Discovery of Witches The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster

did. And as he was talking Julian said to him, Neighbour,

Chapter 27,123 wordsPublic domain

look what a pretty thing there is. He look't down, and there was a monstrous great toad betwixt his leggs, staring him in the face. He endeavoured to kill it by spurning it, but could not hit it. Whereupon Julian bad him forbear, and it would do him no hurt. But he threw down his pipe and went home, (which was about two miles off of Julian Cox her house,) and told his family what had happened, and that he believed it was one of Julian Cox her devils. After, he was taking a pipe of tobacco at home, and the same toad appeared betwixt his leggs. He took the toad out to kill it, and to his thinking cut it in several pieces, but returning to his pipe, the toad still appeared. He endeavoured to burn it, but could not. At length he took a switch and beat it. The toad ran several times about the room to avoid him he still pursuing it with correction. At length the toad cryed and vanish't, and he was never after troubled with it.

Dr. More's comment on the circumstance is written with all the seriousness so important a part of a witch's supellex deserves. He commences defending the huntsman, who swore that he hunted a hare, and when he came to take it up, he found it to be Julian Cox:

Those half-witted people thought he swore false, I suppose because they imagined that what he told implied that Julian Cox was turned into an hare. Which she was not, nor did his report imply any such real metamorphosis of her body, but that these ludicrous dæmons exhibited to the sight of this huntsman and his doggs the shape of an Hare, one of them turning himself into such a form, and others hurrying on the body of Julian near the same place, and at the same swiftness, but interposing betwixt that hare-like spectre and her body, modifying the air so that the scene there, to the beholders sight, was as if nothing but air were there, and a shew of earth perpetually suited to that where the hare passed. As I have heard of some painters that have drawn the sky in an huge large landskip, so lively that the birds have flown against it, thinking it free air, and so have fallen down. And if painters and juglers by the tricks of legerdemain can do such strange feats to the deceiving of the sight, it is no wonder that these airy invisible spirits as far surpass them in all such præstigious doings as the air surpasses the earth for subtilty.

And the like præstigiæ may be in the toad. It might be a real toad (though actuated and guided by a dæmon) which was cut in pieces, and that also which was whipt about, and at last snatcht out of sight (as if it had vanished) by these aerial hocus-pocus's. And if some juglers have tricks to take hot coals into their mouth without hurt, certainly it is not surprising that some small attempt did not suffice to burn that toad. That such a toad, sent by a witch and crawling up the body of the man of the house as he sate by the fire's side, was overmastered by him and his wife together, and burnt in the fire; I have heard credibly reported by one of the Isle of Ely. _Of these dæmoniack vermin, I have heard other stories also, as of a rat that followed a man some score of miles trudging through thick and thin along with him._ So little difficulty is there in that of the toad.--_Glanvil's Collection of Relations_, p. 200.

T 2 _a_ 1. "_Isabel Robey._" This person was of Windle, in the parish of Prescot, a considerable distance from Pendle. The Gerards were lords of the manor of Windle. Sir Thomas Gerard, before whom the examinations were taken, was created baronet, 22nd May, 9th James I.; and thrice married. From him the present Sir John Gerard, of New Hall, near Warrington, is descended. Sir Thomas was determined that the hundred of West Derby should have its witch as well as the other parts of the county. A more melancholy tissue of absurd and incoherent accusations than those against this last of the prisoners convicted on this occasion, it would not be easy to find; who was hanged, for all that appears, because one person was suddenly "pinched on her thigh, as she thought, with four fingers and a thumb," and because another was "sore pained with a great warch in his bones."

T 2 _a_ 2. "_This Countie of Lancaster, which now may lawfully bee said to abound asmuch in Witches of diuers kindes as Seminaries, Iesuites, and Papists._"] Truly, the county palatine was in sad case, according to Master Potts's account. If the crop of each of these was over abundant, it was from no fault of the learned judges, who, in their commissions of _Oyer and Terminer_, subjected it pretty liberally to the pruning-hook of the executioner.

T 2 _a_ 3. "_This lamentable and wofull Tragedie, wherein his Maiestie hath lost so many Subjects, Mothers their Children, Fathers their Friends and Kinsfolk._" The Lancashire bill of mortality, under the head witchcraft, so far as it can be collected from this tract, will run thus:--

1. Robert Nutter, of Greenhead, in Pendle. 2. Richard Assheton, son of Richard Assheton, of Downham, Esquire. 3. Child of Richard Baldwin, of Wheethead, within the forest of Pendle. 4. John Device, or Davies, of Pendle. 5. Anne Nutter, daughter of Anthony Nutter, of Pendle. 6. Child of John Moore, of Higham. 7. Hugh Moore, of Pendle. 8. John Robinson, _alias_ Swyer. 9. James Robinson. 10. Henry Mytton, of the Rough Lee. 11. Anne Townley, wife of Henry Townley, of the Carr, gentleman. 12. John Duckworth. 13. John Hargraves, of Goldshaw Booth. 14. Blaze Hargraves, of Higham. 15. Christopher Nutter. 16. Anne Folds, of Colne.

Sixteen persons reported dead of this common epidemic, besides a countless number with pains and "starkness in their limbs," and "a great warch in their bones!" No wonder that Doctors Bromley and Potts thought active treatment necessary, with a decided preference for hemp, as the leading specific.

T 3 _b_. "_With great warch in his bones._"] Warch is a word well known and still used in this sense, _i.e._, pain, in Lancashire.

T 4 _b_ 1. "_The said Peter was now satisfied that the said Isabel Robey was no Witch, by sending to one Halseworths, which they call a wiseman._"] I honour the memory of this Halsworth, or Houldsworth, as I suppose it should be spelled, for he was indeed a wise man in days when wisdom was an extremely scarce commodity.

