The examination of them with their confession before Doctor Cole and master Foscue at the same Sise verhatum as nere as coulde be gathered, and firste of Elizabeth Frauncis who saide as here foloweth.

FYrst the lear­ned this arte of witchcraft at the age of .xii. yeres of hyr grand­mother whose nam was mother Eue of Hatfyelde Peue­rell disseased.

Item when shee taughte it her, she counseiled her to re­nounce GOD and his worde, and to geue of her bloudde to Sathan (as she termed it) whyche she delyuered her in the lykenesse of a whyte spotted Catte, and taughte her to feede the [Page] sayde Catte with breade and mylke and she dyd so, also she taughte her to cal it by the name of Sathan and to kepe it in a basket.

When this mother Eue had geuen her the Cat Sathan, then this Eli­zabeth desired firste of the sayde Cat (callinge it Sathan) that she might be ryche and to haue goodes, and he promised her she shoulde, askinge her what she would haue, and she sayde shepe ( [...]or this Cat spake to her as she confessed in a straunge holowe voice, (but suche as she vnderstode by vse) & this Cat forthwith brought shepe into her pasture to the nūber of .xviii [Page] blacke and whyte, whych continued wyth her for a tyme, but in the ende dyd all weare awaye she knewe not howe.

Item when she had gotten these shepe, she desired to haue on Andrew Byles to her husband, which was a man of some welth, and the cat dyd promyse she shold, but that he sayde she must fyrste consent that t [...]is An­drew shuld abuse her, and she so did.

And after when this Andrew had thus abused her he would not mary her, wherfore she willed Sathan to waste his goodes, which he forth­with did, and yet not beyng conten­tid with this, she wild him to touch his body, whych he forthewith dyd whereof he died.

Item that euery tyme that he did any thynge for her, she sayde that he required a drop of bloude, which she gaue him by prycking herselfe, some­time in one place & then in an other, [Page] and where she pricked her selfe there remayned a red spot, which was styl to be sene.

Item whē this Andrew was dead, she douting her selfe with childe wil­led sathan to destroye it, and he bad her take a certayne herbe and drinke it whych she did, and destroyed the childe forthwyth.

Item when she desyred an other husbande, he promysed her an other, naminge this Frauncis whom shee nowe hath, but said he is not so rich as the other, willynge her to consent vnto that Frauncis in fornycation which she did, and therof conceaued a daughter that was borne within a quarter of a yere after they were ma­ried.

After they were maryed they liued not so quietly as she desyred, beinge stirred (as she said) to much vnquiet­nes and moued to swearing and cur­singe, wherfore she willed sathan her [Page] Cat to kyll the childe, beinge aboute the age of half a yere olde and he did so, and when she yet founde not the quietnes that she desyred, she wylled it to lay a la [...]enes in the leg of thys Frauncis her husbande, and it did in this maner. It came in a morninge to this Frauncis shoe, lying in it lyke a tode, and when he perceiued it puttinge on his shoe, and had touched it with his fote, he being sodenly ama­sed asked of her what it was, and she bad him kil it, and he was forthwith taken with a lamenes wherof he can not healed.

After all this when shee had kept this Cat, by the space of .xv. or xvi. yeare, and as some saye (though vn­truly) beinge wery of it, she came to one mother Waterhouse her neygh­bour (a pore woman) when she was going to the ouē, and desired her to geue her a cake, & she wold geue her a thing that she should be the better [Page] for so lōg as she liued, & this mother waterhouse gaue her a cake, where vpon she brought her this cat in her apron and taught her as she was in structed before by her grandmother Eue, tellig her that she must cal him Sathan and geue him of her bloude and bread and milke as before, and at this examination woulde confesse no more.

¶Mother waterhouse of Nat [...]ylde peuerell of the age of .lxii [...]. yeares being examined the same day confessed as followeth, & the xxix. daye suffered.

Fyrst she receyued this cat of this frances wife in y ^• order as is before sayde, who wild her to cal him sathā, and told her that yf she made muche of him he would do for her what she wolde haue him to do.

Then when she had receyued him [Page] the (to trye him what he coulde do) wyld hym to kyll a hog of her owne which he dyd, and she gaue him for his labour a chicken, which he fyrste required of her & a drop of her blod. And thys she gaue him at all times when he dyd any thynge for her, by prick [...]ng her hand or face & puttinge the bloud to hys mouth whyche he sucked, & forthwith wold lye downe in hys [...]ot againe, wherin she kepte him, the spots of all the which pr [...]ks are yet to be sene in her skin.

Also she saythe that another tyme being offended with one father Kersye she toke her catte Sathan in her lap and put hym in the wood before her dore, & willed him to kyll three of this father Kersyes hogges, whiche he dyd, and retourning agayne told her so, and she rewarded hym as be­fore, wyth a chicken and a droppe of her bloud, which chicken he eate vp cleane as he didde al the rest, and she [Page] cold fynde remaining neyther bones nor fethers.

