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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	begin_v	great_a	time_n	1,599	5	3.2122	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68096	The boy of Bilson: or, A true discouery of the late notorious impostures of certaine Romish priests in their pretended exorcisme, or expulsion of the Diuell out of a young boy, named William Perry, sonne of Thomas Perry of Bilson, in the county of Stafford, yeoman Vpon which occasion, hereunto is premitted a briefe theologicall discourse, by way of caution, for the more easie discerning of such Romish spirits; and iudging of their false pretences, both in this and the like practices.	R. B. (Richard Baddeley); Wheeler, Mr.	1622 (1622)	STC 1185; ESTC S120841	43,472	84

ill company as also at other times hee saw the diuell assault him in forme of a Black bird Well I persisted in exorcising him left him very well speaking and merry retired my selfe hauing seene his meate and drinke blessed They then after giuing him a Syllibub the sugar whereof being not blessed he presently at the taste thereof began grieuously to be tormented Yea though he loued flowers The power of blessed things yet if vnblest hee would teare them in pieces and distinguish them from other and vn̄blessed Raisins he would say were too big for his mouth I was sent for and I had not charged him long but at each charge I did finde the diuell very much to tremble I hoping of Gods especiall assistance at that time made the diuell to swell in his mouth in signe of his presence and to expresse first by signe how many were in him which he did holding vp three fingers I caused them then one by one to descend into the great toe of the right foot and at the entring thereof to shake it and to stirre the legge all which they did higher and higher to signifie how one was greater then another then I caused the Boy to speake who did acknowledge that hee would liue and dye a Catholicke wishing father mother and all his friends to serue God then I called vp the chiefe Fiend and did demand him to shew himselfe who presently puts forth the Childs tongue and swelled the end thereof Then I all being Protestants A markable thing sauing one Catholicke commanded the diuell to shew by the sheet before him how he would vse one dying out of the Romane Catholicke Church who very vnwillingly yet at length obeyed tossing plucking haling and biting the sheet that it did make many to weepe and cry forth Then I commanded him to shew how hee did vse Luther Iohn Caluin and Iohn Fox which vnwillingly he did performe after the same manner but in a fiercer sort Then I commanded him to shew what power he had on a good Catholicke that dyed out of mortall sinne hee thrust downe his armes trembled holding downe his head and did no more Heereupon the Parents were instant with me presently and out of hand to helpe the Child I told them that I did not doubt but by the power of Gods Church on which I did onely relie and not on any personall vertue of mine owne to cast them out presently But I said A coniecture why the Child might be possessed I did feare that the innocent Child was punished for the sins of his Parents which might be for their lacke of beliefe which is a sinne great enough since without faith it is impossible to please God Yet hereupon I said to his mother Good woman will you promise mee that you will become a Catholicke if in your sight I cast out these diuels in forme of fire shee answered that she must consider of that then said I I am afraid this Child will not haue helpe for fearing the Child was punished for her lacke of beliefe I doubted that the cause remaining the effect also would remaine Hereupon the Child gaue a great shrieke began to be vehemently tormented grew obstinate in so much that I feared another diuell was entred I exorcized him also a long time but the diuell with the Childs voyce cryed The Lord in heauen the Lord in heauen A long time I exorcized him but still he was obstinate crying out Father mother helpe me helpe me saying that I killed him and when I gently strooke him on the head with a soft ribbon blessed he yelled forth that I killed him cursing me saying A poxe of God light on the P. saying moreouer I will neuer bee conuerted to which word a Protestant then by that had seene all replied Thou wilt then do worse Here I commanded the diuell that spake The Child being himselfe denies all the diuell had vttered by his tongue to shew himselfe in the tongue who comming forth as out of a trance I asked him gently whether he had vttered any of these words he vtterly denied to haue spoken them asking forgiuenesse saying that it was not hee that spake them and affirming by Gods grace that he would be constant in the Romane Catholicke faith till death Then I called vp the wicked spirit tooke his oth that with trembling hee tendred to be obedient in all to lawfull Exorcists and not to hinder the eating drinking or sleeping of the Child Then it being almost three of the clocke in the morning I retired to bed the next day being Munday I came and told the Parents that I had tarried there as long as I had promised and as long as I