The old woman, (with great agitation,) "Oh dear! oh dear! that I should live to be three score and eight years old, and be accounted a witch at last! Oh dear! what will come of me?"

"Well, it is very hard certainly, but do they not account you to be a witch ?"

It was some time before the old woman could give an intelligible answer, but she said that she had never been accounted a witch in her life (God forbid) by any one, before the prisoners circulated it about the town that she was, and had exercised her infernal influence over one of them. She always tried to live righteously and peaceably, without doing any harm to any one. She was greatly afflicted at the injurious supposition.

The apprentice to Mr North, surgeon at Wiveliscombe, deposed, that on the night in question the prosecutrix came to him to dress her arm, which he found dreadfully lacerated. There were fifteen or sixteen incisions upon it, of about a quarter of an inch deep, and others an eighth of an inch. They were from two to three inches, and three inches and a half long. She bled very severely. Witness dressed and as she was very healthy, it got well fast. She was ill for more than a month in consequence of the attack. Her arm was still bound up.

her arm,

Mr Erskine said, he thought it unnecessary to call other witnesses to prove the assault, otherwise he had several of the bystanders who could give

the clearest account of it.

The Counsel for the prisoners said, he did not mean to deny the fact of the assault, but he wished to shew the infatuation under which they had acted.

An old woman, Elizabeth Collard, was then called, who said she was an acquaintance of the elder prisoner, and met her on the morning of the day on

which the assault took place, not having seen her before for a long time. Witness said, we were talking about our troubles, when she told me that her troubles were greater than mine or anybody's troubles, for they were not mortal troubles. She said her daughter had been bewitched for the last twelve months, and that she had been to consult old Baker, the Devonshire wizard, about her case. She said he had given her a recipe against witchcraft, and that blood must be drawn from the witch to break the charm. She said that old Mrs Burgess was the witch, and that she was going to get blood from her. She was in such a way that I thought she would have gone immediately to Mrs Burgess to have drawn blood, but I advised her not, and let old Baker punish her if she was really the witch.

Mr Justice Burrough.-Who is old Baker?

Witness.-Oh! my Lord, he is a great conjuror, the people say. He is a good deal looked up to by the poor people in these parts.

Mr Justice Burrough.-I wish we had the fellow here. Tell him, that if he does not leave off his conjuring, he will be caught and charmed in a manner that he will not like.

The witness resumed. I pitied the woman, she was in such a world of troubles; and besides that, she has had a great many afflictions with her family, but she appeared to feel the bewitching of her daughter very deeply. I asked how the witchcraft worked upon her, when she told me, that when her daughter was worked upon, she would dance and sing, just as if she was dancing and singing to a fiddle, in a way that there was no stopping her before she dropped down, when the fiend left her. Whilst the fit was upon her, she would look wished, (wild or frighted,) and point at something, crying, there she stands! there she

stands! (the witch.) I felt for the daughter very much. Her state is very pitiable, my Lord.

The Jury then found all the prisoners-Guilty.

Mr Justice Burrough said, if such a fellow as Baker lived in Devonshire, or in any part of the country, and pursued such practices as were ascribed to him, (but which his Lordship in his situation was bound to suppose not to be the case,) there was a very useful act of Parliament recently passed, which provided for the punishment of such offences; and his Lordship hoped and trusted the magistrates of the county would prosecute him and bring him to punishment. If the charges were true, it was of the utmost importance that he should be put in a state of trial, for greater or more mischievous offences could not be committed. His Lordship said he was himself, when he considered the extent of the belief in witchcraft formerly, not astonished that it should be still retained in some remote spots. He knew that no more than 100 years since, the belief in witchcraft pervaded the whole of the adjoining counties in the highest and lowest ranks of society, and that it was constantly the practice to attribute any new or (to them) unaccountable visitation, to the exercise of an evil influence. Still more recently nothing was more common than for farmers to attribute maladies of their cattle, or blights in their crops, to witchcraft. He had himself seen numerous examinations, which were still extant, of persons taken before magistrates on charges for witchcraft. This belief, which arose from the dark. est ignorance and superstition, had vanished before the increasing light and knowledge of the age, though it was still retained in remote parts where that knowledge had not reached; but it was to be hoped that, by the dissemination of the means of education, it

