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A BELIEF in witchcraft and
sorcery, it is well known, prevailed at one period throughout the whole of
Europe. The minds of all men were, for a season, given up to gross delusion
on this subject; a delusion, unfortunately, that did not remain visionary
and passive, but manifested itself in acts of the most unrelenting cruelty.
It is impossible at this day to read the details of the tortures and deaths
that were inflicted on old helpless men and women, accused of these
imaginary crimes, without experiencing a dirill of intense horror, and
breathing a prayer of grateful acknowledgment that we live in times more
rational and enlightened. The Romish Church, when it held undisputed sway
over the nations, waged, with its papal bulls and inquisitorial proceedings,
a terrible and unremitting warfare with the supposed possessors of these
black arts. The Reformation, which had a great effect in eradicating errors,
enlightening the mind, and banishing intellectual torpor, instead of
dispelling the belief in witchcraft, rendered it more inveterate and
intense, and fanned the rage against it to a state of fiercer activity than
ever. His Scriptures were more diligently searched, and in many respects
better understood; but all classes of men were still unable fully to
discriminate between what was peculiar and temporary in a dispensation that
had passed away, and what remained obligatory in the religious system that
had taken its place. The Old Testament declared that witches, wizards,
enchanters, familiar spirits, etc., not merely existed, but that the law of
God was, that they should not be suffered to live. Those rulers among the
ancient Jews who had signalized themselves in attempting to effect the utter
extermination of these unfortunate beings, had received very special
commendation, and therefore, it was argued, that men in authority, in all
ages, should act a similar part. Fortified with such notions, the whole mass
of the people became blind to the utter improbability that the Almighty,
either directly or indirectly, would permit old, ignorant, crazed
individuals to possess powers so extraordinary as to be able to raise
storms, blast the produce of the field, inflict diseases and disasters on
man and beast, metamorphose themselves into various animals, fly through the
air from place to place, hold personal intercourse with the enemy of
mankind, pry into the dark future, and foretell the designs of Providence
and the fate of human beings.
The Scottish Parliament, in
the reign of Queen Mary, enacted that ‘witchcraft, sorcerie, necromancies
the vsurers thereof, and all persons seikand any helpe, response, or
consultatione fra any sic vsurers, or abusers, are punished to the death
with all regour.’ The consequence of this was, that vast numbers of aged
persons, especially women, were seized and arraigned for crimes, which we
now know were purely imaginary; and, in order to extort a confession of
guilt, were subjected to the most excruciating tortures. The boots and the
thumbkins were often called into requisition in such cases; men called
prickers were employed to thrust large pins into the flesh of the accused; a
terrible instrument, called the branks, or witches’ bridle, was placed on
their heads, which fastened them to the wall of their cells, and prevented
them from speaking; relays of men were appointed to guard them in prison and
keep them from falling asleep; and a special and standing commission of the
Privy Council was empowered to try the wretches accused of the supposed
crime. Many of the persons seised, made mad by oppression, emitted before
this tribunal the most extravagant, absurd, and incredible confessions; and,
in most cases, were sent without delay to the gibbet or the stake. The
effect of these severities was, that the numbers of the accused, instead of
being diminished, were increased to an immense extent. Witches, warlocks,
and charmers abounded in every parish, prisons sufficiently large could not
be got to contain them, and terror and frenzy reigned in every quarter. The
most active instruments in tbe discovery, prosecution, and destruction of
witches, were the Reformed clergy. These men pursued this object with an
unrelenting determination, that while it bears ample testimony to their
energy and zeal, at the same time reflects no great credit on them as men
and Christians. They seem to have divested themselves of all feelings of
humanity, and to have gloried in evincing an amount of error, delusion, and
barbarity utterly alien to the enlightened and benevolent principles which
they had undertaken to enunciate to their fellow-sinners.
Warlocks and witches, during
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, of course, abounded in the Upper
Ward of Clydesdale, as well as in the other districts of Scotland. Every
parish had its quota, but it appears, from the records of the Presbytery of
Lanark, that they were especially numerous in the parishes of Douglas,
Crawford, and Crawfordjohn. The Presbytery of Lanark, for a number of years,
had their hands so full of business connected with these persons, that it
engrossed a large portion of their time.
