed, that he was already
suffering from the consumption which was to carry him off in the
following year. And, with the retirement of its moving spirit, the witch
crusade soon