Witch of Edmonton (The), called “Mother Sawyer.” This is the true traditional witch; no mystic hag, no weird sister, but only a poor, deformed old woman, the terror of villagers, and amenable to justice.
Why should the envious world
Throw all their scandalous malice upon me?
Because I’m poor, deformed, and ignorant,
And, like a bow, buckled and bent together
By some more strong in mischiefs than myself.
The Witch of Edmonton, (by Rowley, Dekker and Ford, 1658).
Witch’s Blood. Whoever was successful in drawing blood from a witch, was free from her malignant power. Hence Talbot, when he sees La Pucelle, exclaims, “Blood will I draw from thee; thou art a witch!”--Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI. act i. sc. 5 (1592).
Witherington (General), alias Richard Tresham, who first appears as Mr. Matthew Middlemas.
Mrs. Witherington, wife of the general, alias Mrs. Middlemas (born Zelia de Monçada). She appears first as Mrs. Middlemas.--Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter (time, George II.).