In former times, great
attention was paid to certain wells. They were held to poiress a sovereign
efficacy in curing diseases, and were dedicated to some saint or angel, who
was supposed to preside over them, and to confer upon them their curative
virtues. Bands of people walked in procession to them on the festivals of
the holy beings to whom they were dedicated; and on these occasions they
were decorated with flowers and boughs of trees, and libations of their
water were poured out with great ceremony and solemnity. Pilgrims from
distant parts of the kingdom were often to be seen seated by their side,
imbibing their water, or washing the sores with which their persons were
afflicted. The leaders of the Reformation resolved to suppress these
superstitious practices; and, accordingly, a statute was enacted, in 1579,
prohibiting all pilgrimages to wells. This law, however, had not the desired
effect It was to little purpose that the civil authorities threatened and
prosecuted, or that the Reformed clergy thundered against the practice, and
inflicted their spiritual censures. The people could not be deterred from
the observance of their old custom, or led to believe that the wells, once
so sacred and efficacious, had lost their virtues. The Privy Council, in
1629, issued an edict, in which they lamented that pilgrimages to chapels
and wells were still common in the kingdom, to the great offence of God, the
scandal of the Kirk, and disgrace to his Majesty’s Government, and enacted
that Commissioners should cause diligent search to be made ‘at all suche
pairts and places where this idolatrous superstition is used, and to take
and apprehend all suche persons, of whatsoever rank or qualitie, whom they
sail deprehend, going in pilgrimage to chappellis and wellis, or whome they
sail know themselffes to be guiltie of that cryme, and commit thame to
waird,1 until measures should be adopted for their trial and punishment
Notwithstanding the severity of this enactment, it is evident from the
records of the Presbytery of Lanark, and from other sources of information,
that the practice was still, more or less, continued. For instance, in
September 1641, Mali Lithgow was reported to the Presbytery of Lanark, by
John Hume, to be guilty of charming in the parish of Skirling; and William
Somervail, minister of Dunsyre, was appointed to make diligent search for
her, and send her to the Session of Skirling to be tried. On the 5th
November following, Mali was brought before the Presbytery, and confessed
that she went to the Well of Skirling, and was ordered to appear before the
Kirk Session of Skirling, and answer for her incantations. And the Session
records of that parish, if they have been preserved, no doubt contain a
detail of her trial and sentence. The principal wells in Biggar and its
neighbourhood were, and still are* Bow’s, Malcolm's, Duncan’s, Jenny’s,
Gum’s, and the Greystane. Some of these were, no doubt, locally famous, in
former days, for their healing virtues. The practice was common, till a
recent period, of young persons going to them early in New Year’s day
morning, and, after thrusting into them a bunch of straw, drawing forth what
was considered of sovereign excellence, the flower of the well.
It can hardly be questioned
that Biggar, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, would have its
quota of witches and sorcerers, as well as the adjacent parishes. It is not
yet fifty years since persons were pointed out in the town, who were
supposed to possess supernatural powers, and whom their neighbours did not
like to displease. Tradition has preserved the names of several women in the
town and parish of Biggar, who were reputed witches at an earlier period,
and who underwent the operation of ‘scoring abune the breath,’ that is,
having several incisions made with a knife, or other sharp instrument,
across the forehead. This operation, like that of cutting off the locks of
Samson, was understood to deprive them of their supernatural powers. One of
the most noted of these witches was Bessie Carmichael, who lived in the
neighbourhood of Biggar, and was regarded with awe on account of her
‘grewsum’ looks, her intercourse with the weird folk, and her extraordinary
powers in curing diseases, etc. One day a man in her neighbourhood was going
to the mill of Biggar, with one or two loads of grain on a horse’s back—then
the usual mode of conveyance—and Bessie requested him to take, either her
‘pock,’ which hung in the mill, to receive the gratuitous offerings of the
farmers when they had a ‘melder* at the mill, or a quantity of grain with
him, which she had gleaned or received as a gift from some of the farmers.
