2] Bedford, Lincoln, York,
Bristol, and Hertford each two; Derby had several, the exact number we
can not learn. These figures of the more serious trials seem to show
that the alarm was drifting from the southeast corner of England towards
the midlands. In the last half of Elizabeth's rule the centre had been
to the north of London in the southern midlands. Now it seems to have
progressed to the northern midlands. Leicester, Derby, and Nottingham
may be selected as the triangle of counties that would fairly represent
the centre of the movement. If the matter were to be determined with
mathematical accuracy, the centre would need to be placed perhaps a
little farther west, for Stafford, Cheshire, Bristol, and the remote
Welsh Carnarvon all experienced witch alarms. In the north, York and
Durham had their share of trials.

It will be easier to realize what had happened when we discover that, so
far as records go, Kent and Essex were entirely quiet during the period,
and East Anglia almost so. We shall later see that these counties had
not at all forgotten to believe in witchcraft, but the witchfinders had
ceased their activities for a while.

To be sure, this reasoning from the distribution of trials is a
dangerous proceeding. Witch alarms, on they face of things, seem
haphazard outbursts of excitement. And such no doubt they are in part;
yet one who goes over many cases in order cannot fail to observe that an
outbreak in one county was very likely to be followed by one in the next
county.[53] This is perfectly intelligible to every one familiar with
the essentially contagious character of these scares. The stories spread
from village to village as fast as that personified Rumor of the poet
Vergil, "than which nothing is fleeter"; nor did they halt with the
sheriffs at the county boundaries.

We have now traced the growth of James's opinions until they found
effect in English law, have seen the practical operation of that law,
and have gone over the forms of evidence, as well as some other features
of the witch trials of his reign. In the next chapter we shall take up
some of the more famous Jacobean cases in detail as examples of witch
alarms. We shall seek to find out how they started and what were the
real causes at work.

[1] I have not attempted to give more than a brief resume of this story,
and have used Thomas Wright, _Narratives of Sorcery and Magic_ (London,
1851), I, 181-190, and Mrs. Lynn Linton, _Witch