many of her near
neighbours. If her own statement could be relied on, she possessed
four imps. Two of them had power to kill, but the other two could do
no more than punish men and beasts with lameness. Other witches in the
neighbourhood where Ursley lived controlled imps that wrought mischief
on all sides, until they became a terror to the country.

Annis Herd had six little spirits like blackbirds, and six resembling
cows, though not larger than rats.

About the beginning of the seventeenth century a grievous affliction
befell the Earl and Countess of Rutland's family. Their eldest son
died; their second son was seized with severe sickness; and their
daughter, Lady Catherine, suffered from a severe malady. Witchcraft
lay at the root of the whole matter. Johan Flower, a widow, and her
two daughters, Philip and Margaret, were the suspected witches. They
were brought before a magistrate. Philip stated that the evils
referred to had been brought on the Earl's family by her mother and
sister, because the latter, a servant at the castle, had been
dismissed. Margaret, by desire of her mother, stole the eldest son's
right-hand glove and carried it home. The mother, who had an imp or
evil spirit like a cat, rubbed the glove on the cat's back, ordering
it to go and kill Lord Henry (the eldest son); and it set off to
perform the devilish work assigned it. That the deed might be the more
quickly performed, Johan put the glove into boiling water, pricked it
with pins, and buried it. Lord Henry died.

A glove of Lord Francis (the second son) was operated on in a similar
manner; but, his life not being desired, he sickened only. Lady
Catherine's malady was caused by a process similar to that which
killed one of her brothers and brought her other brother nigh death's
door. Philip admitted she had an imp like a white rat, which made
Thomas Simpson love her. Margaret had two spirits, to whom she had
sold herself, soul and body. Johan's spirits told her she would
neither be burned nor hanged--a prediction verified; for she died
from some unknown cause on the way to prison. The two daughters
suffered the extreme penalty of the law.

Edmund Robinson, a boy about eleven years of age, living at Pendle in
1632, told his friends remarkable stories about witches. One day two
greyhounds with golden collars came to him, and, because they would
not chase a hare that happened to pass, he tied the dogs to a bush,
and began to beat them. While