Chapter 100

p. 234 _Women must be watcht as Witches are._ One of the tests to which beldames suspected of sorcery were put—a mode particularly favoured by that arch-scamp, Matthew Hopkins, ‘Witch-Finder General’—was to tie down the accused in some painful or at least uneasy posture for twenty-four hours, during which time relays of watchers sat round. It was supposed that an imp would come and suck the witch’s blood; so any fly, moth, wasp or insect seen in the room was a familiar in that shape, and the poor wretch was accordingly convicted of the charge. Numerous confessions are recorded to have been extracted in this manner from ailing and doting crones by Master Hopkins, cf. _Hudribras_, Part II, canto iii, 146-8:—

Some for setting above ground Whole days and nights, upon their breeches, And feeling pain, were hang’d for witches.

449 cf. again _The City Heiress_, Act i:—

Watch her close, watch her like a witch, Boy, Till she confess the Devil in her,—— Love.

p. 235 _Count d’Olivarez._ Gaspar Guzman d’Olivarez was born at Rome, 1587. For many years all-powerful minister of Philip IV; he was dismissed 1643, and died 20 July, 1645, in banishment at Toro.

p. 235 _a Venice Curtezan._ Venice, the home of Aretine and Casanova, was long famous for the beauty and magnificence of her prostitutes. This circumstance is alluded to by numberless writers, and Ruskin, indeed, maintains that her decline was owing to this cause, which can hardly be, since as early as 1340, when her power was only rising, the public women were numbered at 11,654. Coryat has some curious matter on this subject, and more may be found in _La Tariffa delle Puttane di Venegia_, a little book often incorrectly ascribed to Lorenzo Venicro.