L. B. L.
Witchcraft. In the 13th year of the reign of King William the Third—
"One Hathaway, a most notorious rogue, feigned himself bewitched and deprived of his sight, and pretended to have fasted nine weeks together; and continuing, as he pretended, under this evil influence, he was advised, in order to discover the person supposed to have bewitched him, to boil his own water in a glass bottle till the bottle should break, and the first that came into the house after, should be the witch; and that if he scratched the body of that person till he fetched blood, it would cure him; which being done, and a poor old woman coming by chance into the house, she was seized on as the witch, and obliged to submit to be scratched till the blood came, whereupon the fellow pretended to find present ease. The poor woman hereupon was indicted for witchcraft, and tried and acquitted at Surrey assizes, before Holt, chief justice, a man of no great faith in these things; and the fellow persisting in his wicked contrivance, pretended still to be ill, and the poor woman, notwithstanding the acquittal, forced by the mob to suffer herself to be scratched by him. And this being discovered to be all imposition, an information was filed against him."—Modern Reports, vol. xii. p. 556.
Q. D.
INDULGENCES PROPOSED TO BENEFACTORS TO THE CHURCH OF ST. GEORGE THE MARTYR, SOUTHWARK.
As I believe little is known of the early history of this church, which was dependent upon the Abbey and Convent of Bermondsey, the following curious hand-bill or affiche, printed in black letter (which must have been promulgated previous to the disgrace of Cardinal Wolsey, and the suppression of religious houses in the reign of Henry VIII.), seems worthy of preservation. It was part of the lining of an old cover of a book, and thus escaped destruction. It is surmounted, at the left hand corner, by a small woodcut representing St. George slaying the dragon, and on the right, by a shield, which, with part of the margin, has been cut away by the bookbinder. But few words are wanting, which are supplied by conjecture in Italics.
It appears from Staveley's History of Churches in England, p. 99., that the monks were sent up and down the country, with briefs of a similar character, to gather contributions of the people on these occasions, and that the king's letter was sometimes obtained, in order that they might prove more effectual.
It is most probable that the collectors were authorised to grant special indulgences proportionate to the value of the contribution. No comment is necessary upon these proceedings, from which at least the Reformation relieved the people, and placed pious benefactions upon purer and better motives.
MISO-DOLOS.
"Unto all maner and synguler Cristen people beholdynge or herynge these present letters shall come gretynge.