The De Coverley Papers

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It is with this temper of mind that I consider the subject of witchcraft.
When I hear the relations that are made from all parts of the world, not
only from Norway and Lapland, from the East and West Indies, but from
every particular nation in Europe, I cannot forbear thinking that there
is such an intercourse and commerce with evil spirits, as that which we
express by the name of witchcraft. But when I consider that the ignorant
and credulous parts of the world abound most in these relations, and that
the persons among us, who are supposed to engage in such an infernal
commerce, are people of a weak understanding and crazed imagination, and
at the same time reflect upon the many impostures and delusions of this
nature that have been detected in all ages, I endeavour to suspend my
belief till I hear more certain accounts than any which have yet come to
my knowledge. In short, when I consider the question whether there are
such persons in the world as those we call witches, my mind is divided
between the two opposite opinions; or rather, (to speak my thoughts
freely) I believe in general that there is, and has been such a thing as
witchcraft; but, at the same time, can give no credit to any particular
instance of it.

I am engaged in this speculation by some occurrences that I met with
yesterday, which I shall give my reader an account of at large. As I was
walking with my friend Sir Roger by the side of one of his woods, an old
woman applied herself to me for my charity. Her dress and figure put me
in mind of the following description in Otway:--

In a close lane as I pursu'd my journey,
I spy'd a wrinkled Hag, with age grown double,
Picking dry sticks, and mumbling to herself.
Her eyes with scalding rheum were gall'd and red;
Cold palsy shook her head; her hands seem'd wither'd;
And on her crooked shoulders had she wrapp'd
The tatter'd remnants of an old strip'd hanging,
Which serv'd to keep her carcase from the cold:
So there was nothing of a piece about her.
Her lower weeds were all o'er coarsely patch'd
With diff'rent-colour'd rags, black, red, white, yellow,
And seem'd to speak variety of wretchedness.

As I was musing on this description, and comparing it with the object
before me, the Knight told me, that this very old woman had the
reputation of a witch all over the country, that her lips were observed
to be always in motion, and that there was not a switch about her house
which her neighbours did not believe had carried her several hundreds of
miles. If she chanced to stumble, they always found sticks or straws that
lay in the figure of a cross before her. If she made any mistake at
church, and cried Amen in a wrong place, they never failed to conclude
that she was saying her prayers backwards. There was not a maid in the
parish that would take a pin of her, though she should offer a bag of
money with it. She goes by the name of Moll White, and has made the
country ring with several imaginary exploits which are palmed upon her.
If the dairy-maid does not make the butter come so soon as she would have
it, Moll White is at the bottom of the churn. If a horse sweats in the
stable, Moll White has been upon his back. If a hare makes an unexpected
escape from the hounds, the huntsman curses Moll White. "Nay," (says Sir
Roger) "I have known the master of the pack, upon such an occasion, send
one of his servants to see if Moll White had been out that morning."

[Illustration: Moll White]

This account raised my curiosity so far, that I begged my friend Sir
Roger to go with me into her hovel, which stood in a solitary corner
under the side of the wood. Upon our first entering Sir Roger winked to
me, and pointed at something that stood behind the door, which, upon
looking that way, I found to be an old broomstaff. At the same time he
whispered me in the ear to take notice of a tabby cat that sat in the
chimney-corner, which, as the old Knight told me, lay under as bad a
report as Moll White herself; for, besides that Moll is said often to
accompany her in the same shape, the cat is reported to have spoken twice
or thrice in her life, and to have played several pranks above the
capacity of an ordinary cat.

I was secretly concerned to see human nature in so much wretchedness and
disgrace, but at the same time could not forbear smiling to hear Sir
Roger, who is a little puzzled about the old woman, advising her as a
justice of peace to avoid all communication with the Devil, and never to
hurt any of her neighbour's cattle. We concluded our visit with a bounty,
which was very acceptable.

In our return home Sir Roger told me, that old Moll had been often
brought before him for making children spit pins, and giving maids the
nightmare; and that the country people would be tossing her into a pond,
and trying experiments with her every day, if it was not for him and his
chaplain.

I have since found, upon inquiry, that Sir Roger was several times
staggered with the reports that had been brought him concerning this old
woman, and would frequently have bound her over to the county sessions,
had not his chaplain with much ado persuaded him to the contrary.

