must be
told in the words of his "confession," as reported by Harsnet:--"Maister
Darrel told my father-in-law and others in my hearing, that he, the said
Maister Darrel, Maister Aldred, and some others, were going to carrie
Millicent Horsley (that present morning) to the said Maister Perkins, to
be examined. Whereupon, I gessing by the time of Maister Darrel's
departure, and by the distance of the way, and of the likelihood that she
woulde deny herselfe to bee a witche, said to those that were present by
mee in one of my fittes, about eleven of the clocke, that Millicent
Horsley was in examining, and that she denyed herselfe to be a witch."
This coincidence was too striking an instance of supernatural power to be
overlooked. Mr. Darrel worked on it as one of the most marvellous proofs
of the boy's undeniable possession, and Millicent Horsley lay in gaol,
together with thirteen others, to satisfy the craft of one and the
credulity of the other, and to prove the whole age sick, diseased, and
enfeebled by superstition.

Will's sister, Mary Cowper, seeing how pleasant and profitable a thing it
was to be bewitched, followed in her brother's steps, and cried out on
Alice Freeman, a poor old creature who thought to escape by saying she was
with child. The plea was not a very safe one, for Mr. Darrel told her if
she was, it was by the devil, and she had better have held her tongue. But
by this time the parish authorities got frightened, and interfered;
sending Will off to the workhouse, where he still continued his fits and
antics, until a rough fellow there, one John Shepheard, told him that if
he "did not leave and rise up he would set such a pair of Knip-knaps upon
him as should make him rue it"--when he gathered himself up and confessed
his imposture. Mr. Darrel would have none of this recantation. He said he
was more possessed than ever, and that it was the devil within him that
made him to lie. So Will wrote the following letter, as a kind of quietus
to his zealous friend:--

"Mr. Darrel, my hearty Commendations unto you. This is to desire you that
you would let me be at quiet: For whereas you said that I was Possessed, I
was not; and for those Tricks that I did before you came, was through
Folks Speeches that came to me: And those that I did since, was through
your Speeches, and others. For as you said I could not hear, I did hear
all Things that were done in the House, and all Things that I did were
counterfeit; And I