Chapter XX: Part 20

2. “In the second year of the Reign of King _James_ of famous memory, a strange accident happened, to the terror of all bloody murtherers, which was this; One _Anne Waters_ enticed by a lover of hers, consented to have her Husband strangled, and then buried him secretly under the Dunghil in a Cow-house. Whereupon the man being missing by his Neighbours, and the Wife making shew of a wondering what was become of him, it pleased God that one of the inhabitants of the Town dreamed one night that his Neighbour _Waters_ was strangled, and buried under the Dunghill in a Cow-house, and upon declaring his dream, search being made by the Constable, the dead body was found as he had dreamed, and thereupon the Wife was apprehended, and upon examination confessing the fact was burned.” But we shall give it more at large as it was taken from the mouths of _Thomas Haworths_ Wife, her Husband being the dreamer and discoverer, and from his Son, who together with many more, who both remember and can affirm every particular thereof, the Narrative was taken _April_ the _17th 1663_, and is this,

“In the year abovesaid, _John Waters_ of _Lower Darwen_ in the County of _Lancaster_ Gardiner, by reason of his calling was much absent from his Family: In which his absence, his Wife (not without cause) was suspected of incontinency with one _Gyles Haworth_ of the same Town; this _Gyles Haworth_ and _Waters_ Wife conspired and contrived the death of _Waters_ in this manner. They contracted with one _Ribchester_ a poor man to kill this _Waters_. As soon as _Waters_ came home and went to bed, _Gyles Haworth_ and _Waters_ Wife conducted the hired Executioner to the said _Waters_. Who seeing him so innocently laid betwixt his two small Children in Bed, repented of his enterprize, and totally refused to kill him. _Gyles Haworth_ displeased with the faint-heartedness of _Ribchester_, takes the Axe into his own hand, and dashed out his brains: The Murderers buried him in a Cow-house, _Waters_ being long missing the Neighbourhood asked his Wife for him; she denied that she knew where he was. Thereupon publick search was made for him in all pits round about, lest he should have casually fallen into any of them. One _Thomas Haworth_ of the said Town Yeoman, was for many nights together, much troubled with broken sleeps and dreams of the murder; he revealed his dreams to his Wife, but she laboured the concealment of them a long time: This _Thomas Haworth_ had occasion to pass by the House every day where the murder was done, and did call and inquire for _Waters_, as often as he went near the House. One day he went into the House to ask for him, and there was a Neighbour who said to _Thomas Haworth_, It’s said that _Waters_ lies under this stone, (pointing to the Hearth-stone) to which _Thomas Haworth_ replied, And I have dreamed that he is under a stone not far distant. The Constable of the said Town being accidentally in the said House (his name _Myles Aspinall_) urged _Thomas Haworth_ to make known more at large what he had dreamed, which he relateth thus. I have (quoth he) many a time within this eight weeks (for so long it was since the murder) dreamed very restlessly, that _Waters_ was murdered and buried under a broad stone in the Cow-house; I have told my troubled dreams to my Wife alone, but she refuses to let me make it known: But I am not able to conceal my dreams any longer, my sleep departs from me, I am pressed and troubled with fearful dreams which I cannot bear any longer, and they increase upon me. The Constable hearing this made search immediately upon it, and found as he had dreamed the murdered body eight weeks buried under a flat stone in the Cow-house; _Ribchester_ and _Gyles Haworth_ fled and never came again. _Anne Waters_ (for so was _Waters_ Wifes name) being apprehended, confessed the murder, and was burned.” From whence we may observe this.

[Sidenote: _Observ._]

1. That this is the full and punctual relation of this bloody and execrable murder from _Haworths_ Wife (who then was a very old Woman) and the Son, and differs not a jot from what Sir _Richard Baker_ writes, but only they say his brains were dashed out with an Axe, and he saith he was strangled, which is only a circumstance of the manner, but in the matter they both agree, that it was a certain truth that _Waters_ was murdered, and Sir _Richard Bakers_ information might fail in that particular of the manner of it. And if it be thought strange that the two little Children did know nothing of it, it is certain that they were much too young, and said that they were twins, not above half a year old. But the only matter that we have brought it for, is the extraordinary way of its discovery by _Thomas Haworths_ dreaming, in which point both the relations closely agree, and was the chief and only reason why Sir _Richard Baker_ put it in his Chronicle. And the same also more at large _Stow_ hath recorded in his Chronicle. Now what should the cause be that _Thomas Haworth_ should be hindred of his sleep, and have restless dreams, and that his dream should hit so punctually of the place where he was buried, more than any other person in the same Town? certainly it cannot be referred to fortune and chance, for they have no causality at all, and are but only names that we impose upon certain effects and accidents: _Te facimus fortuna Deum, cœloq; locamus_, as said the Poet. Neither can it rationally be thought to be melancholy, because that though it be a subtil humour, and render those that are affected therewith very imaginative and thoughtful, yet supposing _Thomas Haworth_ to be of that temperament and disposition, it might make him more deeply to think and meditate upon the rumour of _Waters_ being awanting or upon suspicion of his murder, but could not in dreams inform him to know precisely the place where he was buried. And if some should imagine it to be the Soul of the murthered person _Waters_, as doubtless a Papist would be ready to affirm, yet is that opinion directly contrary to the Scriptures, and sufficiently confuted by the reformed Divines. And if it should be referred to the operation of the Astral or Sydereal spirit, that is an opinion but imbraced by few, and is hard to prove to be a certain verity, of which we shall speak largely anon. Neither can it by any sound reason be thought to be the Devil, because it is manifest that God doth not use the ministry of evil Angels for any good end, as for the discovery of murther, and the bringing of the guilty persons to condign punishment; but on the contrary he useth their service for to tempt, seduce, deceive, punish and torment. Therefore we conceive that it was brought to pass by the finger of God, who either immediately by himself, or by the ministry of a good Angel, did represent those dreams to _Thomas Haworth_, and revealed the precise place of _Waters_ burial.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 3._]

