Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	add_v	year_n	young_a	20	3	5.2958	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52630	A Narrative of the demon of Spraiton in a letter from a person of quality in the county of Devon to a gentleman in London : with a relation of an apparition or spectrum of an ancient gentleman of Devon, who often appeared to his sons servant, with the strange actions and discourses happening between them at divers times : as likewise the dæmon of an ancient woman, wife of the gentleman aforesaid, with unparalell'd varieties of strange exploits performed by her : attested under the hands of the said person of quality, and likewise a reverend divine of the said county : with reflections on drollery and atheism, and a word those who deny the existence of spirits.		1683 (1683)	Wing N180; ESTC R32147	6,790	12

another without any humane assistance An hand-iron hath seemed to lay it self cross overthwart a pan of milk that hath been scalding over the Fire and two Flicthes of Bacon have of their own accord descended from the Chimney where they were hung and placed themselves upon the Hand-iron When the Spectrum appears in resemblance of her own person she seemeth to be habited in the same clothes and dress which the Gentlewoman of the house her daughter in Law hath on at the same time Divers times the feet and leggs of the young man aforesaid have been so entangled about his neck that he hath been loosed with great Difficulty Sometimes they have been so twisted about the frames of chairs and stools that they have hardly been set at Liberty But one of the most Considerable Instances of the Malice of the Spirit against the young man happened on Easter-Eve when the Relator was passing by the door of the House which happened thus When the young man was returning from his labour he was taken up by the skirt of his doublet by this Female Daemon and carried a height i●to the Air He was soon missed by his Master and other Servants that been at labour and after diligent inquiry no news could be heard of him until at length near half an hour after he was heard Singing and whistling in a Bogg or Quagmire where they found him in a kind of Trance or Extatick Fit to which he hath sometimes been accustomed but whether before the affliction he met with from this Spirit I am not certain he was affected much after such sort as at that time of those Fits so that the people did not give that Attention and Regard to what he said as at other times but when he returned again to himself which was about an hour after he solemnly protested to them That the Daemon had carried him so high that his Masters House seemed to him to be but as a hey-cock and that during all that time he was in perfect sense and prayed to Almighty God not to suffer the Devil to destroy him and that he was suddenly set down in that quagmire The workmen found one shoe on one side of his Masters house and the other on the other side and in the morning espyed his Peruke hanging on the top of a Tree By which it appears he had been carried a considerable height and that what he told them was no Fiction After this it was observed that that part of the young mans body which had been on the mud in the quagmire was somewhat benummed and seemingly deader than the other whereupon the following Saturday which was the day before Low-Sunday he was carried to Crediton alias Kirton to be bleeded which being done accordingly and the Company having left him for some little space At their return they found him in one of his fits with his forehead much bruised and swoln to a great bigness none being able to guess how it happened until he was recovered from that fit When upon inquiry he gave them this Account of it That a Bird had with great swiftness and force flown in at the Window with a stone in its beak which it had dashed directly against his forehead The people much wondring at the strangeness of this Accident earnestly sought the stone and under the place where he sate they found not such a stone as they expected but a weight of Brass or Copper which it seems the Daemon had made use of on that occasion to give the poor young man that hurt in his forehead The persons present were at the trouble to break it in peices every one taking a part and preserving it in memory of so strange an Accident The Relator goes no further only gives account that he heard the Spirit had handled him very Ill the next day being Sunday This is a Faithful Account of the Contents of a Letter from a Person of Quality in Devon to a Gentleman his friend in London with relation to the Spectrums at Spraiton and Dated the 11 th of this instant May 1683. The Truth of which will be attested not only by divers persons of Quality in this City but upon inquiry in the adjacent County will be confirmed beyond all exception I will not trouble the Reader with any descant on the particulars above mentioned but only add that the young man will be of the Age of Twenty one years if he live till August next I have done with the Relation and only beg the intelligent Reader to consider what sort of People these deriders of Spirits and Witches are who perhaps will not believe that the Sun shines in Devonshire because they are not there to see it But too much hath already been said to such Scoffers or at least more than the narrow limits of this Paper will well bear Here is plain matter of fact with the name of the County and place where any that are unsatisfied may make enquiry and as was before suggested the Persons names have been forborn lest without their leave it might give offence If it conduce to the Conviction of any one of the adverse Party or move in others more sober Resolutions to Walk seriously and with an Awful Frame before the Omnipotent Creator of all things and to take heed of Satanical Delusions I have my Aim and let GOD have the Glory FINIS

