have gone through the form of condemning the woman, but
took pains to see that she was reprieved.[39] In the mean time her
affair, like that of Richard Dugdale, had become a matter of sectarian
quarrel. It was stated by the enemies of Jane Wenham that she was
supported in prison by the Dissenters,[40] although they said that up to
this time she had never been a church-going woman. It was the Dugdale
case over again, save that the parties were reversed. Then Puritans had
been arrayed on the side of superstition; now some of the Anglicans seem
to have espoused that cause.[41] Of course the stir produced was
greater. Mistress Jane found herself "the discourse of the town" in
London, and a pamphlet controversy ensued that was quite as heated as
that between Thomas Jollie and Zachary Taylor. No less than ten
brochures were issued. The justice of the peace allowed his story of the
case to be published and the Reverend Mr. Bragge rushed into print with
a book that went through five editions. Needless to say, the defenders
of Jane Wenham and of the judge who released her were not hesitant in
replying. A physician who did not sign his name directed crushing
ridicule against the whole affair,[42] while a defender of Justice
Powell considered the case in a mild-mannered fashion: he did not deny
the possibility of witchcraft, but made a keen impeachment of the
trustworthiness of the witnesses against the woman.[43]

But we cannot linger over the details of this controversy. Justice
Powell had stirred up a hornets' nest of opposition, but it meant
little.[44] The insects could buzz; but their stingers were drawn.

The last trial for witchcraft was conducted in 1717 at Leicester by
Justice Parker.[45] Curiously enough, the circumstances connected with
it make it evident that crudest forms of superstition were still alive.
Decency forbids that we should narrate the details of the methods used
to demonstrate the guilt of the suspected parties. No less than
twenty-five people banded themselves against "Old woman Norton and
daughter" and put them through tests of the most approved character. It
need hardly be said that the swimming ordeal was tried and that both
creatures "swam like a cork." The persecutors then set to work to "fetch
blood of the witches." In this they had "good success," but the witches
"would be so stubborn, that they were often forced to call the constable
to bring assistance of a number of persons to hold them by for