For an account of the kind of evidence used against alleged witches, see a case cited in Ashton's Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, Chap. x.
[130]: 19. Otway. Thomas Otway (1651-1685), the best tragic dramatist of the Restoration period. The passage is from his tragedy, The Orphan, ii. 1.
[131]: 8. Carried her several hundreds of miles. In accordance with the superstition that a witch rode through the air at night on a broomstick. Other superstitions are referred to in the following lines.
131: 15. Take a pin of her. Because bewitched people were frequently said to be tormented with pins, or to be made to vomit pins. The pins that figured so conspicuously in the Salem witchcraft trials may still be seen in the Museum there.
[132]: 5. A tabby cat. A black cat was traditionally supposed to be a favourite form in which Satan embodied himself, and hence a constant figure in all witchcraft stories.
132: 15. Advising her, as a justice of peace. This sentence admirably indicates Sir Roger's half belief in the preternatural powers of the old woman, and his anxiety to avoid any trouble that would oblige him to come to a conclusion in the matter.
132: 24. Trying experiments with her. Because, if she floated, she was accounted a witch; if she sank, she was probably innocent, and they might pull her out.
XVII. Sir Roger talks of the Widow
Motto. "In [his] side is fixed the fatal arrow."