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There was no evidence at all to connect the so-called witches with these foolish fancies: The evidence rested on the simple hearsay of the declaration of the children, who would not, or could not, testify in court because some of them were too sick to be brought there, and the rest were speechless. Then the famous Dr. Thomas Browne, the author of the " Religio Medici" and a man of great knowledge and repute, was put upon the witness stand as an expert. He was clearly of the opinion that the children were be witched, alleging as a reason that " in Denmark there had recently been a great discovery of witches, who afflicted people by conveying pins into them, and needles, and nails," and his argument was that "the devil in such cases did work upon the bodies of men and women as upon a natural foun dation; that is, he stirred up and excited humors in the body, whereby he did, in an extraordinary manner, afflict them with dis temper, only heightened by the subtlety of the devil, co-operating with the malice of the witches who instigate him to villainy." This learned nonsense fully satisfied the great Sir Matthew Hale, until some ingen ious person in the court- room suggested that the children might be guilty of deceit, and so they were brought in blindfolded, and told that the witches were approaching, and then another person touched them, which produced the same effect as the touch of the witch by throwing them into fits. This puzzled the learned jurist exceedingly, until it was remarked at the bar that possibly the children might be deceived with the sus picion that the witches had touched them when they had not. This shrewd suggestion removed all doubt, but evidence was still further produced that Rose Collender must be a witch, because two years since a carter had run his wagon against her house, and she was angry, and must have bewitched his cart, because it upset several times during the day, and one of his horses afterwards died. The Judge, instead of telling the jury that

there was absolutely no evidence to show that the prisoners were guilty, briefly de clared that witchcraft existed, and that the Bible tells us "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." In half an hour the jury convicted the prisoners, and at the same moment the children recovered their speech and health, and slept well that night, only little Susan Chandler felt a pin-like pricking in her stomach, which did not disappear until after the witches had been hanged. On the trial of Titus Oates, in 1685, be fore Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, upon a charge of perjury, the prisoner suffered from the rapid manner in which the jurors were sworn; and, although objecting that the clerk was too quick, and that he could not speak, and that his objection was that the men upon the petit panel had also been upon the grand jury, Jeffreys replied, " We cannot help it now." Oates then stated that he had three witnesses most material to his defense, who were prisoners in the King's Bench, and he asked that he might have a rule of court to bring them up; but it was objected that they were in execution, and could not be brought. " I tell you," said Jeffreys, " we cannot do it by law, as it will be an escape." Oates: "My lord, I shall want their testimony." Jeffreys': "Truly, we cannot help it; the law will not allow it, and you must be satisfied." Conviction, of course, followed; but before the jury re tired, Jeffreys distinctly told them that there did not remain the least doubt that " Oates was the blackest and most perjured villain that ever appeared upon the face of the earth," and then offered the ' jurors the opportunity to drink, vhich they discreetly declined. The prisoner was sentenced to pay a fine of one thousand marks, to be stripped of his canonical habits, to stand upon the pil lory before Westminster Hall gate for an hour's time with a paper over his head de claring his crime, with which he must first walk round about through all the courts in