nd a man, who were
carried to Worcester gaol on the double charge of witchcraft and high
treason. For the eldest daughter had been heard to say that if they had
not been taken the king would never have come to England: which was enough
to frighten all the court into fits. And when they were taken, and tried,
and condemned, she said further that "though he now doth come, yet he
shall not live long but shall die as ill a death as they" adding that had
they not been taken "they would have made corn like pepper:" that is, they
would have blighted it. As there were many other charges against them,
they were swum: when they floated like ducks--or witches; and then they
were searched: when the man was found to have five "bigges," two of the
women three, but the eldest daughter only one. When first searched, none
of these marks were visible on any of the women, whereat the inquisitors
were advised to put them flat on their backs and keep their mouths open,
until they should appear; which advice was taken, with the happiest and
most palpable results.

THE WITCH-FINDER FOUND

Sometimes knavery defeated itself, though unhappily not often, as in the
case of the famous witch-finder Mother Baker[144] and the young maid
Stuppeny, of New Romsey in Kent. The young maid Stuppeny was sick, and as
sickness in those days never meant the natural consequence of filthy
habits, filthy food, and filthy habitations, but was by the supernatural
devilry of witches and wizards, the parents concluded that their young
maid must be bewitched, so set off to old Mother Baker to learn who was
the guilty person. Old Mother Baker asked whom they suspected? and they
mentioned a near neighbour of theirs--particulars not given. "Yes," says
the hag, "it is she, and she has made a heart of wax, which she daily
pricks with pins and knitting-needles, and which is now concealed in the
house, for the destruction of the young maid your daughter." So the
parents Stuppeny searched their house, but found no heart of wax;
whereupon old Mother Baker, with big pockets to her sides, said she
herself must search. And she did search, and turned out the charm from the
very spot where she said it was. But certain prying neighbours, whose eyes
were sharp and wits clear, had watched old Baker and her pockets; and as
she laid the image in a corner that had been most diligently searched and
looked into, her cheat was discovered, and the anonymous wretch living
next door escaped,