well durst for danger and as my promise to others would permit but promised them to come againe as soone as I could The father then offered me the Child to dispose of as I would I told him I had no conuenient place for that purpose but I said that if hee would not deale with Witches and Sorcerers The reason why J lest to come any more I would come as often as I could The father said he would seeke of Witches or of any other for help I being sorry to heare his bad resolution told him that I would not mingle God and the diuell together and then got his promise that hee would not vse holy water and oyle blessed if they meddled with Witches Yet I heare that he hath not complyend with his promise in extremities of the Boyes fits hauing recourse to blessed things saying he will course him with them Well the substance of all this I haue heere written at my comming away I declared before three Protestants and the Childs Parents desiring them that if I did not say truth in all things that they would challenge me therein Then the Child being 〈◊〉 a sounding fit anoynting him with holy oyle 〈◊〉 bring him vnto himselfe in so much that with a staffe he walked vp and downe and since hee did eate drinke sleepe and walke hauing onely short fits as I am faithfully informed yea till shortly after they entertained many Witches and Sorcerers notwithstanding whose helpe sought in vaine hee is more grieuously tormented then euer before Here before my departure the Parents of the child offering me money and gold I refused it thanking them saying If they would giue mee 20. pound I would not haue one penny Charging them that they should not indanger their owne soules and the soule of the poore Boy in seeking vnlawfull meanes And thus on Munday was fortnight I left him and the truth of this I must say with S. Paul that God knowes in all this I doe not lye Thus desiring that all may succeed to Gods glory the good of the Child and the confusion of all Sorceries and Charmes which in my heart and soule I detest I leaue the Parents Child and thee Christian Reader to the mercy of God Iuly the first 1620. Non nobis

How the Boy came first to be possessed In fine the Boy came home languished some dayes and at length grew into extreme fits that two or three though hee was a child of 12. yeeres of age could hardly hold him The Parents of the Child seeing the extremity of the fits and the misery and imminent danger of death euery houre the Child did lye in mooued with tender compassion sought helpe of Catholicks and with cap and knee by the meanes of some friends did sollicit a zealous Gentleman who ouercome with their earnest suit did vse some prayers and lawfull exorcismes allowed by the Catholicke Church with whose prayers the Child was eased something and the force of the spirituall Enemie abated The Gentleman insisting to know how many was in him to his thinking hee said Three Hee good Gentleman called away partly by the danger of the place as also by his vrgent businesse Two others meddied with him ere Jcame they sought and sent for a zealous Gentleman whose zeale and vertues are sufficiently knowne yea and acknowledged by Gods enemies themselues He moued with compassion came thither vsed his best prayers and meanes that at that time he thought conuenient very much weakened the diuels force and quelled the extreme fiercenesse of the fits Yet hee within a day or so withdrew himselfe for the same cause yet though absent in person was most mindfull of his misery In so much as he did negotiate with mee in that I had been present many times in the like occasions that I would see him and make tryall whether hee were possessed or obsessed I was very vnwilling yet ouercome by his intreaty and the former motiues I promised him to doe my best and to see him within the space of one moneth yet so I disposed of my businesses that I came thither in the space of a weeke about Thursday before Corpus Christi day where I did finde the Gentleman that requested me to come and finding that they had vsed Sorceries of Witches which made the Child offer violence to himselfe wee would not meddle with him till they had burned those Sorceries applyed to him which they forthwith did fulfill Whereupon we vsing the reading of the Litanies and the holy Gospels together with the Exorcisme of Saint Ambrose when I came vnto those words that shewed the power that Saint Peter had ouer Simon Magus The diuell could not seduce Saint Peter and Saint Paul and Saint Paul on the Magician Bariesus the Child would bee so tormented that three or foure could hardly hold him which words tooke effect in manner as often as they were vsed The other Gentleman call'd away I was left alone till it pleased God the Gentleman that had first meddled with him by great chance came thither He and I both did our best till Saturday about two of the clocke at which time vrgent occasions though diuers wayes called vs away yet wee left holy water The vertue of holy water and of holy oyle also water properly against Witchcraft and holy oyle the first hauing that power that it would make him speake though dumbe and his tongue turned into his throat and the second that force that