Habent sua fata libelli EARLY MODERN STUDIES SERIES GENERAL EDITOR MICHAEL WOLFE QUEENS COLLEGE, CUNY EDITORIAL BOARD OF EARLY MODERN STUDIES ELAINE BEILIN RAYMOND A. MENTZER Framingham State College University of Iowa CHRISTOPHER CELENZA ROBERT V. SCHNUCKER Johns Hopkins University Truman State University, Emeritus BARBARA B. DIEFENDORF NICHOLAS TERPSTRA Boston University University of Toronto PAULA FINDLEN MARGO TODD Stanford University University of Pennsylvania SCOTT H. HENDRIX JAMES TRACY Princeton Theological Seminary University of Minnesota JANE CAMPBELL HUTCHISON MERRY WIESNER-HANKS University of Wisconsin–Madison University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee MARY B. MCKINLEY University of Virginia MaryParish-Timbers.indb 2 11/20/15 1:24 PM MaryParish-Timbers.indb 3 11/20/15 1:24 PM Copyright © 2016 Truman State University Press, Kirksville, Missouri, 63501 All rights reserved tsup.truman.edu No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any format by any means without written permission from the publisher. Cover art: Gordon Napier, Alchemy woodcut. Used with permission. Cover design: Theresa Wheeler Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Timbers, Frances. The magical adventures of Mary Parish : the occult world of seventeenth-century London / by Frances Timbers. pages cm. -- (Early modern studies ; 17) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61248-143-2 (library binding : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61248-144-9 (e-book) 1. Parish, Mary Tomson Boucher Lawrence. 2. Wharton, Goodwin, 1653-1704. 3. Women mediums—England—Biography. 4. Spiritualism—England—History—17th century. 5. Occultism—England—History—17th century. I. Title. BF1283.P376T56 2016 130.92--dc23 [B] 2015031164 The paper in this publication meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of the Amer- ican National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992. MaryParish-Timbers.indb 4 11/20/15 1:24 PM This one is for Estuary, whose unflagging faith in the “Mary project” helped to magically manifest this book. MaryParish-Timbers.indb 5 11/20/15 1:24 PM Contents Illustrations ................................... ix Acknowledgments .............................. xi Prologue ...................................... .3 Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole ................. .5 Chapter 2: A Cunning Woman ................... .12 Chapter 3: The Queen of the Fairies ............... 34 Chapter 4: Finding a Familiar .................... .55 Chapter 5: Matters of Marriage ................... 71 Chapter 6: Sex and Succession ................... 91 Chapter 7: The Pleasures of Venus and the Pains of Eve ..................... 100 Chapter 8: The Traumas of Treasure Hunting ...... 11 8 Chapter 9: Heavenly Hosts ..................... .136 Chapter 10: Mary’s Crucible .................... .148 Chapter 11: Plots and Piety ..................... .167 Epilogue: April 1703 .......................... .179 Appendix: A Timeline of Mary’s Life .............. 187 Bibliography ................................. 191 Index ....................................... 205 About the Author .............................. 211 MaryParish-Timbers.indb 7 11/20/15 1:24 PM Illustrations 1. The village of Turville, nestled in the Chiltern hills (photo by author). ....13 2. Seventeenth-century timber- framed cottage in the village of Turville (photo by author). ..........................................13 3. “A Table to Know what Planet Rules any Hour of Day or Night throughout the Year,” adapted from BL Sloane 3850, fol. 163v. ...............23 4. “Sedan Chair, ca. 1720,” from William Hogarth, The Rake’s Progress (London: J. Chettwood, 1735), plate IV. .........................25 5. “London, as Rebuilt after the Fire,” from Besant, The History of London, 193. 26 6. Parishes of Turville and Wooburn in the Three Hundreds of Chiltern, Buckinghamshire, from The Victoria History of the County of Buckingham, Vol. 3, ed. W. Page (London: St. Catherine Press, 1925), 32. Accessed via www. british-history .ac.uk. Image courtesy of Victoria County History, British History Online, and the Institute of Historical Research. ...........31 7. Illustration from the trade card of John Keeling of Blackfriars (1670s), showing his fire engine in use. Inscription reads “These Engins (which are the best) to quinch great fires, are . .” with the subtitle “John Keeling Fecit” [John Keeling made it]. From display in Museum of London, copy from Pepys Library in Magdalene College, Cambridge. ............33 8. The road from London through Old Brantford and Hounslow to Longford, from “The Road from London to the city of Bristol,” in John Ogilby, Britannia. London 1675 (Facsimile reprint, Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1970), Plate #11 between pp. 20 and 21. Image courtesy of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, Rare Book F- 10 00695. ..............................................38 9. King and Queen of Fairies, from R. S., A description of the king and queene of fayries (London, 1635). Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Shelfmark Arch. A f.83 (3). ...................................44 10. Lud Gate, from a seventeenth-century map of London, originally started by Wenceslaus Hollar, ca. 1690. .........................57 11. Tyburn Tree, detail from William Hogarth, The Idle ’Prentice Executed at Tyburn, engraving, 1747, plate 11 of his Industry and Idleness series. ....62 ix MaryParish-Timbers.indb 9 11/20/15 1:24 PM x Illustrations 12. A plaque at the site of Tyburn (photo by author). ...................62 13. St. Mary’s Church, Turville (photo by author). ......................75 14. Stillroom, frontispiece from Hannah Woolley, The Accomplish’d Lady’s Delight in Preserving, Physick, Beautifying, and Cookery, 4th ed. (London, 1684). Image courtesy of Houghton Library, Harvard University, Hollis number 003910462. ..............................................150 15. An Alchemical Laboratory, frontispiece from M. M. Pattison Muir, The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1913). Originally published in Michael Maier’s Tripus Aureus, hoc est, Tres Tractatus Chymici Selectissimi, nempe (Frankfurt a. M.: Lucas Jennis, 1618). Released by Project Gutenberg, eBook #14218, November 30, 2004. ...........151 16. Halley’s Diving Bell, from William Hooper, Rational Recreations . (London, 1774). Wellcome Images. ...........................163 17. Seventeenth-century map of London, originally started by Wenceslaus Hollar, ca. 1690. .......................................184–85 MaryParish-Timbers.indb 10 11/20/15 1:24 PM Acknowledgments The greatest debt I owe is to Mary Tomson Boucher Lawrence Parish, whose story inspired me to push past many obstacles to present her life to the world. Her determination and creativity are truly inspiring! The story of Mary’s life presented in the following pages is an outgrowth of my dissertation work on gender and ceremonial magic at the University of Toronto, from which I received a great deal of support over the years. I can never repay the friendship and scholarly input of the “Norns,” in the form of Barbara Todd and Ariel Beaujot, who invested many hours of their time in discussion, debate, and beer drinking during the birthing of “the Mary project.” A very special thanks to my student Calin Wallace for his insightful analysis of one of the earlier versions of the manuscript. Thanks to the participants in the workshop held at the Berkshire Conference on the History of Women in June 2008 for their feedback on my presentation of Mary’s life as biography. The helpful comments from the two anony- mous TSUP readers were also much appreciated. I am very grateful for the academic and financial support from the History Department at Trent University and CUPE Local 3908-1, during the years of bringing this proj- ect to fruition. Special mention to Truman State University Press’s Early Modern Studies series editor Michael Wolfe for his enthusiastic reception of the original manuscript, and to Barbara Smith-Mandell for her ongoing support and direction during the publishing process. And much love to my small but fierce inner circle of family and friends, who never fail to support me, even when they think I am as crazy as Mary! Samhain 2015 xi MaryParish-Timbers.indb 11 11/20/15 1:24 PM In order to enter into Mary’s world, the reader may sometimes need to temporarily suspend disbelief. Mary’s story is akin to Alice’s journey through the looking glass, in which the real world is mirrored for both her and us. The following narrative invites the reader to pass through the looking glass and enter a liminal world between fantasy and reality, as Mary leads us through the streets of London and down the rabbit hole. 1 MaryParish-Timbers.indb 1 11/20/15 1:24 PM Prologue April 18, 1703 The sweet, cinnamon scent of juniper hung in the air. A fire crackled in the grate against the damp chill of an English spring. Wax candles burned brightly all around the room, creating a warm glow despite the morose occasion. Green velvet curtains were tied back at each of the round pillars of a richly carved oak bedstead and a fringed valance framed the elaborate headboard. A silk quilt lay folded at the foot of the bed.1 Several women and one desolate man stood around the bed gazing on the peaceful face of the just-deceased woman. Mary Tomson Boucher Lawrence Parish had outlived her parents, her uncle, her three husbands, and most of her children, and was estranged from any remaining blood relatives. For