The man refused to do this; and Bessie told him, in the hearing of some
persons, that he would soon rue it. In course of disloading the horse, at
the mill, the animal became restive, and gave the man so violent a kick,
that he was laid lifeless on the spot. The whole country round soon rang
with this terrible instance of the witch's revenge, and the universal desire
was, that she should be burnt. By the time this incident happened, the days
of judicial burning for witchcraft had passed away; but it is said that some
persons, in disguise, broke into her cot, and maltreated her in such a way,
that they hoped she would no longer ‘keep the country-side in fear.'
In 1640, a case of alleged
witchcraft engaged a great portion of the attention of the Presbytery of
Lanark. As it shows the untiring energy of the Presbyterian clergy in the
prosecution of such cases, we will give an outline of the proceedings. The
person accused of this crime was an aged woman called Marion, or, as she was
commonly termed, Mali M‘Watt, who lived at Nisbet, in the parish of Coulter.
Previous to her coming under the cognizance of the Presbytery of Lanark, she
had been arraigned by the Presbytery of Peebles, and had undergone a
lengthened examination in the Kirk of Glenholm, in presence of David Murray
of Stenhope, the Laird of Hadden, and other members of that reverend court.
These parties appear not to have followed up the examination with any
further prosecution of the case, as the accused most likely removed herself
out of the bounds of the Presbytery, and took refuge among the Coulter
Hills, in the county of Lanark. Here, however, she was found out by John
Currie, minister of Coulter, and summoned to appear before the Presbytery of
Lanark on the 14th of May 1640. She appeared, but aa a copy of her
confession in the Kirk of Glenholm was not forthcoming, she was dismissed
till next meeting, after giving John M‘Watft, in Cagill, and William M‘Watt,
in Baitlaws, as cautioners for her attendance, under the pain of L.100
Scots. She, accordingly, presented herself before the Presbytery on the
twenty-eighth day of the same month, and showed a disposition to deny what
it was understood she had confessed at Glenholm; but she admitted that she
had charmed a stream of water with an axe, by crossing it in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and then giving three knocks on the threshold
of the door; that having been sent for to John Black’s cow, she had caused
it to take the calf, and then prayed to God that it might give milk, which
it did; and, lastly, having been sent for to see Alexander Barn's mare, she
had also prayed to God for its recovery. We are now apt to think, if no
further charge could be brought against her than is contained in her
confession, that it would have been amply sufficient, in so frivolous a
case, to have dismissed her with an admonition to abstain from any absurd
symbolism in future, when she attempted to purify the water, or cure the
bestial in her neighbourhood; but the Presbytery thought otherwise, and
therefore set themselves with the most restless activity to take the life of
this poor woman. In the times to which we refer, it was a practice observed
by the Presbyteries of the Scottish Kirk, to hold diets of visitation in
each parish within their bounds. The Lanark Presbytery, therefore, at their
meeting on the 11th June, instructed the visitors of the Kirk of Coulter to
be careful and diligent to find out everything they possibly could against
Mali M‘Watt, and report the result of their investigations at next meeting.
On the 16th of July, the Rev. John Currie of Coulter, and the Bev. George
Bennet of Quothquan, gave in a ‘ process,' which they had drawn up, and
which, after deliberation, it was agreed should be delivered to the
Commissary of Lanark for his revision. At this diet of the Presbytery, James
Bry-den, a son of the accused, was present, and became bound, under a
penalty of L.100 Scots, that his mother, till Whitsunday next, would at any
time appear before the Presbytery when summoned. The Commissary of Lanark,
it appears, had requested to be furnished with a copy of the proceedings
instituted against Mali by the Presbytery of Peebles, and therefore John
Currie was instructed to proceed to Peebles to procure one; but he either
did not go, or was unsuccessful, for, on the 21st of January 1641, a
committee, consisting of the Bev. Bichard Inglis of Wiston, the Rev. James
Douglas of Douglas, and the Rev. George Bennet of Quothquan, was appointed
to hold a meeting at Coulter with some members of the Presbytery of Peebles,
but the result is not stated.