T 4 _b_ 2. "_To abide vpon it._"] _i.e._, my abiding opinion is.

X _a_. "_Elizabeth Astley, John Ramsden, Alice Gray, Isabel Sidegraues, Lawrence Hay._"] The specific charges against these persons, with the exception of Alice Gray, do not appear, nor is it said where their places of residence were. Alice Gray was reputed to have been at the meeting of witches at Malkin's Tower, and to her the judge refers, perhaps, in particular, when he says, "Without question, there are amongst you that are as deepe in this action as any of them that are condemned to die for their offences."

X _b_. "_The Execution of the Witches._"] We could have dispensed with many of the flowers of rhetoric with which the pages of this discovery are strewed, if Master Potts would have favoured us with a plain, unvarnished account of what occurred at this execution. It is here, in the most interesting point of all, that his narrative, in other respects so full and abundant, stops short, and seems curtailed of its just proportions. The "learned and worthy preacher," to whom the prisoners were commended by the judge, was probably Mr. William Leigh, of Standish, before mentioned. Amongst his papers or correspondence, if they should happen to have been preserved, some account may eventually be found of the sad closing scene of these melancholy victims of superstition.

X 2 _a_. "_Neither can I paint in extraordinarie tearmes._"] The worthy clerk is too modest. He is a great painter, the Tintoretto of witchcraft.

Y _a_ 1. "_Hauing cut off Thomas Lister, Esquire, father to this gentleman now liuing._"] Thomas Lister, of Westby, ancestor of the Listers, Lords Ribblesdale, married Jane, daughter of John Greenacres, Esquire, of Worston, county of Lancaster, and was buried at Gisburn, February 8th, 1607. His son, Thomas Lister, referred to as the "gentleman now living," married Jane, daughter of Thomas Heber, Esq., of Marton, after mentioned, and was buried at Gisburn, July 10th, 1619.

Y _a_ 2. "_Was Indicted and Arraigned for the murder of a Child of one Dodg-sonnes._"] One acquittal was no protection to these unhappy creatures. It caused only additional exasperation, and, sooner or later, they were brought within what Donne calls "the hungry statutes' gaping jaws." Whether superstition or malice prompted this prosecution, on the part of Mr. Lister, it is difficult to say. Some grudge he entertained, or cause of offence he had taken up against this Jennet Preston, might be her death warrant in those days, when it was penal for a woman to be old, helpless, ugly, and poor. She was not so fortunate as the females tried at York, nine years afterwards, for bewitching the children of Edward Fairfax, of Fuyston, in the forest of Knaresborough, to whom we owe the only English translation of Tasso worthy of the name. These females, six in number, were indicted at two successive assizes, and every effort was made by the

"Prevailing poet! whose undoubting mind Believed the magic wonders which he sung,"

to procure their conviction. Never was a more unequal contest. On the one side was a relentless antagonist, armed with wealth, influence, learning, and accomplishments, and whose family connections gave him an unlimited power in the county; and on the other, six helpless persons, whose sex, age, and poverty were almost sufficient for their condemnation, without any evidence at all. Yet, owing to the magnanimous firmness of the judge, whose name, deserving of immortal honour, I regret has not been preserved, these efforts were frustrated, and the women accused delivered from the gulph which yawned before them. The disappointment he experienced in this instance, in being defrauded, as he thought, of a conviction for which he had strained every nerve and sinew, and in not being allowed to render the forest of Knaresborough as famous as that of Pendle, cast a gloom of despondency over the remaining days of this admirable poet, who has left a narration of the whole transaction, of most singular interest and curiosity, yet unpublished. The MSS. now in my possession, and which came from Mr. Bright's collection, consists of seventy-eight closely-written folio pages. It is entitled "A Discourse of Witchcraft, as it was enacted in the family of Mr. Edward Fairfax, of Fuystone, coun. Ebor, 1621." From page 78 to 144 are a series of ninety-three most extraordinary and spirited sketches, made with the pen, of the witches, devils, monsters, and apparitions referred to in the narrative.

Y 2 _a_. "_Master Heyber._"] This was Thomas Hayber, or Heber, of Marton, in Craven, Esquire, who was buried at Marton, 7th February, 1633. He was the ancestor of Bishop Reginald Heber and the late Richard Heber, Esq.

Y 3 _a_. "_The said Iennet Preston comming to touch the dead corpes, they bled fresh bloud presently._"] On the popular superstition of touching the corpse of a murdered person, as an ordeal or test for the discovery of the innocence or guilt of suspected murderers, the reader cannot better be referred than to the very learned and elaborate essay in Pitcairne's _Criminal Trials_, vol. iii. p. 182-189. Amongst the authors there quoted, Webster is omitted, who, (see _Displaying of supposed Witchcraft_, p. 304,) discusses the point at considerable length, and with an earnest and implicit faith singularly at variance with his enlightened scepticism in other matters. But there were regions of superstition in which even this Sampson of logic became imbecile and powerless. The rationale of the bleeding of a murdered corpse at the touch of the murderer is given by Sir Kenelm Digby with his usual force and spirit:

To this cause, peradventure, may be reduced the strange effect which is frequently seen in England, when, _at the approach of the Murderer, the slain body suddenly bleedeth afresh_. For certainly the Souls of them that are treacherously murdered by surprise, use to leaue their bodies with extreme unwillingness, and with vehement indignation against them that force them to so unprovided and abhorred a passage! That Soul, then, to wreak its evil talent against the hated Murderer, and to draw a just and desired revenge upon his head, would do all it can to manifest the author of the fact! To _speak_ it cannot--for in itself it wanteth the organs of voice; and those it is parted from are now grown too heavy, and are too benummed, for to give motion unto: Yet some change it desireth to make in the body, which it hath so vehement inclination to; and therefore is the aptest for it to work upon. It must then endeavour to cause a motion in the subtilest and most fluid parts (and consequently the most moveable ones) of it. This can be nothing but THE BLOOD, which then being violently moved, _must needs gush out at those places where it findeth issue_!

