Note 148 — Chapter VIII
Reading edition
Dr. Francis Hutchinson (Historical Essay), referring to the verses of Samuel Butler, says that he had often heard that some persons, 'out of indignation at the barbarity [of the witchfinder], took him and tied his own thumbs and toes, as he used to tie others; and when he was put into the water, he himself swam as they did.' But whether the usual fate upon that event awaited him does not appear. The verses in question are the following:—
'has not he, within a year, Hang'd threescore of 'em in one shire, * * * * * Who after prov'd himself a witch, And made a rod for his own breech?'
The Knight's Squire on the same occasion reminds his master of the more notorious of the devil's tricks of that and the last age:—
'Did not the devil appear to Martin Luther in Germany for certain, And would have gull'd him with a trick But Mart was too, too politic? Did he not help the Dutch to purge At Antwerp their cathedral church? Sing catches to the saints at Mascon, And tell them all they came to ask him? Appear in divers shapes to Kelly, And speak i' th' nun of Loudun's belly? Meet with the Parliament's committee At Woodstock on a pers'nal treaty? ... &c. &c.'
Hudibras, ii. 3.