In the meantime, it was
resolved to apply to the Committee of Estates for a commission to try Mali
for the crime of witchcraft. The Commissary of Lanark, however, told the
Presbytery that, in his opinion, Mali had been guilty, at the most, of
charming, and that ruch an offence did not infer the penalty of death. The
Presbytery were evidently chagrined and annoyed by this decision; but it did
not deter them from the prosecution of their bloodthirsty design. They
instructed the moderator, and the committee previously named, to revise the
whole process against Mali, and, if possible, to get it signed by the
members of the Presbytery of Peebles; and ordained the Rev. James Baillie of
Lamington to summon Mali and her cautioner, James Bryden, to appear before
them on the 1st of July. In these unhappy times, it often happened that old
women accused of witchcraft were deserted by their relatives, and left to
the tender mercies of their persecutors, without a friend to console and
defend them. This happened on the present occasion. The old woman trudged
away from Nisbet to Lanark, and presented herself, on the day appointed,
before the Presbytery; but as no person, not even her son, was present, who
would vouch for her future appearance, she was committed to the prison of
Lanark. Her own minister, John Currie, was one of her most inveterate
persecutors; but on this occasion he insisted that she should either be
declared guilty of witchcraft, or that the charge against her should be
abandoned. The Presbytery were not yet prepared to decide either the one way
or the other; they still desiderated further proofs of her guilt; and
therefore they appointed John Currie and George Bennet to attend the
Presbytery of Peebles, ‘to labour,' as they called it, for additional
information, and to request that a committee of the Presbytery of Peebles
should meet at Biggar on the 21st of the same month of July, to hold a
conference with the following committee of their own body, viz.,—the Rev.
Alexander Somervail of Dolphinton, the Rev. George Bennet of Quothquan, the
Rev. John Currie of Coulter, the Rev. Andrew Gudlatt of Symington, and the
Rev. John Veitch of Roberton; and to summon all parties interested to attend
the said meeting. This meeting accordingly took place, and the result of its
deliberations, as embodied in a report, was, that many of the charges
against Mali M‘Watt were found proven, and that there were just grounds for
arraigning her before the civil tribunals of the country. The Presbytery
thereupon once more took courage, and acting, as they said, on the Scripture
warrant, *Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,’ they ordained John Currie
to repair to Edinburgh to wait upon the Earl of Angus, Sir William Baillie
of Laming-ton, Sir William Carmichael, and Sir John Dalziel, to induce them
to lend their assistance to procure a commission to apprehend Mali, who had
been set at liberty, and subject her to such punishment as the laws of God
and the country authorized. John Currie, as instructed, went to Edinburgh;
but he was met with the objection, that his application for a commission was
informal, so long as Mali continued at large, and practised her charms and
cures. The Presbytery, when they heard this, with one consent, requested the
elder for Lamington, Sir William Baillie, or, in his absence, his bailie,
Alexander Menzies of Culterallers, to apprehend poor Mali with all
expedition, and to keep her in confinement at Coulter, or to send her to the
county jail, to be under the vigilant eye of the bailies of Lanark.
The Privy Council had begun,
by this time, to be wearied with the endless prosecutions raised by the
clergy against old women; and, in the case of Mali M‘Watt, they could not,
at any rate, see that the charge o? witchcraft could be sustained. The
clergy were determined, however, not to be baffled; and on the 24th of March
1642, the day on which Mali was lodged in Lanark Jail, they met and resolved
to appoint a committee to revise her process, and to make a fresh effort to
obtain a commission for her trial. The committee, consisting of the Rev.
William Somervail of Dunsyre, the Rev. Alexander Somervail of Dolphinton,
the Rev. George Bennet, and the Rev. John Currie, met at Dolphinton, and,
after revising the process, drew up a petition to the Lords of the Privy
Council, which was signed by the clerk in name of the Presbytery, and
conveyed to Edinburgh by the indefatigable John Currie. When John arrived in
Edinburgh, he found that the Privy Council would hold no meeting sooner than
the 1st of June; and thus he and the Presbytery were once more baulked in
their design. The Presbytery, nevertheless, ordered John to repair to
Edinburgh so soon as the Council met, and agreed to allow him two dollars to
pay his expenses; but when the day arrived, John had become unwell, and
could not leave his manse. The Presbytery, still unwearied in their efforts,
resolved to take the advice of the Synod on their procedure in Mali’s case,
and also to consult the Commission of the General Assembly and the legal
agent of the Church; but what advice they got, or what further steps they
took, their records, so far as we have seen them, give no information. The
likelihood is, that Mali M<Watt, after undergoing a most harassing and
protracted persecution from the Presbyteries of Peebles and Lanark, lived
and died in her own quiet home in the Vale of Coulter.
