522
NOTES AND QUERIES. Li2t5.ii.DEc.3o.i9i6.
further on says:] I have searched- extensively to
"lind an original reference to the case, but without
suco
In Mr. W. H. Bernard Saunders's ' Legends and Traditions of Huntingdonshire,' 1888, there is a chapter (xix.) referring to the trial of Mrs. Man- Hicks at the Huntingdon Assizes. Mr. Saunders says (p. 166) :
" The pamphlet which is supposed to record all the particulars is not now in existence, or, if it is, it has escaped the attention of all local collectors. Lord Esm6 Gordon's library, one of the finest Huntingdonshire collections in England, contains no copy of it. The Rev. E. Bradley (' Cuthbert Bede ), who has been a collector of matters relating to Huntingdonshire for upwards of 40 vears, has stated that he has never yet been able
to lind one and a descendant of Judge Powell,
who is alleged to have passed sentence of death on ' the alleged witches, also declares that although he has taken every means to ascertain the existence of such a pamphlet, he has never seen one nor has he found any one else who ever had."
The best account of this reported execu- tion I have seen is contained in that care- fully written book, ' Side-Lights on the Stuarts,' by F. A. Inderwick, Q.C., 2nd edition, 1891, pp. 177-80. The full excerpt is rather too long to give here. The author, in an interesting discussion about the day of the week on which it happened, says :
" Amongst other persons who doubt the authority of this case is Mr. Justice Stephen (' State Trials,' iv.'828), who assumes the date of execution to have been reported as Saturday, 17th July, 1716, and suggests, as one reason for discrediting the story, that the 17th July, 1716, was not a Saturday, but a Thursday. Applying the learned judge's calculation to the 28th July, as well as the 17th, the former day would then have been a Monday, and not, as alleged, a Saturday. I find, however, on turning to an old file of news- papers for 1716, that the 17th July was neither Thursday nor Saturday, but Tuesday, and that the 28th was accordingly Saturday, as stated." Two other quotations I must give :
" The story of this conviction seems to me to be by no means improbable, considering also that in the year 1712 a woman was sentenced to death at Hertford, and five others were hanged at Northampton."
" Some difficulty has also been raised as to the identity of the Justice Powel referred to in the report of the case, and no wonder, for there were in fact no less than four Justices of the name of Powel about this time."
It will be noticed that all the authorities above mentioned obtained their information from Gough's ' British Topography,' i. 439 Mr. Inderwick, however, used a later edition published in April, 1780. The Bodleian Library possesses a copy of Gough preparec for the third edition, with MS. notes, which was purchased of Mr. J. Nichols for 100Z. in 1811, and also a copy of "A Catalogue of
he Books relating to British Topography
Bequeathed to the Bodleian in the year
MDCCXCIX. by Richard Gough. Esq., F.S.A.
Oxon, MDCCCXIV." I consulted this catalogue,
and found entered amongst the bequests the
jamphlet ' The whole Trial of Mrs. Hicks.'
'. visited the Bodleian, and at once found the
ong-unknown pamphlet. It is most singular
hat it should have been in the library for
a period of over 100 years without being
dentified, eluding all the above researchers.
Gough has always been recognized as the
authority for the story, but no one realized
.hat the title he gave was the actual one of
.he original pamphlet ; and so the source of
all we know about Mrs. Hicks is the pam-
phlet he bequeathed to the Bodleian. The
itle of the pamphlet is :
" The whole | Trial and Examination | of | MBS. MARY HICKS | and her Daughter | ELIZA- BETH, | But of Nine Years of Age, who were condemn'd the last Assizes held at Hunting-ton or Witchcraft ; and there executed on Saturday the 28th of July, 1716.
" With an Account of the most surprising pieces of Witchcraft they play'd, whilst under their Diabolical Compact, the like never heard of before ; their Behaviour with Several Divines who came to converse with 'em whilst under Sentence of Death ; and last Dying Speeches and Con- fession at the place of Execution.
" London : Printed by W. Matthews in Long- Acre." 12mo, 8 pp.
The press-mark is Bod. Gough Hunt. 1.
HERBERT E. N ORRIS. Cirencester.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HISTORIES OF IRISH COUNTIES AND TOWNS.
(See 11 S. xi. 103, 183, 315 ; xii. 24, 276, 375 ; 12 S. i. 422 ; ii. 22, 141, 246, 286, 406, 445.)
PART XIV. W Y.
WARINGSTOWN.
An Ulster Parish : being a History of Donagh- cloney (Waringstown). By Rev. E. D. Atkin- son. Dublin, 1898.
WATERFOKD. Ancient and Present State of the County and City
of Waterford. By Charles Smith. Dublin,
1746. Magna Charta Libertatum Civitatis Waterford.
Transcribed with English Translation and
Notes. By Timothy Cunningham. Dublin,
1752. History of the County and Town of Waterford.
By Charles Smith. Dublin, 1774. The History, Topography, and Antiquities of the
County and City of Waterford, with an account
of the present state of the Peasantry. By
Rev. R. H. Ryland. London, 1824. The Beauties of the Boyne, and its Tributary
the Blackwater. By Sir W. R. Wilde. Dublin,.
1850.