would soon be banished from every spot for ever. He then addressed the prisoners at the bar: Remember well what I say to you. You are not prosecuted and tried for any opinions which you may entertain, but for carrying those opinions into violence and outrage against a fellow-subject, whom the laws equally protect. If you had any complaint against her, if you conceived she had done you any injury, it was your duty not to have made yourselves the judge in your own cause, but to have gone before a magistrate, who would have redressed your wrongs, if any wrongs existed. Be assured that there is no foundation for such a charge as you have made against the helpless and feeble old woman, the prosecutrix, or that there is the slightest truth in the notions with which you have been impressed. If you, or those with whom you live, had any notion of an all-wise Being, (and from what has transpired in the course of this cause, I greatly fear they have not,) they must believe that the Lord Almighty would never allow any one to possess an influence such as you have charged this poor old woman with having possessed, or allow any human being the power of wantonly tormenting another, by the exercise of a supernatural agency. Do not fancy such a thing for a moment. Be assured that she has no more power to torment your daughter than I have myself. It is quite impossible. If the man Baker continues to practise his deceptions near you, you will do a great service to the public by taking him before a magistrate; for, if he have done as is imputed to him, he is a nuisance that ought speedily to be got rid of. The sentence which I feel it my duty to pass upon you is, that you be each further imprisoned in the county gaol for the space of four calendar months.

We have seen the amulet which the

man Baker gave to the poor dupes to wear as a charm against witchcraft, also the recipe or direction for breaking the charm, of which the following is a copy verbatim et literatim:

"The Gar of Mixtur is to be Mixt with half pint of Gen" (i. e. gin) " and then a table spoon to be taken Mornings and at Eleven O clock four and Eight. and four of the Pills to be taken every Morning fasting and the Paper of powder to be divided in ten parts and one part to be taken every Night going to bed in a little Honey.'

"The paper of Arbs" (i. e. herbs) "is to be burnt, a small bit at a time, on a few coals, with a little hay and rosemary, and while it is burning read the two first verses of the 68th Salm, and say the Lord's prayer after.

(Signed) "B. BAKER.."

The time at which all this was to be was midnight, and with other attendant ceremonies and circumstances, of which he gave instructions. The verses with which the incantation was to be completed are the following, which, it will be agreed, are well chosen for effect:

Exurgat Deus, &c. "Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; let them also that hate him flee before him.

"Like as the smoke vanisheth, so shalt thou drive them away; and like as wax melteth at the fire, so let the ungodly perish at the presence of God."

As the preparations were taken by the ignorant creatures, it could not be ascertained what they were, whether medicinal, or mere rubbish, as is most probable. But we are positively as sured, that after the rites had been all performed, such was the effect upon the imagination of the girl (aged 22) who fancied herself possessed, that she has not had a fit since. The act of

drawing blood from the supposed witch remained to be performed in order to break the charm entirely, and prevent it from returning. That horrible ceremony was soon performed in the manner stated.

CAPTAIN NICHOLAS B. BULL FOR LIBEL IN THE JOHN BULL NEWSPAPER AGAINST MR FYSHE PALMER, M. P.

Sheriff's Court, Surrey, April 7.

A writ of inquiry was executed before the under-sheriff and a jury of the county of Surrey, for the purpose of assessing the damages in an action brought by Mr Fyshe Palmer, member for Reading, against Captain Nicholas B. Bull, formerly commander of the King of the Netherlands steampacket, for a libel published by him in the John Bull newspaper of the 18th of August, 1822, and in which action the defendant had suffered judgment to go by default. The plaintiff's damages were laid at 2007.

Mr Charles Phillips stated the case for the plaintiff. The present action was brought by Mr Palmer, to recover damages in consequence of a wanton and libellous attack made upon his character by the defendant; and it was not easy to say, considering Mr Palmer as a human being, a Christian, or a legislator, in which capacity that attack was the most gross upon him. Appearing, as he then did, in the character of representative for Mr Palmer, he would still say, without hesitation, that if he thought it possible that a gentleman of his rank and education, and of the habits which that rank and that education naturally induced, could be guilty of such disgraceful and inhuman conduct as the defendant had attributed to him, he should be ashamed in his heart to represent him on the pre

sent occasion. He would now state to them the circumstances out of which this action had arisen. In the course of last year an event had occurred, which caused at the time a very considerable ferment, which, he believed, had scarcely even yet subsided. That event was the death of the late Lord Londonderry. Considering the suddenness with which it came upon the public, and the mournful circumstances by which it was accompanied, few circumstances had ever created a stronger sensation in this country. Different persons viewed it in different lights; but there was no man-he spoke it to the honour of the country-let his political prejudices be what they might let him detest as strongly as possible the political principles of the late Lord Londonderry-who did not join in expressing sorrow at the distress in which the manner of that distinguished nobleman's death had plunged his surviving relations. Unmindful of political feelings, friend and foe had joined in a sincere, and, he believed, well-merited tribute to his virtues. Few men had had the good fortune to possess a greater number of private friends; and in proportion to their number must have been the pain and disgust which they felt on hearing of the conduct which had been falsely imputed to his honourable client by the defendant in the present action, When the news of Lord Londonderry's death arrived at Reading, his client was in a public billiard-room. (It was here intimated to Mr C. Phillips that it was a private billiard-room.) He was mistaken-it was a private billiardroom; but whether it was private or public made no matter, as great care had been taken to give the utmost publicity to what was stated to have taken place in it. The news became the topic of conversation; and in a few days afterwards the feelings of Mr Palmer were horrified at reading this paragraph in the John Bull newspaper, which he

should distinctly trace to Mr Nicholas Boys Bull. The learned gentleman then read from the John Bull the following paragraph:

