At first they thought him to be fallen mad; but finding out the cause of this distraction, with much ado my Mistress made him sensible of his mistake. Being fully assured, that they were not (yet) damned Spirits, he relates what he had seen, in this manner: My Mistress afterwards told me, that had it not been for laughing, which so busied her, that her sense of smelling for that time had left her, she could never have endured to hear him out, for that notorious stink, which came from the Bed, when he stirred ever so little.
I wonder’d, said he, that contrary to my usual custom, I awak’d about four a clock, whereas I used to sleep soundly, thou knowest till eight. I hearkned, at first I perceived onely the boards to crack, but presently after I heard chains rattle, and the stools flung about the room, the bed, and I in it, _danced_ up and down, as if a _Scotch Bagpipe_ had been plaid upon by a _Northern Witch_, and the Devil the while had Danced with me, and the Bed a Morrice, (supplying the _Bellows_ with wind.) Sometimes they pull’d me out of Bed, and laid me on the cold floor, and then tost me in again like a _Dog in a Blanket_.
Hearing no noise, I attempted to peep out; but scarcely had mine eyes recovered the top of the Bed-cloths, when I saw standing by me, a composition of meer bones, with a shrowd thrown over his shoulders, like an _Irish Brachin_, or a _Scotch Pladd_, with a light Taper in one hand (I knew not what use he could make of it, for there were only _holes_ in his head instead of eyes) and an Hour-glass in the other: he grinn’d at me with his teeth, (for he had no lips) and shaking his chains left me, which sight so terrified me, that I had like to have shot out (like a _Pudding_ in a _Bag_) all that was within me. My Mistresse had like to have broken out into extreme laughter, had not the consideration of danger (that might have ensued thereon) hindred her.
After this, it was a long time before he would be perswaded to lie in that Chamber again, which made me curse his strong conceit, for by this means he would lye with his wife, which interrupted our sweet venereal pastime. As for my part, I believed he would never have return’d to his own chamber again, for he trembled when he past through it in the day time; and if alone, he would so thunder down the stairs (fear giving wings to his feet) as if (_Vulcan_-like) he had been sent by _Jupiter head-long_ in a message.