d John Darrel with arrest.[6]

This was in 1586. Darrel disappeared from view for ten years or so,
when he turned up at Burton-upon-Trent, not very far from the scene of
his first operations. Here he volunteered to cure Thomas Darling. The
story is a curious one and too long for repetition. Some facts must,
however, be presented in order to bring the story up to the point at
which Darrel intervened. Thomas Darling, a young Derbyshire boy, had
become ill after returning from a hunt. He was afflicted with
innumerable fits, in which he saw green angels and a green cat. His aunt
very properly consulted a physician, who at the second consultation
thought it possible that the child was bewitched. The aunt failed to
credit the diagnosis. The boy's fits continued and soon took on a
religious character. Between seizures he conversed with godly people.
They soon discovered that the reading of the Scriptures brought on
attacks. This looked very like the Devil's work. The suggestion of the
physician was more seriously regarded. Meanwhile the boy had overheard
the discussion of witchcraft and proceeded to relate a story. He had
met, he said, a "little old woman" in a "gray gown with a black fringe
about the cape, a broad thrimmed hat, and three warts on her face."[7]
Very accidentally, as he claimed, he offended her. She angrily said a
rhyming charm that ended with the words, "I wil goe to heaven, and thou
shalt goe to hell," and stooped to the ground.

The story produced a sensation. Those who heard it declared at once that
the woman must have been Elizabeth Wright, or her daughter Alse
Gooderidge, women long suspected of witchcraft. Alse was fetched to the
boy. She said she had never seen him, but her presence increased the
violence of his fits. Mother and daughter were carried before two
justices of the peace, who examined them together with Alse's husband
and daughter. The women were searched for special marks in the usual
revolting manner with the usual outcome, but only Alse herself was sent
to gaol.[8]

The boy grew no better. It was discovered that the reading of certain
verses in the first chapter of John invariably set him off.[9] The
justices of the peace put Alse through several examinations, but with
little result. Two good witches were consulted, but refused to help
unless the family of the bewitched came to see them.

Meantime a cunning man appeared who promised to prove Alse a witch. In
the presence of "manie wor