Odd this day
Anne Arthur flies over Deptford with the Devil.
The story comes from one of the news-sheets that were popular at the time, headed “Strange and Dreadful NEWS”. This one promised
the Full, True, and Sad RELATION of one Anne Arthur, WHO According to her own Report, had divers Diſcourſes with the Devil … who offered her Gold and Silver; telling her many Strange and Wonderful things; And, in the end, carried her in the Air a Quarter of a Furlong, &c.
And with a source that impeccable, we can be sure we’re dealing with pure and unadulterated fact here. Apparently, Anne dwelled “near a place called Flaggon-Row”, and “had a long time gotten her Living by selling things about the Streets; and in that Occupation appeared to her Neighbours very Industrious and Laborious”.
So far, so good. Lowly but respectable.
…but ſo it happened on the Third of March that having been in the City and Suburbs ſomewhat late, as ſhe was going home … that … ſtanding between Rederiffe and Deptford a Human Shape, in a dark Habit approached her which ſhe ſaith ſhe ſuppoſed at firſt to be a Man
It wasn’t, obviously. It was “the common Enemy of Mankind; who in that ſolitude, was roving about, &c.” It’s the ‘&c.’ that’s worrying, of course. What The Dark Gentleman might be thinking of can only be guessed at. Anne tried to hurry off, but “ſo fierce a Wind did rise” that she couldn’t. the “Gloomy Appartion” offered her a hand full of silver, then a handful of Gold, “which ſeemed to her to be a vaſt Heap, more than any Hand could graſp”. Being a humble but righteous sort, she turned him down, and “prayed for Deliverance”, which made Satan really jolly cross.
whether by the Force of a Whirlwind, the Wind then blowing hard, or by him that aſſociated with her, ſhe directly knows not, ſhe was taken up, together with her Basket, a conſiderable Heighth, and carried, pitiouſly crying out for Help for the ſpace of a Quarter of a Furlong; and there; with great Violence, thrown amongſt the Buſhes
(A furlong, incidentally, is an eighth of a mile, or 220 yards — and that ſ is the long ‘s’, popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, and confusing for generations of schoolchildren thereafter.) Anyway, Anne’s “mournful Laments” were heard, and she was found in or under a bush.
Is this the full story, though?
This was her version, “related to divers perſons of known Integrity” with “many aſſeverations” (solemn declarations), but in the news-sheet’s final paragraph comes a Shocking Revelation. (The only thing that’s changed in muck-raking journalism since is that the dirt is at the top now. What’s happened in this source is known as ‘burying the lede’.)
She confeſſes further, She has been a notorious Liver, often given to Swearing, and calling upon the Devil; breaking the Sabbath, and the like.
Ah. Now we’re getting to it. Anne may have been lucky to have consorted with Lucifer and flown through the air after the witch craze was over, but she was still to be despised or pitied, or some combination of the two. The pamphleteer may try to conclude that this was a “ſolemn and tremendious Occasion”, but we know the whole sorry tale was cooked up to excuse her being found, a tad confused, late at night, in some undergrowth.
Women! Know Your Place!
One source for this story:
…and if you want some frankly filthy stuff about witches and broomsticks:
…but be warned, that article does contain the sentence:
The vulgar believe, and the witches confess, that on certain days or nights they anoint a staff and ride on it to the appointed place or anoint themselves under the arms and in other hairy places.
Americans. Dirty bleeders.
