Goodwife R. I a witch? I defy him that saith it, though he be a lord. I would all the witches in the land were hanged, and their spirits by them.
M. B. Would you not be glad, if their spirits were hanged up with them, to have a gown furred with some of their skins?
Goodwife R. Out upon them. There were few!
Sam. Wife, why didst thou say that the goodwife R. is a witch? He did not say so.
Samuel’s Wife. Husband, I did mark his words well enough; he said she is a witch.
Sam. He doth not know her, and how could he say she is a witch?
Samuel’s Wife. What though he did not know her? Did he not say that she played the witch that heated the spit red hot, and thrust it into her cream when the butter would not come?
Sam. Indeed, wife, thou sayest true. He said that was a thing taught by the devil, as also the burning of a hen, or of a hog alive, and all such like devices.
Goodwife R. Is that witchcraft? Some Scripture man hath told you so. Did the devil teach it? Nay, the good woman at R. H. taught it my husband: she doth more good in one year than all those Scripture men will do so long as they live.
M. B. Who do you think taught it the cunning woman at R. H.?