Witchcraft in old and New England / by George Lyman Kittredge.
- George Lyman Kittredge
- Date:
- 1929
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Witchcraft in old and New England / by George Lyman Kittredge. Source: Wellcome Collection.
30/660 page 16
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Witchcraft in old and New England / by George Lyman Kittredge. Source: Wellcome Collection.
![put off his father’s boat, saying, “Go thy ways to New Quay, and go be¬ tween the two lighters, and I will meet thee there.” And farther this examinate saith that he ran with the young Trevisard to the New Quay presently after, and found the boat there between the two lighters, the said quay being distant near two flight-shoots from the place where the boat was so thrust off, as aforesaid, and not right against Li. e. opposite] the same place, but on one side, the said two lighters also being so near to¬ gether that there was but room enough for the boat to go in. Th: Ridgway. Enchanted boats that obey their master’s will, or guide themselves without the helmsman’s touch, are well known in the realm of faery. Here belong the Argo with its talking figurehead, and the ships of the Phaeacians, which knew men’s minds and the way to every port; here, too, the seif- moving ship in Marie’s Lai de Guigemar. Frithiof had a ship which understood his words and obeyed them. Svend Ranild, in the Danish ballad, stood upon the shore in great need of his ship, which was anchored in the offing. He blew such a blast that his horn burst into three pieces: “‘Come ye not in?’ quoth Ranild.” That was Ranild’s golden ship That heard the horn so good; She broke asunder cables nine, And came to where he stood. “Be thou welcome,” quoth Ranild.8 The bearing of young Christopher’s testimony should not be misconceived. It was merely confirmatory of the general proposition that the Trevisards possessed uncanny powers. To insist on its frivolity and hold up our hands in horror at the criminal folly of our forefathers in sending men and women to the gallows on such grounds is parum ad rem. No English witch was ever convicted on evidence like this, nor were such harmless feats of seamanship punishable at all under the law. There was plenty of serious evidence against the Trevisards, as we have seen. And with this caveat we may revert to the deposition of Christian Webbar, which is quite different from anything we have had before, and of very particular interest. Christian was a widow in Hardness. She had let a tene¬ ment in the village to Michael Trevisard at a yearly rent](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29825076_0030.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
