t eight years been on the lookout for
witches. In 1663 he had turned Julian Cox over to the tender mercies of
Justice Archer. By 1664 he had uncovered a "hellish knot" of the wicked
women and was taking depositions against them, wringing confessions from
them and sending them to gaol with all possible speed.[27] The women
were of the usual class, a herd of poor quarrelsome, bickering females
who went from house to house seeking alms. In the numbers of the accused
the discovery resembled that at Lancaster in 1633-1634, as indeed it did
in other ways. A witch meeting or conventicle was confessed to. The
county was being terrified and entertained by the most horrible tales,
when suddenly a quietus was put upon the affair "by some of them in
authority." A witch chase, which during the Civil Wars would have led to
a tragedy, was cut short, probably through the agency of a privy council
less fearful of popular sentiment than the assize judges.

The Mompesson case[28] was of no less importance in its time, although
it belongs rather in the annals of trickery than in those of
witchcraft. But the sensation which it caused in England and the
controversy waged over it between the upholders of witchcraft and the
"Sadducees," give the story a considerable interest and render the
outcome of the trial significant. The only case of its sort in its time,
it was nevertheless most typical of the superstition of the time. A
little town in Wiltshire had been disturbed by a stray drummer. The
self-constituted noise-maker was called to account by a stranger in the
village, a Mr. Mompesson of Tedworth, who on examining the man's license
saw that it had been forged and took it away from him. This, at any
rate, was Mr. Mompesson's story as to how he had incurred the ill will
of the man. The drummer took his revenge in a singular way. Within a few
days the Mompesson family at Tedworth began to be annoyed at night by
strange noises or drummings on the roofs. All the phenomena and
manifestations which we associate with a modern haunted-house story were
observed by this alarmed family of the seventeenth century. The little
girls were knocked about in their beds at night, a stout servant was
forcibly held hand and foot, the children's shoes were thrown about, the
chairs glided about the room. It would seem that all this bold
horse-play must soon have been exposed, but it went on merrily. Whenever
any tune was called for, it was given on the drum. The