pleaseβ¦..John Milton didnβt die for this
Absolutely amazing find outside my flat today, devastatingly chic imo
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The Fence's 20 Best Pubs In London (in no particular order)
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Like many Civil War pamphlets, the chaotic violence of it is kind of disturbing (she does get shot eventually). But I like to remember this woman, whoever she was (if she ever existed), long before she ever encountered those soldiers: taking to the water, pushing off, and skimming happily away
The best part, though, is when she (nearly) makes her escape by taking to the water on a βboordβ¦standing firm but uprightβ, and then βturning and winding it which way she pleased, making it pastime to herβ.
When the soldiers were ordered to open fire on her, she βwith a deriding and loud laughterβ¦caught the bullets in her hands and chewβd themβ, sort of The Matrix-style
Her story is told in this Civil War pamphlet, βA Most Certain, Strange and True Discovery of a Witchβ, which relates her discovery by the army of the Earl of Essex.
Now that my PhD is over, keen to write (and post) more about non-thesis-related early modern stuff. Iβll start with maybe my favourite finding, which is what I believe to be the earliest documented incidence of surfboarding, in 1643, by a witch