chief inn of the place, and always at the cost of the authorities. His
charges were twenty shillings a town, his expenses of living while
there, and his carriage thither and back. This he claimed whether he
found witches or not. If he found any, he claimed twenty shillings a
head in addition when they were brought to execution. For about three
years he carried on this infamous trade, success making him so insolent
and rapacious, that high and low became his enemies. The Rev. Mr.
Gaul, a clergyman of Houghton, in Huntingdonshire, wrote a pamphlet
impugning his pretensions, and accusing him of being a common nuisance.
Hopkins replied in an angry letter to the functionaries of Houghton,
stating his intention to visit their town; but desiring to know whether
it afforded many such sticklers for witchcraft as Mr. Gaul, and whether
they were willing to receive and entertain him with the customary
hospitality, if he so far honoured them. He added, by way of threat,
that in case he did not receive a satisfactory reply, "He would waive
their shire altogether, and betake himself to such places where he
might do and punish, not only without control, but with thanks and
recompence." The authorities of Houghton were not much alarmed at his
awful threat of letting them alone. They very wisely took no notice
either of him or his letter.

Mr. Gaul describes in his pamphlet one of the modes employed by
Hopkins, which was sure to swell his revenues very considerably. It was
a proof even more atrocious than the swimming. He says, that the
"Witch-finder General" used to take the suspected witch and place her
in the middle of a room, upon a stool or table, cross-legged, or in
some other uneasy posture. If she refused to sit in this manner, she
was bound with strong cords. Hopkins then placed persons to watch her
for four-and-twenty hours, during which time she was to be kept without
meat or drink. It was supposed that one of her imps would come during
that interval, and suck her blood. As the imp might come in the shape
of a wasp, a moth, a fly, or other insect, a hole was made in the door
or window to let it enter. The watchers were ordered to keep a sharp
look-out, and endeavour to kill any insect that appeared in the room.
If any fly escaped, and they could not kill it, the woman was guilty;
the fly was her imp, and she was sentenced to be burned, and twenty
shillings went into the pockets of Master Hopkins. In this manner he
made one