3. “About the year of our Lord 1623 or 24 one _Fletcher_ of _Rascal_, a Town in the North Riding of _Yorkshire_ near unto the Forest of _Gantress_, a Yeoman of good Estate, did marry a young lusty Woman from _Thornton Brigs_, who had been formerly kind with one _Ralph Raynard_, who kept an Inn within half a mile from _Rascall_ in the high road way betwixt _York_ and _Thuske_, his Sister living with him. This _Raynard_ continued in unlawful lust with the said _Fletchers_ Wife, who not content therewith conspired the death of _Fletcher_, one _Mark Dunn_ being made privy and hired to assist in the murther. Which _Raynard_ and _Dunn_ accomplished upon the _May-day_ by drowning _Fletcher_, as they came all three together from a Town called _Huby_, and acquainting the wife with the deed she gave them a Sack therein to convey his body, which they did and buried it in _Raynards_ backside or Croft where an old Oak-root had been stubbed up, and sowed Mustard seed upon the place thereby to hide it. So they continued their wicked course of lust and drunkenness, and the neighbours did much wonder at _Fletchers_ absence, but his wife did excuse it, and said that he was but gone aside for fear of some Writs being served upon him. And so it continued until about the seventh day of _July_, when _Raynard_ going to _Topcliffe_ Fair, and setting up his Horse in the Stable, the spirit of _Fletcher_ in his usual shape and habit did appear unto him, and said, Oh _Raph_, repent, repent, for my revenge is at hand; and ever after until he was put in the Gaol, it seemed to stand before him, whereby he became sad and restless: And his own Sister over-hearing his confession and relation of it to another person, did through fear of losing her own life, immediately reveal it to Sir _William Sheffield_, who lived in _Rascall_, and was a Justice of Peace. Whereupon they were all three apprehended and sent to the Gaol at _York_, where they were all three condemned, and so executed accordingly near to the place where _Raynard_ lived, and where _Fletcher_ was buried, the two men being hung up in irons, and the woman buried under the Gallows.” I have recited this story punctually as a thing that hath been very much fixed in my memory, being then but young, and as a certain truth, I being (with many more) an ear-witness of their confessions and an eye-witness of their Executions, and likewise saw _Fletcher_ when he was taken up, where they had buried him in his cloaths, which were a green fustian doublet pinkt upon white, gray breeches, and his walking boots and brass spurrs without rowels.

[Sidenote: _Observ._]

Some will say there was no extrinsick apparition to _Raynard_ at all, but that all this did only arise from the guilt of his own conscience, which represented the shape of _Fletcher_ in his fancy. But then why was it precisely done at that time, and not at any others? it being far from the place of the murder, or the place where they had buried _Fletcher_, and nothing there that might bring it to his remembrance more than at another time, and if it had only arisen from within, and appeared so in his fancy, it had been more likely to have been moved, when he was in, or near his backside where the murthered body of _Fletcher_ lay. But certain it is that he affirmed that it was the shape and voice of _Fletcher_, as assuredly to his eyes and ears, as ever he had seen or heard him in his life. And if it were granted that it was only intrinsick, yet that will not exclude the Divine Power, which doubtless at that time did labour to make him sensible of the cruel murther, and to mind him of the revenge approaching. And it could not be brought to pass either by the Devil, or _Fletchers_ Soul, as we have proved before; and therefore in reason we conclude that either it was wrought by the Divine Power, to shew his detestation of murther, or that it was the Astral or Sydereal Spirit of _Fletcher_, seeking revenge for the murther, of which more anon.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 4._]

