§ 2.—The Exorcists (see ch. IV).
The account of Elizabethan exorcism which we have given is necessarily one-sided. It deals only with the Puritan movement—if Darrel's work may be so called—and does not treat the Catholic exorcists. We have omitted the performances of Father Weston and his coadjutors because they had little or no relation to the subject of witchcraft. Those who wish to follow up this subject can find a readable discussion of it by T. G. Law in the Nineteenth Century for March, 1894, "Devil Hunting in Elizabethan England."
It is a rather curious fact that the Puritan exorcist has never, except for a few pages by S. R. Maitland, in his Puritan Thaumaturgy (London, 1842), been made a study. Without doubt he, his supporters, and his enemies were able between them to make a noise in their own time. To be convinced of that one need only read the early seventeenth-century dramatists. It may possibly be that Darrel was not the mere impostor his enemies pictured him. Despite his trickery it may be that he had really a certain hypnotic control over William Somers and perhaps over Katherine Wright.
Whatever else Darrel may have been, he was a ready pamphleteer. His career may easily be traced in the various brochures put forth, most of them from his own pen. Fortunately we have the other side presented by Samuel Harsnett, and by two obscure clergymen, John Deacon and John Walker. The following is a tentative list of the printed pamphlets dealing with the subject:
A Breife Narration of the possession, dispossession, and repossession of William Sommers: and of some proceedings against Mr. John Dorrel preacher, with aunsweres to such objections.... Together with certaine depositions taken at Nottingham ..., 1598. Black letter. This was written either by Darrel or at his instigation.
An Apologie, or defence of the possession of William Sommers, a yong man of the towne of Nottingham.... By John Darrell, Minister of Christ Jesus.... [1599?] Black letter. This work is undated, but, to judge from the preface, it was probably written soon after both Darrel and More were imprisoned. It is quite clear too that it was written before Harsnett's Discovery of the Fraudulent Practices of John Darrel, for Darrel says that he hears that the Bishop of London is writing a book against him.
The Triall of Maist. Dorrel, or A Collection of Defences against Allegations.... 1599. This seems written by Darrel himself; but the Huth catalogue (V, 1643) ascribes it to James Bamford.
A brief Apologie proving the possession of William Sommers. Written by John Dorrel, a faithful Minister of the Gospell, but published without his knowledge.... 1599.
A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel, Bacheler of Artes ..., London, 1599. The "Epistle to the Reader" is signed "S. H.," i. e., Samuel Harsnett, then chaplain to the Bishop of London. The book is an exposure, in 324 pages, of Darrel's various impostures, and is based mainly on the depositions given in his trial at Lambeth.
A True Narration of the strange and grevous Vexation by the Devil of seven persons in Lancashire ..., 1600. Written by Darrel. Reprinted in 1641 with the title A True Relation of the grievous handling of William Somers of Nottingham. It is again reprinted in the Somers Tracts, III, and is the best known of the pamphlets.