tch. Offended
at such an imputation, she brought Mr. Chapman before Sir Herbert
Chauncey, a magistrate, on the charge of defaming her character. The
magistrate recommended the pursuer and defender to submit the case to
the Rev. Mr. Gardiner, that the dispute might be settled quietly. To
the parson they accordingly went; and he awarded Jane one shilling of
damages. The decision did not please Jane; and out of revenge, it was
subsequently alleged, she bewitched the minister's servant-maid, Anne
Thorne. As soon as the suspected witch had left the parsonage, the
maid felt a giddiness in her head, which impelled her to run away
through fields and over fences, notwithstanding her having a very sore
knee. On her way she met a little old woman, who asked her where she
was going. To this inquiry Anne replied, "I am going to Cromer for
sticks." The little woman said it seemed unnecessary to go so far, and
pointed out an oak-tree close at hand where she could get them. The
little woman vanished like a spirit, and Anne returned home, in a
partial state of nudity, with a quantity of sticks wrapped in her gown
and apron. Mrs. Gardiner, who, like the minister, her husband,
believed in witchcraft, on hearing the girl's tale, said she would
burn the witch; and, suiting the action to the words, threw the sticks
into the fire. The charm had the desired effect; for immediately Jane
Wenham came in, and made a false statement touching the cause of her
call. That did not, however, deceive the people at the parsonage, who
were convinced the burning of the sticks had made her come, whether
she would or not. She was apprehended on suspicion, and put to the
test. The minister asked her to repeat the Lord's Prayer, but she
could not say it. This being regarded as presumptive evidence of
guilt, Wenham's persecutors brought her to trial. Three clergymen and
thirteen other witnesses gave evidence in the case. Proof was adduced
that she had by witchcraft killed cattle, taken the power from men's
bodies, destroyed people's substance, turned divers persons into a
state of insanity, and by her curses and evil eye had killed a child.
Witnesses also swore that she had on various occasions assumed the
form of a cat. The jury found Wenham guilty, and the judge condemned
her to death, but, like a humane Christian, he applied and obtained a
pardon for the culprit.

We now come to the last victims who suffered in England for the
alleged crime of witchcraft. On