Also she confessed that fallyng out with one widdow Gooday she wyl­led Sathan to drowne her cow and he dyd so, and she rewardid hym as before.

Also she falling out wyth another of her neyboures, she killed her three geese in the same maner.

Item, shee confessed that because she could haue no [...]est (which she re­quired) she caused sathan to destroye the brewing at that tyme.

Also beyng denyed butter of an o­ther, she caused her to lose the curdes ii. or .iii. dayes after.

Item fallinge out with an other of her neybours and his wife, shee wyl­led sathan to kyll hym with a blud­dye [...]i [...]e, whereof he dyed, and shee rewarded him as before.

Likewyse shee confessed, that be­cause she lyued somwhat vnquietly [Page] with her husbande she caused [...]atha to kyll hym, and he did so about .ix. yeres past, syth which tyme she hath lyued a widdow.

Also she said that when she wolde wyl him to do any thinge for her, she wolde say her Pater noster in laten.

Item this mother Waterhouse confessed that shee fyrst turned this Cat into a tode by this meanes, she

kept the [...]at a great while in woll in a pot, and at length being moued by pouertie to occupie the wol, she prai­ed [Page] in the name of the father, and of the sonne, and of the holy ghost that it wold turne into a tode, and forth­with it was turned into a tode, and so kept it in the pot without woll.

¶Also she said, that going to Brack stede a lyttle before her apprehen­tyon, this Sathan wylled her to hye her home, for she shulde haue great trouble, and that shee shoulde be eyther hanged or burned shortly, more at this tyme she wolde not confesse.

¶Ione Waterhouse, daughter to th [...] mother Waterhouse, beinge of the age of .xviii. yeres, and exami­ned, cōfesseth as foloweth.

FYrst, that her mo­ther this laste wynter would haue learned her this arte, but she lerned it not, nether yet the name of the thinge. She saith she neuer saw it but once in her mothers hand, and that was in the likenes of a tode, and at that time comming in at a sodeyn when her mother called it oute to worke some thynge withall, she herde her to call it Sathan, for shee was not [Page] at any tyme truely taught if, nor did neuer exercise it before this time as foloweth.

Item she confessed that when her mother was gone to Breakstede, in her absence lacking breade, she went to a gyrle, a neighbours childe, and desired her to geue her a pece of bred and cheese, whiche when she denied and gaue her not, or at the least not so muche as wolde satisfye her, shee goinge home dydde as she had seene her mother doe, callynge Sathan, whiche came to her (as she sayd) she thoughte out of her mothers shewe frome vnder the dedde, in the lyke­nes of a great dogge, demaundynge

[Page] what she wolde haue, wherewith­all she beyng a fearde, sayd she wold haue him to make such a gyrle a ferd naminge this gyrle, then asked hee her what she wolde geue hym, and she saide a red kocke, then sayde hee no, but thou shalt geue me thy body and sowle, whereby she beinge soore feared, and desyrous to be rydde of hym, sayd she wold: And herewith he went to this gyrle in the lykenes of an euyll [...]auou [...]d dogge with hornes on his head, and made her very muche afearde, and dothe yet haunt her, nowe can not these witches (as they saye) cal hym in agayn, because they dyd not let hym out. And more (sayth shee) she neuer dydde, but this her doinge was the re­uealyng of all the rest.

¶The Confession of Agnes Water­howse the .xxvii. daye of Iuly in Anno. 1566. at Chelmsforde before Iustice Southcote and M. E [...]rard the quenes Atturney.

FYrst being demaunded whether that shee were gyltye or not gilty vpon her araynement of the murthe­ringe of a man, she confessed that she was gilty, and thē vppon the euidence geuen agaynst her daughter Ione Waterhouse, she sayde that she hadde a White Cat, and wylled her cat that he shuld destroy many of her neygh­bours cattell, and also that [Page] he shoulde kyll a man, and so he dyd, and then after she must go .ii. or .iii. mile from her house, and then she toke thoughte howe to kepe her catte, then she and her catte concluded that he the sayde catte wolde become a tode, and then she shuld kepe him in a close house & geue hym mylke, and so he wolde con­tinue tyll she came home a­gaine, and then being gone forth, her daughter hauing ben at a neyghbours house there by, required of one A­gnes Browne, of the age of xii. yeres or more, a peece of breade and cheese, and the sayde Agnes saide that shee [Page] had none, aud that she had not the key of the milkhouse dore, and then the said Ione went home and was angry with the said Agnes broun and she said that she remembred that her mother was wonte to go vp and downe in her house [...] to call Sa­than Satha [...] [...]he sayde she wolde proue the like, & then she went vp and downe the house and called Sathan, and then there came a black dogge to her and asked her what she woulde haue, and then she saide she was aferd and sayd I wold haue thee to make one Agnes browne afrayde, and then he asked [Page] her what she wold giue him and she saide she wolde geue hym a red kock, and he said he wolde haue none of that, and shee asked him what he wolde haue then, & he sayde he wold haue her body and soule, and so vpon requeste and feare together she gaue him her body and soule, and then sayde the quenes atturneye, Howe vvylt thou do before god. O my lord, I trust god wyll haue mercy vpon mee, and then he saide, thou saiste vvell, and then he departed from her, and then she saide that she herde that he made the sayde Agnes Browne a fearde.