"Mr C. Fyshe Palmer was in the billiard-room at Reading, between twelve and one o'clock on Tuesday morning, when he said to Dr Midford, of that town, that He should have a dinner at the Crown on the occasion, with a haunch of venison, and turtle, and lots of punch!' This he repeated several times, adding, that, it should be a regular jollification." "

Now what kind of person must the world suppose Mr Palmer to be, if, filling the station in society that he does fill, he could, after hearing of the mournful death of a distinguished individual, express himself in the barbarous and inhuman phrases that were imputed to him-if he could make the death of that distinguished individual, with whom he had never had any quar. rel, and who was, besides, the favoured minister of his Majesty, not merely a subject for indecent remark, but even a subject for merriment and regular jollification? The libeller went on"Mr Fyshe Palmer subsequently addressed himself to an individual present, and asked him to make one of the party." It was worth the while of the jury to observe the minuteness of the particulars to which the libeller had adverted; it shewed the art and cunning of the man; he added the parti culars in order to lead the reader of them to this conclusion-that they were so many and so minute, that it was impossible that all of them could be false. But to return to the paragraph; it went on

"This person feeling himself to be insulted," (and, said Mr Phillips, well he might,)" by such an invitation, told Mr Palmer that he as much de tested him as he did his character and politics."" Mr Palmer, it was well known, differed in politics, no doubt

conscientiously, from the late Lord Londonderry; upon the politics of that nobleman, he (Mr Phillips) had neither time nor place, nor intention at that moment, to dilate; all that he claimed was, that the same credit might be given to his client for purity of intention, as the defendant seemed so anxious to demand for the late Lord Londonderry. The defendant went on to state, that the gentleman who received the invitation, told Mr Palmer that he wished his punch might choke him. Mr Fyshe Palmer incen sed at this rebuke, required an apology, which was refused." These words, continued the learned gentleman, formed part of the paragraph complained of; but these words were not all: they were accompanied by comments, which he should also prove to have been written by Mr Nicholas B. Bull. In those comments, Mr Palmer was described as a miscreant, who in intellect and feeling was below the brutes, as a man who had disgraced himself by the use of expressions that ought never to have escaped the lips of a Christian and a gentleman. Those comments, be it recollected, were written by Mr N. Bull on a libel of which he was the sole creator and inventor. Let the jury attend to them

"One could hardly believe, if one did not know it, that such expressions could have escaped a Christian and a gentleman, (as Mr Palmer we presume to be, as being in Parliament,) even though he were a Whig; but true it is, that in this most extraordinary display of patriotic feeling, Mr Fyshe Palmer thus publicly indulged."

They might, perhaps, be inclined to ask how these paragraphs got into the newspaper in question. He would tell them: Mr Bull went to the King's Bench prison, where Mr Shackell, the editor of the John Bull, was at that time confined for a libel, of which he had been found guilty. He dined with

the editor, and told him the circumstances which he (Mr Phillips) had just detailed to them. The editor, on hearing them, felt considerable astonishment, and said, "It's impossible that they can be true!”—“Oh !” replied Mr N. Bull, "I'll give you my honour, or my oath, if you like, that they're all true!" The editor then asked him-" What is it you want me to do ?" "I want to write them," said Mr Bull, " as a paragraph for your paper." The editor then desired him to sit down and write them. He wrote them accordingly. Mr Shackell was still struck with the improbability of the story, and again asked the question, how was its truth to be vouched for? Mr Bull replied, " I, for one, am willing to vouch for it; besides, I'll give you the names of the persons who were present.""Well then," said Mr Shackell, "if such be the case, I think it only right that his constituents should know what sort of person they have got to represent them." The libel was, in consequence, put to press; and if the matter had rested there, it might, perhaps, have been somewhat excusable from the haste with which it was composed. Unfortunately for the defendant, he could not even have the benefit of this excuse. It was on the Thursday that the conversation which he had just detailed took place. On the Saturday following Mr Shackell again sent for Mr N. Bull. He had then got the proof or revise of the paragraph in question. He gave it to Mr N. Bull, saying, " Here is the proof-look it over, and if you are not quite sure of what you state, we'll leave the paragraph out altogether.""No," said Bull, "don't do that-it's true as gospel-put it in ;" so that, instead of cancelling it, he gave it his deliberate approbation, after he had had two whole days to reflect upon it, Not only did he approve of the statements, but also of the comments by