4. About the year of our Lord 1632. (as near as I can remember having lost my notes, and the copy of the Letter to Serjeant _Hutton_, but am sure that I do most perfectly remember the substance of the story) near unto _Chester_ in the street, there lived “one _Walker_ a Yeoman-man of good Estate, and a Widower, who had a young Woman to his Kinswoman that kept his House, who was by the Neighbours suspected to be with child, and was towards the dark of the evening one night sent away with one _Mark Sharp_ who was a Collier, or one that digged coals under ground, and one that had been born in _Blakeburn_ Hundred in _Lancashire_, and so she was not heard of a long time, and no noise, or little was made about it. In the winter time after one _James Graham_ or _Grime_ (for so in that Country they call them) being a Miller, and living about two miles from the place where _Walker_ lived, was one night alone very late in the Mill grinding Corn, and as about twelve or one a clock at night he came down the stairs from having been putting Corn in the Hopper, the Mill doors being shut, there stood a Woman upon the midst of the floor with her hair about her head, hanging down, and all bloody, with five large wounds in her head: He being much affrighted and amazed, begun to bless him, and at last asked her who she was, and what she wanted; to which she said, I am the Spirit of such a Woman, who lived with _Walker_, and being got with child by him, he promised me to send me to a private place, where I should be well lookt to until I was brought in bed, and well again, and then I should come again, and keep his house. And accordingly (said the apparition) I was one night late sent away with one _Mark Sharp_, who upon a Moor (naming a place that the Miller knew) slew me with a pick (such as men dig coals withal) and gave me these five wounds, and after threw my body into a coal-pit hard by; and hid the pick under a bank; and his shoos and stockings being bloody he endeavoured to wash, but seeing the blood would not wash forth he hid them there. And the apparition further told the Miller that he must be the Man to reveal it, or else that she must still appear, and haunt him. The Miller returned home very sad and heavy, but spoke not one word of what he had seen, but eschewed as much as he could to stay in the Mill within night without company, thinking thereby to escape the seeing again of that frightful apparition. But notwithstanding one night when it begun to be dark, the apparition met him again, and seemed very fierce and cruel, and threatned him that if he did not reveal the murder she would continually pursue and haunt him. Yet for all this he still concealed it, until S. _Thomas_ Eve before _Christmas_, when being soon after Sunset walking in his Garden she appeared again, and then so threatened and affrighted him that he faithfully promised to reveal it next morning. In the morning he went to a Magistrate and made the whole matter known with all the circumstances, and diligent search being made, the body was found in a coal-pit, with five wounds in the head, and the pick and shooes and stockings yet bloody, in every circumstance as the apparition had related unto the Miller. Whereupon _Walker_ and _Mark Sharp_ were both apprehended, but would confess nothing. At the Assizes following (I think it was at _Durham_) they were arraigned, found guilty, condemned and executed, but I could never hear that they confessed the fact. There were some that reported that the apparition did appear to the Judge or the Foreman of the Jury, (who was alive in _Chester_ in the street about ten years ago, as I have been credibly informed) but of that I know no certainty.” There are many persons yet alive that can remember this strange murder, and the discovery of it, for it was, and sometimes yet is as much discoursed of in the North Countrey as any thing that almost hath ever been heard of, and the relation printed, though now not to be gotten. I relate this with the greater confidence (though I may fail in some of the circumstances) because I saw and read the Letter that was sent to Serjeant _Hutton_, who then lived at _Goldsbrugh_ in _Yorkshire_, from the Judge before whom _Walker_ and _Mark Sharp_ were tried, and by whom they were condemned, and had a Copy of it until about the year 1658. when _I_ had it and many other books and papers taken from me.

[Sidenote: _Observ._]

[Sidenote: Rom. 11. 33.]

And this I confess to be one of the most convincing stories (being of undoubted verity) that ever I read, heard or knew of, and carrieth with it the most evident force to make the most incredulous spirit, to be satisfied that there are really sometimes such things as apparitions. And though it be not easy to assign the true and proper cause of such a strange effect, yet must we not measure all things to be, or not to be, to be true or false, according to the extent of our understandings, for if there be many of the _magnalia naturæ_ that yet lie hidden from the wisest of men, then much more may the _magnalia Dei_ be unknown unto us, _whose judgments are unsearchable, and his wayes past finding out_. And as in the rest we cannot ascribe this strange apparition, to any diabolical operation, nor to the Soul of the Woman murthered, so we must conclude that either it was meerly wrought by the Divine Power, or by the Astral spirit of the murthered Woman, which last doth seem most rational, as we shall shew hereafter.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 5._]

5. To these (though it be not altogether of the same nature) we shall add one both for the oddness and strangeness of it, as also because it happened in my time, and I was both an eye and ear-witness of the trial of the person accused. And first take a hint of it from the pen of _Durant Hotham_, in his learned Epistle to the _Mysterium magnum_ of _Jacob Behemen_ upon _Genesis_ in these words: “There was (he saith) as I have heard the story credibly reported in this Country a Man apprehended for suspicion of Witchcraft, he was of that sort we call white Witches, which are such as do cures beyond the ordinary reasons and deductions of our usual practitioners, and are supposed (and most part of them truly) to do the same by the ministration of spirits (from whence under their noble favours, most Sciences at first grew) and therefore are by good reason provided against by our Civil Laws, as being ways full of danger and deceit, and scarce ever otherwise obtained than by a devillish compact of the exchange of ones Soul to that assistant spirit, for the honour of its Mountebankery. What this man did was with a white powder which, he said, he received from the Fairies, and that going to a Hill he knocked three times, and the Hill opened, and he had access to, and converse with a visible people; and offered, that if any Gentleman present would either go himself in person, or send his servant, he would conduct them thither, and shew them the place and persons from whom he had his skill.”

[Sidenote: _Vid. 1 Jacob._ _c._ 12.]

