Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/527

 12 8. II. DKT, 30, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

521

LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1916.

CONTENTS. No. 53.


 * NOTKS : Witchcraft : Case of Mrs. Hicks, 521 Biblio-

graphy of Histories of Irish Counties and Towns, 522 English Arniv List, 524 Gray : a Book of Squibs "Wipers": Ypres, 526 Addendum to Note on Dr. Uvedale, 527 Kngland, Germany, and the Dye Industry Rev. John Williams, Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, 528.

QUERIED : William Monk of Buckingham in Old Shore- ham, 528 Heraldic Queries Elizabeth Mael C. R. Maturin Wriuley of Saddleworth Riming History of England' The Union Star 'Colonels and Regimental Expenses Author Wanted Cromwell : Gun Accident Marmadnke B. Sampson of ' The Times 'Dickens and Henry VIII. John Varley of Hackney, 529 -Fire putting out F'"ire 'The Regal Rambler': Thomas Hastings Tod Family Peterborough Quarter Sessions Fitzgerald Pronunciation of " ea " Peacock Lore, 530 Capt. Edward Bass, 531.

(REPLIES : " Dr." by Courtesy, 531 Bath Forum "French's contemptible little army," 532 De la Porte Family Snakes and Music, 533 vvill of Prince Rupert "ffoliott" and "ffrench," 534 The Ghazel Paul Fleet- wood Byron's Travels Fieldingiana The Western Grammar School. Brompton, 535 The Sight of Savages Derham of Dolphinholme Rev. Richard Rathbone Perpetuation of Printed Errors Queen Elizabeth's Palace, Enfield Ibsen's ' Ghosts ' and the Lord Cham- berlain, 536 -Second Fortune Theatre National Flags Scotch Universities : Undergraduates' Gown, 637 " Kanyete " Watch Houses, 538.

\NOTES ON BOOKS : ' History of the Cutlers' Company of London ' ' Bicentenary Commemoration of the Royal Regiment of Artillery.'

. Jottings from the Deceiriber Catalogues.

WITCHCRAFT: CASE OF

MRS. HICKS: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. '(See 1 S. v. 395, 514 ; 2 S. v. 503 ; 3 S. iii. 300 ; iv. 508 ; 10 S. iii. 468 ; iv. 38 ; 11 S. v. 251.)

ACCORDING to records contained in con- temporary pamphlets there were four im- portant trials for witchcraft in Huntingdon- shire. The first was the celebrated one of the witches of Warboys in 1593 ; I gave a list of the literature on that subject at 12 S. i. 283, 304. The second case is de- scribed in a scarce pamphlet in the B.M., ' The Witches of Hvntingdon,' 1646, E. 343/10. The third trial was that of Mrs. Hicks, 1716, which forms the subject of this note. The fourth pamphlet is the Paxton report I mentioned under ' The Witches of War- boys,' ante, p. 30. There were many other instances of witchcraft in this county, but -about these no pamphlets were specially published. The notorious Matthew Hopkins <{d. 1647) set up as " witch- finder general,"

and made journeys to Huntingdonshire ; and Hutchinson specifies many executions there in 1646. To John Gaule, Vicar of Great Staughton, is due the credit of ex- posing these proceedings. He published a book on this matter called ' Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witch- craft ' in 1646. For his career see ' D.X.B.,' xxi. 72.

The case of Mrs. Hicks, the reputed witch of Huntingdon, has for many years inter- ested the readers of ' N. & Q.,' as the above references show. So far back as 1 S. v. 395 (April 24, 1852), J. H. L. wished to know if there was extant any account of this trial. Although this is sixty-four years ago, no con- clusive reply has been received by ' N. & Q.' Many other writers, including local authors, on Huntingdonshire topography have briefly alluded to Mrs. Hicks, of whom I may men- tion the following :

Brayley's ' Beauties of England and Wales, 1808.

Cooke's ' Topography,' n.d., part xxxii. 92.

B. C.'s ' History of Huntingdon,' 1824, p. 161.

The Mirror, July 24, 1830, pp. 88-9.

The Quarterly for March, 1852.

Blackwood's Magazine, May, 1859.

Ross's ' Epochs in the Past of Huntingdonshire,' 1878.

The Peterborough Advertiser, March 2, 1901 ; Sept. 13, 1P13.

' Wrycroft's Almanac,' 1904.

Cox's ' Parish Registers,' 1910, p. 228.

All these writers give their authority as Gough's ' British Topography,' vol. i. p. 439.

The following authors, quoting from the same authority, discuss various points aris- ing from the subject :

The Foreign Quarterly Journal, in referring to the case, concludes with the remark :

" With this crowning atrocity the catalogue of murders in England closes, the penal statutes against witchcraft being repealed in 1736."

'The Encyclopaedia Britannica' (9th. ed., vol. xxiv. p. 621) says, '' A case said to have occurred in 1716 does not rest on good authority."

In 1858 (2 S. v. 503) J. J. P. discussed J. H. L.'s query of 1852 ( 1 S. v. 395). J. J. P. had recently seen Charles Phillips's work on ' Capital Punishments,' and consulted him about his reference to Mrs. Hicks's case. Phillips referred J. J. P. to Dr. Parr's ' Characters of Fox,' p. 370, where the date July 17 is given, Parr giving as his authority Gough's ' British Topography,' vol. i. p. 439. J. J. P. continues his excellent note by stat- ing:

" I am myself inclined to think that Gough was imposed upon by some ninnnl. no more veracious than 'an evening edition of Sebastopol ' ; [and