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ANTIQUITIES. 



Criminal Prosecutions against 

 Witches in the 17th Century ; 



from Nichols's History of Lei- 

 cestershire. 



TH E following letter from alder- 

 man Robert Heyrick, of Lei- 

 cester, to his brother sir William, 

 in the year I616, relates to an ex- 

 traordinary transaction which took 

 place at Husbands Bosworth. 



"Although we have bene greatly 

 busyed this 4 or 5 days past, being 

 syse time, and a busy syse speacylly 

 about the araynment of a sort of 

 woomen, wytches, w' 9 of them 

 shal be executed at the gallows this 

 fomone, for bewitching of a younge 

 gentellraan of the adge of 12 or 13 

 years old, beinge the son of one 

 Mr. Smythe, of HusbandsBosworth, 

 brother to Mr. Henry Smythe, that 

 made the booke which we call Mr. 

 Smythe's Sarmons. Your man 

 Sampson stays, and yt is to tedyous 

 to write anny one thing unto you of 

 the matter ; and the examynacyons 

 and finding out of the matter came 

 to ray hand in wryting just as I be- 

 gan yourlettar. Only I will signi- 

 fye unto you of tlie cliild's straungc 

 fits, who was brought hy tharof Say- 

 turday last to be shewed to the 

 judges ; and since his coming hither 

 he hath had dyvars wonderful 

 straundg fyts in the syght of all the 

 greatest j)arsons here, as dyvars 

 knyglits and ladies, and many othars 



of the bettar sort, most tereble to be 

 toUd. Sir Henry Hastings hath 

 doon what he colld to holld him in 

 his fit; but he and another as strong 

 as he could not hold him; yf he 

 might have his arm at liberty, he 

 wooUd stryke himsellfe suche bloes 

 on his brest, being in his shirt, that 

 you myght here the sound of yt the 

 length of a long chamber, soum- 

 tymes 50 bloes, soumtymes 100, yea 

 soumtymes 2 or 300 bloes, that the 

 least of them was able to stryke 

 doune a strong man ; and yet all he 

 did to himself did him no hurt. 6 

 of the witches had 6 severallsperits, 

 one in the lyknes of a hors, another 

 like a dog, another a cat, another a 

 pullemar, another a fishe, another 

 a code, with whom every one of 

 them tormented him; he woolld 

 make soom syne according to the 

 sperit ; as, when the hors torment- 

 ed him, he would whinny ; when 

 the cat tormented him, he would 

 cry like a cat, &c. When he was 

 in his fyt, tliey were soumtymes 

 brought to him, and then they were 

 chardged to speak sarten words, 

 and to name theare sperits, and one 

 of them to spcake y t aftar anc/ther ; 

 as thus : " I such a one chardge the 

 hors, yf I be a wiche, that thou 

 come forthe of the child." And then 

 another by her sperit to doe the 

 like ; and so till all had doone. Yf 

 anny of them woolld speake a woord 

 contrary to that charm, he shold be 