Staff in his hand like that he was wont to carry when living to kill the Moles withal The Spectrum approached near the young man who you may imagine not a little surprised at the Appearance of one that he knew to be dead but the Spectrum bid him not be afraid of him but to tell his Master who was his Son That several Legacies which by his Testament he had bequeathed were unpaid naming Ten Shillings to One and Ten shillings to another both which he named the young man replyed That the party last named was dead and so it could not be paid to him The Ghost answered He knew that but it must be paid to the next Relation whom he also named The Spectrum likewise ordered him to carry Twenty shillings to a Gentlewoman Sister to the deceased living near Totness in the said County and promised if these things were performed to trouble him no further but at the same time the Spectrum speaking of his second wife who was also dead called her wicked woman though the Relator knew her and esteemed her a very good woman and having thus related him his mind the Spectrum left the young man He according to the direction of the Spirit took care to see the small Legacies satisfied and carried the Twenty shillings that was appointed to be paid the Gentlewoman near Totnes but she utterly refused to receive it being sent her as she said from the Devil The same night the young man lodging at her house the aforesaid Spectrum appeared to him again whereupon the young man challenged his promise not to trouble him again saying he had performed all according to his appointment but that the Gentlewoman his Sister would not receive the money To which the Spectrum replyed That was true indeed but withal ordered the Young man to ride to Totnes and buy a Ring of that Value which the Spirit said she would take wich being provided accordingly she received This is a true Account of the First Part of the Relation as it came in a Letter from a neighbour Justice of Peace and we have no farther notice of any trouble occasioned by the Appearance of the Resemblance of the old Gentleman who seemed on the performance of these his orders to be at Rest But we must continue this Relation with the subsequent Discourse of a Spectrum or Daemon much more tremendous and the like of which in all circumstances hath hardly been known and it is taken from the same Letter attested by the same hand The next day after buying and delivering the Ring the Young Man was Riding home to his Masters house accompanied by a Servant of the Gentlewomans near Totnes and near about the time of their entrance or a little before they came into the Parish of Spraiton aforesaid there appeared to be upon the Horse behind the young man a person or Spectrum resembling the before mentioned wife of the old Gentleman spoken of before This Daemon often threw the young man off his Horse and cast him with such Violence to the ground as was great astonishment not only to the Gentlewomans servant with him but to divers others who were spectators of the dreadful Action his body being cast with incredible Force to the ground which resounded with mighty noise at every fall At his coming into his Masters Yard the Horse which the young man rid though very poor and out of case leaped at once Twenty five foot at one spring to the amazement of all that saw it Soon after the She Spectrum shewed her self to several in the house viz. The aforesaid young man Mrs. Thomasin Gidly Anne Langdon born in that Parish and a little Child which by reason of the troublesomeness of the Spirit they were forced to remove from that House She Appeared sometimes in her own shape sometimes in forms very horrid now and then like a monstrous Dog belching out fire At another time it flew out at the Window in the Shape of a Horse carrying with it only one pane of glass and a small peice of Iron One time the Young Mans head was thrust into a very Strait place betwixt a Beds-head and a wall and forced by the Strength of divers men to be removed thence and that not without being much hurt and bruised so that much Blood appeared about it upon this it was advised he should be bleeded to prevent any ill accident that might come of the bruise After bleeding the Ligature or binder of his Arm was removed from thence and conveyed about his middle where it was strained with such violence that the girding had almost stopped his breath and killed him and being cut in sunder it made a strange and dismal noise so that the standers by were affrighted at it At divers other times he hath been in danger to be strangled with Cravats and handkerchiefs that he hath worn about his Neck which have been drawn so close that with the sudden violence he hath near been choaked and hardly escaped Death The Spectre hath shewed great Offence at the Perukes the young man used to wear for they are often torne from his head after a very strange manner one that he esteemed above the rest he put in a small box and placed that in another which he set against the wall of his Chamber setting a Joynt stool with other weight on the top of it but in shorttime the boxes were broken in sunder and the Peruke rended into many small parts and tatters Another time lying in his Masters Chamber with his Peruke on his head to secure it from danger within a little time it was torn from him and reduced into very small fragments Another time one of his shoo-strings was observed without the assistance of any hand to come of its own accord out of his shoe and fling it self to the other side of the room the other was crawling after it but a maid espying that with her hand drew it out and it strangely clasp'd and curled about her hand like a living Eel or Serpent this is Testified by a Lady of considerable Quality too great for exception who was an eye-witness The same Gentlewoman shewed the Relator one of the young mans gloves which was torn in his pocket whilst she was by which is so dextrously tatter'd and so Artificially torn that it is conceived a Cutler could not have contrived an Instrument to have laid it abroad so accurately and all this done in the pocket in the compass of one minute It is farther observable that if the aforesaid young man or another person who is a servant maid in the House do wear their own Cloaths they are certainly torn in peices on their backs but if the Cloaths belong to any other they are not injured after that manner Divers other strange fantastical Freaks have been done by the said Daemon or Spirit in the view of divers persons A Barrel of Salt of a considerable quantity hath been observed to march from one room to