Page:History of John Cheap the chapman (3).pdf/7

 where I was sworn near to drink water, if I could get better; what do ye say, said she about Temple bar? A town just about twa-three mile and a bittock frae this: thief a an was to swear him there, an it was na auld Willie Miller the cobler, the ill thief a neither minister nor magistrate ever was in't a'.

O but says the other lad, the Temple-bar he means by is at London. Yea, lad, an ye be com'd frae London, ye're little worth. London, said he, is but at home to the place he comes from: a dear man, quoth she, and whar in a' the warld comes he frae? all the way frae Italy where the Pope a Rome dwells, says he; a sweet be wi' us, quoth she, for the fouks there awa, is a witches and warlocks, deels, brownies and faries. Well a wat that is true, said I, and that thou shalt know, thou hard hearted wretch, who would have people to starve or provoke them to steal. With that I rose and lifts twa or three long straws, and casting knots on them, into the byre I went and throws a knotted straw to every cow's stake, saying, thy days shall not be long: The wife followed, wringing her hands, earnestly prayed for herself and all that was hers. I then came out at the door, and lifted a stone running three times round about and threw it over the house, muttering some words, which I knew not myself, and concluding with these words, "Thou Monsieur Diable, brother roto [sic] Beelzebub god of Ekron, take this wife's kirn, butter and milk, sap and substance, without and within, so that she may die in misery, as she would have others to live"

The wife hearing the aforesaid sentence, clapt her hands, and called out another old woman as foolish as herself, who came crying after us to come back, back we went, where she made us eat heartily of butter and cheese; then she earnestly pleaded with me