Beschreibung:

[Bragge, Francis]. Witchcraft Farther Display'd. Containing I. An Account of the Witchcraft practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkerne, in Hertfordshire, since her Condemnation, upon the Bodies of Anne Thorn and Anne Street, and the deplorable Condition in which they still remain. II. An Answer to the most general Objections against the Being and Power of Witches: With some Remarks upon the Case of Jane Wenham in particular, and on Mr. Justice Powel's Procedure therein. To which are added, The Tryals of Florence Newton, a famous Irish Witch, at the Assizes held at Cork, Anno 1661; as also of two Witches at the Assizes held at Bury St. Edmonds in Suffolk, Anno 1664, before Sir Matthew Hale (then Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer) who were found guilty and executed, 1st edition, London: Printed for E. Curll, 1712, 39 pp., publisher's list to final leaf verso, small burnhole to title, some light spotting and toning, top edge gilt, later morocco-backed boards, spine lettered in gilt (a little faded and rubbed at head), 8vo (Qty: 1) ESTC T68954. Very rare. Jane Wenham (d. 1730) was the last woman to be condemmed for witchcraft in England. After being accused of being a witch in the village of Walkern in Hertfordshire in 1712, she was tried before Sir John Powell (1645-1713) with sixteen witnesses appearing against her, the lawyers refusing any other charge than that of conversing with the devil in the form of a cat. Despite the leading of the judge (who when it was alleged she could fly stated that there was no law against flying) she was found guilty by the jury and sentenced to death. Powell succeeded in obtaining a pardon from the queen, however the case prompted a pamphlet war in 1712 between the clergy for the prosecution and Francis Bragge and others. The case led to the eventual repeal of the statute in the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which abolished witch-hunting and accusations of witchcraft.