Letter 1837

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

Francis Hutchinson to Hans Sloane – April 3, 1712


Item info

Date: April 3, 1712
Author: Francis Hutchinson
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4043
Folio: ff. 38-39


Original Page


Transcription

Frances Hutchinson, Sloane MS 4043, fo. 38r.

[fol. 38r] Sr   Two or three days ago I met with the Tryal of the suppos’d Witch at Harford. I know not what Judgment the Town makes of it but to me it appears, that as there are many of these Circumstances which some or other have noever been wanting to swear at all past Tryals of Witches, so there is a very great deal of the same Folly & imprudence in the manager which, of ^when^ suffer’d, have never fail’d to bring great trouble & dis turbances, not only to the poor old Creatures, but to all timerous Persons, & the whole Neighbourhoods where they are, & which if it once gets head, our learned Judges will find hard to suppress, till its own Mischief hath convinced the World of the Guilt & Folly.      You have sometimes since the trouble of perusing some historical collections & observations I had made upon this Subject, & as I have them by me with some little improvement since you saw them, If this printed Case be considerable enough to want an Answer, & my Papers be thought any ^answer to it, ^ I would not be unwilling to venture any such Answers as I should meet with from same.  The Judge who tried her & hath the Life of the poor Woman upon his case, tho & hath Heard most of ye Arguments about it, is the likewise Person to Know what is proper in this case, But as I am a perfect Stranger to him, it would be a piver of Prosumption for an Obscure Country Parson to trouble him with his Papers, But If your general Conversation hath given you an Acquaintance With him, & he will give himself the trouble of reading them & shall afterward approve of them so far as to give leave to Have them dedicated to him it will encourage the Reader to Venture more freely in making his judgment of the case, & to Be a security to me from such insulting Involvement as

Frances Hutchinson, Sloane MS 4043, f. 38v.

[fol. 38v] may chance otherwise to meet with. But I submit all to your prudence & judgment, & will either send my papers up or forbear according as you advise.   I am Sr With much respect Your obliged & very humble servt Fran Hutchinson   Bury St Edmunds Apr. 3d 1712

Hutchinson went to ‘the Tryal of the suppos’d Witch at Hartford’ Jane Wenham a few days before. He describes the process and writes of ‘some historical Collections and Observations I had made upon this subject’ in the past. He discussed the Jane Wenham trial in An Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft, which was published in 1718.

Francis Hutchinson was the Perpetual Curate of St James’s Church in Bury St Edmunds. In 1720 he became the Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland. He was a historian and wrote Defence of the Antient Historians, published in 1734.

 

Reference

Toby Barnard, “Hutchinson, Francis (1660-1739):, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14282, accessed 13 June 2011].



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