being applyed in a little quantity vnto his legs and armes most grieuously contracted that a strong man could hardly vnfold them onely with the force of the holy oyle they would bee stretched forth as they were vvont Wee intreated them in our absence to vse the holy waters and oyle in his extremities and that wee absent would assist him the best that wee could in our prayers which they continued on Saturday Sunday and Munday with extreme fits and heauings hee brought vp pinnes Strange things voyded wooll knotted thred thrums rosemary walnut leaues feathers c. the which he still drinking of the blessed water brought vp and when hee could not speake hee would make signes for that water with the letting dovvne of vvhich presently he recouered his speech Well on Thursday being Corpus Christi day about three or foure of the clocke I came againe found the Child in great extremities continually heauing vp and in this time he had brought vp 11. pinnes and a knitting needle folded vp in diuers folds On Friday next he brought vp the last pinne I told them that I vvas glad that hee brought vp most of those things in my absence that well they might see that really they came from him and that it was no collusion of vs. On Saturday night finding the Boy to my thinking somewhat obstinate I before the Parents wished him not to be deluded by the Enemie but that if he spake any thing within him he would impart it to vs that wee might counsell him for the best A great while the Child would not heare vs yet at length hee said hee would not tell vs before all the company I asking then to whom he would tell it he answered to your selfe so the others would leaue you hee gaue mee leaue after to signifie vnto his Parents sisters and brothers thus much First The Boy tels what the diuell and Witch say in him that the spirit bade him not to hearken to me in any case Secondly that the Witch said that shee would make an end of him and that she would bring in othergates things into him if it were not for me whom she called a Roguish P. Thirdly shee said I destroyed all her good things Fourthly shee said that though I should helpe him yet shee would haue a saying to his brothers and sisters Fifthly hee desired mee to tarry with him vntill Munday for when I should leaue him he said hee should be torne in pieces whereupon I according to the prescript of the Thesaurus Exorcismorum did blesse fire and did burn those maleficialia Sorceries those filthy things that came from him at smoke of which and the fire thereof being temperate onely and in a Chafing-dish and the smoke onely of Frankincense he would vehemently cry out that he was killed burned and choked though my owne selfe and diuers others were neerer to all then himselfe At length hee seemed greatly to reioyce and with great eagernesse dranke vp the smoke saying that he saw his Enemies tormented I wished him then to pray for the Witch and for her conuersion from that wicked life The markable deuotion of the Child which he did then the Child did declare that now hee was perfectly himselfe and desired that his bookes pennes inke clothes yea that euery thing he had might be blessed wishing his Parents sisters and brothers to blesse themselues and to become Catholicks out of which faith by Gods grace he said hee would neuer liue or dye On Sunday also I exorcised him but diuers Puritans resorting to him I could not haue conueniency to come till towards night All which day he had many fits and I comming to him learned of him that still while the Puritans were in place on Saturday The force of

Domine non nobis sed Nomini tuo da Gloriam Yours in charity loue or in any good office J. W. This Relation was published by the Priests themselues and deliuered by one of them called Master Wheeler into the hands of Master Thomas Nechils Gent. a Recusant dwelling neer the aforenamed towne of Bilson as appeareth by his owner confession vpon oth taken before the L. Bishop of Couentry and Lichfield and added in the end of this Booke THE EGREGIOVS CVNNING OF THE BOY OF Bilson in counterfeiting himselfe to be bewitched and possessed of the diuell THis Boy being about thirteen yeres old but for wit and subtilty farre exceeding his age was thought by diuers to bee possessed of the Diuell and bewitched by reason of many strange fits and much distemper wherewith he seemed to haue been extremely affected In those fits hee appeared both deafe and blinde writhing his mouth aside continually groning and panting and although often pinched with mens fingers pricked with needles tickled also on his sides and once whipped with a rod besides other the like extremities yet could he not be discerned by either shrieking or shrinking to bewray the least passion or feeling Out of his fits he tooke as might bee thought no sustenance which hee could digest but together with it did voyd and cast out of his mouth rags thred straw crooked pinnes c. Both in and out of his fits his belly by wilfull and continuall abstinence defrauding his owne guts was almost as flat as his backe besides his throat was swolne and hard his tongue stiffe and rolled vp towards the roofe of his mouth in so much that hee seemed