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THE ORGANIZATION
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had with the diwell, and the rest of hir cuwing, scho ansuered scho had severall meitingis with all tham abowenamed.'[1] Little Jonet Howat of Forfar (1661) said, 'Ther was thair present with the divell besyd hirselfe, quhom he callit the prettie dauncer, the said Issobell Syrie, Mairie Rynd, Hellen Alexander, Issobell Dorward, and utheris whoise names shoe did not know, to the number of 13 of all.'[2] The trial of Jonet Kerr and Issobell Ramsay at Edinburgh (1661) gives the names of thirteen persons, or one Coven.[3] At Crook of Devon (1662) there were tried twelve women and one man, i.e. one Coven.[4] Isobel Gowdie of Auldearne (1662) gives the most detail concerning the Covens: 'Jean Mairten is Maiden of owr Coeven. Johne Younge is Officer to owr Coeven.—Ther ar threttein persons in ilk Coeven.' Her evidence shows that there were several Covens in the district: 'The last tyme that owr Coven met, we, and an vther Coven, wer dauncing at the Hill of Earlseat, and befor that we ves beyond the Meikle-burne; and the vther Coven being at the Downie-hillis, we went besyd them.— [She and four others] with the Divell, wer onlie at the making of it [a charm], bot all the multitude of all owr Coevens got notice of it, at the next meitting … all my owin Coeven gott notice of it werie schortlie.' She also notes that each member of her Coven 'has an Sprit to wait wpon ws, quhan ve pleas to call wpon him'. Janet Breadheid, of the same Coven as Isobel Gowdie, gives the names of thirty-nine persons, or three Covens, who were present in the Kirk of Nairn when she was admitted into the Society.'[5] In Somerset (1664) the number of accused was twenty-six persons, or two Covens.'[6] At Newcastle-on-Tyne (1673) Ann Armstrong stated that at the meeting at the 'rideing house in the close on the common' she saw ten men and women whom she knew and 'thre more, whose names she knowes not'. At another meeting 'at Rideing Millne bridg-end she see the said Anne Forster, Anne Dryden, and

  1. Scottish Antiquary, ix, pp. 50-2.
  2. Kinloch, p. 114.
  3. From the record of the trial in the Edinburgh Justiciary Court.
  4. Burns Begg, pp. 219 seq.
  5. Pitcairn, iii, pp. 603-17.
  6. Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 140 seq.