I have been the more particular[120] in this account, because I hear
there is scarce a village in England that has not a Moll White in it.
When an old woman begins to dote, and grow chargeable to a parish, she
is generally turned into a witch, and fills the whole country with
extravagant fancies, imaginary distempers, and terrifying dreams. In the
meantime, the poor wretch that is the innocent occasion of so many evils
begins to be frighted at herself, and sometimes confesses secret
commerce[121] and familiarities that her imagination forms in a delirious
old age. This frequently cuts off charity from the greatest objects of
compassion, and inspires people with a malevolence towards those poor
decrepit parts of our species, in whom human nature is defaced by
infirmity and dotage.

L.

FOOTNOTES:

[117] _Neuter._ Neutral.

[118] _Engaging._ Binding.

[119] _Determination._ Fixed opinion.

[120] _Been the more particular._ Given fuller details.

[121] _Commerce._ Intercourse.

NO. 118. MONDAY, JULY 16

_Haeret lateri lethalis arundo._

VIRG. _AEn._ iv. ver. 73.

The fatal dart
Sticks in his side, and rankles in his heart.

DRYDEN.

This agreeable seat is surrounded with so many pleasing walks, which are
struck out of a wood, in the midst of which the house stands, that one
can hardly ever be weary of rambling from one labyrinth of delight to
another. To one used to live in a city the charms of the country are so
exquisite, that the mind is lost in a certain transport which raises us
above ordinary life, and is yet not strong enough to be inconsistent with
tranquillity. This state of mind was I in, ravished with the murmur of
waters, the whisper of breezes, the singing of birds; and whether I
looked up to the heavens, down to the earth, or turned on the prospects
around me, still struck with new sense of pleasure; when I found by the
voice of my friend, who walked by me, that we had insensibly strolled
into the grove sacred to the widow. "This woman," says he, "is of all
others the most unintelligible; she either designs to marry, or she does
not. What is the most perplexing of all, is, that she doth not either say
to her lovers she has any resolution against that condition of life in
general, or that she banishes them; but, conscious of her own merit, she
permits their addresses, without fear of any ill consequence, or want of
respect, from their rage or despair. She has that in her aspect, against
which it is impossible to offend. A man whose thoughts are constantly
bent upon so agreeable an object, must be excused if the ordinary
occurrences in conversation[122] are below his attention. I call her
indeed perverse; but, alas! why do I call her so? Because her superior
merit is such, that I cannot approach her without awe, that my heart is
checked by too much esteem: I am angry that her charms are not more
acceptable, that I am more inclined to worship than salute[123] her: how
often have I wished her unhappy, that I might have an opportunity of
serving her? and how often troubled in that very imagination, at giving
her the pain of being obliged? Well, I have led a miserable life in
secret upon her account; but fancy she would have condescended to have
some regard for me, if it had not been for that watchful animal her
confidant.