[Page]The said Agnes Brown was then demaunded and called for, and then she came in, and beinge asked what age she was of she sayde she thoughte she was, xii. yeres old, and then the quenes at­turney asked her what shee could say, and then she saide that at suche a day naming the daye certayne that shee

[Page] was chirning of butter and there came to her a thynge lyke a blacke dogge with [...] face like an ape a short ta [...]e a [...] and a syluer whys­tle (to her thinking) about his neck, and a peyre of hor­nes on his heade, & [...] in his mouth she keye of the milkehouse doore, and then my lorde she saide, I was a fearde, for he skypped and leaped to and fro, and sat [...]e on the toppe of a ne [...]le, and then I asked [...] what he wolde [...] he woulde [...] and I said I had none [...] and then he saide he [...] aue some or he went, and then he [Page] dyd run to put the keye into the locke of the mylkehouse dore, and I sayde he should haue none, and he sayde he wolde haue some, and then he opened the dore and went vppon the shelfe, and there vpō anew chese laid downe the key, and being a whyle within he came out againe, and locked the dore and said that he had made [...] but­ter for [...]ee, and so departed, and then she saide see tolde her [...] of it, and then she sent for the priest, and when he came he [...]ad her to pray [...] to god, and [...]al on the name of Iesus, and soo the nexte day my lord he came again [Page] to me with the keye of oure milkehouse dore in his mou­ [...]he, and then I saide in the name of Iesus what haste thou there, and then he lay­ed downe the key and sayde that I spake euyll woordes in speakynge of that name, and then hee departed, and so my aunte toke vp the key for he had kept it from vs. ii dayes and a nyghte, & then we went into the milkhouse and there we did se the print of butter vpon the chese, and then within a few daies af­ter hee came againe with a beane pod in his mouth and then the queenes attourney asked what that was, and [Page] so the other Iustices decla­red, and then shee sayde my lorde I saide in the name of Iesus what hast thou there and so then he laid it downe and saide I spake euil wor­des and departed and came agayne by & by with a pece of breade in his mouth, and I asked hym what he wold haue and he sayde butter it was that he wolde haue, & so he departed, and my lord I dyd not se hym noo more tyll wenseday laste, whiche was the .xxiiii. day of Iuly why said the quenes attur­ney was he with the on wē ­seday last, ye she said, what did he then to thee sayde he, [Page] my lorde saide shee he came with a knyfe in his mouthe and asked me if I were not dead and I said no I than­ked god, and then hee sayde if I wolde not dye that hee wold thrust his knife to my harte but he wold make me to dye, and then I sayde in the name of iesus lay down thy knyfe, and hee sayde he wolde not departe from his [...]eete dames knyfe as yet, & then I asked of hym who was his dame, and then he nodded & wagged his head to your house mother water house, then the queenes at­tourneye asked of the sayde Agnes waterhouse what [Page] she saide to it, then she demā ded what maner knife that it was, and Agnes Browne said it was a daggar knife, there thou liest saide Agnes waterhouse, why quod the quenes atturney, mary my lord (quod she) she saith it is a daggar knif, and I haue none suche in my house, but a greate knyfe, and therein she lieth, yea yea, my lorde, quoth Ione waterhouse she lieth in that she saith that it hadde a face like an ape, for this that came to mee was like a dogge, well sayde the quenes attourney well, can you make it come before vs nowe, if ye can we will dys­patche [Page] you out of pryson by and by, no faith said Agnes Waterhouse I can not, for in faith if I had let hym go as my daughter did I could make hym come by and by, but now I haue no more power ouer him, then said the queenes atturneye, Agnes waterhouse when dyd thye Cat suck of thy bloud neuer saide she, no saide hee, let me se, and then the iayler lifted vp her kercher on her heade and there was diuerse spot­tes in her face & one on her nose, then sayde the quenes atturney, in good faith Ag­nes when dydde he sucke of thy bloud laste, by my fayth [Page] my lorde sayde she, not this fortnyght, and so the iurye went toge [...] therfor that matter.