other witches came to partake of it, several of whom he
named.

In consequence of this story, many persons were arrested, and the boy
Robinson was led about from church to church, in order that he might point
out to the officers by whom he was accompanied the hags he had seen in the
barn. Altogether, about twenty persons were thrown into prison; eight of
them were condemned to die, including Mother Dickenson, upon this evidence
alone, and executed accordingly. Among the wretches who concocted this
notable story, not one was ever brought to justice for his perjury; and
Robinson, the father, gained considerable sums by threatening persons who
were rich enough to buy off exposure.

Among the ill-weeds which flourished amid the long dissensions of the
civil war, Matthew Hopkins, the witch-finder, stands eminent in his
sphere. This vulgar fellow resided, in the year 1644, at the town of
Manningtree, in Essex, and made himself very conspicuous in discovering
the devil's marks upon several unhappy witches. The credit he gained by
his skill in this instance seems to have inspired him to renewed
exertions. In the course of a very short time, whenever a witch was spoken
of in Essex, Matthew Hopkins was sure to be present, aiding the judges
with his knowledge of "such cattle," as he called them. As his reputation
increased, he assumed the title of "Witch-finder General," and travelled
through the counties of Norfolk, Essex, Huntingdon, and Sussex, for the
sole purpose of finding out witches. In one year he brought sixty poor
creatures to the stake. The test he commonly adopted was that of swimming,
so highly recommended by King James in his _Demonologie_. The hands and
feet of the suspected persons were tied together crosswise, the thumb of
the right hand to the toe of the left foot, and _vice versa_. They were
then wrapped up in a large sheet or blanket, and laid upon their backs in
a pond or river. If they sank, their friends and relatives had the poor
consolation of knowing they were innocent; but there was an end of them:
if they floated, which, when laid carefully on the water, was generally
the case, there was also an end of them; for they were deemed guilty of
witchcraft, and burned accordingly.

Another test was to make them repeat the Lord's prayer and creed. It was
affirmed that no witch could do so correctly. If she missed a word, or
even pronounced one incoherently, which in her trepidation it was most
probable she w