hopes I held, unknown;

Till in the hour of trial,

Upon the mighty train,

With strength and succour laden,

To bear the weight of pain.

WITCHCRAFT IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Sir Roger Twysden, with all his learning, could not rise above the credulity of his age; and was, to the last, as firm a believer in palmistry and witchcraft, and all the illusions of magic, as the generality of his cotemporaries. His commonplace-books furnish numerous instances of the childlike simplicity with which he gave credence to any tale of superstition for which the slightest shadow of authenticity could be discovered.

The following amusing instance of this almost infantine credulity, I have extracted from one of his note-books; merely premising that his wife Isabella was daughter of Sir Nicholas Saunders, the narrator of the tale:—

"The 24th September, 1632, Sir Nicholas Saunders told me hee herd my lady of Arundall, widow of Phylip who dyed in ye Tower 1595, a virtuous and religious lady in her way, tell the ensuing relation of a Cat her Lord had. Her Lord's butler on a tyme, lost a cuppe or bowle of sylver, or at least of yt prise he was much troubled for, and knowing no other way, he went to a wyzard or Conjurer to know what was become of it, who told him he could tell him where he might see the bowle if he durst take it. The servant sayd he would venture to take it if he could see it, bee it where it would. The wyzard then told hym in such a wood there was a bare place, where if he hyed himself for a tyme he appoynted, behind a tree late in the night he should see ye Cuppe brought in, but wth all advised him if he stept in to take it, he should make hast away wth it as fast as myght bee. The servant observed what he was commanded by ye Conjurer, and about Mydnyght he saw his Lord's Cat bring in the cup was myst, and divers other creatures bring in severall other things; hee stept in, went, and felt ye Cuppe, and hyde home: where when he came he told his fellow servants this tale, so yt at ye last it was caryed to my Lord of Arundel's eare; who, when his Cat came to him, purring about his leggs as they used to doo, began jestingly to speake to her of it. The Cat presently upon his speech flewe in his face, at his throat, so yt wthout ye help of company he had not escaped wthout hurt, it was wth such violence: and after my lord being rescued got away, unknown how, and never after seene.

"There is just such a tale told of a cat a Lord Willoughby had, but this former coming from so good hands I cannot but believe.—R. T."

L. B. L.

Witchcraft. In the 13th year of the reign of King William the Third—

"One Hathaway, a most notorious rogue, feigned himself bewitched and deprived of his sight, and pretended to have fasted nine weeks together; and continuing, as he pretended, under this evil influence, he was advised, in order to discover the person supposed to have bewitched him, to boil his own water in a glass bottle till the bottle should break, and the first that came into the house after, should be the witch; and that if he scratched the body of that person till he fetched blood, it would cure him; which being done, and a poor old woman coming by chance into the house, she was seized on as the witch, and obliged to submit to be scratched till the blood came, whereupon the fellow pretended to find present ease. The poor woman hereupon was indicted for witchcraft, and tried and acquitted at Surrey assizes, before Holt, chief justice, a man of no great faith in these things; and the fellow persisting in his wicked contrivance, pretended still to be ill, and the poor woman, notwithstanding the acquittal, forced by the mob to suffer herself to be scratched by him. And this being discovered to be all imposition, an information was filed against him."—Modern Reports, vol. xii. p. 556.

Q. D.

INDULGENCES PROPOSED TO BENEFACTORS TO THE CHURCH OF ST. GEORGE THE MARTYR, SOUTHWARK.

As I believe little is known of the early history of this church, which was dependent upon the Abbey and Convent of Bermondsey, the following curious hand-bill or affiche, printed in black letter (which must have been promulgated previous to the disgrace of Cardinal Wolsey, and the suppression of religious houses in the reign of Henry VIII.), seems worthy of preservation. It was part of the lining of an old cover of a book, and thus escaped destruction. It is surmounted, at the left hand corner, by a small woodcut representing St. George slaying the dragon, and on the right, by a shield, which, with part of the margin, has been cut away by the bookbinder. But few words are wanting, which are supplied by conjecture in Italics.

It appears from Staveley's History of Churches in England, p. 99., that the monks were sent up and down the country, with briefs of a similar character, to gather contributions of the people on these occasions, and that the king's letter was sometimes obtained, in order that they might prove more effectual.

It is most probable that the collectors were authorised to grant special indulgences proportionate to the value of the contribution. No comment is necessary upon these proceedings, from which at least the Reformation relieved the people, and placed pious benefactions upon purer and better motives.

MISO-DOLOS.

"Unto all maner and synguler Cristen people beholdynge or herynge these present letters shall come gretynge.

"Our holy Fathers, xii. Cardynallys of Rome chosen by the mercy of Almighty God and by the Auctorite of these appostles Peter and Paule, to all and synguler cristen people of eyther kynde, trewely penytent and confessyd, and deuoutly gyue to the churche of oure lady and Seynt George the martyr in Sowthwerke, protector and defender of this Realme of Englande, any thyng or helpe with any parte of theyr goodes to the Reparacions or maynteyninge of the seruyce of almighty God done in ye same place, as gyuynge any boke, belle, or lyght, or any other churchly Ornamentis, they shall haue of eche of us Cardinallys syngulerly aforesayd a C. dayes of pardon. ¶ Also there is founded in the same parysshe churche aforesayd, iii. Chauntre preestis perpetually to praye in the sayd churche for the Bretherne and Systers of the same Fraternyte, and for the soules of them that be departed, and for all cristen soules. And also iiii. tymes by the yere Placebo and Dirige, with xiiii. preestis and clerkes, with iii. solempne Masses, one of our Lady, another of Seynt George, with a Masse of Requiem. ¶ Moreouer our holy Fathers, Cardynallys of Rome aforesayd, hathe graunted the pardons followethe to all theym that be Bretherne and Systers of the same Fraternyte at euery of the dayes followynge, that is to say, the firste sonday after the feest of Seynt Johannes Baptyst, on the whiche the same churche was