In the two following Scotch cases of witchcraft, this test was resorted to. The first was that of

MARIOUN PEEBLES,[79] _alias_ Pardone, spouse to SWENE, in Hildiswick, who was, on March 22, 1644, sentenced to be strangled at a stake, and burnt to ashes, at _the Hill of Berrie_, for WITCHCRAFT and MURDER. Marion and her husband having 'ane deadlie and venefical malice in her heart' against Edward Halero in Overure, and being determined 'to destroy and put him down,' being 'transformed in the lyknes of ane pellack-quhaill, (the Devill changing her spirit, quhilk fled in the same quhaill,') and the said Edward and other four individuals being in a fishing-boat, coming from the Sea, at the North-banks of Hildiswick, 'on ane fair morning, did cum under the said boat, and overturnit her with ease, and drowned and devoired thame in the sey, right at the shore, when there wis na danger wtherwayis.' The bodies of Halero and another of these hapless fishermen having been found, Marion and Swene 'wir sent for, and brought to see thame, and to lay thair hands on thame, ... dayis after said death and away-casting, quhaire thair bluid was evanished and desolved, from every natural cours or caus, shine, and run; the said umquhill Edward _bled at the collir-bain or craig-bane_, and the said ...,[80] _in the hand and fingers, gushing out bluid thairat_, to the great admiration of the beholders--and revelation of the judgement of the Almytie! And by which lyk occasionis and miraculous works of God, made manifest in Murders and the Murderers; whereby, be many frequent occasiones brought to light, and the Murderers, be the said proof brought to judgment, conuict and condemned, not only in this Kingdom, also this countrie, but lykwayis in maist forrin Christiane Kingdomis; and be so manie frequent precedentis and practising of and tuitching Murderis and Murdereris, notourlie known: So, the forsaid Murder and Witchcraft of the saidis persons, with the rest of their companions, through your said Husband's deed, art, part, rad,[81] and counsall, is manifest and cleir to all, not onlie through and by the foirsaid precedentis of your malice, wicked and malishes[82] practises, by Witchcraft, Confessionis, and Declarationis of the said umquill Janet Fraser, Witch, revealed to her, as said is, and quha wis desyrit by him to concur and assist with you to the doing thereof; but lykways _be the declaration and revelation of the justice and judgementis of God, through the said issuing of bluid from the bodies_!' &c.

A similar and very remarkable instance is related in the following Triall: In the Dittay of CHRISTIAN WILSON, alias _the Lanthorne_,[83] accused of Murder, Witchcraft, &c., (which is founded upon the examinations of James Wilson, Abraham Macmillan, William Crichton, and Fyfe and George Erskine, &c. led before Sir William Murray of Newtoun, and other Commissioners, at Dalkeith, Jun. 14, 1661,) it is stated, that 'Ther being enimitie betuixt the said Christiane and Alexander Wilsone, her brother, and shoe having often tymes threatned him, at length, about 7 or 8 monthes since, altho' the said Alexander was sene that day of his death, at three houres afternoone, in good health, walking about his bussnesse and office; yitt, at fyve howres in that same night, he was fownd dead, lying in his owne howse, naked as he was borne, with his face torne and rent, without any appearance of a spot of blood either wpon his bodie or neigh to it. And altho' many of the neiboures in the toune (Dalkeith) come into his howse to see the dead corpe, yitt shoe newar offered to come, howbeit her dwelling was nixt adjacent thairto; nor had shoe so much as any seiming greiff for his death. Bot the Minister and Bailliffes of the towne, taking great suspitione of her, in respect of her cairiage comand it that shoe showld be browght in; bot when shoe come, shoe come trembling all the way to the howse--bot _shoe refuised to come nigh_ THE CORPS _or to_ TUITCH _it_ saying, that shoe "nevir tuitched a dead corpe in her lyfe!" Bot being arnestly desyred by the Minister, Bailliffes, and hir brother's friends who was killed, that shoe wold "bot _tuitch the corpes softlie_," shoe granted to doe it--but before shoe did it, the Sone being shyning in at the howse, shoe exprest her selfe thus, humbly desyring, that "as the Lord made the Sone to shyne and give light into that howse, that also _he wald give light to discovering of that Murder_!" And with these words, shoe TUITCHEING _the wound of the dead man, verie saftlie_, it being whyte and cleane, without any spot of blod or the lyke!--yitt IMEDIATLY, _whill her fingers was wpon it_, THE BLOOD RUSHED OWT OF IT, to the great admiratioune[84] of all the behoulders, who tooke it for _discoverie of the Murder_, according to her owne prayers.--For ther was ane great lumpe of flesh taken out of his cheik, so smowthlie, as no rasor in the world cowld have made so ticht ane incisioune, wpon flesh, or cheis--and ther wes no blood at all in the wownd--nor did it at all blead, altho' that many persones befor had tuitched it, whill[85] shoe did tuitche it! And the howse being searched all over, for the shirt of the dead man, yitt it cowld not be found; and altho' the howse was full of people all that night, ever vatching the corpes;[86] neither did any of them tuitch him that night--which is probable[87]--yitt, in the morneing, his shirt was fownd tyed fast abowt his neck, as a brechame,[88] non knowing how this come to pass! And this Cristian did immediatlie transport all her owne goods owt of her own howse into her dowghter's, purposing to flie away--bot was therwpon apprehendit and imprisoned.'--_Pitcairn's Criminal Trials_, vol. iii. p. 194.

