Hopkins' horrendous career was mercifully brief. Doubts about his methods led to the setting up of parliamentary commission to watch over each trial and to restrict the use of torture by the investigators. Hopkins was forced to give up the swimming torture but he continued to torment victims with sleep deprivation, starvation, and other mild tortures. A more serious impediment was implemented by the Reverend John Gaule in Huntingdonshire when he objected to Hopkins presence in his county and delivered a powerful tirade against their investigations. Gaule condemned the duress applied by Hopkins and stated that "every old woman with a wrinkled face, a furrowed brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a squeaking voice or a scolding tongue" was likely to be pronounced a witch under the current circumstances. Gaule even wrote a pamphlet called Select Cases of Conscience Toward Witches and Witchcraft, which told of Hopkins' methods, such as the retractable blade used in Pricking. In the pulpit Gaule not only preached against Hopkins' brutality, but he hinted that Hopkins himself was a witch.In May 1646 Hopkins was forced to take a "sabbatical" either because of mounting opposition to his campaign or because of ill health. In 1647 he published an account of his methods in a pamphlet known as The Discovery of Witches in order to counter criticism by those who had misgivings about his activities and who questioned his integrity. There are several theories surrounding Hopkins death. According to legend Hopkins became a victim of the hysteria he helped stir up. He arrived in a new town and set about his usual business of charging local women. The town council realizing they could cut their overhead by eliminating the middleman accused Hopkins himself of being a witch. They bound him thumbs to toes and tried him by his own methods, using the ordeal of swimming. Hopkins accordingly failed to sink and was sent to the gallows. A...
