304
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. APRIL is, me.
on goats' backs through the air to their
^devil-dances in the forests, of which, says
Wunderer, many wonders are related. As
regards clothing, they were somewhat
cantily clad in furs and wore shoes of bark.
At Riga he saw many Lapps, and relates a
number of wonderful things about their
imagical juggling with the wind and weather.
Mariners desiring a favourable wind would
purchase from a Lapp wizard a rope con-
taining three or four knots. By undoing the
first knot a good slow wind was obtained, the
second knot liberated a stronger wind, the
third a lucky wind, but woe betide the sea-
man who undid the fourth knot : it released
naufragium, and ship and mariners were
driven to destruction.*
At Riga our travellers got into serious trouble with the Stadtrat. Acting under pressure from the King of Poland, but against the wishes of the Lutherans, the f Council had admitted into the town a number of Jesuits and handed over an Evangelical church for their use. The citizens, under the leadership oi a preacher named Paul Oderborn, rose against the Council and the Jesuits, and Wunderer was so embittered that he joined the malcontents. As a result of this he was haled before the Council as a seditious person and a Russian spy, and was condemned to death, but -eventually he was offered his freedom, pro- vided he left the town without delay.
He accordingly made arrangements to depart, and on Sept. 23 he boarded a Liibeck ship bound for a German port; but fresh troubles awaited him. Soon after leaving land the ship ran into a storm of such violence that the captain, unable to cast anchor or launch the boats, gave up all hope of saving the ship, and recommended the crew and passengers to seek help from God. All was confusion on board, some praying, crying, or singing psalms, others ready to jump into the sea, while the howling of dogs and the bleating of a number of sheep added to the uproar. " He who cannot pray," .says Wunderer, "let him go to sea; he will learn God's might and power and His un- speakable majesty." The ship, however, was not lost. After a while the storm abated, and on Nov. 1, 1590, Wunderer landed safely .at Tramiindt " in porta Lubecensi " at 11 o'clock in the morning. At Rostock he
- It may be interesting to note that as late as
1670 a captain who was becalmed in the Gulf of Finland went ashore to purchase a wind from a Lapp wizard. The fee was 10 kroner and a pound of tobacco (Harris, * Navigantium...Bibliotheca,' ii. 461, quoted in Bates, Touring in 1600,' p. 75).
bought a horse and provisions, and rode by
way of Berlin, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Nurem-
berg, and Stuttgart to Strassburg, where he
arrived on Nov. 26 in good health.
" For which [says he] be God praised and blessed, who has preserved me hitherto in my travels and affairs ; may He likewise support me in my journey heavenward. Amen."
MALCOLM LETTS.
THE WITCHES OF WARBOYS :
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.
(See ante, p. 283.)
XIII. The Most | Strange and admirable Dis- covery | of I Agnes and Alice Samuel. | and | Cicely Burder | (the three witches of Warboys), | who were | arraig'ned, convicted, and executed, at the last Assizes at | Huntingdon,! for | Bewitching the five daughters | of | Robert Throckmorton, Esq. I and divers other persons, | with | Sundry devilish and grievous torments : I and also | For bewitching to death I of the | Lady Cromwell, I with | An account ot their behaviour at the | Place of Exe- cution J The like hath not been heard of in this Age. | Wakefield : | Printed by R. Hurst, at the Star-Office, for Lane, | Newman and Co. Leaden- hall street, London ; | and R. Swindell, Dewsbury.
No date, but c. 1800. Title and pp. 36. Front, engraving ' Witchcraft,' inserted not found in B.M. A copy was for sale in A. R. Smith's Catalogue, 1878.
XIV. Gleanings in England...By Mr. Pratt. 1803. 3 vols. 8vo.
Letter IV., dated Feb. 2, 1801, vol. iii. pp. 43-59. refers to the Huntingdon sermon and Queens' College.
XV. Huntingdonshire. By Edward Brayley. Vol. vii. of the " Beauties of England."] London ,
1808. 8vo.
Pp. 503*-508* and 363 refer to the sermon- The list of books at the end of the volume refers to No. I., and gives title and date 1589, and says this, which is the original account, was published in 8vo, black- letter, and reprinted in 4to, 1693, London, under the new title of " The most strange and admirable Discoverie of the Three Witches
of Warboys 4to, 1693, Lond." The titles_of
both are inaccurate, and evidently not copied from the original editions, but from Gough. The date 1693 should read 1593.
XVI. Topographical and Statistical Descrip- tion of the County of Huntingdon, by George Alexander Cooke [1802-10 J, pp. 55-61 and 92.
Also in Brit. Topog. Part 32. Huntingdon and Rutland (c. 1808). From No. XV.
XVII. [Huntingdon Witchcraft in WarboysJ Gent. Mag. t 1829, part ii. pp. 513-14.
Reprinted " Gent. Mag. Lib." : * Popular Superstitions,' 1884, p. 232. (Also mentioned in Gent. Mag. September, 1817, p. 212.)
XVIII. The History of Huntingdon By
R. C. [Richard Carruthers.] Huntingdon. 1824.
Pp. 151-61. From No. VI., abridged.
