Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 3

THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 53
for having bewitched the children of a ]\Ir Throgmorton. They were
condemned on the 4:th April 1593, and soon after executed. James I. of
England, in the first year of his reign, published an Act making witch-
craft a capital crime. The effects of this statute were fearful. In 1612,
twenty persons were put to death at once at Lancaster; in 1622, six
were executed as witches at York; in 1634, seventeen at Lancashire ; in
1644, sixteen at Yarmouth, and fifteen at Chelmsford ; and in 1645-6,
sixty persons perished in Suff"olk, and as many in Huntingdon. These
are but a few selected cases. The era of the Long Parliament witnessed
an immense number of executions for witchcraft. Three thousand persons
are said to have perished during the sittings of that body for this alleged
crime. One noted case occurred in 1664, when the enlightened and just
Sir MattheAv Hale tried and condemned two women, Amy Dunny and
Eose Callender, at Bury St Edmonds, for bewitching the children of a
carter there. This renowned judge committed these two women to the
tender mercies of the hangman ! The mania respecting witchcraft spread
in time to Scotland, and acquired strong possession of the public mind in
the reign of Queen Mary. An Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament
for the punishment of witchcraft, but it tended more to confirm the people
in their credulity than to extinguish the general delusion. In terms of
this ill-judged Act, great numbers of persons, male and female, were
charged with having intercourse with the wicked one, were convicted and
burned on the Castlehill of Edinburgh, and elsewhere. I shall state a
remarkable case of this kind, as recorded in the old Statistical Account of
Scotland — the trial of two, William Coke and Alison Dick, at the vil-
lage of Kirkcaldy in 1636. Evidence of course was produced, and they
were burnt for witchcraft. The expenses for the burning of these miser-
able creatures fell half and half upon the town and on the kirk-session of
the parish, and they are severally recorded in their minutes as follows : —
" In primis. — To Mv James Miller, when he went to Prestowne for a man
to try them, £2 7s (Scots money). Item. — To the man from Culross,
the executioner, 12s. Item. — For coals for burning the witches, £1 4s.
Item. — For purchasing the commission, £9 3s. Item. — For one to go to
Finmouth for the Laird to sit upon their assize as Judge, 6s. Item. —
For harden to be jumps to them, £3 10s. Item. — For making of the
jumps, 8s. In all, £17 10s Scots, being the summa for the kirk-session's
part. Next comes ' the town's part of expcnces deburst extraordinarily
upon William Coke and Alison Dick.' Imprimis. — For ten loads of
coals to burn them, 5 merks (£3 6s 8d). Item. — For a tar barrel, 14s.
Item. — For towes, 6s. Item. — To him that brought the executioner,
£2 IBs. Item. — To the executioner for his pains, £8 14s. Item. — For
his expenses here, 16s 4d. Item. — For one to go to Finmouth for the
Laird, 6s. In all for the town, £17 Is; for both toAvn and kirk-session,
£34 lis Scots," which comes to £2 17s 7d sterling.
The mind of King James VL was deeply impressed with the flagrant
nature of the crime of witchcraft. Soon after his arrival from Den-
mark in 1590, to conduct his bride home, the Princess Anne, a tremendous
■witch conspiracy was formed against his Majesty's prosperity. One Mrs
Agnes Sampson, commonly called " the wise Avife of Keith " (a village of
East-Lothian), was the principal agent in this horrible work. She was