"Of all persons under the sun" (continued he, calling me by my name) "be
sure to set a mark upon confidants: they are of all people the most
impertinent. What is most pleasant[124] to observe in them, is, that they
assume to themselves the merit of the persons whom they have in their
custody. Orestilla is a great fortune, and in wonderful danger of
surprises, therefore full of suspicions of the least indifferent thing,
particularly careful of new acquaintance, and of growing too familiar
with the old. Themista, her favourite woman, is every whit as careful of
whom she speaks to, and what she says. Let the ward be a beauty, her
confidant shall treat you with an air of distance; let her be a fortune,
and she assumes the suspicious behaviour of her friend and patroness.
Thus it is that very many of our unmarried women of distinction, are to
all intents and purposes married, except the consideration of[125]
different sexes. They are directly under the conduct of their whisperer;
and think they are in a state of freedom, while they can prate with one
of these attendants of all men in general, and still avoid the man they
most like. You do not see one heiress in a hundred whose fate does not
turn upon this circumstance of choosing a confidant. Thus it is that the
lady is addressed to, presented[126] and flattered, only by proxy, in her
woman. In my case, how is it possible that--" Sir Roger was proceeding in
his harangue, when we heard the voice of one speaking very importunately,
and repeating these words, "What, not one smile?" We followed the sound
till we came to a close thicket, on the other side of which we saw a
young woman sitting as it were in a personated sullenness[127], just over
a transparent fountain. Opposite to her stood Mr. William, Sir Roger's
master of the game[128]. The Knight whispered me, "Hist! these are
lovers." The huntsman looking earnestly at the shadow of the young maiden
in the stream, "Oh thou dear picture, if thou couldst remain there in the
absence of that fair creature whom you represent in the water, how
willingly could I stand here satisfied for ever, without troubling my
dear Betty herself with any mention of her unfortunate William, whom she
is angry with: but alas! when she pleases to be gone, thou wilt also
vanish--yet let me talk to thee while thou dost stay. Tell my dearest
Betty thou dost not more depend upon her, than does her William: her
absence will make away with me as well as thee. If she offers to remove
thee, I will jump into these waves to lay hold on thee; herself, her own
dear person, I must never embrace again.--Still do you hear me without
one smile--It is too much to bear--" He had no sooner spoke these words,
but he made an offer of throwing himself into the water: at which his
mistress started up, and at the next instant he jumped across the
fountain and met her in an embrace. She, half recovering from her fright,
said, in the most charming voice imaginable, and with a tone of
complaint, "I thought how well you would drown yourself. No, no, you
won't drown yourself till you have taken your leave of Susan Holiday."
The huntsman, with a tenderness that spoke the most passionate love, and
with his cheek close to hers, whispered the softest vows of fidelity in
her ear, and cried, "Don't, my dear, believe a word Kate Willow says; she
is spiteful, and makes stories because she loves to hear me talk to
herself for your sake." "Look you there," quoth Sir Roger, "do you see
there, all mischief comes from confidants! But let us not interrupt them;
the maid is honest, and the man dares not be otherwise, for he knows I
loved her father: I will interpose in this matter, and hasten the
wedding. Kate Willow is a witty mischievous wench in the neighbourhood,
who was a beauty, and makes me hope I shall see the perverse widow in her
condition. She was so flippant with her answers to all the honest fellows
that came near her, and so very vain of her beauty, that she has valued
herself upon her charms till they are ceased. She therefore now makes it
her business to prevent other young women from being more discreet than
she was herself: however, the saucy thing said the other day well
enough, 'Sir Roger and I must make a match, for we are both despised by
those we loved.' The hussy has a great deal of power wherever she comes,
and has her share of cunning.

"However, when I reflect upon this woman, I do not know whether in the
main I am the worse for having loved her: whenever she is recalled to my
imagination my youth returns, and I feel a forgotten warmth in my veins.
This affliction in my life has streaked all my conduct with a softness,
of which I should otherwise have been incapable. It is, perhaps, to this
dear image in my heart owing that I am apt to relent, that I easily
forgive, and that many desirable things are grown into my temper, which I
should not have arrived at by better motives than the thought of being
one day hers. I am pretty well satisfied such a passion as I have had is
never well cured; and, between you and me, I am often apt to imagine it
has had some whimsical[129] effect upon my brain: for I frequently find,
that in my most serious discourse I let fall some comical familiarity of
speech, or odd phrase, that makes the company laugh; however, I cannot
but allow she is a most excellent woman. When she is in the country I
warrant she does not run into dairies, but reads upon[130] the nature of
plants; but has a glass-hive, and comes into the garden out of books to
see them work, and observe the policies[131] of their commonwealth. She
understands everything. I would give ten pounds to hear her argue with
my friend Sir Andrew Freeport about trade. No, no, for all she looks so
innocent as it were, take my word for it she is no fool."

T.

FOOTNOTES:

[122] _Conversation._ General intercourse.

[123] _Salute._ Kiss.

[124] _Pleasant._ Ludicrous.

[125] _Except the consideration of._ Except in respect of.

[126] _Presented._ _I.e._, with gifts.

[127] _Personated sullenness._ Pretended, or possibly the image of,
sullenness.

[128] _Master of the game._ Huntsman.

[129] _Whimsical._ Fantastic.

[130] _Upon._ About.

[131] _Policies._ Organisation.

NO. 122. FRIDAY, JULY 20

_Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est._

PUBL. SYR. _Frag._

An agreeable companion upon the road is as good as a coach.

A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart;
his next, to escape the censures of the world: if the last interferes
with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there
cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see those
approbations which it gives itself seconded by the applauses of the
public: a man is more sure of his conduct, when the verdict he passes
upon his own behaviour is thus warranted and confirmed by the opinion of
all that know him.

My worthy friend Sir Roger is one of those who is not only at peace
within himself, but beloved and esteemed by all about him. He receives a
suitable tribute for his universal benevolence to mankind, in the returns
of affection and good-will, which are paid him by every one that lives
within his neighbourhood. I lately met with two or three odd instances of
that general respect which is shown to the good old Knight. He would
needs carry Will Wimble and myself with him to the county assizes: as we
were upon the road Will Wimble joined a couple of plain men who rid
before us, and conversed with them for some time; during which my friend
Sir Roger acquainted me with their characters.

