Witches Executed

...fell down dead. Whereupon Master Avery rose up, praying for the grace and mercies of God, that He had so powerfully delivered them and had not allowed the foul spirits to work the worst of their mischief upon men made in His image, but had instead turned their fury against beasts. Following this, they both hurried home, still praying to God for their escape, and were never troubled after.

I had almost forgotten to mention earlier that Master Avery was seen by the judges themselves in the castle yard of Northampton while in the midst of his fits, and that he strangely continued in them until this Joan Vaughan was brought to him.

But now, to draw near to the end of their story: this Agnes Browne and her daughter Joan Vaughan (or Varnham), having been brought to their arraignment, were indicted there for bewitching the bodies of Master Avery and his sister Mistress Belcher in the manner and form previously described. They were also charged with bewitching a young child to death (the true account of which I have not received). To all these charges, they pleaded not guilty; but putting themselves upon the country original: "putting themselves upon the country"; a legal phrase meaning they agreed to a trial by jury, they were found guilty.

And when they were asked what they could say for themselves, or why the sentence of death should not be pronounced against them, they stubbornly insisted upon their innocence. After judgment was given, they were carried back to the jail, where they were never heard to pray or to call upon God. Instead, they spent what little time they had left to live with bitter curses and execrations original: "execrations"; angry denunciations or curses until the day of their execution. Never asking pardon for their offenses from either God or the world, in this...