[Footnote 79: See Dr. Hibbert's "History of Orkney," &c., to which this remarkable Trial is appended.]

[Footnote 80: The name left blank.]

[Footnote 81: Rede; advice.]

[Footnote 82: Malicious.]

[Footnote 83: The name given at her baptism by the Devil. From "Collection of Original Documents," belonging to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, MS. As a specimen of the other charges, take the following: "Williame Richardsone, in Dalkeith, haiving felled ane hen of the said Cristianes with ane stone, and wpone her sight thereof did imediatly threatne him, and with ane frowneing countenance told him, that he 'should newer cast ane vther stone!' And imediatly the said Williame fell into ane franicie and madnes, and tooke his bed, and newer rose agane, but died within a few dayes: And in the tyme of his sicknes, he always cryed owt, that the said Cristiane was present befor him, in the likeness of ane grey catt! And some tyme eftir his death, James Richardsone, nephew to the said Williame, being a boy playing in the said Cristiane her yaird, and be calling her Lantherne, shoe threatned, that, if he held not his peace, shoe sowld cause him to die the death his nephew (uncle) died of!' Whairby it would appeare that shoe tooke wpon hir his nepheas (uncle's) death."]

[Footnote 84: Wonder; amazement.]

[Footnote 85: Until. That is, many previous trials had been made of other persons suspected, or of those who were near neighbours, perhaps living at enmity with the deceased, who had voluntarily offered themselves to this solemn ordeal, or had been called upon thus publicly to attest their innocence of his blood.]

[Footnote 86: Holding the lyke-wake.]

[Footnote 87: Can be proved, by testimony or probation.]

[Footnote 88: The large collar which goes about a draught-horse's neck.]

Z _a_. "_Master Leonard Lister._"] This Leonard Lister was the brother of Master Thomas Lister, for whose murder Jennet Preston was indicted; and married Ann, daughter of ---- Loftus, of Coverham Abbey, county of York.

Z 2 _a_. "_His Lordship commanded the Iurie to obserue the particular circumstances._"] The judge in this case was Altham, who seems even to have been more superstitious, bigotted, and narrow-minded than his brother in commission, Bromley. Fenner, who tried the witches of Warbois, and Archer, before whom the trial of Julian Cox took place, are the only judges I can meet with, quite on a level with this learned baron in grovelling absurdity, upon whom "Jennet Preston would lay heavy at the time of his death," whether she had so lain upon Mr. Thomas Lister or not, if bigotry, habit, and custom did not render him seared and callous to conscience and pity.

Z 3 _b_ 1. "_Take example by this Gentlemen to prosecute these hellish Furies to their end._"] It is marvellous that Potts does not, like Delrio, recommend the rack to be applied to witches "in moderation, and according to the regulations of Pope Pius the Third, and so as not to cripple the criminal for life." Not that this learned Jesuit is much averse to simple dislocations occasioned by the rack. These, he thinks, cannot be avoided in the press of business. He is rather opposed, though in this he speaks doubtfully and with submission to authority, to those tortures which fracture the bones or lacerate the tendons. Verily, the Catholic and the Protestant author might have shaken hands; they were, beyond dispute, _poene Gemelli_.

Z 3 _b_ 2. "_Posterities._"] Master Potts, of the particulars of whose life nothing is known, made, as far as can be discovered, no further attempt to acquire fame in the character of an author. No subject so interesting probably again occurred, as that which had diversified his legal pursuits "in his lodgings in Chancery-lane," from the pleasing recollections associated with his Summer Circuit of 1612. He was not, however, the only person of the name of Pott, or Potts, who distinguished himself in the field of Witchcraft. The author of the following tract, in my possession, might have garnished it with various flowers from the work now reprinted, if he had been aware of such a repository: "Pott (Joh. Henr.) De nefando Lamiarum cum Diabolo coitu." 4to. Lond. 1689. The other celebrated cases of supposed witchcraft occurring in the county of Lancaster, besides those connected with the foregoing republication, are, the extraordinary one of Ferdinand, Earl of Derby, who died at Latham in 1594, for which the reader is referred to Camden's _Annals of Elizabeth_, years 1593, 1594; Kennet, 2. 574, 580; or Pennant's _Tour from Downing to Alston Moor_, p. 29;--the case of Edmund Hartley, hanged at Lancaster in 1597, for bewitching some members of the family of Mr. Starkie, of Cleworth, which will be fully considered in the proposed republication of the Chetham Society, which gives the history of that event;--and lastly, that of a person of the name of Utley, (Whitaker, p. 528; Baines, vol. i. p. 604,) who was hanged at Lancaster about 1630, for having bewitched to death Richard, the son of Ralph Assheton, Esq., Lord of Middleton, of whose trial, unfortunately, no report is in existence. Webster also mentions two supposed witches as having been put to death at Lancaster, within eighteen years before his _Displaying of supposed Witchcraft_ was published; and which occurrence, not referred to by any other historian, must therefore have taken place about the year 1654.

Manchester: Printed by Charles Simms and Co.

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FOR THE PUBLICATION OF

HISTORICAL AND LITERARY REMAINS

CONNECTED WITH THE PALATINE COUNTIES OF

LANCASTER & CHESTER.

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Patrons.