"The first of them," says he, "that has a spaniel by his side, is a
yeoman of about an hundred pounds a year, an honest man: he is just
within the Game Act[132], and qualified to kill an hare or a pheasant: he
knocks down a dinner with his gun twice or thrice a week; and by that
means lives much cheaper than those who have not so good an estate as
himself. He would be a good neighbour if he did not destroy so many
partridges: in short, he is a very sensible man; shoots flying; and has
been several times foreman of the petty jury.

"The other that rides along with him is Tom Touchy, a fellow famous for
taking the law of everybody. There is not one in the town where he lives
that he has not sued at the quarter sessions. The rogue had once the
impudence to go to law with the widow. His head is full of costs,
damages, and ejectments: he plagued a couple of honest gentlemen so long
for a trespass in breaking one of his hedges, till he was forced to sell
the ground it inclosed to defray the charges of the prosecution: his
father left him fourscore pounds a year; but he has cast and been
cast[133] so often, that he is not now worth thirty. I suppose he is
going upon the old business of the willow tree."

[Illustration]

As Sir Roger was giving me this account of Tom Touchy, Will Wimble and
his two companions stopped short till we came up to them. After having
paid their respects to Sir Roger, Will told him that Mr. Touchy and he
must appeal to him upon a dispute that arose between them. Will it seems
had been giving his fellow-traveller an account of his angling one day in
such a hole; when Tom Touchy, instead of hearing out his story, told him
that Mr. Such-a-one, if he pleased, might take the law of him for fishing
in that part of the river. My friend Sir Roger heard them both, upon a
round trot[134]; and after having paused some time told them, with the
air of a man who would not give his judgment rashly, that much might be
said on both sides. They were neither of them dissatisfied with the
Knight's determination, because neither of them found himself in the
wrong by it: upon which we made the best of our way to the assizes.

The court was sat before Sir Roger came; but notwithstanding all the
justices had taken their places upon the bench, they made room for the
old Knight at the head of them; who for his reputation in the county took
occasion to whisper in the judge's ear, "That he was glad his Lordship
had met with so much good weather in his circuit." I was listening to the
proceeding of the court with much attention, and infinitely pleased with
that great appearance and solemnity which so properly accompanies such a
public administration of our laws; when, after about an hour's sitting, I
observed to my great surprise, in the midst of a trial, that my friend
Sir Roger was getting up to speak. I was in some pain for him, till I
found he had acquitted himself of two or three sentences, with a look of
much business and great intrepidity.

Upon his first rising the court was hushed, and a general whisper ran
among the country people, that Sir Roger was up. The speech he made was
so little to the purpose, that I shall not trouble my readers with an
account of it; and I believe was not so much designed by the Knight
himself to inform the court, as to give him a figure in my eye, and keep
up his credit in the country.

I was highly delighted, when the court rose, to see the gentlemen of the
country gathering about my old friend, and striving who should compliment
him most; at the same time that the ordinary people gazed upon him at a
distance, not a little admiring his courage, that was not afraid to speak
to the judge.

In our return home we met with a very odd accident[135]; which I cannot
forbear relating, because it shows how desirous all who know Sir Roger
are of giving him marks of their esteem. When we were arrived upon the
verge of his estate, we stopped at a little inn to rest ourselves and our
horses. The man of the house had it seems been formerly a servant in the
Knight's family; and to do honour to his old master, had some time since,
unknown to Sir Roger, put him up in a sign-post before the door; so that
the Knight's head had hung out upon the road about a week before he
himself knew anything of the matter. As soon as Sir Roger was acquainted
with it, finding that his servant's indiscretion proceeded wholly from
affection and good-will, he only told him that he had made him too high a
compliment; and when the fellow seemed to think that could hardly be,
added with a more decisive look, "That it was too great an honour for any
man under a duke"; but told him at the same time that it might be altered
with a very few touches, and that he himself would be at the charge[136]
of it. Accordingly they got a painter by the Knight's directions to add
a pair of whiskers to the face, and by a little aggravation[137] of the
features to change it into the Saracen's Head. I should not have known
this story had not the innkeeper, upon Sir Roger's alighting, told him in
my hearing, "That his honour's head was brought back last night with the
alterations that he had ordered to be made in it." Upon this my friend,
with his usual cheerfulness, related the particulars above mentioned, and
ordered the head to be brought into the room. I could not forbear
discovering greater expressions of mirth than ordinary upon the
appearance of this monstrous face, under which, notwithstanding it was
made to frown and stare in a most extraordinary manner, I could still
discover a distant resemblance of my old friend. Sir Roger upon seeing me
laugh, desired me to tell him truly if I thought it possible for people
to know him in that disguise. I at first kept my usual silence; but upon
the Knight's conjuring[138] me to tell him whether it was not still more
like himself than a Saracen, I composed my countenance in the best manner
I could, and replied, that much might be said on both sides.