To this I shall only add thus much, that the man was accused for invoking and calling upon evil spirits, and was a very simple and illiterate person to any mans judgment, and had been formerly very poor, but had gotten some pretty little meanes to maintain himself, his Wife and diverse small children, by his cures done with this white powder, of which there were sufficient proofs, and the Judge asking him how he came by the powder, he told a story to this effect. “That one night before day was gone, as he was going home from his labour, being very sad and full of heavy thoughts, not knowing how to get meat and drink for his Wife and Children, he met a fair Woman in fine cloaths, who asked him why he was so sad, and he told her that it was by reason of his poverty, to which she said, that if he would follow her counsel she would help him to that which would serve to get him a good living; to which he said he would consent with all his heart, so it were not by unlawful ways: she told him that it should not be by any such ways, but by doing of good and curing of sick people; and so warning him strictly to meet her there the next night at the same time, she departed from him, and he went home. And the next night at the time appointed he duly waited, and she (according to promise) came and told him that it was well that he came so duly, otherwise he had missed of that benefit, that she intended to do unto him, and so bade him follow her and not be afraid. Thereupon she led him to a little Hill and she knocked three times, and the Hill opened, and they went in, and came to a fair hall, wherein was a Queen sitting in great state, and many people about her, and the Gentlewoman that brought him, presented him to the Queen, and she said he was welcom, and bid the Gentlewoman give him some of the white powder, and teach him how to use it, which she did, and gave him a little wood box full of the white powder, and bad him give 2 or 3 grains of it to any that were sick, and it would heal them, and so she brought him forth of the Hill, and so they parted. And being asked by the Judge whether the place within the Hill, which he called a Hall, were light or dark, he said indifferent, as it is with us in the twilight; and being asked how he got more powder, he said when he wanted he went to that Hill, and knocked three times, and said every time I am coming, I am coming, whereupon it opened, and he going in was conducted by the aforesaid Woman to the Queen, and so had more powder given him. This was the plain and simple story (however it may be judged of) that he told before the Judge, the whole Court, and the Jury, and there being no proof, but what cures he had done to very many, the Jury did acquit him: and I remember the Judge said, when all the evidence was heard, that if he were to assign his punishment, he should be whipped from thence to Fairyhall, and did seem to judge it to be a delusion or an Imposture.” From whence we may take these observations.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 1._]

1. Though Mr. _Hotham_ seem to judge that this person accused had the white powder from some Spirit, and that one also of the evil sort, and upon a contract, by the ingaging of his Soul, we have before sufficiently proved the nullity of a visible and corporeal contract with the Devil; neither was it yet ever proved that the Devil did any good either real or apparent, but is the sworn enemy of all mankind, both in their Souls and in their Bodies, but this powder wrought that which was really good, namely the curing of diseases, and therefore rationally cannot be thought to be given from an evil spirit.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 2._]

2. Some there were that thought that the simple man told a plain and true story, and that he had the powder from those people we call Fairies, and there are many that do believe and affirm that there are such people, of whom _Paracelsus_ hath a Treatise of purpose, holding that they are not of the seed of _Adam_, and therefore he calls them _non_-Adamicks, and that they have flesh and bones, and so differ from spirits, and yet that they can glide through walls and rocks (which he calleth their Chaos) as easily as we through the air, and that they get children, and are mortal like those that _Hieronynus Cardanus_ relateth that appeared to his Father _Facius Cardanus_, and these he calleth _Pygmæi_, _Silvestres_, _Gnomi_ and _Umbratiles_; but his proof of their existence to me doth not seem satisfactory, what others may think of it I leave to their demonstrations, if they have any.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 3._]

3. Some there were (and those not of the meer ignorant sort) that did judge, that though the Man was simple, yet that the story that he told was but framed and taught him, the better to conceal the person from whom he received the white powder. For they thought that some notable Chymist, or rather an Adeptist, had in charity bestowed that powder upon him, for the relief of himself and family, as we know it hath often happened to other persons, at other times and places. And this last opinion seems most consonant to reason, and I the rather believe it because not many years after, it was certainly known, that there was an Adeptist in that Countrey, and we ought not to fetch in supernatural causes to solve effects, when natural causes may serve the turn.

6. The last thing of this strange nature, that we shall instance in, is concerning the bleeding or cruentation of the bodies of those that have been murthered, I mean of such as have been murthered by prepense malice, and upon premeditated purpose; for the bodies of others that are killed by chance-medley, and by man-slaughter, we do not read nor find any examples, that ever their bodies did bleed. And though we have not been ocular witness of any such bleeding yet are there records of such accidents given us by many learned and credible authors that a man might almost be accounted an Infidel not to give credit to them, and that both of those that have bled when the murtherer hath not been present, and also of those that have bled the murtherer being present. And first of those bodies that have issued blood, when the murtherer was not by.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 6._]

[Sidenote: _Append. de Cruent. Cadaver._ _p._ 143.]

