Lords and Ladies

13

The names of the would-be junior witches.

Two of the names resonate with the names used in Good Omens: Agnes Nitt is similar to Agnes Nutter, and Amanita DeVice (Amanita is also the name of a gender of deadly poisonous mushrooms) is similar to Anathema Device. There’s also a Perdita in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale; the name means ‘damned’ or ‘lost’.

In fact, all these names are based on the names of the so-called Lancashire Witches. The deeds of this group on and around Pendle Hill were the subject of probably England’s most famous 17th century witchhunt and trials. The story is described in some fictional detail in a little-known book called, surprise, The Lancashire Witches, written at the end of the nineteenth century in Manchester by William Harrison Ainsworth.

Interestingly enough, Ainsworth also wrote a book called Windsor Castle in which Herne the Hunter appears as a major character.