Grampian Club > Scotland, social and domestic

Witchcraft. 265
coloured, through which mark when a large brass pin
was thrust till it was bowed (bent), the witches, both
men and women, neither felt a painjior did it bleed."
For the discovery of the witch-mark, which was the first
process towards conviction, the authorities had recourse
to "the ^pricker," or "witch-finder." Men who prose-
cuted this vocation were to be found in every district
and their occupation, cruel and revolting as it was, did
not exclude them from respectable rank, and even civic
honours were awarded them. Among the members of
this fraternity were John Kincaid and ^George Cathie,
two noted " prickers." The latter resided near Glasgow ;
he was considered by the Church courts of the west an
expert at his profession, and he continued to retain their
confidence, even after he had condemned as witches
twelve parishioners of Crawford-Douglas, who were proved
on their trial to have been charged'by a lunatic."'''' John
Kincaid resided in his villa "at Tranent, East Lothian ;
his hands were constantly^full of work. He was consti-
tuted "common pricker "^to the Court of Justiciary, and
his circuit of employment among ecclesiastical and com-
mission courts extended from"thej30unty of Aberdeen to
the English border. His fees of service increased as the
reputation of his skill made progress. From the Kirk-
session of Stow, Mid-Lothian, he received six pounds
Scots for "the brodding of Margaret" Denham in 1649 •"
but the Town Council of Forfar paid him much more
liberally for similar services in 1661, besides voting
him a burgess ticket"! So proficient was Kincaid in
his nefarious art, that he never failed to discover the
Devil's mark ; hence all he pricked were sure to perish
at the stake. He ventured at length to prosecute his
* See posted.