alwayes dumbe saue that hee would speake once in a fortnight or three weekes and that but in very few words Two things there were which gaue most iust cause of presumption that hee was possessed and bewitched one was that hee could still discerne when that woman which was supposed to haue bewitched him was brought into any roome where he was Ione Cocke although she were very secretly conueyed thither as was one time tryed before the grand Iury at Stafford the second that though he would abide other passages of Scripture yet he could not indure the repeating of that text viz. In the beginning was the Word Ioh. 1.1 c. Ioh. 1. vers 1. but instantly rolling his eyes and shaking his head as one distracted hee would fall into his vsuall fits of groning panting distraction c. In which plight he continued many moneths to the great wonder and astonishment of thousands who from diuers parts came to see him Thus much of his cunning The meanes of discouering his dissimulation AT the summer Assises held at Stafford Summer Assises held at Stafford xviij Iacobi R. 1620. the tenth of August Anno Dom. 1620. the afore-mentioned woman supposed to haue beene the Witch was brought to her triall before the R. Worshipful Sir Peter Warberton and Sir Iohn Dauies Knights then his Maiesties Iustices of Assize for that Countie before whom appeared some slender circumstances which were vulgarly esteemed strong proofes of Witch-craft but after some speech manifesting the idlenesse of such fantasticall delufions the woman was freed by the Inquest At what time the Iudges were pleased to commit the care and if it might so be the cure of the Boy vnto the L. Bishop of Couentry and Lichfield then and there present When he had been with him at the Castle of Eccleshall about a moneth much of which time his Lo. was necessarily absent from home although diuers symptomes gaue iust cause to suspect that he did but counterfeit as namely the easie and equall beating of his pulse in his strongest fits his quiet rest and sleepe commonly the whole night long his cleere complection and which plainly tells euery beholder that his tongue lyed in saying nothing his swallowing of whole morsels of bread without chewing his spitting forth from him as naturally and perfectly as euer hee could doe in his best health neither of which could possibly bee done with a tongue turned vpwards and doubled towards his throat as he would seeme to haue it besides his ordinary comming forth of his fits alwayes with one kind of lowd and large tunable grone yet notwithstanding his vsuall casting vp of his meate his much fasting and lanke belly his patience or as it might rather seeme senselesse stupidity in induring those many prickings and violent extremities without any signe of feeling did argue some bodily disease and infirmity Therefore it was that no experiment was vsed on him vntill that the iudgement of some well approued Physician might be had to deliuer in what state his body then was neuerthelesse after a longsome expectation of such an one an occasion offered it selfe which required and exacted a more speedy and present triall The Father of the Boy an honest Husbandman of sufficient ability innocent and ignorant of any practice in his child came with an Aunt of his to see him when being out of his fit the Father earnestly demanded what might bee thought of his sonnes case and whether he were possessed or not Whereto it was purposely answered that nothing seemed so maruellous or so much to betoken any such thing as that at the hearing of those words of the holy Gospell of Saint Iohn Iohn 1.1 In the beginning was the Word c. he still vsed to fall into his fits For further proofe whereof then presently in the Fathers hearing those words were repeated and accordingly vpon the repetition thereof the Boy fell instantly into his fit Lo quoth his Father then doe you see what thinke you of this This said the Bishop doe I like very well for vpon this must I begin to worke The same day in the afternoone when word was brought that the Boy did speake diuers resorting vnto him the Bishop calling for a Greeke Testament said vnto him Boy it is either thou or the diuel that abhorrest those words of the Gospel and if it be the diuell he being so ancient a scholer as of almost 6000. yeeres standing knoweth and vnderstandeth all languages in the world so that he cannot but know when I recite the same sentence in the Gospell out of the Greeke text but if it be thy selfe then art thou an execrable wretch who playest the diuels part in lothing that part of the Gospell of Christ which aboue all other Scriptures doth expresse the admirable vnion of the God-head and manhood in one Christ and Sauiour which vnion is the arch-pillar of mans saluation Wherefore looke to thy selfe for now thou art to bee put vnto triall and marke diligently whether it be that same Scripture which shall bee read vnto thee at the reading whereof thou doest seeme to be so much troubled and tormented Then was read vnto him in Greeke the twelfth verse of the first Chapter of Saint Iohns Gospell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. which he supposing to be the first verse