s that led to them. The difference between these cases
of 1645 and other cases is this, that Hopkins and Stearne accused so
large a body of witches that they stirred up opposition. It is through
those who opposed them and their own replies that we learn about the
tortures inflicted upon the supposed agents of the Devil.

The significance of this cannot be insisted upon too strongly. A chance
has preserved for us the fact of the tortures of this time. It is
altogether possible--it is almost probable--that, if we had all the
facts, we should find that similar or equally severe methods had been
practised in many other witch cases.

We have been very minute in our descriptions of the Hopkins crusade, and
by no means brief in our attempt to account for it. But it is safe to
say that it is easily the most important episode in that series of
episodes which makes up the history of English witchcraft. None of them
belong, of course, in the larger progress of historical events. It may
seem to some that we have magnified the point at which they touched the
wider interests of the time. Let it not be forgotten that Hopkins was a
factor in his day and that, however little he may have affected the
larger issues of the times, he was affected by them. It was only the
unusual conditions produced by the Civil Wars that made the great
witchfinder possible.

[1] See J. O. Jones, "Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder," in Thomas
Seccombe's _Twelve Bad Men_ (London, 1894).

[2] See _Notes and Queries_, 1854, II, 285, where a quotation from a
parish register of Mistley-cum-Manningtree is given: "Matthew Hopkins,
son of Mr. James Hopkins, Minister of Wenham, was buried at Mistley
August 12, 1647." See also John Stearne, _A Confirmation and Discovery
of Witchcraft_, 61 (cited hereafter as "Stearne").

[3] _Calendar of the Proceedings of the Committee for Advance of Money,
1642-1656_, I, 457. _Cf. Notes and Queries_, 1850, II, 413.

[4] The oft-repeated statement that he had been given a commission by
Parliament to detect witches seems to rest only on the mocking words of
Butler's _Hudibras_:

"Hath not this present Parliament
A Ledger to the Devil sent,
Fully empower'd to treat about
Finding revolted Witches out?"

(_Hudibras_, pt. ii, canto 3.)

To these lines an early editor added the note: "The Witch-finder in
Suffolk, who in the Presbyterian Times had a Commission to discover
Witches." But he