For several years after the
formation of the Presbytery of Biggar, the members of that reverend court
appear to have taken no part in the prosecution of witches. Their
persecuting zeal, however, broke out, all of a sudden, in 1649. At a meeting
on the 28th of November of that year, it was reported that one Janet Bowis,
a confessing witch, was imprisoned at Peebles; and therefore Robert Brown of
Broughton, and John Crawford of Lamington, were instructed to wait on the
Commissioners appointed to try cases of witchcraft, to ascertain if, in her
depositions, she had accused any one connected with their congregations of
being guilty of that crime, and to request liberty to bring Janet to Biggar,
to be detained in confinement there, and to be confronted with such old
women as she might declare to be witches.
These two reverend gentlemen,
accordingly, repaired to Peebles, and obtaining an interview with Janet, the
confessing witch, they received from her the names of & number of persons in
the parishes of Broughton, Lamington, and Walston, whom, she alleged, had
been guilty of the crime of witchcraft. The authorities at Peebles, however,
refused to allow Janet to be taken out of their hands, and transferred to
the Tolbooth of Biggar. The two delegates, therefore, repaired to the
moderator of the Presbytery, and laid before him the result of their
proceedings; and that dignitary lost no time in sending a communication on
the subject to Sir John Christie. Through the influence of this gentleman, a
commission was granted by the Committee of Estates to sit at Biggar on the
19th of December, with power to try all witches within the bounds of the
Presbytery; and an order was at the same time issued for transporting Janet
Bowis, the confessing witch, to Biggar. The Commission met at Biggar on the
day appointed. The whole members of Presbytery attended. It is a matter of
regret that no report of what took place at that meeting can now be
obtained. We only know that the divines of the Presbytery were greatly
disappointed and dissatisfied with the result; and particularly with the
conduct of the confessing witch, of whom they expected to make so much. She
appears to have broken completely down under the searching examination to
which she was subjected. The divines resolved not to give her up. They
appointed a meeting to take place on the 29th, and summoned her before them.
The minute referring to what then took place is curious, and therefore we
give it entire:— ‘The brethrine in yr attendance upone ye Commissioneres
appoynted for tryall pf suspected witches, within ye boundis of ye
Presbyterie, haveing perceived that Jennett Bowis, ye confesseing witche (brocht
to Biggar for yat end), that schoe micht be confronted with suche persones
as schoe had delated and affirmed to be guyltie with her of ye said cryme of
witchcraft, had clearlie contradicted herself in these declara-tiones in
verie many points, and that the most part of her dispositiones wer full of
variationes, bothe in regaird of persones, names, tymes, places, matter, and
everie other circumstance; all whiche haveing maid them suspicious of her,
that schoe had lyed upone some innocent persones, and concealed ye
guyltiness of others, tending to the prejudice of ye work of tryall, and
discoverie of that fearfull sinne, and to ye advantage of Satan, did
therefore aggrie togeder to sett aparte this day for humiliatione and
prayer. And being (at least ye most parte of yr number) convenit this day in
ye Kirk of Biggar, and ye said Jennett Bowis being brocht before theme,
efter manie exhorta-tiones from ye word of the Lord, and pouring forth of
prayers and supplicationes to God (by turns), entreating his Majestie to
open her mouthe to confess her guyltiness in this point, and with manie
wurds exhorteing her to yat effecte. At last ye said Jennett burst furthe in
clamours and teares, and said that schoe had condemned her awin sillie saule
in sweareing falsdie, and, in signe yrof, schoe presentlie cleared about
fortie eight persones, whoes guyltiness before schoe had affirmed.