These several adventures, with the Knight's behaviour in them, gave me as
pleasant a day as ever I met with in any of my travels.

L.

FOOTNOTES:

[132] _Game Act._ See note on p. 19.

[133] _Cast and been cast._ Won and lost his case.

[134] _Upon a round trot._ While trotting briskly.

[135] _Accident._ Incident.

[136] _Charge._ Expense.

[137] _Aggravation._ Exaggeration.

[138] _Conjuring._ Adjuring, entreating.

NO. 130. MONDAY, JULY 30

_Semperque recentes
Convectare juvat praedas, et vivere rapto._

VIRG. _AEn._ vii. ver. 748.

Hunting their sport, and plund'ring was their trade.

DRYDEN.

As I was yesterday riding out in the fields with my friend Sir Roger, we
saw at a little distance from us a troop of gipsies. Upon the first
discovery of them, my friend was in some doubt whether he should not
exert[139] the Justice of the Peace upon such a band of lawless vagrants;
but not having his clerk with him, who is a necessary counsellor on these
occasions, and fearing that his poultry might fare the worse for it, he
let the thought drop: but at the same time gave me a particular account
of the mischiefs they do in the country, in stealing people's goods and
spoiling their servants. "If a stray piece of linen hangs upon an hedge,"
says Sir Roger, "they are sure to have it; if the hog loses his way in
the fields, it is ten to one but he becomes their prey; our geese cannot
live in peace for them; if a man prosecutes them with severity, his
hen-roost is sure to pay for it: they generally straggle into these parts
about this time of the year; and set the heads of our servant-maids so
agog for husbands, that we do not expect to have any business done as it
should be whilst they are in the country. I have an honest dairy-maid
who crosses their hands with a piece of silver every summer, and never
fails being promised the handsomest young fellow in the parish for her
pains. Your friend the butler has been fool enough to be seduced by them;
and though he is sure to lose a knife, a fork, or a spoon every time his
fortune is told him, generally shuts himself up in the pantry with an old
gipsy for above half an hour once in a twelvemonth. Sweethearts are the
things they live upon, which they bestow very plentifully upon all those
that apply themselves to them. You see now and then some handsome young
jades among them: the sluts have very often white teeth and black eyes."

[Illustration: Told him, That he had a Widow in his Line of Life]

Sir Roger observing that I listened with great attention to his account
of a people who were so entirely new to me, told me, that if I would they
should tell us our fortunes. As I was very well pleased with the Knight's
proposal, we rid up and communicated our hands to them. A Cassandra[140]
of the crew, after having examined my lines very diligently, told me,
that I loved a pretty maid in a corner[141], that I was a good woman's
man, with some other particulars which I do not think proper to relate.
My friend Sir Roger alighted from his horse, and exposing his palm to two
or three that stood by him, they crumpled it into all shapes, and
diligently scanned every wrinkle that could be made in it; when one of
them, who was older and more sunburnt than the rest, told him, that he
had a widow in his line of life: upon which the Knight cried, "Go, go,
you are an idle baggage"; and at the same time smiled upon me. The gipsy
finding he was not displeased in his heart, told him, after a further
inquiry into his hand, that his true-love was constant, and that she
should dream of him to-night: my old friend cried "pish," and bid her go
on. The gipsy told him that he was a bachelor, but would not be so long;
and that he was dearer to somebody than he thought: the Knight still
repeated she was an idle baggage, and bid her go on. "Ah, master," says
the gipsy, "that roguish leer of yours makes a pretty woman's heart ache;
you ha'n't that simper about the mouth for nothing--" The uncouth
gibberish with which all this was uttered, like the darkness of an
oracle, made us the more attentive to it. To be short, the Knight left
the money with her that he had crossed her hand with, and got up again on
his horse.

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