The Right Honourable The EARL OF DERBY. The Right Honourable The EARL OF BALCARRES. The Right Honourable The EARL OF WILTON. The Right Honourable The EARL OF BURLINGTON. The Right Honourable the EARL GROSVENOR. The Right Honourable LORD FRANCIS EGERTON, M.P. The Right Honourable LORD STANLEY. The Right Reverend The Lord BISHOP OF CHESTER. The Right Reverend The Lord BISHOP OF ELY. The Right Reverend The Lord BISHOP OF NORWICH. The Right Reverend The Lord BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. The Right Honourable LORD DELAMERE. The Right Honourable LORD DE TABLEY. The Right Honourable LORD SKELMERSDALE. The Right Honourable SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART., M.P. SIR PHILIP DE MALPAS GREY EGERTON, BART., M.P. GEORGE CORNWALL LEGH, ESQ., M.P. JOHN WILSON PATTEN, ESQ., M.P.

Council.

EDWARD HOLME, M.D., _President._ Rev. RICHARD PARKINSON, B.D., Canon of Manchester, _Vice-President._ The Hon. and Very Rev. WILLIAM HERBERT, Dean of Manchester. GEORGE ORMEROD, D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S. SAM. HIBBERT WARE, M.D. F.R.S.E. REV. THOMAS CORSER, M.A. REV. GEORGE DUGARD, M.A. REV. C.G. HULTON, M.A. Rev. J. PICCOPE, M.A. Rev. F.R. RAINES, M.A., F.S.A. JAMES CROSSLEY. JAMES HEYWOOD, F.R.S.

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LIST OF MEMBERS

FOR THE YEAR 1844.

Ackers, James, M.P., Heath House, Ludlow Addey, H.M., Liverpool Ainsworth, Ralph F., M.D., Manchester Ainsworth, Rev. Thomas, M.A., Hartford Hall, Cheshire Ainsworth, W.H., Kensal Manor House, Harrow-road, London Alexander, Edward N., F.S.A., Halifax Allen, Rev. John Taylor, M.A., Stradbrooke Vicarage, Suffolk Ambery, Charles, Manchester Armstrong, Thomas, Higher Broughton, Manchester Ashton, John, Warrington Atherton, Miss, Kersal Cell, near Manchester Atherton, James, Swinton House, near Manchester Atkinson, F.R., Pendleton, near Manchester Atkinson, William, Weaste, near Manchester

Balcarres, The Earl of, Haigh Hall, near Wigan Baldwin, Rev. John, M.A., Dalton, near Ulverstone Bannerman, Alexander, Didsbury, near Manchester Bannerman, Henry, Burnage, near Manchester Bannerman, John, Swinton, near Manchester Bardsley, Samuel Argent, M.D., Green Heys, near Manchester Barker, John, Manchester Barker, Thomas, Oldham Barratt, James, Jun., Manchester Barrow, Miss, Green Bank, near Manchester Barrow, Rev. Andrew, President of Stonyhurst College, near Blackburn Barrow, Peter, Manchester Bartlemore, William, Castleton Hall, Rochdale Barton, John, Manchester Barton, R.W., Springwood, near Manchester Barton, Samuel, Didsbury, Manchester Barton, Thomas, Manchester Bayne, Rev. Thos. Vere, M.A., Broughton, Manchester Beamont, William, Warrington Beard, Rev. John R., D.D., Stony Knolls, near Manchester Beardoe, James, Manchester Beever, James F., Manchester Bellairs, Rev. H.W., M.A., London Bentley, Rev. T.R., M.A., Manchester Birley, Hugh Hornby, Broom House, near Manchester Birley, Hugh, Didsbury, near Manchester Birley, Richard, Manchester Birley, Thos. H., Manchester Bohn, Henry G., London Booth, Benjamin W., Manchester Booth, John, Barton-upon-Irwell Booth, William, Manchester Boothman, Thomas, Ardwick, near Manchester Botfield, Beriah, M.P., Norton Hall, Northamptonshire Bower, George, London Brackenbury, Ralph, Manchester Bradbury, Charles, Salford Bradshaw, John, Weaste House, near Manchester Brooke, Edward, Manchester Brooks, Samuel, Manchester Broome, William, Manchester Brown, Robert, Preston Buckley, Edmund, M.P., Ardwick, near Manchester Buckley, Rev. Thomas, M.A., Old Trafford, near Manchester Buckley, Nathaniel, F.L.S., Rochdale Burlington, The Earl of, Holkar Hall

Calvert, Robert, Salford Cardwell, Rev. Edward, D.D., Principal of St. Alban's Hall and Camden Professor, Oxford Cardwell, Edward, M.P., M.A., Regent's Park, London Chadwick, Elias, M.A., Swinton Hall, near Manchester Chesshyre, Mrs., Pendleton, near Manchester Chester, The Bishop of Chichester, The Bishop of Chippindall, John, Chetham Hill, near Manchester Clare, Peter, F.R.A.S., Manchester Clarke, George, Crumpsall, near Manchester Clayton, Japheth, Pendleton, near Manchester Clifton, Rev. R.C., M.A., Canon of Manchester Consterdine, James, Manchester Cook, Thomas, Gorse Field, Pendleton, near Manchester Cooper, William, Manchester Corser, George, Whitchurch, Shropshire Corser, Rev. Thomas, M.A., Stand, near Manchester Cottam, S.E., F.R.A.S., Manchester Coulthart, John Ross, Ashton-under-Lyne Crook, Thomas A., Rochdale Cross, William Assheton, Redscar, near Preston Crossley, George, Manchester Crossley, James, Manchester Crossley, John, M.A., Scaitcliffe House, Todmorden Currer, Miss Richardson, Eshton Hall, near Skipton