Whairupone the breethrine of ye Presbyterie thocht fitting to referre, as be
ther presents they doe referre, ye matter to ye consi-deratione of ye
Commissioners for try all, that they may bothe advyse what to doe, and also
(if need be), to represent the samyn to ye Committee of Estaitts for
direction^ what sail be done anent ye said Jennet Bowis.' No further
statements regarding her appear in the records of Presbytery, and therefore
her ultimate fate cannot now be ascertained.
At that period, so many
persons were apprehended for the crime of witchcraft, that the ordinary
prisons could not contain them. An order was therefore issued, that each
parish, in its turn, should furnish a quota of men to guard them and prevent
their escape. The members of the Biggar Presbytery, in their great zeal
against witchcraft, resolved that they would, along with their parishioners,
take their turn in watching. On the 7th of May 1650, they even went the
length of resolving to call in the services of a person called Cathie, ‘ a
searcher for ye DevilTs mark on witches,’ who dwelt at Tranent, and who had
recently been pursuing his vocation within the bounds of the Presbytery of
Peebles. They therefore requested the Presbytery of Haddington, in
conjunction with a magistrate, to bind him down'to answer before the Judge
Ordinary when he should be called.
At this period, the members
of the Presbytery of Lanark were equally active in the prosecution of
witches. In 1650, they caused a very considerable number of old women to be
apprehended in the parishes to the west of Biggar, and lodged in the
Tolbooth of Lanark. We may briefly refer to one or two of these casesOn the
10th of January of that year, Marion Hunter, one of the suspected persons
incarcerated for witchcraft, compeared before the Presbytery, and
declared,—1st, That the devil appeared like a little whelp between
Haircleuch and Littleclyd, and evanished in a bush; 2d, Like a brown whelp
at Haircleuch, and, a good while afterwards, like a man, between Haircleuch
and Glispen, and nipped her in her shoulder, and requested her to be his
servant; 3d, That she was in Gallowberriehill, and rode upon a 4 bunwede,’
and that of those who are at present in prison, the following were with her
on this occasion, viz.—Lillies Moffat, Marion Watson, Helen Aitchison,
Marion Moflat, and Mali Laidlaw;— the last, she said, was of special service
to her, for she ‘drew her when she was hindmost, and could not winne up.1
In a month or two afterwards,
Janet Biraie, from Crawford, was tried by a committee of the Presbytery, and
the following points were found proved:—First, That she followed William
Brown, slater, to Robert Williamson’s house in Watermeetings, and there
craved him for something that he was due her; A quarrel thereupon ensued
between them ; and in twenty-four hours thereafter he fell from a house and
broke his neck. Second, 4 Ane outcast' having taken place between her family
and the family of Bessie Aitchison, the said Janet prayed that the
Aitchisons might soon have bloody beds and a light house; and after that,
Bessie Aitchison’s daughter took sickness, and cried, 'There is a fire in
the bed,' and died; and Bessie Aitchison’s 'gudeman dwyned.' And, Third, She
was blamed for causing discord between Newton and his wife, and procuring
the death of William Geddes. The Presbytery, notwithstanding these grievous
charges, agreed to set her at liberty, provided the bailies of Lanark would
enter into recognisances, to the amount of 1000 merks, that she would appear
before than when called on.
On the 21st March of the same
year, 1650, the Presbytery received papers from Richard Inglia, which
contained the confession of 'ane warlock called Archibald Watt, alias Sole
the Paitlet, freelie given by him in the Tolbooth of Douglas.’ The brethren
read over the papers, and considered that it was clearly set forth that this
warlock had made a paction with the devil, that he had held frequent
meetings with his satanic majesty and several witches in different places,
and that he had been guilty of many horrid abominations. They were
unanimously of opinion that it was their duty to obtain a commission of the
Lords of Council to try him; and therefore they appointed Mr Robert Lockhart
to proceed to Edinburgh for this purpose, with all convenient speed. Mr
Inglis requested that, as the warlock had once before escaped out of the
prison of Douglas, he should be brought to the Tolbooth of Lanark; and
further, that a committee of the Presbytery should be appointed to confer
with him on his arrival. All this was agreed to; but the records of the
Presbytery fail to show what was the fate of this unfortunate and infatuated
individual. |
