From the universal and excessive abhorrence entertained at a witch, a suspicion of that crime, independent of judicial severities,[XII] was sufficient to render the unhappy object anxious for death.—Thrusting of pins into the flesh, and keeping the accused from sleep, were the ordinary treatment of a witch. But if the prisoner was endued with uncommon fortitude, other methods were used to extort confession. The 'boots,' the 'caspie-claws,' and the 'pilniewinks,' engines for torturing the legs, the arms, and the fingers, were applied to either sex; and that with such violence, that sometimes the blood would have spouted from the limbs. Loading with heavy irons, and whipping with cords, till the skin and flesh were torn from the bones, have also been the adopted methods of torment.
The bloody zeal of those inquisitors attained to a refinement in cruelty so shocking to humanity,[XIII] and so repugnant to justice, as to be almost incredible. Not satisfied with torturing the person of the accused, their ingenious malice assailed the more delicate feelings, and ardent affections of the mind. An aged husband, an infant daughter, would have been tortured in presence of the accused, in order to subdue her resolution.—Nay, death itself[XIV] did not screen the remains of those miserable persons from the malice of their prosecutors. If an unfortunate woman, trembling at a citation for witchcraft, ended her sufferings by her own hands, she was dragged from her house at a horse's tail, and buried under the gallows.
[I] This is the Act on which Sir Walter Scott founded his story of the "Heart of Mid-Lothian."
[II] True narrative of the sufferings and relief of a young girl. Edinburgh, printed by James Watson, 1698.
[III] St. Matthew, c. 15, v. 22.
[IV] Revelations, chap. 12.
[V] Records of Privy Council, January 19. March 9. April 5. 1697.
[VI] "Malefice" in the Scots law signifies an act or effect of witchcraft.
[VII] This was an oblique and most scandalous menace. "Assizes of Error" were declared a grievance by the Estates of Parliament at the Revolution.
[VIII] The order of Privy Council for recording the Commissioners' proceedings in the books of Justiciary was not complied with. I am therefore unable to give any further particulars of the catastrophe of these miserable persons, or of the criminal absurdity of those who committed them to the flames.