Daniel, George, Manchester Darbishire, Samuel D., Manchester Darwell, James, Manchester Darwell, Thomas, Manchester Davies, John, M.W.S., Manchester Dawes, Matthew, F.G.S., Westbrooke, near Bolton Dearden, James, The Orchard, Rochdale Dearden, Thomas Ferrand, Rochdale Delamere, The Lord, Vale Royal, near Northwich Derby, The Earl of, Knowsley Dilke, C.W., London Dinham, Thomas, Manchester Driver, Richard, Manchester Dugard, Rev. George, M.A., Birch, near Manchester Dyson, T.J., Tower, London

Earle, Richard, Edenhurst, near Prescott Eccles, William, Wigan Egerton, The Lord Francis, M.P., Worsley Hall Egerton, Sir Philip de Malpas Grey, Bart., M.P., Oulton Park, Tarporley Egerton, Wilbraham, Tatton Park Ely, The Bishop of Eyton, J.W.K., F.S.A. L. & E., Elgin Villa, Leamington

Faulkner, George, Manchester Feilden, Joseph, Witton, near Blackburn Fenton, James, Jun., Lymm Hall, Cheshire Fernley, John, Manchester Ffarrington, J. Nowell, Worden, near Chorley Ffrance, Thomas Robert Wilson, Rawcliffe Hall, Garstang Fleming, Thomas, Pendleton, near Manchester Fleming, William, M.D., Ditto Fletcher, John, Haulgh, near Bolton Fletcher, Samuel, Broomfield, near Manchester Fletcher, Samuel, Ardwick, near Manchester Flintoff, Thomas, Manchester Ford, Henry, Manchester Fraser, James W., Manchester Frere, W.E., Rottingdean, Sussex

Gardner, Thomas, Worcester College, Oxford Garner, J.G., Manchester Garnett, William James, Quernmore Park, Lancaster Germon, Rev. Nicholas, M.A., High Master, Free Grammar School, Manchester Gibb, William, Manchester Gladstone, Robertson, Liverpool Gladstone, Robert, Withington, near Manchester Gordon, Hunter, Manchester Gould, John, Manchester Grant, Daniel, Manchester Grave, Joseph, Manchester Gray, Benjamin, B.A., Trinity Coll. Cambridge Gray, James, Manchester Greaves, John, Irlam Hall, near Manchester Greenall, G., Walton Hall, near Warrington Grey, The Hon. William Booth Grosvenor, The Earl Grundy, George, Chetham Fold, near Manchester

Hadfield, George, Manchester Hailstone, Edward, F.S.A., Horton Hall, Bradford, Yorkshire Hardman, Henry, Bury, Lancashire Hardy, William, Manchester Hargreaves, George J., Hulme, Manchester Harland, John, Manchester Harrison, William, Brearey, Isle of Man Harter, James Collier, Broughton Hall, near Manchester Harter, William, Hope Hall, near Manchester Hately, Isaiah, Manchester Hatton, James, Richmond House, near Manchester Hawkins, Edward, F.R.S., F.S.A., F.L.S., British Museum, London Heelis, Stephen, Manchester Henshaw, William, Manchester Herbert, Hon. and Very Rev. Wm., Dean of Manchester Heron, Rev. George, M.A., Carrington, Cheshire Heywood, Sir Benjamin, Bart., Claremont, near Manchester Heywood, James, F.R.S., F.G.S., Acresfield, near Manchester Heywood, John Pemberton, near Liverpool Heywood, Thomas, F.S.A., Hope End, Ledbury, Herefordshire Heywood, Thomas, Pendleton, near Manchester Heyworth, Lawrence, Oakwood, near Stockport Hibbert, Mrs., Salford Hickson, Charles, Manchester Hinde, Rev. Thomas, M.A., Winwick, Warrington Hoare, G.M., The Lodge, Morden, Surrey Hoare, P.R., Kelsey Park, Beckenham, Kent Holden, Thomas, Summerfield, Bolton Holden, Thomas, Rochdale Holme, Edward, M.D., Manchester Hughes, William, Old Trafford, near Manchester Hulme, Davenport, M.D., Manchester Hulme, Hamlet, Medlock Vale, Manchester Hulton, Rev. A.H., M.A., Ashton-under-Lyne Hulton, Rev. C.G., M.A., Chetham College, Manchester Hulton, H.T., Manchester Hulton, W.A., Preston Hunter, Rev. Joseph, F.S.A., London

Jackson, H.B., Manchester Jackson, Joseph, Ardwick, near Manchester Jacson, Charles R., Barton Lodge, Preston James, Rev. J.G., M.A., Habergham Eaves, near Burnley James, Paul Moon, Summerville, near Manchester Jemmett, William Thomas, Manchester Johnson, W.R., Manchester Johnson, Rev. W.W., M.A., Manchester Jones, Jos., Jun., Hathershaw, Oldham Jones, W., Manchester Jordan, Joseph, Manchester Kay, James, Turton Tower, Bolton Kay, Samuel, Manchester Kelsall, Strettle, Manchester Kendrick, James, M.D., F.L.S., Warrington Kennedy, John, Ardwick House, near Manchester Ker, George Portland, Salford Kershaw, James, Green Heys, near Manchester Kidd, Rev. W.J., M.A., Didsbury, near Manchester

