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Matthew Hopkins: Caule

The old man's death was not in vain, for it was made the occasion of much necessary plain speaking. Presently the public conscience was wakened; chiefly by another cleric, the Rev. John Caule, vicar of Great Staughton, Huntingdonshire-all honour to him!-who, though strange to say he believed in witchcraft, realised the greater evil wrought by men like Hopkins. He published a pamphlet in which he denounced Hopkins as a com- The mon nuisance. The result, if slow, was sure. witch-finder never recovered from the shock of Caule's vigorous attack. In 1647, on information based on Hopkins' own rules, he was arrested and subjected to the test which he had devised: he was tied by the thumbs and thrown into the water. Unfortunately for himself he withstood the testdrowning, except for a short period of pangs, is an easy death-and so was by process of Law duly hanged.

One can imagine how the whole atmosphere of the country-surcharged with suspicion, fear, oppression, torture, perjury or crime was cleared by the execration which followed the removal of this vile wretch.