_Gregorius Horstius_ a Physician of great experience and learning, and of no less integrity, recordeth this story, thus Englished. “In the year of our Lord 1604. twenty sixth day of _December_, a young Nobleman of twenty five years old, was shot at with a Gun in the night time about nine a clock from an high window of an house, in the Town of _Blindmarck_ in lower _Austria_, and the bullet entring his left breast went forth at his right side, and so forthwith died in the place. The dead body being viewed again, and the wound considered, the same quantity or bigness both of the entrance and out-going are found with great plenty of blood issuing. The following day being the twenty seventh of _December_ in the morning, the body of the murthered young man hath other cloaths put upon it and so is kept quiet for the space of two days. Furthermore upon the thirtieth of _December_ he is laid upon the Bier, and kept in the Church and that without any further motion, where nevertheless from the upper wound the fresh blood did daily flow, until the eighth of _January_ 1605. from which time the Hemorrhage ceased. But again the thirteenth of _February_, about noon, the flux of blood by the lower wound for an hour or two was observed to issue, as though the slaughter had been newly done. In the mean time the habit of the whole body was such, as did most easily agree to what it was living, the colour of his face remained even unto his burial ruddy and florid, the vein appearing in his forehead filled with good blood: no sign of an incipient putrefaction appearing for so many weeks, no stink, or ungrateful odour, which otherwise doth accompany dead bodies within a few days, was here found at all: The fingers of the hands remained soft, moveable, or flexible, without any wast, the natural colour being not very much changed, except that in process of time, about the last week before burial, they begun in a certain manner to wax livid in the extremities.”

[Sidenote: _Hist. 7._]

[Sidenote: _Ibid._ _p._ 154.]

7. This following he giveth to prove, that as cold constringeth and shuteth up the veins, so heat doth open them, and cause the blood to flow, and saith: “This is proved a few years since by experience in an infant slain by a most wicked Mother forthwith after it was born, and thrown from the Tower of a Noble Baron of upper _Austria_ into a ditch that was full with water; which after five weeks by good fortune was found and taken out. And forthwith (he saith) the Mother not present, it being then not known who was the Mother, when it felt the force of the external air, it begun to distil forth very fresh blood, because the pores, which by reason of the cold, were shut that the blood could not flow, were then unlockt and opened by the heat of the ambient air.” And thus much of those that have bled, the murtherers not being present.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 8._]

[Sidenote: _Observ._ _l._ 2. _fol._ 202.]

8. Next we shall give some examples of those that have bled when the murtherers have been brought into the presence of the body murthered or caused to touch it, and this _Franciscus Valeriola_ doth attest with an ample faith that he himself saw: “When (he saith) _James_ of _Aqueria_, a Senator of _Arles_, was found dead of a wound, & that he that gave that wound was apprehended by the Magistrate, and brought into the view of the dead body, that he might acknowledge the person murthered and confess the fact, by and by the bubbling blood, all the by-standers looking on, begun to come forth, with much fervour and bubbles, from the wound and the nostrils.”

[Sidenote: _Hist. 9._]

[Sidenote: _Delic. Phys._ _Sect._ 1. _Artic._ 1. _p._ 5.]

9. Take this other as it is cited by _Gothofredus Voigtius_, in this manner: “In the year 1607 the 25 of _April_, a certain Shepherd in _Spain_ being feeding his flock was slain by two Noblemen, and his body thrown into a company of bushes. The Judges of the same place, having much and daily sought the Shepherd, after four days at length find his body in the bushes. But because that murder was committed, no witnesses being by, the suspicion fell upon the two Noblemen, inhabiting in the nearest place, who being taken were haled to the body of the person murthered. But what comes to pass? The first scarce with his eyes had looked upon the dead body, but behold, the blood in plenty begun to flow from thence. But the other coming near, the very right hand of the person murthered did first of all shew to those that were by the wound, and afterward the murderer himself. Which being done, forthwith the two Gentlemen (or Nobles) did of their own accord confess that they were the Authors of the murther, and did receive the punishment that was worthy of their deeds.”

[Sidenote: _Hist. 10._]

[Sidenote: _Ut supra_ _p._ 9.]

10. Another very remarkable one we have from the same Author cited from _Cantipratanus_ _lib._ 2. _mirac. c._ 29. in this manner. “It happened (the Author saith) in the year of Christ 1271. in the Town =Pforzheim=, that a certain most wicked old Woman familiar with the Jews, did sell them a girl of seven years old, and without parents, to be slain. Her therefore in secret her mouth being stopt, setting her upon linnen cloaths, they wound almost in all the junctures of the members with incisions, and with great endeavour press forth the blood, and receive it most diligently in the linnen cloaths. But she being dead after great pains, the Jews throw her body into a running water near the Town, and laid an heap of Stones upon it. But after the third or fourth day her body is found by Fishers, by means of her hand stretched forth towards Heaven, and carried into the Town, the people with abomination crying forth that so great a wickedness was perpetrated by the Jews. And the Marquiss of _Baden_ being near, went unto the Corps, and straightway the body standing upright did stretch forth its hands unto the Prince, as though it would implore the revengment of blood, or perhaps mercy. But after half an hour it disposed it self upon its back, after the manner of those that are dead. Therefore the wicked Jews being brought to the spectacle, forthwith all the wounds of the body burst forth, and in testimony of the horrid murder, poured forth great plenty of blood, whereupon the Jews were put to death.”

[Sidenote: _Hist. 11._]

[Sidenote: _Ut supra_ _p._ 54.]