Langton, William, Manchester Larden, Rev. G.E., M.A., Brotherton Vicarage, Yorkshire Leeming, W.B., Salford Legh, G. Cornwall, M.P., F.G.S., High Legh, Cheshire Legh, Rev. Peter, M.A., Newton in Makerfield Leigh, Rev. Edward Trafford, M.A., Cheadle, Cheshire Leigh, Henry, Moorfield Cottage, Worsley Leresche, J.H., Manchester Lloyd, William Horton, F.S.A., L.S., Park-square, London Lloyd, Edward Jeremiah, Oldfield House, Altringham Lomas, Edward, Manchester Lomax, Robert, Harwood, near Bolton Love, Benjamin, Manchester Lowndes, William, Egremont, Liverpool Loyd, Edward, Green Hill, Manchester Lycett, W.E., Manchester Lyon, Edmund, M.D., Manchester Lyon, Thomas, Appleton Hall, Warrington

McClure, William, Peel Cottage, Eccles McFarlane, John, Manchester McKenzie, John Whitefoord, Edinburgh McVicar, John, Manchester Mann, Robert, Manchester Marc, E.R. Le, School Lodge, Cheshire Markland, J.H., F.R.S., F.S.A., Bath Markland, Thomas, Mab Field, near Manchester Marsden, G.E., Manchester Marsden, William, Manchester Marsh, John Fitchett, Warrington Marshall, Miss, Ardwick, near Manchester Marshall, William, Penwortham Hall, Preston Marshall, Frederick Earnshaw, Ditto Marshall, John, Ditto Mason, Thomas, Copt Hewick, near Ripon Master, Rev. Robert M., M.A., Burnley Maude, Daniel, M.A., Salford Millar, Thomas, Green Heys, near Manchester Molyneux, Edward, Chetham Hill, Manchester Monk, John, Manchester Moore, John, F.L.S., Cornbrook, near Manchester Mosley, Sir Oswald, Bart., Rolleston Hall, Staffordshire Murray, James, Manchester

Nield, William, Mayfield, Manchester Nelson, George, Manchester Neville, James, Beardwood, near Blackburn Newall, Mrs. Robert, Littleborough, near Rochdale Newall, W.N., Wellington Lodge, Littleborough Newbery, Henry, Manchester Nicholson, William, Thelwall Hall, Warrington Norris, Edward, Manchester Norwich, The Bishop of

Ormerod, George, D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S., Sedbury Park, Gloucestershire Ormerod, George Wareing, M.A., F.G.S., Manchester Ormerod, Henry Mere, Manchester Owen, John, Manchester

Parkinson, Rev. Richard, B.D., Canon of Manchester Patten, J. Wilson, M.P., Bank Hall, Warrington Pedley, Rev. J.T., M.A., Peakirk-cum-Glinton, Market Deeping Peel, Sir Robert, Bart., M.P., Drayton Manor Peel, George, Brookfield, Cheadle Peel, Joseph, Singleton Brook, near Manchester Peet, Thomas, Manchester Pegge, John, Newton Heath, near Manchester Percival, Stanley, Liverpool Philips, Mark, M.P., The Park, Manchester Philippi, Frederick Theod., Belfield Hall, near Rochdale Phillips, Shakspeare, Barlow Hall, near Manchester Phillipps, Sir Thomas, Bart., Middle Hill, Worcestershire Piccope, Rev. John, M.A., Farndon, Cheshire Pickford, Thomas, Mayfield, Manchester Pickford, Thomas E., Manchester Pierpoint, Benjamin, Warrington Pilkington, George, Manchester Pilling, Charles R., Caius College, Cambridge Plant, George, Manchester Pooley, Edward, Manchester Pooley, John, Hulme, near Manchester Porrett, Robert, Tower, London Prescott, J.C., Summerville, near Manchester Price, John Thomas, Manchester

Radford, Thomas, M.D., Higher Broughton, near Manchester Raffles, Rev. Thomas, D.D., LL.D., Liverpool Raikes, Rev. Henry, M.A., Hon. Can., and Chancellor of Chester Raines, Rev. F.R., M.A., F.S.A., Milnrow Parsonage, Rochdale Reiss, Leopold, High Field, near Manchester Rickards, Charles H., Manchester Ridgway, Mrs., Ridgemont, near Bolton Ridgway, John Withenshaw, Manchester Robson, John, Warrington Roberts, W.J., Liverpool Roby, John, M.R.S.L., Rochdale Royds, Albert Hudson, Rochdale

Samuels, John, Manchester Sattersfield, Joshua, Manchester Scholes, Thomas Seddon, High Bank, near Manchester Schuster, Leo, Weaste, near Manchester Sharp, John, Lancaster Sharp, Robert C., Bramall Hall, Cheshire Sharp, Thomas B., Manchester Sharp, William, Lancaster Sharp, William, London Simms, Charles S., Manchester Simms, George, Manchester Skaife, John, Blackburn Skelmersdale, The Lord, Lathom House Smith, Rev. Jeremiah, D.D., Leamington Smith, Junius, Strangeways Hall, Manchester Smith, J.R., Old Compton-street, London Sowler, R.S., Manchester Sowler, Thomas, Manchester Spear, John, Manchester Standish, W.J., Duxbury Hall, Chorley Stanley, The Lord, Knowsley Sudlow, John, Jun., Manchester Swain, Charles, M.R.S.L., Cheetwood Priory, near Manchester Swanwick, Josh. W., Hollins Vale, Bury, Lancashire

Tabley, The Lord De, Tabley, Cheshire Tattershall, Rev. Thomas, D.D., Liverpool Tatton, Thos., Withenshaw, Cheshire Tayler, Rev. John James, B.A., Manchester Taylor, Thomas Frederick, Wigan Teale, Josh., Salford Thomson, James, Manchester Thorley, George, Manchester Thorpe, Robert, Manchester Tobin, Rev. John, M.A., Liscard, Cheshire Townend, John, Polygon, Manchester Townend, Thomas, Polygon, Manchester Turnbull, W.B., D.D., Edinburgh Turner, Samuel, F.R.S, F.S.A., F.G.S., Liverpool Turner, Thomas, Manchester

