to convince such Offenders, stand up to take their parts against such as are Complainants for the King, and sufferers themselves with their Families and Estates. I intend to give your Towne a Visite suddenly. I am to come to Kimbolton this weeke, and it shall bee tenne to one but I will come to your Town first, but I would certainely know afore whether your Town affords many sticklers for such Cattell, or willing to give and afford us good welcome and entertainment, as other where I have beene, else I shall wave your Shire (not as yet beginning in any part of it myself) And betake me to such places where I doe and may persist without controle, but with thankes and recompence.”
But Mr. Gaule was not a man to be frightened, and in 1646 he published his Select Cases of Conscience Touching Witches and Witchcraft, where he argues that the greatest caution must be used in admitting evidence. He has very serious doubts even when the accused confesses whether there may not be some delusion. He does not indeed deny that witches exist, but he does say that it is a matter of extraordinary difficulty to pronounce any person to be a witch however unequivocal the witness and the appearance of guilt.
None the less Hopkins was very busy during the March and April in Huntingdonshire. Exact details are missing, but it is certain that many were accused and several executed. In company with John Stearne he then passed into Bedfordshire, and it appears on record that they discovered witches in at least two villages. Elizabeth Gurrey of Risden made a full confession, and another woman declared that “at Tilbrooke bushes in Bedfordsheir … there met above
