162 THE FORESTS OF ENGLAND. 



They soon arrived at a house in the forest, where it 

 was currently reported ' the witches' Sabbath ' was kept. 

 About fifty hags were here, all making ready for a car- 

 ousal; and a young comely damsel brought to Robinson 

 a delicious-looking steak on a golden dish. The first taste, 

 however, was enough, the meat was so disgusting. Robin- 

 son next found himself in a barn, where six witches were 

 pulling vigorously at ropes attached to the roof, and at 

 every pull down came the choicest and richest articles of 

 food. A vast cauldron then rose, and such rites as are 

 described in Macbeth were performed around it ; and after 

 some other horrible incantations, >oung Robinson made 

 a desperate attempt to escape. He got out of the barn 

 and fled, pursued, like Tarn o' Shanter, by the whole 

 troop ; but they did not catch him, and he reached home 

 in the most pitiable and forlorn condition. He raved for 

 a whole week about the witches, &c., and what he had 

 seen, and his father forsook his usual employment and 

 would scarcely speak. 



" In our days the matter would have ended here. The 

 country people might perhaps think the story true, and 

 people who believe in mesmerism and clairvoyance might 

 think it a subject of anxious enquiry ; but with the general 

 public the two stories would be set down either as fabrica- 

 tions or the creations of a diseased imagination. At all 

 events, they would never reach a court of law, or lead to 

 the loss of life. But in those times it was different ; on 

 the bare evidence of these Robinsons eighteen persons 

 were tried at Lancaster, seventeen were found guilty, and 

 six were actually hanged. One of the poor women was so 

 terrified at her position, that she actually confessed her- 

 self a witch, and told most circumstantially all about her 

 relations with the devil. It was afterwards found that 

 the story of the Robinsons was a pure fabrication ; but, 

 to shew the justice of those times, nothing was done to 

 them, and any one who threatened Robinson or his son 

 with exposure and punishment was threatened in turn 

 with being denounced as a warlock or a witch. 