11. Another the same Author relateth from _Jacobus Martinius in Disp. de Cognitione sui_, _propl._ 8. who saith: “In the year of our Saviour 1503. a certain Inn-keeper, by name _Buggerlinus_, with whom a certain poor Merchant or Pedlar had laid up his money or stock, occasion being taken by the Inn-keeper he kills him in a Wood, and buries him privately; but afterwards when he was found, the suspicion of the murther fell upon the Inn-keeper. For that Pedlar had a bended knife or dagger at his girdle, which they took, and shewed to the Inn-keeper, asking him, if he knew it? But behold assoon as he took it in his hand, it sweat drops of blood, whereby the murtherer being affrighted, confessed the murther, and so was Executed.”

[Sidenote: _Hist. 12._]

[Sidenote: _Vid. Histor. Thuan._ _l._ 32.]

12. We have also a punctual History to this purpose, related by _Hollingshead_, _Stow_, and _Sir Richard Baker_, from _Roger of Winchester_, of King _Henry_ the second, which is this: “This King, when he was carried forth to be buried was first apparelled in his Princely Robes, having his Crown on his Head, Gloves on his Hands, and Shoes on his Feet wrought with Gold, Spurs on his Heels, a Ring of Gold on his Finger, a Scepter in his Hand, a Sword by his Side, and so was laid uncovered having a pleasant countenance: which when it was told to his Son _Richard_, he came with all speed to see him, and as soon as he came near him, the blood gushed out of the nose of the dead Corps in great plenty, even as if the spirit of the dead King had disdained and abhorred the presence of him, who was thought to be the chief cause of his death. Which thing caused the said _Richard_ to weep bitterly, and he caused his Fathers body to be honourably buried at _Fonteverard_.”

[Sidenote: _Hist. 13._]

13. The last story that we shall relate of this nature, is from a Minister that is learned, sincere and of great veracity, who had it from those that were eye-witnesses, and is this: “In the year of our Lord God, 1661. _January_ 30th on _Saturday_ at night about nine of the Clock, did _John How_ of _Bruzlington-Bank_, at the foot of an Hill (which is about two miles distant from _Bishop-Awkland_) murther _Ralph Gawkley_, who was a Glover in _Bishop-Awkland_: This _How_ was the next day apprehended and brought to touch _Gawkleys_ Corps, the lips and nostrils of the dead body wrought and opened as he touched (which made him afraid to touch the second time) then presently the Corps bled abundantly at the nostrils in the sight of Mr. _Robert Harrison_ the Coroner (now Tenant at _Bishop-Awkland_ to Mr. _Franckland_, from whom I had the relation) of _Anthony Cummin_ and his Brother, &c. of the Jury, and of a great many towns people, who were then present. So _How_ was Executed the next Assizes after at _Durham_: Witnesses against him were _Anne Wall_, whom he also wounded, yet she escaped with her life, and _How_’s own Wife, at the motion of her own Father (a very honest Man) who bid her tell the truth, and she should never want help.”

Some may think that I have been too large and tedious in heaping so many stories concerning the bleeding of the bodies of those that have been murthered; but I did it for this reason, because there are many that think it but to be a Fable of the credulous vulgar, and others think that it is but an ordinary matter that happens to any bodies that are dead, and no extraordinary or supernatural thing in it at all. But whosoever shall but use so much patience, as seriously to read and consider these select Histories that we have recited, may easily be satisfied, both that such bleeding is absolutely true _de facto_, and also that there is something more than ordinary in it, and therefore we shall inlarge in these observations.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 1._]

1. It will not be found to hold touch upon diligent observation and strict inquiry, that all dead bodies do bleed fresh and rosie blood, especially after the third or fourth day, or after some weeks, as divers of the instances above given do manifestly prove; and therefore is an accident incident to some dead bodies and not to all. And it will as far fail, that wounded bodies, that have been slain in the wars, after the natural heat be gone, will upon motion bleed any fresh or crimson blood at all; for we our selves in the late times of Rebellion have seen some thousands of dead bodies, that have had divers wounds, and lying naked and being turned over and over, and by ten or twelve thrown into one pit, and yet not one of them have issued any fresh and pure blood: Only from some of their wounds, some sanious matter would have flowed, putrefaction beginning by reason of the moisture and acidity in the air, but no pure blood, and therefore is not a common accident to all humane bodies that die naturally or violently, but only is peculiar to some, and especially to those that are murthered by prepensed malice, as appeareth in the Histories recited above.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 2._]

2. We shall acknowledge with _Gregorius Horstius_, _Sperlingius_ and _Gothofredus Voigtius_, that sometimes the bodies of those that have been murthered do bleed, when the murtherer is not present, as is manifest from the sixth History recited from _Horstius_ of the young Man of twenty five years old, that bled so long and so often, though the murtherer was not present; from whence they conclude that the presence of the murtherer, is not a necessary cause of the bleeding of the murthered body; and therefore that the bleeding of the body is not always a certain and infallible sign of discovering the murtherer? To which we reply, that the issuing of fresh and crimson blood from the wound or the nostrils of the persons body that hath been murthered, is always a certain sign that the Corps that doth so bleed was murthered, because those that die naturally or violently by chance, man-slaughter or in the war, do not bleed, as hath been proved before. Again, if the murtherer be certainly known, or have confessed the crime, in regard of the final cause which is discovery, there is no reason why the Corps should bleed: And though the presence of the murtherer may not be the efficient cause why the Corps doth bleed, yet is it the occasional, as is manifest undeniably by sundry of the Histories that we have related, where the murtherers had not been certainly known but by the bleeding of the body murthered.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 3._]

