shape of two kitlyns; then in the shape of two dogges; and that the said familiars did doe homage in the first place to the said Elizabeth Clarke, and skipped up into her lap and kissed her; and then went and kissed all that were in the roome, except the said Rebecca.” But when Rebecca had been sworn a witch, “the Devill came into her lap, and kissed her, and promised to doe for her what she could desire.” Ann Cooper, the wife of John Cooper of Clacton, confessed that she “had three black impes called by the names of Wynowe, Jeso, and Panu.” Margaret Moone confessed to Henry Cornwall that she had “twelve imps, and called them by their names; of which he remembers onely these following: Jesus,[1] Jockey, Sandy, Mrit, Elizabeth, and Collyn.” Marian Hocket had three imps, and “the said Marian called them by the names of Littleman, Pretty-Man, and Dainty.” Exactly similar circumstances are recorded of all the accused. A curious detail is that no less than eight persons testified that they had on various occasions seen one or another of these imps in antic shapes or forms, and their several accounts substantially agree. The question arises how is this to be explained? It is, of course, easy enough to say that it was all a delusion. If we argue upon these lines it will not be difficult to come to the conclusion that no human evidence is worth anything at all. We may accept just what fits in with our own prejudices and our own theory, and anything that is difficult of explanation may be dismissed as an error or a mistake. The spectators
- ↑ This is not possible. It is further alleged that the witch when summoning her familiars cried: “Come Christ, come Christ, come Mounsier, come Mounsier.” But there is some confusion. To name the Sanctissimum Nomen would be to banish the familiars and dissolve the enchantment.
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