Vitrè, Edward Denis De, M.D., Lancaster

Walker, John, Weaste, near Manchester Walker, Samuel, Prospect Hill, Pendleton Wanklyn, J.B., Salford Wanklyn, James H., Crumpsall House, near Manchester Warburton, R.E.E., Arley Hall, near Northwich Ware, Samuel Hibbert, M.D., F.R.S.E., Edinburgh Wareing, Ralph, Manchester Westhead, Joshua P., Manchester Whitehead, James, Manchester Whitelegg, Rev. William, M.A., Hulme, near Manchester Whitmore, Edward, Jun., Manchester Whitmore, Henry, Manchester Wilson, William James, Manchester Wilton, The Earl of, Heaton House Winter, Gilbert, Stocks, near Manchester Worthington, Edward, Manchester Wray, Rev. Cecil Daniel, M.A., Canon of Manchester Wright, Rev. Henry, M.A., Mottram, St. Andrew's, near Macclesfield Wroe, Thomas, Manchester

Yates, Joseph B., West Dingle, Liverpool Yates, Richard, Manchester

* * * * *

WORKS PUBLISHED BY THE CHETHAM SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR 1843.

Brereton's Travels.

The Lancashire Civil War Tracts.

Chester's Triumph in Honor of her Prince.

* * * * *

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

Pott's Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster, from the edition of 1613.

The Life of the Rev. Adam Martindale, Vicar of Rostherne, in Cheshire, from the MS. in the British Museum. (4239 Ascough's Catalogue.)

Dee's Compendious Rehearsal, and other Autobiographical Tracts, not included in the recent Publication of the Camden Society edited by Mr. Halliwell, with his Collected correspondence.

Iter Lancastrense, by Dr. Richard James; an English Poem, written in 1636, containing a Metrical Account of some of the Principal Families and Mansions in Lancashire; from the unpublished MS. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

* * * * *

WORKS SUGGESTED FOR PUBLICATION.

Selections from the Unpublished Correspondence of the Rev. John Whittaker, Author of the History of Manchester, and other Works.

More's (George) Discourse concerning the Possession and Dispossession of Seven Persons in one Family in Lancashire, from a Manuscript formerly belonging to Thoresby, and which gives a much fuller Account of that Transaction than the Printed Tract of 1600; with a Bibliographical and Critical Review of the Tracts in the Darrel Controversy.

A Selection of the most Curious Papers and Tracts relating to the Pretender's Stay in Manchester in 1745, in Print and Manuscript.

Proceedings of the Presbyterian Classis of Manchester and the Neighbourhood, from 1646 to 1660, from an Unpublished Manuscript.

Catalogue of the Alchemical Library of John Webster, of Clitheroe, from a Manuscript in the Rev. T. Corser's possession; with a fuller Life of him, and List of his Works, than has yet appeared.

Correspondence between Samuel Hartlib (the Friend of Milton), and Dr. Worthington, of Jesus College, Cambridge (a native of Manchester), from 1655 to 1661, on various Literary Subjects.

"Antiquities concerning Cheshire," by Randall Minshull, written A.D. 1591, from a MS. in the Gough Collection.

Register of the Lancaster Priory, from a MS. (No. 3764) in the Harleian Collection.

Selections from the Visitations of Lancashire in 1533, 1567, and 1613, in the Herald's College, British Museum, Bodleian, and Caius College Libraries.

Selections from Dodsworth's MSS. in the Bodleian Library, Randal Holmes's Collections for Lancashire and Cheshire (MSS. Harleian), and Warburton's Collections for Cheshire (MSS. Lansdown).

Annales Cestrienses, or Chronicle of St. Werburgh, from the MS. in the British Museum.

A Reprint of Henry Bradshaw's Life and History of St. Werburgh, from the very rare 4to of 1521, printed by Pynson.

The Letters and Correspondence of Sir William Brereton, from the original MSS., in 5 vols. folio, in the British Museum.

A Poem, by Laurence Bostock, on the subject of the Saxon and Norman Earls of Chester.

Bishop Gastrell's Notitia Cestriensis, on the subject of the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the Diocese of Chester, from the original MS.

History of the Earldom of Chester, collected by Archbishop Parker, entitled De Successione Comitum Cestriæ a Hugone Lupo ad Johannem Scoticum, from the original MS. in Ben'et College Library, Cambridge.

Volume of Funeral Certificates of Lancashire and Cheshire.

Volume of Early Lancashire and Cheshire Wills.

A Selection of Papers relating to the Rebellion of 1715, including Clarke's Journal of the March of the Rebels from Carlisle to Preston.

A Memoir of the Chetham Family, from original documents.

The Diary of the Rev. Henry Newcome, M.A., from the original MS. in the possession of his descendant, the Rev. Thomas Newcome, M.A., Rector of Shenley, Herts.

Lucianus Monacus de laude Cestrie, a Latin MS. of the 13th century, descriptive of the walls, gates, &c., of the City of Chester, formerly belonging to Thomas Allen, DD., and now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Richard Robinson's Golden Mirrour, Bk. lett. 4to. Lond., 1580. Containing Poems on the Etymology of the names of several Cheshire Families; from the exceedingly rare copy formerly in the collection of Richard Heber, Esq., (see Cat. pt. iv. 2413,) and now in the British Museum.

A volume of the early Ballad Poetry of Lancashire.

The Coucher Book of Whalley Abbey.