3. Whereas the three Authors above named, thinking they have sufficiently confuted those that ascribed this effect of the bleeding of the dead body to Sympathy or Antipathy, or to the moving of the bodies, or heat in the air; have assigned the cause to be the beginning of putrefaction in the bodies murthered, by which a new motion is caused in the humors, and so in the blood, by which means it floweth afresh: against this these two reasons oppose themselves. 1. Must putrefaction needs begin at that very moment, when the murtherer toucheth the body? For in divers of them there was no bleeding until the murtherers were present or did touch the bodies, and their touching could not cause the beginning of putrefaction, and soon after their removing the bleeding hath ceased, so that putrescence _in fieri_ cannot be the cause of the fresh bleeding. 2. Putrefaction beginning could not be the cause why the murthered Shepherds body in the ninth History should with its hands point to the wound, and to the murtherers, nor that the hands of the Wench murthered by the Jews, in the tenth History, should be stretched forth to the Prince of _Baden_, or that the Lips and Nostrils of the Body of _Gawkley_ should work and open at the touch of the murtherer _How_; this must of necessity proceed from some higher cause than putrefaction, or any other they have laid down.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 4._]

[Sidenote: _Append. de Cru. Cadav._ _p._ 154.]

4. But though it should be acknowledged, that in some of these bleedings there were something that were extraordinary or supernatural, yet as learned _Horstius_ tells us: “It is (he saith) an inconvenient Tenent of those that hold, that the Souls of those that are murthered, wandering about the Bodies, by reason of the hatred they bear towards those that were their murtherers, do cause these bleedings: but this in Philosophy cannot stand, because the separate form can by no means operate upon the subject any longer. And (he saith) the same thing in Theologie seems to be very impious; because the Souls of the dead are without mundane conversation, as is sufficiently manifest from the History of the Rich Man and _Lazarus_, _Luke_ 16.”

[Sidenote: _Observ. 5._]

“5. And if some should refer these effects immediately unto God, as many learned Authors have done; as though God by this means would sometimes make known those that are guilty: or to refer this unto the Devil, as though he would sometimes elude the Judges, and to do this that so the innocent might be punished with the wicked; We answer (he saith) to this briefly, by adding this only, that a supernatural cause is not rashly to be feigned where a natural one is ready at hand. And if there be such examples, which cannot be reduced to these aforesaid natural causes, of which sort many are related by _Libanius_ _part_ 2. _fol._ 172. then we can by no reason be repugnant, but that they are preternaturally brought to pass.” And of this opinion are most of the Pontificial Writers, that thereby they might the better maintain their Tenent, that miracles are not ceased; though we do not understand that if we should grant, that in these things there should be some concurrence of Divine Power more than ordinary, that therefore it must be a miracle, for it is yet not infallibly concluded what a miracle is, and every wonderful thing is not therefore concluded to be a miracle, and a miracle being not absolutely defined, what is not one cannot be certainly resolved.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 6._]

6. Some there are that ascribe these strange bleedings of murthered bodies, and of their strange motions, with the sweating of blood, as upon the Pedlars bended dagger or knife, mentioned in the eleventh History, unto the Astral or Sydereal spirit (and that not improbably;) that being a middle substance, betwixt the Soul and the Body doth, when separated from the Body, wander or hover near about it, bearing with it the irascible and concupiscible faculties, wherewith being stirred up to hatred and revenge, it causeth that ebullition and motion in the blood, that exudation of blood upon the weapon, and those other wonderful motions of the Body, Hands, Nostrils and Lips, thereby to discover the murtherer, and bring him to condign punishment. Neither is any Tenent yet brought by any, that is more rationally probable to solve these and many other wonderful Phenomena’s than this of the Astral Spirit, if it can be but fully proved that there is such a part of Man that doth separately exist, which we shall endeavour to prove ere we end this Chapter.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 7._]

7. But it is granted upon all sides, that if the murtherer be brought to the presence, or touch of the person murthered, and not quite dead, that then the wounds though closed and staid from bleeding, or the nostrils, will freshly break forth and bleed plentifully. The reason is obvious, because the Soul being yet in the Body, retaining its power of sensation, fancy and understanding, will easily have a presension of the murderer, and then no marvail that through the vehement desire of revenge, the irascible and concupiscible faculties do strongly move the blood, that before was beginning to be stagnant, to motion and ebullition, and may exert so much force upon the organs as for some small time to move the whole body, the hands, or the lips and nostrils. So that all that is to be done, is but to prove, that the person murthered is not absolutely dead, and that the Soul is not totally separated or departed forth of the Body, and this we shall do by undeniable proofs, as are these that follow in this order.

1. Though we generally take death to be a perfect separation of the Soul from the Body, which is most certainly a great truth, yet when this is certainly brought to pass, is a most difficult point to ascertain, because that when the Soul ceases to operate in the Body so as to be perceived by our Senses, it will not follow, that therefore the Soul is absolutely departed and separated.

