and a wavering
light upon the floor.

"I would spare him this misery," she sighed. "Conceal but the secret
from him, and I am again thine!"

Suddenly the well-known form of her familiar was at her side.

The following day was All-Hallows-e'en, and her allegiance must be
renewed in the great assembly of his subjects held on that fearful
night.

It was in the year 1632, a period well known in history as having led
to the apprehension of a considerable number of persons accused of
witchcraft. The depositions of these miserable creatures were taken
before Richard Shuttleworth and John Starkie, two of his Majesty's
justices of the peace, on the 10th of February 1633; and they were
committed to Lancaster Castle for trial.

Seventeen of them were found guilty, on evidence suspicious enough under
ordinary circumstances, but not at all to be wondered at, if we consider
the feeling and excitement then abroad. Some of the deluded victims
themselves confessed their crime, giving minute and connected statements
of their meetings, and the transactions which then took place. Justices
of the peace, judges, and the highest dignitaries of the realm, firmly
believed in these reputed sorceries. Even the great Sir Thomas Brown,
author of the book intended as an exposure of "Vulgar Errors," gave his
testimony to the truth and reality of those diabolical delusions. But we
have little need to wonder at the superstition of past ages, when we
look at the folly and credulity of our own.

It may, perhaps, be pleasing to learn that the judge who presided at the
trial respited the convicts, and reported their case to the king in
council. They were next remitted to Chester, where Bishop Bridgeman,
certifying his opinion of the matter, four of the accused--Margaret
Johnson, Frances Dickisson, Mary Spencer, and the wife of one
Hargreaves--were sent to London and examined, first by the king's
physicians, and afterwards by Charles I. in person. "A stranger scene
can scarcely be perceived," says the historian of Whalley; "and it is
not easy to imagine whether the untaught manners, rude dialect, and
uncouth appearance of these poor foresters would more astonish the king;
or his dignity of person and manners, together with the splendid scene
by which they were surrounded, would overwhelm them."

The story made so much noise that plays were written on the subject, and
enacted. One of them is entitled, "The late Lancashire Witches, a
well-received C