[Sidenote: _Observ. Medic._ _p._ 617, 618.]

2. It is manifest that many persons through this mistake have in the times of the Plague been buried quick, and so have some Women been dealt withal that lay but in fits of the suffocation of the Womb, and yet were taken to be dead. So that from the judgment of our Senses, no certain conclusion can be made that the Soul is totally departed, because it goeth away invisibly; for many that not only to the judgment of the vulgar, but even in the opinion of learned Physicians, have been accounted dead, yet have revived, as learned _Schenckius_ hath furnished us with this story from _Georgius Pictorius_, “that a certain Woman lay in a fit of the Strangulation of the Womb, for six continual days without sense or motion, the arteries being grown hard, ready to be buried, and yet revived again, and from _Paræus_ of some that have lain three days in Hysterical suffocations, and yet have recovered, and of divers others that may be seen in the place quoted in the Margent.

3. So that though the organs of the Body may by divers means, either natural or violent, be rendered so unfit, that the Soul cannot perform its accustomed functions in them, or by them, so as they may be perceptible to our senses, or judgments; yet will not that at all conclude, that the Soul is separated, and departed quite from the Body, much less can we be able to define or set down the precise time of the Souls aboad in the Body, nor the ultimate period when it must depart, for the union may be (and doubtless is) more strong in some than in others, and the Lamp of life far sooner and more easily to be quenched in some than in others. And the Soul may have a far greater amorosity to stay in some Body that is lively, sweet, and young, than in others that are already decaying and beginning to putrifie, and it may in all probability both have power and desire to stay longer in that lovesome habitation, from whence it is driven away by force, especially that it may satisfie it self in discovering of the murderer, the most cruel and inhumane disjoyner of that loving pair that God had divinely coupled together, and to see it self, before its final departure, in a hopeful way to be revenged.

4. If we physically consider the union of the Soul with the Body by the mediation of the Spirit, then we cannot rationally conceive that the Soul doth utterly forsake that union, untill by putrefaction, tending to an absolute mutation, it be forced to bid farewel to its beloved Tabernacle; for its not operating _ad extra_ to our senses, doth not necessarily inferr its total absence. And it may be that there is more in that of _Abels blood crying unto the Lord_ from the ground, in a Physical sense, than is commonly conceived, and God may in his just judgment suffer the Soul to stay longer in the murthered Body, that the cry of blood may make known the murtherer, or may not so soon, for the same reason, call it totally away.

[Sidenote: _Explic. Astro._ _p._ 654.]

There is another kind of supposed Apparitions, that are believed to be done in Beryls, and clear Crystals, and therefore called by _Paracelsus_ _Ars Beryllistica_, and which he also calls Nigromancy, because it is practised in the dark by the inspection of a Boy or a Maid that are Virgins, and this he strongly affirmeth to be natural and lawful, and only brought to pass by the Sydereal influence, and not at all Diabolical, nor stands in need of any Conjuration, Invocations or Ceremonies, but is performed by a strong faith or imagination. And of this he saith thus: _Sed ante omnia (ait) notate proprietatem Beryllorum. Hisunt, in quibus spectantur præterita, præsentia, & futura. Quod nemini admirationi esse debet, ideò, quia sydus influentiæ imaginem, & similitudinem in Crystallum imprimit, similem ei, de quo quæritur._ And a little after he saith: _Præterea sideribus nota sunt omnia, quæ in natura existunt. Cumq; Astra homini subjecta sint: potest is utiq; illa in subjectum ita cogere, ut voluntati ejus ipsa obsecundent._ What truth there may be in this his assertion, I have yet met with no reasons or experiments that can give me satisfaction, and therefore I leave it to every Man to censure as he pleaseth.

[Sidenote: _Hist._]

The only story that seems to carry any credit with it, touching the truth of Apparitions in Crystals, is that which is related of that great and learned Physician _Joachimus Camerarius_ in his Preface before _Plutarchs_ Book _De Defectu Oraculorum_, from the mouth of _Lassarus Spenglerus_, a person excellent both for Piety and Prudence, and is, in effect this: “_Spengler_ said, that there was one person of a chief family in _Norimberge_, an honest and grave Man, whom he thought not fit to name. That one time he came unto him, and brought, wrapt in a piece of Silk, a Crystalline Gemm of a round figure, and said that it was given unto him of a certain stranger, whom many years before, having desired of him entertainment, meeting him in the Market, he took home, and kept him three days with him. And that this gift when he departed, was left him as a sign of a grateful mind, having taught such an use of the Crystal as this. If he desired to be made more certain of any thing, that he should draw forth the glass, and will a male chast Boy to look in it, and should ask of him what he did see? For it should come to pass, that all things that he required, should be shewed to the Boy, and seen in the Apparition. And this Man did affirm, that he was never deceived in any one thing, and that he had understood wonderful things by the boys indication, when none of all the rest did by looking into it, see it to be any thing else but a neat and pure Gemm. He tells a great deal more of it, and that doubtful questions being asked, an answer would appear to be read in the Crystal: but the Man being weary of the use of it, did give it to _Spengler_, who being a great hater of superstition, did cause it to be broken into small pieces, and so with the Silk in which it was wrapped, threw it into the sink of the House.”